> Tales of the Equestria Girls
>  by SirScribe
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Twilight and Sunset get too immersed into history
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"And I have to wear a leash, why?" Spike asked.

Twilight answered with a sheepish look. "Well, the canines in this world have to wear them for the safety of themselves and other humans in the area," she said. "Those motorized carriages could really hurt you if you run out into the street without a harness."

Sunset coughed. "They're cars, Twilight," she corrected.

Spike chuckled. "The terminology for this world is very different. They look like carriages," Twilight mentioned.

"Well, the humans here did have carriages, but the technology and science that was left to imagination became reality so they called them cars. It's also for the sake of shortening the word," Sunset said.

Twilight began to mouth cars and carriages to make sense of the terms. Spike sighed as he looked at the leash in Sunset's hand. "Can I not wear it? It looks humiliating."

"Sorry Spike. You may be a dragon back in Equestria, but you're a dog here and even dogs have to respect the laws," Sunset said with a smirk on her face.

Spike gave an unamused look as he ran up to the air conditioner and jumped onto the window sill. He gestured outside to see a man giving his German Sheppard some room to conduct his business on the grass. Sunset grimaced as Twilight gasped. "That's so unsanitary! That cannot be right at all! Aren't there bathrooms for dogs here?"

Sunset nodded. "Yes, and it's called 'whatever-patch-of-grass-I-happen-to-see'. Dogs don't care, and that guy" Sunset made a gagging sound. "He never cleans up. The managers have a no pets policy because that guy doesn't do anything."

Sunset returned her gaze to the man and his dog as they walked away, leaving the brown mess for everyone to see. A red pickup truck drove by and Sunset waved at the driver. Twilight got a closer look to see it was Applejack, and in the bed of her truck was a box filled with Macintosh apples.

Applejack grabbed the box and disappeared into the apartment building. Before Twilight could ask, Sunset was already at the door counting the coins in her hand. Sunset sighed as she picked out the golden bits from actual dollar coins that were in mint. Twilight chuckled at Sunset's mix up.

Sunset opened the door and there was Applejack with the box. Inside was a six pack of fresh apple cider along with the apples. "Here ya go Sunset. Brand new batch from just this mornin'," she said.

"Thanks Applejack. You wanna come in for a little bit?" she asked as they traded the money for the crate.

"Ah wanna, but ah can't. Granny Smith needs some new tools fer the farm and Big Mac is off fer some reason," AJ said as she wiped the sweat from her brow. "'Sides, ain't today yer little--"

Sunset clamped a hand over Applejack's mouth. Twilight and Spike stood by with confused looks on their faces. The ruby-haired girl leaned close for a whisper. "I told you it isn't like that," she said.

Applejack smiled as she removed Sunset's hand from her mouth. "Ya know ah'm teasin', right?"

Sunset chuckled. "Y'all have fun and ah'll see ya on Monday."

"Alright, later AJ." The door closed. Sunset turned with the crate in her hands to meet Twilight and Spike's curious looks. "What?"

Spike was close to a snicker. "What isn't like that?" he asked.

Sunset chuckled as she put the crate in the kitchen. "Oh it's just a little joke between the girls about me. I think it has something to do with the fact I haven't had a date since I broke up with Flash,"  she said.

Twilight narrowed her eyes. Not the whole truth, but it's something, she thought. "How is that a joke?"

Sunset shrugged. "It doesn't even matter. Yeah I haven't been on a date in about two years but who cares? It's my choice about whether or not I should go out on dates."

Twilight laughed. "You sound like me back in Equestria. When I came back the first time, the girls pestered me for weeks about that new guard in the Crystal Empire. I know that feeling," she said.

Spike chuckled. "You know how long it took them to forget the whole thing? Twilight was about to use a memory spell on them."

"SPIKE!"

"I mean, yeah it was getting annoying that they were asking me, but you should've seen what our Rarity was about to do. She almost booked a dinner reservation for Twilight and Flash in Manehattan. Would've worked too if Fluttershy didn't freak out and drop the brochures in front of the library," he said.

Sunset was close to laughter while Twilight scolded the little puppy. "Coming from the dragon who continues to pine after a certain somepony who has gone about 2 years without even mentioning a date," she said.

The puppy-dragon shrugged. "You should've seen her on Hearts and Hooves Day. Why, Scootaloo grabbed ahold of the love poison and--"

"SPIKE!"

Spike ran off before Twilight could catch him. He ran into Sunset's bedroom and nudged the door closed. Twilight ran to the door, leaving Sunset in the living room laughing. "Spike, c'mon and open the door!"

Silence from the bedroom. "Spike, we're going to leave for the museum so c'mon. It'll be fun," Twilight said.

"'Fun' and 'Museum' usually never go together in the same sentence," he retorted.

He's got a point, Sunset said.

"Spike!" Twilight called out. "Spike c'mon and get out here!"

"Look, I'm not feeling well and I doubt you'd want to hear me whining throughout the entire trip," he said. "Besides, you're more interested in learning about humans than I am."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Just come on out and we'll discuss it like we always do. Remember the Maretoma Museum in Canterlot? You weren't interested in that at all, but just a few minutes into the trip and you didn't want to leave."

"That was different!"

Sunset chucked. All of a sudden, her phone started ringing. "Hey Rarity."

A loud bang erupted from the bedroom door. Twilight ran to open the door to help Spike. "What do you mean you can't? You sounded so sure in class today."

Twilight came back rubbing Spike's head. The dragon-turned-puppy whimpered softly as he accepting Twilight's help. "No, no, it won't be a problem...well I could look into it since I'm heading over there now with Twilight and Spike...no it isn't like that!"

Spike chuckled. "Oh, and Spike says hi...okay Rare, if you say so. See ya later." Sunset hung up. "Sorry about that. Are you okay?"

Spike nodded. "Just hit my head on the door. I'll be fine."

Sunset inspected Spike up close. "That was a really loud bang. Can you see very well? Do you feel dizzy?"

It took Spike a moment. "Uhh, yeah a little bit."

Sunset nodded. "Okay. I think Fluttershy would pummel me if I took you with us in your condition. If you're unsure about going, I can ask if Fluttershy can look after you. If you guys are going to be here for the weekend, then there shouldn't be a problem."

Spike sighed. "I guess, if that's alright with you girls. Sorry about that."

Sunset smiled and pet Spike's head.



An hour and a half later (and a call to Domino's), Sunset and Twilight left Spike and Fluttershy at the apartment. The two were cruising through downtown while listening to Vinyl's newest track on her Canterlot High radio show.

Sunset had no choice but laugh as Twilight continued to wonder how Vinyl was inside the tiny black box. After explaining how Vinyl was broadcasting from the school, the fun in seeing Twilight confused had ended.

And in other news, another magical threat had been subdued. King K. was apprehended last night after tangling with our magical protectors in a daring effort to keep the April Fools Day Parade from crumbling. City officials have little to go on, however King K., alter alias Free Shipping from the Equis Postal Service, had disappeared according to Missing Persons two weeks ago. We will stay on this story. Vinyl?

A yawn from the DJ erupted from the radio. Anyhoo, happy Friday little Wondercolts! This weekend there some radical parties going on, one hosted by yours truly! Head on over to the Cloudsdale Center Park for an awesome night of fun and awesome music!

The other host cautiously agreed. Thank you Vinyl. The co-host cleared her throat. The Ponyville Museum of Natural History is hosting a special two-for-one event the whole weekend. Come join me as we are introduced to America: Rising Against the World Empire. See spectacular artifacts dating back to the War of 1775 all the way to its involvement against the Third Reich in 1941. Admission is $15 per person.

Twilight smiled. "That's what we're going to, right?"

Sunset nodded. "I've read a bit ahead so I'll give you some insight once we get there."

A few minutes later, the two arrived to the museum to find the entrance packed. The two Equestrians shrugged and continued on with very little to keep them at bay.

As the tours went on, it became a learning experience for both Twilight and Sunset as they walked through the history of the country beyond Equis' borders. Twilight lagged behind the tour group to catch one painting that she found interesting: Washington Crossing the Delaware. Sunset stopped and attempted to pull Twilight along.

"Wait, who is that?" Twilight asked.

"That" Sunset responded "is George Washington, the first-"

"King? Emperor? Dictator?" Twilight interjected.

Sunset laughed. "President. He was a general during the American Revolutionary War. Never told a lie, legend has it. He became our first president at a time when the country was just getting its feet. He was elected president by his peers and served 8 years with his country. If it wasn't for his work during the war, the mainland would still be under English control."

Twilight eyed the painting again. "A general? Wow."

Sunset smiled. "The war was between the mainland colonies and the British Empire under King George III. He instilled heavy taxes on the colonists to pay for a past war and forced many horrible laws upon them."

"Tha-that's terrible. A true ruler would never instill such grievances on their own population like that! What did he do anyway? Burn crops? Instilled a harsh winter during harvest? Make them eat meat?"

"Well, no. Remember that humans don't have control over the weather like in Equestria," Sunset advised. "King George put taxes on paper and tea as well as completely close down ports. He put soldiers in the homes of his people to spy on them and everything. It was all because he had to pay for a war he couldn't pay on his own."

Twilight looked up at the painting. "One day, the people had enough and some demanded revolution. Great names like Thomas Jefferson, James Addams, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock came together and planned probably the greatest fu--"

"Excuse me?"

Sunset and Twilight looked up to see the tour guide stopped in front of her. "If you wouldn't mind, there are children here, and the use of foul language while glossing over the history of the Patriots is prohibited," she said.

The ruby-haired girl chuckled. "Sorry."

The tour guide smiled as she turned to her group. "As I was saying, it all came to a rest in the year 1775 when..."

Sunset leaned in for a whisper. "They fight and nearly lose."

Twilight smiled as the continued with the tour group. As the eras changed, so did the tone of the tour. Twilight noticed that the tour guide spoke carefully about the Civil War of 1861, especially around the children. The information was transferred from the tour guide's mouth to Twilight's notebook as she continued to jot down her knowledge of human history.

Midway through the tour, the fun kicked off. As the group closed in on the bust of 1929, a woman with jet-black hair passed by them with a very familiar talisman around her neck. As the woman approached one of the photos of the Empire State Building in New York, Sunset got a ping of magical energy in the room. The woman made a move to the photo and placed a hand on it.

Sunset, unfortunately, reacted too late. The woman pressed her hand on the photo, and Sunset felt the sensation of falling. The museum suddenly disappeared as the whole tour group began falling hundreds of stories from the top of the famous New York landmark.

As the girls fell, the screams of the men, women and children immediately filled their hearts. The woman in black was also falling, but she had the photo still in her contact as she did. She wasn't screaming like the others.

Twilight analyzed the situation she was in. The human opened a window in time by using a piece of frozen time--the photo---recreating the moment. She figured out the spell that was used and immediately reached into Sunset's jacket.

The ruby-haired girl screeched as Twilight's hand groped for the device she studied briefly. The device human Twilight created was used mainly by Sunset to capture magic from humans using it for harm or personal gain. With an understanding look from her friend, Twilight opened the device and the magic the dark-haired woman had was slowly being drained from her body.

Sunset looked down to see the asphalt getting closer. Bracing for impact, Sunset squeezed her eyes shut and prayed to Luna it was just a dream.

Well, if it was a dream, it would be worse.

Finally, Sunset made impact, but she wasn't dead. She opened her eyes to see her former lab partner on top of her in a dazed state. She pushed him off of her to inspect the damage. Twilight was standing over the dark-haired woman as she struggled to get to her feet. "Twilight, what was that?"

Twilight tossed the device to her friend. "The Gray Window Spell, created in the year 155 by Princess Celestia, creates a sort of bubble of time energy that allows the caster the ability to travel through time. The spell only works if there is a physical artifact to be used as a beacon, like an old hat or a photograph," she said as she brushed her now wind-blown hair back. "It's very interesting how it works."

Sunset inspected the device. "A-and the magic?"

"Safely locked away. The talisman will be going back with me since it continues to generate magic. It's best that its off the streets before something happens like this again." Twilight safely took the necklace off of the woman. "This is unusual. Apart from the spell, I don't recognize this magic."

Sunset stole a look at the talisman. The pedant was circular in shape with a light green color. A giant  8-pointed star floated above the center of the pendant. Twilight pocketed the necklace before returning to the rest of the group. While she checked on the humans who were unfortunate enough to be caught in the magical whirlwind, Sunset scanned the area around her.

Aside from the humans who had their cellphones out, there was nothing out of the ordinary. The girl wasn't even a part of the group. As her eyes scanned the room, her eyes set on one human who had their back turned to her. The human was on their cellphone, and what caught her attention was the fact that the human had no interest in what was going on.

Sunset was about to confront the human when Twilight stepped in her field of view. "Are you okay?" she asked with concern in her voice.

The ruby-haired girl nodded. "A little shaken up but I'm alright." She paused. "That was some serious quick thinking there."

Twilight smiled. "When it comes to preventing the end of Equestria, one tends to hone in on various survival skills," she said. "Gotta be ready for anything."

Sunset flashed a grin. "Whether its friendship or war, you seem to be the master. You've got to be kidding me."

The lavender princess cracked a smile. "Well, war is something I'd not like to be a master of. I almost started a war with Yakyakistan," she said.

Sunny laughed. "Welcome to the club. Let me tell you: yaks don't like to be milked."

The girls shared in their laughter as everyone got back on their feet. Dusting themselves off, the group resumed their tour. As they neared the end of the hallway, Sunset's eyes found the human ignoring them now giving her his full attention. The man spoke into his phone as he walked away, giving Sunset one clear thought:

Someone is interested in us.




"...and then it stopped. Two cities were decimated and ended the war for the Americans," Twilight recited proudly to Spike and Fluttershy.

Spike whistled. "Humans have that power to split atoms? Geez Twilight, looks like you got some competition," he remarked.

Fluttershy sighed. "I really wish they didn't do that. I would've just talked to them instead," she whispered. "Those poor people."

A noise from the kitchen startled the girls. "Flutters, are you sure you can't stay?"

"Oh I'm positive. Someone has to lull the animals at shelter to sleep for the night, and Flash really isn't a model animal helper," she said. "He says 'hi' by the way."

Spike chuckled, earning a glare from Twilight. Sunset walked out of the kitchen with a Tupperware container with food. "Well, at least take this for dinner tonight. It's the least I could do since I asked you to watch Spike."

Fluttershy accepted the container. "Oh, and by the way, I fixed your KD."

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "My-my what?"

"You know. That KD thing in your game. I fixed it," she said.

Sunset ran to her living room TV and turned on her Xbox One. With a few clicks, she was staring at her Kill/Death ratio in Call of Duty. The numbers were higher than any she had gotten before, even to the point where she was given several clan invites. She turned to Fluttershy, whom was busy brushing Spike's head.

Sunset and Twilight exchanged looks before staring back onto her screen. "Yo-you got a 4.00 K/D across the board in 5 matches and top kills?? Ho-how di-did you do that?!"

Fluttershy shrugged. "Rainbow teaches me how to play, but I'm never that good at it."

Sunset facepalmed. "I-I uh, oh wow. Yeah Rainbow plays, but you do too? That's incredible!"

Twilight looked over Sunset's shoulder to eye the screen. "What is that?"

"It's just a game I play when I get bored sometimes. It's a first person shooter game that "mimics" warfare on a simple level. It's pretty fun if you like being yelled at by kids and being accused of being a fake gamer."

Twilight nodded slowly. Fluttershy cleared her throat and slowly got to her feet. "Well, I gotta get going. I'll see you on Monday Sunset," she said.

The ruby-haired girl only nodded. "Right, and I'll get that paper sent to you by tonight. Are you sure you're good?"

Fluttershy smiled. "Our project on animal breeding rituals may be unorthodox, but it could be worse."

Twilight's face immediately burned a bright shade of red. "I mean, humans have it pretty simple since all they have to do is..."

"Okay, I think that's enough with that," shouted a near-flustered Twilight. "While I'm sure the paper is a fascinating read, I've already had the Talk ever since I moved up in Celestia's School and I don't want to relive that moment at all."

Fluttershy turned red. "O-oh ri-right I uh, that's right I forgot that yo-your also a pony." She chuckled nervously. She grabbed the contained and made a bee-line to the door. "Bye girls!"

The door slammed shut as Fluttershy booked it for her car. Twilight and Spike slowly turned to an embarrassed Sunset turning off her game. She chuckled nervously before gaining the courage to speak. "You guys hungry?"
> Kickboxing is different from reading
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"So tell me again because I must've misheard you. What happened during your little date?" Rarity asked.

"I swear on the stars in Luna's mane that I'll get you for that," Sunset remarked. She opened her locker door to replace her magic journal with her Algebra textbook. "Anyway, a girl walked into the museum ahead of our tour and touched a picture of the Empire State Building, and all of a sudden, we were plummeting almost 90,000 feet in the air."

Human Twilight adjusted her glasses as she replaced her books. "But that's impossible. How could you teleport from Equis, which is obviously on the opposite side of the country, to the Empire State Building and not make the news?"

Sunset smiled. "Welll, back in Equestria there are some logical explanations to that. Twilight said it was a spell the girl used to travel through time to the exact time the picture was taken," she said.

The cord in human Twilight's mind snapped. "Ti-time travel? I'm sorry, but that impossible, even in a world comprised of magic. Are you saying your species has the ability to travel backwards and forwards through time?"

"Technically only one of our kind was able to successfully create a spell to travel through time for a brief period, but yeah. There isn't a spell to travel forward in time though," Sunset said. "Although, Twilight did say something about..."

Rarity raised her hand to silence Sunset. "Anyhoo, let's get back to it. You traveled through time because of a girl?"

Sunset nodded. "You'd be surprised how much that happens," Sunset muttered. "Anyway, we gotta get to work here. Is Dash still sick?"

Twilight chuckled. "If you count training to beat Applejack in kickboxing as a symptom of illness, then yes," she said.

"So she lied?"

Twilight turned to see Mrs. Harshwhinny standing behind her with a stack of tests in her hand. "I'd expect more from a junior, but then I'd be lying. Have Ms. Dash come to my office when she returns," she said.

Rarity took an interest at her boots. Mrs. Harshwhinny said nothing more as she walked off to her class. "Okay so Dash is going to be busy later. Rarity, do you think you could talk to the girl? She lives in White Tail City."

Rarity nodded. "Twilight, er, I need to ask. How good are you at CCTV hacking by any chance?"

"Sunset, I've never thought about trying it. Why?"

"Because the girl was last seen at the GameStop across the street before she entered the museum. I'm wondering if maybe you could get in and grab the video," Sunset said.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Spike, you've seen me work. Have I ever hacked anything in my life?"

From Twilight's backpack, Spike the dog sighed. "Can I talk about it now?"

"You're funny," Twilight remarked.

Spike chuckled. "As far as I know, you haven't tried hacking, but I'm positive you can do it," he said. "It's just like building an EM Frequency Tracker or whatever you call that thing."

"Trust me Spike, it's a whole lot different. I can give it a shot, but I doubt we can walk in and ask the guy behind the counter if we can borrow his security system to pull a single video file for us and not the police," Twilight said. "I'm going to need cover."

"Don't worry about it; I can take care of that little problem," Sunset said.

Sunset closed her locker door and turned to see Pinkie dragging herself through the hallways with bags under her eyes. Her hair was not as poofy as before as it had more frizz than...whatever Pinkie did to her hair on normal days. She pressed her back onto the lockers and slid to the ground. "I love a lot of things, but not Monday," she whined.

Rarity sighed as she met Pinkie's eye level. "Was it the nightmares again?"

Pinkie nodded. "They're getting worse. I swear its gotten to the point where even Maud covers her ears at night. I tried everything from teddy bears to bigger teddy bears and they still don't work."

"They work for me," Sunset muttered.

"I just don't feel well right now," Pinkie complained. She reached into her backpack for her emergency cupcake. "It's alright Pinkie, I'm sure we can figure something out. Twilight, anything on that Free Shipping guy?"

Twilight nodded. "He doesn't remember anything. My EM Frequency Tracker seems to be more useful now we know exactly how to use it."

Sunset smiled. "Anyway, you're good Rarity?"

"Of course darling," she said as she checked her pocket mirror. "Another magical disturbance since the Friendship Games doesn't surprise me at the least anymore. Have you told Twilight at least what was going on?"

"Not all of it. She knows something is up, so in the meantime, she will be just getting used to how this world works."





Twilight tapped the silver button on the black console in Sunset's living room. Spike, with a pad of paper and a pencil in his mouth, jotted down the console's reaction to the silver button being touched.

Twilight leaned in for a closer look. "The object seems to give a positive response to being activated. Green lights have flashed on the button, signaling its activation. The television screen must be active for the remainder of the operation to be fulfilled," she said.

Spike sighed as he spit out the pencil. "You know Sunset turned that thing on the other day with completely different results, right?"

The lavender princess nodded. "But this box responded to her touch without a problem. There doesn't appear to be a security system in place in case something were to happen to it, like me learning how to turn it on."

Spike rolled his eyes. "Ya know that radio think is still talking about some guy called King K., right?"

"Right Spike, and it all sounds like a human has gained the abilities to channel Equestrian magic without any problems. I sent that artifact to Princess Celestia and she hasn't gotten back to me yet," she said. "It gave off its own magical aura, which is strange in this world."

"Reminds me of the Alicorn Amulet," Spike said in disgust. "I hope it isn't that."

Twilight sighed. "Me too." The lavender princess returned her attention to the box in front of her. Spike smirked as he jumped onto Sunset's couch and found the remote control. He pressed the POWER button, igniting the television. Twilight jumped at the TV's sudden activation.

After experimenting with the controller in front of her, Twilight found what she was looking for: Netflix. "Finally got it!"

Spike smirked. Twilight was about to make her selection, but then the house phone began to ring. Twilight jumped, earning a chuckle from Spike. She inched toward the phone and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Twilight? It's me, Sunset."

"Sunset, hey! Uh, you just scared the horse feathers out of me," Twilight said.

Spike laughed. "Uh huh. Anyway, I'm calling because I'm not coming straight home after school today. The other Twilight and I are looking into that girl who had that amulet the other day. Won't be home til later," Sunset said.

Twilight nodded. "I talked to AJ, and she and Rainbow Dash are eager to meet up with you later this afternoon if you want. Do you remember where the farm is?"

"Yup, and I even have a map just in case," Twilight said as she looked at the hand-drawn map in her notebook.

"Excellent. Look, I have to go. Just, stay away from my computer, okay?"

Twilight chuckled, earning a nervous sound from Sunset. "Twilight?"

"Um, yeah no computer. No problem."

"Okay? Take it easy Twilight."

"You too," Twilight responded, but Sunset had already hung up. Twilight replaced the receiver where it belonged. "So Sunset isn't coming back right after school."

Spike nodded. "So what are we going to do?"

"We can go see Applejack later."

Spike agreed. Twilight pressed the green button on the control and sat back to enjoy the show she and Sunset were watching the other day.

Carry on my wayward soooonnn!





Twilight took a swing of the cider she grabbed from Sunset's refrigerator before giving Spike some. The combination of the cloudy skies and the humidity gave Twilight some trouble as she hiked the dirt road leading to Sweet Apple Acres. While there wasn't the typical tang in this world's apple cider, Twilight discovered it was a bit stronger than before.

A tang she later discovered was from Sunset's hard cider collection in the back of the fridge.

"So what does Applejack do here?" Spike asked.

Twilight gulped down the cider. "I think it's the same thing she does back in Equestria. I've seen Granny Smith handle CHS's lunch menu so I suspect they are a food distributor."

"Like most human farms?"

Twilight nodded. She spied the border to the farm ahead of her, but before she got close, she heard the worst thing in Creation.

A horse swearing at her.

