The Demon of Canterlot City

by Amadeus cancer

Half as long...

The room was small and pitch black, about the size of a child's bedroom. Freezing air seeped through the concrete walls and clouded the inside, giving off a horribly dry, dusty smell.

At first glance, one would think that even the brightest of lights would be swallowed up by the dark instantly. Which would definitely seem so, if there wasn't a mid-sized lamp illuminating a fourth of the room, standing on an office desk. Resting square in the middle of the vacant space, the desk, littered with all kinds of maps and blueprints, sat peacefully and quietly. However, it was not the only occupant there; looming overhead, a figure stood, panting and wheezing, his eyes glowing a faded yellow in the darkness. Wrapped in a white cloak, the massive figure continued to glare at the desk, his panting and wheezing echoing around the otherwise darkened room, looking as though he was silently debating something in his head.

Eventually he seemed to sort out the silent conflict and calmly placed his aged hand onto the phone sitting to the left of him. The device paused for a moment, then began to ring loudly, cutting out the sound of the man's frequent noise. For a few seconds the ringing continued, until a click was heard. A voice from the other line spoke:

"Hello?"

The figure simply stood there for a couple of seconds, before speaking in a gravely, almost deathlike voice.

"MACGRATH?"

"yeah, who's this?" the voice on the other end said questioningly. The figure slowly looked away from the phone, turning his attention to the other object on his desk, a round, basketball sized, sphere shaped metal object that started to glow a bright sky blue through the holes on it's sides. The figure's cloak shifted, a flash of silver could be seen for just a second, a hand came up to the sphere and when it connected a small clank was heard. A strong, powerful metal arm took hold of the sphere and lifted it up to the old man's ashy face.

"Look man, I'm kinda in a rush right now, do you need something or not?'' the voice on the phone griped. Still gazing longingly at the sphere, the figure finally said with a smirk.

"THERE'S SOMETHING I NEED YOU TO DELIVER FOR ME."
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

New Marias, 2011

Screams could be heard from every corner of New Marais, the very air was filled with sharp, weightless debris and the clouds thick with a rust like appearance. Explosions in the far-off distance could be seen as people ran for their lives towards any type of safe space they could find. The apocalypse had come.

The sky roared as jets and helicopters rocketed overhead, unleashing seas of gunfire at their enemy. Missiles shrieked from their posts, and tanks trampled over any debris in their path. At a time like this, some people would rather hold their loved ones close and pray for the best or drink up every last bottle of scrumpy until their bowels exploded, but there are the brave few that take the chance to go down fighting.

Footsteps hammered the rooftops of two and three story buildings as a middle aged man ran like the devil was on his heels. But if this were the case, then he'd be heading straight for the devil himself. Wearing a snow white T-shirt, he carried a sling backpack which held an interesting tool; a staff-like weapon with grooved metal spears separating themselves from the handle. Speeding through the roof, he did not show any sign of fear or nervousness on his facial features, but instead held a look of pure, raw determination. As the edge of the roof drew nearer and nearer, the man kept his speed at a regular pace, unfazed by the lack of ground rapidly approaching. Then, with a massive leap, he jumped off the roof, fell to the earth below...and landed with a thud onto the street. Barrel rolling to his feet, the man seemed to shrug off his supposed "death leap" like he had just jumped off a small boulder.

Of course, any regular person would have certainly become a road decoration from the stunt he had pulled, but he wasn't just some regular person, he was a conduit, a person with extreme natural powers. And he wasn't just any conduit, he was the Prime conduit. Over the course of his life, he's been called many names by friends and foes alike: "The Electric Man", "terrorist", " Patron Saint of New Marais" and "the Demon of Empire City", however, he prefers the name that's been stuck with him for all of his life: Cole Macgrath.

Selfless and kind, Cole enjoyed helping the helpless from the evil that slunk in the shadows; It disgusted him really, the savage and sick-minded people he had encountered on his road to being a savior. After seeing their horrifying personalities and appearances, he swore on his deceased lover, Trish Dailey, and to himself, that he would die trying to protect others. He was about to complete that promise too.

Racing towards the giant chapel in the center of the town, Cole grappled onto one of the windows, and quickly began to climb up the building by grabbing hold of any ledge he could get his fingers on. Before he got his powers, New Marais used to be his own personal play ground, challenging himself to climb tall houses, leading him to be able to scale even the steepest of skyscrapers. Now, Cole wanted to make sure it would continue to look like it's old self in the future. Hopping over the spiked appendages guarding the sides of the rooftop, Cole then grappled onto one of the above bell towers with his Lightning tether, which in turn, pulled him up roughly onto the tower. In the small space sat a device called a "substation", it's job was to recharge the powerful object known as the "Ray Field Inhibitor" otherwise known as the RFI, which held the capacity to take away the powers of super humans known as conduits. A stark contrast to the power giving Ray Sphere, the very source that had once unlocked Cole's powers just months ago. Wasting no time, he unclipped the RFI from his belt and began to charge it with the device. Turning on his walkie-talkie, Cole spoke.

