Spring Vacation Day 1

“BEACH TIME!!!” yelled the hyper joyful voices of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

As promised, Sun had taken the girls, Celestia, and Luna, to her private vacation home on the island of Maredre. Although the home was more like a villa/compound, with a mile-wide wall that sectioned off part of the forest to grant them a nice front and backyard. The villa was a bit more spread out than Shimmer Manor, resembling something close to a vacation resort. The villa also had access to a private beach so they didn’t have to worry about other people, they could cut loose and be as loud and rowdy as they pleased.

Pinkie and Rainbow were the first to step onto the beach, Rainbow was wearing a one-piece suit, it had racing stripes of red, yellow, and green on the sides, and was made for athletic, competitive swimmers. She had on a pair of magenta colored swim shorts and a similarly colored hat. Pinkie was a little bold and wore a two-piece bikini, it was blue with yellow polka dots, covering her impressive bust and rear. This was the first time Pinkie wore a bikini and she was feeling a little self-conscious about her figure, but she wanted to do this for Sunset, plus, Sunset had been telling her that she should be confident in her body. And after their passionate love making, the first and second time, Sunset drove it home more that she found her body beautiful.

Coming towards them was Rarity, she too was wearing a two-piece bikini, she had a violet top with a faux diamond at the center. Around her waist was a sky-blue sarong that sparkled in the sunlight, upon her head a matching violet sun hat and a pair of sunglasses. Right next to her was Applejack, she wore green swim trunks, and a matching green bikini top, and of course her signature Stetson hat was perched atop her head. Fluttershy was behind them, she was wearing a one-piece suit that was pink in color and had a white rabbit printed on the stomach. The suit covered up most of her chest and back, allowing her shoulders and arms to be exposed.

“Looks like you two are ready to have some fun,” Applejack commented.

“Oh yeah! A private beach, all to ourselves, free to do anything we want! This is best!” Rainbow stated.

“Now don’t go and do anything unbecoming, Rainbow Dash.” Rarity tutted. “Remember, we’re guests and this is a private beach front owned by Sun.”

“Don’t worry, Rares, just enjoy yourselves!”

The girls turned around and saw that the twin Sunsets were walking their way. Sunset was wearing a black bikini top with gold flame decals, the top hugged her bust and made her cleavage very noticeable, her lower piece had gold studs lining the waistband and rode just a bit high to expose more of her hips. Sun had the same type of swimsuit on, except hers was white, and to further differentiate the two, Sun had her hair tied back into a ponytail.

“I don’t know how I let you talk me into wearing this thing, I feel like I’m back in my armor,” said Sunset.

“C’mon, Sis, you got a smokin’ hot body, flaunt it!” Sun exclaimed as she hip checked her big sister. “And I should know, we have the same bod.”

Sunset smirked and replied, “Eh, I wouldn’t say exactly the same, I think we established that my bust is a bit bigger than yours.”

“Oh, that’s bullshit, but if you want, we can whip ‘em out and see whose are bigger. Sparky, do you want to be the judge?”

Twilight was behind Sun, she had a towel draped over her body, the only thing visible were her bare legs and head. Upon being singled out, Twilight blushed at the question. “I…I…”

“We’re kidding, Twilight, don’t worry,” Sunset assured.

“Shoot,” Pinkie whispered. She turned to her right and saw that Rainbow’s face was blushing. “Dashie, were you imagining Sunset naked?”

Rainbow went stiff and scrambled to look guiltless. “No!”

“I do recall you ogling a picture of Sunset when she was in her armor,” Rarity mused.

The rainbow haired athlete spluttered and countered, “That was before I knew it was Sunset!”

“What? You don’t think I look hot then?” Sunset asked with mock displeasure as she crossed her arms.

“That’s just rude, Dashie,” said Pinkie.

“No – I mean yes – I mean, yes you’re hot – I mean – UGH!!! I’m going for a swim!”

Rainbow threw her hat onto the sand and swiftly pulled down her swim shorts, after which she ran towards the water and dove straight into it. The girls had a laugh at their friend’s expense, but it was all in good fun. Sun turned around and saw Twilight was chuckling as well, but kept the towel clenched around her body. The younger Shimmer turned around and gently placed her hand on Twilight’s shoulder, making the young genius look her in the eyes.

“Hey, you don’t have to cover yourself up. It’s just us out here,” said Sun.

“I…I know…” Twilight glanced at the girls behind Sun and Sunset, they all had, in her opinion, great figures. Pinkie had a bit of pudge, but on her stout figure it worked. In comparison, Twilight, despite the unwanted advances of Indigo Zap, and Sun’s obvious attraction towards her, she still possessed a negative body image of herself. “For me, the problem is psychological. At Crystal Prep, the girls there have always commented on my looks, my figure, saying how no boy would ever want to sleep with me or see me naked because I was a thin, flat chested nerd girl…and that the only reason a boy would do anything with me was because he was just looking for someone easy or was doing it out of pity…”

Sun and Sunset’s left eye twitched when she heard this, it only reaffirmed to her how much damage that school had done to Twilight, aside from what Indigo Zap did.

“Okay, first off: Twilight, you’re beautiful, you’re definitely not flat chested, and yes, you’re thin, but you’re not a skeleton or something. You got some plushness where it counts,” said Sun.

Twilight’s face lit up red, but she still smiled.

Sun smiled back and continued. “Second, forget what those bitches told you! Who cares if a boy wants you? I want you, and apparently boys weren’t on your radar anyway.”

Twilight adjusted her glasses. “Technically, I wasn’t even aware that girls were on my radar until I met you.”

“Third, again, these are our friends now.” Sun moved to the side and motioned with her left hand towards the girls.

Sunset placed her hand on Twilight’s other shoulder and said, “You probably won’t find a better group of people who’ll accept you for who you are. I mean, just look at us. A fashionista, a party girl, a shy animal lover, a country girl, a sporty tomboy, and me, a bad girl. Even our bodies are different, and yeah, we bump heads now and then, but we accept each other’s differences, and we’ll accept yours. Your safe place is right here, Twilight.”

Twilight looked between the two Sunsets, feeling the fog of self-doubt was starting to lift from her. She knew that they were right, she was safe with them, they wouldn’t criticize her looks, and if they did it would be from a place of concern and care rather than to demean and hurt her. Feeling a bit emboldened, Twilight slowly removed the towel from her body, letting the cloth drape over her right forearm. Twilight was wearing a cute one-piece suit; it was navy blue and furled out around her hips in a mock skirt. The top portion around her bust had white and blue stripes and had a pink bow at the center. She was skinny, but her rear was just a bit rounder, and while not sporting a large bust like some of the other girls, they were a decent sized B-cup, certainly bigger than Rainbow’s. At least that’s what Sunset determined.

Sun stepped forward, draped her arms over Twilight’s shoulders and gave her girlfriend a gentle kiss on the lips. “You’re beautiful, Sparky. Don’t let anyone tell you different.”

A few tears appeared in Twilight’s eyes, she sniffled a little and hugged Sun as she rested her head on Sun’s right shoulder. “Thank you, Sun…thank you.”

“Now, are you sure I can’t burn down CPA?” Sun asked.

“And are you sure I can’t help her?” Sunset asked as well.

Twilight rolled her eyes and giggled. “No, you two, I don’t want you committing arson for me.”

“Not arson if you’re not caught,” said the Sunsets at the same time.

“Hey guys!” Rainbow Dash emerged from her dip in the ocean and came towards them. “You wanna play some volleyball, there’s a court over there and we got enough people for…for…whoa shit…!”

The Sunsets, Twilight, and the rest of the girls wondered what had caught Rainbow off guard, because whatever it was, caused her to blush red again. They followed her gaze towards the pathway that brought them to the beach and realized exactly what it was, and to be honest they were taken a little aback as well. Walking towards the group were the school principals, Celestia was wearing a white one-piece suit, the neckline was brought down enough to give a nice view of her cleavage and a bit of her bust. The leg holes of the suit rode high like Sunset’s suit, allowing for more of Celestia’s hips to be seen, of course the only reason why they knew that was because one side of her hips was exposed while the other half was covered by a gold colored sarong.

Walking next to her was the younger of the two, she wore a purple bikini top that was a bit thinner in material, her bottoms were close to being a thong, with a strip of cloth covering her privates and the waistband was thin, Luna also wore a sarong, but it was azure colored and sparkled.

“Damn,” the Sunsets echoed.

Most of the girls had come to join the Sunsets and Twilight, standing with them to meet their principals halfway. When they arrived, the two adult women looked at their students, making Celestia suddenly feel a bit self-conscious at their choice of attire.

“Ms. Celestia, Ms. Luna, you…you…” Rarity stuttered.

“I knew these swimsuits were too revealing, Luna,” said Celestia in annoyance. “I don’t know how you talked me into wearing these.”

Rarity shook her head. “No, no, you both look stunning!”

Celestia blushed. “Oh?”

“Told you,” said Luna.

For some reason, Rainbow Dash was being very quiet right now.

“Rarity’s right, you both look beautiful,” said Fluttershy.

“Wow! Who knew our principals were a couple of bombshells!” Pinkie commented.

“Watch it, Ms. Pie,” Luna warned as she gave her a stern look.

Pinkie chuckled nervously.

Luna’s stern expression quickly fell as a grin split her face. “I know we may be your teachers, but since we’re here to have fun and relax, I’m going to forgo the persona of the woman you’ve known and will instead show you my more relaxed, normal state.” Luna looked about and saw that Rainbow was holding a volleyball. She suddenly grabbed the ball out of Rainbow’s stunned hands. “Now c’mon girls, let’s see if you got what it takes to beat me!”

Luna took off her sarong and threw it under the parasol that was set up as she made her way to the volleyball court.

“Is she…” Sun started.

“Always like this?” Sunset ended.

“When she gets the chance to cut loose, she takes it. Guess you can consider her to be the ‘cool aunt’,” said Celestia while making air quotes.

“I’m starting to think I should’ve transferred to CHS a long time ago,” said Twilight with bemusement.

“C’MON YOU COWARDS, AND STEP INTO MY RING!” Luna called out.

Celestia sighed, but then she took off her sarong and grinned as she moved towards the court. “Oh, little sister, you’re about to lose it all!”

“I want to be on Celestia’s team!” Pinkie declared as she ran towards the aurora haired woman.

“Ah shoot, I’ll take Luna’s team, this outta be fun,” said Applejack.

Sun glanced at her big sister and smirked. “Let’s make this sister versus sister.”

“You’re on,” Sunset replied.

The others began to move towards the volleyball court, but Applejack stayed where she was since Rainbow Dash didn’t seem to move yet. “Rainbow, you alright?”

“Um…yeah…just a bit confused right now.”

Applejack piqued an eyebrow. “Confused about what?”

“Why I have a lady boner for our Principals, and how I should process it…”

Applejack smacked her forehead. “Jesus, Dash, yer hornier than a mare in heat.”

“Ya might want to rephrase that since we have a ‘mare’ of our own among us. Oh…now there’s an image!”

“Go dunk yer head back in the ocean!”

Adagio dragged herself home late that night, at about three-thirty in the morning, the eldest of the Siren sisters had just got through with her late-night job and this one, in particular, was very draining. A client had paid to run a train on Adagio for a group, of course Adagio knew what this meant, she’d be reduced to a living Fleshlight toy, being used without a moment’s rest until every person who came to the event had ejaculated into her. At first Adagio kindly refused the offer, but that’s when the client put in something else to sweeten the deal.

“C’mon, I need some real entertainment, and you’re the hottest – not to mention the least skanky – hooker I’ve ever seen! Ya got no track marks, and you’re cleaner than most!”

“Just because I fuck to get money, doesn’t mean I have to look dirty. No one’s going to have sex with someone who looks like they just crawled out of the gutter.”

“True dat, but c’mon, you’ll make so much dough out of this!”

“……How much?”

“You set the amount, how much per guy?”

“Hmm, okay, how about $800 for vaginal, $500 for anal, no refunds if they can’t make it. If they want both it’ll cost them $1,300. And that’s only for one use. If they want another go, they have to get to the back of the line and pay up again.”

“Sweet! How many do ya think you could take?”

In hindsight, Adagio should’ve gone lower, five, ten maybe, but they needed money, her sisters and her were not doing well financially and they needed to pay the rent as well as food.

“……Thirty.”

“HOLY SHIT! I…whoa… that should be easy enough, especially when I tell ‘em what’s comin’.”

“Just make sure that they understand the ‘no refunds’ part of the deal. No one gets to touch this until they pay up. And I want half of what they pay you two days before the event in case I need to do something extra.”

Adagio set that up a week ago, she did get half the money that was promised to her, she took two days off to get herself ready for what was going to be an exceptionally long night. This did break one of her cardinal rules, “do not go to a client’s home”. Thankfully, the event was at some random place instead of a residence, heaven forbid the neighbors knew what those men were up to. When she arrived, Adagio sauntered inside, she admitted that she liked the attention they gave her, all eyes glued to her, all pining for her, adoring her.

She was led to a bedroom that was set up for her, to her relief it wasn’t set up like some dungeon, it was just a large bed with soft, comfortable, and thankfully clean sheets, at least for the time being. Adagio knew that it wasn’t going to be like her other times when she would strip tease, since she had thirty clients to satisfy tonight all at once, foreplay was out of the question. About ten minutes after she got herself situated it started, one after the other, some were rough with her, others were gentler as if pretending she was their girlfriend. When it was over, Adagio was sorer than she had ever been in her life. Her insides were filled to capacity, with some of the spoils leaking out.

Despite the numerous men she had sex with, she took count of each and every one. Which was good because when she got the last half of the money, she was relieved that it was the exact amount that matched the first half she got.

As Adagio walked up the stairs to her apartment, she grimaced at the feeling of the spoils of the thirty men still leaking out of her orifices. Even after using the client’s shower to clean herself up, she hadn’t managed to get every last bit of it out, so some was running down her thighs. She was grateful it was late and most people in the building were asleep, but then again, she was too tired to give a damn what they thought, they probably already knew what she and her sisters did.

Damn humans…I can barely walk after that…it’s a miracle I’ve made it this far without collapsing…Adagio peeked into her small purse and sighed. Still, with this, we’ll be alright for a little bit…

The building wasn’t bad, it could use some updates, but it was better than nothing. When they got there the building supe gave them extra attention because they paid a bit more than the normal rent, and sometimes they gave him “favors” on the side, so if something broke down or was damaged, they were first on his priority list. Although right now, any “favors” were going to have to be handled by Sonata and Aria, she was not going to be doing anything for the next week or so. Which was fine since the money would keep them at least for the next month or so.

Finally, Adagio made it to her door, she reached into her purse and pulled out her key. She fumbled with it for a second, the exhaustion of her night was starting to catch up with her. Before she could turn the key, the door opened and Adagio was greeted by the youngest of the trio, Sonata.

“Dagi!” Sonata exclaimed as she threw herself at her big sister and hugged her tight. “You’re alright!”

Adagio raised an eyebrow. “Of course, I am, I called you both on the burner phone a few minutes ago to tell you I was heading back.”

Aria appeared behind Sonata; her arms crossed as her normal perma-scowl had faltered. “Can you blame her for being worried? That wasn’t something that we normally do! A train?! Dammit, Adagio, what would you have done if those fucking humans kept you there and just straight up raped you for hours and left you there for dead?!”

Adagio was too exhausted and sore to deal with this right now. “You should both be in bed right now, are you saying you waited up for me all this time?”

Sonata pulled her head away from Adagio’s shoulder and nodded. “Yes, we wanted to make sure you got home.”

Adagio rolled her eyes, if she wasn’t so tired, she’d find their concern for her safety endearing and heartwarming, but right now it was just annoying. “Fine, I’m alright, now let me come in, I want to sleep.” Adagio pushed past Sonata and headed to her room, however, Aria got in her way. “Aria, believe me, whatever bullshit you’re about to spout, it can wait until after I’ve slept. I’m too tired to deal with anything you’re about to say.”

“No, Adagio, you need to hear this! You need to stop pushing yourself so damn hard!” Aria argued. “You go out more than we do, you sleep with more people than we do, and now this?! Look, I know we need the money, but we agreed to do this equally between the three of us! Why are you doing so much more than Sonata and me?!”

Adagio growled angrily, Aria really wanted to do this now? Fine, they were going to do this. “Because you two are such fucking screw ups, that’s why!”

Sonata flinched with hurt, while Aria just glared at her and stood there silently.

“With you,” Adagio pointed to Aria, “you scare your clients, your whole ‘bad girl’ look screams ‘I’m going to kill you and take your money before you see my tits’! Don’t get me wrong, some of these males actually like that, but they’re in a minority compared to the vast majority of guys who want to fuck someone who won’t possibly shiv them when their back is turned!”

Adagio turned to Sonata, making her flinch reflexively.

“And, oh man, don’t get me started on her! She sleeps with five clients, and only two – count ‘em – TWO pay her!” Adagio stated.

“I-I said I was sorry, Dagi…we’re just worried that you’re doing too much,” said Sonata.

Adagio ran her hand down her face and snarled, “It’s because of you two I have to do too much! We don’t have our magic anymore, nor do we have our strength, so we have to make do with what we have! Which isn’t much!”

“Yeah, we know, we don’t have our magic anymore, or our strength, which is why we were worried! If you had it, you could’ve torn those humans in half with no problem! But that’s not now!” Aria placed her hands on Adagio’s shoulders, trying to reason with her older sister. “If you keep this up, it’ll be worse than when we were thrown out of Equestria.”

That did it. Adagio forcefully removed Aria’s hands from her shoulders and gave her little sister a hard slap across the face, making the gruff Siren stumble backwards. “JUST FUCKING SAY IT ALREADY! YOU BLAME ME FOR ALL THIS! DON’T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?! DON’T YOU THINK I HATE MYSELF ENOUGH FOR–!”

Suddenly, the room began to spin, and the exhaustion had hit her like a ton of bricks thanks to that outburst, making Adagio stumble and collapse to her knees.

“DAGI!”

“ADAGIO!”

Sonata and Aria rushed to her side, she was way too tired now to fight them, so all she could do was huff and grunt as they slowly picked her up. “Don’t get overexcited…I’m just tired…honestly, you two are going to be the death me…”

“Don’t say stuff like that, please,” Sonata pleaded. “We’re all we’ve got.”

Adagio went silent, she was too tired to argue, too tired to do anything now. “Just…take me to bed.”

Aria and Sonata carried Adagio to her bedroom, gently placing her atop the bed. Aria noticed the dried remnants of Adagio’s exploits running along her inner thigh, she grimaced at the sight, it only drove her point further home that Adagio had done too much. “Get some sleep, Adagio.”

“I’ll cook you a big breakfast when you wake up, or lunch, or whatever you want when you do,” said Sonata sweetly.

Adagio murmured a little and slowly turned away from them. Sonata and Aria walked to the door, giving their oldest sister one last glance before closing the door behind them. When they were gone, Adagio rolled onto her other side, facing her right and the nightstand that was there. Her right hand still stung from the slap she delivered to Aria a moment ago, she clenched that hand into a fist as the regret of her actions finally set in.

Dammit, why’d I have to go and fly off the handle like that, Adagio inwardly groaned. I’ll apologize to them when I wake up.

The lead Siren’s eyes fell upon the jewelry box she had bought last week, it rested on the nightstand, just within arm’s reach. It wasn’t by far the flashiest thing she had ever bought, but it did resonate with her on a level that was odd, but not unwelcome. Originally, Adagio thought she could store the pieces of her broken amulet in it, which was currently residing in the drawer of that same nightstand. But lo and behold, the box wouldn’t open. She considered prying it open, but Adagio didn’t want to ruin the craftsmanship of the box.

“We’re a couple of broken items, aren’t we?” Adagio mused.

Adagio’s eyelids became heavy as she finally allowed her body to relax, letting the softness of her pillow and bed to gently guide her into slumber. In Adagio’s exhausted state she didn’t notice the oddity that was occurring with the jewelry box. A red aura seeped upwards from the wooden nightstand and flowed into the box itself, making the crease of the lid glow an eerie crimson color.

The cold snow blanketed the forest as the sound of skiers and snowboarders whooshing down the trails filled the air. One snowboarder was currently outpacing and outdoing most of the other resort goers like it was nothing.

Indigo Zap sped past them all, appearing like a blur to most, she was in the zone, being out there on the fresh powder allowed her to get some perspective on the situation that was her life. More specifically, on what to do about Sunset Shimmer. She took a small break as she stopped in front of a tree and detached herself from her snowboard, she leaned her back against the tree and sighed heavily, her hot breath forming a vapor plume out in front of her.

Her parents brought her here for Spring Break, in hindsight it was probably for the best. If she was out partying, Indigo believed that she would never be able to focus on what really mattered, and that was Twilight Sparkle. Even now, standing upon this snow-covered mountain, thinking of the mousy nerd girl got her hot and bothered. Why couldn’t Twilight understand? Why couldn’t she see that she was really and truly in love with her? Yes, she did go overboard with that stunt, but it was necessary to get her away from that witch, Sunset Shimmer. No way a girl like that could be good for Twilight, she may look nice, but Indigo knew that the girl was probably as damaged as any of the other kids in CPA, just looking for someone to screw around with, and not in the biblical sense.

“Twilight, I’ll find a way to get you away from that bitch! She must be using her powers to keep you hostage or something, that has to be it!” Indigo concluded. “With those freaky powers, what chance do I have of beating her? She healed herself after I beat the shit out of her, and she could use fire! Doubt I could shoot her, she’d probably come back to life or something…”

Indigo shook her head, she needed to think a little more about this. Maybe another run would help her, she needed to clear her head and approach this from a different angle. Indigo had already done the Black Diamond runs enough times that she could do it in her sleep. She needed a challenge, the spikey haired girl glanced down the hill and spotted her solution, an uncharted path, with untouched powder to shred and the unknown path would make her focus more on the run itself rather than her trials of getting Twilight back. Although, she knew that if something happened, she’d be up shit creek without a paddle if she went in too far.

“I’ll go until I can’t see the flags anymore,” she assured herself. “The resort’s on the other side of the hill anyway.”

With that in mind, Indigo latched herself back onto her board and pushed off in the opposite direction of the rest of the skiers. A minute later and Indigo was airborne, flipping up and doing amazing aerial tricks as she went further downhill, there was the occasional tree here and there, but it was fine by her, it just provided an extra obstacle for her to weave around, as far as she was concerned it was practice for honing her reflexes. She ducked, bobbed, and weaved through a small gathering of trees as the branches came at her one after the other, narrowly clotheslining her at least twice, but she just shrugged it off, smiling in the face of danger.

Once she cleared the trees, she had plenty of open space and high mounds of snow to surf up and over, to spin in the air and perform some truly “sick” moves. The best part was that she didn’t have to watch for anyone, there was absolutely no one around to get in her way, it was truly liberating. Indigo aimed for another hill and launched herself into the air, but upon doing so, she realized she had made a grave mistake. On the other side of that mound, hidden by the tall piles of snow, was a cliff. Her stomach sank as her pupils shrunk to pinpricks, realizing that she was now in the air, and the angle of her launch had taken her right into the open air over the cliff.

Her mind locked up, she wanted to scream but her mouth wouldn’t make a sound. The weightless feeling of flying through the air gave her little comfort, she wished, she prayed that she’d just keep sailing onwards until she reached the ground safely on the far side of this drop. Of course, that was the logic of a scared child, and right now that’s what she was, a scared child. Then the worse part came, gravity took hold. Her momentum slowed and with it, her airborne status. Indigo dropped out of the air like a lead weight, the wind roared around her helmet, she flipped around in the air, making the ground and sky trade places several times to the point that it was disorienting. Indigo’s heart pounded against her chest as the fear of her impending death was fast approaching.

The athlete’s mind flashed several memories before her eyes, images of fun times with her parents, the few genuinely good times she had with the four girls she considered her friends, most of them of her and Lemon Zest, but the majority of them all involved Twilight Sparkle. Every moment she got her alone, every moment she heard her precious nerd squeal in delight from her touch, her lavender scent, everything about her was rushed to the forefront of her mind. At the last moment, her mind conjured an image of herself and Twilight in bed together, the teen genius atop of Indigo and looking longing into her eyes. Her mouth opened and uttered three words that she longed to hear.

“Indigo…I love–”

Everything went dark…

……there was no feeling……

…just darkness…

……drifting………

Then, there was a feeling……

It was cold…

Cold was bad…but…it felt alright…

…it felt…

…good…

Indigo drew a sharp breath as she sat upright, she panted and heaved as if she had just breached the surface of a pool after holding her breath for far too long. The sporty girl snapped her head back and forth, trying to understand what happened to her. She looked straight up and saw the face of the cliff, how it went higher and higher until the edge was barely visible, she estimated that it was at least a five-story drop. Indigo checked herself, detaching herself from the board which had snapped in half from the force of the impact. She checked her legs, her body, and her head, but by some miracle, she wasn’t injured.

Indigo looked around her and saw the snow, she figured that the snow was thick enough to prevent her from ending up as red paste. However that presented a problem, she wasn’t stupid, she knew that even if that was true, a fall from that high up would’ve resulted in soft impact damage to her spine, and the way the board was snapped should’ve meant that her legs should’ve been fractured beyond belief. And yet, there was no damage. Indigo placed her hand against the ground to push herself up and felt that her hand didn’t sink very far into the snow. Upon examining the snow around her, she saw that there wasn’t much littering the area, indeed, there was maybe about a foot, maybe two, of snow, definitely not enough to cushion her fall.

“I…I should be dead…” The helmet lay split in half on either side of where her head was. Even more strange, she didn’t feel that cold despite her head being exposed to the wind. “Maybe I’m numb…?” Indigo pinched her cheek hard and immediately stopped as she let out a loud, “OW! Fuck, okay, I’m not numb!”

Despite not feeling cold, she knew it wasn’t a good idea to let herself be exposed that long to the cold winds. She took off her scarf and wrapped it around her head the best she could and zipped her jacket up as far as it would go to protect her neck. There was no way she was going to be able to climb up, and since no one knew that she was out here, it would be awhile before a search team was sent out, let alone found her in time.

“Fuck me…great…” Indigo looked around, there were plenty of trees, and thankfully she did bring a lighter with her. She didn’t smoke but it was always a good idea to have a source of fire in case of emergencies. “Now I just need someplace to shelter…” Indigo faced forward. “Well, that’s covered.”

In front of her was a large cave opening, she figured it was most likely the den of some animal, a bear, a mountain lion, or maybe wolves. Predators like that tended to stay away from the mass of people at the resort, but out here, one human was no threat to them, she was dinner. The athlete sighed heavily and went to work, being mindful to take note of any changes in her condition. She snapped off a few sturdy branches that weren’t completely snow covered and brought them into the cave. She took a large one and lit one end on fire, letting it act as a makeshift torch. She went deeper inside to get away from the opening and the bone freezing cold, which, still, she didn’t feel cold at all. If anything, now she felt warmer.

Maybe the cave has some kind of weird heating from deeper inside? Whatever, I’m starting to sweat, here’s good enough.

She had traveled about fifty feet into the cave and dropped her pile of wood. She arranged it as best she could and threw her torch into the pile, lighting the rest of the tinder on fire. Indigo began taking off the layers of clothing that she had put on, now that the fire was lit she was feeling even warmer than earlier, it almost felt like playing basketball in the summer heat on a blacktop. She started with the jacket, but that didn’t do much, she removed the scarf and sweater, better, but not enough. Finally, Indigo just decided to go for broke and took off everything until she was just in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Now she felt much better.

“A person can go for weeks without food, but only days without water. Water won’t be a problem, there’s plenty of it outside. I really don’t want to starve out here.” Indigo rummaged through her jacket and found about four power bars she was saving for a snack while she was out snowboarding. “Gotta ration this as best I can.”

Indigo ripped open the first bar, broke off a small piece and ate it. For now, that would have to do it, she couldn’t risk eating any more than that. Unfortunately, it seemed that the universe, god, or whatever force was out there hated her, as not too long after opening the bar and munching on a piece of it, did Indigo spot several glowing eyes in the shadows of the cave. Indigo hurriedly grabbed another piece of wood and lit its end, granting her a little more light and allowing her to see what the eyes belonged to. As she feared, it was a pack of wolves.

“Fuck me sideways – are you kidding me?!”

The lupines bared their fangs at her, snarling as they moved to surround her. Indigo could tell that these wild animals were hungry, up in the mountains prey for predators was sometimes hard to find, so they weren’t going to pass up the chance to rip her apart for food even if she managed to kill one or if she was lucky two. Ten wolves were now upon her, having cut off her escape, not that it would’ve helped anyway, they could run faster than her and knew this area better than her. There was no way she was going to get far even if she did run.

“I might die, but I’m not dying without killing at least one of you fucking flea bags!” Indigo declared.

One of the wolves that was behind her lunged forward, from there, everything happened in slow motion for Indigo. She turned her head, watching as the wolf opened its jaws, getting closer and closer as it came close to biting her ankle. It was too late to dodge it, too late to counterattack, it was going to tear out her Achilles tendon and drop her to the ground to become an easy kill. However, it was right around that time when the sapphire gemstone of her gifted necklace began to glow bright. Indigo felt a surge of energy travel down her body and towards her left leg, as soon as it went there, her entire left leg turned blue. The wolf chomped down on that same leg, and as soon as those fangs came within inches of her ankle, the wolf’s teeth instantly froze to the point of becoming as brittle as thin ice. When the wolf fully bit, its teeth shattered into pieces as pain radiated throughout its head and mouth.

The poor lupine released painful yelps as it backed up and stumbled, falling onto its back as it thrashed about, trying to stop the icy cold pain that was permeating every nerve in his head. The other wolves didn’t know what was going on, and neither did Indigo, but the wolves weren’t dissuaded. Another wolf charged for Indigo, successfully knocking her down to the ground, managing to pin her there. The wolf wasted no time and instantly went for the kill as it closed its mouth around her neck. Indigo released a strangled scream as she felt the teeth begin to sink into her flesh, the beast’s claws tearing her shirt and starting to penetrate her skin. But that all stopped as suddenly as it started, the teeth and claws stopped digging into her skin, if anything, it felt like they were being pushed back. In a flash of blue light, a gust of wintery air blew the wolf off her, it carried the lupine high into the air at great speed until it slammed into the ceiling of the cave, impaled on the stalactites up above.

It was here that Indigo started to feel power flowing through her body, her cream colored skin began to change color rapidly to a navy blue, her eyes shifted to stark icy blue as her hair shifted and became spikey solid white ice, but somehow still maintained the same elasticity as her regular hair. The wolves backed away from her, allowing Indigo to stand up, she looked at her body, felt her hair, and nearly freaked out. She didn’t understand how this was possible, or why was this happening to her. That is until she noticed that the necklace chain had become ice that melded seamlessly and painlessly onto her skin, the pendant was encased in ice, allowing only the sapphire gemstone to show as it continuously gave off a bright glow.

“Holy shit…this…this is, like, some kind of freaky magical necklace! Thank you, Dad!” Indigo exclaimed. It was here that her jubilation shifted a little, her smile turned into a murderous grin as she glanced at each of the wolves that had surrounded her. “Oh, this works, I got my very own magical powers and I need some practice! You’ll be great moving targets!”

Indigo bent her knees and took off straight ahead, she reached out to grab one of the wolves, but in her haste, she neglected to realize just how fast she was, or how her powers worked. By the time she stopped, Indigo was halfway down the cave, her right hand had transformed into a jagged ice claw and was now completely drenched in blood. When she looked back, she was surprised to see how far she had traveled. Not only that, but the wolf she had tried to grab had been shredded in half, leaving its upper half lying in front of her, while its lower half was left where it once stood.

“Whoa, damn! I’m way faster!” Indigo looked at her right hand, flexing the ice claw and becoming astounded at how it felt normal to her. “This is freaky…” Indigo watched as the wolves began to run out of the cave, she snarled angrily and yelled out, “HEY, WE AIN’T DONE!”

As soon as she said that Indigo thrust her left hand forward. From that hand she – unintentionally – fired a beam of azure blue light that struck the ground at the mouth of the cave. A wall of pure ice rapidly grew, filling the opening until it was completely closed off by a wall of solid ice. Indigo was surprising herself every second, apparently, she had ice powers. The ice claw disappeared, but now she could properly experiment with her test subjects, just like Twilight would.

“Wait for me Twilight, I’ll free you from that fire spitting witch!”

Spring Vacation Day 2

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Sugarcoat drove to the “Good ‘Ol Days” Retirement Home, it was a facility that catered to the elderly of Canterlot’s wealthy, which means it had a lot of money to take care of their residents and it also meant that they did everything they could to take care of them, or else. It was Spring Break for Sugarcoat, despite this being the time for teenagers of wealth to leave their homes and hit up the beaches or whatever party tourist hot spot there was. In Surgarcoat’s case, she just went mellow and visited her grandmother.

Plus, most of the things that teens her age did at Spring Break hotspots were just drink, party, go to clubs, see tourist traps, and of course have sex with random strangers. In all honesty, Sugarcoat got enough of the latter back at school among her classmates, so why would she fly to some random place and waste loads of money for what she was doing already at school? It wasn’t like she liked doing that stuff, it was one of the few things she could do to avoid ending up in the same boat as Twilight Sparkle.

Sugarcoat sighed in her car upon mentioning her name. Now that we’re friends…and the social order’s been disturbed, is it really necessary for me to keep doing those things? I mean…it’s not like I like going down on complete strangers! That’s it, I’m done, as of the end of this Spring Break I’m going to stop, no matter what someone asks of me or says about me. If Twilight could put up with everyone’s shit for almost four years, then I can put up with people’s shit for a few months until graduation.

This was the decision that Sugarcoat came to as she parked her car. Once she got out, Sugarcoat made her way through the lobby and entered the hallway, she didn’t need directions, she had made the walk through the facility plenty of times to know where her grandma was. Sugarcoat stopped at the door that had the numbers “302” on it. Sugarcoat knocked at the door and waited for a response.

“Come in,” a kindly voice answered.

Sugarcoat opened the door and smiled upon seeing her grandmother. Her name was Candycoat, her skin was pale pink, with silver hair that matched that of her granddaughter’s, and was done up in a ponytail. Her eyes were the same orchid color of Sugarcoat’s, despite being eighty plus, Candycoat had aged gracefully, even now she was on the floor, sitting in a meditative position as she brought her hands out of a prayer position. She wore white, loose fitting yoga pants, a blue shirt, and a gray shall. Around her wrist was a bracelet, it had a vermillion colored gemstone that was cut in the shape of a heart, it was held in place by a silver outer casing, and the strap was made of weaved brown leather.

“Hello Sugar,” said Candycoat.

“Hi, Grandma,” Sugarcoat replied in a happy tone.

Candycoat looked upon her granddaughter for a moment, Sugarcoat had a good idea of what she was doing. More often than not, the elderly woman had a knack for figuring out how other people were feeling just from a glance, but right now, it seemed as if she was studying Sugarcoat. After a few seconds, Candycoat patted the space next to her and said, “Come sit by your Grandmama.”

Sugarcoat closed the door behind her and placed her purse in an empty armchair. She folded her skirt to make sure that she didn’t accidentally flash her grandma before sitting down next to her.

“You know, you don’t have to waste your time visiting an old bitty like me. This is the last Spring Break of your high school life, you should be out with your friends, partying, and whatnot,” said Candycoat.

Sugarcoat chuckled as she waved off her concern. “I’m perfectly happy visiting you, I get enough drama at high school, I just want to mellow out with you. Plus, I need a break from my ‘friends’.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Something wrong, Grandma?”

“More to the point, is there something wrong with you?” Candycoat asked.

“N-No…nothing’s wrong,” she replied.

The elderly woman raised in an eyebrow as if saying, “Really?”

Sugarcoat looked away from her grandma, staring at the floor, feeling shame. She hadn’t spoken to her grandma since the incident with Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer. Honestly, she didn’t know how to talk to her about it. Her parents were, to say the least, disappointed by her actions and the part she played in it, but they knew that they had to sweep this under the rug or risk their daughter going to jail and losing the chance to go into law school.

Candycoat reached out and placed her right hand over Sugarcoat’s left, this caused the teenage girl to reflexively look back at her. “Sugar, you know you can talk to me about anything. You’re not the kind of girl to just clam up and not speak your mind.”

“Mostly because it’s a condition that I can’t always control,” said Sugarcoat.

“Maybe so, but to me, it’s the mark of someone who’d rather be honest with those around her than tell a lie, so, be honest.”

Sugarcoat couldn’t help it, her grandma was probably the one person who wouldn’t judge her. “Okay…this is what happened…” From there, Sugarcoat went into detail about what happened over the past couple of weeks. As she told Candycoat everything, Sugarcoat took note of how her grandma’s expression never changed from its neutral state. While she was at it, Sugarcoat even opened up to why she did it, and what she was doing to keep her fellow classmates from doing the same thing to her. When she was done, Sugarcoat realized that she was crying. “I…am a horrible person…I’ve done these things to keep from being picked on…and I helped my so called ‘friends’ do that to a girl who didn’t deserve any of it…I’m horrible…”

Candycoat scooted closer to her granddaughter and gave her a hug, rubbing gentle circles on her back as she said, “Sugar, are you sorry for what you did?”

“Yes…I really am…” Sugarcoat replied without hesitance.

“You saved that girl from getting seriously hurt, and you became friends, that’s a step in the right direction. Now, this whole sleeping with most of your classmates thing, I won’t say I approve, but I would appreciate it if you stopped it,” said Candycoat.

“I will,” Sugarcoat sniffled. “I’m done with it all, I just want to make things right with Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, I want to be a better person.”

Candycoat smiled upon hearing this, she separated herself from her granddaughter and held up her right hand. “Do you know what this is?”

“That’s your bracelet, you said it’s an heirloom that’s been passed down through our family,” said Sugarcoat.

Candycoat nodded. “It was given to me by my mother, passed down to the women of our family from one generation to the next. I had planned to give this to you when I passed on, but I think you need it now more than I do. Put your hand on the stone, sweetie.”

Sugarcoat placed her hand on the stone as instructed, the moment she did her vision changed. Around her grandma was an aura of blue, violet, and a tinge of gray. Sugarcoat looked at herself and saw colors coming off her own body as well, red, purple, and yellow. “W-What’s going on?!”

“Do you see something, dear?”

“Y-Yes! I see colors around you, and me!”

Candycoat nodded. “That’s not all you’ll see.”

As if on cue, a ghostly image appeared next to her. It was that of an old man in overalls, with a beat-up old hat. His skin was tan, with gray hair and a beard to match, his kindly eyes fell on Sugarcoat and he gave a little wave. This made the teen jump a bit, removing her hand from the bracelet, upon doing so the ghostly old man and the colors disappeared.

“W-What’s going on?! H-How was I able to see that?!” Sugarcoat asked.

Candycoat chuckled as she pointed to the bracelet. “This is called the Heart Stone, ‘til this day, no one in the family knows where it came from. But what I do know, is that it grants you certain powers. One of those powers is the ability to read the auras of the people around you. The other is to see the spirits of the departed.”

Sugarcoat paused, she thought about the ghostly old man she just saw and asked, “That man who was standing next to you…you’re saying he’s a ghost?!”

“That so hard to believe, Sugar? Considering that we just had ourselves a little war between demons and angels going on here in the city.”

The teenager had to admit, to question such things now would be the height of ignorance. “Okay, so who’s that man?”

“That’s Mr. Greenhoof.”

“WHAT?!” Sugarcoat yelled. “H-H-He’s dead! When did that happen?!”

Candycoat took her granddaughter’s hand and put it back on the stone. “He died a few days ago.”

“No need to worry my dear, it was peaceful and painless while I was sleeping. Best way to go if you ask me,” said Mr. Greenhoof.

“Okay…so…why are you here?” Sugarcoat asked.

Candycoat sighed. “Cause this stubborn old fool doesn’t want me to be alone right now.”

Sugarcoat raised her eyebrow in suspicion, “What do you mean by that?”

“Listen to me, Sugar. The colors of the auras will tell you everything about the person in front of you. Red is the color of anger, orange is the color of greed and envy, green is the color of courage and bravery, blue is the color of happiness and hope, purple is the color of compassion and kindness, and violet is the color of love.” Candycoat’s expression became a bit more serious. “Now pay attention, the shades of the auras also tell you more about how strongly they’re feeling that emotion. If the negative emotions are darker in shade, it means they’re feeling that emotion stronger, the opposite for the positive, if they’re brighter than they’re feeling them even more. But there are two that are just as – if not more important.”

It was here that Sugarcoat became worried.

“If the color is black, then you need to get as far away from that person as possible. Black is the color of death, if someone has this color about them, it means that they’ve killed or want to kill. And the gray color…it means that someone is close to dying.”

Sugarcoat’s heart fell upon hearing this because she could see the gray tints in Candycoat’s aura. “N-No…No you’re lying about that last one! If that’s true, then that means–!”

“Yes, my time’s almost up. I’ve used this to help as many people as I could in my life, this stone has other abilities, and I’ll give you my journal that catalogs everything I’ve learned.”

Sugarcoat ripped her hand away and glared at her grandma with fresh tears streaming down her face. “I don’t give a damn about that stupid thing! Why do you sound like you’re just accepting this?!” Sugarcoat reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out her cellphone. “I’m calling Dad and we’re taking you to the hospital so they can find out what’s wrong with you! You’re not dying on me now!”

Candycoat gently placed her hands over Sugarcoat’s cellphone, stopping her granddaughter from calling her son. “Shh, Sugar, it’s alright. To be honest, I’m actually older than you think. I’m not eighty-six, I’m really a hundred and six years old.”

Sugarcoat dropped her cellphone and stared at her grandma with her mouth agape. “W-What?! How?!”

“The Heart Stone gives me some longevity, but even it can’t stave off death forever, my body just can’t keep up anymore. And I’ve lived a long and happy life, now it’s time for me to pass this along to someone who can get much better use out of it.”

Sugarcoat continued to cry as she shook from her sobs. “B-But I d-don’t want you to d-d-die…”

Candycoat removed the bracelet from her wrist and carefully slipped it over Sugarcoat’s left wrist. “We all have to go some time, it’s natural, it’s the cycle of life at work. I’m not afraid, I know where I’m going, and Mr. Greenhoof will be here to watch over me when I do go. And with this,” Candycoat pointed at the Heart Stone, “I’ll be able to talk to you any time, or if you ever need someone to talk to, just call on me.”

Sugarcoat didn’t like this at all, she didn’t want her grandma to die, she loved her, and was probably one of the few people in her life that cared deeply for her. Her mother and father did love her, but they weren’t always there for her as busy as they were, they expected her to be independent, and she was, but sometimes it got lonely.

“I promise you; this will help you on your way to becoming a better person. Have I ever steered you wrong before?” Candycoat asked with a smile.

Even though she was sad, Sugarcoat couldn’t help but smile, it was true, her grandma had never steered her wrong before, so why start now?

“I love you, Grandma,” said Sugarcoat as she hugged Candycoat.

“I love you too, my little Sugar,” replied Candycoat.

Hell, it was an awful place. A dimension where demons reigned and the souls of the damned were sent to spend eternity in agony for their misdeeds in their life. There were nine circles in hell, surprisingly enough, the story “The Divine Comedy”, although accurate to some degree, didn’t do this place justice. It was worse. Within this hellish realm roamed a woman who looked of middle eastern descent, her coat was white as snow, she wore a black body suit that hugged her form, and around her waist was a silver belt with pouches filled with different items. Her skin was a bright scarlet color, her hair was artic blue with highlights of turquoise, and her eyes were a grayish violet.

Around her neck was a necklace, and upon this necklace, resting just below her collarbone, was a cross. It was silver and had two horizontal bars going through it instead of the traditional one. What made this person different from the rest of the denizens of this godforsaken realm, was that she was not dead, no, she was very much alive. She made her way to the seventh circle of hell, Violence, within this circle there were three levels, each one divided up depending upon the nature of that violence.

The first was reserved for those who committed violence against others or property. It was here that the mighty and terrible Phlegethon river flowed, a wide river of liquid fire where the violent were forced to burn under its waters. The mysterious woman walked along the shore of the river, peering into the flames to see the unfortunate souls that were forced to swim these rivers. Many of the souls clawed, bit, and punched others that tried to get in their way, trying desperately to reach the shore and pull themselves out of the burning river. However, it was a futile effort, for the constant battling between them prevented even one of them from reaching the shore. Even if they did, she could see in the distance that there were demons waiting for them, either they’d torture the soul that managed to get out or throw it back in like a fish.

One soul caught her eye though, she was a young girl, a teenager. Her skin was a pale orchid, with brown eyes, and violet curly hair. The traverser of Hell watched this young girl, her bare soul – literally, every soul there was without clothing – was fighting with a berserker’s rage as she gouged eyes, ripped out throats, and broke the necks of every single soul that tried to get in her way. But for each one that she managed to get out of her way, two more would come up in their place. The pain was unimaginable for these souls, constantly burning and feeling the flames on such a deep level that the brain couldn’t even begin to translate through a human nervous system, but still she pressed on, she continued despite getting her arms broken and her stomach ripped open. The sadistic part was that all the damage that was dealt to them would regenerate in a matter of seconds, forcing an endless battle and endless pain. The roar of the flaming river was only matched by the screams of the damned in the waters, but even among the screams, she could hear that girl’s voice.

“I WON’T STAY HERE! I’LL GET OUT OF HERE! I’LL GET THAT FUCKING WHORE, RARITY!!! AND THAT BITCH SUNSET, TOO!!! I’LL KILL THEM BOTH, I’LL SKIN THOSE FUCKING CUNTS ALIVE AND MAKE THEM WATCH ME SEW THEIR SKIN INTO A FUCKING DRESS FOR MYSELF!!! DO YOU HEAR ME???!!! I’LL COME FOR YOU, SURI – FUCKING – POLOMARE IS COMING FOR YOU BOTH!!!!!!”

The traverser didn’t know who this Sunset and Rarity were, but for their sakes, it was a good thing that this young woman was trapped in this burning prison. The mysterious woman approached a macabre gate made of the brimstone of this world, and once through it she entered the middle ring, a place lovingly called the Suicide Forest. It was here that those who committed the sin of suicide resided, the “sky” was crimson red, the ground was gray and lifeless. The trees themselves were the only living things here, but these were not ordinary trees, oh no, for you see, this vast, almost never ending forest, every single tree that inhabited this landscape was created from the body of a person who committed suicide.

And it seemed that she was in time for one to be planted. Two demons walked past her, there was a silver aura around the woman, which resonated with the cross on her chest. This aura not only made her immune to the harsh conditions of Hell, but also allowed her to remain unseen by the demons that dwelled here, as well as the souls of the damned. Her cross seemed to pulse when they walked by, more specifically, for the person whom they were dragging.

She was also a teenage girl, from the looks of it, she was eighteen years old. Her skin was porcelain white, pale pink hair with white highlights, and violet colored eyes. She looked like a supermodel, or at least she could’ve been one if she was still alive, her once-upon-a-time flawless skin, was now marred by scratches and dirt as the demons literally dragged her body across the unforgiving ground. The demons were large, about eight feet tall, gray furred with their lower halves appearing more lupine. They wore black loincloths that were held in place by a chain belt, and upon their faces were masks made from the skulls of rams. The eye holes were dark as night, with only red dots for eyes, upon their chests were glowing upside-down pentagrams that looked as if they were carved into their flesh.

One demon dragged the young girl by the arm, she tried to resist them, tried to break away, but her efforts were for not, in Hell, a human soul had no power here, unless you possessed a powerful item, or were of divinity, there was no way to go against the demons, or their master. The second demon was hauling a wagon filled with infernal tools for their dark deed. The two demons stopped, they looked at each other and wordlessly agreed that this was a good spot. The traverser looked at the surrounding trees, you could still make out the human bodies that made them, they appeared as though the tree itself molded around them to make a perfect cast of their body, but, in reality, the tree was grown from their body, over the years, their flesh would turn to wood.

The trees bared no fruit or leaves, what they did have were veins, red veins that ran up and along the branches. These trees fed on the blood of the person whom they grew from, pulling it from their bodies very slowly, pulling their individual veins and stretching them through the trunk, roots, and branches. It was agonizing, but what was worse, was that they felt pain through the tree itself, and flying overhead were the creatures that fed on these trees, harpies. The traverser watched as one of them landed on a tree, digging its talons into the tree and forcing the person who was attached to it to scream in pain, the harpy broke off a branch, causing it to bleed as she ate the branch, gnashing it with her razor sharp teeth.

“LET ME GO! LET ME GO!” she screamed.

The demons paid her no mind. Why should they? They were demons after all. The second demon took out a shovel from the wagon and dug a shallow hole, just deep enough to get her ankles in there. The first demon threw the girl near the hole, he stomped over and picked her up by the waist, digging his black claws into her flesh as he did so. He placed her in the hole while the second demon covered it with the soil. Despite the shallowness of the hole, when the girl tried to move her feet, it was as if they were anchored in concrete. The second demon took a seed from a cloth sack and brought it to the girl.

“Swallow,” it commanded.

“N-NO!” she replied.

The demon grunted and went back to the cart, it came back with a sharp knife and plunged it into her stomach, causing the teen to spit up blood. The second demon shoved its fingers into her wound and released the seed, when it took its fingers the wound closed as if nothing had happened. The first demon released the girl and both demons took a step back. The girl suddenly felt pain throughout her body, her limbs were getting stiff as she found both of her arms rising upwards and fanning out against her will. Her flesh began to tear as vines burst from her arms, back, sides, and legs, painting the ground around her red with blood.

The traverser had seen his more times than she’d liked to admit, and it never was any easier to see. The look of pure agony on the face of that soul as they felt the vines grow inside their bodies and tear their way out as they grew. The vines weaved together, eventually morphing into bark, the girl’s body was raised up thanks to the new growth beneath her, and now she was at the center of a new tree. The parts of her flesh that tore had melded seamlessly into the bark, and eventually, that bark would overtake the rest of her flesh, but until then only her head, parts of her arms and legs, and torso would remain flesh and bone. The demons nodded, done with their work, they departed.

The traverser waited a few minutes to make sure they were gone, once she was sure, she walked up to the newly made tree, she changed the cloaking to allow souls to see her, and once she did, the girl noticed her.

“Are you…Are you going to hurt me too…?”

“No, child, I am not.”

“Where am I…? What is this horrible place and what have they done to me…?” she asked with tears in her eyes.

“Child, this is Hell. This is the Suicide Forest, tell me, what is your name, do you remember what you last did?”

The girl thought for a moment and then spoke, “My…My name is…is Fleur de Lis…I lived in Canterlot City…I was…I was in jail or something like jail…I…” Fleur’s eyes went wide as the memories rushed back to her at once. “Oh god…I let myself get possessed by a monster…I killed so many people and I didn’t care…no one cared about me, only what I could give them…my body, my status, my looks…that’s all I was worth…and when I was in prison, no one visited me, not my parents, nobody…I was alone. I just didn’t want to be there anymore…no more…”

The traverser got closer to Fleur and gently wiped her tears. “I’m sorry, it seems as if you were deprived of the kindness and love that is the right of all living things. People only saw you as an object, and not a person, and that left you hollow inside. Made you easy prey for a demonic creature to take you and do with you what they willed. Complacent though you were, had you not been subjected to such treatment, this tragedy would not have come about.”

Fleur’s eyes grew wider upon hearing the woman’s words. “How…How do you know that about me?”

The traverser’s eyes flashed silver for a second. “I can see the true nature of things, and at your core, you are not evil, just denied a chance. And that’s something that you shouldn’t be punished for dear child.”

The mysterious woman took a step back, she placed her hands into a prayer position, and upon doing so a silver light began to glow between her hands. This glow did not go unnoticed, as the many damned souls that were turned into trees looked upon this light with reverence and joy. When the traverser separated her hands, she revealed a glowing orb of silver light, she shifted this orb to her right hand and held it.

“What’s that…?”

“Hope. Hope is the core of faith, hope is the light in the darkness, hope brings joy to the joyless. It is through hope that all can be set free.”

The traverser stood before Fleur and pressed the silver orb against the teen’s chest. The orb phased into her body and its effects were immediate, Fleur took in a deep breath as if she had been deprived of air. The tree glowed silver and from it Fleur’s body was separated, allowing the tree to shrivel up and die. Fleur’s body was then clothed in silver light, and above her was a portal of bright light, the divine light, the light of Heaven.

Fleur looked upon the woman as tears of joy flowed down her face. She floated over to her and hugged the mysterious woman tight. “Did you just set me free?”

The traverser hugged her back and said, “Indeed I did, now go, you needn’t linger here any longer.”

Fleur released the woman and began to ascend towards the light but stopped and looked back down. “Wait, I don’t know your name! Please tell me your name!”

“Somnambula, that is my name.”

“Thank you! Thank you, Somnambula!”

With those words spoken, Fleur was whisked up into the portal of light, freed from Hell. This was the power of her item, her Artifact, the power of the Rapture. The power to traverse the depths of Hell itself, and the power to grant hope to the hopeless within this realm, and in doing so, allow them to be set free and enter the lofty heavens above. Not all were worthy of this gift, Somnambula chose wisely, only those whose circumstances didn’t allow them to make the right choices, or who had lost all hope.

“Canterlot City…” Somnambula whispered. “That city has been a nexus point of all things supernatural lately.” The traverser of Hell walked off in a random direction, as she did, the silver aura around her body began to grow in intensity, transforming her body into a vapor-like state that began to breakdown with each passing second. “Perhaps it is time I paid this city a visit and find out what drove that young girl to such an extreme.”

With those last words, Somnambula exited the realm of Hell, her next destination, Canterlot City.

Spring Vacation Day 3

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Sunset stared at the pictures that hung on the wall, several of them were of her parents. It was surreal to see them in picture form, even more so as humans. Sunset hadn’t seen them in so long, she wondered what they were doing, or if they were even still alive back in Equestria.

“Hey, Sis.”

Sunset turned to her left and watched as her “little sister” came walking up to her. “Hey…” she replied while turning her attention back to the pictures. “It’s still kinda hard for me to believe the things you said about Mom and Dad, how they were nice even though they were rich.”

“That’s funny, ‘cause I still can’t believe that Mom and Dad were that big an asshole to you,” said Sun.

Sunset rubbed the back of her head. “Like I said, they weren’t always like that, when we were poor, they were really humble, kind, and caring. But after I got accepted to the school, and became the Princess’ protégé, our elevated status made them more arrogant, and more like the nobles that looked down on us. Heh, funny, our family got money and status in my world, and we ended up turning into complete jerks. Mom and Dad were born into their money, and you turned out more grounded.”

Sun gently threw her right arm over her big sister’s shoulders and chuckled. “Oh, not exactly. For a while there I acted like a spoiled little brat, but Mom and Dad drilled that nonsense out of my head real quick.”

Sunset smiled at her little sister, as she continued to stand there with her and gazed upon the numerous photos, a burning question begged to be answered, but she wasn’t sure if it was the right time to ask it, or if it was even a good idea to do so. “Um…Sun…I…”

“You want to know how Mom and Dad died, right?” Sun asked. She saw the look of shame on Sunset’s face and rubbed her big sister’s right shoulder in assurance. “Hey, it’s alright. I figured you’d want to know at some point, I mean, they’re essentially your Mom and Dad too, y’know.”

“I just don’t want to reopen an old wound for you,” said Sunset.

“Believe me, I’ve had plenty of time to reconcile with what happened, and you deserve to know.” It was at that time that Sun glanced to her left, towards the corner of the hallway. “Sparky, you should hear this too.”

A small “EEP!” sound was uttered from around the corner. As predicted, Twilight turned the corner, her hands folded in front of her as she had a look of remorse for her eavesdropping. “I’m sorry, I really meant to say I was here, but I didn’t want to ruin your moment. Also, how did you know I was there?”

“Easy, I sensed your flame of life, so I always know where you’re at.”

Sunset smirked as she teased, “Wow, lil’ sis, not stalkery at all.”

Sun blushed and countered, “Oh shut up, I’m not stalking her! After what happened at school, I’m keeping an eye on her as best I can. So, I make it a habit to lock onto her life flame whenever we’re apart in case of emergencies. Besides, it’s not like I can see where she is, it’s more like a general GPS locator ability.”

Twilight blushed and smiled; she didn’t know that her girlfriend was keeping such a close watch on her. After dealing with Indigo’s stalker tendencies, one would assume Twilight would dislike knowing that her girlfriend was keeping tabs on her location, but at the same time, it also made her feel very safe, knowing that Sun would always know when she was in trouble and be there to help her when she needed it.

“Thank you, but really, I’m fine, it’s private and you don’t have to include me,” Twilight assured.

Sun shook her head. “No, I want you to hear this. Because it’s not only the story about how my parents died…it’s all the story of how I got the Ember Stone.”

Sun led Twilight and Sunset into her room, letting them sit on her bed while she pulled out a chair and turned it around to sit in it with the back towards her front. “Let’s see…it’s been about five years now. We were on vacation in Prance, I was thirteen at the time, and we were visiting the Louvre. That’s when shit went sideways…”

~*~*~*~

Sunset was a bright and happy thirteen-year-old girl, she lived a life that most kids could only dream of. She was the child of a wealthy couple who were loving parents to her. Sunrise Shimmer, her father, was a tall man, his red hair cut short, with golden colored skin, and blue eyes. Evening Glow Shimmer, her mother, had porcelain white skin, with hair that shined like gold, and teal colored eyes. Sunset was dressed in designer pants and a tank top, her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, her hands promptly placed behind her back as she looked upon the lovely pieces of art with her parents.

Her parents felt it was important for Sunset to immerse herself in the arts, not only to see the works of the greats before, but to learn from them. They spent quite a bit of time in the Louvre, and just like the rest of the patrons, they were happy, content, oblivious to the goings on around them. Like say, several people gathering and acting in conspiratorial manner.

It all happened so fast, screams were heard, along with the sounds of gunfire. Sunrise and Evening quickly moved to protect their daughter as a large group of armed men took control of the Louvre, they spotted a door on the other end of the exhibit hall, where it led to they didn’t know, but hopefully it would allow them a place to hide. With that in mind, the family of three bolted for the door. Unfortunately, the armed assailants saw their actions and gave chase, Sunrise pushed his daughter and wife ahead of him and charged for the armed men. He managed to tackle one of them down to the floor and wrestle his gun from him, now armed, Sunrise opened fire on the second assailant, killing him.

Evening didn’t look back as she pushed her daughter forward, continuing to run. When they got to the door, she immediately shoved Sunset inside and slammed the door behind her. Sunset banged on the door, yelling at her mother to open the door, and come inside with her.

“Sunset, you have to run! Run and run if you can’t run any more than hide the best you can! I love you, sweetie, just remember that we will always–!”

*BANG!*

Sunset jumped back from the door and clasped her hands over mouth. When she looked down, she could see a pool of blood forming under the door, her mother’s blood. The young teen didn’t wait, she did as her mother told her and ran, the room was actually a storage room for exhibits that were either to be rotated out, or new ones that were yet to be displayed. As Sunset ran, she heard the door get busted down, she made the mistake of looking back, causing her to trip on a rolled up rug that sent Sunset fumbling across the floor and eventually smashing into a wall, causing several items to fall from the shelves.

One of these items fell right in her hand, she had shut her eyes at first, but when she opened them, she saw the item that she was holding. It was a necklace; it had a gold chain and metal pendant that had a bright ruby gemstone in the center. Something about this necklace entranced her, as if it was meant to be in her hands. Then her worst fears were realized, the armed men found her, two of them. She raised her arms to show that she wouldn’t resist, but they didn’t care. One of the men pulled out his pistol and fired one shot.

*BANG!*

The lights went out, the bullet striking her skull and splattering her brain matter onto the wall as she fell backwards. After a few seconds, something happened that made the two men jump back out of fear. Flames engulfed Sunset’s head, and in an instant, the damage was healed as if nothing had happened. Sunset took a deep breath as she rose back up, in a panic she felt her head, and to her relief there was no damage, but she did get shot, she remembered things going black after she saw the gun fire.

What…What happened to me…they just shot me, right?!

The two gunmen looked at her with fear now, more afraid of her than she was of them. Both pulled out their automatic weapons and opened fire on her, practically tearing her apart with each successful hit. Sunset fell back onto the floor, this time parts of her body were removed, her right arm had been blown off and was now lying across from her, the gunmen believed that they had done it, but they were wrong. Flames ignited all over her body, the blown off end of her right arm shot out a rope made of pure fire that latched itself back to where it belonged. The arm was pulled back to its original place, the damage being erased as if it had never happened. Sunset once again took in a deep gasp as she came back to life for the second time.

“S-Stop…!” The two men were genuinely afraid now and readied to fire again. “I SAID STOP!”

When she heard the clicking of their guns, Sunset screamed loud, but when she did, she released a jet of flames that caught her off guard. The flames struck both men and set them on fire, they ran around frantically, eventually dropping onto the floor and rolling to put out the flames the best they could. However, it was no use, the flames were not normal flames, they burned regardless of what they did, for so long as Sunset perceived them as a threat, the flames would continue to burn them until they were no longer screaming or moving.

Sunset didn’t understand it, she somehow breathed out fire like some kind of dragon. The young teen still had the necklace clenched in her right hand, refusing to let it go, she could feel it, this necklace, it had to be the reason how she was still alive. Regardless, she ran back to the door, if she couldn’t die, then that meant she could help her parents. Sunset finally made it back and paused, lying on the floor were the dead bodies of her parents, her father was full of bullet holes, while her mother had one single shot to her head.

The gunmen and the hostages all stared at the girl, her tattered and bloody clothes already made her a sight, but that wasn’t the only reason. Sparks began to form around her body, small embers that grew and formed into bigger plumes of fire.

“You killed them…” The flames spread all over her body. “You killed them…!” Sunset clenched her fists. “You killed them!” Her hair transformed into pure fire. “YOU KILLED THEM!!!!!!”

A burst of fire roared out in all directions, indiscriminately burning any and everything in the room. The gunmen stood no chance of defending against the inferno, unfortunately, neither did the hostages, the flames intensified, growing in power as she released a throat destroying roar of sadness and anger, the power grew inside her, becoming stronger until it released in a powerful explosion that destroyed the room and vaporized everything inside.

When it was over, Sunset realized that she was the only person left alive, the room and exhibits were charred beyond recognition. Sunset fell to her knees, she couldn’t believe what she had done, not only did she manage to kill the gunmen, but she also killed the innocent people, and cremated her parents’ bodies. The sole survivor wailed, her cries carrying through the halls of the museum…

~*~*~*~

Twilight and Sunset were crying now, while Sun remained calm throughout the retelling of her story. Sun sighed and said, “So, yeah, I not only killed the people that killed my parents, but I also killed about thirty innocent people, and vaporized the bodies of my parents, there wasn’t even anything to bury, not even ashes…”

“Oh, god…Sun…” Twilight rose from her seat and approached Sun, she then embraced her in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry.”

Sunset wiped the tears from her eyes and joined them, she had no words to express how she felt in this moment, how sad she felt for her little sister. Carrying the burden of killing innocent people, albeit accidentally, but also destroying her mother and father’s bodies. When they were done, Twilight and Sunset sat back down and wiped their eyes.

“I can’t imagine how much that hurt you,” said Sunset.

“It hurt a lot, actually. So much so that I committed suicide, multiple times.”

Twilight and Sunset’s tears stopped as their eyes bulged and their jaws dropped, both shouting at the same time, “WHAT?!”

Sun shrugged. “I was thirteen, I was shot, I vaporized my parents and innocent people because I lost control of my anger. It was too much for me, when I was able to come back home, I drew a bath, and took a razor blade to my wrists.”

“SUN!” Twilight shouted in shock.

Sun raised her hand to stop Twilight. “Hey, hey, it’s alright Sparky. Because, without realizing it, I was wearing the Ember Stone. So, when I did that, the wounds healed immediately. After that I went through so many ways to try and end my life over the course of six months. I tried to overdose on all kinds of different drugs, I drank a whole bottle of bleach, I shot myself, stabbed myself in the heart, jumped off a building, hung myself, threw myself down the stairs, let myself get bitten by several different kinds of poisonous animals, but no matter what I did, I just came back. I thought it was punishment for what I did, God’s way of saying, ‘You have to live with what you did!’.”

Sunset was still trying to process this. “You…You tried to kill yourself, for six whole months?! I mean…I…I didn’t think I…”

Sun got up from her chair and sat next to Sunset, she took one of her big sister’s hands into her own and said, “Hey, that was me, not you. We may look, sound, and we may even think alike to a degree, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll do that, you’re already far stronger than me. And you have a better support system.”

Twilight got up and took the space on Sun’s left as she grasped her girlfriend’s left hand. “You have it now, too! No matter what happens, I’ll be there for you, I want you to come to me anytime you have thoughts like that, understand?!”

Sun gave Twilight a reassuring smile. “You don’t have to worry about that, neither of you do. Because to be honest, I stopped doing it to try and kill myself after the first month. I realized after that that I had the power to come back to life, along with actual fire powers, but I wanted to see what the extent of my healing powers were. That’s when I did all those other things once I exhausted the conventional ways of offing oneself. How do you think I can fight the way I can?”

It clicked in Sunset and she gave voice to her hypothesis, “You did it to build up your pain tolerance.”

“Bingo, Sis, I could still feel pain, but it was only for a short amount of time, but even then it’s a shock to the system, so I wanted to understand and overcome that shock so that, whatever the situation, pain won’t disrupt my thinking or actions.”

Sunset had to admit, she was impressed by her little sister’s thinking. She didn’t like hearing that she attempted suicide, but at the very least she managed to turn the negative into a positive. “So, where were you studying before you came here?”

“Oh, I self-taught myself, I was traveling the world to try and learn more about the Ember Stone, and I didn’t want to get bogged down at a school, so I ended up applying myself harder, making my mind and body sharper to make better use of the Stone. When I heard about all the craziness happening here in Canterlot City, I decided to transfer here to find out more, plus I thought it’d be nice to graduate in a school, I’m pretty sure Mom and Dad would want that.”

Twilight squeezed Sun’s hand and her smile broadened. “Well, I’m glad that you decided to come to Canterlot City.”

Sun smiled back and planted a kiss on Twilight’s cheek. “I’m glad I did, too.”

Sunset stood up and stated, “Okay, I’m going to go and get cutesy with my girlfriend, I’ll let you two have a little alone time.”

Before either of them could say differently, Sunset had slipped out of the room, leaving both of them alone. Sun and Twilight glanced at each other; the topic of intimacy hadn’t come up much in their relationship since the day they became a couple. Twilight removed her hand from Sun’s and changed her gaze downwards towards her button up blouse. With a determined look, Twilight began unbuttoning her blouse, doing it quickly to not think about it. Sun was caught off guard by the suddenness of Twilight’s actions and quickly moved to stop her girlfriend before she was completely exposed.

Sun managed to clasp her hands over Twilight’s, stopping her and leaving Twilight’s blouse half open and exposing her bra. “Sparky, what are you doing?!”

Twilight blushed hard as she avoided eye contact with Sun. “Well…w-we are on Spring Break, a-and we are alone…”

“Yeah, that we are, but that doesn’t mean you have to strip for me just because of that, babe,” said Sun.

Twilight’s eyes watered a little as a scowl appeared on her face. “I hate this…I-I want to…I want to make love with you…I want to erase all those experiences with Indigo and make new ones with you…! But look at me!” Twilight removed her hands from Sun’s and held them out, showing that they were trembling. “I know you’re not her, I know you care about me, you like me, and I know you wouldn’t ever hurt me. I know that, and yet, in the back of my mind, I can’t stop associating intimacy with what Indigo did…”

Sun was really wishing she had burned Indigo Zap alive when she had the chance. Saving that fantasy for another day, Sun wrapped her arms around Twilight and gave her a hug, bringing the teen genius’ head to rest against her chest. “Twilight, no one gets over that kind of trauma right away. I don’t care if I don’t get to make love to you, just being with you is good enough.”

“You say that…but I know you have needs, and I should be able to help you with those…”

“Just because you’re my girlfriend doesn’t mean you’re obligated to.” Sun stroked the top of Twilight’s head soothingly, feeling the teenage prodigy relax in her grasp. “Besides, I got certain toys back at home that can do the job for me if I need it.”

Twilight’s body stiffened, her mind already whipping up a mental image of Sun in a compromising position with said “toys”. She quickly shook that out of her mind and returned to the moment. “B-B-Be that as it may…I still want to be intimate with you…!”

“Only when you’re ready, Sparky. I want you to feel confident, not forcing yourself because the situation calls for it, and not because I’m feeling horny, okay?” Sun asked.

Twilight looked up into the caring turquoise eyes of her girlfriend and smiled appreciatively. “I can’t believe I found someone like you…I’m so lucky.”

“Really? ‘Cause I feel like I’m the lucky one.” Sun smirked, she then quickly jerked backwards, making both herself and Twilight fall onto the bed, and making Twilight release a cute yelp of surprise. Now the two of them were just lying there on the bed. “We don’t have to do anything; we can just lie here.”

Twilight snuggled up closer to Sun and said, “Thank you.”

Supernatural occurrences happened, you don’t know where and you usually don’t know when, but there are those people who make it a point to know the where and the when, the how and the why, and what to do. They were called the OSOD or the Organization of Supernatural and Otherworldly Disasters. These guys were the ones who came when the creatures from the world beyond or spiritual beings appeared to ruin an otherwise nice day for the normal people of the world. Although, right now, they were embarrassed beyond belief.

They didn’t just let one supernatural event get out of hand, no, they let TWO get out of hand. First with the Wendigo outbreak, and second when a war between angels and demons took place, all in the same location, all within a few months of each other.

Currently, one of its operatives and a “contractor”, were heading into the dense jungle. The contractor was wearing a dusty green explorer’s shirt, with pockets filled with items and supplies for the journey, she wore sandy colored cargo shorts, brown boots, and a sandy colored pit helmet. Her light gold skin was sweaty from the humidity as her long black hair swished back and forth from her movements as she hacked through the jungle with her machete, the woman’s rose colored eyes picked up on movement coming from her right and paused. When nothing happened, she carefully proceeded.

Coming up behind her was another woman, the operative. She had a dark orchid skin tone, her eyes were icy opal colored, and over her right eye was a scar. Her hair was shaved save for the mohawk she sported, she wore a similar outfit that her partner wore, except the shirt she wore had the top two buttons undone and was colored black and the shorts gray. On her thigh she had a gun holstered, and in her right hand she wielded a machete to cut through the brush and strapped to the back of her belt was a strange disc object.

It looked like a sundial, but not a traditional one. The edges were made of a gold-like metal, three pearls were placed at the twelve, three, and nine ‘o'clock positions. The dial’s hand was made of the same gold metal, while the inner parts were crafted of a navy-blue metal. There were no numbers to indicate time, but there were rune markings etched into the edges.

As they walked, the woman with a mohawk took a step forward, but suddenly found herself airborne when she slipped in some slick mud that sent her falling onto her back with a wet squelching sound. The operative’s partner turned around and chuckled at her misfortune, earning an irritated glare.

“Ha, ha, very funny. If you’re done laughing your ass off, give me a hand, Daring!”

Daring still laughed but did offer a hand. “Sorry, ‘Tempest’, but that whole thing was something out of a cartoon!”

When Daring got Tempest up, the latter rubbed off what mud she could and growled a little. “Fucking jungle, fucking mud! And what’s with the way you said my name, ‘Tempest’.”

“Oh, it might have to do with the fact that that’s not your real name,” said Daring.

Tempest threw a glare Daring’s way. “It is my name! Now move your ass, we have a mission to complete.” The OSOD operative took the lead as she angrily hacked at the brush in front of her, but stopped to say, “I better not read about this in your next book! Don’t forget, I know where you live!”

Daring rolled her eyes, “Of course you do, you sleep over enough times that you practically live there.”

After a few more minutes of trekking through the jungle, the duo made it to their destination. A temple stood before them, easily five stories high, and, unfortunately, had streaks of dried blood running down it. It was here that Tempest handed her machete over Daring, allowing her to draw her gun and hold it with both hands. Daring readied herself as well, she had heard rumors of a beast prowling the jungles of this area, taking the local villagers, and performing arcane sacrificial rituals on them.

“Well…looks like we found the right place. What did you say we were dealing with, again?” Tempest asked.

“From what the villagers described, and from what I’ve been able to research based on that information, we’re dealing with a Yahui,” Daring explained.

“On that note, what the hell is a Yahui?”

The answer came quickly. An unearthly roar tore through the jungle as a creature appeared at the top of the temple. The creature crouched low and jumped straight into the air, Daring and Tempest backed away quickly, letting the creature land on the ground without any obstruction. Dust was kicked up from the landing, but when it cleared, Daring and Tempest got a clearer look at what it was. The creature had the head of a crocodile, with scaly arms and legs, and jagged flint-like claws. The Yahui’s body was like a tortoise shell, overall, this monster was an armored killer. The Yahui had yellow eyes that bounced between Daring and Tempest, waiting to see who made the first hostile move.

“Uh-huh…so, that’s what a Yahui looks like,” said Tempest.

“Don’t attack, Yahui are typically docile and sapient. They usually help humans and don’t kill unless they’ve been angered.” Daring slowly crouched and stabbed the machetes into the ground, showing her hands empty in a gesture of non-hostility. “Yahui, why have you done this? Why are you killing so many people?”

The creature looked at Daring but glanced every now and then at Tempest as she hadn’t lowered her weapon. “The humans kill this land and kill my kind! We’ve helped them so many times, and they repay us by calling us monsters and killing us! I will offer their blood and hearts to the gods and bring forth the wrath of the gods unto them!”

Daring nodded. “I understand, the world isn’t fair to your kind after all you’ve done. But don’t make them right, don’t give them that.”

“Tezcatlipoca had the right idea, to rid the world of Quetzalcoatl’s favored creations!”

A dark aura flared around the Yahui and Daring sighed sadly. “It’s no good, he’s steeped too deep in his hatred…Tempest…you’re up.”

Tempest noted the sad tone in Daring’s voice, she was a proponent of keeping the ancient creatures and sights intact, for they were as much a part of our world as the trees, oceans, and animals that resided in it. However, there were times when even she knew that those things presented a threat and needed to be stopped. Tempest put away her gun and instead unhooked the sundial which was on her belt. Below the dial was a handlebar that allowed someone to hold it like a shield, Tempest held the dial up, and immediately the three pearl shaped crystals began to glow. Shadows flared out from the disk and wrapped Tempest in a cocoon of darkness.

The cocoon shrunk and form fitted against Tempest’s body, several points of pearl white lights appeared over her body, it almost appeared as if she was cloaked in the night sky itself. The sundial object had switched places, now it was around her waist, held there by the shadows, her eyes glowed bright blue as strands of shadows wisped off her body and flowed like ribbons in the wind.

“I’ll tell you now, I’ll make it as quick as possible.”

“Witch!” The Yahui accused as he charged straight for her.

Tempest jumped into the air, spun, and landed a few feet away from his reach. The Yahui skidded to a halt and turned around to charge again, but this time, Tempest charged as well. The creature lunged with its right claw and Tempest met it with greater speed, she brushed her hand over the creature’s arm, practically pirouetting around him as she stopped and let the creature stumble forward. The Yahui stopped and turned to face her but stopped when it looked at its right arm. The scales around its arm began to shed, again, and again, and again, in rapid succession.

In less than a few seconds, the Yahui’s right arm began to shrivel up, the skin disappeared, leaving only bones, and not long after the bones were exposed, they too were turned to dust. The Yahui didn’t scream, nor did it look like it was in pain, but it was stunned. “What…What did you do…?!”

“The nerves that were connected to your arm are gone, that’s why don’t feel any pain, they’ve aged so far that they’re useless. That’s the power I wield, the power of time.” Tempest formed a sphere of shadow energy, it spun around and around, creating a whirlwind around Tempest. “I promised this would be painless, and I meant it.”

Tempest dashed towards the Yahui and slammed the rotating sphere into his chest. The sphere erupted and swallowed the Yahui whole, once inside, the Yahui underwent many years’ worth of aging in less than a few seconds. Each second that ticked by was another hundred years, the Yahui aged rapidly, its skin shedding continuously until it appeared old and feeble, but even then, it didn’t stop. Without so much as a gasp or scream, the skin disappeared, leaving only its skeleton, and a second later, that skeleton was turned to dust.

Daring had witnessed the power of Tempest’s mystical item before, the Wheel of Shadows. From what she gathered about the object, it had the power to manipulate time, but not all of time. She could control the time of living things and objects, either aging them to the point that they were dust or regressing that age. For example, if she used it on a human, she could regress their age back to that of a child, or even further, she could regress them to a mere zygote.

Once the work was done, Tempest undid her shadow form, returning them to the Wheel. She hooked the Wheel back on her belt and sighed. “I have the power over time, but I can’t undo the bad shit that happened here…what kind of bullshit is that?”

“Probably better that you don’t, there are enough movies about what could happen if you mess with time.”

Tempest chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Okay ‘Doc’, I won’t go back in time and accidentally make out with my mom or go to the future to find a sports almanac and get super rich.”

Daring raised an eyebrow. “You better not be bad mouthing my favorite movie trilogy.”

“You’re such a nerd.”

“A nerd who knows various martial arts styles, has degrees in archeology, linguistics, anthropology, cartography, zoology, entomology, cryptozoology, the occult, proficient in firearms, a world-renowned best seller, and to top it all off…I’m rich bitch,” Daring countered with a smirk.

Tempest crossed her arms, thought about it for a moment, and conceded her point. “Touché.” Tempest took out a device from one of her pockets, a secure satellite phone that connected to OSOD headquarters. “This is Tempest Shadow to HQ, we’ve found the target location and have eliminated the threat, send a cleanup crew to my coordinates to wash off this temple.”

{Confirmed, Agent Tempest. Be advised, headquarters has issued that you start investigating the ‘Hotspot’.}

Tempest knew what the “Hotspot” was, it was the code name that the OSOD came up with for Canterlot City. “Seriously? I just got through with this one, I’m due for some R and R!”

{Unfortunately, Agent Tempest, this is an order from the top. There’s been too much activity in the Hotspot to be ignored. We need an agent who can not only investigate, but also counter and/or eliminate the source of the Hotspot’s activity.}

“In other words, this has gotten so embarrassing that they need someone there to get shit done.”

{Agent Tempest–!}

“I got it, I got it. I’ll be on the first plane out of here.” Tempest hung up the phone and sighed in annoyance. “I was looking forward to vegging out on your couch for a while, rich nerd.”

Daring chuckled. “Rain check then. Do you think you’ll need my help?”

Tempest thought for a minute. “Don’t know, but I’ll call you if I do.”

Daring lightly punched Tempest’s right arm. “You’d better.”

Sunset was on the beach, just relaxing as she sat in the chair under the parasol, listening to the sound of the ocean as it ebbed and flowed. The sun was setting and bathed the sky in orange, red, and yellow colors. The water reflected this light, only adding to the beauty, along with this was a warm breeze that blew in from the west. Sunset hadn’t felt this peaceful in a long time, well, she took that back, there was another time.

“Hey, Sunny!”

The former unicorn cracked open an eye and smiled as she saw Pinkie hovering over her. “Hey, babe.”

“Whatcha doin’?” Pinkie asked as she crouched to eye level with Sunset.

“Just enjoying the moment.”

“Oh, did I mess it up?” Pinkie asked with concern.

Sunset chuckled as she shook her head. “How could a visit from my cute girlfriend mess up this moment? Actually…why don’t you join me?”

Pinkie smiled and happily chirped, “Okay!”

Sunset let one of her legs fall off the chair, Pinkie Pie sat on the open space and laid back against Sunset, resting the back of her head on the former bad girl’s chest. Sunset gently draped her arms over Pinkie’s shoulders and draped her left leg over Pinkie’s left thigh. The two of them just lied there, the peaceful moment only becoming that much more perfect because of Pinkie’s presence.

“Sunset, are you really going to become a cop?” Pinkie asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s what I want to do. Well, being a regular police officer is just the first step, I want to become a detective and solve crimes.”

Pinkie snuggled into her lover’s embrace. “You’re amazing, Sunny. You’ve already figured out what you’re going to do. Me…I’m still trying to figure it out.”

“Don’t sweat it so much, Pinkie. Not everybody figures out what they want to do before they hit college, sometimes it just clicks when you’re in college, that’s the point of going.”

“I know…I just feel like I’m weighing you down,” Pinkie confessed.

Sunset took her right hand and ran her fingers through Pinkie’s curly locks. “Don’t start with that, I want to be with you, I care about you. I…I love you, Pinkie. Only that should matter, I mean, who else can put up with my crap and all this magical craziness?”

Pinkie shrugged. “Eh, maybe Princess Twilight, or my sister, Lime.”

“Heh, yeah………Wait – what about your sister?!” Sunset wasn’t so much surprised by the Princess Twilight bit, it had become an inside joke to their group that Sunset and Princess Twilight would make a cute couple, hell, even Pinkie Pie had made a few – she believed – jokes about having a threesome with Princess Twilight. But Pinkie’s big sister, Limestone Pie, that was new.

“Oh…heh, heh…turns out that Limestone had – still maybe kinda has – a crush on you.”

Sunset took a moment to absorb that. “I mean…uh…wow, I thought she hated my guts for a second until we made up.”

Pinkie rubbed Sunset’s hand and answered, “Yeah, she didn’t want to come between us so she pretended to not like you so you wouldn’t like her, and probably not want to talk to her so that would make it easier for her to stay away from you.”

Sunset blinked. “Oh…um…wow.”

“Yep, face it Sunny, you’re just too damn sexy. You make straight girls turn gay for you! No one is safe from your sexiness! Hide your daughters moms and dads of the world!” Pinkie proclaimed.

Sunset smirked and held Pinkie tighter. “Well, your parents messed up, ‘cause you’re all mine.”

“Nooooooo! Please, Sunset, don’t take my purity away!” Pinkie mock pleaded.

“Oh, I took that a long time ago, you’re never getting away from me!” Sunset shifted hands’ position to Pinkie’s sides and began tickling her. “Never!”

Pinkie began laugh hysterically as she flailed like a madwoman, trying to get away from Sunset, but the flame haired girl had locked her legs around Pinkie, keeping her girlfriend restrained as she was forced to endure the torture.

“S-Sunset! HAHAhAHA S-S-s-S-toP I-IIAIIIE g-going to p-p-pEE myself!!!” Pinkie pleaded for real.

“Hmm, kinky. I’ve never done watersports, but there’s a first time for everything.”

“S-S-SUNSET!”

Sunset stopped her tickling, leaving Pinkie a panting mess as she took in deep breathes. Pinkie looked up the best she could and smirked a little, “Y-You know I-I’m going to get you back for that right~”

With a gulp, Sunset replied, “Yep, totally worth it though…!”

The streets of Canterlot City were still a mess from the recent battles, but the tireless efforts of the city’s construction workers have made them more presentable. With the ending of the war between Angelus and the Darkness, the people believed that the streets were safer. Crime hadn’t been that high since most worried that there were still demons and angels lurking about and ready to take the wicked and sinful away at a moment’s notice.

It was, unfortunately, not enough to stop every criminal, as was the case now. A gang of four, three men and one woman, had cornered a young couple. One of the gang members, a large man, had forced the young man to the ground, leaving his girlfriend to the mercy of the other two. The woman of the gang had sifted through their belongings to see what was of value, unfortunately she didn’t find much.

“Well this is shit, dammit, all this angels and demons shit’s keeping the good marks at home,” said the female of the gang.

“So, now what?” asked one of the male members.

“Do whatever ya want,” she replied.

The three men had a lecherous gleam in their eyes as they looked the young woman up and down.

“NO! LEAVE HER ALO–!”

The large man punched him across the face and shouted, “Shut the fuck up!” He then turned to his colleagues and said, “Hey, you better not wear that bitch out before I have my turn!”

The young girl began to scream as the two men started to rip at her clothes. The gangster woman lit up a cigarette and took a puff as she said in annoyance, “C’mon you dipshits, you two got hair triggers, so just nut her already! I got better things to do than – ACK!”

The couple, and the three male gangsters turned towards the female gangster. Their mouths fell open in horror as they saw a sword blade protruding from her chest. The female gangster looked down her body and saw the silver blade, now drenched her in her blood. She was too stunned to react to the pain, the blade swiftly retraced from her body, allowing a steady stream of blood to come flowing from the wound. The girl stumbled forward, but she didn’t get the chance as a streak of red light went through her left shoulder, the reaction was delayed as half a second later the arm fell off, another red streak went through her right shoulder, and just like the first, it too fell off. Blood sprayed from the wounds, splattering against the walls on either side.

The female gangster screamed in pain as she spun around to try and see who was doing this to her, but that only allowed her a brief glimpse of the blade as it slashed again, this time beheading her. The sliced neck released another spray of blood into the air as her head flew up and fell before the others, not a moment later, her body joined it, drenching the ground in a pool of crimson. Now with no obstructions, they could clearly see who it was who had killed the woman.

From what they could tell, it was a she. She was wearing a black hoodie, black pants, sneakers, and gloves. In her left hand she held a scabbard, and in her right, she held a katana. The blade was coated in the blood of its victim, but after a few seconds, that blood seemed to seep into the blade itself, making it pulse and glow red.

From the darkness of the hood, they could only make out the killer’s glowing red eyes, which shifted between all of them as she swayed back and forth. “Wow, she bled a lot…who’s the next bleeder? C’mon, c’mon, don’t be shy!”

“YOU BITCH!” the large gangster shouted as he got off the young man.

That same gangster pulled out a gun and fired it repeatedly at her. The killer didn’t even flinch, but she did swipe her sword swiftly through the air, her movements were a blur as she did this. By the time the gangster’s gun was empty, all his fired bullets had clattered onto the pavement, sliced in half, their movement having been halted, not a single one had passed her.

“Wow, that was shit. My turn!”

With inhuman speed, the killer dashed towards the large gangster, slicing upwards with her sword, and severing his forearm. The half that held his gun flew up into the air, like his female companion, he didn’t feel the initial cut, it all happened too quick for his nerves to interpret that his limb was gone and that pain should follow.

While he was still stunned, the killer shifted her sword into a reverse-grip, and spun around rapidly in place, creating a red circle as she stopped with her back to the man. A second later, a clean cut formed on the man’s stomach, it spewed out blood, but after that, more cuts formed, splitting the man’s stomach open to the point that his entrails spilled out in front of him. The man screamed in terror and was about to vomit, but the killer stabbed her sword into the open wound, and with a malicious chuckle, slashed upwards, cleaving through bone and muscle with no effort at all. When she flicked her blade downwards, a line formed on the large gangster’s body, and a second later, his body split in half, causing more blood to release into the air.

The last two gangsters were scared out of their minds at this point, watching the killer dance as she let the blood flow over her and her sword. The two gangsters decided to take their chances and run while she was distracted, they bolted around her, thinking that they were going to escape. But they were oh so wrong.

“Oh, that won’t do! I still want to play!”

With the same inhuman speed, the killer vaulted off the walls, pinballing from one to the other until she had gotten in front of them, and closed off their exit. The two gangsters stumbled backwards onto their rears, crawling backwards as the killer approached them, slowly, methodically, relishing the fear and in their eyes.

“P-Please, we’re sorry!”

“W-We won’t do this again! We swear!”

“Huh? Oh! You think I’m killing you because you guys were about to rape that woman and kill her boyfriend? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!” The killer released loud, hysterical laughter, as if the men had told the funniest joke in the world. The killer held her sides for a moment, genuinely finding humor in their assumption. After a few seconds more of laughing, she took a deep breath and sighed. “Thank you, I needed that laugh. No, no, you sillies, I’m not killing you because you’re bad people. I’m killing you just, well, because I like it!”

With that said, the killer sliced off the legs of one of the gangsters, and when he screamed she plunged the blade into his open mouth, his eyes moved erratically as he gagged and flailed his arms back and forth. The red eyes narrowed as she pushed the blade forward with a final crunch to end the gangster’s life. The remaining gangster had thoroughly soiled himself at this point, and tried to crawl towards the couple, begging them for help. However, the moment he reached out towards them, she sliced off both of his arms, followed by his legs.

The last gangster was reduced to a stumpy torso that wiggled on the ground, crying and begging god, or whoever would listen to save him. The killer kicked him over onto his back, she straddled his waist and held up the katana with both hands, with a sinister, happy gleam in her red eyes, she stabbed the man through the heart and quickly pulled it out, letting a steady stream of his blood come spraying upwards and coat her clothes until they were practically a dark crimson color.

The killer drew back her hood, allowing her face to be seen. Her light-yellow skin was spotted with bloodstains, making her red freckles look like they were taking over her whole face. Her rose colored hair with aquamarine streaks was tied up into a bun to keep it from thrashing about. When her eyes opened, they were filled with red light, she ran her hand over her body, and brought that same hand to her mouth, licking the blood off it as if it were a sweet wine. She got off the corpse and stood a foot away from it, the glow of her eyes faded and now were back to their regular indigo color, the color of Sour Sweet’s eyes. Said eyes shot back and forth between the carnage that she had wrought, trembling that it was her who had committed this atrocity.

“Oh, god…what…what did you do?!” Sour Sweet asked.

“Don’t act that way! You know what I did! You weren’t asleep, you were awake the entire time!”

Sour couldn’t move her hands or legs, this unsettled her a little, but even more so was the fact that she was drenched in blood and…wet? “What the fuck…? Did you – Did you have an orgasm after killing them?!” Sour asked her dark half.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help it! It’s been so damn long since I’ve reveled in killing and blood! I got a little overstimulated.”

“You fucking…” It was then that Sour Sweet noticed the couple that were still huddled at the other end of the alley. “At least they're safe…”

“Yeah, and that’s a problem, or didn’t you notice that your hood was pulled back?”

“WHAT?!” Sour – the Sword relinquishing some control of her left arm – touched her head with her left hand and realized that her hood was drawn back. “Nonononononono! Why did you do that?! They’ve seen me!”

“H-Hey, w-we won’t tell anybody, right, babe?” the young man asked of his girlfriend.

“No, no we won’t! Y-You saved us! We won’t tell anyone what happened here,” she assured.

“Can you really trust them? I mean, how long will it be before they go to the police? How long before Witchblade is on your ass? You’ll be blamed for all of this, no one will believe that you’re possessed by a demon sword.”

“After everything that’s happened in this city?! Why not?!” Sour demanded as she shouted into the air.

“You were already a bit unstable before I awakened, and the more I’ve come out, the worse you’ve gotten. Take what happened to Twilight Sparkle, after what you nearly did, do you think anyone will believe that you’re not capable of doing that on your own? You’ll either end up getting killed by the city’s great defender, or you’ll end up like Fleur and hang yourself in your cell.”

Sour Sweet’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks, the Sword was right, even though part of that was the influence of the demonic weapon, Sour had made the choice to not take her meds that would’ve dulled the voice’s influence, Witchblade wouldn’t hesitate in killing her if that happened.

“The only way to keep yourself from ending up in either of those two positions, is to kill them.”

Sour looked back at the young couple; her eyes began to water as tears flowed down them. “I’m sorry…” Her eyes shifted back to their red glow; her remorseful expression dramatically shifted to one of pure murderous glee. “She is, but I’m not~” The only thing that was heard after that were the screams and maniacal laughter of a young teenage girl in the middle of a bloody carnival.

Spring Vacation Day 4

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The girls were out on the beach, enjoying yet another day in paradise, although one of the Rainbooms wasn’t joining in on the fun. Applejack was sitting with her back against a shady tree, from her position, she watched as the twin Sunsets and their respective girlfriends were playing in the ocean, bouncing a ball between the four of them while trying to balance against the waves that came in now and then. In the distance, Rainbow Dash was surfing, while Fluttershy was down below in the depths of the ocean snorkeling, Celestia and Luna were inside today, deciding to just chill out in the luxurious manor.

The farm girl sighed heavily as she continued to watch her four friends, hugging her legs to her ample chest, feeling ashamed of herself for what she was feeling while watching them. So focused was Applejack on her inner thoughts that she didn’t notice when Rarity came sauntering over towards her, calling out her name the whole time.

“Applejack,” she called.

The cowgirl just continued to stare out.

“Applejack?”

Again, her response was met with silence.

Rarity got closer and squatted down to make sure that Applejack was awake, when she saw that her friend’s eyes were open, she gently spoke again, “Applejack, are you alright, darling?”

Applejack snapped out of her thoughts and looked to her right, she blushed a little when she noticed Rarity’s sitting position, squatting in such a way that it, ahem, drew a little attention to the noticeable camel-toe on her bikini. She quickly turned her vision back straight ahead of her and said, “Y-Yeah, Ah’m fine.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Applejack, you’re whole thing is honesty, when it comes to your feelings I can read you like a book. Now I know your minds on something, so tell me. You know, of all of us I can keep a secret if you need me too.”

Applejack knew that was true, but it wasn’t something that she could exactly tell just tell her friend, even though one of them did already figure out her secret, albeit by complete accident. How could she tell Rarity that she was feeling despondent? This feeling hadn’t fully made itself known until she started seeing the Sunsets together with their special someone, it angered her that she was feeling jealous towards her friends for finding someone who cared about them so much, but mostly, she was jealous of their intimacy.

“Ah…Ah, uh…” Applejack sighed, for someone who represented the Element of Honesty, being honest about her feelings came hard to her at this moment. “Ah guess ya could say Ah’m feelin’ a bit a heartache.”

Rarity’s eyes went wide, she had never heard Applejack talk about romance before. This was one of those once in a blue moon kind of events and she planned on listening intently. “Oh my, what about?”

“Ah…Ah was with this guy, a… ‘family friend’. He doesn’t go to the school, he mostly works at one of the nearby farms,” said Applejack as she tried to lie.

“I see, you and he were an item?” Rarity asked.

Applejack rubbed the back of her head as she looked down at the sand. “Not exactly…we were…we were friends with benefits…” The last part she spoke low and soft, her freckled face beginning to redden as the memories of her intimate times with her big brother came to the forefront of her mind.

Rarity’s mouth dropped; this was a bombshell to say the least. Although she’d never say it out loud, out of all her friends she’d suspect of having such a relationship, it would be Rainbow Dash. Which, as it turns out, the rainbow haired athlete did have something like that happening with a one Ms. Cloud Kicker. But that’s beside the point, this was Applejack. Then again, she was a young woman, and like any young woman she had needs, too. Rarity picked her jaw up and tried to compose herself, but it was too late as Applejack had already seen her reaction.

“Guess that’s a bit of a shocker, huh?”

“Uh, well, it’s just…” Rarity sighed in defeat. “I’m sorry, darling, but it is. But rest assured I’m not judging you for having your needs taken care of.”

Applejack tipped her hat to the fashionista. “Much obliged. Anyway, this guy and Ah, we’ve been in that kind of relationship for over two years, but we stopped.”

“Oh, what for? Did he…Did he want something more and you weren’t ready or was it the other way around?” Rarity speculated.

The cowgirl hugged her legs closer to her chest. “Nah, nothin’ like that. Ya know that my family was in a bit of a bind a few months ago, right? We almost lost the farm.”

Rarity nodded. “Ah, yes, Sunset mentioned as much. She and Shining Armor went to see those awful Flim Flam brothers, and as it turned out they were Wendigos.”

“Yep, they had dirt on me and this guy, our relationship wasn’t exactly kosher, and it would’ve put Granny and my lil’ sis in a bad position, thankfully Sunset saved us from somethin’ awful. We’ve stopped it since then, but…” Applejack sighed heavily as she looked upon two couples playing around on the beach. “And Ah guess Ah’m feelin’ a mite jealous…Ah mean, Pinkie and Sunset are together, Sun and Twi, and even Rainbow’s waitin’ for a gal and goes to see her whenever she can.”

“I see.” Rarity replied in a simple manner. There was a minute of silence between them, Rarity looking over her cowgirl, tomboy of a friend, admiring her physique, and then turned her gaze back to their friends. “Applejack, the boy you’re referring to is Macintosh, correct?”

Applejack released a yelp and backed away from the fashionista as if she had the plague. Her eyes went wide with both shock and deep worry, she felt like she wanted to run, she thought she could deny it, but after that reaction there was no way she could play it off. “W-W-What are ya sayin’?! W-W-Who told you?! It was Sunset, wasn’t it! ‘Cause Ah know Apple Bloom wouldn’t say a fuckin’ word about it to anyone!”

Rarity wasn’t offended, or put off by Applejack’s language, she merely turned to her friend and looked her dead in the eye, her expression was soft and not condescending, nor was it judging. “Well, in a sense, you did.” She noted the stunned expression on Applejack’s face and elaborated. “You mentioned that you were in a relationship with a boy that wasn’t ‘kosher’, I know a few things about forbidden romances from some of my more…ahem…trashier novels, but they mostly pertain to instances when one lover is from a rival family, faction, or something of the sort. Then there’s the fact that those horrible Flim Flam brothers tried to use that against you. I don’t see a rival farm romance as something worth blackmailing someone over, so the only other conclusion is that it had to do with something closer to home. And when you said whom this situation would affect, you didn’t mention your brother’s name at all. And lastly your reaction more or less confirms my deduction.”

Applejack was definitely shocked now, Sunset wanted to be a detective, but it seemed Rarity should’ve sought that profession instead. Her eyes began to water a little as Applejack looked down at the sand, feelings of shame filled her as she awaited what else her friend – or possibly ex-friend – was going to say. “Well…aren’t ya goin’ to yell at me or call me a freak?!”

“I don’t see why,” said Rarity nonchalantly. “You clearly aren’t in that kind of relationship with your brother anymore, given what occurred, and what happens in your own home on your property is your business and no one else’s.” Rarity reached out with her left hand and gently placed it atop of Applejack’s knee. “Moreover, you’re my friend, and while what you and your brother did was…shall we say, ‘unorthodox’, it won’t change how I see you. And I will keep your secret, you have my word.”

Applejack looked into Rarity’s, admittedly beautiful, sapphire eyes, trying to find any hint of deceit, but after a long minute of staring her down, she couldn’t find a trace. The normally steadfast and stoic member of their friends couldn’t help but shed a few tears, she felt so lucky to have friends like Rarity and Sunset. “Thanks, Rarity, ya have no idea how much that means to me.”

Rarity lightly squeezed her the hand she had rested on Applejack’s right kneecap and bashfully looked at her. “You mean a lot to me, Applejack…So much so, that, if you wish…” The redness of Rarity’s cheeks intensified as she prepared to speak her next words. “I – we – could, um, engage in such activities…”

Now it was Applejack’s turn to blush, all the way up to her ears. “Uh…R-Rarity, uh, wow…Ah didn’t think you were inta other girls…Ah mean, Ah have thought about it, but…”

Rarity released Applejack’s knee and brushed a stray hair behind her left ear as she allowed herself a sheepish smile. “Truthfully, I have thought of it as well…being a fashion designer, you gain appreciation and find beauty in both the male and female form. I have always been curious, about such relationships…especially given how some our friends have found their potential soulmates in the farer sex.”

“What are ya sayin’ exactly Rares? Do ya…Do ya want to be…girlfriends?” Applejack asked.

“I believe that is what I’m saying. Let’s give it a try, perhaps through graduation? And if we find that this isn’t for either of us, we can stop, no hard feelings, we remain friends.” A sly smile formed on her lips as she added, “with some fringe benefits, possibly.”

Applejack couldn’t help but chuckle as well, nor could she stop the fact that a smile formed on her face and her heart fluttering from the idea. “Then, uh, do ya mind if Ah sat next to ya?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Applejack shuffled closer to Rarity, keeping a couple inches of a gap between them. Her emerald eyes shifted to Rarity, and Rarity’s sapphire eyes shifted to Applejack. “Do ya mind if Ah wrapped my arm around ya?”

Rarity’s smile widened. “I would very much like that.”

Applejack stretched out her right arm and draped it over Rarity’s shoulders, the action brought the marshmallow white teen closer to the apple farmer, making their hips touch. It was a strange sensation, they’d had hugged before, both dressed in this manner, and just regularly at school and out of school, but right now, this had taken on a different context, a different meaning. This wasn’t a hug between friends, this was a hug between two people had just entered into a relationship.

“Ya think we should tell the girls?” Applejack asked.

“In time, yes, but let’s see how comfortable we are with each other first before we do. I don’t want to get their hopes up, or ours,” said Rarity.

“Mighty sensible of ya, Rares.”

“Let’s just say I’m learning from your example.”

Spring Vacation Day 5

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It had been three days since Indigo Zap had gone missing, and she was having the time of her life. The sporty girl had found out that the necklace her father had given her was actually a magical item, which meant now she could go toe to toe with Sunset Shimmer and beat her at her own black magic game, and save Twilight from that witch’s clutches. But before she did that, she needed to figure out how it worked, she needed to gain an understanding about her new ice powers otherwise she’d end up hurting Twilight when she eventually fought Sunset.

So far, she had learned that the cold didn’t bother her. Okay, she swore to her friends at school she didn’t see that movie, but she did, and maybe she had a little “snow queen” moment while walking through the woods and making a small ice palace, but you can’t prove it. So great was her cold resistance that she was pretty much walking around in her sports bra and pants and not feeling any cold, nor was her body showing any signs of frostbite. She was completely immune to being frozen to death or feeling any kind of cold whatsoever.

Another thing she learned was that she could manipulate the ice to the point that she could change it back to a liquid state, this in turn allowed her to get as much water as she needed. This gave her an idea as she happened upon a mountain lion, the beast snarled at her, knowing that she was more a threat than prey.

“Sorry kitty, but I have to learn how far I can take my powers. You just happened to be the first thing that crossed my path,” said Indigo.

Indigo reached out with her right hand and pointed it at the mountain lion, the big cat looked like it was about to bolt in the opposite direction, but at that moment, the Glacier Stone glowed, surrounding Indigo’s right hand in ethereal blue light. The mountain lion stopped, its eyes going wide and darting around, wondering why it couldn’t move its body.

“Something that I learned in biology, something that Twilight helped me understand a bit better, all things are made of water. So, I wonder what will happen when all the blood in your body is under my control?”

Indigo made a gesture with her right hand, and at the same time, conveyed her thoughts into the action. The mountain lion, against its will, lowered its head and bowed to her.

“H-Holy shit! It worked! I can control the water in the blood! So, let’s see what happens when I do this…” Indigo pondered.

Indigo clenched her right hand into a fist and no sooner had she done this, did the mountain lion go stiff. A second later, the cat’s body erupted with dozens of ice spikes protruding through its skin, the ice was red, made from the blood of the cat's very veins. The porcupine feline fell over, dead instantly from Indigo’s experiment. Next, Indigo focused her magic into both hands and created a sphere of blue magical energy, that energy then began to transmute into ice, that ice then shifted and reformed into a sword of pure blue ice.

Indigo Zap twirled the sword around her right hand for a moment, she locked her eyes onto a tree and held the sword tight in both of her hands. The young athlete dashed towards the tree she had designated as her target, and with one swift slash, cleaved through the trunk of the tree. Indigo waited for the tree to fall, but for some reason it didn’t, she walked towards the tree she had cut through and gave a light tap with the tip of the sword. Upon touching it, the tree began to slide more and more until it started to creak, the leaves rustled and the snow sloshed off to the side, the momentum carrying it all the way down to the ground, creating a soft thud that reverberated through the forest.

The next thing she created was a snowboard, made of ice. With a wave her hands she willed the snow to rise high, creating her own private course. She also took note of how much stronger her body had become, whenever she crashed into something, she barely felt it. And if she concentrated, she could make her body become invulnerable, becoming as hard as glacier ice. She couldn’t bleed, or get scratched when in that state, and when she wasn’t, if she did get injured, her body would mend itself quickly. Not to mention that she had enough strength to crush a rock in her hands, and with a little more practice, she’d be even stronger.

There were a few times that she almost got found by a search party, but Indigo managed to avoid them. As far as food was concerned, she managed to sneak into the resort by kicking up a blizzard around the area, making it hard for people to spot her going in or out. Whenever she was in the kitchen, she made ice form over the cameras so that no one would see her as she pilfered what she needed to survive out in the woods and return so that her training could continue. With each passing day, the idea of kicking Sunset Shimmer’s ass became more and more enticing, and soon that idea would become a reality.

That night, she stared up into the stars, admiring how clear the sky was. She could see all the twinkling lights that littered the night, sparkling like diamonds. In the city, you were lucky to see a few, maybe one or two constellations unless you had a uber strong telescope. As she lay there, Indigo recalled a memory, it was before she got more physical with Twilight, letting the genius “tutor” her. Indigo’s grades were excellent, Crystal Prep didn’t slack on her just because she was their star athlete, brawn meant nothing unless you had the brains to back it up. Indigo took that much to heart, but it provided a convenient excuse to get the little nerd alone with her.

“I don’t know how much help I-I could be to you, Indigo. I-I know your grades are great.”

“Not as great as yours, Twilight. You’re the smartest girl in this school, couldn’t hurt to improve ‘em, and if there’s anyone who could help in that department, it’s the resident genius of CPA.”

Indigo remembered as Twilight blushed at the compliment, probably one of the few she rarely got. The spikey haired girl grimaced at the thought, if there was one thing about Sunset, one thing that she would never admit aloud that she admired about her, it was how Sunset Shimmer didn’t give a damn about what others thought about her. She came into Crystal Prep, not caring about the social hierarchy, not caring how hanging around Twilight would make her look or that it would bring down the same kind of hell that Twilight was catching onto herself. Even with her friends staring the fiery haired teen down, she never wavered, she never gave in, she practically said, “Screw all of you, I do what I want!”

It was something she admired and found irritating at the same time. The latter was reserved for herself. If she had the courage, the same kind of attitude that Sunset Shimmer had, maybe Twilight wouldn’t have so easily fallen for that fire witch – NO!

Indigo sat straight up and pounded the snow in front of her. “You didn’t lose her! She loves you! You know she does! That bitch seduced her, threatened her! She has no choice but to do what Sunset says, or else she’d burn her alive or worse!”

The teen grabbed the sides of her head and growled loudly.

“Get it together Zap! She loves you; she just needs to see that I’m strong enough to protect her! Strong enough to protect her from anyone or anything!”

Indigo stood up and coated her left hand in her ice magic. With a wave of that hand, she manifested an ice sculpture, one that was formed in the exact likeness of Twilight Sparkle. The statue had different contrasting hues of blue, allowing for the detail of every curve to be seen, Indigo had seen Twilight’s naked form more than once in the showers, and had etched the image into her mind. She recalled many times when she would conjure that image when she lied in bed, moaning her name as she climaxed in complete ecstasy at the memory of each of their little encounters. And this statue was just as alluring as the real thing.

She released a little more magic, conveying her thoughts to the statue, and when she did, the ice came to life pawing at its icy body, and rubbing its palms over its privates and breasts. With a thought, Indigo made the Ice Twilight mouth some words, although the statue could not speak, Indigo provided the words in her head.

“I want you so bad, Indigo.”

“Oh, I know you do,” she replied.

“I need you to save me from Sunset Shimmer!”

“I will!”

The statue lowered itself onto the ground and lied on its back, Ice Twilight spread her legs and used her right index and middle finger to spread her lower lips for its creator.

“And when you do, I’ll give you my first time. Take my virginity and make me your woman, but you have to kill Sunset first, she’ll never let us be together so long as she’s alive!”

Sunset Shimmer, her name made Indigo’s blood run cold, not in a fearful way, no, more like an icy vengeance. The more she thought about her, the more her power swelled, it grew to such a degree that it kicked up a blizzard around her. More and more her power grew, her eyes shined bright azure, her skin turned navy blue, and…her body grew.

“I’ll kill you Sunset, slowly and painfully, to the point that you’ll be begging me for death!”

“Make her beg for it, but not before you take me in front of her, make her watch as you ravage me, make it the last thing she ever sees!”

The blizzard intensified around the forest, making the trees creak as they struggled to stay standing against the wintery fury of Indigo’s power. Within the blizzard, indigo appeared, obscured by the shadows, but somehow, she had grown taller, standing above the long-lived trees around her, becoming a giant whose eyes shined bright in the night. The giant released a furious, bellowing roar that echoed for miles in every direction, causing woodland animals, and even late-night tourists to stop and tremble at what could make such a powerful noise.

A couple of minutes passed and the blizzard died out, leaving Indigo at the epicenter, panting, and completely naked. Indigo looked down at herself and noticed that her clothes had been shredded from the sudden transformation she had initiated, the Glacier Stone still rested on her chest, its magical properties allowing it transform along with her to keep from coming off by the sudden increase in her body mass. However, the same could not be said for her ski attire, which now laid in shredded bits around her, leaving Indigo completely exposed.

The Twilight ice statue was still where she had left it, still in the same pose. She was immune to the cold, so…she could have some fun with the statue. Indigo quickly shook her head and snapped herself out of it. “Ugh! Now’s not the time to be thinking with your crotch! I just leveled up and got a new power! I felt so much stronger when I was like that…maybe, maybe that’s the true form of this necklace, my ‘final form’ or whatever bullshit term those weebs use.”

Indigo made a fist with her right hand and smiled triumphantly as the new possibilities opened before her eyes.

“Oh, this just got a whole lot better!”

Spring Vacation Day 6

View Online

Both Sunsets were asked out by Celestia, with Luna accompanying them, the four women headed to a restaurant that Sun had recommended. After ordering, the Sunsets pondered why Celestia wanted to talk to them in private like this? After they had their meal, a nervous Celestia fidgeted in place, Luna rolled her eyes and nudged her big sister, fixing her with an annoyed glare.

“C’mon, Tia, just spit it out already,” Luna urged.

Celestia shot her little sister an annoyed glare of her own, she knew full well that she needed to spit it out and that dragging this out would just make this whole situation more awkward.

Both Sunsets gave each other questioning looks.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Sunset asked.

The Principal of CHS took a deep breath and steeled herself for what she was going to say next. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, Sunset, and…I wanted to know what you think…about…about my adopting you?”

Sun looked to her twin, noticing the stunned expression on her face, she then turned to Celestia and said, “Wait, I thought you had already? Aren’t you her Guardian?”

“Well, yes, but it’s not the same as adoption.” Celestia looked directly at her Sunset, maintaining eye contact as she spoke. “I know I look and sound like your old mentor from your world, I always felt that that put a strain on how close we could be because I reminded you too much of her, and I didn’t want to cause you any more grief or make you go through whatever heartache you went through because you left on…ahem…not so amicable terms.”

Celestia reached out with her right hand and placed it atop of Sunset’s and smiled at her. “But I hope that you can see that I’m not her, and would be willing to become my daughter, officially, anyway. You don’t have to agree to it, because no matter what, I’ll always consider you to be my child, Sunset. But the decision is yours. Sunset?”

The former unicorn had tears running down her face, she lowered her head, and tried to stifle her sniffling, but it wasn’t working. Ever since her own parents became the very snobs and elitists that they despised, Princess Celestia became a true second mother to her, a mother who she ended up scorning and defying. For years she waited to hear those words from the pony she looked up to the most in her life, before her parents became a-holes, and now, in another world, another Celestia said the exact words that she wished to hear from her. It was all too much for her, Sunset couldn’t hold back the tears, thank goodness they were in a private eating area so no one could see her bawling like a child.

“Sis, Sis, it’s okay.” Sun consoled. “What’s wrong?”

Celestia felt a slight twinge of dread creep into her heart, afraid that she may have gone too far in asking something like that. Luna was starting to worry as well, she thought Sunset would be thrilled at the idea of her big sister adopting her into the family, goodness knows those two act as mother and child, especially after the Anon-A-Miss incident, and the more recent “War of the Trinity”, or so it was called among the group.

After a minute, Sunset finally lifted her head and revealed that her expression wasn’t one of sadness, but one of happiness as a wide smile split her face.

“I’ve…I’ve always wanted to hear those words from the pony I most respected in my world, and now…I’ve heard them from the woman I most respect in this world,” said Sunset.

Celestia felt herself choke up. “S-Sunset.”

The flame haired girl reached out with both hands and took Celestia’s right into them. “And the answer is yes, I would be honored to be ‘officially’ counted as your daughter…Mom.”

Celestia couldn’t hold it in any longer, she got out of her chair and went around the table to embrace Sunset, both women hugged each other tight. Luna and Sun watched, feeling a little choked up themselves, as they witnessed the start of a new family. After their hug, Celestia went back to her seat, and both her and Sunset couldn’t help their wide smiles from beaming.

“Well, it looks like I finally have a niece I can spoil and hangout with, and pass on all my gamer tips,” said Luna as she leaned on the table.

Sun raised an eyebrow. “You play, Ms. Luna?”

“Just, Luna, hun. You’re technically my niece too, you can call me Luna, or Aunt Luna.”

Celestia snickered as she let slip, “Or Auntie Lulu~”

Luna blushed hard and glared daggers at her big sister. “No! No! Not ‘Lulu’! I don’t need that going around at school!”

Celestia crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Oh yes, heaven forbid that our students find out that their strict, icy vice principal, is actually an avid gamer, swears like a sailor online, goes around the house in her underwear on the weekends, and is actually very laid back.”

“Shut up! I am NOT like that! Don’t give them the wrong impression!” Luna growled as she shook her big sister.

The twin Sunsets couldn’t help but laugh, for Sunset, she laughed harder, in all her four years at Canterlot High, she had only ever known the one dynamic of the two sisters who ran the school. Celestia was the kind but fair kind of teacher, and more often than not, she would either lecture you, give you a stern warning, or issue you a tough but fair punishment. Plus, it didn’t help that disappointing Celestia made it feel like you just disappointed your own mother. While Luna was often times the rule enforcer, god have mercy on your soul if you were sent to see Vice Principal Luna.

So, to hear that Luna was the exact opposite at home, well, it was just too funny a thing to not imagine. After getting a handle on her laughing fit, Sunset managed to ask, “So, you game, Luna?”

Luna, thankful for the distraction, turned to Sunset. “Yes, I go by the handle: N1ghtmar3_M00N. How about you?”

Sunset crossed her arms and leaned back as she answered, “PyR0_P0WN8.”

At that moment, Luna’s eyes widened with realization, memories of games past flashed through her mind. Of the many gamers she had trounced over her years, there was one that seemed to be her equal or greater.

[Defeated by: PyR0_P0WN8]

[Sniped by: PyR0_P0WN8]

[Left in the dust by: PyR0_P0WN8]

[PyR0_P0WN8 WINS]

[PyR0_P0WN8]

“Uh, Luna, you alright?” Sunset asked.

The midnight blue woman’s left eye twitched, something that did not go unnoticed by Celestia. “Sister, you’re starting to weird us out.”

The corner of Luna’s mouth turned up into a smile as her brow furrowed. “Oh-ho-ho, so you’re the one who’s been giving me grief in the gaming spheres. I’ve waited for this day for a long, long time.”

It seemed to finally click in Sunset’s head when Luna said this, that gamertag, she thought it was familiar, but she didn’t think Luna was the owner. “Oh jeez…you’re that N1ghtmar3_M00N, aren’t you?”

“Indeed I am. Change of plans, Sunset, you and I are going back to the villa, and we’re going to settle the score once and for all!” Luna leaned forward on the table, staring down her new niece.

Sunset smirked and leaned forward to match her new aunt’s stare. “You think you can beat me in a head-to-head, Auntie Lulu?”

Celestia and Sun snorted as they attempted to stifle their laughter. Luna’s face turned blood red from embarrassment at being called “Auntie Lulu”, but her own smirk didn’t diminish in the slightest. While this was going on, Celestia took this moment to gesture to Sun to come with her, the earthly twin of Sunset got up and walked next to Celestia as she stood some ways from the table, watching Luna and Sunset trash talk each other.

“What’s up Ms. C?” Sun asked.

“Sun, I just want you to know that my adopting of Sunset doesn’t mean I’m trying to take her away from you,” Celestia explained.

“Oh?” Sun was a little surprised by this.

“I know you’ve lost your family and have found that in Sunset. Believe me, I know just how important a sister can be.” Her gaze returned to her own sister. “Despite our quarrels, jabs, and nitpicking, I’d never trade a life without Luna for anything in this or any other world. Do you feel that way about Sunset?”

Sun looked back at her twin, she understood exactly what Celestia meant. Despite their short time together, Sun loved Sunset, she was like the missing piece of her life that she didn’t know she was missing. Twilight was a different story, she was in love with her, and she filled a piece of her heart, but in a romantic sense. Sunset was filling the hole that the loss of her mother and father left, all these years she had been alone, with no one to really confide in, to seek comfort from, and now she had someone like that, even though Sunset was from another world, they synced so well together that they might as well be twin sisters.

“I also want you to know that, although I’m not adopting you, I consider you to be just as important to me as Sunset is.”

Sun turned to the tall woman next to her with a look of shock on her face. “Y-You do?”

Celestia looked down at the young woman and smiled sincerely at her. “Of course, you’re important to Sunset, and that means you’re important to us too. I don’t plan on being your parent, after all, you’re a mature young woman with ample wealth, resources, and knowledge to live on your own.” Celestia scratched her chin, her face tinting pink as she tried to find the right words. “Well…I know you probably don’t need the advice of Luna or myself, you’ve done very well on your own thus far. But if you ever need to talk to us, for whatever reason, don’t hesitate to call on us,” she then placed her left hand gently upon Sun’s right shoulder, “we’re family now.”

Sun felt her throat choke up as tears began to well up in her eyes, she quickly turned away from Celestia, trying to wipe them away. Her heart fluttered at the idea of being a family, but… “I, uh, I-I need to use the restroom, BRB!”

The rich girl ducked out of their private eating room and rushed into the restroom, after making sure that she was alone, Sun began to pace the room, the tears wouldn’t stop and the feeling in her chest wasn’t going away. No, no you can’t let this happen right now! She told herself. Ms. Celestia and Luna are…are…great…but they’re not Mom and Dad!

Sun paused in front of the mirror, turned on the cold water, and splashed her face with it, thankfully she wasn’t wearing any makeup, the benefits of being a natural beauty. After splashing herself two more times Sun stared at her reflection and gripped the sides of the sink tight. Get it together Shimmer, you have a plan, everything’s falling into place, and if what that bastard said was true, the other Artifacts will gather in Canterlot.

She looked at her hands, feeling them tremble a bit. I haven’t come this far to wuss out now…It’ll all turn out okay…in the end. And then we’ll all be a better family than we are now. Sun took a deep breath and wiped her face, after making sure that she wasn’t crying anymore, she left the room. When she opened the door, she was surprised to see Celestia waiting outside.

“Sun, are you alright?” Celestia asked.

Sun waved off her concern as she said, “Oh, yeah…I just got a little emotional back there and I needed a moment, sorry.”

Celestia shook her head. “No, it’s alright. And you don’t have to excuse yourself like that, you don’t need to hide how you’re feeling from us, okay?”

“Okay, it’s just that you kinda reminded me of my mother when you said all that…it brought back some memories,” Sun half lied.

In a rather surprising move, Sun opened her arms and hugged Celestia, catching the school principal off guard. “Don’t worry about it, and I would be honored to call you family.”

Celestia returned the hug, happy to bring Sun some form of motherly comfort into her life. Sun allowed herself to enjoy this moment, all the while she repeated the same phrase in her mind again and again: This is only temporary…I’m allowing myself to feel this…

While the rest of the girls were doing their own thing, Twilight managed to get Pinkie Pie alone. She was nervous and fidgety, making the pink party planner cock her head to the side in confusion as they sat on her bed.

“What’s up, Sci-Twi?” Pinkie asked.

“Well, I wanted to ask – wait, ‘Sci-Twi’?”

“Yep, a little nickname since you love science so much,” Pinkie bubbly responded.

Twilight shook off her initial confusion and went back to her question. “I…well…this might be a bit personal, but I wanted to know…did you and Sunset…did you, um…become intimate with each other?”

Pinkie Pie blushed hard, there were few things in this world that could silence the hyper teenage girl aside from slapping a hand over her mouth or stuffing it with something, but that topic did the job quick. Pinkie rubbed the back of her head as thought out her answer, and finally said, “Yes, twice, actually.”

“And…how was it?” Twilight asked.

“It…It was amazing! I mean, doing it feels good to begin with, but…it was deeper than that, I…” Pinkie started to get a little more flustered. “I felt like Sunset had eyes only for me. I kind of have a problem of not thinking I’m attractive enough for her…so to have her take me, and to feel connected to her like that, it was deep, here.” Pinkie placed her hand over her chest, indicating where she felt the connection.

Twilight was a bit shocked to hear that Pinkie had body issues as well, Pinkie always seemed upbeat and optimistic about everything, but it seemed even someone as cheerful as her could feel like that. Honestly, Twilight couldn’t see anything wrong with Pinkie, she was quite attractive, speaking objectively of course.

“Why did you want to know?” Just then a saucy smirk appeared on Pinkie Pie’s face, taking an almost feline quality to it. “Wanted to know how wild Sunny is in bed before you two get to it~?”

Now it was Twilight’s turn to blush hard as she shook her head back and forth. “NO! N-N-Nothing like that, I promise! I just…wanted to have an idea what would feel like…whenever…if I ever get that far with her.”

Pinkie smiled and said, “Of course you will, silly! Sun loves you, and I promise your time together will be magical!”

Twilight hesitated to confess this to Pinkie Pie, but since they were both dating a Sunset, and considering that both were in the business of monster slaying, she decided that she could trust her. “Pinkie…there’s something that I need to tell you. Something that will explain why I’m asking you these questions.”

Pinkie sat quietly as Twilight explained the kind of torment she had suffered under Indigo Zap, every touch, every little thing that she had her do, she recounted it all to Pinkie. The pink party girl merely listened, her expressions shifting accordingly to every confession of Indigo’s transgressions. When it was over, Twilight looked down at the sheets, gripping her skirt tightly.

“So…you see…that’s why I wanted to know. The only thing I’ve felt during those times with Indigo was fear…part of me is afraid to be intimate with Sunset, and I know it’s irrational to feel that way, Sun’s proven that she’d rather die than hurt me, but that part is still whispering to me.” Twilight felt tears falling from her eyes and didn’t bother to wipe them. “I want to be with Sun, I want to have sex with her and not feel like I’m going to be used! I want to feel that same connection that you felt with your Sunset! But…”

Pinkie Pie inched closer and brought Twilight into a tight hug, the young genius returned the hug and buried her face into Pinkie’s shoulder. “Twilight, I promise you, when you and Sunny are alone together, when you feel the love in your heart swell, all that bad stuff will go away. And whenever you feel it coming back, just remember that it’s not her, it’s Sun. Focus on her face, and that feeling, and you’ll be alright. I Pinkie Promise.”

Twilight smiled a little and whispered, “Thank you, Pinkie.”

After a minute of hugging, both girls separated. Twilight took off her glasses and wiped her tears away, Pinkie did the same, feeling sad for her friend for having to have gone through something like that.

“I wish you could come to CHS,” said Pinkie. “You’d be so much happier there.”

“I wish I could too,” Twilight placed her glasses back on her face and smiled back at her friend. “But we’re too close to the end of the school year, and with graduation around the corner, it just wouldn’t be possible. Plus…Principal Cinch would never allow letting her star student go. But we’ll get to see each other during the Friendship Games, so there’s that.”

Pinkie Pie sighed in disappointment. “I guess, but I’d feel a lot better if you were there.” The curly pink haired girl got off the bed and stretched a bit. “Okay, now let’s turn this frown upside down with something sweet!”

Just then Pinkie and Twilight’s phones went off, both girls pulled them out and saw that Sun had sent a group text that read: [Showdown in the game room, ten minutes!]

Twilight and Pinkie glanced at each other, confused as to what was going on. They got up and headed downstairs and into the hallway, heading towards the right wing of the villa. They eventually arrived and found that Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Principal Celestia, and Sun were already in the game room. It was an expansive room filled with various arcade and console games; OLED flat screens took up one side for the consoles while the arcade machines were scattered about. The group stood at the center of the room, gathered around one large game machine. It looked like a Dance Dance Revolution game, but different, bigger.

“Hi!” Pinkie happily greeted. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, Sis, and Ms. L are going to have an epic gamer showdown, and I thought we should be witnesses,” Sun answered.

Rainbow crossed her arms and asked, “Well, where are they?”

“Changing, Sun said that they should wear something that’s easy to move around in. Although I’m not quite sure why yet,” said Celestia as she looked to her adopted daughter’s twin.

“Oh, you’ll see.”

Twilight looked around the room and noticed that they were short a couple. “Um, where are Rarity and Applejack?”

Fluttershy turned red at the mention of their names and said, “I-I-I think they should be here soon!”

Rainbow looked to her longtime friend and raised a curious eyebrow. “Why are you all red?”

“Uh…”

“We’re here!”

The group turned towards the door and watched as Rarity and Applejack entered the room. Although, something was off. While it wasn’t necessarily odd to see Applejack with ruffled up and disheveled clothes, given how active she was with working on her farm that was usually the state of her wardrobe, however, it was very odd to see that Rarity was in the same state. The fashionista diva of their group took great pride in her immaculate clothes, never a wrinkle or ruffle, never a stain or speck, so it was more than a little strange to see Rarity in such a state, not to mention her hair was a little out of place here and there, something that Rarity would throw a hissy fit over.

“W-What?” Applejack asked.

Sun smirked as she gave them a knowing look. “You guys alright? You look like you had some trouble on the way here.”

Applejack and Rarity took a moment to look at each other, their faces turned red when they noticed that they were in the cliché state of dress that you would normally see a teenage couple in after having to rush away when they were in the middle of something…important.

“Well ya see–”

“There’s a perfectly logical explanation–!”

“Yeah, perfectly logical!” Applejack affirmed.

“Oh, this I gotta hear.”

Rarity and Applejack turned around and watched Sunset and Luna entered the room. Sunset was wearing a magenta sports bra with black lining, and a pair of black shorts that hugged her thighs, hips, and rear. Luna was dressed in a similar attire, except her sports bra was a deep shade of violet, and her shorts were a dark navy blue. Both women had their hair tied up into ponytails, and both were wearing tennis shoes, ready for whatever it was that Sun had planned for them.

“By all means, Ms. Belle, Ms. Apple, enlighten us on what the ‘logical explanation’ to your current state of dress is,” Luna encouraged, sporting the same knowing smirk as Sun.

The new couple started to sweat; this was not how they wanted to be found out. Thankfully, mercy came in the form of a fair skinned woman. Celestia clapped her hands repeatedly, gaining the attention of the group and drawing the attention away from Rarity and Applejack.

“Okay, that’s enough. Are we going to get this competition started sometime today?” Celestia asked.

With mentioning of the match, Luna and Sunset turned their gazes on each other, glaring down the other with intense competitiveness as they approached the machine Sunset and Luna took notice of the game’s name.

“Knock Out Big Fighters? Never heard of it,” said Luna.

“Same,” Sunset added.

Sun walked around to the front of the machine and explained, “That’s because this baby is imported from Japan. I paid someone to do an English patch to the game text so I could play it. Basically, it’s a fusion of an arcade fighter and dancing game, and a combo of giant robots and kaiju.”

The screen was about seventy inches and stood about six feet tall. The platform was about twelve feet wide and seven feet in length, the platform was a translucent blue color, with a white circle band at the middle, two squares on the right and left that were deep blue, and two more on the top and bottom that were red.

“It’s very advanced, it can read your actions in real time and translate them into moves for your selected character. For the more complex super moves, you need to do a dance in order to activate them, the more stylish your moves, the stronger the move you can use. It’s a real workout, but super fun. I figured you two haven’t played this game, which makes it the perfect game for you two to play. Neither one of you will have the advantage since you don’t have prior knowledge. So, what do you guys say?”

Sunset looked at Luna, and Luna looked at Sunset, both nodded to each other and nodded to Sun, confirming that they would accept this challenge.

“Let’s do it,” they said in unison.

Sun activated the game, making the platform expand itself more to allow for two player access. Both women stepped onto the platform and into their respective zones, upon doing so, four holes opened at the four corners of the platform. Poles rose from them, at the top a node glowed and emitted light from all four of the towers. When this happened, the screen displayed that it was scanning the players and, on the screen, it said in bold letters “Begin stretching as game scans”.

As they did this, Sunset took this time to give Luna a heads up. “You should probably bow out now, Auntie. I have the clear advantage here.”

“Oh? How so my dear Niece?” Luna inquired.

“I’ve done my fair share of dancing, at house parties, at the school dances, and a little more thanks to the girls. And, you know, I’ve fought demons, so this should be fairly easy,” said Sunset.

Luna stretched her arms over her head, making her impressive bust standout and drawing the attention of her students, a certain rainbow haired one to be exact. But thanks to a swift slap on the arm by Fluttershy, she was able to rein her in. “Don’t be so sure, Sunset. On that note though, if at all possible, tone down your superpowers.”

“Like I need super enhanced abilities to beat you.” Looking at her bracelet, Sunset spoke to the Witchblade mentally. Hey, partner, can you tamp down the power? I don’t want to win ‘cause you gave me a boost.

}}} It is done, and, Sunset, take her down. {{{

Wow, I didn’t think you were invested in this.

}}} When it comes to my host, I take any challenge seriously. {{{

Heh, either you’ve always been that way, or I’m rubbing off on ya.

The game finished scanning them and brought up the character selection screen and stated: [PLAYER 1 SELECT YOUR TITAN!] Sunset raised her right hand and moved it over several robot and monster characters, finally settling on a giant robot, it had deep crimson color, with a bright blue visor, and triangle shaped reactor at the center of its chest. [CHARACTER SELECTED: ROMA DEFENDER! PLAYER 2 SELECT YOUR TITAN!] Luna smirked and began moving through her selection, her eye was drawn to a kaiju, a giant silver lizard with green spines and blue eyes. [CHARACTER SELECTED: ZODGILLA!]

The characters loaded up into the game and assumed their fighting stances, at the same time, Luna and Sunset assumed their own ready stances. And when the game began to play…it went off.

[START]

Sunset began showing off her dance moves right away, popping and locking and strutted her stuff. Everyone quickly found that the game was interpreting her intentions through her moves. Roma Defender got into attack position and dashed straight for Zodgilla, it’s right fist cocked back, and right before the impact, the elbow of the robot ignited and added a boost of speed to the attack, knocking Zodgilla upside the head and sending the titanic lizard into some buildings to add some environmental damage to his health bar. Sunset stopped and swiped her thumb across her nose as she shot Luna a smug grin.

Luna grinned back, she allowed Sunset the first move, mostly to see how the machine worked, but now that she had an idea, Luna was ready to attack. In a shocking display, Luna began swaying to the music, slow at first, but then her rhythm began to increase faster and faster. At the same time, Zodgilla rose from the rumble, its eyes glowing with fury. Luna spun around and made a finger gun gesture and pretended to fire it, Zodgilla responded to this action by opening its large maw. The spines on the kaiju’s back glowed bright violet and then unleashed a powerful energy beam from its mouth towards Roma Defender. Sunset responded by raising her both arms up into a defensive position, the robot responded by creating a forcefield.

The shield blocked the beam attack but was causing some damage. Luna smiled and shuffled forward, making Zodgilla dash towards Roma Defender. The Vice Principal spun around and jumped up, coming down into a classic superhero landing, Zodgilla mimicked the movements as it used its tail to launch itself into the air, and then came down with a powerful overhead tail whip. This attack broke the shield of Roma Defender and left the robot defenseless and stunned. Luna capitalized on this opening and busted out a few more dance moves while also throwing in some punches and kicks, Zodgilla began wailing on Roma Defender, slashing at the chest plate with its claws, slamming it with its tail, and biting its arm with its jaws.

There was a pause in the fight as Luna allowed Sunset’s avatar to rise back to its feet. Sunset shot a competitive glare at her newly acquired aunt, apparently Luna was a dancer as well.

“Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be?!” Sunset asked.

“Damn right!” Luna responded.

The group could practically see their dueling auras rise into the air, Sunset’s taking on the form of a dragon while Luna’s was that of a tiger, causing them all to gulp. The music seemed to get faster and it only fueled the heat of their gaming spirits, Sunset and Luna started into another series of moves, turning this into the most literal definition of a dance battle as one could get. A mixture of punches and kicks, coupled with fluid dance moves, pop and locking, and some moves that were on par with J-Pop and K-Pop groups. The avatars on the screen acted out their intentions as they the battle waged between them, lasers and plasma beams were exchanged, steely blades met razor sharp claws, and the roar of a power core matched the roar of a giant monster.

“Jesus H. Christ…this is kinda hot, and badass!” Rainbow exclaimed. “How the hell does VP Luna know how to dance like that?!”

Celestia sighed as she shook her head. “Well, my little sister did like to hit the party scene, raves, and dance clubs, things like that. She never really lost her moves, especially during the Star Swirl Music Festival.”

Sunset and Luna continued their dance fight, their bodies moving to the beat of the music as they threw their arms out this way and that, their ponytails whipping through the air as the lights illuminated their sweat licked bodies. Sunset turned up the heat and tapped into the deepest corners of her repertoire, and somehow doing so unlocked the robot’s final form. Roma Defender underwent a transformation, bringing out its full arsenal, next to its name the words “Assault Mode” were flashing. Luna saw this and responded in kind, busting out her own high-level dance moves and succeeding in unlocking a transformation for her kaiju. Zodgilla’s body glowed, veins appeared across its body and shined bright violet as its spines permanently kept glowing. Next to the kaiju’s name were the words “Blazing State”.

Luna and Sunset were panting, both gave each other a quick glance before returning it to the screen in front of them. Their avatars were already at low on health, the game recognized this and entered “Final Battle”, the screen stated that the only way to defeat the opponent would be through the use of a ultimate move, normal and super attacks would not lower health but would build up energy gauge, essentially this came down to whoever could get their ultimate attack first and left them free to wail on each other until that moment.

The two women slammed their feet forward and began dancing with greater fervor than before. The avatars charged for each other and began brawling like there was no tomorrow, the area looked like a nuclear bomb had gone off, the sky was red, and the buildings were mostly turned into rubble save for a few that were sparsely spaced around the arena. Each strike, each slash of the blade caused a shockwave roar out through the arena, all while Sunset and Luna continued their dancing, every once and a while shooting a smug glare at the other. The others were biting their nails, metaphorically speaking, watching as Sunset and Luna’s avatars’ ultimate gauges rose higher and higher, nearly full. The two dance fighters took a big step forward and threw a punch, causing Roma Defender and Zodgilla to throw a punch at their opponents. Their attacks landed, and upon doing so, sent them both skidding backwards, however, this also allowed them both to fill their ultimate gauges to the max.

[FINAL ATTACK!!!]

Sunset danced harder and faster, ending her routine by crossing her arms in front of her chest into an “X” pattern and then breaking it while thrusting her chest forward. Roma Defender mimicked this action as the triangle shaped reactor on its chest shined brighter and brighter until it unleashed a massive azure beam that was labeled “FULL POWER: REACTOR OVERLOAD!”. Luna responded with her own moves, finishing by dragging her right hand up across her body and pointing it at the screen in the same finger gun gesture then firing it. Zodgilla focused all its power into its mouth, spun around and then roared, firing an equally massive beam of nuclear energy beam which was named, “KING’S ROAR!”.

The two beams slammed into each other, causing a power struggle. Sunset and Luna continued their dance, seeing that the beams were influenced by their actions, so now it became a matter of endurance and dance skill.

“Getting tired, Auntie?!”

“You look a little winded yourself, dear Niece!”

“This is getting rather intense,” said Rarity as she clung to Applejack’s arm.

“YOU CAN DO IT, SUNNY!” Pinkie yelled.

“C’MON LUNA! SHOW HER WHAT YOU GOT!!!” Celestia screamed, causing the younger women to look at her with surprise. “What? I love Sunset, but that’s still my little sister up there.”

“Point,” Sun replied. “KICK HER ASS, SIS!!!”

Luna and Sunset released a loud battle cry as they made their final move, the point of contact between the two beams reached critical mass and created a huge explosion that whited out the entire screen. The two dancers stopped and waited to see who was left standing, but both were shocked when they saw the head of a ruined robot and the skull of a kaiju lying on the ground. On the screen it flashed the words:

[M. A. D: MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION!]

[DRAW!]

Luna and Sunset collapsed in exhaustion, panting, and huffing from their intense dance battle.

“You’ve…got…to be…kidding me!” Sunset exclaimed between pants.

“Indeed…that…that was bullshit…!” Luna agreed.

Celestia decided to step in here and tapped her sister and daughter on the shoulder. “Okay, how about we just say that the two of you are the best, why not just become a gaming duo? I think you’d both be able to beat any opponent that came your way.”

She did have a point, if nothing else, Luna and Sunset had gained mutual respect for the other’s gaming skills. And the prospect of joining forces and becoming the ultimate gamer team did sound very appealing.

“Plus, the two of you are clearly too exhausted to do a rematch, so I suggest resting up.”

“W-We can fight again!” Sunset stated.

“Yeah, g-gamers never quit!” Luna responded.

Celestia squeezed both of their shoulders as she smiled, but her brow was furrowed. “No, you both deserve a good rest. Just because you’re an adult, Luna, don’t think I’m not still your big damn sister!” Her gaze fell on Sunset, making her flinch. “And Sunset, same to you. Just because you’ve saved the world two times, don’t think that I’m not going to come down hard on you as your mother! Understood?”

“Y-Yes ma’am!” they said in unison.

“Good, now let’s head upstairs.” Celestia grabbed them by their sports bras and began dragging them off the platform and towards the entrance.

None of the girls dared to stop Celestia, one thing would never change no matter who had superpowers. Celestia was the law, and you’d damn well better respect that.

“Oooookay…I’m stepping up! Sun, you in?!” Rainbow asked.

Sun removed her clothing, much to the others’ surprise, and revealed she had on similar attire to Sunset underneath. “Oh, this’ll be fun!”

“Sun…” Twilight called out.

Suns stopped and turned to her girlfriend. “Yeah, Sparky?”

Twilight hugged Sun and then gave a little kiss on the cheek. “Kick her butt.”

“Of course, I am, I can’t embarrass myself in front of my girlfriend, right?”

The game started up again and the others held their breath.

“Ready, Pride Parade?!”

“Only if you’re ready to lose, Bacon Hair!”

Spring Vacation Day 7

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It had been nearly six days since Adagio’s last job, she felt like crap for at least three of those days and on the fourth day the soreness had worn off enough to walk about the apartment. Aria and Sonata had brought her meals in bed, despite her outburst when she got home that night, her sisters were quick to forgive, even more so when Adagio did apologize to them. Either way, the money she got from her job would keep them afloat for at least a couple of months, not barring any unforeseen injuries or repairs to their domicile, although a quick “favor” to the Sup could be swapped in place of monetary compensation.

From time to time, Adagio would hold the music box in her hands, she couldn’t open the damn thing, but it was a nice trinket. One of the few things she liked about this world and its humans, was their creativity and ingenuity. For all the advances Equestria might’ve made in the magical arts, as far as technology was concerned, they might as well be in the stone age. These humans lacked magic, so they made tools in place of it, one could say science was a form of sorcery. But Adagio wasn’t about to give them that much praise.

They were still all disgusting creatures. Not that she had room to brag, but comparatively, Equestria – at least when they weren’t directly involved – had managed to come together as one race and because of that very little strife and wars were fought. But these humans seemed to revel in violence, when they weren’t fighting over land, they fought over money. When they weren’t battling over politics, they were fighting over religious beliefs. All of it leading through the several conflicts across the globe, many of which she and her sisters had the displeasure of witnessing up close and personal, and some might’ve been caused by them.

World War 2 was not our finest hour…Neither was the first one. Alexander was a fun one to be around, when he wasn’t on one of his homicidal, world conquering campaigns.

How Adagio longed to swim in the ocean again, it had been ages since all three of the Siren Sisters had been able to submerge themselves in water. They had gone to the local pool a couple of times, but it wasn’t the same thing, and unfortunately, it was hard to swim when you had almost every male in the facility eye humping you. No, what they really would’ve loved was to go to the ocean, to Florida or California, live somewhere secluded near the beach and just dive into it whenever they wanted.

Something else they were grateful for; another part of their Siren physiology did make it over to their human forms. Whenever they were in the water, they could swim as fast as any Olympic athlete, and their lung capacity was much greater than a normal human, allowing the trio to stay submerged for hours with one large breath. That trait, along with their voices, allowed them to get them out of a few scrapes here and there. However, none of those traits and abilities were going to change their current situation.

Adagio turned her attention away from the music box and towards the window, staring out and seeing the concrete jungle sprawling out before her. With a wistful sigh her expression saddened. At this rate…this is all we’ll end up as. Whores getting fucked for money in order to live in a world that’s not our own…We can’t work since we don’t even exist in this world, so what else are we supposed to do?!

Her grip on the music box tightened.

It is all my fault; I made the decision for us to push towards land and feed on the land dwellers. I made the choice to stir up trouble and got the attention of Star Swirl and his companions! And it was my decision to drain the magic from Canterlot High School and those girls…one fucking bad decision after another!

The image of Sunset Shimmer appeared in Adagio’s mind and her anger intensified. What she didn’t notice was that the crease along the box was glowing as wisps of red misty light entered into it.

That fucking pony slut! I swear to whatever deity that exists here; I’ll make her pay! I’ll make sure Sonata and Aria are set up nice and well before I take my revenge. Yes, that’ll work, get enough money for the two of them to live happily and then go and kill Sunset Shimmer, torture, rape, and kill the bitch as slowly as possible! Then I’ll just wait for the cops to arrive and they can do what they want with me. I’ll take the heat, it’ll be me and only me who suffers for my mistakes when that time comes, at least they’ll be spared…

The crease of the music box was slowly opening, ever so slightly as low whispers started to creep from it. Adagio’s right hand caressed the music box, and unconsciously began to pull up the lid. Before she could open it a quarter of the way, a knock came from her door and snapped her out of her malice filled trance. This action caused her right hand to move away from the box, making the lid snap shut, startling the elder Siren as she looked down at it with shock.

When the knocking continued Adagio turned her attention to the door and said, “Come in.”

The door opened and revealed Sonata, she was dressed in one of her cute pink aprons, with a stupidly happy grin on her face. “Hey, Dagi, you think you’re up for some of my tomato gazpacho? I found this really cool recipe and I wanted to know what you think! I-If you want to, I’ll totally eat it if you don’t want any!”

Adagio smiled and placed her music box on the nightstand. “That sounds wonderful, Sona.”

Sonata giggled with glee as she rushed back into the kitchen/living room to get things ready. Adagio got out of the bed and stopped when she reached the door, glancing over her right shoulder at the music box and wondering if she only imagined that sound. Deciding to push that aside for the time being, Adagio continued into the living room, the table was already set with bowls, forks, some breadsticks, and glasses of water. The inside was filled with a delightful aroma as Sonata went and put the final touches on her dish, Adagio sat down at the table and watched her youngest sister work her culinary magic.

Sonata, out of the three of us, I think you could make it here. You’d probably make the right human male very happy with your cooking skills. If she applied those skills more, she could…Adagio stopped that line of thinking.

It didn’t matter if Sonata was a master chef, there was no restaurant that would accept a girl with no information and no identity in any database in the world. Same went if she went to a culinary school, unless she actually found a master chef that was eccentric enough to take her on, her skills would only be good to her and whomever she decided to take on as a lover, if she ever found one or wanted one.

The blue Siren sprinkled some seasoning into the pot and stirred, she took a good whiff of the steam that wafted off her creation and hummed in content. She took a spoon and dipped it in, tasting her creation as she smacked her lips a couple of times. With a satisfied “Hmm-hmm” she carried the pot over to the table, placing it on a stand so that it wouldn’t burn the table. Sonata took each of their bowls and poured them full of her gazpacho. She placed the bowls before them and said in her enthusiastic tone, “Bon appetit!”

Adagio took a moment to enjoy the aroma of the dish, it smelled good. She dipped her spoon into it and placed it into her mouth, Adagio chewed on the vegetable bits and took a moment to savor the taste before swallowing it. “Sona, dear, it’s divine! You’re getting better!”

“Thanks! I hope Aria likes it,” said Sonata as she began to eat.

Adagio ate three more bites before she let what Sonata said sink in. She looked about the room and to the open bedroom door on the opposite side of the apartment. It had two bathrooms and two bedrooms, Sonata and Aria shared a bed while Adagio had her own, from her seating position, Adagio could see the doorway to their room, but she couldn’t see Aria. Actually, she hadn’t heard Aria for a while now.

“Sonata, where’s Aria?” Adagio asked.

Sonata stopped eating and gave a nervous chuckle as she said, “Oh, uh, Ari’s out getting some groceries.”

Adagio raised an eyebrow at the explanation. “Uh-huh…Sonata, don’t lie to me. You weren’t good at it a thousand years ago, and you’re still bad at it now. So, tell me where our sister is.”

Sonata placed her spoon in her bowl and pushed the dish away as she clasped her hands together. “Don’t be mad, Dagi, but Ari went out to…to…to make some more money.”

The yellow Siren’s left eye twitched. If it wasn’t for the fact that there was a hot pot full of gazpacho she’d have shot up and slammed her hands on the table. Barring that, she opted for yelling. “WHY THE FUCK IS SHE DOING THAT?! I MADE ENOUGH MONEY TO LAST US AT LEAST TWO MORE MONTHS!!”

Sonata shrunk at the harsh tone of her big sister, but she managed to find enough courage to look her in the eye and explain Aria’s reasoning. “Don’t be mad at her, Dagi! We know you made a lot of money, but Ari wanted to use this as a chance for us to get ahead! So…she’s been going – oops!” Sonata slapped her hands over her mouth, she wasn’t supposed to say that last part.

Adagio rose slowly from her seat and chuckled a little in disbelief. “So, you’re telling me, while I was recovering from getting railed by multiple men, Aria decided to take this opportunity to go out and street walk, because she knew I couldn’t stop her! And she’s been doing this all this week?!”

“O-Okay, yes, she has, but I wanted to too!” Sonata shot back.

Adagio shook her head as she began to pace the floor. “I don’t – I just – WHY?! I did all that so that you two wouldn’t have to! Once I recovered enough, I was going to back out myself!”

Sonata stood up and replied, “That’s why we wanted to! Aria talked me out of it because someone needed to stay behind and look after you! And since I know how to cook and all, I was the best choice. But we don’t like it that you’re the only one letting those guys do things to you to get us money! We’ve done this before, and yes, we messed up, but we can still make it together!”

Adagio was too angry and frustrated right now, she knew and could see why they did it, she understood they were doing this for her sake, but right now she wasn’t having it. “Does she have her burner on her?”

“Of course, you told us not to leave the apartment without them.”

“Then call her and tell her to finish whatever business she’s doing right now and to get her punk ass back here!” Adagio ordered.

“Y-You’re not going to call her?” Sonata asked as she went to grab her cellphone.

“Right now, if I talked to her, I’m going to tear her a new one, and I’d rather save that for when she gets back! Call her, now!”

Sonata gulped and prepared to dial Aria’s number but stopped when they heard knocking at the front door. “Guess Ari’s back…”

“Good,” Adagio growled as she crossed her arms. “Go on and let her in, I want her to see just how screwed she is when she sees me.”

Sonata sighed as she went to the front door, she undid the multiple deadbolts they had set up and slowly opened the door. The blue haired Siren peaked through the crack and said, “Ari, you should know that Dagi’s mad and–” Sonata didn’t get to finish her sentence as the door was pushed open, throwing the young Siren girl to the floor.

Adagio quickly uncrossed her arms and went on alert when she saw who was in the doorway. There were seven men, one of them was leading Aria by the head, having gotten a fistful of her hair as he walked in with her. The fuchsia colored Siren had multiple bruises, made all the more apparent by her skimpy outfit, blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, and her right eye was blackened.

“ARIA!” Adagio cried out.

“I…I’m sorry, Adagio…t-they made me…bring them…here…” Aria croaked.

The man holding Aria threw her forward, letting the second youngest Siren stumble forward before falling flat on her front. Sonata and Adagio quickly rushed to Aria’s side and held her close, Adagio cradled her little sister’s head in her arms, her heart breaking as she saw tears in the tough and tomboyish girl’s eyes.

“I’m sorry…I fucked up…I’m so sorry…” she cried weakly.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay,” Adagio cooed as she gently stroked Aria’s hair. The eldest Siren glared at the seven men, now inside their apartment, and having closed the door. “What the fuck do you want?!”

The lead man had a dark suit, with a purple hat, his skin was a deep green color and sported a bread that was a darker shade of green. He reached into his suit and pulled out a cigarette, after lighting the cancer stick, he took a puff and smiled down at the three girls. “Yeah, I’ve been lookin’ for you girls all over.”

“Why?!” Adagio demanded.

The man took a few steps forward and then squatted before the three sisters. “Ya see, you hoes have been messin’ with my business.”

“What are you talking about? We haven’t hurt anyone!” Sonata argued.

“Oh-ho-ho, darlin’, you have. All I hear about are these damn sexy teeny boppers with rockin’ bods and voices that can make yer pecker blow a load before you stick ‘em in.” The man took another puff and then continued. “Yer makin’ my other hoes look like shit, and that in turn makes me look like shit. And I’m not shit, right boys?”

The six men nodded their heads and agreed with their boss.

“Sorry, we didn’t know you owned the exclusive rights to every hooker in Manehattan,” Adagio sniped.

The pimp took another drag off his cigarette, and then swiftly slapped Adagio across the face, sending her to the floor. He then stood up and sighed, “Bitch, do not use sarcasm in front of me, it offends me. Understood?”

Adagio propped herself up on her elbows and said, “Fuck you!”

“Now to be fair, no, I do not own the ‘exclusive’ rights to every hoe in Manehattan. But the street corners that you and your companions here appear in from time to time are my exclusive, hard earned, hoein’ spots. And when you go and do your business there,” the pimp reached out and grabbed Sonata by her ponytail and yanked her up by it.

“OW! OW! Stop it!” Sonata pleaded.

“It messes with my business.” The pimp glared at Adagio, he had already singled her out as the leader of the three. “Ya been stealin’ my money, and that I cannot and will not abide by.”

Adagio watched as the pimp pulled harder on Sonata’s hair, practically holding her up by it. The yellow Siren gritted her teeth and said, “Okay, fine, we’re sorry! We honestly didn’t know, and we won’t go back there again! Just tell us where you don’t want us, and we’ll stay the fuck away from those spots! Hell, we’ll go to the other side of town if we have to!”

The pimp released Sonata, letting her fall unceremoniously to the floor as she reached back and clutched at her head, tears rolling down her face from the throbbing pain. “Now that would be very nice of you, but that’s not enough. I need you to pay me back all that lost revenue.”

Adagio managed to stand up, she quickly glanced about the apartment, looking or anything she could use as a weapon. However, she noticed that one of the pimp’s bodyguards had his hand behind his back, most likely readying to draw a weapon and shoot Adagio before she even got the chance to do anything.

“How much?” Adagio asked.

“Let’s see, y’all been workin’ my spots for the last five to seven months now, so…hmm…let’s make it a $150 Gs.”

Adagio’s eyes bulged from her skull, her jaw almost dropping to the floor. Sonata looked up at the pimp with the same expression, and Aria managed to do the same even in her current state.

“A hundred and fifty-thousand dollars! Are you fucking high?!” Adagio asked incredulously.

“Not right now, bitch, not right now.”

“W-We don’t have that much money even if we gave you all we had!”

“Hmm, now that is a conundrum, ain’t it.” The pimp walked towards Adagio, the lead Siren tensed up when the man breached her personal space, running his gloved hand over her left cheek where he struck her, making Adagio wince with pain. “I guess we can make some sorta payment plan for you three.”

Adagio shut her eyes and gritted her teeth when the pimp’s hand slid down her face and rested atop her left bosom, kneading it like it was his personal plaything. “W-What kind of p-payment plan?”

“Simple, ya got two options.” The pimp raised left hand and held up his index finger. “One: you and your friends agree to service myself and my boys, exclusively. And that entails everythin’ down and dirty you can think of, no complainin’, no cryin’, all ya have to do is spread ‘em and take ‘em. If you do that for at least a month, without any problems, then all debts are forgiven.”

Adagio was practically chipping her teeth with how hard she was gritting, now feeling that pimp’s hand move from her breast and head straight down between her legs. “A-And the second option.”

“You three become part of my merchandise. I won’t lie, that would be the slower option. ‘Cause not countin’ my own cut of the profits after you’re done, would take you at least a year to make up the money. Personally speakin’, you’re better off with option one.”

Adagio released a gasp when felt the pimp squeeze her down there, her cheeks flushing red from the humiliation she was suffering. She looked to her two sisters, Aria, despite her current state, looked ready to kill the man molesting her big sister. Sonata was crying, but no less angered from witnessing what the pimp was doing to her. As it stood, if she didn’t comply with this disgusting human his men would surely kill them. It would be easy too, three unknown girls murdered in their apartment after getting viciously gangraped, it’d be like throwing a pebble in the ocean, not even noticeable.

“L-Look…instead of all three of us…just use me!” Adagio bartered. “I’m far better than they are in bed, yes, they have the looks and voice, but Aria’s a hot-tempered bitch and Sonata’s an airheaded idiot. I’ve raked in more money than the two of them combined, I promise you you’ll get your money’s worth out of me.”

The pimp looked between the girls on the floor and the one he was currently fondling. “Hmm, well, I do have experience in breakin’ a bitch in, so that might not be a problem.”

“B-But do you really want to waste all that time?” Adagio shoved her hatred, anger, and disgust as deep down as she could. Her expression shifted to a sultry one, with a half-lidded gaze and a coy smile. She raised her arms and rested them on the pimp’s shoulders, raising her left leg, Adagio gently wrapped it around his right leg. And for good measure, she slowly began grinding into the pimp’s hand. “You don’t need to worry about training me, I’m everything you’d want in a woman. Pussy like a velvet vice, my voice make’s love to your ears, and my mouth…” Adagio leaned in and gave a light lick to the man’s right cheek. “It’s like a second pussy to fuck. What do you say?”

The pimp’s men were getting turned on by her, she knew what they wanted, if she could make herself more appealing, a sexier alternative, then they’d leave Aria and Sonata alone.

The pimp thought about his options as she looked Adagio over. Her gray sweatshirt and matching pants, despite how baggy they were, she managed to make them look so damn hot. A devious smile formed on his face as a thought occurred to him. “Okay, maybe I’ll take ya up on that offer. But I think I need to sample the goods first.”

“Adagio!”

“Dagi!”

“Shut up, girls!” Adagio ordered. “The man has a right to sample his product, any good businessman would do it.”

Adagio slowly pulled away from the pimp, not surprisingly, he allowed her to. The yellow siren sashayed towards her room, stopping in the middle of the doorway as she lifted her sweatshirt and showed off her impressive mammaries to him. She turned around and slowly pulled down her pants, making sure they all got a good look at her ass and womanhood before she stepped out of her sweatpants and kicked them into her room. Adagio kept walking until she was at her bed, crawling on all fours, she stopped and wiggled her rear towards the pimp.

“Come and see what all the hype is about,” Adagio urged in a husky voice.

“Fuck me this bitch is hot!” the pimp exclaimed.

“Hell yeah, boss,” said one of the bodyguards.

The pimp undid his tie and began unbuttoning his blazer and shirt. “Boys,” the bodyguards stood at attention as he stood before the door to Adagio’s room. With a sly smile he said to them, “make yourselves comfortable, this could be awhile.” With that he shut the door. Leaving Aria and Sonata alone with his men and crying that their sister was about to be violated by that man.

Inside the room, the pimp was slowly undressing himself, enjoying the view of Adagio’s naked body. Adagio was mentally preparing herself for what was about to happen, she had to treat this as if he was just another client, although this client wasn’t going to be as gentle-ish as the other clients. Sure, had she had rough sex before? Yes, if her client wanted to, but even then they didn’t take it too far, because to them she was like a diamond amongst the muck, they didn’t want to damage her or risk scaring her away to never be seen again. However, that wouldn’t be the case with this pimp, he’d manhandle her, choke her, inflict pain on her, whatever he wanted.

Adagio chuckled sardonically inside at this whole situation. Yet again…another one of my stupid decisions has gotten us into trouble…Her eyes started to glaze over the desperation of their whole situation began to sink in. Maybe they’d be better off if I was gone…? Maybe that would be best…I’ll give him the best performance I can and then I’ll work for this man…I’ll keep working and working…until I die…So long as Sonata and Aria can live…I don’t give a shit what happens to me anymore…

Adagio tensed when she felt the bed begin to shake, she could sense the pimp getting closer to her. The pimp mounted her, pressing his body onto her back as he positioned his head just behind her right ear, taking a moment to enjoy the natural aroma she gave off.

“There’s somethin’ you should know,” said the pimp.

“Yes?”

“I don’t like to leave my boys high and dry, sooooo…”

“GET THE FUCK OFF HER!”

Adagio snapped out of her depressed state and to attention. “W-What’s going on?!”

“Wanna see?” the pimp asked.

He got off her and opened the door, Adagio turned around gasped in horror. Three of the bodyguards were already ripping off what little clothes Aria had on, while another three were doing the same to Sonata. Adagio glared daggers at the pimp as she growled, “THIS ISN’T WHAT WE AGREED ON! Me, just me! Not THEM!”

The pimp scratched his beard and said, “I don’t remember makin’ that agreement. I agreed to sample the merchandise. You never said anythin’ against my boys sampling them, as a good businessman, I have to get an unbiased opinion, and my boys are very good at tellin’ me what they think so I’ll trust them if they say they’re no good.”

“YOU SON OF BITCH!” Adagio shouted as she bolted from the bed.

However, years of experience made the pimp ready for surprise outbursts like this. He swiftly slapped Adagio across the face, sending her bouncing off the foot of the bed and to the floor. The strike dazed her, allowing the pimp to march over to Adagio and wrap his hands around her throat. Adagio’s eyes bulged as he squeezed on her trachea hard, despite his lean form, he was shockingly strong, strong enough to lift her up off her feet. The pimp threw Adagio to the bed, letting her bounce a couple of times before rushing towards her. Adagio took one of the pillows and tried to use it as a distraction, to try and grab something harder to hit him with, but the pimp swatted it away and managed to wrap his hands around her throat again.

The pimp squeezed with greater force, cutting off Adagio's air supply, and making the Siren squirm and flail about in a desperate panic to get herself free. “There ain’t other options here, bitch, but just the one. I’m gonna break all three of you and make bank with grade A sluts like you!”

Adagio tried to scratch at the man’s face, but it seemed he wasn’t arrogant enough to lean in enough for her to do so. If anything, her attempts just made him squeeze even harder, shortening her already limited time of consciousness.

“When ya wake up, all three of ya will be back at my little training house and then the real fun will start!”

Adagio was starting to see spots as her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Strained choking sounds were uttered from her open mouth as her movements were lessening with each passing second. In her mind, what little consciousness she had left was spent hating. CURSE THIS WORLD, THIS WEAK BODY, THESE FILTHY HUMANS, AND CURSE THIS WRETCHED FATE! I HATE IT…I HATE IT ALL…FUCK THIS…I’LL KILL YOU…I’LL KILL YOU…I’LL…KILL…YOU…

Just then, the jewelry box began to shake, making the pimp ease up on his choking. A red mist swiftly flowed out of Adagio and into the box, making the crease glow a deep crimson color. The jewelry box slowly, and eerily, opened, all the while playing a haunting, beautiful, yet creepy song. It was clear now that it wasn’t a jewelry box, but a music box. However, it didn’t sound like a normal music box, it sounded as if a small orchestra was trapped inside and playing a full song.

“W-What the fuck is that?!” the pimp exclaimed as she released Adagio out of pure fear upon seeing the box.

Adagio could hear the music, it permeated her body and soul, it carried a familiar power that resonated with her. Her magenta colored eyes changed to glowing crimson as she slowly stood atop the bed, towering over the man. All she could feel was hatred, hatred towards this man before her, and hatred towards the men in the other room. Adagio began to sing the lyrics to the haunting song, they came so easily to her, as if she had known the words her whole life, this was the song of destruction, a Song of Death.

The man began to panic, fear gripping his heart as he backed up quickly, stumbling and falling off the bed and rolling to the door. When he reached it, the pimp hurriedly opened the door and rushed into the living room. His bodyguards were shocked, to say the least, to see their boss stark naked and scrambling out the bedroom, but then they saw the reason why. Adagio slowly walked out of the bedroom, holding the music box in her hands, she stopped in the middle of the living room, noticing that Aria and Sonata hadn’t been harmed in that way yet, but still, that did nothing to quell the hate.

Aria and Sonata were on the floor, the bodyguards having ignored them as they slowly drew their weapons. They were half naked now; their eyes just as wide and full of shock as the thugs in the room. However, when Adagio released a long note, it resonated with them. It called forth their own hate and anger, feeling similar to the power they once had long ago. Adagio sang again, but this time, Aria and Sonata joined in, making the bodyguards look between them in confusion. The two sisters’ eye color changed to crimson as well, matching their big sister as they slowly rose to their feet. The men pointed their guns at them, but they didn’t even acknowledge them. They walked towards Adagio until they were standing side-by-side, the trio, the Siren Sisters.

The song intensified as the mini orchestra music that poured out from the music box’s red light grew louder. Matching their voices together, they sang in harmony, feeling power in their music for the first time since their defeat at the Battle of the Bands. Aria and Sonata started to slowly dance to the music as they sang with Adagio, somehow it amplified the power of the song and it wasn’t long before the song’s effects began to take effect.

“W-What are you waitin’ for!? Kill these witch bitches!” the pimp ordered.

The men aimed their guns at the Sirens, but fear gripped them hard, their hands were shaking violently, unable to aim their weapons properly or even pull the trigger. One of the bodyguards began to foam at the mouth as his eyes rolled into the back of his head, he discarded his gun and pulled out a large knife. With that knife, he gave a savage cry and charged for the pimp, in a shocking display of brutality, the bodyguard stabbed his boss right through his stomach.

The pimp could only look on in horror as his brain tried to register why his loyal bodyguard just stabbed him. It didn’t end there as the deranged guard pulled out the knife and began repeatedly stabbing the pimp in the stomach again and again with ever increasing speed, the pimp coughed up blood as he began to cry from the pain, the blood loss making him too weak to fight back. The guard pulled out the knife again, but this time he stabbed one side of the pimp’s stomach and pulled it across his abdomen. The action created a large gash, of which the guard used as he threw away his knife and thrust his hand into the wound, making his boss release an unholy scream of agony. The guard continued to wail in madness as he pulled out his boss’ entrails, spilling them onto the floor.

The other bodyguards had already pissed themselves upon witnessing this display of pure slaughter. However, the song was not done. The second guard’s body started to heat up, he began removing his clothes in a desperate attempt to get cool, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that it wasn’t helping. His skin started to form blisters all over, turning a harsh red color, all culminating until he burst into flames right on the spot. The man screamed in pain as he ran around flailing like a mad man as the fire burned him from the inside out.

The third began to cough up blood as his internal organs were slowly shredded from the inside. The fourth suddenly felt all the bones in his body turn into glass, taking one step forward shattered all the bones in his left leg, and the moment he fell, all of them broke. The fifth was bombarded with horrifying images, one after the other in an endless stream of humanity’s worst moments, but what was worse was that he felt it, he felt all the pain the people in those images felt, he suffered every human atrocity in the span of a few short seconds. The last guard vomited up a black ooze, that same ooze poured from his different orifices and slowly melted him.

The deranged guard stopped his vile work and stood over the disemboweled body of his boss, still in his mad state, he looked towards the window. Letting out another mad cry, he ran at full speed towards the window and threw himself out of it headfirst, still crying out in a deranged state until he hit the pavement three stories below.

When their assailants were all dead, the source of their hatred gone, the music box began to wind down, the lid slowly closing as the music faded until there was silence. The Sirens stopped singing, shaking their heads as if they had been in a trance, and it seemed as if they were, for the moment they laid eyes upon their good work, Sonata vomited. Aria nearly heaved as well but managed to keep it down, but that didn’t erase the horror stricken look on her face. Adagio was, to say the least, in shock. Her mouth trembled in disbelief at what just occurred, even as her eyes drifted down towards the music box, of which she was still holding.

Adagio managed to snap out of her shock, she needed to, there was no way what happened in their apartment didn’t wake up the whole building, and no doubt the police were on their way, either that or they were already here and making their way up the stairs.

“W-We…We need to go! We need to go, NOW!” Adagio ordered as she rushed back to her bedroom.

That seemed to snap Sonata and Aria out of their shock as they too rushed to Adagio’s room. Without missing a beat, Adagio quickly changed into some mismatched clothes and began throwing what she needed into the suitcase she had thrown onto the bed.

“Adagio, what the hell are you doing?!” Aria asked.

“We need to get the hell out of here! Do you want to be here when the police come and explain to them why seven men are dead?!”

“B-But they were bad guys, it was self-defense!” Sonata stated.

Adagio stopped for a moment and turned to face her sisters. “Be that as it may, how are we going to explain this?! ‘Oh officer, these seven men came to hurt us because we were prostituting on their turf! So, we used a strange music box to make all kinds of horrifying things happen to them in order to kill them!’ Yes, I imagine that’ll go over really well! They’ll arrest us for whoring, if they don’t arrest us for murdering those men, and for being three teenage girls with no social information in any database in any country! Do you understand?!”

Sonata nodded.

“GOOD! Aria, help her get her stuff, gods know how long before the cops arrive, if they’re not already marching up the stairs as we speak!”

Aria understood and ushered Sonata to their room to pack.

Adagio opened the secret compartment she had carved out in her closet to hide the extra money they made from their nightly activities. She had set aside what extra money they managed to obtain in a kind of “bugout” bag just in case something happened. Although she never imagined their bugout situation was going to be something like this. Once she had the money, she threw it into the suitcase and was prepared to close it, that is until Adagio spied the music box. She didn’t know what that item was, whatever it was, it was supernatural, some kind of magical item of this world, there was no way it was Equestrian, there was no creature in their world that was so filled with madness as to create something like it. Adagio knew that the smart thing to do was to leave it here, let the police deal with it.

And yet…

Adagio picked up the music box and threw into the suitcase. She went to the nightstand to grab the shards of her broken amulet, but when she did, she was aghast to see that it was gone. “H-How?! I never take it out!” That was when the box glowed again. The box had been resting right atop where the shards would be. “Did…Did the box absorb them? Is…Is that why it felt so familiar?”

That was a question for another day, Adagio closed the suitcase and hurried back into the living room, she paused when she saw the men in their various states of death. Aria and Sonata were still getting some things together, much to her growing nervousness and aggravation. The lead Siren went to one of the corpses that wasn’t as damaged as the others, she found that corpse’s gun and took it, along with an extra clip from its pocket. She placed the gun into the waistband of her pants and threw on a jacket to hide it. Thankfully, she finished this just as Aria and Sonata entered the room, they sidestepped the corpses with revulsion and joined their big sister.

“I don’t like this, Adagio, I know the cops are slow, but there’s no way they aren’t here already! Why haven’t they busted down the door?! The neighbors definitely heard everything that happened and probably called them minutes ago,” said Aria.

Adagio agreed with the middle child of their family. Why hadn’t the police bashed down their door? Surely, they weren’t waiting for them to come out on their own, right? Not after all the screaming and yelling. Then again, some people around Manehattan didn’t like to meddle in other people’s business for fear of getting involved in whatever trouble they were in. It was both a blessing and curse, while it allowed them to do what they wanted, and no one batted an eye, it also meant that there was almost no chance of them calling the police for help.

“D-Dagi, I-I’m scared…” Sonata squeaked.

Adagio gulped. “Me too, Sona.”

The lead Siren slowly made her way to the front door, she debated whether or not to pull out the gun, if there were cops and she was armed, they’d most likely shoot first and ask questions later. No matter which way you sliced it, they were going to jail tonight. Taking a deep breath, Adagio opened the door, very slowly, waiting for those dreaded words to be yelled at them. But there was nothing, only silence.

Sonata gasped and pointed towards the open door as she said, “D-Dagi, look!”

Adagio did look and her mouth hung open. On the ground were at least five dead police officers, each of them dead in different ways much like the men in their apartment. One had smashed his head through the drywall and just hung there limply. Another looked as if he had shot himself in the head, while another one had shoved his nightstick down his throat and willingly choked on it. When the Sirens entered the hallway, they found out why the floor was so silent, everyone was dead.

Some of the doors were open with corpses lying in their doorways, others were still closed but it didn’t take a genius to realize that they had suffered the same fate. Their stomachs were doing somersaults, they had seen plenty of death and destruction over their millennia of life on this planet, at least two incidents were by accident, but this…this was just wrong, and they were the ones who did it. The trio slowly made their way down the hall, the doors that were open treated them to their own personal horror show.

“Just keep your eyes straight ahead, don’t look inside,” Adagio ordered.

They passed by one open door, and Sonata dared to look inside. While the building and its people weren’t always nice, to anyone, the kids were friendly most of the time. Sonata had become popular with the littler kids, sometimes playing with them and making them a snack, so when she looked into this one apartment and saw that not even the children were spared, she cried, hard.

Aria came up behind her, holding her up while ushering her forward. “Adagio told you not to look inside.”

“The kids…the kids are dead, too! Why?! They weren’t bad! W-Why are they dead!” Sonata cried.

Adagio wished she knew, while she hated humanity, she couldn’t hold hatred towards children, they were innocent and ignorant of the crimes of their elders, so while she didn’t always tolerate them, quite frankly she found them annoying, she didn’t hate them either. For a moment she thought the music box’s power only killed those who were a threat to them, maybe even those with hatred or some sort of malice in their hearts, but it seemed its power was indiscriminate. Young or old, good, or bad, it seemed no one was safe from its terrifying power.

As they descended the stairs, they realized that the whole building was silent, not just their floor. Which meant that everyone was quite possibly dead because there was no way nobody would hear all that death and not have dozens of cops swarming the place. The Siren Sisters quickened their pace and eventually made it down the lobby, of which they found more cop corpses. Adagio decided to leave out the back, they didn’t want to get pegged as the only survivors of what was no doubt going to be a major news story before the night was over.

After checking if the coast was clear, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata, disappeared into the night, it would be many blocks before the Sirens found refuge in a motel. Exhaustion finally took hold of them, and all three fell asleep on the bed together, tightly hugging each other with tear streaked faces, all while Adagio’s suitcase immitted an eerie red glow from within.

It was a miracle, at least that’s what some were calling it. Indigo Zap had been found after almost six straight days in the cold wilds, everyone in the search party was amazed to see that she wasn’t frostbitten or starving after so many days. Now the young woman was settling in at the lodge, wrapped in blankets – all of which were making her sweat when combined with the fireplace she was setting next to – and sipping on some hot coco. Indigo Zap’s mother and father had ended their talk with the search and rescue team, thanking them for their efforts.

On a level, she felt bad for wasting their time, they were searching almost night and day, spending long hours in the cold and with little sleep, all in search of her. But on the other hand, she managed to learn more about her powers and now she was confident enough in her mastery of them to take on Sunset the next time she saw her.

Oh man, that pyro bitch is going to learn a whole new meaning to the words “cold shoulder”, Indigo thought.

Indigo’s mother rushed over towards her and enveloped her daughter in a fierce hug. “Oh honey, I’m so glad you’re alive and alright!”

“Sorry, Mom, I messed up and took a route I wasn’t supposed to…” Indigo half apologized. She was sorry for worrying them, but she was also not sorry. It wasn’t like she could just ask her parents to let her go out and train in the art of cryomancy.

“It’s fine, sweetie,” said her father. “Accidents happen, the important thing is you’re alright.”

“Sorry for ruining the vacay, you guys spent the whole time worrying and looking for me, and I spent it in the woods surviving.”

Indigo’s father walked towards his daughter, stroked her hair, and then planted a kiss on her forehead. “Nonsense, I knew you’d make it, you’re a Zap, and you’re the toughest girl I know, aside from your mother of course.”

Indigo’s mother chuckled and so did Indigo, today was the last day of Spring Break, normally any teen would be dreading heading back to go back to another round of school, but right now, Indigo couldn’t be more excited.

“Hey, is it okay if we head back home now? I’m kinda over this place,” said Indigo.

“Of course, we’ll get the first flight out,” her mother said.

“Is that such a good idea? I mean, perhaps you should rest a bit more before we try flying,” her father suggested.

“The doc said I was fine, and I’m feeling great guys. Seriously, I just want to be back home.”

Her mother and father looked at each other and nodded, they could understand that their daughter didn’t want to spend any more time in the place where she had such a traumatic experience. With that agreed upon, the Zaps packed up and readied to leave. Indigo finished up her packing and took one last look out of the window of her room, she saw her reflection and focused on the magical necklace, she held the gemstone between her thumb and forefinger, smiling as her eyes shifted to blue for a moment before returning to their normal color.

“I’m coming for you, Sunset Shimmer, and I’ll save Twilight from you.”

Meetings and Confrontations

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Crystal Prep Academy was just as cheery as ever, the school’s newest power couple couldn’t care less about it. Sunset and Twilight walked down the halls, the students parting for them as they did. Twilight wasn’t used to this sort of treatment from the students, usually they went out of their way to bump into her and purposefully trip her up, now they did everything they could to avoid her. She knew that most of this treatment was due to Sunset’s threat and her display of power when Sunny Flare tried to break them apart. And of course, word had gotten around that Sunset had beaten up at least four of the five girls who “tried” to do something to Twilight.

“You okay, Sparky?” Sunset asked.

“Huh? Oh, yes, I am, it’s just…I haven’t exactly gotten used to all this attention, at least not in this fashion,” said Twilight.

Sunset draped her arms over Twilight’s shoulders and brought her close. “Hey, you never have to worry about all that bullshit ever again. Not so long as I’m around. And you know, there’s always the nuclear option if push comes to shove.”

Twilight frowned a little and lightly bopped her girlfriend on the head. “Bad Sunset, no committing arson!”

“Boo, you’re no fun.”

“Nice to see you’ve gotten closer since the last time I saw you two.”

Sunset and Twilight turned around and saw Sugarcoat walking towards them. Twilight smiled and broke away from Sunset, once she was close, Twilight did something that Sugarcoat didn’t expect, she hugged her. The action took the blunt girl by surprise as she stood there with her arms up, looking and feeling very awkward by this display of affection.

“Uh…o-okay…t-this is new,” said Sugarcoat. “You’re normally not one for physical contact, at least when it’s not from Sunset.”

Sunset walked up and stood a foot away as she crossed her arms and smiled. “Wow, Sweets, what did you do or say to get my girlfriend to hug you outright like that? Trying to make a move on her, are you?”

Sugarcoat blushed and shook her head rapidly. “What?! No, nononono! I am not and do not have any intention of pursuing a romantic relationship with Twilight!”

Twilight ceased her hug, her cheeks tinting pink. “S-Sorry, Sugarcoat, I made some new friends while on vacation and…well…I guess you could say that I picked up their habits. They’re quite into displays of affection, hugging, a lot of hugging.”

Sugarcoat straightened out her uniform, her deadpan expression changed as the corner of her mouth rose to a small smile. “It’s alright, it was unexpected, although not unpleasant. But next time, please inform me if you’re planning on hugging me. Also, ‘Sweets’?”

Sunset shrugged. “It’s your nickname. I like you, and Sparky does too. So, yeah.”

Sugarcoat’s smile remained, she had never been given a nickname before, at least one that wasn’t meanspirited or used to describe her more salacious activities with her fellow students. It just cemented the notion to Sugarcoat that she had two people she could really call her friends. The girls walked to their class together, Sunset and Twilight regaled Sugarcoat with some of their Spring Break exploits, the seemingly melancholic girl was surprised to hear that Sunset had a twin sister that went to CHS, and that the girls she hung out with on Spring Break were in fact friends of her twin.

“I’m surprised they would even associate with you,” said Sugarcoat.

“Why’s that?” Sunset asked.

“She doesn’t know?”

Twilight lightly facepalmed herself. “No, I guess I forgot to mention it. You see, CPA and CHS have a fierce rivalry between the schools. The Friendship Games are held every four years, and to date, Crystal Prep has won every single one of them.”

“And CHS has lost every single one,” added Sugarcoat.

“Yeesh. But naw, they didn’t hold that against us, they were actually pretty cool, but of course, they’re my big sis’ friends, so of course they are.” It was then that Sunset noticed something on Sugarcoat’s right wrist, a bracelet with a heart shaped gemstone. “Hey, Sweets, is that new?”

“Huh?”

“The bracelet, did you buy it during the Break?”

Sugarcoat looked down at her wrist, her smile faded a bit as a sigh left her lips. “Oh…yeah…it’s actually a family heirloom from my grandmother.” Sugarcoat stopped walking, prompting Twilight and Sunset to do the same. “She…uh…she died during vacation; this was her gift to me before she left us…” the pigtailed girl started to sniffle as memories of her deceased grandmother started to come up. “She was a really special person, she helped a lot of people, and had a lot of love to give.”

Twilight and Sunset felt a weight on their heart as they saw Sugarcoat’s eyes well up with tears. The young genius gently placed her left hand on Sugarcoat’s shoulder and asked, “Is it okay if I give you a hug?”

Sugarcoat only nodded.

Twilight wrapped her arms around Sugarcoat, offering some comfort to her friend. Sunset came around to the left side and hugged her as well, she knew well the pain of losing someone you loved, and how much having someone be there helps to lessen the pain.

“What’s all this? You guys just cement to being a threeway couple or something?” That raspy voice snapped all three of them out of the moment and made Twilight back away. Sunset narrowed her gaze as she spotted the star athlete of Crystal Prep, standing not but a couple of feet from them, arms crossed, with a smug yet conceded look on her face. “Not judging, but it’s probably not a good thing to be with a girl who’s been with more than half the students in this place.”

“Indigo, looks like your arm’s all healed up. You want me to break it again?” Sunset threatened as she took a step forward.

“Heh,” Indigo stepped forward as well, “you can try, but trust me, Sunbitch Shimmer, it ain’t going to end up like last time.”

Something was off and Sugarcoat could see it. The Heart Stone gave off a subtle glow as her eyes stripped away the physical world and made clear the metaphysical. Sunset and Indigo’s auras were…strange, they weren’t the type of auras that her grandmother, Candycoat, told her or warned her about. Sunset’s took the form of a fiery dragon, its large wings flaring out as it opened its great maw and bared its fangs. Indigo’s aura took the form of some kind of humanoid giant, it was blue, and she could feel an icy chill as opposed to the heat that came from Sunset’s aura. The two silhouettes stared each other down, it felt as if they were waiting for this moment for so long and now it had come to pass. A bitter rivalry that was long overdue, a score settling.

All of this was having a real effect on Sugarcoat, her body trembled as beads of sweat rolled down her forehead. It felt as if Sugarcoat was a little girl who had just stumbled upon a meeting of two behemoths about to duel to the death, the power that these auras radiated was overwhelming.

It was about this time that Twilight Sparkle took her eyes off her girlfriend and abuser and looked upon Sugarcoat, now taking notice of her new friend’s state. “Sugarcoat, what’s wrong? Hey,” Twilight placed her hand on Sugarcoat’s shoulder and felt the trembling immediately, “Sugarcoat, you’re shaking, what’s wrong?!”

“I…I don’t know what I’m looking at…” Sugarcoat wasn’t lying, she really didn’t know what she was seeing right now or how to describe it.

The two girls took a step forward again, now within a hair’s breadth away from each other and ready to engage the other. The students that were nearby had backed ways away from the two girls, everyone knew by now that Sunset Shimmer wasn’t someone to piss off, she had the strength to back up her words, and Indigo wasn’t a pushover either, a full blown fight between them was not going to end well. Not even the football jocks wanted to get in the middle of that catfight.

“What’s the matter, scared?” Indigo asked.

“Oh, I thought I’d give you the first strike. Then everything after is self-defense,” said Sunset.

“You sure about that? You really want everyone here to see how you heal yourself with fire?” Indigo smirked. “That’s fine, ‘cause I got somethin’ for that now!”

Sunset raised her eyebrow at that statement. “What the hell does that mean?”

“You’re about to find out!”

Indigo readied to deliver a punch but was stopped when both she and Sunset were pushed away to arm’s length by Sunny Flare. Her interference surprised the two, long enough that it managed to offset the intense atmosphere that was created by them.

“Okay, okay, let’s just tone it down, alright?” Sunny pleaded.

Indigo growled at her friend’s interference and asked, “What the hell are you doing, Sunny? Get the fuck out of my way, now!”

“You do realize that I have zero problems with going through you to get to her, right?” Sunset warned.

Sunny Flare knew that all too well, after what happened with Twilight, there was no way that Sunset wouldn’t literally punch through her to get to Indigo. However, what scared her just as much was her mother, Twilight was still in the crossfire, and any fight between these two would involve her in some way. Plus, her mother was counting on her to keep things calm between these two, either that or she would suffer punishment for her inactions.

“Y-Yes, I know that Sunset, you’ve made it very clear,” said Sunny in a chipper tone. “B-But it’s the first day back from Spring Break, why don’t we at least just keep things semi-cordial for the day?” It was here that she leaned in close to Sunset and added, “I know you don’t want anything to happen to Twilight, especially if you two start duking it out here. She might get caught up in the fight, you know how Indigo is with her!”

That seemed to snap Sunset out of her bloodlust as she threw a gaze back at her girlfriend and Sugarcoat, who she just realized was looking not too good. “Hey, Sweets, what’s wrong?”

As Sunset broke off to go back to the two girls, Sunny Flare leaned in close to Indigo Zap and said, “You promised my Mom that you wouldn’t instigate anything, and that you’d leave Sparkle alone! You know what she’ll do to you if you disobey her! Plus, you and I both know that Shimmer has some kind of freaky power, there’s no way you can beat her!”

“Some things have changed, Sunny, trust me. I can beat this bitch now,” said Indigo.

“I know you survived getting lost in a snowy wasteland, but that doesn’t mean you’re suddenly able to beat someone who can fucking make fire appear from her hands!”

“Can we please get to class; I’m starting to get annoyed by all this.”

Indigo and Sunny Flare turned their gaze to the one who said that, so did Twilight, Sugarcoat, and Sunset, finding out that it was Sour Sweet. She didn’t look all that well, she had bags under her eyes and looked really tired for some reason. Next to her was Lemon Zest, who was a little worried for her friend for saying that in such a tense situation.

“Keep your panties on Sour, this won’t take long!” Indigo stated.

It was around this time that Sugarcoat’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks. She saw something worse or as bad as the two strange auras, there was a large black aura coming off of Sour Sweet, but within that black aura she could see a scarlet aura, a kind of malice that was unnatural even for a normal person, it took the form of a demonic face, and looked upon everyone indiscriminately, as if it was ready to kill all of them on a mere whim. That’s when the demonic face paused and looked directly at her, it was aware, this demonic face was aware that she could see it.

“Hey, Sweets, seriously, what’s wrong?! You’re turning pale!” Sunset asked with worry.

“I…I don’t feel…BLAGH!” Sugarcoat dropped to her knees and vomited onto the floor, making the crowd give a collective “eww” from the sight of it.

Twilight hurriedly went down on her knees as she held Sugarcoat’s hair up and rubbed her back carefully. Sunset went down on one knee and gently grabbed a hold of her friend, even more worried now.

“Okay, that’s it, we’re going to the nurse!” Sunset stated.

“I…I’m fin – BLAGH!” Sugarcoat vomited again. This demonic aura and death aura, it was making her physically ill. “I just…I…”

“Sugarcoat, we’re going to the nurse, come on,” said Twilight as she tried to help Sugarcoat to her feet.

Indigo growled in indignation and annoyance at this development. “What the hell, seriously?! She probably choked down too much jizz and shemen this morning and it’s not agreeing with her, that’s what happens when you blow half the guys and eat out the girls. Now get the slut a paper towel and let’s go, Shimmer!”

Sunset’s eyes flashed orange for a moment as she turned to face Indigo Zap. “I fucking swear to god, Zap, I’m gonna–!”

“SUNSET!” Twilight shouted in a stern voice, bringing her girlfriend’s attention back to the immediate problem. “I need your help to get her up and to the nurse, please!”

Sunset took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling slowly. Once she quelled the raging fire of anger inside of her, Sunset hooked Sugarcoat’s left arm over her neck while Twilight did the same with Sugarcoat’s right arm. Together, the two girls managed to lift the blueish gray girl up to her feet as they began heading back the other way towards the nurse’s office, thankfully the crowd parted for them and made their exit all the swifter.

When they left, the crowd dispersed, leaving Sunny, Indigo, Sour, and Lemon as the remainders.

“Goddammit,” Indigo huffed, she then grabbed Sunny by the collar of her shirt and glared at her as she said, “Don’t ever get between us again!”

Sunny shot her own glare at Indigo and gripped Indigo’s wrist with her left hand. “Dammit, Indigo, what the hell is wrong with you! Are you that obsessed with Sparkle?! I know you said why you want her, but c’mon on! There are plenty of other girls in this fucking school! And I’m sure you won’t have any shortage of horny ones when you get to college!”

“It ain’t about that! I like Twilight! I love her! That witch just got her all wrapped around her finger too tight to see that she’s being manipulated!” Indigo shot back.

Sunny Flare genuinely laughed when she heard that, finding it real funny that Indigo of all people was talking about manipulation. “Oh, yeah, like the way you corner her in different parts of the school and force yourself on her? Or how you forced her to do things to you? You’re no more a saint than anyone here! That’s worse than manipulation, that’s literally controlling her!”

Indigo was starting to get angrier, to the point that the necklace under her shirt was starting to glow in response to her emotions. However, Lemon Zest managed to get between them and diffuse the situation.

“Hey, c’mon Zap, let’s cool down for a sec, ‘kay? Sunny’s not the person you wanna wail on! Just save it for the next time you see Shimmer,” Lemon suggested.

Out of the four girls that Indigo hung out with, she liked Lemon the most, mostly for her laidback attitude and her willingness to go along with her actions. So, when she said what she said, Indigo knew she was right, there was no point in wasting all this energy on Sunny Flare. Sunny had her own reasons why she was doing all this, it sucked to have a bitch like Cinch as her mother, so in that regard Indigo gave her some leeway. With that settled, Indigo released Sunny Flare and let Lemon Zest lead her away.

Sunny Flare leaned up against some lockers and sighed heavily, relieved that Indigo didn’t smash her face in. Sour Sweet stood next to her and asked, “You alright?”

“Fuck me, no! I felt like five years were just shaved off my life from all that!” Sunny dragged her right hand down her face and groaned. “I honestly don’t know how I’m going to keep this up until graduation. Those two were tense before, but now, it feels like it was just dialed up to eleven!”

Sour looked down the hallway where Sunset went and the one where Indigo retreated to. “I get what you mean…but I’ll help however I can.”

Sunny Flare smiled and patted her friend on the shoulder. “Thanks, I need at least one person on my side throughout all this.”

The two girls began their walk to their classes, as they did, Sour kept at least one step behind Sunny Flare, allowing her a few glances down at her friend’s shapely rear. “That pigtailed girl…I don’t like her.”

What’s to like, she’s defected to the loser side. Whatever.

“Not that, it’s more than that…I think…I think she saw me.”

That made Sour’s heart skip a beat in fear. Y-You can’t be serious!

“It’s just a hunch, don’t go pissing yourself. I got the inclination that she was looking right at me. She might have latent sensing abilities that she doesn’t know about.”

Is that bad?

“For now, no. But if it turns out that she does, then she can see through you and see me. And that would be bad for everyone, you know. Especially that cute piece of ass you’re staring at right now.”

Sour was starting to get worried, if Sugarcoat could see the Blood Sword’s demon presence within her, and if that information somehow made its way through the grapevine and to Witchblade, then it wouldn’t be long before the hero of Canterlot came crashing through her window and cut her down.

Should we…kill her?

“Heh, heh, I like your thinking. But let’s wait, I’d rather confirm first before we rush in and spill her blood. Especially after a reaction like that, she might be on alert.”

Sour sighed heavily, as if there wasn’t anymore to worry about, now she had to figure out if Sugarcoat getting sick like she did was just because she was sick or if it was because of Blood Sword. And it was only the first day back too.

“You want us for what?” Sunset asked.

Sunset was currently in Principal Celestia’s office, her newly adopted mother had just gotten through telling her of her picks for the Friendship Games next month. The teams were mostly made of twelve members, with some additional three as backups just in case life happened. The first six on the list were Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow, Applejack, and Sunset.

“As part of the rules, the principal of CHS can pick the first six members of the team, while the last six are chosen by tryouts. Those will start next week to give the students time to prepare, although I’m sure most of them were preparing on some level. I haven’t submitted this list yet because I wanted to see what you thought.”

Sunset didn’t know what to think, she had heard of the intense rivalry between Crystal Prep and Canterlot High, and to be honest she was hoping to spend that time with her little sister and Twilight when they arrived, but then again, giving them a show wouldn’t be that bad. And she was sure that they would enjoy having their school get its ass kicked by her and her friends, there was no love lost there.

“I mean, I don’t mind joining the team, and if you need me to convince the girls I can try,” said Sunset.

“I doubt that they’ll need much convincing, I plan to talk with them throughout the week anyway. But until I do,” Celestia put her index finger to her lips, “keep it under wraps for now.”

“Heh, got it, Mom,” said Sunset as she picked up her backpack. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

Celestia nodded, both were happy now that they’ve officially become a family, well they were technically still unofficial as Celestia still needed to submit the paperwork to officially adopt Sunset. She hoped the process would go smoothly now that Maria was gone, she was the only person who knew that Sunset had no information and forged it for her, but only time would tell and Celestia didn’t want to dwell on it, and neither did Sunset.

Sunset began walking down the halls of her school, the faces of her fellow students were cheerful, and just as cheerful towards her. It was hard to believe that not too long ago she dreaded walking these halls and found nothing but scowls and looks of scorn on everyone’s face, it was a breath of fresh air to have things be semi-normal again. But the universe, god, the gods, or whatever divine force was out there saw fit throw a monkey wrench into that.

Pinkie came bounding around the corner and stopped just in front of her girlfriend. “Sunny! First,” Pinkie gave Sunset a quick kiss on the lips and said, “morning!”

Sunset chuckled and replied, “Morning, Pinks.”

“Second: there’s someone impersonating Witchblade!”

“WHAT?!” Sunset exclaimed.

Just then, someone else rounded the corner, Rainbow Dash, and she had the same expression as Pinkie did. “Pinkie did you tell her?!”

“Yeah, about the imposter!”

“Okay, hold on, what imposter?!”

Pinkie opened her phone and showed Sunset a news article about people getting sliced and diced in the city all last week while they were gone.

“People are saying Witchblade’s out for blood, since there are no more demons or whatever for her to fight, she’s out to kill whatever she can,” said Rainbow Dash.

“That’s…That’s…” Sunset didn’t know what to say right now.

Pinkie Pie could see her girlfriend’s distress and placed a comforting hand on her arm. “Don’t worry, a lot of people are already saying that it’s not true! The police are backing Witchblade and so are a lot of people, it’s just a small group who never really liked Witchblade to begin with.”

“Still, this isn’t good. Someone’s out there killing people the same way I – er – she fights, and people are blaming her for it,” said Sunset.

“You don’t…” Rainbow shuddered. “You don’t think it’s a Wendigo, right? You destroyed all of them, and the Darkness is sealed away, so it can’t be a Servant.”

Sunset tried to think hard about what it could be, but this world has shown her that there was more to it than she first realized. She thought magic didn’t exist here, but as it turns out, it did, and there were artifacts with powers that were beyond her comprehension, as well as entities that were more powerful than her goddess of a princess.

“And then there’s also…this,” said Rainbow Dash as she pulled out her phone and showed another news article.

Sunset read the article and her mouth slowly fell open as she did, an entire apartment complex, all five stories of it, every single person inside had died in a horrific and quite frankly supernatural way, all of this taking place in Manehattan. Sunset facepalmed herself and said, “Did the world just decide to go to hell while we were on vacation?!”

“Looks like it did, this getting messed up now.”

“Well, there’s nothing you could’ve done for Manehattan, even if we weren’t on vacation,” said Pinkie. “Don’t beat yourself up about it. Okay?”

The flame haired teen nodded her head, Pinkie was right, even if they were all still in the city, there was no way that Sunset would’ve been able to stop what happened all the way in Manehattan. Still, this raised a lot of concern on her part, why was all this happening now? First the Angelus and the Darkness show up, and now mass murders are happening all over again? The Wendigos surely couldn’t be behind this, she sent them all to Oblivion, there was no coming back from that.

Sunset heard her phone go off, she fished it out of her pocket and saw that it was Sun video calling her. “Oh, this can’t be good.” Sunset looked around and saw an empty classroom and waved to her friends to come with her. Once inside, Sunset answered the call and saw not only her twin but Twilight as well. “Hey, what’s going on?”

{I’m assuming you’ve seen the news already. These BS stories about Witchblade going rogue.}

“Oooh yeah, I have.”

“Hey, Sun! Hi, Sci-Twi!” Pinkie greeted.

Twilight giggled and replied, {Hi, Pinkie, Rainbow!} Her expression then turned serious. {I’ve already looked into it on my end, from what the net is saying, all the victims were killed with a large, bladed weapon consistent with a sword. Of course, the only one who matches that M. O. is…well…you. But since we were all far, far away from the city during that time, we must assume someone’s out there taking advantage of your absence and going on a killing spree.}

“That’s bogus, they’re so scared of Sunset that they need to wait until she leaves town to start hurting people, instead of straight up challenging her?! That’s weak!” Rainbow stated in indignation.

{I second that. Sis, what do you say we do a little patrolling tonight?}

“We don’t have much of a choice, we can’t let this psycho keep killing people,” said Sunset, her brow furrowing as another thought crossed her mind. “Why the hell didn’t your brother call us?! We could’ve stopped all this!”

{I called Shining when I found out and asked him the same question. He said, ‘If there’s anyone who deserves a vacation, it’s you guys. After everything all of you have been through, a few days off from supernatural shenanigans and murders is not uncalled for.’ His exact words.}

The girls smiled and so did Sunset, she couldn’t really blame the guy for not calling him after hearing that. And he did have a point, a few days relaxing was great. “Okay, I won’t chew him out. But I’m still going to throw some shade his way the next time I see him, just as a little punishment. And, yeah, we’ll go out tonight, can’t let this person keep thinking they’re free to hurt whoever they want. Witchblade’s back in town and she’s pissed!”

“Damn right!” Rainbow agreed as she patted Rainbow on the shoulder.

“Woo! Go get ‘em Sunset! You too, Sun!” Pinkie cheered.

Twilight turned to Sun, {You better be careful.} She then turned to Sunset and said, {You too, Sunset. Okay?}

“We will,} they answered in unison.

The video call ended, leaving the three of them alone. “Guess we’ll tell Fluttershy, Rarity, and AJ at lunch. We need to get a handle on this before it spirals into something worse, which, knowing my luck, it’s going to.”

Pinkie hugged her girlfriend tight and smiled broadly as she said, “Maybe, but I have a feeling it’ll turn out alright for us! The good guys always win in the end, right?!”

“Heh, yeah.”

It had been two days since the incident at the apartment complex, the news was all over the incident, calling it the most bizarre and worst mass killing in Manehattan’s history. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata sat on the bed that next morning as they watched the news showing swarms of police and ambulances, all of them carrying body after body on gurneys and by hand, one after the other. Some were big and others were small. It was the small ones that made Sonata cry, knowing that they were responsible for the killing of all those children.

What the news also focused on was the ways that the people died, all of them were varied and bizarre. The sisters didn’t need to know the details, they knew exactly what kind of condition they might’ve been in, considering what they saw in their own apartment and what they saw as they exited the complex.

Now, Aria was pacing the room as she awaited Adagio’s return. Sonata was sitting on the bed, her eyes constantly darting back to Adagio’s suitcase. The older Siren had informed them that she brought the music box with her, there was a heated argument about why she would bring such a thing with them after what it did, but there was no debating it as far as Adagio was concerned.

The door jiggled and alerted the two Sirens, their tension released when they saw Adagio return with some fast-food for their dinner. After dispensing their meal, Adagio sat down on a chair next to the wall and began to munch on her burger, they didn’t have much of an appetite after everything that happened, but it came back with a vengeance. Aria sat down on the bed and stared down her big sister, which only made Adagio groan in annoyance.

“For the last time, no,” said Adagio.

“Please, just get rid of that thing! It’s dangerous!” Aria pleaded.

“That thing saved us, if it hadn’t activated, we’d have been put to work as sex slaves for those gangsters until we died! Would you have rather that happen?!”

Aria clenched her fist, she knew Adagio was right, that thing did save them from a life of getting used and abused for the remainder of their lives, however short their lives would’ve been in that situation. “I still don’t get it, what the hell is that thing?”

“It’s evil,” Sonata spoke. “It’s pure evil! It killed all those kids!”

“FYI, Sona, we aren’t exactly the good guys,” Aria pointed out. “But, yeah, even so, that thing’s a whole ‘nother level of evil. But what I still don’t get is, why the hell did it resonate with us? It felt like I was calling on my magic from when our amulets were still intact, why was that?”

Adagio looked at her suitcase, she had been forming a theory since that day. “I think I know why. You know I kept the shards of my amulet in my nightstand, right?” The girls nodded a “yes”. “When I went to get it out when we were leaving, I saw that the shards were gone. I think the music box absorbed the pieces of my amulet, and that’s why it resonated with the three of us. Why were they able to sing that song that caused all of that…”

Sonata could see it, after the Battle of the Bands only Adagio managed to pick up the pieces of her amulet. And while the energy she felt through her was nostalgic and empowering, the outcome of the use of that power ended up killing more than just those who were out to do them harm. “What do we do now?”

“We can’t go back there, that’s for damn sure. We could set up shop in another part of town, there’s no shortage of spots for us to be hookers…” Aria took a bite of her burger, chewed it, and then swallowed it. “But after what happened, who’s to say that we don’t end up in the same situation…fuck, it’s all my fault!”

