After all of the ponies were surprised by her surprising arrival, all of the main six quickly jumped from where they were standing and dogpiled and hugged Sunset on site while they cheered, leaving the rest of the Royal Guards, Starlight and the royals stood there with wide eye and mouth.

Sunset's team, on the other hand, felt very awkward with how Sunset's friends greeted her in such....... way. After a moment of hugging, they six stood in front of Sunset while Isaac, Human Applejack, Carver, and Randall struggled to walk as they got closer to Sunset. The princesses, Starlight, and Shining Armor also followed up behind the Elements Of Harmony and were pleased to meet Sunset's other friends.

It was then they started to take note of Sunset's condition.

"Oh, my! Wha-what happened to your face?!" Fluttershy asked in worried as they noticed the scars on Sunset's forehead and underneath and above the eyes.

"It's nothing," Sunset replied with a smile. "The important thing is I came back alive."

"Sunset Shimmer."

Sunset looked up to see her old mentor. Old emotions crept up within her. Regret, pain, anger, and sadness filled her as she met Celestia's eyes. "Princess Celestia."

No one spoke as the two looked at each other in silence. That moment was soon broken when the Princess rushed forward taking the unicorn in a surprise hug. Sunset felt Celestia's legs, and wings wrap around her body as the Princess' head pressed up against her. "I'm so happy you are alright. When Twilight told me of your disappearance, I feared the worse had happened, and I would not be able to see you again." Celestia said.

Sunset felt a dampness reach her cheek and realized it was coming from the princess, Celestia was crying which shocked her. She had never once seen the princess cry. For the longest time in her life, shed only ever revered Celestia as somepony above other. Now weeping for her that rocked her to the core. Old promises she made years ago resurface as she raped her forelegs around Celestia barrel. "I-I've missed you, Princess."

"To you, my former student. It's just Celestia," Celestia replied before breaking the hug and looking at the others Sunset brought. "So, is this the family of Sunset that you mentioned?"

"Yeah..." Twilight answered awkwardly. "But I didn't expect to meet them like this."

"They weren't comfortable to not bring out of their armor," human Applejack said. "That's why Sunset told you not to freak out."

"Really?" Applejack the pony asked. "Kind of a little scary looking to me."

"And we were told that you were bringing three humans with you, but there are four of them here," Shining Armor added in a little confusion.

"Well, he wanted to travel through time with us," Sunset answered while looking back at Randall. "Wanted a nice to have a change of scenery."

"You didn't tell me I'd be turning into every little girl's fantasy creature," Rundall replied while pointing an armored hoof to the horn sticking out of his head. To which Sunset smiled at him.

"And miss out on how you react on the other side? Not a chance, Randall. Besides, you look cute as a pony." Randall just deadpans at Sunset with a slight twitch in the eye. "I was a soldier, Sunset. Soldiers are not supposed to be cute."

"Amen," Carver nodded in agreement.

"Alright let us introduce ourselves," Twilight said to get the conversation rolling. Then pointed to each of her friends with her but not before pointing at herself while saying their names to them. "My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends. This is Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and this worlds version of Applejack," Twilight's tone changed a little due to her growing hatred of how the human versions of her friends treated Sunset. "Like that Applejack."

"Twilight..." Princess Cadence called. "There's no need to angry for now, that's not how you usually introduce yourself, doesn't it?"

"Sorry," Twilight quickly replied as she went on with introductions. "Alright, this is my student, Starlight Glimmer, Princess Celestia her sister, Princess Luna, my sister-in-law, Princess Cadence and my brother, Shining Armor."

"It's good to meet you all," Isaac said as he nodded at them. "My name is Isaac Clarke, Ship Systems Engineer. I was the one that found Sunset when she traveled to the future and took her under my wing, so to speak." He finished as he raised one of his new limbs. The human turned griffon walked up next.

"I'm Sergeant John Carver, a soldier of the Last Battalion for the Earth Defense Force. I met up with these two crazies recently on our last mission and just can't seem to get rid of them." The Sergeant smirked, or a smirk if you could call it one on a beak.

"Love you to, Carver," Isaac replied, which lightened the mood of the group. The purple unicorn with the strange symbol painted on armor then introduced himself.

"My name is Randall Carr, I'm an Ex-Unitologist soldier. A bad guy to those three and turned over a new leaf when I found out my belief was a lie. So now I'm helping them." They all then turned to the human world Applejack.

"Umm... I don't think I'll need an introduction." Human Applejack said shyly.

"Oh don't worry about that. Will just refer to you as "AJ," so we don't confuse the readers." Pinkie said happily while giving said readers a knowing wink.

Everyone present then looked to where Pinkie was winking at and saw no one there. Isaac and Carver were wondering if this pink pony was developing some sort of dementia, Randall took a step away from the Pinkie while everyone else just wrote it off as Pinkie being Pinkie.

"Right," Twilight shaking her head at her friend's antics, "It's a pleasure to meet you all," Twilight said with a smile. "By the way, Sunset, what have you been doing while you were with Isaac?"

"He taught me how to be an Engineer like him," Sunset replied. "Now I'm an expert on that like Isaac."

"Oh really?" Isaac mused. "I may have been your mentor and taught you everything you know about ships, but you don't know all my tricks of the trade." He smirked at the irritated Sunset while making Celestia giggle. She was starting to like this pony.

"What?" Rarity asked. "Aren't you worried about how are you getting your clothes dirty with all that filth?"

"For fuck's sake," Carver whispered to himself in annoyance while Sunset and the other newcomers were also irritated by Rarity's comment. "We had to do a lot of dirty jobs to get ourselves here. Some of them harder than others."

"Really?" Starlight asked in disbelieve. "Sounds harsh."

"It's more than harsh," Randall added with a sigh. "It was really bad."

"And what art thou wearing?" Princess Luna asked as she and the guard were also amazed by the suits they are wearing. "Tis not unlike any armor we've seen before."

Sunset decided to take the reins on this one."Well, princess what we have different variations of suits for usages."

"Oh like what?" Twilight asked, floating a quill and paper by her side.

"Well as you can see, the spine-mounted display serves to indicate the user's general state of health as a glowing segmented bar which depletes as the user takes damage. When the user dies, it emits a "flat-line" sound similar to an EKG, which is loud enough to alert others within earshot of the RIG wearer's demise. What I'm wearing right now is called a "Soldier Suit," which works best in combat situations," Sunset then pointed her hoof at the newcomers with her. "Isaac here is wearing his Elite Engineering Suit to protect the wearer from machinery and occupational hazards in ships. Carver is wearing his Special Forces Suit which is more specialized for more combat situations than mine. Randall over there is in his Hostile Environment Suit which is designed to withstand the harsh ionizing radiation emanating from the planet's mantle and protect the wearer from any hostile and dangerous environment he's in."

"What's with the weird drawings on his suit?" Rainbow added. "It looks kinda cool."

"That would be the symbols of my former religion," Randall answered. "Call it like a lucky charm for me."

"I see," Twilight said in understood. "Hang on, didn't you said that there's a magic-related problem at CHS, Sunset?"

"Yep, someone/somehow used some kind of magic to mess with everyone's memories, specifically memories of me," Sunset explained. "According to AJ here, everyone has forgotten everything about me except I was a terrible bully and the Anon-A-Miss of CHS until I had to get out from there. Applejack here, her memories of me was also erased. Not only the memory of me was erased, but also the memories of you and the magic we used was also erased."

"What?!" Twilight shouted in shock. "Is that true?"

"Yes, it is," AJ said in sadly. "Ah can't even remember what happened during the Battle Of The Bands or the Formal Party when Sunset was around. Ah' only remembered what Sunset just said to ya also in dreams."

