//------------------------------// // Fight Club // Story: Valour and Bedlam // by Anfa an Dorchadais //------------------------------// “Oh man, the races last night were awe-frickin’-some!” Rainbow Dash grinned wildly as she slid into her seat at the lunch table. “Did any of you go?” “Go where? What races?” Twilight pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she blinked inquisitively. “The ones down by Cutthroat Field. You know, on the south side.” “Aren’t those races illegal?” Rarity asked in concern, looking up from her newly painted nails. “Yeah, totally, but that’s what makes it fun! Cars, motorbikes, that cage fight held every Wednesday at Uncle Clydesdale’s and there was a sick crash last night too!” Sunset looked up in horror. “A crash?” Oh no. Please don't be her, please don't be her. “Yep!” Dash nodded, seeing she had everyone’s attention. “It was during the motorbike races. One of the riders had a gorgeous bike, black paint-job, 750CC, mad skills, skidded and slammed into the wall. Some oldish dude ran over and got them off the track. They never even took their helmet off. Bike looked a bit banged up though. Looked like it would need some expensive repairs.” “Are you alrigh’, hun?” Applejack placed a hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “You’re looking pretty pale there.” She blinked and swallowed. “I’m fine. Thanks. I just don’t like crashes. Ever since that one event in the Games with the motor-cross…” Everyone nodded in understanding. Rarity smiled warmly at her. “It was a good thing Rainbow Dash was there to protect you. But honestly, motor-cross in a school event. It was incredibly dangerous.” “It was awesome!” Rainbow Dash laughed, pulling a football out of her bag and spinning it on her finger as though it was a basketball. “Right, Sunset?” “Yeah. I thought it was great before the triffids attacked,” she rolled her eyes. She preferred the older horror movies that Halt occasionally put on for movie night. Newer ones tended to rely more on gore for shock value. Although a heated discussion with Rainbow Dash had taught her that the new movies were still alright and popular for a reason. Her breath hitched slightly as she shifted her arm wrong, placing her fork back down on the tray as she breathed deeply, trying to dispel the sudden flare of pain from her shoulder. She’d managed to relocate it, which had left only a slight twinge that would be gone soon enough, but the bad injuries were her ribs. None were broken, but it had been close. Compression bandages were amazing creations. Humans were so clever about getting around their lack of magic. At least her legs were mostly fine, aside from being bruised and scraped. Last time she had a crash she’d woken up to Halt talking to a doctor outside her small hospital room, although it was more like Halt was swearing at the doctor about fees. At least the bike was fine, that time. She’d have to repair almost half the bike when her landlord let her pick up a wrench. The pain eased in her arm and she smiled at the girls, cringing on the inside when she saw they were all staring at her with caring concern. “I’m fine. Walked into a door last night.” Worst excuse ever. “I know you’re lying, hun.” Applejack looked her in the eye. Sunset stared back in determination, her eyes widening when she noticed the faint flicker of indigo gold magic in the farm girl’s stubborn aura. If she had to describe it, she would say it looked as hard as stone and a colour that was best described as mixing every shade of green imaginable and a few only visible to bumblebees and art students, and adding what could be some form of orange. Or possibly brown. That was still not right though. It looked unyielding, proud, and above all, truthful. She was the Element of Honesty after all. Maybe she was a walking lie detector. Sunset smiled. “You can tell?” “We all can, darling,” Rarity flipped her silver compact shut and fixed the older girl with a piercing glare. “I fell off my bike.” That was close enough to the truth. “Work tired me out a lot. Seriously girls, I promise I’m fine.” These injuries wouldn’t even scar, and she had enough of those already. She would be fine. It was nothing. The time she broke her arm had been much worse. She focused her gaze on Twilight. “How about you, Twi? You seem tired.” It was true, there were faint rings under Twilight’s eyes, mostly hidden by the frames of her glasses. “Me? Oh, I’m, uh, fine! Yep!” She smiled nervously and began wringing her hands slightly. She quickly crumbled under the sextet of concerned gazes. Her dark eyes studied the bottom rim of her glasses as she bit her lip. “My parents still aren’t pleased about my school switch. My brother also hasn’t talked to me since then. Cadence is the only one that does. Sorry.” “Darling, what on earth are you apologising for?” Rarity