Desperate Times, Desperate Measures (Edited)

Sunset drove the streets on her metallic turquoise speed bike, noting the damage that was still being cleaned up after yesterday’s freaky earthquake. From what she was able to discern from the news, the epicenter of the quake could not be identified, and the strange emerald pillar of light and the streaking lights was supposedly caused by a disturbance in the Earth’s magnetic field. Causing a unique Northern Lights effect.

“Aurora Borealis”, right, like that explains that thing that flew to me, thought Sunset.

Even though magic was still relatively new and awakening in this world, Sunset could tell that that phenomenon was not some random atmospheric disturbance, the pillar rose from the Earth, and even from the distance of the school, Sunset could sense it had power, old, ancient power. Sunset glanced at her jacket, feeling the USB stashed in the pocket. She had no idea why she was still holding onto it, but Sunset figured it was better than some random stranger picking it up, who knew what kind of power – if any – the device held within.

She turned on the next corner, weaving around some tree branches that had snapped off onto the street, some were small enough that Sunset just drove over them, some were entire limbs that would’ve tossed her off the bike.

There was a reason why Sunset was braving the still hazard ridden roads, after Twilight’s episode yesterday, she was taken to the hospital and stayed overnight. School was cancelled for the next three days to check the structure and make sure it was stable and safe to enter. Canterlot City was not built to withstand earthquakes, so many buildings needed to be inspected before anyone could safely re-enter.

The days off were probably a good thing right now, if this was another magic mishap, Sunset had no doubts all seven of them would need to investigate it, but first, Twilight.

Sunset had gotten a voice message on her cell from Twilight, she sounded weak, but informed Sunset she was otherwise alright. Currently the genius prodigy was back at home, resting and watched over by her mother, father, and big brother, and apparently Dean Cadance from Crystal Prep Academy was making a few stops.

She had to admit, despite the damage from the quake, the neighborhood Twilight lived in was quite…expensive looking. The houses were big, two stories, and most of them had turrets like old-timey medieval castles.

Eventually, Sunset found the correct address, stopping before the house and removing her helmet to get a good look at the house. She whistled, impressed. There were some cracked windows, and some were completely shattered, with cardboard covering them until they could be replaced. If it wasn’t for the cracks in the concrete and the damage, it would’ve looked very nice, but even while cracked and damaged, it was still a beautiful home.

Those window repair companies must be loving the boom in business right now.

Sunset carefully pulled into the wide driveway, looking around for a good place to park her bike so as to not be in the way of anyone. She was able to find a spot next to one the windows, far enough from the garages to make sure no one would hit her bike.

The flame haired girl made her way to the front door, feeling a little nervous. Despite having had Twilight at CHS for a couple of months, this was the first time she was going to meet her family. What if they didn’t like her, they seemed rich if the neighborhood was anything to go off of. What was she thinking? Of course they had a lot of money, Crystal Prep Academy wasn’t cheap considering their “reputation” as “the best”.

Nevertheless, Sunset steeled herself and rang the doorbell. Sunset waited patiently until she heard the heavy footsteps drawing closer to the door. The door opened making Sunset scoot back a little, seeing a tall young man standing before her. He was dressed in a tank top, white as snow, hair a navy blue with a light blue streak in it, azure eyes, and sporting some jeans and a tool belt.

“Can I help you, Miss?” he asked.

“O-Oh, um, I’m Sunset, Sunset Shimmer! I’m one of Twilight’s friends, she called and asked me to come over…”

The young man, most likely in his early to mid-twenties, looked Sunset up and down. It wasn’t the kind of scanning look common to boys checking out an attractive girl. No, his gaze was more critical, appraising, as if trying to determine her threat level or something. Sunset suddenly felt a little unnerved.

“Is someone at the door,” asked a familiar voice.

The young man turned around, allowing Sunset to see Twilight stopped at the middle of the stairwell, with Spike standing beside her and wagging his tail excitedly.

“Sis, you’re supposed to be in bed resting,” said the young man.

“Shining Armor, I’m doing much better, and why haven’t you invited Sunset in yet?”

Shining Armor glanced back at the flame haired girl, who waved nervously at him while putting on a sheepish smile. “Sorry about that, come on in.”

Sunset casually walked in, feigning confidence as she strode by him and to Twilight.

“Thanks for coming over, come up to my room, I have to talk to you,” said Twilight.

Sunset nodded and followed Twilight up to her room, very aware that Shining Armor’s gaze was still boring at her back until she disappeared from his line of sight. The young man released a sigh and went back to fixing the windows, hearing light footsteps coming from the kitchen and into the living room.

An older woman walked into the room, one could mistake her for Twilight’s older sister, but Shining Armor knew she was not. “Shiny, who was at the door?”

