Sunset Shimmer, in an attempt to calm the youngest of the group down, placed her hands on the black-haired girl's shoulders, who was hugging Sunset's legs while shivering.

"Well, now that that's over with, we can focus on what's important." the boy rested the Gib Rifle on his shoulder while looking down at the Controller.

"You're just going to shrug that off?!" Sunset called out. "A man just died in front of us. In front of a little girl!"

"Well, if you want to survive, then get used to it." the blonde said. "The sooner, the better."

Sunset glared at them while still trying to calm the girl down. They just ignored her and focused their attention on the map displayed on the Controller.

"Which way?" she asked.

"Well, if we're all huddled in this corner of the area, then..." he tapped a few dots on the map a few blocks away from the dots that represented the group. The boy then pointed at the street that led to their destination. "That's the way to go!"

The couple readied their Gib Rifles and ran in that direction, followed closely by the redheaded girl.

"They're sick!" Sunset shimmer said. "But, on the other hand, they also seem to know what's going on here, so..." Sunset Shimmer held the girl's hand and they walked together in the same direction the group went. "So, care to tell me your name?" she smiled when the girl looked up at her, but she only looked down again, hiding her face behind her black hair. The older girl raised an eyebrow. "Not a girl of many words, huh?" still no response. Sunset sighed and decided not to ask the little girl more questions. For now.

While walking down the silent street, they heard what sounded like a tennis ball hitting the ground repeatedly, which was soon accompanied by a voice that sounded like a little child, but something they couldn't quite put their finger on made it possible to realize that it didn't belong to a human child. At least not a human one.

"Boing!" the voice would say as they heard the sound of the bouncing ball. "Boing! Boing! Boing!"

The source of the noise finally revealed itself: the Furball Alien the black sphere showed them before came bouncing from one of the adjacent streets. The pink creature noticed the pair of girls standing in the middle of the street and bounced closer to them. Deceived by its innocent face, they didn't attempt to run or defend themselves.

The girl extended her arms, allowing the furry ball to land on them.

"Boing!" it said. The girl giggled and hugged the creature. Sunset smiled at the scene.

Her smiled quickly turned into a look of terror when the furball suddenly shifted into something else, straight out of a horror story: the soft pink fur turned into very thin and sharp purple spikes, the bright blue eyes became blood red and the childish smile twisted itself into a hole filled with dozens of sharp white teeth that would probably shred anything that was swallowed by that nightmarish monster. The girl screamed when the alien swallowed her entire forearm in one bite.

Without thinking twice, Sunset grabbed the ball of spikes and yanked it off her with some difficult, then threw as far as she could. Unable to bounce now that its body was covered in hardened spikes, the ball monster rolled back toward them. Running out of options, Sunset Shimmer grabbed the Gib Gun on the holster located on the thigh of the suit and pointed at the creature.

"Stay where you are or I'll shoot." she threatened. "I swear, I'll shoot." but the ball monster either couldn't understand her or just didn't care. Sunset looked at the girl standing behind her. "Don't look!" the girl immediately covered her eyes with both hands. Sunset aimed at the creature and closed her eyes before squeezing both triggers, making the muzzle flash in a way that made it look like she had snapped a picture with it. She waited for something to happen but, when she didn't heard anything out of the ordinary, she opened her eyes again, only to see the spike ball still rolling toward her. She looked at the gun in disbelief. "So it's really just a toy after a--"

She covered her face with both arms when the ground near the spike ball exploded, sending pieces of asphalt flying in all directions, but also pushing the alien ball closer to her. Her jaw dropped when she saw the 2 ft long hole in the part of the ground where she had been aiming at.

"Holy crap!" she said before noticing that the target of the black ball was dangerously close to her. She once again pointed the Gib Gun at it, but this time she didn't close her eyes. "You attacked first." Sunset then pulled both triggers again.

The Furball Alien was ready to bite her shin, but Sunset Shimmer kicked it away from her. The ball was sent flying, but what came back down was a rain of bits and pieces of what once was a spike ball creature from outer space. Sunset looked at her gun again, this time not in disbelief, but in amazement. She felt a small hand tap her thigh and looked at the girl trying to have her attention. Sunset looked at where the girl was pointing: the roof of a house. Her eyes widened when she saw more pink Furball Aliens looking at them and, one by one, they turned into purple spike balls.

"Stay behind me!" Sunset ordered as she pushed the girl back and pointed the gun at the group of creatures. "Don't come any closer. Do it and I'll shoot!"

