For a while now, a certain distress had been gnawing persistently at the back of Sunset’s thoughts: The realization that life would change once her time in college was over, and it would be drastic; that she and her friends might someday have to part ways into the great, wide world.
It felt like an eternity since she stole into the human dimension with nefarious intent, to be both undone and saved by these girls so wonderful, she had honest-to-Celestia trouble even describing how much. The truth of the matter was that Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Twilight... they were beyond a doubt her first foray into learning what it was to be part of a whole; to be a family.
Who knew: Maybe by some deterministic interdimensional jest the lot would end up somehow inseparable? Not an unfounded notion really; given how tight-knit Princess Twilight and her friends were. Maybe such unique circumstance behind their friendship would cement them from being parted?
Or genuine anxiety was beginning to set in. Always a possibility.
This made their days spent together all the more precious. Whenever it was possible in her schedule between studies, jobs, and her duties as a hunter, Sunset took time from her life to be with her first friends. Even more so on days such as this where the original seven could just enjoy spending time together. Not that Adagio or Wallflower weren’t invited; both of them had their own agendas for the day.
It was just a trip to the Canterlot Mall, a place where many fond memories were accrued, followed by an evening dinner together. Sushi, since Sunset got a lifetime discount as both a former employee and after helping deal with that wererat (or R.O.U.S. when Fluttershy was around) infestation with Mom.
“So, how’s business been?” asked Rainbow, arms laxly behind her head as all seven walked in a sideward line to the exit. A notion Pinkie pointed out as very cinematic.
“Pretty good,” said Sunset in earnest. “All-in-all the artist’s career is perfect. Honestly, I think Wallflower’s commissions alone paid half of my grocery share.”
“Positively delightful, darling,” said Rarity, whom Sunset continued to deny payment for over the favor a few years back. Still going strong.
“Yeah, yeah. What about the fun business?” inquired Rainbow further.
“You should know, it’s not like you weren’t involved last time,” remarked Applejack with a wry smile.
“Indeed,” added Rarity with a sour note. “Have you any idea how hard it is to get gum out of hair!?” she asked, her tone bearing what could only be described as that of the greatest of traumas, a notion which Fluttershy reciprocated with rapid-fire nodding.
“Yeah, and I’m reeeeally sorry about that,” drawled Pinkie.
Sunset looked over to their normally bouncy pink friend, “Speaking of which, how are you feeling?”
“Getting better!” smiled Pinkie. “I ate a whole doughnut!”
The lot of them couldn’t help but share a laugh, stares or glances be damned.
After the Bakery of Doom incident (swept under the rug, amazingly enough) Pinkie had developed an unusual aversion to sweets and confectionery. Under normal circumstances, anyone knowledgeable about Pinkie(s) was that a Pinkie bereft of anything sugary was not normal. Fortunately, there was no deflation or perceivable mood swings.
“You should be back to your amazingly non-diabetic, normal self soon enough,” said Twilight astutely.
“What was up with that anyway?” asked Rainbow. “Normally you’d have eaten at least two cupcakes by this time of day.”
The notion seemed to make Pinkie seem a bit squeamish, a hand drawing up to her mouth in refusal. And the slight dagger-like look the pink one was giving to Rainbow.
“You know how when you’ve had the stomach flu you feel an aversion to whatever food you ate before then?” asked Twilight.
“Yeah…?”
“My dimensional double and I drew up some hypotheses: When under the effect of the Alicorn Amulet, Pinkie’s affinity for sweets increased to impossible levels by human standards. Thus, once the Amulet was removed, the abrupt change ostensibly left Pinkie, for lack of a better term; prolongedly bloated.”
“Basically, she just needs to let it out of her system,” Sunset simplified, giving Pinkie a comforting pat on the shoulder. “Speaking of; any ideas on how to proceed with making him a non-issue?” she asked Twilight, not trying to hide the absolute spite she felt for Discord on account of not one, but possibly two world-ending misgivings.
