//------------------------------// // GARO: The Blade of Truth // Story: The Rejected Ideas Bin // by Darkened Paradise //------------------------------// GARO: The Blade of Truth The cold winter winds blew across her face, yet she didn't care. There she was, standing a top of Canterlot High School, in little more than her uniform, alone and unloved by the very people she had thought were friends. There were days when Sunset Shimmer really wanted to throw out everything Princess Twilight Sparkle had taught her. This was one of those days. Her amber eyes looked down below, as various students began leaving the building for the Winter Holiday. She would have happily walked among them, laughing and joking, but the past few days had been nothing but scorn and bullying towards her. Who were once friendly faces were now scowling bullies. Those who had happily accepted her presence now pushed her away at any opportunity. Any chance of having a social life was gone. All thanks to an account called, 'Anon-A-Miss'. It was baffling, concerning, and, to Sunset, generally terrifying how fast this person worked. At first, it was simple things, like posting embarrassing pictures and making a small quip, generally getting a laugh out of people. But then those pictures got more and more private, and the quips attached more savage. From calling a person out because of sexuality to even revealing the private family affairs, this 'Anon-A-Miss' spared no one...except her. Which led her to where she stood. The moment 'Anon-A-Miss' started touching on private matters, immediate suspicion was thrown on Sunset. Despite her protests, despite her actions in the past to make amends, nothing spared her from the wrath of student body. People stole from her. Some had pushed her off her feet. ALL the while, the teachers watched and did nothing, since their secrets were exposed too. All of that would have been fine with her...had Sunset still had the support of her friends. Unfortunately, they were the first to be attacked, and thus, they were the first to abandon her. The betrayal, not even a week old, had made the world lose what Princess Twilight Sparkle had to tried to show her. The world was a colder, more vicious place that the Princess could have ever predicted. And Sunset was all alone in it. Shivering slightly at the cold, she sat herself down at bench and sighed, bringing her hands to her mouth to warm them. She only had to wait a few more hours so the custodians could do their rounds, and then they would leave, leaving Sunset alone in the school. During her first year, Sunset had swiped a custodians key chain, giving her access to every room in the building. As she practically lived there, she made it a practice to stay outside and pose as a random club member so they would go about their jobs and leave. They didn't ask questions about her (Principle Celestia would have surely called her out on this years ago she or her sister Vice-Principal Luna found out), and that was exactly what Sunset wanted right now. As she watched the last custodian leave for the holidays, Sunset allowed herself a small sigh of relief. At least, for tonight, she could take solace in the fact that at least nothing else could make things any worse for her. Sadly, nothing would go her way that night. -----*----- A hooded figure walked up to the school gates, leaping over the metal grating as they did so. Clad in a black leather coat with silver and blue linings, including an obsidian pendant that held a gold and silver triangle that had a blood red ruby in its center. Frowning, the hooded figure pulled out a small ornate golden lighter with a golden eagle eye in its center. Flickering it on, they winced as a plume of dark blue flames burst from wick and swarmed their gloved hand, before letting out a small wail as they flicked it shut. “So, its here?” a raspy voice asked. The hooded figure raised their left hand and looked down, where a small dragon head glared back at them. Made out of silver, the dragon snorted the flames down its nostrils and let out a dark chuckle. “Yeah, its here alright.” “Can you specifically pinpoint where it is, Batzsu?” the hooded one asked, looking around. “With all the negativity in the air, its nigh impossible,” the jewelry piece said, its emerald eyes scanning the area. “You of all people should know that the Horrors love a place like this. Hell, I'm surprised you even took the job, given your closeness to this place.” “Not my fault the Watch Dog finally took notice of the madness,” the hooded figured replied, pocketing their lighter. “Given the amount of drama that's been floating around, I'm surprised there hasn't been any Horror activity earlier.” “The Watch Dog can hardly be blamed, given all the other strange mishaps that's been going on,” Batzsu countered. “I mean, magic pony princesses from another dimension? Singing demons that mind control others with their song? You have to admit, that sounds like something