A Past Returned

by TacoTues4Eva

Wednesday Dec 21 c

Sunset wanted to ignore the fireball that flew into the sky that everyone else around her seemed to not notice or ignored as they went about their business. It was something that she herself wanted to ignore though there was something that wouldn’t let her so instead she headed off toward where she saw it come from while grumbling about missing the bus.

Finding several abandoned buildings with boarded up windows and doors with signs warning to stay away as they were scheduled for demolishing Sunset found who she was searching for in an already half cleared lot with a few construction machines and large dumpsters filled with debris sitting around. She had seen a large sign saying that the area was going to be made into a new apartment complex as she tried to stay out of sight. Finding a hole in a wall that would keep her bags out of site and hopefully out of danger she slid them in there.

Getting closer she was sure she could feel faint traces of Matt making her wonder if he was there as the magic from him was hard to miss. Looking over the lot Sunset noticed the dark skinned girl in her normal clothes on the ground groaning as she was trying to stand up shakily with little success. Cornelia was standing over her in her guardian form with hands outstretched to a wall of dirt holding it in place as the fire elemental kept throwing balls of fire that didn’t seem to leave scorch marks yet seemed to cause concussive force blats on impact making the wall shake and Cornelia to grunt in effort as she was covered in sweat from the mental and physical demand it was taking to maintain the protection over her friend.

Irma herself was back against a half demolished wall as ice was slowly creeping across her body as her guardian form protected her from the extreme cold it had to have been causing. That or these two weren’t that strong with magic or was pulling their punches. Something wasn’t adding up the longer Sunset watched the fight, wondering if she really needed to intervene before Tridart caught Hay Lin by her neck and squeezed tightly making her struggle against his hold as he laughed while still using his other hand to keep working on Freezing Irma over.

“Goodbye guardian.” Tridart laughed as Hay Lin changed back to normal before opening his hand to let her drop towards the ground.

“NO! HAY LIN!” Sunset screamed thrusting the heart out, “GUARDIANS UNITE!”

Time seemed to freeze as orbs of light shot out striking each other girls strengthening and healing the ones in guardian form already while transforming the ones not already in guardian mode including Sunset. Hay Lin managed to keep from hitting the ground with a loud cry of joy while Irma was freed from her growing icy prison.

“Will!” Hay Lin sobbed out seeing the redhead join them flying in the air towards her.

“Stay away from her hay Lin, she’s an imposter working with Nerissa!” Cornelia screamed angrily about to launch rock spears at her.

“Are you sure?” Taranee asked, “Just because Shagon saved her before, he still stood against Tridart and Ember didn’t he?”

“Maybe you little insects should learn to pay attention!” Ember laughed throwing a large fireball towards Sunset only for it to be blocked by a wave of water from Irma who was using the melted ice that was holding her just moments before.

“Maybe you should.” Hay Lin whispered into Embers ear after seeming to appear next to the fire woman whose eyes grew wide before she was blown away from a hurricane level wind hay Lin blew at her with a giggle.

“You will pay for that guardian.” Tridart growled launching several large spears of ice at Hay Lin who barely dodged in time. Cornelia glared as Sunset before launching several earth spears at Tridart.

“Taranee, connect me with Hay Lin and you!” Irma called with a grin.

“Hey icepick, heads up!” Sunset called launching several arcs of lightning that the iceman dodged mostly, just taking a little damage as one arc barely nicked him in the side. The only reaction he showed was a grunt though a small crack could be seen forming.

“Who are you?” Cornelia demanded looking back and forth between the iceman and Sunset who was shaking her head.

“It’s complicated.” Sunset finally said sadly.

“No it isn’t!” Cornelia snapped, “Don’t play with us, it’s a simple yes or no answer!”

“I wish it was that simple.” Sunset said with a shrug before taking off into the air to throw another barrage of lightning at a returning Ember getting the fire woman’s attention.

“I’ll kill all of you!” Ember raged as she clenched her fist.

“I don’t think so.” Sunset said as the two kept their eyes locked waiting for the other to make a move until a shout of “NOW!” made them both look to see a grinning Irma pointing to Tridart as Hay Lin and Taranee combined their powers to create an intense stream of flame that washed over Tridart.

“That was actually pretty impressive.” Sunset said with a little shock as she didn’t really think the girls were capable of power like that from what little she had seen so far.

Tridart had fallen to the ground before climbing to one knee glaring at the girls in pure hatred with his remaining eye making a red miasma drift off him and the girls watched it float to Shagon who just appeared and absorbed the emotional energy. “Ahhh, not quite as good as the guardians hate but still a nice snack you frigid prick.”

