The voices. Come to me. Tell me what I need to see...
They came to her from all directions. The voices of the innocent, the guilty, the wronged, and the wrongdoers flowed through her mind like a river through a valley. She was only looking for cries. They were the best indicators of what she was looking for.
Three miles away: a couple. They seemed to have known each other for what seemed like an eternity, and were crying of joy. The man proposed to his high school sweetheart and were happy of their prospective lives together.
Another voice, around seven miles away. It was another cry, but of despair. The girl was a year older than the listener, at the ripe, young age of sixteen. She was just a child in her own right, but the test came back positive: She was also a expecting mother. The listener wanted to go over and comfort the girl, but unfortunately, that was not what she was up there for.
The next set of voices were loud: four miles away. It was the screams and tears of two, a man and a woman. Married, children crying in the same room, the couple couldn't stop screaming at each other. A sense of betrayal was overwhelming: The man was probably caught with his hands down another woman’s cookie jar.
The last cry made the senses perk up, and the muscles twitch: One mile away. It was a older woman, 20's, in fear. There were three hooded men chasing her. She attempted to fend them off with a small can of mace, but dropped it. She was alone, running, screaming for help in the empty, impoverished street.
Go Time.
The figure took off from her location atop a four-story apartment building running towards the woman's location. It was hard to gauge the distance between two buildings with the lack of light, but somehow she had gotten lucky. The building that was next up had a vacant lot in between. Only a miracle would allow her to clear the jump.
Or, maybe a bit of magic…
The young woman jumped off the ledge and was in mid-air for only a tenth of a second before disappearing in a cloud of bright opal. As the cloud instantaneously dissipated, reappearing at the building across the way with the runner landing on her feet flawlessly. The process continued, her hard boots pressing against the tar roofs that made it sound like a run through gravel. The screams were getting louder in her mind, as the attackers were allowing the victim to tire out, so they at least were unknowingly buying her time. The figure disappeared again under the cloud, only to reappear in the roof across the street. She continued to race through the top of the buildings when she began to hear the screams for help; physically this time.
The victim had ran into a dead end alley and had nowhere else to run. Her screams grew louder by the second. The figure racing on the roof reached into the back pocket of her black cargo pants and pulled out a ski mask, her crimson, yellow-striped hair pressed against her scalp with a stocking cap. She pulled the ski mask over her head and dove off the building, with the victim and her attackers below her.
The victim had her back to the brick wall, hoping that a miracle would save her. The men were taller, bigger, and too scary for her to fight her way out. Not even the figure who appeared in a brilliant flash between them looked like it stood a chance. Still, the men jumped back a few steps, clearly not expecting anything to just appear like that.
The figure lifted her fists, ready to fight.
They began to laugh at the prospect of the petite, womanly figure wanting to fight, but rushed the figure anyway. Swing after swing failed to hit the masked woman, which left them open for jabs and punches from her. All three men backed up, gave themselves a second breather, and charged at the figure again, immediately met with more counter jabs. One of the men had the particular misfortune of picking up an aluminum trash can to use to hopefully bash over the figure’s head, which was rewarded by her landing a flying kick to the can, jarring the can from his grip and sending him flying. The second man tried to swing at her at that same moment, but was met with the same trash can to the face, knocking him down. The third guy threw the lid at the figure like a frisbee, only to watch as she ran up the wall to finish with a kick to his face.
The victim tried to make a break for it during the fighting, only to be tackled by one of the men. The figure raised her palm after knocking her assailants to the ground and fired a opal beam right into the ribs of the man. It sent him flying from the alley, and he landed in the middle of the street. He withered in pain in the middle of the deserted street, holding onto his knee. His accomplices rushed the figure again, and both were met with the same beams that knocked their friend in the street with the same results.
The men helped each other up as the hooded woman walked out of the alley to face them. They reached into their waistband to pull out their pistols.
The figure saw what they were intending, and clasped both her hands to her chest.
Bad idea, dumbasses.
The monster is taking over,
I can feel the claws setting in.
My skin is burning hot desire
The Devil is controlling me from within.
The figure once again disappeared in a large orb of opal, only to appear again in a different, more menacing form. The men scrambled back the second they locked eyes with the monstrosity: It was probably ten feet tall with red skin and hair that was a mix of yellow and crimson, like fire; it also had the same boots like the figure, fangs that looked like it was sharp enough to tear through a car, much less a person; the ears were pointed, and the black sweater and black cargo pants were replaced by a dress the same color as the monster's hair.
The men raised their handguns at the creature and opened fire in desperation. They were too slow about it, as the figure spread her arms and was engulfed by a mass of fire. The bullets simply fell to the floor when they made contact with the rotating flames. The men tried to look in the direction of the woman they attacked, hoping she can forgive them, to recieve mercy from the monster, but realized the victim had fled the scene a while ago, which they felt it was about the right time to do the same.