Twilight and Spike turned around to see a brown stallion neighing at them. His chestnut eyes and flowing black mane would've been eye candy to many mares, but Twilight only looked at him in shock. "What did you call me?"

The horse shook his head as he neighed. "Um, Twilight?"

"Hang on a second, Spike." Twilight got into the stallion's face. "That was by far the most uncalled for insult in the history of Equestria. It doesn't matter if I'm just a pony, I will give you one or two things you can tell your friends! There are a lot of things you don't say to mares, especially calling them midget donkeys! How disrespectful!"

The stallion backed away slowly as he bowed his head. "Thank you for apologizing," Twilight said.

The horse 'said' nothing more and trotted off in silence. Twilight adjusted her blouse before crossing the border into Sweet Apple Acres. She finished off the cider and tossed it into a nearby trash bin. The farm in this universe was just the same as back in Equestria.

Except the space where the horses roamed.

As they walked, Spike commented on the many things that were the same in both worlds. Twilight kept a mental checklist of what was different and how to adjust to them. In the farm house garage was Applejack's truck shining bright red, almost like it was freshly washed.

Nearby, Big Mack was busy handling the bushels of apples he had collected in the orchards. Some other workers, most of them CHS students, also were lending some help as they followed Big Mac to and from the barn. "They got kids working here?"

Twilight nodded. "Remember that Sunset once worked for Rarity following her reformation. They're probably volunteers working for some extra cash or something," she said. "It's not a bad idea actually. Rarity told me that no one here has special talents like in Equestria, so they work simple jobs in the meantime. I can only imagine how hard it must be to get a job here."

Spike nodded. "I wonder how Sunset did."

"Knowing her back then, she probably started out the same but just for money."

Spike nodded in agreement. The duo rounded the garage to the sound of grunts and loud impacts. The grunts sounded like Rainbow Dash's, but something about them sounded like...

Twilight turned the corner to see Applejack and Rainbow Dash fighting in weird armor.

The princess of friendship gasped as Applejack blocked an attack from Rainbow Dash and countered with a jab to her ribs. The armor they were wearing consisted of head gear, chest pieces and shin guards. They wore gloves and red shoes, all of which appeared rubber. Rainbow gasped as the wind was knocked out of her, giving Applejack an opening.

Hunched over, Rainbow reacted too late as Applejack delivered a round-house kick to her head gear, knocking her to the ground. Rainbow rolled on the ground before coming to a rest with a victorious Applejack standing over here. "Ah win," Applejack said.

Rainbow growled before getting to her feet. The two embraced in a very sportsmanship hug. That's when Rainbow took notice to Twilight and Spike standing nearby. The two broke the hug and removed their helmets, revealing their soaked heads of hair. "Hey you two," Rainbow said.

Twilight waved in response. Applejack flashed a grin as she removed her gloves. "Sunset said y'all were comin' here to learn more about us, ain't that right?"

Twilight nodded as Spike jumped out of Twilight's bag. "You guys fight often?" he asked.

"What, this? We're just sparring," Rainbow commented.

"Why would you girls spar? Don't you have magic on your side?"

"Well, we do but that Free Shipping fella whooped our butts the first time we saw him," Applejack commented. "Ah'm just learning this stuff so it ain't happenin' again."

"Ditto," Rainbow said. "Besides, we're not seriously hurting each other."

"Speak fer yaself Dash. Yer jabs need work and yer too predictable," Applejack commented.

"Well since we're criticizing our performances: your punches feel like you're trying to kill me and your last kick almost knocked me out had I not had this head gear on me," Rainbow said. "And you smell funny."

Twilight facepalmed. "If you girls are busy, I can come back later and..."

"Nonsense Twi, yer already here and all. Ah'm sure we can come up with something," Applejack said. "Say, have ya been in a fight before?"

"Does ripping the countryside of Ponyville apart to stop a tyrant count?" she asked.

Rainbow's eyes widened. "How bad are we talking here?"

"Well, we used to have more mountains south of Ponyville, but they were destroyed," Twilight said sheepishly.

Applejack's jaw dropped. "Ya mentioned fightin' some guy last time you were her but wow! Alright, yer sparring against me."

Twilight immediately regretted sharing that information. "Uhh you know what, I think I left my notepad back in Sunset's apartment and I need that for...um stuff! Yeah that's right. I've got my checklist in there and I got a bunch of things I wanna try out and..."





Applejack smiled as Twilight stood opposite of her in red rubber armor. Rainbow and Spike were sitting on barrels drinking some water and waiting for the show to start. "Remind me to never come back to the farm when its only you two," Twilight said.

"Aww, and where's the fun in that?" Rainbow commented.

Twilight learned of the gesture of telling something to go buck themselves, and if it wasn't for the gloves, she'd use it against Rainbow. "Alright, are ya ready?"

Twilight shook her head. "C'mon Twilight, we're just gonna be easy fer ya. Ah promise no one's gonna get hurt."

"HA!"

"Yer next Rainbow."

A smile crept on Twilight's face. "Ready?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Alright. Touch gloves."

The two tapped gloves. Spike rang a cow bell and started the match. Once Twilight got over the fear, she was ready for anything...for half a second. Before she could properly react, Applejack had thrown the first punch. The Princess of Friendship narrowly dodged Applejack's mean right hook, but not her rising knee. Twilight took the blunt force as it connected to her core.

Twilight fell to the ground gasping for the air that had been knocked out of her. Applejack lowered her guard as she kneeled down to the princess. She extended a helping hand, which prompted her up. A nod from the princess told her she was ready once again, launching jabs at Twilight's head. She slapped the jabs away, but remained too afraid to counter.

Rainbow yawned as the match progressed. For five minutes, Twilight had done nothing but dodge and weave while Applejack threw punches and kicks that didn't connect. "Does Twilight always do this?" Rainbow complained.

Spike nodded. "She doesn't like to fight, Dash. She'll only fight if she really needs to, and last time she fought like that was with Starlight during our constant time traveling," he said.

Rainbow chuckled as Twilight narrowly dodged a kick to the head. "Time travel. Can't seem to see it as real," she said.

"Oh it's real. Our friend Applejack went with the Doctor and traveled through time, and Twilight has certainly used Starswirl's Time Spell before," Spike said as he gulped some water from a dish. "But like I said, Twilight won't fight unless she has to."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow as she drank the cider.

Applejack cursed herself in her head. There was no way Twilight was going to counter anything, mainly out of fear. She even let her guard down on several occasions, but she simply egged her to keep going. Twilight liked playing defense.

Applejack had enough. She delivered a kick to the core, sending Twilight to her rump. The dust settled as Twilight wiped the sweat off her brow. "Alright Twi, ah think we need to talk," she said.

Twilight nodded as she slowly got to her feet. "I hear you Applejack." She slipped the gloves off. "I don't think this is working out for me."

"Ya haven't thrown a single punch!"

She flashed a sheepish grin. "Well, I really don't like fighting, especially with just my ho-hands and no magic. I guess with magic, I can guarantee my injuries can be healed but human medicine and science hasn't come close to actual cellular regeneration like most healing spells I know. I don't want to get into a fight and walk away with injuries that cannot heal automatically."

"Yer givin' excuses, but yer not givin' reasons," Applejack countered.

She sighed as she propped herself on a nearby tree. "When it comes to fighting, I've only really fought in three real battles: the Changeling attack at Canterlot, Tirek, and Starlight Glimmer in Cloudsdale."

"Uhh Twilight, you forgot Sombra's attack in Canterlot, remember?"

The Princess of Friendship paused for a moment. "Oh right. Anyway, I've never really had a reason to go one on one with someone in a while without magic. When I fought Tirek, we tore the plains of Equestria apart!"

Applejack nodded. "Well, ah'll tell ya this: ya may not like fightin', but y'all will need it when ya don't expect to. Ya never know when yer gonna have to defend yerself, especially in new worlds like ours," she said.

"You got that right! Canterlot City has seen a rise in crime actually, at least in the southern areas. Times like this are tough when you don't know how to fight."

Applejack nodded in agreement. "When peace ends, its time to learn how to fight," Applejack expressed.

Twilight agreed. Twilight's rational and irrational parts of her mind were soon finding common ground concerning fighting. She almost accepted the truth entirely when she remembered one thing Princess Celestia told her a long time ago.

The clever will win any war.

Twilight slipped the gloves back on. "Okay, I'm ready."

Rainbow did a double take. "Uhh, are you alright Twilight?" she asked.

Applejack nodded. "Ya never backed from a challenge before. Ah doubt ya will today."

The two tapped gloves as Spike rang the cow bell once again. The gears in Twilight's head started spinning as she threw her guard up once again, but Applejack sensed something different. Twilight had a plan.

Before Rainbow noticed her, Twilight did a quick scan of the area where they were sparring. Besides the wide open space they called the ring, there was also an apple tree with a tub full of red apples. Applejack also stacked some barrels along the shed where Rainbow Dash and Spike were sitting. There was also a pile of tires further off to the side, but she dismissed them.

As Applejack continued to push Twilight back, the Princess of Friendship continued to lead herself toward the barrels where Rainbow and Spike were sitting. Spike immediately got whatever Twilight was planning and jumped out of the way. Rainbow continued sipping and didn't notice Twilight and Applejack inching closer to her.

Finally, Applejack was ready for a change in tactics. She began throwing kicks toward Twilight, but that only aided her more as she inched closer.

Rainbow stopped drinking long enough to see what Twilight was doing. Before she could do anything, Applejack threw a high kick, prompting Twilight to make her move. She grabbed Applejack's leg and spun around so she was behind her. Applejack lost her balance and fell onto Rainbow Dash and into the barrels.

Applejack picked herself up and chuckled. "That there is dirty fightin'," she said.

"You never elaborated about rules," she said.

Applejack smirked. "Ya sound like Sunset when she hosts her game night at her place," she said.

Rainbow Dash picked herself up and dusted her skirt. "You cheat in Thems Fightin' Herds, by the way," she said to Applejack.

"Ah don't cheat, ya just suck at it."

"BAM! Element of Honesty!" Spike boomed.

Applejack chuckled. "Ah ain't done with ya yet. Round two!"

Twilight chuckled. The two opponents stepped back as Spike rang the bell. The two friends charged each other and a strong gust of wind blew through Sweet Apple Acres as the two connected.

The sound of Applejack's and Twilight's gloves connecting echoed throughout the farm.

Spoiler alert: Twilight won 2/3.
> Rarity digging for answers (and maybe lunch)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Why did I agree to this again?" Rarity mumbled as her stomach growled.

10 miles north of Canterlot City sat the university town of White Tail. While its size differed from most towns in Equis, it was the center of literature and housed some fantastic schools, including one Alstorm Academy (some people think of it as 'alicorn' instead). Headed by dean Clover, Alstom Academy was the beacon of learning that many strived for. Equis' Everton Learning program was centered in White Tail, making this the premier destination for Twilight Sparkle.

Today, however, White Tail played host to Rarity and the Rainboom's curiosity in the magical dilemma earlier that weekend. Rarity drove her purple Mercedes Benz through the town, ignoring the shops and cute boys who expressed curiosity in her car.

The urge to go out and talk to them grew as the journey progressed.

Finally arriving in the city's residential area, Rarity checked her phone. The address of the girl they were looking for was given to her by Sunset, who was currently working with the human Twilight in getting the surveillance video from the GameStop across the street from the Ponyville Museum. While they were working on the case of the magic talisman, Sunset was probably buying a new game for her Xbox One.

Turning the corner into a busy cul-de-sac, Rarity kept an eye out for the house. As she drove, she began thinking about Sunset's attitude the week before after learning that Twilight and Spike were visiting from Equestria.

I am not giddy Rarity! I'm just nervous because she has almost never visited for more than 3 days, Sunset had explained.

Darling, you know I joke, correct? If anything, we're all nervous because we all get the chance to show her what we usually do around here. I am in no way implying that you and Twilight are-

The past Sunset clamped her hand over past Rarity's mouth. Don't say it out loud! If Rainbow Dash hears us talking about... that topic, then we're never going to hear the end of it. No, I'M never going to hear the end of it.

Sunset, darling, we've told you that there won't be anything to worry about when it comes to us. You can trust us to support you no matter what, she had assured her friend.

It isn't out of fear; it's by how much you girls keep talking about it since the Battle of the Bands.

"We're all searching for answers," Rarity mumbled as her past self said the same. No matter what, that conversation was always going to stick. They hadn't even told Twilight about the King K. radio broadcast earlier that weekend, or the fact that since she left after the Friendship Games, they had been up to their pony ears in magical problems.

Rarity stopped her car. She had found the house she was looking for, and besides the Christmas lights still hooked onto the ceiling, the only thing odd was the blue van parked outside the driveway. Rarity parked her car on the opposite side of the road and lowered her window. The door to the house opened and a brunette woman was seen arguing with a dark haired woman.

"You cannot turn me away when I'm only trying to do my job!" one voice boomed. "Your daughter was caught smack dab in the middle of a crime scene."

"I've said it before so I'll say it again: until I see a lawyer, I'm not talking to anyone wearing a badge! Now get off my property!"

Rarity gasped as she reached for her phone. "Sunset, I've arrived at the house and the police are already here!"

It took a few minutes for Sunset to responded. "Yikes! Twilight is working on the vid. no police yet," she replied.

Rarity looked up to see the brunette woman was seen entering the van. Sunset did a double take because the woman's brown hair and orange-ish complexion didn't match, nor the fact her black blouse and skirt held no evidence of a badge. Rarity couldn't get a clear look at her eyes because of her black-framed glasses. The woman entered her van and quietly drove away.

The woman drove the van several blocks down the street before coming up to a red light entering the city. She pulled back her hair, revealing her red and orange hair underneath the brunette wig. Tossing her disguise into the back, she reached over and penciled in her notes. Day 15: unusual anomalies recorded in museum are connected to subject: Raven Nightshade of White Tail City. Witness is reluctant in revealing any information. Continuing the pursuit of subjects in question.

A horn jolted Ms. Shimmer out of her notes. The red light was green. With a sigh and a curse to her employer, the woman continued until she was safely far away enough to dispose of her vehicle.

Rarity finished her text to Sunset regarding the officer's departure. "we need the reason y she had the necklace thingy. Twilight will try to call u later," Sunset texted.

The fashionista smiled. During her visits to the human world prior to today, Twilight had no experience with the telephone or anything related to it. She sighed as she exited her car with her backpack with her.

Rarity knocked on the door, earning a rather rude "GO AWAY!"

"Um, hello? My name is Rarity and I'm not with the police. Might I speak to you regarding your daughter's activities last Friday?"

"You sound like a cop! I told your friend that we're not speaking to you until we get a lawyer!"

Rarity sighed. "Ma'am, please allow me to explain!"

Silence responded. Rarity was taken back by the lack of words being exchanged. Curious, Rarity pressed her ear to the door to hear an older woman arguing with a younger one. The arguing lasted for a minute before silence once again encased the homestead. The door jolted open, revealing a teenage girl with black curly hair. Her eyes lit up. "Yo-You really are Miss Rarity!"

Rarity chuckled. "Oh my, you know me?"

The girl nodded furiously. "Yes, I've been to your shop in Canterlot City. I absolutely love your fashion eyes and I make it a trip every season to buy your best works!"

Rarity's eyes widened. "Wait a minute, now I remember you! You're Raven! Oh my stars, no wonder this all sounded familiar! I'm so dreadfully sorry I didn't recognize you entirely."

Raven swatted it away. "Pish posh, I'm just so happy you're here! Please come in."

Rarity smiled as she was led inside the home, catching a glare from Raven's mother. She led the girls to the living room where three mugs of coffee sat undisturbed. Rarity sat opposite from Raven and her mother, both seemed nervous of what was coming. The mother simply stared at Rarity. Raven gave a silent apology to Rarity.

A moment passed before anyone spoke. "So, you're not a cop?"

Rarity shook her head. "I am familiar with what happened, unfortunately. I come from a group who specializes in these kind of incidents. Would you be familiar with Canterlot High's Battle of the Bands?"

Raven and her mother both shook their heads. Rarity sighed as she pulled out her phone. "Earlier this year, Canterlot High played host to a musical competition. In reality, it was a charity event..."

"Naturally,"

Rarity stopped. "Pardon?"

"I haven't heard about the Battle of the Bands, but that Friendship Games you have down there surely made the news. Weird light displays going around all over the place and children claiming that aliens are running around all over the place. I had intended in sending my daughter there, but after hearing about some incident at your school's Fall Formal, I decided against," the mom said.

"Mom!" Raven complained.

"I'm serious honey. While Canterlot High is gaining ground in the district as a top-academic and athletic public school, there are far too many weird things going on around there and I will not have you end up in the middle of it!"

Rarity cleared her throat as she chuckled. "With all due respect Ms. Nightshade, the only thing weird in Canterlot High is the breakfast menu. Yes, there have been some" she coughed. "incidents, but I can assure you that Canterlot High is a marvelous school. However, and I must be upfront, I found your comments rather rude."

Ms. Nightshade said nothing more. "Anyhoo, I'm not here to talk about my school. I do not believe you have been informed, Ms. Nightshade, that your daughter was caught up in the middle of a, how do I say this? Magical disturbance," Rarity said as she removed her backpack, revealing a Windows tablet. "Pardon me for a moment, but do you have a Wi-Fi password?"

Raven immediately blurted out the password against her mother's outburst. A few clicks on her tablet later, Rarity had her focus back on the two women in front of her. "Raven, you were in Canterlot City last Friday afternoon, were you not?"

Raven nodded. "What were you doing there, if I may ask?"

Raven's mother only glanced at her daughter thought for a moment. "I was with some friends of mine. Lyra and Bon Bon used to go to White Tail Elementary with me and we usually reserve a weekend to hang out and such," she said.

Rarity nodded as she continued on her tablet. "Excuse me, but you're not recording us, are you?"

The fashionista shook her head. "Normally I'd be home right now instead of following up on strange phenomenon, and since I do not make it a habit of being a detective, I don't usually record anything."

Ms. Nightshade smiled as she nodded. "Continue."

Rarity nodded. "If I understand correctly, Raven, you were not planning on going to the museum that day, were you?"

Raven shook her head. "What were you doing in Canterlot City that day?"

"Well...I was hanging with Lyra and Bon Bon like usual when we passed this GameStop. I told them I'd be a minute and went inside to check on a game I pre-ordered. The last thing I remember was being in front of the cashier before I found myself in the museum," she said as she twisted her bangs.

Rarity nodded. "What game, darling?"

"Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. My cousin's birthday is coming up and he is a fan of the series."

Rarity nodded. "I have a friend who is just as much of a fan."

Ms. Nightshade raised a finger. "Why are you asking this?"

Rarity said nothing but turned her tablet to the two. At some point, Sunset and the human Twilight broke into GameStop and managed to retrieve the footage from that day. Rarity played a clip that showed Raven standing in GameStop with Lyra and Bon Bon in the store. It showed Raven browsing through different games in the Xbox One section.

Raven chuckled. "Might I ask again: what were you doing in Canterlot City that day?"

Ms. Nightshade eyed her daughter. Raven sighed. "Okay, I haven't pre-ordered the game yet. I was checking to see what new games were available at the time and Lyra suggested I get GTA V because it was newly released and she wanted to play with someone. I kept telling myself that I was going to pre-order the game, but I always get side-tracked."

Rarity nodded. "And the cashier?"

"I was buying the game when some guy tried to sell me something," she said.

"The cashier?" Raven's mom asked.

Raven shook her head. "No, there was another guy there and he tried to sell me something."

Rarity checked her tablet once again. Sure enough, a man in a dark colored coat walked up to the cashier next her and, judging by his body language, he was in a hurry. He was seen looking around for someone when his sights set on Raven. The two began a small conversation while the cashier looked for the store copy of the game Raven was looking to buy.

As the tape went on, the man started to assume control of whatever they were talking about. He began moving closer toward Raven with a jewelry box sticking out of a coat pocket. Rarity was stunned as well as the Nightshades.

Raven shook her head. "It's weird, but I can't remember his face," she said.

Rarity waved it off. "If anything wearing a button-up coat like that in April is rather ridiculous to begin with. That coat is clearly last seasons official lineup of coats with far too many personal modifications to begin with. I must say, its a crime altogether to even be wearing that in that sense," she said.

"Rarity, focus," Raven said.

"Oh yes, the man in question. Have you ever seen this man before that day?"

Raven shook her head. "I don't remember. All I remember is trying to buy the game and that's it.

"Well, do you know who he is. Did he give you a name?"

Raven shook her head. Rarity continued the clip to see the man present Raven with the jewelry box. At first, Raven was hesitant about the box the man was giving her, and for a small amount of time, Lyra and Bon Bon were trying to get the man off Raven's case.

Eventually, the man opened the box and revealed a necklace to Raven. Immediately Lyra tried going for the necklace with her hand on her wallet while Bon Bon quietly slipped the wallet away. Raven, however remained defensive.

Raven sighed. "I-I can't remember his face, even with that," she said.

Rarity paused the video. "Anything darling? I mean, the coat itself is distinguishable but please help me out here."

Raven's mom pursed her lips. "Did he do anything to you? Give you anything like a pill or something so you wouldn't remember?" she asked. "Maybe it was a date rape drug or something?"

"Unfortunately it isn't. That particular drug just induces drowsiness," Rarity mumbled.

Raven's mom's eyes widened. "And you know that because..."

"Because there are gentlemen out there and there are ruffians. Being someone of social importance such as myself comes with those benefits and disadvantages. I've made it a priority to know what to watch out for," she huffed. She pressed play to resume the tape, but already saw what she needed.

The man dropped the necklace as Raven and her friends exited the store. All of a sudden, the man lunged for Raven and wrapped the necklace around her neck with enough force to almost snap her neck. As Raven searched for the tie to remove the necklace, the man reached behind himself with an odd piece of wood in his hands.

Raven pressed pause on the video. The wood in his hands resembled a puppet's controls that puppetmasters usually used in their performances. Rarity unpaused the video to see his magic at work. He wiggled the control around for a little bit, and while he did, Raven moved as well.

Gotcha, she thought. "Hypnosis."

Raven and her mom both eyed each other in confusion. "Excuse me?"

Rarity chuckled nervously. "Excuse me, but this is what I said: hypnosis. Your daughter didn't go to the museum on purpose; she went because this man wanted her to go."

The mom chuckled. "So are you going to tell me that magic is real and my daughter fell for it? Please, that doesn't seem likely. Magic isn't real."

Somewhere in Canterlot, Princess Twilight did a spiketake all over Rainbow while Applejack popped in a movie in her barn. Rarity cleared her throat before correcting her. "Ma'am, do forgive me for this, but you couldn't be more wrong. You see, a year ago, we..."

Raven's mom raised her hand to silence Rarity. "Ooh, you didn't just tell me I'm wrong in my own house. How dare you walk into my home and tell me I'm wrong about this and about my own daughter."

Rarity replaced her tablet. "Mrs. Nightshade, if you will allow me to explain."

"Okay, I want you to explain to me how my daughter was ambushed in a GameStop, coaxed into buying a necklace and wound up hypnotized into walking into a museum and supposedly causing chaos that would attract both crazy teenagers who thing magic is real and government officials from another country. Please, explain that to me!"

Rarity froze. Magic, even with the girls, was a touchy subject altogether since Sunset blamed herself for allowing it to roam around Equis without any guidance. "I-I can't rea--"

"Get out."

Raven jumped up. "What? Mom you can't just..."

"Get out of my house right now!" She turned to her daughter. "And when your father gets back, we're both going to have a talk about your trips to Canterlot."

Rarity sighed. "Pardon me miss, but you surely..."

"OUT!"

Rarity scrambled out of the front door. She ran to her car and drove off back to town.

After a few moments, Rarity managed to calm herself down. She reached for her phone and dialed Sunset. "Darling? Where are you?"