“One of Twilight’s friends, apparently,” said Shining Armor.

The older woman, with icy blue eyes, and purple hair with a white streak in it, bounced up and down while quietly giggling to herself, making Shining Armor arch an eyebrow in concern.

“Um…Mom, you alright?”

“Shining your sister has a friend over! A FRIEND!”

“Mom, c’mon, it’s not like she’s Twily’s first friend, what about that one girl…uh, what’s her name…” Shining Armor snapped his fingers repeatedly until the name popped into his head. “Moondancer! It was Moondancer. I remember those two hanging around each other back in preschool and elementary.”

Shining’s mother sighed despondently. “She wasn’t her friend exactly, although I could tell the poor dear was trying. The two of them were more akin to coworkers, or two scientists collaborating on a project.”

“Who’re you talking about, Velvet?”

An older man walked in, sporting a raggedy work shirt and tool belt as well.

“Moondancer, Night.”

“Ah, I remember her, sharp girl, shame we had to move away, I’m still kicking myself for that,” said Night Light.

“Dad don’t blame yourself, you got a better position at your job, and besides, Twilight didn’t seem to mind much,” said Shining Armor.

Velvet waved off the last part of that sentence. “Yes, well, Twilight’s always had her nose in the books, not a bad thing mind you, but still. Anyway, all that’s changed! She made new friends at her new school, and one of them is upstairs with her!”

Night Light raised an eyebrow at that. “One of her ‘friends’, huh? Does this ‘friend’ have a name?”

Velvet looked to her son for that.

“Her name is Sunset Shimmer,” said Shining Armor, knowing that tone in his father’s voice.

“Oh, okay then, well, this is cause for celebration! Honey, break out the good stuff!”

Shining Armor slapped his forehead and groaned, “Good grief.”

***__________<U>__________***

Sunset sat in Twilight’s room, which apparently was made up of two rooms, one that housed most of her science equipment, and other her actual bedroom/study. She sat in a chair across from Twilight’s bedside, petting Spike on the head.

“Your brother’s a little…intimidating,” said Sunset.

“Well, I’m not surprised, he is part of the Canterlot Police force,” said Twilight.

“HE’S A COP?!”

Twilight blinked. “Well, yes, he is. Are you alright?”

Sunset began tapping her right leg fast, making Spike bounce up and down in rhythm. “No, I’m fine, I’m fine! It’s not like I’ve been trying to stay under the radar with any law enforcement personnel because of the fact that I’m an unregistered citizen with no documentation whatsoever and an alien from a magical universe populated by sentient ponies! I’m perfectly fine!”

Spike looked to Twilight, and Twilight to Spike. The purple dog then shot Sunset a deadpan expression. “Yeah, right, ‘perfectly fine’.”

“I’m sorry, I should’ve thought about that before calling you over…”

Sunset shook her head and put on an apologetic face. “No, no, it’s fine! I haven’t done anything – recently – that would get me on a cop’s radar! Don’t worry about it, really.”

Twilight sheepishly smiled and nodded.

“So, what did you want to talk about?”

Twilight reached over to the opposite side of the bed and pulled up her laptop, furiously typing away at it. Sunset leaned over, abandoning her chair and opting to sit on the edge of Twilight’s bed to get a better look. If Twilight was paying full attention to this, she’d have noticed how Sunset’s shoulder was brushing up against hers, but right now she was driven by the subject of this meeting.

“I did some research on that phenomenon from yesterday, I assume you don’t believe it was some kind atmospheric disturbance?”

“Not for a minute.”

Twilight grinned. “Thought so. Ever since the first readings I got from CHS I’ve had some sensors calibrated to pick up on strange energy like that, and when I got back home and heard about the pillar of green light, I checked my instruments. Look.”

With the press of a key the laptop screen displayed readouts of the pillar’s energy signature. Twilight typed on the computer and it displayed another energy signature and brought them close together. The wavelengths seemed to match, not very surprising to Sunset, if this was magic then it must’ve been something from Equestria that breached the divide and punched their way into this world.

“Now here’s the kicker,” said Twilight as she hit a few more keys.

The computer disassembled the wavelengths, showing unique signatures for both.

“Wait…I don’t get it, they’re not the same?” Sunset asked.

“Yes, and no. The base energy is the same, the source is different. The signature on the left shows the energy that is produced when you and the others, um, ‘pony up’. While the other is unknown.”

Sunset cupped her chin as she wracked her brain trying make sense of this. “Our magic comes from Friendship and Harmony, so this magic, while basely similar, has a different source?”

Without thinking, Sunset reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the USB that had sought her out. Spike noticed the object in Sunset’s hand and began sniffing at it, his ears turning up as he backed away from the object.