"Alright Zeke, its fully charged."

Zeke Jedediah Dunbar, Cole's best friend, called back on the radio. "Alright brother, just hit it when you're ready."
Cole paused for a moment, then spoke once more to his childhood friend, "Zeke, I just wanted to tell you one last thing. It's been a hell of time having these powers," He paused once more, then chuckled "both good and bad. I know this hasn't really been a walk in the park for us both, but thank you, For being there for me until the end." If he were in any other circumstance, he would've made fun of Zeke for just barely letting out a shaky breath on the radio.

"We've always had each others backs man, Its what we do. Damn, I'm sure gonna miss you."

"See ya on the other side man." Cole whispered.

"See ya brother."

THOOM!

Jolting upwards, Cole whipped around just in time to see a shadow cast itself over thirty square blocks, blocking out what was left of the sun's rays. Standing at about fifty-stories high, a creature towered over the small town of New Marais. Humanoid in shape, it looked as though it was something that came from a nightmare's nightmare. Burning, rock-like skin covered it's entire body, with bright cracks webbing across the creature. It walked at a fast pace towards Macgrath, plowing through any structure that stood in it's place. Growling, Cole felt the immense electrical current course through him from the RFI, making him feel more and more powerful with every spark. He continued to glare daggers at the monster, furious that this thing, who was once his friend. A man named John White, a Conduit like Cole, who wanted to save all other super humans from a disease only known as the Plague, but in doing so, "required" killing everyone who didn't carry the Conduit gene. Millions of lives wiped out, for the sake of thousands. A deed that Cole would not stand for.

Watching his former friend lumber menacingly towards him, Cole looked back at the device in his hands before snarling, "No, not just yet." Clipping the RFI back on his belt, he leaped off the bell tower with a war cry and used his Static Thrusters to boost him high in the air. Barely reaching the height of the Beast's midsection, Cole let loose a barrage of explosive electrical bolts, smashing painfully into the monster. Shrieking in pain, the Beast swung wildly at his attacker, trying in vain to swat away Macgrath as each bolt ripped away house sized chunks of flesh. It felt gratifying, as equally horrifying, to hear John's cries.

Soon, John's agony became too much and fell to his knees, defeated and tired. Landing just to the side of him, Cole took a minute to catch his breath as the electricity buzzed harshly in his hands. Panting, he once again unclipped the Ray Sphere from his belt, albeit more slowly this time, and prepared to finally set it off.

"Do it."

Whipping around, he saw another Conduit that he was all too familiar with. A woman his age limped up the steps towards the chapel, sobbing and coughing painfully into her ice powered hands. Moving fast, Cole caught the woman before her body gave up and collapsed. "I...I'm sorry. I was just...j-just s-so scared." Lucy Kuo whimpered in Cole's arms. Pulling her up to her feet, he rested Lucy onto a large slab of debris. Despite her attempt to kill him just moments ago in fear of sacrificing her life for the rest of humanity, Cole's expression was not one of anger or betrayal, but one of forgiveness.

"I am too." he said soothingly. Walking away from the coughing woman, he stood just in front of the still pained Beast while he held out the RFI. Glancing at Kuo one last time, Cole began reminiscing his life, his allies, enemies, the in-between.

Lucy, Nix, Laroche, Moya, Harms, Amy, Zeke, Trish.

Without hesitation, he flipped the switch.

And his whole world went white.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Too bright.

The covers of the bed shifted as the morning rays of the sun lit up the room. Groaning in annoyance, the lone occupant flung the covers over her head, hoping to rebel against the ever nearing light. Ahhh, much better. the girl thought as she felt sleep rising back into her body.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Son of a...

Shoving the covers off her, ex-unicorn Sunset Shimmer stumbled groggily down the stairs to her bathroom, muttering along the way. While brushing her teeth, she took the advantage of seeing what type new hairstyle the bed had graciously made for her. Flaming inferno with a side of drool. Fitting for a Monday. Spitting out her toothpaste, she walked over to the kitchen and opened up her pantry to pull out a simple box of Wheatie-Needies. Bringing out a bowl, she absentmindedly dumped out nearly all of it's contents, spilling gallons of Wheatie-Needies, milk and whatever cheap surprise toy came with the box all over the table. Ignoring the ever-growing pile of sugar that was once a bowl, Sunset stopped pouring and slowly began to eat. as the time went by, her eating became slower. slower. sloower. and slooower. and sloo-

SPLAT!

