The morning was dragging on painfully in Sunset’s opinion. She was stuck in history, watching the clock tick at what felt like a glacially slow pace, pencil tapping restlessly on the one hundred and fifty question multiple choice test that she’d still managed to finish with almost half an hour to spare. Restless and twitchy and wishing she could do something, she turned the test sheet over and put the booklet on top of it. It kept her from doing like her girlfriend might and check her answers for the fourth time.

Instead, she pulled out a notebook and began puzzling through a song she’d finally gotten around to finishing after months of agonizing over the lyrics. It was a deeply personal piece, a musical reflection on her journey to being a new, better mare, and the people who helped her get there. She had gotten Fluttershy’s help on the parts for Pinkie’s drums and Rarity’s keytar, and she was satisfied with the main guitar part, but she was struggling with how to work in AJ’s bass.

Maybe she could—

Her phone began vibrating in her pocket. Sunset frowned. Everyone she knew that might message her knew she was in class, and most of them were in class themselves. One hand fished into her coat’s inner pocket where she kept her phone, keys, and wallet to retrieve the device and surreptitiously check to see who was sending her a message. It could have been Twilight—she was upset the night before and before school about being left out of the family trip to check out wedding venues for Cadence and Shining. Sunset had done her best to cheer her up, but the former unicorn could still pick up on the bitterness in the replies.

She swiped her finger across the lock screen to unlock it and saw a message from an unknown number. Snorting, she figured it was spam, but decided to check anyway—sometimes it was messages from her utility company or bank, or from her finance guy, who had about four different work numbers at his office. It could also have been in regards to a package she was expecting to be delivered the next day.

Her blood ran cold at the words she saw.

-Plz dont delete! My names indigo & im twilights friend at school. Her phones busted this is the only # i saw. I need to call her parents its an emergency. Can u help? Plz?-

Sunset was on her feet and halfway to the door before her history teacher could object to the sudden flurry of movement. She could feel her whole class staring at her, wondering what was going on….saw Fluttershy starting to get up, mouthing a question at her: Magic?

“I need to go! I feel like I’m going to be sick!” she yelled out the first excuse that came to mind, before bolting out the door. She needed to get to her library sanctum….no. The magic study room. It was closer. The redhead took the hard left at full speed, nearly crashing into one of the janitors. “Sorry!”

Slamming the enchanted door open, she was relieved to find the room empty. Shutting it behind her ensured privacy and she skipped texting the mystery number back in favor of calling it directly.

Ring. Ring. Ri—click. “Hello?” came a strange girl’s voice.

“Is this Indigo?” Sunset demanded, barely managing to check herself to avoid sounding like an angry bitch. “You messaged me about Twilight?”

“Shit, you're fast. Yeah. I’m Indigo—are you like…Twilight's sister or cousin or something? She’s pretty messed up right now.” The girl sounded a bit agitated.

“Her best friend. What happened? Is she hurt?” Sunset felt her heart twist, because faintly, in the background, she could hear the sound of her nerd choking and gasping for air.

“Not hurt—freaking out. Like a panic attack. But…we were in gym and someone got into her stuff while we were there and trashed everything and stole whatever meds she kept there. Her phone’s fucked, and the school nurse is a total asshole who won’t call her folks.” Indigo’s voice turned angry. “They tore her backpack apart, and there's stuff everywhere.”

Moonlit madness and blazing sunfire, if Sunset ever got her hands on the people responsible, they would regret the day their great-grandparents even met. “She has panic attacks. That’s what her medication is for…ponyfeathers…okay. I can call her parents—are you able to at least get her to the nurse’s office safely?”

“Uhhh…” There was an uncertain pause. “Twilight? Can you hear me?” This was followed by an even longer pause. “…she’s not really responding to anything. Is it safe to touch her right now?”

Sunset rubbed her face. “No. It's not. That’ll make it worse. Okay…um…can you put me on speaker, and close to her so she can hear me? I might be able to get her at least moving with you.”