“I’ll make you all pay for this!” Tridart snarled, half of his upper body missing and what remained was badly melted.

“That’s kind of nasty.” Irma said as Hay Lin moved closer to Sunset giving her strange looks.

“I actually have to agree.” Sunset said feeling a little queasy seeing the sight. She had never seen anything like this before, someone hurt this badly even if said person wasn’t real. She was sure he was some kind of golem.

“Be grateful guardians, you survive another day.” Ember snarled as she landed next to Tridart and put a hand on his shoulder making them both vanish in flashes of light.

“That leaves you.” Irma said as she turned to face Shagon as did all of the girls except Cornelia who raised her hand making vines shoot up from the ground and wrap around Will holding her in place.

“You aren’t running away this time, we are getting our answers.” Cornelia smugly declared as she held a fist up controlling the vines and keeping them tight around Will.

“You really think you girls stand a chance against me?” Shagon laughed, “How cute.”

“You’ll think it’s cute when I drop an ocean on you!” Irma growled keeping him busy as Hay Lin moved to stop Cornelia with Taranee watching for any sudden movements from either of their current foes. Not that she wanted to think of Will that way but that hurt the last time when she got zapped.

“Cornelia, just let her go and talk to her.” Hay Lin suggested.

“No way Hay, she isn’t getting out of that until I get the answers I want!’ Cornelia said, her expression steely as she glared at Sunset. “Who are you and how and why are you impersonating Will?”

“She might be Will, we won’t know unless everyone calms down and we take care of Shagon first.” Hay Lin urged though nobody could move fast enough to stop the low level attack of green energy Shagon shot at Cornelia stunning her long enough for Shagon to reappear next to Sunset then disappear with her.

“RAAARRRGGGHHHHHHHH!!!” Cornelia shrieked as she was doubled over from the blast as she pounded her fist into the ground at how the fake escaped with Shagon again and they didn’t have any answers. The others all had crushed expressions but went to hug and comfort their friend as they needed the comforting touch of each other as well.

---

Sunset stumbled as the two reappeared on the same roof at the last time this happened. She couldn’t help feeling a little shocked at what happened as she really didn’t expect Cornelia to so easily get the drop on her. It was even more surprising that it was actually a little difficult to break the vines. She was pretty sure in the end she could have if it came to it, yet Shagon had swept her away once again before she had to face the girls.

“Will you please answer me something before you go this time?” Sunset asked as she looked sad into the golden faceplate of Shagon.

“I was ordered to protect you by my Mistress, not answer your questions.” Shagon said though he didn’t just vanish.

“Do you actually like me, Matt? Or am I just an assignment to you?” Sunset asked, hating the fact that she actually cared so deeply about the answer. So what if she was just an assignment to him? It wasn’t like they were a thing.

“So you know?” Shagon asked, amusement clear in his voice. “Well, that makes thing easier. The only reason I am giving you the time of day is because my Mistress ordered me. As soon as she rescinds the order I will be coming after you just like the other guardians.”

“So the mall was just a lie?” Sunset asked looking down and refused to look at the creature before her.

“What do you think?” Shagon laughed before disappearing in a flash of light leaving Sunset to drop to her knees in a quiet sob. She hated herself for feeling so weak and hurt over what Shagon had said yet there was a small part of her that was denying what he said.

---

Hay Lin was passing out the plates she brought down from the kitchen with their meals as the girls sat around the table in the basement in pretty much total silence. She could see the tension between Taranee and Cornelia even though the former knows Cornelia would never feel that way to her and the second apologizing a thousand times as they walked back to the Silver Dragon after their powers left.

They were surprised that their so called batteries they used to transform was completely full despite Taranee’s being empty earlier and Irma’s close to empty. Somehow they not only transformed, their batteries were topped off taking the need to visit Kandrakar soon away. Not that it bothered Hay Lin, she didn’t like the way the one guy kept looking at her as it creeped her out.

“So, anyone going to talk about the elephant in the room?” Irma finally croaked out.

“Which one?” Taranee whispered as she pushed around a piece of chicken with her chop sticks.

“Actually, I have something I want to tell you girls.” Hay Lin sighed deciding that she needed to tell them as she couldn’t write the dream off anymore as just a simple dream. “I thought it was a dream, but I’m starting to think it was a vision.”

“About Nerissa?” Cornelia asked as she looked up from her food.

“Partly, I was in class trying to finish my homework and the teacher introduced a new student.” Hay Lin said, “I didn’t say anything and thought it was just a dream and I didn’t want to drag up old wounds.”