"Dreams...?" Princess Luna echoed to herself.

"And when the Anon-A-Miss happened," Twilight said in a cold tone towards AJ. "Did you remember how you hurt her?"

"Yes, Ah' did," Applejack stammered, "Ah'......"

"Beat me into I was nothing but a piece of trash," Sunset said with a mad tone and as she turned towards Applejack from the human world, while Isaac, Randall, and Carver just stood there in silents as they watched them. "It's not something one forgets, I remember it, and you also remember that. You hit me pretty fucking hard a few times either in the face and somewhere else on my body. Sometimes you showed up behind me and shoved me into my locker, or grab me and toss me to the ground followed by a kick to the stomach."

"What?" Applejack said in shock as the rest were disgusted by AJ's action. "How could ya'?" She asked, wondering what the hay was wrong in the human world.

"Ah' know Ah'm..." AJ said before she was interrupted by Sunset this time.

"Maybe you can beat up someone, AJ," Sunset stated coldly and angrily. "But that video I showed you the one of me fighting. That's only the tip on the mountain of what I can do. I am dangerous and capable of killing. It sickens me, but I had to kill a lot of undead monsters and living people too. I had to kill most by cutting off their limbs so they wouldn't come back and kill me or those around me. So don't you try messing with me, I've been through so much shit already that it could cover the home ten times over, understand?"

All the ponies in the room except the newcomers were feeling very scared of what Sunset's testament since she said she can kill. It's the first time for them, hearing that Sunset has been killings thing. Sunset didn't tell them much what happened to her in the future and some of them didn't want to. But cutting someone's limbs off to keep them from killing you? Now that's horror. Even the aura they felt from Sunset could not have been fake, and it was deadly.

AJ shrunk under Sunset's gassed as the threat because very dangerous. Applejack shivered, gulped, and scratched her back of the neck with her hoof as Sunset stared her dead eyes that sent even the royal guard sweating as they looked at ember unicorn. It was the first time AJ had felt real fear, despite being a strong farmer girl.

"Alright, Ah' understand," human Applejack replied in fear. "Plz calm down, sunset."

"Hey," Isaac said as he put his left hoof on Sunset's shoulder, getting her attention. "Remember why we're here, let's deal with the erased memory problem first, ok?"

Sunset closed her eyes and did a small breathing exercise to calm herself before giving Isaac a grateful nod to which Isaac smiled back before facing the princesses in the room. "Do you have any idea what it could be?"

"No," Princess Luna answered. "But this sounds like Equestrian magic. We shall rest for now and find out tomorrow if thou are not in a hurry."

"We're not," Randall quickly replied. "We planned to be here overnight."

"Good then," Princess Celestia said in consent. "The matter is settled then. Applejack...um.. this worlds Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Rarity, and Pinkie, you all best be going home and get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day."

"Yes, your majesty," Rarity answered with a bow.

"And then I can throw a welcoming back party for Sunset's return!!! YAY!!! *GASP*, and I can throw a welcome party for you four too." Pinkie shouted as she popped out from above the newcomers who made them nearly grabbed their weapons.

"Is she always been like this?" Carver asked in alarmed and worried. "She looks like she's hyped on adrenaline shots!"

"She's just being Pinkie," Sunset replied with a sigh. "Just ignore her."

After Pinkie calmed down and landed on the ground, Celestia glowed her horn. "Let's continue this in Canterlot."

All the sudden, a flash blinded them, and then the scenery changed, instead of the castle library they're in, they were inside the halls of the Canterlot Castle. Everyone in the room was all okay except for the newcomers who had a little headache and had no idea what the just happened.

"Oh god, I haven't felt this sick since Zero-G combat training," Carver said as he shuffled in place before getting his bearings as he took in his new surroundings. "What the...? Did we just get teleported or something?"

"Yes, we did," Starlight replied with a nod. "You'll get used to it after the first time of course so you won't experience again next time."

"Just don't teleport us to the moon," Isaac joked. "I don't have an apartment up there yet."

"What?" Starlight asked. "Apartment on the moon?" She gaining Princess Luna's undivided attention.

"Back in our future, Humanity built several colonies on the moon. Both Isaac and Sunset live in the colony called "New Lunar Horizons." It's where I first met the two them." Carver explained.

"Tis a wonderful name!!" Luna said in excitement, good to know that the name 'Lunar' was put to the colony. "Don't you all agree?"

"Yes, it is," Cadence said in agreement. "How are you humans able to live on the moon?"

"Long story short," Carver said. "We got good with technology, so everything was made possible over time as we mastered space flight."

"I see," Celestia and Twilight both said in unison then causing the two to giggle. "Come on, I'll show you all a room you can rest for the night."

"Alright," Sunset answered before they all followed Princess Celestia and Luna to their room.

Though it was not long after they start their walk, Sunset mentioned something. "By the way," catching everyone's attention as they walked. "There is something about my age I wish to tell you all."

"What do you mean?" Shining asked.

"Well here I've been missing for a year, but when I was in the future, I've been spent the next six years there," this fact made everyone in the hall stopped and glanced at her.

"Are you telling me that you're then you should be older?" Twilight asked.

"Well technically," Sunset added. "I'm mentally nineteen due to me being in a drugged fueled coma for a few years. But yea I'm physically in my early twenties now."

They then continue to walk on after that. "I don't even know what to say to that," Twilight said as she chuckled to Sunset's fact.

"Other than that, she can legally drink alcohol in my world," commented AJ.

"Why, what's the age requirement in your world?" Asked Shinning Armor.

"Twenty-one."

"What?!" Twilight, Starlight, Cadence, and Shinning to shout in this surprise revelation.

"Yea, why? What's the drinking age here?" AJ asked. Gaining silent interest from Isaac, Randall, and Carver.

"Sixteen," Shinning answered to which cased a shock the natural born humans gave out with their own vocalized surprises.

"No way!"

"Your shitting me."

"Seriously?"

"...Drinking at sixteen? Applebloom and her friends must not know of this."

They kept walking on until they reach the guest rooms. The guards at the doors opened them for their princesses and her guest and were astonished to see what was inside.

AJ went inside and took a good look around the room. The ceramic floor was in a beautiful shade of white, while the wall and ceilings were looked like they were made from good quality mortars and gave a lot of beautiful carvings on them. There were also pieces of furniture inside the room, a sofa, and was two beds that could fit two ponies. Applejack couldn't stop smiling at this was going to be the first time she'd get to spend overnight in a castle.

"You looked so excited," Cadence commented which made AJ snapped herself from the view of the room and looked towards them as they came into the room. "Your first time?"

"Yes, it is," Applejack replied as she scratched her back with her hoof. "So, who'll be sleeping in this room?"

"Me, Isaac, and you," Sunset said. Making AJ slightly uncomfortable at the notion.

"I'll take this one while the two of you two can share the bed," Isaac said, making AJ more uncomfortable.

"We were expecting four of you to share this room, but there is another room adjacent to this one, follow me," Shining said towards Carver and Randall before the three left the room to head to the other room.

Sunset and Isaac then proceeded to open their suits and put them at the cabinets nearby. The princesses, Twilight and Starlight, could see that Isaac was wearing a brown jacket-attached RIG alone with a ballistic vest. He also had a cutie mark on his flanks, which looked like a blueprint of a Plasma Cutter with a wrench and screwdriver crossing in the background.

"What is meaning of this Cutie Mark?" Celestia asked in confusion, as they started towards the drawing of the tools on Isaac's flank.

"What?" Isaac looked over to his body and found out there was a drawing there, Isaac quickly understands what they were referring too. "Oh, that's a Plasma cutter. It's a CEC's standard engineering tool that can cut metal and rocks."

