This happens two months after Legend of Everfree
"Good idea Sunset, about going outside for lunch," Fluttershy said. The two girls sat down on the brick wall outside the main entrance to Canterlot High.
"I was getting a bit cooped up in there, after my math test,"
"You had a math test today?" Sunset Shimmer asked, opening her lunch box
"Yeah," Fluttershy replied
"That means I have one tomorrow," Sunny groaned. She bit into her sandwich. Fluttershy giggled.
"Didn't you study?"
"I was busy...,"
"With what?" Fluttershy opened her thermos. A blast of warm pasta greeted her senses.
"Trying to talk to Twilight. She still won't respond for some reason," Fluttershy patted her back
"I'm sure she's just busy. She'll respond if she has time,"
Both girls ate in silence until the bell rang.
"Come on, let's go to class.," Sunny scooted off the wall. Behind her, a car pulled up, stopped, then left. A buttload of gasping attracted her attention to look back. She gasped as well, her jaw grounded. A boy, a cyborg, was walking down the walkway. Half his body was replaced by a grey metal skeleton, and his eye was a large, emerald green oval. Lime green lines cut the oval into tiny squares.
He looked small and nervous. Everyone seemed to form a murmuring tunnel for him to walk down. Even she didn't attract this much attention. The bell snapped Sunset Shimmer back to attention. She ran straight for her locker. On her way to her classroom, she wondered about the student. She had never seen him before, and if she did, she doubted she would forget someone as odd looking as that. The thought slipped her mind as class started.
Two thirds into the lesson Sunset Shimmer saw him again. When he walked in a loud murmuring rose from the class. The teacher didn't even try to introduce him, her mouth was a gaping hole. Even Sunny, who saw him before still stared in astonishment. He walked past the rows of desks, every desktop seeming to inch away from him. When he took a seat next to Sunset Shimmer the teacher finally found the words to introduce him.
"Class, this is the new...student. Dusky Gadget.,"
Then she went back to the blackboard as if nothing happened. Dusky Gadget didn't seem to be bothered by this. Instead, he opened his textbook and followed along with the lesson.
After class, Sunset didn't see Dusky Gadget for the remainder of the school day. She forgot about him until Rarity brought him up at the library.
"Did any of you see that new student?"
"There's a new student?" Sunset asked, desperately trying to read the numbers and symbols on her page.
"Yes, did you not see him?"
"Sorry, I'm studying for my math test tomorrow, what does he look like?"
"You don't remember?" Fluttershy asked "You saw him with me,"
"I am astonished you cannot remember him. The boy was certainly completely odd. Half his body is a robot! And the lack of clothing choice," Rarity exclaimed, receiving a sharp shush from the librarian.
"He was kind of funny looking," Fluttershy admitted, looking up from her book.
"Oh yeah! He's in my physics class,"
"You take physics?" Twilight asked, finally pulled away from her books.
"Well, yeah, I need one more year of science to graduate,"
"Where do you think he's from?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Whether he's from he's probably used to getting, you know, a lot of attention from people," Sunny set her homework down.
"Kind of like you. Hey, you should try making friends with him. You two got a lot in common," Rainbow Dash added
"Like?" Sunny asked
"Well, you both attract a lot of attention, negative or not, you both seem to have a hard time making and keeping friends. Besides, he's new, he won't know about what you did," Twilight said
"Yet," Sunset Shimmer added, sadly. Everyone who came to Canterlot High would find out. Soon.
"Maybe if you become his friend before he finds out, he won't care," Twilight threw her book aside "I mean, you've changed. A lot,"
"I'll try,"
"You better hurry, because he's coming!" Pinkie Pie turned Sunsets head down the aisle of books. Dusky Gadget was walking, slowly, down the aisle.
"Actually, I was hoping that I could do it tomorrow," Sunset faked a yawn.
"Even better! Come on, let's go!" Pinkie Pie grabbed Sunny by the arm and pulled her toward Dusk.
"Hihihi!" Dusk jumped in surprise at Pinkie's energetic greeting. He dropped the binder he was carrying and it exploded open, papers flying everywhere.
"Oh, sorry! Here, I'll help you clean it up!" Pinkie swooped down and began picking up papers. Dusk didn't say anything; instead, he just began picking up papers too. Sunset did the same and soon all the papers were stuffed back inside the binder.
"...thanks…," He mumbled. It sounded half human, half robot. It surprised Sunset, even though it shouldn't have.
"My name is Pinkie Pie! What's yours?" Sunset wondered if she forgot or if Pinky was too energetic to remember.
"Dusky...Gadget…," He turned away and put on his hood.
"Ooh, cool name! Is it because of your-,"
"YES!," Pinkie Pie jumped back in fright. Dusk had whipped around so suddenly and quickly papers flew out of one end of his binder. His green eye flashed dark red, and Sunset swore she could see light smoke pouring out from underneath the hood. The librarian finally snapped. She got up and chased Pinkie, Sunset and Dusk out of the library.
"Er, sorry…," Pinky finally looked deflated. Dusk glared at her said
"Brains aren't everything, in your case their nothing," then left.
"That's one way to meet someone," Sunset said. A paper flew past her and slapped onto the glass door to the library. She peeled it off.
"What's that?" Pinkie Pie asked, completely unhurt.
"It looks like…blueprints of some sort," Sunset shimmer studied the drawings.
"Looks like it's getting late," Pinkie Pie shielded her eyes against the sunset
"I should get going. Applejack invited me to have dinner with her family,"
"Right. Bye," Sunset set off to her rented apartment.