Meanwhile, back at Sunset's apartment, human Twilight was busy watching YouTube on Sunset's living room TV with a bored Sunset Shimmer sitting next to her. "We couldn't get the video in time, Rare. The manager came back as soon as we got to the back room. We were lucky to get out of there without them stopping us," she said.

Well hold on a moment. If you didn't send the video, then who...

"I dunno Rarity, but I think someone is helping us. Can't be Twilight since she doesn't know her way around a computer in this world," Sunset said as she reached for her Xbox controller to pause Twilight's video. "But you've seen it, right?"

Yes, and I must say: Raven was hypnotized.

Sunset bolted upright. "So she wasn't in control. Well, that's good news I guess."

Yes, but that means whoever gave her the necklace you were talking about knows about magic. Darling, it seems we are making a habit out of this," she said.

Sunset nodded. "If enough people knew what we were doing, they'd think we'd be superheroes or something, and I am no Masked Mater-horn," she said.

Twilight coughed next to her while suppressing a laugh. "Oh shut up," Sunset said. "Why not you try wearing tights and a mask."

Twilight smiled. "With all the rumors going around school, I think you would like that. Wait, is it me or the other me?"

Sunset flipped her off. On the other side of the phone, Rarity was chuckling. "Oh yeah, laugh it up Rare. Was there anything else?"

A moment passed. Oh yes. Before I was chased out, Raven's mother said something about the government from another country coming in to investigate as well.

"Uh oh," Sunset mumbled.

Uh oh? Sunset, I don't like it when you say uh oh. What is it?

"Back at the museum, there was a guy who was there and he was really paying attention to us. It was like he was interested in us, and not because we suddenly reappeared in a flash of light," Sunset said.

So you're saying...

"I think someone is investigating us. This time, I don't think they're in it to get into Everton Education Program."
> Sunset Shimmer hates painful wubs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	1900 hours, Everfree Park

Ever since her reputation improved since the Battle of the Bands, Sunset Shimmer found herself in the middle of many school gatherings and social events. The Rainbooms gained a wonderful DJ, a pony turned guitarist and a singer with the singing voice of an angel (Don't tell Sunset we said that). At some point, they even gained the human twin of that vocalist, which caused a bit of confusion for them.

Sunset had been invited to DJ-PON3's bi-monthly concert in Everfree Park just outside of town. Being both the definition of reformation and a bearer of Equestrian magic, Sunset kindly accepted and even brought Princess Twilight and Spike along for the ride. Of course, it was still Twilight's mission to learn more about human culture.

"-and then the fortified city fell! Its an incredible feat of tactical ingenuity and perfect modifications to pre-existing obstacles! If the Changelings attacked the same way these humans took this Constant-whatever that place is called, we would've actually lost!" Twilight exclaimed.

Sunset chuckled. Far from the actual concert, the three Equestrians, including Spike, sat near the punch bowl. Twilight, with a battered history book in her hands, pain no attention to the fact that Sunset brought the three of them drinks and Spike was on his third bowl of punch. "It's called Constantinople. You know, the city was the center of the Eastern Roman Empire and the beacon of religion until-"

Twilight ignored her as she resumed reading the book. Sunset sighed as she leaned back in the bench. "I can't believe you managed to get onto a college campus and actually bought the book. That money could've been used for, I don't know, maybe dinner."

Twilight waved her comment off. "I know about fast food so don't worry about that."

Spike laughed. "Forget it Sunset, once she gets into something, it'll take a miracle to get her out of it," he said.

"I know, because I'm the same way. Remember that I was Celestia's student first," she said.

Twilight looked up. "That reminds me, Princess Celestia said you should come though the portal at least for your birthday, which I hear is coming up," she said. "You are coming through, right?"

Sunset face palmed. It was a matter of time before that was brought up. "Well, I can't promise anything. I'm turning 17 in human years and Pinkie is dragging me somewhere for my birthday, and then Rarity is dragging me to this place called Catalina for the weekend after. I can squeeze time to come to Equestria, but no promises."

"I'm dragging you through if I have to," Twilight muttered as she scanned the Crusades.

Sunset grinned. "And if I decide to fight back?"

Twilight shut the book. "Oooohhh you actually did it. She's off her book."

The lavender princess only smiled. "If you're going to resist, then I guess I'm gonna have to play dirty."

"Is that a promise?" Sunset asked

Twilight smiled. "That's a Pinkie Promise."

Back in Equestria, Pinkie and Fluttershy were having lunch at Sugarcube Corner. In a blink of an eye, Pinkie suddenly dropped her cupcake, and using her hooves, flipped the table over in an unrealistic speed. "Somepony made a PINKIE PROMISE!!" she shouted.

On the floor, Fluttershy cowered with her blueberry cupcake splattered all over her face. "Pi-Pinkie? Plea-lease don't do that again."

Back in the human world, Spike laughed as Sunset and Twilight continued to dare each other into dragging Sunset through the portal. "Just remember, I know human martial arts."

"And I know Pinkie Pie," Twilight countered.

Sunset smiled. "Oh for the love of God will you two quit flirting already?!"

Sunset and Twilight both turned to see Rainbow Dash and Rarity walking toward them. Rarity then smacked Rainbow upside the head with an unamused look on her face. "Honestly Rainbow Dash, do you have to be like that?"

Rainbow shrugged. "I'm calling it like I see it," she said.

Sunset focused on her current situation. The play daring they were doing to each other got to the point where they were nearly face to face. Twilight didn't realize it right away, giving Sunset a chance to back away before she started putting the pieces together. "Uh, Rainbow! What in the name of the Sun are you talking about?"

Before she could say anything, Rarity stuffed a piece of bread into her mouth. "So sorry about that dears, but it would seem Rainbow has been lacking the filter between the mind and the mouth again," Rarity said.

Spike chuckled. Dash spit out the piece of bread and slipped off the backpack she had and tossed it at Sunset. "Your buddy dropped this off at my place and said you should pay him before leaving or something," she said.

Sunset looked inside. The old tablet that Sunset first bought when she came to the human world sat in its shining glory. She removed the tablet and inspected the entire body. "Oh wow, he really did a number on it."

Rainbow nodded. "Computer repair?"

Sunset nodded. She turned on the tablet and gave it to Twilight. "Twilight, I know how much you want to learn about human culture, so I'm giving this to you guys. In it are some blueprints for the original circuit board I found online as well as a charger when you guys head back to Equestria."

Spike's jaw dropped while Twilight's eyes widened. "Ar-are you sure?"

Sunset nodded. "While establishing an internet connection in Equestria may prove to be challenging, I think you will benefit from this thing regardless. I'll download several notes and video diagrams of some simple human inventions as well as a video/audio recorder and a few photos. Bear in mind that there are some things in here that I wrote when I was still...angry with Princess Celestia."

Rainbow laughed. "Well speak of the devil."

The girls turned to the crowd to see Principal Celestia dancing with some of her students, who didn't mind the woman who gave them detention earlier that week. The girls all suppressed their laughter while Twilight remained fixed on the technology in front of her. "Sunset, I don't know what to say about this. I-I mean I am curious about human culture, but I can't..."

"Don't sweat it. You can even disassemble it and reverse engineer it to learn the entire process of building this type of tech. Who knows, maybe you can come out with your own brand of electronics," Sunset said.

Rarity chuckled lightly. "Call it Twi-Tech."

As she said that, Sci-Twi walked beside them with a box under her arm. "Twi-Tech, huh? You know, that is actually a fantastic idea," she said.

Rarity smiled. "Copyright by Miss Rarity," she said.

Sci-Twi adjusted her glasses. "Anyway, I looked into the video that you were sent and I've come up with a conclusion as to how you got it in the first place."

The girls all leaned in, except Twilight. "Your tablet, in a single second of vulnerability, was hacked remotely by a third party system. I can't explain how they got in, but the hacker broke into your computer, uploaded the surveillance video and managed to mask their entrance, making it impossible for me to trace their IP!"

A confetti bomb went off on stage in the background. "Ooh, so that's where Pinkie went," Rainbow mumbled.

"But that doesn't explain how we still have the video. We tried so hard to break into their systems and..."

"No, YOU tried getting a discount on a headset while I tried breaking into GameStop's security, and I'm sorry to say that the most I can do is build things," Sci-Twi said.

"And make a mean peanut butter sandwich," Spike the dog said.

Sci-Twi shrugged. "Speaking of building, I made something the other day. It's a crude prototype, but if my calculations are correct, I can fire electromagnetic pulses to temporarily disrupt mechanical AND magical wavelengths since they follow a similar pattern!"

Sci-Twi removed the box to reveal a very crude ray gun with components of several cell phone smashed into each other. Out of everyone, Sunset expressed the most curiosity. "You got bored?"

"Well, no actually. Since I still had Mr. Turner's math homework to do, and the extra credit assignment from Mr. Wood due this week, I needed something to take my mind off for a little while. This is purely awesome in it's own way. Unfortunately I'm having trouble with the batteries. It seems that in order to make it work, I must have all five batteries fully charged before firing."

"You can't do anything about that?"

Sci-Twi chuckled. "I just need a way to rotate the batteries once one is used up. Five batteries, if fired at a power facility, can disable an entire city block with a direct blast."

Twilight finally looked up. "Excuse me, but you can actually track magical readings and counter them using an electromagnetic pulse?"

Sci-Twi nodded. "Don't worry, it's 100% Equestrian safe."

Twilight nodded slightly. "Besides, I need one more battery pack to finish it. Does anyone mind me bo--"

"YES!" they all shouted.

Both Spikes laughed. Twilight eyed the weapon. "And you built this on your own?"

Sci-Twi nodded. "Remind me to work with you on something before we return to Equestria."

Sci-Twi smiled. "Speaking of Equestria, Princess Celestia got back to me regarding that amulet that you found the other day."

"And?"

"Nothing. The runes on the back suggest its pre-Equestrian, but its impossible. The amulet radiates its own magical aura and has the ability to fully grant a human full use of magic without proper education."

Spike reached into Twilight's back and grabbed the necklace. Twilight picked it up and held it so everyone could see it. "There are many artifacts of great magical power in Equestria. An example would be the Alicorn Amulet, a tool that grants the wearer almost unlimited power to ponies, however there are darker side effects. A pony can go mad with power with the Alicorn Amulet and even find themselves playing host to the dark powers within."

Sunset raised her hand. "Hold on a second. I researched the Alicorn Amulet during my time in Canterlot and I've never been able to find it. Are you saying..."

"That I've been on the business end of the Alicorn Amulet and survived? That's about right. As it turns out, it was in a pawn shop in lower Canterlot."

Sunset face palmed. "Anyway, this necklace does the same thing, but there are no side effects like the Amulet. Its not a copy, but it's almost..."

The pendant glowed. "Impossible."





At the stage, Pinkie was entertaining the crowd while Vinyl lounged behind her DJ booth. Her introduction into the Rainbooms earlier that year gave her the ability to experiment with their songs. With a few changes to the base and tuning, Vinyl created the Electronic Equestrian genre.

Somewhere in Equestria, Vinyl Scratch bobbed her head in approval.

Vinyl was currently on her phone while Pinkie finished with a few jokes. She finished a level of Angry Birds before a shadow loomed over her. Vinyl sighed as she pocketed her phone. "Sorry man, but I don't do requests."

"Oh that's too bad," the older male voice said. "Because I have something I think you'd like."

Vinyl waved him off. "Look man, I've had people come up here and demand I play their own mixtapes, and to be perfectly honest, they all suck. I'm not playing anything you dish out."

The man chuckled. "Trust me, Vinyl Scratch, the last thing I would want to do would be giving you a mixtape that I personally made. I acquired this particular disc a few years back and I believe you might enjoy it."

Vinyl turned to the man. "An auction?"

The man nodded. "It is Sapphire Shores' very first hit from the 1990s Fires of Freedom detailing her escape from her abusive parents. There was only 500 copies made before it was scrapped and replaced." The man reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the CD case.

Vinyl took the case and opened it. Sure enough, Sapphire Shores was printed on the face along with a personal autograph from the pop star herself. Vinyl raised her glasses as she removed the disc. Immediately once she touched the disc, her eyes glistened with dark magic.

The man kneeled close to Vinyl. "Oh Vinyl Scratch, so innocent and powerful. Your voice can influence hundreds in your school, but it cannot reach the ears of your parents. The Scratch family is always too busy in their work to worry about their daughter and the paths she chose in her life. They can only watch as you continue to throw your life away with electronic music and strobe lights."

Vinyl nodded. The man pulled out the puppet controller from his coat and waved it around. "Now, you want your voice to be heard, right? You want adoration that your parents couldn't give you?"

Vinyl nodded absent-mindly. "Before you can get that adoration, you are going to do something for me."





While the girls were talking, Applejack and Fluttershy walked by to replenish the beverages and sat with Princess Twilight, who was now making full use of the camera systems of the tablet. "Ah don't follow. Ya said ya had a plan and now ya don't?" Applejack asked.

Sunset shrugged. "We're missing a lot of crucial pieces here, like the man in the video. He could be anywhere or anyone. We don't know anything about the guy except that he has some kind of puppet controller thing," she said.

Fluttershy tilted her head. "Like that wood cross thing puppetmasters use to make those freaky things move?"

Sunset nodded. "So ya want some guy waving around a puppet thing without puppets and taken down? Ah think ya need to be more specific in yer searchin."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "He looks a bit muscular and rugged..."

"Somethin ya look for in a man, ain't it?"

Rarity laughed. "Perhaps he is your dream machine."

Rainbow started bursting out laughing. "I can't believe you said that."

"Anyway," Sunset interrupted while suppressing a laugh. "The man is rugged and muscular, but that could be the coat. In the video, he was giving Raven the necklace before taking control over her."

Fluttershy turned to the stage. "Umm, girls?"

"Alrigh' that helps us plenty. What do we do?"

"Girls?"

"Well, once we find the guy, we have to entrap him. We need enough time for us to use the EM Tracker Twilight built to remove as much magic from him as possible. Once we have the-"

"GIRLS!"

Everyone turned to Fluttershy. She gestured to the stage. "Isn't that the guy?"

The girls turned to the stage to see the man in question talking to Vinyl. The man saw them looking at him and smiled. "Oh, and one more thing. Make it messy." With that, the man began walking away, leaving Vinyl with the disc in her hand.

Sunset's eyes widened. "Applejack, Rainbow Dash, see if you can stop him!"

They both nodded and dashed through the crowd toward the man. "Rarity, Fluttershy, you're coming with us to get this guy."

They all nodded as they ran off, leaving both Twilights confused. Princess Twilight stuffed the tablet and charger into her bag and ran with Sci-Twi right behind her.

Vinyl shook the spell off and popped in the disc into her console. "And now, the musical superstarness of the amazing DJ-PON3!" Pinkie announced.

The crowd cheered as Vinyl began blasting her own intro music. "Ha ha, thanks a lot Pinkie. Alright ya dudes and dudettes, its time for the grand finale to end all grand finales! Get ready, 'cause this one will knock your socks off!"

The crowd cheered as she loaded the disc into the port and pressed PLAY. Once she did, the entire machine roared to life as electricity arced throughout the stage. Pinkie barely leapt out of the way as a magic bolt struck the spot she was standing on.

The cheering silenced as Vinyl found her hands glued onto the console. An aura of magic encased the console as metal bended on metal around her hands. Vinyl screamed as the metal began to take the shape of to cannons. Wires tangled onto the machines and wrapped around to her back where a large component of the console attached itself.

Sunset gulped. Standing on the stage was a fully decked out Vinyl Wub Machine.

Vinyl's panicked expression turned dark as her glasses fixed themselves. She rose from her seat and kicked the remaining bits of the console out of the way. She raised the cannons toward the crowd. Target has been acquired!

Everyone took that as the signal to run as the cannons shot out a blue blast of magic. As it did, the cannons also began playing one of Vinyl's remixed songs from the Rainbooms collection. Vinyl fired into the crowd, destroying tables and a few of the park's structures.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash caught up to the a man responsible. "How about ya stop, yer crazy mind-controlling varmint!"

The man, who was calmly walking away, stopped in his place. He turned to the girls with a wicked grin on his face. "If name-calling is your game, I can see why my Lord didn't see you as a threat."

Applejack eyed a silver platter on a table next to her. "If you want to stop me, all you have to do is get me."

Rainbow smiled and charged at the man.





As Vinyl continued to blow away the people, Sunset and both Twilights struggled to move. Rarity and Fluttershy started ushering people to safety, one of them on the phone. Rarity felt a chill running down her back as she remembered who people call when things get crazy: police.

Sci-Twi lunged for the ground as a wave of sonic energy surged above her. As she tumbled away, Sunset kicked up a table to shield herself from one of Vinyl's attacks. The DJ still dazed in her hypnotic stance.

Princess Twilight jumped behind the table Sci-Twi was hiding. "You need help with that thing?" She gestured to the EMP ray gun in her hands.

"Not unless you have a cell phone or something to act as a stable energy containment device like a battery," Sci-Twi said.

Sunset jumped to cover near them. "You need another battery?"

Sci-Twi nodded. Sunset dug into her pants pocket and fished out her personal phone. "You owe me a new one!"

As Sunset was about to toss the phone, a sonic wave impacted the ground in between them, blasting Sunset toward the stage. She landed with her head hitting the wood floor. She looked up to stare down the barrel of Vinyl's cannon.

The DJ chuckled. "All payments are due, Ms. Shimmer."

As Sunset braced herself for the outcome, Sci-Twi managed to rip apart Sunset's phone and made the necessary connections. "Why did she have to get an iPhone?"

Twilight shrugged, unable to understand the situation. Sci-Twi snapped the battery into the gun, and immediately felt the affects. The ray gun hummed to life as the stock began to spin. Sci-Twi took careful aim at Vinyl. "COVER YOUR EARS!"

With a pull of the trigger, Sci-Twi fired the gun at Vinyl. The shockwave knocked Vinyl's balance off, forcing her to fire at the puppet man on the ground. As the sonic wave impacted the man, Applejack swung the silver platter, knocking him to the ground. His puppet controlled skid across the ground, forcing the magic hold on Vinyl to weaken.

The man groaned as the shadows of Rainbow Dash and Applejack loomed over him. Applejack raised the dish to knock him out, however, the man had enough magic to hypnotize the farmer for a split second. That second was for Applejack to swing the dish at Rainbow Dash standing next to her. The man grinned as he evaporated into a puff of smoke.

On the stage, Vinyl collapsed onto the stage with the cannons and extra pack breaking around her. Sunset's heart continue to race as Twilight helped her to her feet. Sci-Twi raced up the stage to check on Vinyl. In the distance, police sirens were approaching the Everfree Park.

And with them, Ms. Sunset Shimmer.
> Searching for bacon hair
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow rubbed her head as Fluttershy applied the bandage. "Is this really necessary? I feel fine," she protested.

"Do you want to bleed out through your head?"

"...no."

"Then quit complaining," Fluttershy said.

Rainbow sighed. Fluttershy rolled her eyes as she forcible tied the bandages together, earning a yelp from the superstar athlete. "There you go, but you still have a bit of a concussion so you should head to the hospital. I'll drive you over there," Fluttershy said.

"But I..."

A stern look from Fluttershy spoke for her. Rainbow chuckled as she slowly rose to her feet. "Following you."

Fluttershy presented a big smile as the two walked off to her car, leaving their friends behind. Applejack was still dazed from the puppet man's hypnotic sneak attack while Vinyl had a full on migraine. The sound of sirens grew closer as the girls realized they had a lot of explaining to do. Twilight continued to write in Sunset's magic journal to the Princesses while Sci-Twi tinkered with her EMP ray gun.

Twilight sighed as she closed the book. "Okay, I got nothing," she said.

Spike climbed up to Twilight and nuzzled her. "WHAT?! That means someone has your something! Who took it?" Pinkie shrieked. "Was it you?!" She spun around with a detective's hat upon her head and gestured to Sunset.

Sunset immediately threw her hands up. "I only stole her crown!"

Rarity facepalmed. "Perhaps I should've stayed home tonight," she mumbled.

"No Pinkie, I mean I have no idea what or who we're dealing with," Twilight said.

Pinkie smiled as she removed the handcuffs that somehow made their way to Sunset's wrists. "Looks like someone paid your bail, Shimmer." Then she walked away, leaving everyone confused for a moment. Sunset rubbed her wrists as she turned to the rest of the girls.

Both Twilights eyed each other. "You know, I don't think that counts as another experience with handcuffs," Sunset said.

Rarity smiled. "Had some experiences with handcuffs, darling?"

Sunset nodded. "I've been arrested a few times, in case you're wondering."

Rarity's smile instantly faded. "You wha...huh?"

Both Twilights started laughing. "And there was that guy in my Geometry class who also used them on me. That was a weird day though, so..."

Sci-Twi blushed. "Ooookaaythat'senoughSunset! Canwemovethisalong?"

The girls all agreed. Twilight held up the magic journal. "Okay, the princesses have said that they don't have any leads, but they'll look into it. They are also going to lock down the portal until it's safe to open it again and we catch whoever this guy is," she said.

"I'm guessing Equestrian," Sunset said. "Whoever it was surely knew their magic."

Vinyl raised her head. "Agreeing with you all the way," she said in a daze.

Rarity placed a hand on the DJ's head. "Want me to drive you home?"

"Naahh it's cool, Tavi is picking me up," she said. "'sides, I ain't that bad, am I?"

Everyone looked at Twilight. "Don't look at me, I don't know much about hypnosis!"

Everyone then turned to Sunset, who flashed everyone the finger. "Hypnosis will cause similar reactions such as dizziness and fatigue, so it's good that she's getting picked up by Octavia," she said.

Vinyl laughed. "Ain't sure."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Bout what?"

"Tavi, or that Neon Lights guy. Tough, tough choices," the DJ muttered.

Rarity nodded carefully. "Anyway, what are we going to do?"

"Probably just be on the lookout for this guy until he shows himself. We got nothing to go on," Sunset said.

Sci-Twi nodded in agreement. "I better get back home. Now that I know how to use this thing, I think I can get an advanced model out by tomorrow if I have the time," she said.

Twilight grabbed the gun from her doppelgänger's hand. She raised the weapon into the air, inspecting the human invention. "This is pretty cool!"

"Yeah, until someone in Equestria figures out the same technology and uses it for their bid for the Equestrian throne," Spike said.

"I probably should've thought about that before," Sunset said.

Twilight mocked a sad face. "Does that mean we never meet each other?"

The girls all laughed. "Just for that, I'm gonna steal your crown when you least expect it," Sunset retorted.

"Good luck with that Sunny," Twilight countered.

Sunset blushed. "Thank you very much Twi-Shine."

Now Twilight blushed as Sunset laughed. "Oh it's on."

Spike started laughing. "Girls? Not in public."

Sunset raised the finger. Spike only stuck his tongue out as they all got to their feet. Sci-Twi grabbed her EMP gun and put it in a box. "Gotta head out," she said. "Can I get a lift Rarity?"

Rarity smiled. "But of course. Vinyl?"

A nearby honk alerted the girls. "Vinyl? What have you done this time that deserves a late-night pickup?!" Octavia shouted from the parking lot.

Vinyl smiled. "That's my ride. Sorry again for whatever the hell happened," she said. She picked herself up and slowly trudged toward Vinyl's car. The cello player burst from her car to help her roommate.

Pinkie chuckled lightly. "I'm calling it. You cannot be roommates with someone without something going on on the side," she said.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "What they do at home is none of our business," she said.

"Ah hear ya," Applejack said. "Ah don't know about ya, but ah'm fixing on goin' home an sleeping fer the weekend."

Sunset chuckled. "Maybe Principal Celestia will call for tomorrow off because of this," she said.

Both Twilights were appalled. "Even missing one day of school is a bad idea considering that day could be reserved for any given lesson, and since we're all juniors, it wouldn't help us come graduation," Sci-Twi said.