"Oh, sounds interesting," Starlight commented in understanding.

"Is that what it's called, a Cutie Mark. Why is it called like that?" Applejack asked.

"It shows thy talent on the things you do in life as it supposed to represent you," Luna explained. "If one's able to find their talent, they will have their Cutie Marks appeared on their flanks magically."

"Just like that?" Isaac asked as his head bowed a little.

"Just like that," Sunset, Twilight, Starlight, and Princess Celestia said in unison.

Sunset was wearing her black jacket-attached RIG and showing off her cutie mark of yellow and red shimmering sun. The only visible changed she has is her looks. The scars on her face plus the dark eye-bags that shows everyone her lack of sleep and the severe mental conditions she has. For sure she was going to sleep right now. After they both undid their armors, they put away their weapons from the inventory slot at the table that is facing the window in the room with the exception of their Plasma Cutters by either hiding it underneath some pillow or put it on the night table next to the bed for emergency self-defense. AJ on the other hand, just went off from the bathroom after she cleaned up her face. After that, AJ, Isaac, and Sunset finally looked over again to them.

"Don't you guys get some sleep?" Issac asked. "It's already late."

"Oh, sure, yeah," Princess Celestia said awkwardly as they realized they were wasting their time waiting for the three have a good break in the room. "We'll be off then."

"Goodnight, pe- erm, ponies," Isaac said stammered. "Goodnight to you too, Princesses."

They all nodded before they turned around and leave the room with the doors closed. Since they three were also felt sleepy, Isaac went to his bed and lay down there while AJ and Sunset went to their bed and laid down on the bed but not before Sunset took off her jacket-attached RIG. Sunset looked over to Isaac because she wanted to say something, but decided against it when she saw Isaac quickly falling asleep. Now only the two of them who are not asleep yet.

Sunset just started onto the ceilings of the bed in silent as AJ only looked over to her in worry. Can be said, Applejack still felt a little uncomfortable with her. Because one, she is dangerous, two, Sunset was angry and give a threat "at" her because she remembered that she beat her up so badly a year long ago. She slowly raised her hoof towards Sunset's shoulder and nudged her a little. Sunset then looked over her in content as Applejack saw the weary look in her eyes.

"You're okay?" AJ asked.

"Don't know," Sunset replied. "Not sure if I want to sleep or not."

AJ only silent for a while before looked away from Sunset. "Just get some rest, Sunset."

Sunset, of course, felt weary again and thought best to sleep. "Ok."

Sunset looked back up to the ceiling again. And with a little doubt, she slowly closed her eyes for the night and fell asleep.

---

2508 Aegis VII Four months after CHS

Sunset and Isaac were using everything at their disposal to both, move the loader which held the source of all their problems, the red marker, and fending off said source's creations. Those creations were every kind of Necromorphs the two have regularly faced off for the last nine hours. With the loss of friends like Hammond, Chen, and Johnson, and Kendra's betrayal.

Sunset was nearly at the end of her rope of sanity as she reloads her pulse rifle. "Come Sunset, were almost there!" Isaac yelled as he moved the Red marker down the loading line.

"You said that an hour ago, Isaac!" Sunset called back as she fired at the never-ending hoard of undead. Shooting the legs of another Slasher, she turned to just what was ahead of them. The loading line ended ahead of them to a rock formation. Focusing back at the Slasher she downed, Sunset found it was joined by three more Necromorphs that jumped out of the ventilation ducts. Raising her pulse rifle, she fired short burst to stagger her targets before crippling their limbs and ending them.

Sunset followed behind Isaac as he worked the loader with his Kinesis module as he shoots any Necromorph's with his Plasma Cutter in the other hand. The ground started to rumble for a sec before a pair of giant tentacles popped up from the side.

"Scatter!" Sunset said as she ducked forward as the tentacle slams on the platform they were on. Sunset looks up to see a Slasher rearing up to bring its bone blades to come down on her.

Sunset rolls to avoids the attack before she smacks the thing with her weapon to push it away. Looking behind the Slasher was more Necromorphs hopping on the walking platform. The sound of Isaac's Plasma Cutter discharging told her that he was busy with whatever he was dealing with so she had to deal with the ones at her front. Letting loose a stasis blast from her module, slowing down the first two.

Sunset saw more and more Necromorphs were appearing behind them that needed to be put down, now. Sunset fired off more and more rounds, and the body's of the dead were starting to pile up on the walkway. The Necromorphs soon were crawling over stepping over their dead to reach her. She'd noticed that the tentacle from earlier hadn't attacked as they fought their way to the Marker site.

The moment they were finished with all the Necromorphs, Sunset turned just as Isaac placed a few buttons down on the loader controls as the Marker is slid back into a red pedestal. Then an energy surge around the Marker as something that sounded like a large screamed in pain out in the distance. While this happened, Nicole stepped out from behind from where the Marker had been placed.

"Thank you, Isaac. I always believed in you." Nicole said. Her sudden appearance surprised Sunset. From the moment she met the women in the mines, some things didn't make sense as to how she was always there when they needed help. And now she felt like things were coming to an end.

"I knew you would return to me. We are whole again, Isaac. We are whole..."
Nicole disappeared as something bright glowed behind her, obscuring her from their vision, though when the light faded. The Marker released a pulse of energy into the sky that shook the area for a moment.

"Emergency: geo-orbital gravity tethers offline." a computerized voice, one that was male sounding voice compared to the female one on the Ishimura, said, though at the same time Sunset's eyes widened in fear as she looked into the sky, "Tectonic load released. Impact imminent. Evacuate this area immediately."

"Oh fuck," Sunset said, as she watched the gravity tethers keeping the big rock in orbit going out releasing the million ton rock. Which was now starting to make it's way down towards the area it had been pulled from.
"Isaac... We need to go. Like right NOW!"

"Yea let's get the fuck out," Issac replied as the duo moved over to what appeared to be a decontamination chamber. When they walked in to reach the door on the other side of the room, the decontamination cycle started and steel shutters closed in over the windows. The cleaning spray from nozzles soon followed. Sunset was tapping her foot at the hindrance, wanting nothing more than to get the hell off this rock and go home. The shutters then went back down into place.

"Isaac, Sunset," a familiar voice said.

When the voice spoke, built up rage and anger filled Sunsets body as she and Issac turned around to find Kendra standing on the walkway they had been on moments ago with a gun in hand. "You two didn't really think I would just walk away from this, did you? I can't do that, because the Marker is coming with me. It really is a shame... I was really starting to like how resourceful the two of you were... even if the two of you are insane." Kendra mocked at them.

"After all that we went through just to put that thing back in its place how are we not?" Sunset mocked back, to which Kendra laughed.

"What, you don't believe me? Just look at yourself." Kendra stated though that was when she smirked at Issac, one that Sunset hated the instant she noticed it. "Better yet, take a look at that video from Nicole... and this time, watch it right to the end..."

Isaac RIG beeped and opened to his video logs and replayed the video from Nicole once more. Sunset had seen the video also from Issac when they were on the Kellion. "Isaac, it's me. I wish I could talk to you. I'm sorry...I'm sorry about everything. I wish I could just talk to someone...it's all falling apart here; I can't believe what's happening. It's strange...such a little thing. In the end, it all comes down to just one little thing..."

This time instead of static or the video coming apart it kept going when the camera zoomed back for a moment and revealed that Nicole was holding a needle. Sunset recognized what was happening as fear and memories of the abuse she took from the students of CHS.

"I didn't want it to end like this. I really wanted to see you again...just once. I loved you. I've always loved you."

