Sunset groaned as she awoke, small aches reverberated through her body, but it wasn’t anything to be concerned with. When she opened her eyes, Sunset went still. The ceiling, this was not the familiar ceiling she had been waking up to these past couple of years. The feeling of being at a higher elevation was not there, if Sunset had to guess she’d say she was at ground level. The feeling of the bed was unfamiliar as well. Sunset glanced to her left and saw that the nightstand was vacant of her terrarium or digital clock. In fact, the longer Sunset’s eyes roamed around the room, the more she was becoming aware of the fact that this was not her home. However, she was very aware that she was naked, again.

Sunset rose up, taking in her new surroundings. The room was pretty spacious, beige carpeting below with light-blue wallpaper. There was a dresser against the opposite wall next to the door, complete with a mirror. There was a closet to her right, and a desk and chair setup to her left.

“What…What the hell?! Where am I?!” Sunset whispered.

Just then the doorknob jiggled, Sunset readied to bolt at the person, the Witchblade’s metal strands coiling and readying itself to act on its wielder’s command. When the door opened, Sunset beheld a beautiful older woman standing in the door, with tri-colored hair of cream, magenta, and purple. Her opal colored eyes widened upon seeing Sunset up.

“Oh, y-you’re awake!” the woman exclaimed.

“Yeah, I am! Who are you! And where the hell am I?!” Sunset demanded with an edge to her voice.

The woman raised her hands up to show that she was not armed. “M-My name is Cadence, this is my and my boyfriend’s home. He found you last night in an alley and brought you here. His name is Shining Armor, he’s a detective with the CCPD!”

Sunset’s fury quelled upon hearing the name of the detective. “Wait…Detective Armor? He…He brought me here?”

“Shiny – I mean, Shining Armor said you were covered in some strange armor and that you were unconscious when it came off, apparently you weren’t wearing anything else so he covered you with a blanket and brought you here.” Cadence let out a stress heavy sigh. “To what end I still don’t know…”

Sunset’s mind replayed the events of last night. Celestia was taken by a monster, she transformed and gave chase, saved Celestia, fought the monster, and then…got blasted in the face with a super sonic screech. “Oh…Oh shit…” Sunset gasped as she put her left hand against her forehead. “He…He saw me? He saw everything?!”

Cadence blushed at the question. “Ahem, it depends on which part of that question you mean? If you mean that he saw you with your armor on and that you changed back, then yes. And if you mean if he saw, well, every part of you, then, sorry, yes he did. B-But you should know he swore to me that he didn’t touch you inappropriately in anyway, I swear he’s not that kind of person!”

Sunset glanced her right wrist, at the Witchblade which still had a faint glow to it. I’m pretty sure you would’ve sliced him up if he tried. “I believe you…”

“Okay,” Cadence lowered her hands and took a few calming breaths. “He’s up, right now. I’ll tell him you’re awake, Shining said he had questions to ask you. There’s some spare pajamas in the dresser and some clothes in the closet. Let me know if you need some underwear, I mean, there are some in this dresser, but after seeing your…physique…I’m not sure if they’ll fit you.”

“Thanks…whose clothes are they, by the way?” Sunset asked.

Cadence was about to close the door, but then answered, “They belong to Shining’s little sister, she’s about around your age. She stays over sometimes so we just have some extra clothes here just in case. I’ll leave you to it.”

With that, Cadence closed the door. Sunset flopped back onto the bed and released a heavy sigh. “Shit…Shining Armor knows about me…he probably thinks I’m the one behind the murders!”

}}} My apologies, Sunset. That creature caught me off guard with that attack. I should’ve increased the armor coverage, or created a shield. Forgive me. {{{

Sunset raised her wrist up and said, “Don’t worry about it. How could you have known she was going to hit us with a sonic concussion blast?”

}}} Believe me, that mistake won’t be made a second time. {{{

“I don’t doubt it.” Sunset got up and walked towards the dresser, she opened the first drawer and saw some pajamas. It was most likely morning judging by the light coming from outside. She saw that there were a pair of blue pajama pants with six-pointed star patterns on them, along with a powder blue top that had small dots on it, possibly to imitate stars. Next to that was another set, one that Sunset recognized. “What the…?” They were a bright yellow, with dozens of red heart patterns littering the pants and shirt. The last time Sunset saw that pattern of pajamas was on Princess Twilight. “Huh, guess someone else likes it.”

Sunset opted with the blue shirt and pants. She opened the second drawer and found the underwear. Sunset picked up the bra and held it against her girls and frowned. “Oookay, sorry to say, Shining Armor’s Little Sister, but that’s definitely not fitting me. Sunset eyed the panties and picked one pair and tried them on, finding it hard to do so since it looked like this younger sibling of the detective had a more slender waist than Sunset. “What was it that those mares back at the school said I had? Oh yeah, ‘Foal Bearing Hips’, guess that translated.” Sunset decided to just go commando for the time being.

“So, what do you think? Are we in trouble?” Sunset asked.

}}} Hard to say. I sensed no ill intent from the law officer, had there been any I would’ve struck him down before he got close to you. {{{

“I figured you would.” Sunset slipped on the pants. “What’s been happening since I was knocked out?”

}}} I have been unable to gather anything beyond our current situation. I overheard the law officer speaking to that woman, he believes that you may be responsible for the murders, or at the very least he suspects you have a connection to it. {{{

Sunset worked the shirt next, and pulled out her hair from the back. “Did it sound like he might be open minded?”

}}} It is possible. His actions thus far would indicate that he may be willing to listen to us. He could’ve just as easily brought you to a holding facility. {{{

“Not like it would hold us,” Sunset chuckled.

The Witchblade chuckled as well. }}} Of course it wouldn’t. {{{

Sunset paused as she face palmed herself. “Shit, again, Celestia! She’s probably freaking out right now!” Sunset made to grab her cellphone, only to be reminded of the events of last night. “Right…clothes were shredded. Pretty sure my cellphone is lying on top of that random rooftop.”

}}} Oh, that communication device? If that’s what you want… {{{

The Witchblade’s gemstone shined, the light began to produce a rectangular object. Sunset’s eyes widened when she saw that her phone materialized from the weapon. She quickly snatched the device up in her left hand and saw that it was still operational. “H-How did you do that?!”

}}} I can store some small objects. I also have that thing you call a “wallet” in here as well. {{{

Sunset unlocked her phone and cringed when she saw that she was blowing up with text messages. Not only from Celestia, but Pinkie Pie as well. “Damn…I need to address this…but there’s no way I can tell Celestia I’m at some cop’s house!” Sunset thought that over for a moment. “Well, at least he’s in the same boat. Pretty sure taking a naked teenager to your home instead of a hospital or prison cell is very much against protocol.”

Sunset stepped in front of the door, took a deep breath, and then opened it. The door led into a small hallway which then led into the living room. A brown leather, semicircular couch adorned the living room, along with a flat screen TV that set up on a stand. To the right was a fireplace, which was turned on and made the room nice and toasty. To the left was the kitchen/dining room, in it was Cadence, making breakfast judging by the smell, as well as some coffee. At the table was Shining Armor.

The flame haired girl immediately took notice of the man’s service weapon resting on the table, his hand placed on top of it as he looked down at a tablet. Sunset slowly entered the room, making sure she was in full view of the officer. Shining Armor took notice of Sunset and stood up, keeping his weapon in his right hand.

“Sunset Shimmer.”

“Detective Armor.”

“There’s some things we need to talk about, pertaining to last night and possibly more,” he said.

Sunset walked a little closer, making sure her hands were visible the whole while. “I guess I should ask, but am I under arrest?”

Shining Armor crossed his arms. “That all depends on how you answer my questions, Ms. Shimmer. Quite frankly, after what I saw last night, I should’ve put you in a cell. But…let’s just say that my intuition says that there’s way more to this than what I saw, and that I need to talk to you regarding them.”

Cadence walked from behind the counter and brought a plate of scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon. She rolled her eyes at his explanation and said, “And by ‘intuition’, he means his inner fanboy told him to bring you here.”

Shining Armor’s face tinted pink as he stared at his girlfriend. “C-Cadence, that is so not true!”

The fuchsia woman gave him a deadpan look. “Really? ‘Cause this has all the makings of one your anime shows. Attractive girl falls out of the sky with a strange weapon, fights monsters, wears skimpy revealing armor?”

“I-I stand by what I said!” Shining Armor stated in determination.

Now Sunset also had a deadpan expression on her face. Well, I’ve been avoiding watching that stuff, but now it just might have saved my life.

“Sunset, do you drink coffee?” Cadence asked.

