The sun was only just beginning to peek over the horizon as eighteen assorted men and women settled into seats in a small cafe called Sugarcube Corner.

Most of the tables in the establishment had been pushed together to accommodate them, the curtains had all been drawn, and a sign had been placed on the main door informing anyone approaching that the Corner would be opening late to the public on account of a small private function.

Among the men and women gathering up in the dining area was one Officer Shining Armor. He sat near the head of the table, his body tense as he watched the rest of his co-workers take their seats. There was a heavy silence to the room, and no one quite wanted to be the first to break it. There were a lot of rumors about why this meeting was taking place, but nothing substantial had been announced.

Until today.

Shining was nursing his fourth cup of coffee, along with a slow, bone-deep weariness that he had woken up with.

Today was the day; in less than twelve hours things would be over… one way or the other.

If he was being totally honest, Shining was surprised he had gotten this far. Weeks ago he had approached his captain with this request and it had gone about as well as could be expected.

“I beg your pardon?”

Shining felt sweat trickle down his back as Stalwart Stand, Captain of the Canterlot PD, eyed him suspiciously.

The captain had a dark, close cut head of auburn hair and pale skin, like marble, and his eyes were the piercing gray of the winter sky. As figures go the captain was an imposing one, standing better than six feet tall with broad shoulders and slabs of working man's muscle barely confined by a shirt that didn’t quite fit his frame. The captain cut an intimidating figure even seated.

“Please, sir, just hear me out,” Shining said, trying to keep the note of pleading out of his voice. “This could be the most important operation any of us ever take part in.”

In retrospect, Shining thought, he probably shouldn’t have led with: ‘I know where Storm King is.’

“Storm King is one of the most dangerous men in the country,” Stalwart said in a dark basso voice. “If you know where he is then why-”

“I… I’m sorry, I don’t know where he is now but I do know where he’ll be,” Shining clarified, feeling his face warm.

He had said the words mostly to get the captain’s attention, even though they weren’t entirely accurate. Now that he had it though he had to keep it and, more importantly, not sound like a total lunatic while doing so.

“How?” Stalwart asked, his voice stony.

Shining swallowed. “I… I can’t tell you that, sir.”

Stalwart Stand narrowed his eyes dangerously.

“I’m sorry, I really am,” Shining said, taking a step forward. “Someone came to me with this information in confidence and I can’t break that.”

“Officer Armor,” Stalwart began, “Storm King was responsible for inciting one of the bloodiest gang wars the streets of Las Pegasus have ever known,” Stalwart’s eyes became several shades colder under his brow. “The Kings engaged in a level of wanton violence we haven’t seen since the roaring twenties for reasons that even the best criminal theorists can’t determine. Hundreds died, and now you’re telling me that he’s in my city and someone has information about him?”

“That’s… correct, sir,” Shining said, feeling a cold sweat break out. “This person is afraid for their life, though, and it’s only by coincidence that they trust me at all! I can’t break that trust!”

“Damn it, Armor, this is more important than trust!” Stalwart barked and Shining flinched at his sudden volume. “Psych evals of Storm paint him as a total sociopath, practically a demagogue! He’s more like a cult leader than a crime boss!”

“I know!” Shining said, bristling. “But please hear me out!”

“How can you be certain you know where he’ll be?” Stalwart asked grimly. “How do you know this isn’t a plant? That this isn’t false information?”

“Because the person who gave it to me is… was very close to Storm,” Shining said firmly.

Not strictly true, since that was Gilda and it had been Sunset who had told him, but it wasn’t inaccurate either. It would hold up too, Shining knew, since Storm had originally been brought down by his own gang turning state’s evidence against him in exchange for immunity. It wasn’t too odd to think it might happen again.

Stalwart narrowed his gaze. “Shining… you’re a good cop, a very good one, and I respect your desire to keep to your word but if what you’re saying is true then you can’t keep your source secret.”

“With all due respect, sir, that’s bullshit,” Shining bit out stiffly, and Stalwart’s glare turned icy. “You worked Vice for twelve years before you took captaincy and I know for a fact you still keep some of your sources close to the vest even now!”

Shining didn’t know that of course, not for certain anyway, but he suspected as much and the stiffening of his captain’s shoulders in response to the accusation gave him confidence.

“This person isn’t a criminal but they are scared, sir,” Shining pressed, leaning forward on the captain’s desk. “They took a huge risk telling me as much as they did and I can’t betray their trust like this.”

Captain Stand sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair, suddenly looking a decade older. Steepling his thick, calloused fingers in front of his mouth, Stalwart fixed Shining Armor with a heavy look.

“Talk, then… what did they tell you and what are you trying to do?” Stalwart said firmly. “I assume you want permission for this operation?”

Shining Armor nodded. “Yeah, I do, and you’re… okay, just hear me out because honestly you’re probably not going to like it.”

Shining had been right. Captain Stand had not liked the idea of putting an entire school at risk from a dangerous criminal, but had grudgingly agreed that letting someone as brutal and clever as Storm King go to ground was markedly worse.

It had been dicey in the end. Shining had been forced to concoct an explanation as to why Storm was going to be going be at a seemingly random high school. Sunset had given him a good line to run with though; Shining had told his captain that the informant was going to be at the school and had something Storm wanted relating to a cache he had left in Canterlot.

Storm’s supply depot network had achieved a kind of infamy among the police force for its sheer thoroughness, so the idea that he had left something in Canterlot in case Las Pegasus got too hot didn’t exactly beggar belief. Shining had told Stand that Storm was going to use his remaining loyal people to infiltrate the Games while everyone was distracted to try and seize the person and the cache.

When Stalwart had asked why the person hadn’t just run, Shining had been able to answer that one honestly.

‘Because they wanted to do the right thing,’ Shining had said.

He suspected that had gotten the captain on his side more than anything.

Captain Stand entered the Corner on the tail of the last few officers, bulky in his police-issue body armor. Everyone hushed as he took up position at the head of the combined tables and began laying out the plan.

Shining barely listened, partially because he knew it by heart anyway but mostly because it was irrelevant. The plan would never happen, it was a smokescreen to get the police in position when the real event went down.

In summary, though, it was a sting.

There were always a pair of rookies stationed at the Games for safety reasons, more out of tradition than necessity, but today they were replaced with veterans; between them and plainclothes spotters set up in the surrounding area they would wait for Storm or his associates to appear.

They never would, Shining knew that much. Sunset had told him as much: that she had witnessed his sister work teleportation magic, something that still boggled his mind. If Storm and his associates were going to get in it could be practically at will and potentially at any point inside the school.

Shining had considered trying to get a warrant for his sister’s arrest and then trying to stop her by force, but he’d discarded the plan almost immediately. Not only did he have no cause to get a warrant, but she could also just teleport out of custody if she had to.

It was an idle wish, an easy way to stop his sister from making an enormous mistake.

No, Shining had resolved to follow the plan as it had been laid out.

This was Sunset’s plan, and Shining had to admit it was a decent one. Using his own connections in the police force it was his job to get them in place to evacuate most if not all of the spectators and students as quickly as possible.

Captain Stalwart had always held a ‘civilians first’ policy when it came to operations, up to and including scrubbing an entire op if there was too much risk and focusing entirely on preserving life. It had earned him a sterling reputation in city hall and among the people, and it was what Shining was counting on.

Between the police and Cadence’s cooperation, Shining prayed there would be enough time and boots on the ground to get everyone out safely. Sunset had faith that the knee-jerk reaction and training of the CPD, backed up by Captain Stand’s iron discipline, would give everyone their best chance to avoid getting caught in any crossfire. Faith that Shining Armor thought was well founded… or that he hoped was well founded anyway.

There was no getting around how big of a gamble this plan was though, but the alternative was leaving Storm free to do as he pleased, or forcing him to ground where they’d never find him and leaving Twilight in his grasp.

‘Lord forgive me but I’ll roll those dice if it means having a chance to save Twily,’ Shining thought grimly, unconsciously clasping his hands in front of his face. ‘Please just let this be the right choice.’

“Are you alright, Officer Armor?”

Shining glanced to his side. One of the junior officers was beside him, a trainee, and he mentally fished for her name for several moments before finally hitting on it.

“You're… Will Doo, right?” Shining asked after a moment, he hadn’t ever been assigned with her, but he thought that sounded right.

She was a young woman of middling height, about five feet and seven inches, with short, dirty blonde hair, bright yellow eyes, and skin the shade of overcast clouds. Her uniform was clean and crisp, every button in place, but she had a more tired look to her eyes than Shining had expected in a woman so new to the force.

“Wilhelmina Doo, yeah,” she said with a wry grin, “but I prefer Will, so thanks for that.”

“Yeah, uh, your full name is pretty long if I’m honest,” Shining said with a weak chuckle. “And yes, I’m fine… just thinking.”

“Praying?” Will asked with a quiet smile.

Shining sighed, he hadn’t precisely been raised religious but his mother had been for most of her life, although his father was staunchly agnostic. They had both taken the route of simply stepping aside and allowing each of their children to try and find their own way to spirituality, however that happened.

For Shining’s part, at least, he found comfort in having faith in the divine. In an all-knowing maker that he could reach out to even in the darkest of places.

“Yeah,” Shining said quietly.

“I did my own share of praying a minute ago,” Will said quietly. “My sisters, Ditzy and Dinky, go to that school, so I’m not really thrilled that we’re using it as… bait.”

