A massive boom ripped behind Twilight and she turned to see the result of Tirek’s energy blast. To her horror, her and Spike’s home – the town library and de facto palace – was torn to shreds. Burning pieces of wood lay everywhere and a large column of smoke rose from the sky as if a funeral pyre had been lit for such an important building in the community.
The princess looked around and saw the fires of war everywhere. Whole portions of Ponyville were now aflame or completely decimated, and the last report she’d received was that the hospital and medical tents were completely filled. Fluttershy and Zecora had taken a group of Hooves and were evacuating the most wounded to Castle Everfree. Her friends had waded into the fray without even so much as thinking of themselves, a fact that brought her no small amount of pride.
She looked around and was glad that she’d sent Spike to hide with their parents; as it was, she was worried enough about everypony without having to add her baby brother to the mix as well. He wanted to help as much as he could, but in the end, even a baby dragon was still just a foal.
A fireball came straight down towards her, and she barely dodged before it cratered the ground where she’d stood. To her horror, she saw Scorpan, lying there in the scorched pit, looking grievously wounded, his armor all but shattered and his storm staff cracked and a wreck.
She looked to the Hooves that stood with her. “Get him to Fluttershy,” she ordered Marimba.
“But Princess—” Marimba began, only to be cut off by the alicorn.
“We take care of our allies, especially those that have stood by us,” Twilight told her. She pointed to the air, which was being blackened as new wings rushed in. “Even the griffon warlords, as fractured as they are, stand by us,” she told the Hoof. “Even they know that we fight to the last, or we all perish.”
“Princess, please, let me leave you with a protector!”
Twilight smiled. “I appreciate that, Mari, I do. But there is no protection to be had now, not when the Bearers must take the field. Not when minotaurs rush to our aid, kitsunes have come from across the sea and even the felidae stand by to assist.”
“But you are the ruler of Equestria, my Princess!”
“No. I am not worthy to be one if I cannot protect my subjects,” Twilight told her. “And that includes even my Hooves.” She placed a gentle hoof on the genuinely-heartbroken Hoof. “Protect this great king, who came to us in our time of need.” Twilight’s eyes steeled and she said, “And I must take to the field myself.”
Sadly, Marimba nodded. “Shall I at least have them play the Sally?”
Twilight thought about that. “The Alicorn’s Sally” was an old military march, an ancient song that had been played whenever Celestia herself was to take the battlefield. The song was designed both to rally the morale of Equestria and her allies, while striking fear into its foes, and mainly this was because it was no simple bugle call or drum and fife song, but a full orchestral tune. Just the sound of its rising crescendo was enough to change the course of battle and even turn the tide of war. It was even said to be born of righteousness and justice and was most certainly the leitmotif of the Sun Alicorn herself.
The Princess of Magic knew the importance of music just as much as that of friendship and magic, especially in this dark time. Even now, her ponies needed to know that Equestria still stood and would not fall, not to this or any other warmonger.
Twilight looked at Marimba. “Pass the order to the mages,” she intoned. “Sound the Sally – the alicorns march to war.”
As geometric, diamond-shaped energy shields continued to ward off magic blasts, arrows, spears and a slew of other missiles, a familiar gray pegasus immediately flew to Rarity’s side. “Rarity!” she cried. “News from Twilight!”
Rarity and her second-in-command, a mage stallion by the name of Fancyfree, joined them. “What is it, Derpy, dear?” she asked with no small sense of pride at her friend’s presence. Due to her eyes, Derpy had been given a chance to stay out of the battle and watch the town foals. But with her sense of the messaging systems, she immediately volunteered for that and was doing her utmost to keep on control of things.
“The news is this: ‘Sound the Sally.’” The look on the gray mare’s face was serious as she said it. “That’s a confirmation. You are to sound the Sally immediately.”
“‘Sound the sally’? What an odd statement,” Rarity commented. “Are you positive that was the message?”
“I know what it means, Rarity,” Fancyfree said. “I’ll take care of it.” He looked at Derpy. “Good job. Dismissed.” With a jaunty salute, the pegasus took to the air to find the next group of battlemages.
“Care to explain, darling?” Rarity asked.
“It means hope,” Fancyfree said as he lit his horn; motes of magic started to dance around his aura, becoming musical notation. “It means her highness is ready to take the field.”
The notes floated into the air and popped; as they did, a blast of horns sang out, and above them, a purple blur blew past, sounding a sonic boom.
The corpse continued to laugh as her blood, nearly about to pour onto the bell, began to reverse itself, flowing back into its place of origin, a bloodspray in reverse. The scene was an absolute horror show, so much so that Fluttershy and Rarity fainted from the whole display of grotesquerie. Mercifully, Solaire was still out from watching the murder of her daughter, while Velvet and Night held one another crying. The teens were completely uncomfortable with the situation and anyone else thankfully stayed silent.
As for Divine, he looked at the creature, gaping – this was not how he imagined it to be. He then glanced over to the singer, who was so lost in the thrall of orgiastic self-lust, that she’d long stopped flowing normally and was now drawing blood as she continued to pleasure herself.
“What the hell?” he voiced.
The last of the blood flowed back into Shimmer and she sat up mechanically, a robotic figure moving in a human fashion. She broke the bonds as if they were nothing, then briefly massaged her wrists. Shimmer looked at Divine Right with eyes that were a solid milky-white, as if cataracts had completely sheathed her eyes. She finally kicked off her leg bonds as if they were nothing, then hopped off the sacrificial stone, stretching and exposing her still-healing scar and everything else she was born with.
She screamed and with a sickening ripping sound, two large demon wings appeared on her back. “Ah, that’s better,” she cooed. “So damn good to have a body again – you never truly appreciate something until it’s gone, you know?” She then looked back at Divine. “So, you’re the idiot that thought to raise a demon, hmmm?”
“Yes! Yes I am!” he spouted, taking an authoritative stance. “Grogar, I am your master, and I deman—” She immediately started to laugh, doubling over in the process. “What’s so funny?” he commanded.
“You think I’m Grogar? Wow, you are fucking stupid!” She placed a hand on her chest. “Furthermore, you presume to command me? A little worm like you, thinking that you can control a demon?” She covered her mouth and giggled imperiously. “How amusing. Allow me to show you what true command is, worm.” She then walked over to where the SIREN lost in her self-love was. “Rise and serve me,” the demon said, her colorless eyes glowing with black fire.
“Yes, mistress,” the SIREN said, standing up awkwardly.
The demon got closer. “Would you do anything for me?” she breathed.
“Yes, I would, my mistress,” the SIREN spoke.
Lips were within fractions of an inch from each other. “Would you fuck me until the end of time?” she asked.
The SIREN leaned forward until their lips were almost touching. “It would be my glory,” she replied.
