Title:           Week1 - GreentextSavant
Author:          AlexanderGrey
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/HD1gzUVE
First Edit:      Thursday 24th of March 2016 11:49:00 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Last edit on: Sunday 1st of May 2016 03:38:24 PM CDT

LISTEN
>It’s always been the rule.
>Lemon Zest has been told time and time again not to wear her headphones in class.
>But she didn’t listen.
>And now here she is, silently nodding her head to the beat as the teacher goes over the most important part of the lesson. Well, it would be completely silent if she hadn’t turned the volume all the way up.
>The teacher calls on the girl, who of course doesn’t hear him.
>”Lemon!” The teacher repeats.
>No response, unsurprisingly.
>Indigo Zap gets up to tap the girl on the shoulder, but Sour Sweet just throws a book at her. The book reaches the girl’s shoulder before Zap’s finger does.
>”Ah!” Zest exclaims out of pure shock.
>”Zesty, please.” Zap says to the girl as the teacher walks up to her.
>”Miss Zest, can you tell me something?” The teacher starts off.
>Zest peers around the room to find the other students staring at her.
>”Uh… yeah.” She responds to the teacher for the first time today.
>”Do you even care about your academics?”
>”…Yeah…”
>The teacher leans down.
>”I honestly don’t think I believe you. Because if you did care about your academics, you wouldn’t be blocking out your lessons with headphones on blasting at full volume. Now give them to me.” The teacher sternly holds his hand out and motions for his student to hand them over.
>Lemon Zest does exactly as she’s told, and the teacher places them on his desk.
>”Will I get them back after class?” Zest asks the teacher. “Please?”
>”After class… I’m turning these over to the Dean’s office.”
>”…”
>”Yes, and you will be free to go retrieve them… on Friday after school.”
>It’s Tuesday.
>”That seems a bit harsh.” Zest tells the teacher.
>”Then maybe you shouldn’t have worn those things in the middle of class. Perhaps you’ll pay attention now that you’re free of distraction. It’s nothing personal, I just wanted to make sure you’re listening to me.”
>”But I…”
>”I take a lot of pride in trying to teach my students new material, and I just love it when my students walk out of here with new knowledge in their heads that they obtained by listening to me teach it to them.”
>Lemon Zest looks down at starts to lock her fingers.
>”Do you not like the way I teach? I’m trying extra hard to make learning fun for you, as I care about my students.”
>”I… I just kinda like music.”
>The teacher pauses for a couple of seconds, as though he held back an offended gasp.
>”Miss Zest, you can’t honestly choose music that you can listen to any time over your education. Do you not understand how important your education is?”
>”Yeah… I think…” The girl is just so spaced out.
>”There’s something you need to understand, Miss Zest.” The teacher sits down in the empty desk next to Lemon. “You’re young, and free to explore all of the topics you want in school. We live in a society in which you have the freedom to learn things that people in other places in the world can hardly dream of.”
>The teacher’s tone is very serious now.
>”But, when am I going to need this?” Lemon Zest asks, now beginning to feel a swell of guilt erupt from within her.
>”Oh, don’t give me that whole regurgitated ‘why am I learning this if I’m never going to use it in real life’ argument. That’s flawed logic, Miss Zest. And I hate to have to be the one to tell you that.”
>”What do you mean?”
>”One day, you’re most likely going to have to get a job to work for money. That’s the most probable outcome in today’s society. And in order to have a job, you need to be smart and have skills under your belt. And guess where you get that?”
>”School?” Zest says the obvious answer.
>”That’s right. School. But that’s barely half of it. Out there in the world, finding a job can be tough. Especially if there are other people out there who are more qualified than you are. You catch my drift?”
>Zest nods slightly.
>”This is why you gain all the knowledge and skills you can in school. You don’t know what you’re going to actually do in the real world. Sure, you can choose whatever you want to major in when you go to college. But simply wanting it enough to major in it isn’t enough.”
>All of the students look at the teacher with wide eyes. Some start to smile, others start o look down and pretend that they cannot hear what he’s saying.
>”You’re not psychic. You can’t predict what you’re gonna need in the future. I know you think you know what you’ll need now, but trust me, you really don’t. I know it’s hard to hear, as the truth is often like that.”
>The teacher is now going on a full rant, while Lemon Zest just sits in her desk and frequently glances at the clock. Planning how she’s going to sneak the headphones back into her possession.
>”Now, I love teaching. That’s why I chose to have this job. I have a deep passion for it. And that’s a LOT more than most teachers these days can say.”
>Zest just nods, having already ended her attention span regarding this teacher’s rant.
>”But it just breaks my heart when you completely ignore me following my dream of being a good teacher and shut me out with those headphones. Because, you’re unwittingly destroying your own dreams by doing do. For example, how many happy adults do you see walking around in your everyday life? This can go for the rest of you too, students. Think about it.”
>”I haven’t seen any at all.” Sugarcoat looks directly at the teacher with an implying glance.
>”The point is, I love to watch students learn. And I love to help you expand your world through knowledge. Because most adults today did not take school seriously. Not even the ones who just did the work for the grades.”
>”Wh-what?” Lemon is now just stalling until the bell in five minutes.
>”Memorizing the material solely for the test isn’t enough to truly learn something. It only makes society think you learnt something. Then, once you’re sent out in to the real world, you’re going to be in the same boat at people who actually have learned the material. And they will have an advantage over you, because they tried harder. That’s how it works.”
>The teacher stands up, already aware of what time it is.
>”Those who do what you won’t today, will do what you can’t do tomorrow, and will have what you can’t have the day after that.”
>And just like that, the bell rings. This five minutes was short for a change.
>In a flash, Lemon Zest bolts up from her seat. The teacher had not noticed her slowly pack her things when he was ranting.
>She swipes the headphones from his desk before he can stop her and races out the door before any of the students.
>The girl turns them back on.
>Plays one of her favorite songs.
>https://youtu.be/c8qrwON1-zE?t=7m31s
>Metallica - Orion. The song resumes from before right as the ending riff starts playing. Lemon Zest does a victory stride down the hallway to lunch.
>The teacher watches her from the classroom door, making no pursuit. He sighs as the rest of the students leave the classroom.
>”You spoke well, but you are terrible at asserting dominance.” Sugarcoat tell the teacher as she is the last one out. “Oh, and I can tell you’re not actually happy with your life. I can see it in your eyes.”
>She leaves to attend her next class.
>This is where the story begins, where the teacher learns how to truly reach out to someone and make them listen.
>…
 
FriENDship
>On the first day, everything felt as though it were normal.
>No noises, no bright flashing lights… it was all undetectable. The world unaware.
>How tragic that it couldn’t at least stay that way. That if the world were to end, it would have at least done so relatively peacefully. There would be no pain… no suffering.
>No… fire.
>When Canterlot High let the students out at the end of the day, there were smiles on people’s faces everywhere one could look.
>But smiles fade as time goes on, no matter what.
>Twilight heads back to the library… and her smile slowly goes flat as she focuses on her book. Rainbow Dash has a lot of fun out on the soccer fields. She achieves a perfect game and wins a flawless victory.
>But when she goes home and lies down on the couch, her smile turns back into a blank face as she lazily watches TV until she falls asleep.
>The same can be said for everyone. The rest of the mane six, the rest of the kids at school ,the teachers, the other residents of the town, the state, the country and the world. The smiles don’t last forever, and on this day, they really should have lasted as long as they could have.
>Today was the last day they ever had a reason to smile. And yet, they did not know to live this day to the fullest.
>At least they had the privilege of ending their times of happiness on their own terms.
>The night falls upon the town soon enough… and most of the people go to sleep.
>In their beds they unsuspectingly rest, some after partying.
>The mane six in particular are actually planning on going to a party together tomorrow to enjoy their weekend. Most Fridays turn out this way.
>They were all going to meet up there and spend the evening together.
>A perfect Saturday evening.
>…
>Things begin to happen overnight. Distant wailing and humming all around the different places in the world.
>Those who are awake think about recording it somehow, and barely any of them truly believe that it means anything.
>It’s a little bit creepy at first, but the general public, where it’s daylight at the moment, don’t seem to take any sort of notice of it. They have no idea what’s about to happen. And no one will ever have any idea why.
>Canterlot’s side of the world is soon brought back to light as the morning arrives. Applejack is the first to wake up, tending to her farm animals.
>Always bright and early for her responsibilities.
>But there is a drastic change in the environment as Applejack approaches her family’s barn. A loud commotion catches her ears, prompting the girl to grab a nearby pitchfork and assume something is wrong.
>She enters the barn, only to find the horses and cows and everything else within in a collective state of panic and chaos. All of them.
>It’s as though something made them all lose their minds at the same time.
>Applejack first assumes that it was just a storm last night or something, and the animals are still worked up.
>But the ground wasn’t wet when she walked over here, there were no predicted storms for the previous night, and if there was a storm bad enough to keep the animals in a fuss for this long, then Applejack and her family would have surely woken up from it.
>There’s no way that adds up. They sense something.
>Applejack’s next guess is that there is an intruder hiding somewhere in the barn, keeping her mind in the realm of realistic possibilities. She checks every corner, every crevice and gap between the wooden posts. Every single place a person could have hid, no matter how big or small.
>First, Applejack finds that nothing is missing from the barn. Second, she finds that there are so signs of a break in, no other humans in there but her, and the animals STILL freaking out as though whatever is provoking them is still present.
>This is where the first worry of a burglar dissipates, but an ever worse worry sets in.
>What on earth is it that these animals are sensing?
>Is something about to happen?
>…
>After the sun has been hovering over the horizon for a while, Twilight wake up next. Her smile from yesterday still somewhere else.
>She showers, gets dressed and prepares for the day ahead of her after eating breakfast.
>After she knows that more of her friends are up, about noon or so, Twilight begins to text some of them and ask when they are going to be arriving at Pinkie Pie’s house where the party is taking place.
>Twilight texts Rarity first.
>[You up? When are you gonna be at the party?]
>A response doesn’t come in until over twenty minutes later.
>[Sorry, I was in the middle of doing my hair. I saw your text as soon as it came in, and I’ll be there by 5, is that good?]
>[Yup. That sounds great.]
>Twilight texts some of the others, except for Rainbow Dash, since that girl usually sleeps until the late afternoon. Might as well not disturb her.
>Applejack doesn’t respond for some reason, but everyone else agrees to meet at the party by 5 PM. It’s 1:30 right now.
>A few messages to let Applejack know that the party is officially going to start at 5. Pinkie Pie Pinkie Promises to make sure that Applejack is there on time and doesn’t miss out.
>Twilight then heads over to the living room and flips on the TV. She surfs the channels for anything good that might b e on. But she stops right in her tracks as she almost skips past the news.
>The headline: Strange Noises Heard All Over Earth.
>She looks at the screen, and finds shots of different areas of the world with people gathered in large crowds all in one spot.
>After taking a few close looks at the news reports and listening in for a bit, Twilight can’t help but start to feel concerned about all of the things that are simultaneously happening all over the world.
>But Twilight doesn’t let the occurrences bring down her mood; this surely should pass, given that it’s just some stuff she’s seeing on the news.
>She spends the next couple of hours reading a book, thinking about all of the good times she’s going to spend with her friends. Everything appears to be going alright so far, nothing too out of the ordinary happening today other than what Twilight saw on the news.
>4:45 eventually rolls around, and Twilight gets her things ready for the big night. But she gets a text from Rainbow Dash right before she leaves the door.
>[Twilight, you gotta come quick! There’s something happening in town!]
>[What’s happening?]
>Before a response can come in, Twilight can hear a low whining noise coming from outside. It sounds almost like a broken fighter jet, if that’s even a thing. It’s the best was she can describe it in her head.
>Twilight steps out the front door and peers up at the sky. She sees nothing.
>A new response from Rainbow Dash is coming in. [You’re not going to believe this! It’s a legit zombie apocalypse!]
>[WHAT?]
>[Meet me at the school! The other girls are apparently going there now!]
>Twilight goes to her car right away and pulls out of the driveway. She doesn’t waste a second, already fearing for fer friends in every way.
>As she makes it to the town where more people usually are, she begins to make more and more frightening discoveries.
>Car accidents, everywhere.
>So many different vehicles either pulled over to the side of the road or just flipped over in the center with a plume of flames erupting from the bottom. The very sight brings tears of terror to Twilight eyes.
>”Wh-what the…” The girl can barely steer straight.
>She’s shaking violently in her seat. The sharp sound of her phone vibrating catches her off guard, and she almost ends up like half of the other drivers that dared to go on this road.
>Twilight can hardly take a look at downtown as she drives past it. She only prays that the school will be better.
>And she partially gets what she wanted.
>She sees her friends standing there along with a lot of the other students, but the looks of terror on their faces just won’t stop breaking her heart over and over again.
>”Twilight!” Sunset runs over to the car, almost getting hit before Twilight slams on the breaks. “Twilight, what’s going on?”
>Twilight quickly steps out of the car, hardly able to stand from the shakiness.
>”I… I don’t know.” Her own answer scares her.
>”I haven’t seen Applejack anywhere!” Rarity brings up. “I’ve tried to text her and she just dropped off the face of the planet.”
>Just at this moment, Rainbow Dash arrives on foot. “We gotta go inside now!” She blares in the most frightening tone Twilight has ever heard out of her.
>”What is it?” Fluttershy asks.
>”No time! We gotta go inside now!”
>”But…” Twilight starts off, but can’t think of anything to say.
>”NOW! DO YOU HEAR ME? NOW!”
>Just across the field in the stadium, everyone in front of the school can suddenly see a bunch of people running in their direction. They’re too far away for anyone to make out any details aside the strange way they are wildly sprinting as though they are covered in bees or something.