They watched as Nicole drove the needle into her arm. They discovered that Nicole effectively puts herself down before the Necromorphs got to her.

"See? You're insane!" Kendra declared, snapping their focus back to her. "Just like Kyne, just like the Captain... Nicole has been dead this entire time, whatever you were seeing was caused by that." She motion at the Marker. "You were its pawn. But don't worry. It will be in good hands now. Far away from this damn place. Goodby Issac. And Sunset."

Sunset looked at the women in rage wanting nothing more than to beat down the bitch. "Wish this didn't happen to you, we good have been such good friends you and I. Oh well." Kendra finished before running down the walkway towards the Marker.

Isaac grabbed Sunset by her shoulder and dragged her to the door behind them. She saw the door was unlocked and they headed down the corridor that was in front of them, though at the same time they had to move slowly due to the organic mess that was lining the majority of the floors and walls. As they made their way, they heard what sounded like the Hive Mind getting up in excitement. They soon reached the end of the corridor and entered a supply room, one that had plenty of supplies waiting for them.

Sunset grabbed as much as she could, taking all the ammo she will likely need for whats coming. Issac opened the next door and headed outside so they could get to the shuttle before Kendra could. As they were led outside the building, the duo discovered that some of the larger cargo boxes had been toppled over and blocking the loading line they used to move the Marker. Running past them, Sunset saw Kendra running up the ramp to the shuttle before Sunset could do anything the ground shook hard under them making them lost their balance and fall over. Sunset and Isaac watched as a white tentacle appeared over the ledge.

"Oh my god," Kendra said is it reared up for an attack. Kendra screamed out in fear before it brought itself down in a whipping motion hitting Kendra off the ramp and on the deck. She let out a few whimpers of pain before screaming again as the same white tentacle came down on top of her. It smeared the women harshly on the deck before tossing her hard to the nearby wall in pieces as her RIG flatlined.

With Kendra dead another long white tentacle erupting from the giant mining hole, it wrapped itself around the area that we were standing in, preventing them from heading to the shuttle or retreating into the building that they had come from to which we both turned towards the hole.

Then it rose.

Like a mountain rising from the ground. The terror of nightmares. The mother of all Necromophs.

The Hive Mind.

All the dead Sunset and Isaac had faced before now paled in comparison at the monstrosity that was before us. With its size, teeth and mutated flesh, it looked down at us and gave an ear-piercing scream that shook her to her very soul.

"ENOUGH FOUL DEMON!"

Sunset looked up and saw Princess Luna atop of a building looking at the Hive Mind with rage and anger, "Thy days are numbered, beast! No more shall ye torment this mare's dreams, they are but her's, and her's alone! BEGON!"

Princess Luna reared up and unleashed a beam of magic at the Hivemind. The Hivemind shook and cried out in pain as cracks of white light appeared over its body. The giant Necromorph's soon exploded in a shin of white snowflakes.

Sunset looked on in both awe and confusion as to what was going on. She'd blinked a few times and saw that Princess Luna stood in front of her with a sad expression. "We think thy needs to talk to somepony about this, Sunset Shimmer."

---

Sunset quickly woke up from her sleep, this time she noticed the time was four in the morning. Isaac and AJ were still sound asleep, so Sunset decided she'd slept enough and slowly got off the bed and gathered up her equipment. She'd then attached-RIG black jacket and wore a pair of metallic boots that had extra thrusters underneath with added protection for the front side of her hind legs. And let's not forget the holo-projector that was placed on her chest after she zipped up her jacket. After that, Sunset went outside the room and headed to the nearest balcony and stood at the fence and looked up at the sky and gaze the stars above.

The stars that would have reminded her of how vast space is, how beautiful space was, how mysterious it is. But, she knows next to nothing about it. Other then only be reminded continuously of those monsters again in space. She remembered the term that a Scientist used to describe it all, dead space. More than that, Sunset reminded of a song. A song that sang by Nicole long ago that has haunted her.

She was drifted and lost in her mind. And didn't realize her mouth was singing except for gazing the stars.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are,

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky!

Twinkle twinkle little star,

Oh how I wonder what you are,

When the blazing sun is gone,

When the nothing shines upon,

Then you show your little light,

Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Twinkle twinkle little star,

Show me light from afar,

Then the traveler in the dark,

Thank you for your little spark,

He could not see which way to go,

If you did not twinkle so.

Twinkle twinkle little star,

What a golden joy you are,

When the blazing sun is gone,

When the nothing shines upon,

Though I know not what you are,

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Twinkle twinkle little star,

Oh how I wonder what you are.

Sunset then closed her mouth and just looked down towards the land underneath the castle. A vast of green of such vegetation she had not seen in a long time, for a long 6 years of fighting out in the void. She missed it all so much, especially her old homeworld. But what bothered her was she might not be fit to live here, and may stay in the human world. Nothing else could sway her or can be said about it, except she'd miss her friends from the future, who she would lay down their lives to be alongside her to survive. Wish they were here.

"It's good view isn't it, Sunset?" a voice said from behind her which surprised her, that was Celestia.

Sunset turned around and found out that Princess Celestia and the other Princess awake behind her. There was Princess Twilight and Starlight with them. "Oh, I didn't know you four woke up this early."

"And we didn't know you wake up this early either," Twilight responded. "What are you doing here?"

Sunset paused for a moment with a sigh. "Just to get some air is all."

"Bad dream, Sunset?" Luna asked, which kinds of anger Sunset.

"Tell me, Princess Luna," Sunset said. "Why the fuck did you enter into my dream?"

"Wow! Calm down, Sunset!" Princess Twilight quickly replied, which shocked the other two princesses and Starlight a little for her profanity. "It's Luna's job for that."

"We are the protector of ponies dreams. We had felt a disturbance in thy dreams, and we felt it our duty to handle it," Luna replied. "We've never seen such awful and horrible creatures in thy dream before."

Sunset's anger then calmed down as she sighed in a little relieved. "Actually, thanks for that. I just don't like getting any nightmares. Its been affecting my sleep more than often as of late, Which is why I haven't been sleeping well for the last couple of weeks."

"That must be tiring," Starlight commented with pity.

Sunset only chuckled at her comment and didn't bother to look at them. "That's nothing. I didn't sleep weeks after having to escape a hellhole called The Sprawl. Now that's one bad trip." Sunset then changed direction towards the fence of the balcony and rested her front legs on it while watching the view of the land.

"Also, Luna has shown us the dream that you had, and I had called for them both here," Celestia explained. "We wish to know what are your dreams about."

"What are those monsters you're dreaming, Sunset?" Twilight asked in a little agitation. "What I saw was scary and horrible. They almost looked like humans."

"Necromorphs," Sunset replied in weary as she watched the view. "That's what they are called. Re-animated corpses that kill anything living, I'm guessing you know what is the Marker that me, Isaac, and Kendra mentioned."

"Yes, we know," Luna replied. "The Red Marker, should we be worried about such a thing?"

"No," Sunset responded coldly. "Unless someone makes a fucking Marker here, then we shouldn't be worrying about it. Besides that, I'm not sure if you can handle such thing. Those Marker's are unlike anything that you can handle."

"Are you sure about it?" Celestia asked. "We mayb-"

"No," Sunset said firmly, interrupting Celestia before she turns around towards them. "The only people who can handle those things are those that are in the castle now. Only me, Isaac, Carver, and maybe Randall can deal with them."

"Why is that?" Starlight asked wanting a proof.

"One, me and Issac have survived three major Necromorphs Outbreaks, Carver and Randall on the third Necromorph outbreak. Two, me and Isaac know how to built and destroy a Marker. Three, Carver, Isaac, and I had to kill a fucking moon-sized monster that made these Necromorphs are controlled from. Four, Randall was an Unitologist, related to the Markers, so he knows how these things worked," Sunset was answering her question in 'taking it seriously' mode which made Starlight and Twilight winced.

