(Kurama's POV)
I sheathed my claws and stood up straight on my four legs. I took a minute to observe the pony before me, as part of me still refused to believe she was here. The same sun-yellow coat and brick-red mane, coupled with those simple grey irises containing a distinctly cunning look. Yep that's the same mare who both sealed me and released that same seal.
(A week prior, the events of Trust Between Outcasts)
"My name, IS KURAMA!"
"That's all I needed to know!" Sunset yelled as she made a, rather impressive, jump to where the sealing paper was on the gate. With a firm yank she pulled it from the gate, revealing the lock beneath. As soon as she caught sight of the lock, Sunset looked at me and shouted "What now?!"
I was about to shrug and reply 'I don't know' when:
"I'll handle that"
In an instant, somepony was upon Sunset. My eyes widened as my brain tried to comprehend what it was being shown. The glowing yellow unicorn mare placed her hoof on my Jinchuuriki's stomach and twisted it clockwise. There came a 'clunk' from within the gate and the sound of metal sliding over metal. Before long the lock was opened and the gate was sliding away from me on its hinges. I watched the gates move completely apart and fade into the walls and I took a few tentative steps forward, to explore my new freedom.
A light 'splash' drew my attention to where the unicorn and ex-unicorn had landed, with the former turning to face me and the latter just sitting in stunned silence.
"Don't make me regret this decision, Fox" Day Break shouted to me, a stern look on her equine features. "You won't, will you?
"If I was going to do something like that, I would have already" I chuckled, doing my best to sound as arrogant as possible. "Besides, I have bigger fish to fry right now than my urge to get you back for sticking me with this whiny kid for sixteen years"
To that she only smiled and nodded, turning her attention to the speechless teen still laying the dank pool of the chamber. She knelt down next to her and smiled, taking the girl's hand in her hoof.
"My beautiful, little Shimmering Star I don't have much time here" Day Break said, barely holding back her tears. "I know you may not be proud of every choice you've made so far, but know that it's not too late to do the right thing and while you may not gain allies easily after this, if you continue down this path of good, I guarantee you will find the friends who will stand by you until the end..."
"She already has one" I said as I lowered my head to the ground, to be on level with the two. Day Break smile grew slightly and she turned to face me.
"Keep her safe for me" she whispered, an almost pleading look in her eyes as she locked her gaze with mine.
"Your word is my law" I stated dutifully, not breaking off eye contacted with the guards-mare but bowing my head slightly to look straight down my snout at her.
"I'll hold you to that" she warned, placing her hoof on the end of my nose and smirking. I was about to return her smirk with a witty reply, but I was cut off when the steady glow she'd been emitting intensified and she began to fade away. She caught my eyes widening slightly and glanced down at herself, letting out a small chuckle as she turned back to her daughter - who was still sitting stunned in the water.
"Looks like my time here is up, good luck you two" she was about to close her eyes and relinquish her form completely when the frozen teen finally called out:
"Wait!" her call caught Day Break's attention, but she didn't dim her glow. "Who are you?" Sunset asked, the look in her eyes telling me she already knew the answer in her heart but her mind refused to accept it. To that uncertainty the unicorn only smiled lovingly.
"You may not know me, but a mother never forgets her child." with that said, her glow brightened to an unbearable degree which consumed the whole room and when the light faded;
She was gone.
I turned my gaze down towards Sunset, seeing her slowly stand up with her eyes locked on the place the mare had been.
"You gonna be okay?"
"Kurama..." she ignored my question and proceeded to question me. "Was that...my Mom?"
(Present Day)
"Hey, Kurama? You still with me?" I was snapped back out of my flashback by a bright yellow hoof waving itself in front of my face and the voice of the same mare who had freed me from the seal she put me in. I shook my head a few times to clear away the fog of my memories and looked Day Break in the eye and smirked.
"I don't know what social etiquette is like in Equestria, but where I come from it's considered rude not to answer someone else's question" I let my smirk evolve into a grin when she rolled her eyes and began to trot off along the forest border, away from the volcano. I made no hurry to catch up to her, lazily following just about a foot behind her as I waited for her retort.
"Believe me, I've seen where you came from through your memories" she said flatly, not looking back as she spoke. "And your 'social etiquette' leaves a lot to be desired, considering it's perfectly acceptable to punch someone in the face if you disagree with their point of view." I almost laughed at that, reminiscing about all the times fights broke out in bars over simple matters like which way to cross your legs was 'right' and whether or not it should be allowed to send your 10 year old son into the Howling Forest to see if he can survive for three days and earn the title of 'man'. I both chuckled and shuddered thinking of my own harrowing journey into the forest.
