Of Magic and Machines- The El Trials (Light and Dark)
The first thing that Nicko felt as he landed back on solid ground was himself crashing into a tree at what he saw as a neighborhood park. However… this place was something that he was very unfamiliar with. In fact, it was kind of strange to him now that he thought about it. Mostly because a lot of the ponies that he would normally see in the background just minding their own business were now doing the same thing here… as humans. If you considered cartoonish pastel versions of them being similar that is.
However, he wasn’t here for taking in the sights. In fact, there wasn’t even any time for that. The Rune Slayer was brought here by his displacer because he had a task to complete, so he couldn’t afford to waste time on observing his surroundings… Getting off of the ground, he began to walk around the area, placing his hands in his pockets as he passed by a pair of girls that oddly reminded him of Twilight and Fluttershy back home. His current focus right now was to try and find anything that could serve as a potential clue for what he needed to do.
“There’s some… odd trace of… magic here? But that doesn’t make any sense…” Nicko thought to himself. Something to him was beginning to feel off to him as he began to walk to where he felt faint traces of magic nearby. However, where he felt those traces coming from was another story.
Looking at the sign in front of a large building, the only thing he could do was facepalm himself as he read the sign. “Canterlot High… Really? Why is it that all mysterious things happen in a freaking high school!? What’s next? Some cliche’ anime plot twist?” The school itself looked closed from the outside, but one of the doors of the facility was hanging open as he got closer. “Great… It’s like something wants me to be here. Fan-freaking-tastic.”
As the Spellsword stepped inside though, the faint traces he was feeling before were becoming a bit stronger. Strong to the point that he could possibly identify the type of magic it was if he had the time. But the odd thing that was different about the traces of magic this time was that he could actually hear something this time. A voice. Something… or someone in order to trace it back too… and the creepy part about it was that it sounded like if Twilight went bats**t crazy. As he went around the back of the schoolyard, the magic was beginning to feel stronger… but now he could actually see someone lying on the ground. It looked like a girl that was… well like a ghost or spirit… and deeply upset by something. It didn’t even notice him approach her until he got closer to where she was.
The strangest part about it though was that this girl… almost resembled Twilight. Just her skin was darker and her hair was different from before. “Miss, are you okay?”
She didn’t seem to register the fact that he had spoken to her. She eventually realised he was talking to her and her eyes widened. “M-me?”
“Uh yeah… You seem upset. Is something troubling you?” He asked, kneeling down around the same level where she was at. The girl still seemed shocked, backing away for only a moment… before thinking of a question that dawned on her.
“Y-you can see me?”
Nicko himself raised an eyebrow in confusion, looking back at her before speaking again. “Uhh… yeah I can… My name’s Nicko. What’s yours?” He asked her, causing the young girl to hesitate before looking back at the Rune Slayer… nervously.
“M-Midnight… M-my name is Midnight…” She said, looking around with a worried glance on her face as her form began to shake a little. “You shouldn’t be here.”
That confused the Spellsword as he looked back at Midnight and tried to speak again. “Wait a minute, what do you mean by that? I want to help you-.”
“Yes, but since you are here and you found me, it won’t be long until she shows up… Run, please. I’m begging you, get out of here while you still can!” Midnight pleaded with him while Nicko barely even understood what she was talking about or why she was freaking out all of a sudden. His question was soon answered by the feeling of another source of magic nearby. Unlike Midnights, which felt cool and calm, this one was extremely warm and felt like burning fire. And it was approaching them rather quickly.
“Midnight!” A female voice screamed, sounding angered and exhausted.
“No no no no… not now… Please not now…” She prayed to herself, only causing Nicko to tense up and scan the area for anything out of the ordinary. He didn’t seem to see anything yet, but he wasn’t going to assume that it was some sort of trick. Especially after hearing that banshee like voice just now scream Midnight’s name.
“Why’d you run off? Things were getting good!” The voice sounded like it was getting closer.
“Things weren’t getting good!” Midnight panicked, backing away. “You made me watch a helpless kid get beaten by bullies! That isn’t what I wanted!!”
A crimson skinned woman with red and yellow hair walked around the corner of a nearby building. She had teal irises with black scleras. “Dear, you’ll get used to this… I did. You just need a push to become stronger.”
“But I don’t want revenge!! I just want to be forgiven. I wasn’t myself then and-.”
“But I DO!!! They ruined us!” The demon-like woman screamed, eyes flashing yellow for a moment. Midnight cowered in fright… but what happened next was what surprised both of them the most. The Rune Slayer, who was only observing just a few minutes ago, stepped in between them and was coming to Midnight’s defense.
“What-?” She started moving around him so that she could see Midnight. However, Nicko backtracked his steps, still blocking her.
“W-what?” Midnight stuttered, noticing the Spellsword actually coming to her defense. “W-why?” Nicko was silent, but then sighed as he looked to her.
“Because I’m doing what I believe is right.” He said calmly, before fiercely staring down Sunblight as he looked back at her, a small glow emanating from his right hand. “Now… either back off… or this will hurt.”
“... How are you seeing me!? And for that matter, why are you so short!?” The demon-like woman asked. All that did was cause Nicko to grit his teeth as the glow became brighter, forming a rune of magic in his hands.
“I warned you… Yet you didn’t listen…” The Rune Slayer quickly cast the rune in front of him, channeling his magic into the skill he knew as Splash Explosion as the rune detonated in womans face and sent her tumbling backwards in response.
She hit the ground hard, and there was a cracking sound, followed by a muffled screech. The woman curled up into a ball before getting back up on her feet. Stunned and surprised that somehow, this person was not only able to see her and Midnight… but also was able to harm her as well.
She ended up getting away, leaving only eardrops and dissolving blood on the ground as Nicko looked back at Midnight, who was too stunned to speak or even respond to him actually hurting her sister. “Sorry about that… Midnight, do you know any place where we can stay and lay low for the time being? Something tells me that our scuffle just now might’ve attracted some unnecessary attention.” The girl nodded, looking back at him before having her transparent hand set down on his shoulder… and both of them disappearing from sight before anyone else could show up.
And just before three friends could get the chance to ask him any questions. “Ah dammit! We missed him!!”
“What? How!?”
“I don’t know Sunset! He was there a minute ago and then POOF! He disappeared.” The Rainbow haired girl told her as she looked back at her friends, sighing in defeat before coming up with something that was in her head. “Do you still have your journal by chance? Something tells me we’re going to need the help of a princess to get to the bottom of this.”
When Nicko opened his eyes again, the first thing that he saw was what looked like an old dorm room at some sort of academy. There were staples still on the walls, unused science equipment still laying around all over the place and cobwebs on the furniture as Midnight soon sighed. When the Rune Slayer turned to her, he actually noticed that she was smiling a little. “Thank you… for helping me…” She said softly before looking back at him. “J-just how were you able to harm her like that?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure myself…” Nicko replied. “My skills and magic I’ve learned by myself and have always spent time practicing… Though I honestly expected that skill to somehow not work given that she almost looked like a… a…” Now was when he looked back at Midnight, even more confused. “Well, where are we? … And what are you anyways? You look like a ghost but… I don’t exactly want to call you that if there’s another term for it.”
