In her bed, Sunset Shimmer tossed and turned.
Shimmer looked at the skyline of her homeland with horror: Paris burned. The City of Lights was alit with an inferno, and the Eiffel Tower and other landmarks were reduced to rubble or slag. As she walked the streets, she could see bodies strewn everywhere, innocent victims ground up in a charnel house only but one example of what she bore witness to. The very sky itself seemed to burn with volcanic hues of scarlet, orange and black.
What happened here? she thought, her jaw slack with horror.
Not knowing the answer, she continued to walk through the shattered streets and cindered alleyways, looking for something – anything – of a sign of life other than herself. Eventually she found herself at the steps of her school, the Lycée International de Saint Germain-en-Laye. But like everything else she’d seen so far, it was a soot-stained shell, the wood and glass seared away, leaving a battered shell of bricks…
…and in the center of what was the school’s lobby, four bodies. Three had been stripped of their attire, then crucified, brutally murdered and slapped up on seared wooden beams in cruel mockery of Christ. The fourth one was just before it, a body laid before a dark symbol of her nation’s past: a guillotine, having been used.
Shimmer looked up and gasped in horror: there, stripped before the world and murdered, were her best friends: Night Lily, Beachcomber and Priceless. Their deaths had been painful, and additionally, Beachcomber’s throat had been slit as her lifeblood poured out over her naked body.
Shimmer scrambled back, instinctively, running into the guillotine. Her eyes were instinctively drawn to the bloodied blade, then to the basket, where she saw the head within.
She screamed as she saw the decapitated remnants of her mother, Solaire, her lilac eyes staring with a blank horror into eternity.
Shimmer screamed, unable to move and transfixed by the murder of those closest to her, only stopping when she heard cruel laughter behind her.
Soon, a voice familiar to her whispered.
She then felt a searing sensation as her clothing exploded away from her. She felt her arms wrenched towards the back and bit of a scream as she, too, was nailed to a wooden beam.
And as a strange figure approached her, she heard the laughter once more, followed by a statement. I am coming, and you cannot stop me.
The last thing Shimmer heard was the mocking laughter as cruel implements gored her from her neck to her groin.
In her bed, Sunset Shimmer tossed and turned.
Sunset looked at the skyline of her birth home with horror. Canterlot burned. The capital of the world was alit with green spellfire, as the parapets and spires of the white skyline were reduced to rubble or slag. As she walked the streets, she could see bodies strewn everywhere, innocent victims ground up in a charnel house. The very sky itself seemed to burn with volcanic hues of scarlet, orange and black.
What happened here? she thought, her jaw slack with horror.
Not knowing the answer, she continued to walk through the shattered streets and cindered alleyways, looking for something – anything – of a sign of life other than herself. Eventually she found herself at the front gates of Canterlot Palace, seeing everything burned as if the world had been turned to cinders by Princess Celestia’s power. The castle was now nothing more than a soot-stained shell, the wood and glass seared away, leaving a battered pile of bricks…
…and in the center of what was the foyer, countless bodies. Ponies she knew as friends – those of Princess Twilight’s court – were cruelly stabbed with spears, as if they were animals that had been hunted to death. Behind them were her best friends, their human counterparts, and Sunset screamed at what had been done to them. She rushed to their sides, looking for signs of life…but found none.
Sunset went wild eyed looking at those she cared about, slaughtered. In the distance, she heard laughter, cruel and mocking.
The human called cyan spellfire to her hands. “YOU JUST MADE A BIG MISTAKE!” she screamed in the direction of the laughter, rushing forward and ready to deal some damage. She’d been taught magical combat by the finest of guards and was the former prodigy and surrogate daughter of the Princess of All. She would have her revenge.
Sunset followed the laughter through the blackened halls of the castle, throwing fireballs. Along the way she’d summoned an auto rifle and a part of her made her think that she probably looked like Daring Do did during the worst parts of the Tomb Raider remake videogame that she’d just bought. But this was worse, so much worse.
Finally, she reached the darkened remains of what used to be her rooms within the palace. The laughter came from within, and Sunset answered by pulling the trigger, letting a spray of bullets rocket forth, where they disappeared into the inky blackness – and nothing more. Figuring conventional weapons weren’t enough, she dropped the rifle and resummoned her magic, eyes ablaze with power and ready to fight for the sake of those she loved.
What she found shocked her once more. In the middle of her bedroom, impaled on a dizzying array of spikes, crucifixes and various horrific elements, was her family – both families. She found herself frozen in shock, looking at the remains of both her mothers, who had been….
Sunset turned and vomited, unable to take the shock. Everyone she loved, everyone she knew, had been horrifically murdered and, in the case of Princess Celestia and Twilight Velvet…. Sunset forced herself not to think of it.
You could have died for them, a voice said in a sing-song tone.
“COME OUT!” Sunset ordered, forcing herself back to her feet as her body ignited with an aura of spell fire. “I AM THE ARCHMAGUS OF EQUESTRIA, AND THERE WILL BE JUSTICE SERVED!”
There is no such thing as justice, the voice said and threw something at her. Sunset saw what it was, and forced herself to focus on the direction of the voice as the decapitated head of Princess Twilight flew past her.
“OUT NOW! I WILL NOT SAY IT AGAIN!” Sunset demanded as her aura grew to the power of a star.
The voice laughed. If you insist.
A figure stepped out of the darkness – and out of Sunset’s worst nightmares. Wearing an outfit that left nothing to the imagination, with deep purple bat wings and coronas of dark light around her eyes, Twilight came forth, dragging the dead corpse of their cousin, Octavia.
Twilight kissed the dead body, then threw it down. You ruined my fun, she said with a giggle.
“Twily?” Sunset murmured, shocked. “What?”
Will you die for me, sister? Twilight said as she sauntered forward, the thin leather straps she wore accentuating her body in ways Sunset never thought her sister capable of. Or will you continue to lie to me?
Sister got within mere fractions of an inch from sister.
“Twily? Why?” Sunset asked.
Because you need to pay, Twilight said, producing a knife.
The last thing the former unicorn felt was being stabbed in the heart.
Shimmer woke up with a start. She was sweating bullets, her clothing soaked and despite the summer warmth, she shivered.
Bordel de merde! she thought. Qu’est-ce que c’était? She hugged herself for security and an attempt to warm herself. Jesus, get a hold of yourself, Shimmy! You’ll be fine, just a dream…. Writing her bed off as a loss, she changed into new sleepwear and went to go crash on the couch.
She didn’t sleep well for the remainder of the night.
Sunset woke up with a start. She was sweating bullets, her clothing soaked and despite the summer warmth, she shivered.
What the fuck? she thought. What the hell was that? She hugged herself for security and an attempt to warm herself. Christ, get a hold of yourself, Sunny! You’ll be fine, just a dream…. Not wanting to deal with stepping out of her room, Sunset quickly cast a drying spell, cleaning up both her bed and her sleepwear, then crawled back under the sheets.
She didn’t sleep well for the remainder of the night.
Sunset strolled down the stairs, feeling like the waking dead. She was tempted to cast a rejuvenation spell, but with others in the house likely awake now, it didn’t seem like it would be a good idea. So instead, she threw herself in the shower, then got dressed and came out, hair bunched up in a towel and yawning.
