Chapter 41-Black Nirvana- Take 2
Black Nirvana- Take 2:
….haeh…. haeh…… heah……. heah……..
Running through the deserted Streets of Ponyville, panting in exertion all the way, a figure bolts like a mare possessed as she tries to find anypony that could help. “…I need…… to find the guards….….If I am to get…… just a bit…..of help…..”
The sound of hooves galloping through the night resounds off the dusty roads of Ponyville as a zebra races through the early morning air. Everywhere that one can look, signs of restoration can be seen: fires being put out, doors being put back on their hinges, families hugging and thanking the gods that they are all together and healthy despite the tragedy they have endured. And every which way, members of the Royal Guard, and medical personnel, and honest hardworking citizens are helping those in need, of safety, first aid and warm food.
However, these mean nothing to Zecora; she barely pays notice to the few Royal Guards and doctors aiding the currently injured and comforting the few weeping ponies in their grief. Her need is far more urgent, and requires the aid of the best of the best, and so she runs as fast as she can while she searches for the only ponies who can help her.
It is just as the out of breath zebra looks to have given up on hope that she spies a large gathering of very specific ponies near the great stone fountain in the center to town. Though the damage to the fountain is indicative of the harsh night the town has barely endured, the fiery spirits of the ponies near it fill Zecora’s heart with a combination of relief and annoyance as she trots over towards the group.
“There…. pant…. they are….pant….. see that wasn’t……. pant….. very far……”
Gathered near a temporary command post adorned with the crest of the Royal Guard, a group of very special and specific ponies stands about as they do their best to alleviate the situation around them.
Handing out crates of warm baked goods as well as much needed courage are the twin bakers of Ponyville, Pinkie Pie and Applejack. Having wasted no time in displaying their generosity, the two mares had managed to bake a small assortment of cakes and warm hot chocolate for the ponies of the town free of charge, assuring them that the situation was well in hoof.
Rarity spends her time more practically, using her magic to repair and ‘spruce up’ the exteriors of the buildings in the town square that had been attacked. With a few scraps of metal, half a torn dress, and a rock she has already managed to repair much of a nearby building’s structural weaknesses, with a fashionista flair that one would expect from such a mare.
Fluttershy has taken it upon herself to watch over the children of the town, who have perhaps been scarred for life by the horror of what they just witnessed. Yet just the presence of the butter-yellow pegasus is enough to drive off the foal’s fears and promise them their nightmares were over.
Standing apart, basking in the adoration and praises of the other foals, are none other than the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Together they have spent every second since the disaster ended regaling the other foals with their ‘kill counts’ and the many numerous methods they had used to put the walking dead to rest. If one were more skeptical one might be inclined to not believe them, if not for the giant pile of burning corpses off in the distance. When Caramel’s curse had ended, the adults who had been bitten had corroborated the youngsters’ stories, telling in horror the many ways in which the three fillies had brought an army of the undead to heel with nothing more than a scooter, a chandelier, three bags of marbles, a tiara, a six very long sticks, a wagon, and a three boxes of Sweetie Belle’s home-cooked meals. All in all, the three fillies (Plus Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon) had managed to kill forty eight zombies and incapacitate twenty seven infected ponies without any help from the solar guard, though in their defense most of them were by accident. After all, who would expect a filly’s cooking to be so bad that it could literally kill zombies and cause an infective Stand to foam at the mouth?
Of the twenty seven infected ponies that had survived, seventeen of them had been convinced that the three fillies were the spawn of Discord himself, and resolved to move as far away from the three as the town limits would allow. The other the other ten were in a coma andhad to have their stomachs pumped.
And Rainbow Dash…… Rainbow Dash is doing what she does best…….
Yelling.
“That’s a load of horse apples!” the rainbow mare shouts as she slams her hoof into the table where Lightning Dust is sitting. “We got them all, didn’t we? These ponies have had enough scares for one night, we don’t suddenly need to force them into some smelly building cause you have ‘a feeling’!”
