Sunset felt indignant over this whole situation. How much did she hear? What did that matter?! Sunset felt appalled that Applejack of all people would ask her something like that after just having a conversation about killing someone. Her displeasure was likely easy to read on her face right now, Sunset wasn’t doing anything to hide it.
“How much did I hear?! What difference does that make?!” The other five girls flinched at her angered tone, Sunset furrowed her brow and sneered. “How can you girls be comfortable at all about just casually mentioning kill-!”
Sunset didn’t get to finished as Rainbow clamped a hand around her mouth, shushing her loudly, a single blue finger at her lips. Sunset struggled to get out of her grip but the athletic girl had a clear advantage over her in strength. Rainbow looked both ways down the hall before pulling herself and Sunset back into the music room, shutting the door closed behind her.
At this point Rainbow’s grip on Sunset was weak enough for her to yank herself away from the multi-hued girl and back up a few feet away. She glared at her blue friend while wiping her mouth off with the back of her hand. Rainbow sighed and looked at Sunset, “Look, I know this whole thing seems really, really bad from your perspective right now.”
“Ya think?!” Came the unamused reply.
“But look, we have an explanation for all this! So please keep your voice down!” Rainbow said, trying to ease an unconvinced Sunset down as she glared at the other girls in the room.
“Indeed, and to be quite honest it’s something that is a very big deal.” Said Rarity as she put away a small pocket mirror. “We meant to tell you a while ago, but between those Equestrian Sirens showing up and the whole Friendship Games fiasco we just ended up forgetting.”
“And because we had to get permission to tell you!” Came a cheerful voice interjecting into the conversation. Pinkie Pie appeared at Rarity’s side, squeezing her into a tight one armed side hug, making the hugee in question wince both from the mild pain and the fact her hair was now slightly messed up.
Sunset crossed her arms, “So what you’re saying is that some big conspiracy is just hanging over everyone’s heads. With nobody knowing? And you five just so happen to be a part of it? Give me a break, that kind of stuff only happens in the movies.”
“It’s the honest truth Sunset. We ain't lyin’.” Said Applejack, she was sitting on one of the big amps lying next to a piano, the neck of her bass guitar resting in the crook of her arm.
Sunset scoffed, “Alright, fine then, what’s this big conspiracy?” Sunset waved her arms sarcastically at her last two words.
The five girls looked at each other, as if silently arguing over who should tell Sunset. As if on cue, four of them simultaneously turned their heads to Rainbow Dash who groaned in annoyance. Slapping a hand to her face Rainbow muttered, “Ah geeze, why do I always have to do these things?”
Sunset raised an eyebrow and watched as Rainbow pivoted on her heels and looked at Sunset. The two looked at each other for just a moment before Rainbow said something that left Sunset speechless. Her mouth dropped and she said, “What did you say?”
Rainbow rolled her eyes and repeated herself, “I said, the greek gods are real, so are the monsters, Mr T-Rex is one of them, and we are demigods. Except you of course.”
Sunset looked at her for one final moment before bursting into laughter. This was obviously not what Rainbow expected her to do, she gave an uncomfortable look in the direction of the other four girls who just shrugged and didn’t offer anything helpful. Sunset was doubled over on the top of the piano now, smacking the surface with a hand. She calmed down after a good minute and wiped a tear from her eye, still getting a few last chuckles out.
“Ah, alright I get it now.” She said.
Rainbow perked up and smiled, “You do?!”
The fiery haired girl nodded, a smile still on her face after her laughing session, “Yeah. This whole thing was a setup wasn’t it?” Rainbow perked back down and sighed. “Running off after bumping into Mr Tirek, making some sort of ridiculous plot, and trying to get me to believe in some big conspiracy that included ancient myths to be real. That was a good prank, you had me going for a while there.”
Rainbow groaned, smacking a hand to her face. Rarity and Applejack followed suite, while Pinkie just kept smiling and Fluttershy tried calming down the bunny in her backpack that got scared from Sunset’s loud laughter.
“No darling, what Rainbow said is true. Though she could’ve gone with a little more tact and finesse in explaining everything.” Rarity said. “We, that means us five, are all children of the greek gods.”
Sunset just shook her head, “Look, monsters I can believe, there are tons of them in Equestria, but actual living gods? No way!”
Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Well we can do stuff that no regular human can do.”
“Yeah, that stuff is thanks to the Equestrian magic that’s now here. You know, the stuff you used to beat me, the stuff we used to beat the Dazzlings, even when I went all supernova during the Games? It’s all magic.”
Rainbow crossed her arms, “That's not what I meant. And besides, you believe in magic, are gods really too ridiculous for you?”