“Sure. And while you do that, I’ll try and repack her shit so it’s not left for anyone to find. Its a mess, but she’ll at least have it.” The audio changed. “What's your name, anyway?”

“Sunset. Sunset Shimmer.” She leaned against the door, hearing the sound of Twilight’s struggle to breathe and cry at the same time. “Twilight? Sparky, it's me. It's Sunset. I know you can hear me, even if you can't talk right now. It's going to be okay. Indigo called me, and I’m going to call your mom and dad, so we can get to you. But I need you to listen to me and do something for me too. Can you do that?”

Silence but for the sound of hiccupping and sobs, and the background of papers and books shuffling. Then…a weird feedback sound that Sunset realized was Twilight tapping once on the phone.

“Right. Once for yes, twice for no. Indigo is there. She called me. Do you trust her?” She hoped so or this wasn't going to work.

Crackle-tap.

Thank the stars. “Good. She’s going to take you to the nurse. I’m calling your mom after this. I want you to stay with Indigo, do what she says. She’s going to help you until someone can get to you. If not your folks, then me. I’ll sign myself out and drive to your school if I have to, okay?”

Pause. Long pause, and a few quieter hiccups. Then…Crackle-tap.

“Alright. I need to call your mom. I will call or message Indigo back when I know more about what's going on. Is that okay, Indigo?”

The phone shifted, moving around. “Yeah, I’ll turn the ringer on, and next period is a study hall for me anyway.” The girl sighed. “They really did a lot of damage—I think someone kicked her laptop into the wall…it's in about six pieces. I’ll finish packing up here and get her to the nurse’s office.”

Sunset chewed on her thumbnail, something in her core gnawing at her like a dog with a bone. It…it might not do much of anything, but…she had to try, because she really didn't like the bad feeling rising up her spine at the thought of Twilight being without any defense against anything predatory or potentially magical in her school. “…this is going to sound strange, and you can tell me it's crazy if you want, but…can you stay with her until her parents get there?”

“I sure as hell am not leaving her alone with the nurse,” Indigo answered tightly. “All she’ll do is send her back to class and tell her to stop wasting her time.”

The feeling urged her onward, and magic pushed at her under her skin, burning like lava in her bones. She could almost hear it in her voice, when she spoke, making her shiver with how much it sounded like she had at the Fall Formal. “Promise me, Indigo Zap…promise me you will not leave her side until she’s safe with her family.” There was something in the air now, wrapped in her magic that sparked with red flames across her vision as she stared hard out the window on the other side of the room.

Indigo exhaled sharply. “I promise. They’ll have to have the police take me down first. I don't ditch my friends.” There was another sound, and Indigo added, a little defensively, “And she is my friend.”

Sunset flexed her fist, trying to put out the flames that wreathed it. “I believe you, Indigo. I do. But Twilight is my best friend, and things haven't exactly been great at your school lately for her. I don't trust most of the students, and I definitely don't trust the people who work there. That’s why I need you to stay with her…because she trusts you, and for reasons I can't explain, I do too.” She did, she realized.

“….yeah…I get that. This school sucks.” Indigo took another breath. “Okay. I’m finished, but I wanna wait until the bell rings and the halls are clear before I take her out into them. You sure you can get a hold of her folks?”

Humming in her throat and giving up on putting the fire out just yet, Sunset drew serpents in the air with it, realizing that it responded to her will sluggishly. “I have their numbers all programmed in as emergency contacts for when we’re out. I’ll update you after I talk to them.” Her biggest concern was that they would be somewhere with lousy reception. If that was the case, she’d try the CCPD, and see if they had an emergency way to contact Shining. “Let me go so I can make that call.”

With one parting goodbye directed at Twilight, Sunset ended the call and started to go through her contacts, only to realize the group text chat with the girls had exploded.

Fluttershy: Sunset? Is everything okay? Are you sick? Or is it magic stuff? Should I follow?