Until she numbingly fell face first into her cereal bowl, the sleep from earlier coming back with a vengeance. She could almost feel the warm embrace of dreamland coming towards her, the soft hugs of Mr. Teddy wrapping comfortably around her soul. However, the universe had other plans, and one can only stay confined in a bowl of milk for so long.

Gasping for air, Sunset pried her milk-drenched fiery locks from her eyes and turned over to the clock on her kitchen wall. Then nearly did a double-take. 6:45.

"Holy- NO!"

She shouted. Zipping over to her wardrobe, she quickly nabbed her bag (Which she ingeniously already put all of her schoolwork in from the previous morning. A chore she forgot to do too many times for her to mention.) and donned her casual attire, jeans, baby blue dress and her leather motorcycle jacket.

"ByeRayseeyoulaterhaveagreatdayloveyou!'' Sunset yelled to her pet gecko Ray as she bolted out the door.

...

Huh, I wonder why she wanted to leave her food. thought Ray as he stared at his owner's abandoned lunch bag on the kitchen counter from his tank.
___
Bolting down the street, Sunset dodged and weaved obstacles left and right, hoping to get to her school on time. Jumping over a bench, she zipped through the crosswalk, narrowly missing the green light signaling for cars. Hurrying down the sidewalk, she could almost see her school, Canterlot High, in the not-so-far distance.

Just two more blocks! She silently cheered.

"PLEASE!"

Stopping dead in her tracks, Sunset whipped her head towards a distant sound from an alleyway straight to her left, trying to listen for what she prayed she didn't just hear.

''SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!" A women's voice could just barely be heard deep within the pitch-black passageway.

Any thoughts of school all but forgotten, Sunset turned and ran down the alleyway with great speed. Someone was in trouble, and she'd never forgive herself if they got hurt. As she continued down the dark path, Sunset felt the air grow increasingly colder, to the point where her body started to shiver. "...JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" The voice sounded closer now, but their tone indicated there was someone else in the alleyway with them. This caused Sunset to slow down her pace as the voice grew nearer, now deciding to investigate the situation.

"Shut up you old bag. Unless you want more facial surgery here and now, I suggest you keep quiet!"

Hiding behind a trash bin, Sunset peeked over and saw a hooded figure, probably a middle-aged man, pinning an elderly woman against the back of a building, with a glittering object positioned right next to her neck. It was a gun. This 40-something year old man was threatening an elderly lady with a gun. Nearly gagging on the bile that rose in her throat, Sunset growled and rose to her feet, ready to make herself known before things escalated.

"HEY!"

Caught off guard by the newcomer, the figure whipped around just in time to see a size ten boot impact his face, sending him flying onto the concrete in surprise. Running over to the woman, Sunset asked worryingly "are you alright ma'am?".

Gently putting her hand on the women's shoulder, she received a silent nod from the shocked lady. "Good, now I need you to get out of here and, if you can, call the police." Nodding once more, the still scared old woman muttered a scared "Thank you sweetie." and took off like a bullet.

"Nice hit kid." a voice snarled from behind her. The man's dark eyes gazed at her from within his hood, a demonic smile creeping up his features. ''Real nice. Shame you won't do it again."

"What do you think you're doing?! You can't just attack an elderly woman, who do you think you are?! " Sunset snarled back angrily.

Once again caught off guard by the teenager, the man paused for a moment, before chuckling deeply. "Heh, looks like you need to be taught a lesson about reality, Girly." Lowering his weapon, the man tossed it aside before speaking once more. "Besides, what fun is there in using a gun to payback for a kick?''

Staring dumbly at the man in front of her, Sunset was beyond stunned. This man was crazy! "W-Wha-" before she could finish, the man ran towards her at break neck speed, arms sprung out towards her throat. Jumping to her right, she dodged the assailant and got in a fighting stance. When coming to the human world, Sunset Shimmer had quickly realized her previous magic from being a unicorn in Equestria had not stuck with her new body. Seeing that her primary source of self-defense had left her, she chose to attend multiple martial arts classes over the years to prepare for situations like these.

Hands raised, she glared at man with absolute concentration, deducing her plan of attack. Flipping around, the assailant dashed towards her once more, prepared this time. Swinging his fist with excellent precision, Sunset narrowly dodged her head from the attack before jabbing her hand into the man's kidney. Growling, he flung his knee at her exposed face, only to be blocked by her other hand. Pushing him off her, she stumbled back and regained in her stance. This time it was her turn to attack.

