//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Cast Commentary // Story: Behind the Scenes of SunChips // by Godslittleprincess //------------------------------// When Director Cinch received word that Twilight had returned from inside Westview, she returned to the base almost immediately and began questioning Twilight about her experience all while Twilight was undergoing medical work. To everyone’s surprise, despite how forcefully she exited the barrier, the only injury Twilight sustained was a mild headache that was easily treated with a Tylenol. “Twilight, I need you to tell me everything you were aware of while you were inside,” Cinch had demanded of her. “When I first got sucked into the barrier, it really hurt. Then, I heard this wailing in my head,” Twilight had described. “It was Sunset’s.” “Did you try to resist?” “I did, but then, I got overwhelmed by this heavy feeling. I didn’t know what it was at first, but I knew I had felt it before. Then, I realized what I was feeling was grief, her grief.” Flash and Moon Dancer entered the medical tent just as Twilight finished getting what felt like her hundredth but was actually only her third X-ray. “How are you feeling, Captain?” Flash asked. “Like I’m in control of my own thoughts and actions again,” Twilight replied as she got up. “Twilight, this is Dr. Moon Dancer,” Flash introduced. “She was the one who discovered the broadcast.” “It’s so nice to finally meet you,” Moon Dancer gushed taking Twilight’s hand and shaking it vigorously. “I am such a huge fan of your work.” Twilight gave Moon Dancer a friendly smile as she slowly sat up. Before she could get off the exam table though, the doctor returned wearing a concerned look on her face. “Captain Sparkle,” the doctor declared, “I just got your latest X-ray back. Here’s what it looks like.” The doctor turned her tablet over so that Twilight, Flash, and Moon Dancer could see, revealing an image of a blank X-ray film. “Nothing showed up on her X-ray?” Flash questioned. “It’s the same story for her first two X-rays also,” the doctor replied. “Maybe I should run another blood test.” “No,” Twilight refused, getting off the exam table. “I’m fine. I don’t feel sick or weird, so I not too concerned about the X-rays.” “Well, if your up for it,” Flash said to Twilight, “Cinch wants us over at the main tent for briefing.” “I think I’ll be fine, Twilight replied before following Flash and Moon Dancer to the main tent. “Thanks to Captain Sparkle, we now have first-person intel from inside the anomaly,” Cinch addressed everyone at the briefing. “We initially believed that Sunset Shimmer was one of the anomaly’s victims, but now, we have evidence that she may, in fact, its perpetrator. Agent Sentry, do you mind giving us some background information on Ms. Shimmer?” “Sunset Shimmer,” Flash began, addressing all present. “Born in 1989 to Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles in Sokovia, she and her twin sister Rainbow Dash were orphaned during an air raid when the two of them were ten.” “After which, both were radicalized and subsequently volunteered for the known terrorist organization HYDRA,” Cinch interrupted. “There’s a lot more to what actually happened than that, but yes,” Flash agreed before continuing, “She and her sister were subjected to experiments with Loki’s scepter, which we later learned housed the Mind Stone, granting her telepathic and telekinetic abilities.” “Our records show that she first used these abilities against our greatest defenders, the Avengers, correct?” Cinch once again interrupted. “Yes, but she and Rainbow Dash eventually turned against HYDRA and fought Sombra alongside the Avengers in Sokovia, costing Rainbow Dash her life,” Flash continued, trying to hide his annoyance with Cinch and her interruptions. “After defeating Sombra, she became an Avenger herself.” “Leading to the incidents at Lagos and Germany. Thank you for you pointing that out, Agent Sentry. I’m sure we can all agree based on this information that Ms. Shimmer is a dangerous woman who must be dealt with immediately and severely.” Flash looked like he wanted to object but instead returned to his place beside Twilight and Moon Dancer, seething silently. “Nice job on the presentation,” Moon Dancer complimented, attempting to mollify Flash. “Yeah, before Cinch messed it up,” Flash muttered. “If I may speak, Director,” Twilight spoke up, “I don’t believe Sunset is an immediate danger to anyone. Whatever she’s doing in Westview, I don’t think it’s motivated by a desire to harm anybody. If we can just find a way to get back in there and reason with