"Besides, you all have only seen what it does to the dead. Not so much about the living."

"What happened? I thought you said it brings the dead to life what else does it cause?" Celestia asked her old student.

"Yes, it does but also does more. The markers start off somewhat acting like a unicorn's horn casting a massive perspective spell." Sunset began.

"Wait, like influencing the moods of others?" Starlight asked to which Sunset nods.

""Yea, but the effect of people on different levels depends on three factors. Your mental fortitude, your intellect, and what kind of person you are. Through these methods and working similarly like a magic spell, it can mess with minds of whoever is in range of its presence. The effects also are less than pleasant."

"What are these effects?" asked Princess Luna.

"Hallucination, paranoia, and a severe case of dementia that causes homicidal and suicidal actions," Sunset said that cases the ponies to rear back in disgust.

"I see," Princess Celestia said in understood. "So there is no way to prepare for them than?"

Sunset shook her, "It's not something you can train soldiers against. And most of them that do get affected by it don't last long under effects. The reason me and Isaac are even alive at this point is that we had each other's backs from the beginning and have been strong enough to fight back the influence its thrown at us. Which probably explains why I'm probably a different person then what you all remember me by."

"Just promise us to be less serious, alright? We have not been through what you've had and so we so we may say something that may offend you unknowingly. I don't want to cause a rift between us." Celestia explained as she looked at Sunset to which she nods in agreement.

"In the end, we have helped you ended thy nightmare," Luna added. "It will all be fine."

Sunset looked in content towards Luna to know she was wrong. "What you killed was not just a nightmare but a monster from my memory, I had to fight and kill that monster for real."

Everyone went silent for a moment, imagining how she and Isaac kill the Hive Mind before Twilight asked her. "So you'll be here for awhile?"

"Yeah," Sunset replied before facing away towards the view of Equestria.

"Just leave me alone will ya? I don't want to talk about to anyone."

"By the way," Starlight said. "Sorry about Ni-"

"Don't say it!" Sunset quickly interrupted angrily as she turned on Starlight.

They were surprised why did Sunset angry about that.

"But-"

"Don't fucking say it! Alright!?" Sunset retorted again but then paused for a moment to calm herself down before looking away to the view again. "Just leave me alone."

"Alright, we'll give the privacy you want," Luna responded in sad tone. "Will you at least come join us for breakfast in the morning?"

"Sure," Sunset replied flatly without bothering to look at them. "I'll be there."

The princesses and Starlight then proceeded to turn around and leave Sunset behind. Sunset did turn her head and watched them leave. Awhile after that, Sunset turned her head towards the view again and gaze at it. She just stood there and watched whilst waiting for the sun to rise by Celestia. Sowing how peaceful and beautiful the land in such a way Sunset had never realized back when she was Celestia's student.

06:30 AM, back in the guest room where Sunset, AJ, and Isaac's slept last night.

"Sunset's not here?!" Carver asked in a little shock and mad.

"Yeah, look," Isaac said. "She must've had a walk around this castle last night, alright?"

"Yeah, she has her RIG on so we could find where ever she went," Randall added in agreement.

"Why would she have woken up last night for a stroll around the castle?" Applejack asked.

"You heard her before," Isaac answered. "She doesn't want any nightmares. She usually did that when she was living with me, she might have gone off to calm herself down."

Carver and Randall were with Applejack and Isaac in their guest room. They were all a little shock to found out that Sunset just vanished from the room in the middle of the night. This would have normally alerted them, but then remembering they are in Equestria and not in another Necromoph outbreak, they all calmed down after that. Isaac was feeling a bit nervous knowing Sunset was having nightmares again, what was in her dreams that make her like this? They all decided to head for the door and look for Sunset.

Though before one of them touched the door, the door was opened from the outside by the pony Royal Guards using their telekinetic magic. The guards saluted them with a bow and noticed Carver the griffon and Isaac the pegasus was wearing their jacket-attached RIGs, metallic boots without thrusters, and holo-projectors that were planted on the chest. Isaac wore a brown ballistic vest, Carver the griffon had a black jacket with the logo Earthgov of the USM Eudora on the left side of the shoulder. While Randall was still in his damn Hostile Environment suit implying he will be bloody naked if he took it off his suit, Applejack didn't wear anything at all after noticing that the ponies here weren't really into wearing anything. However, one of the guards stepped forward and told them.

"Princess Celestia is inviting you all for breakfast."

"Where's Sunset?" Isaac asked the guards.

"She's already with the princesses and the Elements Of Harmony," the guard replied. "She's waiting for you."

They all then sighed in relief for knowing that. "Christ, good thing she's not gone like that."

"What are we waiting for then?" Applejack asked. "Let's go."

They then proceeded to follow the guards to the dining room of the castle. As they follow the guards, their eyes cannot look away from the decorations that Princess Celestia added in the halls. But then what makes the trip tiring was the hall they're walking in was fucking long. Almost appearing endless. Though they reached the dining room as the guards open the doors for them and they entered the room, leaving the guards outside. The group of newcomers saw that the princesses including Princess Cadence and the Elements Of Harmony were there waiting on their respective chairs at a very long table. There was also Shining Armor, Starlight, and another pegasus they didn't recognize.

That pegasus was wearing some sort of military dress attire. She was a pegasus with a yellow coat and a fiery orange mane and coat. Her whole mane was curved up to the sky and has spikes-shape hair. And she was wearing a pair of sunglasses over her eye's before she put it down on the table.

More than that, the dining room can be said very luxury. The floor beautifully tiled into chess tiles, a lot of big windows in case someone would want to see the view from any sight, the room was decorated with ribbons circling around the room's window and the ceilings. Then there was, of course, a chandelier on the ceiling above the dining table and there were some bright, colorful windows in the room with the drawing of the life of Equestrians. Plus, there was the food already served on the table. After a quick view of the room, they sat down on the empty seats and comfort themselves.

Isaac was sitting next to Sunset, beside him was Carver, AJ, and lastly Randall. Besides Randall was the pegasus in dress uniform and Shining Armor. In front of them were the Elements Of Harmony, with Starlight and Princess Cadence on their right side of the group. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sat down at the only chair on the edge of the left and right side of the dining table.

"So.... these are the newcomers?" the orange pegasus in uniform said. "I didn't expect there will be a griffon with them."

"May I ask who are you?" Randall asked.

"My name is Spitfire," Spitfire answered him. "Captain of the Wonderbolts."

That name just reminded Isaac of his last visit of CHS in the future, the different was it's Wondercolts in the human world. "Nice to meet you, Captain Spitfire."

"May I know your names?" Spitfire asked, and the newcomers spoke out their names one by one except AJ.

"My name is Isaac Clarke, Ship Systems Engineer."

"Sergeant John Carver, Earth Defense Force."

"Randall Carr, erm... Ex-Unitologist soldier."

"It's pleasant to meet you all," Spitfire commented with a smile. "And Sunset Shimmer, what was your occupation when you living in the future?"

"Just like Isaac, Ship Systems Engineer for the CEC," Sunset replied.

"What's the CEC?" Cadence asked in confusion.

"Concordance Extraction Corporation," Isaac answered. "A mining company."

"Mining company?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah," Sunset added. "Good salary to be honest."

"Please enjoy our food here," Princess Luna said interrupting the topic. "If you have questions, you may ask."

"Is there any meat?" Carver asked, which halted most of the ponies for getting their food on the table.

"Sure there is," Shining said as he pointed some of the food that has meat on them.