Swinging a kick, she prepared to swipe him across the face. At least, that's what she planned to do. Catching her leg, he flipped her over his body and slammed her on the ground. Gasping in pain, she shot her foot into his thigh, causing him to yell. Back-rolling to her feet, she threw her palm at his neck, causing him to choke on impact. Swinging another karate chop, the man dodged and rammed his fist into her stomach, making her loose balance for a moment. Before she could regain her attention, his fist slammed into her face.

The force of the impact sent her flying, and landing her in a puddle. While trying to get up, a hand coiled around her neck in lightning speed, pinning her to the ground. Struggling desperately, Sunset weakly kicked and punched the man in vain to free herself from his grasp. But the lack of oxygen in her body from his tight grip on her throat held her from doing any damage.

"You fight good kid," The man said while smiling, "...I'm sure gonna remember you. But there's no one better than good ole' Zsasz.'' Smiling gleefully, he raised his fist above him, preparing to strike.

All of the sudden, a rainbow-colored blur came out of nowhere and rammed into Zsasz, flinging him off of her and skidding him across the pavement. Head still hazy from her attacker, Sunset slowly lifted herself off the ground, just in time to see the rainbow blur take the form of another teenage girl and harshly pull Zsasz from the floor, pinning him to a wall. Then without warning, the newcomer began to rapidly punch the attacker in the face, each fist nearly invisible from the amount of speed and strength she put in them.

As the girl did this, she screamed in Zsasz's face. "DON'T. EVER. TOUCH HER. AGAIN. YOU. CREEP!!!!"

It was disturbing how much he could endure before one of the girl's hits finally knocked his lights out.

The second teenager, sporting an athletic white t-shirt and tight gym shorts, panted and huffed while wiping the sweat off her brow. Atop her blue skinned scalp was a mangle of Rainbow colored that Sunset thankfully recognized immediately. "R-Rainbow Dash?" The girl in question looked to her right, eyes widened in horror, seeing her bruised friend struggle to get up. "SUNSET!" Rainbow Dash shouted before running over to the other girl. Picking her up, she bombarded the fiery haired girl with every question she could muster.

"What happened? What did he do to you? Did he hurt you? Are you breathing? Is anything broken?"

Her rambling was cut short when Sunset threw herself onto her friend, practically on the verge of tears. "Thank you Dash! Thank you,thank you,thank you!" she sobbed.

Surprised by the reaction, Rainbow Dash stood there for a moment before hugging her back, "I was on my way to school when this old lady ran into the street and started yelling about how a girl had saved her from a crook and was distracting him. After I heard that, I had to help whoever it was fighting him back. I had no idea it was you." she replied in a worried tone.

Chuckling between hiccups, Sunset pulled away from her friend and smiled gratefully at her. Then they both looked back at the unconscious crook sprawled in front of them.

"Mondays suck." Sunset said bitterly.

"Amen." Rainbow replied.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Canterlot high, lunch time

The cafeteria buzzed with excitement as students chatted and ate, eagerly finishing their foods so they could have time to talk with their friends. Many were still in line to get lunch, jealously looking at the kids leaving with food in their trays. One of such people was a teenage girl named Pinkie Pie. Wearing a white t-shirt with a heart on it, a blue over-shirt, and a blasphemous amount of gigantic pink cotton-candy like hair, she certainly lived up to her name.

Unlike the other students who lazily walked to random tables, Pinkie pie skipped excitedly passed others with an expression so bright, to an outsider of CHS it would look as though she had just won the lottery. Humming along the way, she came closer to a specific table she always took, soon catching a full view of her best friends already seated. Her smile growing wider, she skipped faster, but when drawing nearer, she noticed that a strange aura was luring over them. She also took note that one of her friends, a certain rainbow haired athlete, was in the middle of sharing an exciting story with the other four. Judging by the pure enthusiasm in her voice and the expression on her face, Pinkie hoped she was sharing one of her amazing stories such as Daring Do's previous adventure, or one of her awesome tricks at the skate park. However, the compilation of horrified looks on the other girls' faces immediately shot those theories down.

"...and then, just when you think he's had enough, BAM! Out like a light!'' Rainbow Dash announcedproudly. Her audience stared at her with different expressions, a farm girl with a button-up white and green shirt, donning a stetson hat on her golden hair looked infuriated,

A shy, faded pink haired girl with a white tank top and green dress with a butterfly on it stared worryingly at her friends,

An elegant, fashionable girl with beautifully styled up purple hair as well as a dashing white shirt and purple dress bore a look of disgust,

And a girl dressed in a formal school attire along with purple-pink-plum like hair and glasses looked absolutely mortified.

