The next morning, Trixie and Lightning Dust were sleeping soundly in their resting spots in the ranch house. Suddenly, their ears were blasted by an extremely loud whistle.
"Wake up, ladies!" shouted the voice of Sunset Shimmer. "We've got work to do!"
Lightning Dust was quick to get up, and went out into the hall. Trixie was slow on the uptake, and groaned loudly. The two mares went downstairs, and found themselves looking at Sunset Shimmer, except now she was wearing an entire of ensemble of clothing: a dark green vest, a short lime-green cape, gold bands on her front legs, pale green cuffs on the hind legs, a brown wristwatch, and a pair of shiny black sunglasses. She also had her reddish-blonde mane tied in a ponytail.
"Wow, Sunset." Trixie commented. "I guess you weren't kidding about the whole training thing."
"I sure wasn't, Trixie." said Sunset. "Now come on, you two! Once we're done with breakfast, we're going to start rounding ponies up."
"For what?" asked Lightning Dust.
"We're going to form a militia for this town, and I'm going to train them to stand up against these creatures."
"And what would somepony like you know about training an army out of ponies that have never fought in their lives?" asked Lightning Dust.
"Yeah, Sunset!" said Trixie. "Do you even have experience with this kind of thing? Where did you get an idea like this?"
Sunset nervously rubbed a hoof against her left ear.
"Well..." she said. "From a war movie I watched with my boyfriend, Craw. Well, when he was my boyfriend."
"A...war movie?" asked Lightning Dust, tilting her head curiously.
Then Sunset Shimmer remembered that since these ponies had never been to the human world, they may not be attuned to its technological advances.
"I'll explain it later." she said. "I found some potatoes and oranges in the kitchen. We can have those for breakfast. Unless one of you wants to go to the market, that's all we have to eat for the moment."
"Oh, yeah." said Lightning Dust. "That's what I was going to Fillydelphia for, when that Ursa Major attacked. I was trying to stock up on my food supplies, and got side-tracked. I could fly over right now, if you want me to."
"Yes, please." said Trixie.
Lightning went into her bedroom, and rummaged through her belongings, until she returned with a purse slung on her back.
"I've got about...sixty-two bits on me." said the pegasus. "Do you two want anything?"
"Anything that isn't apple cider." said Sunset, sticking her tongue out in disgust.
"How about some pancakes?" Trixie suggested. "And maybe some peanut butter and crackers?"
Sunset looked at Trixie funny, even taking off her sunglasses.
"On second thought, just the pancakes." hesitated Trixie.
"Okay, then." said Lightning Dust. "I'm going now. See you two in twenty minutes."
She left the house, and flew off down the path, back to Fillydelphia. Sunset Shimmer and Trixie Lulamoon went outside to examine the farm, which was still extremely soaked from last night's rainstorm. There were large puddles scattered throughout the fields, and there was a low, but thin fog all around the house. They went into the barn, to find that the bottom floor was flooded with water, due to the holes that Lightning Dust made when she fell through the roof last night.
"Just look at this mess!" Trixie said. "It's gonna take us forever to clean this all up!"
"Relax, girlfriend." Sunset told her, bumping her companion in the shoulder with her hoof. "We've got plenty to work with here."
"Yeah, like a bunch of dirty, dirty water." scoffed Trixie.
"I remember there being some cleaning supplies in the farmhouse. Let's go get 'em." said Sunset.
Sunset Shimmer and Trixie went back into the house, brought out various tools that they could use to get the rainwater out of the barn. It took ten minutes, but the two unicorns were able to make the floor dry and spotless, if only because of Sunset's directions.
"How do you know so much about cleaning, anyway?" asked Trixie.
"Remember when I was telling you about that whole incident with the demon transformation?" said Sunset Shimmer. "Well, after that, I had to fix a whole bunch of stuff at Canterlot High School. And that included playing janitor for half the building."
"Canterlot High School?" said Trixie. "I don't remember that city having any such school."
"It doesn't. It's in...another place." shrugged Sunset Shimmer. "Another place that I could've been stuck in for more than two years. I still can't believe that Twilight Sparkle just left me behind like that."
"Twilight didn't even bring you back to Equestria?" asked Trixie.
"Nope. She just left me to fix up a building I didn't even mean to damage, while she just partied like a maniac with my ex-boyfriend."
"Wow, that's just..." Trixie attempted to comment, but became distracted. "Wait, so by ex-boyfriend, do you mean Craw?"
Sunset blushed.
"No. My other ex-boyfriend, Flash Sentry." she said.
"I know him. Isn't he the pegasus that joined the Royal Guard last month?"
"Wait, so that really was Flash Sentry? I just thought it was somepony that looked like him! Anyway, it's not the pegasus. It was someone else that shared his name...and looks...and personality. It's kind of weird that way in the human world."
"The human world?" gasped Trixie Lulamoon. "You were in the human world?!"
"You know about it, too?"