Sunset rose an eyebrow, “I was born in Equestria and used magic all my life. It’s as common as science and grass on the other side of the portal.”
Rainbow looked sheepish and rubbed her head, “Oh. Right. Hehe.”
“Look sugarcube, I know it sounds mighty impossible to someone who has never had any interaction with them before but it’s all true. The gods are real, we being demigods is real, and the fact that Mr Tirek is a monster is real. Honest.”
Sunset looked at Applejack, searching her face for any sign of untruth, but she gave up when she saw her friend’s face bearing no signs of misleading her. Besides, Applejack couldn’t lie to save her life anyway. Sunset eventually sighed in defeat, “Alright. I believe you.”
The relief shown on all of the other girl’s face was an understatement to how they really felt.
“So, you’re demigods then?” Sunset rhetorically asked after taking in a few moments to absorbed the new reality she needed to face.
“Yuperooni!” Said Pinkie, not getting it was a question that didn’t need an answer.
“So, who’s a child of who then?”
The girls looked at each other, eventually shrugging. Applejack decided to go first, “Well sugarcube, mah mother is Demeter. And before ya ask, mah brother is a mortal and Applebloom is the same as me. Mac’s mother died in childbirth you see and mah daddy fell in love with mah mother sometime later.”
“My mother is Aphrodite, fitting wouldn’t you say?” Said Rarity, now trying to desperately fix her hair.
Sunset snorted, “Yeah, I can see that. How about you Fluttershy?” Sunset turned to the girl in question.
“Oh! Um, I’m also a uh, daughter of Demeter.” Said Fluttershy.
Sunset blinked, “So, you two are sisters?”
Applejack tipped her hat and said, “Yup! We’re family and ah’m proud of it.” Fluttershy smiled, a small blush on her cheeks.
Sunset smiled herself, it was always nice to see things like family being together. She was broken out of her thoughts on that by a pink blur in front of her face. “Oh! Pick me! Pick me!” Said an extremely excited Pinkie Pie as she raised her hand in the air like they were still in class.
Sunset pointed at Pinkie, “Alright then, who's your godparent Pinkie?”
Pinkie smiled and jumped back, she threw her hands out to her sides, confetti shooting out into the air behind her, “The god of parties of course!”
Sunset thought for a moment before snapping her fingers, “Dionysus right?”
“Yup yup!” Pinkie said before bouncing over to the window.
“I guess that just leaves you Rainbow.” Sunset said.
“Heh, saving the best for last!” Rainbow gloated. She ran over and jumped on top of an amp next to Applejack, nearly knocking her over in the process. Rainbow put her hands on her hips and nearly seemed to glow with pride. “My dad is the one and only-!”
“Oh look! Some students have Zap Apple smoothies!” Pinkie loudly interrupted Rainbow, drool pouring out of her mouth at the thought of inhaling the rare smoothie treat.
“What?!” Rainbow shouted, her eyes wide as she snapped her head in Pinkie’s direction, completely forgetting about her previous bravado. She ran over to the window and pressed her face against the glass, she gasped when she saw two students walking past the school with smoothies in their hands. Rainbow pulled at her hair and did some sort of odd jig as she yelled out, “Omigosh, omigosh, omigosh, omigosh! I completely forgot about those! We need to go!”
With that Rainbow stormed out of the music room, leaving the others in her dust.
Rarity sighed and picked up Rainbow’s forgotten backpack and eyed the beaten up bag with apprehension, “The least she could do is remember we have a loose monster amidst the school. And a friend we’re trying to convince that we aren’t murdering psychopaths.”
Sunset smiled apologetically, “Yeah, look. I’m sorry about all of that.”
Rarity waved a hand at her, “Oh pish posh, no need to fret over it. All water under the bridge and all that.” Rarity smiled at Sunset and she and the others quickly left the music room, “Now, I do believe we have to find Rainbow Dash before she does something reckless. You’d think being the daughter of Zeus would mean she has some capacity of forethought, but sadly she’s always been quite the opposite. Hopefully she doesn’t shock some poor mortal to get to the front of the line... again.”
Sunset hummed in thought as she walked beside her friends, “Daughter of Zeus huh?” She paused for a moment, still lost in thought, before the exact meaning of those words came back at her in full force. Sunset sputtered out, “Rainbow is the daughter of Zeus?!”
The four friends were jogging down the sidewalk on one of Canterlot City’s many streets. Sugarcube Corner was just starting to come into sight and the girls could already see a long line formed just outside its place of business.
“Anyone see Rainbow?” Asked Sunset, who put a hand over her eyes to block out the sun.