"B-b-but, wha-I-I-I, just-WHAT!?" the fashionable girl yelled, "What kind of pig-headed, uncivilized, low graded-RUFFIAN, would attack an elderly lady and a young girl? And smile while doing it?!" taking a breather, Rarity composed herself before she could make a scene.

"When ah get my hands on that creep..." The farm girl, Applejack, growled under her breath, Red-hot anger steaming off her so much, her apple juice started to condensate faster from it's box.

"S-Sunset?" the Plum haired girl with glasses next to Applejack asked quietly, "Are-are you alright? You've been awfully quiet."

Sitting straight across from her was her red haired friend, although she ignored the question. Attention not focused anything particular, she seemed to stare off into space, her face contorting into a look of concentration. "Sunset?'' The plum haired girl tried again. Still no answer. Overhearing the conversation, Applejack's anger subsided for the moment and decided to take a full look at the scene for herself.

Seeing Sunset in her stiff state as well, Applejack was immediately concerned for her friend. Leaning over to her side, she brought her muscled hand up to sunset's eye level and snapped her fingers. This caused Sunset to jolt in surprise, as though somebody had just shocked her.

Shaking her head, her emerald green eyes focusing on her fellow friends. ''Huh? oh, sorry girls," Sunset apologized sheepishly,"...didn't mean to scare you, I've. Just been thinking."

Simultaneously looking at each other, the other six girls shared a look of confusion before turning their attention back to Sunset, silently urging her to carry on. "A-are you sure you should be here at school instead of resting? You looked horrible when you walked in this morning." A meek voice called out next to Rarity. Turning to her right, Sunset smiled kindly to the speaker.

"I'm doing alright Fluttershy, thank you again for helping me to the nurse's office this morning." Blushing slightly, the shy teen nodded.

"I-I couldn't stand there while Rainbow brought you in. I had to do something." Eyes turning misty, Fluttershy blinked back tears at just the memory of seeing one of her best friends walk into school battered and bruised with Rainbow Dash barely holding her up. Before she could start to cry, an arm wrapped comfortably around her shoulder. Pinkie Pie sat next to her old friend with a reassuring smile.

Looking at the others, Sunset sighed sorrowfully. True, she was hurting from the previous actions this morning, both physically and mentally. However, there was something else entirely that was bugging her. "To be honest, it's, not the attack from this morning that's bothering me.''

Now that REALLY got their attention. All eyes turned for the third time, once again full of curiosity and concern. Peering back at them from her locks, she felt nervous. No, on a normal basis, the mugger would be nothing but an slight problem of hers and hers alone to worry about.

"This wasn't the first time something like this has happened. And I'm not talking about me." looking over to her elegant friend, she continued. "Rarity, you told us that last month when you were working at Carousel Boutique, the second floor suddenly caved in, nearly toppling all over you and the customers."

Cringing at the memory, Rarity nodded her head in agreement. "How could I forget? If it wasn't for those gorgeous diamond shields, I wouldn't have been able hold the debris without those poor people getting hurt. Although, I admit, it did become quite difficult to hold all of that once beautiful art after a while, thankfully the authorities arrived just in time. On the bright side, the looks on their faces was entertaining to say the least.''

"But if they didn't, you wouldn't have held it back and someone could've been seriously hurt." Sunset pointed out worryingly.'' gesturing in Rainbow Dash's direction Sunset began. "Dash, two weeks before Rarity's accident, you ran so fast, Canterlot city's entire power grid shut down for seven whole hours."

Laughing sheepishly, Rainbow blushed. "Hehe, yeah, didn't really pay attention to how fast I was going. I just wanted to see how fast I could go."

"It's alright, you tried to help in any way you could, but it still could have caused serious consequ-''

"DO ME! DO ME!"

Pinkie pie laid herself across the table, waving her hand excitingly as if to be picked for next to ride on an attraction.

Taken by surprise from the eccentric girl Sunset sputtered. "J-Just three days ago, you were ordering a drink at Sugercube Corner when your drink exploded the moment it made contact with your hands, getting it inside the slushy machine, nearly causing a second explosion!''

As fast as it came, Pinkie’s smile vanished from her face immediately, replaced by a sad frown. “Yeah, that wasn’t very fun at all, poor Mr. and Mrs. Cake were covered from head to toe. I helped them clean up, but I just felt so awful for that. Although, the looks on their faces WAS pretty funny!” Pinkie giggled, trying to suppress her laughter.

