//------------------------------// // The Shimmer Cup - Part 2: Super Smash Shimmer // Story: The Everycraftery // by Liquid Truth //------------------------------// "Tomorrow's the big day, my friends." Sunny and Magica, still in giggling fits, looked up from the laptop to Cruz across the table. Settling down, Magica rolled her eyes. "Well, duh." "Yeah," Sunny added, "that's why we're here, silly." Cruz frowned and put his cup of coffee down. "Why are you so unconcerned about this? Come on, guys, at least give me some confidence knowing I'm not the only one anxious about fighting other versions of me." Magica gave him an amused smirk. "You, Shimmer de la Cruz, Knight of the Holy Cross, one of the Chosen Guardians of Earth, is afraid to fight yourself. How poetic." Cruz grumbled. "Considering that I know everyone else has at least one more title than that, it's justifiable." As he looked at Sunny, he coughed. "Accept for you, Sunny. I don't know how many titles you're hiding." Sunny waved a hand. "I kept telling you, I have no other than 'Professor' and five different PhDs." "We know you're hiding something, Sunny." Magica gave her a friendly nudge. "You don't just fight like that with a Ph.D. in being awesome." "Maggie's right," Cruz said. "But hey, if that's your strategy to mislead other contestants, then we won't push." "That's a good point," Sunny said, taking a sip of her coffee. "If we both win this round, we'll be fighting each other in the quarter-finals. Giving out titles is just a way to expose yourself to your opponents about your abilities and what to expect." "But there's a trick to that," Magica cut in. "Giving your titles out makes your opponents know what to expect from you, and in return, you know what your opponents are expecting so you can prepare. Keeping yourself in the dark, however, makes your opponents prepare for everything, and in return, you won't be able to expect what they are preparing for you as well." "Exactly. I like surprises." The next morning, The Pandomenium, already turned into a colosseum-like building, erupted in cheer as Anonymous exited the arena after his speech. Underneath it, Sunny adjusted her glasses and pulled out her sword, swinging it around as she tested its balance. "So, not really a problem, right?" Sunny looked up from her sword to Lucy. "No, not really." Looking back at her sword, she held the hilt to eye-level and inspected the newest addition to its crossguard: a pair of red and orange sapphire that intertwined with each other, creating a figure of her cutie mark. "Still a little too ornate for my tastes, tough." Lucy frowned. "It's called art. I'm allowed to decorate my creations with anything I wish, thank you very much." "That still didn't answer the question of why make a fragile inhibitor when the previous perfectly-working modification worked just fine?" "Its outcomes are too predictable," Lucy answered. "You simply have a weaker sword. That's too safe and too boring for my taste. I need something that can go horribly wrong at the worst possible moment." "You're evil, you know that?" Before Lucy could answer, the runes underneath Sunny glowed brightly, telling her that the battle was about to begin. Lucy patted Sunny in the hips one last time before turning around, wished her good luck, then stepped outside the rune circle. Sunny closed her eyes as the runes glowed the second time. As light engulfed her, the muffled cheer exploded into crystal clarity as she was teleported into the arena. As the light receded, Anonymous's baritone voice announced, "And here we go, folks! In the North, you can see contestant E133, also known as . . . Rosa? Rose! Being the newly-inaugurated Keyblade Master, she's your generic Chosen One from her world, and has just finished her quest to save it from a megalomaniacal emotion eater!" At the other end of the arena, Sunny could see her opponent striking a grinning pose with her weapon: an oversized red-and-yellow key held by the bow, seemingly used as a sword. The voice continued. "And In the South, you can see contestant F202, also known as Professor Sunnybuns!" The crowd gave a collective chuckle. "Yes, folks, it is a cute name. But don't let it fool you! She's the clerk of the multiversal store known as The Everycraftery, which also gave her her powers. Rumors have it that just two weeks ago, she managed to defeat one of the lesser gods of Terra." An 'ooh' came from the crowd, and they gave a cheer. Noticing her cue to pose, Sunny stood straight and put her sword by her side. Keeping an emotionless face, Sunny pushed her glasses by the bridge and turned her gaze