“Heya, Sunny. Boy, did you mess up,” Spike said.
“Yeah, good morning to you too, squirt,” Sunset replied as she met him at the stairs. “What’s up?”
“Did you and Twily have a fight? Because she told me this morning that she wanted me to use up all the hot water.”
Sunset groaned; only her sister would think of something so petty, given that she’d admitted once to doing it a couple of years back when she and Octavia had been arguing.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t do it,” he whispered. “Mom would kill me if I did.”
She mussed his hair. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,” she said with a grateful smile.
The two went downstairs, where Twilight was seated at the table with Velvet. There was a noticeable frigidity to the younger girl, a stiffness that she’d never seen in her sister before, Sunset noted. Even during the week that Twilight hadn’t spoken to her it hadn’t been this bad; the plum-haired scholar’s body language had strongly indicated that she wanted the argument to end, but was waiting for Sunset to make the first move. Not this time, however: Twilight’s ramrod posture made it clear that whatever had come between them still hadn’t cleared.
“Good morning, you two,” Velvet said as she looked at her other children.
“Good morning, Spike,” Twilight said in an overly-saccharine tone, clearly meant to be mocking. She did not, however, acknowledge the flame-haired girl in any way.
“Twily….” Sunset began.
“I’m sorry, did anyone hear the sound of pants on fire?” Twilight said idly. “I thought I’d heard denim aflame, but it must have just been me.” She then turned back to her mother. “So, is Tavi going to be out of the hospital today? It’d be nice to have an older sister-type that I can rely on. Not that I apparently seem to know what that is.”
Velvet briefly considered correcting her daughter, but decided that a peaceful breakfast was more valuable at the moment. “I don’t know. I took the day off in case I need to head over there, but it’s going to be a long day for me otherwise.” She turned to her older daughter. “If you don’t mind, I’d like you to come with me. I’m sure Tavi would appreciate a familiar face after being cooped up all night in the hospital.”
“Sure thing,” Sunset said. “Since I don’t have to work today, I should be good to go.”
“And what about you, Twilight?” Velvet asked.
“No, I have things to do,” she said in a tone that indicated she really did have things to do. “You and the Fabulist should be fine.” She got up from the table, her breakfast half-eaten. “I need to get going, Mom. Give Tavi my love and I’ll see you later.” She went over and kissed Velvet on the cheek, then mussed with Spike’s hair…before completely leaving Sunset alone.
Sunset sighed. “I….” She slumped in her chair.
Velvet gave her older daughter a sympathetic look. “Give it time. You know Twily’s sensitive about things like that, and she looks up to you, so for you to turn on her, real or otherwise, hurts her immensely. Although….” Velvet paused her statement by taking a drink from her coffee before continuing with, “I would like to actually know if you are lying to your sister about something.”
“Et tu, Brute?”
“I’m glad to see you’re paying attention to your education more, but that’s not going to cut it with me, Sunny, and you know it.”
Sunset looked genuinely hurt. “Do you actually think I would lie about something like that, Mom?”
Velvet nodded. “Yes, actually, I think you would.” Seeing the crestfallen look on her daughter, Velvet added, “Sunny, people don’t change overnight. While I’m proud of the strides you’ve made, you are still quite capable of things that no girl your age should be able to do. And while I don’t think that you lied to Twily intentionally, you may have done so to protect her. But she inherited her sense of sniffing out the truth from your father’s side of the family. She suspects something is afoot even if I don’t think you meant to hurt her.”
Sunset sat for a few minutes in silence before she said, “The handwriting…it’s not based on Twily’s. At the start of last year, just before my, ah, epiphany, we had an exchange student come to our school, some girl from Paragon City by the name of Purple Smart. I got into a fight with her for the week she was here, and I did just about anything to get her in trouble. I found a handwritten report from her to one of our teachers, and I copied it; learned to copy her handwriting from that. From there, I got the idea to leave notes that she was sleeping with Mr. Tofu, the technology teacher. Anyway, it didn’t work, I left and she helped Rarity embarrass me for the title of Princess of the Homecoming Dance. It didn’t come up again until the subject that Ms. Luna taught and I needed some handwriting that didn’t look like the others, so I used hers. I honestly didn’t know it’d be an exact copy of Twily’s writing, Mom, honest.”
The look on Velvet’s face was both horrified and understanding at the same time. “So, let me get this straight: you tried to frame both a student and a teacher for something that would have gotten the student sent back in disgrace and the teacher fired if not on charges for statutory?”
“Not one of my better ideas,” Sunset said with some embarrassment. “Plus, Ms. Celestia informed me that I wasn’t the first to do that, so Mr. Tofu was used to it.”
“Sunny, I’m honestly glad this is water under the bridge, or else that would have seriously put a hamper on the adoption.” Sunset looked as though she’d been slapped, but Velvet stood firm. “I am, however, glad that you told me this. Let me verify it with Tia and then I can talk to Twily. It may take a few days, though, given that Tia’s too tied up with that boyfriend of hers as of late.”
Sunset blinked. “Ms. Celestia’s dating?”
“Yeah – color me surprised even more than you,” Velvet laughed as she looked at the time on her phone. “Anyway, we should get going soon. Spike, if you want to go visit a friend, tell Twily first, okay?”
The best thing that Vesper and Madrigal could say was that the new place the triplets and the other two SIRENs had moved into was substandard, to say the least. It was one of the abandoned buildings in Sunnytown, across the street from Sunnytown High and in one of the better neighborhoods in the city – if any neighborhood in Sunnytown could be “better” than the other – but with the aftermath of the hurricane, most people were shying away from this location. Still, the building had power and the water hadn’t been gunked up by the system, so they were looking good.
As she walked in, the two newcomers stood at attention, dropping the books they had been reading and rendered salutes. “Good morning, ma’am!” they said in unison, then realized their three subordinates weren’t moving at all.
Vesper laughed. “At ease – our sœurs know we don’t stand on ceremony, and I’d rather see results than a perfect salute. Besides, we’re special forces – we leave the polished crap to the regular sailors.” She went over and shook hands with the duo. “I’m Lt. Vesper Blue, but you can just call me Vesper.” She hooked a thumb at her counterpart, adding, “And my partner here’s Lt. Madrigal Storm.”
Madrigal extended her hand as well. “Just call me Maddy. Welcome to our little insurrection.”
Sunny Side nodded. “Given what we saw Wine turn into, I don’t think there’s anything little about it.”
Evergreen Pine nodded. “If anything, I think we’re on a quest to save the world, as cheesy as that sounds. If what Sonata was unable to unearth on that flash drive is even remotely true, well, we have a duty to stop it. Not just because we’re SIRENs…but because we’re people.”
“Well said, sis,” Side told her, and Evergreen blushed.
Madrigal patted the girl on the shoulder and went over to Sonata. “Okay, Soni, what’ve you got? What you said over the phone sounds a little far-fetched….”
Sonata pointed to one of the laptops, where a sniper scope was attached via USB. “Just finished downloading the images from Ari’s scope camera.” She handed the laptop over to the older woman, saying, “Watch for yourself.”