Applejack shook her head. "Given what just happened, ah don't care."

"While speaking of it in a crude way," Rarity said. "I do see your point. One day to nurse our bruises wouldn't hurt."

Sci-Twi sighed. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I can work on this all day tomorrow and go visit my brother during the weekend."

They all exchanged their goodnights and headed their separate ways. Twilight and Spike followed Sunset to her car. As Sunset drove off, the police finally arrived on scene to find the park vacant.

And across the street, watching Sunset Shimmer drive off was Ms. Shimmer herself.





As the morning glow of the Sun filled her hotel room, Ms. Shimmer pressed RECORD on her voice recorder while placing the finishing touches on her web wall.

Field Log: Day 20 of Equis Case.

I have recently come into contact with what my employer had mentioned concerning strange happenings in Canterlot City. While I cannot determine where the energy readings are originating from, I have found something more...appealing. Upon my arrival, I came into contact with a young woman, 17 in age who appears with light-orange skin and blonde and red hair.

Upon investigating these reports, I have discovered that the subject resembles myself to the perfect detail. While there are small differences in appearance, I can conclude that there is a doppelgänger of myself around the city.

I will continue my investigation on the doppelgänger and return with a full report at the end of the day. For now, I must...

A loud knock came from the door. Ms. Shimmer jumped as she pressed the STOP button. She spun on her heel. No one knew she was here, and with her history snooping around the world, some people didn't like her as much as others. Reaching behind her, Ms. Shimmer brandished her perfectly legal firearm. She pressed herself onto the side of the door.

"Housekeeping," a womanly voice said.

She quietly moved the blinds and gave a sigh of relief. The hotel worker stood there with an impatient look on her face with her utility cart next to her. Ms. Shimmer replaced her weapon as she opened the door. "I-I didn't order any housekeeping," she said.

The lady sighed impatiently. "I'm sorry ma'am, but its mandatory every Saturday that all the rooms be serviced for the next week," she said.

Ms. Shimmer sighed. "Of course, how silly of me to forget that bit of information. Give me a minute before you can come in."

The lady shrugged as Ms. Shimmer closed the door. She returned to her bulletin board with all her notes and placed it in the closet. She tidied herself up before returning to the door to see the maid browsing on her phone. Ms. Shimmer simply stared at her as the maid laughed. Ms. Shimmer cleared her throat, alerting the maid. "Just don't touch the closet please," she said.

"Sure." The maid wheeled her cart into the unit. Ms. Shimmer sighed as she walked out and closed the door behind her. Already she was regretting leaving the board without any security. With her van keys in her hand, the ever-persistent private investigator began her day.





Trading her stupid white van for a compact car, Ms. Shimmer sighed as she downed her coffee. The fiery-haired P.I. sat in her car with a satellite device in her passenger seat. 100 yards from her was the Horseshoe Hill Apartments and her target: Sunset Shimmer.

Tracking down the teen wasn't easy for her, however, one wig and a police shield provided her with Sunset Shimmer's vehicle registration and current address. Ms. Shimmer smiled as she marveled at her impersonation skills. She adjusted the controls on her device to remove the static.

I don't get this! Sunset, how is this supposed to work? I keep moving it around and around and nothing is happening!

Have you tried pressing the buttons?

What do you think I'm doing?

Not pressing the buttons?

Ms. Shimmer laughed. While the target of her own investigation, she had to point out the stupidity of their earlier conversations. Sunset, you have more knowledge of this type of technology! You handle this!

A moment of silence. The target sighed heavily. I left you at the car dealership. How the hell did you get to the strip club?

I ran! I'm no good at the driving part yet.

Ms. Shimmer raised an eyebrow. The target was playing something, and she was in a strip club. Look, just hold down the button, but let go when you see the man come back. If he sees you, you get kicked out.

Ms. Shimmer turned up the volume. Sure enough, an older male voice was heard talking to someone in the game. She smiled as she focused on her coffee once again. They were playing Grand Theft Auto V.

As the fiery-haired detective finished her coffee, a red truck drove past her. Pulling her phone out to appear as a lost woman searching for directions, she eyed the driver. The driver was a young blonde woman in a country getup. She got out of the truck and reached into the back to pick up a crate of apples.

A quick Google search gave her the girl's identity: Applejack. According to her profiles, she worked on an apple farm with her family. The Sweet Apple page provided a link to volunteer for the harvest season in the Fall. The girl shared several connections with the target, including many at Canterlot High.

The girl disappeared into the apartment complex. Ms. Shimmer removed her headset and attempted to disguise herself for the inevitable confrontation with Applejack.

Applejack knocked on Sunset's door. The fiery-haired teen swung open the door with her Xbox One controller in her hand. "Applejack, hey!"

"Yer in luck with them new volunteers ya put on our page. Ah swear, its easier to work with more people than just with the two of us," Applejack said as she held out the crate.

Sunset smiled. "Thanks AJ. Come on in, I'm sure you have some time to kill," she said.

The apple farmer shrugged as she entered Sunset's apartment. Sitting in front of the TV was Spike pawing at the GTA V box on the ground. Twilight was simply staring at the screen, watching her character get a lap dance. "Ah see ah came at a bad time," Applejack said.

Sunset chuckled. "She got curious about what I had lying around as just started snooping around. She found the game and demanded that she learn how it works," she said.

Twilight raised a finger. "I didn't demand, you shoved the box in my face and said 'I dare you to play 20 minutes of this with a straight face.' I went along and lost after the first mission with the therapy guy," the princess of friendship said.

Sunset shrugged. "Nothing else on this Earth better explains the dark side of humanity than a video game centered around three criminals trying to make big money," she said.

"That's horrible," Twilight quipped.

Applejack eyed Spike, who had the box in his teeth. He shrugged and ran to Sunset's room to drop it off. "Ah leave y'all alone fer one day and y'all actin like yer the best friends fer life or somethin'," she said.

"Well if we were a little bit different in the past, and if we both ran into each other during our time in school, we could've been close," Sunset said.

"I got nervous my first day and tried asking you if you could show me around, but you were buried in that book of yours!" Twilight argued.

"I had homework, leave me alone," Sunset said. "I was looking for Princess Celestia when I saw a giant freakin' dragon suddenly appear. That was you, wasn't it?"

"No, that was me," Spike called from the bedroom. The girls all laughed as Applejack set the crate down on the table.

Back in her car, Ms. Shimmer lowered her headphones as she stared up at the apartment. She took one look at her coffee and threw it out the window. "Well that's a bunch of delusional freaks. Giant dragons and princesses. What next, they're magic?"

In the apartment, Applejack tossed Sunset a bottle of cider. "Sure is nice seein' ya grow aliking to that cider Sunset," she said.

Sunset took a swing. "Of course I like this stuff. Hell, I liked it even before I was reformed. Who else do you think stole from your barn all those times you had extras?"

Applejack smiled. "Ah know, ah saw ya tryin' to haul a few crates one night. Ya dropped a whole crate before running to yer car," she said. "Got it all on video."

Twilight eyed Sunset. "You stole from Applejack?"

"Twilight, if you knew what I did before you came along, I doubt you'd still wanna be friends with me. Besides, I had accepted the consequences for each offense and paid accordingly," Sunset said. "Part of reforming consists of accepting your past sins and working to perfect your future. That's why a lot of people go to confession."

Spike walked out of the bedroom with Sunset's slipper in his mouth. "I think the longer I stay as a dog, the stronger the urges to act like a dog become," he said.

"Why do you say that?" Sunset asked.

Spike chuckled nervously. "Promise you won't hate me?"

The smell reached the girls before they moved. They all exclaimed in disgust as Applejack threw the apples in the fridge while Sunset ran to the sink. She reached for the cleaning supplies, only to find out she was running low. Judging from the smell, it was a big mess. Sunset cursed as she eyed the former dragon.

Twilight started to gag as she covered her nose, thankful her senses were not as heightened as in Equestria. "I gotta go to the store to get some stuff. Twilight, wanna come with me?" Sunset asked.

She shook her head. "Applejack?"

"Ah'll do what ah *cough* can to get rid of the smell using what ah have. Twilight'll help me," she said.

Sunset nodded. "It'd be better if we had our magic," she said.

Twilight chuckled. "We have enough problems to worry about with magic. We'll contain the situation here."

Pray to Celestia you can, Sunset thought. She grabbed her car keys and ran out of her apartment.

Back outside, Ms. Shimmer had shut off her device and eyed the coffee she had thrown out. Obviously someone at the coffee shop put something in her drink to hallucinate. Sure enough, the target and her guests were talking about magic. As she replayed the conversation in her head, Ms. Shimmer tried to piece together exactly what her employer wanted.

Ms. Shimmer's eyes rose to see her target getting into her vehicle. She pulled out of her parking spot and drove past her. With her wig and alibi in place, Ms. Shimmer followed.





Ms. Shimmer worked in the aisle next to where Sunset was browsing, listening for anything that would make her a suspect in whatever the hell was happening. The case was what mattered most, not her personal reasons to locate her twin. As she continued "shopping", Sunset was heard humming one of the songs from the Rainbooms' last performance.

'We got the music in our hearts,

We're gonna tear this thing apart.

And the music of our friendship survives'

Ms. Shimmer raised an eyebrow. She never tried to sing, but this one could. She readjusted her glasses as she picked up the completely unnecessary bath sponge. She pulled out her phone and casually turned on the voice recorder that was installed.

"Heya Sunset," a male voice called out.

Both Sunsets muttered a curse. Lucky for Ms. Shimmer, the voice was coming from the other aisle. "Uh, hey Flash. What are you doing here?"

"I work here, remember?" the male voice said.

Already, Ms. Shimmer was picking up an ex-something vibe from these two. "Carpet cleaner?"

Sunset chuckled. "Had a bit of a mess back home. Nothing to worry about."

"Is that why you have surgical masks?"

Ms. Shimmer chuckled lightly. "Uh anyway, I've been meaning to ask you about something."

"I think getting back together isn't in the best interest for the both of us," Sunset said.

Damn! Ms. Shimmer thought.

The male voice chuckled. "I-I know. Spooky enough, that is the topic I wanted to talk to you about."

Sunset sighed heavily. "Are the rumors about you...true?"

Now Sunset laughed heavily, attracting the attention of everyone else in the aisle. "Heavens no, why do you think they are?"

"Well judging by the Fall Formal and the Battle of the Bands, people have a right to assume so. With the Friendship Games behind us and...whatever the hell happened, well, people seem to be getting it right now that Twilight goes to our school," the voice said.

Ms. Shimmer made a note to remember those key phrases. "Just because things have finally changed doesn't mean those rumors are true. Trixie is probably just spreading rumors again to become the center of attention."

"No, I just spoke to her. She thinks you're spreading the rumors," the boy said.

What a load of bull, Ms. Shimmer thought once again. Spreading rumors about yourself is the stupidest thing in the world and everyone knows it.

Sunset sighed. "Sounds like the old me."

There was a moment of silence. "I know our relationship was fake, but I want you to at least consider me as a friend." He chuckled. "Besides, remember what Princess Twilight said?"

Sunset laughed. "Friendship is magic!" they both said.

Ms. Shimmer rolled her eyes. "Delusional lunatics," she muttered.

The male voice chuckled. "Want me to help you out with anything?"

"I think that's it for know. Thanks again Flash, for not hating me more."

Flash laughed. "Who can hate the hero of Canterlot High? I swear Sunset, that big rainbow thing must've fried your brain."

"Remind me to punch you in the gut later."

Ms. Shimmer stopped her recording. "I swear either they know I'm here or they're all just potheads," she muttered. She grabbed the bottle of conditioner and walked toward the register. "At least I know more. I better talk to this Trixie about these rumors going around."





Ms. Shimmer munched on her little tin cup of nuts as she listened in on the target's various conversations. She had to muscle past her gagging as Sunset grumbled about cleaning up the mess in her bedroom. The apple farmer left once they finished, leaving the target, another subject known as Twilight Sparkle and a male voice in the apartment.

Beside the usual conversation about the target's original home, the night was relatively quiet. A pizza delivery car drove by, and within minutes, Ms. Shimmer was wishing she ordered pizza as well.

Capping the tin cup, Ms. Shimmer propped herself up to continue listening in. And that's it? Bread, tomato sauce and cheese? That doesn't seem possible, the younger voice said.

The target laughed. Believe it Twi, that's one of the things I like about this place. You can put anything on pizza, and believe me when I say that anything is possible.

The young voice mumbled happily. Ms. Shimmer had enough of this. She picked up her phone and ordered a pizza for pickup. So Twilight, I have to ask about a few things.

Your family?

Ms. Shimmer raised an eyebrow. Any luck?

I'm sorry Sunset, but Equestria is a big place. All you're giving me are names, but searching every single city and settlement is difficult. Trust me Sunset, I'm doing everything in my power.

"So she's alone?" Ms. Shimmer muttered.

Thank you Twilight for at least trying. It's just--I left with so much anger and Princess Celestia probably questioned them once I left. I'd hate if anything happened to them because of me.

Don't you worry Sunset, we'll keep looking. Besides, there are some places I haven't searched yet that are just out of the way.

Ms. Shimmer grabbed her notepad. "My doppelgänger is in distress due to a lack of family? I've been stalking a criminal who is really just scared out of her mind. I shouldn't be doing this," she said.

Her eyes drifted to her phone. "Obviously you know that and you still want me on this case. You gave me a game, but I decide how to play." Ms. Shimmer shut off her machine and started her car. She drove off to tackle her next big assignment: deciding what kind of wings go with her pizza. 
> Spas are magic, right?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	One week later, outside Manehattan Day Spa

Rarity shut off the car as she stepped out with Fluttershy behind her. Twilight stepped out of the back, fumbling with the harness that was the seat belt. The two humans gave quiet chuckles as Twilight finally slipped free and shut the door. "A spa?" she asked as she looked up at the sign.

Fluttershy nodded. "We thought that we could help you relax a little bit more since that night at the park," she said. "Besides, this place is simply fantastic."

"I agree, and it is too bad that poor Spikey-wikey couldn't come with us," Rarity complained.

Twilight chuckled nervously. "Well he was a bit occupied with things back at home. I'm sure the next time we all go out, he will be with us," she said.

In reality, Spike was left at Applejack's farm due while Sunset stayed home for an extra few hours of sleep. That and the fact that Twilight's week home alone allowed her to research the human body thoroughly. Twilight smiled as the two friends led her into the front lobby.

The room itself was a mashup of eggshell white floors and lavender walls. Potted plants and magazine racks littered the lobby as well as a television set hanging on the wall. Apart from the TV, there was also a running waterfall accompanied by a small assortment of fish. Immediately once Twilight entered the room, the sound of running water relaxed every muscle in her body.

As Rarity went to go check in at the desk, Twilight kneeled at the waterfall. Her weary reflection shone in the crystal clear water. The bags under her eyes developed as she and Sunset stayed up late the past week trying to figure out the magical man's secret identity.

Fluttershy kneeled next to Twilight. "You okay?"

Twilight nodded as she gave a yawn. "I just haven't had a good sleep the last few nights. I know this might help me but why didn't Sunset come with us?"

Fluttershy shrugged. "It was her decision so we mustn't question it," she said.

The princess of friendship nodded in agreement. "Okay girls, we're going to be a few minutes. Apparently some guy they hired just frightened the 2 O'clock."

"YYEEAHHH!!" a male voice screamed.

"OH GOD NO!"

The girls all eyed the door. The receptionist chuckled nervously as she pushed her chair back. "Aloe, who put him in charge of massages?"

"It wasn't myself nor my sister if that is what you're insinuating," a voice replied.

The  receptionist sighed. "Excuse me girls." Then she got up to the sound of the male voice trying to calm the customer.

Rarity eyed the TV on the wall. "Make it a few more minutes," she advised.

Fluttershy sat quietly next to Rarity while Twilight continued to study the waterfall. The fish in the pond took little notice of her as they continued to dance around each other. Experimentally, the Equestrian princess touched the running water and instantly retracted.

Rarity, who was in deep in the magazine, peered over to watch her Equestrian friend. She smiled as she nudged Fluttershy to do the same. At some point, they realized, their dear friend Sunset Shimmer was in the same predicament.

Twilight submerged her hand under the falls, allowing the crisp cold water to dance on her skin. "These hands are so much more sensitive than hooves," she muttered.

Fluttershy cracked a smile. Twilight wiggled her fingers under the water, unfortunately that's when it happened. Losing control for a single moment, lavender light danced around her fingertips. The light bubbled under the surface of the water before bursting, sending cold water all over the lobby. The princess shrieked as the water flew all over.

Fluttershy dove out of the way as the water crashed on her friend. Rarity's serenity in the magazine was shattered as she remained still. Her mascara started to drip as the magazine turned into a wet wad of paper.

The secretary returned to her seat to be met by a wet Rarity with wide eyes. "IS THE 2 O'CLOCK FINISHED YET?!"

A moment later, the girls were escorted to the Jacuzzi. Stripping down to the respectable garments, the girls stepped inside the warm bath as Aloe set their clothes on a rack nearby. Rarity's clothes, however, were taken to the laundry to be properly washed. "We are so sorry ladies of that...peculiar incident. We've been meaning to replace that fountain for a while now," Aloe said sheepishly.

Rarity took in a deep breath, allowing the steam to calm her nerves. "It is perfectly alright, Miss Aloe. Accidents do happen on occasion," she said.

Fluttershy nodded in agreement. "Are you sure you won't let us pay for at least allowing you to dry her clothes?"

The spa maid waved it off. "Trust me, with the rowdy patrons coming and going, we allow our laundry facilities to remain free. Think nothing of it Miss Shy."

The junior vet smiled. Without another word, she left with the clothes in her arms. Shutting the door behind her, the three girls were left to the sound of the bubbling water beneath them.

A moment of silence passed between the girls. Finally, Twilight spoke. "Uhh, sorry Rarity about that," she squeaked.

"Darling, we have the ability to 'Pony Up' and we have met our share of ruffians and their zero tolerance toward the well pressed couture. What I am concerned about, however, is how a simple fountain in the corner of the room turned into a torrent of ice cold water," she spoke.

"I agree. Normally the most we could do before was pony up. We never could channel magic like what you just did," Fluttershy said.

Twilight simply held up her hands. "I-all I was doing was running my hands under the waterfall when it just exploded. I can't explain what happened without first knowing the complete data Sunset uncovered regarding magic in this world," she said.

"Sunset did say that we expressed the true aspect of each of us and that caused us to pony up," Fluttershy said. "Sunset did that for the other Twilight when she went evil."

Rarity nodded. "And her? They both could do magic without a problem but not us."

Twilight shrugged. "Sunset doesn't represent an existing Element in Equestria. There are only six Elements and you all express those just as well as my friends back home. As for the other me, she absorbed the magic of the portal and used it against the portal. The two forces, equal and opposite, canceled each other out and created a rift in the explosion. When Equestria was suddenly bombarded with more magic than on this side, the cracks formed and our worlds were pressed against each other. How both Sunset and the other me managed to harness magic is beyond me."

"Darling, she almost represented yours," Rarity said.

Again, Twilight had no answer. "Sunset probably has a connection to my Element because she wore mine at the Fall Formal. Other than that, I don't have a clue."

The girls nodded before allowing the room to fall into silence once again. Twilight raised her hands out of the water to study them. There was nothing different about them, except for the fact they were getting pruny. She wiggled her fingers, hoping something would happen, or better, the process repeat itself.

The two humans studied their friend as she waved her hands like a maniac. Close up, her hands were simply hands and nothing special. She flicked her hands out toward the girls, both of whom had submerged themselves in a panic. Still, nothing.

Rarity slowly broke the surface. "Darling, I don't think that..."

"No, I got this. I think it had something to do with the stimulation the waterfall had on my hands. I need something to...I don't know, awaken them? I need something soothing," she said. She scanned the room around her to find anything she could use. Given her current predicament, she didn't want to resort to giving up and trying later. Several minutes passed before she gave up.

After a few moments, Rarity shook her head as she stretched. "Darling, if I may ask you a personal question?"

"Go on ahead," Twilight responded.

Fluttershy and Rarity locked eyes, almost debating among themselves telepathically. Finally, Fluttershy shrugged. "Do you...er this is odd. Do you have a relationship with Sunset?"

Silence filled the room. "Of course. I mean, we help each other out in understanding this world as well as work together regarding the prospects of friendship as a source of magic. Why do you ask?"

Fluttershy remained silent. "Um, well darling, that wasn't what I meant," she said.

Twilight tilted her head. "Do you have a uhh...well. Do you have a relationship with Sunset? Not an academic relationship I mean," Rarity elaborated.

The gears finally turned in the right direction in Twilight's mind. Her face reddened as she found herself stammering. "I-uh I ~hehe~ I don't know what you're talking about. Wh-why would we have anything el-else besides an academic relationship?"

Rarity stayed silent. The spa door opened as Aloe walked in with three towels in her hands. "Put these on and proceed to the mud room. My sister and her attendants will be with you shortly," she said.

The girls thanked Aloe as they covered themselves up. Fully wrapped in freshly dried towels, the trio made their way to the other room where Lotus set up several stone tubs filled with mud. Rarity sighed happily as she made a bee-line for the middle tub. Twilight and Fluttershy shrugged as they took the remaining tubs around Rarity.

Stepping into the mud, Twilight felt bliss. The mud was warmed to the point where her muscles relaxed as she burrowed under the mud. The attendant behind her then proceeded to give her a shoulder massage. Peering over, Rarity and Fluttershy were getting the same treatment.

After a while, Rarity spoke again. "Darling, if anything, I ask because I've seen how Sunset looks at the book whenever she gets a message. She hides the book from us, sometimes keeping it on her at all times. We only ask because we care about her," she said.

Twilight pondered her words, well tried to. The massage was turning her mind into putty. "We-well I will tell you thi ~ooh that feels good~: you don't have to worry about Sunset and I. We ~Aah that feels wonderful~ we have a professional partnership that is comprised of information and relativeness since we didn't know each other when we went to school together."

Fluttershy, who was lost in her bliss, cracked open an eye. "We do talk a lot and swap stories about our times between worlds, and we have the occasional luncheon. Mostly, we're two mares who had no chance to know each other before, and since we both cl ~Is that a knot?~ you know, connect, we can understand each other."

Rarity nodded. "Darling, same-sex relationships aren't frowned upon here," Rarity said.

"I'm not talking about taboo, Rarity," Twilight burst out. "It-Its just that we haven't considered relationships, and her with school and me with Equestria, there is hardly time now. I have a former villain and time traveler as a student, Princess Celestia has me at her beck and call because of border disputes between us and Stallionsgrad, I'm about to be an aunt and I got a small amount of time before a falling star hits Equestria. A relationship, Rarity, is a little bit of a reach for me."

Twilight's attendant eyed Lotus with a puzzled look. The spa maid only shrugged as she continued with Rarity. "Um Twilight," Fluttershy spoke up. "We are only protective about Suns-"

"I get the protectiveness, but what are you protecting her from? Me? We have a solid relationship based on academic curiosity and social inquiries between our own worlds. She hasn't been in Equestria for years so I record what changed and what hasn't while she gives me details about this world and what it used to be," Twilight said.

A moment of silence passed before Twilight's eyes widened. "This is about those inside jokes you girls have about her, isn't it?"

Rarity nearly burst out of the mud. "What? Nonononononono it isn't that. We-ell, on a small degree perhaps but we have meant no harm to her," she stammered.

"I knew it!" Twilight burst out. "It isn't just about relationships, its about the lack of relationships that she has had since Brad!"

"Twilight, no!" Fluttershy retorted. "We're just...it's something that has come up before. Sunset hasn't been in a relationship in a long time, but when  she speaks to you, she's happy. She forgets about that old part of herself and even continues to say her past prevents her from having a relationship."