“This is what I’m talking about girls,’’ exclaimed Sunset, “…in just the past month alone, half of us have already had worse problems with our magic than when we first got them! At this rate, now I-we have to anxiously wait for Applejack, Twilight and Fluttershy to have an accident and when it happens, it may not be something they can walk away from so easily! OR WORSE!’’

The cafeteria grew silent as Sunset nearly screamed the end of her rant, earning awkward stares and mean smirks from the other students.

Popping her eyes open, Sunset blushed before clearing her throat and muttering a small “sorry.’’ After a few tense seconds, the students went back to their business. The cafeteria become noisy once again. Exhaling, the teen brought up a weak hand and rubbed her face stressfully. “Sorry girls, I…I just want to make sure you're all okay, if something seriously bad happens, I…I don’t know what I’d do. Sure, we have SOME control over our new magic, but that doesn’t mean we can save the day every time.’’ Glaring at her lunch, she chuckled humorlessly, “And here I thought I was done being constantly worried about magic.”

Feeling an arm wrap around her shoulders, Sunset looked up to her left to see Rainbow gazing back at her with a soothing smile. “I know you feel responsible for all of the magic that came here from Equestria, and yeah, I do kinda feel like you are partially responsible.’’ Stunned by this information, Sunset stared at her friend with a shocked gaze for a straight three seconds, before her face relaxed and became one of understanding. “But maybe you’re stressing out a bit too much on this, maybe this magic really is here for a reason, for us, for this world, I don’t know. In fact, I don’t think we’ll find out until a long time. But what I do know, is that we’ll come through it, all of us.” Rainbow gestured her hand towards the group of girls. “like I said before, we’ve gone against rogue magic more than twice, and we’re still sitting here eating lunch at school! So if anything or anyone else wants to take a shot at us, I say bring it!!’’ Each girl put on a proud face hearing this. It was true, even before they gained magic of their very own, they had still faced down enemies with God-like power and still took them down, together.

“Magic can be a complicated thing Sunset,” Applejack cut in, “Ya may think you need to work harder on understanding what the magic will do and what will the future will hold. But yer missing something, you can’t spend your days worryin’ about what MIGHT happen, ya need to relax and focus. Sure, it’s great to plan ahead, but don’t let it consume you Sugarcube. And even if we don’t win against the next obstacle, we’ll give it our best shot. Like Dash said, we’ll always face it by each other’s sides.’’

Turning her gaze to the group, Sunset found herself surrounded by reassuring eyes and warm smiles. These six were willing to go through Tartarus and back for each other, not fearing what Equestria or any other world decided to throw at them. For the first time that day, Sunset genuinely smiled, she felt so lucky to have friends-No, a family like them. They were right, she shouldn’t constantly worry about what might happen, she just needed these six beside her and whatever problem decides to rise in the future, they can handle it.

As the lunch bell rang, everyone picked up their trays and headed back to class. Dumping her tray, Sunset watched as her friends started to head further into the building. As they left, she felt a mixture of emotions. The speech from earlier had calmed her down for a while, but she was still worried. A hurricane of questions flooded her mind; Why was magic constantly here and there wherever they went? Would they ever be able to fully control it so no one got hurt? What if something actually did come along and be too much for them to handle? What if something happened to princess Twilight- Stopping herself before things could escalate, Sunset closed her eyes and decided to try a technique that Twilight had recently taught her. Bringing a hand up to her chest, she exhaled, then calmly brought her hand back out as though she was pushing an invisible force, breathing out. She did this a few more times, just to ease the storm inside.

A feeling of relaxation came over her. A small amount, but a noticeable one. Her head held high, andquickly made her way back to the others, ready for the rest of the day.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

CHS: after school

Brushing the hair from her face after another gust of wind, Sunset kept nodding as the girl next to her continues her exposition.

“...And did you know that Celestia owns a Colycampthifius flower in her garden, it’s absolutely beautiful! Those are quite rare in this country, probably hard to buy here too, I wonder where she got it?”

Sunset chuckled as the girl beside her, Twilight Sparkle, gushed about her new job as the garden care taker for CHS’ principle. “That’s quite a mouthful.”

The two girls were walking along the sidewalk towards their homes, the bright midday sky turning a crisp dusk. Though their houses were on separate sides of the neighborhood, Sunset decided to take the long route just so she could catch up on what’s been happening lately with her friend. Passing tall street lamps next to a quiet road, it seemed as though they were the only souls outside.

