It had been two days since voluntarily leaving her small studio apartment after it had been vandalized for three days straight. The last time students were throwing rocks through the windows and had managed to toss a few through the neighbor’s whose kid was almost hit. The landlord had asked her to leave before somebody got hurt since the police couldn’t do much as they didn’t have any real idea of who the vandals were. In the landlord’s defense though, she apologized to Sunset and said she just didn’t want anyone getting hurt.
It really didn’t matter in the end though as Sunset had also lost her job thanks to students from school starting arguments in the middle of the sushi restaurant a couple days in a row. The police were called and those students that hadn’t run were served with a trespassing warning so if they came back they would be arrested. The commotion had forced the manager to fire Sunset as it had greatly impacted the business.
So she had no income now, meaning she had nothing to pay for her apartment. She was now homeless with only her bag filled with a couple changes of clothes and her journal. She had left her school supplies in her locker since she didn’t have room for them in her bag and didn’t want to be carrying all of that around anyways. A part of her was wondering if she should just leave them there and disappear, leave Canterlot and the pain it had brought her.
The cold wind blowing snow in her face made sure she didn’t have time to worry about that at the moment as she was entering the edge of the Everfree Forest. There was supposedly an old mansion that nobody would ever go near as people swore it was haunted. Old stories to scare people like that didn’t bother Sunset as she didn’t believe in the monsters that filled the horrible movies Rainbow Dash seemed to love. She knew similar things were real in Equestria as there was natural magic there. But here where there wasn’t strong ambient magic, there was no way for those creatures to exist.
Finding the large, run down building she had to admit it looked pretty spooky. It was like your typical haunted house with a gothic slant to it and short, stone walls surrounding the property with cast iron pikes rising from it forming a type of fence. The main gate was made from the same cast iron pikes that were much taller, though one was on the ground and the other was barely hanging on, its hinges rusted very badly.
Not caring about how the house looked, Sunset decided to step over the gate on the ground and walk up the driveway to the large house. If nobody came here for fear of monsters, then she would have a palace to stay and have a safe haven. She doubted it would be too warm as most of the windows had large cracks running through them, if not outright broken. Another gust of wind caused her to pick up her pace and hurry up onto the porch where she almost tried the door handle, but thought it best to try knocking first to make sure it wasn’t inhabited on some off chance. When nobody answered, Sunset tried the door and was pleased to find it unlocked and easy to open.
A warm gush of air washed over Sunset as she stepped over the threshold and into the foyer. She could see a large staircase heading up and splitting in two, spiraling apart from each other and up to the second floor. There was a lot of furniture that was covered in dust and cobwebs, as was a lot of the walls. Shutting the door behind her, Sunset slowly walked through the foyer and came upon what she assumed was a living room as there were two couches facing each other with a long coffee table and a loveseat at one end and an old floor model television. There was also a large piano with pipes sticking out of the top making Sunset wonder if this was a pipe organ that she had heard mentioned.
“Hello?” Sunset called out, “I’m not a robber or anything, I’m just seeking shelter from the cold!”
Satisfied that there were no responses after a few moments, Sunset decided to try the lights and was pleasantly surprised that they worked. Apparently the place at least had power, but she intended not to waste it. It did explain why the place was warm as the furnace must have been running. The place was filthy though, and she really didn’t look forward to sleeping in a bunch of dust as she didn’t want to get sick or choke to death on it.
Exploring the bottom floor, she found herself in she found a bathroom, a dining room, a fully equipped kitchen, though the appliances were a little old, a broom closet that looked more like a small bedroom with every cleaning item you could think of stored inside, a pantry full of empty shelves and the stairs to a cellar. She was pretty sure that just the little area she explored was a lot larger than the entire apartment building she lived in up until a few days ago.
“The place won’t clean itself.” Sunset groaned as she returned to the broom closet and got a duster and vacuum to get started. If she could just clean some of the dirt and dust for tonight she would be happy enough for now. She could worry about cleaning more thoroughly tomorrow as well as taking care of some of the other rooms than the living room and bathroom.
It took almost two hours to clean the two rooms as she had to scrub the bathroom. Thankfully, the water also seemed to work, including the hot which made her sigh in relief. She planned on taking a nice hot bath since it would be her first chance to get herself clean other than the quick shower after gym class. Right now, she just wanted to relax, and despite the age the couch was pretty comfortable now that it was clean of dirt.