Everyone in the room stared at her in amazement, including the spa attendants. Feeling everyone's eyes on her, Fluttershy sank into the mud, preventing her own attendant from continuing the massage. "Um, wow darling, I never thought about saying it like that," Rarity said.

Twilight nodded. "Look, I've never thought about relationships. By the love of Celestia, I haven't considered a relationship with her as well. If anything were to happen, it must happen in time. Jumping into a relationship when both parties aren't ready could lead to challenges." The princess of friendship shook her head. "I sound like Cadence now."

Everyone in the room were now listening to Twilight. "Relationships are greater levels of friendships, and yes Princess Cadence and I are experts in that field, but if I were to seek a relationship, even with Sunset, it would have to wait."

Rarity's eyes widened. Lotus had stopped her massage to focus on the princess, and learning she had stopped, she doubled her efforts. Fluttershy rose from the mud and continued the massage.

A few more minutes passed before the attendants left the room, allowing the girls to soak in the mud. Twilight shifted in the mud, and for the first time since they arrived, Rarity noticed the bags under her eyes. "Darling, are you okay?"

"Honestly? I'm too tired." Twilight rubbed her neck. "Sunset and I have been up late this past week looking for the name of the guy we ran into, but we still have no idea who he is or why he's here. A creature who can use hypnosis, curse objects and banished into this world cannot have just popped up out of nowhere."

"Darling, I don't mean to sound so...sour, but why is our world your world's prison?" Rarity asked.

Twilight blushed. "We-well when it comes to that, I uh, I don't have an idea. I certainly would not call this place a prison. Maaybe it had something to do with this world not having magic in the past," she said.

"Twilight, um, doesn't your world have...places like jails?" Fluttershy asked timidly.

Twilight readjusted herself underneath. "Well there is one prison, but that's a little extreme," she said.

"Extreme darling? What prison in a world of magic is considered extreme?"

Twilight fidgeted with her hands. "Tartarus."

Silence fell. The air in the room grew cold as the word escaped Twilight's lips. The fashionista chuckled nervously. "E-excuse me Twilight, I'm afraid I must've misunderstood you. For a moment, I thought you said..."

"Tartarus, the maximum supersecurity prison in the center of Equis? Or the same Tartarus that houses gods and demigods and mortals and even some monsters whom all have committed horrible crimes against nature and deemed too dangerous to the Afterlife?" Twilight asked.

Fluttershy sank into the mud. "Bu-but wh-hy would your world have th-that awful place?"

Twilight shrugged. "Equestria isn't all sunshine and rainbows, Fluttershy."

"Darling, in the entire time we've known you, that's exactly what we thought when you kept talking about Equestria," Rarity pointed out. "For the love of the Sun, we even thought that a world such as yours never met evil."

Twilight laughed. "Oh trust me Rarity, the stories I tell you girls are 100% real. We seen evil in many forms over the last 1000 years alone with Nightmare Moon and Tirek. That was just the last millennium; I have no idea what happened before Tirek first attacked," she said.

Rarity sat up in the mud. "Darling, what about history books?"

The princess of Friendship rolled her eyes. "For some reason, they only go back to the first Hearths Warming which was over a thousand years ago. Nopony knows what happened before the Great Blizzard. It-it's like there's this big bl-" Twilight froze.

Rarity and Fluttershy eyed the princess carefully. "That's it. We don't have a record of this kind of magic nor who possess it the most because his records pre-date Celestia. The only reason why he is here now instead of dead is because he's been immortal, and you can only be immortal if you are either: A) an alicorn or B) banished to Tartarus! He's an escapee!"

In the excitement, Twilight jumped out of the mud bath, blinding Rarity with the earthy substance while Fluttershy got an unexpected surprise from Twilight's bare rear. Her eyes widened and immediately she dove under the mud. Twilight realized the draft and immediately sat down with a deep red blush spread across her face.

Rarity wiped away the mud. "Umm, darling that is more worrying than not knowing," she said.

Fluttershy blurbled in response underneath. "Fluttershy is right, I thought you said supersecurity. How could he have escaped?" Rarity asked.

The gears in Twilight's head had already formulated the response. "A few years ago, before I arrived to Ponyville for the first time, there was a breakout. A lot of high security prisoners managed to escape and caused chaos around the area. Princess Celestia immediately responded in full force, but only a hoof-ful of prisoners were returned. So many disappeared and she spent months on investigating the cause. I think this guy escaped at the same time as Tirek."

"A-a breakout?"

"Well, when you think about it: the time of the incident was during the time when the mirror may've been open OR the massive breakout somehow managed to create a ripple effect on the surrounding area and cracked both of our dimensions. If the latter theory is correct, then the escape and Nightmare Moon's return couldn't be just prophecy alone," Twilight said. She fidgeted around in the mud, searching frantically for a towel or something to cover herself. "Umm, I need Sunset's journal."

Rarity and Fluttershy eyed each other. Without saying a word, both girls raised their hands over their eyes.

Those were the longest ten minutes of their lives.



	

"Tartarus? Twilight, that's a bit of a stretch, even for you," Sunset said.

The girls had all returned to Sunset's apartment as quickly as Twilight teleported before. Applejack had dropped Spike off and since then stayed while Rainbow and Pinkie were busy doing...something. Sunset, who had gotten over the fact she woke up to a naked Twilight landing on her bed earlier that afternoon, called for the human Twilight to join them.

Sci-Twi adjusted her glasses. "Tartarus? Your world hosts Tartarus?"

"Well, its supposedly the center of our world and everything where criminals too dangerous for reformation or too powerful for capital punishment go. To say somepony escaped is seriously impossible," Sunset said.

"Darling, that is now 40 times you've said 'somepony' this year alone," Rarity said.

Sunset facepalmed. "Anyway, why would you think that Tartarus is the place?"

"Because of the breakout a few years ago," Twilight responded.

Twilight began writing a letter in the book to the princesses on the other side of the portal. "The breakout?"

"Several hundred monsters escaped Tartarus a few years ago, and if my theory is correct, the destruction of the Gates caused a split in the skin of Equestria, allowing them to venture into this world. This guy could be an escapee," Twilight said.

"Ah ah, could," Sunset pointed out.

Applejack sat on the couch and turned on the TV. "Now ah know why ah don't ask," she muttered.

"It's pretty easy considering its a far-fetched theory to begin with. If the Gates were burst open like Twilight said, then we should've felt the effect in this world too," Sunset said.

Fluttershy tightened her hands. "Uh...um."

"What is it Fluttershy?" Rarity asked.

"Remember a few years ago when you helped me at the clinic? All the animals were going crazy," she said.

"An them freaky thunderstorms?" Applejack pitched in.

"And don't forget those freak hurricanes in the Caribbean," Sci-Twi said. "This Tartarus seems like it can cause great astronomical disturbances in this world, and since animals react to natural disasters, it is possible they're connected."

The girls all stayed silent. "Looks like it's that," Applejack muttered.

Twilight nodded in agreement. The magic journal began vibrating, spooking the human Twilight. Flipping through the pages, Twilight found the princess's response:

Dear Twilight,

Regarding your theory surrounding Tartarus, I've managed to draft the two documents you have requested. The first is the official transcript detailing the prisoners sealed in Tartarus pre-dating Princess Platinum's reign. The second document is a list of prisoners that were unaccounted for when the Gates were breached four years ago.

I pray your theory is wrong Twilight. If it is indeed an escaped criminal, then humanity may sit on the edge of destruction. Take caution and Godspeed.

-Princess Celestia and Princess Luna

As Twilight skimmed the two documents, Sunset began pacing the room.

Prisoner name: Medusa

Species: Gorgon

Magical abilities: Turning mortals to stone

Captured: 476 B.C.

Monarch: King Cosmos

"No, not her," Sci-Twi muttered.

Prisoner name: Hypnos

Species: unknown

Magical abilities: unknown

Captured: 1087 B.C.

Monarch: King Cosmos

"Sounds like him," Sunset said.

"He's not on the escapee list," Fluttershy said as she peered over Twilight's shoulder.

The princess of friendship blew a hair from her face.

Prisoner name: Tangled Minds

Species: Equine, Unicorn

Magical abilities: Mind control and cursing objects

Captured: 721 B.C.

Monarch: King Cosmos

Fluttershy screeched. "BINGO!"

The girls all jumped. Spike came in from Sunset's room with dreamy eyes. "H-hey what's going on?" he asked.

"Tangled Minds was imprisoned in Tartarus in the 700s B.C. and was unaccounted for when Tirek escaped. It's a perfect fit," Twilight said.

"Uhh, girls?"

Sci-Twi chuckled nervously. "S-so we're up against a-an old guy?"

"Girls?"

"He hypnotized an entire army against King Cosmos and nearly killed him, at least according to the report," Twilight said.

"GIRLS!"

Everyone turned to Applejack. She motioned to the TV where the press watched a limo drive through White Tail City. By tomorrow, President Platinum will arrive in Canterlot City where she will meet the American president to discuss the terms regarding the upcoming G20 Convention, the reporter announced.

As the footage played, President Platinum was seen standing at a podium criticizing world leaders regarding global warming. As the footage played, a man was seen standing next to the president. A man Applejack immediately recognized.

"Tangled Minds?" Applejack asked.

The girls all nodded. Sunset eyed Princess Twilight, who had turned pale. "This just got a lot more complicated," she said.

Sunset smiled. "We need a plan...and a press badge. Luckily, I have both."
> Press Powered Pony People
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	While Canterlot is the center of Equestria politically and socially, Everfree City was the capital of the country of Equis. Inherited by the ancient inhabitants of early Hoofenstein, Everfree City became a powerhouse to generations of presidents. Leaders from the six districts of the island nation would converge on Everfree. From the six delegates, a seventh would become president through a series of academic, social and economic trials.

President Platinum, newly inducted President of Equis, sought to open the doors of the nation to the world. The first country to come knocking on their door, however, proved to be a pain. The United States of America began their interventions in Equis' political affairs, and despite protests by the political leaders, President Platinum continued her Open Door Policies.

As the Sun rose above Canterlot City, news vans crowded the American Embassy as well as civilians. The American President exited the embassy to be blinded by flashes from all the cameras. The president waved to the crowd before climbing into his limo.

Outside city hall, President Platinum stood with her Cabinet members. With her signature jade hair with silver streaks, President Platinum's term in office proved to be explosive with countless American interventions. Her violet eyes and ivory skin shimmered in the soft glow of the sunrise. Her eyes scanned the road in front of her, where dozens of press vans awaited for the arrival of the American President.

One of the Cabinet members, a criminal from another dimension, shifted his jacket where he kept his puppet controller. Tangled Minds sported gray hair and piercing black eyes. His ash skin was evidence of his time in Tartarus. "Madam President, is it wise to invite the American here when we can return to Everfree City?" he asked.

"Obviously Canterlot City is the neutral zone between us and the United States. I'd like this to be a quick meeting before the G20 convention. I don't wish to sit through another 5 hour lecture of how we're supposed to be America's only ally again," she said.

"Even though they are much more powerful than us?" Minds asked.

President Platinum scoffed. "Their military may be strong, but at least Equis has morals that serve for the better of mankind and not try to monopolize democracy around the world."

Tangled Minds nodded in understanding. It's too easy. I'd expect those bratty teens from last week to try to ruin this day, he thought to himself. 

The limo containing the American President stopped at the steps of city hall followed by an army of Secret Service agents. The President exited the vehicle and approached Platinum.

Behind him, an army of news vans screeched to a halt. As Secret Service agents motioned the President to continue moving, he stopped to meet with his fellow president. "Madam President?"

The jade-haired woman put on a fake smile. "Mr. President, well I must say that it is an honor that you have graced this fair city with your presence," she said.

The President smiled. "Is that sarcasm I detect?"

Platinum turned her back on him. "Of course not, Mr. President. I would never approach you with sarcasm on a very important day like today. Now come, we need to have our affairs in order before we begin the day." She began walking inside with her own security detail behind her. The American President chuckled as he followed.

Secret Service agents stood at the doorway as reporters started to come in. As Secret Service agents allowed reporters inside, another vehicle, unlike any of the other news vans appeared. The reporter and camerawoman approached the steps of the building before being stopped by the agent at the door.

The reporter flashed her ID badge at the man. A quick scan, and already he was skeptical. "Wondercolts Weekly?"

Sunset Shimmer, donning a brown blouse and skirt with her hair tied up smiled. She had her hair tied back (Rainbow Dash called her out about having a ponytail on a pony. She was punched in the face). She adjusted her glasses before clearing her throat. "You've been in Equis before?"

The man shook his head. "Well, the Weekly is a student-run paper and news station that has broadcasted hundreds of stories across Canterlot City. Being a man who has had a lot of time next to a radio, I'm certain you've heard our broadcast," she said.

The agent eyed her skeptically. "Never heard of it," he said.

The camerawoman gasped. Twilight, who had to quickly become adjusted to holding a giant piece of equipment, shifted the camera. "S-sir, you must've heard our broadcast in some way."

Sunset grinned inwardly. "Sorry miss, but I haven't heard of you," the agent said.

The fiery-haired teen took his remark as a challenge. "Well, if you're not going to let us in, then I'm going to have to explain to all my listeners that we couldn't get in, AND we won't have an official broadcast on our website for our thousands of fans in the southern Equis area. I'm sure they'll understand when I leave the name of the man who wouldn't let us in." She smiled as she reached into her pocket to pull out her recorder. "What's your name again?"

The agent chuckled nervously. Got him! "So, you were saying we couldn't be let in?"

The agent stepped aside. "Just...go on in. You'll be screened upon entry so let me know if you have anything on you that you shouldn't have, otherwise it'll get awkward," he said.

Sunset smiled as she pocketed her recorder before entering the room. Once inside, she found herself in front of a metal detector. Secret Service agents stood around it while two agents stood behind it with a magnetic wand in one of their hands. Sunset gulped as she approached the machines.

As Sunset walked through the detector, Twilight had to place the camera on a tray leading into an X-ray machine. As the machine scanned, Twilight walked through the metal detector. The machine sounded its alarm, alerting the agents in the room. Twilight began to sweat as her hand went toward the EM Frequency Tracker around her neck.

The agent inspected the trinket before labeling it as a simple necklace. In the X-ray machine, the guards noticed how crude the camera was on the inside. After explaining it was a homemade camera to the guards, they let them slide. Once inside and with the camera in her hands, the two Equestrians began walking toward where the press conference was supposed to be.

Halfway down the hall, the two took a turn into a secluded area. Sunset ripped off the glasses she was wearing and pinched her nose. "Ugh, how can Rarity focus with this thing? I swear, my eyes are going to burst," she complained.

Twilight placed the camera at her feet. "This thing is heavy. Why did the other me put her ray gun thingy in here anyway?"

"It's just a part of the plan." Sunset checked her phone and groaned. "Rarity is here with Applejack and the other you, but Fluttershy is stuck in traffic with the others. I'll let them know about Agent dick head at the front."

Twilight spun around with her face red. "Su-Sunset!"

The girl in question looked up. "What?"

Against her better judgment, Twilight started chuckling. "Agent dick head."

Sunset cracked a grin as she texted the girls. After sending the text, Sunset leaned on the wall and took a deep breath. "Soo, how do you like the human world so far?"

Twilight laughed. She wiggled her hand back and forth. "It's got its ups and downs. I think the last thing we expected was cleaning up a magical problem caused by an escapee from Tartarus," she said. "That kinda ruined the museum trip."

Sunset feinted an expression of shock. "Oh? Is that so?"

"Well...yeah kinda," Twilight responded. "Props to Tangled Minds for perfect timing on the matter though."

Sunset laughed. "Well, all things considered, I think the museum trip went off pretty good. You were certainly excited afterward," she said.

"Well, that's just me. I'm just saying though, maybe we can plan something on the side to kinda make up for that mishap," Twilight remarked.

"I agree."

Silence fell between them. "Hey I have an idea. I've heard about this thing called 'Netflix and Chill'. How about that?" Twilight suggested.

Sunset's eyes widened as she slipped where she leaned. She nearly fell had she not gotten a grip on a column. "Wh-where did y-"

"Hmm?"

"Uhh, Twilight, do you know what that means?"

The Princess of Friendship shook her head. "I bet it has something to do with watching Netflix and not doing anything else, right?"

The former Equestrian shook her head violently. "Netflix and Chill means that two people watch Netflix for about 5 minutes before having sex with each other," Sunset explained.

Twilight's face burned red as realization dawned on her. "Jeez Twilight, if that's what you think about me, then I guess we could..." Sunset teased.

Twilight raised her hands up to protect herself. "NONONONONOSUNSETIDIDNTMEANTOSA-"

Sunset started laughing hysterically while Twilight squeaked in embarrassment. Rarity and Sci-Twi rounded the corner to see Twilight hiding in her hair. "Darling, what's wrong with you?"

"NOTTALKINGABOUTIT!" Twilight nearly shouted.

Rarity turned to Sunset, who gave her the 'I'll-tell-you-later' look. Applejack came running in with Rarity's old fashion notebook under her arm. She knew whatever was going on and shook her head. "Ah don't believe in letting y'all alone fer more than a minute," she remarked.

Sunset smirked as she replaced the glasses. Twilight sighed as she hoisted the camera onto her shoulder. Sci-Twi came close to inspect her wonderful machine. "Sooo, I got good news and bad news," she said.

"Darling, you should've said that earlier," Rarity said.

Sci-Twi said nothing as she adjusted her glasses. "So, the good news is that I managed to reconfigure the EMP properties in her, making her more dangerous and cancel Tangled's control over anyone he could have under his control. The bad news is that in order to do so, I've had to connect all the batteries with each other and create a steady flow of energy. It'll work, but with the modifications I made with the batteries, I'd say we only have one chance to use the gun before the batteries explode inside," she said.

"Oh? That's not too bad," Rarity said.

"And the resulting energy crisis may also fire an EMP back at us and eliminate all magic within us entirely," Sci-Twi concluded.

Silence fell on the group. Sunset's phone began to vibrate, and as she checked her messages, all eyes turned to Twilight and the fake camera. The camera now felt even heavier on her shoulders. "Umm, you know that will affect me when I go back to Equestria, okay? That will be very bad," she said.

"But Tangled Minds is a dangerous criminal in the first place. If we can't put him down, who knows what he can get accomplished in this world?" Sunset argued. "He could start World War Three, or maybe pit America at war against us, or maybe..."

"MAYBE HE WILL OUTLAW ALL CUPCAKES AND PARTIES IN EQUIS AND WE'LL ALL BE SAD AND GRAY AND NO ONE WILL COME HERE FOR VACATIONS OR BIRTHDAY PARTIES!" Pinkie shrieked as she entered the hallway.

Sci-Twi began cleaning her ears. "Uhh, he-hey Pinkie. Glad you could make it," she said.

Pinkie smiled. "Are we clear on the plan?" Sci-Twi asked.

Some of the girls gave confused looks. Sunset sighed as she played with her press badge.  Sci-Twi sighed as she rubbed her temples. "As I said, it's simple: we survey the room for any possible exits, cover them, trap Tangled Minds and use the necklace to drain him of his magic. If he uses magic against us, we use the EM Disrupter..."

"Trademark Twi-Tech 2015," Sunset muttered.

Twilight smirked. "Once we drain his magic, we grab him and throw him into the portal. Simple," Sci-Twi argued.

"Ya didn't say that back at the apartment," Applejack said.

Sci-Twi blew on her bangs in frustration. One by one, the rest of the girls began filing into the hallway. As part of the plan, Fluttershy was equipped with a spare camera and press badge, separate from Vinyl's radio show. Sci-Twi turned to Sunset, who was busy on her phone. "How do you deal with them?"

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Oh be nice. Translating a more complicated and more dangerous plan to them is like explaining magic to you," she said.

Rainbow Dash, who was the last to enter the room, laughed. "Ain't that the truth," she said.

Fluttershy smacked her arm. "Okay girls, ready?"

They all nodded in agreement. With their disguises in place, they began to file into the conference room. Fluttershy remained on the second camera while Rainbow played the 'newswoman' with Pinkie as maintenance. Sunset stood as the Wondercolts Weekly newswoman while Twilight served as the cameragirl. Sci-Twi and Applejack stood by as the maintenance as well.

As both presidents held their news conference for all the real reporters in the room, Sunset began scanning the room. The Equis flag and the American flag stood proud behind their leaders, and with them were their advisors and Cabinet members. Secret Service members weren't in sight, and if they were following protocol, they'd stay that way unless something went wrong.

That something could be Twilight firing the EM ray gun mounted on her shoulder.

As the reporters continued to follow the conference, realization dawned on Sunset. Besides the fact she remembered Twilight's confusion on the term Netflix and Chill, there was something off. Not with Twilight, but with her target. The Tartarus escapee wasn't where he was in previous newscasts with President Platinum.

A firm hand gripped her shoulder. "As I told you before, Ms. Shimmer..."

Sunset's gaze followed up to meet the rugged face of Tangled Minds. His eyes gleamed in evil and madness. "All payments are due. Time's up kid."

That's when everything went to Hell. He pulled out his puppet controller from his coat and waved it in the air. The Secret Service agents hidden in the room suddenly appeared with blank expressions on their faces. Their eyes all glowed green. They brandished their weapons and took aim.

Sunset gulped. This was more than she bargained for. 
> How NOT to hold a press conference
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The reporters immediately reacted as the Secret Service agents raised their firearms. The cameramen followed their gazes to where Tangled Minds was with Sunset held in place. While they initially thought that they presented a clear danger to the two Presidents in the room, Platinum immediately recognized the girl her assistant held.

Twilight's gaze fell on Sunset's panicked expression. Seeing the human weapons trained on her as well as the Tartarus escapee immediately froze the Equestrian princess. Sunset, however, was more terrified than she let on. Every nerve in her body froze as her heart started to slow down. Tangled Minds simply smiled and took in a deep breath.

He wrapped his arm around Sunset's chest. "You know, they made your cell next to mine. I hope you like it."

Sunset said nothing. President Platinum moved from her spot behind her podium. "Tangled? What the hell is going on?"

Tangled sighed as he focused on the president. "Oh shut up, you worthless human!"

Everyone in the room gasped. Tangled raised his puppet controller and waved it in the air. "Time to retire you bald ape!"

Before Platinum could say anything, the American president pulled a pistol from one of the unaffected Secret Service agents and swung it at President Platinum. The metal collided with the back of her head, knocking her out upon impact as she hit the floor. Tangled smiled as he pushed Sunset into the chairs as he ran to collect his prize.

Throwing the Equian President over his shoulder, Tangled waved his controlled into the air. The hypnotized agents fell out of their loopy state and, instead of attacking Tangled, began shooting towards the Canterlot girls.

Reporters dove out of the way as the guns roared in the room. Because they were scattered throughout the room, the Rainbooms all managed to find some cover regarding the chaos. The remaining humans managed to escape the room, but not everyone was unmarked.

Sunset fought back a gag. Several trails of blood let to the doors to the outside world.

Tangled kicked open the doors leading further into the building. "Kill them all, and if anyone survives, I'll kill Platinum and the American the second I see anyone coming for me!" he shouted as he disappeared with the hypnotized president behind him.

As more bullets continued to rain down on Sunset's position, she turned to see Fluttershy covering her ears as she was screaming. Rainbow Dash, who now had the real camera in her hands, huddled with Princess Twilight. The human Twilight must've escaped or was in hiding.

Don't think dead, Sunset thought to herself. Anything but dead.

The sound of a bullet ricocheting nearly sent Sunset into a panic attack, but the sound of a girl cursing and apologizing cured it. Human Twilight was still alive somewhere. Her eyes darted to the middle of the room where the EM Disruptor Ray laid unprotected. She wouldn't dare try to grab it now and use it.