Twilight visibly cringed from Sunset’s abrupt change of tone, “Sunset, I might have happened to mistakenly prove the existence of He Who Slumbers, but I’m not a miracle worker.”
“The fact ya said all that in the same sentence is an understatement, sugarcube,” remarked Applejack. “Say, yer bein’ awful quiet, Fluttershy. Everythin’ alright?”
“Yes, it’s just…” her features scrunched. “Is it just me, or has that guy been following us?”
Sunset looked over her shoulder; while she couldn’t confirm or disprove Fluttershy’s claims, she did see a man looking like he was trying to be the most conspicuous person in the building with a grey trench coat and a hugely contrasting red beanie stuffed over an unkempt bush of a hairdo. Sunset’s eyes narrowed warily, while her hand slowly found its way to the inside lining of her jacket.
On entering the carpark, there was some distance between them and Applejack’s jalopy and Pinkie’s car. They confirmed that this man was still following them, as if keeping his hands in pocket made him look any less conspicuous. Sunset was ready in case he tried anything, the creep.
“Excuse me, miss?” their attention got diverted; two people blocking off the direction to their rides.
The one who had spoken was a woman of indeterminate age, slightly scraggly looking with mismatched clothing, complete with an obnoxiously bright tag pinned to her jacket. The other was a male, likely in his twenties, scrawny and in desperate need of a shave or trim, his most defining bit of clothing being a jersey with a peace sign and that same obnoxious tag.
The girls looked at one another, Sunset’s hand still clutched at the grip of her gun.
“Pardon me, but which of us are you referring to?” asked Rarity, unable to restrain suspicion.
“Oh, sorry, I’m referring to her,” said the woman, nodding towards Fluttershy, whom meekly pointed at herself. “You’re Fluttershy, correct?”
“Ooooh, are you with the shelter?” asked Pinkie, sounding less perturbed than she should have.
“Uhhh, no…”
“Then why do your tags say “pets”?” asked Pinkie, pointing at the tag on the scrawny man’s shirt.
That’s when something clicked in Sunset’s mind, like something Harshwhinny had made mention of. “Wait, you’re with P.E.T.S.-?”
“They’re onto us!” shouted the man who had been following the girls, who, in a complete failure of dramatics, fumbled about trying to cast off the trench coat. Like the other two, he wore the same garishly bright pin bearing the word “PETS”, all letters in different colors within a heart symbol amidst his equally jumbled outfit and poorly kept hair. “Grab ‘er!”
Before anyone could react, the man, once freed from the trench coat, brandished a small submachine gun. This sparked an immediate reaction of Sunset and the rest throwing their hands up, almost in perfect unison, all eyes focused on the stubby barrel.
“Worry not, noble were-beast, we will have you free in but a moment,” said the woman as she and the scrawny man grabbed Fluttershy. To no-one’s surprise, Fluttershy began to verbally protest, all she dared to with the gun being pointed at everyone.
“Remember the bag, covering their eyes always calms them,” remarked the scrawny man, to which the one with the gun threw a burlap sack over Fluttershy’s head.
“It does not!” protested Fluttershy from underneath, whilst she was picked up by the two unarmed assailants who began to carry her away, all the while the one with the gun backed away in their direction.
“Sorry about this, I’m a conscientious objector!” called the man in the red beanie.
“Hypocrite!” spat Rainbow.
“I do what I must for the greater good!” he replied, right when his gun’s stick magazine came loose and harmlessly clattered onto the floor.
“Get ‘im!” shouted Applejack, Sunset having already sprang into action, pulling her handgun out of its concealed holster, to which everyone ran after the trio.
The man in the beanie blubbered as he hastily just managed to snatch back the magazine, only for the much faster and agile Rainbow Dash to kick it out of his hands. The engine of a car revved to life, after they were all in the headlights of a van speeding towards. Sunset felt herself nearly flung from the way, courtesy of Applejack’s amazing strength.
