Chapter 7

Shed some Light

Slimer slurped on a bottle of Coke as he observed everything going on in the hotel parking lot. It was a risk, but the girls figured it would be better to do this in an open area rather than inside. Spike sat on the hood of the Ecto-Van, unsure what to think of all this.

"So… Stasis Stream, and if absolutely necessary, Rarity's shield should hold him," Sunset said as she took her Proton Pack off and put it down.

"You sure?" Rarity asked, looking around to see if anyone was around.

"Yea."

Applejack set her trap down in the center of the parking lot. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash took aim, switching on their Dark Matter Generators. Once they got a blue glow, they nodded and shifted their stance. Rarity took a deep breath and positioned herself in between the two and raised a hand, ready to summon a diamond shield. In her mind she was estimating how big she'd need to make it, and if she would need to make several in order to hold the ghost. If Sunset's magic could work on ghosts, it was a safe bet that any non-physical magic, like Rarity's shield and Twilight's levitation, would also be effective as well. Rainbow Dash's speed and Fluttershy's Animal Speak were useless, Applejack's strength was a mixed bag being dependent on wrangling with a capture stream, and Pinkie Pie's exploding sprinkles… were a total wildcard. Not a clue.

Sunset Shimmer closed her eyes and took a deep breath. While her magic worked on Slimer, there was no telling how it would work on this ghost. But they were flying blind and needed information. They needed to know what they were up against.

She opened her eyes, a defiant look crossing her face.

"Do it," she said.

Applejack put a hand on her own Neutrona Wand in case she needed to wrangle the ghost before triggering the trap. The armored ghost sprang out, shock and confusion clearly on its face, before a pair of blue streams with black cores slammed into it. The Stasis Streams started forming "ice" all over the ghost's body, and its movements became sluggish. Rarity decided not to take any chances and thrust her hand out, forming several diamond shaped shields and arranging them to trap the ghost, while leaving three openings. Two for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to shoot through, and one for Sunset to touch it.

"Here goes nothing..." Sunset said as she approached their prisoner and extended a hand. The ghost was still able to growl at being restrained and tried to lash out, but the Stasis Streams were making him so sluggish that Sunset only had to sidestep and actually reached out and grabbed the semi solidified arm. Unfortunately nothing happened. Growling, Sunset actually thrust her hand at the ghost's chest, figuring that the spectral gauntlet was interfering. As soon as her hand came into contact with its chest…

Her eyes lit up, surprising the ghost.


Images and sounds rushed into Sunset's mind as she was bombarded with memories of the past.

Ancient conquests across Europe. Armies crumbling before them. Dark Magic empowering the army. Word that Camelot had sent Knights to try and negotiate…

She saw it all. She saw the Knights as they approached the castle. One of them was a woman wearing lighter armor and carrying a bow. Another was an older man wearing robes and carrying a staff, which reminded her of Gandalf the Grey.

"We seek an audience with King Sombra, in the hope of restoring peace."

They were led to the Throne Room where… she saw him. Sombra. A sinister look on his face as he regarded the Knights who were brought before him. His ebony armor adding to his evil look. He stood up and approached the Knights.

"Peace? You come before me… one destined to rule the world… and talk of PEACE?"

Sombra thrust his hand out and unleashed a wave of Dark Magic, knocking the Knights over.

"There will be NO peace. This world is MINE! All who stand against me will fall!"

A battle soon began, the Knights thrown instantly on the defensive. But it wasn't long before the Knights started pushing back. The woman, Sunset could now see she had red hair, not only was able to hit "Sunset" with an arrow, she was able to land several into Sombra's chest. As Sombra fell, many of his soldiers convulsed as if something in them had been disrupted.

"You… You think you've won?" Sombra spat, casting a spell. "One day… I… will return… and I will have my revenge against… your descendants!"

With that last declaration, Sombra fell. And as far as Sunset could tell the world went black.

When she could see again, the scene had changed. They were in a cave of some sort. A pool of water near the back. A dark presence swept across the chamber.

"At last… That blasted creature masquerading as a human thought he could seal magic away to prevent my return..."

"As we did in life, we serve you in death my lord."

"I have searched the world for the power to restore me… Stonehenge was too well defended. Easter Island… far too remote… but here… on this… Mako Island… I have found a font of magic. Now… to learn its secrets and… to exact my revenge."

"The world has changed my lord. Magic is virtually unknown. And I believe I sense the presence of a descendant. I shall seek them out as you will it."

"The blood of the Knights' descendants shall fuel my return. The world may have forgotten about me… but I have not forgotten about the world. All will bow before King Sombra… or be destroyed!"


Sunset recoiled as she pulled her hand away from the irate ghost.

"Sombra..." she trailed off.

"You may have magic, but you are all pathetic!" the ghost cackled. "King Sombra will destroy you all!"

"Been there, done that, got the T-Shirt," Rainbow Dash shot back. "Just ask Nightmare Moon!"

"You don't understand the gravity of your situation! You've already lost! The power of this island will be at its strongest at the height of the Full Moon! And fueled by Gwenevere's blood… King Sombra will walk the Earth once again! NONE CAN DEFY HIM! NONE CAN CHALLENGE HIS POWER! YOU WILL ALL KNEEL BEFORE HIM OR DIE!"

Sunset Shimmer clenched her teeth as she glared at the offending ghost.

"Not over yet," she spat as she stepped aside. "Box this creeper!"

Applejack triggered her trap, and the ghost was sucked back in. Rarity dispelled her shields and looked at the rest of the group. It was clear they were all shaken up. What little they know about this Sombra was rather dark. And now they knew who they were up against.

It was a Nightmare Moon level threat.