Sensing a similar idea form, Sunset turned to see Princess Twilight grab the EM Frequency Tracker from around her neck and open it. Thanks to her human counterpart, who spent the most of the previous evening trying to upgrade it, she could use it against those who used magic incorrectly instead of randomly collecting it from the air. She swung her arm from behind cover as she tried absorbing the magic hold placed on the agents.

A steady stream of magic began flowing from one human to Twilight's device. As the agent began losing control, or regaining control since the magic was wearing off, another recognized the situation and acted. Taking careful aim, he fired at the device. One small bullet was all it took to destroy the device, scattering whatever little magic was collected throughout the room. Sunset gasped as she got hit with a small sample and immediately felt sick. Twilight then grabbed Rainbow's shirt and shook her maddingly. "Why. Do. Humans. Have. GUNS?!"

"Hey, I wasn't there when they wanted to!" Rainbow responded.

"WELL YOU SHOULD'VE!"

Accompanying Fluttershy's screaming was Rarity's, who was huddled with Pinkie towards the exit. Sunset's mind went into overdrive as she sought for a way out of this mess. Her friends were in danger, and she would be damned if anything happened to any of them. 

The smallest part of her mind decided to weigh in. If only we could catch them at the one moment of their weakness. A blip in their routine would be the only thing keeping you from meeting Death, it said. Wouldn't want to lose everything you hold dear, including Twilight in a hailstorm of human invention.

"Shut up brain I'm trying to think," Sunset muttered.

She listened for any change in how the agents were firing. The roars of gunfire would vary. The roars would be deafening, but then the sound would change. The agents were reloading, and since Tangled would be just as fascinated with human technology as they were, he would depend on them to get the job done quickly.

Sunset tried waving at Twilight and Rainbow. Rainbow smacked Twilight's hand and gestured toward the former Equestrian. "Pop quiz: what is the primary reaction to life-threatening distress?" she called out.

"Aww Sunset, you know I hate pop quizzes!" Rainbow responded.

"Ya ain't bein' graded ya idiot!" Applejack shouted.

Rarity screamed. "SURVIVAL!" she responded.

Sunset smiled. "Flight or Fight! Finally, something good coming out of high school science!"

Twilight laughed. Without warning, she grabbed the camera in Rainbow's hands and raised it toward her like she was taking a selfie. In the reflection, one agent was reloading his magazine. In an act that screamed WRONG IDEA SPARKLE!, Twilight threw the camera toward the agent's foot. He screamed as he dropped his gun.

Sunset smiled as she copied. As the agent close to her turned to the source of the commotion, Sunset rose up, grabbed a steal chair and swung it at the agent. The agent fell, and as another prepped to take a shot at Sunset, Applejack emerged from her spot and tackled another.

In the span of a few seconds, the girls were fighting back against America's hijacked security force. Rainbow charged at one agent and jumped past him. In a move that made Rarity cringe, Rainbow mimicked a wrestling move as she grabbed the agent's head and fell into a classic RKO. Canned cheering was heard as Pinkie began bouncing in the air while dodging bullets.

While the girls defended themselves, Sci-Twi lunged for her ray gun, which laid abandoned in the middle of the room. An agent jumped in front of her with his gun cocked. Sci-Twi braced for the bullet that would end her short-lived friendship with Canterlot's dream team, but it never came. Rarity picked up a steel chair, and against every fiber in her body, she threw it at the agent. The man knocked it away to meet the fists of Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight.

If the hypnosis didn't leave its victims in a fragile state like these Secret Service agents were in, it would've taken a bit more to take one down. The man fell on his back knocked out cold.

At this point, the men gave up using their guns to fight. They couldn't get the upper hand as the girls continued to fight the hypnosis.

Sci-Twi grabbed her camera-ray gun and dashed for the door. "I'm gonna go get this guy!" she announced.

Sunset, who ducked as a man tried to grab her, responded. "I'm going with you!" She flipped the man over using his own momentum.

"Count me in!" Twilight shouted. "Girls?"

Rainbow jumped into Applejack's arms as the farm girl threw her into three agents. "Ah'm good!"

"Ditto!" Rainbow seconded.

Pinkie didn't reply. She skid over to where the men were and began slapping the floor. After the third slap, the sound of a bell rang out as she raised both Rainbow's and Applejack's arms, declaring them Tag Team Champions. Rarity only sighed as a man came dangerously close to grabbing her.

As Rarity ducked, her hair decided to stay in the air for half a second too long. Instead of grabbing what the agent thought was an enemy of the United States, he grabbed a wad of purple curly hair.

The air in the room grew cold as rage began to fill up Rarity. The main pulled up the hair to meet the deadly glare of the young Miss Rarity. "It. Took. Me. 3 HOURS TO DO MY HAIR YOU RUFFIAN!"

Rarity's hands shot forward and clamped down on the agent's neck. He let go of her hair to have her tackle him to the ground. "Onwards you three!" she chipped as she strangled the man.

Sunset and Princess Twilight exchanged looks. "Umm, does she usually..."

Sunset shrugged. "If she did, I'm surprised she isn't in jail most of the time," she said.

"C'mon, let's get this guy," Sci-Twi called out as she burst through the doors. Sunset and Twilight shrugged to each other as they chased after the only human in their little trio of magic trouble.





Tangled paced the room where he had the two presidents. Mind control, while powerful in getting the job done, was very fragile. The shock of knowing what you have done would be enough to snap someone out of the trance. If the girls were taken care of, chances were that the Secret Service would come after him.

He didn't care. He had the President of the United States and the President of Equis in the same room. He had the quickest way to initiate nuclear war on Planet Earth and eradicate every human in existence. He had the ability to destroy the world and complete his mission. A mission he had taken without skipping a beat of his heart.

Well, what was left of it.

Our Lord will pay you in the highest respect upon completing this mission Minds. Do not fail Him, and do not fail me! His sponsor had said in Tartarus.

Tangled was eager. Of course he knew what would happen to him on Earth, but if this Lord his sponsor talked about kept His word, then no amount of currency would compare to his reward. The American President was his ticket to victory.

Sitting on a nearby chair, the hypnotized American President sat with his cell phone in his hands. The Football was too dangerous to carry around, however, one simple command would bring it to him. "Mr. President," Tangled Minds began. "We have a lot to discuss."

The president nodded. "You see, I have lived here for a relatively short amount of time, and in that time, I learn about the many enemies you have. The countries that had refused your help, the members of your own party criticized you for failing to prevent the chaos in the Middle East, and even those who you had been allied with. The world owes you nothing, but you want everything," he whispered into his ear.

President Platinum, who had been previously unconscious, began to awaken. She was wrapped up like a present and on the floor with no idea where she was. The memory of her previous encounter flooded her mind as she began to shake erratically. "Tangled, what the hell?!"

Tangled stomped over to where Platinum was. "SHUT UP! Okay, you failed humanity today!" He shouted.

"Tangled! Untie me this instant, or so help me I'll-"

"Save your breath! Soon enough, you'll cherish every last breath of clean air!" He turned to the American President. "Mr. President, this woman has reason to believe that YOU openly attacked her and as such, declared war on the United States. I think it's time you showed her the true might of the great American Republic!"

Platinum's eyes widened. "Mr. President, don't listen to him! He is controlling you somehow and plans to create World War III! You have to resist!" she pleaded.

Tangled Minds raised his controller in the air. "She is trying to get off the hook and avoid war. Call in the All-Powerful Football and show her what happens when you wage war against America!"

The President hesitated. His hands on the phone and hovering over the call button. Tangled knew what was going on. He had not taken full control of his mind. In a roar that rivaled dragons, he stormed over and smacked the President. "If you're not going to do it, I will!"

With a few taps on the President's phone, he had the Football on delivery. "THIS IS MY WORLD NOW! YOU ALL WILL FEEL WHAT IT IS LIKE TO LIVE IN TARTARUS  FOR OVER A THOUSAND YEARS!"

The sound of boots running toward him drowned his victorious speech. Those were too many boots to be the Secret Service with the Football. He growled and threw the controller to the ground, no longer of any use to him,

"Sunset, I think he's in here!"

"Twilight, wait!"

Tangled smiled. He walked over to the Mayor's desk and slid open a drawer. Brandishing a weapon, he raised it toward the door. The first person to come walking through was going to taste lead.

A shadow formed in the hallway. With the safety off, he readied for the bullet that would guarantee victory. Princess Twilight jogged into view and turned into the room. She locked eyes with Tangled and the gun in his hand. With a final smirk, Tangled pulled the trigger.

Sunset had entered the field of view to watch Tangled open fire. Without a second to think about it, she threw herself in between the gun and Twilight as she embraced her in a hug. The bullets impacted her back several times before the two were sent to the ground. In the chaos, President Platinum began screaming.

As Tangled backed in the light of victory, Sci-Twi was the last to enter the room. With the camera in her hands, she raised it at Tangled. "NOW!" Princess Twilight called from under Sunset's body.

Tangled's smile faded as he watched the camera/ray gun light up. He dropped the gun and let out a roar at the human. Before he could act, Sci-Twi fired her charged up weapon. The energy blast may've well been in slow motion as the wave impacted Tangled Mind's chest. He staggered back as the full force of the blast hit him. At first, nothing happened to the Equestrian.

Until...

Electricity began to surge throughout his body as he began to scream. The lights in the room began to flicker as Tangled's body began to faze. His body shook as arcs of green magic surged into the room, one of them impacting the American President.

Behind him, the wall opened up and presented a portal. The portal was outlined in fire as it led into a wasteland of black and fire. Giant spires were faded in the distance as the field beyond them showed destroyed structures and entire prisons. The cave walls were littered in lights for each prisoner within.

Tangled turned to see it: Tartarus. In his last bid for redemption, he let out his final words to the girls. "HAIL ARMAGE-"

He never finished as the full power of the portal sucked him in and sealing. The last time anyone saw Tangled Minds, he was falling into an abyss never to be seen again.
> Aftermath and Revelations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sci-Twi dropped her EMP gun as she tried to catch her breath. After the Friendship Games, she became familiar with who Sunset was and what was going on. While they answered some of her questions regarding the energy readings around Canterlot High, she still had questions regarding the terminology of the subject. Calling it magic was against every fiber of her scientific mind.

Today, she became a believer. Today, she watched as a man/pony from another dimension tried to take control over everything and destroy the world. Today, she fired her prototype EM Disruptor Ray at an alien threat and watched as he fell into Hell. Today, she watched one of her friends take several bullets to save another.

Sci-Twi's mind had no thought against what had happened today.

"Sunset? Sunset!"

Princess Twilight was now fully aware of what happened. She heard the shots ring out, and since her body was safe from the bullets, that meant that they went somewhere else. A moment of thought confirmed where they were: in Sunset's back. Her heart began racing as she tried waking Sunset up. The former Equestrian simply laid on top of her with her eyes sealed shut.

"SUNSET! SUNSET WAKE UP!"

Sci-Twi ran over to where the Equestrians were. She managed to roll Sunset off of Twilight, who then began to compress her chest. The sound of boots filled the hallway as the remaining members of the Rainbooms entered the room. When they arrived, they saw Twilight trying to wake Sunset up. At this point, she was on the point of screaming.

"What happened?" Applejack asked.

Twilight stopped compressing her chest as she looked up at her friend. Her eyes were filled with tears waiting to fall. "I-I, we were just ge-getting here a-and Tangled, he-he had a gun and..."

Applejack's heart dropped. "I-I was about to be hi-hit and she-she stood in the way. I-I can't believe it." She grabbed Sunset's shoulders and began shaking. "WAKE UP SUNSET!"

Thanks to Twilight's frantic tactics, Sunset's head hit the floor several times. "Oww," she grumbled.

Twilight's heart raced. She stopped shaking Sunset. "S-Sunset?"

"SUNSET ZOMBIE! KILL IT!" Pinkie shrieked.

Sunset's eyes widened. "NO PINKIE!"

"SUNSET!" they all exclaimed. Twilight was the first to hoist her to her feet and squeezed her in a Pinkie Pie Style Hug. The girls all took it as an invitation for a group hug, including Sci-Twi, who somehow got sucked into their team embrace.

Sunset, however, was in pain. She continued to voice her discomfort as the girls tightened their hold on her. "Breathe. Cant. Breathe! Back. Hurts," she muttered.

The girls all laughed as they broke the hug. "How did y'all survive? Where's Tangled?"

Princess Twilight gestured to her human counterpart. "She saw us go down with Tangled fired at us. He was so confused to see two of us or something, because he just stood there and let her fire that machine thing," she explained.

Rarity giggled. "Oh the benefits of having a twin," she exclaimed. "It would be simply fantastic to have a twin sister."

"Ya don't even like the sister ya have now," Applejack argued.

Rarity tossed her hair. "I'll have you know that I care deeply about Sweetie Belle, and from my statement, I wish to rephrase: Oh the benefits of having someone who looks exactly like you to show up when she's least expected," she said.

Both Twilight and Sunset chuckled. "It would get confusing though. Imagine two of everyone," Sunset said.

"I've already seen too many Pinkie Pies. I don't need to imagine it," Twilight said.

"Yeah, but what about Tangled? Did he run like the punk he is?" Rainbow questioned as she punched the air. "I have a boot with his name on it that's just itching for a delivery."

Sci-Twi rubbed the back of her head. "Wellll I may or may not have sent him back to-"

"Excuse me!"

The girls turned to see President Platinum still tied and on the floor. Her face was now bright red and her violet hair in need of a makeover. While she expressed impatience, she was relieved to see Sunset alive and well. Fluttershy walked over and quietly untied the president.

President Platinum was soon able to stand. She rubbed her wrists and straightened her clothes. "Well, I can honestly say that I wasn't expecting anything that happened today. Whoever, or whatever Tangled Minds was, I'm just glad he's gone," she said.

Both Equestrians only gawked at the president. "I have many questions for all of you, however with everything that has happened, I wouldn't be surprised if you girls just wanted to go back home."

Twilight smiled. "Are-are you Platinum?"

The president raised an eyebrow. "Um, well yes that is my name. I'm sorry, but you don't know who I am?"

"Oh no Your Highness, I know exactly who you are," she responded. Twilight bowed. "Princess Platinum, I am honored to be in this room with you."

The room was dead silent, save for Sunset's foolish attempts to mask her laughter. President Platinum only eyed each of the girls, searching for answers. "Umm, I'm sorry but-"

Sunset raised Twilight from her bow. "I'm so sorry Madam President. It's just, where we come from, there is a Princess Platinum as well. She was one of the original founders of our country."

"Whoa, no way!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "So the pony Platinum is even more important that she is?!"

"Rainbow!" Rarity exclaimed. "Surely President Platinum has yet to complete her agenda in office, so to assume that Twilight's version of her is more important than she is is ridiculous.

"But come on! President Platinum and Princess Platinum! The titles alone are waayyy out there," the cyan girl said.

"But Rainbow, titles are only titles. What happened to each of them is what makes them important," Fluttershy said.

"Well yeah, but-"

"Okay, I get it!" President Platinum exclaimed. The girls all turned to the President, who was now trying to clear her head. "Obviously I hit my head on something when I got hit. You girls aren't making any sense here. 'Pony Platinum'? 'Princess'? While Princess Platinum rolls off the tongue rather exquisitely, I'm afraid you girls are delusional."

"We ain't fibbing with ya, if yer thinking that," Applejack remarked.

"Applejack is right, Madam President. You see, everything that you had see and heard is completely and one hundred percent true. There really was..."

President Platinum raised her hand to silence Rarity. "Please, can we start from the beginning while I still have consciousness. I'm about ready to go to sleep for the remainder of my term after today," she said.

Applejack laughed. "Ah'm sure ya wanna do that Missy President, but y'all gotta believe us when we say we're tellin' the truth here. Ah doubt we can come up with a lie from the top of our heads," Applejack remarked.

The president shook her head. "Missy President, we ain't gone let this be easy, but y'all deserve the truth." Sensing no one was going to stop her, Applejack took a deep breath. "We're magic."

President Platinum couldn't hold in her laughter as it echoed through the room. The American President, still dazed from earlier, simply told his mom five more minutes as he began to snore. "Ma-magic? Oh you have to be joking! That is simply the-"

"Truth. That there is the hundred percent truth," Applejack said.

To confirm her claim, Applejack's magic began to kick into high gear. Her body glowed as she sprouted her pony ears and tail. The light shone throughout the room, catching the president's full attention. While it was not what she had expected, Sunset had to approve of Applejack's little plan. It somehow became more believable that they carried magic.

When the glow died down, Sunset turned to the president to see her jaw hitting the floor. Her eyes wide as every fiber of her being declared in unison: WHAT THE HELL?! The former Equestrian smirked. Gotcha.

President Platinum didn't try to compose herself right there. "Wha-wa huh? What on Earth was that?" she muttered.

Princess Twilight crossed her arms. "That is the truth." She extended her hand to the President. "Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I hail from another world comprised of creatures who possess magic and lives in a peaceful society. I am also one of the four reigning Princesses of the land."

Fluttershy smiled as she quietly sealed the doors behind them. With complete privacy, Twilight continued. "And Madam President, we have a lot to discuss."





To say the talks between the two leaders went well was an understatement. At first, President Platinum questioned every bit of information that Twilight gave her. She tried following along, however, what can you expect when someone tells you that they come from a world that is completely impossible by the logical mind?

As the talks went on, even the remaining Rainbooms gained an education, especially on the topics Sunset had not covered with them following the Battle of the Bands. Not even Principal Celestia nor Vice Principal Luna had any idea, although they both agreed that not knowing was better than knowing and getting confused.

As Twilight wrapped up her talks, Applejack's eyes continued to graze Sunset's back, where various bullet holes made their mark. Traces of her orange skin showed underneath, dissolving any thought about her grabbing a bullet proof vest.

"-And with the fall of the Windigos in 24 B.C., the monarchy of the Unicorn, combined with the Pegasi armies and the Republic of the Earth Ponies, established a unified colony that later turned into a thriving kingdom that is now known as...Equestria," Twilight said as she breathed in a big gulp of air.

President Platinum, who had the American President escorted out by an apologetic Secret Service agent, simply nodded in understanding. "I see, and this Tangled Minds is..."

"He is, sorry was, a criminal who had the ability to control the minds of anyone he wishes for a short period of time. He attempted to assassinate a king using his own subjects and soldiers, and later failed. He was locked away in Tartarus for eternity until..."

"Until he escaped?" the President asked. The two Equestrians nodded. "I see now that I had hired a man whose only goal was to bring Hell on Earth, but why would he do that when he could've just done it in your world?"

Sunset and Twilight eyed each other. Sunset spoke. "I-uh, I don't know. It is strange to target a world that he had no knowledge of. We cannot say we know why, or how he got here in the first place."

"Ah say it was durin' them Friendship Games," Applejack weighed in.

The girls agreed. "However he came through here, please know that he wasn't the first and he surely won't be the last one we will see," Sunset said.

President Platinum sighed heavily. "So our world is in danger, and our only hope is you eight? Isn't there someone else who could..."

Twilight shook her head. "Unlike Sunset, I don't live on this side of the dimensional plane. I have to return home soon so I don't cause any confusion. A princess disappearing for an extended period of time is the last thing Equestria needs... again."

"But y'all can count on us to get the job done. That there is a promise," Applejack pledged.

The girls all agreed. Twilight smiled as she threw an arm over Sunset. "And you can count on them, because I do as well. Our worlds, whether we know it or not, have influenced each other in many great ways. Personally, I believe we were once one world before mythology separated us. Unicorns, minotaurs, centaurs and so many more mythological creatures that humanity once believed all exist in our world," Twilight said.

Sunset smiled. "And if anything, I have faith in my most faithful student: Sunset Shimmer."

The former Equestrian quickly spun to meet Twilight's eyes. The former flashed a small smile before returning her gaze to the president. "I do ask that their identities remain confidential. We already had to deal with one human trying to capitalize on magic, and I don't wish to imagine my friends under a microscope," the princess requested.

"Consider it a favor from the Platinum Administration. On behalf of the country of Equis, and of planet Earth, I thank you," Platinum said as she gave a warming smile.

"...whoa."

Everyone turned to Rainbow Dash, who was taken back by her words. "We-we're heroes!"

President Platinum smiled. "Considering I have an application from the Equis Royal Air Force with your name on it Miss Dash, I must agree with you. I don't know how long you all will be serving us with these magical dilemmas, but I can guarantee that your service in our armed forces will certainly be one to be formally recognized. I look forward to hearing from you all, especially you Princess Sparkle."

Twilight smiled. Sci-Twi simply kicked her ray gun. "So, what do we do now? Press will certainly be at the front door demanding an explanation regarding today's events," she said.

"Indeed. While they continue to exercise their right to press, they are certainly hellhounds at best. I can lead them down the right path without giving out any names. As for me? I will give you all this: a Presidential Gold Seal."

President Platinum walked over to the door and knocked three times. The door opened and a Secret Service agent handed her a briefcase. She smiled at the girls as she set it on a table and opened it. "Over the course of the past three months, I silently created the Presidential Gold Seal. Basically, it is a favor from myself to any whom I deem worthy of having such a favor. I carried a few with me just in case I encountered such wonderful specimens like yourselves."

Reaching in, Platinum removed several envelopes. Each envelope had no name on any of them, however, each was sealed with a golden wax seal. The seal of the President of Equis. One by one, she handed each of the Rainbooms an envelope. "I will pass along your names to future generations of the presidency in hopes they continue this new trend and they will have the choice to reward those whom they deem worthy as well. Each envelope is one guaranteed favor from the Equian Government. Taxes, however are not covered."

Rainbow Dash cursed under her breath, earning a chuckle from the surrounding girls. President Platinum giggled as she handed Rainbow hers. "This is my way of thanking you for saving my life. Keep these close just in case. Your country thanks you," she said.

The Rainbooms all thanked her. President Platinum let them out of the mayor's office and towards the rear of the building. Escaping the press, the girls all disappeared into the alleyway and past the press. As they walked away from City Hall, President Platinum approached the steps with the American President in tow.





Later that evening, President Platinum addressed the world during a live press conference. She stood between the Equis flag and the United States flag. Behind her was the official seal of the President of Equis.

Good evening everyone. I will briefly go over the events that had transpired this morning during a summit and press conference between myself and the President of the United States. First off, I wish to thank First Responders, who beat the odds to arrive on scene and save the lives of those caught in the cross fire.

Today, during a summit at precisely 10:03 a.m., the world was held hostage as a small terrorist cell attempted to take the lives of the leaders of the United States and Equis. In a scene that is difficult to say, several armed gunmen opened fire in a room filled with innocent civilians. The mastermind of the terror operation also participated and even directly threatened the U.S. President and myself. Thankfully, the terror cell was quickly defeated.

According to eyewitness accounts, a small team of anti-terrorist specialists were already present in the facility and quickly pacified this act of terrorism. While their names will not be released to the public, their heroic efforts continue to speak for themselves as they detained the mastermind. In custody is the criminal known as Tangled Minds: a former Secretary of Defense to the Platinum Administration. Obviously someone lied on their resume.

Tangled Minds was apprehended and taken off-site to a secure facility where he will be prosecuted for his actions. Along with these heroes, Secret Service agents managed to maintain control of the situation. My thanks go out to the Secret Service as well as these...these Guardians of Harmony. The remaining participants have also been detained and are awaiting their trial.

To these Guardians of Harmony and the United States Secret Service: Equis thanks you. The President and I will continue our summit in the morning, details have already been forwarded to your supervisors. Thank you, and God bless.





A flash of light lit up the mayor's office as the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation swept the room. Even though it was on Equis soil, the American government had a right to investigate the incident that nearly claimed the lives of two world leaders. The United States Government pulled all the stops, including interviewing all the Secret Service agents who were in attendance and, according to President Platinum, assisted in defeating the unknown terrorist cell.