Madrigal and Vesper watched the transformation on the video, their faces becoming frozen masks of shock. “This…this is real?” Vesper blurted.
“Yeah, and it’s a good thing I was using an armor-piercing round,” Aria said as she approached her sœur. “We would’ve been in serious trouble, otherwise.”
“I can believe it. Anyway, what else have you found?”
“Project ARACHNE, whatever it is, has mostly been completed,” Sonata said. “The attacks are ritualistic, each based on a series of indicators, though I’m not sure of how, just yet – that might take some intelligence analysis, though the other names might be moot at that point—”
“No – we find that pattern,” Adagio snarled at Sonata, enough to make the younger triplet wince. “They nearly killed Rainbow! That list you just uncovered for Justice? TWILY WAS ON THAT!” Adagio slumped in her chair. “She could be dead, for all we know, killed by our own!
Turning back to her computer, Sonata said, “I know. And that’s why I’m risking everything to get the rest of these subfolders cracked, sis! Do you think I want our friends out of the line of fire?”
Vesper and Madrigal looked at each other, and both nodded at once. “Sides, come here, if you would.” The trio walked a slight distance away from the others and Madrigal said, “We’re going to give you a list. You need to make sure that the girls on this list are safe.” Vesper held out her phone, and gestured for Side to do the same.
The blonde passed the officer her phone and said, “Normally I’d say this isn’t regulation, but there’s nothing really regulation about any of this. I take it the triplets know these girls?”
“We were part of the advance team, so the triplets were here long enough to become close friends with them,” Vesper explained. “From an operational standpoint, I’d be concerned that this would degrade their performance. But I’m not going to say any bullshit like that. The fact is that these eight are defenseless girls, and while a few of them might be able to fight, fighting doesn’t mean shit against a bullet, much less what Cantata’s throwing at them.”
Madrigal nodded. “As you can see, we care about our sœurs more than just as junior personnel.”
“Don’t sweat it,” Side said, waving it off. “Greenie and I were raised by our sœurs as sisters, so that’s what we are. Truth is, our sœurs were lovers, so they acted more like parents to us than trainers. So you don’t have to explain a thing to me. I’ll check it out and make sure they’re safe, I promise.” With that, she headed out, following the list.
As Side left, Madrigal turned to the remainder. “What else do we have?”
Evergreen looked up from the computer she’d sat by. “Whatever this shit is for, the ARACHNE part of the mission is being covered fairly well. The media believes it’s a copycat from some murders back in the 1980s. Unsolved set of murders in Los Angeles.”
“Maybe not as unsolved as we think,” Sonata said, peering at her screen. “Guess who went to university back then?” She turned her laptop. “Prince Divine was a student at the University of Southern California back during the murders. He was studying – get this – human psychology, and also had a minor in mythology.”
“Great, so we’re dealing with a psychopath who’s been doing this shit before and is doing it again.”
“No proof of that,” Aria said as she looked at her computer. “They never found a suspect.”
Sitting on her bed, Adagio stewed in her juices. “And with the kind of person the Prince is, he’s kinda too high-profile to get away with that kind of stuff.” She got up and started to pace, a grim look on her face. “Anything else we can find out about that timeframe?”
Vesper went over to Adagio and patted her on the shoulder. “Unless you changed your name to Billionaire Playboy and had a sex change we don’t know about, you can drop the Batman schtick, Dagi. This is real life.”
“Yeah, I know. But our friends—”
“Will be fine,” Madrigal told them. “We just sent Sides to check on their status. But assuming they’re okay, the only way we can keep them okay is if we find out who the next victim is, and what their methodology is.”
Evergreen groaned. “This is the shit for the cops. We’re not police, for fuck’s sake.” To her surprise, Sonata punched her in the shoulder. “What the fuck, Soni?”
The look on Sonata’s face as somewhere between tired and angry. “We may not be the police,” she seethed, “but that means that when we finally put a stop to this, we don’t have to worry about a trial, either.”
“All I need is a verdict of one round right between Cantata’s fucking eyes,” Vesper said. None in the room could argue with that.
“This is getting way out of hand,” Badge said to nobody in particular.
Seated across from him, Agent Zephyr Breeze, Diplomatic Security Service looked bleak. He was actually in a suit for a change and was desperate enough that he actually shaved. “Look, I don’t know what the hell you guys are doing about whatever the fuck is going on, but my job is to protect a couple of high-profile visitors in the area. And now my partner is missing and you guys are telling me that there’s a fucking serial killer in town that might have put her down?”
A statuesque blonde with tanned skin and blue eyes looked at the man. “Look, Agent Breeze—”
“No, you look, you stuck up FBI paper-pusher,” Breeze barked. “Saf’s parents asked me to keep an eye on her while we were doing babysitting duty up in Seattle. Now what the hell am I supposed to tell them? Sure, I could lie and say that Saf lost her life protecting her charges, but we both know that isn’t the case and once the media vultures find out that a DSS agent is missing and presumed dead at the hands of this Handy Dead Guy—”
“Dead Hand Murderer,” the woman replied.
“What the fuck ever, Miss Chatterbox. Tell me, did you get this assignment by bending over or spreading your legs?” The girl gasped.
“Agent Breeze, I can get that you’re angry and frustrated,” Badge told him, “but Agent Trinary Star just flew in from LA this morning and she’s playing catchup as well, so there’s no need to get on her case.”
“Yeah,” he admitted. “Sorry. Anyway, I’ve asked the Princess to stay put for the moment while I find out what happened to Agent Masala. But that won’t last long. I’ve already got someone flying in as well, but I want Saf found alive and well, got that?”
Shining Armor, who had been quiet all this time, gave the DSS agent a nod. “We’re working on it.”
“Work on it faster,” Breeze seethed.
After the meeting ended, Shining and Star got in the car and headed off. “First stop is Everfree Glades. Need to talk to the parents of those two dead girls.”
“That’d be Lavender Blush and Fuchsia Lace, right?”
“Lavender Lace and Fuchsia Blush, actually. HBPD found them in an, um….” Shining reached into his jacket pocket and handed the photos to her. “You’ll see.”
Star looked at the photos, then back at him. “Yeah, I can see how this can affect someone,” she replied, setting them on the dashboard. “Hope we don’t have to show them to their parents.”
Shining looked at her as if she’d grown a third eye. “You’re not bothered by them?”
“No, I’m not. Remember, I work LA, where some fresh-faced kids come from the Midwest, thinking they’re going to hit the big time as an actor – and boom! Next thing you know, you’re finding what’s left of them after they ‘inadvertently starred’ in a snuff film.” She fixed soulful blue eyes on him. “So how’s Sandy doing?”
“Sandy? As in Sandalwood?”
“Yeah. Badge said you knew her. She and I spent some time in the Navy, though I was intel and she was MP. I got out, got offered a position with the Feds. I offered to get her an in, but she said she wanted to go back home – had something important she had to do here.”
“Well, can’t tell you what that is, since I don’t know, but I do know Sandy. We grew up together, and she and my wife are best friends. Why?”
“Sandy, you Goddamn idiot,” Star muttered under her breath. “Now I know what it is. Or who.”