Adagio couldn’t blame Aria, if it wasn’t that night it would be another night. Whether it was herself or Sonata, those gangsters would’ve come for them and they would’ve ended up in an even worse situation than they already were. “It’s not your fault, Aria. They would’ve come for us one way or another, if not you, then me when I go out. They were watching us, so don’t worry about it. If anyone’s at fault, it’s me for not noticing that we were being watched.”

But that was the question, what now? If they went back to street walking the same scenario might happen again, but in all honesty, she didn’t want to go back to that. Adagio didn’t want to continue bending over or lying on her back as these humans had their way with her, or her sisters, for money. They had no way back, no way to live, and…no, they did have something, something powerful. Dangerous though it was…

“No,” said Aria.

“What?” Adagio asked.

Aria stood up and pointed towards her big sister and said, “I know that look, that’s your scheming look! You’re planning something aren’t you, and it involves that damned music box?! I thought we just established that that thing is dangerous!”

Adagio nodded. “It is, but what if we managed to control it? It’s similar to my amulet, and it responded to my emotions. With that being the case, it’s possible for us to focus its power and have it attack who we want it to, instead of hurting everyone.”

“That thing’s power is different from our magic, what if we can’t control it?” Sonata asked.

“We just need to use it somewhere where people won’t miss those we kill.”

“Such as?” Aria asked.

“There are plenty of evil people in this city, why not just use it on them. We find them, and then we experiment with it.” Adagio got up and placed her hand on Aria’s shoulder. “We get the chance to learn more about the box’s power.” She then walked over to Sonata and gently stroked her hair. “And no innocent children will be harmed.”

“Promise?” Sonata asked.

Adagio hugged her youngest sister, and Sonata hugged her back. “I promise.” Adagio meant what she said, but there was another part of her that was fueling her reason to learn more about the power of the music box. If we can manage to control this magical box, then Sunset Shimmer and her little friends won’t be able to stand against me. We’ll get our revenge, and we’ll take that city as our own personal kingdom! It’ll be ironic, the place where it all went wrong, will be the place where it all goes right.

Aria could sense that Adagio had ulterior motives for wanting to master the music box’s magic. But considering the alternatives, they really didn’t have much to work with. As Adagio pointed out to them time and again, they didn’t exist in this world, not in any database in any part of the world, they couldn’t work normal jobs, what other choice did they have? Mastering the music box might be their only chance to get something out of this world.

Still, I’m going to keep a close eye on you, Sis. Somethin’ ain’t right about that damn music box, and I don’t like it.

Blood, Blades, and Blaze

View Online

Night fell over Canterlot City, and with it, its heroes rose. Sunset, Witchblade, and Sun, Ember, flew over the city, ready to take on the one responsible for all the killing in the city in their absence. Sunset still felt bad that she wasn’t here to protect everyone from this killer, but Sun managed to get her out of that funk, they were here now, and they could do something about it.

“How did Ms. C react to you coming out? Or did you even tell her at all?” Sun asked.

“I told her, and she said, ‘Please call me when you’re back and safe.’”

“Wow, just like that?”

Sunset slowed down and flew backwards to face her little sister. “Yeah, she knows I can’t stand by and do nothing when I have the power to help someone, and after everything we’ve been through, she trusts me to not take chances when fighting a monster. Plus, I think she’s put more at ease knowing that I have you watching my back.”

Sun crossed her arms and smiled. “Of course I’m going to watch your back, we’re fam now.”

“I never got to ask, you said earlier that a girl you and Twi are friends with wasn’t feeling good. Is she alright now?”

Sun slowed her flying speed and nodded, but still looked concerned. “Yeah, Sweets is fine now, but I don’t know, it feels like she’s on edge or something. Fucking Indigo, she couldn’t just leave us alone on the first day back from Break. Had to start shit right out of the gate, and saying all that shit in front of her, too! Not only that, Indigo has the nerve to show her face around me and Twi after what she did?! I swear to god I was THIS close to–!”

Sunset raised her hands up in a stopping motion and quickly said, “Whoa, whoa, cool down, Sun, you’re running hot. Literally, your flames are raging.”

Sun stopped and realized that the flames that were coming from her body were more intense than usual. She quickly calmed herself and in so doing, made the flames settle as well. “Sorry, that bitch really pisses me off. Don’t know why, but it’s like she pisses me a lot more now.”

“Don’t worry about it, if someone hurt Pinkie or any of my friends like that, I’d be the same way. Now, let’s get to work, this should be good enough.” Sunset and Sun stopped over the city and hovered in place. The Bearer of the Witchblade raised her right hand up and spoke to the ruby at the center of the gauntlet. “What do you sense partner?”

}}} There is a deep bloodlust in the air, but I can’t pinpoint. Whatever’S here, it’s definitely demonic in nature. But…there’s something else that’s strange. {{{[/i]

“What do you mean?” Sunset asked.

}}} There are things in this city, things similar to Fluttershy’s Spear of Destiny, and your twin’s Ember Stone. {{{

“Say what?!”

“That doesn’t sound good, what’s up?” Sun asked.

“He says…this is weird, he says he senses other things like Shy’s Spear and your necklace in the city.”

Sun’s eyes widened to the size of saucer plates when she heard this news, her body trembled in excitement and restlessness. She wanted so badly to grab ahold of Sunset’s wrist and demand that the Witchblade tell her what it was sensing and where. But she had to keep it in check, if she showed her interest now it could mess up everything. “That is weird…um, how many can he sense exactly?”

}}} Hard to say, they’re proximity drowns out the other. I know they are here, but I can’t tell how many. {{{

Sunset relayed the info to Sun, who bit her bottom lip in slight disappointment. However, this was good, this meant that there were more Artifacts in the city. Just then, the ruby on the gauntlet glowed bright.

“Now what?”

“We’re on! He can sense the bloodlust strongly now!”

“Lead the way!”

The two Sunsets took off quickly with the Witchblade armor leading the way. It took them all of one minute to find the source of the bloodlust, dropping down from the sky in true superhero fashion, thankfully they were just in time. A figure dressed in a red hoodie and black pants, holding a katana, had cornered a woman in an alleyway. The figure didn’t turn around, but they did turn their head ever so slightly to acknowledge their presence.

“Witchblade!” the woman exclaimed in relief.

“Looks like we found our killer,” said Sun.

“Witchblade, I was wondering how many bodies were going to pile up before I got your attention,” said the killer. “And you brought your sidekick.”

Sun furrowed her brow and said, “‘Sidekick’? I’m her partner, Ember, thank you! And you killed all those people just to get her attention?!”

The killer chuckled as she said, “No, I was just wondering. I’m a little thirsty at the moment, do you mind leaving me alone to eat?”

Sunset’s forearms produced blades while Sun formed a fire sword, this was their answer. The killer only chuckled, but she gave her response in the form of raising her sword and dashing towards her victim. Sun raised her left hand and fired off a jet of flames right at the victim, the killer sidestepped the flames and watched them engulf her prey.

“Wow, you wanted to stop me from killing that person, and you instead burned her to death? Way to go heroes,” said the killer.

“Who said she’s dead?” Sun asked rhetorically as she whipped her arm back. The action caused the flames to form a cocoon around the civilian and dragged her back swiftly behind the two heroes, when the cocoon touched the ground it broke apart, revealing a very confused young woman. “RUN! GET OUT OF HERE!”

The young woman nodded vigorously and ran off as fast as she could. Now they were alone, the killer still had their back to them, which only made the two of them edgier.

“Now it’s just us, turn around and show us who you are!” Sunset demanded.

The killer rested the blunt side of her katana against her right shoulder as she hummed in contemplation. “Hmm…sorry, but that’s a no. My host wouldn’t like it if you found out who she was. But I would like to thank you for this opportunity. I wanted to see how I stacked up against you after seven straight days of feeding. So, let’s have some fun! Kōsoku o kaijo (Release restraint)!”

Scarlet light erupted around the killer, obscuring her from view and caused a whirlwind to kick up. The scarlet light faded, and the twin Sunsets were granted a view of their transformed foe as she turned to face them. Her hoodie had transformed into a red coat and hood, the end of the coat was tattered, and battle worn. The shoulder pauldrons were curved upwards and had gold fringing, the gauntlets had Japanese kanji written atop them, spiked knuckles and claw tips, both were the same deep scarlet color. The chest plate was obviously female, but bore a strange symbol at the center, the metal boots had Japanese writing on the outsides, and underneath the armor was a black chainmail. Upon the killer’s face was an Oni demon mask, with two horns curving upwards, the facial slit was open but had rows of sharpened teeth, the eyes were yellow and crystalline, keeping the identity of the killer completely hidden.

“Who…What are you?!” Sunset demanded.

“I’ve been called a lot of names over the centuries, and I’ve been wielded by many humans. I was a fearsome demon, I’ve been trapped inside this sword so long that I have forgotten my original name, but one name always persists, Blood Sword.”

Agent Tempest Shadow had entered Canterlot City a few days ago, she’d been trying to track down the killer who had been hacking and slashing people up for almost seven days now, however, her investigation hadn’t yielded much. At first, she suspected Witchblade may’ve been behind this, but there was something off about the crime scenes. Thanks to the resources at the Organization of Supernatural and Otherworldly Disasters, OSOD, she was able to fake an FBI badge and get herself through the police tape and inspect the damage. Just being near the crime scene already informed her that this possibly wasn’t Witchblade.

The Wheel of Shadows granted her the power of time, so when the majority of the police left, along with the bystanders, Tempest would return to do her own thing. She took out the Wheel of Shadows and activated her power, allowing the Wheel to transform her into her shadow form. Tempest allowed her shadow to surround the area and create a shroud to obscure her work, while in the shadows, Tempest held out her right hand and gestured as if she was holding a knob. The secret agent turned her hand to the left, and when she did the ghostly bodies appeared. They were wispy, made of gray mist, but very detailed.

This was her power, the power of time over things and people. With this power, Tempest was able to rewind the area, she couldn’t travel back in time, not that she hasn’t tried yet, but she could turn back time locally, if only to see events that had occurred. Although in this case, whenever she did use this ability, the events would replay as ghostly images. However, it had its ups, like allowing her to see the faces of the perpetrators that committed the crime. However, that wasn’t the case. When Tempest tried to get a look at the person who committed the killings, something stopped her. It was as if the killer’s aura, power, whatever, was so strong that it didn’t want anyone to see who it was, or what it was.

A couple of days passed, and more killings happened, that is until Tempest decided to stop taking a wait and see approach. Her handler told her to observe and to only engage when necessary, but that didn’t sit well with Tempest. There had been no signs of Witchblade during the whole time she had been in the city, so someone had to take care of this blade wielding killer. Then came Monday night, Tempest was in her shadow form as she traversed the city, looking for anything that would give her a lead to the killer’s whereabouts.

That thing she was looking for came in the form of two beings whizzing through the air, one was fiery and the other was barely visible in the night sky, but Tempest knew who it was, or at least had a good idea. She vaulted off one roof after the other, trying to keep pace with the two fliers. I could just fly myself, but then again, I’d lose my whole stealth thing. Eventually she caught up with Witchblade and her crime fighting partner, she perched herself at the edge of the roof that overlooked the alley and watched as the two heroes confronted the killer. Even from this distance, Tempest could feel the bloodlust coming from this person.

Goddamn, I’m actually shaking a little. Eh, whatever, at least the heroes are back, which means I can stand back and watch the–

Scarlet light filled the alley, Tempest turned her gaze away for a moment as it grew brighter. When the light faded, her blue eyes widened upon seeing the killer now donned in red armor.

Oh shit…

“Blood Sword, huh? Seems appropriate, hope your skills are as good as good as your light show!” Sunset mocked.

“Same to you!”

Sunset crouched, causing the concrete to fracture, Blood Sword did the same. The two blade fighters dashed towards each other and met in the center, Blood Sword raised her blade and brought it down in an overhead strike, while Sunset countered with a horizontal slash from her forearm blade. Their weapons clashed, ringing out through the alley and making the brick walls around them crack from the sheer power of their attacks. Sunset grunted from the impact, Blood Sword definitely had power behind her attack, but did she have versatility?

The living armor created spearhead tipped chains that sprouted from the shoulder pauldrons and rose like snakes. Blood Sword noticed and quickly disengaged as she jumped backwards, but the chains lashed towards her, the demonic warrior sliced the air before her, making several red streaks of light appear. Once the chains got close, they stopped and were sliced to pieces, Sunset was a little surprised, there wasn’t much that could cut through her armor, and yet this thing could.

Sun decided to unleash a torrent of flames down the alley. The flames engulfed Sunset and roared towards Blood Sword, the demonic warrior raised her sword and slashed downwards, releasing a pressure wave that parted the flames in two. However, she wasn’t prepared for how Witchblade emerged from the flames, fully armored, and brandishing her large buster sword. Blood Sword hurriedly raised her sword to meet the buster sword of Sunset, upon impact, the ground fractured further and created a small crater where Blood Sword stood. The scarlet menace focused her energy into the sword and pushed upwards, creating a crimson energy shockwave that pushed Sunset back.

Blood Sword took this chance and jumped from one wall to the next, scaling upwards and doing a flip in the air before landing on the rooftop. Sunset and Sun gave chase, flying up and meeting their opponent on the rooftop. Sun formed a fire sword as her sister created two bastard swords, the twins glanced at each other and then dashed towards Blood Sword. The demonic warrior twirled her sword around and entered an attack stance. A dance of fire and metal began as Sun and Sunset slashed with their weapons and Blood Sword blocked with hers, more rings echoed through the air along with shuffling feet on the rooftop, both fighters fighting to defeat the other.

Sunset slashed with both swords, Blood Sword leaned backwards and dodged the first attack. Sun dashed behind Blood Sword and raised her fire blade, but just as she brought it down, Blood Sword dropped to the ground and swung her legs in a whirlwind kick maneuver. The attack managed to catch Sun in the left knee, making her yelp in pain as the hard kick made her buckle, allowing for the Blood Sword to sweep again and land a blow against the side of Sun’s head and sent her tumbling to the right. Sunset growled and sped towards Blood Sword, but the demonic warrior used her momentum and jumped up and away. She twirled in the air and dropped down behind Sunset as she slashed with her sword.

The Bringer of Balance cried in pain as the sword pieced her armor and managed to cut her back, sending out a splash of blood as she stumbled forward. Blood Sword raised her blade and looked upon the bloodstains on the weapon, the blood was soon absorbed by the blade, making it glow red, and Blood Sword herself made a moaning sound.

“Hmm, your blood is like a damn drug! It’s so tasty, and delicious, I’ve never tasted anything like it! It’s more than a fine wine, it’s like mana from Heaven!” Blood Sword gushed. “What are you? ‘Cause this blood definitely tastes different from human blood!”

Sunset hissed in pain for another moment as her wound closed and the armor mended. “Like I’d tell you.” The wielder of the Witchblade ran towards Blood Sword and began clashing again, Blood Sword parried a few blows, but on their next contact, she smirked. Her blade transformed, becoming segmented and detaching itself as it snaked its way around the Blood Sword’s right left arm. “Gotcha bitch!”

“What the?!”

Sunset kicked Blood Sword away and gave her some slack for a couple of seconds, but then pulled it taught as she jerked back and reeled Blood Sword in. The Bringer of Balance cocked back her left fist and smashed it into Blood Sword’s abdomen, causing the demonic warrior to let out a harsh cough of pain from the attack. Sunset decided to end this now, she spotted Sun and nodded towards her.

The wielder of the Ember Stone nodded back and ignited the soles of her feet as she took off towards her twin and Blood Sword. Sun superheated her whole right forearm as she closed in, Sunset landed a few more blows into Blood Sword’s gut, Blood Sword raised her right arm and prepared to attack.

Just then, Blood Sword sensed Sun’s presence coming behind her. The demonic warrior, instead of slashing Sunset, cut her own left arm off above the elbow. Now that she was freed from Sunset’s snare, Blood Sword was able to dodge her unimpeded as Sun came in and slashed with her right arm, missing her target. Blood Sword rolled on the ground and stood up quickly as her severed arm bled on the rooftop.

Sunset released the other half of Blood Sword’s arm, returning her chain sword to its full blade form. “Okay, she’s crazy.”

“Seriously, cutting off your own arm? That’s hardcore, but it’s also going to cost you,” said Sun.

“That’s what you think!” As soon as she said that, the blood dripping from the wound stopped, that same blood lashed out towards the severed arm and connected the two together. The blood rope reeled in the severed arm and reconnected it back to her body, the wound healed and the armor reformed, making it appear as if nothing happened. “See, good as new.”

Sun chuckled as her hands flared up. “Cute trick, but I wonder if you can still heal it after I’ve cauterized your wounds!”

Blood Sword looked between her two opponents, she had gotten stronger, but she knew that this Ember and Witchblade haven’t gone all out just yet. For sure she knew Witchblade wasn’t using her full power, otherwise she’d be dead now. Probably assessing whether I’m worth the use of that much power. Fine then…Blood Sword dashed towards her opponents, she forwarded more of her demonic power into her speed as she became a blur before them as she shouted, “CHI NO KYŌRAN (Blood Frenzy)!”

Sun and Sunset readied for an attack but were blindsided as Blood Sword slashed at them from different angles, streaks of crimson light erupted around them as the twin Sunsets raised shields to try and protect themselves from the onslaught. However, Sunset’s armor shields and Sun’s fire dome were getting sliced up, whatever Blood Sword’s weapon was, it had the power to render their defenses irrelevant.

“I normally use this against large groups of opponents so I can maximize the amount of blood that stains my blade, and the more blood I drink the stronger I get, but for you two, I think this’ll be enough to throw you off!”

Blood Sword jumped high into the air, she waved her left hand over the blade, dying it in crimson light. She made a circle with her sword, creating a thin red line in its wake, and when she was done, Blood Sword had created a red circle. Blood Sword got into a thrusting position and shouted, “HIMEI! CHIMAMIRE NO TSUKI (Scream! Bloody Moon)!” Blood Sword thrust her blade through the circle, and upon passing through it, the circle unleashed a huge column of crimson energy straight for Sun and Sunset.

The twins looked up just in time to watch as the crimson beam slammed over them. Blood Sword was cackling with mad delight as she watched her attack hit, but then realized something was off. “Okay, usually when I do this, the entire structure would be destroyed?” That’s when she saw a swell appear at the impact point. “Uh-oh.”

The swell got bigger and bigger until Blood Sword’s attack was completely cancelled out as a great roar tore through the air. Blood Sword landed back on the roof and laid her eyes upon a flaming dragon, and a crimson armored Witchblade. The dragon towered over Witchblade, while Witchblade herself had not only gained a foot of height, but also more filled out proportions.

“You just had to push your luck, didn’t you?” Sunset asked with a bit of a sultry flare to her tone. “Alright then, ‘Blood Sword’, let’s dance for real now.”

“Chi no Kyōran!”

Both Sunset and Blood Sword became blurs as sparks went off in the air, dark crimson streaks clashed against bright crimson streaks, every once and awhile, there was a pause in the attacks as the two blade wielders were locked and then broke away to resume their highspeed attacks. Meanwhile, Sun was watching all this, her draconic eyes following the action as it unfolded before her and waiting for her chance to attack. But mostly, she was looking for her chance to obtain a fourth Artifact.

C’mon, Sis, slice off that hand so I can get that damn sword, thought Sun.

Sunset and Blood Sword stopped their highspeed attack, the heroine of the city formed a giant shuriken and tossed it at Blood Sword. The demonic warrior readied to cut in half but was unaware that the spinning ninja weapon had a thin metal wire connected to it. When Blood Sword slashed downwards to intercept it, Sunset pulled on the wire and instantly the giant shuriken burst apart, becoming several hundreds of smaller shuriken that nearly surrounded Blood Sword, but for added fun, Sunset thrust her left hand forward and ignited all the shuriken, turning them into red flaming stars. The demonic samurai was not prepared for the death blossom-like attack as she hurriedly began dodging and swiping at the fire shuriken that were raining down on her, but she was missing many as they sliced at her armor and through her chainmail.

Sun saw this opening and inhaled deeply, the flames that made up her body raged hotter, building up her power. The flame dragon opened her great maw and unleashed a hellfire torrent straight for Blood Sword, Sunset didn’t move from her position, the Witchblade granted her some immunity from fire, but also, Sun’s flames only harmed those she saw as an enemy. The flames washed over Sunset, no harm coming to her, however, the same could not be said for Blood Sword as she was too preoccupied blocking Sunset’s attack to block the incoming one. The rooftop exploded as a single person was blown off.

A smoke trail was the only indication of where Blood Sword fell as she landed, back first, onto a car down below. Blood Sword managed to peel herself off the car and onto the street, just then Dragon Shimmer and Sunset descended from the rooftop, with Sunset riding atop Dragon Shimmer’s back.

Okay, so I’m not at full power, guess I’ve been out of the game for too long.

“They’re going to kill me! That’s it, just give up! I don’t want to die like this!”

Oh, shut up you whiny little bitch, I need to think! Shit, I want more of Witchblade’s blood, it’s full of power, I could easily get back to full power if I could just skewer her…but that damn dragon girl won’t let me get that close, and in Witchblae’s current form I stand no chance. Fine, tactical retreat for now.

“Well, Witchblade, Ember, tonight was fun, but I need to reassess my tactics for the next time we meet. See ya!”

Blood Sword flipped her weapon around and plunged it into the street. Crimson light surged from the demonic samurai and through the sword, the ground fissured and cracked as the red glow spread below, and within a few seconds, the ground exploded with energy. The sidewalk was destroyed, cars were tossed into the air, and a huge plume of dust and dirt was kicked up into the air.

“Ember!”

Dragon Shimmer raised her mighty wings and flapped them hard, the result created a powerful gust of wind that pushed the dust cloud away. Unfortunately, when the dust was gone, so too was Blood Sword.

“Dammit, she got away! Can you sense her?” Sunset asked the Witchblade.

}}} The bloodlust has gone, now it’s just awash in that same feeling as if I was sensing the Ember Stone. I am sorry. {{{

Sun returned to her humanoid form and stood next to her twin. “Are they here?!”

“No, but we should at least take a look around, the police will show up and we should inform Shining about what we found out,” said Sunset.

“Right, I’ll take the ground, my flames will light up the dark corners.”

“That leaves the air to me.”

Tempest had watched the battle unfold from a different perch, she questioned if she should have entered the battle to stop the red samurai, but after seeing Witchblade and her fiery partner fight, she figured that she’d mess up their symmetry, plus, they were pretty powerful, and she wasn’t sure that she could take them if they saw her as an enemy, at least not until she had learned the full extent of their abilities. This wouldn’t be like going after some random person who discovered magic, or a monster, the girls obviously knew how to wield their power, just like her.

That being the case, where the hell did the red menace go?

The OSOD agent had lost sight of the one calling herself Blood Sword, the dust cloud had completely hidden her target and now she couldn’t find her. Tempest thought it prudent to back off for now, she was sent to observe, not to fight. She melded into the shadows and disappeared from sight just as Witchblade passed over her location.

Sour Sweet ran as fast and as hard as her legs would carry her, after Blood Sword had got them out of there, she ran even further on her own, not wanting to take any chances of getting caught by Witchblade or Ember. She stopped for a minute to catch her breath, and as she did, Sour looked at her left arm, she remembered the pain from when it was cut, and now the surreal feeling of it being back on her body as if it never happened.

“What the fuck…how did you do that with my arm?!” Sour asked.

“One of my abilities granted to my hosts, your blood is a weapon as well. You’re connected to it, so even if a body part is severed, I can recall it and reattach it, same goes for your head. But I can’t do anything if your head gets smashed in, I can’t regenerate a whole head or brain.”

“Whatever, I don’t want to do this anymore! Just find someone else, there’s probably tons of psychos out there who want a demon sword,” said Sour in spite.

Sour could hear the mad cackles of the Blood Sword within her mind, but then her red eyed doppelganger appeared before her and said, “That’s not going to happen. You found me, whether you meant to or not, and now, we’re connected until death do us part. Or until I find someone else with a less stable mind than yours to manipulate.” Blood Sword cupped Sour’s chin and grinned. “So, do as I say, and that person you care about so much will remain safe. Besides, after that fight, I know who I want. Witchblade’s blood is potent, I need more of it. The rest of these plebeians might as well be fast food.”

Sour smiled a little upon hearing this, “Does that mean that you won’t kill anymore people?”

Blood Sword looked at her as if she had definitely gone crazy. “Ha, do you stop eating fast food even though you’re rich?” Sour, unfortunately, shook her head in affirmation that she did indeed eat fast food despite having access to richer stuff. “Then there you go; besides, I need more power, and to do that, I need more blood. We’ll just have to be sneaker about our kills from this point forward.”

Hours had gone by with little luck in finding Blood Sword, after informing the police and Shining Armor about the person responsible for the recent killings, both Sunsets headed back to Shimmer Manor. Once inside, Sun de-transformed with the older twin remaining in her armored form. Sunset and Sun walked up the stairs and headed to Sunset’s room. Once inside, Sunset had Witchblade retract the armor, leaving nude again, thankfully she had laid out a robe for her return and quickly slipped it back on.

“Damn, we were so close to beating her!” Sunset stated as she went to Ray’s terrarium.

Sun leaned against the doorframe and said, “Don’t get too worked up over it, we’ll find her again. But good news, now this Blood Sword knows that the sheriff is back in town. Maybe we should ask Fluttershy to break out the Magdalena, there’s no way that demon sword can stand up to all three of us, I mean, she could barely hold her own against us.”

Sunset sat on her bed, with Ray now perching on her shoulder. The little lizard nuzzled his owner’s cheek and Sunset smiled at the show of affection. “No, I’d rather leave Fluttershy out of this, I’ll tell the girls tomorrow what happened, but Fluttershy has done enough. She didn’t want to become a warrior, but guys like Neighsay made her into one. Shy deserves to be what she wants to; not what others believe she’s destined to be.”

Sun nodded. “I got it, but, if she says she wants to…”

“I won’t say no, you’re right, the three of us could overpower Blood Sword easily.”

“Good,” Sun stretched and yawned. “Well, better hit the hay, unfortunately we both have school tomorrow, and you have a phone call to make to Ms. C.”

“Alright, good night, Sis,” said Sunset.

“You too, Sis.”

Sun closed the door to her big sister’s room. She made her way down the stairs and quickly entered her secret lab down in the basement. Once inside, Sun immediately went into research mode, scouring her tomes and internet sources for a weapon called the “Blood Sword”, she knew the name had come up in some of the tomes as one of the Thirteen Artifacts, but she hadn’t done enough research on what it could do. After about ten minutes of searching, she finally found a few articles on the net, as well as a section about it in one of the ancient tomes.

“Let’s see, ‘The Blood Sword is a demonic weapon, it was forged by a powerful shaman who bound a demon’s essence to a sword from the far east. The sorcerer intended for the demon inside the Blood Sword to grant him power, however, the demon wouldn’t be quelled so easily. In exchange for granting its wielder great power, it comes at a price, a price of sating its deep hunger for blood and carnage. The Blood Sword has carved out a bloody trail of carnage throughout the ages, held by many conquerors and murderers alike, until it the last great war, it has gone missing.’ Until now at least.”

Sun looked up at the symbols of the different Artifacts, she lit up one of them and smiled. It was all coming together, now there were seven Artifacts in the city, at least those that she knew of. She remembered that Sunset’s Witchblade made mention of picking up on similar items like her Ember Stone somewhere in the city, which meant a couple of more –or even all – of the Artifacts might be in the city now.

“Then there’s the possibility of that incident in Manehattan also being caused by an Artifact, but we’ll just have to wait and see,” said Sun to herself. She played with the Ember Stone, placing it between her thumb and forefinger of her right hand as she looked over the symbols of the remaining Artifacts. “Just six more, six more Artifacts until I can set everything right. Blood Sword and the others will be the first to go.” She looked up at the ceiling, peering through the floors to where her big sister resided. “……I’d rather delay those fights for as long as I can…”

It was the struggle that Sun knew she’d have to face soon, when all the others were recovered, the only remaining Artifacts to be obtained would be the Spear of Destiny and the Witchblade. Sun didn’t see Fluttershy putting up too much of a fight, after everything Fluttershy had been through revolving around that weapon, she doubted that the shy girl would object to her taking the weapon. That only left Sunset and Witchblade. However, the Witchblade is a symbiotic weapon, connected to the wielder’s body.

“The only way to get it off her would be to……” Sun shook her head. “No, that’s not the biggest problem of getting it, that thing has a strong consciousness, and it won’t release Sunset even if she asked it to. It’ll fight me, kill me if possible, to keep me from separating the two. But that’s not even the biggest problem…”

Indeed, she knew that the biggest, most dangerous of the thirteen hadn’t shown itself for almost five years now. Not since that day…

“But this time will be different, as strong as that guy is, if I come at him with all the other Artifacts, there’s no way he can beat me. I’ll set everything right, I’ll make things better than they are now.” Sun took out her phone and stared at a picture of her mother, father, and herself from before the incident. “Everything will be set right, Mom, Dad, just wait a little longer. And when it’s over, I’ll introduce you to my new big sis.”

The Showdown

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Sugarcoat did not know how to react to what she saw, after that incident she had removed the Heart Stone bracelet and put in her pocket. Part of her wanted to leave it in a drawer back at her house, but another part of her didn’t want to leave it behind. Mostly because it was something that her late grandmother gave to her, and she wanted to treasure it. However, after seeing what she saw from Indigo and Sunset, and even more so what she saw radiating off Sour Sweet. It haunted her, even while she was asleep that night, she couldn’t get the image of that demonic face out of her mind.

Why was something like that coming from Sour Sweet? Is it…Is it because of her bipolar disorder or something?

She tossed and turned in her bed until she couldn’t take it anymore, curiosity, morbid possibly, won out in the end. Sugarcoat tossed the blankets off herself and walked over to the drawer that contained a journal. The journal that her grandmother left to her detailed all the different things she had seen in her time using the Heart Stone. Sugarcoat took it out and brought it over to her desk and began thumbing through the pages to find something, anything that could explain what she saw.

She hadn’t really gone through it since Candycoat’s passing, but now was as good a time as any to figure out what was going on. After turning through a few pages, Sugarcoat landed on one that seemed to be about what she saw.

“I’ve seen a few things in my time, but there are things that I wish I hadn’t either. Just as there are good spirits, there are also bad ones. However, the bad ones don’t compare to the demonic. I quickly learned, thanks in part to another who wielded an item that was similar to mine, that Heaven and Hell did exist, and that demons often traversed into our realm…”

“Demons?!” Sugarcoat exclaimed in low whisper. In all honesty this shouldn’t be that much of a shock, not too long ago, their city was subjected to a war between demons and angels, guess it was too much to ask that all of them were defeated during that fiasco a week ago. With that revelation, she continued to read.

“My friend tells me that demonic possession is not unusual, but it is infrequent, you never know when it will happen, but when it does it can have severe consequences on the possessed, and those around them. My first encounter with a demon possessed person made me physically ill.”

“Just like me…” Sugarcoat whispered.

“Some demons won’t notice when someone is watching them, but when I focused on its aura the demon was giving off, it seemed to notice me the more I tried to home in on it. I realized that I had to keep my awareness of it down, otherwise I could set it off and it could harm me or the person it was possessing.”

“This is interesting, Grandma, but how did you get rid of it?” Sugarcoat turned a few more pages until she found something close to what she was looking for.

“Exorcising a demon is not easy, but it can be done. There are different methods for doing so. The first method involves the kind of things you see in that one horror movie, ‘The Exorcist’, priests, prayers, and holy water. The second and third methods are more for those who have paranormal abilities or items. I cannot comment on the latter, but the former is easier. The Heart Stone allows me to see the auras of others, but unfortunately it’s not easy, I used a technique to allow me to manipulate the aura of the possessed and excise it like a tumor, but if it’s a strong demon, it won’t go away without a fight. I was able to separate the demon from the possessed without harming the possessed person, but my friend told me if it was a demon of a higher echelon, it would’ve required more power than I possessed with the Heart Stone, at least not without tapping into my own life force.”

Sugarcoat read this passage over and over again, and the following pages that went into detail on how she performed the exorcism with the Heart Stone. Although Sugarcoat wasn’t planning on it, she wanted to be sure about how to do it, but part of her was hoping that what she saw was just a trick of the eye. After all, that was the first time she had worn the Heart Stone since her grandmother died, all the time before that she had kept it in her pocket.

“Maybe it was just sensory overload, I saw a lot of things yesterday,” Sugarcoat rationalized. “Yes, my mind wasn’t ready to take all that in at the time.”

With that belief, Sugarcoat put the journal away and went back into her bed to sleep. Still, one thing did bug her, if what she saw coming off Sour Sweet was a demon, then what was the thing that she saw coming off Sunset and Indigo? Seeing those things didn’t make her feel sick, no, it was more like she was intimidated on a primal level, as if she was witnessing great phantasmal creatures for the first time.

Sunset has some kind of power…that much I know of. Was that what I saw? And if so, why did I see it coming off Indigo too?

The next day Sugarcoat was back at school, this time keeping the Heart Stone in her skirt pocket, she didn’t want to see that again, but whenever she saw Sour Sweet in the hallways she would do her best to stay as far from her as possible, unfortunately this did not go unnoticed by Sour Sweet. Sour Sweet’s would always follow her as she passed by, or when they were at lunch, she would see the bipolar girl eyeing her from time to time across the room.

“You sure you’re okay, Sweets?” Sunset asked. “You’re still looking a little pale from yesterday.”

Twilight adjusted her glasses and took a longer look at her, “I’ll have to agree with Sunset, I think you should take a day off, personally speaking.”

Sugarcoat was actually happy to hear that Sunset and Twilight were this concerned about her, she couldn’t remember the last time that Sour, Indigo, Sunny, or Lemon were interested in her wellbeing, outside if it was going to hinder any plans they had made. It put a smile on her face. “I…I’m okay, aside from my episode yesterday I’m feeling better…”

Sunset and Twilight looked at each other with a raised eyebrow and said in unison, “Yeah, we’re not buying it.”

“W-What?!”

“Sugarcoat, you’re brutally honest, to a fault. I know it’s something you can’t help, but it’s not that hard to tell when you’re forcing yourself to lie,” said Twilight.

Sugarcoat facepalmed herself, but again, she couldn’t help but smile. They actually paid enough attention to her to notice when she was lying. So, this is what it’s like to have actual friends…god, I wasted my time with the wrong people. Deciding that it wasn’t going to be much help lying any further, Sugarcoat settled on telling the truth, about as much as she believed they needed to know. “Okay…there is a reason why I was sick yesterday…it may sound crazy, but I swear to you it’s the truth.”

Sunset leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. “After everything that’s happened recently, trust me, whatever you have to tell us won’t be crazy.”

Sugarcoat sighed and prepared herself for a possible mocking. “Okay…when Sour Sweet was in the hall yesterday I…I saw something…I saw something bad around her, let’s just say I saw a bad aura around her, and it didn’t feel right. I don’t know what’s going on with her, but it’s…horrible. I can’t really describe it well, but believe me, it’s something that’s concerning to me.”

Sunset and Twilight sat there and listened and Sugarcoat waited for their response. She didn’t know how much they would believe her, but she could already hear the mocking that would be coming from her former group of acquaintances.

“Seriously, are you mental or something?”

“Sugarcoat, you gotta lay off the horror movies.”

“Are you calling me some kind of monster, bitch?!”

“Jeez, we need to put a muzzle on you for that ‘no-filter’ thing.”

“Okay, so you suspect that Sour Sweet isn’t well, beyond the norm. I’ll admit…she does look off…more so than usual,” said Twilight.

Sunset took a quick glance at the bipolar girl, the events of last night coming back to her. She wondered if…? Nah, can’t be that easy…could it? “Anyway, just try to keep your distance as best you can. After what she almost did to Twilight, I’m not about to doubt that she isn’t capable of worse.”

Sugarcoat nodded, but now that incident was called into question. Was Sour Sweet’s wanting to hurt Twilight that day mostly due to her disorder, or was it because of something else? Either way, Sugarcoat needed some more info before she could definitively say that Sour Sweet was possessed by a demon.

Soon the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period. The students dispersed, heading to their classes. Sunset and Twilight walked Sugarcoat to her class, they did it to provide her some comfort and safety, and it was much appreciated on Sugarcoat’s part.

Sunset had dropped off Twilight at her class and was heading to her locker to switch out her books right quick. However, what Sugarcoat said to them at lunch still rattled around in her mind. Could Sour Sweet be in possession of the Blood Sword? If so, one of the thirteen Artifacts was so close, plus, she had the element of surprise. Sour may not give up the Blood Sword willingly…worst case scenario I might need to kill her. Sunset thought about that for a moment and then shrugged. Eh, after what happened with Twilight, no real loss. Plus, it gives me a very good excuse to beat the living shit out her for that.

As Sunset opened her locker and swapped her books, a clanking of locker metal drew her attention to the left and saw none other than Indigo Zap. The fiery haired teen’s blood began to boil instantly upon laying eyes on this girl, it raged further when she noticed that smug expression on Indigo’s face.

“S’up, Shimmer,” said Indigo.

“Zap, you have about thirty seconds to explain why you’re anywhere near me before I slam your head into these lockers, and believe me that’s twenty-nine more seconds than you deserve,” Sunset warned.

“Good, then I’ll make this short. You, me, showdown, one-on-one.”

Sunset had to pause when she heard that, did Indigo just seriously challenge her to a fight? “I’m sorry, did the ass kicking I gave you last time give you amnesia?” Sunset turned to fully face her foe and shot Indigo with her own smug look. “Y’know, I heard the story that’s going around the school. How you survived on a glacier for almost a week, I’ll give you props for that, but don’t think you’re hot shit just because of that.”

Indigo put her fists on her hips and stared her down. “I learned a few things on that mountain, surviving in the frozen wilderness will do that to you.”

Sunset growled at Indigo and said, “Okay, so where do you want to do this? Back of the school? In front of the school? I’d like to know where you’d like to have your beating.”

“Some place where we can go all out, where we don’t have to worry about cops or anything getting in our way,” Indigo suggested.

Sunset thought for a moment, a place that was out of the way, and where there wouldn’t be a lot of police presence. “I know, the old warehousing area, ten o’ clock tonight. There’s not a lot of cops there, ever since that whole fight between the demons and angels, places like that have been abandoned. That is, if you’re not afraid of fighting someplace where the Blood Kings used to roam around?”

Indigo puffed out her chest and grinned. “Sounds perfect, I’ll leave you in a ditch there. And it’ll be a fitting story for the news, I’ll make sure to leave your body in such a way that they’ll think you’re a junky whore who got her ass beaten to death.”

Sunset laughed at the ridiculousness of that statement. “Oh, that’s rich because this time, it won’t be as tame. Last time, Twilight’s life was top priority, but since I’ll know she’ll be safe and sound at home, I’ll be able to fully concentrate on beating you to within an inch of your shit life!”

Indigo didn’t flinch from the stare and continued her own. “Good, keep that up, it’ll be sweet when I’ve made you my bitch.” Indigo put her hands behind her head and leisurely walked away but stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Oh, and Shimmer, don’t think your witchy fire power is going to save you.”

The sun had set after a few hours, and nighttime had settled across the city. Indigo Zap was at her home, overlooking the courtyard from her room. She was antsy with excitement, because tonight was the night, tonight she would beat Sunset Shimmer and save Twilight from the fire witch. Of course, it was a school night, and her parents – as trusting as they were – weren’t going to let her out of the house this late, especially with a killer still on the loose. Thankfully, she had a contingency plan.

“Right on time.”

Indigo saw a car pull up, a tricked-out Dodge Charger, green in color with black racing stripes, and neon green light emanating from below the car. The sports car continued up the driveway and parked out front, Indigo put on a violet hoodie, black pants, and a backpack, and headed downstairs. Just as she thought, when Indigo made it downstairs, she ran into her mother along the way.

“Indigo, where are you going?” her mother asked.

“Oh, sorry, Mom, I need to head over to Lemon Zest’s. We have a group project and most of the stuff is at her place,” said Indigo.

“Okay, but call us if you’re planning on staying over, we can have your uniform delivered to Lemon’s house.”

Indigo opened her backpack and revealed her school uniform. “Already got that covered, just in case.” The CPA sports star kissed her mother on the cheek and bid her farewell. Once outside she hurried to Lemon Zest’s car. “Zesty.”

“Indie, what up,” Lemon Zest replied.

Once Indigo got inside the car, Lemon Zest pulled out of the driveway and headed down the road. Indigo had already told Lemon about the real reason she wanted to go out and she was one hundred percent onboard. Indigo looked out the window, watching the world pass by as the various streetlights passed over them. She looked over to Lemon Zest who was happily jamming to the tunes that were playing from her car stereo. Lemon was dressed in short-shorts and a t-shirt that was low cut enough to show off her cleavage, the party girl always liked to dress just a tad risqué, but whenever Indigo was involved, she went the extra mile.

It wasn’t as if she was oblivious, she knew what Lemon Zest was doing. Indigo was very aware that Lemon had a crush on her, they started out as actual friends but over time Lemon Zest started to feel something more towards her. Indigo could honestly say if she never saw Twilight, or become so enamored with her, Lemon Zest would be the girl she’d be dating. But her heart was set on Twilight, and Lemon Zest knew that, and despite knowing that, Lemon was willing to help her with her pursuits of the teen genius.

Zesty, I gotta pay her back somehow. Once this is all over, maybe we can change up this relationship. Maybe become friends-with-benefits? Oh, that actually sounds hot, maybe I could convince Twilight to have Zesty come to bed with us for an occasional threesome. Now that’s something, having two hot girls goin’ down on me.

Indigo shook her head, trying to dislodge the sexy thoughts.

Get your head out of your pants, Zap! You have a fight to concentrate on.

After about a thirty-minute drive, the two CPA students made it to the old warehousing district and parked just outside the fence entrance. It was every bit as creepy as Lemon expected it to be. The empty large warehouses creaked and moaned with rusting machinery, the fences around the property would rattle from time to time, Lemon wasn’t sure if that was due to some stray animals or something else. Despite the war between the Angelus and Darkness being over, there were some who were still uncertain that all their forces were gone from the city. Lemon Zest was one of them, wondering if there were still Blood Kings or demons skulking in the night, then there was that serial killer still on the loose that was hacking people to pieces.

“I-I don’t like this Indie; how do you know that Shimmer’s going to even come?” Lemon asked.

Indigo reclined the seat and placed her hands behind her head. “Because Shimmer and I think along the same lines, at least when it comes to these kinds of things. She won’t pass up a chance to fight me, especially if she thinks she can get away with killing me.”

Lemon Zest gulped at the mention of that word. “Are you…Are you really going to kill her?”

Indigo’s expression became neutral. “Depends on her. If she gives up Twilight before it comes to that, then maybe not. But, then again, with that freaky fire power of hers, she’s too dangerous to keep around. Even if she backs off Twilight, she could just find a way to take her back. So, I guess the answer is yes, I will.”

Lemon turned to her friend and gave her a worried look. “Indie, I…please think this through. You said it yourself, she has freaky fire powers! She might humor you with a fair fight for a few seconds, but if she thinks she’s going to lose she might–!”

“Zesty,” Indigo turned her head towards Lemon Zest and smiled at her. She reached out with her left hand and gently cupped the party girl’s cheek, the action appeared to have an instant calming effect. “Don’t worry, I got this. Before I didn’t know about her powers, but now I do. And trust me, I got something for that. But y’know, I like it when you worry about me, you’re cute when you do.”

Lemon Zest’s face burned red; her heart skipped a beat for a moment when Indigo said she was cute. “O-Okay…at least let me record the fight, that way you’ll be able to re-watch your kicking Shimmer’s ass. And in the worst-case scenario, I’ll have video evidence to put that bitch away.”

“A good idea, but it’s better if you don’t. Believe me when I say, I don’t want you anywhere near where we’re fighting, for more than one reason, understand?” Indigo asked.

Reluctantly, Lemon Zest agreed. Just then the sound of a motorcycle caught their attention, Lemon looked in the rearview mirror and saw a single light approaching them from behind.

Indigo righted her seat and smiled. “She’s here.”

(A few minutes earlier…)

Sun was lying down on her bed, she had been texting Twilight for a couple of hours now, just to pass the time, and because she liked talking to her cute nerdy girlfriend. She kept a close eye on the time, she wanted to head out, but had to make sure that her big sister didn’t get suspicious.

*knock*

“Come in,” said Sun.

The door opened and revealed Sunset, she was wearing a bathrobe. “Hey, Sun.”

“Hey, are you heading out on patrol tonight?”

Sunset leaned against the doorframe and said, “Yeah, I don’t think Blood Sword will make an appearance so soon after getting her ass handed to her by us, but you never know, she might have more balls than we think. At least this time around I’ll be ready to fight her now that we know what she can do.”

“Mind if I set this one out? I got some homework to do, shouldn’t be too long, I’ll head out once I’m done,” said Sun.

Sunset smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I already got done with mine, so go ahead and do yours. The last thing I need is for the both of us to start flunking due to a demonically possessed serial killer. Call me when you are heading out and we’ll meet up.”

“Cool, see ya, Sis!”

Sunset left the doorway and headed downstairs, Sun went to her window and watched as a shiny metallic bat flew out into the night, heading straight for the city. Sun hoped that Sunset would be alright while she took care of her business with Indigo Zap, she didn’t think it was going to take long, before Twilight’s safety was on the line, but now, she could bury Indigo’s head in the pavement and be in the sky next to her big sis in no time. Part of her didn’t like lying to Sunset, even more so to Twilight, she promised her girlfriend that she wouldn’t kill Indigo. However, that girl hurt the person she was in love with not once, not twice, but multiple times and caused her mental scares. For that, Indigo deserved to be punished, severely.

Sun watched the clock on her cellphone and saw that it was almost time for their showdown. Wasting little time, she donned a leather jacket and navy-blue denim pants, a pair of black boots, and fingerless gloves. She made her way to the garage and, instead of taking her car, she took one of the various motorcycles she owned. Sun was still a little peeved that Sunset didn’t ask her to buy her a new bike, or hell, ask to have one of the various ones she already owned, it wasn’t like she would miss them. But alas, it was before they met, so that opportunity had passed. Sun mounted her Honda bike, revved the engine, and took off down the driveway, made a sharp turn, and headed up the road.

The world passed by her as she kept her mind concentrated on the fight to come. Sun had the idea of using the Ember Stone’s powers, but that would be overkill, besides, Indigo may be the top athlete at CPA, but she doubted the girl had spent the past few years learning different martial arts forms. Sometimes, being filthy stinkin’ rich has its perks.

About a thirty-minute drive later Sun found herself at the old warehousing district. The place was as creepy as she remembered it, this was the same place where the rave that she and Twilight attended, and it was also the same place where she revealed her powers to her lover. It is also the same place where she killed a few gangster wannabes who tried to hurt Twilight, so it seemed only fitting that Indigo meet her end here. As she approached the fence line, Sun spotted a car. The rich girl pulled up to the right side of the car and pulled off her helmet, waiting for the occupants to exit.

The passenger door opened and revealed Indigo Zap, Sun’s gaze narrowed when she saw that the driver was Lemon Zest. “What the hell, Indigo, I only called you out. What, too scared to fight me alone?”

Indigo scoffed. “Cool your shit, Lemon’s my ride. She’s not fighting or getting involved at all, so back off her, go it?!”

Sun glanced between Indigo and Lemon, the party girl flinched, fear was present in Lemon’s eyes, but also determination. “Fine, so long as she sits her ass here, I won’t touch her. So,” Sun got off her bike and broke the lock off the fence, opening the entrance, “we going in or are you going to run away now?”

Indigo chuckled and shoved her hands into her hoodie’s pockets, she stood beside Sun and together they walked inside. They kept walking, deeper and deeper inside, passing by one rusted building after the other. Sun was impressed that Indigo hadn’t lost her nerve yet, this place was creepy, but Sun had the added safety of the Ember Stone, this girl had nothing but her fists and athletic skill, to be fair, she had no doubts that Indigo could kick the ass of any normal person, but she wasn’t up against a normal person tonight, was she?

The two of them walked for about ten minutes, making several turns to make sure they were out of view of the entrance. They found an area that was clear of debris and was wide enough that the buildings wouldn’t get in their way. Sun walked ahead a few more paces and then turned around sharply, making Indigo jump back a bit in a defensive reflex.

“I think we’re far enough in that we won’t be disturbed,” said Sun.

“Good.” And far enough away that Lemon won’t get hurt, thought Indigo.

Sun took off her jacket and threw it off to her left, revealing a magenta tank top underneath. Indigo did the same with her hoodie, revealing that she was wearing a black sports bra underneath. Both women got into their respective attack stances and sized the other up from a distance.

“I just want to know one thing before we get started. Why? Just, why the fuck are you so obsessed with Twilight?!” Sun demanded.

“Is it that hard to understand? I love her!” Indigo stated.

Sun’s brow furrowed as she bared her teeth in a low growl. “You call what you’ve done to her love?! That’s NOT love! No, all you’ve done is molest and rape her! And if you truly loved her, then you would’ve protected her against all those assholes in your school instead of just compounding the problem!”

Indigo’s fists lowered a tad as her gaze followed. “I admit, I let my own fame keep me from doing what I needed to do as a real girlfriend, but I won’t make that same mistake again!” Her gaze rose as Indigo stared down Sun. “I’ll save Twilight from you! I know why she’s with you, it’s because of those powers of yours, you must’ve threatened her life or family to make her be with you!”

Sun scoffed at the accusation and then chuckled at the absurdity. “Oh, my fucking god, you actually believe that’s the reason why we’re girlfriends? No, she’s with me because I genuinely love her, she’s with me because I respect her, we’re together because I protect her! And after tonight, she’ll have one less thing to worry about!”

“Come and try!”

Sun and Indigo charged for the other, both girls cocked back their right fists and punched as soon as they got to the center. Their fists curved around each other and in perfect sync struck each other in the face, their blows were strong enough to knock the other back a couple of feet, but their disorientation didn’t last long as Indigo moved in on Sun, the flame haired girl raised her arms up as Indigo began punching at her, but Sun managed to block one after the other. A smirk formed on the rich girl’s lips as she realized her theory was correct, Indigo was a brawler, but the CPA star athlete hadn’t received the length of martial training that she had.

Before Sun could retaliate, Indigo ducked below her guard and delivered a right hook to her ribs. Sun coughed as she heard and felt one of her ribs break upon impact, the pain caused her to stumble back a few steps as she hissed from the pain. What the fuck?! She hits harder than she did last time! Indigo came in again and punched her stomach, followed by a right uppercut to Sun’s jaw. Sun was further disoriented, allowing Indigo to rush Sun and get behind her. The athlete managed to hook her arms around Sun and put her into a choke hold.

“Gotcha now, bitch,” said Indigo.

Sun let out hacking noises as she felt her airway constrict, Indigo flexed and squeezed harder, taking joy in watching Sun struggle for air. However, Sun wasn’t about to let Indigo choke her out, she quickly raised her right arm and began elbowing Indigo in the stomach. Indigo let out several pained grunts with each strike, on the next hit, Sun reared back and drove her elbow as hard and as deep as she could into Indigo’s stomach, to the point that she felt she was going to puncture her abdomen. That seemed to do it as Indigo let out a pained gasp, releasing Sun immediately. Sun took in a big gasp of air and spun on her left heel for a spinning elbow strike to Indigo’s head. She scored a hit in Indigo’s temple, making her see stars for a few moments. That allowed Sun to return the punishment, she quickly jabbed Indigo in the face three times, followed by a knee strike to her stomach, and for insult to injury, a hard punch to her right boob. Sun and Indigo backed away and took a moment to assess themselves.

“Fucking dammit, OW! You seriously boob punched me?!”

Sun mockingly shook her hand as if it hurt. “Not much to punch really, seriously, you don’t have much up top. Jeez, I think I hit more of your ribs than your boob.”

“FUCK YOU!”

Sun chuckled at the rise she got out of Indigo, however, there was something that bothered her. Despite the hard blows that she gave to Indigo, there was no indication of damage, no bruises, not even blood. What the hell? There’s no way a bruise hasn't formed yet, especially with how hard I hit her. That’s when she realized that her own body seemed to be more damaged than her opponent. Sun’s knuckles were more scraped up, the bones felt like they were breaking, even her elbow’s felt like they were going to break as well. I know she has muscle under that lean figure, but last time it didn’t feel like I was punching a diamond wall. What’s going on here?

Indigo took a deep breath and centered herself before smirking at Sun. “What’s the matter, Shimmer? You starting to regret accepting my challenge?”

“No, I was just thinking that you actually gave me a decent enough warm up.” Sun concentrated, allowing the flames of the Ember Stone to fix the internal damage, the fires burned under her skin and quickly faded once their work was done. “But now I’m not going to hold back, I’m about to take out all the frustration that Twilight can’t out on you!”

Indigo raised her hands and motioned to Sun in a sort of “come here” fashion. “Then what are you waiting for, do it!”

Sun charged for Indigo again, she threw a roundhouse kick to Indigo’s left knee, but the moment she did, Sun felt pain radiate into her shin, but Indigo didn’t flinch. Undeterred, Sun began throwing a flurry of punches at Indigo, although the athlete did budge a bit, overall, it seemed as if Indigo wasn’t taking any damage at all. “What the hell is this?!”

“My turn BITCH!”

Indigo punched Sun in the gut, lifting her off the ground for a moment, much to her surprise. The CPA athlete brought her hands up, interlocked her fingers, and brought it down in a powerful hammer blow to Sun’s back, making the redhead fall to the ground. Indigo didn’t stop as she wheeled around to the side and kicked Sun hard in the ribs, the hit sent the rich girl rolling on the ground for a few feet before finally stopping. Sun coughed up some blood and wheezed as she felt one of her ribs puncture her lung.

Son of a bitch…what’s going on here?! How is she so strong and so tough?! She DEFINITELY wasn’t like this weeks ago! Did surviving on that damn mountain really make her this strong?! Sun picked herself up and coughed up a bit more blood before wiping her mouth. I can’t afford to mess around…I won’t leave Twilight to this monster!

At that moment, Sun’s body was swamped with flames, her hair caught on fire, and the color in her eyes changed from turquoise to orange red. The damage done by Indigo’s assault healed immediately, now she stood tall and faced Indigo with her furious rage. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you’re too dangerous to allow around Twilight!”

Indigo crossed her arms and sneered at Sun. “Pot calling the kettle black! You’re on fire and you’re saying I’M DANGEROUS? Bitch, please!”

Sun’s hands ignited with flames. “I promised Twilight I wouldn’t kill you, or the others for what you did to her. But unfortunately, you’re going to make me break my promise tonight!”

“I’m not afraid of you, Shimmer! Not your freaky fire powers, your money, or whatever you got! I’m going to keep Twilight safe! NOT YOU!” Indigo declared.

“You should’ve picked better last words!”

Sun brought both of her hands together and unleashed a blast of wildfire that roared towards Indigo. The flames washed over the abuser, completely obscuring her from sight, but Sun kept the flames going, she wanted to make sure that even the ashes would be incinerated. But something happened, something that caused Sun some worry, she could still sense Indigo’s life flame within the fires. That’s when something unexpected happened.

A glaive made of pure blue ice rose from the flames and split them down the middle. Sun ceased her attack and took a few cautious steps back. From around the pillar walked out Indigo Zap, but she was different. Her skin had turned to navy blue and resembled ice, her eyes were now icy blue, and her hair was crystalline white ice. Upon her chest a bright blue sapphire glowed in the night, radiating a mystic power that fueled the ice and Indigo.

“What…the…hell…?”

“Like what ya see?” Indigo asked as she gestured at her body. “Yeah, my old man found this necklace on a business trip to Norhay. When I was lost on that mountain, this necklace gave me the power to survive, and the power to fight against someone like you.” Indigo took a step forward, and immediately a trail of ice shot forth and snaked its way past Sun’s right side, spikes grew from the trail and continued until they impaled the building behind Sun. “So, go ahead, use your fire, it won’t hurt me. Now, the only question is, how am I going to kill you? Freeze your arms and legs and snap them off one at a time? Turn your blood into ice slowly? Freeze your chest and tear out your heart? We can get really creative here, Shimmer!”

“Ha…Hahaha…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Indigo now felt uncomfortable, Sun was laughing, hysterically laughing. She was literally holding her sides and laughing. “Ooookay, did you just snap?”

“NO!” Sun managed to get out. “It’s just so beautiful! I’ve been looking for the Glacier Stone forever and now, here it is, laid out for me on a silver platter, and on the person I hate the most!” Sun thought about that and amended her statement. “Well, second person I hate the most.”

“What are you talking about?! You know what this thing is?!” Indigo asked.

Sun smirked, she pulled on the chain-link of her necklace and slid it out from under the tank top, revealing her Ember Stone. “I do, because your Glacier Stone is the sibling of my Ember Stone, they’re two halves, one represents life and the other death. Now I get to kill you and get the Glacier Stone, two birds, one stone!”

Fire erupted around Sun, enveloping her form until she was fully transformed into her fire armor form. This time it was Indigo’s turn to take a step back in caution, this just got more complicated for her, she didn’t think that Sun had a magic necklace like hers, and to find out that the necklaces were related in a way. “Guess now we don’t have to play nice anymore!”

“No, no we don’t.”

Sun wasted little time and began lobbing fireballs at Indigo in rapid succession. Indigo swept her left hand upwards and created a wall of thick ice, every fireball that was lobbed exploded upon impact against the wall, but each hit resulted in a thudding explosion that shook the ground and the ice wall. Indigo jumped high into the air and pointed her open palms towards where Sun was. Her hand glowed bright blue before unleashing a barrage of diamond ice shards at Sun, the wielder of the Ember Stone noticed and took off by igniting the soles of her feet, dodging the first wave of the barrage. Indigo landed on a nearby rooftop and fired ice rays at Sun. The ice rays struck the ground and created a frozen trail as she strafed them across their little arena, but Sun retaliated by thrusting her right hand forward and creating a dozen fire serpents.

Indigo stopped her attack as soon as she saw the hissing flame snakes coming straight for her. She jumped out of the way, allowing them to collide against the roof. The snakes melted right through but then popped back up and gave chase. Indigo concentrated and created two ice axes, when the first serpent came close, she slashed and cut off its head, and then the second, and third, all while running across the roof. Sun smirked and launched a fireball right where Indigo was going to be before taking off for her.

The wielder of the Glacier Stone stopped just in time to avoid the fireball as it hit the area in front of her and exploded. The attack served its purpose as Sun came in from the sky and slammed herself into Indigo, sending both careening into the warehouse and smashing through several floors before crashing into some machinery at the bottom. A burst of fire and ice went off, sending both in opposite directions. Sun cracked her knuckles and summoned a fire sword into her right hand, Indigo saw this and created an ice shield on her left forearm and a dual sided battle ax in her right. The fire wielder made the first move, jetting across the warehouse and coming down with a powerful overhead strike. Indigo proved she had good reflexes as she raised the shield in time to block the attack, the impact made the ground beneath Indigo fracture, and it even made her wince in pain.

Sun disengaged and transformed the sword into a whip, she twirled herself around and lashed with the whip, she managed to wrap it around Indigo’s leg and pulled hard. Indigo suddenly felt the ground leave her feet as she was falling, but then Sun twirled the whip around and Indigo with it. The ice wielder slammed into many machines and debris that was scattered about the first floor, even into support beams. Indigo had had enough and released a wave of her ice energy to sever the whip, her efforts were fruitful as she managed to get free of the whip. When she landed on the ground, Indigo waved her hands aggressively, creating ice waves that created multiple glaives that rushed towards Sun at rapid speeds. Sun hurriedly jetted away, but the ice was proving to be just as fast as the glaives got closer and closer.

The ice waves rounded behind her and created a wall that Sun slammed against, stopping her in her tracks. Indigo used an ice pillar to vault herself straight towards Sun, she cocked her right hand and created a giant ice fist construct around it. When she was in range, Indigo punched Sun with it, the blow smashed the ice wall and had the two of them flying through several walls and into the next warehouse where they fell off from each other. When they both regained their bearings, Sun released a fire blast at Indigo, and Indigo shot an ice ray. The two attacks collided and created a pressure explosion that blew a huge hole in the roof, forcing the metal to bend outwards from the sheer force of the blast.

Sun reengaged Indigo, flying across the way, and nailing her in the face with a flaming punch. Using the power of her flames, Sun used them to give herself a quick speed boost to each of her attacks. A burst of fire went off when she threw a roundhouse kick, making the blow hit twice as hard, another burst allowed her backhand fist to make Indigo slam against a metal girder. Sun ran for Indigo, jumped, somersaulted in midair, and struck the abuser in the chest with both of her feet. But she wasn’t done, the soles of her feet gathered flames and released them in a jet fire burst that made Indigo go through the girder and outside the building.

Indigo rolled onto her front and coughed, she felt all of that, she felt pain. It surprised her, considering that nothing managed to hurt her out on the mountains. Then again, wolves and bears don’t exactly have magic necklaces of their own…fuck, how is she so powerful?!

Sun emerged from the building, leisurely walking towards Indigo without a care in the world. “You lost the moment you showed off your Artifact, Zap. You never stood a chance against me.”

“Bullshit…!” Indigo got back to her feet, her ice powers mending the damage to her cracked body. “We have the same magic necklaces, so what’s the difference?!”

“Heh, let me guess, you’ve only had the Artifact for, what, a week? I’ve had mine for years, that is the difference. To put it in sports terms, you’re on the junior varsity team, while I’m playing in the major leagues. Or if you prefer gamer terms, you’re a level five going up against a level one hundred, and I’m being generous with the level five part.”

Sun raised her right hand, flames gathered, compacting, and condensing until it was the size of a softball with plasmatic destructive energy.

“This will be overkill, but I think it’s warranted.”

Before Sun could land the finishing blow, a crimson streak of light cut through one of the warehouse walls. Indigo and Sun looked in the direction of the light and watched as Blood Sword, donned in her armor, walked out of the hole in the wall she just made, all while dragging the corpse of a homeless person behind her. “I just came out here to grab a little snack, and here I end up finding Ember and……” Blood Sword tilted her head as she looked at Indigo. “……I’m sorry, but who’s she?”

“Who am I?! Who the fuck are you?!” Indigo demanded.

Sun snuffed out her attack and groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “I swear to god, if it’s not one thing it’s another.” She weighed her options carefully, it would be child’s play to finish off Indigo, but as green as Indigo is, Sun had no doubt that Blood Sword could kill Indigo easily. And if she figures out that Indigo has an Artifact and adds it to her own power, then this could get bad. With great reluctance, Sun stepped forward and put herself between Blood Sword and Indigo. “Get out of here.”

Indigo looked at Sun as if she had just grown a second head. “What?!”

“I said LEAVE! You know those murders that have gone on during Spring Break? That one’s responsible, and she’s strong.” Sun ignited both of her hands. “And I don’t need you getting in my way, we’ll settle up later. Besides, it’s not like I don’t know where to find you.”

Indigo growled angrily, she stood up and lit her hands with her mystical cryo energy. “Fuck that! We’re settling this tonight, even if that means we have to kick her ass first!”

Sun raised an eyebrow. “You’ve got to be kidding…?”

Blood Sword eyed Indigo and smiled under her mask. “Ah, I see, the ice one is a newbie. Guess I know who I’m killing first!”

Blood Sword dropped the corpse and took off towards Indigo and Sun, the scarlet warrior slashed the ground ahead of her, sending a crescent energy wave that exploded right in front of Sun and Indigo. Dust shot up from the small explosion that took place, but Indigo fired a blast of cryo energy that blew it away, however, Blood Sword was gone.

“Amateur,” scoffed Sun as she jumped high into the air.

Indigo followed Sun with her eyes and watched as she clashed with Blood Sword in the air. Sun’s fire sword and Blood Sword’s blade grinded against each other as they tried to cut through the other’s weapon. Sun smiled and released a burst of flames from her body that turned into fire serpents hissing as they lunged for Blood Sword.

Blood Sword broke away and slashed the air in front of her, creating several crimson crescents that flew at the serpents. Sun dispelled her sword and brought both her hands together, flames swirled and swelled, and in the next second, Sun unleashed a fire blast that took the form of a tiger’s head. The great beast opened its jaws and Blood Sword whimpered a little as she was swallowed by the beast construct and taken all the way into the building she had burst out of from before. Blood Sword was hurt, but not down, she quickly jumped out of the building and attacked again.

Indigo could only stand by and watch as both Blood Sword and Sun engaged in fierce battle, she could see the intensity in their fight, it was scary. Her eyes wide with shock at how easily Sun was able to fight this killer, wielding her power like it was a part of her body that had always been there. It infuriated Indigo, it was here that she realized that Sun was far ahead of her in terms of not only fighting, but also elemental mastery.

Both Sun and Blood Sword landed on the roof of another warehouse, keeping a good two-meter distance from each other. Sun ignited the soles of her feet again and jetted towards Blood Sword while firing multiple flame blasts at her. Blood Sword energized the blade and used that energy to disperse each attack that came at her, Sun circled Blood Sword and kept the blasts going, when she made another pass Sun released a continuous stream of flames at her, forcing the sadistic warrior to remain on the defensive. Sun smirked and changed up her tactics, she jetted forward again, but this time flipped around and struck with a fire burst kick, the flames on her soles bellowed forward and made Blood Sword quickly dodge to the left.

Sun course corrected, spinning rapidly, and delivering a jet fire ax kick, the flames trailing her kick blew Blood Sword into the air and sent her crashing back to the ground below. Indigo had had enough and stamped her foot on the ground, the result created a surge of ice that snaked its way across the ground, creating ice glaives as it continued. Blood Sword snickered and disappeared in a flash.

“What?!” Indigo exclaimed.

“Chi no Kyōran!”

A myriad of slashes came at Indigo from every angle, forcing her to defend. The slashes hurt as the demonically infused weapon cut into her diamond hard body, Indigo released an explosion of cryo energy, creating an ice wall that pushed outwards and made Blood Sword have to cease her attack. Indigo took this chance and dashed straight for her, Indigo sent out two surges of ice, creating a wall on both sides of Blood Sword to cut off her escape. Indigo raised her hand and concentrated her energy, above Blood Sword formed several ice spears, and with a wave of Indigo’s hand those ice spears rained down on her position. Blood Sword struck the incoming ice spears, shattering them before they could hit, but Indigo wasn’t done, she willed the walls of ice to produce spikes, making them jut out from every angle. Blood Sword grunted in annoyance and began flipping and dodging each attack, along with batting away the ice spears.

“Gotcha, bitch!”

Indigo used her right foot to send another ice surge, this time coating the ground beneath Blood Sword in a thick layer of ice. The moment Blood Sword landed after another flip, she slipped and fell onto the ground. Indigo didn’t waste this chance and began manipulating the ice, creating shackles for Blood Sword’s arms and legs, binding her to the ground. The cryomancer waved her hands again, the ice walls responded, rising with their spikes, and quickly coming down to impale the killer’s body, leaving only her head intact

Sun hovered overhead and watched this all transpire, she crossed her arms and watched with scrutiny, but at the same time her fire serpents were already coiling around her and waiting to attack on her order.

Indigo looked up and grinned with confidence. “An Ice Iron Maiden, now let’s get back to our fight!”

“Yeah, it’s not over until you finish her off.”

“Are you blind?! I just impaled her body with dozens of ice spikes! She’s dead!”

“Think so? I don’t feel dead.” Suddenly, blades of red liquid erupted from the ice, slicing it to pieces until it was a fine mist. Blood Sword got up, her body was skewered from different angles, but what held it together was the blood. Her blood was hovering in the air around Blood Sword, acting as an extension of her own weapon. The blood returned to Blood Sword’s body and in the process healed the wounds that she had suffered. “Not gonna lie, that was humiliating, and it hurt!”

Indigo took a few steps back, she looked at her right hand and saw that it was shaking. Was she…afraid? No, I-I don’t get afraid! I wasn’t afraid of Sunset’s fire, and I’m not afraid of-of-of this…monster!

“If you’re done, you’re in the way.” Indigo and Blood Sword Looked up and watched as a fiery lotus flower bloomed around Sun. Sun’s eyes blazed orange red as the Ember Stone on her chest shined with the same brightness. “I’d suggest running, or don’t, either way is fine by me!”

Sun slammed her fists together and made the lotus disperse its petals, she dived towards the ground, the lotus petals following close behind her fists as she descended further and further. Her fists burst into flames as Sun spun around, causing the flames of her fists to rage outwards into whirling columns of fire. The lotus petals caught the blades and were carried along for the ride, the petals glowed brighter and brighter, until Sun landed on the ground and whipped the two fire columns around. The petals flowing around the twin flame tails exploded violently along the path of the two tails, shattering cement and melting the sediment and everything else within a five-meter radius. The flames swirled around the area and culminated in one massive explosion that roared high into the air and rattled everything for a good mile or so.

When it was over, Sun stood at the epicenter, the cement below her was superheated molten slag now, the warehouses around her were in no better shape. Sun looked around but couldn’t see any trace of Blood Sword. “Damn.” The wielder of the Ember Stone rose into the air and grabbed a bird’s eye view of the ground. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Indigo Zap either. “Double damn, oh well, I’ll see her tomorrow. Blood Sword on the other hand…ugh…really wanted to get that over with quickly.” Sun looked towards the city and spotted something shiny heading her way. “Aaaannd I need to come up with an explanation for Sis…right.”

Lemon Zest had been impatiently pacing around the car, she so badly wanted to go after Indigo, she didn’t like this at all. That bitch could’ve planned some kind of sneak attack. She could’ve hired some thugs to help beat up Indigo! Or she could use those freaky fire powers to…to…! Lemon shook her head; she couldn’t afford to think that way. No, Indigo’s tough, she knows about Sunset’s fire powers, she wouldn’t just challenge her to a fight unless she had a plan or something…right?

That was her thinking process until she heard the multiple explosions taking place inside. More and more explosions, coupled with, what appeared to be ice shooting up into the air.

“Oh fuck! Indie! What the hell’s going on?!” Her worries only increased as the explosions continued to go off seemingly without end. Lemon Zest waited another minute, but she couldn’t take it anymore. “That’s it I’m going!”

Lemon rushed to the driver’s side door but stopped when she saw something high up in the air. It looked like a flower made of fire, at first, she didn’t know what to make of it, but her time to think about it didn’t last long as the flower broke apart and descended rapidly. Lemon Zest could only describe what happened next as something akin to a meteor strike. A huge explosion took place inside the district, the shockwave was powerful enough that it knocked Lemon Zest off her feet, while simultaneously knocking the wind out of her lungs. She landed hard on the ground and rolled for a good five feet from her car before stopping face down on the pavement. The shockwave knocked her out, her ears were ringing from the explosion so what sound that was managing to come through was muffled. However, she could hear one voice.

“…Le…wa…Com…Ze…”

Lemon Zest concentrated on that voice, and that’s when she heard it clearer.

“ZESTY WAKE UP!”

Lemon gasped loudly as she took in a deep breath, afterwards she coughed for a second while Indigo, who looked like she was made of ice for some reason, was propping her up. “In…Indie?”

“Thank god, you’re alright!” Indigo exclaimed as she hugged her friend.

Lemon, while happy to be embraced by her friend and crush, was also freezing. “AH! Indie, lemme go, you’re freakin’ cold, dude!”

Indigo hurriedly released Lemon. “Sorry, sorry, I forgot to turn it off!” Indigo closed her eyes and in no time her ice form gave way to her normal human form.

“Indie, what the hell was that?!” Lemon asked.

“I’ll explain later, but right now we need to get the hell out of here! I’ll drive!”

Lemon got up on wobbly legs, forcing Indigo to hurry and steady her. “I was going to do the tough girl thing and say I’m fine and let me, but…”

Indigo grinned. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I barely made it out of there, I’m just glad that explosion didn’t reach here. C’mon, let’s get back to your place.”

Indigo and Lemon entered the car, Indigo revved the engine and peeled out of there as fast as she could. She peered into the rearview mirror, knowing that Sunset was still there, but what irked her was the fact that Sunset was right. Sunset clearly had more training with the power of her Artifact, and the benefit of years of time. Indigo only had a week at best.

“Indie, what happened back there?”

Indigo sighed. “I’ll tell you when we’re back at your place. Your parents home?”

Lemon sighed heavily in slight disappointment. “C’mon, Indigo, you know they aren’t.”

Indigo forgot herself. Like most of the Crystal Prep students, Lemon Zest came from a wealthy family, and as such sent her to CPA for higher education. However, they really weren’t around that much. Her father and mother had…an estranged marriage, to put it in simple terms. At this point, the house she lived in was only for Lemon to live in, her parents only occasionally stayed at their home, either off on business or gallivanting with some other man or woman. So long as Lemon continued to show that she wasn’t slacking in school and kept bringing in high grades, or unless she was in the hospital, they couldn’t care less what she did. This had the added benefit of letting her throw wild parties at her place or use her parents’ money to rent out places for her parties. She could also procure several, ahem, substances for her parties, as well as throw some triple “X” rated entertainment too.

Of course, the only one who looked out for Lemon to make sure she didn’t end up in a sorry state was Indigo.

“I’m sorry, stupid question.”

“Forget it, there are more important things goin’ on tonight.”

“That’s for sure.”

CPA Stress

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Three days had passed since the battle at the warehouse district, when Sunset had questioned her little sister about the mayhem around her, she answered that when she was flying out to meet up with her, Sun managed to spot something in the warehouse district. Upon investigation, Sun had found Blood Sword once again on the slaughter, of course this led to an intense battle and Sun wanting to end her once and for all, but unfortunately it either worked too well or Blood Sword escaped, both of them believed the latter was more likely.

It was Friday and Sunset was looking forward to maybe spending a little time with Pinkie Pie, other than at school. They hadn’t even had a proper first date yet, she could count their Spring Break vacation, but everyone was there so one couldn’t really count that as “romantic”. The setting was romantic, but it was hard to get deeply romantic when you had to consider that your adopted mother and aunt, and a handful of your friends were also under the same roof.

Sunset blushed a little, her mind briefly went back to the time that she and Pinkie had sex. Their first time was before the decisive battle against Neighsay, and the second time was after the battle, and that second time was a little more intense to match the mood of their victory. Now it wasn’t like Sunset was a stranger to such activities, back when she was in Equestria and had an older body, she took the occasional mare or stallion to bed, but only those who thought they had a chance, only for her to completely dump them the following day.

The former unicorn facepalmed herself. Jeez, I was such a bitch…

But that wasn’t her anymore, no, she treasured Pinkie, and even though it might be a bit early, she was even considering marriage. Of course, that was way into the future. Back to the point, Sunset wanted to have a proper date and hopefully this weekend would allow her to do so without Blood Sword or any other supernatural shenanigans ruining it.

As Sunset walked through the hallway, she found Rainbow Dash standing at her locker and looking at her cellphone. Sunset walked up to Rainbow and asked, “Hey, what’s up, Rainbow?”

“Oh, hey, Sunset. Nothin’ much, just thinking,” said Rainbow.

“Thinking about what?”

“Well…Dust’s birthday is coming up this weekend, and…god…it sucks that she’s going to be spending it behind bars. I wanted to get her something, but y’know, with it being a prison and all, I have to be careful about what I get her.”

Sunset felt bad for Rainbow, despite everything, Rainbow still liked Lightning Dust, and Lightning still liked Rainbow. Honestly, Sunset found Rainbow’s loyalty to Lightning amazing, well, her Element is Loyalty, but even for humans there was a limit to how long one could wait for someone that they loved. It made Sunset feel a little bad, here she had Pinkie and the one person Rainbow liked was locked away for an – as of right now – indeterminant amount of time.

“Hey, don’t worry,” said Sunset as she placed her right hand gently on Rainbow’s shoulder, “whatever you get her, small or otherwise, she’ll love it. Because it’s from you.”

Rainbow smiled at her friend. “Yeah, but I wish I could give her the ultimate gift of freedom.”

“I know, maybe I could ask Shining Armor to look more into it. Advocate for her to be under surveillance instead of being locked up. I mean, she hasn’t caused any trouble or anything while she’s been there, right?” Sunset asked.

The CHS star athlete shook her head. “No, she hasn’t caused any trouble, I ask every time I come in there, and each time they say she’s been given some privileges for good behavior.” Rainbow waved off her concerns and put on her normal cocky grin. “So, Pinkie tells me you and her have a date this Saturday, got any plans for that?”

Sunset and Rainbow began walking to their next class, and along the way Sunset informed Rainbow of her date plans. “Well, I was just going to go with something simple, since this will be our first date. We’ll grab lunch, head to a movie, walk around some place or we could just drive around on my bike enjoying the scenery. Nothing too extravagant. Although…”

Rainbow raised her eyebrow. “Although what?”

Sunset rubbed the back of her head and said, “It’s Sun.”

“What, she wanna have a fourway with you, Pinkie, and Twilight?” Rainbow asked with a devilish grin.

The former unicorn turned beet red for a moment before she turned to Rainbow and said, “What?! NO! She – why would you ask me that?!”

“‘Cause it’s hot as hell to think about.”

Sunset took a deep breath and resisted the urge to toss Rainbow across the hall. “First off, please keep me, my sister, and our girlfriends, out of your little fantasies.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine……how about you, Sun, and both Twilights?”

“NONE OF US!!”

“Can I at least write them down in a little shipfic?” she asked innocently.

Sunset had a deadpan expression on her face as she took off her backpack, reached in, pulled out a spiral, rolled it up, and bopped Rainbow Dash at least five times on the head.

“Bad Rainbow Dash, bad!”

“Ow, ow, okay I’m sorry! No more sexy fantasies, no matter how hot they are.” Sunset raised the spiral again. “Seriously, I’m stopping!”

Sunset eyed Rainbow for a moment and put the spiral back. “Alright, so, the small issue is this: Sun wants to pay for everything.”

“Wait, what?”

“I told Sun about my date with Pinkie and she gushed, said she wanted to give me her credit card, you know, those ones that are made of metal and have no limit.”

“Yeah……” Rainbow’s eyes widened when it finally clicked. “Holy shit, she’s that rich! And she wants to give you one?!”

Sunset made a wavy motion with her hand. “Eh, technically, she’s giving me one of hers, since we’re technically the same person so it’s not like it’s changing owners or anything.”

Rainbow grabbed ahold of Sunset’s shoulders and looked her directly in the eyes. “Why, the hell, won’t you use it?! You could paint the town red the whole day and night!”

“I mean…I could show Pinkie a great time with that, but I just want to have a nice, normal, first date. I mean, back in Equestria, I occasionally dated some nobles just for shits and giggles – and a little fun on the side – but the point is I’ve done the whole extravagant dates, I just want a normal one.”

Rainbow Dash sighed, but she understood. “Alright, I get ya. But you are planning on having a ‘happy ending’, right?”

“You get the spiral again.”

“GAH!”

Sunny Flare was becoming increasingly nervous over the past few days. Something had changed between Sunset and Indigo; they had become more…intense around each other lately. It wasn’t like before when Indigo would just give Sunset a dirty look, now it was more like a look of pure murder, like she was planning Sunset’s death in her mind’s eye and trying to will it into existence. Sunny Flare had asked Lemon what was up with Indigo since the two of them were closer, but Lemon wasn’t of any help, whenever she asked, Lemon would just clam up.

Something was definitely wrong, and she didn’t like it. Mostly because if something went down, it would be on her to stop it before it got that far, and if she didn’t, Sunny would incur the wrath of her mother. Not only that, but if whatever spat they got into somehow got Twilight Sparkle involved, then there would be no end to the hell that would fall onto Sunny’s head if she got injured as a result of Indigo’s stupid obsessiveness with that nerd.

Sunny Flare sat in the library, her head resting against the table as she kept a book up to cover the fact that she was half asleep. All this running around was stressing her out and it didn’t help that her mother was breathing down her neck at school and at home. It was moments like these that granted her some peace to rest and think. Sunny Flare felt a presence next to her and turned her head slightly to the left to see who it was, thankfully it was somebody she knew.

“Hey, Sour,” said Sunny tiredly.

Sour Sweet pulled out a chair and sat down next to her friend, looking at her she said, “You look great!…If you were going for the ‘stayed-up-all-night’ look.”

Sunny merely smiled, she had learned long ago how to tell when Sour was being an ass, being considerate, nice, or sarcastic. Right now, she could tell that she was concerned. “I feel like it…I’m not sleeping well lately…”

“Because of Indigo and Sunset?” Sour asked rhetorically.

“Not just them, but my Mom, too!” Sunny ran her hands through her hair as she groaned in frustration. “All she cares about is this damn school’s ‘reputation’, and to that end she wants me to make sure that Indigo doesn’t put Sunset in the hospital or worse! AND she needs me to make sure that Indigo doesn’t rape Twilight to the point that she ends up in an effing mental hospital or kill herself!” Sunny ended her little rant with her forehead hitting the table.

Sour grimaced, she could see that her friend was under a lot of pressure, and now that the school’s social pecking order had been tossed on its head thanks to Sunset’s little show of power, Sunny Flare’s status as Queen of CPA had diminished slightly. She still held some power among the student body, but they feared Sunset Shimmer more than her, so if Sunny requested other students harass Sunset or Twilight, the former would – without mercy – end them. Personally, Sour didn’t fear Sunset that much, considering her…situation…there were worse things to be afraid of. However, Sunny didn’t have something like the Blood Sword to fall back on, she was completely at Principal Cinch’s mercy.

“Sorry – not sorry –your mom’s a total bitch,” said Sour. “You shouldn’t have to deal with all this just because she’s losing control.”

“Thanks, Sour, but…what else can I do? Aside from running away, but where too?” Sunny joked.

Sour rubbed the back of her head as she muttered, “I wouldn’t mind if you ran to me…”

“What was that?”

The bipolar girl stuttered and quickly said, “I-I-I mean, you can come to my place, like, crash there or something.”

“Smooth, Sour, reeeaaalll smooth. Heh, heh.”

Shut up! You’re the last person, demon, whatever, I need criticism from!

Sunny Flare smiled at the offer. “Thanks, I might actually take you up on that offer someday. But I need to figure out how to keep those two alphas from killing each other or tearing down the school in the process.”

“You know, we could actually take care of all her problems real quick. A little slice and dice action for Indigo and Cinch, and hell, why not kill off Sunset and Twilight while we’re at it?”

I’m not killing them.

“Please, it’s not like you care about them. C’mon, you can make her happy. You can relieve that stress of hers with just a swift slash of the blade and remove all her headaches easily. Plus, I’m sure she’d have more time for you~”

Sour…actually considered that for a moment. It was true that she didn’t like seeing Sunny stressed like this, and quite frankly, Principal Cinch irritated her to no end, most of the students felt the same way. And killing her would make way for Dean Cadence to take over as Principal, Sour liked Dean Cadence, hell, you’d be hard pressed to find any student who didn’t. She could solve the school’s problems and her friend’s problems quickly and with as little pain as possible.

No…Cinch is a bitch, but…she’s still Sunny’s mother. I can’t just…we just can’t kill her like that…Plus she’d be all alone, she has no relatives or dad around to help her.

“Okay, okay, be a coward. But here’s something to think about…” It was here that Sour felt the presence of the Blood Sword, as if it had manifested itself right next to her left ear as it whispered, “What if she asked you to do it?”

Sour quickly turned to her left, but just like the times before, the Blood Sword apparition disappeared before she could lay eyes on it. Although, that question lingered in her mind. What if Sunny Flare asked her to kill her mother?

Sunny Flare looked at her friend for a moment, trying to see what it was she was looking at, but then remembered that she was a little off so she cautiously asked, “Hey, Sour, you alright?”

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine…really,” Sour replied. “I just…you know me…and the way my head is…”

Sunny reached over and gently placed her hand on Sour’s right shoulder. “It’s alright, I know. I’m not afraid or anything, I just want to make sure you’re good.”

“I am.” More so when I’m with you.

Twilight was walking down the hall to her next class, Sunset was right beside her, her left arm wrapped around the teen genius’ waist as they walked side-by-side. Admittedly, there was a time that walking in such a fashion would’ve made her blush and try to hide her face behind her books. And while she still did blush, she wasn’t embarrassed in the slightest, quite the contrary, she liked it. She liked how Sunset made her feel safe, and how she made her feel good about herself.

Lately though, Twilight was getting a little worried. The brief moments that Indigo and Sunset occupied the same space made the atmosphere extremely hostile, even more now than before. Also, she couldn’t get over that there was something else going on, whenever Sunset and Indigo traded glares, there was something in their eyes, a look of knowing, of unfinished business, and a need to crush the other. Sunset and Indigo were two physically strong girls, as well as intellectually strong, although Twilight would argue that Sunset had more brains than Indigo did. That being said, they acted like a couple of wild animals, two alphas vying for the same territory, or in her case, the same mate.

So…this is what it’s like having two girls fight over you, Twilight thought. While this would be every boy’s fantasy, the circumstances of this situation are less than pleasant. It feels like it’ll only take one thing to set either of them off and there won’t be a thing I or anyone can do to stop it. I know Sunset promised that she wouldn’t kill Indigo, but…if they get into another fight, and Indigo says something to push Sunset over the edge, I’m fairly certain that promise will go out the window…

Sunset noticed how quiet her lover had become, usually she would chatter on about the last class she had, which was cute in a nerdy way, and by no means did Sunset find it annoying, but it did make her curious as to what Twilight was deep in thought about. “Hey, Sparky, what’s on your mind?”

Twilight frowned a bit, but answered, “I’ve just been wondering, ever since that last encounter we had a couple of days ago, it feels like Indigo’s…I don’t know, gotten more confident, bolder? Has she tried to do anything to you?”

Sunset was in a bit of a situation, she lied to her big sister about what happened that night at the warehouse district, and she never told said big sister about Indigo possessing the Glacier Stone. On top of that, she hadn’t even informed Twilight, honestly that was for the best. The last thing Twilight needed to worry about was that her abuser had gained magical powers comparable to Sunset’s. If she was worried just from staredowns, then there was no telling what kind of panicked state that would put her in. Thankfully, Indigo hadn’t made a move on Twilight, yet. And that’s what bothered her, perhaps it was due to the fact that Indigo knew that Sunset was much stronger and more well versed in the use of her Artifact, and could easily destroy the jock at her leisure.

Regardless, it became more vital for Sunset to protect Twilight, now more than ever. “Nope, she hasn’t. But I think our last brawl made it clear that I could break more of her bones if she even thought about pulling another stunt like she did. I’m seriously thinking about breaking her legs next time, have her laid up and in a wheelchair for a few months outta keep her away.”

“I’ll pretend like I didn’t hear you threaten a fellow student.”

Sunset and Twilight turned around and saw Dean Cadence approaching them. The flame haired teen smirked and replied, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Dean Cadence.”

“Uh-huh, sure,” said Cadence with a knowing grin. Unfortunately, her grin didn’t last long. “Sorry, but Twilight, I need you to come with me.”

Twilight’s expression became one of worry. “W-What’s wrong, did I do something? Did I forget to do something?”

Cadence put her right hand in a stopping motion and said, “No, Ladybug, you’re not in trouble…but Principal Cinch wants to see you in her office, now.”

Sunset released Twilight and whipped around fast. “Are you kidding me?! What does that bitch want with her?!”

Cadence shot Sunset a stern look. “Sunset, watch your mouth. I don’t like her either – and I’m being very generous with my words there – but this is official school business. So, I’m told anyway.”

“What did she want to see me about?” Twilight asked.

“Not sure, she was very vague about it. I don’t want to force you, I personally don’t want you anywhere near her, but…”

Twilight nodded, she understood. Only she, Sunset, and Cadence knew of Principal Cinch’s intentions regarding Twilight, and how she turned a blind eye to her abuse at the hands of her fellow students because she served as an outlet for all their frustration. It was because of Cinch’s intentional negligence that Twilight had become CPA’s whipping girl, with no one lifting a finger to stop it, and was also the one responsible for keeping Cadence in the dark. To be fair, part of that was Twilight’s fault, as she didn’t want to burden or get her surrogate big sister in trouble. For Cadence she still blamed herself for not paying more attention to what was happening in their school, unfortunately, so long as Cinch was still in charge, any effective changes she wanted to make or enforce would be overwritten by the Principal as she had the final word.

“Fine, then I’m coming with her,” said Sunset.

“It’ll be alright, Sunset, go ahead and go to class,” Twilight assured.

Sunset cupped her girlfriend’s cheek and looked into her eyes, “Babe…I don’t want you near that woman, I definitely don’t want you there alone.”

Twilight placed her hand over Sunset’s, enjoying the warmth that it had brought to her cheek. “I love how much you care about me, and how much you want to protect me. But even I know you can’t always be around to protect me, and I can’t always rely on you as a crutch. I have to face people like Cinch on my own, no matter what happens.”

Sunset really didn’t want to let her see Cinch alone, but neither did she want to rob Twilight of a chance to grow stronger. Twilight had a point, Sunset couldn’t always be there to protect her from people who were jerks and all around assholes, Twilight needed to learn how to stand up for herself, and deep down, Sunset felt proud of her for taking this step. The flame haired teen gave her girlfriend a kiss on her forehead, causing the genius to blush.

“You know I’ll be tracking you the whole time, right?”

“Yes, and I know you’ll come in, hands blazing if anything bad happens.”

Cadence couldn’t help but gush at the scene before her. “Oh my god, you two are so precious!”

Both of them blushed and chuckled nervously.

With that out of the way, Cadence led Twilight to Principal Cinch’s office. She had been called to the Principal’s office a couple times, mostly for praise and the awarding of a certificate or trophy due to her high marks in the academics. Looking back on all of that, Twilight saw it all for what was. She could only assume that Principal Cinch knows that Twilight knew about everything that she had done, so why this meeting? After a bit of walking, Twilight and Cadence arrived at the door to Principal Cinch’s office, it was more intimidating now, knowing the kind of person who awaited her behind that door.

Twilight glanced at her surrogate big sister and asked, “Are you…coming with me?”

Cadence released a frustrated sigh as she crossed her arms, she then glared daggers at the door, more specifically, at the person who was behind it. “Unfortunately, no. Principal Cinch as requested that I not be present when she speaks with you…” Cadence leaned down a little and gave Twilight a hug. “Whatever happens, I want you to tell me everything. No more keeping these things to yourself, okay Ladybug?”

Twilight hugged her back and whispered, “I won’t, I promise.”

“Okay…” Cadence released Twilight and knocked on the door. “Principal Cinch, I have Twilight Sparkle here to see you.”

“Ah, please send her in, Miss Cadenza.”

There was a noticeable tightening of Cadence’s jaw at the nonchalant manner in which Cinch spoke, as if she was not at fault for anything. Cadence opened the door and allowed Twilight entry into Cinch’s office, she slowly closed the door behind Twilight, leaving the two alone inside. Twilight walked towards Principal Cinch’s desk; she calmly took a seat on the available chair. The young genius nervously began fiddling with the edge of her skirt, seeing that the Principal’s chair was turned around, not even facing her, and somehow that was even more nerve wracking than if she was staring right at her.

Twilight cleared her throat and said, “Ahem, y-you wanted to see me, Principal Cinch?”

The chair slowly swiveled around and revealed Principal Cinch, her narrowed, calculating eyes peering at Twilight through her sharp rimmed glasses. “Yes, I did, Miss Sparkle. Tell me, are you familiar with the Friendship Games?”

Twilight nodded.

“Well? Please speak up child,” Cinch calmly ordered.

“Oh, um, yes. It’s a competition between Crystal Prep Academy and Canterlot High School, it was established as a way to promote unity and friendship between our two schools and to be held every four years. And, if I am correct, the next Friendship Games will be at the end of this month,” said Twilight.

Cinch nodded and brought her fingertips together. “And do you know who has won every single Friendship Games since its establishment?”

“Crystal Prep.”

“Exactly.” Principal Cinch pushed away from her desk and stood up, she walked around to the front of her desk and stood before Twilight. “We always win. Although, recently, I’ve come into the knowledge of CHS gaining ground in some areas. Despite their recent incidents, morale at that school has been unusually high lately, their test scores are also heading in an upward trend, along with sports. This simply cannot be allowed, there are some who are even thinking that they could actually be a challenge to us.”

“Oh…I guess that’s…bad?” Twilight dared ask.

Cinch walked over to her trophy case, which held every prize that Crystal Prep had won before and after her becoming principal of the school. “The reason why the elite of Canterlot, and the gifted of this city, come to this school is because we are the best, our reputation is everything. If a little public school shows that it can stand on par with us, then how can we claim to be the best?”

Twilight nervously cleared her throat again and asked, “I…I’m sorry, Principal Cinch, but…w-what does this have to do with me?”

Cinch nodded and walked back towards Twilight. “I am putting together a team that will take our school to victory and utterly crush those little urchins.” The CPA principal took a piece of paper off her desk and handed it to Twilight.

The young genius took ahold of the list and mentally read the list of names. Crystal Preparatory Academy Team: Royal Pin, Jet Set, Upper Crust, Neon Lights, Sugarcoat…The first four names were familiar to her. Jet Set and Upper Crust were a well-known couple amongst the CPA student body, Upper Crust was among those who caused her grief, mostly in the form of degradation about her looks and how she’d never get a man. Guess the jokes on her, I got a girlfriend. Jet Set would join in with Upper Crust’s jabs as well, Royal Pin was among the male instigators when it came to harassing Twilight, he was being groomed for a life of political prestige and was well on his way to becoming a sleazy politician. Now that she thought about it, he groped her butt a few times. Neon Lights, well, he didn’t really do much, the guy was pretty mellow and minded his own business, so Twilight was indifferent when it came to him. Sugarcoat was good, now that they were friends it was nice knowing she’d have someone nice on the team.

It was the next set of names that made Twilight furrow her brow. Lemon Zest, Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare…Indigo Zap…AND ME?!!! Twilight shot up from her seat and looked at Principal Cinch with complete disbelief and a bit of anger. “P-P-Principal Cinch, y-you can’t b-be serious! Y-You want me to be on the Friendship Games team, w-with THEM?!”

Principal Cinch had to admit, this was the first time that Twilight Sparkle had shown any kind of emotion that wasn’t submissive, but Twilight sounded outright outraged. “Yes, I do. The others have exemplary skills, Indigo is of course our strongest in the physical department, but you, my dear girl, are the strongest intellectually. With the others’ brains added to your already brilliant mind, we’ll destroy CHS in any academic category, and while the others are physically strong, Indigo Zap is by far our strongest athlete.”

Twilight shook her head. “P-Principal Cinch, with all due respect, I cannot be on a team with any of them! Especially not with Sour Sweet, Lemon Zest, Sunny Flare, and most of all, NOT Indigo Zap! Do you have any idea what she’s done to me?! Not to mention her friends?!”

Principal Cinch nodded as she gently placed her hand on Twilight’s shoulder and guided her down to sit. “I know very well what has transpired between you and Miss Zap, as well as my daughter and her friends.”

“I’m not just talking about what happened in the equipment shed! Indigo…Indigo Zap has been…” Twilight gritted her teeth, but pushed through her shame and said, “She’s been molesting me, raping me, on school grounds! I can’t be on a team with someone who’s done such things to me!”

Cinch headed back to her chair and sat down before addressing Twilight. “I am well aware of what Miss Zap has done to you, but since that incident, she hasn’t done anything to you or approached you, correct?”

“Well…no…no she hasn’t.”

Cinch smiled a little. “That is in part my doing. I made it clear to Miss Zap, my daughter, and her friends, to cease their harassment of you or there will be severe consequences. You have my word, Miss Sparkle, they will be cordial towards you, and if they are out of line, for whatever reason, you can report it directly to me and I’ll take care of it.”

Twilight thought about it for a moment, it was true that Indigo and that group of girls hadn’t done anything to her. Part of it, if not most, was due to Sunset’s threat, and her beatdown of all four girls, but it seems that Principal Cinch also had a hand in keeping them under control. Still…

“I’m sorry, Principal Cinch, but I can’t do it. CPA has won all its Friendship Games competitions before me, and I’m sure it’ll still continue to win without me.” Although, personally, I’m rooting for CHS at this point. “If there’s nothing else, Ma’am, I would like to return to class.”

Cinch sighed heavily and opened one of her drawers. “I was afraid you were going to say that.” The older woman took out a file and showed it to Twilight. “Do you know what I hold in my hand, Miss Sparkle?”

“…No…”

“This folder pretty much represents all of your accomplishments here at Crystal Prep. Your grades, your attendance, awards, everything. Of course, this is only a physical copy. Now,” Cinch turned her computer around so that it was facing Twilight, “here’s the digital copy of your record.”

Twilight looked it over for a moment, but what she saw was already making her face morph into one of horror. “W-What is this?! I…my grades…my attendance! This is wrong, this is all wrong!”

“It could be wrong, or it could be your official record from this point forward. Who’s to say that you slacked off during your last year in high school, it’s not a very good look Miss Sparkle.” Cinch turned the screen around and placed the folder on her desk. “Here’s my offer to you, Miss Sparkle, join the Friendship Games team, and help guarantee Crystal Prep earns another notch in its victory belt for another four years. If not, I’ll make sure you’re blackballed from every reputable college and university from here to Manehattan.”

“Y-You can’t do that!” Twilight exclaimed as she stood up from her seat.

“I can, and I will. But it shouldn’t have to come to that, should it? All I’m asking is for you to do is to show a little school spirit and help your classmates in a friendly competition,” said Cinch sweetly.

“You’re holding my academic future hostage, how is this fair?!”

Cinch put her fingers together and gave a more sinister smile. “Consider this a lesson of the world, Miss Sparkle, one that you can’t learn from a book. Life is not fair, not always will things go your way, I would’ve thought your experiences thus far would’ve firmly planted that lesson into your mind my dear.”

Twilight felt like crying right now, but she didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing her shed tears.

“Now, Miss Sparkle, the next words I want to hear from you are, ‘I’d be honored to join the Friendship Games team, Principal Cinch’.” Twilight sat back down, her head tilted down, and was about to open her mouth, but was stopped when Principal Cinch said, “And please look at me when you speak, Miss Sparkle, do not forget your manners.”

The teen genius gripped her skirt hard but did as she was told and raised her head to look Cinch in the eyes. “I’m honored to be placed on the Friendship Games team, Principal Cinch.”

The older woman nodded. “Good girl, now, please see my secretary for a hall pass. You may go.”

Twilight got up and went to the door, spoke to the secretary, and walked down the empty hallway towards her class. She stopped at a wall of lockers and began to cry, it wasn’t fair, she hadn’t done anything wrong, why was it that everyone other than those she loved seemed determined to make her suffer? Why was being exceptionally smart immediate grounds for being tortured, for being ridiculed, for being used?

“Hey, you alright?”

“I’m…I’m fine…just please leave me alone,” said Twilight through her sobs.

“I can’t really just leave after seeing you cry like this, what’s up Twi?”

Twilight wiped her eyes and looked to her right to see who at least been kind enough to ask if she was alright. And she wished she hadn’t. Standing there, leaning against the locker, was Indigo Zap, her abuser, her molester, the girl who was disturbingly obsessed with her. “I-Indigo!” Twilight jumped back a couple of feet. “Why are you here?!”

Indigo smiled a little and said, “I was just walkin’ around. But then I heard crying, and I saw you.” Just then her expression turned serious. “Someone make you cry? Who was it?!”

Twilight furrowed her brow. “Why would you care?! People have been hurting me in this school since day one! You never cared about them hurting me before, you never stopped them, so why are you angry that someone hurt me?!”

Indigo actually had a look of shame on her face, much to Twilight’s surprise. “That’s fair…I didn’t protect you like I should’ve, I didn’t have the guts to stand up to all these assholes…maybe then things would be different. But I can change Twi!” Indigo said as she took a step forward. “I didn’t stand up for you then, and I realize that I should’ve, but I can still make up for that if you’d give me a chance.”

“And how about when you…when you raped me, repeatedly! How can you ‘make up’ for that?!” Twilight accused.

Indigo lowered her head and sighed. “I…I was a bit aggressive with how I showed you I cared…but I promise I’ll tone it down.”

“Why?! Why do you even care about me, you can have any girl in this school, so why ME?!” Twilight demanded, tears still flowing down her face.

Indigo looked up and began walking towards Twilight, the young genius, to her courage, she didn’t walk away, she stood straight and tall and looked her in the eyes. Indigo reached out with her left hand and gently brushed a tear from Twilight’s face, Twilight flinched a little, but stood her ground, nonetheless. “Because I’m in love with you, Twilight.”

Twilight’s eyes widened with shock. “You…You can’t be serious…”

“I am, I’m in love with you Twilight Sparkle. Don’t worry though, I can protect you now more than ever.” Indigo wiped another tear, from Twilight’s face, but this time made sure the droplet remained on her finger. “I have power now, Twi, power enough to keep Sunset in check. I haven’t had it long, but don’t worry, I’ll get a hold of it.”

At that moment, Twilight watched as the teardrop on Indigo’s finger instantly froze and became ice right before her eyes. Twilight gasped upon witnessing this and looked at Indigo with shock. “H-How did…?”

“I’ll keep you safe, from here forward.”

Indigo winked at Twilight and began walking away, Twilight’s legs turned to jelly as she collapsed onto the floor with disbelief. The girl she most feared, the girl who had caused her more harm than the rest of the students, had powers.

Adagio and her sisters had been holed up in the motel room for almost a week, a week since that incident in the apartment building, a week since they caused the deaths of not only some gangsters, but also every single person in that building, as well as the first responders who came to investigate. At first, Adagio was a bit frightened by the power of the music box, but that changed over the course of the week. Adagio learned more about the music box, most importantly, the power of the song. Whenever it was just Adagio singing the song, the range of the box’s effects were minimalized to about fifteen meters, give or take. However, this also depended on volume, how much louder she sang could increase the range of the box’s effects, the most she could push was about sixty meters on her own. However, that range drastically increased whenever all three of them sang.

When the Siren sisters sang as one, the range was amplified to greater distances. They also found out that people didn’t necessarily need to be in range to hear the song, the box seemed to radiate an energy that caused the horrific deaths, the song, and their negative emotions, fueled it and made it stronger. They tested this in several places across Manehattan, trying hard not to attract the police. One of the first places they tested the music box was at a hideout for a notorious and rightly hated gang, they sold drugs, women, guns, and were responsible for a number of murders, both related to rival gang members and innocent people.

The Sirens paid them a visit, it was all too easy to get in, they used the outfits they wore whenever they were out “working”, that got them through the front door really fast. Once inside, Adagio took out the music box, it wasn’t hard to dredge up negative emotions, she had plenty of them. One that fueled the box the strongest was when she thought about Sunset Shimmer and all the damnably horrible things she would do to her for trapping them in this world. With that emotion of hate, the box opened and the song began to play, Adagio sung the words and the gangsters around her began to die off in differing ways much like the gangsters who tried to kill them.

Some committed suicide, others killed each other, some had their internal organs explode, while a few rotted away. Adagio experimented with the volume of her voice, singing low and having Aria and Sonata see how far the effects reached. Aria peeked around a corner and found some of the gang members who were just out of range but stayed where they were, one of them spotted her and fired their weapon, causing Aria to quickly back away. When Adagio saw this she sang louder, and in so doing, the range extended. Aria peeked again and watched as those same gangsters who shot at her started to go insane and die off one after the other.

They continued this pattern until it was becoming apparent that the police were getting a little too close for comfort. But that didn’t matter, they knew everything they needed to know, at least as far as Adagio was concerned. Aria and Sonata were not as convinced, they may know how the music box worked, but that didn’t mean that they knew what it was. They spent more than a thousand years roaming the planet, and yet they hadn’t ever heard or seen something like the music box. If there was an age of powerful magic and supreme deities in this now magicless world, they came a thousand years too late.

Sure, there were times when they came across the occasional reservoir of magic, some humans who were of ancient lineage who possessed magic, but people like that were far and few between, and none of them had the power that they sought, the power to get them back home. But with the recent events in Canterlot City, and now the acquisition of this music box, Sonata and Aria, even Adagio, were starting to think that they hadn’t really been looking as hard as they thought, that there were mysteries and powers in this human world that were either on par or surpassed that of Equestrian magic.

Adagio sat in the armchair that was by the window, she had the music box in her lap, a single hand atop its lid as if the inanimate object was a pet that the lead Siren wanted to keep close. Aria was lying on her back and staring up at the ceiling, while Sonata was watching something on TV, they remained in silence for a few minutes, but the silence was broken when Adagio spoke her thoughts, “We need to head back to Canterlot City.”

Sonata snapped her head in Adagio’s direction, and Aria shot up into a seated position, both sisters looking at the eldest as if she had just spoken blasphemy.

“I’m sorry, we need to do what now?!” Aria asked.

“Dagi, you can’t be serious!” Sonata exclaimed.

“I am, we need to head back to Canterlot City.”

Aria jumped out of the bed and stomped towards Adagio yelling, “Why the fuck do we need to go back there for?!”

“Because it might be the only way for us to get back to Equestria.” She noticed the confused looks on both her little sisters and began to clarify. “It’s been bugging me for some time now, how is it that that little Equestrian Princess, Twilight Sparkle, got into this world not once, but twice? And how was Sunset Shimmer sent to his world?”

Aria and Sonata glanced at each other, now that Adagio had brought it up, how had the purple pony girl entered this world? Surely Star Swirl was long dead by now, so there was no way he was banishing ponies one after the other, so that only left one conclusion.

“There’s a portal back to Equestria!” Aria and Sonata exclaimed at the same time.

“Precisely, and Sunset Shimmer knows how to use it, and more than likely knows its location. So, I say we march into that city, and demand she tell us where it is and how to use it,” Adagio held up the music box and added, “or else.”

“Wait, wait, how the hell do we know that that music box is powerful enough to fight against their magic? We know it can cause people to go insane and make them die in some really fucked up ways, but that doesn’t mean it’s powerful enough to beat them,” said Aria.

Adagio looked at the box, her eyes briefly shined scarlet as a sinister smile appeared on her lips. “I can feel it, Aria. This music box also wants to go to Canterlot City, it’s as if it knows there’s something there that it wants.”

“I-I don’t know, Dagi, maybe we should find out more about that music box? I mean…wait, are you planning on taking it back to Equestria with us?” Sonata asked.

Adagio nodded. “Of course, Sona, with this music box, and with our powers restored once we’re back home, we’ll be the most powerful beings in all of Equestria, they’ll do as we say or face the consequences.”

Aria liked the idea of going back home, but something was still worrying her, the sentiment was shared with Sonata. They were starting to wonder if this crusade was due to Adagio’s decision or the music box’s? There was no doubt that Adagio held deep resentment for Sunset Shimmer, and to an extent so did the two of them, but that had tapered down to mild anger. With Adagio, well, she didn’t exactly hide her hatred of Sunset Shimmer, nor did she hide what she’d do to the girl when they met up again, and to be honest, they were a bit worried.

“This won’t be like the last time,” Adagio placed the music box in the chair and walked over to Aria. She took the middle Siren’s hands into her own and looked her second youngest sister in the eyes. “Trust me, Aria, Sonata, I know I’ve made mistakes, I’ve messed up and gotten us into this mess…But please, I’m asking you to trust in me one last time my little sisters. Believe that I’ll get us back home, I promise that I will.”

Sonata got up from the bed and joined Aria and Adagio. The two youngest Sirens had followed their big sister ever since they were young pups, they lost their parents, took on a malevolent power in order to survive, and now they had a chance to get back to the world they lived in, to return to the vast oceans of Equestria, and to no longer be confined to the land and feel weak and helpless.

“Okay, Dagi, we’ll follow you,” said Sonata.

Adagio smiled, but then turned her attention back to Aria. “What say you, Aria?”

The middle Siren furrowed her brow a little and said, “Promise me something, Adagio. Promise me that if this goes sideways–”

“Aria I won’t fail you I–!”

“I’m being serious!” Aria interrupted. “I want you to promise me that we’ll…we’ll ask for help.”

“WHAT?!” Adagio exclaimed as she backed away a step.

Aria ran her hand through her hair and sighed heavily. “I’m tired, I’m seriously tired of all of this. I’m tired of being angry all the time, I’m tired of us whoring ourselves to random humans just so that we can scrape by and live another day…I want you to give me your word, Adagio, if this plan fails, no more scheming or anything, I don’t even care if it’s humiliating and we have to beg, we ask Sunset Shimmer if she’ll allow us back in Equestria.”

Adagio balled up her fists and said, “If we do that, she’ll more than likely have that pony princess lock us up for our crimes centuries ago, as well as the crimes we’ve committed against her friends!”

“I’d rather be locked up back in Equestria and in our true forms, than be locked up here and have to stay in this weak body for the rest of our lives! But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to give everything I got to help with your plan, okay! Promise me that, Adagio, at least this way, we’ll get to go home one way or another,” said Aria.

Adagio wanted to yell at Aria, but she could see it in her eyes, she wasn’t going to budge on this. Aria could be stubborn and sometimes Adagio had to assert her authority to get her to do as she was told, but not this time, she could tell that Aria wouldn’t be swayed no matter what Adagio said. Her pride didn’t want her to agree to this, because that would mean she was accepting defeat as a possibility, and Adagio did not take defeat lightly. However, Adagio knew that if Aria wasn’t going to come along with her, then Sonata might not either. The two of them shared a room together and most likely Aria shared her opinions, and even more likely was that Sonata probably agreed with Aria. In order for this to work, all three of them were needed, so, it was with intense reluctance that she answered.

“Alright…” Adagio spoke evenly and calmly. “If – IF – my plan fails, we’ll…b-beg Sunset Shimmer to return us to Equestria. Happy?”

“No, but I’ll take it. So, when do you want to leave?” Aria asked.

“As much as you may not like it, we’ll have to use the music box and take a car,” Adagio saw that Sonata was about to raise an objection so she quickly added, “We’ll make sure that it’s someone who’s complete scum, but not so much that the police will be looking for the vehicle.”

“Okay…can it be a RV with a kitchen? I miss cooking,” said Sonata.

Both older sisters face palmed, but they still smiled.

“WHERE IS SHE?!”

Cinch glanced up from her stack of papers and pointed her gaze at her front door. She recognized the voice, and quite frankly, she was surprised that it took her this long to come and speak to her.

“Miss Shimmer, I’ll need you to calm down,” said the voice of her secretary.

“Don’t tell me to calm down! That witch has a lot to answer for! Is she in there?!” Sunset demanded.

Principal Cinch rolled her eyes and pressed the button next to her phone. “Let her in.”

No sooner had she’d said that did Sunset Shimmer throw open her door, and just as quickly slammed it closed. The teenage girl marched up to Cinch’s desk and slammed both her hands onto the older woman’s desk, rattling all the items on her desk and almost caused the stack of papers to fall over.

“What in the hell is wrong with you?! You put Twilight on the same team as those BITCHES!?!” Sunset spat.

“Language, Miss Shimmer,” Cinch scolded.

Sunset’s left eye twitched. “I’m sorry, did I give you the impression that I’m someone who gives a fuck about my ‘language’ right now! I get why you want her on the team, but those four, especially Indigo Zap, hell no! She’s been through enough with regards to Indigo Zap to be in constant contact with someone like that raping bitch!” Sunset leaned closer, almost getting in Cinch’s face. “Take her off the team, now!”

Cinch laced her fingers together and looked Sunset in the eyes. “Did she also tell you what’s at stake if she does not comply?”

A flicker of flame went off over Sunset’s right shoulder. “I think you should be more concerned about what’s at stake if you don’t do it.”

“Is that a threat, Miss Shimmer?”

“For now, it’s a strong suggestion. Trust me, you’ll know when I’m threatening you,” said Sunset.

Cinch tapped her fingertips together for a moment as she hummed in contemplation. After a moment, Cinch smirked a little and said, “Well, unfortunately, I cannot reverse my decision. But might I offer a compromise?”

Sunset leaned back and crossed her arms as she glared at the school principal. “Go ahead.”

“As it so happens, I have one last opening on the team. It was originally going to go to Fleur de Lis, but…as you well know…she’s no longer with us. With that being the case, I need another student to fill the spot, and compared to the others, you stand out amongst the rabble. Just like the others on this team. Look at it this way, it’s a win-win for the both of us. You go on to defeat CHS and get another win for CPA, and you get to be around Miss Sparkle and ‘protect’ her from those you feel she needs protection from,” Cinch offered.

Sunset thought about the offer, it would be so easy to end this all. One fireball to the face and the issue would be solved, yes Sunset would have to be on the run for a little while, but ultimately, Twilight would be safe. Sunset sighed, she knew that would just cause Twilight more stress. And at least Sunset would be able to keep Indigo and those other four in check, plus Sugarcoat would be part of the team so that would be an extra pair of eyes to help keep an eye out.

“Fine, but if any of them try anything, I won’t hesitate to put them in their place and when it comes to Indigo…” Sunset glared at Cinch more intensely. “Her arm won’t be the only thing broken this time around. Understand?”

Cinch smiled contently and nodded her head. “That’s fine, I’ve already made it clear to them that they are not to cause Miss Sparkle any trouble or they will suffer the consequences. If they step out of line, you have my permission to make sure they stay behind it. Is that satisfactory?”

“No, but it’ll do.” Sunset began walking towards the door but stopped to look over her shoulder at Cinch. “The next time you pull this kind of shit, you remember how badly this could’ve ended, and how grateful you should be that Twilight’s the only thing that’s keeping me from unleashing holy hell on everyone in this school.”

With those words spoken, Sunset opened the door, exited, and slammed the door behind her. Principal Cinch released a long sigh, she didn’t want to show it, but Sunset Shimmer made her nervous. Things started to change around the school since her arrival, and the way she carried herself, as if she had power, power higher than even Cinch herself had, that worried her. Did Sunset Shimmer possess some sort of political clout that she wasn’t aware of? Or was it something else? Did Sunset have information on Cinch?

“Calm down, you’re stressed…”

Without the protection of Mayor Mare, Cinch had to walk a fine line. If something truly bad happened there was no way to sweep it under the rug, and Cinch wasn’t a fool, Sunset Shimmer came to Twilight Sparkle’s rescue when she found out about Indigo’s little plan, so she had little doubt that her warning of raining “holy hell” on the school was not to be taken lightly.

Sugarcoat walked down the hallway to her next class, as she did, she contemplated what was told to her today by Sunset and Twilight. Apparently, they had all been selected to participate in this year’s Friendship Games. Sugarcoat had suspected a while back that she and her so-called “friends” would be picked for the team this year, and back then she was indifferent about it. Sure, it would look good on a transcript, her last big victory before exiting high school. However, in the recent couple of months, Sugarcoat had changed, especially when it came to how she viewed her social circle and herself.

All this time she thought she was taking the path of less resistance, believing herself smart because she found a way to avoid the same fate as Twilight. Despite the lewd and lascivious methods of which she used to curtail any and all hazing from the student body, all it amounted to was reducing herself to the school’s local whore. If nothing else, that was worse than being a whipping girl, at least Twilight had the fortitude to endure their hazing, their ridicule, their spite, all of it. And it was that that Sugarcoat saw herself as weak, and the fact that it took her this long to grow a spine and stop her group from seriously hurting Twilight was unforgivable, at least to herself.

Sugarcoat wished she had more time with Twilight, more time to make up for not being the friend she needed, the friend they both needed. Perhaps the two of them together could’ve weathered the abuse, be there for each other and keep the other from feeling like fate was constantly kicking them to the ground. If she was lucky, perhaps they might end up going to the same university? If that was the case, then they could start over, have a fresh start, she could be the friend that Twilight deserved, while Sunset could be the girlfriend definitely deserved. Still, that didn’t mean that Sugarcoat couldn’t be a better friend now, denouncing her group of “friends” was a good start, and hanging out with her around school was another.

Perhaps I should suggest “hanging out” outside of school? Not that I would know what to do.

Before, whenever her old group would get together, it was either at her house, or one of theirs. During those times, they’d just gossip about what was happening at school, tell a dirty joke at Sugarcoat’s expense, listen to some loud – and at times interesting – music that Lemon Zest brought with her. Other times they’d plan out who’s day they were going to make miserable when school started the following Monday, or sometimes play a Truth or Dare game, of which Indigo took a bit of pleasure in making either herself or Lemon perform dirty acts with each other, or to her, whenever one of them mistakenly requested dare.

Just thinking about it made her shiver with disgust. It would be a bit of a challenge as she had never had a normal sleepover before, but it would be interesting to have one with those two. However, Sugarcoat’s contemplating was abruptly ended when she bumped into someone she was dreading to meet alone.

Standing before the pigtailed girl was Sour Sweet, looking at her with a small, admittedly scheming, smile. “Hey, Sugarcoat.”

“Sour Sweet,” Sugarcoat deadpanned.

Sugarcoat made to walk around Sour Sweet, but the slightly taller girl moved to intercept her. “We need to talk, do you mind?”

“Actually, I do, I’ll be late for class,” said Sugarcoat plainly.

“Ah…” Sour Sweet’s sweet smile suddenly shifted to a scowl as she grabbed Sugarcoat by the collar of her shirt and threw her against the lockers. She then slammed her left hand against the lockers right next to Sugarcoat’s head and glared at her intensely. “Too bad, because I want to talk to you.”

Sugarcoat tensed up, did she know that she saw? “W-What do you want to talk about?”

Sour Sweet shrugged. “Well, you don’t call, you don’t talk to us. It seems like you’re actively avoiding your friends.”

Sugarcoat’s brow furrowed a bit. “Friends? Collaborators, close acquaintances, a clique, but ‘friends’? No. And as to the ‘why’, gee, I wonder, could it have something to do with the fact that we kidnapped Twilight, tied her up, and threatened sexual harm on her while videotaping it? Or maybe it has to do with the fact that you almost mutilated her?!”

Sour Sweet rolled her eyes. “Okay, I was off my meds that day, I apologize, but my parents have been shoving them down my throat lately, so I’m ‘sane’. As for Sparkle, since when did you give a shit about her?”

Sugarcoat stood a little taller and narrowed her gaze at Sour. “Because I wasn’t too far off from becoming just like her, becoming this school’s whipping girl, abused from every angle and from everyone one in this damn school! Compared to her, you, me, everyone, are cowards!”

“Ooooh, how righteous coming from the school whore.” Sour slammed her left hand against the locker again, causing Sugarcoat to flinch. “Don’t pretend you’re above me and the girls, or anyone in this school, you’re still the same. You’re just clinging close to Twilight Sparkle because she’s with Sunset Shimmer, because you’re hoping that Shimmer will protect you if you’re close to Sparkle. Or are you earning your protection by eating them both out?”

“Fuck you!” Sugarcoat pushed Sour Sweet away and stared angrily at her. “I’m not doing that anymore, I won’t! This school can come after me for all I care, I’ll take it, I’ll take everything Twilight took and then some, because I’m through! I’ll leave this school and I’ll start over with her and become someone who’s worthy of forgiveness and who can help people! So, either hurt me or get the hell out of my way!”

Sour Sweet straightened out her clothes, a neutral expression was on her face as she looked upon Sugarcoat. Slowly, the bipolar girl walked towards Sugarcoat, the pigtailed girl tensed up again as her back hit the lockers. Sour Sweet kept walking forward until she was invading Sugarcoat’s personal space.

“If that’s what you want, so be it.”

Just then Sour pushed her left knee forward and parted Sugarcoat’s legs, before the bespectacled girl could react, Sour’s left hand grabbed Sugarcoat by the throat and with her right hand she pinned Sugarcoat’s left hand to the locker. Sugarcoat tried to call out for help as she felt the pressure on her throat quickly tighten, it was strange, she felt the need to fight back, to resist. But there was an oppressive air around them, like gravity had doubled around her and was keeping Sugarcoat from fighting back.

“You’ll always be a slut, Sugarcoat.” Sour squeezed harder and made Sugarcoat flail, doing the same to Sugarcoat’s left hand to the point that it felt as if it was going to break. “No matter what you do, no matter what you say, you’ll always be the girl who fucked her school all to keep herself from being bullied, but in the end, ended up becoming something worse. I’ll consider letting you go, but only if you agree to do me here, what do you say?”

Sugarcoat continued to let out croaking, gagging sounds as her eyes began to roll into the back of her head.

“Speak up, Sugarcoat, I can’t really hear you!”

The pigtailed girl began feeling around with her right hand, her mind, in a brief moment of clarity, remembered her grandmother’s heirloom. She hurriedly reached into her skirt pocket and slipped the Heart Stone over her wrist, once it was on, she took out her hand from her pocket. The effects of the Heart Stone were instant, she could see a black aura rising around Sour Sweet, but now she could see something else. Standing behind Sour Sweet was a being made of red light, it had the same silhouette as Sour Sweet, but it’s face looked demonic, sharp teeth and slit eyes. It had its arms draped over Sour Sweet while its head was right next to Sour Sweet’s left ear, as if it were whispering to her.

Sugarcoat reached out and pressed her right hand against Sour Sweet’s chest, Sour Sweet thought nothing of it, believing it to be a desperate, futile attempt to stop her. With her consciousness starting to fade, Sugarcoat screamed loudly in her mind, “GO AWAY!!!”

The Heart Stone shined brightly, something that caught the demonic presence off guard. The light that the bracelet emitted pulsed and released a wave of energy that shot through Sour Sweet with enough force to make Sour Sweet release Sugarcoat. Not only that, but the black aura disappeared, and right with it the demonic presence.

Sugarcoat slid to the floor and fell forward onto her hands and knees, the pigtailed girl coughed and took in deep wheezing breaths of air. Thankfully, the Heart Stone seemed to invigorate her recovery as the pain around her throat and wrist was starting to fade as her strength returned steadily but quickly. Sour Sweet, on the other hand, had landed on the floor, back first. The wind had been knocked out of her, and for all intents and purposes, it appeared as if she was knocked out.

Sugarcoat slowly stood up, using the lockers for balance as she did. She…She almost killed me! S-Sour Sweet was about to choke me to death! Was…Was that her or was it that-that demon thing?! Sugarcoat managed to get some strength back, noticing that Sour Sweet was knocked out completely, with that in mind, she decided to get as far away from Sour Sweet as she could, eager to put this event behind her. I need to…to talk to Sunset…I don’t want to admit it, I don’t want to bother her with my problems, but right now I’m too fucking scared to think about that!

After a minute, Sugarcoat had vacated the area, leaving Sour Sweet on the floor. Sour Sweet started to stir and then coughed a few times as she rose into a sitting position. “Ow, what the hell hit me?” Sour Sweet looked around, seeing that she was in the hallway. “Why am I lying on the floor in the middle of the hall…? Oh crap, don’t tell me I blacked out and…!”

Sour Sweet immediately inspected her clothes, there were no signs of bloodstains, nor did it appear that whatever did occur it didn’t occur in the hallway. She then checked herself again, unfortunately, there were a number of sleazy guys in the school who wouldn’t think twice about taking advantage of an unconscious girl. Thankfully it seemed she was unmolested, she breathed a sigh of relief, but it still didn’t answer the question at hand.

“Whatever…” Sour Sweet got up and dusted her skirt off. “Probably late for class by now…oh screw it, who cares.” With that said, Sour Sweet began her walk to her classroom, unaware that the Blood Sword’s voice was strangely silent.

First Dates Are Never Easy

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Sunset was pacing the room as she had various articles of clothing laid out on her bed, along with different lingerie. Today was her date with Pinkie Pie and Sunset wanted to dress accordingly, she hadn’t had that many dates in this world, Flash Sentry was the only person she had ever dated, and even then she was a mess when trying to figure out what to wear. In those cases, Sunset would just throw on some casual clothes and go like that. Although back then Sunset didn’t really care about such things, when it came to Flash she just used him for his popularity in order to elevate her own status.

However, that wasn’t the case here. She liked Flash, sure, he was a great guy. But Pinkie Pie was different, she lit up her world, she brought joy to it, she saved her from falling into the depths of depression and being crushed under her own guilt. Pinkie meant the world to her, and she wanted to show her that she did. I don’t want to be too casual, if I did that then she might think I’m not taking this date seriously…Then again I might make her feel self-conscious if I look too dressed up…dammit what am I gonna do?

Just then there was a rapping at her door, followed by said door opening as Sun peeked inside. “Knock, knock, Sis, what’s – whoa…” Sun looked about the room as she entered, seeing not only clothes but also various styles of underwear scattered on her big sister’s bed. “Sis, you alright?”

Sunset rubbed the back of her head nervously. “N-Not really…I don’t know what to wear! I mean,” Sunset held up a nice dress made by Rarity, “do I go with this? I mean it looks really nice, but I don’t want to make Pinkie feel as if she had to dress up too!”

“Uh–”

The former unicorn put the dress down and held up a pair of denim jean pants and a tank top. “Or do I just go casual and comfortable? But if I do that, she might get the wrong idea that I don’t really care!”

“I think–”

Sunset threw those clothes back onto the bed pile and pulled out a miniskirt and a tube top. “Maybe I should try a sexy look, right? Give her a little show? No, then she might think all I want to do with her is have sex! I don’t want her to think that I think of her as sex object!”

“Sis–!”

“And what about my underwear?!” Sunset frantically pulled out a pair of black lace panties and matching bra. “This one is nice and classy, but then this one.” And then she revealed a thong and a skimpy bra that hooked in the front. “Do I go with this? I mean it’s really skimpy, and I’m not entirely planning on sleeping with Pinkie, but if that happens, I want her to like what I have on underneath, you know?!”

“SIS!!!” Sun yelled.

Sunset froze in place from the loud exclamation from her little sister.

Once Sun was sure she had stopped her big sister from spiraling, she walked up to Sunset and placed both of her hands on Sunset’s shoulders. “Sis, I love you. But you really need to get out of your head.” Sun took the two sets of lingerie out of Sunset’s hands and put them back on the pile. “It doesn’t matter what you wear, Pinkie didn’t fall in love with you because of your fashion sense, she loves you, and you love her. Besides, Pinks doesn’t strike me as the kind of girl who frets over that kind of stuff.”

Sunset sighed heavily as she relaxed a bit. “Sorry…it’s just that this is the first real date I’ve had with Pinkie, and I want it to go well.”

“I know, but it’ll be alright.” Sun removed her hands and then hooked her right around Sunset’s neck. “And once Sparky and I have our first real date, then the four us can have a double date! So, get on that, girl!”

Sunset playfully pushed her little sister off. “Whatever.”

Sun smiled and then added, “Still sure you don’t want my Athena master card? No credit limit, and access to all my money~” Sun punctuated this by slipping the card out of her back pants pocket and dangling it in front of Sunset.

Sunset crossed her arms and shook her head. “No, I don’t want your uber rich people card.”

“Mmm-hmm.” Sun’s eyes drifted downwards towards the exposed cleavage of big sister’s shirt and then smirked. “Alright.” The rich girl swiftly planted the credit card right in her big sister’s cleavage, gave it a quick tap to push it down further, and then ran for the bedroom door.

Sunset’s face went red as she felt the cold piece of metal against her chest. She quickly tried to fish the credit card out of her shirt and after a few awkward seconds, managed to extract it. With a growl of annoyance, Sunset yelled out, “SUN, YOU ASS!!!”

“NO TAKE BACKS – BYE~”

Before Sunset could say anymore, Sun dashed away. The older Sunset rolled her eyes but smirked at the actions of her younger sister. She was just looking out for her, and honestly, it was nice to have that. “Guess she’s right, Pinkie didn’t exactly say yes to me because I was wearing fancy clothes. Still, I wanna look a little nice.”

}}} Personally speaking, you are attractive in whatever you wear, Sunset. {{{

Sunset raised an eyebrow at the Witchblade, and jokingly stated, “Ha, I knew you put me in that skimpy ass armor just to enjoy the view!”

}}} Merely stating a fact, I take pride in my Bearer’s attributes. {{{

“Thanks, partner.”

Meanwhile, Sunset Shimmer wasn’t the only one having a wardrobe dilemma. Pinkie’s room was a scattered chaos of garments, skirts, pants, tank tops, shirts, blouses, socks, underwear, all of it littered the area that was her room, matching her frantic mind. Pinkie’s curly hair was a tangled mess of hairpins, rollers, and a few combs that were just left in there. Her left arm had a stocking that went up to her elbow on it, while somehow there was a glove stuck to her right foot. Pinkie had a mismatched pair of underwear on, her bra was white with pink polka dots, while her panties were yellow with blue horizontal stripes on it.

A knock came at the door and Limestone slowly opened the door. “Hey, Pinkie, are you ready yet? I’m ready to drive ya to – oh shit.” Limestone froze in the doorway when she saw the mess in her little sister’s room, and the state of dress said sister was in. “Uh…okay…wow…did you have an accidental discharge of one of your party cannons, again?”

It seemed that Pinkie either didn’t notice her big sister or didn’t care to answer as her attention seemed solely focused upon the scattered clothing. About that time two more Pie sisters, Maud and Marble, stopped next to Limestone and looked upon the chaos with the same reaction as Limestone. In Maud’s case it was more subdued.

“Wow, Pinkie, this is a mess,” said Maud in her usual deadpan tone.

“Mmm-hmm,” Marble agreed.

“Forget it, I think she’s checked out,” said Limestone as she crossed her arms.

Pinkie continued to zip around the room, taking one article of clothing and then another, trying to match it and figure out the appropriate attire for her date with Sunset. “Oh, this one is cute, but this one’s looks kind a sexy! Should I dress cute or sexy for Sunset?!” She threw the two articles down and then dashed across the room and took up a dress, another Rarity original. “Maybe I should go casual, I mean this is the first official date between Sunset and me!”

Limestone looked to Maud and asked, “Really, this is their first date?”

“From what Pinkie told me, they’ve all been busy with all the crazy stuff going on around the city and haven’t had time to properly date. Although…”

Limestone gave her sister a questioning look. “Although what?”

“Although they have managed to have sex, twice apparently,” said Maud in a nonchalant manner.

Limestone nearly yelled while Marble’s face went completely red. The oldest Pie sister shook her head and said, “Get the fuck out, Pinkie and Sunset banged already?! TWICE?! W-When did this happen?!”

Maud shrugged. “Sometime last week, before Spring Break. But they haven’t done anything else since. They probably would have but considering that they were all on vacation with their friends and had their school principals with them, they’re opportunities to screw were probably limited.”

Limestone looked back to her hyperactive sister, still shocked at this news. “Damn, how is it that I’m the oldest, and she’s gotten more action than I have?!”

“Actually, I’ve had more action than both of you.”

“WHAT?!” Limestone exclaimed. “Since when?!”

“Since I met Mud Briar,” Maud stated.

Limestone and Marble remembered when Maud introduced them all to the young man, he was a dull little stick in the mud. While it was hard to understand why in the ever loving hell Maud liked the man, there was no doubting that Maud was happier when she was with him, and they could see that happiness reflected in Mud Briar. So, reluctantly, all three sisters agreed to give him a chance, for Maud anyway. But to hear that the two of them have been having sex? Well, they are a couple, so it was expected, but Lime and Marble never saw them as the sexual type of people.

“Dare I ask how many times?”

“Hmm…over the course of our two-year relationship…” Maud paused for a moment to think. “I’d say we’ve done it over a hundred times, as a rough estimate.” A small smile formed on Maud’s lips. “He’s pretty wild in bed.”

“How the hell aren’t you pregnant yet?”

“Well condoms help, and I do let him use the backdoor–”

Limestone slapped her hands over her ears. “La-la-la-la-la – I don’t want to know that!”

Maud shrugged. “Your loss.”

“Ugh! Anyway, what are going to do about her?!” Limestone pointed a hand towards their still panicking sister. “She’s going to be late to her first date if she keeps this up.”

Marble cleared her throat and gained the attention of her two big sisters and softly spoke, “Um… Pie Sister Intervention?”

Lime and Maud glanced at each other and nodded in unison as they said, “Pie Sister Intervention.”

Lime and Maud marched towards Pinkie, they each grabbed an arm and began dragging the pink party planner towards her bed. Marble shut the door behind them and followed them towards the bed. Maud and Limestone cleared some space on the bed and sat Pinkie Pie down, the two older Pie sisters keeping a good grip on Pinkie despite her efforts to try and break free.

“Let me go you guys! I need to figure out the perfect outfit for my date! I don’t have time!” Pinkie protested.

“Tough shit, we’re making time,” said Lime.

“You need to calm down, Pinkie,” said Maud.

“I am calm! Can’t you see how calm I am?!”

Limestone deadpanned. “Pinkie, you’re in your underwear – mismatched by the way – wearing a sock on your left hand, a glove on your right foot, and you have combs and shit stuck in your hair. You’re even trying to get away from us.”

“That’s – Ugh! – because I’m – Darn it! – trying to get ready for my date!”

Marble Pie walked up to her big sister and gently placed both her hands on both sides of Pinkie’s face, forcing the teen to look directly at the shyest member of their family. “Big sister, please calm down.”

It took but a moment for the pink teen to finally stop her fidgeting and squirming. Hearing her little sister’s voice managed to pierce through the anxiety and bring her back into the moment. Each of her sisters had their own way of calming the other down. For Limestone, Maud would usually be the one to exhaust her until Lime gave in, for Marble, Pinkie would usually be the one to help the shy girl by sitting next to her and wrapping her in a gentle hug. For Maud, it helped whenever you brought up geology topics. However, when it came to Pinkie, whenever she got in such a manic state, it usually required an intervention, a Pie Sister Intervention. Now these usually switched, sometimes it was called for Lime, other times for Marble, and a few times for Maud.

“Thank you, girls…sorry for getting all whacky on you,” said Pinkie.

Maud and Lime released Pinkie, with the former carefully picking out the curlers, bobby pins, and combs that were stuck in Pinkie’s thick locks. “Why are you so worried, Pinkie?”

“Because, I have a date with Sunset!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Yeah, we know, I’m driving you to meet her, what’s the big deal? You’ve spent time with her before, hell, you’ve hung out with her at her place a few times,” Lime pointed out.

“That was different!” Pinkie countered. “This will be our first, real, official date! And I don’t know what to wear to it! If I dress up too much, and she doesn’t, I might make Sunset think that she’s not taking our relationship seriously, or that I’m taking it too seriously! But then if I dress too casually and she doesn’t, that can send the opposite message! Then as I was thinking about that, I started to wonder if Sunset wanted to…y-you know…do it with me, later…so I was trying to figure out what kind of underwear to put on because if we have sexy times I wanted to have something nice on underneath! I mean it’s not going to stay on me long, but still!”

Limestone groaned morosely, “I so need to get laid.” The eldest Pie sister sighed and patted her sister’s left shoulder. “Pinkie, tell me, has Sunset ever said that she cares what you wear?”

“Well…no.”

“Has she ever told you that she wants you to wear skimpy underwear or expects you to put out for her?”

Pinkie blushed, but still answered, “N-No, she hasn’t. We just let it happen when we feel it’s right.”

“As it should be,” Maud commented.

“So, what makes you believe she’ll think differently of you for dressing like you want to?” Limestone asked. “I may not have known Sunset as long as you have, but in the time I have spent with her I know two things. One: she doesn’t give a shit what you wear, hell, you could go around buck naked for all she cared.”

Pinkie Pie giggled at the thought. “She might like that, actually.”

“And two: she loves you, Pinkie. Has she ever done or said anything that made ya think otherwise?”

Pinkie Pie took a moment to think, remembering all their conversations, their hugs, their kisses, the times they hung out before they became a couple, the two moments they made love to each other. All of it made the pink party girl’s heart swell with affection for her girlfriend and made her smile broaden and calmed her nerves completely. “No, she hasn’t, I know Sunset loves me for me, and I feel the same way for her.”

All three sister’s smiled and nodded at Pinkie.

“Good, now put something on or you’ll be late,” said Limestone.

“If I might make a suggestion,” Maud got off the bed and reached into one pile of clothing, she then pulled out a lace, see-through bra and panty set. “Even if you don’t plan on getting that far with Sunset, you can at least feel sexy for her underneath.”

Marble blushed and turned away from the salacious looking underwear, while Limestone just gasped.

“W-W-What the hell – when did you get shit like that?!” Limestone asked.

Pinkie Pie scratched at the back of her head and nervously said, “IIIIIII might’ve asked Rarity to make me some…ahem…special underwear for when Sunset and I do it again…in all the craziness that’s been going on, I never actually got to wear them.”

Maud looked at the underwear again and hummed, impressed by Pinkie’s friend’s craftmanship. “I usually don’t wear anything underneath when I date Mud Briar, but I might ask your friend to make me something if she can do stuff like this.”

“Oh c’mon!”

“Wow!”

“Eeep!”

Fluttershy had been having a bit of a difficult time since the War of the Trinity. Her parents knew about the whole Vatican thing, seeing as how they would take her to the secret society that was responsible for training and arming her as the Magdalena. However, when they found out about what Neighsay did to her, well, as meek as they were, they certainly weren’t meek when they called up the Order and gave them a few choice words. Thankfully, Sister Meadowbrook was able to get those grievances up the chain to the Pope himself.

This led to them getting a call from the Pope a couple of days ago, with his holiness expressing his deep regrets for what had happened. Meadowbrook had advocated on behalf of Fluttershy that she’d be free to choose her own path, whether or not that involved her performing any more Magdalena assignments, or Fluttershy pursuing her own interests. While this did rub a few in the Order the wrong way, they reluctantly complied, even more so when the Pope decreed it so.

However, Fluttershy did explain that if there was a great danger that would befall the world like that of Neighsay or the Darkness, she would take up the mantle again and wield the Spear of Destiny to strike down evil in the name of God. Her words seemed to placate the Order, her mother and father believed she said those words only to keep them from trying to do something shady to force her to fight, but in reality, Fluttershy meant every word. Fluttershy knew that she couldn’t just keep her head buried in the sand whenever great evil reared its ugly head, not when she had the skill and power to stop it.

Although that did leave the shy teen wondering what she should really be doing with her life? As with most of life’s dilemmas, Fluttershy sought solace and guidance in church, sitting in the pews while she took in the serenity of the church. She brought down the built-in cushion and got on her knees as she began praying.

Oh God, I know what I want to do. I want to care for your creatures, every animal that can’t help itself, is sick or injured, I want to heal and make them better. Those little animals who bring joy to others, I want to make sure that they can for as long as they are able…but…I also know that you might have a greater plan for me. I was born with the blood of your only begotten Son, I am honored to be of His and Your bloodline, but I must ask…what is it that you would have me do, oh Lord?

I was trained to strike against evil and those who would dishonor or comment atrocities in Your name. If that is to be my destiny, then I won’t go against it. In all honesty, part of me feels…good…when I don the cloak and wield the Spear. I don’t take pleasure in ending someone’s life, but I take pleasure in knowing that I can save lives. Both are noble pursuits, but I don’t know how I can do both or if I should do both? Please, God, may I ask for a sign?

Despite being the many times great granddaughter of the Son of God, not always did she get answered straight away. It was right around then that she looked up and saw someone walking in, she looked middle eastern, with a white leather coat and black leotard. The first thing that Fluttershy noticed about her was the necklace that hung around her neck, a crucifix with two horizontal bars. The more she looked at this woman, the more something started to click in her mind.

“Wait…I…I know you,” said Fluttershy in a whispered tone.

The middle eastern woman stood at the end of the pew and smiled down at Fluttershy. “I would hope so, my child. I was once asked to train you back when you were but ten years old.”

Fluttershy shot up from her kneeling position and gasped as she spoke the woman’s name, “Ms. Somnambula!”

“Yes, my Altalmidh (pupil/student), it is I,” said Somnambula as she opened her arms. Fluttershy quickly hugged the older woman. “It is good to see you again.”

“Me too, Teacher, me too!” Fluttershy stated happily.

Somnambula was one of the instructors of the Order, although she was more like a shadow member of the Order that trained Fluttershy to become the Magdalena. Unlike the other instructors, Somnambula was patient with her, she was caring, and made her see ways of fighting that she never thought about. But more than that, she was a spiritual teacher. She helped Fluttershy come to grips with her powers and who she was as the Magdalena, and it seemed that God had answered her prayer. Both women sat in the pew, with the teen leaning against the older woman like a child with her mother, which Somnambula was like a second mother to her, while Meadowbrook was the big sister Fluttershy never had.

“It seems your home has been abuzz with strange activity as of late, no?”

Fluttershy sighed. “Yes, it has been…but I don’t want to bore you with the details.”

Somnambula raised her apprentice’s chin and smiled down at her. “My Altalmidh, you are never a bore to me. Please, tell me of you worries, of your strife.”

Fluttershy smiled back and spoke openly about what had occurred recently, the events at her high school, and of course the War of the Trinity that came about with the betrayal of Neighsay. Somnambula’s brow noticeably creased at the mention of his scheming and from what he did to Fluttershy. “I had hoped that man’s ambitions would’ve been curtailed with time, but it seems I should’ve stepped in a lot sooner. For that, I am sorry.”

The cream-colored teen shook her head. “No, Teacher, you shouldn’t be! You’re a shadow member of the Order, if you had said something, they probably wouldn’t have believed you.”

Somnambula nodded, her status as a shadow member of the Order was just a fancy way of saying she was mercenary as far as they were concerned, and she liked it that way. She didn’t agree with a lot of the Order’s edicts or their draconian methods and teachings, so it suited her fine that she wasn’t under their yoke and could come and go as she pleased. Her method of defeating evil and saving sinners didn’t mesh well with the Order’s views, especially since she was able to traverse Hell and free damned souls by giving them hope through the power of the Rapture. The Order believed that if you were sent to Hell then it was deemed so due to your sins or by God’s will.

But Somnambula didn’t see it as black and white, she saw gray. She knew that not always were people given the chance to make the right choice, that the burdens of life, no matter how strong the spirit, could make even a kind and caring person break under the pressure, even if their faith was strong. When hope is lost, people do things that they would never normally do, and to Somnambula, that was the greatest injustice in the world. So, to have the power of the Rapture, to bring hope to the hopeless, was the greatest gift she could’ve received.

However, Somnambula wondered if that was the right choice, to be a wanderer and spread hope, and not be by Fluttershy’s side to protect her. “Still, that didn’t mean I could’ve kept in touch.”

“Um, Teacher, I’m happy you’re here, but why are you here?” Fluttershy asked.

“Hmm, I’ve been getting a strange feeling lately. The events that have taken place in your city have me concerned, and I feel as if something about to descend here, something that is calling to my Artifact,” said Somnambula as she brought up the Rapture.

“I remember you telling me that your Rapture is similar to my Spear, that they both possess great power,” said Fluttershy.

“And the moment I came to this city, I’ve felt the presence of several other powerful items.”

“You think this is leading to something, Teacher?”

Somnambula wasn’t sure really, she didn’t have any concrete proof, so she didn’t want to alarm Fluttershy. But neither could she deny this feeling of impending dread, and Somnambula felt that it was connected to her item and Fluttershy’s, and possibly others. “I don’t think so, Altalmidh, it’s just a feeling I have. Do not worry, I am certain that we can prevent whatever it is, from what you’ve told me, we have some strong allies on the side of good.”

Fluttershy nodded happily. “Yes, my friends are strong. I don’t doubt we can get through whatever might happen together.”

Somnambula nodded as well, but inside she was still worried. I pray you are right, my Altalmidh.

Sunset was at the mall, she knew it was cliché, but it was the best she could think of for their first date. Well, that, and it was the normal-est thing she could think of. In the end, after all that stressing, Sunset decided to go casual, but still nice. She wore a faded blue tank top with her sun cutie mark printed on the front, pre-ripped denim pants, and a belt with metal studs on it. On her feet were black leather boots, with three-inch heels, she did her hair up a little, putting it into a ponytail with a black hairband that had golden spikes around it. She felt comfortable, and she looked nice, so she hoped she made the right choice.

It didn’t take long before Sunset spotted Limestone’s car, she gulped and tried to look as confident as she could. When the passenger door opened, Sunset stared wide eyed at her girlfriend. Pinkie was wearing a tank top as well, it had purple stripes along with mulberry colored stripes. Atop that was a shirt that only came up to below her bust, a hole was cut around the sleeves, exposing Pinkie’s arms and shoulders a little, below she was wearing jean shorts, and a pair of pink sneakers. Her curly hair was straightened, just enough to give it a smooth look without losing the volume.

Pinkie Pie bid her sister goodbye and walked the rest of the way to Sunset. The party girl also found her girlfriend’s outfit attractive if her blush was any evidence. When they stood before each other, they were silent, they took awkward glances at each other, getting an eyeful of what the other was wearing. The pink teen decided to break the silence and said, “Y-You look really good, Sunset.”

Sunset blushed and replied, “You do too, Pinkie. Really.”

“Thanks……Is it just me or does this feel just a bit awkward?”

“Just a bit, yeah.”

Pinkie Pie took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. She then took a step forward, draped her arms around Sunset’s shoulders, and then pressed her lips against the former unicorn’s. Sunset was caught off guard by the action, but that quickly changed as she wrapped her arms around Pinkie’s waist and deepened their kiss. They kept that up for a minute, not even paying any mind that there were some people staring at them. The two girls broke their kiss, the awkwardness disappearing soon after that.

“That was nice, Pinkie,” said Sunset.

“I was hoping it would be, guess this date’s off to a good start!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Sunset chuckled and released Pinkie, the two proceeded to hold hands and entered together. The two girls walked about the mall, they had come through here multiple times before as a group, but this was the first time they had done so by themselves, and as a couple. Sunset and Pinkie headed to the food court and got a little something to eat since it was lunch time, they decided to hit up a Japanese style restaurant, the waitresses all had on cute blue kimonos, Sunset ordered a plate of yakitori tsukune, while Pinkie ordered some katsu kare. When they finished their order, Pinkie couldn’t help but tease her girlfriend.

“You know, you’d look really cute in one of those kimonos~”

“Heh, heh, you think so?” Sunset asked honestly.

“Seriously!”

“Well, maybe we should do some role play sometime,” said Sunset with a sultry voice.

Pinkie Pie blushed and smiled at the idea.

“Hey, I found something that you might like.” Sunset fished out her cellphone and took out a pair of headphones, she plugged them in and put one in her right ear and handed the other to Pinkie. “Take a listen.”

Pinkie took the offered bud and placed it in her ear, Sunset went to her music app and turned on the song. Almost immediately Pinkie’s face lit up with excitement upon hearing the music playing and said, “PostCrush! This is PostCrush!”

“Yep, Supernova Zap and Kiwi Lollipop, otherwise known as–!”

“Su-Z and K-Lo!” Pinkie finished. “This is a new song, are…are they back together?!”

“Yeah!” Sunset practically squealed. “I just found out that they’re going to be performing at the Star Swirl Music Festival this summer for a reunion concert! I was thinking we could go together, or with the girls, make a trip of it.”

“That would be totally-super-terrifically amazing!”

Sunset and Pinkie shared a love for the girl band group PostCrush, a pop music duo that had quickly claimed the top of the music charts and became famous almost overnight. They were also famous as one of the few openly gay couple musicians, of course that also attributed to the breakup of the band, there were some personal problems between them which ended up with Su-Z and K-Lo disbanding. However, from what Sunset found out, the two girls had made amends and were back together, both as a couple and as a band, launching with a new album and next with a reunion concert.

“That sounds great! You, me, the girls, your sister, and Twilight, we can all go! And maybe we’ll get to meet them!” Pinkie exclaimed giddily.

The couple listened to half of the PostCrush album before their food arrived and then listened to the rest of it while they ate, during the more love oriented songs, Sunset and Pinkie would glance at each other lovingly and bring their hands together. After their meal they headed to the movie theater to watch a newly released film, an attempted reboot of the popular Japanese import superhero series called “Peacekeeper Sentai: Chōwager” dubbed in the west as “Power Rangers Peacekeepers”.

After about two hours the movie let out, while the original would always be the original, it was overall a good movie. Sunset decided to take a stroll around the mall, they stopped by a churro stand and bought a few for themselves.

“Hey, Sunset, what’s that black credit card you’ve been using this whole time? I’ve never seen you use it before,” said Pinkie.

“Oh…yeah…well, it’s Sun’s card. She kinda forced it on me, literally, she put between my boobs and ran off before I could give it back,” Sunset recalled in an annoyed tone.

Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. “Sun really put it there?! That’s funny, and generous of her.”

“Yeah, she is, I’ve never really had a sibling, but ever since we met, I’ve felt really close to Sun. It’s great having a sister,” said Sunset with a smile.

Pinkie Pie separated from Sunset and began walking backwards in front of Sunset as she happily said, “I know, right, having sisters is amazing! It can get a bit frustrating sometimes, but in the end, you still love each other, and they’ll love you! It’s how families work and – OMPH!”

Suddenly, Pinkie ran back first into one guy. This ended up with Pinkie inadvertently throwing her churros into the air and having them spill all over the guy and his five buddies, getting cinnamon sugar all over them. Sunset quickly caught Pinkie before she could face plant and held her close.

“Pinkie, you alright?!” Sunset asked.

“Y-Yeah, I am.” Pinkie Pie turned her head around and said, “I’m so sorry, are you alright?”

The man in question turned around and looked at Pinkie with an annoyed glare. “Watch where you’re going ya bimbo! Ya got this shit all over us!”

“Hey, it was an accident, we’re sorry,” said Sunset a glare.

“Tch, and how are ya going to make this up?”

“Excuse me?”

The man walked up and looked down at Sunset. “What? You don’t just make a mess like this and expect to not pay us back.”

Sunset rolled her eyes at the attempt at extortion. “Fine, how much money? How much will it take to make this all better?” Sunset really didn’t want to have to resort to paying off this jerk and his friends, but she wanted to have a date with Pinkie and the faster she could get this over with, the sooner she could get back to it. She hated having to use her sister’s money to make that happen, but she hoped Sun would understand.

The man looked Sunset up and down, and then Pinkie. A lecherous smile appeared on his face as he put his hands in his pockets. “Well, maybe I could forgive you two, on the condition that you hang out with us. I mean, it’s the least you can do.”

Sunset raised her hand in a stopping motion and said, “Yeah, I’m going to have to stop you right there buddy. You’re barking up the wrong tree, see, this is my girlfriend, as in the girl I’m going out with, so whatever pervy ideas you’re thinking about, that’s all they’re going to be, thoughts, and nothing else. I’m happy to pay whatever you want, but there’s no way that’s happening.”

The man furrowed his brow and quickly grabbed Sunset by her arm. “Tough shit, I don’t care about money. Just come with us, or…” The man raised the front of his shirt just enough for Sunset to get a peek at what was there. The flame haired girl immediately tensed up when she saw what he revealed, a pistol, snuggly holstered in the waistband of the man’s pants. “In case you’re wondering, my guys are packin’ too. So, why make this hard? Just hang out with us, I promise you won’t regret it.”

Sunset tried to think quickly, this guy and his five buddies had weapons, Pinkie Pie was in the line of fire, figuratively and literally, and they were in the middle of a crowded mall. Chances were he just showed it as a threat and wasn’t intending on using it, but then again, she couldn’t take that chance. Partner, what do you sense?

}}} He has malicious intent, I do not doubt he would use his weapon, even here. {{{

If it was just herself, Sunset was sure she could beat them all, but with Pinkie here, she didn’t want to risk the chance that one of them would draw their gun and shoot her.

“What’s your choice?”

“Sunset…” Pinkie worriedly called out.

“I–”

Just then, someone punched the man in the face and sent him straight to the floor. The crowd parted, forming a wide circle upon seeing the attack. Sunset blinked and looked to her left and saw a woman, still in her attack stance, she had a dark orchid skin tone, eyes of icy opal, a scar over her right eye, and her hair was shaved save for a mohawk. She wore a black leather jacket, black leather pants, and a turquoise shirt.

The mysterious woman relaxed her stance a little, looked at Sunset, and asked, “You okay, kid?”

“Uh…Y-Yeah, w-who are you?”

“Tempest.”

“What the fuck?!” one the man’s friend’s exclaimed.

“Bitch!” another shouted.

Sunset got into her own attack stance and said to Tempest, “They have guns!”

Tempest acted fast, she dashed towards the closest of the five and punched him in the stomach, she felt around his waist and found his gun. She pulled it out and quickly released the clip and popped out the bullet in the chamber. Sunset followed Tempest’s lead and attacked another one, she punched him in the face, the man, stunned from her attack, wobbled about on his feet. Sunset did the same thing as Tempest did, finding his gun and disarming it, once she was done, she kicked him in the stomach and put him the ground. Two more of the men were about to draw their weapons, but Tempest and Sunset intercepted them, grabbing their wrists, and wrenching them hard.

Sunset’s enhanced reflexes and strength allowed her to catch the gun and strike the owner of the weapon in the face with it, sending him spinning and falling to the ground. After disarming that weapon, she watched as Tempest broke the man’s finger in the process of getting the gun away from him, she then proceeded to pistol whip him twice across the face to put him out and disarmed his gun. The last one standing just looked at both Sunset and Tempest, both women were ready to take him down, giving him a fierce glare. The last one standing was apparently the smarter of the group as he took out his gun, removed the clip, popped the one in the chamber, and then got on the ground with his hands behind his head.

“Smart man,” said Tempest.

“Don’t you bitches move!”

Tempest and Sunset turned around and saw that Tempest had first punched had gotten ahold of Pinkie Pie, holding a gun to her head.

“Easy buddy, you don’t want to do anything you might regret,” said Tempest.

Sunset’s blood was on fire, the Witchblade could sense her anger and need to protect Pinkie Pie, making the metal coils of the bracelet undulate ever so slightly. Not enough to get noticed, but if one looked close enough they could see it. If she allowed it, the Witchblade could easily unleash metal strands to pierce the gun and cut the hand of that man off, but then that would reveal her identity as Witchblade and Sunset wasn’t ready for that kind of publicity.

Tempest inched closer to Sunset, she watched Tempest’s hand slowly grab onto something that was clipped onto her belt. At first Sunset thought it was a gun, but it looked disc shaped. “Hey, how fast are you?” she whispered.

“Pretty fast,” Sunset replied.

“Don’t ask how, but I’m going to disarm him, when he is, rush ‘em,” Tempest instructed.

Normally Sunset would ask what she was talking about, but right now she was going to have to trust this woman, so she nodded. Tempest stealthily pointed her left index finger at the gunman, Pinkie, surprisingly, wasn’t shaking. This wasn’t the first time she was held hostage, nor was it the first time she’s faced down a crazy person. At the tip of Tempest’s index finger, a small black orb formed, Tempest aligned her finger with the gun’s position and mentally commanded the orb to fire. The orb flew as fast a bullet, striking the gun in an instant.

“Don’t try anything or – what the?!” To the gunman’s shock, the gun began to rapidly age, the metal becoming rusted to the point that it was an orange, flaky mess.

Sunset took that as the sign, she dashed straight towards him. Pinkie Pie took this chance to elbow the gunman in the gut, allowing her to make him back away. Now that Pinkie was away from, Sunset barreled into him, tackling the gunman to the floor. She drove her knee into his stomach and began wailing on him with one strong punch after the other.

“Don’t you ever!” right punch. “Ever!” left punch. “Point a gun at my girlfriend!” another right punch. “EVER!” and one more left, which knocked out a few teeth in the process.

“FREEZE!”

Sunset stopped her beating in time to look up and see several police officers pointing their guns at her. She looked over her shoulder and saw that a few more were back there as well, surrounding them. “Officers, wait, we’re not the bad guys here!”

“Hey, kid, don’t resist. Just get off him and put your hands up, I got this,” said Tempest as she did just that.

Sunset did as Tempest told her, and as soon as she did, the officers rushed Sunset and Tempest, placing them in handcuffs. The former unicorn mare looked up and saw Pinkie Pie, worriedly looking down at her. Worst…first date…ever.

Sunset sat in the back of a police car, lamenting how this whole date was just shot by an asshole and his idiot friends who wanted to get into her and Pinkie’s pants. And now she was probably going to be arrested, no way Shining Armor could get that taken off her record. Say goodbye to my policing chances.

Just then there was tapping at the door of the police cruiser, when she turned Sunset was surprised to see that it was Tempest. The mohawk sporting woman opened the car door, leaned against it, and said, “Crazy day, huh, kid?”

“What…How did you get out of your cuffs?!”

“Easy, I just had to flash this,” Tempest pulled out her wallet, and in it was a badge that had the letters “FBI” stamped into the metal. “Yeah, they tend to let you go pretty quick when they see that. Which reminds me…HEY, CAN I GET SOME KEYS OVER HERE?!” Just like that, a pair of keys was thrown to her, which Tempest swiftly snatched out of the air. “Thank you! Get out and turn around, kid.”

Sunset, cautiously, got out of the police cruiser and turned around to present her handcuffed wrists. Tempest used the key and unlocked the cuffs, once that was done, Sunset turned to face Tempest, rubbing her wrists as she did. “You’re an FBI agent?!”

“Special agent, I worked hard for that,” Tempest corrected. “But yeah, I just told the cops that I spotted a gun on that guy who was harassing you and stepped in to intervene. I also told them that you offered your assistance in taking them down and that that one guy took your girlfriend hostage. So, we’re all good. No record, no nothing, if anything I made sure that you get a commendation for your assistance.”

Sunset smiled and chuckled. “I know a detective on the force who’ll be happy to hear about that. Seriously though, thank you. I want to be a cop someday and getting arrested would not help in that matter.”

Tempest smirked and put her hands on her hips. “You sure you just want to be a cop? With those moves you could shoot for higher if ya want to.” The mohawk woman reached into her jacket pocket, pulled out a card, and handed it to Sunset. “In case the cop thing doesn’t work out, or if you want to step up your game, give me a call.”

Sunset took the business card which read “Special Agent Tempest Shadow, Federal Bureau of Investigation” along with a couple of phone numbers. “You…You really think I can be a part of the FBI?”

“I’m never wrong on this kind of stuff, say, what’s your name?” Tempest asked.

“Oh, Sunset, Sunset Shimmer!”

“‘Sunset’, I’ll remember that,” said Tempest as she offered Sunset her hand.

The flame haired girl took Tempest’s hand and began shaking it. However, when she did that, the Witchblade glowed slightly. }}} I sense a powerful item on this woman’s person. {{{

Really?! Are you sure?

}}} Recall when I spoke of sensing other items of power in this city? I couldn’t sense them because their combined power was masking their exact locations. However, now that we’re this close, I can most definitely sense that she possesses an Artifact. {{{

Sunset’s eyes unconsciously began scanning the woman’s body, trying to find something, anything that looked like a mystical item.

Tempest saw how Sunset was looking at her and jokingly said, “Y’know, not that I’m flattered, and I’d totally would hit you up after all that, but I don’t think your girlfriend would appreciate you checking out another woman.”

Sunset blushed and quickly shook her head. “S-S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to! Y-You’re just – I mean–!”

“SUNSET!” Pinkie’s voice called out.

Sunset watched as her pink peppy girlfriend came rushing through the crowd and right towards them. She flung her arms at Sunset, wrapping them around her lover to the point that it felt as if she was going to snap Sunset in half. “I was so worried about you! Are you alright?!”

“ACK – Pinkie any longer and I won’t be – GAH! – uncle, UNCLE!”

Pinkie Pie released Sunset, smiling apologetically at her. “Sorry.” The pink curly haired teen turned around and finally took notice of Tempest. “Oh, you’re that woman who helped us out! Thank you!”

“No prob,” said Tempest. “See ya around, hopefully not under these circumstances.”

With that said, Tempest walked away, disappearing into the crowd. Sunset still felt uneasy about that encounter, an Artifact wielder was right there, and she was walking away. Was she an enemy? An ally? Was she working with Blood Sword? A possible enemy of Blood Sword?

“Who was she, Sunset?” Pinkie asked.

“Oh…uh…she’s Tempest Shadow, she’s an FBI agent. She got the police to understand what happened so we’re free to go,” Sunset explained. She took a moment to push the thoughts of Tempest aside and began walking Pinkie Pie away from police cars. “I’m sorry, Pinkie.”

“For what?”

“For messing up this date…” Sunset’s gaze turned downcast. “It was starting off so well, and then all that happened…”

Pinkie looked at Sunset with confusion. “What do you mean? You didn’t do anything, that jerk and his band of other jerks are the bad guys here. And besides, it didn’t mess anything up! Was it kind of scary? Yes, but you know, the way things are with us, it’s kinda expected that we’d have something crazy happen to us once in a while.”

Sunset sighed. “I just wanted a normal date with you. No craziness, and no other BS…”

Pinkie Pie patted Sunset on the shoulder and smiled at her. “Well, what’s a ‘normal’ date? Who says what’s normal for one couple is normal for another? We’re abnormal, and I like that ‘cause ‘normal’ is overrated!”

Sunset chuckled, she did have a point. Actually, it was the point. Sunset was a magical unicorn from parallel world, and Pinkie was probably the most unorthodox and random person in the city. A stranger pair you would be hard pressed to find. “You know what, you’re right, normal is what we decide it is, right?”

“Right!” Pinkie chirped. “Plus, this date isn’t over yet! What do you think of a little Laser Tag?!”

A devilish smile appeared on Sunset’s face. “Oh, Pinkie, you know just what to say to brighten my day!”

“I know, now let’s go zap some suckas!”

To Free The Soul

View Online

Sour Sweet still couldn’t remember what happened at school yesterday, why she was on the floor was a mystery to her. However, she didn’t really care because the rest of the time, and even today, was fantastic. For the first time in a long while, Sour Sweet didn’t hear the voice of the Blood Sword, at all. It was so freeing to not hear that despicable voice and all its wanton blood lusting. Sour knew she had a bipolar condition, but the meds had helped her keep everything in check, but ever since the Blood Sword came into her life, it had just made her condition worse, because between the imaginary voices in her head, and the actual demonic voice, it was getting close to breaking her mentally.

“That’s not my problem anymore! Don’t know why, but I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth!” Sour Sweet spoke under her breath.

“What was that?” Sunny asked.

Sunny Flare was driving the two of them back to Sour’s, the two girls had hung out together, and for Sunny, it was a nice break from having to deal with her mother. Plus, Sour had been completely lucid, no little episodes or anything. And it seemed Sour was happy about it too, despite Sour’s ailments, it was still fun to be around her, out of their entire group she loved hanging out with her the most. There was a commotion at the mall earlier today, but thankfully they weren’t anywhere near that mess.

“You sure your parents won’t mind my staying over tonight?” Sunny asked.

“Ha! Doesn’t matter really, they’re not home to begin with, and even if they do, they couldn’t care less,” said Sour in a matter-of-fact tone.

The girls pulled up to Sour’s home, stopping in front of the garage. When they exited the car and entered Sour’s home, they went up to Sour’s room. It had been a while since the last time Sour had Sunny over, most of those times it was when their group was together, but now it was just the two of them.

It’s just the two of us…just the two of us…in my house, in my room…alone…SHIT! I-I-I should say something to her! Yes, tell her how I feel while I don’t have that fucking demon rattling around in my head! N-N-No I shouldn’t, if I told her it might freak her out! Hell, I don’t even know if she likes girls!

These thoughts kept rattling around in her mind all the way up the stairs and into her room. She let Sunny Flare in first and followed behind her, Sour sat on her bed and went into deep thought about what her next action should be.

C’mon Sour Sweet, this might be your only chance to say something while your mind is free and clear. Sour Sweet looked up and watched as the object of her affection went over to her sword collection, she was the only one of their group who didn’t find her hobby disturbing or weird, which only endeared Sunny Flare to Sour even more.

Sunny slowly walked the length of the wall, looking up and down the impressive collection of bladed weaponry. “Did you add a few swords since the last time we were over?”

“A few yeah…” Sour answered absentmindedly.

Sunny Flare’s eyes were drawn to one sword, for some reason, it drew her attention. It had a strange air about it, which only heightened her curiosity. Sunny began moving closer to the katana, her hand unconsciously reaching out towards the weapon. It was right around that time that Sour Sweet finally noticed what Sunny Flare was doing and gasped in shock. Before she could say anything, Sour Sweet jumped off her bed and scrambled towards Sunny Flare.

“Sunny, wait, don’t touch that one!” Sour warned as she reached out for the sword in question.

No sooner did she place her hand on it did the sword react. Releasing a burst of scarlet energy that threw Sunny Flare back a couple of feet and onto the floor. Unfortunately, that same energy anchored Sour Sweet’s hand right to the sword’s sheath.

~*~*~*~

The world melted away in Sour Sweet’s mind, leaving her in a dark mindscape. The metaphorical ground that Sour Sweet stood upon was soon replaced with an ocean of blood as far as her eyes could see, the “sky” above her went from black to salmon colored, Sour Sweet panicked as she tried to move around, tried to run, but the blood ocean was only rising and now reached her knees. The thick liquid made it hard for her to move around, but it wasn’t as if there was any place for her to go.

Just then, something rose from the blood, herself. The demon within the Blood Sword rose from the ocean, made entirely of the red ichor that surrounded Sour Sweet, its eyes were pools of darkness, and at their center were red slit eyes that burned with fury. The demon rushed towards Sour Sweet with unnatural speed and was upon her in mere seconds. The creature grabbed Sour Sweet by her throat, squeezing down as it choked her, Sour Sweet thrashed about, splashing blood around and staining her body and clothes in the red essence.

“YOU LITTLE SHIT! DID YOU ENJOY YOUR FREE TIME?!!!”

“Y-You…You…!”

“YEAH, ME! THAT FOUR-EYED FUCKING WHORE PUSHED ME OUT OF YOUR BODY AND BACK INTO THIS DAMN SWORD! Oh, and what did you do?! You just went about your fucking day all hunky-dory! Well ain’t that just PEACHY!” the demon raged as it squeezed even harder.

Sour Sweet began to spasm as she felt her throat contract, unable to draw in breath. The veins in her eyes were beginning to bulge and break, staining her eyes with blood.

“I should drown you here and use your fucking body as a meat puppet from here on out!” the demon started to lower Sour Sweet, pushing her back until they both splashed into the blood ocean. Sour Sweet’s head was only barely above the blood, her mouth trying to spit out the irony liquid. However, the demon stopped and brought her head up above the blood. “But I need you alive, a living wielder is much better than a dead corpse! Oh, look, the girl you shlick off to at night is looking at you with concern.”

“S-Sunny?!” Sour Sweet looked in the same direction that the demon was. A window opened and showed Sour Sweet what was happening in the real world. Sunny Flare was getting up after being knocked down by the shockwave, she seemed genuinely scared, but it seemed her fear was not for herself, but more so directed at Sour Sweet.

“Maybe I should kill her now, get rid of your distractions, or make you finally break enough so that you’re more useful to me!”

“N-No…! P-Please…! Don’t…I…I don’t even know…what…happened!” Sour confessed.

The demon’s eyes widened as she released Sour Sweet, letting her plop into the blood. Sour Sweet emerged from the blood and took in a deep gasping breath, she coughed for a few seconds before finally looking back up at the demon.

“You’re serious…?” the demon reached out with its right hand and grasped Sour Sweet’s head. The demon searched her memories and then realized with an annoyed snarl that Sour Sweet was telling the truth. “Well…that’s disappointing…how can I properly punish you for something if you don’t even have any memory of it.” The demon released Sour and crossed its arms over its chest. “That’s a buzzkill, I was ready to give you the business. Oh well, I’ll just take this anger out on that slut!”

“S-Slut…? Who are you…talking about?” Sour inquired.

“I’m talking about that pigtailed, four-eyed, cock sucking, muff munching, S! L! U! T! Otherwise known as SUGARCOAT! We’re killing her, tonight!”

Sour Sweet looked up at the demon upon hearing that declaration. “WHAT?! NO!”

The demon reached out again and grabbed Sour Sweet by her collar. “It’s either the slut, or it’s your crush over there! Someone’s gonna die tonight, and while I’d prefer it to be the one who pushed me out of your body, I’m happy to get my kicks with whoever’s close by! You got to the count of three! One…Two…Thr–!”

“OKAY, OKAY! WE’LL KILL SUGARCOAT!” Sour Sweet cried out in desperation.

The demon smirked. “Good girl.”

~*~*~*~

Sunny Flare stood just a foot away from her friend, she had been listening to Sour Sweet talking for well over a minute now, one eye was shining red while the other was normal. When she talked, two voices came out. One was Sour Sweets, while the other sounded like Sour Sweet’s, but more demonic and maniacal. She listened as the two parts had a conversation, one about killing Sugarcoat. It seemed that the demonic sounding voice was forcing Sour Sweet to make a choice between killing her or killing Sugarcoat. Also, it appeared that Sour Sweet harbored some feelings for Sunny, which…honestly…Sunny was trying to process.

But after Sour made her decision, she was wrapped in scarlet light. In less than a second Sour Sweet was clothed in blood red samurai armor. Sunny Flare took a step back out of fear, wondering what – if anything – she could do. “S-Sour…?”

The demon warrior turned her head towards Sunny. “Sorry, Sour’s taking a backseat, I’m in control right now. Be a good girl and sit here and wait for our return. Don’t make me have to chase after you, because I don’t want to hear this bitch whine and moan about killing you. I’m already going to hear her complain about Sugar Slut. Later!”

Blood Sword opened the window and jumped out of it, clearing several feet in one bound, and nearly disappearing from Sunny Flare’s sight. The popular girl ran to the window to try and find Sour Sweet, but she couldn’t see her anymore.

Sunny Flare couldn’t understand what she just saw, but one thing she did know, was that Sugarcoat was in danger. She didn’t particularly like Sugarcoat, especially after she sided with Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle, but she wasn’t a monster, she wasn’t that much of a monster, unlike her mother. Sunny Flare hurriedly pulled out her cellphone and dialed Sugarcoat’s phone number.

“Please, for the love of god, answer me,” Sunny pleaded.

Sugarcoat paced her room back and forth, she didn’t know what she should do, especially after what happened with Sour Sweet yesterday. Her throat still felt soar from the strangling, but thanks to wearing the Heart Stone, the accelerated healing powers it possessed allowed the bruise that formed to disappear after a few minutes, but she came close to dying that day. Had Sugarcoat not grabbed the Heart Stone and used its power to make Sour Sweet release her, she’d be off to see her grandmother sooner than she wanted to.

Still, was this something to get Sunset involved in? She’s got enough to worry about when it comes to Twilight…I know I told them what I saw, but…I don’t want to rely on her…But we’re friends now…real friends…doesn’t that mean I’m supposed to rely on her?

This was Sugarcoat’s dilemma, but the more she thought about it, the more the answer was becoming clear to her. It was better to at least inform her friend of the trouble, because there was no telling if Sour Sweet would turn her attention to Twilight, and if she didn’t tell Sunset then she wouldn’t know to protect Twilight from the threat. With her resolve affirmed, Sugarcoat took out her cellphone and prepared to call Sunset, but paused.

“Shit…I forgot to get their cell numbers…” It was at that moment that her cellphone went off in her hand, she grimaced at the name that popped up and let out a dejected sigh. As easy as it would be to just ignore the call, it was better to just tell off Sunny Flare now and be done with it. So, she answered the call. “Listen, Sunny, I don’t know what you want, but whatever messed up plan you want me to be a part of, I’m through with you and–!”

{Just shut up and listen to me! Sour Sweet is coming to kill you!}

At the mention of the bipolar girl’s name, Sugarcoat froze up. “W-What did you just say?”

{Sour Sweet is coming to kill you! She’s on her way right now! She’s possessed or something, she’s got powers – I don’t know how to describe it! I swear to God that it’s not a joke or anything, she literally jumped out of the window and into the distance like some fucking comic book character! I don’t know where you are right now, but you need to run, be anywhere but at your house! Go to the police, anywhere! Just RUN!}

Sugarcoat hurriedly put on the Heart Stone, grabbed her keys, slipped on her shoes, and rushed down the stairs. She didn’t say a word as her parents asked where she was going dressed in her pajamas, she didn’t even say a word when she threw the door to the garage open and got into her car. Even when her mother and father pleaded with her to tell her what she was doing, Sugarcoat only responded. “You’re in danger if I stay here! I’ll explain later!”

Once the garage door opened, Sugarcoat put her car in reverse and peeled out of the garage, tires screeching as she punched the gas pedal and took off down the road. Sugarcoat didn’t really know where to go, the police did sound like a good idea at the time, but even Sugarcoat knew that they were no match for a demon, especially given the recent events that transpired in the city between angels and demons. And then there was those Mystery Murders as well.

Can’t go to the police, can’t go to Sunset because I don’t know where she lives…where can I go?! After a moment to think, an idea popped into Sugarcoat’s head. Ugh…I hate to do this, but there’s no other way…

Sugarcoat turned at the next street and hurried as fast as she could, if she did this right, then there might be time for both to get to safety. With every stop sign she passed through, and every red light she ran, Sugarcoat was surprised that she hadn’t been pulled over yet. But that was for the best, the last thing she needed was to explain to the cops that she was being pursued by a demon possessed classmate. Sugarcoat finally spotted her destination and pulled up to the sidewalk, almost jumping the curb. The four-eyed girl bolted from her car and right to the front door of the house she stopped in front of.

Once she was there, she frantically knocked on the door and pressed the doorbell at the same time. Sugarcoat stopped when she heard noises on the other side, after a few seconds the door opened revealed a man in his mid-forties opening the door. “Can I help you, young lady?”

“Mr. Night Light, I’m sorry, but I really, really need to talk to Twilight! It’s an emergency!” Sugarcoat pleaded. “I’m one of her classmates!”

Night Light’s expression became neutral for a moment, and this brow furrowed slightly. “Listen, young lady, I’m well aware of the abuse my daughter has sustained while at Crystal Prep, and at the hands of your fellow students. Whatever little prank or scheme you have planned for tonight, you can shove it! And if you don’t get off my property, I’ll call the police and have you arrested for trespassing!”

Sugarcoat couldn’t blame Twilight's father for being suspicious of her, especially after what has happened to Twilight at school, it was only natural for him to protect his daughter. However, Sugarcoat didn’t have time for the papa bear routine. Sugarcoat shoved her way past Night Light and ran into the house, she stopped at the stairs and ran up them, skipping two steps at a time as she reached the top of the stairs. She could hear Night Light yelling at her, along with the sound of his thudding footsteps as he too bounded up the stairs. Sugarcoat started yelling out Twilight’s name as she opened all the doors, after about the third door was when she found the person she was looking for, unfortunately it wasn’t in the way she wanted to.

Twilight was apparently getting ready for bed, her shirt and bra were on the bed along with her pajama top, she was wearing some blue cotton pajama pants, and that was all that was on her. The teen genius’ face turned bright red as she let out a screech of embarrassment and shock, she quickly covered her breasts and turned around to hide herself, but it was right around that same moment when she turned her head and said in shock, “Sugarcoat?!”

“Twilight!”

“Gotcha!” Night Light caught up to Sugarcoat and grabbed her by the arm hard. “How dare you barge in here! You’re going to jail!”

“Twilight, please listen to me! I need your help, more specifically, I need Sunset’s help!”

That caught Twilight’s attention. “Daddy, let her go!”

Night looked at his youngest child with a confused expression. “What, but Twily she–!”

“I know, but Sugarcoat’s my friend! She really is, I promise! She wouldn’t do something like this if it wasn’t important!” Twilight begged. “Please let her go!” Twilight watched as her father looked between her and Sugarcoat, and after a long minute, released Sugarcoat. “Thank you, now…please leave I’m still changing!”

“Oh, yep! Sorry,” said Night Light as he hurried downstairs.

Twilight took this moment to put her pajama shirt on and turned to face Sugarcoat. “Sugarcoat, what’s going on, and how do you know where I live?”

“The student directory, I have a photographic memory, I know the homes of all the students in the school, at least those who bothered to make their addresses public anyway! I would’ve gone straight to Sunset myself, but she hasn’t been updated in the directory yet! But, seriously, I need Sunset’s help, honestly, I don’t know how much help she can be, but I don’t know who else to turn to!”

Twilight walked up to Sugarcoat and took a good look at her. She was dressed in her pajamas as well, and judging from the look in her eyes, Sugarcoat was scared. “Why do you need Sunset’s help?”

“Sour Sweet, remember when I told you I felt like there was something off about her?” Twilight nodded a “yes” in response. “It turns out she’s possessed by a demon – and no I don’t mean that in a metaphorical sense, I mean it literally! She’s possessed by a real demon and she’s coming to kill me!”

“Wait, what?!”

Sugarcoat held out her wrist and showed the Heart Stone to Twilight. “This bracelet, it’s called the Heart Stone, it’s what allows me to see ghosts, auras, and it’s what also allowed me to push the demon out of Sour Sweet when she attacked me yesterday! I guess the demon took exception to that because she’s on her way now! Like I said, I don’t know if Sunset can help, hell, I don’t even know if you’ll believe me, but I–!”

“Sugarcoat!” Twilight interrupted. She spotted Spike walking up next to her, picked up the dog, and presented Spike to Sugarcoat. “Hold Spike.”

“W-What?! Why?!” Sugarcoat asked in confusion.

“It’s well known that animal companions can reduce stress and have a calming effect, sit down on the bed and pet Spike, now!” Twilight ordered.

Sugarcoat gingerly took Spike into her hands, the purple dog looked up at Sugarcoat, tilted his head, and then licked the side of her face. Despite the imminent death that was following her, she smiled. The pigtailed girl sat on the edge of Twilight’s bed and began petting Spike, as ridiculous as it was, petting Twilight’s dog was helping her to calm down.

Satisfied that her new friend was calm, Twilight quickly got out her cellphone and dialed Sunset’s phone number. A couple of seconds passed before her girlfriend answered. {Hey, Babe, what’s up?}

“Sunset, we have a situation!”

Blood Sword leaped across rooftops; her vision focused on the death of one individual. When she left, Blood Sword knew that Sunny Flare was going to call Sugarcoat to warn her, as much of a bitch that she knew Sunny Flare was, even that bitch wouldn’t let Sugarcoat die. Whether it was out of past loyalty or just because it was the “right thing to do” was another matter, regardless, it wouldn’t impede her, not when she was just one leap away from getting to Sugarcoat’s house. Blood Sword landed on the roof adjacent to Sugarcoat’s home, she paused there and watched as the garage door opened and her target’s car peeled out of the driveway and onto the road. For a moment Blood Sword thought about going into the house and slaughtering Sugarcoat’s parents, but then she’d lose her.

Oh well, kill ‘em later.

Blood Sword chased after Sugarcoat, while it would be easy to disable the car and kill Sugarcoat, she was curious as to where the little slut was going. There were few places she could go for safety, she knew that Sugarcoat was smart enough not to go to the police, they wouldn’t stand a chance against her power and Sugarcoat didn’t seem to be the kind of person to put other people’s lives in danger unnecessarily. Especially after the Twilight kidnapping incident. Blood Sword kept her distance, sticking to the rooftops and to the shadows as best she could, she didn’t want to give away her presence, not just yet. Actually, it was better this way, letting Sugarcoat’s fear build up the longer she dragged this out, like basting a turkey.

Before she proceeded to violate said turkey.

I’m gonna fuck me a fear turkey tonight!

“What is wrong with you?!”

I’m a fucking demon, don’t kink shame me!

After a few more leaps it seemed Sugarcoat had made it to her destination, which turned out to be another residence. Blood Sword delved into Sour Sweet’s memories, but she couldn’t find any memory pertaining to this house. She watched as Sugarcoat bailed out of her car and rushed to the front door of the residence, where she proceeded to frantically knock on the door. A man opened the door, unfortunately, Blood Sword wasn’t quite close enough to hear what Sugarcoat was saying to the man, but whatever she did say, she could tell by the man’s expression that he took exception to it. Then in a rather bold move, Sugarcoat pushed past the older man and barged right into his house.

“Huh, does Sugarcoat have herself a Sugar Daddy?”

“I don’t know…it wouldn’t surprise me though considering all she did at school…”

“Whatever probably wanted to get one last fuck in before she died. Ooooh, now that would be sick! Sneak in while they were doing it and just stab ‘em both right as they finish!”

“You’re completely sick…!”

“What part of ‘I’M A DEMON’ do you not comprehend?! I love killing, I love blood and carnage! And I like to get creative with my kills! Besides, I consider it a good send off, at least I’m letting them die in the throes of ecstasy, as opposed to the usual way I kill them, which is normally in the midst of agonizing pain.” Blood Sword waited about a minute, then a minute thirty, and then a minute forty. “Well times up, hope he has a trigger!”

Blood Sword jumped off the roof and landed in the front yard of the house. She walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell, waiting patiently for someone to answer. The door opened and revealed the same man from before, completely dressed.

“Can I…help you…?” Night Light asked before he noticed the katana in Blood Sword’s hand.

“Huh, would’ve thought she was banging you by now. Eh, I gave her a chance.”

Night Light quickly slammed the door in Blood Sword’s face and backed away, but in a series of quick slashes, the door was cut to pieces, the wooden remnants falling to the floor and leaving the entrance wide open. Blood Sword walked in slowly, causing Night Light to back up as she did.

“Honey, what was that?!” came a voice.

“STAY BACK, VELVET!” Night Light shouted from the living room.

Blood Sword looked to her left and watched as a woman exited from an office space, strangely enough, she looked as if she could be Twilight Sparkle’s older sister, there was a strong resemblance. “Oh, I get it. That’s who lives here, she came to the Whipping Girl, probably hoping that her badass girlfriend would protect her from me. Heh, now that’s funny.” Blood Sword looked up towards the stairs and smirked. “Let’s make this easy for everyone, hmm? I can just kill everyone in this house tonight and turn it into a real bloodbath in here. But if you just give me the girl who came in here, I promise to just kill her, I have a bone to pick with her, several of them as a matter of fact.”

Velvet looked to the demonic warrior and said, “That girl…Twilight’s friend?!”

“Why do you want her?!” Night Light asked.

“It doesn’t really matter why, not to you anyway. What you should be concerned about is whether your family is going to live tonight. Now tell me, is all of you dying worth that girl’s life? She’s not a nice person, she’s actually one of the girls who helped in messing with your daughter, you really don’t owe her anything,” said Blood Sword.

Night Light looked from the demon to the stairs, it wasn’t like he denied that that could be the case with that girl. However, the way Twilight looked concerned for that girl, he hadn’t seen that level of concern for anyone except one other girl she called her friend a while back, and then once again when it was Sunset Shimmer before she became her girlfriend. Now…

“Okay, I’ll show you mercy tonight. Mostly because that little bitch pissed me off and I really want to skin her alive, so I’ll just go up there and drag her out. There, aren’t I nice?” Blood Sword sped up the stairs before either parent could say or do anything. She cut down the first door on her right, but it was just a guest room. Then another door to her left, a linen closet. She did the same for another on the right, a bathroom, the next door on the left, a boy’s room. “Fifth time’s the charm!” With another series of slashes, she destroyed the door and found her target. “Bingo!”

Both girls screamed at the sight the demonic samurai, Twilight dropped her phone and Sugarcoat held onto Spike, mostly because she was scared, and because the little dog was trying to get out of her clutches, no doubt wanting to go and defend his owner from the obvious threat in front of them, but the last thing Sugarcoat wanted was to see her new friend’s dog get massacred, that, and bringing a psycho demon to said friend’s home.

“Hey there, Sugar Slut, did ya miss me?!” Blood Sword mocked.

Sugarcoat gulped and stood up. “T-Twilight, take Spike.”

“But…”

“DO IT!” Sugarcoat ordered.

Twilight quickly took her dog back, once that was done, Sugarcoat put herself between Twilight and Blood Sword. “I’m the one you want, don’t hurt her!”

Blood Sword scoffed. “Oh, I’m not, tonight I just want you!”

“Stay back!” Sugarcoat warned as she held up her right hand. “I sent you away once, I can do it again!”

Blood Sword hesitated, she still didn’t know how or what Sugarcoat did to push her out of Sour Sweet and back into its sword prison. Personally, she’d rather not do that again, for the first time in a long while she had to be careful. “Huh…you have me at a disadvantage, that’s never happened to me before, bravo.”

This is good, Sugarcoat thought. She doesn’t know that I used the Heart Stone to push her away. If I can stall her, or make her back off then maybe…

“Tell me something, do your abilities protect only you? Or others? For instance…” In a flash of incredible speed, Blood Sword disappeared and then reappeared right on top of Twilight’s bed, sword ready to cut down the purple skinned teen. “Can it protect the Whipping Girl from getting her head cut off?!”

Before that question could be answered, an intense pillar of fire shot down from the roof and right on top of Blood Sword. Twilight and Sugarcoat jumped away from the pillar and landed right at the foot of the door as they watched the flames pour down and then suddenly stop. There were scorch marks left behind by the hole it burned through, but miraculously, nothing else had caught fire. Down below, Blood Sword laid on her back in the middle of the master bedroom, she was aware of a pressure on her chest, when she looked up to see what the source of it was, she was surprised to see Ember there, looking all kinds of pissed.

“Oh, didn’t expect to see you–”

Ember blasted Blood Sword with a fireball to the face, interrupting her. The fiery heroine grabbed the demonic warrior by her armor and shot straight up into the air. Once in the air, Ember threw Blood Sword right towards the street where she impacted hard, creating a body sized crater.

“Wow…” Blood Sword spoke as she dragged herself out of the pit. “Someone is pissed off tonight…”

“Oh, ‘pissed’ doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel right now! There are no words to express how ‘pissed’ I am! So, in lieu of that, I’ll express them in a more primal way!”

Flames erupted around Ember, transforming her into her Dragon Form. The mighty dragon roared with great fury into the air, shaking houses and setting off car alarms from the sheer force of it. Blood Sword charged her blade and slashed the air, releasing a crescent energy wave straight for Ember. Dragon Shimmer ignited her claws and swatted the crescent away as if it were an annoying fly.

[b]“Shit…that’s not good,” said Blood Sword.

The gaps in Dragon Shimmer’s armor-plated body released more flames, those flames then took the form of serpents which then shot straight towards Blood Sword. The demonic warrior back flipped a few times and slashed at the closest ones with her sword. However, each time she cut them down, two more sprung up in its place. Eventually, there were dozens and dozens of them, all of which were hissing embers and bearing down on her. The first few sunk their fangs into the armor of her arms and legs, a few others wrapped themselves around her body, and one around her neck. Dragon Shimmer lifted the Blood Sword into the air and then drove her into the street, the flaming dragon roared again as she charged forward, pushing Blood Sword through the road, upturning the asphalt and concrete as she did so.

Sugarcoat and Twilight got out of the house to see what was happening, but then Sugarcoat ran for her car, which was amazingly untouched amongst all that chaos. Twilight followed Sugarcoat and asked, “What are you doing?!”

“She’ll kill her, I don’t think Sour’s doing this of her own free will! That demon might be forcing her to fight, or worse, taken control of her!” Sugarcoat held up the Heart Stone on her right wrist. “This thing, it has the power to get it out of her, I did it once by accident, maybe I could do it again!”

Twilight, with a determined look, got into the passenger seat. “I’m coming with you.”

“It’s too dangerous!”

“I wasn’t asking for permission, besides, in Sunset’s current state, I may need to talk her down!”

Sugarcoat couldn’t argue with that, she’d have a hard time convincing Sunset to stop even under normal circumstances. “Buckle up, I’m about to put all those action movie chase scene moves to use!”

Sunset didn’t know how it ended up like this, but somehow it did. After their epic laser tag win, and takeout dinner at her place, they ended up doing it again. Although it felt a lot different this go around, perhaps it was because there wasn’t a lingering fear of death the next day, or that this was victory sex. No, this was different, this was something that normally happened on date, some dates anyway. Coming back to your home with the person you love to share a night of passion after a fun first date, although it had a minor hiccup, it wasn’t all that bad.

Both girls lied in the hanging bedroom, Pinkie was cuddled up against Sunset, resting her head in the crook of her arm, while Sunset had her right arm draped around Pinkie. Sunset sighed in content, this was how things were supposed to be, no bad stuff happening, just her and her girlfriend.

Pinkie Pie stirred a bit as she opened her eyes and looked up at Sunset. “That was fun.”

“I’m glad,” Sunset replied.

“I’m starting to think you have a breast fetish, Sunset.”

The former unicorn blushed and looked away with a pouting face. “I do not!”

“Uh-huh, you were making out with my dirty pillows a little more than my lips, both of them,” Pinkie teased.

Sunset snorted, a habit she hadn’t kicked, snorting was usually a way to show that a pony was annoyed or angry, or just being stubborn. While it wasn’t very ladylike Sunset didn’t really care. “Ugh…okay, fine, I admit it, I do! But give me a break, in Equestria, the only time a mare’s teats are as big as ours – or even close to it – is when they’re pregnant or if they modify themselves with magic…So I may have gotten a little too into them…”

Pinkie giggled and leaned up to kiss Sunset on the cheek. “I don’t mind, it felt really good. But answer me this…do you suck yours when you masturbate?”

Sunset’s face was even redder. “I plead the fifth.”

“Knew it!” Pinkie, with surprising swiftness, maneuvered herself so that she was now straddling Sunset’s hips. “But you don’t have to do that anymore. You have me now, and I’m more than happy to suck your fun bags! See!”

“Pinkie wai – aaaaaahh~” Sunset moaned as Pinkie latched her lips around her right breast and began suckling. “Oh shit…that feels good~”

Pinkie stopped her suckling and used her right hand to grope Sunset’s left breast. “Hmm, you know, a little whip cream, and I can turn you into a nice Sundae.”

“That…was so corny,” said Sunset.

“I didn’t hear a no~”

“I don’t have any whip…” Sunset cut herself off when she saw Pinkie reach into her puffy curly locks and pulled out a can of whip cream, “…cream. Shoulda known.”

Pinkie shook the can and smiled deviously. “Yeah, you shoulda.”

Unfortunately, not a dollop of whipped cream was able to be applied, as that was the time the Witchblade shined. }}} Sunset, I sense a great anger! {{{

“It’s probably me because I’m having a really good time, and some little shit is about to get their ass kicked for ruining it!” Sunset threatened.

“What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked.

“Witchblade senses something bad is going down…I gotta go…”

Pinkie nodded and got off Sunset, the flame haired girl swung her legs over the edge and stood up. The moment she did, the Witchblade activated, wrapping Sunset’s body in the revealing, mystical, living armor.

“Did I ever tell you how hot you look in that?” Pinkie asked.

Sunset smirked as she looked at Pinkie from over her right shoulder. “Yes, but I never get tired of you telling me.” Just then Sunset’s cellphone rang, she saw Twilight’s name appear and quickly answered it. “Hey, Twi, what’s up?”

{Sunset, you have to help! Sun’s fighting that demon, Blood Sword! It turns out that she’s a student from my school who’s possessed! I think we have a way of separating the two, but you must get to Sun before she kills Sour Sweet!}

“Oh shit! Y-Yeah, I’m on it!”

“That bad?” Pinkie asked.

“Yeah,” Sunset got onto the bed and gave Pinkie a passionate kiss before pulling away and smiling. “I love you.”

Pinkie blushed and happily replied, “I love you too.”

Sunset dashed out of her room, leaped over the staircase railing, and burst out of the backdoor. Metallic bat wings grew from her armor, and with one flap she took off and zoomed into the air. It didn’t take her long to spot where her little sister was having her rumble, the flickers of flames were a dead giveaway. With her destination fixed, Sunset jetted in that direction with a great burst of speed. Houses turned to blurs, the wind howled all around her as she continued on her trajectory, and in less than a minute, Sunset managed to find her little sister and their apparent victim/enemy.

Dragon Shimmer was bellowing flames upon Blood Sword, with the latter using their blade to cut the flames in half. Blood Sword used her left hand to make a hand sign and called out, “Raijingukurēn (Rising Crane)!” Blood Sword slashed upwards with her sword, creating a vertical energy wave that rose and cut the street as it traveled forward. Dragon Shimmer cut off her fire blast and quickly dove to the right avoiding the attack, however, that just put her in position for Blood Sword’s next attack. “Chimamire no Tsubasa (Bloody Wings)!”

Blood Sword’s back sprouted scarlet light wings that flapped as one and propelled Blood Sword into the air. Those same wings wrapped around her and wrapped into a spiral. Dragon Shimmer took the attack straight to her broad chest, the spinning light tornado drilled against her chest armor, scraping, and grinding, tearing at the armor as Blood Sword drove her attack forward. The infernal dragon roared as she released a huge burst of flames from her body, making Blood Sword’s attack skid off and away from her. Dragon Shimmer hissed in pain, seeing a gash on her chest that leaked molten ichor. Thankfully, her healing abilities kicked in and sealed the wound, Blood Sword halted her attack and let her wings flare once again.

“You’re really stubborn, you overgrown lizard! But I have a girl to kill and you’re annoying me!”

Before Blood Sword could do anything, Sunset appeared behind the demonic warrior and punched her in the back of her head, sending Blood Sword flying and into a building. Dragon Shimmer saw this, reverted to her humanoid form, and flew over to Sunset. “Sis, you’re here! How?!”

“Twilight called me, said you were fighting Blood Sword, and that Blood Sword was actually someone from your school,” said Sunset.

“Seriously?! Who?!” Sun asked.

“She said…Sour Sweet, I think?”

Sun’s expression became aggressive again as she turned in the direction that Blood Sword flew. “Oh, this just gets better, that’s the bitch that tried to mutilate Twilight! This is my lucky day!”

“Hold on!” Sunset put her hand on Sun’s shoulder to stop her from going. “Look, that sword might be controlling her, and if it is, we have to help her!”

“After what she almost did to Twilight?!” Sun spat, along with some flames from her mouth.

“Look, I’m not saying you have to forgive her, but if it turns out that that was because of her being possessed, then you’ll kill an innocent–” Sun raised an eyebrow at that, “semi-innocent girl.” Sunset corrected.

Sun growled but shook her head in understanding. “Fine, but I’m going to hit her really, really fucking hard!”

“I’m okay with that. We need to hold her down,” said Sunset.

“That should be easy enough.”

Sunset and Sun charged straight for Blood Sword, the demonic warrior dragged herself out of the rubble, but only to get struck by two uppercuts at the same time that sent her straight up into the air. Sunset and Sun flew in opposite directions, circling around and intercepting the demonic warrior in the air. In unison, both Sunsets laced their right and left feet, respectively, with flames and came down with a double flying kick. They drove their heels into the chest of Blood Sword, sending all three of them falling straight back down to the ground once again. Sunset and Sun jumped out of the crater they had created, and at the same time, they jumped out the crater along with Blood Sword, the latter looking quite perturbed.

Sunset formed chains that snaked off the armor and zoomed straight for Blood Sword, at the same time, fire serpents coiled around Sun’s arms just before she thrust them forward and launched the fiery snakes at their target. The chains quickly latched themselves around Blood Sword’s left arm, while the snakes wrapped around her right arm. The two constricting constructs continued to coil until they wrapped around Blood Sword’s chest and legs, effectively immobilizing the possessed teen.

Just about then they spotted a car in the distance, that same car – which had several dents in it – came to a screeching halt a few feet from where the three were standing. The twin Sunsets immediately saw Sugarcoat as the driver, and the passenger, Twilight, was in the middle of death gripping whatever she could get her hands on. Sugarcoat got out of the car and began walking towards them, Blood Sword immediately began thrashing against her restraints.

“Sweets, what the hell are you doing here?! Get back!” Sun ordered.

“It’s alright, I think I can help! She came after me because I did something that made that demon go away!” Sugarcoat fixed her gaze on the possessed Sour Sweet with determination burning in her eyes. “If I can do it again, then all we have to do is deal with that sword!”

“Fucking whore! Like I’d let you push me out again! That’s it, I was saving this move because it takes a lot of power, but dammit, you’re all worth it!”

Suddenly, blades of blood erupted from Blood Sword’s body, dicing her up and allowing the severed parts to slip through the chains and fire serpents. This caught everyone by surprise, and in Twilight and Sugarcoat’s cases, made them throw up a little in their mouths. The severed pieces released ropes of blood that connected each of them back to each other, pulling the pieces up and away from both warriors and put her in the middle between Sugarcoat and the two Sunsets. Blood Sword reassembled herself and took her stance, the air grew heavy as thin scarlet light outlined her form.

“Die all of you…Higurashi–!”

“NO!” Sugarcoat shouted as she thrust her right arm forward. As soon as she did this, the Heart Stone glowed bright orange and released a pulse of energy that washed over Blood Sword. The moment the pulse hit her, Blood Sword paused in her actions, her eyes shifted from their red color to orange. “Sour Sweet, I don’t know if you’re in there, but please, fight back against this thing!”

“Sugar…coat…?”

“NO! This bitch belongs to me!” Blood Sword asserted.

Sun moved closer readying herself to attack, however, Sunset put herself in front of her little sister and shook her head in the negative to not to interfere, at least not until something went sideways.

Sugarcoat could feel the demon’s will fighting against her, this evil entity was trying to regain control of Sour Sweet. The good thing was, Sugarcoat could feel that Sour Sweet wasn’t willingly doing as the demon wanted, this was against Sour Sweet’s will, and so long as that remained true, then there was a chance to separate them. But how…? How do I do this?! I don’t even know how I’m keeping her still like this!

~ You’re more talented than you think, Sugar. ~

Sugarcoat’s eyes widened when she heard that voice. Her eyes shifted to the right and there she saw the ghostly form of her deceased grandmother, Candycoat. “Grandma…?”

~ The Heart Stone responds to your will, Sugarcoat. You banished the demon from your friend when you wanted it to go away. And you’re restricting it because you don’t want it to hurt anyone. It took me months to learn how to manipulate auras like that, it appears you resonate with the Heart Stone more than I thought, ~ said Candycoat happily.

“This thing is strong, last time was a fluke, its guard was down! It’s resisting me now!”

~ You can do it; you are my granddaughter. Plus, your friends seem to believe in you. ~

Sugarcoat looked behind her and saw Twilight, she had a confident look on her face as she said, “You can do it, Sugarcoat!”

“Twilight…”

“C’mon, Sweets!” Sun shouted as well. “Get that demon out!”

“Sunset…” Sugarcoat furrowed her brow and gripped her right forearm with her left hand. The Heart Stone crystal began to shine brighter and brighter, coating Sugarcoat in an orange aura, and making her eyes glow the same color. “You don’t own that body; it belongs to someone else! Get out of Sour Sweet’s body, I COMMAND YOU!”