“Storm will be showing up there regardless of if we use it as bait,” Shining said firmly. “Either he’ll show up now, or at a time and place we don’t know.”

“I know,” Will said with a dark grimace. “After our parents passed I had to take care of them, though, and sometimes I feel more like their mom than their sister… and here I am putting them both in danger.”

“It’s not your fault,” Shining put a hand on either shoulder and squared her up to look at him straight. “We’re doing our absolute best to make sure every single person in that school comes out of this alive and well, and yes, sometimes that means taking a serious risk, but we’re faced with two bad choices here, Will.”

Will nodded, her mouth pressing to a hard line. “Like I said, I know… intellectually I know, but all I can think about is how unfair it is to them… to all of us! Hasn’t the Doo family suffered enough?”

Shining glanced around noting that, for the most part, the various officers had fallen in together in small groups to discuss their parts in the sting. Taking a breath, Shining looked back at Will, letting his arms fall to his sides.

“I wish I had answers for you, Officer Doo,” Shining said a little morosely. “This world isn’t a fair one though, it’s our job to try and change that little by little.”

“It sounds so simple when you say it like that,” Will said a touch bitterly. “No offense, Armor, but you come from a pretty charmed life… I don’t really expect you to understand.”

Shining started to bristle, opening his mouth to defend himself.

Then he stopped, sighed, and nodded.

“I guess that’s fair,” Shining admitted, “I don’t think I ever really appreciated what I had til now, or what it might mean to lose someone.”

Will flinched and shrugged. “Yeah… I heard about your sister down the grapevine… just bits and pieces so it’s probably half rumor, but… I’m sorry.”

Shining nodded. “Yeah… me too, all I can do is pray I can still get her back.”

‘Even if it means risking so many other brothers and sisters,’ Shining thought angrily. ‘You’re a selfish hypocrite, Shining Armor.’

Captain Stalwart Stand stood up from his small conference with the senior officers, and addressed the room in a booming basso.

“Everyone get your game faces on,” Stand thundered, “remember we’re not just here to apprehend a criminal, we’re here to protect lives… do not let Storm take hostages, even if it means scrubbing this whole sting, evac first, pursuit second.” For a moment, Stand looked older and more weighted, but he schooled it behind a hard expression. “I will not have the death of a child on our consciences, understand? That is unacceptable, our focus is the young lives we are charged to protect, first and foremost, is that clear?”

The small crowd of officers shouted out a hard, enthusiastic chorus of ‘YES SIR’ in response.

“Good,” Stand said, his voice lowered to a more reasonable volume. “Now, suit up, strap up, and get in position: you all know where you’re supposed to be, so get to it.”

Without another word, Stalwart Stand turned on his heel and headed out towards the various plain vehicles parked nearby. They’d had to requisition multiple unmarked cars from other district offices to have enough for the operation which had required some creative finagling and not a few favors called in by the Captain.

As Shining got into his car, he leaned his head back and tried to keep the plan in mind.

Sunset was smart, far smarter than him, and at this point all Shining could pray for was that she was also smarter than Storm King, too.

There was a faint snapping of displaced air, a crackling of static, and the vague flavor of purple pervading the rooftop of Canterlot High for a brief moment, then a figure was dropped into existence.

Her snow-pale hair fell over the burn scars on her face; the scars kept consistent down her whole left side as if she’d fallen asleep next to a lit furnace. Sharp, predatory gold eyes scanned the rooftop for threats briefly, her armored hands twitching with energy and restless violence for a moment before she relaxed.

It was early, before school hours but not by much. Zee could see the figures moving below her setting up the various parts of the school grounds for the upcoming Games.

With a thought, she dismissed the gauntlets back to their armband forms before they could begin exhaling a storm. They folded with an almost clockwork crackle of metal on metal and she turned, then leaned forward onto the raised mortar of the rooftop edge as she watched the people below go about their duties.

“King…” Zee muttered quietly. “My name is Grizelda King… innit?”

She could practically hear her Pop’s voice in her head, boisterous and self-assured.

“Tha’s as it is, sprog,” she said softly, saying the words she knew that he would say to her. “Tha’s as it is.”

She wasn’t a Grimfeather. Her sister was a Grimfeather, but Zee herself? No… she had no idea what that even meant. She couldn’t remember the faces of either her birth mother or father. She had vague recollections of voices but nothing more; no sense of a bond or an identity beyond the murky memory of the past.

Was this who she was though? Zee wasn’t so certain anymore. A year ago she’d had the ironclad certainty that only a fanatic or a fool possessed, and she knew that now.

Today she was questioning.

“Get yer ‘ead in the game, lass,” Zee hissed angrily to herself. “Ain’t time f’questions when we’ve got worlds t’walk.”

Twilight had teleported Zee to the roof ahead of everyone else to get her in position. She was too noticeable and with her having already fought the girl they knew as Sunset Shimmer, and lost badly, neither of them wanted to take the risk of a second fight going the same way.

Zee shivered, tracing her fingers up her bare left arm where she’d practically been cooked alive.

She wanted to be furious at Sunset, to rage at the redhead for having gotten the better of her. Zee wanted to feel some kind of righteous indignation at her loss that would drive her to seek out a second bout to prove herself.

All she felt, though, was a cold, gut-wrenching terror at the thought of going up against Gilda’s girlfriend again.

The calculating rage in Sunset’s eyes and the almost childish ease with which she’d dominated Zee terrified her. Zee had felt so powerful right up until the moment when Sunset had snapped invisible bindings around her that may as well have been folded tungsten.

All of her power and Zee had been utterly helpless as Sunset conjured up a miniature star and then calmly tried to execute her.

That was the worst part.

Zee had been enraged when she’d fought her sister and not better than blind drunk with hate and vengeance as she had hammered her sister with every low blow she’d had available.

Sunset had been furious, but not blind. Zee had seen the judgment in the redhead’s eyes the moment they’d locked gazes and knew in that instant that she was going to die.

And she would have.

If Twilight had been even an instant slower Zee knew she would have been reduced to composite particles by that kind of extreme heat. There probably wouldn’t have even been ashes left over, just a molten pool of slag in a meadow outside the Everfree with no name and no record beyond the memory of her.

Sunset had very nearly erased her from existence and she’d done it with cold precision.

Zee shivered again.

Sunset was the reason they were being so cautious. None of them had reckoned with her sheer power and ability, and even Pop’s had seemed wary of Sunset's magical might. They had imagined she might be a natural channel for the power that existed in the gauntlets and the bell, a genetic freak of nature that was born with it, but this was beyond the pale. She wasn’t just some genetic sidestep, Sunset Shimmer was an entirely different order of being. Pops had bits and pieces of uncanny spellcraft, but Sunset tossed spells like she was a max level video game character.

When they’d questioned Rainbow Dash about it she’d been a little evasive, but had told them that as far as she knew Sunset had always had some kind of magic. However, Rainbow had also admitted that they hadn’t gotten a chance to get to know each other as well as they could have before things had fallen apart between them.

Following up on that, Pops had just asked after what she did know, and Rainbow had told them of Sunset’s takeover of CHS over the course of a single school year; how she had kept everyone divided and controlled, how she had evaded noticed by the faculty, and as far as Zee, Twilight, and even Storm could tell, she’d done it the old fashioned way:

Threats, bribes, blackmail, and sheer political savvy.

If anything, Pops was of the opinion that that made her more dangerous. She wasn’t just powerful, she was damnably smart, and Storm weighed intelligence as a far greater threat than simple strength or power.

A strong idiot was just a tool waiting to be put to use by a more intelligent enemy. But an intelligent enemy was a threat that couldn’t be discounted or effectively manipulated without taking the risk of being manipulated yourself.

“But we can’t kill her,” Zee grumbled.

Not that Zee particularly wanted to try since it had gone so poorly the first time. Still, getting the jump on Sunset seemed liable to work, but Pops had been adamant.

Don’t take a risk that doesn’t need to be taken. Don’t engage them, don’t pick a fight, don’t get killed.

Zee slumped her head into her arms.

“I guess tha’s fair,” Zee said quietly to herself. “There’s nowt actual need to fight’em til we’re ready to crack the gate open.”

That was the rub.

Cracking the portal open wouldn’t be fast and it wouldn’t be subtle. The moment they began the rite Pops had told them to just assume that the jig would be up and that Sunset would know immediately. They were essentially stirring the magical pot as it were, riling up all the magic in the area into a big spell, and there was almost no possible way that someone as powerful as Sunset wouldn’t notice it. That was where Twilight, Zee, Rainbow, and Lightning came in:

They had to keep Sunset and whoever she had with her from interfering. They had to buy Storm the time he needed to finish the spellcraft, and after that it wouldn’t be about winning or losing. The gate would be open and they would’ve already won.

It would be just like a con: outsmart, outthink, outplay.

Twilight was their gorilla. The big, loud, obvious threat that kept everyone looking at her, with her own lieutenants and enforcers.

They just had to stay alive.

Zee prayed that all of Twilight’s new power would be enough to withstand the force she’d seen Sunset lay out back on the Verge. Plus it was stupid not to assume her sister wouldn’t put herself into fighting trim, same as she, Rainbow, and Lightning had.