“You say something, Star?”
She shook her head. “No, nothing – I guess I’d better get on my research. The FBI doesn’t pay for my specialty for nothing, after all.”
“Specialty?”
“Yeah – I’m the LA Division’s specialist at occult-based cases. And in case you haven’t noticed, this has occult written all over it.”
“DAMMIT!” Divine swept the equipment and papers off his desk a second before upturning that himself. “We’re so damn close,” he seethed. “So damn close!” He’d been in a rage for the past few minutes, and Cantata, taking a rare day off from her duties, wasn’t about to let her insignificant other continue to throw a temper tantrum and have it affect her. At the moment, she was seated in a plush chair they’d appropriated for their bedroom, and she was reading a book, and dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt, the first time in a while she’d been out of her uniform.
Still, if she was going to get what she wanted, it meant she had to pay at least a modicum of attention to him. “So close to what?” Cantata asked him, closing the book she’d been reading.
“The fog,” he muttered, “that God-forsaken fog that happens whenever….” She looked at him oddly and he explained. “I’ve been using so much power that I’ve temporarily exhausted it, and it feels like everything mystical is hazy to me, hence my term.”
She got up and went over to him, putting her arms around him. Men were so easy to figure out, after all, and Cantata had him decrypted practically from day one. “Maybe you should take a day off? We could do other things, you know? Maybe you should take your queen-to-be out on a date? I do so love French food, and isn’t there a place in San Palomino?” She reached over and kissed him. “Trust me, making me happy will be very worth your while.”
He gave her a wan smile, one she knew wasn’t real. “Alas, I cannot rest! We’re so close and in a few days the Harmonic Convergence will be here and if I don’t do it then I’ll have to wait another thirty years – and I doubt either you or I wish to wait that long!”
“Harmonic convergence?” Cantata asked. “Didn’t that happen ages ago? I was on an op at the time, so I didn’t pay too much attention to the news, admittedly.”
“There are many kinds of convergences,” the prince said, “and each of them fulfill a different magical purpose. You’re clearly thinking of the one where the planets were entirely in alignment, in a straight row, like a gaggle of schoolchildren. And while yes, that one serves a mystical purpose, there are other kinds, that do as well. The one coming up in a few days is a mandala formation, and these are perfect for summons.”
“Mandala formation?”
Divine walked over to a whiteboard he hadn’t knocked over in his tantrum. Picking up a marker, he started to draw.
“Now do you get it?” he asked.
“Um…sure,” she said, still not understanding a thing. Granted, she didn’t really believe magic existed until she met him, and so far, he’d done things she’d never thought possible. But that didn’t mean that there was any kind of information she had on mystical warfare, and though she was trying to pick things up as quickly as she could – it would not do for the future queen of the world to be lacking in any form, after all – it didn’t mean she could.
Divine groaned. “There! And there!” he shouted at her, eyes filled with anger. “How can you be so blind?”
She frowned. “Let’s get something straight, Divine: I will be your wife, but I am no pushover. In case you haven’t forgotten, I’m a soldier and that means I can break you in half without a sweat – and all those ladies you’re turning into monsters? They work for me. So don’t ever raise your voice at me again, are we clear?”
A strange look came over the prince’s face, and inwardly, Cantata prepared for anything. Would he snap? Would he apologize – probably not that, given that she knew he could be a massive dick at times. Would he attack her? She would put him down, sure, but then she wouldn’t have access to his wealth and other things – as much as she hated to admit it, she needed him as much as he needed her. She wasn’t sleeping with him just because she enjoyed it.
Well, not entirely, in any case.
He walked away from her and plopped in the chair. “I need to rest. You’re right. I need to conserve what little power I have left before the Convergence occurs. It will likely come to me in an insight, anyway. Tell the Black Team to capture the last two girls on their list. After that, they can take a few days off, but be ready at a moment’s notice. We will need to work quickly.”
“Sure,” she said, glad that the whole thing deescalated without him losing his cool – or without her having to hurt him. “Anything else?”
“Yes.” He handed her a wad of cash. “Find yourself a decent dress tonight. I’ll make reservations at that restaurant, and we can have a night of dinner and dancing – a way to celebrate our inevitable victory.” He gave her a smile, a genuine one this time, she could tell.
“That sounds lovely,” she said, giving him a kiss – also a genuine one – and walked off to take care of her business.
She would learn to love him in time, she was pretty sure. After all, it was her divine right.
As she departed, Divine gave himself a wry smile. He knew he pushed it with her, and he knew that she was more than capable of following through with her threats. Fortunately, he was smarter than her, commander of his forces or no. After all, she was just a woman and like any woman, all you had to do was to show them a bit of attention and they instantly got weak in the knees. Even a woman like Cantata Blast was no exception.
But for now, he had bigger fish to fry. He had to start his meditations soon – that would help to boost his power just enough to make it through the days, and make it through he must. There was too much riding on his success, and failure would be an utter disaster.
But he knew he would win, in the end.
It was, after all, his divine right.
“Wow, Flutters, this is an amazing place,” Twilight said as she entered the penthouse where Fluttershy and her family were living.
The chiffon-haired girl brushed it off. “Oh, it’s really nothing, Twily,” she said with a smile. “I’ve had to get used to it for a while, since Dad says it’s going to be a bit until the new house is built. As it is, I feel guilty about having all my friends have to go through the hotel’s lobby just to get up here.”
Twilight gave her friend a smile. “It’s not a problem, really. If anything, it’s kind of interesting.”
“It’s an interesting I could do without, especially now that it’s public knowledge of who I am,” she said with a blush.
“So are the rest here?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Rainbow just arrived a few minutes ago, so everyone’s here except for Sunny and Tavi. Are you sure they’re not going to make it?”
“Positive – I’ll explain later,” Twilight demurred. “Should I just go and meet everyone in the living room?”
“Please – I’m getting snacks and drinks. Rarity’s setting up everything. Go ahead and I’ll join you all shortly.”
Twilight nodded, walking towards the living room. A part of her felt that doing this was wrong, that these were Sunset’s friends and they weren’t likely to believe Twilight’s story that she thought her sister was hiding something from her. Then again, they could honestly overreact, and that would put Sunset in a worse position.
A position she put herself in by lying to me, Twilight recalled. A position that I don’t want her to be in, but she has to learn her lesson! How is she going to learn anything about trusting us if she keeps lying?
As the plum-haired scholar entered the living room, she could see her friends gathered there. “Sup?” Rainbow asked.
“Hey, sugarcube, you okay?” Applejack asked. As she said it, everyone turned to see Twilight and her sober face. “It’s not about Tavi, is it?”
“It’s not, but I’d rather talk about it when everyone’s here,” Twilight responded.
“Well, I’m back,” Fluttershy said, carrying a tray of various sodas, chips and cookies.
With the usual Pinkiness that was Pinkie, she seemed to flit from her chair to the cookies back to her chair in less than a second, taking the next second to inhale several of them. “Dese ah gub!” Pinkie blurted between bites.
“Pinkie dear, don’t talk with your mouth full, if you please,” Rarity told her.