She giggled a little, looking back at him before sighing. “That… may be hard to explain… But to clear things up, one… we’re at Twilight’s old room at Crystal Prep before she transferred to Canterlot High… two, I’m not a ghost… I’m not even a spirit… I’m what you may call a manifestation.”
“Manifestation?” Nicko then asked, raising an eyebrow. “Could you explain what that means exactly? Matter of fact, who is that person?”
“That… was Sunblight,” She replied, looking a little down on herself while doing so. “She is a manifestation like I am… and she see’s my sister… However, I don’t want to be with her… Manifestations like us form from excess amounts of emotions that take over when mixed with magic. For Sunblight, she was formed from the pride of someone named Sunset Shimmer and an artifact that was stolen from Equestria-.”
“Woah, hold on a minute,” Nicko interjected. “You two know about Equestria?”
“O-of course… Our… well… the first manifestation, who Sunblight see’s as our mother, was formed there thousands of years ago from Prince Artemis. However, unlike us, she had a physical form.”
“Holy crap, you’re talking about Selena.” Nicko said to himself aloud, not realizing that Midnight was actually listening to him in that present moment. “N-nevermind that… Please, continue with what you’re saying.”
“R-right… Sunblight was formed from Sunset Shimmer’s pride and the Element of Magic… while I was formed from magic that was stolen along with the eagerness of a young girl here named Twilight Sparkle… My only hope was that one day, I could actually live alongside others in peace… But it was then I realized that I’m nothing more than a parasite. Now, I just only want forgiveness for what I had done in the past… but Sunblight… She never listens to me… and is obsessed over revenge.”
“Revenge? Revenge over what?” The Rune Slayer asked curiously before Midnight cleared her throat and began to speak.
“Originally before she was formed here, Sunblight wanted to be able to live in Equestria just like Nightmare Moon… but Nightmare did not approve of it and instead abandoned her, leaving her to be banished here by Starswirl the bearded.” The name soon rang a bell in Nicko’s head as he got up and got out the skill book that he kept on him. Realizing something.
“Well no wonder I was able to hurt her… My magic originated from Starswirl.”
“I-it did… Wow…” Midnight was at a loss for words as she looked at the human. “Uh… Nicko right?”
“Yes Midnight? What is it?” He asked the Manifestation as she looked back at him.
“Um… I’m a little embarrassed to ask this…” Midnight said, blushing a little. “But can you be my friend? Please?” Nicko honestly never expected to hear such a question from him, but nonetheless, he kept his calm and smiled.
“Of course I can.” He assured her. “You can be my friend too… And I know this might seem impossible, but I’ll do whatever I can to find the forgiveness that you seek.” Midnight in that moment was beyond overjoyed, wanting to try and hug the Rune Slayer, even if her body ended up phasing through him. It was kind of silly to her to think about it, but now she hopefully was able to do something good for once.
Elsewhere,
Sunblight fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. Her jaw was broken broken, slowly healing from his injury. Next to her appeared Sunset Shimmer, who had a knowing smirk on her face.“You’re too weak, fletchling.” She said.
“No… I’m not weak! I’ll finish what you started Sunset! Equestria will be ours!” Sunblight desperately shouted.
Sunset chuckled cruelly. “You’re a deluded fool. I never wanted to share Equestria with you. I didn’t even care about you. I still don’t, and never will. You’re nothing to me. You’re nothing to Midnight. Nobody even knows you exist.”
“No… It can’t be… You’re wrong!” Sunblight cried. “If you won’t rule with me, I'll rule Equestria by myself!”
Sunset laughed coldly, which caused Sunblight’s heart to shrivel up. “That’s just it! You’re alone! You have no friends, family, and everyone hates you! They used your image as an example of things they’ve triumphed over!” Sunset’s smile only grew. “You’re also a failure! You couldn’t get me power, and part of what made you defeated you! You couldn’t even succeed in killing yourself!”
“I… I had Midnight… I wasn’t alone anymore…” Sunblight cried. “I… I could be seen as… Me…”
“There is no you. And did you see how she reacted to that guy hurting you? She wasn’t worried. She was relieved. You heard her reaction.” Sunset said, her words stinging like poison that flooded through her non existent body.
“NO!!! No! No…! No… It… She cares about me…” Sunblight attempted to deny what was said to her before she silenced herself.
“She doesn’t think of you as family. She hid from you. She wants to abandon you… Just like I did.” Sunset said, before walking through the wall of an abandoned building. Fading into nothingness and causing the manifestation to fall further into her emotions.
“Wait! Please don’t leave me! I can’t be alo-” Sunblight pleaded, but froze. It was in that moment that she realized the truth. Everything made sense to her now… When she first met her sister, she just assumed that she was going to care for her. But Midnight never cared.
Sunblight kicked the door open to the abandoned building, sobbing as she screamed inside. Anger, pain and sorrow flooded her emotions, before she ended up taking a sharp piece of wood and walked deeper into the building and up the stairwell towards the roof.
“No one could ever love a demon… You showed me that, Midnight… I know now, I’m meant to be unloved.” Sunblight looked at the wood, thoughts of ending it all flooded her head before she had the sharp piece of wood disappear. “I’ll save that for later… First… I’ll kill him… I’ll kill Midnight… I’ll kill everyone on Earth! Then Equestria!!! Hahahahahaaa!!!” Sunblight started laughing while crying uncontrollably. She swore to herself in that moment… that nothing will stop her from reaching the end goal. Nothing will stop her… from killing the one named Nicko Nocte.
“What the hay do you mean you three lost him!?” Applejack asked, shocked after hearing the girls explain how their search lead to Nicko escaping from them without a trace.
“Hey, he has magic and stuff. It not like we can track him down or anything.” Rainbow groaned, having to explain to her the whole thing again. “Geez, now thinking on it, he’s similar to Amy in the fact that is unpredictable.”
“Honestly, can we not talk about the one person that is a walking horror show?” Sunset asked, “We’re getting off track with this. We need to find him and see what’s going on… because something tells me that wherever he goes, trouble is not that far behind.”
“And how are we supposed to find him? It’s not like we have a way to track him down.”
“You may have a point there… We don’t have a way of tracking him down… But we might know someone who can,” Sunset replied, taking a pen out of her pocket as she clicked it and began to write a short message in the book. “There. I sent Twilight a letter, asking to see if there is any sort of way she can help us.”
“Sort of help us?”
“She is busy with being a princess after all Rainbow,” Rarity pointed out to her. “Why didn’t you think she showed up until after the Friendship Games were done?”
“Rarity brings up a valid point,” Applejack added to it, looking back at Rainbow before sitting down on a nearby couch. “Hopefully, we don’t get any added visitors along with her if she does come on over here like last time.”
