“When you said we’d be meeting someone who could explain everything,” Cadence said a little uneasily as she stepped into the sweat-filled air of the gym, “this wasn’t really where I was expecting to end up.”

Shining Armor silently agreed, but he was willing to put a lot on faith at this point. He and Cadence had shown up at Sunset and Gilda’s flat on the morning they had agreed on, but there hadn’t been anyone home. After several hours of waiting they had eventually given up, and a part of Shining wondered if he had just imagined the entire interaction with Sunset. It wasn’t until nearly a week later that he was contacted by Sunset via a note left for ‘Officer Armor’ at his desk.

According to Sunset, her girlfriend had been badly injured during an incident out at the Everfree Verge. Shining Armor had seen the sudden storm as well helped deal with some of the aftermath and damage that had hit that part of the city which really only amounted to light structural damage to some windows and a few instances of theft. Apparently, it had been much more than just a storm, however, and Sunset had promised, again, to explain everything once they had some time but that they were both in the hospital.

A week later, Sunset had contacted him again and offered a time and place to meet; a local gym and MMA arena in downtown Canterlot which was where they had come to that afternoon. Sunset had asked them to meet her up on the second floor but hadn’t specified why.

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to figure out what’s going on in my city, Cady,” Shining said after a moment, “and besides… this girl, Sunset, she seems more wary of us than we are of her.”

“Why?” Cadence asked, furrowing her brow as they started up a set of stairs.

Shining just shook his head. “I’m not sure, but I’ll bet it has something to do with what we’ve both seen.”

“If she really knows something about what’s happening…” Cadence shivered. “What kind of world are we living in, Shiny? Is this real?”

Sighing, Shining just shrugged. “I guess we’re about to find out.”

The upper level was filled with the pulse-pounding beat of rap music that was punctuated by the thunder of fists striking heavy fabric. Curiously, it seemed like the entire upper floor was empty, at least at first glance until the pair spotted three figures in one corner. Off to the side of a large practice mat that had an immense and strange-looking punching bag suspended above it, was the familiar seated figure of Sunset Shimmer who was watching the pair on the mat with a sharp, slightly worried look on her face.

The pair on the mat were singular in several respects. Shining recognised Gilda instantly from her robust stature and shock of white hair. She wore a fitted muscle shirt and a pair of workout shorts, both of which showed off her impressive physique. The other young woman, with short purple hair and a matching outfit to Gilda whom she was spotting for by bracing the bag and shouting a combination of encouragement and abuse, was not familiar.

“Faster!” she shouted angrily. “You have to move faster or you’ll lose your momentum, and if you can’t maintain your momentum you’ll never get used to your arm’s weight while you’re fighting!”

“Give her some time to breathe, Ari’,” Sunset said in a worried tone, “she’s still recovering!”

“How-” Cadence was staring slack-jawed at Gilda with wide eyes, and Shining followed her eye line.

His own eyes widened at what he saw, what he had missed the first time. When he’d initially seen Gilda on the mat he’d just recognised her presence, but now looking more closely he realised what he’d overlooked.

Gilda’s entire right arm from the shoulder down was now what appeared to be a matte-black prosthetic. Plastic with metal fittings if Shining had to guess, he’d seen a few members of the force who were war vets that had them except…

Gilda’s moved like it was real.

Snarling, Gilda ignored Sunset and barged forward with her fists raised in a boxing stance. Her arms lanced out like piston-powered hammers slamming into the punching bag and rocking it back with every blow. Each time her fists impacted there was a strange flash of bluish-white energy and Gilda’s eyes glowed faintly as she struck over and over.

“Faster!” Aria snapped. “You’re moving so slow I could break your other arm off and beat you to death with it before you got a swing in!”

Rather than responding, Gilda just poured more force into her attacks and Shining and Cadence’s eyes widened at what they saw.

Her body began to blur and every impact of her fists seemed to strike twice, knocking the punching bag back over and over and even Aria began to grin as she was forced backward, her planted feet grinding against the mat as both she and it were pushed by the unstoppable force being put out by Gilda.

“FASTER!” Aria roared.

Gilda replied with a roar of her own as her body blurred further and there was suddenly no time lag between her strikes. Every moment that her arm was cocked back for another punch another strike was already lancing out to slam against the punching bag and for a brief second, she was thundering into it like a machine.

Then she stumbled.

Sunset flinched as Gilda’s prosthetic fist struck the punching bag off-center and slid against the smooth material. Gilda let out a shout of panic as she suddenly shot forward, her feet going out from under her, and for a moment it looked like she was going to slam into the wall.

Aria moved like water made of light. Before Gilda could make it more than a foot past the punching bag Aria had slipped past her and seized Gilda’s outstretched arm with both hands, levered her up and over, twisting out the larger girl’s momentum in midair in a motion that was so fast neither Sunset nor Shining or Cadence could properly keep track of it, and threw her down to the mat.

“Sloppy!” Aria snapped. “Your right arm has more weight than your left so if you try to strike evenly with both you’ll just overbalance!”

“I know!” Gilda said angrily, sitting up and running the back puff her head. “I just… the faster I go the harder it is!”

Aria shook her head. “That’s not how it works, dumbass… you’re overthinking it. Part of this spell means that entering the hyperkinetic combat state accelerates your body as well as your mind, so as far as your perceptions are concerned: everything is just moving slower.” Straightening out, Aria held out a hand to Gilda who took it to pull herself up. “You’ve got a knack for the art and fantastic instincts, no doubt about it; I’ve never seen anyone pick up hyperkine combat this fast, but you’ve got the same problem every novice Myrmidon has had in the history of ever… you know that you’re moving faster and so you think that you need to try and compensate, but your body is already compensating.”

“So how do I stop?!” Gilda asked in annoyance. “I can feel how fast I’m goin’.”

“No, you can’t,” Aria countered. “It’s just psychosomatic because you’re mentally trying to keep track of how fast you’re moving and that gives you a sensation of acceleration, but the spell is already making all the adjustments that you need to your body to keep you up to speed.” Aria sighed and walked over to the edge of the mat to grab a couple of water bottles and tossed one to Gilda. “You have to find an empty state of mind where you’re only aware of the world around you, and not of your own thoughts. You have to act and react, nothing more, don’t think about punching just punch.”

“Ugh, this sounds like some zen bullshit,” Gilda groaned, dropping back to the floor as she did so and taking a swig of water. “What the hell am I even doin’?”

“Every form of spellcraft requires intense mental will,” Sunset said as she rolled closer to the mat’s edge. “Hyperkineticism is an almost purely instinctual form of spellcasting, so you have to lean into that. But it’s more than just for fighting, you’ll recover a lot faster too.”

Aria nodded. “It’s why most of our warriors were hyperkines… everything is sped up including the speed of your body’s natural adaptation so, in your case, it means your rehab time will be cut by an order of magnitude.”

Shining Armor coughed loudly, drawing the attention of the three at the mat, and Aria immediately turned and snapped her fists up.

“Shit,” Gilda swore, standing and tucking her arm behind her back and angling herself to put it out of their view. “Thought you rented out the upper floor f’the day?”

“It’s okay,” Sunset said quickly, moving between the two pairs. “I invited them here because they’re involved in all of this.”

Aria grimaced but relaxed her stance. “I trust ya, Red, but you really oughta run this shit by me first, okay? I don’t like gettin’ caught off guard.”

“I know,” Sunset said quietly. “And I am sorry, I’ll let you know next time it’s just… this is a long time coming and I forgot to mention it.”

“Whatever,” Aria shrugged and moved back towards the punching bag. “So how’re these poor idiots involved in this shitshow?”

“Beg your pardon?” Cadence said, meeting Aria’s arid gaze.