“Would you screw me raw and ragged until you would do anything I asked?”
“Please, let me!” the SIREN begged. “I will give you everything!”
“Then I will give you something to remember for the remainder of your days,” the demon said, taking the SIREN and starting to make out with her, tongue probing, and hands exploring.
The other girl moaned in ecstasy and said, “Do with me what you will.”
“Oh, I will,” the creature that was once Sunset Shimmer replied.
And then she punched through the SIREN’s chest and ripped her heart out, holding it before her, saying, “Thank you for giving me your heart. I’ll treasure it always.” She then walked back to Divine, who had a look of horror on his face. “Hey, I haven’t eaten in a while, alright? Besides, you humans have no right to complain – do you even know what goes in hot dogs? Seriously, you worms are just disgusting.”
Divine then watched as she fed. After a few seconds, she licked her lips and her fingertips, the last of the blood coming off it. “Now that’s a meal,” she cooed with satisfaction. “Now, let’s get down to business, shall we? Care to tell me why you failed?”
“Failed?”
“Yes, failed. Would you like me to define that word for you?” She snapped her finger and tapped her foot impatiently. “Be quick about it; I don’t have all day. Well, technically I do, thanks to your stupidity. Still, I think my point stands.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You don’t get to beg my pardon.” She went over and picked up the bell. “Poor little Grogar. Poor little would-be conqueror of this world. You could have had all this, and you had to pick a dumbfuck of a follower.” She sighed. “Just goes to show that quality control is number one, right? Well, keep that in mind while I destroy you.” Her hands began to glow with a burning energy, and between the two furnaces the bell began to melt, and as it did, it started to scream. A mixture of molten metal and alien blood poured onto the ground, sizzling and pitting the floor as it did, and when the smelting was all done, the slag vanished into nothingness, as if the bell – and its prisoner – had never existed.
“Well, I guess you could say I just sent him to bell,” she commented with malicious glee, “but….” She shrugged, and continued. “Well, let me explain, since you’re far too simplistic to figure it out.” She walked around him like a great scientist puzzling a conundrum for the ages. “You had everything right, everything going for you! You sacrificed the right virgins,” she noted, ticking each off her finger, “you corrupted holy gear in order to accomplish your task and you were even smart enough to figure out that you needed celestial levels of magic in order to meet your goal, so you planned this all around the Harmonic Convergence. But do you know where you went wrong?”
“Er, no?” he admitted.
She nodded senatorially. “Well, if for some reason you ever get the chance to do this again – and believe me, you won’t – make sure that you actually have the fucking planets in alignment before you stop time, you fucking idiot!” Pinching her fingers together, she said, “You were so freakin’ close! This close – this fucking close! You could’ve been the chump nailing the cheerleader in the back of your Daddy’s Benz! But you know what? You pussied out.” She laughed. “You know, I’d be completely ashamed if I had a follower like you. At least I know how to pick ‘em. Apparently Grogar was as stupid as the people he picks. Real brain trust there.”
“And you are?” Divine asked, trying to see a way out of his mess.
She looked at him and shook her head. “Such a fucking idiot. No you don’t – you don’t get to kiss my admittedly luscious little ass now that I know what kind of world-class fuckup you are. Ain’t how it works. Still, I suppose I owe you something, since your fuckup let me take over. So…you can be my personal bootlicker, how’s that?” She laughed. “You sure as hell aren’t going to lick this hot bod in any of the places I don’t mind being licked.”
“What?” he growled. “I demand—” He suddenly felt a sharp, searing pain against his head and screamed, falling to the floor.
The demon held her right wing out like a sword, the tip of it covered in the blood where she’d slashed him across the face. “That’s a warning, because I’m generous,” she told him. “Speak to me like that again and I’ll cut something lower off, dimwit. Actually, you know what? I like that. That’s your name now: Dimwit. It’s perfect for you.”
“But I—”
“Speak when spoken to, worm. You really don’t want to piss me off twice in a handful of minutes.” She looked at herself. “Well, Dimwit, as much as I like to parade the goods on display, I don’t trust you. Not that you even have a chance, but you’re probably the skeevy type even for a human, so it’s cut your pecker off or throw some clothes on. Your choice.”
“Uh…throw clothes on?”
“Please.”
He sighed. “Throw on clothes, please.”
“Throw clothes on, please…Chernabog.”
“Chernabog?” He recognized that name. The Russian black god of old folklore, the bat-winged gargoyle of a beast that was said to have lived on Lysa Hora – Bald Mountain, in English – and ruled the witches, ghouls and monsters of the night. But the Chernabog of folklore was a he and was probably not the kind that possessed oversexed teenage nymphomaniacs.
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out!” she chirped.
“But I—”
“Does it really fucking matter?” she asked. “For one, I rule the world now – or I will as soon as I make my mark. If I want to call myself Vaginamaster Cocksucker the Fuckmeintheass, I can do that. Secondly, your stupidity astounds me – you should know that no real demon worth his or her salt gives out their real name!” She sighed. “Dimwit, what am I going to do with you?” She tapped the side of her head, and it was disturbing how much she looked almost like Sunset Shimmer had when she was alive. “Oh yes, clothing.”
She raised her hand and the blood from the dead SIREN flew over to her, pouring over her and caressing her. She moaned sexually, whispering, “even in death you want me. How sweet.”
The blood congealed into an outfit that still didn’t leave much to the imagination; if anything, it enhanced her sexuality further in the creepiest way possible. “There, that’s better. Well, since you are my first follower, Dimwit, I suppose I have to treat you right. Tell you what: ever thought about marriage? I’m sure I can find the cow, or pig or dog that’s right for you – trust me, I take care of my followers.” She smiled and stretched once more. “Now as for me? Those people you captured? Oh, I think those guys could keep me busy. Hell, the girls too – I’m not picky.”
“But I—”
“Oh, you wanted one of them, right?” She thought for a second. “Oh, that’s right,” she said with an unnatural smile. “This body came out of the twat with the short pastel hair. Well, guess I know who funfun number one for me is then, huh? If you behave yourself, I’ll let you watch.”
“No.” There were some lines that even he was not willing to cross, and that was two of them.
“Suit yourself. It’s not like you can stop me anyway.”
Twilight Velvet prided herself on being organized. Even when the family was in the worst chaos imaginable, she called on her psychologist training and her orderly mind to sort normalcy from the insanity around her. Even when anarchy was at its greatest sway, it had no more intractable a foe to test against it than her.
And right now, chaos was winning, hands down.
She stared helplessly, being held by her husband comforted by her friends as she tried to comprehend the incomprehensible. First, Solaire – the French princess – had said that Sunset – her Sunny, her sweet precious older daughter – was hers. Velvet’s mind swam with the possibilities. Was this the woman that Sunset had been running from? That made no sense – Solaire, from what little they knew, was a sweetheart and very much like Celestia. Could something else be the matter? Or was Solaire truly as despicable as her cousin and she had just now shown it?