“Y-Yeah, if you don’t mind I’d like a cup,” Sunset requested.

Cadence smiled and went back to get it. Sunset pulled out a chair opposite Shining Armor and sat down, prompting the detective to do the same. Shining Armor began eating his meal, and while he did, Cadence brought over three cups of joe, setting one in front of Shining and another before Sunset.

“Thank you,” said Sunset as she picked up a couple of sugar packets and stirred them into it.

Shining Armor brought up his tablet, putting on its kickstand as he showed it to Sunset. “Sunset Shimmer. Born: 12-18-19XX. Happy belated Birthday.”

“Thanks…I guess.”

“Says here you lost your parents when you were young, and wound up homeless after escaping from an abusive foster home.”

Cadence glared at her boyfriend.

“Yeah…”

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. “Also says that you lived on the streets for a number of years before your guardian, Celestia, took you in and enrolled you at her school. Also says that despite your young age, you were allowed to live at a residence all your own. Your guardian pays the rent and you…huh, used to work at a sushi joint until a couple of months ago.”

Sunset sighed. “Yes, I did. That is until the rumor mill made its way to my work. My boss didn’t want any potential bad press due to this Anon-A-Miss crap, so he let me go with at least four weeks pay as compensation. I told Celestia, and she said we could sue for wrongful termination.”

“Sounds like you should’ve,” said Cadence, a tone of irritation was in her voice after hearing of what happened.

Sunset shook her head. “It’s fine. No big deal.”

“Now, it also says here that you weren’t exactly the most likeable person in the school. We’ve had some complaints about you, anonymous, mind you, but complaints about ‘blackmailing’, ‘threats of bodily harm’, the list goes on.”

The former Equestrian gripped her cup hard. “I…I won’t deny that I did some shitty stuff in the past…but that’s behind me now.”

Cadence was getting a little annoyed by her boyfriend’s line of questioning. The protective instinct of a teacher was kicking in at this point, seeing that Sunset seemed to be genuinely lamenting those acts and it seemed that it was a painful thing to recall. “Shining, that’s enough, where are you going with this?!”

Shining Armor placed his tablet down and took a sip of his coffee. “On the surface, these records are good. The Foster Care System is pretty complex and overworked, lots of paperwork goes missing easy with so many kids going in and out of it. Now, it wouldn’t be hard to insert someone into it, no one would bat an eye since there are so many cases, a lot of people would just stamp it and let it through.”

Shining looked directly at Sunset as he said, “But, Miss Shimmer, I don’t. I dug a little deeper and couldn’t find anything going back further. The birth certificate is official, along with the Social Security Card, so that pans out. But to find not that many records or anything about your parents’ deaths, makes me wonder if you ever existed here in the first place.”

Cadence narrowed her gaze as she raised her voice. “Shining Armor –!”

“It’s true.” Cadence stopped and Shining Armor looked at her with an inquisitive expression. “I’m not really from here…I’m not even from this dimension.” Sunset leaned back in her chair and asked, “How open minded are you?”

Shining Armor kicked back in his seat and said, “Depends, let’s hear your story.”

With little in the way of options, Sunset spilled her guts. She told them the tale of a young little unicorn filly from the magical land of Equestria. How she was mostly neglected by her parents until she found her talent in the magical arts, gaining the attention of the land’s living deity, who ironically went by the same name as her current guardian. The tale went onto describe how this young filly grew into a mare that was selfish, proud, and arrogant, believing the world should be hers. Then she told them of how she got to their world through a magic portal, how she had to live on the streets for a while, scared out of her mind and fighting for anything she could use to survive. And as if by cosmic irony, the one mare she ran away from, was the same person who helped her. Sunset said that, somehow, Principal Celestia was able to obtain records that showed that Sunset had always been a citizen of Canterlot City, Sunset never asked how Celestia did it, and thought better not know.

From there, the tale told of a prideful, arrogant, and angry teen girl who sought to rule her school with an iron fist. To which, she did, until someone, another denizen of her world, came into the picture.

“She was wielder, and newly crowned Princess, of the Element of Magic, her name was Twilight Sparkle.”

Cadence and Shining Armor both did a spit take upon hearing that name.

“W-What did you say?!” Shining coughed.

“Twilight Sparkle, that’s the name of the Princess I stole the magic crown from.” Sunset glanced between the two adults and raised an eyebrow. “Am I missing something here?”

“U-Uh, no, no! Keep going, what happened next?!” Cadence encouraged.

Sunset decided to file that under “weird” and continued her story. Transforming into a raging She-Demon, or as some of her fellow classmates have affectionately called that form, Sunset Satan. Then she told them of the Battle of the Bands, fast forward to the current incident with Anon-A-Miss, and then the night she obtained the Witchblade, and her battle with Beetle Underwood.

“Then I saved, Celestia, apparently got my ass beaten by that monster, and that’s where we are now,” Sunset huffed as she finished explaining.

Sunset looked to both the adults, their faces said it all, they were not expecting all of that. It was real quiet in the home, the minds of Shining Armor and Cadence working to process all this information.

Finally, Shining Armor found his voice and said, “I…There’s no way that’s real…is it?”

Sunset raised her right arm. “I have the bracelet to prove it, and a magical journal back at my place. If you need more proof, I can have Princess Twilight fire up the portal and you and I can take a nice little stroll into another dimension.”

“No, no! That’s…” Shining Armor ran his hands through his hair as he stood up and paced the floor. “I could just say you have a very active imagination, or are mentally unstable, but then again, I just saw a literal harpy tear a man in two, and you fly off after killing Underwood.”

“Technically I killed a monster.”

“She does have a point,” Cadence added.

Shining Armor groaned as she dragged his hands down his face. “Apparently extradimensional beings exist, magic and monsters exist, and mystical weapons as well…jeez.”

Sunset looked up at the detective and said. “Look, I know that all this is a lot to process, and that not everybody’s mentally able to take it all in. But, I think we could work together here.”

Cadence was the first to ask, “How?”

“These monsters are too dangerous and too powerful for the police to handle. Bullets to don’t work, pretty much all conventional weapons shy of a bomb, possibly. But this,” Sunset raised her wrist again, “the Witchblade, it has the power to put them down.”

Shining Armor didn’t like that idea. “The police don’t have anywhere to put these guys. They’ll tear anyone apart that’s in their way. There’s really no other option, how are you going to arrest and prosecute a monster?”

Shining Armor hated to admit it, but she had a point. Those monsters could tear through them like wet tissue paper, and heal crazy fast.

“Let’s make a deal. I’ll help you take down these monsters, and in exchange, you help me take down Anon-A-Miss,” Sunset suggested.

Cadence and Shining Armor raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t have the resources to find out who this person is, or if there’s more than one. But they’re looking to get me, and while I have this Witchblade, I’m safe, but the school is just devolving into hate, barely anyone trusts each other anymore, and I don’t want that to continue. Forget that they’re targeting me, if my…my friends…decide to forgive and help me, they’ll become targets too! And I don’t want that to happen!”

Cadence glanced to her boyfriend, she could tell he was seriously thinking this over. From Cadence’s perspective, she could feel the urgency in Sunset’s request. Despite whatever past misdeeds she may have committed, Sunset seemed vehement about stopping this “Anon-A-Miss” before they caused harm to someone she cared about. As a school administrator, Cadence felt an urge to help Sunset, problem being, she wasn’t in any position to do so. Plus, it wouldn’t exactly look good if a CPA admin suddenly looked into issues regarding CHS.

Or knowing Cinch she’d probably use whatever I learned against CHS and bury them before the next Friendship Games, thought Cadence.

However, her boyfriend was under no such constraints. She knew Shining Armor had a particular distaste for bullies, which was probably why he was a little harsh with Sunset given what he found and now heard, but Cadence also knew that her husband could sense when someone was being honest and sincere.

Shining Armor was at war with his principals right now. Part of him was saying to refuse this request, that his job was not to kill suspects, but to bring them in so that they may be tried in a court of law. However, the law was not built to deal with murderous monsters of the literal kind. Plus, they still didn’t know what these creatures were. Were they a mutation? Were they always monsters? Was it reversible? Too many questions, not enough answers. Also, he wasn’t exactly psyched about bringing a kid into police work, she may be eighteen and legally an adult, but the things he’d seen during the Murder Mysteries was not something he’d want a young girl like Sunset to see. Then again, it seemed that world sought her out anyway.

“Look…I need to think about this a little. But, I won’t exactly say no to helping you with your Anon-A-Miss problem,” said Shining Armor.

“C’mon, it’d be perfect! I can go places you can’t because you’re a cop! Plus, I have my whole bad girl motif going for me, and a weapon that can protect me and heal me from anything near fatal, I wouldn’t be in any real danger!”