Another pulse of orange energy rushed forward and crashed against Blood Sword, followed by a third, a fourth, and a fifth wave. Pulse after pulse of the Heart Stone’s energy continued to hit Blood Sword, like waves crashing against the face of a cliff, and for Blood Sword, it felt as much. It felt as if the demon was going to be washed away and taken by a riptide, however, its lifeline, Sour Sweet’s soul, managed to keep it just barely hanging on.

“You little bitch, fight back! Resist her, or I swear I’ll kill everyone you care about, and then save you for last!” Blood Sword threatened.

Sour Sweet growled in anger, enough was enough. “I’ve had it with you!” she furiously stated. “I’ve been your plaything for long enough! Get out! GET OUT OF MY BODY YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!!!”

Another pulse hit Sour Sweet’s body, and now the demon held on by a mere thread, a thread that was rapidly dissolving with each passing nanosecond. Sour Sweet’s body tensed up as Blood Sword stated, “Fine, keep this weakling bitch, but I’m taking some compensation before I do!”

The armor around Sour Sweet disappeared, revealing Sour Sweet back in her normal clothing. However, when that happened, cuts started to form around her body, and from those cuts gushed out blood in streams that made Sour Sweet scream in pain. The blood coalesced into the shape of a female, with curved horns and glowing red eyes. Sour Sweet’s body collapsed onto the ground and released the katana, upon doing so, the blood demon opened her hand, and immediately the sword flew to the blood demon’s hand.

“This is my compensation for my departure! Sayonara assholes!” Blood Sword mocked as she jumped to the side and struck the ground with the sword, sending up a plume of dust into the air.

“SOUR SWEET!” Sugarcoat shouted as she ceased using the Heart Stone’s power and rushed towards Sour Sweet’s body.

“Sun, get after that thing, I’ll take care of Sour! Go!” Sunset ordered.

“Got it!” Sun hurried off to look for the Blood Sword, all the while planning to do so either way. I’ll find that damn sword and add one more Artifact to my vault! And…I need more info on what Sugarcoat used to stop that demon, if I’m lucky, it’s another Artifact, which, at this rate, it probably is! Things are looking up!

Once Sunset saw Sun go after the blood demon, she rushed over to Sour Sweet’s body, sliding in on her armored knees and stopping right before the teen girl’s body. Sour Sweet’s breathing was erratic, blood was still pouring from her open wounds, Blood Sword had sliced her from the inside around her major arteries to ensure that one of them would have to stay behind and tend to Sour Sweet. Convening demon. Sunset hurriedly placed her armored right hand onto Sour’s chest, the ruby gemstone at the center began to shine brightly, releasing healing energy waves into Sour’s body.

“Hang on, you’ll be okay, I promise!” Sunset stated.

“C’mon, Sour…” Sugarcoat prayed.

Twilight came up next to Sugarcoat, placing her hands on her friend’s shoulder in a show of support. Right now, she wasn’t sure how to feel about all of this. Sour Sweet was top among the girls who tormented her during her time at CPA, but from what she could tell from this whole incident, it seemed as if she was under the influence of a demonic force. How much of that was the demon, and how much of that was Sour Sweet herself was something that Twilight needed to determine before she could say for sure how best to regard Sour Sweet, so for that reason, she hoped that Sunset was able to heal Sour Sweet, if for only the opportunity to answer Twilight’s questions.

The miles were long, but the goal would soon be in sight. Adagio, Sonata, and Aria managed to steal a RV, to the delight of Sonata, without having to kill anyone. The poor guy just forgot his keys and forgot to lock his doors, one could call it a stroke of providence, but Adagio just called it dumb luck. Still, they had already left the city of Manehattan, and were far out of the state, so now they were on the long road back to Canterlot City.

Sonata was in the back making a late-night meal for the two of them, while Aria took the first shift of driving. Adagio sat at the table and stroked the top of the music box, despite her calm demeanor, on the inside, Adagio was nervous. Her endeavors up until now have ended in failure, trying to bring Equestria under their control ended with them getting banished to this goddess awful world. Her second scheme ended with their gemstones getting shattered to pieces, leaving them completely powerless. Her third, albeit not really a plan, ended up with the three of them becoming common whores and nearly ended up with all three of them becoming sex slaves, or worse, dead.

Three failures, three sisters, and now this was Adagio’s fourth, and quite possibly, last plan. To fail meant either death or a humiliating defeat, but Adagio didn’t want to think about that, all she wanted to think about was how to win, how best to strike against Sunset Shimmer and her friends. How best to use the power of the music box to make that pony bitch obey Adagio’s commands. And how best to deploy the music box’s power should Sunset Shimmer refuse to surrender to them.

The music box’s power amplifies based on my emotions, and when we sing together, the range of its power is amplified. It would take time for me to start the song, which could give Sunset Shimmer and her lot time to rush us and stop me from singing. I’ll have to have Aria and Sonata act as the distraction, stay close by ready to sing.

However, her plans were still evolving, especially since the introduction of the city’s new guardian, Witchblade, and the fire wielder. Adagio didn’t know the full extent of their powers, nor did she know how they’d react to her and her sisters. Witchblade had been shown to dispatch monsters with lethal means, there was no doubt that if Witchblade saw what they were doing, she’d kill Adagio or her sisters on the spot.

That scared her more than losing to Sunset, Witchblade was the wild card, Adagio lost because she didn’t take into account Sunset’s presence. If she didn’t plan for Witchblade’s possible interference, then it would mean their death.

Calm down…there has to be a way to ensure that we come out on top, just go through the variables…but I don’t have enough information on Witchblade to know what she’ll do, or if she’s close to Sunset Shimmer!

“Hey, Dagi, you alright?” Sonata asked.

Adagio snapped herself out of her thoughts and nodded to Sonata. “I’m fine, Sona. Just trying to think of how we approach Sunset Shimmer and her little group.”

“Well I hope so! I don’t want to be driving all this way just to find out you made something up on the spot,” Aria called out from the front.

Adagio rolled her eyes, but she knew Aria was right.

“What if we trick them?” Sonata suggested.

“And how would you – HOLY SHIT – ARIA, LOOK OUT!” Adagio shouted.

Aria looked back at the road and someone in violet colored robes was on the street. The tomboy of the group slammed the brakes hard and made everyone lurch forward, the tires screeched to a halt, and threw some items about the cabin. Aria’s heart raced as she tried to slow her breathing, when she looked back up, she saw that there was no one.

“The fuck…?” Aria looked back behind her and asked, “You guys alright?!”

Sonata, who had been thrown to the floor, slowly got up and rubbed her head. “Ow…that’s going to leave a bruise…”

Adagio slid herself out of the seat, rubbing her stomach as when Aria hit the brakes, her body went forward and hit the edge of the table. “Ugh…I think you just crushed my uterus with that fast stop…”

“Not like you were using it for anything anyway,” Aria snidely commented.

“Ha-ha, funny.” Adagio got up and walked towards the front, she and Aria looked out the front window, but spotted no one. “Did we hit that person?”

“It didn’t feel like we hit anything,” said Aria.

“Aria, hit the outside lights.” Aria did as she was told and flipped a switch on the console that made the RV’s outside lights turn on, illuminating the sides and back of the vehicle. Adagio scanned the area but could see nothing through the front window. “Sonata, can you stand?”

Sonata slowly got up and nodded. “Head still hurts, but I’m fine, I think.”

“Okay, I need you to look out the back window and see if there’s anyone out there.”

Sonata carefully made her way all the way to the back of the RV, she climbed onto the bed and moved the curtains to see outside. “There’s nothing back here!”

Aria and Adagio looked at each other with confusion, Adagio was sure she saw someone there, Aria definitely saw someone too otherwise she wouldn’t have braked like that. Adagio, keeping the music box close, walked towards the door, but was stopped by Aria.

“What are you doing?!” Aria demanded.

“I’m going to go and check outside,” said Adagio.

“I don’t like this, Adagio, it’s freaky!”

Adagio rolled her eyes. “Please, don’t go thinking this is one of your slasher or monster movies, lest I remind you that we’re the ones with the box that brings death, and we’re technically considered monsters ourselves. So, if there’s anyone who should be afraid, it’s the one outside that door.”

“Won’t mean much if you get stabbed in the throat, or through the heart, or shot!” Aria rebutted.

Well…she does have a point there. Adagio walked over to the kitchen area and drew out a butcher’s knife, while keeping the music box cradled in the crook of her left arm. Aria didn’t seem happy, but she was satisfied that her big sister was better armed. The two little sisters watched as their big sister opened the side door, letting it gently swing open. Adagio walked down the steps, keeping the knife pointed outward to make sure if there was someone, they knew to back away.

Once she made it to the bottom step, she took a quick glance to the left and then the right, there was nothing. Adagio took one more step and was now on the ground, still on alert, she quickly looked under the RV, but could see no one hiding underneath, nor any legs that indicated someone was on the other side. The eldest Siren made her way towards the front of their procured transportation and inspected for any damage. However, when she did, there was nothing. No blood, no dents, no nothing.

I know I saw someone there, thought Adagio. Maybe I should sing to make sure that there’s no one waiting to try and kill us.

Before she could do that, Adagio got a feeling. A feeling as if someone just walked over her grave. She started to go into a cold sweat, and for some inexplicable reason, she turned her head to the left. There, in the distance, in the middle of the grassy clearing, was the same violet robed person who was standing in the road not a second ago. Adagio furrowed her brow and quickly walked towards them, she stopped about ten or so feet away from them, watching this unknown person closely.

“What the hell do you want?! You almost became roadkill!”

The figure did not respond.

“Why were you standing out there?! Do you have a death wish?! If so, I’m more than happy to grant it!” Adagio threatened.

The figure had its hood up, unfortunately, due to it being nighttime, it was hard to make out the person’s face amongst the shadows cast by their hood. The same could be said for the figure’s feet, the grass was tall, and made it hard to see the figure’s legs.

“Hey…are you listening to me?” Adagio asked cautiously.

The figure’s head tilted upwards, and from the shadows of that hood, violet colored eyes shined. Before Adagio could utter a gasp, her eyes shined violet as well. She dropped the knife, and then dropped to her knees. Adagio took the music box into both of her hands and for some unknown reason, the box’s lid cracked open ever so slightly. Adagio began to sing again, but the song was different, it wasn’t the same death song she and her sisters were singing when they used the box’s powers.

“Hear my song~
Rise up from the depths
Your sufferings been long~
With hate in your heart
You’ll soon depart~

Return to this world
Heed my command~
Rise up I say
This I demand~!

Rise up! Rise up~
Your time has come
Rise up! Rise up~
Your heart will thrum!

Rise up for hate
Rise up for fate
Rise up! Rise up!

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssseeee…Uuuuuuuuuuup~!”

The robed figure’s eyes ceased shining, the box’s lid shut, and Adagio’s eyes returned to normal. Aria and Sonata ran out of the RV, clever and knives in hand as they rushed out to help their big sister. Upon arriving to Adagio’s side, all they found was Adagio on her knees with a spaced out look in her eyes.

“Adagio! Hey, Sis, what happened, why did you start singing?!” Aria asked.

They received no answer.

“Dagi! Please, Dagi, say something! You’re scaring us!” Sonata pleaded.

Adagio’s eyes fluttered, she then shook her head, feeling as if a fog had lifted from her mind. “What…What happened?”

“You tell me?! We started hearing you sing, and we saw some freaky dude in purple robes, that same one I almost ran over! But when we got out here, he was gone, and you’re spaced out! Did you use the box?”

Adagio looked down at the music box, she did remember something. “I did…”

“Did you kill him with it?” Sonata asked. “Did it vaporize him or something?”

“I…I don’t know…the song…it didn’t sound the same as the one that we used during our experiments. But…I think I know what this is now,” said Adagio.

“Really?” Sonata and Aria asked.

“It’s called ‘Pandora’s Box’,” said Adagio.

Sonata blinked and thought about that name. “Wait…during that time we were in Greece, wasn’t there a story about something called Pandora’s Box? Something about hope?”

“Close,” Aria corrected. “The story went that a princess named Pandora was given a box by the goddess wife of the god who created her. She was basically pissed at her and tricked the girl into opening it, unleashing all kinds of spirits that represented all types of destruction. She managed to close it and kept the last spirit safe inside, hope. That really can’t be the same box, that was just a legend!”

Adagio stood up and turned to her sisters. “As far as Equestria is concerned, we’re legends, and all legends have a core of truth at the center. Throughout the centuries, we’ve heard and seen things that are later distorted through either word of mouth or due to inaccurate accounts and record keeping. And sometimes they’re just done to embellish or hype up an event that was really less mundane or just extraordinary.”

That much neither Siren could deny, they had witnessed this many times over, the only ones who lived long enough to know what was false and what was true were the three of them. Although if they tried to correct anyone, they’d be called liars or trying to spread false information. The curse of immortality.

“Okay, but if that’s the real Pandora’s Box, what was it doing in some pawn shop in Manehattan?” Sonata pondered.

“It’s probably been handled through the centuries, changing hands from the wealthy and powerful, and then ending up in a pawn shop through no fault of its own. Now I’m starting to think that it was destiny that I happened upon that shop, I walked by it every day when I came home, I always felt a connection to it, and now I know. It’s a powerful magical artifact, as ancient as the stories behind it.”

“Okay…but what did that last song do?” Aria asked.

“No clue, I’m curious myself, but let’s not ponder it here.” Adagio looked around to make sure that the robed figure was gone. “I don’t want to take the risk that that person is just hiding and waiting for us.”

The Siren sisters hurried back to the RV and drove down the road, all while that same robed figure watched them drive away before disappearing in a whisp of purple glowing smoke.

The burning river of Hell, Phlegethon. In it many tortured souls clawed their way towards the surface to try and escape this searing pain, all of it would break any soul that was thrown in. But not her, Suri wasn’t going to let something like pain get in her way, nor was she going to let these – literally – damned souls stand in her way. She was robbed, robbed of her victory, robbed of her prestige, and robbed of her life. Why should she get sent to Hell? She had talent, wealth, and clout, she was going to become a famous fashion designer, known the world over, boys would throw themselves at her, girls would worship her, and all the power she would wield, able to deem what is popular and what is not, that was her destiny, but it was ROBBED.

“Sunset – fucking – Shimmer! Fucking, Rarity Belle! Those two took away my win! I SHOULD HAVE WON! That public school, trashy slut is nothing compared to me! And that punk, bad girl wannabe, how could anyone think she’s model material! The only place she belongs is in a back alley on her hands and knees!!!”

Another of the tortured souls grabbed at her ankle, but Suri kicked the man’s soul in the face, many times until she caved it in. Once he had let go, Suri climbed up, digging her nails into the back of the soul in front of her and leaving long bloody scratch marks as she climbed over her. Another soul did the same to her, but it only managed to get halfway before she elbowed the soul in the gut, followed by another kick to send it into a pile of others.

Suri had been making this climb again and again, she didn’t know how long she had been doing this, but each time she was getting a little closer. The pain was excruciating in the river of fire, every second of every minute it felt as if she was being burned alive. What made it worse was the healing, whenever her body burned up enough, it would just heal right back, and worse than that, her ability to become numb to the pain was gone. Which meant that the pain was fresh and new to her body every time her flesh returned. But that didn’t matter, she took the pain and used it as fuel.

This time, this time she was going to make it. Why was that? Because she could see the top of the river for the first time she didn’t know how long. Suri kept biting, clawing, punching, and kicking, breaking bones and getting some in return, but with each soul she pushed aside she got closer. After smashing the faces of two more souls, Suri did the impossible, she breached the surface of the Phlegethon River, she gasped as if taking in fresh air after holding her breath for a long time. Not wasting a moment, Suri dug her nails into the dirt of the dead land of Hell and dragged herself out of the river. Some of the souls tried to cling to her and pull her back in, angry that she made it out, or trying to use her to get out themselves.

“FUCK ALL OF YOU! I MADE IT OUT MYSELF! I WILL NOT BE USED AS A STEPPINGSTONE, YOU’RE ALL MY STEPPINGSTONES! NOW LET! ME! GO!” Suri demanded as she kicked the last soul back down into the river.

With that done, she crawled her naked self from the riverbank and onto land. She kept crawling more and more until she was sure that she was far enough away that the river couldn’t rise up and take her back, or that any wayward soul would try and drag her back. Suri flipped onto her back, her chest rising as she panted from the effort, but then she laughed, a victorious, maniacal laugh. “I did it…I did it! I got out of that river! I beat Hell! Aha hahahahahahahahaaha…ha……ha……”

Suri’s laughter died out when she saw a pair of bulky demons. One had a giant cleaver looking weapon in its right hand, while the other wielded a pitchfork, the tips were arrow shaped, while the shafts that connected them to the staff were barbed. The second demon, without a word, turned its pitchfork around and stabbed Suri in the gut with the weapon, driving it all the way through her. Suri let out a painful scream as she felt the razor-sharp barbs tear at her insides, a pain that was made even worse when that same demon lifted her off the ground. She was held up in the air by the pitchfork, the demon used gravity and momentum to make Suri slide down the weapon further, blood spilled from her wound and her mouth as she threw up her life ichor onto the demon’s large hand and weapon.

Despite the pain she was in, Suri managed to give the demon a look of defiance. “Fuck you…I made it…I got out of that river…! I beat you…! I want out…!”

The two demons chuckled at the human soul’s demands. There was no demanding anything in Hell, there was only pain, sin, and schadenfreude. Perfect example of which was displayed by the demon as it walked towards the bank of the Phlegethon and held Suri aloft over the burning river by the pitchfork, as if it was roasting a hotdog. Suri struggled against the demon’s pitchfork, trying to get herself loose, but every movement only tore her insides more and more, the blood loss weakening her and making her efforts all the more pointless.

“I won’t…go…back!”

Just as she said that a song echoed around her. A song that even the demons seemed to hear as they too looked around in confusion, there were no songs in Hell, the only music was that of the screams, roars, and shrieks. However, it was undeniable that it was music, a song sung by a beautiful voice. That song suddenly took on form as black, purple, and blue energy wrapped around Suri Polomare, that same energy snapped the pitchfork in half and released a wave of energy that blasted both of the demons and turned them to dust. The wound on Suri closed, revitalizing her.

“What’s…What’s going on?!”

Suddenly she felt a rising motion, and the landscape of hell was quickly shrinking beneath her. This was it, she was finally leaving this place, Suri looked up towards the metaphorical sky and grinned evilly.

Blood Sword had finally lost Ember, she had dogged her quite desperately, but she managed to give her the slip. However, that was only one problem solved. The blood from Sour Sweet was wearing thin, and her current form wouldn’t last much longer. If the demon wanted to continue to move about, it needed a host.

“More specifically, I need a willing host, I’d be far stronger if that little whiny bitch hadn’t been fighting me on every single thing!” Blood Sword complained.

At that moment, a figure appeared in the alley Blood Sword was walking down, this figure wore violet robes and had glowing violet eyes that shined in the darkness of its hood. Blood Sword brandished its physical container and growled at the figure.

“What are you?! A friend of Witchblade?!” Blood Sword received no reply. “Speak damn you or I’ll cut you down where you stand!”

The figure remained silent, it’s only reply was to raise its right arm and point down the alleyway to its right. Blood Sword couldn’t see its hand, its long sleeves kept its hand hidden, but the demon could make out a finger pointing from the outline of the sleeve. After pointing that way, the figure turned and walked down that same way.

“Not afraid of me…are you helping me? HEY!” Blood Sword called out as it dashed towards the intersection and turned down the same alleyway the figure did. “What?!”

But just as mysteriously as the figure appeared, it disappeared too. Not long after arriving in that alley, the ground beneath the demon cracked. A large fissure opened as an angry orange glow rose from the crack.

“Huh, I know that heat, that’s Hell. But why is a portal to Hell opening here?”

The demon’s question was answered as a sphere of black, purple, and blue energy rose from the crack. As soon as it did, the crack sealed itself back up, as if nothing had happened at all. The sphere dropped to the ground and dispersed, revealing a naked teenage girl with long curly hair. Blood Sword raised an eyebrow, figuratively speaking, upon witnessing this.

The girl rose to her feet and looked around, she then took in a deep breath of air and reveled in it. “I’m back! This is real air! Not sulfur or burning ashes, real fucking air!” The girl shivered a bit but still reveled in the sensation. “It’s cold, I can feel cold air on my skin, not burning flames! HAHAHAHA!” her elation stopped when she noticed Blood Sword standing there and staring at her. “Who are you?”

“Who am I? Who are you?! You just came out from a Hell portal!”

“Suri Polomare…Oh shit, don’t tell me you’re here to drag me back?!” Suri picked up a discarded glass bottle, took it, smashed it against the wall, and held out the broken end in a threatening manner. “I’m not going back; I’ll kill every demon I come across!”

“Okay, first, I like your spirit. Second, I’m not here for you, I quite literally just got here as you appeared,” said Blood Sword.

“Suppose I believe you, why are you here?”

Blood Sword stabbed the ground with her vessel and sighed. “Don’t know, I was following someone, they disappeared, and you pop out of the ground…Now I’m starting to wonder if that freak in the robes wanted us to meet.”

“How strong are you?” Suri asked as she threw the bottle away.

“What’s that?”

“How strong are you?! Are you a powerful demon?” Suri asked again.

Blood Sword smirked. “I am, but right now I’m in search of a host. I need one to get my revenge on some humans!”

Suri smirked as well. “Guess we have something in common, I have some scores to settle too. I was possessed by a demonic spirit before, I liked it. I liked the power, but I was killed by Witchblade!”

Blood Sword’s smirk widened. “I see, then we have a common enemy. Suri Polomare, was it?” The teenage girl nodded. “Perhaps this is fate. Our meeting was destined, tell me, after you’ve killed those you’ve wanted to kill, what do you plan on doing after?”

Suri sauntered over to Blood Sword, giving the blood demon a half-lidded gaze as she did so. “I don’t consider myself human anymore, not after the pain and suffering I went through down there, and I certainly have no intention of giving up on power. I want that back; I want the power I felt when I was merged with an existence that was powerful.” Suri stood before Blood Sword and placed her hands on either side of its face. “I want every human in this world to feel my pain, things like fashion and status aren’t real power. You, and others like you, are what power is.”

Thanks to the demon being made of blood, it was able to make its smile comically, and scarily, bigger than what was possible. “Oh, sweetie where have you been these last few years?! Are you sure you want this? You were already sent to Hell after bonding with a demon, do you want to risk going back there again?”

“I don’t plan on going back, but with that being said, I was going to be sent there one way or another. I wasn’t exactly a ‘good girl’ before I died and considering that I plan on murdering a couple of people, it’s inevitable. But I’m betting that with you, I can keep that from happening for a long while,” said Suri. “What do I have to do?”

Blood Sword, reluctantly, stepped away from Suri. “I will return to my vessel, and once you take hold of it, we will be one. Are you ready?” Suri nodded. In all honesty, as much as Blood Sword was liking this human, it was still skeptical, there was no guarantee that Suri wouldn’t just leave it there once the blood demon returned to its sword vessel. But this girl was different from those she had before. She was like those rare few it was able to bond with that reveled in murder. “Okay then.”

The body of blood broke down and slithered into the sword itself. The weapon glowed with a scarlet light, waiting to be drawn. Suri didn’t hesitate in the slightest, she wrapped her right hand around the hilt of the katana and drew it from its sheath. The moment this was done, the covenant was made, allowing the power of the Blood Sword to flow into Suri’s body. Years of fighting experience, killing techniques, and bloody memories melded themselves to her body and mind, and during this process, Suri could feel her soul and the demon’s merge together in a joyous union that was pure ecstasy to the both of them.

Dark red bandages wrapped around Suri’s chest, forming a makeshift bra, atop that was black and red, bearing the symbol of the Blood Sword. Her arms were covered in black sleeves, and upon her shoulders were pauldrons that were in the shape of demonic oni faces, with two horns each jutting outwards. Gauntlets wrapped around her forearms, the knuckles were spiked, and the fingers were sharp like claws, along the gauntlet were three razor sharp blades. Black leggings appeared, covering from Suri’s mid-thigh all the way down to her feet. The same bandage wraps materialized to form makeshift panties. A skirt formed around her waist, decorated with black flames, and embroidered with golden oni faces. Atop of that was an armored kilt, that also bore the same symbol as on the chest plate.

When the power began to form a helmet, Suri stepped in and said, “Don’t cover my face. I want them to see who it is that’s killing them, I want them to see the pure elation in my eyes as I end their lives!”

“Oh-ho I definitely like you better than that whiner!”

The energy reworked itself, creating a helmet that bore oni horns, it protected the sides of her face, and the back of her head, while allowing for a hole that allowed some of her hair to thread through in the form of a ponytail. When it was over, Suri looked over her new outfit, and she liked it. “Wow, I like this better than what I had last time.”

“What did you have last time?”

“The demon I let possess me transformed me into a spider monster, let me turn blood and flesh into sewing materials for my dresses.”

“Oh, I like that. But I think you can do a lot more with me than some lowly minor demon,” Blood Sword replied. “So, what’s first on our agenda?”

“Well, first I want food, and a lot of it! Seriously, Hell had a huge lack of edible anything. Then we’re going shopping. As much as I love this new outfit, it’s not exactly subtle for walking around in.”

“Fair point.”

“And then we’ll get you something to eat as well, build up your strength. And once we’ve done all that…The real bloody carnival will begin.”

The night I got the Witchblade was the beginning of everything.

The night Sun and I exorcised the Blood Sword demon from Sour Sweet…

That was the beginning of the end…

Sunday Morning

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The morning light bled through the designer curtains in Rarity’s room, the fashionista lay sleeping in her plush, queen sized bed, but she wasn’t alone. Oh no, for you see, her bed was occupied with another. This other occupant sported well-toned muscles, freckled, sun kissed skin that was rough for a teen girl, but understandable for one that had been working on her family’s farm for most of her life. Rarity stirred awake, her clothes long discarded and laid strewed on the floor, normally such an action would be unacceptable, but considering the spontaneous, passionate outcome of their night together, it was something that could be overlooked.

Rarity continued to lie there on her right side, simply admiring the girl who had infatuated her for longer than she cared to admit. They were the most unlikely of people to get together, the farmer and the fashionista, one who was a straight up tomboy, and the other, she’ll admit, was a girly-girl. She remembered how Applejack marveled at the smoothness of Rarity’s skin last night against her own, and it seemed to worry her a little, prompting Rarity to ask what was wrong?

“Ah…Ah’m just afraid of hurtin’ ya is all.”

“Darling you’re sweet, but you needn’t worry about such a thing.”

“It’s just…when Big Mac and Ah did it…we could be as rough as we wanted, we knew each other’s limits and how hard we could be…Ah just realized when I felt you, you’re softer…”

Rarity remembered cupping the cheek of her lover and planting a comforting kiss upon her lips. “Applejack, you won’t hurt me.”

“B-But…”

“Shh…I trust you, Love.”

It took a bit of confidence building to get Applejack going, but eventually Rarity managed to get Applejack over her fear. What Applejack said last night only endeared the apple farmer to her even more, she was so concerned over hurting her during their lovemaking that it almost paralyzed her from doing anything else, but that was the beauty of this new relationship, exploring one another, finding out what the other loved and loathed, what they preferred in bed and what they were willing to experiment with. Admittedly, Applejack was a little rough with her, she raised the blanket a little to look down at her bare body. There was a small bite mark around her right breast, not deep enough to puncture the skin, but deep enough to leave a small bruise.

Definition of a “love bite”, thought Rarity.

While she did lament the blemishing of her flawless skin, it had turned her on quite a bit to be roughly handled. Perhaps she had treated herself so daintily that maybe she had developed a fetish for being manhandled in bed? The thought of having Applejack throw her onto the bed, rip her clothes off, and push her head into the mattress as her rugged farm girl used a strap-on to claim her from behind like she was an animal to be bred…Rarity gulped at the brief fantasy that played out in her mind. Discreetly, she placed a hand down towards her womanhood and blushed when she found herself quite moistened.

Her gaze fell back to Applejack and feigned an annoyed glare. Applejack, you’re corrupting me with lewd thoughts, and we’ve only been together a week.

That being said, she did find it a shame that Applejack didn’t treat herself with a little more care. While exploring her amour’s body, she found a few scars that were developed over Applejack’s many years of working on her farm. Some were scratches, other’s looked like puncture wounds, and she presumed that underneath the skin her lover had broken her bones more than once. Such was the life of living and working on a farm, you can be as careful as you can be, but accidents happened, and you get hurt. Applejack truly was a beautiful girl; her long flowing golden locks were frazzled with some split ends. She knew Applejack did the minimum of personal care to herself, but if she did a bit more, Rarity believed that others would see just how beautiful she was, just like Rarity did every day.

A good spa day, and the right wardrobe, she’d look absolutely gorgeous. Although it’d probably be a cold day in hell before she allowed me to subject her to all that, she wouldn’t let me do that much to her during Fall Formal.

Applejack began to stir, yawning widely and smacking her lips a little. Her eyes fluttered open as she stared up at the ceiling and then turned her gaze to the left. “Mornin’, Sug.”

“Good morning, my love,” Rarity replied. The fashionista lowered herself so she could rest her head on Applejack’s left shoulder, allowing the farm girl to wrap that same arm around her. “Sleep well?”

“Actually, yeah, Ah did.” A look of trepidation appeared on her face as Applejack asked, “Sorry if Ah got a little rough halfway through…”

Rarity giggled and wrapped her arms around her lover’s torso. “Darling, it’s quite alright. Besides, I think I might’ve developed a new fetish for us to try out next time.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow at that. “What kinda ‘fetish’ are ya talkin’ about, specifically?”

The fashionista tittered and replied, “Now, now, don’t worry, it won’t be something over the top or outlandish, but I promise you’ll like it. And it might appeal to a certain part of you that’s probably wanted to this particular thing to me for a long while.”

“Okay, now ya gotta tell me what it is.”

“Sorry, Love, it’ll be a surprise, but I promise the wait will be worth it,” Rarity assured.

Applejack sighed but decided to drop it, whatever it was, it must be something good if she’s not going to tell. “Alright, Sug, I’ll trust ya. So, what do ya want to do today?”

Rarity cuddled closer to Applejack. “Hmm, I’m currently debating whether or not we should just stay in bed the whole day, just like this.”

“Ah wouldn’t mind, but won’t yer parents wonder why we haven’t come down? Do they even know we’re datin’?”

“I haven’t told them yet,” Rarity admitted, “And you needn’t worry about them coming to check on us. They’re out on one of their weekend trips.”

“Huh, they normally do that?” Applejack asked.

“They haven’t as much, what with the Wendigo and The War, but once in a while they will, this just so happened to be one of those weekends,” Rarity explained.

“So, they leave ya to look after Sweetie on yer own?”

“Sweetie – despite that Anon-A-Miss debacle – is mature for her age, and so long as she stays away from the kitchen, she’s perfectly alright on her own, but otherwise, yes, I do look after her more often than not.”

Applejack smiled and laid back, but one thing did pique her interest. “What do you mean ‘so long as she stays away from the kitchen’?”

Rarity was about to open her mouth, but then stopped when she smelt something. “Pardon me, but do you smell something, Love?”

Applejack blushed. “Depends…we did work up a sweat last night…then there’s the, uh, ahem, ‘sex smell’ still in the air…”

Rarity blushed as well but shook her head in the negative. “No, not those smells, I was well aware of those.”

Applejack sat up and sniffed the air, trying to determine the smell herself, after a second she was picking up a different scent among the others. “It almost smells like…”

Rarity and Applejack came to the same conclusion and said at the same time, “SMOKE!”

As soon as they that word was uttered, the door to Rarity’s room opened up and Sweetie Belle strode in carrying a tray of black, sooty substances. “Morning Sis! Morning Applejack!”

“SWEETIE BELLE?!!!” Rarity exclaimed as she hurriedly raised the blankets to cover herself and Applejack. “What have I told you about knocking before coming into my room?!”

A sly smile formed on the young teenager’s lips. “Why are you and Apple Bloom’s big sis in bed together, naked?”

“Uh…well…ya see…” Applejack stuttered.

“It’s none of your business why Applejack and I are like this, Sweetie,” said Rarity.

“I knew it, you guys are totally dating! Did you guys…you know…last night?” Sweetie asked in a tone that told them she already knew the answer but just wanted them to say it.

“Sweetie Belle! That’s – well – we – that is to say – What business is it of yours?!” Rarity demanded.

“I was just wondering if I can start calling Apple Bloom my sister.”

The two older teens’ faces were turning bright red as the cheeky little teen continued to prod them.

“Uh, Sugar Cube, did ya need somethin’? Wait, ferget that, we smelled smoke earlier!” Applejack exclaimed.

Rarity sighed heavily. “Don’t worry, Applejack, I know exactly where it’s coming from, and it’s not a fire.”

Sweetie Belle proceeded to walk to their bed. “I made you two breakfast, I figured you two ‘worked out’, a lot, last night.” Again, the two older teens blushed. “So, I made you a little something!”

“Aww, Sugar Cube, that’s mighty nice of ya,” said Applejack.

“You won’t be thinking that in a second,” Rarity whispered under her breath.

Sweetie Belle placed the try on the bed, allowing Applejack and Rarity to see what she had made. Applejack thought that Sweetie might’ve made some toast, toaster pastries, frozen waffles and microwavable bacon, she didn’t fully expect or know if Sweetie Belle knew how to cook so she expected that much. However, what she saw was not what she expected at all. There were two plates, each had some unrecognizable black, burnt something’s placed upon them, one of them was long and another looked like mush. Next to those were two bowls that had black goop inside that bubbled, alongside that were two glasses of the same black substance.

“This…looks great…Sugar Cube…this oatmeal in the bowls?” Applejack asked.

“Nope, toast!” Sweetie stated innocently.

Toast?! H-How in the Sam Hill did she turn toast inta…to…black sludge?! Applejack thought, completely perplexed. Her gaze fell on the two glasses and dared to ask, “And, uh, what’s in the glasses?”

“Orange juice!”

HOW DO YA BURN JUICE????!

Applejack glanced to her girlfriend, wordlessly pleading with Rarity to explain this. Unfortunately, Rarity only offered a sigh and a shake of the head, another wordless gesture that indicated that Applejack didn’t know either.

Rarity leaned in close to Applejack and whispered, “You don’t have to eat it, you know. It would not be the first time I have declined her…ugh…homemade meals.”

Applejack saw expectant look on Sweetie’s face, she looked so proud of her efforts, and was trying to show her support for the relationship between her and Rarity. Steeling her resolve, Applejack picked up one of the burnt pieces of what was “food” from the plate. Rarity cringed and bit her lower lip, praying for her newly acquired girlfriend and secretly reaching for her cellphone in order to call an ambulance. Sweetie Belle’s eyes grew with wide glee, happy to see someone – especially a potential big sister-in-law – enjoy her cooking.

The apple farmer brought up the “food” to her mouth, opened it, brought the piece closer to her mouth, and then she bit into it.

{Agent, what do you have to report?}

“Well, let’s see…bupkis.”

{Are you kidding me?! You’ve been there a week; you should have something by now!}

“Sorry, a lot of leads to follow, nothing concrete. But then again, it wouldn’t probably be this messy if the people up top didn’t drag their asses in getting someone here,” said Tempest.

Silence hung for several seconds before the voice on the other end responded, {…………Just do your job. Signing off.}

Tempest heard the line go dead, with a bemused smile she put her cellphone down and looked at her desk. Although what she said to her agency contact was a lie, it was also a little true. Scattered across her desk were pictures and notes regarding multiple different incidents that had occurred in Canterlot City within the past few months. Crime scene photos and files that she managed to get ahold of through her contacts in the CCPD, the agency had moles in various places across the world, and in different counties and cities, and the contacts here in the city were particularly grateful to have a field agent come and do something.

The OSOD agent had managed to procure an apartment and set up shop. She had a wall dedicated to pictures, while her coffee table acted as her makeshift desk. On the wall she had several photographs, and each one had a red thread that connected to another picture. The one at the center was that of the girl named Sunset Shimmer. Why was this girl at the center of her Web of Conspiracy?

Case File 1-1:

· Subjects:
o #1: Sunset Shimmer
o #2: Pinkamena Diane Pie.
· Incident Report:
o Subjects were targeted by a human possessed by a demonic spirit, transforming them into a monstrous being. Subject 1, according to Subject 2, was impaled and gravely injured by the monster, later confirmed to be Beetle Underwood. DNA confirms that Subject 1 was at the scene where Subject 2 described, but Subject 1’s body was not at the scene. It was later confirmed that Subject 1 had somehow made it back to her home and was uninjured. Later that night, Subject 2 was attacked by Beetle Underwood again, but was then saved by the anomalous being known as “Witchblade”.

Case File 2-1:

· Subject(s):
o #1: Sunset Shimmer
o #2: Lightning Dust
o #3: Detective Shining Armor
· Incident Report:
o Subject 1 was reportedly attacked by Subject 2. Subject 1 has been the target of cyber bullying, not to her directly. The culprit posed as Subject 1 online and revealed secrets of her fellow classmates, causing alienation and animosity towards her, this seemed to be the culprit’s motive rather than the school as a whole. This in turn caused Subject 2 to attack Subject 1 to exact vengeance on Subject 1 on behalf of the students. Subject 2 nearly killed Subject 1, if not for the assistance of another student trying to stop Subject 2, which allowed Subject 1 to retaliate.
o A creature appeared calling itself, the “Harpy”, attacked later that night and killed a few people. The last victim, or victim-to-be, was the principal of Subject 1’s school and her legal guardian, Celestia. After taking Subject 1 to the hospital for her injuries, Celestia was abducted, a few seconds later, Witchblade appeared and saved Celestia.
o Subject 2 was later confirmed to be the Harpy, at night, when Subject 2 was thought to have been killed by her father, retired racing champion, Wind Rider. The first on the scene was Subject 3 and Witchblade. Witchblade did not kill Subject 2, but instead, according to accounts by Subject 2 and a teen girl who was at the site, Witchblade managed to extract the demonic presence, interrogate it, and destroy it.

Case File 3:

· Subject(s):
o Subject 1: Sunset Shimmer
o Subject 2: Rarity Belle
· Incident Report:
o Subject 1 and 2 were involved together, although Subject 2 was the main target. Subject 2 was a part of the fashion show that the city was putting on, Subject 2’s model, Silva Evergreen, was murdered by a demon possessed human (it should be noted that this was done in an attempt to sabotage Subject 2). Subject 1 became the Subject 2’s new model and entered the competition as such. During the competition night, one of the competitors, Suri Polomare, revealed that it was she who killed Silva Evergreen, and became a spider-like creature to try and outright kill Subject 2. Both Subjects managed to escape, but after their escape, it was Witchblade who ended Suri Polomare’s life.

Case File 4:

· Subject(s):
o #1: Sunset Shimmer
o #2: Applejack Apple
o #3: Detective Shining Armor
· Incident Report:
o It is unclear if Subject 1 was directly involved in this incident. Subject 2’s younger sister was kidnapped in front of Canterlot High School, upon which Subject 1 ran after the culprits. Subject 2’s younger sister, Apple Bloom Apple, informed police that she was saved by Witchblade.
o Subject 3, without prior knowledge of his captain or colleagues, infiltrated Flim & Flam Inc. and somehow managed to uncover that the owners were also possessed by demonic spirits, and worked with Witchblade to defeat them.

It was like this for the rest, Sunset Shimmer was either near, or at the scene of each of these incidents, and shortly thereafter, Witchblade showed up. With that in mind, Tempest started to work backwards from each of the incidents with Sunset as the main subject of each of them. The war between the entities of that called themselves Angelus and the Darkness. One thing that also stood out amongst the cases, was that Detective Shining Armor seemed to have some kind of relationship with Witchblade, as he has openly spoken with the armored heroine on more than one occasion and has been approached by her.

Yesterday’s little run in with Sunset wasn’t by accident, using the Wheel of Shadows allowed Tempest to meld with the shadows, essentially granting her the ability to teleport using any darkened, shadowy area, and travel in someone’s shadow as well. There was something that struck Tempest as odd, when she looked into Sunset Shimmer’s identity, she found two files. One belonging to a uber rich girl whose parents were killed five years ago, and then the one that was currently living in this city. It took Tempest all of a minute to verify that the personal records of the non-rich Sunset were recently created, almost four years old, at best. The work wasn’t bad, but if you know what you’re looking for, it was easy to see that the documents concerning Sunset Shimmer were fake. Someone intentionally entered her into the system.

Even stranger, it showed that the non-rich Sunset was living in a home that was rented and paid for by Celestia, her guardian. And not too long ago, she moved into her twin’s mansion. The rich Sunset Shimmer had records going back eighteen years since the day of her birth, mother and father are notated, and even the hospital where she was born. The other was an orphan on the street. Now it is possible that the parents got rid of the twin, Tempest would be damned if she understood all the crazy stuff rich people do, so it wouldn’t surprise her if that was the case. Although, a long-lost twin was kind of cliché.

Everything was just pointing to Sunset Shimmer being more than she seemed, and she confirmed that a bit at the mall earlier. When she saw that guy raise his shirt to show off his gun, she could see Sunset was already contemplating how to take him down while keeping her girlfriend safe, if she was Witchblade, it would’ve been easy for her to dispatch the thugs, but then again, revealing your secret identity wasn’t a good thing. So, Tempest stepped in, and found that the teenage girl was more skilled than she seemed, fighting with speed and strength that were on par with Tempest, and even having no sense of fear in her actions, fighting without any hesitation.

It might’ve been preemptive to show herself to Sunset Shimmer this early, but if anything, it might make any future encounters with her easier if she can establish a bond of trust.

Last night, though, was crazy. She had tailed Sunset back to the mansion, she didn’t follow Sunset and Pinkie inside, privacy and all that. But then she confirmed her suspicions of Sunset being Witchblade when she saw the girl fly out the back of the mansion in her armor. Tempest continued to follow after Sunset and watched as she and Ember fought together to take down Blood Sword, followed by a couple of girls coming in by car, with the driver of said car using some kind of mystical item to banish the demonic spirit of the sword that the possessed teen girl was using. Ember went in pursuit of the blood demon, but it escaped, even Tempest had a hard time locating the demonic creature.

Through some digging, Tempest was able to identify both of the girls who got out of the car. One was Twilight Sparkle, a girl who was the sibling of Detective Shining Armor, and the second was Sugarcoat, both girls attend Crystal Prep Academy, along with the rich Sunset. There seemed to be an incident that happened there not too long ago, but it wasn’t reported, Tempest had to do some digging of her own before she found out that it did involve the rich Sunset and Shining Armor’s younger sister.

Which brings Tempest to today, today she was going to have a little chat with Shining Armor, perhaps get him to confirm her theory. Or see how he reacts to it. After donning her trademark leather jacket, black pants, boots, and shirt, Tempest got into her car and drove all the way to the CCPD precinct that Shining Armor worked out of. When she arrived, she noticed that the station was still under repair, due in part to an attack by the Blood Kings gang, along with their demon army. Tempest headed inside and asked the Desk Sergeant to call Shining Armor to see if he was available. After about three minutes, Shining Armor arrived at the front desk and gave a casual smile to Tempest.

“Hi, Detective Shining Armor, you’re Special Agent Tempest Shadow?” Shining asked as he extended his hand forward.

Tempest smiled back and shook Shining’s hand. “I am, I was told you could help me with my investigation. There someplace we can talk privately?”

“My office will do, oh and sorry for the mess we’re still undergoing some repairs,” said Shining as he led Tempest towards the back. The two arrived at Shining Armor’s office, once inside, Shining closed the door behind him and took a seat behind his desk while Tempest took the open seat across from him. “I didn’t think the FBI were that lax on their dress code, or are you here unofficially?”

Tempest chuckled. “Somethin’ like that.”

“So, I wanted to ask, what kind of investigation is the FBI conducting here?”

Tempest leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees as she looked at Shining Armor directly. “It’s an investigation into the goings on around here in Canterlot City. As you’re well aware, your city has been a hotbed for supernatural occurrences over the past few months. Everything from mysterious murders, and then there was that little angels and demons war that your fellow police officers sided with the angels.”

Shining Armor seemed a little uncomfortable talking about that. “They weren’t exactly that angelic, believe me. But, yeah, we have experienced a whole lot of supernatural things lately.”

“Including a bikini armored young woman running around and slashing up monsters,” Tempest added.

At the mention of that subject, she noticed that Shining Armor’s body language changed. He sat straight up and folded his hands on the desk. “You mean, Witchblade, correct?”

Tempest leaned back into her chair, smiled, and nodded. “Indeed, I do, I mean, you have to admit that it’s a bit strange to have a half-naked woman teaming up with the police. Especially when said half-naked woman seems to be particularly fond of you.”

Shining Armor sighed. “I know what it looks like, but I’m not in any kind of personal relationship with Witchblade. We have a work relationship, we’ve teamed up for some investigations, but I use that term loosely. It’s more like we run into each other. However, that’s not strange given that I was on the task force assigned to investigate the ‘Mystery Murder’ cases.”

“No doubts, but it seems that you have gotten chummy, according to my sources.”

Shining Armor leaned in a little and asked, “What are you implying, Agent Shadow?”

“Just that you might know who she is,” said Tempest.

Shining Armor rolled his eyes at the accusation. “Please, Agent Shadow, you’re not the first person who’s implied that to me. I get that a lot from my fellow officers, and I’ll give you the same answer I give them. No, I don’t.” It was true, everyone from his captain to the chief of police have asked him who Witchblade was, and every time he gave them the same answer. Although, Shining was sure that she wasn’t going to give up on it that easily.

“Okay.”

“Okay? Okay what?”

Tempest shrugged. “I figured it was worth a shot, and that you’ve probably been asked dozens of times, and even if you knew, you wouldn’t disclose her identity that easily. Considering all that Witchblade has done for this city. So, in the meantime, we’ll talk about someone else I have an interest in.”

Shining arched an eyebrow as he took raised his coffee mug. “And that would be…?”

Tempest shrugged. “Sunset Shimmer.”

Shining Armor’s cheeks puffed up, having stopped himself from almost spitting his coffee in Tempest’s face. He made a strained expression as he forced the liquid down, coughing for a few seconds before regaining his composure. “I-I’m sorry, who?”

“Sunset Shimmer. I’ve taken an interest in this girl, she was one of the victims of the Mystery Murder cases, one that you worked. In fact, she’s popped up a couple of times here and there regarding the cases.” Tempest got up from the chair and began to do a little walk around the office. “You wouldn’t really realize it, I mean, there’s so much crap happening that it’s very easy to miss the little details. Like a group of teenage girls who seem to be either involved in the cases or connected to them in some way.”

Shining Armor chuckled nervously. “W-Well, that’s to be expected. Some of these cases do intermingle with some others, but I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that they’re connected. Especially one particular girl…”

Tempest turned her back to him and spotted a picture frame of Shining Armor and his little sister. “Cute girl, a little young for ya, Detective Armor.”

“That’s my little sister, and don’t play coy with me, I’m more than sure that you know that much about me,” said Shining Armor with a little annoyance.

Tempest chuckled. “You’re right I do.” The OSOD agent walked back to the desk and placed her hands on top of it, and looked Shining Armor right in the eyes. “Look, Detective, let’s cut the bullshit. I know that Sunset Shimmer is Witchblade, there isn’t a thing you can say that can convince me otherwise. If you want to do this the hard way, I can just call in to my bosses and have a special team down here to look into her a little more deeply. If it turns out I’m wrong, then I’m wrong, but I wonder if we’ll find something else that might be concerning.”

Shining Armor’s left hand began to tighten into a fist, at the same time his brow knitted, and his jaw tightened. “What do you want, Agent Shadow.”

“A meeting, I want to confirm if Witchblade is a threat to us.”

Shining Armor rose from his desk and said, “I think her actions thus far have spoken for themselves!”

“Sorry, Detective, but my superiors require something more concrete. Thankfully, that’s why they sent me.” Tempest crossed her arms over her chest and leveled her gaze with Shining Armor’s. “All I want is a meeting with Sunset Shimmer, you have my word it’ll only be a talk and nothing more. My superiors want me to confirm that Witchblade is not the cause or the instigator of the supernatural events here in your fair city. If my investigation reflects as such, then there’s nothing to worry about. However, things will be worse if she doesn’t speak with me.”

“Worse how?”

“Worse as in, if I don’t give them a good report on her, they might deem her a threat and have me take her out. Believe me, you don’t want that happening.”

Shining Armor smirked as he placed his hands on his hips. “Seriously? Since you know she’s Witchblade, you probably know already that you can’t take her down that easily. She’s fought demons, and a megalomaniac who took on the power of two powerful entities, I don’t think an FBI agent will scare her any.”

Tempest took a few steps back and grabbed the Wheel of Shadows from behind her back. Almost instantly, Tempest was cloaked in her shadow form, with tendrils of sparkling shadows extending from her body. “You didn’t really think they’d send an ordinary person to deal with someone like Witchblade, did you?”

Shining Armor tensed up, at this point he wasn’t a stranger to people transforming into armored or monster forms, but it didn’t get any easier. His hand instinctively hovered over his gun, the only thing that kept him from drawing it was the fact that the agent before him hadn’t taken any hostile action towards him. “Guessing that’s rhetorical at this point.”

“Pretty much.” Tempest closed her glowing eyes, and in an instant her shadow form reverted to her normal state, with the Wheel of Shadows in her hands. “I can hold my own, Witchblade wouldn’t be the first supernatural being I’ve fought. It’s about nine now, tell her to meet me at the diner that her girlfriend works at, about noon. We’ll have lunch.” Tempest walked to his office door and looked over her shoulder as she said, “Good talk, Detective.”

“Wait!” Shining Armor exclaimed.

Tempest stopped and turned around. “Yes?”

Shining Armor walked from behind his desk and gave the OSOD agent a serious look. “You have connections, right? Considering that you’re this well informed about Sunset and the goings on here.”

Tempest shrugged. “I might.”

“I’m taking a big risk here, Sunset trusts me, we’ve been through a lot. She’s as much my partner as Spearhead is to me, not only that, but her ‘sister’ is dating my little sister, so that practically makes us family,” Shining explained.

Tempest crossed her arms and sighed as she said, “Don’t worry, I’m going make sure that she understands that I didn’t give you any choice in the matter. Which isn’t a lie, I’m not really giving you any choice.”

“No, there is a choice. I’ve read enough comic books in my day to know that you’re not with the FBI.” Shining watched as Tempest raised an eyebrow. “Sure, you’re most likely part of an organization, but I doubt it’s FBI. Probably some kind organization that’s higher than that, not completely government based, but high enough that you can do things that people like the FBI, CIA, NIA, DHS, and all those other alphabet soup places couldn’t dream of. Am I wrong?”

Tempest smirked; the detective wasn’t a detective for nothing. “Suppose I am, how does that change the situation for you?”

“Since I’m taking a risk in damaging my partnership with Sunset, I want your help with something.”

“Like what, exactly?”

Shining Armor went to his desk, opened a drawer, and took out a makeshift file he had compiled. He then handed it over to Tempest who opened it, revealing a photo, the name written below it was “Abacus Cinch”.

“She have supernatural powers or something?” Tempest asked.

“If being able to sweep abuse and creating a hostile environment for high school students can be considered as such, then yes. This woman has been creating that kind of environment, promoting a sense of Darwinism of survival of the fittest. I saw it when I was there, and I tried to mitigate it as best I could when I was in high school, me, and my girlfriend, who’s now the Dean of Students at that school. We’ve recently found out that that woman has intentionally turned a blind eye to my little sister getting abused, letting it happen to allow her to be the focal point of their frustration.”

Tempest grimaced when she heard this. What a bitch. “Aaaaaaaaand…what? You want me to merc her somethin’?”

Shining’s eyes widened as he waved his hands frantically. “NO! No, hell no! My girlfriend and I have been trying to dig up dirt on Cinch since we’ve found out what she’s done, but whatever she did it’s been buried.”

The OSOD agent closed the file as she seemed to understand what was going on. “So, whatever protections this person has go up high enough that a cop can’t touch her. But you’re thinking I can?”

“I’m hoping you can.” Shining Armor ran his hand through his hair as he released a long sigh. “Listen, I’m running out of options here, aside from having my little sister hack the court computer systems and me going around and kicking up rocks and pissing off a lot of people…”

“Sounds like you’re considering it.”

Shining’s expression turned serious. “I am. They’ve been hurting my little sister for four freaking years, right under both our noses. I should’ve seen it, but I didn’t. Part of this is out of guilt, but the other part is the cop that wants to see justice done.”

“And some revenge, there’s a little of that in there, too,” said Tempest.

“Possibly…”

Tempest closed the file and smiled. “Well, fortunately for you, I hate bullies and stuck up, high profile bitches who think that they can get away with anything because they’re rich or powerful. And I get a kick out of kicking them off their pedestal. So, here’s the deal then. Make good on your part about calling Sunset for our meeting, and provided how well the meeting goes, I’ll dig up everything I can. Sound fair?” Tempest extended her hand towards Shining, waiting to seal their deal.

Shining Armor didn’t really know if this person would honor their deal, or if she was just telling him what he wanted to hear to make him do what she wanted. But right now, after hearing what Cinch made Twilight do, and the threats she levied against his little sister, he was willing to make a deal with the devil himself if it meant seeing Cinch taken down. Shining reached out with his own hand and shook, sealing their arrangement.

“Alright, I’ll be expecting her in a few hours, and you have a call to make. I’ll see myself out.” Tempest, once again, made for the door and said, “Good talk, Detective Armor.”

Thanks to Sun’s fiery entrance when she saved Twilight and Sugarcoat, the Sparkle residence was left with a gaping hole in their house, and thanks to the flames there was some worries about structural integrity. So, to make up for the damage, Sun decided to have Twilight’s family stay in her mansion while repairs were being made. Paid by her, of course. The Sparkles, Sunset, Sun, and Pinkie were all sitting at Sun’s dining room table where Mrs. Velvet and Pinkie made a large breakfast for them all.

While they were eating, the two parents couldn’t help but remark at the striking resemblance between the two girls. Their daughter was sitting to the left of the Sunset they knew, while this other girl, Pinkie, was sitting to the right of Sunset’s twin.

“Kinda weird, isn’t? Meeting me like this, I mean,” said Sunset.

“Well…just a bit, sorry. We never knew you had twin sister,” said Velvet.

“Who was also named, Sunset,” added Night Light.

“Yeah, Mom and Dad weren’t exactly creative with their naming,” said Sun.

Sunset pointed to herself and said, “When we’re both in the same room, you can call me Sun, and my little sis over there,” Sun pointed to her twin, “you can call her Sun.”

“But when we’re alone you can just call us Sunset,” the younger twin advised.

Velvet and Night Light looked at each other with an expression that said, “That’s gonna a bit confusing”. Twilight seemed to pick up on what they were thinking and assured them, “It did get a little confusing at first, but it’s actually easier than you think.”

“Yep! I can totally tell which is my Sunny!” Pinkie stated.

Sunset smiled coyly at her girlfriend and said, “Oh, really? Are you sure I’m not Sun?”

Sun picked up on the tease and turned her head towards Twilight. “And are you sure I’m not Sunset?”

Both girlfriends rolled their eyes at the obvious tease. Pinkie lightly bonked Sunset on the head and replied, “You’re my Sunny, silly!”

Twilight smiled and lightly flicked Sun on her forehead. “And you’re my Sun.”

“Shoot, we really need to try harder,” said Sunset.

“I know, right, we’re making it too easy,” Sun replied.

Velvet and Night Light lightly chuckled at the little teasing that was going on. At the same time, they couldn’t help but feel comforted by the scene. Ever since Twilight told them about the abuse she had been suffering at CPA, Night Light and Velvet felt shame for not trying to pry more into their genius daughter’s life, they took for granted her maturity and intellect, believing that she could deal with anything that school life could throw at her. Little did they know that the school itself made her their personal punching bag. However, it seemed that fate, God, or whatever you want to call it, brought a godsend like Sun into Twilight’s life.

They could see just how happy Twilight was around Sun, even though they never thought their daughter would fall in love with another girl but considering all that Sun was doing for their daughter, it was something that they could care less about. Velvet and Night Light could also see that Sunset was a nice girl as well, her girlfriend, Pinkie Pie, was a bit eccentric, but she was quite the happy girl and good in the kitchen as well.

“So, Sunset, do you also go to Crystal Prep?” Velvet asked.

“Nah, I go to Canterlot High School, same for Pinkie,” she replied.

“Ouch, those schools have a rivalry, what with the Friendship Games and all,” Night Light commented.

“Yeah, but we don’t let that get in the way of being besties!” Pinkie stated as she quickly zipped over to Twilight’s side of the table and gave her a big hug. “And Twilight’s one of my besties, too! ‘Specially since we’re both dating a Sunset!”

Twilight blushed but giggled at the actions and words of the hyperactive girl next to her. Pinkie then returned to her seat next to her Sunset and scooted a little closer so that their shoulders were touching.

“Do you two have any plans for today?” Velvet asked.

Sunset shrugged. “Not much really, I was thinking that we just head out, do whatever. Unless you have something in mind?”

“Oh, oh! Can we go for drive on your motorcycle?!” Pinkie asked.

“Sure, let’s head out.” Sunset took one last bite of her breakfast and rose from her seat. “Thanks for the meal, Mrs. Velvet, and you too, Pinkie.”

“No need, it’s the least I can do, considering you’re both putting us up in your own home,” said Velvet.

“Well, we do have a lot of space,” said Sun.

Pinkie finished her meal and went to the sink with Sunset to wash her dishes and put them away. On the way to the garage, Sunset received a call on her phone. She pulled it out, smiled, and then answered it.

“Hey, Shining what’s up?…Uh-huh………Uh-huh…” Was all they heard as Sunset and Pinkie left the room and entered the garage, closing the door behind them.

Now that they were all four alone, Night Light and Velvet asked the question that they were wanting to since they arrived.

“Sunset, we’d really like to thank your parents, too. Are they around?” Night Light asked.

Twilight flinched at the mention of Sunset’s parents, a reaction that was not missed by Velvet and Night Light, which let them know that they just possibly stumbled upon a landmine. However, Sunset, didn’t have much of a reaction.

“Well…they’re dead, going on five years now,” Sunset stated.

“Oh, dear, we’re so sorry!” Velvet apologized.

“Heh, don’t be, really. You didn’t know, and Sparky didn’t tell you because she didn’t want to violate my privacy.”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, I didn’t say anything because I didn’t think it was right to talk about it without you around.”

Sunset reached out and hugged Twilight with her left arm. “Thought so, and I’m happy you were thinking of me like that.”

Velvet and Night Light realized now that the twin Sunsets have been living on their own, in a big empty mansion. The matriarch of the Sparkle Family rose from her seat and walked around the table, she then proceeded to give Sunset a gentle hug, catching Sunset off guard.

“Oh – wow – o-okay…”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” said Velvet.

“R-Really it’s no big deal…I cried it out years ago…I’m fine really, Mrs. Velvet….” Sunset felt the same feeling from when Celestia said she was family to her, a mother and father’s love, something that she hadn’t felt for the last five years. Without thinking much on it, her arms moved and wrapped themselves around Velvet, hugging her back. “……but thank you.”

It won’t be long…It won’t be much longer…don’t waver, Shimmer!

Tempest waited at the diner that she had specified to Shining Armor, it was getting to be about three minutes to noon, and still no sign of her. She didn’t think Shining Armor was one to go back on his word, nor did she think that Sunset Shimmer would back down from someone calling her out. Just about then, Tempest’s cellphone rang, she picked it up and saw that the caller ID read “Daring”. With a chuckle, she answered and said, “Hello ‘Rich Bitch’.”

{Fuck you, too. How’s it going?}

“Dunno, the girl hasn’t shown up yet, I really don’t want to have to hunt her down or get into a scuffle with her. She seems pretty okay. Oh, that reminds me, did you happen to look into her weapon at all?”

{It’s been…interesting. I’ve found many references to warrior women throughout history, while the person changed, the weapon hasn’t. It seems the weapon itself is called ‘Witchblade’. It’s some kind of symbiotic, living weapon, powerful, dangerous, and sentient from what the texts say. But…there’s something else that’s concerning me.}

Tempest raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”

{There are also some manuscripts that talk about the Witchblade, in conjunction with other mystical items. There’s a vague reference in some parts about changing fate, I don’t know. I’ll have to get back to you on that.}

“Huh…that does sound interesting. Keep me posted if you find out more, if I find out something from Sunset, I’ll hit you up.”

{Okay, and I know you don’t need me telling you this but be careful. Fizz.}

The call ended and Tempest smiled, the two of them met during a mission some years back. They butted heads a lot during that mission, and yet, somehow by the end of the whole thing, they became best friends. The bell at the diner door drew Tempest’s attention, she smirked upon seeing that her date had arrived. Sunset was standing at the entrance, she had a black leather vest with spikes around the collar, an orange blouse that exposed her shoulders, violet skirt, and a pair of black boots. Tempest watched as the teenager glanced about the room, it didn’t take her long before she spotted Tempest, her face morphing from serious, to surprised, and then to cautious.

The OSOD agent waited as Sunset approached her booth and stood before it. “S’up, kid?”

“Agent…Shadow? From the other day, you’re the person that Shining Armor contacted me about?” Sunset asked.

“That’s me, cop a squat and let’s chat a bit,” said Tempest.

Sunset did as Tempest requested, sliding into her seat opposite the older woman. “Just so you know, you’re cutting into my time with my girlfriend.”

“Ouch, sorry, kid,” said Tempest, her tone sounding genuinely apologetic.

“So, are you really an FBI agent? Was that card you gave me just for show?”

Tempest shook her head. “Nah, the phone numbers are legit, but nah, I’m not with the FBI. Although I am an agent.” The orchid-colored woman leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table. “Although, this is a serious conversation, depending on your answers today, things might become easier or harder for you. Do you understand?”

Sunset’s brow furrowed as she crossed her arms. “Yeah, I understand. But let’s cut the bullshit then, you know I have the Witchblade, however, I also know that you have an Artifact. Something powerful of your own, otherwise they wouldn’t just send a regular agent.”

Tempest chuckled. “Damn, kid, you are good. You’re right, cards on the table then.” Tempest reached to her left brought the sundial disk, the Wheel of Shadows, onto the table. “This is what helped me to save your girlfriend back at the mall, it’s also what’s helped me to sneak around and find out as much as I have. It’s called the Wheel of Shadows.”

Sunset’s bracelet glowed for a second. “Okay, now that that’s out of the way. What do you want to know? I’m pretty sure you know all about me by now.”

“I know a lot, but some things aren’t jiving. Why don’t we do a little quid pro quo? I’ll ask you a question, and you can ask me one,” Tempest offered.

Sunset nodded in agreement.

“Okay, first question. Where are you from? I’ve looked into it, and I can’t find any real record of Sunset Shimmer that isn’t about your ‘twin sister’.” Tempest made air quotes to emphasize her point. “There is one, pretty good forgery, but to a well-trained eye, it’s obviously fake. So, spill, where are you from ‘cause it’s like you just appeared out of thin air.”

Sunset squirmed in her seat, she rubbed the back of her neck, looked out the window, sighed, and faced Tempest. “What I’m going to tell you is going to be really out there, but I swear to you it’s the truth.” From there, Sunset went into the explanation that she was in fact a sapient unicorn mare from the land of Equestria, that she was much older in her world, about in her early to mid-twenties. Her explanation continued about Equestria, about how it was filled with other sapient creatures, with ponies being the more dominant of them. She told Tempest about their sprawling cities, quaint villages, and of her immortal goddess of a ruler, well, both rulers. “And that’s the truth…”

Tempest blinked. “Wow…well…I’ve seen and heard a lot of things, but a parallel universe filled with talking, magical ponies…that’s a first. Does that mean there’s another me running around over there?”

Sunset shrugged. “Not necessarily, it’s not always a one-to-one comparison. According to my friend from that side, there are some people here whom she hasn’t seen in Equestria, but that’s also not completely out of the question since I found my parallel self here and – Hold up! That’s two questions!”

Tempest chuckled again. “Sorry, my bad. Okay, you get two in exchange.”

“Fine, first question. If you don’t work for the FBI, then who do you work for?”

“Figured you ask that. I work for the Organization of Supernatural and Otherworldly Disasters, or OSOD for short. Our job is to monitor, contain, or neutralize, threats of magical, supernatural, and as the name states, otherworldly nature. The OSOD has been around for a number of years, how long is kept a secret, but basically, whenever something goes bump in the night, we bump back.”

Sunset was shocked, but now that she thought about it, perhaps it was this OSOD that made sure that the world wasn’t as magical as it apparently once was. It seems there were other magical things happening in the world and this organization was keeping them from ever being known or hurting people. “Okay, second question: why are you investigating me?”

Tempest nodded expectantly. “Honestly, I wasn’t investigating you. You see, the Mystery Murders, and that war between the Angelus and the Darkness, those have proven to be a complete embarrassment to the OSOD higher ups. These incidents happened one after the other and no one managed to prevent them from happening before they got that out of hand. OSOD prides itself on secrecy, so they couldn’t act when that war happened, and because the Wendigos were keeping a low profile, it was hard to pinpoint where they were, since they were hiding in human hosts and were ethereal, buggers were hard to find.”

A waitress came over, one of Pinkie’s coworkers, sliding up on her rollerblades as she said, “Welcome, may I take your order? Oh, hi Sunset!”

“Oh, hey, uh…”

“Go ahead and order something, it’s on me,” said Tempest. “Actually, I’m hungry, too.”

After ordering their meals, Tempest and Sunset went back to their Q & A session.

“Okay, kid, let’s just get down to the nitty gritty. What are your plans, more specifically, what are you planning on doing with the Witchblade?” Tempest asked seriously.

Sunset went into deep thought, the wrong answer could mean the difference between her staying in this world or being exiled back to her home, in truth, this place has now become as much of a home as Equestria had. “I meant what I said to you back at the mall, I want to become a detective, I want to help people. I want to make up for all my past sins by protecting the people, from both crimes by other human beings as well as those committed by supernatural forces. Witchblade won’t come off me, it’s said as much, we’re bonded until death. So, what better way to utilize his power than to do what I just said? Honestly, Tempest, that’s all I want to do.”

Tempest leaned back in her seat, mulling over her answer. This was what she came here to find out, and her gut was telling her that Sunset’s words were true. Despite the fact that she was – according to Sunset herself – a she demon bitch in the past, Sunset seemed completely committed to her role as a protector. And while the Wendigo incident seemed to be partially her fault, it was Sunset who ultimately fixed that and saved the city, and the world, not once, not twice, but three times. If she wanted to conquer the world, Tempest had no doubt that Sunset would’ve done so by now.

“Alright, I believe ya, Sunset,” said Tempest. “Q & A aside, if you really want to step up your game, you could consider a position in the OSOD.”

Sunset blinked. “Really? But…aren’t they worried about me? Isn’t that why they sent you?”

“They sent me to investigate what’s been happening here, but it might make them feel less edgy if they know you’re thinking about joining us. Of course, you’ll be on probation, it’s probably best you go through the police training, that way you can establish yourself since this place is turning into a magic hotbed.”

“That’d be great!” Sunset stated excitedly and with relief.

The waitress brought their food over and their conversation ceased while they ate. Halfway through their meal, Sunset had a thought. “Hey…Since you know about me, you must also know about my double. I know we’re not really sisters, but it just feels right. You’re not going to do anything to her, are you?”

Tempest gulped down a swig of her cola and said, “Aaah, that’s good. Truthfully, so long as she keeps her nose clean, and so long as you keep an eye on her, I don’t see a reason to look into her. She hasn’t done anything to warrant looking into, and let’s keep it that way. Okay?”

Sunset nodded in agreement.

After their meal, Tempest paid and both of them walked out of the diner. It seemed both women had a penchant for motorcycles, while Sunset rode a speed demon of a bike, Tempest rode a Harley.

“Nice ride,” said Sunset with a whistle.

“Thanks, yours is badass too.” Tempest mounted her bike and put on her helmet. “I’ll let you know what my superiors say. I still need to look into a few things to finish my report, but you don’t have to worry, for now we’re on the same side.”

“Thanks,” said Sunset.

Sunday Evening

View Online

Rainbow Dash stood before the doorway to the juvenile detention center, a routine she had done multiple times. Once the door opened a guard guided her to the halfway point, at the halfway point was a window was a female guard who pushed out a metal box and said to her, “All personal belongings inside, please.”

Without hesitation, Rainbow put her cellphone, and car keys. Once placed inside, she was moved to the next checkpoint where a guard had her go through a metal detector, after she went through it, the guard who was manning the detector used a wand to check her more thoroughly. Afterwards she was taken to the visitor’s area where Lightning Dust was waiting for her. The teenage inmate smiled upon seeing Rainbow, prompting her to stand. Rainbow walked over to her and gave Lighting a hug. There was an urge to kiss between them, but the environment and situation didn’t feel right.

Rainbow sat down next to her and asked, “What’s up, Lighting, you said you had good news.”

“I do!” Lightning stated excitedly. “I think I’ll be getting out soon!”

Rainbow’s eyes widened with hope. “Seriously?! How?!”

“It was weird, but I talked to some a little after you left me yesterday, and she asked me all kinds of questions about the…the incident.” Lightning didn’t like recalling what had happened, she knew it happened, she couldn’t deny it, but as far as she was concerned, she wanted to move past it and look forward.

“Whoa, wait, the feds?! That’s serious…”

“Yeah, but she was pretty cool for a suit, I almost didn’t think she was one until she showed her badge. She had a mohawk of all things, but she was legit. Anyway, after she talked to me, I got word from my Public Defender that they’re considering letting me go!”

Rainbow hugged Lightning again, this time tighter. “Babe, this is great!”

“Well…there is one hang up.” Rainbow pulled away and looked at Lightning with worry. “They want to release me into the custody of someone reliable. But since…since Dad’s been stripped of his rights to me, my Mom being dead, and me not having any relatives around, that’s going to be a problem.”

“The hell it is, you can come home with me!” Rainbow offered.

“Dash, please, you can’t just say that.”

“Why not?”

“You’re ‘rents, remember? I don’t think they’re going to be too keen on having someone like me under their roof,” Lightning pointed out.

“You haven’t been convicted of a crime, Lightning, they just put you in here because they don’t know how to deal with people who were possessed by Wendigos. But Witchblade took care of them all, they’re not coming back,” said Rainbow with confidence.

Lightning hugged herself as she looked down at the table. “How can you be sure? How do you know that some part of that monster isn’t still inside me? Harpy…Harpy could still be there, waiting for the right moment to come out! I don’t want that to happen! If it does, I’d rather it be as far away from you as possible, the last thing I want to do is hurt you!”

Rainbow Dash turned Lightning Dust’s head towards her, forcing the imprisoned teen to face her. “That won’t happen, plus, I know a few people who can help if that happens and can guarantee for you that the Wendigo is gone.”

Lightning smiled a little. “Considering what happened at the Fall Formal and the Battle of the Bands, I don’t doubt you have some magic contacts. But even then, your mom and dad…”

“My Mom and Dad trust my judgement…and I realize that a few months ago…it wasn’t exactly the best judgement…but I know you aren’t a bad person; you were just pushed too hard. Now you have a chance to slow down and enjoy your life without someone expecting something from you! I’ll talk to my parents, I know they’ll say yes,” Rainbow assured.

Lightning hoped she was right, the chance to finally walk around outside and be free again was very enticing. More than that, she really wanted to be with her girlfriend, to have a real relationship with the girl she’d had a crush on for a long time outside of these prison walls. “Okay, try, but I’m going to keep my expectations low just in case.”

“Psssh,” Rainbow scoffed, “since when has Rainbow Dash ever not delivered on a promise? Besides…” Rainbow leaned closer and snaked her left arm around Lightning’s waist. “I kinda want to finish what we started that night but make it twenty-percent more awesome.”

Lightning blushed and huffed. “Dash, seriously, don’t get me heated up! Do you have any idea how hard it is to schlick off in this place?! Zero privacy!”

Rainbow winced. “Ouch, so, like serious blue balls?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe, but that doesn’t seem to stop some of the other girls in here from getting it on! Apparently, they know places where the cameras don’t watch so they can go and bang each other, they don’t even do it because they like each other, it’s just to get off! I’ve had more than one of them ask me if I want to, ‘Bean Count’ with ‘em!” Lightning whispered the next part to Rainbow’s ear, “That’s basically the damn code word around here for, ‘Let’s fuck!’.”

“Wow…y’know, not gonna lie, imagining you dominating all the girls in this place, it’s hot,” Rainbow admitted.

“Fuck you, you damn pervert!”

“Oh, you will, soon.”

There are forces in this world, things that can’t be explained even by the most learned of scholars, or the wisest of sages. One of those forces swirled around one particular object located in Sunset Shimmer’s underground vault. The vault that housed the Prism of the Brothers, which contained the entity known as the Angelus, and the Siphon of the Angelus, which housed the evil entity, the Darkness. But aside from these ornate containers, there was another item that was under ballistic glass and set on a podium, unlike its neighbors it wasn’t as fancy or ornate.

It was, in fact, a simple gold coin. On one side, it had the profile of a bearded, regal man, along with a pyramid that housed an “all-seeing” eye. On the flipside, there was a six-pointed star symbol, with ancient writing etched into the lines that crisscrossed to make the star pattern. Now, this simple, unassuming coin, was something special, for you see, it was one of the 13 Artifacts. This particular Artifact wasn’t like the others, its will was hard to define, as the forces that it generated were unknown. One of those unknown forces, was chance.

Like say, what were the chances that a slight tremor, not really strong enough to register on the Richter scale, but just strong enough to shake the pedestal that the coin stood on? And what were the chances that said tremor’s vibrations managed to find a chink in the ballistic glass case that housed the coin and caused it to crack to the point that a hole formed that was big enough for the coin to fall through, after wabbling for a bit before hitting the case bottom?

For you see, that is exactly what happened. The coin rolled through a discreet crack in the case and hit the floor, spinning on its thin side for a time, longer than a coin should spin after hitting the floor.

Now, what were the odds of the coin escaping the well-sealed vault? Perhaps a random power surge could hit the house and cause the vault to spontaneously open? And maybe, in so doing, the vault door’s sudden rush of air drew in the coin towards it?

And again, the coin did just that. The coin stopped spinning and rolled towards the vault door at a rapid pace, its speed increasing to the point that it shot towards the lip of the vault and bounced off it. The coin ricocheted off the ballistic glass that held the Prism and straight out the vault door. The Coin of Solomon continued to ricochet off many other hard surfaces, angling itself until it slipped under the first door to the lab. The Coin hit the first step and then spun on its side, again. It stayed there for a seconds before another unexpected thing happened.

The coin spun faster and faster, building up more speed. At that moment, a piece of cinderblock fell from the ceiling and struck the coin at just the right angle to help it fly towards the wall. The Artifact ricocheted off the walls again and again, hitting them at all the right angles to allow the coin to make it right to the entrance and slip, yet again, under the secret doorway. The Coin, now in the hallway, rolled along until it began to bounce, bounce, and bounce again. It bounced onto a cabinet, and then to a shelf, and finally, it bounced into an air vent. The Coin rolled and rolled, it was searching, it wanted to be connected, to find the one person it felt worthy of using its power. As it rolled through the vents, it stopped and then circled back to a grate that overlooked a bedroom.

Down below, after a lengthy walk around the mansion, and a quick tour of her lab, Sunset and Twilight finally had a moment alone. She didn’t really get the chance to embrace her girlfriend due to what happened, but now the two of them laid in Sunset’s bed, with Sunset spooning Twilight and keeping her close and safe. For Twilight, being in the arms of her lover was comforting, she had come close to death a second time in her life, and for the most part, she was holding up better than even she thought she would.

“I’m glad I made it in time,” said Sunset.

“Me too,” Twilight replied.

“I’m almost tempted to tell the guys fixing your house to demolish it so you all can stay here.”

Twilight turned her head slightly and smiled at her girlfriend. “Sunset Shimmer, are you planning on intentionally sabotaging the reconstruction of my house and holding me and family hostage here?”

Sunset shrugged. “If it means keeping you safe, yes.”

“Well…after what happened, I’m not completely opposed to the idea…but…”

“But what?” Twilight separated herself from Sunset and sat up, prompting Sunset to do the same. “Sparky, what’s wrong?”

Twilight clasped her hands together, looking down at them as she drummed up the courage to bring up the subject. “Sunset…I’m going to be honest with you about something, and in turn, I want you to be honest with me.”

Sunset blinked in confusion but responded, “Of course.”

The teenage genius inhaled and then exhaled slowly. “On the day that Principal Cinch called me into her office, when I left, I didn’t tell you, but I encountered Indigo Zap in the hallway.”

“WHAT?!” Sunset exclaimed with shock.

“Please, let me finish.” She watched as Sunset tempered her anger, inhaling deeply before exhaling and settling herself. “She didn’t hurt me, if anything, she sounded concerned about why I was crying after Cinch blackmailed me. Indigo said she regretted that she never stood up for me, and for being…aggressive…with her affections towards me. But she’s also accusing you of holding me ‘hostage’ with your powers, threatening to hurt me if I don’t date you.”

Sunset growled as she said, “That psycho bitch, she’ll say anything to rationalize her bullshit.”

“Unfortunately, that’s not the thing that worries me. When I was crying, she wiped one of my tears away…” Twilight watched Sunset’s reaction when she said, “…and it turned to ice.”

“Oh…how?” Sunset asked.

Twilight sighed and turned away. “I knew it.”

“Knew what?”

“You already knew that she had some kind of power, didn’t you?” Twilight asked in an accusatory tone. “Your reaction was more than enough to tell me that much. Considering how you’ve reacted thus far when I mention anything about Indigo, your normal reaction would be anger and wanting to rush out to face her. And you’re being awfully calm about this revelation.”

Sunset looked down at the mattress, shame welling up inside her for having been found out.

“Sunset, please talk to me. Did you know?” Twilight insisted.

The flame haired teen rubbed the back of her head and sighed heavily, knowing that she could no longer hide the fact. “Yes…Twilight…I knew she had powers.”

Twilight’s hand tightened into fists. “How long?”

“Since…Since last week.”

“LAST WEEK?!” Twilight repeated with indignation. “You’ve known for this long and you didn’t tell me?!”

“Because I didn’t want to worry you!” Sunset confessed. “Honestly, I wouldn’t have even realized it if she hadn’t called me out – shit!” she exclaimed, realizing that she just let slip something else.

Twilight’s brow furrowed. “By, ‘called me out’, you mean she challenged you to a fight, don’t you?” Sunset couldn’t deny this, so she just nodded, and Twilight’s furrowed brow deepened. “And when was this?!”

The flame haired teen realized then she was screwed no matter what, so it was time to lay all the cards on the table. “The following day after we all came back from Spring Break, after lunch, she came to my locker and challenged me to a fight, I suggested the fight take place at the old warehousing district. When I went there later that night, I was going in expecting to just have a fist fight, but then she shows off that she has an Artifact, the sibling item to my Ember Stone, the Glacier Stone. Their opposites, where mine controls fire and represents life, hers controls ice and represents death. We fought, but I had the upper hand, I mean, she’d only had the damn thing for a week, whereas I’ve had mine for years, so it was no contest. I…”

It was here that Sunset hesitated, but Twilight was already mad, how much madder could she get? “…I was about to finish her, permanently. That is until Blood Sword appeared and interrupted the fight.”

Twilight crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. “So, not only did you lie to me, but you lied to your sister as well! Sunset, how could you keep this from me?! All this time Indigo could’ve used her powers to hurt us, and I wouldn’t have known to keep a bigger distance from her!”

“Like I said, I didn’t want to worry you! Not after everything that that bitch has put you through!” Sunset defended.

“Do you really think I’m that fragile?! I’ve seen you in your dragon form, we were nearly killed by two pseudo-angelic beings, and I was kidnapped! If I haven’t broken by now, then I think I can handle something like that!”

“But you shouldn’t have to!” Sunset argued as she punched the mattress. “I…I don’t want to treat you like that, Sparky…but I keep feeling that we’re just one bad thing away from something making you snap and have a complete meltdown! I want to protect you! Is that so wrong?!”

Twilight looked away from Sunset. “…Am I…a burden to you?”

“What?!”

Twilight put a little more volume into her voice. “Am I a burden to you?!”

Sunset shook her head in complete shock that Twilight would even ask her such a question. “No! I’ve never even thought you were!”

“Then why can’t you be honest with me about important things like that?! You’ve told me everything up until now, so why this?! I get that Indigo has hurt me more than anyone at that school, but I have the right to know if she’s become more dangerous!” Twilight scooted off the bed and began walking towards Sunset’s bedroom door.

“W-Wait, Sparky–!”

“I need to be alone…I…I just need to think for a while, okay.” The tone of which Twilight said this made it more of a statement than a request.

“O…Okay, Sparky…take however much time you need…”

“……thank you.”

Twilight opened the door and closed it, when she did, Sunset flopped onto her bed, grabbed a pillow, and groaned into it. “Dammit Shimmer…you really messed up…”

Unbeknownst to either teen, the Coin of Solomon was on the move again. It followed the vents, having found someone worthy of its power, drawing closer and closer. Another grate was coming up, and once again, the powers that be, fate, the Coin itself, it was hard to tell, whatever you want to call it, this invisible phenomenon had calculated the exact moment, second, nanosecond, that Twilight would pass under it. The Coin dropped down, falling, falling, falling, and then, stealthily, fell right into her pants pocket.

Tempest was satisfied with Sunset’s answers, but she didn’t know for sure if her superiors would be. The power of the Witchblade was something, but there were some obvious other factors that were worth investigating as well. Although she promised Sunset that her “twin sister” wouldn’t be looked into, it was better if she did her homework on her, but being a rich girl, it was going to be harder to get information. The human Sunset Shimmer raised as many questions as pony Sunset, she just so happened to show up after all this time that the pony version had lived here, right around when the Angelus and the Darkness began their little war.

And now, something else was going on in this city, and Tempest didn’t like it. She had several leads on a few different powerful Artifacts in the city, currently she was tailing one Fluttershy, the Vatican’s secret assassin project. OSOD had a few choice words for the Vatican’s people about keeping such a person like Fluttershy this whole time, the OSOD and the Vatican didn’t exactly see eye to eye with the way each handled supernatural occurrences, the Vatican only looked through the lens of religion and whether or not it was an affront to God. The OSOD worked from multiple viewpoints, they verified if the supernatural occurrence was a threat to humanity and if they if it was an essential part of the ecosystem. If it was, then how do they keep it placated or secure it in its location? If it wasn’t and hostile, how do they eliminate it.

They also employed those who had magical or supernatural abilities, or those who were in possession of supernatural items, not always was it a smart idea to just send combat trained personnel. Hence her presence here. While Sunset was at the center of one of her web of conspiracies, Tempest believed that there were others. The human Sunset’s magic necklace, Fluttershy’s Spear of Destiny, that one girl who used some kind of bracelet, and then there was this demonic sword. Not counting the Angelus and the Darkness, the city had become a magnet for supernatural beings and items, and it was unsettling the frequency at which they were gathering here.

Tempest decided to follow up with one of the victims of the demonic sword, a one Sour Sweet. Thanks to her connections, Tempest was able to get a full sheet about the young woman. It was about eight at night when Tempest arrived at the fancy hospital that Sour Sweet was staying at, after she had met up with Sunset, she did a little homework on the girl. Sour Sweet, born to Sour Grapes and Sweet Nothings, diagnosed with bipolar disorder at an early age. Goes to Crystal Prep Academy, a school for rich kids, elites, and those who show great academic and athletic promise. Well, let’s have a chat.

Tempest walked through the halls, watching the nurses and doctors walk about and check on their patients, or on their way to operations. Tempest turned the corner and arrived at the room that held Sour Sweet, however, before she could enter the room she stopped, hearing someone inside already. Tempest peeked into the room and saw a girl with mulberry colored hair and light turquoise skin sitting on a chair next to Sour Sweet’s bed.

“How are you feeling, Sour?” the girl asked.

“Like my head’s finally mine again…” Sour replied. “Sunny…I’m so sorry for what happened…I…I couldn’t tell you what was happening to me…I was afraid you’d…you’d leave me…”

Sunny’s eyebrow rose. “Leave you, why would I leave you?”

Sour gave Sunny an incredulous look. “Are you kidding?! I became a monster; I’ve killed so many people!”

“That sword – demon – thing is responsible, not you! You didn’t want to do that! I heard you,” Sunny gently gripped Sour’s left hand with both of hers. “You wanted that monster to leave you. And besides, you’ve never made me scared of you, why should I start now?”

Sour Sweet’s eyes began to water, rubbing them gently while minding her I.V. “Thank you, Sunny.”

Sunny nodded, but then blushed a bit as she turned her gaze lower for a moment, her bangs keeping her face hidden just a bit. “Hey…I know it’s probably not such a good idea to put much stock in what a demon says, but…was it true? Do you…Do you like me?”

Now it was Sour’s turn to blush, her head slowly turned to Sunny, her eyes darted to her left and then back down to Sunny’s head as if she was trying to look for a way to get out of this question. It seemed, however, that that was not going to happen. “I-It wasn’t lying…I…I do like you that way…I…you don’t have to say you like me back or anything! I mean, I’m a handful, that demon may be gone, but I’m still a little messed up, but it should be better, I’m already feeling better! I don’t want to be a burden on you considering what you’re dealing with your mother and all–”

“Sour,” Sunny interrupted. She looked up at her friend and smiled a little. “I…I don’t know if I swing that way.”

Ouch, thought Tempest.

“I…I understand,” Sour replied with a trace of depression.

“But…I’d be willing to try and see where it goes. Maybe I just needed the right person to show me who I’m really attracted to,” said Sunny.

Sour’s eyes widened with hope when she heard these words, although Sunny wasn’t sure about how she felt, she was still willing to give dating Sour a chance. For Sour, after everything that had happened, this was a great mood lifter. Slowly, the two girls moved forward and brought each other into a hug.

Tempest really didn’t want to ruin this moment for the two teens, but she had a job to do, and she was starting to feel like a creeper the longer she stood there. The orchid-colored woman knocked on the door and caused Sunny and Sour to end their hug as they turned to see who it was. “Hi there,” Tempest walked in further and stopped a foot from the bed and took out her fake FBI badge. “I’m Special Agent Tempest Shadow, FBI.”

Sour flinched at the mention of those three letters. “F-FBI…w-what do you want with me?”

“Relax, Ms. Sweet, I’m not here to arrest you or anything. I’m part of the investigating unit looking into supernatural occurrences here in the city, and I’d like to ask you some questions regarding the incident, if you’re feeling up to it,” said Tempest.

Sunny looked to Sour, even though they had just started being girlfriends, Sunny was already feeling that defensive instinct one had with protecting their significant other. “She doesn’t have to answer your questions, do we need to get a lawyer involved?”

Tempest raised her hands as if she were surrendering. “Hey, hey, no need to sic the suits on me. I’m not arresting her or saying that she’s under investigation, she was at the epicenter of a supernatural event, and I need to get some information on what happened, trust me, she isn’t the only one I have to speak to. If possible, I’d like to keep what happened to Ms. Sweet from happening to anyone else.”

Sour’s face grimaced when she thought about that. “It’s okay Sunny, I’ll talk to her.”

Sunny looked between Sour and Tempest, in the end she relented. “Fine, but I’ll be right outside. And don’t stress her out, she’s been through enough!”

“Yes, ma’am.” Tempest waited for Sunny to exit the room before she took the seat Sunny had occupied a moment ago. “Sorry about this, Ms. Sweet, but I gotta get a statement from you regarding the incident.”

Sour sighed dejectedly. “You couldn’t have gotten it from the cops? I talked to them already.”

“Yeah, I could’ve, but I find that getting it directly from the horse’s mouth is a lot better than reading what another person wrote down. Ya can’t see the person’s face when they said those words, so I want to get the full picture of what went down. For starters, do you know what the sword that possessed you is?” Tempest asked as she took out her phone and began typing notes.

Sour growled a little, she really didn’t want to talk about that thing, but she knew she had to. The teenage girl went into detail about how, during a trip to Japan, her family happened by an antique shop, one whose specialty was the preservation of old Japanese katanas, some were from World War II, and others were from back in ancient Japan. Being the sword connoisseur that she was, Sour’s eyes were immediately drawn the old weapon, only knowing now that its demonic aura was quite possibly reaching out to her and stoking her curiosity to make her go to it. The trip happened two years ago, and that was when she bought it, and ever since then, the Blood Sword, as it was called, was slowly corrupting, or rather, making her condition worse. Unfortunately, due to her condition, it was hard to tell if was due to her disorder or if it was actual possession. Sour also stated to Tempest that it started to get worse right around when the Angelus and the Darkness had their war in the city.

“From then on…when it started to wake up completely, it wanted blood, it wanted to kill. If I didn’t do what it said, the Blood Sword was going to hunt down Sunny Flare and kill her in front of me…I couldn’t risk that…I just…I’m sorry…” Sour explained as she wept a little.

Tempest shook her head. “You did what you had to do to protect someone you care about. Given your situation, you really had no choice. It just preyed on you, you’re as much a victim as anyone else. And from what you’ve told me, you also rejected it and because of that, it got out of you.”

“With help from my friend…well…old friend, I guess?” Sour corrected, not really sure herself.

“Yeah, about that, I’m gonna need her name, she’s someone else I need to follow up with. Do you remember what she did to get rid of the demon?” Tempest asked.

“Her name’s Sugarcoat, she’s a senior at the same school I go to…as far as what she did…what little I do remember, she called it the Heart Stone, I think?” Sour narrowed her gaze a little at Tempest. “You’re taking this all in and don’t look skeptical in the least.”

Tempest stopped her typing and chuckled a little. “Kid, you ever see that old TV show ‘X-Files’?” Sour shook her head in the negative. “Cool show, a bit geeky and out there, but not too far-off base with what I do. The FBI has different divisions that look into different things, organized crime, human trafficking, and of course, things that go bump in the night. Which, in my case, I’ve seen a lot of weirdo things. So, your little demonic possession story is like a normal workday for me.”

Sour Sweet gulped, she couldn’t fathom what else was roaming around out there behind the scenes, she could barely handle the demon sword and the recent angel, demon, gang war. Then there was that “Wendigo” possession going on around the city, at least two of her classmates were involved in that, one of them was killed by Witchblade, and the other…committed suicide while in jail. A terrible thought gripped Sour’s heart now that she recalled Fleur’s fate.

“Will…Will I be sent to jail?” Sour asked.

“I’ll put in a good word with the local PD, at best, I’ll advocate for surveillance. You’ll also be monitored by us as well, but so long as you promise not to go messing with anymore supernatural stuff, I think we can avoid that,” Tempest assured.

Sour scoffed. “Believe me, I’m through with anything supernatural!”

“I believe you.” Tempest put away her phone and stood up, she paused for a moment as her eyes looked towards the window and across to the rooftop of the adjacent building. The OSOD agent then returned her attention to Sour Sweet and said, “You rest up now, and sorry for interrupting you and your girlfriend.”

Sour Sweet blushed at the mention of Sunny as her girlfriend. “W-We’re…I mean…We just…Oh…!” Sour brought up the sheets to hide her blushing face from Tempest in a vain attempt at trying to hide her embarrassment.

Tempest chuckled again and left the room, as she did, she saw Sunny leaning against the opposite wall, waiting patiently for their talk to end. “She’s all yours.” As she began to walk away, she stopped and said, “You know, take this opportunity, learn something about yourself and her. You never know who you’re really in love with until they’re with someone else.”

Sunny paused for a moment, looked down at the floor and the back at Tempest. “Thank you.”

Once Sunny went back into Sour’s room, Tempest headed towards the janitor’s closet. She took out the Wheel of Shadows and transformed into her shadow form, after transforming she switched off the lights and disappeared into the shadows.

On the rooftop across from the hospital, Suri Polomare perched. The Blood Sword’s vengeance towards Sour Sweet was palpable, after being rejected by her and thrown from the previous host, Blood Sword wanted her dead. Suri didn’t really care about Sour Sweet back when she was alive and in Crystal Prep, the “bipolar bitch” as she called her, was a part of the more popular clique back in Crystal Prep, a clique that she never got to be a part of despite how she managed to humiliate Twilight Sparkle on more than one occasion and in spectacular fashion. So, this seemed like poetic justice.

“You ready to slice her up?”

“I’ve been ready!”

Suri drew the Blood Sword, a scarlet aura lapped off the blade, signifying the demon within was ready to kill.

“You might want to hold on there.” Suri turned around and watched as the shadows rose from the roof and formed into a humanoid figure, the shadow woman, Tempest, stepped forward and crossed her arms. “Wow, didn’t take you long to find a new host, you rebound fast.”

“Uh, do I know you?” Suri asked.

“No, but you will soon enough. I’m going to have to ask you to put that sword down.”

Suri hummed thoughtfully as she cupped her chin with her left hand. “Hmm…let me answer that in the following way, m’kay?”

The armored teen slashed the air in front of her, creating a crescent of scarlet light that sailed towards Tempest. Several shadow tendrils sprouted from Tempest’s back and formed a shield in front of her just in time for the energy crescent to strike against her shield and explode. Suri had jumped into the air, taking advantage of her initial attack. However, Tempest melted into the shadows just as Suri came down with her sword, striking the surface of the roof and leaving a long gash.

“What the hell?! Where’d she go?!”

Tendrils rose from the shadows and wrapped around Suri’s ankles. Before she could react, the tendrils whisked her up into the air and slammed Suri on the roof, then dragged her across the surface and threw her into an AC unit. Tempest rose from the shadows again, and formed a sphere of violet energy with a red aura surrounding it, the sphere rotated rapidly, generating a small gust of wind from its mere presence. Tempest dashed across the rooftop and aimed the sphere directly for Suri, the demonic teen saw the attack coming and quickly wrenched herself from the AC unit and jumped away from the attack.

Suri watched as Tempest’s sphere made contact with the AC unit, and instantly the machine aged rapidly, rusting and then turning into dust in less than a couple of seconds. Suri’s eyes widened with shock as she landed a few feet away and took a defensive stance. “What the hell, you can make things decay?!”

Tempest chuckled at the misinterpretation of her power. “Heh, not the simple. I can manipulate time for objects and people, I can make you age until your dust, or regress your age until you’re a little zygote.” The time wielder created more times spheres and positioning them at the tips of her four shadow tendrils. Two of the spheres had a red tint to them, while the two others had a blue tent. “I’m pretty sure aging forward rapidly can be painful, but I’d like some input on what you feel when I regress your age. The blue ones will regress your age and the red ones will accelerate it. How ‘bout it? Do you want to be an old lady, or do you want to be a toddler again?”

Suri gulped; this one wasn’t playing around. “Hey, demon, be honest, can you survive getting hit with one of those?”

“So long as you keep the aura around the blade up, yes, but if those hit you or my physical form, we’ll die, and me…well…it’d be interesting since I’m bound to this sword, I’m not sure if I’ll die or be freed. But that’s not a chance I’m willing to take!

“Agreed,” said Suri.

The Blood Sword ignited with scarlet energy, readying herself for close combat. Tempest made two more spheres appear, this time in both her left and right hands and launched her two upper tendrils towards Suri. The former rich girl ran across the rooftop, dodging one of the tendrils as it narrowly missed her leg, the armor around the leg rusted just a bit but then restored itself back to normal thanks to their combined power. Blood Sword could heal Suri to a degree, but even the demon’s powers couldn’t bring back a limb that was aged into nothingness. Tempest jumped into the air and began spinning in midair, swirling the tendrils and lashing them out at Suri.

Suri continued to dodge, but during a brief pause, she fired off three scarlet crescents from the Blood Sword. Tempest nimbly dodged it while in midair, she then combined two of the aging spheres into one the size of a cannon ball, with her tendrils Tempest threw it into the air and performed a midair roundhouse kick, striking the sphere and sending it hurtling towards Suri. The sphere flew straight for Suri, forcing her to bring down the sword and strike the sphere with her energized blade. The sphere and blade grinded against each other, releasing sparks as they both fought to overcome the other, however, Suri was none the wiser as the size of the time sphere made it easy for Tempest to disappear from sight and melt back into the shadows.

She zipped through the shadow realm like a shark and found her prey. Within the Shadow Realm, Tempest created six tendrils, each one grasping a time acceleration sphere, and commanded them to shoot up towards Suri’s position. On the flip side, Suri released a loud battle cry and forced the sphere to deflect off the blade and hit a random part of the building, making that section turn to dust. Suri panted and huffed from the effort, but when she looked down, her breath hitched. The shadows around her began to ripple like water, on pure instinct, Suri jumped high into the air just as the six tendrils broke through and began to close in on her.

“Hiiro no Tatsumaki (Scarlet Tornado)!”

Suri spun in rapid succession and slashed the air repeatedly as she did so. The energy released by her spinning and slashing created a wind tornado around herself, laced with the demonic energy of the Blood Sword. The six Time Acceleration Spheres struck against the wall of demonic wind, pushing forward and trying to penetrate through Suri’s defensive measure. However, unlike her previous host, Suri was craftier, and more willing to draw on the power of the Blood Sword, and the Blood Sword itself was more than willing to give more power to the host who willingly accepted its nature.

While in the eye of the tornado, Suri dismissed the armor around her right arm, gripped the sword with her right hand, and drew the blade across it. With the wound created, Suri pointed her open wound down at the roof, the blood began to glow and pool until it created a baseball sized sphere of blood. The shimmering ichor rippled slightly and then elongated until it was the length of a railroad spike.

“Chi no Dangan (Blood Bullet)!”

The spike of blood fired off at super speed, like a railgun, and struck the rooftop below her, unfortunately, it traveled further down breaking through several floors and blasting a hole about five feet wide from just the sheer force. However, the attack served its purpose, the shadows were broken, cutting off the tendrils from their originator. Tempest clicked her tongue in annoyance, but it was only a minor inconvenience. The OSOD agent found another exit point and flew towards it, but before she could reach it, Suri fired another of her Blood Bullets at the area and broke it apart. Suri then proceeded to rapidly fire more of her Blood Bullets around the roof, utterly collapsing it in the process and causing several more floors to collapse and create more casualties along with it.

Tempest growled in frustration, this girl may be young, but she wasn’t stupid, she figured out her ability to disappear into the shadows and was cutting off her way back. Unfortunately, her foe succeeded in destroying the prevalent shadows that were closest to the demonic samurai. With a frustrating growl, Tempest swam through the Shadow Realm and found another pool of shadows where she could exit. Once Tempest was out, she found herself reappearing across the street, she clicked her tongue in agitation, not only had she lost the demon sword, but said demon sword wielder managed to do a lot of damage to the building.

“Tch…next time, punk. For now, though, gotta go help some people.”

Sing Part 1

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A couple of days had passed since the incident over the weekend, and CPA was still abuzz about it all. However, there was one thing that the students could see that was stranger. Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer weren’t as close to each other as they normally were, normally they’d be holding hands, or Sunset would have her arm wrapped around Twilight’s waist as they walked side by side. But now, there was a gap in between them, anyone with good sense could tell that something happened between them to shake up their relationship.

Lunch was particularly awkward, for Sugarcoat anyway. The moment she arrived she noticed that Twilight and Sunset were sitting at opposite ends of their table. This was tricky as Sugarcoat had never been in a situation when one friend was mad at the other, especially when said friends were in a romantic relationship and were clearly having a fight. From what she remembered from those teen movies and tv shows, picking a side could end badly for the person stuck in the middle.

However, Sugarcoat wanted to find out why this was happening, considering how happy the two of them were, she assumed they wouldn’t be capable of fighting, but then again, even the happiest of couples have an occasional spat once in a while, Sugarcoat assumed that this was what was happening and hoped she might be able to offer some perspective on the matter. She decided to sit near Twilight, for obvious reasons thanks to her Heart Stone.

“Hi, Sugarcoat,” Twilight greeted.

“I’m not one for beating around the bush, Twilight, so I’ll just be direct.”

Twilight chuckled a bit. “You always are.”

Sugarcoat smiled a little, and then asked, “What happened between you and Sunset?”

“……That obvious?”

The tri-tailed girl raised an eyebrow and gave Twilight a deadpan expression, more than her usual one. “It’s pretty obvious for anyone with eyes. You’re usually stuck to each like glue, but for the past two days you haven’t hugged each other, held hands, hell, you haven’t even kissed each other in public.”

Twilight blushed after Sugarcoat referenced their small intimate moments. “There’s a bit of an issue between us right now…”

“I can see that, but what is the issue?” Sugarcoat inquired.

“Sunset told me that, last week, she discovered that Indigo Zap has powers, too. And not just any kind of powers, ice powers, she’s using an Artifact that is the sibling of her Ember Stone, the Glacier Stone,” Twilight explained. “She also told me that last Wednesday she fought against her in the warehousing district, in a death match, if it wasn’t for Blood Sword interrupting the battle, she would’ve killed her. But that’s beside the point! Sunset knew for days that Indigo had powers, dangerous ones at that! And she kept me out of the loop! She lied to me!”

Sugarcoat gulped, yet another of her former acquaintances was armed with a dangerous power, and it had to be one that was mentally unstable as well…okay, second tier mentally unstable. “Well, that is unsettling.”

“I know! This whole time, Indigo could’ve frozen you or I alive and we would’ve never known how or who did it until it was too late! She could’ve come after my family, my big brother, Dean Cadence! She could still attack right now!” Twilight stated.

Sugarcoat briefly glanced towards the table that was normally reserved for her former clique. Indigo and Lemon Zest were sitting together at the table, Sunny Flare was there as well, but Sour Sweet was still at the hospital for observation for at least one more week. “She could’ve, but she hasn’t. Part of me wonders why when she’s shown less restraint when Sunset first arrived.”

Twilight poked her food as she contemplated the answer. “I think…I think she wants me to love her…I don’t know, I guess the actions that she’s taken when it comes to me have finally sunken in, although not in the way I would’ve hoped. Because now she says she wants to ‘protect me’, she wants to make up for not being there for me when I needed someone…” Twilight sighed in dismay. “Sugarcoat…tell me…am I a weak person?”

Sugarcoat’s mind and mouth were about to blurt out yet another brutal and blunt answer, but thankfully she managed to bite her tongue before that came out.

Twilight noticed the hesitance in Sugarcoat’s face and furrowed her brow. “Sugarcoat, you’ve never shied away from being bluntly honest with someone.”

“……Mostly because it’s something I can’t always control,” Sugarcoat admitted with some shame.

“I asked you because I know you’ll be honest with me, so say it. You’re very observant, so I’ll accept what you say.”

Sugarcoat really didn’t want to, not when she just gained a friend. This was the kind of thing that more or less isolated her, telling those closer to her what she really thought, whether they wanted to hear it or not. It’s mostly why she wore a deadpan expression, left emotion out of her voice whenever she could, made herself distant from others, because the moment she told others what she really thought about them, they’d leave her.

“I don’t want to lose you…” Sugarcoat admitted as she tensed up. “I lost a lot of potential friends…and now that I have two…the last thing I want is to lose either of you…”

Twilight had a sympathetic look on her face as she reached out and took Sugarcoat’s hand into her own. “I promise, I won’t abandon you. You’re my friend now, Sugarcoat…and sometimes, friends need to tell their friends what they need to hear, even if it hurts. So, go ahead.”

Sugarcoat took a deep breath, steeling herself for the inevitable. “Okay. You’re a doormat, Twilight. I know part of that is the fault of what you’ve gone through at the hands of the students and Indigo, but you’ve shown you’ve had a strength inside you that you’re afraid of letting out, or don’t think you possess. So, you allow yourself to be trampled on, to be used and abused, to drown yourself in science because it has rules and structures, while life is chaotic and human emotions are so complex that it’s hard to even understand one person, much less an entire school. What’s worse, thanks to that advanced intellect of yours, people have already made presumptions of you, they believe that you look down on them because you’re smarter than most, so in their minds that gives them justification to haze you, but at the same time, it also gives you the excuse to not get close to anyone.”

“You’ve somehow believed yourself to be a weak, person, and the more you believe it yourself the more you will accept it as reality. Relying on others is not always a bad thing, but sometimes you have to stand up on your own and do what you can. You’ve proven you can do a lot, but your unwillingness to get close to anyone is what makes you a weak person.”

Twilight was right, this was going to hurt, and it did. Part of her wanted to cry and break down, but another part of her got a little angry. “How can you say that?! I’ve come so far with Sunset! We’re together, we’re girlfriends! We’ve kissed and–!”

“Have you gone on a date?” Sugarcoat interrupted.

“Well…”

“Have you had sex yet?”

“NO!” Twilight responded with a blush.

“And yet, now that you’ve found out about this, you’ve distanced yourself from her, instead of seeing it from her perspective. To be fair…” Sugarcoat looked at Sunset, who was sitting at the far end of the table. Her aura was a mixture of many colors and hues. The Ember Stone dragon aura was ever present, but now she could see past it and see the turmoil brewing around her. “…I think Sunset is dealing with a few things herself. She seems like the kind of girl who has done things on her own for so long she’s forgotten how to rely on others, same as yourself. However, she also has experienced loss, and I think she’s afraid of losing what she cares about, or in this case, who she cares about.”

Sugarcoat turned her attention back to Twilight. “You’re both fractured and have trust issues. That’s something that you both need to work on, but neither of you will be able to get past this if both of you continue as you have been……I’m sorry……but that’s what I’ve determined. Even still…I believe that you two can heal each other, if you let it happen, if you open up to the other. That last part was more my feelings on the matter, not my objective opinion I’ve stated earlier.”

Twilight was silent for a minute, there were some tears in her eyes, something that Sugarcoat was used to after blurting out her truth. But then Twilight sighed and took hold of Sugarcoat’s hand once again. “I was right…that was painful…but I’m glad you said all that. You’ve really given me a lot to think about, Sugarcoat.”

“I’m sorry,” said Sugarcoat with lament as her gaze fell.

“You’re still my friend.”

Sugarcoat snapped her head back up with a surprised look on her face. “W-What…?”

Twilight smiled at her. “I promised I would stay your friend. I won’t stop being your friend, we’ve just now started to become friends. I don’t want to lose that.”

Sugarcoat’s eyes began to water, if it wasn’t for the loads of judgmental teenagers in the lunchroom, she’d have bawled her eyes out. Instead, she allowed herself a quiet sob as she held Twilight’s hand tighter. “Thank you…Thank you, Twilight…”

“Tell Sweetie Belle, never cook again,” said Applejack.

Rarity sighed as she lightly patted her girlfriend’s back. “I warned you, Darling, even you couldn’t withstand that.”

Applejack still hadn’t fully recovered from eating Sweetie Belle’s cooking, but despite her warnings, she still ate it. To be fair, Applejack had handled it way better than past people who Sweetie dared to feed her creations to.

Sunset and Pinkie came walking around the corner and saw how out of it Applejack was.

“Hey, AJ, you alright?” Sunset asked.

“Did you eat a baked bad?” Pinkie asked.

Applejack, who was leaning against the wall, merely shook her head in the negative.

“Unfortunately, this came from my dear little sister making us breakfast in bed,” Rarity answered.

Sunset and Pinkie raised an eyebrow at that admission.

“Oh~ And, pray tell, why was Sweetie Belle bringing you both breakfast in bed,” asked Pinkie Pie with a knowing look on her face.

Rarity realized her slip of the tongue and quickly tried to think of a way to explain it. “Oh…well…you see, I had Applejack over for a little slumber party for the two of us, and we both passed out on my bed! My naïve little sister, bless her, thought the two of us were doing something elicit and therefore believed we were ‘together’, in that way.”

Sunset placed her hands on her hips and sported the same knowing look as Pinkie. “Uh-huh, but, uh, what exactly did she see to make her think that? I mean, we’ve had slumber parties before, and sometimes we’ve all ended up passed out in a pile. Sometimes on the bed, and sometimes on the floor. But nothing I’d consider risqué.”

“If you don’t count that one time when you woke up and found Rainbow Dash’s hands groping your ta-tas under your shirt, in her sleep,” Pinkie pointed out.

“I can’t even be mad at her because she doesn’t remember a damn thing…although part of me thinks she does remember something, and when that day comes…” Sunset had a devious smirk on her face. “That aside, how long are you two going to keep up this act of pretending to not be a couple?”

“D-Don’t know what yer talkin’ ‘bout, Sugar Cube,” said AJ.

Sunset sighed and placed her right hand against Applejack’s stomach. The ruby gemstone on the Witchblade glowed dimly and released its energy into Applejack’s body. In less than a few seconds, Applejack’s discomfort had evaporated, feeling like her healthy self again. “There, at least you won’t feel like crap. Just politely decline the offer of food from Sweetie the next time. Okay?”

Applejack sighed in relief after feeling the “poison” being purified from her body. “……Guess we ain’t as sly as we thought, huh?”

“Eh, I don’t think Rainbow’s figured it out yet, Fluttershy, most likely,” said Pinkie. “And then there’s the school itself.”

Rarity groaned. “Really, I thought we were more careful.”

“Why hide it? You guys are cute together,” said Sunset.

Applejack placed a comforting hand on Rarity’s right shoulder as she looked at her two friends. “We…We just wanted to feel this out before sayin’ anythin’. Didn’t want ta get yer hopes up, or ours, in case this didn’t pan out. Y’know?”

Pinkie Pie and Sunset glanced at each other, the former resting her head on Sunset’s left shoulder and giggling happily. “Yeah, we get it. But, still, it’s really great that you two are at least happy with each other!”

“Thank you, Sunset, Pinkie,” said Rarity as she discreetly took Applejack’s hand into her own.

“HEY GUYS!”

Pinkie, Sunset, Applejack, and Rarity turned their heads when they heard Rainbow Dash’s voice coming from around corner, which promptly made Applejack and Rarity release their hands. Rainbow rounded the corner and came whizzing up to them with the most excited look on her face.

“Whoa, Dash, what’s lit a fire under yer rear?” Applejack asked.

“I talked it over with my parents, and they said YES!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Slow down, Darling, what did they say yes to, exactly?”

“Oh, oh, did they finally talk them into getting you a superfast bike like Sunny’s?!” Pinkie guessed.

Rainbow deflated a bit. “Nah, that’s going to take some time. But it’s something even better! My Mom and Dad said yes to letting Lightning Dust live with us!”

“Lightning Dust?!”

“GAH!” Rainbow shouted in surprise.

“EEP!”

Rainbow Dash caught her breath and realized that the person who said that was Fluttershy, who had somehow got behind her without her noticing. “Jeez, Flutters, do we need to put a bell on your neck or something?! Or is that that church assassin training that lets you move around all quiet like?”

“S-Sorry, Rainbow, I just got here, and I overheard what you were saying. I didn’t want to interrupt, at least, I didn’t mean to until you said Lightning Dust was going to stay with you,” Fluttershy explained. “But that means she’s getting out, right?”

Rainbow shook her head happily. “Yeah, it’s weird, some FBI chick came and asked her some questions on Saturday, and then she did something – don’t know, don’t care – and now she’s getting out of the slammer! But they won’t release her unless they sign her into someone’s custody.”

“And since her father is a grade A asshole, you convinced your parents to take her in?” Sunset inquired.

“Yep! Wasn’t easy either…I had to promise them that Lightning would stay on the level, and that she wouldn’t ‘distract me’ from keeping up my grades since it’s my last year in high school,” said Rainbow, putting air quotes around the distraction part. “Of course, a little private celebration isn’t uncalled for.”

Fluttershy blushed upon recognizing what she meant by “private celebration”. Sunset lightly nudged Rainbow Dash with her elbow while giving her a knowing, pervy smile of approval.

“Not ta rain yer parade, but are ya sure she’s good to have around? Ah mean, after what her daddy done filled her head with…”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure. Wind Rider’s not getting out for anything, not after what me and Lightning told the cops, plus, the asshole confessed to as much. She’s not about that anymore, if you saw her, you’d see that, too. Oh, before I forget. There is something I wanted to ask you, Sunset.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s totally up to you, I’m not going to force you or anything. But…” Rainbow began rubbing the back of her neck out of nervousness. “…Lightning wants to see you.”

Sunset blinked in surprise. “Me? Why me?”

“She wants to apologize to you for…you know, what happened that day…” Rainbow raised her hands quickly and hurriedly said, “Look, I know you’re still probably a little sore about what she and Gilda did, but–!”

“Sure, that’s cool.”

“Wait, really?” Rainbow asked.

Sunset smiled and said, “I’m not going to hold what her father put into her head – and a horde of demonic spirits – against her. She was swept up into the whole Anon-A-Miss shit like everyone else, but if she wants to, I’ll meet up with her when she’s out and ready to talk.”

Rainbow Dash sighed in relief as she placed a hand on the redhead’s shoulder. “Holy shit, I’m so happy you said that! I was afraid you were still pissed.”

“If I was, would I still be hanging out with any of you?”

Applejack shrugged. “Fair point.”

“Indeed,” Rarity agreed.

Fluttershy hugged her best friend since childhood from behind and smiled. “I’m so happy for you, Dashie.”

Pinkie Pie joined in on the hug. “Meet too, I’m super-duper happy!”

“Aw, what the hell!” Sunset exclaimed as she globed onto Rainbow as well.

“Shucks, why not.”

“I suppose I should join in as well.”

Before Rainbow realized it, she was in the middle of a group hug, and she couldn’t be happier.

Guess I need to thank Agent Tempest for that the next time I see her.

The journey was long, but finally, they had arrived. Canterlot City, the place of the Sirens’ most humiliating defeat, although, the city had seen better days. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata were marveling at the amount of reconstruction that was going on, they had seen on the news and internet videos scenes of the battle that went on here. But that didn’t compare to seeing it for themselves, potholes from explosions, chunks taken out of the buildings, and of course a whole lot of police presence than there used to be.

Aria pulled the RV into a supermarket parking lot, allowing the three sisters time to talk about what their first move should be. “Okay, so, what’s our first move?”

Adagio, who was sitting in the passenger seat, stroked the top of Pandora’s Box as she thought on it. “I think we should do some surveillance of Shimmer and her friends. It’s been a few months since we were last here, some things have obviously changed, and I’d like to know how much. For one thing, are Shimmer and her friends still all grouped together, or have they splintered off and left her alone? If that has happened, it’ll be easier to strike against her without wondering if her friends will come to her rescue.”

“We can only hope, I’d rather not use that damn box if we can help it,” said Aria.

“So, hypothetical question, what happens if we manage to make her tell us how she got here from Equestria, what do we do to her then?” Sonata asked.

Adagio glanced at her youngest sister through slit eyes. “There are many possibilities, Sona dear. One of them involves killing the bitch in as slow, and as painful a way as possible, or making her suffer in equally painful and humiliating ways. Perhaps we’ll tie her up, strip her of all her clothing, and call up some men from the seedier part of this city and have them gangbang her while we’re back in the oceans of Equestria. A poetic way of getting revenge on her since we’ve spent the last few months whoring ourselves!”

The lead Siren hummed as she thought more on what to do. “Or we could do the deed ourselves, while we may not have the proper ‘equipment’, we can’t still enjoy ourselves. I’ve mentally cataloged a number of things I’d like to stuff into that pony bitch’s twat! Then there’s electrocution, but that’s more foreplay. As far as actually killing her. Like I said, it should be slow and painful, like the years we’ve spent here. Perhaps the Box can invoke something much more fitting than I could imagine. My only regret is that she has but one life for me to end.”

Sonata scooted a little further away from her big sister, even without her gemstone, the blue Siren could feel the hate and rage Adagio had for Sunset Shimmer. It was almost suffocating, to the point that it worried Sonata. When she glanced to Aria, she could tell that it bothered her, too.

Aria was almost always angry, aggressive would be a better word, but she had mellowed out in the last few months, even with the way their lives were here, she didn’t harbor as much resentment towards Sunset Shimmer. Granted they both did, but what Adagio felt was beyond mere hatred, especially when she talked about what she wanted to do to the pony turned human. There was a joyful, murderous glint in her eye every time she talked about it. But hearing it out loud was always disturbing to them. However, it seemed like she had gotten deeper into that mindset.

“Okay, before you cream your pants, we should check out CHS or some shit, their Seniors now, so they should still be there,” said Aria.

“That is a good idea, but the students will remember us, we’ll have to keep to the shadows as much as possible. For now, let us find out where she lives, once we have that we’ll track her movements.”

“Well…we can’t follow her in the RV, I mean, it’d be pretty hard not to notice an RV following you around,” Sonata commented.

Aria got up and went to the back to change her clothes. “I’ll go and jack a bike and follow her like that.”

“Take the burner and call us when you figure out where she’s living. Also, get rid of the pigtails, if anyone sees you it might throw them off since no one’s seen you with your hair down,” Adagio suggested.

Aria sighed in annoyance, she didn’t like the word “pigtails” she liked to call them “twin-tails”, and Adagio knew it. “Fine.”

Sunset was in her study hall period in the commons area, while Twilight was in chemistry class. She hated knowing that Twilight was mad at her, she couldn’t even be mad at her because most of this was her fault. She was half telling the truth about why she didn’t tell Twilight about Indigo’s Artifact, she didn’t want to worry Twilight, but also what she didn’t mention was that she was after that Artifact.

The only way she was going to get it from Indigo was to kill her, sure, there was the option that Indigo could give it up in exchange for her life, but Sunset would be lying if she said she didn’t want to. Her blood still broiled when she remembered all that Indigo had done to Twilight. However, there was a bigger secret that she was holding back, something that she couldn’t tell her, or anyone for that matter.

“Looks like you’re deep in thought,” said a familiar voice.

Sunset turned to her right and saw Sugarcoat walking towards her, books in hand. “Heh, hey Sweets, what’s up?”

“That’s my question to you.” Sugarcoat sat down in the empty chair next to Sunset. “If you’re up for talking?”

“I’m pretty sure you got the lo down from Sparky.”

“I got her side of the story, but it’s only one side. I want to hear yours,” Sugarcoat explained.

Sunset shrugged and looked down at her cellphone. “What’s there to tell, I screwed up…I’m surprised you’re still talking to me. Considering what happened to Sour Sweet, I’d figured you’d be pissed at me for keeping that info on Indigo a secret.”

Sugarcoat pushed her glasses up by the bridge as she answered, “I’m mildly displeased, but I can understand your logic behind not telling Twilight or me. That being said, why didn’t you?”

“I thought you said you knew?”

“Because I want to hear it from you.”

Sunset sighed in agitation. “What’s there to tell? I screwed up. I should’ve told her that Indigo had an Artifact like mine, but I didn’t want to freak her out. I mean, how would you react if your abuser suddenly gained supernatural powers and could come at you at any time with them, and nothing short of a nuke could stop them?”

“If we’re talking about your average person, it could psychologically break them, become paranoid to the point that they make themselves physically ill, or commit suicide.” Sugarcoat noticed the fear color tinge Sunset’s aura the moment she said that. “However, Twilight’s smarter than that, and stronger than we both give her credit for. Consider the fact that she’s suffered nearly four years of abuse at the hands of almost every single student in this school, with no one to help her, on top of what Indigo has put her through, any normal person would’ve suffered a mental breakdown and committed suicide, or…you know…take out her anger on everyone here. And I dread to wonder what Twilight can think of, as smart as she is.”

Sunset took a moment to contemplate what Twilight could do if she saw fit to take revenge on the students and faculty of CPA. As brilliant as Twilight is, she could concoct chemicals and poisons that could kill everyone in the school without leaving a trace, hack into the school’s computer systems and screw around with the students’ grades, or their social media accounts.

“Not going to lie, it’s kinda pathetic.”

Sunset’s eyebrow rose a bit and she glanced sideways at her friend. “I’m sorry, what’s pathetic?”

“You. The fact that Sunset Shimmer, the girl who strode into CPA, threw the entire high school social hierarchy into disarray, and proclaimed that you were Twilight’s girlfriend. The girl who saved Twilight and kicked the asses of four of the five girls who made up the most influential of the cliques here in the school, is pouting around because she had a fight with her girlfriend. Yeah, real tough girl.”

Sunset shot up from her chair, making it scoot back from the speed of which she did it. The flame haired girl glared down at her friend and said, “What the hell do you know?!” The bad girl of CPA grabbed ahold of Sugarcoat by the collar of her shirt and brought the bespectacled girl up to meet her gaze. “Just what in the hell do you know about me to call me pathetic! You don’t know what I’ve been through!”

“I know that you’re afraid of losing Twilight, that whatever you experienced in your life is making you act the way you are,” said Sugarcoat.

Sunset scoffed. “Is that a fact?! Is that what your little Heart Stone is showing you?!”

Now it was Sugarcoat’s turn to scoff. “Please, I didn’t need to use my magic gemstone to figure that out. You’re afraid of losing Twilight because you lost someone close to you, but it’s also because of that loss that you’re afraid of getting too close to her. You’re afraid that she might not like the person you are underneath.”

Sunset flinched, her grip loosening as the impact of Sugarcoat’s words hit her. She was right, Sunset was afraid, afraid of losing someone else she loved. She already had a hard decision to make when all the Artifacts were finally gathered together, and her decision would wound her deeply, but if all went as planned, when it was said and done, everything would be okay. Still, that did not make what she had to do down the line any easier, even now Sunset had second thoughts about going through with her plan.

“I just…I just can’t lose her…I don’t want to be like Indigo. If she doesn’t want to be with me that’s her choice…but…”

Sugarcoat placed her right hand over the one holding her shirt. “She’s afraid of losing you, too. You’re both pushing each other away because of a lie, she’s afraid of trusting because she’s been burned so many times, and you’re afraid of losing her. It’s something that you both need to talk about or you’ll both end up in a place neither of you want to be in.”

Sunset released Sugarcoat and sat back down in her chair. “I’m sorry, Sweets…I didn’t mean to act out like that…”

Sugarcoat returned to her seat and brought it closer to Sunset. “You’re not the first person to go off on me because I spoke my unfiltered mind. But you are the first to actually say you’re sorry.”

The redhead smiled and patted her friend on the shoulder. “Not everyone can handle the truth, but…you have given me some things to think about.”

“Glad I can help, if only a little,” said Sugarcoat.

For a brief moment, Sunset eyed the Heart Stone that hung on Sugarcoat’s wrist. I just hope that you’re willing to give that to me when the time comes, Sweets. I really do.

{So, you did manage to get a bike? Did they see you?}

“No, Adagio. Dumbass was drunk and he left the keys there. I just hopped on when he went inside and left. I went and switched the license plates with another bike at another bar. Not like this is my first time, Sis,” said Aria snidely.

{Excuse me for being overly cautious! We’re planning revenge and I’m not taking any chances!}

“Tch, where was this level of prep during the first two plans…” Aria whispered.

{What was that?}

“Oh, Sunset’s on the move! Gotta go!”

Aria ended the call on her burner phone and put into her pocket. She was parked across the street, keeping the front of Canterlot High School within view. The second eldest Siren remembered when they first scoped out the place, it took a few days to figure out where the rainbow light erupted from, and a little over a week to get some clothes together and do surveillance on the school itself before entering. Luckily it seemed not much had changed since they were last there, so now it just came down to following Sunset. There was no way she could go inside and just mill around like she belonged there, Aria had no doubt the students remembered her and her sisters, if not them, then Sunset and her friends definitely would.

The irate Siren watched as the students came pouring out of the building, and Aria’s eyes immediately locked onto Sunset Shimmer. She was flanked by her friends, happily chatting about something annoying, probably about friendship and rainbows. Ugh. That’s when she saw the flaming redhead briefly French kiss the pink party girl.

Huh, so Shimmer and that pink party girl are a thing now?……Eh, I’d tap that, too, Aria thought.

She continued watching as Sunset separated from the group and began walking to the student parking lot. From her spot she was able to see Sunset’s bike, which, Aria had to admit, was actually pretty nice. She wasn’t an expert when it came to bikes, but she knew enough to tell which is a good speed bike and which one is all muscle. And Aria could tell that Sunset’s was all speed.

Damn, when did she get wheels like that?! Aria looked down at her stolen bike. Hope this thing can keep up.

Aria put on her helmet and started the bike up, the moment she saw Sunset pull out of the parking lot she revved the engine and took off after her. She kept behind her, not too close, but not too far as to lose sight of her target. As she continued to drive along, Aria began to notice a change in the surroundings, the neighborhood was looking a lot nicer, like rich people nice. The houses were also starting to look more like compounds than anything else…The hell, is Shimmer rich or something?!

The second youngest Siren continued to follow Sunset Shimmer until she stopped at the front of a fancy gate. Aria stopped a good distance away, making sure that the former unicorn didn’t notice her and whipped out the burner phone to take pictures. Then Aria saw something that she never thought she’d see. A rich, sports car pulled up from the opposite side of the road and stopped at the gate as well, Sunset greeted the driver, when Aria zoomed in on the driver’s side, Aria did a double take. Sitting right there was…Sunset Shimmer.

What the fuck?! There’s two of them?! And is that the pony princess nerd?!

Aria was all kinds of confused, apparently there were two Sunsets, and they were rich. The punk rock Siren continued her surveillance as the gates opened and both the car and bike drove through. Aria hurriedly pulled up just as the gate closed and began taking video of the two vehicles heading up the driveway and enter the garage, from her angle, Aria was able to see the mansion in all its splendor, big, bright, and ornate, just like an uber rich person’s palace should be, and somehow Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle were living in it, too.

“Fuck me, Adagio is going to lose her shit when she sees this…!”

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!”

And as predicted, Adagio did in fact lose her shit. Aria had stayed out until midnight watching the Shimmer Manor, and when it wasn’t apparent that either of the Sunsets or Twilight Sparkle was coming out, Aria confirmed that they were all living in there and decided to head back to the RV. Upon arrival, she was greeted to the smell of Sonata’s cooking and an impatient Adagio rapping her fingers on the table. When she sat down and showed her the photos and video, well, she was less than pleased.

“That fucking bitch…she’s been living in the lap of luxury all this time…while we’ve been living in squalor! Whoring ourselves day after day, getting violated by random strangers almost every night, all to just make ends meet, and devoid of all magical power! And all this time, she’s been kicking back in her big fucking mansion, eating caviar, drinking champagne, and doing gods know what else with all that money! Fucking little pony slut!” Adagio raged as she got out of the booth and started kicking and stomping up and down the RV.

Sonata slid next to Aria and made the comment, “Dagi’s really mad.”

“I’m pissed, too! The bitch’s been living in a goddamn mansion while we’ve been living in a rundown apartment complex, and street walking for the last few months. So, yeah, pissed!”

After Adagio was finished fuming, she sat back down in the booth and let out a frustrated growl. “So, we’re sure that they live here?”

“Looks like it, I was there ‘til midnight and no one came back out. Probably better that I scope out the place one more time to make sure, but I doubt they’re just squatting there,” said Aria.

Adagio put the phone back down, allowing Sonata to see the pictures. “I don’t get it, how come there are two of them?” the youngest Siren asked.

“Most likely, the one in the car is the Sunset Shimmer that’s originally from this world. From what we’ve gathered, there are some places that this world parallels from Equestria, while there are some things that are unique to it alone” Adagio explained.

Aria crossed her arms and huffed. “In any case, we’ll have to be careful. We’re only after the Sunset that goes to CHS, and her friends. We don’t need to mess with the other one.”

Adagio snapped her head in Aria’s direction, looking at her as if she had just grown a second head. “I’m sorry, and who decided that?”

“What are you talking about?” Aria asked. “We came here to get revenge on Sunset Shimmer and her groupies, the pony one, not the human one!”

“What’s the difference?!” Adagio slammed her hand on the table and made Sonata jump. “This is a great opportunity, and I’m not passing it up!”

Both Siren sisters were now confused.

Adagio stood up, and as she did, a maniacal grin split her face. “Not only can I make Sunset Shimmer suffer, but now I can make two of them suffer at the same time! I was worried that I might go overboard when we got to Sunset, but now I can interrogate one, and use the other for some fun!”

Aria stood up from the booth, making Sonata back away. “Seriously, Adagio?! Let’s not go overboard here! We need to focus on just what we came here for!”

The lead Siren placed her hands on her hips and glared at the middle Siren sister. “Excuse me, but I thought you were the one who wanted me to make sure that there are no loose ends, nothing that could mess us up?! We don’t know how close this other Sunset is to the one we know, and we don’t know to what extent this other Twilight Sparkle is involved with both of them!”

“Hmm, they could all be girlfriends. I kinda thought the pony princess and Sunset were cute together,” Sonata commented.

“Keep your shipper shit out of this, please,” said Aria. “Anyway…you’re half right about the other Sunset and Twilight. We don’t know how close they are, or whether or not they’ll help the pony Sunset out when she’s in trouble.”

Sonata looked at the picture and noticed something about the twins of Twilight and Sunset. “They look like they’re both wearing some kind of schoolgirl uniform.”

“Probably from some private school around here, problem is, which one?”

Adagio grabbed her burner from her pocket, typed in a few words in the internet search engine, and after a couple of seconds she found what she was looking for. “Apparently it belongs to a Crystal Prep Academy, a school located a little further into the city.”

Aria and Sonata blinked.

“How the hell did you find that out so fast?”

“I just put in a search for private schools for wealthy kids in Canterlot. One of them popped to the top of the search, and the image search on the school shows some of the students in uniform. So, the other Sunset and Twilight go to a rich school,” Adagio commented.

“Hmm…CHS probably won’t be that hard to get inside, but those kind of fancy schools don’t play around. How are we going to get in and check them out?” Sonata asked.

Adagio clicked her tongue in frustration, Sonata was right, getting inside wasn’t going to be easy. If they had a uniform she could probably pass as one of the students, and Aria could easily infiltrate CHS since it was just a public school.

Suddenly, Pandora’s Box began to open its lid slightly, releasing its eerie glow. Aria, Sonata, and Adagio quickly jumped back a bit in shock at the unprovoked action of the destructive Artifact.

“Sis, what the fuck is it doing?! We aren’t in trouble,” said Aria.

“I didn’t do anything it’s just…just…” Adagio trailed off as her eyes suddenly glowed, not the normal red color that usually accompanied the use of Pandora’s Box, but a purple glow.

Aria and Sonata could only stand and watch as their sister began to vocalize, singing aloud, but for what reason? Just then they heard a noise coming from outside, the two young Siren sisters rushed to the front door and were stunned when they saw someone standing a few feet away from their RV. What stunned them about this person was that they were female, and that said female was wearing red samurai armor. She had a thin purple aura that outlined her form, and for some reason it looked as if she was struggling against this aura.

“Who the fuck are you?” Aria asked.

“That would be my question! Why the hell am I here?!” she demanded.

“We don’t know! We swear!” Sonata stated.

The female warrior growled as she gripped the katana strapped to her waist and drew the sword, making it glow bright red.

“Holy shit, that thing’s real?!” Aria swore as she put herself between the demon samurai and Sonata.

“Yeah, and I’m going to gut you both!” The female samurai made to attack them, but the purple aura intensified, locking her body in place. Along with the aura, the voice of Adagio grew louder. When the samurai heard the voice, she stopped struggling and looked around. “Wait a minute, that voice…I…I’ve heard it before!”

Footsteps could be heard coming from inside the RV. Sonata and Aria parted to the sides as they watched Adagio walk out of the RV, Pandora’s Box in hand, and stand before the female samurai. Once she was outside, she finished singing as the box shut itself. Adagio shook her head and looked between her sisters and asked, “What…What happened?”

“Looks like the Box summoned someone,” said Aria.

Adagio looked forward and saw the samurai. “Who are you?”

The female samurai lowered her sword, but did not sheath it as she answered, “Suri Polomare, and you’re the one who saved me from Hell.”

“You did what, Dagi?!” Sonata asked in shock.

“You’re voice, it’s the same one I heard down there. The same one that dragged me back here. Your song raised me back. So, I have you to thank for that,” said Suri.

Adagio wracked her brain to try and figure out how or what she did to cause something like that to happen. Then it struck her, when she was out in the field that one time, when she saw the robed figure. Adagio fell into a trance and sang a different song than she had before. Now the lyrics made sense, for some reason, Pandora’s Box allowed her to resurrect the soul of some girl from Hell itself. But why?

“I suppose you do, honestly, I wasn’t even aware of what I was doing when I did.”

Suri sheathed her sword. “Eh, doesn’t matter, accident or not, I’m glad I’m out of that literal hell hole. That being said, I like to repay my debits, I don’t like owing anyone, m’kay.”

Aria crossed her arms and eyed Suri. “Oh, and what can you do?”

Suri smiled. “I can kill someone for you. Or a lot of someones.”

Adagio looked down at the Box and realized now that it was trying to help her get her revenge. It summoned this girl from Hell to help her in her endeavor of vengeance against Sunset and her friends, Suri could be the trump card they need when and if Witchblade appeared. “Actually, yes, there is something you can help me with. I’m looking to get revenge on a certain someone, and I’m worried my actions might garner the attention of a certain hero here in the city.”

“Witchblade and Ember.”

Adagio nodded.

“Huh, so you want protection for when the deed is done? Not for nothing, but it might be better if I do it then. I’ll just cut them up and slip away, although I can understand the need to do the deed with your own bare hands. So, who’s the unlucky bastard who’s going to die?” Suri asked.

“Sunset Shimmer,” Sonata answered.

Silence reigned for a couple of minutes, but then Suri’s brow furrowed, and her eyes squinted into dangerous slits. “Sunset Shimmer, huh? You want revenge on Sunset Shimmer? Small world, I do too, and one of her friends. Tell me, this isn’t some ‘make her life miserable’ kind of revenge, is it?”

Adagio’s expression matched that of Suri’s as she explained, “Far from it, I want to make her suffer, and after I get all the information I want out of her, I want to take my time and make her experience the pain we’ve felt over the last few months, all the way up until the moment she begs me for death!”

Suri Polomare smiled wickedly. “What was your name?”

“Adagio Dazzle, and these are my sisters. Sonata Dusk,” Adagio pointed to her right, then she pointed to her left. “and Aria Blaze.”

“Adagio,” Suri walked forward and reached out with her right hand. “It seems fate has brought us together. I want to make that cunt suffer; I think we can both get what we want.”

The leader of the Siren group smiled back at Suri and extended her right hand and shook Suri’s. “I’m starting to think you’re right.”

Aria and Sonata did not like where this was probably going to go, it felt like less of a mission to get payback and go home, and more like a pure vendetta. Unbeknownst to them all, Pandora’s Box’s two empty slots on the top of the lid glowed an eerie blue and orange light. The Artifact wanted something, something that was meant to fit in those two spots, and it could feel those two missing pieces were very close.

Sing Part 2

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As Adagio suspected, Crystal Prep was a school for rich kids, she could see it in the architecture, crystal pillars and fixtures that sparkled in the light of the sun, none of those halogen tube lighting, no, all LEDs. The lockers had a polished sheen to them, along with the floors, and not a speck of graffiti or litter to be found. When she did manage to sneak into a classroom, she noticed that each room had an LCD TV that was the length of a chalkboard, practically taking up the whole wall, touch screen at that. Then there were the labs, robotics, chemistry, general sciences, botany, and a litany of others Adagio couldn’t name.

When she passed by an occupied classroom, she noticed how the students were keenly focused on their work and the teachers. Even the ones that didn’t look like they were paying attention were fast to answer, including the jocks. Adagio slipped out of a classroom and headed into the girl’s restroom, and even in here it was also luxury. Air fresheners bathed the lavatory in a vanilla-lavender scent, the sinks had scanners that read when someone placed their hands under the faucet, along with automatic towel and soap dispensers. There was a dispenser for tampons, and not the cheap kind either, and a discreetly hidden a dispenser for condoms.

“Heh, do they expect them to be banging around school? Probably not, most likely liability and assurance that when they do the nasty, no one can say that they didn’t have any on them.”

Adagio took a moment to look herself over on the wall length mirror. The uniform had to be modified a bit, but thanks to Suri that was no problem. Suri had broken into her home and found that her room hadn’t been cleaned out, her parents still too sentimental to get rid of anything. Which worked out for them because it allowed Suri to grab one of her old uniforms. After some work on it and a fitting, Adagio was now adorned in the attire of Crystal Prep.

A burgundy blazer that she left unbuttoned, a blue shirt that she – purposefully – left at least two of the top buttons undone to allow some of her cleavage to be seen. She forewent the ascot Suri offered, but had the bow loosely tied and tucked under the collar of her shirt, just enough so that it covered a bit of the obvious display she had, but still left enough to make any boy – or girl – give a second glance. Further down she had on the violet plaid skirt, dark navy-blue socks, and complete with some loafers.

Adagio had her hair tied into a ponytail to complete her look, she struck a pose with her left hip out, left hand on said up, and her right hand placed on the back of her head. “Heh, wish I had this outfit when I was street walking. I could’ve charged triple for some ‘schoolgirl play’.”

Now wasn’t time to think about that, no, now was the time to gather info. She had been there three hours now, but the moment she entered the school, Adagio could already tell that while the outside was a sublime palace, the atmosphere inside was heavy and hostile. The students didn’t mingle as much in the halls, unlike CHS, the students here mainly whispered and gossiped about this or that before leaving for their next class. And everywhere she saw the students gave each other a look that one normally reserved for a rival.

While Adagio did manage to turn a few heads, she went mostly unnoticed. Which helped when she was tracking down Sunset Shimmer, she managed to pass herself off as a new girl, and already some of them were giving her advice about staying away from Sunset Shimmer. When she asked about Twilight Sparkle, there was trepidation, apparently Twilight was once the whipping girl for the entire school, but now, well, if you had a death wish you’d do best to stay away from her, otherwise you’d incur the wrath of Sunset Shimmer.

Adagio, after a bit of meandering about, managed to spot Sunset Shimmer. She pulled out her cellphone and pretended to text someone, all the while watching her. The resemblance was uncanny, even from this distance she could hear her voice, which was strikingly similar to the girl whom she loathed. Although there were settle differences between her and the pony version, for one thing, this version had half her hair tied with a spiked scrunchy, and…well…not that she was looking, but this Sunset wasn’t as “well endowed” as her pony counterpart. This Sunset Shimmer seemed to be talking to a girl with three pigtails, while Twilight Sparkle was standing a couple of feet away from her. There seemed to be some kind of tension between them, something that Adagio couldn’t quite put her finger on. After a couple of minutes chatting, Twilight and the other girl walked away, leaving the flaming redhead alone.

Adagio decided to make her move, she needed to see if the Sunset Shimmer from Equestria had informed the doppelganger of her and her sisters. The lead Siren walked confidently towards the human Sunset Shimmer, tamping down any anger and fury she had for this girl, she didn’t need to act hostile towards her and give this version a reason to suspect her. When Adagio approached Sunset she said, “Hello there,” in a casual and slightly flirtatious way.

Sunset peeked her head from behind the locker door and greeted her, “Oh…uh, hi. Sorry, do I know you?”

“Nope, I just got here, I’ve heard a lot of stories about you and wanted to meet the legend in person,” Adagio lauded.

Sunset smirked as she continued to get what she needed from her locker. “Huh, that a fact? What exactly is so ‘legendary’ about me that you wanted to come and see me?” she asked with a sideways glance.

“Heh, heh, well, for instance, how you stood up to the popular kids of this school, professed your love for someone, and beat up the people who tried to hurt her. I always wanted to meet a valiant knight.”

Sunset closed her locker and leaned on it with one hand. “Listen, you’re hot, seriously, but I’m in a relationship. I’m sorry if you’re looking for something more, but I am spoken for. Although, a word of advice, from one new girl to another, be careful who you hook up with here, this place is a viper pit and won’t think twice about devouring you.”

Adagio crossed her arms and smirked back at Sunset. “You seem to be doing alright. And sorry if I come off as flirty, it’s just something that I can’t help at times. Which is why I thought, maybe we could–”

“Hey, Shimmer!”

Gone was Sunset’s friendly expression, now replaced by one of anger as she sighed heavily. “If I were you, I’d take a few steps back, just in case.”

Adagio raised an eyebrow as she peeked over Sunset’s shoulder, noticing a girl with navy blue spikey hair walking towards them, her own expression was fierce enough to match Sunset’s.

Sunset turned around and addressed the spikey haired girl. “What do you want, Indigo?”

The sporty looking girl, Indigo, stopped about two feet from Sunset’s position and glared at her. “What the hell did you do to Twilight?!”

“Oh bitch, you are the last person on this planet who has any business asking me that!” Sunset accused. “But I promise you, if I’ve done anything, it pales in comparison to what you’ve done to her!”

Adagio watched this standoff, and as she did, she noticed something strange. A blue glow emanated from behind Indigo’s shirt, just below her collar bone, Adagio also noticed that a dim orange glow appeared right around the same area on Sunset. Something felt strange about those glows, something that compelled her to have them, to know what they were. The lead Siren snapped herself out of the trance, shaking her head and backing up a few steps as she promised. She could see a crowd beginning to form, and right now wasn’t the best time to be caught in the middle of a fist fight with these two, Adagio didn’t need that kind of attention.

“Sunset, I think we should leave, you don’t want to get into a brawl here with this one,” said Adagio.

“Oh, it won’t be a brawl, a brawl infers that both sides are equal. This will be a beating!” Sunset corrected.

Indigo growled, “You wanna go now, Slutset Shimmer?!”

“Sure, you ready to die today?!”

Adagio released a frustrated “ugh” sound before putting her hand on Sunset’s shoulder and forcing the redhead to take a step back. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but you seem to have enough problems, and I don’t think you need to cause a scene right now!” she urged.

Sunset glanced to Adagio and the back to Indigo. The lead Siren could tell that Sunset really wanted to fight Indigo, but something in Adagio made her feel as if that would not be a good thing, for her or anyone right now. Reluctantly, Sunset released the tension in her body, turned around, and said, “I don’t need this grief right now. C’mon, let’s go.”

“Walking away like a bitch, huh, Shimmer?” Indigo goaded.

Sunset turned her head, and for the briefest of moments, Adagio saw something like fire burn in her eyes, and she swore she saw a flicker of embers coming from her hair, as if it had become actual fire for a moment. “You are aware how easily I can end you, right? It’s by my good grace and Twilight’s that I’ve allowed you to stay alive this long. Remember that Zap.”

Adagio witnessed something else strange, a moment where Indigo’s eyes flashed blue, and the air around them grew cold for a second or two. But after she said that Indigo went silent. When it seemed as if Indigo wasn’t going to press the issue any further, Sunset and Adagio walked away.

Once they were far enough away Sunset sighed in lament. “I’m sorry you were almost caught up in my shit with Indigo.”

Adagio waved it off with a carefree shake of the hand. “No worries. But if you don’t mind me asking, what’s got her so pissed off at you?”

“……Remember when I told you to be careful? The girl she was talking about, Twilight, she’s my girlfriend. And that bitch is under some delusion that she belongs to her. She’s abused her, and not too long ago I gave her an epic ass kicking, but, unfortunately, she still hasn’t taken the hint.” Sunset grossed with annoyance and agitation.

“I see…” Adagio mused as she glanced over her shoulder at the retreating image of Indigo Zap.

“Again!”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

Fluttershy was known to be certain things, kindhearted, demure, shy – obviously – and sometimes a bit of a scaredy cat. But a martial artist was not one of them. Fluttershy had called Somnambula to request a training session at her place. Somnambula agreed and Fluttershy had arrived in a tank top and sweatpants, fully prepared to train with her teacher, and eager as well. For the past two hours they had been stretching, do yoga, meditating, and then for the second hour, they began sparring. Somnambula, similarly dressed like her student, had an interesting way of fighting that often baffled her opponents and even past students.

Whenever she went into battle, Somnambula would always wrap a special blindfold around her eyes. It was a white linen cloth with a gold decoration, Fluttershy was even allowed to hold it once to see if it was see-through or not, turns out it wasn’t. When Fluttershy put it on, she couldn’t see a thing, which often begged the question of how her teacher was able to do what she was doing right now?

Fluttershy back flipped away from a sweeping kick from her teacher, somersaulting once in midair before landing with the grace of a falling feather. Once she was sure of her footing, Fluttershy took off towards Somnambula, striking out with a punch. The blindfolded holy warrior jumped back to avoid the blow, but Fluttershy didn’t stop, she went into a series of combos, throwing punches and kicks wherever she presumed she saw an opening, but every possible opening was just a trap into another attack. Fluttershy threw another punch, but Somnambula ducked the blow and delivered a palm heel strike to Fluttershy’s stomach. The shy girl coughed in pain from the hit, but still kept on going. She swept the area in front of her with her right leg, hoping to trip up Somnambula, but that was wasted effort as Somnambula flipped over Fluttershy and landed right behind her.

With little effort on Somnambula’s side, she got Fluttershy into a submission hold, locking her arms up so that Fluttershy was reduced to flailing about like a child who was throwing a temper tantrum. With practiced ease, Somnambula tripped up Fluttershy, forcing them to hit the ground as she interlaced her legs with her student’s, effectively neutralizing her with the threat of breakage if she struggled too hard.

“Do you yield?” Somnambula asked through a grunt.

“N-Not yet!” Fluttershy responded.

The pink haired assassin (former) untangled her legs and twisted her body to the right, causing both of them to roll around on the matted floor until Somnambula hit a spot on the floor that made her loosen her grip. With that inch given, Fluttershy cocked back her right arm and delivered an elbow strike to Somnambula’s midsection, forcing the older woman to release Fluttershy. The two warrior women separated and hurried back to their feet. Somnambula took her fighting stance while Fluttershy did hers, both women studying each other for a moment.

“You have gotten better,” Somnambula commented.

“Thank you, Teacher,” Fluttershy replied.

Just then, Somnambula dashed towards one end of the mats where a couple of wooden swords lay, Fluttershy saw this and immediately ran to where a wooden staff laid on the ground, ready for use. Once both were armed, they returned to the center and went at it again. Fluttershy twirled the staff around, striking with wide sweeping attacks, spinning the staff around, and then leading into swift thrusts. Somnambula weaved and bobbed every sweep and used her wooden swords to counter each thrust attack. The sound of wood striking against wood rang in the room, along with the slamming of bare feet against mats and grunts of effort.

Somnambula sped forward and readied to deliver a double-bladed blow, but Fluttershy jumped straight up to avoid the attack. While in midair, she twirled the staff around and brought it down in an overhead strike. Somnambula raised her swords up and formed an “X” pattern, catching Fluttershy’s attack in the crook of the “X”. The impact rang loudly throughout the room and vibrated through both women’s arms to the point of stinging, yet still they held on firmly to their weapons. The middle eastern woman pushed the weapon aside with the left sword and, while Fluttershy was still overhead, struck her with the right sword right in her stomach.

The air briefly escaped Fluttershy’s lungs as pain erupted in her midsection, the stunned holy assassin landed back on the ground with a thump, but when she did, Somnambula spun on her heel and struck the timid girl with a roundhouse kick that sent her rolling to the left, her staff having been released from her grasp when she was hit. Fluttershy eventually stopped rolling around and ended up on her back, that was when Somnambula appeared over her, thrusting both wooden swords down over Fluttershy’s neck in an “X” pattern, the two blunt ends hovering just mere inches from her trachea.

“Do you yield?” she asked.

Fluttershy sighed as she said, “I yield, Teacher.”

Somnambula raised her swords up and placed them to the side, afterwards she removed her blindfold and offered her hand to Fluttershy. The pink haired girl grasped her teacher’s hand, allowing Somnambula to help her precious student to her feet. “You’ve been requesting these sparring matches a lot more since my return, what troubles you, my Altalmidh?”

“I’m sorry, I just…” Fluttershy began playing with a strand of her hair, nervously. “I just can’t shake this foreboding feeling for some reason. It’s as if there’s something creeping closer to this city and my friends, but I can’t figure out what it is…I know I can be a worrier, I can fret over the smallest things, but this…I just can’t stop thinking that something bad will happen soon.”

Somnambula couldn’t fault her student for feeling this way, after all, it was this “something” that drew her to this city as well. Whatever forces were swirling about this metropolis, it was nothing good. Like a monster hiding in the shadows, toying with its victim, and waiting for the best moment to reveal itself so that it could instill that last ounce of fear before it made the killing move. Somnambula originally came here to see what this mysterious force could be, figuring it would reveal itself soon. However, it was merely her intuition and sight that brought her this decision, if her young student was feeling the same thing, as the Magdalena, then her suspicions were correct.

“Fluttershy, do you remember what I told you the first time you saw me don this blindfold?” Somnambula asked.

Fluttershy nodded and answered, “You said, ‘I do not need my eyes to see, God guides my blades to their target, and my faith lets me see all’.”

The older woman smiled as she looked at the cloth, she then lowered herself until she sat on the mat and patted the space next to her, signaling for Fluttershy to sit down as well. “When I was young girl in Egypt, I was to be wedded to a boy. Now, while that may sound unfortunate, it was actually quite fortuitus, for the boy whom I was to be married to, was not only a friend of mine but someone who I have had a crush on for quite a while.”

Fluttershy smiled, this was the first time her teacher had opened up to her about her past. “Was he nice?”

“He was kind, considerate, despite our culture, he never belittled me, and sought my opinion in many aspects.” Somnambula reached for the Rapture and let it rest in the palm of her hand. “He gave me this as a wedding gift, wrapping it in this simple cloth. I’m more than certain that neither her nor his family had any idea as to what the Rapture was. To him, he saw it as a simple gift to give to someone he loved. Then…a week after that…we were kidnapped.”

“Oh my…”

Somnambula clenched her fist around the piece of cloth in her opposite hand as the memories of her past came back to her. “We were held due to our families influence and wealth, they believed they could gain power by taking us hostage. My fiancé, the brave boy that he was, managed to cut our bonds and free us. We fled, but we did not know where we were, we realized too late that they had brought us somewhere far from our homes. When they found us, they shot at us, and he took a bullet that was meant for me…the kidnappers laughed at him, calling him a stupid child to be protecting me, and to gain nothing from it other than extending my suffering for a few more days.”

“I lost myself in that moment, and without realizing it, activated the power of the Rapture. I was transported straight to Hell and escaped my captors…but that was only the beginning.”

~*~*~*~

A young Somnambula was whisked away in the moment before her re-capture, having shut her eyes at the last moment to stave off the horror inducing end that she knew she’d no doubt suffer. However, what she saw when she opened her eyes was far, far worse. Her family was a religious bunch, although Somnambula did believe in God, she didn’t necessarily subscribe to her family’s way of viewing Him. That being said, it didn’t take her long to understand where she was. She knew for a fact she was no longer in the mortal world, because when she looked up, she could see a sky, and some clouds, but it was a dark red, and further up she could see a hole, and through that hole was another, and then another.

It was then that Somnambula realized what she was looking at, they were levels. The level she landed on had gold strewn around it, as far as the eye could see, along with precious gemstones, fine silks, and exotic weapons of all kinds. But that wasn’t the only things she saw, she also watched as multiple men and women, adorned in rags, were fighting with each other, screaming profanities as they hefted large, boulder-like weights around and used them as weapons against each other. They fought over the vast treasures, bludgeoning each other with little regard for life, only the desire to take what was around them. Their bodies were broken and splintered from the use of the boulder weights, but just as soon as they were “killed” they rose back up and did it all over again in an endless cycle.

Meanwhile, there were demons that walked about, not bothering to interfere in the fighting, merely standing by and watching it all play out before them. She couldn’t see their faces due to their skull masks, but she could tell that they were enjoying the spectacle. Somnambula had hidden behind a mound of gold, pressing her back to it as she sunk down, her heart pounding in her chest as she realized that she had somehow entered Hell itself, that was the only explanation for what she was seeing, there was no place on Earth that was near this horrifying.

Use the cloth, my child…

“W-What…?”

Your young eyes aren’t meant to see such sights, cover them.

“B-But if I do that – the demons – I won’t be able to see them! I won’t know where I’m going!” the young girl argued.

Trust in me, my child, I will guide you.

Somnambula wasn’t sure if she could trust this voice, she was in Hell after all. But there was something about the voice that made her feel calm, perhaps this was His voice. With little options available, Somnambula took the cloth that her betrothed had wrapped the Rapture in and tied it around her eyes. For a minute, all she could see was black nothingness. Then something happened, within her closed eyes, she could see. Light took the place of physical objects, allowing her to see vast golden light that made up the mounds and land. The sky was a dark red, and when she peeked over the mounds, she could see a purple outlining of the demons and a gray outline for the human souls.

You can escape, but your first entry was by accident. You must flee to a transitionary space where the line between Heaven, Earth, and Hell are weak. Follow the thread of light, and you will get there.

Before Somnambula could ask, she saw a silver thread of light shoot out of the Rapture and snake its way across the landscape to a spot a few yards away. Somnambula quickly ran, following the thread towards the spot where the voice said she would be able to leave, however, when she got halfway, she stopped. The Rapture glowed dimly, she looked to her left and saw a man all by himself amongst the riches. He seemed to be trying to get to where the fighting was happening, but he looked emaciated, his arms too weak to push his weight no matter how much he tried.

With her new vision, Somnambula was able to see a blue glow within the gray soul. It drew her to him, and, carefully, she spoke to the man, “What happened to you?”

The soul glared down at her, prepared to attack her for trying to take what was his. But something clicked in the soul’s greed idled mind, seeing a frightened young girl in Hell was so out of place that it snapped him to his senses. “What are you doing here? Even you’re too young to have garnered enough sin to wind up here.”

“I’m just trying to get back home…why do you look so sad?” she asked.

The soul scoffed. “Sad? Why would I be sad when I’m surrounded by vast amounts of gold! No, if anything, I’m angry at these cretins for trying to take it from me! Once I get this thing over, I’ll kill them all and take what’s mine!”

“No, you are sad…I…I can feel it. You weren’t all bad, were you?”

The soul didn’t know why he felt compelled to speak to this girl, but, for some reason, he felt that he must. “Not everyone is born bad, girl. Sometimes we just make bad choices or are given no choices other than bad ones, and we take the lesser of the evils. But even then, the lesser evils pile up after a while. I wanted to make money, because I was tired of living in squalor, of seeing my family have to live in such conditions. So, I rose up, took what I needed, backstabbing, wheeling and dealing, and made so much money that I barely knew what to do with it. Along the way though…I lost sight of why I did it in the first place.”

Somnambula felt sorry for the man, his intentions started out good, but he got swallowed up by the greed. “You must’ve done something worthwhile with all that money? Something that even you can be proud of?”

A ghost of a smile appeared upon the soul’s lips. “I left my money to my Momma and my sisters…don’t know if they took it or not, probably didn’t want to associate with me anymore. But I don’t care, if it means they get to live better than what we used to, then whatever.”

Somnambula was moved by the man’s story, and believed it wasn’t fair. Did he do some bad things, yes, but it didn’t start as something bad. He genuinely cared about his family, and even in the end he made sure to take care of them. The Rapture began to glow with a blue light, that same blue light traveled towards her right hand and formed a sphere of ethereal blue light. Somnambula looked at the orb and then at the one in the center of his chest, she then pushed that orb into his chest and the man took a deep breath, as if being allowed to breathe for the first time.

A portal of heavenly light appeared above him, shattering his shackles and breaking the boulder, symbolizing his release from the hellscape. He began to rise higher and higher towards the light, his shock and amazement evident on his face. Somnambula followed his ascension and smiled, she could see the light, feel its warmth and comfort, and knew that this was the light of Heaven.

“Thank you…” he spoke before his body completely disappeared into the light.

Somnambula, her side work done, ran the path the thread showed her. She reached a spot that was free of the gold, it looked like a tunnel that led further down into the depths. The thread went to a point on the side of the tunnel, and once she reached that point, the Rapture glowed and transformed her body into mist that evaporated and left Hell altogether.

~*~*~*~

“I reappeared back in my home before I realized it. I told my parents where my beloved was, and thankfully, the authorities were able to capture the kidnappers, but he was long dead. It was then I realized that some souls, while they have earned their spots in Hell, not all were deserving. Some were just never given the chance or started out good and made bad choices along the way. Those who are truly repentant, those who still hope for a better life, the Rapture shows them to me. Not only that, but it guides me in my actions.”

“So that’s how you’re able to fight blindfolded,” said Fluttershy.

Somnambula nodded. “The physical world gets in the way of the spiritual, in that sense, all distractions are swept away, and the truth is revealed. That’s how I can see your actions coming, but I believe you can do this too.”

Fluttershy shook her head in disbelief. “Me?! H-How?! I don’t possess the Rapture.”

“True, but I think it has less to do with our Artifacts, and more to do with our senses and faith. You who are most closely related to God, might be able to do this as well, to see the spiritual and let it guide you. Would you like to try?” Somnambula asked as she held out the cloth blindfold.

“I would, but that belongs to you, to someone you cared about,” said Fluttershy.

“And I care about you too, you are like the child I never had, and if something happened, I would like you to have it, along with the Rapture.” Somnambula touched the double barred cross on her chest. “In your hands, I believe it will be a powerful ally.”

“Thank you,” Fluttershy took the cloth and tied it around her eyes. “R-Ready when you are, Teacher.”

“So, what did you find out, Adagio?” Aria, Sonata, Adagio, and Suri, were sitting the RV in a different part of town. “Is this other Sunset a threat?”

Adagio went into detail about the goings on at Crystal Prep, Suri chimed in here and there to add context since she was a student there and was able to confirm a lot of things that Adagio gathered. Even the bits about Twilight Sparkle, Suri was surprised that this Sunset Shimmer managed to usurp the social order in the school and for some reason was dating that nerd. Admittedly, Sunset Shimmer was hot, so she assumed this other one was too, so it baffled her that such a person would date a whimpering, four-eyed, doormat like Twilight.

“Jeez, I’d take suffering in CHS over that place any day,” Aria commented.

“Speaking of what did you find out while you were there?” Adagio asked.

“Forutnately, keeping my hood up managed to keep me from being spotted. Had some close calls, but overall, I managed to get some info.”

Aria told them about the “Anon-A-Miss” incident and how the school was practically bullying Sunset for revenge. Something that Aria noticed got a small smile at out of Adagio and Suri. They were surprised to hear that she had been shot but survived, somehow. And apparently, she was dating the hyperactive one of their group, Pinkie Pie.

“Huh, really would’ve thought she would be jumping the princess pony?” Sonata thought out loud.

“Technically speaking, she is if you count the human version,” Aria pointed out.

“Tell me something, Suri,” Adagio looked to her left where Suri was leaning against a cupboard. “This Indigo Zap, is it true she has a thing for Twilight?”

Suri scoffed. “Like you wouldn’t believe, m’kay? Despite what everyone else in the school, me included, has done to her, Indigo’s gone waaaaaay further. She’d corner the girl in a classroom and diddle her until either she got off or she made Sparkle spasm. I actually walked in on one of her sessions with Sparkle in the locker room, everyone was gone, but I forgot my cellphone in my locker. I managed to get it, but on my way out I was treated to a little show in the showers.”

Aria’s eyebrow twitched. “Fucking hell, the bitch is rapist?! Jeez…”

Suri shrugged it off. “Whatever, it’s probably more action than that little nerd will ever get in her life.”

“Besides, Aria, when I get my hands on Shimmer, it’s not as if we won’t be lumped in that category by the time we’re done with her,” Adagio added with a sinister grin. “Getting to Twilight Sparkle may be a good way of getting at this human Sunset Shimmer. Do you think this Indigo Zap would be willing to partner with us?”

Suri hummed in thought. “She might, if I know that twisted bitch, she probably sees Sunset as an enemy that needs to be gotten rid of.”

Adagio chuckled as she said, “Believe me, she does, if you saw the look of death that was in her eyes, it could’ve killed thousands.”

“Then I’d say our chances are good.”

“Wait, I thought it was just going to be us! Isn’t it dangerous to bring in someone else? Especially someone who doesn’t know about magic and stuff?” Sonata questioned.

Adagio, who had Pandora’s Box in her lap, ran her hand over the two empty spaces on the lid. “Call me crazy, but I think she has something we need to pull off our revenge, and I definitely believe that this other Crystal Prep Sunset will be the same way. Although she may be more reluctant.”

Aria scoffed at this idea, but it was better than just rushing in. “Alright, but we still don’t know anything about this Witchblade or Ember. All we know is what the samurai chick here told us, but we don’t know the most important thing, their identities!”

Adagio growled, that was one variant she couldn’t account for. The heroes could come in and stop them at any point and they would not show mercy to them, if what Suri told them about their fighting style was any indication. They do not mess around; they will kill us if they believe us to be a major threat to this city. And considering what this little thing can do, we’d definitely be on their radar. Then there’s the possibility that they know that Pandora’s Box is coming or is out there, our first use of this wasn’t exactly subtle…

“For now, let us concentrate on getting this Indigo Zap onto our side. I’ll confront her myself tomorrow and see what deal I can strike with her.”

Sun laid in her bed, staring up at her ceiling as she tried to figure out how best to apologize to Twilight for keeping Indigo’s powers a secret. Sugarcoat was right, she was hiding a lot from her girlfriend, but she was so close to her goal that she couldn’t allow anything to stop her. But lately, Sun was starting to have doubts about her plans. Was it really worth it in the end? She had a fantastically cute and nerdy girlfriend, a big sister who was herself from a parallel world, the love and approval of said girlfriend’s parents and that of her big sister’s guardian. Friends, although they were her sister’s friends, they were still just as willing to call her their friend.

So why was it so important to do all of this? To keep the secret? To keep going; was it really so bad to just keep what she had and be grateful?

No…they have to pay, plus, I can make things better.

“Knock, knock.” Sun turned her head to the left and saw Sunset in the doorway. “What’s up, little Sis, still in hot water with Twilight?”

Sun sighed and stared back up at the ceiling. “Yeah…kinda.”

Sunset walked over and sat on the edge. “Anything I can do to help?”

Sun briefly glanced at her big sister for a moment, a voice in the back of her head urged her to spill her guts to her, to tell Sunset everything that was going on. But that voice was quickly quashed. “Not really…this is something I need to deal with between Sparky and me. It’s my mess and I’ll clean it up.”

Sunset ruffled her little sister’s hair playfully. “You don’t need to do everything on your own, you got me and the girls.”

“Heh…you know, Sweets said the same thing to me. That I like to do things alone,” said Sunset remorsefully.

“Well, she’s right, ‘cause I was like that. Didn’t think I needed anyone at all, I believed that if I didn’t earn it on my own, it was worthless. But then I got a rainbow laser shoved up my ass and some friends, and that changed a lot of things. But I don’t recommend going that route.”

Sun chuckled as she turned to the side to face Sunset. “Oh, I don’t know, you look like you loved it. Y’know, getting up the ass and all.”

Sunset shoved Sun onto her back, “Fuck you, you little pervert!” she exclaimed in mock anger.

“Pot meet kettle.”

Sunset shrugged. “Touché.” The Equestrian got up and began walking to the door. “Still, I’ve been through a lot, you can always come to me if you need to talk. I mean, I am your big sister after all.”

Sunset nodded with a smile. “Yeah, thank you. If I bomb with my idea, I’ll come to you.”

Sunset gave her little sister a thumbs up and exited the room. Along the way, Sunset thought to stop at Twilight’s room and have a talk with her, but she knew she needed to let them fix whatever was wrong in their relationship. Feeling nostalgic, Sunset went back to her room and took out the journal she used to communicate with Princess Twilight. She cracked open the book and turned to a blank page, took a pen, and began writing.

Dear Princess Twilight,
How are things over there? It’s been a while since I last wrote you, and I’m sorry about that. Things have been kinda hectic around her lately.
Anyway, write me back when you get the chance.

Almost as soon as Sunset finished jotting down her message, she got a reply.

Dear Sunset Shimmer,
It’s great to hear from you! Things have been busy on my end too; I don’t even know where to begin. But, anyway, what’s been going on in your part of the universe?
Well, I have gotten closer to my counterpart here, to the point that we pretty much adopted each other as the other’s sister, I’m the big sister by the way.
Aww, that’s great! Being a sibling is a wonderful thing, I love my big brother, and I’m sure your counterpart feels the same way.
Yeah, we’ve gotten along really well in these past month and weeks. I didn’t realize how much I missed having a family, but now that I have Sun (that’s what I call her to differentiate us) and Principal Celestia, Luna, Pinkie, my friends, I kinda feel scared…
Why’s that?
Because now I feel as if I have more to lose…and there are times when I wonder if I’m strong enough to face whatever threat looms on the horizon? Will I be able to keep those I love safe from whatever comes at us?
……I know exactly how you feel. Despite all the adventures my friends and I have been on, I still constantly worry if this will be the last one. If whatever plan I put together will keep us safe. And that was before I became an alicorn, now as a Princess, I have to make decisions that not only affect my friends, but also many other ponies. But don’t worry, just like me, you can make some things just work out.
So long as we have our friends, right?
Now you’re catching on.

Sunset chuckled, but then a thought came to mind.

Hey, I had a hypothetical question to ask.
Oooh, hypotheticals are always fun. What’s your question?
Say you and I were marefriends, and I did or said something that made you not talk to me for a few days. Is there anything you could think of that would patch things up?

For a couple of minutes there was no response, Sunset wondered if Princess Twilight had to use the little filly’s room.

Twilight, you there?
S-Sorry, sorry! I just got a little flustered by the question.
Heh, heh, thinking dirty thoughts, Twi?
NO!
Hey, no judgment. And I wouldn’t exactly be opposed to bringing you in, even Pinkie’s been teasing that she might be into including you.
Sunset, you…ugh…do you get some kind of sick pleasure out of teasing me?!
Oh, absolutely I do.
Wow, not even hiding it…………Well, assuming that whatever happened that caused us to fight wasn’t something like sexual harassment–

Sunset chuckled.

–then I guess it would take me time to process it. But as far how to make up for it…I’m not sure. From what you’ve told me has happened to my human counterpart, I can’t imagine what I myself would do in that situation. That kind of thing didn’t happen to me in Celestia’s School. But if it’s you, I know whatever we said or did wouldn’t be enough to make me hate you, mad maybe, but not hate. I can’t really hold a grudge, but I can only say that about myself as I am. Circumstances can change a pony.
That’s the truth. Thanks anyway, Twi.
No problem, what are friends for?
On that note, any chance you wanna hop on over? I don’t think it’ll take much convincing to get Pinkie onboard.
Sunset, has anypony ever told you you’re a pervert?
Almost everyone. Yes.

Sing Part 3

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Indigo Zap stayed a moderate distance away, keeping an eye on Twilight, and glaring daggers at Sunset Shimmer. She didn’t understand it, whatever was happening with them, it had gone on for almost four days straight. It was now, Friday, and those two still walked around together, despite the obvious fact that they weren’t as close as they used to be. There definitely had to be something, otherwise…

“Hey, Indie, you doin’ alright?” Lemon Zest asked.

Indigo snapped herself out of her thoughts for a moment and gave a halfhearted smile at her friend. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine don’t worry.”

“I know that’s bullshit; you’ve been sulking for a few days now. What happened on that night?” Lemon Zest knew that the fight at the warehouse district was epic and on another level that she couldn’t imagine, and definitely involved the use of some kind of freaky supernatural powers. But her best friend never spoke about the details of the battle, however, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that it went poorly. “I’m here for ya, y’know.” Lemon Zest urged as she placed a hand on her friend’s shoulders.

Indigo stopped walking and leaned against a wall in the hallway. She could see the worry in her friend’s eyes, and honestly, if she couldn’t talk to her, then who else? “The night that I fought Shimmer, we went head-to-head with our powers. I thought I had the edge since this necklace gives me ice powers, but she showed me just how big the gap between us is…”

Lemon Zest lifted an eyebrow at that. “What do you mean?”

“I mean she’s had her magic necklace for years! I’ve only had mine for less than a week! All that time I spent on that frozen mountain, I used it to train and get better at using this necklace. But…a week’s worth of training doesn’t make up for five years…”

The party girl was shocked upon hearing this, Sunset Shimmer had had her magic necklace for five whole years, no wonder she was so strong and confident, she knew exactly how to use her powers. Now she understood why Indigo was so down, she understood no matter how angry she got, no matter how much she postured, Sunset was always going to be stronger than Indigo, just based on experience. Which also meant that her chances of getting Twilight were nonexistent.

Although, personally speaking, Lemon Zest knew that from the start, she was just waiting for Indigo to finally understand that and come to her. To someone who actually cared about her. How many times had she fantasized about switching places with Twilight Sparkle, to feel Indigo claim her in both body and soul? Too many, but now, her chances might have gone up.

“Y’know, Indie–”

“Ah, there you are.” Indigo and Lemon turned their heads in the direction of the husky, almost sensual, voice of a girl. A girl that neither of them knew was standing there before them, her uniform opened enough to grant a tantalizing peek at her cleavage. “I was starting to get annoyed hunting you down in this big ass school.”

“Who the hell are you?” Indigo asked, and then it clicked. “Wait a minute, you were with Shimmer earlier!”

“That I was.”

Indigo got off the wall and got in the new girl’s face. “You here to start somethin’ or are you delivering a message?”

The new girl scoffed at either of those notions. “I have no intention of ‘starting’ anything with you, and neither do I have any allegiance to Sunset Shimmer. If anything, I’d like to take a metal bat to the bitch and crack upside her head, and then shove it up her cunt!”

Lemon Zest flinched at the amount of venom this new girl had for Sunset. Damn, that’s graphic as fuck!

Indigo smiled a little at what the new girl said and put her hands on her hips. “Sounds like you have a beef with Shimmer, I like that. What’s your name?”

The new girl smiled and said, “Adagio Dazzle, but keep that to yourself, Hun, I don’t want my name getting around. Especially to her.”

Indigo nodded. “Got it, so what can I do for you?”

“Partly what you can do for me, and what I do for you. If you’re willing to get your hands dirty, I can help you stick it to Sunset Shimmer and get Twilight Sparkle to come running to you,” Adagio promised.

Lemon Zest saw how Indigo flinched, knowing that she was restraining herself from jumping with joy at the proposition. However, Lemon Zest didn’t trust this girl, she’d seen girls like this at some of her parties. Girls who were oozing with sex appeal, had voices that sounded like something from a A-ranked porno film, only to dupe the unsuspecting guy or girl into doing something for them that ended up with the poor sap getting shafted. Indigo wasn’t helpless, nor was she stupid, but when it came to Twilight Sparkle, Indigo had blinders on.

“Okay, I’ll listen to what you gotta say. I know a place where we can talk,” said Indigo as she waved to Adagio to follow.

“Fine with me, but won’t someone be suspicious that you aren’t in class?” Adagio asked.

“Please, I’m the captain of every girls sports team in this school. MVP in all of ‘em too, and good grades to boot. Trust me, I could get away with murder here if I wanted to.”

“Hmm,” Adagio hummed as her smile widened.

Indigo, Adagio, and Lemon walked into an empty music room, Lemon Zest rolled down a shade to cover the window on the door and grant them privacy. Adagio took a seat on one of the empty chairs, making an obvious slow crossing of her legs to give a little flash of her panties, while also crossing her arms under her ample chest to push it up. Moves that frustrated Lemon, knowing that this girl was probably trying to seduce her friend and crush.

“This music room’s insulated, even the door, so no one will be able to hear what we say, and with that shade, no one can see what we do either,” said Indigo.

Adagio looked around and smirked a little. “I wonder how many times you’ve claimed Twilight Sparkle in this room, you seem intimately aware of its advantages.” The new girl’s eyes wandered to Lemon Zest and asked, “How many times has she gone down on you in here?”

Lemon Zest spluttered as her face turned red. “W-What?! None! We’re best friends! W-W-We’re not like that!”

Adagio merely shrugged. “I just assumed, sorry.”

“Look, can we get the horny talk out of the way and get down to the business, what are you offering?” Indigo demanded.

“First of all,” Adagio leaned forward as she gave Indigo a narrow eyed gaze, “cards on the table, Hun. I know you’re hiding something powerful under that shirt, I can feel it and it’s been bothering me these last two days. Show me.”

Indigo crossed her arms and scoffed at her request. “Uh, what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Hmm, fine, a little trust goes a long way I suppose.” Adagio reached into her blazer pocket and pulled out her cellphone. As she began going through some apps she asked, “Tell me, Indigo, what would you say if I told you there are two Sunset Shimmers?”

“I’d say you’re full of shit,” Indigo responded.

Adagio smirked, stood up, and walked to Indigo. She flipped her phone around and showed both Indigo and Lemon a photo of Sunset Shimmer in her car, and another Sunset Shimmer riding a bike.

“The hell?! You photoshopped this!” Lemon accused.

“Not at all,” Adagio flipped through a few more photos before switching to the video that showed Sunset removing her helmet to talk to the Sunset in the car, and then the two of them, along with Twilight Sparkle in the same car, going into the mansion that, presumably, belonged to Sunset. “There are two Sunsets, one goes here, and the other goes to CHS.”

“Okay, so they’re twins, pisses me off that there’s two of her, but that ain’t enough for me to cop to nothin’,” said Indigo.

“Oh, honey, you misunderstand…” Adagio began walking towards Indigo, and somehow, Indigo took a step back. “I’m telling you to show me your best card, because I need to know if you’re worth my time.”

Indigo started to walk backwards, it was strange, this girl in front of her was the same age as her, maybe an inch shorter, and not bulky or strong looking. But, when she looked into Adagio’s eyes, she felt intimidated. Those crimson eyes, behind them was an overwhelming amount of strength and confidence, more than what a person should be able to garner at such an age. Before she knew it, Adagio had backed Indigo up against the wall, allowing Adagio to slam her left hand against the wall next to Indigo’s head, making the jock flinch.

Lemon Zest watched this for a moment and was about to intervene, but Adagio quickly glared in her direction and made the teenage girl freeze in place. That glare was filled with an authority that made the teen feel like a little girl standing in front of a grown adult and was about to be scolded. She couldn’t understand why she felt this way, nor could she go against it in this moment.

Adagio returned her attention to Indigo, her smile turning sultry as she stared into Indigo’s eyes through half-lidded ones. “Indigo, I know you want Twilight Sparkle, and the only person standing in your way is Sunset Shimmer.” Adagio used her right hand to gently stroke Indigo’s right cheek. “I almost had what I wanted, both me and my sisters, we were at the top, until that little bitch took everything from us.”

That same hand began to slowly trail down Indigo’s neck, and as much as Indigo didn’t mean to, she was getting aroused. This girl was practically hypnotic in the way she commanded her attention, and her presence was tremendous, like a force that was keeping her still.

“I know this Sunset took away something that meant everything to you…” Adagio’s hand wandered further down, resting at the center of Indigo’s chest. “And I want to help you get what you really want…” Adagio began slowly unbuttoning the blazer, and then unbuttoning the shirt.

“A-And what do you think I want…?” Indigo asked as she gulped.

“Revenge…” Adagio plucked the last button and pushed both sides of the shirt to the side, revealing Indigo’s light-colored skin, her sculped abs on display, as well as the black and orange sports bra that kept her breasts restrained. It was then that Adagio’s eyes fell on a necklace that hung around Indigo’s neck and sported a dimly glowing blue crystal. “Well now, that’s what’s been drawing my attention.”

Indigo looked down and just now realized that her shirt had been undone, the urge to cover herself was there, but while still in the commanding presence of Adagio Dazzle, it was hard to make a move. After Adagio stared at the Glacier Stone for a few more moments, she backed away and sat back down on the chair. Indigo took a deep breath, as if she had been denied air for quite some time. Lemon Zest rushed over to her friend to see if she was alright but could find no obvious signs that Adagio had nothing more than open Indigo’s shirt.

“The fuck…what the hell are you?!” Indigo asked.

Adagio raised a curious eyebrow. “Does that magic necklace let you sense what I really am?”

“What?! You can tell it’s magic?!”

“I know magic, Indigo Zap, because I once came from a world filled with it. And my sisters and I wielded magical power…before Sunset Shimmer and her group of friends took it away from us!” Adagio growled.

Indigo began re-buttoning her shirt before continuing. “Okay, so I’m guessing the twin Sunset is the one you hate.”

The air grew heavy for both teenage girls as Adagio’s expression morphed. “The word ‘hate’ doesn’t begin to describe how I feel about her. She took everything from us and forced my sisters and I to dwell in this world without our magic.” Adagio’s eyes focused on both Lemon and Indigo, making them both flinch and freeze in place. “Do you have any idea how humiliating it was to flee from this city, with our tails between our legs?! Any idea how degrading it was to street walk and fuck random strangers just to make enough money to live?! For months that was our lives, but now, fate has given me a way to even the score.”

“H-How do you mean?” Lemon Zest asked.

Adagio stood up, her expression becoming neutral and dispelling the intense air in the room. “What I’m proposing is not for the faint of heart, Indigo. Either you’re all in or you’re not. What I’m planning is nothing short of pure revenge, the end result is very much likely the death of Sunset Shimmer. I plan to harm her, torture her, and then kill her. But I need to go about this delicately, which is why I want to enlist you in my plot. Because, Indigo Zap, I’d like a trump card against her. If she feels that her counterpart, her ‘twin’, is in danger, she’ll feel less inclined to go against me.”

Indigo stepped away from Lemon Zest and asked, “So, you’re really going to do that, you’re really going to kill Sunset’s twin?”

“Like I said, your hands will get dirty if you join me, but the end result will be you being able to kill the Sunset that’s been standing in your way,” said Adagio.

For a moment, Indigo felt a surge of excitement fill her at the thought that she could finally put down Sunset Shimmer, but then she remembered the reason why she couldn’t. “Tch…if I did agree to this, getting at the Sunset Shimmer here won’t be easy. She has a magic necklace too, it grants her fire powers, while mine grants ice. She’s had her magic necklace for years, and I’ve only had mine for a week or so. She’s……stronger than me.”

“Well, that was just you fighting on your own,” said Adagio. “After school, come with me and we’ll figure out a way to get them both.”

Indigo wasn’t sure, the idea of being able to finally kill Sunset Shimmer and get Twilight back was extremely enticing, but her mind flashed back to the moment of their fight, when Sunset had her and was prepared to end her life with no hesitation. Never before had Indigo felt so utterly powerless and small, even with the magical power she had attained, it wasn’t enough.

“If I agree to help you, can you promise me that we’ll get her? Can you promise me that Twilight won’t be harmed?!” Indigo demanded.

“So long as you pull your weight, then yes, she won’t be harmed.” Adagio chuckled and added, “Although, after everything I’ve heard, I’d say the only one I’d have to worry about hurting her is you.”

Indigo growled but restrained herself from attacking Adagio.

Adagio reached into her blazer pocket again, as she walked towards the door she stopped by Indigo and took out a piece of paper. “On here is the address where we’ll be at, along with my burner number. If you’re willing to take the plunge, then we’ll be waiting. If not, stay out of our way.” With those words spoken, Adagio left the room, leaving only Lemon and Indigo inside.

Indigo slumped against the wall as Lemon Zest looked her over with worry. “What are you going to do, Indie?” Lemon asked.

“Fuck…that bitch scares me…but this might be my only chance to finally get one over on Sunset! My only chance to save Twilight!” Indigo stated.

Lemon’s right fist tightened at the mention of Twilight’s name, and even more so when she realized to what lengths Indigo was willing to go to get her. “Dude, that chick is real bad news! I know you could feel it! I know how badly you want to…kill Sunset, but I don’t think it’s worth teaming up with her!”

“What other choices so I have, Lemon?! I can’t take her down on my own, and I don’t want to put you in the middle of that again! Last time she was holding back, I get that now! If I do that again, and you’re there, she’ll straight up kill you! But if Dazzle can help me get an edge over her then…then I can finally show Twilight that I’m not a monster…that I do love her and–!”

“Twilight, Twilight, Twilight! That’s all you ever talk about! You know, there are other girls who give a damn about you! Other girls who don’t look at you with fear!” Lemon Zest ranted.

Before Indigo could reply Lemon Zest threw herself at Indigo, pinning the jock to the wall. Lemon put her lips to Indigo’s, forcing her tongue down her throat as she began to make out with her best friend. The party girl stopped her fierce make out with Indigo and pulled back panting.

“I will give everything of me to you!” Lemon declared. She then threw off her blazer and ripped open her shirt, causing the buttons to go flying in different directions, and throwing said shirt to the floor. With the same urgency, Lemon removed her skirt and panties and let them pile onto the floor, leaving only her socks and shoes on. “I fucking love you, Indigo!”

The lime green haired teen threw herself at Indigo again, pressing her naked body against Indigo’s as she once again captured her best friend’s lips. “You can do whatever you want to me, Indie, I won’t complain, I won’t run away, I’ll take it and scream your name!” Lemon Zest punctuated her declaration by taking Indigo’s still stunned hand and pressing it against her wet womanhood.

Indigo’s shocked mind didn’t allow her to resist at that moment as she tried to comprehend what was happening. She had a feeling that Lemon had a crush on her, but this was something else. In the haze of lust, Indigo briefly forgot about Twilight and instead focused on the girl in front of her. Her fingers came to life as two of them pierced into Lemon’s warm and inviting snatch, causing the party girl to release a sharp moan of pleasure from the feeling, she almost orgasmed right then and there, having wanted this to happen for so long.

The jock used Lemon’s moment to moan as a means to counterattack, this time taking the lead in delivering a passionate and hungry kiss to her best friend. Lemon gladly let her, enjoying the sensation of their tongues dancing in her mouth while Indigo’s fingers pumped themselves frantically in and out of her pussy. Indigo’s fervent kissing ended as she changed her target to Lemon’s neck, at the same time, she increased the pacing of her fingering while using her thumb to rub circles around Lemon’s clit.

The combination of Indigo’s ministrations brought Lemon to her limit, making her release a long moan of pleasure as she came hard onto Indigo’s hand. The sounds of splattering girl cum echoed in the room as it hit the floor and ran down Lemon’s inner thighs. Her legs shook as Indigo removed her fingers and ceased her kissing, the jock then pushed both of them to the floor, with Lemon hitting back first and Indigo atop her. Indigo raised her right hand, showing off the two fingers that had been coated Lemon’s own love juices. With an aroused look, she said to Lemon, “Suck them.”

Lemon happily did as she was told, latching her mouth around Indigo’s fingers and sucking them like a lollipop, tasting her secretions upon Indigo’s digits. Indigo was starting to get hot under the collar as well, she sat up and drank in the image before her, a panting Lemon Zest, face red and eyes half lidded with an expression of anticipation. Indigo removed her blazer and then her shirt, she quickly pulled her bra over her head and went back down to Lemon Zest.

Indigo trailed kisses from her neck and to her breasts, lingering on them as she used one hand to knead the orb of flesh and pinch her nipple, while Indigo’s mouth found itself suckling Lemon Zest’s right breast. Lemon was in pure heaven right now, the one thing she had always wanted to have happen with her best friend was happening right now, every caress, every painful pinch and bite just drove her to greater heights of ecstasy. But the pleasure didn’t stop there, Indigo continued moving further downward until she was face-to-face with Lemon Zest’s pussy.

The smell was strong and intoxicating, a sweet aroma that made Indigo dizzy and only made her want to inhale more. She admired Lemon’s swollen pussy lips and the glistening of her pink folds, almost as if it were inviting Indigo to come and sample her. And sample she did. Without a moment’s hesitation, Indigo dove down into Lemon’s pussy, piercing it with her tongue as she ate her out in earnest. Lemon threw her head back as she cried out once again in ecstasy, her mouth hanging open as she felt Indigo’s tongue explore her depths and lap at the leftover juices she had released a moment ago. Lemon was about to squeeze Indigo’s head, but Indigo placed her hands on either side of Lemon’s hips and began to steadily rise.

Lemon’s eyes widened as saw Indigo heft her legs. Indigo placed them on her shoulders and then raised up until she was sitting on her knees. The magenta pink teen now found her lower body raised up higher and pressed against Indigo’s mouth, while Indigo’s arms were wrapped around her midsection to keep Lemon from going anywhere. Lemon let her, she let Indigo control her, because she wanted to be, because what she wanted to do with her best friend since they started high school was now happening. Indigo released her left arm, having it move down and slip between her shorts and panties to her own needy cunt. The spikey haired jock began playing with herself, in rhythm to own efforts on Lemon’s pussy.

Moans and grunts resounded in the music room, along with the ever-increasing mixture of their scents that only served to increase their own arousal. Soon, Indigo felt her own climax approaching, and judging from the clenching of Lemon’s walls against her oral muscle, so was she. With a tease of her clit and Lemon’s, and rapid thrusting of tongue and finger, Indigo made herself and Lemon cum hard. Indigo eagerly gulped down the stream of girl cum that squirted from Lemon’s pussy, drinking it like it was the only thing she had to drink all day, at the same time, Indigo’s pussy squirted all over her hand and dampened her shorts and panties, thankfully her shorts were all black, so she didn’t need to worry about a stain being noticed.

When she was done, Indigo slid Lemon’s legs off her shoulders and removed her hand from her shorts. She looked down at her best friend, who was panting and licked with sweat, a look of pure rapture on her face as the after glow set in from her second orgasm. Indigo raised her left hand and looked at it, seeing it covered in her own juices. She leaned backwards and sat on her rear as the full weight of what just happened began to set in.

“What…What the fuck did I just do…?”

Lemon Zest, still in a daze, managed to prop herself up on her elbows and happily answered, “Me…and it was awesome…!”

“I…I can’t believe…fuck!” Indigo cursed as she wrapped her hands around her head and lowered it. “Why…I can’t believe I did that…!”

Lemon tried to stand, but found her legs were like jelly and opted to just sit in front of her best friend. “Hey, I started it, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not okay, dammit! I just cheated on Twilight!”

Lemon felt the world grind to a halt. “What?”

“Lemon, I get that you have a thing for me, and I get you wanted to fuck. If that’s all you wanted to do, you could’ve just asked me! We’re best friends I don’t mind getting it on once in a while, but…fuck, Lemon, you told me that you loved me!” Indigo ranted.

“I said that because I do! I love you, Indigo! Twilight doesn’t love you!” Lemon stated.

“She does! She…She just doesn’t understand! I messed up at first, but I’ll change, I can change! I’ll kill Sunset, and then she’ll be safe from her, and then she can see how much better I am than Sunset!” Indigo declared.

“DAMMIT, INDIE!” Lemon, in burst of energy from her combined frustration and anger, swiftly slapped Indigo across her face, stunning and surprising the jock. “Twilight Sparkle fucking hates you; she doesn’t care about you! She’d rather be on the fucking moon than be in the same room as you! Twilight won’t come to you, no matter what you say or do! I’m sorry, Indie, but that’s how it is! You’re too into her to see how she reacts to you touching her, to understand the looks she gives you whenever you’re around! Because it’s not love, it’s fear!”

Lemon Zest grabbed ahold of Indigo’s shoulders in a comforting fashion. “But I won’t ever look at you like that, I’ve seen you at your worst, and you’ve seen me at mine, and we’re still together. I won’t abandon you; I’ll stay with you no matter what happens! You can fuck me any day, any time, hell, you can even treat me like a slave, and I’ll never turn on you! Because that’s how much I love you, Indie! Can you really say that Twilight would do the same thing for you?! She will never love you!”

“SHUT UP!!!” Indigo shook off Lemon’s hands and returned the slap, sending Lemon sprawling onto the floor. The jock straddled Lemon and raised her right fist in preparation to punch her longtime friend but stopped when she saw a smile on her face.

“Do you wanna hit me? You can…you can hit me all you want, you can do whatever you want, Indie, my body and heart are yours…I’m not lyin’,” Lemon confessed.

Indigo’s fist shook, her heart in conflict with itself. Everything Lemon said about Twilight not loving her made the teen jock’s blood boil, and at the same time, Lemon’s words made her heart flutter with joy at hearing how devoted Lemon was to her and would be. Indigo lowered her fist and got up from the floor to stand, she moved over to where her clothes were and began putting them back on.

“We should get our clothes back on before the next class gets here…”

“Hey, Indie, does this mean–?”

“I love Twilight,” she interrupted. “I’m sorry, Zesty, but…I can’t…I…I’m sorry.”

Indigo walked towards the door and exited the room, leaving Lemon Zest inside, alone. Lemon Zest sat on her rear; her head hung low as her bangs obstructed her face. Her arms wrapped around her body as she shook and following that was the muted drip of tears as they fell to the floor.

(Later that night)

“I…I don’t know if this is going to work, Sis,” said Sun.

“Hey, have more faith, you can do it. I think Twilight will like this, trust me,” Sunset replied.

The twins were walking down the hall of the manor towards Twilight’s room, Sun had figured out a way to hopefully begin repairing the damage to their relationship, but she was getting nervous the closer they got.

“Ugh, this is stupid, a little thing like this isn’t going to make up for what happened…”

Sunset raised an eyebrow as she placed her hands on her hips. “Yeah, exactly what did happen between you two? You still haven’t told me, and I can’t help you out as much if I don’t know who did or didn’t do what.”

Sun tightened her jaw and answered, “I’m sorry, Sis, but…look, regardless if this does or doesn’t work, I’ll tell you. Just promise not get too upset about it?”

Sunset gave her little sister a dubious look but nodded. “Okay, it’s agreed, but I reserve the right to kick your ass if it is.”

“Ouch…it’s a deal then.” Before they knew it, both Sunsets were now outside Twilight’s room. Sun was still nervous and frozen in place. “Dammit, I can’t do this!”

“Sure, you can! Watch me.” Sunset raised her left hand and knocked on the door as she said, “Sparky, it’s Sunset, can we talk?”

“You!” Sunset quickly dashed away and was halfway down the hall as she waved to her little sister. “Goddammit, Sunset, you su – oh!” The door opened and revealed Twilight in her pajamas. “Hi…Sparky.”

“Hi, Sunset.”

“………Can…Can I come in?”

Twilight nodded and stood to the side, allowing Sun to enter the room. The teen genius closed the door behind her and walked to her bed to sit down. “Okay, what did you want to talk about.”

Sun took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for lying to you, I’m sorry for keeping Indigo’s powers a secret, I’m sorry for thinking that you weren’t strong enough to take the truth about Indigo’s powers. I never meant to belittle you or wanted to make you think that I thought you were a weak person. I just…I just don’t want you to suffer anymore than you have. I didn’t want to see you…to see you hurt yourself because you thought you weren’t safe. I’ve lost so much and now that I have people I care about, someone that I…that I love…I don’t want to lose any of it…and that scares me.”

Twilight heard Sun pour her heart out, she also saw tears streaming down her face. “I get it…and I’m at fault too. I’ve been hurt by so many other people my own age while in that school, that it’s been hard to trust my own peers. When you lied to me about Indigo, it just brought up all that distrust and I felt as if I couldn’t trust you. But I understand…I don’t want to lose you either, I don’t want my distrust to cause me to lose the one good thing I’ve found while in that school.”

Sun walked to the bed and sat down next to Twilight, the latter scooted closer and leaned against the former, both girls enjoying the warmth of the other.

“Guess we’re both kinda messed up, huh?” Sun asked.

“A bit I suppose…but nothing that we can’t work on, right?” Twilight inquired.

Sun smiled and hugged Twilight with her right arm. “Yeah, definitely. There is something I wanted to do to really make up for this, something that’s been a long time overdue.” Sun reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a couple of tickets. “Twilight Sparkle, do you want to go out with me tomorrow?”

Twilight’s eyes grew wide as she carefully took hold of the tickets and read them. “Equestria Land, these are grand opening tickets! Y-You really want to take me on a date?”

“Well, yeah, we’re girlfriends, dating is part of the whole experience.”

“B-But I don’t have anything to wear! I-I’ve never been on date, I don’t know the proper etiquette! I need to do some research first!” Twilight frantically spluttered.

“Hey, hey, Sparky, chill out. There’s no need to research or prepare. Just throw on some comfortable clothes, I’ll drive us to the park, and we’ll have a great time.”

Twilight was nervous that she hadn’t been given time to prepare, but at the same time she was feeling really giddy about her first date, and in Equestria Land of all places.

“I’d love to go out with you to Equestria Land, Sunset Shimmer.”

Sun kissed Twilight on her forehead and smiled. “I knew you would.”

Indigo was a bit distracted during her drive, but she managed to get to where she needed to be. It was an RV parked in one of the seedier places in the city, which seemed appropriate considering the nature of what was going to be discussed here today. Indigo parked her car next to the RV and knocked on the door, patiently waiting for an answer. After a minute, the door opened and revealed a girl with pigtails and a sour disposition.

“You the girl?” she asked.

“Yeah, Adagio here?” Indigo asked.

“Tch, get in then. Adagio, she’s here!”

The pigtailed girl stepped aside and allowed Indigo to enter the RV, closing the door behind her. She half expected the inside to be some kind of skank mobile, but it was actually clean and nice, and the inside smelled good. Indigo’s nose and eyes brought her to a girl who was cooking. She had light blue skin, and the same reddish violet eyes as the girl who let her in, and like Adagio.

Must be the sisters she was talking about, Indigo thought.

Adagio was sitting in the booth, her right hand resting on a creepy looking box. “Nice to see you again, Indigo.”

“Yeah…so, what’s this plan of yours?” Indigo asked.

“Hold on, we’re waiting on someone else who has a grudge.” Just then a couple of knocks came from the door. “Ah, there she is now. Aria, be a dear and let her in.”

Aria scoffed and muttered, “What am I a fucking doorman?”

The grumpy Siren opened the door and let in the fifth member of their little cabal, and when Indigo saw her, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Entering the RV was none other than Suri Polomare, she was adorned in a red skirt, and crimson blouse, complete with a scarlet ascot. Her hair was let loose, allowing it to cascade down her back, her signature style had been forgone in case someone recognized the supposedly dead girl. When Suri laid eyes on Indigo, she merely smirked and kept walking in.

“Hi Indigo, it’s been too long,” said Suri.

“W-W-What the fuck?! You’re supposed to be dead!” Indigo exclaimed.

“Heh, heh, yeah, I know. But that wasn’t working out for me, so I ditched Hell and came back for some sweet revenge, m’kay?” Suri glanced over at Adagio. “Surprised you didn’t tell her I was part of this little group.”

“It was on a need-to-know basis, I didn’t want to scare the poor girl away, not when she has some interesting power to add to our side,” Adagio explained.

Suri switched her gaze back to Indigo and looked her up and down. “Okay, I know she’s a jock and all, but raw muscle isn’t going to get the job done.”

Indigo took offense to that. “Hey, I got more than muscle to bring to this team!” the spikey haired teen raised her right hand, and upon doing so, an orb of cryo energy formed, making the air in the RV drop a few degrees. “Still think I’m only muscle? I got ice powers, you undead bitch!”

Suri nodded her head and hummed. “Impressive, but I wonder if it’s got anything on this.” The fashionista raised her left hand and pointed her open palm in Indigo’s direction, a large gash formed on her hand, and from it her blood began to create a sword. Suri used her right hand to grip the hilt and pulled, as she did, the sword continued to materialize until Suri was holding a katana that was housed in its sheath. The gash on her hand immediately closed as she switched the sword to her left hand and smirked at Indigo. “I’ll see your ice powers and raise you a demonic sword.”

“Wait a minute, ice powers? She’s the bitch that I was fighting when I was attached to that weak schizo!”

“Wait, for real, you fought her?” Suri asked.

Indigo took a moment to study the sword, and then it clicked. “The fuck, that’s the sword that Blood Sword chick used to fight me! You’re her?!”

“Nah, that was Sour Sweet, but I have Blood Sword now, so there’s no issues so long as you don’t’ start anything, m’kay,” said Suri.

Adagio raised a curious eyebrow. “Care to fill us in, Indigo.”

“I called out Sunset to a fight, planning to kick her ass or possibly kill her, using my Glacier Stone, but that’s when I found out that she had something. She called it the Ember Stone, the sibling of my necklace, and…she ended up kicking my ass instead since I haven’t had mine as long as she has…”

Suri chuckled. “Blood Sword says it was more like she ass raped you, if my friend here hadn’t interrupted, you’d have been roasted.”

Indigo glared and growled at Suri as her right fist was coated with an icy claw gauntlet. “You wanna go, zombie girl?!”

Suri scoffed. “Please, like I’m scared of you. Also, FYI, I’m not a ‘zombie’, do you see any rotting flesh on me? The correct word is resurrected.”

Adagio watched their exchange and kept her eyes on the necklace under Indigo’s shirt as it glowed brighter in response to the jock’s anger, and at the same time she looked at Pandora’s Box and watched as one of the slots glowed dimly in seeming response to Indigo’s necklace. It made Adagio curious, as if the Box was telling her it needed the necklace. For what reason she didn’t know, but she knew it was important, and that’s when she saw the second slot across from the blue glowing one, which was glowing orange. Could this other Sunset’s necklace be something you need? You’re incomplete, and you need them. Perhaps this Indigo is more useful than she first appears.

“Alright ladies, that’s enough,” said Adagio. “Save that aggression for when go after our targets.”

“Yeah, about that, how are we going to get at them? I mean, we don’t have our magic anymore, so it’s not like we can hypnotize them into making them tell us or make them do whatever we want,” said Sonata.

Adagio stood up and said, “We leverage. We’re holding more cards than Sunset is. We have an ice wielder, a demon swordswoman, and of course, my Box.”

Indigo crossed her arms and asked, “No offense, but what does your little box do that’s so terrifying?”

“You hear about all those people dying in that building in Manehattan?” Aria asked.

“Yeah.”

“There ya go.”

Before Indigo could release a stream of questions Adagio cut her off. “Alright, so ladies, our plan is as follows. We take down the CPA Sunset, and we take her magic necklace and use it for ourselves. Giving us one more weapon added to our arsenal.”

“That’s not going to be easy, according to the Blood Sword, that Sunset has some experience and doesn’t mess around when she fights. Taking her necklace won’t be a cake walk, especially with the rookie here,” Suri chimed while throwing a thumb in Indigo’s direction.

“Oh, I’m sorry, who in this RV hasn’t died because they were cut up by a half-naked armor-plated chick? Or better yet, who in this room wasn’t exorcised by a four-eyed cum dump?”

A scarlet aura raged from Suri and the Blood Sword.

“And that’s why, we don’t go after her directly, we go after something she cares about more, or more precisely someone,” Adagio clarified.

Indigo’s eyes immediately narrowed. “You’re not thinking about messing with Twilight, are you?”