The most logical answer was that Sunset had been lying all this time for some reason. But Velvet knew that wasn’t true. She knew her daughter, her loving child and it didn’t matter what Solaire said. Sunset Shimmer was the daughter of Twilight Velvet and Night Light and that was, as far as she concerned, an immutable fact. Nevermind that it wasn’t going to be legal for another two weeks, Velvet knew her daughter.
And in the end, it didn’t matter. Her daughter – her Sunny – had been murdered by that man! And now…
…now…
…now Sunset was alive again – and she was a literal demon. And that demon had not only brutally murdered another girl (though she wasn’t exactly innocent) as if she were a mosquito, but was now wearing that other woman’s clotted blood as clothing! That made Velvet afraid on an elemental level, and it was worse, because the person she was afraid of…was her own daughter. But at the same time, it couldn’t be her daughter. The creature had identified itself as Chernabog, which Velvet vaguely remembered from the old Fantasia cartoon ages ago.
It was madness in the worst of ways, and Velvet had no control or even influence on it. And nothing she could do, she feared, would make a difference. Granted, she and her family weren’t the most religious; they went to church on occasion, and she’d been raised to be a good little Catholic girl – and had turned into a lapsed Catholic woman over the decades, just like Celestia and Luna. Did she believe in God and Christ? Certainly. Did she believe everything in the Bible? Of course not – none of it, especially that LSD trip that was Revelations, made any sense. She was married to a scientist and as a medical professional and social worker, she had to weigh belief and fact and more often than not, fact won hands down. That was just how the real world worked.
And now, as she saw her dead daughter reincarnated as a primal force of evil, she had to wonder if the video Spike came across on YouTube was real. Sunset had told her that it was just special effects and that she’d been doing a favor for some aspiring filmmakers at her school, but now? Now she didn’t know what to think.
She looked at Celestia, and her lifelong best friend and practical sister, and the look in her eyes was just as lost. Another thought crossed Velvet’s mind: given what her friend had thought of Sunset at the beginning, she knew that Celestia was now fond of the teen. If she hadn’t been in the picture, would Celestia or Luna have taken Sunset in? The thought was a small bit of amusement to her; Luna could barely take care of herself on a good day, and though Celestia secretly pined for the life Velvet led, she was also married to her job – though hopefully that new beau of hers would break her out of her—
Why am I mentally babbling? That was a sign that she was losing it, she knew. All of them were slipping into madness and maybe that’s what the demon wanted.
But then there was Pinkie, the girl that had admitted to falling in love with Sunset. Given the fact that she was a teenager, and her emotional state, she should have been in worse shape than any of them. And yet she looked at her would-be love interest with a clinical view. Part of her psychologist’s mind said that Pinkie was coming to terms with the insanity all around them, but something in those clear blue eyes gave Velvet a sliver of hope.
It made no sense why Pinkie of all people should be as calm as the Pacific on a lazy summer afternoon.
She then smiled and looked at everyone.
“She’s here!” Pinkie cried jubilantly. “My Sunnybuns is here!”
And then that’s when the music started.
Sunset raced down the hall. So far she’d taken her anger out on just about everyone that had stepped across her path. The death and insanity around her had gotten out of control and she wasn’t about to deal with it for a fucking minute more. After slamming into another opponent at brute force speed, she finally arrived at a portal, a tear in spacetime that looked like a monochrome wound in reality. Knowing this was where she needed to go, she stepped into the portal and into another land entirely.
Sunset Shimmer, the adopted daughter of Celestia, Goddess-Princess of Equestria, the current Archmagus of White Magic for Equestria and arguably the most powerful unicorn in existence, descended into hell to face off against her enemies.
Down
Down
Down
Down
Down
Down
Down
Down she walked, through nothing but a soul-searching whistle of a wind that was not there and an eternal emptiness around her as she proceeded through a long, winding hallway. She knew that the purpose of this was to bring immolation of the self and despair, to inflict every pain imaginable and all of it done by itself.
She ignored all if it, though. She would not succumb to such petty magicks; her mother had taught her far better than that and she wielded truth and light like a weapon itself. She had to avenge Raspberry’s death, of the insults done to her family and friends, and to save the world. Like a grandmaster in front of a chessboard, she began to plot all her ideas on how to deal with the issue before hand, how to act and react.
I never thought I’d find myself here when I first stepped through the portal, though I really didn’t have a plan, she admitted to herself. After everything that’s happened over all these years, here I finally am: getting ready to take on a man set on conquering the world. Was this what my life’s training was about? Mother had taught me so much, but I don’t know if even with all her schemes that she could have foreseen this.
Am I all that stands between the destruction of all that is? Am I the lone bulwark against this madman? If so, I’m not much of one. I’m trained in both martial and mystical arts, but the Archmagus title really isn’t earned. All I am in the end is just a 17-year-old girl with a normal home life and a 30-year-old mare with a talent for getting herself into the worst situations possible. My past is not today and that’s because I wiped it away of my own accord. She chuckled. I’m not even sure I really have a past.
She paused. Mother, did you know I would do this? Was this your plan all along? I can’t see that being the case, but then again, I’m mortal, so what the hell do I know? I guess, in the end, all I can do is what I learned on my own: obligation and responsibility. And it was something I had to learn the hard way, bruises and all. But you know what? It was worth it.
She stopped and thought. Okay, what can I do to mess with their heads? I don’t fight fair; I never have. So…time to throw out Mother’s playbook and use my own. She thought for a second: what would really screw with her enemies below.
And then it came to her.
“The Alicorn’s Sally”. It was an old military tattoo, a song that had been played in ancient times when Celestia herself was to take the battlefield. She knew it by heart because as the youthful ward of the Princess of All, she was required to know the song by ear, nevermind she didn’t play a musical instrument. Hey, I’m her daughter, right? I think I’m allowed.
Sunset began casting a spell, one she knew down pat as much as the Sally. She knew the notes and tones and with musical notation written into the very air via her magic, she warned her enemies she was coming…
…and woe be to those who would challenge the Archmagus of Equestria.
The music continued to play from nowhere and everywhere, the bright blast of horns and violins singing out triumphantly.
“TURN THAT SHIT OFF!” Chernabog roared.
But the humans trapped in the cage had different thoughts.
“Is that…?” Night suddenly voiced aloud.
“The Theme to Superman?” Luna finished for him.
A second later and there was a blast of black fire. Chernabog stood before them, murder in her eyes. “I TOLD YOU WORTHLESS FUCKS TO TURN THAT SHIT OFF!”