“And you just jinxed it.”
“Rainbow, we didn’t even-.” Sunset mentioned before noticing the book glow and opened it up. “Well, it seems like she can help… despite some challenges in Equestria, she can spare some time to help us and will be arriving momentarily-.” It was in that moment that the door to her home was blown off the hinges and flew to the other side of the room as it showed Twilight outside… with someone else with her.
“Oh horseapples…”
“Boom, I’m back chuckleheads!” A familiar voice declared as she stepped into the house and fist bumped Rainbow on the way in.
“This must be this Amy that you are talking about then?” The other Twilight, who was with Spike and Fluttershy said as she looked back at Rainbow and the other girls.
“Holy S**T!! TWO EGGHEADS!!”
“Amy, please restrain yourself…” The equestrian Twilight, who was wearing a hoodie and jeans sighed. This only resulted in a growl from Amy as both of them looked back at Sunset. “So Sunset… you said that you needed our help?”
“Well yes, as it turns out, we found someone from your world here…” Sunset told them, looking at the other Twilight as she looked back at the others and explained what she saw earlier while walking Spike. Followed by Rainbow and her dramatic retelling of what happened while trying to track down the Rune Slayer they saw earlier.
“Figures that guy would wonder off to lord knows where. You think he would stay in one place for once in his life.” That just led to her Twilight rolling her eyes as she caught Amy’s attention with that single gesture.
“Says the same person who we needed to make an entire list of things that you are not allowed to do… Plus, unlike you, he may have a reason for actually being wherever he goes.” The princess sighed. “Still, like you, he’s a magic user and the best way to start is to come up with some sort of device that can trace magic so we may know where he went.”
“Or just use a tracking spell on this piece of hair I got from him while he wasn’t looking a while back.”
“Uhh… That looks more like your hair, Amy.” Rainbow pointed out for her, seeing how similar both of their hair colors were. “We do know what he looks like though… Remember that game you sent to us for Hearth's Warming Amy? Castles and Chimeras?”
“Oh yeah that game...just a heads up if a person wearing a lab coat comes by here and ask where you get that from. Tell him that you just found it in a bush.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes, before getting out one of the figures from before. “Well, your friend is wearing the same outfit as this. The original Rune Slayer’s outfit from before with the baggy pants and the short jacket?” She then set it back in the box before setting it aside. “The only thing missing is the sword, but given both of you guys, I have a feeling that you know some spell to summon your weapons at will right?”
“How else do you think she is able to carry a weapon in public without the weight crushing her?” Twilight questioned.
“Yeah, I pretty much just hid most of my weapons inside my body if needed.”
“TMI Amy… TMI.” Rainbow groaned. “Come on though, we got a little knucklehead to track down and daylight’s burning. Less talking, more tracking.”
“Any ideas on where you last saw the short guy?” Amy asked, causing Sunset to close the book she had before putting in a shoulderbag that she was wearing.
“Last we saw him, he was around the backside of Canterlot High nearby where the Stadium was for the Friendship Games. It looked like he was investigating something, because I felt some sort of magic in the area he was in that did not belong to him before he disappeared.” Sunset replied to them as she looked back at Twilight, Rainbow, and Amy. “Guess you need us to guide you there?”
“Hey, I know where the damn school is. After all I did crash into it and landed on you remember?”
“Riiiiiight… And you’re going in the opposite direction.” She pointed out, having Amy realize she was walking away from the school instead of towards it. “Something tells me this is going to be a long day.”
“Whatever, just lead the way.” The Crimson Avenger sighed, sounding bored from hearing Sunset speak to her. This was going to be a LONG day.
Sunblight teleported across the city. She was looking for something important. Part of her didn’t want to do what she was about to do, but desperate times call for desperate measures. She finally found the calling in her chest.
A foster home for girls.
Sunblight peeked in, seeing a familiar, yet unfamiliar face. A bacon haired teen with blue eyes and yellow skin. Sunset Shimmer.
“Hello darling~” Sunblight said, an insane gleam in her eyes. This wasn’t her Sunset, but she was the only one that might be weak enough for her to use. The manifestation could sense the bitterness in her, beyond what her makers was. Sunblight teleported inside and went up to the girl, who was sitting in the corner of the room.
“Sunset! Hurry up, or no dinner for you!” The foster mother shouted from downstairs.
“Yes Ms. Blossom!” Sunset shouted back.
Sunblight rested her hand on the teens shoulder. “You don’t need her…”
Sunset looked around, confused. “Who said that?”
“My name is Sunblight… I’ve felt your suffering, and I’ve come to give you a way out…” Sunset looked around, until she saw the manifestation. She screamed, but was silenced by the she-demon. “I’m not here to harm you… I have power I can give you. Real magic.”
Sunblight let go after she felt Sunset’s struggling cease, and eyes widening. “M-magic…? L-like the stuff at Canterlot High?” Sunset had seen videoes of girls growing pony ears and wings, tentacles coming out of portals and even a portal to another world on YouTube. She didn’t believe it at first, but seeing multiple versions of the video made her question her resolve on that.
“Yes. I can give you a new world of magic, and a meaning in life.” Sunblight said. Sunset was speechless. “I know how your mother abandoned you. That your father died. You can take revenge on both of them, avenge your father and punish your mother.”
Sunset froze for a moment, before asking, “What’s the catch?”
Sunblight chuckled. “The only catch is that there’s someone I want to kill. And I need a willing vessel to dwell in.”
Sunset narrowed her eyes. “I’m okay with that…”
Sunblight smiled. “You won’t regret this, Sunset Shimmer.” She then lunged at Sunset, fusing herself to Sunset.
Sunset then stood up. Her eyes changed to look like Sunblight’s, but there wasn’t much of a physical difference.
“Now… We only need some Sirens…” Sunblight said. “Maybe Snips and Snails will help me.”
It was only a short while after Nicko and Midnight had the chance to talk and understand what was going on, but in that timeframe, the Rune Slayer felt an uncomfortable shift in the air. A shift in power and strength that didn’t seem to fit well with their current predicament involving Sunblight possibly hunting them down. Whatever it was though, he knew that trouble would soon follow as he turned to Midnight, telling her that they had to find a place to hide.
“Midnight, we need to move. We’re not safe here.”
“Wha-? Why do you say that?” She asked, both a bit nervous and also worried.
“I felt a shift in magic just now that seemed to be similar to that of Sunblight. Whatever the case is, we need to go because I have a feeling that she will come after us for payback.” The Spellsword explained as he opened the door and stepped outside of the room he was in. “Hey, quick question… can you hide yourself within me?”
“Y-you mean like your body? B-but that would mean I would possess you-!”
“No, I mean have yourself be in my mind, but not in control of me. Almost like if you were a voice in my head,” He clarified for her before explaining a little bit more. “My fiance Eris would help me out by having herself be inside my head so she could serve as a second pair of eyes and see things that I can’t see as well as cover my blindspots. Do you think you can do the same thing?”