her, maybe she’ll stop willingly.” “Twilight, she’s holding thousands of people hostage. Additionally, she put you under mind control and forcibly ejected you through four walls,” Cinch retorted dismissively. “And somehow I survived all that completely uninjured,” Twilight pointed out. “The only way that would have been possible is if Sunset was using her powers to protect me, which means she never intended to hurt me in the first place. Furthermore, I don’t think she ever intended to hurt anyone.” “Well, let’s see if this changes your mind then,” Cinch countered. “Bring up the visual. I just received authorization to share this.” A video began to play on the big screen behind director Cinch, showing what looked like security footage of SWORD headquarters. “Is that Micro Chips?” Moon Dancer noted, staring at the part of the footage that showed a room housing a dismembered lavender and yellow android. “It is,” Cinch affirmed. “What you’re looking at is the top-secret location of Micro Chips’s remains.” The footage continued to play, showing Sunset bursting through the headquarters’ main doors with her hands glowing with red energy and shattering the window separating her from the room housing Micro Chips. “Nine days ago, Sunset Shimmer broke into SWORD headquarters, absconded with Micro Chips’s remains, and resurrected it before fleeing to Westview,” Cinch explained, “in violation of both the Sokovia Accords and Micro Chips’s living will. Still don’t think she’s dangerous, Captain?” With that Cinch and the other agents left the main tent, leaving Twilight, Flash, and Moon Dancer. “Something doesn’t add up,” Twilight said to the others. “If this happened nine days ago, some time before the anomaly started, why is Cinch just barely sharing this information now?” “She did say it was top-secret,” Flash pointed out. “Maybe she wanted the whole thing resolved quietly.” “Still, you have to admit the whole thing’s pretty suspicious,” Moon Dancer replied. “I say we regroup and figure out how to make contact with Sunset again,” Twilight took charge. “Who’s with me?” “I am,” affirmed Moon Dancer. “So am I,” Flash replied before adding, “I think a saw a Starbucks about ten minutes from here. Why don’t I run get us something while you two get started? What would you like?” “A grande caramel macchiato with extra caramel, 2 pumps of amaretto syrup, 3 shots of espresso, and extra foam,” Moon Dancer answered. Flash and Twilight stared at her in concern. “Do you two have any idea how little sleep I’ve been running on?” Flash turned and looked to Twilight, wordlessly asking her his earlier question. “Just a regular with cream and sugar, thanks,” Twilight replied. “Okay,” Flash confirmed, “2 coffees with cream and sugar and one heavily loaded sugar and caffeine bomb. Gotcha.” “So, what did I miss?” Flash asked, returning with the coffee order while Twilight began to text someone on her phone and Moon Dancer busied herself by the white board. “Twilight’s planning on reentering the Hex and is contacting someone about making her a modified bomb shelter on wheels,” Moon Dancer explained. “The what?” Flash uttered, his face twisting in confusion. “It’s what I’ve been calling the anomaly because of its hexagonal shape. It totally fits it, right?” Moon Dancer explained as she took her coffee. “Yeah, sure,” Flash uncertainly conceded. “Anything new happen inside the anomaly?” “Sunset’s twins just aged themselves up again,” replied Moon Dancer. “They’re 10 now, and they just picked up a dog. Her name’s Smolder.” “Have we been able to get an ID on them?” “Just the kids or both the kids and the dog?” “I don’t know about the dog, but Sunset’s kids are hers,” Twilight answered as she put her phone away. “Don’t ask me how I know. I just know that those children felt very real while I was pulling them out of her.” “Okay, TMI,” Moon Dancer gagged. “What about Sunset’s neighbor Shutterbug?” Flash added. “Out of all the known cast, she’s been the only one we haven’t been able to ID with facial recognition.” “Really?” Twilight exclaimed, moving over to the white board to read Shutterbug’s info sheet. “Okay, that’s strange, but I’m afraid I have no useful info there.” “Hold on. If those kids are actually hers,” Moon Dancer noted, “then where did they come from? Did she just make them out of nothing?” “Last I checked, Sunset’s power set doesn’t include spontaneous creation,” Flash noted. “I mean, she’s just been making the people inside hallucinate everything, right?” “Nope,” Twilight refuted. “Everything inside is real, and it gets rewritten every day to fit with changing decades.” “Hold on. If she’s