After that, she was curled up on the couch reading something she found under the couch cushions as she cleaned, a stack of comic books. While most of the students at school probably wouldn’t have believed that she liked comics, she actually did. She was an artist though, she loved all forms of it while also enjoying the story in many of the books. This one was actually one of the more interesting ones she’s read. It was about three normal people with boring jobs that were actually a team of superheroes. They used handheld devices to turn into the Beetleborgs, three differently colored warriors.
Despite finding what appeared to be the perfect haven, she was still lacking one thing that she wished she had. Food. Her stomach kept growling and she didn’t want to go back out into that storm as the winds were now howling, causing the windows to rattle and the snow was making it hard to see a few feet into it. Even if she did have money to go buy something, she knew she was more likely to die out there as her clothes were just not made for it. She was half frozen when she found this place.
“You know, I’ve been growling at you for the last five minutes.” A voice said, irritation clear in it drawing Sunset’s attention up to see what looked like one of those things from another movie Rainbow Dash had loved, a mummy. Did someone actually live here who liked dressing up as old movie monsters?
“I’m really sorry, I didn’t know somebody else was here. If I can at least wait out the storm, I’ll leave.” Sunset sighed, sad that she had lost the haven she had thought she had found.
“I’m sorry, what?” The mummy cosplayer asked, slowly undoing his bandages making Sunset feel a little creeped out. Was this guy stripping?
“Look, I’m really sorry I barged in like this, I thought the place was abandoned.” Sunset said, shaking a little as the man wasn’t stopping even after getting off the couch. As she started realizing that this was no mere pervert, but something much more, she started to freak out. How could there be real monsters here? There was barely enough magic before the crown incident to do anything with, so how?
“I do think you will be quite sorry, my dear.” A smooth voice said, a bat flying up to her and hovering in front of her face. The bat continued as it started stretching out and shadows enveloped it until it was taller than Sunset herself. The shadows started pulling back revealing a very regal looking man with skin whiter than Rarity’s herself and black hair. “I do have to thank you though, I normally don’t get delivery.”
“Wh-what are you?” Sunset squeaked out as she took a step back, the new man licking his lips showing two very long and very pointed fangs. The mummy man was finished removing his bandages leaving behind what could only be described as a grim reaper.
“I’m sure you must have figured it out by now, my dear.” The man smirked as he took a step forward making Sunset jump back onto the couch and fall over the back. Groaning as she laid on the floor, she rubbed her head where it hit the floor and looked up to see a large man with old, dusty clothes with wild black hair and two bolts sticking out from his neck.
“This isn’t happening!” Sunset squeaked out as she rolled away from the slow, lumbering man who stomped after her.
“Don’t hurt her Frank, I still need to feed.” The vampire said.
“As long as I get her after, I could use some fresh meat.” The reaper man chuckled, making Sunset shiver as she glared at the man.
“Over my dead body, you pervert!” Sunset snapped.
“My dear, when my friend here is done with you, I’m afraid you will be very dead.” The vampire teased, moving closer only to yell in pain as Sunset kneed him in the groin making him clutch himself and fall to his knees in agony. She turned to run, but slammed right into the big man they called Frank. He tried to wrap his arms around her, only for her to duck and jump away, slamming into the piano.
“Don’t touch that!” The reaper man cried out just as Sunset’s hands came down on the keys making a cringey sound. The three monsters jumped back in what seemed like worry as lightning started arcing over the piano more and more, making Sunset even more worried. She kept an eye on the monsters who were now keeping their distance as they glared at the piano.
“What have you done child?” The vampire hissed out as he glared at Sunset.
As if Sunset wasn’t freaked out enough as it was, three women appeared out of smoke from three of the middle lower pipes. They were maybe seven inches tall and their legs seemed to fade into the smoke coming from the pipes, the first one having pinkish-red hair with matching dress and gloves, the second was blue and the final one green. As the power arced over the old instrument, it started playing a creepy sounding tune all on its own as the three women danced in place.
“We’re the Pipettes, and back by popular demand, let’s hear it for the flabtastic, flabnominal, flabulous super phenomenal phasm from the seventh dimension! Here’s Flabber!” The three women said together, their hands all pointed to the side where a whirlwind of energy that was laughing flew around the room to come back to the piano and formed into one of the strangest men Sunset had ever seen. He stood with one foot on the stool in front of the instrument and another off of it before hopping down to the floor.