“You’re pardoned,” Aria said dryly.

“It has to do with Twilight Sparkle,” Sunset said firmly, and that got everyone’s attention. “Shining Armor is her brother, which would make you,” Sunset nodded to Cadence, “her sister-in-law?”

“I’ve known Twilight almost her entire life,” Cadence said, her voice softening. “I’m closer to her than I am to most of my own family.”

“She like a sister t’you?” Gilda asked as she turned to face Cadence, who nodded grimly. “Good, because she’s apparently in some kinda thing with my sister, Zee.”

Cadence let out an almost animalistic snarl. “Zee is your sister?”

Sunset saw rage flash across Gilda’s face at Cadence’s tone and for a moment she thought she would actually have to get in between the two of them, but a second later the anger was gone and in its place, there was only a kind of weary resignation.

“Guessin’ she fucked you guys over too, huh?” Gilda said bitterly. “Yeah, she’s my sister, but the one ya oughta really be mad at is my pops, he’s the one-”

“She beats Twilight,” Cadence hissed.

The atmosphere of the room dropped what felt like several degrees as Gilda went pale and took a step back from the fuming young woman. Sunset, for her part, just stared at Cadence. What she had said, and more importantly how she had said it, didn’t sound like an accusation or a suggestion.

It sounded like a fact.

“A-are you-” Sunset began, but she knew the question was pointless.

“We saw the bruises,” Shining Armor said quietly. “And Twilight admitted that their arguments often get… physical, but there’s more to it than just that.”

“Shiny-”

“Don’t protect her, Cady,” Shining said, his voice hardening. “Gilda, your sister had just as many bruises from Twilight as Twilight had from her.”

“Should I be here for this?” Aria said awkwardly from the sidelines.

“Yes,” Sunset groaned, “I mean… no, or, yes for what’s coming up, this is kind of… a horrifying tangent I wasn’t really expecting, sorry.”

“Hey, don’t apologise t’me, Red,” Aria said, waving a hand dismissively. “Human’s are monsters to each other, you may’ve heard of genocides but I’ve seen them.”

“Excuse me, who the hell are you?” Cadence turned her glower on Aria.

Aria turned and met Cadence’s eyes without flinching. “My name is Aria Charybdia Blaze and I’m over a thousand years old. I’ve watched your race eat each other, little girl, so don’t give me that petty glare.” Cadence took a step back at the sheer weight of Aria’s voice as the Siren took a step forward. “I’ve witnessed world wars and atrocities you can’t imagine; I raised a blade for Lancaster, operated a Prench guillotine so often they called me Aria la Rouge, and sat huddled in a brick and mortar basement with my sisters in Brayton while you miserable apes bombed the living shit out of each other!”

Shining Armor and Cadence were both backing up several steps as Aria advanced on them in a fury.

“You want to know who the hell I am?” Aria hissed. “I’m the one who owes her and her sisters’ sanity to the girl in the wheelchair over there, and as far as I understand she asked you here for a goddamn reason so SIT DOWN!”

The pair stumbled back at her final roar and found themselves sitting in two of the chairs that lined the east wall of the gym and staring up at the young, bob-haired woman who was glaring murderously down at them.

“Aria, that’s enough,” Sunset said in a gentle voice as she rolled up and reached out to take Aria’s hand. “They didn’t come here for you to abuse them, they came because they want to know what’s happening to their family… you can at least sympathise with that, can’t you?”

Aria looked down at the warm amber hand that was gripping hers and gave it a short squeeze before letting go and nodding.

“Yeah, sorry about that, Red,” Aria muttered, “I fuckin’ hate humans.”

Gilda chuckled. “Can’t say I blame ya.”

Shining watched Aria stalk over to the large, hanging punching bag and start hammering on it for several seconds before turning to Sunset.

“Miss Shimmer is she… serious?” Shining asked quietly. “The way she says ‘human’...”

“She’s not human,” Sunset confirmed. “She’s from another world, and even on this one she’s fundamentally different; she’s what’s called a Siren and, so long as she has her magic, she’s immortal. The same goes for her two sisters.”

“Magic?” Cadence muttered. “Immortal? You’re… you're joking, right?”

“I’m not,” Sunset replied, shaking her head before turning to look over her shoulder at Gilda. “Babe, can you c’mere?”

Gilda walked over and stood beside Sunset who reached out and put her hands on Gilda’s prosthetic, lifting it as if showing it off.

“What do you see here?” Sunset asked, looking at both Shining and Cadence. “Just say it, it’s alright.”

Shining stared uneasily at the arm before sharing a glance with his wife and nodding. “I… I see a prosthetic arm, a nice one, but… it’s just plastic and metal fittings.”

“Except it moves,” Cadence said firmly. “I saw it, we both did, we saw her arm move like it was real.”

Sunset looked up at Gilda a nodded. “Release the masking charm.”

Setting her real hand on the false arm, Gilda closed her eyes and there was a faint snap of electricity, followed by the smell of ozone, and Shining and Cadence’s eyes widened considerably.

“That,” Sunset said gesturing to Gilda’s now revealed arm, “was an illusion spell, a relatively minor one… this is what her arm actually looks like.”

Gilda held up the arm, it was crafted from bluish-gray plates of metal set at interlocking points, each one moving around the other as Gilda shifted her arm, making it look almost organic. The fingers were the most intricate; each joint and knuckle defined and articulated to mimic her original range of motion perfectly.

“Alright,” Cadence held up a hand. “You’re saying… magic makes her arm work? And, what? Hides it, too?”

Sunset nodded silently.

“I saw her fly, remember?” Shining Armor put in, “I thought I was going crazy.”

“Need more evidence?” Sunset asked with a wry smile. “Hey babe, grab your engagement bracelet from the bag.”

“C’mon, Sunshine,” Gilda grumbled, but obeyed regardless and began fishing around her duffel bag. “Don’t break it provin’ a fuckin’ point.”

Pulling out the bracelet, Gilda held it out to Sunset who swept it up and displayed it to the couple. “This,” she said with a smile, “was hit by three or four lightning bolts directly. A lightning bolt is roughly five billion joules of energy, savvy? Notice anything?”

Cadence and Shining stare at it in disbelief. The bracelet it utterly pristine, as much as it was the day that Sunset had put in on Gilda’s wrist. The gleaming adornment was seemingly no worse for the wear despite the apparently ruinous damage it should have suffered from Grizelda’s attacks.

“Assuming we believe you,” Cadence began, “how is that possible?”

Sunset looked down at the bracelet fondly as she rubbed a thumb over the gems. “My mother enchanted it herself, meaning that it’s borderline indestructible. It has a grand nullification ward on it.” Holding it up again, Sunset traced a finger over the gold filigree, “that’s a high-grade abjuration that bleeds out about ninety-nine point nine-nine percent of energy directed at it, and furthermore the remaining point-oh-one percent is refracted away from it.”

Turning to reach for Gilda’s metal arm, she took the articulated hand and gently pulled Gilda closer so she could fit the bracelet back onto her wrist.

“What that means is that you’d essentially have to drop a multi-megaton nuclear warhead on it to produce the requisite energy needed to blow past the ward,” Sunset grinned back up Cadence and Shining before looking back at Gilda and linking their fingers. “It’s why I gave it to her for our engagement… it’s as unbreakable as we are.”

“That’s real gay!” Aria called from the mat, not missing a beat in her combination of punches and kicks.

“How’d dinner with Mic Drop go?” Sunset called back with a wide, Cheshire grin.

“IT WASN’T A DATE IT WAS A BUSINESS DINNER!” Aria shouted, going slightly red as the punching bag swung past and gently beaned her across the back.