“If the CPA Sunset is as in love with her as you say, then we can simply just use her as leverage, no harming so long as she cooperates.”

Indigo didn’t like it, sure she lost it when she first had her friends kidnap Twilight and threaten to put a video of her getting defiled out on the internet. The jock was the first to admit, she didn’t count that as one of the high points in her life, but at the time she believed drastic measures were needed. But now, things were different, she wanted Twilight to love her, to not be afraid of her. That’ll change, over time she’ll stop being afraid of me, I know it.

“So long as she’s not hurt, then fine, we’ll kidnap Twilight,” said Indigo.

“How will do that exactly?” Aria asked. “They’re apparently living under the same roof right now, in that big, fat ass mansion. We can’t exactly sneak in or charge in, especially when one of them is packing literal fire power and the other as rainbow magic!”

Adagio chuckled knowing as she raised her right index finger. “True, we can’t attack the mansion, but we can get them outside of it. I just so happened to chat up Sunset while I was at CPA and got her to spill about going on a date with her little girlfriend to Equestria Land tomorrow.”

“EQUESTRIA LAND?! A DATE?! That fucking…” Indigo seethed.

“Yes, well, apparently, they’ll be there around ten and will be spending most of the day there, we just get in and follow them around until they’re distracted and into their date. And when Sparkle separates from Sunset, we grab her.”

“And what about Witchblade?” Sonata asked.

“If she’s as much the hero I think she is, she won’t make a move with a hostage on the line,” said Adagio.

Adagio went into further detail regarding their plan, the girls huddled around and listened closely, all oblivious to the aura’s that were dimly outlining Pandora’s Box, the Blood Sword, and the Glacier Stone. And they were just as oblivious to the violet robed stranger who was watching them from the bedroom. Adagio suddenly felt eyes on her and quickly snapped her head in the direction of the bedroom, but there was no one.

“You alright?” Suri asked.

“Yes…I am.”

Sing Part 4

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Twilight played with her bangs as they made the drive to Equestria Land, it was strange, despite knowing that this was her first real date with Sunset, it was still nerve wracking. She had never been on a date in her life, not in middle school, and certainly not in the last almost four years of being in high school. Now she was going on a date with her girlfriend, the butterflies in her stomach were fluttering, nervousness and excitement mixing inside her.

The teen genius looked at her outfit, keeping in mind that they would be walking around an amusement park, she made sure to dress appropriately. A pair of comfortable, breathable dark violet shorts, and a sky-blue blouse that left her arms and shoulders exposed. She had second thoughts about wearing it, but Sunset convinced her otherwise. A pair of good sneakers, and a fanny-pack. Twilight glanced at Sunset, taking in her outfit. Sunset was wearing a pair of faded denim pants that hugged her legs and hips, and a red tank-top and a black bra, she knew that mostly due to the straps that were exposed.

Twilight had to admit, she found the outfit rather flattering on her.

Soon the two of them made it to the parking lot of Equestria Land, the theme park was truly enormous, the biggest attraction in all Canterlot City. This was the grand opening of the huge theme park and of course it was packed. Families and couples came to the park to enjoy its rides, positive atmosphere, and for its closing night parade. Sunset’s sports car pulled up into one of the open spaces, once they were parked the couple exited and headed towards the front entrance.

After making it through the metal detectors, Sunset and Twilight walked amongst the crowds, they could smell the theme park food, funnel cakes, pizza, and other scents wafted through the air, along with the clacking sounds of the rollercoasters and the screams of those riding them as they zoomed by. Twilight had grabbed a map of the park at the entrance, unfolding it so that they could figure out their first destination.

“Where did you want to go first?” Twilight asked.

“Eh, I’m up for whatever, if you want to hit up the rollercoasters then I’m game. But if you want to take it slow then we can.” Sunset replied.

“Well…I haven’t been on a lot of rides, maybe we could take in a show?”

Sunset looked at the map and the schedule that it had listed on one side. “There’s the Appaloosa Wild West Gun Show, it starts in ten minutes.”

“We better get moving then,” said Twilight.

The couple started moving in that direction, unaware that they were being watched. Hiding behind a booth was another couple, one had pink curly hair, and the other was an exact twin of the couple that had entered the park.

“Sorry to ask you to help me out with this, Pinkie,” Sunset apologized.

“Pssh, are you kidding? This is fun! And it’s cute, I get to watch my second favorite couple and make sure nothing gets in the way of their date,” Pinkie replied.

Sunset didn’t want to, but she was worried for those two, and she wanted to make sure nothing really bad was going on between them since neither was really giving her any information. Although she was sure that they wouldn’t get anything from spying on them, she could at least make sure that they had a date that wasn’t interrupted by the kind of things that interrupted her date with Pinkie. To keep from being spotted, she wore a baseball cap and bandanna, tying up her hair so that the cap and bandanna hid it. She also wore black shorts and an orange crop top, along with a pair of black sunglasses.

“I promise, next time, we can just enjoy the park together like a real date,” Sunset promised.

Pinkie giggled. “This is still fun, plus it’ll give me an idea of what rides we can go on when we come here!”

Sunset smiled but then noticed her little sister and Twilight were moving. “Let’s go!” As the they stealthily followed their friends, Sunset asked, “By the way, who’s your first favorite couple?”

Pinkie looped Sunset’s arm around hers and brought them close together as she answered, “Silly, that’s obviously us!”

Unknown to Pinkie and the older Sunset, there was another group of people keeping a close eye on Twilight and the younger Sunset Shimmer. One was a teenage girl, she wore a black hoodie with the hood drawn up, and a pair of denim shorts. Her hair was spikey and colored navy-blue, while her amber-yellow eyes narrowed at the sight of the younger Sunset walking alongside Twilight.

“If you stare any harder, Indigo, you’ll flash freeze them and you’ll give us away, m’kay.”

Indigo turned to see Suri, dressed in the same outfit she had on last night, she looked mildly amused by Indigo’s seething anger. “Oh, go suck on demon cock! You have any idea how pissed I am right now?!”

“I can understand your frustration, considering how much I want to kill Sunset Shimmer. But if this plan is to succeed, we must wait for our opportunity to present itself. We get Twilight Sparkle alone, and we have that Sunset hand over her necklace, leaving her powerless and you free to do whatever you want.” On Indigo’s right was Adagio Dazzle, dressed in her old hoodie and pants outfit from when her and her sisters were keeping low profiles. “Understood?”

Indigo scoffed but nodded her head in compliance.

Adagio carried a backpack, a backpack that carried Pandora’s Box. She didn’t plan on using it here, but things seldom went her way, and it was better to have it than not to. As they were about to go after their targets, Adagio’s burner rang, the lead Siren took it out and answered it. “What is it Sonata?”

{It’s about the Equestria Sunset…we…we lost her.}

Adagio nearly screamed but managed to bite her tongue to prevent herself from causing a scene. “I gave you two one job – ONE JOB – and you already botched that up?!”

{Hey, don’t bite our heads off!} Aria replied. {We’ve been out outside this big ass mansion for the last two hours, but we haven’t seen anyone else besides – what I’m assuming – is the nerd girl’s parents and that other Sunset leave the house!}

Adagio bit on her thumbnail, her main quarry was out there somewhere, and she didn’t know where. “It doesn’t matter, just get over here, the more of us there are, the easier it will be to grab Twilight Sparkle.”

{Got it, we’ll be there as soon as we can!} Sonata replied before hanging up.

Adagio sighed heavily as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Indigo and Suri noticed her frustration and were getting a little curious.

“Problem, Adagio?” Suri asked.

“Not exactly, but hopefully not. For now, I’ll have to wait for Aria and Sonata, they’re heading back this way. Keep an eye on those two and grab her when you get the chance,” Adagio ordered.

Indigo clicked her tongue while Suri nodded her compliance. The girls split up, none of them knowing that their targets were all in the same place.

Elsewhere in the theme park, yet another couple was busy. Rarity had gotten emailed by a popular social media star, Vignette Valencia, who had been put in charge of the grand opening of Equestria Land. Apparently, the starlet needed some assistance with the costumes for the park and night parade, and thanks to Rarity’s notoriety during the Canterlot City fashion show, the young fashionista was brought onboard. Applejack had accompanied her girlfriend, although she couldn’t do any actual work, she was mostly there for moral support.

“Don’t ya worry nothin’ Rares, you’ll do fine here,” Applejack reassured.

“Oh, I know, Love, but something like this could be a huge boost to my reputation, and really help me get my foot in the door of the fashion schools I want to apply to,” said Rarity.

Applejack rubbed the back of her head when she mentioned that. “Yeah…not exactly lookin’ forward to that too much.”

Rarity noted the sad tone in her girlfriend’s voice and wrapped her left arm around Applejack’s right. “Darling, you have nothing to worry about. I’m not about to let a little thing like distance break up what we have. I’m growing quite fond of our relationship.”

Applejack smiled and brought Rarity closer. “Same here, Sug. It’s just gonna be…Ah don’t know…lonely without ya.”

“Oh Jackie…”

“Is that Rarity Belle?!” A voice captured the attention of the young couple. A tall young woman approached them, her hair was grayish crimson with white streaks around the bangs and ends, her skin was a flawless shade of light yellow, and her eyes were a brilliant cornflower blue. She wore a white crop top, with a sandy colored poncho overtop it, a pair of jean shorts, and leather shoes. She also had a hairband with leaves and three grapes on either side. “There you are!”

Applejack blinked when she saw the tall young woman approach them, she was about to ask who she was before she saw her girlfriend go all starry eyed. “Uh, Sug…?”

“V-V-Vignette Valencia!” Rarity exclaimed.

Vignette walked up to Rarity and gave her a kiss on either side of the violet haired girl’s cheeks. An act that rustled Applejacks jimmies a little, well, more like a lot.

“I’m so glad you accepted my offer to help out with this grand opening, god knows I need someone with an eye for the fabulous,” Vignette remarked.

Rarity giggled happily as she looked up at Vignette. “It’ll be my honor, Vignette, believe me you have no idea how much this will help my career.”

“Oh, I have some idea,” Vignette took out her cellphone and brought up Rarity’s social media account, going through all the clothes she custom made and the girls who modeled them. “You’re trending on MyStable and Pegastragram, getting quite popular for your designs and creative flare. With our talents combined we’ll make this grand opening a hit and take the net by storm!”

Rarity made a high-pitched giddy giggle at the thought of how much this would catapult her career.

Vignette wrapped an arm around Rarity’s waist, bringing the two of them close to together as their hips pressed against each other. Applejack’s left eye twitched a bit when she noticed said hand of Vignette was slowly sliding down Rarity’s back and resting just at the base of Rarity’s spine. “We’ll be a hit, Rarity!” the social media star took out her camera and brought it up for a selfie. “Say, ‘opening day’!”

“Opening day!” Rarity and Vignette exclaimed at the same time.

Rarity’s eyes widened just a tad when she felt Vignette’s hand slide further down and rest right on her rear just as she snapped the photo. Once the photo was taken, Vignette removed herself from Rarity and swiftly opened the photo in her phone, applying filters and checking the photo for any little imperfections that needed to be adjusted.

Applejack rushed to her girlfriend’s side and harshly whispered, “Did that floozy just grope yer ass?!”

“Well…yes she did,” Rarity admitted.

“That – No one touches you like that! Ah’m gonna–!”

Rarity quickly put herself in front of Applejack and placed her hands on the farm girl’s shoulders. “Applejack, I understand you’re upset, and honestly, I am bit upset myself. But for now, please bear with it, this is a big opportunity for me and could launch my career. Please, Love?”

Applejack glanced over her lover’s shoulder, glaring at Vignette as she had her attention fixated on her phone. “If that bitch touches you like that again, I’m knockin’ her teeth out. Yer career ain’t worth gettin’ felt up, understand?”

Rarity smiled and nodded. “Yes, my love, I understand. I’m sure this was just a single little incident, nothing more.”

Vignette, seemingly done with her work, walked back to the couple with a giddy smile of her own. “We’re already up to a thousand likes and growing! Uh, who is this?”

“Oh! Where are my manners! Vignette, this is my girlfriend, Applejack Apple,” said Rarity.

Applejack tipped her hat towards the social media star and responded, “Howdy, Miss Valencia.”

“Hmm, how do you do – So, Rarity, I have some ideas that I’d love to go over with you! Shall we?” Vignette asked giving only the minimum acknowledgement of Applejack’s presence.

“I’d love to, Darling.”

As Rarity began to walk towards Vignette, Applejack walked with her. However, Vignette raised her hand in a stopping motion. “Uh, sorry, but only staff from this point forward. Not my policy, it’s the park’s.”

“Oh, that’s horse–!”

“That’s fine, it’s fine! Right, Jackie?” Rarity asked, giving her lover a pleading look to not escalate.

Applejack bit her tongue and put on a strained smile. “Eeyup, it’s perfectly fine with me, Ah’ll just…wander ‘round the park for a bit.”

“That’s the spirit!” Vignette snapped her fingers and one of the workers appeared next to her with a card. “This has unlimited credit for any ride, attraction, or food in the park. Have some fun on me.”

Applejack took the card from Vignette, she then hugged her girlfriend and whispered, “Ya better call me if somethin’ happens, Ah don’t trust that gal.”

Rarity hugged her lover back and responded, “Don’t worry, Love, I’ll be fine.”

Applejack separated herself from Rarity and began walking away, Rarity and Vignette walked side by side further into the warehouse, but not before Vignette spared the cowgirl a sinister smile before returning her attention back to the pristine beauty walking alongside her.

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” Twilight screamed.

Sunset, on other hand, was less scared.

After taking in the gun show, Twilight had suggested that they go into Nightmare Moon’s Haunted Castle. Sunset wasn’t completely onboard with that idea, but Twilight had insisted. So, here they were, riding along a slow tram as various holographic, animatronic, and actor monsters came out with one horrifying scene and jump scare after the other. Compared to some of the other horrific things she had seen, this didn’t even register. Still, she wasn’t complaining, especially since Twilight was clinging to her arm whenever she got scared, pressing her arm between the cleavage of her B-cup breasts.

When the ride was over, her cute little nerd girlfriend was shaking and still clinging to her arm for dear life. “Twilight, you gonna be okay?”

“Y-Yes, y-yes, I-I’ll be f-f-fine,” Twilight answered through rattling teeth.

Sunset couldn’t help but chuckle. “If you were going to get that scared, why did you want to go in?”

“B-Because, like I told you…I’m not going to be ruled by fear. Plus…I thought it would be fun.”

Sunset nuzzled the top of Twilight’s head with her cheek and asked, “And was it?”

Twilight’s tremors had subsided, she then smiled and said, “Strangely, yes, it was.”

“Cool beans, so, what do you want to tackle next?”

As the two of the walked down the stretch of road, they came by a game stall. The man running the stall saw them and called out, “Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, toss a ring and win a prize! A winner every time and a prize for every customah! Don’t be shy, stop on by!”

Twilight stopped and looked at the game stall, it was a simple ring toss game, with the targets being about thirty empty clay jugs.

“What do ya say young lady, care to give it a try?”

“Ooh, it does look pretty easy,” Twilight commented.

“Easiest win of the day, my dear,” the man added.

Sunset sighed as she shook her head, she walked over to Twilight and turned her away slightly to talk privately. “Twilight, he’s just giving ya the old bump-and-tingle to lure you in. These games are rigged.”

“Now, now, I take offense to that Missy.”

Twilight adjusted her glasses as a smug smile appeared on her face. “Do you know what’s not rigged? The laws of physics. Assuming no air resistance and a vertical displacement of zero, horizontal displacement equals initial projectile velocity squared times the sine of twice the launch angle divided by the acceleration due to gravity.” Twilight turned around and took out some of her tickets, handing them over to the stall operator.

“Here ya go, little lady, give it a shot.”

Twilight narrowed her gaze at the rows of jugs, her mind projecting various mathematical formulas and overlaying them atop the objects before, creating a simulation of what she needed to do to achieve her win, even if the stall operator had somehow rigged the game, no amount of rigging could outdo her scientific mind. Twilight tossed the ring at the perfect angle, the circlet of plastic flew through the and landed on the nearest jug, spinning around the top of the jug for a moment before stopping.

And in the next second, popped right off.

Twilight’s eyes widened with indignation as she shouted, “WHAT?!”

“Ooooh, tough break there little miss,” said the operator in remorse.

“T-T-That’s impossible! It-It just – and then – WHAT?!”

Sunset sighed, she could see her girlfriend’s brain was short circuiting, so she decided to step in. “Alright,” Sunset then slammed some tickets onto the table, “let me have a go.”

Meanwhile, off some distance away, Indigo and Suri were keeping a close eye on the couple. Indigo gritted her teeth as she had to watch for the last hour the object of her affection being led around and clinging to the girl whom she hated with a passion. The air around them grew colder and Suri noticed, seeing a small layer of frost appear over the grass and stone.

“I’d say ‘cool it’, but that’s the problem. Get ahold of yourself, m’kay?!”

“How the hell would you feel if the person you loved was going around a theme park with someone you knew was bad for them?!” Indigo queried.

Suri scoffed at that. “Don’t know, never really had anyone I could say I actually ‘loved’. Not going to lie, I’ve had the occasional tryst once in a while, but I don’t think I can actually ‘love’ anyone. Screw, most definitely, but not fall in love with. Doesn’t match up with my career, or, at least, the career I had planned on before I died.”

Indigo snorted. “Well, that’s just sad. Speaking of what the hell are you going to do?”

“What?”

“You got a get out of hell free card, and now you’re back with a demon sword. What are you going to do now? Last, I remember, you wanted to become some famous fashion designer or some shit,” said Indigo.

Suri crossed her arms and leaned against a lamppost as a creepy smile crossed her lips. “Like I said that career path is out the window. I just decided I’m just going to revel in killing people, become a bit of a hedonist.”

“Say what?” Indigo asked in confusion.

Suri advanced on Indigo and pinned her against the side of a booth, looking her directly in the eyes as her eyes gleamed red. “I want to see how far I can go, how deep into depravity I can sink. I’ll kill who I want, men, women, kids, torture them and get off on their pleading screams! Fuck who I want and kill them in the throes of ecstasy! I’ll bathe in blood from head toe and whatever else I can think of!”

Indigo gulped and said, “You’re fuckin’ sick, Polomare…”

“Sweetie, I escaped from Hell, and Hell is where I’m heading back if I die! No matter what – if any – good deeds I do here on Earth, it all ends the same way, a one-way ticket straight down!” Suri pointed a hand down to the ground, but then just as quickly raised it swiftly, and planted her hand right between Indigo’s legs, making the jock tense up. “So why not have all the fun I can while I’m here?! Before I was constrained to being a prissy little rich schoolgirl clawing her way to the top. But now, I’m a fucking apex predator! And besides, calling me ‘sick’ is the pot calling the kettle black.”

Indigo looked away from Suri, but the demonic warrior used her free hand to make her look back.

“You’re chasing after a girl who absolutely hates you and wouldn’t bat an eye to you dying. In fact, I’m quite sure she’d smile happily!”

“Fuck you!” Indigo spat.

“I wouldn’t mind if you’re offering. But either way this ends, the result will be the same. Sparkle will NEVER love you, you’re better off just claiming her for yourself, just dive into the depths like me, because trust me, that ticket of mine has enough room for you, m’kay.” Suri released Indigo, licking her lips salaciously before leaning back against the lamppost.

Indigo shook off her irritation and returned to watching their targets, all while the words of Suri and Lemon echoed in her head. She will love me…She does love me! I just need to show her that I’m better than that bitch…! Fucking hell, they’re still at that thing?

“How are they still on that damn ring toss game?” Sunset asked with irritation.

“I don’t know, you don’t like to lose, and if Sun’s the same way, then we’ll be here a while,” said Pinkie.

“I’m kinda surprised that Twilight’s just as into this. She’s, literally, carving mathematical equations into the dirt with a stick!”

True, it had been over thirty minutes, but the couple of Sun and Twi had not left the game stall, losing their tickets and from the looks of it, losing their minds.

}}} I’ll never understand your human’s obsession with such games. {{{

It’s about the challenge, and in this case, the thrill of beating a rigged game.

}}} Hmm, so it is more like challenging fate? That is admirable. By the way, if you wish to keep this mission of yours incognito, you might want to address the issue of the farmer approaching from behind us. {{{

Thanks…………Farmer?………OH SHIT!

Just as Sunset had that reaction, she heard the familiar southern twang of her friend call out to her. “Sunset!” Pinkie and Sunset turned around and noticed Applejack walking towards them. “Well fancy meetin’ y’all here, I was about – HMM!”

Sunset and Pinkie quickly grabbed ahold of Applejack and took her behind another game stall. Once they were sure they weren’t within earshot, they released their friend.

“Sorry, Applejack, but we’re kinda in the middle of a spying mission,” said Pinkie.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “A ‘spy mission’? Who the heck are ya spyin’ on?” Applejack then turned to her other friend. “That why yer dressed in that getup?”

Sunset sighed and said, “Take a look.”

The duo led Applejack to their spying spot, and once they did, it was clear who they were here to spy on. “Ah, Sun and Twilight. But why are y’all spyin’ on their date? This some siblin’ payback?”

Sunset shook her head. “Nothing like that, those two were kind of on uneven ground not too long ago, and I was worried.”

“And so Sunny decided that we should spy on them and make sure nothing messes up their date! Like when some punks wanted to try and make and Sunset go with them to do some hentai rated stuff, and then Sunset had to beat them up because they had guns,” Pinkie explained.

Applejack shook her head at the explanation and looked to Sunset for confirmation. To which Sunset responded with a nod. “Jeez, remind me to bring a bulletproof vest if we ever decide to double date. Or Granny’s six shooter.”

Sunset rolled her eyes playfully at her friend. “How ‘bout an armored car while we’re at it. Hold up, why are you here?”

“Are you on a date with Rarity?!” Pinkie asked.

Applejack’s expression changed to one of irritation.

“What’s wrong?” the party girl inquired.

“She got invited her because of a job offer to help with the night parade costumes, of course she accepted, mostly because it’ll be a big boost to her reputation for later, but…”

Sunset raised an eyebrow, “But…?”

The cowgirl crossed her arms as she scowled. “The girl who hired her, Vignette Valencia, she’s apparently some kinda social media star, or whatever, she…she groped Rarity’s rear.”

“WHAT?!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Did she know you’re going out with her?!”

“Well…” Applejack sighed. “…No, she didn’t. Rarity didn’t get the chance to tell her until after it happened. But somethin’ just doesn’t sit right with me when it comes to her. On top of that, Ah can’t even be around her right now because the place she’s workin’ is ‘employees only’. Gettin’ on my nerves that Ah can’t watch over her.”

Sunset smiled and placed her hand on Applejack’s shoulder in a comforting fashion. “Hey, Rarity’s a big girl, she’ll be fine. But if it’s making you that nervous, maybe we could help out?”

The farm girl shook her head. “Nah, Ah don’t wanna take ya away from yer little ‘spy mission’ over there.”

“Uh…speaking of which, Sunset, they’re gone!” Pinkie stated.

“What?!” Sunset turned around and noticed that her parallel twin and Twilight had vacated the area. “Shit! We’re gonna have to split up and look for them!”

“Ah, dang, sorry Sugar Cube, Ah’ll lend ya a hand,” Applejack offered.

“You don’t have to, AJ,” said Sunset.

“Ah want to, plus, it’ll keep my mind off of…well, you know.”

“Yay! The spy team trio is on the case! Now let’s move out!” Pinkie ordered.

Applejack and Sunset nodded. The three teens split up and began their search.

On the flipside…

“What the fuck?! How did you lose them?!” Indigo scolded. “I step away to use the can and you drop the ball!”

Suri rolled her eyes at Indigo’s accusation. “Give me a break, they were at that stupid game forever, excuse me if I had to turn away or risk falling asleep right then and there. Outcome would’ve been the same either way, m’kay.”

Indigo inhaled deeply through her nose and exhaled slowly out of her mouth, keeping her frustration in check. “Fuck it then, we’ll split up. You go that way, and I’ll go the other!”

“Fine. Call me when you find out where they are, don’t go and do something stupid, m’kay?”

Indigo rolled her eyes and dashed off down a random pathway while her partner went off another.

Aria and Sonata were driving the RV towards Equestria Land, having lost the target, they thought it better to bring their “base” with them. If this whole “kidnap human Twilight Sparkle” plan was truly where they were going, then they’d need the rolling house to hold her and get away. Sonata sat in the front with Aria, looking out the window with disinterest.

The cranky Siren sighed and said, “I know you got something to say, so say it already.”

Sonata briefly glanced to Aria before looking back out the window. “Is this really the best thing for us to do?”

“Seriously?! You’re questioning the morality of this whole plan now!” Aria exclaimed.

“I just wanna go home, even if it means we end up in a dungeon somewhere. I know you feel the same way, Ari,” Sonata accused.

Aria groaned. “Yeah, I do. I made that clear to Adagio when we started this, whatever happens, even it means begging, we ask Sunset Shimmer how we can get back to Equestria. That doesn’t mean we have to puss out, where’s your killer instinct?”

Sonata returned her attention to her big sister and frowned at her. “It’s gone, Ari, okay, it’s been gone! I’m just tired of having to fight hoof and fang for everything! I’m tired of having people hate us! I’m tired of just…all of it! And don’t act like you haven’t lost it either! If you really haven’t, you wouldn’t have let those guys catch you that easily!”

Aria made a sharp turn, which wasn’t the smartest idea since it almost made the entire RV tip over, but thankfully she didn’t and managed to turn them into an empty parking lot. She slammed the brakes then and there and stopped the hulking vehicle. Once they were stopped Aria unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to her little sister with rage in her eyes. “Are you seriously about to tell me it was my fault that we almost got gangraped?! That we’re in this mess because of ME?!”

“No! But goes to my point! I’m not saying you lost it, but it’s been worn down, and you know it! You’re just as tired as I am, but you won’t say anything because you’re afraid of what’ll happen to Dagi!”

Aria gritted her teeth and slammed her left fist on the console. As much as she hated to admit it, Sonata was right. Their big sister had always been there for them, despite being a royal pain to the both of them, she never abandoned them, never told them to leave no matter how “annoyed” she was or how “insufferable” they were. Because they all knew they the three of them were all they had left, none of their race sought to take care of them when their parents died, they were weak pups, well, Sonata and Aria were seen as much, Adagio was wanted by many of their race, seeing her potential. But they were family, and she refused to go anywhere without them.

Aria did try to make a bid for Alpha of their group, more than once, if for nothing else than to try and take some of the burden off their elder sister. However, she was beaten every time, and maybe it helped Adagio to stay sharp if she thought that Aria was always gunning for her position, or maybe it just made her more edgy. Whatever the case, Adagio was always fighting for them, even when she was acting selfishly, she still thought of them. Now she was on a vendetta against Sunset, Aria was angry at the Rainbooms, and yes, she did harbor thoughts and entertained fantasies of beating them to within an inch of their lives, but as time went on the anger turned from a raging fire into a small ember, to the point that she didn’t have the energy to be angry at them and was more focused on their situation.

Adagio was different, she kept her fire of anger burning strong while keeping them safe. Now, though, it seemed that that fire was turning into a raging inferno that was about to swallow her big sister whole, she was teaming up with a girl who was brought back from literally Hell itself, and wielding a demon possessed sword, and another girl who is a straight up psycho stalker rapist with ice powers. These were the kinds of creatures that they’d typically avoid like the plague back in Equestria, although, most Equestrians would consider the Sirens demons too.

“Dammit…why do you gotta make sense now of all damn times, huh?!” Aria asked indignantly.

“I have, you just don’t listen to me!” Aria shot her a questioning look, to which Sonata responded, “Okay, I don’t always make sense – but I have my moments!”

Aria plopped back down into her seat and grumbled loudly as she placed her face into her hands. After a couple of seconds, she dragged her hands down her face and released a long, exasperated sigh. “Fuck, alright, we agree, this whole plan is bullshit and batshit crazy! But we’re in too deep to stop now, what’s the alternative?!”

Sonata thought for a moment and then said, “We…We could help Twilight Sparkle? We’ll help Dagi catch Twilight, but then we’ll take her somewhere safe from them! To Sunset Shimmer’s mansion!”

“Great, killer plan, except for the part where we have to get past the demon swordswoman and the ice bitch! The latter of which I’m more worried about because she’ll definitely hunt us down and kill us!”

“That does sound like a bit of a predicament.”

Sonata and Aria snapped to attention and turned towards the living area of the RV, finding a strange woman with a mohawk hairdo sitting in their booth.

Aria immediately sprang to her feet and got into a fighting stance. “Who the fuck are you, and how the fuck did you get in here?!”

“I’ll admit, we’re slipping a bit. I mean, first Canterlot City and then that fiasco in Manehattan? I think most of our guys are sleeping on the job,” said the stranger.

“Answer my fucking questions! Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?!” Aria demanded.

“Oh, sorry, I really should introduce myself.” The stranger got out of the booth and stood before them. “My name is Tempest Shadow, and I’m an agent of the OSOD or the Organization of Supernatural and Otherworldly Disasters, and I’m the gal they call in to investigate and clean the sheets when magic shits the bed.”

Aria and Sonata raised an eyebrow at that.

“So…what, you’re like some government spook?” Aria asked.

“Let’s just say that I have a badge that says I can do anything I want and get away with it, if it’s in the interest of keeping the public safe. So, I’m kinda above your typical government spook. That being said, I had gathered reports about three teenage girls moving around Manehattan with a strange box and that they could sing, and then last I heard, they left the city.”

The stranger slowly walked towards Aria, keeping her orchid-colored eyes fixed on the rosy eyes of the Siren before her.

“That’s when I remembered Sunset Shimmer telling me about these three girls with beautiful singing voices, who also happened to be from the same world she was from. Now, Sunset’s a big girl, so I didn’t think much of it when I figured you guys might be heading into town, but then I lost track of you because I was pursuing another lead. Then Blood Sword goes dark and I can’t find her. So, that led me to believe that you must be working with her. Now I also saw another girl come into this RV a while back, but I don’t know who she is. Which also leads me to believe that you guys are planning something to hurt Sunset Shimmer, her friends, and family. Now then…”

Tempest transformed into her shadow state, creating tentacles that grew from her back and lashed out towards Aria. Two of them latched onto Aria’s wrists, while another two wrapped around her ankles and held up in the air. Another two came out and wrapped themselves around Sonata’s chair to keep her from trying to help. Tempest moved closer to Aria and used her right hand to produce a Time Acceleration Sphere.

“Now, I happen to have a soft spot for that kid. So, you’re going to tell me what the hell you have planned, and if you’re serious about helping, you’ll tell me everything,” Tempest warned.

Aria looked to Sonata; the youngest Siren nodded to her big sister. She understood, considering what they were up against, someone like this might be able to help them stop their elder sister and prevent true bloodshed from taking place. “How much time ya got? ‘Cause if you don’t want a lot of people to die, along with Shimmer, then we need to get to Equestria Land, now!”

Suri looked high and low, but she was having little luck in locating the happy couple. It was annoying, she saw so many victims, so many happy faces, and all she wanted to do was whip out Blood Sword and start turning those smiling faces into ones of pain and agony. However, she needed her revenge, her sweet revenge on Sunset Shimmer and Rarity Belle. Then she could truly cut lose on this city and the rest of the world.

“So, that’s what you truly desire? To bring pain and suffering?” Blood Sword asked.

“Of course, it is,” she replied. “Like I said, one way or another, I’m going straight to Hell when I die. And since I doubt I can take you with me, I’m game to have as much fun as I can here. Be it killing, fucking, or both at the same time, I’m free to do all kinds of shit!”

Suri was downright giddy at the prospect, she was a girl who had money and was promised a future in the fashion industry, but that only had so much power, and one could only go so high. But with the Blood Sword, she could take what she wanted, whoever she wanted, and never be stopped. However, there were some who gave her pause. Witchblade for one, she had not only ended Suri’s life, but thanks to her and two other Artifact wielders, managed to purge the Blood Sword from Sour Sweet. Which meant that if they teamed up again, she could lose her power.

“You want revenge on Sunset Shimmer, I want it on that whore, Sugarcoat. Don’t forget that.”

“Oh, I haven’t. Believe me, I’m kinda looking forward to messing with that girl before I go for the kill,” said Suri.

As Suri kept searching through the theme park, she noticed a girl, she was from the country, with her cowboy hat and matching boots. Blonde, green eyed, and freckled, the literal embodiment of a teenage country hick girl, she wasn’t going to lie, she admired her form. Toned muscles, nice curves, a fine combination of masculine and feminine, and her rear and chest were nothing to sneeze at either.

Hmm, I wouldn’t mind “playing” with her. Wonder if she’ll squeal like a pig if gut her like one?

“As much as I would like to indulge in a bit of carnage, we still have work to be done.”

Suri stood there a while longer, admiring the country girl and imagining all the twisted things she’d do to her before granting her the sweet release of death. Although, the process of getting there would be anything but sweet. She continued to stalk her for a little longer, watching her take out her cellphone and opening it.

Alright, let’s head out…real shame, hope we can find her later.

“Hey, Rarity, what’s goin’ on?”

Suri paused mid step, she quickly turned around and listened closely. Did she just speak the name of the girl whom she wished dead the most?

“…Uh-huh…Wait…She’s what?! Fucking dammit all! Ah knew that bitch was no good!” Applejack exclaimed.

“Excuse me, there are children here!” a passing by adult scolded.

“Pardon my French, but it’s an emergency, so kindly mind yer own damn business!” Applejack shot back. “Ah’m on my way, Sug!”

Suri’s eyes widened with murderous glee. “I’d say there is a God, but in this case, I’d have to thank the devil himself!”

“We’ll lose our target if we do. Just saying.”

Fuck that other Sunset Shimmer, she’s not even the one I really want to kill! This is my chance to finally take my sweet revenge on that bitch, and I’m not passing it up!

“Ah, what the hell, let’s do it!”

With little in the way of objections from the Blood Sword, Suri followed Applejack, the country girl not knowing that in rushing to her friend’s rescue, she was inadvertently bringing death right to her.

“……Repeat that again…BECAUSE I KNOW I HEARD CRAZY JUST NOW!” Adagio yelled in fury.

{Look, Sis…this wasn’t an easy decision for either of us, okay. Sonata and I are pissed off and angry about our whole situation, but…ugh…we’re just tired of the anger, the hate, and all of it. We want to go home, that’s the one thing we can all agree on. We want to go back to Equestria. Let’s just call this whole thing off and just…ugh…ask Sunset to show us how she got here.}

Adagio couldn’t believe what she was hearing right now, her own sister, Aria Blaze Dazzle, was giving up. Out of the three of them she was the stubbornest, most hostile, and bullheaded of the trio. But now she was asking Adagio to just give up? After everything they had been through thanks to Sunset Shimmer and her little group of friends?

“Have you really forgotten what all we’ve been through?! Months of whoring ourselves, bending over and getting fucked by these filthy humans, and damned to be treated as nothing more than walking cum dumpsters! Losing our magic and being stuck in these stupid bodies for the rest of our lives!” Adagio ranted. “Because I haven’t! I DEFINITELY, haven’t! We have a chance to get everything that is owed to us, and now you’re going to puss out on me?!”

There was silence from the other end of the phone for a moment before the voice of Sonata took over. {No, we haven’t, Dagi. But we just want to go home, and the only way to get there is have Sunset Shimmer tell us how she did it.}

Adagio tightened her hand around the burner phone, to the point that it was close to breaking in her grip. “I think you’ve also forgotten, but over there, we’re monsters of myth! Princess Twilight will remember us, and how long do you think it will be before we’re imprisoned by her highness and left to rot! With the Box, we’ll have the power! We’ll be able to take over Equestria like we were meant to all those thousands of years ago!”

{Dagi, I really think we’re in over our heads with that box thing, it’s way too dangerous, even for us! I don’t think we were meant to find it, and…honestly…I don’t think we should take it into Equestria! Who knows what it would do once we’re back there!}

Adagio’s eyes shifted color, from their rosy-magenta color, to a purple. “Tch…weak…the lot of you, you’re all weak! Everything I’ve done, I’ve done to protect you two! I’ve strived, fought, and sacrificed everything to keep us together, to keep us alive! And all I ask in return is that you just do as I say and trust in me! But it seems that you can’t even do that much anymore! All these years here in this world has dulled your killer instincts, and now you’re just shells of your former selves! Well to hell with you two! I don’t need you! I just need Pandora’s Box, I still have Indigo and Suri, they’ll do what has to be done! You two can take the RV and just go! I don’t care where you go, what you do, or who you do! I just don’t care anymore!”

Before a reply could be given, Adagio hung up the phone, and in a fit of rage, tossed the burner at the ground and let it smash to pieces. She then followed up with stomping on it repeatedly until even the pieces were smashed into tinier pieces. In the next moment, her rage fit subsided, and her eyes returned to their normal coloration. It was only after this she realized what she did.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuck…” Adagio groaned in annoyance. “I still needed that to call Indigo and Suri! Great…ugh…I knew I should’ve brought the spare.”

The eldest Siren took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, calming herself, Adagio began walking as she tried to figure out her next action.

“I can’t call them, and we never agreed on a place to meet up or a specified time…but we did designate a spot to bring Twilight Sparkle to, perhaps it’d be best if I go there and wait until–”

Adagio suddenly impacted against someone, toppling down to the ground, rear first. The Siren hissed as she rubbed her tailbone, realizing the irony of not having a tail anymore. When Adagio looked up to see who it was that got in her way she was stunned. On the ground across from her was none other than Sunset Shimmer, she was wearing sunglasses, a cap, and bandanna, all three of which had come undone the moment they bumped into each other, allowing the former unicorn’s long fiery hair to come cascading down. Her outfit was different from the one they spotted earlier, and the expression on this Sunset’s face made it look like she recognized her. But then that meant…

“Sunset…Shimmer?!”

“Adagio Dazzle?!” Sunset exclaimed.

Both girls slowly got back to their feet, never once taking their eyes off the other, whether it was out of a sense of danger or because this was the first time seeing each other since the Battle of the Bands was unclear in this moment.

“Uh…hey…Adagio,” Sunset greeted, awkwardly. “Um…long time no see?”

Adagio’s eyes narrowed with barely contained rage. “I should be asking why you’re here, but I honestly could give two shits! This is just perfect. Everyone gets what they want today. I want you to listen to me, and listen good, Shimmer.” Adagio slid her backpack off and opened it slowly. “There’s something I want from you, and you’re going to give it to me.”

Sunset narrowed her own gaze, readying herself for a fight with lead Siren. “If it’s regarding your magic, I’m sorry, but I have no way to return it to you. I know how frustrating it can be living in this world without your magic, but–”

“Did you ever whore yourself out?”

Sunset blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Did you ever have to sell your body to complete strangers? To let them violate you night after night for money, just to survive in this damned world?!” Adagio inquired.

Sunset shook her head, her mind trying to process what she was being asked. “W-Wait…are you saying that…after the Battle of the Bands…you went and became prostitutes?!” To her credit, Sunset looked genuinely shocked by this information. “Adagio…I…I had no idea…after the battle…you and your sisters, you just vanished. I did try and look for you, but you were nowhere!”

Now it was Adagio’s turn to look shocked. “You…You actually tried to look for us? Tch, no doubt so you could take us to the police or have that alicorn nerd put us in prison back in Equestria!”

Sunset looked away for a moment, she couldn’t deny that that might have happened, but knowing Princess Twilight’s streak for redemption and forgiveness, she doubted it. “No, I wanted to look for you because I wanted to help you. You’re just like me.”

“WE’RE NOTHING ALIKE!” Adagio exclaimed.

“We’re the same in the aspect that we both want what we think we deserve, and that we’ll do anything to get it. Hurt others, lie, cheat, scheme, steal, whatever it takes to be at the top and to be feared and revered. But that’s a road that only leads to destruction, for yourself and those around you,” said Sunset. “I wanted to help you; the way Princess Twilight helped me! I never wanted that to happen to you!”

Adagio’s glare settled a bit, her eyes lowering as she let Sunset’s words sink in. Was she really about to come and help them that night? To offer them safe shelter and warm food? No…No! I won’t grovel to this bitch, not after coming this far! “It doesn’t matter, fact remains is that we lost our magic because of you! We’ve spent hundreds of years in this forsaken human world, trapped in these bodies, and forced to wander the world, from one conflict to another, feeding on the negative energy like a trio of parasites! We were once proud creatures, but now we’re less than nothing here! So, I’m going to make you tell me how you came here from Equestria!”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “And why do you want to know that?”

“To go home! We’re tired of being in this world! I can’t fathom the reason you’re still here! But maybe that’s because you haven’t been here as long as my sisters and me! Because after the first two hundred years, it starts to get irksome! Now, tell me, how did you get here?!”

Sunset crossed her arms and sighed. “I came here through a magic mirror in Equestria, enchanted by Star Swirl the Bearded.”

Figures that old fart would’ve made that.

“Before the Battle of the Bands, the portal could only open once every thirty moons and would remain open for only three days.”

“Thirty moons?! For three days?!” Adagio panicked, that meant they’d be stuck here way longer, possibly into adulthood before they could return to Equestria. “Wait…you said before the Battle of the Bands, you’re saying something changed?”

Sunset nodded. “Princess Twilight figured out a way to stabilize the portal from her end, so now she can open and close it at will and keep it open for as long as is needed.”

“Then tell me where it is!” Adagio demanded.

“I will, but only after you tell me about whatever scheme you have cooked up. I know you didn’t come here without one, and I’m getting a bad feeling right now,” said Sunset.

Adagio’s glare softened into one of evil mirth, “You’re right, I do have a plan. Part of it was to capture you and force you to tell us how to get back to Equestria. And by force, I mean I’m going to torture you in every possible way, keeping you alive long enough to tell me what I want to know!”

Despite the threat, Sunset looked unfazed. “I get it, you want to hurt me for taking something away that meant everything to you, your voices and your magic. I’m really sorry, but you were going to hurt a lot of people, you left us no choice!” Sunset’s gaze zeroed in on the backpack and she sighed again. “I’m going to go ahead and warn you right now, if you have a knife or a gun, I really suggest not using it. I’m not the same girl you battled against all those months ago.”

Adagio paused but shook it off. “Oh, it’s nothing so mundane as mortal weapon.” The yellow, curly haired Siren slowly brought her hand out of the backpack and revealed Pandora’s Box to Sunset Shimmer. Strangely enough, Adagio noticed that the metal of the bracelet on Sunset’s right wrist seemed to ripple, and the ruby gemstone glowed a little. “This is called Pandora’s Box, a nasty little ancient artifact. The moment I sing, every single human within listening range will suffer a horrible death. I literally have many hostages walking around.”

Sunset widened her stance in preparation to attack. “So, all you have to do is sing to make that work? ……I guess that means I just have to knock that out of your hands, or, the more painful option, break your jaw. Please don’t make me have to choose option two.”

Adagio released the backpack and held Pandora’s Box between her hands. “You could, Shimmer, you could. But then, I’m not the only one you should be concerning yourself with.”

Sunset’s gaze narrowed, becoming more serious. “What the hell do you mean by that?!”

Suddenly, a great, fiery explosion caught their attention. It took place on the other side of the park, but the flaming plume could be seen even from the distance they were at. Right after that explosion, a giant wall of ice sprouted up to push back against the flames, followed up by several more explosions and breaking ice.

Sunset looked back to Adagio and yelled, “What did you do?!”

A purple aura started to emanate from Pandora’s Box as Adagio stroked the top it, smiling wickedly the whole time as she said, “I had some friends come with me, friends who have a grudge against you, and your ‘sister’.”

Sing Part 5

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A FEW MINUTES EARLIER…

Sonata had held out the cell phone away from her ear when Adagio went on her rant. Then came the brief smashing sound and the line went silent. The blue Siren sighed in dismay that her big sister was still gung-ho about exacting her revenge on Sunset Shimmer, sure she didn’t like Sunset and her friends either, but this was going too far, especially with Pandora’s Box.

“I take it that the call didn’t go so well?” Tempest asked from the booth.

“Gee, what do you think,” said Aria in a snide tone.

“So, to make sure we have this all clear. Your sister is planning to kidnap Twilight Sparkle and use her as leverage to get Sun’s magic necklace, and at the same time, use her as leverage against Sunset to try and get her to tell you how it is she came to this world. But the two others she’s teaming up with is the chick who’s wielding Blood Sword, and some teen from Crystal Prep, who has a magic ice necklace, who’s apparently a freakin’ stalker and wants to take Sparkle. Wow, and now you guys think this has gone too far?”

Aria rolled her eyes as she growled. “I don’t need someone like you trying to guilt trip us! We’re hundreds of years older than anyone in this whole stinkin’ world! We’ve seen and done things that you can’t even begin to think about, so don’t go treating us like we’re just some couple of punk kids!” Aria took a deep breath and calmed herself before she completely went off on Tempest. “Look…you can’t even imagine what we’ve lost, our home, our magic, our sense of worth, and our original bodies! Forced to live in a world that’s not your own, on the fringes, knowing that if you don’t feed off enough negative emotional energy you’ll die. We’ve survived this long together, with Adagio, we trust one another, we’re sisters. But sometimes we need to kick the other one in the ass to get them to see how fucked up something is.”

“This would be one of those times, we got caught up in all of this…but we knew that that Pandora’s Box thing was evil, even for us!” Sonata stated. “Dagi’s been pissed before, but now…I think she might actually hurt a whole lot of people to just get to Sunset Shimmer!”

Tempest clenched her fist, they needed to get to Equestria Land soon. Just then her cellphone went off, Tempest took it out and saw that it was Daring Do who was calling her. “Daring, what’s up? You find anything out on this ‘Pandora’s Box’ thing in your big ass library?”

{…It’s nothing good, in fact, it’s really bad. You must get Pandora’s Box away from this girl you talked about, as fast as possible!}

Tempest held the phone away from her head and looked at it with shock. “That bad…? Hold on, let me put you on speaker.” Tempest pressed the speaker button on her phone and said, “Okay, so why is it so dangerous, why the warning?”

{I’ve dug deep into the legends regarding Pandora’s Box, it’s not as rosy as the Greek mythos say. Not that it was to begin with. The truth of the matter is, Pandora was the protector of the box, she was hope. The box was crafted by the goddess of chaos, Eris, inside of it was concentrated mayhem and destruction, released whenever the owner of the box sings its Song of Destruction.}

Sonata and Aria’s eyes widened upon hearing this revelation.

{However, the Box’s power is tempered, it requires something called the “Keys”. On its own, the Box is powerful and deadly, but if the Keys are placed upon it, the Box will open completely, and unleash total chaos on the world, it will begin locally, but then spread outwards throughout the world, and eventually through the cosmos if it isn’t closed. The problem is, the Box has a kind of influence that reacts to negative emotions, the stronger these emotions are, the more the holder of the Box will want to open it and complete its opening.}

“Shit…So basically this thing can end the world,” Tempest summed up.

{I’m afraid so.}

“What about these ‘Keys’, are they on the Box or what?” Aria asked from the driver’s seat.

{Who’s that?}

“Don’t worry about it Daring, tell us, what kind of Keys are we looking for?” Tempest asked.

{It’s not very specific, it just says “the Fire of Life and Ice of Death will open the doors to Pandemonium”. Whatever these keys are, they’re something that represents fire and ice.}

Everyone’s eyes widened.

“Keys of fire and ice…Sun’s Ember Stone!” Tempest exclaimed.

“And that jock’s Glacier Stone!” Aria added.

“Oh no, we’ve been had! This whole time that Box’s been wanting us to come here, to get to the Keys! And we just put them all in the same place!” Sonata stated.

“Shit, shit! Daring, is there a way to stop the Box once it’s been opened?!”

{I really hope you’re joking about that, because there’s only been one time that ever happened. Pandora’s strong hope was eventually eroded by Eris’ trickery and influence, against the wishes of the gods, and she ended up locating the Keys and opening it. Chaos spread across the land, death and destruction raining down upon like a heavy rain. It spoke of a heroine that managed to put an end to it, one of Greek Mythology’s few female demigod heroes. She managed to stop the chaos, but at a price…}

Suddenly, Aria punched the accelerator and made the RV lurch forward, blowing through one stoplight after the other.

“Whoa, take it easy, we wanna get there in one piece!” Sonata yelped.

“One-piece ain’t gonna mean shit if the worst-case scenario happens!”

Sunset, Sun, I really hope you got some kind of plan or figured something out!

“It just didn’t make sense?! How did we keep missing every! Single! Shot!?!” Sunset griped as she and Twilight sat down at a table.

“I know…” Twilight agreed in dismay. “All my calculations, all of it, it meant nothing?! Is…Is this real life?!”

Both teenagers groaned heavily, but after a moment, they started laughing at how hard they tried to beat the simple game to no avail. When they were done, Twilight reached out with her right hand and took Sunset’s hand into her own. “Well, despite that, I’m having a really great time, Sunset.”

Sunset smiled back at her girlfriend and replied, “I’m happy you are. You deserve to have fun after everything you’ve been through, and what you’ve been through because of being near me.”

Twilight shrugged. “True, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. I love being around you, I love being with you, and this first date is turning out to be the best.”

The fiery haired teen chuckled. “So far, but the day’s still young. And tonight, we can see the night parade!”

“I can’t wait, in the meantime, is there another ride you want to go on?” Twilight asked.

“Well, if you’re feeling a little daring, then maybe we could hit up the Cloudsdale Rainbow Rail?”

Sunset pointed her finger in the direction of the largest rollercoaster in the park, Twilight followed that finger and gulped when she saw the monstrosity of loops, shoots, and dives. Faux clouds decorated steel rails that were colored like a rainbow, the rollercoaster cars were blue in color, with yellow lightning bolt decorations on the sides, and of course, along with all this, Twilight could hear the faint screams of the people who were riding it.

Even though she was feeling tense just looking at it, Twilight’s face became one of determination. “Okay, I’ll do it!”

“Again, Sparky, you don’t have to,” Sunset reassured.

“If I can handle you’re sports car, I think I can handle that,” Twilight countered. “I’ll just use the restroom first and we’ll head on that way. Don’t want that monster to cause any…unnecessary accidents.”

“Hmm, kinky,” Sunset commented.

Twilight’s face blushed as she furrowed her brow. “Oh, shut up you pervert!”

Sunset shrugged it off and chuckled as Twilight turned around and headed towards the restroom. The teenage genius did at least smile halfway towards the lavatory, yes, her girlfriend could be perverted and make salacious innuendos, but even so, she wouldn’t change a thing about her. Sunset could crack such jokes, but she knew where to draw the line and never did anything untoward Twilight.

Perhaps…Sugarcoat was right, I’ve become distrusting. Even when it comes to someone who’s done so much for me.

Twilight entered the restroom and headed into a stall. Unknown to her, someone else had followed her, going into a separate stall. After a minute, Twilight emerged from her stall and began washing her hands, she looked herself in the mirror and smiled as she thought fondly of Sunset. This really was the perfect thing to take her mind off everything, a first real date for her, and nothing could sour today. Twilight’s attention was divided when she saw one of the other stall doors begin to open, and when it did, she paused.

“Hey, Twilight.”

The teenage genius froze when she saw the image of Indigo Zap in the mirror. This couldn’t be real, it was just a hallucination, a trick of her paranoia. Twilight, against her better judgement, slowly turned around and realized that it wasn’t a trick of her mind, Indigo Zap was in fact standing there. The bespectacled teen gripped the sink as she backed up into it, gulping down hard as she tried to tamp down her fear.

“I-Indigo! W-What are you doing here?!” Twilight demanded. “Did…Did you follow us here?!”

Indigo rubbed the back of her head; she at least had the decency to look ashamed. “Look, Twilight, I didn’t mean to follow you in here, but it was the only place I knew I could get you alone.”

Twilight’s brow creased in indignation. “Are…Are you that desperate to violate me that you’ll stalk me all the way into an amusement park bathroom?! Is there nothing you won’t do to put your hands on me?!” The teen genius hugged herself as she bit at her lower lip. “Fine…just do whatever you want, but after this, please, just leave me alone!”

Indigo had a hurt look on her face, it seemed that her words cut deep, for whatever reason Twilight couldn’t fathom. “I…I deserve that…I’ve done a few things to you that…in hindsight…maybe you weren’t ready for. I was overzealous…it’s just…you’re just perfect, Twilight. You’re the best, and you don’t give yourself enough credit for it! Those assholes at the school…they’re just jealous of you! I know I’m one of them…I haven’t done all I could to protect you, to be the ideal girlfriend. But it’s not too late!” Indigo moved closer as she extended her hand towards Twilight. “I can be the girl you want me to be, protective, supportive, whatever you want! I’d do anything for you Twilight!”

“Then please leave me alone! If you really care about me, then you’ll respect me enough to do that for me! I’m happy with Sunset Shimmer, I trust her, I…I lov–!”

“DON’T!” Indigo interrupted as her face contorted into anger. “Just don’t say that! Don’t say you love her! I know you don’t! She’s dangerous, Twilight! Did you know that we fought each other a week ago and that she almost killed me?!”

Twilight didn’t seem fazed. “ I know because Sunset told me. Yes, she lied to me about that at first, but she apologized and told me the truth. And considering that you have the Glacier Stone, I’d say excessive force was warranted with your actions! Can you truly tell me that your intentions weren’t the same?!”

Indigo opened her mouth to rebut the argument, but stopped, realizing that Twilight had a point. Her intention was to kill Sunset Shimmer that night, so killing Indigo back was basically self-defense at that point. But Indigo couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to it than that. “Did she tell you that she was looking for my Glacier Stone?! Why would she be looking for it when she has own magical necklace?! ‘Cause the other reason she was going to kill me was to get the Glacier Stone!”

“I don’t know what her intentions are, but if it’s to keep it from falling into unstable hands, then fine!” Twilight stated.

“You gotta trust me, Twilight, somethin’ ain’t right with her!” Indigo insisted.

“I could say the same about you! But at least I know where I stand with Sunset! I’m done with this, if you’re going to rape me again, then get it over with! Otherwise, I’m leaving and I’m going back to my date!” Twilight began to walk towards the door, but before she could get too close to it, the entire entrance was covered in a wall of thick ice. “Indigo!”

“Twilight, this is for your own good. You don’t realize that now, but trust me, everything I’m doing, is to protect you from her! I can show you that I’m better than her! Then…Then you’ll love me, it’ll take time but I’m willing to put in the work!” Indigo raised her right hand towards Twilight, making the teen flinch. “Don’t worry, my ice won’t make you cold, but it will protect you. Trust me, there’s some things that are about to go down here in the park and I don’t want you hurt.”

Before Twilight could ask what Indigo meant, diamond hard ice surrounded her, placing her into a pod with small holes that allowed air to pass through. Twilight beat her fists against the ice, but only succeeded in making her hands sore.

“Indigo Zap, let me go!” Twilight demanded.

“Sorry, but like I said, this is for your own good. Now I just need to–”

A powerful explosion erupted from the entrance of the restrooms, causing Indigo to raise her right arm up to protect her eyes. A cloud of steam formed within the space, obscuring the entrance for a moment before the one responsible made themselves known.

“I swear to god, I thought you’d be smarter than this, Indigo.” From the steam cloud emerged Sunset Shimmer. Her eyes having changed color from turquoise to bright orange as flames flicked in the corners of her eyes, along with the embers dancing around her hands. “Any other time, I’d simply just kick your ass and leave you in pain on the floor. But you decided to come here, interrupt our date, and…” Sunset glanced over at the ice prison Twilight was in. “And you imprisoned my girlfriend! Oh, now I’m straight up going to kill you, no more ifs, ands, or buts! This ends today!”

Indigo narrowed her gaze as her Glacier Stone began to shine brighter. “You wanna go, fine, I’ve been itching to finally settle the score with you!”

Sunset smirked at her boasting. “Did you forget how I totally pwned you during our first fight? I think we established that I’ve got more experience than you when it comes to wielding magical power.”

“Maybe, but let’s just say I have an edge over you today.”

Sunset’s Ember Stone shined brighter in direct correlation to Indigo’s Glacier Stone, Twilight saw this from her ice prison, seeing the intensifying look of murder between them, along with the blue and orange auras coming off them respectively, Twilight knew that this wasn’t going to end well.

“Both of you stop! We’re in an amusement park! There are families here, children! If you fight here, you might end up killing innocent people!” Twilight pleaded.

“Sorry, Twilight, but sometimes you can’t always pick where you’ll fight,” said Indigo.

“Unfortunately, I agree with her. But I promise, Sparky, I’ll keep the casualties as close to zero as I can,” Sunset replied.

Before another word could be uttered, fire and ice exploded inside the restroom. A giant wall of ice rose into air at the same time as flames blasted against it. The restroom building was destroyed as debris went flying in several directions, all while the unsuspecting park patrons screamed and ran in a panic, scattering in any direction they could to avoid the destruction that took place. From the ruins of the building, two figures jumped out of it, one was Sunset Shimmer, now transformed into her fire state, and the other was Indigo, having entered her ice form. Indigo had Twilight’s ice prison in tow, having it hover a few feet away from her as it followed her.

Sunset willed dozens of fireballs to form around her, and with a wave of her hand, she launched them. The fireballs all locked onto Indigo, not a one deviating from its course, Indigo created a blizzard barrier around herself, just as the fireballs made contact. Multiple explosions took place in the sky one after the other, creating a cloud of smoke that hid the icemancer from view. Sunset used her power to create flame jets at the soles of her feet, allowing her to hover in the air as she waited to see what had become of her target.

As if to answer the question, ice spears came blasting out of the smoke in rapid fire succession. Sunset created fire a barrier to block them, the intense heat managed to make the ice spears explode on impact without ever even penetrating the barrier. The steam cloud that it generated managed to create another cloud that obscured her vision, but Sunset remained alert. However, at the last second, Sunset was barreled into, sending her plummeting to the ground. Sunset landed hard against the ground with a powerful crashing sound that fractured the concrete and stone pathway, when she managed to get her bearings, Sunset noticed that it was Indigo who had body slammed her.

The ice wielder created spiked ice gauntlets and began wailing on Sunset, striking her in the face many times as she gave a loud battle cry. With each successive hit, glowing orange ichor was spilled onto the ground, the hissing sound that it made on contact gave the impression that it was as if her blood had become molten lava. Indigo raised her fists up into the air, put them together, and formed an ice hammer to bring down on Sunset’s head. However, before that could happen, Sunset’s hands caught on fire, and from them sprang two fire tendrils that slithered forth and pierced the jock in the chest and stomach.

Indigo spat up blue blood, which when it made contact with the ground, turned into a patch of ice. The hissing sound of Indigo’s ice body being penetrated by Sunset’s fire tendrils echoed harshly in the air as the icemancer grunted in pain from having been impaled. The tendrils shot forth and forced Indigo off Sunset, sending the jock careening into a game stall. Sunset sat up, the damage to her face already healed as she shot a fierce glare in Indigo’s direction. Before she could do any more with the tendrils, Indigo created an ice ax that she used to cut the tendrils off her. Now released from the impalement, the tendrils fizzled out, leaving two gaping holes in her body. The ice that formed her body quickly grew to close the wounds before they could pose a problem.

“Heh, I’ll admit, you’ve gotten a little better,” said Sunset.

“Did you think I was just sitting on my ass this whole time?!” Indigo questioned.

“No, which is good, it won’t be nearly as much fun if I just end up beating you without a small challenge. Plus, it’ll be that much more satisfying when you realize that no matter what you do, this’ll end the same way. With you dead!”

“FUCK YOU!!! I’M NOT HOLDING BACK ANYTHING! EITHER YOU DIE OR I DIE HERE TODAY!”

A blast of icy energy raged from Indigo, the ground beneath her began to turn to pure ice as Indigo gathered more and more power to her. A blizzard whirlwind was kicked up around the area, freezing over multiple stalls and some of the nearby rides. Sunset created a fire barrier to protect herself against the buffeting force of whatever it was that Indigo was attempting to do. Sunset watched as Indigo’s body expanded, growing bigger and bigger as the snowstorm she generated grew in direct correlation to this event.

Heh, so it looks like Indigo discovered how to tap into the primal form of the Glacier Stone. If nothing else, this will be fun, Sunset thought.

Indigo’s body was covered in bright blue light, but once she had reached her full thirty-meter height the blue light shattered into particles that revealed Indigo’s Glacier Stone primal form. Her body had white diamond hard ice armor that covered certain parts of her body, her forearms were completely coated in ice, with the digits sharpened to claws, while three rows of spikes covered the top part of her forearms. The ice armor around her shoulders was jagged and sharp, the tips of the jagged edges seemed to glow with the same bright blue energy that was released before. More ice armor coated her legs, covering up to her knees, with the feet forming five-digit talons that dug into the ice it created.

The ice armor formed around her waist, and on the back of it formed a segmented tail that had sharp spines, with the end of the tail forming a spiked mace. Indigo’s chest was coated in the diamond ice, with the Glacier Stone right at the center and glowing bright. Indigo’s hair had grown out, now it was shoulder length and glowed with the same bright blue energy. Her face seemed to have changed to, as if she had aged a bit to give herself a more mature look, and her eyes were now pools of bright blue light that pulsated with the same as the Glacier Stone. The exposed parts of her skin were navy blue and sparkled in the sunlight like freshly driven snow.

“You ready to die?!” Indigo announced.

Sunset merely smirked as her own body was engulfed in flames. The flames grew bigger, melting away the ice that had formed and created a huge wave of water, but not long after that the water evaporated into steam. With the flames died down, Sunset had become Dragon Shimmer, her draconic form matching the height and size of her counterpart, now stared her down. Dragon Shimmer unleashed a ferocious roar that shook the area, at the same time, Titan Zap unleashed her own battle roar, a primal roar that sounded like a human from ancient times before speech and civilized communication was adopted.

Without any more words spoken, the two behemoths charged for each other. They crashed mightily into one another, creating a powerful shockwave that flattened many stalls and shook the foundations of the nearby rides. What happened next was a battle of titanic beings, smashing, clawing, biting, everything was lost in a blur of primal fury as their respective Artifacts glowed brighter, urging them to fight on, for they were each other’s sworn enemy and eternal rival.

A COUPLE OF MINUTES EARLIER…

Rarity had told Applejack that she’d be alright alone with Vignette, but…she was starting to feel less confident about that as time went on. She threw herself into the work, giving orders and directing others as she needed. The entire crew was at her beck and call as Rarity got everything together and was becoming increasingly satisfied with the work that was getting done. Vignette was adding in her suggestions and opinions on Rarity’s work, all of which she took to heart, making modifications where she could. Despite Rarity being brought in to assist with the project it was still, overall, Vignette’s project.

Which wouldn’t be a bad thing, but Vignette’s constant…flirting, didn’t help matters. Rarity had always been told she could be a real tease most of the time, by both sexes, but it wasn’t like she was doing it on purpose, not all the time, it was just how she was. However, when it came to Vignette, it was wholly intentional. She would bat her eyes, place a hand over hers, letting it linger for longer than what was appropriate, and then there was the occasional ogling of her rear and assists. Normally Rarity didn’t mind it when she was the center of attention, but being in a relationship, and with a girl as caring and sweet as Applejack, it just made Rarity feel…dirty.

In order to get some more work done, she headed into one of the offices to quickly sketch out an idea to bring to the rest of the design team, they only had a few hours to get everything right and Rarity was determined to make her contribution to this project, Vignette’s unwanted advances or not. Rarity took out her cellphone for a moment, she scrolled through a few selfies she took of her and her paramour. One of which was a bit risqué.

It featured Applejack and herself on their first night together. Rarity was holding the camera in her outstretched arm, Rarity’s hair was a bit frazzled, but even so she still looked, in her words, “fabulous”, Applejack was lying next to her, the farmgirl’s freckled face was red with embarrassment as Rarity snuggled up next to her. Both had the blanket covering their upper halves, leaving their heads and shoulders exposed, some of the blanket had fallen away from Rarity and gave a little show of her bosom, while Applejack tried to keep one hand clutching at the blanket from having the same happen to her.

For such a rough and tomboyish girl, she could be quite bashful and self-conscious when in such a situation. Not that Applejack had anything not to be proud of, she had taken her friends’ measurements before, but now, within the context of being a couple, she was able to better appreciate Applejack’s figure. Her wide hips – “childbearing hips” if she remembered the term correctly – the ample, rugged muscle that had formed due to years of hard work on her family’s farm, the delicate curve of her breasts that were spackled with her adorable freckles, her deep emerald eyes, and luscious golden locks, she was true beauty.

Rarity chuckled when she remembered a tale her amore told her, about running away to Manehattan to live with their relatives, the Oranges. They were high society people, much like the kind of people that Rarity wanted to associate with, and at one point, Applejack wanted to be just like that, believing that farm life was not for her and that her time was better spent learning how to be fanciful, and dedicated to higher learning. However, while Applejack took to the teachings and society like a fish to water, it didn’t make her happy, mostly because she didn’t like how – in her words – fake she was around other people. Having to pretend to like someone or something, deceiving or placating another, it just wasn’t her, not for an honest girl like Applejack. And after about half a year, Applejack realized that her true home, where she was really happy, was on the farm back in Canterlot City.

It was nice to know that, if she ever needed to, Applejack could fit the role of a high society girl. According to the cowgirl, despite not wanting to go back to that kind of lifestyle, she admitted that the lessons never really left her, she was a diligent learner after all. Of course, Rarity would never subject her girlfriend to that if she could help it but depending upon the circles that Rarity was surely to join in the future, it helped to know that her girlfriend would be able to “turn on the fancy” and meld into the crowd like she could.

Rarity blushed as she just realized she thought about herself and Applejack’s futures together. In all honesty, she wanted to continue this relationship for as long as possible, finding that she was enjoying Applejack’s company a lot more than she herself understood at first. Perhaps she had always fancied Applejack, perhaps her friend’s confession of closet incest with her older brother was just the catalyst that she needed to take that first step into a relationship that both didn’t know they needed. Whatever the case was, Rarity was happy.

Just then, a knock came at the office door. Rarity quickly put the phone down and went back to her sketch as she said, “Come in.”

When the door opened, her mood dipped slightly when she saw Vignette Valencia enter the office space. “Rarity, so this is where you scurried off to.”

“Sorry, Vignette, but I needed a quiet place to sketch out my idea before I brought it to the rest of the team. I didn’t mean to just leave you like that,” said Rarity.

“It’s quite alright, Rarity, we creative types do need to retreat to a quiet place once in a while in order for our more creative sides to come out.” Vignette walked around the desk that Rarity was sitting at and looked over Rarity’s shoulder at the work she was doing. “Very nice, Rarity. I knew I made the right choice bringing you onto our crew.”

“Thank you, Vignette, I can’t tell you how happy I am to be on this design team,” said Rarity.

Vignette leaned forward a bit and placed her right hand on Rarity’s left shoulder, gently squeezing and rubbing it. “Perhaps, when this is over, I can show you how appreciative I am.”

Rarity decided enough was enough, she needed to – politely – put her foot down. “Vignette, I take it that you fancy me quite a bit.”

“Guess I haven’t been that subtle, have I?” Vignette admitted.

“No, no you haven’t.”

“Sorry, it’s just been so hard to find a girl – anyone really – who has the same kind of creative flare as I do, and one that can additionally catch my eye,” Vignette explained.

Rarity reached over with her right hand and gently pried Vignette’s off her shoulder. “I appreciate that you think so highly of me, Vignette, and I can’t thank you enough for bringing me onto your design team. However, I must respectively ask that you discontinue your actions thus far, please.” The young fashionista looked up at Vignette. “As I’ve stated before, I am in a relationship with my girlfriend. A very happy relationship, and I’d rather not ruin it.”

Vignette smirked as she walked from behind the desk and sat at the edge in front of it. “You mean that country girl, right? I understand that girls like her are nice and all, I’ve had a few private encounters with some before. Good for a nice romp, but ultimately, that’s about all they’re good for.”

“Pardon me, what are you insinuating?”

“That girl, Apple-whatever, she gets the job done in bed, but not much else. Rarity, girls like her hardly amount to much else other than toiling in the fields and getting dirty for a low amount of pay and hardly any gratitude,” said Vignette. “What you see is what you get, she won’t go any further than what she is now. For people like us, she’s a weight, a hinderance some would say. Sure, they can lure you into the whole simple lifestyle, and it looks nice at first, but in the end, you will crave the better, you’ll want more than a little dirt farm can offer. And it’ll tear you apart. She can’t adapt and change like we can, shift on the spot when the latest social media craze hits the net, or when the next trends in the fashion world come up. She will just remain the same.”

Rarity looked down at her sketch as she listened to Vignette’s words. There was a bit of truth in those words, as much as she didn’t want to admit it. It was true, one day, Rarity would go away to the best fashion design schools in France, learning at the feet of the masters and honing her skills against other would-be contenders in the fashion world. However, what would Applejack be doing? What were her goals in life? Surely running her family’s farm wasn’t all she wanted in her life. Big Macintosh was able-bodied enough, and surely had enough business sense that he could run the farm on his own. It shouldn’t take all three of the siblings to run the farm, as much pride as they had in it, there was still much more Applejack could do, much more that Apple Bloom could do as well.

But if Vignette was right, then Applejack would always remain the way she was. That’s when she smiled. “I don’t see a problem with her not being able to change.”

Vignette turned her head and raised an eyebrow. “How do you figure?”

“It’s as you said, Vignette, in our profession, we have to adapt and change, see into the future, practically become oracles to see how the future portends to our industry. Changing and adapting constantly can become quite taxing on one’s body and soul, but if you have an anchor, someplace, or rather someone who can keep you steady and remind you of where you once were to see the right path forward, then that weight doesn’t become a burden, it becomes a lifeline,” Rarity explained.

Vignette sighed in annoyance at Rarity’s insistence on sticking with the farm girl. “Look, it’s nice and all to remain loyal, but you’re still in high school, I remember a lot of my own gal pals who were in relationships similar to yours and then broke them off right after graduation. You’re allowed to experiment and see what you do and don’t like, but once you get to where I am, you have to think more about your career.”

“I’m not too worried about that, my work speaks for itself.”

“Does it now?” Vignette took out her cellphone and brought up Rarity’s Pegastagram page. “I have over a million followers, some who are very popular influencers who run in a lot of circles, and each of them has thousands of followers, what do you think would happen if someone as popular as me starts to, oh I don’t know, start ragging on your designs? I may not make clothes, but my opinion and eye for fashion is what can make or break any up and comer like yourself.”

Rarity slammed her hands on the desk as she stood up from her chair. “You wouldn’t!”

“I would, this is the world you want to enter, Hun. I can see that same tenacity in you as well, but you’re just too…restrained. Vignette put her phone away and turned around to face Rarity. “C’mon, Rarity, BYBB.”

“‘Be yourself, but better’, the motto in which you live your life by. In all honesty I did find it somewhat contradictive, if I’m already being myself, then I am all the better for it, and my true self is generous and true to my friends, and girlfriend. I once made a mistake of not sticking by one of my friends and it almost cost her life, I won’t be making that mistake again, especially when it comes to my girlfriend.” Rarity sat back down and resumed her sketching. “I’ll continue to work with you, Vignette Valencia, I will also remain cordial and keep up the friendly air we have outside. You may fire me if you want to, you can even trash me online, but all things eventually come about, and my work will speak for itself. “

Then the fashionista looked back up at Vignette with a cocky smirk. “And besides, Darling, I’d hate to be you on the day that my work does get recognized by someone higher up the popularity totem pole than yourself and ends up making you look completely inept. A popular influencer and social media star like yourself overlooking and berating a talented fashion designer who is recognized by those higher up the food chain than yourself, it’s a very quick way to lose followers.”

Despite the threat, Vignette’s expression did not change. “See, that’s the kind of thing I like. That’s the vicious side that needs to come out more.”

“Please continue to berate my paramour and you will see just how vicious I really am,” Rarity warned.

Vignette walked back around to where Rarity was sitting, she then pulled the chair out and turned it around to have Rarity face her. Without warning, Vignette straddled, Rarity, planting her rear on the teen’s lap and placing her hands on Rarity’s shoulders. “I kinda want to, c’mon!”

Rarity opened her mouth to give protest, that was her first mistake. Vignette took the initiative and planted her lips on Rarity’s, forcing her tongue into the alabaster teen’s open mouth. Rarity’s eyes flew open as panic and anger set in, she tried to free herself, but Vignette’s straddling in the chair made every attempt awkward. Satisfied moans came from Vignette as she continued to probe Rarity’s mouth, at the same time, she lowered left hand and brought it rest atop Rarity’s left breast. She gave a harsh squeeze which elicited a squeak of pain from the fashionista. Vignette’s other hand traveled lower, pushing the skirt of Rarity’s dress up enough that her black lace panties were showing.

Realizing what was about to happen, Rarity thrashed about in the chair, making the rolling seat rock back and forth until it tipped over enough that both came crashing down onto the floor. Vignette was thrown off, landing against the wall, while Rarity was also thrown against the opposite wall, but upside down. She groaned in pain from the sudden movement and hard landing, but it seemed Vignette was semi-unconscious. Rarity had heard a rather hard “thunk” sound, and now after seeing Vignette’s position, she believed that the social media star had hit her head upon impact. There was a slight urgency to call for help, but after what Vignette tried to do, she could wait a moment while Rarity called in help for herself.

Rarity picked herself up from the floor, unfortunately it was the side nearest the desk, and she ended up hitting it, adding to the slight aches and pains that were already making themselves known. She quickly took out her cellphone and called Applejack, she needed her girlfriend, after being sexually assaulted, she needed her comforting strength.

{Hey, Rarity, what’s goin’ on?}

“A-Applejack, I need you to come back as soon as you can…preferably right this second! Vignette…Vignette just tried to sexually assault me, and I think she’s knocked out!”

{Wait…She’s what?! Fucking dammit all! Ah knew that bitch was no good!}

“I’m sorry, Love, I should’ve listened to you…” Rarity lamented.

Rarity heard someone say something to Applejack on the other end, to which her girlfriend eloquently replied, { Pardon my French, but it’s an emergency, so kindly mind yer own damn business! Ah’m on my way, Sug!}

“Thank you…I’m going to see about getting her some help before you arrive, the last thing I need is for her to say that you assaulted her. I’ll see you soon…and…Applejack…I love you,” said Rarity as she ended her call.

Rarity got up from the floor and slowly made her way to the office door, limping most of the way. The warehouse they were using had a lot of unused office space, given that it was the grand opening, there were still positions that needed filling and so many of the offices that were set up weren’t locked, some were furnished, others were empty, but the main problem here was that in order to get to anyone, Rarity would have to limp her way through the long corridor to the main warehousing door to get anyone to help her.

The fashionista tried to increase her speed but found that impossible. Pain erupted from her left ankle, a possible sprain at best, she wasn’t unfamiliar with the pain, she had sustained such an injury many a time in her younger years as she learned to walk in high heels. With that fact established, Rarity knew that she wasn’t going to get far if she kept on the high heels. With great reluctance, Rarity took off her shoes and placed them at the side of a wall near a power outlet before proceeding further down the hall. Rarity felt like this was taking forever, but she needed to go and do this, Vignette may’ve tried to molest her, but the last thing she needed was for someone to accuse her of not rendering aid. She wasn’t strong enough to drag Vignette’s body down the hall, and she really didn’t want to see if she was awake, less she resumed her assault, so that left her the only option of limping to find help.

However, she didn’t get as far as she wanted. Rarity felt a painful yank of her hair, pulling her backwards into the waiting arms of Vignette Valencia. “Now that really hurt, Rarity!” Vignette pushed open an office door and threw Rarity in by her hair, letting the alabaster teen fall unceremoniously to the carpeted floor. “You should’ve told me you were into the rough stuff; I could’ve prepared, but now that I know, I can play with you better!”

Rarity quickly took inventory of the room; it didn’t bode well. No windows, no furniture, just electrical outlets with exposed wiring, and only one way out, which apparently had its own locking mechanism as she watched Vignette turn the latch of the deadbolt lock on the door. She had left her purse in the office, her cellphone was the only object she had left to defend herself with, but if she lost that then she’d have no lifeline to anyone who could help her.

“Vignette, please, whatever you’re thinking about doing, don’t! I’ve already called for help, there’s still time for us to come up with a story that’ll keep both our names intact!” Rarity bargained.

“Oh my, did you forget who I am?”

Vignette walked forward for a few steps before sprinting forward, drawing back her right foot and then kicking Rarity hard between her legs. The fashionista wailed in pain as she curled into a ball and cupped her womanhood.

“I’m Vignette – fucking – Valencia. In the court of social media, the first one to say their right is the one who wins. I can paint a story online, and all those little idiots who hang on my every word will take it as holy writ. Innocence is a matter of perspective; do you know how many haters try and take me down every day and fail? You’ll just be another hater trying to slander my name, and in the end, the only thing that’ll happen – to me anyway – is nothing. While you get ragged on everyday online and in public from total strangers from every angle, being called a liar.”

Vignette walked around to Rarity’s left and delivered another harsh kick to her stomach, making her roll on the floor. Rarity coughed violently as she wheezed, trying to catch her breath as pain surged from her midsection, combining with the pain that was still radiating from her crotch.

“Vignette…p-please…stop…!” Rarity pleaded.

“You really shouldn’t have come back here alone.” Vignette squatted next to Rarity as she looked down at her. “Now I have to find one of the male crewmembers and set him up for all of this. Believe me, I have a few in mind, there are at least two or three out there with a criminal record, so it won’t be that hard for me to convince them to come back here for some ‘fun’ and discover an unconscious high school girl.”

“Y-You…wouldn’t…!”

“We just gotta set the stage a bit. Let’s see…I could strangle you until you pass out, but I’ve seen enough cop shows to know that that’ll leave a bruise and they can tell if it’s a guy’s hands or a girl.” Vignette tapped her chin as she gave this some thought. “Oh, I know.”

Vignette forced Rarity onto her back, she grabbed the collar of Rarity’s dress and violently tore it apart, revealing Rarity’s matching black brassier. She set her sights on Rarity’s skirt, finding the right seam before tearing into it, allowing Rarity’s black leggings and panties to be on full display, only a bit of the dress was covering Rarity’s midsection and arms now, but otherwise she was completely exposed. Vignette stood up and made a square with her index fingers and thumbs, like a film director trying to envision the perfect scene.

“Good, good, nice set up, looking very sexy, Rarity. Now we just need a little more pizazz, something a little more over-the-top…” Vignette thought again, and an idea popped into her head. She reached into her skirt pocket and found what she was looking for. A black instrument with four metal pegs at its top, measuring about half a foot in length.

Rarity managed to look up to see what it was that Vignette had gotten, she didn’t recognize it upon first glance, but then Vignette pressed on a red button on the device’s side. That’s when she realized what it was, watching as arcs of blue electricity danced between the metal pegs. “Is…Is t-that a taser?!”

“I did an unboxing video a while back, women’s personal safety products and all that, and as a result, I got to keep this nifty little bugger for myself. Guaranteed to jack up your assailant or your money back, and trust me, there was no false advertisement regarding this.”

Vignette walked over to Rarity and stood over her, she slowly came down and seated herself on the fashion diva’s still aching stomach. She waved the device in the air above Rarity, allowing the purple haired designer to get a whiff of the ionized ozone that was created from the electrical discharge. Vignette reached into her other pocket and took out her cellphone, grimacing a little when she noticed the cracked screen. She then scrolled through some files and turned it around to show off to Rarity.

Rarity’s eyes widened further; it was a picture of a girl in a not too dissimilar state of dress as she was. Only this one’s eyes were rolled into the back of her head, her tongue lolling out of her mouth, and her…nether regions were soaked. “What…What did you do to her?!”

Vignette pressed the button on the taser a few times as if answering her question. “You ever wonder what these things can do when you put them right between your legs? I did, and I tried it on her, and the strained cries she made each time I did it were so erotic that I made a bit of a mess of myself. And do you know what she said when she came to? The crazy nympho asked me to do it again! This was blackmail, I’ve gotten all I wanted out of her, so I let her off the hook. But I promised her if she ever tried to accuse me of anything that I’d post this pic to every site I could.

And I’ll do the same to you, Rarity Belle, unless you do as I say. Unlike her, I think you can go farther, and with me, even higher. But I don’t think it needs to come to that, so I’ll give you one last chance. Dump the hick, and join the winning team, or…you can end up like her. You’re choice.”

Rarity looked at the photo again, she felt sick just looking at it, and even sicker knowing that the one responsible for committing that act was now sitting on her and threatening to do the same. “Do what you must, I won’t betray the girl I love! Nor will I allow you to rule my career! Get on with it!”

Vignette sighed as she flipped her phone around and pressed record. “You know, Rarity, I do really admire your faithfulness, and your tenacity. But I wish you were smarter.” The social media star pressed the button on the taser and slowly moved her right hand behind her, drawing closer to Rarity’s nether region. “This is going to be great; you’ll be the first I use the video record function on my phone for something like this. I want to savor everything.”

Applejack…please…someone…stop this, Rarity pleaded in her mind.

At that moment, the door burst open, right off its hinges. The loud sound drew both Rarity and Vignette’s attention as they looked to see who had done it, and much to Rarity’s elation, it was the very person she had prayed for. Applejack stood in the doorway, her leg was slightly extended, showing that she had kicked the door in. Her body had thin orange light outlining her body, and surprisingly, her hair had turned into a braided ponytail, and her human ears had transformed into pony ears.

Applejack’s eyes widened when she looked upon the scene before her. The girl she was in love with was on the floor, dress torn, and mascara running down her face from tears shed. Vignette sitting on top of Rarity’s stomach, and a taser precariously hovering close to Rarity’s crotch. The apple farmer’s vision tinged red as she rushed towards Vignette and Rarity.

“W-W-Wait, Applejack, let me explain–!”

The cowgirl didn’t bother to listen as she grabbed Vignette by her poncho and tossed her like a ragdoll across the room, sending the social media star crashing against the drywall and creating a body sized hole where she was stuck in. The impact caused severe pain to course through Vignette, but the shock associated with it made it hard for any noise to come from her mouth as she released a silent scream of pain.

Applejack rushed to her lover’s side and knelt beside her as she carefully brought her up. “Rarity are ya alright?! Please tell me Ah wasn’t too late?!”

Rarity smiled broadly, but that still didn’t stop the tears from flowing as she buried her face in Applejack’s chest and released heavy sobs that she was holding back during the ordeal. Applejack wrapped her strong arms around Rarity, keeping her close and safe. “Ah’m here, Rares, Ah’m here.” The sound of Vignette coming loose from the wall caught Applejack’s attention, the older girl weakly got onto her hands and knees as she coughed, trying to catch her breath. “Rares, wait a moment.”

Applejack gently pried herself from her girlfriend’s grip and began walking over to Vignette, her eyes narrowed as the magical aura that surrounded her glowed brighter. “You goddamn psycho bitch! How dare you lay a hand on her!”

“W-Wait, A-Applejack…t-this is just a misunderstanding…let me explain…!” Vignette pleaded.

The cowgirl reached down and grabbed Vignette by the collar of her blouse and hoisted her up like she weighed next to nothing. With her free right hand, Applejack slapped the older girl across the face. When she did, the power and strength behind the blow was so strong that it knocked out a few of Vignette’s teeth, sending them clacking against the opposite wall before falling soundlessly against the carpeted floor. Vignette could taste blood in her mouth, along with the missing gaps where her teeth were.

Vignette watched helplessly as Applejack reached out and grabbed her left forearm and stretched it out as far as it would go. Applejack squeezed down on that same arm, tighter and tighter, all the while Vignette was grunting in pain as she felt the vice grip of Applejack apply more and more pressure. It was as if her arm was being crushed by a fully loaded eighteen-wheeler. Applejack tightened her grip all at once and caused an audible snap to echo in the room. Pain surged through Vignette’s arm as she felt the bones in that arm snap like dead twigs, and the social media star screamed in pain.

“How’d that feel?! ‘Cause Ah ain’t done with ya yet!” Applejack began to pull at Vignette’s arm, causing more screams of pain to come from the assailant of her girlfriend. “Ah’m gonna rip off your damn arms next, lets see ya take selfies and whatever pointless bullshit ya do on yer phone after this!”

Vignette could feel her bone pop out of its socket, along with her muscles tearing with each passing second. She didn’t believe it until just now, but somehow this country hick farmer had some stupidly superhuman strength, and at this rate she was really going to tear her whole arm off. “I’M SORRY – DEAR GOD – I’M SORRY, PLEASE STOP!!! IT HURTS, I’M BEGGING YOU, DON’T RIP OFF MY ARM!!!”

“Beggin’ me now?! Was she beggin’ ya to stop, too?!” Applejack growled.

Rarity, after snapping out of her daze of the whole situation, got up to her feet and rushed over to Applejack, placing her hands on her lover’s right arm that was currently pulling at Vignette’s. She then looked into her lover’s eyes and said, “That’s enough, Applejack.”

“Not yet it ain’t!” the cowgirl protested.

“She’s not worth it, my love! Don’t let her turn you into something you’re not!”

“And what’s that?!”

“A monster!”

A thin aura of purple light outlined Rarity’s body, her long hair transformed into a ponytail and her ears changed into pony ears. “I don’t want you living with the guilt of what you’re about to do. Yes, she hurt me, threatened me, but if you let your anger get the better of you, she’ll win, and I’ll lose someone I deeply love. Right now, it is self-defense, but if you keep going, you’ll become a murderer. So, please, Jackie, just let her go.”

Applejack was surprised to see Rarity had ponyed up like herself, but even more surprised by the mercy she was willing to show a lowlife like Vignette. She looked back at the girl who had harmed her lover, back to Rarity, and then to Vignette. Her mind and heart warring with each other as the temptation of retribution was tantalizing the apple farmer. Then again, the last thing she wanted to be seen as was a murderer, even though the woman in her grasp deserved what was coming to her.

The farmer released Vignette, letting her drop onto the floor. “Ah ain’t a killer, and ain’t about to dirty my hands with yer blood. Y’all aren’t worth that much grief.” Applejack placed her arm over Rarity’s shoulders and hugged her close. “C’mon, let’s go and get ya cleaned up and head on home.”

“Can we go to your home, my love? I’d…I’d feel a lot better if we did,” Rarity asked.

“Sure, Sug, whatever ya want.”

As they began to walk away, Applejack suddenly seized up as her body fell forward, dragging Rarity along with her. Both girls fell onto the floor in a heap, with Applejack feeling paralyzed. Rarity managed to turn her head enough to see that Vignette Valencia had managed to get back to her feet, the taser sparking in her hand, indicating that she had caused Applejack to collapse.

“Stupid, country hick bitch…should’ve made sure I couldn’t use the taser, joke’s on you!” Vignette mocked; her missing teeth made her speech sound slightly slurred.

“Vignette, wait–!”

The social media star dropped down and jabbed the taser against Rarity’s exposed thigh, causing the fashionista to seize up as well, basically paralyzing the both.

“Two for the price of one, fuck it if my arm hurts like a bitch, I’m going to enjoy every moment of this!”

“OH, HELL NO!”

A new voice garnered all three girls’ attention, Vignette was the first to look at the doorway, spotting a girl in a red outfit, her eyes narrowed and glaring at her in particular. Rarity felt a pit form in her stomach, for she recognized that voice, but knew that it couldn’t be who she thought it was. With what little muscle control she could muster, Rarity turned her head in the direction of the door and gasped when she noticed that it was who she thought, Suri Polomare.

B-B-B-BUT SHE’S DEAD! SUNSET KILLED HER WHEN SHE WAS POSSESSED! Rarity screamed in her head.

“Hey, did you do this?!” Suri asked.

“What?” Vignette responded.

“Did you mess up Rarity or not, a simple yes or no will suffice, m’kay?”

“And what if I did?” Vignette pointed her taser at the intruder. “Are you here to help them?”

“Dammit!” Suri fumed as she kicked the doorframe. “I wanted her to be fresh and untouched when I started killing her, I wanted to see the first reaction of pain when I begin to peel her skin off like a banana! But you just ruined it all! Now she’s messed up and in pain already, and I can’t savor those first moments! I mean, I could wait for her to heal up before I have a go at her, but when am I ever going to get an opportunity like this?!”

Vignette was getting confused, it seemed like this girl hated Rarity and wanted to do more than even Vignette had planned. Despite what she was going to do, murder wasn’t on the list, mutilation was definitely not in her realm of thinking either. However, this girl was straight up psychotic. “Maybe we could make a deal, seems you have a tiff with Rarity here, as do I, so why don’t you take her girlfriend?”

Suri looked at Vignette as if she had just grown a second head. “Are you kidding me right now?” The resurrected fashionista of Crystal Prep raised her left hand. A cut formed on the palm of Suri’s hand and from it streamed blood that took on the form of a sword hilt. Suri gripped the hilt and pulled, allowing her blood to form the entirety of the Blood Sword. She gripped the sword’s sheath in her left hand and pushed the on the guard to free the sword a bit. “I came for her, I’ve been in literal Hell, the actual realm of Hell! I could think of nothing else but this moment, and I’ll be damned if you’re going to rob me of it!”

“W-Wait!”

A red blur moved across the room, and in an instant, Vignette’s right arm went flying off and slammed against the adjacent wall. Blood splattering against it, along with a stream of it coming from the severed end on Vignette. The older girl didn’t realize what happened until she looked at the spot where her arm once was, and when she did, Vignette screamed in both pain and horror.

“YOU CUT OFF MY ARM! YOU CUT OFF MY ARM!” Vignette wailed.

“You took part of my fun.” Suri brought the blade to the palm of her left hand and drew it across, making a gash. “Your death will be painful, so make sure to make it good for me.”

Before Vignette could give protest, Suri’s left hand clamped itself around Vignette’s mouth. The social media star’s eyes widened with fear as she felt something stream down her throat, it had a coppery taste to it, it was blood, Suri’s blood was flowing down her throat. Her body started to spasm, Vignette felt as if something was working its way through her body, through her veins. Then something sharp started to cut her from the inside out, she continued to yell as the stabbing pain continued to spread throughout her body, going up all the way to her head and eyes.

Suri smirked as her eyes shined red, and upon doing so, tiny blades made of blood ruptured through her skin, every vein in Vignette’s body exploded with tiny crimson blades as they ripped her apart from the inside out, dozens came out of her eyes, head, and even more came out of the bloody severed part where her arm once was. Vignette went still and silent, Suri removed her hand as the blood she poured into Vignette retracted out of her mouth and back into the wound. The crimson blades shrunk in response to the removal of Suri’s tainted demonic blood, and now all the new cuts began to bleed even more as Vignette’s body hit the floor, with a pool of crimson ichor forming around her.

“Well, that was fun, to a degree. A nice warm up before I get to you Rar–” Suri turned around and found that both Rarity and the cowgirl were gone. “What the fuck?! They’re gone! Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“I was having fun, same as you. Sorry about that.”

“Ugh, they can’t have gotten far, they were tased.” Suri sighed as she calmed herself. “But that’s okay, a chase makes it all the sweeter.”

“Goddammit, Adagio, what the hell did you do?!” Sunset demanded.

The lead Siren merely smirked. “I’ll give you a hint about one of them, her name is Suri Polomare, and she really hates you and Rarity.”

Sunset’s eyes widened with shock upon hearing that name. “You’re lying, she’s dead! She was killed months ago!”

“Heh, this little Box gave me the power to bring her back. How I did so I don’t know, but it happened, and she is here. And she’s found a powerful weapon to help her in her quest for revenge, same as me. And you’re here without your little gaggle of friends, even if you called them, I doubt they’d make it here in time to shoot any rainbow lasers,” Adagio mocked.

There’s no way…she has to be bluffing! I…I killed Suri, she’s dead! How can she be brought back?!

}}} Resurrection is not unusual, but in this case, it is quite the unsettling turn of events. Unfortunately, I don’t believe she is lying. Aside from her, I’m sensing two other sources of deep malice radiating out in the distance. Both of which is are hatred aimed towards you, but the second also holds hatred for another. {{{

Suri hates me and Rarity for winning the competition…if she found out that Rarity’s here…!

“You don’t have many options, Sunset Shimmer. Either you give up and do as I say, or the deaths of hundreds and your little doppelganger will be on your head. What’s it going to be?” Adagio asked.

Sunset glanced about, most of the people had left the area, having ran as far as they could from the commotion going on. Knowing this, Sunset’s bracelet glowed, and in an instant, the metal expanded and shredded through her clothes, donning her in the armor of Witchblade. “If I had it my way, Adagio, I’d cut your arms off, or better, I’d cut your tongue out along with you jaw so you can’t sing! But I have someone else to save right now, my little sister can take care of herself, but Suri is my priority. And once I’m done with her, I’m coming back for you! So, think about what your next course of action is going to be, because your life depends on it!”

Metallic bat wings flared from Sunset’s back as she rapidly ascended into the air and took off in the direction of most concern to her. Meanwhile, Adagio just stood there, eyes wide as the identity of Witchblade had been revealed to her.

“Sunset Shimmer is Witchblade?! She’s become that much more powerful since the Battle of the Bands?!” Adagio exclaimed. Panic began to set in as she now understood how much harder, if nigh impossible, it would be to defeat Sunset Shimmer and make her do anything. “How…How can I defeat her…? As powerful as the Box is, she’s slain demonic spirits, and defeated a man who had taken on the powers of light and darkness itself! How?!”

Pandora’s Box glowed and Adagio suddenly heard whispers around her ears, as if telling her what she needed to do.

[

Get the stones…

The stones are the Keys…

Fire and ice to release…

Unlock the Box…

The Box is power…

Nothing can withstand it…

Open the Box…

Sing the Song…

Bring forth chaos…

Adagio was snapped out of the trance she was in when she heard two primal roars echo into the air, shaking the entirety of the park, followed by raging flames spewing into the air along with a blizzard. It was then that Adagio understood what the Box wanted, the Sunset Shimmer twin and Indigo Zap, their Ember and Glacier Stones, they were needed, they were the keys to opening Pandora’s Box to its fullest, the key to unleashing its full power.

“If I do that, then not even Sunset and her Witchblade can stand against me! Not even an army of alicorns! Yes, that’s the way!” Adagio broke into a sprint, running as fast as she could towards the battle going on between the ice and fire wielders. “I will get what’s mine! I will never be powerless and helpless ever again!”

Sing Part 6

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Applejack and Rarity limped their way through the hallway and into the open area where the floats and staff were working. Upon making themselves known, several staff members rushed to them, seeing the state of dress Rarity was in, as well as the physical states both were in.

“Ms. Belle are you alright?!” one asked.

“Someone get the medic and call nine-one-one!” another ordered.

“Are those animal ears? Is this some sort of furry cosplay thing?”

“Don’t worry ‘bout us! Y’all have to get outta here now! There’s a killer comin’ after us!” Applejack warned.

“She killed Vignette and she’s going to do the same to all of you! Hurry and run!” Rarity urged.

The constant explosions and roars from outside were already unsettling them, the staff was told to stay in the warehouse because it was far enough away from the commotion to be deemed safe, however, after hearing that, they were starting to rethink that. Just then, the sound of scrapping metal echoed from the hall behind the two girls, the staff looked in that direction out of confusion, but Rarity and Applejack started to panic.

“RUN!!!” the two teenagers shouted together.

A red light shined from down the dimly lit hallway, Applejack saw this and hit the deck as fast as she could. Some of the staff followed her example, whether they knew that the light was bad on pure instinct, or trusted the opinion of the two teens, it was hard to say. But a good few did manage to duck down and lay flat on the floor, just as a beam of scarlet light blasted through the hall before transforming into a cutting crescent blade that was five meters long. The staff that did remain standing were struck with the scarlet crescent, passing through them cleanly in one fell swoop before disappearing a moment later.

The staff that did duck, along with Applejack and Rarity, raised their heads and watched in horror as the few that did remain standing, suddenly found their midsections starting to redden. Not long after that, a steady stream of blood came pouring from the thin red stain, and when they tried to take a step forward, all the standing staff’s upper halves separated from their lower halves. A symphony of wet slaps resounded one after the other, as if someone was throwing a wet washcloth against a concrete floor. Intestines and blood came pouring from the two severed parts of the injured, staff, screams echoed in the warehouse, causing the ones who did survive to spring to their feet and run as fast as they could.

A couple of the staff stopped to go back for Rarity and Applejack, but the two teens knew that if they did, they’d meet the same fate as the poor individuals who now lied dead on the floor. The teen lovers urged the workers who were making their way back to them to just run, and with heavy reluctance, the workers ran.

“Sug, just hang on, we just need to get outside and get to Sunset as fast as we can!” Applejack assured.

“What?! Sunset is here?!” Rarity asked, her tone sounding hopeful.

“Yeah, big coincidence, huh? Anyway, we just need to get somewhere safe and give her a call! C’mon, Sug, let’s hurry!”

Applejack wasted little time, calling on her superhuman strength – which she didn’t know she had – to left Rarity into her arms, carrying her like a bride across the threshold. If it wasn’t for the life-or-death situation they were in, Rarity would’ve enjoyed this moment a lot more. It seemed whatever magical power was coursing through Applejack, was having some kind of healing effect on her as the taser’s paralysis was wearing off her a lot faster than it was on Rarity. The cowgirl gritted her teeth and pushed through the partial paralysis as she broke into a sprint, running as fast as she could towards the huge hangar doors.

However, the hallway entrance that they had come through earlier was blasted by a strong beam of scarlet light, blowing out the surrounding wall and kicking up a dust plume. From that plume emerged Suri Polomare, donned in her full armor and ready to kill. “Oh, I can’t tell you how much I’ve been imagining this moment Rarity! I was sent to Hell itself and cast into a river of burning fire along with millions of other damned souls! Clawing, biting, punching, and kicking each one that was trying to get out of the river! I was in constant pain, feeling my body get broken again and again, only to get repaired just as quickly to go through it all over again!”

A swipe from her sword sent another crescent flying into the rafters, the crescent, unlike the last one, did not cut, but instead exploded on impact, sending debris crashing down to the floor below. Applejack ducked behind a float just as a large girder came down and crashed onto another float a few feet away.

“But the thought of what I’d do to you and that wannabe bad girl, Sunset Shimmer, is what kept me going! I lost track of time down there, so imagine my surprise that it’s been months since I’ve died! I’ve spent MONTHS in Hell thinking of nothing else but what I’d do to the two of you when I managed to get out of there!”

A third swipe of Suri’s sword launched another crescent, this time at a float. The float exploded, the flowers that decorated it turning into embers, and the embers that flew out caught onto some of the other nearby floats, setting them ablaze.

“But, hey, I don’t need to think about it anymore! I’m going to fulfill those fantasies right here and now! I’d say it was the universe that brought us together, but I’m pretty sure it wanted me to stay down there, well fuck that noise!” Suri proclaimed. “Hey, cowgirl, I get that you’re a friend of hers, that other bitch said you’re her girlfriend. I don’t know and I don’t really give a damn! I’m feeling generous right now, so here’s my deal! Leave that porcelain skinned bitch on the floor somewhere and you can leave here alive!”

From behind one of the floats, Rarity looked up at Applejack, watching her lover look around for a better way out, or for enough cover to make sure they could get out safely. Suri was after her, only her, there was no reason for Applejack to be brought into this mess, and right now with her injury, she was a liability.

“Go,” Rarity urged.

“What?!”

“Leave me here and go find Sunset,” Rarity clarified.

Applejack shook her head in disbelief. “The hell Ah’m gonna do that! Ah ain’t leavin’ ya here to be killed by that psycho!”

“Applejack, my love, please! You have more to lose than I do! Your big brother, grandmother, and little sister, you’re all each other have! You’ve lost your parents, don’t make your family have to suffer your loss,” said Rarity.

The apple farmer narrowed her gaze as she said, “And what about your family, huh? Yer ma and pa? Sweetie Belle? Ah’m not the only one who’s gonna be missed y’know! So, stuff it! We ain’t dyin’ here, we’re gettin’ outta here, findin’ Sunset so she can send this demon bitch back to hell, and then Ah’m takin’ ya back to my place, and rut ya like Ah’m tryin’ to put a baby in you, understand?!”

Rarity blushed hard as she averted her gaze from her lover. “Did you really have to tack on that last part, it was all rather lovely until that crude bit at the end.”

Applejack smirked. “Heh, don’t act like ya wouldn’t mind it.”

“……Perhaps I would.”

“Heh, heh, wow, aren’t you two pretty kinky lovers. If you want to get it on before you die, I’m not too evil that I wouldn’t grant you time for it.” Rarity and Applejack looked above and spotted Suri, perched at the top of the float and looking down on them like a bird of prey. “Offer still stands, cowgirl, what’s your answer?”

Applejack stood up slowly and backed away from the float, keeping Suri in her sights the entire time. “My answer is this, you can take yer offer, and shove it, and yer sword, up yer ass!”

“Hmm, something tells me you’re the kind of gal who likes it up that hole. Let’s find out!”

With the same inhuman speed, Suri dashed straight down, holding the Blood Sword overhead in preparation to cut off Applejack’s head. Rarity could sense the danger coming, and in her heart and mind she wished she had the ability to protect her lover, instead of being the one who needed protecting. She felt helpless, but she wanted to do something, anything to stop Applejack from getting killed. As if answering her prayers, the magical aura around Rarity glowed brighter, and a moment later, a diamond shield appeared over Applejack’s head.

Suri brought down her sword at the same time as the shield’s creation, the demonic metal struck against the diamond shard and created a ringing sound that echoed loudly in the warehouse. “What the hell is this?!”

“Uh, Sug, did you do that?!” Applejack asked.

“I…I don’t know…! But if I did, I don’t care how!” Rarity answered.

With that established, Applejack started to make a B-line straight for the hangar doors as fast as she could. Suri growled in annoyance and dashed again for the couple, she readied to strike again, but as she did another diamond shield appeared to protect Applejack’s back. The demonic warrior broke off and came at Applejack from a different angle, however, another diamond shield appeared on Applejack’s left just before Suri could make contact. Another annoyed growl escaped her as she tried again from the right, but the result was the same.

“Seriously?! What the hell?!”

Applejack and Rarity were close to the entrance, but Suri noticed where they were going and jumped high into the air, spun once, and landed right in their path.

“I didn’t say you could leave! Let’s see how your crystals deal with this!” Suri sheathed her sword and took a stance. Scarlet light flared around the resurrected teen, with much of that aura flowing into the sheath and infusing into the sword within. “Hiiro no Senkō (Scarlet Flash)!”

Multiple diamond shards formed out in front and around them, as if Rarity’s magic was sensing the danger and was reinforcing their defenses the best it could. In a flash of red light, Suri was gone, several of the forward-facing diamond shields shattered one after the other. Applejack thought to run, but since she could not see where Suri went, such action would be foolhardy. Plus, the diamond shields were the only thing protecting them from getting killed, for how long was unknown, but every second that they could buy was another second they had at trying to get out of this situation.

Suri reappeared back where she started, her face contorting in anger. “Dammit, what the hell are those things made of?! Okay then, I’ll just attack you from all angles! Let’s see if your little shields can keep up! CHI NO KYŌRAN (Blood Frenzy)!” The psycho teen disappeared again, and not long after, the diamond shields were assaulted from every direction.

Some of the shields cracked or shattered, forcing Rarity to concentrate to make more appear. Scarlet streaks of light came at them from every direction, leaving no room to move or breathe, to move would mean death, but Rarity wasn’t sure how much longer these shields would last. After her encounter with Vignette, she was feeling weak thanks to the taser, but summoning these shields was starting to drain her.

“I…I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up, Jackie…!” Rarity admitted.

“Just hang on, Sug!” Applejack urged.

Rarity tried but her aura was fading, her pony ears started to glow and shrink little by little. Applejack knew that it would only be a matter of time before Suri broke through and they’d both be killed, or in Rarity’s case, tortured and then killed.

“Rares…” The fashionista looked up at Applejack, and the apple farmer smiled down at her.

“W-What is it?” Rarity asked.

“I love you,” Applejack leaned down and kissed Rarity on her lips as passionately as she could. “So ya better live, no matter what.”

Rarity’s eyes widened and her heart raced, the gravity of those words her lover just spoke falling upon her like a ton of bricks. “APPLEJACK!”

The cowgirl waited and saw a shield shatter, leaving a gap just big enough for her to use. Applejack drew upon her strength and tossed her lover right through hole as if chucking a football. Rarity flew far towards the entrance, and on instinct created a diamond cocoon that surrounded her body. She rolled along the ground until the cocoon struck against the hangar doors. The rest of the shields shattered now that Rarity was a farther distance from Applejack, leaving her completely exposed. Rarity’s cocoon shattered next and looked on as she now saw Applejack unprotected and standing on her own.

Suri, still in the middle of her attack, unable to stop her momentum, followed through with her next attack. Time slowed down for Rarity and Applejack, the fashionista tried to get up, but her ankle radiated with pain and forced her to drop back to the floor. Applejack released a sigh through her nostrils and smiled at Rarity, closing her eyes as memories flooded her mind. The worst day of her life when her parents died had haunted her for a long time, but the love of her grandmother, big brother and little sister kept her going. The happiness she felt when she made friends with Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie.

The time they all ended their friendship due to Sunset’s dirty tricks, meeting Princess Twilight and discovering the Magic of Friendship. She remembered the Battle of the Bands and how proud she was when Sunset stood up and took her place among their circle of friends. Along with that, she also remembered her guilt in accusing her newest friend of being a cyber bully, and she regretted, slightly, her little get-togethers with her brother. However, from all that, she was able to start a relationship with one of the most beautiful girls in Canterlot High, her friend and now lover.

“APPLEJACK!!!!!!” Rarity screamed louder.

Ah love you, Rarity…never ferget that, Sugar Cube.

Suri’s next strike went through Applejack’s neck. It all happened in an instant, and a moment later, Applejack’s head hit the floor, her body followed not soon after. Rarity felt the world around her shatter, tears streaming down her face as her mind grappled with the reality of what she was seeing before her, her mouth wanted to scream, but it was if all feeling had left her. Suri walked over to the body of Rarity’s dead lover, and then looked at the severed head of the cowgirl, her hat lying next to it, what she found strange was that even though she knew she was going to die, she never lost her smile.

“Was she stupid or something? She smiled even though she knew I was about to cut her down.” Suri shrugged. “Oh well, can’t expect much smarts from a hayseed like that, great body, but not much upstairs.” The demonic samurai knelt next to Applejack’s body and a sinister smile crossed her lips. “Shame for it to go to waste. Rarity, you want to jump her while the body’s still warm, or I could play around with it?”

Rarity’s eyes narrowed to dangerous slits as her magical aura flared up, her pony ears returned, but along with them, a white horn made of light appeared above her forehead. “GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BITCH!!!”

In response to her fury, a diamond spear formed in front of Rarity in less than a second. That same spear launched itself like a bullet, cutting the air as it found its home right in Suri’s chest. The speed and force of the spear carried the murderer all the way back until she found herself pinned against a parade float.

Rarity slowly dragged herself towards Applejack’s remains, with some effort, she made it to Applejack’s severed head, the transformation and her magic having worn itself out. With shaking hands, she took her trademark Stetson hat and placed it gently on the young cowgirl’s head. “T-There you go, my love…y-you can’t go anywhere without your father’s hat…it just makes you, you…Please say something…” Rarity held Applejack’s head closer. “Call me prissy and stuffy, call me a pain in the ass…say that you love me again…Applejack…”

Suri groaned in pain as she moved forward and unstuck herself from the float and spear. Her wound closed the moment she got loose, but for some reason, it hurt more than normal. “Dammit, you bitch! Oh, I’m so going to enjoy skinning you alive, bit by bit, slowly, methodically! But don’t worry, Rarity, I’ll be sure to make matching outfits out of you and your dead bimbo of a country whore! I won’t let any part of either of you go to waste!” Suri began walking towards Rarity, dragging Blood Sword across the concrete floor as sparks flew from the scrapping metal.

She didn’t need to do any fancy attacks or swift techniques; her victim was helpless and too busy wallowing in her grief to even try and run. It was almost dissatisfying, in killing the hick she may’ve just broken Rarity and left he numb. “Which means even if I skin you, you’ve checked out already and won’t even scream.” Suri sighed through her mouth. “Oh well, the visceral feeling of skinning you will be just as satisfying.”

Suddenly, the roof of the warehouse exploded as something smashed through it at full speed. Before either Rarity or Suri could register what happened, something hard struck Suri in the face, sending her once again flying into the air and crashing into another parade float. Rarity dared to look up and beheld the visage of Sunset Shimmer in her gleaming Witchblade armor.

The keeper of the balance turned around slowly, her dark turquoise eyes widening with horror as she saw the headless body and the head in the arms of her friend. “No…Rarity…tell me that’s not…” Rarity could only cry silently as she held her lover’s head tighter against her chest. Sunset turned her attention towards Suri, who had managed to pry herself from the float, stared with a narrowed gaze at Sunset. The warrior woman’s aura flared as the Witchblade armor grew out to cover the revealing gaps. “SUURRRRIIIIIIIII!!!!!”

“Witchblade…” Suri drew Blood Sword and entered her attack stance. “I’ve been waiting for you! Blood Sword’s been itching to–!”

Sunset didn’t wait for Suri to finish her sentence before dashing across the way and slamming her fist into the killer. Suri was once again sent flying, but this time she managed to correct herself in midair, flipping around until she landed against the opposite wall on her feet. Using it as a springboard, Suri launched herself back towards Sunset.

The wielder of the Witchblade made crude, jagged blades form from her right and left gauntlets and took off to meet Suri. Both women met in the center and clashed their blades, causing a small shockwave to bellow within the warehouse. Sparks flew from the point of contact of their blades, Sunset’s face was contorted in murderous rage while Suri’s was a murderous glee.

“YOU BITCH, YOU KILLED MY FRIEND!!! YOU KILLED APPLEJACK!!! I SWEAR TO FAUST I’LL TEAR YOU APART!!!” Sunset declared.

“Wait, your friend?! No…you’re Sunset Shimmer?!” Suri inquired.

“YES, YOU PSYCHO!!! THIS TIME, I’LL DESTROY YOU COMPLETELY, YOU WON’T BE COMING BACK!!!”

“This is fantastic! Not only do I get to kill Rarity Belle, but also Sunset Shimmer and Witchblade, who are one and the same! This is my lucky fucking day!!!”

Metallic, spiked tendrils sprang from Sunset’s arm, coiling up like cobras as they got into position to strike. “NO, IT’S YOUR WORSE DAY TO BE ALIVE, BY THE TIME I’M DONE WITH YOU, HELL WILL BE A BLESSING!”

The tendrils struck, but Suri quickly disengaged, jumping back as the tendrils lashed and struck, tearing up the parade floats and concrete floor. Sunset didn’t stop there, she chased after Suri, continuing her assault with the tendrils, when she got closer, she willed her hair strands to sharpen and strike alongside the tendrils. Suri dodged them quite gracefully, for the ones that she didn’t manage to dodge, she cut them down easily.

Sunset was only further enraged as she released a torrent of fire straight for Suri, but the scarlet samurai rapidly spun in place.

“Hiiro no Tatsumaki (Scarlet Tornado)!”

The flames were easily wrapped up in the whirlwind it generated, and then were just as quickly snuffed out due to the quick slashes of Suri’s Blood Sword. From the tornado, Suri dashed straight for Sunset, the heroine quickly sidestepped to the right, but was not fast enough as the Blood Sword cut through her arm. Sunset grunted in pain as she skidded to a halt, Suri stopped a few feet away and looked over her shoulder to see her handiwork. However, the metal strands of the Witchblade were still connected to the severed arm, and like a fishing reel, the metal strands brought the severed limb back to her. Thanks to the regenerative power of the Witchblade, Sunset’s arm was reattached.

}}} Sunset, you must calm down, you’re getting sloppy with your attacks. {{{ The Witchblade advised.

SHUT IT, THIS BITCH IS GOING TO DIE!!!

Sunset dashed towards her target again, this time creating several shuriken which she launched at Suri, along with throwing several lances, and shooting arrows. Suri smirked and slashed the air in front of her, firing off multiple scarlet crescents to meet Sunset’s weapons. Each one exploded in midair, creating a plume of smoke that obscured Sunset’s view.

“Where are you looking?!”

Sunset turned her head and saw, too late, that Suri had made it behind her.

“Himei! Chimamire no Tsuki (Scream! Bloody Moon)!” A beam of scarlet light raged forth and slammed Sunset into the ground, exploding on impact.

A crater formed from the explosion, and most of the Witchblade armor was singed, exposing Sunset’s damaged flesh. Once again, her healing factor kicked in, and the armor repaired itself. Sunset groaned as she tried to pick herself up, she had to avenge Applejack. The girl who opened to her about her secret, whose family she helped, whose grandmother made Sunset a home cooked meal and invited her to their table.

I’ll kill her…I’ll kill her…!

“You’re letting your emotions get the better of you.”

“Don’t let your rage swallow you.”

“Arrra-ragh!”

“Be calm Sunset.”

Sunset blinked, she was hearing voices now, and not the Witchblade’s voice, nor the voice of her darker side. Who…Who’s talking to me?

~*~*~*~

Sunset suddenly found herself in the mindscape she once inhabited when she spoke to her dark side. She didn’t understand why she was brought back to this place, especially now in the middle of a battle.

“Witchblade, why did you bring me here?! We’re in the middle of a fight!”

“He brought you here because you’re too steeped in your rage to fight clearly.”

Sunset heard that new voice again, but this time it was coming from behind her. That’s when she noticed something new. Seven pillars of light rose from the ground and into the air, green, yellow, brown, white, violet, blue, and orange. From the yellow pillar a woman emerged, she was Neighponese, with long black hair, a few small scars, and a kimono that was white with sun flames around the edges.

“Who…are you?” Sunset asked.

“My name is Tomoe Gozen, I was once a wielder of the Witchblade that you now possess,” she answered.

“Why are you here?! If you haven’t noticed, I’m a little busy right now!” Sunset argued.

Tomoe walked until she was standing in front of Sunset, the warrior woman swiftly slapped Sunset across the face, surprising the teen. “Avenging a friend is noble, but what good do you do yourself if you continue to fight in such a self-destructive and wild manner. There’s a time for such wild fighting, but now is not the time. Have you not noticed the difference between this Blood Sword and the old one?”

Sunset rubbed the spot where she was slapped as she met Tomoe’s eyes. “No…I haven’t.”

“The girl bonded to the weapon fights uncontrolled, her and Blood Sword are fighting as one unit. As opposed to before when its previous wielder was being controlled. Right now, you are at a disadvantage because of this fact. But luckily for you, I fought against the Blood Sword a long time ago, and I know how to fight it.”

“NO! Let me keep fighting! I’ll calm down, but I want to take her down myself!” Tears began to stream down Sunset’s face as she tried to hold back the sobs. “She…She killed my friend…she didn’t do anything wrong! She didn’t deserve to die like that! Did she make some mistakes, sure, yeah, but she had a good heart! Why…Why did she have to die?!”

Tomoe’s expression turned somber, she reached out with her arms and brought Sunset into a hug. Sunset took this moment to sob as hard she could, to shed the tears she wanted to for her fallen friend. All the while, Tomoe stroked Sunset’s back. “I know the pain of losing a comrade, I fought in many battles, alongside men who I considered my family, who were under my direct command. And each time one of them did not come back from the battlefield, my heart ached. But I kept the pain locked away, because I knew that when next I entered the battlefield, I could unleash that pain onto the enemy.”

Sunset understood Tomoe’s wisdom, she wiped her eyes and took in calming breathes to steady herself. “Okay…how do I fight Blood Sword?”

Tomoe smiled. “You’re not going to fight alone. The time has come for you to draw upon the next level of power from the Witchblade. The Legacy.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What do you mean by ‘The Legacy’?”

Tomoe turned around and pointed to the pillars. “Throughout the centuries, Witchblade has had many wielders. Each one has left their mark on history in one way or another. But these seven, including myself, have come to lend their power, their skill, and their knowledge to you. You will not fight alone, so, will you accept my help, Sunset Shimmer?”

Sunset took a couple of steps back; she wiped her eyes again and then bowed to the seasoned samurai. “I would be honored to fight alongside you, Gozen-sensei.”

Tomoe chuckled and then patted Sunset on the shoulder. “None of that now, we are sisters in arms, bonded on a level that no others can understand. Tomoe is fine. Now, are you ready to get started?”

“Let’s go!”

~*~*~*~

“Wow, this is becoming a total let down,” Suri commented. “Guess I’ll get to Rarity then if she’s not coming out of the hole.”

When Suri turned around, a pillar of yellow light blasted through the ceiling, punching a hole straight through and letting the warm sunlight shine down into the warehouse. Suri quickly turned around and readied to attack, but she was surprised at what she saw.

Sunset came walking out of the crater, her steps were calm and steady as she now stood at the edge of the crater. Her armor had changed, the color changing from black to yellow. Her chest was covered in an armored bodice which left the upper half of her breasts exposed, a metallic skirt flowed along her sides and rear, stopping just around her ankles. The armor around her legs had become sleek, with flame molding on the sides. Her gauntlets matched the same design, but her shoulder pauldrons were wide and square shaped, on each pauldron was kanji written as “天照大御神” which translated to “Amaterasu”. Sunset’s head was wrapped in yellow armor, with an ornate crest in the middle of the forehead, her hair was covered except for a long ponytail that flowed down her back.

Her face was left clear for now, allowing her calm expression to be seen. Sunset’s eyes were a little different though, the whites were still a deep black, and her turquoise irises were the same, but her pupils were no longer black, but instead shined with the same yellow color as her armor. This was the power of The Legacy, the power to call upon and merge with the souls of past Witchblade wielders, this was not a takeover, but a merger, a way for the newly dubbed Witchblade wielder to fight side-by-side with her predecessors.

Suddenly, Blood Sword’s aura flared up and Suri could sense its anger. “Hey, hey, what’s up with you?! You’re getting all pissed off!”

“I remember that armor, it’s like a bad memory I can’t shake! A memory of a women clad in gleaming armor such as that, and of fighting such a woman with an unsatisfactory ending, mainly for me!”

“Blood Sword should remember this armor; it belonged a powerful warrior who once faced it and won. Now she has lent me her power and skill to repeat that victory in the present day,” said Sunset, her voice echoing alongside the voice of Tomoe.

The ruby gemstone glowed, and a katana formed in her right hand, Sunset took a practiced sword stance, she took in deep breath and exhaled fire.

“Sun Goddess Style, First Step…” Suri was about to dash straight for Sunset, but in the blink of an eye, Sunset disappeared in a plume of fire and reappeared behind Suri, a trail of fire showing where she had been to where she was now. “Tenka Shite Furasshu (Ignite and Flash)!”

Several slashes appeared all over Suri’s body, blood spewing from each one as pain coursed through her. She would’ve dropped to her knees if she hadn’t used the Blood Sword as a cane to keep herself from falling. Suri grunted in pain as she felt the wounds close, but it was painful, something about the flames was different from before. “What…What was that?!”

“This is the sword style passed down from the ancient sun goddess, Amaterasu. It calls upon the scared light of the Witchblade and laces it into the flames. With this technique, your wounds will be harder to heal. You scared yet, demon?” Sunset/Tomoe asked.

“It doesn’t matter what you change your armor to, I’ll still kill you!” Suri cried out. “Chi no Kyōran (Blood Frenzy)!”

“Sun Goddess Style, Second Step: Bakuhatsu Suru Hi no Hikari (Bursting Fire Light)!”

Suri accelerated at blinding speeds as red streaks began to appear around Sunset. But the empowered balance keeper did not flinch, Sunset’s body erupted into flames as several fireballs blasted from her body and in multiple directions, those same fireballs hovered in the air and remained in place, like sparkling stars in the night sky. Suri didn’t know what was going on, but she wasn’t going to be deterred as she zeroed in on Sunset and poised herself to strike. However, in yet another remarkable display of speed, Sunset vanished from the spot she was standing just as Suri came down with her attack.

Just then, the fireball closest to Suri exploded, revealing Sunset with her sword blade wrapped in sparkling yellow flames. Suri’s eyes widened with fear as she saw the attack coming, but with a well-placed step, managed to accelerate away from the strike at the last second. The demonic samurai readied herself to counterattack, but just then, another fireball exploded and Sunset reappeared, Suri raised Blood Sword just in time to block the attack. Sunset’s body disappeared in a haze of embers, only to burst forth from another point of light, this time hitting Suri in the back with a long slash. Flesh hissed and burned as the murderer cried in pain from the sensation, but despite the pain, Suri hurried out of her range.

But it was becoming clear, that she was not out of Sunset’s range. Sunset burst from another fireball and attacked, clashing blades with Suri. The resurrected teen accelerated in midair as she tried to bounce around and evade, but Sunset met her at every turn. It was then that she understood how Sunset was doing this, it was the fireballs, she launched the fireballs to create an area where she can appear again and again, basically creating a cage where she couldn’t escape.

Clever bitch, if that’s the case, then let’s see how you deal with this! Suri landed on the ground, and when she did, a whirlwind started to kick up around her. “Hiiro no Tatsumaki (Scarlet Tornado)!”

A scarlet tornado formed around Suri, the wall of wind laced with glowing crimson crescents that sliced at anything that tried to get close to her and rendering the fireballs useless to Sunset. The Witchblade wielder dismissed the fireballs and appeared a few feet from the tornado, ready to counter. Sunset drew in another deep breath and exhaled flames once again, upon doing so, she widened her stance and placed the sword into a reverse grip style.

“Sun Goddess Style, Third Step: Fuku to Kiru, Taiyō no Kaze (Blow and Slash, Winds of the Sun)!”

Sunset slashed the air again and again, her movements seeming more like a dance than a slashing technique, however, with each slash, she generated winds that were tinted with yellow light that created heat. Sunset twisted her body, winding herself up, and then spun herself rapidly in the opposite direction of the tornado that Suri generated. Suri, at the eye of the tornado, watched in shock as the speed of her tornado was rapidly decreasing and the yellow light of Sunset’s fire was starting to penetrate the wall of wind. In a panic, Suri drew a circle of scarlet light in the air and thrust her sword forward.

“HIMEI! CHIMAMIRE NO TSUKI (Scream! Bloody Moon)!”

Sunset heard the declaration and flipped her sword around, taking a thrusting stance. “Sun Goddess Style, Fourth Step: Moeru Hikari no Yari (Spear of Burning Light)!” The tip of Sunset’s sword glowed brighter and brighter as light and fire gathered around the blade.

A beam of scarlet light streamed forth from the tornado, dispersing the scarlet tornado entirely as the beam raged towards Sunset. At that same time, Sunset thrust forth with her sword, a solid beam of yellow light, surrounded by spiraling flames extended forth, canceling out her own previous attack as it met Suri’s at the center. The two attacks crashed into each other, as the lance of light thrust against the wall of red energy that was impeding its way towards its target. Sunset drew back her sword back to her thrusting stance, the beam of hard light remaining. “Sun Goddess Style, Fifth Step: Kuiaratame no Harō (Halo of Repentance)!”

Sunset thrust forward again, but this time slashed her blade in a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turn, bringing the blade back to the original light lance to create a full ring of light. Sunset jumped out of the ring, and the moment she did, the ring launched itself forward, cutting the beam from Suri’s Blood Sword like a buzzsaw. The rapidly spinning disk of light sliced through the beam of light like a hot knife through butter, Suri hurriedly stopped her attack and jumped up into the air to avoid the circlet of cutting light, missing it just in nick of time as it passed under her, but that left her open for Sunset who was waiting right below Suri.

“Sun Goddess Style, Sixth Step: Taiyō e no Inori (Prayers to the Sun)!”

The wielder of the Witchblade made a prayer gesture with her left hand, while slashing upwards with her sword. As soon as she did this, dozens of yellow lights began to shoot up from below Sunset as a platform of light formed at her feet. Suri brought up her arms to defend herself, but the points of light rapidly flew up at her, piercing her like burning needles. The platform expanded more and more, until Suri was completely contained in its boundaries, and with the boundary established, Sunset turned the sword around and thrust it into the platform, causing a pillar of burning light to ascend. Both Sunset and Suri were caught in the light, neither one able to be seen for a few moments. But then Suri tumbled out of the pillar, and landed in a heap against another float, putting a body sized dent in it.

Sunset exited the pillar of light, calmly walking out of it as she headed towards Rarity, who was still cradling Applejack’s severed head. She knelt beside Rarity, who looked up at Sunset with pleading eyes.

“Please…you can heal people, Sunset…heal her…bring her back!” Rarity begged.

“The Witchblade can only bring back its wielder from the dead…its healing can’t save those who have already passed…I’m sorry. But at the very least, her family won’t have to see Applejack in this state. Give me her head, Rarity,” said Sunset/Tomoe.

Rarity guarded the head of her lover, afraid to lose what little more she had of her. But Sunset’s kind eyes and reassurance somehow struck a chord with her, prompting Rarity to give Applejack’s head to her. Sunset carefully took the severed head of her friend and brought it back to the body which it once rested upon.

“You deserve to at least be whole, Applejack.” Sunset placed the severed head against the neck of Applejack’s body. With her right hand placed upon the wound, the Witchblade’s ruby gemstone glowed brightly and in a few moments the wound was closed, and Applejack’s body was made whole once again. “This much I can do for you…I’m sorry I didn’t get here in time…”

A scream of rage bellowed forth from Suri as she rose to her feet. Her skin was badly burnt, but was healing, slowly though. “Okay, I’m done, I’m going all out, I’m going to kill everyone and everything in this park! Screw Adagio and her plan, she’ll die too!” Suri jumped straight up, exiting the warehouse through the hole in the roof.

Sunset narrowed her gaze as she willed the Witchblade armor to wrap tendrils around Applejack’s body and lifted it up with ease. She then rushed to Rarity and scooped her up, leaving the warehouse. When the three of them were outside and away from the warehouse Sunset set Rarity down, her tendrils brought Applejack’s body forward and gently placed her on the ground before Rarity.

“Keep her safe, I’ll be back to get you two once I’m done.”

“Sunset…”

“Yes?”

Rarity looked up at her friend and said, “Make her pay!”

Sunset’s eyes narrowed as she gave her a nod, she then leaped high into the air and landed on the roof of the warehouse where Suri was currently gathering energy. The air grew heavy around Suri as a thin red light outlined her form, her eyes were now completely glowing red, and the sword had a thick aura surrounding the blade.

“Now I’ll show you the depths of my hatred for you and everyone! Higurashinonakukoroni! Hateshinai Kutsū o Hajimeyou (When the cicadas cry! Begin the endless torment)!”

Insect wings made of blood burst forth from Suri’s back, and with them she ascended into the air, high above the park. The armor around her jettisoned itself as several cuts formed on her body, allowing Suri’s blood to flow out and into the Blood Sword itself. With each violent sword stroke, she flung droplets of her blood, which then transformed into a swarm of blood construct cicadas, each one releasing their high-pitched chittering sound the resounded throughout the entire area. Within seconds the sky was becoming darkened with the red swarm, to the point that the commotion at the other end of the park seemed to stop.

“We need to end this now, the moment that swarm hits the ground, it will spread out for miles and kill everything, the more blood it extracts from its victims the more it will multiply, creating more of those cicadas in a near endless cycle,” Tomoe warned.

“So how do we stop it?” Sunset asked.

“With the seventh and final step of the Sun Goddess Style, string together all six steps.”

“And then?”

“You’ll know when it happens, trust in me.”

Sunset did trust Tomoe, so she readied herself, entering the first stance of the technique. She drew in a long, deep breath, exhaling for the same amount of time, releasing flames as she did so. Sunset did this again, and again, each time the flames she exhaled grew stronger and bigger. With each breath she took, she could feel the fire and power within her grow stronger.

“NOW EVERYONE WILL DIE!!!” Suri declared as she commanded the swarm to attack.

“Sun Goddess Style!” Sunset opened her eyes and took off into the air as metallic feathered wings sprang from her back. “First Step: Tenka Shite Furasshu (Ignite and Flash)!” The swarm of bloody cicadas came straight for Sunset, but she disappeared in a plume of fire, and reappeared behind the swarm. When she did, several of the cicadas that were behind her now combusted as flames engulfed them. However, this put her in range of two large swarms which had surrounded her. “Second Step: Bakuhatsu Suru Hi no Hikari (Bursting Fire Light)!”

Several fireballs blasted from Sunset’s body creating a cage of fire light around the two swarms. Sunset disappeared and began rapidly slashing the cicadas, the explosions, coupled with her strikes assisted in burning them whenever she reappeared and disappeared. Suri slashed more and more, creating a heavy swarm that came down like a tidal wave towards Sunset. Seeing this, Sunset switched the sword into a reverse grip style and began her next step. “Third Step: Fuku to Kiru, Taiyō no Kaze (Blow and Slash, Winds of the Sun)!” A whirlwind of superheated winds and light flowed around Sunset, creating a shield that allowed her to stay untouched by the swarm that tried to get at her.

With this established, Sunset was free to move into the next step. “Fourth Step: Moeru Hikari no Yari (Spear of Burning Light)!” Sunset flipped her sword back to a regular gripped style and thrust it forward, the beam of hard light pierced through the heavy swarm and nearly skewered Suri in the process. “Fifth Step: Kuiaratame no Harō (Halo of Repentance)!” Sunset formed the circlet of light, but didn’t stop there, she drew two more diagonal circlets that formed, what looked like, an atom in sky. The halos spun rapidly, the vortex effect they created drew in the swarm and cut through them to form gaps in the huge ball of construct insects. “Sixth Step: Taiyō e no Inori (Prayers to the Sun)!”

A platform of light appeared beneath Sunset, the platform grew until it encompassed the entire swarm. Sunset slashed upwards and made the pinpoints of light rise and pierce the blood cicadas, and with a plunge of the sword, made the pillar of light shine into the sky, burning away the last remnants of the swarm. Suri was getting noticeably tired, but it wasn’t about to stop her from killing Sunset and Rarity, they were going to die today.

“Now, Sunset, release all those emotions and pour them into this final step!”

Sunset inhaled deeply once again and exhaled, this time the flames took on a plasma light quality to them, at the same time her eyes shined pure yellow, tears of pure light streamed down her face as the emotions she had put aside came to bare, the pain and grief, along with the anger, from Applejack’s death were about to put into his final attack of retribution.

“Sun Goddess Style!”

“Seventh Step!”

“TAIYŌ NO MEGAMI NO SEINARU ODORI (Holy Dance of the Sun Goddess)!”

Sunset’s sword blazed with the same yellow plasma flames that she breathed out, her feet and wings taking on the same flames as she began ascending higher towards Suri. The resurrected teen launched more cicadas, creating another huge swarm, but this time, Sunset went right through them. Her sword strokes were elegant, her steps were fluid, like dancing solar flares on the surface of the sun, and yet not a bit of movement was wasted, nor was there a loss of power in any of her strikes. With each slash of the blade a wave of intense heat was released, blasting away and scorching the cicadas. She didn’t get bogged down in attacking the swarm as a whole, no, she merely kept moving, not stopping for a second.

“SHE’S STILL COMING!!!” Suri exclaimed in a panic.

“GIVE ME EVERYTHING, WE CANNOT FALL HERE!!!” Blood Sword demanded.

Sunset cried out from her grief and anger as she danced beautifully in the air, cutting through the swarm until the entirety of it was burned away, leaving only herself and her target. Suri gave all the blood she could, rendering her to an emaciated state, but with the power of the Blood Sword, her current state of being made little difference in how powerful her attacks would become. With the additional blood, Suri gave one more overhead slash, putting everything she had into it and creating a stream of bloody cicadas. Sunset pirouetted in place before leaping forward with a slash, the force and power generated by that simple stroke of the sword created a powerful blast of blazing heat and pressure that vaporized the swarm before it could get within an inch of her, leaving Suri exposed.

The keeper of balance, the wielder of the Witchblade, slashed upwards and with that single stroke, cut off Suri’s right arm. The heat cauterized the wound on Suri’s body, while turning Suri’s arm into ash, the result of which had the Blood Sword falling back to the Earth where it landed, the blade embedded into the concrete down below. Sunset, now hovering over Suri, gave her one final glance, and Suri, once again, had a look of utter fear.

“NO, MER–!!!”

Sunset gripped her sword with both hands slashed Suri across the neck, stopping Suri from completing her sentence. “Return to Hell, and never come back!” With one last follow through, Sunset cut through Suri’s neck and appeared behind Suri’s body. The look of shock was evident on Suri’s face as her head and body separated, a moment after, both caught fire and were reduced to ashes, and a second later, the ashes burned away. Sunset dismissed the sword and tilted her head towards the clear blue sky, her tears of light changing into regular tears as she let the warmth of the sun wash over her and offered a silent prayer to Faust. Faust…I don’t know if you have any say in the souls of this world, but please…watch over Applejack’s soul.

Sunset returned to the ground, her armor had returned to normal, along with her eyes, showing that the link with Tomoe had ended. She located the Blood Sword and walked up to the Artifact that had caused many so much grief and took the life of her friend. She wished she could send this abomination to Hell along with Suri, but something told her destroying it would be easier said than done. Sunset used the tendrils of the Witchblade to take hold of the Blood Sword, taking care not to touch it with her hands lest the demon within try to take her over. Once that was done, she rushed over to where Rarity was, who was currently stroking the cheek of her dead lover, making Sunset’s tears flow once again.

“Is she gone?” Rarity asked.

“Yes,” Sunset answered.

Rarity nodded and looked back at her lover. “Rest in peace my love…”

Unfortunately, there would be no time for grieving as the sky began to darken, an ominous force surged through the air and made the Witchblade ripple with unease. Rarity looked around, apparently able to feel the ominous energy that was permeating the air around them.

“W-What on Earth is going on now?!” Rarity asked.

“Not sure! But whatever it is, it’s not good!” Sunset answered.

“It seems we took too long dispatching that foe. The worst-case scenario has occurred, I’m afraid.”

Sunset turned to her right and saw the ghostly image of another warrior women, she was clad in ancient Grecian clothing, but had a green cloak draped over her shoulders and a golden bow and arrow clasp keeping it pinned together. Her hair was a light shade of brown, with her eyes having a similar emerald shade as Applejack’s.

Are you another of the past wielders? Sunset mentally asked.

“Indeed, I am. My name is Atlanta, and what you’re seeing is the beginning of Pandora’s Box.”

Sing Part 7

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Twilight banged against her icy prison yet again, but just like her previous efforts, all it amounted to was sore hands. Indigo had affixed Twilight to a pillar of ice, so that she would not roll around during the battle, and so that both her and Sunset could see where she was at all times. A rare agreement that the two of them made halfway through the battle when they both were losing track of her during their throw down. Still, this didn’t make the situation any better for her, all she could do was watch from her perch as her girlfriend and her stalker were battling like savage beasts. Literally, they had become savage beasts.

Dragon Shimmer roared mightily as she flew into the air, inhaled deeply, and bellowed out a torrent of flames down at Titan Zap. The ice giant stomped the ground and forced a giant wall of ice to manifest in front of her, the flames parted around it, keeping the brunt of Dragon Shimmer’s attack from reaching its target. Titan Zap crouched low, placing her left hand against the ground, and a moment later, a pillar of ice formed beneath and launched her straight for Dragon Shimmer. The fire avatar quickly cut off her flames, but it was too late, the ice avatar had barreled into her, sending both falling back down in a powerful impact that shook the entire ground.

People ran as far as they could, some managed to get away, while others were, unfortunately, caught in the crossfire. Normally, Sunset would be more focused, but right now, a primal urge was compelling her to fight on, to focus on the enemy before her. Some of it stemmed from her hatred of Indigo, for all that she had done to Twilight. Another part of it came from her drive to collect all Thirteen Artifacts. This was fuel for the fire of the Ember Stone, for it was destiny.

For Indigo, it was much the same way. The heartache of not being able to woo Twilight into loving her, the pain of losing her fights to Sunset and knowing that she was the weaker, and the pain of denial…this energized the Glacier Stone, allowing it to further influence Indigo into battling the draconic being before her. This was the true curse of the Ember and Glacier Stones, the curse of a never-ending rivalry, a battle that would not truly end until one of them had been rendered silent.

Titan Zap drew back her fist in preparation to punch Dragon Shimmer, but the fiery lizard used its tail, wrapping it around Titan Zap’s neck and squeezed hard. The ice giant gagged as she reached for the tail and tried to pry it off, but the fire dragon flung the ice giant right off and into a few stalls, crushing the stands and their contents in mere seconds upon coming to a rolling stop. Titan Zap quickly recovered, standing upon both her feet just as Dragon Shimmer ran towards her. The blazing beast raised her right claw and slashed Titan Zap across the face, forming four long gashes on her face, Dragon Shimmer came in again with the left claw, gouging four claw marks into the giant’s chest.

In retaliation, Titan Zap created an ice sword and stabbed it right through Dragon Shimmer’s chest. The burning beast roared in pain and thrashed about, but at that moment, Dragon Shimmer lurched forward and clamped her jaws around Titan Zap’s neck, the burning fangs sinking into her cold, icy flesh, and causing dark blue blood to come dripping down her neck. In response to that, Titan Zap’s left hand formed another ice sword and thrust it into Dragon Shimmer’s stomach. However, this only reinforced Dragon Shimmer’s resolve to chomp further into Titan Zap’s neck. Neither one budged as they tried to gain supremacy over the other, but at the last second, their dueling energies won out and forced them to break apart.

Dragon Shimmer skidded on all fours, digging her claws into the ground to stop her momentum, her stomach and chest bled red hot lava for a few more seconds before the wounds closed. For Indigo, she used her twin swords, stabbing them into the ground to bring herself to a halt. Her dark blue blood froze the ground beneath her, she couldn’t cry out or make a sound due to the damage to her throat, but the Glacier Stone’s healing power quickly mended the wounds on her face, neck, and chest.

“We could go at this for hours,” said Indigo.

Dragon Shimmer smirked and spoke mentally, “You’re right, hate to admit it, but with our increased stamina, durability, and power, this could take all day and night. Fortunately, I’m still going to win.”

Titan Zap rose to her feet and growled, enraged. “And just how do you figure?!”

“Again, time. How many times have you used that primal form since you got the Glacier Stone? I’m guessing not that much since you didn’t bust it out in our first fight.”

“Then why didn’t you?!” Titan Zap inquired.

“Easy, I didn’t think you were worth the effort. But since you had the balls to bring that out, it seemed like the polite thing to do to show you my primal form,” Dragon Shimmer replied.

“OH, JUST FUCKING DIE ALREADY!!!”

Titan Zap dismissed her swords and brought her hands together, when she did, the ice giant fired a column sized beam of cryo energy straight for the fire avatar. Dragon Shimmer responded in kind by unleashing her own column sized burst of dragon fire straight for Titan Zap’s attack. The two elemental blasts struck at the center, creating a steam explosion that flattened what remained of the stands, game stalls, and rides in their area. However, this didn’t stop either of them as stomping footsteps came thundering through the cloud of steam, along with the powerful beating of draconic wings as the remnants of the steam cloud were blown away. Both behemoths were about to meet each other once again, but suddenly the stopped when they sensed an ominous sensation coursing through the air.

Dragon Shimmer and Titan Zap looked up into the sky, hearing thousands of blood red cicadas filling the sky, blotting out the sun and casting a red hue over everything down below.

“What the hell is that?!” Titan Zap asked.

“I don’t know…” Dragon Shimmer sniffed the air, her snout immediately crinkled up as the stench wafted into her nostrils. “UGH, what the crap, the air smells like blood?!”

That’s when it clicked for Titan Zap. “Oh fuck, Suri, that psycho bitch! This wasn’t part of the plan!”

Dragon Shimmer turned her head towards Titan Zap, her glowing eyes narrowing into dangerous slits as she asked, “What the hell do you mean, ‘not part of the plan’?! What did you do?!”

“Look, bitch about it later, we need to guard Twilight!”

Dragon Shimmer growled at the ice giant, but of all the things they hated about each other, they agreed on one thing, protecting Twilight was of vital importance. “I’m so going to kill before this day is over.”

“Same to you, now c’mon!”

The Titan and Dragon rushed over to the pillar where Twilight was kept, and it seemed she too was worried upon seeing the massive swarm of cicadas hovering overhead. She did seem somewhat relieved when she saw both Indigo and Sunset finally stop their death match.

“What’s going on?! They sound like cicadas but we’re nowhere near an area where they could be active,” said Twilight.

“It’s apparently someone that Indigo brought with her,” Sunset replied through her mind.

Twilight blinked as she held her head. “Did…Did you just talk to my mind?! You’re telepathic now?”

“More like I’m communicating my emotions and thoughts through your life energy, and your mind’s interpreting them as sound and words.”

Twilight shook her head and then turned her attention to Indigo, giving her a stern glare. “What did she mean by someone you brought, who did you bring?!”

Titan Zap rubbed the back of her head as she said, “An old classmate of ours, Suri Polomare, she has an Artifact like me and Sunbitch over here, she calls it the Blood Sword.”

Twilight and Sunset’s eyes widened with shock at the mention of that infamous Artifact, “The Blood Sword!!!”

“You know about it?”

Before either of them could reply, the cicadas started to move, coming down like a demonic tidal wave of pestilence that was about to devour every single living being in the area. Both Titan Zap and Dragon Shimmer assumed defensive stances, prepared to protect the one they both cared about. However, something happened, a yellow fire flare shot up into the sky and met the tidal wave head on. With Sunset’s draconic vision, she was able to spot none other than her older sister/interdimensional twin.

“Sis…?!”

“That’s, Sunset?!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Yeah…but…her armor is a different color and…and a different form…” That wasn’t the only thing different. Sunset could also see something strange with her Life Fire vision, she could see her older sister’s flame of life, but mixed into it was the flame of another, as if two souls were merged. As she continued to look on, Sunset felt a deep pain inside of her, the familiar pain of loss. “Oh god…”

Twilight looked up and saw that Sunset’s dragon form’s eyes were crying liquid fire, as if she was crying. “Sunset, what’s wrong?! You’re crying!”

“……Sis…she’s in pain, I can feel it in her life energy, she’s…she’s crying…”

Sunset watched as her older sister danced through the air, a savage grace about her as she slashed through the swarm with one masterful sword stroke after the other. She moved faster than she had ever seen before, and the way she wielded that katana, it was as if she was a completely different person. Then she saw it, the moment when her big sister cut down the person responsible for the swarm, and the moment when her big sister paused in the air and let tears stream down her face.

“Oh…Sis…” Sunset spoke in empathy for what she as feeling. A growl escaped Sunset’s muzzle as she turned her hate filled gaze upon Titan Zap. “I don’t know who that was, but something tells me they just hurt someone important to my big sis, and you’re responsible for that!”

“Hey, this was supposed to be a simple in and out! If anyone was getting hurt, it was YOU! Suri went rogue! That’s not on me!” Titan Zap shot back.

Dragon Shimmer flared her wings and gave a quick roar of anger. “Don’t split hairs! All of this wouldn’t have happened if you would just leave Twilight alone!”

Titan Zap gave her own savage roar and backed away in preparation to fight. “As if I’d ever leave Twilight in your hands! You don’t really love her, admit it! You just want her as your plaything!”

“FUCK YOU, THAT’S YOUR SHITCK!!!”

“I’LL RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!!!”

“FROST-BITCH!!!”

“FIRE-WHORE!!!”

“Ladies!” Both Dragon Shimmer and Titan Zap looked down and watched as a teen girl with curly goldenrod colored hair came walking towards them. “Why don’t we calm down for a minute here.”

“Adagio?! What are you doing here, I haven’t gotten Twilight yet, but give me a few seconds and I’ll kill this fire spitting slut!” Titan Zap stated.

Adagio shook her head as she slowly approached the two beasts. “No, no I don’t think that’ll be necessary anymore. I just found out that the Sunset Shimmer I want to kill, is also Witchblade. Knowing that, I am far outclassed as I am now. However…” The eldest Siren raised the box high above her head and presented it to the two behemoths. “Pandora’s Box has spoken to me, there is a way for me to finally get my revenge on her! And all I need…” The Box started to glow an eerie purple color as the same energy coated Adagio’s eyes. “…ARE YOUR KEYS!!!”

Sunset’s mind suddenly recalled her research, the name Pandora’s Box, it was one of the Thirteen Artifacts. Dragon Shimmer was about to charge Adagio and take the Box from her, but before that was even a possibility, both Sunset and Indigo’s gemstones glowed brighter. A sudden surge of pain wracked their bodies as both women were brought to their knees.

“What…What are you doing?! You’re…You’re double crossing me!” Titan Zap accused.

“Double crossing entails that I considered you a partner, you were just a pawn, a tool I needed to set up the board for my victory! And everything for that victory has been brought before me! Now I can finally kill Sunset Shimmer, and with the full power of Pandora’s Box, I will be unstoppable! No magic in Equestria will be able to match me!” Adagio proclaimed.

The gemstones of Dragon Shimmer and Titan Zap dislodged themselves from their hosts, however, their primal forms did not disappear. Twilight watched all this and once again resumed her banging against the ice prison as she cried out, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THEM, STOP IT!!!”

“THERE’S NOT STOPPING WHAT’S ABOUT TO HAPPEN!!!” Adagio declared.

The Ember Stone and the Glacier Stone fitted themselves into their designated slots, and the moment they did, it began. The air quaked as a heavy, overbearing, ominous feeling befell the entire area and beyond. Adagio’s clothes suddenly burst away as Pandora’s Box fully opened, shooting a beam of pure chaotic energy into the sky. Strips of purple light flowed from the box and wrapped around her body, adorning it in old Grecian clothing, like that of a priestess. Adagio began to sing the accursed song, the song that ushered in the beginning of unfettered chaos and mayhem.

As the song continued, the effects were already starting to make themselves known. The ground began to rumble and shake as pillars of twisted metal and earth rose into the sky like jagged spikes. The rollercoasters and remaining rides began to deform into twisted structures, the skies continued to darken as purple lightning arced across the skies, and the effects didn’t just go to the environmental. The few people who were lucky, or unlucky, enough to have survived the brawl between the dragon and the titan started to have purple light tint their eyes. Afterwards, they all began to attack anything and everything in sight, some attacked each other, others became deformed monstrosities that roared and bellowed. Some were amalgamations of a human, dog, and insect, others were of aquatic creatures and avian. Only one word described this horror, chaos.

Twilight looked around herself, watching this abomination unto existence spread. Somehow, she was untouched, she didn’t know why, but she didn’t really care so much, because it was better than losing her mind or turning into a monster. However, there was one thing that she worried about more than this, and that was the state of Sunset and Indigo. When they lost their gemstones, Twilight expected them to change back into their normal states, but they didn’t, instead, Sunset transformed into a full living fire dragon, while Indigo had become a living ice giant, both becoming pure elementals.

“SUNSET!!!” Twilight shouted to the fire dragon, but the beast didn’t even tilt its head in her direction. The teen genius couldn’t believe she was about to do this, but this was a desperate situation. Twilight turned to Indigo’s direction and shouted, “INDIGO, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!!” Once again, no reaction. “What’s…What’s happened to them?!”

Outside the park, the Sirens’ RV came to a screeching halt in the parking lot. Police cruisers had surrounded Equestria Land, trying to corral the insanity that was taking place inside, but Sonata, Aria, and Tempest knew full well that that wasn’t going to happen. All three jumped out of the RV and gasped upon seeing the dark storm clouds over the theme park, Sonata and Aria suddenly felt a chill go up their spines, a familiar chill of dark magic.

“Oh no…” Sonata whispered.

“She did it…Dammit, Adagio!” Aria cursed as tears began to form in her eyes.

Tempest clenched her fists as she looked upon the scene and gritted her teeth with frustration and worry. No, I was too late…

Suddenly, Tempest spotted something the air, a metallic object flying overhead. Wait a minute! “HEY, WITCHBLADE!!!” The metallic object stopped in midair and then quickly descended towards the trio. A moment later, all three witnessed Witchblade land before them, with Rarity Belle in her arms, and wrapped in metallic tentacles was the body of Applejack Apple. Tempest looked upon the dead body, and then the forlorn faces of both Rarity and Witchblade. “Is she…?”

“She’s…She’s dead…I healed her wounds so that, at the very least, she’d be whole,” she answered. That’s when Witchblade noticed two of the three Sirens. “YOU!” With her inhuman speed, Witchblade practically warped in front of Aria Blaze and hoisted her up by the collar of her shirt. “YOU AND ADAGIO! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT! APPLEJACK WOULD BE ALIVE IF IT WASN’T FOR YOU!!!”

Aria’s eyes widened when she heard Witchblade speak. “Y-You’re Sunset Shimmer! You’re Witchblade! Shimmer, listen to me, we didn’t want it to go this far! We came here to try and stop Adagio!”

Sunset’s left arm transformed into jagged blades that slowly crept towards Aria, a look of hatred burned in Sunset’s eyes. “Give me one good reason why I should even THINK that you’re telling me the truth, or that I should spare you, Adagio, or HER!” The last part of Sunset’s threat was punctuated with a nod towards a cowering Sonata Dusk.

Tempest walked up to Sunset and placed her hand on Sunset’s right arm, forcing the enraged teen to glare at the agent. “Because I can vouch for them, they were on their way to stop this, and I managed to verify that they weren’t totally onboard with this scheme of Adagio Dazzle. They want to save their sister, but…” Tempest looked up at the looming storm cloud, and the haunting song that was slowly filling the air. “I’m not a hundred percent sure that that is impossible at this point.”

“Please, let her go! We’re sorry!” Sonata pleaded as she dropped to her knees in a begging position. “Dagi’s being manipulated by Pandora’s Box, it’s making her angrier than she used to be at you! All we really wanted to do was go home to Equestria!”

Sunset growled and threw Aria at Sonata’s feet. “I looked for you three after the Battle of the Bands, I wanted to see if I could help you! To see if you might be willing to change your ways, to give you the same chance that was given to me! If all you wanted to do was go back home, then you could’ve just asked, Princess Twilight might’ve given you that opportunity! BUT NO! You disappeared, and now when you come back, all of THIS happens! Because of your selfishness one of my best friends is dead!”

The two Siren sisters glanced at the lifeless body of Applejack Apple, who was being held by Rarity Belle, her eyes were red from crying, and hollow. Somehow, seeing the death of Applejack drove it home, made it more real. This wasn’t what they really wanted, hurting them was one thing, but…killing them…

Sonata started to cry as she looked back up at Sunset. “We’re sorry…I mean it, we’re so sorry.”

Sunset growled, she was about to lay into them again, but stopped when she saw Aria’s eyes water, her gaze still locked on the image of Rarity and Applejack. Even she could tell that the arrogant and abrasive Siren was saddened by this loss of life, a fact that she couldn’t deny.

“Sunset, we’re running out of time here, the longer that Box remains open, the worse this chaos will become. It won’t just affect this area, it’ll spread out across the world, it’ll literally bring about the end of the world! We have to go back in there and stop it, however we can!” Tempest stated.

The Keeper of the Balance sighed as she glanced to Tempest. “I know, don’t ask me how right now, but I got the low down about Pandora’s Box, I might be able to stop it, but we need find out where Adagio and the Box are, but first thing I want to do is find Twilight and Pinkie and get them out of here before anything else happens!”

Just then, Sunset’s gemstone began to glow. A light was emitted from the Witchblade and her cellphone appeared. Sunset took the cellular device into her hand and retracted the armor around it to get a good grip. A shocked expression appeared on her face when she noticed the name on her caller ID. “PINKIE!” Sunset immediately answered the phone. “Pinkie, are you alright, are you hurt?! Where are you?!”

{Well…right now I’m not hurt. Not so sure how long that will last because everything in here is turning into a Lovecraftian nightmare! Oh, and I can see Twilight, she’s okay!} Pinkie stated.

“Seriously?!”

“What is it?” Tempest asked.

“Pinkie says that Twilight’s okay!”

That seemed to get Rarity’s attention. “Twilight’s there?! Does…Does that mean your sister is, too!”

“Yeah, they were having a date, me and Pinkie were…spying on them, just to make sure everything went well. Where are you right now, can you get to Twilight?!”

{Uh…well…that’s going to be hard to do. Because Twilight’s trapped in a pillar of ice, she looks alright though. But…I can also see Adagio Dazzle, and she’s singing this creepy song, and there’s a dragon that’s made of fire and a giant that’s made of ice that are standing on either side of her.}

“She’s at ground zero! How the hell is she not being warped by that thing?!” Tempest asked.

{Oh, yeah, I also ponied up somehow! I think that’s why I’m not going all crazy like the rest of the people are around here. That or plot convince. Anyway, we’re close to the west side of the park, there are these big spikey pillars around it, you’ll probably see it if you fly!}

“Okay, I got it, just stay hidden and I’ll be there as quick as I can! ……Pinkie Pie…I love you, you know that right?” Sunset asked.

{Of course I do, and I’ll be careful I promise.}

The call ended just then, Sunset quickly put the phone back into the Witchblade’s gemstone and looked at Tempest. “Tempest, I need your help on this one! I don’t want to lose another of my friends!”

“You’re not.” Tempest took out the Wheel of Shadows, the moment she did, Tempest transformed into her Shadow State. “I’ll extract Pinkie Pie from the battle and Twilight Sparkle. You just concentrate on Pandora’s Box.”

“Wait!” Tempest and Sunset looked down at Aria. “I don’t know what you’re planning on doing, but please, try and save Adagio! She’s a bitch, but everything she’s done was to keep the both of us safe! Despite everything, she loves us! She’s the only family we have, please, I’m begging you!” Aria got on her hands and knees and bowed her head to the asphalt, prostrating herself as best she could to Sunset Shimmer. “Save my big sis!”

Sunset glared down at the Siren, the anger and hatred inside her wanted to tell the Siren to go to hell, however…all this sorrow was brought about because of revenge, what good would it do her to kill Adagio out of spite? It would only begin another cycle of hatred from these two Sirens. “I’ll do what I can, I can’t make you better promise than that at the moment.”

Sonata answered for Aria and said, “That’s…That’s all we ask. A-And there's something you should know about the other girl who uses ice...”

Pinkie Pie said she wouldn’t do anything, but right now, she couldn’t just stand back do nothing. Twilight was in the middle of that chaos storm and needed help. Sun was out of commission from what she could tell, she was still in her dragon form, but it was different from the times that she had seen it. It was made of pure fire, not the metal and fire combo that it normally was. The other one, she didn’t really know, but Pinkie assumed it was probably the same for her.

I know Sunset doesn’t want me to do anything…but…I can’t just leave Sci-Twi alone in the middle of all that! Pinkie thought.

Pinkie looked at her hands and then her body, she didn’t know why her magic was really active, perhaps it was in response to the chaotic stuff happening around her? Sunset and Princess Twilight said that their magic was the Magic of Friendship, and that Princess Twilight’s crown was called an “Element of Harmony”, the opposite of chaos is harmony, so perhaps it was the harmonious magical power that she and her friends still possessed within them that kept the harmful affects of Adagio’s magical box from causing Pinkie to go insane or turn into some kind of monster.

“Or, you know, plot convenience,” she commented.

Unfortunately, while she contemplated, one of the transformed people approached her. Pinkie turned her head around and gasped upon seeing the amalgamated humanoid approach her, gargling, and scratching its talons against the pavement as its five eyes trained the on pink, plump, party girl.

“Oh…h-hey there! I, uh, I was just standing here, watching the mayhem! How are you doing?!” Pinkie asked the creature.

The creature growled back her and just continued to come closer. Pinkie Pie backed away as she bumped up against a snack cart. The teenage party planner quickly reached behind her and produced…a churro…well, you know what, a churro it is.

“Back up!” Pinkie warned. “I have a churro and I’m not afraid to use it!” The creature continued to sloth its way towards her, opening its mouth impossibly wide and showing off rows of sharpened teeth and a barbed tongue. Pinkie Pie gulped as her legs and hands shook. “O-Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

Unbeknownst to Pinkie, something strange was happening. Her right hand, which was currently holding the cinnamon confection, was glowing with pink tinted energy. That same energy flowed into the churro, which coated in the same pink color, but also had sparkles going off around it. In desperation, Pinkie threw the churro right at the monster’s mouth. The creature swallowed the churro, then paused, and in the next moment, it’s body completely exploded from the inside out in a shower of pink smoke and yellow and blue sparkles.

Pinkie Pie blinked in confusion, that was weird, even for her. She turned around and grabbed another churro, but this time she watched as the mystical energy that was protecting her flowed into the churro. Out of curiosity, Pinkie tossed that churro into the distance and then watched as it exploded like an industrial firework. A devious grin appeared on Pinkie’s face as she realized that she was not in this chaos zone without weapons. Pinkie rooted through the debris and found a couple of sashes, along with a belt.

The teenage baker hurriedly gathered all the churros that the cart possessed, sticking them through the loops of the sashes like a soldier would slot bullets, she then placed more in the hoops around her belt, and strapped a few more around her wrists and ankles. And for good measure, she stuffed a bag full into her long, puffy, curly hair. Pinkie, now armed to the teeth with churros, decided to make her way towards pillar of ice. Thanks to the many spiral stalagmites rising from the ground, it made it a little easier for her to hide behind them and get closer to Twilight’s prison.

Once she was closer, Pinkie got her breathing under control and looked about to get an idea of what she was working with. Adagio was still singing her eerie, haunting song, floating in the air with eyes glowing purple, and of course, there was the huge fire dragon and ice giant standing guard. Pinkie needed a distraction, so she took out five churros and tied them together into a makeshift shuriken. She backed away from her hiding spot to get some room, and then, after taking aim, Pinkie tossed the churro shuriken into the air. The confection twirled in the air, going straight before turning to the left.

A quintuple explosion went off in that direction, catching the attention of the ice giant, which, thankfully made the ice giant turn its head stomp its way towards where the explosion went off. Pinkie quickly capitalized on this and made another churro shuriken, tossing it with freakish precision to her right. When the second explosion went off, the fire dragon growled and quickly headed in that direction. With her distraction successful, Pinkie Pie hurried to the ice pillar and stopped at the base.

“TWILIGHT!” Pinkie called out.

Twilight, who had huddled into a fetal position, perked up upon hearing the familiar, friendly sound of Pinkie’s voice. The teen genius looked down from her icy prison and called out, “Pinkie Pie!” then her joy turned to fear as she looked around. “No, no, Pinkie you need to get out of here! It’s too dangerous! Sunset and Indigo aren’t themselves! They’ll definitely kill you, along with the other monsters that are roaming around here!……Are those churros that you have strapped onto you?”

“Yep! Apparently, the magic I have can make sweet treats turn into bombs!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Twilight blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Well, they’re more like industrial grade firework explosions, but those can hurt, a lot. Anyway, just sit tight and I’ll get you out that ice cube!” The pink teenager hurriedly took off one of the sashes and slapped it against the ice pillar. She then touched every churro that was on it and made them all glow with her pink magical energy. “Hold on, Twilight, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!”

“WHAT?!”

No sooner had Pinkie Pie said that did the sash explode about thirteen times in a row, ending with a huge explosion that cracked the ice pillar. Fissures formed that snaked all the way up to where Twilight’s ice prison was, at the base of the pillar, a huge chunk of it had been blown away, leaving a ten by twenty-foot gap. Fortunately, with the added weight of the prison above, it made the pillar too top heavy, and as a result, the pillar slumped forward, falling until it slammed against the pavement and snapped the prison part off it.

Twilight’s ice shell rolled off the pillar and came to a stop, the teen genius rubbed her head as the world around her continued to spin around, once everything came back into alignment, she found Pinkie Pie kneeling beside her icy prison. “Pinkie Pie…? What…What did you just do?”

“I used magic churro bombs, duh, I told you before, didn’t I? Or were you too high up to hear me? Sorry if you were!” Pinkie apologized.

“No…you did, but…I guess I shouldn’t be so taken aback by something like that, considering everything I’ve seen in the last couple of months,” said Twilight. “What are we going to do?”

Pinkie took out another churro and infused it with magic. “Well, first off all, I’m going to break you out of that ice cube. Second, we’re going to find a safe place to hide until my Sunset can get here and get us out!”

Twilight’s expression quickly changed from relief to scared, but her eyes weren’t focused on Pinkie’s churro bomb, they were focused on something else behind Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie didn’t bother to look over her shoulder to realize that there was something really bad standing behind her. “Is it the giant or the dragon?”

“D-D-Dragon…Sunset…!” Twilight replied.

The snort of heated air from behind Pinkie confirmed that Sun the Fire Dragon was behind her, and ready to either roast Pinkie alive or snap the party girl in her jaws and chew her up like a piece of bubblegum.

“Well…this kinda sucks…” Pinkie slowly turned around and looked up at the fire avatar, its glowing orange eyes narrowing as it growled at Pinkie. “Hey, Sun! Uh…want a churro?” The Fire Dragon inhaled and let out a long, threatening roar that made Pinkie Pie sweat from the heat that it put out. “Okay, don’t bite my head off! Here you go!”

Pinkie Pie threw the churro at the Fire Dragon’s mouth, which landed right inside. For few seconds, the Fire Dragon didn’t react, but then the churro exploded in its mouth, despite the fiery nature of the explosion, whatever magical power the churro was infused with seemed to hurt the fire avatar as it reared up and roared in pain, whipping its head back and forth from the pain that radiated in its mouth. With the Fire Dragon distracted, Pinkie hurriedly got on top of the ice prison and straddled it.

A shiver ran up Pinkie Pie’s spine the moment her rear made contact with the ice prison as she exclaimed, “COOOOOLD!!! COLD, COLD, COLD – SUPER COLD!!!” Unfortunately, Pinkie was wearing a skirt, and no leggings, not that they would’ve helped in this case. “

Twilight blushed as she got an unobstructed view of her friend’s undercarriage, when she got over seeing Pinkie’s plot pressed against the ice, Twilight asked, “What are you doing, Pinkie?!”

Pinkie pulled out two more churros and yelled, “SLEDDING!!!” as she threw both churros behind her. The explosive force of the two confections propelled both Twilight and Pinkie forward, the smooth ice allowing the prison to act as a bobsled. Pinkie took out more churros and threw them with perfect timing as they exploded and generated enough force to push them from one direction to the other. The two teens continued moving faster and faster, and with each bit of distance gained, the more they believed they were getting further away from the center of chaos. However, those hopes were dashed when a wall of ice rose from the ground ahead of them.

Thinking quickly, Pinkie took out more churros and tossed them at the wall. Several explosions went off, but she only managed to make a dent in the wall. The party planner hurriedly reached for another churro, but when she patted herself down, Pinkie realized that she was out of ammo.

“PINKIE, JUMP OFF, HURRY!” Twilight urged.

Unfortunately, the speed at which they were moving did not allow for a safe ejection, either way, Pinkie Pie was about to get splattered, whether it was against the upcoming ice wall or the unforgiving ground beneath her.

Pinkie shut her eyes tight as she waited for the inevitable. Say a prayer for ‘ol Pinkie Pie!

Before Pinkie could meet her maker, she suddenly found herself in a weightless state, and warm. Pinkie opened her eyes and found herself in the warm embrace of her half-naked girlfriend. Although that was of less importance. “SUNSET!” she exclaimed as she hugged her girlfriend tight. “I KNEW YOU’D MAKE IT!”

Sunset’s happy smile turned into a guilt-ridden frown as she hugged her girlfriend tighter. “I’m glad I was……this time…”

“WAIT, TWILIGHT!!”

“She’s fine, Pinkie. Look down.”

And look down she did, on the ground, a shadowy figure had Twilight’s ice prison wrapped in shadow tendrils, preventing it from hitting the ice wall. “W-Who’s that?!”

“That would Agent Tempest, she has an Artifact like Sun does. She’s here to help us out.” Sunset flew down to the ground and landed next to Tempest and Twilight. “I can get her out.”

“No need, I got this.” Tempest offered as she formed a Time Acceleration sphere and pressed it against the ice. Years passed by in nanoseconds as the ice disintegrated into water vapor, Tempest continued with this method, opening the top half of the prison to allow Twilight enough room to crawl out on her own. “There you go, kid. Hop on out.”

Twilight happily crawled out of the ice prison and looked to the shadow woman with a bit of trepidation. “T-Thank you!” she then turned to Sunset and said, “Sunset, you have to help Sun! She’s been transformed into a giant fire dragon!”

“No offense, but how is that different from what she normally turns into?”

“No. she’s right, I saw it! When Adagio used that weird music box, Sun’s gemstone was taken from her and it slapped itself onto the box, and then that other girl with the ice powers had the same thing happen to her! I think it’s turned them into, like, bodyguards for her!” Pinkie explained.

“The Glacier and Ember Stones, they really were the keys. And it’s forcing them to be Adagio’s protectors as she continues to sing that song,” said Sunset.

Just then, the Fire Dragon that was her little sister and the Ice Giant came stomping towards them, and behind them, in the middle of the earthen glaives that rose from the ground, was Adagio Dazzle.

“Looks like you ponyed up too, just like Rarity…” Sunset turned her attention to Tempest and said, “Tempest, take Pinkie and Twilight to where the others are, I’ll take care of Adagio and my little sister.”

“Not that I don’t think you can, but it’s three against one, as badass as you are, I don’t think you can take on all three of them on your own,” Tempest commented.

Sunset looked at the gemstone on her gauntlet and said, “I’m not alone, not really. If you’re that worried, then hurry back.”

Tempest chuckled and wrapped a tendril around Pinkie and Twilight. “I’ll be back as quick as I can, Sunset.”

Before either girl could voice any kind of protest, or ask a question, Tempest dragged them both in her shadow and vanished from sight. Now Sunset stood before the Ice Giant and Fire Dragon, two powerful elementals that stood in her way of stopping the chaos of Pandora’s Box before it spread out across the globe.

“I need to get past these two, but I doubt they’ll allow me that.”

“I have the speed to get us there, but the Guardians won’t give us the time to even attempt to close it,” said Atalanta.

“Then that will require you to use both of our expertise to, at the very least, incapacitate these two behemoths,” spoke another wielder.

“Ugh-Uhh!”

Sunset was now flanked on both sides by the two newest wielders. One of them was of Asian descent like Tomoe, but her outfit was that of black scale armor that was not Neighponese, if Sunset had to guess, it was Chinese. Her hair was jet black like Tomoe’s, and her eyes were orange colored. To her left was a bulky woman, she had a hunched posture, muscular, with animal skin clothes, one that wrapped around her chest and another that acted as a skirt. Her hair was unkempt, and she had a wild look about her. If she had to guess, this wielder looked like she was from an age that was much, much older than either Tomoe, Atalanta, or even the other Asian wielder.

“Okay, who are you two?”

“My name is Mulan, I have a particular skill set when it comes to dealing with dragons, so I can assist you in subduing your younger sister. The other over there is Fang, you stand in the presence of the first wielder of the Witchblade. She’s, what you would call, a cavewoman, one of the first humans to walk the Earth.”

“What?!” Sunset turned to look at the nearly six-foot tall woman. Now she understood why this wielder only seemed to talk in grunts, she was from a time where speech had yet to be invented. However, despite that, Sunset was able to feel what this wielder was trying to convey to her. “It…It’s an honor to meet you.”

Fang nodded her head as a grin split her face. A stomp drew their attention and caused Fang to growl at the ice giant before them. Sunset was able to feel that Fang wanted to take on the ice giant, and something told her that Fang’s strength and animal ferocity would be needed to deal with the giant.

“Okay, Fang, let’s fight together!”

A golden-brown aura wrapped around Sunset, and already she could feel her soul and that of the cavewoman, Fang, merging into one being. Her muscles gained more definition, and even Sunset’s height increased by about three inches. The shoulder pauldrons disappeared, and in their stead Sunset’s gauntlets doubled in size, the fingers turned into huge five fingered, ten-inch claws, while thinner plates of armor covered the rest of her arms up to the shoulders. Thicker armor, much like her forearm gauntlets, doubled in size, and had three ten-inch talons on both feet, and just like her upper arms, Sunset’s thighs were covered in a thin layer of armor that connected to her hip, leaving her inner thighs exposed a bit.

Around her waist was a metal bikini bottom, with a metal lion’s tail whipping about back and forth from behind her. A boney metal strand went up her middle and created a metallic bikini top, both of which left little to the imagination, as per the usual with the Witchblade. Sunset’s head was adorned with a helmet that resembled a sabretooth tiger’s head, her mane was on fire and flowed freely down her back like that of a lion’s mane, and her teeth had a sharpness to them like a predator’s. Just like with Tomoe, the pupils of Sunset’s eyes glowed golden brown to match that of the armor, signifying that the two warriors were one.

“Aria said that the one who used the Glacier Stone was after Twilight, I take it you must be the person that has been abusing my friend?!” Sunset/Fang inquired.

The response of which was a bellow from the Ice Giant.

“That sounded like a ‘yes’ to me!” Sunset/Fang got on all fours and returned the bellow with a roar of her own that sounded like a cross between a lion’s roar and a primal human war cry.

The Ice Giant stamped her foot to the ground and created an ice wave with several jagged glaives rushing towards Sunset. The Keeper of the Balance dashed straight ahead, fracturing the ground from where she took off. When the ice wave came, she jumped into the air and landed on the other side with a primal grace that lost no momentum as she charged ahead. The Ice Giant raised her right hand and fired off several ice spikes that rained down on Sunset, however, her reflexes and instincts were sharpened, thanks to Fang, her many years of survival in an era where it was kill or be killed, hunt or be hunted, such a life in a prehistoric world honed one’s everything.

Sunset nimbly weaved her way through the ice spears, and for the ones that she didn’t manage to dodge, she smashed with her monstrous gauntlets. One after the other, the sound of shattering ice filled the air as she quickly approached the thirty-meter-tall creature, once at the base of the Ice Giant, Sunset jumped straight up into the air, coated her right fist with flames, and delivered a searing uppercut to the Giant’s jaw. The frosty guardian stumbled backwards from the impact, but Sunset wasn’t done, her left gauntlet opened a vent and from it a blast of fire exited it, propelling her forward as she brought down her left fist right into the Ice Giant’s stomach. The force and strength of the attack made the Giant cough up its dark blue blood and made several fissures form beneath it.

Sunset readied to deliver another punch, but her heightened instincts told her she was about to be attacked. Without bothering to look, Sunset used the Giant as a springboard to launch herself into the air, avoiding the fiery tail of the Fire Dragon. Now in midair, Sunset could see that her little sister, who was still being controlled, was starting to get into the fight.

“You’ll need me to bring her in line,” spoke Mulan.

“We’ll have to make this a tag team, switch back and forth! You good with that Fang?!”

“Uh-huh!”

With that noted, Sunset’s body was surrounded with orange light. The Fire Dragon roared as it took a wing assisted lunge up to attack the orb of vermillion light. However, before it could do anything, the orb shattered, and the Fire Dragon was treated to the fiery construct of an Eastern Dragon, the flaming mythical beast coiled around the other dragon like snake, while using its claws to wrestle with the more Western styled dragon. The Fire Dragon was put on its back, and now was able to see the one who conjured the construct, who was currently standing inside the construct’s head.

Sunset’s armor had changed once again, her pauldrons were now designed in the shape of dragon heads, with sharp spines that ran about halfway to the back. Her upper arms were exposed, but her lower forearms and hands were covered in thin armored gauntlets and bared the crest of the former wielder Mulan. Upon her chest was full body armor which hugged her figure nicely, with the image of an Eastern dragon and in its mouth, it heled a pearl with the same family crest. An armored skirt surrounded her waist, plated, and segmented to allow for free movement. Her legs were covered in thin armor that went from her feet to about halfway around her thighs, both etched with oriental cloud designs. Sunset wore a full armored helm that covered her hair, and a face plate that obscured her face a bit, in keeping with the ancient legend of the female warrior hiding her identity. Her pupils shined orange to match the color of the armor, showing that she was one with Mulan’s soul.

The Fire Dragon inhaled deeply and bellowed forth a large jet of flames, Sunset saw this coming and made the construct’s head move out of the way of the blast. However, that granted the fire avatar time to use her tail and wrap it around the construct’s neck, and with a powerful tug, managed to force its Eastern cousin to loosen its grip enough for her to thrash her way out. Once out of the coils of the construct, the guardian spread its wings and released dozens of flaming serpents that all aimed straight for Sunset/Mulan. The merged warrior didn’t worry as she summoned a jian sword to her right hand, taking her stance, Sunset dashed out of the construct’s head and began heading right for her little sister.

With martial grace Sunset/Mulan sliced through one serpent after the other, practically dancing in the air as she cut them down. The Fire Dragon inhaled again and released another jet of flames right at Sunset/Mulan. The merged warrior twirled her sword around and ran her two left fingers from the base of the guard up to the tip of the blade, as she did this, orange flames gathered and merged with the sword.

“Cì chuān! Tiānshàng de lóng yá (Pierce! Heavenly Dragon Fang)!”

In a burst of speed, Sunset pierced through the flames, angled downward, and struck through the chest of the fire avatar, reappearing on the other side as she skidded to a halt on the pavement. A gaping hole in the Fire Dragon’s chest made the beast stumble as it dropped to the ground. Sunset glanced over her shoulder and watched as the hole she had caused was healing, although it would probably take a minute before her little sister was back up and running. Unfortunately, the Ice Giant got back up and came in with a giant ice hammer.

“OH SHIT! FANG!” Sunset/Mulan called out.

Another flash of light and Sunset was once again merged with the cavewoman Fang. With her brute strength, Sunset/Fang raised her arms and caught the hammer as it came down on her. The impact made the ground shake violently, sending fissures spider webbing throughout the area and even upheaving the earth. Sunset/Fang gritted her sharp teeth, growling with primal fury as she pushed back against the icy weapon that wanted to crush her. Just then, the Ice Giant’s weapon glowed, and not long after, the flat of the hammer produced dozens of spikes that turned it into an oversized meat tenderizer. One of the spikes appeared where her hands were and pushed her back more into the ground, making a crater form beneath Sunset/Fang.

Ice started to creep along the ground, growing closer to encasing Sunset/Fang in its cold grip. With an enraged roar, Sunset/Fang’s gauntlet vents opened and released a burst of fire that acted as jets that allowed her to take off like a rocket straight up, sending the hammer and the Giant flailing backwards as she tried to regain her footing. Sunset/Fang repositioned the vent on her left fist, causing Sunset/Fang to spin out as she approached the Ice Giant, with her momentum built up, Sunset/Fang channeled all of it into her right fist as she slammed into the Ice Giant’s face. A resounding “BOOM” echoed in the air as the ice avatar fell to her knees in a daze.

Sunset/Fang landed on the ground and turned her head towards the Center of Chaos, the song was growing in power, she could sense it better with Fang’s animalistic instincts. She turned her head skywards and watched as the raging storm cloud seemed to be getting larger and spreading out further, promising that if this continued, the city would be enveloped in chaotic mayhem and not soon after, the world.

“We mustn’t linger any longer, we have to close Pandora’s Box before the world tears itself apart. Or a meteor falls from the sky.”

THAT CAN HAPPEN?!! Sunset exclaimed in her mind.

“It’s chaos, anything can happen. So, before it comes to that, we have to hurry!”

Sunset agreed with the past wielder and prepared for a merger, but unfortunately, a blast of fire and ice caught her attention, making her jump into the air to avoid the attack. However, upon doing so, the Fire Dragon intercepted and swiped her claw at Sunset/Fang. The blow sent the Keeper of the Balance straight into the ground, where the Ice Giant waited and slammed Sunset/Fang with her ice hammer again, this time making full contact as she was beaten, repeatedly. The Witchblade’s healing factor allowed Sunset/Fang to recover, unfortunately, the elemental forms of her sister and the stalker allowed for faster recovery since they weren’t entirely physical.

“I hate to point this out, but nothing short of killing them will stop the avatars from attacking,” Atalanta suggested.

I am NOT killing my little sister!……The one that hurt Twilight I’m not completely opposed to…But even then, they’re both under the Box’s control, it’s not their fault!

The warrior maiden managed to get out of the crater that she was smashed into by the fire and ice tag team. Now both stood at the ready, hellbent on preventing Sunset/Fang from getting to the Center of Chaos, and nothing short of death would keep them from their duty.

Before Sunset could contemplate such a thing, a pool of darkness opened beneath the Giant as multiple shadow tendrils rose and began wrapping themselves around the ice avatar. Tempest rose from the shadows and grunted as she tried to hold the Giant in place.

“Spear of Destiny, Fourth Form: Vincula Divina Subjugatio!”

Several golden chains phased through the ground and began attacking the Fire Dragon. The fire avatar spewed flames at them, which forced them back, but only momentarily, forcing the beast to take to the skies as it tried to get away from the snake-like chains.

Sunset/Fang looked behind her and saw that the chains came from Fluttershy, the Magdalena. “FLUTTERSHY?!”

“I heard something was happening here in Equestria Land, the moment the news reported a fire dragon fighting here, I knew it had to be your sister, and that you might be here too!” Fluttershy explained. “So, I rushed here as fast as I could!”

“How much do you know about what’s going on?!” Sunset/Fang asked.

“I only know that Adagio Dazzle opened Pandora’s Box, literally. And that Agent Tempest is helping us! Sunset, if you can stop this, then go ahead! We’ll keep them busy!”

Sunset/Fang’s heart ached, that meant that she probably did not know about Applejack’s fate. First thing’s first…The Keeper of the Balance turned her attention to the Center of Chaos and narrowed her gaze. You ready, Atalanta?!

“Indeed, I am, Sunset Shimmer!”

A flash of emerald light surrounded Sunset as she felt herself merge with yet another ancient wielder of the Witchblade. When the light faded, Sunset was once again draped in different armor. Its color was as green as the deepest forests, the armor around her legs had an aerodynamic design to them, sleek and smooth, with small wing-like frills positioned on the outside of each ankle. The armor around her chest formed an open “V” shape in the middle, allowing for some of her bust and stomach to be seen. A cape formed on her back, kept in place by a clasp around her right shoulder, on her left shoulder was a pauldron that was in the shape of a boar’s head, the armor around her left arm was also thicker and slender, while only a thinly armored gauntlet was on her right arm.

Around Sunset’s head was a headband, her hair was tied into a ponytail, and her pupils shined green. Tempest and Fluttershy stared in shock, Sunset/Atalanta didn’t understand why, but then remembered that this was the first time they had laid eyes on her transformation. “I’M HEADING IN! JUST KEEP THEM RESTRAINED UNTIL I CAN CLOSE THE BOX, THEY’LL RETURN TO NORMAL AFTER!”

An affirmative nod was given.

Sunset/Atalanta got into a runner’s stance and smirked as she asked, “A race to the finish!”

Time slowed down around Sunset/Atalanta, emerald energy flowed from the Witchblade’s gemstone, through the armor, and down into her legs. And before the avatars, Tempest, and Fluttershy realized it, Sunset/Atalanta had teleported, a second later, a shockwave erupted like a sonic boom, fracturing the ground and surrounding structures from the sheer amount of speed that was used. Sunset/Atalanta was fast, but this was different, it was a speed that was close to that of a god.

Atalanta…are you…were you a goddess?

“No, I was not, I was born a girl, thrown out by my father, and left to fend for myself. It was the goddess, Artemis, who saved me in the wild by having a bear nurse me and defend me.”

Memories flashed in Sunset’s mind of a young Atalanta and a tall, divine woman teaching the young hero to be. “Artemis taught me the ways of the hunt, of the forest, and the value of swiftness of foot, and strength of body. The goddess was a maiden goddess, and therefore never sired any demigod children, but to that she would bestow those women whom she deemed worthy with her blessing, and my blessing was that of strength and speed that was half as fast as Hermes. I gained the power of the Witchblade later on, and with its power, I was practically a demigod, if not stronger.”

So, getting the Witchblade just made your already ridiculous speed even faster. You know, We’re a bit similar.

Sunset felt the heroine smirk at her as she said, “I sensed that the moment you were chosen by the Witchblade. Take heed, we’re almost there!”

Sunset/Atalanta approached the Center of Chaos, bouncing between the pillars with ease as she perched herself atop one of them, giving her a bird’s eye view of Adagio. Her clothes had changed from what she last saw her in, and for some reason, her eyes were glowing, and she was just singing. Pandora’s Box continued to vent a beam of pure chaotic energy into the sky, making it radiate in every direction with each passing second. The song was haunting, speaking of destruction and torment, Sunset/Atalanta’s hand crushed part of the glaive she was on, anger rising within her as she remembered that this was the woman who brought Suri here.

If it weren’t for Adagio, Suri might not have ever gotten that close to Rarity and Applejack, and if she did, Sunset/Atalanta was certain that she would’ve been able to stop her sooner. Sunset searched the memories of the demigod, she could see how the previous owner, Pandora, was killed by Atalanta to stop the chaos. The armor shot grappling hooks that kept Sunset attached to the glaive, within her left hand, a bow formed, and in Sunset’s right hand, an arrow. Sunset/Atalanta notched the arrow, the tip of which ignited with emerald flames. Thanks to the demigoddess’ eagle eye vision, she was able to zoom in and lock onto Adagio’s head, with one arrow all of this would end.

Justice would be served for Applejack, the world would be saved, and…

“Save my big sis!”

Aria’s words echoed in her mind, but she didn’t promise to save her, she promised she’d do what she could. Sunset/Atalanta drew back on the bowstring, this was the only way to save the world, and to save Adagio from the fate of Pandora’s Box. The Keeper of the Balance drew back more, gritting her teeth as she growled angrily at her hesitance. But then she saw something that snuffed out her need for revenge, tears. Adagio was crying, neither was she smiling as she sang. Sunset/Atalanta dismissed the bow and arrow, her decision made.

“We’re not killing her, are we?”

Not if we don’t have to. Is it possible to close the Box with the host still alive? Sunset asked.

“I did what I had to do back then. Pandora asked me to end her life if the Box’s influence eroded her willpower. I did it to spare her the fate that the goddess Eris had thrust upon her, but…a goddess was not the cause of this. Nor do I believe that that creature knew what forces she was meddling with. To answer your question, it may be possible, but as you are aware, the Box will not allow it without a fight.”

Then let’s fight!

Sunset/Atalanta used the glaive as springboard to launch herself towards the Center. The Box must’ve sensed her, as the moment she got close to it, the container of chaos released a shockwave of energy that forced the heroine back. Sunset/Atalanta came to a screeching halt as ger boots dug into the pavement. The sky above rumbled and roared, and not a moment later, purple lightning blasted down from the skies. The Keeper of the Balance called upon her god-like speed and dodged the first lightning bolt, and then the second, and then the third.

A cascade of lightning bolts kept raining down on Sunset/Atalanta’s position, trying to strike her down. Another wave of chaotic energy released from the box, this time hitting the ground. In an instant, Sunset watched as the pavement liquified and became as sloshy mess. Before the slosh could take her, Sunset/Atalanta focused more of her power into her legs. She quickly changed direction, aiming upwards instead of forwards, the moment she took a step, a small shockwave was released from the bottom of her foot. That shockwave acted as a propelling force that allowed Sunset/Atalanta to ascend as if she were climbing a flight of stairs.

And just like that, Sunset/Atalanta was running on her. In response to this, the Box called down a tornado from the sky that wrapped itself around Adagio’s position, purple lightning began blasting around the tornado, acting as a secondary defensive wall against her. Sunset/Atalanta decided to get above the clouds and ascended higher and higher. Chaos lightning continued attacking her, Sunset/Atalanta’s speed allowed her to dodge the lightning, but once inside the clouds, the effort was greater as she was being attacked from all different angles, forcing Sunset/Atalanta to erect a barrier of emerald flames a couple of times to prevent a direct hit.

The Keeper of the Balance focused more of her power into her legs, and with a single burst, she shot straight up, and like a whizzing arrow, pierced through the clouds. However, when she did manage to get above the storm, Sunset/Atalanta was greeted by a horrible sight. Thanks to her eagle vision, Sunset/Atalanta saw far into the sky, and what she saw was a huge meteor slowly approaching Earth. Slow in astrophysics terms anyway.

“You’ve gotta be shitting me! That thing is huge! It’ll level the city and then some!”

“It seems the Box remembers it’s previous encounter with me, and doesn’t want a repeat, so it’s decided to destroy the whole area to kill us.”

Sunset/Atalanta repositioned herself in midair, with the same demigoddess speed, she launched herself straight for the eye of the tornado down below. As she approached, the chaos lightning coalesced around the mouth of the tornado, combining, and building up power. Sunset/Atalanta reformed her bow and arrow as she too charged her weapon. With a powerful thunder crack, a huge bolt of chaos lightning shot straight for Sunset/Atalanta. In response, the Keeper of the Balance, fired her arrow, it sailed like an emerald shooting star down to meet the gigantic bolt.

The arrow struck against the lightning both, both fighting to overtake the other. But Sunset/Atalanta wasn’t done yet, in the blink of an eye, she notched and fired off twenty more arrows. All twenty-one arrows combined into a giant fireball the broke the lightning bolt apart. Sunset/Atalanta shot several more arrows, and each one blasted through the storm cloud, hitting around the tornado to form a perfect circle. With a clench of her fist, all the arrows surrounding the tornado burst into flames and created a pillar of emerald fire the dispersed the tornado and kept the storm clouds from reforming near Adagio and the Box. Sunset/Atalanta flipped in midair and landed before the Siren, kicking up debris.

Without wasting a second, Sunset/Atalanta gripped one part of Pandora’s Box and with her other hand, the lid. With great effort, Sunset/Atalanta pushed against the lid to try and close the Box, but she could feel the container of chaos protest, releasing waves of energy that buffeted her, trying to shatter her bones or throw her away to stop her actions. Despite the pain that she was being put through, Sunset was not going to stop, not until the Box was closed.

“CLOSE YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!! FUCKING CLOSE!!!”

Another blast from the Box force Sunset out her Legacy form and returned her to her the default state.

}}} Sunset, if you hang on any longer it will break you down into nothingness! {{{

If I don’t do this, the entire city and the world will be reduced to nothing! Sunset argued. Guys give me a hand; I need your strength!

The ghostly images of Tomoe, Atalanta, Fang, and Mulan appeared beside Sunset, each of them looked to one another and then focused on the Box. With a collective battle cry they pushed on the lid, and little by little it was closing. The light of chaos was diminishing, the chaotic effects lessening as the glaives of twisted earth returned to normal, the rides and stalls that remained standing unwound and were once again the whimsically designed structures they once were.

Further away, Fluttershy and Tempest noticed a change in the two avatars, they seemed to be struggling, growling, and roaring as if in pain. The hold of Pandora’s Box on reality was starting to ebb away and return things back to their natural state, however, Sunset looked up and was starting to see the faint image of the incoming meteor. “DAMN YOU, CLOSE!!!!”

More and more the Box closed until it was an inch from shutting. The energy waves came stronger and harsher, threatening to rip Sunset apart on a molecular level. With one final burst of united strength, Pandora’s Box was shut. Upon the closing of Pandora’s Box three things happened, first an enormous shockwave blasted out in all directions, leveling the remainder of the structures in the area, and quite frankly, throughout the entire park. The second thing was that the Ember and Glacier Stones were jettisoned from the top of the Box, both gemstones streaked through the air and found their homes in the chests of their rightful owners.

The third thing showed itself when Sunset looked up, the giant meteor suddenly changed course and streaked past the Earth. Sunset rose to her feet and looked down at the box that contained pandemonium itself, and to the now naked woman who sought revenge. With a sigh, Sunset walked over to her enemy and picked her up, cradling Adagio in her arms, and with her Witchblade armor, she created chains that wrapped themselves around Pandora’s Box.

The eldest Siren stirred awake, she looked weak and drained, so much so that she didn’t really care that she was without clothing, or that she was in the arms of her most hated enemy. Tears flowed down the Siren’s eyes as she wept at what her actions had wrought. “I’m sorry…”

Sunset clenched her jaw, she wanted to berate Adagio, call her a fool, tell her that she was the worse thing to ever exist. Instead, she released a heavy sigh through her nose and asked, “Do you still want to go back to Equestria?”

Adagio looked up at her archenemy, eyes wide with shock and disbelief at what she heard. “You…You’re not serious, are you? After everything that’s happened…w-why?”

“What good is hating you going to do, I could’ve killed you. I wanted to kill because your actions cost the life of one my friends.” Adagio had a look of shame on her face the moment she heard that. “But what good does that do me, does anyone? I kill you for revenge, then your sisters will want revenge on me, they end up killing another of my friends, and then I in turn kill them. It’s a cycle, and it only stops when someone let’s go. So, better that you face justice in Equestria than rot here on Earth in a jail cell.”

Adagio, for her part, smiled pitifully at Sunset’s words. “That’s fine…I just…I just want to go home…”

Tempest and Fluttershy were still restraining their targets, however, when the saw the light diminishing, and that the avatars of fire and ice were struggling less and less against their efforts to subdue them, they backed away to see what would happen. Unfortunately, that’s when the shockwave started to roll on towards them.

“Oh no!” Fluttershy exclaimed.

“Hang on!” Tempest stated as she wrapped Fluttershy in her tendrils and dove straight into her shadow.

The ground was upheaved and broken from the shockwave, fracturing several parts of the pavement, and causing a great deal of destruction all around. However, the two behemoths still stood. When the gemstones were reunited with their original wielders, Sunset and Indigo were stripped of their elemental forms and were returned to their primal forms, but soon after they reverted to their powered forms, and after that, they were back to their normal states.

Sunset and Indigo were on their hands and knees, panting from their experience of being controlled by Pandora’s Box. After a few seconds, Indigo and Sunset got back to their feet, staring at one another, but Indigo had a more panicked expression on her face.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS ALL THAT???!!!” Indigo shouted.

Sunset put her hand to her head, still reeling from the effects. “What’s it look like?! We were controlled by Pandora’s Box, we became its defacto guardians to keep its chaos from being stopped! Thankfully, it looks like Sis managed to stop it all…thank god.”

“This is crazy! I didn’t sign up for this shit! All I wanted was to break whatever fucking spell you have over Twilight, not be some dark magic monster!” Indigo looked at her Glacier Stone and with a growl took it off. “HERE!” Indigo held out the Glacier Stone towards Sunset. “Take the damn thing!”

Sunset raised an eyebrow as she approached Indigo. “Just like that? You’re giving up your magical trump card? The only thing you have that could possibly make you a match against me, and you’re just giving it up?!” Indigo glowered at Sunset, but her expression spoke of great displeasure fear of the item. Sunset carefully took the Glacier Stone from Indigo’s outstretched arm with her left hand and examined the Artifact, feeling a bit of elation that she had just gotten her hands on yet another piece to the puzzle. “So, I take it that you’re also giving up on Twilight?”

Indigo gave Sunset and indignant glare as she retorted, “FUCK NO! Just because I’m handing over that cursed piece of jewelry, doesn’t mean I’m giving up on the person I love! I don’t know how, or when, but somehow I will get Twilight back from you!”

Sunset sighed heavily as she shook her head in pity. “I was really hoping you wouldn’t say that………Oh who the hell am I kidding, I was totally hoping you would.” Sunset’s right hand was wrapped in flames, and with it, she swiftly stabbed her whole arm through Indigo’s chest.

“GAAGGH!!!” Indigo managed to get out as she stared down in shock at what Sunset had done to her. “You…You…bitch…!!!”

“I told you I would kill you before this day was over, Indigo. You’re a threat to Twilight’s mental and physical health, I can’t allow someone like you to continue to torment her.” Sunset leaned forward until she was in Indigo’s face, looking her right in the eyes. “You’re a monster to her, with or without this Artifact, you’ll always be a monster!”

“……If……I’m a monster……what does……that……make……you…?” Those were Indigo’s last words before her life finally slipped away and her body went limp.

Sunset removed her arm, letting the body fall to the ground unceremoniously. The wound was cauterized so no blood flowed from the hole in Indigo’s chest, she looked down upon the body of the, now, former abuser and star athlete of Crystal Prep and answered her dying question, “What am I? I’m just a girl who wants to make everything right, and in the process……will do anything she has to do to see her wish come true…even become a monster.”

Requiem for a Siren

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Sunset had gone to find her little sister after everything was done, and found her with the Glacier Stone in hand, down on one knee panting heavily, and the girl known as Indigo Zap lying dead on the ground. The Keeper of the Balance had gone to retrieve the Blood Sword and Pandora’s Box, both of which were held in chains from her armor.

“Sun, what happened?” Sunset asked.

Sun looked up and sighed in relief. “Oh, Sis…thank god you’re alive.” Her gaze fell to the dead Indigo Zap and said, “After we came out of it, Indigo was still hellbent on fighting me, and she…she threatened to hurt Twilight if I didn’t give up! She lunged for my Ember Stone, guess she thought she could grab it and use it, but during the struggle, I managed to slip her Glacier Stone off her…unfortunately, I reacted quicker than I did and stabbed her with my hand…”

Sunset looked upon the dead body of the girl who had abused the doppelganger of her best friend, she knew she should feel some kind of pity for Indigo, but she didn’t. There was no helping her, with or without the Glacier Stone, she was still a threat to Twilight’s wellbeing. “You did what you had to do, Sun. If anything, she sounds just like Suri, some people are just…irredeemable.”

The younger Sunset nodded and noticed the naked girl in her arms. “Can I assume that that’s the one responsible for all of this mess?”

Sunset nodded.

“And she’s still alive?” Sun asked.

“She’s weak, I’ve used the Witchblade’s power to heal her several times on the way here. But somehow she’s still weak…I think Pandora’s Box took more out of her than we think.” Sunset looked around and asked, “Where are Tempest and Fluttershy? They were trying to keep you two pinned down!”

Sun shrugged as she looked around herself. “Don’t know, when I came too, it was only me and Indigo. They might’ve bailed seeing as how much destruction was caused. Anyway, let’s get out of here, we have a lot do.”

“…Yeah…”

Sun assumed her fire form and both girls flew out of the park. After a couple of minutes flight time, they arrived at where the RV was, and thankfully, Fluttershy and Tempest were there waiting. Unfortunately, Sunset had to see the saddened faces of Pinkie Pie and Twilight, now seeing Applejack’s dead body for the first. Sunset glanced to her right, hearing a gasp as she saw Sun change back to her normal form.

“Is that…Is that Applejack…?”

An idea struck Sunset as she remembered Sun’s explanation of her power. “Sun, can you use your power to bring her back?! You said the Ember Stone holds the Flame of Life! Can it bring her back?!”

Hope sparked in the faces of the teens, but it did not show in Sun’s. “I…I can’t…She’s been gone too long. The flame can only reach out to those who have the will to continue living. If I was there when she died and tried to call out to her, I might’ve been able to save her. But…after this long…I’m sorry, she’s in a place I’m not allowed to tread.”

Twilight walked over to her girlfriend and gave her a hug, both out of joy for seeing her alive and sympathy, she could see the look on her girlfriend’s face, it spoke of regret. “I’m happy you’re okay. Um…w-what happened to Indigo?”

Sun hugged Twilight back and answered, “I’m sorry…I had to break my promise to you, Sparky. She…She was still trying to fight, and came close to getting me if I hadn’t…”

Twilight didn’t know how to feel just then, Indigo Zap was dead. Her rapist, her stalker, was dead. Part of her did feel happy that she no longer had to fear Indigo’s presence or touch, and yet, it all felt so surreal, unfortunately, whatever feelings that Twilight had over the news was overshadowed by the fact that she had just lost one of her newest friends.

Fluttershy was crying, but she was also praying over her friend. Sunset hoped that the god of this world would hear her prayers, she didn’t know if Applejack’s actions with her older brother was grounds for her to go…down there…but if Fluttershy, the descendant of the Savior, was praying and asking God to allow Applejack entry, to see her parents again, then maybe there was hope.

“DAGI!” The two younger Sirens exclaimed as they rushed over to Sunset.

“Let’s go inside the RV, we don’t need people seeing this.” Sunset brought Adagio inside the RV, with Sonata, Aria, and Tempest coming in behind her. She walked further inside until she they arrived at the bedroom, upon which Sunset set Adagio down.

Sunset exited the room to allow the three sisters time to themselves, before she left, Sunset saw a bathrobe. The former unicorn mare took the robe off the hanger and deactivated her armor, casually saying to the Sirens, “I’m borrowing this.”

The mohawked woman crossed her arms as she leaned against a shelf and sighed through her nose with unease. “So, what happens now?”

“……” Sunset thought for a moment, and then said, “I hate to ask, but can you make sure that Applejack’s body is taken to the proper people?”

Tempest nodded. “Don’t worry, kid. I’ll make sure she’s treated like a priceless gemstone; you have my word. Now, what are we going to do with them,” she asked, tossing a thumb towards the bedroom.

“I’m taking them back to my world, they’ll face Equestrian justice.”

Tempest raised an eyebrow. “Huh, not too sure how I feel about that. Considering how many people they killed, not to mention the amount of destruction that was caused by them.”

Sunset dragged her hands down her face as she groaned. “I know, I know…but what are you going to do?! They don’t have any records, same as me, they don’t have any form of ID! If they find out what they are, then they’ll experiment on them!”

The OSOD agent couldn’t really deny that, as supernatural beings, her agency would more than likely take them into custody and either incarcerate them, or experiment on them, or most likely both. “Point taken…Fine, and while we’re at it, there’s the issue of those Artifacts outside.”

Sunset already knew what to do with those. “Yeah, they’re coming with me.”

“Pardon?”

“You didn’t think I was going to let you guys take them?” Sunset asked.

Tempest placed her hands on her hips and gave Sunset a serious look. “Sunset, those things are dangerous. I’ll take them to a place in the OSOD where they’ll be locked down hard, in a place that nothing short of the mother of all nukes could get to them.”

Sunset crossed her arms and replied, “In all honesty, I trust you, but I don’t trust the people you work for. If there’s one thing that I have learned in my time here on Earth, it’s that humans have a penchant for screwing the pooch when it comes to messing with forces that they shouldn’t. I should know, I screwed with a magical artifact from my world and brought it here.”

“Okay, so where are you going to hide them?” Tempest asked.