Zee’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of boot-clad footsteps approaching from behind her. Her hackles went up, and she tensed as someone walked close, stepped beside her, then joined her leaning forward on the wall.

“Morning sis,” Gilda said quietly.

Her shaggy white hair wavered in the spring breeze while her sharp, golden eyes, so much like Zee’s own, were fixed on a point on the horizon beyond the Canterlot skyline. She stood tall; taller than Zee remembered, and there was something about how Gilda was standing that seemed different, more at ease. She wore a glove over her right hand, and her bomber jacket was pulled close around her.

For a moment Zee braced herself for the onrush for rage that always accompanied thoughts of Gilda, but for once it didn’t come. Zee stared at the girl that she had literally dreamt of killing for years and felt a shadow of anger, but it was more of a reflex than anything substantial.

A part of Zee knew why, too. It was because she was afraid. For so long fear just transmuted itself into rage but this time there was too much of it. She was afraid of Sunset, afraid for Twilight, afraid of what was coming.

And underneath it all there was that frustrating current of relief as Zee stared at her sister.

“Aye up, Gils,” Zee replied, swallowing back her surprise and faint anger. “Yer up early, ain’t ye?”

“Big day,” Gilda grunted back.

“Mind me askin ‘ow ye found me all fast-like?” Zee asked, raising an eyebrow.

Gilda chuckled, shoving her hands in her pockets as she smirked.

“Sunshine pointed me up here,” Gilda said. “Don’t sweat it, though, ain’t here t’fight. She said ya’d just haul ass if I tried it anyway.”

“Arh, cocka, so yer lass can track a teleport…” Zee muttered, feeling a chill go down her spine. “Bit of a nifty trick, that.”

“Nah, she didn’t track nothin’,” Gilda replied, her smirk widening a little. “Said you’d get dropped here because your Twi’ couldn’t put you inside the school… said your Twi’ couldn’t know if any given room she’d pick would be empty, so she’d probably have to put you on the roof.”

Zee blinked in surprise for a moment then began to laugh quietly, nodding as she did.

“Fuck me,” Zee mumbled, shaking her head. “Tha’s all but ‘xactly what our lass said when I asked why I was goin’ t’the roof.”

“Sunflower ain’t stupid, stupid,” Gilda said with a satisfied grin. “You ain’t beatin’ her at this game, savvy?”

Reaching into her jacket, Gilda fished around in her pocket for a few moments before pulling out a pack of cigarettes and yanked one out with her teeth. Then she gave the pack a small shake, jostling a second one loose, and held it out to Zee.

Zee raised an eyebrow for a moment, then shrugged and took the offered cigarette with a muttered ‘ta’, and slid it between her lips. Gilda silently replaced her pack, then drew out a box of matches, struck a pair of them against the side before passing the box to Zee who mimicked the action.

“Bah, these yankee smokes taste like shite,” Zee grumbled, blowing out a stream of smoke.

Gilda chuckled, straightening out to stand at her full height and stare down at the slowly awakening city of Canterlot, and the suburbia surrounding the school.

“Ya, I’m a bottom shelf kinda gal,” Gilda replied, shooting a smirk at Zee. “Fuck me as t’how I got a top shelf girlfriend, savvy?”

Zee snorted and shook her head. “Aye, I’ll ‘appen she’s well outta yer strike zone, Gils… got luck’s all it was.”

“Yeah, lucky me,” Gilda replied, her voice darkening. “Lucky me I got me a girlfriend who keeps gettin’ hurt because of shit I did, right?” Zee flinched as she felt Gilda turn that cold, golden gaze to her. “Lucky me I got a fuckin’ superhero t’pull my ass outta the fire that I started… lucky me.”

Zee took in a slow drag, and as she blew out the smoke she hoped the nicotine would keep her hands from shaking.

“Why didn’t ye jus’ die, Gils?” Zee said bitterly. “Why ya gotta make this ‘ard on us?”

“Can’t die yet,” Gilda replied with a smirk. “I’ve got a pretty lady to protect… how ‘bout you just give up?”

Zee scoffed. “Ain’t really the givin’ up sorta lass, I’ll ‘appen.”

Gilda turned away from her sister and stared back out at the horizon. The world was waking up and none of them knew just how much was happening in this little no-name high school.

People would be going to work, feeding their pets, heading to the gym, getting off the night shift… all just going about their normal day with no clue that they were in danger from a crazy old ganglord with magic.

“Can’t ya just walk, Zee?” Gilda asked quietly. “I don’t wanna kill ya, I don’t wanna hurt ya… hell, sis, I don’t want any’a this shit.”

“You think I do?” Zee grumbled. “Our lass ‘as gone mad wif that magic she’s slingin’ around,” Zee pulled the cigarette from her lips and stared into the ember. “She’s bonkers, Gils… mad as ye like, but she’s our lass… I can’t walk away from that.”

“He’s lyin’ to ya,” Gilda said angrily. “Pops… that’s all he fuckin’ does is lie,” she took a short drag and blew out a puff of smoke. “He lied about you bein’ dead, lied about why he started that war, and I’d lay down cash that he’s lyin’ about whatever he’s here for.”

Silence stretched between the two sisters for a moment before, finally, Zee just shrugged and gave a short nod.

“Arh, maybe,” Zee said after a moment.

Gilda closed her eyes, took her cigarette from her lips and clutched it between her middle and ring fingers as she blew out a slow breath.

“Don’t make me do this, Zee,” Gilda said in a barely audible voice. “You're all I got left‘a my family…”

“Ain’t makin’ ye do a thing, Gils,” Zee shot back. “You’re the one gettin’ in the way on this one.”

“Pops is gonna hurt people, Zee,” Gilda pressed, her eyes narrowing to a glare. “You ain’t stupid… hell you’ve always been the smart one, but he got dozens of Kings killed last time he pulled this shit.” Her face tightened with remembered grief, and she grimaced. “Good folks, too, people who had family… kids… and he turned them into orphans like us!”

For the first time in the conversation, Zee went slightly pale. She stood up a little, straightening out, and stared down hard into the burning end of her cigarette again.

“Tha’s as may be, Gils,” Zee said finally, “but I ain’t leavin’ our lass… and she ain’t leavin’ til we do what we came ‘ere t’do.”

“Zee…” Gilda said the name pleadingly. “C’mon…”

Zee turned to Gilda with a brittle, cracking smile. The scars on her left side distorted the expression, turning into something like half of a grimace, and her hands were shaking as they held onto the cigarette tightly.

“Arh… sorry Gils,” Zee said, her voice a little reedy. “Wish this ain’t ‘ow it ‘appened, oreyt? It’s no way for sisters to be, but tha’s as it is…”

“But-”

“You wouldn’t leave your lass behind for owt would ye?” Zee asked, and Gilda felt her words stick in her throat.

After a moment Gilda just shook her head silently.

“Aye, me neither,” Zee said. “Fuckin’ ‘ellfire… guess we got somethin’ in common after all, ‘ey?”

“I just found you again,” Gilda said in a hollow voice. “I can’t just…”

“S’you or me,” Zee’s expression hardened as she spoke. “Me or your lass, maybe? So how’s it be, Gils? Between me’n your redheaded witch, who would you choose to save?”

Suddenly the morning felt so much colder than it had several moments ago. Gilda met her sister's glare, twin pairs of gold, hawkish eyes searing into one another and, in a pained voice, Gilda replied:

“Her… I’d choose her.”

Zee smiled.

“Aye, same with uz an’ our lass, Gils,” Zee replied wanly. “What a shite bit’a family we are, ‘ey?”

Gilda clenched her teeth and turned back towards the Canterlot skyline. Sullenly, she finished her cigarette, put it out, and palmed the remains before stepping back and away from the edge of the roof and from her sister.

“I needed to give ya the chance, Zee,” Gilda said quietly as she turned away. “I needed to know I tried… that I tried to save ya, that I tried to stop it all from happenin’ again, savvy?”

“Savvy,” Zee replied, nodding as she put her own smoke out. “Tha’s all ‘cause you’re better’n me, Gils… but take this bit’uv advice back with ye,” Zee turned and met Gilda’s gaze evenly. “When it ‘appens, you come at me with death in yer eyes, oreyt? Not like last time.”

Gilda grimaced but nodded. “Not like last time… yeah, can’t afford it this time ‘round.”

Zee turned back around and leaned onto the edge of the roof again, her pale hair whipping idly in the breeze, and Gilda sighed as she made her way back to the stairs.

Briefly, very briefly, Gilda considered starting a fight right then and there. Bringing her sister down hard and dragging her bodily out of the mess that was about to happen.

For years she had been haunted by the thought that she had, even if only indirectly, been responsible for her baby sister's death. Now, though, Gilda had all but promised that same sister that she would kill her with her own two hands if it came to it.

Letting out a slow breath, Gilda stopped in front of the door, scowled, and then banged her head on it. Dull, cold pain flashed through her and she swore viciously as she pulled back from the door, slammed her prosthetic fist into it hard enough to dent the steel, and went stomping across the roof back towards her sister.

Zee barely had a chance to look up before Gilda had her arms around her, and the smaller girl let out a startled squawk as Gilda’s grip tightened-

-into a strong hug.

“I love you, Zee,” Gilda choked the words out through a haze of tears. “A’right? So whatever happens? Whatever it is we gotta do today? You’re still my sister, a’right? And I love you.”