“I didn’t say it was a date,” Sunset retorted with a smirk.

Aria fumed silently, glaring across the room at Sunset as the punching bag swung back towards the combative siren and she snapped a hand out to seize it, stopping it in place.

“Why go to all this trouble?” Shining asked after a moment of silence. “Why not just… y’know…” Shining mimed flapping bird wings with his hands.

Gilda laughed. “Uh, yeah I don’t think Jackhammer would appreciate me blowin’ out all his windows.”

“Gilda’s transformation is… loud,” Sunset filled in. “And it’s actually gotten significantly more so since she was given that arm of hers, I think it has to do with the Cloudsteel amplifying her native magical attunement.”

“Then can’t you just-” Shining began, but his words died at the look on Sunset’s face.

“I can’t,” Sunset said quietly. “I… I hurt myself in the meadow… overextended is probably more accurate, actually, and… there’s a chance I may not get my magic back this time.”

“Never say never, Sunflower,” Gilda said in a gentle voice as she knelt and took Sunset’s hand. “You saved us, both’a us.”

“I screwed up because I can’t keep a hold of my temper,” Sunset spat angrily. “I nearly- ugh, no, that’s not why we’re here.” Turning back to Shining, Sunset just shook her head. “Short of it is that… my magic is gone, for all intents and purposes anyway, but I still have my mind, and I flatter myself to say I’m one of the finest arcane theorists in any world.”

“She’s not wrong,” Aria called. “So get to the point, why don’tcha?”

Sunset nodded. “Right, you’re not here to get a primer on magical theory, you’re here because of your sister, right?” Sunset let her eyes scan over the pair and she could see the expressions on their faces harden. “You’re here to talk about Twilight Sparkle.”

“Tell us,” Cadence said in a low voice. “Please.”

Taking a deep breath, Sunset nodded. This wasn’t going to be easy, graceful, or pleasant, but they deserved to know, and furthermore, Sunset needed as many allies as she could get if she was going to leverage her diminished strength against Storm King and whatever it was he was planning.

“Twilight is… incredibly dangerous,” Sunset began and held a hand to forestall the incoming protests she saw forming on the pair in front of her. “I’m not saying she’s evil or even a bad person… I’m… well, the jury’s still out on that one, but she’s definitely a Dark Mage. In the Equestrian vernacular, that is in my language, we would have called her a ‘Warlock’, a renegade mage who uses forbidden magic.”

“What do you mean?” Shining asked quietly.

“We both saw Twilight at the meadow that night,” Sunset continued. “And she was saturated in dark magic… and it is important for you to understand just how alarming that should be.” Letting out a sigh, Sunset leaned back in her chair. “Dark magic is like an unregulated drug; deadly, unpredictable, and intoxicatingly powerful. It can let a mage do frankly absurd things, but always at a cost, one only the desperate or the foolish are willing to pay.”

Cadence and Shining shared a worried look. “W-what do you mean?” Cadence echoed.

Sighing again, Sunset braced herself to deliver the news. “Dark magic erodes the user, mind and body. Imagine burning yourself up to stay warm, only it’s your sanity and your health you’re setting fire to, whether you know it or not,” Sunset shook her head and laughed bitterly. “I had a run in with dark magic once and it happened to me probably the same way it happened to your sister… because I got into something I shouldn’t have and fell face-first into it. I tapped into an artifact that wasn’t meant for me and we both knew it, but my ambition and my hatred and my pain poisoned it and me. As for your sister, my bet is that she’s holding onto something that… that isn’t from here, and it’s giving her this power, but I doubt she really understands what it’s doing to her.”

“Does that mean there’s hope?” Cadence asked weakly, “please… is there anything you can do?”

“We’ll do whatever we can to help,” Shining put in. “Just please tell us what you need from us and we’ll do it.”

Sunset sighed. “Look, I might- MIGHT -be able to do something but I’m… I’m not sure yet how it will work and… I’m going to be honest with you, while the effects are generally benign they aren’t what you’d call… predictable.”

“That doesn’t sound encouraging,” Shining said a little stiffly.

“Tell me about it,” Sunset replied aridly, “Babe, c’mere, can I see your talon?”

Gilda retrieved the article from her bag and knelt down to Sunset’s level to hold it out to her. Sunset ran her hand over it, admiring it for a few moments. It had changed since the day she had first seen it at the skatepark. Back then it had been a kludge-job of a gauntlet with mismatched and pitted plates hammered crudely together, brutal but simple claws made from spars of iron reclaimed from some piece of metal, then welded on and sharpened to give them cruelly hooked edges.

Now, though, the plates seemed to match better. The pitting was gone and the finish of the metal was almost polished. The gauntlet looked cleaner and more like something crafted purposefully rather than thrown together from whatever bits were lying around the shop floor.

The power of harmony at work.

“Do you see this?” Sunset held up the gauntlet, showing the back of the hand to the pair.

A gleaming, jewel emblem was set into the metal surface of the back hand-plate and showed a downward-thrust spear with wings curling out from where the speartip met the haft to fold protectively around a divided sun.

“This is one piece of six,” Sunset explained. “One fragment of an ancient artifact called the ‘Elements of Harmony’, and they’re meant to cleanse dark magic.”

Cadence’s eyes widened and she reached out for it, only for Sunset to pull it away and shake her head.

“You can’t,” Sunset said quickly before Cadence could retort. “The Elements choose their bearers and, unless the bearer proves unworthy, they and only they can make use of the Element. In this case, this is the Element of Loyalty, and it belongs to Gilda.”

Sunset passed the gauntlet back to Gilda who nodded and tucked it away.

“I know the location and owners of all of the other pieces except…” Sunset grimaced, “except the last one… I know who has it but… I don’t know what it is or how to activate it.”

“Then what good is it?” Cadence cried, and Shining slipped an arm around her to pull her close.

“It’s the only hope your sister has,” Aria snapped, walking up behind Sunset. “Dark magic is no fucking joke, and your sister has been swimming in the stuff. Even if you get her away from whatever’s giving her the power it won’t matter, she’ll never be stable or normal again until you clear the tainted magic from her system,” Aria swept her hand towards the bag where the Element of Loyalty lay. “The only way to do that is with the Elements or with years of systematic arcane therapy and your species doesn’t have that.”

“Look,” Gilda said in a low voice, standing up and getting between Aria and Sunset, and Cadence and Shining Armor. “I ain’t like them, okay? I’m like you, I’m… well, I ain’t normal anymore but I ain’t some crazy magical powerhouse, savvy?” Stretching her limbs to loosen them from her workout, her prosthetic arm clicking and whirring as she did so, Gilda sighed. “Th’fact is this; ain’t no one in this or any world is capable of savin’ y’sister like my Sunshine is, okay? I know it’s takin’ a lot on trust’n faith, and I know this probably ain’t what ya wanna hear but it’s all ya got, so either take what Sunflower here is offerin’ or stop buggin’er about it, she’s doing’er fuckin best.”

The words came out with an easy grace, but both Shining and Cadence could hear the steel in Gilda’s voice. There was a protectiveness there, a defensive nature that formed a bulwark between them and the girl in the wheelchair. Gilda wasn’t speaking loudly or angrily, she was just speaking, and yet there was no mistaking her message.

Shining nodded. “Okay… so what do you need from us?”

“I need help and information,” Sunset replied. “So let’s talk.”

Lightning Dust sat beneath the boughs of Whitetail, the sun streaming down through the branches where the first hints of leaves were beginning to show. The air was still chilly with the bite of winter, but it was weaker than a month ago and the warmth of spring was beginning to make its way back to the city, however slowly. Lightning never specifically minded the cold, though, so much as she did being alone, and right now she was alone.