“I-i can try.” She faintly replied, before having herself flow through Nicko and try to take form in his mind. “D-did it work?”
“Yes it did. I can hear you loud and clear,” Nicko replied, causing Midnight to breathe a huge sigh of relief as the Rune Slayer began to walk across the street and into a nearby park. “Now… If it’s a fight that Sunblight wants… it’s a fight she’s going to get. And I will make sure to do everything I can to stop her from hurting you.”
Sonata Dusk was in the middle of eating a taco on the streets. No matter how much she tried, it couldn’t feed her. Sunblight watched from afar as the starving siren devoured the taco in a desperate manner. “Hmm… This could prove helpful…” Sunblight whispered to herself, then walked up to the bubbly girl. “Hello, is something wrong?”
Sonata yelped before cowering in her place. “Y-you’re that Sunrise girl who broke our Heartstones!”
“No… My name’s… Eventide. I’m actually here to help.” She said to the siren before looking around a bit. “Why are you alone?”
“Adagio and Aria left me…” Sonata said, looking down in sadness. “We’re gonna die anyway… So what’s the point?”
Sunblight winced, understanding the girl's plight. “How about this, I’ll save you and your sisters. All you and they have to do is work for me.”
Sonata’s face lit up. “Really!? You’d do that for us!? But Adagio said it was impossible!” Sunblight smiled sadly.
“While it’s true that sirens without their magic cannot restore their hearts, a mage like me can.” Sunblight touched Sonata below her neck, and seemed to pull out a glowing blue ball of magic. With it she hardened it into a stone that looked like the gemstones they used, only blue. Sonata’s eyes sparkled, and she seemed to tear up in happiness. “Take it.”
Sonata connected the stone to her neck, and it filled her veins with magic. She hummed the sirens tune to perfection, like she used to. Sonata tackled Sunblight in a hug. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Sunblight caressed Sonata’s back as she got herself back up.
“You’re welcome… Now, let’s find your sisters.” Sunblight said, then picked Sonata up and onto her feet.
“Seriously?! How hard is it to find a guy wearing clothing from off an anime based MMORPG?” Amy at this point was frustrated as hell while walking alongside Twilight, Rainbow, Sunset and the other Twilight (which she personally called SciTwi since calling her Twilight the science gal was off the table at this point). They had already come across Canterlot High, which was barren empty upon seeing everything first hand, and had already checked the town. Going as far as to ask the locals if they had seen him. All those times, the answer was simultaneous and obvious… The answer was no.
“Maybe if you didn’t intimidate the little kids at the playground and get chased out by their parents, we wouldn’t be having this problem Amy!” Rainbow snapped as the Crimson Avenger turned around and grit her teeth.
“Hey I asked them a question, not have them try to cop a field with my boobs. If it wasn’t for the fact that I can’t beat the crap out of them, I would’ve hanged them from a flagpole by now.”
“You need to keep your anger under control Amy.”
“Shut it Selena. If I wanted to be lectured at, I would’ve stayed at home with Molly.” The Crimson Avenger growled. But it was in that moment that something caught Sunset’s attention as she was facing the other direction and looking off in the distance. A worried expression on her face that would catch anyone’s attention. “What’s wrong with you, bacon hair?”
“Something isn’t right… For a minute… I thought I just heard Siren magic.” She replied, looking back at the girls. “But that doesn’t make any sense… the Dazzlings lost their powers after the Battle of the Bands. How can I hear it now?”
“......Question, there wouldn’t happen to be anything magical or weird stuff going on at the high school since I was last here, right?”
“Well, you were here during the Fall Formal… From what I know, there were two things that happened on Campus and one off of campus,” Twilight replied. “The Battle of the Bands had us against a group of Sirens called the Dazzlings, which used their magic to hypnotize others and the other one was the friendship games, where we met this world's version of me. Other than that, there was something happening in the Everfree, but that’s another story.”
“So, to summarize, there was, but not right now I think…” Rainbow clarified. “However, something tells me that might not last long.”
“A little too late for that if you ask me.” However, one thing that everyone else did not know in that moment was that ironically… Amy was right in that instance. Because not far from their current location… a voice was being restored.
“That was easier than expected.” Sunblight said, mostly to herself. Each Dazzling got their own color for their Heartstone. Sonata got dark blue, Aria got green, and Adagio got the original color of red. “Desperation truly is magic…”
“What exactly is your plan? We’re not exactly strong enough to mind control people.” Aria said, crossing her arms with a scowl.
“Ah, you see, mind control isn’t the entire goal. Twice controlling others failed, that she-demon Sunset and you tried, and weren’t able to use them to your advantage.” Sunblight stated. The four of them walked towards Canterlot High. “There’s a better way to use people…”
“And what’s that?” Aria asked, unsure whether to believe her savior.
“Desire… Humanities greatest flaw.” Sunblight said, grinning. She stopped before she was on campus. “Stay here. I have a showoff to recruit.” All three sirens looked at one another, puzzled by what their comrade had said in that moment. Soon though, they saw a face that they had seen a couple times before. One with light blue skin and white ghost like hair.
“I, the Great and Powerful Trixie! Has decided to join you in ruining the Rainbooms and friends!” Trixie announced. The Dazzlings were confused, but Sunblight’s insane grin stopped them from questioning her.
“Trixie, would you mind getting anyone with a grudge against the Rainbooms?” Sunblight asked.
“Trixie would be happy to help Eventide.” Trixie said, before walking back into the school. Sunblight’s grin seemed sharper than before.
“An army of the thinking is better than an army of brainless zombies…” Sunblight explained. “This is how you ruin someone.”
Meanwhile, on the rooftops, a certain person overheard Sunblight in her plans to try and bring the “Rainbooms” down and was not liking the sounds of it. Neither was the voice in his head as she was scared out of her mind.
“What do we do, Nicko?” Midnight asked him, worried that everything was going to go wrong if they don’t do something.
“Patience, Midnight… Something tells me that the odds will be in our favor… from an unlikely source.” Readjusting himself, he focused on the few people that were down below as he then asked Midnight a question. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Uhh… what is it?”
“Pay attention to my sword. For each one of it’s attacks, it’ll gain an enchantment that increases my strength. At five stacks, it’ll unleash a fire breath on my next attack so if you tell me when it reaches five, I can direct the attack in an intended direction.” Midnight understood what he meant as he soon moved across the roof, deciding to do a small trick and drop down just as the Dazzlings and their savior turned another corner. Right in front of them.
“Well… looks like someone’s eager to cause some trouble.” He smirked, looking back at Sunblight’s new form.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about…” Sunblight said. Her eyes were normal, and so were her teeth.
“Oh don’t give me that crap, we heard you discuss your plan while on the roof. Something about having an army of the thinking…” Nicko replied, folding his arms. “You really need to be more observant with your surroundings.”