“What is that thing, it feels…weird,” said Spike.

“Where did you get this?” Twilight asked.

“Would you believe it came from that pillar of light? And that it was heading right for us?”

Twilight’s eyes widened at hearing this. “What?! It was heading right for us?! On a collision course?!”

Sunset nodded.

“How – Why did it stop?!”

Sunset rubbed the back of her head as she spoke, “I kind of ponyed up and used my magic to stop it midflight…”

“Why would did you do such a reckless thing?! It could’ve killed you as fast as that thing was traveling!” Twilight scolded.

“Because you were still unconscious and there was no time to get you away!” Sunset confessed. “I…I didn’t – couldn’t – let you get hurt…”

Twilight looked at the USB device in Sunset’s hand. “May I?”

Sunset cautiously handed Twilight the USB, allowing Twilight to examine it close up. From what she could tell it looked like some kind of stylized USB memory drive, but judging from the way Spike was acting, it wasn’t ordinary.

Twilight blushed as she turned her attention back to her computer, now fiddling with the USB in her hands. “T-Thank you…”

Sunset smiled at her friend, but Spike was still deadpanning.

“Uh, guys, the strange thingy?”

Twilight snapped out of her stupor and refocused on the USB. “Right, well, if it’s a memory drive, loading it into my laptop should give us some answers as to what it is and possibly who sent it.”

Twilight carefully inserted the USB into the port and waited patiently for the USB to load whatever data was on it, but nothing happened, no prompts from her computer, not even a file location showed up.

“I don’t get it, why hasn’t it loaded anything?” Twilight asked.

Sunset looked at the USB once again and tilted her head when she noticed an addition to the device, “Huh, there’s a button on it, how did I not notice that?” Sunset reached out to the USB and pressed the button on the USB.

< UNICORN! >

Twilight, Sunset, and Spike yelped at the sudden exclamation that came from the USB. The drive glowed and sent a surge of energy into the computer. The screen was completely flooded with an enormous amount of data, making the laptop give off sparks. Just then, the insignia on the USB appeared on the screen and below appeared some information.

GAIA MEMORY DESIGNATION: UNICORN
VERSION: T2
STATUS: ACTIVE
USER IDENTITY (CURRENT): SUNSET SHIMMER
GENETIC COMPATIBILITY: 100%

“It…It says I’m its user?!” Sunset asked.

“‘Gaia Memory’? Gaia’s in reference to the name of the Greek titan of Earth, otherwise known as Mother Earth, so…it’s a memory of the Earth?”

Suddenly the screen showed something else, schematics showing some kind of device, a device that made Twilight’s eyes grow bigger by the second. And then, in the blink of an eye, the computer screen went black. It also made a few disconcerting noises that made Twilight remove the USB, or Gaia Memory, and put the laptop back on the floor.

“Sunset…we have to get back to the school!”

“What?!” Sunset and Spike asked in unison.

“That schematic, I’ve seen it before! In my dreams, it’s the thing that I’ve been trying to make for the past couple of months! And now I know how to finish it! We have to get back there, ASAP!”

Sunset shook her head. “Okay, one: no way in hell. Two: this is way too freaky of a coincidence that this ‘Gaia Memory’ would fall out of the sky and give you the last…whatever you need to finish that thing you’ve been building! And three: your parents and brother aren’t going to let you just waltz on out of here after that episode you had yesterday.”

“Plus, what if you have another one of those attacks like yesterday?!” Spike asked in concern.

“That’s why I’m asking you two to come with me, so I won’t be alone if something happens.

Sunset watched as Twilight hurriedly jumped out of bed and began tearing off her clothes as she entered her closet, changing in full view of Sunset. The flame haired girl felt her cheeks grow uncomfortably warm, quickly averting her gaze and putting her hand up as a blinder. Spike, well, Spike was a dog, so he really didn’t care.

“There’s nothing I can say that’ll change her mind, is there?” Spike asked.

“‘Fraid not, if there’s one thing I’m learning about Twilight, is that she’s committed when it comes to solving a puzzle. Best thing we can do is make sure she doesn’t hurt herself getting to the answer.”

Spike sighed, ever since he was a newborn pup, as far back as he could remember, Twilight had always been like this. A fact that worried the little dog, especially considering what happened to her within the last couple of months. Magical transformations, not sleeping well, and now she had to go to the hospital recently. It was times like this Spike wished he was human, at least then he might be able stop her or convince her to stay put.

Sunset saw the concern on the purple dog’s face and gently patted him on the head. “Hey, don’t worry Spike, between the two of us, we’ll keep that egghead safe.”

Twilight emerged from her closet, wearing a violet hoody and some jeans. “Alright, time to go to work!”