Zee let out a shaky sob and slowly raised her arms up to grip onto the sleeves of Gilda’s bomber jacket, hanging on as if for dear life. She didn’t say anything back, though, there was nothing that could make it out of her throat that was suddenly tight as a cranked vice.

Instead, Zee just nodded.

Pulling herself roughly away, Gilda stared down at Zee’s face and tried to remember it as it was right then, in that moment. To burn those features, so similar to her own, into her memory. A face of a loved one, of a sister, without the pain of an injury or a rictus of rage twisting her features.

Gilda gave a stiff nod, clapped Zee on the shoulder, and turned away.

She made it all the way back to the dented door when Zee shouted out to her.

“Why?!” Zee hollered angrily, “why can’t ye jus’ fuckin’ hate me?! Why can’t ye make this easy?!”

Sighing, Gilda shot a look over her shoulder and shrugged, which made Zee screw up her face in frustration.

“I tried t’kill ye, ye dozy fuckin’ twonk!” Zee spat, her body quaking as she glared across the span of the roof at her sister. “Are ye really tha’ fuckin’ stupid?!”

Gilda started chuckling, a small and slightly bitter noise that grew into a strong wave of laughter. Zee just stared on as her sister laughed for several seconds before finally mastering herself.

Shaking her head in a motion that sent her rakish white hair tumbling in the wind, Gilda fixed a hand on the door, looked up at Zee, and gave her a wan smile.

“I ain’t stupid,” Gilda said with a shrug and a small laugh. “I’m dyslexic.”

Zee just stared in disbelief as Gilda cracked open the door and slipped back inside the school.

“Why, Gils?” Zee muttered quietly to the empty roof. “Why ye gotta make me ‘afta kill ye again?”

Gilda tromped down the steps to the second floor of Canterlot High to the service door she’d used to reach the roof access. Pushing the heavy old door open, she stepped back into the familiar halls of the school, letting the weight of the door close itself.

“Well?”

“No luck, Sunshine,” Gilda replied quietly, her voice hard. “Thanks f’lettin’ me try, though.”

Sunset smiled up at Gilda, reaching out her hands to the young woman. Gilda took her hands, squeezing them softly as she let out a shuddering breath.

“It was worth trying,” Sunset said firmly. “I don’t want to fight this battle, and if your sister is anything like you then underneath all that anger I don’t think she does either.”

Gilda let out a weak laugh. “Considering what she did t’me I’m kinda shocked ya let me even try.”

Sunset frowned, her eyes going to Gilda’s prosthetic as she did. After a moment she closed her eyes and sighed, then pulled Gilda down closer to her level.

Responding, Gilda knelt, her hands still wrapped around Sunset’s smaller ones.

“Gilda, I… I can’t stop seeing you there… in that crater, you know?” Sunset said in a small voice. “It’s like a nightmare that’s waiting for me every time I close my eyes…”

“Then why-”

“Because!” Sunset cut Gilda off as she tightened her grip on the taller girl’s hands. “I don’t have the right to tell you what you can and can’t do, Gil!” Sunset raised their hands up, pressing her forehead to Gilda’s knuckles. “Especially not when it comes to your family… how I feel about her shouldn’t- no, it can’t come into it because that’s not fair.”

“I ain’t gonna defend what she did, Sunflower,” Gilda said, her lips turning to a hard line. “Fact is she tried to bump the both of us off, and if ya don’t think that pisses me right the fuck off-”

“But she’s the only family you have left,” Sunset interjected, looking up at Gilda. “I get it… I do.”

Gilda sighed, pulling her hands free of Sunset’s and rubbing her temples.

“I swore I’d keep’er safe, y’know?” Gilda said after a moment. “On my mom and dad's graves… I swore it. But now I gotta…”

“We can’t let them get away with whatever it is they’re planning, Gil,” Sunset said in a tired voice. “This isn’t just about us… it’s about Canterlot, maybe more.”

“Well, I ain’t doin’ this for Canterlot,” Gilda grumbled, reaching out a hand and letting her fingers coil through Sunset’s red and gold hair. “I’m doin’ this for you, to protect you, and ‘cause I love you. I ain't really a big picture sorta gal, a’right? I’ll leave that to you, I trust you to do right by me.”

“I just hope I’m worthy of that trust,” Sunset replied morosely. “I guess we’ll be answering that question today, though, huh?”

Gilda nodded and took her spot behind Sunset, pushing her along down the hall to the elevators and taking them to the first floor. When it opened Principal Celestia was waiting for them with a concerned look on her face, and Sunset just shook her head in the negative.

Celestia sighed.

“Well, it was worth the effort, I suppose,” she said quietly. “I don’t suppose we can try and apprehend her?”

Sunset smiled a little wanly. “On what grounds? Sonata looked into it and, what few records there are, have her here on a legitimate visa with no criminal records.”

“Also, she’s still crazy fuckin’ dangerous,” Gilda put in.

“We’re at a stalemate,” Sunset said grimly. “We can’t prove anything about anyone that we know is acting with Storm, and if we try to go around the law we’ll just start the fight we’re trying to avoid…”

Gilda pushed Sunset out of the elevator cab and into the hallway as Principal Celestia stepped away and began making her own way down the hall while Gilda and Sunset fell in beside her. The school was curiously quiet, the silence broken only by the faint squeaking from the wheels of Sunset’s chair, joined by the clicking of Principal Celestia’s heels and the dull thumps of Gilda’s boots.

There was something vaguely unsettling about an empty school, Sunset thought. A place that was constantly full of lively chatter and noise being so desolate gave the world around her an almost post-apocalyptic sense of calm.

Sunset chuckled dryly, drawing a look from Gilda and Celestia.

“Sorry,” Sunset said, seeing their questioning glances. “Just had that ‘calm before the storm’ thought.”

Gilda scoffed and nodded. “Yeah, I was tryin’ not t’say it.”

“Ugh, thank god,” Celestia said, sagging slightly as she kept walking. “I’m glad someone said it, holding it in was getting painful.”

Sunset snorted and giggled, and after a few moments she was joined by Gilda's low chuckles and Celestia’s gentle laughter. They continued that way for several moments before stopping at the door to computer lab two. Pushing it open, Sunset took hold of her wheels and rolled in, followed quickly by Gilda and Principal Celestia.

“All set up?” Sunset asked, looking at the corner of the room where what appeared to be several computer towers and three monitors had been wired together somehow.

“Yup!” Sonata chirped, tipping back and forth in her chair as she looked over her setup, Aria was snoozing face-down on the table adjacent to Sonata’s rig. “I had to get a little creative to manage the processing power I needed, but I should be able to keep an eye on pretty much the whole school exterior from this point.”

“A part of me wishes we had more cameras inside the school now,” Celestia said grimly. “I turned them down because I believed they were both unnecessary and gave the impression that I was treating the students like criminals, but now…”

“Auntie,” Sunset said admonishingly, “you didn’t make a bad choice, okay? I doubt you could have predicted needing a security setup to track down a criminal ganglord.”

“I realise that, Sunset,” Celestia said, rolling her eyes. “But I’m permitted some small and idle regrets, I think.”

“Fair enough,” Gilda grunted as she slipped out from behind Sunset.

Sunset smirked as she watched Gilda stalk towards Aria slowly, her booted feet suddenly silent as she snuck across the tile floor towards the dozing Siren. Gilda flexed her fingers slightly, cracking her knuckles as she got closer and closer.

There was no warning, just a single violent surge of motion as Gilda launched forward, her whole body suddenly lambent with hyperkine energy as she accelerated to a near blinding speed in an instant, her fist hammering towards Aria.

Sunset blinked… there was no visible movement from Aria. One moment she was practically asleep, the next she was standing on top of the table she’d been dozing on, her hand gripping Gilda’s wrist and twisting to spin the dark-skinned girl in place and send her crashing to the ground with a deafening clatter.

“Try again, newbie,” Aria scoffed. “And next time don’t crack your knuckles as you’re approaching… macho posturing does you no good if you’re on the ground a second later.”

Gilda sat up sullenly, rubbing the back of her head as she did, and nodded. “Fuck, I ain’t ever gonna get the drop on you, huh?”

“Not unless you live a thousand years too, birdbrain,” Aria cackled, crouching down on top of the desk. “But you’re getting better, well… better than most humans.”

“Can you please not destroy our school equipment?” Principal Celestia asked quietly. “Our budget isn’t exactly phenomenal.”

“We’ll make a ‘charitable donation’ later,” Aria said with a smirk. “Assuming any of us survive this mess.”

“We don’t even fully know what they’re doing,” Sunset said bitterly. “All we can do now is prepare and hope we catch wind of it before it’s too late to do anything about it.”

“You’ve done all you can to prepare, Sunset,” Principal Celestia said calmly, putting a hand on the girl’s shoulder, turning Sunset to face her. “It hasn’t been that long, but you’ve come so far as a person,” Celestia continued, and Sunset grimaced, turning her eyes away. “I know you regret who you were and the things you did, and I know you regret the misery you caused, but that isn’t who you are anymore.”

“Are you sure?” Sunset asked quietly. “Because the way I see it I’m putting everyone that I made miserable in danger… again.”