“It’s a native Griffinor poisonous flower, grown specifically in rocky areas. It eats insects, yet leaks out toxic liquid when animals eat it. Though you can’t really blame them for trying, with its sun spotted bud and foot long purple leaves sprouting from the sides of the insect-catching tube. I would give up my telescope for one of those!”

‘’Wow, you've really gotten into botany lately, huh?’’

A pink blush formed on the science girl’s cheeks, her eyes shifting to the right. “W-well, it gives me something new to study. Though I’ve always enjoyed getting my hands dirty with chemistry, learning about Botany will defiantly aid my knowledge when I get to Canterlot College!” chuckling lightheartedly, the two friends continued their walk in silence until Twilight spoke up once more. “Besides, my mother, Twilight Velvet, had a small tomato garden in our backyard. Shining and I loved to run around and play in it. Pretending the fruit was hidden treasure and all of the rabbits and raccoons were Pirates and evil ninjas.”

“Oh sweet Celestia, now I wish I came to this world a lot earlier so I could see THAT adorable picture!” Sunset laughed jokingly.

Blushing an even deeper shade of pink, Twilight puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and jabbed the other girl in the ribs. “Sh-shut up Shimmer.”

Once again walking in comfortable silence, the two continued down their path as the chilly spring wind nipped at their exposed faces, a flowery smell carried with it.

“I still see her, you know.’’

Turning over to the younger teen, Sunset looked at Twilight questioningly, only to immediately understand what she meant when looking at the other’s face. “Midnight Sparkle?”

“She’s not as aggravating and common like before. But yes. She’ll appear in my dreams, though it hasn’t happened many times lately, laughing as she dissolves everything around me. But, sometimes…” Grimacing, Twilight held her breath for a moment, as though she was scared to give out information. “Sometimes I’ll see her behind me in the mirror, just, staring at me, no emotion on her face. It's almost like... Like she's silently judging me”

Frowning, Sunset continued staring at the younger teen with worry. Though many would consider Midnight Sparkle an overrated concept, the rest of the six knew better. Becoming a monstrosity of magic left painful, knife-deep scars in the bearer’s soul. Scars that took a long time to heal. A hundred thoughts of reassuring words and sentences whirled in her head, trying desperately to find something that could help her grieving friend.

“You don’t have to say anything Sunset; I know I’m more powerful than her. I just wish she would go away, disappear. Forever.”

Putting her arm protectively over Twilight, Sunset spoke as softly as she could. “I see my past everyday as well.’’ Peering up, Twilight turned her eyes back to the fiery-haired teen. “My Demon version I mean, sometimes when I walk, I can, I don’t know, FEEL her wings tearing out of my back. But when I look over my shoulder: Nothing.’’ Putting a hand over her shoulder as if to double-check her back, Sunset silently remembered the harsh memory. “It never truly leaves you. It just, stays. You just… have to move on.” Smiling empathetically at Twilight, the older girl continued. “Trust me, I’ve been through the exact same thing. I know what you’re going through because I went through it.”

Twilight smiled a small, grateful smile, before nodding silently. Though not super convinced, nor happy, she still appreciated the never-ending support from her friends. The peaceful moment was quickly interrupted when a loud siren sounded off in the distance. Looking back at the sidewalk behind them, both saw chain of flashing red and blue lights flare wildly in the far-off distance of Canterlot City.

“Changlers.” Twilight said aloud.

Sunset Shimmer hadn’t heard of the Changlers until recently, well, who they were exactly. Apparently, they were a violent, bloodthirsty gang of terrorists that had inhabited Canterlot City long before she or even the sirens came to this world. In her past when being on this planet on her own, she had caught glimpses of Changler trucks being pursued by or pursuing police cars through the streets. But she was too busy running away to really see what was going on. Before, if they didn’t bother her affairs, she wouldn’t bother theirs. Now? She wished she could go and give those creeps a piece of her mind, and maybe a small bit of her foot. But who was she kidding? She was by no means a soldier, and it would take more than average martial arts mastery to take down a mercenary brute with years of military training. And even with all six of the girl’s magical Equestrian powers, they were still completely overmatched by that kind of enemy with massive amounts of experience and firepower.

It felt... sickening, to know they were still powerless to do anything.

“Sunset...” Twilight's tone held a word of warning, as if reading the other's mind; Despite Sunset having the telepathy and all. “...Don't even think about it.”

“Not today, not tomorrow, but someday Twilight.”

Turning back to their previous route, they walked away from the direction of the loud, distant city. Continuing deeper into the neighborhood, they talked about all the things any best friends could talk about, until coming across Twilight’s house.

