//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Revenga // Story: SuShi's Bizarre Adventure: Nugget Run Horizon // by Jojoleopard //------------------------------// “So this Principal Cinch was the one responsible for killing the friends you lost?” Summer Shine asked her mother as she held a mug of tea between her hands. It was a chilly day today and the hot tea did wonders in warming up her body. Sunset Shimmer nodded and looked at her reflection in her own tea. “They heroically sacrificed themselves so that we might eventually defeat Cinch. We couldn’t just let her control the minds of everyone on this planet. People deserve to be free, to think what they want to think, to do what they want to do.” “Do you think she’s still there, in that cave?” Summer asked, trying to imagine being stuck in place for all time. It was horrible, but at least she would never have to feel tired or hungry or thirsty. “She has to be.” Sunset clenched a fist and Alicorn Fantasy’s emerged from hers, doing the same. “It’s her punishment, for everything she’s brought everyone through. She’ll never get to harm anyone ever again and she’s paying for all the wrongs she did when she was free. Rainbow Dash and the others had fallen thrall to her Stand’s power. Who knows how many others were enslaved to her.” “I can’t believe my own mom saved the world,” Summer said. “And I can’t tell anyone!” “Well I mean, you could, but no one’s gonna believe you.” Sunset leaned back and laughed. “Wow, you know, it’s nice that I can now tell you all this. Perhaps one day you’ll have an adventure of your own. Let’s just hope it doesn’t involve the end of civilization as we know it.” “I wish Prism had a Stand too.” Summer sipped at her drink. “It would be nice to talk about Stand stuff with her. “She can’t give herself one?” “The coming of the Stand is as much of a mystery to me as it is to you. From what I know, they awaken when the time is right and you have to have been exposed to magic. This world lacks it, and the only way, like I’ve said, is for the portal to Equestria to open. It can only be opened every thirty moons and someone would have to come through for it to open.” “That’s so complicated.” Summer took another sip, then stood up and put her mug on the table. “Pegasus Forever.” Summer tried calling her Stand and it appeared behind the couch she was sitting on, standing over her and looking down at her with its bizarre green eyes. She willed for it to move in her mind and her Stand walked around to the front of the couch and picked up her mug, which looked tiny in its muscular hands. “I think I’m really getting the hang of this now.” Summer smiled at her Stand and it reached over to hand the mug back to her. “Well, today’s been quite the big day. We won our softball game, we had a ton of cheesecake, which I’m sure I’ll still regret later today, and now I have a Stand of my own. I wonder what else we can expect.” “I think you better expect to finish up your papers.” Sunset stood as well. “You’ve still got classes tomorrow, don’t you?” “Only two, and the first one starts at nine.” Summer downed the rest of her drink. “And we don’t really need to be there anyway, mom. As long as we work on our reports and hand them in by the end of the semester, we’re good to go.” “Then you better go deal with those.” Sunset took the empty mug from her. “I’ll wash up, so you go on, scoot.” Alicorn Fantasy appeared and shoved Summer gently as Sunset made her way over to the kitchen, which overlooked their swimming pool. Getting closer to winter now, the pool wasn’t going to be a place where they would chill in the day, seeing as it didn’t have a heating system. She had meant to go put the tarp over it, but she had been so busy with her latest sculpture that it kept passing her mind by. Deciding to get it over with, Sunset pushed the sliding door open and walked over to the shed in the back where she kept all her gardening supplies, tools and the works. The tarp lay folded neatly next to a storage cabinet and as she pulled it out, a layer of dust puffed up into the air. Sunset scrunched up her face in disgust and stepped back outside with the tarp, giving it a shake before throwing it up into the air. Alicorn Fantasy appeared and grabbed it for her, unfolding it and giving it a mighty shake to further clean it up. “There, time to set it up before anyone can fall in and catch a cold.” Sunset was about to order Alicorn Fantasy to throw and unfurl it across the pool, but there was a stinging pain in her lower back and she instinctively reached back to smack at whatever insect had done that. She had her fair share of insect stings in her years living in the woods, but this was different. It somehow hurt a lot more, but then faded almost immediately.  “What was that?” Sunset attempted to spin around to find the culprit, but she found that her foot wasn’t listening to her and instead, she just crumpled to the ground, hitting her head on the ground and blurring her vision. Alicorn Fantasy dropped the tarp and dissipated. “What gives?” “Ho ho,” A male voice said from behind her. “Looks like you’ve gotten rusty over the years. Nice to finally meet you… Sushi.” Walking out in front of Sunset was a man with green hair and a goatee, wearing a ragged t-shirt and shorts, the former of which had ‘Camp Everfree’ written on it in faded letters. In his hands was a stubby pocket knife that he was tossing up into the air, catching it with great precision. “Who are you? What did you do to me?” Sunset tried to move, but her body wouldn’t respond. “You have my Stand to thank for that.” The man walked over to her and crouched down in front of her face. “You don’t know me, but I sure as hay know you. You’re Sushi, the one who stopped Abacus Cinch. I suppose we have to thank you for that. We didn’t want her to succeed either. My name is Timber Spruce.” “If you’re not with Cinch, what do you want, then?” Sunset strained to move herself. “Why are you doing this?” “I’m here for a