“You’re doing this to protect them,” Celestia pressed, her brow furrowed. “As an educator and the Principal of this school, you know that I don’t like this any more than you do… but I also understand why you’re doing it.” Slowly, Celestia sank down until she was on one knee in front of Sunset. “What you’re doing now, you’re not doing out of pride or malice, you’re doing it out of love, and out of a desire to protect, so don’t destroy yourself over this, Sunset, please.”

Sunset let out a sigh and nodded, and Celestia leaned in to hug the young girl. Sunset shuddered and clung to Celestia for a moment, trying desperately to keep from crying out of stress and panic. They needed her to be strong, to be unflappable… if she was going to break down it would have to be later.

Assuming there was a later, of course, and if there wasn’t then it would suddenly not be her problem anymore.

“Alright…” Sunset said, taking a deep breath and nodding. “Let’s go out there… the bus from Crystal Prep should be showing up any minute now.”

“Adagio is already in position for her part,” Aria said from where she was still sitting on the table. “And I’ll be waiting in the wings as backup… I might not be an Element but I can put a bitch through a wall if I have to.”

“Please don’t kill anyone, Ari’,” Sunset said with a dry smile. “Most of them don’t know what they’re doing.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Aria scoffed, waving a hand, “go be a hero, Red.”

A hero.

Sunset’s thoughts turned bitter as she turned and left the room with Gilda and Principal Celestia in tow. Gripping her wheels tightly, she pushed herself along down the halls towards the entrance of the school.

Go be a hero.

Although she would never say it out loud for a variety of reasons, morale being among the utmost of them, Sunset hated being called a hero, especially lately. Today she wasn’t a hero, or at the very least she certainly didn’t feel like one. Everyone kept telling her she was making the right decision, but no matter how much reassurance was tossed her way she couldn’t help but think that Twilight would never have had to resort to a plan that put so many innocent people in danger.

Certainly, Princess Celestia wouldn’t have but, then again, Sunset wasn’t a solar demigoddess so she permitted herself a certain amount of forgiveness over that comparison.

“Sunshine?” Gilda called out, her tone concerned. “You a’right?”

“I’m fine,” Sunset replied tersely as she reached the front doors and slammed her fist, perhaps a touch harder than necessary, on the powered door pad, causing it to swing lazily open. “Let’s go meet the competition.”

The day was an almost frustratingly nice one. The spring morning was out in force with the sun coming down through mostly clear skies, a light breeze was blowing the floral scent of newly blooming flowers across the city, and there was just enough chill in the air to wake up anyone who happened to step outside.

It was almost as though the world wasn’t in potentially dire peril.

Sunset took a certain amount of comfort in the fact that statistically speaking, it was probably miserable somewhere on the planet and therefore at least the weather was obligingly appropriate in some part of the world.

Turning sharply, Sunset took the ramp down and around to the walkway towards the statue where the defunct portal was still standing quiescent and unusable after whatever curse was levied on it took hold. In front of the portal stood her team, the Canterlot High School Friendship Games team, only a few which knew the true stakes of the day.

‘And not all of them are on my side,’ Sunset thought bitterly. ‘Dash you dense motherfucker.’

A small part of her was still aggravatingly certain that Rainbow Dash would come around; that in the end she would try and make things right… but that part was getting smaller. Sunset knew Rainbow well enough, both as a former friend and as an enemy, to know that for whatever the sporty girl’s flaws were, she genuinely meant well. Beneath the rusted patina of bad decisions and poorly thought out impulses, Rainbow Dash had a truly good heart.

She was just incredibly dumb sometimes.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Sunset gestured for Gilda to join the rest of the team as she mentally composed what she was going to say to them. Octavia and Vinyl knew the stakes, but they were the only ones other than herself and Gilda among the team that did. For a moment Sunset toyed with the idea of just revealing the whole matter to ensure they were all on the same page but…

No, that was a recipe for disaster.

For one, she had no guarantee that the rest of the team would be on board with the ‘use the school as bait’ plan. If they weren’t it could scrub the entire thing before it started and Sunset quite simply couldn’t allow that to happen. For two… Sunset wanted them to enjoy the games.

Telling them would only amount to informing them that they wouldn't be able to do anything and so just to try not to think about it. That wouldn’t be helpful nor would it be safe.

“Alright everyone,” Sunset said calmly, leaning back in her chair as she surveyed her team. “We’ve all studied hard on the road to this day, and we’ve done more preparation that I think anyone was really expecting.” A part of Sunset chuckled internally thinking of the warehouse before continuing. “Today we go head to head with one of the best private schools in the country and you know what I think?”

By this point she had the entire team’s attention, even Rainbow and Lightning were practically standing at attention as they listened. Sunset mentally made a note to thank her mother for all of those public-speaking and speech-giving lessons that she had woven into their magic studies.

“I think that we have a shot at this title,” Sunset said firmly. “Is it in the bag for sure? Not a chance…” that got some looks from the team but before they could start to doubt, Sunset cracked her fist against the armrest of her chair, taking back their attention. “This is Crystal Prep, ladies, and if I said we’ve got this in the bag it would be a lie, because this team we’re going up against will be good. It’ll be the best they’ve got and I’m not going to make the mistake of underestimating that level of skill, and neither should any of you!” They were standing taller now, and there was a fire in their eyes, even Microchip who normally looked like nothing so much as a hunched bird with corrective lenses. “What I’m telling you now is that we may not have this in the bag, but I think we’re closer to victory than any Canterlot High team has ever been! That team will have skill and ability, but WHO ARE WE?!”

“Wondercolts!”

Sunset almost lost her train of thought as Rainbow Dash was the first to answer.

‘I should’ve known you’d be the first voice to reply to that question, though, Dash,’ Sunset thought wryly before picking up her momentum.

“I DIDN’T HEAR THAT!” Sunset roared. “WHO ARE WE?!”

“WONDERCOLTS!” The rest of the team hollered, and even Gilda took a step forward as she got into it.

“Damn right,” Sunset said with a smile. “We’ve got teamwork, we know each other’s limits and abilities, we won’t trip over each other and we know how to work together… something tells me Crystal Prep doesn’t put much value on giving one another a hand up.”

A round of chuckles answered Sunset’s commentary.

After a moment, a blue fist raised up into the air, and Sunset raised an eyebrow at Rainbow who was standing tall with her eyes fixed on Sunset’s own.

“We made it all the way here because we’re not like any other school,” Rainbow said, her voice a little shaky at first, but gaining strength. “We’ve faced things that other kids our age couldn’t even imagine.”

‘Like me?’ Sunset thought, but she didn’t derail Rainbow, the others were already invested.

“We’ve stumbled and fallen, and then gotten up, but…” Rainbow trailed off for a moment, her hand flagging, but Lightning reached out and took Rainbow’s other hand and gave it a soft squeeze. “But… we believe in more than just winning or losing, right?” Rainbow looked around to nods, even from Gilda. “We believe that there's something more than just winning some stupid competition, because we’re Wondercolts! We know that, as corny as it sounds, the magic of Friendship is something that’s kinda… literally real, right?”

More nods came from the team, and even Sunset couldn’t help but go along with it, as much as the memories that Rainbow’s words stirred up hurt.

“We Wondercolts have screwed up more than a few times,” Rainbow continued softly. “But we’re better than we were and… today I think we’re going to prove that sticking together, being together, makes us stronger than anything!” She pumped her fist back into the air with renewed strength. “We’re all Wondercolts forever! So let’em come at us!”

Applause rose from the team, with Sunset’s own hands clapping along with the rest of them.

‘There’s that natural charisma,’ Sunset thought a little morosely, ‘for all of her faults, Rainbow is a natural leader…’

“Here, here,” Sunset said as the applause died down, and Rainbow Dash met Sunset's gaze evenly.

No one in the group was unaware of the tension between the pair of them, even the most oblivious extremity of the school body knew that Sunset had been cut loose from the friends she’d stood by during the Battle of the Bands over the Anon-A-Miss debacle.

“Wondercolts forever, huh?” Sunset asked after a moment as Rainbow lowered her fist. “I guess we are.”

Rainbow nodded silently. “Yeah, at least… I hope we are.”

“Me too, Dash,” Sunset said quietly. “Me too.”

At that moment a bus came rolling to a stop on the other side of the statue by the sidewalk. It bore the purple and black livery of the Crystal Preparatory Academy as well as the insignia on its side. Rainbow scoffed a little as she, along with the rest of the team, made their way around the statue to greet their incoming rivals.

“Geez, think it’s them? Might be too subtle,” Lightning said dryly, earning a smattering of laughter.

Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna joined the team a moment later just as the door of the bus opened with a pneumatic hiss.

Dean Cadence stepped down the small set of stairs and onto the sidewalk, followed by the tall and primly dressed Principal Cinch.

“Cadence, it’s lovely to see you again,” Celestia said warmly, stepping into the embrace of the younger woman. “We have to have dinner and catch up sometime soon.”

“We do, I think we could all use a night out after today, anyways,” Cadence agreed, meeting Celestia’s eyes, then Luna’s. The three of them shared a short nod, and Luna stepped in to give Cadence a short hug as well.

“Abacus, always a pleasure,” Celestia said far more stiffly as she held out a hand to Crystal Prep’s Principal.

“Naturally,” Principal Cinch replied, glancing down at the proffered hand for a moment before limply taking it as if trying to keep skin contact to a minimum. “I’m looking forward to adding a new trophy to our case.”