RD: Magic shit? Oh plz say its magic so I can get out of math. I h8 this class.

Fluttershy: I don't know. Sunset left really fast. Said she was sick.

Rarity: Sick? Oh dear, darling are you alright?

AJ: if shes sick she prolly wont answer til shes dun pukin

Pinkie: [an unreadable and indecipherable chain of about thirty emoticons.]

AJ: Pinkies right.

RD: still dont know how u can read that.

AJ: dunno but i can. She says we should wait for sunset to tell us if its puke or magic.

Pinkie: [more emoticons, including an open mouthed face and a rainbow.]

AJ: ….right. Or magic puke.

Glad that her fire seemed uninclined to burn her own things, Sunset tapped out a quick response.

Sunset: Its not puke, but right now theres not much you girls can do. If that changes, I’ll tell you, so be on standby in case I cant figure this out.

RD: what happened?

Sunset: it’s complicated.

Rarity: Your magic?

Sunset: well, I am a little on fire again and I cant get it to go out. Thankfully its not burning me or my stuff…yet.

AJ: Yikes.

Pinkie: [more emoticons, including a line of campfires and a sun wearing sunglasses.]

AJ: Like Pinkie says, maybe try relaxin?

Sunset: I’ll do my best. I’ll keep you girls posted.

Sighing, she went back to her contacts and found Velvet’s number. One finger hit the button, and she waited for the woman to pick up.

It didn't take long. “Sunset?” came the concerned tones of her girlfriend’s mother after the third ring. “Sweetie, is everything alright? It’s the middle of the school day.”

Guilt that she was about to ruin what had likely been a nice day made her stomach churn, but anger and her own worry at what was happening to Twilight squelched it. “I’m fine, but no, everything's not alright. Something has happened to Twilight at CPA.”

Velvet’s response was immediate. “What happened to Twily? Why are you calling and not her?”

“At this point, I’m not sure her school admins even know yet. I just talked to this girl she’s mentioned from her gym class, Indigo…someone got their hands on Twilight’s bookbag and trashed everything in it, and Indigo was pretty sure they stole her meds. Twilight’s having one of the biggest panic attacks I’ve ever heard her have.”

There was a long moment of stunned quiet from Twilight Velvet—enough that Sunset could hear the rest of the family asking worried questions in the background. This was followed by the first time the teenager had ever heard Velvet swear, a string of profanity that made Sunset's eyebrows shoot up almost to her hairline and the fiery serpent on her hand explode in a shower of crimson sparks.

Well…at least she wasn't on fire anymore.

“One second, Sunset…I need to update Night on what is going on.”

She could hear rapid-fire conversation away from the phone’s speaker, and Night Light’s very agitated voice speaking faintly. “…don't like…at all…one day that…and…one day…go critically wrong? Something…rotten…”

To be fair, Sunset agreed with that. More so because of her sensing dark magic in things as associated with the school. She could feel the unease in the pit of her stomach grow, and she began to pace restlessly back and forth. If they were outside of town, that meant they were at least a half hour or more out, and Twilight couldn't wait that long.

Sunset made up her mind: she had a couple of doses of Twilight’s meds stashed in the little first aid kit in her bike. She would bring it to her. The principals would just have to understand it was an emergency.

Velvet’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Sweetheart, are you still there?”

“Yeah…sorry, I’m still here, Mrs. Velvet. What's up?”

Her girlfriend’s mother let out a frustrated sound. “We’re heading back in just a few minutes, but we’re over an hour away.”

Breathing deeply, she said, “I can get to her, Mrs. Velvet. I have some of her meds in my bike. I’ll sign myself out for a family emergency or something, and I’ll go over there.”

The older woman made a sound, and Sunset could feel her indecision. “As much as I don't like the idea of you missing school,” she finally acknowledged, “in this case…that may be our best, most expedient option to helping Twilight. I hate asking it of you—Twilight’s mental health is not your responsibility.”

