Sunset closed the door behind her and pushed Twilight into the nearby stairwell. "What are you doing here?! How did you find me?!"
Twilight pulled out the leather piece from her lab coat pocket. "A better question would be, how do you know my name?" She asked, arching a brow.
"Uh..." Sunset said, realizing she dug herself a hole. Angrily, she shoved Twilight against the concrete wall behind her. "Look, I can't explain that right now, but I'll make you a deal. I have information on Canterlot High that you want, and you have technology I need. So, if you help me with what I need your magic detector for, I'll tell you everything I know about the magical happenings at Canterlot High."
Twilight scowled. "How do I know I can trust you? You aren't exactly a model student," She took not of the uneasy look on Sunset's face. "Oh yeah, I looked into your records. You were arrested at least three times since you started high school."
Sunset shook her head. "That doesn't matter now! I've changed! Look, the point is, time is running out and unless we strike this agreement now, the whole town, no, the entire world could be in danger!"
The younger girl gave her a confused look. "What are you talking about?!"
Sunset shifted from one foot to the other impatiently. "I'm talking about magic. Yeah, that stuff that you thought you were 'on to'? It's real. And right now there is something magical making everyone in our school sick! Without your magic detecting device we'd be pretty much in the dark!"
"We?" Twilight asked. Her eyes lit up. "You mean the five other magical units I detected?!" She turned away from Sunset before the older girl could answer. "Everything I've worked for until this moment...it wasn't for nothing..." She whispered. Then, she faced Sunset with a determined look. "Alright, I'll help you. Get the others and meet me at my laboratory."
"Maeva is a succubus like creature who was imprisoned in the other world for her crimes against Equestria." Twilight explained. "Apparently she rose to power shortly after The Dazzlings did."
"A succubus? Like, of the seducing kind?" Rarity asked, eyebrows furrowed.
Twilight shook her head. "Not exactly. She has a physical body, but it was damaged. After that, she learned how to posses ponies while they slept and steal the life force of other ponies around them."
"But didn't Tirek do the same thing?" Applejack asked.
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash agreed. "He had those sucky powers too!"
Pinkie snorted with laughter. "Sucky powers! Hehe! You said sucky!"
"Tirek stole the magical energies from ponies. Maeva stole actual life force," Twilight explained. "She could make somepony so sick they'd die from a simple cold."
The other five gasped.
"I think when Sunset came in contact with the crown, her negative emotions towards Equestria and the Princesses drew power from Maeva. Which in turn aided in her becoming stronger." Twilight said, pointing at the illustration of a red and black pony like spirit.
"Like Tirek, she sucks energy out of ponies, but unlike The Dazzlings she doesn't feed off of fear and strife. She can just sense it, and thats what can lead her to her next hunt," Twilight lectured.
"So she's as if Tirek banged all three Dazzlings?" Rainbow questioned.
Rolling her eyes at the vulgarity of Dash's words, Twilight responded, "Yes, if you want the dumbed down obscene version." She placed the book down and turned to the Princesses. "Is there anything you both know about Maeva before she was banished by Starswirl?"
Celestia shook her head. "Not much. All that we know is recorded in that book. All though I do know if Sunset doesn't find a way to stop her soon, she could very possibly have the entire world in her power."
Discord appeared out of nowhere in a spider like superhero costume. "Did someone say, power?" He asked, pulling off the mask as he hung from the ceiling.
Luna rolled her eyes. "Must you always make a titter out of everything?" She grumbled. "These are dire matters for Princess Twilight and her mirror friends."
"I know," Discord responded. He snapped his fingers and he returned to normal. He startled Fluttershy when he flashed over to her, resting an arm around her. "That's why I asked Purplebutt if I could help. You don't mind, do you Tia?" The chaos god raised a brow.
"Not all. In fact, I think we better get going. You seem to have everything under your control." She turned to Twilight and nuzzled her affectionately. "If you need anything, you know to send everything through Spike." She turned to the others. "Goodbye, girls!" She called before trotting out the door.
Luna on the other hand, stayed back for a moment to speak to Twilight. "Be heedful, Twilight Sparkle. Time is of the essence, but this must be handled with care. For Maeva is not the only enemy your friend Sunset Shimmer will face."
Twilight gave her a worried look. "What does that mean?"
"You will see in due time. I do not know of what Discord has told you, but listen to him. He may have known all along and decided to let you find out on your own first. And while he is very much a pain in the behind, he can be helpful when he wants to be." Luna smiled at her. "Take care, Princess Twilight." And with that, she was gone.
A shiver ran down Twilight's back. She ran over to the book and began to write her letter.
