Father

by Craine


Defiance

Seconds, minutes, hours, days? Sunset Shimmer forgot how to tell them apart as she gawked up at those crushing yellow eyes. She’d forgotten many things right then; that she was in the school hallway, how to talk, how to blink. Thankfully she remembered how to breath.

At least, she did before Sky Eater spoke again.

“You know why I’m here, don’t you?” he asked.

Sunset regained enough sense to close her mouth and nod.

Sky Eater’s fist clench at his side, his metal-clad digits crunching into his palm. “Then I suppose formalities are unnecessary, Sunset Shimmer.”

The former unicorn gulped, and reached in the deepest recesses of her mind to remember how to talk.

“How did you get through the portal?” she asked.

His eyes narrowed. “Irrelevant. All you must know, is that your actions were unforgivable. You will pay for what you’ve done to my children, unicorn.” He glanced at the other startled girls. “And don’t think I’m leaving you out.”

“No. Leave them out of this,” Sunset demanded with what little strength she could.

Sky Eater’s fist clenched harder. “Was it not all of you who disgraced my daughters? Was it not all of you who tore their voices out like meat from bone?!”

Sunset stepped back, and she did not mean to.

“Yes, I know all about you’re little showdown, your ‘Battle of the Bands.’ You thought there would be no reckoning. You thought you could walk away unpunished.”

Sunset squared her jaw and stood up straight. “They didn’t leave us a choice.”

The armored man crossed his arms. “Perhaps so, but it’s by far the worst choice you’ve ever made.” One of his white eyebrows arched. “I have a question for you, though.”

Sunset offered a sideways stare. “Yeah? And what’s that?”

Sky Eater uncrossed his arms, and the girls gripped hard on their instruments. He point to a backpack on the floor, leaned against a locker.

“Are you ever going to answer that?”

Sunset’s eyes brightened, and she glanced at the backpack―her backpack. The glowing and vibrating only meant one thing. The fiery-haired girl shot a suspicious glare at the now-smiling man.

“Please,” he said with a polite gesture. “I am nothing if not patient, believe me.”

Sunset kept her suspicious glare, even as a frowning Rarity retrieved the backpack and offered it to her. The former unicorn took the pack, opened it, and took the vibrating book. Truthfully, she was over the moon to be getting a message from Twilight. When Sky Eater came through the portal Sunset feared the absolute worst.

She glanced at the book, then at Sky Eater, then back at the book. She opened it and read carefully. Seconds rolled by, and her eyes grew and grew.

Sunset Shimmer! Danger! Equestria in state of emergency! Sky Eater is no legend! Contact imminent! He used the portal! You have to run! RUN!

After the fourth time reading it, Sunset realized her hands were shaking.

“Good news, I trust.”

Sunset whipped her now-sharp eyes to Sky Eater. “What have you done?”

“Pardon―”

“What have you done?!”

Sky Eater’s smile dropped. “Curb your tone, unicorn.”

Sunset throw the book to the floor. “Don’t toy with me, dammit!” Sky Eater scowled. The smaller girl marched right up to him and prodded his abdomen. “You better not have done anything to Twilight, or I promise you―”

Curled fingers shot forward and clamped around Sunset’s throat. She reached up and pulled at the giant’s cold grip in vain.

“I’ve done nothing to your precious friend, Sunset Shimmer, and she wasn’t foolish enough to follow me.” Sky Eater tightened his grip, and Sunset’s eyes rolled back, her tongue lolling out. “Fortunately for her, she won’t see what I’m about to do to you.”

“Hiii-YAH!”

A booted heel dropped on Sky Eater’s wrist. With pursed lips and a muffled grunt, his grip loosened and Sunset fell to the floor gasping and coughing. Rainbow Dash stood ready between him and Sunset.

“Hands off, bub!” Rainbow shouted, gripping her guitar. “Touch her again, and you’ll regret it!”

Sky Eater didn’t acknowledge her, he was too busy examining his now-trembling hand, twisting it, turning it.