took her hand, “it’s not your fault that dreadful school was such a toxic environment.” “Uh, I’m sure it wasn’t all bad. But whatever you think is fine.” Fluttershy put her hand on Twilight’s shoulder for a moment, “and we’re glad to have you here.” “She’s got that right,” Applejack winked at the younger girl. “You’re our friend, and if you want us to talk to your brother, it’s no problem. We’ll set RD on him. Don’t you worry none, sugercube.” This brought a small smile to Twilight’s face as she looked at Applejack. “It’s fine. No problem, really. I’m sure everything will sort itself out eventually. But thank you girls. You’re all so nice to me, even when I tried to destroy this world as a… a, um…” “Evil, power crazed supervillain?” Pinkie grinned helpfully, balancing a spoon on her nose and cheeks to try cheer her friend up. Twilight nodded, eyes downcast. Dash ruffled her hair bun, reaching over Fluttershy to do so. “Hey, no blood, no foul. We forgave Sunset for doing the same thing after all, and she was way crazier.” “Thanks Dash,” Sunset rolled her eyes with a smirk. “But she’s right, Twi. We’re your friends. We have your back.” As far as she was concerned, this was a nice moment. And Twilight seemed a little happier as well. That was good. Poor thing deserved a bit of happy after her pretty shit school life in Crystal Prep. Rarity seemed to agree, judging by the bright grin she wore as she suddenly began rifling through her bag. “This seems like the perfect moment, and I hope you don’t mind,” she pulled out a small silken pouch. “I found these at the markets over the break. I got one for each of us.” She emptied the pouch onto the table, seven silver pins falling out, with a differently coloured jewel in each. “The jewels in them aren’t real, I have quite an eye for that sort of thing, but they were rather pretty nonetheless. Let’s see, purple for Twilight, and this white one is mine.” She pinned it to the strap of her bag and handed Twilight the other one. “Oh, oh, is the pink one mine?” Pinkie Pie bounced in her seat, her curls flying everywhere as she reached for the small pin. Rarity nodded, “of course, and yellow for Fluttershy. I’m afraid I couldn’t find all they had was simple little circles or I would have gotten shaped ones.” “It’s okay, Rarity, it’s really quite lovely.” She pinned it to her sweater. “And we have red for Sunset, and a nice dark blue for Rainbow,” she handed them the red and blue gems, respectively. “And Applejack, I did try to find an orange pin, but it was either black, another pink, or green, and I doubted you’d pick either of the first two.” She handed her the small green circle. “I still think it’s mighty fine,” the farmer smiled and tipped her Stetson. “Thank you, Rares. You really didn’t have to go to the trouble.” “But of course I did!” She clapped her hands together gleefully. “Think of them like promise rings or friendship bracelets. After all, I put my name down for the school trip overseas, so I might not be seeing any of you for a few weeks next term and it would be nice to have a sort of reminder of our friendship. By the way, you should put your names down as well. There’s not been an official announcement on the destination, but it’s bound to be an adventure.” “Maybe I’ll do that,” Sunset shrugged before remembering just how bad an idea that was. Ow. “After all, I won’t be missing anything. I learnt all this last year.” She’d been kept back a year. She’d flunked some of her subjects on purpose to achieve it. She didn’t want to lose her friends just yet, or access to the portal, and the principal had agreed it might be good for her to stay back as well, after the Fall Formal. Applejack nodded. “I don’t think I’d go for it. It’s harvesting time. Crops don’t pick themselves.” “Want a hand? I’m free this Saturday.” Sunset offered. She loved Applejack’s farm. The horses were truly beautiful, and she wasn’t too bad at being a rider. It was a little weird, but so were thumbs. “Sure hun, if you want.” The farmer smiled at her, fixing the pin she had been given to the band of her hat. Sunset looked at the small pin in her hand as the bell rang. A reminder of her friendships. She’d have to keep that in mind if she graduated this year. Maybe. She pinned it to her boot, unwilling to even slightly damage her jacket, and stood up with much less grace then was normal for her. Nurse’s office. She just had to get to P. E and tell the gym teacher she couldn’t do anything today. It also happened to be one of the only senior classes Twilight hadn’t been bumped up to on account of her smarts. So none of her friends would be there to worry. She hated bothering them. Twenty minutes later and she was on her way to the nurse’s office. Or she would have been, if she hadn’t noticed the small crowd of teenagers gathered around a locker. She would have passed