“Wasn’t that the same outfit you wore when I first saw you at CHS?”

“Yes, it’s inconspicuous.”

“Rrrrriiiiiight, nothing says ‘inconspicuous’ like a teenager in a hoody, breaking into a school that is closed and possibly structurally unsound at the moment,” said Sunset with heavy sarcasm.

Somehow Twilight managed to convince her family that she needed to get out of the house for a while. Shining Armor was obviously suspicious of her motives, but her mother and father were less so, they were just glad that she was getting out and enjoying life with a friend. Sunset promised that they’d be back soon, hoping not to make a liar of herself.

Sunset readied her bike and glanced behind her for Twilight. The girl in question appeared but wearing a pink bike helmet with flowers on it. Sunset tried in vain to stifle her giggling, making Twilight blush up to her ears.

“What?! It’s the only helmet I have, and Shining Armor wouldn’t let me out of the house without some protection!” Twilight huffed.

“You realize how – out of context – that could be taken, right?” Sunset asked with a devious grin.

“What do mean, ‘protection’? What’s wrong with–?” Twilight’s blush intensified as her quick-witted mind put it together. “SUNSET THAT’S SO IMMATURE!”

Sunset just broke out into full on laughter, slapping her thigh at Twilight’s reaction. Spike poked his head out from Twilight’s backpack, looking at both girls with confusion.

“What’s so funny?” Spike asked.

“Nothing’s funny,” said Twilight, still embarrassed.

Nevertheless, she mounted the bike, and grabbed onto the back. Sunset noticed this and shook her head. “No way, you’re not riding like that. This is your first time on a bike like this, right?”

Twilight nodded.

“Then wrap your arms around my middle or you’re going to go flying off.”

The bespectacled girl gulped, wrapping her arms around Sunset, bringing their bodies that close together, there was no way she could do that. “I-I should be fine like this!”

Sunset raised an eyebrow, she then revved the bike, making the engine cry out. The sudden noise made Twilight yelp and quickly latch herself to Sunset, wrapping her arms around her stomach like a vice. “Geez, Twi, any tighter and you’ll crush my organs,” said Sunset not entirely unsure that that could be a possibility at this point in time.

“J-J-Just drive this thing already!”

With that said, Sunset revved her bike once more and took off down the street. The whole ride she could feel Twilight pressed against her back, it was a comforting feeling, one that Sunset wasn’t disliking. In fact, she kind of slowed down to drag out this sensation.

***__________<U>__________***

The two girls arrived at CHS; they circled the campus a couple of times to see if there was any sign of anyone being there. From what they could see, there were no cars parked anywhere on the school grounds, either they were done for the day or were taking a break was unknown, but as it stood, now was the best chance they had to get inside and get out without anybody noticing them.

Sunset and Twilight decided to cut through the soccer field, seeing as the distance to the science lab – or more accurately Twilight’s science lab – was a little shorter from there than going straight through the front door. Sunset hid her bike as best she could under the bleachers. Twilight let Spike out of her backpack and together the three of them ran across the field as fast as they could, stopping in the doorway. Both girls checked behind them to make sure they were not seen.

“Anything?” Sunset asked.

“No, Spike, do you smell anyone here?” Twilight asked.

Spike took a few sniffs of the air, raising his ears and tilting his head in different directions. “No, I don’t smell anyone, familiar or otherwise, and I don’t hear anybody either.”

“Good boy, now we just need to get in and get out so that I can complete it!”

Both Spike and Sunset groaned inwardly, Twilight’s ambitious side was good, but sometimes it could venture into the territory of “man was not meant to meddle”. Twilight was about to reach for the door when Sunset quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled Twilight away.

“Ow! Sunset what are you doing?!”

“Don’t touch the door, not yet.” Sunset pointed to the door in question, showing that the hinges were damaged. “You pull that hard enough and it’ll fall on you.”

“Oh…I-I’m sorry, I should’ve paid more attention I–!”

“Shh, no harm no foul.”

Sunset picked up Spike and gave him to Twilight, she then motioned for both of them to stand flat against the corridor wall. The flame haired girl prided herself on her quick reflexes and quick mind, as well as her physical strength. She wasn’t anywhere near as crazy strong as Applejack, but she wasn’t a lightweight either. Taking a deep breath, Sunset put her hand on the door and quickly pulled back.

The hinges came loose and did as gravity dictated, falling forward towards her. Sunset jumped back as far as she could, the door hitting the ground with a great metallic thud just inches from her boot. Sunset wiped her brow and sighed in relief.

“Least we don’t have to worry about the door now, let’s head in.”