She could see Fluttershy through the opened side door, fumbling with the burlap sack over her head. The man in the beanie, magazine back in his gun, in a ballsy, but careless fashion, opened fire towards the concrete ceiling, as he rushed into the van and slammed the door shut.
“Don’t worry, your were-beast friend will be happy and free,” said the woman from the passenger side window. “Support your local supernatural friends; they have rights too!” To which she tossed a bundle of fliers before the van revved to life… Only to ram straight into some poor mallgoer’s ride, ruining its rear.
As the clearly hapless driver of the trio was trying to correct their heading, Rarity could be heard screaming, “Twilight, what are you doing?!”
The sentiment was soon universally shared by all as Twilight trained a chunky, and very magenta, gun at the van. Any screams of admonishments went unnoticed when the mad scientist fired. It was in a short realization that the van did not blow up, or disintegrate; all that happened was a loud “pa-tang” with a hefty dart getting lodged on the van’s bumper before it sped off for the exit.
“Fer Pete’s sake, Twi, what was that!?” blurted Applejack.
Twilight looked indignantly at the farmer, “It’s only a tracking dart, see?” she inquired, showing off how her gun had a whole series of dials and buttons surrounding a small GPS screen.
“Ohhh,” Sunset almost felt relieved, when the realization of their friend’s abduction came to the forefront. “Holy crap! Fluttershy!”
“Who were those ruffians?” asked Rarity in what came out almost as a snarl.
“Didn’t you say something about pets?” Rainbow asked Pinkie, who had picked up one of the fliers.
“Yeah. It says right here, see?” Pinkie held out one of the fliers so casually thrown at them. Colorful, saccharinely so, with a contrastingly icky image of what looked like a cadaver holding a Valentine heart.
Sunset groaned, “The ‘People for the Ethical Treatment of Supernaturals’. They must have found out about Fluttershy’s status as a were-beast.”
The rest shared looks of utter bafflement.
“Seriously?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Seriously?!”
“I know, sounds like a lawsuit just waiting to happen,” remarked Pinkie. “Gotta admit though; these are really nice fliers.”
If only she’d known most of the photos were taken moments before the photographers’ painful, gory demises.
The last bit Sunset did not care: Their friend was abducted by utter losers, but still abducted. Twilight gave them the means to follow them, but they were going to need backup. As the lot of them scrambled to get into Applejack and Pinkie’s respective vehicles, Sunset flicked through her phone for Mom’s number.
A few beeps later, as Pinkie began the chase in perhaps a manner much more dangerous and hastier than needed given weekend traffic, she got an answer, “Mom! Listen, we- I’m fine. We have a situation! Code brown. … yes, code brown. Nope; P.E.T.S. abducted Fluttershy. Yes, we’re in pursuit- Whoa!” She was abruptly cut off as Pinkie performed a screeching turn, after which she was able to speed off for a good short distance. “We need backup, Mom! Okay, great. Yeah, I see ‘em, and Twilight’s got ‘em tagged. Yeah, okay. Thanks. Love you too.”
“Think that dart’s gonna stay on them?” asked Rainbow, leaning forward from the back.
“I can guarantee,” said Twilight, darting attention between the gun-slash-tracking receiver and the road. “Titanium rambolt.”
“Okay, sweet… How the hell did you know we’d have a need for car trackers?” asked Sunset, holding on to the seat thanks to Pinkie’s wild driving.
“Oh, it wasn’t intended for this, but improvise, right? I made these in case we needed to trail something.”
“With titanium rambolts?” inquired Rainbow.
“Well, it’s only a prototype at the moment, and it was the best I could get on short notice. It won’t do much good with human-sized creatures; by my estimate these things will blow a werewolf’s head into pulp.”
“Right, so improvised death machine,” nodded Sunset.
“And much safer than my currently experimental death ray! Speaking of; this thing’s got so many more goodies…”
Code brown. A goddamn code brown, on a weekend. Okay, it’s not like Luna had the most inclusive weekend activities; she just wanted to enjoy some FPS marathoning and not give a crap about anything for one day of the week.