Dear Sunset,
You are not a monster. No matter what anyone says. You have changed, and nothing anyone can say can nullify that. Thanks to your brief letter, we were able to discover what exactly is going on at Canterlot High.
When you put on my crown and turned into that "she-demon", as you called it, you didn't actually turn into a she-demon. You borrowed powers from an evil succubus named Maeva. She rose to power shortly after The Dazzlings were banished, before she too was sent to your world herself.
The difference is, since she didn't have a physically strong body, she couldn't exactly feed. But the moment you put on my crown, she was drawn to your negative emotions and you awakened her powers in return for your body.
You may not know this, but Maeva thrives off jealousy and beauty. Back when she was a normal pony, she had fallen in love with a stallion who was a king. They were in love, but unfortunately the king married another mare behind her back. For revenge, she created an elixir that would kill the king and his new beautiful wife with dark magic. Unfortunately, the spell backfired and severely injured her physical body.
But due to the magical mishap, she gained the ability to suck the life force out of ponies and make them very sick. Tell me: Has anyone in your school looked a bit pale? The first sign of being attacked by her is pain in the lower abdomen. Then fatigue. The symptoms usually look like the common cold. If so, then we've cracked the case.
If you learn anything new, please get back to me as soon as possible.
Yours in friendship, Twilight Sparkle
P.S.: Princess Luna told me that there was another enemy. I do not know of this enemy, but if you encounter them, please let me know and I'll assist in anyway I can.
The girls all met outside of Twilight's house after Sunset had explained the situation.
Rainbow refused to look at Sunset and the feeling was mutual the other way around. And even though this wasn't the time for petty arguments, the occasional moments that they did lock eye contact, a middle finger would be raised or a tongue would be stuck out.
Twilight lead them through her house and down into the basement. A trip through a narrow hallway behind a bookshelf later, they were standing inside Twilight's lab. She adjusted her glasses and told them all to sit.
Sunset stood next to Twilight with a slight frown on her face. She wasn't sure the other girl could be trusted yet, but didn't let it show. The last thing she needed was this deal to be over.
"Alright. First, I'm going to need a DNA sample from each of you," Twilight said, handing each girl a plastic bag.
"Whoa, whoa whoa, you didn't say anything about DNA. That wasn't apart of the agreement, Sparkle." Sunset told her, arms crossed.
"Relax, Phoenix Wright. It's just security." Twilight explained. "Just in case you all don't hold up your end of the bargain and decide to flee the country or something."
"Well you can count on me not doing that," Rarity said, wincing as she plucked a hair from atop her head. She put it in the bag and handed the bag off to Twilight.
The others did the same.
"Now, I don't know much about what's going on, but I know it's magic related," Twilight said, pacing back and forth. "Sunset filled me in on only what I needed to know."
Sunset held up the book. "About twenty minutes after I had texted you all, Twilight sent me a message. Apparently I was right. The Windigos aren't our problem,"
"Then what is?" Fluttershy asked.
"A succubus named Maeva. Apparently when I put on Twilight's crown, I had awoken her then dormant powers unknowingly." Sunset explained.
"Back in ancient times, the Greeks believed redheaded women to be vampires, or life sucking beasts in general," Twilight lectured. "The timeline of when Maeva entered our world must match up with almost a thousand years ago."
"Just like The Dazzlings?" Applejack asked.
"Precisely." Sunset nodded. She then went on to explain the origin of Maeva.
"How come all our villains are sexy chicks with chips on their shoulders?" Rainbow Dash asked, drumming on her rib cage. She stopped when she realized she had indirectly called Sunset sexy. She coughed. "I mean...uh...why do they all have to be some type of pretty?"
"Nice save," Applejack told her in a sardonic tone, her smug smile infuriating the other girl. "Got any info on how to defeat this Maeva gal?"
"Nope." Sunset responded, shaking her head.
"The symptoms we saw in Flash matched up with the ones from the other three victims," Pinkie reported.
"And those descriptions matched the symptoms Twilight described." Sunset added. "Which means that this Maeva chick really is our culprit."
Twilight pushed her glasses up on her face before she began typing furiously on her computer. "You all know of four victims right? And they all go to your school, correct?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"What if she got to people who weren't in your school? Or, maybe people you didn't notice were gone?" Twilight continued typing before she settled on a single page. It was a file from the Canterlot Hospital containing the names of students diagnosed with a mysterious illness the past six weeks.
"She hasn't just been going at it this week, she's been doing this for almost over a month. You all hadn't noticed because of The Dazzlings and the Battle of The Bands. She used that distraction to have an all you can eat buffet."