“You're not asking,” Sunset practically growled, feeling the gnawing pressure of her magic and the underlying need to protect Twilight digging into her soul painfully, like when a pony was denied doing what their cutie mark was telling them. “I’m going. I can help. I need to help. I can't really explain it, Mrs. Velvet, but I have to. Let me do this. Please.” Her voice cracked at the end.

Speaking in that warm, encouraging way that made Sunset feel warm and at peace in a way that was almost foreign, Velvet said, “Take some deep breaths for me, Sunset, please?” She obeyed, and felt some of the agitation level off as Velvet continued talking. “I’m not saying no—we both know I cannot legally or physically stop you, and it means a lot to us all that Twilight is that important to you.”

Cheeks flushed, Sunset mumbled an apology. “You don't have to apologize, sweetheart. Your words are coming from a good place and a good heart.” The woman let out something like a soft chuckle, if one that seemed a bit strained. “We are, however, going to try and arrange things so that you do have some form of quasi-legal backing…that way the administration of Twilight’s school will not attempt to deny you entry and have the law on their side.”

“Oh.” The former unicorn hadn't considered that part—she was too busy focusing on the magic aspect of the problem and had completely forgotten that CPA was a Tartarus-touched pit of stuck up, spoiled, upper class entitlement and an attitude that came with phrases like ‘don't you know who i am?,’ ‘wait until my lawyer hears,’ and ‘I’m calling the police.’ They would not want her coming in the doors and since it was technically a private facility, she could get charged with all kinds of things.

Not that she cared, if it came to that. She had the funds for a lawyer or three of her own if it came to it, and there wasn't anyone in this world with enough power and authority to keep her away from her Twilight. She’d go through them with fists ablaze if she had to. A low, harsh sound burbled up from somewhere in her chest. She needed to get moving.

Once again, Velvet’s voice grounded her, her voice sounding a little angry and brittle. “I agree with how you feel, Sunset, but please…let’s try this the easier way first, sweetie. If that doesn't work, then I give you my full permission to do what you need to do to help my daughter, to hell with whoever thinks they can get in the way. If that means a little legal trouble, we’ll make sure that any repercussions will not come down on you.”

Sunset exhaled, trying to bring her emotions under control and her magic with it. “Okay, Mrs. Velvet.”

“Before you leave the school, please go to your principals. Tell them what's going on, so it’s officially documented, don't just leave out the nearest side door. We’re going to be contacting Luna, and Night is going to be making some calls as well, starting with our lawyers.”

She could do that. Miss Luna already knew she had a friend at CPA, and she had talked to Mrs. Velvet before on the phone. She would understand that it was an emergency, and potentially a magical one as well. “Okay. I can do that. I’ll message you when I get to CPA.”

Velvet might have started to talk again, but Sunset was already ending the call as the pressure against her mind and heart became too much to resist. She was running down the empty hall at full speed to the office before she had even registered that her phone was no longer at her ear.

Get to Miss Luna. Get to Twilight.

It was a mantra now, pounding in her ears with every heartbeat, with every thumping sound of her boots on cheap tile floors. Twilight needed her and she’d taken too long already.

The former unicorn skidded to a halt as she careened around the corner into the office’s open doorway, practically taking out a parent and the attendance lady. “Sorry!” she panted, before launching herself at the Vice Principal’s open door. “Miss Luna!” One hand was held up as she came into the dark skinned woman’s line of sight—she was on the phone.

“I’ll take care of it, don't worry. I need to go though. Duty calls.” She hung up, tucking the cellphone into the purse that was sitting on the desk. “You need not yell, Miss Shimmer,” she admonished. “Despite my appreciation for heavy metal, my ears do still work.”