Clearing her throat, the acting commander of her unit of the Royal Guards tries her best to keep her temper from rising, despite her opponent’s antagonistic behavior. “And I say that safety takes priority over how these ponies feel. If there’s another Stand user in the town, which there most likely is, then these ponies are in even more danger standing out here in the open. The town hall and the surrounding buildings are all stone-walled and capable of housing the ponies of this town in one place so that we can protect them.”
Panting with all her might the Zecora finally manages to crawl her way up to the table, holding on to the sides for support as she struggles for words. “…. Pant…. Everypony….. pant… I need ….. pant….. your…. Pant……”
“That or it could just make it a bigger target if there is another bad guy waiting around!” The rainbow mare crosses her hooves while hovering in midair. “Which there’s not. And if any evil villain had the guts to show up in the open, I’d knock them down in ten seconds flat!”
“….. Is that your catchphrase or something? ‘Ten Seconds Flat?’ Because if it is, you definitely need a new one.”
“…..pant…… Please…… pant…. Listen…..”
“That’s not funny! And my catchphrases are totally awesome!”
Lightning groans. “…. Seriously, if you were under my command, I’d give you an order to think up some new material.”
“Come on, Lightning Crud! Think of the foals! We don’t need to scare the little guys any more than they have been!” Rainbow Dash gestures over towards the fillies playing under Fluttershy’s guidance. “Not that I was scared, but these little guys just lived through a freaking ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! They’re probably all scarred for life!”
…………..
“…..So then, after we nailed their hooves to the ground with Sweetie’s nail gun, we took out a chainsaw and tore through them like they did in the movie ‘Rise of the Dead’! There was like blood and guts everywhere, even in our manes! That’s how bloody it was!”
“COOL!”
“Totally awesome!”
“I wish my mom had bought me a chainsaw!”
Ever since they whole disaster ended, Scootaloo has been ‘enlightening’ the other school foals of her awesomeness, telling them all about how she, Scootaloo the Zombie Slayer (and co.) had killed over two hundred zombies. The tales she weaves are as biased towards her as they are ridiculously impossible and self-contradictory. However, being prepubescent foals who live on action movies and comic books, convincing them that an untrained thirteen-year-old could kill two hundred zombies (With the kill count rising higher with each telling of the story) is easy as telling them that babies are dropped off by a large bird.
Well, it is easy to fool almost all of them. “Um, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle asks with such shyness that even Fluttershy would be proud. “It may just be me. But I don’t remember any of that happening!” The white filly cocks her head to the side. “Are you SURE all of that stuff happened?” Sweetie Belle gasps. “You aren’t LYING now are you?”
Before the audience can even respond the orange filly thinks on her hooves and grabs her white-coated friend. “Just a second, everypony! Need to straighten out our stories.” Grabbing Sweetie by the arm, the desperate orange pegasus pulls her out of earshot of the others.
“S-Scootaloo…. You’re lying!” Sweetie states sorrowfully. “How could you! We all barely survived because we all worked together and you’re making it sound like a game!” Sweetie brushes her mane off to the side with dramatic flair. “Besides, I killed most of the zombies with my ‘Wilber’s Surprise’! So if there is anypony that deserves all the credit, it’s me!”
“Don’t blow this for me, Sweetie!” Scootaloo pleads between clenched teeth. “This could be our only chance to be as popular as Rainbow Dash is! And by Celestia as my witness, I’m going to squeeze every second of popularity out of this that I possibly can!” Turning back towards the group, the orange filly straightens her expression as her young overactive mind generates more disturbing images of sheer awesomeness.
“Now where was I….?” Scootaloo taps her chin as if she is some war hero trying to remember her long lost glory days. “Oh yeah! Then the boss showed up! He was a big mound of putrid undead flesh the size of a house! So I tied a rope around my waist and jumped into its mouth, from there it was easy to swim through its putrid flesh until I found its heart! Then I just pulled out my gas can and lit it on fire! Then all Applebloom had to do was pull me out and we just watched as he burned to death from the inside out.”