“Maybe you need to be… What are you gonna do? Huh? Hit me?” Sunblight asked, taunting him. Nicko smirked, folding his arms a little.
“Come on now, it would be rude to hit a lady… But you aren’t one…” The Rune Slayer replied, cutting off Sunblight before she could speak. “Now now… Midnight told me everything about you and from the looks of things, you’re acting like you are preparing for war.”
“Oh? Who’s Midnight?” Sunblight asked, crossing her arms. Nicko sighed, groaning a bit as he looked at her and sighed.
“Don’t give me that BS. You know who she is… now, do you honestly think I would let you carry out your little plan?” Now was when flames formed from one of his hands as he summoned his blade, Ebalon, at the ready. “Then you would be mistaken.”
“You broke my jaw. Here’s me repaying you.” Sunblight said, before screaming. “Help! He’s gonna hit me!” Before falling backwards. To their left was a police officer, who walked over to them.
“Oh for the the love of-.” Nicko sighed. “You seriously think lying and acting the part is helping you? I didn’t even move my arms.” For the moment, the police officer remained tense… until something else that was wild and crazy occurred that distracted him.
“Don’t run, don’t run, I wanna be your friend!”
“Not entirely what I had in mind, but I’ll take it!” Nicko smirked, shifting backwards a bit as he watched Amy chase a white haired girl like a crazed maniac.
“Save me!” Trixie screamed. The officer decided that Amy and Trixie were a bigger problem, so he started chasing them instead.
“Ugh, that could’ve gone better.” Sunblight said, her eyes and teeth shifting back to their demonic form. “You’re gonna pay for this. There are things worse than jail, mark my words.” Sunblight then vanished.
“Oh trust me… I’ve dealt with things worse than that…” He sighed, turning his attention to the three sirens that were there. “Hmm… I guess you guys are going to have a crack at me then?”
“Nah, Eventide told us to go eat-.” Sonata said, before Aria slapped her.
“Don’t follow us.” Adagio stated, before the trio turned and ran away. Nicko sighed before getting back on the roof and trying to scan the town from high above the school. Wondering to himself as he looked around.
“If I were a manifestation… where would I hide?”
“Get off of me you whack!” Trixie screamed, attempting to shove Amy off of her.
“You think I’ll let you go after you hit me upside the head with a baseball bat!? I don’t think so you S.O.B!”
“I’m sorry! I swung it and it fell out of my hands!” Trixie cried, “Please don’t kill me! I’ll do anything!”
“Well, I better stay away from that,” Nicko sighed, looking around a little. “Midnight, I need some help with tracking down Sunblight. Or as she calls herself now, Eventide… Is there something we can do to really piss her off?”
“Do you have a death wish or something?”
“More like an eagerness to kick her ass and have her stop doing what she is doing at the same time…” Nicko told her as he looked around.
“Well, I think there is a place where she may be… Remember, I said may be, I’m not certain. It’s an old warehouse on the outskirts of town. Mostly abandoned, but it served well as a hiding place.”
“Well, it’s not like we got any other options at this point,” Nicko sighed as he dismissed his sword and began to run along the rooftops, using his runes to launch himself across some of the gaps. “Lead the way.” However, him running along the roof of several buildings with ease did happen to catch the attention of a pair of passerby’s that were on the ground. Two of them that were looking for him in the first place.
“Amy, he’s on the roof!” Sunset pointed out… just as Amy was done tying Trixie up to the flagpole of the school after beating the bloody crap out of her. Trixie just cried.
“Well that takes care of one thing. Now to deal with the other.” She proudly proclaimed, just as she noticed him jumping across a six foot gap between buildings with ease. It wasn’t too long before he reached the warehouse. The door was torn off it’s hinges and the walls of the warehouse looked old and rusty. Being cautious, he slowly proceeded through the door and paid attention to his surroundings. Because even if the place was abandoned…
… He knew for certain that he wasn’t alone.
The items inside were mostly destroyed. Paintings burned, torn, among other things. An older car was also there, with blankets inside. Something that he noticed was that there were the words ‘BLIGHT MEANS TO INFECT. I NEVER CHOSE MY NAME. THIS DOESN’T DEFINE ME.’ Carved into the walls. It looked old, but on the other side of the room was another carving, more recent. ‘YOU ARE NOTHING. NO ONE LOVES YOU. YOU DON’T MATTER.’
“What the hell did I just walk into?” Nicko asked himself. He could tell that Sunblight did not want to be called by that name… but what she wanted to be called was another thing. For that, he thought exactly what Sonata said before.
Eventide.
Yet, there had to be another reason for this. Was it motivation? A way to express her own pain? What was it? This did not seem like a monster to be destroyed… but a soul that needed to be healed. But what was it?
“Every day before Midnight, I’d wake up in that car and rise to see those words… It was the only reason to get out of it. I was alone. No one could see me… No one knew I existed.” Nicko then turned around upon hearing the voice, trying to find it. Sunblight was in her true form on a metal beam.
“Eventide, please. Let me help you-.”
“I’m not Eventide! I’ve accepted who I am. You showed me that.” Sunblight said. “You look at me and see a demon. Midnight looks at me and sees a monster. Everyone else can’t see me! And you know what…? I don’t care… I’ll kill you all, I’ll be the monster, demon, and boogeyman you see me as!” Sunblight’s form caught on fire as she laughed. “This is what you wanted, right human? A bad guy like me!?”
“I never wanted to hurt someone unless I have no other choice…” Nicko snapped, but there was something Midnight noticed that she needed to warn about.
“Nicko, that body is not her own! She’s using someone else's to hold her power!!” Now, when Nicko saw Sunblight, he was seeing a split silhouette of her. Seeing the form of the manifestation… and the girl that she was possessing. The girl herself looked to be hurt and in pain, shivering in fear as her energy was being leeched out of her. Something that made Nicko really angry… An act like this was unforgivable… and he needed to make sure to help the girl and set her free.
“I never wanted to fight you… But you left me with no other choice. You’re harming the life of the girl whose body you took as your own and are tearing her apart… That ends now.” He vowed, summoning his blade and having himself ready for a fight. “You have nowhere else to run Sunblight… now come forth and face me.”
“You call hitting me when I wanted to talk to my sister leaving you no other choice!?” Sunblight snapped. She snarled, her eyes narrowing. “I thought we were a family… But I see now, I’ve always been her burden. If you want me dead, Midnight, come out and do it yourself you coward!”
“That’s ironic since you are using a vessel to do your bidding.” Nicko smirked. “Plus, you messed up yourself… Word to the wise, never refer to me by my height if you don’t want to get smacked in the face.” The Rune Slayer informed her, looking back at the manifestation. “It is true that she is scared of you… But how she was scared of you in the first place is because of your actions alone.”
“Does it matter how? She wants me gone, and you’re her pawn.” Sunblight stepped out of her host. Surprising Nicko for just a moment. But he then sighed… and let Midnight come out of him. “If you want me to stop, and become redeemed, you must kill me, sister.”