"Can you get me some to Carver?" Sunset asked, which made everyone except the newcomers shocked to see Sunset eating meat for the first time.
Isaac, Carver, Randall, and AJ were merely confused why they look so shocked.

"Why are you staring at her like that?" Isaac asked.

"Well..... erm...... ponies..." Fluttershy said shyly. "Do not eat meat."

"Oh...." Randall then looked over to Sunset. "They're herbivores?"

"Yes," Sunset replied. "Sorry folks, I don't think I'm going to quit eating meat in the future."

"Me too," AJ added, which received the glare of the ponies and the princesses in the room. "What?"

"We're omnivores if you want that to be clear," Carver said hastily. "Can we just eat?"

"Oh... umm...." Applejack felt awkward about this. "Alright."

They then ate together and enjoying the food. Isaac, Carver, and Randall were swearing to whatever God above that the food they had was the best thing they had like the ones back in the human world. Sunset, on the other hand, was feeling relieved that she can eat something so good again because she was hungry as hell. The ponies and the princesses felt a little disgust that Sunset and AJ eating meat, for the griffon, it's usual for them.

"So, Spitfire..." Carver said as he took a spoonful of his food. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm only here because I have some errands with Princess Celestia," Spitfire said as she ate a spoonful of her veggie food. "And also wanted to meet and thank those who saved Sunset after her disappearance."

"you're welcome," Isaac said in agreement. "Honestly, Sunset was like the only family I had left for me."

"Did you ever lose someone before?" Cadence asked, which Sunset and Isaac sighed in sorrow about that.

Isaac looked over to Sunset, wanting to let her answer the question instead of him. "People that we're trying to help and vice versa. But they're all dead. Everybody's dead because of us."

Just hearing her answer, they felt like there was a spear stabbed through their hearts only hearing her answer was that, Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, felt doubt if that's true. "You're joking?"

"No, we're not," Isaac replied in a serious tone.

"This whole ordeal must have been very hard for you all," Rarity said in pity for that. "But you all did try your best, didn't you?

None of the newcomers, even Sunset didn't answer back on that question. Not because they felt so sad about, they hate about it, except for AJ though because she doesn't know what else they've been through than the vid log given by Sunset.

"What's with your hooves, Randall?" Pinkie asked with a high tone. "It looks so metallic."

"They're prosthetics, Pinkie, fake limbs," Sunset answered. "A crazy bastard of a cult cut his front hooves off with a rusty bone saw."

Those that had food or drink in their mouths soon chocked or did a spit take after hearing Sunset said that, while the rest felt terrified on what they heard. "That's horrible," Twilight said to Randall in shock and horror.

"It's fine," Randall replied before looking over to Sunset, Issac, and Carver. "By the way, thank you for killing that guy."

"It's alright," Sunset said with sincere but somehow in sadden tone.

"You're okay, Sunset?" AJ asked as she looked over at her. "You sounded sad."

"It's nothing," Sunset replied hastily.

"Just promise us to not disappear like that again, please," Applejack begged.

"Don't worry about it," Sunset assured her. "I won't."

"Really?" Pinkie asked in somehow excitement. "You Pinkie Promise?!"

"Yeah," Sunset responded weekly.

"Repeat after me!" Pinkie said quickly. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"

Both Sunset and Isaac dropped their spoons after hearing that. No clear reason why would they do that to frighten everyone in the room. But then they just noticed that Sunset and Isaac only sat frozen on their seats in silent with their mouth left open a little, and there were staring at nothing as they were actually had a blank stare. They have shown their expression, which what Twilight and AJ could describe as traumatic and heavy anxiety expression. They were like they just had past a long-term seizure.

"What happened, why are they...?" Starlight asked in agitated.

"Hey! Isaac!" Carver called with a shout as he tried to wake them both by waving his claw in front of his face but didn't even listen or responded.

"Sunset!"

"What's wrong with them?" Randall asked in confusion.

"Are they alright?" Luna asked in worried.

"Pinkie, what the hell did you just say to them?" Carver asked to her in perplexed.

"I just did my regular pinkie promise. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Pinkie answered slowly. "Why?"

Those words, Isaac have told him about it. "Well, shit... that's why," Carver said in sick as he leaned his back against his chair.

"Are they okay?" Rarity asked him.

"We think you just made them have a seizure," Randall stated.

"What?!" Rainbow asked in disbelieve. "Why would they heard those words would give them a seizure?!"

"They have told me the words," Carver said then he sighed. "The words that kept haunting them after the Titan Station outbreak."

"What is it?" Celestia asked, waiting for the words.

Carver leaned forward on the table, looked down before looking again at them and said the word to them slowly. "Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye."

Everyone including Randall felt terrified to know the words that had haunted them were the twisted version of Pinkie's Promise. Who would haunt them with such words? Carver tried to wake them both again but still avail to do it. Twilight wondered if something else happened to them.

"How can they be so haunted by those words?"

"The only thing I heard from them is they got haunted by those words from a hallucination the Marker gave them of Isaac's long-dead girlfriend," Carver replied as he flicked his fingers in front of Isaac, then Sunset. "More than that, they both got subjected into several experiments. The sessions they had included injections into their brains through their eyes."

Celestia, Luna, and Cadence wanted to throw up after knowing what had happened to them. Shining, Spitfire, and the rest except Randall and AJ felt disgusted by what the other humans did to them, AJ and Randall, however, were wondering on how much did they take from that. They all just lost their appetite after Carver said that, all they just did are only imagining they those 'sessions.' Carver kept flicking his fingers in front of Isaac and Sunset until they woke up by quickly turning their heads towards Carver's flicking fingers. Sunset and Isaac then looked over to everyone in the room, noticing their very worried face toward them both.

"Oh, um, sorry," Sunset apologized awkwardly. "Just don't say it again."

"Y'all okay?" Applejack asked worriedly.

"No, we're not," Isaac replied with a snort, "I guess you know what a dementia is?"

"Nothing that we don't know of, Sunset told us," Starlight said. "You're still suffering dementia?"

"The ones that can kill," Carver added, which increased their fears if one of them had another seizure again.

"This going to be a problem," Spitfire commented in nervous.

"It already is," Twilight added in agreement.

After they finished their breakfast, they all went out of the dining room, and Spitfire, Shining, and Cadence went somewhere else hence they had errands to run somewhere in the castle. The rest of them, however, headed for a balcony on the castle that had the view towards the city below the mountains. Isaac, Carver, Randall, and AJ took a good look towards the city, and they must say, it was very beautiful comparing the human city they were in. They all 'wow'd towards the sight of the city.

Sunset on the other hand or 'hoof,' only stood apart silently watching the view without any feeling but cold. Sunset still felt a little weary even though she just had breakfast. Taking note, it's a long time before she had seen Canterlot city from afar in the morning. And it's been a long time to not visit the city either. Sunset looked over to Celestia and called her over.
Celestia came over to Sunset followed up by the main six ponies and Starlight on behind her. Reminded of what were they doing here, Randall, Isaac, Carver, and AJ come closer to Sunset to know what the plans for today.

"So, what's the plan today?" Carver asked.

"On investigating the erased memory," Celestia said. "We should head for the Canterlot Library."

"Where is it?" Isaac asked as he turned around again towards the view of the city to look for the library.

"Over there," Luna pointed towards the building in the center of the town, where it was located on the circle-shaped road.

"I see it," Randall said, then he used the locator from his RIG, which showed the distance of the building they were heading. The distance to the library was above three hundred meters downhill from the castle.

"I can teleport us there if you want," Celestia suggested.

"Hang on a minute," Sunset then stepped back from the fence line and seems to be hardened her legs. "I want to check out something."