That’s how Luna felt, having been forced from her me-time in pursuit of morons who thought bodysnatchers and man-eaters should be given special rights. But the fact it was Sunset who was affected; oh, it was personal. She was no Celestia, but by god, she liked to think of herself as an awesome aunt! Someone would pay…
She sped down the highway on the outskirts of town in her SUV, Twilight’s intel having been right on the money: They almost managed to cut off the van’s route near the bend by Canterlot Mountain, or rather, Canterlot Crater, but missed them by mere seconds.
Right now, Redheart and Cheerilee were hot on the van’s tail in the former’s car, even the registration plate being just as Twilight said, whilst Luna, with Harshwhinny in the passenger seat were maybe a hundred feet behind. In the rearview they could spot the girls’ rides; a blue, rather outdated station wagon, and behind that was the unmistakable Apple Family jalopy, somehow able to keep up despite its evident age.
No-one was given the green light to open fire. One; P.E.T.S. were people. Unbelievably naïve and misinformed, more likely to get others killed in the long run for their misbegotten ideals, but still people. Two, Fluttershy was inside the van and the risk of harming her was too great. For the moment the best they could do was not lose track and hopefully the confirmed three perps would give up.
“I hope you realize you’re going to get caught,” said Fluttershy. It became quickly apparent the three P.E.T.S. were not going to do anything to her, aside from the abduction.
“Don’t worry, noble shifter. We won’t let those hunters harm you,” said the woman, Sassafras, her dismissiveness just irking Fluttershy further as the chase went on.
“Three of my best friends are hunters, two of their mutual friends, and one’s mom. I’m perfectly fine where I am.”
That’s when none of the three acknowledged her. Sassafras just sat in the passenger seat, anxiously looking between the rear-views and back out the window. The driver, called Nettles, was too preoccupied with driving, and the man with the thick bushy hairdo and red beanie, Slog, seemed mostly preoccupied with incessant fidgeting. Thankfully he’d put the gun away, even detaching the magazine before that. These three seemed hardly a threat.
“I’m sure if you just pull over, we can all work this out and forget this ever happened,” said Fluttershy as calmly and levelly as her increasing frustration permitted. “My friends and I kind of have a knack for these things; you’d be surprised.”
More silence followed over the sounds of the car and the screeching of tires on asphalt. Fluttershy’s eye furrowed dangerously.
“Last chance before I will be forced to take drastic measures!”
Slog, kept fidgeting in his seat beside hers, “If you can’t be happy about us taking you to the wild where you belong, couldn’t you at least appreciate we’re trying?”
Fluttershy’s brow flatlined at what she just heard, “Excuse me?”
“Yeah. I mean we’re just trying to do good.”
“By taking me, against my will, at gunpoint, mind you, away from my life just because I happen to be a were-beast?” Fluttershy pinched the bridge of her nose. “Ever considered what I felt about it?”
“Could someone tell the manatee to shut up?” asked Nettle in an aggravatingly whiny tone. “Christ, this is why I prefer zombies; none of this complaining.”
Fluttershy’s nostrils flared. Her patience had worn thin. To that, she closed her eyes and focused, convincing herself on not feeling the least bit conscientious over what was about to occur.
Luna jerked in the driver’s seat, startled as the van’s rear door burst open. Instead of gunmen or deterrents, something big and grey came tumbling out, severely damaging the van’s frame as it did so. Redheart and Cheerilee came dangerously close to getting squashed, followed by almost swerving off the road before correcting themselves.
Harshwhinny and her had a much easier time going around the expanding, blubbery mass that came rolling towards them, accompanied by the most adorable little scream as it went past.
“What on Earth was that?” asked Harshwhinny.
“I believe that was Fluttershy,” said Luna, seeing the two cars behind them pull over on the rearview.
“Right.” Harshwhinny reached for the walkie-talkie attached to the dashboard. “Blow that car to bits.”
Luna looked over at the veteran hunter, confused, “Is that really necessary?”