“Who was it?” Irma asked and for some reason Hay Lin was sure by the look on the girl’s face she already suspected.

“It was Will, but nobody recognized her. And she said her name was Sunset Shimmer.” Hay Lin said getting several shocked gasps.

“As in the Sunset from the mall?” Cornelia asked in shock.

“What does she have to do with Will?” Irma asked.

“I’m not sure, but there is something else. When I looked back to the teacher it was Nerissa.” Hay Lin said getting mixed reactions from the girl.

“They are connected!” Cornelia huffed as she slammed a fist on the table.

“We don’t know that Corny!” Irma snapped though none of them was really too sure of that as the evidence seemed to point that way.

“What about Shagon, he confronted Nerissa’s cronies this time and you said he did last time too.” Taranee said.

“Did you get anything from her?” Hay Lin asked hopefully.

“Not much, I did feel a terrified scream for Hay Lin when I was nearly out of it and she was falling. It didn’t sound like Will, but it was somebody who was hard to read.” Taranee said.

“We need to keep an eye on this Sunset.” Cornelia growled.

“No, Irma and I need to keep an eye on her.” Hay Lin said, “Cornelia, there is no way you can even get close to her. And Taranee, you need to keep an eye on Cornelia to make sure she doesn’t do something stupid again.”

“Hey!” Cornelia huffed out.

Hay Lin gave a sheepish smile as Taranee gave a small nod letting her know that the girl caught on to her plan. She was just happy that Taranee didn’t refuse as Hay Lin was hoping that if the two spent time together it might help fix the damage between the two that Cornelia’s rant had caused.

Author's Note:

This has got to be the hardest chapter I've done so far and almost made it a day later than I planned. Battles and fighting has got to be the biggest pain the butt to write out and make it even sound half way decent.

Comments

[TacoTues4Eva]

11491550
Lol, mine is pretty much the same. I love MLP music as well as so many others from cartoons, tv shows and movies. I also don't really have a favorite genre though my absolute favorite songs would probably change everytime I'm asked. Such as I've really been enjoying Pirate Party lately since I recently came across it. I don't like some of the other songs by them very much though. For some reason I usually like one or two songs per artist.

I do actually like some dubstep if that is what it is called like the Living Toaster's Nightmare Night and Vinyl's stuff. As for rap, I really don't like 95% of it but I have found a few gems that I like that isn't nasty or anything. Sadly I only speak English though there are some songs I love such as Gangam Style and Japanese songs that are mostly from anime. I do have to say if I went through that though I might just hate those songs just as much. I can see Pinkie being a traitor to good music being funny.

This is going to be hard though the top two spots are pretty much permanent fixtures on my MLP list though the two is pretty interchangeable with each other as they pretty much tie for me.

1 Past is Not Today
2 Dance Magic
3 Welcome to the Show
4 Acadeca
5 MLP Extended Theme

I agree completely as I see both being very similar, and I do agree Cornelia is understandable but not very likable in my opinion either though I actually do like Rarity.

Personality wise I would say:
Cornelia - Rarity
Pinkie Pie - Hay Lin (I see them being a little similar)
Irma - Rainbow Dash (not too sure about it)
Taranee - Well, I would actually want to say Sci-Twi but not really sure on this one either.

If they had their powers right now and was fighting but matching power for power I would say:
Irma - Rarity would be the closest one I can come up with and I'm seriously not sure about it
Taranee - Maybe Pinkie Pie as both can be explosive
Cornelia - Probably AJ, like you said they are both blonde but beyond that they both have connections to the Earth in different way though her strength against Cornelia's geomancy would be a good fit.
Hay Lin - Probably Rainbow Dash

I have several plans so you just helped me pick one since you pretty much write all the detailed comments and commented far more than anyone else. Would you be open on getting a message sometime tomorrow though describing what I was planning with Twilight and see what you think? The one thing is fine but the other might be a bit much for the story.

Yep, Blunk doesn't exist in the comics though I can't really remember the portal fang being in there either. I do agree with you on Blunk completely as I never liked him at first though he did grow on me. Still, he is lower on my list than Cornelia herself. He does cause a lot more trouble than he's helped and I think I remember someone saying the only reason they made him for the show was kind of a mascot character to provide comedy relief.

[TacoTues4Eva]

11491552
I'd love to hear about it when you think about it and have time as I loved the others. I'm glad you thought they made sense, I was trying to look a it through their eyes but I'm known to under or over react depending on the siuation.