Celestia’s grin became slightly strained and her grip tightened. “I’m sure you are, but I think we’ve got some strong competition for you this year.”

Cinch returned the tighter grip with one of her own.

“We shall see,” Cinch said through gritted teeth. “Competition has always had a somewhat weaker definition in the public sector, though.”

Celestia didn’t rise to the bait, though, instead pulling her hand back and stepping to the side, gesturing at the team behind her.

“May I present to you, Canterlot High’s team for this year’s Friendship Games,” Principal Celestia began. “This is our team captain: Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset gripped her wheels and rolled forward a few paces and held out a hand. “Pleased to meet you Principal Cinch, I look forward to having some decent academic competition for once.”

Sunset’s smile was shark-like as she met Principal Cinch’s eyes fearlessly, and for a moment Principal Cinch hesitated before returning the gesture.

“Miss Shimmer, I take pride in my work and in my ability to judge a student’s calibre,” Cinch said as she clasped Sunset’s hand. “I have the distinct feeling you belong at my school, not here.”

“A year ago I might have agreed,” Sunset replied evenly. “So let’s see what your school has to offer.”

“Indeed,” Cinch replied stoically before glancing at Cadence and giving her a stiff nod.

“Competitors,” Cadence said, addressing Canterlot’s team, “I’m proud to present to you the Shadowbolt team, representing Crystal Prep in the Friendship Games,” she gestured as they began disembarking from the bus. “This is our team’s captain: Twilight Sparkle.”

Sunset blinked in surprise. The Twilight that descended from the buses steps barely looked anything like the one that she knew from Equestria. She wore the same uniform every other Crystal Prepper wore; a wine-dark button-up blouse with a pleated skirt of dark pink and stripes of white. Twilight’s hair fell in long waves, coiled primly to the side so the long locks fell over her left shoulder, leaving her right side bare. At the meadow Sunset could have sworn she’d worn glasses but now she was bare-faced, and she met Sunset’s gaze with an almost furious calm.

“Twilight Sparkle, huh?” Sunset said, schooling her voice to neutrality as she held out a hand. “Pleased to officially meet you.”

One of the other girls from the group, a girl with a pale, bluish-gray complexion and light purple hair streaked with shades of pink glared daggers at Sunset, causing her to raise an eyebrow.

“And I, you,” Twilight said with a grim tone to her voice and leaning in as she took Sunset's hand. “I look forward to beating you,” she leaned a little closer and her voice dropped to whisper: “this time.”

“Good luck, neophyte,” Sunset hissed back acidly. “You’ll need it.”

Twilight’s expression screwed up into a rictus of rage that was present only for the briefest of moments before returning to serenity. Then the pair parted with a few odd looks from members of both teams at the air of animosity that had blossomed between the two captains in an instant.

The Principal’s ushered the teams down the walkway towards the entrance steps of Canterlot, and Sunset carefully observed the Crystal Prep team as they moved. All of them had an almost arrogant swagger to their movements, a peerless sort of confidence that spoke of absolute surety. But for all of that confidence, Sunset could see the fractures and divides. They all moved apart from one another, glancing more at each other than they did at the team they were supposedly here to beat. Their mutual mistrust of one another was almost palpable.

Except from the girl who had shot her that ugly glare earlier.

She walked beside and behind Twilight in a manner that it took Sunset a moment to read the purpose of. It clicked a second later, though, and Sunset narrowed her eyes. The girl was walking behind Twilight almost like a disciple… like a devotee, her head was bowed slightly, but her hands were twitchy and wringing as if she were aching to reach out and touch the girl in front of her.

For Twilight’s part, she paid the girl almost no mind at all. It wasn’t ignorance though… no, it was something Sunset was almost painfully familiar with.

Twilight treated the girl behind her with an awareness combined with a sort of imperious disregard. She knew the girl was there and was purposefully paying her no mind, much in the same way her mother had treated Sunset herself in the Royal Courts, with that same ‘necessary distance’ that had ended up driving a wedge between them.

‘How far down the path of the dark mage have you walked, Twilight?’ Sunset thought ruefully. ‘You’re treating people like objects already… are you really that far gone?’

Sunset knew she shouldn’t expect this Twilight to be anything like her friend from across the portal but it was still painful to see the staggering difference between the two of them.

The team came to a stop together, the CHS team gathered up in one group and the Shadowbolts a few meters away in another. Celestia and Cinch ascended up onto the landing of the steps, joined moments later by Dean Cadence at Cinch’s side and Vice Principal Luna at Celestia’s.

Principal Celestia cleared her throat gently as she faced the gathered high schoolers.

“Students of Crystal Prep Academy, I welcome you,” Celestia began formally. “My name is Celestia Sonen, I’m the principal here, and it is an honor to be your host,” the students of CHS were listening intently, while the Crystal Prep students looked more or less bored. “Now since it’s much earlier than a normal school day, I took the liberty of asking our cafeteria to prepare a light breakfast for everyone to share.”

That got everyone’s attention. Crystal Prep or not, competitors or not, world ending magical catastrophe in the making or not, there was nothing quite like a hungry teenager in the morning.

“If you’ll all follow me, I’ll be happy to show you around,” Principal Celestia practically chirped, gesturing for the gathered teens to follow.

The walk to the cafeteria was mostly silent with a smattering of hushed whispers here and there between the students. Sunset noted that the only actual conversation came from her team, while the Shadowbolts seemed content to glare suspiciously at their surroundings as much as at one another.

“Since when is breakfast part of the Games?” Octavia whispered as she caught up to Sunset.

“Traditionally it’s not,” Sunset replied. “I worked this out with Principal Celestia in advance.”

“Part of the plan then?” Octavia queried, an eyebrow raised in question.

Sunset gave a small nod. “Nothing the team has to be worried about, though. Just get something to eat, you’ll need it.”

“I’m aware,” Octavia said with a grimace. “If all our training taught me anything it’s that… well, that kind of exertion of strength eats a lot of calories.”

“Now you know why magi are always so skinny,” Sunset said with a smirk.

Octavia let out a small snort of laughter but muffled it under a cough as she fell back amongst the rest of the team.

The cafeteria that the students walked into bore little resemblance to its usual state. For one, it was sparkling clean and smelled faintly of pine-scented cleaner; the trash cans, usually overflowing with a variety of detritus, were freshly emptied, and the smell of pancakes, eggs, sizzling bacon, sausage, and other sundry breakfast fare filled the air.

Several tables had been pushed together in one part of the cafeteria and had a small paper sign standee on it with the sign reading: Teams. Another table had the word Staff on the standee, and a small circular table set apart from all of the others with a single chair at it had the word ‘Captains’ perched at the center.

Without a word, Sunset turned from her team and rolled up to take a spot at the captain’s table. Following her example, Sunset’s team quickly found seats on one side of the Teams table.

Twilight nodded to her follower, the short-haired girl, who began ushering the Shadowbolts into seats on the other side while their captain took a chair opposite Sunset. The four adults seated themselves at the Staff table, and moments later the Cafeteria kitchen doors swung open and a small troupe of students trotted out, led at their head by a young woman with a bright poof of orange hair.

“To begin,” Adagio exclaimed brightly with the air of a proud maître d′, “platters of fresh fruits, biscuits, and toast. The main course to follow in precisely fifteen minutes.”

Cinch’s eyebrows looked fit to crawl up past her severe hairline as plates were quickly and efficiently laid out with a minimum of clatter followed by the promised dishes of fruits.

Fresh cut apple slices and peeled oranges, sliced cantaloupe, kiwis, pineapple, and even coconut were on display. Bowls of brightly colored strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries joined them, and beside the dishes were tureens filled with thick, freshly whipped cream.

Plates of toasted bread were laid out soon after followed by yet more plates stacked with fluffy biscuits.

“Bon savour!” Adagio said, her voice still bright and clarion.

Then she turned briskly on her heel, snapped her fingers, and her and everyone she had brought with her vanished back into the kitchens as quickly and cleanly as they had appeared.

“That was… impressive,” Cinch said quietly. “I must grudgingly admit that you’ve at least stepped up your hosting game, Celestia.”

Celestia grinned, popping a blackberry into her mouth. “Never underestimate the competition, Abacus.”

“Indeed not,” Cinch replied testily, but she tucked into the plates before her nonetheless.

At the Captain’s table Sunset was busy scooping small portions of just about everything onto her plate while Twilight eyed her suspiciously.

“Isn’t that a bit dangerous?” Twilight asked in a neutral tone. “You’re going to stuff yourself right before a big event?”

Sunset glanced up at Twilight in surprise, although Twilight couldn’t tell if it was feigned or not.

“I’d recommend you do the same actually,” Sunset replied, before chomping down on an entire slice of apple, then swallowing. “You must’ve noticed, haven’t you?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. The small smirk on Sunset’s face was infuriating, and seeing it made her want to smack it right off of the smug redhead’s face.

“Noticed what?” Twilight replied evenly, a snarl hiding under her voice.

“Magical exertion eats up a lot of energy, and it doesn’t all come from the surrounding thaumic field,” Sunset said between bites of cantaloupe. “It burns through calories like no one’s business, so no self-respecting magus skimps on breakfast unless they want to blow out their lambda system.”

“Thaumic… what?” Twilight stuttered, feeling wrong-footed. “What’s a-?”

