//------------------------------//
// Goodnight... 
// Story: Tales of the Equestria Girls 
// by SirScribe 
//------------------------------//

	"YAHTZEE!" Pinkie shouted as the dice hit the board.

"Pinkie, we're playing Monopoly," Rarity said.

Pinkie snorted as she picked up the die. "I know, and if we had more dice and we were, I would've won," she said. She juggled the dice and let them loose, earning her the winning roll. Landing on her own property (Twilight's version of the game included Equestrian landmarks and she somehow failed to buy her castle), Pinkie sealed Sunset's fate.

The former Equestrian sighed as she took the dice. At least she had Twilight's Crown, mortgaged of course, but she was without any money. Whether she landed in Tartarus or on a property, she had lost the game. She rolled the dice and let them go, landing her on another of Pinkie's properties: Joe's Donuts. Sunset sighed as she handed over everything she had. "It's about time we finished," she muttered.

Twilight, seeing the deed to her crown, snatched it from Sunset's hand. "You owe me a crown," she said.

Everyone in the room laughed. After the movie had ended, the girls attended to a little get together that Flash had put together for his ex. In good spirits, the party went off without a hit, even when Trixie came by with her magic show. While she knew she could trump Trixie in magic, Twilight kept her mouth shut and marveled at what humans could do to mimic magic.

With the party ending, Pinkie managed to convince her parents to host a sleepover/birthday party at her house. With the parents going out with their girls to a dinner, Pinkie had the whole place to herself and the girls for several hours. Rarity, Sunset, Pinkie and both Twilights were just wrapping up Monopoly: Equestria Edition while Applejack and Rainbow went 1-on-1 on the game of their choice. Now, they were in a free-for-all on a former edition of Call of Duty, a game Rarity protested against.

Twilight smiled as she helped clean up. Her original mission was to collect data from the human world, and what she got out of it was even better: a stolen college textbook on world history (she was fascinated on the Crusades, Eastern and Western Roman Empires, fall of the great cities of Rome and Constantinople and so many incredible and horrible things), a tablet she was going to reverse engineer at home AND an actual mission regarding an escaped inmate.

"So," Sunset said as she put the Monopoly box in Twilight's bag. "What do we do now?"

"Never Have I Ever?" Rainbow suggested.

"HELL NO!" Everyone in the room responded, earning a chuckle from the cyan girl.

An explosion on the TV shocked Rainbow as Applejack won the last match. "Oh c'mon! I didn't even see you use that!" Rainbow shrieked. "What was that?!"

Applejack chuckled. "Y'all gotta use more than just them grenades, Dash. Gotta love 'em Claymores," she said as she allowed the killcam to play on the screen. Applejack had put a Claymore down behind  a corner because Rainbow was after her with a knife. Once Rainbow rounded the corner, all that was seen was a bright explosion followed by Rainbow's soldier falling on his back. Applejack shut off the console as they wrapped up the controllers. "Ah'm more in the mood to sleep, ya know?"

Rarity stretched as she let out a yawn. "I agree. Today seemed like it would never end. A little bit of shut eye is just what the doctor ordered."

Rainbow shut off the TV as everyone grabbed their sleeping bags. Pinkie was just rolling her bag out when she suddenly froze in place. "WAAIITT!" she screamed.

Everyone froze. Pinkie turned to Sunset, who was missing something very important. "What about the MMMM?" she asked.

"The MMMM?" Sunset questioned.

"Mmm-hmm," Pinkie muttered. She grabbed Twilight by the hand and raced out of her room with speed of lightning. The girls all eyed each other with no knowledge of what Pinkie had planned. Rainbow smacked Applejack in the arm while Fluttershy yanked on her ear. Rainbow turned to her childhood friend and chuckled nervously while Fluttershy shook her head.

The bedroom door burst open as Pinkie began backing in. Sunset laughed as she and Twilight brought in the MMMM, the Marzipan Mascarpone Merigune Madness. With some modifications to the original recipe making it shorter than the original the sight of the cake made everyone's mouths water. With Sunset's birthday coming up, pony Pinkie Pie agreed to share the recipe with her human counterpart while working on a top secret cake for the pony.