by if she didn’t hear the faint sounds of begging coming from somewhere in the throngs of the group. Damn. She ignored the pain in her ribs and strode up to them, like she would have if she was still the queen bully of the school. There were plenty of other bullies that had been below her in the pecking order, but she had paid no attention to them, content to let them wreak havoc on the other kids. Only when she had become the most unpopular person in the school, to the point that she was a toxic influence on others and could paint a target on someone’s back if they showed a modicum of friendliness to her, did she realise how truly wrong it was. She despised bullies. Cowards, the lot of them. That used to include her. “Hey,” she didn’t yell. That made her seem like she was trying to force her confidence. Instead she let her voice project naturally, the hallway making it echo. It had the intended effect, getting the teens to look at her and not their victim. She also saw the victim. Striped skin, sharp features, and multi-coloured hair tied in Bantu knots, a torn bag on the ground and a sketchbook open before them, a dirty boot print tearing and marking one of the pages and destroying the sketches. It reminded her of Equestria, of zebras. She hated most of the Canterlot populace for how they treated non-ponies. When humans did the same, based entirely on looks, it still pissed her off. “What do you want, Shimmer?” The ringleader glared at her. She met his gaze with an even fiercer glare. She never bothered to remember his name, although she knew he was on the richer end of the scale. And the nastier end too. She had a feeling she dated him once. Or made him cry. Could have been both. “Simple, you’re all going to run along to class. Now,” she growled, wishing she could cross her arms. She’d probably wince if she did, and she wasn’t going to show any sign of weakness. “Or what?” The rather shrill voice was his current girlfriend, Ivy something. Sunset rolled her eyes and hid a smile as she noticed that the victim had picked himself up and was currently trying to sneak away. Good. She was being a good distraction for his escape. She made sure to keep the attention of the other senior and strode up to him, getting nose to nose with him. “Or else. You really want to find out?” She noted with some satisfaction that one of his friends paled slightly. She definitely remembered that one. He’d tried to hit her exactly once for brainwashing the school. While she may have deserved it, she refused to put herself in danger of physical attacks. It had ended with him being slammed against a locker door and her almost breaking his arm. She knew how to defend herself. “Now, now, my dear,” she did actually flinch as an arm wrapped around her shoulders after appearing out of nowhere, matching the slick voice of the bane of her chemistry classes. Maverick grinned coyly at her, holding her close even as she pushed away from him. “I would hate to see a fight break out. I’m sure you can all agree.” The group immediately scarpered, probably due to the switchblade that Maverick was casually twirling around his fingers, the handle bright violet. That was incredibly anticlimactic. She shuddered as she heard him whisper in her ear, leaning over her. “Well that’s been taken care of. If I were you, I’d watch that fiery temper of yours. It would be a shame if it flared at an inopportune time. I won’t always be here to protect you.” She really wanted to punch him. Punch him in his stupid, smarmy face. She could reach. Probably. She wasn’t nearly as tall as him, but he was taller than just about everyone, including the principals, so it wasn’t about her being short. “Protect me? I’d feel safer around a spitting cobra.” She roughly grabbed his wrist and pushed him away, absently noting the random jangling bracelets hanging from it and clashing horribly with his mismatched gloves. Weirdo. “Harsh,” he chuckled, and she knew that he was laughing at her. If she were still a unicorn, her horn would definitely have been glowing out of rage. “Toughen up then,” she snapped, turning around to finally go to the nurse’s office. She heard him laugh out loud then, and heard his almost silent steps move towards her. Her fists clenched as he passed her, deliberately bumping against her shoulder to send a lance of pain through her ribs and pushing something into her hand. “Make sure to get some actual painkillers for those, Sunset Shimmer. You’ll need a clear head for this week. Wouldn’t want to be a rat in a trap.” And he was gone, turning the corner away from the nurse’s office. What in Celestia’s grottiest gala dress was that about? She looked at her hand, seeing that he’d pushed a playing card into her fist. The ace of clubs. Her brow furrowed. That seemed… cryptic yet important? No. She was being stupid. She was spending too