toward her opponent. As their eyes met, Sunny held back a grin as she noticed Rose's faltering confidence. Lawful-good heroes always fell for the shiny glasses trick. "Let's not stall any longer, shall we? Let pandemonium break!" As Anonymous finished his sentence, all around the arena glowed bright yellow with the rising force field, protecting the audience from anything the contestants may throw to each other. Rose took the first move and dashed forward, closing the distance between them in a split second. Sunny raised her sword just in time to block the strike and stepped to the right. Rose noticed and turned around, swinging her keyblade sideways to counter Sunny's following blow, missing her by 2.54 centimeters from her face. Sunny jumped backward as Rose's momentum kept her moving a stride longer. Sunny raised her sword to a stance, ready for another counter. Rose stopped herself and braced as well, preparing for another strike. The crowd roared in excitement. Rose jumped high and somersaulted, aiming her swinging keyblade for Sunny's head. Sunny casually stepped forward. Rose landed too far ahead, unguarded and open for a strike. She quickly turned around to block any incoming strikes. But Sunny was faster to swing her sword, and it hit Rose by the side, sending her tumbling sideways. Rose landed on her feet a few meters away without any signs of injury, but her face visibly contorting in pain. Taking advantage of the distance, she raised her keyblade high and cast a spell. Sunny noticed and raised her sword as well, just in time as a bolt of lightning stroke the blade. It adsorbed the energy, and briefly glowed white. Rose aimed her keyblade toward Sunny and shot a fireball. Sunny dodged and swung her sword as well. The cutie mark gem in her hilt glowed brightly, and the supposed world-ending blast of fire was toned down to a simple wave. Rose ducked and the wave of fire swept above her. As she straightened herself up, she aimed her keyblade again and shot spells after spells of fire, ice, wind, and earth. Sunny dodged each spell perfectly and mirrored her opponent's moves, sending waves of a blizzard, storm, and tectonic shifts accordingly. Rose screamed in annoyance. "Are you mocking me!?" Sunny, her face still emotionless, answered, "No, Rose. I'm insulting you." Rose roared a battle cry and jumped forward, swinging her keyblade with all her might. Sunny braced and blocked the blow with her sword, locking them in a bind. With their faces nearly touching one another, Sunny could feel the determination radiating off her opponent. "You're not going to win, Sunny! The good shall always prevail with the power of light, and the evil will be extinguished as the shadows are broken under the moonlight!" "Three things, Rose: one, that's literal nonsense." Sunny pushed forward, breaking the bind. Stepping to her left, she swung her sword and again was blocked by Rose. "Two, I'm not really evil, now, am I?" Rose jumped upward and spun, swinging her keyblade down. Sunny stepped away and let the keyblade hit the ground with a Slam! As Rose landed, Sunny snapped her wrist and brought her sword hard, which Rose blocked with her keyblade, creating a loud, reverberating Clank! As Rose stumbled backward at the impact, Sunny stepped close and whispered to her ear, "Three, Master Celestia doesn't approve of your inauguration, and she never will." Words cut deeper than the sword, and it stabbed her right in the heart. Sunny jumped backward as Rose fell to the ground, clutching her chest and screaming in agony. The screaming didn't stop, and Sunny frowned. "Rose, give up! You know you've lost, don't torture yourself!" "N-no!" she wailed. "I won't give up! I—" her words was interrupted with another scream as another jolt of pain shot through her heart. Sunny, upon noticing her opponent was, in fact, as stubborn as she feared, grumbled in annoyance. "Fine, then. I'll end it for you." And so she thrust her sword down, straight into her opponent's heart. Rose gave a final scream before collapsing. Yellow runes soon appeared around her form, and her life essence was brought into the respawner. The crowd exploded, and Anon's voice came from everywhere, "And we have our winner, folks! Contestant F202, Professor Sunnybuns!" Sunny tapped her foot impatiently outside the medical bay. Magica put a gentle hoof to Sunny's hand. "Don't worry, Sunny. I heard that she got a heart of steel; your words won't hurt her feelings any more than her enemies had in the past." Sunny swatted her hoof and took her flask. She opened the cap and took a swig. "No, Maggie. I should've said something