Applejack's eyes scanned the screen. "Some of these kids have been in the hospital for weeks with these symptoms. Why would Celestia and Luna only tell us about three kids?"
Sunset thought for a moment. "She wanted to throw us off," She whispered. "Think about it, we were already distracted by The Dazzlings, and she used that to her advantage. She let the last four victims be known so that we could start an investigation thinking that this whole thing just started out of the blue."
"But how would she throw Celestia and Luna off? They're the ones who told us about this whole thing," Rarity reasoned.
"Remember, Twilight said she could posses bodies." Sunset reminded them. "She's grown stronger since I had awoken her powers, and that could mean that she can now take control of multiple bodies at the same time."
"I knew it!" Rainbow cheered.
"Yeah, out of the four hundred and twelve other times you were wrong," Applejack teased.
"Shut up, hayseed!"
"Girls!" Fluttershy scolded them. "Now is not the time!"
"Anyway, what exactly is the plan? Do we even know what this Maeva looks like?" said Rarity.
"Nope. And that's the scary part. Maeva could be anyone right now. Even...even one of us," A shiver ran down Sunset's back.
"The description they all saw matches up with what Sunset turned into. So the obvious answer has to be her,” Fluttershy said. She put a hand on her friend. “No offense.”
Sunset shrugged. “None taken.” An idea occurred to her. “Hey...Twilight, do you have one of those little cameras you can attach to someone?”
“Like a GoPro sports camera?” Rainbow asked.
“Yeah, those,” The older girl turned back to Twilight, waiting for an answer.
“My brother does. He has a smaller one though. He uses it for when he goes LARPing or whatever,” Twilight responded, pushing her glasses up on her face. “I may have borrowed it for an experiment earlier this week. Why? What do you need it for?”
Sunset cracked her knuckles. “For the past few weeks I haven’t been able to get a good nights sleep. But for some reason when Pinkie stayed the night yesterday, I slept perfectly fine...”
“Could it be the position you two were sleeping in?” Rainbow teased, earning her a surprisingly hard punch in the arm courtesy of Pinkie herself.
Sunset rolled her eyes. “I’m being serious. What if she’s only able to get inside my head when I’m not conscious because I can’t fight back and I'm alone? Maybe that’s why the headaches stopped! Because she knew that we’d suspect there was something wrong with me and I’d get myself checked out!”
“Are you sure that’s what’s going on here?” Fluttershy asked her, eyebrows furrowed.
“Only way to find out.” Sunset said rolling her neck. “Here’s the plan. Twilight, I need you to attach the camera to me in a place she’d least look. I have a feeling she’ll be paying close attention to what we do from now on,”
She turned to the other five girls. “You all stay here and keep each other alert. Twilight needs someone at all times to keep her awake.”
“Whoo-wee. Ah got me a bad feelin’ ‘bout this, sugarcube. You sure you don’t need one o’ us ta stay with you?” Applejack asked Sunset sternly, as if she was spelling out one plus one equals two to a four year old.
Sunset sighed, and laughed nervously, running a hand through her hair. "The only way we can find out anything for sure is if we do this. We at least have to try.”
Twilight clipped the camera to Sunset’s shirt and set it up a live feed from the camera to her computer so that whatever the camera saw, she saw as well in real time. “Okay,” She said after double checking everything. “You’re all set.”
“Let’s get settled in, girls. Looks like we’re gonna be here for a while.” Applejack sighed, sitting crosslegged on the floor with Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie.
Rarity opted for a chair instead of voluntarily getting her skirt dirty.
They all said goodbye to Sunset and watched on the live feed as she made her way home.
Not much else happened after that. It was just their friend doing boring and mundane things. Like taking out the trash, washing the dishes, cleaning up, etc. Things that made the girls themselves tired just watching Sunset do them.
Finally, after a few hours, the older girl started showing signs of fatigue. Within a matter of minutes, she was in her room, snoring soundly.
The other girls had fallen victim to sleep themselves as well. With Twilight slouched over her keyboard, Applejack leaning back to back with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy curled up in her lap like a cat. Rarity’s head lolled back in the chair quite unlady like, drool dripping out the side of her mouth. Pinkie was laid out on the examination table, snoring loudly.
They all missed when Sunset, or rather, Maeva, began to stir.
Her red and gold hair fell over her face in loose, wild curls. She yawned, chuckling satisfactorily when she looked down at herself. I gotta say, for an insufferable brat, she has a nice body. She stretched, and rose from the bed.