}}} So long as you don’t have your head removed, or are blown up, or disintegrated, or split down the middle– {{{

Not helping!

Shining Armor raised his hand to stop her. “Look, I know you probably think you’re the only one who can stop this, and you may be right. But you don’t know what we’re up against, just as much I don’t either. Until we can get more info, I don’t want you getting involved in this.”

Sunset crossed her arms as she raised an eyebrow. “And what happens when ‘this’ decides to get me involved whether I like it or not?”

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t defend yourself, just–”

Sunset’s phone vibrated on the table. She picked it up and grimaced. “Well…we can put that on hold for now. We first need to deal with what we’re going to say to Celestia.”

“Pardon?” Cadence asked.

Sunset turned her phone to face the two adults and both grimaced as well upon seeing the multitude of voicemails and text messages, most were from her guardian, and the others were from her friend.

“Oh…” Shining Armor groaned.

“This’ll be fun…” Sunset groaned.

“You were attacked, again?!” Celestia asked.

{Y-Yeah, that bird monster came back and tried to hurt me, ripped my clothes off and it was saying something about trying to lay eggs in me or something!}

(“‘Lay eggs in you?! Really?!” Shining asked in disbelief.)

(“How else am I supposed to explain why I’m wearing different clothes?!” Sunset hissed.)

Celestia sighed in relief. “Well, I’m just happy you’re alright. Is Detective Armor there?”

{Oh yeah, he’s right here.}

There sounded like there was a hushed argument in the background before Shining Armor took the phone. {Hello, Ms. Celestia.}

“Thank you, again, Detective Armor, for keeping Sunset safe.”

{N-No problem, my girlfriend’s the Dean of Students at CPA so I–}

“Wait, you know Cadence?”

{Hi, Tia!} came Cadence’s voice. {Don’t worry, we’re keeping Sunset safe, we’ll take her back to her place later in the afternoon. Or, Shiny will, at least.}

Celestia’s mind was set at ease upon hearing that Cadence was there. She knew the young Dean well thanks to Luna being friends with her back in college and high school, so she knew that between the two Sunset was in good hands. “Well, I’ll inform the teachers that you’re safe. If you haven’t already, I’d suggest talking to Pinkie Pie. She’s been coming by office almost every hour asking about you.”

{Will do. Are you at the school right now?}

Celestia was not in fact at the school. She was in her car, parked next to the sidewalk of Lightning Dust’s home. As she had stated to Nurse Redheart, she was going to speak with Lightning Dust’s parent, and then Gilda’s. But in all honesty, Lightning Dust was her top priority. Celestia took into account that Gilda tried to stop Lightning Dust, but failed due to the girl getting thrown by Lightning, but was successful after Sunset managed to get Lightning off of her. While she condemned what Gilda did, she would say she also commended her for trying to stop her friend. That being said, Lightning was the worst offender here, she had tried to strangle Sunset to death in front of everyone and would’ve succeeded had Sunset not managed to strike her and make her get off, and Gilda’s quick thinking to pin Lightning against the lockers.

“I’m taking care of some business right now. But it shouldn’t be long. Are you sure you don’t want me to come and pick you up?”

{It’s fine, I’ll ride with Detective Armor.}

“Okay, I’ll call you later to make sure you’re alright. Bye, Sunset.”

{Bye!}

Celestia heard the line cut off, part of her, her more motherly side, wanted to say “I love you”. But Celestia thought that that would make things awkward, and she definitely didn’t want to pressure Sunset into thinking that she had to see her that way.

“Okay.”

Celestia collected her things and got out of the car. She had phoned ahead and made sure that Lightning Dust’s father, Wind Rider, was going to be home along with his daughter. Thankfully, the man said they would be and Celestia informed them that she would be coming by in the afternoon. Now here she was. The older woman had to keep her emotions in check here, while she was Sunset’s legal guardian, she had to come to Wind Rider and Lightning Dust not as a concerned parent, but as a school administrator.

Celestia walked up the pathway towards the door and knocked. After a couple of minutes, Wind Rider appeared in the doorway, wearing his trademark white scarf and his famous Juniper Phoenix cologne.

“Principal Celestia, thank you for coming,” said Wind Rider.

“Thank you, Mr. Rider, although I wish it were under better circumstances,” Celestia replied.

Wind Rider ushered Celestia inside and was guided to the living room, her eyes were immediately drawn to the trophy cases of both Wind Rider and Lightning Dust. Celestia saw that Lightning was already sitting in the loveseat, she didn’t look good. The Principal could already see bags under the teen’s eyes, she also seemed jittery. Celestia wasn’t sure if this was due to nerves or something else. It wasn’t as if Lightning didn’t have reason not to be worried, she had done something seriously bad, something that could very well land her in jail.

Celestia sat on the couch opposite Lightning, with Wind Rider taking the opposite lazy boy chair. The school principal cleared her throat and began, “As you know, Mr. Rider, your daughter – along with another student – ganged up and assaulted another of my students. Not only that, but several more students attested that Lightning Dust was strangling the student, Sunset Shimmer, to the point that if Sunset had not managed to make Lightning stop, she may have very well managed to kill her. I haven’t brought this to authorities, yet, because I want to know the reason why Lightning thought that it was justified that she’d go that far.”

Celestia fixed her eyes on the girl in question. “Lightning, I want to hear your side of the story to be fair. Tell me, did Sunset Shimmer antagonize you in anyway prior to that incident?”

Lightning muttered a low, “…No.”

“Had she done so at any point before Winter Break?”

“…No.”

“Then, Miss Dust, why did you feel the need to attack Sunset Shimmer, and nearly killed her?” Celestia asked.

Wind Rider held up his arm. “Now, now, let’s just stop right there. First, I’d like to know, is the school pressing charges? Is this Sunset Shimmer pressing charges?”

“The school has a zero tolerance policy for fighting in or on school grounds, Mr. Rider. Normally I’d levy punishment to all parties, but given that the severity of this fight, two on one, any person would agree that Sunset had to fight back for her own self-defense. That being the case, Sunset Shimmer has not yet, and I do stress yet, pressed charges against your daughter. Likewise, the school is considering it.”

Wind Rider nodded his head. “I see…”

Celestia raised her eyebrow, noting Wind Rider’s relaxed demeanor. She wasn’t sure if he just didn’t care or if Celestia’s rehashing of the events was just boring him. “Mr. Rider, what your daughter did and attempted to do are very serious, and as it stands, being eighteen years old, Lightning would be punished as an adult rather than a juvenile.”

Wind Rider nodded. “Oh no, I understand. But, let’s be frank her, Ms. Celestia, this Sunset Shimmer is no saint, at least not from what my daughter has told me. In fact, I heard that up until a few months ago, she was quite the troublemaker. A bully, intimidator, and then there’s this Anon-A-Miss. A cyber bully who’s going around and spilling secrets of not only the students but some faculty, and this account’s profile resembles Sunset Shimmer.”

Celestia’s brow furrowed at the mention of that name. “That is under investigation, but we have strong reason to believe that Sunset Shimmer is being targeted by Anon-A-Miss, using the student body as a weapon to cause her harm. As was evidenced by this latest altercation.”

Wind Rider threw up his hands. “Then, that’s it then. You can’t blame Lightning, blame Anon-A-Miss! She was swept up into this mass hysteria just like the rest of those kids!”

“Mr. Rider, despite what Anon-A-Miss is doing, every person has free will, and a mind, and can make their own decisions. Your daughter chose to attack Sunset, she chose to strangle her until she was almost dead.”

Wind Rider was not fazed in the slightest. “Look, Ms. Celestia, let’s get to the point of all this. I have friends, and money, so it didn’t take me long to figure out that you are Sunset Shimmer’s legal guardian.”

Celestia shrugged at the information. “I never made any attempt to hide it.”

“So, is it fair to say that you’re showing favoritism towards your ward? I mean, she mostly went unpunished during her supposed free reign over the rest of the students. And now Anon-A-Miss crops up, could it be possible, that you’re ignoring some signs that Sunset Shimmer is this Anon-A-Miss person, given her previous history?” Wind Rider asked.

Celestia’s hands tightened into fists. “Mr. Rider, why on Earth would anyone invite this kind of hatred towards themselves?! I know for a fact that Sunset is smarter than that! Hell, a ten-year-old is smarter than that! Why make it obvious that it is her?! Why make herself a target?!”

Wind Rider leaned back in his chair as he said, “Dunno? I did find out she was on the streets for a number of years, perhaps she has some sort of underlying mental illness? Could be she has a disorder where she is doing this, but is not aware? I don’t know, I’m not a shrink. But, what I do know, is that there are ways this can go bad for Sunset Shimmer, and the school, and you Ms. Celestia.”