“There are many things I can do to be redeemed… but I will not kill… not even you.” Midnight stated boldly. Being with Nicko had helped her with her confidence and now, she wasn’t afraid to face her sister anymore.
“If you won't kill me, then I’ll forever haunt you until you die. It’s not like your little toy wouldn’t kill me anyway!” Sunblight’s eyes glowed as a sword appeared in her hand. “Only two of us are leaving, dear sister.” Nicko sighed, preparing his blade and casting Critical Sword to enhance the amount of damage he can dish out. He had Midnight stay back, letting her watch as he prepared himself to fight against the manifestation.
“I see… Such a coward.” Sunblight said. Her host stood up, her eyes red and filled with hate. A flaming crossbow appeared in her grasp. “I hope you enjoy this bloodbath. Midnight.”
“We’re not going down that easily.” Nicko said, having Midnight return to him before the fight began. The Rune Slayer’s first goal was to figure out Sunblight’s attack patterns. Seeing how she could summon different weapons, this made it even more difficult. But the one thing he knew was that Sunblight did not know about the effects of his own weapon. His own blade.
The blade forged from the soul of a dragon.
Sunblight carried two blades, each one crackling with fire. “Die!” She screamed, before thrusting forward. As soon as she was close though, she ducked as a flaming arrow whipped towards him. Nicko was quick enough to deflect the arrow and to block her swords with his own. With one hand holding the blades in place, Nicko used his spare hand to activate another skill that involved backhanding the spirit in the face. Enchant Break. Which upon being hit, reduces any magic resistance a target may have to zero. Sunblight may have only felt a little bit of the blow, but the effects of the magic itself still lingered.
Sunblight created a short sword and tried to stab Nicko angrily as Eventide circled them, firing at Nicko from his side. Quickly enough, Nicko had dodged the shots fired and still focused on his opponent, using Sword Wave to push Sunblight back a little bit and give him some breathing room to work with in this fight. Sunblight surprised him by turning off the gravity in the room. Making him float a little… but the Rune Slayer was able to get back in the game upon softly landing his feet on the metal roof. Using one of his Splash Explosion runes, he was able to push himself in the weightless bubble as he used it two times. One to get to the ground. Two to get closer to his opponent. Sunblight uppercutted him with her boot, which hurt more than he expected. But he also used the opportunity to do a full on swing with his weapon and shatter one of the swords she was using as they broke into pieces.
Sunblight back tracked, shocked that they broke so easily. She summoned a large fireball, which she threw at Nicko. But all the Rune Slayer did was smirk as he used his blade as a guard to block the flaming projectile as Midnight told him something in his head.
“Nicko, your sword!”
He looked to see five glowing orbs on it, smirking a little. “You call that fire… well THIS is what I call fire.” With a forward swing, a silhouette of the head of a dragon appeared high in the air as it doused the ensuing area with burning flames that were as hot as the fires of hell. Sunblight simply teleported into Eventide’s body.
“I have a question… Are you really going to let him kill me, Midnight? Were my sadistic interests so bad you chose to help this boy kill your only family!?” Sunblight screamed as a spear appeared in her hand.
“You are going too far with this, Sunblight.” Midnight replied. “You do not know me like you think you do…” The plan for Nicko and Midnight was to not kill Sunblight, but to rescue the girl that she was using as her host. Killing was not the option they wanted to resort to, but what they wanted to do is save the girl being used by her… and make sure she wouldn’t go through this torment again. Because right now, to Nicko, he was still seeing both the girl and the manifestation… and the girl was howling in pain and suffering. “I did not want what you wanted so dearly, Sunblight. If you truly did care for me, you would’ve respected my wishes.”
“And if you cared for me you wouldn’t have betrayed me! Leaving me for him! Just say it you always hated me! I see it in your eyes...” Sunblight said, glaring. “Funniest thing is… You didn’t just let me go. You and him hunted me!” Sunblight shouted.
“Because THIS must stop!! It’s over! You lost! WHY CAN’T YOU JUST ACCEPT IT AND MOVE ON!?!!” Midnight roared back at her, making the whole entire building shake with her rage. “I HAVE HAD IT WITH BEING PUSHED AROUND, MOCKED AND BEING TREATED BY YOU AS TRASH!! I JUST WANT TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE ON MY OWN, CAN’T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT!?!!”
Sunblight was silent for a moment. “You don’t get it… Do you?” Sunblight asked quietly.
“Get what?” Nicko then asked, hearing her despite Midnight doing her best to ignore her.
“I tried… I tried so hard to be like you. I… Dreamed about being cared about. I dreamed of acceptance. But over the time I’ve lived, alone, without a caring person. Learning the tough way that there is to redemption. That nobody sees me, and that nobody, not even my own mother knew. Heh… I learned that the hard way.” Sunblight grinned insanely. “Born into a world through hate. Pride. In that school I’m the face of evil! I wanted to toughen you up in a way that it’d be easier!!! But I suppose the fact that unlike me, you were created from curiosity, I’m a bitter pride that my mother left behind when SHE MADE THOSE DAMN FRIENDS!!! YOU WEREN’T BORN ALONE!!!”
“I know… but I was always alone, even if you were with me. You never cared for me… It makes sense though… Manifestations like us don’t have hearts.” Midnight then faded away, not wanting to hear anymore of what Sunblight had to say to her. She was sick and tired of hearing what pathetic excuses she had to say and wasn’t going to let her change her mind.
She wanted to be forgiven… therefore, she had to change. Not be what Sunblight was, but instead be different. No pride, no arrogance, nothing. She changed her ways… but knew Sunblight couldn’t.
“The sad thing is that I did care… I don’t need a heart to have loved you.” Sunblight said, summoning her blades. “You were the reason I survived… The voices… They told me to do horrible things to myself until you came. And even now, I go on because you inspired me… Now I just want to be alone…” Sunblight rushed at Nicko, her swords hitting in quick succession. He barely had time to deflect the blades as some of the blades cut through the exposed skin on his arms, not only injuring him… but unknown to Sunblight, she was hurting Midnight as well. It got to the point where Nicko barely even could attack once before his opponent hit him twice with her blades.
He was then facing was of Sunblight’s blades. It was pointed at him, and Sunblight was looking him dead in the eye. But she wasn’t moving. She suddenly flinched, and teleported to the far side of the warehouse.
“Damn it, Sunblight!” She said to herself, panicking. “Why are you hesitating!?”
That was when she heard something… odd from the Rune Slayer. He was actually hearing him laugh to himself. “Come on now… Is that really everything you got?” He taunted, just as a series of red runes began to line up in a spiral along his arms. “I expected more…”
Sunblight was shaking. She felt as though she was about to vomit. She was so close to killing Nicko. Inches. But something inside of her couldn’t do it. This was a battle to the death, and she had intended on killing him. But there was something wrong. Sunblight diffused from Eventide, letting the girl sleep as she stood up.