rewriting reality every single day, then she’s got to be wielding an insane amount of power,” Moon Dancer noted, “way more than she’s been capable of in the past.” “She was already pretty powerful to begin with,” pointed out Twilight. “She was the only one who came close to taking down Tirek.” “You could argue Captain Marvel came pretty close,” Flash countered. “Didn’t she also get her powers from an Infinity Stone?” Twilight rolled her eyes as she redirected the conversation back to Sunset, “We are not talking about her. Let’s just keep our focus on Sunset, okay?” Flash and Moon Dancer noted Twilight’s rather annoyed tone of voice but silently complied. “So, if she’s rewriting reality to fit with the changing decades,” Moon Dancer wondered aloud, “what would happen if we sent in something that already fits the decade the show is currently set in?” “That’s it!” Twilight exclaimed excitedly. “Moon Dancer, you’re a genius!” Meanwhile inside the anomaly, Sunset Shimmer sat on her living room sofa with Suncatcher while the two of them watched Amber Glow train Smolder. Micro Chips should have been with them, but Sunset decided to send him to the office just to keep him from asking questions she didn’t want to answer. She was starting to wish she had kept him at home because now the twins were starting to ask hard questions. Then, Smolder barked and bolted out the front door. “Smolder, come back,” Amber called as she and Suncatcher ran after the dog. Sunset ran after her children. As soon as Sunset stepped past her front door, she found herself face to face with an outdated reconnaissance drone. At the SWORD base, Twilight was piloting the drone while Cinch observed from over her shoulder and Flash and Moon Dancer watched the broadcast. “I’ve got visual on Sunset,” Twilight reported. “So, do we, but no visual on the drone though,” Flash noted. “Sunset must be framing it out of the shot,” Moon Dancer added. “It’s like she’s cutting everything she doesn’t want to deal with out of the show.” “Sunset,” Twilight spoke through the drone. “This is Captain Twilight Sparkle. I just want to talk.” Judging by the way Sunset tilted her head and the fact that her eyes were glowing red through a black-and-white camera, Sunset didn’t seem to believe Twilight. “I just want to talk,” Twilight repeated. “Do we still have visual on Sunset Shimmer?” Cinch asked. “Yes,” Twilight answered. “Good. Take the shot,” Cinch ordered Agent Flare. “What? But the drone isn’t even armed,” Twilight protested. “Taking the shot,” Agent Flare repeated in affirmation. “What? No!” Everyone in the base’s main tent heard a missile being fired followed by an explosion before they lost visual from the drone. The broadcast abruptly stopped and was replaced by a test pattern. “What did you do?” Twilight demanded Cinch. Cinch coldly turned away from her, refusing to answer as the alarms and the PA system announced a breach in the anomaly. Cinch stormed out of the tent with a squadron of armed SWORD agents while Twilight followed them. Sunset emerged from the barrier dragging a broken SWORD drone with her, the drone glowing red with energy. “Is this yours?” Sunset angrily questioned, tossing the drone at Cinch’s feet while agents trained their guns on her. “You could have shot my children.” “We weren’t aiming for your ‘children,’ Sunset,” Cinch replied coolly, “if you can even call them that. Furthermore, you know why we had to do it. You took an entire town hostage. If that isn’t a declaration of war, I don’t know what is.” “I didn’t bring the guns to the party, Director Cinch,” Sunset retorted as she tilted her head and swirled red energy in her hands. “Wait,” Twilight interrupted, stepping forward. Sunset un-tilted her head but kept the energy in her hands. “Sunset, I didn’t know the drone was armed, and I know that you know you can trust me. You wouldn’t have let me deliver your twins if you didn’t. I know you’re angry, but you have to calm down and let me help you.” “Help me?” Sunset laughed mirthlessly. “What could you possibly do to help me?” “Well, what do you want?” Twilight replied. “I have what I want, and I am not letting anyone take it from me again.” With that, Sunset directed the energy towards the gun-wielding agents and had them turn their guns towards Cinch before storming back into the anomaly. “Stand down! Stand down!” Cinch cried before Sunset’s exit broke her control over the agents, causing them to lower their guns. After Cinch had her agents drag the broken yet still glowing drone back to base, she marched off into the main tent with Twilight running after her. “Cinch, what you just did may