Liv and Ravi stared at the dead body on the table in front of them.
“Explain to me again why you need to eat the brain of a man who killed and mutilated four people?” said Ravi.
“Because I think he’s the one who’s been trying to open a portal to Hell and I need to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Liv replied, her fingers already reaching for the bone saw to slice Salvatore Rey’s cranium open.
“But if he’s dead, then why would the portal still be opening?” Ravi asked.
“Good question, maybe his brain can tell me,” said Liv.
Ravi stared for several seconds and then crossed his arms. “I’m reserving my right to say ‘I told you so’ now. I want to go on record stating that I believe this is a bad idea.”
“Noted,” said Liv. She began cutting.
Liv had already eaten her lunch for the day and didn’t have anything left to mix the brains with. She’d rather not eat her brains raw or straight if she could help it. In desperation, she got a package of Pop Tarts out of the vending machine in the hallway and used them as the bread in a brain sandwich. It was even less appetizing than it sounded.
Fortified, however ickily, she made some printouts on the office computer and headed back to Sunset’s apartment.
“There you are,” said Sunset, answering the door.
“Hey,” said Liv, pushing past her. In the living room, she brandished the folder of paperwork she’d brought.
“Show me the runes,” she said. Rarity, holding Twilight’s notebook, obediently opened the cover.
Liv held up a picture she’d printed. She’d taken it herself, weeks ago, when the first of Salvatore Rey’s victims had come across her table. The body was covered in macabre etchings and intricate slices. The pattern in the picture exactly matched the notebook.
Fluttershy turned away, gagging. The others looked nauseous.
“Where did you find these runes?” Liv asked.
“Around the city—” Sunset began.
“What were the runes made with?” Liv cut her off. She wondered what kind of person Salvatore Rey was, aside from a serial killer. Her commands felt almost military, or kingly.
“Some kind of dark paint, though not black,” said Rainbow.
“Blood,” said Liv.
A vision suddenly hit her like a physical blow, yanking her into a memory.
It was dark. Liv stood before a brick wall, a blank canvas waiting for her to write her ultimate revenge.
She picked up a sealed plastic container and opened the lid. The humans called it Tupperware, of all things. It was ugly, crystal would have been much more fitting, but only a short while longer and there would never be Tupperware or humans or free ponies ever again.
Liv looked down into the container. It was full of blood, still warm. She dipped a paintbrush in it and began to write on the wall. The language was nothing that had ever been seen on Earth, but she knew every word. There wasn’t magic in it, not just yet. But she wasn’t finished yet.
“Liv! You all right?” Applejack shook Liv’s arm.
“Yes!” Liv said, a little too loudly. She blinked, glancing at the others around her. To change the subject, she asked, “How many of these written runes did you find?”
“Just at two sites,” said Sunset.
“Show me on a map.”
Rarity took a Seattle Scene magazine out of her purse and opened it on the table. The map within that listed the trendiest restaurants and nightclubs was not ideal, but the group of them were able to pinpoint the places the runes had been found, mostly back alleys and secluded places., pointing out on the map.
“Salvatore Rey killed four people,” said Liv. “Besides the two sites you found, there are two more out there.”
“Wait, who?” said Rainbow.
“Seattle PD shot him a few days ago,” said Liv. “He’d carved these same runes in the bodies of his victims. I knew as soon as I saw them the case was related to what your girls found.”
“Well, if he’s dead, then what’s the problem?” said Applejack.
“We don’t know that was the end of it,” said Liv. “I’d just like to be sure.”
“Well, okay,” said Sunset. “Where do you think we should go?”
“Let’s start where the other two bodies were found,” said Liv.
The girls got up and headed for the door. Liv was last in line. Her eyes fell on the coffee table, where the decorative crystals rested. On impulse, she grabbed one up and shoved it in her pocket.
The group of them drove to the first scene. The body itself was long gone, but they were looking for something else. After a few minutes of searching, Fluttershy found the runes on a wall a block from the crime scene.
The message was more of the same. Liv could have told the others what the runes actually said, but didn’t think they wanted to hear.
“Should we...do something with it?” said Rarity. “Take it down or paint over it or something?”