that crawled out of a kid's cartoon.” “And I go around every other night, wear a flashy costume and kill eldritch abominations,” the hooded figure snarked back. “But like I told you, Subaru and even the Watch Dog, I was there and had it not been for the Subaru's mind clearing techniques, I wouldn't be standing here,” the hooded figure almost yelled. Shaking their head, they sighed and said, “Regardless, lets just get this over with.” With Batzsu going silent, the hooded figure walked through the school doors. As soon as the door closed, the walls started to glow with and purple flames, effectively locking them in. “I guess it knows we're here,” the hooded figure said dryly, flexing his wrists and grabbing onto a pair of silver tomahawks that emerged from his sleeves. Each one had a head the shape of a crescent moon, and the handles were dark blue with silver finishes. Smirking, they readjusted themselves into a fighting stance, just as a black puddle formed before them. The puddle spat out several black skeletal monsters with angel wings, each of them screeching a loud, ear piercing shriek. “Well, time to work,” the hooded figured said, a rushing into the crowd. ----*----- Sunset sighed as she picked on at her dinner; nothing more than a simple salad and bread roll that she had stolen from the cafeteria's kitchens. Looking around at the teacher's lounge, she halfheartedly looked at her phone, only to wince at the sight of yet another post made by 'Anon-A-Miss'. Without even bothering to look at it, threw her phone against the wall, not caring that it shattered into a dozen pieces. Having lost her appetite, she grabbed an a nearby coat from the teacher's closet and went for a walk. As she stomped along the dark hallways, her ears picked up on the sound of steel clashing against steel. Her curiosity over-riding her sense of self-perseverance, she walked towards the source, only to gape in surprise at the sight before her. Several demonic looking black creatures surrounded some random person in a leather trench coat. Each creature was snarling and screeching, which made Sunset wince at the sheer volume, but the hooded person acted unaffected as they brandished two similarly shaped tomahawks. Finally, one of the demonic creatures lunged, and the battle truly started. Catching the attacker with a one slash, the hooded figure pivoted and flung one of their axes in the opposite direction, as he dealt with the one creature that had lunged by using both hands on their remaining tomahawk to bring the hardened steel down onto the creature's neck. In one fluid motion, they yanked the monster's head clean off and went after another, leaping forward as he twisted his body to catch the returning tomahawk and bring both down onto another monster's back, slicing off its wings in the process. “What?” Sunset asked no one in particular, as she stared at the combat taking place before her. “What is going on here?” Her eyes widened as one of the monsters' wing like ears twitched, and nearly cried out in fear in as it turned towards her and lunged. Before she could even react, it had her by her throat and pinned against a wall. Despite that, Sunset could only focus on the creature's teeth, dripping with some pale green ichor as it drew closer to her. 'Is this where it ends!?' Sunset thought frantically to herself, clutching the bony appendage as she tried to kick it off. Her mind flashed back to the end of the everything she had done, ranging from tyrannical hold of the student body, to her second fall from grace. She felt every memory start to fracture, and slowly start to turn to dust. “No,” she gasped weakly, trying to maintain her consciousness. “I don't want it to end...not like this.” She faintly heard the call of the hooded figure and their steps rushing towards her. “Not...NOT LIKE THIS!” Sunset yelled, as her hands seemingly exploded with red hot energy. The monster shrieked in pain as it dropped her unceremoniously, only to be cut down by the hooded figure with both tomahawks. “What are you still doing here?” the hooded figure asked, throwing both weapons in an arc that cut down two more. “After all, schools closed for the holidays, don't you know?” After catching both weapons, the hooded figured turned to Sunset, only to gasp, “Wait, you?!” “PAY ATTENTION!” yelled a garbled, raspy voice that Sunset couldn't immediately place. Looking up, Sunset almost called out in shock the last remaining creature made a last ditch effort to get a sneak attack on her hooded 'ally', only for them to catch the claw with one weapon and immediately decapitate the it with the other. “Thanks, Batzsu,” the hooded figure said with a small wince, pointedly trying to not look in Sunset's direction. “How many more are there?” “That was most of them, but its definitely not the last of them,” the raspy voice responded. “Wait, kid! The source of the negative energy! Its her!” Letting out an aggravated sigh, the hooded person grumbled, “Of