“Dad made them,” Fluttershy explained as she set the tray down on the table. “He’s really enjoying the time being a husband and a father. He told the rest of the band to take a year off to work on solo projects. I think he’s happier now. I know I am.” She looked at Twilight. “Anyway, we’re all here now, Twily, so go ahead.”
“First, no matter what I tell you girls, will you still be my friends when all of this is said and done?”
“Absolutely!” Pinkie chirped. “Friends always have each other’s’ backs!” She bounced out of her seat and over to Twilight. “So tell us what’s on your mind!”
“I think…I think Sunny’s lying to me about something, something big,” Twilight said. “I found these in her room,” she told them as she handed over the letters. “I understand that it’s part of a school assignment, but I don’t think that there’s anything that would allow her to copy your handwriting, would it?”
The girls looked at the letters, then at each other in mixtures of confusion and misunderstanding. “Yes, this is our handwriting,” Fluttershy began, “at least this one is mine.”
“Mine too,” Applejack said, holding up the letter.
“Mine three!” Pinkie chirped, holding the letter in different directions, as if trying to read it from the side, upside down, and from the back. “But I don’t know why I would call Auntie Cup and Uncle Carrot ‘Mr. and Mrs. Cake.’ Sure, that’s their second names, but that’s like I’m not related or anything! Weird.”
“Well…I’m…um…not sure what to say about this, Twilight, dear. Would you be so kind as to give us a couple of minutes?”
“Sure, I’ll go get us some soda reloads,” Twilight offered, and headed towards the direction of the kitchen. As she did, she began to hear the low buzz of people whispering to each other, and she wasn’t sure about how to feel in regards to that. She felt elated telling them about it, but again, this could seriously hurt her sister’s standing with her friends, and from what Sunset understood, up until fairly recently these were the only friends that the flame-haired girl had. Was she doing the right thing? Did it make any sense?
Would I forgive my sister for this?
After a couple of minutes, she came back in with the tray. Her friends looked back at her with strange glances, and Twilight was unable to read them.
“I, er, know this looks strange, dear,” Rarity began.
“Strange? These are perfect copies of our handwriting, Rarity!” Twilight said. “Aren’t you worried?”
“Yeah, it does look odd, Twily, Ah’ll admit that,” Applejack said, though from the completion of her statement there was a huge indicator that she wasn’t going to say anything further.
Fluttershy took it from there. “I know this look odd, Twily, but you have to trust Sunny. We do, even after looking at this.”
“Rainbow?” Twilight pled, hoping for some sanity.
“The day she approached us and said she wanted to change, you should’ve seen the look in her eyes. There’s no faking that. So I believe in her, and I know if the situation was reversed, she’d do the same.”
“Pinkie?”
“She's your sister, Twily. What are you accusing her of?” Pinkie was abnormally serious at that point, and Twilight swore she could see Pinkie’s hair starting to straighten. “She loves you and would do anything to protect you. She has protected you, or have you forgotten that?”
“No, I haven’t.” A guilty look crept up onto Twilight’s face. “But I don’t like the fact that she’s lying to me about something, girls. She’s my sister and part of my family. She has to let go of whatever her past is, because she’s with us now and it’s never going to come back again! I won’t let it!” Tears started to crawl down Twilight’s cheeks. “When she first came to live with us, she was so standoffish, because she was afraid as she got closer to us, her past would haunt her. But it’s just that: the past, right? When she lied to me – it felt like that all over again.”
“Twilight….” Rarity murmured, approaching the distraught girl. “It’s not like that.”
“Yeah, sugarcube, it is,” Applejack said. The room suddenly fell silent as the other girls save for Twilight looked at Applejack with utter shock. Applejack continued to look at Twilight. “Twily, Ah can say without a doubt that Ah’ve never told a lie in mah life, even when Ah sorely wanted to. Hell, even when it was probably better that Ah did tell a lie, Ah never did. It’s never sat right with me. So Ah tell you this true: Sunny is lyin’ to you. And yes, we know why.”
“AJ, what the fuck?” Rainbow said, but Applejack turned to glare at her. Rainbow glared back for a second and then finally nodded, breaking the deadlock. She turned to Twilight and added, “You know me. Loyal to anyone who’s got my back, and I know Sunny’s got my back, so I got hers. And yes, AJ’s telling the truth: Sunny’s lying to you. But there’s a good reason for it.”
“Wait – you’re telling me you all know?” The five others nodded in unison, and Twilight looked at them, anger creeping up on her face. “And you were going to tell me this, when?”
“Never!” Pinkie said, as her hair poofed back into place. “Twily…you’re not ready for this, and it’s not our place to say. Trust me, everyone has a secret they want to keep from their loved ones. I’m sure you do, too.”
“Not really. I’m not one to keep secrets from my family,” Twilight grunted.
Rarity stepped in. “But you see, Twilight dear, while that is your personal stance, not everyone has that same kind of reaction. And you know that Sunset would tell you – tell all of you – if you were ready. This is not something that should be discussed easily.”
“Oh, please, what, like my sister’s actually an adult in her thirties or something?” Twilight commented, looking down to spear a chip in the onion dip and thankfully missing the surprised looks of the others. As she looked back up and the girls recomposed themselves, Twilight continued. “What, is it that she was sexually abused as a child? Or she’s the daughter of an incestuous relationship? Or that she even had a child of her own?”
The room was filled with silence again. Rarity looked uncomfortable, as did Applejack. Rainbow said nothing. Fluttershy had a contemplative look on her face, but for some reason Pinkie had a hurt and angry glare to answer Twilight with, but it was quickly gone before the plum-haired teen could ask further.
“No, no, and no,” Fluttershy finally said, “and that’s a clear indicator that I need to stop lending you some of my manga.” Everyone looked at her and she shrugged. “What, you thought that Rainbow was the only one who read my scanslations?”
Rarity just shook her head and tried to steer the conversation back on track. “Be that as it may, dear, the fact is that Sunset told us in confidence, and we are honor bound to that confidence. You wouldn’t want us to break a promise, would you?”
“Yeah, no shit, Rares,” Rainbow added. “Breaking a promise is the fastest way of fucking up a friendship—”
“Foreeeeeeee~ver!” Pinkie suddenly said behind Twilight and she jumped in fright. “Don’t mind me, just wanted some Doritos!” She quickly grabbed the bag and virtually teleported back to her seat.
Twilight sat there for the longest time, digesting her friends’ words. Whatever Sunset had told them, it was clearly in confidence, and she wasn’t ready to tell her family yet. Yet they knew it and still trusted her completely and utterly, even if it could, in theory, be bad. Would she ever tell them? Was it even Twilight’s business to know? And could it be changed if the secret got out?
I don’t know, Twilight thought to herself. She loved Sunny dearly, but was also completely bothered by the lack of truth. Twilight was a woman of science, and science meant seeking the truth out, even if it was uncomfortable or shattered taboos. But if I do that…will I shatter my own sister?
As the rest of the conversation went on and they talked about their upcoming trip in a couple of days, Twilight couldn’t really answer what the question was, much less even know what the question entailed. She only knew that it was unintentionally driving a wedge between her and Sunset – and that she couldn’t quite forgive her sister until she knew the truth, whatever it was.