“We don’t have any paint or anything,” said Sunset. “And community service aside, just covering it up might not do anything. This is magic we’re dealing with.”
“Why don’t we track down all of these first and then come back to do something about them later?” suggested Liv.
They traveled to the next scene and uncovered the next inscription. Rarity added it to the improvised map. “There.”
She showed the page to them. The four locations formed a trapezoid, with the longer side facing west.
“I thought it was going to form some kind of pattern,” said Rainbow.
“It does, it’s just not complete,” said Liv. “It’s a—”
“Pentagram,” Sunset broke in.
Liv looked at her and Sunset glanced away. Good, she should know her place, breaking in like that. Liv went on. “So that means the fifth point is…”
Her finger traced over the map and came to rest in the middle of Elliot Bay, west of city center.
“We’ll just get a boat and go out there and stop whatever is going down,” said Rainbow.
“We’ll just get a boat?” said Applejack, cocking an eyebrow.
“Rarity probably has a yacht, or at least knows someone who does.”
They all looked at Rarity. She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Yes, I do.”
“But why do we want to go out there?” said Fluttershy.
Applejack turned to Liv. “Didn’t you say there were four bodies? Does that mean the fifth point of this pentagram thing was never completed?”
“We don’t know that for sure,” said Liv. Though, even as she said it, she knew that she did in fact know it. But she also knew she wanted to go out there, just to be sure.
Or did she? Liv had been first bitten by a zombie at a boat party. That alone would have been reason enough not to go. To say nothing of retracing Salvatore Reys footsteps. Reliving his memories was getting to be quite enough.
“I think we should go,” said Sunset. “Just in case there’s something out there we need to deal with.”
Rainbow and Pinkie agreed. The other three did not. Sunset turned to Liv. “What do you think? You’ve taken us this far.”
“I think…” Liv tipped on the edge of decision “...we should go.”
That settled, they drove down to the marina and Rarity showed them to her family boat. It was a rather nice cabin cruiser, more than big enough for the seven of them.
Rarity, fortunately, seemed to know how to sail it quite well, and got them pointed out into the bay. The setting sun was in their eyes, but they persevered. Rarity compared their roughly drawn map to the boat’s GPS.
The coordinates from a makeshift drawing in a magazine were not going to be exact. Plus, none of them knew what they might be looking for out in the middle of the bay, so it was setting up to be a long cruise, trolling back and forth until they either found something or satisfied themselves that there was nothing to be found.
Liv sat in the center of the boat, hands folded in her lap. If the others noticed her nervousness, they didn’t comment.
They kept watch at the rails, looking for anything that might appear to be related to a ritual murder spell. On the calm water of the bay, that didn’t amount to much. Plus, as the afternoon and evening wore on, the sun sank lower and lower.
“Maybe we should call this off,” said Sunset eventually. “We can come back tomorrow.”
“Not only that, but this totally feels like the kind of nasty magic that would come to life after dark,” added Pinkie.
They all seemed to be in agreement, though Liv wanted to stay longer. There was no telling what might happen if they just left the potentially-already-completed spells where somebody could find them.
Rarity turned the boat around, squinting into the darkness ahead, the twilight of the sun sunken behind the horizon. That made the sudden underwater glow directly ahead of them all the more noticeable.
“Look out!” Applejack shouted and pointed. “Turn!”
Rarity swung the wheel and the boat slipped to the side of the strange light. It seemed to be green, and growing brighter. The group of them all crowded over to the side of the boat for a better look.
“I knew this was a bad idea,” mumbled Fluttershy.
Liv agreed with her, but a deeper sense of curiosity and excitement took over. She’d never seen anything like this before. There was no telling what could happen next.
Her sense of personal safety and fight or flight had changed quite a bit since becoming a zombie. She crept closer to the railing, but stayed behind the others. She could clearly see that there was something beneath the surface of the water, but couldn’t tell what it was.
The answer resolved itself as the water bubbled and two giant crystals emerged like icebergs. They rose up, higher than the boat and each several feet wide, glowing from within with a green light. A tingle of pure power vibrated through the air, a feeling that Liv instinctively knew.
“I thought he was dead!” said Sunset, looking at Liv. “How did the spell get finished?”