She hated it, the feeling of being by herself. It was a feeling she had lived with for a long time. A feeling of being apart from everyone else came with being raised by her grandmother, with not having a mother or father. Not that Lightning regretted it, she loved Dust Off and couldn’t imagine being raised by anyone else, much less her deadbeat mom or whoever the hell her dad even was: neither of which she cared for. Yet, at the same time that feeling of being alienated was one that left her feeling sick to her stomach and now she had an entirely new reason to feel that way.

More than one, actually, given her new ‘allegiance’. Yes, she did appreciate that Storm somehow saved Zee’s life, despite the horrific burns and terrible damage, the girl was all-in-all… fine. Not perfect, and definitely weak, but she would live with no major loss of function as far as Twilight had explained it. It was a borderline miracle and yet…

That night was a blur, the last part of it anyway, and because of that Lightning had never brought it up but… she remembered a little bit of it. Like a zoetrope spinning off-kilter, she remembered flashes of light and dark and images imposed between them.

She had seen Twilight and Storm in the basement, how they had gotten there Dust wasn’t certain, though she could guess it was Twi’s doing. They were leaned over Zee and there was a sickly light spilling from Storm.

And something else.

A figure… towering and terrible with burning eyes and curling horns. Something utterly inhuman. Seeing it had been like living out a nightmare, and that was all she remembered. A part of her wasn’t certain it was real but she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else in the room with them anytime she was near Storm. It was why she had been avoiding that house since they’d gotten back, even if it meant spending less time with Rainbow.

And then there was the Friendship Games.

Lightning sighed. She knew she would be picked, of course. She and Rainbow were two of the best athletes in the entire school so it was inevitable, but…

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Principal Celestia called proudly from onstage, her mellifluous voice echoing in a slightly tinny manner through the aged P.A. system. “Thank you for your patience, I know this has been a trying year for all of us but I also know that we, as Wondercolts, are more than our disagreements and our foibles. We are more than our mistakes so long as our hearts remain open.” She took a moment to pan her view over the audience who looked humbler than she could remember any group of teenagers ever looking. “I know that we’ve taken more time than usual to select our team for the upcoming Friendship Games, and I know some of you may feel that it’s unfair, but I promise you that this team is so much more than the sum of its parts, and I beg your good faith to give them a chance, and your applause as I introduce them!”

“Without further ado,” Vice Principal Luna said cheerily as she stepped forward, “I give you your Friendship Games participating team!”

The curtain was pulled away to reveal twelve students standing shoulder to shoulder with one another as Principal Celestia went down the line of introductions.

“In the Advanced Academic sector,” Celestia began, “may I introduce: Rarity Belle, Octavia Melody, Fluttershy, Micro Chips, and Vinyl Scratch.”

“Your Advanced Athletics and Economics sector,” Luna continued, “I give you: Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust, Bulk Biceps-

“YEAH!”

Luna shot Bulk a withering glare, and the larger student took a step back.

“Sorry.”

“-and Gilda Grimfeather!” Luna finished with a smile.

“And of course,” Principal Celestia stepped up beside her sister with a beatific smile, “I am proud to introduce your team captain: Sunset Shimmer.”

Each individual member of the team had gotten their share of applause from around the room, some more than others, but when Sunset’s name was called the room all but exploded with applause. Sunset waved uneasily from where she was seated in her wheelchair on stage by Gilda’s side, who set a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

Luna held up her hands for silence before gesturing for Sunset to approach the stand. The redhead clenched her hands, her grip tightening over her armrests for a moment as panic started to leak into her heart.

“Hey,” Gilda’s voice was soft but insistent as she knelt by Sunset. “Knock’em dead,” she whispered with a grin, before reaching out with her good hand to cup Sunset’s cheek and pull her into a kiss.

The kiss prompted a series of cheers and not a few wolf whistles from the crowd that both girls ignored.

“Thanks,” Sunset whispered quietly as she pulled away from Gilda.

Taking a deep breath, Sunset gripped her wheels and rolled up to the microphone, and Luna nodded encouragingly as she lowered the microphone down to Sunset’s level and took a step back.

“Thank you all for your enthusiasm,” Sunset began as she took her Luna’s place at the microphone. “This has been a hard year, not just me but for all of you too, but I also believe that this year has brought us closer together as a school than ever before,” Sunset shared a glanced around and, happily, found a lot of nodding faces. “As most of you know, Canterlot High has never beaten Crystal Prep in the Friendship Games, and while I agree with Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna that victory is not really the point…” Sunset smirked, straightening a bit in her chair and showing a shadow of her old presence and strength as she did, “I still think it would be nice to knock those Shadowbolts down a peg and get at least one trophy under our belt, WHO’S WITH ME?!”

The crowd erupted in cheers for a second time as Sunset thrust her fist into the air. The auditorium thundered with stomping feet and cheering voices as the Principal and her sister share and wide grin.

Once the fervor had died down, the student body was dismissed back to their classes, the crowd filing out of the open space in something resembling order if one were to squint hard enough. The team of twelve, however, did not follow, and instead were ushered into the back room by Vice Principal Luna while her sister herded the students.

“You’ve all been given a great opportunity in these games,” Luna said as she closed the door to the back room behind her. “And I hope each of you will rise to that occasion,” she gestured to the whiteboard on the wall as she spoke. “You’ll see here the timeline and dates for the Games, furthermore, this room and any resources the school can reasonably offer for your preparation for the games will be provided.” Setting a hand on Sunset’s shoulder, Luna smiled at the rest of the team. “Sunset, go ahead and take over.”

“Right, well,” Sunset let out a slow breath, nodding mostly to herself. “I’m going to be here every day after school for at least a few hours,” Sunset said firmly. “I ask that each of you try to be here with me at least three times a week so we can study and prepare, with respect to your own schedules.”

“Doesn’t that seem like overkill, darling,” Rarity spoke up, raising a delicate eyebrow. “That’s almost… seven weeks of extra study.”

“Crystal Prep has been doing the same thing I’m proposing here for over a month now,” Sunset said firmly. “Only it’s mandatory for all team members and it’s all five days in the school week.”

“Wow,” Pinkie said grimly. “That’s no fun.”

“Crystal Prep is not about fun,” Octavia retorted. “They’re about success at all costs regardless of how it affects the students’ social lives.”

“Seems like ya’ll know quite a bit about what they’re up to over there,” Applejack said from beside Rarity.

Gilda scoffed. “Yeah well, we got a friend who goes t’Crystal Prep, savvy? She’s the one who told us.”

“Uh, isn’t that spying?” Lightning asked quietly.

“There’s no rules against it,” Sunset replied with an easy smile. “Besides…” her eyes lingered on Lightning and Rainbow for a moment longer, “I just assume they know as much about us as we do about them for similar reasons.”

Lightning swallowed dryly. “R-Right, guess that’s fair.”

Sunset smiled enigmatically before turning to fully face the team in its entirety as she pulled out an enormous binder. “Alright team, here’s our curriculum.”

The explanation took almost two hours, and Lightning had been a little pleased to see even Gilda getting antsy as Sunset went over the minutiae of her plan, but they had been dismissed from their classes for the rest of the day anyway for the sake of catching up on lost time.

As much as Lightning Dust hated sitting still, she couldn’t deny that Sunset was definitely the right girl for the role of ‘team captain’. It occurred to her, as she listened to Sunset explain in detail their strategies and approaches for performing in the Games, that she’d never truly appreciated just how much forethought and ability it had taken Sunset to control the school as she had for nearly her entire tenure there. The explanation she was giving to the team was long, but not without reason; over the hours they covered practicals and theoreticals on how to not only learn the material but on how to improve as teams within a team, since many of the challenges in past Games had required the teams to separate into pairs or trios to compete.