course she is. With all the Anon-A-Miss crap going on, it'd be a miracle if she wasn't.” “Um, who are you?” Sunset asked, wincing as she pulled herself to her feet. “What are you? And who are you even talking to?” “Oi, girlie, now ain't the time!” the raspy voice snarled. “Get outta her and run!” “What Batzsu said,” the hooded person said. Before they could say anything else, the sound of cracking and snapping caught their attentions. Turning to the source, Sunset gaped in terror as the broken and beaten bodies of the slain monsters turned into a puddle of black goo and merge together. As they combined, a giant claw shot forth from the puddle, dragging out a black furred creature with the body of a lion, the tail of scorpion's stinger and the head of of wolf. “What a pain,” the raspy voice said. “Girlie, get outta here now!” The hooded figure said nothing, bringing both his axes together. As the two snapped weapons snapped together, the blades extended forward with click and the handles extended. With the newly formed scythe in their hands, the hooded figure raised the blade in the air and traced a circle with its blade. To Sunset's surprise, the blade left behind a trail of light that shimmered, only for the blade to pierce its center, showering the hooded figure with a soft white light. In a flash of light, the hooded figure was replaced by a slim figure in dark midnight blue armor, whose overall motif reminded her that of an eagle. (Well, an eagle with a more demonic twist to it. What eagle had a mouth full of sharp, jagged teeth and blood red eyes?) The scythe rested on their shoulder, and it bowed low, ready to pounce at a moments notice. “What is going on here?” Sunset whispered, having made her way to the other side of the hallway, as she peeked out from over the corner. Before she had any answer, the chimera like creature lunged at the newly armored figure, and two went flying through the hall. Rushing to catch up, she could only stop and stare as the Eagle Knight easily slashed away at the chimera's claws, never-minding the fact that its' black blood flew everywhere with each slash. To Sunset's horror, the blood of the creature dissolved everything and anything it touched. The Eagle Knight visibly winced as the blood splashed over several nearby cars, dissolving them into molten piles of mush. “Dammit, gotta end this thing quickly,” he muttered. “Batzsu, time?” “You got another 30 seconds left!” the voice known as Batzsu shouted. “Stop playing around and finish it already!” “Got it!” the Eagle Knight yelled back. With a roar, the Eagle knight shot forward like a bullet and brought the scythe down on the creatures neck. Yelling, he yanked down on the scythe, cutting the creature's head. Her body moving on its own, Sunset ran in front of the statue, her only other link to Equestria. She winced as the something viscous and slimy splashed onto her face and chest, but to her confusion, didn't feel any burning pain. Looking up, she froze up in shock when the Eagle Knight raised their scythe and held it against her neck. “Those who are splashed with the blood of a Horror must be cut down,” the knight said, keeping his hand and his voice steady. “I'm sorry, but those are the rules.” “But, I-” Sunset started, only to recoil in fear as the knight reared their arm back. “Don't worry, I'll make it quick and painless,” the knight said, as they brought the scythe down. Just as the blade met her skin, Sunset fell unconscious. ----*----- “So, in all seriousness, why a scythe of all things? Wouldn't it have been easier to use something like a spear or halberd?” Batzsu asked. “Because I like the design and its effective,” came the response, a bit strained since they were carrying Sunset Shimmer's limp form in their arms in a fireman's carry. “Effective!? It took even longer for you to kill the Horror with that farmer's tool than your normal weapons!” Batzsu argued. “Even worse, you got an outsider involved with this mess!” “She'd be involved no matter what I did,” the hooded figure said, pulling back their hood to reveal a boy with a mess of dark spiky hair and a feral, almost hungry grin. “Like you said, she's the source of all the negative energy in the air. The Horror's would've been attracted to her like moths to a flame.” “And splashing her with the blood of the Horror won't attract even more?” Batzsu asked sarcastically. “You're effectively condemning the poor girl.” “It'll be fine. If anything, that'll make the hunt even easier,” the boy said. “Besides, she can protect herself. You saw how she was able to protect herself from my blade at the last second with that strange energy, right?” “Is she part of the mess with all that magic mishaps or whatever it is?” Batzsu asked, actually sounding concerned. “You know the Watch Dog isn't going to be happy when they hear about this, right?” The boy chuckled to himself, before outright laughing. “Batzsu, when have I ever cared what the Watch Dog thought of me?”