"Not really." shrugged Trixie. "I just read about it in a book about seven or eight years ago. I can't remember what it was called, but it mentioned something about an intelligent species called humans, which walked upright like minotaurs. But they haven't been seen in this world in large numbers since three hundred and fifty years ago, or at least that's what I remember the book saying. I mean, I'm sure that the odd one might turn up now and again, but it's very uncommon.
"But if these humans have their own world, that might explain why you don't see them that much here in Equestria; They probably like to keep to themselves."
And once again, Sunset Shimmer remembered the hateful words Sergeant Craw and his enforcer said to her outside of Canterlot High a few nights ago, just before she returned to Equestria.
"Yeah, I think they wouldn't really like to be among us ponies, either." said Sunset. "To them, we'd be a bunch of stupid animals. I can tell you that from personal experience."
"Why? What did the humans do to you?"
"Well, Craw had someone try to kill me, when he found out that I was a pony." said Sunset.
"I can't believe that someone would actually try doing that." said Trixie. "But how did he not know that you were a pony to begin with?"
"The portal used to travel to the human world transforms anypony that passes through it, giving them human shapes as long as they were on that side. They would also be unable to fly if they were pegasi, or use magic if they were unicorns."
"Wow, that's just...disgusting!" said Trixie, with a pained expression on her face. "I mean, what kind of sick, twisted mind would make a portal that would do something that...debilitating? I'd probably go insane as soon as I found out I'd be unable to use my magic while I was there. How were you able to deal with such a disadvantage?"
"Well, I was trying to keep away from Princess Celestia, and I did have something of a terrifying presence at first, when I was there." said Sunset. "Usually, people would just leave me alone when I wanted them to, and I would just take whatever I wanted."
"Yeah, I bet you were quite the role model." said Trixie, sarcastically.
"Well, I'm not like that, anymore." assured Sunset Shimmer. "Now, I'm hoping to be able to make up for the terrible things I've done before. That's why we're going to help out Fillydelphia."
"But I thought you said that we were going to try getting a message through to Canterlot first."
"Already did that, Trixie."
"Dare I ask how?"
"I sent a message to Princess Luna last night."
"Understood, then. So, what are we going to do now?" asked Trixie Lulamoon.
"Right now, we're going to wait for Lightning Dust to..." said Sunset, before looking outside. "Wait, there she is now!"
Lightning was soaring through the air, and landed in front of the farmhouse. She was carrying a large bag on her back, next to her purse.
"Alright, girls!" she shouted. "Here's breakfast!"
Sunset Shimmer and Trixie came outside of the barn to meet their friend.
"What were you two doing in there?" asked Lightning Dust.
"Fixing up the barn." said Sunset. "It was half-flooded when we went inside, thanks to that big hole in the roof."
"Look, I'm sorry about what I did." said Lightning Dust. "But how about I make up for it, by making you those pancakes?"
"Sure!" said Sunset. "But let me help you."
The three mares went inside the farmhouse to prepare for breakfast.
Meanwhile, in Canterlot High, the Chrysalis Syndicate was scouring the building for Sunset Shimmer. Captain Umbriel himself using the sensors in his helmet to scan every locker he passed by, in case she was hiding in one of them, ignoring the students he was passing by. Suddenly he heard Principal Celestia talking to a nearby soldier who was answering back with random strings of sentences that were apparently taken out of context.
"Listen, I don't know if you're trying to speak in code, but could you please stop that? It's really distracting!"
"I don't know anything about Daws Arnold Caros." said the soldier.
"That makes two of us." said Celestia. "Now remember that you and your captain--Ah, Umbriel!-- just who I was expecting."
Captain Umbriel stopped scanning the lockers.
"What is it now?"
"I was just reminding this soldier of yours to at least try not to disrupt anything, since all of you are guests at this building."
"Oh...Glitch." murmured Umbriel, recognizing the strange movement and gestures of the soldier Celestia was talking to.
"Zambini is a great place to visit, captain." said Glitch. "But if you drink anything colored orange over there, a Pacific Islander named Jamie Ray Mitchell will roast a turkey."
"What on earth is this guy trying to say?!" asked Celestia. "I've been talking to him for ten minutes now, and I can't get a word of what he's trying to tell me. It's always something random like 'Hovercrafts are terrible for the soul' or 'if you shake a soda can, monkeys will sacrifice a country singer'. Is he speaking in code or something?"
"No...I'm afraid Glitch is in his own little world right now." said Umbriel. "He suffer from a rare mental disorder where he believes he's in an existential crisis, and the only way to exist is--"
"No, no...you got it wrong, sir." said Glitch. "It's everyone else that doesn't exist. I'm just reminding them that Ringo's flowers are not for sale. Just five minutes from now, I'm about to tell Princess Schoolteacher over here that I didn't want the Springjack Bandits of North Dakota to come to my cousin's barbeque."
He leaned over to tell Celestia:
"Treats..."
"What is wrong with you?!" Celestia facepalmed. "Why are you so random?"
"Well, let's see.." Glitch paused. "Wait, I think a politician just went through the roof."