The monster gave off a screechy laugh as she chased the screaming men down the street, and before they reached the main street, swooped down to force the men to pay for their crime.
***
"SUNSET SHIMMER!"
Sunset's head jolted up from the desk, and up to the face of her teacher. Of all the things you can do in Ms. Cheerilee's class, sleeping was the worst. It gave the young teacher the feeling that the students thought she was boring, which was particularly offensive to a teacher that was trying so hard to be 'hip'. The class all turned to look at their classmate, their eyes added to the “on-the spot” feeling Sunset was having at that point.
"Snoozing during class again? Am I really that boring?"
"S-sorry Ms. Cheerilee, it won’t happen again!"
"That's great! In fact, I have a idea how to stop it."
Cheerilee's 'idea' was to have Sunset stand at the back of the class as she continued her lesson. Her back was against the wall, her eyes flickered heavily, and she was fading in and out of consciousness every other second. Worst part was: She had to deal with the lack of sleep for the next 8 hours. Oh, and Cheerilee's lessons were extremely dry, so that didn't help at all.
Sunset slipped her hands into the pockets of her studded leather jacket, and began to daydream back to the night before. Like most nights, it was a hell of a rush, but she knew the lack of sleep was going to catch up to her sooner or later.
"The She-Demon kicked ass again last night!"
Sunset jolted off from her inner thoughts, and listened to the two boys that were sitting next to each other. She recognized those two as some of the kids she bullied back before the Fall Formal, so it wasn’t a surprise to Sunset Shimmer she heard one of them mutter "bitch" underneath his breath as she passed to stand against the wall. She heard it loud and clear, but did not have the energy to say anything. She was used to the hate at that point, but it didn't mean she liked it. Still, at least being one of the most hated people at school was a blessing in disguise: Not too many people that would ask questions like "Where do you go at night?", "Why can't you hang out with us tonight?" or "Hey baby, wanna to do it in the janitor's closet?"
"I heard, dude. She totally can save me sometime!"
"Is it wrong that she is now my waifu?"
"Not really, but since you like her that much, you can have this drawing I did of her."
Sunset felt as if a jolt of caffeine was flooding all over her body. She leaned in to take a look at the sketch the guy did with a large smile: The guy was good, he know how to draw the human/she-demon body, had the shading down as well. Everything looked great, except one minor inaccuracy…
"WHY ARE MY TITS SO BIG! THEY ARE NOT THAT BIG? IS THIS WHAT I GET FOR GETTING DRAWN BY THE GUY WHO IS INTO ANIME?!"
***
"SUNSET SHIMMER!"
"I'm sorry Ms. Cheerilee!" Sunset yelled, only to realize she was no longer facing Cherilee, or even in that class anymore. She was on her knees, staring into the box that occupied the floor of her locker. Behind her was the crowded, deafening halls of Canterlot High between classes.
"You okay, sugarcube? You have been sleeping in class an awful lot lately,” Applejack asked.
Sunset peeked from the locker to see five concerned girls. They were at that point her only friends, especially after Sunset's fall from power. They really cared about her, from what Sunset could tell, especially when the rest of the school either ignored her or were still salty to her, even after her attempts to redeem herself, and then that incident with the Dazzlings where she saved them from yet another attempt to control the entire student and faculty body. The first attempt was Sunset Shimmer herself, but that was not the point.
You're all welcome, assholes.
"Yea, I've been busy studying for the tests," Sunset said, trying to figure out what she was looking for in the box.
"But the mid-terms are over, they even said no tests this week. Principal Celestia even told us last week," Fluttershy responded.
"Really? Well... um, oops?"
"Anyway," Rainbow Dash started. "Will you be able to make it to band practice today?"
"My mom is taking me somewhere, she doesn't say where, sorry-"
Sunset couldn't finish, as she had fallen back asleep. Sunset's head slammed against the metal door, not only waking her up, but attracting the attention of a former lover.
"Hey Sunset, you look like Hell," Flash said as he helped her off the ground.
"You've seen me sick, I've been worse."
They had small talk and caught up, with Sunset's friends watching on, passing on whispers that ended with little giggles between them. Sunset ignored it and concentrated on Flash. She wasn’t kidding when she told them a while ago that he was a nice guy.
"Well, see you later," Flash said as he walked away. Sunset gave off a heavy yawn as she began to look for her bag, which she had yet to realize it was already on her.
"Hey Sunny! Catch!"
Sunset barely had any time to react, but managed to catch what was thrown at her: a large energy drink. She exchanged smiles with her ex-boyfriend before he disappeared into the crowd.
"You know, Sunset, he is pretty much Twilight's at this point," Rarity commented.
Oh, shut up.