>”INSIDE! NOW!” Rainbow Dash is already heading through the doors.
>Fluttershy starts to cry as she follows the now perturbed group of students into the school. Twilight is still feeling some tears reach her eyes from seeing her friends in such a panic.
>This better just be a dream.
>Questions are being frantically asked over eachother.
>What’s going on? Where are the other people I care about? Am I going to die? How long has this been happening? Who else is here? Is this happening everywhere? Are we safe in here?
>So many things to worry about, too little time to think of a way to barricade the front doors.
>”Is everyone okay?” Twilight tries to get some sort of order established, knowing that nobody in the room, not even herself, feels okay.
>Nobody can answer, as they are all interrupted by the loud banging of fists on the glass doors of the entrance to the school. Pinkie Pie screams in horror before running off to elsewhere in the school. Nobody saw Fluttershy escape to wherever she just went.
>”What’s wrong with them?” Twilight cries out in despair as the now close up runners pound away on the glass.
>They are all… covered in blood. And the looks in their eyes don’t even seem anything close to anything resembling human.
>Flash Sentry comes out from around a corner, spotting Twilight in less than a second.
>”Oh my god! Twilight!” He’s noticing the tears in her eyes.
>”Wh… what’s wrong with them?” Twilight repeats, this time breaking down in tears.
>Flash runs up to her as the other students run as far away from the doors as they can. The people on on the outside of the doors try to push their way in, not appearing to realize that they have to pull the doors to open them.
>”Get away from the door!” Principal Celestia suddenly appears in the doorway to her office.
>She steps into the main hallway with a broken-off broomstick. She herself looks extremely afraid of whatever it is that’s going on.
>”We gotta go, Twilight!” Flash insists as he tries to pull the girl to her feet.
>Celestia approaches them.
>”What are you two doing? We have to go now!”
>”WHAT’S GOING ON?!” Twilight screams at the top of her lungs, tears streaming down her face.
>Flash’s shaky hands manage to help her to her feet. The people outside start to viciously grab onto the door handle and start pushing and pulling.
>Once one of the doors swing open, they somehow figure out the mechanisms of the doors and open all of them. Principal Celestia retreats back to her office, and Flash steps in front of Twilight.
>”Stay back!” He shouts to the six or seven people now running straight towards him.
>Twilight, noticing Celestia run into her office while the blood covered people enter the building, instinctively gets to her feet and runs. Flash sees Twilight fleeing and follows her with the people close behind.
>If these people weren’t running so sloppily and unevenly, they would have easily caught up.
>Twilight loudly wails to herself and Flash as the two helplessly run down hallway after hallway looking for an unlocked door. At this point, this is exactly like a nightmare. It would be just as vivid if it weren’t for the tears clouding up Twilight’s eyes.
>One of the classroom doors are open, allowing Twilight and Flash to enter and close the door as quickly as they can. It’s locked in a heartbeat.
>Twilight falls to her knees while hiding her face in her hands.
>The uneven footsteps accompanied by strained grunting momentarily passes by the classroom door. The number of students standing outside the school literally two minutes ago surely outnumbers the number of bloody people by about 20 to around 8.
>Now with apparent newfound knowledge of how doors work, one of the “zombies” tries the locked door handle. Thank goodness for it being locked.
>Twilight knows to hold in her scream, now coming to her senses.
>And now… a whole minute of silence.
>No footsteps, hardly any audible breathing, nothing.
>Flash then suddenly speaks up. “Are… are you okay?”
>”No…”
>After Twilight’s honest answer, Flash doesn’t say anything else for a few more seconds. He strides over to the locked door and peers through the window.
>Nothing in sight.
>”Are they gone?” Twilight feels the corners of her mouth bending down. “Please tell me there’s nothing there…”
>”I don’t see anything. But I’m not sure about around the corner.”
>Just the very sound of that makes Twilight’s skin crawl.
>”Alright, listen.” Flash tells Twilight. “Everything’s going to be alright. I’m just going to go out there really quickly and see if the hallway’s clear.”
>Twilight silently nods in response.
>With that, Flash unlocks the door as quietly as he can and slowly swings it open. Nothing jumps out at him.
>Nothing in the hallway at all.
>He steps out the doorway and turns back to Twilight.
>”I’m going to take a good look down the hallway in both directions. I need you to do something for me.”
>”…” Twilight can’t find the words to respond with.
>”Twilight?”
>”I don’t wanna get up.”
>”Twilight please!” The urgency can easily be heard in Flash’s voice as he tries his hardest to remain calm.
>The girl shuts her eyes and reluctantly rises to her feet. She walks over to flash on shaking legs, wanting nothing less than to follow him out there.
>”Listen. Just wait here with your hands on the door. If I come running back, I’ll be sprinting right back into here. And I need you to shut the door right after I make it back in, alright?” Flash hesitantly lays out his plan through drawn out breathing.
>Once again, Twilight responds with a silent nod.
>Flash steps out of the room and begins to creep deeper into the hallway to his left of the door. He notices a few of the lockers are open, which doesn’t make sense due to today being a Saturday.
>The doors are opening in Flash’s direction, meaning that he has to go to the other side of the doors in order to see into the lockers.
>He carefully approaches the lockers, ready to run at any given split second.
>First locker… nothing in there aside school supplies.
>Twilight anxiously watches Flash from inside the classroom as he goes to check the other two open lockers. He speaks to her without even looking back.
>”Just stay there, Twily. I’ll handle this.” He isn’t careful enough to speak quietly.
>”Shh… don’t let any of them hear you!” Twilight immediately feels the need to remind him for the good of his safety.
>”Don’t worry. I’m the freaking quarterback, it’s not like I can’t run fast.” Flash replies before turning around to face the classroom door. “Besides I don’t see-” He abruptly pauses.
>The stunned look on his face petrifies Twilight.
>”W-w-what?” She stutters as flash widens his eyes further than Twilight has ever seen.
>In the other direction of the door is another locker, this one opening away where the gap can be seen into from Flash’s position.
>And a face peers through that gap.
>Flash has already moved far out enough into the hallway for the person in the locker to be much closer to the door than he is; Flash is about three times as far away.
>And he lets out a bloodcurdling scream as the stalker promptly leaps out of the locker and charges at the boy.
>Flash sprints in the opposite direction, fleeing deeper into the hallways. He turns a corner and spots two more of the bloody people, running in his direction after hearing his cry of terror.
>Twilight had already shut and locked the door after seeing the other “zombie” appear out of nowhere in pursuit of Flash. She’s not taking any chances with opening the door again.
>She retreats to the far corner of the room, letting out screams of horror and curling up into a fetal position.
>Flash’s footsteps, surrounded by pursuing footsteps shuffle around outside in the hall for a few second, with Flash shouting for the zombies to get away.
>They must have had him cornered; Twilight hears him suddenly cry as loudly as he can after the sound of his body being tackled to the floor resounds a few feet from the door.
>He continues loudly writhing in agony as the people covered in blood, the “zombies”, do whatever they’re doing to him. After about fifteen seconds, Twilight can easily tell just what that is.
>She had never heard the sound of flesh being torn apart until this day. This accompanied by desperate guttural sounds from Flash is all Twilight needs to put the pieces together in her head as Flash is torn to pieces in the hall.
>Twilight actually covers her ears before thinking to cover her eyes. Flash dies somewhere during the time Twilight mutes all of the sounds around her.
>She stays in the position for as long as she can.
>…
>Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash frequently texts Twilight’s number from inside the gym. The doors have all been locked.
>”Why isn’t she picking up?” Dash can only imagine the worst as the other students try to calm eachother down.
>Dash sends a few more text messages to Twilight. They each get more and more frantic as the minutes pass, with still no response.
>”Twilight, please pick up!” Dash aggressively mumbles to her phone.
>No response.
>A few staggering footsteps can be heard rushing past the gym doors. Everyone’s attention is caught by this. Rainbow Dash slips her phone back into her pocket and backs away into the center of the gym with everyone else.
>”Stay quiet!” Rarity keeps her voice just barely hearable enough for the other students next to her to make out what she’s saying.
>Everyone begins to shake again.
>The people outside the doors make a few changes in their directions for a minute or two, likely searching.
>It’s a good thing Pinkie Pie chose the gym to use as a hiding place. If she had led most of everyone else to some other random place in the school where there weren’t locks on the doors, they surely would have been overrun.
>”I saw a lot more of them before I got here. They’ve probably flooded the school by now.” Rainbow Dash tells everyone. “There’s definitely too many of them for us to fight off. We just gotta wait this out.”
>”Can’t we hide on top of the bleachers or something?” Suggests Sunset.
>”The hydraulics make too much noise.” Explains the gym teacher Bulk Biceps. “They’ll definitely hear that.”
>”We don’t have to open them up to climb up to the top. I’ve climbed up there before. It’s like climbing up a rock wall.”
>Bulk does see Sunset’s point, until he looks around at the other seven students or so. “You sure everyone’s going to be able to do the same?”
>He then remembers how the rope climbing sessions during gym classes were for his students.
>”Whenever any of my classes did the rope unit, barely anyone could make it that high. The last thing we need right now is someone falling and breaking their arm or something.”
>”Hey, wait…” Sunset think to herself. “How about we use a rope? Wouldn’t that be easier?” She tries to convince the gym teacher.
>”Can’t. Utility room with the climbing rope is across the hall.”
>Rarity takes a look at how high up the closed bleachers go. They easily go over one entire story high.
>”I’m not sure I can climb that.” She admits with a deep concern in her voice. “You sure we can’t use… something?”
>Rarity is already looking around for anything she could use.
>”Well if we can make it up there, then the people out there can’t reach us if they get in here.” Explains Sunset, trying to convince herself as well. “They… they really shouldn’t be able to.”
>”Are you sure they’re not zombies?” Asks Pinkie. “They looked like zombies!”
>”Whatever it is that’s wrong with them, we shouldn’t get near them. They could have rabies for all we know.”
>”In large groups?”
>Sunset groans. “Whatever. Let’s just look for something already.”
>All of the students in the gym cooperatively begin searching the gym, wanting nothing more than to find whatever it is they can use to get to the top of the bleachers and escape whatever it is that might come in here.
>Bulk Biceps retrieves his keys from his little office next to the locker rooms and uses them to access the smaller utility closets that connect directly to the gym. And this really pays off.
>After a few more minutes of searching, they are actually lucky enough to get their hands on some bungee cords and other wall climbing equipment. Even better than the massive rope that would have been less appropriate for the situation.
>None of them waste a second.
>”I’ll go up first.” Rainbow Dash offers, already jumping up onto the side of the closed bleachers.
>A dull growl sounds from right outside of one of the gym doors, followed by loud banging.
>With a brief squeak, Pinkie Pie leaps up onto the bleachers and climbs up all the way to the top before Rainbow Dash even makes it halfway up. Sunset, Sandalwood and Cherry Crash follow shortly after. They made it up just fine without the bungee cords.
>”I can’t climb this!” Mystery Mint complains after falling back to the floor many times.
>”That’s fine, that’s fine.” Bulk starts to unravel the bungee cords. “It’s a good thing we thought of this.”
>The banging on the gym door becomes louder and more frequent.
>”Pass it up here!” Rainbow Dash calls down from the top of the bleachers, reaching out her hand.
>Bulk passes the bungee cords to Dash before climbing up the side of the bleachers himself. His weight alone slightly bends the things forward, but he manages to get to the top with ease.
>”I can’t do that either!” Rarity hasn’t even made one further attempt to climb up the bleachers.
>Mystery Mint holds up her arms as the ruckus at the gym door continues. ”Throw the cords down! Please!”
>Rainbow Dash tosses one end of the bungee cords down to Mystery Mint. All of the shouting has attracted a series of grunts and banging on the doors on both sides of the gym now.
>”Alright, Mysty. Just wrap it around yourself or something.” Dash instructs the girl. “Sandal and I will pull you up, okay?”
>”…Okay.”
>Mystery Mint is on the verge of tears as she wraps the bungee equipment around herself. Bulk takes Dash’s place at the top of the bleachers, obviously able to pull somebody up with more ease than a runner.
>”Man, we’d probably be screwed without you here. It’s a good thing you were here today.” Sandalwood thanks the gym teacher. “But like… why Saturday?”
>”Catching up on paperwork.” Bulk explains. “But that’s not important now.”
>The two pull Mystery Mint up to the top of the bleachers as she partially climbs as well, leaving only Rarity at the bottom. The remaining girl sticks to the surface of the bleachers and anxiously waits for her turn to be lifted up.
>Her turn arrives in seconds when the equipment is lowered down to her.
>”Come on, Rarity! You got this!” Encourages Dash, showing support for her friend.
>She puts the equipment on, connects the cords like how Mystery Mint did, and holds onto the sides of the bleachers as she is helped up by Sandalwood and Bulk Biceps.
>All of the students now rest atop the closed bleachers with Bulk Biceps.
>They check the battery life on their mobile phones, but soon find that doing so is unnecessary while there are eight electrical outlets around the gym and that Rarity has her charger with her in her purse.
>Now all they have to worry about is the service staying up for them to contact anyone at all. Sunset and Rainbow Dash immediately go back to trying to contacting their friend Twilight, who still doesn’t answer to any text messages.
>But Pinkie Pie gets a response from Fluttershy after texting her.
>[Where are you? A lot of us made it to the gym. The doors are locked, the zombies can’t get in, and we’re all on top of the bleachers anyway in case they do.]
>[OMG are they really zombies?]
>[Yes they are, where are you?]
>[Janitor’s closet. I can’t lock them out, but they don’t know I’m here as long as I’m silent.]
>[How far from the gym are you?]
>[Really far I think.]
>”So where is she?” Rainbow Dash asks Pinkie.