"If you keep doing that, you're gonna die." Sunset raised her eyebrow and looked around, confused. It was the voice of the blonde girl, but she couldn't see her anywhere. She heard the sound of electricity and saw sparks appear in midair next to her. Sunset noticed a transparent, humanoid shape in the middle of the sparks; the transparent shape then turned visible, revealing itself to be the blonde.

"H-How...?"

She smiled as she presented her own Controller. "This shit can do miracles!" she then turned her attention to the balls that were now rolling toward them. "But like I said, this self-defense crap is not gonna cut it in here. You either shoot or get shot, bitten, squashed, raped, burned, stomped or whatever else those filthy aliens can possibly do. Here, let me show you how it's done!" the girl pointed her Rifle at one Furball Alien, then pressed the first trigger before aiming at another, repeating the process a few times. She then pointed the Gib Rifle up and yawned as she pressed the second trigger. In just a few moments, over half of the aliens exploded, coating the survivors with their remains. "See this? This is the sort of attitude you'll need if you want to live another day. Now, less talking and more shooting!"

Sunset aimed the Gib Gun at the first alien and pulled the first trigger, repeating the process with the other five left. She took a deeep breath before pulling the second trigger, effectively destroying the remaining aliens. She felt two hands touch her shoulders, one belonging to the blonde and the other belonging to the blue-haired boy, who apparently had been there all along, but invisible like his girlfriend.

"I'm so proud of you!" the girl said with a big smile.

"Is... Is that all? Is everything over now?" Sunset asked.

"Not quite!" the boy explained. "Usually, the picture we see at the start of each mission is bait. Our real target appears once we're done with the small fry."

"We call them the 'Big Bosses'!" the blonde added.

As if on cue, a green Furball Alien the size of a small house with magenta eyes fell right in front of them, making the ground shake a bit. Its big gleaming eyes wandered around, looking at the remaining of its fallen comrades and their executioners. The magenta eyes turned dark purple, the green fur turned into dark green spikes and the smile turned into a giant hole with sharp razor-like teeth.

"Alright, now the fun starts!" the boy pointed his Gib Rifle at the alien but the green spiky ball shot a barrage of smaller spikes before he could pull the trigger. They all were hit, but suffered no damage. The blond looked at the black-haired girl.

"She should get out of here." she suggested.

"Huh? Why?" Sunset asked.

"Look! Her suit is 'broken'." Sunset Shimmer looked at the younger girl and noticed that blue gel was leaking out of the caps of the suit. "The suit is great when it works, but it has a limit. If it suffers enough damage, the suit 'breaks' and you might as well be naked."

"Then I guess we should get out of here." Sunset grabbed the girl's arm. "Let's go!"

While they ran away from the fight, the alien shot more spikes. The girl screamed as spikes pierced her left thigh and forearm.

"Crap crap crap!" Sunset picked her up and ran faster, hiding behind a house. She sat down and rested the crying girl's head on her lap while trying to calm her down. "It's ok, you're gonna be fine, everything will be fine!"

Meanwhile, the couple kept fighting the giant green spike ball. The spikes that covered its body were thick, and they were the only parts of the alien damaged by the shots of the Gib Rifles. But little by little they were exposing the Big Boss's body and, once there was enough flesh not covered by spikes, the boy crouched, his legs suddenly getting buffed. In actuality, his legs weren't really growing bigger, only the leg parts of the black suit, but the results were clear: the blue-haired boy jumped higher and faster than any Olympic medalist, then falling on the part of the giant's body without spikes. This time his arm muscles grew stronger and he used the Gib Rifle to pierce the monster's skin. Once the muzzle of his weapon was buried deep inside their target, the boy pulled both triggers several times before jumping off. After landing on the ground, he stood with his back turned to the alien and Gib Rifle resting on his shoulder. As expected, the big alien behind him exploded as his girlfriend clapped and cheered. The girl resting on Sunset's lap started to disappear, the same way when they were transported from the room to outside.

The girl with reddish-rose hair was the last to arrive in the room, still looking as unamused as always while adjusting her glasses. Sunset and the little girl were impressed by the fact that she no longer had any injuries.

"That's another thing the Black Ball does!" the boy said. "If you're alive by the time the mission is over, you come back with everything in place. You can be missing limbs or your guts can be spilled all over the floor, but if you're alive you come back with nothing missing!"