The answer to that was a sudden blast of aqua energy, slamming into the demon and sending her flying away from the others in an unceremonious manner. She rolled, finally coming to a crashing halt against the sacrifice stone she’d been killed upon minutes before.
A cyan star erupted from above, and Chernabog gritted her teeth. “Should’ve fucking known,” she grunted.
“She’s here!” Pinkie cried, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks.
“What?” Twilight asked.
“Look!” Pinkie pointed at the star. “She’s coming to save us!”
“Looks like the cavalry’s here!” Applejack shouted.
“Fuckin’ A! Steamroller that bitch’s ass!” Rainbow insisted.
Fluttershy and Rarity, coming back to consciousness at the sound of their cheers, simply smiled.
To the shock of everyone, the turquoise blaze of light alit on the ground and beneath it, a massive blaze of fire burned. The flames began to form a burning yin-yang symbol on the ground as the blinding dot began to turn into a figure – a female figure. The figure then became Sunset Shimmer, here to challenge the first.
And the look on this Sunset’s face and figure, Velvet knew without a doubt. This was her daughter, her Sunny. Pinkie had been right somehow, her heart overcoming reality herself.
“What is going on?” Solaire asked, the first view upon regaining consciousness was looking at disbelief at the new Sunset.
“Sunset?” Twilight asked in a broken voice, wondering if she was going mad as she looked at the two forms representing her sister, both the horror and the majesty.
“Alright, asshole,” Sunset began, looking at Divine. The sight of her friends and family beaten down and locked away just off to the side infuriated and emboldened her, even if she was relieved to see they were alive.
She refocused her attention on the prince, who only stood gawking – he was far more pathetic a creature than she could have ever imagined. “I think you and I need to have a little….” She then saw the demon standing there, a near doppelganger of herself, twisted and unnatural. “Well, this is mildly surprising,” she snarked.
Chernabog folded her arms. “So I wasn’t imagining things. I was wondering why her memories were so different than the last time. You’re from beyond, aren’t you?”
“None of your business. I don’t give information to demons,” Sunset answered curtly, her bold words hiding the chill running down her spine. Right away, something about this demon seemed vaguely familiar in a way Sunset couldn’t quite put her finger on. It wasn’t the demon’s appearance, or even its voice so much as its presence. Worse still, it was clear that the creature sensed the connection as well.
“Wow, so you are from beyond. Clearly, they educate you there, unlike this idiot,” Chernabog said, pointing to Divine. “So this is absolutely fucking rich! I had your body last year, and then got evicted by that twist from your home plane. No idea who she was, but you were clearly important to her, too, even though you hated her.”
“It was a mistake. Just like you are,” Sunset told her as she realized what was going on. “What did you do to her?” the teen demanded, her tone making it clear who she referred to.
“Like you care.” Chernabog fondled herself, grinning. “I got me a new and improved model! She’s actually a virgin! I’m going to have fun corrupting this body! You were just sloppy seconds.” She then grinned. “Oh, I get it! You stole her life!” Chernabog added, pointing at Sunset. “It’s so clear now! Her memories are older ones from this place, and yours are newer. Did you plan to off this bitch completely or was her lack of presence enough?”
Sunset ignored her. Everything here, especially the demon before her, felt fetid, stank of death and decay. The idea that this very same demon had used her as a vessel when she was at the peak of her downfall sickened her. The thought was more violating than every memory of nights spent in bed with Flash. Whatever fear Sunset might have had before evaporated, burned away by righteous fury spurred on by Chernabog’s smirking face. “I’m going to give you a chance: let her go and crawl back to whatever infernal plane you came from.”
“Oh, she died and I claimed her as is my right,” Chernabog taunted, leaning forward to get into Sunset’s personal space. “This is now my property. And so is everything in this realm.” She smirked. “Including you again.”
“You just sealed your fate.” Sunset knew at that point, what she had to do. The demon wasn’t going to go peaceably, and that meant that there would only be one option left. “Weak, spineless creature of hell,” she spat. “I am Sunset Shimmer, Baroness Westphalia, Archmagus of Equestria and Child of the Sun! I have come across the worlds to deliver retribution and justice for your misdeeds and evils!”
Chernabog yawned. “Memorized this one, did ya?”
“I shall stand here until you face your eternal and righteous punishment! I will bring down upon you the judgement of heaven!”
Chernabog rolled her eyes. “Please tell me that you have a better speech before I rip your head off and use your body as my personal sex toy.”
Sunset smirked. “Okay, then let’s simplify this for dull minds. These are your choices: you can surrender and crawl back to your little corner of hell—”
“Alright, this one sounds better. Lay it on me. But let’s get this clear: I am not afraid of you, cunt.”
“Well,” Sunset snarled, “here’s Option Two, which I much prefer: I will introduce you to the fucking wrath of a Goddamn pissed-off-as-Tartarus alicorn. Your ass is going to be Discord and I’m going to be all six fucking Elements of Harmony. I’m going to rampage on you like the Princess did against the Minotaur Invasion of 957. I WILL BREAK YOU LIKE SHE BROKE THE ENTIRE CHANGELING ARMY AT SADDLEBACK RIDGE AND I WON’T FEEL A SINGLE OUNCE OF REMORSE DOING IT! I WILL TEAR YOU APART LIKE A FAT STALLION AT A BUFFET!” She wandered until she was inches away from her corrupted counterpart. “In short, I will fuck your shit up in ways you can’t even imagine.”
Chernabog laughed. “As if! You actually think you can defeat me?”
Sunset flexed a hand, and a blaze of cyan energy burned in it, brighter than all the stars in the sky. “Oh, I’m not going to defeat you,” the former unicorn explained. “I’m going to kill you. Slight difference in context there.”
“You kill me, your counterpart dies,” Chernabog taunted.
“I don’t believe you.” Sunset immediately dropped into a ready stance. “Besides, I bet she wouldn’t want herself desecrated like this. Now put your money where your mouth is!”
The response to that was the slash of a wing at high speed, coming down hard enough to crater the ground – as well as bisect someone instantly. As the dust settled, Chernabog sighed. “All talk and no action, apparently,” she mocked. “And here I thought you were a—”
The response came out of nowhere: a rising uppercut, sending Chernabog flying. Enough power was put behind Sunset’s attack that there was a blast of light and an audible crack, catching the attention of everyone. While the demon was still caught off-guard, Sunset immediately turned in mid-air and cut loose with a spinning kick, raking it hard across the same spot she’d punched.
Chernabog stumbled in the air, but quickly caught herself. “I WILL DESTROY YOU!” she screamed as she summoned twin spheres of energy, slamming them down on the ground, detonating everything for feel around her, completely and utterly destroying everything in their blast radius…
…except Sunset, who had expected it and nimbly moved out of the way, clearing the blast zone. She then charged back in, summoning a volley of fiery arrows that immediately lanced at her foe.