She could only hope that Sunset would forgive her when Twilight eventually found out.
The psychologist in question spoke to Velvet behind a closed door that had enough sound padding that Sunset, even with her pony hearing couldn’t make out clear sounds in the least. Part of her wanted to use a spell to get around it, but she was sure that her mother would tell her what was going on. They’d probably call a family meeting for it.
“Sunny?” A soft voice called out to her and the teen turned around. There, seated in a chair and looking far frailer than she’d ever had since the day they met, was Octavia. She was practically a shell of herself now, making Fluttershy look like a gangster in terms of forwardness. Sunset suddenly remembered somepony she’d known from the earliest days when she had to attend the Guild Academy, a filly by the name of Daisy Gloriosa. She hadn’t adjusted well to moving away from her parents, who lived in the Scoltish village of Ivory Cliffside, and from the looks of it, she was meek and shy to begin with. While it had been before Sunset had started her turn for the worse, she wasn’t exactly a friend of Gloriosa’s and looking back on it, maybe she should have been – it would have saved the filly from making the mistake she had in transfiguration class.
They had been working with simple amniomorphic spells, nothing that would affect their person, but to change apples to oranges, as the saying went. It was a class that Sunset had no problem in, much to the surprise of her peers and her professors. Gloriosa, wanting to prove that she could do it, tried to change a stack of pencils on their professor’s desk into a bonsai tree. Instead, she changed it into quickvine, and the plant all but exploded, swallowing the building in seconds. Sunset had heard of plants in Japan, kuzu, and their invasive variant, the kudzu, which was known as the “vine that ate the South.” Quickvine made kudzu look lethargic in comparison, so much so that you could practically hear the growing as it happened, and as it started to practically inhale the building everypony was trapped inside.
Nopony had been hurt in the incident, but Gloriosa was so shaken that the next day her older brother, Timber Spruce, a member of the Solar Guard, came to take her back to their hometown. The day after, Celestia had told the students that Gloriosa’s parents had withdrawn her from the school, and that she would instead attend a school in Glasscow, the provincial capital of Scoltland. Sunset never saw the filly again, but also never forgot the look on her face as they fished her out of the sea of tentacle-like vines. The look back then had been akin to If something doesn’t break me, I’m so fragile I might just break myself, and to this day she could still picture the face of the forlorn filly.
Will you die for me? a voice in the back of Sunset’s head said, and she shook it, wondering where that came from. Then she looked at her cousin again and saw Daisy Gloriosa once more, in spirit if not literally. “I’m here,” she said to Octavia, moving to sit next to her. The moment she did, the raven-haired musician turned to bury herself in Sunset’s bosom, bawling. Sunset hugged her close, saying, “I’m here, Tavi. I’m here with you.”
“I’m so afraid, Sunny,” she cried. “There’s something destructive in me, something that wants to wantonly destroy and hurt things. I hurt you, Aunt Velvet, Fluttershy’s mom, so many. And I feel like I’m barely in control, right now.”
“Tavi, listen to me. We’re going to get you help, I promise. Mom’s speaking to the doctor right now and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure you’re well. And I’ll be here every step of the way – you have my word.”
Octavia didn’t move from her spot, continuing to soak Sunset’s shirt. “But I could hurt you again! I nearly hospitalized you last time, and I stabbed myself this time around! What if I do so much worse?”
“But you didn’t hospitalize me; I’m okay and running around. And you stabbed yourself to prevent hurting anyone else – that’s the cousin I know.” She pulled Octavia back so the two girls could look at each other, eye to eye. “I know you, Tavi. You were there for me, from the first day. Let me be there for you, too.”
“You mean like I wasn’t there for Twily when she was going through all this,” Octavia moaned. “That I left you both high and dry.”
“That’s not me, Tavi. I’m not leaving you hanging – none of us are. You have our family and our friends and we’re going to be there with you every step of the way. So don’t lose hope now, okay?”
The door opened, and the doctor looked at Octavia. “Octavia? Please come in. And you too, miss….”
“Sunset, my older daughter,” Velvet explained. “She should hear this as well.”
“Then please, come in as well.” The other two girls came in and took their seats, with Velvet standing behind them, putting her hands on each girl’s shoulders in comfort. “I’ve already introduced myself to Mrs. Velvet, but to you two ladies, I’m Dr. Feelgood, one of the junior psychiatrists on this staff. Unfortunately, due to recent events, I’m the only doctor in practice right now while the rest of our staff is assisting the medical needs in the worst-hit areas.” He went over and picked up a 3D mouse from his desk, and pointed it at a large screen in the room. “Octavia, the bloodwork results came back earlier today. You are not suffering from the same issues your cousin was earlier in the year.” He held up a thick folder with Twilight’s name on it. “That was a result of a LSD precursor in her body from the involuntary ingestion of Vibrasnopam, and while they did find traces in your blood of the drug as well, the study showed no long-term indicators of the precursor, which leads us to believe that it must be something else.”
“You mean that I’m insane,” Octavia said tonelessly. Sunset reached over and took Octavia’s hand while Velvet hugged her niece from behind.
“We don’t use that term, for obvious reasons,” Feelgood said with a smile. “After all, ‘insane’ pretty much nowadays means ‘crazy’ or ‘acting foolishly’, all of which have nothing to do with mental illness. No, Octavia, you are sick, and there’s no shame in that at all. And I assure you that we will do what we can to make you better.” He turned to face the rest of them and said, “Our preliminary diagnosis is that Octavia is suffering from dissociative identity disorder.”
“MPD?” Sunset asked.
“That’s the old name for it, yes,” the doctor said. “I assume you’re familiar with it?”
“I’ve read up on it a bit,” Sunset said. She had, in the days after her possession, if only to make sure that it wasn’t the deepest part of herself that had come out, and that she’d been taken over by some sort of malevolent spirit. To this day she wasn’t really sure, though she assumed that it had been the case; everything she’d found on Earth pointed that it was more common for people to be possessed than it was for them to become demons in their own right. It never made that fear go away, however.
Looking to Octavia, Feelgood explained, “Multiple personality disorder, like the name before it, split-personality disorder, doesn’t really capture what is going on. And I know there’s that old movie about the Sibyl case and that TV show on cable – The United States of Turnip – but the first was a case in the days when almost nothing was known about this malady, and the latter is just pure fiction. Even the earliest known cases have been reported more in fiction than in reality. But the truth is much different, Octavia.”
“How? Melody wants to kill my family, if not worse.” She remembered vaguely that she – no, Melody – tried to seduce her uncle, and Octavia shivered at the thought. The man was like a father to her, and Melody…. She closed her eyes as hard as she could, squeezing her hands tightly until she could feel her grip crushing Sunset’s fingers. “Sorry,” she said as Sunset pulled her fingers back, wincing.
“I’ll be okay, Tavi,” Sunset said.
“Doctor, please continue,” Velvet said.