“I’m sorry,” Sunset said quickly, “but it's an emergency. I need to sign myself out for the day.” She pushed the office door shut so that the parent outside wouldn’t overhear her. “It’s my friend. The one at CPA? Someone vandalized her stuff and stole her medication, and her entire family is out of town for the afternoon…she needs help now!” Her hands fisted automatically as she paced the length of the tiny room. “I have some of her meds in my bike for emergencies and I need to leave so I can get them to her…and it has to be me because I think there's dark magic involved—I think it's related to what I saw that day, when I triggered the rainbow and the Elements…” It all came out in a babbling rush, but Sunset didn't have time, and the administrator needed to know why she was doing this.

Miss Luna interrupted. “While I was unaware of the magic involved, I have been notified by your emergency contact about a family emergency, Miss Shimmer. I have no grounds to deny you your right as a legally emancipated minor to sign yourself out of school for the day. However, I am concerned about allowing you to drive when it is very apparent that you are in a dangerously charged emotional state, particularly when you claim magic may be involved.”

Fire made her blood boil in her veins, and her shoulders stiffened. “I’m not changing my mind. She needs help, and I'm the only one close enough before things get worse.” She glared at the woman in open defiance. “Don't try to stop me.”

“I am not trying to stop you. Just the opposite. I am offering my assistance to you and your friend’s family—you are not a legal adult, despite your emancipation. The school would be well within its legal right to deny you access without the proper paperwork. I, on the other hand, can act as an intermediary, a sort of in loco parentis situation, given that I am your principal, and in contact with the parents of the child in question, who I have been made to understand are…at odds with Abacus and her methods of handling their daughter’s needs.”

It took the redheaded girl a minute to process what she was hearing; she hadn't expected anything like that response. That left her with her mouth working and no sound coming out, looking for all the world like a stunned fish. “Uhhh…you…but…how…I didn’t…”

“Miss Shimmer. Breathe and try again.”

Stopping her rambling mouth, she forced herself to push down the disbelief and shock, taking several deep breaths. “You’re…going with me?”

Retrieving a ring of keys, her vice principal nodded. “We’re taking my car. It will be a more comfortable ride, and less likely to be stopped by police at ten AM than a teenage girl on a motorcycle.” Luna zipped up her purse and slung it over her shoulder. “I also feel it might be safer, Miss Shimmer, given your hyper agitated state and the presence of magic—you did indicate before that you have extreme negative reactions to darker energies, which I feel is safe to assume this is?”

Sorting her thoughts and adjusting her plan with the same rapid-fire mental gymnastics that had served her well right up until the variable of Princess Twilight Sparkle came into her life, Sunset decided this could work. “If it's what I’ve encountered already, or its source, it's worse than the sirens by a large margin, Miss Luna. Way worse.”

Luna paused in her trek across the office, staring hard at Sunset, expression something the former unicorn couldn't quite place. “Miss Shimmer, if you are correct, and pair that knowledge with what I know and have heard from others, we are on our way to walk into a lion’s den. I have no intention of letting one of my best students make that journey alone—quite frankly, if there were a plausible, legal way to allow you to bring your entire magical girl troupe without arousing suspicion, I would encourage just that, because it seems to me your little rainbow laser light show solves most magical issues. As it stands, however, all I can offer is myself and what legal authority I can muster that I am all too happy to use to slap Abacus Cinch.”

Sunset considered the words as they left the office and then the school—after she’d done the required sign out, citing ‘family emergency’ as the reason. When they stopped at her bike to retrieve Twilight’s medication, she finally said, “If it comes to it, the girls will come to us, Miss Luna. I want to avoid involving them if we can, but if the source of the magic wants a fight, then the six of us will give it one, to Tartarus with any consequences.” Her voice was a low growl as her fingers closed around the small pill bottle with her girlfriend’s name printed on it. “I won't let it have her without a fight.”

The administrator raised one eyebrow. “Hmm…if it comes to that, I suppose it will be a case of ‘Save the girl, save the world’ now, and ‘be concerned with collateral damage later.’ It seems there are a few things Hollywood gets right.”