He looked like a mix between that late night talk show host Pinkie was always going on about, the old singer that seemed to be really popular and a stage magician. He had black hair in what Sunset recognized was a hairstyle similar to that guy off the Happy Days show Fluttershy had talked her into watching that one time with a complexion even whiter than Rarity’s, yet it seemed to give off a soft glow. He had a red cape, a purple jacket with a yellow dress shirt, yellow fingerless gloves with the weirdest pair of slacks Sunset had ever seen. Finishing the loud outfit off, the man had yellow and white loafers, which did nothing to help the rest of the outfit in Sunset’s opinion, making her wonder if she had been spending too much time with Rarity.
“Happy Flabber day!” Flabber cried out, pointing to his side asking, “Who loves ya?”
“What..the…actual…tartarus?” Sunset asked, fear gripping her as now she had what seemed like a ghost or demon she had to deal with along with the other three.
“I’m free!” Flabber cheered, dancing in place as he cried out, “Fat free! Hat free! And home free!” The three women were cheering and applauding as it sounded like a stadium full of people with full fanfare. “Thank you! Thank ya very much!”
“I really wish I was a Beetleborg right now.” Sunset groaned as she saw the comics out of the corner of her eye.
“Aww, you spoiled my introduction, little lady!” Flabber whined, the three women shrugging in response. “Well, I didn’t think I’d get you to make a wish that easily.”
“What?” Sunset squeaked out as Flabber flew up behind the piano, the top half showing above the pipes as the other three monsters groaned.
“Flim!” Flabber cried out, both hands pointing right, “Flam!” His hands switching to the other direction, “Flareo!” Pointing at Sunset now, “You’re a superhero! Phasm says!”
Red energy shot up around Sunset in a whirlwind as she felt as if her body was flattening out. She could feel strength flowing through her as armor appeared on her body. In her hand she had a strange looking gun, or possibly a crossbow, as at the end instead of a single barrel it had a long piece on it with a barrel on each end and one in the middle. She realized she was having trouble moving which brought about another realization, “Why am I stuck in the comic?”
“You got to get it together kid!” Flabber called with an exaggerated shake of his head before pointing all of his fingers at the comic, “Poof!”
It seemed like reality shattered around her like pieces of glass leaving her once again able to move as she was standing outside of the comic as the red Beetleborg. “Wow! This has got to be a dream! I’m the red striker borg and I have the striker blaster!”
“Get her!” The vampire cried out, pointing at Sunset and pushing the large man toward her.
“I don’t think so!” Sunset exclaimed, pointing her weapon at the large man as a wave of red lightning arced from the three points on the gun, joining to form a wave of energy that slammed into the man and threw him back and into the reaper creature.
“Now that, he had coming!” Flabber laughed.
“He sure did!” The women agreed, giggling as they watched.
“So I’m going to be dead, am I?” Sunset asked angrily as she pointed the weapon at the vampire who was holding his hands up in a placating manner. They were distracted when the comic started glowing bright and six balls of fire shot up out of it. Four balls of orange flame shot through the wall of the house without damaging the structure as a green and blue one flew up to the organ to float on either side of the women who watched them nervously.
“Uh oh!” Flabber groaned.
“What do you mean, uh oh?” Sunset demanded to know as she spun around pointing her weapon at the ghost like genie as the vampire slinked away, helping the other two as they hurried from the room.
“Well, I think I may have made a tiny mistake.” Flabber reluctantly admitted.
“A tiny mistake?” The three women giggled, earning a mock glare from Flabber.
“I may have put too much power in that, it’s been awhile since I granted a wish you know. I think I might have released the villains from the comic too.” Flabber explained sheepishly.
“And those?” Sunset asked as she pointed to the blue and green fireballs hovering there.
“Those would be the other two Beetleborgs.” Flabber said.
“Well, that’s great, just release the wish.” Sunset suggested, unsure if that was wise with those three monsters and this…thing still here. She wasn’t too worried about the three women as they seemed pretty harmless, but then again, so did the Sirens.
“Well, the thing is…” Flabber fidgeted, “I can’t. Not until all of them are returned to the comics.”
“And how do we do that?” Sunset asked, dreading the answer.
“Well, little lady, it isn’t how we can send them back. It’s how you send them back. It was your wish so only you can send them back by defeating them.” Flabber explained.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Sunset groaned.
“Well, there are the other two Beetleborgs…so you can have help.” Flabber said, indicating the green and blue flames on either side of the Pipettes.
“So, how do I get them to change into Beetleborgs instead of just the colorful pyrotechnics?” Sunset asked.