“Oh…you didn’t have to commit property damage just for me…”

Sunset chuckled. “Please, wouldn’t be the first time. I blew up the front entrance with a magical energy ray, besides, the whole place is probably riddled with accidents waiting to happen thanks to that quake. They’ll just blame it on that.”

Despite the small amount of guilt, Twilight pressed on with Sunset and Spike in tow. The inside of the school didn’t escape the quake without damage. Lockers were skewed and jarred open, some toppled over. Twilight hoped nobody was in front of them when it happened. Windows were obviously cracked or shattered completely, making Twilight put Spike back in the backpack, not wanting his paws to step on a sharp piece of glass.

Some of the light fixtures were hanging low, a few strands of wiring was the only thing keeping them anchored to the ceiling, for now. As they trekked on through, Twilight and Sunset noticed where the contractors and safety inspectors had been. Both girls carefully worked their way through the semi-damaged school and stealthily arrived at Twilight’s little science lab. Sunset pulled out her cellphone and turned on its light, shining around to check and see if there was any danger of falling debris or anything dangerous.

“It looks clear, but be careful,” she warned.

Twilight nodded and proceeded inside. With a sigh of relief, Twilight made her way to the little vault she had created for her obsession, punching in a few random numbers until the vault unlocked. The bespectacled girl pulled out her creation and Sunset shined a light on it.

It had changed a bit since the last time Sunset laid eyes on Twilight’s project. It was looking more akin to a belt, but the face on the belt had device, as well as two slots on either side of where the hips would be. The mechanism on the front looked to be in the shape of horse head, with the horn sticking out from it. There was a slot at the base behind the neck where something was supposed to be inserted into it, and from the looks of it placed down into the horn.

“Wow,” exclaimed Sunset.

“It’s not finished yet, but with what I saw, I can definitely finish it with the equipment I have back home.”

Spike poked his head out of the backpack and looked to Twilight. “So, what will happen when you’re done with it? What will it do?”

Twilight opened her mouth to respond but stopped. She had no idea what this device could be used for or what it could do. As far as she was able to figure, the device had some connection to Sunset’s strange USB, the Gaia Memory.

Sunset glanced about, getting an uneasy feeling. “We can figure that out when we get back to your place. C’mon.”

Twilight nodded and let Spike out of her backpack to place the device inside. Not wanting to risk damaging the device, Twilight opted to carry Spike the rest of the way; Sunset took point and carefully made their way back the way they came.

“RRRRRRRRAARARGGH!!!”

Both girls went stiff upon hearing a horrible roar. They remained still as their eyes roved around the dimly lit hallway, Spike’s ears were twitching up and down, trying to pick up on the exact location the danger was coming from.

“S-Sunset…what was that?!” Twilight asked in a harsh whisper.

“I don’t know, I can’t even tell where it came from!”

“Uh, guys, I’m getting a whiff of something really not good!” Spike warned.

Another disturbing roar echoed out through the school, which was quickly followed up by an equally loud crash. Sunset and Twilight twisted around and watched as a dust cloud formed at the other end of the hallway. Within the cloud were two narrow, glowing blue eyes. Another roar bellowed forth, the force it generated blew away the dust cloud revealing the source of the terrible roar.

Its body was white as snow, with jagged spines and spikes coming from its back, forearms, and tail. Its four claws were long and razor sharp, its muzzle making it appear as some humanoid raptor-like creature.

“Run?” Spike asked.

“Run.” Twilight replied.

“RUN!” Sunset shouted.

Both girls took off like the wind down the hallway, an act that signaled the white raptor to give chase with astonishing speed. Its spines and spike tore into the metal lockers that it bumped into and gouged the linoleum floor with each step it took. The beast whipped its tail back and forth, leaving long dents and gashes in the already damaged lockers.

Sunset and Twilight continued to run, making a beeline for the exit. Suddenly, an unnerving sound caught their attention, making them glance back at the white raptor. From the monster’s left shoulder, a long crescent spike extended up. The white raptor grabbed ahold of it and removed it with ease. It then hurled the crescent spike right at them.

It spiraled in the air like a boomerang, making a whistling sound as it cut through the air. Sunset saw a turn coming and lashed out with her right hand, grabbing a handful of Twilight’s hoodie and swung her into the adjacent hallway. Using the momentum, Sunset followed after Twilight, narrowly escaping the flying crescent as a few strands of her red and yellow hair were severed.

The boomerang crescent continued onward until it hit the wall above the exit, causing the already weakened structure to collapse and cut off their escape route. The boomerang spike flew back to its caster, where the white raptor reattached it to its shoulder as if it were an accessory.

Neither of the trio had time to process this as they continued to flee for their lives. Sunset, Spike, and Twilight continued to run for their lives, the white raptor still chasing after them.