Applejack reached under Pinkie's bed and pulled out a foldable table. Fluttershy opened Pinkie's drawer to reveal a set of paper plates and cups. "FOR SHE'S	A JOLLY GOOD PONY! FOR SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD PONY!" they all sang out. "FOR SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD POOONNNNYYY! WHINNY, WHINNY, WHINNY!"

Sunset burst into laughter. The girls set the cake onto the table. In Pinkie's back pocket was a box of matches and a plastic knife. The cake was already decorated with candles (well, apples with fake stems to act like candles), and with the box, Pinkie struck a match and lit the apples up. Sunset smiled as she blew out the apples, earning applause from everything present.

The night lasted a lot longer than anticipated. With cake and cider in hand, Pinkie switched on her Netflix and let the girls enjoy the night. One taste of the MMMM was enough to send everyone's taste buds on a magical journey.

No pun intended.

Eventually, the cake was retired to the kitchen as everyone finally felt sleepy. With their sleeping bags in place, the girls finally said their goodnights and their goodbyes to Twilight. She and Sunset were returning to Equestria in the morning, and later that night, Sunset would return to kick start her summer vacation.





3:00 a.m.

Sunset's eyes slowly opened. Her teal eyes scanned the room, confirming where she was. She was still on Earth, yet she felt the cold feeling of solidarity. She slowly rose up and tiptoed out of the room, but not before reaching for her backpack with her clothes. Looking back at her human friends, she felt a pang of guilt. Her bag felt heavier than usual.

As she exited the room, Twilight shifted in her sleeping bag. The room was colder for some odd reason. She woke up to see Sunset exiting the room. She sighed as she rose up, ignoring the small cloud that exited her mouth.

Sunset tossed her bag onto the living room couch. Her heart was pumping as she paced the room. She reached for her bag and ripped it open. Inside were her jeans and blouse as well as a plastic baggie filled with her melted bullets. Beneath the baggie was the piece of paper that contained the Fail-Safe spell. That one spell would be the end of her time as a human.

Following the Battle of the Bands, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna presented Sunset with the Fail-Safe spell: a one-time only spell that would open a portal to Equestria. The spell, however, would come with a price. The spell would lock onto whatever magic it could find on the planet that belonged to Equestria and return it all, including residents and magical artifacts. The spell would even absorb the power of the magic portal and the affects of Twilight's Element on the Rainbooms.

Ever since she was given the spell, she had nightmares about her decisions to use it or not. She could very well elect to stay here and utilize the spell, but she would never return to Equestria. She would live life as a human and ultimately die a human...or she could live life as a pony reborn. Either way, she would have to say goodbye to someone forever.

Sunset studied the spell in her hands. She had the magic, and while she swore she would decide on her graduation, there were days where she wanted to return to Equestria. Every day, she would memorize the spell in her head and catch herself from saying it. Now with Tartarus escapees running free on the planet, the urge to send them all back in one great big spell was almost overpowering.

You know, they made your cell next to mine, Tangled had whispered into her ear. I hope you like it.

Sunset shivered in her place. She folded the spell and put it back in her bag. She removed the baggie of the melted bullets and studied them. Besides the bullets being melted bits of lead and copper, she couldn't figure out why they all left bruises that she dared not show to the rest of the girls, including...

"Sunset?"

The former Equestrian squeaked as she spun around with the baggie behind her bag. Standing in front of her was Twilight Sparkle with a cup of water in her hand. "What's going on?"

Sunset chuckled. "Oh, uh nothing really. I uh, I was just a little restless." She faked a yawn. "I think I'm just going to-"

Twilight extended a hand toward her student. Sunset sighed as she placed the baggie on her hand. The princess set the cup down and ripped it open. She raised up one of the melted bullets to the light coming from the street. "A new experiment?" she asked.

Sunset shook her head. "I extracted those from my back. They were already melted, almost like they exploded upon impact."

Twilight looked up, her eyes meeting Sunset's. In her mind, Sunset was growing concerned by her silence. "I discovered them when I was getting out of the shower this afternoon. I have no explanation as to how they got there or what happened," she continued. "Any ideas, especially since both metals found in the bullets are identical to Equestria?"

The princess of friendship extracted the remaining bits of metal. "Soo," she started as she inspected the metal. "The melting point of copper alone should near 2000 degrees Celsius, however, the combined temperature of all the metals, including the lead found in it must be greater. I'd say, combined, we're looking at melting a bullet in around 3000 degrees. I can imagine a bullet is already hot when it's fired, correct?"