>”She’s in some janitor’s closet. I think they only lock from the outside, so she can’t keep them from opening the door.”
>Rainbow Dash slams her fist onto the metal surface below her, sending out a resounding echo that provokes more banging on the gym doors.
>Sunset steps in and places her hand on Dash’s shoulder. “It’ll be fine. Fluttershy’s like the quietest girl I know. There’s no way they’ll hear her in there.”
>Pinkie continues to text Fluttershy. [Don’t forget to mute all the sounds on your phone. And how did you get into the janitor’s closet anyway?]
>[My phone’s always muted. And the door was already open for some reason. But I didn’t see the janitor anywhere.]
>Sunset still tries to bring calmness to Rainbow Dash as Pinkie texts Fluttershy.
>”And what about Twilight? Huh?” Rainbow Dash gripes with tears beginning to fill her eyes.
>”She’s a smart girl. There’s no way she didn’t run once those things… uh, people came in.”
>”Then how didn’t she make it to the gym?”
>”She probably just ran and hid somewhere else like Fluttershy.” Sunset knows that this statement is most likely false.
>But why isn’t she answering?” Dash brings up.
>And that is exactly why the statement is probably false. Sunset feels a piercing feeling in her stomach when she imagines all of the things that could have happened to Twilight, resulting in her not answering any text messages after being so worried for her friends just a few minutes ago.
>It isn’t hard to put the pieces together.
>”We need her, Sunset! We’re nowhere near as powerful without her!”
>Sunset tries to keep her friend’s morale up. “Get ahold of yourself! We’re strong enough as long as we have eachother!”
>”That only works in movies! Or when there’s less than like five people we need to stop. This is different!”
>”It can’t be anything we don’t-”
>”YES IT IS!” Rainbow Dash snaps, falling back with tears streaming down her cheeks. “This shit is happening all over the world! Not just here! I’m not even sure if our combined magic can stop this! It’s effecting literally everybody! It’s…” Her voice breaks up as the others try their best to ignore her words. “I… I just…”
>She begins to sob, covering her face with her hands. Rarity tries to think of a way to counter Dash’s point, wiping away at the lines of mascara running down her face.
>”Rainbow…” Sunset tries to keep some form of positivity.
>”We’re fucking doomed! Twilight’s dead, Applejack’s dead, and we’re going to be dead before tomorrow, aren’t we?”
>”Stop it! Please just stop!” Pinkie Pie covers her ears and screams at the two. “We’re going to be okay! Everyone’s alive! They probably just dropped their phones somewhere when they ran away! Zombies are weak and we are strong!”
>Rarity begins to sob just as loudly as Rainbow Dash.
>Pinkie begins to trail off in her words. “Please… we have to stay positive…”
>”What can you four do on your own?” Asks Cherry crash. “You still have some power, right?”
>Rainbow Dash bangs the back of her head against the wall. “Not if there are literally hundreds of thousands of these people all over the world running around attacking people! We’re only good for small problems, not things like this. That’s what the military is for.”
>”Wait… wait, the military!” Exclaims Sunset. “They’ll be able to handle this with no problem!”
>”How do you know?” Asks Rainbow Dash before Sandalwood joins in.
>”Hey, wait. Can’t we get like… the news or something on out phones?” The boy brings up as he starts to scroll through his apps. “I’m pretty sure they would tell us about it if the military was on top of this.”
>”I’ve… never thought of that before.” Rarity admits.
>”I saw the news this morning.” Reveals Pinkie Pie. “They didn’t say anything about the military, just weird things happening all over the world.”
>”God damn it.” Sunset curses.
>”But that was this morning.” Rainbow Dash suddenly clings to optimism out of nowhere. “Maybe something’s being done now.”
>The girl can’t allow herself to be on the bright side of things unless she absolutely knows that everything is going to be okay.
>”Somebody check now.” Sunset urges as she herself pulls out her own phone.
>Everyone simultaneously checks their phones. Over the next minute and a half, the group takes turns listing what mobile sites they went to and what stories about the incident they heard so far. And a lot of the news coverages seem to conflict eachother.
>One states that the government has sent fighter jets to “neutralize any threat” to the homeland soil. Another describes SWAT teams actively battling rampant riots in the city. A third informs the public that the national guard has been deployed and the “neutralization of the situation” is being “vigorously approached”.
>There’s even one source that describes New Zealand as one of the only places in the world where nothing is going wrong.
>”Well I guess thats… good?” Sunset then turns to Rainbow Dash. “Still keep trying Twilight. I’ll keep trying to reach Applejack.”
>Twilight’s number is texted at least twenty more times in the next six minutes.
>…
>Still under one of the desks in the classroom, Twilight waits another twenty minutes or so to open her eyes and uncover her ears.
>It is now when she hears her phone on the surface of one of the desks.
>Twilight finds over 40 messages from Rainbow Dash and over 30 messages from Sunset asking where she is and if she’s alive. She knows she must reply immediately to let them know she’s okay.
>[Oh my god, where are you? I’m alive.] She types the message and sends it.
>[TWILIHGT HOLY SHIT DONT SCARE ME LIKE THAT I THOUGH YOU WERE DEAD] Rainbow Dash responds in less than ten seconds. [Gym. Where the fuck are you?]
>[One of the classrooms. Door’s locked.] She then hesitates to deliver the next message to them. [Flash didn’t make it.]
>[WTF NO] Dash responds. [Please tell me hes alive]
>Twilight clumsily types the next message and buries her head into her knees as she presses send.
>[I’m so sorry.]
>On the other end, Rainbow Dash nearly throws her phone across the room. She stomps her feet onto the surface of the bleachers and begins to sob once more. Sunset takes the hint, and starts to text Twilight herself.
>[Twilight. Can you call us?] She sends the message before finally getting a reply from Applejack’s number.
>Sunset reads the text from Applejack next.
>[Are you alone?] Is the response to Sunset’s message asking if she’s near enough to meet up.
>…
>On Applejack’s end, the Apple family all finish up boarding up the windows to the house. Not just the ones who live at the house, the entire Apple family. All twenty-something of them.
>They had all grouped together hours ago after the early signs of a disaster became apparent to them.
>Having farm animals has its benefits.
>A lot of the boys and men from the Apple family have brought their guns with them, while Applejack and Big Mac already had their own two shotguns just in case something like this happened.
>Applejack sits at the dining room table with her phone in her lap. She sends Sunset another text, knowing for a fact that there are already a ton of mouths to feed if this disaster becomes long-term.
>[I said are you alone?] Applejack asks again.
>[No, actually. I’m trapped in the gym right now. Most of the girls are here with me.]
>That answer from Sunset was all Applejack needed to see.
>[I’m at my house.] She responds. [Can’t go into town, too much happening everywhere. I’m afraid I’m too far away to come see the rest of yall for now. Looks like we’ll have to wait this one out.]
>Sunset frantically types the next message.
>[How are things going at your place? You live in the outskirts of town, right?]
>[Kinda, yeah. But there’s too much happening in between us to travel to one another. It’s not worth it. If either of us try to go to the other, we’ll probably end up in a bad situation.]
>[Makes sense.] Sunset sends the message right as Rainbow Dash’s phone rings. [We’ll stay in touch, though.]
>[Of course, sugarcube. I’ll text he others now that I’m alright.]
>”Girls, Twilight’s calling us!” Dash exclaims before holding the phone up in front of her.
>They all gather around Rainbow Dash as she sets her phone to speakerphone.
>[“Girls?”] Twilight’s voice sounds from the other end.
>”Twilight!” Exclaims Pinkie Pie as she lurches forward.
>[“Are you all okay?”]
>The students on the top of the bleachers cannot stop talking over eachother. They all try to answer Twilight all at once, more than happy to hear her voice.
>”Twilight, we saw on the news that the military is already taking care of things.” Explains Rarity. “We must stick together until someone comes and saves us. Where are you?”
>[“I’m in a classroom! Flash was with me but they got him.”] Twilight reveals before a chorus of muttering comes from the group. “But are you all okay? You need to answer me one at a time.”]
>”The gang’s all here except for Fluttershy and Applejack.” Rainbow Dash assures Twilight.
>”Applejack is okay. I just got a text from her.” Sunset jumps in.
>”You did?” Dash almost swipes Sunset’s phone out of her hand.
>”Yes, she said she’s fine. She’s at her house with her family in the rural part of town. But they can’t come here because they’re too far away, and there’s too much chaos everywhere else right now.”
>The students all speak amongst eachother.
>[“What about Fluttershy?”] Asks Twilight.
>”She’s in a janitor’s closet. None of the zombies know she’s there.” Pinkie Pie answers. “We need to get her to come over here so we’re all together.”
>[“Okay, okay okay. Just let me think of something.”] Twilight sits upright in a chair on the other end, nervously twiddling her thumbs.
>”Can you leave the room?” Asks Dash.
>[“Please, Rainbow! Just let me think for a minute!”]
>Rainbow Dash backs away from the phone and looks down a little. “Okay, sorry.”
>”Y-you’re going to be able to save us again, right?” Asks Cherry Crash.
>”Of course.” A still in shock Sunset can hardly speak coherently after hearing about Flash. “We’ll be able to regroup and fend of against… whatever this is until the military arrives.”
>She somehow almost silently hyperventilates between her words.
>[“How close to the gym is Fluttershy?”] Asks Twilight.
>”She said that she’s pretty far. I’m texting her now that you’re alright.” Pinkie pounds away at her touch screen with her fingertips.
>On the other end, Twilight stands up and slowly approaches the door to the classroom. She looks through the little window, trying her best to ignore the two tiny specs of blood now on it on the outside.
>But shat she sees in the hall forces her to instantly turn away and nearly vomit.
>Flash was literally right in front of the door when he was killed. His mangled corpse lies on it’s back in a pool of blood, facing the ceiling with the entire front side of his torso completely ripped open and disemboweled.
>Twilight gags a second time, but manages to keep her lunch through shutting her eyes and turning her mind off for a second or two.
>[“Twilight, are you still there?”] Rainbow Dash’s voice on the other end begins to sound more worried again.
>”Y-yes…” Twilight forces the words out after another few seconds.
>[“Are you close to the gym?”]
>Twilight thinks about which classroom for a couple of seconds. She usually has them all memorized, but it still takes her a while to get everything in her mind sorted out.
>”I th-think… s-so…” She then realizes that this classroom is actually relatively close to the gym. “Yeah… yeah the room I’m in is kinda close.”
>[“Twilight, you need to come over to us. You’ll be safer in here, darling.”] Rarity urges.
>”I don’t know if it’s safe to go into the hallways.”
>[“What do you see out there?”] Asks Rainbow Dash.
>Without looking through the window yet, Twilight covers her view of the lower portion of the window with her hand so she can’t see the floor. She then leans in to peek through the glass.
>A rugged face stares right back at her, only inches away. There’s blood all around this man’s mouth.
>Twilight lets out a sharp screech and shoots herself backward before the man on the other side of the door begins pounding away. And he’s banging on the thing with all of his strength.
>[“Twilight! What’s going on?”] The phone is now on the floor a couple of feet away from Twilight.
>She fumbles around on the floor and reaches over to pick the thing up. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! There’s one of them out there right now!”
>[“Listen to me, Twi. You need to find a way out of that classroom.”] Dash tells her. [“You need to come over here with us.”]
>Twilight’s answer is cut off by the shattering of the window’s glass. The girl looks over to find the zombie man reaching through and trying to turn the doorknob from the inside.
>A full on scream is brought out of Twilight, now sounding throughout the halls and attracting even more of the zombies to her location.
>[“Twilight!”] Rainbow Dash shouts on the other end, having heard all of the noises. [“Twilight talk to m-”]
>Not a second is spared as Twilight leaps over all of the desks in the classroom after picking up her phone. She accidentally hung up, and tries to send a text to Rainbow Dash before the deathly clicking of the door being unlocked reaches her ears.
>Twilight opens the window and punches at the screen until it breaks and falls off. By now, the door has been opened and at least five of the zombies are spilling into the room. Twilight barely has a half a second to climb out the window.
>She throws her phone out first before leaping out after it.
>But a sudden hand tightly grabs onto Twilight’s ankle. It pulls her back into the room, where more hands grab onto Twilight’s now desperately kicking legs.
>She hits one of them in the face with her foot and forces him to let go, and it’s just enough to allow Twilight to pull herself halfway out the window again.
>But when she gets a good enough view of what’s going on outside the school, she can tell that her fate is nothing more or less than sealed. These things are still wandering around everywhere outside as well; and in much larger numbers.
>There are at least twenty of them sprinting in Twilight’s direction from all angles. The girl still rapidly kicks at the zombies inside, who are now taking bites out of her up to her thighs.
>Twilight tries to roll onto her stomach and crawl out with a good hold on the outside window sill, even though it’s clearly hopeless at this point.
>However, the shattered glass at the bottom of the frame slices into Twilight’s lower abdomen as she tries to pull herself out. Not only this, but the zombies outside the building have gathered around the girl and pull her arms up towards their twisted faces.
>She screams, and screams, and screams.
>The hands pull Twilight’s clothes back in both directions and start to rip the girl open from the middle.
>At least Twilight was lucky enough to pass out from the pain before the worst of things. What she didn’t stay alive to feel was her pelvic area giving way to the combined tension and getting pulled apart.
>Twilight’s upper half above the waist is pulled out onto the grass while everything below is taken back into the classroom. A few feet away from the feasting zombies, Twilight’s phone vibrates on the grass as Rainbow Dash continuously calls.
>”Come on, come on… just PICK UP!” Dash gripes in a shaky voice in front of the other students on top of the bleachers. “Twilight!” She violently shakes the phone.