“WHAT IS THAT THING’S PROBLEM, WHY’S IT CHASING US?!” Spike asked.

“DON’T KNOW! WHY DON’T YOU STOP AND ASK IT?!” Sunset retorted.

The white raptor roared again as it took off its shoulder spike and prepared to launch it again. The trio saw this and quickly looked for a way to avoid it, the double doors to the gymnasium were quickly approaching. Sunset sprinted ahead and delivered a flying kick to the door forcing it open and allowing herself to slide along the smooth basketball court.

Twilight ran through the doors as they were about to close, sliding in on her rump and keeping Spike close to her chest as to avoid injury to her furry friend.

The gym doors slammed shut, only to be exploded off their hinges as the boomerang crescents sliced through doors. The kinetic force behind them ripped the doors off their hinges and sent them flying in opposite directions. Sunset and Twilight quickly sprang to their feet, the gym was wide, allowing for more room to move around, which was better than being caught in a linear hallway with a white raptor that can throw blade boomerangs.

The white raptor caught his crescent boomerangs and reattached them, snarling as it eyed both girls and the dog one of them was carrying. The creature began to circle them, hissing as it alternated between going on all fours and back to two legs as it tried to determine the best way to attack.

"S-S-Sunset…”

The fiery haired girl glanced out of the corner of her eye, seeing a frightened Twilight holding Spike close. It was obvious that Spike could sense his caretaker’s fear, responding to it by putting on a fierce look and baring his fangs at the white raptor, despite the fact that he was scared out of his mind.

“HEY!” Sunset cried.

The white raptor turned its head in her direction, snarling and preparing to attack.

“What are you doing?!” Twilight whispered.

“I want you to run, I’m faster than you so I can maybe outrun it for a little bit! You can get out and then call the cops or the people from Triassic World to come here and shoot this thing!”

“That’s just foolish! We stand a better chance if we–!”

“Sorry debate’s over!”

Sunset dashed away from Twilight, making the raptor’s head snap in her direction and give chase. The whole time she was thinking this was a bad idea – scratch that, it is a bad idea. But it was better, at least to her, than a friend getting eaten in front of her.

The raptor sprinted for Sunset, covering the gap between them in less than a few seconds. The reptilian monstrosity slashed with its forearm spike-blade, narrowly missing her kidney as she pulled away at the last second. But the beast was quicker, despite missing with its blade, it spun on its heel, and brought its tail around to whip it against Sunset’s side.

The fiery haired girl felt something crack inside her as the air in her lungs disappeared. She was sent flying to the other side of the gym, slamming against the mats that were set on the wall behind the basketball hoop. Sunset groaned and coughed, each intake of air feeling like she was getting stabbed.

Great, must’ve broken a rib…or six…!

The white raptor was readying himself for the kill, but a basketball suddenly sailed through the air and hit the raptor upside the head. The creature turned its head around, seeing a frightened Twilight and Spike, who looked about ready to wet herself under the glowing gaze of the reptile. The white raptor turned around, seeing that its other prey wasn’t going anywhere and no longer a threat, opted for the other two still standing.

NO…I can’t…I won’t…let you hurt them!

Suddenly, Sunset felt a strange warmth radiating from her jacket pocket. Carefully, she reached in and pulled out the Gaia Memory, its glow pulsating again and again, sending waves of energy coursing through her arm. It spoke to her, no, more like urged her to use it, but how? Without realizing it, Sunset had already began moving the blue connector end close to her chest but paused upon realizing her unconscious movement. Was this safe? What would happen to her if she did this?

“AAAAH!”

Sunset glanced back towards the white raptor, noticing that Twilight was backed up against the wall, with Spike baring fangs and claws, ready to fight to the death to protect his owner.

Dammit all, it can’t be worse than letting her die!

Sunset pressed the button on the Gaia Memory, making the device glow even brighter.

< UNICORN! >

Without a second thought, Sunset pushed the connector against her bare skin, and immediately the Unicorn Memory melted into her body. A rush of power coursed through her body, burning away the pain of her injuries and healing them altogether. Her fatigue had vanished, and new strength took its place. Her body glowed with turquoise light, making the white raptor turn around and stare at his prey with intrigue.

Sunset’s body morphed, her legs becoming more equine like. A silvery white tail protruded, along with a similarly colored mane. Her body was colored the same as the energy, with parts of her body covered in thick exoskeletal armor, covering mostly the chest, forearms and hands, thighs and ankles. Her face extended, but only slightly to form a small muzzle.

When it was all done, Sunset stood, a powerful being. She looked like an anthropomorphic unicorn mare, but her eyes were glowing aquamarine, and her horn was crystalline and shimmering with the same turquoise glow of the Gaia Memory.