much time thinking about Equestria and Celestia being an enigmatic mentor with her tests and magic quests and air of all-knowing wisdom that was probably fake. He was just a madman. She stomped to the nurse’s office, face still twisted into a scowl and scrunching the playing card into a crumpled ball, roughly chucking it into a waste bin. She looked back at where the bane of her existence had gone, one brow quirking in a quizzical manner as a thought occurred to her. How did he know her ribs were injured? “Thanks again for your help with this, hun,” Applejack used her forearm to wipe sweat off her brow, hefting a bag of fresh picked apples into the tray of a quad bike. “Makes it much easier to get the apples before they fall.” Sunset smiled, her leather jacket tied around her waist. “It’s really no problem, AJ. I’m always happy to help.” She lifted her own, smaller, bag into the back, stepping over a large dip in the dirt. “I get that. So what’s really going on with you? You’ve been distant.” Applejack put her hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “Nothing,” she replied automatically. “Sunset.” Applejack caught her gaze, green eyes steady. “The truth.” Sunset’s own teal looked right back with just as much stubbornness, a hint of rage at being prodded already beginning to simmer. Maverick was right. She had to work on that. “I work a lot. You wouldn’t understand.” What exactly was she meant to explain? That she didn’t think she belonged in this world? That slowly, she couldn’t help but feel envy towards each of her friends for their lives? Lives with family, and stable homes, and no monster attacks? The farmer raised an eyebrow. “I live on a farm, hun. I understand working. And that’s not all there is. I’m no fancy mathematician like you and Twilight, but I ain’t dumb. You can trust me.” Sunset took her time to think, weighing the options and maybe discussing one of her biggest problems with someone who wouldn’t lie to her. She could trust Applejack not to do that. She could see it, in the aura surrounding the other girl. She glanced around again, gathering her thoughts and noting in the back of her mind what looked like long gouges on on of the trees. “You want to know, then? Alright. I have no idea what I’m doing. Magic in this world, it is incredibly different from Equestria. Currently the main difference is that it’s not there. And I can’t see it anywhere, not even in me, the only natural-born magical creature in this dimension.” She crossed her arms. “All I know is that ever since I became Daydream Shimmer, and I still don’t know how I got that name, I must have done something to block the magic here. There’s almost nothing.” “I can understand why that must be hard for you. You’re not used to not knowing. And what do you mean ‘almost’? And being able to not see it? Our magic wasn’t exactly visible beforehand, not unless we got the whole pony shebang.” Applejack leaned against the quad bike, Sunset joining her. “I can see magic naturally, even when it’s not being actively used. Auras, passive spells, even old traces of all sorts of stuff. It’s not a common trait in ponies. I don’t think even Celestia herself can see things the way I can. It’s draconequus magic. The last known unicorn who could see magic before me was Starswirl the Bearded.” “Auras? You mean that hippie stuff?” “Yeah. Like yours. Your aura is all greens and oranges and browns. Sturdy colours. But magic isn’t there. It used to be. In all of us. It’s something that sort of clued me into the Dazzlings using black magic. I could see them igniting people’s emotions and drawing them out of their auras. It was so they could feed.” “That must have been unnerving.” The faint indigo-gold weaved throughout Applejack’s aura pulsed gently, glowing in the light of the setting sun. “It was! And the strangest thing about everything is that sometimes I feel like I can see traces of magic still in your auras, but the second I look, it’s gone!” She ran her hands through her fringe before looking at Applejack, a feeling of unease twisting in her stomach. “Have I just lost the plot or someth…” More magic. Right there. Currently not disappearing. “You’re saying you can still see this magic colour around us sometimes?” Applejack smiled at her. “Yes," she noticed the magic beginning to fade slightly. “I’m a little surprised you believe the whole aura thing.” “Come on now, you’re a friend. I trust you not to lie to me about stuff. If you say you can see these things, I believe you.” Sunset stared as the indigo-gold let off a massive pulse of energy before fading back into the sea of green and autumn colours. She remembered what she had said to them about the Elements of Harmony. But those were in Equestria. Was it possible that her friends had magic linked to objects in a different dimension? Or, and this one really