//------------------------------//
// The Feeling of Powerlessness 
// Story: Turn Cruel 
// by Gpizano 
//------------------------------//

	
As Sunset Shimmer rode through the night, everything seemed to slip away, into silence, into a blur of lights, with the only clear thing before her was the road. The Changeling had given her an address that was very familiar, and with good reason since it was a high class hotel owned by the local millionaire Filthy Rich. If that place was the base for the Changeling queen and her brood then it raised a lot of questions about how many people had been replaced. At the very least everyone working in the hotel would be Changelings, picking their targets to replace as they came in to either stay or just eat at the fancy restaurant that was located inside. Or at the worst Filthy Rich had been impersonated, owning many businesses and having his hands in all sorts of business near and afar, ensuring Queen's children could spread as far as they needed.

The only problem that Sunset had not figured out was how the Changeling magic managed to work in this world. Equestrian magic could not adapt without a major catalyst such as the crown and the magic wielded by her human friends was still a mystery to her. If the queen had managed to find some sort of spell or item that she could bring with her from Equestria...

Suddenly her train of thought was cut short at the sound of a siren and a look in the mirror showed that there was indeed a police car that was expecting her to pull over. The red head swore softly before pulling over, not bothering to turn off the engine but lifting the visor of her helmet so that she could properly look at the police officer approaching. The man looked to be about middle age, with light brown hair and a typical police officer mustache, one hand on his belt as he slowly approached her.

"Ma'am, do you have any idea how fast you were going?"

"Sorry officer, I was just in a hurry..."

"That's hardly an excuse. Now, hand over your license and registration Sunset Shimmer."

With a frustrated grunt, Sunset Shimmer reached for the wallet in her back pocket when she paused. How did this guy, who she'd never met before, know her name?

Eyes widening, she looked up to see the man's eyes had widened slightly, as if realizing his mistake as well. What happened next existed in a split second as the "policeman" began to reach for his gun but Sunset went for the easy target. The punch had the man bending over, the Changeling in disguise experiencing a new kind of anatomical pain before Sunset Shimmer lashed out with a side kick to push him away. She ignored the other officer shouting to her as she revved the engine and screeched off into the night. They would call it in, she didn't know how long she had but she had to make it to the Rich Hotel and hopefully lose any police along the way.

As she passed by an alleyway, the roar of her motorcycle engine  multiplied as five tough, burly bikers flew out of the alleyway and were hot on her tail. Sunset easily spotted the new posse on her tail and began weaving around traffic, trying to get ahead and starting to run red lights to try and shake them but to no avail. Out of the corner of her eye she could see one man, wearing a bandanna and with a beard, caught up to her and swung his arm. Sunset ducked out of the way at just the right time, a surprised shriek leaving her as a chain hit the windshield and broke off the top, the pieces and shards pelting against her helmet and leather jacket.

When she looked over to the Changeling, there was a light blue glow that could be seen through the tinted visor before she pulled over so that she could swing at the Changeling with a back fist. There was a spark of blue and black magic as she connected with his midsection, sending the Changeling flying back into the windshield of a car. The high school student swore loudly as she heard a screech and the sound of cars colliding. She pushed it from her mind as she gunned it, hearing sirens in the distance and knowing she was further up that creek without a paddle. 

For a moment she thought she was ahead of the police until she saw up ahead a car with a police officer throwing out a spike strip. Making a quick decision, Sunset suddenly hit the brakes as she turned left, moving into a power slide as she continued to make a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn, stopping before she hit the spike strip and going back in the opposite direction where she would turn down a side alley.

As she slide around the corner out of the alleyway, she could hear a siren right behind her as she gunned it down the street. She had the edge since she could weave around traffic for all of about ten seconds until the four remaining Changeling bikers caught up to her and gave chase a new. During the next few minutes it took to get to the Rich Hotel, she'd had to dodge being hit with another chain, a crow bar, lead pipe, and the last biker even tried swiping at her with a switch blade. It threw off her concentration and she had plenty of close calls, nearly becoming intimately acquainted to the side of cars. All the while she could feel it stirring inside of her that evolved into a maelstrom with every close call she had, a whispering at the back of her mind to just let go and to Tartarus with the consequences.