2400 hours
A small creaking woke Sunset from her sleep. She got up from the sticky book and looked around. She shrugged it off and went back to studying.
A shadowy figure made quick work up the bent and busted pipe to the second floor. She carefully unlocked a window and slipped inside, quiet as a shadow. She was looking for something, evidently as she opened every cupboard and upturned every dirty plate. She ventured closer and closer toward Sunsets sleeping area. Like a bank robber, she carefully planned her route, avoiding areas which were lit up by the moon like invisible lasers. She spotted them on Sunsets desk but didn't go for them yet. She would have to wait until she left. Finally, she threw her book aside. The thief perked up, hoping she would go to bed. Instead, she pulled the paper into her view and began studying it.
The blueprints described some sort of machine. Sunset Shimmer couldn't make sense of it. The only thing she could make sense of was the small note written beside it.
"Looks like its unfinished," She muttered. The figure crept closer.
She'll ask Twilight about it tomorrow. She wondered why Dusk would have it? It didn't look like anything besides a few blenders hooked up to a sewing machine. It was getting late, so she put it aside and hopped in bed, not caring about taking a shower.
Blast, the figure though. There would be no way that she could get the blueprints without alerting her. She groaned silently and, quick as a gust of wind, left.
0900 hours
Sunset Shimmer barely made it to her seat before the bell rang. Ignoring the teacher's announcements, she turned toward Twilight in a hurry.
"Twilight, look what I found. It came from Dusks binder," She gave it to Twilight. She unraveled the large sheet and began reading.
"Miss Twilight and Miss Sunset, I believe you have something to share with the class?" Sunset turned back around to face the teacher, blushing.
"Sorry, ma'am,"
The teacher huffed and continued.
"We will be receiving five new transfer students. And, oh dear," The teacher raised her eyebrows.
"All five will be transferring to our classroom over the next few days.,"
Dusk suddenly perked up. If he was a dog his tail would be wagging so hard it could crack the earth in half.
"What's up with him?" Pinkie Pie asked, after class. Dusk seemed to be in a much better mood, whistling and even saying hello and apologizing to Pinky.
Applejack shrugged "Maybe the transfers are his friends,"
"Hmm...nope. The only thing I can make of this is that it's some sort of...well I'm not sure how to describe it," Twilight showed the gang the blueprints "It takes whatever in the blender, smashes it, then turns it into some form of an object, like a shirt or a necklace.,"
"That's actually pretty smart," Sunset stared.
"This could completely reuse the planet's resources.,"
"Even I never built anything like that," Twilight stared at the sheet with envy.
"Well whatever this is, we should return it to Dusk," Sunset reached to get the paper from Twilight
"It's Dusk now?" Twilight clung tighter to the paper.
"Wh-what?"
"Why are you calling him Dusk?"
"It's short, like a nickname. Like Twi,"
"Whatever.," Twilight clutched her forehead
"S-sorry. Let's give it back to him,"
"Are you feeling alright Twilight?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Y-yeah. But I felt...weird. Like when I was Midnight Sparkle.,"
"What do you mean?" Sunset asked
"I felt...hungry. But not for knowledge." She glanced at the blueprints again.
"Maybe you should ask the other Twi about it.," Applejack suggested. Sunset Shimmer shook her head
"She isn't responding, it's like the communication stopped.,"
"Try later," Rainbow Dash urged "Maybe she's busy,"
"Alright. I'll try later after school,"
"I'll take this to him," Twilight said "I'll ask him why he designed this,"
Twilight headed off to find Dusk while the rest of the group split up to go to their other classes.
Twilight located Dusk at a water fountain. When she asked why he designed it, he looked uncomfortable.
"Its something I made to try and reuse some trash I have lying around.,"
Twilight wasn't sure whether to believe the uncertainty in his voice or if he just always talked like that.
"Just don't let Rarity catch you wearing some of them, okay?" She grinned. He grinned back and, after thanking her for returning the blueprints, went on his way to his class.
1500 hours
Sunset Shimmer and Twilight just left the school before they heard the sound of conflict.
"Give me your math homework and there won't be any problems.,"
Oh no, Sunset thought. It was the new bully, Furious Impact. And from the look of things when they arrived at the scene, he just found his new victim. Dusk stood trapped between his arms. In a mechanical tone, Dusk said
"Voice command not authorized,"
"What's wrong with you? You broke or something, you big tin can?,"
"Hey!" Sunset Shimmer yelled at Fury. He turned around and laughed
"Who are you?"
"Sunset Shimmer. What are you doing to him?"
"Wait, your Sunset Shimmer? The girl who almost destroyed the school?"
"What are you doing to him?" Sunset repeated.
"I'm taking this twerps homework.,"
"Command not recognized," Dusk kept repeating.
"What the hell is wrong with you? I asked for your math homework, not if you can understand me!" Fury grabbed him by the shoulders and began slamming him against the brick wall.
"Stop!" Sunset tried to grab hold of Fury's arms but he knocked her clean off. In a sudden swift move, Fury was on the ground, having some sort of frantic seizure before finally passing out. Dusk knelt next to him and whispered sorry before stepping over his corpse and leaving.
"Did you see what happened?" Twilight helped Sunset up
"No. All I saw was Fury hitting the ground,"
"Is he still alive?" Twilight knelt next to him and tested his pulse.
"Yeah, just stunned.,"
Suddenly a shrieking came from around the corner.
"IT'S THE NIGHT RUNNER!"