have cost us whatever chance we had of resolving this peacefully,” Twilight exclaimed. “And now, we know just how dangerous she is,” Cinch replied dismissively. “Oh, look, if it isn’t the woman of the hour, the one who nearly got killed by her own kill team,” Moon Dancer dryly remarked as Cinch stormed past her and Flash. “I didn’t ask for your opinion, Dr. Dancer,” Cinch retorted. “Now, shut up and go back to work.” “Excuse me,” Flash interrupted, “but the only reason why we have any intel about the anomaly at all is because of her and Captain Sparkle. If I were you, I’d treat them with more respect.” “And if I were you, I’d remember who is in charge here, agent,” Cinch snapped before addressing everyone else in the tent. “Our objective is to take down Sunset Shimmer. We do that, then we free Westview from her control.” “You don’t know what will happen to the anomaly if Sunset dies,” Twilight objected. “Our only chance to take it down safely is to convince Sunset to do it herself.” “I’m starting to believe that you and your family have a problem with advocating for enhanced individuals,” Cinch scoffed, addressing Twilight specifically. “I know about you and your family’s relationship with Luna Nightmoon. Where were you when Sunset Shimmer and her kind failed us all those years ago? That’s right, gone.” “You may think you’re doing the right thing,” Twilight answered, keeping her voice even despite her rising anger, “but from where I’m standing, all you’re doing is being a coward.” “Agents, please escort Captain Sparkle, Agent Sentry, and Dr. Dancer off my base,” Cinch ordered as armed agents complied. “Well, now what?” Moon Dancer muttered as the three of them were led off by base. Unnoticed by the others, Flash glanced around counting how many agents were escorting them. He counted six. Then, without warning, Flash grabbed one of the agents and threw him against another before quickly subduing them both and taking on two of the remaining agents. Twilight quickly caught on to what Flash was doing and knocked out the remaining two agents. Moon Dancer, on the other hand, just stood there in shocked surprise. “When were you guys planning on telling me we were supposed to do that?” Moon Dancer exclaimed. “Let’s just get back into the base,” Twilight ordered, stripping the agents and disguising herself in their clothes. “Cinch is hiding something from us, and we’re going to find out what it is.” Flash and Moon Dancer also disguised themselves and followed Twilight into a tent where SWORD kept its hard drives and other extra computer equipment. The person in charge of overseeing the tent must have been a closet SunChips fan because an old analog TV was also set up showing the latest episode. Twilight couldn’t help but stare when a blue-skinned woman with rainbow hair came on screen. “Who is that?” Twilight asked Flash and Moon Dancer. “Sunset’s ‘sister’ came into town,” Flash explained with air quotes, “assuming that’s who she really is.” Twilight could see why Flash was calling the woman’s claimed identity into question. She could see the orange and gold stripes showing through the rainbow, and “Rainbow Dash’s” eyes were completely the wrong color. Twilight couldn’t help but wonder who the woman really is and why she is pretending to be Rainbow Dash. Of course, there’s always the possibility that Sunset was making some unwilling cast member pretend to be Rainbow Dash, but despite everything that Sunset had done already, Twilight doubted that Sunset would go that far just to run from her grief. While Twilight contemplated all this, Moon Dancer got to work hacking into Cinch’s network. How someone with a doctorate in astrophysics would find time to learn how to hack, Twilight and Flash will never know. “I’m in,” Moon Dancer announced before pointing to her laptop screen. “Look, Cinch found a way to look inside the Hex.” “And she didn’t share it with the rest of us?” Flash noted disbelievingly. “Nope.” “Who is she tracking?” Twilight asked, pointing at the blinking red dot on the screen surrounded several non-blinking dots. “Well, the program seems to be tracking the decay signature of vibranium, so I’m assuming Cinch is interested in Micro Chips,” Moon Dancer explained. “All the other dots seem to be people in his immediate vicinity.” “But why is Cinch interested in Micro Chips?” Twilight asked before being interrupted by a beep from her cell phone. “That’s my contact.” “The one with the modified bomb shelter on wheels?” Flash remembered. “Yup, and he wants to meet us over the ridge. Let’s go.” “Wait,” Moon Dancer cried as she pulled up another one of Cinch’s