"Well… that was a thing…" Twilight trailed off. The rest of the girls had a mix of grim and worried expressions on their faces. Applejack picked up her trap and went to the Ecto-Van, intending to flush the ghost into the Porta-Slammer. After she finished, everyone went back up towards their rooms. Sunset bit her lip as she thought about what she learned. After sharing the information, everyone just stayed quiet. They were on the clock, and they had no idea how to proceed at all.

After what felt like forever, Twilight actually spoke up again.

"I got a theory I want to run by you girls," she said.

"Shoot," Rainbow Dash replied.

"I was thinking about what Sunset said. How she described a wizard with the Knights, and how Sombra used Dark Magic. That wouldn't make sense as our world shouldn't have magic."

"That's right..." Rarity spoke up. "Until we were exposed to Equestrian Magic, we didn't have any, or even knew anything about real magic."

"Based on what Sunset told us she saw, the information we got from Kylie earlier… and the readings we've been getting on the PKE Meters here… I believe I can say for sure that… our world actually had magic in the past. I mean think about it. Why would we have magic?"

"Because we were exposed to Equestrian Magic?" Fluttershy suggested.

"I don't think that applies to Twilight as much," Pinkie Pie pointed out. "I mean she wasn't at Canterlot when Sunset brought over the Element of Magic. Hell… we didn't even know her until we met during the Friendship Games!"

For a moment everyone was silent again. But there was something that came to mind for Sunset. Her friends did seem to take to magic almost instantly after being exposed. If they were ordinary humans, why did they seem to adapt so quickly? She voiced this observation, causing Twilight to nod in response.

"Exactly. By all rights we're not magical creatures like Sunset. We're just… human. Yet..."

"We took t' Magic like a pig t' mud," Applejack finished. "Ah never thought about it honestly."

"If we assume that magic was a thing in our world… then… the reason we have magic, even if its Equestrian, is because magic is in our family history."

Twilight then adjusted her glasses and elaborated on her theory. She explained that humans do have genes inherited from their ancient ancestors, yet they are essentially dormant because they don't need them. Using that, she basically explained that their magic affinity was the same. They HAD the genes so to speak, they were just dormant until they got goosed by Equestrian Magic. Suddenly… the dormant magic affinity gene was switched on during the Fall Formal. And Twilight's was not only switched on at the Friendship Games, it got supercharged because she basically overdosed. It didn't apply to Sunset as she was already a magical creature. The only issue for her was being a Unicorn in a Human body.

"Makes sense," Sunset finally said.

"So… how does this help stop this Samba guy?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Sombra," Rarity corrected. "But… that is a good question..."


Sonic, Manic, and Sonia were walking home from school, discussing what they could possibly do to help the Ghostbusters. So far two issues kept coming up. One was the fact that they were outsiders. They didn't know about magic. Being native to Westside Island, the triplets did have some of their own. Nowhere near that of Starlight Glimmer, but they still had some. But one thing you learned on Westside Island was to keep a secret. And the Island's magic was the biggest secret. The other was… Sunset Shimmer. How could there be two of her? Sonic was honestly worried about the one they knew. The redhead was reluctant to ask anyone for help, preferring to keep to herself. The only ones she would apparently open up to even remotely was Father Michael and Sonia. Sonic and Manic tried, but she always gave them the cold shoulder.

"Well… Rotor's Garage is certainly getting some business after the chaos on Main Street," Sonia said as she ran a hand through her magenta hair.

"Yup," Sonic replied as he stretched. "I heard the Ghostbusters were there too. They were actually zapping the ghosts with some kind of techno-pack things."

"Still… I don't know if we should tell them about..."

"We'll figure it out Sonia."

"I hope you're right. I've just never seen it so bad before."

Before either of the two brothers could comment on what their sister said, the trio was confronted by ghosts. Sonia hung back a bit as Sonic took a defensive stance. Manic looked a little nervous as he took note of the fact the ghosts were surrounding them.

The ghosts charged at them, and the triplets scattered. Sonic knew he couldn't fight something he couldn't touch, which aggravated him. They actually had the nerve to go after his family after all.

He turned to check on his siblings, and his eyes went wide. Manic was fine, having rolled off to the side, but the objective of the attack was made abundantly clear when he saw Sonia floating in the air as if being lifted up by her chest. They purposefully split them up.

Sonia touched down on the ground, eyes still closed, but Sonic could tell something was wrong. The young woman opened her eyes. Instead of their usual sapphire blue, they were a sickly green. Almost like slime, and the color of most of the ghosts they've seen. She seemed to examine herself as if seeing her own body for the first time.

"Uh… sis?" Sonic spoke up, attracting Sonia's attention.

Sonia looked at him, and it was painfully obvious to the athlete. Sonia Hedge was not home.

"You will not interfere," she sneered, her voice a mix of her own and something else. She raised her hand and threw it out towards Sonic, sending a psychokinetic wave towards the blue haired boy and sending him flying into a tree. "Gwenevere will be brought before our lord. Neither you nor these so called Ghostbusters can stop us."

Sending another wave towards Manic, who was trying to sneak past her, Sonia walked away, followed by the other ghosts.

"Ow..." Manic groaned as he pushed himself up off the ground. Spotting his brother, he ran over to check on Sonic. "What the hell was that?"

"Pretty obvious Manic..." Sonic groaned as he rubbed his head. "We got owned. And they now have Sonia."

"Totally NOT cool bro..."

"No kidding. Guess that debate is rather moot now. We need the Ghostbusters."

"What did she mean about Gwenevere though?"

Sonic shook his head before blinking. He had a bad feeling.

"Trojan Horse..." he trailed off. "They're using Sonia to get at Sunset!"