“With me, at Sun’s mansion. We already have the containers for both the Angelus and the Darkness there. You can’t deny that they’re much safer there with me and Sun. My backup plan, if that doesn’t work, is to bring them to Equestria and ask Princess Twilight if she can stash them somewhere,” Sunset explained. “I’m not budging on this Special Agent Tempest, and please do not argue with me, I just lost one of my friends and I’m dealing with too many emotions right now to get into an argument about it…”

Tempest sighed again, the last thing she wanted to do was force the teen into making more tough decisions after everything that had happened today. “Okay, I’ll keep it on the down low back at HQ, but I want an update the moment you get those things secured.”

Sunset held out her right hand for a handshake, to which Tempest reciprocated. “You have my word…and thank you.”

Princess Twilight paced the library as she waited, glancing at the glowing portal every ten seconds as she awaited the arrival of her friend, Sunset Shimmer. Part of her didn’t want to believe what Sunset wrote down, all the horrible things that happened on the other side, and then…Applejack’s death…Just thinking about it made Twilight’s eyes glisten with tears, the feeling of loss was great, despite knowing that the Applejack of her world was alive and well, the teenage human Applejack was like her in almost every way, so the pain of loss was just as impactful as if she had lost the Applejack in her world.

Just then there was a reaction from the portal, a flash of light went off as two beings exited and landed a few feet away from the portal. The first was Sunset Shimmer, having regained her unicorn form, however, there were some differences. For one thing, a black armor had wrapped itself around her body, her mane and tail had a metallic sheen to them and seemed as if it they were made of metal. Sunset’s horn was wrapped in a protective armor, while the rest of the armor seemed to accentuate her curves and draw attention towards her…ahem…plot. Another thing that was odd was the color of her eyes, they reminded Twilight of the time when Sunset had transformed into that demonic state after putting on the Element of Magic.

Chains were coming out of the armor that wiggled around like serpents, two of them, both of which were connected to the portal. With a gulp, Twilight spoke, “Um…S-Sunset…is that you?”

Sunset glanced over to her right and smiled upon seeing her friend. “Hey, Twilight. Yeah, it’s me, sorry for freaking you out like this, it’s just that I needed to make sure not to jostle Adagio around too much, so I transformed and wrapped some chains around her like a lifeline. Oh – one sec – here she comes!”

No sooner had Sunset said those words did the portal flash again, and from it came out a…Earth pony mare? Not long after Adagio’s exiting did two more Earth pony mares stumble out of the portal, landing atop the other.

“Huh…I…Uh…I did not see that coming,” said Twilight.

“I thought you guys were supposed to be more…monstrous looking,”

Aria got up first, her mane was still in its twin tail style, with a violet coat and a cutie mark that had a star with a forte symbol behind it. “That’s because we can change our bodies at will, we are called Sirens after all.”

Sonata got up and added, “Yeah, sometimes we fly around like this.” Sonata’s body glowed a sky-blue color and a moment later, she was in the large half-equine and half-aquatic creature that was their true form. “And other times, when we want to sneak around, we just change into ponies.” Sonata reverted to a pony form to finish her point.

“Before you ask, no, we can’t change into unicorns or pegasi, for one thing, we can’t use magic like you, so other ponies would look at us funny if we didn’t use our horns. We can fly, but we don’t exactly know the way you ponies fly with wings, so we’d look out of place. Hence, the Earth pony disguises.”

Sunset gently placed Adagio down on the floor, letting her hooves touch down. The moment she did, Adagio was flanked by Aria and Sonata who helped to keep her standing.

“And besides, who’s going to suspect a trio of young Earth pony mares? Back in those times, this tribe was looked down upon by the other tribes, so it made it all too easy to slip in and out wherever we pleased…” Adagio looked at her hooves and brushed them through her mane. “By the seas, it feels so good to be back…”

Princess Twilight stood before the three Siren sisters, spreading her wings and giving them a cross look. All three sisters finally took notice and realized that, unlike back on Earth, where Twilight had no access to her alicorn magic, here, in Equestria, she had all the power. And with the destruction of their gemstones, they were essentially powerless to stop her should the young alicorn seek retribution, even they weren’t stupid enough to take on an alicorn, at least not without having consumed enough negative energy to attempt it.

“Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, Sonata Dusk, I have been told of your recent transgressions on Earth. How your actions have – yours in particular Adagio Dazzle – have cost the life of countless innocents, and almost ended the world. You also ended the life of one of my friends…” Twilight snorted, trying keep a crying fit from starting. “Sunset has informed me that you’re willing to subject yourself to my judgement and sentencing, but truthfully…my emotions are most likely to skew that judgement. So, I will place you under arrest here in my castle, and we will then make the journey to Canterlot Castle, where you three will be judged before myself, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna.”

Adagio sighed. “Fair enough…I only ask if there is a lake nearby could we……we…I’m feeling really dizzy…”

The light-yellow mare slumped against Sonata, causing both sisters to freak out.

“HEY, SIS, WHAT’S WRONG?!” Aria asked.

“Are you hurt?!”

Adagio, on weak legs, managed to correct herself. “I…I feel very weak…I-I don’t know why? It was an exhausting experience, but…this tiredness has lingered.”

Twilight gave the lead Siren a curious look as she took another step forward. “Adagio, would you allow me to scan you with my magic?”

Adagio looked to Sunset, who had her armor deactivated, and nodded to the Siren. “Very well…”

Twilight’s horn lit up, it then released a thin layer of light that swiped up and down Adagio’s body about ten times before stopping. Once the scan was complete, Twilight’s expression of curiosity turned into one of shock. “Oh…my…”

“What?!” Sunset asked. “What’s wrong?!”

Twilight glanced back and forth between the Siren sisters and Sunset, and after a pregnant pause, she told them, “Adagio…I don’t know how…but…your life force, it’s been drastically drained.”

Aria’s brow rose from that statement. “What the hell do you mean, ‘been drastically drained’?! She doesn’t have a scratch on her!”

Sunset stamped her hoof against the floor as she muttered, “Pandora’s Box…” She then looked up at the Sirens and said, “Pandora’s Box must’ve done this, some kind of curse to the one who opens the box should they have the strength of will to close it, or if someone else closes it…”

Sonata looked to the alicorn Princess and asked, “C-Can’t you just give her some magic?! Charge her up like a battery?!”

“Magic isn’t the same as somepony’s life force. Magic can be recovered, it can be whittled down to near nonexistence if overused, but it can recover. Life force, the very driving energy of all living things, is finite, and not replenishable unless one uses extraordinary magical means…Right now, Adagio, your life force is very low, which is why you’re feeling so weak despite your recovery,” Twilight explained.

“T-There must be something–?!”

“Quiet!” Adagio ordered, making Aria clamp up. “……How long do I have?”

A hard light board appeared before Twilight, she wrote out some calculations, creasing her brow as her brain went to work figuring it out. Sunset joined next to Twilight, adding her own expertise here and there as they both worked to figure it out. After a minute of calculating, both mares arrived at the same unfortunate conclusion.

Sunset looked to Adagio with a grim expression. “You have twenty-four hours from now…”

Sunset sat with Twilight in her throne room, she stared in awe of the holographic map of Equestria. Twilight had just gotten through explaining how the map functioned, and Sunset had to admit, she was impressed. “I can’t believe this thing actually sends you out on missions to fix friendship problems. You’ve come a long way, Twilight.” Sunset looked down at the map, more specifically, at the mountain which held Canterlot. “Much further than I ever will.”

“Sunset, what are you saying? You’ve saved the human world, by means which…I’ll be honest…I don’t think I could go through. I believe in the Magic of Friendship, and it’s power to bring about resolutions that doesn’t end with the taking of a life.”

Sunset winced, remembering the lives that she had taken with the Witchblade, evil though they were.

“However, the human world’s magic apparently operates on a different set of rules. I never knew it possessed such powerful magical artifacts such as your Witchblade and given how immensely dangerous the creatures you’ve faced have been, you’ve done what you needed to do,” said Twilight. “You have nothing to be ashamed of, Princess Celestia is proud of you.”

That caused Sunset’s heart rate to spike. “S-She’s not here…is she?”

Twilight shook her head, “No, she’s in Canterlot right now. Sunset…are you…afraid of seeing her?”

Sunset rubbed the back of her head as she let out a long sigh. “I didn’t leave under the best circumstances, Twi…I pretty much told her to go to hell before leaving her and everything she ever taught me behind, like it was nothing. She may say she’s proud of me, and I believe that, but you can’t just erase the hurt I must’ve caused her when I did leave.”

“You should go see her now that you’re back, I think she’d like that.” Twilight placed her hoof on Sunset’s shoulder in a show of reassurance.

“I will…but not today. There’s somepony else who needs attending to.” Sunset placed her right hoof over Twilight’s hoof and asked, “How are you holding up?”

Twilight sniffled as she remembered the news. “I’m…I’m still trying to process it. Applejack being dead, it hurts, but at the same time, I can see Applejack any time I want…If anything, what happened to her on Earth, it just makes me want to cherish my time with them all the more. I had to fight the urge to teleport to AJ’s farm and just hug her and never let her go.”

“I kinda wish I could do that,” said Sunset.

“You know…I could take you to her, it might not be the same, but…”

“Later…”

Sunset gently removed Twilight’s hoof and walked out of the throne room, she proceeded down one of the hallways and headed towards the room where Adagio was resting in. Sonata and Aria were sitting outside of it, their eyes red from the crying they had done not long ago, and probably had been doing since. Sunset stopped at the door and asked, “How’s she doing?”

“…Okay…she’s not angry or anything…And she said she wanted to talk to you…If you wanted to?” Sonata asked.

Sunset nodded and then knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

The unicorn mare opened the door with her magic and once inside, closed it again. Adagio had been given a room with a window, allowing her to look out into the world. She laid sitting up with the blankets covering half her body, her gaze was trained on the window as she continued to stare out into the land she had wanted to return to for a thousand years.

“It’s ironic, we used to siphon off negative energy in order to live as long as we had, and now, something that fed on my negative energy has nearly robbed me of all my life,” Adagio commented.

Sunset sat beside the edge of Adagio’s bed and said, “It’s most likely due to the fact that you still had some lingering magic from your gemstones when you absorbed the magic of my friends. If it wasn’t for that, I think you would’ve died on the spot.”

Adagio chuckled dryly. “I don’t know whether to be grateful or resentful for that. I guess you won’t be able to see me stand trail for my crimes, but I guess this is a fitting punishment all the same. All my sins have finally caught up with me, a thousand lifetimes of mistakes have all collected their penance from me, and the change they left was a day to live. Did you come here to tell me you’re going to execute me?”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “No, I’m not here to ‘execute’ you.”

“You know, we weren’t always like this. My sisters and me. We were born to a loving family, a mother and father. One day, a swarm of sharks swam through our colony. They ravaged everything, many of our Hippocampi tried to fight them off, but in the end, the three of us were the only survivors. Another Hippocampi colony sent a rescue team to help survivors, but they only found us.”

“We were taken to this other colony, but we had no other family who could care for us. Eventually, we ended up on the streets. Sonata was still a ditz even back then and Aria had, has, some anger management issues. Everyone wanted me though, although all three of us had beautiful voices, I was the only one who had the grace and ‘potential’ for being taken in by as a prime mate, while my sisters were destined for lesser things.”

Adagio scowled at the memory. “We had lost everything, I wasn’t about to lose my sisters, so we went on the run. Survived how we could, and eventually, we found an ancient temple of the Hippocampi, a dark place that our ancestors had wanted to keep hidden from the world, but we found it, almost as if destiny had taken us there. We took the gemstones, infused them into our bodies, and from then on, our voices, our song, was our greatest power. We fed off negative emotions, growing stronger with each land village we passed through.”

The lead Siren chuckled feebly when she remembered the plans she had made with her sisters. “I promised Aria and Sonata that if we continued on that way, we could carve out our own place to live. Rule the ponies of the land and show everycreature that we were not to be underestimated, or thrown away, we were to be – all three of us – adored and revered! And then Star Swirl threw us into the human world…” Adagio changed her view from the window to the ceiling as she moved her right foreleg to her forehead.

“Every decision I made was to protect them, I don’t regret what I did.”

Sunset’s jaw tightened, her nostrils flared and gave a snort of anger at her declaration.

“However……the death of your friend was not part of my plan…” Adagio confessed, she then looked to Sunset, noticing her angered expression and asked, “Did you mean it when you said you went looking for us? That you wanted to help us?”

Sunset sighed heavily as she gave Adagio a hard look. “Yes, I did. I wanted to help you three, because I knew just how devasting it feels to lose your magic. I didn’t want to leave you three in the lurch, but before I could help you, you vanished without a trace.”

“Tch, yet another grand decision I made……dammit, it’s like I can’t help but make bad decisions.”

“What was your plan, originally?” Sunset asked.

Adagio raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think you want to know.”

“You’re confessing this much to me already, might as well bare it all.”

The yellow earth pony couldn’t argue with that, she was going to die soon one way or another, and it wasn’t as if Sunset couldn’t get any angrier than she was now. “Very well…My original plan was to threaten you with Pandora’s Box, you would surrender yourself to me, and then I’d take you to someplace remote where I would put you through all manner of sexual tortures, that was mostly stemmed from how my sisters and I have had to whore ourselves these last few months in order to survive. Then I’d offer you an ultimatum to make me stop, which was to tell me how you came to Equestria and to show us how to get back. Once you had, I was going to leave you, used and abused, but alive, and somewhere where your friends could find you quick enough. And then we’d scurry off into Equestria and live the rest of our lives there.”

Sunset’s face turned red. “You were going to sexually torture me?!”

“I’ll be frank, I do find you attractive for a human, and just as much as a pony. So, part of that may’ve been mostly my own sexual frustration coming into play, since there was no other Equestrians in that world, you were the only other one that I could probably get enjoyment from,” Adagio confessed.

Sunset gave her a deadpan expression. “If that’s your way of asking me to fuck you before you bite it, then you’re wasting your time.”

The lead Siren chuckled and replied, “Oh well, a fantasy it will remain…”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Sunset asked as she stood on all fours. “Is this your way of asking forgiveness?! Or are you trying to justify all your actions up until now?!”

“No…No I think I’m beyond forgiveness after what happened. I had planned to double cross Indigo and Suri, they were deeper into their own darkness than I was, and I didn’t want to risk having them follow us to Equestria or kill my sisters. I underestimated how powerful our magical artifacts were, and it cost the life of your friend.” Adagio turned her body to the left to face Sunset. “I just want somepony to know why I did all that I did, not just my sisters, they know, I say this because I want them to live.”

Sunset briefly glanced over her shoulder to the door, where Aria and Sonata waited. “You really care about them that much.”

“I do, they are my family, even if they irritate and annoy me to no end.”

“I can relate to that, the other me, Sun, she sees me as a big sister, and I see her as my little sister. We’ve only known each other for a month or so, but I’d do anything to protect her,” Sunset confessed.

That made Adagio smile a bit. “Sunset Shimmer, I don’t have the right, but may I make one request?”

Sunset nodded in the affirmative.

“Please ask if Princess Twilight can take us to the ocean. I’ve longed to swim in the waters of Equestria again, and if I am to die, I want to die as a Hippocampus.”

Sunset thought back to the map of Equestria, the closest body of water would be the Celestial Sea off to the East, but that would take too long by train to get there. By the time they did arrive, Adagio would be dead long before she even got close enough to smell the salty sea air. “I’ll talk to Princess Twilight and see if there’s a way to accommodate that request. No promises though.”

“I don’t expect much, but thank you anyway,” said Adagio in a grateful tone. “Can you have my sisters come in; I’d like to be with them as much as possible.”

Sunset nodded and went to the door; she opened it with her magic and told the two Sirens to go to their big sister. Without hesitating, they entered the room and Sunset closed the doors behind her. Sunset could understand why Adagio did all that she did, of course she didn’t condone it, hell, her friend paid the price for Adagio’s foolish actions, but in the end, all she wanted was to come back home and protect her family.

“Guess I better talk to Twilight…”

Sunset had fallen asleep in the library along with Princess Twilight, the duo had spent most of the day and night figuring out the best way to get the Sirens back to the sea. Taking them there via train was an option, but anything other than express wouldn’t get there in time before Adagio’s time was up. Spike walked into the library holding a couple cups of coffee, the little drake set the tray on the open spot on the table in front of them and handed one to Sunset.

The unicorn mare took the cup into her magical grasp and took a sip of the brew. “Thanks, Spike.”

“No problem, how’s it going?” Spike asked.

“Well…the best we can figure, we’ll need to teleport them there. Which will be tricky as teleporting oneself is a fairly simple feat, along with transporting a second passenger.”

Spike chuckled, “Yep, I can attest to that.”

Sunset chuckled as well, wondering how many times Twilight had teleported around with Spike in tow. “That being said, teleportation with multiple passengers can be dangerous unless you’re either well versed in translocation magic or have a vast mana reserve.”

Spike scratched at the back of his head as he thought, “Wait, but aren’t you both pretty smart when it comes to magic? And since Twilight became an alicorn, she’s got a lot more magic than before.”

“Both true, but I don’t want Twilight to take on the full brunt of teleporting all five of us to the Celestial Sea. So, we’ve been working on calculations and measuring my mana output so I can contribute to the spell,” Sunset explained. “And I think we got it down where we can land somewhere along here.”

Spike looked as Sunset pointed to a spot near Horseshoe Bay, next to that map was a topography map that showed the elevations of the earth around that area, along with scribbled on magical formulae and mathematical numbers that might as well have been a whole other language to Spike. “Sunset, not to be the plothole here, but why are you doing this for them? Twilight told me what…what happened to Applejack over there, along with all the other stuff that Adagio did with that weird box thing.”

Sunset sighed as she stared at the brown liquid swirling in her mug. “What else am I supposed to do, Spike? Put her on trial? She’ll be dead long before that. Kill her myself? What good would that do me or anypony else when she’s going to die in a few hours anyway? Throw her in a prison cell? Again, dead in a few hours. She’s already about to pay the price for her actions, what use is there in beating a dead horse? No pun intended.”

Spike sighed as she leaned against the table. “I get what you’re saying…but…I still feel…angry, angry and sad and…and I don’t know what else to do about it.”

Sunset put down the coffee mug and walked around the table to sit next to Spike. The unicorn mare brought the drake into a one-legged hug and rested her chin atop his head. “Well, the first part is admitting how you feel, the second part is telling somepony about it. And it’s okay to feel that way.”

“I also feel…ashamed. Because the girls in your world don’t have Applejack anymore, but I can take a walk and see her at Sweet Apple Acres any time I want…” Spike sniffled.

“……Things won’t be easy when I go back. If I’m being honest, I’m really fighting the urge to just stay here.” Sunset took a deep breath and let out in a long sigh. “But I still have friends back there, a sister I adore, a girlfriend I love, a human version of Princess Celestia that’s welcomed me as her daughter. And there’s also my partner here.” Sunset nodded towards the bracelet that was on her right foreleg. “He chose me to keep the balance of the world, and that’s a duty I’ll keep doing.”

“You know, you’re cooler than any of the Power Pony heroes,” Spike commented.

Sunset used her left hoof to give the young drake a noogie as she said, “And don’t you forget it!”

During this talk, Twilight had been listening and smiled contently had how much Sunset had grown since the last time she came to the human world. She had suffered for a period of time, it was almost to the point that Twilight was seriously about to jump through the portal and give everyone at CHS as piece of her mind, failing that, she was going to bring Sunset Shimmer back to Equestria and never have her return to a place that would so easily throw away their friendship. But then this whole business with the Witchblade occurred.

At first, Twilight wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not. From Sunset’s descriptions, it sounded almost sinister in nature, but with each telling of her adventures and what the purpose of the Artifact was, Twilight started to think that perhaps it was destiny that Sunset was to go to the human world. Out of all the people in that world, the Witchblade appeared to Sunset, and only Sunset. Perhaps the Earth needed its ancient protector back, and felt Sunset was the best candidate despite being from another world. Maybe it was that fact that made her a better candidate?

Twilight had to admit, she really wanted to study the Artifact, to find out how such a simple looking trinket was able to manifest into that armor she saw not too long ago and perform all the feats that Sunset had described in her journal entries. Twilight didn’t want to say this out loud, for fear of invoking some kind of ancient jinx, but she contemplated that the Witchblade might be more powerful than Princess Celestia, heck, she was even willing to bet bits that it was as powerful as the Tree of Harmony and the Elements.

However, something did worry her, especially based off these latest events. It seemed that Canterlot City was attracting one powerful mystical Artifact after the other, and it was feeling less of a coincidence and more like a powerful force was guiding them all there. Twilight wished she could do more research on the ancient magic and history of Earth, she was so certain that that world had no magic, and yet, here it was, hidden, and now out for others to see. In a way, it was probably a good thing that both she and Sunset did not discover this until much later. Twilight shuddered to think what Sunset would be capable of if she was still the same pony she was when she first met her.

Twilight decided to stop pretending to be asleep and yawned to indicate her stirring. The young princess smacked her lips and said, “Morning Sunset, morning Spike.”

“Morning Twi,” said Sunset, she then giggled and added, “Nice bedhead.”

Twilight had a confused look and then teleported a mirror in front of her and frowned. “Ugh, why does my mane always do this?! I wasn’t even sleeping in my bed!”

“Better than falling asleep in your breakfast,” Spike commented.

That caught Sunset’s attention. “Oh, hold up, she actually fell asleep in her breakfast?”

“Yeah, it was back when she first got the castle, she tried to spend as much time out of it as possible. So much so, that during a pancake breakfast with the girls, Twilight was snoozing in her pancakes, and when she woke up, she said, ‘I’m pancake’!” Spike recalled.

Sunset started laughing as the mental image of the alicorn with pancakes on her face proclaiming such a thing stuck in her mind, for Twilight she was blushing as the embarrassment of that episode had yet to completely leave her memory.

“Okay, okay, it wasn’t that funny,” Twilight huffed.

“Eh, it was a little funny,” said Spike.

“Not helping!”

Sunset’s laughing fit soon subsided, she then glanced at the clock in the room and noticed that it was time to put their plan into motion. “C’mon, let’s get to work.”

Adagio had woken up a little earlier than either of her sisters, thankfully, the room that Princess Twilight had given her had a large bed big enough to accommodate the three of them. Which was a good thing as neither Sonata or Aria felt like leaving her side, both were currently sleeping on either side of Adagio, huddled close like they used to be back in the ocean, and when they were on Earth for the first time.

The eldest Siren knew that her time was coming very soon, but at least she was back in Equestria, she and her sisters were back home. Their time would probably be spent locked away in a dungeon somewhere to pay for Adagio’s crimes, something that she wished she could take from them. But serving time was not an option, execution was pointless, banishment……that made Adagio’s heart race with fear. What if Princess Twilight consulted the other Princesses of Equestria and found that the only suitable punishment for them was to banish the Sirens back to the world they hated so much. For Adagio it would be pointless, but for her sisters it was a real possibility, even if she couldn’t be punished her crimes, there was nothing saying that that couldn’t be foisted onto her little sisters.

Adagio turned her head to the right to look at Sonata, she was always a cute little thing, if they hadn’t gone down the path they had, she imagined Sonata would be a sweet girlfriend to whatever male or female was lucky enough to garner her attention, and an even sweeter wife and mother to her children. Such a thing was still a possibility as Sonata still possessed some childlike naïveté, but also possessed some level of maturity to understand certain things.

The older Siren then turned her head to the left and looked upon Aria. The cantankerous Siren was cute when she was sleeping and looked at peace. She worried a bit more for Aria, she was always a fighter, always willing to butt heads with others if she believed her way was the right way. But underneath all that, Adagio knew that it was all just to keep from showing weakness, Aria never allowed herself to feel vulnerable or open herself up to other beings. There was a time, a long, long time ago, in the human world, where Aria did find a young human male that she had grown fond of.

This male found her abrasive attitude to be more an attractive quality than a turn off, which threw Aria off her game as usually many were put off by her aggression. However, disaster happened, and the young man was killed, and Aria forced herself into never wanting to be that close to anyone other than her sisters. A couple of centuries later, Aria found herself infatuated with another human, this time a young woman. Just like the male before, this human found Aria’s aggressiveness and brashness more a selling point than a detriment. However, unlike before, Aria did not lose this lover to disaster, it was Aria herself who ended it.

When Adagio asked why, Aria responded, “What’s the point in doing anything more with these humans? We’ll outlive them, and at some point, they’re going to wonder why I haven’t aged since the first time we met. Plus, it’s not like I can give them any children even if I wanted to. At best, they’re just good to break up the boredom from time to time.”

Adagio knew that Aria did want to be loved, not just familial love, that she had, she wanted romantic love. Thanks to their Siren dark magic, they could manipulate anyone into adoring and worshipping them as goddesses, but that was just empty. Adagio could see that Aria craved someone that she could say truly loved her for herself, not because of the magic, and be happy with them. In an ironic twist of fate, perhaps losing their dark magic was the best thing to happen them, now it meant Aria was free to be with anypony she wanted and not fear outliving that lover.

When Adagio thought about all this, she began to cry bitterly as her ears folded against her skull. This stirred Sonata and Aria from sleep, making them look upon her with concerned expressions.

“Dagi, what’s wrong?!” Sonata asked.

“Are you hurting?!” Aria queried.

“No…I’ve just realized how terrible a sister I’ve been to you both…”

The younger Sirens shook their heads in disbelief at what Adagio said.

“What are you talking about?! We’re alive because of you!” Aria stated.

“Yeah, without you, we’d be dead a long time ago,” said Sonata.

Adagio wiped her eyes and looked at them in turn, “But I never gave you what you needed! Yes, we survived, but by the skin of our teeth! You two never got to live your lives…to love…to grow…all you have done is follow me because that’s all you knew! All we had! I never looked to the positive, never looked to the brighter side, instead I hung onto my bitterness, anger, and hate for our fate, and forced you both to do everything I wanted and needed you to do without considering what you needed to become better…”

Sonata got closer to Adagio and nuzzled her cheek. “Dagi, without you, I’d have probably been taken advantage of, used and abused, and whatever else. You made me think better about what I do before I do it, and to look at everything before just jumping right in.”

Aria took Adagio’s left hoof into her own and squeezed it. “And how many times have you kept me from losing my cool and messing us up?! I know I can be pissy and aggressive, but without you putting me in my place again and again, I would’ve put us in deep shit more than once! Plus…because of that, I can finally tamp down my anger on my own, and not drive everyone away from me.”

“Dagi, you’re didn’t fail us as a big sister, you did the best you could with what we had.”

“Don’t ever think anything different, or I’ll smack you upside the head! And you know how much that’s going to hurt now that I have hooves again!”

Adagio chuckled at the empty threat, her heart swelling with the love that she had from both her sisters. “Thank you, girls…”

A knock came at the door before it opened and revealed both Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Aria scowled a little and asked, “What do you want?”

Sunset ignored the scowl she was getting from Aria and looked at Adagio directly. “So, do you think you’re strong enough to take a swim?”

Aria, Sonata, and Adagio sat up with wide eyes.

“Y-You don’t mean…?” Adagio gasped.

Princess Twilight stood next to Sunset and said, “We’ve figured out a way to teleport all five of us to Horseshoe Bay, which will allow you to take a dip in the waters. The only condition we ask is that you don’t swim too far away from us, if something happens, we want to be able to help you.”

“Or keep an eye on us to make sure we don’t run away,” Aria commented.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Adagio answered. “What matters is we’ll be in the water together. When can we go?”

“If you’re ready, we can go now,” said Sunset.

Adagio wasted no time in getting out of bed, once she hit the floor, however, she stumbled a bit and looked as if she as about to fall forward. However, a turquoise aura of magic wrapped around the Siren and kept her from faceplanting. That same magical grasp floated her over next to Sunset, allowing the lead Siren to lean on Sunset’s left side for support.

“Sorry…” Adagio apologized.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sunset replied.

Sonata and Aria stood close to the unicorn and alicorn, readying themselves for whatever it was they were about to do.

“Just brace yourself, this might get a little bumpy,” Twilight warned.

Sunset and Twilight’s horns began to glow, a bubble formed around that was comprise of Twilight’s magenta aura and Sunset’s turquoise aura. The bubble swirled about as the two strongest magic users concentrated on their work, and in the next moment, the world around them shifted in a flash of sparkling light. The Sirens had shut their eyes, fear wandering into their hearts as they worried that this would either go badly, or that this might just be an elaborate plot to put them in a dungeon.

However, those fears were erased when the familiar scent of salt water wafted into their nostrils, along with the caw of seagulls. When the Sirens opened their eyes, they gasped in joy. They were standing on a sandy beach, with blue waves crashing against it. Reeds flowed as the gentle breeze blew through them, carrying the heart-warming scent of the open sea, the sky was clear and blue, and the sun was warm. Sonata, Aria, and Adagio dug their hooves into the sand, feeling the tiny bits of quartz and sediment brush against them, this wasn’t like the sand back on Earth.

The sand, the water, the air, it held a magical energy to it, an invigorating energy that made it Equestria’s sand, Equestria’s water and air. The three Sirens broke away from the alicorn and unicorn, despite the tiredness that Adagio was afflicted with, just being near the sea was having a rejuvenating effect on her. The three sisters stood at the edge of the sea, letting the waves crash against their forelegs. They reared up and splashed, giggling like school fillies.

Sunset and Twilight watched this, and oddly, felt a sense of joy from seeing how happy they were. The Sirens moved a bit more into the water, but paused, they then turned their heads to look at Sunset and Twilight, as if they were the parents and were asking for permission to go swimming.

“Go on,” said Sunset.

“Have fun,” Twilight added.

With their permission granted, Aria, Sonata, and Adagio were wrapped in shimmering light colored purple, blue, and yellow. When the light faded, the Earth pony forms of the Sirens was shed away, and now they were in their true forms. As far as size was concerned, they stood about two heads taller than Princess Celestia. They were covered head to tail in scales, their front legs were similar to that of pony legs, with hooves instead of flippers. The gemstones that had originally been on their chests were gone since they were destroyed during the Battle of the Bands competition, but that was of little concern to them. Some of their sharp teeth were sticking out but mixed in where were also a bit of flat teeth that were associated with an omnivorous species.

The Sirens took a moment to enjoy the fact that they were now in their true forms, no longer in a compressed pony body, or a bipedal human body, but in their full and true Hippocampus form. Without wasting another moment, all three sisters galloped-slithered towards the water, letting the waters splash over them, and after the next big wave, they dove underwater.

Sunset and Twilight watched them disappear into the water, but with a wave of their horns, the two magic wielders created hard-light air bubbles around their heads. Twilight and Sunset galloped into the water and dove in after them, and once under the water, the two mares were granted a wonderful sight.

A beautiful coral reef was laid out before them, teaming with various aquatic creatures from crabs, sea anemones, and various species of fish. But what really caught their eyes was how the Sirens were swimming so gracefully, weaving through tall rock formations, performing loops, barrel rolls, and practically dancing. Their elated laughs and giggles were carried on the currents, echoing in all directions. And for the first time in a long, long thousand years of living, they were able to sing. This song was not filled with malice, jealousy, envy, or any negative emotion, it was filled with complete joy and happiness, not sung for manipulation or to antagonize, but for just the pure enjoyment of singing.

The various aquatic creatures stopped to see the three mysterious creatures as they played and swam, singing beautifully for no one else other than themselves, even Twilight and Sunset couldn’t help but feel a sense of joy from hearing their singing.

“Twi, I’ve been thinking,” said Sunset.

“Yes, Sunset?”

“I’m starting to think that their song has more power than just to cause others to feel negative emotions, what if it could do the opposite?”

Twilight hummed in contemplation. “Bring out positive emotions, if what we’re feeling is any indication, I think that’s the case.” Twilight’s ears folded as a frown appeared on her muzzle. “If circumstances were better, perhaps those three could’ve brought joy to ponies and others. Perhaps Equestria might’ve become a different place altogether?”

Sunset sighed, “Unfortunately, fate chose a different path for them.”

It was a sad thing to think of, but for now, they just enjoyed the private concert as the three sisters played and laughed, for the first time in their lives, they were able to just enjoy their time together.

Twilight and Sunset had summoned a blanket for them to lie on as they waited on the beach. The two mares believed that it was better this way, the Sirens didn’t need them to hover over them, and believed that giving them some privacy was best. A few hours had passed by and now it was the middle of the afternoon, Sunset was getting a little antsy at not being able to keep an eye on Adagio, given her weakened state, and the time Adagio had left, she feared that the Siren could collapse at any moment.

It was right around that time that a lone Siren breached the surface of the water, Sonata Dusk. The blue Siren swam up to the beach and waved for Twilight and Sunset to come to her. The two mares got off the blanket and rushed to Sonata with worried expressions. “It…It’s time…”

A lump formed in Twilight and Sunset’s throats, they could tell by the sound of Sonata’s voice that she had been crying, but thanks to the seawater it was hard to tell. The unicorn and alicorn formed their air bubbles and followed Sonata down into the depths of the water. It seemed that the two ponies weren’t the only ones in attendance to this impromptu funeral, the fish, crabs, and dolphins that had been watching the Sirens swim and sing were all in attendance, despite not having Fluttershy’s special ability to communicate with animals, it was evident enough that they the creatures around them were feeling sad.

Sunset and Twilight were led to a clearing in the coral where Adagio was lying down, Aria was lying next to her, her head gently perched atop Adagios as she hummed a loving song to her dear big sister. Sonata took her place on Adagio’s vacant side and joined Aria in her harmonizing.

Adagio weakly looked up at the two mares and said, “You didn’t have to come, I just wanted Sona to tell you.”

“We wanted to come.” Sunset swam further down to meet the Siren face to face. “I don’t want you to feel as if no one cares.”

Twilight swam down and floated next to Sunset, smiling in agreement. “Nopony should feel alone, especially at a time like this.”

“I know I’ve wronged you…and everyone back in the human world…I’m sorry I can’t do anything to atone for it other than die here…but I ask you, please let my death absolve my sisters of their crimes,” Adagio pleaded.

Sonata and Aria stopped their humming and looked at their big sister with surprise.

Twilight placed her forehooves atop of Adagio’s large right hoof. “As a Princess of Equestria, upon my title as the Princess of Friendship, I Twilight Sparkle, proclaim your crimes absolved, and that no punitive action is to be taken against your sisters Sonata Dusk and Aria Blaze. I swear this to you, Adagio Dazzle.”

Adagio’s bottom lip trembled as she sniffled and said, “Thank you, Princess Twilight.”

Sunset placed her own hooves atop Adagio’s large left hoof, making the yellow Siren turn her gaze to the amber colored unicorn. “Adagio……there’s a part of me that can’t forgive you for what happened to Applejack…but…there’s another part of me that does understand why you did everything you did, and while I don’t condone it, I can respect your wanting to protect your family. If, when I die, we’re reborn into another life, I hope next time we can be friends.”

Adagio smiled and said, “If that happens, I’d like to be more than just friends, Sunny.”

“Tch, hitting on me at a time like this? Seriously?”

“…Heh…Can’t blame…a girl……for trying…”

“Dagi?!” Sonata whined.

“Sis!” Aria cried.

Adagio started to feel weaker and weaker, it wasn’t scary though, she felt at peace. “Please…sing for me…my dear sisters…one last time?”

Sunset and Twilight watched as Sonata and Aria closed their eyes and released a beautiful melody, their song spoke of happier memories, filled with all the happiness and sadness such memories brought, it was their last lullaby, for the sister who always sang them to sleep, this was their last gift to her. Sunset and Twilight couldn’t help their own tears from falling as they watched Adagio’s eyes shut, and the bubbles from her snout stop.

Sonata and Aria stopped their singing and leaned down to kiss the top of their big sister’s head.

“Goodbye, Dagi…”

“Find peace in the Great Current…” the Siren sisters moved away a bit from Adagio’s body, prompting Aria to say, “Stand back you two.”

Sunset and Twilight swam back, and the moment they did, Adagio’s body began to glow. In a flash of light, her body had been completely transformed into a tree shaped piece of yellow coral.

“What…What happened to her?!” Sunset asked in shock.

“Relax…this is what happens to a Hippocampus who dies in the water,” said Aria.

“Hippocampi are part of nature, when we die, we become coral, which helps the fish and other creatures, which in turn those creatures become our food. It’s the circle of life that our parents taught us when we were little,” Sonata explained.

Sunset and Twilight swam up to the tree coral and placed a hoof on it, mentally reciting a silent prayer to Faust on high. After a few minutes of mourning, all four of them returned to the surface, making their tears more prominent than they were earlier. Sonata leaned into Aria, crying into her neck as Aria gently nuzzled her little sister’s head. It now dawned on the middle Siren that she was the big sister now, and that she had to be strong for Sonata.

“…N-Now what…Ari? What…What are we supposed to do?” Sonata asked through her sobs.

“I…I don’t know, Sona, but we’ll have each other, okay? I won’t leave you alone,” said Aria.

“You two can stay with me,” said Twilight.

Both Sirens looked at her with confusion.

“W-Why? Y-You don’t owe us anything, or are you just taking pity on us?” Aria asked.

Twilight shook her head in the negative. “No, I’m just trying to be a good friend. A lot of things have changed in the thousand plus years the three of you have been away. Land formations, villages, all kinds of things. It’s better if you stay with me so I can help you two get reacclimated to Equestria as it is now, that way, when you’re ready, you can go out and live the lives Adagio wanted you to. What do you think?”

Aria looked at her little sister and then back to the two ponies. “Back in the day, Adagio would’ve said something like, ‘We don’t need your charity!’, but if she was here now, I think she’d kick my ass for being that stupid. If you don’t mind putting up with us, I think we’d like that. Right, Sona?”

Sonata smiled a little and nodded her head in agreement. Twilight, Sonata, and Aria walked further up, prepared to teleport again. However, Sunset remained at the edge of the water, her gaze transfixed on the spot where Adagio’s coral tree resided. It infuriated Sunset, if not for that one thing, Adagio and her sisters would be living peaceful and happy lives. Sunset was able to change her fate due to Princess Twilight’s intervention.

“Sunset?” Twilight called out.

“I should’ve tried harder…” Sunset stated as tears flowed. “I should’ve tried bucking harder to find you three, no matter how much Adagio was mad at me, even if it took me a forever I should’ve–!”

Sonata walked up to Sunset and slapped her across muzzle. “Don’t you dare think that way! Adagio didn’t want you dwell on her death, she was happy, we are all happy! Don’t bring that to this moment.”

Sunset sniffled and rubbed the spot where Sonata slapped, but then smiled softly and said, “Sorry, Sonata.”

Sonata smiled and escorted Sunset back to the group, but as she walked, a breeze blew across Sunset’s left ear that carried the words, “Live and love, my sisters. And Sunset, thank you for bringing us home.” Sunset stopped and turned around and, she believed, she saw Adagio’s ghostly image for a just a moment before it disappeared.

Sunset smiled and continued to walk towards Twilight and Aria. With all four of them gathered, Sunset and Twilight cast their spell once again, and vanished.

A Turning Point

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Sunset brought the three newest Artifacts into her secret underground vault. Forutnately, or rather, unfortunately, everyone was distracted with the mayhem that had occurred, and the death of Applejack. Sunset paused as she used her flames to place the accursed Blood Sword into place, part of her really wanted to incinerate the sword, she didn’t know if it would destroy the Artifact, but if it caused the demon inside some major discomfort and pain, then it might’ve been worth it. However, she couldn’t afford to let her grief over her new friend’s death muddy her goal, she was so much closer now than she had ever been.

Once she had placed the new Artifacts in their places, Sunset stood in the center of the vault, looking to each individual container to take stock of her collection. “The Angelus, the Darkness, Pandora’s Box, the Glacier Stone, the Blood Sword, my Ember Stone, Sis has the Witchblade, Fluttershy has the Spear of Destiny, Sugarcoat has the Heart Stone, I still need the Wheel of Shadows and the Rapture, and last but not least I have…”

Sunset looked to the pedestal but paused when she saw that there was nothing in the ballistic glass case. Panic gripped Sunset as she rushed to the case and found that it was empty. “FUCK!” Sunset exclaimed, and then she spotted the crack on the side that was just big enough for the coin to have slipped out. “Motherfucking Coin of Solomon! I thought I took every precaution when it came to that thing! Shit, shit! It took me two years just to track that little thing down! I am NOT spending another two finding it again!”

The wielder of the Ember Stone took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself. “Okay, get a grip Shimmer, it can’t have gotten far. UGH! This is the last thing I need after all this bullshit today!” First things first, Sunset needed to head back up, if she lingered too long then everyone would be looking for her, and right now her house was currently housing the Sparkle Family. “Twilight…”

Sunset exited the vault, making a point to check the security footage later to see where the Coin had gone, and then headed back up to the ground level. After making sure no one was around to see her exit her secret door, Sunset walked on out and headed upstairs to Twilight’s room. Mr. Night Light and Mrs. Twilight Velvet had thanked Sunset for protecting their daughter, again, after they returned to the mansion.

Honestly, the praise was starting to make her blush, both because it was embarrassing and because they didn’t know the full lengths that Sunset was going to in order to protect Twilight, or what she did. It was a bit confusing as to how Twilight was able to not be affected by Pandora’s Box.

Sunset had offered the explanation that it may’ve been due to her, explaining that she had used the Ember Stone’s power to save Twilight from a life-threatening mortal wound, and that some of the Ember Stone’s magic may have lingered in her body, acting as a passive shield to keep Twilight safe.

Sunset walked the long hallway and stopped at Twilight’s door, she knocked a few times and said, “Hey, Sparky, it’s me……Can I come in?”

“Yes,” she replied.

Sunset opened the door and saw her girlfriend lying on the bed and staring up at the ceiling. The flame haired teen walked inside and sat down at the edge of the bed next to Twilight, she gently placed her left hand over Twilight’s left and gave a light squeeze. “How’re you holding up?”

“I…I think something’s wrong with me…” Twilight answered.

“Are you hurt?” Sunset asked worriedly.

“No…I don’t feel happy that Indigo’s dead…but…neither do I feel sad that she is…I just feel…I don’t know what to feel!” Twilight exclaimed in frustration. “She forced me to perform sexual acts on her, she stalked me, and forced herself onto me many times during my nearly four years of high school! Not once did she think about me and what I wanted, she only took from me, said she loved me! And then she goes and starts apologizing for not sticking up for me and promising to protect me!”

Twilight shot up as she looked at Sunset with teary eyes and a furrowed brow. “How am I supposed to process that! She had her friends kidnap me and threaten to record my rape and throw it out onto the internet! All while she was beating you up! I hate her for that, I hate everything she did to me! So why am I not happy she’s finally dead and out of my life forever?!!!” Twilight gripped Sunset’s left arm with both of her hands as she looked into the turquoise eyes of her lover. “Tell me, is something wrong with me?! Am I so messed up now I can’t rejoice in the death of my rapist?!”

Sunset hated seeing the person she loved in so much pain like this, and it only made her gladder that she ended Indigo’s life. Physical damage could heal, but psychological damage would take longer to heal, and after enduring four years’ worth of it, during a time in a person’s life when they’re just developing in both mind and body, it would take a long time before Twilight was completely freed of Indigo’s shadow. Damn you, Indigo, even in death you’re still a fucking pain in the ass.

“No, there’s nothing wrong about that. You’re the one who asked me not to kill her, maybe, what you really wanted, was for her to pay for her crimes. To see her put in jail, punished, and made to face all the pain that she subjected you to. You want closure…I wish I could give that to you…” Sunset lamented.

“……Have sex with me…”

Sunset blinked and then looked at Twilight, believing she had heard her wrong Sunset asked, “What did you say, Sparky? ‘Cause it sounded like you just asked–”

“I asked you to have sex with me! Right here, right now!”

Sunset opened her mouth to say something, but Twilight immediately captured Sunset’s mouth with her own. Forcing her tongue down her girlfriend’s throat as they both hit the bed together. Sunset was shocked by this, trying to figure out what the right course of action was here. Twilight took advantage of Sunset’s hesitation as she broke the kiss and sat up, she reached for the hem of her blouse and pulled it up, revealing her pink bra clad breasts. Sunset finally snapped out of her daze and placed her hands on Twilight’s shoulders to prevent her from going any further.

“Whoa, Sparky, what’s gotten into you?!”

“I just want you to have sex with me! What’s wrong with that?!” Twilight argued.

“Look…” Sunset gulped. “God knows I really want to do it with you.”

“So then–!”

“BUT!” Sunset interjected. “Not like this, not while you’re confused and hurting.”

“Please, Sunset,” Twilight begged. “I want to erase everything that Indigo did to me! I feel as if my body is still hers, even now!” The teen genius shook off Sunset’s hands and unclasped her bra next, allowing Twilight’s B-cup assets to come into full view. “I want to give myself to you! I love you, Sunset Shimmer! I want to give everything to you! Please…Sunset…”

The rich teen watched as her girlfriend wept, she wanted to take her pain away, and honestly, after all this loss, pain, and stress…perhaps it wasn’t such a bad idea to do something passionate. No, it was. “Okay, I’ll sleep with you, Twilight.” The teen genius smiled and leaned down, but Sunset placed her right index finger on Twilight’s lips. “But I want you to think on it. Tomorrow night give me your answer, Twilight, if you still feel the same way, then I’ll make love to you.”

Twilight stuttered as she watched Sunset get up and walk towards the door, but finally managed to get out the words, “But, Sunset, I do want this!”

“Twilight, we’ve just gone through a lot of emotional shit in the last twenty-four hours. We lost Applejack, Indigo’s dead, nothing’s going to be the same from this point forward. I love you, and nothing’s going to change that, but I want you to have time to clear your mind. The last thing I want to do is take advantage of you when you’re in a vulnerable emotional state. Okay?” Sunset asked.

Twilight looked a little disappointed, but she smiled gratefully at her girlfriend. “Okay…I’m…I’m sorry I acted like that.”

Sunset smiled back. “I don’t mind, in fact, I think we’ll make it a thing tomorrow.”

“I don’t get it?”

“You’ll be on top and take the lead, Sparky. I don’t mind being your plaything,” said Sunset in a seductive tone.

Twilight blushed.

“Oh, and thanks for giving me a preview.”

Twilight looked down at herself and remembered that she was half-naked. As if just remembering to feel embarrassed, Twilight quickly covered her breasts and quickly lied on the bed with her back turned to Sunset. “N-Not funny! Sunset!”

“Alright, alright,” Sunset walked to the door and was about to close it, but then added, “Just so you know, I like them.”

Twilight listened as Sunset closed the door, her face was on fire, but despite that, Twilight couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride and joy that her girlfriend had liked her breasts. Thank you, Sunset.

Fluttershy had spent this whole time with Rarity, she was still in a daze about the everything but was aware of what was happening around them. Hours had passed by as she sat with her friend in the hospital. True to her word, Special Agent Tempest had made sure that Applejack’s body was taken to a hospital that would promise to take care of the young apple farmer’s body until her family could make arrangements. In those hours, Fluttershy had watched as Rarity’s family came in, Sweetie Belle, Mrs. Cookie and Mr. Hondo hugged Rarity tight, and wept openly because they knew that Rarity’s friend was gone.

For her part, Fluttershy wasn’t aware if her mother and father knew that Rarity and Applejack were together, but, from what Fluttershy could tell, it seemed Sweetie Belle was crying harder than the adults, perhaps she did know of their relationship. Not long after their arrival did the Apple family come in, greeted by Rarity’s family.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle hugged fiercely as they wept, Big Macintosh Apple, the stoic and strong young man that he was, looked hollow inside, as if a chunk of his soul had been gouged out. Granny Smith was crying as well, and repeatedly apologizing in prayer to both of the Apple kids’ deceased parents for not protecting their children better.

The worst part of this was that they had yet to see the body, and Fluttershy knew that the cries would be infinitely worse when they did. From what she understood, Applejack was decapitated, but Sunset managed to reunite Applejack’s head with her body, something that the family – while not feeling that way now – would be grateful for.

Fluttershy was worried for Rarity, she had barely spoken a word since they arrived, and wondered if she’d ever speak at all after this.

“Fluttershy…”

The animal lover perked up upon hearing the fashionista’s voice. “Yes, Rarity? Is there something I can get you?”

“……Do you…Do you think Applejack is in heaven?” Rarity asked.

The question honestly shocked Fluttershy, it seemed – at least to Fluttershy – that the answer was obvious. “Of course, she is, Applejack was an honest, hardworking, and good person, Rarity.”

“What if…she did something? Something bad.”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Well…to be honest, Rarity, not everyone can go through life without doing something bad. Lying, cheating, some sins are worse than others. But it all depends on your actions, the good outweighing the bad, and I think Applejack has done more good than bad in her life.”

Rarity hugged herself as fear gripped her. “Fluttershy…there’s something I need to tell you, something that Applejack did that quite frankly has me worried that she may not be where she is meant to. But I don’t want anyone else to know.”

Fluttershy nodded, not sure what Applejack could’ve done that would make Rarity worry for her soul like this.

“Applejack and her big brother, for a time, they were…having relations with each other.”

Fluttershy clamped her mouth, fighting a gasp that wanted to come out, but it was obvious that this information was a shock, evident by her wide eyes.

“For a time, they were engaging in such actions, up until a couple of months ago, right around the time when Apple Bloom was kidnapped. She and her brother stopped their private affair and decided to pursue their own paths,” said Rarity.

“Oh…Oh my…Um…well…were they in love?” Fluttershy asked.

“No, it was merely a…I guess you could phrase it as…an ‘activity’ they did together. There was no romantic love in their actions, just…an urge that needed fulfillment. If you’re wondering, no, they never did anything to Apple Bloom, she was in the dark about this until that very same incident. Granny Smith is aware of it, but Sunset was the first to discover this when she was working on their farm. Now you know why I asked.”

Fluttershy had to admit, she would have never pegged Applejack and Big Mac to have…that kind of a relationship, even if it was short lived. There as a slight revulsion when she thought about it, she really couldn’t imagine it, it was as if imagining herself and her little brother. Although, when comparing Zephyr to Mac…she could see Mac’s appeal.

“Well…I…”

“Is there any way you can make sure that she does?” Rarity asked desperately. “You are the only one here who’s closest to God Himself, surely that must give you some say in where a soul goes after it departs this world?!”

Fluttershy placed her hands on Rarity’s shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “Rarity…I’m sorry, but I don’t. I…I may have His blood, but…I don’t have that power, or that kind of Authority.” Just then an idea popped into her mind. “But…I may know someone who can make sure that she’s not at least…um…down there.” The shy girl fished out her cellphone from her jeans and called a number on it that Rarity did not recognize. “Hello, Teacher? I have a favor to ask of you.”

(The next day…)

Pinkie Pie was in her room, she had stopped crying and only looked upon a picture in her cellphone of the girls when they were at Sun’s private villa. Her focus was on Applejack, she was smiling happily into the camera, while Rarity was resting her head against Applejack’s right shoulder as she smiled too. She glanced to her right for the tenth time that afternoon, Sunset had left her the journal that allowed communication between Earth and Equestria, which made the pink party girl wish she had gone with her, but she suspected this was something that needed to be done between Equestrians.

Just then the journal glowed, Pinkie put her phone away and hurriedly opened it to view Sunset’s message.

“Hey, Pinkie. How are you doing?”

Pinkie picked up a pen and began writing her response.

“Okay, just worried about you is all. How are you doing?”

There was a pregnant pause before Sunset wrote back.

“……Adagio was laid to rest a few hours ago.”

Pinkie did a double take at that information, she knew the Siren was tired when last she saw her, but dead?

“H-How?! S-She was just tired! Did…Was she…you know…capital punishment and all that?”

“No…nothing like that. It was Pandora’s Box. It had some kind of curse that stole a large amount of Adagio’s life force. She only had twenty-four hours to live, so we took her and her sisters to the sea. It was nice, they were so happy, swimming together in the waters of Equestria for the first time in a thousand years. Princess Twilight and I were there when she fell asleep and passed away…”

Pinkie didn’t know what to say after hearing that, saying “I’m sorry” didn’t feel right, not after everything that happened. But the way Sunset wrote it, it sounded like she was sad about Adagio’s passing.

“Sunny, are you sad that she died?”
“…I know it’s…it’s kinda messed up. But I understand why she did what she did, I don’t condone it, but I understand. All she wanted to do was protect her family, her sisters, and give them a better life. I…I’m just a bit confused by all this…”
“I’m sorry, are you coming back soon?”
“Probably later today, I need some time to clear my head a bit. How are things over there?”
“Applejack’s family was going to start planning her funeral, it probably won’t be for a couple of weeks since…well…Granny Smith, in her own words said, ‘Ah had everythin’ ready fer when Ah went…Never thought Ah be outlivin’ my own grandchildren…’ The Apples and Pies actually go back a bit in our family history, so we’re going to be helping them out the best we can.”
“That’s good to hear. I’ll talk to you later, in person.”
“Okay, a-and don’t rush, take as much time as you need.”
“Thanks…I love you, Pinkie.”

Pinkie Pie smiled and replied.

“I love you too, Sunny.”

With that last sentence, their conversation ended. Pinkie sighed as she closed the journal, she couldn’t imagine what Sunset was feeling. Well, maybe a little, Adagio did all the awful things she did in order to keep her family together and to keep them safe. And they had been around for than a thousand years, stuck on an alien world with no way to get home. Pinkie imagined what the situation would’ve been if she and her sisters were put into the same situation, would Limestone do the kind of things that Adagio did? Would Maud?

A knock came at her door and Pinkie looked up, standing there was Limestone, she looked as sad as Pinkie felt, despite the fact that the eldest daughter of the Pie family having the same stoic expression. “Hey, Sis.”

“Hey, Lime, what’s up?” Pinkie asked.

“Nothin’…” Limestone walked into Pinkie’s room and then sat next to her. Without a word she wrapped her right arm around Pinkie and brought both of them down to the bed and into a hug.

“Lime?”

“Sorry…can you put up with this for a little bit?” Limestone asked.

Pinkie understood what the older Pie sister was asking, she was never one to wear her emotions on her sleeve like Pinkie. So, she understood that Limestone wanted to just be with her little sister, about a minute into the cuddle, another knock came at her door and Pinkie found Maud standing there.

“Hi,” said Maud.

The second oldest Pie sister walked in and joined them, taking up the vacant spot on Pinkie’s right to cuddle next to her. And then there was a third knock, and the youngest Pie, Marble, was in the doorway. Without a word spoken, she too joined the sisterly cuddle session and found a spot next to Lime to hug.

I guess…I guess I can understand why Adagio did what she did, too.

It was a little later in the day that following Sunday, and Twilight Sparkle was reaffirming her position on what Sunset had asked her. She had thought this through, she wanted to do this, not just because she wanted to get rid of all the bad memories that Indigo had created regarding sex and what it meant. Although she knew what they were engaging in wasn’t that, it was rape, pure and simple. However, it can’t be said that the acts weren’t translatable to her relationship. With her resolved steeled, Twilight did the only thing she could do.

Text Sunset that she was…was ready to…to sleep with her. Twilight gulped, “Oh god, I’m really about to do this…” Twilight took out her cellphone and typed the words as quickly as she could to keep herself from chickening out at the last second. Before completely reading the entire thing, she hit “send”. When she heard the notification that it was delivered, Twilight looked down to see what it was she had written, and she went pale.

[Sunset I wanted to let you know that I was ready to have sex with you as in right now as in I want to get bare naked with no clothes or underwater and perform sexual acts with you and lose my virginity to someone I love deeply and I’m rambling why am I rambling you already know what sex means and you’re so hot so it only makes sense that you know about that kind of stuff and I’m going to stop writing before I chicken out of this and don’t send it all also U R SEXY HOT!]

Twilight’s mouth hung open as she made croaking noises, she couldn’t believe what she had sent to Sunset, it was a full-on text wall of things and it was embarrassing as all get out. “She’s going to think I’m a complete and utter dork…”

About a minute later, Sunset replied to Twilight. The teen genius cringed at what she might see, after what she had sent, Twilight was certain that she was going to say no. Then she read the text.

[Sparky, you are so adorkable it should be a crime. And stop kicking yourself about what you said, ‘cause I know you are. Anyway, if you’re really up to it, I’d be more than happy to make love you tonight. Only if it’s something you really want.]

It seemed Sunset was still wanting to make sure that Twilight was willing to go through this, despite knowing that Sunset would probably stop in the middle if Twilight wanted her to. Knowing that, Twilight typed her reply with one simple word, “Yes”.

Sunset was still deep in thought about what had happened with Adagio and the events surrounding her life and death. She decided to just wander around the town of Ponyville. She’d switch her view from the road to her surroundings, watching the many ponies of this happy little hamlet go about their everyday business. Part of her wished she had their bliss right now, because back on Earth, sadness awaited her.

Applejack…

Sunset still could not get over the guilt, even though it was Suri who killed her friend, part of Sunset blamed herself for not being fast enough or intuitive enough to sense something was wrong and be able to rush into action.

Dammit…I may have the Witchblade…but I’m still powerless when it counts…

Just then, Sunset found herself bumping into another pony, which sent the amber mare falling backwards onto her rear. “Oh, jeez, I’m sorry! I was spacing out a little bit…”

“Aw, ain’t nothin’, no harm no foul.”

Sunset’s eyes widened when she heard that very familiar southern twang. She dreaded to even raise her head but felt compelled to. When Sunset looked up, she was greeted to the site of an orange Earth pony mare, with emerald, green eyes, a blonde mane, freckles, and a Stetson hat. She had a cart hitched to her that was full of apples, and on the other side of that cart was a yellow filly with a red mane, pink bow, and amber colored eyes.

“A-A-Applejack…?!” Sunset gasped.

“Yes ma’am, that’d be me,” said Applejack as she tipped her hat to Sunset. “Ya lookin’ to buy some apples, Miss? We haven’t set up shop yet, but if ya wait a bit Ah can–”

“I’M SORRY!” Sunset wailed as she practically got on her knees before the Earth pony mare, tears streaming down her face. “I’M SO SORRY I WASN’T THERE IN TIME, AJ! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!”

Applejack was stunned by the sudden outburst from the mare before her, although, rather than be disturbed, she was more concerned than anything. “Whoa now, settle down, Miss, Ah don’t know what yer talkin’ ‘bout. This is the first time Ah’ve ever seen ya…so…wait a minute.” Applejack looked upon the mare a little more closely and remembered. “Wait, aren’t you Sunset Shimmer?”

“Yes! Yes, I am! And I’m so sorry!” Sunset wailed again.

Apple Bloom walked up next to her big sister and asked, “Uh…Sis, is she alright?”

Sunset finally snapped out of her episode when she heard Apple Bloom’s voice. The fiery maned mare wiped her eyes and blushed in embarrassment when she realized the spectacle she just made of herself in front of all these ponies, and the pony counterpart of one of her dear friends. “I…I’m sorry, I was…I’ve just had a really bad day so…I’ll just leave.”

Before Sunset could get too far, Applejack reached out and placed her hoof on Sunset’s shoulder. “Wait a sec Sugar Cube.” Sunset visibly flinched upon hearing Applejack’s pet name for her and her friends. “You don’t expect me to just let ya leave after all that, ‘sides, it looks like need somepony to talk to right now.”

Sunset wanted to kindly turn down the offer, but…she didn’t. “I…I’d like that, if you don’t mind.”

“Alright then, Bloom, go on and take the cart into the market, yer in charge,” said Applejack.

“Cool!” Apple Bloom waited for Applejack to unhitch herself from the applecart, and once she had, Apple Bloom fitted herself in and began pulling the cart forward with ease. “You can count on me, Sis!”

Applejack watched Apple Bloom walk away and then turned her attention to Sunset. “Now, why don’t we take a walk for a bit.”

It was less a question and more a statement, which made Sunset smile a little. The two mares walked a bit until they were in the park, Sunset and Applejack stopped before a shady tree and both mares sat down underneath it. Every part of Sunset wanted to just wrap her forelegs around Applejack and bawl into her fur, to hold her friend once again even if it wasn’t the Applejack she lost.

“So, what’s got ya down? Ya look sadder than Winona when she can’t find her favorite chew toy,” said Applejack.

Sunset wondered if it was a good thing to tell Applejack about her human counterpart’s fate. What if doing so invoked some kind of jinx that would bring about something like that here? Does having her counterpart die in the human world cause some kind of ripple effect that would eventually bring about the death of this Applejack? Fear gripped Sunset’s heart, she couldn’t bear that, losing Applejack back on Earth was painful, but to have this Applejack before her die because she wasn’t fast enough to save her human counterpart, it would destroy her. Especially when she thought about the saddened and grief-stricken faces of Twilight and the rest of the girls here in Equestria. All these thoughts swam in Sunset’s head, causing her to hyperventilate.

“Whoa there, take it easy Sunset, ya look like yer about to have a Twilight level panic attack,” said Applejack.

“I…I…I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you because of me,” Sunset confessed.

Applejack tilted her head to the side in confusion. “Why would anythin’ bad happen to me?”

“Because…” Sunset was about to say what happened, but stopped herself, “……It’s probably better that you don’t know…”

Applejack frowned and said, “Honesty is my policy, and Ah can tell whatever’s eaten at ya has somethin’ to do with me, considerin’ all that ya said back there. Whatever it is, ya can tell me.”

Sunset stamped her hoof as tears began to flow down her muzzle. “I can’t, because I’m afraid you’ll die if I do!” Sunset immediately clasped her hooves over her mouth.

That got a curious eyebrow raise out of Applejack. “Okay, now ya really need to tell me what’s up.”

The amber unicorn cursed herself mentally, she let her emotions get the better of her and she blurted out part of the problem without meaning to. Sunset glanced to Applejack and saw her serious expression baring down on her, that same expression that told you that she wasn’t about to let this go.

“Applejack…something happened on the other side of the mirror…something really bad.” Sunset went into the explanation of the past twenty-four hours, including the death of Applejack’s counterpart, the defeat of Adagio, and Adagio’s burial not too long ago. “I’m so sorry…I wasn’t fast enough to save her – to save you! I’m supposed to be able to protect my friends, that’s why I have the power I do now! But in the end, I couldn’t do anything!”

Applejack had to admit, she was shocked by this information. She knew about her parallel double that existed where Sunset now lived, but she didn’t think that she’d die so young. But now she understood why Sunset was begging for forgiveness earlier, and why she looked as if she was beating herself up.

“Now listen here, Sunset, stop blamin’ yerself,” said Applejack.

“But…But I…”

“The other me died protectin’ Rarity, right?” Sunset nodded in affirmation. “Then Ah have a good idea of what was on her mind then, she may’ve hoped you were comin’ to save ‘em. But she must’ve realized that the important thing was that Rarity be safe, even if it meant sacrificin’ my life to do so. Ah know Ah’d never blame you for not bein’ there in time, if anythin’, I’d be glad that you managed to save Rarity. So, stop holdin’ onto that guilt, it won’t do ya any good, and neither will it help the rest of yer friends.”

Sunset sniffled as she listened to Applejack’s words, taking comfort in hearing her friend’s voice once again.

The Earth pony mare gently placed her right hoof on Sunset’s left shoulder and smiled at the mare before her. “Don’t let this stop ya from bein’ the hero that ya are, Sunset. If ya keep dwellin’ on the past, yer gonna lose sight of all those ya coulda saved. So, learn from it, and move forward. Ah know it’ll be hard…but yer friends will need ya now more than ever. And if it gets to be too much, tell ‘em, sometimes sharing in yer grief is better with others and helps ya heal. Believe me, Ah know that all too well.”

“Thank you, Applejack……Would…Would it be too awkward if I asked to hug you?” Sunset asked timidly.

Applejack smiled warmly at Sunset, opened her forelegs, and answered, “Not awkward at all, Sugar Cube.”

Sunset scooted closer and wrapped her forelegs around Applejack, as the other mare did to her. Without wanting to, Sunset began to bawl, crying into Applejack’s shoulder as the blonde mare gently stroked Sunset’s mane. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry…”

“Shh, shh, Ah forgive ya, Sugar Cube, it’s alright,” Applejack gently cooed.

It would be a while before Sunset and Applejack separated and went their separate ways, but in the end, Sunset believed that this was the closure that she needed. She wished she could bring Rarity or the others back to do the same, but it wasn’t fair to this Applejack to have her become an emotional crutch to the others. Sunset would return to Earth and help her friends heal the best she could, in any way she could, and nothing would stop her from protecting her friends, nothing.

Twilight took a deep breath; tonight was the night. Sunset’s big sister had returned from her home world not too long ago, she seemed better, but Twilight knew that loss like this wouldn’t heal over the next forty-eight hours, it would take weeks, months maybe. The teen genius did feel a little guilty though, while she was deeply saddened by the loss of Applejack, one of her newest friends, she knew that she wouldn’t feel the same level of pain as the others would. But that was only because she hadn’t known Applejack as long as the others.

Twilight pushed that aside for now, she needed to focus on what was going to happen here in the next couple of minutes. Her parents were already in their room, Spike was sleeping comfortably in her room, and Sunset’s pony counterpart was in her bed, resting after an emotionally and physically draining two days. That meant that their activities would be mostly private and go uninterrupted for the remainder of the night.

The bespectacled girl chose some casual nightwear, she really didn’t have anything in the realm of sexy lingerie or revealing pajamas. Which was disappointing she didn’t mind saying, Twilight wanted to at least dress sexy for her girlfriend, who, after all this time waiting for her, was ready to show her how much she loved her on a physical level. Twilight had no doubts that Sunset was going to be dressed in something provocative and very risqué, possibly see-through and/or with little fabric that left little to the imagination. Just the thought of that made Twilight gulp.

The lavender girl stood before the door to her girlfriend’s room, she took a steadying breath and then knocked on the door. “Sunset, it’s me, Twilight.”

A couple of seconds later, the door opened, and Twilight almost had a comical, anime style nosebleed. Sunset had a black bra on, with thin strips, and triangle shaped cups that only covered a small portion of her breasts, leaving almost everything but the nipples and areola visible, but the fabric was thin, so you could practically see them anyway. Her lower half sported a matching thong, which also had the same nearly transparent fabric, and hugged her sex tight enough to show off a camel toe. Twilight could also smell a heavenly perfume coming off her girlfriend’s body, all this combined was having an instant arousing effect on Twilight’s body.

“Hey, Sparky,” said Sunset in a sultry voice.

“H-Hi!” Twilight squeaked.

Sunset chuckled and held out her right hand towards the teen genius. “Take my hand, Twilight, and I’ll guide you in.”

Twilight looked at the proffered hand, and without thinking, grasped it. Sunset gently guided Twilight into her room, closing the door behind them. She continued to guide Twilight until they were both sitting on the edge of the bed. Now that they were in the same room, Twilight took stock of her own outfit. A pair of dark violet pajama shorts, no panties, and pale teal t-shirt, and underneath that a plain white bra.

“Wow…I feel like I either came underdressed or overdressed and I can’t decide which one right now,” said Twilight nervously.

Sunset chuckled a little and said, “Don’t worry, Sparky, there wasn’t a dress code. But, in your opinion, was this too much?”

Twilight shook her head vehemently. “No, no, it’s…you’re hot! I mean – I – oh crap, whatever, you are hot, there’s nothing else that needs to be said.”

“Thanks, but don’t sell yourself short.” Sunset leaned closer and whispered into her ear, “I think you’re hot just as you are, Sparky.”

Twilight shivered in delight upon feeling Sunset’s hot breath flow over her ear. “So, what did you have in mind?”

Sunset smiled. “Well, I have been thinking about how to make you feel the most comfortable. I’m pretty sure that the last thing you want is a domineering girl to be on top of you and make you writhe underneath her. Tonight, is about you, and making you feel loved and safe. So, bearing that in mind, I got these.” Sunset reached under the pillow and produced a pair of handcuffs.

Twilight’s eyes flew open, and her body went stiff. “Uh…S-Sunset, why do you have two pairs of handcuffs?”

“They were leftovers from my self-defense training, I had to train in how to fight with my hands restrained in case of kidnapping,” she explained.

“And…Y-You want to use those on…me?” Twilight asked with a twinge of fear in her voice. She was ready, mentally, and possibly physically, to have sex with her girlfriend, but she wasn’t expecting to venture into bondage this early in their relationship, hell, she wasn’t even sure she was comfortable with being tied up after everything she had been through.

Upon seeing Twilight’s reaction, Sunset immediately reassured Twilight, “No, no, babe, these aren’t for you, I swear! They’re for me.”

That threw off Twilight. “What?”

“I want you to feel safe and in control, and the best way I could think of doing that is if I tied myself up and let you have your way with me,” Sunset explained.

Twilight looked at the handcuffs, two pairs, one for each wrist, the length was just long enough to attach them to the bedposts on either side without causing strain on Sunset’s arms. While it was true, if Sunset was handcuffed to the bed, there was no possible way she’d be able to fight back against Twilight, she’d be completely at Twilight’s mercy.

“But…w-what if I don’t want to do that to you? I don’t want to just use you as a sex doll…I want to make love to you…” Twilight said hesitantly.

Sunset put the cuffs on the bed and took both of Twilight’s hands into her own. “Sparky, you’ve had to endure being used and forced to have sex with someone who had a twisted view of how she thought she loved you. I know that something like that isn’t going to go away, and I’m afraid if I say something, or touch someplace, it might remind you of what she did and just put you into a panic attack. And that’s the last thing I want to do. Try this out first, and if you don’t think it’s going to work, you can uncuff me and I’ll be on the bottom for the whole night.”

Twilight was deeply touched by this gesture; Sunset was willing to go through these lengths just to make sure that she was comfortable and felt safe throughout the process. Without thinking, Twilight leaned forward and kissed Sunset deeply, this time the amber teen was ready and reciprocated the kiss, gently wrapping her arms around Twilight to bring her closer. After a few seconds in the make out session, Twilight broke the kiss and leaned her forehead against Sunset’s.

“How did I get so lucky to have found someone like you?” Twilight asked.

“Maybe it’s not just luck, maybe it’s fate?” Sunset replied lovingly. “I love you, Sparky.”

“I do too, Sunset.” Twilight scooted back and took one of the handcuffs into her right hand. “I…I guess we could try it.”

Sunset smiled as she took the other handcuff and slapped onto her left wrist, Twilight handed her the second pair and placed it onto her right wrist. “Now, before we start. Underwear off now, or do you want to strip me when I’m handcuffed?”

Twilight gulped again; she already knew how she wanted this. “Uh…take off your bra but leave your panties on…I…I want to take those off myself!”

A seductive smile formed on Sunset’s lips as she reached around behind her back and unclasped the bra, letting the thin fabric fall off her and revealed her voluptuous breasts in all their splendor. Twilight had the sudden urge to tackle Sunset and suckle from those perfect fleshy orbs but managed to restrain herself. Sunset crawled backwards onto the bed and got into position on the bed, placing her head gently against the pillow as she spread her arms out and prepared to have Twilight restrain her.

Twilight crawled further onto the bed and slapped the first handcuff onto the bed post, she reached over and did the same for the second. She stood on her knees and looked down, drinking in Sunset’s seductive body, her breasts on full display, her legs crossed in an alluring way, she was all hers, from this point on, Twilight was in charge of what happened.

“Do whatever you want, Sparky, I’ll tell you when it’s too much.”

“I…I think we need to establish a safety word,” Twilight suggested.

“We’re not doing anything that extreme. Unless that’s what you want, in which case I have some toys under the bed–”

“NO! No! Nothing like that! I just don’t want to go overboard and end up hurting you, this is my first time and the last thing I want to do is hurt you,” said Twilight.

Sunset nodded in understanding. “I get it, so, how about……Ember? Like my Artifact.”

“That’ll do, now then…h-here I go…”

Twilight gently ran her hands over Sunset’s body, her hands glided over Sunset’s mammaries, giving them a squeeze as she felt the hardened nipples of the amber girl poke at her palms. From there she ran them down her toned stomach, and over her hips. In a daring move, she moved them further behind and gave Sunset’s rear a squeeze, earning her a small moan of satisfaction. Twilight had to admit, this was very stimulating, she had never touched another girl so intimately before, even after taking her hands off Sunset, her hands still had a phantom feeling.

The teen genius straddled her girlfriend, her virgin cunny tingling with excitement as she briefly grazed over Sunset’s camel toe. Twilight undid her ponytail and let her long hair cascade down, some of it spilling over her shoulders, something that Sunset seemed to like. Twilight leaned down and kissed Sunset hungrily, both girls moaning as they’re tongues danced in each other’s mouths. The teen genius’ hands found themselves on top of Sunset’s breasts again, kneading them like a baker would bread dough, Sunset’s moans grew a bit louder from Twilight’s ministrations as she wriggled underneath her nerdy girlfriend.

Twilight broke the kiss again, both girls panted heavily as they stared into each other’s eyes. She then moved downward, scooting back so that her head was level with Sunset’s breasts. Twilight kissed the right breast, and then took an experimental lick of Sunset’s nipple.

“Umph, Sparky, keep at that~” Sunset urged.

Twilight opened her mouth and latched onto Sunset’s breast and began fulfilling her earlier desire of suckling from Sunset. She sucked, licked, and kissed Sunset’s breast, while using her right hand to squeeze and, in another daring move, pinched Sunset’s nipple.

“Aww fuck, yes, Sparky…! God, I’ve wanted you to do this to me since…” Sunset cut herself off.

Twilight stopped for a moment and looked up at Sunset. “Since when?”

Sunset, with a bright blush on her face, answered, “Since that rave a month ago…you were so hot when you were dancing, and the way we were pawing at each other…I got kind of hot and bothered and I really wanted to go at it with you that night.”

Twilight had a look of shame on her face when she heard this new information. “I’m sorry…you’ve had to wait this long for me to get my act together…”

“Hey!” Sunset exclaimed in a serious tone. “Don’t ever blame yourself for that! Just because I was horny doesn’t mean you were under any obligation to ‘take care of me’. You were ready today, and that’s all that matters.”

Twilight smiled and resumed her make out with Sunset’s breasts. She moved to her left one and showed it the same amount of affection as she did to Sunset’s right. After a minute of playing with Sunset’s bosom, Twilight decided that it was time to make this more official. Twilight scooted down further, this time hooking her thumbs under Sunset’s thong. Twilight was able to slip the small amount of material off as Sunset scooted up a little to assist Twilight in taking off the thong. Once it was off, Twilight decided that it was time for her to reveal something to Sunset.

Sunset watched as Twilight sat back and shimmied out of her pajama shorts, allowing her to catch a glimpse of Twilight’s glistening sex. The urge to bury her face between Twilight’s legs was strong, but she had to tamp that down, this was about Twilight, and besides, Sunset knew she’d be getting some more attention soon enough.

With the garment gone, Twilight gently parted Sunset’s legs and gained access to her girlfriend’s moistened slit. She gave an audible gulp when she got to see it, a brief flash of a memory went through Twilight’s mind, remembering a dark time when Indigo “gently guided” her down on her knees and stare at her abuser’s sex. Along with that was the memory of having said abuser press Twilight’s head between her legs as she reluctantly, resentfully, licked Indigo’s pussy.

Twilight shook her head of the memory, this wasn’t Indigo, this wasn’t CPA, this was her and Sunset, and unlike that time, she wasn’t being forced to do it. Sunset was tied up, the only one to decide if she was going to go down on Sunset was Twilight herself. The teen genius experimented a bit, running her fingers over Sunset’ vulva, which made the redhead shudder with delight at being intimately touched down there. Twilight used two of her fingers to part Sunset’s labia and peer inside through her vaginal canal, which was currently dripping with arousal.

The lavender colored girl took those same two fingers and gently prodded Sunset’s entrance.

“Aaaah~” Sunset moaned sensually.

Hearing Sunset’s moans made Twilight’s heart race, she then pushed her fingers deeper into her girlfriend’s snatch, feeling the tight muscles of Sunset’s inner walls clamp down, relax, and then clamp up again, as if they were trying to milk Twilight’s fingers. Although she’d never admit it out loud, Twilight had viewed a few porn video websites, especially after she discovered her orientation. She did so under the rationale that it was for “research purposes”, after all, even though most of it was fake, it at least allowed her to get a rudimentary idea of how to please another girl. She did try a few of those things on herself and found some of the techniques to be useful, but while she liked it, she wasn’t sure Sunset would, but it was worth giving it a shot.

Twilight twisted her hand around and curled her fingers upwards, if her deductions were correct, the g-spot should’ve been somewhere just bit into the vagina. Although every girl was different, so there was no guarantee it’d be there exactly, it could be a few centimeters further back, or to the side or–”

“HOLY FUCK!” Sunset exclaimed.

Or right there, she thought.

With her prize found, Twilight began messaging Sunset’s g-spot, causing the teenage bad girl to cry out in ecstasy from Twilight’s prodding of her most sensitive spot.

“Oh shit – oh fuck – Twilight – you – Shit! Aaaaah!”

Twilight gulped again as she watched Sunset wriggle around, her back arching just a bit as the pleasure began to overtake her. Out of instinct, Twilight’s free hand traveled down to her own dripping pussy, inserting two fingers into her sopping hole, and began to rhythmically thrust them in and out. Twilight took out her fingers from Sunset’s pussy and brought her mouth to it, she gave it a few licks, savoring the taste of her girlfriend’s juices, and then pierced the entrance with her tongue.

“OH FUCK, YES, SPARKY!”

Twilight, spurred on by Sunset’s cries, dove deeper, lapping at her inner walls while finger fucking herself, her ass lifted into the air and swayed back and forth as she ate out Sunset. The teen genius switched back to fingering Sunset, but this time she wrapped her lips around Sunset’s clit and began lick and sucking the sensitive nub for all it was worth.

“T-Twilight – Aaaah – I-I’m going – to – to –!”

Sunset couldn’t hold on any longer as her first orgasm of the night came rushing in. Twilight was treated to a splash of feminine juices, normally, this would be the part where she would pull away. But not this time, she loved the taste of Sunset’s vaginal juices, it was so much different from how she tasted. Perhaps it was the fact that she was not being forced, or the fact that it was with someone she cared about? Whatever the case was, Twilight eagerly gulped down every drop that Sunset gave, not only that, but the way Sunset’s back arched, and her cries on top of that, it all culminated together to drive Twilight over the edge as she furiously drove her fingers in and out of herself like a piston.

Twilight reached her own climax as she cummed, leaking out a good amount of her own love juices as she felt the spoils drip down her inner thighs. She moaned into Sunset’s pussy, which in turn only intensified the pleasurable climax she was experiencing. After a few seconds, the deluge from Sunset stopped, along with Twilight’s own leaking. Twilight removed her left hand from her pussy and sat up on her knees to inspect the damage. Sunset’s hair was licked with sweat, along with the rest of her body. The fiery haired girl’s chest rose and fell rapidly, and the area around her crotch was soaked with her juices.

“Sparky…that…that was awesome…!” Sunset stated between pants.

“I…I’ve never had such an intense orgasm such as that…n-not even when I’ve m-masturbated,” she admitted.

“You…You can do more…Sparky…I can take it!”

Twilight was embarrassed to admit it, but she did want more, she was starting to enjoy it, having Sunset at her mercy like this. This enjoyment didn’t come from a place of cruelty or superiority, but out of arousal, and okay, perhaps a bit of superiority. Twilight grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it off, and just as quickly removed her bra, revealing her own assets to Sunset yet again. There was something else she saw on those sites, although she wasn’t sure if this would really give them satisfaction like the girls on the videos portrayed, but it was still worth trying.

Twilight crawled forward until she was over Sunset, she grabbed Sunset’s legs around the crook of her knees and pushed her legs back. Sunset’s heart pounded with excitement at what her nerdy girlfriend was going to do next, and thankfully she didn’t have to wait long. Twilight scooted her crotch forward and pressed her pussy against Sunset’s. The heat coming off both their sexes radiated between them, that, and the fact that they were both sensitive after cumming just a few seconds ago, made the contact even more electrifying.

“You gonna ride me, Sparky?” Sunset asked in a sultry tone.

Twilight did her best to put on a sexy, serious expression, but on her it only looked like a cute pout. “Y-Yes, I-I’m going to r-ride you, Sunset Shimmer! I’m going to p-pound you like a female dog in heat!”

Sunset snorted from the attempted dirty talk from her adorkable girlfriend. “You mean, ‘fuck me like a bitch in heat’, right?”

If it wasn’t for the fact that Twilight’s face was already red from all this activity, she’d be blushing out of embarrassment. “Y-Yes, that’s what I meant – said! That’s what I said!”

Before her embarrassment won out, Twilight began griding her pussy against Sunset’s. The amber girl moaned louder into the room, feeling the weight of Twilight’s hips as she pressed and ground, and then switched to a humping motion that rocked her back and forth. During this time, Sunset was granted a grand sight of watching Twilight hover over her, her breasts shaking back and forth with each thrust as her face twisted into a pleasured expression.

“Oh, oh my! Oh, Sunset this feels good~” Twilight panted.

“Fuck, yes, Sparky! Fuck me, harder!” Sunset exclaimed.

Twilight did as requested, slapping her hips repeatedly into Sunset’s as if she had a male sex organ. On a twisted level, she wished she did, just so she could enjoy the visceral feeling of penetrating her lover, and in the end marking her from the inside out. But this was satisfying, more than satisfying, it was perfect. Twilight leaned down, her hands resting on either side of Sunset’s head as she gyrated her hips against Sunset and feeling the woman beneath her press back in response.

Both girls stared into the other’s lust filled eyes and in the next moment, Twilight initiated another deep kiss as she continued to claim her lover. Their kissing lasted longer; no words needed to be said as they started to meld on a spiritual level. Deep inside, Twilight could feel the awful memories of her times with Indigo fade away into obscurity, because none of those moments could match this one. They were both close, about to reach their second climax of the night. Sunset wrapped her legs around Twilight’s waist as they kissed and tribbed more and more until they reached their apex. Sunset and Twilight moaned into the other’s mouth as they both came at the same time, drenching the other’s pussies in their love juices.

Their kissing and grinding kept going as they road out this orgasm for all it was worth. A minute passed, the longest minute of their lives, Twilight collapsed atop Sunset, her head resting on the redhead’s breasts. Twilight, lazily, and with what strength she could gather, reluctantly got off Sunset and got the key to the cuffs. She unlocked both and removed the metal shackles from Sunset’s wrists. Now free, Twilight went back to lying atop her girlfriend, cuddling close to her, and letting the afterglow wash over them.

Sunset wrapped her arms around her lover and asked, “How do you feel, Sparky?”

Twilight smiled and hugged Sunset tighter. “Loved…and safe. Thank you for this, Sunset. Although, next time, I’d rather not use those again.”

“Didn’t like them too much huh?”

“Not that…it’s just…I don’t want to have to be afraid of you. I’m not afraid of you out there, and I definitely don’t want to be afraid of you in here,” Twilight explained. “I want you to make love to me next time. No cuffs, no restraints, just us together.”

“I understand, but, as far as first times go, I think this was pretty good. I will say this, that was hot from beginning to end, Sparky, and I loved every moment of it.”

Twilight giggled. “I did, too. Ugh, but now I’m tired.”

“Let’s sleep then, we have school tomorrow, and I know you don’t want to be tardy because you sexed your girlfriend,” Sunset teased.

“Do NOT use the ‘T’ word right now.”

“Sorry.”

At a small mansion in one of the richer parts of the city, Lemon Zest laid sprawled out on the floor of her room. The room itself was destroyed, her various CDs and music players were broken, having been tossed across the room and smashed, her desk and lamps were thrown about, evidence of a frenzied state of mind.

Lemon Zest held onto one thing that wasn’t destroyed, one thing that she made sure survived her grief-stricken rage. A photo of herself and Indigo Zap back when they first became friends during freshman year. It wasn’t anything fancy, just Indigo hooking an arm around Lemon’s neck as she smiled at the camera of another Crystal Prep student who bothered to take the photo for them. Lemon was holding up a peace sign and smiling just as broadly as Indigo was.

For nearly four years the two of them had been hanging out, messing with other people, going to parties together, and generally just doing what they loved. Indigo was the only one that filled the void in her life, her parents didn’t much care what she did, so long as she didn’t die, get low grades, or get arrested, she was free to do whatever she wanted to do. They were barely home if at all, Lemon suspected that they had fallen out of love a long time ago and were just keeping up a front for her until she was old enough to understand how things were.

From then on, they came home less and less, leaving only staff to make sure that she had food and that the home was taken care of. Of course, thanks to that, Lemon had developed an almost carefree attitude about things, throwing parties, doing a few drugs here and there, and even getting a “happy ending” at the end of some of her parties. During those times, Indigo would act as her bodyguard, making sure that Lemon Zest didn’t do something too over the top that she couldn’t recover from it. Or if she was so blitzed out of her mind that she couldn’t see when a guy was about to take advantage of her without her permission.

Now she had no one, Sugarcoat had completely left their group, and really, she was never a “friend” of theirs, just someone who was avoiding getting the same treatment as Sparkle, and her family did have some ties to law enforcement, which helped here and there. Sunny Flare was the Principal’s daughter, which had its perks, and Sour Sweet, well, she was rich and bipolar, which for the uneducated translated into “crazy”, and not many people wanted to mess with a “crazy bitch”.

The five of them were Crystal Prep’s elite clique, no one was above them, and everyone was below them, the most popular girls in school. Tier one in grades, looks, and influence, they could have anyone they wanted and throw them away just as quickly. To this day, despite the times that Indigo told her why she wanted Twilight Sparkle as a girlfriend, she still couldn’t understand why.

The nerd of a girl didn’t care about Indigo in the slightest, she only helped her with her schoolwork once, and did it so nonchalantly, as if she didn’t care that Indigo was a popular girl. That was the reason, but still, she had known Indigo longer, they were friends, and did a lot of things together, even talked about the kind of stuff the other got off on. They were close, closer than Twilight would ever be, Indigo was too blind to see it, but she did, she could see how Twilight hated every time that Indigo touched her, violated her, and Lemon Zest hated it to. Not on the principal that it was wrong, no, because it was all the things that she wanted Indigo to do her.

At night she would recall the memories of watching Indigo molest Twilight, as she often acted as the lookout for her, and replaced Twilight with herself, only instead of whimpering and crying, she would moan and pant, and ask for more.

Now her last memory of her beloved best friend, her first crush, was of the two of them of having sex in the music room. And about telling her friend and crush off about Twilight never accepting her love.

Zest’s hands tightened into fists, she knew who was responsible for her friend’s death, it was as clear to her as day itself. Sunset-fucking-Shimmer…She had gone to the site where all the destruction took place, she was there with Indigo’s parents when they were brought to identify the body. There was a gaping hole in Indigo’s chest, a hole that was made by something that was burning hot, and after what Indigo told her about Sunset Shimmer, and she saw teen bad girl do, she knew without a shred of doubt that Sunset was responsible for killing Indigo.

Thus, led to her break down a moment ago, destroying her room in a fit of rage, rage because she was unable to dissuade the girl she loved from chasing after Twilight, rage because there was no way to prove Sunset Shimmer killed Indigo, and what’s more, there was no way for her to exact revenge on the fiery haired teen that wouldn’t end with Lemon Zest herself joining Indigo Zap in the afterlife.

Lemon let out a dark chuckle as an idea crossed her mind, “Maybe I’d get to see her again…” Lemon glanced off to one of the pieces of a broken CD that was on the floor, briefly contemplating ending her life to be with Indigo once more. But somehow, that wasn’t going to work for her, not yet anyway. She had to make Sunset Shimmer pay, she had to make her feel this same pain that she was feeling. “I’m sorry, Indie…but, I’m going to have to hurt Twilight. You may not forgive me, but we’ll have plenty of time to make up…”

The following Monday was exactly as Twilight and Sunset expected it to be, the school had some black banners up, mourning the death of its star athlete, Indigo Zap. Although it seemed some were saddened by her passing, the overall feeling of sadness didn’t seem to permeate the school as much as one would think. Everyone knew the kind of person Indigo Zap was, it was the same way when Suri Polomare died, there wasn’t much mourning when it came to her either. Indigo was intimidating, not bad when you were on good terms with her, but if you were on her bad side, you’d best be already thinking of how you should beg for forgiveness before she got to you.

She was tougher than any boy, and twice as ruthless. Her athletic prowess second to none, and her charisma to lead their various sports teams was unparalleled. A lot of the students knew that a loss like this was bad for Crystal Prep, especially given that the Friendship Games would be held in another week or two, who was going to fill her spot?

Of course, none of that mattered to Twilight and Sunset, for Twilight, this was the first time in her four years of Crystal Prep that she was able to walk down the halls without fear. No one dared mess with her thanks to Sunset’s threat, and after what she did to Indigo, Lemon, Sour, and Sunny Flare, it was evident that she wasn’t above making good on her threats. And now that Indigo Zap was gone, she could finally enjoy the remainder of her senior year without fear, without anxiety, without any stress whatsoever, hell, she didn’t even care that she was on the Friendship Games team anymore, Indigo was gone.

Not only that, but she had just gotten through making love to the most beautiful, strong, and courageous girl she had ever met. Now Twilight knew what the meaning of the phrase “On cloud nine” meant, this feeling, right here, that’s what it meant.

Sunset couldn’t help but notice the smile on her face and said, “Don’t go thinking too hard about what we did last night, Sparky. You don’t want to have an accident in the middle of class,” she teased.

Twilight blushed and huffed at Sunset. “I’m perfectly capable of reining in my, ahem, carnal desires. One night does is not proven to turn you into a sex obsessed wacko.”

Sunset smirked and nudged her girlfriend with her elbow. “Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that, Sparky. But soon you’ll be cornering me in hall somewhere and saying ‘Sunset, we’re doing it, in the library, now!’”

Twilight gasped at the insinuation. “I would never suggest such a thing! Especially in a library of all places, I wouldn’t even think – nay – consider – defiling such a sacred place!”

The flame haired girl rolled her eyes and gently bopped Twilight on the head. “Okay, okay, just a joke, Sparky.”

“S-Sorry, I just don’t like it when people talk about libraries like that,” said Twilight.

Sunset’s smile broadened as she leaned forward and kissed Twilight on the cheek. “Damn, why are you so adorkable?!”

From then on, the day went pretty well, it was a little weird to see a vacant spot in some of her classes, because those vacant spots were where Indigo used to sit, and in each class, she saw a little memorial placed there in memory of her. It was no secret that Twilight was Indigo’s “favorite”, so no one expected her to feel bad or give any credence to the fact that Indigo was gone. They weren’t even offended that she looked happier than normal, how else would one act if their bully had just up and died?

Twilight had asked Sunset to not escort her around, at least for today, she wanted to enjoy the feeling of not having to look over her shoulder anymore. To not be afraid of Indigo suddenly appearing and making her do something lascivious to her and say that she “loved” her. That was no more.

The bespectacled girl made a side trip to the girls’ room before her next class started. After she was done, she started washing her hands, but paused when she saw the door to the girls’ room open, and she froze when she saw who it was.

“Lemon Zest?”

The hardcore party teen looked a mess, she hadn’t seen her all day, but she did not look good. Her hair was a mess, uncombed and frayed, she had bags under her eyes, and were red and puffy, probably from crying. Her uniform looked disheveled, like she didn’t really care about how she looked today. And what was more striking, was the dead look in her eyes.

“Hey, Sparkle…guess you heard the news by now…Indie’s dead,” she said with a hollow voice.

“I…I know. I’m sorry for your loss, Lemon,” said Twilight. She did mean it, even though Indigo was a monster to her, to Lemon Zest, she was her best friend.

Lemon Zest chuckled at Twilight’s apology. “Don’t pretend that you care, Sparkle…I know you’re fuckin’ happy as all hell that she’s dead. Don’t deny it!”

Before, Twilight would cringe in fear of Lemon and the other girls, but now, things were different. There was no reason to be afraid anymore. “Okay, yes, I am happy she’s dead.”

“Tch, good, at least you’re being honest.”

“I am, because after everything she did to me, after everything this school allowed her to get away with in regard to how she treated me, my sympathy for her passing is negligible. She only went on and on about how she was in love with me, and in the same breath molested and raped me while you watched!” Twilight accused.

Lemon Zest’s eyebrow rose in surprise. “Wait, you knew I was there?”

“I’m not stupid, Lemon, I know that some of the places she had me in to rape me ran the risk of us getting caught, as daring as she was, she wasn’t that stupid, she’d need a lookout. Someone to make sure no one would interrupt her, am I wrong?” Twilight asked as she crossed her arms.

Lemon Zest shrugged. “Nope, you hit the nail on the head, Sparkle. Yeah, I was her lookout. Not like anyone would’ve cared, but you can’t always count on that, there might be that one person who could just decide to grow a conscious and rat out Indie. So, yeah, I kept the coast clear while she made you eat out her pussy or ate you out!”

Twilight’s brow furrowed. “How can you live with yourself?! Seriously?! Indigo was obsessed with me, a clinical case of a stalker, and there’s normally no reasoning with them. But you, as far as I’m aware, you have full use of your cognitive abilities! I’m surprised you didn’t join in at some point! Did it ever occur to you how much I suffered because of her?! How much fear gripped me every single day that I walked through these halls wondering, ‘Is she coming for me today?’ or ‘Should I pack an extra pair of underwear in case Indigo rips mine off?’!”

Lemon smirked, “Sounds like fun to me.”

Twilight growled angrily. “You’re just as disgusting a person as she was! I pity her, but I don’t feel sorry that she died! Because now I can walk around this accursed school free of fear!”

That’s when Lemon Zest expression turned dark. “Yeah…that would be the case…but you really should still be afraid, Sparkle.” Lemon Zest reached into the back of her skirt and pulled out a butcher’s knife.

Twilight’s blood ran cold upon seeing the deadly weapon, her heart pounded in her chest as she gripped the sink to the point that she thought the porcelain would crack. “L-Lemon Zest…w-why do you have that?!”

Lemon inspected the knife in her right hand, then gazed at her reflection in the blade. “You’re a genius, right Sparkle? I’m pretty sure you know what I’m going to do with this.”

“I-I’ll scream!” Twilight threatened.

“Wouldn’t be much fun if you didn’t.”

“S-Someone will come if I do!” Twilight argued.

“Everyone’s in class now, this bathroom is in the middle of the hallway, there’s not a classroom for at least twenty feet in either direction. And if someone does come in because you screamed…well…I guess it’s your fault that they die before their time,” said Lemon Zest.

This wasn’t happening, this couldn’t be happening. Twilight looked around for a place to escape to, the wall was behind her, there were stalls to her left, but it wouldn’t take more than a good kick to get them open, and then Twilight would be in a literal kill box. The door was behind Lemon Zest, but the space between the stalls and the sink was wide, allowing for more foot traffic. If she could just get around Lemon, she might be able to run into a classroom, or at the very least call Sunset. Of course, Twilight knew that that didn’t come without the risk of getting stabbed. The only question was what part of her body was Twilight willing to let get stabbed if it meant getting away from Lemon.

I have to avoid getting cuts on my arteries. Two are located on my arms, another two on my neck, and another two around my inner thighs. There’s also my organs…a stab to my sides would cause serious pain, but nothing immediately life threatening. A stab to my stomach is the same, but that’s not counting the bacterial infection I’ll most likely get from my stomach contents bleeding out into the rest of my body…then there’s the pain…can I survive the initial shock of getting stabbed to even react?

Twilight thought back to the first time she had even been stabbed, it was back during the rave that Sunset brought her to, she was stabbed in the heart by some gang punk, she would’ve died that night if not for Sunset’s Ember Stone. She had to bet on that, she had to bet that Sunset would get to her in time to bring her back from the brink.

“I bet you’re trying to figure out the best way to get to the door and run away, right?” Lemon guessed. “Sorry to tell you, Sparkle…but you’re going to die in this bathroom. I tried to think of a more undignified place to do it in, but this seemed better. Although, I could’ve just done the deed while you were in there pissing, but I thought that was rude.”

Twilight had an idea, she slowly let the straps of her backpack slide down until the right loop was off.

*Brrrrrrrinnnnnnnnggggg*

The sound of the school bell went off and Lemon smiled with bloodlust. “The bell’s been rung, Sparkle!”

Lemon ran towards Twilight and thrust the knife forward. Thinking quickly, Twilight brought her backpack around and used it as a shield, blocking the knife just in time. Lemon felt the blade sink into something thick and heavy, she tried to pull it out, but it wasn’t budging. Twilight then twisted to the right, then the left, and then a hard twist back to the right making Lemon release the knife as Twilight threw her backpack to the side. Now without a weapon, Twilight took this moment to make a break for the door.

However, at the last second, Lemon caught the teen genius by her hair bun and dragged her backwards hard, making Twilight fall to the floor and bang her head against the tile. Twilight’s vision was filled with stars as her head pounded in pain, the world spun around as a dizzy spell overcame her. Before she could fully come out of it. Lemon Zest kicked Twilight across the face, making her roll until she hit the stalls. Her glasses skittered across the floor until they hit the opposite wall, cracked, and broken.

“Indigo was my only friend…” Lemon Zest walked towards Twilight and dragged her up by her collar and slammed her against the stall door. “The only person who gave a damn about me!”

Lemon Zest slapped Twilight across the face, three times, with each strike harder than the last. Twilight managed to come back and said weakly, “Lemon…please…stop…”

“Stop? I thought you would’ve figured it out by now, Sparkle!” Lemon Zest threw Twilight back to the floor and kicked open a stall door. She grabbed her again and dragged Twilight until her head was hovering over the toilet bowl. “There are no brakes on the rape train!”

The neon green haired teen thrust Twilight’s head into the toilet water, Twilight thrashed about as she tried to get away, but thanks to the earlier beating, Twilight was still too much in a daze to properly fight back. The only thing driving her actions was her fight or flight instinct. This only spurned Lemon Zest to push Twilight’s head more into the bowl until her nose pressed into the hole of the bowl. Twilight couldn’t hold her breath any longer and opened her mouth, letting in a large amount of toilet water into her mouth and nose and down in her lungs.

Lemon kept holding Twilight there for a few more seconds before she pulled her out. Twilight gasped and coughed violently as she tried to catch her breath, but Lemon Zest put her back down into it again. Lemon kept repeating this action two more times, holding her down just a little longer each time before releasing Twilight. The teen genius crawled on the floor, gasping for air as her lungs burned with each intake of air. Her hair and clothes were drenched in toilet water, blood trickled from her lip, and from a cut above her forehead.

Twilight desperately tried to cry out, she could barely make a sound. Lemon Zest walked over to where the knife was still stuck in the backpack and began trying to dislodge it. While Lemon was distracted, Twilight summoned all the strength she could and began crawling towards the door, she needed to get outside, even if she couldn’t scream or talk right now, she could at least bang on the lockers and gain the attention of someone.

“Oh-ho-ho hell no!”

Twilight felt herself getting dragged back by her legs and then being violently turned around so that she was facing upwards. Lemon Zest had gotten the knife free from the backpack and now looked down at Twilight, she crouched low and looked into Twilight’s eyes with that same cold, dark expression she had earlier.

“You know something, Twilight. I envied you because Indie gave you so much attention.”

Lemon Zest took the knife and stabbed Twilight in her right shoulder, causing the teen genius to release a strained scream as the cold metal pierced her flesh.

“She was so infatuated with you, so absorbed by you, that it honestly pissed me off.”

Lemon retracted the knife and then stabbed it into Twilight’s left side. Twilight released another scream, feeling the hot blood pour from both her wounds.

“Every time I watched her screw you, I imagined myself in your place, hell, there were times when I wanted to just tear you away from her and just finish the job myself. But I know Indie would’ve been pissed at me for stopping her and you…”

Lemon took out the knife from Twilight’s side and then stabbed her in the stomach. She twisted the knife back and forth, eliciting more screams from Twilight.

“Did you know that we had sex in the music room, about a day before she died? It was so hot, and everything I fantasized about…I even said she could use me the same way did you…! Maybe I should’ve tried harder, maybe then she’d be alive right now…? But I guess we’ll never know, will we? Because your bitch of a girlfriend, Sunset – FUCKING – Shimmer KILLED HER!!!”

Lemon Zest raised her knife high over her head and brought it down straight into Twilight’s chest, causing the lavender girl to cough up blood.

“SHE KILLED HER!”

Another stab.

“SHE KILLED HER!”

A third stab.

“SHE KILLED HER!”

A fourth stab.

“SHE KILLED HER!”

A fifth stab.

“SHE KILLED HER!!!!!!”

When all was said and done, Twilight was a bloody mess on the floor, blood pooled on the floor around her as she struggled to cling onto what life she had left. Lemon Zest was covered in Twilight’s blood, she was amazed that she was still alive despite the loss of blood and how many times she stabbed her, but even she could tell that that wouldn’t be the case for much longer.

Lemon got off Twilight and began walking to the door. “I’m going to leave you here, Twilight, in the last few moments of life that you have, remember that you and Sunset are to blame for this.”

The door closed then and there, leaving Twilight alone, blood pooling in her mouth as her heartbeats started to fade. The room was starting to go dark, and her body growing colder by the second.

Some would think that this was how Twilight Sparkle was to die, in a high school bathroom, but sometimes fate has other things in mind. What neither of the two girls knew was that during the scuffle, when Twilight rolled and hit the stall, a certain gold coin flew out of her pocket and struck the back wall of the stalls. The little Artifact spun around and around and was suddenly propelled upwards when Twilight had thrashed about with her hands earlier.

The coin landed on the edge of the stall’s wall and rolled until it was at the edge of the divider, overlooking the event below. When it was over, and Twilight was left for dead, fate or whatever unknown force which guided the Coin of Solomon sprang into action. The Coin of Solomon dropped from its perch and bounced high into the air after hitting the floor, a stray wind from the air vent angled the gold coin just enough for it to drop right into the center stab wound on Twilight’s body. The Coin of Solomon slowly inserted itself deeper into her wound until it disappeared entirely.

Just then the door to the girls’ room burst open, literally, it burst apart due to a fiery blast. Sunset Shimmer screamed bloody murder when she saw Twilight’s mutilated state. “TWILIGHT!!!!!” Sunset ran inside and dropped to her knees next to her lover. “TWILIGHT, SPARKY, BABE, I’M SO SORRY! I SHOULDN’T HAVE STOPPED WATCHING OVER YOU! HANG IN THERE, DON’T YOU DARE STOP FIGHTING!”

This seemed to garner someone’s attention as there were footsteps coming from the hallway. Sunset turned to her left and saw that Dean Cadence was standing in the doorway, she drooped a stack of papers as she brought her hands to her mouth, her eyes were wide with a mixture of sadness and terror of what she saw.

“S-SUNSET WHAT IN THE–?!”

“JUST KEEP EVERYONE OUT OF HERE, CALL THE POLICE TOO! I’M GOING TO TRY AND SAVE HER!” Sunset stated. When she saw Cadence was still stunned, she yelled, “DON’T THINK ABOUT IT, JUST DO IT!”

Twilight coughed up more blood, and that seemed to kick Cadence into high gear as she quickly took out her cellphone and dialed the police. “Hello, this is Dean Cadenza of Crystal Prep Academy! There’s been an assault and one of my students is seriously injured, I need an ambulance and police presence here, NOW!!” Cadence took out the walkie that the teachers were issued when they monitored the halls and said over the channel, “Attention all faculty and security staff, as Dean of Students, I’m issuing a lockdown of the entire school, a student has been gravely wounded and police are on the way! I repeat, I want an immediate lockdown of the Academy!”

Meanwhile, Sunset pulled at the buttons of her shirt until her Ember Stone was revealed. “Don’t worry, Sparky, I’ll have you fixed up just like last time, just…hang…in there?”

Suddenly, the stab wounds on Twilight started to glow green. The injuries to her face were fixed in less than a few seconds, followed by the mending of the stab wounds. In almost no time at all, Twilight’s injuries had been completely healed, the only thing to indicate that she had been wounded was the amount of blood that was around her and staining her uniform, plus there was the actual damage to the uniform.

Twilight’s eyes fluttered open, and her first sight was that of a crying Sunset Shimmer. “Oh, thank god, Sparky, you’re alive!”

Sunset hugged her fiercely, but then Twilight pushed her girlfriend to the side as she turned around onto her hands and knees and began vomiting the toilet water she had inhaled earlier. The burning sensation from doing that subsided just as quickly as it happened, her lungs and throat were no longer in pain, in fact, she felt really good.

“Sparky, are…are you alright now?” Sunset asked.

Twilight glanced towards Sunset and gasped, she reached out to touch Sunset’s face, cupping her cheek in the palm of her right hand. “This…This can’t be…”

“W-What?!” Sunset asked in a panic.

“I…I can see you. I mean…I can see you, Sunset, without my glasses! You look so clear!” Twilight exclaimed.

It finally dawned on Sunset that Twilight’s glasses were lying on the floor a few feet away, completely broken, and yet, Twilight was able to see her clear as day?

“Sunset, did you’re Ember Stone heal my eyes too?!” Twilight asked happily.

Sunset was baffled, she was completely confused.

Twilight took both of Sunset’s hand into her own and asked, “Sunset, what’s wrong?”

“I…Sparky, I…I didn’t even get the chance to do anything yet…you healed on your own…”

Evolution Stage 1

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“So, let me get this straight…you were doing a patrol flyby, when you sensed Twilight’s life force being snuffed out. When you did, you immediately descended – hence the burn hole in the roof – and used your powers to heal her before she could succumb to her injuries, that about sum it up?” Shining Armor asked.

“Yes, detectives, everything is as I have stated,” said Ember.

Sunset Shimmer, or rather, Ember, was standing in the middle of the girls’ bathroom, a large crowd had gathered around the outside, made up of faculty, students, and police officers, the latter keeping the rest back from the crime scene. Cadence was sitting next to Twilight, who was draped in a blanket, both because her clothes were evidence and had to be removed, and to cover her up until a teacher that Cadence trusted could go and grab her gym uniform to wear in the meantime. Shining Armor, along with his partner, Spearhead Thrust, were writing down Ember’s statement as she gave it, along with Cadence recounting of what happened when she heard the commotion. And Principal Cinch was standing at the doorway as well, much to the annoyance of all in the room.

“And, Dean Cadenza, you attest that you screamed when you saw Twilight’s condition and immediately called 911 and issued a school wide lockdown, correct?” Spearhead asked.

Cadence nodded. “That is correct, I’m not sure if the culprit is still inside the school or not, but if they are, I doubt that it’d be easy for them to hide considering…” Cadence let the evidence in the restroom speak for itself, there was no way the culprit who did this could walk away and not get splattered in blood.

Spearhead looked to Shining and Shining to Spearhead.

“Well, I think that flies, don’t you Detective Spearhead?” Shining asked.

“No doubt, clear case of extenuating circumstances, thank you for your help, Ember,” said Spearhead.

“No problem, although, I’d like to find out who or what did this to her, depending on the nature of this attack, it might require my or Witchblade’s involvement.”

The two officers agreed and set to speak to Twilight. Despite the entirety of this situation, she seemed calm, if anything, she was still amazed by the information that Sunset had told her. She never used her powers to heal me…so…why did I heal? How am I alive?

“Twilight,” Shining spoke, gaining the young teen’s attention. “I know it might be painful, but I need you to remember what happened, do you know who it was that attacked you?”

Twilight glanced between her brother, his partner, Cadence, Ember/Sunset, and then there was the crowd on the other side of the bathroom door, and the worried Principal Cinch. There was no easy way of explaining this, no way not to cause a scene, the moment she spoke her name the rumor mills of CPA would start to whisper, and many things would hit the fan. However, maybe it was a good thing that this happened, perhaps it was time that Crystal Prep got turned on its head?

“Yes, I know who it was that tried to kill me. Her name is Lemon Zest.” The moment she uttered that name, Ember’s flames intensified, causing the room temperature to spike for a moment. After a quick apology and temperature decrease, Twilight continued. “She accused me of being happy that Indigo Zap, another student here at Crystal Prep, was dead. And, for the record, I am glad that she is.”

Shining Armor and Cadence shared a glance, which then shifted ever so slightly to an even more nervous Abacus Cinch.

“Twilight, why are you glad about something like that?” Cadence asked rhetorically.

“Because Indigo Zap has been molesting and raping me for the past four years here at Crystal Prep!” As expected, several students on the other side of the door gasped and began speaking amongst themselves. “I know that Indigo died a couple of days ago in an incident at Equestria Land, and Lemon Zest was a good friend of hers, her best friend. Indigo Zap has been stalking me and making me perform sexual acts on her against my will!”

It wasn’t hard to act like this was the first time they’d heard about this, just hearing it again was making both Cadence and Shining Armor’s blood boil. Spearhead’s reaction was more genuine, his brow furrowing and hands tightening around his notepad. He and Shining Armor had been friends since the academy, and Twilight had often been introduced to him, so much so that Spearhead considered Twilight like a sister, so to hear that she had been going through something like this the whole time.

“Twilight, why didn’t you tell someone that this was happening?” Spearhead asked.

Twilight hugged herself. “Because I was already getting enough abuse from the rest of this school…I didn’t want to burden Cadence, my parents, or Shining Armor about it. My Mom and Dad worked too hard to send us both here, and I didn’t want to have them waste their money on me like that. So…I decided to suffer through it, just trying to get through this last year without any incidents.”

Cadence hugged Twilight close to her and spoke softly, “You are never a burden to us, Ladybug.”

Shining Armor rested a hand on his sister’s shoulder and added, “It’s a big brother’s job to look after his little sister, that’s never something that’s a bother.”

Ember fidgeted in place, no doubt wanting to add her own words of encouragement or at the least embrace Twilight, but they had to keep up appearances for the time being.

“For now, let’s get you home, you don’t need to be here,” said Cadence.

“Aaaaaand that’s my cue to leave! Let me know if you need any help, officers!” Ember stated quickly before shooting up through the hole in the roof.

Twilight was led out of the bathroom by Dean Cadence, meanwhile, Shining Armor and Spearhead decided to speak with Principal Cinch on the matter. Shining Armor knew that Cinch probably suspected that Cadence told him about what had been happening to Twilight, so instead of letting the woman try and weasel her way out of this by saying he was being biased due to how close this was to his home, the older brother decided to let his partner do most of the talking.

“Principal Cinch,” Spearhead began.

“Officers, may we change the venue of this discussion? I’d rather…” Cinch glanced at the gory scene on the bathroom floor and then back to the officers, “…not talk in a restroom, or one that’s covered in blood.”

With a nod from Spearhead, Principal Cinch walked the two detectives back to her office. It was just as Shining Armor remembered it, not to say that the times he did go see the Principal was for bad behavior, if anything, it was for praise and recommendations to positions to the Police Academy. Now, though, it was an irritating place to be, and after seeing the trophy case, it made Shining wonder how many other students were made to suffer to get these prestigious awards, trophies, certificates, and medals?

“Twilight laid out some very serious accusations, Principal Cinch, I don’t mind saying that this is not a good look for you, or for your school, care to comment on what Twilight meant by her being abused by the students at your school?” Spearhead asked.

“Obviously, Ms. Sparkle is quite traumatized by her ordeal. Perhaps she is just equivocating some light hazing from our students as something more. It’s understandable, given what she just went through,” said Abacus Cinch.

“Have you had any complaints in regards to this, Indigo Zap, in the past?” Spearhead questioned further.

Cinch sat behind her desk and weaved her hands together. “Indigo is – sorry – was our star athlete. She was captain of every one of our girls’ sports teams and was slated for Crystal Prep’s Friendship Games team this year…until her untimely death a couple of days ago. It’s no surprise that there are some students who did not like her, she was one of our more popular students. Some animosity and jealousy are to be expected of others.”

“Still…” Spearhead approached the desk and crossed his arms. “Accusing someone of rape is a very serious thing to say, and Twilight Sparkle is not the kind of girl to just throw out such accusations without a reason. Has she come to you about or alerted any of the faculty to being subjected to such abuse?”

“No, she hasn’t, this is the first I’ve heard of such a thing!” Cinch stated in a “distraught” tone. “Officers, believe me, if such a thing were going on in my school, I’d have called the police myself and have Indigo Zap arrested for harming another student in such a manner!”

There was a thump that came from one of the walls where Shining Armor was leaning up against, drawing their attention for a moment. The blue haired detective chuckled a little, “Sorry, thought I saw a bug or something.”

“Okay…Anyway, we’ll be needing any information you have on this Lemon Zest, her address, parents phone numbers, and any records you have on her, as well as whatever information you have on Indigo Zap,” said Spearhead.

“I’d be glad to help, I can have my secretary pull up the records for Ms. Zest, but I will need permission from the Zap family to release her records,” said Cinch. “Although that could be a while since their daughter just died, and they might not like that someone is accusing their daughter of being a rapist.”

“We’ll get a subpoena if necessary, but we’d appreciate the information on Ms. Zest,” said Spearhead.

The two detectives began to take their leave, but Shining Armor, before exiting the room, gave a glance over his shoulder, glaring directly at the Principal of the school before smiling smugly. He then closed the door and left Cinch on her own. Now that she was alone, the Principal of Crystal Prep began to go into full on stress mode as she ran her hands through her mulberry hair. This could not get any worse for her.

First Sour Sweet ends up in the hospital, which wasn’t so bad as she was slated to return soon before the games started. But now she had lost Indigo Zap, their second ace in the hole for the physical parts of the Games, and then there was Lemon Zest, she had her strengths in academics, trivia, and a bit of chemical science, her promiscuous, party lifestyle aside, she was still a high-grade student. But now she goes and has a mental breakdown and attempts to murder Twilight, TWILIGHT, their true ace in the hole, their trump card against any potential intellectuals that may appear in Canterlot High School’s team. So far, Cinch had lost at least two of her seven strongest competitors, and she might potentially lose Twilight and Sour Sweet if it turns out she’s not completely physically fit to compete in the games.

How is this all going so wrong?! And not only this, but when Sunset Shimmer finds out……! Cinch didn’t know what the teen rich girl could do, she hated to admit it, but despite everything the other families who sent their kids here had as far as influence, when she looked at Sunset Shimmer, Cinch felt more fear from her than any of those parents. She didn’t know what Sunset had backing up her stature. Power? Abundantly, obscene amounts of money? Political clout higher than just what was in this city? Ties to organized crime?

The true terror lied in how the teenage girl showed no fear when facing down her elders who had higher authority. Sunset had brazenly talked down to Cinch as if she was a common worker drone in some company. That girl had no fear when it came to authority figures, had the physical strength to take down the star athlete of their school, and the intellectual acuity to match their resident certified genius. Sunset Shimmer was a real threat to her and everything that she had, but that would only come about depending on how Twilight Sparkle recounted everything to her later.

The ride home was very silent. Once Sunset had returned in her normal form, Cadence had asked for her to take Twilight back to their home, and that both were excused for the rest of the day. Cadence had assured them that she’d contact Twilight’s parents about the incident at school.

Twilight was still trying to wrap her head around what had happened to her, she was stabbed to death, she remembered the horrendous pain she was in, the taste of her blood as it filled her mouth, all of it. And yet, here she was, alive and well if she was being honest, she felt better than ever. Her eyes felt sharper, she was picking up details that she couldn’t have before with her glasses on. Colors were more vivid, sharper, and cleaner, it was as if an HD filter had been placed on her eyes and the world was coming in clear like the graphics on a high-end gaming computer.

When Twilight would glance over to Sunset, she found her girlfriend with a serious, intense look upon her face. No doubt Sunset was trying to figure out what her next course of action was going to be, part of Twilight wanted to tell Sunset to not go and kill Lemon Zest, but to just bring her to the police and let the justice system take care of the rest. But there was another part of her that wanted to just hold her tongue and let Sunset go out and dispense her brand of justice onto Lemon.

“Sunset…? Are you alright? You haven’t said anything since we left the school,” said Twilight.

She was met with silence.

“If you’re worried about me, I’m fine, honestly, no wounds or anything! I feel really great as strange as that sounds…” Twilight looked down at her right hand as if it held the answers she sought. “I still don’t understand how I came back. Are you sure you didn’t use your powers to help me?”

Sunset sighed heavily and said, “Yes, Sparky, I am sure. Right now, I’m worried about something else that might be the cause of why what happened to you happened. I’ll deal with Lemon Zest after I’ve figured out what I need to do. I’ll also need to talk to Sis later to find out what she thinks.”

For some reason, Twilight felt as if she was in trouble, even though her girlfriend wasn’t saying anything specific. In fact, it was because of her lack of specifics that made Twilight believe that there was something serious going on, enough for Twilight to probably panic. But then again, this feeling of “healthiness”, for lack of a better word, it didn’t feel like something that she should be worried about.

Eventually they returned to Shimmer Manor and entered the house, Sunset had asked Twilight to go and wait in her room while she looked into something, to which Twilight nodded in agreement. They were greeted by Spike, who, upon seeing his master, looked upon her with concern, yet another sign that didn’t fill Twilight with much confidence. Dogs had senses that could alert them to certain diseases within human bodies just by smell alone, so perhaps he was catching a disconcerting scent from Twilight that made him worry for her.

Twilight made it to her room and sat on the bed, allowing Spike to jump up and rest on her lap as she petted him gently with her right hand. With her left hand, Twilight rubbed over her chest where she had been stabbed repeatedly. The fresh memories of that event flashed in her mind, remembering the manic face of Lemon Zest as she raised the knife and plunged into her body over, and over again. She began to tremble as a panic attack threatened to rear its head, but Spike, sensing his owner’s unease, raised his head and licked Twilight on the cheek.

The teen genius hugged her little canine companion, his soft fur and worry over her wellbeing allowed her panic to subside. “I thought I was done with being afraid, Spike……but now I’m more afraid than ever…” Twilight confessed as she began to cry. “Lemon Zest almost killed me…I’ve never had anyone look at me with such hate in their eyes…I…I could feel her hatred with each stab…!”

Spike whimpered and licked her cheek again, then he nuzzled her gently, trying to comfort her the best he could.

“Why…? What did I do to deserve the ire of everyone in that school?! What did I do to draw the attention of such a despicable person as Indigo Zap?! It’s not fair…!” Twilight cried. “All I wanted to do was further my knowledge, improve my skills, get a good education, and go on to become a prominent member of the scientific community!”

Twilight gently removed Spike from her hug and placed him on the bed as she got up and started to pace around the room. “So why is that such a bad thing?! Why does being smarter than most people a crime?! It’s not as if I wanted to be born a genius! But then what else am I supposed to do?! Why should I not improve my abilities to help mankind! My mind can only help to make the world a better place to live for them and everyone, it’s as if they can’t or refuse to look past the petty world of high school, instead of looking to the future!”

The teen genius’ emotions were shifting from sorrow to anger as years of abuse and now the attempt on her life began to boil over. “I don’t deserve to be treated this way! I just want to live my life! I want to go to a good university and use my talents to help people! I want to…to…marry Sunset and start a family with her! But no, apparently, I’m not allowed to have ANY OF THAT!”

Without really thinking, Twilight threw a punch right at the closest thing she could hit, which in this case was her wall. Her fist broke through the wood and drywall and ended up on the other side. Twilight gasped at what she did, she wasn’t strong, she wasn’t that strong, ever. She was a skinny thing, no muscle, unlike both Sunsets, whom she knew full well could punch through a wall even without their enhanced abilities. Slowly, Twilight withdrew half her arm from the wall, there was some obvious scratches on her arm and hands, but she didn’t feel any pain. However, her nerves did send singles to her that her skin was breached, but the pain that should accompany that feeling did not occur.

Just as before, the damage to her body was healed as green light shined from the wounds, the bulk of the light was concentrated around her hand, which made sense since that was the first thing to hit the wall. After a couple of seconds, the damage was undone, and Twilight was free to flex her fingers. “What…? Okay, so it really wasn’t Sunset who healed me…” Twilight shook her head. “Calm down, Twilight, just focus on something else! A book! That’s it a book!”

Twilight went over to the bookshelf, she scanned the rows and found the book she wanted, but it was on the top shelf. The teen genius began to reach for the book, her hysteric mindset made her ignore the fact that there was a footstool not two feet away. “Oh c’mon, ugh, sometimes I wish I was as tall as Sunset.”

Not long after saying that, she was able to reach up and grab the book she wanted. “Ha!” Twilight exclaimed as she managed to take the book into her hands. However, something was off. When she looked straight ahead at the row in front of her, the books listed weren’t the ones she was looking at a moment ago. “Quantum Physics and You’? ‘The Wonderful World of Chemical Engineering’? Wait, why are these on the fiction shelf? They should be in the nonfiction shelf!”

Twilight’s mild OCD was about to kick her in the rear for overlooking something so simple. But when Twilight took a step back, she realized that the books were in their correct shelf, the lavender girl took a step forward and realized what had happened, and it shocked her. When she walked up to the bookshelf, she was on eye level with the fiction shelf, which mostly contained the Daring Do series, the top shelf above that had her scientific books, while the top had her astronomy books, but for some reason she was eye level with the shelf that held the scientific books now. Twilight rushed to the standing mirror that was in her closet, and when she did, another gasp escaped her lips.

“I’m taller…!” Twilight whispered. It was true, her legs were a little longer, to anyone else it wouldn’t be that noticeable, but for Twilight, who was a detailed oriented girl, the change was apparent. “H-How?! Did I have a sudden growth spurt?!” Twilight held her head as she tried to think. “Stay calm, Twilight, just stay calm! There’s a perfectly logical explanation as to how you just gained a foot of height in less than a few seconds!”

Twilight looked at herself in the mirror again, taking a moment to try and accept this change. After a moment, she thought it was fine, at least now she would be able to look at Sunset on eye level instead of looking up at her.

“T-This is okay, yeah, yeah I can live with this. I mean, it’s not as if my breasts went up an extra cup size.” Twilight looked at her smallish breasts, feeling a little self-conscious about their size. Even though Sunset liked them just as they were. “Although it probably wouldn’t be too bad for that to happen, I mean, I’d like Sunset to have something more to grab onto then just my-my-my WHAAAAT THE??!!!”

As if on cue, a dim green glow focused on Twilight’s breasts, both of her dirty pillows swelled a bit more, growing bigger until the light finally faded. Twilight immediately discarded her shirt, feeling that her bra had become a bit tighter than it used to be. Once she managed to detach the bra, she gave a sigh of relief now that they weren’t being constricted, but that was only part of the worry. Twilight looked at herself in the mirror again, and without a doubt, her breasts had become bigger, at least a c-cup. The teen genius gently cupped both of her mammaries and gave them a light squeeze, they still maintained the same softness as her previous cup size, so this wasn’t due to fluid buildup.

Oh, who are you kidding, Sparkle?! Fluid wouldn’t build up this quickly even if you were sick! But how did this happen? She only thought about wanting her bust size to increase a moment ago and……It can’t be that simple…can it? Deciding to try, Twilight thought about her previous size and desired that her breasts return to that size. As if her body understood her command, the green glow appeared again, and her bust size returned to normal. I don’t normally like to curse but…HOLY SHIT!

Twilight used the same process with her height, and like with her chest, the dim green light appeared over her legs, and in less than a few seconds she was back to her original height. Twilight decided to get a little more creative, she removed the rest of her clothing to avoid them ripping or causing uncomfortable squeezing and created a mental image of her ideal body. Within seconds her body glowed, and Twilight was granted what she envisioned. Her hips were wider, granting her an hourglass frame like that of Fluttershy, tall slender legs like that of Rarity’s, a thicker rear, with breasts to match, and just a bit of muscle to not make her look too scrawny, with just a healthy amount of fat to make herself not too bulky either.

“Oh…my…god…” Twilight gasped as she looked down at herself.

Twilight had secretly wanted a body like this, she hated feeling self-conscious about her body, and tried not to let such things bother her. But there was always that little part of herself that was just a bit vain that she wanted to look like the girls who mocked her, with a supermodel physique, a body that would garner attention to her. A perfect mixture of beauty and brains. Twilight walked up to the mirror and touched it, still in disbelief that this was her.

“Sparky, you decent?!”

Twilight released an “eeek!” when she heard her girlfriend call to her. “Uh – No! – I-I’m changing out of my clothes right now!”

“Oooh, mind if I watch?”

“Ugh, you are such a pervert! You know that?!” Twilight countered.

“I thought we established this, didn’t we? Or did I not make that clear when we were doing it last night?”

Twilight blushed furiously.

“Seriously, Sparky, can I come in? I need to check something.”

“Uh…give me a second!” Twilight responded. She quickly brought up the mental image of her original look and just like before with the change was immediate, her body glowing and returning to normal. Twilight took a moment to check herself to make sure nothing was out of place, once she had, Twilight grabbed a robe and exited the walk-in closet. “Okay, you can come in.” She quickly shot a glance at Spike who was looking at her funny, to which she put her right index finger to her lips and went, “Shhh!”

Spike tilted his head, not sure what she was getting at.

Sunset opened the door and came in with a device in hand. “Hey, how are you feeling Sparky?”

“Um, alright, really. You know, for someone who was just stabbed…” Twilight joked.

Sunset visibly shuttered, apparently, she had not gotten over the traumatic experience of seeing her girlfriend lying in a pool of her own blood on the floor out of her mind. Not that Twilight could blame her, if anything, Twilight found it strange that she herself hadn’t been more traumatized by it.

“I just wanted to check you out, we managed to talk the police out of sending you to the hospital, but I don’t want to take any chances. Can you sit down right quick?”

Twilight nodded, she didn’t argue with Sunset, knowing that this would put her at ease. Once she had sat on the edge of the bed, Sunset came over and carefully undid the robe, Twilight blushed a bit when her chest was exposed.

Sunset giggled and said, “We just had sex last night, and you can still blush about me seeing your breasts?”

“Context…t-that was sex, this is different…” Sunset shrugged at Twilight’s answer and began examining her chest for any wounds, lightly palpating where she remembered the wounds used to be. As Twilight watched her girlfriend work, she took this opportunity to ask Sunset a question, “Um, Sunset, do you…do you sometimes wish my chest was…bigger?”

Sunset looked up at Twilight for a moment with a confused look before going back to her work. “No, not really.”

“But…it’s not like you haven’t thought about, right?” Twilight probed.

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Sparky, you could be flat as a board or have tits as big as my head, it wouldn’t matter to me. I didn’t fall in love with you because of your boob size, I fell in love with you.” The fiery haired teen raised her device, which looked like a metal detection wand, and ran it over the area where Twilight was stabbed. “Besides, I think your breasts are cute and perky, and I can’t wait until I get my turn to show them the same kind of love you showed mine.”

Twilight smiled at the compliment. “Thank you, Sunset. And I…I look forward to that, too. Anyway, did you have a theory about why I healed on my own?”

Sunset’s brow furrowed. “Maybe…but I want to double check on something before I start assuming anything. I’m just hoping its residual energy from my Ember Stone that healed you. Either that or all the exposure to my Artifact and Sis’ Artifact is somehow having an effect on your body. Kind of like radiation.”

Twilight contemplated Sunset’s theory and nodded. “It is a possibility, my Mom and Dad haven’t shown any signs, Shiny has had more exposure than I have, but his exposure has been sporadic, whereas we’ve spent a lot of time together at school and after.”

Sunset looked at the screen that was on the wand and nodded, believing that she had gotten what she needed, the amber skinned girl stepped back and let Twilight tie her robe. “Okay, I’ll run the data through my computers and try to get an idea about what’s going on. It might not be anything.”

Twilight watched as Sunset began to exit the room, “Sunset!” she called out.

Sunset stopped and glanced over her shoulder. “Yeah, Sparky?”

Twilight knew that Sunset needed more information if she was going to make a conclusive diagnosis about her condition, and the information about her newfound ability to manipulate and change her physical body might help Sunset form a more precise conclusion. However, even while knowing this was the right thing to do, she stopped herself. “Sorry, I just wanted to say I love you.”

Sunset smiled at Twilight and replied, “I love you too, Sparky. Always will.”

With that declaration given, Sunset left the room. Twilight groaned as she let herself plop backwards onto the bed; her gaze pointed up at the ceiling. Spike walked over to her and looked at her with confusion. “I know I should’ve said something, Spike. But I’d like to understand what’s happening to me first, from what I can tell so far, I can change my physical proportions, I have accelerated healing, and some level of pain nullification.” Twilight raised her right hand towards the ceiling, and then made a fist. “Maybe this isn’t a bad thing. I’ve been on the sidelines for a while now, I don’t have magical powers like the other girls, and I don’t have an Artifact like the Sunsets, or Fluttershy, or Sugarcoat, but maybe…maybe this is my chance to actually contribute to their effort. I couldn’t help Shiny when he asked me to find out who Anon-A-Miss was, and during the ‘war’, I couldn’t do anything but provide emotional support. Now…I might be able to do something!”

Spike gave a little bark, whether or not that was his way of saying he agreed with her was another story. Twilight’s attention was then drawn to the hole in the wall that she made earlier, thankfully Sunset was too preoccupied with making sure she was okay to notice.

“I better move the bookshelf to cover that.”

Canterlot High was just as Sunset thought it would today. Black streamers were hung throughout the school, a memorial wall was created that had Applejack’s picture on it, along with various other photos, either from school functions or club activities. There were a few that were obviously brought by her friends, some showed Applejack together with the whole group, others had two or three of them, and others were from the Apple family.

Condolence cards littered the desks that were assembled there, as well as vases filled with flowers, and a basket of apples. Applejack’s death had hit everyone in school hard, the country girl was like a steadfast rock among the student body, always the honest one, always the hard worker, and never one to judge.

Sunset had arrived a little late to school today, mostly because she didn’t want to have to go through a school day where Applejack wasn’t going to be walking through the halls with her telltale boot stomps or hear the warm southern twang of her voice. Not to mention the guilt, although the Applejack of Equestria had assured Sunset Shimmer that her double wouldn’t have blamed her, it was still hard to get rid of it. Lessened though it was, Sunset knew that this was something that would take awhile to get over.

She was so wrapped up in staring at the wall that Sunset failed to hear the footsteps approaching her from behind. She didn’t react when she felt a comforting hand rest upon her shoulder. A quick glance to her left and Sunset figured who was there. “Hi, Mom…”

“I didn’t expect you to come today,” said Celestia. “Pinkie Pie called and told me where you were all yesterday. Are you alright?”

Sunset sighed heavily as she turned her gaze back to the wall. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all…so much shit went down on Saturday, not just AJ’s death…I just didn’t want to be alone in the house is all.”

Celestia brought her adopted daughter into a half hug, wrapping her right arm around the flame haired teen. “It’s okay if you want to stay at my house for a little bit, if you want, I can stay with you.”

“You’re the Principal, you can’t just up and leave,” said Sunset.

“I’m not just the Principal, I’m your mother. And my child’s wellbeing comes first, your Aunt would agree with me that that would be fine with her,” said Celestia.

Sunset leaned her head against Celestia’s shoulder. “I still feel like it’s my fault, I should’ve been faster…”

“I heard everything from Pinkie, she said you did everything you could to try and save Applejack, if you hadn’t, we’d be mourning two deaths instead of one,” said Celestia in an encouraging tone.

Sunset’s head shot up as she looked to Celestia and asked, “Oh man, I completely forgot, how’s Rarity doing?!”

Celestia’s expression turned into a frown. “She’s taking a leave of absence for the time being. Understandable as the two of them were romantically involved.”

Sunset smiled a little. “Heh, you noticed too?”

“I’m not blind, I can spot a couple in love pretty easily. That being the case, I think it’s the best thing considering how it happened in front of her,” said Celestia.

Sunset sighed and leaned closer to Celestia. “I swear, no one else I love will die like that again.” Just then Sunset’s cellphone rang, when she took it from her pocket, she saw that it was Sun calling. “Huh, wonder why Sun’s calling me at this time?” Sunset answered the call and said, “Hey, Sun, what’s up? Uh-huh…Uh-huh…WHAT HAPPENED TO TWILIGHT??!!!”

Sunny Flare was having an off day, well, not that bad of one. Mostly because her mother was having a nervous breakdown about what had happened at the school today. Not only had Lemon Zest tried to kill Twilight Sparkle, but Twilight also confessed to the abuse she had been dealt during her time at Crystal Prep to two police detectives. While Sunny was worried what would happen whenever they got around to her involvement in the nerd’s torment, she was more amused by how her mother was taking it.

The last hour and a half were spent with her mother making various calls to different people in her little black book. Influential people who her mother knew had the ability to cover up most of the bad stuff that was done at the school, some of which Sunny had a hand in, along with her clique. However, it seemed that she was having trouble garnering much help. As evident when Sunny was standing outside the door.

“What do you mean, you can’t do anything?!” Cinch exclaimed.

{It’s as I said, you had a murder attempt, in your school! And from what I understand there was a substantial amount of physical evidence left behind at the crime scene. All of which has been processed by the CCPD, not even Maria Mare could get you out of this one, Abacus.}

“The elite of this city send their children to my school; I can’t have Crystal Prep Academy’s reputation be tarnished by something like this?! We aren’t some slum, public school! We’re a high educational institute!” Cinch argued at the phone on her desk.

{What else can be said? It had to happen at some point. You have that many rich sociopaths clustered together, do nothing to curb that behavior, let it proliferate, and eventually something like this was bound to happen. You don’t have anyone else to blame for this but yourself Abacus, my only advice to you is to cooperate the best you can and try to keep them from digging into the rest of the problems you managed to sweep under the rug.}

“UGH!!!” Cinch exclaimed as she hung up the phone. She plopped herself into her office chair and pinched the bridge of her nose, desperately trying to figure out some way out of the mess that she now found herself in. “Dammit all…why can’t these brats just get their shit together?! Why must I suffer such incompetence?!”

Sunny smirked just a little as she walked upstairs to her room, her mother was having a really bad day and she couldn’t help but get some enjoyment out of it. Her mother had pinned all her ambitions on Twilight Sparkle, having Sunny herself encourage the students into taking out their frustrations and angst out on the nerd, while at the same time touting Twilight as her most prized possession. Honestly, it annoyed Sunny Flare, here she was the most popular girl in school, was a straight A student, and the girl everyone revered, feared, and respected. And yet that wasn’t good enough for Abacus Cinch, she needed more than what her own daughter could give, enter Twilight Sparkle. While she found the girl annoying and a nerd to the max, she never had any true ill will towards Twilight.

But when her mother started asking her to spread the word through the students that they could essentially treat Twilight as the whipping girl. At first, no one did anything to Twilight, which she reported back to her mother, who then gave her the instruction to lead by example. Her mother knew that she was atop the social food chain that was high school, so if the most popular girl in the school, along with her clique was messing with the teen genius, and didn’t suffer any consequences, then it’s fair to speculate that nothing would happen to them either.

Thus, began the torment of Twilight Sparkle, in retrospect, some – actually most – of the things that her fellow students did skirted the edge of extreme. On a level, she did feel sorry for Twilight, the nerd didn’t deserve what was happening to her, but unfortunately, Crystal Prep was not a forgiving or merciful place. You either establish yourself as a person not to cross, or you let yourself get trampled, Twilight had been forced into the latter. Her reluctancy for hazing Twilight decreased more and more with each act done by her fellow students, and ones she did herself. She did kind of draw the line around Indigo forcing herself on Twilight, not even any the boys tried do what Indigo did to Twilight.

Again, in retrospect, perhaps she should’ve tried to rein in Indigo, or at the very least stressed the importance of getting Indigo under control to her mother a little more. Sunny Flare released a sigh, there was nothing to do about it now, Sunset Shimmer saw to it that the entire school would have hell to pay if they laid a finger on Twilight, a threat that Sunny Flare felt firsthand.

In a way, she probably needed to thank Sunset Shimmer. As a result of what she did, Sunset managed to take some of the pressure off Sunny, although she’d never admit it. Once Sunny Flare returned to her room, Sunny’s cellphone rang. She expected it to be Sour Sweet, after acknowledging their feelings for each other, they had been exchanging correspondence through texts and calls a lot more than usual, although they had to keep it secret. God help me if Mother ever found out I was gay…

Abacus Cinch was a traditional woman and expected Sunny Flare to marry to a man who was well connected, things like “love” be damned, so long as her financial future was secured, little else mattered. When Sunny looked at the caller ID, she gasped. The phone showed the name “Lemon Zest”. “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Sunny answered the phone and cautiously said, “Hello?”

{Hey, Sunny. You doin’ alright?}

“Lemon! What the fuck – why are you calling me?!” Sunny hurriedly closed the door behind her and retreated into her bathroom to avoid her mother possibly overhearing her conversation. “You do know that the police are after you, right?!”

A chuckle came from the other side of the cellphone. {Yeah, I figured they would be. I did leave a mess back there.}

“Goddammit, Lemon, why did you do all that?! Do you have any idea what you did?!”

{Of course, I did, Indie’s probably going to be super pissed at me for what I did to Twilight…but it was the only way I could get back at Sunset for what she did to her.}

Sunny had a confused look on her face when she heard what Lemon Zest say. “Wait, what does Sunset Shimmer have to do with Indigo dying?! I heard she died at Equestria Land!”

Lemon scoffed. {Tch, that’s only half the story. You saw the same thing I did, Sunset Shimmer’s hair was on fire, well turns out there was more to that.} Lemon Zest disclosed what had happened between Indigo and Sunset, how both were in possession of magical necklaces that allowed them to use fire and ice powers, and that a strange woman had snuck into the school and offered to help Indigo get rid of Sunset Shimmer for good. {The only reason she was even there was because Sunset and Twilight were there, and whatever went down, it ended up with Sunset killing Indie! She had a hole in her chest, like she was stabbed by something burning hot!}

Sunny Flare sat on the toilet cover, she didn’t have any idea all this was going on in the background, although it did explain Indigo’s increased hostility towards Sunset. A couple of months ago, Sunny Flare would’ve called Lemon Zest crazy, however, after what Sour Sweet told her happened to her, and the goings on in the city, she decided to keep a more open mind about the supernatural.

“Okay…so you tried to kill her to…to what?”

{I know I can’t hurt that bitch; Indie had a magic necklace like hers and she still couldn’t beat Sunset! So, I just decided to hurt her in a way I knew would destroy her. Fortunately, I decided to drain a few thousand bucks from my account before I went and did her in. I’m pretty sure my ‘rents cut me off by now.}

“What do you plan on doing?” Sunny asked.

{Eh…not completely sure. I can’t stay in this town or I’ll get sent to the slammer. So, I figured I’d fuck off to some place overseas, maybe go on the hunt to try and find another magic weapon or piece of jewelry that can finally kill that fucking bitch! Anyway…just wanted to talk to someone and let ya know what I’m plannin’. You can tell the cops you talked to me, and tell ‘em not to worry, I’m not planning on shootin’ up the school or some shit like that.}

Sunny Flare sighed in frustration at the thinking of her former companion. “Lemon Zest, listen to me carefully. Twilight Sparkle is alive.”

{Heh, ha! That’s a good joke, but there’s no way that’s possible. I stabbed that little slut about seven times, in the chest, and left her in a pool of her own blood. No way in hell she survived that.}

“Well, she did, apparently Ember came crashing through the roof and saved her,” Sunny explained.

There was silence for a moment, not a word spoken from Lemon.

“Lemon, listen, I’m not a lawyer or anything of the sort. But right now, just go, just leave the city, and try and live whatever life you can. If what you’re saying is true about Sunset, then she’ll hunt you down and kill you before the cops get a chance to arrest you!” Sunny warned.

{………I can’t do that, Sunny. If that little slut is still alive, then I gotta make sure that I fuck her up so bad that nothing short of black magic can bring her back. Thanks for the heads up, see ya.}

“WAIT!” The phone cut off then and there. Sunny called the number back but got nothing. “Shit!” Sunny Flare wanted to throw her phone against the floor, but she knew that she had to do something now. Sunny called another number and waited for an answer, she shot to her feet when she heard the other line pick up.

{The last time I got a call from you, you told me that Sour Sweet was possessed by a demon sword and was coming to kill me. So, what supernatural force is after me this time?}

“Well, you’ll be happy to know that this new thing isn’t supernatural, and it’s not after you, Sugarcoat.”

{…Okay, so that means there is something out there that wants to kill someone. Is it you?}

“No…listen, I can’t contact either of the people involved because they both hate my guts, so you’ll have to call them.” Sunny Flare took a steadying breath and said, “Lemon Zest is still in the city, and I think she’s hellbent on killing Twilight. You have to warn her and Sunset because she knows she’s alive.”

Evolution Stage 2

View Online

Twilight set up her cellphone on a tripod, acting as a camera as she got it in place within her walk-in closet. She had it hooked up to a laptop, allowing her view how she was positioned in the camera. Once she was satisfied with the positioning and setup, Twilight stepped back and started.

“Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m eighteen-years-old, and I am currently a senior at Crystal Prep Academy. I’ve decided to document the recent change that has occurred to me not too long ago, for now I have decided to keep these experiments a secret as I do not want to alarm my parents, big brother, or my girlfriend, Sunset Shimmer.”

Twilight fixed her hair and took a deep breath as she gathered her thoughts.

“For some unknown reason, I have attained the ability to self-heal, or rapid regeneration to use another term. I was……recently assaulted and severely wounded to the point of death, but somehow, I was able to heal from the serious injuries and avoid death altogether. When I came back to Sunset’s mansion, I discovered something else about my body. I have the ability to alter it. Earlier today I was able to reshape my body into – for lack of a better term – something resembling a supermodel, wider hips, rounder – uh- posterior, fuller breasts, all of it. I was able to reverse the changes before my girlfriend could see, and what you see before you is my true and unaltered body.”

Twilight took up a piece of paper that had a list of experiments she wanted to try.

“I wish to see how far these abilities of mine can go, as far as I can tell, I am able to manipulate my body on a cellular level, how much is still unknown to me. The purpose of these experiments is to help me figure out to what extent I can control these abilities, I don’t want to give my family or Sunset a reason to worry, and if I can help Sunset and her sister with these abilities then I can finally contribute something to their efforts in keeping the city safe. For reference, it is currently one in the morning, I fell asleep around ten ‘o clock, and woke up around eleven. I feel as if I just had a full eight hours, it’s a strange feeling, to say the least.”

Twilight bent down and brought up a small whiteboard and wrote on it, “Test #01: Hair & Nail Growth”.

“For this test, I will attempt to grow out my nails and hair, I chose these parts of my body as they naturally grow quickly, so it might not take that much concentration to make them grow, I will start with my nails.”

Twilight put the whiteboard down and raised her hand so that it was facing the camera. She focused on the index finger of her right hand, visualizing the piece of keratin to grow longer. A dim green glow was emitted from the nail, and after a second, Twilight’s nail grew out about three inches. With that success, she moved onto the other four nails on her hand, each of them glowed the same green color and then grew out to the same length as the first one. Twilight flexed her hand, feeling them, inspecting them for any abnormalities. So far, she could spot none. The teen genius moved to her left hand, this time willing all five nails to grow at the same time, but this time she willed them grow instantly.

No sooner did she give this mental command did her nails grow, it was practically instantaneous. “I’d say the nail portion of this test was a success, now for my hair.” Twilight undid her bun and let her hair flow down her back. “As you can see, when not tied up, my hair reaches down my back. So, for this part of the test, I will attempt to grow it down to my legs, then make it short, and finally return it to normal.”

Twilight looked in the standing mirror and concentrated, her hair started to glow the same green color, and then grew quickly until it reached the back of her knees. She swished her head a little to make her hair sway, it felt odd to have the extra weight, the sensation was odd. Next Twilight willed her hair to shorten, something like a bob cut. A second later, Twilight’s long locks retracted until her hair came down past her earlobes. And for the final part of the test, Twilight returned her hair back to normal, without any complications.

“Success!” Twilight exclaimed as she began jumping up and down. “I was able to control the growth rate and length of my hair and nails!”

(2 HOURS LATER)

“Test #36…Breast Growth and Reduction. I know this isn’t as scientific as the other thirty-five tests, but this also has importance!” Twilight argued to the camera.

Twilight removed her pajama top and then her bra, revealing her chest to the camera, which gave her an odd thrill if she was being honest. The young genius already saw that she could make them grow, but how small or big could she make them? Twilight decided to go for smaller, so she concentrated, and just like all the other times before, the green glow appeared over them and both of her dirty pillows began to reduce in size until they were an A-cup.

“Okay……” Twilight thought to take it further, so she focused more. Both of her mammries shrunk more and more until, they were gone, her chest was flat, giving her an androgynous look. Twilight turned to the mirror and felt around for any bumps or anything, but there was nothing. “Now I look like a Trap character from a Japanese hentai doujin.”

With that, Twilight now did the reverse. Her chest reinflated, quickly returning to her B-cup size, but then going to a C-cup. She pushed it further, making the two mounds grow to DD-cups. She stopped there for a moment, feeling the heavy, bouncy melons that now rested on her chest. Twilight cupped them in her hand, both in astonishment and a bit of fun. She pushed it further and made them grow until they were now at an E-cup. The massive boobs jiggled with each motion, her dark areola was more profound as her nipples were stiff and a couple of inches wider and longer.

“And now I look like a BBW character from a hentai doujin,” she commented. She stumbled a bit, trying to get used to the shift in gravity thanks to the new weight. “Oh, those doujins are really scientifically inaccurate, I can barely move around like this, and my back is already killing me…” Twilight hummed for a minute as a thought came into her mind. “Hmm, perhaps I could reinforce my spine, improve my leg muscles to help me become steadier? Yes, yes, I think that might work. Anyway, test number thirty-six is a success!”

(Another 2 Hours Later)

Twilight was…different now. She was no longer a five-foot-three-inch-tall eighteen-year-old. Now she looked like a ten-year-old, wearing clothes three times her size.

“Success! I managed to regress my age! And as a bonus, it seems that my mental state remained the same as I was when I was eighteen!” Twilight sighed in relief. “Thank god, I really didn’t want to have Sunset come in here and see me like this, although I’m sure Mom might get a kick out of it. Now to return to my original age so that Sunset doesn’t get arrested for dating an underaged minor!”

(More Hours Later…)

Now Twilight stood in front of the mirror admiring her naked form yet again, she was much older now, at least in her thirties, with a more filled out and more mature body, she even managed to manipulate her vocal cords to make herself sound older. She posed in the mirror, enjoying how she looked as an older woman.

“Test #58 is a great success! I wonder if Sunset would be into older women?”

Twilight couldn’t help but think of all the ways she and her girlfriend could have fun with her body modifying powers, hopefully Sunset wouldn’t be too mad at her for keeping this a secret.

“Okay, so then, we’ve covered a few miscellaneous things about my new abilities, and now that we have, now might be the time to move onto another part of the tests.” This time Twilight faced the camera. “So far, I have been able to manipulate various parts of my body, everything from the growth of my nails, hair, height, and proportions. As well as manipulate my body’s age, let it be noted I have only regressed my age as far as five-years-old after becoming ten, as I did not want to trigger spontaneous rapid age regression. Bearing that in mind, I will now try to…ahem…change my biology a bit.”

Twilight brought up another piece of paper that read, “Test #60: Gender Change”.

“Yes, I will now attempt to change my gender. Earlier I succeeded in reducing the size of my bust until I was flat, with my pajama pants on, I had an androgynous look, I could’ve been mistaken for male or female. So, this time, I will see if I can…become a full male.”

Twilight didn’t really have much in the way of a frame of reference for how she would look male wise, or rather as a gender swapped version of herself. She thought about using Shining Armor as a bases for her transformation, but then she worried that she might accidentally come out looking like her big brother. The thought of that made her shiver with disgust, she did not want to imagine what her older brother looked like naked.

“Okay, guess we’ll just play this by ear.”

Twilight closed her eyes and began picturing herself as a male, soon her entire body began to glow as the transformation began to take hold. Her slender build was replaced by a slightly more muscular frame, her height increased by a few inches, her hair shortened, what curves she did have were gone, her chest was replaced by male pectorals, and her shoulders broadened. Her face, which had a rounded quality to it, now had a squared jawline like her big brother’s. The last thing to change was her genitals, which, was a strange sensation for her. The vulva and labia sealed up, the flesh mending and connecting to completely erase its existence, what was left began to grow out, forming her new male sex organ, and a pair of balls to go with it.

The green glow faded, and when Twilight opened her eyes, she gasped loudly and jumped back when she saw herself. “Is…Is that me?!” Twilight covered her mouth with both hands when she heard her voice. “My…My voice is deeper! I…I sound just like a guy!” The teen genius carefully examined her new body, the small amount of new muscle, the rigidness of her chest and abdomen muscles, her square jaw, and, well, the absence of her original sex organs.

“Oh…my…god…it’s gone! I…I can feel it inside! My womb, my ovaries, it’s all gone! And this! I…I have a…a penis!” Twilight exclaimed.

She gulped loudly as she reached a hand down to her new appendage, her right finger gently prodded the rod and a strange sensation shot through her that made Twilight retract her hand. “This…This might require a bit more…more testing…”

“Seriously? She said that?” Sunset asked.

{Last time Sunny Flare warned me it was to make sure that Sour Sweet didn’t cut me up while she was being possessed. Now, she’s telling me to tell you that Lemon Zest isn’t done. She’s going to come after Twilight, again.}

Sunset growled frustratingly as she paced her underground lab, “ Fucking, big mouthed, bitch! She just had to say that Twilight was alive, if she had just kept her mouth shut, Lemon could be halfway around the world and be none the wiser! Now she’s going to stalk around the city until she can figure out the perfect time and place to kill Sparky, again!”

{I’ll agree, saying that Twilight is still alive was a big ‘shitting the bed’ moment. But what can we do? Twilight isn’t one to miss school, not like she really needs to at this point, her grades are high enough that she could simply take a vacation from now until graduation and still graduate with high honors and as valedictorian.}

Sunset chuckled, “At this point, I’m willing to convince her do just that.” The rich girl sighed as she rubbed the back of her head. “Well, we have a couple of things working for us, one of them being that Lemon Zest doesn’t know where Twilight lives, their home is still a bit messed up, so even if Zest heads there, she won’t find anyone. And since I kept my house out of the school registry, there’s no chance of her locating me.”

{Unless she follows you from school or hires someone to investigate you. Sunny did mention she withdrew a substantial amount of money before she attacked Twilight, so she has the resources.}

The fiery redhead chuckled as she raised her left hand and let a fireball poof into existence, which then hovered over the palm of her hand. “Yeah, but I’m the one with the Artifact of Fire, a shit ton of money, and zero qualms using either to utterly crush someone, especially when they have the balls to threaten someone I love.”

{……Have I ever mentioned how I’m glad we’re friends now?}

“Relax, Sweets, you came off my shit list the day you took a pair of scissors to your gut for Sparky,” Sunset assured. “Thanks for the heads up and be careful. Zest’s lost it, and that makes her unpredictable.”

{Not to worry, my Heart Stone will let me know if she’s nearby. And I have someone looking out for me when I’m asleep. And to that I say goodnight.}

“Goodnight, Sweets.” Sunset ended the call and went back to staring at the screen on her table. The screen displayed the results of Twilight’s scan, and it just made the situation even more complicated. “Goddamn that stupid Coin…”

On the screen was an outline of Twilight’s body, and at the center, the screen focused a target box on a round object that read, “Foreign Object Detected”. It was her worst fear, the Coin of Solomon had merged with Twilight, but right now Sunset was still wondering if she should curse the fact that it was there or thank it for saving Twilight’s life. For right now, Twilight was oblivious to the fact that she had the Artifact inside of her, and most likely the Coin would make it so that she doesn’t feel its presence. If anything, Twilight may think that her healing abilities may be due to the exposure of magical energies from herself, her big sister, and their new friends. So long as she can keep Twilight thinking along those lines then there will be little to worry about…but still…

“DAMMIT!!!” Sunset yelled as she beat her fists against the table. “I’m so fucking close…so damn close…all I need is the Spear, the Wheel, the Heart Stone, the Rapture, and the Witchblade. I know Fluttershy has the Spear, and Sweets has the Heart Stone. Shy might not put up a fight…maybe. Sweets might hand it over, if I threatened her a little, but otherwise I shouldn’t have to use force. Sis on the other hand…that might be more difficult…” Sunset looked back at the screen and her frown deepened. “Although…that might not be as difficult as Twilight…”

There were too many unknown factors when it came to the Coin of Solomon, all her research could dig up was that the Coin had amazing powers over the body of which it is bonded to. A lot of references to healing, but other than that, she couldn’t find much else. Although when it came to the use of the Artifacts, much of their true power was hidden from the world, as if someone was actively making sure that the true extent of their abilities was left unrecorded. Not that Sunset could blame them, in the short time that she had had contact with other Artifacts, she learned that her Ember Stone not only controlled fire, but that the fire was part of Life itself, that it could breathe life back into someone and transform her into a primordial fire dragon. Whereas the Glacier Stone possessed power over ice and represented the end of life, she was sure it could do more, but considering Indigo was a newbie wielder, she wasn’t able to draw out its full potential.

Fluttershy’s Spear of Destiny was a unique weapon, able to take on multiple forms to suit the combat situation of its wielder. The Heart Stone, according to Sugarcoat, allowed her to see spirits, read auras, and even influence and control the emotional energies of the auras, something that she was sure that Sugarcoat would master with time. The Wheel of Shadows’ time powers were a bit underwhelming as far as she was concerned, it could only manipulate the temporal stream of an object, organic or inorganic, so long as its shadow was touching, granted the user a shadow body, and allowed travel through shadows.

Guess I shouldn’t complain, it would be more trouble if that agent could travel through time.

Her big sister’s Witchblade posed the biggest threat out of all of them, especially with her sister having just unlocked a new power of the weapon. In all honesty, fighting her double was going to be hard enough, but now she might have to wrench the Coin of Solomon from her girlfriend’s chest. Again, there were too many unknowns with the Coin, one of them being if Twilight would die if she removed the Coin, even if she used the power of the Ember Stone to heal her?

“Ugh…one problem at a time, Shimmer,” she said. “First off, kill Lemon Zest. Second: figure out how to get the Heart Stone from Sugarcoat.”

Compared to the others, Sunset believed Sugarcoat would be the easiest to get, but with the Heart Stone’s power, she’d easily see through her intentions from a mile away. There were two ways she could go about this, either she could kill Sugarcoat from a distance and retrieve the Artifact from her corpse, or a more direct approach. She could just walk up to Sugarcoat, and demand the Heart Stone from her, despite the Stone’s manipulation powers, it wasn’t a combat-oriented Artifact, so Sunset was sure that Sugarcoat would hand it over knowing that she couldn’t fight her.

“But then after that there’s no going back…Sugarcoat will tell Twilight, and then it won’t be long before Sis finds out…unless I kill her right after…?” Sunset released an exasperated sigh as she sat down in the rolling chair close to the workbench. “Kill, kill, kill…I’m predicating everything based on a legend and what he said. But if it’s right, I can set everything right. I can bring them all back!”

That was her guiding light, her hope beyond all hope, that somehow, someway, the power of the Thirteen Artifacts could and would restore everything she’d destroy to get to her goal. But there was always that dread in the back of her mind, the all-encompassing fear that nothing would happen, that the legends were just that, legends. The Artifacts were powerful objects, but how were these thirteen supposed to bring about such reality altering changes? If it was just a story, then the bridges she burnt and will burn, the lives she will and has taken, there was no way to take it back, everything she did and would do will be permanent, and Sunset would have to live with the consequences of it all.

Sunset shivered and hugged herself, her mind creeping at the edge of a panic attack. But then she gripped her bare arms harder and harder until her nails broke the skin. She couldn’t afford to think that way, she couldn’t stop now, besides, that person was still out there, and there were zero doubts in her mind that he would come for the Artifacts that she had gathered. Truthfully, Sunset was hoping he would come sooner rather than later, part of her worried if she’d be strong enough alone, but if her twin, and possibly Fluttershy, got in on the fight, then his death would be assured.

“One thing’s for sure…I can’t tell Sparky, not yet. I must find a way to remove the Coin without it killing her, or failing that, shift my focus onto getting one of the other Artifacts. But above all else…I need to kill that psychopathic bitch. Indigo, don’t worry, I’ll be sending you some company real soon!”

Somnambula, the Traverser of Hell, Giver of Hope, and wielder of the Rapture, was currently walking through the chaotic whirlwind level that was Hell’s second circle, Lust. Her dear student, Fluttershy, had asked her a favor, which she was happy to take on as the kind and caring girl hardly asked anything of her or anyone. The request was simple, but a bit time consuming, Fluttershy had asked her to check and make sure that a dear friend of hers hadn’t fallen into the depths of Hell.

In confidence, Fluttershy spoke of the reason why her friend, Applejack, might be here. When she asked if the young girl had done anything else aside from committing incest with her brother, Fluttershy told her no. While it was a sin, Somnambula did not rank it as high as some of the graver mortal sins, considering that it was mutual thing between the siblings and was subsequently ended on their terms. But it never hurt to check.

The Circle of Lust was, like the other descriptions of Hell in “Dante’s Inferno” were more artistic in their description. There was a raging whirlwind vortex that howled like an unholy beast within the entirety of this section, a raging storm like none that Earth has seen or ever will see. It took up the center of the entire level, appearing as a giant tornado that stretched from the “ceiling” all the way down into the void below, which would lead to the next level. Amongst the bellowing winds were the souls of the dead, men and women who steeped themselves in lust, ignoring all others or committing horrible deeds in the name of lust alone. For those who were lovers in life, their souls were doomed to be trapped in the vortex, violently whipped around by the ungodly g-forces as their limbs were stretched, bones snapped and broken, and their skin burned by the friction of the wind. Their souls were whipped around so that they would never be able to embrace again, the pain of being so close and yet so far away, and forever in pain.

However, for those who committed acts of lust and did horrible deeds, for instance, forcing themselves onto another, or if their other half did not die with them, their fate was not the vortex, instead, they were taken to one of many “Palaces”. Somnambula didn’t believe that Applejack would be thrown into the vortex, as she was the only one who died. So, it stood to reason that the “Palaces” would be the best option.

To be clear, Somnambula wouldn’t give such wretched buildings as these such a title. There was a patch of land that stretched all around the Lust Circle, and on this land were huge buildings made of obsidian that were carved in a Romanesque fashion, with tall, imposing columns, and Latin inscriptions written at the top, some said things that even Somnambula wanted to translate, despite her being fluent in the language. She made her way up the long steps to the opening; she was greeted to a familiar sight. This was not her first time walking through this level, her exploits took her to all the levels of Hell, she had to be extra careful the closer she got to the bottom. But up here, the Demon King’s evil eye wasn’t as all seeing.

The Palaces were multilevel, about three floors filled with demons, succubi and incubi, each one assigned the task of torturing the souls within. The level of which varied depending on the demons themselves, they were given free reign on how they were to torture the souls in this level, some resorted to inducing pain on the damned souls. Somnambula witnessed one of them as a soul, a female, was wrapped up in a black leather suit, restricting all arm and leg movement. The only thing that remained uncovered was their mouth. The suit tightened and tightened, making the person inside scream in agony as she felt her body compressed. All while the succubus and incubus that were running her torture touched themselves as they got off on her pain.

Another one showed a man who looked like a shriveled raisin, a succubus demon was riding the man and making him have one orgasm after the next, draining of his bodily fluids. At some point, the man probably thought he was getting off easy and was enjoying the session for a while, but when the succubus didn’t stop, he probably panicked and begged her to stop, all the while continuing to release over and over again, the pleasure turning to pain as the demoness enjoyed every moment of his writhing. And of course, the damage would be undone after a while, his fluids replenished rapidly in a painful way, and then a new succubus would take over and the torture would begin again.

Somnambula’s Rapture hadn’t glowed yet, normally the Artifact would lead her to a soul that still retained hope of some kind in their heart, a spark of good that was still worthy of redemption and entry into the lofty heavens above, but as she walked further in, nothing happened. The Traverser of Hell stopped at one tortured soul.

The female soul had spikey green-blue hair and yellow eyes; her physique spoke of a life dedicated to athleticism. She was currently being assaulted by a succubus; however, this succubus had shapeshifted, quite possibly into someone that the soul had wronged in life. The succubus was a girl of the same age as the sports girl, she had purple skin, glasses, a slender frame, and navy hair with two streaks of pink and magenta was done up in a bun. The sportsy girl was crawling away from her, eyes wide with fear and her body covered in some kind of slime-like substance.

“NO, STOP, PLEASE STOP!! NO MORE, NO MORE!!!” she cried out.

“Oh, but Indigo? Isn’t this everything that you wanted?” the succubus motioned with her hands at the body she had. “You finally have me all to yourself, and now you don’t want me?”

“You’re not her! You’re not Twilight! You’re a fucking demon! Don’t touch me!!”

Succubus-Twilight giggled cutely at Indigo’s demand. “Oh, how many times did I ask that of you?” Suddenly, tentacles started to sprout lewdly from between Succubus-Twilight’s legs, some were small, others were large, they kept growing out more and more until they were practically wrapping around her legs and arms. “How many times did you violate me despite my tears, my pain, and my pleas? I’ll tell you, ZERO.”

Two large tentacles shot out like cobras and wrapped themselves around Indigo’s legs and dragged her back towards Succubus-Twilight, Indigo cried out for her to stop, and desperately clawed at the obsidian floor, cutting up her hands and breaking her nails with each futile struggle. Two more large tentacles reached out and coiled around Indigo’s arms, yanking them back and allowing the demoness to lift Indigo off the floor and back to her. Succubus-Twilight turned Indigo around so that she could see her face, which was a frightened, crying mess as she looked upon the demon’s sadistic, sultry smile.

“I’ll keep making you experience every caress, every violation, that I felt, but dialed up to eleven!”

Two slimy tentacles, about as thick as Indigo’s wrists, shoved themselves into her womanhood. Indigo released a soundless scream as her mouth hung open and her eyes widened with pain from her private parts being stretched so suddenly. The tentacles didn’t stop there, they dove deep, deeper than anything should be able to, penetrating her womb. She could feel them wriggling around in there, playing with her insides as if they were a toy. Suddenly a sharp pain was felt as a smaller tentacle about the width of her index finger, slipped into her urethra.

“OH GOD, PLEASE STOP!!! IT HURTS, IT HURTS!!!” Indigo yelled as tentacles began to pump in and out of her two holes.

Succubus-Twilight’s smile broadened to a demonic length as she brought Indigo closer, she opened her mouth and let her long, snake-like tongue lap at the tears that streamed down her face. “Mmm, does it hurt, Indie? Because I feel sooooo good right now. Your pussy, your piss hole, it feels so tight and good! I bet you wanted me like this too. I bet you wish you could feel what I feel, is this how you wanted to violate me?”

“NO, I LOVED YOU, I LOVED YOU TWILIGHT, I DIDN’T MEAN TO HURT YOU – OH GOD…!!!! IT HURTS EVEN MORE!!!”

“Ha, ha, ha, that’s the beauty of it.”

Smaller tentacles slowly began to grow from Succubus-Twilight’s nipples, their needle-like tips positioned themselves right at Indigo’s, and without a warning, pierced through them, causing Indigo to release another scream of pain as she felt her breasts getting ravaged from the inside out. Those same tentacles coiled around her breasts and began squeezing them, while the piercing ends began to pump themselves in and out of her.

“You’ll love it here, Indie. There’s pleasure for everyone, so much so that it’s painful. And at some point, the pain and pleasure will mix until you can’t tell which is which, and then…upon reaching that moment…” Succubus-Twilight leaned closer and whispered into Indigo’s ear, “That’s when we’ll reset everything back to zero, and do this all over again. Only each time we reset, I’ll make sure you sense of touch is increased, I’ll kill you with overstimulation, but since you’re just a soul, you won’t die here. You’ll just come back to play again!”

Another of her tentacles slipped into her ass, which made Indigo stiffen and croak as she felt the intruder move deeper and deeper, it just kept going and going, filling her insides. Indigo dared to look down and saw a bulge in her skin of where it was traveling through her intestines.

“NO, MAKE IT STOP, DON’T GO ANY FURTHER PLEASE!!!”

Somnambula knew where this was going and decided to continue her search. After that “Palace” she went to a few more, thankfully, time passed differently in Hell, it was more accurate to say that it was a place that did not know time, it didn’t exist here. Which made the torture of a soul even worse, with no sense of time, the torment would just be endless. After checking through all the “Palaces” and taking in more unwelcomed scenes of debauchery, Somnambula decided to check one more place.

She used the Rapture to transform herself into silver mist that flew upwards at great speeds. She passed through the barrier that separated each individual Circle of Hell and slipped into an in between dimension, a realm that was neither Heaven nor Hell, a transitional space for those who did sin, but were still virtuous at heart, Purgatory. Here Somnambula saw several souls, souls in the stage of preparation, or some awaiting final judgement. When she did enter this realm, the Rapture began to glow, a thread of light shot out and led the holy mercenary towards her destination. After floating through the nothingness for a minute, she found who she was looking for.

Applejack, the teenage farm girl, floated in the nothingness in a fetal position. Her eyes were open but blank, like all the others. A way of sparing them the madness of waiting for their final judgement, if they were to wait in a waking state, the soul would go mad spending any amount of time in a bleak, monochromatic nothingness.

“Well, it’s not Heaven, but at least you’re not in Hell,” said Somnambula.

She touched Applejack’s shoulder and felt that judgement was to come to her, but it was going to take some time. But Somnambula didn’t think she needed to wait a moment longer. A blue light emanated from the Rapture, becoming a sphere of light that Somnambula took into her right hand, she gently pressed that orb of light into Applejack’s chest, and the result was instant. All color returned to Applejack’s body; her eyes were full of life again as she came out of her trance.

“Who…Wha…Where am Ah?” she asked.

“Peace, Applejack, I have come here on behalf of your dear friend, Fluttershy, and your lover, Rarity.”

Applejack’s eye widened upon hearing those names. “Fluttershy?! Wait, Rarity, is she okay?! Please tell me she’s alive!”

Somnambula nodded. “She is alive, your friend saved her and slew the one who threatened her life.” Applejack visibly calmed, her fears put to rest. “Do you remember what happened to you?”

Applejack unconsciously raised her right hand to her neck. “Ah…Ah was killed…by Suri. She…She cut my head off and then…everythin’ went dark.” Applejack looked around, seeing the void and the many souls that floated around them. “Am…Am Ah in…in Hell?”

“No, Applejack, you are not, but neither are you in Heaven. You’re in Purgatory, a place where all souls are judged before entering one or the other,” Somnambula explained. “Fluttershy requested my help to make sure that you weren’t in Hell, and if you were, to ensure that you didn’t remain there a second longer.”

Applejack rubbed the back of her head as she thought about what the middle eastern woman just told her. “Wow…Shy went and asked ya that, huh. So…does this mean Ah’m going back to my body or…?”

Somnambula rested her right hand on Applejack’s shoulder and shook her head in the negative. “Unfortunately, I do not have the power to do that. That steps into a realm of Authority upon which I have no sway or control over. The best I can do for you is make sure you enter paradise.” Just then, a beam of light shot through the void and illuminated the space around Applejack and Somnambula. “And it looks like it worked.”

“W-What worked?” Applejack asked.

Somnambula was about to answer her but stopped when she saw two figures materializing in the light. “Perhaps it is best you spoke to them about it.”

Applejack turned around and saw to figures shimmer into existence before them, and when she did, her eyes filled with tears. Standing side-by-side, hands clasped together, were her parents. A pale gamboge woman with orange curly hair, and bluebell eyes, and a tall, strong looking man with pale yellow skin, red freckles and hair, and green eyes like Applejack’s, just like she remembered them, but younger.

“Ma…Pa…?” Applejack gasped.

“Oh, AJ, we’ve missed you so much,” said Pear Butter.

Applejack suddenly hid behind Somnambula embarrassed and ashamed to face them.

Bright Mac, her father, was confused by his daughter’s actions. “C’mon now, why’re ya hidin’ from us? We ain’t gonna bite ‘cha.”

“Ah can’t face ya…Ah…Ah’m too ashamed,” she confessed.

Pear Butter looked at her husband, an understanding passed between them as if they knew why their daughter was feeling this way. “Does it have anythin’ to do with the fact that you and your brother were secretly havin’ sex?” A visible flinch from Applejack confirmed it. “Well, I will say, when I hoped you two would get along, I wasn’t expectin’ ya to get along that well.” Pear chuckled.

Applejack, still hiding behind Somnambula, spluttered at how her mother had just made a joke about what they did. Prompting Bright Mac to add, “Ah heard a ‘kissin’ cousins’, but y’know, that was taken it to a whole other level there, AJ.”

The young Apple finally peeked from around Somnambula and asked incredulity, “Why are you two jokin’ about this?! Ah…Ah had sex with Big Mac! My own brother! My family! My CLOSE family to be exact! Why aren’t ya mad at me?! Or sayin’ that Ah’m a disgrace or…or…?!”

“So, you want us to judge you on one bad thing? Which, yes, it was an act done in lust, but neither of you forced the other. And are we supposed to ignore all the good ya’ve done, girl?” Bright Mac asked. “Heck, ya helped save that city at least twice.”

Applejack, feeling a bit more confident, floated from behind Somnambula and looked angrily at her parents. “Yeah, the last time was with Sunset’s help, but then I went accusin’ her of goin’ back to bein’ her old bitchy self! Even when she begged us to believe her, Ah let my anger get the best of me and just turned my back on her!”

Pear Butter shook her head and said, “Sweetie, we’re only human, we’re not perfect. We all make mistakes, but it’s what we do to make up for those mistakes that matters. And you did so in bringing Sunset to work on the farm, you confided in her, and she protected you. Also, I had no idea our farm was had an untapped gold mine!”

Bright Mac laughed loudly. “Ah know, right?! All this time we were literally sittin’ on gobs of money. Shoot, had Ah known that, Ah would’ve grabbed a shovel and started diggin’ for it faster than a mole chasin’ down a worm.”

Pear Butter laughed, and Applejack couldn’t help joining in on the laughter. The mother of Bright Mac’s children reached out and hugged her daughter close to her. Applejack was caught off guard by the action, and now that she was close, she could smell her mother’s comforting scent. “We’ve always been proud of you, my little AJ, you, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom. Despite that little incident of hers. Not her best moment, but she’s young.”

Bright Mac floated over to his wife and daughter and joined in on the group hug. “We’ll always love ya, AJ, no matter what. And we’ve missed ya somethin’ fierce.”

“Do Ah…Do Ah really deserve to be with y’all up there?” Applejack asked in a trembling voice.

“Honey, ya sacrificed your life for the person you loved with all your heart, as far as we’re concerned, you’ve done more good than bad in your life, even if it was short…” Pear Butter said with remorse, hating the fact that her second child’s life was ended before she could live out her life.

Bright Mac was of the same mind, in truth, he had hoped to see his children when they were old and had families of their own, but not like this. “C’mon now, AJ, let’s go to our new home, together.”

Applejack hugged her parents tighter, the tears still streaming down her face. “Ah missed you both so much.”

The light began to surround all three of them, and soon the family of three were transformed into glittering golden particles as they followed the light stream all the way up towards the heavens above. Somnambula smiled, her heart swelling with joy seeing a family reunited.

“Guess I should return and give them the good news,” said Somnambula as she transformed into silver mist and flew through a portal back to Earth.

Twilight woke up lying on the floor, her head swam as she tried to recall what happened last night. She was experimenting with altering her body, the last thing she remembered shifting into was a male version of herself and then…then she caught a whiff of something strong, she sat up, groaning as the smell persisted in her nostrils. She then felt a strange sensation around her thighs, stomach, and…crotch. Like something had dried on her skin, there was also the odd sensation coming from her crotch.

When Twilight finally looked at the mirror, her face went bright red. At some point she had reverted to her original state, all except her lower half, which still sported a penis and balls. The smell and dried substance on her lower half suddenly made sense, she had studied her new appendage, thoroughly, and at some point, she reached a peak of overstimulation and passed out. Twilight was glad that she had done this in the closet, if her mother walked in and smelled this, she’d no doubt figure out what it was. She remembered the unfortunate times when she heard her mother walk into Shining Armor’s room at the most inopportune times, so there was a good chance that her mother knew what a boy’s room smelled like after masturbating.

Twilight hurriedly concentrated on that region of herself, willing it to change back. A green glow went off and just as quickly as she thought of it, her genitals returned to their original state. The teen genius sighed in relief, she did not want to explain that to her parents, or either of the Sunsets.

“I need some breakfast…” Twilight took a sniff of herself and winced. “But first a shower.”

After a thorough scrubbing of her body, Twilight put on a shirt and some leggings, she suspected that her parents, and even the Sunsets, would probably do what they could to dissuade Twilight from going to school today. Normally she wouldn’t ever think of skipping school and tarnishing her perfect attendance record, but with Lemon Zest still on the loose, and the powers that she had developed, there were still too many things that made school a bit of an unknown. For now, Twilight had a handle on her abilities, but she didn’t want to risk something happening at school that put her or others in serious danger. Plus, the students already made fun of her, the last thing she needed was for them to call her a freak.

As expected, when she and Spike exited the room and made it down the stairs, her parents and at least Sunset, the pony twin, were sitting at the table. A couple of seconds later, Twilight heard footsteps behind her and saw her Sunset walking up behind her, who looked a little tired.

“Sunset, are you okay?” Twilight asked.

Sun smiled back at her girlfriend and kissed her on the cheek. “I’m fine, Sparky, just a little tired is all. How are you doing?”

Twilight shrugged a little, “I’m holding up.”

The two girls walked into the dining room where they were greeted by all those at the table. Once Twilight got a plate of her breakfast, and poured out Spike’s, she sat down with everyone and waited for the question to be brought up.

“Twily, dear, I spoke to Cadence earlier this morning and she says that it’s probably best that you stay home, at least for the next week at least,” said Velvet.

“Now we know how you feel about your attendance record and about being…the ‘T’ or ‘A’ words, but considering what you have gone through, and given the fact that the one responsible for hurting you hasn’t been apprehended, I’m going to put my foot down here,” said Night Light in an authoritative tone.

Twilight nodded in agreement and added, “I understand, Mom, Dad, I’ll stay home for the next few days.”

“Now I’m being serious, Twilight! I will not let you go back while – wait – what did you say?” Night Light asked.

Twilight stopped her eating and looked around at the surprised faces. “I agree with you, I shouldn’t go back, not yet at least.”

Sun placed her hand on Twilight’s forehead, waited a few seconds, and then said, “Okay, she’s not feverish. Are you experiencing any headaches, nausea, dizziness?”

Twilight rolled her eyes and gently pushed Sun’s hand off her forehead. “I’m not sick, and I’m not suffering a concussion either. I just think that it’s the most sensible thing to do. I can’t be expected to go to school with my killer still on the loose. Nobody at school knows that we’re living at Sun’s home, so my staying here is by far the safest and most secure place I can be right now.”

Velvet and Night Light looked at each other and then back at Twilight. It made sense, but Twilight was such a staunch advocate of attendance leading to good grades, and thus higher efficiency in her school activities. But then again, that was before someone had tried to murder her, such a traumatizing event quite possibly changed her viewpoint on the matter.

“Well, that’s good, Twily, but at the same time, your father and I were wondering if one of us should stay home with you,” said Velvet.

“I’ll be fine on my own, Mom, really.”

“Hey, if you want, I can stay behind,” said Sun. “I mean, I can easily make up any assignments that they throw at me.”

“Or me,” Sunset offered, “it’s the same for me, and my Mom will understand. She’s the Principal, after all.”

Twilight sighed. “I really do appreciate all of you wanting to protect me, and because of that, I’m not going to make it harder for you. So, I’ll text you all every hour to let you know I’m okay, if that will help. But I don’t want you to have to rearrange your schedules just to look after me. I’m eighteen years old, a legal adult, I need to learn how to handle things like this. Okay?”

There was a bit of unease about leaving Twilight alone, but at the same time, they knew that she was right, and that they needed to trust in Twilight. With that arranged, Sun, Sunset, along with her mother and father, all left for the day, leaving her alone in the house. And now that she was alone, Twilight could go back to her experiments, in her room of course.

Twilight headed back into her room and moved the tripod that her phone was mounted on, along with the laptop, out of the closet and into her room, placing herself in the middle of the room and the tripod and computer a couple of feet away.

“This is Twilight Sparkle, after reviewing the footage of last night, and after some serious editing of a certain test, I will now be moving on to a new set of tests. So far, I have determined that I can change my body at will, even my gender. Now, I want to see if I can modify my body.” Twilight frowned a little. “I can’t keep worrying my family, or Sunset, I have to be able to protect myself. So, here we go. First test, hardening of my skin to repel stabbing weapons.”

Twilight raised her right arm to show the camera that it was bare and free of obstruction or alterations.

“I don’t think it’s possible to change my skin into something metallic, there is iron in the body, but humans, females in specific, on average have about 3.5 grams of iron in their body. However, there is another mineral in the human body that can effectively produce the same hardness as diamonds in greater concentrations, carbon. Humans are eighteen percent carbon, if I can manipulate the amount of it around my arm, I can layer and bind enough of the carbon atoms in my arm to form graphene, and with multiple layers, I should be able to replace my skin with this new creation. Here goes nothing.”

Twilight concentrated, her forearm and hand began to glow, and Twilight could feel a tingling feeling around that appendage. In her mind, Twilight was rapidly calculating and running through what was needed to make this work. Hardening her skin would make it inflexible, on top of that, creating that much extra weight would make it hard for her to lift her arm up, as well as damage her bones. In light of that, Twilight determined to strengthen her arm muscles, and increase her bone density. While she was at it, Twilight thought about something that could help her fight back, so she believed her fingernails would be best.

After a minute, Twilight’s entire forearm and hand was a grayish black, and had a polished sheen to it that caught the light. Twilight noticed that her arm had bulked up, but looked more akin to Rainbow Dash’s arms, lean and sleek. Her fingernails were white but curved into claws. It felt like she was wearing a glove, but at the same time, she didn’t lose any tactile feeling when she touched her palm with her left hand. Spike had been watching this from his spot on the bed, his head tilting in confusion at what he witnessed.

“It looks like it worked, Spike, but the real test will be if it can withstand at least a stabbing weapon.” To that end, Twilight had brought up a large butcher’s knife with her from the kitchen when everyone left. Twilight grasped the knife in her left hand and pressed it against the middle of her forearm. “Best case scenario, nothing happens. Worst case, I cut myself badly and heal myself.” She gulped. “Here goes…”

Twilight shut her eyes and swiftly slashed the blade across her forearm, waiting for the intense pain to follow. Spike had yelped and covered his eyes with his paws, unable to see the outcome of Twilight’s test. However, while she did feel the blade slide across her arm, she didn’t feel it pierce her skin, in fact, she didn’t feel any pain at all. The teen genius opened her eyes and saw that not a scratch was left on her. Spike uncovered his eyes and once again tilted his head in confusion. Twilight, with eyes open, repeated the motion and slid the blade across her forearm. She the saw blade slide, but not once did it cut her, in fact, it released some sparks.

“It…It worked! I created a physical armor for my body!” Twilight exclaimed.

An idea came to her as she gripped the blade with her armored right hand. She applied pressure, squeezing the blade harder and harder, after a couple of seconds, the blade shattered in her hand, with both halves falling onto the floor, and in her hand, were the shards.

“I think I did create something close to diamond levels of hardness! Not only that, but I also increased my strength exponentially!”

Deciding to see if she could apply this to all of herself, Twilight reapplied the same thinking she used for her arm to the rest of her body. Soon Twilight’s entire body glowed and, in a few seconds, everything except for her hair was coated in the grayish-black carbon armor. Twilight jabbed with her fists, imitating a boxer’s movements while bouncing on her feet, and just as expected, she didn’t lose any mobility.

“I wonder what else I can modify…or add on?”

Evolution Stage 3

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“I will now attempt my latest augmentation experiment. I will be focusing more on offense than defense. These lines on my arm are, for all intents and purposes, circuits that will facilitate the bioelectric energy of my body, magnify it, and if I’m correct, allow me to produce an electrical current through my hand. I will now attempt to light this lightbulb using the energy I produce. On average an electric eel produces six-hundred volts of electricity, while the human body can produce up to seventy-trillion volts, the majority of which is wasted energy. But if it could be focused, harnessed, then that’s something different.”

Twilight was alone in the house again, which was good because her next test required privacy. She was holding a lightbulb in her right hand, her entire right arm had intricate, glowing neon blue lines that weaved the length of her arm and ending at her hand. Ever since the attack, which was about two days ago, Twilight had been formulating ways to grant her body both defensive and offensive options. She made a breakthrough with the armor skin and strength enhancement, which had both qualities to them, now she needed something that was a little more offensive that she could quickly deploy and would have maximum impact on her assailant.

The teen genius concentrated, and when she did, the lines glowed brighter and brighter, and a couple of seconds after glowing, the lightbulb turned on. Small arcs of neon blue electricity would shoot off from the lines, a result of her latest augmentation experiment. She picked up another lightbulb, a one-hundred-and-twenty-watt bulb, and it was a success as well. Twilight disengaged the ability and now looked towards a grounded metal rod that was sticking up in the backyard on the concrete porch. She brought the camera closer and looked into it.

“I will now try and discharge my own bioelectricity as a means of long-range offense. Here goes nothing,” said Twilight.

The purple teen held out her right hand, grabbing her wrist with her left hand to steady her arm. The neon blue lines glowed brightly again as the electricity began to coalesce at the palm of her right hand. More and more the crackling sound grew louder, the air smelled of ozone, and then, with a small crack of thunder, neon blue lightning arced from Twilight’s hand towards the metal pole. The pole was struck by the lightning, which was then dispersed by the spare tire she had taken from Sunset’s garage.

“Whoo-hoo!” Twilight exclaimed as she jumped up and down. “Success! Success! It really worked!”

Twilight had another idea and instead of using her whole palm she made a finger gun gesture with that same hand. Electricity funneled into her index finger, and with an exclamation of the word “Bang!” Twilight fired a smaller version of her lightning blast that hit her target with a bit more accuracy. A fun idea came to her mind, Twilight found some empty cans in the recycling ben and lined them up in the style of a shooting gallery. Twilight reproduced the same lines on her left arm, going for a dual wield ability. The teen genius narrowed her eyes, playing as if this were an old western.

“Draw!”

Twilight fired one lighting shot at the far right can, hitting it and launching it off the bench. She fired another lightning shot from her left hand, hitting the far left can. Twilight continued like this until all ten cans were blasted off the bench, she then blew on each of her fingers and pretended to holster them.

“Fastest finger guns in the west,” Twilight proclaimed. “The unscientific aside, of course.”

It was going to get late soon, so Twilight decided to clean up before her parents or the Sunsets got back. With her being able to augment her body, Twilight was able get it done faster. She had removed her shirt and used one of her newer abilities, she found out last night, while everyone was asleep, that she could grow more things from her body, she successfully produced large avian black wings from her back, black mostly because she didn’t want anyone to see them while she was flying at night. And she did, she was able to achieve flight by increasing the strength of her wings and changing her bones to a hollow bone like that of a bird, while at the same time, increasing their density to prevent them from breaking. She was airborne for a good thirty minutes before she decided to call it quits and landed on the ground with…relative ease, and by relative she faceplanted.

One of the other things she found she could do was grow more appendages, in this case arms. Twilight concentrated, her body glowed green, and she immediately produced four additional arms from her back for a total of six. The transformation also accounted for the extra nerves and wiring of her brain to control the new arms and make them as much a part of her as if they were always there. With the additional arms, Twilight was able to clean up a lot faster, and she was able to move faster too. She found that she could essentially change her physiology to something resembling a plant’s photosynthesis, absorbing sunlight to energize her cells and prevent any fatigue or tiredness in her muscles. It made for quick work and more stamina.

When everyone arrived home, they greeted her as usual, none the wiser of what Twilight was up to. She wanted to tell them, but Twilight knew that she would only worry her parents and the Sunsets even more with this turn of events. And yes, she understood that she was doing the exact same thing that she was doing regarding the abuse she was suffering at CPA, but this was different. And really, part of Twilight didn’t want to tell them anything. She was tired of being just a brain, someone to protect, someone who was weak and a burden to her loved ones. Now she had powers, how, she still didn’t know, but regardless of the how, she was able to control those powers. And now she could stand on even ground with her Sunset, possibly at least, she wasn’t about to start comparing her abilities to that of Sunset’s Ember Stone, or Pony Sunset’s Witchblade, those two items were magical and nearly godlike in power, she wasn’t anywhere near those levels of power.

After dinner and everyone talked about their day, Twilight visited her girlfriend in her room and asked, “Hey, Sunset, I just wanted to know how the search was going?”

Sunset sighed in dismay. “Not easily…that bitch has dropped off the map. I hate to admit it, but she’s smart. She’s using paper money, untraceable, so there’s no way to find her that way. Since Lemon knows that the cops are looking for her, she’s probably sticking to places that they won’t find her, either in sleazy motels that don’t give a crap, or in rundown places that are perfect for rave parties.”

Twilight wrapped her arms around her lover and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “It’s alright, I know you two will find her. Just don’t push yourselves too hard.”

Sunset wrapped her arms around Twilight and hugged her tight. “Thanks, Sparky.”

Twilight smiled and then ended the hug as she began to leave the room. “You better turn in, don’t use my safety as an excuse to stay up late. I don’t want to hear that your grades are slipping because of me.”

Sunset rolled her eyes at the insinuation. “Please, I could make up any grade with whatever assignment they give me, and still have enough left over to pass out to the rest of the student body.”

“Mmm-hmm, and there’s that braggadocios side of you that I find endearing,” said Twilight.

“Oh, well then, if you want, I can show you more of this side, in your room,” Sunset offered.

“Down girl, maybe when I don’t have a killer after my life.”

“Is that meant to be incentive to get me to find her faster? ‘Cause if that is, then hell, I’ll go out right now!”

“Ugh, go to sleep you horndog!” Twilight ordered playfully before closing the door behind her.

“You know you love me when I’m horny!”

Twilight facepalmed, glad that her parents were in the downstairs bedrooms where they couldn’t hear Sunset’s banter. Another night of neither of the Sunsets finding out where Lemon Zest was. Perhaps…Perhaps it was time that Twilight tried her hand at this?

It was midnight, and all was quiet in Shimmer Manor, except for the teenage, purple skinned girl who had opened her window. Twilight had cut holes in her hoody allowing for her newly created avian wings to unfurl. It was a moonless night, perfect for sneaking around. She enhanced her vision to allow her to see in the dark, making everything, at least in her eyes, as bright as if it were daytime. Twilight perched herself on the windowsill, steeling herself to jump out and fly into the night. However, a whimpering sound caught her attention and made the teen genius turn around. She saw Spike there with a worried expression on his face, Twilight got down from the windowsill and sat on her knees before her faithful canine companion.

“Don’t worry, Spike, I won’t be gone long. I’m just going to see if I can track down Lemon Zest.”

Spike whimpered again, placing his paw on her leg as if saying “Don’t go.”

“I have to do this,” she assured Spike while petting him on his head. “I have to prove to myself that I’m stronger, I have powers now Spike, I don’t need to be afraid anymore. I won’t confront her; I’ll track her down and call Sunset to come and take her in. That’ll be enough.”

Twilight picked up Spike and hugged him close to her chest, her black wings wrapping around them in response to make a more enclosing hug. When she was done, Twilight put Spike back down and resumed her place on the windowsill. Steeling her nerves once again, Twilight leapt out and unfurled her wings, giving a mighty flap that propelled her into the air. Twilight had read about the mechanics of how winged animals fly and applied them to her flying. Before she knew it, her body was adjusting, making it second nature to her.

She flew higher and higher until the city and residences were twinkling lights down below. Twilight shouted her excitement into the open air as she performed loops and spins in the air, passing through what little clouds were floating up in the sky. After enjoying the freedom of flight, Twilight pulled out her cellphone and inputted Lemon Zest’s home address. She followed the directions and found herself right above the manor, it was smaller than Sunset’s, but no less expensive. From the looks of it, it was abandoned, why she did not know, but this would just make it easier.

Twilight landed on the rooftop, faceplanting again as she still couldn’t land worth a damn. “Really got to work on that…” She recalled her wings and moved towards the skylight. The window was just big enough to allow her to slip through, with that determined, she made her index fingernail grow out, becoming sharper and harder like a diamond. She easily cut through the glass, making a square entryway for herself, but before the glass could fall, Twilight transformed her left hand, creating suction cups like that of an octopus that allowed her to latch onto the window before it could fall away. She moved the cut-out piece and gently placed it on the roof.

Before she entered, Twilight made all her body hair retreat into her, she even made her hair and eyebrows disappear, leaving her clean shaven from head to toe. Her fingers and palms became smooth, making sure that there would be no way for police to pick up any hair samples or fingerprints to show that she had been here.

Twilight recreated the suction cups on her hands and scaled the ceiling, carefully entering the home. She took a quick look around, she increased her hearing ability, closing her eyes and augmenting her brain to work like that of a bat’s. She released a low sonic sound wave when she opened her mouth, too low for a human to hear, but with her new hearing, she could see the sound waves as they bounced up against everything, creating a mental map of the house, and allowing her to verify that the house was indeed empty.

The purple girl dropped down and landed on the floor, she moved through the hallway. Thankfully, it was easy enough to find Lemon’s room as there was police tape marking where Lemon Zest resided. Twilight made her way to that room and gasped when she saw the state of it. She expected Lemon Zest to be a messy girl, but this was on another level. The entire room was a wreck, mirrors shattered, furniture tossed, items strewn all over the floor, this was all indicative of a person whose mind was in a frenzy, on edge, filled with rage and hate.

Twilight wasn’t about to take back what she said about Indigo Zap, she hated the girl, and she was glad she was dead. However, the reality was that there were people who actually loved Indigo Zap, her parents, and Lemon Zest. While she did feel sympathy towards Indigo’s parents, she felt none for Lemon, at least they didn’t try and murder her. With her resolve reaffirmed, she entered the room and began looking for whatever she could find.

Still, what can I find that the police haven’t already combed through? And if they found something, it’s most likely in evidence already. Okay, Twilight, look for another angle here. A way to track Lemon Zest down that the police haven’t been able to do or are unable to do that you can?

Twilight saw some clothes tossed about onto the floor, and an idea struck her, an unpleasant one, but an idea, nonetheless. There was a way for her to find Lemon, she just needed something that smelled like Lemon. Unfortunately, Twilight knew what garment she needed to find if she was going to get a scent of the one she was tracking down. And lo and behold she found it, a pair of Lemon Zest’s worn panties.

I am not doing this for perverted reasons, this is to track her down. The human body produces large amounts of pheromones, a large amount of them is concentrated in the crotch of both males and females. If I augment my olfactory senses to that of a dog’s, and enhance that even further, I might be able to pick up Lemon’s scent.

The pair of dark purple panties were held aloft in Twilight’s hands, she really didn’t want to do this, but if there was a chance this might work then she couldn’t pass this up. Her nose began to glow and when the glow faded the changes were made. Twilight carefully brought her face closer to the piece of underwear and inhaled deeply. Twilight’s eye twitched as she retracted her face from it and dropped the undergarment, holding her hands over her nose.

OH MY GOD, SHE MASTURBATED IN THOSE!!! Oh, why did I have to find the ones she…she…made a mess in! GAH!!! It’s in my nose! It’s in my nose! Twilight shot to her feet and did a jig as if she couldn’t decide where to run to try and get away from the smell. Of all the things – I should’ve just used a shirt! I did NOT want to know what Zest’s feminine excretions smell like!

Whether she liked it or not, Twilight had the scent of Lemon Zest in her nose, her more personal scent. Thanks to her enhanced vision, Twilight was able to see a scent trail of sorts, it permeated the room, so Twilight exited and went into the hallway, once in there, she found that it was slightly better. Years of Lemon Zest living in this big manor had her scent plastered almost over everything, but it was strongest in the places that she frequented. Twilight determined if she was going to make any headway, she needed to get outside and see where that scent led her. She made her way to where the skylight was, bent her knees and jumped straight up, her thin frame managed to slip through the hole she made, and while she was in the air, she grew out her wings, allowing her to float in midair.

Now that she was outside the house, Twilight was able to see where the scent trail led her. From where she was, there was a less strong trail that went in the direction of Crystal Prep Academy, but the scent was stronger towards the city. She was going to have to fly low to locate the scent. Thankfully, Twilight dressed all in black, so she’d be hard to spot, Twilight concentrated and immediately her skin color changed to a deep black color, making her look like a living shadow.

Once that was done, the winged genius began her, well, “hunt” for her killer. She flew swiftly and carefully as she passed over several buildings and cars and had to hide on some rooftops from time to time to make sure she wasn’t spotted by people. The last thing she needed was to draw the attention of her girlfriend and adopted big sister, or the police. Twilight decided that going it from the air wasn’t going to be easy, so she needed to do a ground search instead. While on the rooftop, Twilight changed out of her clothes into more baggy clothes, they were her father’s casual clothes, ones that he didn’t wear often. When she changed out, Twilight assumed her male form, which she dubbed Dusk Shine.

While she was sure there wouldn’t be anyone from the school or Pony Sunset’s school that would recognize her, she didn’t want to take any chances. On top of that, if she did manage to find Lemon Zest, she didn’t want her to run away or attack her on sight. Twilight resumed her normal coloration and regrew her hair, in her new male style, and began her walk. She followed the scent trail, which was getting stronger, to a seedy looking gun shop. She kept her hood up and entered the store, inside was variety of firearms, everything from pistols, hunting rifles, shotguns, and assault rifles, before the supernatural happenings in the city, Twilight would’ve questioned the need for everyday citizens to have a war weapon like that in their homes, but with the angels, demons, and monsters, she could see the need now.

The scent trail was even stronger now, a trail that led all the way to the front counter where – “There she is!” Twilight whispered.

Indeed, there she was, Lemon Zest, dressed in a burgundy hoodie, a pair of ripped jean shorts, a black backpack. Even though Lemon kept her hood up Twilight didn’t need to see her face, the scent was most definitely Lemon Zest’s. She kept to a far enough rack, pretending to take interest in the assortment of hunting rifles. She lessened her sense of smell and focused on her hearing, now Twilight could hear what Lemon was discussing with the store owner.

“Sorry kid, I ain’t sellin’ to some little girl. No offense, but ya look unhinged,” said the owner.

“Tch, since when has that stopped you from sellin’ under the table?” Lemon shot back. “I’ve kept my ear to the ground, and word around says you’ll sell no questions asked, so long as the money’s good.”

The owner crossed his arms and looked Lemon Zest up and down. “Money, yes. But you don’t look like someone who’s got a lot of it. We could make an arrangement…”

Twilight wasn’t idiot, she knew what the owner was implying, and apparently so did Lemon Zest.

“Yeah, no. If I gotta suck a dick to get a gun, or get rode to get one, I’d rather it be from someone better lookin’ than you,” said Lemon Zest.

The owner got agitated and growled at Lemon Zest. “Then beat it, I’m runnin’ a business here!”

Lemon Zest chuckled, opened her backpack, reached in, and slammed stack of money on the counter. “Then let’s do business.”

The owner’s eyes widened from the stack of hundreds, he looked at the wad and then back to Lemon Zest, his demeanor shifting drastically. “Of course, young lady, what are you looking for?”

“Something that can blow a hole in someone as big as my fist, a one hit kill kind of gun,” said Lemon.

The owner looked Lemon up and down as if thinking about the kind of weapon she could use. “Well, guns like that can be pretty big, and powerful. Unless ya got the arm strength, a gun like that will break yer wrist, and the recoil might end up making you smash the barrel into yer nose. And even then ya might not hit a damn thing. What…” The owner raised an eyebrow, “or should I say who are ya plannin’ on shootin’?”

“Does it matter?” Lemon asked.

“It can, are you lookin’ to shoot them from far away or close up? Are they wearin’ body armor or no protection? Are they well trained or some average shmoo? Are a ya lookin’ for this to be messy and loud or quick and silent? There’s a right gun for the right job, so think about it for a second.”

Lemon went quiet for a moment as she considered the merchant’s words. Twilight felt disturbed by how much thought she was putting into this, she reached into her pocket to call Sunset and soon after the police, but then she stopped. By the time they got there, Lemon Zest might be gone, the best thing to do was to wait until Lemon Zest was done with her business and follow her to wherever it she was staying. Then that would be the time to call.

“Well…it’ll be hard to get close to this person…my first attempt worked, but she made it somehow. I need to make sure that there’s nothing anyone can do to bring them back,” said Lemon. “They aren’t trained or nothin’, got no connections to anyone on the streets or in government. It’s just some nerd.”

“Huh…I see.” The owner turned around and perused his assortment of weaponry. “Personally speaking, it might be better to hire someone to kill this person, if they already know that you’re comin’ after this person, even if I give you a rifle, you might not be able to use it properly. In that case a pistol would be better.”

Lemon shook her head and slammed her hand on the counter. “Hell no! I’m not lettin’ anyone take this away from me! I don’t care if I get caught after, so long as she’s dead, then I still win!”

Twilight shook from the amount of venom that was in Lemon Zest’s words, she truly meant to kill her even if it meant losing her own life.

“Alright then, use this.” The owner took out a black gun and put io the counter in front of Lemon. “It’s a Beretta M9, easily concealed, reliable, and good power. Effective range is fifty meters. And I’ll throw in these as well.” The owner reached down below the counter and brought up a couple of empty clips and a couple of boxes of bullets. “These are hollow point bullets, they shatter inside the body, like shrapnel. It’ll tear up the target inside, and even if it isn’t fatal on the first hit, they’ll most likely die due to how much internal damage they cause. But if you really don’t care if you get killed or caught when you get his person, then this’ll do the job for you.”

Lemon Zest picked up the gun and pulled back the slide, a menacing chuckle could be heard coming from her that chilled Twilight. “Oh yeah, this’ll work. When that bitch peeks her head up from whatever hidey hole she’s in, I’ll pump it full of lead!”

“I filed down any identifying marks on it, along with the clips, so it’s untraceable. And if anyone asks were you got it…”

“Don’t worry, I don’t think I’ll live long enough to tell anyone. The person I’m going to kill may not be anyone important, but the person that – ugh – loves them, is dangerous enough to kill me the moment they find out what I did, they’re probably lookin’ for me right now since I failed,” said Lemon.

“Ugh…damn kid, this person must’ve really pissed you off to go this far,” said the owner.

“Eh, she had it coming.” Lemon reached into her backpack again and placed another wad of cash. “For your silence my good man. Pleasure doin’ business with ya.”

The owner smiled gleefully. “No, thank you, young miss.”