The missiles harmlessly bounced off the demon, who didn’t even bother to block to blows. However, it did leave Sunset with an opening. As she continued her attack, she leapt over Chernabog, grabbed each wing and threw the demon back, setting her up for a combo. Unfortunately, that had been a tactical mistake, as Chernabog simply took to the air, then divebombed Sunset. The teen spun and backhanded the demoness, quickly summoning a knife and stabbing the creature as hard as she could. Chernabog screamed in pain and with one hand, smacked Sunset away like a rag doll, then threw another volley of energy blasts at the teen, eliciting a scream of pain.
Sunset crashed to the ground, grotesquely bouncing off the ground. She felt the pain slamming into her, followed by the burning sensation of the magic blasts throwing her again. This time, she forced herself to take control of her motions and landed a bit better, bouncing off her tailbone instead of her chest. Dazed, she saw another fusillade of blasts coming towards her and barely threw up a shield in time.
For her part, Chernabog was practically having orgasms of joy. She hadn’t had this much fun in a while, her satisfaction punctuated by sexual rushes of delight as she bounced the unicorn back and forth like ping-pong. Today was the final culmination of her plan: she would have the body she always deserved, and she would destroy her only opposition, ironically the animal whose human form she held last. Really, it would be a mercy, as animals, even magical ones like the horse pretending to be a girl, didn’t have a place in this world. So better to kill her now.
Instead, she got a magic-charged foot to the face.
She nailed the demon at the extreme end of her jumping divekick, and as the pair fell earthward, Sunset boosted herself to let her wrap her legs around Chernabog’s neck and cut loose with a series of high-speed punches to her opponent’s face. As the demon crashed to the ground, shattering the floor, Sunset expertly leapt off, flipping in mid-air and as she alit on the ground, threw another fireball, this time mixed with a high-voltage electric charge as well. The shot rang true and Chernabog was suddenly on the end of a both a high-heat burn and 100 million volts of power.
The painful scream from Chernabog was enough to cause a localized sonic boom, knocking everyone off their feet.
Both Sunset and Chernabog got to their feet at the same time.
“You’re better than I thought, but it won’t matter,” Chernabog taunted. “I’m going to kill you.”
“Funny, that’s what I was just about to say,” Sunset seethed.
From the first moment the fireballs were thrown, Prince Divine Bourbon Canino Corsique Droit Divin Right, Prince of the House of Bonaparte, did what he felt he must and marshalled all his courage and willpower to do what had to be done.
He immediately dived behind one of the large stone walls, whimpering and praying for mercy. How did this get so completely out of control? He had done everything he knew he had to, had followed every bit of the instructions there was. How did he know that still technically not having the planets in perfect alignment was going to cause a loophole in everything! It wasn’t fair!
I should be the one with the power here, not them! Then it dawned on him: why were there two Sunsets? One of them was frightfully obvious: the simpering, nigh-slutty barely-legitimate spawn of his cousin’s. That one he’d “disposed” of and had been corrupted by the beast within. Of that, he was sure. But it was the other one that completely stunned him. That second Sunset was brave, forward, focused and rushed to attack the demon without a second thought. She didn’t so much seem to be a lookalike for Sunset so much as she was Sunset, somehow another facet. Of that, he was sure as well.
But that raised more questions than answers. He knew other realities existed; his father of fathers had received power beyond human ken from a black alicorn and had traded his wife for more power and a bride of that realm. So it stood that somehow, this second Sunset could actually be one of the beings – a unicorn – from the other realm. But if so, why did she look like Sunset? Was it sheer coincidence, or was it design? It was clear that demon had been watching for this very moment – could someone else have done so as well?
A smile came over his face. All he had to do was to figure out how to turn this to his advantage, and the world would be his oyster once more.
Ordnance flew through the air and another group of SIRENs went down; as they hit the floor, the duo turned into massive puddles of blood that burned the ground with acidic strength.
“Another pair of SIRENs who reacted badly to the serum,” Adagio said, looking at the pitted ground. She idly scratched at her slung arm, which was now bothering her to the point that she couldn’t hold a rifle anymore.
“Don’t remind me,” Side told her. “That previous trio was worse: one of them was moving so fast she literally combusted the moment you shot her.” She shook her head. “I’m so glad we were on an assignment when they started mass injections.”
“Well, like I said, we are done when this shit is over,” Pine told them. “Sis and I are getting the fuck out of here and no offense meant, but I don’t ever want to see any of you again. I don’t want to see anything ever again. We’re going to find us a remote cabin in the Yukon where no one can bother us.”
“Well, I’m going to miss you guys,” Sonata replied. “It’s been fun having you around.”
“Hey, you three can always come with us,” Side suggested. “You got nothing here, right?”
“We do have things here – a support network we built,” Aria told them. “As much as we appreciate your offer…this is home for us now.”
“You sure about that?” Pine asked. “You three stay here, you’re bound to be blamed for everything.”
“Be that as it may, we have Sunny, and I know she’ll back us,” Adagio told them.
“Fair enough. But right now, we still have this mess of yours to clean up,” Sable reminded them.
“Yeah, and what are we going to have to do about Vesper and Mezzo? They deserve better than to have their bodies just left there,” Zephyr added. The triplets looked at each other with confusion.
“Nobody gets left behind,” Sonata insisted. “My sœur was killed spying on Cantata’s group for us. If there’s any chance of recovering her remains, I want to.”
“Soni, we don’t know—” Pine began.
“No, I know how she feels, sis,” Side told her adoptive sibling before turning to Sonata. “We’ll do whatever we can though she’s right when she says don’t get your hopes up.”
“Thanks.”
As Sunset dashed in for another strike, Chernabog threw a fireball the size of a small car towards her. Sunset, in turn, immediately summoned another spell she’d learned from a videogame and threw a blast of energy much smaller but far more concentrated and faster. The wave of blackfire and the nova bomb collided halfway between the two combatants, and the world wavered, warped and shimmied with the amount of power unleashed, and finally a sonic boom ripped out and a wall of white noise knocked everyone off their feet.
Sunset, taking a chance, rushed through the blast of energy. She ignored the burning sensation she felt, biting off a scream, then exited it carbon scored and with her hair on fire, but catching her foe completely off-guard.
“You’re insane!” Chernabog shouted.
“Like a fox!” Sunset shouted as she cast two spells. The first immediately nullified all the damage she just took, but it would cost her quite a bit from her flagging magic. It would buy her time, but only just.