files, “Twilight, you can’t go back into the Hex.” “Why not?” Twilight asked quizzically. Moon Dancer turned her laptop around and showed Twilight and Flash the file she was looking at. “That’s your bloodwork,” she explained. “Passing through the Hex’s barrier caused your cells to be rewritten, and that’s happened twice already. There’s no telling what will happen to you if you go through a third time.” Twilight looked at the image on the screen but didn’t seem at all fazed by it. “I don’t know for sure why Sunset is doing this, but if how she feels now, after everything she’s lost, is anything at all like how I feel after losing my mom and my brother, then I think I can understand her, and I’m not giving up until I help her through this,” Twilight declared. “Well, unless you know how to hotwire a car, I don’t think you’re going to get very far,” Flash noted, “so I’ll go with you. Moon Dancer, you coming?” “I can’t,” Moon Dancer replied. “I still have one more firewall to get through, and I just know Cinch is hiding something big behind that one.” “Well, stay safe,” answered Twilight as she and Flash began to depart, “and don’t let Cinch catch you.” Moon Dancer nodded as the three of them waved their goodbyes. “So,” Twilight commented as Flash got to work hotwiring the armored car that was to serve as their escape vehicle, “nice work on taking out the grunts.” “I honestly can’t believe I did that,” Flash replied, working as quickly as he could. “Me five years ago would never even dream about going against a direct order from a superior.” “Oh, and why is that?” “Well, let’s just say up until recently, I was what you would call a by-the-book agent,” Flash answered as the engine rumbled to life. “Get in.” The two of them boarded the car with Flash in the driver’s seat and drove away as stealthily as possible. As they drove, Twilight elected to continue their earlier conversation. “So, what changed that made you less by-the-book?” she asked. “Uh,” Flash stuttered, “Captain Sparkle, I know we’re starting to get friendly with each other, but isn’t talking about our personal lives on the job really unprofessional?” “Oh, well, I see old habits die hard,” Twilight remarked dryly. “Yeah, I guess they do,” Flash replied with a nervous chuckle. He bit his lip, contemplating whether he should disregard the rules of professionalism or not, but before he could decide on an answer, he saw something glowing red on the rearview mirror. “What the heck is that?” Twilight looked at the mirrors and saw the red glow also. “It looks like the anomaly,” Twilight answered, “and it’s getting bigger.” “Oh no!” Flash exclaimed. “Moon Dancer!” Flash was about to turn the car around when Twilight grabbed the steering wheel and stopped him. “Floor it,” she ordered. “But—,” Flash protested. “If we go back for her, we’ll get stuck inside too, and we won’t be able to help her or anyone else inside,” Twilight explained. “She’ll be fine.” Flash sighed as he reluctantly slammed down on the gas pedal, “I sure hope you’re right.” Meanwhile, Moon Dancer had just broken through Cinch’s last firewall and was emailing Flash all of Cinch’s files. Judging by how large the files were, Flash likely won’t receive them until morning. Shortly after she had hit send, the alarms began blaring, announcing a breach in the anomaly. Moon Dancer stepped out of the tent and quietly snuck over to where the armed agents were gathering. She could see Cinch standing at the front of the group wearing a satisfied sneer. Moon Dancer turned to where Cinch was watching and saw what looked like Micro Chips in his true form attempting to exit the barrier, except something was wrong. Pieces of metal of were coming off Micro Chips and flying back towards the Hex. “What are you doing?!” Moon Dancer cried as she ran to the front, blowing her cover. “He’s coming apart! Help him! Push him back in!” She had almost reached Micro Chips when the bald agent from her first day grabbed her and overpowered her. He dragged her to one of the jeeps and handcuffed her to it. “Let me go!” Moon Dancer protested. The bald agent looked up at something behind her, his face morphing from annoyance to simple, unadulterated fear. He ran away as fast as he could while Cinch and a handful of other agents boarded the rest of the jeeps and made their getaway. Moon Dancer turned around to see what was causing the agents to flee and saw a rapidly advancing wall of red energy moving towards her. She struggled against her bonds in a futile attempt to escape, but ultimately, she could do nothing more than curse her fate as the Hex swallowed her. “Oh fudge!” she cursed.