“This form is… fragile,” he muttered in wonder. “How the bones can bend and break. How the sinew ruptures. Fascinating.”

Fluttershy and Applejack helped Sunset Shimmer to her feet. The former unicorn stared horrified at Sky Eater, caressing her sore neck. She frowned and gripped her own guitar.

“Alright, listen up!” Rainbow shouted again. “I don’t care if you a god, demon, or whatever! You got no business here! You have what you came for! The sirens are safe and sound, so amscray and leave us alone! Or we’ll do to you what we did to them!”

Sharp, yellow eyes whipped to the blue athlete, and for whole two seconds, she paused. Sky Eater gave his wrist a few quick turns. Snap. Pop. He brought both arms to his side and stood tall before the Rainbooms.

Rainbow Dash allowed a daring smirk. “I think he wants a demonstration, girls.”

Sky Eater watched as they scurried to position. Sunset stood beside Rainbow. Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy flanked them, and Pinkie Pie sat behind them all with a fully...assembled… drumset.

“When did you even…?” He narrowed his eyes. “Questions for later.”

Pinkie Pie clacked her drumsticks together in a quick tempo.

“One, two, three―”

Sky Eater raised his index. Both guitars, the bass, the tambourine, the piano guitar, and even the drumset flew clean out of the girls’ grasp, straps and all. The instruments floated before them, swirling in a figure eight.

Sky Eater clenched a fist and the instruments smashed into a head-sized ball of metal, wood and string. The ball hit the floor with a loud clank and rolled to Rainbow Dash’s feet. The Rainbooms stood in place, neither able to close their jaws.

“But you… he… I… What?!” Rainbow screeched.

“Heed me well,” Sky Eater growled. “Know that I did not lie; you will all pay.”

He glared directly at the girl who dislocated his wrist, and she stumbled back in disbelief and horror.

“H-hold on a second,” was all Rainbow could offer.

Sky Eater put a hand on his hip, and the other over his spiky beard. “Hmm… Taking into account that you are at a disadvantage here, I will allow you one chance to live. All you have to do is answer my favorite question.”

The girls huddled together, their nerve all but gone. They all gasped when a large, iron-clad palm lifted to them. Red light radiated from his hand, painting the lockers, walls, and ceiling tiles blood-red.

“Why should I spare your life?”

He received only a few terrified shrieks, and some glares.

“Typical,” Sky Eater said. “That’s about the same answer I usually get.”


It wasn’t the first time Adagio had to sit there and watch Sonata pace. It became something of a sport, in fact, to see how long it took for her to wear a groove in the floor, or start complaining and ask why her feet suddenly hurt, or even forget why she was pacing to begin with.

Now, Adagio was tempted to pace with her, and she knew Aria faired no differently.

“Sonata, sit down already,” Adagio said, leaning off the statue she sat against.

Sonata didn’t stop.

Adagio groaned and massaged her temples. “You’re giving me a headache. Just take a breather, will you?”

Still, Sonata didn’t stop.

With a frown, Adagio rose to her feet and sauntered to her younger sister. She grabbed Sonata’s arm.

“Hey―”

“No!” Sonata yanked her arm out of Adagio’s grasp. “How can you just sit there and let this happen?! Either of you?!”

Adagio stepped back, her shocked eyes riveted to her sister’s.

“We can’t let him do this!”

The eldest siren’s frown returned. “We have no choice. You know that.”

“That’s a lie! We’ve always had a choice!”

Adagio’s arms pressed to her sides.

“We chose to drive them apart, chose to steal their magic, and then we chose to be their friends!”

Adagio’s shoulders tensed.

“We chose to avoid them when Father called. We chose to hide the truth―to hide what he planned to do just to keep them happy―”

“Oh, what?! Honesty’s the best quality?! Is that what you’re getting at?!”

Sonata flinched at her sister’s venomous tone.