The room was littered with everything they were looking for: the cell phone Tangled Minds used to try to collect the President's Football, the rope that was used to restrain President Platinum, and even the wooden puppet controller that was left without a master. The room was off-limits to the mayor until the investigation was complete.

The Federal photographer finished as he snapped the final piece of evidence in the room: the 8mm semiautomatic pistol that was stolen from the President and used before being abandoned by the suspect, who had yet to appear in any state or federal prison. As the FBI cleared the room, one more individual entered with a steel suitcase. She set the suitcase onto the floor and approached the last remaining agent. Flashing her badge, she was given the details.

"What you heard from President Platinum is what we got here: both presidents were held hostage while the suspect attempted to obtain the Nuclear Football from the President. According to Platinum, agents from this so-called 'Guardians of Harmony' showed up and apprehended the suspect," the agent said.

The woman nodded. From the shadows cast from the room, Ms. Shimmer kneeled by the table. "And here? I'm assuming this is where President Platinum was during the duration of the confrontation, correct?"

The agent nodded. "Let me ask you this: how did these Guardians manage to sneak into City Hall, recognize this terror cell, manage to keep casualties at a zero and apprehend the suspect without anyone seeing them? If you ask me, it sounds like the Boogyman Scenario," Ms. Shimmer said as she removed her glasses.

"I-uh, I don't know how to answer that. Excuse me, but the Boogyman Scenario?"

"It's something of my own invention. Someone creates a false story based around several loose facts that seem impossible while keeping the truth just visible enough for people to see what they want. An agent in the shadows with just enough of a familiar face, for the most part. What I don't understand is how this happened with, not one person, but more. Do we have a list of who entered the conference room?"

The agent shook his head. "As I said, miss, what you see is what you get."

Ms. Shimmer nodded skeptically. She replaced her glasses as she scanned the room. She began pacing the room before stepping on something metal. Peering down, she saw the handgun used by Tangled Minds. She kneeled down once more and held her hand over the barrel. "And this?"

"The President's personal firearm. Prints ID the last known user as Tangled Minds, yet..."

"It's been fired," she said as she slapped on a pair of latex gloves. "May I?"

The agent said nothing, allowing Ms. Shimmer to pick up the gun. She disengaged the magazine and inspected it. "There are five rounds missing," the agent spoke up. "And besides the residue found by forensics, we don't know much more."

"Tangled shot someone multiple times, but there is no sign of any impact, nor blood. Ballistic vest worn by a member of the Guardians?" Ms. Shimmer asked. 

"No evidence for or against ballistic armor," he said. "Besides, we would've found the bullets. There is not one drop of blood anywhere in this room."

Ms. Shimmer inspected the gun as she replaced the magazine. "So, who was Tangled shooting at, and why isn't there any bullets in the room? Interesting..."

Ms. Shimmer turned to the door as she shut her eyes. In front of her was the unknown Guardians taking the bullets while Tangled fired frantically. For some strange reason, she pictured herself standing there doing just that. Ms. Shimmer opened her eyes. "I'm taking this. Any new information regarding the investigation goes directly to me, and if you find Tangled Minds, I want him."

The agent said nothing as Ms. Shimmer placed the firearm in her suitcase along with a blurry photo of Sunset's she-demon form and a broken shard from one of the Dazzlings' gemstones. She sealed the suitcase.

Her next piece of evidence would later change her fate. For the better or for the worst.
> Sunset Shimmer's cinamatic birthday
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	In Sunset's apartment, Twilight and Spike were talking about the encounter with Tangled Minds while Sunset was in the shower. Besides the fact they came back right after facing certain death, school life seemed pretty normal for the Rainbooms. The news hit them hard when President Platinum called them the Guardians of Harmony, however deep down, they were only a band.

As time went on, Twilight made more regular trips to and from Equestria to ensure everything was in order. She even wanted to confirm that Tangled was back in his prison, however, she was restricted from entering the prison. After some time, Twilight managed to finally relax. The magic that was released during the Fall Formal had found a good place to rest, and that was in the company of the Rainbooms. Now all she had to do was make sure Sunset's birthday would be a hit.

May had come and gone, and now summer vacation was upon them. Thanks to some careful planning, the girls were finally able to book a stay at the great Camp Everfree. While the news of the booking excited the original Rainbooms, Sunset was left wondering about the prestigious camp just north of the capital city. Twilight, however, could not attend with the girls due to royal princess duties, giving Sunset a chance to spend time in Equestria instead. Of course, she made her decision to stay on Earth until the opportune time had presented itself.

The former Equestrian  sighed as she allowed the hot water to encase her entire body. Her body was still sore from being shot at and the events that lead up to that moment.  She still didn't understand a lot of things regarding Tangled, but now that he was where he belonged, she didn't care in the slightest way. She was alive and he was...gone.

Not dead, just gone, she thought to herself. She applied the conditioner to her hair as her mind began to wander.

Sunset smiled. Her mind did wander as she realized something very important: at the end of every major event in her time in the human world, something usually happened to her. While she didn't want to, she thought back to the night when she considered taking her own life. She would've succeeded had Rainbow Dash not intervened.

She didn't like that memory; it was a time when her life was at a low point with no way out. She was blessed, however, when Rainbow came into her unlocked apartment to see Sunset about ready to jump from her balcony. Without much of a warning, she was bombarded with the memory of that fateful night. She remembered the smell of her own tears as she wrote her makeshift will and the fear of turning to her ex for a last minute talk.

SUNSET, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! the past Rainbow Dash screamed.

Go away Dash! Let me do this so you don't have to keep your damn promise to Twilight! her past self countered.

She remembered being grabbed by the waist and yanked into her apartment. She remembered having to wrestle Rainbow Dash, kicking and punching the cyan girl just so she could complete what she wanted. She remembered cursing and the crashing of her body into several bits of furniture. She remembered screaming and damning Rainbow for interfering.

Sunset began to shake in the shower. The warm water now turning cold as ice as the memory flooded her mind. She remembered finally being pinned by the cyan girl with said girl with tears in her eyes. Her voice cracked as she cursed at Sunset. Don't you dare do this, Shimmer! Don't you damn do this to me...to all of us! I'm not allowing you to do this! Not you too!

Sunset reached for the faucet handle, shutting off the water. Rainbow's story regarding a loved one's similar brush with destiny continued to rage in her head as she fought back collapsing onto the bathroom floor. The stinging feeling of Rainbow's hand coming across her own face began to creep up on her. She hesitantly touched her cheeks, finding that she had not been slapped.

Just listen to me Sunset: you're going to find someone to make you happy. When you walk out of here tomorrow morning, you're going to change for the better, alright? You're going to be the best you can be and no one is going to make you think any different!

The former Equestrian sighed. She never liked playing that memory, but now that she did, she knew Rainbow's pain and the reason she became who she was today. A knock at the door startled her as she realized she was clenching onto a bottle of body soap. The liquid had been squeezed out and drooled all over the floor. "Sunset, are you okay?" Twilight's voice echoed.

Sunset looked around. She wasn't in a broken living room; she was safe and in her bathroom. "Uh yeah, I'm alright. Sorry, kinda dozed off for a little bit," she responded.

"Well hurry up! Your birthday present awaits you!"

Sunset smiled. "Unless you got A.K. Yearling behind that door, I think I'll take my time," she said through a chuckle.

Silence. She inched toward the door and pressed her ear against it. She heard Twilight mumbling. "So much for that surprise," she muttered.

Spike, who was also in the living room with Twilight, chuckled. "Wait until she sees who'll be at the party later," he said.

Sunset smiled. "I know, I can't believe we got Sapphire Shores to do this. I swear, Rarity has everypony on her contact list," Twilight said.

"YOU GOT SAPPHIRE SHORES TO BE AT MY PARTY?!" Sunset half cheered.

The two Equestrians laughed. "Quit eavesdropping and hurry up!"

Sunset rolled her eyes as she began drying herself off. She stretched and began dressing herself, but now before finding an itch in the middle of her back that demanded attention. Reaching behind her, she began scratching before her fingers grazed something cold.

It was cold and metal-like, and the more she touched it, the more curious she got. She wiped away her bathroom mirror and inspected herself. In the middle of her back, well in several areas on her back, were splotches of metal. The metal appeared as though she was hit with a paintball. She picked at one of the bits of metal, loosing it from its spot.

The metal clanked onto the floor. Sunset bent down and inspected the metal. Her thoughts trained back to when she got gunned down protecting Twilight. Five splotches of metal. I wonder... "Hey Twilight, do you remember how many times you heard gunfire when we entered the mayor's office?"

"Uhh, I think five times. Why?" she responded.

"No reason." She began picking at the remaining bits of metal until she held in her hand five melted bullets. She stashed them into her sink drawer before hooking her bra and blouse. She poked her head out to see Twilight sitting at her desk with her computer on. Twilight was facing Sunset with a giant blush on her face.

The former Equestrian chuckled. "So, what do you think about the Internet?" she asked.

Twilight said nothing for a moment. Finally, she mustered up the courage to speak. "Humans are disgusting," she said.

Welcome to the age of the Internet, where kids worship memes and ogres, she thought to herself. She had to admit: humans were disgusting and very disturbed. The amount of porn accessible on the Internet alone gave her more of a reason to look down on them. Then again, they were informative in how the human body worked...and how it responded to sensual images.

She didn't like talking about it.

She returned to her room to don her boots and jacket. "So, where are we going?" she called from her room.

"It's a surprise," Spike responded. "Hurry up or we'll be late."

"Yes mom," she muttered.

"Oh, that reminds me!" Twilight declared.

Sunset froze. Ever since they created a stronger bond as friends, Sunset Shimmer asked for the biggest favor in the history of favors: find her parents. In the weeks that she had been searching, Twilight had hit dead end after dead end, even with assistance from Princess Celestia.  "I got a lead on your parents. There's a small village just north of the Macintosh Hills. I remember that place since I had to solve a diplomatic dispute between the dragons and the pony settlers there. The village has been known to house ponies who had been searching for an off-the-grid living environment. It is worth a look," she said.

Sunset found herself walking to the living room as she processed the information. "S-so you mean..."

"Your parents could very well be living somewhere in the south. Even if they aren't there anymore, somepony would've heard about where they would be going. Princess Celestia is helping me on this as well as somepony Starlight is looking for. I will have some more concrete information as soon as I get back."

Sunset smiled as she fought back tears. "Th-thank you Twilight. I-I really can't..."

Twilight placed her hands on Sunset. The former Equestrian was suddenly enveloped in Twilight's eyes. "You don't have to say anything. I was hoping I'd have a more solid lead on them in time for your party, but I..."

Sunset didn't give her a reason to continue as she wrapped her in a great and warm hug. She buried her head into Twilight's shoulder, earning a sympathetic reaction. She returned the hug, urging Spike to do the same. The former dragon nuzzled onto Sunset's leg in his way to comfort "Happy 25th birthday Sunset. Well, 25 at home and...how old here again?"

"17. Technically, if I made an ID here that said I'm 25, it'd be correct," she said through a chuckle.

"Please don't," Twilight said through a warming smile.

Sunset stuck her tongue out, earning a laugh from Twilight. Spike sighed. "Wait til I get back to Equestria before you two start f-"

"SPIKE!" Sunset and Twilight screamed. Both faces were burning red.

Spike chuckled. "Well, would you look at the time, let's get going. Applejack will drive us to that...place," he said.

"Are you sure you don't want to join us?" Twilight asked.

"Nah, besides someone has to organize the party. Amethyst already agreed to help with the planning with Pinkie and Minuette. I'll see you tomorrow, so don't get locked in a room or anything," he joked.

The girls laughed. A knock came from her front door in the form of a jingle. "Come in!' Twilight chimed.

Applejack walked into the room with a pointed party hat custom made with a unicorn horn coming out of the base. The girls burst into laughter seeing the hat. Instead of sporting her usual white and green top with skirt, Applejack wore a red flannel shirt and vest with dark blue jeans. "Y'all ready?"  she asked.

Sunset nodded. "So, where are we going anyway?" she asked.

Applejack and Twilight both eyed each other and smiled. Sunset sensed a joke between them, and before she could ask, they presented her with the first bit of her birthday present. Sunset began laughing before realizing that it was meant for her.

Ponyfeathers...





Sunset was able to see up until they dropped Spike off at the mirror, then she had no choice but to don the blindfold. Along the way, they picked up Sci-Twi and her Spike before continuing onward. While both Twilights talked in the back seat and with herself in the front with Applejack, Sunset began daydreaming. Her random daydreaming brought about a startling truth: this was her first birthday party in years.

The former Equestrian smiled. Her love for her friends was always strong through the thick and thin throughout the past year. She started the year as Canterlot's Queen Bee, but now she was a part of the system with the very people she used to torment AND held a renewed relationship with the princesses back in Equestria.

If she could measure her year in currency, Sunset Shimmer was the wealthiest girl in the world with her friends all together. None of the years of tormenting the girls compared to how she felt. She was truly blessed.

All thanks to Twilight, she thought.

Sunset hoped no one was looking at her, because she felt herself blush. She didn't dive further into her thoughts because Applejack slammed hard on the breaks. "Aw hell. Hey, Twi, how long until it starts?" Applejack called out.

A moment of silence in the back. "We still got time. What happened here; someone get a flat tire?" one Twilight asked.

"How can their tires be flat?" another, presumably the Equestrian Twilight, asked.

"They're made of rubber and filled with pressurized air. If something happened to a car's tire, they can literally blow up," Sci-Twi explained.

Twilight exclaimed in understanding. The humans in the truck (Sunset included) all laughed. Applejack sighed as she cursed under her breath. She navigated through the traffic in front of them to reach their destination, all while the two Twilights talked in the back. Not wanting to listen in on their plans of building a teleportation device, Applejack switched on her radio and hummed along with the music.

Eventually, the truck came to a sudden stop. The sound of seatbelts unbuckling (with some cursing from Twilight since she still had not gotten used to the buckle), confirming they had arrived. "Y'all keep that there blindfold on ya, alrigh'?"

Sunset nodded. Sunset was suddenly hit with a palm on her back. "You're one lucky pony girl, you know that?"

The former Equestrian chuckled. "Why RD, is my present cooler than you?"

"Actually, yeah it is," Rainbow responded.

Sunset chuckled. "Alrighty then, on three. One..."

"THREE!" Pinkie shouted as she ripped the blindfold from Sunset's head. She was suddenly blasted by the light from the Sun, and as her eyesight began to adapt, Rarity had already began scolding the party planner. Meanwhile, Rainbow was laughing and exclaiming in pain. The pain being caused by Fluttershy, who held Sci-Twi's Spike in her bag.

Finally, Sunset was able to see. She immediately recognized that she was at a movie theater in the downtown area. The water fountain played host to many teenagers whom had decided to spend their day there as well. Raven from White Tail City was there with her mom, and even waved at the fashionista upon recognizing her. Her mom, on the other hand, simply scolded her.

Sunset's eyes finally grabbed focus of what was playing. Her heart skipped a beat as she spun around to her friends, who were all wearing the custom unicorn party hats. Rainbow's hand was nearly pressed into her face, and in the clutches of her cyan grip were two tickets for the new Daring Do movie.

"I-I can't believe it! You seriously got tickets for the Daring Do movie?!" she exclaimed.

"We all have tickets too darling," Rarity said as everyone flashed her their own tickets for the movie. "Call it a favor from Madam President Platinum for today."

Sunset's heart dropped. Someone already used their Presidential Seal. Scanning her group of friends, however, revealed none of them had used it. "Ya won't believe it, but she done and helped us with this on the house. We ain't even gotta use our own President papers or nothin'," Applejack said. "Perfect timin' too since it was sold out today."

Sunset was still frozen for a moment. With speed of lightning, she lunged for the extra ticket in Rainbow's hand and began giggling much not like herself. For a moment, Twilight thought she heard her whinny. "The Daring Do movie?! I can't believe it. I heard A.K. Yearling personally supervised the filming for authenticity," Sunset said as she tried to suppress her giggles.

"Ya got that right champ!" Rainbow burst out. "A.K. Yearling proudly presents, not just another movie copied from a book, but a brand new Daring Do adventure never been read before! She's got a whole new series following Daring Do's newest adventures with more kick butt and more treasure hunting with almost no love interest."

"Personally I would think adding a love interest into the series would make the entire plot more spicy and appeal to other readers, but that's just me," Rarity quirked.

"It is only ya," Applejack mumbled.

Pinkie was jumping in her place. "Aw come on, come on! The movie's about to start!" she exclaimed.

"Um, Pinkie, the previews are only about to start. The actual movie doesn't start for another few more minutes," Fluttershy said.

Pinkie sighed before rounding up all the girls and began pushing. "Less talking, more MOVING!" she shrieked as they were all pushed past the ticket collector and security. They moved past the snack bar and immediately into the room where the movie was being played. With the girls all in the room, Pinkie halted her action before waving a small baggie of coins at them before disappearing. Checking their pockets, the girls all realized that Pinkie picked them clean.

Fluttershy was right about the previews, but that hardly mattered once the lights dimmed down. Pinkie had returned with everyone's food and drink as they all settled down. In the order of seating, there were:

Rarity.

Applejack.

Sci-Twi (Spike in the bag on her lap)

Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash (being a fan girl and wearing a safari hat worn by the character)

Pinkie Pie (with boxes filled with popcorn being passed out to everyone in the aisle)

Sunset Shimmer.

Twilight Sparkle.

Sunset smiled as she placed the box of popcorn in between herself and Twilight. As the movie progressed and laughs and cheers exchanged by everyone in the theater, Sunset couldn't help but smile throughout the movie. Her friends were all there to help her celebrate her birthday, she was close to having her parents back, and she was about to return to Equestria for a pony Pinkie Pie style party.

She reached for some popcorn in her box. Instead of grabbing the buttery treat, her hand grazed another. Looking up, her eyes locked with Twilight's, and in the dark room, they could see each other's blush. Sunset retracted her hand slightly before finding her intended target and popping the treat into her mouth. She prayed to whatever god was listening that no one else saw that.

On the opposite side of the aisle, Rarity smiled as her attention shifted from Sunset's predicament to the movie. She was going to have a chat with her later.

A chat that could bear more fruit than the last one.
> Goodnight...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"YAHTZEE!" Pinkie shouted as the dice hit the board.

"Pinkie, we're playing Monopoly," Rarity said.

Pinkie snorted as she picked up the die. "I know, and if we had more dice and we were, I would've won," she said. She juggled the dice and let them loose, earning her the winning roll. Landing on her own property (Twilight's version of the game included Equestrian landmarks and she somehow failed to buy her castle), Pinkie sealed Sunset's fate.

The former Equestrian sighed as she took the dice. At least she had Twilight's Crown, mortgaged of course, but she was without any money. Whether she landed in Tartarus or on a property, she had lost the game. She rolled the dice and let them go, landing her on another of Pinkie's properties: Joe's Donuts. Sunset sighed as she handed over everything she had. "It's about time we finished," she muttered.

Twilight, seeing the deed to her crown, snatched it from Sunset's hand. "You owe me a crown," she said.

Everyone in the room laughed. After the movie had ended, the girls attended to a little get together that Flash had put together for his ex. In good spirits, the party went off without a hit, even when Trixie came by with her magic show. While she knew she could trump Trixie in magic, Twilight kept her mouth shut and marveled at what humans could do to mimic magic.

With the party ending, Pinkie managed to convince her parents to host a sleepover/birthday party at her house. With the parents going out with their girls to a dinner, Pinkie had the whole place to herself and the girls for several hours. Rarity, Sunset, Pinkie and both Twilights were just wrapping up Monopoly: Equestria Edition while Applejack and Rainbow went 1-on-1 on the game of their choice. Now, they were in a free-for-all on a former edition of Call of Duty, a game Rarity protested against.

Twilight smiled as she helped clean up. Her original mission was to collect data from the human world, and what she got out of it was even better: a stolen college textbook on world history (she was fascinated on the Crusades, Eastern and Western Roman Empires, fall of the great cities of Rome and Constantinople and so many incredible and horrible things), a tablet she was going to reverse engineer at home AND an actual mission regarding an escaped inmate.

"So," Sunset said as she put the Monopoly box in Twilight's bag. "What do we do now?"

"Never Have I Ever?" Rainbow suggested.

"HELL NO!" Everyone in the room responded, earning a chuckle from the cyan girl.

An explosion on the TV shocked Rainbow as Applejack won the last match. "Oh c'mon! I didn't even see you use that!" Rainbow shrieked. "What was that?!"

Applejack chuckled. "Y'all gotta use more than just them grenades, Dash. Gotta love 'em Claymores," she said as she allowed the killcam to play on the screen. Applejack had put a Claymore down behind  a corner because Rainbow was after her with a knife. Once Rainbow rounded the corner, all that was seen was a bright explosion followed by Rainbow's soldier falling on his back. Applejack shut off the console as they wrapped up the controllers. "Ah'm more in the mood to sleep, ya know?"

Rarity stretched as she let out a yawn. "I agree. Today seemed like it would never end. A little bit of shut eye is just what the doctor ordered."

Rainbow shut off the TV as everyone grabbed their sleeping bags. Pinkie was just rolling her bag out when she suddenly froze in place. "WAAIITT!" she screamed.

Everyone froze. Pinkie turned to Sunset, who was missing something very important. "What about the MMMM?" she asked.

"The MMMM?" Sunset questioned.

"Mmm-hmm," Pinkie muttered. She grabbed Twilight by the hand and raced out of her room with speed of lightning. The girls all eyed each other with no knowledge of what Pinkie had planned. Rainbow smacked Applejack in the arm while Fluttershy yanked on her ear. Rainbow turned to her childhood friend and chuckled nervously while Fluttershy shook her head.

The bedroom door burst open as Pinkie began backing in. Sunset laughed as she and Twilight brought in the MMMM, the Marzipan Mascarpone Merigune Madness. With some modifications to the original recipe making it shorter than the original the sight of the cake made everyone's mouths water. With Sunset's birthday coming up, pony Pinkie Pie agreed to share the recipe with her human counterpart while working on a top secret cake for the pony.

Applejack reached under Pinkie's bed and pulled out a foldable table. Fluttershy opened Pinkie's drawer to reveal a set of paper plates and cups. "FOR SHE'S	A JOLLY GOOD PONY! FOR SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD PONY!" they all sang out. "FOR SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD POOONNNNYYY! WHINNY, WHINNY, WHINNY!"

Sunset burst into laughter. The girls set the cake onto the table. In Pinkie's back pocket was a box of matches and a plastic knife. The cake was already decorated with candles (well, apples with fake stems to act like candles), and with the box, Pinkie struck a match and lit the apples up. Sunset smiled as she blew out the apples, earning applause from everything present.

The night lasted a lot longer than anticipated. With cake and cider in hand, Pinkie switched on her Netflix and let the girls enjoy the night. One taste of the MMMM was enough to send everyone's taste buds on a magical journey.

No pun intended.

Eventually, the cake was retired to the kitchen as everyone finally felt sleepy. With their sleeping bags in place, the girls finally said their goodnights and their goodbyes to Twilight. She and Sunset were returning to Equestria in the morning, and later that night, Sunset would return to kick start her summer vacation.





3:00 a.m.

Sunset's eyes slowly opened. Her teal eyes scanned the room, confirming where she was. She was still on Earth, yet she felt the cold feeling of solidarity. She slowly rose up and tiptoed out of the room, but not before reaching for her backpack with her clothes. Looking back at her human friends, she felt a pang of guilt. Her bag felt heavier than usual.

As she exited the room, Twilight shifted in her sleeping bag. The room was colder for some odd reason. She woke up to see Sunset exiting the room. She sighed as she rose up, ignoring the small cloud that exited her mouth.