“THAT’S THE MOST AWESOME THING EVER!!”
“You are so cool, Scootaloo!”
“You’re way better than Diamond Tiara ever was!”
And speaking of Diamond Tiara, the drama queen herself was not in the best of moods. Sitting with her hooves crossed on a nearby bench she was currently giving the yellow filly sitting beside her the biggest upset pout in her little filly life. Her trademark crown, the symbol of her pride and dignity, was currently being bent back into shape by said yellow filly. With all the skill of a drunken surgeon, Applebloom was using her strong teeth in an attempt to bend the dented, charred head-ornament back into place. Needless to say, Diamond Tiara was noticeably upset.
“Look, Ah said that Ah was sorry! But yawl know that we needed to spark the gas leak with some kind of metal!” Applebloom grunts as she tries to pull the dented body of the crown back into position. “And it just so happened that yer crown was made of…. well, some kind of metal.”
“….It’s made out of a titanium reinforced platinum alloy, which is why I’m surprised that you managed to dent it,” Diamond Tiara pouts. “Then again, I suppose you three blank flanks are experts at destroying priceless, irreplaceable objects now aren’t you?”
“……Is this about yer house?”
Diamond Tiara facehooves. “Oh no, Applebloom, I’m not upset at all; I mean, deciding to BLOW UP MY HOUSE was a perfectly sane and rational decision!” Using her years of dramatic acting the pink filly attempts a very lady like swoon by laying down on the cold metal bench. “It was all done towards a great cause, after all. How would I ever live with myself if Scootaloo beat your kill count and managed to kill more zombies than you?”
Applebloom nods. “Good! Ah’m glad that you think that too, ain’t no way Ah was gonna give Scoots the gold! Even though it was Sweetie who beat us…” Applebloom looks back at Diamond, whose eye is twitching erratically as she stares at her. “You sure you aint mad, Diamond?”
“…….Nooooooooooooo! Of course I’m not mad, Applebloom, I’m just darn peachy that you destroyed my house on a whim!”
“……. Really? Well that’s mighty mature of you, Diamond!”
Diamond raises her hooves in exasperation. “Of course I’m mad at you! You blew up my house! You’re just lucky that you destroyed Daddy’s bottle-cap collection and not any of my stuff, otherwise I would have never forgiven you!”
Her attention currently redirected by the filly’s comment, Applebloom looks over at the lounging pink filly. “Hey, if it weren’t fer me comin ta save you, yawl would be worm food! If anything, you owe ME!” Applebloom smiles evilly. “Unless yawl fergot what kind of condition ya were in, as well as what ya did when Ah saved yer hide!”
“I-I-I was hysterical! I wasn’t thinking straight, it’s not my fault you surprised me like that!” Diamond protests. “Besides, I would have been completely fine! You said yourself that I’m not a princess, so I didn’t need you to come rescue me!” Harnessing her years of maturity of experience, Diamond Tiara responds in the way she always does.
That being, Diamond Tiara turns to stick out her tongue at the yellow filly. Applebloom, stubborn as ever and unwilling to give any ground, throws a raspberry right back. And with that, the fourth annual face-making contest begins between the two fillies, an event which of course goes completely ignored by the adults and their more important conversations.
………………
“…..The kids look fine from where I’m standing.” Lightning coughs into her hoof. “But more importantly than how they feel, we should insure that these ponies are safe. And if that means corralling them into a building then that’s what we are GOING to do, whether you like it or not.”
“Oh, big surprise!” Dash shouts with feigned surprise. “The Royal Guard is here to make us common ponies follow your rules! You know, I thought after cutting Twilight some slack that you guys were okay, but - big surprise - here you are trying to make everypony do what YOU think is best!”