[HarmonicPriest]

Sunset wanted to ignore the fireball that flew into the sky that everyone else around her seemed to not notice or ignored as they went about their business. It was something that she herself wanted to ignore though there was something hat wouldn’t let her so instead she headed off toward where she saw it come from while grumbling about missing the bus.

Finding several abandoned buildings with boarded up windows and doors with signs warning to stay away as they were scheduled for demolishing Sunset found who she was searching for in an already half cleared lot with a few construction machines and large dumpsters filled with debris sitting around. She had seen a large sign saying that the are was going to be made into a new apartment complex as she tried to stay out of sight. Finding a hole in a wall that would keep her bags out of site and hopefully out of danger she slid them in there.

Irma herself was back against a half demolished wall as ice was slowly creeping across her body as her guardian form protected her from the extreme cold it had to have been causing. That or these two weren’t that strong with magic or was pulling their punches. Something wasn’t adding up the longer Sunset watched the fight, wondering if she really needed to intervene before Tridart caught Hay Lin by her neck and squeezed tightly making him struggle against his hold as he laughed while still using his other hand to keep working on Freezing Irma over.

Hay Lin was passing out the plates she brought down from the kitchen with their meals as the girls sat around the table in the basement in pretty much total silence. She could see the tension between Taranee and Cornelia even though the former knows Cornelia would never feel hat way to her and the second apologizing a thousand times as they walked back to the Silver Dragon after their powers left.

Some little hats manage to sneak into text.

That is strange that no one reacts to a big explosion, not even calling the fire brigade?
That left bag will probably bite Sunset later.

Well fight has gone ,,, pretty well, Sunset didn't pull any big and new techniques but that is expected from not planned encounter and lack of combat training.

Also almost lethal collaboration attack from girls, nice. Not without reason knowledge is power for spellcasters, even with rudimentary physics knowledge one can pull powerful attacks with minimal cost of power. From the top of my head telekinetic instead of trying to snap the target's neck which requires energy to not only bypass innate resistance but also needs enough energy to fight against muscles and the bone could use a truly minuscule amount ... and split atom atop the target. Cost close to zero, required control ... I must admit big to immense but destruction and satisfaction from breaking the geneva convention with but a thought: priceless.

Luna's Dammit Cornelia, you don't turn your back to an opponent in the middle of the fight to demand answers, that kills either you or your teammate, someone needs to be cripled for that lesson to stick?!

Also, elementals don't attack seriously? That is ... not strange but requires certain agenda. Agenda, that wants guardians to live in fear of Nerissa attacks and probably seek help against perceived threats... after using up their batteries in the only place that can give it. That would suggest the secret "Elemental Lord/Lady" is at least affiliated with the Council of Kandrakar if not one of the members. Doesn't help that girls seem to instantly forget that Shagon was fighting against elementals, their natural investigative ineptitude... or compulsion?

Also, Hay Lin qualified as Cryptic Oracle by giving her vision ... and forgetting to mention important fragments. Like for example Sunset calling herself Unicorn or Student of and I quote "Princess of Equestria who many idiots liked to call Goddess of the Sun".
I know it's probably stereotyping but Hay Lin doesn't need a deeper connection to her ancestral land to know that any affiliations with the words "God/Goddess" and "Sun" are maybe ... just a little ... itty bitty ... IMPORTANT?! (Shame that there is no emotes for Royal Canterlot Voice)
Even ignoring that bit of information, the first one about Equestria is even more important ... Now I think that Cedric's success with Clark's infiltration wasn't thanks to his skills or rolling critical success on his luck roll, but rather that his opponents treat wisdom as dump stat on their character's stats and in addition constantly roll critical failures on perception.
And that is me saying it politely using RPG comparison.

Damm, if Elyon was infected with that kind of perception that would explain a lot ... wait ... considering that no one reacted to that fireball maybe it's either some perception damaging ward on the city ... or one of the dangerous magical artifacts that Starswirl was a big fan of dumping through the portal on Earth is causing this ... or maybe its something mundane: some big corpo dumps waste to the local source of water and most of the city is brain damaged ... yes that's probably it.

Also, Shagon antagonizes Sunset!Will ... are you sure he won't die before his redemption? Because the odds are more and more set on him being a future victim of feminine fury ... and righteous anger won't feed him to even power levels ... or heal his wounds ...

[HarmonicPriest]

11491608

Sure I can answer messages. but I don't promise the answer to be right away since I don't exactly have constant internet access.
I hope an hour or a couple of hours of delay is not an issue.

Pirate Party was a nice one.