Coming to the front door, they turned to face and bid one another goodnight. “Have a great night Twilight.” Sunset said kindly.

“You too Sunset, see you tomorrow.’’ Twilight replied. She then leaned over and gently hugged her best friend, who was quick to do the same before walking up the steps and closing the door, giving Sunset a final wave goodnight.

Now alone in the dark, quiet neighborhood, Sunset turned and continued her way home. Taking this time to herself as an advantage, she began looking around at her surroundings. Earth was such a fascinating world to her; unlike Equestria, it held no magic, had it’s own natural order instead of having ponies do the work for it and had only one main sentient species. Yet it prospered just as well as her own world, a fact she respected immensely.

“Princess Celestia would be in complete shock at this place.” She chuckled. Frowning slightly, her expression of peace took a small, sad turn. Celestia. Sweet Faust, did she miss her old teacher. Though she rekindled with her former teacher from the whole ‘Wallflower mind erasing fiasco’, she still missed her. At least her feelings were put at ease when she thought about what her teacher had said to her last they spoke.

“Goodluck Sunset Shimmer, I’ve heard about your friends back on that world, and I know you’ll take good care of them. You are determined, talented, strong, kind and caring. Of which, is why I took you under my wing. I’ll miss you dearly, but I will rest easy knowing you will be safe. If you ever need anything, ANYTHING, do not be afraid to write.”

Walking with a better spring in her step, Sunset smiled and trekked on until her house come into view. Opening the door, she tossed her schoolbag onto the floor right beside the door and turned on the interior lights.

“Ray, I’m home!!”

The air paused for a minute, before she saw her yellow lizard companion lazily open his eyes from his enclosure, smiling a half-baked welcoming grin before slowly taking his time crawling off his branch. “Come on little guy.’’ Sunset giggled, opening the latch to the roof of his tank and waiting patiently for him to crawl up her arm. His sticky hands grasped onto the teen’s skin and began to gradually crawl up her arm. Lifting her arm up to her face until the two of them had direct eye contact, she spoke softly to her scaly friend.

“I missed you.’’

Bringing her other free hand up to him, she gently began stroking his small head with her index finger. “you would NOT believe the day I just had.” She half joked. As if understanding exactly what his friend had been dealing with, he lovingly licked her hand he was sitting on. Giggling, she continued to pet him like he was the most precious thing she’d ever seen in her life. On cue, the sound of sirens wailed in the distance. Peering over to the right, she glanced at her window, the blue and red flashes blinking uncontrollably in the distance. Walking over to the glass, both her and her small, bumpy companion stared out at the far away city that seemed to glare right back at them as even more police seemed to pour into the town like ants. Disappearing behind the tall buildings.

Sighing tiredly, Sunset continued to watch the scene unfold quietly, eyes never drifting away.

plink!
plink
plink

It took her a moment before registering the new sound coming from her window. Shaking her head to get her thoughts back, she looked closely at the window, before realizing that small water droplets were pelting it. Turning her gaze from the drops, she finally turned her gaze up to the sky above the city. Pitch black clouds had formed a roof over Canterlot city, flashes of lighting snapping inside it like an angry monster. What's more, it was heading towards Sunset's side of the neighborhood.

Arching a brow, Sunset Shimmer stared at the forming clouds before mumbling under her breath.

"Strange, no one said anything about a lightning storm coming in tonight."

Author's Note:

Greetings horse fandom! my name is Amadeus Cancer, professional super villain and not-so-professional brony. For years I've watched this show, and as you all know, it's easy to fall in love with, (even for me!). So, I thought that it was time to join the fandom (you guys!), and see what all the hubbubs about!

Now, some of you might be wondering "why Equestria girls?"

No doubt, the mother series mlp fim is outstanding to me, Equestria girls holds a bit of unique charm to it that draws me too it. which is why we are here right now.

*cough* Sunset is best pony! Cough*

Ok, with introductions out of the way, I want all of you to know that this is in fact my first ever Fimfiction story, so please, allow yourselves to give me a shout out to any pointers, tips, strategies and criticism you may have to make this a story for all to enjoy!

the Demon of Canterlot City: opening credits song

Comments

[looker2611]

A curious crossover an intriguing cast and a good set of plot threads can't wait to see what happens next

[ShyTwi]

You have my attention, by all means, continue.

[romeo]

It's he going to be a good gay Side?

[Amadeus cancer]

Thank you all for your support! It really means a lot to me don’t you guys worry, The next chapter is coming out very soon🌩

[Amadeus cancer]

9768235
Romeo- Yes, this story is based on the good karma cole