“No, ah don't see her anywhere.” Applejack commented, also trying to scan the crowd.
“You'd think with that hair of hers that she'd be easy to spot…” Muttered Rarity.
“Um, girls?” Fluttershy softly said.
The other girls looked at Fluttershy, who grew a bit nervous when she realized their undivided attention was being focused on her. She quickly got her nerves back when she remembered that she was with friends and pointed down the alley she stood in front of.
“I um, I think I hear Rainbow Dash down there.”
The other girls listened for anything coming from the alley, sure enough they could hear Rainbow’s voice echo softly. Her voice sounded angry and started to get progressively louder as time moved on, a fact that had the girls more than a little worried.
The five girls looked at each other and nodded, they slowly walked down the alleyway while taking care to try and spot any hidden dangers. Rarity pulled her pocket mirror out.
“Is this really the time to check your makeup?” Sunset hissed quietly at her friend.
Rarity simply gave a soft musical laugh, “Oh, it's not just a mirror darling.” With that said she pressed a tiny button inside the hollow casing. The mirror transformed into a long bronze dagger, the weapon seemed to have some sort of glow to it.
Sunset’s mouth dropped, “What the?”
“It's a celestial bronze dagger darling, it makes killing monsters much easier. It can't harm mortals, only monsters, gods, and demigods.” Rarity explained.
“I see…” Sunset said, eyeing the dagger curiously. She looked at the others and saw that they too have similar weapons. Applejack had a standard shield and sword, Fluttershy had a dagger, and Pinkie had a bow. “So magical weapons that can hide as ordinary, everyday items?”
“Yup! And for Rainbow it's her wrist bands!” Pinkie said. “She's got a spear and shield!”
Sunset didn't comment further as the gang quickly moved through the alley to catch up on lost time. They made a left and stopped before entering a small courtyard in the middle of a section of buildings. They leaned a head forward to peek around the side of the wall they ended up against.
The girls saw Rainbow glaring at the assistant gym teacher and two other beefy looking guys wearing the same white jackets. Mr Tirek was now wearing a black muscle shirt, he was also wearing a white jacket just like the other two, though his was open to the air. All three had a large wooden club in hand, though club could be an understatement as they might've well been tree trunks considering how thick they were.
“Can we eat her now boss?” Asked the guy to the left of Tirek.
“Yeah, it's been awhile since I've last eaten a demigod. My new workout regime needs the protein you see.” Said the other guy to the right of Tirek.
“Patience boys,” said Tirek. “Why bother with one when you can have five? If we use her as bait then the others will surely come.”
The other two seemed to think it over, they nodded as they heeded their boss’s plan. Rainbow wasn't going to have any of it though, “What? You think I'm just going to lay back and let you hold me hostage?! As if!”
Rainbow’s wristbands transformed into her weapons, a shield on her left arm and a spear in her right hand. Rainbow put her shield in front of her and pointed the spear at Tirek. “Come on then freaks, I bet that even will all that muscle you can't even fight!”
The left man growled at Rainbow, “Watch it god spawn, we’re the strongest gang in Canterlot City. You ain't got a chance against us, especially when you're outnumbered.”
Rainbow grinned at him, “Hah! You couldn't beat me even if there were a hundred of you!”
Rarity sighed and muttered softly, “Why must she be so reckless? Wait for backup for gods sake.”
Tirek rolled his eyes, “Empty bravado daughter of Zeus. I'd wager you might be able to take one of us out, and that's being generous, but you'd be overwhelmed eventually.” He shrugged, “But enough talk. It's time for the Bloody Centaur Gang to take what's theirs.”
With that Tirek lifted his club in the air and swung down at Rainbow. She jumped back in time, the oversized club cracking the pavement. Tirek’s lackeys charged Rainbow from either side of her swinging their trunks like baseball bats.
Rainbow rolled forward at Tirek, the two clubs smack each other with a resounding crack. Rainbow stabbed her spear forward at her opponent's heart but Tirek dodged to his right. He wasn't left completely unscathed however, Rainbow’s spear caught him in his arm, leaving a deep scratch that looked to be bleeding some sort of dust.
Tirek screamed in rage, he randomly swung his club, missing Rainbow by a mile but in the process struck her spear. Rainbows spear broke from the contact and she cursed in Greek. Tirek dropped his club and grabbed his cut open arm. Rainbow backed away from her three opponents, shield still up and broken spear discarded, as she watched her attackers morph into their real forms. They were revealed as Cyclops, and none of them looked amused.