Sunset nodded. "So for a bullet to hit you and melt on impact, your skin alone should've exceeded 4000 degrees Celsius, however, your clothes remained undamaged. For your skin to burn that hot to melt a bullet, the heat alone should've killed you, yet here you stand. Incredible," Twilight said. "But why did you hide it from me?"

Her student shrugged. "I think I was just unsure about what happened myself. I remember being hit by them, but I was knocked out before I could say anything," she said. "When I removed them, I had the idea that they melted on my skin, but I didn't feel anything on my back when we were still there. I guess I was looking for answers myself, and couldn't bring myself to present a problem when even I don't know what happened."

"Hmm, it must've been the remaining energy that was used in the EM Disruptor the other me fired. We must've caught some of that energy, and since we're both mages in Equestria, it had a greater impact on us than someone like Applejack or Fluttershy," Twilight theorized.

"It could be that, but even a small pulse in this world can disrupt major electrical systems. Why was I knocked out while you remained conscious?" Sunset asked.

Twilight paused in thought. She replayed the last 12 hours before they went up against Tangled Minds. She snapped as she found the connection. "It could very well be that the Disruptor canceled out the magic that we absorbed when the EM Tracker was destroyed. Between the both of us, I used no magic while you must've used some to save your own life. The magic must've been purged from me while it literally drained you of your reserve power in this world. It'd be best if I can correctly measure the amount of magic you still have after that...Friendship Games disaster," she suggested. Already her mind began tinkering with various scenarios. 

Sunset smiled. "I'm sure we can figure something out. I have some notes regarding the girls' magical arsenals when I was trying to determine how they 'ponied up' with magic. I concluded that they were able to channel their inner magic by embracing what makes them unique. Rarity designing countless costumes purely out of generosity sparked the first pony up," she said. "I almost dismissed the theory because I don't represent an Element in Equstria."

"Welll, when you think about it, you do," Twilight said.

"Oh?" Sunset asked, now more curious than before about magic.

"From what I remember, you put on my crown/Element of Harmony. Since my Element, created by the union of the others Elements, recognized that you separated them and disagreed with your aura, it was forced to turn dark to punish you. Since we reversed the power on you, the Element must've set up a base formula into your biology, connecting you with its power to a small degree. Your continued, and I'm being honest here, lack of self-confidence during the Battle of the Bands was influenced by that power," Twilight said.

"When you turned things around at the end of the Battle and you rose up against us, the remaining part of my Element connected with your aura and granted you the ability to harness that magic. You became a part of my Element for a short amount of time until the Games, and then..."

Twilight paused as she looked at Sunset. The gears stopped turning as she came to one conclusion, but it was too much to be an accurate one. She had to continue her research into the history of the Elements and where they came from, but now was not the time. "I need time to sort this one out. I don't have an answer," she lied.

Twilight already had an answer: Sunset created a new Element from hers. Although impossible, it had been debated by the great mages of pre-Equestria, and even during the early years of Celestia's reign. The Elements were first born, however, theory suggested that they could be built from other Elements. Her Element changed in Sunset, creating and proving what other ponies in the past theorized: Elements can be harvested from vessels and other Elements. She was going to have to talk with Princess Celestia immediately.

"Right, I understand." Sunset chuckled. "This is probably something you've never had to think about back in Equestria, huh?"

Twilight shook her head. Sunset turned to the clock, which advised them that it was getting late. They would have to leave anyway for a Pinkie-style Pony Party (Twilight didn't mention Cheese Sandwich in the party invitation because she wanted to see how that would resonate with Sunset). Twilight was about to go back to sleep when her stomach growled like a wild beast.

The former Equestrian chuckled lightly. "Hungry?"

Twilight nodded. "These bodies burn through energy very quick," she motioned.

"I hear ya. I had to remember by eating habits in Equestria seriously differ here. Nearly drained a fast-food joint of its breakfast menu one time because of how hungry I was," Sunset said.

They both laughed quietly as Sunset's stomach began growling. Sunset sighed. "I can go get my boots and we can go look for some places that are open this early. If not, I know a donut place that's open that we can go to instead," she suggested.

"That'll be good. I can wait here," Twilight said.