“Well, I guess that makes us even, because they sure as Hell didn’t offer us the same courtesy!”

Sonata glanced at the portal behind them.

“‘Always had a choice.’ So did they! They could’ve told us from the start what this statue was, they chose not to! They could’ve left us to our affairs, let us return to Equestria and go to Father ourselves, they chose not to! If they were half the friends they pretended to be, none of this would’ve happened! SO MAYBE THEY DESERVE WHAT’S COMING TO THEM!”

By now, Sonata was reared back, wrists curled to her chest, tears falling off her chin. Adagio blinked and quickly swatted her own accursed tears away.

“Just… do as Father says,” Adagio said, suddenly too tired to be firm.

Sonata’s lip quivered, and her frightened eyes darkened with a frown. “Liar.”

Adagio had often wondered how someone can stop right in their tracks even if they weren’t moving. Mostly because Sonata somehow had that effect on her. Before the eldest siren could stop herself, she’d already snatched Sonata’s collar and yanked her face to face.

“What did you say?”

Sonata turned her head away, squeezing her teary eyes shut. “You don’t believe any of that.”

Adagio raised her hand. Sonata winced harder and the eldest siren hesitated.

“No one who stayed awake for three straight nights could believe that.” The blue siren’s voice became more and more pitched.

Adagio’s raised hand shook. Then a cold grip found her wrist. She looked back to see Aria. The second eldest siren looked her right in the eye and shook her head. Adagio hesitated a moment longer, but released her now-trembling sister. She stared blankly, and Sonata opened her eyes and stared right back, wiping her tears.

“You’re the worst, Sonata.”

“Oh, god!” Aria screeched.

Oldest and youngest looked at Aria, who was gawking at something ahead. They turned to blood-red light beaming from the school.

Adagio’s eyes darted to Sonata, and she was right to do so. She threw her arms around the frantic blue girl just as she ran for the school.

No!” Adagio yelled. “We can’t stop it!”

“Let me go!” Sonata wiggled and writhed against that grip. “Let me go!” The red light brightened until it turned a hot white. “FATHER, NO!”

Aria lunged forward and wrapped her own arms around Sonata. Blue knees buckled, and they all crumbled to the ground. Adagio and Aria pressed themselves protectively over their sister.

The entire front end of Canterlot High School was obliterated.


“What’s going on?!”

“Somebody call nine-one-one!”

“We’re all gonna die!”

Sunset groaned as the voices echoed in her head. The darkness cracked, blurry colors entering her vision. The pungence of smoke and masonry filled her nostrils. She groaned louder, trying to lift her arms.

A stabbing pain snapped her vision clear.

Her eyes darted side to side. Her ragged, frantic breath hissed through her teeth. Her lungs burned from all the smoke she’d undoubtedly inhaled. Her eyes broadened.

Sky Eater, she thought.

She tried to sit up, but the back of her head crashed back down to shattered tile.

“You! What have you done?!

Sunset recognized that voice. It was Principal Celestia. She doubled her efforts to sit up, and failed just as miserably.

“No…” she groaned with closed eyes

“I’ve not harmed any others. Only the six. Now stand aside.” 

Her eyes shot open when she heard his voice.

“No.” Sunset groaned louder.

With pain tearing through her muscles like scissors through cotton, Sunset finally sat up. She cried out and fell back on her elbows. The destruction before her nearly made her pass out again. Lockers littered the broken tile and jutted from the walls. Sparking wires and ceiling lights hung from above. Pieces of masonry crumbled from the now ovular foyer.

But worst of all, Principal Celestia stood shakily before the approaching giant responsible for it all, Canterlot students cowering behind chunks of rubble.

“You leave them be.” Sunset wanted to scream those words, but she could only murmur.

Sky Eater’s eyes rose from Principal Celestia and settled wide onto Sunset.

“Inconceivable!” Sky Eater declared. “How are you ali―” He stopped himself, his eyes shifting aside, then narrowing. “Right…”

Principal Celestia stomped her foot and flung her arms out protectively.