Celestia leaned forward as she leveled her gaze at smug man before her. “Are you threatening me and Sunset, Mr. Rider?”

Wind Rider leaned forward and matched her gaze. “All I’m saying is that this can go away one of two different ways. You and Miss Shimmer get a very nice sum of money and we forget this ever happened. Or, I can take you, Sunset, and the school, to court and see who’s got the better defense? Your choice.”

Celestia stood from her chair and glared at Wind Rider. “I see, well, thank you for letting me come to speak with you two. I will be bringing this up to the schoolboard.”

“Looking forward to it. Lightning, would you mind walking Ms. Celestia out.” Wind Rider said as more of a command than a request.

Lightning Dust stood up and walked Celestia to the door. Once at the door, Celestia turned to look at Lightning, now that she saw her close up, the older woman could tell that Lightning seemed more disheveled than she previously thought.

“Lightning, if there’s anything you want to tell me, please tell me now. If you need any help…”

Lightning Dust chuckled dryly. “Heh, sorry Principal Celestia…but the kind of help I need, isn’t something you – or anyone – can give me.”

With that, Celestia left, with Lightning closing the door once she was gone.

Wind Rider stood up, looking quite proud of himself. “Well, I think we settled that matter.”

Lightning walked back into the living room. “But…she might do it, you know. Come after us with lawyers and stuff.”

“Pssh, she doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Her delinquent of a ward, combined with her rep and closeness to her, makes this an open and shut case for us if we do need to go to court. At most, we settle with them and this all gets swept under the rug, at worst, we just smear Sunset Shimmer and Principal Celestia. Easy.”

Lightning Dust had a look of apprehension. “Look…Sunset’s a bitch and deserves it, but can you try and not smear Principal Celestia? She’s a good person.”

Wind Rider sighed in frustration. “Lightning, don’t. If it’s a choice between making sure you can get into the sports limelight later on, or the rep of a public school teacher, guess which one I’m picking every time.”

Lightning didn’t really care if Sunset got thrown to the wolves, but Principal Celestia was a good lady, she could be tough, but fair, and everybody loved her, hell, even Lightning Dust liked her. She was almost like a mother to the students sometimes, so the thought of putting her through hell was souring her whole outlook on how her father was going about this. While she was going over all this, she noticed that her father was moving around and heading towards the garage door.

“Where are you going?” Lightning asked.

“Out, both to meet with some lawyers to be ready, and to get a drink. You,” Wind Rider pointed his finger at Lightning, “on the other hand, are not to leave this house, period. If you’re not here when I get back, you’ll wish that that Sunset girl had gotten to you first.”

Wind Rider closed the door, a couple of minutes later, Lightning heard the sound of her father’s sports car leave down the road.

Lightning felt lost, she had some sort of demon inside her, her father was going to mess with Principal Celestia, and he was probably going to drag Gilda into it, too. It was all going to shit. The blonde girl made it back to her room and sat down on her bed, the demon inside her had been silent since last night, but she suspected it wouldn’t be long before it decided to act. Her head was a mess, she needed…someone.

Lightning took up her cellphone and scrolled through her contacts. Her search stopped when she spotted Rainbow Dash’s number. That girl was the only person she had ever met that could match her in anything, her rival, her nemesis, her teammate, her captain…her…friend? Lightning still remembered that look of utter disdain for what she had done to Sunset, they’re relationship was rocky before, they barely spoke to each other after that soccer game a while back, but now, she wondered if she had burned that bridge completely now?

Lightning typed away on her phone.

[RD, I know you probably don’t want to hear from me…but…I really need to talk to someone and…I…you’re the only one who won’t bullshit me and tell it to me straight. Please…]

A couple of minutes passed before Lightning received a reply.

[You’re damn right I don’t want to hear from you. What you did to Sunset was fucked up. But…I’m your captain…and a good captain listens to her teammates. So…fine, I’ll hear you out. When do you want me over?]

[A little after school? 7 maybe?] Lightning asked.

[Fine, I don’t plan on staying too long.] Rainbow replied.

[That’s fine…and Rainbow…thanks.]

The sun had set and now night had fallen. Rainbow Dash pulled up and parked along the sidewalk. There was a noticeable scowl on her face as she approached the home of her rival and former friend. Rainbow had been debating why she was even allowing this meeting to happen, sure, Sunset’s recent stunt was bad, really bad. But Rainbow didn’t believe that that warranted physical harm to the former unicorn, nor did she want to see Sunset get killed over something like this.

Part of Rainbow Dash argued that she was doing this as part of her responsibilities as a team captain, and another probably wanted to deck the girl. Whatever the reason, she was here now, and Rainbow Dash didn’t back down from anything. The prismatic haired teen walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. A few seconds passed before the door was opened by Lightning Dust, which, Rainbow had to admit, the girl looked distressed.

“H-Hey, Dash…”

“Lightning…” A pregnant pause fell between the two of them as Rainbow stood there and Lightning just stared at her. “Can I come in? It’s colder than a snowman’s ass out here.”

“Oh, yeah! Come in!” Lightning moved out of the way quickly as she ushered Rainbow into her house.

“You’re dad around?” Rainbow asked.

“He’s been…out, for a while. It’s just the two of us…” Lightning rubbed her left arm in worry. “If you like, you can come back when he does…? But, I’m not so sure he’ll be happy to have company…”

Rainbow shrugged. “I don’t really care one way or the other, you wanted to talk, so let’s talk.”

Lightning nodded and gestured for Rainbow to follow. The two tomboys walked up the stairs and into Lightning’s room, with Lightning closing the door before taking a seat on her bed.

Rainbow Dash took off her jacket and placed it on Lightning’s desk as she crossed her arms. “Okay, you wanted to talk. Let’s talk. First off, I want to know, between you and Gilda, which of you came up with that brilliant plan?”

Lightning twiddled her thumbs as she looked down at the carpet. “Gilda…well, to be fair, we both came up with the idea of beating up Shimmer.”

“Tch, I could’ve told you right away you were going to get your asses handed to you,” said Rainbow.

Lightning looked up at her former friend in confusion. “Excuse me?”

The corner of Rainbow’s mouth turned up in a ghost of a smile. “When Princess Twilight told us to look after her, I wasn’t exactly keen on the idea. So, I challenged Sunset to a fist fight. Course, I had to keep it a secret from the girls. But she agreed, and you know what happened?”

“You kicked her ass?” Lightning guessed.

“Yeah, but only because she let me.” Lightning looked at Rainbow with more confusion, which Rainbow noticed. “I knew Sunset could fight, so I tested the waters, the mark of a good fighter isn’t to know how to take down your opponent, it’s knowing how to fight, to read the situation and use you’re strength, agility, and speed at the right moment. Sunset had me pegged more than once had she followed through, but she didn’t. Most likely because she didn’t want to ruin what she was given. Then we got caught up with these guys trying to pick us up, and we laid them out, and that’s when I saw her skill. She took down three guys before I was finished with my first one.”

Lightning blinked, remembering when Sunset got the upper hand on both of them during the fight, but even before that, Sunset was avoiding them, dodging, until Gilda managed to get her, Sunset hadn’t fought back at all. Yet, from what Rainbow told her, Sunset Shimmer could’ve ended the fight and put them down easily.

“Shit…” Lightning whispered.

“Yeah, so now you know how that could’ve gone. Now, again, between the two of you, who’s bright idea was it to kill her?” Rainbow demanded.

Lightning gripped her hands as she recalled that moment. “No ones…we only planned to beat her up, teach her a lesson, but…I don’t know, I just…I just lost it! I grabbed her and started choking her…” Lightning released her palms as she looked at them. “I can still feel it, y’know, the feeling of when my hands were wrapped around her neck, and that look of fear…I can’t get it out of my head.”

Rainbow growled as she ran her hand down her face. “Jesus, Dust, I know you can go overboard and push things to the extreme, but what you did was way over the line!”

“Don’t you think I realize that now?!” Lightning shouted as she stood up. “Don’t you think I haven’t thought about it since then?! But…I can’t help it! I need to always push myself! I need to go one step further, to be the best!”

Rainbow uncrossed her arms as she pointed at Lightning Dust. “You are the best, but that messed up part of you that pushes you makes you do stupid shit like this! Hurting yourself, hurting your teammates, or someone else! And what’s worse, I almost got sucked up into that!”

Lightning chuckled a little. “We did have fun though, right? Practicing until we collapsed from exhaustion on the field together…hitting the gym hard until our muscles were begging us to stop…you can’t say that all of it was bad?”