"In all fairness Day Break, my world has seen worse times" I reasoned, drawing level with the guards-mare. "Despite the far less than caring parental methods of my home, at least there were parental methods to speak of." Day Break shot me a concerned and questioning look. Apparently she hasn't looked that far into my memories. "But as much as I would love to indulge your curiosity Day, I don't have the time..."
"Indeed you don't. You have a promise you need to uphold." she agreed as we approached what looked like a table next to the edge of the darkening forest. It was a pea green, round wooden table with a doughnut-like hole in the centre. Around it there was placed a number of soft-looking cushions of varying colours and sizes, while atop it there was a large selection of cakes, muffins, cupcakes and pots of tea with tea cups and saucers to match.
Day Break moved to sit at the side of the table that faced towards the forest, sitting herself down on a plump lavender coloured cushion. It was while she did this that I first took notice of her cutie mark - A rising sun having half come above the horizon, but the other half of this sun was a shield with a four pointed star in the centre. However I didn't realise that I was staring and it once again took Day Break calling out to bring me back into this world.
"My eyes are up here Kurama" she giggled as I blushed and shook my head free of its stupor. "Take a seat" she offered, indicating to a crimson-red cushion opposite her.
"Thanks" I said simply after finding my voice again, placing my rump down on the feather filled pocket of cotton. I went back to observing my surroundings while Day heated up a bubblegum-pink tea pot with her magic, apart from the table this place wasn't too different from were I exited the forest. The volcano certainly doesn't look any smaller
"Tea?"
"Hmm?" Day sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Do you want any TEA?" she repeated, holding up the pot in front of me as if I'd never seen such a thing.
"Oh, no thanks. I'm not really a tea person. Sorry for blanking you then, just got some stuff on my mind right now." she only laughed at my apology and I couldn't help but sound a tiny bit offended when I asked: "What's so funny?"
"Sorry Kurama, it's just I'm hardly surprised you've got something on your mind" she explained as her laughter died down, earning only a rather bemused expression from me. "Haven't you figured it out yet? she asked, I shook my head.
"We're in your mind"
(Third Person POV)
"Argh..." Sunset Shimmer groaned, her eyelids slowly fluttering open against the heavy feeling left on them. She could practically feel her brain pulsing inside her skull as it tried to fight off the spell that had been put on it. Suddenly remembering what had happened to her, the teen's eyes now flew open and she attempted to sit up but found herself tied in place.
"Huh?!" she struggled desperately against her bonds, but she only succeeded in rubbing her wrists and ankles raw against the rope that held her. She resorted to just moving her head to get a look at where she was. Tightly packed trees, thick clumps of foliage, smell of weird hermit. Yep, I'm still in the pissing forest. I wonder how long I've been out...
"Ah, you're awake. Splendid." Sunset had to resist the urge to vomit as the disgusting old man approached her from the left. It didn't take him long to come into her field of vision, his scarred old face contorted into a sickening smile. His eyes glowed fiercely and the emerald atop his staff was pulsating with a menacing frequency, he was certainly dabbling in some powerful magic.
"Only ropes?" the jinchuuriki taunted. "What your magic bubble of goo on vacation or something?" Despite her defiance on the outside, on the inside Sunset couldn't help but feel a bit scared. The hermit's smile merely widened as he leaned in closer to her, coming dangerously close to poking her in the eye with his sticky, grease-filled hair.
"While I would love to continue with our little chat, I have business I must attend to with your friend. Isn't that right Eight-Tails?" the hermit whispered as he straightened up and looked off to Sunset's left. She quickly followed his gaze and caught sight of a tall man in a faded and battered trench coat.
The Eight-Tails has a human form? she thought to herself, before spying something in the man's grasp.
"Yes master..." Eight-Tails rasped as he held up the object in his right hand. "I have her..."
Sunset gasped. For there, hanging limp by the hood of her jumper was:
"Vinyl!"
Sunset fought even harder now has she struggled to free her self from the stone slab she lay upon, but it was no use - she was wrong in her assumption that these were 'Only Ropes'.
While she was rubbing her wrists so raw they started bleeding, the hermit had led the Eight-Tails over to a second slab covered in mystic runes and in the centre was the Kanji for 'Iron' inscribed in the stone. The man laid Vinyl down upon it and stood at her right side as the hermit moved around to the end of the slab - by her feet.
