"So, how's the tour going?" Twilight asked with interest.

Sunset, after taking a first bite out of her sandwich, looked to her friend with a smile. "It's going well. Usually the people I show around aren't all that interested, but Sari's pretty curious about it all. CHS's history, all that stuff."

Rainbow, who herself had just arrived at their shared lunch table, gave a quick chuckle. "Well, can you blame her? We're kind of an awesome school these days."

Pinkie giggled to her. "You're not wrong there, Dashie. Especially since the annual baking contest is coming up in the dessert club in a week."

"Ooh, are you trying anything new this year, Pinkie?" Fluttershy asked.

"Meh, figured I'd go for the Friendship Games winner," Pinkie replied.

Rarity arched an eyebrow to her. "The Mona Lisa special, I presume?"

"The one and only!" Pinkie answered with a grin.

Shaking her head to that, Applejack again looked to Sunset. "Ah ain't met nobody from Detroit before, Sunset. What's this Sari girl say about it?"

Sunset sat silently for a tad before responding. "Yeah, she kinda doesn't want to talk about her home life. She was way more interested in our town. You wouldn't believe all the questions she kept asking."

Hearing that, Twilight adjusted her glasses. "If I remember right, the last time anyone had that many questions to ask about the area was me when I first arrived here."

Sunset nodded solemnly. "I thought so too. But there doesn't seem to be anything suspicious about her. I have a feeling for magic and just bad mojo, Twilight. And I'm getting none of that from her."

The spectacled girl breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good. Last we need is another magical evildoer coming along."

Rainbow frowned to her. "Speak for yourself, Twi. I've been going stir-crazy in the last few months! We haven't had any action anywhere aside from maybe a few shoplifters here and there."

Rarity, having twiddled with her phone for a few moments, looked to Rainbow with some measure of disapproval. "Well, I, for one, appreciate the calm we've had. One cannot fight evil forever, Rainbow."

Rainbow looked like she was going to reply to that, only to be stopped when she spotted a new arrival into the cafeteria. "Hey, is that her?"

All of the girls turned, and Sunset, looking over to where Rainbow had been talking about, saw that her friend was right on the money. "Yep, that's Sari alright."

The new girl was looking around, as if trying to find something specific, which Twilight was sure to comment on. "Um...is she meeting up with someone?"

Here, Sunset, gave herself a facepalm. "Shoot! She's probably looking for me! I can't believe I didn't show her to the cafeteria!" Getting up, Sunset waved to Sari, and it was only a moment later when the latter noticed her, smiling and making her way over. Sitting back down, Sunset looked to the other girls. "Hope you don't mind, but I figured it'd be nice to invite her for lunch. Get to know everybody, you know?"

Twilight gave an acknowledging nod. "Sure thing. The more the merrier, right?" All the girls turned as Sari approached their table, with Twilight being the one to pull out a chair for her. "Nice to meet you, Sari."

Their visitor smiled back to her. "And you...um...?"

Twilight giggled slightly before placing a hand upon her own chest. "Twilight Sparkle." She then gestured to the rest of the group. "And this is Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie." All of the girls either nodded or smiled to her in greeting, which Sari was sure to return, after which Twilight gave her full attention to her. "So, how are you liking CHS so far?"

Looking around, Sari answered. "I'd say it's pretty good at the moment. It's nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. Also, everyone's really friendly here."

Pinkie took on an uncharacteristically smug look after that. "Yeah, not to brag, but we're pretty good at friendship over here."

Sari looked to her, then to the rest, before leaning forward slightly. "From what I hear, you girls are pretty much the group to be around. The way I hear tell, everything that's anything around here tends to be about the seven of you."

Sunset blushed slightly. "Well...yeah, kinda."

Rainbow laughed before looking to Sari. "Stick with us, friend. You'll see some pretty great stuff." But, as soon as she'd said that, she noted the other girls giving her wary looks, after which she backtracked immediately. "Er, I mean, you'll see totally normal stuff that definitely isn't out of the ordinary. Yeah, that."

Sunset facepalmed herself, a motion not missed by Sari, who turned to look to her. "You know, I kept hearing some pretty odd stuff about this town before I arrived."

Taking a sip of her drink, Sunset started to share Sari's curiosity. "Oh? Like what?"

Sari raised an eyebrow. "Like some really weird stuff. The kinds of stuff you'd hear about in tabloid newspapers. Lights in the sky, superheroes..." Her eyes narrowed. "Know anything about that?"

Questions like that were definitely red flags for the girls, all of whom shared worried looks. That is, except for Sunset, who kept her gaze fixed squarely on Sari. "Why do you want to know?"

Sari opened her mouth, ready to answer, but before she did, there was a loud banging as the doors of the cafeteria were thrown open by the arrival of three younger girls. Everyone turned to look to them, seeing that it was Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Now, them running through the school was nothing out of the ordinary, but here it was different from normal, as all of them had looks of pure terror upon their faces. Naturally, this concerned their siblings, as well as Rainbow Dash, who all got out of their chairs to meet up with them. "Bloom! What's wrong?!" Applejack asked.

Reaching her sister, Apple Bloom panted heavily, as did the other girls, and it took almost a minute for her to catch her breath before finally getting her words out. "There...there's somethin' out there! Some...some creature!"

There was no lie in her expression, Applejack could tell, and she turned to look at Sunset with sternness. Sunset nodded, understanding, as did the other girls, who all swiftly got out of their chairs and, along with Applejack, rushed towards the exit of the cafeteria. There was lots of excited and fearful murmurs among the rest of the student body, with the exception of Sari, who watched the girls leave intently as she whispered under her breath. "Well...guess things are starting sooner than I expected."

Next Chapter: Attacked! Estimated time remaining: 15 Minutes