>Tears begin to fill everyone’s eyes as more time goes on without a response. They all look down to their knees as they pray for their princess leader.
>”Darling, she’s probably running for her life right now.” Rarity tries to make this positive. “We should listen out for her in case she makes it to here.”
>Rainbow Dash starts to through a fit with her eyes watering up too much for her to see well. Sunset has to hold her still so she doesn’t lose her balance and fall down to the gym floor below. Pinkie Pie tries to send Fluttershy as many text messages as she can, now keeping a fake smile on her face to keep from crying.
>Her hands are almost shaking too much to type anything readable.
>The panic goes on for a few more moments before dying down when nothing happens. Mystery Mint scoots all the way over to the far end of the bleachers and leans against the two walls of the corner as she silently cries.
>…
>After about forty five minutes of silence, Rainbow Dash starts to whimper and try Twilight’s number again for the millionth time. Still no response.
>”Well if she left her phone behind or something, I’m sure that she ran quickly enough to get away.” Rarity tries to convince her after apparently getting a text from Sweetie Belle that she’s okay. “I mean, she did hang up.”
>The two talk to eachother for a little bit longer, with Rarity trying to convince Rainbow Dash that everything is going to be okay. They soon fall silent once more, sitting atop the closed bleachers as the “zombies” outside occasionally walk by the gym doors and try them again.
>The point soon comes when some of the phones are running low on battery. In response to this, Bulk Biceps eventually agrees to be the one to jump down from the top of the bleachers and stay at ground level whenever someone needs to have their phones charged.
>It’s a little bit of an obstacle that the outlets all have to be on or near the floor, but at least they’re there at all.
>The gym teacher climbs down the side of the closed bleachers with ease with Pinkie Pie’s phone and Rarity’s charger in his back pocket. He plugs it into one of the outlets on the nearest walls and stands by while the phone is charged.
>After a few more seconds, a faint banging sound can be heard from somewhere else in the school. Not the kind from on the doors, but… almost like fireworks going off.
>Just after this happens, Pinkie Pie’s phone vibrates with a new text from Fluttershy. Bulk is the only one nearby to read it.
>[Did any of you hear those gun shots?]
>”Hey, you’re not going to believe this!” Bulk calls up to the students. “Fluttershy just texted you, Pinkie. And she says that she can hear gunshots.”
>Rainbow Dash perks up in her seat as Rarity lets out a loud sigh of relief.
>”Well it’s about time!” She groans. “Quick, how do the rest of us get down?”
>”Oh my god, finally!” Sunset joins in before the rest of the students start to chatter.
>Bulk gets another text on Pinkie’s phone.
>[OMG it’s Luna and Cadence!]
>The teacher stares at the screen as more messages come in. The students wait for him to finish reading the messages so they can hear more good news.
>[They just saved me. And a bunch of other students too.] Fluttershy explains. [They told me that Principal Celestia called them over by phone.]
>”She says it’s Dean Cadence from Crystal Prep and Vice Principal Luna.” Bulk tells the students before looking at yet another message. “And uh… they apparently have guns from the other school with them.”
>Whatever, still good enough.
>The students on top of the bleachers get ready to start heading down. This task seems to be a lot harder than going up, due to how high up they are.
>More gunshots can be heard echoing through the halls. They’re getting closer.
>”We’re in here!” Rainbow Dash shouts.
>Some commotion rings about in the outside hallway for a moment before three more loud gunshots followed by knocking on the gym door.
>”Hello? Are you in here?” A female voice calls out.
>”Shit, the doors are locked.” Dash curses to herself.
>Bulk Biceps is already headed over to the door. “I got it.” He unlocks it to let in Vice Principal Luna.
>She quickly steps in, pointing her gun to the ceiling like a secret agent in a movie. She looks around for a split second before calling back to her comrades.
>”It’s safe in here!”
>They all start pouring into the gym; Luna, Indigo Zap, Fluttershy, Norman, Derpy, Trixie, Cadence, and Roseluck.
>”Close the doors!” Orders Cadence.
>The students at the top of the bleachers watch the new members of the group down below. They start to feel a rush of excitement and happiness rush over them, until they hear what Cadence says next.
>”I’m out of ammo. There’s just so many of them out there. We need a new plan if we’re going to make it out of here.” She reveals.
>”Alright everyone, listen up.” Luna begins. “Does anyone here know of a safe place to go outside of town?”
>Sunset straightens her back in her seat, remembering Applejack’s distant location from town.
>”We’re so glad you got here.” Bulk starts to speak to the Dean and Vice Principal. “We were kind of on our toes trying to make it here.”
>”Is my sister still in her office?” Luna asks. “We just came in one of the side doors. Thank goodness for this gym being secure. Everyone else can wait here while the ones with guns can go to the office.”
>”It’s not like Trixie can’t do anything to help. She’s just… not going to risk dying when there are other people with guns who can kill those things more easily.” Proclaims Trixie.
>Sunset considers speaking up about Applejack.
>”I think where we are now is our best bet.” Proclaims Rarity as she leans against the wall. “We have a high up place to stay just in case they get in here. And that’s even if they do get in here. Not only that, but we have Bulk Biceps and a couple of handguns to protect us.”
>She has a pretty good point.
>”I think we can defend ourselves with some of the equipment in here as well.” Adds Luna. “I’d rather save the bullets I have for when we truly need them.”
>Fluttershy stands in the corner, not seeming to be willing to climb up to the top of the closed bleachers.
>”As long as we keep the doors locked, we probably won’t have to use the guns. They don’t even have any windows to see into here.” Cadence observes.
>Rainbow Dash jumps down from the top of the bleachers in one leap. She didn’t even hurt her legs or anything.
>”Rainbow, where are you going?” Rarity asks as Rainbow Dash gestures for Bulk to follow her.
>”I’m getting some stuff to use as weapons. Just in case any of them get in here.” She lets the gym teacher unlock the door to the utility closet again and swings it open. “See? We’ve got broom sticks we could use.”
>She gives one of the brooms to Bulk, who removes the sweeper end and snaps the stick in half.
>”You sure it will be enough?” Asks Sunset, jumping into the conversation to work it over to Applejack.
>Sandalwood is already getting the bungee cords ready to lower himself down. He calls down to Bulk for him to come back up and hold onto the cords. The gym teacher tells him to wait a minute while he sorts things out.
>”It really should be, as long as we stick together to keep our numbers high.” Explains Dash. “If there’s anything I’ve learned from zombie movies, it’s to always stay in one big group at all costs.”
>”I agree.” Pinkie Pie confirms. “Splitting up is the dumbest idea for surviving a zombie attack.”
>”Which is why we should all go together when going to get Principal Celestia.” Suggests Cadence. “We can all huddle together in the hallways facing out in all directions.”
>Indigo Zap walks up to her. “You mean like, make a phalanx or something?”
>”Exactly. Work as a single unit.”
>”So… we’re going to leave the gym, then. And like, not come back?” Indigo Zap asks.
>”Well no. I mean, we can lock the doors from the outside with Luna’s keys and come back with Celestia. Why?”
>”I don’t know… it looks pretty safe in here. And like… really unsafe out there.”
>Vice Principal speaks up again. “Well my sister’s still out there, and we need to get her.”
>”And like Pinkie said.” Cadence agrees. “Splitting up is one of the worst moves we can make. You pretty much have to come with us. We have strength in numbers.”
>”But what about if we have too many numbers? As in… like…” Indigo Zap starts off.
>”Like what?”
>”Like… what if… we get too crowded and can’t do as much because there isn’t enough… operating space?”
>Luna stares at the ceiling for a few seconds to think about this. Cadence looks back down at her empty gun.
>Indigo Zap continues. “Plus, wouldn’t it be a good thing to let a couple of us stay behind and watch over the gym? And if any of them get in, they can just text us about it or something?” She looks up to the remaining students atop the bleachers. “And they can stay up there so the… zombie… things can’t reach them.”
>Cadence drops her jaw.
>”Do you not remember how easily they leaped over the fences?”
>”This is different! Those bleachers are over twice as high!”
>The raised voices provokes a new series of banging on the double doors on one side of the gym. The same thing happens on the other side in less than thirty seconds. There must be at least five of them out there this time.
>”Well great! Now there’s even more of them in the school!” Gripes Luna.
>”Doesn’t sound like something I can’t handle.” Bulk Biceps announces as he holds two broken broomsticks in his hands. “As long as they come one at a time, I can take them.”
>”Yeah, but they probably won’t.” Rainbow Dash rebuts.
>”Well of course. They won’t do that right off the bat. I know this isn’t a movie or anything, but what I’m saying is that we can create circumstances in which they have to come one at a time.” Bulk is already starting to walk in the direction of the doors to inspect them.
>”And how are we going to do that?” Questions Indigo Zap.
>”Yeah, how?” Dash backs her up as Bulk eyes the crease between the doors.
>”Do we have anything less stretchy than the bungee cords? I have an idea.” The gym teacher asks everyone else.
>”Mind telling us?” Asks Indigo Zap.
>”We can tie something around the handles just the right way so the doors can only open just enough to let one through at a time. We’ll then unlock the doors and let them come in as such. That’s when I’ll step in.” He tightens his grip on the sticks.
>Norman and Sandalwood get eager grins on their faces as they hear him say this. The type of grin when a little kid sees his favorite action hero appear on the TV screen.
>”Wait!” Sandalwood actually offers to join in. “You got any more broomsticks I can use?”
>Everyone can tell that he’s rather excited to do this as long as the odds are in his favor. It’s about time a day like this included a testosterone rush.
>The idea is discussed for a little bit longer. Sunset watches everyone talk, trying to decide with herself if it’s time to bring up the fact that they could try to travel all the way out of town to see if they can meet up with the Apple family. But she’s not sure if it’s worth the long time of travel.
>After a little bit more discussion and elaboration, the idea soon becomes the plan of attack, and everyone gets ready to carry the thing out.
>The bungee cords end up being used for this after all. They are tied onto the handles of the closed doors in countless loops. The idea is that they will stretch barely enough to allow the doors to open just enough for one person to slip through.
>All of the other students and staff members are helped to the top of the bleachers while Sandalwood, Bulk Biceps and Rainbow Dash wait armed with athletic equipment by one of the double door exits as Indigo Zap unlocks it, holding a lacrosse stick in her own hand.
>”L…let’s see if this works…” She mumbles.
>The zombies are literally right there on the other side when the doors are unlocked and the four defenders get ready to take on the brunt of whatever infected these people one target at a time. They push the doors inward in a heartbeat.
>No order to get ready is needed, the four stand at the ready with their pseudo-weapons pointed at the first zombie/person slipping through the gap between the doors.
>It’s a middle aged man, and he eventually makes it into the gym with his legs still in the gap. He had to try to climb over the bungee cords blocking the middle.
>He’s bet with a barrage of lacrosse stick rods and similar objects straight to the head. Most of the students on top of the bleachers turn away, and Luna keeps her gun pointed at the infected man just in case.
>If she did her math right, she has about seven bullets left. So it’s best not to waste them.
>The four below continue pelting the infected man with every ounce of their strength. Bulk, of course, manages to hit the hardest and soon impale the man’s head, which causes him to go completely lifeless.
>It takes the next “zombie” about ten seconds to push the first one out of the way, as he had been practically caught onto the bungee cord after being slain. It’s not much time for one to catch their breath, but it’s something.
>The second one is a younger, larger man, with only one more in the hallway.
>Right as all of this is happening, Sunset receives another text from Applejack. What the girl reads surprises her.
>[Alright look. What I told you before wasn’t the entire story. I felt bad for not telling you the whole truth in a time like this, because you’re my friend. But the rest of the family and I figured out that something was going on before yall did.]
>Sunset furrows her brow as she reads the message.
>[There is actually a lot of us here. We’re well defended and everything. And I just felt so terrible for not telling you or any of the girls about this before. I have been told to lie about it if asked about the family being well protected with food and guns, but I can’t can’t being myself to do it. You’re my friend, Sunset. And I don’t want to lie to you.]
>[Applejack.] Sunset responds, still keeping an eye on the action down below in anticipation of anything going wrong. [I don’t understand. why are you telling me this?]
>A couple more minutes pass, and Bulk Biceps finishes off killing the last of the now four zombies that tried to barge through the door.
>[Because it would break my heart if something happened to you when I could have saved you if I just told you that you would have been at least a little safe with me. I feel the same about the rest of ya, but I only responded about this to you because you were the only one who wanted to actually meet up.]
>Another message comes in.
>[I was just specifically told by me family to not bring up the subject of meeting up, and lie about it if someone else did. They don’t want to let others in because that would be too many people to look out for.]
>At this point, Rainbow Dash is yelling out the door to attract more of the zombies to the entrance to the gym. The group has unanimously decided that they’d rather deal with the hordes of zombies this way instead of all at once.
>[Listen, I already know that my family can’t really support much more people over here until this whole thing dies down a little bit. But I’d still feel bad about not telling you if you asked first. There was a reason why I asked you if you were alone. I’m so sorry, Sunset. I haven’t had time before to think about a situation like this. It’s kind of a survival thing.]
>Sunset can see Applejack’s point. She can only imagine how tough these kinds of decisions are to make.
>This only causes her to become more indecisive about whether to tell anyone else about this or not. Applejack is just trying to defend herself and her family. Having a sudden influx on people needing to be protected would surely put a strain on their food supply in the long run.
>And there’s no telling how long this thing is going to last.
>…
>The process of leading the zombies through the tight space between the doors one by one begins to get tot he point where it’s just Rainbow Dash shouting into the halls every five minutes or so to get no response.
>A total of about 8 of the zombies are taken out, and none of the other ones are nearby enough to hear the bait that is Dash’s shouting voice.