"NOW LET THE SEALING COMME-!" the crazy old man began throwing his arms in the air, but he was quickly cut-off by:
*RING-RING RING-RING RING-RING.*
All eyes were quickly drawn to one of the pockets in Sunset's leather jacket. For a moment no one did anything, simply allowing it to ring through. After a few seconds of silence, he continued chanting manically and his staff began to glow and pulse furiously. The evening sky became shrouded by massive, dark clouds with lightening jumping around between them. The runes began to glow and the very air itself seemed to-
*RING-RING RING-RING RING-RING.*
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" the old man roared at Sunset.
"That's my cell phone genius. Someone is trying to call me." she deadpanned not even bothering to look at him, instead she focused on trying to wiggle the device out of her pocket.
"What's a cell phone?" the hermit asked Eight-Tails, who leaned over and whispered the answer into his ear. "Really?" Eight-Tails nodded. "Fascinating. Well, WHO'S CALLING YOU THEN?" he went back to shouting.
"HOW THE HELL AM I MEANT TO-?!" Sunset began, but she was quickly cut-off by her phone.
*Bleep* "HEEEEEY SUNSET, IT'S PINKIE PIE! You said you would come round and help me and AJ bake pies. Where are you? CALL MEEEEE!" *Bleep*
"Damn, I did say that." Sunset muttered to herself, biting her lip slightly.
"Are you done?" the hermit asked sarcastically, the glow of his staff starting to intensify again.
"Unlikely, she'll probably keep calling me until I answer."
"Oh well" he sighed, raising his staff as the runes began to shine white again. "THE SHOW MUST GO ON!!" he yelled bringing his staff down again and with it came a bolt of neon-blue lightening. The bolt struck both Vinyl and the Eight-Tails, consuming the latter completely.
"AAAAAHHHH" Vinyl screamed as her eyes shot wide open and her entire body began to spasm and convulse from all the energy charging around her body. As soon as the Eight-Tails was consumed by the energy the bolt's nature changed, no longer electrifying the DJ's entire body it now concentrated on her stomach. It burned a hole in her hoodie and the tank-top beneath, striking directly at her skin. Her scream intensified as the energy was poured into her body, burning the same kanji that was inscribed in the slab, into her flesh.
Sunset tried even harder now to break free of her bonds, but it was fruitless.
All she could do was watch her sister writhe in pain.
"VINYL!!!"
(Kurama's POV)
"So if I'm in my mind..." I mused whilst stirring the cup of coffee Day Break had made for me, in an attempt to calm down after the short freak out I'd just had. I lifted the mug to my lips and took a sip letting the warm, bitter liquid calm my nerves further before continuing my thought: "-then why are you here? I thought you were only tied to the seal and only loosely at that."
"That's what I thought too." she shrugged, taking a few sips from her tea cup and I was sure that if she had pinkies they would be raised as she sipped. "When I opened the seal for you and my daughter, I thought my time was done. But after I faded away and everything became dark, I was thrust back into the light again before I knew what was happening." she gestured to the world around us, in particular to the blinding blue above.
"How long did it take you to realise you were in my mind?" genuinely curious as to how she knew at all. She finished off her tea and began pouring herself another before she answered.
"Not long. The forest behind you-" she nodded to it and I turned to look at the nearest tree. "-It is comprised of all your memories. If you look closely at the bark you can see a moment of your life, from you perspective of course."
As per her instructions I stared intently at the tree, glaring into the grains of the wood trying to see something - anything. And there it was:
I felt myself get sucked into the memory, being thrown back into my younger self to live that in time again. There was one rather large problem - it was THAT memory. No, I'm not going through that again. I wrenched myself from the memory, coming free from it like a sticker peeling off a wall. I crashed back against the table panting and holding my head in one paw and my chest in the other, trying to steady my breathing.
"I can't. I can't go through that again." I panted trying to claw my way away from the demon tree. It wasn't until I felt a soft hoof on my shoulder and a soothing voice in my ear that I began to calm down.
"You don't have to face it now Kurama." Day Break whispered in a motherly way, actually pulling me into a hug and rocking me slightly. "But you are immortal, so you will have to face it one day." she pushed me back to look me dead in the eye, with a caring but serious look. "But it's better sooner rather than later."
I sighed. I get the feeling I'm gonna hate it when she's right... I opened my mouth to reply, but at that moment my ear twitched - reacting to a distant cry. I looked off into the distant plains behind Day Break where a faint light was glowing in the dark edges of my mind. Day was looking at it too, a grim and fearful expression on her face. We both knew who was screaming.