At this the commander barely suppresses her rage, as she manages to keep a civil tone through clenched teeth. “I am TRYING to do what’s best for everypony. If you weren’t so stuck up you’d see that these ponies’ safety is more important than how they feel for a while!”
“And I SAY!” Dash slams her hoof into the table. “That their freedom and how they feel IS important! We don’t need to round them up and stuff them in crates to protect them!”
“Their safety is too important to jeopardize!”
“Their freedoms are too important to jeopardize!”
“Safety!”
“Freedom!”
“…… air………” the zebra pants out as she collapses on the table in exasperation.
The disturbance of the table causes the two mares to finally notice that they have another interloper to their conversation. An exhausted interloper, dressed in a sweaty white coat, but an interloper nonetheless. Her decorum taking over, Lightning Dust quickly gives a salute as the turns to face the zebra. “…Secretary Zecora? When did you get here?”
“UUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!” Zecora screams.
“Wait, who?” Dash cocks her head.
“She’s just Celestia’s secretary. She has the leader of the land’s ear but she doesn’t have any real command.” Lighting Dust clears her throat as she prepares to resume the argument. “Now, as I was saying, Dash, Guard Captain Shining Armor placed me in charge of the safety of these ponies. As long as Shining Armor is holding down the fort over by the police station, I’m in charge!”
“….commander Lightning Dust…..pant..… I really need to tell you…… pant….…that…. pant…..”
“Well then, let her get your boss over here and maybe he’ll tell you what a jerk you’re being!”
“Well that’s the first good idea that you’ve had all day, Rainbow Crash. Somepony definitely needs to straighten you out.” With all the decorum and command that the uniform allows, Lightning turns to face the zebra. “Zecora, go fetch Shining Armor and tell him we need….”
“HELP!!”
Just as it looks as though somepony is finally going to pay attention to the zebra mare, all eyes turn away as they lock on to the voice of a desperate-sounding mare off in the distance. Trotting towards them, displaying an obvious amount of pain, is a mint-green unicorn mare, her coat matted with red, and upon her back a light tan pony with a candy colored mane rests, droplets of blood falling from her hoof.
“Is… is that Lyra? And that sweet-maker Bon Bon’s on her back…..” Fluttershy asks as she trots up to Dash, leaving the children unattended. “Oh my goodness, she’s hurt!”
Those five words are all it takes, within seconds Zecora is completely forgotten again as an entire group of ponies rushes over to help the injured mare. Within seconds Lyra finds herself propped up by the strong, supportive hooves of Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash, as she and her injured sister are taken over towards a nearby hospital bed. With all the care two pegasi can muster the two mares find themselves picked up and placed on two clean cots as doctors and various medical personal surround them. As healing spells are cast and bandages placed around their injured limbs, Lyra’s friends and acquaintances can only look on as two more casualties are added to the list of tonight’s damages done.
“Lyra, how did….” Applejack mouths as she looks upon the injured form of the green mare, measuring her shallow breaths as she struggles for air. To see the previously energetic and optimistic mare brought so low is hard to accept for Applejack. Yet her own curiosity and concern presses her to ask the hard question that is currently on everypony's mind. “Lyra… what happened ta you, and to Bon Bon? Ah mean, yawl are a good fighter. So how the heck did you get so beat up?”
“Applejack!” Fluttershy states with an indignant outburst, “These two need rest! I’m sorry, but you’ll have to hold off your questions until……”
Applejack nearly jumps out of her skin as she feels a strong hoof grasp her arm, yelping with such shock that everypony stops talking. Wheezing from the strain, the mint-maned unicorn grasps Applejack’s arm tighter, as if afraid that if she let go she would be unable to finish. “It was…. It was another Stand user….he was…. dark… and strong…. Didn’t stand…. a chance……” A single tear streams down her face as she notices the tan coat of the mare beside her is matted with blood. “…. I couldn’t protect her….. I couldn’t protect Bonnie…. I failed her…..”
“L-Lyra…” Applejack clutches the hoof of the mare tightly.