Sunblight rushed at Nicko, full speed. But just as she was inches from him, the manifestation felt herself stop once more. Nicko however, was getting back to his feet, staring down Sunblight. He had Midnight diffuse from him, having her watch from afar as she watched Sunblight try to attack him, only to catch her blades with just his hands… and break them.
“You may be determined to see your goals through, but you don’t have the willpower or inner strength to commit to doing what needs to be done…” Nicko said, the runes on his arms glowing now. “You have never faced a true opponent before… and now, you are and can’t step up to the challenge.”
“Shut up!” Sunblight screamed, summoning two more swords, but was unable to attack. She teleported away, tearing up. “You don’t know me! You’re only good for hitting people you just met!”
“That is where you are wrong…” Nicko pointed out. “You have no experience in fighting. I do… You may have magic like myself… but I am different. And thanks to you, you pushed me to my limits…” Around not, the runes were growing brightly as a fearsome aura of magic and power emerged from around him, pushing Sunblight back with the amount of overwhelming force it had. “And had me go beyond them.”
“I didn’t want to kill Midnight! I didn’t want to kill or hurt anyone!” Sunblight sobbed. “I never treated her like trash! I don’t want to be alone again!” Sunblight was curled up on her knees. “I just… Wanted her to see things my way… I’m sorry Midnight… For everything… I’m so, so sorry…” Sunblight was holding her as she sobbed. Nicko herself, upon hearing that, sighed. The runes retracted as the magic went away and he looked behind him for a moment, going as far as putting away his sword. “But you’re right… Everyone’s right… I’m a monster.” Sunblight summoned the sharp piece of wood that she kept from before. “What m-monster has a ha-happy e-e-ending?” She then plunged the wood into the left side of her chest. But then felt it come out all of a sudden… followed by her looking up to see the Rune Slayer throwing the wood away.
“It doesn’t have to be like this… But you do not deserve the death that you wish… Not while you still have a purpose in this life.” Nicko told her. Sunblight was still bleeding out though, before the Spellsword placed a hand near the wound… and had the self inflicted wound heal completely. “You may have done bad things before, but that doesn’t have to be you…” He said as he sighed. “Go. I am granting you mercy… take it while you still can.”
Sunblight teleported away from him. She was at the exit. “Mercy from you… It’s a fate worse than death and you know that.” Sunblight said, tears in her eyes.
“It will take time, but I believe you will find someone that can help you heal your scars. You just need to believe… Midnight…” He said, turning to her. “Do you have anything to say?”
“ … I forgive you for everything before, Sunblight. We may not be sisters… but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends… right?” She said, still nervous from before because of her past with the Manifestation.
“The saddest thing with what you said is… You don’t see the truth in that. You don’t forgive me. And… We are sisters.” Sunblight looked down. “Born from different emotions, but still connected to the same source of magic. The Elements of Harmony. Half sisters.” Sunblight said, before laughing bitterly. “Friendship is something someone earns… I’ll never earn it. And you two are going to leave me alone for the rest of my existence. Goodbye, sister.” Sunblight vanished.
Nicko sighed, looking back at Midnight. “Not how I wanted to go honestly.”
“It would’ve been better if you showed a little more compassion,” Midnight told him, causing him to sigh.
“It was hard to do that in the first place because Sunblight was really giving me bad vibes from before I was displaced. I was bullied for my height, my disability and just because of who I was… So hearing your story and what Sunblight was doing to you was hard for me to bare…” It was then though that Nicko thought of something and then asked her. “About what she said… do you actually forgive her?”
“Yes… But actions speak louder than words. I may be related to her, but I want to help her understand what she did wrong… I don’t want to give up on her though. She still has a chance for doing something good.”
“I agree… but both of you must be able to forgive yourselves before you forgive each other.” Nicko told her. “I don’t believe that one should die for their mistakes. I believe she still has a chance to redeem herself… but it’s something that she needs to find on her own.” The Rune Slayer’s current focus though was to make sure that Eventide was okay. She was passed out on the ground, but upon further inspection, noticed she was fine.
However, that was when Nicko heard footsteps and looked towards the door, only to see two figures approach it and one of them kick the door open. But to his surprise, the one who kicked the door open… looked almost exactly like the girl on the floor. “What the-!?”
“Well this is awkward…” The human Twilight said from behind Sunset Shimmer. “So this is your human counterpart.”
Eventide groaned as she started waking up groggily. When she opened her eyes and sat up, she looked around, until she noticed the other her. “What the-?”
“Uh… are you okay?” Sunset nervously asked, just causing Nicko to facepalm himself in response..
“I, uh… Suppose… Who are you?” Eventide asked.
“Uh… M-my name is Sunset… Who are you?” Sunset asked her counterpart, blushing a little at how embarrassing this was for her.
“I’m-...” Eventide froze. “Who am I?”
That was where Nicko came in, holding his hand up to Sunset. “Miss, We’re trying to help you… what was the last thing that you remembered?”
“I remember being in my room… Then nothing.” Eventide said. “Why does Sunset look like me?”
“Let me take care of this, Nicko.” He heard Midnight tell him as she placed one of her hands on the back of Eventide’s head, a cool minty green energy flowing from it for a few seconds before looking back at Nicko. “Being under the control of Sunblight must’ve damaged her memory. I did my best in order to fix it.” Hopefully, this would work and help restore Eventide’s identity to her… hopefully.
“Why is there a girl named Sunset… That looks like me… And I’m Sunset…” Eventide said, lost.
“It’s a lot to explain.” Nicko replied. “We just wanted to make sure that you were okay, that’s all.”
“... Explain.” Eventide said.
“Well… to put it simply… I’m you.” Sunset then said, not asking Nicko how Eventide was able to remember who she was or what was going on. “No, this isn’t a born again thing or a future you scenario. I am you… from another world entirely. Again, it’s a lot to explain.”
While both Sunset’s were getting the chance to talk, Nicko thought it would be best to leave the two of them alone for the moment. However, when he did move off to the side, Twilight noticed that and followed the spellsword, stopping him in the process.
“What’s going on Nick?” SciTwi said, getting straight to the point.
“What are you talking about?” He asked, “Also, my name is Nicko, not Nick-.”
“Just answer the question.” She hissed.
“How am I supposed to answer your question if I can’t understand what you are saying?” Nicko sighed, looking down for a minute to compose himself before looking back at her. “Because in order to answer your question… you need to answer one of mine.” Midnight soon appeared to Nicko’s left hand side as he looked at her for a moment before looking back at Twilight. “Can you see her?”
SciTwi stared at Midnight, paralyzed. “Y-yes… What have you been up to, Nicko?! Why’s there a third me!?”
Nicko sighed, looking at Twilight for a moment. “I’m going to assume that there was a moment where you lost control of yourself?”
“Yes, and thank you for reminding me of last month.” SciTwi deadpanned.