The second one she activated was one of her own making. She’d picked it up during a lengthy game session between her, Fluttershy, Applejack and Bon-Bon, who had also been over. The two argued over what would be a real-life combo, with the TKD practitioner arguing for power vs. Vovinam’s speed, endorsed by Bon-Bon. The two finally settled on trying to match one up to their two different styles, while Sunset watched eagerly and Fluttershy hesitantly. While it wasn’t as fast as a videogame’s version, the two agreed that in a situation like that, it would be incredible.
So now, Sunset used it, and her scream split the air.
“TŌKEN RANBU!” The name came from Fluttershy, when neither Applejack nor Bon-Bon could decide on one. Wild sword dance, with ken being both a synonym for sword and fist.
And Sunset’s strikes immediately showed just how wild her sword dance was, as in a space of seconds she delivered three punches to the stomach, an elbow to the face, a palm strike to the stomach, a flip kick, a spin kick and then an axe-kick that drove the demon to her knees. Sunset immediately followed that up with a dragon punch, and then halfway through that, spun in the air and delivered a brutal spin kick that sent the beat flying back.
Chernabog screamed in pain as she felt every one of those blows and crashed to the ground several yards away. She glared at the former unicorn with rage. “YOU’LL PAY!” She launched a massive blast of darkfire at Sunset, and though Sunset immediately put a shield up, but it was strong enough that it sent Sunset flying, skidding against the ground.
“Well, that was quite the warmup, little unicorn,” Chernabog said, rising to the air, “but I do believe that playtime is over. Allow me to demonstrate.” Chernabog stretched out her wings, and two massive beams of black energy radiated from them like dark lasers, striking Sunset at the same time throwing her hard enough against the wall to crack it.
“See? Now that’s how damage is done,” Chernabog taunted from above. “Any last words you have before I kill you?”
Sunset wiped the blood from the side of her mouth; she could feel a tooth loose. “Is that the best you can do?” she cackled. “Seriously, I’ve been hit by fucking orbital rainbow friendship lasers. I’ve felt pain before, and this isn’t it!”
“THEN LET ME INTRODUCE YOU!”
Sunset leapt to her feet, then jumped back, avoiding another blast of energy. But she stumbled on the landing and as she threw another fire arrow at her quarry, she knew that wasn’t as strong as the last few blasts she’d launched – she was running out of juice and she was going to have to end this soon.
The demon threw another blast of energy and this one Sunset easily dodged; however, she wasn’t expecting the whip of darkfire that snaked around her ankle. She was pulled up in the air, then slammed down twice before being thrown to the opposite end of the room, cratering the wall from her impact. This time, she felt a rib go and she couldn’t hold in the scream.
Sunset Shimmer had begun to tire.
And with exhaustion would come an eternal rest.
To say that confusion reigned supreme amongst the others would be a minor statement indeed. The group watched as Sunset fought against Sunset, and it was hard to tell which was the more unnatural of the two: the one who was here earlier and had gone from being a terrified young woman into a literal bloodthirsty demon; or the latter, who still looked human but was doing things that no human save for those in mythology could do. Still, the second Sunset seemed focused on stopping the latter, even if it meant the two were beating each other to death – and that was most certainly happening.
Both Solaire and Velvet watched, transfixed by the horrific display between them. Both had said they were Sunset’s mother, and neither had talked to one another about what that meant; but now, with a second Sunset, the whole situation got all the more confusing. Both women were afraid to ask each other what the other meant, for fear that they would somehow lose their daughter to the other – but now, with the two fighting Sunsets present, the real question came about: Why were there two Sunsets?
And the icicle-gripping terror in both women’s hearts: how little they knew of their daughters if something this unnatural was to come about. Furthermore, what could they say? This went well beyond interrogating the first boyfriend or just casual conversation. This went to the basest level of existence and the absolute thinnest point of the word family there was.
Both women didn’t know what to say. All they knew was that they feared for their daughters with a worry that bored on outright panic; and a fear that when this was over, their lives with Sunset would be irrevocably different – assuming both lived.
For Night, all he could do was to comfort his wife. He knew how she felt; he felt the exact same way. He wanted more than anything else to run out there, protect his daughter and if necessary, fight against that demon himself. But that was just part of the problem: he, like the two women, wasn’t sure which Sunset was “real”, and if Solaire was right and Velvet, too? Then how could one solve a problem where two people seemed to exist in the same place at the same time – and were now bent on destroying one another. Furthermore, just watching the two Sunset go at a slugfest far beyond anything he had ever seen before reminded him that even though he loved his daughter, there was literally nothing he could do to save her.
Cadance and Shining looked at each other, not sure of what to say. They had grown to love Sunset just as much as the others, and it had been Cadance who had been the attorney to do the paperwork. And now? Looking at both girls tearing each other apart, she felt that there were no reasonable words that she could use to explain it – none of her skills as an ADA would help her clarify any of this. All she could do was to watch with teary eyes. As for Shining, he was lost. The case he had been working on, he’d ended up in the center of, and now things had gone so far off the rails he almost wished the X-Files were real, so that he could have tapped that information. In any case, his relationship with Sunset was about to change, and though he didn’t say anything, his fiancée knew what was on his mind.
Spike at first had thought it cool, like a fighting game in real life, but now seeing the monstrous version of his older sister fighting against another version of her had dashed that. The fact that Sunset was taking punches and fighting against a real-life demon would give him nightmares, probably years from now. He turned and hugged his mother, turning away from seeing his sister essentially fighting herself, and in that moment, a part of his childhood died.
As for Twilight, she was reliving her nightmares from earlier in the year. Her sister, fighting monsters for her sake…but now that monster wore her sister’s face! The two Sunset’s were in a blood-for-blood, winner-take-all battle against one another and not even the most Godzilla of comparisons could take away the horror she felt at the moment. Was she somehow responsible for this? Was this Sunset’s big secret? Was Sunset even Sunset? She’d heard Solaire call out to Sunset and claim her as her daughter, but the Sunset that had turned into demon – the Sunset that had died – was speaking French, but although Rarity, Twilight and Octavia knew it, Sunset did not. She’d caught those last snippets of conversation, and they were nothing like the Sunset she knew would have said. Moreover, before this had all happened, the bound Sunset had been frightened and panic-stricken. The sister she knew was capable of being afraid, but she always showed it in different ways.
Right now, she was sure of two things: that demon was not her sister. And the girl, glowing like a blue supergiant and throwing energy blasts as if she were a superhero, was her sister.
The question was:
Was her sister Sunset?
Was anything real anymore?
Pinkie walked over to Twilight. “Hey, how are you doing?”
“I don’t know anymore,” the plum-haired scholar admitted. “Is any of this real?”
“As real as my love for your sister…though, yeah, I can see where things look a little odd.”
“You’re strangely calm about all this.”
Pinkie laughed. “I’m so scared shitless right now, Twily, I don’t know what to do.” Pinkie held up her hand, and it vibrated with nervous energy, like nothing Twilight had ever seen from her friend before. “I fell in love with your sister, and now I’m watching her go up against something that….” She trailed off, then looked at the others.