>Everyone on the bleachers, for the most part, start to feel more calm and complacent with the current situation. Some of them are beginning to think that the school might be cleared with ease if they keep this up. It’s not like they can’t wait the entire thing out in this room.
>It’s secure and has access to electricity, as well as bathrooms in both the boy’s and girl’s locker rooms.
>After a few more minutes, Dash manages to lure one more zombie over to the doors. She gets cocky this time and tells the rest of the gang to wait until the attacker is all the way through the door this time.
>Bulk tells her to stand back, as it’s smart to not let the zombie biter her.
>It finally makes it through the door under the bungee cords, and this one’s bright colors can be recognized by almost everyone sitting up on the bleachers.
>It’s Lyra Heartstrings.
>”Holy shit…” Gasps Rainbow Dash, not having even paid any attention to half of the other zombies that she helped kill before they made it through the door.
>Lyra looks back and forth at the four people standing around her, seeming like she’s about to pounce at them at any second. The whole left side of her neck has been gnawed into, and the left side of her body is drenched in presumably her own blood as a result.
>Dash can’t bring herself to move forward. “L…Lyra…” She knew this girl, and so did Bulk and Sandalwood.
>Indigo Zap lurches forward and begins whaling on the zombie girl. She steals a quick moment of glory as she kicks Lyra to the ground and strikes the head as hard as she can.
>Had Lyra not just tried to jump forward at Sandalwood, she would have been on both feet and harder to knock down.
>Not a single word can escape Dash’s mouth as Indigo Zap repeatedly pummels down upon Lyra’s head. She would even look away if she weren’t in the danger zone below the safety of the tops of the bleachers.
>But she needs to stay on guard.
>The point soon comes where Lyra is completely motionless on the floor, and Rainbow Dash’s eyes start clouding up while she comes to terms with what she just witnessed. Her shock paralyzes her, and she has to stand strong to keep from falling to her knees.
>Pinkie Pie starts to sob loudly on Rarity’s shoulder, and Norman has to take his mind to another place to keep himself from vomiting. They also knew that girl.
>What a horrible coincidence it was that the first one they let all the way in happened to previously be someone most of them knew before. Rainbow Dash can already tell that she would not have been able to do it, which is an obvious issue in this situation.
>But she can’t help it.
>She knew some of these people.
>More minutes pass, with a countless number of moment of silence. The corner in which Mystery Mint was moping in fear now has Sunset sitting in the seat instead, constantly checking her phone and making faces of clear uncertainty.
>She looks back at her peers, and feels a strong sense of sickness in her stomach every time she think about how much of a hardship they are going through.
>They look back at her on occasion, wondering to themselves what she may be thinking about. But they don’t question her wanting to stay at least a little distant. Pretty much everyone here needs some sort of chance to regain their thoughts.
>Rarity continuously checks up on Sweetie Belle to see if she’s holding up alright. Sweetie reveals that she has been apparently taken in by the police station on the other side of town, but there’s too much chaos in between there and the school for even the cops to transport her over.
>Mostly because the cops are too busy fighting off the large hordes of zombies that dwell within he more populated parts of the nearby city. Nobody is hearing a word about how that battle is going.
>In addition to this, nobody talks to eachother about anything. Everyone remains silent, not even coming close to showing the slightest sign of happiness. Not even the smallest smile.
>They cannot begin to imagine how oblivious they were the day before. How everything was fine… how their lives were relatively peaceful and filled with trivial things to worry about.
>And they actually miss that, having no way to actually go back to it. Loved ones are gone, days of peace are in the past. Only darkness in the future.
>Some more time goes by, and Luna gets another call from Celestia. They had apparently been keeping in touch by phone; the phone in the Principal’s office and Luna’s cell phone.
>[“Sister, can you hear me?”] The Principal’s voice sounds on the other end.
>”What happened?”
>[“They found a window to one of the back counseling offices and got in. I’ve been struggling to keep the door shut.”]
>The students sitting nearby begin to whisper curse words.
>”What?! How many?”
>[“It’s hard to tell. But the chair holding the door closed is starting to crack. I have to leave. Now.”]
>”But… wait, sister!”
>[“I’m making a run for it! You said you were in the gym, right?”]
>”You’re too far away!”
>[“I have no other choice. There’s more of them in the counseling office than I saw in the hallway a few minutes ago. There’s none there right now.”]
>”No, no no no… this is crazy!” Protests Luna.
>The students and staff members have all now gathered around the Vice Principal and joined in on her urging Principal Celestia to try and find a way to keep that door closed. They try to make reason out of staying in the office so she doesn’t have to go meandering around in the halls.
>But the loud banging and snapping of wood in the background on the other line tell a different story.
>[“I have to go now! Leave one of the doors open!”] Celestia then hangs up.
>”Sister!” Luna is on the verge of tears.
>Everybody sitting on top of the bleachers has gotten worked up from the sudden tension. Rainbow Dash and the others below momentarily get wind of it and begin to panic, running around the gym to figure out which door the Principal is going to show up behind.
>Celestia can no longer be reached; the phone she was using to call her sister was attached to the front desk by wire.
>Everyone manages to quiet eachother down so they can listen. No footsteps can be heard throughout the halls at first. Only the worst can be imagined for the next couple of minutes or so.
>Rainbow Dash is the first to hear the commotion coming from nearby one of the gym entrances. She knows that the door must be open for the Principal to make it inside. With this, she rushes everyone on ground level over to the door and unlocks it.
>It’s as though the timing couldn’t be more perfect; Celestia rushes right past Rainbow Dash and the others right as the doors swing open. But what can be seen and heard down the hallway proves that the situation is nowhere near as good as the others had imagined it would be.
>A VERY large crowd of the zombies is in relatively close pursuit. It’s no surprise that Celestia’s first words to Dash is to “close the damn doors”.
>The new crowd is locked out of the gym, now clustered up against the door adjacent to the door with bungee cords still wrapped around the handles.
>Celestia notices the large smears of blood all over the other entrance to the gym. It’s a good thing Bulk threw Lyra’s body back out into the hall, otherwise Celestia would have seen a much worse sight.
>Luna tries to climb down the top of the bleachers, only to find no easy way to do it. “Sister!”
>”Oh my god… Luna!”
>”I’m sorry! They were coming through. I had to make a run for it, there was no other choice!”
>”Don’t scare me like that!” Luna is now dangling over the edge.
>Bulk Biceps runs over and holds his arms out to catch Luna. She sees this and allows herself to drop once he’s right under her. The two sisters embrace eachother less than five seconds later.
>”Oh my god… oh my god, you’re alive.” Celestia whimpers.
>The moment of reunion is cut short by the loud banging of the gym doors, now with even more force than the last time. Everyone jumps at the booming sound of the doors being almost rammed. How many of them are still out there?
>Pretty much everyone in the room is crying at least a little bit now. The emotional trauma is just too much for them to handle all in one day. It’s just one horrifying event after another.
>Fluttershy covers her ears and starts to scream with tears running down her cheeks. She is hardly even slightly calmed down by Rarity’s extremely shaky hand being planted onto her shoulder.
>”Everyone relax!” Bulk tries to convince them all. “I know how strong these doors are. They’re not getting through.” Now he’s trying to convince himself as well.
>The ramming continues, but the doors hold out strong.
>”Let’s do the thing again! Where it’s one at a time!” Sandalwood already has his hockey stick at the ready. “Get the bungee cords!”
>Sunset has now migrated back over to where everyone else is sitting on top of the bleachers, having thought long and hard about what to do about Applejack.
>She approaches Pinkie Pie, who is hyperventilating and frantically looking around the room. Sunset has never seen Pinkie this terrified before, she doesn’t even think she’s seen tears in her eyes at all before.
>”I…it’s okay… We’re up here, and they’re all down there…” Sunset’s words do not in any way help as Pinkie begins to scream as well.
>”Please tell me your car is still here.” Begs Celestia as she still holds onto Luna.
>”I saw it in the parking lot.” Reveals Luna. “None of them got to it. Please tell me you have the keys.”
>Celestia pulls a ring of keys from her pocket, one fo them being the keys to the said car.
>”Oh my god, you are the best!” Luna hugs Celestia again. “You have no idea how long it took to get here on foot! It was horrible!”
>”Yes! We even have another car!” Cadence exclaims. “This really helps, seeing that our group grew a little.”
>It becomes clear that Celestia was the one to drive to the school today while Luna was apparently back at her house.
>After a couple of minutes, the bungee cords are removed from one of the doors and attached to the side of the bleachers once more.
>Before the method of killing the zombies is enacted once more, Bulk helps a lot of the students down from the top of the bleachers. At the same time, he helps charge their phones, since more of the phones were running low on battery.
>Everyone wants to make sure that their phones are good and charged for as long as mobile service is still intact. It’s somehow surprising that it lasted this long. If anything, it’s the best sign of hope that a lot of things out there  are still functional.
>Even Sunset agrees to come down with the rest of the students, leaving only Rarity and Mystery Mint at the top of the bleachers. They’re apparently too afraid to come down and don’t want to fall tot heir death.
>The others try to convince them over and over again to come down, but they would rather stay up in the safety of the top of the bleachers until they know all of the danger is gone. Plus, the drop is too massive to be worth it at the moment for them.
>It’s soon sorted out that Bulk’s car, Celestia’s car, Sunset’s car and Rainbow Dash’s car and about half of everyone else’s cars can be used for an escape. It’s a really good thing that quite a lot of the people here drove here, and still have their keys on them. Cadence reacts even more happily to this, showing a rare emotion in a time like this.
>But a lot of them don’t have a ride, and are more than thankful to go with someone else. But to be safe, Bulk Biceps insists that a lot of the zombies be killed in order to escape with more ease. He explains why it’s better to do it this way and makes their escape a lot less difficult.
>Rarity and Mystery Mint stay on top of the bleachers as the bungee cords are removed from the side and wrapped around the other doors’ handles. They chose to wait this out on the high ground until it is certain that everyone can leave.
>And of course, it is agreed that all of the cars stick together once they get moving.
>Sunset thinks about Applejack once more, and then the number of people that are going to be riding out of town with her to escape the outbreak. The girl can’t bring herself to any kind of decision.
>Half of her wants to tell them, half of her wants to stay silent.
 
CAN'T TRUMP THE STUMP
>”Alright, Students. Settle down.” Vice Principal Luna stands at the front and center of the stage as the auditorium of school students has a hard time ceasing their whispering.
>The doors are closed and the lights dimmed, but that doesn’t seem to get through to the students continuing the commotion.
>”Students…” Vice Principal Luna says again. “Please settle down.”
>Principal Celestia rises from her chair and glares into the audience.
>The second time somehow worked.
>All of the students in the audience slip their phones into their pockets and direct their attention towards the stage. The room grows quiet.
>”Excellent.” Luna begins. “Now, as I’m sure all of you know by now, it’s getting really close to election season. And I really hope you all know exactly how important politics are in this great nation.”
>The response she gets is rather… unenthusiastic.
>Everyone silently sits in their chairs, waiting for her to continue. They’re just glad that they’re out of their classes, and are probably hoping that this ceremony takes long enough to last the rest of the school day.
>Who wouldn’t trade sitting in one of those hard seated desks doing school work for sitting in a cushiony auditorium chair? Especially when it’s while paying no attention to a speaker bringing across a point that doesn’t even apply to anything important?
>”Time and time again, Canterlot High has guest speakers come in to help educate students just how important the political system in our nation is. And to do that, we have been inviting mainly local public speakers to talk to you about why you should vote.” Luna drones on.
>At this moment, Celestia looks to the side of the stage where no one else can see. She sees someone approaching, and lowers her shoulders in apprehension.
>before anyone in the room realizes it, the principal stands up from her chair a second time and leaves to greet whoever it is backstage.
>It’s almost completely obvious that none of the students are even taking any of this seriously.
>”But this year… we have something a little bit different going on in here.” Luna gestures towards the curtains at the side of the stage. “Boys and girls, it is my pleasure to welcome to our school one of the candidates for President himself, Mr. Donald Trump.”
>And just like that… it’s as though the vice principal said some sort of cursed word that jinxed the entire school.
>Every student perks up in their seat at the sound of the name called. Half of them cannot even believe what it was they just heard. and they are still one hundred skeptical until they actually see the man himself step onto the stage.
>Vice Principal Luna wasn’t kidding. Here he is, Donald Trump, in he flesh here at Canterlot High.
>”Good evening! Good evening, Canterlot High! How are we all doing today?” He speaks into the microphone, verifying to the students that he’s actually there in front of them.
>The reaction he gets is an ocean of wide eyes; none of them sure of what to say in response to him. But they still clap, despite their expressions implying what could be described as fear.
>They are in the presence of the Trump.
>”Now, I know there’s been a lot of tension regarding the up and coming election. and i know that there are probably a lot of you that might not agree with a lot of the things I say. I mean, the polls clearly show a politician’s strengths and weaknesses.” He begins his ramble.
>A few of the students in the back appear to be attentive in response to his words, mostly because of them being long and technical to them.
>”Anyway, on to the good stuff, eh?” He raises his hands to the sides. “So I’ve been telling this story to my fans…” He goes right into the parts about him without even addressing anything else first. “About how I started out as a businessman.”
>Some of the students sigh in agitation. Some other ones pull their phones back out. Others peer over to the doors to see if they can make a run for it.
>”When I was a young lad, I didn’t have much to go on starting out.” Trump explains to the students. “My father had only given me a small loan of a million dollars. And this meant that if I wanted to be successful, I had to be smart and do all of the right things at all the right times. And what would that be? Hmm? Can anyone here guess what it is?”
>Well over half of the audience cannot even begin to process what the man is saying. Some of them aren’t even aware of the fact that he just asked a question.
>It must be amazing to truly believe that you’re making sense when saying things like this.