“Weeeeeelllllllll…that’s the thing. You can’t. You need two other people to take the powers.” Flabber said nervously as he could see the tic forming in Sunset’s eye.
“I should have just wished to eradicate the four of you idiots.” Sunset groaned, face palming, a metallic clinging sound echoing from the action. “Or at least a freaking home with a nice family far away from this tartarus pit.”
“I’m sorry, I wouldn’t be able to grant any of those wishes.” Flabber sighed, looking a little deflated as he tried to study the girl, though useless as she was still in her armor. “I can’t grant wishes to kill anything and I can’t make people up from thin air. As for a home, I can’t leave this property so I wouldn’t be able to unless it was on this property and…let’s face it, that would raise too many questions.”
“Ok, that sounds a little more logical than I gave you credit for.” Sunset groaned, pacing back and forth while keeping an eye on the ghost and the direction the other three retreated to.
“That hurts right here, missy.” Flabber said, patting a pink stuffed heart he conjured out of somewhere. Sunset rolled her eyes, not that it could be seen. “You said you should have wished for a home or family, don’t you have those?”
“The closest thing I had to one I foolishly threw away, though she wasn’t exactly innocent either. I thought I was fitting into a family here, but they betrayed me.” Sunset huffed, holding her weapon pointing to the ghost.
“I’m actually a phasm, not a ghost.” Flabber said with a lopsided grin.
“What?” Sunset asked at the change of topic.
“Well, people keep calling me ghost so I thought I would point that out.” Flabber said, sitting cross legged…while floating in midair. “Just trying to make you smile a little. I know it isn’t much of what you were expecting, but you can stay here with us.”
“What, to be a snack for those three idiots and play exorcist with you?” Sunset demanded. She may have never seen the movie, but she’s seen enough memes and jokes about it to know what it was.
“You will come to no harm here, scouts honor.” Flabber said holding up a small chubby boy in a scouts uniform by the back of the collar. The boy was giving a scouts salute with a bit of a grin before Flabber threw the boy over his shoulder with a chuckle.
“And I should believe you why?” Sunset asked.
“Because I am granting your wish of a home, you can stay here.” Flabber said, spreading his arms out, “Welcome home!”
“That doesn’t reassure me!” Sunset snapped, making the phasm wince.
“Look kid, I know the three idiots. We might not really get along, but they are a good sort. They would never really hurt somebody, they were just trying to scare you out of the house as they don’t want a bunch of people snooping around the place.” Flabber explained.
Sunset couldn’t help herself as she stomped up to the Phasm and shoved her helmeted face into Flabbers, throwing a hand out to point to the direction the three left minutes earlier while growling, “There is a freaking vampire!”
“Umm…yeah, he is a vampire. Are you prejudiced against them or something?” Flabber asked in the most innocent voice he could. Sunset took a step back in shock as the phasm just floated there waiting for an answer.
“Hu-Wha? What? What the heck are you talking about? He’s a freaking vampire!” Sunset roared.
“So?” Flabber asked, floating a little higher and flipping upside down while still maintaining his seated position before turning right side up again.
“They kill people! They suck their blood and kill people?” Sunset snorted incredulously.
“Let me ask you something, little lady.” Flabber said, rubbing his chin in thought. “How many vampires do you actually know? How many have you ever met?”
“None before tonight.” Sunset snorted in disbelief at the question, crossing her arms.
“Well, let me tell you something little lady.” Flabber said as his clothes changed to look like a stylized Count Dracula as he put in a pair of false fangs. “Vampires don’t need to kill to feed, and those that do are true monsters, but you don’t have to worry about those. The people they do feed off of are usually either those who freely give of themselves or they don’t remember it. The saliva heals the wounds so they never knew it was there, In fact, it doesn’t even hurt other than a pinch. They feel an exhilarated feeling and once finished, the venom that causes that feeling promotes the body to quickly replace what was taken and makes the person feel on top of the world for a few days. A fair exchange in my opinion.”
“Are you insane? They bite people and turn them into other vampires if they don’t kill them!” Sunset cried out.
“No, child, they don’t.” Flabber said, closing his eyes to rub his temples. “How far have stories of vampires come since I was sealed away? The only way to make a new vampire is to exchange blood three times over the period of a month. There is no danger of dying or becoming a vampire just by being fed off of. Do you think they should just suffer and starve until they die?”
