Barging out of the doors of the school, the seven girls charged forward, looking around in all directions. They'd had enough experience with villains by this point to know that they had to get onto the scene as quickly as possible, and once there, standing right at the front of the building, they stopped, backs to one another, ready for a fight. But no fight came, at least at first. Though they knew the three inside had been terrified, so far there was no sign of what might have spooked them. "So...anyone else see anything?" Rainbow asked.

"Nothing this way," Pinkie replied.

"Same here," Fluttershy added.

Sunset's eyes narrowed. "Keep on-guard all the same. You never know when..."

But she was stopped, for right then there was a sound. A screeching, ungodly sound the likes of which the girls had never encountered before. But while it was unknown, the direction was not, and they turned in unison towards the school. Specifically, they looked up, to the roof of the place, and all together their eyes widened with disbelief and horror, with Twilight clasping her hands over her mouth. "Wha...what is that?!"

There, standing atop their school, was a creature totally alien to their eyes. It seemed at first glance to be a giant wasp, large enough to rival the size of a truck at least. But where it starkly differed was its head. That was not the head of an insect, but a fish. What seemed to be an anglerfish to be precise, with fins at the side like grotesque ears, and bright red scales going all the way down its back. Its mouth was opened, and vicious fans dripped with saliva as it leered hungrily at the girls. Rainbow, her head snapping at Sunset, looking just as terrified as the rest. "Okay...we're all seeing this, right?!"

"I've...I've never seen anything like that!" Sunset remarked.

She had little time to comment further, as the bizarre creature bellowed out another screech, causing the girls to wince at the sound of it, before flapping its wings and launching itself high into the air. All eyes were on it, and the girls immediately backed away just in time to have it land with a great thud onto the ground. Many of the other students of the school were gathering at the various windows to see the fight, and all of them knew that this was no cake-walk. Applejack, looking to the utter beastliness of their opponent, frowned before looking over to Sunset. "Ah don' think we got time fer peace talks or doin' things piecemeal today!"

Sunset nodded firmly, looking over to the rest of her friends, all of whom seemed to be on the same page, as they all began to touch their variously-placed magical pendants. Within moments, bright flashes of light had engulfed them all, and they had assumed the colourful outfits of their more heroic personas. The beast screeched again, charging forward, and it was here that the girls came together, holding hands and, with their often-used sense of unity and camaraderie, activated their magic. Their light grew and grew, and at its climax it shot out the enormous rainbow blast they were so known for. The creature halted, seeing it come for it, but rather than try to dodge it simply stood there, taking it straight to the face. With the full force of the spell, the area was engulfed in a cloud of dust, and the girls let go of one another to look ahead to what they all felt they knew they were going to see. "Well now, let's see what misguided ruffian we're dealing with this time!" Rarity commented.

But something was wrong, and Sunset knew it, as her eyes narrowed to try and peer through the dust. All of their past experience had taught them of what they were going to see here. Some young boy or girl, about their age, emerging from this after having exposed themselves to some ancient Equestrian artefact, or a stray piece of magic. But there was no human figure in that dust, but instead something larger. Something more animalistic. Sunset's eyes snapped open wide, and she ran forward, grabbing Rarity by the wrist and hauling her to one side. "Get down!"

Her instincts had been right on the money, for their enemy leapt out from the dust cloud, exactly as it was before. No change, no reversion to an ordinary human, it was completely unfazed by their attack, much to Fluttershy's dismay. "You mean...that's what it really looks like?!"

After helping Rarity to her feet, Sunset looked over to her animal-loving friend. "It looks like it!"

The creature, as if it felt it was being challenged, began to twitch and convulse where it stood, causing all the girls to step back warily. Then, to further add to their confusion over this whole mess, it began to change shape right before their eyes. It was as if it was, in the blink of an eye, turning inside out and twisting itself in a dozen different ways, and when it was finished it stood taller as a bipedal, though no less disturbing, enemy. The stinger, which had been on its rear as befitting of a wasp-like animal, was now upon its right arm, as though it were a weapon. Turning, the monstrosity narrowed in on Fluttershy, perhaps recognising her as being the least action-oriented at the group, and so pointed that aforementioned stinger at her. The girl froze in terror on the spot, and Rarity, perhaps to try and make up for her earlier near-miss, leapt out to stand in front of her. The creature fired some sort of green goo from its stinger-arm, but Rarity had thankfully erected her diamond shields, preventing the substance from reaching them. What stray drops of the stuff hit the ground soon proved their nature, as they ate through the concreted of the sidewalk with vicious acidity. "Well...that was a close one," Rarity commented.

"Never mind that!" Applejack yelled to her. "Just get out o' here!" She looked over to her fellow athlete, nodding firmly. "Rainbow an' ah will take care o' this oversized critter!"

Rainbow nodded back, and with a blur of motion she used her own power. Zipping forwards with a speed that rendered her almost invisible to the naked eye, Rainbow pounded the beast with hundreds, if not thousands of punches wherever she could reach. But after almost a solid minute, at least from the perspective of her friends, she stopped, panting furiously. "There's...there's no soft spot on this guy! It's like I'm punching pure metal!"

Hearing that, Applejack frowned deeply at their enemy. "Oh yeah? Then let's see how it takes mah punches!" With an almighty leap, Applejack yelled at the top of her lungs while balling her hand into a fist, striking the creature on the side of its leg. But while her magically-enhanced strength did indeed cause it to wobble, it took only a moment for it to reorient itself, looking down to the blonde girl with very clear annoyance. As with Fluttershy, it raised its weapon, causing panic in its attacker. "Oh...shoot!"

But then, from out of nowhere, something struck the beast on the side of its head, causing it to actually yelp in pain. Sunset could've sworn that it was a magical bolt of some kind, an assumption helped when it was hit again and again by similar-looking blue shots. She turned, as did everyone else, and they looked on with surprise to find none other than Sari, standing a way away from them, hand outstretched, with a look of confidence upon her face,. "Hey there, ugly! May I have this dance?"

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