Cheeks heating, Sunset followed the woman to the jet black SUV, waiting until she slid into the passenger seat to answer. “…something like that…” She tucked the meds into her inner jacket pocket, alongside her wallet, and pulled out her phone. “I’m going to call her other friend back to let her know what's going on.”

Indigo answered on the third ring, her voice a bit echoey and distant from the mic. “Please tell me this is good news?”

“Kind of.” Sunset sighed. “Her folks are close to an hour away, but they're heading back now.”

The girl on the other end swore. “I don’t know if Twilight can wait an hour—she was doing better after you talked to her, but then the nurse decided to open her big fucking mouth and that all went out the damned window!”

A frown crossed her face. “What do you mean? What did the nurse do?”

“Not her job, that's for sure!” Indigo’s voice seemed momentarily directed at someone else. “Yeah, I’m talking about how useless you are, you wrinkled old hag! What are you gonna do about it? Call my parents? Oh right, you don't do that!”

Sunset could hear an arrogant, reedy voice in the background arguing with Indigo now. “There is no reason to inform Miss Sparkle’s parents; there is no medical emergency, only a spoiled little girl throwing a temper tantrum when she can't have her way. I refuse to pander to such immaturity and entitleme—”

Indigo’s voice was dripping with derision and anger. “It's not a temper tantrum, you washed-up incompetent cunt! She’s having a fucking panic attack!”

Holding the phone a short distance away as Indigo argued with the Crystal Prep School nurse, Sunset glanced over to Luna. “The nurse is refusing to believe it's a panic attack,” she explained. “She’s trying to send them both back to class for ‘wasting time’ and claims it's just a tantrum. It's a good thing that I have numbers for Mrs. Velvet and that Indigo could call me…the nurse is refusing to call them herself.”

As they passed through an intersection, the dark skinned woman’s angry scowl deepened. “That—Legally, she can't do that. If it’s significant enough to bring a student to the nurse’s office, and the nurse lacks the means to treat the problem, she needs to contact the parents or guardians of the child in question, even if she has to do it after calling an ambulance!”

The redhead twitched in agitation. “I don't know if you heard that…”

“Sure did, and I’m guessing it's an adult that knows her ass from a hole in the ground?” came the sarcastic question.

Rolling her eyes, Sunset acknowledged her statement. “I’d say she is. That's my vice principal. Which brings me to the better news. I had some of Twilight’s meds in my bike, and I’m bringing them to her. So I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Luna gave Sunset a curious look, but she was too busy on the phone to pay much attention. Indigo had let out a nearly explosive sigh of relief. “Maybe you can get her to calm down then…she’s gone back to curling up on one of the cots in the corner and mumbling to herself. I thought she was gonna pass out for a few minutes there.” There was another pause, then Indigo continued. “I’m blocking the door so the nurse can't get into the room with the cots and make it worse again.”

Her own relief was practically tangible. “Thank you, Indigo.”

“I promised I’d stay with her. Twilight’s my friend too. I won't abandon her, not when she needs someone. I don't care what they threaten me with, I’m not moving.”

Magic humming under her skin, Sunset said softly. “Twilight’s lucky to have a friend like you. We’ll be there soon.” She raised her voice, hoping it might get through to her girlfriend. “You hear me, Sparky? I’m on my way. Just hang on.”

The call ended and she sagged back against the seat. “I’m beginning to understand why our school hates CPA,” Sunset told her vice principal. “That nurse sounded horrible.”

“What she’s doing is also highly illegal. The instant she realized that she had a student who needed help she couldn’t give, she should have picked up the phone to inform parents. Why she is refusing is a mystery.” Luna’s hands clenched around the steering wheel. “She could lose her job and her license. Is this the doing of some evil magician?”