Twilight glared at the owner from behind the rack and made a mental note to leave an anonymous tip to the police to have this man put in jail for illegal gun sales. But that was for another day, she needed to pursue her target.

It was a whole hour of walking before Twilight found out where Lemon was staying. It was an abandoned warehouse, one that looked like it was used for raves on numerous occasions, possibly ones that Lemon Zest had gone to in the past. Lemon had slipped under the chain link fence and hopped onto the loading dock, meanwhile, while Lemon had her back turned, Twilight jumped over the fence and landed quietly on the other side, ducking behind a trash bin as she continued to watch Lemon. Twilight thought that this might be a good time to call, now that she knew where Lemon was staying, the police could surround the building and take her.

Twilight took out her cellphone again and readied to call Sunset, but she stopped, her thumb hovering over her girlfriend’s name. No. Twilight put the cellphone back in her pocket. That’s all I do, stand aside and let my brother or Sunset take care of it, putting themselves in danger while I just watch and can do nothing. What were all my tests for if not for this moment? I need to do this myself!

With her mind made up, Twilight ran to the loading dock and jumped up onto it. She stealthily made her way inside and continued into the warehouse. It was definitely used for rave parties, there were tables, chairs, and an assortment of other “entertainment” items strewn about the area. Twilight had only been to one of these, but she assumed that Sunset took her to one that was a little less extreme than this one. Lemon Zest looked like the kind of girl that would attend more hardcore raves, she was known for throwing wild parties.

Twilight enhanced her vision and hearing, allowing her to see in the dark and hear for the slightest sounds. There was the occasional rat milling about in the background, but she managed to pick up on Lemon Zest’s location. Twilight carefully entered deeper into the warehouse, hiding behind a column when she saw Lemon Zest enter a room off towards the west side of the building. The teen genius quietly stopped at the door, standing off to the side and taking a careful peek inside. It was a room that had an assortment of assembled mattresses. Twilight figured this was the room where the party goers could go and have private parties. Lemon Zest took out a can of disinfectant spray and laid down a fine layer over one of the mattresses that wasn’t as gross looking as its neighbors.

Lemon sat on the edge of the mattress, taking out some food she had bought on the way here, along with the newly bought gun. She had seen enough action movies and tutorials online to know how to load the thing, and Twilight was watching the whole time. Lemon filled the extra clips to their capacity with bullets, the owner of the gun shop already had a full magazine in the gun, which Lemon had him show her how to release it and put it back in.

“Can’t wait to use this on Sparkle…” Lemon placed the gun to her head and morbidly said, “…probably a good idea to use this on myself when I’m done. Heh, that’ll be good, take away the satisfaction of letting her kill me.” She then held the gun up in the air, admiring it. “Or…maybe I should kill YOU!”

Twilight hurriedly backed away from the door as Lemon Zest fired six shots that way. Two of them hit the wall while the last four whizzed through the door, Twilight hurriedly ducked behind a column just as Lemon Zest exited the room and held the gun in her right hand and a flashlight in the left, pointing it different directions.

“C’mon out asshole! Probably thought you were going to get lucky tonight! Only one person can touch me, and she’s dead! If you still think you got the balls to try it, then c’mon out so I can shoot your ass!”

Twilight gulped, she had to be brave, she had to be strong. “It’s me, Lemon!” she called out in her regular voice.

Lemon Zest had a dumbfounded look on her face when she heard that voice. “Twilight-fucking-Sparkle! Oh man, I can’t believe this! You tracked me down?! Heh, heh, heh, I take back half the shit I said about you, you have more balls than I gave you credit for.” Lemon couldn’t penpoint Twilight’s voice due to the echo, so she stayed in her spot and scanned the area. “So, can I assume that Sunset or the cops are waiting for me somewhere outside?”

“No!” Twilight answered a little too quickly. “I mean…I…I’m here alone! It’s just you and me!”

Lemon blinked. “Okay, for a genius you are the dumbest motherfucking bitch on the planet. You just followed me, on your own, to what? Kill me back because I killed you?”

“NO! I’m here to take you down! I’m here to take you in to the police, to put you behind bars for trying to kill me, and for everything you helped Indigo do to me!” Twilight stated.

Lemon Zest laughed at the absurdity of it all. “Oh god, you really lost it haven’t you?! What the hell can you do?! You’re a fucking nerd, the definition of a nerd! Unless you manned up and got yourself a gun to shoot me with, then I retract my stupid comment.”

Twilight furrowed her brow, she removed her clothing completely, leaving herself bare. She shivered and blushed in embarrassment from being naked in the dirty warehouse. The green glow overcame her body and transformed her skin into the graphene armor she had created a couple of days ago. Twilight made some improvements to the form, making it less bulky and more streamlined, along with creating a resin like covering over both of her eyes to protect them from getting hit or having something get into them. The resin was purple to match her eye color, now that she was armored up, Twilight was ready, she also turned off her pain receptors to ensure that if she did get harmed it would not slow her down.

With her armor created, Twilight stepped out from behind the pillar and began to walk towards Lemon Zest. The former Crystal Prepper saw a figure move towards her and pointed her gun and flashlight in that direction. A confusion befell Lemon Zest when she saw the armored girl walk towards her, without thinking about too much, she pointed her gun and immediately shot at it. Twilight braced herself for the impact, she had only tested the armor against stabbing and cutting weapons, those tests hadn’t included firearms or their different calibers. However, knowing that the rounds were hollow points, against her armored skin, the likelihood that they would penetrate her armored hide were less than zero. The shot struck against her chest, shattering the bullet to pieces upon her skin.

Twilight looked down at herself and saw that there was a miniscule crack in the armor. It…It worked! Just to be safe, lets increase hardness by ten percent. A glow came over her body, and the armor repaired itself, along with reinforcing itself.

“THE FUCK?!”

Lemon Zest didn’t understand, she saw sparks from where she shot, but Twilight didn’t drop. Without a care, Lemon fired again and again, each round struck against Twilight’s body, but each hit was the same result. The bullet would shatter while Twilight advanced, her fear of getting shot to death was gone, she was essentially a living, walking tank.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“Do you understand now, Lemon? You can’t hurt me anymore,” said Twilight.

“BULLSHIT!!!” Lemon Zest kept firing her gun, but nothing happened, her bullets would continue to shatter on Twilight’s hardened skin. “DAMMIT! DAMMIT!”

Lemon released the empty clip and replaced it with another, she aimed a little higher, hitting Twilight in the head multiple times, but again, she was doing zero damage to her target.

Twilight stopped halfway and crossed her arms in annoyance as she tapped her foot. “Okay, Lemon, this is starting to get annoying. After everything you’ve seen, you know you can’t hurt me. Not anymore.”

“SHUT! UP! I HAVE TO KILL YOU; I NEED YOU TO FUCKING DIE!”

Lemon tossed the gun onto the floor, pulled out the same knife she used to kill Twilight and charged for her. The teen genius didn’t move as she uncrossed her arms and stood still, waiting for Lemon to attack. The enraged teen slashed at Twilight’s stomach, only to create sparks from the dragging of the blade against her graphene armor.

“Seriously, Lemon Zest, please stop! It’s over, just come with me and you’ll go to jail! It’s better than dying!” Twilight argued.

“FUCK YOU! I’m dead either way!”

“What about your parents?! Have you thought about what you’re putting them through?! Do you really think they want their child to die?!”

Lemon Zest stopped her attack and took a step back from Twilight. “Heh…My parents couldn’t give two shits about me. Have you heard either of them, even once, go on the news and ask for me to turn myself in or to come home?”

Twilight opened her mouth to reply but paused, now that she thought about it, she hadn’t heard a thing on the news from Lemon’s parents asking her to turn herself in, nor, from what she could gleam from Shining Armor’s case files, had they even called in to check on their progress.

“Yeah, exactly. They’re all but divorced, my house was mine alone, the only other people who would come in there was the cleaning staff, but otherwise I’m alone!” Lemon laughed. “So long as I don’t get into any major trouble or let my grades fall, I can do pretty much anything I want. Looks like I fucked up on both counts!” Lemon sighed wistfully as she remembered. “There was only one person that gave a damn about me…one person I could count on and always had my back no matter what.” The former Crystal Prep student glared at Twilight. “Then your psycho bitch girlfriend killed her!”

“Indigo was using the Glacier Stone; she was working with a crazy woman from another world who nearly ended the world! If Sunset hadn’t killed Indigo, she could’ve killed a whole lot of people! And that’s not counting what she was going to do to me!” Twilight stated. “I’m sorry that you lost your friend, someone you loved! But she wasn’t a good person!”

Lemon Zest glared daggers at Twilight and shouted, “SHE WAS GOOD TO ME!!!” Lemon thrust the knife at Twilight’s heart, only for the metal to snap in half and fly off in another direction. She stared at the broken weapon for a moment, tossed it away, and then wrapped her hands around Twilight’s throat. She squeezed as hard as she could, but no matter how hard she choked, Twilight was unfazed.

“SHE WAS THE ONLY PERSON IN THIS WORLD WHO I CARED ABOUT, WHO CARED ABOUT ME! I LOVED HER! AND SHE ONLY HAD EYES FOR YOU! YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!!! I HATE YOU! I FUCKING HATE YOU!!! WHY WON’T YOU JUST DIE???!!!” Lemon stopped her choking, cocked back her right fist and punched Twilight in the face, only to hear the sickening crunch sound of her knuckles and finger bones breaking upon impact. “MOTHERFUCKER! AAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

Twilight watched as Lemon backed up, holding her right hand as it dripped a bit of blood from the bones that penetrated through her skin. “Lemon, please just stop this!”

A deranged look overcame Lemon’s features, her pained howls soon gave way to manic laughter as she glared at Twilight with an insane look in her eyes. “Oh, I’m not gonna stop, Sparkle! Fuck this, I can’t kill Sunset Shimmer, and now, for whatever god forsaken reason, I can’t kill you either! So, you know what, I’ll just kill someone you care about just as much as your whore of a girlfriend! Maybe I’ll go and kill Sugarcoat! Maybe take my gun and shoot your brother in the back! Rape your whore mother with my gun and blow a few rounds in the cunt that birthed you! Or maybe I’ll do that to Dean Cadence! I kinda always wanted to see what she looked like without her clothes! And having her eat me out while I press a gun to her head will get me off soooo good! All because of you!”

Twilight shook her head. “No…No you can’t do that!”

Lemon kept laughing as she got closer to Twilight, looking her right in the eye as she smiled. “Oh, but I will! I won’t fucking stop, Sparkle! No matter if I’m behind bars, I’ll figure out a way to get out! Magic and demons exist! Who’s to say I can’t make a deal with a demon to get out and do all that to your mom and Dean Cadence?!”

Before all the craziness that entered her life, Twilight would’ve taken such a threat as empty, but now, with everything that has happened, there was a very good possibility that something supernatural might just occur in Canterlot City that would allow someone like Lemon Zest to break free from prison and attack those she loved. The very thought of that scared Twilight, making her heart race as she shook in terror. Her mind visualized everything that Lemon threatened she would do, and each scene was more horrifying than last.

Lemon took a step forward and made Twilight take a step back. “Yeah, you get it don’t you?! That’s what’s going to happen, it might not happen now, maybe tomorrow, a week from now, a month, a year?! Who knows, but the point is that it will happen, and I’ll make it a point to call and remind your asses of that each and every day, I’ll baste your family in fear until the day I break out and come to fuck up your life in the most spectacular way imaginable, Sparkle! I won’t stop until I’ve fucked up your entire life, just like you and Sunset fucked up mine! And I’ll love it, because at the end of the day, you’ll have no one to blame but YOURSELF!!!”

“NOOOOO!!!” Twilight screamed in terror.

Without thinking, Twilight swung her fist and struck Lemon in the gut, sending her flying until she landed five feet from where she stood, hitting the ground with a hard “THUD!” Twilight’s right hand shook, not from pain, but from fear, fear that Lemon Zest’s threats would come to pass. She couldn’t let that happen, not now, not ever.

Twilight quickly walked over to where Lemon was, she was spitting up blood, and some was coming out of her nose. Lemon coughed, trying to form words, Twilight glared at the wild party girl, growling like a beast as she went down on one knee and gripped Lemon Zest’s left arm with her right hand, digging her claws into the pink girl’s flesh.

“You can threaten me all you want! You can beat me, rape me, and whatever demented and sick things your mind can conjure! But don’t you ever, EVER threaten my family!” Twilight declared.

The moment she said those words, Twilight focused on doubling her physical strength. With it, she pulled hard on Lemon’s left arm, tearing muscle and flesh and breaking the bone at the same time as she completely ripped off Lemon’s arm, tossing it like a piece of paper off to the side. Blood sprayed across the floor and Lemon somehow found the strength to scream. Twilight repeated this process with the right arm, tearing it just as easily and tossing it away, doubling the intensity of Lemon’s screams. Her eyes almost rolled into the back of her head, but Twilight slammed Lemon across the face, breaking her jaw upon impact.

“NO! YOU DON’T GET TO CHECK OUT! NOT AFTER EVERYTHING YOU AND INDIGO PUT ME THROUGH! YOU’RE GOING TO STAY AWAKE LONG ENOUGH TO FEEL EVERYTHING!”

Twilight’s body glowed again as her back flared out its black wings, and the intricate lines that formed over both of her arms. Twilight placed both of her hands against Lemon’s head and released her bioelectric energy, sending a powerful current through the de-armed girl, making Lemon Zest release garbled screams as her brain felt as if it was being fried from inside her own skull, the pain from her ripped arms was barely a blip compared to the pain she was feeling all over her body. Her body spasmed about, flailing like a fish that was flopping around on land and gasping for air, her shorts quickly dampened as she lost control over her bowls, and the worst part was she knew it had happened and could do nothing. Twilight removed her hands; she could tell that Lemon was still semi-conscious.

“You said you hated me?! Well guess what…I HATE YOU EVEN MORE!!!”

Twilight raised her right fist and smashed against Lemon’s head, caving her face in and effectively killing her in one blow. But Twilight wasn’t done, she kept on punching with both her fists, over and over again, all the while she continued to shout “I HATE YOU! I HATE INDIGO! I HATE SUNNY FLARE! I HATE SOUR SWEET! I HATE PRINCIPAL CINCH! I HATE CRYSTAL PREP ACADEMY!!!!” Twilight brought both her fists together in a sledgehammer blow, bringing it down upon what remained of Lemon Zest’s skull and completely destroying her skull, creating a bloody mess of brain matter, blood, and bone, along with a three-foot-wide crater from the impact of her blow, and five inches deep.

The teen genius slowly stood up and looked down at the headless remains of the girl once known as Lemon Zest. She then brought up both her clawed hands and fixated on the blood that clung to them. The blood that was from Lemon Zest, from her constant beating of the girl’s head until there was nothing left. With her own two hands, Twilight had ended a life, the life of one of her tormentors. Twilight clenched her hands into fist and screamed into the air, the scream turned into a roar as she changed her vocal cords to something more animalistic to more accurately represent the fury and pain that was inside her, that lasted for a good minute before she took a breath.

Twilight, instead of feeling sad, felt happy. She didn’t feel sad or regret for what she did, she felt happy, with her own two hands she got rid of a threat to herself and her family’s wellbeing. She was practically giddy, forget that she was giddy. “Where’s all that talk now, Lemon? Got nothing to say? Too bad, give my regards to Indigo Zap, you’ll both be happy in hell!”

The teen genius left the body on the floor and went into the room where Lemon left her backpack. She dumped the contents of the bag onto the mattress and saw that there were at least ten wads of cash, all of which were hundreds wrapped with a slip of paper that read “$10,000.” In total there was at least a hundred-thousand dollars, not counting the two stacks that Lemon left, there was also a burner phone and some extra clothes. Twilight left the room for a moment and then returned to the room with her own backpack, she put the stacks of money into her backpack and turned on the burner.

After changing her voice, Twilight called the police and said, “Hello, I’m calling to report that the girl that’s wanted for attempted murder, Lemon Zest, is dead in a warehouse on the corner of Hoofington and Clip St. Don’t bother bringing an ambulance, she’s not going to need it.”

Twilight didn’t hang up, knowing that if she kept it on, they would eventually triangulate the burner’s position, she did give them the address, but she didn’t want Lemon’s body staying here too long. She didn’t want the rats or whatever mentally unstable person there was running around to desecrate what was left of the body. Twilight exited the warehouse and perched on a nearby rooftop until the police arrived, once she saw that they had made entry into the warehouse, she flew off back for Shimmer Manor.

Twilight was in the shower, thankfully she was able to shed off the graphene armor from herself, and without her body to keep it stable, the armor dissolved into dust, along with any blood evidence of her actions. To make sure that there was nothing left, Twilight entered the shower and thoroughly washed her body, she found herself enjoying the warm water a lot more than she used to, as if everything had taken on a whole new sensation after she killed Lemon Zest. What she found a little more exciting and disturbing, was how hot she was…down there. She masturbated a bit in the shower, not to the kill she just did, but to Sunset, because now she felt that she was strong, strong like her girlfriend.

I need her, thought Twilight.

Without wasting a moment, Twilight wrapped a towel around her body and quickly got out. She strode through the hallway and stopped before her girlfriend’s bedroom door. She knocked a couple times before Sunset answered, she rubbed her eyes groggily and looked at Twilight up and down.

“Sparky…? W-What’s up…? Why are you in a towel?” Sunset asked.

“I want you!”

“What?”

Twilight didn’t repeat herself; she simply threw herself at Sunset, hooking her arms around the amber girl’s neck and pushing her way into her room. The teen genius kicked the door closed behind her, just as the wet towel fell to the floor. Twilight pressed her mouth against Sunset’s, kissing her deeply and hungrily as they made their way towards her bed. Before Sunset had a chance to get her bearings, Twilight pushed her onto the bed and got on top of her.

Sunset looked up at the wet, naked body of her girlfriend, her damp hair clinging to her soaked skin as beads of water dripped off her. There was wild look in Twilight’s eyes, a look of desire, of wanting, a look that Sunset hadn’t seen before, but at the same time, was not opposed to seeing. “Sparky, what’s got you so frisky tonight?”

“What, you don’t want to?” Twilight asked coyly.

“Never said I wasn’t in the mood, just glad to see you taking some initiative,” said Sunset.

“I’m just glad I caught you on a night where you’re only wearing a tank top and panties, less things to get rid of.”

Sunset smirked as she quickly pulled off her top and shimmied out of her panties, Twilight grabbed both of Sunset’s wrists and pinned them to the bed, causing Sunset grin with delight. The teen genius attacked Sunset’s neck, giving it a firm bite, Sunset released a squeal of delight from the pain. Twilight was marking her as her mate, it was primal, and Sunset was liking it. The lavender girl’s right hand traveled straight down to Sunset’s pussy and began vigorously fingering her, making Sunset squirm in pleasure beneath her.

“Fuck, Sparky! Ugh!” Sunset groaned in pleasure. Twilight suddenly stopped her fingering, making Sunset look at her girlfriend with a bit of annoyance. “W-What’s up?! You were doing great!”

“Sunset…I discovered something about myself…Something that I wasn’t ready to show you until I was sure…” Twilight raised that same hand and made the bioelectrical lines appear. “I don’t know what’s happened to me…but I’m able to modify my body in different ways, in addition to the healing.”

Sunset’s eyes widened as she propped herself up on her elbows. “Sparky you…How long have you…?”

“For two days now…I’m sorry, I just wanted to make sure that this wasn’t something to worry about. If I couldn’t control it, that would be a different story, but I can, it works on my mental commands. Watch.” Twilight willed the lines to go away, and they did. “I’m not scared, Sunset. It’s amazing, I can change my body in all kinds of different ways.”

Sunset looked to Twilight and nodded. “Okay…I believe you, Sparky.”

Twilight leaned forward and kissed Sunset on the lips again, which Sunset reciprocated. When Twilight ended the kiss she asked, “I want to show you what I can do, will you let me? I promise, the only thing that you’ll feel is pleasure. If you don’t like it, then tell me and I promise I’ll stop.”

Sunset looked a little hesitant, not that Twilight could blame her. She was essentially asking to use her powers on her in a sexual way, their first night together didn’t involve using Sunset’s powers, not that the flames would hurt her so long as Sunset willed it. After a thoughtful minute, Sunset nodded her consent and laid back.

Twilight smiled gratefully and recreated the lines on her arm. “This modification allows me to discharge my bioelectricity, so once I put my finger in…” Two fingers gently penetrated Sunset’s pussy, and a couple of seconds later, Sunset’s back arched as she felt a surge of electricity shock the pleasure sensing nerves in her vagina. “I can release electrical stimuli to the nerves in your vagina that are responsible for sensing pleasure.”

Twilight began thrusting her fingers slowly in and out, at the same time, she released small bursts of electricity that arced inside Sunset’s inner walls and even hit her clit. Sunset writhed under Twilight’s touch; her mouth hung open as her cunt was being stimulated in a manner that she had never tried before. Twilight steadily picked up speed, increasing the electrical bursts in direct proportion to her movements, the teen genius carefully placed her right hand over Sunset’s left breast and began kneading it. She released electrical bursts into her breast, making sure that the currents avoided her lover’s heart.

Sunset’s pussy was spasming and contracting against her will, her breast tingled and radiated a pleasurable feeling through her chest. The flame haired teen released a long cry as she came, hard, spraying Twilight’s hand and the sheets underneath her. However, Twilight didn’t stop, she continued her assault, causing Sunset to go into a second orgasm in less than a minute.

“OH FUCK, SPARKY!!! OH SHIT, OH SHIT, I’M GONNA CUM! I’M GONNA CUM AAAAAAAAAIAAAAAAHHH!!!”

A third orgasm rocked Sunset’s body, making her arch her back even further as she made an incredibly lewd expression. Twilight stopped her stimulation and pulled her hand back, licking her fingers and hand and savoring the taste of Sunset’s love juices.

“Oh…Oh shit…S-Sparky…t-that was…Oh shit…” Sunset stated while she panted.

Sunset was already a sweaty mess, and Twilight wanted to make more of a mess of her girlfriend. Twilight kissed Sunset again, making them move further up on the bed until they were in the middle.

Twilight broke the kiss and said, “I want to claim you, Sunset Shimmer. I want to fuck you like a bitch in heat!”

“H-How?” she asked in an excited tone.

Twilight sat up on her knees, a green glow overcame her crotch, and in a few seconds, Twilight’s genitals were changed from vagina to a penis and balls. “The traditional way.”

Sunset’s eyes practically bulged from her skull as she saw the phallus that had materialized and replaced her lover’s pussy. “Is…Is that real?”

“What do you think?” Twilight asked.

Sunset reached up and touched the cock in front of her, wrapping her left hand around it. It was hot, and hard, pulsing with want and desire. Twilight made a little moaning sounds from Sunset’s touch, indicating that it was in fact attached her. “Holy shit…you became a damn futanari?!”

“There are only two questions I have for you…” Twilight leaned down and whispered into Sunset’s ear, “…Do you want it bigger, and how do you want it?”

Sunset gulped, she wasn’t going to deny shlcking off to some futa porn on the internet, so to have her girlfriend sport this was kind of a sexual fantasy come true. “Nine inches long, five inches thick, and fuck me doggystyle!”

A green glow overcame Twilight’s phallus, making it grow and thicken to Sunset’s specifications. Once she saw that Twilight was done, Sunset got onto her hands and knees and raised her ass to Twilight. The teen genius gulped, licking her lips as her heart pounded in her chest, the excitement of being able to mount her lover, to take her in a biblical way was intoxicating.

Sunset looked over her shoulder, her expression turning serious for a moment. “Uh…this isn’t going to end up getting me pregnant, right?”

Twilight shook her head in the negative. “Of course not! I made sure to sterilize my semen, I’m infertile right now, and I’ll remain like that until after we’re done. I may want to plow you, but I don’t want to get you pregnant, we still have too much to do before…before we get to that stage.”

Sunset saw the cute blush on Twilight’s face, she was already thinking of their relationship in the long-term, and honestly, Sunset didn’t mind that. “Good, so don’t hold back! Pump me full, Sparky!”

Twilight grabbed Sunset’s hips and carefully aligned the tip of her cock head to Sunset’s burning cunt. The mere contact of Sunset’s outer lips almost made Twilight cum right then and there. “Sunset…I apologize in advance…this is quite literally my first time with…with this kind of equipment. I…I might…”

“Hey, I don’t expect you to be an expert in how to use a dick on day one, Sparky. Just go at it, I’ll take whatever you give me,” Sunset assured.

With that assurance given, Twilight carefully aligned herself, and thrust her hips forward.

“SHIT!” Sunset exclaimed as she felt the large rod penetrate her womanhood.

Twilight pushed forward, barely giving Sunset time to adjust as she buried her whole length in Sunset’s honeypot. She could hardly believe it, she was inside Sunset, a part of her was inside Sunset. She had felt Sunset’s pussy around her fingers, and around her tongue, but this was on a whole different level. The heat, the wetness, and tightness, it was all so overwhelming, so intense that she… “Sunset…I’m sorry…! I’m cumming!!!”

Sunset could barely respond before she felt the hot rush of cum flooding into her. The hot, thick load filled her insides, making Sunset release a long moan of pleasure as she felt the hot lava-like liquid fill her deepest parts, that alone made her go into another orgasm, not just because of the cum, but also the knowledge that it was her girlfriend filling her like a balloon.

Twilight slumped forward a bit, resting on Sunset’s back as she panted. Oh my god…no wonder boys are constantly thinking about penetrating our vaginas with these! This feels amazing! “Sunset…Sunset are you alright?”

“God…Sparky…I think I nearly passed out just then…!” Sunset confessed. “I think you’re going to end up fucking me silly before this night’s over…”

“If that’s what you want, I’ll do that for you,” said Twilight.

Using her abilities, Twilight reduced her refractory period, allowing her to recover quickly. Now that she had adjusted to the feeling of being inside Sunset, she could focus on her movements. Thanks to the added lubrication of her cum, Twilight was able to move in and out of Sunset’s cunt with greater ease, smoothly pulling herself in and out of her lover’s pussy with each stroke. Instinct started to take over as Twilight bucked her hips with more speed and force, making Sunset’s body shake with each hilting of her cock.

“Oh fuck…! Oh fuck…! Sparky!!! I’m gonna cum again!” Sunset cried out.

Twilight felt Sunset’s walls tighten as she orgasmed, but Twilight managed to dial down the sensitivity of her penis to allow herself to enjoy the feeling of Sunset’s love canal a little longer before nutting her again. She didn’t let up in a slightest, fucking Sunset right through her orgasm. Twilight leaned forward, pressing her body into Sunset’s as she continued to thrust her hips into Sunset’s rear. Wet slapping sounds filled the room as Sunset’s arm gave out a little and had her bend forward more. A more dominant side of Twilight started to come out as she placed her hand on Sunset’s head, pressing it into the mattress in a commanding fashion.

“I’m…I’m going to fuck you like a whore, Sunset!” Twilight exclaimed with a bright blush.

“Fuck yes! Fuck me like a slut, Sparky! Make me your slut!”

Twilight obliged and hammered into Sunset faster and harder, forcing Sunset’s legs to give out, making Sunset lay sprawled out on the bed. She continued to jackhammer into Sunset with lustful want, gradually dialing up the sensitivity of her penis to get her closer and closer to her second orgasm, and she wanted this one to be a big one.

“Here it comes, Sunset! I’m going to give you a big load like you wanted,” said Twilight.

“Give it to me!” Sunset demanded.

Twilight made the bioelectric lines appear on her arms again, she maneuvered her hands underneath Sunset and placed them at her pelvis. The teen genius sent a strong current into that area, igniting the pleasure sensing nerves just as Twilight cummed hard into Sunset’s wanting pussy. The effect was immediate, Sunset released a loud ecstasy filled scream into the air, her eyes rolling into the back of her head as her tongue lolled out of her mouth. Twilight continued to pump load after load into Sunset’s cunt as it spasmed and squirted, making Sunset’s stomach distend by the second. The constant stream of erotic stimuli was overloading Sunset’s brain, fear, excitement, and pleasure, all of it crashed into her body and mind until Sunset finally passed out.

Twilight released the last bit that she had before finally pulling out of Sunset’s worn pussy. A steady stream of milky white poured out of her lover’s canal and onto the bed, while Twilight could easily recover using her abilities, she decided not to, choosing instead to bask in the afterglow. That, and because it looked like Sunset was not going to be up for another round any time soon. Twilight enhanced her strength and moved Sunset to the head of the bed and laid her down, she then brought the blankets up and covered them both, cuddling against Sunset and affectionately rubbing her swollen belly, feeling a sense of pride to have done this to Sunset.

“Maybe one day, we’ll have a baby for real. But I guess until then, I can get you used to the feeling.”

“SUN! SUN!” the voice of the Pony Sunset cried out. The door slammed open, and Pony Sunset continued, “YOU HAVE TO COME DOWN AND SEE THIS, THE NEWS JUST – Whoa, hello what a smell!”

That awoke Twilight making her set up quickly in Sunset’s bed as she turned her head towards the door. “S-Sunset?!” Twilight looked down at herself and covered her chest.

“Huh-wuh?!” Sun woke up as well, letting the blanket fall from her and expose herself. She turned towards the door and smiled happily. “Heeey, Sis, what’s up?”

“Wow, jeez, the sex smell in here is, like, super strong. Whew, you guys must’ve been going hot and heavy.” Sunset shook her head. “Never mind that, you guys have to come downstairs! They found Lemon Zest!”

“WHAT?! Seriously?!” Sun jumped out of bed, but then paused when she felt a sloshing weight in her stomach. When she looked down, she blushed. “Oh shit…”

Sunset blinked when she saw her little sister’s belly distended like it was. “Uh…Sun…why the hell do you look like you’re two months pregnant?”

Sun glanced to Twilight, and Twilight back to Sun. Without thinking, Twilight blurted out, “SEX TOY!”

“What…?” Sunset asked.

“Yeah! A custom made sex toy!” Sun elaborated. “I had it made in case I ever had a partner I trusted. It’s a strap on that mimics the feel and heat of a real penis, and it comes with a pump that shoots fake cum!” Sun placed her hands on her hips and shot Twilight a look. “Someone got a little liberal with the pump last night.”

Twilight blushed, knowing that that was a little barb at her for the amount of semen she released into her. “To be fair…you did say ‘Fill me up, Sparky!’, your words.”

Sunset blinked and then smirked. “Hot damn, Twi, that’s cool. Hey, mind if I borrow that, I may want to try it the next time I have Pinkie over?”

Sun tsked at her big sister and said, “Sorry, Sis, that’s exclusive to Sparky and me.”

“Oh c’mon! I’ll even let you watch me rail Pinkie with it! Hell, I’ll let you record it, and you guys can play it when you two do it!” Sunset bargained.

“Nope, Pinkie may be thick and cute, but I like my cuter, adorkable girlfriend more, so, no dice.”

Sunset stuck her tongue out at Sun. “Get some clothes on and spray some air freshener in here before Twi’s parents see you two, and hurry!”

Once Sunset closed the door, Twilight glanced back at Sunset and said, “Sorry…”

Sun rubbed her belly and smiled at Twilight. “For what? Rocking my world last night? That was the hottest sex I’ve ever had in my life! Oh, babe, could you hand me my Ember Stone?”

Twilight turned towards the nightstand, grabbed the Artifact, and then handed it to Sunset. Upon putting it on the flames of the Ember Stone washed over Sunset’s body, restoring her body to its original state and healing any possible soreness or pain that Sunset was feeling.

“That’s better, what about you, Sparky?” Sunset asked.

Twilight got out of bed, her equipment from last night was gone, and after a short glow, any fatigue was gone. “I’m good, I’ll got to my room and get some pajamas on.”

A couple of minutes later and both girls were downstairs in the living room, the Pony Sunset, along with Twilight’s parents, were sitting there, watching the latest news report on the TV that read, “Attempted Murder Suspect Found Dead”.

{Last night, attempted murder suspect, Lemon Zest, was found murdered in a warehouse here in Canterlot City. We haven’t been given many details due to how graphic the scene is, but it has been confirmed that the victim in this case is Lemon Zest. As you know, the eighteen-year-old female was wanted by police for the attempted murder of one of her schoolmates at Crystal Prep Academy. She was on the run for about two days until today.}

“My god…” Velvet gasped.

“…She tries to hurt my little girl, only to meet her end in a dirty warehouse, good riddance,” said Night Light.

“Night!” Velvet admonished. “I hold nothing but contempt for that girl for trying to hurt Twilight, but she’s still someone’s daughter.”

“And she tried to kill ours and met her end as such. She did this to herself.” Night Light wasn’t about to budge on this. He knew his wife was right, but right now he was in protective papa mode.

Velvet got up and walked over, hugging her daughter close, she then pulled away a little bit and said, “Twily, you don’t have to go back to that place if you don’t want to. After all this, your father and I wouldn’t blame you for doing so. Perhaps we could enroll you in Sunset’s school, Canterlot High was it?”

Sunset crossed her arms and nodded in agreement with Mrs. Velvet. “It wouldn’t be any trouble; I could ask Mom.”

Twilight shook her head. “If I just give up now, then I let Principal Cinch win, I let them all win. I won’t let this break me. So, please, let me go back to Crystal Prep.”

There were a lot of hesitant looks, even from Sun. But it seemed that Velvet and Night Light would relent to their daughter’s decision, she was an adult now and so her decisions needed to be respected. However, not a one realized the real reason why Twilight wanted to go back. For years she had suffered at CPA, for years she had taken their abuse and wounding words, but now Abacus Cinch was on the edge with the investigation, and with Lemon dead, the Friendship Games were in jeopardy, and so was Crystal Prep’s reputation.

Crystal Prep is supposed to be a place of higher learning, but it’s nothing more than a place where the wealthy and influential can send their children to learn how to be worse human beings. Everyone in that school needs to be punished. Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, and most important of all, Principal Abacus Cinch. I’m not weak anymore, I’m stronger than all of them, and I’ll show them what happens when you push a kind person into a corner and give no quarter.

Evolution Stage 4

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Twilight was feeling good, really good, as Sunset drove them to Crystal Prep. Yesterday, she had finally done something about her situation, with her own two hands, she, Twilight Sparkle, ended the threat that was Lemon Zest. However, there was still a threat, a threat that was going to be looming over her and others for the foreseeable future if something was not done. The threat that was Crystal Prep Academy.

Maybe once upon a time, the Academy was something to be proud of. But in the years of Abacus Cinch’s rule, it has become nothing more than a breeding ground for the sociopathic, amoral, and deplorable of Canterlot’s wealthy and influential children. Its only rule was to do all you could to get ahead, whether that be by cheating, strongarming, or just being better than others. Abacus Cinch used this as a way to boost Crystal Prep’s reputation, to make it more outstanding than every private school and public school in the city. A better reputation meant more money, more money meant better equipment and facilities, which in turn helped to produce better students. Or so the lie was told.

While the money did go towards making the campus and equipment state of the art, the real payment came in the way of favors to Cinch. If a certain student was failing, and their parents had ties to certain political societies in Canterlot, then it might be good to bump up their grades or make whatever problem that was facing them go away. All of it was to just build up more connections, more power, until she was standing at the top of the heap, to become the shining example of what an educator could be. Honestly, Twilight didn’t know why Cinch was intent on boosting the reputation of the school, her curiosity did beg for the question to be answered, but it was just a secondary objective at this point. Perhaps in the final moments she would find out before bringing it all crashing down around Principal Cinch, but until then, she had to devise her plan.

The Friendship Games would be the week after next, and Twilight was determined to bring Crystal Prep to its knees before then. It seemed appropriate; it was during the Games where Crystal Prep shined the most. Twilight never understood why it was like this, what honor or value of friendship was gained from a competition pitting public school children against highly educated, athletic, and affluent children? CHS and CPA’s educational and athletic curriculum were vastly different from each other, it was the equivalent of a dog fighting against a wild lion.

In any case, Twilight assumed it wouldn’t be that hard to accomplish, not after what happened to her. Up until now, Principal Cinch had been able to sweep many Crystal Prep’s shortcomings under the rug, but now was different. A documented attempted murder on school grounds and her blood staining the floor of the bathroom where she almost died, a spectacle that everyone saw, at least the aftermath, but something that could not be denied. Her big brother would surely head up the case, and Cadence would no doubt assist with whatever information was needed.

The school was effectively shaken to its core, its foundation was weak, and now all Twilight had to do was chip away at that foundation more and more until it was practically standing on a toothpick. All these thoughts and more swam in her head, up until they arrived at the school parking lot. Sunset put the car in park and glanced at Twilight with a bit of concern.

“You sure you’re up for this, Sparky? You don’t have to come back right away,” said Sunset.

Twilight smiled, leaned over, and kissed Sunset on the lips. “I’m sure. I can’t live in fear, Sunset, I have to become stronger. And I am now, I don’t know how I got these new abilities, but I’m grateful for them. I think I can do some real good now.”

Sunset looked pensive for some reason, as if she wanted to tell Twilight something, but in the end the look changed to her trademark confident smirk. “Alright then, let’s make a scene.”

Twilight exited the car with her girlfriend, unbeknownst to her, Twilight had altered her body just a bit before coming. She widened her hips a little, toned her muscles, and increased her bust size by half a cup. It made for a slightly tighter fitting uniform, but she wanted to feel sexy, not just for Sunset, but for herself. For years the students had called her mousy, flat, and unattractive, saying how no boy in the school would ever want to touch her, and if they did, it would be out of pity or because they thought she’d be an easy lay. Twilight did wonder if they were aware of Indigo raping her but judging from the reaction on that day, it seemed that her fellow students were in the dark about that.

Sunset and Twilight strode into the halls of Crystal Prep, and as expected, the students’ eyes all gravitated towards her. Before, Twilight would shrink at the feeling of so much attention, but today, she reveled in it. As they walked, the teen genius put a little more swagger in each of her steps, her hips swaying back and forth in a tantalizing motion, drawing the eyes of her classmates, both male and female. She opted to let her hair down, allowing it to flow down her back, and with the departure of her glasses, the students were able to get a full unobstructed view of her face, which it seemed was causing some feelings of attraction.

As they walked, they found Sugarcoat at her locker, Twilight and Sunset stopped by and greeted their friend.

“Hi, Sugarcoat,” said Twilight.

Sugarcoat closed the locker and stared at Twilight, glancing up and down her form. “Wow…um…Twilight, did you get…hot these last couple of days?”

Twilight blinked innocently and asked, “What do you mean? It’s just me.”

“Sorry, it’s just…I can’t put my finger on it, but you seem different. Besides letting your hair down and forgoing your glasses. Contacts?”

“Yeah… I always had a prescription and some lenses on hand, I just never used them, but I thought a change was in order,” said Twilight as she bashfully rubbed the back of her head.

Sugarcoat nodded. “Huh, it suits you.” The blunt girl turned to Sunset and said, “Aren’t you the lucky girl.”

Sunset beamed with pride as she hooked an arm around Twilight’s waist. “Damn right I am.”

Twilight, with an evil smirk, reached behind Sunset and swiftly grouped her lover’s ass under her skirt, making the fiery haired teen give a little yelp in surprise. “Yes, yes she is lucky.”

Sugarcoat’s left eye twitched, having caught the action. “Uh…huh…that’s new.”

“But now unappreciated,” Sunset added with a sultry tone.

“Mmm, I’m sure you’d like more, but we’re in school, so none of that now,” said Twilight. “Unless you can find a private place.”

“Oh, I am so going to find one now.”

Sugarcoat was trying to understand what she was seeing here, Twilight was never this bold before, or sexy. It was honestly starting to make Sugarcoat question her sexuality at this point, but that was a secondary concern.

“By the way, Sugarcoat, has Sour Sweet come back yet?” Twilight asked.

“Actually, she just got back today. Her and Sunny Flare have been inseparable since she got back, and I’m starting to think that there’s more to that,” said Sugarcoat.

“I see…How are you holding up since…you know?” Twilight asked.

Sugarcoat leaned up against the lockers and looked down at the floor. “I have mixed emotions, the five of us have been together since freshman year. While I didn’t consider them my friends, they were acquaintances, Indigo and Lemon being dead…I’m not sure how to feel. I only associated with them because the four of them were the top tier of Crystal Prep, which…along with other methods…allowed me to stave off the same kind of abuse you were going through. God…I still can’t apologize enough for being weak like that…!”

Twilight separated from Sunset, she took a few steps forward and hugged Sugarcoat, surprising the bespectacled girl. “I understand, Sugarcoat, you don’t have to feel bad. This school…the other students…they only give you two choices, be yourself and suffer, or become something you’re not and lose sight of yourself. But you saw the light in the end, you decided to rise above it and admit what you did was wrong and renounced it.”

And for that, I’ll make sure you’re spared, Sugarcoat. You don’t need to suffer like the rest of them.

Abacus Cinch was in her office, for how much longer was a different story. She was already getting calls from the school board about the incident at her CPA, not to mention the fact that Shining Armor was leaving messages about requests to talk to certain students about past incidents, under the guise of showing that there was systemic pattern of abuse going on at Crystal Prep. It also didn’t help that Cadence was giving them access to almost everything they needed, at least what she could without Cinch’s expressed permission. However, if she didn’t, it would be seen as obstruction of justice, in which case she relented to give them what they wanted.

Cinch was being backed into a corner, and without Maria Mare or her contacts, there was no way this was going to end well. Crystal Prep Academy’s reputation was about to be sullied, all she had worked for, all that she had done in the name of making the school a paragon of higher education, and now that was all about to come crashing down because a few of her hormonally, psycho students couldn’t keep their heads out of their pants and did all of this.

There had to be a way to keep all of this from coming back on her, there had to be way to make sure that she and Crystal Prep could survive this little tragedy.

*BEEP*

Cinch growled when she heard her phone go off, she pressed the call button and answered, “What is it?!”

{Um, Ma’am, I have a student here to see you.}

“Student? I have no one scheduled today! Whoever it is, tell them to make an appointment, I’m very busy!” Cinch sniped.

{Well…Ma’am, it’s Twilight Sparkle.}

Cinch’s eyes widened at the mention of that name. What could Twilight want? Why was she coming to see her? After everything that has happened, she figured she’d be the last person Twilight wanted to see.

“S-Send her in,” said Cinch.

After she retook her seat, the Principal of Crystal Prep watched as the door opened and revealed Twilight Sparkle. The moment she laid eyes on her; Cinch could tell something was different about her prized student. Her demeanor, posture, and even the calm look on her face all spoke of great confidence, a far cry from the scared, docile, and submissive girl she remembered. Either the event from three days ago had changed Twilight Sparkle, or this was her twin sister.

“Hello, Ms. Cinch, may we talk?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, of course, please have a seat,” said Cinch.

“Hmm, I’d prefer to stand if that’s alright.” Without waiting for a reply, Twilight began walking the room, peering at the various certificates of Abacus’ school days as well as the case filled with trophies and awards. “You’re in a tight spot, aren’t you Ms. Cinch?”

“I beg your pardon?” Cinch inquired.

Twilight smiled playfully. “Come now, we both know that Crystal Prep is in a bit of a crisis right now. What with my attempted murder, Indigo Zap raping me on a near daily timetable, and the constant abuse I’ve suffered from my classmates, and at your directive, I might add. Oh, and let’s not forget the blackmail.”

Cinch tightened her jaw but remained calm. It would be the height of foolishness to allow a child, much less an intellectual like Twilight Sparkle, rattle her. “I truly am sorry for what you’ve been through, Twilight, but look at you now. You’re almost about to graduate, with full honors, with the highest GPA in Crystal Prep’s history, and as our valedictorian. I understand you’ve suffered while being here but see it from another prospective. The real world will not be kind to you, it rarely is. If you can survive an environment like Crystal Prep, then surely there’s nothing out there that can bring you down.”

Twilight giggled from the twistedness of Cinch’s reasoning. “You do have a point, there’s undoubtedly going to be people like Indigo Zap, who will want to use my body for their pleasure. There’s going to be people who want to hurt me, simply because they think I’m better than them, when I don’t consider myself better than anyone, mind you. Like Sunny Flare and Sour Sweet, and the rest of the student body.” Twilight narrowed her gaze at Cinch. “And there will most certainly be people who want to manipulate me from on high, like you, Principal Abacus Cinch.”

“Careful, my dear, you tread on thin ice. I’ve had a rough time since your…incident…and I’m not one to be angered right now. You wouldn’t want your future ruined because of some boost of confidence, would you?” Cinch asked.

Twilight crossed her arms and remained silent.

“I thought not.” Principal Cinch knitted her hands together and stared Twilight down.

Twilight smirked and sauntered over to Cinch’s desk, she then sat on the edge and looked down at the older woman. Now Cinch knew something was different about Twilight, before, she would cower at her glare, and draw in on herself. But now, it seemed as if she was completely unfazed by her threat.

“Principal Cinch, you’ve spent your whole career making this school what it is, I can appreciate a woman of your caliber striving for excellence, but…” Twilight glared down at Cinch, which made the older woman flinch. “You can only push someone so far before something snaps. Something to think about, Principal Cinch.”

Twilight got off Cinch’s desk and began walking to the door, she paused with her hand on the doorknob, but then turned to glance over her shoulder. “I hope you’ll be able to fill the spots for the Friendship Games team, we lost Lemon, Indigo, Fleur, and Upper Crust. It’d be a shame if we lost any more members, I mean, if it comes down to just me, Sunset, and Sugarcoat, I think we’d just quit. We’d have to forfeit the Games.”

Cinch gritted her teeth, just who did Twilight Sparkle think she is? Speaking to her superior like that, it was as almost like…

“Are you threatening me, Miss Sparkle, and your classmates?”

Twilight gasped in – mock – shock. “Principal Cinch, I would never bring harm to my fellow classmates! They may have abused me at every turn, but I’m above such petty things. Have a good day.”

The resident genius of Crystal Prep left the room, leaving Cinch with a pit of dread in her stomach. Something was disturbingly off about Twilight Sparkle, the girl who feared authority, who feared her, was in here acting in a similar manner to Sunset Shimmer. Was this her influence? Was Sunset Shimmer somehow making Twilight Sparkle act more like her? Granted the girl needed to grow a spine, but now of all times was hardly the best time. Or was it that she was privy to some knowledge that Cinch herself wasn’t? Something so bad that nothing would be able to save her or the school from being dragged through the muck?

Cinch growled in frustration, her options were limited, very limited. Her backers were already distancing themselves for fear that Twilight’s incident would draw attention to everything that they helped Abacus cover up. She needed information, and she needed it now. Abacus hit the call button on her phone, ringing her secretary.

{Yes, Ma’am?}

“I’d like you to send a message, I want my daughter here as soon as she is able, she is excused from her classes until she is done speaking with me. Understood?”

{Yes, Principal Cinch! I’ll have her called in immediately!}

It didn’t take too long for Sunny Flare to come to her office, the girl feared her, as was the right response. When her daughter entered the office, she sat in the empty chair and waited for her mother to say something.

“Do you know why I called you in here?” Abacus asked.

“N-No, Mother,” said Sunny.

“I just had a visit from an interesting visitor, Twilight Sparkle.”

Sunny Flare’s eyebrow rose in confusion. “Wait…Twilight Sparkle came to see you; you didn’t ask her to come?”

“Correct.”

Sunny Flare was flummoxed by this information, she knew as much as Abacus did that Twilight Sparkle never came to her office unless called in or if she scheduled a time to see her. She wasn’t the kind of girl to just come unannounced. “What did she want to talk about?”

Abacus put her hands behind her back as she began to pace the room. “I don’t think it was just to talk, if anything, I feel as if she was delivering a warning to me.”

Now Sunny Flare was even more confused, because it did not sound like Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle was a nerd, a little mousy, thing of a girl who was too smart for her own good and was the resident whipping girl. She didn’t threaten, she didn’t intimidate, and she certainly didn’t deliver warnings of any kind. Although, Sunny Flare had been hearing how Twilight was carrying herself different since she got back, apparently, she even looked – as farfetched as it sounded – attractive.

“I don’t understand…why would Twilight Sparkle of all people deliver a warning? That sounds more like something that Sunset Shimmer would do,” said Sunny.

“I think she’s partially the reason. That girl has become a real nuisance to me, she’s even affecting my prized student into taking on her bad habits! I need you to nip this confident streak while we are able!”

Sunny nervously played with the hem of her skirt as she tried to contemplate what her mother was requesting of her. “M-Mother…I-I don’t think that’s possible…Sunset Shimmer is going to be a lot more protective of her after what Lemon did. If she even thinks someone is out to hurt Twilight, she’ll…” Sunny gulped. “…she might just kill someone!”

Abacus stopped her pacing. “……Yes……that would be rather inconvenient, I certainly can’t afford to lose any more of my students.”

“I-I’m sure that was all an act, it’s still Twilight Sparkle, the nerd, the meek, mousy, little submissive–!”

Abacus raised her hand up, making Sunny Flare stop talking. “Thank you, my dear. You may return to your class.”

“Y-Yes, Mother.” Sunny Flare exited the room, leaving Abacus alone.

Her daughter’s words wouldn’t stop echoing in her mind, she had heard rumors that Sunset Shimmer had threatened the student body with harm should anyone hurt Twilight Sparkle, while also proclaiming themselves to be a couple. Indigo Zap was a wild card, but one that she had her daughter keep an eye on. That jock bitch couldn’t keep it in her pants and just kept at it with Twilight, constantly sexually assaulting her. It was getting to the point that Abacus was going to have to intervene if it started to show on Twilight’s grades or mental health, the last thing she needed was for her to have a mental breakdown and commit suicide. But a new wild card had entered the deck and thrown off the entire balance.

Sunset Shimmer was an unknowable factor, she didn’t know what she would do, or how her presence would influence Twilight. Hell, she never thought a girl like Sunset Shimmer would ever give Twilight Sparkle the time of day. Oh sure, she thought the girl was a godsend, she had grades and intelligence to match Twilight, in fact, Abacus thought she was blessed to have another prodigy to tout. But it seemed that the second prodigy also had a rebellious streak, the proverbial “bad girl” architype that always seemed to draw in girls like Twilight Sparkle. At first, she thought that Sunset might be able to bring some stability to Twilight Sparkle, her isolation was by design, but she needed someone to connect with in order to keep her levelheaded and mentally stable, so when Sunset Shimmer entered the picture, she was more than happy to let things play out.

Unfortunately, Abacus wished she had kept a tighter leash on that girl. Ever since her arrival, the entire balance of Crystal Prep was thrown off. The social hierarchy was practically turned on its head, the students feared Sunset more than her daughter’s clique, and her physical strength was great enough to match their star female athlete. There had to be a way of getting rid of her, if she could make Sunset Shimmer bend, make Sunset regret ever thinking she was her better, then Twilight’s confidence in her girlfriend’s strength would be shattered and she’d be back to the meek little thing she used to be.

Abacus got behind her desk and pressed the call button. “Get me the captains of the football, weightlifting, and basketball teams, please.”

“I’m sorry…Twily…you want me to do WHAT?!” Cadence exclaimed.

It was early afternoon when Twilight visited her soon to be big sister-in-law, and that’s when Twilight decided to tell her to drop whatever plans she and Shining Armor were cooking up to take Cinch down.

“It’s just like I said, I want you to drop it,” said Twilight calmly.

Cadence walked from around her desk and knelt before her soon to be little sister-in-law, placed her hands on Twilight’s shoulders, and looked her in the eyes. “Twily, be honest with me, I know you went to go and see Principal Cinch, did she say anything to you?! Threaten you?!”

“Nope, and for the record, I went to see her.” Twilight smiled and added, “We just had a friendly chat is all. Nothing threatening, at least on her part, anyway.”

Cadence blinked. “Did…Did you threaten her?”

“Not in any terms that would be legally construed or interpreted as being ‘threatening’, friendly banter I guess would be a good way of putting it,” she explained.

Cadence…didn’t know what to make of this. Twilight was never one to make such moves like that, she was shy, intelligent, and a kind girl. Although, considering what had happened to her, perhaps Twilight decided to change her attitude and outlook on life. While this would be a good thing, as she always believed that Twilight could do with being more assertive and confident, but a change like this after such a traumatic event can sometimes lead to worse things down the road.

“Twily, have…have you spoken with the school counselor? Or anyone?” Cadence asked.

Twilight could see what Cadence was implying, she placed her hands on Cadence’s arms and gently moved them away from her shoulders. “Cadence, I understand why you’re worried. I was – for all intents and purposes – killed three days ago if not for Sunset coming to save me. But it’s not the first time I was stabbed…at least…this was the first time I was stabbed with someone hating me so much.”

“Excuse me?!” Cadence shot to her feet. “This isn’t the first time?! When were you stabbed the first time?!”

Twilight sighed and recounted the events of last month when she first met Sunset Shimmer. After Indigo molested her in the locker room showers, Sunset had decided to take her out to a rave party. And then she told her about the part where some gang members wanted to rape her, but Sunset more or less killed them, but not before their leader stabbed her and nearly killed her. Again, if not for Sunset’s power, she would’ve died that night.

Cadence leaned against the desk and pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to process this information. She could tell that part of Cadence was wrestling with both wanting to chew out Sunset for taking Twilight to such a place, and another part was probably wanting to hug her for saving Twilight’s life again.

“I’ll need to have a little talk with Sunset about that, later though. Still, Twily, while I’m happy that you’ve gained some confidence, I’m afraid of where it’s stemming from. People often can get a false sense of invincibility, or even go full YOLO after going through what you’ve gone through. I just don’t want you making decisions that could get you hurt, especially when it comes to Principal Cinch. Yes, she’s on her heels after the attempted murder,” Cadence then spoke under her breath, “and the other stuff Shiny managed to dig up…”

Twilight’s brow raised, Cadence may’ve thought she said that too low for Twilight to hear, but Twilight had increased her hearing sensitivity, so she was able to hear that last bit.

“But Principal Cinch still has resources at her disposal in the meantime that can ruin you, we have to box her in so that she can’t make a move without it looking like retaliation against you,” Cadence explained. “I know it’s taken us a while, but trust me, we’ll take her down soon. And then you can be at ease for the remainder of your senior year. Along with a lot of the other students, I’m sure.”

Twilight stood up and hugged Cadence, the older woman hugged Twilight back. The teen genius always felt safe and comforted in Cadence’s arms, she might’ve been the first girl she crushed on back when she was a young girl but wasn’t aware of her orientation at the time. That was for the better, she liked thinking of Cadence in a familial sense rather than a romantic one. That feeling was reserved for Sunset alone.

“You know how analytical I am, if I find my actions are starting to harm me or those I love, I’ll seek help, I promise. Okay?” Twilight asked.

Cadence nuzzled the top of Twilight’s head and said, “That’s all I ask, Twily. I’m here for you, so are Shiny, your parents, and Sunset, of course.”

After their talk, Twilight headed out of Cadence’s office and walked down the hallway to her next class. As she did, Twilight noticed how some of the boys were eyeing her like a piece of meat, ironic as before they wouldn’t so much as glance her way. All she did was make some minor adjustments to her body, let down her hair, and suddenly she was the object of every boy’s wet dream. And if the looks were any indicator, some of the girls of the lesbian orientation were having their own private lewd thoughts about her as well.

Twilight thought it was pathetic. They were all pathetic, narcissistic, amoral, sociopaths.

Sorry to say this Cadence, but the other students had their chance to rebel against Cinch. As a collective, they could’ve stood up to her. No matter her influence and connections, if the entire student body rose against Cinch, there was little she could do. But that’s not what they did, they either stood by or joined in on my torment. Sure, I could let it go and move on, leaving this place in my proverbial review mirror, but what will happen to the next person who comes to CPA? What will they have to endure? If it’s a girl, will she be humiliated and raped? If it’s a boy, will he be beaten and hazed? Or will they suffer worse than me?

This current batch of Crystal Prep students are also a danger to society. They’ve learned nothing but how to hurt others for fun, cheat, steal, and influence their way to get what they want. This city, let alone the world, will not be a better place with them in it. They’re tainted thanks to Cinch, so I have to be the one to purge the world of their evil and the evil that is this school. Tabula Rasa.

It was Friday now, and Twilight and Sunset had decided to go out after school, a little impromptu date. Sunset had asked if they should go home and change out of their uniforms first, but Twilight said that going it their uniforms was fine. Adding that the schoolgirl look just made their date feel a little sexier. Sunset made no arguments there and went with it.

The two girls drove down to the Canterlot Mega Mall, which was had its own multiplex movie theater. Once there they milled around and window shopped, although Sunset said she could buy whatever Twilight wanted. Twilight smirked, perhaps she would take her girlfriend up on that offer. The two CPA students headed to “Tracey’s”, Twilight picked out several clothes that were of different sizes, some that were for her original measurements, and others that required a more…filled out figure.

Sunset didn’t understand at first, but she figured out really quick when Twilight revealed her first outfit. A black tube top that hugged her enlarged breasts, making her cleavage more profound. Her midriff was mostly exposed and going lower was a crimson miniskirt that rode up dangerously close to revealing her panties. Twilight had also swapped out her school uniform socks with black see-through socks that hugged her thighs. All while Twilight was giving her girlfriend and very seductive look.

“What do you think, Sunset? This doing it for you?” Twilight asked in a sultry tone.

Sunset audibly gulped and after a minute of filing this image away in her mind for use later, she finally spoke, “Wow…Sparky…just…Wow!”

Twilight giggled and then turned around to give Sunset a look at the back. “I hope it’s more than just ‘wow’.”

“It’s sexy as hell,” said Sunset.

“Thank you.”

Sunset looked at her girlfriend for a moment longer and asked, “Did you…alter your body again?”

Twilight smiled and nodded in affirmation. “I wanted to get some clothes that match my new sizes, now that I can change my body’s proportions as I see fit, I thought I should branch out and try on the clothes that I never thought I could fill out or look good in. And…” Twilight blushed. “Since I have someone that I can look good for, I wanted you to get your opinion.”

“Sparky, you know I think you’re cute in whatever you wear,” said Sunset honestly.

“I know, but I want to feel sexy for you. I want be…bolder!”

Sunset was starting to like how Twilight was branching out, perhaps her abilities weren’t such a bad thing, at the moment anyway. “Okay, try the next thing on then.”

Twilight smiled again and closed the door, after a minute she opened it again and revealed a long black dress that hugged her frame and accentuated her curves. When she turned around, Twilight revealed that it was backless, the bottom hanging dangerously close to revealing the crack of her cute rear. It went on like that for about ten minutes before they left with some bags filled with Twilight’s purchases.

Their next stop was to a “Alicia’s Secret”, a lingerie shop that boasted a wide selection of women’s under, most of which ranged from the safe to the provocative. Twilight normally would be too embarrassed about even thinking of stepping into a shop like this, a place like this was for girls with bombshell bodies and assets, not her thin body and modest bust size. However, now that she could change her sizes, her current underwear would chafe and dig into her skin. It was either buy new underwear or just go commando, a proposition that Twilight wasn’t completely excluding from her mind.

Of course, Twilight had Sunset come into the dressing room with her so that she could see what she was wearing. She also got to see how Twilight changed her bust, waist, and hip sizes at the drop of a hat. She tried everything from a C-cup to an H-cup, Twilight decided to stop there, she didn’t think she’d ever go higher than a D-cup out in public, the higher cup sizes were going to be exclusive to the bedroom. And as most things go, with Twilight trying on different sets of bras and panties, constantly showing off her naked body to Sunset, it got the fiery redhead all hot and bothered and devolved into the two of them having a heated make out session in the changing room, which then led to the two of them fingering each other to a finish.

Twilight’s heart raced, she had never done anything so risky like this, they could’ve been caught and thrown out, a clerk could’ve opened the door and saw them, or there could’ve been someone standing outside and listening in on them. That last one kind of turned Twilight on a little. Regardless, it was exhilarating.

After they cleaned up a little, the girls exited and bought the sets that Twilight had tried on. As they walked along, Twilight’s eyes shifted about, she could feel a presence, a hostile one. Unbeknownst to Sunset, Twilight had increased her spatial awareness, allowing her to feel changes in the air, or in this case, when there were three persons following behind them. Her sense of smell was also heightened, allowing her to smell the chemical changes of the persons behind them, which was how she knew they were hostile, and it seemed they were directed at Twilight.

“Let’s go see a movie!” Twilight suggested. “C’mon!”

The teen genius pulled her lover along by her arm, leading the two of them to the movie theater. After a short discussion, Twilight and Sunset decided on a horror movie, standard date night supernatural horror film. The movie was slated for two hours of runtime, which was perfect. After the previews were done and the movie got underway, Twilight made sure that the people she sensed following them were there as well. With her night vision, Twilight managed to casually spot her pursuers, and just as she had figured, it was a trio of boys. Her sense of smell told her as much, she was picking up strong scents of testosterone, and from the additional scents, some steroid use.

Twilight waited about an hour before getting up and excusing herself to use the restroom. As she walked up the aisle, Twilight stopped at the row where the three boys were sitting, she brushed the arm of the boy who was sitting on the edge and shot him a suggestive wink. As she walked out, Twilight noticed that they were following her. Perfect.

She continued walking until she exited the theater, she kept going until she entered the hallway that led to the restrooms. She walked past them and into the maze that was the mall’s internal structure, Twilight found one of the large storage rooms and walked right in, leaving the door open for her pursuers to enter. The inside was spacious, with four shelves in total lining the walls, each shelf was filled with various supplies, cleaners, paper towels, light bulbs, and other things that were needed to keep the mall in working order.

Twilight turned around and leaned against the shelf so that she could face the door, the moment she did that, her pursuers walked in. The first was dressed in a Crystal Prep boys’ uniform, he was wearing a letterman jacket with a patch that showed he was the captain of the football team. He was muscular, as per his profession, with gray skin, coal colored hair covering his eyes. His name was Score if she remembered correctly, and she always did.

The second was a head taller than Score, his complexion a dark brown, and his hair a sandy white. He too wore a letterman jacket, the patch on his jacket represented the weightlifting team of Crystal Prep, the boy went by the name of Dumbbell, aptly named as far as she was concerned. The third and last member of the trio was taller than both boys, his letterman jacket had a captain’s patch for the basketball team. His complexion was tanned, with brown hair that covered his eyes as well, the tall one was named Hoops.

All three were captains of their respective teams, all three were known for being the “Trouble Trio” of Crystal Prep. They weren’t above throwing their strength and status around, and despite their looks, probably the most dangerous of the three was Dumbbell, his clothes hid it well, but as part of the weightlifting team, he was very muscular, and stronger than even the tallest one. Twilight estimated that a punch from him would likely be equal to that of getting a concussion in a head on car collision. It was clear that he also controlled the other two, even though all three were captains of their respective teams, Hoops and Score were followers.

“Hello, boys, may I ask why you’ve been following me and my girlfriend since we came here?” Twilight asked politely.

“Bell, how did she know we were following them?!” Score asked.

Dumbbell rolled his eyes and growled, “Well now she knows for sure, we could’ve denied it!”

“That wouldn’t be possible, I saw you in the theater. So, again, why are you following us?”

“You’ve been a little uppity, you and your dyke girlfriend,” said Dumbbell.

Twilight gasped in mock surprise. “We have?!”

“Yeah, you two have messed up the school, things haven’t been right since Sunset Shimmer came,” said Hoops.

“Your ‘girlfriend’ needs to be taught a lesson, and I think you will be a good example of what happens when you rock the boat,” Dumbbell threatened as he cracked his knuckles.

Twilight tapped her chin and pretended to think for a moment before she said, “You know that that didn’t turn out so well for Indigo and her friends, right? Sunset beat them pretty good.”

Score laughed at that. “Hahaha! Please, Indigo was a tough butch bitch, but we ain’t some pack of little girls!”

“Heh, yeah, people know not to mess with us,” Hoops added.

Twilight smiled and undid her uniform buttons, showing off her cleavage to the three boys, she opened her legs a little, making their eyes wander to the gap between her thighs. “Oh my, what are you three going to do to me? Here, in this storage room, away from anyone who could help me!”

“I haven’t gotten to bang a nerd girl in a long time, and you look cuter than most of them,” said Dumbbell. “So, let’s start with gettin’ those clothes off and seeing what we’re workin’ with!”

Dumbbell marched forward; right hand stretched out as he prepared to rip Twilight’s uniform off. However, before the muscular boy could even lay a hand on her, Twilight shot out with her left hand and caught him by the wrist. Dumbbell scoffed, a little impressed by her speed, but it was a futile effort all the same. However, when Dumbbell tried to reach forward again, he couldn’t budge. He tried again and again, but somehow; he wasn’t able to move an inch. Twilight’s hand was like a vice, holding him in place.

“What the fuck?!” Dumbbell exclaimed as he tried to get loose.

“Well, this is embarrassing, the captain of the weightlifting team is being overpowered by a little nerd girl,” Twilight mocked.

“You fucking bitch!” Dumbbell raised his left hand and went to slap her across the face, but Twilight’s enhanced reflexes allowed her to watch everything in slow motion and let her catch his left hand by the wrist as well. The weightlifting captain’s eyes widened with shock, there was no possible way she should have been able to catch that. “W-What the hell?!

“You really shouldn’t underestimate people, especially with all the strange things that have happened in the city,” Twilight stated.

The teen genius pulled back and then pushed forward, throwing Dumbbell forward until he rolled on the floor and slammed against the door, making both of his subordinates back away. Dumbbell got up, rubbing his wrists which were pulsing with pain. He looked to his two subordinates and released a angery growl.

“Don’t just stand there! Go and get that bitch already!”

Hoops and Score nodded and began advancing on Twilight. The teen genius sighed, she closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, the other two captains froze in place. The whites of her eyes glowed a pale blue, and her pupils and irises became one bright neon magenta color. Suddenly, Hoops and Score found themselves frozen in place, a thin aura of magenta was layered over them, they struggled as hard as they could, but no matter what they could not move an inch. Dumbbell rose back up and readied to attack, but that same aura layered over him, freezing Dumbbell in place.

“W-What the hell…is going on…?!” Dumbbell demanded.

Twilight chuckled, she then waved her hand, and all three boys went down on their knees before her. “This would be telekinesis. My abilities have allowed my brain to undergo a change as well, I’ve gained access to the greater faculties of my mind and as a result have been able to step into a whole new world of power.” Twilight took out her cellphone and switched it to selfie mode to see her face. “Hmm, guess using kinetic abilities has a side effect of making my eyes change color and glow. Oh well, it’s minor.” Twilight put the phone away and returned her attention to her would be attackers. “Okay, I don’t have a lot of time, so let’s get this over with quickly, shall we?”

Twilight walked until she was standing in front of Hoops. The tall boy shook in fear as he stared into Twilight’s glowing eyes. “W-What are you g-going to do to m-m-me?!”

“I’m going to read your mind, Score’s numerous concussions from playing football might make the information choppy. Dumbbell is strong and very resistant, so it might be tricky to pull the information I want out of him. You on the other hand are a bit simpler,” Twilight took a step back as her eyes glowed brighter.

“W-WAIT?!!”

Twilight felt her own mental energy pierce into Hoop’s mind like a spear, it probed deep into his memories until she was able to see why the three captains wanted to assault her.

~*~*~*~

Hoops, Score, and Dumbbell were sitting in Principal Cinch’s office. The older woman was sitting behind her desk, eyeing each of the three boys with great scrutiny. Hoops was nervous, glancing to his right, he could tell his friends were the same. There wasn’t much they feared, but when it came to Principal Cinch, that was a whole different story.

“I suppose you three are wondering why I’ve called you here?” Principal Cinch asked.

“I swear, that girl is lying! I never touched her!” Dumbbell exclaimed.

“That cop had it out for me, those drugs were planted!” Score stated.

“He fell and broke his leg; shit happens on the b-ball court!” Hoops defended.

Cinch blinked and then sighed heavily. “You three aren’t in here because of something you’ve done, it’s because there’s something I want you to do.” All three boys looked at each other nervously, especially after just spouting what they just did. “Forget all of that, I honestly could care less about whatever it is you you’ve done!”

“O-Okay, Principal Cinch, what did you want us to do?” Dumbbell asked.

“I want you two to teach Sunset Shimmer a lesson, by doing whatever you see fit to Twilight Sparkle. I only have these rules: you can’t break any of her bones, you cannot harm her head, and if you feel the need to…avail yourselves of her more intimate parts, I ask that you not be too rough with her.”

Hoops, Score, and Dumbbell stared at Cinch in confusion.

“Did…Did you just give us…permission to rape a girl?” Hoops asked.

“My, and here I thought you were the slow one.” Cinch stood up and slammed her hands on the desk. “That’s EXACTLY what I want you to do!”

Score put up his hands in a stopping motion. “Hold up, hold up! You seriously want us to get that Sparkle nerd and gangbang her?! I mean…she’s gotten a little hotter, but…”

“Oh, please, don’t tell me you’ve suddenly got standards?” Cinch scoffed. “She has a vagina and breasts, that should be more than enough to satisfy yourself!”

“Okay, why?” Dumbbell asked. “You’re askin’ us to go and do what we want with a girl, all to teach Sunset Shimmer a lesson? Why?”

“Ever since Sunset Shimmer arrived at our school, she has thrown it into chaos. The entire social hierarchy has been completely disrupted; you cannot tell me that things have been the same since she has been here?”

Hoops thought about it for a moment, and Cinch was right. The school hadn’t been the same since Sunset Shimmer arrived, she was sticking by Twilight Sparkle a lot, practically acting like her bodyguard. Then there was that declaration that she and Sparkle were an official couple and that anyone who tried to mess with her would be taught a lesson. The top clique in the school was beaten up because they tried to mess with Twilight, and ever since then, things have been turned upside down.

“But didn’t she mess up Sunny Flare and her group because they tried something with Sparkle?” Hoops asked.

Cinch nodded vaguely. “Yes, she did, she broke Indigo’s arm for it. But you aren’t about to tell me that three strong young men like yourselves are afraid of one girl half your size, are you?”

Dumbbell stood up and growled, “Hell no!”

“Good, because you’re going to do it. Not because I’m asking you, but because I’ve had to clean up your messes for a long time, and right now, I’m thinking of throwing the police some red meat to throw them off the trail of everything else that’s gone on here!” Cinch threatened.

The three captains gulped, all of them recalling their individual transgressions and the ones they have done together. All three of them knew that the things that Principal Cinch had covered up for them would put them all away for a good while, and all of them were up for scholarships to universities for their respective athletic professions.

“What if Sunset doesn’t take the hint?” Hoops asked.

Cinch smiled. “Then you have my permission to not hold back in giving her the message, directly.”

~*~*~*~

Twilight retreated into her mind, her fists shaking angrily from what she just saw. Principal Cinch was trying to hurt Sunset through her and using a method that she’d been suffering for almost four years under, it only reaffirmed her decision about what to do with Crystal Prep and the students within it. Reasonable people would have reported Principal Cinch, but her probe into Hoop’s mind allowed her to see some of the things he did himself, along with some of things he and his friends were involved in.

“Okay boys…” The corners of Twilight’s eyes flickered with small embers of green energy before she narrowed her gaze at the boys. “I should kill you here.” All three captains had looks of fear in their eyes. “But you’re more valuable to me alive right now. So, that being said, there’s another aspect of my mental abilities I want to try. This will be the first time I’m trying this, so you might sustain brain damage. Let’s be honest, though, you three dying won’t be a big loss to the world.”

From behind the doors came flashes of neon blue light, along with screams of pain. Then after a couple more minutes, Twilight emerged from the doors, she checked her cellphone and gasped. “Oh my, that took a little longer than hoped it would! Gotta hurry back!”

Evolution Stage 5

View Online

Tempest Shadow sat in her living room, dressed in nothing than some boy shorts and a muscle shirt as she went over a report that was filed by the police. Thanks to Shining Armor, he was able to make sure she was informed about the incident at Crystal Prep. Tempest was thankful that Twilight was able to make it through that horrible situation, as well as her assailant getting they deserved. Tempest finished getting together all the information about the incidents at Crystal Prep that date back during the entirety of Abacus Cinch’s tenure at the school. Once she forwarded him the information, she wished him good luck in taking down the bitch and asked to let her know when they were going to arrest her, she wanted to see her face when she was put in the back of their car.

The OSOD agent took a swig of the beer bottle she had on the table in front of her, kicking back and relaxing. She had submitted her report about the incident at Equestria Land, she omitted the part about Sunset taking the Sirens back to their home world, and covered it up by saying that Sunset, as Witchblade, destroyed all three of them during the battle. Tempest had to admit, after what Sunset told her about what happened back in her home world, she was glad she made the call to let her handle it, even she felt bad for those sisters.

The way things were going, Tempest figured that the brass was going to assign her permanently to Canterlot City, if for nothing else than to monitor Sunset and her friends. Which, admittedly, she didn’t mind. She had been wanting to take a vacation and watching over that kid and her friends was as close to one as she was going to get. So, Tempest decided to make the best of it.

Just then, she got a call on her cellphone, her work cellphone. Tempest swiped the “answer” button and said, “This is Agent Shadow, what’s up?”

{Agent Tempest, we’ve reviewed your report on the Equestria Land Incident, and I must say, the brass is impressed by your work with handling that situation.}

“Tch, not like I did much, Witchblade and her crew did all the work. I just wish I was there sooner…anyway, please tell me the Manehattan guys are getting their asses chewed out for this. I mean, how the hell do you miss something like Pandora’s – fucking – Box just lying around in some damn pawn shop?!” Tempest asked.

{Believe me, Agent Tempest, we’re definitely going to be having a word with the branch commander in Manehattan. But now command has another mission for you.}

Tempest sighed dejectedly. “Fine, what godforsaken jungle, desert, tundra, or warzone are you going to send me to this time?”

{Actually, Agent, your mission will take place where you are.}

“Oh, that’s convenient, what is it?” Tempest asked as she took a swig of her beer.

{Your mission directive is as follows: Agent Tempest Shadow is hereby tasked with the elimination of Witchblade, aka Sunset Shimmer.}

Tempest’s eyes flew wide open as she spat out the beer she had in her mouth, she looked at the bottle and then put back on the table. “Okay, either I’m drunker than I thought, or I just heard you say some crazy shit.”

{You did not, Agent Tempest. Your mission is to eliminate Sunset Shimmer and retrieve her Artifact, the Witchblade.}

Tempest shot to her feat as a scowl formed on her face. “Uh, did command completely ignore the part of my reports that said that Sunset Shimmer, as Witchblade, has saved this city – the WORLD in fact – twice?! In fact, I remember concluding my report as saying, ‘After extensive research and monitoring of the subject, I have determined Sunset Shimmer to not be a threat to human life and has expressed a direct desire to protect human life, and I recommend a future admission of Sunset Shimmer to the OSOD’!”

{Yes, they have read that as have I. But command believes that she’s too dangerous. They’ve noticed, as I’m sure you have, that she has gotten increasingly more powerful. Not only that, she is from parallel world, her allegiance to us might be her current mindset, but there is the possibility that her homeland might call on her to forgo her oath of protection and begin conquering Earth. With the power of the Witchblade she has no one that is her equal, to that end, command would like you to take care of Sunset Shimmer before her threat level escalates higher than it already is.}

“So that’s it?! Just like that?! You want me to go and kill Sunset and take the Witchblade from her! Just because you guys are afraid that she’ll turn on all of us?! That’s bullshit, I’ve talked to the kid, I’ve looked into her eyes! You didn’t see how devastated she was after losing her friend! That’s not the kind of thing you can fake!”

{Are you refusing to take on this mission, Agent Tempest?}

Tempest rolled her eyes at the question, “Gee, what do you think?!”

{Agent Tempest, you have an alternative. If she is willing to give up the Witchblade then command is willing to rescind the kill order.}

The mohawked woman chuckled dryly at the ultimatum. “So that’s what this is all about, you want the Witchblade?”

{Command believes it can be an asset in our mission to keep the supernatural world under control. A weapon that can not only harm humans, but mystical creatures, angels, demons, and spirits, that’s practically what we deal with every day. If we had a weapon that could effectively eliminate or subdue the more dangerous threats of those categories, then it would secure the safety of many innocent civilians.}

“Then why not just let her join the OSOD?! I can personally supervise her!”

{She is too much of a wildcard, an unknown. Plus, as I have stated, who knows if her loyalties truly lie with us, or with her immortal rulers of this magical world she’s from. Sure, she could fight for us now, but what would happen if that other world decided to invade us and sought Sunset Shimmer as their vanguard? We don’t have anything that can stop her.}

Tempest growled as she punched the wall of her apartment. “This is such bullshit!”

{There is another part to that directive. OSOD brass is willing to give an ultimatum, if Sunset Shimmer wants to side with us, we will need her to disclose the location or locations of the other Artifacts, as well as the containment vessels for the Angelus and the Darkness. If we at least have those, we’ll have weapons that can counter Witchblade and help us in defending humanity. This not negotiable, Agent Tempest.}

Tempest wanted to tell her off, but if she could convince Sunset to give up the other Artifacts, then maybe she could avoid a battle she really didn’t want to get into. “How long do I have?”

{Your timeframe is one month, after that, the OSOD brass will initiate a search and seizure protocol. We won’t be asking then, we’ll be demanding.}

Tempest scoffed. “One month? Sounds generous.”

{They believe that you’ve developed a rapport with Sunset Shimmer, so she may trust you. Plus, it’ll give us time to develop effective countermeasures against her should she refuse.}

“Lovely, Tempest out!” Tempest hung up the phone. She plopped down back onto the couch and took a swig of her beer. “Goddammit, that just killed my buzz…”

Twilight laid awake in Sunset’s bed, it was Sunday night, and the two girls had returned home after date they had a few hours ago. Twilight treated Sunset to a little strip show before taking her lover roughly again, much to the redhead’s delight. She didn’t think it would be this addicting, taking Sunset in such a way, feeling dominant over her, making Sunset squeal and scream like a bitch in heat. It was extremely intoxicating. However, Twilight never let her main goal out of her sight. After leaving Sunset a bloated mess, Twilight exited the room, but not after giving her lover a kiss on the forehead.

Once she left, Twilight headed back to her room and sat on the edge of her bed. Her eyes shifted once again as Twilight tapped into her newly obtained psionic abilities. Streams of light became visible to her, but these weren’t any mere light streams, these were the unseen streams of digital data that freely flowed through the open air. Data was essentially electrons and protons, and thanks to the wonders of Wi-Fi and mobile networks, that data was floating everywhere, moving between places.

Twilight reached out and tapped the streams of light, pulling at them, manipulating them. She started to form an image in her mind, that of a display monitor and a keyboard. The streams of light began to coalesce and formed a twenty-three-inch rectangle, another formed below it and became a hard-light keyboard. Twilight began typing on the keyboard, infiltrating a particular computer far away with ease, and the best part of this was, she wasn’t using an actual computer, no IP address meant no tracing, this was all generated through her electrokinetic abilities.

The computer she was hacking was that of her big brother, Shining Armor. Cadence told her that she and Shining Armor were going to handle Principal Cinch, but Twilight wanted to know exactly what they had in mind. On the hard-light screen was an exact recreation of her brother’s laptop wallpaper, complete with the scattered shortcuts.

Ugh, Shiny, you really need to organize your desktop better, thought Twilight.

After sifting through his files, Twilight was able to find a file labeled “CPA”, hidden away in multiple dummy file folders that would lead to more empty folders. If nothing else, Twilight was proud of her big brother taking her advice to heart about creating a maze of folders to keep anyone who hacked or got into his computer from finding his more important files. Unfortunately, with her abilities, Twilight was able to see the maze, each pathway branched out, some leading to dead ends and others branched off into others leading to more dead ends. However, there was only one path that had something at the very end, and Twilight followed that path. Folder after folder opened at the speed of thought, and then she came to the file she was looking for, but it seemed her big brother did some more security work on his computer, he added a password protection program to allow access to it.

“Shiny, I really am impressed, you’ve been taking my advice to heart and more. Sorry, though, but I need to see what you have.”

Twilight’s eyes shined a little brighter as she worked the electrons like tentacles, like an octopus trying to figure out its way out of a confined space. In less than a nanosecond, Twilight managed to work her way around the security and entered the file. There she saw what exactly Shining Armor had on Principal Cinch, and…it was a lot, a whole lot. Her eyes widened at that vast amount of information that Shining Armor managed to gather on Principal Cinch and her dealings at Crystal Prep.

“My god…Shining…wait, this…he didn’t get all of this.” Twilight didn’t doubt her brother’s detective skills, he was a very good police detective, but the amount of detail that was in these files was far beyond what a normal police agency’s resources would be able to gather or even be allowed to gather. Twilight scanned the information and found that the files originated from another source, something that was heavily encrypted and trying to hide its true origin. “Strange…Shiny, where – or should I say who – did you get these files from?”

It was a thought for another day, her main objective was taking down Crystal Prep by the end of the week, and she was not going to be deterred. Twilight opened one of the files and read it over, it was about a past student named “Rose Light”, she was hazed terribly by the girls of CPA about ten years ago. According to the file, Principal Cinch managed to sweep it all under the rug through some help from the “Ark” family, a family who still has a lot of influence in the criminal justice legislature of the city.

Another incident was that of a football quarterback named “Thunder Struck”, he was an all-star and looking to be scouted by a lot of universities that were known for producing strong and promising athletes that went on to become national players. Thunder apparently, through his own actions, brought about the death of one of his teammates. Thunder was never prosecuted as it seems that evidence was planted to show that Thunder’s teammate died of an overdose by his own hand instead of Thunder forcing it down his throat.

One after the other, one vile thing after the other was hidden or disappeared. With each reading Twilight’s ire was raised more and more, but it peaked when she saw the name of a girl that appeared to have gone through the exact same thing she did. This girl’s name was “Aurora Night”, she was apparently a brilliant girl, a close equal to Twilight at the time. She was touted as Crystal Prep’s golden girl, the resident genius.

She was Crystal Prep’s whipping girl, but she had more of a spine than Twilight did, as far as she was concerned. Aurora constantly reported the abuse she was suffering at Crystal Prep. At first it was to the faculty at Crystal Prep, even bringing it up to Principal Cinch herself. But then that’s when she took her complaints to the police department. However, that went nowhere.

Follow up reports showed that Aurora went on to university, far, far away from Canterlot City. Twilight was in a bit of a paradox moment, she couldn’t believe it, and at the same time, she did believe it. Cinch was repeating her tactics because she saw that they worked, during the time Aurora was at Crystal Prep, the school became even more renowned in the city as Twilight crosschecked this with news articles along with an influx of donations and applications to the school. As a matter of fact, a good majority of the incidents coincided with a boom in Crystal Prep’s popularity.

“I see, Abacus Cinch, it worked a while back. So, you thought you could do it again when you saw someone who was better and smarter than the last person you put through hell. And even if I leave the school, you’ll just start this again when you see another promising student who can bolster the school’s reputation.”

Without her knowing, Twilight’s purple skin became a darker shade in response to her anger, becoming violet. “I won’t allow you to continue this cycle, nor will I allow any these ‘students’ to go out and cause more pain and suffering to others and think they can get away with it.”

Twilight shifted her gaze towards her bag, a violet aura shined from inside it and out floated a USB drive. She opened her hand and took a hold of it, with her opposite hand, Twilight managed to use her electrokinetic powers to pull out the files and condense them into a small ball of materialized digital energy. Twilight pressed the drive against the ball in her hand, and in no time the data was absorbed into the USB drive, safely stored away. With a wave of her hand, Twilight logged out of her big brother’s computer and began her next hack. Everything would come together when the week ended.

Twilight woke up early, well, she was up before anyone, sleep was optional at this point, her body was constantly regenerating itself, keeping things like fatigue and tiredness from ever touching her. The effects of sleep deprivation were nothing to worry about, since her powers kept the chemicals that were normally associated with the degeneration of mental capacity nonexistent.

Twilight made her way downstairs and entered the living room, but when she did, she noticed that Sunset, the pony one, was sitting on the couch staring at her cellphone with a melancholy look on her face. Feeling concerned, Twilight walked over to her and asked, “Sunset, are you okay?”

Sunset was snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at Twilight. “Oh…morning Twilight, you’re up early.”

“I had a really good night’s sleep,” said Twilight with a bright smile.

Sunset smirked, noting the familiar glow about her. “I’ll bet. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you and Sun getting it on a bit more lately.”

Twilight blushed as she rubbed the back of her head. “Uh…well…I guess I’ve just decided to be more open to my sexual urges…I’ve devoted most of my time to studying and science so things like…tending to my needs were put to the wayside.” Twilight’s smiled dipped a little. “Although…that might have something to do with Indigo’s constant molestation of me, my needs – although the contact was unwanted – were being fulfilled in a roundabout way.”

Sunset winced. “Sorry, didn’t mean to bring that up.”

“It’s fine,” Twilight waved of the concern. “But, enough about me, you looked sad a moment ago. What’s wrong?”

Sunset sighed as she turned the phone around. “Big Mac, AJ’s brother, texted all of us the date for Applejack’s funeral. He asked me if I wanted to be a pallbearer, along with Dash and the rest of the girls…”

“Oh…” Twilight took a seat next to Sunset as she patted her shoulder. “Are you going to accept?”

“I’m…I don’t know. It just makes it more real, y’know. Feeling the weight of my friend as I carry her to her final resting place…” Tears began to well up in Sunset’s eyes. “I’m just not sure I can watch them put her in the ground like that…”

Twilight hesitated a little, she wore the same face as her lover, had the same voice and mannerisms, but what they’ve both experienced in life was far different from each other that it made them different people, and yet the same. It hurt Twilight to see even her lover’s double be in this much pain. Throwing caution to the wind, Twilight wrapped her arms around Sunset, bringing her into a hug. There was a brief hitch in Sunset’s voice, but then she began to cry into Twilight’s shoulder. This was yet another thing that Twilight attributed to her weakness, had she been stronger, perhaps she could’ve aided in saving Applejack’s life.

A minute passed before Sunset gently broke the hug and wiped her eyes. “Thank you, Twi, I needed that.”

“It’s no problem, I know this is a sad time for you…” Twilight hung her head in shame. “I just wish I felt as sad as you and the others, I want to feel that way, and I do miss Applejack. I get sad just think about her not being here anymore, but…I know it’s not the same intensity as you and the rest of the girls.”

“Twi, you don’t have to be sorry. You’ve only just met them, but they do leave a lasting impression. The fact that you feel sad about her passing is enough. You don’t have to come to the funeral if you don’t want to, no one’s pushing you to come after what you’ve been through,” Sunset assured.

“No, I want to. I want to pay my respects to Applejack. I may not have known her as a long as you and the others, but I want to show how much I appreciate what she made me feel.” Twilight smiled. “I felt safe, just like I feel with you and Sun.”

“Okay, just run it by your folks first.” Sunset got up and stretched a bit. “I think I’ll accept Big Mac’s offer, it’s the least I can do for Applejack. Thanks for talking with me, Twi. I’ll head out now, later.”

“Later,” Twilight replied.

The teen genius watched as her lover’s big sister exited through the door to the garage. A few seconds later, she heard the garage door open and the sound of a motorcycle revving up and taking off.

Twilight took out her cellphone and smiled when she noticed the time. “Guess it’s time to get started.”

Sunset and Twilight arrived at Crystal Prep and were shocked at what they saw, well, at least Sunset was anyway. On the school grounds were spray painted words as “Cinch is a Cunt!” and “Cinch the Bitch!” and “Crystal Prep Hell!”, and a slew of other things that weren’t exactly PG rated. The two teens exited the car, Sunset still staring with mouth agape at the graffiti that had been plastered on the pristine structure that was Crystal Prep Academy, and she laughed.

“Oh, holy shit! I can’t believe it! Someone – hahahahhaha – they – haha – oh my god my sides!” Sunset laughed.

“It would seem that someone else feels a certain way about Principal Cinch,” said Twilight with a knowing smile.

The janitors and grounds keepers were busy trying to get rid of the graffiti, but it seemed that it wasn’t coming off as easily as they were hoping. Twilight did feel bad for them, but they wouldn’t have to put up with this for much longer. As they walked, Twilight could tell that the rest of the students were just as shocked at what they saw, but if she was right, there was more to be shocked about inside.

Once they entered through the doors, Twilight saw that the trophy case was smashed, along with all the trophies and awards that Crystal Prep had won, at least the ones that were won during Principal Cinch’s time in office. There was additional graffiti written inside the halls as well, but these were less aimed at Principal Cinch and more at the student body and school. Such things as “Trash Students = Trash People!”, “You Make the World Worse!”, “Money and Influence Downfall!”

Twilight was pleased to see that it had worked. During that day when Cinch had sent Hoops, Score, and Dumbbell to harm her, Twilight used her power to do a little “reprogramming” of their minds. They were essentially slaves to her, wither they knew it or not, and they didn’t. She erased their encounter and fed a false memory into their minds of them completing their task so that Principal Cinch would think she was successful, but then that Sunday she used her electrokinetic powers to manipulate the school’s security systems, she had “hacked” the three captains’ minds and to do all the graffiti on and inside the school. Once they were done, she edited the footage to show a gap, one minute there was nothing, and then the next there was a bunch of graffiti.

“Oh god, Cinch must be having an aneurysm right about now,” Sunset commented.

“I guess we’re not the only ones who are tired of Principal Cinch’s scheming,” said Twilight.

“It had to happen sometime, better late than never.” Sunset and Twilight turned around and saw Sugarcoat walking up towards them. “I’m only disappointed that I didn’t do it. I have my own choice words to spray paint as well.”

The rest of the school day was spent with people whispering about who could’ve done the graffiti, that was the only real question, no one bothered to ask the why. Twilight had no doubts that there were others in this school who were subjected to the cruelties of Crystal Prep, but all of Crystal Prep Academy was guilty. Those who suffered also made her suffer because they could, because it made their suffering less painful if they could make someone hurt more than them.

Around early afternoon, Twilight decided to pay Principal Cinch another visit. She strode to the door without waiting for the secretary to announce her, and the moment she entered the doorway, Principal Cinch eyes widened with shock.

“M-Ms. Sparkle?!”

“Surprised to see me, Principal Cinch?” Twilight asked in a playful tone.

“I…I…” Cinch stammered.

Twilight closed the door when she got inside and smiled superiorly at the older woman. “You what, thought that I would’ve been too injured to attend school? Too traumatized? Or maybe you were counting on Sunset finding the ones responsible and killing them? Believe me, I saved them a gruesome end, but it would’ve been no less than they deserved.”

The teen genius sat in the chair in front of Principal Cinch’s desk, crossing her legs as she rested her chin atop her right knuckles, smiling the whole time.

“You tried to have the captains of three different sports teams assault me, in a desperate attempt at what…? Having Sunset get them back? I have to say, Abacus Cinch, that was – how does the saying go? Oh yes, weak sauce. I mean, seriously, you’re already under investigation, the last thing you need is another one,” said Twilight.

“Young lady, I will not–!”

“No, you will be silent!” Twilight interrupted in a curt tone, causing Principal Cinch to flinch. “For years you’ve gotten your way, you’ve built up this school on the sweat, blood, pain, and suffering of others. But eventually, all things come to an end. Call it karma, balancing the cosmic scales, divine retribution, in the end, Principal Cinch, you reap what you sow, and no one will weep for you.” Twilight got up from the chair and added, “That’s all I came to tell you. Well, that, and don’t ever try that again.”

Twilight left the office, with Principal Cinch still stunned and flabbergasted at what Twilight said.

Twilight had Crystal Prep in the palm of her hands for the last four days. Her powers of were getting stronger the more she used her mental abilities, she was able to control Hoops, Score, and Dumbbell remotely, all she had to do was think about them and they came under her control like drones. With them, she was able to continue the graffitiing of Crystal Prep, while also erasing any trace that it was them, she didn’t want anyone to know it was them, not yet at least.

But that wasn’t the only thing she had done; Twilight was also fiddling around with their computer systems. Changing grades, revoking college applications, funding, and even presentations. For a kick, she flooded the school computers with an insane amount of pornographic material. The boys seemed to get a kick out of it, but overall, it wasn’t well liked. Twilight did feel bad about making Cadence’s job harder, she tried to avoid causing trouble where it would affect her directly and indirectly, but unfortunately most of her “attacks” crossed over and impacted her work. She made sure to clear it up for her as quickly as she could.

At the same time, she had been leaking the information from the file she took from Shining Armor’s computer. Twilight made sure to keep Cinch’s name hidden, at least for the time being, both to use a major reveal later, and to see if the news reporters could figure it out. The whole time Twilight was enjoying watching this from the sidelines, what made this better was that Cinch probably had an idea that it was Twilight’s doing, but had no justifiable way, or any other way, to prove that it was, or frame it like it was her doing. Cinch was completely at her mercy.

Now it was time for the finale, and Twilight needed to make sure everything was setup. Forutnately, Principal Cinch decided to provide that setup for her. On Thursday, Principal Cinch had declared that there would be an assembly in the auditorium on Friday addressing all the mishaps that were happening at Crystal Prep. Twilight was intrigued at what kind of story Cinch was going to spin, but thankfully, everything was ready. She just needed to make sure three people weren’t going to be there when it happened.

That morning Twilight used her electrokinetic power to setup a few text messages to be sent. The first set was sent at around ten in the morning, Twilight sent a text to Shining Armor under the guise of Cadence that requested that they meet ASAP at a private location and that Cadence had got her hands on some information that was guaranteed to bury Cinch, but they had to meet now as they might be able to do something immediately if they could confirm it. Oppositely, Twilight sent Cadence the same message but with slightly different wording. A quick hack of security cameras and traffic cameras allowed Twilight to see both her big brother and future sister-in-law on their way to the meeting place.

The next text was to Sugarcoat, requesting that her friend headed over to her parents’ place of work as there was something they needed to discuss. Twilight tracked the GPS of Sugarcoat’s car and verified that it was there, and after Twilight got through with some of the traffic lights, Sugarcoat would be stuck in traffic for a good while. Last was Sunset, she knew that Sunset, despite the multiple offers to burn down the school, wasn’t going to burn it down with everyone inside. So, she needed her lover to go. Twilight had sent a message pretending to be the pony Sunset, telling her that there was a possible Artifact user spotted on the other side of town, and that she was there and needed her help.

“Babe, I gotta go, Sis will need my help,” said Sunset as she and Twilight stood behind the bleachers of the football field.

“I know, don’t worry, I’ll be okay. You just go and help your sister, and you don’t have to hurry back, I’m sure it’s going to be a lackluster assembly anyway,” said Twilight.

“Heh, well do.” Sunset transformed into her flame armor and saluted to Twilight. “See ya in a minute, babe!”

Twilight watched as Sunset took off into the air, it was ten-fifty-five. The assembly was in five minutes, hopefully she could make this quick, but not too quick. She wanted to enjoy this at least a little bit. Twilight headed back inside and watched as the students moved en masse towards the auditorium, Principal Cinch had made this mandatory for faculty and students alike, no one was exempt. You’re making this far easier than you realize, Abacus Cinch.

The teen genius made sure she was the last to enter, the whole room was filled to the brim with students and faculty members, aside from the janitors that is. Once inside, Twilight went to work with her last preparations. You see, another power she unlocked with her mental abilities was the ability to manipulate matter on a subatomic level. The more she used her powers the stronger they got, and she had been using them a lot recently, it was as if they were evolving, or furthering her evolution. Either way, it only helped. Twilight mentally scanned the entire Crystal Prep campus, searching for any signs of life that were not at the assembly, and as she expected, there were a couple of students not in attendance. One pair of students who were making out in an empty classroom, and another small group of four that was hanging out in the library.

Typical, Twilight thought.

Twilight’s hands glowed as she made a few gestures, sending a discrete wave of magenta light over the building. She watched as all the exits to the outside were removed, creating a solid wall as if someone had forgotten to build a door. The windows, along with the skylights, were erased and replaced with a normal ceiling. She locked the doors to the library and the classroom where she noted the couple and group from earlier. Twilight noticed that Principal Cinch was coming on stage and waited until everyone’s attention was on her before she took care of the other part.

The older woman walked across the stage and stood center stage, she adjusted the microphone and looked out into the sea of teens and faculty. “Good morning, everyone. I have called this assembly to address that goings on here at the school. The graffiti, the cyber hacks, and the assassination attempts on my character and the school’s, it’s all part of a scheme, and I have uncovered the culprits behind them all.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, knowing full well Abacus Cinch did not know who was responsible, but it did manage to get the entire room murmuring and whispering.

“The culprit is none other than Canterlot High School!” Principal Cinch announced.

As expected, the entire student body gasped, while Twilight just sighed in annoyance.

“Some of you may be asking why they would resort to such tactics? Well, beyond the obvious, I am aware of the ‘tradition’ that some of you and past classes have taken up of defacing their Wondercolt statue, and of course turnabout is fair play.” It was here that Principal Cinch’s face contorted into anger. “But this has gone too far! They can’t win against us, so they’re resorting to lowbrow methods to win the upcoming Friendship Games by assaulting us on a psychological level. Well, I will not stand for it! Rest assured, I will be speaking to the Principals of CHS, but I will not cancel the Games. Doing so will only show that they’ve won, well, I say we defeat them in the Games and prove to them that no matter what they do, Crystal Prep is – and always will be – their betters.”

Twilight watched as the room erupted into cheers, it was irritating, they swallowed Principal Cinch’s lie so easily that Twilight wasn’t sure if they genuinely believed it or were just placating her absurd explanation. It was time to put an end to this farce. Twilight got up and clapped as she walked down the aisle and towards the stage. Principal Cinch waved at the students to request that they quiet down, however, all but one student did as requested. The teen genius continued her walk, still clapping, at this point mockingly so, drawing all eyes onto her. Once she reached the foot of the stage, Twilight stopped and looked up at Principal Cinch.

“Wow, I have to hand it to you, this was kind of brilliant. Using all the incidents to galvanize the school against Canterlot High School, that is good. However, I feel that I must correct you, Principal Cinch, because we both know who the real culprit is,” said Twilight in a calm tone.

“Miss Sparkle, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I will ask you to return to your seat,” Principal Cinch instructed.

Twilight chuckled a little, and in a mocking tone. Suddenly, Twilight jumped straight up and landed on the stage flawlessly, making everyone gasp. It was well known that Twilight was not an athletic person by any means, and the stage itself was at least a good seven feet off the ground, and Twilight just did a standing jump and that only the more athletic students would be able to do.

“No, Abacus, I will not. In fact,” Twilight took the microphone off the stand and spoke into it so that everyone could hear her, “I am the one responsible for everything that’s been happening at CPA over the past week. The graffiti was done courtesy of Hoops, Score, and Dumbbell, you know, the three boys you had ordered to physically assault me last week.”

On cue, the three boys in question rose from their seats and shouted.

“THAT BITCH IS LYING!” Dumbbell shouted.

“WE NEVER TOUCHED HER!” Score yelled.

“YEAH, WE NEVER DID NOTHIN’ TO HER!” Hoops added.

“QUIET!” Cinch admonished the three boys, and then turned to Twilight. “Miss Sparkle, I understand that you’ve been through a lot, but you cannot go accusing your classmates of assault, especially those who have passed away.”

“Oh, you do NOT get to deny my pain!” Twilight stated as she stomped her foot on the stage. “For the last four years, I’ve been hazed, teased, pranked, everything! By almost every single student in this school! I learned that I wasn’t the only one you’ve blackmailed or put into this same position!” Twilight glared at the assembled faculty now. “And none of you are innocent either, I’m sure you’ve heard of what’s happened to me, either in passing or otherwise, and yet not one of you tried to reach out to me! Perhaps if I felt that there was someone willing to help me, to listen to me, things would’ve been different! But we have long since passed the point of no return!”

Principal Cinch looked nervous now. “Miss Sparkle…what have you done?”

Twilight smirked as she placed her left hand on her hip. “Oh, don’t worry, Abacus Cinch. I haven’t planted a bomb or anything cliché like that. Someone with my intellect is above such a thing, no, I’m not going to use a bomb to get my revenge. I will be doing it myself, personally. Every single person will die by my hand!”

“I KNEW SHE WAS CRAZY!” a student shouted.

“Possibly, but then, you only have yourselves to blame, don’t you?” Twilight questioned. “I was a perfectly content teenage girl, I didn’t think I was better than anyone, I didn’t come here to make anyone feel inferior to me, I came to learn and, possibly, maybe, make a friend or two. But someone,” at this Twilight shifted her glare back to Cinch, “decided to change all that and bring such a plan to its inevitable conclusion!”

Cinch went from nervous to incredulous, especially after hearing that Twilight hadn’t setup any kind of explosive device, she figured she wouldn’t, Twilight was too smart for something like that, and she clearly didn’t have a weapon on her, an assault rifle would be clearly visible, and her uniform didn’t leave much area to cover a handgun. She could be hiding a knife, possibly aiming to stab Cinch to death, a fitting irony to how Twilight nearly died. But Twilight had said that she was planning on exacting revenge on everyone in the school, how could she do that?

“Okay then, Miss Sparkle, we’ve indulged your little temper tantrum for long enough!”

“You’re right, no more talking.” Twilight stretched out her right hand and dropped the mic. “I don’t have much time, so I’ll get to work.”

Twilight’s eyes shifted to the colors of azure blue and magenta, her hair took on a darker shade, almost becoming full black. Her skin became a darker shade a of violet and raven-colored wings burst forth from her back, ripping two holes in her uniform. Twilight faced the masses of students and faculty, taking note of their shocked and horrified faces, as they should be, this was the form of a girl who was pushed too far and never given a chance. This was what they created; they created the monster that now stood before them.

“If you wish to run, you can, but you won’t escape. I’ve blocked all communications, coming in or going out. Cellular, land lines, internet, all of it is gone. No one will know what happens in here,”

Twilight turned towards the faculty members, gathering energy into her right hand, she swiped the air horizontally creating a crescent blade made of protons and electrons. The crackling energy blade whizzed right for Cinch and the faculty, but at the last second, a gap opened, allowing it to miss Principal Cinch altogether while the rest of the blade continued and cut down all the faculty members, at least the ones that were on stage. Their bodies were severed from their top halves, cauterized by the intense heat from the blade, and all at once seven thuds resounded as the top halves hit the stage.

Screams were released as the students all began to run in a panic, Twilight smiled as she released a pulse of her matter manipulating energy, causing the chairs to snap on some of the students, crushing them where they sat, others released metal spikes that skewered them, raising their bodies into the air in homage to the Romanian warlord famous for such impalements. A good majority of the student body managed to escape into the halls along with some of the faculty who were valiantly trying to get their students to safety.

Twilight walked across the stage until she was floating in midair, controlling the graviton particles so that she was light enough that she didn’t fall, while also using them as a propelling force to float forwards. She stopped, noticing that Cinch was about to scurry away, but Twilight’s energy washed over the stage, causing parts of the wooden stage to transmute into robes that wrapped around Cinch like snakes, tying her down so that she could not escape.

“You’re not going anywhere, Abacus Cinch.”

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU’RE DOING?!” Cinch shouted.

“I do, and the blood that is spelt here today is all on your hands.” Twilight snapped her fingers, and multiple screens made of hard-light appeared above them. Each of the screens was tapped into the security cameras in the school, allowing Abacus to witness the horrors that awaited her students. “You will watch this, all of it. Watch everything you built up comes crashing down all around you, without mercy, without remorse.”

Abacus watched as a group of students were running down a hallway, lockers began to rattle and shake, and then the lockers began to jettison bits of metal shrapnel. The students that were caught in the crossfire had their bodies shredded as the metal shards pierced through their flesh and bone, splashing blood in every direction. The barrage continued until their bodies were completely torn apart, their pieces scattered about on the floor, and their blood painting the walls and floor. Abacus threw up when it was over, but her disgust would linger as another screen showed a new horror.

Some students had made it to where an exit was supposed to be, some were pounding on the wall as if believing brute force was going to make it appear. Twilight smirked as she snapped her fingers, sending a wave of energy towards that location that caused the gravity in that area to double, forcing the students to their knees. Some tried to fight against it or tried to crawl away. Twilight rewarded their efforts by doubling it again. The sudden increase snapped their shin and ankle bones of those who managed to stand, forcing them to the ground as they cried out in pain. Their bones pierced through the skin, creating a bloody mess. Twilight tripled the gravity, pressing the students to the ground and gradually forcing the air out of their lungs She continued to increase the gravity, doubling it every second as she watched them get crushed by the invisible force. Twilight clenched her right fist and increased the gravity a hundred-fold, all at once the ten students were crushed, turned into paste upon the floor. She released the gravity filed and switched to another group.

“Oh, I’ve been wondering where she got off to,” Twilight commented as she stared at the screen that showed two students hiding in science lab. “Upper Crust and Jet Set, a power couple favorite here in the school.” Twilight turned to Cinch and smirked. “If I recall, their families donated a generous amount of money to CPA, and if I read right, which I always do, you managed to sweep an incident where Upper Crust and Jet Set harassed a boy into committing suicide. Isn’t that right?”

“T-Twilight, please let me explain!” Cinch pleaded.

“Hmm, nope. Time for you to lose some of your assets.”

Twilight waved her hand, sending an energy pulse to that location. The chemicals that were stored in the metal cabinet mixed, creating a toxic gas that Twilight manipulated. She made it rush towards the couple, noticing it too late as the plume of purple smoke surrounded them. Cinch watched as Jet Set and Upper Crust began cough violently, to the point that blood was being spat out. Their skin began to blister as puss filled boils formed, along with their hair falling out.

“I created a mixture that would slowly kill them, their skin will burn, their lungs will burn, and every nerve ending in their body will be wracked with unimaginable pain, not enough to kill them quickly, but they’ll either try and end the pain themselves or just suffer until it takes them.”

The couple thrashed about the room, trying to escape the horrible suffering, but every movement, every breath was pure agony. Upper Crust pulled on a drawer and threw it to the floor, scattering multiple dissection tools. She fell to her knees and grabbed a scalpel, without even hesitating, she slashed her wrist left wrist, but the blood wasn’t flowing out like it should.

“Oh, that’s right, I forgot to mention that the chemicals also cause the blood to coagulate faster, so it’ll be hard for her to bleed out. No easy way for her,” said Twilight.

Upper Crust frantically tried to figure out a way to end the pain, to make it all stop. That’s when she figured out a way, she brought the scalpel level with her right eye, and again, without hesitation, she stabbed the scalpel right into her eye, more pain coursed through her body, but with the last bit of sanity she had, Upper Crust ran straight for the wall face first, ramming the scalpel the rest of the way through, penetrating her brain. The rich girl’s body fell to the floor, convulsing as her neurons fired off, trying to connect, like a stalled-out car sputtering before it finally gave out. Jet Set wasn’t in any better shape, he decided to smash his head against the edge of a table again and again, for as long as he was able until the side of his caved in on the tenth strike.

More and more hard-light windows opened and showed more horrors, students getting impaled slowly, ensuring they felt the maximum amount of pain. Others were getting torn apart limb by limp, electrocuted, set on fire, hanged, dissected, and a myriad of other things that Twilight imagined, drawing most of her inspiration from slasher and supernatural horror films. All the while Cinch was trying to look away, but when Twilight noticed, she swiftly appeared behind Abacus and forced her eyes open.

“No, you have to watch this! You aren’t allowed to look away! Keep watching as the institute you built up is stained in blood! This is your legacy!” Twilight stated.

“W-Why…Why…?!”

“I told you why, you just don’t seem to listen. Perhaps I need to make myself even clearer?!” Twilight snapped her fingers, sending another wave of telekinetic energy that surged through the school until it locked onto the ones she was searching for. That same force dragged the individuals all the way back into the auditorium, dropping them onto the stage. “Hello Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare.”

Indeed, it was them, Abacus’ daughter and her friend. Both had the same terrified looks on their faces as Cinch did, but the two girls were hugging each other, as if trying to seek protection in their closeness.

“T-Twilight, please, don’t!” Sunny Flare pleaded.

Twilight walked towards, them hands behind her back. She stopped a foot away from them before bending down to look them in the eye. “Hmm, that sounds awfully familiar, don’t you think? I believe those were my words to you, right? Except I was the one pleading for you to stop. Stop, taking my clothes.” Twilight snapped her fingers and Sunny’s uniform was shredded, leaving her only in her underwear and forcing Sour Sweet to break her hold from the shock. “Stop berating me!”

A kinetic pulse struck Sunny across her face, essentially getting slapped. Another hit her, and then another, with the last one throwing her to the floor. Sour Sweet huddled over Sunny and cried out, “SPARKLE, STOP, PLEASE STOP HURTING HER!”

“You’re not any better, tell me why I should?! Give me one good reason why I should spare either of you?!” Twilight demanded.

“I LOVE HER!!!” Sour Sweet declared.

Twilight blinked as she stood straight up. “You love her? You two are together?”

Sunny Flare looked from Twilight, and then to her mother, and then back to Twilight again. “Yes, after what happened to Sour, we…we became a couple! I realized I like her as more than a friend! Sparkle, you have every right to be pissed at us, at this whole damn school! But it was my Mother’s fault from the start! She wanted me to get the school onboard with making you its punching bag! I wanted to leave you alone, I honestly didn’t even care about you! But SHE wanted me to do make all this happen!”

Twilight huffed. “I figured as much already. But it’s nice to have it confirmed.”

“Twilight, please……kill her!” Sunny Flare asked.

Both Cinch and Twilight paused when they heard that request.

“Sorry, did you just ask me to kill your own mother?” Twilight quired.

Sour helped Sunny to her feet, where she then began to glare at her mother. “Yes! You have no idea what I’ve gone through! You’re the lucky one here, Twilight Sparkle! At least when you go home, it’s to – I assume –a family who loves you unconditionally, without expecting anything from you in return, your safe place! I don’t get that! She’s the same at home as she is here, no, she’s worse! Because at least here, she has to focus on hundreds of other kids, but when we’re home, I’M the focus of her attention!”

“I see,” Twilight thought aloud.

Abacus stared incredulously at her daughter, her teeth gritting with anger as she listened to her daughter. “YOU LITTLE SLUT! I RAISED YOU, CLOTHED YOU, FED YOU! GAVE YOU THE BEST EDUCATION! AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME?! BY WISHING ME DEAD!!!”

Sunny scoffed. “Oh yes, that’s all good. But I can’t remember once when you ever just gave me a hug just because, or ever said ‘I love you’! Whenever I got a low grade, you beat me and said I could do better! And even when I did it was always ‘Why should I praise you for something that is expected?’, and of course, the first time I expressed a slight interest in girls, you whipped me with a belt and told me to never think like that again!”

Sour Sweet was shocked upon hearing this. “What?! You never told me about that!”

“Yeah, pretty messed up, huh?! She said that my future depended upon marrying the right MAN and bearing children who will grow up to be even better, and that I couldn’t do that if I was with a woman! Do you deny it?!” Sunny dared.

Cinch looked down, growling in fury. “Do not think you are the only one who had to make a sacrifice like that! We ALL must make sacrifices to get what we want in our lives! If it’s for our ambitions and goals, then you have to be ruthless and smart to get it!”

Sunny ignored her mother and turned her attention to Twilight. “Twilight, I’m sorry, we’re sorry! If I had it my way, I would’ve ignored you and left you be! It’s all my Mother’s fault! We’re just as much the victims of her bullshit as you are! I won’t ask you to spare everyone, but please, spare us!”

Twilight rubbed her chin as she contemplated Sunny’s request. “You do realize that I really can’t let you live, right? What’s stopping you two from reporting what I did to the police if I do?”

“Our gratitude for freeing us from this place, and that bitch over there!” Sour answered. “I swear, Sunny and I won’t say a damn thing about what happened in here! Hell, we’ll disappear, fuck off to someplace on the other side of the world where you won’t have to see us ever again, right Sunny?!”

Sunny Flare nodded vigorously. “Exactly! We’ll go to Europe, go to college there, live there! We’ll even tell you where we are so that if we do blab, you know exactly where to find us!”

Twilight shook her head. “That wouldn’t be necessary. I could easily locate you anywhere in the world.”

“Y-Yeah, that’s right, because you’re that smart!” Sunny Flare complimented. “Please, we’re begging you, just kill my Mom and let us go!”

“YOU UNGRATEFUL WRETCH!!!” Cinch shouted at them.

Twilight thought about their offer, she could see why Sunny Flare was the way she was. With a mother like Abacus, how could you not be like that? And if Abacus Cinch hadn’t put her daughter up to it, Twilight’s school life at Crystal Prep would’ve been a normal one, with no harassment of any kind, perhaps from the occasional bully, but nothing like what she was getting from the entire school.

“I will acknowledge that you have been through a lot, Sunny Flare. You’re right, while most of us get to go home and leave this viper pit until the next day, you were living it twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. You never get a break from Crystal Prep, and in a way you’re a prisoner.” Twilight walked over to the two girls and placed her hand on Sunny’s shoulder. “I can sympathize with that.”

“T-Thank you,” said Sunny as she began to cry.

“However…” Twilight’s grip on Sunny Flare’s shoulder tightened. “You also had multiple chances to break the cycle, to speak up to Cadence, to anyone. Sure, it might not go anywhere, not on your own. But with your popularity, you could’ve brought the school together and united us against your mother’s cruelty. Or, conversely, you could’ve reached out to me, become my friend, and told me why I was suffering!”

Twilight released Sunny Flare and stepped back from her and Sour Sweet, both girls had a look of worry on their faces.

“So I can’t forgive you for all that you’ve done to me. However, I won’t cause you pain, or Sour Sweet, you’ll both die swiftly and painlessly, together.”

Before either of the girls could protest, Twilight released a psychic pulse straight into their bodies. Shutting down their minds completely until they collapsed on the floor, dead. They weren’t breathing, they weren’t’ moving, they were simply dead, a quick and painless death as she promised. Twilight used her telekinesis to position them lying on their backs with Sour’s left hand intertwined with Sunny’s right. Twilight looked up at the monitors she created and saw that all the students in the school, along with the faculty, were dead. She mentally scanned the building, making sure that she and Cinch were the only two life signs left in the building. They were.

“It’s done,” said Twilight as she walked towards Cinch. “This is the end of Crystal Prep Academy, Principal Cinch. The end of your career.”

“How…How could this all have gone so wrong…?” Cinch whispered.

“Just so you know, the moment this all started, I leaked everything about your dirty dealings here at the school and off campus. The whole world will know what kind of person you are, no one will say a kind word about you, when someone speaks your name, it’ll be as a curse.” Twilight brought both her hands to Cinch’s head, making the older woman gasp. “But before your end, I want to see how you became this person.”

Twilight ran her neuro electricity through Cinch’s mind and probed her memories.

She watched as a young teen girl went to this school a long time ago, being in awe of its architecture, its facilities, the teachers, and the students. It was then she decided that she wanted to be a teacher, and she wanted to teach here. She spent all her time devoted to that ideal, until the day she became the Principal of Crystal Prep Academy, taking over during the first Friendship Games with Canterlot High. Twilight sensed genuine love for the school, and, from what else she sensed, an infatuation with Principal Celestia. Years went by, and things got harder, running a school as top tier as Crystal Prep came with more stress than what she believed possible, funding, scholarships, answering to the influential parents of her students, it was all piling onto her. She had achieved her dream, but found it was a nightmare.

That’s when she decided to turn the nightmare into her weapon. She found out that the parents of her students were willing to pay whatever price she stipulated if it meant their child would graduate, a diploma from Crystal Prep setup any student for whatever university they wanted to go to. Cinch expanded her connections, branching into politics and law enforcement. Which came in handy when some of her students did a few things that were not exactly in keeping with the law. It continued like that, she met a man who bore her a daughter, but Cinch only used the man to expand her connections and get more money. Twilight sensed no maternal love for Sunny Flare, which only made her pity her former bully even more. Somewhere between the scheming and the ambition, Twilight sensed that Abacus Cinch lost sight of herself, and became the woman that stood before her today.

Twilight released Abacus Cinch and looked down upon her with judgmental eyes. “It’s time to pay the price for everything you’ve done, Abacus Cinch.”

“In what horrifying manner are you going to kill me?!” Cinch asked.

“A slow death, one that will allow you to see everything precious to you fall.” Twilight waved her hands, swinging them wide as sparks were lit over every surface except in a ring around them. Fire ignited over everything, scorching, intense flames engulfed the area, spreading throughout the entire school and not leaving any nook or cranny unscathed. “You’ll burn with everything, and you will watch it all as you burn too.”

“NO, NO!!! PLEASE JUST KILL ME! NOT LIKE THIS! NOT LIKE THIS!!!” Cinch pleaded.

Twilight had no more words, she turned her back on Cinch and floated down to the aisle, where she proceeded to walk as the flames parted for her. When she was halfway down the aisle, the safe area around Cinch left and the flames rushed onto her. The ropes that held her down were released as Cinch began running around, trying to gain refuge from the blaze and the flames that were burning her alive. She ran until she fell of the stage and onto her back. Her screams echoed in the chamber of the auditorium, filling Twilight’s ears as she stopped in the doorway and took one last look over her shoulder. Cinch was frantically running about, but then found the aisle and ran towards the doorway, however, she succumbed to the flames as she fell to her knees and then onto her front, her screams were no more.

Twilight turned her head away and began walking down the hallway, watching as the halls she was so familiar with begin to crumble, burning in hellfire of her own creation. These flames would not stop until everything was gone, until this building was ash, and even longer until the ash itself was gone. The bodies that littered the halls were already charring, whatever identifying marks they had were now gone. Twilight allowed herself to take in this moment, to take it all in. It was over, Crystal Prep Academy had fallen, the evils of this school were being erased in cleansing fire, ushering in a new beginning. If this school were to rise again, it will be like the phoenix, but better than it once was. Yes, that was the solution, that was what needed to happen.

“I’m…I’m finally free!” Twilight declared happily. “I’m not afraid anymore!”

Paradise Found...

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Sunset was hovering in the air at the location that her big sister had texted to her. She searched the area for ten minutes before she just sat there on a building, waiting for her big sister to appear and explain to her why she kept her waiting TEN WHOLE MINUTES. As a favor she waited an extra five minutes before she walked into the middle of the rooftop, changed back, and pulled out her cellphone. She called her sister and tapped her foot impatiently.

{Sun, hey, what’s up?}

“What’s up?! You kept me waiting for a whole fifteen minutes! That’s what’s up!” Sunset exclaimed.

{Whoa…Why are you all aggro right now?}

“You texted me telling me that there was an Artifact user in the far end of the city! I flew out here, searched the area, but I didn’t find the person or you! So, tell me why you sent me on a wild goose chase?!”

{Sun, I didn’t text you anything like that…hold on.}

Sunset waited for a minute and then a text message came, she went to the thread and saw that it was a picture, a screenshot of her sister’s phone. And to Sunset’s surprise, it was a screenshot of her recent texts to and from her, but the real surprise was that the message that was sent to Sunset wasn’t there.

“That’s…That can’t be!” Sunset did the same, taking a screenshot and sending it to her sister. “Take a look, it shows that you sent me a text not too long ago!”

{Wait……Okay, what the hell is going on? I didn’t send this message, I was in the locker room taking a shower after gym when this was sent, my phone was in my locker.}

Sunset was starting to get worried, someone had sent a false text under the guise of her big sister, all to lure out here. For what though, a trap? The fiery redhead quickly scanned the area, checking for anything suspicious, but she couldn’t sense anything amiss, nor could she spot any signs that there was something or someone about to attack.

{Sun, are you okay?}

“Something’s not right, does anyone know about me at your school?” Sunset asked.

{No, aside from my friends, Principal Celestia, and Vice Principal Luna, no one else.}

{SUNSET, DID YOU SEE!!!?}

“OW!” Sun exclaimed, the loud voice on the other end forced her to move the phone from her ear. “Who the hell was that?!”

{Hang on – Rainbow, what the hell?! I’m on the phone with Sun!}

{You are?! Did she burn down Crystal Prep Academy?!}

“What did you just say?!} The Sunset’s asked in stereo.

{Crystal Prep is burning down right now! There’s, like, firetrucks and ambulances all over that place! They’re trying to stop the fire but it’s not going out! I only asked because…well…there’s only one fire element power-based person at that school. I just figured that you finally had enough of their crap and burned the joint down!}

“Okay, no, I did NOT burn down the school! I’m not anywhere near that place right now! I–!” Sunset’s eyes widened. “Oh shit…! I GOTTA GO!!!”

Sunset ended the call, put the phone in her pocket, erupted into a pillar of flames and shot off into the sky at breakneck speed. She appeared as flaming comet that zoomed through the blue, her face was plastered with an expression of panic as she rushed back to the school.

Please, god, don’t let it be him! Please! Please!

Sugarcoat groaned in annoyance as she lightly banged her head against the steering wheel of her car. She had been stuck in this traffic jam for over twenty minutes ever since she left her parents’ workplace. It was strange, neither of them asked her to come down there, they even found it weird when she showed them the text message that she got from them. They didn’t know how that text was sent, but after checking their phones, they confirmed that neither of them sent the message.

From there Sugarcoat left and has now been stuck in traffic, from what she could see the traffic lights were messed up and it was causing the cars in the four way to pile up and stop. Police cars were trying to get through so that they could direct traffic, but they were making slow progress once they got there. It wasn’t that she was in a rush to get back, but she wasn’t keen on having to make up the assignments that she missed.

Sugarcoat sighed and then turned on the radio, she turned it onto a station that was playing “PostCrush” and left it on that. She opened her phone and began to thumb through some things on her phone, she brought up a photo of her, Twilight, and Sunset that they took during the week. She smiled every time she looked at it, because it was the first photo she took that was with actual friends, and not something she took for posterity, or to show off to the other popular kids to make sure that they knew who was friends with.

Twilight was a great person, she wished she had gotten to know her when they first met. If she had the chance, she would’ve redone that whole meeting, become her friend, weathered the storm that was Crystal Prep together. But she was determined to make up for that now, and god willing, she would continue to be her friend when they entered the same university. She may not be as smart as Twilight or Sunset, but she wasn’t a slacker, Sugarcoat was confident that she would be able to.

A friendship that continued into their adult years, the thought of it made her happy. Just then, Sugarcoat got a news alert notification, she was about to ignore it until she saw the words “Crystal Prep” in the tag. Sugarcoat quickly opened the notification and saw the headline.

[CRYSTAL PREP ACADEMY ABALZE!]

“WHAT THE HELL!!!”

Shining Armor and Cadence arrived at Crystal Prep Academy, but when they did, the entire structure was on fire. The blaze was somehow contained to the building itself; Cadence covered her mouth when she saw the scene, but she became increasingly worried when she noticed that there were no students or teachers present outside. The school had practiced its fire drills religiously and was nothing if not precise in getting out in under five minutes or less.

Cadence rushed to the nearest firefighter and asked, “Excuse me, where are the students and teachers?!”

“Lady, I need to get in there,” said the firefighter.

Shining came up behind her and flashed his badge. “She’s asking because she’s the Dean of Students for this school! Where are they?!”

“We haven’t found anyone! No one’s outside, we’ve searched the entire area…we’re thinking they’re inside!” The firefighter went back to his crew to assist.

“Oh god…Shiny…” Cadence gasped.

“It’ll be okay…” Shining Armor assured, although his voice made it sound as if he were trying to assure himself.

The couple watched as the brave firefighters hurriedly doused the flames with their hoses, at least five engines were gathered, all of them piling on water from different angles, but no matter how much water they poured on it, the flames didn’t die down. It was as if the fire was ignoring the water altogether, unfortunately, the structure was crumbling more and more by the second, the intensity of the flames was gradually turning the cement and metal beams into molten slag, and soon the entire building would fall. The flames were so hot that no one could go inside, even when they tried, it was as if the flames lashed out at the firefighters as if saying “You shall not pass!”.

“This is taking too long Shiny! Twilight, the students, the teachers, their still in there!” Cadence exclaimed.

“I don’t know what else they can do! They’ve got more engines coming in but it’s like the fire doesn’t want to go out,” said Shining Armor.

Just then, the couple noticed a comet blazing across the sky and stopping right over the building.

“Is that…?” Cadence asked.

Before they could figure it out, that same comet plummeted straight down and smashed its way through the roof.

“I think it is!”

Sunset landed in the middle of the hallway; her eyes were wide with fear as she tried to find her lover. There were traces of bodies, but the fires were burning them so bad that Sunset couldn’t make out who they were, let alone if they were male or female. She could already tell that the building wasn’t going to stand up much longer, at best she had at least three minutes or less, and if she couldn’t find Twilight by then, the whole structure would come down and crush whatever remnants were left.

She focused, quickly scanning the entire building for Twilight’s Life Flame, what made her fear escalate was that in a school filled with hundreds of kids, and a hundred or so teachers and staff, there were hardly any Life Flames to sense. C’mon, Sparky, be alive, please, please be alive! I swear to god if that bastard finally reared his head, I’ll burn this whole damn city down if it means he dies!

Suddenly, Sunset found Twilight’s flame, it was strong and burning bright, and it wasn’t far. Sunset ignited the soles of her feet and took off down the hall, blasting through debris as she made her way towards her lover. After destroying several pieces of debris, Sunset finally made it close to where Twilight was. Sunset transformed her hands into dragon claws and ripped open the door to the connecting swimming pool. Thankfully, it seemed the flames hadn’t been able to get near the pool water, but that didn’t do much for the intense heat.

Sunset looked about and saw Twilight treading water in the middle of the pool, trying to keep away from the edges as much as possible. When she spotted her, Sunset cried out “TWILIGHT!!!”

The teen genius turned her head towards her direction and shouted back, “SUNSET!!!”

“HANG ON, WE’RE GETTING OUT OF HERE!!!”

Without wasting a moment, Sunset dove into the water, jetting through it and scooping up Twilight into her arms. Once she had a hold of her, Sunset wrapped them in a sphere of burning flames and quickly ascended, smashing through the roof, rising higher until she was hovering over where the firetrucks were. It was at that moment that the entire building collapsed in on itself, crumbling into a burning heap as the once prestigious school of Crystal Prep Academy was completely burned to the ground.

“Sparky, are you alright?!” Sunset asked.

“I…I am…just a little tired from treading water for so long,” said Twilight.

“I’m taking you down to those firefighters, and then I’ll take care of this fire!”

Sunset quickly descended and landed near an ambulance, thankfully, it seemed that there were others there who would look after her lover.

“TWILY!” Cadence and Shining Armor shouted.

“Cadence, Shiny!” Twilight replied.

Sunset released Twilight and let her run into the loving arms of her big brother and future sister-in-law. Now that she was sure that she was safe, Sunset flew over the school, she waved her hands about, connecting to the flames below. The flames started to move in tandem with Sunset’s motions, and then they began to rise. Higher and higher they rose turning into a twister that coalesced into a sphere above Sunset. The flames that were so stubborn and unwilling to bend to the element of water, bent to her will, the Ember Stone’s power was absolute over the element of fire, no matter how strange they acted.

The flames continued to collect and condense into the sphere at a rapid pace, and in less than a minute, Sunset was able to remove every last ember from the charred remains of Crystal Prep and contain it to a sphere that looked like a mini sun. Sunset condensed it more and more until it fit in the palm of her hand, then she clenched that hand into a fist, snuffing it out.

Sunset hovered in the air for a while, she was still finding it hard to believe, Crystal Prep was gone.

It was Saturday, and the mayhem of yesterday hadn’t died down. The news of Crystal Prep’s downfall was echoing throughout the city, along with a huge amount of information pertaining to Principal Abacus Cinch and her illegal actions of sweeping incidents under the rug, as well as implicating several people in the local government and law enforcement in covering it up in exchange for favors.

It was the incident that was shaking Canterlot City, especially when, out of the entire school, there few survivors. A small handful consisted of janitorial and maintenance staff, while the last four garnered a bit more attention, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Sugarcoat, and Mi Amore Cadenza. The school had no cafeteria staff as the cafeteria was catered to by some of the best restaurants in the city.

Crystal Prep was already getting attention due to the attempted murder of Twilight Sparkle on campus, so she was already a reluctant celebrity, but now she, Sugarcoat, and Sunset were in the spotlight, just as much, if not more, was Cadence. Being the Dean of Students, and for all intents and purposes, the second in command of Crystal Prep, she was under watch from the media.

Unfortunately, this did bring the press to Sunset’s doorstep, but thanks to her gate, they never got in. Police were stationed outside to keep the horde of reporters from coming onto her property, Shining Armor put on the additional order that if any of the reporters or anyone not approved to go in stepped foot on the property, they were to be arrested for trespassing.

Of course, they were questioned about any strange goings on prior to the fire. Sugarcoat had mentioned she had gotten a strange text from her parents that she was to meet them at their work, but when she arrived, they had no knowledge of sending a text, and was stuck in traffic. They were able to confirm that Sugarcoat was on the street that was experiencing a strange electrical issue that was making the traffic lights go haywire, requiring the police to do traffic control.

Sunset had explained that she did drive Twilight and herself to the school, and did attend classes, but decided to play hooky and left the school on foot, deciding not to take her car to make the teachers think that she may be somewhere on campus.

Unfortunately, this put her in the crosshairs a little, as well as Cadence. As the only school administrator who survived, she was also a suspect, having left under suspicious circumstances. However, the fact that she met with Shining Armor helped her case, but it was still strange that Shining Armor, Cadence, and Sugarcoat received text messages requiring them to leave the school not too long before the school went up in flames.

After another round of questioning, Twilight and Sunset decided to have a video chat session with Sugarcoat, all three of them looked wiped.

“Ugh…I don’t know how many times I can repeat myself before they finally stop asking me the same question,” said Sunset as she laid on the bed.

{Standard police tactic, they’ll ask you the same question ten different ways to see if your story changes. But you shouldn’t worry. How are you doing, Twilight?}

The teen genius sighed. “About as well as can be expected.” Twilight had fed them a lie about how she smelt something strange in the air before she lost consciousness, after that the next she remembered was the school being on fire and her classmates and teachers all dead. The only reason she said she survived was because she dove into the pool and treaded water for a long time. “Although I think I got off easy compared to everyone else.”

“Don’t worry about it, what matters is we’re all alive,” said Sunset as she squeezed her lover’s hand.

Twilight blushed and leaned forward, kissing Sunset on the lips as Sunset returned the kiss with as much feeling.

{If you two are going to engage in intercourse, at least end the call first.}

Sunset ended their kiss and smirked at Sugarcoat. “Be honest, Sweets, you know you’d love to get a show.”

“Maybe we should treat her to one?” Twilight suggested in the same teasing tone.

Sugarcoat blushed noticeably on screen and shook her head. {Okay, so apparently near-death experiences have increased your sex drive. Noted. But, speaking seriously, how are we going to graduate?}

Twilight waved off that concern. “Oh, that’s easy. Cadence told me that Crystal Prep has a private cloud server where they backup all grades and important data regarding Crystal Prep’s financials and other things. So, our grades can be easily transferred to whatever school we choose to go to.”

{Well, that’s a relief. Have you decided where you’re planning on going?}

Sunset and Twilight glanced at each other and then looked back at Sugarcoat.

“We were thinking of finishing at Canterlot High School,” said Twilight.

{Seriously? Why there?}

“Well, with our grades we’d easily be able to graduate without having to do much. Plus, my sister and her friends are there, and her adopted mom, Principal Celestia, said that she could easily get us in by this Monday if we want,” said Sunset.

Sugarcoat blinked. {Hold on, you have a sister, with an adopted mother?}

“The explanation is weirder than you think, take my word for it.”

Twilight looked at Sugarcoat with a hopeful expression, “Why don’t you apply too?! We can have Dean Cadence speak to Principal Celestia, I know it wouldn’t be any trouble for her, that way all three of us can graduate together!”

Sugarcoat contemplated that for a moment. {I don’t know…we do have a rivalry with them. Do you really think they’ll want us there? I don’t to be trading one version of Crystal Prep for another?}

Sunset blew a raspberry of the thought. “Please, there’s no way that would happen, not with my Sis and her friends backing us up. Plus, they’re not as uptight as they were at CPA.”

“Please, Sugarcoat?” Twilight pleaded. “It’d be great if we could.”

Sugarcoat rubbed the back of her head. {I’ll speak with my parents and convince them to let me enroll.} A somber expression befell Sugarcoat. {I know I should feel sad that everybody died…I don’t know what caused us all to survive, but I’m happy that at least the only decent people of that school did survive.}

“Same to you, Sweets.” Sunset watched as Sugarcoat was about to say something contradictory, but Sunset cut her off, “And don’t you dare say otherwise!”

Sugarcoat rolled her eyes. {Fine, you win. I’ll accept your compliment. I guess I’ll see you Monday then if all goes well.}

“See ya!” Sunset and Twilight exclaimed as Sugarcoat signed off.

Twilight closed the laptop and then laid back on the bed, with Sunset doing the same right next to her. Sunset drew Twilight closer to her, holding the teen genius as close as physically possible. “Sunset, are you okay?”

“Sorry, I’m just…it’s not that that wasn’t bad, but I…I thought something worse had happened and it scared me. I really thought I lost you…”

Twilight saw tears forming in Sunset’s eyes, making her heart sink that she thought her life was in danger. “I’m here, Sunset, I’m not going to leave you.”

There was a knock at Sunset’s door, prompting the two girls to look in the door’s direction.

“Come in,” said Sunset.

The door opened and Sun’s double poked her head in. “Hey, girls. Bad timing?”

Twilight shook her head. “No. Did you need something?”

Sunset walked in and closed the door behind her, she walked halfway towards the bed and said, “I just wanted to touch base with you guys, you were serious about wanting to go CHS?”

Sun and Twilight sat up on the bed and nodded a “yes”.

“We are, but is there a problem with that? I thought it was okay?” Twilight asked.

“No, I just wanted to make sure, because there are some things I wanted to get you up to speed on before you set foot in there.” Sunset walked the rest of the way and took a seat on the bed. “Okay, so, Twilight, remember how I explained that you had a pony double as well and that she came to my school, dethroned me, came back again and helped us beat the Sirens the first time?”

“Yeeesss,” Twilight answered.

“Yeah, she was – is – still popular at the school. There’s a high chance that the students are going to flock to you thinking that you’re her, but I’ll do my best to make sure everyone knows that you’re not her and that you’re you. Also, you might run into a guy there, Flash Sentry, who’ll probably be trying to get close to you, and might even have a crush on you.”

Twilight blushed, and Sun scowled a little, she hadn’t even been to CHS and Twilight was already getting attention from boys. “Why would he have a crush on me?!”

Sunset rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. “Well…it’s not so much you, more like the other you.”

A lightbulb went off over Twilight’s head, figuratively speaking. “Oh…were he and the pony me…serious?”

Sunset made a wavy motion with her hand. “Eeeh…hard to say. I mean, he’s not a bad guy at all, he’s sweet and caring, and popular in his own right at the school. He helped Princess Twilight a bit when she first got here, they’ve had a few encounters, according to her. And by that, I mean they’ve literally bumped into each other many times in the school.”

“Huh, sounds like you dated the guy, Sis,” Sun commented.

“Oh, I did…but that was back during my alpha bitch days…I just dated him to leech off his popularity, and then he dumped me because I was a total alpha bitch…” Sunset sighed heavily. “Not one of my prouder moments in my life…he didn’t deserve that from me, Flash helped me out a lot when I first came here, and I tried to be what I thought was a good girlfriend to him, but it didn’t make up for what I was doing to everyone around us.”

Sun scooted closer to Sunset and gave her a hug. “Hey, don’t let that bog you down. You’re not that person anymore.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Oh, that’s another thing…I haven’t told anyone that I have a sister, but they’re probably not going to buy that,” said Sunset.

“Do they know that you’re a pony from a parallel world?” Sun asked.

“Oh yeah.”

“Then let’s just tell the truth, I’m your human double and you’re you. No need to make things complicated,” said Sun.

“Alright.” Sunset got off the bed. “I’ll make sure that Mom’s got everything setup by Monday. But with Dean Cadence’s help it shouldn’t be that hard.”

“Sunset!” Twilight spoke up. “We might have someone else joining us! Her name’s Sugarcoat, she’s a friend of ours!”

Sunset smiled and nodded. “I’ll call Mom and tell her to be on the lookout.”

Three girls stood on the quad of Canterlot High School, one was the exact double of Sunset Shimmer, the other was Twilight Sparkle, and the last was Sugarcoat. Out of the three, Sugarcoat and Twilight felt the most awkward, Sunset, being a social butterfly and able to command attention wherever she went, held her head up high and nodding approvingly of the school.

“This feels…weird…” Sugarcoat managed to say. “Not wearing our uniforms and all…” The bespectacled girl was wearing a purple tank top under a gray designer vest, a matching skirt with a violent line going up the center and a turquoise line going through that, and a pair of converse sneakers with white socks.

“I know what you mean, we’ve worn our Crystal Prep uniforms for almost four years, it’s strange going to school and not wearing one,” Twilight added. She had a powder blue blouse under a magenta sweater vest and kept together with a cloth belt that was wrapped around the waist of the vest. Below she had a violet skirt, with a six-pointed star pattern on the left side, a thin frill around the edge, and pair of thing powder blue socks and a pair of brown loafers.

Sunset wore a black, short sleeved leather jacket, coupled with a pair of black jeans, an orange tube top that showed off her Ember Stone, and some cleavage. She wore a pair of boots that with metal tips that were painted gold, an earring in her left ear, and wore her hair up in a ponytail. She made sure to coordinate with her big sister, taking care to make sure that neither of them dressed alike so that anyone who saw them would know who was who by appearance.

“C’mon, girls, don’t be so tense! It’s a school filled with regular kids! You know, ones who aren’t assholes because they’re rich or have parents in high positions! If there are assholes, then they’re the regular kind,” Sunset explained.

“Well, for a public school, it’s not riddled with graffiti, or seems to be in disrepair,” Sugarcoat noted.

“That’s the spirit, Sweets!” Sunset praised as she gave Sugarcoat a hearty pat on the back.

“I just hope this doesn’t get too weird, for me and you at least. Everyone has a high opinion of the other me, I just don’t want to disappoint anyone when I don’t live up to the hype…”

Sunset hooked her arm around Twilight’s neck and brought her close. “Hey, don’t worry about Princess Twilight, you’re you. You’re Twilight Sparkle, adorkable, super genius extraordinaire!”

“Did you have to tag on ‘adorkable’?” Twilight asked in a deadpan.

“Well, I could also add in cute, hot, nympho–”

Twilight blushed and cut in, “I am NOT nympho!” she harshly whispered.

“Says the girl who plowed me not too long ago,” Sunset teased.

Sugarcoat deadpanned. “Is it entirely necessary that I be in on these private conversations?”

“You’re free to take a step back, Sweets, but, uh, you haven’t done it at all since we started talking.” Sunset smirked as she gave Sugarcoat a sideways glance. “Starting to think you like hearing what Sparky and I get up to.”

Twilight, after getting over the initial embarrassment, gave Sugarcoat the same sideways glance. “Sugarcoat, were you secretly hoping that Sunset and I would bring you into our nighttime activities? I know you want to be closer friends, but…are you sure you’re ready to cross into the other kind of friendship?”

Sugarcoat facepalmed and groaned. “Great, is Sunset’s horniness catching now? How long before I go down the path of no return?”

“If it’s anything like Sparky, not very long, Sweets!”

“Also, you know we’re getting looks, right?” Sugarcoat asked.

Twilight and Sunset glanced about the quad and noticed that the students were staring at them. And of course, the stares only increased when, yet another Sunset came walking towards them. Sugarcoat did a double take as she looked between the Sunset who currently had her arm draped over her, and the one walking towards them.

“Wha – Who – Huh?!” Sugarcoat exclaimed.

Sunset sighed. “Really, Sun? You didn’t tell her?”

Sun chuckled. “And deprive us of this reaction?! Please!”

Sugarcoat looked between them and rubbed her temples as she tried to grapple with this. She was wondering what they were talking about when Sunset and Twilight were talking about “Princess Twilight”, but now it was starting to make…somewhat sense…but now she was seeing it in front of her. Another Sunset Shimmer, after seeing a demon possessed swordswoman, angels and demons, a bikini armor wearing warrior woman, a fire girl, and then there’s her Heart Stone, all of that, and you’d think Sugarcoat would be prepared for all kinds of weirdness, but evidently, she was not.

“You owe me a very long explanation,” said Sugarcoat plainly. “BOTH of you. And how do I address either of you?”

“When we’re together, you can call me Sun.”

“And just Sunset with me,” said the double. “C’mon, I’ll give you a tour, I already got it cleared with Mom – I mean – Principal Celestia.” The group of four headed to the front doors of Canterlot High School, but the moment they did, Sunset stopped and turned around to face them. “Before we head through these doors, I want you to know I had nothing to do with what’s behind these doors.”

That got the trio’s eyebrows raised, Sun and Twilight knew that Sunset wasn’t a malicious person, she wouldn’t knowingly put them in the middle of something. Twilight’s old fight or flight instincts were starting to kick in, remembering all the times she was hazed by the students of Crystal Prep, fears of the same thing happening here were starting to creep up. She glanced to Sugarcoat and saw that her friend seemed to be having the same fears as she was, the blunt girl was good at hiding it, but Twilight’s enhanced abilities allowed to her pick up on the subtle telltale signs of nervousness. Twilight reached out and took Sugarcoat’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze, and silently telling her that whatever was behind those doors, they were going to face it together. Sugarcoat squeezed back, reaffirming to her friend that she was not going to run again.

Sunset inhaled deeply and sighed, “Here we go.” The fiery haired teen turned around and pushed open the doors, stepping aside to allow them in.

The moment that all three girls entered the school building they saw, in the middle of the lobby, a wagon object. It was colored pink, with metal accents that were painted gold, a splash of blue on each side, a bit of white at the top, and at the center of it was a mark of three balloons, along with the back and front sides. Pinkie Pie came in sliding from their right, seemingly, out of nowhere, and came to a halt in front of the wagon. The moment that Twilight and Sun saw Pinkie they understood that whatever was about to happen was a Pinkie Pie brand of silly and fun.

“Hi, Sun, Sci-Twi, and Sugarcoat!”

“How does she know my name?” Sugarcoat asked.

“It’s Pinkie, trust me, just roll with it,” said Sun.

“Sunset told me you three were officially coming here to CHS, and as head of every party planning committee here at CHS, I’m here to officially welcome you to Canterlot High School!” Pinkie announced.

Sugarcoat looked from the pink girl and then to the wagon behind her. “Oooookaaaay…And why is there a wagon behind you?”

“Well, how else am I supposed to welcome you without my official Welcome Wagon,” Pinkie countered.

Sugarcoat glanced between the three girls and asked, “‘Welcome Wagon’?”

“Wait for it…” Sunset urged.

Pinkie Pie kicked the wagon and immediately the wagon, making it open and show off bugle horns, flags, and an oven. She took in a deep breath and then began to sing to the music that it played.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome
A fine welcome to you~!
Welcome, welcome, welcome
I say how do you do~?”

Pinkie rushed towards Sugarcoat, shook her hand to the point that her whole body vibrated, and then went on to do the same to Sun and Twilight. Afterwards she went back to her song and dance.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome
I say hip hip hurray~!
Welcome, welcome, welcome
To Canterlot High School todaaaaaaaaaaay~!”

Sunset began to wince, remembering her first Welcome Wagon was met with a mix up of the cake batter being loaded into the confetti cannons, and the confetti in the oven. How the confetti didn’t burn up or come out as flaming embers was a mystery to Sunset, but one that she was glad didn’t happen either way. Then it happened, the confetti cannons exploded with confetti, and the oven dinged open, revealing a cake that said “Welcome to CHS” written in pink frosting.

“Ha! Nailed it!” Pinkie exclaimed with a fist pump.

“That was…spirited, and not what I was expecting,” said Sugarcoat.

Sunset patted Sugarcoat on the shoulder and said, “This place isn’t like Crystal Prep, you don’t need to be tense or on edge here. This place is safe.”

The word “safe” was foreign to both Sugarcoat and Twilight, “safe” was never a word they would associate with their school, every day was filled with tension and a need to constantly watch your back, your things, yourself. Always on alert, always ready to take the metaphorical punch that they didn’t know where or when it was coming. For Sugarcoat, her defense was to use her body to keep from getting hurt, for Twilight, it was to suffer in silence and try to weather the storm of abuse. Neither girl knew how to feel safe, but the moment they walked through those front doors, they could tell everything was vastly different from their old school.

The feeling that overcame you when you would enter CPA was heaviness, like the gravity had increased exponentially and gradually increased the longer you remained until you finally left. But here, in CHS, the atmosphere felt so…carefree, light, welcoming, normal. Of course, the students were giving them odd looks, because, well, there were two Sunset Shimmers, the lookalike of Princess Twilight, a new girl, and also because they were the famous survivors of Crystal Prep Academy.

“The concept of ‘safe’ is new to me, to the both of us,” said Sugarcoat.

“Well, trust me, it’s a feeling you’ll enjoy for the time you’re with us,” said Pinkie cheerfully.

Sunset separated from the group and stood in front, beaming at the three new additions to the school. “I know it’s already been said, but I’ll say once more. Welcome to Canterlot High School.”

(DAY 2)

Twilight was roaming the halls of CHS, which were still something she was getting used to. However, the other thing that she was sure she wasn’t going to get used to was how each and every person in the school greeted her so casually and happily.

“Hey, Twilight!” said a random girl.

“Oh…uh, hi,” Twilight replied.

Twilight was so used to the angry scowls, disgust filled sneers, and the condescending tones in their voices whenever they voiced their distaste of her. That was what she was used to, not this, not this…niceness. It was so foreign, so…weird…not just the familiarity, but the overall friendliness of it.

“Hi, Twilight!” said a male student.

“Oh…good morning,” she greeted awkwardly.

“Yo, Twilight, what’s up?!”

“Uh…n-not much,” Twilight replied.

“Awesome!”

“Loving the new look, Twilight, so cute, and so you,” said a girl who looked like she was into fashion.

Twilight rubbed the back of her head, feeling awkward at the compliment. “Oh, well, thank you. Y-You look good, too!”

Despite the efforts of Sunset and the girls, the students of CHS hadn’t quite gotten it through their heads that she wasn’t the pony version that they all knew. Although, she was probably just thinking the worst case as she normally did when it came to a high school environment. They were more than likely just being nice, although the concept of peers her own age being nice was foreign to her.

“I really am jaded…Omph!” Twilight exclaimed as she bumped into someone, landing on her rear and scattering a few of her books.

Twilight looked up and saw a boy with spikey blue hair, a black leather jack, and jean pants. The teenage boy turned around and revealed his face, and that he was wearing a white t-shirt with a shield and lightning bolt at the center. The boy bent at the knees a little and began to approach Twilight, but out of sheer reflex Twilight dropped the books she did manage to hold onto and raised her arms up in a defensive manner.

“I-I-I’m sorry! I-I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going! Please, I’m sorry!” Twilight pleaded as she shut her eyes.

“Whoa, whoa, hey, it’s alright, it was just accident,” said the boy. “I’m not gonna hurt you, Twilight.”

Twilight dared to open her eyes, she studied the boy’s body language for a moment, she didn’t want to use her psychic abilities to probe his mind, not yet, but from what she was able to tell, neither his voice nor body language spoke of hostility.

“Here, let me help you up.”

Twilight watched as he offered his hand to her, she gingerly took it and let him help her back to her feet. “T-Thank you.”

“No problem……” the boy stared at her for a moment, but then shook his head as he blushed a little. “Wow…you really do look a lot like her, sound like her, too.”

“Oh…you mean the other me, Princess Twilight,” said Twilight.

“Yeah – oh shoot, I should’ve introduced myself. My name’s Flash Sentry.”

Twilight blinked. “You’re Flash Sentry?”

“Yes.”

Twilight rubbed the back of her head as she awkwardly explained, “Um, Sunset Shimmer, the one you know, she told me that you and her were…going out?”

Flash chuckled as she got down on one knee and began picking up Twilight’s books. “We never got the chance to, really. If you don’t count the Fall Formal, but that was for only one night. And the second time she came here, we were all being mind controlled and acted like total asshats towards her and the girls…god, I feel like trash.”

Twilight got on knees and began picking up the other books. “Why would you say that?”

“Because I said some things to her during the Battle of the Bands that were really hurtful, and yeah she forgave me after it was all over, but I still feel bad for saying them.”

Twilight picked up the books and stood back up. “You were under mind control at the time, you can’t blame yourself for something that you had no ability to stop.”

“Yeah, you’re right, but the things I said were things that I was feeling at the time, so, it wasn’t like I was being forced to say it, the Dazzlings just made it easier for me to say it without caring if it hurt her,” said Flash as he stood up as well. “Here you go.”

Twilight took the books back and smiled at the boy. “Thank you, and I’m sorry for how I acted towards you earlier. I thought you were going to hit me.”

Flash was genuinely shocked at hearing that. “W-What?! I would never do that!……Did…Did the kids at your school…?”

Twilight nodded.

“I’m sorry…but…why?” Flash asked.

Twilight sighed. “Well, I’m heading to my next class, do you want to listen?”

“Only if you want to tell.”

Flash accompanied Twilight for a while, retelling her horror stories of Crystal Prep as she explained why she thought Flash would assault her, or at the least verbally assault her for bumping into him. During the telling, Flash’s scowl deepened, she could see that this was upsetting him.

“That’s just…wow, I knew kids at Crystal Prep were assholes, but that’s on a whole other level. No offense.”

“None taken, and you’re right, they were. But, Sugarcoat saw the light and Sunset, my Sunset, protected me when she first arrived.” Twilight blushed as she thought about her. “I couldn’t ask for anyone better in my life.”

Flash smiled. “If she’s anything like the Sunset Shimmer I know, then I’m happy you met her. By the way…she’s the Sunset from here, right? I mean, I know the Sunset I know is from the same world as Princess Twilight, so I’m assuming she’s like you, a double from our world.”

“That’s right.”

Flash and Twilight looked ahead and saw Sun walking towards them. The former bad girl of CPA put her hands on Twilight’s shoulders and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You okay, babe?”

“I’m fine, I was just talking with Flash Sentry. I accidentally bumped into him, and he was kind enough to help me pick up my books,” said Twilight.

Sun glanced over at Flash, which made the boy nervously chuckle as she smirked. “Ah, so you’re the guy that Sis dated before she hooked up with Pinkie Pie. Hmm, yeah, yeah you’re cute, I could see why she dated you, I’d probably date you too if I wasn’t with this cutie here.”

“Sun!” Twilight giggled.

“C’mon, let’s head to class.” Sun wrapped her arm around Twilight’s waist and the two began walking the rest of the way. “Hey, Slick, let’s hang out some time, I \ you to tell me as much embarrassing stuff about Sis as possible!”

Before Flash could reply they were already out of earshot. “Why do I feel like she was trying to get her as far away from me as possible?”

“Don’t take it personally.”

“Gah!” Flash yelped as he turned to his left and saw that Sunset was standing there. “Jeez, you’re like a ninja sometimes…and what do you mean?”

Sunset crossed her arms. “Twilight told you about what she went through, I’m assuming.” Flash nodded. “When Sun got there, she became her protector. Saved her more than once from those CPAssholes. I know it’s not right to talk shit about dead people, but after what they put her through, I have no sympathy. So don’t take it personally if Sun’s a bit protective when it comes to Twilight, especially now. They’re in a new school with people they don’t know.”

“Not a problem, I figured it was something like that. Considering that she made it a point to show that they were girlfriends,” said Flash.

Sunset chuckled. “Yeah, she’s just making sure you get the hint that that’s her Twilight. I’m surprised, you seem to be taking it well.”

Flash shrugged a little. “I mean, it’s hard to describe, but I can tell that she’s not the same Twilight. But, I guess, at the same time, I’m trying to move on.”

“Oh…you know, if you want, I could let you borrow my journal. It lets me talk to Princess Twilight, kind of like texting.”

The young guitarist shook his head. “Nah, honestly, it’s kind of better this way. I mean, she’s a princess, a royal. She’s got responsibilities, I can’t just expect her to leave everything behind just to come and be with me here. It’s not fair to her.”

“To either of you. I know she wouldn’t want you to give up your whole life here just to live in Equestria. Sure, it’s a magical place and it’s pretty peaceful the majority of the time. But then you have to adjust to the cultural differences, and then there’s getting used to a new body, it’ll be frustrating to say the least.”

Flash bumped Sunset’s shoulder with his own and said, “Speaking from experience.”

Sunset smiled up at him. “I never thanked you for your help, when I first came to this school you approached me and gave me a chance.”

“I always knew you were a nice person deep down, if you could be nice to me, then it wasn’t a stretch that you could do the same for everyone, and now look at you.” Flash pretended to wipe a tear away. “I feel like a proud parent.”

“Fuck you, Sentry,” said Sunset as she punched him in the arm. “Seriously though, you tell her anything about the embarrassing stuff I did when we were dating, I’ll turn you into a human pretzel.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

(DAY 3)

Sugarcoat was adjusting well enough, the curriculum was nowhere near as intense as Crystal Prep, which was a good thing as far as Sugarcoat was concerned. After all the madness of last week, she didn’t need anymore added on stress. It was either that or the teachers were taking it easy on her because of what happened at Crystal Prep. Either way, she appreciated it. The kids at this school were far nicer, the conversations she managed to overhear weren’t centered around trying to do something to someone or talking about how expensive something they bought was. It was normal stuff, what they were planning to do after school, what their weekend plans were, the latest movie or videogame that was out, and depending on the clique the hottest fashion.

It was almost unnerving, and it annoyed Sugarcoat. She had been so used to Crystal Prep’s brand of meanspirited gossip that she never knew what normal idle chatter and gossip sounded like.

I really need to reevaluate myself here, thought Sugarcoat.

She was on edge, feeling as if someone was going to do something, and part of her was contemplating going back to her old habits just as a way to keep from being harassed. Being the local slut gave her mild protection back at Crystal Prep as no one wanted to damage her and being a part of Sunny Flare’s clique gave her more protection against anyone who even thought about hazing her or giving her the same treatment as Twilight. But she shook her head of those thoughts, Sugarcoat promised herself and her late grandmother that she would never go back to that again, no matter how bad it would get.

“Hello there.”

“Huh?” Sugarcoat turned to her right and saw girl shyly waving at her. She wore a sweater that had brown and tan horizontal stripes, denim jeans, and a pair of slip-on shoes. She had some freckles that were admittedly cute, grass green hair, light-green complexion, and brown colored eyes. “Oh…hi.”

“You’re one of the new students, right? From Crystal Prep?” she asked.

“Yes, that’s right. My name is Sugarcoat, and who are you?”

“M-My name is…never mind, sorry to waste your time.”

Sugarcoat placed a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow. “Hey.” The girl stopped. “I’ll decide if this is a waste of my time. And it is kind of rude to not give someone your name after they’ve politely introduced themselves.”

“S-Sorry!” the girl turned around and nervously fiddled with the straps of her backpack. “M-My name’s Wallflower, Wallflower Blush.”

“Hmm, cute name, and it seems appropriate.”

“Y-Yeah…most people tend not to notice me…or remember me, I’m just one of those forgettable faces,” said Wallflower.

“So, you thought you would try to become noticeable to at least one person, and given that I’m new and don’t know that many people here, you figured that introducing yourself to me would force me into seeking you out as my only companion in this school,” said Sugarcoat.

Wallflower lowered her head out embarrassment and shame. “You…You’re really perceptive…”

“I am, I also lack a filter on my mouth when it comes to pointing out people’s shortcomings, it’s a neurological thing that I’m working on, so I apologize in advance if I say or said something blunt,” said Sugarcoat.

“Oh…that sounds exhausting,” Wallflower replied.

Sugarcoat sighed. “It is, believe me. So, would like to be friends?”

Wallflower blinked. “You…You want to be friends with me? Why?”

“Truthfully, the friends – actually no, they weren’t my friends – they were a group of girls a stayed a part of so that I wouldn’t get hurt or hazed by the kids back at Crystal Prep. The only real friends I made were Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer,” said Sugarcoat.

Wallflower raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah, I heard that Twilight Sparkle was here, but apparently she’s not the one we all saw last time. And that there’s another Sunset Shimmer here that was from Crystal Prep, good god like we need another…”

“Sounds like you have history with yours, let’s talk and walk.”

Wallflower smiled and walked along with Sugarcoat, retelling the events of Sunset’s tyrannical days which honestly surprised Sugarcoat to hear. “The worst part of it all…it’s that she never really hurt me physically or verbally…she just ignored me. That was the worst part, I don’t know if it was malicious on her part or if she just didn’t notice me, but she acted like I was invisible the entire time. And that hurt the most, it’s kind of sick…I actually wanted her to mess with me, at least should acknowledge me. I’m kind of messed up, aren’t I.”

“Not as much as me…how much do you want to hear about what I went through at Crystal Prep?” Sugarcoat asked.

“Only as much as you’re comfortable telling me,” said Wallflower, not wanting to force her new friend into reminiscing about anything painful.

“Alright, but feel free to stop me if you feel uncomfortable.” From there Sugarcoat told her about what happened to the Twilight of her school, and what Sugarcoat did to avoid getting the same treatment, and how she became friends with Twilight and Sunset Shimmer. “I’m so used to the environment of Crystal Prep that all of this feels…strange to me.”

Wallflower, well, blushed, she never thought that that kind of thing was happening at Crystal Prep, and it made her angry that they made someone like Sugarcoat have to resort to something so drastic just to keep from being bullied, and there’s what they did to Twilight. “I can’t believe they put you all through that…it’s disgusting! Just to be clear I meant them not you!”

“I got it, don’t worry.”

Sugarcoat reached into her vest pocket and slipped on the Heart Stone. The moment she did, Sugarcoat was able to see the aura around Wallflower Blush. She could sense anger coming from the red aura, anger towards Sunset, but it wasn’t like the anger she would occasionally sense when she was at Crystal Prep. Perhaps if she intervened now, she could prevent Wallflower from making a mistake in the future.

“Listen, Wallflower, I know you don’t have a high opinion of her, but trust me, it’s better to talk things out than let it come out in an unhealthy way later,” said Sugarcoat. “Trust me, I’ve seen too many bad things at Crystal Prep happen because someone went for the violent option first. But unlike them, this place gives you the chance to change.”

Wallflower sighed as she rubbed her left arm. “I…I don’t know…”

“It’s better to try than not to,” said Sugarcoat. “Besides, the Sunset from my school is a friend. I’d like it if we could all get along.”

The green haired girl smiled just a little. “Okay…I’ll try.”

“Thanks. It’s about lunchtime, let’s go and see them then.”

Sugarcoat and Wallflower made their way into the cafeteria, the whole time they were walking Sugarcoat kept the Heart Stone bracelet on. She kind of liked seeing Canterlot High’s aura, it wasn’t harsh or threatening like Crystal Prep’s, it was bathed in softer colors, and gave off a welcoming presence. There was something odd, something that gave her worry the closer she got to the table that Sugarcoat had come to associate was their table.

When she focused on Twilight and Sun there were colors she didn’t expect to see, especially in Twilight’s aura. There was black tinting both their auras, and what was worse, Twilight’s was a whole lot darker than Sun’s. Sunset Shimmer, the CHS one, she found out was Witchblade through Sun, and so the small tint of black in her aura was understandable considering the battles she fought as the superheroine, and given that Sun was Ember, she supposed that Sun had fought against bad people before coming here. But Twilight? Why in the world would Twilight’s aura have such a heavy black tint?

(LATER THAT NIGHT)

Shining Armor drove to the ruins of Crystal Prep Academy, he stood before the building that was once his school. He was filled with mixed emotions, this school was the reason why he wanted to become a police officer, this school was the place where he met the love of his life. On the flip side, this school was the place responsible for constantly hazing his little sister, this school allowed a student to rape her nearly every day, where she was held against her will, and where she was blackmailed into joining the Friendship Games and nearly murdered.

Shining Armor was grateful that the custodial staff, Cadence, Sunset, Twilight, and that one girl made it through it all, but there was still something. It annoyed him that he cared this much about it, but his instincts as a police detective, as well as his sense of justice, wouldn’t allow him to let it go. Hundreds of kids and tens of teachers were killed here, mysteriously, and considering all that’s happened, Shining Armor wasn’t about to write it off as an accident.

“Looks like you’re the only one who had a feeling about this.”

Shining Armor looked around, he couldn’t see anyone, but then he noticed the shadows begin to gather and rise up. A few seconds later a figure formed from the shadows, with a body that looked like a starry night. Shining had seen this form before, which was the only reason why he hadn’t drawn his weapon.

“Agent Tempest, nice to see you,” Shining greeted.

“Same to you, Detective Armor. Wish it was under better circumstances,” said Tempest as she casually walked towards him and stood next to the officer.

“Since you’re here, I can assume you think that there’s something supernatural behind this?”

“You would assume correctly, I stayed back for a bit to let your forensics teams get in there and do what they can, but it seems like they couldn’t get much,” said Tempest.

Shining Armor sighed as he nodded his head in confirmation. “Everything’s burnt good, add to the fact that the building collapsed in on itself, it’ll take a lot longer to identify the bodies and even longer to dig what we can out of there.”

“Yeah, but there’s another option if you’re up for it.”

“That would be?”

“I create a localized time distortion, rewind time, and find out what happened,” said Tempest.

Shining Armor raised and eyebrow and asked, “Are you saying you can bring them back with time travel?”

“Yes, and no. I could bring back their bodies, but their souls are long gone from this realm. If I did bring their bodies back, they’d just be empty meat sacks just living, no different from a person who’s a comatose vegetable. As much as their families probably want a body to bury, or want them back, I don’t think they want them back in such a soulless state.”

Shining shuddered at the idea, a soulless husk of a person, not really inside, just existing, to have to see that everyday without any hope of them coming back, it would be torture for their families. “Got it…so, how are you going to do this?”

“Like this.”

Tempest knelt before, what used to be, the front entrance to the school. She placed both her hands against the ground and immediately her shadow stretched towards the school. A purple bubble of energy surrounded the entire school building, born from the shadows beneath it, the entire school was rebuilding itself, the ashes reformed into their original parts as they put themselves back into their original places. The fire returned but it was quickly put out as time rewound back to the point before the fire, it was here that Tempest stopped the time bubble for a moment.

“What’s up?” Shining asked.

“Take a look at the front door,” said Tempest.

Shining looked where Tempest was indicating and saw that there was no front door. “What the hell?”

“Yeah, no front door.” Tempest restarted the time bubble rewinding time further until the door miraculously reappeared as if someone had done a bad edit and put it back. “And now there is one. Something did go down here. Let’s get a look inside, here.”

Shining watched as a dark tendril grew from Tempest’s back and latched itself around Shining’s left wrist. “W-What the – what’s this about?”

“So long as I’m in contact with you, you won’t be affected by the time bubble. If we go in there and we’re not connected, you could end up turning into a little kid,” Tempest explained.

Shining looked from the tendril to the building, and back to the tendril. “Lead on.” The two passed through the bubble’s wall and then went through the front door. “Twilight said that Principal Cinch gathered everyone to the auditorium for an announcement, she also reported that there was gas that knocked her out and then the building was on fire.”

“Lead the way then.”

Shining Armor headed down the hallway, taking care not to get too far ahead and disconnect from Tempest. After a couple minutes of walking, they arrived at the doors to the auditorium.

“Hold on, let me just rewind it a bit to see if anyone came in or out during the assembly.”

Shining nodded.

Tempest made a motion with her right hand, the purple energy of the regression bubble passed through the entire area, minutes passed like seconds as Tempest and Shining watched for anyone coming or going, but no one did, she kept rewinding until they started to see students and teachers come out in reverse.

Shining Armor was stunned when he saw the living bodies of the students and faculty, and now that he did, he understood what Tempest meant about being soulless husks. When he looked into their eyes, he saw nothing, it was as if they were just living dolls devoid of their essence.

“Now I know why you said it wouldn’t be good to bring them back, I wouldn’t want to see Twilight or Cadence in this kind of state,” said Shining.

“I only did that one time……I regret it to this day. Anyway, it doesn’t look like anyone other the students and faculty entered the room, so whatever happened it did start in there. You ready to see it?”

“How bad will it be?”

“Whatever you see, whatever you hear, you have to remember that it’s already happened. You might feel the urge to jump in and help them, but it’s not going to make a difference. Understand?”

Shining Armor nodded, as hard as it was going to be, he knew he had to keep from doing anything. Both he and Tempest entered the auditorium, they saw the assembled students and Principal Cinch up on stage along with the rest of the faculty members. Tempest pressed play, proverbially speaking, and let the events unfold before them. They listened as Cinch went on about Crystal Prep and how the things that had been happening at the school last week were all the fault of Canterlot High School, the insinuation made both the detective and agent’s eyes roll.

It was disturbing to hear Cinch talk, knowing that she was dead, that all of them were dead. However, Cinch’s demeanor seemed to change, the direction of her gaze shifted in their direction, more specifically, to someone who was possibly walking down the aisle and towards the stage. It seemed that the other students and faculty members were turning their attention to whoever was walking down the aisle, they remained silent, presumably to allow whoever it was to speak. Judging from their expressions, they weren’t afraid, in fact some were either surprised or looked annoyed even.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Cinch spoke.

“Miss Sparkle, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I will ask you to return to your seat,” Principal Cinch instructed.

Tempest paused the event. “Did she just call out your little sister, Armor?”

“Wait, Twilight walked up the aisle towards the stage?!”

Tempest let the event play again, more silence and then Cinch talked again, three students yelled in the back, presumably reacting to whatever Twilight must’ve said to them.

“Miss Sparkle, I understand that you’ve been through a lot, but you cannot go accusing your classmates of assault, especially those who have passed away.”

“SHE WAS ASSAULTED, AGAIN?!” Shining yelled in rage.

“Calm down, Detective, we need to see this play out.”

Shining Armor grit his teeth as he let the scene play out. More and more back and forth went on between Cinch and Twilight until Cinch’s eyes and everyone else’s turned to the stage, stranger thing was, they’re eyes went high before landing near the stage. Did Twilight jump onto the stage?

More exchanges went on, and then the audience gasped in fear. Whatever happened, it was bad, bad enough to frighten them. Abacus Cinch backed up, and then she and the faculty behind her all raised their hands up in an effort to defend themselves, but then all the faculty behind Cinch were cut down, literally, their top halves fell off and onto the stage.

“What the shit…!?”

“No…”

The students panicked and began to run, but then it was like the whole school came alive and started killing them. Tempest levitated them into the air to avoid the rushing students, some were getting impaled, snapped and crushed in their seats, but the majority managed to exit the auditorium. Once they were gone, Tempest and Shining followed them into the hallways where they witnessed a massacre of the students by the droves. Tempest paused the entire thing, allowing them to observe the area. They rushed towards the front door, trying to figure out why not a single one of them managed to get out.

When they arrived at the front, they understood why. The doorway was gone, which explained why it wasn’t there on the outside. Shining and Tempest checked the other exits and were treated to more horrors on the way there, but they were able to confirm that the exits were gone.

“This…This doesn’t make any sense…!” Shining exclaimed.

“Me neither…Armor…me neither. C’mon, let’s head back to auditorium,” Tempest suggested.

They returned to where it all started, and watched as Cinch was bound on the stage, the stage itself somehow having turned into restraints. Cinch’s attention seemed to be drawn to something floating in the air, whatever it was she was looking at, it was horrible.

“T-Twilight, please let me explain!” Cinch pleaded.

Another wordless exchange was had between Cinch and…Twilight. Then the doors opened as two girls were thrown onto the stage by an unseen force. Tempest recognized both of the girls and said, “I know those two. That’s Sour Sweet, she was possessed by the Blood Sword, and that’s her girlfriend, Sunny Flare.”

“Sunny Flare’s the daughter of Abacus Cinch, those two are also part of the group that’s been constantly causing Twilight grief…”

Sunny Flare suddenly jolted, a red mark appearing on her face.

“Looks like Twilight just slapped her.” Then Sunny Flare’s clothes burst off her body. “Oh shit…uh, well, that’s kind of kinky.”

Shining Armor covered his face, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Why was this happening? How could Twilight manage to do any of this? Was it even Twilight? Then Sour Sweet put herself between Sunny Flare and their assailant, they seemed to barter with Twilight, wanting her to kill Cinch and free them from her.

“Jesus…Cinch really was a monster…” Shining commented.

“And apparently a homophob.”

After their exchange was had, the two girls fell to the floor, silent. Their bodies were arranged so that they were holding hands by the same unseen force. Tempest and Shining Armor continued to watch everything, right up to when Cinch and the entire school was set on fire. Abacus Cinch ran about the room, trying to escape the blaze, but eventually she succumbed to the inferno and died on the floor.

“I…I can’t believe this…”

“Me neither, Armor.”

“This has to be a mistake! Twily would never do this! She’s not a murderer!” Shining stated.

“Armor, look at the facts.”

“Rewind it again! Back to before it started! I want to see!”

Tempest did as Shining Armor requested, rewinding the whole event until everyone was back to where they were seated. Shining looked among the crowd, and that’s when he spotted the empty seat, he had Tempest play it again, and witnessed the other students’ gaze shift to that spot and follow it down the aisle.

“Fast forward to after the fire, started,” he demanded.

Tempest did as he said and fast forwarded. Both of them noticed that the flames were parting, presumably this was the path that Twilight was taking. They followed the parting flame trail all the way into the halls, and then the trail took them to the Olympic swimming pool, the water rippled as if someone had just got in and then the center of the pool rippled and splashed as if someone was there swimming.

“Rewind it again…”

“Armor–”

“I SAID REWIND IT AGAIN DAMMIT!!!”

The OSOD agent complied, rewinding the events again and again and again. Each time the victims’ words never changed, it was the same name each time, Twilight Sparkle. Tempest replayed the entire event at least twenty times before Shining Armor collapsed to his knees.

“Stop…just…stop it all.”

“I’m sorry, Detective Armor…but it looks like your little sister is responsible for this massacre.”

“Can you blame her?!” Shining asked angrily. “They pushed her into this! They gave her no choice! She was abused and harassed on a daily basis here and kept it from us all because she didn’t want to cause trouble for Cadence, me, or our parents! She’s a selfless girl! Whatever she did–!”

“STOP!” Tempest ordered. “Don’t say that it was justified Armor, because then I’m going to agree with you. And I do. But you know as well as I do, that that’s no excuse. What I gave you on Cinch would’ve buried her and taken all the students who harmed her down with Cinch. This wasn’t justice, Armor, this was revenge.”

“Revenge against a bunch of shitty people,” Shining commented.

“Granted, but revenge and justice aren’t the same thing. No matter what they did to her, there was a better way to go about it. Plus, OSOD isn’t going to be silent about this, not after what happened here in this city already. And since I’m here…”

“Don’t tell me, you’re going to…”

Tempest shook her head. “I don’t know enough to confront her. WE don’t know enough about what all happened here. She wasn’t the only survivor, the custodial staff, along with Sunset Shimmer – the one that goes to this school – along with a girl named Sugarcoat, and your girlfriend, Dean Mi Amore Cadenza, were the only survivors. I’ve already looked into the staff, and none of them seem to have any supernatural affiliations. So that just leaves the four of them.”

Shining Armor looked at Tempest with anger in his eyes. “You’re accusing Twilight and my girlfriend of this?!”

“I can for sure rule out Sunset, there were eyewitnesses that spotted Ember flying across the sky and arriving on the other side of town, and then a few minutes later she was seen heading back this way. We need to tread carefully, we don’t know how this was done, it’s possible that it was demonic possession, and if that’s the case, we have a few people here in town that can help with that. Witchblade Sunset being one of them, along with the Magdalena, a holy assassin.”

“Did you just say a ‘holy assassin’?” Shining asked.

“Trust me, it’s better that you don’t know.” Tempest brought them back outside and released the time bubble, letting the entire structure return to its ruined state. “I need you to monitor Twilight, and don’t say a word of this to her girlfriend or Witchblade Sunset until I can confirm a few things. Armor, you listening to me?!”

Shining shook his head as if snapping out of a daze. “Huh…Oh, y-yeah…I did. I heard you…”

Tempest walked over to Shining Armor and patted his shoulder. “I know this is hard, but the sooner we get to the bottom of this, the sooner we can clear Twilight’s name and possibly save her before she does something she’ll regret……more.”

After Tempest disappeared Shining Armor drove himself back home, the whole time he was in a daze, the world passing by around him as his mind tried to grapple with what he just saw, but in his mind, he couldn’t stop replaying it all, the vacant spot where the victims were speaking to their killer, in that place he put his sweet nerd of a little sister there, his Little Sister Best Friend Forever.

“Twily…Why…?”

...Paradise Lost

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Saturday rolled around, and today was the day of Applejack’s funeral. Sunset sighed heavily as she sat in one of the pews of the church, she wore a black dress, simple, but elegant, something that Rarity made for each of their friends. Since this was going to be the last time they would all be in Applejack’s presence, Rarity decided that they should look at least somewhat fabulous for their friend. Apparently, Rarity asked the Apple Family if she could make the dress that Applejack would be buried in, her last gift to the person she loved.

They reluctantly agreed, reluctantly because they weren’t sure if this was healthy for the heartbroken teen. But it seemed she was able to do it, in fact, it seemed almost therapeutic for her. While it did hammer home the point that Applejack was dead and never coming back, it appeared to make Rarity happy that she could give this simple thing for her love.

Sunset looked around to see who else was in attendance, and from the looks of it, most of the Apple Family along with a good fifty percent or more of Canterlot High was there, a testament to how Applejack touched all their lives. Sunset saw Apple Bloom crying still, Babs Seed, her cousin, was comforting her, Babs’ parents were consoling Granny Smith, while Sugar Belle, Big Macintosh’s girlfriend, was doing the same for him. Although the muscular teen wasn’t outwardly bawling like some of the others in attendance, but those who knew the older teen knew he wasn’t the kind of person to express his emotions that much, in a way he was like Applejack, someone who would cry on the inside until they were alone where they could do it with no one looking.

Sunset understood, he needed to be the rock of the family now, he had to be strong for Granny Smith and for Apple Bloom. Celestia and Luna were in attendance, along with Dean Cadence, Shining Armor, Night Light and Twilight Velvet, even Sugarcoat. While she didn’t know Applejack, Sugarcoat said that she felt it was only right that she did, Applejack was important to them, so she was important to her.

The pastor came up and gave a beautiful sermon, said a few things about the family and about Applejack, and then came some who were asked to speak about Applejack, her family was first, obviously, retelling stories of when she was younger and of family reunions past. Granny retold stories of her grandchild, how she and Big Mac stepped up after their parents died and did all they could to stay together and work the farm. Up next were her friends, Rainbow Dash was first.

“…What can I say about AJ…? She was stubborn as all he – heck, but she was also the one of the few people I’ve met that never broke a promise she made. She was strong, not just physically but emotionally too, sometimes you couldn’t tell if something got to her or not, she had a good poker face that’s for sure.”

Rainbow rubbed the back of her head as she struggled to get her words out, trying not to choke up in front of everyone.

“She was one of my best friends…she was one of the few people who could compete with me. And yeah, we butted heads, sometimes yelled, and got mad at each other, but we’re the same stubborn kind of people. I’ve never met another girl like AJ…I…I miss her, her laugh, her voice, that hat she wore everywhere! I…I’ll never forget you, AJ.”

After Rainbow, Fluttershy was next.

“Applejack was always patient with me, all my friends are, but she was more so. She never got annoyed because I would be too shy, or was too afraid of something, she was also a person I could count on to be steadfast in whatever she set her mind to. She loved animals almost as much as I do, the first time we became friends, she brought me to her farm and let me help feed her horses and other farm animals. She was the rock of our group, and now that she’s…she’s gone, we’re kind of lost, but I know she’s looking down on us and telling us to get our acts together and keep moving forward. We’ll miss you, Applejack.

Fluttershy passed the mic to Pinkie.

“Applejack was a good cook, the only other girl I’ve met that’s as good as me. She helped keep me from going too overboard with some of my ideas, and I think some of you know how crazy my ideas can get.” There was a round of laughter throughout that chapel, as those of CHS knew exactly how crazy Pinkie Pie’s party ideas, or ideas in general, could get. “I promise to always apply WWAS, What Would Applejack Say, whenever something sounds like a good idea, but may be too extra.”

The girls were a little worried when it was Rarity’s turn. They asked if she was going to mention their relationship, but Rarity said she was not. She had talked to Granny Smith, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom about her and Applejack being a couple, it came out when she all but begged to make Applejack’s funeral dress. While they had no problems with her saying that she was, Rarity wasn’t so sure that it was a good idea when the rest of the family was present. She remembered Applejack speaking of some of their relatives and their conservative views, and the last thing she wanted was to sour the memory of her love in the minds of her family.

It was a great comfort to her when Fluttershy told her that Applejack was in Heaven and watched over by her parents. But Rarity didn’t want to take the risk in having Applejack’s family condemn her for her orientation. So, as much as her friends urged her, she made her decision to keep it silent…at least…that’s what she thought she would do, she had made that resolution the moment she walked into the church and sat on the pew. She steeled herself when it came her turn to come up and say her piece. However, now that she was on the stage, with her lover’s body resting peacefully in the open casket, the color drained from her cheeks, garbed in the dress that she made, that resolve crumbled.

“I came up here to speak about how Applejack made me feel as my friend, but I believe that my other friends have more than summed up what I feel as a friend.” She said this while looking at her lover, but then turned to face the audience. “Instead, I will tell you how she made me feel as her lover.”

There was a murmur amongst the crowd, mostly from the Apple Family. Some had a look of disbelief, others had expressions of indignation, and others were trying to hide their disgust.

“WILL Y’ALL BE QUIET AND LET HER SPEAK!!!”

Everyone fell silent when the booming voice of Big Macintosh echoed throughout the church, it was the first time he had said anything since the service started, and it honestly scared everyone how angry he sounded, but that anger was not directed at Rarity, no, that anger and his equally angry gaze fell on the rows that contained his family. The large teen sat back down in his seat and nodded towards Rarity, silently telling her that it was alright to keep going.

Rarity nodded back to Big Mac, appreciative of his intervention of any negative comments that were about to come from their family. “I understand that it’s not exactly a traditional relationship, but we were happy for the short time we had. We’ve been friends since Freshman year, and without really knowing it, I’ve grown to appreciate Applejack’s bluntness, she was the complete opposite of me. Whereas I like the more refined and fanciful things, she much preferred something simple and practical. And yes, just like with Rainbow Dash, we too ‘butted heads’ when it came to our interests.”

“However, I grew to admire her work ethic as she did mine, and from time to time she would let me dress her up. And it was those times that I could see the beauty that lied underneath, but more than that, I learned to appreciate her own brand of simplicity and practical mindset, she let me know that some things are good as they are. Applejack was a girl who wanted love just like all of us, and I wanted to be the person to make her happy, to make her feel loved. And for the…the short time that we were together…we were happy, the happiest!” Rarity turned to the casket and said, “Goodbye, my love.”

Sunset stood up and walked to the stage, she gave Rarity a hug on her way up as Rarity passed her the mic. The fiery haired teen looked upon the casket, “What can I say that hasn’t already been said about Applejack? She was the best friend anyone could ask for. She was a strong girl. She was a lot of things. But most importantly, to me, she was one of five girls who gave me a chance. Those of you who know me, know that I wasn’t the best person years back, for some, I was the bane of your existence. But it was Applejack, and these four girls here who brought me out of the darkness and filled my life with warmth and happiness that I never knew existed. She may be gone, but she’ll always live on, in our hearts and memories.”

With the final eulogy given, the pastor closed out with a sermon and then summoned the pallbearers to come up. Sunset was one, followed by Big Mac, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Braeburn. The six brought the casket to the hearse, carefully loading it in and allowing the driver to close the door. Once everybody was at their cars, everyone drove to the cemetery where Applejack would be laid to rest. Once everyone arrived, the four girls and two boys headed to the hearse and retrieved the casket, walking it to the gravesite. It just hammered the point home more that this was it, it was time to lay their friend’s body to rest.

The gravesite had two other headstones, one that read “Bright Mac” and the other next to it read “Pear ‘Buttercup’ Butter”, the graves of Applejack’s parents. This was a plot of land that was bought a long time ago for their family, it was where Granny Smith would one day be buried, and one day, hopefully further into the future, the place where Apple Bloom, Big Mac, and their future children, husbands, and wives, would be buried.

Once everyone had been gathered, they lowered the coffin into the ground. Rarity sobbed openly, along with Apple Bloom, Fluttershy, Pinkie, even Rainbow. Sunset was crying but bit her lower lip to try and remain strong for her friends. Twilight and Sun were crying as well, Celestia and Luna were busy comforting Granny Smith, who was bawling as much as anyone, the Apple Family, along with the attendees from Canterlot Highschool, all were crying. While Sugarcoat, who had a hand in her pocket, was staring wide eyed.

The family and CHS students started to disperse, with some planning on returning to the farm for the wake. Sugarcoat quickly asked Sunset and her friends, along with Applejack’s immediate family, to stay a bit longer.

“What’s up, Sugarcoat?” Sun asked. “Why’d you want us all to stay behind?”

Sugarcoat looked upon the grief-stricken people before her, she then sighed and answered their question, “I thought it might be better to do this among those who knew about supernatural stuff.” Sugarcoat took out her right hand from her skirt pocket and showed her bracelet to everyone. “This isn’t a normal bracelet, it’s a magical Artifact called the Heart Stone. It lets me read auras and communicate with the spirits of the departed. This was a gift from my grandmother, and she left me a journal with how it works. I recently learned a way to extend what I see to others, so long as you’re all open to seeing.”

“Wait, are you saying we can…we can talk to AJ?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes.”

The group looked amongst themselves, but it only took a second for everyone to agree. Sugarcoat nodded and concentrated on the Heart Stone. The gemstone began to glow as wispy tendrils of orange light extended from the Heart Stone and touched everyone in attendance. After a few seconds, a figure began to form before their eyes and fresh tears fell again. There Applejack stood, she appeared in her old outfit, complete with her Stetson hat.

“Howdy, y’all, been awhile.”

“APPLEJACK!!!” Rarity exclaimed as she readied to fly into her lover’s arms.

Applejack backed away and quickly and said, “Whoa now, Rares, hold your horses! Ah don’t think Ah can hold ya…if ya tried runnin’ into me you’d probably faceplant into the dirt.”

Rainbow Dash was the first one to get in Rarity’s way, making sure that that didn’t happen. Once Rarity calmed down, she smiled at the apparition and said, “I’ve missed you, so much, we all have.”

“Ah know…Ah heard everythin’ y’all said about me at the service…” Applejack rubbed the back of her head, blushing a bit. “Gotta say…y’all made me blush hearin’ all that. Ah didn’t know ya thought so highly of me…”

“That just goes to show you how much we care about you,” said Fluttershy.

Granny Smith walked up to the apparition and gently reached out to try and touch her granddaughter’s cheek, but as she expected, her hand passed through Applejack’s body. “Guess it’d be too much to ask to be able to hold ya one last time…”

“Sorry, Granny.”

“Don’t worry nothin’ ‘bout it, are ya alright, Sug?” Granny asked.

“Ah’m doin’ really great, actually. Heaven’s beautiful Granny, Ma and Pa have been helpin’ me adjust since Ah got there,” Applejack explained. “But it ain’t no place Ah want to see any of ya fer a really long time, ya hear?”

“We hear you,” said Sunset.

Applejack glanced to Apple Bloom and walked over to her, she knelt a little and brought herself eye level with her little sister. “Bloom, Ah hate to ask this of ya. But ya gotta step up now, don’t be causin’ no more trouble.”

“C’mon, Sis…” Apple Bloom sniffled. “Y’know Ah learned my lesson. But Ah promise, Ah won’t,” said Apple Bloom.

Applejack nodded and then moved over to Big Mac. “Big brother, don’t be afraid to show others how yer feelin’. Ah know you want to be strong for Bloom and Granny, but that don’t mean ya gotta hide how much this is hurtin’ ya, or if yer feelin’ overwhelmed. Ya still got family that loves ya, and a girl too. So don’t be afraid to lean on someone.”

“Dammit, Jackie, ya gotta make me cry in fronta people,” said Mac as she cried.

Applejack walked up to Rarity and reached out to stroke her cheek, of course she couldn’t physically interact with them, but the moment that her ghostly hand did make contact, both swore they could feel each other for that moment. “Ah’ll always be watchin’ over ya, Sug. Don’t let me bein’ dead stop ya from livin’ yer life. Ah want to see ya be the fashion designer you said ya would. And…Even though it’ll be hard, Ah want ya to find love again.”

“How can I fall in love with anyone else? I’d feel as if I’d be cheating on you, love,” said Rarity.

“Ah’d feel worse if ya didn’t find someone else. Ah want ya to be happy with someone, a guy, or a gal, have kids, and then when it’s time, Ah’ll see ya again. Plus, it’ll just mean there’s more people who love ya up here.”

Rarity sighed. “You’re going to haunt me and pester me into finding someone if I don’t, aren’t you?”

“Damn skippy Ah am.”

“Stubborn as always, well, if I don’t want to have my things mysteriously moved around, I guess…I guess I’ll try, but I make no guarantees that I’ll love them as much I loved you.”

“So long as you love them, what we had was special, Sug, and that’ll be ours. What you’ll have with someone else will be special with them.”

Sugarcoat stumbled a bit, prompting Twilight and Sun to grab her from both sides. “S-Sorry, this is a little draining…I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep this up…”

“Sorry to inconvenience ya like this Sugar Cube. But Ah appreciate what yer doin’ fer us.” Applejack tipped her hat to the former Crystal Prep student. “Listen y’all, Ah’m fine, and Ah know y’all will be too. Like Ah said, Ah’ll always be there to watch over ya, even if ya can’t see me.”

Sunset chuckled, “Great, now I have to worry about a voyeur Applejack peeping in on me and Pinkie. I knew you were kinky.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Ah’d swat yer ass if Ah wasn’t a ghost.”

“Allow me,” Sun stated as she swiftly stepped up behind her big sister and gave her swat upside the head.

“OW!”

“Thank ya kindly.”

“You’re welcome!”

Despite the annoying pain sensation, Sunset managed to smile at her ghostly friend. “We’ll always miss you, Applejack, we love you.”

“Ah know ya do, thank you.” Applejack looked at Sugarcoat and said, “Okay, Miss, ya can stop now, yer lookin’ a little tuckered out.”

“Thanks,” said Sugarcoat as she stopped the flow of energy coming from the Heart Stone.

The last thing the group witnessed was Applejack’s ghostly form waving goodbye to them as she faded away. Yes, the pain of her loss would be felt for a long while, but the fact that they were truly able to say goodbye to their friend made that pain sting less than it did before.

It was Sunday, the day after the funeral. Sunset rode her bike to a location that had been texted to her by her secret agent friend, Tempest. The OSOD agent had stated in a text that she needed to talk to her as soon as she could, for what exactly was not made clear, but if Tempest was asking for her then it must mean something was up, something bad enough to call her out immediately.

After about an hour drive, Sunset arrived at a little alleyway in the city. Sunset parked her bike and leaned up against the wall, she checked her phone to make sure that she was there by the meeting time, and confirmed she was on time. “Okay, Tempest, where are you?”

Sunset got her answer when her shadow suddenly expanded and swallowed Sunset into it. The former unicorn mare yelled out in surprise and was about to invoke the Witchblade, but then she was dropped out of the shadowy abyss, reemerging somewhere else. From what Sunset could tell, she had been dropped off in a building, it looked under construction, or under renovation, it was hard to tell. The shadows began to squirm and rise as a figure formed from them. After a couple of seconds, Sunset saw the starry night form of Tempest, and a second later, she dismissed that form and returned to her normal state.

“Sorry about that, kid, but I needed to make sure no one was following you,” said Tempest.

“And why would there be anyone following me? Tempest, why did you bring me out here for?” Sunset asked.

Tempest sighed as she walked into the light, her hands in her pockets as she got closer, a serious expression on her face made Sunset weary. “Listen, Sunset, what I’m about to tell you will most likely piss you off but believe me when I say I’m not making this accusation lightly or without proof.”

Sunset slowly nodded.

“The incident at Crystal Prep, the deaths of the faculty and students, I know who did it.” Tempest took out a photo from her pocket and handed it to Sunset. “It’s her.”

Sunset took the photo and saw that it was a candid photo of Twilight, a photo like the ones of someone who was under surveillance. “You shitting me, right? This is a sick joke! You think Twilight killed all those people!”

“I don’t think, I know. What I don’t know is if she did it of her own volition or if she’s being controlled by someone or something,” Tempest explained.

“Okay, now I know you’re full of shit. Twilight would never do that, and if she was being controlled, I would know! Witchblade would tell me if she was!” Sunset stated.

Tempest sighed and shook her head. “I figured this would be the case.”

“What?!”

“You’re letting your admiration for the other version of Twilight keep you from being objective. I went to the scene of the crime and rewound time for the building and the remains of the people who died there. We watched them reenact their deaths and heard everything they said, and every time it was ‘Twilight Sparkle’.”

“Tempest, if you’re trying to piss me off, you’re doing a damn good job of it,” Sunset warned.

“She’s telling the truth.” Sunset’s head turned to one of the columns, while Tempest didn’t turn at all. From behind the column emerged Shining Armor, the police detective had a beleaguered look on his face. “I went to the school, because I couldn’t shake off that something was off about the whole thing. When I did, Agent Tempest was there. She used her power to rewind time and we both watched the events unfold in front of us, and each time, only one name kept coming up. My…My little sister…T-Twilight.”

“This…This can’t be…” Sunset held her right hand to her head. “How…H-How did she do it?!”

“We couldn’t tell,” said Shining.

Sunset stared at the two adults incredulously. “You’re saying it’s her, but you don’t know how she did it?! I thought you went back in time?!”

Tempest cleared her throat. “My power doesn’t let me actually jump back in time. I accelerate or rewind time for both organic and inorganic objects. In this case, I created a localized time field, rewinding both at the same time to make everything…” Tempest waved her hand in the air as if trying to pluck the right word from the air. “…reenact what happened. All we could see was that the building was coming alive and killing the students, then a couple of students were killed on a stage bartering with Twilight before they fell dead, and then the whole place went up in flames instantly.”

Sunset crossed her arms. “So, what you’re saying is, you don’t have any real proof that it is her. And even if…by some minuscule chance that she did do it…can you blame her?! After all the abuse she’s suffered there!”

“Be careful how you phrase that, Sunset. Were they shitty people and deserved to be punished for their crimes? Oh absolutely, but not in that way. I gave Shining Armor enough info to bury Cinch and close down that school for a long while, but it suddenly disappeared, and was leaked onto the net and to the local news stations.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “And…?”

“And Twily’s good with computers. Really good…scary good if I’m being honest. You know she’s a genius, that girl could easily hack my computer, problem is when I took my laptop to get it looked at by our tech crew, they couldn’t find a single thing. No evidence of it being hacked,” said Shining Armor.

Sunset shook her head as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “So, all you have really is circumstantial evidence, and the last words of some dying pieces of shit. I need more than that if you’re going to make me suspicious of my friend.”

Tempest took a step forward and said, “She’s not your friend, not really. She’s Sun’s girlfriend, you never met this Twilight, she’s not the pony version you and your friends have come to know and love. And something tells me that that version of Twilight has led a very different life compared to the one we know. Hell, you even told me that she’s older than this one! She’s the same age as you, your original age, right?”

Sunset huffs, “Yes, she is older, in her twenties.”

“Which means she’s had time to learn more about herself, and from what you’ve told me, she’s a royal, a leader of a nation. And it sounds like she hasn’t ever been through the same treatment as this Twilight. You can have two people who are exactly the same, but raise them in different environments, and they can become completely different people. You’re a testament to that, you were – let’s face it – an alpha bitch, prideful, and arrogant, but then you changed. Whereas your double isn’t like that, and in fact, she’s like you are now,” Tempest pointed out.

Sunset opened her mouth to rebut that, but she couldn’t deny Tempest’s logic. Just because this Twilight looked, sounded, and had the same mannerisms as Princess Twilight, didn’t mean she was the same as her. Princess Twilight was older and had a bit more maturity to her, plus, at least from their correspondence, Princess Twilight had never been subjected to the kind of hazing and assault that this one had been. Although, Princess Twilight was a magic prodigy like herself, and if there was trouble, Princess Twilight could just use her magic to resolve the issue, plus, Princess Celestia was there, and no one messed with a student of Princess Celestia, lest you incur the wrath of the sun itself. However, this Twilight Sparkle didn’t have magic, nor did she have the threat of a sun goddess irradiating those who would hurt her to fall back on.

Sunset looked to Shining Armor, his hands had tightened into fists, his whole-body language told that he was tense, talking about this was upsetting him. And why wouldn’t it? Sunset didn’t know what he saw, but it must’ve been too horrible for him to even try and deny it, otherwise, the loving and doting older brother that he is, would have sided with Sunset in agreeing that everything Tempest was saying was a lie.

“Say I believe you…hypothetically, how could she have done that?” Sunset asked.

“You got me, Sunset, I’ve seen a lot of supernatural shit in my life since I’ve been at this job, but I haven’t been able to figure that part out yet. I’m still working the possessed angle for now and I’m going to hit up our resident exorcists to see if they can tell if she is or not.”

“And if she’s not? What then?” Shining asked.

Tempest glanced between Shining and Sunset and released a heavy sigh. “SCK.”

“What?” they both asked.

“Secure, Contain, or Kill. Failing the first two that leaves only the last option, and if it’s not by me then it’ll be by OSOD’s other assets. There’s no shortage of supernatural weaponry and trinkets we’ve secured during the organization’s existence, and if need be, they’re willing to use them if the threat is high enough. And judging from what I saw, she could be higher given her intellect.”

“NO!!!” Sunset yelled. “Give…Give me time! Let me talk to her, let me investigate Twilight! I’ll find out for myself if she did it or not! Or if there’s something using her!”

Tempest crossed her arms and she thought over Sunset’s proposal, after a minute of silence the agent nodded. “Alright, I’ll give you forty-eight hours.”

“TWO DAYS?! That’s bullshit Tempest!” Shining accused.

“Look, it’s not up to me at this point. After the events that have happened in this area, OSOD is not going to stand by and let another mass casualty event go down, and like I said, it’s better to have me be the one to do something. Because the brass has been embarrassed multiple times by this city and they’re not going to pull their punches when it comes down it,” Tempest warned. “That’s your timeframe. Starting tomorrow I want you to find out what you can, otherwise I’m talking to her.”

Sunset clenched her fists tight, wanting to yell at Tempest for the asinine timeframe, but it seemed that Tempest wasn’t in good position either. “Fine, I’ll find out what I can.”

“Good girl. Now,” Tempest looked to Shining Armor, “I’m afraid this next part is a private conversation between me and the kid, you can go back now, Detective Armor.”

“Wait wha–!”

Before Shining Armor could speak further the shadows beneath the officer opened and swallowed him whole. Sunset looked on in shock and was about to ask what happened to him. “Don’t worry, I just sent him back to his patrol car. I brought him here the same way I did you, and as a heads up, that’s how I’m sending you back.”

“Okay, I take it you have more good news then?” Sunset asked snidely.

“Tch, great news…” Tempest stated with great sarcasm. “The brass wants the Witchblade.”

Sunset’s eyebrow raised, and the Witchblade’s ruby gemstone glowed. “Excuse me?”

“Yeah…imagine my surprise…” Tempest kicked the ground as she scowled. “They think you’re a risk to us with that power, they think that your otherworldly origins means that your allegiance will be to your home world and not to us.”

Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to comprehend the stupidity of what she was just told. “My friends and I have risked our lives to save this world, I’ve died twice, saved the world twice – not counting the Battle of the Bands – and again just recently! And you’re telling me that’s not enough to convince them that I’m willing to risk my life to save this world!?!”

“Look, I get it! You don’t think I’m pissed off about this, too?! Who do you think they asked to come and collect?!” Tempest stated.

Sunset widened her stance a little as she suddenly felt cautious around this woman. “So, is getting Twilight a test to see if I can be objective when I need to be?”

“No, but if you manage to do it, I might be able to use it as a way to grease the wheels and make them think different,” said Tempest.

“And you questioned why I kept the Artifacts out of your organization’s hands.”

“Like I said, I’m not happy about it either, but right now the main objective is to figure out if Twilight is possessed or if she did this on her own, as well as how.” Tempest resumed her shadow form. “I’ll be in touch. Oh, and hang on.”

Before Sunset could say anything more, she was transported through her shadow and returned to the alley where she parked her bike. Sunset growled and then punched the wall, leaving an indention of her fist in the brick wall.

“Please let this be nothing…”

After being given her mission, Sunset decided to snoop around Twilight’s room. Their rooms had locks, but everyone trusted each other and had nothing to hide. At least that’s what Sunset thought. Thankfully, Sun and Twilight were out on a little date, so it gave her time to go through Twilight’s stuff. Sunset walked into Twilight’s room and was immediately greeted by the purple dog that was Spike, the little pup barked happily up at her, wagging his tail hoping to play with her.

“Sorry, Spike, but I’m not here to play…” Sunset explained sadly as she kneeled and petted the little dog. “I have to look around for something…something that I hope will help Twilight.”

Spike tilted his head as if he either understood what she was talking about or had no idea. It was probably better that way, the last thing she needed was to look into the eyes of a dog that knew exactly what she did. Sunset entered the room and began her search, though, she had no idea what she was looking for.

“Do you feel anything in here?” Sunset asked the Witchblade.

}}} Not especially…residual energy of your counterpart’s Artifact, but also the energies of my Mother and Father, along with the Blood Sword, the Glacier Stone, and Pandora’s Box is permeating this domicile. If an Artifact is responsible for this, then I can’t differentiate one from the other if one is even involved. {{{

“Alright…guess I’m going look around.” Sunset willed the Witchblade to cover her right forearm as metal tendrils extended outward according to her mental commands. “Less fingerprints the better, let’s carefully move things, we want to lessen our presence in here as much as possible.”