Nagatha harrumphed, “I had plans for the evening, Miss Luna. None of which involved chasing idiots out of touch with reality.”
For the life of her, Luna could not come up with anything to argue. It wasn’t often they shared sentiments, not this much anyhow.
Having heard the magic words, Redheart and Cheerilee shared looks of utter joy, like kids on Christmas. Cheerilee was quick to lean out the passenger side window and opened fire with an assault rifle. The awkward positioning and momentum made aiming rather difficult, but it was not like she was really trying to. Sometimes the cacophony of a good old Kalashnikov was just very satisfying to let rip.
As she leaned back in to switch magazines, Redheart, in the worst example of spitting on road etiquette, kept her foot on the pedal as she leaned out of the driver side window, precariously pulling out an RPG launcher before taking aim. There came the ear-popping burst of propellant, the resulting kick sending their vehicle careening for a moment whilst the weapon’s payload went spiraling towards the target.
A resounding boom rocked the highway, the two of them grinning giddily at the resulting explosion. It wasn’t a direct hit, having missed by maybe three feet. Still, it was enough to annihilate the back of the van, sending it out of control and off the road, headfirst into a tree, ablaze.
Redheart pulled up by the edge, the two of them watching as three people climbed out of the burning wreckage.
Cheerilee clambered out the passenger side window, casually leaning her elbows against the roof and nonchalantly proceeded to flip off the three P.E.T.S. “That’s for last year’s ghast infestation, assholes.”
And with that, the two turned around and drove back the way they came.
Sunset and the girls were huddled around Fluttershy, having just changed back into human form. Due to the destruction of her outfit, she was now clad in a flannel shirt two sizes too large for her, currently seated on the back of Applejack’s truck, everyone fussing over her. Evidently, being a twelve-foot blubbery sea-mammal of indeterminate weight made one quite resilient to cuts, scratches and bruising.
Redheart’s car drove past them, able to catch their former teacher and school nurse waving as they went, followed by Luna’s SUV pulling up beside them, the passenger side window rolling down. Miss Harshwhinny addressed everyone with a short, “Girls,” and an acknowledging nod, whilst Luna leaned over from the driver’s seat.
“Everyone okay?”
“All’s fine and dandy, Miss Luna,” said Applejack with gusto.
“We simply can’t thank you enough for your assistance,” added Rarity, hands clutched together.
“Think nothing of it.” As bold a lie as could be; it was Saturday. “You all going to be okay from here? No injuries?”
“I’m fine,” said Fluttershy nonchalantly. “Just everyone else begs to differ.”
“Darling, you got flung out of a speeding car,” Rarity replied in resuming concern, the fashionista feeling around random parts of Fluttershy’s head and arms. “Are you sure nothing’s broken? Are you dizzy? Do you feel any discomfort?” Fluttershy could only roll her eyes, defeated in her own argument.
Sunset shook her head amusedly, “I think we’ll be just fine, Aunt Luna. Tell Mom I said hi, yeah?”
“Sure thing kiddo,” said Luna with a gesture. “We’re off; god knows we all have stuff to do.”
The window rolled back up as Luna drove off, leaving Sunset and the girls with their rides home.
“I’m really sorry about this,” said Fluttershy, finally urging Rarity to cease fussing over her.
“Sorry?” asked Rainbow. “For what? It’s not like you planned on getting abducted by hipsters.”
“Yeah, stuff like this happens,” remarked Sunset, her choice of words not lost on her.
“And this is us we’re talkin’ about an’ all,” Applejack came in with an assuring pat on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Crazy pony magic or somethin’ in between, just gotta live with it.”
Sunset couldn’t keep herself from chuckling at the sentiment. All in all, this inconsiderate intrusion on their time together did take her mind away from the distress she’d been feeling lately. Seeing Pinkie hug Fluttershy, Rainbow bringing up something about “utility kits” to Twilight in lieu of her latest invention, complete with the looming scolding from Applejack; she couldn’t help but hold out for the hope that they were never getting rid of each other if this insane multiverse of theirs had anything to say.