Actually, your matchups sound quite nice if there would be a fight one vs one. The problem is that both teams truly shine when in a group encounter or at least pairs.
Here maybe I am a little biased but I think that even with a sheer power advantage that w.i.t.c.h holds, Rainbooms would win.

1. W.I.T.C.H. are purely technique/distance fighters without designated roles except for Teranne = Team Scientist, meanwhile Rainbooms have diverse roles in the team that cover many weaknesses in and out of the fight.
2. In my opinion Rainbooms have greater unit coherency and are capable of working independently from each other, while W.I.T.C.H needs clear leadership.

That is of course my rather biased comparisson , there is of course possible comparison Mane 6 vs Rainbooms or Mane 6 vs W.I.T.C.H but as far as I can tell on home turf it would be masacre in both cases. Hard to say beyond that.

[TacoTues4Eva]

11491640
Thank you very much, I fixed them I thought I fixed them all as I have been trying to read and fix after writing but I always miss a bunch of stuff till.

I never understood why it never happens in some anime and cartoons, maybe it's just some multiversal don't look this way thing lol. I should at least mention some of the stuff like complaints or maybe the people just don't care enough to get involved fearing that whatever is going on could make their day bad if they got involved.

I actually do have plans for something in a battle soon where she does reveal something that may be shocking to the girls. I'm glad it went well, it took forever to write this one and I almost didn't finish it tonight. My head is pounding from it, but it was worth it I think. Sunset really does need more magical combat training as most of hers came from being a pony and a few unplanned things in the first two specials.

Thanks, I want to think I've seen it before though in the cartoon or comics so I can't really take credit for it. Then again, it might have been a collab of Irma and Hay Lin making an ice blast or something. Though attacks like that would require a lot less power like you said to enhance the strength and have some fun playing demolition expert. Control, like you pointed out is something else and I agree it would take immense control to do something like that. Maybe they could use the excuse that they didn't know what the geneva convention way when they mess up and make a magic nuke.

Very true, Cornelia so isn't even near the top of her game right now and it might happen at some point in some show. For some reason I really want to see that happen in a show, maybe not crippled but hurt to drive the point home.

Yay, you saw that. I was worried somebody would think that I forgot that they weren't under Nerissa's powers anymore and caught where I pointed out they didn't seem to be using full power in their attacks. You have so much of that getting possibly somewhat close. I'd blame it on their investigative ineptitude lol Nancy Drew they are not.

For this one I'll take full blame as the last scene my head was killing me and I was getting really tired. I will be fixing it in the next part before this chapter closes out so thank you so much for pointing it out. I had a little bit more planned to draw the scene out more but I wasn't thinking straight on it. Though she really is kind of qualified for it. I do agree with you as even in the cartoon there was times it seemed they ignored the wisdom stats completely and took points from it to add to other things.

So many choice here, I really like them all but maybe the most favorite one is the last and most mundane. Maybe we should add Captain Planet to the mix and clean up the environment there.

I couldn't help having Shagon to do that to show even more he is a separate personality from Matt. Also, I wanted a little confusion on Sunset's part for the last part of the chapter. Don't worry, he will survive though he might have a higher pitched voice for a time.

[TacoTues4Eva]

11491660
Thanks and it isn't an issue as it will be several days at the least until I get to the point of being able to use it. Sorry, I'm extremely sleepy so I will be going to bed in a few minutes but I forgot to reply to the missing bag thing. I have a few different ideas for it with the first Sunset making her way back to get it after she gets down off the roof. Another would be the girls finding it and trying to figure out who it belongs to or one of them noticing the boots and remembering seeing boots stick out of Sunset's bag at the mall since they were clearance ones and didn't have a box. And lastly maybe have Shagon having be influenced by Matt enough to go back and dump them on Sunset's bed before she gets home.

I think every few days another song on YOutube grabs my interest lol.

Thanks, I tried to figure out he best ones though some were a little more difficult lol. And I do think the Rainbooms would actually win too. Both of your points make a lot of sense and I do agree with you on them both. Plus, the Rainbooms can summon a giant alicorn...if only they could replicate that feat.

It would be hard to say in some cases, I guess it would be a massacre on home turf but I maintain that if they could replicate the alicorn in the sky W.i.t.c.h. would be in trouble lol.

[Sunny Scriber]

Hm... Seems Sunset and Matt are going to have a "talk" sometime soon.. Wonder who will get to her first, Matt or the i.t.c.h. girls

[TacoTues4Eva]

11491886
Yep, though not sure who will be initiating it though I have a feeling there will be a little high pitched talking going on.