Equestria Grads

by Toon4Thought

Chapter 2

Sunset Shimmer groggily awoke in her stiff bed, as usual. She could never get too comfortable in the thing, but it did the job fine. She slowly rubbed the cobwebs out of her eyes and lifted her head to find the sheets were imbalanced again, with her foot visibly poking out. This was a common problem with her sleeping habits.

However, she sensed something around her was… off. She knew it was nothing with the apartment. No, it came from outside. After listening a little more, she could make out faint noises of… people screaming? What was going on?

After sloppily getting out of bed, she walked barefoot toward her ground-floor shades. Sure enough, the noises became more and more audible as she approached. She merely grimaced at this, not wanting to guess what was awaiting her. But every possibility that did pass by her mind didn’t prepare her for what she ended up seeing.

Her eyes immediately widened at the outside, her jaw practically reaching the floor. "Oh my Celestia..."

Just outside the window was an assortment of enchanted Equestrian vines popping in and out at random, ripples throughout the roads and air showing glimpses of her old home-world, and even some enchanted and contaminated objects attacking their users.

It was almost exactly like the havoc Midnight Sparkle unleashed at Canterlot High, only on a much more large and dangerous scale.

The display was horrific. Sunset closed her shades and quickly backed away, wanting to believe this was one of her nightmares. After giving herself a few seconds to breathe, she slowly opened the shades again and was crestfallen as her double-check only confirmed this was, in fact, reality.

As she forced herself to look away, an endless stream of questions began to flood her mind that she didn't even want to ask. What exactly caused this to happen? Where was it coming from? How can it be stopped, if at all? And she didn’t have answers to any of them. Sure, she fought many magical phenomena in recent memory, but they were all much more contained and it was generally easy to identify the source. This was something much more mysterious, and much more widespread.

Not knowing what else to do, she took out her phone and started a group text with her friends.

“Girls, magic is all over my neighborhood and I don’t know what to do!”

It didn’t take more than a minute for a reply from each to appear on screen.

“Yours too?” -Twilight

“It looks kind of fun.” -Pinkie

“Here we go again…” -Applejack

“I see it too! I doubt it’s something we can’t handle!” -Rainbow

“We gotta discuss this in-person!” -Rarity

“…” -Fluttershy

“You’re right, Rarity. We need to gather at the school! Meet there ASAP!” -Sunset

She quickly shoved her phone back into her pocket… only to give the chaotic outside another look. “…If I can even make it.”

Not even bothering to shower or brush her hair (though the latter has become typical for her), she quickly dressed, grabbed her school bag, and rushed through the door.

However, a mere few steps out, she found herself nearly tripping on a small ripple that has decided to form around her feet.

The block was somehow more apocalyptic and dangerous than it looked from her window. As she feared, the forces were present in every single direction and they seemed to expand as far as the eye could see as well. Sunset was more scared than ever, not just for her safety but for the city and its inhabitants.

Still not knowing what to do, she decided to run in the direction of the school. There was no time to waste, after all, and she didn’t want to keep her friends – and these innocent victims – waiting.

Her little townhouse wasn’t too far away from the school, but at her fastest speed, it still took her about 15 minutes. And that was provided nothing was in her way, which most certainly was not the case here.

She couldn’t go down a single block without there being a sentient vine, magical pit, or person running from their enchanted possession to look out for.

The dangers came in all shapes and sizes. A mere minute into her run, there was a sports car that was veering out of control, clearly having a mind of its own and seemed almost dead-set on taking her out as roadkill. Sunset, being as agile as she was, was able to match its movements perfectly and veered to its right just in time, before the car ultimately crashed into a fire hydrant, activating the airbag and thankfully leaving the passenger unharmed.

If only the other victims were as safe. Shortly later, she saw a boy climbing on a tree fearing his toy dinosaur, attempting to reach for him with sharp teeth. Immediately after came Lily Pad, whose tablet was chasing her in mid-air with a demonic laugh, and her sister Water Lily who was starting to suffocate underneath the tight hold of her pool float. The mother, Veronica, clearly had no idea what to do as she stared dumbfoundedly at her daughters. Sunset so badly wanted to help, but not only could she not help, she knew time was of the essence.

After much dodging, jumping, and swerving, Sunset finally arrived at the school. Here, the chaos was stronger than anywhere else she had already been. There were tons and tons of cracks in the sidewalk, with smaller but still mutant plants growing like crazy, there was a minor and continuous sort of earthquake in the ground just beneath her feet, and she felt a strange, storm-like current of wind. But it was a large current of swirling, fireworks-like light that caught Sunset’s eye the most, and without a second thought, she ran over to the source to investigate.

She quickly discovered that the magical light came from the top of the marble base, which housed a big gaping hole with remnants of a crack surrounding it.