"Sunset, what are ya' doing?" AJ asked. Sunset was having to hatch a bad idea.

"Isaac, are the thrusters powerful enough for atmospheric flight?" Sunset asked slowly.

"In atmosphere? Yea for a short time if you set it to max, but for too long you'd burn out the thruster on the receptors in your RIG," Isaac then quickly realized something. "Wait, you're-"

Before Isaac managed to finish up his sentence, Sunset horn glowed, and in a flash, she was suddenly wearing soldier suit and her helmet projected over her head via the holo-projector and just ran towards the fence of the balcony and jump off from there. They all just went shock on what the fuck Sunset just did. But then their shock was only the beginning when jets of flame shot out of her back and hooves, Sunset went flying through the air as a pegasus.

It was also their first time as well to see a unicorn fly in the air instead of a pegasus. Sunset had just flown towards the target they had planned to visit.

As Sunset was still flying towards their target, Isaac, Carver, and Randall just looked over at each other. Then had a bad idea in their mind.

"Fly or teleport?" Carver asked.

"Fly," Isaac answered. "We might want to have exercise on using thrusters in a large area that has gravity. And I think we just got sick on getting teleported again."

"Well, I wouldn't mind trying that, looks like fun," Randall added, in which they all agree on that.

"Whoa wait, you are a Pegasus, and you are a Griffon, you two can fly naturally with your wings!" Rainbow said quickly. "You can't fly, Randall!"

"I have thrusters, alright!?" Randall shouted, then they three prepared to fly. "Ready?"

"Princess if you plz?" Carver asked, to which Princess Luna's horn glowed and Isaac and Carver s bodies flashed and were now in their armor again.

"Alright, let's go!" Carver said as they engaged their helmet and masks before running towards the edge of the balcony and jumped off. Isaac's and Carver's wings flared out on instinct while all three of then simultaneously activated their thrusters and flew toward Canterlot City.

Besides they were surprised that they can fly, the technology they had with the thrusters were impressed and amazed the ponies that they left behind. Then something dawned in Pinkie's mind when seeing that.

"This is going downhill isn't it?" Pinkie asked everyone while watching them flying.

"Yeah," everyone said in unison.

Sunset was keeping flying up so she can land close to the library. When she neared her intended landing target, she turned her hind legs with thruster boots to the front to slow down her speed for landing. But the effort in doing so failed one after the other as she was about crashed into two mares on the ground, which those mares looked up and about to scream when they saw Sunset was about to hit them. Sunset crashed hard onto them and thrown away to the stairs of the library along with them, which surprised the pony residence around them. Sunset then slowly stood up from the ground while they began groaning the pain from that crash and rubbing the back head and metal gas mask.

"Shit not one of my better-laid plans." Sunset then disengaged her helmet as she looked over to the two mares that she just got crashed onto, a unicorn she'd recognized from back in her Celestia school days was Moondancer and an earth pony she did not recognize but would later know her as Coco Pummel.

"Yea, defiantly not a good idea," Sunset said to herself as she watched them two stood up slowly from the ground whilst noticing everyone including the guards in the area were amazed by her sudden appearance.

Moondancer did stood up first, and she was angry towards the one who crashed her, she turned around towards Sunset. "Hey! What were you thinking yo-" But when she noticed that Sunset wasn't wearing the metal helmet, she went scared. "Wait, do I know you?"

"Calm down, Moondancer," Sunset said which frightened Moondancer more as Coco able to stand up and come over to Moondancer.

"Wait..." Coco said in agitated. "You know her? Stay away!"

"Calm down, sorry about crashing into you like that."

"Sunset?!" Moondancer called out in shock. "You're back! How did-"

Sunset noticed that there was Randall about slow down his speed but also about to crash to them, Sunset quickly ran to them and shove them away. "Look out!!"

Randall then crashed Sunset hard, it was a good thing Sunset prevent them to get crashed by Randall for that. They both were thrown off and landed on the stairs, again. Sunset and Randall both slowly stood up again from the stairs on two legs and bent their backs to hear and feel a *crack* sound before stood on four legs. Sunset then looked over to him as his helmet wear off automatically.

"Now that was a hard landing," Sunset commented.

"Gonna agree with yea on that," Randall replied before they both looked over towards Coco and Moondancer.

"Did you both just fly in the air?" Coco asked. "You're unicorns, you don't have wings."

"No, but we have rocket boots," Sunset answered.

Then they heard the machine like sound coming from above, there was a pegasus in the air and also a griffon, which scared the ponies of his appearance. They both safely landed on the ground with the aid of their thrusters and their wings which Sunset wondered how did they learn to use wings that fast. Isaac the pegasus and Carver the griffon, then wear off their mask into their holo-projectors and come closer to Sunset and Randall.

"You okay?" Isaac asked worriedly to Sunset.

"I'm fine," Sunset said as she waved him off with her hoof. "Don't worry about it."

"What's a griffon doing here?" Moondancer asked, scared of what was one doing at the capital as the guards on site aimed their spears towards Carver who just looked at them.

Carver only sighed at this and asked at the guards. "Princess Celestia didn't tell you about me, didn't she?"

The guards didn't answer back, they readied themselves.

"That's great."

"Stand down," a voice said from behind the guards, which they 4 were grateful to see that was Celestia with the rest of their group. "They are not a threat."

The guards were in doubt in a moment, before they lowered down their spears. "As you say, your majesty."

Celestia along with the main six, Starlight and AJ come over to the four of them and gave them a glance. "That was a bad idea, you know that?" Celestia said to Sunset.

"Sorry, Celestia," Sunset apologized. "I'm full of bad ideas."

"So are we," Isaac added, which everyone in the area glanced at Isaac, Carver, and Sunset.

"Twilight?" Moondancer called, as she stares at something odd. "Why do those two look exactly the same? Are we facing Changelings again?"

Everyone then changed their attention towards the two Applejacks who were with the main six, Starlight and Celestia. They all couldn't tell the difference of which one is the real Applejack or not. Because they both looked the same. AJ looked over to Applejack in worried.

"Uuhh, is this okay?" AJ asked awkwardly.

"Nope," Applejack replied awkwardly as well.

"Please don't mind anything that you see today," Celestia said to everyone. "Please continue on with what you all were doing now and pretend nothing has happened here."

Despite the strangeness they saw today, they do what Celestia said to them and continue their activity normally like nothing happened. Isaac, Carver, Randall, and AJ felt it odd to how they just do that. Though after a moment of glance at everyone in the area. Twilight was talking to Sunset and Moondancer, and Rarity was introducing the blue-light hair mare, Coco Pulmule to Sunset. Celestia then called the whole group and proceeded to enter the library leaving behind Moondancer and Coco.

The library was so wide from the inside, there were a lot of huge cabinets full of books from the ground floor to the second floor. There were tables arranged into a circle with some sort of circle pedestal in the middle of the room. There were two banners of blue and purple color at the doors.

"Fucking.... hell....." Carver commented. "If we had to check about a million books of these I'll be damned."

"I wish!!" Twilight said in cheer. "Don't worry, you looking at somepony who knows this place like the back of the-"

"Alright, take it, easy girl," Isaac said. "Let's just find some clues about the erased memory here."

But then Rainbow noticed that Luna and Celestia went off leaving them. "Where are you going?"

"To the restricted section," Celestia replied, which Twilight suddenly went panic.

"The restric-," Twilight bowed down her head and took a deep breath a lot. "Ohkay, okay."

"Easy, Twilight," Sunset said as she holds her shoulder before following Celestia and leaving the group. "Let's go."