“Well, I don’t want anyone to die.” Sunset relented sheepishly. If this ghost, genie, phantasm, or whatever he was, was telling the truth, then vampires weren’t the monsters that pop culture made them out to be. How was she supposed to know if this was the truth though? It would be foolish to just trust this creature, yet she really didn’t want to go back out into the storm, which if the wind beating on the windows was any indication, was growing worse. She was also getting very tired and if she was honest with herself, she would rather face this unknown rather than brave the storm which was pretty much known. She knew she would die before she could make it back anywhere, and that was if she could even stay on the right track as the visibility was pretty much zero.
“And we don’t want anyone to die, especially you.” Flabber affirmed.
“Fine, I’ll stay on the couch.” Sunset groaned.
“Now that won’t do, little lady.” Flabber said cheerily, floating down the hall towards the other direction of the house. Sunset hesitantly followed the phasm until coming to a hall on the opposite side of the entrance that was dark and even more dusty than the few rooms she cleaned.
“I’m too tired to clean anymore tonight.” Sunset groaned, reluctant to admit it. The phasm only gave her a grin as he spun his hands around each other gathering magic that swirled with them that looked more like something from a comic strip than actual magical energy. With an exaggerated thrust of his arms he threw the energy that turned into a tornado of exaggerated lines and puffs of smoke that swept down the hall leaving everything spotless and lighting the electric lamps hanging on the walls. “Ok, that was kind of cool.”
“Ah aim to please, pardner!” Flabber said, swirling his hands as if they were guns before shoving them into invisible holsters at his side actually earning a bit of a giggle from Sunset. “I’m really happy to hear that, little lady. I was beginning to think I’d never get a smile from you.”
“Who said I was smiling?” Sunset asked, crossing her arms while getting a knowing look from Flabber.
“Well, little lady, I guess this is where we say goodnight.” Flabber said, holding the back of his hand to his forehead in a good imitation of Rarity for a few moments. He finally pointed to the first door on the left, “This will be your room, it’s perfectly clean now and fully furnished. The next room down is a bathroom, also fully clean. Is there anything else you need?”
“I guess not.” Sunset sighed, her stomach once again making itself known.
“Well,” Flabber said, holding his hand behind his back before bringing it forward with a silver covered tray on his hand. “Then I guess you don’t want this?”
“Are you serious?” Sunset asked, hesitantly picking up the silver domed lid to find a soda and a bag of McDonald’s food sitting there. “Is this real?”
“Sure is, little lady. Now don’t go expecting me to do this often, as I had to steal this and I don’t like doing that. I used my senses to find the nearest restaurant and snatched a bag of food ready to go out. This uses up a lot more magic than I’m comfortable doing normally, and again, I don’t like stealing.” Flabber said, “But I can tell you are very hungry, so go on, take it and get some rest. We will talk more in the morning.”
Swallowing nervously, Sunset picked the bag of food and soda up, “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it, have a good night.” Flabber said with an exaggerated bow. “And don’t worry, I’ll take care of our housemates.” He was about to turn and go off somewhere in the house, but stopped and turned back to her. “Oh, and to get out of that suit, just say ‘cast off’. Ta ta!” He added before finally leaving.
“Thank you, I guess good night to you also.” Sunset said as she slipped into what was her room and couldn’t help gawking at the size of it. The ceiling was very high and had a crystal chandelier which was already turned on and illuminating the room. There was a small table as soon as she entered with two chairs that looked extremely comfortable with all of the padding. There was also a reading chair near a bookshelf with another table that had a lamp. The shelf was full of books which Sunset looked forward to exploring when she wasn’t so tired. Placing the food down on the table by the door, she looked over the rest of the room seeing the large four post bed with crimson red and black linen, a large ornate dresser with a large stylized mirror on the back and a freestanding oval full length mirror next to what she assumed was a wardrobe.
“I hope this works.” Sunset sighed, taking a few steps away from the table towards the center of the room and said, “Cast off!” The armor glowed and ejected from her body, disappearing and transforming into the beetlebonder from the comic and in her hand. With a sigh of relief, Sunset went to sit down at the table, setting down her bonder as she did and pulled a straw out of the bag and stuck it in the soda taking a long drag on it before sighing in relief. “So good!”
Digging in the bag she was left a little disappointed, but no less thankful. There was a Big Mac and a ten piece chicken nugget, which she no longer minded eating after being forced to numerous times when there was nothing else available to her. There was also a large fry which she was happy about as she had only had them a few times, but quickly fell in love with them. They tasted so good! After a quick meal, Sunset just collapsed in bed expecting to be up all night watching her back to only fall asleep in seconds.