They all looked at the Black Ball, which now presented a new text:

That text then got replaced by a picture that looked like a cartoonish version of the blue haired boy's upper body.

"Points?" Sunset Shimmer asked. "Why are we receiving points?"

"Tell you in a minute!" the blond said. The next points were hers and, just like the previous one, was accompanied by a cartoonish picture of her.

"Awesome!" she pumped her fist in the air before poking her boyfriend's cheek. "I beat you this time!"

"I still have more total points, sugarlips." he said with a cocky smirk.

The next person awarded with points was the quiet redhead girl.

She reacted the same way she reacted to everything else: groaning and rolling her eyes. The little girl with black hair was next.

"BB likes to fuck with those who can't score points." the boy explained.

Sunset Shimmer was the last to receive points.

Sunset tilted her head and crossed her arms. "What do you mean by that?"

The boy chuckled and patted her on the back. "I think BB doesn't like you!"

"About the points..." the girl explained. "We don't really know what happens when you get 100 points, but we think you're freed from the game."

"'Freed'?" Sunset inquired.

"Yep! It will take a few days, maybe even a few weeks, but we'll be back here. And when we're back, we'll fight more aliens. This will keep happening until you either die or get those hundred points. We're free to go home now, but we'll meet again soon." she and her boyfriend waved at them before leaving. "Bye!"

"Oh, and one more thing: you better not tell anyone about this room or what happens here." the boy warned. "BB likes to be kept a secret so, if you spill the beans, our friend who is no longer among us was a pretty clear example! And don't show anybody the guns either. The suit is free game, though! Just don't flaunt its capabilities around, or BB will fuck you up."

Sunset nodded. A few moments later they heard the sound of the front door opening, then closing. The redhead saw this as her signal to go.

"Then I guess I'll see you next--" the girl shoved her aside and groaned. "...time? Wow, rude much?"

Sunset and the girl followed her, and blushed bright red when they saw her standing naked in front of them, her suit folded on the cabinet next to the door.

"Uh, I-I..."

Her face made it clear that she was angry. The girl pushed Sunset Shimmer.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" she yelled.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't meant to--"

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU JERK! I HATE YOU!"

Sunset and her little friend went back to the main room of the apartment. She sat down with her arms crossed. "And I thought Rarity overreacted to anything..."

When she heard the sound of the door slamming shut, she got up and walked to the front door. All that was left on top of the cabinet were her clothes and the little girl's tattered rags.

"So, are you gonna keep your suit on or...?" she picked up the torn and stained beige dress that was probably white a long time ago, accidently undoing a few stitches. "Uh, sorry about that!"

The girl shook her head and hugged herself, so Sunset assumed that she wanted to keep the suit. Sunset shrugged and took hers off, then placed it on top of the cabinet as she put on her everyday clothes. She nearly cheered when she turned the doorknob and the door succesfully opened.

"Do you know where you live?" Sunset asked as she held the little girl's hand and they both left the apartment. She did not reply. "If you don't talk to me then I can't take you back to your parents!"

The girl immediately stopped walking and pulled Sunset Shimmer's arm with both her hands, trying to force her to stop.

"Huh? Is there a problem?"

"D... Don't..." those were the first words Sunset heard the girl say. "Don't. Please. Don't."

"You don't want me to take you back to your parents?" she shook her head vigorously. With a concerned look, Sunset kneeled and placed both her hands in the little girl's shoulders while looking her in the eyes. "Do you want to tell me something?"

The little girl looked down, then started to explain:

"Mommy was sick!" she said. "She was very, very, very sick. Then mommy died. Daddy was mad, saying it was my fault. Then daddy started hitting me. One day I tried cooking him dinner to make daddy happy, but I broke all his bottles of grown up drink. Daddy was sooo mad. He hit me more and more and more... Then I woke up in that room with everybody else."

Sunset Shimmer pulled the girl to a hug.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through this. I'm so, so sorry!" the girl hugged her back. "My name is Sunset Shimmer. What's your name?"

"Hopewell." she said. "But mommy liked to call me Hope. You can call me Hope if you want!"

"Alright then, Hope. Would you like to come with me?"

Author's Notes:

A blue-haired boy, his blonde girlfriend... No, no, they're not JoJo and Erina!

Anyway, now that the tutorial mission is over and all the exposition is done with, we can move on to the cooler stuff. Like violence, and sex, and alien hunting, and more violence, and gore, and...