//------------------------------// // Rumors // Story: Cybertron Girls // by SonicSpeedster97 //------------------------------// Canterlot City; a fairly standard metropolis all things considered… aside from the madness of the occasional magical mishap from the students of Canterlot High. Ever since the most recent Fall Formal, mystic beasts, relics and energies from another world have been leaking across to this one. Still, if any madness popped up, it was nothing the students couldn’t handle. At least… that’s what they thought. If they knew what was coming, the students would be terrified. It all began one warm Thursday morning when Sunset Shimmer first revved into the school’s parking lot on her black 2009 Harley Davidson FLHT Electra Glide Standard motorcycle. (This, but with hot-rod flames) She’d always liked her old bike, even though she did think it was a bit ostentatious with the flame-job she’d gotten so long ago. She’d been thinking about changing it or maybe even trading the bike in for something else entirely for a while now but she’d been so busy lately that she’d never had a chance. Still, she had more pressing concerns lately; school, magic research, and band practice with her friends. But that still didn’t detract from her attention to the unusual, including the car parked across the street; a bright yellow 2010 Chevy Camaro with black racing stripes. Sunset knew most of the cars that usually parked in the area of the school, so even if it weren’t for the paintjob, that car really stood out to her. She glanced over when she saw her friends arrive, all apparently preoccupied until they saw her. “Hey Sunset, what’s up?” Twilight Sparkle smiled. “Not much.” Sunset shrugged, before looking back across the street. “Hey, have any of you ever seen that car over there before?” The girls all looked over at the car and were surprised as well. “Never seen it before. Looks pretty killer though.” Rainbow Dash smirked. “Perhaps we should report it.” Rarity suggested. “Nah, it’s probably nothin’.” Applejack shrugged. “Maybe some new guy workin’ ‘cross the street or somethin’.” “Well, I’m sure we’ll find out soon.” Sunset shrugged. “Cmon, let’s get to class.” No one could argue with that, so they all made their way in the front door. All day in class that day, the girls heard stories of mysterious vehicles around town; trucks without cargo, emergency vehicles with no emergency in sight, things like that, and it was more than enough to confuse the girls. But they would be even more confused by what Twilight revealed she’d brought to school after band practice in the music room; a small metal orb. “What is this thing?” Rainbow had to ask. “I’m not sure. Spike dug it up in our yard this morning.” Twilight shrugged. “I think it’s some sort of meteorite, but I’ve never seen this type of metal before.” “Ooh! Maybe it’s aliens!” Pinkie Pie smiled. Fluttershy seemed worried about that idea, but Applejack just scoffed. “Cmon now Pinkie. Magic I can accept, but aliens? Not in this lifetime or any of the next.” “What, farm-girl like you, AJ?” Rainbow smirked. “I don’t believe that. Never had crop-circles before?” “Not unless ya count the circle of cars ‘round the farm when the family reunion comes round.” Applejack smirked right back. “Actually, Pinkie might be right.” Twilight pointed out, looking closely at the meteorite itself. “I stopped by the science lab in my free period and took a closer look at this thing, and saw some microscopic circuitry in the metal, plus some weird writing I’ve never seen before.” She showed the girls her phone, which contained pictures from through the lens of a microscope, revealing the circuitry and unusual squiggles which the girls could only imagine was the writing Twilight had referred to. “I’ve done some digging online; no tech on Earth is this advanced. And given that, one would be inclined to assume…” “What, you seriously think this is some sort of alien technology?” asked Sunset. “It’s certainly a possibility. But I don’t have the gear to prove that here.” Twilight shrugged. “We’ll have to look it over at my lab back home.” Unfortunately, they still had most of the day to wait for that to happen since it was barely lunchtime by the time this revelation came about. And in the cafeteria, the rumors only circulated further about the strange vehicles around town. But it only got weirder from there; apparently Sandalwood had gotten close enough to one of the vehicles to peer inside, and didn’t see anyone driving. Microchips and Flash Sentry reportedly went through similar incidents which only made matters more and more confusing. But what really confused Sunset and the girls was that as the students were gossiping, the meteorite was faintly glowing. These all seemed highly unusual even for Canterlot City, but then things got weirder; as they ate, Sunset could’ve sworn she saw something out the lunchroom window. Something that looked like a person, but… bigger. She didn’t understand it until the school-day ended and the girls all walked out, only to see that the Camaro was gone which confused her even more. “That’s odd.” Twilight noted, looking at her watch. “The workday at that building doesn’t end for another hour.” “Maybe whoever drove that car didn’t work there.” Fluttershy suggested, unsure as she said it. “I’ll buy that.” Rainbow shrugged, moving over to Rarity’s car. “Well, I’ll see you girls at Twilight’s place.” Sunset was still confused but couldn’t put her finger on why. Still, she didn’t have any better explanations for that car’s disappearance and moved to head home. But as she saddled up on her bike, she found there was a problem; for some reason, it wouldn’t start. “What the-? Oh cmon, ya piece of junk.” She tried a few more times, but the engine still wouldn’t turn over. “You okay, Sunset?” asked Twilight. “Yeah, I think my bike’s just dead.” Sunset shrugged. “Doesn’t make much sense though; it ran fine this morning.” “Just another excuse for ya to get rid of it, I say.” Applejack shrugged, opening the back of her old pick-up truck. “Cmon, load that thing up and we can carpool.” “Thanks AJ.” Sunset smiled as she climbed off the bike and rolled it over. Then with super-strength and minimal effort, Applejack grabbed the bike and carefully lifted it into the back of the truck before strapping it down. When she did this, however, Twilight noticed that the meteorite was glowing even more than before, and also shaking in her pocket. She only got more confused as she saw this, but decided not to look into it until the team reached the lab. With that in mind, the girls all climbed into their vehicles and started out of the parking lot. But just as they were leaving, Sunset saw something. “I think I just found out where that car went.” And sure enough, around the corner of the building was the Camaro, parked so that the driver could look through the window of the cafeteria. “Okay, this is getting stupid.” Rainbow snarled as she climbed out of the car. “Rainbow Dash, what on earth are you doing?” Rarity asked in surprise by this action. “I’m gonna go give this guy a piece of my mind.” Rainbow assured, walking ever-closer to the Camaro. “Alright pal, what’s your deal?” Unfortunately, she wasn’t very close to the vehicle and as soon as she spoke, the Camaro revved its engine and raced away down the street. Rainbow managed a quick glance in through the car’s window as it left, and what she saw shocked her as she turned to the others. “Uh guys, there’s nobody driving that thing.” That surprised everyone as they looked after the vehicle. “Another one? Here?” Sunset was just getting more and more confused. “Why?” “Maybe they’re aliens, here for that meteorite.” Pinkie suggested jovially. “What’re the odds of that?” asked Applejack. “At this point, I’d say we can’t afford to rule anything out.” Twilight reminded. “I suggest we all keep our eyes open. If we see anything unusual, we should say something.” “Does that count as unusual?” Rainbow pointed up, indicating to the others that a wing of F-15 Eagle air-fighters was flying over town… and they appeared to be multiple different colors. “I’d say so.” Applejack pointed out. “This town hasn’t had a military fly-over in years.” “We’ll check the news at the lab, see if there have been any other incidents.” Twilight assured. “Now cmon, let’s move.” The girls all quickly boarded their vehicles and drove toward Twilight’s house… unaware that they were being followed.