Rainbow Dash inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. “Yes, it was fun, but Lightning, you don’t need to push yourself that hard. I don’t know why you feel you need to go that far, but if you don’t tell someone, anyone, then you’re not helping yourself. I’m probably the only one who gets how you think, so that’s why I’m here. Tell me.”

Lightning sat back down on the bed, once again staring at the floor. Rainbow Dash walked over and sat next to her. Silence prevailed in the room for several seconds before a sound was made.

“My Dad…”

“What?”

“My Dad, he…he wants me to be the best, whatever it takes. He’s harsh, and really strict when it comes to me and sports. I got into it because I love it, but he sees it as a way to relive his glory days…so he pushes me harder, and I guess…I developed it in my head that I need to go one step further,” Lightning explained.

Rainbow’s brow furrowed. “Geez, I knew he could be strict, but I didn’t know he was like that. Does he…does he hit you?”

Lightning nodded.

“Lightning, you have to tell the cops.”

The turquoise girl chuckled. “Yeah, that won’t happen. My Dad has money and friends in high places, plus, he’s smart. He never hits me unless I’d been in a fight beforehand, or got injured during a game, that way he can hide it easier.”

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and tightened her fists to the point that her knuckles turned white. “Well, now I’m going to wait till he gets here, and give him a beat down myself.”

Lightning smiled a little as she placed her hand on Rainbow’s fist. “I appreciate it, but don’t…he’ll just smear you. The last thing I need is to have someone I like get – humph!” Lightning slapped her free hand over her mouth.

Rainbow, however, managed to catch that. “Like? You like me?”

“Uh…I…”

“Go ahead, Dusty, I can feel it inside you. You want this girl.”

Shut up! Leave me alone!

“You can’t hide it from me. I can feel the heat rising in your core, you want her, stop denying yourself what you truly want!”

I’m not listening!

“Okay, guess I’ll just give you a little push.”

Rainbow looked at Lightning, her face turned from her as she awaited her answer. “Lightning, do you mean like-like? Or–?”

Rainbow Dash didn’t get to finish her sentence before Lightning’s lips crashed into hers. The sudden kiss managed to take Rainbow by surprise and made her fall onto the bed, Rainbow felt Lightning’s tongue explore her mouth as she moaned pleasurably. Rainbow tried to raise her arms to push Lightning away, but Lightning was quicker, grabbing ahold of Rainbow’s wrists and pinning them against the bed.

Lightning pulled away, a cliché string of saliva formed as she now looked down upon her. The turquoise girl had a silver aura around her irises, but then it faded and she was now met with the sight of her former friend pinned beneath her, panting and red as a rose as she looked up at Lightning.

“R-Rainbow Dash, I-I’m sorry! I just…I wasn’t…this isn’t why I called you over here! I…”

“Dust.”

Lightning went silent.

“You need to blow off some steam?” Rainbow asked.

Lightning Dust gulped and nodded her head in a bit of shame as she released her grip on Rainbow’s wrists. The rainbow haired teen leaned forward and brought her lips against Lightning’s, surprising the young athlete. When Rainbow pulled back, she looked into Lightning’s eyes and said, “That’s all this is then, okay?”

“Okay,” said Lightning Dust breathlessly.

Lightning leaned back down to meet her former friend again, the two girls locked lips as a series of moans filled the room. Both of them shifted on the bed, getting into more comfortable positions and not separating at all while doing so. Lightning Dust found herself straddling Rainbow’s hips, the latter’s hands moved to the back of Lightning’s head, massaging her scalp and running her hands through her blonde hair.

Lightning broke their kiss as she leaned back, grabbed the hem of her shirt, and pulled it off, showing that she wasn’t wearing a bra underneath, her two B-cup breasts and perky nipples on full display for her former friend. Rainbow responded in kind, taking off her shirt to reveal a black sports bra underneath. Lighting grabbed the garment as Rainbow raised her hands up, allowing Lightning to pull it off, exposing Rainbow’s perky breasts to the air.

Heavy breathing reverberated in the room, the world and all its sounds outside this room seeming to fade into the background, as there was only this moment. Lightning brought her hands forward, running them along Rainbow’s sides as she went upwards, then slowly working her hands to cup each of Rainbow’s breasts. Rainbow moaned a little when Lightning began to massage them, despite knowing that Lightning Dust liked to move fast, she seemed to be savoring this moment.

Rainbow wasn’t one to be outdone, as she quickly leaned upwards and latched her mouth around one Lightning’s left breast, wrapped her right arm around her waist, and used her left hand to knead the other mammary. Lightning let out a loud moan of ecstasy as she felt Rainbow work her nipple in her mouth, licking it, and pinching it with her teeth. The sounds of suckling echoed loudly in Lightning’s ears as she felt her chest getting assaulted in the best way possible.

“Fuck… Dash…that…I’ve wanted to do this since we first met,” Lightning confessed in her heat.

Rainbow stopped for a moment to look up at Lightning. “I kinda had a feeling you were….you know, like me.”

Lightning looked down. “How long?”

Rainbow smiled as she recalled the memory. “I wasn’t really sure until that one practice match when we were the last two to clean up. I decided to test the waters – no pun intended – when we were showering.”

Lightning’s eyes widened when she recalled the day. Rainbow Dash wasn’t a shy girl by any means and was quite proud of her physique, but on that day, she seemed to flaunt it more than usual, especially when they were showering. She also remembered that Rainbow Dash seemed to lose her grip on the soap bar quite a lot and had to bend over more than once to grab it, spread eagle no less. Remembering that day made Lightning’s cheeks turn a rosy shade of red as she glared down at the rainbow haired teen.

“You fucking tease! You were flashing me on purpose?!”

A cocky smile formed. “Yep, and I saw you taking a peek every chance I gave you.”

Lightning narrowed her gaze. “And you never said anything to me because?!”

Rainbow’s smile vanished. “Because…not long after that, you and I had our falling out. You messed up most of the team and nearly got me injured bad. So…yeah.”

Lightning frowned a little. “……Sorry. Heh, great, I messed up my shot…”

“I wouldn’t…say that it you completely missed. I mean…we are here, aren’t we,” Rainbow stated.

Lightning allowed herself to smile a little. “Yeah…we are.”

Rainbow lied back down and, in yet another surprising move, unbuttoned her jeans and pulled down the zipper. Lightning looked up at her and asked, “Are you…Are you sure?”

“I’m pretty sure, at least.”

Lightning look down, she would admit, there were a few times, even after their falling out, that Lightning Dust had fantasized about this moment, but having it happen right here and now…it was almost surreal. Demons, murders, her shitty father, all that didn’t matter right now. This was something that she secretly wished would happen between her and Rainbow, and now it was about to happen. Lightning slowly moved her hands towards Rainbow’s pants, about to rise up and pull them down, that is until she heard movement outside her front door.

“Lightning, who’s car is parked out front?! I don’t – oh!” Wind Rider paused when he opened the door, seeing his daughter half naked, and another girl on her bed, also half naked, with said daughter’s hands working at the pants of the other.

Instinct kicked in after that as Lightning got off of Rainbow, allowing her to roll to the side and cover her chest, while Lightning grabbed a pillow and covered her chest.

“DAD, WHAT THE HELL?!” Lightning yelled.

“Oh,” Wind turned his head away as he said, “I didn’t know you had company over. You’re, uh, Rainbow Dash, right?”

Rainbow, whose face was redder than a tomato, managed to squeak out, “Y-Yes, Sir.”

“I see. Lightning, could you put on a shirt and come out here,” Wind Rider requested.

“S-Sure,” Lightning replied.

“I-I’ll leave,” said Rainbow Dash.

“No, no, no!” Wind Rider spoke. “No, you don’t need to leave, I just need to speak with Lightning.”

Lightning Dust glanced over her shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

“Y-Yeah.”

Lightning Dust found her shirt and put it on, and then left the room. Rainbow Dash felt completely embarrassed, she had heard of those cliché moments in teen movies when parents walk in on their kids doing it, but she never thought in a million years that she’d end up in that position. Not to mention, it was the parent that beat their kid.

“Oh fuck,” Rainbow realized, “Lightning!”

Rainbow got off the bed, zipped up her pants, found her shirt, and hurried to the door. She stopped just before opening the door when Rainbow heard voices. Cautiously, she cracked the door open just enough to peek outside.

“Dad, I’m…I’m sorry I didn’t call or text you that she was over! Please don’t be mad at her!” Lightning pleaded.

Wind Rider only smirked as he placed his hands on her shoulders. “Dusty, why would I be mad at you?”

“Huh?”