After a wardrobe change from that horrible skirt into a hip hugging pair of black jeans and some leather boots, She walked out into the living room and reached for her leather jacket, but frowned when she saw the gaping hole in it. What in the hell happened to that thing? It looks like an ursa used it as a chew toy. She pulled out a fresh leather jacket out from the closet and left out the door, not bothering to lock it.
The loud slam of the door woke Fluttershy, and she blinked awake, her vision blurry from sleep. She looked around herself to see that the other girls were still knocked out. She stood up on her feet, and walked drowsily over to the computer. She gasped when she saw Sunset driving through the streets of Canterlot on her motorcycle.
Panicking, she began to yell for her friends. “Girls!” She said, raising her voice. “Girls!” She said a little bit louder, but because of her soft voice it was barely above a whisper. “Oh! Curse my gentle voice!” She pouted. With as much force as she could muster, she drew in a deep breath and whistled with her two fingers.
The sound was surprisingly loud, and startled the other five girls awake.
“Is it breakfast time, Mommy?” Dash mumbled, rubbing her eyes.
“Mommy! Haha!” Pinkie snorted, kicking her feet. The banging on the metal beneath her feet made Rarity snap her head up.
Quickly wiping the saliva from the side of her mouth, the fashionista whipped around to glare at Pinkie Pie.
“Girls! We have more important pressing issues here than the uncharacteristic choice of the term of endearment Rainbow uses for her mother! Like the fact that Maeva is in Sunset’s body right now!” The meek girl yelled, stomping her foot.
“What?!” Twilight shouted, falling out of her chair. She righted herself and began typing furiously into her computer. "My GPS says she's headed towards Crystal Point. Why is she going to the beach?"
"Ah'm guessing it ain't to play volleyball," Applejack responded. "Ya'll thinkin' what Ah'm thinkin'?" She asked, turning to the girls.
"That The Dazzlings never actually left and that they became lackeys of Maeva to survive since we took away their magic?" Rainbow Dash guessed.
The others gave her incredulous looks.
She frowned. "What? I pay attention. I can infer things as much as you all can," She snapped defensively.
"Just barely," Applejack commented, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "And anyway, how are we sure she ain't meetin' up with the Windigos that's been helping her with the weather this whole time?"
"We don't," Twilight replied, pushing up her glasses. "Which is why we should stop bickering and pay attention to what's going on on the screen,"
Maeva stepped off the motorcycle after parking it on the abandoned boardwalk. Taking off her helmet, she shook her locks free. "Where are those idiots?" She grumbled, stomping off towards a dimly lit cave.
Twilight couldn't see much, so she activated the night vision mode on the camera.
At the lip of the cave there appeared to be a small form sitting in a patch of sand, hugging itself. Maeva stopped in front of it,bending down to speak.
The five girls behind Twilight gasped as the camera focused on the figure, making its face clear.
"Oh my word! That's, that's Sonata!" Rarity exclaimed.
"Which means if she's there, then Adagio and Aria aren't far behind!" Fluttershy agreed.
"Well Ah'll be! It's a cold day in hell! Rainbow Dash was right twice in the same day!" Applejack said.
"Where are the other two?" Maeva asked.
Sonata didn't look up. She jabbed a finger towards the inside of the cave. "In there," She replied in a quiet, broken voice.
"Good girl."
Maeva traveled deeper into the cave, revealing little else for the moment.
When Twilight noticed the signs of a fire, she switched the night mode off. She had to hold back a strangled cry when she saw what was in the room.
The remaining two if the three former Sirens were huddled up against the fire, teeth chattering as they tried to get warmth.
They wore worn, tattered clothes that barely did anything to keep the abnormally cold air out.
"Look at you both!" Maeva laughed. "Look at what has become of Aquastria's once great Sirens! I expected you three to be living lavish lives! Not in this, this squalor!" She said, gesturing towards them.
"A group of teenage girls did this to you!" Maeva continued. "You couldn't even take care of one of them!" She smirked when she saw the look on their faces. "You stare at me like I have a thousand heads," She sat down next to them. "You stare, because I have done what you weren't able to do!
"I have taken control of one of their own. And without little Miss Shimmer, their elements are useless!"
She smirked when she saw the interest in their eyes. "Oh, but don't worry. I have a plan so that you three can reclaim your former glory."
"Oooh! This is bad! This is really bad!" Pinkie whispered as if they could hear her.
"You're telling me! We have to do something about this!" Rainbow proclaimed, getting up.
Applejack pulled her back down. "And just what would that be? Last time Ah checked she's a powerful being in our friend's body. We can't hurt her because then we'd be hurting Sunset too."
Rainbow wriggled her hand free, irritated. "Well we can't just do nothing!"
"We need to get a message to Twilight!" Fluttershy said. "And fast!"