By the end, even if she was fidgety and a bit bored, Lightning had to admit she felt a lot more prepared and significantly more hopeful about their chances at actually accomplishing what no other Canterlot High team had done before them: sneaking a win from Crystal Prep.

“Alright ladies and gentlemen,” Sunset said, folding up her binder. “That’s all I’ve got for today, you’re free to go.”

“YEAH!”

“For the love of god, Bulk.”

“Sorry.”

Sunset shook her head, letting out a good-natured chuckle. “Don’t be sorry, big guy, it’s fine. I will admit I have no idea how Roseluck puts up with it day after day, though.”

“She said she think it’s cute,” Bulk rumbled, blushing slightly. “She said guys don’t get excited over stuff enough, so it’s nice to see. I’m really lucky…”

“She’s a great girl, Bulk,” Sunset agreed.

Sunset waved Bulk out and along with most of the others, and Gilda had gone off to find the two of them some food before the cafeteria shut and they were stuck waiting for the end of classes to eat.

“Lightning? Dash? Can you stay for a second?” Sunset said in a perfectly friendly tone, one that wouldn’t raise any eyebrows.

Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust froze on their way out. They couldn’t very well just ignore Sunset and leave. Half the team was still filing out of the room and they would all see it. The pair of girls shared an uneasy look that lasted a split-second before nodding.

“S-Sure,” Rainbow said, swallowing dryly as she turned with Lightning on her heel. “What’s up, Cap’?”

Sunset smirked at the name but didn’t respond, waiting for the room to empty out. Once it had done so and the door drifted shut, Sunset’s feature took on a stormier cast.

“Are we going to have any problems, Dash?” Sunset asked evenly.

Rainbow sighed. “Nah, I wanna win this for CHS, okay? You’n me are… whatever, but I ain’t gonna leave the school hanging like I… well, fuck, you know.”

“I’m with Dash,” Lightning said firmly. “This is bigger than that crap that happened last year.”

“Agreed,” Sunset said firmly before holding out a hand. “Truce?”

“Truce,” Rainbow agreed, a ghost of a smile hovering over her lips as she reached out and took Sunset’s hand.

A crackle of electricity leaped between their palms. Sunset’s expression soured instantly, and she tightened her grip painfully around Rainbow’s hand as she jerked the athletic girl in close, nearly pulling her from her feet.

“I knew it,” Sunset hissed. “Magic… you’ve got magic, Dash, I’m a sorceress I can practically taste it.”

“W-wha-?!” Dash stammered, and Lightning bit her lip as she felt a cold panic rise up in her gut.

“Don’t ‘what’ me, dumbass,” Sunset snarled. “I saw you two in the meadow that night, I know who you’re rubbing elbows with, savvy? Storm’s a criminal, Dash, and a gangster. How many people do you think he’s hurt?”

Rainbow yanked her hand back from Sunset’s grip, shaking it loose as the feeling returned to it.

“Zee is my friend, Sunset,” Rainbow said, her voice carrying a tone of cold anger. “I’m not leaving her or Twilight hanging, no way, no how. I learned my lesson.”

Sunset stared, her jaw hanging half-open in raw disbelief for a moment before a bubbling, slightly crazed laughter started rolling out of her. The two girls stared at the third uneasily as she cackled and laughed in her chair for a solid minute before finally mastering herself.

“Your lesson, huh?” Sunset asked incredulously. “You… y’know what? I believe you. It would just figure, though, that you learned in time to be sticking with the bad guys.”

“They’re not bad guys!” Lightning snapped. “They’re our friends! Both of them, and yeah, Zee’s dad is a little… weird. But he’s a nice guy!”

“He’s a monster,” Sunset replied darkly. “You don’t know him, but… fuck it… you won’t believe me anyway but I’d bet my bottom bit you’ll see it eventually.”

Rainbow and Lightning stared down at Sunset for several silent moments before Dash nodded and reached out to take Lightning’s hand. Lightning gave the hand a squeeze and stepped a little closer to Dash.

“Guess all that talk about friendship really was bullshit to you, huh?” Rainbow snarled. “C’mon, let’s go, Dusty.”

Rainbow stormed out of the room, and Lightning started after her only for a hand to snap out and grab hers.

“Wait.”

“Don’t ask me to abandon ship here, Shimmer,” Lightning said angrily, glaring back at Sunset who was grabbing onto Lightning’s hand. “I’ll never abandon Dash.”

“I know,” Sunset said quietly. “Just… when things go wrong… take care of her, okay? And… and be careful.”

Lightning blinked in confusion for a moment. “That’s it?”

“What else can I do?” Sunset asked.

“Try and stop her yourself?” Lightning suggested, nodding after Rainbow Dash.

Sunset scoffed. “Like that has literally ever worked with that idiot… all it does it make her dig in her heels.” The two girls shared a small, arid chuckle at that. “Things are going to go wrong, Dust, I know it… especially for Dash, okay?”

“So stop her,” Lightning said firmly. “I… I can’t.”

“You could, I think,” Sunset said quietly. “If she loves you as much as I think she does.” Lightning blushed heavily at that comment, “but… even if you can’t… I…”

“You what?” Lightning raised an eyebrow.

“I…” Sunset began as she looked past Dust to the door that Dash had stormed out of. “Ugh, okay, this is going to sound crazy, especially coming from me but despite everything between her and I? I still trust her.”

“You’re right,” Lightning said in disbelief as she started turning to leave, “you do sound crazy.”

“What the hell is happening,” Dust muttered angrily as she held out a hand and glared at it. “And why me?”

“Y’know I asked myself the same thing a few times.”

Dust let out a surprised squawk at the voice that came from above her as she tumbled and rolled away from the tree. Looking up, she grimaced as she saw Rainbow Dash reclining in the branches.

“How the hell-”

“Super-speed,” Dash quipped, tipping out of the tree. “That and you looked pretty out of it so, like, I probably could’ve walked up to the tree with a full brass band goin’ and back-flipped up into it without you noticing.”

“Thanks,” Lightning said with annoyance painting her voice, and Rainbow Dash grimaced.

“Hey, look, I’m… I’m sorry about all this, okay?” Rainbow said quietly, dropping out of the tree and walking up to Dust to hold out a hand. “I’m… kinda used to being in the middle of this weird crap, but you’re not… I shoulda been there for you more this week.”

Lightning Dust sighed and reached up to grip Rainbow’s hand and pull herself up to her feet. She didn’t stop there though, and leaned in to press herself against Rainbow Dash; taking a deep breath, Lightning wrapped her arms around the brash girl she’d spent so long competing with and buried herself in her scent.

Rainbow returned the embrace, frowning a little as she did. It was so easy to forget that Lightning Dust wasn’t the ‘tough girl’ act she put on at school. That it was a mask she wore and one that she wore both well and easily, but a mask nonetheless. Beneath that mask was something much softer and much more delicate. Something Rainbow didn’t think she deserved but… that wasn’t her decision to make.

“I’m scared…” Lightning whispered. “This is so big.”

“Yeah, I know,” Rainbow replied in as gentle of a voice as she could manage.

“Am I gonna be this way forever?” Lightning asked weakly.

Rainbow shrugged. “I dunno, maybe? I lost my power once so… maybe it’s like, a temporary thing? Or… fuck, I dunno, Dusty.”

Lightning stepped away and looked down at her hands, grimacing as she did and for a moment her body seemed to take on a strange, hazy quality.

Then she moved.

And she didn’t.

Something that looked astonishingly like Lightning Dust erupted from her body, something made from coruscating arcs of electrical energy that glowed a strange, lambent yellow, and moved like a striking serpent scorched across the grass to slam headfirst into a nearby tree leaving a burn mark across the bark.