Sunset smiled as she crept into the hallway and up the stairs. She slipped into Pinkie's bedroom and searched frantically for her boots. She nearly grabbed Applejack's before she realized her boots weren't faux leather. She continued groping the room for her boots before nearly exclaiming in surprise. She definitely didn't grab her boots.

Sunset silently apologized to Fluttershy as she continued searching. Her hands finally grazed her boots as she attempted to put them on. As she slipped one on, she picked up a shuffling behind her. Turning around, her eyes locked onto Rarity's, who had just gotten up due to the noise. She rubbed her eyes as her blindfold hung from her neck. "Sunset, what are you doing? It's too early for this," she whispered.

The flame-haired girl chuckled nervously. She leaned up against the wall as she slipped her other boot on. "Sorry Rare, you can go back to sleep now," she said.

The fashionista waved it off. "Too late, I'm already up. What are you up to?"

Sunset sighed. "I was just looking for my boots since I'm heading out with Twilight for-"

"Oh you're leaving with her already?" she nearly shouted. "I must say, it seems that you've wanted some alone time with her ever since we got back from the movies."

Sunset mocked laughter. "Oh hush. We're going for breakfast and I'll be bringing some donuts if you guys want any," she said.

"A breakfast date? How wonderful," Rarity nearly cheered.

Sunset sighed. Every word coming out of her mouth was only one mistake after another. "Can you stop shipping me and Twilight together already? You have no evidence in any way that I'm in love with her!" she nearly shouted.

"Oh puh-leeze honey, I don't need evidence. I've seen the way you look at her, and when you talk about her whenever she writes in your journal. You never let us anywhere near your book, especially when she's writing a letter to all of us," Rarity reasoned. "You nearly bit some poor man's head off when he touched your book."

"I had a very good reason for that, just in case you forgot," Sunset growled.

"And there was the movies. I saw you two accidentally brush hands. When Twilight turned away, I saw you look at her and even moved to grasp her hand again. You stammer when you talk about her to me and you keep using code phrases when we ask what she's up to. You've even taken a week off and had taken your journal home a few months ago," Rarity finished. "Face it, Sunset, you're in love."

Sunset began sweating. "Well, for the uh, the uh week off, you know I have that...problem regarding my race's yearly heat cycles. The code phrases are changing Equestrian lingo to human since you continue to pester me whenever I saw 'anypony'. As for the stammering, I uh..."

"No excuse?" Rarity guessed.

"No, of course I do. Oh, wait I mean, uhh...well uh."

Rarity raised an eyebrow. Sunset sighed as she finally hung her head in defeat. "Please don't tell anyone. I'm not ready to begin talking about this to the rest of the girls," she muttered.

Rarity sighed as she wrapped an arm around her friend. "There there darling. I promise I won't tell a soul," she said.

Sunset completed the hug. Rarity could feel her shaking in her arms. "Look darling, we don't mean to continue hounding you like we do, but sometimes that's the price to pay for having friends. Friends are made to tease one another. It is all in good fun, while some of us do get a little...carried away," Rarity explained.

"No, it isn't that." She broke the hug. "Imagine being in my situation. Last year, I ruled the school until Twilight stepped in and brought me down. She saved me from making the biggest mistake of my life by getting revenge. She even forgave me for trying to kill her faster than any of you girls. I worked at Applejack's farm, your boutique, Fluttershy's Mobile Pet Wash, and even Rainbow's judo classes just to earn your trust. Her? I had to do nothing. She forgave a miserable she-demon."

"Oh honey..."

"And with the Battle of the Bands, I should be okay now with what I'm feeling, but when you girls needed me, I felt...whole. I rose with you girls and gained incredible magic. I was finally one of you, and I owed it all to..."

"Twilight?" Rarity continued.

Sunset nodded. "Yeah, we talked and she would usually come over for lunch. She'd usually come alone, ya know? I'd have a free period or it's the weekend and she'd come for lunch by herself. We'd talk and tell jokes and everything." She began pacing the room. "But then with the Friendship Games and all the chaos, a part of me wanted to solve this problem all on my own. I was almost glad when she didn't respond because I thought I could do this and prove how much I had really changed. If the other Twilight had not gone crazy, I would've never known how to deal with magic here."