made her pause, was there an alternate version of the Elements of Harmony here? That didn’t need Princess Twilight to activate it? She needed to go home and rethink everything. “Sunset? Are you alright? You kind of spaced out on me a bit there, hun.” Applejack clicked her fingers in front of the biker’s face. “What? Oh! I’m fine. Sorry. I just got a crazy new…” was that a rustle in the grass? “Theory.” That was indeed a sound that she had not heard since Equestria, but she didn’t think she’d ever forget the sound of large paws on grass, the sound of ‘predator’. “We need to go.” Maybe she was being paranoid, but her instincts had kept her alive for years. “Why?” Applejack looked around. “I barely even noticed how dark it was getting. It’s near sundown already.” “Yes, now let’s go.” Sunset’s head was ticking back and forth, watching for shapes that didn’t fit with the trees. Why were there so many trees? Couldn’t it be a grassland or something? Applejack climbed onto the quad bike, Sunset sitting behind her. “You staying for dinner?” “Sure, yeah,” she mumbled. Was that a snout? Were those eyes she could see in the trees? Was she just way too paranoid after Maverick telling her she’d need a clear had with what might have been some sort of warning? Yeah, right, like she was going to listen to the human teenager who wasn’t even around during the magic shenanigans and had no aura. “Can this thing go faster?” That was definitely the sound of growling. “Don’t worry, hun. Granny Smith doesn’t have dinner ready until half six. We won’t miss a thing.” They left the trees to cross one of the empty fields where they let the horses roam. Once more through another orchard and they’d be back at the barn. Sunset allowed herself to relax slightly, certain she’d spot anything coming towards them now. They weren’t in the trees anymore. Then there was a roar behind them, and by Celestia’s beard was Applejack stopping to look over her shoulder? Humans were morons when it came to evading predators. Though she supposed that they were not prey like her kind, but were predators themselves, damn efficient ones actually, Didn’t stop Sunset from trying to lunge around Applejack to get the quad bike to move, a strangled screech of “WHY ARE YOU STOPPING?!” tearing from her throat like a banshee’s wail. Then she looked over her shoulder and saw it too, immediately pushing Applejack off the back and rolling them away from the pair of long white jaws that clamped onto the back half of the vehicle and crushed it to pieces. Escape didn’t work. Time for Plan B. Sunset moved protectively in front of her friend and rose to her feet in a stance that screamed ‘ready to bolt at the drop of a hat’. Where did Applejack keep her shotgun? According to human popular culture, all farmers had one. She’d yet to find any unicorn spell that was half as good at killing as most of the many many things/methods humans had invented to smite each other. “What in Sam Hell is that?” Applejack was still crouched on all fours behind her, staring with abject horror at the thing eating her quad bike. If Sunset had to put a shape to it, she’d say it was probably a rat. Except most rats weren’t big enough to swallow her whole and look like they still had room for seconds. The fur was deathly white, swirls of blue-green magic dripping off it like water. The five eyes on the beast’s head were molten gold, matching the long green teeth positioned right at the front of its maw. The five eyes (why did it have five eyes some of those eyes did not belong there) swiveled to look at her, the forked tail swishing behind it. Sunset glared back with pride and some foolish bravery that was probably just adrenaline. But who cares? This over-sized mouse wasn’t laying a single blue claw on Applejack. “We have to run.” Applejack had slowly risen to her feet. “It’ll chase us.” “We can outrun it. We just haveta get to the paddock’s end.” Did Applejack’s accent thicken slightly? Probably from the same pants-wetting terror Sunset was currently denying. Damn her prey instincts. She was so over them. From now on she was going to ignore them. “It will kill and eat us both. You first, probably.” “Thanks,” Sunset could practically see the eye-roll, “but no. We’ll split up and run to opposite corners, then jump the fence immediately. That thing looks too heavy to jump fast.” “You’re crazy.” “Trust me.” And though every nerve in her body was against the idea, Sunset did. “When?” The giant rat had taken a step forward. “Ready,” the biker’s entire body tensed. “NOW!” She ran, going left and staying parallel to Applejack, who ran towards the right corner. Sunset powered towards the steel gate, clearing it in a full leap and landing in a crouch, before immediately breaking into a sprint. This was what she had been born to do. She looked over to her right to see Applejack