Liv was beginning to understand that magic was not something that operated with clearly defined laws and rules. There had been murders at the four previous sites. While not exactly the intent of the spell, technically Liv herself was a dead body. Apparently that was close enough.
“We should shut this down,” said Liv. Even as she said it, though, the words sounded hollow. It was the equivalent of reading about an atrocity in the newspaper and saying, Somebody should do something.
“What are we supposed to do?” Rainbow demanded.
“We could certainly try ponying up,” suggested Rarity.
At her word, the others started to change. Despite the darkening night and sinister crystal, friendly rainbow light illuminated the area as the six of them went through their magical transformations.
“How...do I do that?” Liv asked.
“You did it earlier!” said Sunset.
“Accidentally!” Liv argued. “This isn’t me. I’m not…” she gestured “...you.”
“Just look inside,” Pinkie counseled. “You know what you want and you’ve got the power within you to make it happen.”
Liv closed her eyes. She felt for the magic to which she had recently become attuned. She focused on the important things: the people around her, the crystal protruding from the lake, the mission she had to complete.
Opening her eyes, she immediately knew something had gone wrong. Occasionally, when under acute stress or facing a threat to survival, Liv had gone into what she’d termed “full-on zombie mode.” It was typically characterized by boosted strength, dulled pain, enhanced aggression, and blood-red eyes.
This was much worse.
Liv’s unzipped sweatshirt was tight across her broader shoulders and longer limbs. It felt like the middle of her forehead was glowing with power, sweeping her hair along with the updraft. Her fingers had elongated into claws, but Liv barely had time to notice them before her attention was swept away by the huge pair of batlike wings stretching up from her shoulderblades. With everything else going on, it took her a moment to notice the almost liquid shadow streaming from her like a cloak.
“Who are you!?” Sunset demanded, bending her knees and raising her fists. “What have you done with Liv?”
They didn’t even think it was her any more. Fear surged through Liv’s chest. They would find out what she really was and then what would they think of her? She thought she’d discovered real friendship with these girls, but there was no way they would accept her as a zombie, much less whatever she’d turned into now.
She put up her hands, trying to explain her way out, but purple magic erupted from them and the crystals glowed brighter. Not what Liv had intended, but it would help with a distraction.
However, an arc of purple flashed between the two crystals, widening into a disk, and then a hole right there in the air. It was like looking into a window, one that led straight to Hell.
Despite their best efforts, they’d failed to stop the spell. In fact, Liv realized, she might have actually triggered it.
There was no time for that line of thought, though, as the residents of the other side of the portal noticed their new escape hole. Monsters of every type and quite a few that defied description roared and started towards them.
At least the girls weren’t focused on Liv now, though that didn’t solve either problem. The boat wasn’t big enough to fight on, and as the group took up stances to face the new threat, Rainbow inadvertently knocked Liv overboard with a wing slap to the face.
It was more an involuntary reaction than anything else, Liv’s wings popped open and caught her before she even got wet. Turning, she saw the portal to Tartarus was still open, and it wasn’t clear if the girls were going to be able to defend it.
Part of her wanted to see what would happen, to let the monsters loose. She’d seen her share of Seattle’s darker side, and there were people, bad people, who deserved to see what real hell looked like. People like Salvatore Rey—
Live shook her head. No, his name was King Sombra. He knew what petty thieves and murderers were like, and how none of them deserved even a fraction of their ill-gotten gains. He would show them what true power was like. He—
—was not her! Her name was Olivia Moore! She was afraid of boats, she was a doctor, and she didn’t let her zombieism make her a bad person. She was not Sombra, and while she wasn’t Twilight Sparkle either, she definitely knew who she preferred.
But neither one of them were here. Liv may have eaten their respective brains, but she was still her own person. And it was Liv who wasn’t going to let this invasion happen.
The others had arrayed themselves against the oncoming wave of monsters. If they were surprised that Liv joined them, there was no time to show it.
Needless to say, it was Liv’s first experience using magic offensively, but it seemed to do what she willed it. Having no other focus point, she used her hands and blasted something ugly with tentacles back from the portal.
“The harmony magic to connect us isn’t working!” shouted Sunset. “I don’t know if we can close the portal without it!”
“It’s because she ain’t Twilight!” said Applejack.