>”How about you?” Candidate Trump points out one of the kids in the front row.
>That student he pointed out happens to be Twilight Sparkle.
>”M-Me?” Twilight stutters, sinking down into the cushions and contemplating how this would solidify her first impressions on her peers here.
>”Yeah.” Mr. Trump continues. “Just uh, gimme an example of what the smart thing to do with a small loan of a million dollars is.”
>Twilight had just arrives at this school, having transferred from Crystal Prep. She’s not exactly the type to be in the mood for speaking in front of literally all of the students at once without having to get to know them beforehand.
>”Uhh… win… something?” The girl begins to shiver in her seat. “Like… win the election?“
>”EXACTLY! She’s got the right idea, everybody!” Mr. Trump almost cuts her off and gets ready to go off on a tangent. “That’s the thing you want to ALWAYS think when you want to get by in this world. It ain’t easy.”
>Why the hell is he even talking about this? Isn’t this supposed to be about politics or something? Why is he going off on a limb about winning?
>Sure, it’s kind of what the election is about, but there’s really no political basis to what this man is saying. Though, he doesn’t seem to care.
>”That’ the thing about business. Winning is everything ,because the winners are the ones who end up with all the money. The ones who work, and get the job done. When there’s a problem out there, you don’t just sit around and do nothing about it do you?”
>He look through the souls of the audience.
>”Well? Would you?” He inquires the students. “What is it you’d do when there something keeping you from getting what you want?”
>Twilight keeps her hands as low a s possible. She doesn’t want to get picked again.
>But it’s as though Donald Trump can read her mind and wants to get her to speak in front of everyone as much as possible.
>”You. Again.” He tells her. “You seem to have the biggest brain here.”
>Twilight freezes once more, now starting to feel dizzy on the inside. All of the students in the audience watch her, waiting for her to say something.
>”U-uh…. I-I-I…” She stutters again, now even more nervous than before.
>The words must be chosen carefully. The other students here are still nice, meaning that she gets a second chance to be liked by everyone in her school. And that didn’t work out so well the last time.
>Not only this, but Twilight is in the presence of arguable the most popular presidential candidate of the current year.
>She must not screw this up.
>”Yes, miss… what;s your name?”
>”M-m-m-m-my…” Twilight does everything she can not to seem weak.
>”Yes, go on…” Mr. Trump urges her in a surprisingly calm tone.
>”Her name is Twilight Sparkle.” Principal Celestia fills the girl in. “And she’s a very smart girl.”
>”Well then, Miss Twilight Sparkle. Can you tell me what it would be best to do when you’re trying to make it in the business world.” Mr. Trump turns back to the audience. “Oh, and I would like to point out one thing before she answers. This sort of thing is very important in presidential elections. When in one of these, you gotta treat it like a business.”
>”I…”
>Mr. Trump waits for Twilight’s response.
>The girl fixes her glasses and starts to stutter some more.
>”When you’re trying to solve a problem that’s kinda uh… you know… out there…” She’s literally making it up as she goes along. “You gotta just… do what you can. “
>”That’s right. Use the money wisely, appeal to the right audience and do the things that no other would dare do. Those things that make you stand out from the other fish in the playing field.” Mr. Trump inserts his own point of view into Twilight’s answer as though that’s what she meant.
>The other students are either not paying any attention, or feeling embarrassed for Twilight by proxy. She can tell this, and it’s only making her anxiety go even more out of whack in her head.
>”When I had a lot of problems before… I…” Twilight suddenly think to say only exactly what Mr. Trump wants her to say. She thinks back to his campaigning highlights. “I built a wall…”
>A few gasps can be heard in the auditorium. At first, no one seems to realize what it was Twilight just unknowingly implied. The only one who immediately caught on was Donald Trump. And only when h speaks is when everyone else catches on.
>”Well how do you like that?” he almost shouts at the top of his lungs. “I’m starting to like this school a lot better. The first thing you do is build walls to keep the problem from getting in.”
>This is about to get really racist really fast, isn’t it?
>”You see, there are a lot of people out there who have been conditioned into believing that the right solutions to the problems are the scariest. And a lot of those people are usually softened by the media… social standards… all that jazz.”
>Twilight does feel a little bit of a spark of relief when Trump subtly speaks against media and social anything. That really hasn’t been her strong point.
>”And all of these other candidates… let me tell ya. They are some of those people. Both in a sense that they are the hypnotized and the hypnotizers. Let’s take Hillary for example.” He starts to initiate his shit-talking on the other candidates. Still making absolutely no sense.
>Vice Principal Luna becomes red in the face and looks away from Mr. Trump as he goes on about his rant.
>And the man starts to ramble on about the email scandal… and whatever the hell else it was he talked about. None of the students are even paying much attention at this point. they just sit there in their seats as usual, pulling their phones out and liking Bernie Sanders memes on Facebook.
>”And during that one debate. How rude was it for her to go the THE BATHROOM!” Donald Trump wobbles his arms around and starts to tilt his head as though he’s mocking Clinton while she talks. “I mean, who does that? Does anyone even have any etiquette anymore?”
>No one’s even listening to him anymore… except for a couple fo the kids in the back.
>Twilight starts to pay attention, but feels a bit lost at the fact that Donald Trump is beginning to encourage etiquette. Which is something that hasn’t been her strong point either.
>”But anyway… back to my main point.” Trump turns on the overhead projector and brings up his first slide.
>It was not even clear to the students that he was about to start a visual presentation. They honestly thought that the man was just going to stand there and talk for 50 minutes without anything in the background.
>The first slide shows a giant picture of a terrorist group. The students stare at the screen as though it’s a drunk driving advertisement. They can only imagine what he’s about to say about all of this.
>”Currently, none of the current politicians are doing jack shit about these little turds.” Trump suddenly drops to using down and dirty language.
>The students gasp at the man’s behavior, but at the same time do not seem all that surprised.
>”They have been running rampant in the middle east. But why? Can anyone here tell me why?”
>It’s safe to assume that a lot of the students attending this school have a higher IQ than Donald Trump.
>And of course, Twilight Sparkle is picked out of the bunch once more.
>It’s not like anyone else raised their hands anyway.
>”Tell us, Twilight. Where did the scary guys in the sand with guns come from? And what can we do to stop them?”
>Twilight starts to fiddle with her shaky fingers.
>”Th-they… d-don’t have enough happiness over there…” Twilight just pulls it all off of the tip of her tongue, hoping to anything spiritual that the other students will accept what she says. “Those g-guys…. l-l-live in… a… a desert.”
>”That’s right!” Donald Trump replies as though that was exactly what he was going at. “And what does that mean?”
>Twilight decides to get as technical as she can. And her mind is spinning more than it ever has before.
>”Life… is b-boring over… there…” She starts to hyperventilate in between her words. “They… d-don’t have enough sex over there. B-because they’re too stressed out.”
>Luna gives Twilight a hand signal to stop. It’s pretty obvious that what she’s saying has no logical basis of any kind. And it’s more cringeworthy than anything else.
>But Donald Trump continues to encourage her.
>”How did she know, folks?” He gives Twilight an uncanny amount of praise for the things she said as Celestia stays in her seat. “Looks like we have some enlightened people in the audience.”
>Luna starts to walk over to Trump and reach for the microphone.
>But she can’t snatch it away.
>”Excuse me! EXCUSE ME!” Trump steps away from her as his personal security pulls her aside. “I’m trying to do a rally here.”
>Did he really just say that?
>Twilight, desperate for fitting in with the rest of her peers, stands up from her seat and begins clapping and cheering. “YEAH! SHOW HER JUSTICE!”
>The girl makes sure to sound just like a Trump supporter. She wants to look good in front of the other students.
>”Uh… what are you doing?” Flash and a couple of his friends stare at the girl.
>”You don;t question the Trump!” Twilight just keeps talking to counter her past silence. “Trump is the unstumpable!”
>”Now she’s getting it!” Trump applauds from the stage. “Everyone give this girl a round of applause.
>…
>She did it.
>She got the other students to even give her a round of applause.
>”This school is so proud to have you here, Mr. Trump! I’m going to make sure you’re voted as President of the USA in the office for sure!” Twilight gives all the encouragement she can.
>The mindlessness just wont stop.
>Trump goes to the next slide of his presentation as the crowd goes wild from Luna’s apprehension. Celestia was smart to stay put in her seat. She has not been apprehended by Trump’s henchmen. It shows the fence-line on the USA/Mexico border.
>”We have to stop the scary sand assassins from crossing the border into our lands.” Mr. Trump starts off as a lot of the students arise from their seats and head for the doors.
>But the doors won’t open; they weren’t going to stump the trump that easily.
>All of the chaos in the auditorium is soon silenced as Mr. Trump continues his education of the young people. Twilight is allowed to come up on stage and help Trump with his presentation.
>And from that day on… nothing ever made sense again.
>CAN’T STUMP THE TRUMP.
 
SUNSET THE DEMON HUNTRESS CHAPTER 1
>In the dead of night, when no one is around, there are strange things that happen.
>Unusual entities lurk in the shadows, plotting and hunting for whatever may be their next meal.
>Only hidden by the darkness accompanied by a cool night breeze that drowns out their careful footsteps. Not a soul expects them to be around the corner.
>This is why it is unwise to go strolling around at night.
>Very few people have ever dared to take on such a feet, and when they did, each and every of them had instantly regretted making such a fatal decision.
~
>Sunset Shimmer strides home from school, holding her backpack firmly on her shoulders.
>The green grass next to the sidewalk she walks on is just starting to grow out of the soil. It has been a long and cold winter, and seeing the first signs of warm days ahead brings a smile to Sunset’s face.
>She makes it to her house and enters through the back door. The girl forgot two things: To take the key to the house with her to school, and to lock the sliding back door leading to the kitchen.
>If only duos of mistakes could cancel each other out like this all the time.
>Sunset throws her school supplies into her room and then heads to the kitchen to make herself a sandwich. It takes less than a minute for her to spread the peanut butter and jelly onto two slices of bread, given how many times she’s done it before.
>Sunset’s friend Rarity had promised to come over today to hang out for a little bit. It’s been a while since the two had much time to do anything in the winter.
>The season does tend to slow everything down.
>In preparation for Rarity’s arrival, Sunset begins to go through the house and rearrange the things that Rarity could have possibly stumbled upon.
>From many different rooms in the house, various books with ancient scriptures are returned to the basement until they are needed again. From the upstairs hallway, crucifixes and other types of talismans are removed from the walls and placed into the hall closet. The door to the garage is locked; sure don’t want Rarity stumbling into the things in there.
>And lastly, the door to Sunset’s father’s study is closed. There’s no lock on this door, so Sunset will just have to tell Rarity that her father is in there doing some important paperwork.
>That should just about do it for hiding anything in the house that shouldn’t be seen.
>Sunset has found this process to be remarkably irritating to undergo every time someone comes over.
>At the designated time of 4:00 PM, a knock on the front door sounds. Sunset looks though the tiny window next to the door, and then lets Rarity in.
>”Oh my, I see you’ve kept this place cleaned up very nicely.” Rarity compliments while walking down the front hallway.
>Sunset follows closely behind. “Yeah. My parents are always getting hectic about chores this time of year. Spring cleaning, am I right?”
>”Oh, you should have seen it at my house. We have been scrubbing the kitchen floors literally every weekend. Those nasty specks on the tiles just won’t stop coming back.”
>Rarity takes a glimpse at the floor in Sunset’s kitchen.
>”Say… how do you keep yours so perfectly tidy?”
>”I honestly don’t know how my dad does it. Especially since he usually spends all day outside and then walks straight into the kitchen.” Sunset changes the subject quickly. “Want anything to drink while we’re here?”
>”Oh, just some water would do, darling. Thank you.”
>It’s a good thing she didn’t want anything else; there’s rarely any variable choices of food in the refrigerator.
>Sunset gets a glass out of a cabinet, fills it with water from the fridge and hands it to Rarity.
>”It’s been getting warmer out again.” Sunset brings up the topic of Spring being right around the corner. “I don’t even think I needed my jacket today.”
>Rarity sets the glass down on the kitchen table after a couple of sips. “Oh I know! It’s felt like forever since I’ve walked outside and the air didn’t sting my face every time I took a step forward.”
>”You… don’t have a face mask or anything?”
>”Well, not one of the fleece ones you wear outside. The last time I tried one of those, I could hardly see and it ruined my makeup.”
>”Oh… yeah, those things could get a little irritating.”
>The glass of water Rarity was given is now empty. It’s a little strange that she would take three small sips at first, and then chug the rest of the thing in twenty seconds.
>”At least we don’t have to worry about the cold anymore.” Concludes Rarity as she takes the empty glass over to the sink and starts to rinse it.
>She soon grabs the sponge and proceeds to scrub the glass with some soap.
>”If anything, I can’t wait until it’s summer. We don’t even have to get up early for school then.” Sunset brings up, walking towards the stairs and hoping Rarity will take the cue to follow.
>”Ugh, I don’t know about you, but summer weather has always been a burden on most days. The humidity is just too much for my hair to handle.”
>”Ah, well that sucks.” Sunset is already halfway up the stairs.
>Rarity follows her, and follows Sunset into her bedroom. It is at this point where Sunset can stop worrying about the things she hid and comfortably talk with Rarity.
>The two girls cover all sorts of topics, mostly just sitting there talking like typical high school students after going through a whole day of classes. They turn on the TV after 45 minutes, as it would have felt too boring in the room otherwise.
>It’s a good thing that Sunset’s room has a pretty good distance from the sliding glass door from the kitchen. Sunset’s father eventually comes home from his long day out in the woods and begins doing his usual routine of attempting to cook store foods in the kitchen.