Sunset tossed her bag onto the living room couch. Her heart was pumping as she paced the room. She reached for her bag and ripped it open. Inside were her jeans and blouse as well as a plastic baggie filled with her melted bullets. Beneath the baggie was the piece of paper that contained the Fail-Safe spell. That one spell would be the end of her time as a human.

Following the Battle of the Bands, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna presented Sunset with the Fail-Safe spell: a one-time only spell that would open a portal to Equestria. The spell, however, would come with a price. The spell would lock onto whatever magic it could find on the planet that belonged to Equestria and return it all, including residents and magical artifacts. The spell would even absorb the power of the magic portal and the affects of Twilight's Element on the Rainbooms.

Ever since she was given the spell, she had nightmares about her decisions to use it or not. She could very well elect to stay here and utilize the spell, but she would never return to Equestria. She would live life as a human and ultimately die a human...or she could live life as a pony reborn. Either way, she would have to say goodbye to someone forever.

Sunset studied the spell in her hands. She had the magic, and while she swore she would decide on her graduation, there were days where she wanted to return to Equestria. Every day, she would memorize the spell in her head and catch herself from saying it. Now with Tartarus escapees running free on the planet, the urge to send them all back in one great big spell was almost overpowering.

You know, they made your cell next to mine, Tangled had whispered into her ear. I hope you like it.

Sunset shivered in her place. She folded the spell and put it back in her bag. She removed the baggie of the melted bullets and studied them. Besides the bullets being melted bits of lead and copper, she couldn't figure out why they all left bruises that she dared not show to the rest of the girls, including...

"Sunset?"

The former Equestrian squeaked as she spun around with the baggie behind her bag. Standing in front of her was Twilight Sparkle with a cup of water in her hand. "What's going on?"

Sunset chuckled. "Oh, uh nothing really. I uh, I was just a little restless." She faked a yawn. "I think I'm just going to-"

Twilight extended a hand toward her student. Sunset sighed as she placed the baggie on her hand. The princess set the cup down and ripped it open. She raised up one of the melted bullets to the light coming from the street. "A new experiment?" she asked.

Sunset shook her head. "I extracted those from my back. They were already melted, almost like they exploded upon impact."

Twilight looked up, her eyes meeting Sunset's. In her mind, Sunset was growing concerned by her silence. "I discovered them when I was getting out of the shower this afternoon. I have no explanation as to how they got there or what happened," she continued. "Any ideas, especially since both metals found in the bullets are identical to Equestria?"

The princess of friendship extracted the remaining bits of metal. "Soo," she started as she inspected the metal. "The melting point of copper alone should near 2000 degrees Celsius, however, the combined temperature of all the metals, including the lead found in it must be greater. I'd say, combined, we're looking at melting a bullet in around 3000 degrees. I can imagine a bullet is already hot when it's fired, correct?"

Sunset nodded. "So for a bullet to hit you and melt on impact, your skin alone should've exceeded 4000 degrees Celsius, however, your clothes remained undamaged. For your skin to burn that hot to melt a bullet, the heat alone should've killed you, yet here you stand. Incredible," Twilight said. "But why did you hide it from me?"

Her student shrugged. "I think I was just unsure about what happened myself. I remember being hit by them, but I was knocked out before I could say anything," she said. "When I removed them, I had the idea that they melted on my skin, but I didn't feel anything on my back when we were still there. I guess I was looking for answers myself, and couldn't bring myself to present a problem when even I don't know what happened."

"Hmm, it must've been the remaining energy that was used in the EM Disruptor the other me fired. We must've caught some of that energy, and since we're both mages in Equestria, it had a greater impact on us than someone like Applejack or Fluttershy," Twilight theorized.

"It could be that, but even a small pulse in this world can disrupt major electrical systems. Why was I knocked out while you remained conscious?" Sunset asked.

Twilight paused in thought. She replayed the last 12 hours before they went up against Tangled Minds. She snapped as she found the connection. "It could very well be that the Disruptor canceled out the magic that we absorbed when the EM Tracker was destroyed. Between the both of us, I used no magic while you must've used some to save your own life. The magic must've been purged from me while it literally drained you of your reserve power in this world. It'd be best if I can correctly measure the amount of magic you still have after that...Friendship Games disaster," she suggested. Already her mind began tinkering with various scenarios. 

Sunset smiled. "I'm sure we can figure something out. I have some notes regarding the girls' magical arsenals when I was trying to determine how they 'ponied up' with magic. I concluded that they were able to channel their inner magic by embracing what makes them unique. Rarity designing countless costumes purely out of generosity sparked the first pony up," she said. "I almost dismissed the theory because I don't represent an Element in Equstria."

"Welll, when you think about it, you do," Twilight said.

"Oh?" Sunset asked, now more curious than before about magic.

"From what I remember, you put on my crown/Element of Harmony. Since my Element, created by the union of the others Elements, recognized that you separated them and disagreed with your aura, it was forced to turn dark to punish you. Since we reversed the power on you, the Element must've set up a base formula into your biology, connecting you with its power to a small degree. Your continued, and I'm being honest here, lack of self-confidence during the Battle of the Bands was influenced by that power," Twilight said.

"When you turned things around at the end of the Battle and you rose up against us, the remaining part of my Element connected with your aura and granted you the ability to harness that magic. You became a part of my Element for a short amount of time until the Games, and then..."

Twilight paused as she looked at Sunset. The gears stopped turning as she came to one conclusion, but it was too much to be an accurate one. She had to continue her research into the history of the Elements and where they came from, but now was not the time. "I need time to sort this one out. I don't have an answer," she lied.

Twilight already had an answer: Sunset created a new Element from hers. Although impossible, it had been debated by the great mages of pre-Equestria, and even during the early years of Celestia's reign. The Elements were first born, however, theory suggested that they could be built from other Elements. Her Element changed in Sunset, creating and proving what other ponies in the past theorized: Elements can be harvested from vessels and other Elements. She was going to have to talk with Princess Celestia immediately.

"Right, I understand." Sunset chuckled. "This is probably something you've never had to think about back in Equestria, huh?"

Twilight shook her head. Sunset turned to the clock, which advised them that it was getting late. They would have to leave anyway for a Pinkie-style Pony Party (Twilight didn't mention Cheese Sandwich in the party invitation because she wanted to see how that would resonate with Sunset). Twilight was about to go back to sleep when her stomach growled like a wild beast.

The former Equestrian chuckled lightly. "Hungry?"

Twilight nodded. "These bodies burn through energy very quick," she motioned.

"I hear ya. I had to remember by eating habits in Equestria seriously differ here. Nearly drained a fast-food joint of its breakfast menu one time because of how hungry I was," Sunset said.

They both laughed quietly as Sunset's stomach began growling. Sunset sighed. "I can go get my boots and we can go look for some places that are open this early. If not, I know a donut place that's open that we can go to instead," she suggested.

"That'll be good. I can wait here," Twilight said.

Sunset smiled as she crept into the hallway and up the stairs. She slipped into Pinkie's bedroom and searched frantically for her boots. She nearly grabbed Applejack's before she realized her boots weren't faux leather. She continued groping the room for her boots before nearly exclaiming in surprise. She definitely didn't grab her boots.

Sunset silently apologized to Fluttershy as she continued searching. Her hands finally grazed her boots as she attempted to put them on. As she slipped one on, she picked up a shuffling behind her. Turning around, her eyes locked onto Rarity's, who had just gotten up due to the noise. She rubbed her eyes as her blindfold hung from her neck. "Sunset, what are you doing? It's too early for this," she whispered.

The flame-haired girl chuckled nervously. She leaned up against the wall as she slipped her other boot on. "Sorry Rare, you can go back to sleep now," she said.

The fashionista waved it off. "Too late, I'm already up. What are you up to?"

Sunset sighed. "I was just looking for my boots since I'm heading out with Twilight for-"

"Oh you're leaving with her already?" she nearly shouted. "I must say, it seems that you've wanted some alone time with her ever since we got back from the movies."

Sunset mocked laughter. "Oh hush. We're going for breakfast and I'll be bringing some donuts if you guys want any," she said.

"A breakfast date? How wonderful," Rarity nearly cheered.

Sunset sighed. Every word coming out of her mouth was only one mistake after another. "Can you stop shipping me and Twilight together already? You have no evidence in any way that I'm in love with her!" she nearly shouted.

"Oh puh-leeze honey, I don't need evidence. I've seen the way you look at her, and when you talk about her whenever she writes in your journal. You never let us anywhere near your book, especially when she's writing a letter to all of us," Rarity reasoned. "You nearly bit some poor man's head off when he touched your book."

"I had a very good reason for that, just in case you forgot," Sunset growled.

"And there was the movies. I saw you two accidentally brush hands. When Twilight turned away, I saw you look at her and even moved to grasp her hand again. You stammer when you talk about her to me and you keep using code phrases when we ask what she's up to. You've even taken a week off and had taken your journal home a few months ago," Rarity finished. "Face it, Sunset, you're in love."

Sunset began sweating. "Well, for the uh, the uh week off, you know I have that...problem regarding my race's yearly heat cycles. The code phrases are changing Equestrian lingo to human since you continue to pester me whenever I saw 'anypony'. As for the stammering, I uh..."

"No excuse?" Rarity guessed.

"No, of course I do. Oh, wait I mean, uhh...well uh."

Rarity raised an eyebrow. Sunset sighed as she finally hung her head in defeat. "Please don't tell anyone. I'm not ready to begin talking about this to the rest of the girls," she muttered.

Rarity sighed as she wrapped an arm around her friend. "There there darling. I promise I won't tell a soul," she said.

Sunset completed the hug. Rarity could feel her shaking in her arms. "Look darling, we don't mean to continue hounding you like we do, but sometimes that's the price to pay for having friends. Friends are made to tease one another. It is all in good fun, while some of us do get a little...carried away," Rarity explained.

"No, it isn't that." She broke the hug. "Imagine being in my situation. Last year, I ruled the school until Twilight stepped in and brought me down. She saved me from making the biggest mistake of my life by getting revenge. She even forgave me for trying to kill her faster than any of you girls. I worked at Applejack's farm, your boutique, Fluttershy's Mobile Pet Wash, and even Rainbow's judo classes just to earn your trust. Her? I had to do nothing. She forgave a miserable she-demon."

"Oh honey..."

"And with the Battle of the Bands, I should be okay now with what I'm feeling, but when you girls needed me, I felt...whole. I rose with you girls and gained incredible magic. I was finally one of you, and I owed it all to..."

"Twilight?" Rarity continued.

Sunset nodded. "Yeah, we talked and she would usually come over for lunch. She'd usually come alone, ya know? I'd have a free period or it's the weekend and she'd come for lunch by herself. We'd talk and tell jokes and everything." She began pacing the room. "But then with the Friendship Games and all the chaos, a part of me wanted to solve this problem all on my own. I was almost glad when she didn't respond because I thought I could do this and prove how much I had really changed. If the other Twilight had not gone crazy, I would've never known how to deal with magic here."

Close to the window, Applejack's ear twitched. She opened her eyes just enough and quietly listened. "I owe Twilight everything, including my life. Imagine being picked up from the abyss from someone you tortured relentlessly. I sought to hurt Twilight back then, and for her to turn around and forgive me right out of the gate, I just-"

Sunset sighed. Rarity had not said anything, instead hoping for her to tell the truth. "She forgave me right away when no one else did. Princess Celestia forgave me, even when she claims it wasn't my fault that I left. You girls taught me humility, but Twilight? She became my idol. She is the result of hard work and perseverance. She is the definition of progression and the example of what happens when you work hard towards a goal. I-I guess..."

Rarity came to comfort her friend. "There there Sunset. It's all okay. Everything will be alr-"

"No."

Rarity was stunned. "Everything isn't alright and it won't be alright. You wanna know why? Because it's true. I do have a crush on Twilight. I do have feelings for her, and that's the bad thing," Sunset nearly exclaimed.

The fiery-haired teen took in a deep breath. "I don't know if I should even have these feelings in the first place. She's...I don't know. I feel like I can trust her on a lot of topics, and I'm glad we aren't always face to face when we talk about...a lot of things. Sometimes, even at the movie theater, I wish I would've done something to push these feelings out of me. Twilight likes Flash, I know that. I feel like I'm not supposed to have these feelings, yet she's all I can think about sometimes. No Flash, no worrying of taboo in this world, no worrying about long-distance relationships and no worrying about her shutting me down. I forget all that, and when I do remember them, all I can do is..."

"Sunset," Rarity hissed as she grabbed her shoulders. "Stop going on like this. Stop thinking that you shouldn't have feelings of love for another person, especially Twilight."

"But..."

"Oh no, no butts. As a friend, I can see you are attracted to her, and you're happy when you are. Thinking that you're not good enough, or thinking about taboos in this world are ridiculous. You know as well as I that Equis sees same-sex relationships as nothing different from heterosexual relationships, and personally, I believe love is love. You, Sunset Shimmer, have been blessed because you know a fantastic soul who saved you from the darkness, taught you about friendship, and even took time out of her busy schedules to come and have lunch with you. She even somehow made time to be here," Rarity said. Her chest began filling up as she listened to herself.

"You are the luckiest girl on two dimensions because she thinks you are so important that she will drop everything to talk to you. You are important to her as she is to you." She paused. Sunset was actually listening to her words. "Be the best you can be, but still be you. Twilight likes that about you: you're not afraid to be a bit of a bad girl every once and a while. You rubbed it in her face when you bought her Crown in Monopoly and she laughed. You continue being you, and I guarantee that she will show the same feelings toward you. Just remember that when you feel the time is right, make the first move. If you wait too long, someone else may snatch her up," Rarity finished. She brushed off Sunset's shoulders and wiped away the tears that Sunset began accumulating. 

Sunset smiled. "Th-thanks Rare."

"Think nothing of it, now go. You have a breakfast date to go on and we will talk more when you get back. We still have Catalina Island for your birthday celebration as well as something I have personally planned for the two of us."

Sunset nodded as she hugged Rarity. She quietly exited the room and down the stairs to her crush. Rarity silently tiptoed to the window, where Sunset and Twilight were getting in her car. The fiery-haired girl glanced up to see the fashionista waving at her. As quietly as she could, Sunset started the car and drove off.

Rarity yawned as she moved back to her sleeping bag. She slipped in and shut her eyes, ready to dream of her bright future once more.

Except, she didn't get bright.

In the far corner of the room, a dark shadow began to take form. Raised about six feet high, the shadow began to grow its human-like features. Its arms extended to its hands, which bore razor-sharp claws. Its skinny legs melted into the shadow on the floor. Its torso was lean but muscular, which matched perfectly with its featureless head.

The creature bore bed hair: short and presumably curly hair with no other features. The creature flashed a wicked grin across its face with teeth seemly drenched in red. Its eyes...its horrible and empty wide eyes. The creature's eyes held nothing within them, except pain. Extreme pain.

As Rarity lulled herself to sleep, the creature stepped from the corner. It raised its clawed hand and dragged it across the wallpaper in Pinkie's room, tearing it apart. In the background, the sound of maniacal laughter echoed through the room, yet no one made a sound. The creature's shadowy body began to smoke as it lunged into the air and toward Rarity's sleeping form.

It wasn't until some time later that someone remembered Rarity screaming in pure terror. It wouldn't be until much later that Rarity realized just how much danger she, and everyone else was in.  
> ...my prey
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	If you asked around Equestria, or Earth or any dimension, you'd learn of one prison. The greatest prison in the history of the Multiverse has been and always will be Tartarus. Gods, demigods, mortals and monsters shared the same status within this horrendous prison. The further in you go into Tartarus, the worst criminals would find and the tortures they would be experiencing.

Humans called Tartarus Hell or Hades. Equestrians call it a superprison. Gods call it...

Well, one god calls it home.

Deep in the center of the never-ending cave, a medieval castle built of solid red stone stood proud for all to see. Pushing past bedrock and billions of different prisons, the castle served as a reminder that someone powerful lived there. The towers were decorated with etchings in the brick, detailing the destruction of various worlds and dimensions. Along with images of destruction, there were images of monsters new and old roaming unknown countries.

In the throne room in the center of the castle, a lone humanoid sat next to a stone fountain. Instead of water, the fountain spewed a liquid that almost resembled the night sky. Stars, planets and galaxies could be seen from the water in the basin below. The humanoid was wearing a bright red suit with slicked black hair. In his hand was a lit cigarette. As it kept burning, the world around him continued to heat up.

The door nearby swung open, revealing two individuals. One was wearing a blue suit with a wool bag over his face. The other wore a leather coat and army boots. His head had no face, instead it was a bare skull with a gold crown on top of it. Upon entering the room, the skull man threw the bagged man into the center of the room and proceeded to exit.

The man on the throne straightened in his seat. "KRAOS! Stay where you are!" he commanded.

The skull  man, Kraos, stopped in his tracks and faced the red suited man. He moved to the blue suited man and forcibly removed the bag, revealing the face of Tangled Minds. His face bruised and cut in various places. The one thing he was missing was his puppet controller, now useless in the human world.

The man on the throne rose up. "I will deal with you later, Kraos," he said.

"I understand, My Lord," he responded.

Tangled looked back at Kraos, his sponsor, and back at the man on the throne. His eyes widened in fear. "Yo-you're hi-"

"SILENCE!" the man boomed.

Tangled bowed his head. The man tossed his cigarette into the cosmic fountain before pacing before Tangled. "So, you took a deal by my brother to  destroy planet Earth to fulfill the status quo. In exchange for your service, you would be promised a seat in my Pantheon, correct?" the man asked.

Tangled nodded, his eyes only following the shoes. "You have also been sentenced to Tartarus for manipulating the mortal population of three settlements and attempted to kill King Cosmos and assume the throne for yourself. While there were no innocent casualties, you were found guilty and banished here for..." the man spawned a scroll and unrolled it. "10 lifetime sentences? Wow, I must say that this is surprising. I was hoping for at least double."

Tangled smiled. It was his original plan to have innocent casualties so he could appeal to the masses that alicorns were more dangerous as rulers than any other species. The man noticed his smug look and calmly rolled up the scroll. Kraos began to sweat, which was impossible since he had no sweat glands. "So, let me ask you something, Mr. Minds..."

The man began swinging the scroll at Tangled's head. The loud clanks echoed through the castle walls, making Kraos flinch as the gold scroll continued to batter his head. "WHY. WOULD. I. EVER. GIVE. A FAILED CRIMINAL. GODHOOD?!" 

Tangled fell to the ground as the man delivered the final blow. "Even if you succeeded, your resume is not at all impressive! I can do the exact same kind of magic with half a percent of my power and still achieve victory! You are owed NOTHING!" the man boomed.

Tangled began shaking. "M-my Lord, p-p-p-please hear me out. I only wanted to spread your glory and have all fear your name. I do not wish godhood when watching Your Majesty fulfill what needs to be is more of a reward. Humans now fear your inevitable destruction, My Lord. I have done what ne-"

The man raised a hand to silence him. He eyed Kraos, how had said nothing since he was busy juggling his head and his crown with a live grenade. The grenade, however, would not explode in his hand. "The experiment, however angry I am that you both failed your missions, is successful," the man said as his attention shifted from his brother to Tangled. "The human population now fears my power, and my brother's disciples will continue to cause chaos in my name. I must say, this outcome was more profitable that I thought."

Tangled smiled. The red man, instead of praising Tangled,  snapped his fingers. The ground around the Equestrian went ablaze, creating the Omega symbol. Tangled began panicking as the flames surrounded him.  The man reached into his jacket pocket and removed a silver case. He opened it and removed a fresh cigarette. He stuck it in the fire as he began to smoke. "Your contribution is noted, Tangled Minds. You bravely stood against humans AND the Equestrian princess, Twilight Sparkle. You have sparked fear into their hearts while also completing your first magic spell in over a thousand years," he said.

The man thrust his hand out, conducting a spell on Tangled. The Equestrian groaned in pain as his bones began to shrink as his hands and feet turned into hooves. His suit melted, instead turning into his blue coat. Kraos reattached his head to see a blue unicorn in the Omega. His cutie mark was his puppet controller.

Tangled wearily looked upon his Lord in fear. "You proved my theory a success, but you failed in your mission. You are a disgrace to this court, Tangled Minds. You are not worthy to stand in the court of Armageddon. Now, BEGONE!"

Changing the spell, the man, Armageddon, reached into the base of Tangled Minds' horn. The unicorn screamed in pain as his horn began to crack. A blue light began emit from the base as Kraos looked on in horror. Tangled's screams faded as the base of the horn erupted in magical energy. Inside the base was his Magic Core. The energy backfire was enough to silence Tangled for good.

Armageddon reached in and grabbed the Magic Core while Kraos looked down at Tangled's lifeless body. A river of a blue liquid leaked out of the base of the horn as it dripped onto the stone floor. Armageddon juggled the Magic Core along with his cigarette case while his brother looked upon in disappointment. "Brother, how could you-"

A mysterious force tossed Kraos across the room and into one of the stone pillars. Armageddon pocketed his silver case as he slowly approached his bone-headed brother. "Get up," he quietly commanded.

Kraos struggled to get to his feet. Before he could, Armageddon kicked him in the ribs, bringing him back to meet the cold floor. "I said: get up," he repeated.

Kraos reached out to grip his brother's jacket. Armageddon smacked his hand away and kicked him again, this time through a set of doors and onto a balcony overlooking Tartarus. "GET UP!" the brother commanded.

The bone-headed king simply lied on the ground. "My brother, have mercy upon me," he pleaded.

Armageddon's laugh echoed through the never-ending prison. "Mercy? I GAVE YOU ONE SIMPLE JOB, KRAOS! Not only did you disobey, you defected from your assignment and attempted to overshadow your brother! What was your mission?!"

"My Lord, I only did what I felt was necessary. I still carry your Word throughout the-"

"WHAT. WAS. YOUR. MISSION?!" Armageddon repeated.

Kraos began to cower. "The Time Lord," he answered meekly.

"Yes, the damn Time Lord! Not the human population, and definitely not the Equestrian royals! The Time Lord, the Doctor, was and still is your only mission. In what reality did you think I would be happy that you disobeyed a direct order?	!" Armageddon boomed. He grabbed Kraos by his neck and hoisted him over the ledge. With a snap of the fingers, Armageddon opened the ground of Tartarus, revealing an entrance further into the pit. "Look down."

Kraos did as he was instructed. He began to scream and writhe in his brother's grip, loosening his grip. "I trusted you with great power and a greater responsibility to our cause, brother! I gave you an order, and I did NOT want anything else done except what I asked you to do. I don't care what you do, Mr. Mad King K., but keep it in the Equine dimension! I want the Time Lord in my throne room, or you're going in the Pit!" Armageddon threatened.

Kraos began nodding frantically. "I understand, My Lord! I beg you, have mercy!"

Armageddon smiled before throwing his brother back into the throne room. With another snap of his fingers, Armageddon resealed the Pit outside his castle. He slammed the doors behind him as he entered the room. "I want a regular report, Kraos. It is only a matter of time until we lose this window of opportunity, and if it closes, we will never have another chance at this again. Great powers are at work, brother, and I want you to understand that. I want everything to be perfect. Do we understand each other?"

The Mad King rubbed his neck and readjusted his crown. He shook his head as he moved toward the doors leading out of the throne room. His brother's voice boomed once again. "Kraos!"

He spun in his place. "Yes, My Lord?"

"Dispose of the body into the Pit. Once that is done, continue with your mission. You are relieved," Armageddon said.

Kraos gave his salute: A fist with an Omega ring over his heart. "Hail Armageddon!" The Mad King snapped his fingers and Tangled Minds' body morphed into a wrapped Christmas present with the sticker that read: 

TO: THE PIT

FROM: KRAOS XOXO

The present vanished along with the sender, leaving Armageddon alone in his throne room. He tossed the dislodged Magic Core up into the air as he disappeared in a cloud of red smoke. All that remained was the scorch mark on the floor.