}}} Understood. {{{

The metal tendrils began making their way over different spots that Sunset thought would be perfect for hiding things. She went through the drawers of Twilight’s dresser, rummaging under the clothes and between them to see if there was anything there. After sifting through all the drawers, she came up with nothing. Sunset shifted her attention to the bed, going under the mattress, the bed itself, the pillows, and behind the headboard, but again, she came up with nothing. After smoothing over the wrinkles, she headed into Twilight’s closet. More tendrils spider webbed outwards, one of things was she was grateful for was that Twilight was practical like Applejack, she didn’t have an obscene amount of clothes, just the right clothes for school, casual days out, or special occasions.

Once again, there was nothing. It was starting to frustrate Sunset, but she sighed and exited the closet, but paused when she noticed something strange. The last time she was in this room, the standing mirror was on the other side of the room, which if going by Twilight’s logic, was a more practical and efficient placement of the mirror. So, it didn’t make much sense to have it placed right next to the entrance of the closet when there was already one inside. Sunset looked behind the mirror and furrowed her brow, there was a hole there.

On a hunch, Sunset retracted the armor around her arm and balled her hand up into a fist. She carefully placed her fist into the hole, and it perfectly fit through it. Sunset was right, she had her frustrated moments before which resulted in her having to replaster her drywall more than once, so she knew a fist made hole when she saw one. Normally this wouldn’t raise an eyebrow, but considering it was Twilight, and knowing that the girl didn’t have anywhere near the same kind of strength that she and Sun possessed, or regenerative capabilities, a hole like this would’ve caused some bad scratches and might’ve broken a bone.

“…Unless she showed Sun and she healed her…”

If that’s the case, then why did she hide the hole? How long has it been like this? Since they started living here? Or since Twilight got attacked? Either way, Sun would’ve fixed it, or hell, she could’ve asked me, it’s easy enough…

Spike walked up to Sunset and nuzzled her leg, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Oh, Spike, sorry for going through Twi’s stuff, but if I don’t figure out what’s going on…bad things are gonna happen to her…” Sunset walked over to the bed and sat down on it, but she quickly sat back up when she felt something. “What the heck?”

Sunset put her hand under the blankets and felt something, she pulled the object out and found that it was Twilight’s cellphone. Must’ve been in a hurry, she thought. On a hunch, Sunset activated the phone, which asked for a password. The answers might be on Twilight’s phone, so she had to figure the password, but what could it be? Fuck it, it’s worth a shot. Sunset began typing the words “SunLight” in the password bar. There’s no way that this is going to – Sunset’s thoughts were immediately interrupted when the screen unlocked and allowed Sunset access.

“I stand corrected.”

The redheaded teen quickly looked through what she could, she went to the files and found a folder marked “Tests”. Sunset thought that it might just be practice tests for school, which was something that she wouldn’t put past Twilight, but better to check it out anyway. Sunset tapped on the folder and found it contained several video files, each one was dated, and earliest one was dated the day of Twilight’s attack.

Sunset played the video and watched Twilight explain what she found out about herself, about how she was able to regenerate. Then another file opened, and she saw a naked Twilight begin to modify her body, becoming older, younger, expanding her breasts and hips, and apparently…she even managed to grow a phallus. That’s when it hit her.

“Oh shit…that day I came to see them…that…that wasn’t a toy…oh shit, she actually…Fuck, here I thought that could only be done Equestria…”

Sunset watched more video files; each one was a of a different test of Twilight exploring and developing her abilities. The former unicorn mare stood up and walked to the middle of the room as she tried to figure out what she was seeing.

“You know, going through someone’s private things isn’t very nice, Sunset.”

Sunset’s body went rigid upon hearing the familiar voice of her friend. Slowly, Sunset turned around and saw Twilight standing in the doorway, hands at her hips as her face sported an unamused expression. “Uh…hi…Twilight…”

Twilight entered the room and closed the door behind her and slowly advanced on Sunset. “Why are you in my room, and why are you going through my phone’s files?”

“Uh…” Sunset began to back away from Twilight. “It’s nothing really…”

“It doesn’t look like nothing,” said Twilight.

“Shouldn’t you be on a date with Sun?”

“I am, we’re currently at a restaurant and I stepped out to use the restroom, I usually don’t forget things, but when you’re with the most beautiful and loving girlfriend in the world, small things tend to slip your mind, like my cellphone.”

Sunset chuckled nervously but stopped when she hit the edge of the bed. “Twilight, I know this doesn’t look good, but I need you to listen to me. There are people who think that what happened at the school wasn’t an accident.”

“Oh?” Twilight gasped. “Is that so?”

“Yes! They think it’s your fault, or that something was using you to do it! And if I don’t figure out a way to prove them wrong, bad things will happen to you!”

“Huh? And pray tell,” Twilight stood right in front of Sunset and looked her in the eyes, “how did someone come to that conclusion? The entire school is in ruins, burnt severely, not even the best forensics labs in the world can identify how the fire was started, or how the students and faculty were killed.”

“I…It doesn’t matter,” said Sunset.

“Oh, it does, Sunset.” Twilight placed her right hand on Sunset’s chest and then pushed her with more strength than Sunset expected from her. “It really does.”

Before Sunset could get up, Twilight pounced on her, straddling the former unicorn, and held her arms down. Sunset was not expecting this level of strength from Twilight, her grip was like steel. And what was worse, was that Twilight wasn’t giving her a threatening look, no, it was more like a sultry, smoldering look.

Twilight began to giggle, “I figured as much.”

“F-Figured what?” Sunset asked.

“That somewhere deep inside, you want me like Sun wants me.”

“W-W-WHAT?!! I-I don’t want you like that! You’re Sun’s girlfriend and my friend!” Sunset stated.

“True, but I know who you really, really want. You do love Pinkie Pie, but you never really get over your first crush. That blush says it all.”

Sunset could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks, as ashamed as she was to admit it, it was true. She loved Pinkie Pie, but…there was always going to be a part of her that had a crush on Twilight, wondering “what if”.

“Sunset, tell me who told you that I’m a suspect in Crystal Prep’s burning and…” Twilight released Sunset’s arms and leaned back until she was upright. The teen genius’ hands gripped the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head, revealing her black bra. Twilight flicked the hooks off and let her breasts jiggle, freed of their lacey prison. “I’ll let you have me. You can do all the things you fantasized about doing with Princess Twilight, I’ll even say all the things you wanted her to say to you.” Twilight moved closer; her breasts now pressed against Sunset’s. “Just tell me, Sunset…”

Sunset gritted her teeth, feeling shame as her loins began to stir. This was something she had fantasized about ever since she was saved by Princess Twilight. How many nights did she pleasure herself to the dark fantasy of making Princess Twilight her personal sex slave? How many times did she orgasm to the idea of Princess Twilight dominating her in bed?

“You’re…You’re right…” Sunset admitted. “I do fantasize about fucking Princess Twilight…”

“Then, just tell me, and you can fuck me right now. I’ll squeal and scream your name as many times as you want,” Twilight offered.

“But…” Sunset placed her hands on Twilight’s shoulders and pushed her back. “I’ve come to grips with that, and besides, Pinkie knows about that! Hell, do you know how many times she’s suggested having a threesome with Princess Twilight?! It’s all I can do to not write in my journal to ask her to pop over here so me and my girlfriend can ravage her! So, no, thank you!”

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Well, that’s no fun. I kinda wanted to know if there was any difference in your bedroom skills compared to Sun, but I guess I’ll just take what I want.”

Before Sunset could say anything, Twilight gripped Sunset’s head with her right hand and looked into her eyes. Twilight’s eyes changed color, with her iris and pupils becoming a bright magenta, while her sclera glowed a milky-blue. Sunset suddenly felt energy rushing into her mind, piercing through her memories as she tried to resist whatever was happening to her.

“Sunset, please don’t resist me, I don’t want to hurt you. You’re important to Sun, and I’m not sure how powerful you’re healing factor is, so I’d like to avoid giving you brain damage,” said Twilight.

“I think you forgot…I got shot in the head…! Can’t get more brain damaged than that!!” Sunset retorted. “And I’m sorry!”

“For what?” Twilight asked.

“THIS!”

The bracelet form of the Witchblade released metal strands that weaved into a six-inch blade. Like a striking cobra, the blade lashed out and pierced Twilight in her left shoulder, digging deep into her flesh and causing the teen genius to scream in pain as she hurriedly fell off Sunset and onto the floor. The blade dislodged and unraveled itself to return to the bracelet. Sunset had a look of panic on her face when she saw the blood pouring from Twilight’s shoulder, the sight of seeing her friend in pain, and knowing that she caused the pain was hurting her inside.

“Twilight, I’m sorry! I’m really sorry! I tried not to hit any place that was vital!”

Twilight sat on her knees, clutching at her wounded shoulder as she glared at Sunset. However, a green glow came from her shoulder, and the wound quickly closed, leaving no trace other than the blood trails. “That really hurt, Sunset.”

Sunset’s right arm was quickly clad in armor, she could hear the Witchblade suggesting use the full armor, but she was vehemently against it. “Twilight, whatever’s taken ahold of you, you have to fight it! You’re not this kind of person!”

Twilight stood up, she then snapped her fingers, making her shirt and bra reappear on her body. “You don’t know the kind of person I am, Sunset. I’m through being everyone’s whipping girl, I will be no one’s bitch! No one will touch me without my permission, no one will use me, no one will claim dominion over me! I’m not the helpless little nerd I was four years ago. I’ve gained power.”

“I’m starting to see that,” said Sunset. “Look, even though what you did was horrible, I understand why you did it! Crystal Prep was abusing you, and I can understand that you did it in a fit of rage –!”

“But it wasn’t a fit of rage.” Twilight said calmly as she crossed her arms. “Yes, I was enraged, but mine has been a more calculated and cold fury. I planned all of that for a week, and it culminated in what happened last Friday. I understand that you’re looking for a reason, some mystical or even demonic outside force influencing me. But I can tell you that this not the case. Everything I did, I did because I wanted to. None of them were good people, Sunset Shimmer. Not even one of them was going to become a good person once they left Crystal Prep. If anything, they were going to hurt more people through whatever profession they eventually got into, or just through their presence alone.”

Sunset wanted to disagree with her, but after hearing how Twilight suffered at the hands of those other kids, it wasn’t a stretch to think that they might’ve hurt more people than just Twilight. “I get where you’re coming from, but you can’t just dispense justice like that!”

Twilight scoffed at that. “Please, you’re not an officer of the law, nor are you recognized as an official member of any law enforcement branch anywhere, and yet you take it on yourself to go out and fight against those who would do harm to others.”

“Only the supernatural threats! Occasionally some normal crimes, but only if your brother asks for help! But recently it’s ALL been supernatural stuff!” Sunset pointed out.

“Be that as it may, I ended several potential threats before they had the chance to do harm to others, no different from you.”

“You can’t just assume that all of them were going to end up being bad people! What about Sugarcoat?!” Sunset asked.

Twilight bristled at the mention of her friend’s name. “Sugarcoat was different! She didn’t want to end up like me, so she did what she had to in order to survive! She never harbored ill will towards me, she even saved me from getting seriously hurt!”

“How many others were like that?! Did you read their minds?! Did you check every single person and see into their souls to know that they wouldn’t change?!”

Twilight opened her mouth but stopped…she…she hadn’t considered that. Was it possible for any of them to change? Could they have changed given time and the right influence in their lives? “That’s…theoretical, with no basis!”

“You’re looking at someone who changed! I was a complete, tyrannical alpha bitch before I got hit with a rainbow laser! I became one back in Equestria, and I only got worse when I came here! But my friends – your new friends – helped me to see the light, along with the other version of you!”

Twilight waved off that notion. “I can’t really use you as a basis for that. You’re technically not human, and you haven’t been raised by humans, you lived most of your formative years in another world with different values than we have here on Earth. From what you’ve described, Equestria is less harsh than our world is, whether that’s due to how your specie’s brains are wired, or due to your upbringing is up for debate, but the fact is you’re still different. You’re not entirely human, you may have the compacity to change, but that doesn’t mean every human being does. You would rather take a chance on those other kids?! How many lives would they ruin? How many would be made to suffer their mistakes until they eventually saw the light, if ever?!”

“You’re telling me that there wasn’t one person other than Sugarcoat that could’ve changed?!”

Twilight’s mind flashed back to when Sour Sweet tried to protect Sunny Flare, how they were willing to give up being anywhere near the city if it meant they could live and be together. Really, how much harm could they have caused like that? Was she too rash in her decision to kill them? No, she did make the right choice, of course she did.

“What happens now? Are you going to tell Sun?” Twilight asked. “Or are you going to try and subdue me?”

Sunset grappled with what she knew she needed to do, and what she wanted to do. She needed to subdue Twilight and figure out what was wrong with her, but she wanted to give her time to come to her senses. “………Go back to Sun, finish your date. I’ll…I don’t know, just GO!” she ordered.

Twilight nodded and with a flash she disappeared.

Spike, who was hiding under the bed, came out and whimpered as he saw the confused rage on Sunset’s face. The former unicorn yelled into the room, startling the pup. She fell to her knees and struck the floor, she didn’t know what to do, that’s a lie, she knew what she had to do, otherwise…

Twilight reappeared in a stall in the lady’s room of the restaurant. Once she exited, she looked at herself in the mirror, there were still bloodstains on her arm, shirt, and skirt. Twilight snapped her fingers and released a magenta wave of energy that rid her of the bloodstains on her arm and clothes. The teen genius looked at herself in the mirror, Sunset’s words from earlier were still ringing in her head, but she couldn’t take back what she did, what’s done was done, the students and faculty of Crystal Prep were dead and by her hands. The image of Sour Sweet and Sunny Flare appeared in her mind, along with the annoying question. Could they have changed? Could any of them have changed if given the chance?

Admittedly that wasn’t the biggest problem at the moment, someone knew about what she did at Crystal Prep, and that someone told Sunset about it. But who? Surely it wasn’t anyone from Crystal Prep, the only survivors were the janitorial staff, Cadence, Sugarcoat, and Sun. The latter three were far away from the school, while the former was ejected from the school building. If anyone did witness it from the inside, they would be dead, but that didn’t make sense, how could the dead speak?

“Considering things that have happened, it’s not that farfetched to believe that someone has the ability to speak to the dead. Perhaps Fluttershy? She does have the power of that Spear…”

It was frustrating, irritating, she had committed the perfect crime for all intents and purposes, and now it was coming unraveled by an unknown element, an unforeseen witness to her machinations. The worst part of this…she had to tell Sun. If she didn’t…she might side with Sunset and try and subdue her, but if she explained it…maybe something different might happen.

“I have to tell her…”

Mustering her courage, Twilight walked out of the bathroom and to her and Sun’s booth. It was a nice restaurant, and with the amount of money that Sun threw around, they were able to get a private booth away from other people. Her fiery haired girlfriend was taking a sip from her glass when she spotted Twilight heading her way.

“Hey, Sparky, took a minute didn’t ya? I thought you fell in and I’d have to go and get you,” Sun joked.

“Heh…not exactly…” Twilight sat down across from Sun, her eyes staring at the menu in front of her.

“Hey, what’s wrong? You look down.”

Twilight brought her hands together as she tried to figure out how to explain herself. Sun was one of the few good things in her life, the last thing she wanted to do was lose her. For a moment she entertained a dark thought of using her power to manipulate Sun’s memory to make her so devoted her that no matter what anyone said, she’d believe Twilight and fight to the death for her. Then her mind went down the rabbit hole of all the ways that this could end badly for her and Sun.

Sun reached out with her right hand and placed it over Twilight’s hand, she gave it a reassuring squeeze, making Twilight look her in the eyes. “Sparky, whatever it is, just talk to me. You know you can talk to me about anything.”

Twilight winced. “………Even if it’s about me killing everyone in Crystal Prep………”

Sun’s eyes widened. “What did you say?”

“Sunset…I did it. I killed everyone at Crystal Prep. My powers, they go further than just altering my physical form or rapid regeneration…my powers have also increased my mental capabilities, allowing me to tap into a wide range of telekinetic abilities.”

Sun raised an eyebrow. “Such as…?”

Twilight looked around to make sure no one was looking their way. Once she was sure, Twilight tapped into her power. Suddenly, her pink shirt changed to a blue one, and her black skirt turned white. “I can rearrange matter on a subatomic level…also…”

“I can read minds and project my thoughts to others.”

Sun jumped as she looked around, she heard Twilight’s voice echo everywhere, but her lips didn’t move. Are you…Are you really reading my mind right now?!

“I am, along with projecting my thoughts to you…I’m diving into your memories or anything like that, just surface thoughts.”

Sun had a look as if she wasn’t sure how to process this. Well, that explains how you know all the right spots when we were in bed.

Twilight blushed. “I maaaaaaaay’ve used my telepathy to find out what you liked…”

Noted, so let’s keep our conversation in our minds for now. So, what happened? How did you manage to kill everyone in the school?

Twilight bit her lower lip. “If you allow me…I can show you. I can replay my memories and project them to you. It’ll be a lot faster than me explaining everything. While I’m at it, I’ll show you how I figured out my powers too.”

Twilight closed her eyes, Sunset felt a tingling sensation in her mind, and in less than a second, several images flashed through her mind. She saw how Twilight nearly died, and then got revived in the girl’s room at Crystal Prep. Running various tests in her room late at night on how her abilities worked, the night she went out and tracked down Lemon Zest. The moment she killed Lemon Zest in a fit of rage. The moment she came up with her plan to bring down Crystal Prep. And of course, the day it all happened, Sun saw it all, the students running in fear, not knowing that they were trapped in a giant deathtrap. Sour Sweet and Sunny Flare’s death, and apparently, they were in love. And lastly, Sun saw how Cinch met her end.

Sun took a deep breath that she didn’t know she was holding, the images were rushed, but she got everything. Wow…Sparky…that’s…I want to say impressive, but at the same time that was intense.

“I’m sorry…I’m sorry I haven’t told you about any of this…but when I did all that, I thought that it would be a new beginning,” said Twilight.

Sun rubbed the back of her head. Well…we still can…look, I feel the same way as you, those people were assholes, this was just karma catching up to them. We just don’t tell anyone. Sure, Sis will be pissed if she ever finds out I kept this from her, but if it’s for you I’m sure she’d see it our way.

“…And that’s our other problem…”

Twilight sent more images into Sun’s mind, showing her…what she found in her room, as well as what Sunset told her. Twilight felt shame when she showed her what she did to try and convince Sunset to tell her who knew about what she did, and she feared that Sun would get up and leave her.

After the images were done, Sun took a long minute before finally thinking something. Okay…I have issues with you trying to seduce information from my Sis…but with that being said…this isn’t good.

Twilight ran her hands through her and sighed heavily. “I know! I don’t know who it is, but at this point that might as well be irrelevant! Sunset knows I’m the one behind it, and all she said was bad things are going to happen to me! She thinks I’m possessed or being controlled by someone! Maybe we can play that up somehow?!”

Sun shook her head. Nuh-uh, Sis isn’t going to fall for something like that…shit…shit…fuck. Okay…goddammit I didn’t think I needed to do it this soon…but we don’t have any time left.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? Sunset, what are you talking about?”

Sun didn’t answer, instead she called the waiter over.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“We’re going to leave,” Sunset pulled out two one-hundred-dollar bills from her wallet and put it on the table. “Keep the change as your tip. Sparky, let’s go.”

Twilight didn’t have time to ask before she was led out of the restaurant by Sun. They headed to her car and closed the doors. Once inside, Sun drove, she didn’t say to where, she just drove. She kept driving until they were on the outskirts of the city, to the point that the suburbs were turning into country road. Once they were far enough away, at least for Sun, she stopped on the side of the road and remained silent for a minute.

“Sparky…remember when I told you and Sis about how my parents died?” Sunset asked.

“Yes…”

“I was half telling the truth. We were at a museum, and we were attacked, but not by terrorists or robbers…it was one person.”

~*~*~*~

Sunset was admiring the art with her parents, but that’s when something odd occurred. A flash of violet light went off in the middle of the room, garnering the attention of everyone in the room. It was a man, or at least she assumed it was a man based on the physique. He was covered in violet robes, the hood of which was brought up to cover his face. The scary thing was, where she should be able to see his face, all she could see was darkness, and two glowing violet eyes. As if the shadows in the hood refused to let any light in.

“It’s here…I know it is,” he said in a distorted voice.

The guards of the museum arrived with weapons drawn, but the moment they did so, the robed man raised his right hand. In it was a crystal sphere, and at the center of it was the image of a skull. This crystal glowed brighter, and before the guards could give any orders, the crystal released five blasts of electrical energy straight at the guards. Their bodies were electrified, making gurgling sounds as they bled from their eyes, mouth, and ears before all five of them fell dead.

Sunset’s mother and father hurriedly rushed their daughter to the employees only door and threw her in there, yelling at her to find a way out. Sunset did as she was told and ran, she ran as fast as she could, not to just get away, but to get help. But the sound of the door she came through getting blasted made her panic and stumble into a crate that fell from one of the shelves. When it smashed on the ground, that’s when she saw it, the Ember Stone. It called out to her, the moment she laid eyes on it the Artifact beckoned to her.

When she picked it up, Sunset felt a rush of power come over her, a flame was building in her body, heat that spread out through every cell of her being. The man in the violet robes eventually found her, and attacked, out of pure instinct, Sunset unleashed a torrent of flames that pushed the robed man back to the entrance. Feeling confident from her newfound power, Sunset gave chase and found herself back in the gallery. And that’s when she saw the bodies of her parents, turned into paste from the violent energies of the robed man’s crystal.

Sunset, in a moment of emotional distraught, released a burst wave of flames that washed over everything in the room. She wanted to destroy everything, including the robed man for killing her parents. When her rage quelled, she gasped, the man in the violet robes had not been killed as he formed a barrier around himself. The man released the orb and prepared to attack but stopped when the crystal in his gloved hands began to blink.

“Oh, I see.”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Listen here, child. I purpose a deal.”

“A deal?!”

“Do you want to see your parents again? Perhaps change everything about this situation? Then gather the Thirteen Artifacts.”

“What do you mean, ‘Artifacts’?!”

“The Ember Stone in your hand is one, this is mine, there are eleven more out there. Whoever can gather all thirteen will have the power to rewrite reality as they see fit. In other words, you can change the universe into whatever you please. You can make a utopia, a world where there is no war, or you can make the world the same, with some differences, one of them being your parents aren’t dead and are alive and well,” said the robed man.

“YOU’RE LYING! YOU’RE JUST MAKING THIS UP!!!”

“My power and the flames you’ve created here would say otherwise.”

Sunset looked around, and indeed, the robed man did have a point.

“Gather the remaining Artifacts, and when you have, I will reappear before you once again. And we will do battle for each other’s Artifacts. You’ll be able to avenge your parents and bring them back all at once. Remember child…Remember…”

After giving that ultimatum, the robed man disappeared, leaving Sunset in the middle of a raging inferno, crying her eyes out.

~*~*~*~

Twilight blinked after seeing the images in her mind, these weren’t fabricated memories, these were genuine. “Sunset…”

“I’ve worked hard to try and locate all of them, I came here to Canterlot City when I heard about the sightings of the Witchblade, one of the Thirteen. The Ember Stone, Spear of Destiny, Pandora’s Box, the Blood Sword, the Angelus and the Darkness, and the Heart Stone. The only ones I have yet to find are the Rapture, the Wheel of Shadows, and…one more.”

Twilight tried to comprehend everything that Sun was telling her. “Was…Was Indigo’s necklace one of these Thirteen?”

Sun nodded. “The Glacier Stone, the sibling to the Ember Stone. There’s still three more out there, not counting his Artifact. But I know they’re here.”

“How can you be sure?” Twilight asked.

“The Artifacts are attracted to each other, the more that are gathered in one place, the more of them will come together. It’s like a supernatural magnetism, they can’t help but be drawn to each other. So, I’m certain the Rapture and the Wheel of Shadows is here, and the second to last one as well,” said Sunset.

Twilight sat back in her seat; all of this was too much. Sure, the magical items that they’ve encountered were powerful, dangerously powerful. But never in her wildest dreams did Twilight imagine that these thirteen together had the power to rewrite the universe itself, that broke all known laws of matter and energy, time and space, and these magical items were powerful enough to reach out across the entire universe?!

“Why are you telling me all this?” Twilight asked.

“Because it might be the only way to save you, Sparky. If I can get the last Artifacts together, I can rewrite everything, make it so you never went to Crystal Prep, erase every bad thing that happened to you there! I could make it so that we were friends since childhood, grew up, and fell in love with each other! My parents would be alive and friends with yours! I can make a world that’s free from strife! But most importantly, you’d be safe!” Sunset explained.

“Wait…if what you’re saying is true…I won’t remember you…if you rewrite everything, I won’t remember everything we’ve been through.”

Sun placed her right hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “If you want, I can make it so that you keep your memories, if you want. But honestly, I think it’d be better if I changed them. Do you really want to keep the memories of Indigo raping you?! Of Crystal Prep abusing you?!”

Twilight thought about it for a second, the ramifications of something like this would be great. There were a lot of unknowns right now, what if this robed man was just feeding Sun lies about this supposed power to reshape reality? What if it was just a clever way for him to get her to collect a variety of dangerous magical items for him to use to rule the world? But…what if it was true? Well, one thing was for certain. Sunset’s warning about something bad coming for Twilight, she was vague, it could either be law enforcement or some other agency that she wasn’t aware of.

And the last thing she wanted was to have her big brother, her parents, see her as some kind of monster. “Okay…we just need to gather the Artifacts, correct?”

“Yes…just the ones that remain.”

“You said Sunset’s Witchblade is one of them…how did you plan on getting that one?” Twilight asked.

This time it was Sun’s turn to sit back in her seat. “Honestly…I wanted to save her for last…I might be able to convince her. But I can feel that it won’t be that easy.”

“Okay…Sunset…if reality can be rewritten, that means anyone who dies now can be brought back to life, right?” Twilight asked.

Sun sighed. “From what my research on the Artifacts says, yes, everything that happens from this point until the time of the Gathering can be undone.”

“……So, that means if we needed to…we could…could kill someone and bring them back.”

“If it comes to that…but I know it will. I’m too close, and now that this has come up, I have to accelerate my timetable…Shit, of all the ones that will be the hardest, Fluttershy’s Spear and Sis’ Witchblade will be the hardest to retrieve. Fluttershy’s a trained assassin, and that Spear is extremely versatile, together they’re lethal, and could easily kill me even with the Ember Stone protecting me…”

Twilight saw the distress on her girlfriend’s face. She moved over to the driver’s seat, surprising Sun when she straddled her waist and sat down on her lap. “That’s true…but then again…she doesn’t know about me, not yet.”

“What are you saying, Sparky?”

“Your big sister probably won’t say anything to the girls until she’s talked to me, if we want to catch Fluttershy off guard, then we need to go and retrieve her Spear now.”

Sun placed her hands on Twilight’s hips and looked up into her eyes. “Sparky…she’s definitely a kill target. The Spear of Destiny is connected to her and follows her command, even if we knock her unconscious and take it away, she can just recall it. If we do this…we’ll have to kill Fluttershy…”

Twilight pressed her forehead against Sun’s. “I don’t like that either…she’s a kind and gentle girl…probably the most innocent person I’ve ever met. And the last thing I want to do is take another of your sister’s friends from her so soon after they’ve lost one already…but…their pain won’t last forever. We just have to…to steel ourselves long enough to get it done. We’ll bring them back; you’ll bring them back.”

Sun moved her right hand to the center of Twilight’s chest, she stared at that spot for a moment before looking back up at her eyes. “Yeah…I’ll bring them back.” Sun brought Twilight into a tight hug, afraid of letting her go. “I’ll bring them all back.”

First Come the Tears...

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Somnambula was quietly enjoying a cup of tea on the rooftop of her current residence, reveling in the calm of the moment. She was happy to know that the funeral went well from her young student, and that they even got to speak to her friend’s spirit. She was told that it was one of her friends who used a magical Artifact called the Heart Stone, and it was this item that allowed them all to see Applejack’s spirit so that they may say their final goodbyes. She counted them lucky, not many got the chance to say their final goodbyes to their loved ones, especially in that fashion.

However, as she sipped her tea, Somnambula couldn’t help but feel great unease. The arrival of Pandora’s Box could’ve become a catastrophe, just like the rogue Cardinal, Neighsay, who sought the powers of the Angelus and the Darkness. The Blood Sword, the Witchblade, there were too many powerful items making their way to this city. The Spear of Destiny, too, was a powerful relic, and so was her Rapture. All these relics coming together in one city, what were the odds of such a thing? Too great, at least that is what she thought.

She had been praying for God to send her a sign or to give her some clarity as to what was happening here. Somnambula could sense something bad stirring, a storm that was brewing on the horizon that would engulf everything. The problem was, Somnambula had no idea how to stop it, it was almost as if someone or something was orchestrating this from behind the scenes. But before that, she had to a guest.

Somnambula glanced over her shoulder and spotted her shadow elongating until a person emerged from it. The shadows around the person receded and revealed Tempest. “Nice to see you again, Agent Tempest.”

“I figured it was you whom my student told me of from Equestria Land. It’s been, what, three years since our last team up?” Tempest asked.

“Ah, yes, the incident back in the Parisian Catacombs,” said Somnambula.

“Heh, heh, yes…so many skulls. Ahem, anyway, I need your opinion on something,” said Tempest.

“Come and tell me.”

Tempest walked over to Somnambula and sat down across from her. She rested her arms on her thighs and sighed heavily. “There’s this girl, I don’t know if she’s possessed or if she’s just lost it, but I figured I talk to you because you’d know better than anyone if it’s the former.”

“And if it is, you wish for me to perform an exorcism?” Somnambula asked.

“That would be ideal, yes, could you?”

Somnambula nodded. “Of course, I do owe you for saving my life when we encountered that Nuckelavee back in Scotland. That thing was surprising powerful.”

“No sweat…” Tempest looked up into the sky and sighed once again. “I’m honestly stuck between a rock and hard place right now. OSOD wants me to take the Witchblade from that girl who saved us all a couple of weeks ago.”

“Hmm, you mean Sunset Shimmer, my former student speaks highly of her.”

“With good reason, she’s a great kid, and with some training, she could be a real force for good in our world, but…that’s not how OSOD sees it?” Tempest raised her fist and struck it against the roof. “They want me to make her give up the Witchblade, and failing that, they want me to take it from her by force!”

Somnambula took a sip of her tea and said, “Now you see why I am freelance, I owe allegiance to no one, and I can still follow my believes. You, too, still have that option, Agent Tempest.”

“Tch…even if I thought that was an option…”

“You possess a powerful relic, don’t you? Same with me. If all else fails, why not team up with me? You who can control the flow of time in objects and people and can move freely through the shadows. And me, one who can traverse the realm of Hell and grant mercy to the damned, we’d be quite the duo,” Somnambula suggested.

Tempest stroked her chin in contemplation and smiled a little. “We’d be hunted by the OSOD if I did that, don’t think I’d be good for business.”

“I’m not well liked by the Vatican and a variety of other organizations, and yet that hasn’t stopped anyone from seeking out my services, paying me, or hampered my ability to work. I see it as a plus, another pair of eyes to watch my back, and another pair to watch yours.”

“Heh, I’ll keep that in mind.” Just then Tempest’s phone rang, she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled it out. Seeing that Daring’s name was the caller, she quickly answered it. “Hey, Daring, what’s up?”

{Tempest, we have a problem.}

“I’m doing great, how are you?”

{I’m serious, Tempest!}

“I know you are, but would it kill ya to open up with something less bleak? I have not had a very good day.”

{Well, it’s about to get worse. I’ve been doing research on all the items that have been causing you trouble in that city, and I’ve found out that there’s a common link between them!}

Tempest’s eyebrow raised. “Hold on, I’m here with someone who I want to hear this, I’ll put you on speaker.” Tempest switched it to speaker and placed it on the roof between them. “Okay, go ahead.”

{I’ve been trying to find a link to the Witchblade, Angelus, and the Darkness, I’ve found some legends and stories that tell about the beginning of the universe and how Witchblade is the child of those two. Don’t ask, too complicated. Anyway, the more I dug the more I found that they are connected to something, something bigger. The Witchblade, Angelus, and the Darkness are considered the Trinity, but there are other Artifacts of power, ten more.}

“Whoa, wait, TEN more?!” Tempest asked.

{Yes. One of them is your Wheel of Shadows, the others are the Ember Stone, Glacier Stone, Blood Sword, Pandora’s Box, Heart Stone, the Spear of Destiny, the Rapture –} Tempest and Somnambula looked at each other with wide eyes at the news that they were wielding ancient and powerful Artifacts. {– the Coin of Solomon, and one more that’s just called the Thirteenth.}

“Wait, all these others have names, but the very last one doesn’t?” Tempest asked.

{There’s not much information on it, almost as if someone was trying to keep any information about it under wraps, no, more like trying to erase it from history. But unfortunately, they weren’t as thorough as they probably hoped they were, I’ve found some references to the Thirteenth,} said Daring.

“And what did you find?” Somnambula asked.

{Even if one was to gather the other twelve, it’s pointless without the Thirteenth. Think of the other twelve as the doorway and the Thirteenth is the key, without the Thirteenth, the rest are just powerful weapons, but with the Thirteenth their true power is unlocked, and together, they can rewrite reality.}

Tempest chuckled a little, albeit nervous chuckling. “C-C’mon, Daring, that’s a little over the top, isn’t it? I mean, I’ve seen some weird shit, but that’s gotta be someone exaggerating, probably just grants someone a shit load of power, right?”

{No…I’m afraid that’s not it. In every text I managed to find, it speaks of the reality shaping power of the Thirteen Artifacts. It got me thinking…what…what if this world we live in now isn’t the world it used to be?}

“Daring–”

{Don’t talk, just listen!} Daring scolded. {Think about it, how would we know if this was done before? If someone has the power to rewrite reality, then anything from the previous world is erased. And yet, these Thirteen Artifacts remain. There’s legends and lore, stories, and accounts, but someone is actively trying to erase any information on them regarding their universe altering power. Why is that? I think someone is trying to bring them together again, but can’t actively get involved, at least to a degree. I think our world is a recreation, someone must’ve done it already, but for some unknown reason, they can’t erase the stories of the Thirteen Artifacts, as if their very existence must be known.}

“Then…are you saying that the Thirteen Artifacts, are being actively gathered to this city?” Somnambula asked.

{I’d say that’s half right. They probably have a kind of attraction to each other when there’s more than one in a certain place the rest are sure to follow. But I suspect they’ve had help, but moreover, we need to scatter them! We need to–!}

The line went silent.

“Daring…?” Tempest asked.

The silence continued.

“Hey, Daring, don’t screw around with me! I know you write a lot and like to build up dramatic suspense, but now’s not the time!”

There was a rustling in background.

“Daring Do you better say something right the fuck now or I’ll come through your shadow and kick your ass for freaking me out! Daring!”

{…………Here I thought I erased all the information on the Artifacts’ power. It’s quite annoying, no matter how many times I’ve done this, this is the one factor that persists that I can’t alter. It’s infuriating.}

Tempest and Somnambula gasped upon hearing the distorted new voice. Tempest grabbed her cellphone and shot to her feet with an enraged look on her face. “Who the fuck is this?! What happened to the person I was just talking to?!”

{Oh, the woman. You needn’t worry about her anymore. Honestly, you needn’t worry about anyone, because soon, all of this will be erased.}

“YOU BASTARD!!! WHO ARE YOU?!” Tempest demanded.

{Hmm…for now, you may call me Thirteen. I’ll be in Canterlot City soon, the final act is about to begin.}

With that last cryptic warning, the line went dead. Tempest’s glare intensified as tears started to form, Somnambula placed her hand gently on Tempest’s shoulder and gave her a comforting look.

“I am sorry, Tempest,” said Somnambula.

“Screw OSOD on this one, that bastard just made it personal…He’s after the Artifacts and he’s coming to us.” The realization just hit Tempest. “We have to get the others together! Sunset, her twin, your student, we have to warn them!”

Fluttershy was hard at work at the animal shelter, after Applejack’s funeral yesterday, she felt like being surrounded by the animals she cared for. Animals have a way of sensing a person’s sadness, and they sensed hers as they gathered around her in the play pin. Although she knew that Applejack was alright in Heaven, it was still sad that she was gone, sad that she wouldn’t get to hear her soothing voice or feel her reassuring presence. One of the puppies that was in the pin came up and licked her face, Fluttershy giggled and petted the little pup on the head.

“Thank you, but I’m the one who’s supposed to be cheering you all up. Guess I’m not doing a very good job of that today, huh?” Fluttershy asked.

*Bark*

“Heh, sorry,” said Fluttershy as she grabbed a rope. She then dangled it in front the pups. “C’mon now, let’s play.”

Some of the pups started to bite down on the other and began pulling it away from Fluttershy, she got into a little tug of war with the canines, giving them some slack before pulling back. She played a little more with them before one of the shelter employees came in.

“Fluttershy, you have a visitor,” she said.

“Oh? A visitor?” Fluttershy walked over to the table outside the play pin and unlocked her cellphone. She didn’t see any messages from her friends, nor any from her family. “Did they give a name?”

“She said her name was Sunset Shimmer, and that she was the other Sunset, she insisted I emphasize the ‘other’.”

Fluttershy’s brow arched a bit, Sun was here, visiting her at the shelter? That was, well, not quite odd, but it was different. “Okay, I understand, I’ll be right out.” Fluttershy went back in the pin and played with the puppies a little more before leaving them with some treats. She made her way down the hallway and to the reception area where she spotted her friend, Sun, leaning against one the support pillars in the lobby. “Hi, Sun.”

“Hey, Flutters, good to see you,” said Sun.

“This is unexpected, I didn’t know you’d be coming to see me,” said Fluttershy.

“Yeah, sorry for dropping in on you so suddenly, but I needed to talk to you, is kinda urgent. Is there any place in here that’s private?” Sun asked.

Fluttershy nodded her head. “There’s a meeting room for adoption interviews, we can talk there.” Fluttershy led the way back down the hall, turning left at a corridor and opening the first door on their right. The room was nice enough, a round table at the center with a few chairs, some snacks, and a water cooler off to the side, and some fliers and newsletters from the shelter pinned up on a board on the wall. Fluttershy motioned for Sun to sit down, and the flame haired teen did so. “What’s on your mind, Sun?”

Sun clasped her hands together on the table and looked at Fluttershy, her expression growing serious. “I’ll cut to the chase here, Flutters…I need your help.”

“Oh my, what with?” Fluttershy asked.

“It’s not easy to ask, but……I need your Spear of Destiny.”

Fluttershy was surprised by this request, to say the least. “Um…Sun, why do you need the Spear?”

“It’s too complicated and really, I don’t have much time. I’m asking you as a friend and as a person of God to please lend me the Spear of Destiny, I need it to help someone, someone important to me. If I’m being honest, it’ll help every single person on this planet,” said Sun.

Fluttershy was feeling a bit skeptical about this claim. “Sun, I know my Spear is powerful, but it’s power can’t reach the whole world. I want to trust you, but I need you to tell me what exactly you’re going to use it for.”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“I just can’t.”

“That’s not a good enough reason, Sun.”

“It’s the only reason I can give you.”

“Then I’m sorry, I can’t.” It was rare that Fluttershy spoke sternly about anything, but when it came to the Spear, she couldn’t budge. “The Spear of Destiny is a weapon of God Himself, it’s not something I can just lend out without good reason, Sun. I trust you as Sunset does, but even if she asked me, I wouldn’t give it to her without a good enough reason. Telling me it’s to save everyone is too vague. If you need the Spear, I can help you and use it alongside you, but I cannot give it to you.”

Sun sighed heavily as leaned back in her seat. “Flutters, I’m on a time crunch here, and things have been set in motion that can’t be undone unless I have the Spear of Destiny.” Sun closed her eyes for a moment, but when she opened them, the turquoise color changed to a bright orange. “I know you love this shelter, Fluttershy, and the last thing I need on my conscience is a lot of dead rescued animals and shelter workers. But that’s how far I’m willing to go.”

Fluttershy shot to her feet, causing the chair to fall behind her. “You wouldn’t!”

Sun raised her right index finger and lit it on fire. “I’m very serious, Shy. I don’t want to hurt the people in here, but I’ve come too far to stop now. Everything is in place, and I need to bring the final pieces together. Please just give me the Spear, don’t make me have to make my big sis cry over another friend.”

Fluttershy narrowed her gaze at Sun and then lowered her head. “I see…then…” With barely any warning given, Fluttershy spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick to Sun’s head, sending the teen flying across the room and slamming against the wall as an audible crack filled the room. Fluttershy knew that wouldn’t keep Sun down, her Ember Stone’s regeneration powers would heal her quick enough. The shy teen rushed outside and pulled the fire alarm, the bells rang loudly throughout the entire facility, causing everyone to scramble out.

The alarm will make sure that everyone gets out, along with the animals. I just need to keep Sun occupied long enough, either that or get her outside, Fluttershy thought.

The holy assassin went back into the room and saw that Sun’s neck was on fire, the Ember Stone’s telltale sign of it healing Sun. The flame haired teen’s neck snapped back into place as she sat on her rear on the floor. “Dammit, Flutters, you have any idea how much that hurts? And you didn’t even hold back!”

“You threatened the lives of everyone in this shelter, and the innocent creatures. Also, it’s not as if you were going to die, I knew the Ember Stone was going to heal you.”

“You could’ve taken my Ember Stone off after knocking me out, you could’ve ended it right there,” said Sun.

Fluttershy crossed her arms over her chest and said, “I’m not so gullible, I’m sure that your Ember Stone would burn anyone, other than you, if it were taken off.”

Sun chuckled, impressed my Fluttershy’s perception. “Well damn, Flutters, here I was hoping you would do that. Quick thinking on the fire alarm too. But I’m sorry to say that it’s too late…”

Before Fluttershy could inquire further, Sun raised her left index finger up, showing a ball of fire that was the size of a grain of sand.

“You might want to call for the Spear right about now…”

The grain sized fireball rapidly grew bigger and bigger.

“NO!!!!” Fluttershy screamed, but she knew that she didn’t have time to stop her. The holy assassin reached out with her left hand in the direction where she felt the Spear of Destiny and called out, “AD ME!” Upon speaking those words, the Spear of Destiny pierced through several walls of the building and appeared in Fluttershy’s hand. “SPEAR OF DESTINY THIRD FORM: VIRTUTUM ARMIS!”

The moment that Fluttershy spoke those words the sphere of fire exploded outwards, growing until it engulfed the entire facility. Cars stopped all around and witnessed the inferno burn down the animal shelter, and everyone else who didn’t manage to evacuate in time. Within the flames, only two people stood, one was Sun, already in her burning form, while Fluttershy was garbed in the golden Armor of Virtue, granting her protection against the searing flames. Fluttershy’s eyes watered as she cried, shedding her tears for the lives that were needlessly taken, the people and the animals, just snuffed out of existence.

“How could you?!”

“I warned you, Fluttershy. You just needed to give me the Spear and they would’ve lived; I wasn’t asking for much. Now, please, give me the Spear of Destiny, like I said, I don’t want to make my big sis cry over another dead friend,” said Sun.

Fluttershy closed her eyes and got down on one knee, she then began to pray. “Dear Lord, forgive Sun her sins, I know not why she has done this, but I as your holy warrior, will carry out her punishment on this Earth before she meets your final judgement. Amen.”

Upon her finished prayer, Fluttershy dashed towards Sun and delivered a haymaker punch right to her face, sending the pyromancer flying out of the burning sphere and into the sky. Fluttershy bounded after her, leaping from the street and onto rooftops as she pursued Sun. The wielder of the Ember Stone stopped herself in midair and waited for her target. Fluttershy jumped high into the air and came down with an ax kick right on Sun’s position. Sun threw up her arms and caught the kick on her forearms, grunting from the hard impact that created a small shockwave that radiated through the air.

“Please don’t make me do this, Flutters! Just give me the Spear!”

“You killed innocents, and you won’t even tell me why you want it!”

“Yeah, because if I do then you won’t give it to me, but I need you to trust me when I say it will save everyone!”

“That’s still not a good enough reason!”

Fluttershy backflipped and then struck Sun with a spin kick, once again sending her flying. The holy assassin released the armor and let the Spear of Destiny return to its original form, with a flick of her wrist she made the Artifact hover underneath her and landed on the shaft with both feet. The power of the Spear radiated through the soles of her feet, connecting her to it so that she wouldn’t fall of. With another flick, the Spear flew forward, allowing Fluttershy to ride the divine weapon like a surfboard.

Sun managed to right herself again, but now saw Fluttershy coming straight for her. With a determined look, Sun changed direction and jetted off in the opposite direction of Fluttershy. With a narrowed gaze, Fluttershy willed the Spear to fly faster, creating a sonic boom from the sudden increase in speed.

“Sun, you will tell me the reason why you want it! Because I will not accept anything less than the truth for the innocent lives you have taken! Spear of Destiny Second Form: Mille Nostre Gladii!”

Fluttershy jumped off the Spear, allowing it break apart and transform into a thousand holy swords, two of which she landed on, acting like skies. Using the other nine-hundred and ninety-eight swords, Fluttershy willed them to attack Sun. The pyromancer yelped when she saw the barrage of blades coming towards her, she quickly began evasive maneuvers, weaving around the blades, and releasing fire blasts, letting the explosive force push them away. While this did manage to protect her against some of the blades, she couldn’t stop all of them. One of the blades slashed her across her right side, causing liquid lava blood to come seeping out of her wound. Another one came down and slashed her left leg. Still, Sun continued to fly, not willing to stop.

Fluttershy looked down and noticed that they were leaving the urban areas and getting closer to the old warehouse district, a place that was mostly abandoned. This is better, now there won’t be anyone to hurt. However, she was through chasing Sun, this was going to end now. Fluttershy slashed her index fingers through the air, like a conductor in an orchestra, commanding the swords to enact her will.

The blades began to spiral together, forming a giant tornado of shining blades that completely engulfed Sun. She hurriedly released an explosive wave of fire, but the action only caused the tornado to expand before contracting back to its original state. Sun kept lobbing fire blasts one after the other, trying to get the tornado to break open. It was thanks to this spinning vortex that she wasn’t able to make out when the first blade was loosed. Sun grunted painfully when she saw the glimmering blade of a sword jutting out through her stomach, a second one struck through her left forearm, and then the right. Two more were loosed and embedded themselves in her thighs.

Without warning, the blades dragged her body downwards. The vortex opened, allowing her to see that she was about to smash through the roof of an old warehouse. Sun braced herself as she broke through, forced to smash through several floors and old machinery before finally landing on the bottom floor. The swords pierced through into her, making her wail loudly, it felt as if they were acting like railroad spikes, pinning her to the floor of the building to prevent her escape.

Fluttershy appeared through the hole in the roof and landed a couple of feet behind Sun. She glared at her friend and cautiously approached her. “Tell me why you did it that, Sun. I need the truth.”

“Or what? Are you going to kill me? What are you going to tell Sis? She won’t forgive you if you do!” Sun warned.

Fluttershy stopped walking, paused for a moment, and then said, “I don’t want to kill you. I just want the truth.”

Sun laughed mockingly. “The truth? The truth is I need the Spear of Destiny, the truth is I need Sis’ Witchblade, too! I need these Artifacts and I hate it because I know that you won’t give them to me willingly, and I that I have to hurt you in order to get them! Because the truth is, I need to remake this world and kill the man who killed my parents!”

“Sun…” Fluttershy knelt before Sun and looked upon her with sad eyes. “Revenge won’t make things better; it won’t bring back your parents.”

“He killed them using an Artifact, something similar to my Ember Stone and your Spear of Destiny. He’s a danger, he’s still out there! I need your Artifact to kill him and undo the damage he’s done! That’s the truth! So, let me have the Spear!” Sun begged.

“If this man is as dangerous as you say, then Sunset, you, me, and even my teacher, we can stop him together.”

Sun stopped her struggling and sighed heavily. “I wish it was as easy as that, otherwise I’d have asked you all to help me take him out. But it’s not just about my parents anymore, because this also concerns the person I’m in love with.”

“The one you’re in love with? You mean Twilight?”

“Yeah…and she’s sorry too.”

“What do you – AAAHHH!!!” Fluttershy screamed as a piece of rebar suddenly lodged itself in her chest. “W-W-What…h-how…?”

Up ahead, from the shadows, two pairs of glowing eyes stared back at Fluttershy. The eyes came closer until they were in the light, revealing Twilight Sparkle. Her hair was darker, her skin color was a darker shade of purple, and in her eyes, there were tears.

“T-Twilight…w-w-why…?”

“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…” Twilight apologized as three more rebars flew like missiles through the air and pierced Fluttershy, one through the heart, and two through her stomach and abdomen.

Fluttershy coughed up blood as she looked from the rebars in her chest, to Sun, and then to Twilight. The swords dispersed into particles of light, reforming into the Spear of Destiny which clattered to the floor. Sun’s wounds began to heal as she got to her hands and knees and looked at Fluttershy, her eyes, too, had tears in them.

The former holy assassin of the Church merely smiled at them and said, “I…I forgive you…”

Fluttershy, the kindest, most gentle soul either of the girls had or ever will know, fell to ground, dead. Blood pooled beneath her as her body grew still and lifeless. Twilight’s physical changes dissipated when she neared Sun, Sun changed back to her normal state, and both girls just stared at Fluttershy’s dead body. Time felt as if it slowed down, they almost couldn’t comprehend what they had just done, but there it was, Fluttershy was dead, and they had killed her.

Twilight dropped to her knees and grabbed at the hem of her skirt. “We…We had to do it…right?”

“Y-Yeah…” Sun replied.

“W-We needed the Spear…we’re…we’re bringing her back…Right?”

“Of…Of course…We can – no – we will bring them back,” Sun affirmed.

“Okay…Okay…I know that…I know that…so then why…” Twilight’s vision blurred as the tears began to flow. “Why does it hurt so much…?!”

Sun didn’t answer, just like her girlfriend, the tears were flowing heavy, she struck the ground several times, and then released a pain filled scream into the air, her voice echoed throughout the warehouse, filling every nook and cranny with the sound of her pain. Hatred she could deal with, scorn, betrayal, she was prepared for this, she was prepared to receive those kinds of looks. But not that. Not that smile, and not those words. She forgave them…

“Dammit Flutters…why do you have to be such a goddamn saint, right up to the fucking end!” Sun wailed.

It felt like hours before either of them was able to stop crying. Sun was the first to get up, she walked over to where the Spear of Destiny lied and picked it up. She looked towards Fluttershy’s body and pointed her right hand towards it. With a flash, Fluttershy’s entire body was wrapped in intense flames.

“They don’t need to see her like this,” said Sun.

Twilight got up, wiping her face, and nodded. “I understand.” They watched the impromptu funeral fire burn Fluttershy’s entire body to ashes, once that was done, Twilight spoke, “We…We won’t have much time. We should head to Sugarcoat and get the Heart Stone next.”

“You go ahead, I can’t lug this around or Sis and the others will get suspicious. I’ll lock it up, call me if you manage to get the Heart Stone before I get there,” said Sun.

“Okay…”

Sun placed her hand on Twilight’s shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. “It’ll be alright, Sparky. This isn’t the end of them, everyone will be reborn in the new world.”

“I know…this is the hard part…I won’t let you down,” said Twilight.

The teen genius stepped back and teleported away, leaving Sun alone in the warehouse. “I know you won’t, Sparky……” Sun looked at her right hand, which now transformed into a dragon’s claw. “Killing Fluttershy was this hard. Will I be able to do what I have to when the time comes…?”

Sunset drove around town, not sure what to do after what she saw with Twilight. She had powers, and she used them to kill everyone at Crystal Prep. Granted they were awful people, but who’s to say that they couldn’t have changed? Okay, Sunset believed she was just wishful thinking, but if she went around believing everyone was a lost cause then Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo would’ve been dead by her hands a long time ago.

“What am I supposed to do if she’s not possessed?”

}}} I would assume the answer comes down to, is she willing to kill again? {{{

I don’t think so…really, I hope not. I want to believe that the Crystal Prep massacre was just her seeking revenge for what they put her through. In some…small way…I could forgive her for that, but it’s the unknown that worries me. What if she uses her powers on someone who’s just having a bad day and takes it out on her? With the trauma she’s suffered, she might have a kneejerk reaction.

}}} Then it’s a matter of ensuring that she does take another life unnecessarily, would you feel better if she knew that she wouldn’t kill without reason? {{{

I’d prefer if she didn’t kill at all. But I want to believe in her…

Just then, Sunset’s cellphone went off. “Answer,” she said into her headset, “This is Sunset Shimmer.”

{Sunset, we have a problem!}

“Rainbow? What is it?!”

{The animal shelter where Fluttershy volunteers at, it went up in flames!}

“WHAT!!!!!” Sunset hit the breaks of her bike hard, causing the tires to screech as she came to an abrupt halt. The cars behind her began to honk at her, and some cursed at her from out their window. “When did this happen?!”

{About five minutes ago, the fire alarm went off and then, just, poof! The entire place went up! I’ve been trying to get ahold of Fluttershy but she’s not responding to my texts or calls! Sunset, she was supposed to be there today!}

A pit of dread formed in Sunset’s stomach. “Keep trying to call her, I’m heading to the animal shelter now!” The tires on Sunset’s bike screeched as she peeled away, leaving the honking cars behind as she blew through several red lights on her way to the animal shelter. It didn’t take long for her to get there, several fire engines and police cars were already on the scene, dousing the inferno and trying to contain it so that the flames didn’t spread out towards the other buildings.

“Faust above…what did this?!” Sunset looked around and spotted a worker from the shelter. She hurriedly took off her helmet and ran towards them. “Hey! Hey you! Hey, did a girl make it out of there?! Her name’s Fluttershy!”

The worker looked at her and shook her head. “I don’t know, it all happened so fast! We barely managed to get some of us out of there! But…oh god…the rest are dead! Fluttershy…I’m so sorry…”

“No…No…Nonononononononono! That’s not true!” Sunset turned around and called out to anyone, “Did…Did anyone see anything else!”

A male employee heard Sunset and spoke up, “I-I did! I thought I saw a streak of fire and something else pop out of the fire and head out that way!” The employee pointed his finger the direction that he saw streak go.

“Thank you!” Sunset exclaimed.

Sunset quickly mounted her bike and raced in that direction. She didn’t know how far she needed to go, but she knew there was no way she was going to find it on the ground. Sunset pulled into an alley and stopped. She glanced about to make sure that there were no cameras or people, once she was certain, Sunset unleashed the Witchblade, letting it tear through her clothing and don her in its supernatural armor. Now armored up, Sunset created her metallic bat wings and shot straight into the air. Now with a bird’s eye view, she headed back in the direction that the employee had showed her. She soared through the sky, scanning the area below for any sign of battle or any sign of Fluttershy.

Sunset knew that Fluttershy wouldn’t die that easily, she had the Spear of Destiny, surely, she would’ve called on it if it looked as if her life was in danger. That had to be it, whoever or whatever caused the fire was after Fluttershy, and she used the Spear to do battle with the one responsible. The only question is, how far did they go? And was she alright? Sunset flew further and further, but she still hadn’t found anything. Soon she came upon the old warehousing district, and it was here that she saw the first sign. There was a hole in the roof of one of the warehouses, but not due to natural causes, it looked as if something had broken through the roof.

Without wasting any time, Sunset descended through the hole and hovered in the air once she reached the ground floor. “What can you sense?”

}}} I sense sadness here, pain, and…strange. {{{

“What?”

}}} There’s also traces of Artifacts, energies similar to mine were here. {{{

That gave Sunset pause. “Okay…well…the Spear of Destiny is an Artifact; can you tell how many?”

}}} I’d say three, but there is something you should know. One of them is the Spear of Destiny, the other is unfamiliar, but the last one…is the Ember Stone. {{{

“Okay…So…So Sun might’ve found Fluttershy and was giving her backup! She probably hasn’t called me yet to tell me what happened, or…or maybe they’re still in trouble?!”

Sunset landed on the floor and investigated the area; however, it didn’t take her long to spot the traces of blood, and a charred spot on the ground. The former unicorn’s eyes widened as she dropped to one knee before the small pool of blood. “No…it…”

}}} Calm yourself, Sunset. We don’t know whose blood this is, it could be anyone’s. {{{

“Y-You’re right, I gotta stay calm and think. I need to call Sun!” The Wtichblade’s gemstone glowed and produced the cellular device, Sunset retracted the armor around her hands and quickly dialed Sun’s number. A minute of ringing went by before the line was picked up. “Hello?! Sun, are you alright?!”

{Whoa, Sis, calm down. Why are you asking if I’m alright?

“Because the animal shelter that Fluttershy volunteers just went up in flames, literally! I think someone or something caused it, and whatever it was, I think Fluttershy used her Spear to fight them! I tracked them to this warehouse, but the Witchblade said that it sensed three Artifacts! One was the Spear, the other was yours, and the last was unknown! So, I’m asking if you’ve seen Shy?! Are you with her?!”

{N-No, I’m not. I don’t know why the Witchblade is sensing my Ember Stone there, but I’ve been with Twilight this whole time. Where are you, I’ll come by and help you look!}

“No, no that’s fine, just…ugh…on top of everything else…! Okay, I’m going to track her down, I want you to get Twilight back home until I can figure out if there’s anything else going on!”

{Alright, be careful, Sis.}

Sunset ended the call and let the cellphone absorb back into the gemstone.

}}} There is something amiss here, and I do not like it. {{{

Sunset glanced at the gemstone and asked, “What are you talking about?”

}}} I am not mistaken in my sensing of the Ember Stone; we’ve been in close contact with your twin long enough for me to discern it from the background energies of the other Artifacts we have collected under her mansion. And I doubt that getting the Ember Stone away from your twin is an easy feat. {{{

“Are you saying it was Sun who did this?!” Sunset asked incredulously.

}}} I am saying keep an open mind. {{{

Sugarcoat was lying in her bed, reading through a crime thriller book she had purchased not too long ago and hadn’t gotten around to finishing it. Her parents were out on a date, which left Sugarcoat to enjoy some private time alone in her home. She had the Heart Stone on, lately Sugarcoat had started to wear the Artifact regularly, wanting to get used to its power. She kind of felt bad that she wasn’t able to give everyone more time to speak to Applejack, had she practiced more, perhaps they could’ve spoken a little more?

But when she thought about it, perhaps that was for the best. Applejack was able to say what she wanted to say to her loved ones, and everyone got to say their goodbyes, the goodbyes that they weren’t able to do on the day of her murder. Sugarcoat was glad she was able to do that with her grandmother. It was honestly making Sugarcoat conflicted as to what kind of career path she wanted to pursue once she graduated.

Becoming a lawyer was her original plan, but now that she possessed the Heart Stone, she could help people in ways that were not originally accessible to her. Perhaps becoming a private investigator was a better option? The Heart Stone allowed her to read auras, so she could easily see if someone was lying or had killed someone, and with its power to speak to the dead, she could talk to the departed spirits and ask them who killed them and what she could do to bring their killer to justice. Or maybe take up her grandmother’s habit of just being a wandering Samaritan, doing good for people who needed help.

“For all the abilities you grant me, you’re not making my decision easier. Well, one thing’s for sure, I’m not missing out on being a proper friend to Twilight. I’ll go to the same university, and we’ll start over, I’ll be someone she can confide in, someone who can help her, and whatever else a good friend is supposed to do!”

That was probably the one thing that Sugarcoat was certain of. The guilt was still there, it would never truly go away, but Sugarcoat was determined to make up for that from this point forward. Being a good friend to Twilight, she believed, was the first step on her long road to making up for her actions in Crystal Prep. She was involved in some of the hazing, but only because she was a part of Sunny Flare’s clique, and if she didn’t, she’d be targeted like Twilight was. Not only that, but she practically used her body to skate by having to go through any of what Twilight went through. It still made her sick thinking she had to whore herself just gain some modicum of respect and protection.

Just then the doorbell rang, making Sugarcoat’s eyebrow rise. “Weird, not expecting anyone…” Sugarcoat got out of her bed and walked from her room, down the stairs, and to the front door. Once she opened the door, she was surprised to see who it was. “Twilight?”

“Hi, Sugarcoat.”

“Um…wow…Uh, I wasn’t expecting you,” said Sugarcoat.

“I wanted to stop by and speak with you, sorry for not texting you. If this is a bad time, I can come back?” Twilight insisted.

Sugarcoat shook her head. “No, it’s fine. My parents are out so we’ll be free to talk about whatever you want without having to be secretive about it.”

Twilight smiled and followed Sugarcoat up the stairs and into her room. Sugarcoat, upon having Twilight enter, just realized that this was the first time she’s had her over. She suddenly felt very self-conscious about her room, and her attire. Her room was spacious, velvet, turquoise colored carpeting made up the floor, while a maroon colored, ornate rug was at the center of it. A desk was placed against the wall next to the door, with a large computer monitor, some books, and writing material. There was a shelf filled with mystery novels and some other books on law and the like, indicative of her plans for the future.

Sugarcoat, despite the way she acted at school, was kind of a messy person in her own room. Some of her clothes were lying on the floor in different locations, along with some of her underwear. Then there was her attire, a pink t-shirt with purple boy shorts, and of course she wasn’t wearing a bra either. She hoped Twilight wouldn’t notice, honestly, she didn’t know why she felt embarrassed, Twilight was with Sunset Shimmer, it wasn’t like she was going to pounce on her.

Twilight hummed a little as she looked about Sugarcoat’s room, she then turned to her friend and said, “This is my first time I’ve been to a friend’s home, not counting Sunset.”

“Heh…well, this is a first for me as well,” said Sugarcoat.

“But I thought you, Sunny Flare, and the others would have slumber parties at your houses?” Twilight asked.

Sugarcoat sat on her bed and shrugged. “If you can call those slumber parties…As far as I was concerned, it was just a way for us to plan our next ‘evil scheme’, talk shit about the other students, and…ugh…play the occasional truth or dare. Guess who got saddled with the sex themed dares?”

Twilight winced. “Sorry for bringing it up.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Sugarcoat as she waved it off. “So, what brings you over?”

“Actually, I wanted to speak to you about something important.”

“Okay, what is it?”

Twilight rubbed her left arm as she looked away from Sugarcoat for a minute. “There’s something I need from you, Sugarcoat, and, honestly, if I don’t get it, it could be troublesome for everyone.”

Sugarcoat knitted her brow. “Okaaaaaaaay…what did you need?”

Twilight looked at Sugarcoat and then pointed to her right wrist. “I need the Heart Stone, Sugarcoat.”

Sugarcoat’s left hand quickly clasped around her wrist. “You do know that this was given to me by my grandmother, it’s the last memento I have of her. Plus, you know it has powers.”

“I know, Sugarcoat, I know how important that is to you. But I need you to trust that I wouldn’t ask you for something so precious to you if it wasn’t important,” said Twilight.

“If you need it, then I’ll come with you and use it for whatever it is you need it for. Otherwise, I’m sorry, I can’t give it to you. It’s not just a powerful magical item, to me, it’s part of grandmother.”

Twilight hugged herself and said, “I thought you were trying to be my friend now, Sugarcoat.”

Sugarcoat sprang to her feet and said, “Don’t do that! Don’t use that against me! I want to be your friend – I am your friend now!”

“And friendship is built on trust.”

“Not blind trust, that’s what got me into the position I was in back at Crystal Prep!”

“Really, which position was that? Doggy? Missionary? Sixty-nine? You don’t strike me as the sort who would favor cowgirl,” Twilight mocked.

Sugarcoat turned beet red as she furrowed her brow further. “How dare you!”

“You’re all talk, Sugarcoat, when push comes to shove, you back down. You’d rather take the easy way out, which, in your case, involves spreading your legs for every boy, and opening your mouth for every girl!”

Sugarcoat had had it, she walked right up to Twilight and slapped her across the face, tears forming in her eyes. “Do you think I liked having those boys have their way with me?! Do you think I liked getting on my knees and pressing my face between a girl’s legs?! I hated every single moment of it! You don’t get to criticize me when all you did was take it, too!”

“Oh, you think I’m to blame for everything that happened to me?” Twilight asked as she crossed her arms.

“Tch, yes, I do! You had the option of going to Dean Cadence! You had the option of going to your parents and telling them what was happening to you! You had multiple chances to make it all stop, but you didn’t! You didn’t stand up for yourself, Twilight! That’s all you needed to do!”

Twilight rolled her eyes at the insinuation. “Stand up for myself, right. It’s thaaaat easy. Because, you know, it’s not like the school was being run by a woman who had her hands in some deep pockets, and could easily ruin my academic career, and black ball me from any future career in science that I want to pursue!”

“At least you would’ve had your self-respect, but no, you just endured it! Yeah, you might’ve had to do deal with some crap after you left, but at least you wouldn’t have been getting hazed every day, and you definitely would’ve been getting raped every other day by Indigo Zap!” Sugarcoat stated.

“I can easily throw that back at you, Sugarcoat!” Twilight began advancing on Sugarcoat, making the bespectacled girl have to back up. “You could’ve told someone about what was happening to me, you could’ve told your parents about the kind of toxic environment that Crystal Prep had, all of those options were yours, and yet, you decided to join up with Sunny Flare, and you decided to become the school whore! Which, to be honest, is way worse than being its whipping girl!” Twilight accentuated her point by pocking Sugarcoat in the chest, causing her to fall backwards onto the bed. “Face it, you’re not any better than them! And you’re worse than me!”

Anger was welling up in Sugarcoat, a great anger, one that wanted to lash out and hit Twilight again, or at this point, turn it into a brawl. But that anger was cooling in place of self-loathing. “You’re right…I am no better than you, I’m worse. I had the chance to speak up, but I didn’t. I became something disgusting, and I can’t take that back…I’m such an idiot…What was I thinking? I don’t deserve to be your friend, fuck, I don’t even deserve to try!”

Twilight’s expression of anger was faltering.

“I’m sorry…I never really apologized for the role I played in your suffering…but, from my heart, I mean this, I’m really sorry…” Sugarcoat lamented as more tears fell.

Twilight couldn’t keep up her façade and began to cry as well. “Dammit…I needed to hate you…I needed you to hate me…But…I can’t…” Twilight fell to her knees and cried.

“What…What are you talking about?” Sugarcoat asked.

“I wanted you to hate me! And I was trying to dredge up my own hate as well so that I could…I could take the Heart Stone from you! To make it easier for me to do it! I wanted you to get angry with me, so angry that you wanted to hurt me!”

“And…that’s why you said all those things?”

“Yes!” Twilight confessed. “At least then I might not feel as bad later, but then you just…you just agreed with me! You became so repentant that…”

Sugarcoat tapped into the power of the Heart Stone, she could see a chaotic mixture of auras, but the most prominent among them was the black, the aura of death. It was blacker than it was the first time she saw it, and now, Sugarcoat had an idea as to why that was. “Twilight…did you kill everyone at CPA?”

“Yes…I did…I sent you, Sunset, and Cadence away by hacking your phones and sending false messages about needing you to be somewhere else. I ejected the janitorial staff from the building halfway through Cinch’s speech, and right after…I executed my plan,” Twilight explained. “I wanted to save you, because you were my first friend…aside from Sunset, but she’s my girlfriend now.”

Sugarcoat took a moment to absorb that information, Twilight was the one who killed all their classmates, and the faculty. She killed Sunny Flare, Sour Sweet, and Principal Cinch. “Twilight…did you kill Lemon Zest, too?”

Twilight nodded. “She was the first…but I didn’t mean to kill her…! I was just going to track her down so that my brother could arrest her! But then…I tried to confront her on my own, and then…she threatened my parents, Sunset, and me…I-I just couldn’t take it anymore, I lashed out! I killed her! And afterwards…I felt free! I felt good! I was finally able to put an end to someone who hurt me with my own two hands! And that’s when I got the idea, I leaked all that information about Crystal Prep little by little over the course of the week, with the crescendo being Friday’s assembly where I ended it all!”

Sugarcoat was disturbed by this, the psychology books she had read told her that Twilight was showing the classic signs of being emotionally disturbed, and given all she went through, something like this was inevitable. The real question was, would she kill again? Well, it seemed that she tried to with her, but she couldn’t because she didn’t feel anger towards her.

“Is the reason you want my Heart Stone because of what you did?” Sugarcoat asked. “If you wanted to speak to their spirits, I could do that for you…?”

“I never want to see them again, as spirits or anything else!” Twilight stated sharply. “But no…that’s not the reason. Just believe me when I say this Sugarcoat, what I want to do with it will help me and everyone in this world. Your Heart Stone is more powerful than you think, along with Sunset’s Ember Stone!” Twilight reached out and clasped her hands together with Sugarcoat’s. “Everything will be alright once it’s over, Sunset will make a world where we’re best friends, where we never go to Crystal Prep! Your Heart Stone is an important piece to the puzzle, so I’m asking you, please, let me have it!”

Sugarcoat looked at the Heart Stone on her wrist. She wanted to believe Twilight, but all this talk about making a new world sounded crazy. She knew that magic and monsters existed, that was a fact now that could not be disputed, but to say that there was a power that could change the world like that it…it just sounded too farfetched.

“Twilight, have you considered that this endeavor, whatever it is, is just a farce?” Sugarcoat asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re saying that Sunset Shimmer will be able to change the world if she has my Heart Stone, but I’m guessing there’s more to it than that, right?”

“Yes, there are other Artifacts that we need to gather, but once we have, Sunset will be able to change everything!” Twilight said excitedly.

“And who told her that, or rather, how did she come about this information?”

Twilight sat on the bed next to Sugarcoat and began explaining how Sunset came to know this information about the Thirteen Artifacts, and how their power combined could rewrite reality. “So, you see, all we have to do is get the last few together! Which is simple because most of them are in the city already! And once we defeat the one responsible for killing Sunset’s parents and get his Artifact, we can fix everything!”

Sugarcoat put on a serious expression. “Twilight, I think this guy is playing her, and Sunset is playing you.”

“W-What did you say…?”

“Think about it? The guy who killed Sunset’s parents let her live just so she could go out and gather all these other Artifacts, what guarantee did he have that Sunset would be able to accomplish this? And if he did know she could, why would he tell her that they have this kind of power? I think he’s lying to her, or…”

“Or what?”

“Or Sunset’s lying to you. Maybe she’s the one who wants to gather the Artifacts together and change the world to something that she wants,” said Sugarcoat. “Think about it, if she’s successful, she can do whatever she wants! Who’s to say that she’ll still be with you?! If she can change reality, she can make it so she can have any girl she wants! Twilight, I think Sunset is just using you to help her get what she wants!”

Twilight looked down at the floor as her body trembled, her bangs obscuring her face a little. “How could say that…Sunset…Sunset loves me…”

“I’m telling you this because that’s what a friend does, Twilight. I don’t want to see you hurt again, and if Sunset’s setting you up for a fall, then I have to save you before you hit the ground! Let’s talk to her sister – parallel self – whatever, let’s just talk to the other Sunset, maybe she can shed some light on this or –!”

Before Sugarcoat could finish, Twilight’s hands shot out and wrapped themselves around Sugarcoat’s throat. Twilight’s hair turned darker, while her purple skin became violet. When Twilight turned to look at Sugarcoat, her eyes were glowing. “How could say that, Sugarcoat?” Twilight kept squeezing, and Sugarcoat tried to fight back, but for some reason, Twilight was far stronger than she used to be. The teen genius forced Sugarcoat to fall back onto the bed, getting into a straddling position as she continued to apply pressure.

“Sunset Shimmer loves me, I love her with all my heart, and she feels the same! She would never use me! She would never hurt me like that! I’m not being tricked, and I’m not being used!”

Sugarcoat tried scratching at Twilight, but every time she managed to claw her, the wounds would heal almost instantaneously, and what was worse, it was as if Twilight wasn’t even registering the pain at all. “T-Twilight…S-Stop…A-AAH…!”

“She loves me! She would never betray me! She loves me! She would never betray me! She loves me! She would never betray me! She loves me! She would never betray me! She loves me! She would never betray me! She loves me! She would never betray me! She loves me! She would never betray me! She loves me! She would never betray me! She loves me! She would never betray me! She loves me! She would never betray me! She loves me! She would never betray me! She loves me! She would never betray me! SHE LOVES ME!!! SHE WOULD NEVER BETRAY ME!!!”

Sugarcoat thrashed under Twilight, bucking her hips wildly to try and throw Twilight off her, but no matter what she did, Twilight wouldn’t budge for anything. Her eyes started to turn blood shot, the skin around her face was changing to a shade of blue, and tears started to stream once again. Twilight kept repeating her words over and over like a mantra and all the while squeezing harder and harder and harder–

*Snap!*

Sugarcoat went limp, her thrashing ceased. Twilight noticed that Sugarcoat’s eyes were no longer looking at her, they just had this dull, blank look to them now. She wasn’t even making any gagging noises either, she was completely silent.

“Sugarcoat…?” Twilight released Sugarcoat’s throat as her head limply turned to the left side. “Hey…I-I’m sorry I did that, Sugarcoat! You can stop pretending now!…Sugarcoat…?” Twilight pressed her hand to Sugarcoat’s heart, she couldn’t feel a heartbeat. “No…” She sent out a wave of energy to check her body and found that her neck had been broken. “No…please God…no…no – NO! I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean it! Sugarcoat!” Twilight grabbed her friend’s shoulders and began shaking her as if to wake her. “Please, wake up, Sugarcoat! I didn’t mean it! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it! You’re my friend! I wanted you to live! Sugarcoat please don’t…don’t leave me!”

Despite her pleas, Sugarcoat did not wake. Twilight sobbed into her deceased friend’s chest, she didn’t want this, she didn’t want to kill Fluttershy either, but she had a chance of convincing Sugarcoat to give her the Heart Stone, she had a chance to take it from her. But she killed her, with her own two hands she took her friend’s life, someone that she saved, that she had deemed worth saving from her wrath on the Crystal Prep. Now she was gone.

Twilight rose and looked down upon her friend’s lifeless body, her eyes then shifted to the Heart Stone bracelet that still rested around her wrist. Carefully, Twilight slid the bracelet off Sugarcoat’s wrist and placed it into her left skirt pocket. She felt hollow inside, like this wasn’t real, but the reality was that it was real, and until the Artifacts were gathered, this would remain permanent. Twilight used her power to lift Sugarcoat’s body off the bed, she made the blankets move back and gently placed Sugarcoat’s body onto the bed. Once there, she made the blankets cover her. Twilight closed Sugarcoat’s eyes and stroked her hair gently.

“This…This will all be a bad dream…W-When you wake up…I-I promise…It’ll all just be a bad dream…” Twilight leaned down and kissed Sugarcoat on her forehead.

Twilight, with a shaky hand, reached into her right pocket and pulled out her cellphone, she immediately called Sunset who quickly picked up.

{Sparky, are you alright? How did it go with Sugarcoat?}

“……She’s…Sugarcoat’s asleep now…but I got the Heart Stone…”

{………I see……It’ll be alright, Sparky. None this will have ever happened once we’re through.}

“Okay…And, Sunset?”

{Yeah?}

“Y-You’re not lying, right? W-We can bring them all back, you can change everything?!” Twilight asked desperately.

{Of course not, Sparky, I would never lie to you! I meant what I said, I swear on my parents’ graves that it’s not a lie! Once we’ve killed that son of a bitch, we’ll have all of the Thirteen Artifacts, and I can make everything right again!”

Twilight glanced to Sugarcoat’s body. “I believe you, I just…I just needed to hear you say that again. I love you, Sunset.”

{I love you, too, Sparky. I’ll always love you.}

Twilight hung up the phone and sighed sadly. “You’re wrong Sugarcoat…you’ll see…she loves me, and I…I’m willing to place my life in her hands!”

Twilight’s body was enveloped with magenta light, and in a second, a flash of magenta light went off in the room and she disappeared.

...Then Comes the Blood

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The time was almost upon them, Sunset stood in her underground vault, standing amongst the assembled Artifacts. The Siphon of the Angelus, the Prism of the Brothers, the Blood Sword, Pandora’s Box, the Glacier Stone, her Ember Stone, the…the Spear of Destiny, and soon the Heart Stone will be here. They needed the Wheel of Shadows and the Rapture, the Coin of Solomon was…within reach, but the Witchblade, that would be most difficult as far as she was concerned. The Thirteenth Artifact would be the easiest, because when the person responsible for killing her parents appears before her, she would obliterate him entirely from the face of the Earth and pry the Thirteenth Artifact from the smoldering ashes of his body.

A light went off behind Sunset, she turned around and saw that it was Twilight, however, she was different. Her hair color was darker, her skin was violet, and her eyes had a glow to them. “Sparky, Babe…are you doing alright?”

Twilight had a distant look on her face, she walked up to Sunset and held out the Heart Stone to her. “I’ll be better when it’s over…” Twilight moved closer and placed the Heart Stone in Sunset’s hand, she then closed the gap between them and gave her girlfriend a kiss. Sunset responded in kind.

It was a kiss that spoke of need, of love, and sadness. After a minute Sunset broke off the kiss, “You’re okay, Sparky, I’m right here.” Sunset noticed that the physical changes to Twilight hadn’t dissipated. “Hey, you know you look different, right?”

“What?” Sunset moved Twilight closer to one of the plexiglass containers and showed Twilight her reflection. “Oh…Oh my, I didn’t realize it…my powers are altering my physical body more than I wanted.”

Sunset didn’t want to say, but, for some reason, Twilight was looking a lot sexier too. Her bust seemed to have increased by another cup, and she was a bit curvier. “ Sparky, I know you wanted to be sexy for me, but you don’t have to alter yourself so drastically.”

“Sunset…I don’t think I’m doing this consciously…” Twilight looked at her hands, and then ran them over her body, realizing that her proportions had changed again. “I…I think my powers are evolving me into my idle form, subconsciously anyway.”

Sunset had done some research on the Coin of Solomon in what spare time she was able to get, and now understood why these changes were taking root. Not surprising, the Coin of Solomon’s power is evolution. Once embedded into a host, it accelerates the hosts evolution, making them stronger, and grant them abilities that would suit the host’s idle form. For Twilight, it looks like her idle is someone who is beautiful, intelligent, sexy, and powerful, someone whom no one can look down at, someone to be revered and idolized. If anything, this just shows how deeply the trauma she’s suffered at Crystal Prep has affected her.

The flame haired teen placed her hands on Twilight’s shoulders and said, “You’re alright, Sparky. This won’t be an issue for much longer.”

“I mean…granted I look…good. But this is a bit alarming since I didn’t will this to happen,” Twilight observed. “However, if – when we’re successful,” she corrected, “then I won’t have to worry about this ever.” Twilight looked at Sunset and asked, “Sunset, you…when you recreate reality, you are going to make it so that we’re together again, right?”

Sunset blinked. “Of course I am, Sparky. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because, when you remake everything, no one will remember what happened in the world prior. You could get another girl, someone with less issues…” An idea sparked off in Twilight’s head as her demeanor became more jubilant. “I know! Make me into your perfect girlfriend!”

“What?” Sunset asked in confusion.

“I don’t have to be a genius, or a scrawny little nerd girl with hardly any sex appeal! You can change me to be just of average intelligence…maybe just a bit above average. But you can make me have a sexy body, and-and completely loyal to you! I wouldn’t hate that! Granted, by that time I wouldn’t be able to protest, but I’m just letting you know ahead of time! Y-You could even make me into your personal sex slave!”

“SPARKY!!!” Sunset shouted, cutting off Twilight’s rant. “Read my lips, I will NOT change you! You’re perfect the way you are; I fell in love with that scrawny nerd girl, and you do have sex appeal to ME! When I remake everything, you’re going to be a genius, we’re going to be girlfriends again, I’ll fucking marry you and make you my wife! We’ll be a of pair genius billionaires getting rich off our inventions and solving the world’s problems through our combined scientific knowledge! While also being a dorky, lovesick married couple! The only thing that’ll be different about you, is that you will never have to go through that trauma at Crystal Prep, fuck it, I’ll just make it so that place never exists!”

Twilight’s eyes began to water as she gave Sunset a fierce hug, burying her face in her chest as she sobbed happily upon hearing those words, words that she didn’t think she needed to hear, but now that she did, it only affirmed her resolve to see this through, for that future that seemed so much brighter than this one. “Thank you, Sunset, I love you so much.”

The flame haired teen hugged Twilight tighter and said, “I love you, too, Sparky………Now, if you want to be into kinky stuff in the bedroom in the new world, I can make it happen.”

“C’mon, we’re having a moment.”

“I’m just saying, maybe I should make it so that you’re a futanari in the new world, you seemed to get a real kick out of plowing me and trying to put a bun in my oven,” Sunset pointed out.

Twilight blushed intensely at the memories of their more recent lovemaking sessions, and the adding of her “new equipment” during those sessions. “I-I-I wasn’t trying to get you pregnant!”

“You fucked me like you were trying to. So, is that a no on the futa thing or…?”

“Sunset Shimmer, you are a pervert……we’ll discuss that a little later.”

“I didn’t hear a no~”

“I can make it so that you can’t talk and ruin this moment further.”

“Shutting up.”

Sunset, the former unicorn, spent the last two hours searching for Fluttershy, but had come up with nothing. Her hope that she would find her alive was diminishing by the second, but she needed to keep on hoping that she was alive, otherwise…Sunset shook the tears from her eyes and decided to head back to Shimmer Manor, she needed to a plan, and talking with Sun, who was practically her, might be a good way to figure out what was going on. Sunset landed in the backyard, she strode onto the patio and into the home, deactivating her armor, and putting on a robe that was placed on a rack for her convenience.

Sunset made it to the first step of the stairs, but that’s when she noticed her shadow elongating. “THE HELL?!” Sunset disrobed and summoned the Witchblade armor. However, her guard lowered when she saw Tempest emerge, and with someone new. “Tempest, fucking hell! Don’t do that!” Sunset’s armor returned to bracelet form as she bent down and put her robe back on. “My friend’s gone missing, and I’m really on edge right now!”

“Sorry, kid, but we have an emergency, where’s your other self?” Tempest asked.

“First off, who’s she?” Sunset asked.

The middle eastern woman bowed slightly to Sunset and said, “My name is Somnambula, I’m a wielder of an Artifact, the same as you. My student has spoken a great deal about you, Sunset Shimmer, and I hope you can aid us.”

“You’re student? Who’s your student?”

“Her name is Fluttershy, but to the Holy Church, she is known as the Magdalena.”

Sunset’s eyes widened. “You know Fluttershy! Wait…are you with those Vatican nutjobs that tried to turn her into a weapon?!”

Somnambula shook her head. “Nay, my services are freelance, I taught her as a favor to the Church, but I do work for them. I care deeply about my student, had I known what Cardinal Neighsay was up to, I would’ve silenced him earlier on.”

Sunset hurriedly approached Somnambula and asked, “Have you heard from Fluttershy?! Anything at all?! The animal shelter where she volunteers at exploded into flames! They say that she didn’t survive, but I tracked the energy of the Spear to the warehousing district, but that’s as far as I can go, the trail went cold!”

Somnambula had a worried look on her face, she turned to Tempest, and she seemed to understand what was going on.

“Sunset, we really need to get you and your ‘sister’ out of this city and move the rest of the Artifacts away!” Tempest stated.

“What was that about moving the Artifacts?” Somnambula, Tempest, and Sunset watched as Sun appeared from a doorway in the that opened from the wall. “What’s going on?”

“What is going on, Tempest?”

“There’s not much time, but someone is trying to gather all Thirteen Artifacts together, my Wheel, her Rapture, your Witchblade, and her Ember Stone!”

Sunset crossed her arms, “Yeah, wasn’t it you and the OSOD?”

“NO! Fuck them! Someone is playing us, Sunset! And that someone is heading here right now to collect all the Artifacts, ours included! He killed my friend and said that he would on his way to Canterlot City! I don’t know if this guy can fly or teleport, but we can’t take any chances, we need to collect the ones you have, find Fluttershy and her Spear, and anyone else who has an Artifact in this city, and get them the hell out of here!”

Sun’s brow raised when she kept mentioning “he” a lot. No…It couldn’t be…?! “Tempest, right?” The woman with a mohawk nodded. “This ‘he’ you keep talking about, did he have a distorted voice?”

“……Yes, but how did you know?” Tempest asked suspiciously.

Sun was shocked for a moment, but then became enraged. “Son of a bitch, he’s finally making his move…fucking finally! Now I can finally kill that bastard!”

“Sun…what are you talking about?” Sunset asked.

Sun cursed inwardly at herself; she had just said something that she shouldn’t have. It was too early for them to find out about him, and add to that, she just found out that two more Artifacts were now standing right in front of her, and that they seem to be in the hands of two professionals to boot. She wasn’t ready, she didn’t know the identities of the last two holders until now, she hadn’t had the time to run background checks, nor did she have time to think of a strategy to face them one on one. Not to mention, her “big sister” was standing right there next to them.

“Goddammit…” Sun glanced to her left and saw Twilight in the stairwell, looking up at her and listening in on everything that was being said. She too seemed to understand the gravity of the situation, and like her, concluded that there was only one outcome to be had right now. “…Sis, trust me, this will all make sense in the end.”

Before any questions could be asked, Sun suddenly transformed into her fire form and shot out a torrent of flames from her right hand and towards Tempest and Somnambula. Sunset jumped backwards out of the way, slamming against the wall just as the flames engulfed both of their house guests. The flames blasted through the front door and extended into the front yard before stopping.

Sunset got up and gawked at the scorched area where Tempest and Somnambula once stood, she turned to her little sister and shouted, “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, SUN??!!!”

“What I have to, Sis.”

“So that’s how it is, huh? Fine, then you’ll understand what happens next.”

Sun’s eyes widened when she heard that voice, the shadows around her began to move and from them emerged a tendril that took the shape of a hand. That hand had a time sphere gripped between its fingers and slammed it against Sun’s chest. Sun screamed as she suddenly felt her body aging rapidly. However, what Tempest hadn’t accounted for was the accelerated healing power of the Ember Stone, the Artifact that represented the Flames of Life renewed her like a phoenix again and again, keeping its host from dying. However, it was a bit of a stalemate, while Sun could not die, she couldn’t fight back either. For Tempest it was the same, she could not kill her, but at least she managed to immobilize her.

A mist appeared behind Sun, revealing Somnambula. In her hands she had several bayonet blades, each one had ancient sigil markings engraved into them. “While my student’s Spear of Destiny is a weapon that can slay supernatural foes with ease, the holy sigil markings on these blades can very easily wound a supernatural opponent, and with the right placement, kill them. Even in this form, you are not immune to their power.”

“NO, LEAVE HER ALONE!!”

Somnambula sensed a power building and quickly ducked back into the Hell Realm just as a blast of psychokinetic energy ripped through the stairwell and into the floor and wall where Somnambula once stood. From the stairwell emerged Twilight Sparkle, Sunset’s jaw dropped when she saw how she had changed since the last time she saw her, which wasn’t long ago. Twilight used her powers to rip apart the floor beneath Sun, disrupting the shadows and making Tempest’s tendril arm disappear.

Sun went down on her knees as she panted from the continuous regeneration she had just gone through. Thankfully, the Ember Stone managed to keep her at her original age. “Thanks, Sparky…”

“Twilight…?” Sunset spoke. “What…What happened to you?”

Twilight glared at Sunset and stated, “This is who I am now, Sunset. I’m sorry, but this is bigger than you know. I’m going to help Sun change the world for the better, and you have three choices. Either give us the Witchblade and walk away, help us, or fight us. But no matter which you choose, it’s going to end the same way. With the Witchblade coming with us.”

}}} Humph, she has truly lost her mind if she believes that is even a possibility. {{{

“I…I don’t understand, why did you attack them?! Why do you want the Witchblade?! You never wanted it before, so why now?!” Sunset demanded.

“Because…” Tempest emerged from Sunset’s shadow, still in her shadow form, while Somnambula reappeared from a haze of mist next to Tempest. “She’s after the power to alter reality, too. Aren’t ‘cha?”

Sun got back to her feet and ignited both of her hands. “I am, but not for what you think. I want the power to right the wrongs of this reality. I’ll bring back my parents, make it so that Twilight is happy, and kill that bastard that killed my parents!”

“We’re committed to see this through, Miss Tempest. It’ll be easier for everyone if you just give us your Artifacts,” Twilight demanded.

Somnambula twirled her blades around and stuck them into the floor. She then took out her blindfold and placed it over her eyes. “Tell me, young ones, the fire at the animal shelter, and the disappearance of my beloved student, Fluttershy, these are not mere coincidences, are they?”

“We…She didn’t give us any other choice.”

Sunset started to walk towards her “little sister” and Twilight, an almost hysteric look was on her face, evident of the warring emotions that were no doubt going on inside of her. “Hey…c’mon, that’s not funny, Sun. You’re joking right?” Sunset was a foot away from Sun, placing her hands on her younger self’s shoulders as she lightly shook her. “Sun, please tell me you’re joking. You didn’t kill Fluttershy, right? You wouldn’t do that! She’s the nicest person in the world! C’mon tell me you’re lying, Sis!” Sunset glanced over at Twilight. “Twi, tell me she’s joking!”

Sun gripped Sunset’s wrists and pried her hands off. There was a glowing liquid light in her eyes, which was representative of her tears. “I’m sorry…Sis…I really am.”

Sunset stumbled backwards as she fell to her knees, her mind unable to grasp what she just said.

“Sun doesn’t shoulder all the blame, I…I was the one who ended her life…Sun merely attacked the animal shelter,” Twilight clarified. She squatted until she was eye level with Sunset and said, “Sunset, it’ll be okay, none of this will matter once Sun gets all the Artifacts together and remakes the world.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not going to happen. Fuck OSOD, these things are too dangerous to be kept together. Last chance, kid, hand over the Artifacts and let us scatter them, or else,” Tempest warned.

Twilight stood back up and glared at Tempest. “I…I didn’t kill a gentle soul, and my first real friend for us to back out now. As said before, we’re committed to this, Miss Tempest, and we’ll see it through to the end!”

Somnambula exhaled deeply as she took up the bayonet blades. “I can see that your actions are to bring about a new world, and while admirable, you do so at the cost of your loved ones’ lives. If you are truly repentant when this is over, I will make sure that your souls cross over to Heaven and spare you the torment of Hell.”

Sun’s whole arms burst into flames as her eyes glowed bright orange. “Lady, we’re already in hell! TWILIGHT!”

Twilight used her telekinetic power to launch Sunset from the spot between them and into the living room. Granted her landing wasn’t gentle, but only because she knew that Sunset’s Witchblade healing factor would keep her from getting seriously injured. But now that Sunset was out of the way, Sun released an even bigger blast of flames towards her targets, and just as predicted, Tempest dove into the shadows while Somnambula exited their realm via a white mist and into Hell.

“Let’s get out in the open, an enclosed space works to our disadvantage!”

“I understand, hold on a moment.” Twilight placed her hand against Sun’s head, her eyes glowed for a moment and Sun felt a strange tingling in her mind. There, we should be able to communicate over long distances via telepathy.

Won’t this make it hard to fight if we’re constantly beaming our thoughts to each other?

Think of it like a cellphone. If you’re not actively wanting to talk to me, then I won’t be able to hear you, and vice versa.

Okay, at least we can coordinate without having them hear us. Be careful, Sparky, I don’t know how well your regeneration-alteration power will do up against Tempest’s chrono powers. The Rapture is a silver cross with two bars going through it, it’s not deadly, it just allows someone to travel into Hell, but it does give that woman an easy way out of danger, or worse, she can send you directly into hell itself, and I know for a fact that you won’t be able to fight against the demons that are there.

I don’t think it should be that big a deal–

Listen to me, this is a big deal! Living people have no power in Hell, you’re on their turf, and whatever the demons say there, goes! Your power will be useless there! The only ones who could fight back in there are me, Sis, and that woman! So, if you fight her, you need to be hyper aware, if you fall into a portal, I can’t rescue you, Sparky. You’ll suffer a fate worse than death in there.

Twilight slowly nodded her head. I understand, whichever I face, I’ll be extra careful.

Sun leaned forward and kissed Twilight on the lips. Come back to me alive, otherwise this will be meaningless. Sun jetted out the front door, while Twilight grew raven-colored wings and flew out after her.

Meanwhile, Sunset, after being thrown into the couch and rolling onto the floor, had gotten up and groaned. But the pain she felt was nothing compared to the pain in her heart. It had to be a lie, Sun would never kill Fluttershy, someone must be controlling her, and Twilight, that’s the only explanation for what is happening.

}}} Do not dwell in denial, Sunset. I sensed her intentions just a moment ago and she’s not under any control. Your other self is fully intent on executing this plan of hers. {{{

“NO! Someone must be messing with them! This whole story about rewriting reality is absurd! There’s nothing in Equestria that even comes close to that kind of power, there’s nothing here that has that kind of power!” Sunset argued.

}}} ………It is true. I, along with twelve others combined, have that kind of power, Sunset. {{{

Sunset’s eyes widened as she stared down at her bracelet. “What…You knew about this?”

}}} Bits and pieces have been coming back to my memory, it started when the Ember Stone and Spear of Destiny appeared here alongside my Mother and Father. The longer I spent in their presence, it felt as if something was trying to come back to me, a memory long forgotten. Right on the cusp of my mind but just out of reach. But, when your other self announced what she was planning, the final pieces fitted together, and now I remember why these objects have similar yet different energies to my own. We are all connected, because together we have a power that can change this universe, think of it as an all-powerful wish, allowing someone to change everything to what they desired the most. {{{

“This…This can’t be real…A power like that…it’s too unfathomable…” Sunset pressed her left hand against her forehead as she tried to grasp what the Witchblade was telling her. Her mind fell back on her magical teachings back in Equestria, and throughout all her studies in magic, and talks with Princess Celestia, but try as she might, she could not dredge up anything in Equestria that came close to what the Witchblade was saying.

This world was supposedly magicless, but in the recent months the world itself has taught her that that was a very big misconception. This world did have magic, it just hid itself from the world, and somehow, she has been able to face powers so great, that not even Princess Celestia at her peak of power could stand any snowball’s chance in hell of beating.

“What…What am I supposed to do…?”

}}} I cannot tell you that, Sunset. You are my wielder; I am the sword which cuts down all in your path. If you wish to cut down Sun and Twilight, I will be the blade to make it happen. Or, you can stay here, and do nothing, I respect your decision either way. {{{

Sun stayed in the air, away from a solid surface that could produce a shadow, Twilight did the same, making it easier for them to defend. With Tempest’s main attack tactic taken away, that only left Somnambula able to attack from any direction.

Twilight’s heightened senses alerted her to a disturbance, a spatial anomaly that was about to come into existence. “Sunset, something’s coming!”

“Which direction, Sparky?!”

“This can’t be right…I can feel two distortions, but I can’t figure out which direction!” Twilight called out.

Just then, the distortions opened, one of them appeared above them, revealing Tempest, the OSOD agent used her tendrils to lash out with age accelerating orbs, Twilight and Sunset broke away just in time to dodge the attack. However, the second anomaly opened behind Twilight, this time appearing as a white mist that quickly took on the form of Somnambula. Before gravity could take hold, Somnambula swiftly stabbed Twilight five times.

Two of the blades struck each of her lungs, one pierced her liver, another her stomach, and the fifth through her heart. Twilight spat up blood, but before she could react, Somnambula descended and dragged her along with her. Somehow the bayonet blades had wires attached to them, which were also attached to the gloves that she wore. Apparently, Somnambula and Tempest took a bit of time to prepare for their fight.

They descended further and further until they were right over the roof of a residence. Somnambula violently pulled on the wires and threw Twilight straight for the incoming roof. The moment she did this, Somnambula disconnected the wires and disappeared into Hell. Twilight was left to freefall and crash through the roof, landing in someone’s living room.

Twilight tried to breathe, but since the blades were piercing her lungs, drawing breath was difficult. Twilight concentrated, she used her matter manipulating energy to slice the blades off and pull them out of her body. Once they were out, she immediately regenerated, taking a long breath now that she could breathe again. “She was right, those blades do hurt, I can still feel the pain even after healing. I need to be more careful.”

The mist appeared again, but instead of Somnambula materializing, more of the sacred bayonets came flying from the mist. Twilight enacted rapid teleportation, dodging the blades as they were thrown. Twilight focused her psychokinetic energy into her right hand and fired a beam of psionic energy straight for the mist. However, the moment that it reached the mist, it merely passed through it.

That same mist appeared, and Twilight suddenly felt her left leg getting cut at the back of the knee. She screamed in pain as the deep wound bleed out. Twilight hurriedly erected a barrier of telekinetic power to keep herself safe while she healed. I shouldn’t be surprised by these tactics, if she was Fluttershy’s teacher, then it would make sense that she knows assassin-like fighting techniques. She knows she can’t defeat me head on, so she’s trying to wear me down. Cause me enough pain so that I won’t go on. Guess I have no choice, I’ll have to turn off my pain receptors, that’ll catch her off guard.

Twilight hurriedly did this, turning off all pain in her body after her leg healed. Now free from the distraction, the next time that Somnambula attacked her, she could immediately counterattack without being bogged down by the pain. The mist appeared again, but this time all around Twilight. The teen genius readied herself, she would not be caught off guard again. However, that thought was derailed when the bayonet blades came slashing at her from every direction, and unfortunately, despite having turned off her pain receptors, Twilight still felt pain throughout her body, causing her to scream from the many cuts she was receiving.

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?! I TURNED OFF MY PAIN RECEPTORS! The blades, those special markings on them, that must be it! Then I’ll just do this!

Twilight concentrated, her entire body glowed green and suddenly, her epidermis grew black as night as she shifted the carbon in her body to become dense armor. The bayonet blades’ sigil markings glowed and when they struck, they cut her. However, unlike before, the cuts were shallow and not as damaging, but still, that was just a stop gap measure, if this assassin wanted to, she could easily cut off her head, and Twilight wasn’t sure if she would be able to come back from something like that. Twilight had had enough and released a psionic energy wave, the blast of energy erupted all around her, demolishing the house and everything within. When the dust settled, Twilight was the only thing standing amongst the rubble.

Now that the area was clear, Twilight produced her wings and flew up, getting away from the area where she was getting cut. But she knew she wasn’t safe, Somnambula could attack her from anywhere, it seemed that the assassin knew how to make the most of her Artifact, while its power wasn’t as combat oriented as either of the Sunset’s Artifacts, this woman had learned to use its ability as not a weapon, but a movement enhancer, allowing her to attack from any direction she pleased, no matter where her target was.

I’d be more impressed if I wasn’t so egregiously outclassed right now…

For all of Twilight’s genius, tactical, real world combat was not her expertise, chess and video games were one thing, but she wasn’t up against a teenager, she was up against a trained assassin, one has no doubt killed many people before Twilight could even do calculus. It still baffled her, how was Somnambula able to find her on the other side? The only time she should be visible should be when the distortion happens, but by that logic, Twilight herself should be able to attack back, but Somnambula attacks almost instantly when the mist appears. So how was she tracking her?

“Child, it is best that you surrender…”

Twilight heard Somnambula’s voice, she tried to pin down its location, but it seemed that it was echoing around her.

“I do not wish to cause the one you love sorrow, nor do I wish to do the same to my late student’s friend.”

“You’re not the least bit angry about what we did?! We killed Fluttershy, you say you’re her teacher, and yet you’re willing to show me mercy?!” Twilight argued.

“My student was not one to hold grudges, she is a kind and loving girl, a good soul that would not hate, even ones who have wronged her so.”

Twilight’s mind flashed back to Fluttershy’s last words, the words of forgiveness for what they did. “Why…Why can’t you just hate me?! I can understand that! But forgiving me for taking someone important to you?! I…I can’t!”

“I sense you have been through a great deal of hardship, suffered at the hands of others. You love that girl who fights at your side, the first love from someone outside of your own family. I am sorry that you’ve only known the evils of strangers without ever seeing the good. This world is not as ugly as you may believe it to be, there is good here.”

Twilight started to laugh, maniacally. “Good? Where was that good when I was getting hazed?!” The teen genius slashed the air and released a psionic energy sickle that cut through the air and eventually slashed through some homes. “Where was that good when I was getting raped by someone I didn’t even care about?!” Twilight created a sphere of telekinetic energy, a sphere that glowed brighter by the second. “No, the only good anything in this world is my family and Sunset, this world is rotten! This world is cursed! But Sunset will fix that, she’ll fix everything!…So…IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT HAPPENS FROM HERE ON!!!”

Twilight’s sphere unleashed a barrage of energy blasts in every direction, up, down, right, left, and every angle in between, it was a death blossom attack of energy blasts that rained down and out everywhere. Down below, the blasts that struck the ground exploded violently, creating large craters, and incinerating whatever they hit. Several people below panicked and screamed as they tried to run away and avoid the barrage, but it didn’t matter where they ran, the blasts were raining down so frequently, and the blast radius was so large that there was no gap that anyone could escape.

This attack was more than her lashing out, it was a way to buy her time to figure out how to outmaneuver Somnambula, while she kept up this attack, the assassin couldn’t get anywhere near her for risk of getting hit herself. Just then, several silver bayonets appeared around her sphere, all of them shot towards her barrier and pierced through the cocoon of telekinetic power. The attack ceased as cracks started to form, all the blades’ sigil marks glowed at the same time and released a pulse of energy that shattered Twilight’s barrier. The bayonets fell from the air but disappeared into a mist that awaited them.

Somnambula appeared above Twilight and came down with two of her bayonets, slashing Twilight across her chest in an “X” shaped pattern. Blood spewed from the large gash as the teen genius wailed from the intense pain that wracked her body. Somnambula wasn’t done, she disappeared and reappeared a moment later, slashing at Twilight’s left arm, severing it completely off of her. The assassin did this again, taking off Twilight’s right arm, followed by her right and left legs. Somnambula appeared again, but instead of slashing, she came down with a strong ax kick onto Twilight’s head, the attack sent a wave of nausea and pain resonating through her skull as she was forced to plummet several feet onto the harsh, scorched earth below.

Twilight landed in a ruined home with a powerful “BOOM” upon impact. When the smoke cleared, she was a limbless torso that was bleeding out onto the ground. Her eyes were blank for a moment from the concussion that she suffered from Somnambula’s kick. Twilight’s senses came back, and she tried to rush her regeneration, but Somnambula appeared again, but this time she impaled Twilight, two blades in the stumps of her arms, and two more in her thighs. With a flourish, Somnambula produced another bayonet and stabbed it right through Twilight’s gut, effectively pinning her to the ground. All the while the teen genius continued to scream in pain, it was agonizing, it hurt so much, a burning pain that wouldn’t cease, on top of the pain that was her lost limbs and the blade in her stomach.

“The sigils seem to keep you from speedily regenerating, so, by keeping my bayonets implanted in you, that healing factor will be stymied for the time being,” said Somnambula.

“IT HURTS, IT HURTS SO MUCH!!!” Twilight cried as tears streamed down her face. “WHY IS IT THAT I’M ALWAYS BEING PUT THROUGH PAIN?!!! WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?!!”

Somnambula removed her blindfold and placed it in the pocket of her coat. She knelt beside Twilight’s head and made gentle shushing sounds to her as she stroked Twilight’s hair. “Child, we all experience pain, some more than others. But God has not forsaken you, you still have a chance to make things right and atone in this life.”

Twilight sniffled as she listened to Somnambula’s words. “It is too late…look at what I’ve done to this place! How many people did I just kill?! And that’s not counting the ones in the distance, the city surely got hit hard!”

“A mistake, from a child who has been hurt in mind and body, but not unfixable,” Somnambula assured.

“You’re right…it’s not unfixable…” Twilight closed her eyes, but when she opened them, they flashed a bright magenta.

Somnambula had no time to react before she felt an intense pressure grip at her heart. In less than a second, Twilight used her telekinetic powers to crush Somnambula’s heart inside her chest. The assassin had a surprised look on her face, but that changed into a smile as she slumped over and went silent. Fresh tears appeared in Twilight’s eyes again, not because of the pain, but for what Somnambula did.

“You smiled too…why…why can’t you hate me?!” Twilight focused her power and pulled out all five of the bayonets from her body. The green glow of her power intensified around her lost limbs, immediately regrowing them, ten seconds later, Twilight had her arms and legs back. Most of her outfit had been ruined, but modesty had to take a backseat for the time being, there was more important work to be done.

Twilight turned Somnambula onto her back, and once she did, she could see the item that Sunset had described to her earlier. A cross with two bars going through it, the Rapture. Twilight carefully took the necklace off Somnambula and stood back up. Sunset, I have the Rapture. What’s your situation?

My situation?! It could be better!

After Twilight was separated from Sunset, Tempest wasted little time in attacking her. The OSOD agent wrapped a shadow tendril around Sunset’s neck and dove straight down towards the ground. Without giving Sunset time to counter, Tempest spun in the air, taking Sunset with her. After about ten rotations, Tempest had built up enough momentum and hurled Sunset the rest of the way down. Sunset was unable to course correct and prepared herself to hit the ground. However, she did not hit, instead she passed right through her own shadow, with Tempest following right behind her.

“What the hell?!”

Sunset was suddenly attacked by a tendril slamming against her back and sending her flying through the black void. The void ended when Sunset emerged from the darkness and crashed through a concrete wall. She rolled on the floor for a few seconds before righting herself, but she was not given time to think as more tendrils appeared from the shadows, wrapping around her ankles, and throwing her around the room like a ragdoll, slamming her from one thing to the next before throwing her into another shadow pool where she disappeared.

The pyromancer suddenly found herself floating through the void again, but this time she found Tempest waiting. A red sphere was in her hand as she slammed it into Sunset’s chest. She was expecting to start that painful rapid aging process again, but instead, she was growing younger. Realizing this, Sunset released a burst of flames that forced Tempest away from her. Unfortunately, it had the semi-desired effect.

“You have got to be kidding me?” The voice of a twelve-year-old Sunset squeaked. “Your plan was to turn me into a kid?!”

“Actually, I was trying to turn you into a zygote, maybe a baby, but this works too!”

Once again gravity inverted on itself, and Sunset found herself falling from the shadows into something painful. Sunset screamed as her lower half was suddenly getting eaten away at, sliced, and ripped as liquid fire blood sprayed out in every direction. The young pyromancer released a jet blast of flames from her hands that propelled her forward and away from the whatever it was that was tearing her apart. When she was far enough away, Sunset saw that the shadows had opened a gateway to the dark insides of a meat grinder, which explained why she was now missing her lower half.

“You psycho bitch! Who throws a twelve-year-old girl into a fucking meat grinder?!” Sunset cursed as her lower half regenerated from the flames.

“You should see the shit I fight on my missions, hell, half the time these monsters and ghosts take on the forms of kids because they think people won’t think twice about hurting them. But when you’ve been at this job as long as I have, you learn not to judge a book by its cover! Just because you’re that age now doesn’t mean you suddenly don’t want to kill me anymore!”

Well, she’s not wrong…

What was bad about this situation was that Tempest blended well into the shadows, and the only light source was that of Sunset’s flames. In here, Tempest had complete dominion, not only that, if she could open gateways to places that had shadows, any dark place was easily accessible to her here. And any of those dark places could be something bad.

I only hope she can’t open a gateway to a black hole, then I’m completely screwed, Sunset thought.

“You really screwed up, kid, you betrayed your ‘Sister’, and killed her friend. How long have you been playing her, and everyone else for that matter?”

Sunset lobbed a fireball in the direction she thought she heard Tempest’s voice, but the sphere only sailed into the void before exploding some distance away. “I never thought that the Witchblade would choose another version of me as its wielder! I didn’t plan on betraying her, it just happened!”

“Tch, really? Do you call her your sister just for sick kicks? Make her let her guard down so that when the time came, she wouldn’t be able to hurt you? Or maybe even give up the Witchblade to you?”

“THAT WASN’T A LIE! I care about her! She’s like the twin sister I never had! After my parents died, the rest of my family didn’t care about me, just my inheritance! Sis was the only one I can truly call family, she didn’t care that I was rich, she just wanted to know me! You think I liked knowing that at some point, I was going to have to hurt her to get the Witchblade from her?! I’ve been dreading that day! But now I had to accelerate my plans!”

Tempest stopped in the darkness and asked, “Now that’s interesting, you had to accelerate your plans? Meaning you wanted to keep this going?”

“For as long as possible, yes!”

“What changed then? What made you have to accelerate everything?”

Sunset didn’t think this stranger had the right to know but seeing as how she was going to have to die, the least she could do was tell her why. “My girlfriend, Twilight, she’s in trouble, and the only way to put things right, for her and me, is to rewrite this world into something better!”

Tempest’s eyes widened when she realized what she was talking about. “I’m sorry, kid, if that’s true, then I’m the one to blame for this.”

Sunset’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I was the one who uncovered what happened, her big brother was there when I did, so he knows what’s going on, too. My organization forced me to threaten your sister to give up the Witchblade or they would have me take it from her. But I told her about what I found out about Twilight, and if she could, it might help if I can show them that she’d be unbiased when it came to protecting people. I figured that she might tell Twilight about the investigation, but I didn’t think it’d lead to this,” Tempest explained.

“So, you’re the one responsible for digging all this up! If you hadn’t, I could’ve had more time with Sis! We could’ve worked together to kill that son of a bitch! But now I have to…to…”

“Listen to me kid,” Tempest created several tendrils that were slowly snaking their way towards Sunset, “Thirteen is dangerous, more dangerous than anything I’ve faced, or the OSOD, we have to stop him. If you still want revenge on this guy, then we can still work together for that much. He killed my friend just recently because she found out about the Artifacts.”

That made Sunset curious. “So, he calls himself Thirteen, but he killed your friend because she learned the truth about the Artifacts?”

“She also figured out that, maybe, this guy might be manipulating everything, somehow making it so that the Artifacts gather here. If that’s the case he’s been playing all of us from the beginning! Sunset, don’t give him what he wants! Let’s flip the chessboard on this douchebag and all of us fight him together!”

Sunset chuckled. “And when it’s over? We can’t take back what we did, we killed Fluttershy, Sparky killed Sugarcoat, she killed everyone in Crystal Prep, and I’ve scoured and scorched the earth behind me to find the Artifacts. No, there’s only one option left for me…” The flames around Sunset began to build up. “And that’s to move forward! I WILL create a new world for Sparky and me, for Sis, for everyone!”

Sunset’s flames raged as her diminutive form changed into that of her draconic form, Dragon Shimmer. The great beast roared into the vast ether of the void, its intense flames stopping the creeping tendrils from getting any closer and lighting up the darkness a bit more.

“Oh, right, forgot she could turn into a fire breathing dragon.”

Sunset began charging up her flames, making them burn hotter and stronger, she continued to build up more and more power until her entire body was wrapped in a flaming sphere. But at the nucleus, the flames were starting to burn white hot.

“Oh, hell no, you’re not about to do what I think you’re about to do?!”

Dragon Shimmer’s muzzle curved upwards into a smile as if saying, “What do you think?”

“Shit!”

Tempest opened a gateway, just in time for Dragon Shimmer to go supernova, releasing a scorching hellfire that spread out in all directions. The time shifter fell out of a shadow that was cast by a cloud and stumbled onto the streets of Canterlot City. At that time, the flames of Dragon Shimmer’s supernova bellowed out of the portal, Tempest concentrated and opened a big portal in the shadow realm, right into the ocean. The flames began to recede, but in its place was an obscene amount of steam. It poured out of the shadow, and with it, a large dragon. Tempest saw this at the last minute but was too late as Dragon Shimmer struck Tempest with her giant claw, sending the shadow wielder hurtling towards the ground.

Dragon Shimmer followed her, readying herself to attack the moment Tempest hit the ground. But the OSOD agent was a seasoned fighter and wasn’t about to get immobilized by a single hit. Tempest willed her shadows to become wings, and once they did, she flew straight up towards Sunset. The behemoth dragon was caught off guard as Tempest zoomed past her, once overhead, Tempest flew back down and landed on her neck. Using her shadows, she quickly made tendrils that wrapped all around Dragon Shimmer’s neck and squeezed tightly.

The fire drake coughed and gaged as she felt her airway getting constricted, causing her to veer off course and slam into the side of a building. While immobilized, Tempest made the shadows she had wrapped around Dragon Shimmer’s neck spread out to cover as much of her body as she could. Now that she was directly touching her, Tempest used her time acceleration powers to age Sunset a hundred years per second. The dragon roared in pain as its body was being forced to rapidly regenerate over and over again.

“I wonder just how much of this you can take, kid?! You seem pretty tough, but let’s see how long that endurance lasts,” said Tempest.

Dragon Shimmer peeled herself off the building and charged for another, trying to knock Tempest off her. Debris cascaded from the buildings and to the sidewalks and streets below, causing many crashes and injuries as the concrete, glass, and metal rained down on the unsuspecting citizens.

Then let’s see who can out last who! Sunset thought.

Dragon Shimmer landed on top of skyscraper and set her whole body on fire. In the next moment, she released a pillar of fire that roared into the sky all around her. Tempest’s shadow form was showing signs of being singed, but she wasn’t about to let go, she knew what Sunset was planning, and she wasn’t about to be beaten by her, at least not that easily. Four tendrils sprouted from her back, the ends changing into hands that grasped four huge time acceleration spheres. Tempest slammed all four of them onto Sunset’s draconic body, further accelerating the aging process.

The fiery beast roared even louder as not a hundred years, but thousands of years were passing by in seconds. And yet she didn’t stop, this only spurred Sunset to burn hotter, making the pillar change to an even brighter orange color. The heat that radiated off the pillar was melting the concrete and steel beneath and around her, but no matter what, she wasn’t going to stop. Tempest’s body was starting to show signs of burning, with some of her shadows burning away little by little. The OSOD agent released a battle cry as she willed the shadows wrapping Sunset to grow sharp spikes, each of which impaled Sunset from the inside out. The pain only served as more fuel for the already intense fire as the flames changed to a bright yellow.

Eventually, it all grew too much for the building as they fell through it, the sounds of multiple crashes echoed throughout the area as Dragon Shimmer melted and smashed her way through each level of the thirty-story building. Unfortunately, the civilians that were inside were instantly vaporized due to the extreme heat, and of course, this was devastating the structural integrity of the building itself. The support beams were turned into slag the moment that Dragon Shimmer got close, and soon, the entire building came down. People down below screamed and shouted, scrambling to get away as the entire structure collapsed in on itself, ending with a powerful explosion that sent fiery chunks of concrete flying into the air as fireballs that smashed their way into adjacent buildings and the like.

A thick cloud of dust settled over the entire area, the only thing that could be seen were the fires, and of course, one lone person who glowed as bright as the flames. Sunset coughed as the flames returned her to her original age. She thought she had toughened herself against all manner of pain, but that was a whole different experience. It felt as if she was dying and being reborn again and again, now she knew what a phoenix felt like.

“Just give it up, Tempest…I’m like the core of the sun, I can go on forever,” said Sunset.

“Your powers are like that, but everyone has their breaking point, it’s just a matter of finding yours! And believe me, I’ll find it before this day is over,” Tempest promised.

Sunset’s hand formed two fireballs, she then clutched them until they transformed into two flaming swords. “Then come and find out!”

Tempest shifted her arms into blades as she readied to attack. Sunset turned her head to the left and that’s when Tempest zoomed through the dust and headed straight for her. The pyromancer noticed Tempest at the last minute and prepared to strike.

“ENOUGH!!!”

A sonic boom thundered overhead as a being descended rapidly from the skies and landed with a thunderous “BOOM” a couple of feet away from Sun and Tempest. The impact pushed the dust away from their area and allowed both women to see who it was that stopped them. Much to Sun’s displeasure, it was Sunset, garbed in the Witchblade armor.

Sunset turned to Sun and Tempest, glaring at them both. “Stop this, both of you!”

“Sis…”

“Listen to me, Sun! Look at what you’ve done?! All this destruction, all the people you’ve hurt! Don’t add any more lives to the death toll!” Sunset plead.

“There’s no going back, Sis…This…This was going to happen at some point…I just wished that it was further down the line.” Sun chuckled sadly. “The funny thing is, if we kept going on like this, I might’ve forgotten about my plans altogether and we could’ve just teamed up against Thirteen.”

“That’s the guy who killed Mom and Dad, right? We can still do it, he’s a major threat to everyone!” Sunset offered.

The younger Shimmer gripped the hilts of her fire swords tight as she furrowed her brow. “And then what?! I can’t take back killing Fluttershy or Sugarcoat! I can’t even take back what I’ve done to the people around here! You’re not about to tell me that you’re going to let me off the hook for hurting everyone! Hurting YOU!” Sun shook her head. “No, the only way to make everything right is to bring the thirteen together, and change reality so that all of this never happened!”

Sunset face scrunched up, into both hands the Witchblade formed two claymore swords. “Don’t make me fight you, Sun…”

“This was an unavoidable fight…” Now, Sparky.

Suddenly, a telekinetic force wave slammed into Tempest and sent her flying towards Sun. The pyromancer, spun around, merging her two fire swords into one great sword, and thrust forward the moment that Tempest got close. Tempest released a grunt as the fiery blade impaled her through the center of her chest, her shadows receded until they gathered into the Wheel of Shadows at her waist, which then fell to the ground.

“…Hope this is worth it in the end,” said Tempest as the light went out in her eyes.

Sun released a burst of intense flames from the sword that turned Tempest’s body to ash.

Sunset’s eyes widened with horror at what she saw, she quickly looked to her right and saw Twilight floating down from the air and right next to Sun. The pyromancer bent down and grabbed the Wheel of Shadows, creating a construct fire belt to hook the disk onto it. She then turned to Twilight and asked, “The Rapture?”

Twilight opened her hand and placed the Artifact into Sun’s.

“How could you do all of this…?” Sunset asked.

“This world is cruel, Sunset, but after this is over, Sun will make it better, you’ll see,” said Twilight in a comforting fashion. “Now we just need three more, the Witchblade, the Thirteenth, and one more.”

“Actually…Sparky, we only need two more.”

Twilight arched an eyebrow in confusion. “I don’t understand, we need thirteen, and we only have ten so far.”

“The last one, the Coin of Solomon, is close by,” Sun informed.

Twilight smiled at this information. “That’s great, where is it? Who has it?”

Sunset hurriedly tried to think of anyone they might’ve known who had this Coin of Solomon, but the truth was, Sun was the only one who knew anything about the Artifacts, so its power could be anything. Please, Faust, don’t let it be any of my friends, or Celestia or Luna, or anyone from CHS! I can’t take another friend dying today!

Sun placed her left on Twilight’s right shoulder, causing the teen genius to turn and face her girlfriend. The flame warrior then placed her right hand at the center of Twilight’s chest and looked into her eyes. “Sparky, I love you with all my heart. I’ve…I’ve never felt like this for anyone before. Before I met you, I only sought revenge for my parents, but I had no plans beyond that. But after meeting you, I don’t know what my future will be, but I do know that I want it to involve you, from the beginning and until the end.”

Twilight began to cry. “I feel the same way. I knew what I wanted for my future, but I never gave any thought about things in between. Things like finding love fell by the wayside, and then I met you, Sun. That’s when I realized I’ve been missing out on great moments with someone I can share my life with. I can’t wait to have more moments together when you remake this world, and I’ll be there with you until it’s done.”

“You can’t, Sparky…”

“Why?”

“……………”

“Sun, why not?”

“Because……the Coin of Solomon, it’s inside of you……”

At first, Twilight was confused, then, slowly, it morphed to realization. Sun’s entire right hand superheated in less than a second, allowing her to push her entire arm through Twilight’s chest with little to no resistance at all, her hand clutched into a fist. Tears streamed down Twilight’s face as did Sun’s, shaky hands reached up from Twilight’s sides as she weakly placed them on Sun’s face. The look of utter betrayal was plastered on Twilight’s face, as a strong wave of grief and shame overcame Sun. A moment later, Twilight’s arms went limp and fell to her sides, her eyes closed, and then the teen genius was gone.

Sun dropped to her knees slowly as she took her arm out of Twilight’s chest and cradled her on the way down to the ground. Liquid light tears fell onto Twilight’s lifeless body as Sun sobbed heavily.

Sunset felt cold, the swords she had created faded away as her brain grappled to process what she had just witnessed. Twilight was dead…she was killed by…by her human double. “You…How…How could you?!”

“Shut up…”

“She loved you.”

“Shut up…!”

“SHE LOVED YOU!!!”

“I FUCKING KNOW SHE LOVED ME!!!” Sun yelled into the sky. “I LOVE HER, I NEVER LOVED ANYONE AS MUCH I DID HER, DO YOU THINK I WANTED TO DO THIS?!”

Sunset stomped her way over to Sun glared down at her younger self. “Then use your Ember Stone and bring her back, or else let her go and I’ll do it myself?!”

Sun held Twilight’s body closer. “DON’T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER!!!” Flames erupted around Sun, some of the flames extended and turned into hissing vipers, warning Sunset to stay away. “Let her rest…just please let her finally rest! She’s suffered so much here, just let her finally have this moment of peace!”

Sunset huffed, and growled, and grunted, and then she screamed into the air as she rushed over to the nearest piece of debris and began beating it with her fists, repeatedly as she screamed out her pain. When she was done, the rubble was dust that just added to the amount floating in the air. “I can’t forgive you for this…Sun…”

“I don’t expect forgiveness……I’m not worth forgiving…not after this…” Sun gently placed Twilight’s body on the ground, and carefully placed her arms over her chest. “Sis…make sure she gets back to Mrs. Velvet and Mr. Night Light. See if Ms. Celestia will put them up in her home for a bit…I can’t have them in my house after this…”

Sunset walked back towards Sun, her eyes glowed with rage as she knelt before Twilight’s body and held out her right hand. The power of the Witchblade entered Twilight’s body, closing the hole in her chest so that her body was back in pristine condition. The changes that the Coin made to Twilight’s body had disappeared as well, at least her family would not have to wonder why she looked the way she did. Sunset gently put her arms underneath Twilight’s body and lifted her off the ground, cradling the doppelganger of her friend close to her body.

“Tomorrow, at sunrise, Sis. You and me. Either you’ll be the one to face Thirteen, or I will.”

Sunset turned her back on Sun and said, “Don’t ever call me ‘Sis’ again.”

Sun winced from the venom that was laced in Sunset’s words. “Whatever…”

Sunset’s wings flared out, and with a flap, she propelled herself into the air and went off in another direction. Sun was left alone amongst the rubble, on her hip she possessed the Wheel of Shadows, in her left hand, the Rapture. Her right hand possessed the Coin of Solomon, she had almost all the Artifacts, the only one left was her Si – was her other self’s Witchblade. She was close, so close to making everything right, soon she could change everything and bring back Twilight and her parents, so why…?

“Why does it hurt so much…?” Sun asked as she clutched her hands to her heart, falling to her knees and sobbing once again.

High above the rubble and destruction below, on an adjacent building stood the violet robe clad Thirteen. His violet eyes shined as he witnessed the entire event and was pleased with the results. “I guess I could give her tomorrow. This little soap opera is getting too good to stop now.”

Nothing Left to Lose

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“SUNSET SHIMMER, COME OUT!!!! DO YOU HEAR ME?!!! COME OUT HERE NOW YOU TWO FACED BITCH!!!!”

The battle that took place a few hours ago had the city in a panic, per the deputy mayor’s orders, the entire city was to be evacuated until the current threat was over. Many of the Canterlot City citizens have been through enough of these supernatural attacks to know that it was better to get out while the getting was good than to stick around and become collateral damage. The rich people around Shimmer Manor had hightailed it the moment that the mayor declared a state of emergency, every compound around Shimmer Manor was devoid of any residence, which was good because no one needed to see this.

After Sunset had brought Twilight’s body to the nearest hospital, she called Shining Armor and told him what hospital he took Twilight to, and she told him she was dead. Sunset had never heard a grown man cry before in her life, not even back in Equestria, and it was a sound that she never wanted to hear again. There was so much pain, so much hurt in his wails that it nearly tore Sunset’s soul in half. However, that wouldn’t be the last of the sobbing she would hear today. Immediately after doing that, she headed over to Rarity’s to ask for some clothes to change into.

When Rarity asked why she didn’t go back to her home, she just told her that that place wasn’t her home anymore. She was going to have to tell the girls sooner rather than later, but there was too much to unload right now, first thing she had to do was go back to the hospital and see to the Sparkle family. Sunset had stored the clothes in the Witchblade gemstone and flew back to where she had stashed her bike, thank Faust for small miracles because it was still there, and undamaged. After getting dressed Sunset headed to the hospital, in the lobby she found Cadence, her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

Part of Sunset didn’t want to go to her, a part of her didn’t want to be here at all. Because she knew that the moment that she told them who killed Twilight, they wouldn’t be able to look at her without seeing the face of the person responsible for the death of their loved one. Even so, Sunset walked over to Cadence and greeted her. The older woman brought Sunset into a tight hug as she cried again, and Sunset cried as well, unable to hold back her own sorrow. She was led by Cadence to the morgue where Night Light, Velvet, and Shining Armor were. Behind the glass the body of their beloved daughter lied, cold and lifeless. Shining Armor was seated on the floor, his back pressed up against the dividing wall between the viewing area and the morgue itself.

Shining Armor looked so hollow, like he too had died as well. But it was a living death, one that rendered him a shell of the man that he was. He had seen many things during his time as a detective in the CCPD, many of them involving death, but Sunset knew that this was different, with those cases, there was always the benefit of dissociation, they weren’t his family or friends, he felt sad for the victims of the crimes, but this was his family, his little sister. This was someone who he promised he’d protect since the day he first laid eyes on her, that was his Little Sister Best Friend Forever, but forever ended, nothing lasts forever.

Night Light was currently consoling his distraught wife, Velvet, who seemed like she hadn’t stopped crying. Every step towards the Sparkle family felt like gravity was increasing, trying to crush Sunset with the weight of her failures. But no matter what, they deserved to know the truth, Shining Armor especially. All three noticed her presence, Velvet broke away immediately and hugged Sunset fiercely. She must’ve thought that she was Sun, of course she did, it only made sense that their daughter’s girlfriend would come. And for a minute, Sunset was wondering if she should pretend to be Sun, lie to them, tell them that Twilight died because of some supernatural incident. But she knew that Cadence and Shining would see right through her lie, Velvet and Night Light would buy it, but they wouldn’t.

“Mrs. Velvet…I’m sorry…but I’m not my little – I’m not Sun.”

Velvet broke the hug a little and looked upon Sunset. “Even so, I can tell you’re just as heartbroken as we are.”

“I am…”

“What happened to her…?” Shining Armor asked in an emotionless tone. “The…The doctors said she had no wounds…she’s just…dead.”

“I didn’t want her have any scares or wounds when you all saw her…” Sunset broke away from Velvet and walked a couple of steps to the viewing window and placed her hand upon the glass as she stared at Twilight’s body. “I did the same thing for Applejack; I healed the damage to her body so that…that the Apple family could have an open casket for her.”

Velvet and Night Light were confused as to what she meant, but Cadence and Shining Armor knew.

“Then what killed her…” Shining Armor turned his head towards Sunset. “…Or is it a who?”

Sunset sighed as she closed her eyes. “A who…and…it’s someone who’s betrayed us all.” Sunset turned her head to look upon Shining Armor, Night Light, and Velvet who returned to her husband’s side, as well as Cadence who joined the family. “The one who killed Twilight was…Sun. She killed her.”

Shining Armor’s eyes squinted into dangerous slits, and Cadence’s eyes flew wide open in shock as she clasped her hands over her mouth. Night Light’s jaw hung open, while Velvet was shaking her head in disbelief.

“No…No dear y-you must be mistaken…” Velvet spoke. “Sun adored Twilight, she…she protected her when they were at Crystal Prep, they were in love…! She…She wouldn’t do that to her!”

“I wish I was lying,” Sunset banged her hand against the glass, “I really, really wish I was lying about this! But I was right there when she did it!”

“This…This doesn’t make sense! Why would she do it! Why would Sun kill Twily?! Why would she kill my baby girl?!” Night Light asked.

Sunset directly looked at Shining Armor, a kind of silent understanding passed through them, which prompted him to stand back up.

“Twily was responsible for the Crystal Prep Massacre,” said Shining Armor with that same emotionless tone.

“That’s a load of bullshit, Son!” Night Light accused as he released his wife, he then turned Shining around and grabbed fistfuls of Shining’s shirt as he stared his son dead in the eye. “Twily was a victim! She always has been! Do you honestly believe your sister capable of killing anyone?! Let alone an entire school’s worth of people?!”

“If I didn’t see it for myself, I wouldn’t have believed it either…”

Velvet trembled, but she had the wherewithal to ask, “HOW?! She was a genius, but even she can’t orchestrate something like that!”

“I know how…” Sunset spoke up. “Twilight was in possession of a powerful magical Artifact, it altered her body, granting her powers. Powers that allowed her to do almost anything.”

“Sunset, I know we’ve all seen a lot of strange things here in this city, but you can’t expect me to believe that my own daughter was in possession of a–!”

The sleeve around Sunset’s right arm tore apart as the Witchblade coated that arm in armor. Metal wires with bladed tips undulated back and forth like snakes, waiting for the command of their wielder. “I’m the Witchblade, I’m the one who’s fought against the evil things that have tried to kill everyone in this city and nearly the world. Sun has an item that allows her to wield and control the elemental force of fire itself. She helped me fight during the war between the Angelus and the Darkness, and she helped me in some the more recent incidents that have happened in the city. But all this time…she was playing me…playing all of us.”

“W-What do you mean?” Cadence asked.

Sunset went into the long explanation of why Sun did what she did, the death of her parents, the search for the Thirteen Artifacts, the mission of revenge on the murderer, and the plan to remake the world. All the while, the Sparkle family was listening, at times Night Light and Velvet tried to deny what Sunset said, but Shining Armor backed Sunset’s claims, which also allowed him to reveal that he was working with Witchblade during the Mystery Murders, and that it was Sunset who helped him close the cases with the power of the Witchblade. Eventually, Night Light and Velvet sat down on the bench on the opposite wall, they couldn’t believe this, but the proof was right there on Sunset’s arm.

“Shining…go and arrest that little bitch…” Night Light demanded.

“That’s not an option, Mr. Night Light,” said Sunset.

“I’M NOT GOING TO LET THE MURDERER OF MY DAUGHTER JUST WALK AROUND FREELY!!!” he bellowed. “She took my little girl from us! She took her away, she said she loved her, they were in love! You…You don’t do that to the person you love!!!”

The sadness and hurt in Sunset was still there, but it seemed her tears had stopped falling. Shining Armor walked past her, which made Sunset call out to him, “Where are you going, Shining?”

“I’m a cop, there’s going to be a lot of chaos out there…I need to go and help out.”

“Shining–!” Night Light started.

“Stop it, Night!” Velvet interrupted. “Just…Just let him go…he needs this…”

Sunset moved a little closer and said, “I hate to say this, but Sun’s effectively kicked you guys out of her home…if you want, I can ask my Mom if she’ll let you guys stay over tonight–?”

“Stay away from us,” said Night Light in a harsh tone.

Sunset paused and took a step back, her heart stinging from the venom in his words.

“You and your ‘sister’, or whatever she is, have done enough…just leave us alone…!”

Cadence turned to Twilight’s father and said, “Mr. Night Light, please, that’s not fair to Sunset! She cares about Twily too! She may not be in love with her, but she saw her as a dear friend!”

“Please…Please just go…Sunset,” said Velvet.

Sunset clenched her armor-clad fist as a fresh wave of tears threatened to pour from her eyes. She quickly turned around and said in a calm voice, “I understand…I’m sorry, for all of this…” Sunset ran out of the morgue and out of the hospital. She didn’t spot Shining Armor’s car around, but something told her that he wasn’t going to work.

Which brought us to now, with the distraught, grief stricken big brother slamming his fists against the front gate entrance to the manor. His car’s front was damaged, having been used as a battering ram to try and break down the gates, but the gates wouldn’t budge, so he resorted to yelling and screaming, trying to call out Sun to face him.

“SUNSET SHIMMER, FUCKING COWARD, COME OUT HERE AND FACE ME YOU LIEING PIECE OF SHIT!!! YOU KILLED MY LITTLE SISTER!!!”

Sunset’s bike stopped next to his car, she dismounted and just stood there. She knew she could haul him away from here very easily, but then he’d just be kicking and screaming the whole time. At this point it was best to let him get it all out, besides, it wasn’t like Sun was going to show herself. That’s when Sunset spotted movement from the manor, one of Sun’s sports cars came down the driveway and stopped just in front of the gate.

Sun got out of the car, her eyes were just as red and puffy as Sunset’s were. “Sorry…I needed some time.”

Shining Armor wasted little time and drawing his gun and firing multiple shots at Sun through the bars of the gate. Sun’s body jerked from each shot as Shining Armor emptied the clip into her. Once it was out, he swapped out the clip for a full one and continued barraging Sun, riddling her body with bullet holes. Shining stopped when he had emptied all three of his pistol clips, the barrel of the gun smoking from the repeated firing.

Sun’s body was riddled with bloody gunshot wounds, but after a moment, all the wounds ignited and healed, leaving Sun uninjured.

This did not seem to deter Shining Armor, who rushed to the trunk of his car and pulled out a shotgun, and an M4. Shining Armor resumed his barrage by unloading as many of the shotgun shells as he could into Sun. Slug rounds punched deep holes into Sun’s body, splattering blood and parts of her internal organs all over the place. After a minute, Shining ran out of shotgun shells and Sun healed herself. He moved on to his M4 and began unloading again, the air was filled rapid fire gunshots as he riddled Sun once again with more hot lead. Shining went through two more clips before he had run out of ammo. The grieving brother panted heavily, having cried and screamed at the top of his lungs throughout his barrage. Sweat beaded down his brow along with his tears, and his arms shook from the strain of repeated recoil from the weapons.

Most of Sun’s clothes were completely torn apart, but she could care less right now. “Are you done, Shining Armor? If you have a knife, I’ll let you gut me if that’ll help?”

“Fuck you,” he replied in a hoarse voice.

Shining tossed his weapons onto the ground and sat in the driver’s seat of his car.

“I wasn’t kidding…”

“What the hell do you want?” Sunset asked.

Sun looked at her twin and sighed. She walked to the backseat of her car and pulled out a box, and then another one. After stacking both boxes on top of each other, Sun used her flames to fly over the gate and land on the other side. The rich girl placed both boxes on the ground before Sunset and jetted back to the other side.

“What’s in the boxes?” Sunset asked.

“The first one has…” Sun choked up. “Has Twilight’s personal stuff…her clothes mostly. The second has her things, like her computer and some of her books…” Sun looked at Shining Armor and asked, “If you’re willing to wait, I can go back and pack up the rest of her books? I just wanted to bring out this much to show you what I was doing…”

Shining spared his sister’s killer a quick glance, he then nodded his head in confirmation.

Sunset crossed her arms and scoffed. “One would think that would be the first thing you took care of.”

Sun gripped her right arm hard. “The moment I go into that room…I can smell her, feel her…it just reminds me that she’s gone…”

“And whose fault is that, SUN?!” Sunset shot back.

Sun didn’t respond, instead she moved to the right side of the car and took out another pair of boxes. She jetted back to the other side and left them next to Twilight’s boxes. “Those are your things…I put some of your clothes in the top one, the bottom has some of your drawing stuff, laptop, and your magic journal. I figured you’d want that more than anything.”

Sunset was honestly surprised to hear that she did that, she removed the first box and opened the second, and indeed the magic journal that connected her to Princess Twilight was there. “Do you expect a thank you?”

“No…I don’t expect anything. I’ll be back, after I change my clothes, and get Sparky’s things together,” said Sun as she got into the car and headed back inside to get more of Twilight’s things.

Sunset walked to Shining Armor’s car and leaned against the left passenger side door. “……You know, she could’ve killed you at any time, right? She didn’t have to let you shoot her.”

“I was expecting her to,” said Shining Armor.

“So, what was this? You wanting to commit suicide?” Sunset asked incredulous.

“Probably…”

Sunset reached into the car and pulled Shining Armor out, she glared daggers into his eyes as she gritted her teeth. “Do you think Twilight would want you to die?!”

“She’s gone…and apparently I didn’t know my little sister as well I thought I did…she was suffering…she was in pain…I’m a fucking detective, I’ve taken courses in how to spot abuse and trauma…and yet…and yet I couldn’t see any of that! If I had…none of this would’ve happened! She wouldn’t have to get involved with that bitch! And she could’ve led a normal life!” Shining cried.

Sunset released the grieving brother and scoffed. “Let’s get something straight, she was a genius, normal went out the window a long time ago. Second, it’s because she knew you, of all people, would know what to look for is why she hid it so well! You, the person she was closest to! It’s not your fault that this happened, did she ever once blame you for not doing anything to help her?!”

Shining Armor began to cry as she said, “No…”

Sunset softened her expression and gave Shining a hug. “She loved you, Shining Armor, just remember her as she was.”

The two hugged for a good minute before separating, Shining Armor sat in the driver’s seat again, while Sunset took a seat in the back. The police detective glanced briefly at her and asked, “Are you planning on fighting her tomorrow? You could go and get her now.”

Sunset sighed. “I…I need time to process all of this, plus…I need to tell my friends that Fluttershy’s dead…and her folks…shit…I have to see the family of someone else I love cry from loss…damn you Sun.”

“She said she’s going to rewrite the world, make it so none of this ever happened, do you believe her?” Shining asked.

“I thought it was bullshit. I come from a world of magic, and there’s nothing there that even comes close to that kind of power, but…” Sunset looked at her bracelet. “The Witchblade confirmed it, once all thirteen are gathered together, the person who does can change reality into whatever they want.”

“Then why don’t you?”

Sunset blinked and then turned her head towards Shining Armor. “What did you say?”

“Beat Sun, take her Artifact or whatever it is, beat this mystery man, and then change everything. Personally, after what she’s done, even if I believed she was going to do that, I wouldn’t want to live in a world that she created, whether I remembered it or not.” Shining Armor turned his head to meet Sunset’s gaze. “But you, on the other hand, I trust you. If it was you who was going to recreate the world, I’d have no regrets about the world ending.”

Sunset shook her head. “You…You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“So, you’re telling me you’d rather live in a world where Twily’s dead, Fluttershy, Applejack, and all these people are dead?”

Sunset opened her mouth to say something, but whatever words were going to come out died on her tongue as she closed her mouth.

“If there’s anyone on this planet who is trustworthy enough to change everything for the better, than it’s you. Fuck that other Sunset, as far as I’m concerned, you’re one true Sunset Shimmer of this world. And as such, you have the right to change everything for the better. You said you wanted to protect people with your power, this is the best way to do it,” said Shining Armor.

Such thoughts were far from her mind after everything that had happened, her plans hadn’t gone far beyond defeating Sun and defeating this “Thirteen” guy but Shining Armor did make an important point. When everything was settled, if she was lucky, Sunset would be the last one standing with all of the Thirteen Artifacts, which meant she would be the one who could change everything. But…was she really ready for that kind of power, for that kind of responsibility?

Sunset had gathered her friends at Celestia’s home, the Sparkles decided to stay at Cadence and Shining’s place for the time being until they evacuated. Understandable, why would they want to be anywhere near the person who looks like their daughter’s killer? A couple of hours ago, Sunset informed the remainder of her close friends, as well as Celestia and Luna, about the passing of Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle. She told them everything, Sun’s plan, this mystery man who was coming for the Artifacts, and the power of the Thirteen Artifacts to change all of reality.

Granted this was heavy information to unload on all of them, but Sunset believed they deserved to know the stakes of what was to happen in the next twenty-four hours, because depending on what happened, either Sun or Thirteen would change the world forever, or…well…Sunset didn’t know what she would do if she won. Naturally, everyone was crying, Sunset didn’t, she was too tired to cry, her heart hurt just the same as theirs, but she was too emotionally tried to start crying again. Out of all the assembled people, it was Rainbow Dash who cried the hardest, she had brought her now girlfriend, Lightning Dust along, and it was a good thing she did.

Lightning Dust was holding Rainbow Dash as she thrashed about on the floor, releasing wails of sorrows at the loss of her childhood friend. When she seemed to finally calm down, Rainbow turned her rose colored eyes onto Sunset. “You’re going to do it, right?”

“Do what?” Sunset asked from her seat in the recliner.

“Change everything, you’ll erase all of this bullshit and make it so Fluttershy and Applejack are alive again, right?!” Rainbow asked louder.

“I…I don’t know…” Sunset answered.

“What the fuck do you mean ‘you don’t know’?! The answer’s easy, FUCKING YES! I don’t give a shit if you bring back that bitch Sun or Twilight, just bring Applejack and Fluttershy back! And, while you’re at it, erase Twilight and Sun from existence!” Rainbow Dash stated.

Lightning patted Dash on the back and said, “H-Hey, Dash, c’mon, you don’t mean that last part…”

“The hell I do!” Rainbow retorted as she pushed Lightning Dust away. The star athlete of CHS stomped over to Sunset and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. “Tell me! Tell me you’re going to make everything right when you win!”

“……”

“WELL?! I’M WAITING?!” Rainbow demanded.

“Rainbow Dash, that is enough,” said Celestia in a harsh tone. “Can’t you see this isn’t an easy decision for Sunset!”

“Sorry, Ms. Celestia, but it’s a pretty fuckin’ easy decision as far as I’m concerned! Or maybe it’s because you don’t want to fight her! Is that it?! All that sister this and sister that bullshit you two have been spouting since you met! Are you just going to let her win?! Well screw that!”

Rainbow Dash released Sunset, she used her right hand to grab ahold of Sunset’s right forearm, and with her left hand, she pulled at the Witchblade bracelet.

“Dashie, what are you doing?!” Pinkie asked incredulously.

“What’s it look like! Since she’s not willing to do what’s needed, I’ll use the Witchblade and kill that bitch Sun myself! You can have it back when that other guy shows up!” Rainbow explained.

“Let go of the bracelet, Rainbow…he doesn’t like it when people try to separate him from his wielder…” Sunset warned.

“Shut the fuck up you goddamn coward!”

The bracelet’s ruby gemstone shined as the metal strands came alive, multiplying rapidly as they wrapped themselves around both of Rainbow’s arms and tied them together. The Witchblade hoisted the tomboy into the air and then threw her against the floor before returning to the bracelet.

“For the record, he’s being nice and considerate of my feelings. Normally he kills whoever does that, but since I’ve lost another friend, he’s not about to cause me more grief.” Sunset got up from the chair and started heading for the stairs. “Besides…you don’t have what it takes to wield the Witchblade, Rainbow. You don’t want this. Everyone should leave the city was soon as they can, I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. This is going to be bigger than the fight with Neighsay, I can feel it. And I’d rather not have any of you here when that happens.”

Sunset didn’t stay behind to see if they said anything more, she went to the guest room where her things were put after Shining Armor dropped her off. Most likely he, Cadence, Mr. Night Light, and Mrs. Velvet have left the city by now. Sunset had told Celestia and Luna to leave earlier, but she knew they wouldn’t while she was still here, and at some point, the national guard would come and make them leave. Sunset sat on the bed, burying her face in her hands as her mind wrestled with so many things. Hate, anger, sorrow, hope, disbelief, and worry, all of these and more were swirling about her in a huge chaotic storm that threatened to tear her apart from the inside out.

A knock came at her door, Sunset looked up and saw Pinkie Pie standing in the doorway. “Hey, Sunny.”

“Hey, Pinkie…”

The pink party girl walked over to Sunset, she then sat down next to her and leaned against her right side. “You should go back to Equestria, Sunset.”

Sunset blinked in surprise. “Why?”

“I think I know part of the reason why you didn’t answer Dashie, you’re afraid of what will happen to Equestria if you use that power to change our world, right?” Pinkie asked.

Sunset chuckled, leave to her girlfriend to figure it out. “Yes, that’s a big part of the reason why I don’t want to do it…Who am I to decide the fate of this world? And if I make that selfish decision, what happens to Equestria? What if I change the course of events back home and I mess everyone up! Princess Twilight might not become a Princess, Princess Celestia could be defeated by Nightmare Moon! I could even accidentally wipe out Equestria forever! And I’d be the only one who knew because I was the one who did it! I don’t…I don’t know how I can do this…!” Sunset, believing she couldn’t cry anymore, did so again.

“I’m…I’m really scared, Pinkie…! I don’t know what to do! I must fight Sun tomorrow, I must stop her, I have to stop this Thirteen person! But then…can I really keep going on in this world knowing that the people I care about most are dead?! Twilight was troubled, she didn’t deserve to die, neither did Fluttershy, or Applejack! Hell, not even Sun, not really! If it wasn’t for that Thirteen guy, she wouldn’t even be in this situation! She’s as much a victim in this as everyone else! This isn’t like the Wendigos or Neighsay, this is much, much worse! I can’t let Sun win because I don’t know what’ll happen to Equestria or what kind of world she’ll create, I want to believe her…but I don’t know! I can’t let Thirteen defeat me because this guy might create a living hell or make himself a god! Pinkie, what should I do?!”

Sunset gripped Pinkie Pie’s arms as she looked into her eyes with a pleading gaze.

“Please, tell me what I should do?!”

Pinkie Pie gently placed her hands on Sunset’s face and gave her a loving kiss on the lips. Sunset closed her eyes and melted into the kiss as she hugged Pinkie Pie closer to her, she needed this, she needed to be loved, to feel love, amidst all this pain and sorrow, love was something that dulled the aching in her heart. Pinkie ended the kiss and pressed her forehead against Sunset’s as the two shared in each other’s breath.

“Sunny, I can’t tell you what to do. Not me, Dashie, or anyone. But I do think you need to talk to someone you really, really trust right now. And I know that person, well, pony, lives in Equestria, so go there, stay there until tomorrow. Whatever you need to help you make your decision,” said Pinkie.

Sunset sniffled and hummed her agreement. “Pinkie…will…will you come with me?”

“Of course,” said Pinkie. “I’ve always wanted to see your home; it sounds super fun.”

“It is, it’s a wonderful place.” Sunset grabbed the journal and took up a pin.

Dear Princess Twilight,
There’s something urgent I need to speak to you about, but I have a request first. I need you to send a letter to Princess Celestia, tell her I want to talk to her at your castle. It’s time I owned up to my mistakes.

Sunset stood in the mostly empty room that was once her girlfriend’s. She was alone again, she had everything, and no one. She was somewhat regretting giving Spike to Shining Armor, she could use the company right now. But that wasn’t fair to Spike, or to the Sparkles, he was Twilight’s dog, Spike was a part of their family, and he deserved to be with them. Sunset inhaled, taking in the aroma of the room. Twilight’s scent still permeated the room, as if she hadn’t left at all.

The rich teen walked to Twilight’s bed and lied down at the center in a fetal position, recalling the times that she and her girlfriend cuddled in this bed. “I’m sorry…Sparky…I’m so sorry…”

Sunset cried again, she cried off and on whenever she thought of Twilight, she cried even harder when the image of Twilight’s betrayal-stricken face popped into her mind. That look would haunt her forever, even if she succeeded in remaking the world, she would never forget that look. Everyone other than family hurt Twilight, she was shown no kindness from her peers, or the adults that were supposed to protect her. And then, Sunset appeared, she helped her, protected her, showed her kindness, compassion, and love.

And then, that very same person whom she loved and trusted with everything, took the one thing that none of the others managed to take from her, Sunset took Twilight’s life away. She could still feel the weight of her lover’s body in her arms, even now. It was such a strong tactile feeling that Sunset believed, for a moment, that she was really holding Twilight in her arms again. When she closed her eyes, she could imagine them cuddling again, Twilight wrapped in her arms as the sweet teen genius moved closer to her, believing that she was safe in Sunset’s arms, that nothing could harm her.

Little did she know, that one day, the same arms that once protected her, would kill her.

Sunset contemplated ending her life, she didn’t think killing Twilight would hurt so much, but it did. All the training she went through to build up her pain tolerance, every cut, impalement, gunshot she suffered paled in comparison to the wound in her heart. Sunset felt as if she had received the same wound as she gave Twilight, that the damage was mirrored on a spiritual level to her. It wouldn’t be hard to kill herself, all she had to do was take off the Ember Stone, and after that, she was as mortal as anyone else. From there she had several ways to do it, jumping off the roof of her home, getting her father’s pistol and swallowing a bullet, going into the kitchen and stabbing herself through the heart with a butcher’s knife, the list was endless.

The one thing that Sunset was sure of, she didn’t want it to be painless, she wanted it to hurt, she deserved to have her last moments of life be as painful as possible right up until she died. It would be easy, she just needed to take off the Ember Stone, she could give it to her other self before she did so. Or just leave it in her former sister’s old room with a note, spare her the trouble of fighting.

“Yeah…maybe that’s better…” Sunset drowned.

She walked into the other Sunset’s room and stood before the bed. Sunset carefully took off the Ember Stone, the gemstone at its center losing its shine as she placed it on the mattress. Sunset walked out of the room and down the stairs, she headed into the kitchen and found the butcher’s knife, a stab to the heart seemed like a poetic way to end things. She found a notepad and a pen and decided to write out her last thoughts.

Hey…Sis,
I know I have no right to call you that anymore, but…I just wanted to write it one last time. As you no doubt have seen, I’m dead, I thought I was strong enough to do this, I thought I could bear this until the end, but I’m weaker than I thought. I can’t forgive myself for what I did to Sparky…
I just wanted to avenge my parents, I wanted to bring them back, put things right…But then I met you and Twilight, and my life suddenly felt so much better. Despite the supernatural happenings and whatever, I loved having you here, I loved having someone I could call “family”.
I’m such an idiot. I should’ve just been grateful for what I had and lived on with you and Sparky. But it’s all my fault, if I hadn’t collected the Artifacts, the Coin of Solomon would have never chosen Twilight as its host, and then she would’ve never done what she did at Crystal Prep.
Anyway…if you’ve gotten this far, then, I just want you to know that I love you, Sis. You can hate me, you can curse me, and I’ll take it, but just know that I loved you, having you as a sister was the best thing I could ask for, aside from having Sparky as my girlfriend.
Love, your Little Sister Forever
Sunset “Sun” Shimmer
P. S.: Do not lose to Thirteen, no matter what, he can’t get the Thirteen Artifacts.

A few droplets of tears had hit the page and stained the note a little, but that was fine. She wasn’t going to write again. Sunset was about to head towards the stairs to end it all, but then…

*Bark!”

“The hell?” Sunset walked to the hole in the wall that was once her front door, and what she saw shocked her. “SPIKE?!”

The little purple pup barked and sat on his haunches as he looked up at her.

“What…What the hell are you doing here?! You’re supposed to be with your family!” Sunset stated angrily.

Spike titled his head as if he didn’t understand.

“Twilight’s gone Spike! She’s dead! She’s not here anymore! Just…Just go back to Mr. Night Light and Mrs. Velvet, they need you right now, not me!”

Spike whimpered as he got back on all fours and walked closer to Sunset, he then gave right leg a nuzzle of comfort.

“You…You stupid dog…why are you trying to comfort me?!” Sunset asked. “Don’t you get it?! Can’t you tell?! I KILLED YOUR MASTER! I KILLED THE PERSON WHO LOVED YOU, FED YOU, AND TOOK CARE OF YOU!!! WHY AREN’T YOU BITING ME?!!! YOU SHOULD BE RIPPING OUT MY THROAT!!!”

Spike just looked up at her with his big green eyes, full of kindness and understanding. It hurt.

Sunset dropped the knife and note, and then she fell to her knees as she scooped Spike into her arms and hugged him tight. The little dog offered no resistance, he could sense that Sunset was in pain, and needed his attention. Sunset bawled and screamed, she cried into the night, letting out all the sorrow and pain she was feeling. After a bit, she finally calmed down and loosened her hug, now cradling the little dog in her arms.

“Spike…you stupid mutt…you ran all the way back here for me?” Sunset asked.

Spike barked as if saying, “Yes!”

“God, you’re…something…You must be thirsty and hungry, little guy like you running all the way here on those short legs. C’mon, I think I still have some of your dog food lying around.”

Sunset brought Spike into the kitchen, popped open a can of his dog food, and poured it onto a plate along with a bowl filled with water. Spike eagerly dug into the meal and lapped up the water greedily. Sunset sat on the floor next to Spike, just watching him eat and drink. She glanced at the knife and note that were still on the floor, her fists tightened up and she was suddenly filled with a deep anger, for herself.

“What’s wrong with me?!” Sunset walked outside through the gaping hole where her front door used to be.

“This path was not mine; it wasn’t my call
But Destiny said, ‘You’re wrong little girl’~
Through all of your pain,
You’ll harness the fire and see your gain…

Saw fit to burn every bridge
That was fine I can take any grudge
But as time moved on
I felt like a pawn, and I lost the way~

Suddenly I’ve lost my bonds, I’ve lost my love
I’ll lose my soul, but I’ll still strive
‘Til there’s only one path left to choose~”

Sunset grabbed the note on the floor and went upstairs, she stormed into her former sister’s room and held the Ember Stone in her hands.

“So, I’ll fight with all my might,
I will take on all that hate,
Because I know, there’s nothing left to lose~!”

Sunset placed the Ember Stone back on around her neck, the gemstone shined back to life and Sunset’s eyes briefly glowed bright orange before returning to normal. The flame haired teen took out the note and burned it in her hand until it was ash. Sunset exited the room and walked back into Twilight’s room, she then sat on the bed, but paused when she noticed Spike there in the doorway.

“Come here, boy,” said Sunset with her arms open.

Spike scampered up to Sunset, he then jumped up into her arms where she cradled him once more. The troubled teen laid down and placed Spike next to her, with his belly full, the exhaustion from his long trek finally took hold and he began to nod off. Sunset petted him gently, helping the young pup drift into slumber. Tiredness finally befell Sunset as her eyelids grew heavy.

“I won’t give up, I’ll bring her back, Spike…I’ll…I’ll bring her back…”

Sunset and Pinkie had arrived in Equestria, and it was a wild ride for the pink teen. The unicorn mare believed that Pinkie would have a hard time adjusting to her new body, but, somehow, Pinkie was walking around as if she had done this before. It utterly perplexed Sunset, but then again, it was Pinkie Pie, should she really be this surprised?

Princess Twilight was there, and so was the one pony that Sunset had avoided for years and months. Princess Celestia, as regal as ever, stood next to Princess Twilight, her expression was one of shock when she saw Sunset emerge from the portal, but Sunset wore an expression of guilt.

“Hello…Princess Celestia,” said Sunset.

“Sunset…is it really you?” she asked.

Sunset nodded.

The solar mare walked closer towards Sunset, the air felt tense around them, making even Pinkie and Twilight nervous. Sunset had not seen her former mentor since the day she spurned her teachings and ran away. Years had gone by in the human world before the portal reopened, and even after Twilight figured out a way to open the portal whenever they wanted, not once had Sunset made the effort to come back and reconcile with the Princess. Now, on the brink of possible universal upheaval, Sunset finally had the guts to face the ire of the one pony she respected above all others, the mare who was practically her second mother.

Sunset sighed and looked up at the alabaster mare and said, “I’m sorry…I’m sorry for acting like such an entitled brat, I’m sorry for throwing away all the values and lessons you tried to instill in me, and I’m sorry for accusing you of holding me back…You were right all along, I wasn’t worthy of becoming a Princess, to become an alicorn…” Sunset glanced to Twilight and smiled. “I’m happy you found a pony that succeeded where I failed you…I came back so that if you wanted to punish me for my past transgressions then now is the time. Because, come dawn tomorrow…I’m not sure if any of us will still be here…”

Princess Celestia flared her wings, creating a “whoosh” of air that made the books rattle. The alabaster alicorn took one more step forward, and Sunset closed her eyes, awaiting the punishment she knew she deserved. However, she was not expecting the gentle embrace of the Princess’ downy feathers, and the Princess lowering her neck to rest it over Sunset’s right shoulder.

“I’ve missed you my little Sun…” Princess Celestia spoke gently.

The dam finally broke for Sunset as she moved closer and nuzzled her face into Princess Celestia’s neck, crying the tears she had been holding back since she stepped hoof before her.

“Twilight has told me of your exploits, I’ve heard how you’ve saved countless lives in the other world. The moment I laid eyes upon you I could see just how you have grown. You’re no longer the filly that I once taught, you’ve grown into a strong and wonderful mare. And I couldn’t be prouder of the pony you have become.”

Sunset cried louder, hearing the words she longed for, the acceptance she craved, it was there, Princess Celestia meant every word. Both mares broke apart for a moment to sit on their haunches, Princess Celestia opened her forelegs and drew Sunset into a big hug, adding her wings for extra comfort. Sunset just continued to bawl, this time into her former mentor’s chest fur. Twilight and Pinkie stood silently to the side as they watched teacher and student finally put the past behind them.

Some hours passed but eventually Sunset was able to calm down enough to explain to the two Princesses why she had come. She informed them of everything that had happened in the last few hours back on Earth, along with the potential of the universe being altered permanently. To say that Twilight and Princess Celestia were stunned would be a gross understatement, there wasn’t a magic old enough in all of Equis that had the power to do what these Thirteen Artifacts could. Eventually their conversation brought them to the balcony of Twilight’s castle, where Sunset was able to look upon the Equestrian night sky. The difference in constellations was stark in comparison to Earth, some were similar, but the majority were not.

She breathed in the air of her homeland, felt the gentle breeze as it blew through her mane and fur. She lit her horn, letting herself feel the familiar hum of the magic that resided in her world. It was like an old friend that she hadn’t seen in so long, happy to see her and she it. Pinkie Pie walked over and stood next to her, her eyes went as wide as saucer plates as she beheld the beauty that was Equestria, at night. She said nothing, she simply enjoyed the moment, standing here with her girlfriend, finally getting a chance to see the home of her lover.

Princess Celestia and Twilight were busy thinking over what Sunset had told them, it was a lot.

“What do think you want to do, Sunset?” Princess Celestia asked.

“A part of me, a very loud part, wants to use the Artifacts to fix everything. To bring back the lives that have been lost and change it all so that none this happens again…but there’s another part of me that’s afraid. Afraid of what might happen to Equestria if I use the power. I know the Witchblade said that it can alter reality, but what I don’t know is if that’s only limited to that universe or if it will spill over into Equestria.” Sunset turned around and faced the two Princesses. “I could accidentally screw up everything here! If I’m not careful, I might take away Twilight’s alicorn hood, I might change the world so that Princess Luna was the one who banished you to the moon, and she was the noble ruler of the land!”

Princess Celestia hummed as she thought about that. “It would be poetic justice, having me become the villain and my little sister finally being able to be loved and adored by everypony in my stead. It’s almost cathartic.”

“That’s what I’m trying to avoid! But if I don’t do anything…the world is going to be messed up…I’m not even sure what it will look like after the fight with Sun, let alone with Thirteen,” said Sunset.

Twilight stepped forward and gently took Sunset’s hoof into her own. “I know it’s a tough decision, and I don’t think there’s any right answer. But just know, that whatever decision you make, whether it is to not use the Artifacts, or if you do, we’ll accept the outcome.”

“Wha-What?!” Sunset gasped. “Aren’t you afraid of me screwing up everypony’s lives?!”

“We aren’t even sure if what you’ll do there will alter our realm, but Sunset, this a decision that only you can make. We won’t be able to help you in this upcoming battle, so you must make that decision based on what happens after it is over. And I agree with Twilight, whatever your decision is, I will accept it, and whatever happens to Equestria, I know you will make it right,” said Princess Celestia as she added her hoof to hers and Twilight’s.

Sunset looked between Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight, but then another hoof joined there’s. “Pinkie?”

“I’m with them, Sunny. Whatever you decide, don’t worry about Dashie, or Shining Armor. They’re not the ones fighting, and they can’t make you take on that burden if you’re not ready to. Just promise me one thing?”

“What?”

“If something happens to me, don’t use it an excuse,” said Pinkie in a serious tone. “If you do use them, do it because you want to make the world better, to save everyone, not just me. Understand?”

Sunset sighed heavily, she thought that coming back home might make her decision easier, but it hadn’t. However, she did feel better knowing that whatever her decision will be, in the end, she had the support of ponies and people who loved her and would abide by whatever that decision was. The final battle for the fate of the universe would be decided at dawn tomorrow, and Sunset didn’t know what would happen, but she felt as if all the trials and tribulations, the good and the bad, all of it was preparing her for this moment. Tomorrow, Sunset would find out what fate had in store for her and everyone.

WAR

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There were things that went through my mind the night before…

Even more when dawn’s early light chased the shadows of night away…

What if I lost?

What if I won?

Did this have to end in either of us dying?

Of course, this all pertained on the notion that we managed to survive this confrontation…

However, one thing was for sure in my mind…

…I had to punish Sun for what she did…

Sunset stood upon the tallest skyscraper in the city, she was at the edge, donned in the Witchblade armor, watching as the sun rose over the horizon and bathed the land in its crimson glow. Despite the view, it wasn’t going to be a pleasant morning. In the distance, she saw something approach, the Witchblade bristled, telling her that Sun was coming. Her other self flew towards Sunset, hovering in the air, but she wasn’t alone. In tow, using her flames as containment constructs, were the ten assembled Artifacts. All of them were in a sphere of fire that followed her here.

“So, you brought them all?” Sunset asked.

“Figured it be better than letting them sit in my house, at least here I can keep an eye on them,” Sun explained. She made a gesture with her right hand and all ten spheres ascended higher into the sky. “They’re self-sustaining, so I don’t need to concentrate to keep them floating. They’ll stay up here until it’s over.”

Sunset scoffed. “You sure you don’t want to pop one out and use it?”

“Doubting my abilities already?” Sun asked.

“I figured it’ll even the playing field, merging your powers with the Angelus or the Darkness would give you a boost in power.”

“Tch,” Sun crossed her arms, “as if. You’ve managed to pull off some crazy ass abilities with that Witchblade, I’ll give you that. That doesn’t mean I’ve been going all out with my Artifact.”

The Witchblade created more armor plates, completely closing any gap to ensure maximum protection.

“Before we start, are your friends out of here? Is Pinkie gone?” Sun asked.

“Why, you want to kill another person I care about?!”

“Shut the hell up! Fluttershy…Fluttershy was different, okay! I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t take the damn Spear without her dying! That thing is connected to her! I don’t want to hurt the others, because they don’t have Artifacts, all of them are floating above us right now! So, can you put away the anger for ten seconds and tell me that they’ve evacuated?!”

Sunset’s glare was persistent, but nonetheless, she granted Sun’s request. “Yeah, everyone evacuated last night. I dropped Pinkie Pie off with her folks before I got here. The city is empty.”

“Good…at least that means neither of us has to hold back now.”

“Just to be sure, I have to die because my Witchblade won’t leave me otherwise?”

“That’s right.”

“We can’t just team up against Thirteen and take him down together?”

“Are you going to let me change reality when it’s over? Or better, are you going to do it if I give you the Ember Stone?”

Sunset went silent.

“That’s what I thought. I have to do this; I have to change the world!”

“AT WHAT COST?!” Sunset got into a crouching position as she called out to the past wielders of the Witchblade. Let’s go, FANG!!!

A golden-brown aura overtook Sunset’s body, becoming a little more muscular as the Witchblade armor shifted and transformed into that of the past wielder, Fang’s armor. Sunset jumped straight off the edge of the building, causing the roof beneath her to shatter from the sheer force of her leap. Sun saw his and quickly erected a flame barrier around herself, but that did little to soften the impact of Sunset’s empowered punch. The moment she made contact a sonic boom went off that echoed throughout the empty city and shattered several windows in the process. The fire sphere was sent flying straight through the air before Sun managed to stop it, however, Sunset’s increased speed in Fang’s armor allowed her to get overhead and come down with a powerful ax kick.

All Sun could do was take the blow as it threw her straight down, she bounced like a pinball from one building to the other. Sunset wasn’t about to give Sun any time to recover or counterattack as she pressed her advantage as hard as she could. MULAN!

The golden-brown armor shifted in a flash of orange light, now she was in Mulan’s Witchblade armor. The speed of this armor was even faster, allowing Sunset to keep up with the pinball fireball, as evidenced when Sunset appeared right over the sphere, surprising Sun. Sunset summoned the signature sword of this form and started stabbing at the sphere in a blur of movement before spinning around and stabbing it once more. The blade broke through the barrier and shattered it, now unprotected, Sun unleashed several fire vipers that tried to surround Sunset.

TOMOE!!!

A yellow light flashed, and Sunset’s armor changed into that of Tomoe Gozen. “Sun Goddess Style, Second Step: Bakuhatsu Suru Hi no Hikari (Bursting Fire Light)!”

Sunset’s body released hundreds of fireballs into the air before disappearing. The vipers looked around but were not able to find her. However, they didn’t have to look long as Sunset burst out from a fireball and swiped the air in a long arch with her katana, slicing several of the flaming serpents in one go. She disappeared again and repeated the process, destroying the vipers again and again before appearing before Sun. Sunset struck with a flying roundhouse that sent Sun skittering against the pavement as several left behind cars were tossed about and exploded.

Sun managed to correct herself as she created a fire claw construct and raked the asphalt, slowing her down until she came to a halt. However, she wasn’t going to get the chance to figure out her next move before the ground beneath her began to glow. “What the hell?!”

“Sun Goddess Style, Sixth Step: Taiyō e no Inori (Prayers to the Sun)!”

The ring below her released a pillar of light straight into the sky, several small beams of light rose and pierced through Sun’s body before the circlet and pillar faded away. Sunset reappeared before Sun again, this time in Fang’s Witchblade armor, and delivered a haymaker punch that flattened Sun into the street and created a crater, several car alarms went off as the remaining vehicles within two blocks jumped two feet into the air before coming back down. Sunset wasn’t going to relent, she kept smashing her giant fists into Sun’s body again and again, causing a small earthquake with each successive impact.

Sun had had enough as her eyes glowed, her entire body released a powerful fiery explosion that sent Sunset flying backwards. A chain shot out from her body that stuck itself into the side of a building, allowing Sunset to snap herself out of the forward motion and land back on the ground, ready to go again. Sun emerged from the crater as flames lapped off her body, she wiped the corner of her mouth that had a bit of her lava-like blood.

“Damn, Sunset, a blitz attack, really? That’s a little harsh,” said Sun.

“Did you think I was going to take it easy on you just because of all that ‘sister’ crap?!” Sunset retorted.

Sun’s mouth turned into a small frown. “Guess not…But then again, I’d be pissed if you didn’t go all out on me! So, I guess I won’t hold back either!” Sun’s body erupted into flames. “You know, I’ve been holding back for a long bit, during that battle with Neighsay, I was wondering if I should use this little trump card of mine, but then you went and got that form, and I didn’t have to. But now, against this new power of yours, I don’t have a choice, I’ll face you at one-hundred percent!!!”

The flames around Sun started to take on the form of a dragon, but Sunset could feel that something was different, it was as if Sun was reaching deeper into the power of her Artifact. What the hell is she going to do?”

“Oh, Flame of Life, you who burn hotter and stronger than all, descend upon this land! Burn away the impure, incinerate the wicked, and give life to the worthy! You who rule over the Evening Star, and who commands the flames of the Sun itself, I invoke the name of the ancient dragon, the flames deep within…!” The fires receded back into Sun, and for a moment, everything got quiet as the Ember Stone shined like a star. “Quetzalcóatl!”

A blinding flash of heat and light ignited around Sun, forcing Sunset to avert her eyes for fear of being completely blinded. The heat was intense, making even the Witchblade armor burn. After a few seconds the light died down, but the heat hadn’t. When Sunset managed to look, she…she didn’t know what she was looking at.

Flaming feathered wings appeared on her back, and her eyes were pools of glowing yellow light. Her body was covered in shimmering scales that had a rainbow effect whenever the light caught them, making it hard to tell what their real color was. Sunset’s forearms were coated in solid flame construct dragon claws, while below the knees she had dragon talons. Flame constructs formed armor around her thighs, and created a codpiece around her waist and crotch, another patch of construct flames covered her chest, and just above Sun’s tailbone was an actual dragon tail that was about six feet in length, and two feet in width. Her construct wings, armor, and claws were made up of bright orange flames, some of those same orange flames were wisping from the corners of her eyes, while her hair was made of brilliant rainbow flames. Everything within a ten-meter radius of Sun was melted, leaving Sun hovering over a crater.

“This is the full power of the Ember Stone, Sunset. A power I tapped into years ago, I don’t use it because…” Sun motioned to the area around her. “The heat is so intense that I burn everything around me just bringing it out. I’m sure your Witchblade can withstand this heat, but for how long is a different story. Oh, and there’s one more power to this form…”

Sun disappeared, making Sunset go on guard. The intense heat disappeared, but it quickly came back, this time it surrounded her, stinging her skin to the point that she felt it was going to burn her on the spot. That’s when she realized it, Sunset turned around, but it was too late, Sun smashed her dragon fist into Sunset’s face. The metal sizzled as she was sent flying through a building, a path of destruction was cut as Sunset continued to blow through one wall after another, eventually bursting out the other side. Sun was already in the intercept path, once Sunset was close, she kicked Sunset straight up into the sky with a powerful “BOOM!” sound thundering all through the city.

Sunset felt that her back broke from that one kick, but it was quickly being healed. That’s when she saw Sun ready for her just above. Sunset switched forms, changing to Mulan’s Witchblade armor and readied herself to slay a dragon. However, the moment that Sunset got close with her sword, Sun disappeared, another moment later, Sun struck Sunset in the right side with her tail, cracking a few ribs and sending her flipping around in the air. Sun appeared alongside Sunset and attacked with rapid fire punches that appeared as blazing comets to anyone who was looking.

How the hell is she this fast?! She wasn’t this fast before! Sunset thought as she tried to figure out Sun’s trick.

“This is a power that I get from the rays of the sun itself, this is Velocidad de la luz Solar (Speed of Sunlight). Every everywhere the sun’s rays touch is another place I can reach, I can literally be anywhere I want to be so long as the light of the sun can reach it, even if it’s a sliver, I can appear there. And with the intense heat of this form, I just instantly burn away anything that’s there when I appear! You’re fast, Sunset, but you’re not this fast!”

Sun grabbed Sunset’s shoulder and brought her in for a knee strike to the stomach, making Sunset cough up blood from the heavy impact. The solar warrior tossed Sun straight back for the city below, the wind whistled in her ears as she made her descent and impacted into a high-rise building. Sunset coughed as she got into a kneeling position.

This isn’t good, I’m taking way too much damage just being anywhere near her, and with that speed I won’t even get the chance to fight back. Atalanta, I need your help!

A green flash of light went off inside the building from where Sun could see. Sun opened her mouth, showing off her rows of sharp teeth as a sphere of condensed heat formed. In the next second, that sphere broke and fired a beam of pure heat and energy straight for the building. A flash of green shot out of the building just as the beam hit. The entire structure exploded, taking out all the adjacent buildings and even the ones across the street. Sun cut off the attack and watched as a green flash was zipping around the city at incredible speeds, suddenly, several streaks of green light sped right for her. The steaks of light managed to make it through her heat dome and almost hit her, but they fizzled into ash just before reaching her.

Huh, so you decided to go with long distance attacks rather than go at me hand-to-hand. Not bad, Sis…not bad!

Sun used her sunlight teleportation to catch up to Sunset, however, when she did, Sunset sped past her before she could attack. Sunset smirked when this happened because it confirmed her suspicion on what that power really was. It wasn’t exactly speed, it was teleportation, and she should know, she mastered the spell of teleportation when she was sixteen. The speed of the demigod Atalanta was working in her favor, even though Sun could appear next to her, so long as Sunset kept moving, Sun could not land any attacks. Although, there was one trade off that wasn’t going to cut it here.

Whenever Sunset loosed her arrows, the heat dome that was around Sun made her arrows lose power and burn away almost instantly.

“Heh, ya look like ya need a bit more fire power lassie.”

Okay, who’s this?

Before Sunset appeared the vision of an older woman, she was dressed like a pirate and had an “X” shaped scar on her chest. She seemed to wear it like a badge of honor as she kept her shirt open enough to show it off. She looked fierce, and wild, someone whose spirit could not and would not be tamed by anyone. Her hair was unkempt, and her eyes held a look of someone who took what she wanted and made no apologies for it.

“You can call Anne Bonny, notorious pirate captain, swashbuckler, treasure connoisseur, and right now, someone who wants to give ye a hand.”

You merged with a pirate? Seriously?

}}} I choose those who are worthy. {{{

“Aye, don’t judge a book by its cover, lassie.”

Sorry, sorry, okay, Anne, right? How can you help?

“Heh, I was actually one of the only wielders who could mold guns from the Witchblade. And trust me when I say, blowing a ship out of the water with one of those guns was the least it could do. However, I ain’t as fast as that flying serpent!”

So, I’ll be trading speed for power if I use you. You could pierce that dome and get a clean hit, but that’s if I get a chance to do it.

“We’ll have to make switching as seamless as possible to ensure you can maximize the ability of both our strengths,” said Atalanta.

Sounds good! And I think I have just the plan.

Sunset jumped high into the sky and fired an arrow at one of the buildings’ roofs below. The arrow struck and exploded, punching a hole that Sunset dashed straight for and entered. Sun chuckled at this action, thinking that Sunset was trying to avoid her by making it so that she couldn’t teleport next to her if she was in a place where the sunlight wouldn’t shine, but unfortunately, she left the hole open, and the moment she got in there most of the building would be burned away.

Sun did just that, she teleported through the stream of sunlight that poured through the hole. The moment she did, the entire top half of the building instantly burned away, leaving Sun floating in the air. She had a smug, sharp toothed grin as she prepared to attack, but then she was struck by two powerful beams of cerulean light that sent the solar warrior flying into the street before exploding. Sun pulled herself out of the crater but wasn’t given much time to think as two more beams fired in her direction, she quickly teleported away, but then another barrage of beams came at her, littering the area with pot shots that created craters upon impact. Sun watched as a green flash came towards her along with several arrows of green light. Sun swiped the arrows out of the air with little effort, but the green flash managed to get in close, but then it shifted to blue just as the beam hit her from the left which exploding right in her face.

The solar warrior bounced until she eventually hit a semitruck trailer filled with popcorn. The kernels inside exploded as several of them spilled out onto the street, Sun tore herself out of the trailer and finally caught a glimpse at what had hit her.

Sunset’s armor had once again undergone a change. Both her arms were coated in jagged armor, creating shoulder pauldrons that had a half-moon curve to them. The armor around her chest had a rib-like design to it, hugging her body from the sides, while keeping some of her skin on display, ending in the typical metal bikini bottoms. The rib design followed down her thighs and ended around her knees which was covered in metallic boots. Around her waist was a metal combat skirt that flowed in the gusting wind of the battle. Upon Sunset’s head was a helmet, with the top shaped like that of a pirate captain’s hat. In both of Sunset’s hands were pair of metallic blunderbuss pistols, on either side of the weapons was a red gemstone that glowed as they gathered power. The entire armor was colored blue, the same color as Sunset’s eyes, and the blue glowing “X” shaped scar on her chest, indicating that she had merged with the spirit of Anne Bonney.

“Ye weren’t expecting that, were ya, Sun?” Sunset mocked.

“What the ever-loving fuck?! Where did that shit come from?! You had four armor changes you told me about!”

“Yeah, but remember I also told you that I got these changes by merging with the spirits of past wielders. I never said that there were only four, only that I USED four different armors of four different wielders,” Sunset corrected.

Sun rolled her eyes. “That damn Witchblade’s like a living cheat code, or a fucking online modder!”

“You gonna rage quit?”

“Tch, hardly, it’ll just make it that much more humiliating for you. To have all those different powers and yet still lose to me,” said Sun.

Sunset glared at Sun and fired off several more shots in Sun’s direction. The solar warrior dodged them as she teleported next to Sunset. But Sunset swiftly shifted to Atalanta’s armor and dashed away before Sun could attack. Sun teleported and appeared in front of Sunset, but when she did, it was right in front of her gun muzzle. The solar warrior arched backwards just as the beam of light shot out from the barrel of the blunderbuss. But despite dodging that shot, the second weapon was already aimed, point blank, at Sun’s midsection. Too late to notice, Sunset fired again, sending Sun flying.

Sun growled in frustration and halted herself from going any further with a flap of her wings. “Okay, creative, but I can be creative too, Sunset!”

The air around Sun became distorted, and when it did, Sunset found herself staring at multiple Sun’s. “Oh fuck me sideways…” Sunset hurriedly shifted to Atalanta’s armor and started sniping at the copies, it didn’t exactly help that they were flying around and making it difficult to determine which one was the real one, but each one she shot at had the arrows passing through them. Again, and again Sunset’s attacks were made in vain as the real Sun wasn’t among them. Sun was in fact behind her.

Sunset yelled in pain as she felt an intense heat slice through her left arm. The former unicorn watched as her arm fell, but thankfully, part of the Witchblade’s armor was attached to it. The bit of armor formed metal strands that shot back towards Sunset’s armor, and quickly reattached her severed arm. Sunset landed on the ground and saw that Sun had created a huge fire sword. Sun drew back on that sword, and in less than a couple of seconds, the blade of the sword grew until it was ten miles long. With an effortless swing, Sun cleaved the top of several buildings at once, causing a cascade of debris to fall around her.

The Keeper of the Balance dashed as fast she could as the severed building tops came crashing down onto the streets below, sending a giant dust cloud into the air that obscured everything around her. Sun took the energy of that construct sword and formed it into a sphere the size of a cannon ball. The solar warrior threw the ball into the distance, landing ahead of where Sunset was going, the sphere exploded and created a blast dome about five miles wide, forcing Sunset to stop in her tracks and go another way, but soon another fell from the sky and struck that direction, and then another, and another, until all four directions were cut off to her.

Sun raised her right hand and snapped her claws, in an instant, the four spheres of burning mass pooled their flames together into the center and formed a huge pillar of flames that roared into the sky. Sunset screamed as the intense flames burned at her body, although the Witchblade had some mastery of the flame, it wasn’t to the same level as the Ember Stone, which also translated to its resistance, while able to protect Sunset from a large portion of the damage she would’ve sustained, it still caused her significant damage to be caught in them. Sun wasn’t done yet, she swiped her left index claw across the sky, and right after a series of explosions went off that shook the very air all around Canterlot City.

Sunset was thrown into the suburbs, crashing, ironically, through the roof of Canterlot High School. Her body was burned badly, her skin and armor sizzling loudly in the halls. Thankfully, the Witchblade was already healing the damage, but it was quickly becoming apparent that Sun was a living nuclear reactor, she had become power itself and there was little to no way for her to counter that much power.

“I can’t give up now…I won’t! Dammit this hurts…” Sunset got to her hands and knees and coughed before getting to one knee. “Shit…that worked for a little bit, but if she keeps that up…”

“I guess it’s time that I lent you my power, young wielder.”

Yet another past wielder appeared before Sunset, she appeared as a violet-colored phantom. She was cloaked, was carrying a spear, and had looked a little older than Sunset, but her eyes told a different story. This person’s eyes looked like those who had lived for a long while and seen many battles. “What’s your name?”

“I am Scáthach the trainer of heroes, and legendary warrior of the Emerald Isles. This girl has power and speed, something I possess in spades. And seeing as she has gathered the powers of a divine flame, it seems only right that I snuff it out,” said Scáthach in her Irish accent.

“Strong as you are Scáthach, I believe Mademoiselle Sunset can make use of both of our powers as she did with Mademoiselles Atalanta and Anne.”

Another spirit appeared before Sunset, this time appearing in pure white. What features she was able to make out was that this woman had short cut hair, wore medieval armor, and in her right hand she held a spear with a flag tied around it. She looked young as well, about a year older than her, and her accent was French.

“What do you suggest?” Sunset asked.

Sun was panting, this form was powerful, but it put a strain on her body. I can’t maintain this form for much longer…I need to end this. Fuck, Sunset, I was hoping to use this against Thirteen…doesn’t matter, one way or the other, I’ll do it again and burn myself out when I face him if that’s what it takes! Now…where did you go.

The answer was given to her in the form of a violet-colored stream of light suddenly extending to an absurd length as it headed right for her. Sun hurriedly dodged the attack, but when she did, the heat dome around her was visibly cut, almost as if it were dispelling her power. The beam of light immediately disappeared and that is when she saw Sunset’s new armor.

A cloak had formed around Sunset’s neck, along with a headband that wrapped around her forehead. The armor was smooth in texture, it covered her forearms and hands, leaving her biceps exposed except for a strip of armor that ran up the sides of her arms and continued upward to form modestly sized pauldrons with runic markings etched into them. The armor around Sunset’s chest resembled a one-piece bikini, leaving enough open in the front to show off her cleavage. The leg armor ran up to her thighs, leaving her hips exposed save for a strip of armor that connected to the sides of her body. The cloak itself was made of a thin layer of metal but was no less strong enough to protect against a fierce attack. In Sunset’s right hand was an ornate spear, the tip was shaped in an elongated arrowhead, but along its sides were several incredibly sharp barbs, the same barbs that ran along both flat sides of the spear. Sunset’s eyes were colored violet, showing that she had merged with the spirt of Scáthach.

“Oh, what fresh hell is this?” Sun asked rhetorically.

“I’d suggest not getting hit by this, if you don’t want to lose a limb!” Sunset twirled the spear around and got into position. A gemstone at the base of the spear began to glow as it drew more and more power. Sunset tightened the muscles in her right arm and gripped the spear hard as the street beneath her cracked. “Strike them down…GAE BOLG!”

Sunset thrust the spear forward, instantly the metal weapon took on a light form as it zoomed straight for Sun. The solar warrior hurriedly erected a burning shield sphere, confident that the solid plasma of her sphere would protect her from–

Gae Bolg, to Sun’s shock, pierced the shield as if it wasn’t even there. Sun quickly teleported away from the attack, however, the spear bent at an angle and zigzagged as it chased after Sun. She reappeared a few yards away, but the spear was not giving up, Sun once again teleported, this time she internalized the heat dome to hide her presence, but that didn’t work either. There was a crashing sound coming from behind her, and no sooner did she turn her head did she see the spear piercing through the building. Sun’s eyes widened, how was this spear able to do this?

“Gae Bolg, the legendary cursed spear! Once the wielder has locked onto a target, the spear will not rest until it pierces the heart of that target! As a bonus, any wound inflicted by Gae Bolg cannot be healed! That includes anything that is cut or pierced by it!” Sunset explained.

Sun flew into the air, trying to avoid it, she turned around and quickly fired off multiple fire blasts at the spear, but nothing deterred it. The solar warrior inhaled and roared. A sphere of condensed heat and plasma formed before her mouth, and just like before, she unleashed a beam of plasma energy that struck against the spear’s tip. However, the energy was being split down the middle as the spear just kept going. Sun could do nothing as the Gae Bolg pierced directly into her heart. A gasp escaped her mouth, but it didn’t end there. All the barbs on the spear extended, piercing through her body from the inside out. Sun coughed up liquid light blood as she felt great pain throughout her chest.

Sunset retracted the spear, the barbs reducing in size as the spear pulled itself out of her and returned to Sunset in its physical form. Sun began falling out of the sky, the flames of her Ember Stone’s healing power were igniting around the wounds, but it looked as if the power of Gae Bolg’s ancient curse was trying to fight against it. Sunset used this time to bound quickly to where Sun was falling, and right about the time she got there, something happened.

Sun’s flames burned brighter as they fought against the curse, eventually, the curse of Gae Bolg lost as the flames of the Ember Stone as the vestiges were burned away, healing Sun’s injuries. Sun gasped for breath as she stopped herself from falling. She panted, clutching her heart as she glared down at her twin. “Not bad…you are serious…Good, if you weren’t I’d feel bad.” Sun flew high into the sky, aiming herself right over the city. “SUNSET, I DON’T HAVE TIME TO SCREW AROUND ANYMORE! I HAVE A KILLER TO KILL, SO I’LL END THIS NOW!!!” Sun placed herself right where the sun itself was shining and prepared for her final attack.

Her flaming feathered wings changed shape, becoming a giant halo. A thin screen of light formed at the center, and to it particles of light were being gathered. At the center of Sun’s chest, the Ember Stone started glow brighter and brighter, slowly it started to become a shining star in the middle of the day. “THIS NEXT ATTACK WILL VAPORIZE ALL OF CANTERLOT CITY, AND EVERYTHING FOR A TWENTY MILE RADIUS! I WAS SAVING IT FOR HIM, BUT WHAT CAN I SAY, YOU JUST MAKE ME WANT TO GO ALL OUT!!!”

More and more power was gathered, but Sunset did not do anything. She merely stood there, right beneath where Sun was getting ready to fire. This honestly worried Sun, she wasn’t bluffing, this next attack would seriously vaporize Sunset and everything else caught in the blast. This attack was equivalent to a nuclear bomb going off. How did she know? Well, there was an incident not so long ago where a meteor came close to hitting Earth, but a mysterious beam of light shot out from the stratosphere suddenly intercepted said meteor and annihilated it. The scientists who studied the event stated that if such a beam weapon existed, it could level Manehattan five times over. And that meteor was a planet killer, so, she knew.

Sun crossed her arms over her chest as she readied to fire. Sis…I’m sorry…I’ll make it quick! “¡FLASH DE CALOR (Heat Flash)!!!!” Sun uncrossed her arms and released an enormous, but brilliant beam of light and fire straight down towards Sunset.

The beam roared through the sky, melting everything that came near it, and yet, Sunset didn’t run. The beam struck the ground below, and just as Sun said, it resulted in a huge explosion, a roaring dome of fire and destruction expanded and engulfed everything in its path, expanding like a fusion reaction as it seemed to keep going, using the surroundings as fuel to keep its bellowing hellfire going. The explosion kept going, and going, and going, and…still going.

“Oh shit…Oh shit, no, stop! STOP!!!” Sun shouted at the attack.

It appeared there was an aspect to her ultimate attack that she didn’t know about it. The resulting explosion was like a fusion reaction, it converted all the matter that was in its way as fuel to keep burning and growing. Sun was starting to worry. At the rate the fiery dome was going, it wouldn’t just stop at Canterlot City, it would continue to grow. She misnamed the attack and misinterpreted what it could do. Out in space, the attack had nothing else to feed it once the meteor was gone, but here, on Earth, it just kept growing. This was the ultimate power of the Ember Stone, of the Quetzalcóatl form, the power to create a living, breathing sun from the matter around it.

Sun thrust her right hand forward and willed the flames to cease, but no matter how hard she tried, the explosion just kept going, consuming in an endless cycle. “STOP, STOP, GODDAMIT PLEASE STOP!!! I PROMISED HER NO ONE ELSE WOULD DIE!!! I’M NOT GOING TO KILL ANYMORE OF HER FRIENDS!!! PLEASE! JUST! STOP!!!!!”

“Je dis cette prière, afin que tous soient sauvés (I say this prayer, so that all may be saved).”

A voice echoed amidst the roaring flames, it was smooth and gentle, and was speaking in French?

“Moi qui ai été brûlé au bûcher, je ne serai pas blessé par les flammes de la haine. (I who was burned at the pyre, shall not be harmed by the flames of hatred).”

The flames started to swirl, drawing in towards the center.

“Je prie pour la fin de la guerre, et pour le début de la liberté (I pray for the end of war, and to the beginning of freedom)!”

The roaring flames continued to die down until they were gathered and formed themselves into the shape of a rose. Below that rose was Sunset, holding up her sword towards the sky with her right hand, and holding a pole with a flag that had the ancient symbol of the Witchblade upon it. Sunset’s armor was pure white, and compared to the past versions, this was a bit more conservative. Her head was covered in a helmet, the sides of which were feathered. Her forearms were clad in gauntlets and her feet were encased in boots. The armor created a skirt around her, which was accentuated by the bodice-like armor on her chest. The sword had three crosses formed on the flat of the sword, and at the pommel was a sculpted blooming rose. The armor had an angelic look to it, which contrasted to the harsher, almost demonic-like look of the previous forms. Sunset’s eye color had changed to white, showing that she was joined with the holy Saint Joan of Arc, a woman chosen by God and led an army to countless victories.

“BRÛLEZ UN CHEMIN VERS LA VICTOIRE ! FLAMMES DE LA RÉVOLUTION (Burn a path to victory! Revolution Flames)!”

Sun watched the rose break apart as the center exploded with a huge pillar of white flames that roared upwards towards Sun. She thought about dodging, but the downside to using her attack was how much power it drained from her, coupled with the strain of maintaining her powered form this long, it just wasn’t going to happen. “Heh…nice move…Sis.”

The pillar of white flames hit Sun, creating a magnificent explosion of sparkling alabaster flames that lit up the sky. Sparkling embers cascaded down from the sky, giving Sunset a saintly appearance as she kept her gaze fixed on the explosion. A minute after the attack hit, Sun fell from the sky and hit the ground with a powerful crash. Sunset calmly walked to the crater that she had created, and saw Sun lying on her back. Sun’s transformation had ended, most of her clothes were burned away, leaving her bare and defeated upon the ruined landscape that was once Canterlot City.

Sun, who had her eyes closed, slowly opened them and looked up to see Sunset standing over her. “You told me that the Witchblade let you channel the other past wielders…who is this?”

“Joan of Arc,” said Sunset.

“Ah…the Saint that was called a witch by the very people that she wanted to save…” Sun sighed. “Guess there’s a reason why the Witchblade is the Keeper of the Balance…it has to be powerful to keep both light and darkness in check…”

Sunset knelt on the ground and dismissed her sword and pole. “It’s over Sun, you can’t win.”

“You wanna know a secret…?” Sun asked. “I knew that going into this fight.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Wait, you knew I would win?”

“I knew the possibility was high…The Witchblade was part of the Trinity, the first three Artifacts, and it’s the son of Angelus and the Darkness, of course it’s powerful. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t going to give it everything I had…and everything I had almost killed everyone on the planet…”

Sunset sighed as well and opted to sit down. “Why’s that a problem? If you had won, the world would’ve been erased, and so would everyone else.”

“……Because I promised you that no one else you loved would die.”

Sunset and Sun’s eyes began water, tears flowed down their faces as Sun began to sniffle.

“I’ve done so many things to get to this point…I’ve bribed people, killed others…I killed Indigo Zap…I killed Fluttershy…Tempest…I even killed the person I love the most…and I even tried to kill someone I cared for as a big sister…! And in the end, it was all for nothing! I wasn’t strong enough! I’m still that fucking weak little girl from all those years ago!”

“I can see the differences between us, my years of growing up in Equestria, and then the years I spent here, helped me grow into the person I am right now,” said Sunset.

“Hindsight’s twenty-twenty and all that shit, right?”

“Right. I’ve done several things both in Equestria and here that I’m not proud of, things that I wish I could take back, but I knew that I couldn’t. I had to live with what I did and live with the knowledge that I hurt those people, and that I had to make sure that I never hurt anyone like that again. I understand that you wanted your parents back, that you wanted to kill the person responsible, but can you tell me that there wasn’t anything in this world that you didn’t want to keep?”

Sun knew the answer well, it was Twilight and Sunset, Sugarcoat, Sunset’s friends, Ms. Celestia and Ms. Luna, Mr. Night Light and Mrs. Velvet, Shining Armor and Dean Cadence, they were all precious to her. They were family, in her heart, she knew that the void that was left behind by the death of her parents was being filled with new love and new family, but the selfish part of her, the little girl who was angry and wanted revenge would not let it go, would not let the chance of bringing them back slip away. Rather than live with what she did to get the Artifacts and change reality, Sun knew she should’ve focused on the love and family she had now.

“You, Twilight, everyone we knew…they were worth keeping this world the way it is…and yet, I still couldn’t see past my selfish ambitions, I’m sorry, Sis…!”

Sunset scooted closer and brought Sun into a hug, a hug that the younger twin returned fiercely. “I missed hearing you call me that.”

“Awwww, that’s nice.”

Sun’s eyes widened as fear gripped her heart.

“That’s really cute, you know. We should wrap this up, I don’t want to have to stay another minute in this wretched world.”

Sun tore herself away from Sunset and stood on wobbly legs, above them floated Thirteen, and in his gloved right hand was the Thirteenth Artifact. Sun tried to ignite her flames again, but she was too exhausted to call on her Ember Stone’s flames.

“Aww, no more gas in the tank? Good, then this’ll be easy.”

Thirteen’s Artifact glowed, and Sun was suddenly hoisted into the air as a ring of violet light wrapped itself around her neck and began choking her. The ring brought Sun floating before Thirteen, where he reached out and placed his hand on the Ember Stone. The Artifact retaliated against this action as it released a burst of flames right into Thirteen, however, the Thirteenth Artifact created a barrier that protected him against the flames. Two more rings appeared around Sunset’s wrists that kept her hands at her side, once this was done, Thirteen readied to take the Artifact.

“GET AWAY FROM HER!!!” Sunset roared as she dashed straight for Thirteen, sword in hand.

Another barrier formed, this time around both Thirteen and Sun. The sword bounced off the barrier, but Sunset wasn’t going to stop. She shifted to Scáthach’s armor and quickly attacked with Gae Bolg, but to her great shock, the cursed spear couldn’t pierce the shield.

“I still can’t get over the fact that there are two of you. Why is that I wonder?” Thirteen shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.” The Thirteenth Artifact glowed and imposed its power upon the Ember Stone, making it cease its flame attack and allowing Thirteen to remove the necklace from Sun. Just then, ten orbs of violet light descended from the sky, and in each one was contained an Artifact. “And then there was one.”

“Fucking…Bastard…! You killed my parents…!”

“Yes, I did, and you were of great help in gathering the Artifacts for me. Granted it took some prodding on my part, but eventually it all came together. So, thank you.”

The ring of light around Sun’s neck suddenly flashed. Sun went still, and then her body fell to the ground, while her head remained suspended in midair. Thirteen released his hold and let the head flop onto the ground next to the body. Sunset’s eyes went wide as tears streamed, she looked up at Thirteen and gritted her teeth.

“I’ll kill you…I’ll kill you…I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!!” Sunset’s spear shined bright, causing Thirteen to take notice. “GAE BOLG!!!!”

Sunset thrust the spear forward, the beam struck against the shield, but like last time it didn’t go through. But she wasn’t about to give up. Sunset channeled all the power she had and forced the spear forward. Cracks started to form in the barrier that even gave Thirteen pause. The spear pierced the shield and made it shatter, unfortunately, it made Gae Bolg shatter as well. Sunset took this opportunity and shifted to Fang’s armor. Using her primal rage as fuel, she began striking at Thirteen with savage fury, pummeling her enemy relentlessly and causing thundering shockwaves to echo in every direction. Sunset cocked back her right fist, ignited the back of the gauntlet, and punched forward.

The empowered strike sent Thirteen flying forward, but Sunset changed to Atalanta, and chased after him. She reappeared behind him, on an intercept course, shifting to Anne Bonney’s armor. Wielding her two blunderbuss’ she pulled the triggers and fired two beams of cerulean light as she yelled with all her might. The beams doubled in size and enveloped Thirteen, continuing onward and into the sky before fizzling out. Sunset reverted to her original form, panting from the effort and anger that still seethed inside her.

“I have to admit that actually hurt, you’re different from the other Witchblade wielders I’ve fought before.”

Sunset paused, Thirteen’s voice changed, it sounded like a girl’s voice. Now that she took a moment to look, she saw that Thirteen’s robes had been mostly burned away, revealing the true form of the Thirteenth Artifact’s wielder. She had curly arctic blue hair and light-pink colored skin, and she wore a uniform that looked exactly like a Crystal Prep uniform When the girl turned around, Sunset saw that she had freckles, and amaranth-colored eyes.

“Who…Who are you?!” Sunset demanded.

“Not that it’ll matter to you, since, you know, you’ll be gone when I’m done. But given how interesting this version turned out, I’ll tell you.” The, admittedly, cute teenage girl, smiled at Sunset and said, “My name is Cozy Glow, and I’m the one who wielded Witchblade before you.”

}}} LIES! I would never choose her! {{{

“Oh, it’s no lie, Witchblade, once upon a time, you and I were partners. Before I traded up that is,” said Cozy.

Sunset did a double take when she realized that Cozy just heard the Witchblade speak. “How the – You can hear him?!”

Cozy held up the Thirteenth Artifact. “The Thirteenth has all sorts of different powers, one of which allows me to her the sapient entities within the Artifacts that house one, like Angelus, the Darkness, Blood Sword, Pandora’s Box, Ember and Glacier, and of course, you Witchblade.”

“If you are a wielder, then why would you do all this?! What do you gain from changing the world?!”

“I only ask for one thing, a world that isn’t a complete piece of shit,” Cozy stated. “I’ve done this four times now, and each time when I think the world will be different, something crappy happens again! Which makes me find them again, and remake it all over again! Seriously, it’s so fucking annoying, but it has its perks. Going on the occasional killing spree helps me let off some steam.”

“I seriously have no idea what you’re talking about?! What do you mean, shitty world and that you’ve done this four times?!”

Cozy tapped her chin with her left hand and then shrugged. “Eh, I’ve got some time, and I like you. I guess it couldn’t hurt to tell someone my little origin story, I’ve lived too long without someone to vent to. Listen up, Sunset Shimmer, because this world was created by me, and the past three before it. But in the first world, I wasn’t like this, I was a just an ordinary girl, until one day, I got the Witchblade.”

Goodbye From the End of the World

View Online

Her name was Cozy Glow, a brilliant student entering Crystal Prep Academy at the age of fifteen. She was a master chess player, smart in many ways, and a kindhearted girl. But Crystal Prep had a way of targeting the kind and brilliant. Cozy was subjected to many forms of hazing, and several times brought it up to Principal Cinch, to which, the woman would say that she’d “Look into the matter,” but it was obvious to Cozy that she didn’t look at all. So, she bided her time, tried to remain a small target, believing that the students would find another girl or boy to mess with, however, even when a new batch of Freshmen students came in, she was still their favorite punching bag.

Cozy’s life changed one night when she was eighteen. She stumbled upon a package on her doorstep, her father worked in archeology, so it was probably something from one of his digs that he sent to their house. He was always doing stuff like that, of course he never sent anything important or valuable, just small things, mementos of his various digs sites and the memories associated with it. Cozy hefted the box into his study, where several other objects lined the shelves and some others the wall. The brilliant teen was in the habit of opening his packages and setting up his office.