Sunset stopped eating mid-bite into a slice of orange and stared, eyes half-lidded, at Twilight. The Shadowbolts captain felt something like ice water sluice down her spine at the terrifying intelligence her opponent’s eyes held.

Finishing her orange slice, Sunset lowered her hands and wiped them on a napkin.

“The thaumic field? The lambda system?” Sunset repeated in a questioning tone. “You do know your basic thaumic theory, right? Arcane Bio one-oh-one and proper nutritional quotients for sustaining ideal levels of energy?”

“I… there’s no such thing as-” Twilight began uneasily before Sunset cut her off again.

“Dark Magic like what you use is especially calorie intensive,” Sunset continued, gesturing with a mostly eaten cantaloupe rind that she was working on. “I’d recommend a lot of sugars and starches unless you want it to start eating away at your body,” she said, tossing the rind to the side and grabbing a biscuit. “Cognitive function goes out the window pretty fast if you don’t do at least that much… think early onset dementia turned up to eleven.”

“How the hell would you know any of that?” Twilight hissed.

Sunset noted smugly that Twilight took a larger serving of fruits, though.

“Because it’s literally textbook,” Sunset replied casually around a mouthful of buttered biscuit. “Y’know, Elementary Arcane Principles: Volume One, chapter two? Basic nutrition?” Twilight's expression dropped as Sunset took a swig of orange juice. “Philosophy of the Body by Green Thumb pretty definitively proved that magic is drawn heavily from your wellspring and that energy isn’t free.”

Twilight worked her jaw a few times, occasionally glancing down at her plate before turning her gaze back up to Sunset.

Suddenly her appetite was quite gone.

“But I guess you never got anything like a basic magical education,” Sunset said, keeping the one-sided conversation going. “After all, Miss Sparkle,” Sunset flicked her eyes up to meet Twilight’s, “you were born human.”

Silence descended on the small table, and suddenly the low chatter from the team and staff tables seemed almost deafening. Twilight stared hard at Sunset as if trying to gauge what exactly she was saying.

Something in Sunset’s eyes gave the answer she was searching for, if not the one she wanted, and her own eyes widened.

“The gate…” Twilight whispered, her low voice almost hollow. “You’re from beyond the gate.”

Sunset didn’t reply, she just kept the small smile on her face as she took another bite of apple slice.

“Answer me,” Twilight said, her hands had started shaking and her pupils had shrunk to pinpricks. “Are you from beyond the gate?”

Silence reigned, broken only by the dull crunch of Sunset biting down on her apple slice. Then Sunset smiled, dabbed at her mouth with her napkin, and said:

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Captain Sparkle.”

The kitchen doors swept open again, killing any retort that Twilight had been about to make, and Adagio strode into the cafeteria once more with a beatific smile curving her lips upward.

“Honored guests, I present to you… Breakfast,” she said simply.

What followed was a sumptuous parade of fluffy pancakes and crisp waffles, along with every topping imaginable. Those were followed by platters of bacon, sausage, and even plates of vegetarian substitutes, along with large portions of eggs, both scrambled and fried.

“Enjoy,” Adagio said brightly before dipping in a low curtsy, then hustling the student staff back into the kitchen.

“Ooh, waffles,” Sunset said brightly before dishing herself out two and topping them with whipped cream and strawberries.

“What are you?” Twilight asked calmly as she claimed a few pancakes and adding a trickle of syrup. “Are you some kind of… polymorphic entity?”

“Ppfffff,” Sunset laughed, nearly choking on her bite of waffle. “Did you just say ‘polymorphic entity’? You could’ve just said ‘shapeshifter’, savvy?”

Twilight’s cheeks reddened as Sunset laughed around her waffle, wiping away some of the cream from her cheeks as she did.

“Do you intend to spend this whole meal making a mockery of me?” Twilight hissed in a dark voice.

Sunset smirked, taking another bite of waffle as she did.

“Why would I bother?” She asked as she chewed. “You don’t seem to need the help.”

That did it.

A cold, baleful sensation trickled down Sunset’s back as Twilight’s face contorted in rage. Where her eyes were once the normal shade of purple, they flashed to a brilliant violet backed by cyan fire as her skin began to smolder and darken, as if burning from within.

“Careful Sparkle,” Sunset said evenly as she forced a smile onto her face. “Your game face is showing.”

Twilight Sparkle’s raw power was staggering, and just being close to it made Sunset’s guts churn. In the meadow her power had been considerable, enough that a simple brute-force defensive spell like a force barrier had been enough to shield both her and Zee from Sunset’s conjured plasma.

Today she was beyond ‘considerable’, and beyond even ‘formidable’.

Twilight Sparkle was, clearly, every bit the natural powerhouse that her Equestrian counterpart was.

In a word, she was a monster.

“I’m going to burn you for what you did to Zee,” Twilight snarled under her breath, her fork twisting and distending in her grip.

She was fighting to bring her visage back under control, but it was a fight that she wasn’t winning, at least not quickly.

“You really don’t get it, Twi’,” Sunset said evenly, fighting back her surge of panic at the wellspring she was faced with. “You can’t control your own magic… look at you! If I hadn’t put up a veil around us you’d be causing a small riot.”

Sunset gestured around them, and Twilight scanned the cafeteria. Everyone was still talking or eating or otherwise calmly wiling away the morning.

Sunset made a mental note to thank Adagio for her surreptitiously cast veiling spell. Twilight was off-kilter enough that she would probably buy that Sunset had conjured it without her noticing.

Above all, Sunset couldn’t afford to let them realize she didn’t have her magic, and this little bit of theater was her ticket.

Twilight, for her part, stretched her senses out and found a wispy barrier of something like cobwebs surrounding the two of them.

“Without that, you’d be vomiting your power all over the cafeteria,” Sunset continued, keeping her face a study in neutrality. “Dark magic is like poison or radiation… powerful as it is dangerous and as beautiful as it is toxic,” Sunset shook her head, banishing memories of her own bout with the power, “believe me, I know all too well.”

“Dark magic,” Twilight spat, almost laughing. “Sounds more like magic no one bothered to understand.”

“Oh my people understand it,” Sunset said grimly. “Unlike your kind, our knee-jerk reaction to things we don’t understand isn’t to kill it with fire.”

Twilight was practically shaking with barely restrained fury. Sunset could feel her emotions pouring off of her in waves, creating a feedback loop of power between herself and the Dark magic that was coursing through her. This was the danger of that kind of magic, whatever it was fed with became easier to feel, which in turn made more fuel, and on and on and on until the maelstrom of power and emotion it creates tore its user apart.

“Twilight,” Sunset said in a voice that was as calm as she could make it. “Unless you’re planning on knocking the roof off of the cafeteria and ruining whatever plan you have going,” Sunset held out a strawberry to Twilight as she forced her expression to remain calm, “I would recommend you stop surging and eat some breakfast.”

The pair of girls stared at one another for several long seconds, and Twilight’s mind was filled with a clangor of bells, loud and brassy, and demanding she wield the power that was suddenly crackling at her fingertips.

But Sunset was right, as furious as that made Twilight. If she outed herself now then everything Storm had done would be for nothing. With a monumental effort of will, Twilight closed her eyes, took a breath, and let the power go. When she opened her eyes again they were normal, a soft purple with white sclera, and her skin had taken on its usual luster.

Then Twilight reached out and plucked the strawberry from Sunset’s fingers, took a bite of it, and met the redhead’s gaze evenly as she swallowed.

“Why stop me?” Twilight asked quietly. “You worked me up on purpose, right? So why stop me when I was about to ruin my own plan?”

Sunset chuckled and took another bite of waffle. “Well for one,” she held up a finger, “you probably would have nuked everyone in this cafeteria in the state you were in, whether you meant to or not, and if it’s all the same to you I’d rather not have that on my conscience, savvy?”

Twilight grimaced, glanced around, then nodded; once again, Sunset wasn’t wrong.

“And two…” Sunset held up another finger, “I needed to see how much control you have… and I’m both impressed and not. You lost control way too easily, you let me into your head practically without a fight.” Sunset leaned back in her wheelchair, lowered her hand, and sighed, shaking her head. “You’re no magus, you’re a bipolar schoolgirl with a magical bazooka and an itchy trigger finger.”

“I’m in control,” Twilight hissed. “You have no idea what I can do.”

“Actually I’m pretty sure you have no idea what you can do,” Sunset said grimly. “I want everyone to come out of this alive, Twilight… my friends, your friends… everyone, alright?”

“No one is going to die,” Twilight said quietly. “That’s not in any part of the plan.”

“Assuming you don’t lose control like you just did now, and blow a hole in someone’s torso, sure,” Sunset snapped, and Twilight had the good grace to flinch. “I’m trying to protect people, and yes that even means you, despite the fact that you and Zee tried to kill the love of my life.”

Twilight’s expression turned strained. “You almost killed her! Zee is everything to me!”

“And Gilda is everything to me!” Sunset hissed. “Absolutely everything, savvy? And your psycho girlfriend put her down before I ever touched her, so tell me this: if the roles had been reversed would you have been any different?” Tears were falling from Sunset’s eyes now as she glared at Twilight who looked taken aback. “If I had been the one to hurt Zee first would you have been any less insane than I was at seeing her lying near-death in a crater?”

For the first time, something like regret or shame crossed Twilight’s features, and she looked down at her plate.