“I don’t think that’s the case. From what your aunt told me, you have a very conflicted relationship with your parents, and your grandmother is trying to orchestrate conflict between you and your namesake cousins, just as she has done with her daughters, am I right?” Octavia nodded, and Feelgood smiled. “You are not the only one who has that sort of issue, you see. I was just reading in one of the medical journals about a boy in the UK with a similar case. They called him Kid A. He was the son of a nobleman whose father had passed away and the mother, sadly, was pitting her sons against each other to see who would take care of her in her dotage. Kid A apparently snapped and created a second pseudo-self that the journal referred to as Kid B. Kid A was a bright, conscientious and talented child. Kid B, while not exactly a hoodlum, had much looser mores, drank and got into fights. The whole thing came to a head when Kid A’s girlfriend saw his practical change and instead of leaving him when he did something foolish, worked to get him help. The end of it is that with the right treatment and counseling, Kid A was cured, and while the journal didn’t say whether or not he inherited his father’s estate, I believe he got something far more important out of it: peace of mind.
“As my discussion with your aunt has revealed, your life has always been turbulent and in many ways preordained. Even with the impending adoption of the young lady here, you feel like your place is being cut away from the family you were raised with, even though you know that’s not the case. Your parents are on the other side of the world, and you feel abandoned. And your grandmother has not been the nurturing matron that she should be, but instead an enemy trying to drive a wedge into her family, am I correct?” Octavia looked at him in shock, and he gave her a warm smile. “So it’s natural that your mind would assign a way for you to act out your impulses without harming those you love. And that part of your mind is Melody, rationalized by your uncommon medical condition – we checked both bloodtypes, for the record.”
“But Melody – and Uncle Night!” she blurted, her cheeks flaming.
Feelgood looked at Velvet. “Is there something I missed?”
Sunset reached over and took Octavia’s hand again. “You don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to.”
Octavia nodded, acknowledging Sunset’s words, but continued anyway. “Melody tried to seduce my uncle. Came on strong. Wore clothing I didn’t even know I owned. And she destroyed my room there, and everything in it, including my musical instruments. The only thing she didn’t destroy, strangely enough, was the bass guitar that my cousins got me for last Christmas.”
“I see. Well, I would have to speak to your family further on this, but my ballpark guess is that your mind was compensating for a romantic relationship gone bad, and with the Melody part of your mind being the one demanding control, you were looking for someone who had traits that you see in your uncle, am I right?” Octavia looked down both in embarrassment and out of not being sure what to say.
“Then how can I fight her?” Octavia said, nearly sotto voce. “She lashed out at my aunt, Dr. Zecora and Dr. Posey. And I did something to Dr. Posey that I wouldn’t have done normally, I’m sure of it. She – Melody – she’s depraved. She’s not me. And I don’t want to be here.” Octavia sobbed, and Velvet reached over to embrace her niece once more.
“It will be a long journey, Octavia and it won’t be easy. And the journey starts in two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” Velvet asked.
“Yes. You asked for our best specialist, and she was also requested by Drs. Zecora and Posey. Unfortunately, as the senior medical specialist here, she’s also busy with the medical efforts in the hurricane-affected areas. However, I’m confident that her schedule should be open then. In the meanwhile, I’m going to prescribe 100mg of Malarson – it’s a vastly improved version of mesoridazine that’s very effective in potential cases of schizophrenia. It should keep things in check until your regular doctor can see you. However, there are some side effects that I should warn you about.”
“Side effects?” Octavia said in a soft voice.
Feelgood nodded. “Yes. You may feel lethargic for a few, and prone to some untimely behavior – I know that schizophrenia normally acts as such behavior, but Malarson has been very effective against cases of DID where one of the facets shows violent or aberrant behavior.”
“So you’re going to give Tavi a drug that is meant to stop her dark side – whose side effects essentially make her act out her worst impulses?” Sunset asked, astonished.
“Normally the chances are really small, and any side effects are felt in less than two percent of those taking it,” Feelgood assured them. “But the truth is, due to Octavia’s, ahem, ‘unique biology’, most drugs would not work well. Plus, there was a case in Australia where someone who was also a medical chimera took the drug for similar reasons and had a successful treatment, which is why I recommend this drug. I’m honestly not sure that anything else would work, given your two bloodstreams.”
“I see,” Octavia said, her voice the tone of a forsaken woman.
This is great! Lakefront stretched out after having set her campground by the shores of Lake Shasta. She’d be here for a few days, away from everyone and everything, and she was okay with that. With the hurricane having done serious damage to parts of the Canterlot Metro Area, it meant that no one would be looking for her for a while, which was perfectly fine with her – those she lived with weren’t likely to miss the camping equipment that she’d taken.
Lakefront looked at the late afternoon sky and sighed. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. If things had been different, she would still live with her parents in their house in Northside. But then there was the car accident last year, and suddenly she had to live with extended family, namely her aunt Crystal Dream and her uncle Pennywise over in Bella Vista. And she was very sure that they cared about her, or as much as they could given that she was a fifth wheel in a family already composed of four older teenagers. But with her cousin Luminescent Star in college, her other cousin Tiger Stripe off at Army bootcamp and the youngest of her cousins, the twins Sapphire and Opal getting ready for college, there wasn’t enough to keep Lakefront in the lifestyle that she’d been used to. And she couldn’t attend Northside High any longer, and she wasn’t adjusting well to Mountain View High.
She wasn’t abused or neglected in any way. And she knew that her aunt Crystal and Uncle Penny did everything they could to try to keep her life stable. But they didn’t have the means that her parents did, and that money was tied up in a trust that wouldn’t mature until she was 26. So she was stuck with this life and all the emptiness that came with it. Even her so-called best friends in her old school, Corriander and Brightstreak, no longer had time for her. And the people at her new school thought she was stuck up – they even called her ‘Sunset Shimmer’, whatever that was supposed to mean.
But here, Lakefront could commune with nature. She loved nature. A lot. She’d inherited her love of the outdoors from her father, Blue Ocean; and her love of artistry from her mother, Natural Tone. Out here she could paint the outdoors, create and enjoy the world for what it was. At least until her aunt and uncle got back from visiting Luminescent over in North Carolina.
She giggled. Who knew? Maybe she’d even meet a guy.
“Oh, wow, I didn’t think anyone else would be here!” Lakefront turned to see a girl with short hair the colors of a rave, sunglasses, a camisole and shorts. “Hi!”
“Hello,” Lakefront said, giving the girl a friendly wave. “So what brings you here?”
“Oh, adventure, excitement, stuff like that,” the girl said. “I’m the kind of gal who likes her peaks and valleys, and I’ll do anything to get my fix, you know?”
Not catching the double entendre, Lakefront said, “Yeah, I like nature as well. Planning to be a nature artist and photographer when I grow up. You?”
“Eh, probably a porn star,” the other girl said with a laugh. Lakefront thought it was an odd joke, but she guessed from the way that the other girl was laughing, it was a probably a private in-joke she’d said aloud.
“Well, I was just about to get a campfire started and cook some hot dogs. You’re welcome to join me. You brought some stuff?”
“Yeah, it’s back in my car, just a quarter mile back, but I’ll go get it before sun sets. I’d rather appreciate the view I have now.”
Lakefront smiled; this girl totally understood her. It was a shame, because she’d never connected with anyone like this before. Too bad she’s a girl; she seems like total boyfriend material otherwise. “Anyway, nice to meet you,” Lakefront said, extending a hand.