Like Daddy have the time to decorate the room with all this. Poor guy just plops down on the couch the moment he gets here, Cozy thought wistfully.

She often wished she could go with him on his expeditions, exploring ancient ruins, uncovering lost mysteries of history, and finding artifacts from civilizations long past. It certainly would be a welcomed departure from the school, but she digressed. The package was a small wooden crate that was nailed shut, as was the case with most of his delivered items. Thankfully, she always kept a crowbar in his study for these occasions. Cozy jammed the butt of the crowbar into the crease of the lid and worked the lid until she managed to pop it off. When she looked inside, Cozy beheld a strange object.

It was a gauntlet, made of a gleaming, slivery metal. The tips of the fingers were sharpened into claws, and there was a ruby gemstone at the center. The gauntlet itself looked as if it were made of several strands of metal weaved together, it certainly was a far cry from the other knickknacks that her father would send to their home. This artifact looked as if it should’ve been a part of a suit of armor, which was weird because her father never sent things like pieces of armor or weaponry, such things belonged in the museum.

“Did Daddy mislabel this?” Cozy checked the address on the lid that she pried off, but when she read it, the label clearly had her home address on it. “If it was mislabeled, then Daddy’s going to be in trouble with the museum…oh dear…and this thing looks really important.”

Some of the things that her father taught her about armor and weapons from ancient civilizations was that they often served two purposes, some armors and weapons were highly decorative, studded with jewels and made of polished metal. Those types were normally used for important ceremonies, quite possibly by chieftains, kings, queens, or any kind of nobility or royalty. Weapons and armor that were a little more worn were the ones most likely used in war and battles in general. Sometimes a warrior would decorate their weapon or armor to make it personal to them and easily identifiable on the battlefield, but something like this, at least to Cozy, was part of a set of armor that might have belonged to nobility. Which was even worse because it could belong to someone important to that culture.

“Oh, I better call Daddy and tell him it’s here before his bosses yell at him.”

Cozy reached into the into the top drawer of her father’s desk and pulled out a satellite phone and called him immediately. The last she heard he was in the Middle East, in a location that might have been an ancient Sumerian temple. However, that was the last communication she had with him. Places that far out rarely had good service, which was why she had a satellite phone on hand in his office.

The line stopped ringing and was picked up on the other end, to which Cozy answered, “Daddy, it’s me Cozy, are you there? Hey, listen, I think you accidentally sent something that was supposed to go to the museum, but it went to the house. I’m sorry, but I already opened it. Anyway, do you want me to take it to museum here myself?”

Cozy waited for a few seconds but got no reply from her father.

“Hello? Daddy? Can you hear me?” Cozy adjusted the antenna back and forth, but it seemed she had a strong connection. “Dad, c’mon, this isn’t funny, answer me!”

{So that’s what he did with it, at least now we know where it is.}

Cozy’s eyes widened with fear, this wasn’t her father’s voice. “Who are you?! Where’s my Dad?!”

{Sorry to say, but he got in our way. We don’t take kindly to that. If you want, you can see him again, either in pieces or when you die and meet him in the afterlife.}

“I-I-I’ll call the police! I-I–!”

{Heh, yes, by all means, call the police. Half a world away and in the middle of a godforsaken desert, and you think the police are going to help? No, little girl, that’s not going to happen. However, we will be taking back that property. You see, I thought he might’ve sent it to his residence, cliché as it was. So, one of my associates should be there to retrieve it. You can either give it up willingly or die, the choice is yours. My advice, don’t be like your daddy.}

The line went dead, which probably wasn’t the right choice of words in her mind as the power to the house was suddenly cut, bathing everything in darkness. Cozy backed up until she hit the desk, causing the box to fall and spill onto the floor. The gauntlet skittered across the floor and hit the bookshelf on the left side of the desk. Cozy went to pick it up but was distracted when she heard a noise from behind her. She quickly turned around and gasped in pain. She couldn’t see a thing, but she felt a severe pain in her stomach. She could feel the presence of someone right in front of her but couldn’t see them. The clouds outside parted and finally bathed the inside of the study in moonlight, granting Cozy a glimpse at her attacker.

It wasn’t human, it was insectoid in nature, with a pitch-black carapace. It stood on two legs and had a curved horn in the center of its forehead. On its right hand was a forward curving sickle blade that was now impaled inside her. The creature raked its blade upwards as it pulled out, creating a large gash in the middle of her chest that spewed blood into the air. Cozy stumbled backwards until she hit the bookcase and slumped onto the floor. She couldn’t make a sound, the shock was too great and the pain excruciating, all she could do was sit there and feel her blood and some of her entrails pour out of her wound and onto the floor in front of her.

Cozy could hear her own heart beating, fast at first, but slowing down with each passing second. The rhythmic thumping sound became even slower, her vision blurred, but something drew her attention away from the creature in front of her. On the floor next to her was the gauntlet, the gemstone on the top of the hand was glowing bright, illuminating the entire room, and causing the creature to back away. Something in Cozy compelled her to reach out to the gauntlet with her right hand, and as if responding to her, the gauntlet unraveled itself and quickly attached to her arm.

The brilliant teen spasmed as she felt something entering her body, not only physically, but on another level. A power surging through every cell in her body, filling her up with an incredible heat inside. The wound on her chest rapidly closed, and the strands from the gauntlet whipped out and slashed through her clothing as it created some highly suggestive looking armor. When it was over, Cozy stood to her full height and glared down the monster. Her hair had become metallic, the spiral curls grew out a bit, and at the ends of each one was a sharpened arrowhead. Her skin was a darker shade of pink, and her eyes were black pools, the only splash of color where her glowing amaranth irises. Her armor was a dark violet color, some of the armor covered her neck and chin, with two strips of it rapping around both her cheeks.

The neck armor extended to cover her collar bone, and then spread out to both her shoulders, creating curved pauldrons for each. Her entire right arm was covered in armor plates, with the exception of Cozy’s left arm which only had plated armor around her left forearm and hand. More plated armor appeared around both of Cozy’s thigh’s, extending downward to create metallic boots. The armor around her b-cup chest, which wasn’t that much, created a “V” pattern that formed over where her nipples would be, and continued to form an armored codpiece that went around and covered half her rear, that same armor created a metal, ridged spine that went up her back and stopped at the base of her neck.

“What…What are you?!”

Cozy looked at herself, she could feel the power inside her, it was intoxicating, but most of all, it felt good. “Don’t know what I am, sweetie, but something tells me it’s perfect for killing you!”

The insectoid extended both its sickle blades and flared its wings. It buzzed through the air as it used its wings as propulsion to close the gap between them. Cozy dodged to the right, it was strange, the bug might as well have been moving in slow motion, at least that’s what it looked to her. By the time the creature realized she wasn’t there Cozy went on the attack, her entire right arm turned into a huge blade as she raised it and slashed down on the creature’s right arm, the very same one that impaled her earlier.

The insectoid screeched in pain as neon green blood spewed from the wound, coating everything it sprayed on in a glowing liquid. Cozy wasn’t done, willing her hair spirals to strike like snakes, each end harpooned the insect at a different point of its body, piercing through the carapace and hitting the shelf on the other side, effectively anchoring the creature.

“Tell me, what are you, and what did you do to my Dad?!” Cozy demanded as she willed the strands that had pierced through the insectoid to sprout spikes that dug into its tender flesh beneath its armored hide, causing it to screech again in pain. “I’m not asking twice.”

“AAAAH!!! I am a Changeling! And your father is dead! He’s dead! He’s dead! He tried to defy the Queen! No one defies her! He wouldn’t give up location of the Witchblade!”

Cozy looked at the gauntlet on her right arm, her gaze holding with the gemstone at the center. “So that is what this thing’s called…and he’s dead…” Cozy glared at the Changeling and willed more strands of her hair to lash out, this time wrapping around his neck, tightening until it was making choking sounds. “I assume you are a hive, correct? And a hive has a hive mind, so I’m sure she knows you fucked up, and that I got what she wants. If you’re listening, know that I WILL find you, and I will KILL you for what you’ve done! Until then…I’ll be waiting here, come and get your prize, BITCH!!!”

The strands that were around the Changeling’s neck suddenly turned into serrated blades, and with a quick twist, the Changeling’s head was severed from its body. The rest of the strands returned to Cozy’s head, and when it was over, the armor retracted back into a bracelet form around Cozy’s wrist, leaving her bare in her father’s study, with a dead monster and its blood coating half of her father’s personal belongings. Cozy fell to her knees and placed her face into both of her hands, and then she cried.

“That was the first time I used the Witchblade, from then on, I was attacked by Changelings, it was quite the game of chess as those creatures could look and sound like anyone, but they had one glaring weakness. When they changed into someone, they didn’t copy their memories, so if they wanted to become a perfect copy, they would have to stalk their intended transformation target and learn their mannerisms, either that, or they kidnap them, crack open their skulls, and ingest their brains to gain their memories. Kind of like getting a flash drive and downloading a file,” Cozy explained.

“A fucked up way of getting a file,” said Sunset.

“See, that’s what I said to Queen Chrysalis. Anyway, she wasn’t the only threat. Upon getting the Witchblade, I was opened to a whole world of supernatural goings on around the city and the world, I was granted access to a world that few were allowed to see. In a way, I felt special, and at the same time, I felt burdened. Aside from fighting off these supernatural threats, I also helped the local police with crime, much like you did, Sunset Shimmer.” Cozy glanced at the Witchblade on Sunset’s arm and sighed. “I had asked him, what made me worthy of wielding its power? Why me? It responded that I knew the darkness, and yet I maintained my kind heart despite what I go through at CPA. It needed someone who knew the darkness but was filled with light.”

Sunset remembered something similar had been told to her by the Witchblade. It was the Keeper of the Balance, so it would only make sense that it needed someone who knew both good and evil and had the right sense of mind to dispense justice upon one or the other when they stepped out of line.

“Any who, my final battle with Chrysalis ended up with her getting ahold of the Thirteenth Artifact, and that battle was legendary.”

Cozy dashed across the battlefield, jumped into the air, and thrust out her left hand. A huge burst of searing flames roared towards the insect queen, but she merely held up the Thirteenth Artifact and created a barrier that blocked her flames. Chrysalis counterattacked by releasing wild, violet lightning strikes and ripped up the earth and struck at the air and all directions. Cozy flared her bat wings and quickly began evasive maneuvers.

The land was scorched, bones of both Changelings and humans alike littered the area. The sky was blood red, and in the distance a river of lava flowed. Chrysalis, the Queen of the insectoid race of Changelings, had made her final move and took the Thirteenth Artifact as her own. After countless battles against the Artifact wielders, and finally bringing an end to the infamously dubbed “Trinity War” between Witchblade, Angelus (Fluttershy), and the Darkness (Shining Armor), Cozy at long last was able to face the one who killed her father, and not too long ago, her mother.

Their battle lasted for hours, causing untold havoc upon the Earth. Their very powers clashing caused blue sky to turn red, storms raged in other parts of the world, the land around them for miles was scorched bare, and the ground shook violently from time to time and released geysers that spewed lava onto the land that created rivers that flowed into the cities and towns. Chaos was the only way to describe what was going on, pure and utter chaos.

Cozy was on her last legs, and so was Chrysalis. However, it looked as if Chrysalis was tiring, and she wasn’t about to give the Changeling Queen an inch to breathe, she was ending this now. Cozy released two fireballs from her hands that curved outwards and angled themselves towards Chrysalis. Her follow up was creating a long sword, raising it into the air, and coming down with an overhead slash that created a crescent blade of violet light that headed right down the middle.

Chrysalis noticed the fireballs first and formed a shield to block them. Both fireballs hit and exploded upon impact, creating a large smoke cloud. The second attack cut through the smoke and struck the shield, making it shatter and causing a small shockwave to knock Chrysalis back. Cozy dashed at full speed at Chrysalis, cocking back her right fist as she laced it with violet flames. Chrysalis noticed this and fired a beam of pure energy straight for Cozy. The Keeper of the Balance created a metal shield with her left arm that took on the brunt of the attack as she pushed through.

With a loud war cry, Cozy buried her flame coated fist right in Chrysalis’ chest, causing the insectoid Queen to cough up its luminescent neon green blood. “You got one heart, but I have five more!”

“Who said I was done?! AAAAHAAAAAAAAHHAAAAAAA!!!”

A bright light and heat began to shine from within the wound. Chrysalis made to use the Thirteenth to stop her, but Cozy willed metal tendrils to lash out and hook themselves into Chrysalis’ arms, legs, and neck. She wasn’t about to let her get away. The buildup of power finally erupted inside of Chrysalis, creating a massive explosion for miles around and causing a pillar of violet light to rise into the air.

When it was over, only Cozy glow was standing, and the Thirteenth Artifact lied on the ground at her feet. The other eleven Artifacts floated overhead, awaiting their use.

“I had defeated the person who killed my father and mother, my friends, and everyone I cared about. But the world was broken beyond repair, so many lives were lost and being lost, and the world itself was going to come to an end. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do once all thirteen were gathered, but I knew what my only choice was then. To save the world, I had to remake it.”

Cozy grabbed the Thirteenth Artifact, the crystal orb shined as if acknowledging her as it one true wielder. The last hero of Earth slammed the Thirteenth Artifact into her gauntlet, just above the ruby gemstone. The eleven other Artifacts transformed into pure energy and zoomed into the Thirteenth, merging their powers with it and the Witchblade. Cozy felt an influx of power so great that she felt as if she was going to be destroyed before she could do anything to save the world. Her eyes shined bright white, and then her body released an explosion of white light that expanded rapidly in mere nanoseconds. The light grew bigger, consuming the land, the sea, the sky, the moon, the sun, the stars, and lastly, the universe itself.

“I saved the world, brought back my parents, and even created an ideal life for myself and my family. I made sure that world would be peaceful for years to come…however…that didn’t last long.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? You remade the world, why wouldn’t it be perfect to what you wanted?”

“Life, Sunset Shimmer, life and freewill! I made the ideal world, made sure everything was right in the world. But I couldn’t take away the ability of people being complete and total fucking morons!” Cozy exclaimed. “It wasn’t long before some power-hungry SOB started causing trouble, more supernatural threats, crime, and of course, the Thirteen Artifacts appeared again!”

Cozy began to laugh maniacally as she recalled her past exploits.

“I went through all that pain and heartache, just to have the world go crazy again?! What kind of bullshit is that, huh?! So, guess what, I found the Witchblade again and set to work on saving the world, again! And I did! However, things were different, the wielders were different, the bad guys were different, everything was different! So, I couldn’t just take out the typical people I thought I knew would become the bad guys later, I had entirely new bad guys to beat!”

“So, in changing reality and people’s lives, you changed the roles they played in the new world. The good guys became bad guys, and the bad guys became good guys. What happened to the Artifacts once you used them?” Sunset asked.

“They scattered to the corners of the Earth, the only thing that stayed behind was Witchblade, but I chose to let him leave, I mean, I created a peaceful world, what use did I have for the Witchblade?! But I fought the big bad at the end, won, and reset the world. This time taking everything into consideration and making sure that the world didn’t slip into chaos again! After the second go around, I decided to go out and seek the Thirteenth Artifact for myself, and I got it. I watched the world and I saw that patterns were emerging, the Witchblade would awaken first, then the Angelus and the Darkness, and finally, all the others would gather in Canterlot City for the final battle.”

This city was meant to be the site of the final battle all along, this was predestined to happen no matter what then? Sunset thought.

“Fast forward to this world, I decided to try and speed things along. You see, all those other events? They happened over the course of years, by the time I fought Chrysalis, I was twenty-five years old.”

Sunset’s mouth dropped open as she yelled, “SEVEN YEARS?!! B-B-But all of this…it happened in less than a few months! How was that possible?!”

A mischievous smile appeared on Cozy’s face. “Oh, that would be me. I sped things along by nudging some of the Artifacts towards people I thought were right to wield them.”

Cozy watched as a man and his group were walking along a snowy resort, the man she had her eye on was Mr. Zap, the father of one, Indigo Zap. Years ago, Cozy set up Sunset Shimmer to get the Ember Stone, and that worked perfectly. She just needed to wait for that tree to bear fruit, but now she needed another nudge. The Thirteenth showed her the location of the Glacier Stone, and with a little misdirection, she was able to get Mr. Zap to move towards the location of the Artifact, and thankfully he discovered it and took it.

A couple of years before this event, Cozy Glow was tracking down an unstable girl by the name of Sour Sweet, she knew she’d be a perfect fit for the Blood Sword. Upon following them to Japan, Cozy used the power of the Thirteenth to make Sour visit the store where the sword was being kept.

The Wheel of Shadows, Rapture, Heart Stone, and Spear of Destiny had already found their wielders, so there was little to do with them.

Cozy moved on to the Darkness, making sure that his ambition led him to the city of Canterlot. She used the Thirteenth to turn Rat Fink into a traitor for the King family, leading to the massacre of Sombra’s family and his girlfriend. Angelus was already in Canterlot, and soon so would the Darkness.

The Coin of Solomon was found by Sunset, which was good, her little pawn was doing her work for her.

Pandora’s Box did the choosing for Cozy, calling out to one, Adagio Dazzle. It was just a matter of tweaking her mind here and there, raising the anger in her and leaving little room for compromise. The expulsion of the Blood Sword from Sour Sweet did cause her some minor trouble, but after manipulating Adagio into singing the Box’s resurrection song, she was able to bring forth an even better wielder for the demonic weapon.

However, there was one variable she did not account for, one that was strange.

“You, the other Sunset Shimmer. In the four worlds before this one, not a single one had a second Sunset enter into the picture. I didn’t understand how this would affect the plan, but it seems it’s more or less come to the final conclusion,” said Cozy.

“If what you say is true, then it doesn’t matter what you do! The world will just keep going! I get it, you created a peaceful world, but then stuff happens that makes it not like that anymore, but that’s not because of you doing something wrong, people grow, people make mistakes, and those mistakes can have consequences to everyone, good and bad, you can’t control every variable,” said Sunset.

Cozy chuckled madly and said, “That’s why I’m going to erase everyone’s freewill in the next world. You’re right, creating a perfect world is hard because of the people and the choices they make. Which is why I’m going to take their choices away! I’m going to make a world where I have absolute authority! No freewill, everyone acts as I wish, and peace will reign forever!”

“THAT’S INSANE!”

“It’s the only logical conclusion, people can’t be trusted to make their own decisions. I have to do what I can to ensure that the world doesn’t destroy itself. I don’t expect you to understand, I’ve gone through several of these already.”

Sunset created a katana in her left hand and a claymore in her right. “I won’t allow you to do that!”

Cozy’s eyes changed to black pools; the amaranth color changed to violet as they glowed in tandem with the Thirteenth. “The Thirteenth Artifact is the ultimate Swiss army knife, Sunset. It can manipulate minds, locate other Artifacts, teleport myself, create force fields, longevity, and some other fun things. I know all of Witchblade’s powers, I’ve had him for far longer than you. Compared to me, you’re a total newb.”

Sunset charged for Cozy, but the experienced wielder unleashed violet lightning that ripped into the ground. The former unicorn stopped and jumped high into the air, she dismissed her sword and released a roaring blast of flames right at her enemy. Cozy smiled and swiped the air with the Thirteenth Artifact, creating a barrier that easily blocked the intense heat and power of the flames. Sunset growled in anger, but still she kept pressing the attack, descending rapidly as she got ready to slash with her katana.

Cozy Glow smirked, and when Sunset got close enough, she teleported away, making Sunset flare her wings and stop herself from crashing into the dirt. The mastermind appeared behind her, pressing her back against Sunset’s. “I know you’ve managed to figure out the power of your Crimson Form, although, mine was more of a Magenta Form. And from what I’ve seen, you’ve also gained access to the Legacy. But it seems you can only call upon seven. If you used it longer, you could’ve formed connections to other past wielders.”

Sunset willed the Witchblade to create spikes at her back, dozens of them shot out from Sunset, but Cozy easily hovered away from the spikes.

“Even if you did manage to do that now, it wouldn’t help you, because I know all of their tricks and powers.”

“FAUST ABOVE, WILL YOU SHUT UP?!” Sunset demanded.

Sunset called upon Fang’s spirit and transformed her armor. She dashed across the battlefield, like a lioness chasing down her prey. Sunset jumped into the air and ignited the vent on the back of the gauntlet, the rocket powered punch sailed towards Cozy, but again, she did not flinch. Cozy planted her feet as she took a wide stance, she then held out her left hand and caught the blow. A powerful shockwave was dispersed behind her, upheaving the dirt and rock as fissures formed that extended for yards into the distance.

“For one, Fang has incredible strength and heightened senses formed from her everyday struggle as a cavewoman to survive in a prehistoric era where beasts three times bigger than her wanted to eat her. A time where might, and ferocity made you the apex predator! However, for all that strength and speed,” Cozy’s left hand began to glow. “Her personality tends to affect you, making you think a little less and follow your instincts!”

Sunset was suddenly wracked with pain as violet lightning surged through her body. Cozy used that lightning to lift Sunset into the air and smash her to the ground, but she wasn’t done. She then shot Sunset forward until she hit the wall of the crater, with a swipe of her hand, Cozy dragged Sunset along the walls, grinding her against the rock and sediment while she was continuously getting electrified by Cozy’s attack. Sunset managed to focus her mind as she called upon Atalanta.

A green flash went off and Cozy suddenly felt her grip on Sunset slip. “Ah, the favored ward of the goddess, Artemis, Atalanta. Her speed is only second to Hermes, and her archery skills are second to none. The only downside is, she sacrificed the protection of the armor by lessening how much it covered her, allowing her to run even faster.”

Cozy raised the Thirteenth Artifact and slammed it into the ground. Violet lightning erupted from under the ground, tearing up everything around her as it continued to spread out. Sunset dashed at incredible speeds, all while keeping an eye on Cozy. She took this time to snipe her with her arrows, firing multiple shots from every angle she could manage. The lightning, however, intercepted the arrows, blasting them out of the air before they could get close. Sunset decided to change tactics and jumped as high into the air as she could, a blue flash released from her body, and she was soon donned in the same armor as Anne Bonney. Wielding the twin blunderbuss’, Sunset charged the pistols and fired a twin energy blast straight down at the lightning dome.

Cozy, once again, scoffed at the attack. She pointed the Thirteenth at the incoming attack and fired her own powerful beam straight at them. The two beams met at the center, slamming into each other, and causing a thunderclap to roar throughout the sky. “Anne’s a wily one, pirate mentality and all that. The recreation of a blunderbuss using the Witchblade was very innovative, but sadly, she lacks speed, and is more like a fixed cannon that’s better used at a distance.” Cozy teleported again, allowing the twin beams to hit the ground where she once stood.

Sunset cut of the attack and scanned the area for Cozy, but she didn’t have to wait long as a violet construct blade pierced through her chest, causing Sunset to cough up blood.

“Face it, Sunset Shimmer, there isn’t anything you can do that I haven’t done. I know all the ins and outs of the Witchblade, and not just from using it, but from defeating two others before you in the past worlds.”

Cozy removed the blade, which was formed around the Thirteenth. With a thought, she ordered the Thirteenth to release a powerful energy blast. The violet crystal shined bright and fired, hitting Sunset in the back and carried her all the way to the few buildings that hadn’t been completely destroyed. Sunset slammed into one of them, but the beam caused an explosion that toppled the structure and brought tons of metal and cement crashing down on her, effectively burying her under the rubble. Cozy Glow teleported over the rubble and had the Thirteenth form construct chains. The chains flew down and weaved through the debris like snakes seeking their prey.

Once Cozy felt that she had her, she pulled up and forcibly ripped Sunset from the rubble below. The impact had forced her to change back into the default form, her body was cut, bruised, and dirty, blood trickled from the various wounds, but the healing process was starting to close them. “Look, sweetie, just give up. There’s no point in this struggle, I’m going to get the Witchblade from you. The only real question is how much suffering you want to endure before you give up.”

“Fuck you…y-you crazy bitch! I’ll kill you…no matter what happens to me…I’ll make sure you’re dead!” Sunset declared.

Cozy sighed, displeased by this response. [b]“Oh dear, I can see that your spirit is strong and resolute.” A wicked smile then appeared on her face. “I suppose I’ll have to break it.”

“W-What does that mea–?!”

Before Sunset could finish her question, both her and Cozy teleported away.

Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust, Bow Hothoof, and Windy Whistles were all watching the news in a motel that was offering free rooms to evacuees. The cameras had been shooting from a distance, watching the battle unfold in all its ferocity. They had all gasped when they saw the nuclear level explosion going off, vaporizing half of the city, and creating a huge crater where once was city and homes. The whole time this was going on, Rainbow Dash was constantly tapping her foot against the floor, anxious about Sunset.

They couldn’t tell who was who, the cameras were zoomed in as much as they could go, but even still, they could only see specks moving around. The sound of thunder and the rumbling earth beneath their feet would catch her attention, but it was par for the course when you were witnessing such an event.

“She’ll win, Dashie, you know Sunset’s not a pushover,” said Lightning Dust.

“I know that…I just…I’m just worried about what comes after the fighting’s stopped…” Rainbow confessed.

“About the changing reality thing?”

“I mean, look at the city. There’s no way we can go back to Canterlot, the place is a disaster zone! Shy’s dead…AJ’s dead…we’ll all be scattered…I…I’m scared, Dusty.”

Lightning Dust put her arms around Rainbow, hugging her tight as she said, “I am too, I ain’t ashamed to admit it. This is worse than the Wendigos or that ‘Trinity War’ stuff.”

Suddenly, a flash of violet light went off in the room, making Rainbow and Lightning back away as Bow Hothoof stood in front of the girls. When the light faded, Rainbow saw Sunset, wrapped in chains made of violet light, while some girl wearing a Crystal Prep uniform was floating in the air.

“Rainbow Dash, the self-professed best at everything she does. Heh, it’s funny, in the third world, she was quite the school slut, ended up getting possessed by a Wendigo Spirit and nearly took control of every person in Canterlot City through a lust filled haze of debauchery and hedonism,” said Cozy.

“Girls, get out of here and–!” Bow began.

“Sorry, the parents aren’t major players here. Goodbye.”

The Thirteenth Artifact glowed, and suddenly, Bow’s neck was twisted until it was staring at Rainbow, Lightning, and Windy, who were standing behind him. The others watched in horror as Bow fell to the floor, dead. Windy fell to her knees and crawled to her dead husband, crying as she tried to form words. The Thirteenth Artifact glowed again, and Windy suddenly found herself being bent backwards until she was forming the letter “U” with her body, and a sickening snap echoed soon followed.

Rainbow Dash screamed in sadness and anger at what she saw and glared at Cozy. “YOU FUCKING BITCH!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m a bitch, ‘Go fucking die’, ‘Fuck you’, blah, blah, blah. Seriously, can’t anyone come up with something original when they see someone die?” Cozy shrugged. “That aside, Sunset, how would like to see your friend suffer?”

“THIS IS BETWEEN YOU AND ME!!! LEAVE MY FRIENDS OUT OF THIS!!!” Sunset demanded.

Cozy giggled happily as she looked directly into Sunset’s eyes. “Hmm, nope, and since you didn’t answer me, I’ll choose for you.” Cozy snapped her fingers.

Instantly, a blade of light slashed through Rainbow’s legs at the thighs, causing her body to fall forward. Rainbow looked down and screamed in both pain and horror as she saw her legs lying on the floor and the stubs that were bleeding out.

“RAINBOW!!!” Lightning Dust shouted.

The blonde-haired teen didn’t think, she just lunged for Cozy Glow, fist cocked back and ready to punch her. Cozy waved her hand as if swatting away a bug, and when she did, Lightning was thrown by an unseen force right into the wall and knocked out.

“COZY, STOP!!!” Sunset pleaded.

“Nope.”

Another snap of her fingers and Rainbow as hoisted into the air by her wrists by two rings of light. Another ring of light formed around her waist and began pulling down while the rings around Rainbow’s wrists were pulling upwards. Rainbow continued to yell and scream as she felt her arms pop out of their sockets, but it didn’t stop there, the wrist rings jerked and pulled harder and harder until the muscle and skin tore. With one more hard pull, Rainbow’s arms were torn from her body. Cozy released the rings and let Rainbow’s limbless torso unceremoniously hit the floor.

Sunset’s tears were flowing at this point, rage and sorrow were raging inside her as she tried to break free of the chains.

“You see, Sunset, this could’ve been avoided if you gave up and let me take what’s originally mine to begin with. But no, you had to fight back and now your friends and everyone you love will suffer for it. And you’ll have to hear them curse your name as I do it,” said Cozy.

“Th…That all ya got…?” Cozy and Sunset looked towards Rainbow’s body. She managed to tilt her head up enough to look at them both, but it was evident in her eyes that she wasn’t going to last much longer. “Don’t let her…g-get in your head…Sunset…no matter what…just kill her…and save the world…We’ll always be…be friends, I don’t…I don’t hate you, you got it?!”

“Jeez, you’re tougher than the past versions of you. Kinda a shame, but oh well.” Cozy made a finger gun gesture, the Thirteenth Artifact moved to the tip of her finger and started to glow. “Bang!” A beam of light shot of the crystal and pierced Rainbow’s head, killing her instantly. “On to the next!”

Rarity’s family was staying at a relative’s home in the next town over, she and Sweetie Belle were huddled in a guest room, watching the events transpire on her phone. They’re viewing was interrupted when Cozy and Sunset appeared in their room, causing Rarity to hug her sister tight and act as a shield to her.

“If I remember correctly, that Anon-A-Miss thing was started by Sweetie Belle, well she’s one of the three, anyway. And Rarity, say, did you know in the second world, she had a total punk rock look and was in a band?! She’s actually pretty damn good on the guitar. Probably would’ve made it to the big times if she hadn’t gotten murdered by her gofer Coco. That’s what you get for treating your friends like shit, I guess? Tee-hee!”

The wielder of the Thirteenth separated the two girls with her power, making them float in the air before her and Sunset.

“You’re someone who takes pride in their looks, right?”

Cozy didn’t wait for an answer, she just raised her hand into the air, letting her index and ring finger point up. The brilliant teen then slashed the air in front of her, causing a cut to form on Rarity’s arm.

“Death by a thousand cuts, if you manage not to die, I’ll heal you and let you live.”

Cozy started slashing the air in front her wildly, and with each stroke a cut formed on Rarity’s body, slashing through her clothes, and leaving behind small gashes on her body. Blood splattered with each cut, and soon her entire body was starting to become stained with her blood. Cozy, despite the wildness of her strokes, was careful to avoid the major arteries, the point was to make them, and Sunset, suffer, sudden death didn’t work here. The whole while, both Sunset and Sweetie Belle were pleading and screaming for Cozy to stop what she was doing, but she paid them no heed as she continued to torture Rarity with a gleeful smile.

It took but a minute to create the thousand cuts, and when she was done, Rarity was bare of any clothing, with a thousand bleeding wounds all over her once flawless skin. She hung there in the air limply, having gone hoarse from the screaming, the door was being pounded on from the other side, but Cozy had sealed it to make sure that they weren’t interrupted.

“And yet another friend suffers because of you.”

“Don’t listen to her…” Rarity managed to say. “I will never blame you…Sunset…never.” Rarity turned her gaze to Cozy and grinned back at her. “Get on with it you…witch! Kill me then…I want to see my Jackie…!”

Cozy sighed in disappointment. “Geez, you’re no fun either.” Cozy made a knife hand gesture and slashed the air again, this time severing Rarity at the middle. Her top half was thrown onto the bed, while her lower half flopped onto the ground. “Hmm, now for you. I’m thinking, this.”

A violet aura held Sweetie’s mouth open, as thin ray of light sliced off her tongue, causing Sweetie Belle to scream as she gargled blood. Cozy made a gesture with her hand, and suddenly, Sweetie’s throat went red. She started making wheezing and gargling sounds, Cozy released her and let her stumble about in a panic.

“I just crushed her windpipe, and with the blood that’s pouring from her severed tongue, she’s going to suffocate to death, or drown in her blood, which ever happens first.” Cozy explained.

Sunset kept struggling, kept commanding the Witchblade to form spikes, blades, anything to break the changes, but the Thirteenth’s power was domineering, keeping her in check, and helpless as all she could do was watch as Sweetie Belle fell on the floor and thrashed about until she finally died.

“Now, I think we should go to the one you REALLY love the most.”

Pinkie Pie paced the room of the hotel they were staying at, her mother and father had left to get something to eat, while her sisters were stayed behind to keep Pinkie company. They knew she was worried about Sunset, and they knew the reason for that, because upon returning to them, Pinkie explained everything about the Witchblade and what was going on. As well as why the battle was happening in the first place.

“I can’t believe Sunset’s been Witchblade this whole time,” said Limestone.

“Really? I thought it was obvious,” said Maud.

Limestone looked at her sister with disbelief. “How was it obvious?! You’re telling me you knew the whole time?!”

“Yes, I actually knew on the day that she came and saved Pinkie Pie from that monster,” Maud clarified. “Pinkie saw her get seriously hurt, and they said her blood was all over the place, and yet she was okay. Then, at night, when the monster attacked, a girl in armor suddenly appears and saves Pinkie, a girl with red hair. Plus, Pinkie and her friends have been involved in magical mishaps before, why think this was any different?”

Limestone really couldn’t poke a hole in that logic, and it seemed that Marble was in agreement as she nodded her head to what Maud had been saying.

“I just wish I could find out how she’s doing. They haven’t reported on anything, and it’s been too quiet,” Pinkie noted.

As if the universe was trying to prove her wrong, a flash of violet light went off inside their room and made the Pie sisters huddle together. When the light dimmed, Pinkie gasped, seeing Sunset tied up and some new girl keeping her hostage.

“PINKIE, EVERYONE, RUN NOW!!! HURRY!!!” Sunset shouted.

“Too many extras, begone with you.”

Cozy pointed the Thirteenth Artifact at the Pie sisters; the crystal released a pulse of energy that rushed towards the four girls. When it hit, Maud, Limestone, and Marble suddenly burst, splashing blood and organs all over the room and onto Pinkie, Cozy, and Sunset. The wielder of the Witchblade’s mouth hung open as she looked upon her girlfriend, covered in the blood of her own sisters. Pinkie was in shock as she her body trembled, she raised her hands and saw the blood that was on them, and on her. As if just now realizing what happened, Pinkie screamed, horrified at what occurred before her.

“So many things I can do with you but doing them in a hotel room feels anticlimactic. Let’s go back to Canterlot, shall we?”

All three girls were swiftly teleported right back to the crater that was Canterlot City, Pinkie’s landing was not soft as Cozy didn’t bother to teleport her near the ground and let her fall from ten feet in the air. The pink party planner hit the ground hard, her right leg hitting the ground first as a snap could be heard before Pinkie started tumbling to a stop. Pinkie huddled in on herself as she held her hurt leg, hissing, and biting back a scream of pain.

“Yep, this is much better,” said Cozy.

“Just stop! I’ll give you the Witchblade! Just kill me! Please! Spare her!” Sunset pleaded.

“You know, I could never figure out what your purpose here was, Sunset.” Cozy turned around and floated closer to her. “Like pieces on a chessboard, I knew all the roles that the major players in this story played. Sun’s role was my Queen, acting on my behalf to help gather the Artifacts. Adagio and Twilight, my Bishops. The Blood Sword wielders, Fluttershy, my Knights. Indigo Zap, my Rook. Somnambula, Tempest, Sugarcoat, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, and Pinkie, all my Pawns. But you, I just couldn’t figure out your position on the board.”

Cozy flicked her wrist and the chains tightened up, releasing bursts of electricity that surged through Sunset’s body and made her scream for a minute before the sadistic wielder of the Thirteenth cut off her power.

“You were the one variable that never popped up in any of the other four worlds before this one, this one has been…unique. There were some parts that I didn’t see coming, others that happened as expected, and some had a few twists that went beyond my expectations. You’re an extra piece on the board, one that shouldn’t be here, and yet you are.”

Cozy pointed towards the distance at a certain spot as they floated down to Pinkie. “When the fifth world was ushered in, I took the Witchblade and buried it deep down under Canterlot City. I wanted to be prepared to give it to someone who seemed like a good match, someone whose movements I could control. But instead, you popped into this world, and Witchblade awakened, choosing you as its wielder. I can’t tell you how much I had to rethink my plans to account for you. Even now, I wonder if the other you would’ve gotten the Witchblade if you didn’t exist in this world?” Cozy shrugged. “We’ll never know, because once I go through with my plan, no one will ruin my perfect world ever again!”

“Just do it already…Just kill me and get it over with!”

Cozy thrust out her right hand and cupped Sunset’s chin. “No, Sunset, you need to learn this lesson. Because I don’t like unknown variables in my game, if you come back in the new world, I’m going to make sure you remember what happened here, so that you’ll forever be a broken, hollow existence, wishing for death and freedom from the memories, but I won’t give you that.” Cozy released Sunset and turned around lazily as she let a big smile form on her face. “Oh, Pinkie Pie~ It’s time to have some fun~”

Cozy’s Artifact released a blast of lightning that struck the curly haired teen, Pinkie Pie gritted her teeth and clenched her fists as she felt the painful surges of electricity course through her body, igniting every pain receptor in her body. The demented teen cut off the attack and watched as Pinkie went down on all fours, gasping from the pain she just endured. Cozy released another blast, upping the voltage. Pinkie Pie, again, clenched her teeth hard and fell to the ground, spasming out of control as smoke started to rise from her body. Cozy glow once again cut off the attack, but instead of her gleeful smile, she was frowning.

“You’re not screaming, this should be excruciating, mind numbing pain, and yet you’re not screaming at all,” Cozy observed.

Pinkie rolled onto her side and looked up at Cozy and said, “I…I know what you’re doing…You want to hurt Sunset…You want her to hear me scream, to see me in pain…But I won’t let you…” Pinkie Pie rolled onto her stomach, biting her lower lip as she got onto her knees and panted from the effort. “Do whatever you want…I…I won’t break…Sunset’s…Sunset’s doing all she can to save the world…to fight for all of us…I can’t do much…but I’ll at least do this for her…I’ll be strong…!”

“Pinkie Pie…” Sunset whispered.

“Wow, that’s devotion and real love right there,” said Cozy. “You got yourself a real catch there Shimmy. But it’s too boring if you’re not even going to scream or anything. Ugh, the others were like this too, weren’t they? Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and now you.”

“The…The girls…you mean…?” Pinkie asked.

“That’s right, before we came here, I made Sunset watch as I killed them.” Cozy’s smile slowly returned. “I even killed Rarity’s little sister and we watched her suffocate to death, after we made her watch her big sister get cut up and then cut in half.”

Pinkie cried, but even so, she still wore a defiant expression. “If they were strong until the end…then…then I can too …! I won’t let my friends down…or my girlfriend!”

“And just like that, my torture-kill boner is gone. This world really is a weird one. Fine then, just die already!”

Pinkie glanced to Sunset and mouthed the words “I love you” before a beam of violet washed over Pinkie and obliterated her from this plane of existence. A smoldering crater was all that was left of where she once was, now Sunset was alone, her lover was dead, all her friends were dead, her…her sister…dead. She was alone, the city was in ruins, a scorched earth all around her, and soon Cozy would take what she wanted.

It was over…

She wasn’t a hero…

She was doomed to fail from the start…

This was her fate…

And soon, all of it would be erased…

“But you are not alone.”

~*~*~*~

Sunset found herself in the mindscape of the Witchblade, all around her were the seven past wielders of the balance keeping Artifact. “I can’t win against her…she was a past wielder…she knows all of Witchblade’s powers.”

Anne walked up and swatted Sunset upside her head. “Lass, what’s wrong with ye! Sure, that witch knows all of Witchblade’s powers, but she doesn’t know your powers!”

Sunset looked at the pirate captain and asked, “What do you mean?”

“Each of us had our own unique skills and abilities before we ever wore the Witchblade. For Fang, it was her survival instincts, primal strength, reflexes, and senses,” said Anne.

Fang nodded in agreement and flexed her right arm to show of her bicep.

Tomoe stepped up and said, “I trained to learn a unique fighting style that honored the Sun Goddess, Amatarasu. With the Witchblade, I became even stronger and honed that style into my own unique way of fighting.”

“I have the blood of the dragon running through my family’s veins,” said Mulan.

“I was a legendary trainer of heroes and warrior goddess of my homeland,” said Scáthach.

“I am a daughter of the seas, my tenacity and skill made me legend before the Witchblade bonded with me,” said Anne.

“For me, the graces given to me by my goddess, Artemis,” said Atalanta.

“And I was a chosen messenger of God, blessed with divine vision and skill to fight for the freedom of my people,” said Joan. “We each bring with us something to add to the power of the Witchblade, something that a new wielder can use. Tell us, Mademoiselle Shimmer, what uniqueness do you contribute to the Witchblade?”

Sunset thought about it for a moment, at first, she wanted to say magic, being a unicorn mare, she was gifted in magic, it was her destiny back in Equestria. However, that changed. Here in the human world, one was free to choose their own destiny. That scared Sunset, how were humans to know what they’re special talent was? How were they to know what they’re true calling in life was without one? It wasn’t until Sunset lived amongst them, and a bit after getting blasted by the Elements of Harmony, did she realize that this wasn’t a bad thing. It’s because humans did not have cutie marks it meant they were free to choose their own destiny, like being a permanent blank flank, they could explore and find out exactly what they want in life, free to stumble and fall, free to pick themselves up and try and try again.

So, what did Sunset have that was unique to her from all this freedom? One thing came to mind. “The Magic of Friendship, the ability to connect to others and together, wield a power unlike none have ever seen.”

The seven wielders smiled and moved closer to Sunset, the seven past wielders formed a circle and joined hands, each of them glowing in their respective color. Joan and Anne held out their hands to Sunset, silently asking her to complete the circle. Sunset smiled at her seniors and joined the circle, the moment she touched their hands, Sunset’s body began to glow red. At the center of the circle appeared the Witchblade gauntlet, each of the wielders’ lights shot straight for the gemstone, and in that moment, Sunset understood what unique power she brought to the Witchblade.

“I’m never alone.”

~*~*~*~

Cozy floated in the air as she looked upon Sunset, eyes closed and no doubt wallowing in despair. “Aww, don’t cry Sunset, she’ll come back. She won’t remember you, but at least you’ll get to see her.”

Suddenly, Sunset opened her eyes and a bright white light shined from them. Cozy backed away as an intense amount of power was pouring from Sunset’s body. More and more, and more still, the power kept increasing, pushing against the chains that bound Sunset, until they shattered, and bright rainbow light flooded the area, causing Cozy to cover her eyes. Once the light faded, Cozy looked, and for the first time in years, was shocked.

Sunset was on the ground, kneeling, but she wasn’t alone. On her right was Joan of Arc, Tomoe Gozen, Scáthach, and Mulan, and on her left was Anne Bonney, Atalanta, and Fang. Each of them appeared in the form of a construct body in association to their color, but the armor seemed to be as real as Sunset’s. Speaking off, Sunset had entered her Crimson Form, but it had changed since the last time she used it. Sunset’s helmet had wing frills on the side, and a spiraling unicorn horn at the center of the forehead. Her chest plate had a wing-like design that fanned out to the right and left, covering her bust and torso while still displaying a bit of chevage, and in the center was a gemstone that glowed with rainbow light. Her shoulder pauldrons had a half-moon shape to them, but then angled upwards at the end.

Sunset’s gauntlets were smooth and a little large, both had gemstones at the top of each hand that glowed with the same rainbow aura. Sunset had metal shorts that formed a belt around her waist, and around where the buckle was a fourth gemstone. From her knees downward she had boots on that had the same feather design as her helmet and chest plate, and just like her chest plate, there was another pair of gemstones located at her shins. Upon her back were two metal wing bones, and from them, burning construct feathers extended outwards. The armor pieces were glowing red, while Sunset’s eyes remained in their pure white state, along with the other seven wielders, and her hair was pure crimson flames that bellowed behind her like a magnificent mane.

“What…What the hell is this?!”

“I thought you said you knew all about the Witchblade’s powers, guess you missed one,” said Sunset in a mocking tone. “You didn’t account for my power!”

The eight Witchblade wielders each took on a fighting stance, Sunset summoned a sword to her right hand, the guard was shaped like a horse head, and from the middle of the head a seven-foot-long sword blade gleamed.

“YOU’RE power?!”

“The Magic of Friendship, with it, I have connected to the past wielders of the Witchblade, and now, together, we will fight! Together, we will bring balance back to the world, and together–!”

“WE WILL DEFEAT YOU!!!”

Cozy Glow growled, enraged that Sunset Shimmer would dare think that this would be enough to beat her, that she’d dare believe that she was the superior Witchblade wielder. “You’re a mistake, you should never have been in this world! I WILL ERASE YOU FROM EXISTENCE!!!” Cozy teleported many feet away from the group, and once she was far enough away, she released an enormous blast of power from the Thirteenth Artifact that practically eclipsed what remained of Canterlot City.

A thin beam of red light flashed, and then, the beam of violet light was split in two as both halves shot in different directions and away from the Witchblades. The thin red slash kept going until it reached Cozy, forcing her to cease her attack and teleport away. When she reappeared, she saw a huge gash in the earth where she would’ve been had she stayed. When she turned back to the group Cozy saw Sunset, her right hand raised with her sword pointed to the sky, showing that she was the one who cut her attack in half.

“You think just having numbers will make a difference?! This will end like all the ones before it! WITH ME REMAKING THE WORLD AS I SEE FIT!!! YOU AND WHATEVER WORLD YOU HAIL FROM, I WILL MAKE SURE THEY ARE ERASED FROM THE UNIVERSE ALTOGETHER!!!”

Cozy released several lightning strikes towards the Witchblades, but all eight of them diverged in different directions, the only indication of where they went were the different colored trails of light. Anne fired off round after round of cerulean energy at Cozy, at the same time, Atalanta was dashing around, appearing as a green lightning bolt as she rapidly fired one arrow after the other. Cozy was forced to create an omni-directional shield to keep the attacks from hitting her.

Just then, a ring of light appeared under Cozy’s shield, that’s when she saw Tomoe with her sword drawn. The ring erupted beneath her, streaming light from the ground up and hitting her shield from yet another direction while Atalanta and Anne kept the pressure on her. Cozy swiftly teleported away, her eyes shined with violet light as she slammed her hand into the earth, causing her aura to spread out through the dirt and gravel for as far as the eye could see.

The earth began to shake and rumble, large fissures opened, and chunks of rock and sediment rose into the air. With a wave of her hand, Cozy launched the huge chunks of land straight for her attackers, upheaving the battlefield to keep them from getting any footing. At the same time, she had the Thirteenth rapid fire lightning bolts that either pierced through the debris or zigzagged around it.

Through the floating masses, Fang bounded from one large slab of earth to the other, swiftly closing the gap between herself and Cozy. The wielder of the Thirteenth was getting ready to counter, but then sensed another approaching behind her. Cozy turned her head and saw Scáthach bounding towards her from the rear. She quickly used the Thirteenth to kick up a tornado that roared into the sky and drew in the upturned earth towards the turbulent winds. However, this did not deter either of the wielders.

Fang gathered her power and strength into her right fist and roared as she struck the wind wall with a blazing punch. The golden-brown energy erupted, creating a powerful shockwave that destroyed the floating pieces of earth around them and caused the tornado to wobble. Scáthach twirled her Gae Bolg around before thrusting at the other side of the wind wall. Both warrior women shouted in defiance of the tornado as they poured more of their power into the attack. The tornado could take no more as their twin attacks destabilized the tornado and broke it apart, leaving Cozy exposed.

Cozy started lashing out with crescent blades of light that slashed through the battlefield and far beyond. The ground rumbled below Cozy, and from it burst forth a giant orange dragon construct, the mighty beast roared as it struck Cozy with its large claw and sent her flying into the air, canceling out her earlier attack. The dragon gave chase, swiftly winding through the air to catch up to her. Cozy stopped herself from tumbling about in the air and formed a construct sickle, she descended straight down with the intention of meeting the dragon head on. The former wielder of the Witchblade readied to slash the construct but just as she did, the construct broke apart.

Within the construct was Mulan and Joan, both women had their swords alight with raging orange and white flames as they charged straight for Cozy. She was caught off guard by the attack for a moment, and a moment was all they needed. Both Joan and Mulan slashed their blades, cutting through Cozy’s body and severing her top and bottom halves. Cozy coughed up blood as she felt pain for the first time in an awfully long time. But she quickly called upon the Thirteenth, mending herself before the blow could be deemed fatal. That moment gave two more wielders time to attack.

Anne and Atalanta took positions in the distance behind Cozy, the Grecian warrior fired an arrow that blazed like a comet, while the Caribbean pirate fused her blunderbuss’ together to form a large cannon, to which she fired a beam three times bigger than the ones before it. The two attacks merged into a stronger one, their glow was the only thing that gave Cozy any indication that an attack was coming as she turned around and formed a barrier just in time to get swept away by the huge tidal wave of energy that was Anne’s attack. Cozy was not out of the woods yet as the arrow zoomed straight for her like a shark seeking its prey. The comet arrow hit with a great force that was aided by the tidal blast of Anne, Cozy wasn’t given an inch as the blast and arrow increased in power and caused a massive explosion that thundered through the sky.

Cozy was thrown from the explosion and spun in midair for a minute before slamming through what remained of the buildings of Canterlot City and landing in the middle of the street. Cozy released an explosion of power that lashed out at everything around, showing the level of rage that she had been pushed to thanks to the wielders of the Witchblade.

The wielders weren’t going to give Cozy time to counterattack or defend, Fang sure wasn’t any way. She dashed faster than a cheetah and blitz attacked Cozy. The brilliant teen was getting assaulted from different directions as Fang leaped and bounded off whatever she could, striking with her powerful fists and causing Cozy to receive broken bones and a mouth full of blood. The blitz attack stopped, but only so that Gae Bolg could come streaming in, the cursed spear pierced Cozy directly into her breast and released its spines. Cozy gasped in pain as blood filled her lungs and mouth, but rage was building, a rage that the Thirteenth Artifact responded to.

Cozy screamed in fury as she unleashed more of her power, tearing up the land. Fissures of violet light opened that went on for miles and further still, the sky began to rumble and roar as storm clouds gathered and spread out far and wide. Violet lightning shot down from the sky and struck anything and everything without prejudice. The earth responded in kind by creating jagged glaives of rock that jutted up and created deep canyons. Unfortunately, this level of destruction was not taking place only in Canterlot City, the power of the Thirteenth was reaching out across the world and causing natural disasters to occur everywhere. Cozy didn’t care, she was going to remake this world, so what if everyone and everything was destroyed, when she killed Sunset and obtained the Witchblade, she would remake the world and every living thing in it.

Tomoe appeared before Cozy in the blink of an eye, the fabled samurai drew her sword and slashed with amazing speed before sheathing her katana. Several bloody lines appeared all around Cozy’s body, and in the next moment, the lines were blasted apart as Cozy’s body was completely shredded by Tomoe’s attack. Bits and pieces of Cozy floated in the air, with the Thirteenth still floating where it once was. One of the pieces that contained Cozy’s eye looked as if it was about to roll back, but the eye shined in tandem with the Thirteenth. Suddenly, all the pieces of Cozy converged on the Thirteenth Artifact, forming around it as she made the final Artifact one with her body.

Cozy’s eyes shined bright violet as her entire body took on a dark violet color, and her hair transformed into a raging, spiraling embers of pink light.

The eighth wielder made herself known, descending from the sky like a Valkyrie. Cozy formed a giant construct sword and engaged with Sunset. The two went back and forth, slashing and defending, the ring of their blades echoing with the force of a nuclear explosion, the shockwaves of their power reverberated through the very Earth itself, causing more destruction throughout the world. Sunset broke off from their dual and ascended into the sky with the full intent on ending this battle once and for all. The seven wielders each took off towards the sky to join Sunset, each one transforming into pure energy as they streamed into one of the seven gemstones on her armor. In so doing, Sunset’s armor changed to a dazzling golden color, while her crimson fire hair turned bright white, along with the flaming feathers.

Cozy’s eyes widened when she saw this, she felt something else that she hadn’t felt in a long time, fear. She didn’t know what she was witnessing, the powers she had when she was the Witchblade wielder were nothing like this, she was never able to use the power of the Legacy like that. Was Sunset Shimmer tapping into a new power, or was this truly the power that Sunset Shimmer herself wielded brought forth by the Witchblade? Cozy shook her head, she couldn’t afford to think like that, there was no real power in this, just because the armor changed when the other seven united with the armor, doesn’t mean she was any stronger. Sunset still only had her power and that of the seven, nothing more than what she herself once possessed. Cozy reformed her sword raising her power to greater heights as she prepared to end this exercise in futility once and for all.

Sunset waved her left hand over the blade of her sword, causing it to be infused with power, turning it into a pure blade of light. With that done, Sunset dove straight down for Cozy, and Cozy flew up to meet her. The Keeper of the Balance transformed her body into a gold and white comet that roared towards Cozy Glow, the former wielder expanded her aura and fed it into the sword, making it blaze with barely contained might. The two warriors met at the center, but what happened next happened in an instant.

When Cozy swung her sword at the incoming Sunset Shimmer, her body glowed and broke apart into eight pieces of light. Those eight pieces of light each took on the form of a wielder and slashed through Cozy Glow at the same time, aiming right for where the Thirteenth Artifact was. Cozy felt her grip loosen as the sword construct faded away. The eight lights regrouped to where they had split apart earlier, reforming the golden, angelic version of Sunset as she thrust her sword forward. The blade of light entered Cozy’s chest and came out the other end. The two of them landed on the ground as a pillar of sparkling gold and white light exploded into the sky and leveled what was left of Canterlot City, its suburbs, farmland, everything.

The pillar eventually faded and what was left was Sunset Shimmer, her sword still impaled in Cozy Glow below her. Cozy had reverted to her original state, but her body was rapidly disintegrating, transforming into ash that was getting scattered by the wind, she had lost.

“It’s over…Cozy Glow,” said Sunset.

“……Yeah…it is…but I still win.”

Sunset looked down at Cozy and asked, “And how do you figure that?”

“Look around you…what’s left for you here? What’s left for anyone in this world anymore?”

Sunset took a moment to look, and indeed, Cozy was right. The land had been devastated by their battle, the sky was still raging with storms, and no doubt the rest the world wasn’t faring any better.

“You don’t have a choice now…either you remake the world, or you can and live in this ruined reality. Your friends are dead, your lover is dead, the one you called a sister is dead, everything on this planet is dying right now, and whoever is left that you did care about is surely gone by now…”

Sunset gripped the hilt of her sword tightly.

“It’s always like this…The Battle of Canterlot…you’ll see. No matter how many times you remake this broken world, it stays broken. Peace doesn’t last, people can’t control themselves, they’ll give into their desires…their darkness…and destroy that which you suffered to rebuild.”

Cozy’s arms and legs were almost gone.

“There’s a reason why the Witchblade is last…it’s the balance. The Thirteenth is the key, but the only way to bring all the powers of the Thirteen Artifacts together and keep them in check is with the Witchblade…whether you decide to wield the Thirteenth Artifact like I did, or use the Witchblade again, sooner or later, you’ll be back here…”

“There’s a reason why you failed to create a perfect world, Cozy Glow.” Sunset removed her sword and released her transformation as she looked down at the defeated Cozy. “Because a perfect world doesn’t exist.”

“What?”

“You tried to make the world peaceful, but that’s not harmony, that’s not balance. There must be light and darkness, good and evil, too much of one or the other and the balance is undone. The Angelus sought order above all else and was willing to take the lives of those who were not worthy. The Darkness sought only chaos, spreading its influence to the world as it saw fit. Both are the extremes, and Cozy, you wanted that, an extreme. But that’s the thing about humans, they’re free to choose.”

Sunset walked around until she was next to Cozy’s head. She then knelt next to her and looked Cozy in the eyes.

“I come from a peaceful world of magic and wonder, and yet, despite that, we still manage to have our disagreements, our squabbles, prejudices, discrimination, and crime, as low as it is. I was a denizen of that world, and I was a horrible person, when I came here, I only got worse, because in my world, whenever you learn what makes you special, you get a mark on your body that shows you your destiny. I had one, but when I got here, this world gave me something, freedom. Freedom to choose who I wanted to be, and with that freedom…I became an even worse person than I was back home.”

Cozy chuckled. “Only proves my point…people can’t be left to make their own decisions…they choose poorly and make everyone suffer for it…”

“That’s true…” Sunset agreed. “But that freedom also grants people the power to change, to better themselves as I did, and my life became so much better for it. My friends, my family, and my lover, I wouldn’t have them if I didn’t embrace my change. The world can’t be perfect, it’s flawed, just like everyone has flaws. All you can do is fix what is broken and balance the good and the bad. People aren’t like pieces on a chessboard, Cozy, they’re static, they live, they think and feel and move of their own accord. If you take away that, life isn’t life, it’s just an imitation of it.”

Cozy’s body was almost gone, her upper torso and head were all that was left. “I see……it’s too late for me to change……” Cozy closed her eyes and sighed heavily. “Do me a favor, Sunset…don’t bring me back. I’ve come back too many times…and I’m tired. Just let me sleep.”

With those last words, Cozy’s body completely blew away into ash, leaving behind only the Thirteenth Artifact. The jewel was still glowing, despite being without a wielder, it hummed with power. Sunset raised her head and watched as the eleven spheres that contained the rest of the Artifacts assembled around her, as if waiting for her command. Sunset started to cry; this wasn’t how any of this was supposed to happen.

She wanted to live alongside Twilight and Sun, she wanted to marry Pinkie, become a cop, protect people with the Witchblade, and be a good friend. Instead, here she was at world’s end, with the very Earth itself tearing itself apart as if angered by the battle that had taken place. Cozy was right, there was no way anyone other than herself who could live on this planet given its current state, and if anyone else managed to survive, their chances of survival with the world as it was, were less than zero. The portal to Equestria was gone, the land had been scorched for miles all around, there was no way it survived, which meant there was no way for her to go back home to Equestria or evacuate survivors to Equestria.

Sunset looked down at the Thirteenth Artifact, it pulsed rhythmically, as if beckoning Sunset to use the power of the Thirteen Artifacts. “Hey, partner?”

}}} Yes, Sunset? {{{

“Will you stay with me ‘til the end?”

}}} I am with you until you are no more, our partnership is until death do us part. {{{

Sunset chuckled. “Huh, I’ve been married to you, and I didn’t even know it.” The former unicorn mare rubbed the gemstone of her bracelet and said, “Thank you.” With no other options left, Sunset reached out and grabbed the Thirteenth Artifact with her left hand. “Do you know what I have to do to start this?”

}}} Cozy spoke the truth; I am able to bind the others together and focus their power to invoke the Power. You must unite the Thirteenth with me. {{{

The Witchblade formed a gauntlet on her right arm, at the center of the forearm was a spot for Thirteenth Artifact to be placed. Sunset inhaled deeply and calmly exhaled as she placed the Thirteenth Artifact in the slot. The moment she did, both it and the Witchblade’s gemstone shined brightly. The spheres that contained the other eleven Artifacts broke as the Artifacts themselves transformed into pure energy. That energy was then absorbed by the Witchblade’s gemstone, as Sunset held up her right arm, letting the eleven enter into the gemstone. Sunset felt a rush a power the likes of which she had never experienced before in her entire life, it felt all consuming, all powerful, it scared her, no it terrified her, it felt as if her very mind and soul were going to cease to exist.

Sunset released a scream that echoed unnaturally loud in every direction. At the same time, a bright white light burst forth from the Witchblade, a light the swallowed the Earth, the Moon, the planets, the Sun, the galaxy, and then the entire universe…

And that is how my entire world was destroyed…

Not with a fiery explosion…

But in a blinding white light…

To the world where I made precious memories with the people I loved…

Goodbye…

Hello from the New World

View Online

White…

An infinite nothingness…

This is what Sunset Shimmer saw, this is where she was. The infinite nothing. The only thing here, was herself and her Witchblade. Sunset looked to her right, then the left, she looked up, she looked down. She wasn’t floating, to her bare feet, it felt as if she was standing on something solid, and yet there was nothing solid beneath her. Her senses were no good here, there was no smells other than her natural scent, no sound other than the sound of her breathing, there was just nothing.

“I don’t…I don’t know what I should be doing…?”

“Anything you want, Hun.”

Sunset watched as particles of light combined and formed a body. After a moment, the body took full shape and form, becoming…someone that Sunset hadn’t expected to see.

“ADAGIO?!” Sunset exclaimed.

Indeed, the eldest of the Siren sisters stood before Sunset, as bare as she was, giving her that trademark smirk of hers. “Who else do you know that looks this drop dead sexy? Oh…sorry, poor choice of words on my par – Oh, hello!”

Sunset rushed towards Adagio and hugged her fiercely, making Adagio raise her arms at the sudden embrace as she blushed. “You’re alive! I’m not alone in here! I can’t believe you’re here, Adagio!”

Adagio’s shocked expression slowly morphed into a smile as she placed one hand on Sunset’s back and another on her head, stroking Sunset’s hair gently as the former unicorn cried into her chest. “Heh, it took the end of the universe to get you to bury your face in my chest.”

“Shut up,” she replied happily.

“It’s okay, Hun, you’ll be alright,” Adagio assured.

Sunset broke the hug and placed her hands on Adagio’s shoulders. “How is this possible?”

Adagio’s smile turned sad. “Well, the thing is, I’m not Adagio and at the same time, I am.”

Sunset looked upon Adagio is confusion. “I…I don’t understand, how can you both be and not be Adagio?!”

“I guess the easiest way to explain this is that I’m a sort of simulacrum. I have Adagio’s memories, personality, and mannerisms, maybe in a part of her soul, but I am also a guide, or another term is personal companion, given life by the Thirteen Artifacts to help you along in creating the new world,” Adagio explained.

Sunset removed her hands from Adagio and looked upon her. “A guide and personal companion?”

Adagio tapped the side of her head. “I have all the knowledge of the universe, and all the ones before this one. With that knowledge, I can explain to you what happened in the previous worlds and answer any questions you might have on how this all works. At the same time, I’m here to keep you company to make sure you don’t go insane from loneliness.”

Sunset rubbed the back of her head as she took a moment to digest what Adagio had told her. “Okay…but why Adagio? Why not Pinkie Pie, the girl that I love? Or one of my other friends?”

“Well, that’s still a possibility, I can be anyone you want and be them. But, for practical purposes, becoming Adagio was a better choice as it would help you stay grounded. If I appeared to you as Pinkie, you might be tempted to remain in this eternal nothing for the rest of eternity.”

That did make a lot of sense, if she had Pinkie, then why would she remake the world? But Adagio was a distraction alone. “Do you have to be naked?”

“I could ask you the same thing, Sunny.” Adagio assumed a coy and sexy pose. “We can even do that if you want.”

“Heh, yeah, you’re definitely part Adagio,” Sunset deadpanned.

Adagio shrugged. “Can’t blame a girl for trying. But in all seriousness, if you want to put clothes on me, you can, you can make clothes for yourself.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

Adagio opened her arms as she gestured towards the white nothingness. “Think of this world as a blank canvass, or piece paper. You can create anything or erase it at your leisure. The only limit, Sunny, is your imagination.”

Sunset concentrated and in a flash of light her old attire was upon her body. She then looked at Adagio and recalled the outfit she wore when they first met, and again, a flash of light went off and Adagio was clothed. “Wow…you were right.”

“Naturally.”

Sunset playfully rolled her eyes. “So, how long do I have?”

“Until what?” Adagio asked.

“I mean, is there a time limit? Do I only have so long before I’m – essentially – not a god anymore?”

Adagio chuckled. “Sunny, everything was wiped clean. Which means time was too. You cannot age here, you won’t get hungry, everything is just still. While in this state, you have transcended the need to eat, exhaustion will never touch you, and as I said before, time is gone. There is only here and now, and whatever you want to do.” Adagio put her hands behind her back and leaned forward a bit as she looked directly into Sunset’s eyes. “So, what do you want to do, Sunset?”

The former unicorn sighed as she looked around. “I know you said I can’t get exhausted…but I feel tired.”

Sunset raised her right hand, she concentrated on the loft she lived in before moving in with Sun. In an instant the area around her transformed into her old home, exactly as she remembered it. Sunset inhaled; the place even smelled like how she remembered. Sunset walked up the stairs to her bed and plopped down on it, reveling in the familiar sensation of her bedsheets.

Adagio walked around the room, humming as she noted everything inside. “I always wondered what your home looked like. I like it.” The eldest Siren sister walked up the stairs and sat on the edge of Sunset’s bed. “Going to take a nap?”

“Yes…” Sunset turned around and laid on her back as she looked at Adagio. “Do you mind sleeping with me? I don’t want to be alone right now…”

Adagio giggled coyly as she crawled up the bed and next to Sunset. “If this was your plan all along, I don’t know why you bothered putting clothes on us.”

“Not what I meant you perv.”

“Hi pot, I’m kettle.”

“……Touché. Still, not what I meant.”

“I know, can’t help it.” Adagio laid on her back and stared up at the ceiling. “Sirens are naturally sensual beings, it’s just our nature.”

Sunset chuckled as if Adagio had just told a joke. “Either that or you’re just plain horny.”

“That too.”

Sunset turned onto her left side as her eye lids grew heavy. “Just…don’t leave me…please…?”

Adagio turned on her left side and pulled Sunset close to her. “I’ll be here, just rest for now.”

“Thank you…”

Sunset awoke with a start; her brow and body were drenched with sweat as she panted and gasped. Adagio sat next to her and rubbed small circles on Sunset’s back in an attempt to calm her and reassure Sunset of her presence.

“Bad dream?” Adagio asked.

Sunset nodded as she tried to catch her breath. “Everything just…sorta caught up with me…” Sunset looked around, noticing the absence of a clock and asked, “How long have I been out?”

“Like I said, time doesn’t exist.”

Sunset blinked and then sighed. “Right, forgot about that.” The flame haired teen swung her legs over the edge and sat down, leaning forward as she contemplated the events up until now. “Since you know everything, let me ask you, would Cozy Glow’s plan have worked? Could she erase freewill?”

Adagio sat cross legged on the bed and said, “Absolutely. As the wielder of all Thirteen Artifacts, the universe is yours to create as you please, if that includes removing freewill, then yes, it very much can be done.”

Sunset turned her head and looked at Adagio with an incredulous expression. “You’re telling me you would just let her do that?! Take away people’s ability to think and act for themselves?!”

“I will admit, it would be the first time anyone has ever attempted it, but I am not in charge of what those who wield the Power are and aren’t allowed to do. As the one who possess the Thirteen, you oversee what this universe is to become.”

Sunset shuddered a bit, there were essentially no rules, no guardrails to prevent someone with an evil mind to create a world to their liking. Anyone could make themselves into an overlord and no one would be able to stop them. Although, that did raise another question. “Cozy said that each time she recreated the world, it changed from what she envisioned, why is that?”

Adagio raised her right index finger and pointed at Sunset. “It’s like you said, Sunset, you can’t stop people from changing. Variables will always exist that will change everything about what is created. For a while, things may stay as you intended, but as time goes on, variables pop up that change the way things occur going into the future. Cozy Glow saw this after the fourth time, understanding that she couldn’t stop people from doing things differently, becoming different.”

“Cozy said that I wasn’t a part of the previous worlds that she created, that this one was the first one, why was that?” Sunset asked.

Adagio thought about the best way to describe it to her. “A bit harder to explain, but essentially, every so many recreations of the universe inevitably create, for a lack of a better term, a Splinter.”

“Splinter, or aberration?”

“Splinter sounds better, because it’s not a mistake, just something new. These Splinters can result in the creation of parallel worlds, or something new being added to the new world that wasn’t there before. The Power can have unsuspecting results on the universe that not even the one who creates the new universe can know. You, Sunset, are one of those Splinters.”

“So does that mean Equestria was one of these ‘Splinters’?”

Adagio nodded. “But not because of Cozy Glow, your world has existed for a very long time, and it has only been recently that the two worlds have touched, resulting in your crossing over and influencing events of Cozy’s fifth iteration. I will say, this is the fastest of the Thirteen Artifacts have come together.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow at that. “Cozy said that it was seven years before it happened to her, and with me it took just a few months because she was accelerating the events. How long does it normally take?”

Adagio shook her head. “There’s no set time on when the Thirteen Artifacts will gather. It can be in seven years, seven months, it could be well after you are dead and buried before it happens, it could happen generations into the future. There have been iterations where it was hundreds of years before all of the Artifacts were gathered.”

“Yeah, about that, why is that they’re always there? If Cozy really wanted to remake the world like she wanted, she’d have to make sure that no one would be able to use them. I can already see the Angelus and the Darkness enjoying that they have a host that has no freewill of their own, same thing for the Blood Sword and Pandora’s Box. Why didn’t she say she’d erase the Artifacts?”

Adagio smirked as she said, “Because she can’t. The Thirteen Artifacts are a universal staple of eternity. They can’t be destroyed, nor can another Artifact be created, there will always be thirteen, and they will always exist. They are the pillars that keep all of reality together. If Cozy was successful, she would’ve found that to be impossible, and yet again, another of her worlds would be flawed. So, you see, her plan was doomed to fail from the start. Sure, she might be able to bury them, keep the Artifacts from surfacing for a long, long time, but eventually they would rise and cause havoc in her new world and we’d be back to square one.”

“One more question, if I wanted, could I remake the world back to what it used to be? With some alterations?”

Adagio nodded. “Of course, there’s nothing saying you have to make a new world, if you wish, you can bring back everything the way it was.”

Sunset went silent for a minute as she thought about what she needed to do. She could make everything the way it was before Applejack died, prevent all the bad things that ended up killing the people she loved from happening, but then there was the thought that something would happen, and she’d end up with the same heartache and sorrow as the previous world. She had to be smart about this, doing nothing wasn’t an option, living in this still expanse was just running away from the problem. And Sunset wasn’t the type of girl, or mare, who just stood idly by and waited for what she wanted.

“Is there a version in the past worlds where Twilight Sparkle is happy?” Sunset asked.

“Yes, several as a matter of fact. In one iteration she’s just an ordinary girl and goes to Canterlot High, eventually becoming friends with your friends and marrying her high school sweetheart, your old boyfriend,” said Adagio.

“Flash Sentry?! Seriously?”

“Yep, happily married with two children, and the wife of a brilliant musician. Another one has Twilight as a genius, going to Crystal Prep, but she encounters the human you. You’re both rivals and do everything you can to one up the other, becoming somewhat enemies.”

Sunset deadpanned. “That doesn’t sound particularly happy to me.”

“Oh, but it is, in your mid-twenties the two of you go to a seminar, get drunk off your asses, and end up having hot, passionate, angry sex!” Adagio announced happily. “Twilight and the human you wake up and realize that your animosity for each actually stemmed from an attraction for each other. The human you is bisexual and has identified as such, Twilight hadn’t come to grips with her sexuality and after some emotional turmoil and soul searching, the two of you eventually tie the knot and live on happily ever after.”

“Nice to know…” Sunset thought for a moment again. “Adagio, how does this work?”

Adagio scooted closer to Sunset, taking a seat on her left as she held out her right hand. “You need only take my hand, and my knowledge of the worlds will be shared with you. That includes Equestria as well. You’ll know everything about everything and be able to know of the different variables that led to what happened in your world, and what you can change to prevent them. Just remember that–”

“I can’t make the world perfect. That’s fine, I’m not aiming for perfect, I just want the world to be the world, even if it means I have to use the Witchblade until the day I die, then I’ll do it. At least if that happens, I can rest knowing that – at least for my lifetime – I kept the world from ending,” said Sunset with determination.

“Now you’re catching on. Are you ready to begin?” Adagio asked.

Sunset placed her hand in Adagio’s, and at that moment, her mind was filled with the infinite knowledge of the universe, seeing the events of the fifth world, all the people’s choices that led up to the events of Canterlot City’s battle, the Wendigos, everything. It was a lot, but she needed to see, she needed to know what she could do to keep the world stable. Ideas already formed in Sunset’s head as she watched everything, she raised her right hand and the Witchblade began to glow. The Witchblade released a blast of colorful light that erupted with a thunderous noise and power equivalent to the Big Bang. That power roared through the vast nothingness as matter was created and then light, soon stars blinked into existence along galaxies and planets. Earth appeared before the two women, and suddenly, several lights shot towards the Earth.

“What are those?” Sunset asked.

“They’re the souls that were waiting to exist, they’re returning home to be born. Don’t stop now, Sunset, you’re almost done.”

Sunset stood up and began to wave her right hand about like a conductor leading an orchestra. The music was in her heart as she pulled it all together, seeing the possibilities, the pitfalls, and the promises to be, choosing the right outcomes to make sure that the worst would not occur, or if it did, there would be safeguards to prevent the very worst from happening until it was addressed. More and more of the world was created, and then she saw Equestria, her birthplace, her original home. Sunset waved her right hand and started bringing Equestria back into being, remaking it so that Princess Twilight and her friends were the defenders of their world yet again, that they were all friends and would continue to be so into the future. Sunset didn’t know what Equestria’s future would be, but at least she knew it was in good hooves. When it was done, Sunset and Adagio were the only ones left, time had not been initiated yet, so everything was still, awaiting Sunset’s order to start.

“Let’s say hello to a whole new world, Adagio.”

“Oh, I can’t wait.”

Sunset and Adagio turned into pure energy, one was red, the other yellow, and the third was bright white. That light broke apart into thirteen different lights, each one representing one of the Thirteen Artifacts. All but one of them were scattered across the world, a dark crimson light that united with Sunset’s orb. Adagio’s orb shot off towards the new universe, and right behind it was Sunset Shimmer. The moment she entered, the world, the universe, came to life, the sun cresting over the edge of the Earth as a new era dawned on this new universe.

“I can’t believe you really did all that.”

“I did, and it was…not easy.”

Sunset sat on a park bench, next to her was her human counterpart, Sun. The two girls were just enjoying a nice spring day out, just people watching.

Sunset had recreated the world; it was peaceful to a degree. She had brought Sun back, but not with the Ember Stone. Sun’s parents were alive, with Cozy Glow gone, they were never killed, and because of that, Sun was able to grow up with her parents. They would eventually move to Canterlot City where she was enrolled into Crystal Prep the same day as Twilight Sparkle was. Sun felt a tug in her mind that told her to befriend this girl, practically crushing on her at first sight. There were some altercations with the popular girls, Sunny Flare, Sour Sweet, Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest, and Indigo Zap, but Sunset’s domineering presence kept them in check.

The hazing continued, but Sun managed to keep a good majority of it from getting as out of hand as it did in the previous world. Indigo, at one point, attempted to hurt Twilight, much like herself in the past. But something prevented her from doing so, a small tug in the back of her mind that made her stop, and even apologize to Twilight. In a strange twist, it was Twilight that helped Indigo realize her feelings for Lemon Zest and got the two together. Sugarcoat, despite being part of Sunny Flare’s popular girl clique, initiated a friendship with both her and Sun, eventually bringing Indigo and Lemon into their group.

A new clique was forming, and soon the hazing was coming to an end. An end that Principal Cinch did not like, she ordered her daughter, on multiple occasions, to get it started again. She needed the students to focus their animosity and stress on Twilight, which would in turn force the teen genius to focus on winning more academic awards for their school so long as she promised to protect her. But with more than half of Sunny’s clique joining Sun and Twilight, that was becoming near impossible. Cinch did get the same tug as Sun and Indigo, telling her to take a different path, but she ignored it and continued forward with her plans.

This would become too much for Sunny Flare, who, along with Sour Sweet’s encouragement, allowed her to stand up to her mother and declare that she would no longer do her evil bidding. This didn’t sit too well with Abacus Cinch who flew into a rage and began beating her daughter in her office, thankfully Sun, Indigo, and Sour were there and managed to stop the enraged principal, Twilight would then bring Dean Cadence to see what had happened, and with that, Dean Cadence was put in charge, and Principal Cinch was placed in jail. Sunny Flare would go on to apologize to Twilight for everything she put her through, and in the end gaining two new friends to their group. It was around Springtime that something odd occurred to Sun, one night, after she and Twilight spent some passionate time together, Sun was hit with a flood of memories, memories of the past, of a world that was darker, where she did things that could not be forgiven.

She awoke in the middle of night and cried hard, waking Twilight. The teen genius held her girlfriend tight in her arms for hours as she cried and cried some more, guilt hitting her like a ton of bricks, and at the same time, happiness, because she was back, back with the person she loved, and with the parents that were taken from her. Sun was also given a time and date to go and see her big sister, which was why they were here now.

“I was waiting for the day you fully remembered, Sun, I’m glad you did,” said Sunset.

“I can’t believe how you spun that nonsense of how we’re long-lost twin sisters who happen to share the same name,” said Sun.

“Hey, I explained to you and your mom and dad – or my mom and dad – whatever – about where I came from. It was their idea, I just spiced it up and made it believable,” Sunset clarified.

Sun sighed as she rested her arms on her thighs. “So, how are things with your roommates?”

Sunset blushed and then pinched the bridge of her nose. “Oh, they’re good…great, to be honest.

Sunset kept the events of Canterlot High, which meant she ended up getting blasted with a rainbow laser, again, and she had to fight the Sirens, again. But this time around, she made sure that that tragedy was avoided.

Adagio, Sonata, and Aria ran as far and as fast as they could from the stage, panting heavily from their run. They had lost it all, their power, their gemstones, everything. Adagio looked at the shards she managed to grab before they ran, the last remnants of the cursed jewels they used to become more powerful. Yet again, another of her decisions that seemed to work, but in the end would fail. Just like before.

“W-What do we do now?” Sonata asked scared.

“Fuck if I know, Sona! We just got our asses handed to us by a bunch of wannabe magical girls! And now we got nothing?!” Aria stated.

“B-But we were using our magic to stay in that nice hotel, where are we supposed to live? We don’t have money, or IDs, we don’t exist here,” Sonata added.

“JUST SHUT UP!” Adagio shouted, causing both of her sisters to go silent. “I’ll figure something out…I won’t let us be homeless.”

“You don’t have to be.”

All three Siren sisters turned around and saw Sunset Shimmer walking towards them, hands up and palms open, showing that she came unarmed and with no intention of fighting. Aria was not of the same mind though; she rushed towards Sunset and threw a punch in her direction. Sunset backed up, dodging Aria’s punch as she kept throwing them. Aria threw another punch, but Sunset managed to catch it, the streetlamp’s light sheened off Sunset’s silver bracelet.

“I’m not here to fight you, I don’t want to hurt you,” said Sunset as she pushed back and made Aria stumble backwards before she regained her balance.

Adagio growled angrily as she stomped her way towards Sunset and said, “You’ve already hurt us, Sunset Shimmer! You’ve taken away our powers, now we have no where to go, and nothing to our names in this world! What else can we do?!”

“Live with me.”

Adagio, Sonata, and Aria all stared wide eyed at Sunset with shocked expressions.

“Say what?” Sonata asked. “You want us to live with you?”

“It might be a bit cramped, but at least you three won’t have to live on the streets,” said Sunset in a kind tone.

Adagio scoffed at the offer. “You beat us and now you’re taking pity on us! Screw you, Shimmer! I’d sooner become a whore to pay for a place than–!”

“NO!” Sunset shouted as she rushed towards Adagio and clasped both of her hands around Adagio’s right. “Please don’t do that! You’re better than that, Adagio! You all are! I won’t let you sell your bodies! Adagio, don’t let your anger blind you, I know deep down that all you want is to keep your sisters safe! If you go down that road, trust me when I say that it’ll only end in pain for everyone, especially you! I’m not taking pity on you, Adagio, I’m trying to help a friend.”

Adagio couldn’t believe what she was hearing, nor what she was seeing. It was as if Sunset Shimmer was practically begging Adagio to come and stay with them. Adagio’s anger only rose, how dare Sunset undermine her like this, how dare she suggest such a thing. She just wanted them to live under her roof so that she could revel in the idea that they were dependent on her to survive, how long would it be before Sunset made them do degrading things just to stay there? Probably turn them into sex slaves like the ancient Siren tales told of old.

“Let me tell you right now Sunset Shimmer, I–!” Adagio stopped as a tug at the back of her mind suddenly told her to think this through. A strange foreboding feeling fell over Adagio, a feeling that told her if she didn’t take up this offer that a worse fate awaited herself and her sisters. Adagio looked over her shoulder and to Sonata and Aria, ever since their parents died, Adagio swore she’d keep them safe, and yet every decision she had made up until now has only made things worse. Perhaps it was time to take another route? “Okay.”

“OKAY?!” Sonata and Aria exclaimed.

“You mean it?” Sunset asked.

Adagio exhaled slowly as she relaxed her body. “Every decision I have made up ‘til now has led to more hardships for us. I don’t know what to do from here, I don’t know where we can go. We don’t exist here, we have no money, there’s only one option for girls like us, and I’m…I just have a feeling that we’ll only endure worse hardship. So, if I must take the lesser of two evils, then yes. I’ll accept your offer. Whoa now!”

Sunset quickly enveloped Adagio in a hug and cried a little. “I promise, you won’t regret this, Adagio, neither of you will.”

Adagio grumbled at the show of unwanted affection. “The longer you hug me the more I am.” Sunset released her immediately. “You do realize that your little group of friends won’t take kindly to us, right?”

“I know that, but they trust me, and I trust them to honor my decisions,” said Sunset. “Now, let’s go home.”

Sonata suddenly felt teary eyed when she heard that and happily skipped along until she was standing next to Sunset. Adagio sighed and followed them, taking her position on Sunset’s right. Aria stayed behind, crossing her arms, and pouting at the situation.

“Aria Blaze, get your ass over here or I’ll come over there and drag you along by your pigtails!” Adagio threatened.

Aria began walking behind them while grumbling under her breath, “Their twintails, not pigtails…”

Adagio placed her hands on her hips as she gave Sunset a sideways glance. “If we’re going to live with you, there are going to be some ground rules, understand?!”

“Such as?”

“We’re not cooking or cleaning anything of yours!”

“Okay.”

“We’re not your friends, we’re just roommates sharing the same space!”

“Sure.”

“You’re not allowed to proposition sex from me or my sisters! If you even think about touching either of them, I’ll personally rip out your organs and eat them!”

“Read you loud and clear,” said Sunset happily.

Sonata tapped the tips of her fingers together and said, “Um…Dagi, I kinda want to try cooking again.”

“If you want, I can make sure that the fridge is full of ingredients, just tell me in advance what you might want to make and I’ll get them for you,” said Sunset.

“Really?!” Sonata asked with a twinkle in her eye.

Sunset nodded.

Adagio face palmed. “I just said we weren’t going to cook for her.”

“I’m not cooking for Sunset; I’m cooking for all of us!”

Adagio couldn’t really argue with that, plus, Sonata looked really happy and right now they needed the pick me up after their defeat.

“Tch, don’t expect me to make it easy for you, Shimmer, I’m going to make it a living hell for you,” said Aria.

“Fine by me,” Sunset waved off the threat. “Trust me when I say, I’ve been through worse. Also, I was thinking of starting a gaming channel on ViewTube, and I’ve been looking for a cohost, wanna join in? I get donations from my subscribers, and I’m sure they’d like to see two girls gaming instead of just one,” Sunset suggested.

Aria had liked video games when they were first invented, and over the years they’ve gotten cooler and cooler. “Well…I guess…but I get sixty-percent of the revenue!”

“Deal.”

“THAT’S IT, HOLD ON!” Adagio yelled as everyone stopped walking. “Why are you agreeing to everything I’m saying?! I basically just said we’re going to freeload and do nothing while you do all the hard work! Anyone else would rescind the offer!”

Sunset crossed her arms and nodded. “You’re right, anyone else would. But we’re both Equestrians, we’re not like other people here. We gotta help each other out when we can.”

Adagio blinked. “But…we’re not ponies, we’re basically monsters.”

“And I became a demon that wanted to take over my homeland, and now I’m not. So, technically, we’re both monsters.” Sunset started walking and called out, “Are you guys coming or what?”

The Siren sisters glanced between each other and then quickly caught up to Sunset. Adagio walked a little closer to Sunset and whispered, “If you feel as if you must do anything to us, I ask that you do it to me instead, I’d rather you not touch my sisters,” Adagio blushed while offering.

“Down girl.”

“Despite all that, they have actually helped with the chores around the place,” said Sunset. “Although now Adagio’s developed a crush on me, and if I’m not mistaken, so have the others, but Aria’s being tsundere about it.”

Sun laughed when she heard this and wiped a tear from her eye. “Heh, how’s Pinkie taking that?”

“Oh, she loves it. Apparently, she’s quite open to having more than one person to love, so long as I remember who is number one,” she explained.

“And something tells me that Adagio and Pinkie are fighting for that number one spot, right?”

Sunset recalled all the different incidents that involved those two competing for her attention, the gratuitous amounts of fanservice, the “accidental” undressing while she walked in, and of course there was that one time where both just straight up cornered her naked in the bedroom and tried to compete to see who could make Sunset orgasm the most.

“When I remade the world, I didn’t intend to become the protagonist of a harem anime,” Sunset deadpanned.

“Oh, poor you, how ever will you cope?” Sun mocked.

“Fuck you,” Sunset replied.

“Oh no, now you’re going to include your little sister into your harem?! You’ve truly become a harem anime protag now!” Sun stated in a melodramatic fashion.

Sunset swatted at Sun until the human version apologized, and then stuck out her tongue.

“Sorry for not keeping up to date with you as much, with Twilight, and the girls, I’ve kind of been enjoying myself,” said Sun.

“That’s alright, I wanted you to live your life, but I still wanted to be a part of it,” said Sunset.

Sun looked at Sunset’s wrist. “You kept the Witchblade, huh?”

Sunset nodded. “I thought it was better that way, the world will get chaotic at some point, if I can act as a force to keep the scales balanced, then I will.”

“Is Fluttershy still the Magdalena?”

Sunset explained how, yes, she kept Fluttershy as the Magdalena, because, honestly, she seemed like the only right person to wield the Spear of Destiny. Of course, she did alter a few things, such as Somnambula exposing Neighsay’s plans to use Fluttershy as his personal weapon to take control of the Darkness and the Angelus. So far, the Angelus had not appeared yet, neither had the Darkness, but Sunset knew that they would make themselves known someday.

“They couldn’t undo the combat knowledge, so now Shy knows how to fight with the Spear and how to fight in general. Believe me, it takes a huge load off everyone knowing that Fluttershy can kick the ass of anyone who tries to hurt her,” said Sunset.

“I’m sure. What about AJ and Rarity?”

“They’re together, I omitted a certain part of Applejack’s life concerning her big brother, and focused that attention to Rarity,” Sunset explained.

Sun raised an eyebrow. “What exactly happened with her and her brother?”

“Nothing that I’m willing to break a Pinkie Promise over.”

Sun rolled her eyes and looked down at the pavement. She twiddled her thumbs for a minute or two before sighing heavily. “I guess I should ask the obvious question.”

“Why did I let you keep all your memories about what happened in the fifth world?” Sunset asked.

Sun placed her right hand against her head. “I can still remember the look on Twilight’s face when…when I killed her…the words of forgiveness from Fluttershy…killing Indigo after she gave up the Glacier Stone…and everything in between. Was…Was this your way of punishing me?”

“Not exactly.” Sunset placed her hand over Sun’s and looked her in the eyes. “I became who I am because of my memories like that. I hurt people, and I kept that the same thing here in this new world. I became this way because I learned from what I did in Equestria, and what I did here. You’re still young, Sun, and you have a lot to experience. I let you keep those memories so you would never forget, and always remembered to be better than you once were and appreciate what you have now.”

Sun smiled a little and added, “And because you needed someone to talk about what happened in the fifth world, and who else better than yourself.”

“Partially, and I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Sun leaned against Sunset’s shoulder. “I deserve to remember what I did, because now, every time I look at Twilight’s smiling face, I love her more and more each time. And every time, I’m thankful that I get to have her again, to have my parents.”

Sunset hugged Sun with her right arm and nuzzled the top of her head. “If you ever want to fight by my side again, I know where the Ember Stone is.”

“If you need me, I’ll take it back. But for now, I just want to be a normal girl again, a normal rich girl with a genius level intellect who is also dating a girl who also has a genius level intellect,” said Sun.

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah, completely normal life.”

“Shut up.” Sunset and Sun stood up from the bench and started walking towards the entrance to the park. Sun’s car was parked next to a meter, while Sunset’s bike was next to the gate entrance. “We should plan a double date sometime, or a slumber party.”

“Yeah, a double date, plus three.”

“Oooh, sounds like an orgy, can’t wait!”

“Just get in your car and go to Twilight, you damn horndog!” Sunset stated.

Sun got into her car and rolled down her window. “Takes one to know one, Sis. And…I love you, Sis.”

Sunset smiled and said, “Love you too, lil’ Sis.”

Sun rolled up the window and took off down the road, heading to her girlfriend to enjoy some quality time with her lover, and then back to her home to spend time with the parents she loved so much.

Sunset put on her bike helmet and drove down the streets of Canterlot City, taking the long way home as she enjoyed the drive and drank in the serenity of this moment.

I remade the world with alterations, those who made choices that drastically affected everyone, I gave them a stronger conscience so that they would think twice about their decisions. I didn’t take away their ability to choose their path, I just made it so that they would think better about it before doing it. Granted, it has worked with some, and for others it hasn’t, but again, that’s life, and I can’t control that.

I didn’t change the events of the Fall Formal or the Battle of the Bands, because it was those events that shaped me into the person I am now.

I nipped Anon-A-Miss in the bud by talking to Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. I sat them down with their respective sisters and explained to them that I wasn’t trying to make them ignore them, and that I wanted to include them in our little slumber parties, the girls agreed with me, and just like that, Anon-A-Miss was defeated before it started, and no Wendigos, at least for now, but I’m on the look out for them.

Sugarcoat remains the keeper of the Heart Stone, it’s the most harmless of the Artifacts, and it seemed right to keep it in her family.

The Flim Flam brothers still tried to get Applejack’s family to sell their land, but a little direction here and there from myself led the Apple Family to find the hidden gold under their land, and basically it let them claim the rights so that the Flim Flam brothers couldn’t do a thing to them anymore.

I didn’t forget about Lightning Dust, instead of her taking her father’s bullshit, she confessed to Rainbow Dash and her parents about his abuse, and together with Principal Celestia, they were able to put that bastard behind bars. Now she lives with Rainbow as her live-in girlfriend, and Rainbow’s parents couldn’t be happier.

I learned about the corruption in the city, and how Maria Mare was part it when it came to Crystal Prep. I gave Maria the choice to do the right thing, and thankfully she took it, now her and Celestia are a happy couple. Oh, and I’m officially adopted as Celestia’s daughter here.

Equestria is safe and normal, Princess Twilight is still an alicorn, and the Elements of Harmony still exist. I managed to bring back two worlds I call home.

Sunset pulled up to her home and chained up her bike.

Honestly, I know there will be some bad things coming, but that’s fine. I know we’re not meant to be perfect; we can only do what we can to make our world better, learn from our mistakes, and not repeat them.

Sunset walked up to her door, but before she could use the key, she saw Aria open it and blushed hard. Aria was standing in front of Sunset, wearing nothing but a yellow apron, Sunset looked at the gruff Siren up and down as her mouth hung open.

“For the record, I had no say in this whatsoever,” Aria deadpanned.

The soft pitter patter of footsteps snapped Sunset out of her stupor, and it was then that Adagio appeared next to Aria, also wearing nothing but a purple apron that did little to contain her impressive bust. “Oh, Sunny, you’re back a little early.”

“I…I just finished meeting up with Sun…and yeah…we got done a little sooner than I expected…uh…w-w-what’s going on?” Sunset asked.

Adagio hooked her right arm around Aria’s neck, drawing her little sister close to her semi-naked body. “The girls and I decided that we would surprise you, so we’re making dinner.”

“Wearing only aprons?”

“Well, we didn’t want to get our clothes dirty,” said Adagio in a coy tone.

She released Aria and walked back inside, granting Sunset an obstructed view of her rear as she did. Aria put her hands behind her and said, “You can walk in, I’m not letting you see my ass!”

Sunset walked in and that’s when she saw the kitchen, indeed, they were cooking a dinner big enough to feed four people, because in the kitchen she also saw Sonata, in a pink apron, and Pinkie Pie in a white apron. The two culinary talented women were in the zone, a bit dirtier than Aria and Adagio as they had been doing much of the cooking. The two cooks stopped for a moment and happily greeted Sunset.

“Sunny’s home!” Sonata cheered.

“Aw, we aren’t done yet, we were hoping you’d be out for a least thirty more minutes,” said Pinkie with a pouty face.

Adagio appeared behind Sunset and draped her arms over her shoulders, pressing her chest to Sunset’s back. “Well, I’m sure I can entertain Sunny for thirty minutes, maybe even help build up your appetite,” she whispered into her ear.

Pinkie Pie’s cheeks puffed up when she heard that, she then pointed the ladle she was holding in Adagio’s direction and said, “Hey, Dagi, that’s against the rules! I’m cooking!”

“Yes, yes you are, and really, Aria and I aren’t doing anything but watching you two cook, so…” Adagio pulled away from Sunset and walked over to the still embarrassed Aria. She gave her little sister a slap on the rear, making her yelp and jump a few feet forward. “While you two cook, Aria and I will have some fun with Sunset. And after we’re done eating, we’ll enjoy a little Pie for dessert.”

Pinkie blushed under the seductive gaze of Adagio. Still, she huffed and crossed her arms over her own impressive chest as she turned away. “Fine, but you better leave room.”

“Dear, Pinkie, there’s always room for Pie,” said Adagio with a wink.

The eldest Siren sister pulled at the straps of Aria’s apron and led her towards the stairs, both ascended and stopped halfway.

Aria, still blushing from embarrassment looked in Sunset’s direction and said, “Well, a-a-are you coming up here or what?!”

Sunset looked from there and back to the kitchen, and then back to the stairs. Indeed, this new world was different, and in some ways better than the last. So far, she hadn’t had to use the Witchblade that much, but Sunset knew that would change soon, and when it did, she would be ready to defend this new world that she created, so that everyone could live their best life, happy and with no regrets.

“Yeah, I’m coming.”

“No, you aren’t, but you will soon~”

“How the hell did my life get like this? Oh…right…I did it.”

The Future

View Online

10 YEARS LATER…

“LIGHTNING!”

“I GOT IT DASH!”

Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash were racing down the field, the clock was running out as two best players of the Canterlot City Storm Hawks soccer team passed the ball between them, they were surrounded by the opposing team, leaving little to no openings for them to get a pass to the others, but that wasn’t a problem. One of the opposing players came in to tackle Rainbow, but she quickly kicked the ball up and jumped at the same time, avoiding the sliding tackle. Before the ball could hit the ground, she headbutted it towards Lightning, who caught it with her chest and let it drop to the ground, never missing a beat as she kept running.

Lightning and Rainbow were close to the goal, but they were surrounded, and the goal protected. However, there was always a way.

“Thunderclap?!” Lightning asked.

“Thunderclap!” Rainbow responded. “Ready, GO!”

Lightning Dust kicked the ball straight up into the air. All eyes followed the ball as the other players waited to see where it was going to land, but even if it did, there was only seconds before the game was over, it was one to one, and this game would be decided with one point. Lightning Dust skidded to a stop and got into position, placing both of her hands low. Rainbow Dash ran right towards Lightning and high stepped just as she got close to her. Lightning caught Rainbow’s right foot in her hands and vaulted her straight into the air.

Rainbow Dash had to time this just right, watching as she, the ball, and the goal came into alignment. Once all three were in sync, Rainbow Dash roundhouse kicked the ball with everything she had. The ball flew over the heads of all the opposing players, not a one of them able to stop it. They had heard of this move of theirs, but they used it so infrequently that other teams weren’t able to effectively come up with a strategy to counter it, not to mention, the momentum of Rainbow’s spin transferred enough kinetic energy into the ball to move twice as fast as it normally would.

The goalie panicked, she didn’t know where to move and it was approaching at a high speed. The goalie made the best guess she could at the last second and ducked to the right to block, but her moment of hesitation was all the time the ball needed to sail past her, just grazing her fingertips as it smacked into the net behind her. The timer ran down to zero, and the score was two-one.

“GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!”

Rainbow stuck the landing as she hit the ground, sending a shiver up her body from the impact. Nonetheless, this didn’t stop her from pumping her fist into the air and yelling in triumph, Lightning Dust rushed her and gave a kiss on the lips before the rest of their team joined in celebrated alongside them. The other team was, to say the least, shocked at that move, they didn’t know what was more humiliating, losing, or knowing that they were the team that was going be seen losing over and over again on ViewTube as “Most Epic Soccer Kicks”.

After winning the semi-final round, they were on their way to the championship game. Lightning and Rainbow walked out of the stadium, with Rainbow draping her arm over Lightning’s shoulders, and Lightning wrapping her left arm around Rainbow’s waist. Rainbow and Lightning had gotten older, both twenty-eight, and a bit taller since their high school days, Rainbow as about five-nine, while Lightning was five-ten, just a bit taller. Lightning had grown her hair out, still rocking the spikey look, while Rainbow went with a pixie cut. Their bodies had gained lean muscle over their years of training to join the same sports team, becoming the best duo pro sports players, and couple.

“That was badass, as usual,” said Rainbow.

“It helps that you’re light, but I think you gained just a bit of weight since the last time we tried that, you were a bit heavier,” Lightning commented.

“All muscle, Babe.”

“Uh-huh, sure you’re not letting Shy spoil you when you with those homemade snacks?” Lightning worked her hand under Rainbow’s shirt and grabbed onto her side. “Because I think you got just a little pudge goin’ on here.”

“Ouch! You bitch, that’s rude!” Rainbow glared. “And I feel bad if I don’t eat, besides, you know how good her cooking is!”

“Fuck, don’t I know it,” said Lightning dreamy tone. “Fine, guess we’ll just have to work that out in our usual way tonight.”

“Oh, dirty girl~”

Of course, they had to cut their couple talk short when they saw a mob of sports reporters waiting for them when they exited. All of them were shouting out questions one after the other. “Did you plan that ahead of time?” or “What’s it like to be a gay couple on a team and if it hurt their teamwork with the other players?” questions like that one kind of irked both of them. The answer was obvious enough when they were on the field, but yeah, it did cause a small issue on the team when they first joined. It wasn’t that they were opposed to gay and bisexual people joining the team, they just never had two teammates in an actual relationship coming onto the team, and sometimes such relationships could damage the teamwork, with one favoring their partner over the rest of the team.

But that wasn’t the case here, Lightning and Rainbow made sure to include the team on any and all of their tactics and strategies, even taking suggestions from the senior players. It was a bit of an adjustment to go from captain to just another player, but soon they became star athletes. Their goal was to represent USA in the Olympics games, and with their teamwork and skills, they were well on their way to doing just that.

All the while, their love for each other only grew hotter and stronger, Rainbow would keep Lightning’s competitiveness in check, and Lightning would keep Rainbow from getting a swelled head, and occasionally the two of them would keep the other from being assholes to others when they stepped over the line. Some thought that their relationship wouldn’t go past high school, two hotblooded gals like them, but they just took it as a challenge, and Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust were always up for a challenge.

Rarity was putting on the final touches to her latest creation, the models were all set, and the fashion show would soon begin. And as always, she was a bundle of nerves, fretting over this and that, second guessing her decisions, and sometimes going overboard. Thankfully, she always had someone there to keep her feet planted and focused.

“Breathe, Sugar Cube, just breathe,” said Applejack as she placed her hands on Rarity’s shoulders.

Rarity was dressed in a fabulous purple dress, her hair was long and flowing, framing her beautiful face, and svelte figure. Applejack was wearing a tux, she was six-foot-one now, towering over Rarity, and still wearing her Stetson hat. The two were an odd couple to almost anyone who looked at them, a farm girl with a southern accent, and a prim and proper fashion designer, they were like night and day sometimes, and yes, they did butt heads from time to time. However, it never dulled their love for each other, if anything, it served as fuel for Rarity whenever she was in one of her creative moods.

“Okay…Okay, I’m breathing, I’m not stressing,” said Rarity.

“There ya go, Sug. Now look at me.” Rarity did as she asked and looked into Applejack’s beautiful emerald eyes, as green as any orchard, one could get lost in the vast greenery. “Ya got this, you worked yer tail off for this, and now is yer moment to shine.”

Rarity smiled and nodded her head. “You’re right, you’re right my love! I am Rarity Belle, and this is my stage! I’ve overcome much with my friends and you by my side, and now it’s time to take all of that and put it on display for the world to admire!”

Applejack smirked. “There’s the diva I fell in love with back in high school.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “I am not a diva.”

“Rares, please, you have a faintin’ couch on call whenever you faint.”

Rarity gasped and shot an incredulous glare at Applejack. “I! Do! Not!”

Applejack gave Rarity a deadpan look as she removed her hands and pointed to something behind Rarity. The fashionista looked and saw an ornate couch with violet velvet upholstery, placed just behind her as if ready to catch her. Rarity cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Well, maybe a ‘fainting couch’ is a bit much in retrospect…”

“Eeyep, and ‘sides.” Applejack swiftly scooped up Rarity into her arms, now carrying her princess style and making the fashion designer let out a surprised yelp. “Why faint onto a couch when ya got two strong arms to fall into?”

“Oooh, Jackie, so gallant,” Rarity swooned.

“Ugh, how cliché is that?” someone spoke.

“I know, right, who brought that hick to this show? Probably just her side piece charity case,” said another.

Rarity glared at the two women who just insulted her girlfriend right in front of her. “Jackie, please put me down.”

Applejack knew that look in her girlfriend’s eyes, that was the look of someone was about to tear those girls a new one. “Sug, don’t. It’s alright.”

“Jackie, I do not appreciate anyone badmouthing my beloved right in front of me, now put me down so that I may set those harlots straight,” Rarity ordered.

Applejack was thick skinned when it came to people who look at them funny, or calling her a country hick, or saying that she was just Rarity’s plaything that she was taking pity on. The joke was on them because she was freaking loaded. Granny Smith had a survey team come to their property and sure enough they found the gold that was under their property, and thanks to that, Sweet Apple Acres got a huge boost in revenue, allowing them to hire more hands to work on the field and freeing up the kids to pursue their own dreams and careers. She remembered how happy Granny was to finally be able to give her grandchildren a chance to do what is they wanted instead of just working on the family farm for the rest of their lives.

Applejack decided to work for the farm instead of on it, she always had a good head for business and decided to look into expanding their operation, while keeping the values of the Apple Family through their work. Which of course meant she needed to go and learn as much as she could about business in college. For a while, Rarity and Applejack’s relationship was long distance, with Rarity going to a fashion college and Applejack a business college to learn even more. Little did Applejack know that what she learned was also able to help Rarity’s label grow in popularity and bring in money for her. Applejack had helped Rarity get this far, her skills as a designer were half of the equation, Applejack was the other half.

Which was why Rarity took issue with anyone who would dare to bad mouth her paramour. “Jackie, down, now.”

Applejack sighed and did as she was asked, letting her princess gently step onto the ground.

Rarity walked up to the two women and put her happy “I’m better than you so don’t mess with me” smile on. “Darlings, I’m so glad you feel so comfortable speaking about my beloved in such a manner and given how stressful this fashion show is for all of us, I’m willing to chalk it up to nerves. But the next time you insult my dear Jackie…” Rarity’s eyes took on the form of dangerous slits as she held her smile. “I will make sure you deeply regret your life choices.”

The two women who insulted Applejack felt their blood run cold, as if someone had just walked over their graves. The two designers apologized profusely to her and Applejack before rushing out with their tails between their legs.

Applejack sighed as she stood beside Rarity. “Ya think ya may’ve overdone it a little?”

“I think I got my point across, now then, let’s be off, my debut is upon us!” Rarity declared.

Applejack watched as Rarity walked on, strutting her stuff triumphantly, and all she could say was, “Heh, I love that gal.”

Fluttershy had just exited the surgery room at the veterinarian clinic she was at, she was taking a residency at the local clinic next to the animal shelter where she still volunteered at. Fluttershy had decided to pursue a career in animal medicine, wanting to heal and care for as many of God’s creations as she could. The formerly shy teen had cut her long hair to make it shoulder length, before she would use it to hide her face so that she wouldn’t have to look directly at people, but after all the events at Canterlot High, and her experiences in college, Fluttershy felt it was time for change. She would no longer be afraid of the world, but instead take it head on.

The vet-in-training walked over to the family that was awaiting news of their injured dog, Fluttershy stopped in front of them and smiled. “You don’t have to worry; he’s going to be alright.”

“Really,” asked the small boy.

Fluttershy leaned down and said, “Really, really. We’re going to keep him overnight for observation just to be safe, but if he looks good, we can send him home with you all tomorrow.”

The little boy rushed to Fluttershy and hugged her as best he could. The little boy’s mother shook Fluttershy’s hand as she said, “Thank you, you have no idea how important he is to us, he’s a part of our family, and he’s looks after Rocky like his own.”

“You’re very welcome, now, the doctor will come by and give you more details on what kind of home care he might need, but I don’t anticipate anything extensive, he’s a strong one,” Fluttershy assured as she left the family.

Fluttershy had filled out more since her high school days, wider hips, an hourglass figure, and an increase in bust size. Yes, she was aware that she was a “bombshell”, and that she was very attractive. The boys at college seemed to make it a point to remind her of that, and the jealous stares of the other girls also reminded her that there were those who envied her natural beauty. However, she paid them no heed. Besides, there was only one man who she allowed to ogle her body, or even touch her.

“HEY!”

And there he is, thought Fluttershy as she walked down the hallway and waved to her boyfriend.

“Bulky, what did I say about using your inside voice?”

Bulk blushed. “Oops, sorry, Baby.”

Bulk Biceps was a large and muscular boy, but now he was a large and muscular man. Most people who looked at him just as much assumed he was a muscle-bound jerk, the kind of guy who jacked up on protein shakes, weight lifted like it was an addiction, and was a jerk to everyone around him, especially his girlfriend. Where in fact it was the complete opposite. Bulk was a kind and gentle man, despite his large size and intimidating physique, he was as gentle as a lamb. He took care of his mother whenever she needed help with something and held a steady job as a bouncer at a local night club. He didn’t need to do anything, all Bulk had to do was just stand there and look angry and any altercation that was about to occur immediately stopped. That is not to say that he couldn’t do something if he needed to, but most of the time he preferred not to.

He and Fluttershy had been going out for the last five years, and both were very happy. Bulk treated Fluttershy right, and while knowing she didn’t need protection, would often step in and do so. Fluttershy walked up and motioned for him to lean down, when he did, Fluttershy gave him a little kiss on the cheek. “That’s okay, just try to remember next time. We have some sick animals in here that need rest.”

Bulk smiled nodded in understanding. “Are you ready to go? I wanted to cook dinner tonight, I found this neat recipe for lasagna that looks really good.”

“Oh, that’s sounds great! Can I help?” Fluttershy asked.

“Of course!”

Bulk offered his large arm to Fluttershy, the vet-in-training looped her right arm through his left and the two exited the clinic. From time to time, Fluttershy would see someone from the Vatican keeping an eye on her when they thought she wasn’t looking. Unfortunately, it was one of things she couldn’t get away from, she continued to be the Magdalena, but she operated at her own discretion, which meant if it wasn’t something that threatened the lives of the innocent, then she wanted no part in whatever operations the Vatican wanted. Plus, she could call upon the Spear of Destiny any time she wished; they weren’t about to argue with a trained assassin with a powerful relic.

Sometimes she joined Sunset on some of her cases in the city, or ones outside of the city thanks to her other credentials with another organization. But Sunset tried to keep her involvement in such things low, mostly out of respect for Fluttershy’s wishes to live her life the way she wanted. The Vatican and others may believe that she’s wasting her, literally, God given powers, and training, but that was for Fluttershy to decide, this life was hers, and she would live it the way she wanted. And if needed to answer the call then so be it.

“Bulky, I love you,” said Fluttershy as she nuzzled her cheek against his muscular arm.

Bulk blushed and stammered, “I-I love you too, Shy.”

Sunset “Sun” Shimmer was on the beach of one of her family’s private villas, enjoying the warm rays of the sun. Sunset had a two-piece bikini on that was quite revealing, but since this was her own private beach area there was no one around to see her anyway. Hell, if she wanted to, she could sunbathe naked, but she didn’t want to overstimulate her fiancée, speaking of which…

*BOOM!*

“I’M OKAY, EVERYTHING’S FINE!”

Sunset sighed as she took off her sunglasses and looked over her shoulder, “Sparky, I know I gave you that nickname, but that doesn’t mean you can sit things on fire.”

Her fiancée was currently working on an improved and more efficient solar power generator that would not only gather solar energy three times better than current solar panels and generators, but also take in moonlight, which is basically reflected sunlight, and triple the amount of energy converted. They had come out here to the beach where they could work in private, having converted part of the villa into their own research lab.

Twilight, in keeping with the beach theme, wore a white lab coat over a one-piece bikini. She wasn’t the mousy looking thing she was before, turns out Twilight was a late bloomer, giving her a figure to rival Rarity’s, a bust that matched her girlfriend, and legs for days. Twilight kept her long hair, which she currently had tied up into a ponytail. She was currently using a fire extinguisher to put out the electrical fire of her machine.

Sunset casually walked up to the still burning contraption and swiped her hand out in front of her. The Ember Stone, which hung around her neck, shined and immediately the fires disappeared as if they were never there. “Babe, I told you to be careful, using that new alloy we developed. It’s super conductive, remember?”

“I know, I know, but I was onto something until…well,” Twilight gestured to the machine, “that happened.”

Sunset smiled as she walked up to Twilight and kissed her on the cheek. “Look, why don’t we relax a bit, you know you get stuck in a rut if you hyper focus too much.”

Twilight sighed, she wasn’t one for just “chilling”, but she decided to go with her fiancée with this one. She dropped the extinguisher and let Sunset lead her back to the chair. Once there, Twilight stopped and said, “Um, Sunset, there’s only one chair.”

“Oh, would you look at that,” said Sunset feigning surprise. “Guess we’ll have to improvise.” Sunset sat down on the chair and then opened her legs to pat the chair. “Best seat around, Sparky.”

There was a time that Twilight would have blushed and found such a thing embarrassing to even try, but that time has passed. Twilight threw off her lab coat and took her seat between Sunset’s legs, leaning back to rest her head against her fiancée’s fluffy pillows. “You’re right, love, this is the best seat around.”

“Told ya.”

Sunset and Twilight have been busy at Canterlot University, earning awards left and right for their joint scientific projects and thesis, excelling in all the scientific fields that the University could offer and then some. During that whole time, they kept in touch with Sun’s big sister, and her Crystal Prep friends. They were awarded several grants to pursue their research in alternative energy and paranormal science.

The fiery haired woman glanced down at her Ember Stone; she was given the Artifact by her big sister during an event about five years back. The Wendigos had arisen in Canterlot, and her sister needed an extra pair of hands to defeat them, and with the combined powers of the Witchblade, Ember Stone, and Spear of Destiny, the three of them were able to effectively send the creatures to oblivion, forever gone. From then on, Sunset kept the Ember Stone, not just because she thought her sister might call on her again, but because she wanted to protect Twilight.

Whenever Sunset looked upon the Ember Stone, memories of the old world would flash before her eyes. A burden that she was to carry, to remember the pain and heartache she caused the people she loved back in that past world. Some would see what her big sister did as a way of getting back at her for what she did in the past world, that these memories were a curse to remind her of what a horrible person she was. But Sunset didn’t see it like that, her sister was burdened by the memories of the things she had done, and she was stronger for it. Now that she’s had time to come to terms with those memories, Sunset understood fully why her sister let her remember.

And just like she had said, the memories helped in her decision making, keeping herself and Twilight from slipping down the wrong paths, allowing them to enjoy the lives they have now. Six months ago, Sunset decided to make their relationship last forever, and she proposed to Twilight during one of their little science seminars in front of their colleagues, and of course Twilight said yes, she got all teary eyed and it made her cry as well.

“You really need to take it easy, Sparky,” said Sunset as she rubbed her fiancée’s stomach. “We have to take care of her, too.”

Twilight smiled as she placed her right hand over her stomach, their engagement rings gleaming in the light of the sun. One of the many different scientific breakthroughs that the two girls pioneered was creating a way for two women to have a child. It was a matter of converting the DNA of another female’s egg from their ovary and implanting it into the recipient’s egg. Of course, their successful implementation of this new technology earned them the ire of both the conservative and religious groups alike, calling them immoral blasphemers against the natural order. And to that they gave a resounding, “Fuck you!” to all of them. But for all the flack, they also got praise from the LGBTQ community around the world for this, because now lesbian couples, like themselves, didn’t have to use a donor to create a new life, they could have children that shared both their DNA.

So far there were five couples who were participating in the study, and all of them had given birth to healthy boys and girls, and now Sunset and Twilight were the next couple, both because they wanted a child of their own, they were super successful, and super rich, so it wasn’t like they lack the means to take care of a child, and with their wealth they could spend all the time they wanted to raise their daughter or son. The other reason they did this was to show everyone that it was perfectly safe, and that there was nothing wrong with the children who were born from this method, of course that was still pending years of testing for the rest of those children’s lives, but in the end, it would bring happiness to a lot of people.

“Do you think your sister will want one, too?” Twilight asked.

“Heh, depends.”

“On what?”

“On which of her four partners wants to bear her child first.”

Twilight was still trying to adjust to that, Sunset’s sister was in a relationship with four other women, and somehow, they managed to maintain this polyamorous relationship for over ten years now. “I still can’t believe you organized that orgy behind my back, I nearly had a heart attack when I saw all of you naked in our bedroom!”

“You still loved every single moment of it, admit it,” said Sunset.

Twilight blushed and puffed up her cheeks. “T-T-That’s beside the point! I just…Would like to be included in the planning.”

“Is that a yes for another orgy?” Sunset asked.

“I thought you said I need to be careful, since I have a child inside me?” Twilight asked.

“It’s still early, plus, I’m sure the girls would be very gentle with you.” Sunset kissed her lover’s forehead. “Pepper your soon to be swollen, pregnant belly with kisses, caress your down there, and make every part of it loving and sensual for you.”

Twilight rubbed her legs together as she looked up at Sunset. “Honey, please, don’t get me hot and bothered out here.”

“Sorry, but you’re just too cute when you’re flustered.” Sunset gave her lover another kiss, this time on the cheek. “I love you, Sparky, I always will, and I’ll never hurt you.”

“You don’t always have to say that part, I know you would never hurt me,” Twilight replied as she leaned into her girlfriend.

Sunset gently wrapped her arms around Twilight’s body and hugged her. I have once…but I won’t ever make that mistake again, never.

Manehattan…

Sunset woke up in the center of a pile, she groaned a little as she struggled to move her hands, and after getting one free, she wiped the sleep from her eyes and took in what she saw. Adagio was lying on her right, Pinkie Pie on her left, Sonata and Aria had crawled up onto her, both resting their heads on either side of her stomach. All five of them were bare in the large bed that they shared, and Sunset smiled when she recalled their fun time last night.

Ten years have passed since she remade the world, ten years since she took in the Sirens, and seven years since she became a police detective in the Canterlot City Police Department, and two years since she became a member of the Organization of Supernatural and Otherworldly Disasters. Tempest Shadow came to Canterlot City a while back to investigate Canterlot City, and the Witchblade. Sunset had taken this into consideration and intercepted Tempest first, seeking to work with the OSOD. Tempest, like the others, felt a strange tug in her mind when she met Sunset, telling her it was okay to trust this girl. Thanks to that, Tempest was able to convince the top brass of OSOD to allow Sunset in their ranks an agent under Tempest Shadow.

Sunset remembered how Tempest’s organization wanted to take the Artifacts and her Witchblade, and that there may come a day when that very well might happen, but it’s as the old saying goes, keeps your friends close and your enemies closer. She knew that, if something happened, Tempest would most likely side with her if the organization decided to turn on Sunset. Tempest wielded her Wheel of Shadows like in the other world, and together the two of them proved to be a strong duo in the supernatural and monster busting game. Sunset was officially listed as being part of a special international task force that worked cases that had undertones of the supernatural, of course, it was Captain Shining Armor that approved her assignment to this “task force”, which also gave her great flexibility whenever she needed to leave the city for certain cases. Like the one she was on now.

Sunset took a moment to look upon her lovers, it was an odd thing to be sure, and they got their share of looks from people. But she didn’t care, none of them did really, all of them were successful in their own way. Adagio decided to hone her singing skills, and became an indie internet pop star overnight, writing original songs with her sisters as back up and occasionally bringing in Sunset on guitar and vocals. While Sonata and Aria had the ability to do the same, they wanted to do something else. Sonata improved her cooking skills by learning from the various chefs in Canterlot City, improving her craft until she landed a job at famous chef, Gustave le Grand’s, restaurant.

The master chef took her under his wing, finding her endearing and noticing her hidden talent for the cooking arts. Eventually she made it to the rank of Sou Chef and was Gustave’s right-hand woman in the kitchen, with the promise of becoming his successor. Aria decided to use her aggression to make some money for them, training at MMA gyms and entering local tournaments, and as it turns out, being immortal for the last thousand years allowed her to pick up on a lot of the different fighting styles in the world, and mixed martial arts allowed her to put the different pieces together to form her style of fighting that many of her opponents couldn’t defend against. Aria won multiple titles and was currently the reigning MMA champion.

Pinkie Pie decided to go into the field of psychology, she liked making people smile, and wanted to help people find out what was making them sad and find solutions to bring them to a happier place. It took a lot of hard work, but thanks to Sunset and the Siren sisters’ motivation, she got her doctorate and was officially Dr. Pinkamina Diane Pie, or Dr. Pie as she liked.

As for Sunset, as was said, she achieved her goal of becoming a detective in the CCPD, thanks to the backing of one Captain Shining Armor, it kind of annoyed her that he did make captain before she became a detective, but he acted like a big brother for her and helped her out so much during the training, exams, and of course her days a trainee. Thankfully, for most of that training, she had Spearhead as her training officer, someone whom Shining Armor informed of Sunset’s identity as Witchblade, the three of them had to create a special training and protocol when it came to her, since there were supernatural occurrences happening around Canterlot, Sunset was the only one capable of dealing with them. And so, if there was something otherworldly happening, Shining Armor made sure that Sunset would be taking lead on those cases.

The relationship with these amazing women was hard work, scheduling time for each other, making sure others were given attention, but they managed it, and Pinkie Pie was great at making sure no one was left out of any activities they did, but they also knew how important one on one time was. Sunset planned on purposing to Pinkie Pie after this case was done, getting married to her in this world. But since this world wouldn’t really allow her to marry Adagio, Sonata, and Aria, Sunset decided that they would have a second wedding, but not here. She spoke to Princess Twilight, who was now the ruler of all Equestria, and she said that she would marry them all in Equestria to make it official for them. Of course, human laws wouldn’t recognize the three sisters as Sunset’s wives, but that didn’t matter, she was sure as long they knew they were married that would be good enough for her.

I really owe Sun and Twi for setting all of this up, thought Sunset.

It was only thanks to Sun and Twi that they were able to do any of this. Twilight’s computer skills, along with Sun’s skills, money, and resources, allowed them to create false identities, making it appear as if Sunset, Adagio, Sonata, and Aria have always been in Canterlot City’s records, and with a little help from a certain mayor of Canterlot, no one was the wiser, and their records were good enough that not even the most senior agent in any law enforcement branch would be able to tell they were fake.

“Girls, it’s time to get up,” said Sunset.

“Hmm, ten more minutes, Hun,” Adagio moaned.

“Yeah…just a little longer, Sunny,” Pinkie added.

Sunset chuckled as she managed to stroke both of their curly hairs. “I’d love to, but we got a lot of stuff to do before I have to head out tonight.”

“Ugh…the hell with that…let’s just stay in bed until you have to go,” said Aria.

“I’m with Ari…I’ll even cook us breakfast, lunch, and an early dinner,” said Sonata.

“C’mon, we’re in Manehattan, do you know how much I had to beg to get them to approve bringing you guys with me?”

Adagio stirred and bit more and propped herself up on her forearm. “Yes, and they let you, but on our dime. Cheap bastards.”

“It’s only fair, they’re willing to pay for me being here, not my girlfriends.”

“Still,” Pinkie chimed, “with all their shadow funding, you think something like this would be a drop in the bucket.”

Aria smirked and said, “Face it, they’re just jealous because Sunset’s got four hot girlfriends, and if they do have girls, they ain’t got jack shit on us.”

“I second that!” Sonata added with a raised hand.

Sunset leaned forward and bopped her tsundere girlfriend on the head. “Be nice, Aria. Now, are we going to go see the city, or are you guys just planning on screwing me all day?”

All four of the girls glanced between each other and then looked back at Sunset.

“Is that an option?” they asked in unison.

Sunset sighed in regret, “As much as I’d like to say ‘yes’, I don’t want to be too worn out before the operation tonight.” Each of the girls had a worried expression on their faces, making Sunset ask, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“We’re just a little…concerned,” said Adagio.

“Ugh, the hell with pussy footing around it. We’re afraid for you, alright?!” Aria blurted out.

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Afraid for me? Why? This will hardly be the first or last supernatural bad guy I’ve fought.”

“We know, but you said this one’s different, and that he’s more dangerous than the ones you fought before,” said Sonata.

“We just…We just want to have as much time with you as we can, just…just in case,” Pinkie confessed.

Sunset smiled at her girlfriends and brought them in as close as she could. “Listen, I’m coming back, no matter what happens.” Sunset kissed each of them passionately on the lips one after the other, sealing her promise to her lovers. “This is just something I have to do. Do you understand?”

All four of looked at each other, and then back at Sunset, and together they nodded a collective “yes”. This was her family now, and Sunset wasn’t going to make them cry, but she made a promise to that person back in the old world, and she wasn’t about to go back on it now.

Night fell over Manehattan, the twinkling lights of the city gave it a dazzling appearance against the moonless sky, but this beauty only belied the evil that was lurking in its shadows. Sunset was currently getting geared up, which was mostly for show, she wore a Kevlar vest, carried a couple of sidearms, some zip tie handcuffs, and an assault rifle. Around her were at least fifty other people, ten of those fifty were OSOD imbedded Agents in the MPD, they would be her squad for when they made entry. Their squad had one objective, to get Sunset to the target so that she could neutralize it, the others were going to keep the rest of the police force from getting involved in the fight.

The “FBI” liaison, Tempest Shadow, walked across the warehouse, her footsteps echoing as she approached. Everyone glanced her way, it was hard not to, she was a tall woman, with an imposing aura. “Listen up, I don’t need to remind you, but I’m going to anyway in case some of you decide to be a hero out there. Tonight, we’re going after a dangerous gang that’s been operating here in Manehattan. The Kings have been allowed to move about for too long and now we’re about to hit one of their major drug distribution hubs. This is a full-on raid, we bust in, we make arrests, and shoot anyone who shoots back at you. You’ll all be divided into teams, Echo, Delta, Charlie, you’ll be our battering rams and start pushing the suspects into a corner. Meanwhile, Bravo, and Alpha teams will begin their assignments.”

Tempest glanced briefly at Sunset, a silent understanding passing between them.

“I don’t need to tell you that this will be dangerous, but whatever happens, don’t stray from your objective, we take these guys down tonight. Now let’s move out!” Tempest ordered.

“YES, MA’AM!” the officers shouted in unison.

The raid teams all filed into their armored vehicles and started on their way to the target. A couple of miles down the road and the teams were at the Manehattan Harbor. They turned right towards the private docks and aimed for one warehouse, three of the vehicles were armed with battering rams, and all three in perfect sync smashed through the side of the wall, throwing debris everywhere and causing the occupants inside to shout and scream in shock of the sudden attack. Once inside, all three armored vehicles opened their back hatches and allowed officers to hurriedly march out and take positions.

“MANEHATTAN PD, WE HAVE A SEARCH WARRANT!”

“FUCK YOUR WARRANT PIGS!!!”

Gun shots rang throughout the warehouse as the members of the Kings gang opened fire on the vehicles and the officers. The officers returned fire as a hailstorm of bullets was passed back and forth between the two factions. The other two armored vehicles flanked the warehouse, smashing through one side and the second another. Alpha team, Sunset’s squad, exited the vehicle and took up positions around the vehicle.

“Clear!”

Sunset raised her left hand and spoke into the mic, “This is Team Alpha, we’ve successfully made entry into the warehouse.”

{Roger Alpha Team, proceed as ordered.}

Sunset nodded, she looked around and made sure that there weren’t any surprises in the room.

“We got ya back, Shimmer, do your thing,” said one her teammates.

Sunset nodded, dumping the helmet, vest, and guns, leaving only an issued tactical jumpsuit and her boots. The Witchblade started to glow and immediately sprang to life, slashing through her weak clothing and donning her in the indestructible, supernatural armor. Sunset closed her eyes for a moment, only to open them and reveal her glowing irises.

“You don’t think this guy’s going to use his powers, do you?”

“Not unless he thinks he’s been driven into a corner, he’s not on friendly terms with it, but that doesn’t mean it won’t cooperate with him when he needs it to. I already told you guys this, but when you see him, fall back, and let me take care of it. Trust me, you don’t want to be anywhere near this,” said Sunset.

“Duly noted.”

With her enhanced senses, Sunset led the team further into the warehouse. They happened upon a few of the gang members, but thanks to Sunset’s Witchblade, she was able to easily subdue them without killing them. Ten years of fighting side-by-side with the Witchblade has allowed her to gain near perfect control over her body’s speed, strength, agility, and reaction speed, making fights like this simple. For the others, her team helped, laying down suppressive fire to keep the gang members pinned while she zipped around and took out their weapons before knocking them out.

Their team made it further into the warehouse before the Witchblade armor bristled. }}} He is close. {{{

Sunset stopped in her tracks, throwing her fist into the air to signal a halt. You sure?

}}} Just beyond the next room, he is waiting. I am sure he sensed my presence the moment we entered. {{{

“Okay guys, this is as far as you go. Keep the other teams away from here, arrest the stranglers,” Sunset ordered. Her teammates nodded to her and took their positions to guard the entrance. “And whatever you hear, don’t come in.”

Sunset walked forward, kicking open the large double doors and making them slam on the walls behind them. The Keeper of the Balance cautiously strode in, her eyes piercing the shadows and locking onto a lone figure in the room, standing amidst a plethora of their product. It was a man, with long, shaggy black hair, and a black overcoat. The man turned around and revealed his ashen gray skin, and piercing red eyes, just like she remembered him.

“Sombra King,” said Sunset.

Sombra rubbed the back of his head as he chuckled, “Huh, so you’re the one that that demon keeps wailing on and on about. Witchblade, right?”

“Yep, more accurately, that’s his name.” Sunset raised her right arm up.

}}} Been a long time, Father. {{{

<^> Wretched cur! I curse the day you were born! <^>

“Whoa, issues?” Sombra asked.

“Long story, but essentially, they’re father and son,” Sunset explained.

“Oh, wow, so you can hear all that too. Damn, this is going to get awkward.”

“Tell me about it.” Sombra eyed Sunset up and down, his brow knitting as he rubbed his stubbly chin. “Yeah, I know, I’m half naked. Get your eyeful now before we get to it, I don’t want to hear any complaints about you losing because you were staring at my chest, or other places.”

Sombra chuckled. “Nah, it ain’t that, I got a girl so I ain’t going to do her wrong like that. But it’s the damndest thing, I’ve never seen ya before, and yet, I like you. Not romantically, but like a…” Sombra snapped his fingers as he tried to think of the correct word. “Niece? A friend? Although I think I’d remember if I was friends with you.”

Sunset shrugged. “Not as weird as you might think. I’ve been tracking you down for a long time, and I’m happy you’ve evaded police capture for this long. Because I made a promise.” I’ve done what you said, I’ve grown up, I have a family, and now… “I intend to keep that promise.” Sunset took a fighting stance as she created two five-foot-long blades from both of her gauntlets.

Sombra chuckled some more as the Darkness emerged from his body, the Entity of Evil wrapped around his body, and then burst apart, revealing Sombra now clad in the Darkness Armor. Inky black shadows formed a tattered cape that fluttered behind him, and in his hands, he held two esoteric looking pistols. “Shit, why am I getting this proud feeling right now?”

“Don’t think about it too much! Just know that you’re going to jail, one way or another!”

“Heh, bring it!”

Sunset and Sombra dashed for each other, meeting in the middle and clashing as their powers erupted within the warehouse. This was the future that Sunset fought for, the future that she gave herself and her friends. Her friends would never know the sorrows and the loss of the last world, the fates that they all suffered, the people they lost, only she and Sun would know, and that was enough. Because this was their new future, one that Sunset was going to protect. The tragedies of the last world were done with, this was Sunset’s world now, both the good and bad, she’d embrace it all, for that is the power of balance, the power of the Witchblade.

Epilogue: The Splinters

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The power of the Thirteen Artifacts, the power to rewrite reality, to remake the universe as one sees fit.

For Sunset Shimmer, she created a world similar to the last one, but different in many ways.

But, as was warned, sometimes, when the universe is tampered with, it can cause a Splinter, something that was not meant to be, but is now.

Let us look at seven of these Splinters, worlds with all those we know and love from the previous world, but, at the same time, worlds that are vastly different…

………

…………

EARTH: SPLINTER 909

His Name is…

It was a peaceful day in Canterlot City, at least it would be if it weren’t for the three-hundred foot, Cthulhu looking monster rampaging through the city. The huge monster bellowed, the tentacles around its mouth parting to show the rows of teeth and barbed tongue as its roar carried through the city. It was swamp green color, with leathery skin, scale plates that were positioned at different parts of its body to not only grant it protection, but also turn its body into a battering ram if necessary.

The creature was top heavy, moving like a gorilla with its muscular arms, and at the end of each arm was a hand that had four huge talons. Its legs were strong, allowing it leap from one end of the street and cover several blocks in a single bound. It had a long tail that whipped back and forth, cutting like piano wire whenever it struck something. On its back were four tentacles that each had a mouth filled with teeth. The creature’s tentacles snapped at the bystanders, snatching them up in its mouths and chewing them up until they were mush that slid down it.

Suddenly, a sonic boom echoed through the sky, and at that moment, something struck the beast dead center in its chest, sending it flying backwards and crash landing on its back. Everybody stopped for a moment to see what it was that stopped the monster, only it wasn’t a what, it was a who. It was a young teenager, about seventeen or so, his hair was spikey and blue with a light skin tone. He wore a suit that was black, yellow, and blue, and a mask that covered most of his face except his mouth and the top of his head. The mask sported rounded goggles for protection, and on front of his suit was a makeshift lowercase “I” symbol.

This was the young hero of Canterlot City, Invincible.

“Ugh, what godforsaken place did that thing crawl out from?” Invincible asked.

“From the looks of it, probably from that new mine that the city was making, guess there was something sleeping under there.”

Invincible looked up upon hearing the familiar voice. Floating down from the sky was a muscular man in a red and white superhero suit, his red cape fluttered majestically in the wind as he descended. He had an “O” shaped symbol on his chest, but unlike Invincible, he did not wear a mask, allowing his face to be seen. He had amber colored skin, with amaranth colored hair, with a bit of white around his sideburns, but otherwise he was clean cut. This was Earth’s mightiest hero, Omni Man, and…

“Dad, what the heck?! I said I would handle this!” Invincible wined.

“Flash, I’m just here to observe,” said Omni Man.

“And tag in if I can’t hack it, right?”

Omni Man lightly shrugged and rolled his eyes. “IIIIII’m not saying that, but I’m here if you need me.”

Invincible rolled his eyes back at his father. “Yeah, well, watch me!”

Invincible flew straight for the monster again, but the beast was agile despite its size, quickly getting back up just in time to smack the teen hero with its tail, sending him flying into the adjacent building.

Omni Man shook his head, “I told you, with monsters, always watch the tail.”

“THAAANNNKS!” Invincible shouted with annoyance.

Invincible smashed through the building and went at the monster again, this time avoiding the whip-like tail, and heading straight for its head. Invincible cocked back his right fist and struck the beast in the left side of its face, resulting in a thundering shockwave that rattled the windows and cars in the area. Invincible flew around to the right side and struck twice, each attack forcing the beast back.

The beast had had enough and used its facial tentacles to grab Invincible by the leg and tossed him onto the ground. The beast then raised its right and slammed it on him three times, on the fourth time, Invincible threw up his hands and stopped it before it could hit again. Invincible growled as he pushed up against the beast’s monstrous strength, but as a Viltrumite, he had the physical strength to overcome this monster.

The wind kicked up underneath Invincible’s feet, and with a strong “WHOOSH” sound he propelled himself upwards and threw the monster’s arm back, making it stumble backwards a bit. The beast regained its footing and made the tentacles on its back lock onto Invincible, and then it released a stream of green liquid. Invincible swiftly evaded the attack but paused when he saw what the liquid was. When it hit the street below, it ate through the street and everything else it managed to get on.

“Oh great, an acid spitter,” said Invincible.

“Esh, maybe I should take this one,” said Omni Man.

“No, Dad, I got this!”

Invincible flew straight for the beast again, the creature blasting the area with acid spit, trying to make it difficult for the young hero to even get close. Some of the acid droplets got on Invincible’s suit, while it didn’t immediately destroy the suit, its super durable material was making the process take a lot longer than it normally would otherwise. Invincible knew his body was nearly, well, invincible, and he had a good healing factor, but that didn’t mean that acid burn wouldn’t hurt any less.

“If you don’t kill it soon, these buildings will collapse around us after that acid eats at the foundation,” said Omni Man.

Invincible growled and double his speed as he focused all his strength into his right fist. With an incredible burst of speed, Invincible smashed right into the beast’s chest, but this time, he didn’t stop, he kept pushing more and more until he broke through the monster’s skin, and then its ribcage. The monster spat out blood as it felt the young hero pierce into its body and speedily reach its heart. Invincible released a loud war cry as he struck the beast’s heart, causing it to explode as he burst out through the monster’s back. The monster howled in pain before its howls turned to gasps, and then it fell to the ground with a big “BOOM”, dead as its violet blood pooled under it.

The young hero panted as he floated in the air, his body coated in the monster’s blood, but otherwise undamaged. Omni Man floated over to his son and smirked at him. “That’s my boy, good work.”

“T-Thanks, Dad.” Invincible looked at himself and made a grossed-out face. “Ugh, I need a shower.”

“C’mon, let’s get ya home and cleaned up.”

The two heroes flew off into the sky and traveled a great distance before they ended up in the suburbs of Canterlot. They landed in the backyard of a nice two-story house and walked in through the patio door.

“Mom, we’re home,” Flash called out.

His mother was sitting at the island counter, working on her laptop. She was a lovely, middle aged woman, wearing a pair of jeans and a black top. She had a light complexion, same as her son, and had blue hair that was lighter than her son’s. Her name was Grace Stalwart.

“Flashy, Magnus, you’re home – oh good god, what is that smell,” said Grace as she held her nose.

Omni Man, Magnus, slapped his hand on Flash’s shoulder and said, “Had a little encounter with a monster that was rampaging downtown during training. So, I decided to let our boy here show me what he’s made of and turns out he’s made of the right stuff. Ha!”

“Long story short, I punched through the heart of giant monster,” Flash clarified.

“I’d say we should hose you down outside first, but…ugh, just float upstairs and take you a shower.” Flash nodded, lifted off the floor and began floating through the living room before arriving at the stairs. “And be careful not to drip, monster blood is hard as hell to get out of the carpet!”

“Well do, Mom!” Flash called out.

Grace turned around and looked up at her husband and asked, “So, how did he really do?”

Magnus shrugged. “He struggled a bit, but I’d give it a seven out of ten.”

“Well, he’s still learning, I mean he just got his powers and all,” said Grace.

“Yes, but if he’s really committed to this, then he’ll have to do much better,” said Magnus sternly.

Grace walked up to him and rubbed his arm lovingly. “Magnus, I know you have to make hard decisions out there, and I can’t imagination everything you go through, but try not to be too hard on him that he gets discouraged.”

Magnus sighed and smiled at his wife. He leaned down and gave her a kiss, which then became a passionate kiss between them. After a minute, the two of them parted and Magnus replied, “I’ll try and do my best, I just want him to be ready.”

“I know.” Grace released her husband and went back to her laptop. “Oh, could you head to Italy and grab some food from that place we like?”

“Sure, I’ll even pick up some wine while I’m there. Be right back!”

Magnus walked out to the patio and took off into the air, during his flight, his expression morphed into a grimace. Sorry, Grace, but if Flash is going to become the Viltrumite I need him to be, then I’m going to have to push him a lot harder. He needs to be ready…I need to be ready.

EARTH: SPLINTER 1,015

A Savage officer of the law…

Spike Dragon, he was a six foot – six-foot-seven if you counted the green fin – tall, purple skinned, green eyed, muscular, police officer. He wasn’t human, at all, humanoid, but not human. But he had human values and sought a place to belong in this world. So, the captain of the Chicacolt Police Force brought him into the fold, it wasn’t easy, not at first. But eventually he came on and helped defend the city against beings known as “Super Freaks”, aka super powered people. While he did normally deal with super powered people, he also fought against normal criminals. Most bad guys pissed themselves when they saw a big, hulking, dragon-like creature in a police uniform come stomping towards them, who also possessed enough strength to lift an armored car and tear apart steel with his bare hands.

Of course, such things did earn him the nickname “Savage Dragon”, but it didn’t bother him that much, in fact, it helped when it came to the criminal element. Just hearing his name was enough to make them give up the fight. He was currently going over some reports in the station when his partner came walking up behind him and patted him on the back. His partner was a woman in her early thirties, with sun-yellow skin, hair that looked like fire, and dark-orange eyes behind a pair of black sunglasses. Her name was Spitfire, a Sergeant in the CPD.

“Hey, Spike, we got a call.”

“Super Freaks again, Sarge?” Spike asked as he got up from his seat.

“Probably not, but it’s possible,” said Spitfire.

The two of them headed to his car, it was custom made to accommodate Spike’s size and weight, along with having a trunk filled with various weapons made to fight against Super Freaks, but Spike didn’t think he’d need those. He hoped to resolve whatever this was without a weapon, or the need to hurt someone. It rarely ended up like that if it was a possible Super Freak call.

The two of them headed out of the station and down the road, Sergeant Spitfire typed in the address of the call to the car’s GPS, and he began following its directions. “So, what’s this call about exactly?”

“Hmm, something that you might like,” said Spitfire coyly.

Spike raised an eyebrow at that. “And what would that be?”

“I guess it’s less of a what and more of a who. We’re headin’ to a disturbance call at the home of one Ms. Rarity Belle.”

Spike’s eyes went wide open, he swerved a bit, causing the other cars to honk at him and made Spitfire hold on for dear life. “We’re going to see Rarity Belle! The Rarity Belle?!”

“Jeez, if I knew you were going to get that worked up, I would’ve said her name when we were there,” said Spitfire.

“W-Why are we going there?!” Spike asked.

Spitfire scratched at her cheek as she said, “If you had this kind of reaction, I’m rethinking if I should say anything.”

“Just tell me, Sarge.”

“Ugh, fine, it’s a possible domestic disturbance, but we’re not sure. Neighbors say that they’ve spotted some strange lights at the residence, and heard some sounds, but it could be just some nosy neighbors.”

Spike knew of Rarity Belle, she was a famous actress, not just known for her acting skills, but also for her near boundless generosity. And with the movies she’s made from one box office hit after the other, she was on Apple Wood’s hotline for big budget movies, having her name and talent in the movie was pretty much guaranteeing a hit. And yet, she didn’t let any of it go to her head, she was a humble woman, while enjoying the finer things in life, she made time to speak with fans, and of course donate to multiple charities, even founding one. The charity known as Glittering Givers.

It was no secret to Spitfire and the captain that her partner had a huge ass crush on the woman, she lived in Chicacolt, but he never even tried to talk to her. Most cops would try to pull protective detail to try and get close to her, but the big lug was shy and didn’t want to seem like a stalker fan.

And now that he knew that she was possibly in danger, he turned on sirens and floored it to her residence. It took all of three minutes to get there, which was saying something because he was going full speed. The Dragon and Spitfire got out of the car and walked up to the mansion that was Rarity’s home. Spike had a serious expression on his face, as if he was ready and willing to take on whoever dared to hurt Rarity Belle. Which prompted Spitfire to elbow him, hard, in the gut.

“OMPH! Sarge, what the hell?!”

“If you look like that when she answers the door, you’re going to scare the poor woman. You wanna make a good first impression, right?” Spitfire chided.

Spike smiled a little, Spitfire wasn’t just his partner on the street, she was also his best friend, and his best wingwoman. She already had a girlfriend, Fleetfoot, and when those two got together they often would try to set him up with whatever woman they thought would be a good match for him. Their efforts were appreciated, but rarely did any human woman want to go out with him, mostly because he was a humanoid creature, and despite being a cop hero, it didn’t change the fact that he wasn’t human.

“Alright, now let’s answer this call, you stand there and look charming, and don’t say anything.”

“Why?!” Spike asked.

“‘Cause your dumb ass will get all tongue tied,” Spitfire replied.

Spike was about to refute that, but Spitfire quickly pressed the doorbell, making him clamp up his mouth as he stood at attention. There was a muffled sound of someone calling out, “Coming! Coming!” before the door opened. Spike’s eyes widened, and Spitfire’s eyebrow raised as she internally smirked at what she was seeing.

Rarity was standing before them in her robe, her flawless, porcelain white skin was something to behold, along with her luxuriously long, curled purple locks of hair. She didn’t have any makeup on, but even without it she was still beautiful, and unfortunately for this beautiful woman, she had her robe opened enough that her breasts were almost on full display, along with her more private parts.

Rarity looked up and saw Spike, she blinked in surprise for a moment before turning her attention to the female officer next to the burly dragon-like officer. “Oh my, to what do I owe this visit from Chicacolt’s finest?”

“Um, ma’am, you might want to fix that,” said Spitfire.

“Fix what dear–?” Rarity looked down at herself and realized what had happened. “Oh, my word!” Rarity quickly turned her back to them and tightened her robe before turning back to face them. “I am so sorry about that! I just got out of bed and was not expecting anyone! I-I don’t make it a habit of doing that, I promise!”

“Relax, Ms. Belle, accidents happen,” said Spitfire.

Rarity, who was blushing red, looked up at Spike, now that she recalled, his head had been pointed up the moment she opened the door. “Thank you, officer…?”

“Spitfire, Sergeant, and this is Spike, Spike Dragon,” said Spitfire.

Rarity looked back to Spitfire, “You mean that’s the ‘Savage Dragon’?!” Rarity returned her gaze to him, she had heard the stories of the Savage Dragon, and had seen photos of him in news articles and on the local news stations, but this was her first time actually seeing him up close. Despite the nickname, he did the gentlemanly thing and turned his gaze away to preserve her dignity. “Thank you, Mr. Dragon, for not staring.”

“N-N-No problem, Ms. Belle,” said Spike in a panicked voice.

Bet you’re saving that to your spank bank later, huh partner? Spitfire thought.

“How can I help you?” Rarity asked.

“Just a welfare check Ms. Belle, we got a call from your neighbors about a domestic dispute from your residence,” Spitfire explained.

Rarity sighed heavily. “Honestly, I love my neighbors, dearly, but they can be such nosy neighbors. Come in and see for yourself, there is nothing wrong.”

Spitfire and Spike entered the house, Rarity led them to the living room and said, “Can I offer you two something to drink? Tea? Water?”

“W-We really shouldn’t – OMPH!”

Spitfire did a quick elbow to Spike’s ribs, making him cease his talking, and said, “Some tea sounds great, Ms. Belle.”

Rarity smiled. “Wonderful, wait just a moment.”

Spike waited until Rarity was out of the room and said, “Well you quit hitting me?!”

“If I don’t, you’ll just mess it up.”

“I’m not trying to get a date with Rarity Belle! We’re here to make sure she’s alright!” Spike insisted.

“Yes, and we’ll do that. We don’t have any other calls to get to today, so let’s just take our time, enjoy some tea, look over the place, make sure she’s alright, and then we’ll be on our merry with you making a good impression and possibly getting a date out of this,” said Spitfire.

Spike grumbled and started looking over the room while Spitfire did the same. A few moments later, Rarity appeared in the doorway with a tray of cups and a teapot.

“Sorry, Darlings, I never asked what kind of tea you liked,” said Rarity.

“Anything’s fine, we’re not that big on tea drinking,” said Spitfire.

“That’s good to know…because I’m all out of tea…”

Rarity dropped the try and thrust out her right hand, particles of light came together and created a diamond shard, which Rarity fired straight for Spike. The dragonoid man hurriedly ducked to the ground as the shard imbedded itself in the wall behind him.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Spitfire exclaimed.

Rarity turned her attention to Spitfire, raising her other hand and firing multiple diamond shards toward the sergeant. Spitfire ducked behind a sofa as the super sharp shards tore through the sofa, making Spitfire have to tuck her legs in to avoid getting skewered.

Spitfire drew her weapon and said, “Ms. Belle, you need to stop what you’re doing, or we’ll be forced to take action!”

More shards were fired in Spitfire’s direction, forcing the sergeant to roll from her cover.

“Last warning!”

More shards flew at her.

“You’re not really going to shoot her, Sarge?!” Spike asked.

“She’s a Super Freak, what do you think?!” Spitfire rose from her cover and fired multiple shots from her pistol. Unfortunately, Rarity had created a hexagonal shield made of diamond that deflected the bullets. “Oh, shit, okay, this might be a problem.” Shards came flying at her again, forcing Spitfire to duck back down. “And of course, the good guns are outside.”

Spike growled and dashed from behind the couch and straight for Rarity. The Savage Dragon raised his right fist and threw a punch in her direction. Rarity responded by creating a shield, but Spike’s powerful fist shattered it like glass and caught Rarity off guard. Spike hurriedly put Rarity into a submission hold, keeping her hands locked to prevent her from doing anything else.

“C-Calm down, Ms. Belle! We don’t want to hurt you!” Spike stated.

“I’ll kill you, you – Stop! I don’t want to hurt them – Fucking bitch just do what I tell you – Please help me!” Rarity exclaimed.

“Okay, so she’s crazy too?” Spitfire asked.

“Here – Shut up! – He’s in the house!”

Spike understood what she was saying and looked directly at his partner, “Sarge, there’s another here! I think she’s being controlled!”

“And if you’re wrong?!” Spitfire asked.

“Then I’m wrong, just hurry up and look, I can handle this!”

If Spike was anyone else, she would’ve said no, but she has seen him fight worse things than Rarity Belle, so that was the only reason why she left the room and started looking around for the supposed second Super Freak. Just then, something formed under their feet. Spike looked down and saw a platform of made of diamond was now under them. That platform suddenly grew spikes that forced Spike to release Rarity before he could get impaled. The platform disappeared, but now Rarity had her hands free. The movie star created two swords made of sharp diamonds and charged for Spike.

Spike had naturally fast reflexes, and normally could easily counterattack, but Rarity was surprisingly nimble and agile, and knew how to fight with swords. He figured it was due to the various action and superhero movies she has done during her career; all those martial arts heavy fight scenes must have stuck with her. And it didn’t help that Rarity was doing all this while still wearing her robe, which would flutter open and accidentally give him show. It wasn’t the fairest of fights.

Rarity’s right sword thrust forward, Spike dodged, but the blade managed to cut his left bicep, causing red blood to pour from the wound. Spike rolled on the floor and assumed a fighting stance as Rarity got closer. The Savage Dragon waited for another opening and caught her by the wrists, applying a little pressure to make her release the swords, which disappeared upon doing so.

“I don’t know who you are, but you’re not taking Rarity!” Spike proclaimed.

“Heh, this bitch is going to make me rich! What the hell!? Fuck, I thought I had more time!” Rarity tucked in her legs and kicked Spike in the face, forcing him to release her. The actress somersaulted in the air and landed perfectly on the floor. She then created a diamond knife and held it to her neck. “If I can’t use her, then I’d rather she be dead!”

“NOOO!!!” Spike yelled as he rushed towards her.

However, when he did this, Rarity tossed the knife right at him with perfect precision and imbedded it right in his left leg, forcing him to stop. Rarity used this opening to form another sword and came at Spike, stabbing him in the right side of his chest. “At least I’ll have killed the Savage Dragon!!!”

Suddenly, four gunshots were heard from upstairs. The moment that those went off, the sword in Rarity’s hand disappeared, her eyes widened as tears formed her eyes. “My god…wha-what have I done?!”

Spike smiled at Rarity and said, “Don’t worry, I heal quickly.” The bleeding wounds he received soon sealed themselves, leaving no trace that he had been hurt at all. “See, no harm done Ms. Belle.”

“YOU BITCH!!!” Suddenly a second assailant appeared from the kitchen bearing a knife as he charged straight for Rarity.

Spike thrust out his left hand letting the blade pierce through it, preventing it from stabbing Rarity. The Savage Dragon wrenched the knife away from him and used his right hand to punch the criminal, sending sailing back into the kitchen where he slammed against the counter and fell on unconscious.

After all was said and done, Spitfire and Spike were able to find out that a Super Freak and his accomplice were trying to extort money from Rarity, apparently no one knew that she had powers, the Super Freak had mind control powers and was going to force her to make them diamonds that they could sell, but Spitfire and Spike got there before it was too late. Afterwards, Rarity, wrapped in a blanket, walked over to Spike, and asked him if she could speak to him alone. Spitfire nudged the big guy forward and followed her away from the cameras and the other officers.

“Are you…Are you going to tell people that I’m…”

“A super powered person? No. Although, I gotta ask, why hide it?” Spike asked.

“I’m sure you’ve seen how ‘Super Freaks’ are treated, because there are those who use their powers for evil deeds it paints those who just want to live in peace with the same brush as them. I’ve hid my powers for a long time, but I found that I could use them to help not only myself but others.” Rarity opened her hand and created small diamond shards. “A friend of mine said these diamonds are flawless and worth a lot of money, with these, I’ve been able to pay for my acting classes, affording me the monetary ability to pursue my dreams and become who I am. While I also use the excess to give back to those who are less fortunate, I live by the old saying Noblesse Oblige.”

Spike remembered an article about Rarity, there were some who wondered how she was able to amass such wealth, even with her acting career, she was ranking up there with the top one percent as far as wealth was concerned, but now it all made sense.

“I understand, you want people to look at you, and judge you for who you are, and not because of your powers,” said Spike. “I get it, a lot of people judge me, too.”

Rarity looked up at Spike. “B-But you’re a hero! You’ve saved so many lives, fought against Freaks who have tried to harm hordes of people! And you’re saying people don’t like you?!”

Spike rubbed the back of his head. “They’re afraid of me, because I’m not human, because I look like this. And yeah, I’ve saved the city and taken down a lot of scumbags, but despite that, they’re still afraid. ‘Savage Dragon’ doesn’t exactly sound family friendly either.”

“That’s just bad PR, Darling. And I find this greatly unacceptable, perhaps I can speak with your captain and talk about arranging something with my agents, create a good image for you, and of course you’ll have my full support,” said Rarity.

“T-That’d be great, when you’ve had some time to relax after all this,” said Spike.

“Of course…” Rarity had the tiniest of blushes on her face. “Um, if you don’t mind, perhaps we could discuss it this weekend? The two of us?”

Spike blinked. “Uh, oh, y-yeah, I can schedule some time off for the weekend. T-To discuss the PR thing.”

Rarity smiled and nodded her head.

“Oh, and don’t worry about your secret, it’s safe with me, and the Sarge, she won’t say anything,” Spike assured.

Rarity sighed in relief. “You’ve no idea how much that means to me, now, I suppose I really should head back inside. I’ve been in this robe this whole time and I’d like to put on some proper clothing.”

Spike watched as Rarity walked back into her home, but not before looking at him from over her shoulder and smiling his way. The dragonoid walked over to where his partner was, and Spitfire noticed the goofy grin on his face.

“You got a date with the actress?” Spitfire asked.

“W-We’re just going to discuss PR for me, she said she wanted to help me with my image,” said Spike.

“Uh-huh, just the two of you?”

Spike blushed and said, “Y-Yes.”

“HA!” Spitfire slapped him on the back. “Way to bag the big one!”

“I didn’t bag anything! We’re just going to talk about PR! On that note, you’re not going to say anything about…you know?” Spike gestured with his head towards the house.

Spitfire crossed her arms, she really should tell someone, Rarity Belle’s powers were a bit on the dangerous side, but for now she’d look the other way. “Yeah, I won’t mention it in the report.”

Spike and Spitfire walked back to his car to head to the station, but Spike stopped as he wondered aloud, “Something’s still bothering me.”

“What about?”

“Rarity said that she’s kept her powers hidden for years, but somehow two low level thugs managed to find out about her powers?”

Spitfire knitted her brow. “You thinkin’ someone tipped them off. Why?”

“Don’t know. But I think we need to keep an eye on Rarity and keep our ears to the ground.”

EARTH: SPLINTER 736

Witness Hell’s fury…

At an abandoned warehouse in the city of Manehattan, a local crime ring was busy getting their “merchandise” ready for transport. Men armed with pistols and automatic weapons led a group of young women into cramped cages, their hands bound with zip ties.

Two of the thugs were watching the procession as the last few were put into their cages. One of them asked, “How the hell do they just do that?”

“Do what?” the second thug asked.

“Just, walk right in there. Most of the time these bitches are screamin’ and howlerin’ up a storm, but they’re just…walkin’ right in,” said the first thug.

“Heh, it’s that new drug stuff the boss got, called ‘Dream’. Works only on chicks, and once they get a whiff of it, they’re completely obedient. They’ll do whatever you say without hesitation at all. Best part is, that Dream stuff can be made into a spray, a drink, or a pill, just a few sprits and they’re good for at least five hours. Speaking of which – Hey! Hit them again, we got a long drive, and we don’t need the extra attention!”

One of the thugs got a tank and a sprayer. Despite the drug only able to affect females, the thug didn’t take any chances, he put on a mask and began walking along the cages, starting at the back and working his way towards the front. The problem with these old warehouses was that they didn’t have good running electricity, which meant that portions of the inside were lit up by lamps that they brought, but it wasn’t enough to illuminate everywhere as it left good portions of the warehouse steeped in shadows.

As the thug sprayed, he heard a noise behind him. He quickly turned around but saw nothing. The thug continued his work, walking along the many cages, but the whole time that he was, he felt eyes on him, like something was stalking him in the dark places where the light of the lamps didn’t reach. It was like there was a predator lurking there, waiting for the right moment to attack.

“J-Just my imagination…yeah…that’s it, gotta stop watchin’ them damn horror movies before a night job,” said the thug.

9:9:9:9

“Or maybe you didn’t watch enough.”

Before the thug could make a sound, chains shot out from the darkness and wrapped around his head, keeping his mouth shut. More chains wrapped around the thug’s body and legs, tripping him, and then dragging him across the floor as his tried to scream, but having only come out as muffled noise as he disappeared into the shadows. The muffled screams continued, but a moment later, all was silent. The girls in the cages made no noise, they were told not to make a sound, and they obeyed, not even when they heard the wet, squelching sounds of someone getting impaled, or the sounds of limbs getting tore off.

The tank and sprayer the thug had on were thrown from the shadows and landed into the light, showing bloodstains all over it. Another of the thugs came around the corner and spotted the bloody sprayer. He rushed to it and looked around with his weapon drawn.

“What the fuck happened?!” he asked.

The girls said nothing.

“Shit, tell me what happened!”

All at once, the girls who saw the events occur spoke, “He was spraying, but then chains wrapped around him and dragged him that way.” About two dozen of them pointed in the same direction, towards the shadows. “We heard screaming, but then it stopped.”

That was creepy as all hell, which definitely didn’t help the situation. The thug cocked his shotgun and walked in the direction the girls pointed at, he took out his flashlight and shined it into the shadows, glancing about cautiously. About twelve steps into the shadows, that’s how far he walked before the thug happened upon the mutilated corpse of his fellow gangster. This made him swear out loud as he took out his walkie and announced this to the others.

The entire warehouse was on alert, they couldn’t afford to put on more lights, or they could draw unwanted attention from a cop on the beat. Everyone started to patrol the area, guns drawn and ready to shoot whatever it was that killed their gangmate. However, all these criminals failed to look higher, because if they did, they might’ve noticed a pair of green glowing eyes peering down upon them, they might’ve seen his undulating, almost ridiculously long navy-blue cape as its tattered its coiled around the rafters like snakes slithering about.

But they didn’t, these fools thought that they were up against a rival gang, they were looking for multiple people, but in fact it was just one person. The caped one had to be careful, even though the girls were their merchandise, he knew that they would not hesitate in the slightest to shoot them. He had to be precise, it was fine if they shot him, but he had to be careful if wanted to shoot back. From his cape, the stalker took out a sniper rifle. There was no need for a scope, his eyes could zoom in on whatever he needed to look at, and night vision goggles were useless as well, nothing hid in the dark from him.

The stalker fired a shot at one of the thugs, hitting him right in the head and sending brain and bits of his skull splattering against the floor as he dropped dead. He moved like a shadow, weaving through the rafters as he repositioned himself and fired two more shots, hitting two thugs one after the other. The thugs down below were panicking as they couldn’t tell where the shots were coming from as each of them were getting dropped like flies. One of the few remaining thugs spotted his muzzle flashes and called out for the rest to aim towards the ceiling.

Gunfire pelted the ceiling, ricocheting off the metal rafters, and some going through the ceiling, letting some of the moonlight seep through. More and more shots were let loose as automatic fire and clacking shells filled the warehouse with noise. After two minutes of continuous firing, the thugs stopped, noticing that they riddled the ceiling with bullets holes and letting multiple spots of moonlight beam down through them and into the warehouse. Screams were heard as one of the thugs was sent flying into the air, landing against the truck trailer as blood stained the trailer from his split skull before he hit the ground.

More and more of these criminals were slaughtered, one after the other, their necks snapped, holes punched through them, getting twisted and mangled to the point of being unrecognizable. The screams continued until there was only one left. The last thug was cowering against some crates, putting his back as close to the wall as he could. The area in front of him was clear, so whatever was out there killing his associates would not be able to sneak up on him. But then again, there was no need to sneak, not anymore.

A figure jumped from the distance and landed a few feet from the thug, his was shaking, his gun moving about to the point that he was aiming everywhere but where he was. The figure walked until he was standing in the moonlit spotlight. The figure was humanoid, wearing a navy-blue cape with a large collar that gave him a vampire-like appearance. That cape opened and revealed the rest of his body. The figure was clad in a black suit, around his forearms were navy-blue gauntlets that had silver spikes imbedded into them and on his feet were navy-blue boots. Around his waist was a silver chain belt with a skull buckle design, and the studs that held the cape in place were also silver skulls. He had a blue and gray design on the chest, a mask fully covered his face. That mask had gray wing-like designs around the eyes, and those eyes, they glowed a bright green, piercing the darkness.

“Who or what the hell are you?!” the thug asked.

“Someone who doesn’t like criminal pieces of shit like you. Someone who hates watching trash like you treat people like fucking merchandise. But more than that, I just don’t like you.”

The thug was about to fire, but the studs of the caped man shot out as chains connected them. The skulls sprang to life, revealing four razor sharp pincers that seized the thug’s gun, wrenching it from him before crushing it into pieces. The thug was pissing himself at this point, literally, and crying as he said, “Mercy, please?! I give up! I’ll go to jail!”

“I have none to give, and where you’re going, jail will be a five-star resort in comparison.” The caped man rushed towards the thug and grabbed him by the throat, hoisting him up as if he weighed nothing. “Give this name to your friends in Hell, the name of the one who sent you…Spawn.”

An ear-piercing scream could be heard and then silence. Spawn left the warehouse and flew towards the suburbs, he stopped over a house, landing softly on its roof as he quietly looked down through the skylight. Down below was a family, a woman with fuchsia skin, tri colored hair, and amethyst-colored eyes. This was the woman he once loved, still loved.

Cadence…

The man next to her had a brown complexion, with blue hair, and a scarf around his neck. Spawn knew who this man was, he was his best friend growing up, and his partner during their days on the job.

Spearhead…

On the floor was a little girl of ten years. She had a light pink complexion, with powder blue eyes, and hair with three tones of arctic blue, cerise, and violet. This girl was his little girl.

Flurry…

All three of them were in the living room, watching something on TV, a movie he guessed. Flurry was sitting between Cadence and Spearhead, with Spearhead extending his right arm to bring around Cadence’s shoulders, and an act that Cadence happily enjoyed, all three of them looking like the perfect, happy family. Spawn’s eyes briefly glowed with fiery embers, that should be him. That was his wife, his daughter, and his so-called friend came in and took that from him. But Spawn took a breath.

No, it wasn’t him. It was them. They took me away from my family.

Spawn went by another name, his name before he died and became what he was. He was Shining Armor, an ex-soldier turned contract killer for the government, taking out potential threats to the country and the people, arms dealers, drug cartel leaders, and every other piece of human trash under the sun. Shining Armor was very good at what he did, and so was his friend. Spearhead never did what he did after they both were honorably discharged, his friend went into police work, but Shining Armor wanted to make more of a difference, and he got paid well for it. Until the agency he worked for double crossed him and killed him.

He was sent to Hell for his deeds, having made a deal with the devil, Malebogia, to allow him to return to Earth to exact his revenge, but in exchange he would lead Hell’s army against the forces of Heaven. In his rage, Shining agreed, but he was tricked, he was sent back to Earth, but ten years later. It was a blink of an eye for him, but when he returned, his wife was re-married, his daughter was nine, and the world was teetering on the brink of chaos.

Shining Armor broke his deal, and decided to fight against Hell, while also fighting against the evils that existed on Earth. Of course, this put a mark on his head, Hell’s demons, and other supernatural beings have tried to kill him, along with Heaven’s subordinates on Earth, as well as angels, but he’s beaten them all and survived, he still needed to exact his revenge on the agency that betrayed him and find out why they did it. A year has gone by and nothing yet, he watched his family, coming to see them and watch them from the shadows. He even checked in on his little sister, who was the only one who knew about his return and his identity as Spawn. She was a genius and believed in science, which was why when she first saw him, it was a shock as they buried his body and saw it with her own eyes.

Twilight’s help had been great, they were getting closer to the truth because of her, being a genius helped. She would ask him sometimes if he at any point wanted to talk to them, wanted to see Cadence alone? Every time he refused, because under his mask was burned man, his skin was leathery from the explosion, and the hellfire that tempered it. He was nearly unrecognizable, but his voice was the same, and so were his eyes. It was those two things and his memories that gave Twilight reason to believe that he was her big brother.

Shining Armor stood up and looked towards the city, there was still more evil out there, evil like that might one day come for his daughter, his sister, or his wife, which was why he needed to take down evil like that wherever it showed. “For now, Shining Armor is dead. I am Spawn.”

Down below, Flurry looked up at the skylight, feeling the presence of someone.

“What’s the matter, sweetie?” Cadence asked.

“I…thought I saw something,” said Flurry.

Spearhead and Cadence looked up at the skylight with her but didn’t see anything.

“You sure, Flurry?” Spearhead asked.

“Hmm…no, I guess not. Sorry.”

Spearhead brought his right hand from Cadence’s shoulder and ruffled Flurry’s hair. “Aw, don’t sweat it.”

“Daddy, stop!” Flurry whined halfheartedly.

Shining Armor, for now, was gone, Spawn was here, and so long as Hell sought his death, they weren’t safe. But he’d make sure they would be.

EARTH: SPLINTER 865

Seeking the truth with a blade…

Adagio Dazzle, an investigative reporter for the Las Pegasus’ Gazette, was working on her latest article. She had been a reporter for the past six years, the youngest in the Gazette’s history at the age of twenty-five, practically fresh out of high school, but she proved herself multiple times, getting one hard hitting story after the other. She feared no one, looking criminals and corrupt politicians right in the eye and getting to the heart of the matter.

Speaking of Adagio, she was currently on assignment, going undercover to investigate one of Las Pegasus’ most wealthy and prominent people, Gladmane. He was a wealthy casino tycoon, owning almost half of the casinos on the Las Pegasus Strip, word is he even owned some of the legal brothels outside the city limits as well. Why was she investigating him, you may ask? Well, there were rumors that Gladmane used his casinos as a front for his less than legal money-making methods. For you see, he wasn’t just the wealthiest man in Las Pegasus, in the underworld, he was also the most feared.

Gladmane had kept his hold on the crime gangs of Las Pegasus for over twelve years and still going strong. Any new blood that came into town had to come and kiss the ring of the “Mane Man” himself, if they didn’t, let’s just say they didn’t last very long. So far, the cops haven’t been able to get anything to stick to him, the man was Teflon, every time they thought they had something on him, a witness or a piece of evidence, it just up and vanished, either it was “misplaced”, or the witness was killed. There was never a way to tie it back to him, so more often than not he was free to go about his business.

Adagio suspected he had some cops on the payroll, but there was no way to prove it. Not yet anyway. Adagio had made it her project to bring down the man who could not be touched, and she knew how to do it. The “Mane Man” was going to have a party at one of his casinos, inviting many of Las Pegasus’ movers and shakers. That party was where Adagio was right now.

One of her talents was the ability blend in with any crowd, walking with a superior stride, aura practically demanding that others look upon her as her presence caught everyone’s attention. Adagio was wearing a silken, strapless stress, allowing her ample cleavage to be on display. The skirt of the dress had a slit that came up to just below her right hip, and to add more to the look, she had a ruby necklace on, fake mind you, and a bracelet on her right wrist.

She mingled with the crowd, meeting some of the state’s elected officials, the governor, the senators, other wealthy people, and the mayor of Las Pegasus. Adagio found it distasteful that they would associate themselves with someone like Gladmane, but at the same time, it made sense. If you wanted to be untouchable, you made connections with people that could help you out in a pinch.

Adagio began to meander through the crowd and into an off-limits area, she had no fear when it came to finding the truth, for only those willing to risk it all were able to pierce the shadows with light. She noticed a few cameras lining the hall around the corner, Adagio hugged the wall and smirked.

“If you wouldn’t mind, dear?” Adagio asked as she talked into her bracelet.

Metal strands began to extend from the bracelet, thin as piano wire as it crept along the walls, further and further it slithered, and getting right underneath the cameras. Once all five of the cameras were ensnared, Adagio gave the mental command to squeeze, the ultra-sharp wire sliced through the cameras all at once and littered the floor with their cut-up pieces. With no other obstructions, Adagio casually strode down the hall and to the office of Gladmane himself. The man was known for having a private office in each of his casinos, just in case he wanted to come down in person and get some work done on site.

She noticed that the door had a keycard lock, normally this would be a problem, but not for her. The strands of metal from her bracelet extended once again, this time wedging into the door crease. With a quick slice, the door was unlocked. Adagio hiked up the dress on the left side, revealing a thin pouch that held a pair of latex gloves. After slipping them on, Adagio opened the door, once again hugging the wall and taking a quick peek inside to make sure that there weren’t any cameras.

Cost looks clear, she thought.

The fearless journalist entered the room and deadpanned at how gawdy it was. The mahogany wood desk was gilded with gold plating, an expensive Persian rug took up the center of the floor, above was a chandelier with real diamonds hanging from it, and pictures showing Gladmane’s different accomplishments over the years, as well as showing him shaking hands with some important people. On the desk was his work computer, she wasn’t sure if she’d find anything, but every bad guy managed to slip up somewhere, and Adagio was hoping the overconfidence of Galdmane’s ability to stay out of jail might’ve made him sloppy somewhere.

Now Adagio wasn’t a hacker, farthest thing from it. However, she did know a girl who was brilliant, a practical genius, and was kind enough to give her a specially made USB drive that would upload a virus and grant Adagio access to whatever she wanted, while also deleting any digital fingerprints. Adagio pushed the seat back and booted up the computer, once it was on, it asked for a password. The journalist reached down between her breasts and pulled out the USB drive. It was purple and red, with a half-moon symbol painted onto it, along with three stars.

“Alright, Moon Dancer, let’s see what you got,” said Adagio.

She plugged in the USB drive and watched as the same half-moon, three star symbol appeared on the screen. The virus already went to work unlocking the computer and created an interface that would allow Adagio to easily get whatever she wanted.

“Moon Dancer I could kiss you! And I will later. But for now…” Adagio typed and spoke aloud, “Find hidden files.”

The interface took the command and immediately sifted through all the files on the hard drive, breaking through multiple layers of security as if it was nothing. C’mon black market deals, assassinations, hell I’ll take an overdue parking ticket at this point. The interface brought up several files, one of them was labeled “Funding”. That’ll do.

Adagio clicked on the file and opened it, there were financial records that showed a lot of money being paid to the company called “Laplass”. She had heard of this company before, they were a pharmaceutical company that’s made many breakthroughs in medical science. But why are you paying them? Good god, don’t tell he’s paying them to figure out a way for him to live forever? Another file was opened, and this was marked “Cloneblade”. “The hell…?” Adagio read over the file, which also included some diagrams that looked awfully like her own weapon, the Witchblade. “How…?”

}}} Adagio, we’re not alone! {{{

A shadow loomed over her from the window behind Adagio. She quickly took the USB out just in time for the unknown person to smash through the window, Adagio jumped over the desk just as the assailant destroyed the desk and computer. Adagio turned around and gasped at what she saw. The attacker was wearing skimpy armor, dark pink in color, with grooves that glowed a bright red. The woman in the armor had black eyes, the only color was from her glowing amber irises, her skin tone was a light pink color, while her hair was white as snow and sheened like metal.

“Who the fuck are you?” Adagio asked.

“You can call me Delta, and you’re not supposed to be here,” she said.

“Oh, I am, Gladmane just stepped out,” Adagio jested.

Delta raised her right hand, the armor around that arm morphed into a sickle blade. “A shame, you’re really hot, but I’m going to have to kill you.”

Adagio chuckled as she stood proudly, her right hand against her hip as she smirked at Delta. “Better monsters and people than you have tried. Mask!”

}}} Copy! {{{

The bracelet came alive as metal strands exploded from it, the strands sliced and tore through Adagio’s dress as it donned her in a new attire. When it was done, Adagio was completely changed. The armor gleamed like silver moonlight, her entire right arm was encased in armor, with a ruby gemstone resting atop of Adagio’s hand. Her shoulder pauldron was shaped like a crescent, with a second ruby gemstone sitting at the shoulder joint. Armor wrapped around Adagio’s ample breasts, covering half of them while two strips of metal ran down her stomach and formed a crotch guard that also covered her rear. The left arm was also covered in armor, but not as thick as the right arm armor and had no shoulder guard. Armor covered Adagio’s legs from the thigh down, giving the illusion of thigh high boots, the heel of these boots was a sharpened blade. Adagio’s hair was unbound, transforming into pure metal with the ends of her hair turning into sharp points. Her eyes were the same as the woman in front of her, except her eyes glowed violet.

“So, it’s you!” Delta formed another blade with her left arm and took a fighting stance. “It’s my lucky night!”

“Hun, trust me…” Adagio formed a sword in her right hand, but when she slashed the air, the sword broke apart and extended out, showing that it was a chain sword. Adagio whipped the sword around before grabbing it with her left hand and taking her own stance. “You’re going to regret this night for the rest of your life, both seconds of it!”

EARTH: SPLINTER 405

Science from beyond the stars…

A large ship flew towards Earth, alien in origin, with weapons pointed at the blue world dead ahead. This ship was one of several that had traversed the galaxy in search of habitable worlds to conquer and plunder the resources. The ship’s crew performed a cursory scan of the planet and found that Earth’s technology was so primitive that it barely registered as a threat. They knew the fight would be short and sweet, they even considered taking it easy on them for a little bit, just before they got serious and utterly wiped out any hope they might think they had.

However, the ship came to a halt when its scanners detected something approaching them at high speed. It was too small to be a fighter or ship, and not quite big enough to be a missile. The object got closer and closer until it stopped a few hundred yards from where the object supposed the bridge was. The object in this case was humanoid, a female armed with what looked like a suit of armor. The armor was streamlined, just a tad bulky to give the slender frame of its wearer some mass. The helmet had fin antenna on the sides of the helmet that pointed upwards, on its back were four hard-light wings that resembled something like a fairy. At the center of her back was a powerful thruster that kept her stable, along with smaller mini thrusters scattered about the armor that autocorrected to keep her upright. Her armor was deep a magenta color, with some plates colored a silvery white, her visor was a pair of blue eyes that shined in the darkness of space, along with a six-pointed star patterned crystal at the center of the forehead.

“Um, hello there, I am the Galactic Guardian of Earth, Tech Jacket.” she announced. “I am attempting to communicate with the ship in front of me. Please state your purpose for approaching Earth.”

The aliens aboard the ship didn’t know what to make of this.

“If your intentions are hostile, I will give you this warning. Turn back now and I won’t harm you. If your intentions are peaceful, I will assist you in contacting officials on Earth to begin dialogues. Now, again, please state your purpose,” said Tech Jacket.

The aliens aboard the ship communicated back to her, but when they did it was in a language she did not understand.

“Translate.”

[Translating. Translation Complete. Reading Translation: “We did not come to talk; we came to take. Surrender or be destroyed!” End Translation.]

Tech Jacket sighed. “Why is it that almost every other alien ship that comes close to Earth just wants to conquer us?” Suddenly, the alien ship fired one of its cannons. Tech Jacket’s systems alerted her, and she quickly flew out of the way of the beam attack. “Okay, don’t say I didn’t give you a chance!”

Tech Jacket’s right and left arms morphed into cannons, she then flew straight for the ship and opened fire on the ship’s hull. Powerful explosions went off again and again as Tech Jacket took out the gun turret mounts one after the other. A hatch opened from the starboard side of the ship and released dozens of small fighters. Tech Jacket took evasive action as the thruster on her back roared, doubling her speed as she was now being chased by the fighters. Tech Jacket cut the thruster and pointed her feet forward, firing the thrusters from them and sending her flying backwards.

As she did, her armor morphed to create many missile pods. On her command, the missiles fired, each one locked onto a specific fighter as they passed her by. The missiles sailed through space, chasing down their target relentlessly until they hit, destroying their target in fiery explosion. Tech Jacket ignited the thruster again, this time firing a grabbling hook from the left gauntlet and using it to bring herself closer to the fighter. Tech Jacket moved to the front of the fighter and made two large blade arms come out her back. The blades pierced into the hull of the fighter and tore it apart, making the alien pilot get sucked out into the cold void of space where it died.

The fighters started to swarm Tech Jacket as her HUD showed their positions. “Prepare for Death Blossom!” The armor morphed again, this time creating several spherical shaped crystals all over her body.

[All targets are locked.]

“FIRE!!!”

Blue beams of light shot out from the crystals, some of them twisted and bent at different angles to hit their targets before disappearing and firing again. The area was littered with blue beams of light from every angle possible, the beams chased down their targets, leaving none spared from this all-encompassing attack. A retreat order was given, but it was too late to escape, the beams continued to fire while Tech Jacket remained in the same spot. After a full minute of continuous fire, the fighters were destroyed, their remains floating in a mini spaceship graveyard around her.

“Locate the power core of the ship.”

[Scanning.] Inside her helmet, the scanners on her HUD showed the armor analyzing the ship, x-raying it to locate the target. A few seconds of scanning ended when the computer beeped. [Power core found.]

Tech Jacket nodded and dove straight for the ship, she held out her arms in front of her, allowing the armor to morph into a large drill bit. The drill spun at rapid speeds, while at the same time, it released energy that wrapped around itself, turning into a plasma drill. Tech Jacket smashed against the hull and bore a hole deep into it. She dug far into the ship, passing through one layer after the other. Eventually, she made to the core, which was a big glowing containment sphere that housed an advanced fusion engine.

The armored hero’s chest plate morphed until it turned into a cannon, a cannon that was steadily drawing in energy at a rapid rate of speed. Just then the aliens stormed into the chamber, but it was too late. Tech Jacket unleashed the pent-up energy, firing a huge laser beam straight for the core. The moment it impacted a large explosion went off; Tech Jacket hurriedly flew out through the hole she made just in time to watch said explosion crack the ship in half before both halves were blown to pieces.

[All enemy combatants have been eliminated. No signs of life detected.]

“Alright.”

Tech Jacket set her thrusters to full burn and jetted back towards Earth. There was a space station that was maintaining orbit with Earth, it was an advanced space station, nothing like the International Space Station. This one had many arrays that scanned deep space for threats, and some weapons were mounted on it in case of attack. Tech Jacket saw one of the hatches open and flew towards it, once inside, the doors shut, and the room was pressurized. The heroine took the elevator to the command observatory, and inside she found someone familiar sitting at the controls. It was a man with a navy-blue complexion and dark blue hair, his eyes grayish yellow, and he wore some slacks and a sweater vest.

“How did to go out there, Twily?”

Tech Jacket’s armor started to move, the amor retracted and revealed the pilot underneath. It was a teenage girl, about sixteen years old, with black rimmed glasses, a purple skin tone, and navy-blue hair with two colored streaks of pink and violet. She was the intellectual prodigy known as Twilight Sparkle, and the chosen wearer of the super advanced alien suit of armor.

“Oh, you know, another day, another alien race trying to attack Earth,” said Twilight.

Her father sighed as he shook his head. “Really now, what is their interest with our planet? It’s not like have anything that valuable, and would it kill them to just talk to us?”

“I know, right?!” Twilight replied in full agreement. “But at least I have the Tech Jacket to keep us safe, and this space station on loan from the Geldarians.”

Twilight remembered the fateful day when her family went camping, she disliked camping, but her big brother and father didn’t, her mother wasn’t as into it, but she knew it was a good excuse to get Twilight out of the house instead of just having her nose in a book. One day, while Twilight was out gathering wood for their fire, an alien ship crash landed and nearly killed her in the process. Despite the near-death experience, her curiosity got the better of her and she began to investigate. That was when she found the ship, cracked in half and its pilot dying on the ground. All the books Twilight read on extraterrestrial encounters told her not to approach the alien, there was no telling what kind of foreign pathogens it might have.

However, when she saw it spit up blood, obviously injured, Twilight felt compelled to try and help the poor creature. She wasn’t even sure that it would understand her, but she tried to communicate with it. And when she did, it understood her, and told her that his time was over, and that there were those who would come looking for Earth, and so he armed her with his weapon, the very suit of armor that she now has, the Tech Jacket.

Eventually an envoy from the Geldarians, the princess of their people, Skystar, explained what the Tech Jacket was. A symbiotic armor that, once worn, increased the natural abilities of the wearer a hundred-fold, as well as being able to create almost any kind of weapon that its wearer wanted. From what else the princess explained, apparently, Twilight was far stronger than any Geldarian that wore a Tech Jacket, as their race was naturally, physically weak, but with Twilight’s human biology, she was far stronger than any human on Earth. There was one downside to this though…she couldn’t remove it. The armor was attached to her nervous system, and any attempt to remove it would run the risk of death.

Whether you see it as a blessing or a curse, Twilight made the best of it, which Skystar saw fit to grant her family access to their advance space station, as well as a teleporter that connected their house to the station. Her father as an astrophysicist, so to him this place was heaven, allowing him to study the stars like never before. Shining Armor, her older brother, was a marine in the army, and decided to train his little sister on how to fight. The benefits did outweigh the soreness and pain, as whenever Twilight improved her physical condition outside the armor, when it was on, it translated that progress into greater strength.

“Guess we should head back down. Mom’s probably got dinner ready,” said Twilight.

“Ah, you’re right. What’s for tonight, I forgot?” her father asked.

“Her special meatloaf.”

“Oh, yeah!”

“I hope she made a lot of it, I’m starving after that,” said Twilight as she held her stomach.

“Well then let’s be off.”

The father and daughter duo walked across the room to the teleporter platform, and in a matter of seconds they were sent back home. Where the young teen tried to live an unassuming life, while also keeping the Earth safe from threats outside their solar system. Just an average day in the life of Twilight Sparkle, the Galactic Guardian, Tech Jacket.

EARTH: SPLINTER 1,000

She’s Firebreather, but don’t call her princess…

Ember was a moody girl, but that was typical of most teenage girls in high school. But her moodiness was due to some other issues, one being her family and the second being her body. She had just transferred to the city of Apple Loosa, a city in the middle of a desert, which was perfect, to a degree anyway, the heat of the place didn’t bother her at all, so she often wore a hoodie wherever she went. People thought she was crazy for doing that, but no matter how hot it got, she was fine. Not a single bead of sweat could be seen on her body or clothes.

She walked into one of the girl’s rooms and checked herself out in the mirror, only after making sure that there was no one around. She pulled back on her hoodie and checked her hair, which was a little over shoulder length and spikey, giving her an almost wild look. Her skin was cyan colored, and under her eyes she had three “birthmarks” under each of them. Well, she called them that, but in reality, they were scales that matched the color of her hair. Her red eyes were piercing, almost menacing, which didn’t help her image much. It made a lot of the less than savory elements of the school want to fight her, thinking she was some kind of tough girl.

When really, all she wanted to be left alone.

Unfortunately, there were some at this school that didn’t seem to take the hint. Like a boy by the name of Spike, and his annoyingly optimistic friend, Gabriella, or Gabby for short. They would often include her in the things they did, hanging out at the mall, going to see a movie, just normal stuff. Gabby would often joke that Ember was being all “tsundere” about how much she liked hanging out with them.

Stupid anime weebs, thought Ember as she smiled in the mirror.

She parted her hair just above her temples and grimaced, hidden in her hair was a short white horn. Thankfully, it didn’t get any bigger than that outside of her going dragon mode, but it still made her anxious that someone would see that she had two horns sticking out of her head. At best she could cover it up with her hair, at worst, she could pass it off as a bit of cosplay.

Today was Friday, which would start her long weekend of misery. She walked out of the bathroom and started heading to the front with the rest of the herd as they all left school. As she descended the stairs, Ember caught a glimpse of Gabby getting a ride home with her big sister, Gilda, and her girlfriend Greta. Gabby waved goodbye to Spike before getting into Gilda’s car and leaving. Ember’s mother wouldn’t be picking her up today, as much as she probably wanted to, but thanks to their arrangement with her father, Torch, she had to make the journey to her destination on her own.

As Ember made it to the bottom of the stairs, Spike called out to her. “Hey, Ember!”

Ember stopped and sighed, she didn’t do friends, but she tolerated Spike and Gabby. And despite her attitude towards friendship, she thought it rude not to at least acknowledge him. “Hey, Spike.”

“Hey, did you want to go see a movie with me and Gabby on Saturday? It’s supposed to be epic!” Spike exclaimed.

“Another of those superhero movies?” Ember asked with little enthusiasm.

“Yeah, but this is the team up movie! More heroes and more action! It’s going to be sweet!”

Ember rolled her eyes. You are such a nerd. “Can’t…I visit my father on the weekends, so…” Ember let that hang in the air.

“Oh, right, sorry I forgot,” said Spike as he rubbed the back of his head. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your time with him.”

“Don’t be, guy’s an asshole,” said Ember nonchalantly.

Spike raised an eyebrow at that. “He is? But then why are you spending time with him?” Spike bit his tongue realizing how that sounded. “Sorry, sorry! I didn’t to assume question–!”

Ember gave the boy a light karate chop to the head to make him stop talking. “Dude, it’s fine. I get it, it’s not exactly normal. And before you ask, no he doesn’t hurt me, no he doesn’t sexually or mentally abuse me, he’s just an asshole who cares.”

The purple skinned boy blushed at how Ember just said all that like it was nothing. “O-O-Oh, okay, so long as he’s not hurting you, that’s good, I guess.”

Ember smiled, the boy was a nerd, but he genuinely cared about his friends. It was a shame, for all his nerdiness, the guy was kind of cute, with his messy green hair and emerald, green eyes, and just enough muscle to not make him look like your typical scrawny nerd, he wasn’t half bad on the eyes. “Thanks for lookin’ out though.”

Just then a car arrived and inside was Spike’s older sister. Ember’s demeanor changed to neutral when she saw her. Spike’s older sister, Twilight Sparkle, she had met the woman a few times when she hung out with Spike, neither of them were old enough to drive yet, so sometimes Gabby’s sister or Spike’s would take them to wherever they wanted to go. Ember kind of liked Gilda, their personalities meshed well, and Gilda even seemed to like her back. But Twilight, she was a nerd, a genius nerd, the kind of girl who analyzed everything. She could tell she cared about Spike, almost to the point of it being possessive, because she would always give Ember a scrutinizing glare.

Like she already prejudged her to be a bad influence and a potential gang member. Not like she could blame her, Ember kept to herself, wore a hoodie almost twenty-four-seven in all weather conditions, and always had a gruff and sarcastic attitude towards everybody, although, to be honest, when it came to Spike and Gabby she toned it down considerably, and she was sure that they knew when she was being serious and when she was just complaining. However, Twilight just saw it all the same way.

“Spike, let’s head home now,” Twilight called from the car.

“Oh, uh, right!” Spike called back. “If you change your mind…”

“I got your number, now go before your overprotective ‘Onee-chan’ comes out here and drags you into the car,” said Ember with a smirk.

Spike blushed again and said, “I do not call her that! And she’s not that bad, she just really cares about me.”

“Whatever you say, dude.” Ember began walking away and waved goodbye. “See ya Monday!”

Ember walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. She just kept walking. Through the city, into the suburbs, and to the outskirts, going further until she had desert country, which wasn’t that far. Normally a walk like this would tire out most people, but thanks to her heritage, her stamina and endurance were far above that of normal people. Ember stopped for a moment and took out a thermos from her backpack, she looked inside and swished the contents around. She then took a gulp of the brew and sighed contently.

“Hmm, mango and ruby, with a touch of emerald, my fave! Thank you, mom!”

Ember could consume human food just fine, but for maximum nutrition and energy, she needed gemstones. Rubies, sapphires, emeralds, amethysts, they all had their unique flavors to them, and her mother knew how to mix them well. Filling reenergized, Ember continued her walk until she happened upon a cave, she stopped at the mouth of the cave and gave an aggravated sigh of reluctance before continuing. She descended into the depths of the cave, having memorized the tunnel system to take her to the Chamber the fastest.

Soon the tunnel opened into a huge underground cavern, and there it overlooked a vast world filled with giant monsters, or “Kaiju”. Ember put down her backpack, took off her hoodie, and then her shirt to reveal her sports bra underneath, she also kicked off her shows. Ember’s eyes glowed just a bit as she growled, her skin started to turn scaley, her nails grew out into white claws, her horns grew out and curved, her teeth became sharp, and from her back sprouted two large dragon wings. Now in her dragon form, Ember put her clothes and shows into her backpack and flew over the expanse.

She took note of several different Kaiju that eyed her, the ones that flew came up alongside her. It had bat-like wings, scaley tail that ended with a stinger like a scorpion, two burly arms with giant talons, a long muzzle filled with razor sharp teeth, and two horns coming from its head. “Do we really need to do this, right now?”

“No time like the present, Princess!”

The Kaijus below that did hear what he said all facepalmed themselves, or tentacle-palmed depending on the species. That was a big no-no.

Ember growled fiercely as she flew straight for the Kaiju and punched in the face. Despite her small size, she was extremely powerful, her single punch making the flying Kaiju falter as he quickly stabilized flying. The Kaiju roared as it opened its mouth to bite her in half, but Ember flew up and away from the oversized lizard-bat. Ember came down with an elbow drop right on the monster’s head, putting a decent amount of strength behind it. The Kaiju released a garbled screech as its eyes rolled into the back of its head before falling out of the sky and smashing into a rock pillar.

One of the downed Kaiju’s friends of the same species, flew at Ember, catching her off guard and biting down on her, her form disappearing inside its large maw. That was a mistake. Suddenly the Kaiju’s mouth started smoking as tears filled its eyes, a moment later the Kaiju opened its mouth and spit Ember out as its entire mouth was on fire. Ember flew around and gave the Kaiju a double kick to its right side, before following up with a deep inhale and ending with a roaring exhale of magenta flames that formed a huge fireball. The fireball struck the Kaiju and exploded, knocking out the beast as it hit the floor of the cavern, making the other Kaiju move so as to not get hit by him.

Ember spit in the general direction of the downed Kaiju and said, “Don’t ever call me a ‘princess’!” With that dispute settled, Ember continued her flight until she was at the rock carved throne of her father. Compared to the other Kaiju he was enormous,

His scales were a darkened arctic blue, his wingspan big enough to cast a shadow over the city of Apple Loosa, the leathery membrane was a bright vermillion color, his horns were curved in the same manner as Embers, his right horn did have a ring around, black with gold at the center. He wore black armor around his chest, and a black crown with a ruby gemstone at the center. This was Ember’s father, the King of the Kaiju, Torch.

“I see you had fun on the way here,” said Torch, his deep voice rumbling around her.

“Tch, if by fun you mean getting jumped by monsters who want to kill me to take your throne, then yeah, I had loads of fun!” Ember jabbed.

“You are my daughter, the next King of the Kaiju. You must learn to fell all challengers to your birthright and dispatch them will all due haste!” Torch smacked his large tail against the throne, shaking the area. Thankfully, Ember was still flying so she didn’t feel it. “Now, come, it’s time to continue your training.”

“Fine.” As Ember followed her father, she crossed her arms and cleared her throat before landing on his huge snout and giving him a serious glare.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I want a deal. If I work hard now and work double hard on Sunday, can I go and do something I want tomorrow?” Ember asked.

“And what, pray tell, is so important that you need to skip a whole day’s worth of training?!” Torch asked indignantly.

“I was invited to a…social activity…with some humans I go to school with. I don’t go that often, so I thought I’d humor them,” said Ember.

“Daughter, do not let those weak creatures influence–!”

“Did you forget you bedded one of those ‘weak creatures’?! My MOM! Look, I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me, gone through all your batshit crazy, hell worthy training every weekend! I’m just asking for one damn day off!” Ember bared her fangs. “No, you know what, I’m DEMANDING IT!”

Torch roared loudly which shook the very cavern and made the other Kaiju flinch in fear.

“YOU DARE DEMAND SOMETHING FROM ME?!”

“I DO!”

The two dragons kept their steely glares on each other for a long and tense moment, those Kaiju who were nearby started to swiftly put some distance between them, not wanting to get caught up in whatever melee was about to occur. After a long and extremely tense moment, Torch shook his snout and made Ember fall off. Ember flapped her wings and stopped herself from falling, before she could say anything, Torch continued his walk. Of course, the old bastard wouldn’t give her this.

“I don’t want to hear any complaints about ‘soreness’ or how ‘tired’ you are come tomorrow when you see these humans of yours, the training will be intense today and the day after tomorrow to make up for lost time. Now hurry up, whelp! We’re wasting time!”

Ember’s jaw dropped, her father just agreed to let her go and hang out with her friends. Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Ember flew after her father, despite herself she couldn’t help but smile a little.

Torch, however, was smiling for a different reason. This was the first time his daughter demanded anything, more so, stared him down and demanded of him, the King of the Kaiju. Keep up that attitude, Ember, and you’ll be a greater King than I.

EARTH: SPLINTER 1,001

The inheritor of the mantle…

Rainbow Dash was just a college student, but not anymore, not sense she took up the mantle. It was strange to think that the most athletically inclined person would idolize a writer such as A. K. Yearling, but her adventure stories were just too, in her words, “awesome”, not to enjoy. She and her best friend since childhood, Twilight, were total fangirls for her stories about “The Knight”, a black and silver armored hero named “Daring Do” in a mythical land that fought against evil, all while trying to deal with the fact that her time was short. It only made the battles she won bittersweet, but even more meaningful.

It wasn’t until one night while out on a run, that she met the hero of Yearling’s stories, only, it wasn’t some knight, it was a man clad in a black and silver armored suit, the helmet had wing-like blades, and the eyes were shining red. This man was fighting against some criminals and Rainbow Dash was caught in the crossfire, she had taken cover and watched, and then when she saw one of the criminals about to shoot him with his back turned, Rainbow attacked the thug, kicking the gun out of his hand and beating him down.

The armored hero, who called himself ShadowHawk, decided then and there, that she would carry on his mantle or rather, her mantle. For you see, ShadowHawk’s armor allowed the woman underneath, A. K. Yearling, to masquerade as a man.

Rainbow learned later that A. K. Yearling was not only the Daring Do character, but also the vigilante, ShadowHawk. The stories of “The Knight” were derived from her real-life battles against the villains and criminals in the city of Fillydelphia. When Rainbow asked about why she did this, Yearling replied, “The cops and every bad guy out there is going to be looking for a guy, they’re not going to be looking for a woman book writer in her mid-forties.” Rainbow had to admit, that was insanely smart. Rainbow also asked Daring why she wanted to pass on the mantle to her, she was just some college girl, not a hero?

“The answer to that is simple…”

Suddenly, gunshots caught ShadowHawk’s attention. The suit she wore was comprised of nanotechnology, the only solid part of it was the helmet. With the suit, Rainbow had superhuman speed, agility, and strength, and the nano armor was able to create almost any weapon she needed. She was already at pique physical condition, being an athlete all her life and in her early twenties, coupled with the enhancing power of the suit, and Rainbow was a powerhouse. She leaped from building to building effortlessly as she employed her skills of parkour and free running to keep her momentum going, not missing a beat, looking for any angle to vault from.

She stopped on a rooftop and perched at the edge; she used the helmet’s sensors to zoom in on where the gunshots were heard. A convenience store was getting robbed, and it seemed that the police had the building surrounded. Her sensors switched to thermal, allowing her to see three people, the scanners in her helmet made out the shapes in their hands to be automatic rifles, there also seemed to be four hostages inside that were kept in a room, most likely the manager’s office.

Rainbow had the helmet find the fuse box for the store, thankfully it was an old store, so it was on the outside. The hero of the night jumped into the air, somersaulted twice, and landed on the adjacent building. Rainbow created a shuriken from the nano armor, and with perfect precision, tossed the bladed weapon straight towards the box. The shuriken embedded itself into the fuse box, but then it released a surge of electrical energy that shorted out the lights and had the unexpected benefit of causing a big enough power surge that it knocked out the lights for the entire block.

Okay, not what I was going for, but I’ll take it! Rainbow thought.

She jumped off the roof and landed behind the store, Rainbow located the backdoor and broke the lock, gaining entry. She switched to night vision, allowing Rainbow to see inside as if it were daytime. She swiftly and quietly made her way down the hall, and to the office, seeing that the thugs were meandering around trying to find some light, and the cops unwilling to enter due to the unknown, this was the perfect chance for ShadowHawk to get the hostages out. Rainbow opened the door, of course she knew they probably could see her glowing red eyes, but she quickly spoke to them.

“Don’t be afraid,” she said through the voice changer. “I’m ShadowHawk and I’m here to–” Rainbow paused when she saw who one of the hostages was, Twilight, her friend. “–help you!”

“Y-Yeah, right, how do we know that you’re not one of them?!” the clerk asked.

“Because if I was, I’d have shot you guys already. Fear not the dark and know that there is light, for–”

“It is in that light that my hand awaits to left you up,” Twilight finished.

Rainbow looked at Twilight and smiled, of course she would know that line, it was from “The Knight”, Daring Do’s line to the downtrodden and fearful. ShadowHawk gently and carefully reached out as Twilight offered her hand and grasped it, firmly, but not hard, reassuring Twilight that everything was okay. “The backdoor is unguarded, head to the end of the hall, make a left, and get outside to the cops. I’ll take care of the idiots with guns.”

Twilight nodded and let ShadowHawk lift her to her feet, Twilight instructed the others to hold hands so that she could lead them out. Rainbow looked outside, seeing that the thugs were still flailing about, she then directed Twilight towards the other end of the hall, letting her and the hostages take it from there.

Now without any distractions, ShadowHawk went to work. She dashed into the store proper, and roundhouse kicked one of the thugs, he flew all the way to the other end where he smashed into the glass doors of the cooler where the drinks were stored. The other two thugs noticed the red eyes and opened fire, their muzzle flashes briefly lit up the room, granting them glimpses of the silver and black armored vigilante. ShadowHawk was nimble and quick, ducking behind the aisles as they wasted both their time and ammo, her armor was bulletproof and could withstand an explosion that could level ten city blocks, so she didn’t have to dodge, but it was just reflex at this point.

ShadowHawk created two boomerangs from her armor, each one beeped on and off as if counting down. With a swift throw, both boomerangs flew into the air. The thugs could only see the gleam of the weapons before they embedded themselves into the side of the rifles. A couple seconds after, a small explosion went off that destroyed their guns. ShadowHawk dashed from behind her cover and delivered a series of swift punches to the first thug before throwing him over the counter and knocking him out. The last guy she punched in the gut, grabbed him by the arm and tossed him like a rag doll through the glass window of the store where he landed right on a cop car. The cops looked at the thug and then back at ShadowHawk and demanded she put her hands up.

Life of a masked hero.

ShadowHawk did as they asked, but not before she created some smoke bombs in her hands. When she opened them, the smoke bombs hit the floor and released a thick cloud of gray smoke that obscured her completely. Rainbow ran out the back and quickly ascended the buildings where she waited on a rooftop, watching as the cops cleared the building and found Twilight and the rest of the hostages. Rainbow looked down at the people below, to the relived faces of the people she saved, especially her best friend, and remembered the words of her hero.

“I’m dying, Rainbow Dash. It’s not just a gimmick in the book, it’s real. I’m sick, and there’s no cure. So, I’ve decided to do all the good I can, while I can. But I started to get afraid when I realized that there might be no one to carry on this crusade, but then I saw how you willingly threw yourself into that fight and took down that guy without any hesitation or fear of what might happen to you. Don’t say yes if you’re afraid, it’s okay to be afraid, and don’t say yes because I’m your hero. Tell me what you want to do.”

The answer was clear to her then, as it was now. Because this city needed a hero, the world did, and someone needed to continue the legacy of what that selfless woman started. She was ShadowHawk.

………

What other worlds are out there?

What other “Splinters” were formed from this cosmic event?

Well…that is for you to decide.