He pulled out a pistol off of his armor's utility belt. He loaded it, and clicked it.
"You're seriously going to discharge firearms on school property?" Celestia gasped.
"No, I'm about to teach a gas station attendant not to yeh-may-bebebebebebe!"
"Fine." sighed the principal.
Glitch assumed a stealthy, crouching position around the locker. He waited silently for a moment, then suddenly put his foot through the thin metal door. There was a ridiculously loud crash as his armored boot broke through the green-painted aluminum.
"How in the--?" Celestia gasped, breathless.
"The armor me and my men wear makes the wearer stronger than the average man." Umbriel told her.
There was a sound of someone hollering in shock, followed by an even louder banging noise when Umbriel yanked the door off with his foot, even as he was pulling his plated leg back out. He pulled the broken locker door off his leg, bent it in half, and then casually tossed it aside. He turned to look at the occupant of the locker. But to their surprise, it wasn't Sunset Shimmer at all. In fact, it was just a scrawny teenage boy in a hoodie. He was clearly scared out of his wits, and there was a noticeable bruise on his stomach, where Glitch hit him.
"You know, at most high schools..." Umbriel said, in his usual casual tone. "Students don't usually go into the lockers to get their supplies."
"I'm...I'm sorry, sir." wheezed the boy.
"You better run, small frog, or I'll squash you!" Glitch snapped.
The boy took a textbook from his locker, and ran out with a terrified squeal.
"Glitch!" snarled Celestia.
"He didn't know anything about politics, so I let him go." Glitch assured her.
"Now that I'm taking a moment to oversee your procedures for finding the whereabouts of Sunset Shimmer..." Umbriel noted. "I don't think I ever assigned you to this operation. So why are you here, Glitch?"
"Well, let's see..." Glitch looked around. "What was the other one trying to ask me? Why I'm acting like a spring-loaded circus cow? Well, when I was a kid, I ate a whole carton of Kybana. Then my dog got into some of it and got sick, and now I got a lot of huby-juby ding dong diddly-wicks to clean up."
The whole school fell silent. Students, teachers, and even other Chrysalis Syndicate soldiers were peeking out of doors, trying to decipher what Glitch just said.
"Glitch." Captain Umbriel said, pinching the nose-guard of his helmet to regain his composure. "I just remembered that I need someone to get me a pizza. How far can you walk from here to...Mission City?"
"On it, sir!" Glitch saluted, then ran out of the building, never stopping.
"Isn't Mission City on the other end of--"
"I know." said Umbriel. "But that should keep him busy for a while."
"Captain Umbriel, just look at this!" Celestia groaned, pointing at the bent locker door. "Is this seriously the cleanest way your men could possibly search for one person, or pony, or whatever Sunset Shimmer's supposed to be?"
"Not at all, ma'am." assured Umbriel. "Here you go."
He took out a huge wad of cash from a tube on his belt, and handed it to Principal Celestia.
"Here. that should cover the damage." he told her. "And I'm paying this out of my own pocket...just for you."
Principal Celestia sifted through the money she was just given, and put it gingerly into her pocket.
"Um...thanks, captain." she said. "I'm going to sign some paperwork. The contractors will want to hear about this as soon as possible."
"And Ms. Celestia?" he called out to her. "Here's a little something extra, for you."
He gave another handful of dollar bills to the principal, who reluctantly accepted the gift.
"I can tell that this is very stressful for you."
"Oh, you have no idea." said Celestia.
"You should be able to get a nice, fancy dinner for yourself with that money." said Umbriel.
"Thanks." said Principal Celestia. "But I think that I'll just order take-out tonight."
When she went down the hallway, back to her officer, Umbriel quickly sent a radio transmission to his men.
"Troops, this is Captain Umbriel!" he said. "I demand a report on Sunset Shimmer's location, and pronto."
"I've searched both the Principal and Vice Principal's offices, sir." crackled the voice of Corporal Ghost. "The pony's not in either room, though I was able to find some freaky-looking pictures of her in Principal Celestia's office."
"I'm checking with all the people that Sunset Shimmer was previously associated with." said Sergeant Craw. "They know nothing about her current whereabouts, but I have reason to believe that at least one of them is holding something back."
"Cap'n, this is Lieutenant Sigma." said a third voice, with a thick accent. "Me and Canopy are still searchin' the boiler room. So far, we ain't found nothin'! No girl, no pony, not even a blinkin' janitor! Also, I just found out from Private Hopper that Proxy Squad's went and done a search of both the soccer field and the gym, and there ain't nothin' pony-related over there, either."
"Thank you, lieutenant." said the captain. "At ease, men! School hours are ending soon. The night crew will be in the building to search the rest of the premises, as soon as the students all leave. In the meantime, I want Sergeant Craw and Corporal Ghost to find the recordings for the school's surveillance cameras; Perhaps they could tell us where Sunset Shimmer went."
"Yes, sir!" said both soldiers through the radio set on the captain's helmet.