>He usually gives up after a half an hour or so, as he’s more used to preparing food he had hunted himself.
>The man eventually comes back home, returns his hunting gear to its designated rack in the garage. It’s hard to hear what he does after that, due to the distance of Sunset’s room from the kitchen.
>If he had been lucky today, he’d begin preparing his meal from whatever it was he killed out there. If not, then he’d just prepare some hamburger helper or order a pizza.
>Either way, he’s back in his study by the time Sunset and Rarity finally leave the bedroom.
>It’s about 6:30 PM, a little close to dusk.
>”You should really be heading home now.” Sunset tells Rarity. “It’s starting to get dark.”
>”Of course, darling. Maybe I could paint your nails next time.” Suggests Rarity. “I’m sorry I didn’t think of doing that before it got too late.”
>She starts to head for the door before turning back around.
>”Oh, and Sunset?”
>”Yeah?”
>”Say hello to your father for me.” Rarity fights back a smile and turns back to head out the door. “See you tomorrow!”
>”Yeah, I’ll do that. See you tomorrow.”
>Sunset’s father emerges from his office about a minute after Rarity leaves the driveway. He fixes his collar and sighs quietly.
>”Good job remembering to lock the garage door this time.” He says to Sunset.
>”Thanks, dad. Sorry if it took you longer to get in there.”
>”Ah, don’t worry about it. It’s fine.” He then turns to go upstairs. “Let’s get everything back in place before it gets too dark.”
>”Okay.” Sunset follows him.
~
>At about 9 PM, Sunset’s mother finally parks her car in the driveway after a long day at the office.
>She heads inside to greet her family, asks Sunset how her day at school was, and asks her husband if he got any good kills today.
>This is usually how each day for the Shimmer family goes. Mr. Shimmer spends most of the days in the woods hunting with his buddies while Mrs. Shimmer works as an accountant in town.
>It’s been a pretty well working system for the family, and Sunset has picked up on this.
>Her mother is the one who works all day and makes the majority of the money.
>But the family doesn’t need much money for groceries, as Sunset’s father brings back a few days’ worth of food every week or after a successful hunt.
>The garage is filled with a variety of different weapons and other tools, primarily used for hunting in the woods.
>Well, at least on Sunset’s father’s side. Sunset’s mother’s side is kept clear for the car she drives to work every day.
>The other things that Sunset had hidden from Rarity exist in the house for a hardly related purpose.
>Over the years, Sunset’s family had become more and more interested in looking into the idea of supernatural presences being in the surrounding world.
>This is mostly on Sunset’s father’s side, with the man being very religious and interested in learning more about the supernatural.
>Sunset’s father may be a die-hard Christian while her mother is agnostic, but the two do not see that difference as any reason for them not to be together. To put it in simpler terms, they’re “chill about it”.
>But as for Sunset herself, she has an even closer connection with the paranormal than either of her parents.
>She’s never told either of them this, as there’s pretty much no way they will be able to find out anyway. But after the town falls completely under the darkness of night, Sunset uses her connection to the paranormal in certain ways.
>All thanks to the books that Sunset’s dad had collected over the years, Sunset has been exposed to material in which one can learn how to perform certain rituals that pertain to interacting with the supernatural world.
>Sunset’s father does indeed believe in all of this, from a Christian point of view, but he has never actually seen it for himself. Unlike his daughter.
>It has become apparent to Sunset in recent times that astral projection is indeed possible with the right knowledge and equipment.
>Sure, the whole “relax and let your body feel the vibrations” technique was a good start for Sunset, but that just so happened to be the beginning of this.
>Years before, Sunset would slowly begin to become used to astral projecting. She had read it in one of her father’s books and wanted to find a way to control her dreams.
>And she had gotten remarkably fond of the practice by the time she entered high school.
>But everything changed when she found out what had gone on at another high school: Canterlot High.
>From what she heard from other students at the school she still currently goes to, there were a total of three occurrences at Canterlot High.
>First, and apparent clone of Sunset Shimmer from a parallel universe crossed over into this realm and tried to take over Canterlot High with a magical crown. And she was only stopped when magical princess from the same parallel universe followed her to this realm and stopped her.
>Second, Canterlot High was brought under the control of a group of sirens through some sort of musical power, which was again stopped by not only the same princess from the first time, but apparently the clone of Sunset as well.
>Lastly, and the most recent occurrence so far, the top student from another school called Crystal Prep apparently got caught up in one of Canterlot High’s major events. And she had to be stopped by the clone of Sunset from a parallel universe.
>All of these things that Sunset heard about could only intrigue the girl more about the paranormal. She’s been trying to find out how to enter parallel universes ever since.
>And so came her more complex attempts to astral project.
>Sunset has been astral projecting every night, normally going to be a lot earlier than most of her peers at school. And it has been working effectively, but to an extent where Sunset soon learns how dangerous it is.
>As it turns out, there are a lot of terrifying things about the paranormal. And every day people do not normally see these things.
>Sunset has discovered the presence of demons all around her as she had entered a realm separate from the one she had been used to for many years.
>And some of these demons, unfortunately, have been observed to interact with real world objects and people in a negative way.
>This caused Sunset to be nearly afraid to enter the realm of the supernatural ever again, as she was under the impression that she might not return.
>But Sunset’s fear was no match for her ambition.
>The more of the dark side of the spirit world that Sunset saw, the more she wanted to interact with it in a strange way. She wanted to be able to make massive changes i the realm of the supernatural.
>For her sixteenth birthday, Sunset did not receive a car, but a shotgun with the front sawn off. Her father wanted to teach her the value of self defense, and he was aware of the fact that she was maturing into a young lady.
>He didn’t want any of those bad boys out there messing with his daughter, so the gun was hers to keep.
>Sunset’s interest in the supernatural only heightened as she heard more and more tales about the fables Canterlot High. It soon came to the point where she would occasionally visit there.
>And when she got there, that fateful moment when she met her parallel self became something she will never forget.
>The Sunset Shimmer from the parallel universe told her of endless things involving traveling between dimensions, magical powers and so many more things. It was as though everything in Sunset’s past was brought to life by this clone of herself she had just met.
>The two, of course, got to know eachother really quickly. As well as parallel Sunset’s friends.
>Sunset’s father would ask her about who she met at the other school. To which, Sunset would reply with the notion that she met someone just like herself. Her parents were largely kept in the dark about all of this… up until this very day.
>And now, Sunset has not only learned how to astral project herself, but some of her belongings as well.
>This knowledge, after one thing led to another, ended up composing the activity that Sunset partakes in during this present day. This is where it all truly begins.
>…
>In Canterlot High, there is a magic portal that leads to a magical land called Equestria. Sunset’s parallel self has traveled through that portal, accidentally taking some of the magic with her the first time around.
>But little does anyone at CHS know that the magic there is not completely under the control of those who wield it.
>Along the dividing line between the living world and the spirit world of this realm outside of Equestria, there is a lack of certain filters. Certain filters that Sunset soon learns that exist in Equestria.
>This realm includes a very slight passageway  between dimensions, that allow the paranormal to connect with physical objects with little to no detection. Magic from the Equestrian dimension seems to have a higher potency than pretty much anything that can be tangible to the mortals of this realm.
>This is where the danger comes in.
>In the realm of the supernatural, vicious demons lurk around every corner, desperate to inflict pain and suffering unto anything they can. Equestrian Magic, almost like radiation, has spread throughout the world from the portal and has become detectable by these… utterly nasty creatures.
>If what Sunset had recently studied is correct, it’s potency allows them to gain energy and come into contact with the human world much more easily than without magic. And reports around town have been documenting a sharp increase of strange occurrences overnight.
>For some reason, that’s when the demons come out. Whether it’s because there aren’t as many souls around to take up all fo the effects of the magic, or simply because they are harder to see, the demons use the darkness between dusk and dawn to carry out their mischievous deeds.
>Whenever they are reported, no one ever believes the story. And Sunset is told that Canterlot High is not supposed to talk about this sort of thing. But she knows that the things that happen at night are true. She has seen it herself when she was astral projecting.
>Which brings us to the current night.
>Like every other night, Sunset gets into bed early. The girl dives under the covers with an object she has grown to know and love very well.
>That object: her sawn-off shotgun. A… different kind of teddy bear.
>Sunset goes through the usual routine and falls asleep, though, she says a few specific words and phrases in her head to make sure that her astral projection goes correctly. The girl chants the memorized words in her head.
>Not many verses are needed to remember. To be honest, Sunset had the entire routine down by the time she had been astral projecting for a year and a half.
>The girl slowly falls asleep, and soon finds herself surrounded by an aura or darkness.
>She clutches onto her sawn-off shotgun, ready to use it the very second it becomes apparent that she’ll need it. And soon enough, she finds herself standing upright, but no longer in her daytime of nighttime clothes.
>These clothes… are usually worn for something quite different than day and night. It’s a full-body leather suit, thick and protective. Meanwhile, where Sunset rises to her feet, it is not day, or night, or morning or evening.
>This is the realm of the supernatural.
>The girl s already prepared for anything she might have to face right off the bat. She points the shotgun directly forward everywhere she looks, having learnt her lesson from previous visits to here.
>And it was for a good reason.
>In the distance floats a thick mist, but not thick enough to hide the four legged figure barreling right in Sunset’s direction.
>She takes aim, keeping her hand steady.
>The trigger is pulled, and the blast from the barrels resounds throughout the open space where Sunset stands in the middle of.
>The creature is blown back; head first. At least… back during the half second when there still was a head.
>Sunset, not even slightly fazed, slowly squints her eyes and keeps her ears set on any more possible footsteps. She spins in a complete circle with her gun drawn, only to find no other challengers.
>The demon huntress has returned.
>The air falls quiet around the sounds of Sunset’s footsteps.
>She keeps herself alert as she heads into a cluster of trees, ready to respond to any sound she might hear. She’s been here before, so there really shouldn’t be too many surprises.
>But this place has been known to change, so the huntress will never let her guard down.
>The places in this realm have been observed to somewhat represent the locations in the human world. Sunset had learnt this during her first few times exploring here.
>Where she started out was an empty space replacing where her house in the human world exists. She has begun to head towards the woods behind her house’s location to see if anything waits behind the tree trunks.
>The friends she had made from Canterlot High are really important to Sunset; and they are the one who are in the most danger. Magical auras, hardly ever seen by the human eye, seem to gravitate towards them the most.
>It’s not surprising that Sunset tends to catch them trying to make their way to the houses of the main six and try to possess them through the easy connection between the two worlds.
>The walk over to their houses usually tend to be long ones, especially since Sunset must go out of town in order to make it to Canterlot High.
>A trail through the woods typically does the trick. Plus, Sunset manages to get a few kills along the way. Following in her father’s footsteps in a spiritual way as she heads deeper into the forest.
>In an act of possible preparation, Sunset uses all of her strength to rip off the end of the sleeve on her right arm. It takes her foot pinning the leather material down and over a minute of pulling before a tear finally appears.
>The long strand is eventually separated from the sleeve, and Sunset uses it to tightly tie the sawn-off shotgun to her hand.
>This has proven to save Sunset on multiple occasions in the past. And she plans to survive a lot longer this time.
>No time for talking, Sunset must keep her eyes peeled and her sawn-off shotgun at the ready.
>And this proves to be a wise move as well.
>Stalking creatures make the slightest noises when they see something they want, and Sunset knows exactly what these noises sound like.
>Out of element, in a sense that it’s trying too hard to be quiet.
>A subtle crack of a twig to Sunset’s right, nothing else is needed to be heard.
>The flaming round echoes through the trees less than a half second later, but the first thing it reaches is the rugged forest floor. With the timeframe being but a split second, Sunset had no clear shot.
>The new beast knows it’s being shot at, and escapes its hiding place in the direction of Sunset’s bright and fiery hair.
>It makes heavy footfalls, stirring up enough sound for Sunset to accurately guess where the target in the darkness charges from.
>She fires two more rounds, both of which strike the creature in the center of its torso. This time, now more like the first time, the creature made its location apparent before it got too close.
>Sunset actually takes a longer look this time, given that this one didn’t fall back into a cloud of mist.
>Whatever it was that just came at the girl doubles over to its side with an agonized grunt. The bullet lodged into its lung can almost be heard in its shaky breathing.
>A quick snarl of the beat’s protruding teeth isn’t enough to convince Sunset to back off. She only raises the double barrel once more in response, aiming for right between the eyes.
>Even though the darkness, Sunset can make out the canine-like features on this thing that nearly reached her. She would have guessed that this thing is a werewolf if it weren’t for the dog-shaped body. At least, she can’t say it’s an anthropomorphic werewolf.
>With this one kill comes a slightly horrifying hint that the wolves here travel in packs.
>Right before the trigger is pulled, Sunset can faintly hear more approaching footfalls in the distance. Her ears pick them up right before the blast from the shotgun drowns out all other sound. The girl tries to remember where she heard the footfalls came from as she promptly turns her weapon away from the shattered head.
>A couple of moving shadows emerging from behind a bush catch Sunset’s eye… and her bullet. The girl would have been screwed at this very moment if shotgun rounds weren’t infinite in the supernatural world.
>A deafening blast sends the first gargantuan wolf tumbling back into a second one’s path. Sunset’s finger rapidly presses on the trigger, sending as many bullets out of the weapon as possible.
>Of course, the frequent recoil sends Sunset’s arm flying back and the gun pointed up at the sky as the trigger is still being pulled.
>Sunset re-positions her aim at the last living wolf she can spot in front of her, only praying that there aren’t any in the other directions.
>But praying has little to no effect here.
>After one more successful torso shot, Sunset is tackled from the side by yet another wolf. The one her bullet just hit can hardly limp forward with much speed.