“We can’t hide this anymore,” Rarity said in response. “There’s no way to do so.”
“Hide what?” The sound came from Velvet, and as the girls turned to look at the matron, her face was a vision somewhere between helpless and angry. “Hide what, Rarity?”
“The truth.” The words came not from the teen, but from Celestia. And as everyone turned to look at the principal, she looked at her best friend with worry, the worry that she was about to shatter both a family and her long-time relationship with Velvet. “There’s…something Luna and I haven’t told you about Sunset. Something we’ve hidden from you, Vel.”
“Intentionally.” Luna reached over and took her sister’s hand in her own; she would not let Celestia walk out onto the metaphorical tightrope alone. “But we never did it to harm you, any of you. We love you too much, Vel, and….” She turned away. “It was wrong of us.”
“Explain.” Those words came from Cadance, and as her aunts looked at her, they had never seen her angry at them before. “Now.”
Celestia sighed, then looked at Solaire, of all people. “Remember when you said it was a small world, Soli? It’s more than that – and it’s even smaller than you might think.” She turned back to Velvet and Night. “Vel, Night? Your daughter is Sunset Shimmer, just as Solaire’s is. It’s just that Sunset…our Sunset…is not from this world.”
“She’s not even human, or normally even human shaped,” Luna explained. “We have reason to believe that Sunset…is a unicorn.”
Velvet looked at her friends. “That’s not funny, Tia, and you know it.”
“If I were only joking.” The principal then went on, detailing everything of the past four years, from Sunset’s unusual arrival and enrolment first at Central Junior High, then at Canterlot High itself. Of a girl that had singlehandedly undone the pecking order of not one, but two, schools. How she’d destroyed the circle of friends that had been together for the longest time. How Sunset returned to her home dimension and stole an artifact of great power. How another girl – royalty, no less – from the same realm came and in days undid everything Sunset had accomplished. How in misusing the artifact, Sunset became possessed by a demon – likely the same demon that now had control of the other Sunset. And how the princess from another world saved them all.
Then Luna told them a story about a girl with nothing left and who was determined to change her life, even when no one trusted her. How she grew to have family and friends who she could rely on – and more importantly, who would rely on her. How the girl who had once been the alpha bitch of the school regained her position, but for vastly different reasons – because the students wanted her there. How the girl went from being a brat to a monster to a girl and finally to a daughter.
“And that’s everything, Vel,” Celestia said, wondering if she was going to lose someone she loved like a sister. Their friendship had been lifelong and stronger than steel – and now it was potentially thinner than thread at this very moment.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Velvet asked, having needed a moment to finally process something that sounded like pure fantasy. And she would have insisted that it was, had it not been for the absolutely serious look on both Celestia and Luna’s faces – and those of Sunset’s five friends, the girls that Velvet’s older daughter had brought into their lives.
Thankfully, Night stepped in with reason. “Would you have believed her, hon? Even having known her all your life, would you have actually believed her?”
“I guess not,” Velvet admitted. “It does sound pretty odd.”
“Odd?” Twilight gasped. “Odd?” She looked at Celestia with appall. “Odd? No – odd is that Sunset was born with six toes on one foot instead of five. Odd is that she’s left handed—”
“She is left handed,” Pinkie pointed out.
“You know what I mean, Pinkie!” Twilight said. “You’re in love with an alien! I mean….” Twilight suddenly found the floor very interesting as realization set in. “And it doesn’t matter, does it?”
Pinkie shook her head. “Nope. I’m not in love with an alien girl. I’m in love with a girl who just happens to be an alien.”
“Then why—?”
“You’ll have to ask her yerself, sugarcube,” Applejack said, “when we get out of this.”
“If – if we get out of this,” Twilight added.
“Yeah, true. But Ah’ve known your sister long enough to know that for bad or good, she doesn’t give up. And no matter what, that demon’s going down.”
“How do you know that?”
Fluttershy smiled. “Because we beat it before.”
Chernabog came to a slow hover over Sunset. “You know, it doesn’t have to be this way,” she said softly. “You and I, we could be awesome together. Just think about it! You get to rule the world, you get to fuck yourself every night…you could be a queen!”
“Sorry, already went through that once before,” Sunset spat. “Not doing it again. I have more important things.”
“Oh yes, that alicorn shit. I remember it now. Yes. Your mother turned you down, when she’s been one all her existence. Her and her mother. Instead, she gave the power to your cousin. Doesn’t that burn you, Sunset? And you even had the right idea: let me take over and then storm the gates. Instead, you let that little alien girl from your world curbstomp you!”
“She taught me a lesson that I needed. I’m grateful for that.”
“Yes, but I could give you so much more. You want to be an alicorn? We can fix that. And like I said, you and I can go all night. I know all your spots, and now I know hers. You’d be surprised about how much fun we could have.”
“No thanks. If she’s anything like me, she’s straight – and I’m not that debauched.”
“Last chance. I can’t believe I’m even asking, but here I am, generous as can be. Join or die.”
“I’ll take the third option: I’ll put you down like the rabid animal you are and save that girl.”
“Even if you did, it would mean the end of everything for you – don’t be stupid!”
“I’d rather go knowing I did the right thing than to live a lie,” Sunset taunted, then narrowed her eyes. “Or live with you.”
Chernabog sighed. “Well, then I suppose you need to learn the hard way. Arrivaderci!” With that, Chernabog snapped her fingers.
A massive blast of lava erupted beneath Sunset, instantly burying her in magma. She bellowed in agony as she was literally burned alive by the heat of the Earth.
“SUNSET!” everyone screamed in horror, while Pinkie fainted.
A blackened, partial skeleton fell to the ground.
It was winter, both in the air and in Sunset’s soul.
Somehow nothing made sense.
“Backstabber!”
“Gossip monger!”
“Looks like the bad girl’s back again!”
“What are you talking about?” Sunset asked, only to find herself rudely pushed onto the ground. As her vision cleared, she found herself on the ground, in a high school. It vaguely looked like her high school, but it wasn’t Canterlot. Canterlot didn’t have day-glo green lockers, for starters. People walked down the hall, glaring at her, but they didn’t look like people – they looked like what a child would draw a person like, with a head too large, a truncated body, arms and legs, and the colors – they looked like something from a television show Spike once watched—
The only Spike in town is a dog, and you don’t know him.
—they looked like everyday students here, and yet she didn’t belong. She did once, she had to prove it after her fall from grace—
And when you fought the Sirens. Don’t forget that. You fought three fish monsters from your world.
Sunset looked up. She swore she was imagining things, but maybe she was just losing it. For a second, when she looked at her hand, it looked like a pale beige color, but now it was back to its normal maize color. It was the only thing that seemed to have gone right about this day.