Tirek grabbed his club, his eyes full of renewed hatred for the girl in front of him. The three Cyclops roared a war cry and charged the young demigod. Then an arrow suddenly pierced the eye of one of Tirek’s lackeys, the leftmost Cyclops dropped to the ground, slowly turning into dust.
The two monsters and one demigod looked at where the arrow came from. Rainbow’s eyes widened when she saw her friends standing a good distance from the nearby alleyway they came in from. “Girls?!” Rainbow shouted confused and happy at the same time.
Pinkie waved energetically at Rainbow with the hand that wasn't holding her bow, acting nothing like a girl that just bulls eyed a Cyclops. “Hiya Rainbow!”
“Hey…” Rainbow trailed off as Tirek and his buddy started to charge at the newcomers. Applejack stood in front of her friends, and Fluttershy worked her demigod powers to bind the legs of the Cyclops with vines. It was enough to stop them for the briefest of moments, sadly that wasn't enough.
The two monsters tore free from their impromptu confines and charged the newcomers. Pinkie, Sunset, and Fluttershy ran to the left, leading the lackey Cyclops away from his leader. Neither seemed to care now that their friend had been sent back to Tartarus. Applejack and Rarity lead Tirek himself in the opposite direction.
Tirek swung his club in an upwards arc at the running demigods, missing, but knocking a bench from its bolted down position in the concrete. The bench soared up and over a small building, likely crashing either on top of the building or out in the streets. The two demigods paid no heed to the flight incapable object, instead Applejack opted to duck under his club arm and take a swing with her sword.
Tirek dodged the attack, and swiped down at Rarity as she tried to sneak behind him. She moved out of the way and Tirek's weapon struck the ground, sending bits of concrete to batter against Rarity with the likelihood of bruises appearing where she was struck. Applejack tried another swing at him but Tirek managed to keep her back as well. The three combatants were stuck in a stalemate, no side able to hit the other.
On the other side of the small courtyard two demigods and a mortal were being chased by an enraged Cyclops. Fluttershy looked completely terrified, as well as Sunset. Pinkie was taking potshots at their adversary, sadly she was never able to get a good shot as the Cyclops was using his large club to block her arrows.
“How do we stop this thing?!” Sunset frantically asked as she swerved to the left to avoid a brick the monster somehow had gotten ahold of.
“Weeell, Cyclops just need celestial bronze to take down. My arrows are made of that stuff, but that silly willy won't let me shoot him!” Pinkie pouted as she took another shot at the Cyclops, a clunk was heard and the three knew it was the monster once again blocking with his club.
“Can't imagine why.” Sunset drawled out.
“I know right?!”
“Um girls,” Sunset and Pinkie looked over at Fluttershy. “The Cyclops stopped chasing us.”
The three girls stopped and looked back, the Cyclops in question had dropped his club and was trying to desperately reach something that was on his back.
“Gah! Git off of me!” Screamed the Cyclops in rage.
Then rainbow hair popped over his head and the others immediately knew it was Rainbow Dash. Rainbow raised her shield over her head and smacked the Cyclops on the crown of his head. The monster grunted in pain and staggered erratically around.
Rainbow was about to slam him again when an arrow streaked out and struck the Cyclops in the eye. Two more followed, though they were unnecessary, one struck him in the heart and the other below the belt. The Cyclops had just enough time to scream in primal pain before he exploded in a shower of monster dust.
Rainbow fell back to the ground with a grunt, sneezing and coughing as she got back up. She tried to no avail to wave the still floating dust away from her as she glared at Pinkie. “Really?” She asked.
Pinkie put on an innocent look, “Really what?”
Rainbow just narrowed her eyes before rolling them and stormed off to where Applejack and Rarity were holding if Tirek. The others followed her example.
Tirek swung his club frantically at the dodging daughter of Demeter. “Why! Won't! You! Diiieee?!” He punctuated each word with a heavy swing.
While he wasn't able to get a direct hit on the girl, Applejack was still far from unscathed. Her shield had been bent toward her on its bottom, nearly making the shield into a right angle and making it virtually useless. She also had a few cuts and scraps from sliding on the concrete. Rarity wasn't much better but she didn't have anything that wasn't superficial at the worst.
Applejack smirked at him, “Well, maybe ah just don't feel like it.” Tirek just growled at her as she continued, “Besides, ah think you have more things to worry about than me not dyin’.”
Applejack motioned to all around them and Tirek cautiously looked around. He was now surrounded by the six girls and looked nervous when he saw the other pile of dust on the opposite side of the concrete courtyard.
Rainbow smirked at him, her shield back on her arm and put her hand on her hip, “Well, guess this just isn't your day.”