“You’re doing exactly what we discussed yesterday!” Wind Rider exclaimed.

What, thought Rainbow.

“I told you to make up with that girl and you did. Now you’re thinking like a winner, she’ll help you get places for sure! But, yes, I am a little irritated that you didn’t call me or text me, had I known you were going to seal the deal I wouldn’t have interrupted,” said Wind.

Rainbow Dash eyes narrowed into slits as her grip on the doorknob tightened to the point that the metal was groaning from the pressure. WHAT?!

Lightning pushed his hands away and glared at her father. “What?! No, that’s not why she’s –!”

“Dammit, I may’ve killed the mood. How about this? I’ll leave the house for a few more hours, and you two can keep going!” Wind Rider snapped his fingers as an idea entered his head. “I have a good wine in my study, I can bring it up and–!”

“WHAT THE HELL, LIGHTNING?!” Rainbow yelled as she exited the room and stormed towards Lightning Dust.

Lightning’s eyes widened with fear upon hearing Rainbow’s voice and the anger in her eyes. “Rainbow Dash, wait!”

“So everything you told me back there was a bunch of bullshit?! You just wanted to get into my pants just to make yourself look good?!” Rainbow accused.

Lightning faced Rainbow Dash as she said, “No! I swear to god, that’s not why I wanted you over here! I meant every word of what I said! I’ve always liked you!”

“And you!” Rainbow turned her furious glare on Wind Rider. “What kind of sick fuck encourages their own kid to do that kind of shit?!”

“Now, Miss Dash, let’s calm down and–”

“NO! FUCK YOU!” Rainbow interrupted before turning her ire on Lightning. “You know, Sunset has done some shitty stuff in the past, and this Anon-A-Miss is also shitty as hell, but at least Sunset never played with people like that! If anything you’re worse than her!”

Lightning’s eyes widened as she grabbed her head and backed away after hearing those words, this wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. She just wanted to talk with Rainbow, she just wanted someone to hear her, to be close to her, and when she finally managed to do so, her father…her father…her father.

“This…This all your fault,” said Lightning as she glared at her father.

“Pardon me?”

“Because of you, I just lost the only chance I had at being actually happy! Because of you, I’ve endured pain, fear, and humiliation!”

Wind Rider’s brow furrowed as he listened to his daughter’s rant, while also noting that Rainbow Dash’s anger was shifting towards him now. “Lightning, I know you’re upset, but there’s no need to be spouting nonsense!”

“FUCK YOU IT ISN’T NONSENSE!”

“That’s right, Dusty, let it all out…”

“I hate you!” Lightning growled.

“Say it…!”

“I wish…!”

“Say it!”

“I wish…!!”

“SAY IT!!!”

“I WISH YOU WERE DEAD!” Lightning yelled at the top of her lungs.

That proved to be the last straw as Wind Rider struck his daughter with a strong backhanded strike across her face. Unfortunately the blow was strong enough to make her stumble backwards, causing Lightning to trip and fall right down the stairs. Rainbow watched in shock and horror as her former friend tumbled down the stairs, hearing something crack as she hit the floor and slammed against the wall.

“LIGHTNING!” Rainbow cried as she bounded down the stairs and slid to a stop before her former friend’s body.

Lightning’s right arm was bent a different angles, while her left arm’s bone had broken the skin and was bleeding profusely. Her legs weren’t any better, they were bent at the wrong angles. Lightning’s mouth had blood dripping from the corner, and her body twitched. Rainbow Dash didn’t need to be a doctor to know that Lightning definitely had a spinal injury, and more than likely a brain injury on top of that, and that’s not counting the visible injuries, and whatever else was going on internally.

“Lightning! Stay with me! Can you talk?! Lightning try and say something?!” When Rainbow received no response other than the constant twitching, she turned her furious gaze upon Wind Rider. “You bastard! Look what you’ve done!”

Wind Rider still seemed as if he was in shock, staring at his hand as if someone else had done the deed, but there was no denying the facts that were right before his eyes. He had struck his daughter and she fell down the stairs. Now that he looked at her, if she survived, there was no way her body would recover, at worst she was now in a coma, at best, she’d end up with a spinal injury and never be able to go into any serious sporting events, either ending up as a paraplegic or a quadriplegic.

“You mean…what you did.”

Rainbow looked at the man incredulously. “What did you say?!”

“I came home, hearing an argument, and saw my daughter get struck by her supposed former friend who held a grudge over the altercation yesterday, and came to take revenge. Yes, that’s what happened.”

Rainbow couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This guy was going to seriously pin this on her. “Fuck you, I’m calling the cops!” Rainbow reached into her pants pocket and pulled out her phone, dialing the number.

“You little bitch, you won’t!” Wind Rider ran down the stairs and tackled Rainbow Dash to the floor.

“Son of a bitch! Get off me!” Rainbow spat.

Rainbow punched the old man in the face, making him growl in anger as he delivered a punch across Rainbow’s face, the blow dazed her a little, but she managed to press the call button just before Wind Rider struck her in the gut, making her drop the phone as it slid across the floor. Rainbow balled up her right fist and drove it straight into Wind Rider’s face, making him back up, she took that opportunity to deliver another punch, this time lower.

Wind Rider released a high pitched gasp as his crotch flared with pain, making the older man back away as he cupped his manhood. “You…little…bitch…!”

Rainbow Dash wiped her mouth of the blood as she got up and assumed a fighting stance. “You really going to do this? How are you going to explain this to the cops?!”

“S-Self-defense…” Wind Rider took a breath. “I famous race car driver, angry girl seeking revenge, my injured daughter…the story writes itself!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.”

Rainbow Dash and Wind Rider gasped in horror, Lightning Dust was standing up on her broken legs. However, her legs began to crack and snap back into place, along with her arms. Lightning Dust’s neck popped and cracked as it realigned itself. The once injured girl smiled sadistically as her gaze fell on her father.

“Rainbow, you should sit down,” said Lightning.

“L-Lightning…you’re alright?!” Rainbow gasped.

“Lightning?! Oh thank god! How did…no, it doesn’t matter, this is great!” Wind Rider exclaimed.

Lightning’s eyes shifted, turning into “X” shaped pupils as the color changed to silver. “Do you think so?”

A silver aura overtook Lightning’s body, her skin began to slide off and turn to ash, underneath her silver feathers showed, her hair turned silver instead of its goldenrod color. After a few seconds, Lightning Dust was no longer in a human form, she was the monster, the Harpy.

“Finally, thank you for that ‘Daddy’, I needed you to push little Dusty just far enough to let me take control! This was just perfect!” Harpy exclaimed with glee.

Wind Rider shook his head as his mind failed to process what he just saw. “I don’t…I don’t understand this! Where is Lightning! What did you do with her?!”

Harpy chuckled. “Oh, she’s here.” Harpy pointed her talon at her chest. “She’s very pissed at you right now. Quite frankly, I’m starting to wonder if I picked the wrong the host, but she’s physically strong so that’s the upside.”

Rainbow Dash fell to the floor on her rear, her legs no longer working as she beheld the sight of this monster. Somehow, despite seeing Sunset’s demon form, and the Sirens’ avatars, this was by far the scariest thing Rainbow Dash had ever seen. As embarrassed as she was to admit, Rainbow was on the verge of wetting herself.

“Now, how am I going to play with you? ‘Daddy’?”

Sunset was riding in the front seat of Shining Armor’s car, she had borrowed a couple of loose fitting clothing from the closet, some sweat pants and large t-shirt, still going commando as she didn’t feel like inconveniencing Cadence. After having spent a couple of more hours answering some more questions Shining Armor had decided to take Sunset back to her place. Thankfully, she managed to convince the detective that she wasn’t behind the murders, but that made him no less suspicious about her. Given that she just confessed to being a being from another dimension, it was understandable.

“You still haven’t said anything about my offer,” said Sunset.

“I said I’d help out with Anon-A-Miss,” Shining Armor replied.

“That’s not it, I mean, about me helping you! You know and I know that the Witchblade is the only thing that’s able to hurt these things, kill them even!” Sunset huffed as she looked outside. “Besides, you know I’ll just get involved anyway, might as well coordinate.”

Shining Armor sighed, knowing full well that this girl just might do that. “Look…I don’t doubt that you can, but you’re still a kid.”

“Legally, I’m an adult, and before I came here, I was well within my early twenties, so, I’m mentally, and physically, an adult,” Sunset countered.

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow at that. “Yeah, well, physically, you’re eighteen, and yes legally an adult. But you’re still in school, and honestly that’s all you should be worried about. Is it possible you can transfer that thing to me or someone else?”