most noble cause,” Timber sneered. He poked his knife in Sunset’s direction. “Revenge. I’d be going against the master’s orders, but so what? This is my big chance to avenge Twilight Sparkle.” “Twilight? You know Twilight?” “More than know her.” Tinder spun his knife and rested the tip against Sunset’s cheek. “She was my girlfriend, and she was the sweetest and smartest person to ever live in this world. And Spike… You killed my girl and you had to go as far as to kill my favorite dog as well? Spike was the cutest and most intelligent dog you would’ve ever seen! And you had to kill a defenseless and innocent dog like him! You took away any chance of him having a normal life. If he had been a human, I’m sure he would’ve wiped the floor with you! Spike was one of the most powerful Stand users I’ve seen and together with Twilight, they were supposed to be invincible.” “Hey, they tried to kill us first. If they hadn’t been acting on Cinch’s orders to kill us, we would’ve just let them be.” “I don’t care about that.” Timber pressed the knife down into Sunset’s cheek, tearing through her skin and sticking the blade around in her mouth. Sunset let out a screech of anguish. “If she had killed you, so be it. But you killed Twilight and Spike. And now you’ll pay with your life. And once I’m done with you, your friends will be next. None of you will leave here alive.” “No. You won’t!” Sunset struggled to get up, but there was still something wrong with her body. She couldn’t even move a finger. “You like it?” Timber chuckled and got up, leaving his pocket knife in Sunset’s face. “It’s poison. Fast acting nerve poison. You have my Stand to thank for that.” Timber waved a hand in a circle and placed his other hand on the beanie on top of his head and an insectoid creature appeared, buzzing around his head, then around his right arm. It was no bigger than the size of his hand and it had green chitinous plating and beady yellow eyes like that of a mantis. At the end of its thorax was a tail longer than the rest of its body, ending in a sinister red blade.  “Behold, my Stand, System of a Down, is capable of inflicting a paralytic poison that will stop you from moving.” He stretched his arms out to the air. “So far, it’s been thirty seconds since the poison’s entered your system. The poison, at this time, is already making its way to your heart and in five minutes, it will also paralyze your heart and you will die, Sushi. Twilight and Spike will be smiling from the other side. I still can’t believe you killed them. They had so much potential. I love Twilight so much, and Spike had such potential, but you had to take that all away. All that potential!” “What potential are you even talking about?” Sunset had to find a way to get that poison out of her system before it got to her heart. “You don’t deserve to know.” Timber pointed a finger down at her. “Seven seconds have passed since I told you you had five minutes. I won’t kill you just yet. You deserve a slow painful death.” Timber laughed and began walking circles around Sunset as his Stand buzzed in front of her face, darting in and out of her view. She still couldn’t move and true to Timber’s word, she could almost feel the poison seeping through her veins, circulating up her body towards her heart. If she didn’t think of something soon, it was all going to be over. “Hey, you know what?” Timber tapped a finger against his chin. “I can still have my fun without killing you immediately.” He walked back to Sunset and grasped his pocket knife, yanking it from her face with a tiny spurt of blood. By now, blood had been pooling in Sunset’s mouth and it was already slowly dripping to the floor under her chin. “How about here?” Timber went to her legs and cut her across the back of both knees. Sunset screamed out in pain, but was still unable to do anything. “You like that? I’d cut deeper, but then you’d probably bleed out.” Sunset winced as Timber sliced her across the arms next. “When I get out of this, you’re gonna wish you never set foot on my property.” “Psshh, you sound just like an old man.” Timber waved a fist and spoke in a hoarse voice. “Get off mah property! No, Sushi. You’re gonna wish you never killed my girlfriend and her dog all those years ago. You think I’m the bad guy here? No. We used to go on the most amazing dates, Twilight and I. Once, we even went to a planetarium to look at the vast universe and made out. But then you had to ruin everything when you chose to kill her. I had just bought a new collar for Spike that day and I had been so excited to give it to him. I knew Twilight would’ve loved it and I knew Spike would’ve treasured it for the rest of his life, but no. You had to take that away from me. Twilight was such a lovely girl and Spike had so much potential!” “You know, you’re starting to sound like a broken record now.” Sunset gritted her teeth together as Timber stabbed the knife into her shoulder. “We did what we had to do. There was no other way. Twilight was acting under Cinch’s orders to stop us. If anyone’s to blame, it’s her.” “True, but she’s already getting her just desserts.” Timber shrugged and left his knife in her shoulder. “Twilight and Spike are watching down at me from above and they’ll be pleased with what’s about to happen to you, your friends, and even your daughter.” “No, you won’t touch her. You won’t touch any of them!” Sunset continued to try and get her body moving, but it was still to no avail. The poison was incredibly strong. “Sorry. My mind’s made up.” Timber waggled a finger and then pressed it against Sunset’s forehead. “You’ll die. And then I’ll go in and find your daughter and she’ll die the same way as you. Lying on the ground unable to do anything else.” There was the sound of glass smashing and Timber suddenly rolled out of the way as a bronze globe sailed through the air and rolled off into the forest. “Why you-!” He waved an arm, but then a coffee table flew into him and sent him flying back away from Sunset.