else. That's right in her insecurities, and it might hinder her in actually gaining her Celestia's approval." "You worry too much about everything, Sunny." Sunny looked inside her hipflask with grim remorse. "So I've been told." Magica noticed her change of mood and leaned in. "Want to talk about it?" Sunny sighed. "No, thank you. Not now, at least." Magica opened her mouth to ask but was interrupted when the door beside them opened, letting out a tired-looking human Sunset Shimmer, leaning against a worried-looking Sci-Twi. Sunny stepped in, and Rose lifted her head heavily as she met Sunny's eyes. "Hey, you okay?" Rose chuckled. "I will be. Good game, by the way." Sunny shook her head. "No, it wasn't. I shouldn't have said those words to you." Sunny gently grabbed Rose's shoulder and gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. You're a great woman, Rose, and don't let what I said hinder you from achieving your goals. Don't give up, and you'll eventually get what you're seeking, even if it seemed impossible." Rose chuckled. "That's cheesy as fuck." Sunny laughed. "Well, yes. But at least it has actual meaning." A unicorn Twilight Sparkle, nicknamed Hexa, sat in silence, watching her cold cup of coffee intently. Her robe, having elaborate motifs that suggested that she was an archmage, glowed softly as the runes underneath it drifted lazily and fluidly around in a perfectly-mathematized pattern. Cruz took a loud slurp of his milkshake. Sunny took a swig from her flask. Hexa threw her hooves upward. "Gah! I can't stand it anymore!" She glared at the Sunsets respectively. "How are you two not panicking!? Aren't you worried about Maggie?" Cruz put his milkshake down. "Because we're not a Twilight. We don't do panicky rants." "And second," continued Sunny, "is that there's nothing to worry about. The worst thing that could happen to her is death." Hexa hyperventilated. "Which is perfectly fine," Cruz grumbled. "She'll respawn. Or brought back to life. Or resurrected. Whatever, the point is, she won't stay dead. She'll come back." "But what if she got traumatized!?" shrieked Hexa. "What if her death made her an entirely different pony? What if she got amnesia? What if Magica's respawner broke? What if. . ." And so Hexa continued rambling between the visibly annoyed Sunsets, not noticing as Magica came into the coffee shop and started attempting to calm her friend down, ensuring her that she had won and will continue to the quarterfinals. Cruz stared at his opponent. "A demon." His opponent, apparently named Sundown, stared back in equal straightness. "A paladin." "Yes, yes, it's a poetic coincidence," came the voice of Anonymous. "Now, are you going to fight already!?" Cruz shook his head, put his helmet's mask down, and summoned his shield and mace. "I . . . guess so." Likewise, Sundown readied her trident. "Y'know, I've never really fought . . . ah, a Heavenly Warrior." Cruz chuckled. "Me neither. Well, a Hellish Warrior, anyway." Sundown sucked through her teeth. "So, ah, will this create a war between Heaven/Hell?" "Let's pray it doesn't." "Very funny." Cruz swung his mace and shot a beam of light toward Sundown. Sundown spun her trident and blocked the beam, dispersing it into glittery particles. Seeing her opponent approaching not-so-quickly, she jumped over him, bringing her trident down as she passed overhead. Cruz brought his shield upward and blocked the trident. Turning around, he swung his mace at where his opponent was about to land. Sundown, noticing her mistake, summoned a pentagram behind her, just in time as the mace hit, staggering her. She ignored the crowd's cheer and thrust her trident backward. Cruz flinched as her trident scraped his breastplate. He clutched the trident in his armpit and pulled backward. Sundown lost her grip, jumping backward as Cruz blasted a short-range pulse of Holy Light at her. Summoning her trident back, she summoned another pentagram and, from it, shot a dozen dark tendrils at him. Cruz didn't flinch as the tendrils hit his shield square in the middle. The crowd roared in excitement. Cruz set his shield aside, drew the Holy Cross with his mace, then— Sundown disappeared in a flash of runes. Cruz blinked. The crowd went silent. "And we have our winner, folks! Contestant E022, Shimmer de la Cruz!" "Wait, wait, wait." Cruz took off his helmet and looked around the still-silent crowd. "That can't be it! There must be a mistake!" "Uh, no," came Anonymous's voice from everywhere. "She yielded. You've won, fair and square." "How anticlimactic." "Hey, it works. Now get off the arena; we're in a tight schedule here."