The girl reached and shook. “Medley Trance. And you know what?”
“What?”
“You’re mine.”
From a distance, Canzione Burst set down the binoculars and looked away in disgust, ignoring the screams for help in the distance. “We’re actually going to let her do that, Alto?”
Sitting on the hood of their rental car and reading from a tablet, Contralto Rush sighed. “Do you want to deal with ‘Oh, Canzy, I haven’t fucked in thirty whole seconds! Please find me someone to fuck! Please?’ Personally, I’ll just let her work out her urges on that girl. Besides, from what the prince said, so long as it’s not heterosexual sex, it doesn’t count towards the virginity factor.”
“You know that’s sick as shit,” Canzione said. “I don’t put up with much, but this is the limit of what I’m willing to put up with.”
Alto reached over and grabbed Canzione’s binoculars, and looked through them. “Wow, I was not aware she’d go that far,” the Black Team leader muttered. She then set down the binoculars and said, “Truthfully, me neither. But Med’s one of us, quirks and all, and we just have to put up with this until tomorrow before we get some much-needed R&R.”
“But this? Fuck, Alto, it’s like Med’s perpetually in heat nowadays, like she’s some literal Goddamn bitch looking for her next screw!”
“Well, I’m not in the mood to deal with it,” Contralto said. “You want to stop her, you can go out there yourself. Just don’t blame me when it turns into a threesome.”
Canzione watched, sans binoculars, as in the vague distance, a girl with bright hair threw another one into the tent. From the looks of it, the other girl was unconscious. “No thanks,” she muttered. “I’m not that stupid.”
“I’m not hungry.” Sunset watched as Octavia walked upstairs, ghostlike, towards her battered bedroom.
“Do you want me to bring you something later?” Sunset asked her cousin.
“No. I just want you to….” Octavia never finished the sentence and instead continued walking up the stairs.
“Tavi, nothing’s going to happen. I trust you,” Sunset said. “You won’t hurt me.”
“You’re right. I won’t hurt you, Sunny. But I’m afraid as hell that Melody will.” Nothing more to say, Octavia walked into the room and shut the door.
Watching the interaction, Velvet looked at her daughter and said, “It’s going to be okay, Sunny. We’re going to make sure she gets well.”
“I know, Mom. I just hate to see her like that.”
“I know. Anyway, I think we should have a family meeting tonight, so I’m going to order Chinese. Moo goo gai pan okay?”
“Yeah, sure. Do you want me to let Dad know?”
Velvet shook her head. “I want you to let Twily know.”
Sunset seemed to slump even further. “Mom, I’m not sure she wants to talk to me.”
“Sweetheart, you are the older one. You should be the bigger person and try to make things right with her. I know Twily’s being a bit childish right now, but that’s likely just because of the big changes coming in a couple of weeks.”
Sunset folded her arms and gave Velvet a look of disbelief. “The child psychologist at work?”
“No, just your mother,” Velvet said with a smile.
Sunset walked up to Twilight’s room and knocked. “Twily?”
“Not here, especially for supposed-older-sisters-who-lie-to-their-younger-ones!” Twilight shouted back through the door.
“Twily, not now, please? I need to talk to you about Tavi.”
Twilight immediately cracked opened the door. “Is she okay? I mean, I’m worried about her, given that she actually loves me, unlike someone who’s su—”
“Twilight, I don’t have time for this,” Sunset growled. “We need to talk.”
“Fine,” Twilight grumbled, opening the door and inviting Sunset in. The plum-haired teen sat as far away from her sister as she could, and Sunset, taking the hint, used the seat at Twilight’s desk. “Start talking.”
The next few minutes were of Sunset’s recollection of what had happened, and what Octavia was going through. As Sunset explained the horrors their cousin felt, Twilight eventually softened, hugging a pillow in worry. Sunset finished up with, “And she’s on 100mg of Malarson for the time being, but I’m worried about the side effects. We need to keep an eye on her while we’re in Modesto. Our parents are counting on us.”
“I’ll let her know I’m there for her,” Twilight said. She then told Sunset about her meeting with the other girls, leaving the part out about their confrontation. She mentioned the reservations and that she and Rainbow had worked out an essential plan of events for the group.
“Thanks. I appreciate the update. I’ll get out of your hair now, at least until after dinner.”
Sunset got out of her chair and was about to leave, when Twilight spoke, her voice wavering and fragile. “Why did you lie to me?” the younger teen asked. “Worse, why are the others lying to protect you? Applejack isn’t the kind of girl that lies, and even I got the feeling she was hiding something from me.”
“Twily, it’s not—”
Twilight began to cry. “Why don’t you trust me, sis? I would do anything for you and you know that. You are my older sister, ever since we met! I knew even before Mom and Dad did that you would always be a part of us! So why do you keep separating yourself?”
Sunset looked at her sister, her own eyes stinging. “Twily…it’s not that easy.”
“So that you’ll tell our friends, but not your family?”
“Because you’re not ready.” The words came, unbidden, from Sunset’s mouth, and though she was just as shocked that she said them, they weren’t something she could retract. “Because you won’t believe.”
“What? I am your sister, and I’m there for you!” Twilight said, getting to her feet and standing on the bed. “I’m not afraid of what you’re hiding, Sunny! Whether it’s that you were abused as a child, or you’re a siblieger—”
“A what?”
“A siblieger. A child born of incest.”
The look of shock on Sunset’s face was one to behold. “Twily, I never knew my parents. If I was one, I sure as hell don’t know.”
“Then tell me!” Twilight pled. “I hate what this thing is between us, sis! That…damned secret that keeps you from us! It’s like I’m reaching out to grab your hand, but there’s a transparent wall between my hand and yours, and I don’t know if you’re trying to tear that wall down…or keep it up at all costs!”
“Twily, you just won’t understand, okay?” Sunset retorted. “There are things that your mind just won’t wrap around, Twily, because I know you! You think there’s only one way of seeing the world, when there are so many others!”
Twilight leapt off the bed and glomped Sunset, nearly knocking her over. “Don’t say that, because I don’t believe it! Why do you want to keep pushing us away? How can you be my sister – really be my sister – when you’re treating me like a stranger?”
Sunset then said something – the wrong words.
“Because you’re too blind to see the colors of the world, Twily – you only see the scientific data.”
To Sunset’s surprise, her sister suddenly pushed her off with a look of anger on her face. “Get out,” a voice, suddenly angry, growled into Sunset’s shirt.
“Twily….” Sunset began, but any further words were met with a sudden slap to Sunset’s face.
Twilight looked up at her with amethysts of rage. “GET OUT!” she yelled.
Sunset looked at her sister, with a look of betrayal, feeling the sting of her cheek and her hand going to it and the burning of her eyes as tears came as well. Without saying anything further, the older teen ran from the room, crying.
The younger sister collapsed to the ground, heartbroken and unable to do anything more than bawl her eyes out for what she felt she was about to lose.
In the depths of space, four worlds began their continued march towards their places, their Harmonic Convergence nigh.
From somewhere beyond, a dark voice gleefully laughed. Soon, it told its owner. Soon….