The transformed Sunset stared down the white raptor, seeing something inside it, a glowing “F” that was in the form of three claw marks. That’s when she realized it, whatever this thing was, it was like her, a transformed person, a Dopant. That word stuck out in her mind, was that what it was called, what she was called?

< FANG! >

< UNICORN! >

The Fang Dopant roared and charged for Sunset, the anthro unicorn dashed for the raptor. Both met each other in the middle with a thunderous crash, the Unicorn and Fang creatures grappled with each other, snarling and snorting as they tried to overpower the other. The crystal horn on the Unicorn Dopant shined as a buildup of energy formed between them. Within a few seconds the Fang Dopant was covered in a turquoise aura, and was lifted into the air, ending their lock.

The Unicorn Dopant used its telekinesis to throw the Fang Dopant up to the ceiling, slamming it until it made a hole. With another flick of the wrist the Fang Dopant was thrown back down to the ground and then dragged across the floor and shot into the bleachers. For a moment, there was stillness.

But the quiet was over as the Fang Dopant ripped through the bleachers and tossed two boomerang spike-blades. The blades flew at such high speed that the Unicorn Dopant couldn’t catch them with her telekinesis. The two blades struck her in the chest, causing sparks of light to erupt from the two impact spots. Sunset felt herself weaken from the attacks, as if the sparks were in fact a physical manifestation of her power being bled out instead of more major damage.

The blades returned to their owner, who was now in the air and about to pounce on her. Sunset growled as she charged her horn with magical energy and fired a beam right at the Fang Dopant. The creature didn’t have time to dodge as it was struck in the shoulder, sending a shower sparks erupting from its left shoulder and making it plummet to the ground.

The Fang Dopant growled and was about to counterattack, but the Unicorn Dopant took a runner’s stance, the tip of the horn glowing with ethereal light. Sunset sprinted forward, her entire body becoming a glowing comet. The attack made contact, crashing into the Fang Dopant and sending both it and the comet hurdling towards the other end of the gym.

The comet streak crashed against the wall, exploding and punching a hole in the mortar and metal. A dust cloud formed, obscuring both from view. Twilight and Spike had been watching the entire event with slacked jaws, not believing their eyes. Sunset had transformed into a monster and fought another monster to protect her. But how did she do it?

Suddenly, a being rose from the dust cloud, and judging from the single horned silhouette, it must’ve been Sunset. Twilight allowed herself a grateful and relieved smile as she began to move towards her friend and savior. But paused when the Unicorn’s glowing, aquamarine eyes rested on Twilight, and narrowed.

“S-Sunset?”

A low growl and harsh snort escaped the Unicorn Dopant, which was now approaching Twilight, horn aglow. Twilight took a step back, with Spike doing the same.

“S-Sunset it’s me! Can you hear me?!” Twilight asked.

“Magic…Need…more magic!”

The Unicorn Dopant reached out to grab Twilight, but stopped, its hand shaking.

“T-Twilight…?”

“Y-Yes?”

The Unicorn looked at its hand, as if just realizing what had happened to its body. “I don’t…I don’t understand…? It feels familiar, I feel like my old self and yet…I’m not.”

“Sunset keep thinking like that, don’t let yourself become a monster like I did, you said you knew how it was to be overwhelmed with magic and power! Don’t let it consume you again!”

The Unicorn put its right hand to its head as she tried to remember. The primal power of the Unicorn Memory was starting to be suppressed by her more rational mind. The Unicorn’s body began to glow, reverting into a human form as the Unicorn Memory slowly ejected itself from Sunset’s body.

The former unicorn took hold of the Gaia Memory and pulled it the rest of the way out as her transformation finalized back to human. “Wha…What did I…?” The memories of Sunset’s transformation and actions came rushing back to her, making her drop the Unicorn Memory and grab her head in shock. “Oh Faust, Twilight I’m so sorry! I…I almost…! I’m sorry!!”

Twilight hurriedly grabbed ahold of Sunset’s shoulders, gripping them firmly to try and get Sunset’s attention.

“Sunset, it’s alright, y-you were just trying to protect me! You saved both Spike and me! It’s alright, just breathe and calm down!”

Sunset let her racing thoughts slow down, bringing her breathing back to its normal rate. She couldn’t break down right now, not after what just happened. A monster attacked them, and Sunset became a monster in order to save them. But she came close to being just as much a danger as that other monster was if Twilight hadn’t gotten through to her.

“I’m good, really,” said Sunset.

Twilight slowly nodded, still weary. “Okay, we need to leave now! Doubtless that nobody heard that commotion and called the police!”