}}} That is most assuredly not happening. {{{

“Yeah, he says that’s not happening,” said Sunset.

“Of course it did.”

{All units, we’ve got a disturbance at the residence of 1205 Hoofington Ave. Possible 303.}

Sunset watched as Shining Armor’s brow furrowed, his expression becoming deathly serious. “Hey, what’s a code 303?”

“Mystery Murders related. It’s a new code that we developed whenever there’s a possibility that this it’s connected,” said Shining as he reached for the radio. “This is Detective Shining Armor, what’s the situation?!”

{Unsure at this time. Received a call at around 20:03, at first it was believed to be a prank call, but the operator could hear talking and then an unusual voice. The phone is still active and we’re recording as we speak, we don’t know the status but SWAT is en route.}

Sunset looked to Shining Armor. “They’re not going to be able to help them!”

Shining Armor glanced at Sunset, seeing the determined look on her face. Part of Shining Armor told him to not get a kid involved, while the other half was telling him that there was no other choice, and the latter was winning out.

“Dispatch, I’m en route, let me scout out the situation first, tell the SWAT team to hang back until I can assess,” said Shining.

{Copy that, proceed with extreme caution.}

Shining Armor took out the police light, rolled down his window, and placed it on the roof of his car. “Hang on.”

The engine revved loudly as the siren blared in all directions. Sunset held on for dear life as Shining Armor sped through several stop lights and weaved around traffic when they weren’t getting out of the way fast enough. Thankfully they were close, so it did not take long before the duo made it to the residence, Shining Armor shut off the siren and light about halfway down the road, approaching the house slowly. He quickly opened up the dashboard computer, entering the address and getting some info on who might be inside.

“Okay, Wind Rider, father, a retired race car driver. One child, Lightning Dust,” Shining Armor read.

Sunset looked back at the house. “Wait, this is Lightning Dust’s house?!”

“You know her?”

“She was the one who nearly killed me yesterday…but the hell’s…” Sunset glanced to the car parked in front of the house, and when she did, her eyes widened. “No…oh shit!”

“What? What’s wrong?!” Shining asked.

“That car, that’s my…one of my friends’ cars! Rainbow Dash’s in there!” Sunset exclaimed.

Shining Armor got out of the car and made his way to the trunk. He took off his coat and immediately strapped on a bulletproof vest, and took out the shotgun, loading rounds into it while putting a few more into the rack that was mounted in its side.

Sunset got out of the car, the Witchblade’s gemstone gave a low glow in the dark of the night. “We need to get in there!”

“Follow up behind me,” said Shining Armor.

The duo quietly made their way towards the house, they managed to make it to the front door, listening in as the voices carried.

“Hmm, you used to race. Drive fast cars, you sound pretty proud of that and your legs. Let’s start there shall we?”

“No! Please, wait! AAAAAAHHAHH!!!!”

The sickening sound of bones breaking and snapping like twigs reached their ears and nearly made them retch.

“Lightning stop! I know he’s fucking nuts, but you can’t do this! Don’t let him make you into a monster!”

Rainbow!

“Dashie, you don’t have to be afraid. Just enjoy the show, this old fucker was going to put all the blame on you for nearly killing me. And once I’m done with him, we can continue where we left off.”

Sunset growled as she tightened her fists. “That’s it, I’m going in!”

“Wait!”

Sunset ran into the front yard, aiming herself right where the living room would be. The heat rose in her body as her eyes shined with turquoise light in the night along with the Witchblade. In a matter of seconds, the armor reacted, exploding outwards as it began tearing through her clothes and replacing them with its own armor. Sunset dashed towards the wall, cocked back her right fist, and punched the wall. The blow blasted a hole about five feet wide six feet high. Dust rose in the air as Sunset stood there, her fist still extended as the faint light of night silhouetted her form. At the front door, two shots were fired, blowing the doorknob off, Shining Armor kicked the door down and ran inside. Once inside, he cocked the gun and aimed it at the creature.

Harpy had Wind Rider in its clutches, holding him by the throat with her left claw. While her right claw was covered in blood, with Wind Rider’s torn leg still grasped in it. Blood dripped down to the floor from the two severed limbs as Wind Rider thrashed about, trying to get free.

Sunset glanced to her left and saw Rainbow Dash, fear evident in her eyes as she looked from Harpy to Sunset, as if trying to assess if she was in even more danger than before.

“Keep her safe,” said Sunset.

Shining Armor nodded and slowly moved to Rainbow Dash. “Miss Dash, I’m Detective Armor, everything’s going to be alright.”

Harpy chuckled at that. “Oh, Officer, haven’t seen you since last night.” Her eyes fell on Sunset and she scowled. “I could’ve done without seeing you again, Witchblade! What, getting your ass kicked once wasn’t enough?”

“One: I was mopping the streets with your ass. Two: I’m going to finish what I started!”

Sunset dashed towards Harpy. The monster released her captive as she was swiftly tackled straight through the drywall and into the study. The creature screeched in anger as she attacked Sunset with her talons. Sunset’s right forearm armor morphed until it formed a round shield, allowing Harpy’s talons to bounce harmlessly off it.

Harpy swiped again, but Sunset jumped back, but cursing when her back slammed against a bookshelf. The creature came in again with another talon strike, Sunset ducked as the talons ripped through the wood and books, turning the tomes into confetti and splintering wood. Sunset rushed forward and shield bashed Harpy in the front, sending her flying to the other side of the room.

Sunset concentrated, and into her left hand the Witchblade formed shuriken throwing star. The monster slayer tossed the weapon with deadly accuracy, but Harpy managed to dodge it at the last second. The projectile stuck itself in the wall behind her, only to dissolve a few seconds after. Sunset tossed a few more as she got closer, making Harpy concentrate on dodging. The warrior woman jumped, spun once in the air, and delivered a powerful spinning heel kick to Harpy’s chest, busting through the wall and throwing this fight into the next room.

Harpy was sprawled onto the floor of the kitchen as Sunset approached her, but the second she was close, Harpy rose up and stabbed her talons into Sunset’s left thigh. Crimson blood flowed from the wound and made Sunset grunt in pain. Harpy removed her talons and then stabbed Sunset in her stomach, making her cough up blood. Harpy used the leverage to then toss Sunset right onto large island countertop. Sunset grabbed ahold of that same arm and willed spikes to jut out.

In less than a second, silver spikes protruded from Harpy’s arm, making her screech in pain. Sunset dislodged the talons, brought Harpy closer, and then kneed her in the face. The avian monster backed away, clutching at her face as Sunset rolled off the counter and charged for her again, this time striking with an uppercut that sent the monster straight up through the ceiling and into the upstairs.

Meanwhile, Shining Armor, with Rainbow’s help, managed to drag Wind Rider out of the house and onto the lawn. “There’s a some tubing in the trunk of my car!” Rainbow announced.

“Great, I need a tourniquet, get it!”

Rainbow Dash ran over to her car, popping the trunk as she frantically searched amongst her various sporting equipment. She couldn’t believe she was doing this, after what Wind Rider did to her and to Lightning, he deserved to bleed to death. But then, she would be worse than him, and a dead man can’t pay for his crimes. The sounds of battle echoed in the night, waking many of the neighbors as the police Sirens wailed in the distance.

Rainbow found the tubing and hurried back to Shining Armor, she slid as she approached them, kicking up the snow as Shining Armor went to work tying off the severed part of Wind Rider’s leg.

“My leg…My leg…oh god, she ripped off my leg!” Wind Rider wailed.

“You’re lucky that’s all she took off!” Rainbow shouted in anger.

Two loud crashes drew everyone’s attention as two figures flew up into the air. The battle continued, with Harpy having several gashes and stabs wounds that bled out, her healing factor wasn’t working as well against the otherworldly powers of the Witchblade’s armaments.

“Give it up, Lightning Dust! This doesn’t have to end badly!” Sunset warned.

“The only…The only one who’s going to have a bad end…IS YOU!!!”

Harpy inhaled deeply, feeling that same power well up in her chest and move its way into her throat. In the next moment, Harpy released her super sonic screech, the column of distorted air moved right towards Sunset, but she didn’t move. The Witchblade’s gemstone began to glow a bright scarlet as it went to work.

The gaps in the armor had been covered with more armor, the chest plate sported one blue jewel at the center of her chest, and a second, yellow gemstone right over her navel. A helmet formed over Sunset’s head, creating two curved horns from the forehead, and also allowed for her metallic hair to flow out. The helmet’s eyes were turquoise crystals that glowed with the same intensity as Sunset’s eyes. The Witchblade had learned from their previous engagement, and was damned if it was going to be bested twice by the same creature.