“Hey, neat,” Rainbow grinned between Lightning Dust and that, “you’ve been practicing.”

Lightning Dust sagged and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Rainbabe, only so that I don’t accidentally spit out a lightning bolt shaped like me instead of getting out bed again.”

Rainbow winced at that but nodded. “Okay, so, the best thing to do is practice more, right? You can do more than that can’tcha?”

“Yeah,” Lightning replied uneasily. “But-”

“No buts,” Rainbow remarked. “Seriously, don’t… I dunno exactly what’s goin’ on with this crap, but I can tell you it’s better to know what you can do, right?” Rainbow’s form blurred and she seemed to flicker in place for a moment before appearing next to Dust. “Look Dusty, if we don’t get a hold on these powers we’re gonna blow something up, or hurt someone, right? Or ourselves… or… or each other, and I’m not gonna do that, alright? So let’s do this together.”

Sighing softly, Lightning Dust couldn’t keep the small smile off of her face as she nodded. “Y-yeah, together sounds a lot better.”

“Cool, I found a neat clearing a little ways away,” Rainbow chirped, before unceremoniously scooping Lightning Dust into her arms.

“Rainbow Dash don’t you DAAAAAAAAR~E-” Lightning shrieked the last word as Rainbow dug her heel into the ground and accelerated, ripping through the forest for a few seconds before stopping with a slight jerk, and lowering Lightning to the ground.

Lightning Dust got two feet on the ground, only to immediately fall over and bury her face in her hands.

“Rainbabe?” Lightning said in a muffled voice.

“Uh… heh, yeah?” Rainbow Dash replied uneasily.

“Never, ever do that again.”

“Gotcha,” Rainbow said with a laugh.

The clearing was wide and open but mostly surrounded by trees. Rainbow Dash knew there was a suburb nearby but that was a few miles away.

“Alright,” Rainbow said cockily as she hopped and skipped away from Lightning Dust, “let’s see what ya got, Dusty.”

Lightning Dust got to her feet, knocking some of the dirt from her jeans as she did and turned, rolling her shoulders and relishing the faint cracks at her neck.

“You sure?” Dust called. “I don’t wanna hurt you, Rainbabe, and I dunno if I can dial down the voltage too well yet.”

“I’ll be fine,” Dash called, waving a hand nonchalantly. “Even if you hit me, which is gonna be rough, I’ve taken a few shots before. We’ll take five if we need to, alright?”

Dust frowned but nodded. “Alright, here goes nothing.”

Planting her feet, Lightning Dust focused inward, remembering Rainbow Dash’s words from back in the meadow on the Everfree Verge. Magic is alive, it’s more than just power, it was presence and instinct, and everything in-between. Lightning let her instincts carry her and forced herself to move.

Not her body, but her mind: her intent.

All of it said move.

Lightning jerked in place, miming a right cross from where she stood several meters away from Rainbow and instantly a copy of herself erupted outwards to carry the motion of the punch. Despite the speed, Rainbow just bobbed around it with a cocky grin as it careened past her, tapping into her speed.

Grunting in annoyance, Lightning concentrated, frowning as she snapped her arms wide, sending a crackling clone in either direction only to jerk her head forward and send a third one bolting towards Rainbow Dash. The prismatic speedster ducked the first only to have the left hand one barrel off of a tree and storm towards Rainbow Dash in a shoulder barge. Speeding up more, Dash sidestepped the second only to stumble as the third crashed into her legs in a football tackle, bringing her down to the ground.

Rainbow Dash vanished in a flicker of movement as the clone detonated, leaving a scorch mark on the ground, only to reappear next to Lightning Dust to flick her across the forehead, the sudden movement and sharp motion sending her stumbling backward and dropping her onto her ass.

“Nice!” Rainbow cheered as Lightning rubbed at the spot on her head. “Up to three now? And you’re getting really good at controlling them, too!”

“It’s weird,” Lightning admitted grumpily from the ground. “When they’re out there it’s like I’m trying to maneuver an entire soccer team in my head, by myself, all at once.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s like…” Lightning flailed her hands a little, “like having a bunch of extra limbs you’re in charge of and you gotta make sure they do every little thing right.” Lightning sighed. “Imagine like, have twelve people worth of bodies in your head and you gotta make’em move and run and punch and all that stuff. Like I said, it’s having a whole team in my brain that I gotta control manually.”

“Does it have to be manual?” Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lightning cocked her head. “Wha’dya mean?”

“I mean like, why does it have to be manual,” Rainbow said, shrugging. “Why can’t you just give’em a play?”

Lightning’s eyes widened a little as Rainbow voiced the thought. Lightning scrambled to her feet and looked around. Spotting a pinecone hanging from one of the trees, she narrowed her eyes and blurred for a moment as one of her clones erupted from her body. It raced to the tree, leaving slightly scorched footprints behind it, and ran up the tree trunk, snapped the cone from where it hung, and pitched it to Lightning who caught it.

“Woah, nice,” Rainbow said with a grin. “That was a lot cleaner, what’d you do?”

“I… I traced a line in my head,” Lightning replied. “Like, when Coach Will is lining out plays on the whiteboard before a game, y’know? Like, I drew a line to the tree, then up to the cone, then I sort of… circle the cone in my head and drew a line back to me.”

“Huh,” Rainbow gave an impressed grunt. “I didn’t think that’d work like… literally.”

Staring down at the cone in her hand, Lightning tossed it up and down before getting a grin on her face as an idea occurred to her. Backpedalling, she cast her gaze around until she found two trees that were about a dozen feet apart with nothing between them. Tossing the pinecone up, Lightning leaped back, staring at the cone as it fell.

Rainbow saw Lightning’s eyes snap side to side as if she was taking everything in instantly. It was a look she was extremely familiar with. Lightning got that look anytime they started being put on their back heel during a game. Rainbow had fantastic reflexes and incredible instincts, but Lightning was far more calculating. She could read a field faster than anyone else, even if she couldn’t physically keep up with Rainbow. It was why anytime Lightning would create an opening, it was always Rainbow who could exploit it.

It was what had made them such great teammates and rivals.

Time seemed to slow for a moment as Lightning took in the space around her, measuring and planning in an instant as the cone descended. The moment it struck the ground, five golden, crackling clones of Lightning burst forth, spreading out in a standard forward offense play.

The central clone snap-kicked the cone to the far left one who caught it on the curve of her shoe only to deflect it inward to the inner left one who sent it hurtling to the right. From there the cone bounced between the far and inner right as all five rushed the pair of trees that Lightning’s mind had designated the ‘goalposts’, only for the cone to finally be sent popping into the air where the inner left clone put on an extra burst of speed to leap and headbutt it past the ‘posts’.

The clones faded with a faint crackle, and Lightning sagged, dropping to her knees on the ground, panting and sweating.

“Holy crap,” Rainbow muttered before turning back to Lightning. “That. Was. AWESOME!”

Lightning held up her hand, giving Rainbow a breathless thumbs up. “Of course it was awesome, Rainbabe. It’s me we’re talking about!”

Rainbow was grinning like a madwoman. “We gotta do that again!”

Despite her leaden limbs and tired mind, Lightning nodded. This felt good, no matter where it came from… it felt good.

The small warehouse near the south edge of the docks district of Canterlot was, in every sense, entirely unassuming. That was naturally the point given the purpose that it was going to be put to use. There were rarely more than a few vagrants prowling around dockside during winter who might see anything, though, even during the tail end of it. The bay was just too cold, and frankly, most people had better things to do.