Tirek, now wisely understanding he was outmatched in terms of combat decided to try the diplomatic approach. “Well, it really isn't. So how about I go and we never speak of this again?”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “No, you wanted to eat me and my friends. You're not going anywhere.”
“Well, I tried.” Grunted the Cyclops leader. He charged Rainbow with his club raised over his head as she was the only one besides the mortal without a weapon.
Lightning flashed overhead and Tirek stopped mid charge, looking up into the sky. He looked back at Rainbow and muttered, “Oh, right. Daughter of Zeus.” Rainbow raised her free hand to the sky and swung it down, lightning arched from the clouds and struck the monster. The lightning exploded on contact, the monster followed suite and showered everyone in dust. Rainbow rested herself on her knees briefly, looking a little winded after that.
“My hair! My clothes!” Rarity screeched.
Rainbow brushed some of the dust off her face, stood up straight again and asked, “What's the big deal? Just wash it out.”
“What's the big deal?!” She shouted, sounding very much annoyed. “Do you know how hard it is to wash monster dust out of clothes?! It’s nearly impossible!”
The girls just watched her wail about having to get more Olympian grade stain remover. Rarity’s complaining and the silence between the others was broken when Rainbow gasped.
“Oh Styx! I forgot! The smoothies!” And she immediately bolted out of the courtyard and down the alley the other girls came in through. The girls simply watched her go.
Sunset looked at her discarded spear and pointed, “Doesn't she need that?”
Applejack tucked away whatever she used to summon her equipment and replied, “Naw, it'll just return to her as her wrist band. She'll have to get it repaired by the Hephaestus cabin though.”
Sunset looked at the spear dubiously, the shaft was decimated. “I don't think you can repair that.”
“Also, Hephaestus cabin?” Sunset thought.
Applejack shrugged, “Ah think the enchantment is in the celestial bronze. So they'll just give her a new shaft ah guess. Ah really don’t know. They always manage to fix these things so ah never questioned it myself.”
Sunset nodded, then sat down on one of the benches. She rubbed her temple, “Wow this day turned in an odd direction pretty quickly. And this is your life? Like everyday?”
Rarity, who had now calmed, replied, “Well, not everyday, that would be ridiculous. Just a lot of them.”
“Though it's not all bad.” Fluttershy said. “There is camp after all.”
“Camp?” Sunset looked quizzically at Fluttershy.
“Oh! Um, I forgot you don’t know.” Fluttershy blushed in embarrassment. She smiled at Sunset and said, “It’s a place where demigods can go to be safe from any monsters trying to hurt them. It’s very nice, a lot of nature surrounding it too.”
Sunset smiled, “It sounds lovely.”
Sunset felt someone pat her roughly on the shoulder, “It really is sugarcube. And we are suppose to bring you there this summer.”
Sunset looked confused, “Huh? But it’s suppose to be for demigods right? I’m clearly not a demigod.”
“Well, from what Chiron told us, Rainbow’s father wants to talk to you. For what we haven’t the slightest clue though.” Rarity said as she tried her best to clean herself up. “You’ll likely wait for a few days to a week in camp before we bring you up to Olympus.”
Sunset felt worried, as it was not everyday that a god summoned your presence. Much less the King of the Gods himself, the only thing she really wanted to know was why. But she would not get the luxury of knowing what Zeus wanted until school was over and they went to this demigod camp of theirs.
Then something sparked in her head and she turned to Rarity and asked, “Wait. Olympus? Like the mountain in Greece?”
Rarity coughed, “Well… not exactly.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… the gods move with western civilization. Or more accurately with the biggest western superpower. And they couldn’t just move a mountain around without causing some real questions.” Rarity shrugged, “So they simply moved the godly peak of it around, floating over some important building. Right now it’s over the Empire State Building in Manhattan, you take the elevator up to it using a special card that activates the sixth hundredth floor button.”
“Oh, so nobody notices a floating mountain top over the city?” Sunset asked.
“It’s the Mist’s doing, it hides godly things from mortals, monsters included. It's why they looked human before morphing into a Cyclops. They must've been uncommonly good at using the Mist if they could hide their true selves from us and someone as clear-sighted as you.” Said Applejack. “Now enough with all the talkin’ and sittin’ around, we’ll explain things to ya on the way to Sugarcube Corner. Dash is probably already tearin’ up the place as we speak.”
With that Sunset and the girls headed out, with Applejack and Rarity talking animatly with Sunset as she asked questions she felt she desperately needed answers for. Fluttershy and Pinkie were just happily playing with one of Fluttershy’s bunnies.