The sonic blast struck Sunset, she felt a dull thud against her body, but nothing else. Her helmet filtered out the screech, allowing none of the flesh tearing, minding destroying sound to affect her. Harpy stopped her attack, out of energy and out of breath as she huffed from the effort of the attack, only now noticing Sunset’s armor had changed.

“W-What?! How did–?!”

“Yeah, my armor is a bit of a sore loser, so it found a way to adapt and counter your little surprise attack!”

Sunset flew for Harpy, striking her across the face with a right punch, she spun in place and kicked Harpy up higher into the air. The slayer flew after Harpy, zooming passed her and hovering over her, a broadsword formed in her right hand as Sunset dove down with great haste and stabbed Harpy right through her gut. The monster screeched in pain as the two of them plummeted straight down.

Everyone watched as the monster and armored woman descended at a rapid pace, and smashed straight through the roof of Lightning’s house and ended up right back in the living room.

Rainbow Dash felt worry about seeing all of this and ran towards the hole in the wall. Shining Armor called out to her, but then gave chase. Both of them walked through the hole and once the dust settled, saw Witchblade standing over the body of Harpy.

Surprisingly, the creature was still alive. But was in very bad shape from the looks of it. Sunset reformed the broadsword and pointed in Harpy’s face. “Any last words?”

“……” Harpy closed her eyes.

Sunset raised the sword and prepared to administer the killing stroke.

“STOP!” Rainbow yelled.

Sunset did, but then watched as Rainbow Dash ran towards them and put herself between Witchblade and Harpy.

“Miss, get away from them!” Shining Armor ordered.

“You don’t understand! Lightning’s…Lightning Dust isn’t a monster! I don’t know what’s going on, but this isn’t right, you can’t just kill her!” Rainbow pleaded.

Sunset lowered the weapon, but still kept it formed. “She’s like the monster I killed last week. The one that went after a girl in her own home. She’s dangerous.”

“Look, I don’t know who you are! But, my friends and I… we have magic powers too! If I can get them together, we can fix her,” said Rainbow Dash.

Sunset’s eyes narrowed. “I find that hard to believe. Can you assure me that your friends – all of them – can come together and heal her?”

Rainbow opened her mouth to rebut that, but her argument died before it could make it past her lips. The truth was, there was no guarantee. Right now there seemed to be a divide amongst them, and even Rainbow Dash wasn’t stupid enough to discount that Sunset’s presence might just be needed if they were going to effectively save Lighting. However, she wasn’t ready to give up.

Rainbow Dash turned around looked down at her transformed former friend. “Lightning, please, if there’s any part of you that’s in there, please, fight this thing!”

Harpy chuckled darkly. “Forget it girl…she’s mine. She gave into her hatred, and now I can – W-What’s happening?!” Harpy began to convulse. “What are you doing?! I’m not a monster! I don’t want this! I never wanted to kill! UGH! Don’t be stupid! Force me out and you’ll die with all these injuries!”

Rainbow Dash took a few steps back, with Sunset placing herself between them. Shining Armor kept his weapon trained on the monster, watching as the creature began to spasm and grab its head as if it had a splitting headache.

“STOP! You’ll die! I swear you’ll die! So long as you’re gone! Then FINE! GET! OUT! OF! ME!!!!”

Lightning Dust screamed loud enough that the whole neighborhood heard. Her body went still as she fell forward onto the floor. Her body began to glow, changing back into the original form of Lightning Dust.

The Witchblade armor retracted the additional plating, allowing Sunset to fully view what was happening. Something strange began to happen, the silver aura rose up from her body, going higher and higher. The aura then shifted, transforming into a monster, its body was ethereal, but had a muscular human upper body, and a hooved creature’s lower body. It’s head was that of a deer’s skull, or it was wearing deer’s skull, it was hard to tell. The creature released a terrible wailing sound as it began to move about.

}}} Do not let it escape! {{{

How?! It’s a ghost or spirit or something!

}}} Not even spirits can elude me! Trust in me! {{{

Sunset hadn’t had reason to distrust the Witchblade, there was no reason to start now. Sunset willed her armor to form chains, she pointed her left hand towards the spirit and fired the chains towards the demonic spirit. The chains moved like snakes, wrapping around the spirit. The demonic spirit didn’t fear the chains as they surrounded him, knowing that no mortal weapon could capture it. The spirit was introduced to a rude awakening as the chains went taut and completely wrapped around it.

“W-What sorcery is this?!”

“Wow, apparently I can capture ghosts too,” said Sunset, genuinely surprised.

“Because why not,” Shining Armor added.

“At least now I can get some answers. Keep this in mind, spirit, if I can capture you, I’m pretty sure that means I can harm you. Now, tell me, what are you?!”

The spirit, for the first time in its existence, felt fear. This being had the power to bind him, and that also meant she could destroy him, there would be no coming back, Oblivion would come.

“NO PLEASE, I’LL TELL YOU! I am…I am Wendigo!”

Sunset’s eyes widened upon hearing that name. It wasn’t possible, Wendigos were nothing but a myth, a boogey monster from the tales of Hearths Warming Eve, a metaphor to teach foals that hate and division make for a cold heart. They weren’t supposed to be real, not in Equestria, and certainly not on this human world.

Sunset tightened the chains as her eyes glowed with fury. “You’re lying, you can’t be a Wendigo!”

“AAAH! I speak the truth! My kind have existed since the beginning! We are spirits that feed on hate!”

A thought entered Sunset’s mind. If this world was a parallel version of Equestria, then it was safe to assume that maybe, just maybe, the Wendigos existed on this side as well. What was a tale in her world, may be reality in this one.

“Why are you here?!”

“Long ago…this world used to be filled with magic, and much turmoil. We fed on the hate, and through it, we would possess the humans and take form here! We were to stop at nothing to make this world our own, to turn it into a wasteland of frozen hate! But…the humans and other creatures banded together and imprisoned us. And over time…the magic faded, making it impossible for us to break free. Until…”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Until?”

“A great surge of power echoed throughout the world, magic was reawakened and we felt it! That surge allowed us to free ourselves! But we were weak, and came here to where the magic first surged!”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes began to widen, Witchblade – Sunset – was also starting to make the connection. A powerful surge in magical energy, and it originated here in Canterlot City. The only magical surge that had happened was when Sunset Shimmer activated the Element of Magic.

Sunset’s body felt numb, once again, her actions had brought harm to others, in the worst way possible. “How…How many of you are there…?!”

“Many…! You humans haven’t changed in the numerous millennia that have passed! Still coveting, lusting, and hating each other, I’d say it’s even worse than when we were imprisoned! We will get our full strength back, and this city will be our breeding ground! You have not the power to stop ALL of us!” the Wendigo taunted.

Sunset gritted her teeth as anger welled up inside her. The chains suddenly grew blades, piercing the Wendigo spirit and making it howl in pain. It began pleading, but Sunset had long since ignored its cries. With a tug of her left hand, the chains ripped through the Wendigo, tearing it apart as its remains evaporated into the nothingness of Oblivion.

After that heavy revelation, Rainbow Dash hurried to Lightning’s side, there was blood seeping out of her, making Rainbow Dash grow more worried by the second. “Lightning, can you hear me?! LIGHTNING?!”

The turquoise girl slowly opened her eyes. “Hey…Dash…I’m messed up…real bad…”

“Save your strength, I’ll go it an ambulance!”

“She won’t need one.”

Rainbow Dash gasped when she saw Witchblade kneel before Lightning Dust. The armored heroine placed her right hand on Lightning’s back, and immediately after, the ruby gemstone began to glow. Waves of red light flowed over Lightning’s body, the wounds that were caused from their battle were quickly mending themselves. Lightning took in a deep breath, being able to breathe easier now.

When she was done, Sunset stood back up and said, “She’ll be alright.” She then walked over to Shining Armor and asked, “Promise me you’ll do what you can for her?”

Shining Armor sighed heavily. “I’ll do whatever I can, this isn’t going to be easy to report.”

Sunset nodded, her back created the metallic wings, and thanks to the hole in the roof, Sunset was able to take off without needing to smash through it. The flame haired girl soared through the sky, quickly covering miles of distance in just a few seconds.

She spotted her neighborhood and descended quickly to the stoop of her front door. The Witchblade glowed and produced her keys, to which Sunset used to open the door and close it behind her. Once inside, the armor retracted back into bracelet form.

Sunset trudged towards the stairs and ascended them to her bed. Ray chirped happily at his master’s return, but then his expression became solemn when he saw the look on her face. The former unicorn mare sat at the edge of her bed, and once she did, she buried her face in her hands and cried.

Author's Notes:

Case Closed