“I’m warning you! Leave this school at once, or I’ll call the authori―”

Sky Eater waved a finger to the woman’s face, and she collapsed to the destroyed floor.

“No!” Sunset finally managed a shout, however weakened it was.

Frightened chatter burst among the students. Sky Eater stepped over the unconscious woman and sauntered onward to the former unicorn. Instinct gripped all of her senses and dragged herself back. Even while crying out in agony, she didn’t stop. She couldn’t help but glance at herself, her limp and broken body, the blood she trailed in her retreat.

His shadow cast over her like night over the land.

“Doing this…w-will only destroy you,” Sunset grunted through her pain.

Sky Eater’s head tilted oh so slightly. “Is that what you think?” He shook his head. “Foolish mare…”

His giant, armored foot swung back, and before Sunset could even brace herself, it crashed into her belly. A breathless howl escaped her as she tumbled out of the gaping hole in Canterlot High School and down the broken stairs.

She lay sideways in charred rubble, her eyes shut tightly, holding her now-burning stomach. She dared to open her eyes,and immediately wished she hadn’t. Her jaw slowly parted as she reached for Rainbow Dash.

And tried not to look at the shard of glass protruding from her thigh

“Dash?” Sunset weakly called. “Dash?” Her voice cracked, unrestricted tears trailing the side of her face.

The fallen athlete groaned, her closed eyes wincing. She opened, and Sunset offered a scared smile.

“Sunset?” Rainbow whispered dryly. “Did… did we get him?”

“Shhh…” Sunset hushed. She gently touched Rainbow’s cheek. “Just stay down, Rainbow. Relax.”

Rainbow’s eyelids slowly lifted, her irises darting about. “What happened? Where’d all this smoke come from?”

Sunset stroked her cheek. “Dashie, please. Just―”

“I can’t feel my leg.”

Now, Sunset was pressing down on Rainbow’s cheek with what little strength she could muster. “Don’t look. Just don’t.”

Rainbow began to struggle, her breaths quickening. “What did he do to me?”

She moved her legs and shrieked in pain. Sunset pressed down a little harder. Their eyes met again, and Sunset couldn’t remember seeing the leader of the Rainbooms so scared. So vulnerable.

Sunset mouthed the words, ‘Don’t look.’

Rainbow’s lips quivered and she nodded.

“The magic of Friendship, was it?”

Sunset’s eyelids halved, both from exhaustion and despair. She saw Rainbow’s eyes riveted above.

“A power great enough to defeat my daughters. Power great enough to protect you from my wrath. Power that doesn’t belong in this world.”

Sunset’s hand fell from Rainbow’s cheek, her eyes still lidded.

“Yes. The young dragon had all the knowledge I needed for this task, enough to ensure victory, to ensure your demise.”

Sunset continued to stare at Dash, though she didn’t really see her anymore. She heard and felt a large knee fall to the ground behind her, and her lidded eyes narrowed at the cold iron tucking her hair behind her ear.

“But I am not without mercy. Your companions that lay broken all around you… you can all go together. Become apart of the growing void.”

The wind picked up, and Sunset’s ears caved at the crack of thunder. Suddenly all was silent. Or, at least, she couldn’t hear anything. She saw Rainbow, eyes livid and wet, shouting obscenities she couldn’t hear. She felt those same cold hands weight heavy on her cheek.

When she saw Rainbow’s eyes widen even more and lift higher, she knew she knew Sky Eater was preparing to strike her down.

And yet, through it all―through every memory that rattled her mind, through every loose end she never tied, through every instinct shouting for her to move―Sunset stayed right where she was.

She closed her eyes and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

She opened her eyes and saw Rainbow Dash gawking. Then she noticed something else. Arms. Around her face. A soft chest pressed down on her head, a warm body curled protectively over her.

Sky Eater’s mighty roar echoed through the stormy sky. “What is this defiance, Sonata?!”