After the group followed Celestia and Luna to the restriction section, Celestia and Luna pulled two books that had their cutie marks on them. And suddenly, the cabinet where they pulled the two books automatically slide open to the left and giving way to the underground path of the library. Celestia and Luna looked behind them and saw they were surprised to know there was a secret underground path. Especially Twilight, who was in shock as her jaw was left hanging.

Sunset looked over to Twilight and smiled as she closed her jaw with her hoof underneath the chin. "Let's go," Sunset said, as the rest started to follow the princesses deep into the underground.

They followed the princesses downstairs and reached a big pair of doors ahead to them. Luna and Celestia opened the door with their magic and stepped inside the room. They were very impressed and amazed to know the underground library was huge, and there were a lot of ancient books that Twilight was vibrating at the sight while the rest took in the hidden library. Isaac, Carver, Randall, AJ, and Sunset would know they will be bloody tired to find the clue of erased memory from these whole of books.

"OHMYGOSH, OHMYGOSH, OHMYGOSH, OHMYGOSH, OHMYGOSH!!!!" Twilight shouted in excitement. "Oh silly books, I've read ancient historical artifacts!!" Twilight gasped a lot for excitement and grabbed some books randomly by magic.

"Is... she okay?" Randall asked Sunset.

"She's fine, she reads about a few million books," Sunset replied. "She's just very excited about this."

"Ya sure, ya can help us look over all these books?" AJ asked, which Twilight quickly hugged AJ tightly.

"DON'T TAKE THIS AWAY FROM ME!!!" Twilight shouted, which AJ kind of recoiled in surprised.

"Easy, Twilight!" AJ said as she freed herself from her grip. "Now let's just focus on finding the source of the problem."

"Right!" Twilight said quickly.

"I should warn you, however," Celestia said, distracting their attention to her as she points her hoof at the archive catalog. "The archives mechanical catalog has not been well maintained."

Isaac and Sunset then approached the archives mechanical catalog. Isaac then pulled the lever as Celestia, and the rest watched them. Instead of the mechanical catalog working by itself, it suddenly went and broke itself as the rolls of the archive fell off from the mechanical catalog. More than that, the gears for the machine got broken as well.

"Well, shit," Isaac swore. "You're going to need some engineers for that."

"Well, lucky for me I've got them in front of me," Celestia said, which she meant it directly at Sunset and Isaac.

"Really?" Sunset asked in annoyance.

"Actually this looks easy for me to fix," Isaac said. "You go find the source of the problem, I handle this shit."

"Alright then," Sunset said in relieved.

But then Twilight suddenly showed up next to her and shouted at her, which made her frightened. "GUESS WE HAVE TO READ EVERYTHIIIIIING!!!"

Twilight quickly flew off to the second floor and took some books by telekinetic magic and read the cover of a book, before looking towards everyone and shouted. "No way..!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??!! CANTERLOT CANTABILE VOLUME 31!!! YOU HEARD ME!! 31... Sunset...... That's when it gets gooood.... *GAAASSSSP OVER HERE!!" Twilight then quickly flew off to another section of the underground library.

Everyone below can do nothing but laughed to Twilight's excitement to the underground library. Then they all went get some books to find the problem of the erased memory. Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy,, and Pinkie are the ones who picked the books while the rest sat down on the ground floor and read the books one by one either given by their friends who picked the books or got those books by themselves. Sunset could tell, it's going to be a long day reading the fucking books.

Many hours have passed, they still didn't found any clue regarding the erased memory back in the human world. Randall, Carver, AJ, Isaac who just finished fixing the archives while Luna, Celestia, Starlight, and Sunset felt so tired to read these books one by one. Randall and Isaac swear this was like reading the books from that Church of Unitology. Desperate on finding what caused the problem, some of them gave up to read them. The only ones who kept reading were only Sunset, Carver, Randall, Isaac, and Twilight. Nearly all of the books already checked by them.

"Got anything?" Sunset asked to everyone who are still reading.

"Fuck, not yet," Carver said in frustration as he closed a book. "How long we've been here?"

"For hours," Rarity said from afar. "Still not found anything yet?"

"Not yet," Isaac said. "Come on, there should be something in here."

"Aaah, sounds like you've got to read all the fun books," Twilight mocked, maybe. "I should probably take a break from looking."

Sunset sighed in sad, but then Twilight put away all the books on the table telekinetically... "Because I found something!!"

Everyone got up by that real quick and ran over to table, Twilight then brings in a chest onto the table. "You're familiar with the 7 trials of Clover the Clever?" Twilight asked Sunset.

"Obviously," Sunset replied. "Why?"

"Well first of all," Twilight explained as she opens the chest that contained the scroll. "All of these dates back to before the founding of Equestria."
Twilight then opened up the scroll and show it to them. "Look at this."

"The Memory Stone," Sunset, Celestia and Luna said in unison. "That sounds promising."

"It belonged to an evil sorceress who was practically invisible," Twilight explained. "With the Memory Stone, she could erase any memory from anypony, even fragments of memories."

"Fragments?" Isaac asked. "You mean like memories of Sunset being good?"

"Mm-hmm," Twilight nodded. "Clover The Clever knew the sorceress had to be stopped and the stone destroyed. So he chased her across the land and sea, but every time he got close, the sorceress would erase his memories and escape. But he kept finding her."

"How?" Carver, Applejack, and AJ asked in unison.

"These scraps of parchments," Twilight pointed at the scroll. "He secretly wrote everything down so he'd know what had happened and where to go next. Like a trail of breadcrumbs."

"Hmm," Randall was impressed. "He's damn clever."

Starlight took a good look at the scroll and found something. "What happened on the other side of the portal?" Starlight asked.

Twilight opened the scroll wider, only to found out... "The last page is missing! Clover must have hidden it to keep anypony else from finding the Memory Stone."

But then, Twilight had something in mind, which is bad. "Sunset, what if the Memory Stone ended up in your world?"

"And someone using it to make everyone to hate me again," Sunset stated.

"But who?" everyone asked in unison except Carver, Isaac, and Randall.

Isaac, Carver, and Randall were making up a theory of how did this happen, but he should ask something. "You said the sorceress is impractically invisible right?" Isaac asked.

"Yeah," Twilight replied. "Why?"

"What if the ones who used the Memory Stone was also invisible as well?"

"That may be," Celestia added. "But who would?"

"We're thinking," Carver stated. "What if one of Sunset's friends used it on everyone?"

"AJ?" Sunset asked her.

"Ah' don't know," AJ said with a shrug. "Ah' never heard someone being invisible like that."

Everyone quickly sighed, when AJ remembered something. "Hang on, there is one."

"Really?" Sunset asked. "who is it?"

"Well, ya really never was a friend of her or vice versa that I remember," AJ added. "Wallflower Blush."

"I never heard of her," Sunset said.

"Ah' know," AJ said in understanding. "But she's one of the CHS students."

Twilight quickly looked over at her in surprise. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah, she told me," AJ explained. "She said she was invisible to everyone in the CHS, including the Fall Formal party and Battle Of The Bands. After Sunset disappeared, we just met her and made friends with her. She did said she really hated you a lot, though only the Anon-A-Miss part. Nothing else other than that."

Sunset slowly became mad at this, after a moment of silence, she reached the peak and hit the table with her hoof very hard. Everyone in the room except Isaac, Carver, and Randall were frightened of her sudden outburst. Does that girl know what the hell Sunset and the rest of her new family had gone through? She was reminded of Kendra again because of that.

"Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked.

"I want to shoot someone if that's what you're asking," Sunset replied harshly, though everyone understands how does she feel for now.

Sunset get herself away from the table and looked at them again. "We're going back."

Next Chapter: Chapter 6 - The Memory Stone Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 21 Minutes