The last impulse was almost too strong, Sunset Shimmer had to close her eyes for a moment to hold back the dark power trying to break free. When she opened her eyes again she saw one last obstacle between her and the hotel down the street, a police blockade. With the bikers to her back and about half a dozen cops with pistols drawn, there didn't seem to be a way out. Sunset Shimmer grit her teeth before closing her eyes, recalling her training in magic.

Maintain control... too loose a grip and the magic went wild... to tight and it wouldn't flow properly. Just for a second, she had to control it for a quick second...

When her eyes opened, the sclera was black and her teal blue eyes shining brightly through the visor as a blue aura surrounded her, along with a black mist. The mist swirled violently around her before suddenly taking the shape of shadowy, dark bat wings. They launched her off the ground with such forced that the wind made the officers flinch and shield their eyes as Sunset Shimmer soared over their heads, landing on the asphalt behind them with a bounce before the high schooler righted her vehicle. She let out an almost pained grunt, her hands having a white knuckle grip on her bike as she reigned in the dark magic before it got out of control.

The hotel was just ahead, the final building at the end of a t-junction street. Sunset was slowing down, preparing to slide to a stop by the sidewalk so that she could hop off and immediately enter... and was left helpless as the hood of a black car was suddenly in her way. Sunset's bike his the car hard, catapulting her over the hood and through one of the glass doors of the hotel, shards of glass shredding her leather jacket and slicing into skin before she hit the ground, rolling right into the middle of the lobby where she laid prone, face down on the ground.

Eventually she slowly pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, groaning softly as a hand went to her midsection where blood flowed out around a large piece of glass stuck in her abdomen. 

"Oh... god..."

She gasped out, eyes shut tight for a moment before she took off her helmet, unable to see more through a cracked visor and seeing that she was surrounded by hotel staff and guests who had not fled the lobby. The man who had been running the desk, dressed in a sharp uniform and with a well maintained hairstyle stepped forward and smirked down to her as she collapsed down back down onto her side.

"You're late. We really expected you sooner when we got word you had been following "Fluttershy". Now... will you come quietly or will you die? It hardly matters if you arrive a corpse to our queen, your friends provide plenty of magical energy and love, they will provide us with plenty of power before we drain them dry."

There was no way Sunset Shimmer would let it end like this, she had to save her friends! But what could she do when she was bleeding out and surrounded? 

Gritting her teeth, Sunset Shimmer let out an anguished cry as she pulled her fist back and rammed it to the ground, a flicker of dark magic appearing for just a moment, appearing again on the other fist as she rammed it into the ground, forcing herself back onto her hands and knees with her head hanging low. She hated this... she. HATED. this. She hated them, she hated all of the Changelings, for causing her pain, for kidnapping her friends. Hate. Hate. HATE. And most of all... she hated herself for what she had done, and what she was about to do.

The Changeling that had been running the desk stepped back, eyes wide when Sunset Shimmer's head snapped up, fiercely glaring at him as dark miasma flowed from demonic eyes.





"This... th-this is officer Baton calling in for assistance! We tried to approach the hotel the perpetrator entered but... but there was like, an explosion! All the windows on the ground floor and up to the fifth floor shattered! And some pitch black residue! Call in the bomb task force, call in anyone! We dunno what we're dealing with here!"





Reaching down to her side, Sunset Shimmer felt that the glass shard was gone and the wound healed. She took in a deep, calming breath, adjusting her jacket as she stepped back the prone forms of Changelings, now in their natural form, eyes wide and seeming comatose as they lay scattered among the wreckage of furniture and shattered glass. With the lights shattered it was a little hard to see where to step but her eyes quickly adjusted to the dark as she headed for the elevators and pressed the call button. It only took a few seconds before one of the doors open, light pouring out into the evening gloom as she approached and stepped inside, the door closing behind her and casting that part of the hotel lobby in dim light once more.