>The wolf that tackled Sunset aims its biting teeth for the face, but finds itself gnawing on the metal barrels of Sunset’s sawn-off shotgun. Its orange eyes brightly glowing in the darkness with rage as its razor sharp teeth clamp down onto the metal.
>Tying the gun to her hand couldn’t have been a smarter move for Sunset this situation.
>Sunset pulls the trigger and sends the creature’s brains splattering in every direction. Some of it… lands on the fur of yet another wolf.
>The wounded one is right behind it.
>Sunset points and shoots as many times as she possibly can, this time remembering to hold the gun steady and set on the target. Somewhere in the barrage of flaming bullets, each of the beasts were pelted with crushing blows.
>After no other sounds than the wind can be heard, Sunset stands herself back up. The wolves slowly vanish into thin air, and Sunset knows that if they are permanent residents of this realm, then they will re-spawn somewhere else in this world.
>Sunset has learnt this after seeing the same beings multiple times after killing them. But that’s no reason why she shouldn’t come in here to keep things in order when creatures with bad intent start contacting the human world.
>If anything, it’s a dangerous job that no one would want to have the burden of doing. But so far, Sunset hasn’t seen anyone else come in here to bring discipline to the paranormal. If Sunset sees the wolves again, she won’t hesitate to shoot them down one more time.
>She continues deeper into the woods, now even more alert after a couple of close calls.
>The terrain starts to become gradually more hilly as Sunset proceeds. With each climb to the higher ground, she stays at the top for a while and scouts the surrounding clusters of trees and bushes for anything that might be watching her.
>A couple of deer are spotted at one point, and they flee at the first dight of the huntress. She lets them escape to wherever it is they need to go.
>The smaller streams aren’t too hard to cross. Sunset just jumps over them with ease and continues along the path she has chosen. With some of the streams, the girl follows along the length in the direction of the flow of the water.
>If she remembers correctly, all of the water flows in the direction of the town where Canterlot High would be in the human world. Sunset can’t wait until she makes it out of these trees where she’s completely alone.
>Maybe she can find a couple of teammates like a few of the other times.
>The lights of a few nearby homes can be spotted through the trees after a few more minutes. Sunset moves slowly, constantly turning around with her gun pointed. Just in case.
>During a few of her other visits, Sunset had gone into these homes. The doors are rarely locked, and the inhabitants within never seem to mind intruders or surprise visitors.
>Sunset examines the houses as she makes it on the to suburban streets. Walking up and down the sidewalks in search for any suspicious activity.
>These people… dead from long ago, have lived in these homes long before the current year. Some of them had died in their homes for various reasons. Others in hospitals, or other places. One middle-aged man with a tragic story made it all the way back to his house on foot after his death on the highway.
>So many different stories, and yet, most of them decided to go back home to their families after death.
>It’s hard for any of them to tell who has moved into these homes in the human world so many years later. They can hardly see the things that happen from this realm. And it’s probably the same the other way around.
>If the people in the human world are lucky, they might be able to see some of the inhabitants that Sunset walks past at this very moment. Though, they might not feel so lucky.
>Not many people like to encounter ghosts haunting their homes.
>The funny part is, some of the houses have multiple families living there at the same time. From different generations and time periods. They’ve strangely enough found ways to coexist in their homes. Sunset has seen it for herself.
>It’s not like they need to eat or save electricity or anything. Just live there in the places they’ve grown to know for so long. They were generally nice to Sunset, inviting her in and talking to her about what they wished they had done while they were still alive.
>Sunset even considers paying them a quick visit right now, knowing that they’re always waiting with open arms.
>But she sees something on the far side of the street.
>The girl takes aim, wary of the fact that some of the demons she hunts can move considerably quickly. The figure, this time more human looking, disappears behind one of the houses’ corners. This prompts Sunset to rush in the direction where she saw the figure and keep a sharp eye out for anything that might jump out at her.
>It’s pretty apparent that this thing probably hiding. If it weren’t then it might have still been in plain sight.
>Sunset says not a word, setting her mind solely on eliminating anything that might make attempts to negatively interact with the human world. The spaces between the houses are relatively easy to scavenge.
>Each dark corner is being cleared with nothing there. Sunset eventually reaches a group of houses at the tip of a cul-de-sac that she hasn’t reached before. She usually passes by this area to get to Fluttershy’s house, as it’s ironically the closest.
>It would be terrible if that girl caught a glimpse of Sunset’s father in action.
>Sunset wishes that it was this easy to go around her own neighborhood in the supernatural realm. It’s too bad the houses are too new.
>It is only when the huntress enters one of the backyards when she sees something lying in the center of the grass before fading away. Right when Sunset approaches where the thing disappeared, a soft voice sounds from a dark corner of the backyard.
>”You’re welcome.”
>Sunset gets ready to raise her gun, but refrains from doing so due to the nature of the voice and what it said. She only turns in the direction from which the voice sounded. Not even responding to it, even after a few more seconds pass of whoever it is waiting for her to say something.
>”Ah… I get it. You’re not much of a talker.” The voice now sounds almost like that of a male. “Didn’t think you would be all the other times I saw you around these parts.”
>Is… is this the voice of a child?
>”Well anyway, I hope you’re more of a listener. We’ve got another one up in that window over there.” The one speaking suddenly emerges out of the shadows.
>It’s a young boy, not looking much older than his preteen years. Sunset notices a sports jacket and blue jeans on the boy along with white sneakers. She stares at him with a questioning look, before he pulls out a baseball bat from behind his back.
>Now Sunset raises her weapon, finger ready to position itself on the trigger.
>”I said up there. At the window.” The boy points with the bat towards a window on the back of the house this backyard belongs to.
>Sunset takes a glance towards where the boy’s bat points, and discovers a troubling sight.
>A second floor window reveals the horrifying silhouette of a person wearing a full gown with their hair crazily sprouting out in all directions from their head. The two faint dots of their eyes slightly glow as they stare down at Sunset from the second floor window.
>That glare… there’s no way it’s not malicious.
>”I take it you haven’t seen that one before.” The boy tells Sunset as she redirects the shotgun’s aim up to the lanky figure in the window. “I knew her.”
>”Her?” Sunset speaks for the first time in the presence of this boy.
>”Creepy old lady used to live there in the 50’s. Terrorizes anyone who tries to move into the house on the other side. Very territorial.” the boy explains. “You have a nice voice, by the way.”
>Sunset finds herself too far away to get a good shot of the lady in the window. “Yeah, well don’t get too ahead of yourself, kid.” She walks over to the house.
>”Let me know if you need help.” The boy then follows Sunset up to the side of the house as she tries to find a way. “Just so you know… I can’t die here.”
>”Oh?”
>”Yeah… if I get run over by a car or something here, I just come back somewhere else. Like in the woods or something.”
>”Like a video game?”
>”I… don’t really know what that is. You’re probably from the future, aren’t you?”
>”You died, didn’t you?”
>”Yup, back in ’57. Don’t wanna talk about it, though.”
>”Fine by me.”
>”Anyway… yeah. I can’t really die in here. So we should probably… pair up. If ya know what I mean. Since you might need me and all that.”
>Sunset chuckles to herself. “Not if I have this.” She points the sawn-off shotgun directly at the ghost boy and blows his head off. “Nothing personal, kid.”
>She opens a side door on the house and steps into a garage. She can feel the lady from the window ominously waiting for her.
>The door leading to the kitchen from the garage is already unlocked. Sunset soon finds herself approaching a dark hallway leading to nothing but blackness.
>She keeps her gun at the ready.
>Perhaps Sunset should have kept that kid around to get any information regarding any other people who might be living (actually alive or dead) in this house.
>But then again, she does remember him saying that this old lade, whoever she is, has a knack for driving people “on the other side” away from this place. That technically counts as something earning a flaming bullet.
>The lady’s pretty much a poltergeist, not much more. At least, not too much for Sunset to handle.
>A poignant whistling stops Sunset in her tracks.
>It started up so suddenly, catching the girl by surprise. But only for a split second, as Sunset heads in the direction of the sound that abruptly comes to a stop just as quickly as it had begun.
>The end on the hallway leads to a sitting area, presumably a living room. In here, Sunset immediately sees two people sitting on a couch together and one person standing upright. The two on the couch, a balding middle aged man and a young lady in her early twenties. The man holds a newspaper up to his face with his lips puckered.
>Sunset briefly wonders why the man with the newspaper is making this face until the whistling she heard from before escapes his mouth.
>The on standing up, even closer to Sunset, has an ironing board spread out in front of her. Sunset would have thought that this middle aged lade was the poltergeist of this place if it weren’t for the hair being nowhere near as strewn about.
>She keeps a close eye on all three of these people, not wasting any time with preliminary introductions. None of the people move, not even the man whistling.
>A long moment of silence passes as Sunset slowly walks by the family, hoping that they don’t see her as too antagonistic with her gun raised at them. But then again, people with guns raised don’t tend to look very friendly.
>”How long have you lived here?” Sunset makes the slightest attempt to reason with them, just in case se sees these people again. “I’m not here for you. There is someone upstairs that has been terrorizing the living world.”
>They do not answer Sunset. Not even appearing to acknowledge her presence.
>”Do you know her?”
>Still not a peep comes out of any of the three except for further whistling from the balding man. But right as Sunset lowers her barrels, another sound accompanies the man’s whistling.
>The two clicks of a gun being cocked.
>Sunset can already tell that this doesn’t add up, as her own gun has unlimited ammunition and doesn’t need to be reloaded. She instinctively spins around.
>But she spun around a second too late.
>The only thing Sunset catches a glimpse of is the most crazed face she’s seen under a light source before a bullet from another gun pierces through the center of her head.
>Sunset can only assume that this was the lady she saw in the window.
~
>Sunset jolts awake in her bed, shotgun in hand.
>It’s a good thing she never puts any bullets into the thing in real life, otherwise, she might have ended up loudly making swiss cheese out of herself.
>She looks around for a few seconds before gathering her thoughts and returning her mind to reality. She realizes what just happened.
>”Dammit.” Sunset wishes she could have at least lasted a little bit longer this time.
>This was the first time in a while she was killed by something behind her. Sunset can’t help but get the feeling that her defense mechanisms might be slipping.
>There are still a few hours of night left to sleep through.
>But Sunset decides that she’s seen enough for one round. She’ll just remember the route she took next time and work her way to the same house from there.
>She’s already planning to go see what the house is like today.
>The girl just decides to regularly sleep for the rest of the night. It isn’t often when she takes breathers like these.
>A few more hours pass before the sky outside begins to lighten up.
>Sunset is awoken by her alarm at 6:30. She promptly gets out of bed and gets ready to go to school.
>The cold morning air has returned, and Sunset couldn’t be happier to get onto the warm bus.
>And since none of her friends go the the same school as her, not even her parallel clone, Sunset doesn’t have much to look forward to in the school day.
>…
>By the end of the day, Sunset has already texted a couple of her Canterlot High friends. She’s gotten used to traveling over to their town to hang out. Whenever the main reason to visit Canterlot was to investigate any places over there that might have been haunted, Sunset usually goes over there early enough to be able to spend time with her friends for a little bit after doing whatever she can to save them from the supernatural.
>Whenever they would ask her why she was so out of breath, she’d just explain that she was running around in her own town running errands.
>It’s really the least she can do for the main six.
>School eventually lets out, and Sunset arranges to meet Rarity and Rainbow Dash behind Canterlot High at around 5:00 PM. Before this, she’s going to find the house she was spiritually in a few hours ago.
>Sunset takes her phone with her, expecting to be able to catch a few strange things on camera - video or still shot.
>It takes the girl around ten minutes to drive over to Canterlot.
>She uses the map on her phone to eventually locate the neighborhood she was walking through last night. It doesn’t take long when she can see all fo the different routes she used to take from other times on the map.
>Chills begin to run down Sunset’s spine as she makes it onto the black she used to be on. It’s 4:32, about a half an hour before she is supposed to meet up with her friends.
>She takes her camera out and scans for the lonely cul-de-sac she remembers. It turns out to be the longest one in the neighborhood, making the house even more secluded from the street. Sunset keeps her eyes glued to the house as she drives up to it, almost scratching the sides of five cars as she passes by the other homes.
>Sunset pulls up to the place and takes her phone out. It looks like there haven’t been any people living here for at least a decade. The tall grass in front wild and littered with dandelions and other weeds.
>A few pictures are snapped, and Sunset is able to take a look at them right away since this is her phone she’s using.
>What she finds does settle some uneasiness into the girl, but doesn’t all too much surprise her.
>Human-looking blurs can be seen lurking in the windows and around the house. This somewhat makes Sunset glad she didn’t take any pictures from the backyard, given that it’s the place where she saw the worst spirit of them all in the paranormal realm.
>She finishes taking pictures and gets back into her car. A slight urge to rush away from the house comes over Sunset as she steps on the gas pedal. She can’t quite put her finger on it as she drives away, and pretty much just brushes it off as nothing.
>But still keeps a hope in her heart that whatever was lurking in that house didn’t choose to follow her. She’s had an incident like that happen before.
>Sometimes, the demons like to somewhat spawn camp those who choose to hunt them. But they rarely get that bold, so Sunset doesn’t feel too much worry about a simple uneasy feeling she gets one time.
>She drives on.
>Rarity and Rainbow Dash are already standing at the front of the school when Sunset pulls up at 4:54. They apparently had after school activities to attend, which is why Sunset believes they agreed to meet up here instead of at one of their houses.
>And little does Sunset know, this was probably for the best. Something unseen sits in the backseat of her car.
>Rainbow Dash waves the car down as Sunset parks it. She and Rarity watch the fiery haired girl step out of the car with nothing visible following behind her.
To be continued.
—END OF EPISODE 1—