Close to the window, Applejack's ear twitched. She opened her eyes just enough and quietly listened. "I owe Twilight everything, including my life. Imagine being picked up from the abyss from someone you tortured relentlessly. I sought to hurt Twilight back then, and for her to turn around and forgive me right out of the gate, I just-"

Sunset sighed. Rarity had not said anything, instead hoping for her to tell the truth. "She forgave me right away when no one else did. Princess Celestia forgave me, even when she claims it wasn't my fault that I left. You girls taught me humility, but Twilight? She became my idol. She is the result of hard work and perseverance. She is the definition of progression and the example of what happens when you work hard towards a goal. I-I guess..."

Rarity came to comfort her friend. "There there Sunset. It's all okay. Everything will be alr-"

"No."

Rarity was stunned. "Everything isn't alright and it won't be alright. You wanna know why? Because it's true. I do have a crush on Twilight. I do have feelings for her, and that's the bad thing," Sunset nearly exclaimed.

The fiery-haired teen took in a deep breath. "I don't know if I should even have these feelings in the first place. She's...I don't know. I feel like I can trust her on a lot of topics, and I'm glad we aren't always face to face when we talk about...a lot of things. Sometimes, even at the movie theater, I wish I would've done something to push these feelings out of me. Twilight likes Flash, I know that. I feel like I'm not supposed to have these feelings, yet she's all I can think about sometimes. No Flash, no worrying of taboo in this world, no worrying about long-distance relationships and no worrying about her shutting me down. I forget all that, and when I do remember them, all I can do is..."

"Sunset," Rarity hissed as she grabbed her shoulders. "Stop going on like this. Stop thinking that you shouldn't have feelings of love for another person, especially Twilight."

"But..."

"Oh no, no butts. As a friend, I can see you are attracted to her, and you're happy when you are. Thinking that you're not good enough, or thinking about taboos in this world are ridiculous. You know as well as I that Equis sees same-sex relationships as nothing different from heterosexual relationships, and personally, I believe love is love. You, Sunset Shimmer, have been blessed because you know a fantastic soul who saved you from the darkness, taught you about friendship, and even took time out of her busy schedules to come and have lunch with you. She even somehow made time to be here," Rarity said. Her chest began filling up as she listened to herself.

"You are the luckiest girl on two dimensions because she thinks you are so important that she will drop everything to talk to you. You are important to her as she is to you." She paused. Sunset was actually listening to her words. "Be the best you can be, but still be you. Twilight likes that about you: you're not afraid to be a bit of a bad girl every once and a while. You rubbed it in her face when you bought her Crown in Monopoly and she laughed. You continue being you, and I guarantee that she will show the same feelings toward you. Just remember that when you feel the time is right, make the first move. If you wait too long, someone else may snatch her up," Rarity finished. She brushed off Sunset's shoulders and wiped away the tears that Sunset began accumulating. 

Sunset smiled. "Th-thanks Rare."

"Think nothing of it, now go. You have a breakfast date to go on and we will talk more when you get back. We still have Catalina Island for your birthday celebration as well as something I have personally planned for the two of us."

Sunset nodded as she hugged Rarity. She quietly exited the room and down the stairs to her crush. Rarity silently tiptoed to the window, where Sunset and Twilight were getting in her car. The fiery-haired girl glanced up to see the fashionista waving at her. As quietly as she could, Sunset started the car and drove off.

Rarity yawned as she moved back to her sleeping bag. She slipped in and shut her eyes, ready to dream of her bright future once more.

Except, she didn't get bright.

In the far corner of the room, a dark shadow began to take form. Raised about six feet high, the shadow began to grow its human-like features. Its arms extended to its hands, which bore razor-sharp claws. Its skinny legs melted into the shadow on the floor. Its torso was lean but muscular, which matched perfectly with its featureless head.

The creature bore bed hair: short and presumably curly hair with no other features. The creature flashed a wicked grin across its face with teeth seemly drenched in red. Its eyes...its horrible and empty wide eyes. The creature's eyes held nothing within them, except pain. Extreme pain.

As Rarity lulled herself to sleep, the creature stepped from the corner. It raised its clawed hand and dragged it across the wallpaper in Pinkie's room, tearing it apart. In the background, the sound of maniacal laughter echoed through the room, yet no one made a sound. The creature's shadowy body began to smoke as it lunged into the air and toward Rarity's sleeping form.

It wasn't until some time later that someone remembered Rarity screaming in pure terror. It wouldn't be until much later that Rarity realized just how much danger she, and everyone else was in.