She forced herself to her feet. She had to talk to her friends. She had to find—
“Jerk!”
“Trixie always knew she’d show her true colors again!”
“I thought you were my friend!”
She ran down the hall, away from the taunts and jeers, trying to find one of her friends, someone who could explain all this. But to each person she tried to reach out to, only spurned her. Watermelody slammed a door in her face. Sandalwood growled at her then turned away. Even Derpy looked at her with sad eyes, her gray face showing absolute pain, before walking away. No matter where she went, she was being spurned and treated like the monster she was.
No! None of this made sense! None of it is real! None of it—
You did this to yourself, Sunset. You have no one to blame but yourself.
She needed to make things right.
“So there you are.” She turned to see Flash standing there. Flash, her ex. Flash, whose sweet, honest soul had been something she’d tried to destroy, only for him to escape her orbit and find love with Twilight. She deserved him, far more than Sunset herself ever did.
“Flash, I—”
“Why, Sunset? Why this Anon-a-Miss garbage? We believed in you – I believed in you! I thought you’d changed!”
“I did, Flash!” The tears poured from her eyes. “I didn’t do it! I don’t even know what Anon-a-Miss is!”
“I wish I could believe you. But I’m not going to fall for your lies a second time. Goodbye, Sunset.” He started to walk away.
“Please! Flash, I don’t know who to turn to!” Something felt wrong about trusting him; Sunset wasn’t sure why, but a part of her recoiled at the idea of even trusting someone like—
Yourself. Flash has always been a saint. Meanwhile, you’ve always been a barely-controlled monster. And you’ve slipped your leash once.
—herself. She wasn’t even sure she trusted herself anymore. “Flash, please, I need help!”
“No. You need to go away.”
“Trixie thinks she needs to kill herself!” the haughty girl with the blue skin called out.
Sunset looked at Trixie with anger; she could always count on Trixie to make her day worse. “You’re Anon-a-Miss, aren’t you?”
“Ha! I wish!” Trixie laughed. “She’s stirred up this school more than Trixie ever could!”
“Trixie, answer me!”
Trixie held out a knife. Her eyes glowed with black fire—
With the anger of someone betrayed.
—of someone who had been betrayed. “Why don’t you just end it, Sunset? Trixie thinks you should!”
Before Sunset could respond, she suddenly felt a blow to her jaw that dropped her to the ground, followed by several more body blows. As she screamed in pain, she noticed that she was being kicked, over and over and over again.
She looked up into unnatural—
Faces of betrayal. Faces you betrayed.
—faces of her friends, girls that thought her to be Anon-a-Miss.
“How could you do this to us!” Rarity stood there, her white skin flush with rage, her blue eyes piercing.
“Why did you do it!” Fluttershy’s butter-yellow skin looked so pale from worry, and her turquoise eyes showed pain from what had happened.
“Ah know why! ‘Cuz she ain’t nuthin’ but a low-down dirty varmint!” Applejack punched her fist into her palm, the orange skin making a clear smacking sound as she did.
“Yeah! Dirty traitor!” Unlike Applejack, Rainbow Dash brought a blue fist straight down against Sunset’s face again. “You ruined us, you monster!”
“We trusted you!” Pinkie’s magenta hair was straight, her pink face showing a mask of sorrow. “We believed in you!”
“And you betrayed us again! But this time we’re on to your tricks!” Rarity argued.
“Why don’t you just kill yourself?” Fluttershy told her.
“Kill myself?”
Kill yourself. After all, it’s the only way out, right?
“Yeah! Just end it! We don’t want you and I doubt even Twilight would take you back!” Rainbow shouted. She threw a knife at Sunset’s feet.
Sunset picked up the knife, looked at the enraged faces of those she loved.
Just end it all. Just one slice across the neck and it will all be over.
Sunset held the knife to her neck and tears streamed down her cheek.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing to my friend, you bitch?” Sunset looked up to see a familiar girl with tan skin and rainbow hair deck the blue-skinned girl with the similar hair.
A familiar blonde did the same with the girl with the orange skin. “What the fuck is wrong with you freaks?”
A girl with curly pink hair spun and kicked her counterpart. “Oh, hell no! You don’t get to hurt my Sunnybuns! There’s only room for one Pinkie around here!”
“WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION?!” a part-Japanese girl with chiffon hair roared at the butter-yellow girl, causing her to pass out. ⌠自業自得!⌡ she spat.
There was a loud slap and the alabaster girl fell to the ground. Standing above her was a similar looking girl, her fair skin flush with anger. “I am not normally prone to violence and rudeness,” Rarity insisted, “But I will not have my friend kill herself because of the likes of you!”
Sunset felt herself pulled up by two hands, and as she did, she saw her maize skin return to its normal human flesh tone. She then looked up into four purple eyes of love.
“We’re not letting you go,” Octavia told her. “We’re family, and family sticks together.”
“My sister.” Twilight hugged Sunset close, leaning into the embrace. “You’re my sister. I don’t care about anything else.”
Before Sunset could speak, she found herself in a group hug. She could only look and see as the funhouse representations of her friends tore apart, shrieking like banshees, leaving them in a flat, plain wasteland.
“Sunny, we need you,” Pinkie said. “I need you.”
“Yeah, I hate to say it, but we’re kinda in a shitstorm,” Rainbow said, scratching the back of her head.
“Yeah, Rainbow’s right. But you’re not alone, girl. Ah know that for a fact – you’ve never been alone.”
“Darling, we’re friends – we’ll always be together. But right now, we need you.”
Octavia hugged her cousin close. “Remember, we’re a family.”
Twilight gave her sister a peck on the cheek. “And I need my big sister.”
Sunset closed her eyes, and smiled.
Floating above, Chernabog reared her head back and laughed.
From a distance, Divine looked on with panic and ignored the fact that he’d just shit his pants in fear.
Seated in their makeshift cage, everyone looked on in horror as the girl that had fought to save them, a girl that had meant so much to them, had been reduced to charred bones. Several of them started to cry, and others stared blankly.
“THERE! THAT’S WHAT YOU GET, YOU STUPID UNICORN!” Chernabog said, laughing.
And then the bones started glowing with cyan energy.
Burnt, charred bones became clean.
Bones became a skeleton.
A skeleton became sinews and flesh.
Flesh covered over with clothing.
A young woman opened her eyes, and smiled, then briefly turned to look at those in the cage. It was a look of love.
And finally, with a burning flash of turquoise energy, a unicorn mare stood there, fierce stance on the ground, aqua flames burning on her horn and around her like a newborn star.
“Now,” Sunset Shimmer snarled, “you’re going to learn why it’s a bad idea to fuck with me.”