“Well, Midnight was born from that incident… She wants forgiveness for what happened, but feels as if you will not be able to forgive her.” Nicko told her. “I have been trying to help her see that it is possible that even her mistakes can be forgiven. In fact, she restored Eventide’s memory… You know, the other Sunset.”
SciTwi looked at Midnight with a neutral face. “You did nothing wrong. I’m the one that did the bad things.”
“But I felt as if I was responsible for it,” Midnight told her, insisting on it. “I was created from your curiosity and I felt as if I was controlling you to do those things. I felt as if I were the one who did such acts… I felt as if I was the one that made you a monster.” In that moment was when some tears formed in her eyes, only to have her wipe them away as she tried to keep her composure.
SciTwi, for some reason, smiled. She smiled, then hugged Midnight. “If you were controlling me… Thank you…”
“W-what?” She stammered, puzzled by what she meant.
“If it wasn’t for that moment, I wouldn’t have met my friends.” SciTwi said, caressing Midnight’s back… or trying to since she was transparent.
“That… I honestly did not expect.” Nicko said to himself, sighing a little.
“I chose to turn into a power hungry being because I was being peer pressured. It had nothing to do with you. And even then, if I didn’t believe that, you’re beating yourself up for someone you’ve never met.” Midnight’s tears of sadness soon turned into tears of joy as she smiled, thanking Twilight for what she said and let herself be with her.
“Thank you… I’ll promise to do what I can to help you… I can even teach you magic if you are okay with it.” For a moment, the pure thought of it startled Twilight and she was going to ask how, but that was when Nicko interjected.
“Those who have control or partial control of magic can see manifestations like Midnight. That’s how I was able to see her and that’s how come you can see her right now.” He explained, having a rune form in his hands to demonstrate.
“That doesn’t… Explain… A thing.” SciTwi said.
“Some things can’t always be explained. I mean, heck, have you seen Pinkie Pie?” Nicko asked, looking back at her. “A lot of the things she can do can’t always be explained. However, what I can tell you is that… what happened to you from before left you with the ability to control magic… Right now, you just need a proper teacher.” It was then that it felt like a massive weight had been lifted off of his shoulders as the original clothes that he first wore returned to him. “I believe Midnight can help you with that, would you agree?”
“Absolutely.” The manifestation smiled, answering the question simply.
“Stop avoiding the question.” SciTwi stated. “And Pinkie’s antics are solely based on magic.”
“What Nicko means is that since you can see me, I can see you. Meaning that if I were to show you how to control magic, than you will have a visual example of how to do it. Think of me like… a personal tutor so to speak.” Midnight explained to the best of her abilities.
“That’s not… My question… Where have you been and what happened here?” SciTwi stated.
“I have been almost all over the entire town and what happened here was something that was… different… Did Sunset ever tell you about what happened to her one night?” Nicko asked Twilight, waiting for a response. When he didn’t get one, he sighed. “Well, like with Midnight, a manifestation formed out of Sunset when she lost control of herself sometime before you transferred here. However, hers was purely formed from her pride and wanted revenge for what happened when her plans failed. Going as far as to find Eventide over here and using her as her vessel. Sunblight’s gone now… but my concern was that if Eventide was okay.”
“Gone…?” SciTwi asked.
“She ran off… originally, she wanted to kill herself, but I gave her a second chance. I believe that there is still hope for her… but it is something she must find on her own.” The Rune Slayer told her.
“Literally… You let an unstable magic user free in our world without a leash.” SciTwi said, crossing her arms.
“Not exactly… There is something that I found out when I fought her… She does not have the resolve to hurt living beings. There were multiple times where she would’ve tried to harm me, but could not follow through. She doesn’t have a strong will to follow through with it… Not to mention that she doesn’t know something I placed on her.”
“If you’re right, and she is a manifestation born, what, three or so months ago… A child doesn’t have the resolve to kill. That bitterness will build up with her being literally invisible. Who knows how bad she can become if left to brood.”
“Hey… like with people, manifestations can change. Like I said, I still have hope for her.” Nicko told her. “I know I wasn’t able to grant her the compassion she may need, but I know someday… someone else will…” He then walked over to a clear space for a moment, making sure that he had space for what he needed to do next as he was able to successfully summon one of his other blades.
“I only see one fatal flaw with that… No one can see her!” SciTwi shouted.
“I know… which is why I’m entrusting the possibility of what may happen to you,” He said to her. “She will need time to cope… time for her wounds to heal… but if anything does go wrong, you tell me.” He then tossed one of the tokens in his pocket to her as he looked back at him. “That is my token… which you can use to summon me when you may need me… Now, if you excuse me… I need to return home and pray to god that demons have not trampled over everything back in Equestria.” With it, the Rune Slayer used Void Edge to cut open a door to his realm as he stepped on through, having it close behind him as Twilight just stared at him. Shocked and surprised by what happened.
“Oh come on!! I still had more questions!!!”
Unknown Location
The smell of fire and lava from the pits of tartarus was everywhere as two strange creatures walked over the charred corpses of the guards that were on duty. On them, they held three keys, gracious stolen from the likes of a Deadly Chaser that they had manipulated as they used the keys to try and unlock the spell used on the door to the chamber of Ran.
“My lord, everything is in place… Please be patient-.”
“Patience is one thing that I do not have,” Ran growled, a threatening glare emerging from his eyes. “Either get me out of here or I will do it myself.”
“I would not advise you to do that,” One of the demons said. “The backlash would be tremendous in your current state-.”
“I did not have you take on this task to give me pretty speeches, In. I… WANT… RESULTS!!” The demon lord had sworn revenge on all of Ponykind after he was bested by the young damnable mage named Starswirl the Bearded. Now though, as he was getting so close to his freedom though, something began to happen. As the lock glowed brightly.
“S-something’s wrong!!” Jin, In’s accomplice shouted. “My lord, stay away from-.”
“AH TO HELL WITH THIS!! BOTH OF YOU ARE USELESS-!!!” Ran screamed, throwing both of his hands on the gate and trying to bust it open while the spell was still being used. It immediately began to backfire on him as a blue flame began to burn his entire body. However, he did not care for the pain that he was forced to bear through. He wanted his freedom! He wanted his Revenge! And nothing… NOTHING was going to take that away from him.
As the shackles on the door began to break, the amount of magic being pooled into the spell caused an outward explosion as a massive black cloud of smoke loomed over the two demons that were trying to service their lord… However, the result from what happened did not kill Ran… it instead changed him drastically.
“M-my lord… are you okay?” In dared to ask as she cautiously approached the downed demon… until it’s body began to rise. The first thing the demon that she saw was the demon’s horn being clipped from it’s head… before she could see how changed the master she served really was.
“Heheheheh… I’m better than OKAY…” He said with a wicked glare. “I’m free… Scarred, but free… In fact, don’t call me by my old name anymore. My name shall be what Starswirl left on me… Scar… Prepare every single troop that is ready… It is time.” As she said that, a new sigil began to glow on his body as he looked at them.
“BEGIN THE INVASION!!!!”
End Log 27