“She’s still our friend!” Fluttershy told the others.
It took Liv a moment to realize who they were talking about. Did they really believe that? Even if she was a zombie? Even if she was...whatever she was now?
A voice in the back of her head darkly suggested that people lied all the time. After they were done with Tartarus, they would then turn on Liv.
Long experience had taught Liv not to trust voices in her head, though. Twilight Sparkle was a rare exception. What would Twilight do?
She would stand with the people doing right, even if she didn’t know them very well. She would never miss a chance to make new friends.
And if that came with the chance to wield magic against the forces of Hell, Ravi would never forgive her if she didn't jump at the opportunity.
The various flashes of rainbow light from all sides drove the monsters back from the portal, but how long could they hold it? Liv tried to think of anything that could give them an advantage. The dark voice in the back of her mind whispered about the crystal.
The crystal Liv had taken from Sunset’s! She didn’t know why at the time, but apparently Sombra thought it could be a weapon. Liv got a free hand and pulled it out of her pocket. She sought out Sombra’s expertise, demanding an answer.
Just like the crystals that had risen out of the lake, the one in her hand could absorb and channel a tremendous amount of energy. If she could use that, it might be a way to shut down the portal.
She wrapped her claws around it, envisioning the power flowing in. The ordinary crystal started to glow with an unnatural light, tinged purple like Liv’s magic. It got brighter and brighter, even her eyes were forced to squint.
A growing feeling of unease began to overtake Liv. There was more magic than she had anticipated, more than she thought she had been using. Where was it coming from? She looked up. The portal! The crystals were channeling energy into the one in her hand much faster than the structure could handle.
She had to get rid of it, and fast. Even the others had noticed the blinding light. Liv put her foot on the edge of the boat and stepped up, spreading her wings. She hurled the crystal forward, directly at the portal, as it began to overload.
There was an even brighter flash, so bright it negated Liv’s closed eyelids, and a tremendous explosion. It knocked Liv backwards, slamming her onto her back in the bottom of the boat.
Liv convulsed, in pain and trying to get up. But she realized there was no need. The crystal spires and the portal between them had been completely destroyed. After a moment, tiny fragments of crystal began to drop into the water around them like heavy raindrops.
The girls seemed fine. They’d been further from the explosion and shielded by Liv’s form. She looked up and saw them all crowded around her. Liv immediately covered herself, though if she was still transformed it would do little good. She checked and saw that the wings and claws had gone.
But that wasn’t what everyone was looking at. Liv followed their eyes and found a hole in her stomach the size of a golf ball, presumably caused by a shard of exploding crystal. She quickly pulled her sweatshirt over it and sat up.
“You’re hurt!” said Rarity, quite unnecessarily. All of them crowded around Liv, trying to help.
“I’m fine!” Liv insisted, scrambling backwards and getting up, still hugging herself.
“She’s not bleeding,” Applejack observed, eyes narrowing.
They’d stopped trying to get close, respecting Liv’s space. Was it fear she saw in their eyes? No, she realized. It was concern. For her.
“You’re really fine?” said Fluttershy.
“I’ll...I’ll live.”
That seemed to break the tension. Rainbow said, “Well, whatever you are, that was totally awesome!”
“Rainbow!” Rarity admonished. “It’s not about what she is, er,” Rarity turned to Liv apologetically “whatever you are, dear.”
“We’re cool with that.” Sunset faltered, and then blurted, “I’m not even human! I’m a unicorn.”
Liv nodded, appreciative of their efforts to redirect conversation. “So was Twilight. I...I know I’m a poor replacement for her.”
Sunset bowed her head. “Twilight can’t be replaced, and we’ll all miss her, but new friends can make it hurt less. I want to thank you for standing by us, Liv.”
“I’m glad to,” said Liv, meaning it more than a formality.
The conversation lulled. Liv looked out over the water, taking in the city lights in the distance. “So I suppose we all have a lot of talking to do after this.”
“Only if you want to,” said Sunset.
Liv considered it. “Why don’t we get coffee and see what happens.”
Sunset blinked. “Coffee? It’s eight p.m.”
Liv laughed. “You haven’t been in Seattle that long, have you? It’s all right. I have a feeling that this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship.”