At least, that was what Sunset was counting on when she asked Adagio to find them a nice quiet space that was out of the way. She hadn’t strictly expected Adagio to just purchase an entire warehouse for them but, then again, the Siren was nothing if not excessively extra.

“This place is a dump,” Gilda said, wrinkling her nose slightly as she surveyed the space.

“Yeah well, that might be for the best, Gil,” Sunset replied wryly as she rolled around the area examining it. “I did ask Adagio for something out of the way and this is pretty ‘out of the way’.”

“Well, yeah,” Gilda remarked. “Because why the hell would anyone want to be here?”

Sunset chuckled dryly. “I think it’s less of a want than a need…”

Gilda looked over at Sunset and saw a distant look in her eyes as she looked over the dirty concrete floors, with its collection of seemingly random bits of wood, metal, and other assorted detritus piled in the corners and near the walls.

“Not everyone has a roof over their heads, y’know?” Sunset finished after a drawn-out moment of silence.

Gilda clicked her tongue, silently chiding herself. “Right, yeah… it’s weird, I guess I almost forgot you were-”

“-homeless?” Sunset finished with a smirk. “Sort of, I mean I had a roof and a place to lay my head at night that wasn’t horribly unhygienic, which I guess is better than some folks do.”

“Still… I wasn’t thinkin’,” Gilda said quietly, “so, y’know… sorry.”

“Gilda?” Sunset said in a soft voice. “What’s wrong?”

Rather than answering, Gilda walked up to one of the tall, concrete walls. The warehouse was a cold, spartan affair. Four walls with a few load-bearing struts that looked like they were meant to house shelves between them. The rotted wood that lay around the area suggested they may have even once done that very job. The roof had lent an odd, thin, tinny quality to the air outside, and Gilda knew that meant it must have holes in it, or at least that it wasn’t quite structurally sound, and the water stains on the floor supported the thought.

Reaching out, Gilda pressed her flesh-and-blood hand to the stone walls she stood beside and hissed softly: it was ice-cold and as hard as it looked, and the floor was unlikely to be any better. The concrete drank in the cold but took ages to heat, it was hard and unforgiving, and even the decaying wood in the corners would probably make a more comfortable bed than the floor.

“Gilda?”

Gilda pulled her hand from the wall and turned to Sunset, who felt her heart catch in her chest at the expression on Gilda’s face.

“I… I guess I never really got it, y’know?” Gilda said in a low voice. “Even when things were at their worst… I always had a bed t’sleep in, food t’eat, it was always warm and the lights were always on, savvy?” Gilda shivered as she looked around the warehouse. “Livin’ like this? I… I can’t even fuckin’ imagine it.”

“It’s…” Sunset began, then stopped. The words that were about to leave her lips sounded thin and weak even in her head. “Ugh, I was about to say it’s not that bad but… yeah… it’s kinda that bad.”

“How long?” Gilda asked quietly. “I… I figure I mighta asked this already, but… y’know me and rememberin’ shit, Sunshine… so… how long?”

Sunset shrugged. “Since I crossed over, so about five-ish years, I guess.”

Gilda stopped and rested her back against the wall, slowly sliding down until she was sitting with her back propped up and her head in her hands.

Five years.

Five whole years of living in places like this.

“H-how?” Gilda asked in a pained whisper. “How th’fuck did ya do it?”

Sunset rolled over to where Gilda had sat down at the wall. Slowly and carefully, she moved from her chair, occasionally using Gilda as a support strut until they were both sitting side-by-side against the frigid concrete wall with Sunset on her left.

For several moments Sunset was silent as she looked over the warehouse. For certain, it wasn’t dissimilar to places she had slept over her time on this world, and it certainly had a lot in common with her old ‘home’ in the third-floor office of warehouse forty-one. It was just are sparse and uncomfortable as that place had been when she had first found it, and the cold from the concrete floors bit through her clothes just as hard as she remembered.

“I… I don’t know,” Sunset finally admitted, her voice taking on a slightly shaky quality as she wrapped her arms around herself. “I really don’t, Gil… sometimes it all just feels like a bad dream, like it happened to some other girl.”

Gilda moved over a little until she was pressed up next to Sunset and put an arm around her, pulling her close.

“Can ya tell me?” Gilda asked quietly.

“Why do you want to know?” Sunset asked in return, her gaze fixed firmly on the ground. “Why does it matter?”

“Because it happened t’you,” Gilda replied. “I… sorry… y’don’t have to if ya don’t want to, savvy? I just… wanna know.”

“You really don’t,” Sunset replied after a moment. “It’s ugly, and nasty, and horrible.”

Gilda let out a slow, even breath, and turned to look down at Sunset who was blinking away tears as she stared down at the floor with wide eyes, her breath coming in shaky streams as Gilda reached around with her mechanical arm and gently placed the fingers under Sunset’s chin, raising it up until their eyes met.

“Look’t me, Sunflower,” Gilda said softly. “D’ya really think there ain’t a single thing in the whole fuckin’ world I don’t wanna know about you?” Sunset clenched her eyes shut and shivered as she brought her own hands up rest tenderly on Gilda’s prosthetic arm. “I ain’t sayin’ you gotta spill it if it hurts but… even if it ain’t today, y’know? I wanna know.”

“Is it weird that I… I barely remember any individual days, see?” Sunset asked in a strangled voice. “Days just blurred together most of the time… but…”

Sunset took a deep breath and buried herself against Gilda’s side. For a few moments, she just sat there and breathed, shivering every so often as she wrapped her arms around Gilda’s middle and let herself drown in the scent of smoke, ash, and oil.

“The worst thing about being homeless,” Sunset started, her voice a ghost of a whisper, “is how scared you are of getting sick, savvy? I was lucky… and it’s probably why I’m still alive when so many others aren’t. I rarely got sick because of my magic.” Sunset took another breath and her voice gained a little strength. “It’s so cold, and here in Canterlot, it rains so often… put those together and… well, like I said, I was lucky, but it still happened once or twice.”

“Must’ve handled it fine, I guess,” Gilda said faintly.

Sunset shook her head. “I stole medicine from a store, hid in a public library where it was warm… I slept in a supply closet under a few fire retardant blankets I’d scavenged from an emergency kit.” Sunset shuddered. “But that was just one day… a few days, actually, I guess… but, day-by-day, I’d do what I had to in order to survive. Eating out of the garbage, hitting up local shelters when they had room, stealing small, useful things from some of the big-brand stores that don’t care enough to chase you past the parking lot…”

Sunset started to shake, and Gilda tightened her grip around her, wrapping both arms around Sunset as she buried herself in Gilda’s arms.

“I still remember…” Sunset cried, “I remember which deli’s toss their daily garbage first, so if you hit the dumpster at the right time you’ll find whole sandwiches people didn’t finish… sometimes they’re even still warm,” she shuddered in Gilda’s grasp but the words poured out of her like poison. “I remember what older buildings were abandoned, and who had claims on them… and which ones you could trade stuff to for a night out of the cold, and which ones you shouldn’t because you don’t want to sleep near them.”

Gilda felt a pit of horror opening up in her gut, but she didn’t push the issue.

“Like I said, I’m lucky,” Sunset repeated. “I knew to ask around, and how to. I grew up an orphan so I knew not to trust… but others? Not so much.”

After a moment, Sunset let out a dry, empty chuckle.

“Y’know, it’s funny what you can get used to,” Sunset said, her voice still choked with tears. “There were whole months I was lucky to get more than one meal a day, and even that usually wasn’t very good,” she shuddered again, remembering some of the things she’d choked down just to have food in her stomach. “I think it’s why I’m… smaller, I guess I’m average maybe, but I should probably be taller than I am. You stop feeling the hunger pains after a little while, though, or at least you get used to them, or learn to ignore them.” Sunset sniffled and let out another shaky breath. “I was so… so grateful when I got into Canterlot High… free breakfasts and lunches? That was like paradise compared to how I’d been living. I barely kept it together in the cafeteria most days, and it was half the reason I even went to school at all,” Sunset laughed bitterly. “Two square meals a day? Sign me up!”