“…How did I not realize this before?” Sunset thought as she climbed up on top to inspect. She felt stupid for not checking the statue before; in hindsight, once magic started to become a relatively common occurrence in her and her friends' lives, this should've been the first thing to do. However, before she continued beating herself up she remember to take a couple deep breaths. She knew better than to panic under pressure, especially when everyone you know's well-being is at stake.

As she analyzed the situation, even more questions raced through her head. How long has this crack been around? What even started it? How dangerous could this be? What can patch it? Can it be patched? What will this mean to Equestria?

She probably would’ve come up with even more, if it wasn’t for the sudden shouting that hit her ears.

“Sunset Shimmer!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

“Thank goodness you made it, darling!” said Rarity.

“Did you struggle to get here as much as we did?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Wait, what is even going on here?” said Twilight, diverting the focus to the source of the magic.

“Oh my…” Fluttershy whimpered at the sight, not even knowing what to make of it.

Sure enough, all six of her friends stood around the marble. Sunset was relieved to find that they were able to successfully traverse through the magical minefield themselves.

Applejack, the least afraid of them, leaned her arm on the base. “So… is THIS where all the magic has been coming from?”

“…Yeah, it is,” Sunset managed to say, looking up with a very solemn expression. “And to be honest… I’m scared.”

“Well, you know that we can face anything together!” said Rainbow confidently. “We’ve done it many times before, after all.”

“To be fair, Rainbow,” said Applejack, “look at all the magic around ya. Do ya think we’ve fought anything on this here caliber?”

“Well…” said Rainbow, trying to come up with a heroic-sounding answer. Luckily, she was cut off by Pinkie Pie before she could be humiliated.

“No matter what, Sunset, we’ll get through this! As friends!” She put her arms around Sunset. Although her mood didn't exactly improve, the pure optimism was enough to slightly lift her spirits.

Twilight didn’t want to break the reassurance, but she knew something had to be done for the good of the world. Thus, she finally said in a firm, direct, yet still somewhat polite tone, “So, can we please get to talking about what we should do here?"

Sunset sighed, not wanting to think about it. But she knew she had to. She looked into her backpack, and began to reach into it with her arm, but after a moment of hesitation, she retracted. She didn’t want it to come to this, but she had no other choice.

Sunset Shimmer sighed as she tried to hide her desperation. “Girls… I’m sorry, but I must go talk to Princess Twilight. This matter is simply too urgent for me to rely on my journal. In fact…” An idea quickly popped in her mind, and without wasting any time, she rummaged through her backpack and pulled out the magical communicator in question. Although she was still frowning, her following inflection was at least more warm and reassuring than before. “Here, take my journal. Please let me know if you need my help.”

Without giving the others a chance to respond, she forced the journal in Rarity’s hands. However, just as she turned her back to face the portal, she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. Sunset stopped and slowly turned her head to find it came from Rarity.

“Nonsense, darling,” said Rarity with confidence, “we’re going with you.”

Sure enough, the five additional friends, standing just behind her, all confirmed this bold declaration by giving various looks of kindness, bravery, and excitement.

Sunset didn’t know how to respond. At first, her eyes widened with shock, but that only lasted for a couple of seconds before her face once again began to mope. “But… you can’t… the school... the portal… Princess Twilight…” she muttered as her mind considered a number of different problems.

“…Will understand,” said Rainbow Dash, stepping up next to Rarity.

“After all, a matter of this caliber deserves as much input and assistance as possible,” Twilight Sparkle explained, following the motion.

“Not to mention moral support!” said Pinkie Pie, pumping her arms into the air.

Applejack was next to speak. “Besides, you’ve helped us a lot with magic all this time. I think it’s only fair that we return the favor.”

“Mm-hmm,” said Fluttershy, not having anything to add but still smiling just the same.

Sunset Shimmer opened her mouth, preparing to again reject their proposal. However, she let the words from all her friends sink in, as well as their supportive faces. They reminded Sunset of why she was such great friends with these six, and exactly how much their friendship has been able to overcome. From the Sirens, to Gaia Everfree, and Wallflower Blush, it has miraculously overcome many a malicious and misguided meanie and paranormal predicament. If there was anything that could help save the day, this was probably it.

Her eyes began to water as she finally cracked a small smile. She didn’t need to say anything, as the face was enough to convey her response. She took a few steps to complete the line of girls, and as she once again turned her back to the portal, the others did the same. They all held hands, one after another, as Sunset began to feel empowered.

“Ready girls?” she asked in the most confident voice she had all morning.

A chorus of “mm-hmms”, “yeah”, and an “okey-dokey-lokey” rang in her ears, making her feel even more lucky to have the company she had.

She ran to the portal, and as she phased through, she let out a loud “GO!”.

Comments

[Sunset_Shimmer83]

i would laugh if the portal was closed and they ran into a solid statue lol

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

For a second, when the chapter began with Sunset waking up and seeing the crazy magic, I thought that we were gonna be starting out with a nightmare of hers or something. Heh. Glad to know I was wrong. XD

[Latecomer]

Hope they remembered to leave the book...