vault over the fence and keep running, ignoring the red that appeared on her hand from where she accidentally put her palm on barbed wire. The monster slammed into the fence behind her, and flowed through the fence like it was made of water. Applejack glanced over her shoulder and saw that the fence didn’t do a thing. “Now, that’s just cheating.” Her leg was swiped out from under her and she fell forward into the unforgiving dirt, a large paw pressing into her back and her hair coming out of its ponytail. She could feel the water dripping off the thing and soaking her shirt. Could hear it growling at her. She looked up to see Sunset turn on her heels and run towards her. “Get outta here! I’ll be fine!” The lie was too easy to say. She didn’t want her friend to get hurt. Sunset obviously didn’t believe her. Neither did Applejack. One of her hands clutched the Stetson still on her head as she looked up into hungry gold eyes, the head moving closer to take a bite out of the farmer. “I’m gonna die,” she whimpered, scrunching her eyes shut. It was true. She smiled slightly. “But I made sure Sunset can get away. She’s got a chance.” At least she saved her friend. And she knew in her bones that she wasn’t lying to herself about that. She heard a sound like the crumbling of rocks and a dull thud. Sunset skidded to a halt as she felt a powerful surge of magic, small sparks kicked up from where her heels ground into the dirt. Time seemed to slow as green light overtook Applejack’s form, making her burn brighter than a star, the earth itself rising up to encompass her body, and the soothing sound of a bass guitar thrummed in her ears for a brief moment. A clenched fist broke through the rock and socked the rat in the jaw, sending it flying twenty feet in the air. The rock exploded out to reveal Applejack, a long braid reaching down to her ankles and a pair of pony ears under her Stetson. Sunset barely had a chance to see any other details before the other girl sprang forward, the earth acting as her springboard, and landed in a roll, already zooming forward like she was that blue hedgehog guy with the super speed. The rat never stood a chance as she barreled into its side, knocking it over with a kick. She landed back in a crouch, and Sunset knew that she was going completely on some instinct, not even consciously thinking about doing anything but surviving. Applejack flicked her wrist, a long whip falling from her sleeve and into her hand. The tip cracked as she wrapped around the monster’s neck and heaved, digging the heels of her boots into the ground. The rat’s head suddenly moved to the side with a loud snap and it disintegrated to nothing, leaving Applejack standing victorious, whip still in hand and streaks of green light trailing from her eyes. The light in her eyes faded as she blinked, looking around in confusion and surprise. She turned to look at Sunset like she was about to ask what happened. Sunset didn’t have an answer. Applejack was now dressed in a red crop top and shorts that emphasized her muscular physique, trimmed with orange. Brown boots hugged her calves, the silver spurs gleaming on her ankles. They matched her belt and gloves, silver studs gleaming on her knuckles and inset in gleaming patterns on her leather bracers. The green garter on her left thigh, marked with clubs matched the green jewel on her belly button, inset in silver and cut in the shape of an apple. The two girls stared at each other for what felt like forever before Applejack burned with light again, fading back into her usual outfit, blood staining her hand and leg. The pin Rarity gifted her fell in front of Sunset, who quickly caught it. She held out her hand as Applejack limped up, both girls watching as it transformed in shape, the green jewel deepening in hue and forming an apple shape, while the silver around it took the form of the Ace of Clubs, still small enough to be indiscreet. Applejack wordlessly picked it up, the gem flaring with an aura of what Sunset swore was happiness. Was this an Element of Harmony? She remembered seeing the same thing happen when Princess Twilight had retrieved her Element of Magic. Applejack wordlessly pinned the little silver club to her Stetson. “I vote we go eat and not talk about this until you understand what the hell happened. I sure ain’t got a clue.” Sunset nodded. “I’ll think on it. Are you alright?” “I’ll live. Just need to get home and tell Big Mac what happened. He’ll believe me.” She placed an arm around Sunset’s shoulders and the two of them walked back to the barn, chatting about anything and everything in an attempt to distract themselves from what they just saw. Sunset looked back at where the monster had died. Strange. When she had seen that thing, she thought she could almost sense Equestrian magic coming from it. This needed to be researched.