The use of the word ‘evil’ caught Sunset by surprise. That was not a term often used to describe magic…or much of anything in Equestria. “I…don't know, but it is possible it is connected to the dark magic I’ve picked up on…it did cause a massive fight between members of the family. I’m not even sure if the source is something you could call evil—I just don’t know enough about it…but either way, we should be careful.”

Pulling into a parking lot, Luna set her jaw. “I will not argue semantics with you, Miss Shimmer, as we have more important things to do, but I…appreciate your candor on the matters of magic. Your insight has…proven more helpful than you know, and you have my word I will tread as carefully as possible.” She pulled the car into a parking spot close to the front. “Now, I realize you wish to get to your friend quickly, but perhaps we should stick together until we at least announce ourselves to the office.”

Sunset exited the vehicle, squaring her shoulders. “I’ll try not to run off,” she said, the humor a poor attempt to rein in the jittery agitation she felt, not to mention the magic that made her bones burn, and a sense like molten glass stewing in her gut. The former unicorn swallowed, looking up at the campus of the infamous private school that was causing her girlfriend so much stress. It was…something. Tacky, she decided, with all the accents on the building and the fancy pathway. “It certainly doesn’t look like anything other than another school—CSGU was much fancier to look at,” she commented to Luna.

Then she stepped onto the path before the fancy, open gates, and she was almost driven to her knees. Only Luna lunging and grabbing her arm saved her from a painful meeting with hard stone.

Not that she was aware of it at that moment.

Black agony raked over her senses, magic so twisted and dark that it made the sirens into slightly grumpy kittens by comparison, attacking her very being at her deepest core. It was inside and under her skin—

—a million white hot hooks burrowing into her flesh and peeling her apart—

—It burned. Sunset burned, inside and out, scarred soul writhing in torment—

—something rose like bile in her throat, a dark, choking lump of something—

—lava in her veins, fire crawling along her skin, it burned. She burned, the pressure of the magic assaulting her threatening to crush her battered, still healing soul into a million million jagged shards of suffering and despair.

Twilight’s face swam before her mind’s eye, and a whisper of words made it through the haze of pain. “…would do anything in your power…if I needed you…”

Twilight. Twilight, her Sparky, her very best friend, who trusted her…needed her. She wasn't going to fail her. She couldn’t. She’d promised.

Sunset Shimmer screamed her defiance to the magic suffocating her, reaching deep inside for the rage and stubbornness and raw refusal to ever surrender that was as deeply a part of her as her cutie mark, letting the burning magic surge forward, filling her blood, her bones, her muscles with pure fire, and pushed back, throwing off the dark power that had almost overwhelmed her. Where it touched her presence, now it burned, shriveling and recoiling from her to hover ominously just out of her personal space like a dark cloud.

Her vision cleared, and the ringing in her ears passed, allowing her to breathe and assure her worried vice principal. “…I’m alright…but I…I stand corrected…” Chest heaving like the former unicorn had just run several miles at top speed, she straightened. “…this…this is bad, Miss Luna…very bad…”

*casually dumps a dumptruck load of horse manure into an industrial sized fan while whistling cheerfully.*

Hm. Look at that. Sunset is a very unhappy mare, isn't she?

Not that Twilight's family is much happier than she is.

I'll have you all know the research for this chapter--and the next few as well--was interesting--I had to explain the entire thing to my mother and ask about what school policies were, given that even private schools have to conform to certain rules and standards put forth by the Dept of Education, and Luna does have a bit of weight she can throw around as Sunset's principal in an emergency situation, despite Sunset being an emancipated minor.

...Whelp. The girls know something is going on, but not what as of yet.

And yes, Pinkie speaks in a lot of emoticons. Because its Pinkie.

Uh oh. Sunny, you slipped up there. You got some 'splainin' ta doooo.

Sunset has her first real look at CPA. And has an encounter with some seriously nasty and powerful magic.

What will happen to Sunset? Will she get to Twilight in time? What does Luna think of all this?

Find out next time on Dra--I mean...

See you guys next week for the next chapter! :P