“No…” Twilight answered finally, “I guess I wouldn’t… but that doesn’t matter.”

“You want the truth, Sparkle? Fine,” Sunset said heatedly, pushing her half-finished plate away. “Yes, I’m from beyond what you call the gate,” Twilight began to interrupt, but Sunset held up a hand, “and it transforms any of my kind who passes through it into humans, and vice versa if you were to go to my world.”

“How can you be-”

“How can I be sure?” Sunset asked waspishly. “Well, your people sure as Tartarus didn’t build the portal, right? Who do you think created it?”

Twilight’s eyes widened at that.

“My people do magic like your people breathe,” Sunset snarled. “We’ve built cities out of clouds, we control our weather, our seasons, and even our celestial bodies!”

“Impossible,” Twilight mumbled in a shaky voice. “If your people are that strong then why haven’t come over here and conquered us yet?”

Sunset just laughed bitterly at the question.

“Written’s Quill… what a human question…” she said by way of reply. “Did you consider that maybe it’s because we don’t want to hurt anyone?” Sunset shook her head and leaned forward, steepling her fingers in front of her face, before raising one hand up and counting off as she spoke: “Generosity, Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty; those are what my people believe in… even if I didn’t until recently.”

“That sounds like a child’s notion,” Twilight replied in an acid tone.

“Maybe it is on this world,” Sunset allowed. “But it’s not on mine, so imagine for just a moment if you can… if your human brain is even capable of it, imagine a whole world where those are the guiding principles.” Sunset closed her own eyes, casting her thoughts back to her homeworld. “Imagine a place where it’s not laughed at but simply treated as a way of normal life, are you even capable of that?”

Very briefly, Sunset thought she saw tears in Twilight’s eyes. Then the moment passed and Twilight looked away, glaring down at the floor for several moments before answering.

“No,” she said quietly. “I don’t think I am.”

“This will end in tears, Twilight,” Sunset said softly.

Twilight nodded, and Sunset continued.

“It doesn’t have to.”

Sighing, Twilight pushed her own plate away.

“Yes,” Twilight said finally, “it does.”

“Damn you,” Sunset said in a soft voice.

Twilight gave her a wan smile. “You first, Shimmer.”

Sunset made a small jerking motion with her hand and Adagio, watching from across the room, gave a stiff nod and whistled out a small tune, lowering her veil.

Abruptly, the sounds in the cafeteria took on a sharper quality. Twilight had been so engrossed in their conversation she hadn’t noticed the aural effect the veil had given the area. It hadn’t been silence, precisely, but more like she’d been listening to everything happening from outside of a window. She suspected that everyone else had had equal difficulty listening in on herself and Sunset, if anyone had even tried.

“See you on the field, Captain,” Sunset said in a neutral tone before wiping her mouth and her hands, pulling on a pair of black, fingerless gloves, then gripping her wheels and rolling away towards her team.

“See you,” Twilight replied as Sunset left.

A moment later Sunny Flare was by Twilight’s side again, as loyal and dogged as she had been since their moment in the halls at Crystal Prep.

“What was that about?” Sunny asked quietly. “I tried to listen in but the sound was all funny.”

“A veiling spell, she called it,” Twilight said in a low voice. “It was like the magical equivalent of a privacy screen, I guess… it was incredibly sophisticated… it made that silence bubble I put up look like a preschool finger painting next to a Rembrandt.”

“What did she want?” Sunny asked, concern crossing over her pretty features as she reached out for Twilight, her fingers stopping just short of touching the girl. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Twilight said before reaching out and giving Sunny’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “I think she was just taking my measure… and we were right, Sunset Shimmer is incredibly dangerous.”

“So what do we do?” Sunny asked, her brow furrowing angrily. “Are we just going to let her get away with that?”

“I’m not going up against Sunset Shimmer unless I have no other choice,” Twilight said evenly. “I might have power but she… she’s got training, proper training, so we wait.”

“For what?”

Twilight flicked her eyes downward. “For Pops signal… he should be arriving soon.”

“How will he get in without being seen?” Sunny asked as Twilight began walking towards the Shadowbolts. “This school is open on all four sides.”

“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “He told me he’d be calling in a marker… whatever that means, and that we would know when he starts the ritual.”

“So we just wait?” Sunny crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

“Pops knows what he’s doing,” Twilight said, putting a placating hand on Sunny’s arm, drawing a faint blush from her. “Trust me.”

Sunny blew out a breath, nodded, then raised her eyes to meet Twilight’s. They were bright with feverish zeal the same way they had been since the day in the hall, and Twilight felt another, familiar pang of responsibility.

“Always,” Sunny said, her voice thick with emotion. “My Midnight.”

“Stick to ‘Twilight’ when we’re with the team,” Twilight hissed, and Sunny flushed but nodded.

“R-Right, sorry,” Sunny replied.

“It’s okay,” Twilight said, smiling faintly as she raised a hand to stroke Sunny’s cheek, and Sunny shuddered with delight. “I forgive you.”

Sunny nodded dreamily as she fell in behind Twilight who had glanced over at Sunset. The redhead was speaking to Zee’s sister, Gilda, in hushed tones. There was something between the two girls that Twilight found she envied; a kind of… purity. The clear, bright look in Gilda’s eyes when she was looking at Sunset spoke of something more than zeal or mere loyalty.

It was trust… and it was love, Twilight realized. Real and untainted love, and suddenly that envy turned into an ugly tidal surge of twisting, gut-wrenching emotion.

“Damn me? No, damn you, Shimmer,” Twilight murmured. “If I have to do it myself.”

Canterlot High School is an older building than most people would think. Its first iteration was built at the turn of the last century which stood for close to fifty years before burning to the ground and being rebuilt. Since then it has been updated, renovated, brought up to code no less than twenty times in regards to plumbing, piping, and wiring, but through that span of time one part of the school has persisted mostly intact:

The basement level.

It was more expansive than most would expect and built of solid cement foundations with old red brick and mortar walls in most places.

The contents of the basement were many and sundry and would have taken an experienced museum curator to accurately identify, but one thing near the furthest east corner of the basement probably would have escaped even their notice.

A locker, old and decrepit and made of faded red wooden panels with dirty, rusted metal fastenings and framework sat mouldering in the back corner, forgotten by even the most studious janitor.

Like most mornings, the basement was quiet except for the faint clunking and banging of pipes in the walls. Unlike most mornings it didn’t stay that way as the locker abruptly rattled and thumped violently, shaking in place as strange wisps of pale smoke or fog coughed from between the fastenings, and the cracks between panels showed an ugly bruise-red light occasionally flickering from inside.

Sounds came from within the locker; sounds that seemed strangely distant and echoed hollowly as if the locker were far larger than it ought to be.

Suddenly the locker doors exploded outwards, shouldered open by main force as a figure came crashing out of it, coughing and hacking as they stumbled from within and down onto the basement floor, falling to their knees in a wild tumble with a leather satchel tied at his shoulder.

Storm gasped in great heaves of air as he knelt on the ground.

After several moments he rose unsteadily from his knees to his feet, bracing himself with one hand on the wall as he wiped blood, mud, and other noisome fluids from his front and hands with the other, then spat on the floor as if trying to get a taste out of his mouth.

“Remind me,” Storm said in irritation, “never t’travel coach ever again, aye?”

‘Those realms were never meant to be used as transport,’ the sonorous voice in Storm’s mind replied dryly. ‘Be thankful that particular entity owed me a favor.’

“Tha’s well’n good f’you, old goat,” Storm said as he stumbled over to a nearby old sink and started running cold water. “You didn’t ‘afta do anything.”

‘We made it, did we not?’ the voice said a little smugly, and Storm rolled his eyes.

“Arh, cocka… I’ll ‘appen we did,” Storm said as he washed off his hands and did his best to clean the filth from his shirt. “Guess we oughta get to it then.”

‘Our timeline for this plan is short, mortal,’ the voice growled, ‘the Heirs of Light are nearby as well… this is a terrible risk.’

“S’only a risk if ye can’t stack the deck, old goat,” Storm said with a light chuckle as he rolled up his sleeves and started fishing through the satchel. “Arh, ‘sides ye know why it ‘ad t’be this way… can’t do it without’em, aye?”

The voice let out a derisive snort that was oddly bestial. ‘Given a proper amount of time I’m certain we could have managed on our own.’

“Or,” Storm replied as he drew out chalk and a long, guardless ritual knife, “we might’ve found nowt and been up shite creek, savvy? S’called strikin’ while the iron is hot, and old goat? It’s never been hotter.”

The voice let out a tired sigh but didn’t argue the point.

Storm had a plan and, by rights, it wasn’t a terrible one. It was a risky one certainly, but the ancient shade within the ganglord knew that it was a calculated risk. Besides, he had taken risks himself plenty of times, and more often than not they had paid out, although the times they had not had cost him dearly.

‘And what of your daughters?’ the voice inquired in a measured tone.

Storm clicked his tongue as he went to work etching out a symbol on the wall with chalk before going to work chipping it into place with the knife.

“What of’em?” Storm asked as he worked.

‘This plan of yours… you know what will happen.’

“Aye, well,” Storm began as he chipped and notched at the bricks, “we all make sacrifices, innit?”

The voice let out a dry, bony chuckle.

‘That we do, mortal,’ it replied in a darkly amused voice. ‘That we most certainly do.’