Sunset had almost forgotten, she definitely didn’t need to be accused of destroying school property, the first was while she was insane with power, the second time…well, déjà vu. The fiery haired girl was about to turn to make their way to her bike when she spotted Twilight bending down to pick up the Unicorn Memory. Sunset turned on her heel and stopped Twilight before she touched it.

“TWILIGHT, NO! Don’t touch that thing!”

“Sunset we can’t leave it here for someone to find! Besides, it won’t turn me into a monster, it should only work for you,” said Twilight.

“We can’t be sure of that, what if this thing has a mind of its own!?” Sunset argued.

“Fine, I’ll take it!” Spike jumped in and took up the Unicorn Memory in his mouth, holding it between his teeth. “Ish Tish O ay!?”

Both girls looked to each other, at this point it they didn’t have much of a choice and it seemed that Spike wasn’t affected by the Memory. With a bit of reluctance, they let Spike hold onto the Memory and ran as fast as they could out of the school. Sunset, Twilight, and Spike hopped onto the bike and sped off in the opposite direction, deciding to take the long way around to avoid police and firefighters.

The power of the Gaia Memories, the power to morph the user into a monster and bestow supernatural abilities to them. And at the same time, make them nearly lose control of their senses in the process. Just what are they, and why did they appear?

***__________EXE__________***

Police and Firefighters had completely surrounded Canterlot High School, reports of strange, monstrous noises and explosions were reported from the surrounding residents. All this while the school was in the process of getting repaired for the damages from the quake they had not too long ago. Amongst the gathered crowd of onlookers, two figures approached the scene.

Double Diamond and Night Glider strolled past the crowd and into the disaster zone, prompting a couple of the police officers to intercept them.

“Hey, hey, you kids can’t be in here, get back behind the line!” The officer ordered.

“Chill copper, we’re here on business,” said Night Glider.

“Show some respect, Ms. Glider, we are here to offer help,” said Double Diamond.

The officer shook his head. “Look, I already told you two, go back n–!”

Double Diamond pulled out a business card. “We’re with PhoenEXE Corp., sir. We’ve been sent here on behalf of our company president to offer financial and rebuilding services for this school.”

The officer blinked. “You’re joking, right? You’re just kids.”

“Hey, I’m old enough to drink! Kind of…” Night Glider cleared her throat. “Look, our boss wanted us to come down here and assess the damage, now are you going to let us do our jobs or not?”

“I don’t care if you’re the President of–!”

“Officer,” said another voice.

The cop turned around and watched as a bald man walked over towards them, making both Night Glider and Double Diamond smirk.

“C-Captain!?”

“Yes, I requested representatives from PhoenEXE Corp. to come here and help. I believe this school could benefit from their contributions and I’ll personally escort them to the site, understood?”

The officer saluted his Captain and nodded his affirmation. The Captain then motioned for the two youths to follow him. Double Diamond and Night Glider waited until they were out of earshot before the spoke to the Captain.

“Real smooth there Party Favor, didn’t know you could illusion yourself,” said Night Glider.

The Captain’s eyes glowed yellow for a moment before they stopped, a smile forming on his lips. “Yep, and the good thing is, by the time I’m done messing with the real police captain’s memory, he’ll believe that the whole thing was his idea. So there won’t be any inconsistencies in his memory.”

The three walked towards the gymnasium, seeing the giant hole that was blown in the side of it. From the hole was a long groove cut into the floor, stopping some twenty feet away into the teacher’s parking lot. The trio carefully followed the trail back to its source, through the hole and into the gym. The inside was just as damaged, with some evidence of scorching from something that was generating a lot of heat.

Among the rest of the destruction were a lot of gashes, nothing like what an earthquake would cause. They were long and deep, some even trailed into the hallway where a door was busted down. Night Glider whistled as she looked over the damage.

“Geez, somebody really humped this bunk.”

“To put it mildly, yes,” replied Party Favor.

“No doubt about it, there was a battle here, possibly with two Memory holders,” said Double Diamond.

Night Glider placed her hand against one of the gashes, feeling how smoothly the cut was made and whistled, impressed. “Which one do you think it was that caused this much damage?”

“Starlight told us there were twenty-five Gaia Memories that breached our world, but unfortunately, she wasn’t privy to the names of each of them. Whatever they are, they must’ve turned the ones holding them into to total beasts,” said Party Favor.

“In any case, we’ve confirmed that it was caused by Gaia Memories, let’s report back to Starlight.”

Night Glider and Party Favor were now looking at Double Diamond, noticing that he was holding something in his hand and jotting down written notes this whole time.

“Um…what’re you doin’?” Night asked.

“Assessing the damage so that Starlight can appropriate the necessary funds for repair.”

“She was serious about that?!”

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Kamen Rider Unicorn - Michael_Ravencroft

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