“Ah shit, S-Sunset,” Gilda whispered, feeling her heart clench hard in her chest.

“And then I met you!” Sunset sobbed, “and… suddenly I had a warm place to sleep, and you fed me, and… and held me when I had nightmares, and you kissed me and told me I was beautiful, and… Written’s Quill, Gil, I am so happy being with you.” The last of the wall inside Sunset cracked as she hugged Gilda tight, her words tumbling out like razor blades that had been lodged inside her for far too long. “Our first week together, I wasn’t hungry for the first time in years! And I couldn’t even remember what it was like to be warm during the winter until then! And even more… I felt… I felt loved! And I was so fucking scared I would lose it all one day! But you kept… kept being there! You kept doing shit for me! You… you made me: a genius, homeless, loser, your girlfriend! And then you said you’d marry me!”

Gilda pulled back from Sunset and, before she could protest, leaned in and kissed Sunset, pulling the redhead tight against her. Sunset returned the kiss with desperation bordering on mania, her fingers scraping against Gilda’s side, chest, and arms before finding purchase in the short, ragged locks of her white hair.

Both girls lost track of time as they held onto each other, Gilda giving Sunset the purchase she needed to scrabble back some measure of control after dipping into memories that clearly caused her pain, and Sunset giving Gilda the simple reassurance that she was there, safe and sound in the taller girl’s arms.

“Do you know what it’s like to always be hungry, Gil?” Sunset asked after the silence had stretched itself thin. “Not starving, mind… just… hungry.”

“You had a little cash, though, didn’t ya?” Gilda asked quietly. “Couldn’t you’ve just… gotten somethin’?”

“I had a few hundred bucks for an emergency,” Sunset replied. “An emergency, as in a single one… like if I needed something expensive that I couldn’t just ‘acquire’. If I’d spent the money on food it would’ve been gone in a month or two; money that I’d spent years scrounging to save up.” Sunset shuddered. “I couldn’t buy ingredients, I didn’t have anywhere to cook the food… and I did the math and if I spent a few bucks on dinner from some burger joint every night and nothing else, I’d be broke in less than two months. So I just… didn’t eat except for at school.”

“I didn’t…” Gilda started, but she choked on her words, and after a moment just said: “s-sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Sunset said gently, “I know what you meant… but, it’s just one of those things… I was so desperate to get back home, back to Equestria, but I refused to do it on anyone’s terms but my own.” Scoffing, Sunset shook her head and smiled wanly. “That first night I spent at your place I swear I almost died at how good that stew was but… but I didn’t say anything because, Quill, it just sounded so fucking pathetic, even in my head.”

“Sunset, I swear t’you,” Gilda said in trembling voice. “I ain’t ever gonna let you go back to anything like that, savvy? Whatever it takes, I’m always gonna take care’a you.”

“Only if you promise to let me take care of you, too, Gil,” Sunset said in a small voice as she reached out and set both hands on Gilda’s cheeks. “You can’t take the whole burden all the time and besides, I’m not a weakling… we’re stronger together.”

“Yeah,” Gilda said as she leaned into Sunset’s touch. “We’ll always take care’a each other… I promise.”

Sunset sniffled a little and smiled happily. “Me too.”

For almost half an hour the two girls sat against the cold wall of the warehouse, keeping one another warm with each others company. The wind outside picked up now and again, and both shivered occasionally as the bitter winter air coming off the harbor waters sliced through the gaps in the insulation, what little still remained anyway. Finally, though, Gilda pulled away slowly, shrugging her shoulders and pulling her jacket on tighter.

“So, uh… what’re we doin’ with this space anyway?” Gilda asked, scanning the ceiling and floors. “Like I said, seems like a dump.”

“Well, considering what I plan to do with it I’d prefer a dump,” Sunset replied easily. “We’re going to come here after school and on weekends and I’m going to teach the girls how to use their magic.”

Gilda frowned. “Ain’t that kinda… risky? Like, I almost nuked half’a Whitetail forest.”

“None of them are stormcasters, babe,” Sunset retorted, “and Adagio doesn’t really need any help, I’ll probably be learning as much from her as she is from me, but she still needs to adapt to her Element’s powers.” Gripping her wheelchair, Sunset heaved herself back into it, snapped the lock lever back, and began roving around. “Vinyl, Octavia, and Penny all need instruction from the basics and up, though… I doubt they’ll be anything like the Rainbooms, since as far as I can tell every instance of Element Bearers has been radically different. Mom and Luna both bore three Elements apiece actually… and according to Twilight, she and her friends all have to be together to do anything with their Elements, back when they wielded them actively anyway, and then we have the who Rainbooms activated theirs with music.

“And since I can use mine on my own…” Gilda started, frowning.

“It’s likely they can all do it, too,” Sunset finished. “Which means we need to figure out how they activate their magic, what form it takes, and how to control it, and we need a safe place to do it, hence,” Sunset gestured broadly at the warehouse interior, “our brand new dump.”

“What if one of’em does have magic like mine?” Gilda asked uneasily. “This place ain’t exactly… stable.”

Sunset nodded. “I considered that,” she replied, “and Adagio and I are going to place some reinforcing runes along the walls. I may not have magic but I can etch runes just fine so long as Adagio is there to charge them.

“I still feel like we’re out in the open, Sunshine,” Gilda grumbled.

“I know, Gil,” Sunset replied with a sigh. “But we need the space and we need to time to practice.” Sunset turned on her axis as she surveyed the warehouse critically. “It’s as unobtrusive as we can get and right now we have no choice in the matter. We know something is coming, we know that we’re up against magic, and if the rest of the girls don’t know how to use their powers we’ll get slaughtered.”

Gilda flinched but nodded. “Yeah alright, fair enough, Sunflower, so how do we get this started?”

Sunset rolled over to her bag and heaved it up into her lap and it rattled heavily as she sat it down. Gilda chuckled at the recognizable sound as Sunset began pulling out can after can of spray paint, a faint smiling tracing its way over the redhead’s lips as she handled the now-familiar tools.

“Hey, babe?” Sunset looked up at Gilda a little shyly. “I’m gonna need your help for this.”

Gilda picked up one of the cans and spun it on her palm. “Been a while since I tagged anything, Sunshine.”

“Yeah well…” Sunset frowned a little but laughed. “You’re a lot taller than me, even when I could stand up so you’ll have to get the high spots.”

Gilda raised an eyebrow. “Weren’t these for paintin’ runes?”

“Well, not just runes,” Sunset said with a small laugh. “But… yeah, we’re gonna be doing that.”

Gilda frowned down at the paint can at that.

A warm, amber hand closed over Gilda’s, drawing the taller girl’s eyes to Sunset who was smirking.

“C’mon babe,” Sunset chided softly, “tagging is basically a glyphic language all on its own. You can’t tell me half the crap tagged across South Central looks anything like actual words unless you know how to read them, right?”

For a moment, Gilda looked stumped, blinking her eyes owlishly as she looked back down at the spray can as if it were a completely different object. Then she smiled and chuckled as she tossed it into the air, setting it to spin over her palm before catching it just as easily.

“Guess I never thought about it like that,” Gilda replied. “Alright right then… let’s give this place a makeover, Brujah style.”

Sunset shook the can violently, setting the marble in the can rattling as she grinned. “Sounds like a plan, babe.”