I stood up and walked around the table, heading towards the light.
"Kurama!" I looked back to Day Break, expecting a stern look or a disappointed one. Instead, I found her smiling at me. "You'll need to face it one day and I hope for your sake that my daughter is okay on that day." her smile evolved into a sly grin as she spoke, but I knew full well that she wasn't bluffing about it being for my sake.
"Keep that coffee warm for me." I replied with a grin of my own, before setting off at lightening speeds towards the light in the dark.
(Third Person POV)
It took a little while for the smoke to clear, so for a time the small clearing was completely engulfed in a pale white haze. Sunset lay in silence, hoping that Vinyl was okay or as okay as a girl who'd just been struck by lightening could be. The first thing to break this silence was a cacophony of maniacal laughter, whose owner was fairly obvious.
"Yes, YES!" the hermit roared triumphantly as the smoke finally dissipated. He was standing alone by the stone slab, with Vinyl's body now laying still upon it. "I've done it! The Iron Armour seal is in place! THIS GIRL IS NO-!" he was cut-off rather abruptly by a titanic kick to his gut. His body was tossed across the clearing and into a tree, where he then slumped to the ground in a crumpled heap.
Sunset now lay stunned, staring at the silhouette of her sister who was now standing where the hermit had been. She wasn't standing up straight, rather she was slouched forwards with her arms and head hanging limply. Unfortunately, Sunset didn't take this as a sign that something was wrong.
"Yeah! Go Vinyl! Untie me and let's get the hell outta here!" she called to her adoptive sibling happily, not noticing the strange growling sound the DJ was making. "Vinyl?" This time she reacted to her.
Vinyl's head whipped around, her teeth bared and without her shades her eyes were exposed. Sunset had seen her sister's eyes before and while their bright red hue could be considered rare, they weren't out-of-place in a human or equine head. These were not considered 'normal' in either. The eyes in her head at that moment were large, completely white orbs with thick, black outlines. They seemed to stare right into Sunset and straight out the other side. The flame-haired teen couldn't help but shudder under the gaze.
"Vinyl?" she whispered one last time. In response the new jinchuuriki opened her mouth and unleashed a sound that was somewhere between a bestial howl and an Ox's call. Sunset flinched, trying once more to free herself as the demon DJ leapt at her with fists raised. However this time her escape attempt succeeded, without its caster's influence, the magic enhanced ropes snapped easily and Sunset was able to flip off the table. A second after she was off the slab Vinyl came crashing down upon it, turning it to nothing but a pile of rubble.
Sunset began to stretch as she watched the rising dust cloud, but she didn't have much time to relish her freedom as she was forced to leap out of the way of the rampaging, monster DJ who came charging from the dust cloud. After completing her evasive roll, Sunset turned around to watch Vinyl go careering into a tree. What's wrong with her? This can't be the hermit's mind control, cause he was the first one she hit. Could this be the Eight-Tails' doing? She was forced to cut her thinking session short when Vinyl came charging at her again, swinging punches and kicks in a rather clumsy fashion. But not clumsy because they were random, rather they were clumsy because Vinyl's body was not used to throwing them.
"Vinyl what's wrong? Why are you acting like this?" Sunset pleaded as she blocked and dodged all the attacks being sent at her, which were becoming more and more fluid with each one. The DJ's only response to her sister's pleading was a roar of outrage and a particularly violent right hook that the flame-haired teen was barely able to avoid.
Dodging that last swing did however, caused her to stumble back and almost lose her footing. In this time Vinyl was able to leap into the air and bring both of her fists down at once, aiming for Sunset's head and there was nothing she could do to defend herself.
*Flash* *Crack* *Crash*
Sunset watched wide-eyed as the demon DJ was thrown across the clearing and into the darkness of the forest, by a side-kick that would have broken a normal person's ribs.
"Lemme guess, she's got the Eight-Tails sealed within her?" Kurama grunted as he landed next to his jinchuuriki. He was caught a bit off guard when she threw herself at his side and latched onto him with the strongest hug she'd ever given. "Yeesh" he grinned and patted her gently on the head. "Never pictured you for a hugger."
"Thanks Kurama" she thanked as she realised her grasp on him. She then proceeded to punch him on the shoulder and snap: "But you've got lousy timing!" he only laughed and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
"Yeah, I know... Your Mom says 'hi' by the way." Sunset blinked.
"Wait, Wha-"
*RING-RING RING-RING RING-RING.*
*Beep*
"Hello?"
"WHERE ARE YOU????!!!!