“C-Couldn’t stop him….” Lyra admits shamefully as she breathes out in exhaustion, the dried blood matting her coat mashes with the dirt on her coat discolorating her light green pelt. “….F-Forget me…. Just tired….. P-Please…. .. Bonnie… is Bonnie…… is she……”
“Lyra….” Fluttershy sniffles along with everypony within earshot, their hearts stricken by Lyra’s plight. “It’s alright, you don’t have to say any more. You're safe now, and your sister’s safe too, there’s no need to….”
“Let her finish, Fluttershy,” Lightning Dust says, calmly and sternly. Trotting up to the mint-green unicorn, the solder gets to her knees and places a gentle hoof around the Lyra’s, caressing it reassuringly as she looks straight into her eyes. “Don’t worry citizen, your wounds and that of your filly friend are severe, but not life threatening. Given time, both of you will pull through.”
The mint-green mare for the first time since she arrived cracks a subtle smile, perhaps at Lightning’s inference towards her ‘Filly Friend’. “However, at this moment, anything you can tell us about your attacker is vital,” Lightning states sternly but fairly. “Do you know what he was after? What was his Stand power? Do you know what his name was? Or what kind of pony he was? These are the things that could help us save lives, so tell us all that you can.”
Lyra breathes in, then she breathes out, letting her sorrow escape into the air around her. Suddenly, the crushed mare from before raises her body shakily as she puts all her strength towards sitting up. Despite the gestures of the medical personnel around her, Lyra Heartstrings manages to rise up to the other ponies’ eye level, her gaze focused and filled with resolve. “…Dark grey stallion…. Red curved horn that looked like a knife…. And his eyes… they were the worst part. They glowed green and had dark purple vapors, they weren’t the eyes of a pony.”
“And his cutie mark?”
“…Couldn’t see, it was too dark. I didn’t even see his Stand either, he just vanished from sight before I could even land a punch.” Lyra’s eyes suddenly gain focus as she remembers a crucial sentence she had heard from just before she faded out of consciousness. “He said…. He said that he was after the Miracle Stones….”
“The what?” Lightning asks with genuine surprise.
“Um… I think she means the Corpse pieces….”
“Yeah, those stones that grant miracles. That guy, he was after them, he said that he was going to ‘gather them up’ and ‘finish’ any pony that would get in his way.” Lyra exclaims as she looks over at her sister hanging on to life in the bed next to her. “I’ve faced a lot of nasty guys ever since I got my Stand… but this guy….. he’s a whole other league. He’s not misunderstood or ambitious, he’s just plain evil, and he’s stronger than I can believe. And right now he’s bent on getting every Miracle Stone that he can get his grubby little hooves on.”
The unicorn shivers as her body breaks out into a cold sweat. “And worst of all….. I don’t see how we could stop him….”
“The pieces of the Corpse?!” Lightning muses as a doctor bandages the two mares’ wounds. “Then this attack was just a distraction. And if the enemy is after the Corpse, then that means that Shining Armor…….”
“THE POLICE STATION IS UNDER ATTACK BY A STAND USER!” Zecora blurts out with about as much tact as a stick of dynamite.
The entire group grows silent; the mares barely blink, and only the sound of the zebra’s panting is heard over the silence. Then, as suddenly as it descended, the silence is blown away by loud words filled with hysteria.
“What? The police station is under attack? Why didn’t you say so sooner, Zecora?!” Lightning Dust leaps to her wings. “Shining Armor needs our help now!”
“Lightning Crud is right!” Dash states, “You should have said that sooner! Twilight and Trixie are on their way there right now!”
“Twi’s in danger?!” Applejack asks with deep concern, “That’s real important stuff, Zeboria! Why didn’t yawl tell us sooner!”
The zebra, however, only looks at the ponies around her with one of Twilight’s patented ‘are you kidding me’ faces. Her simple gaze expressing more hatred than a foal who just found out that their elder sibling ate the last cookie. “…..pant….. pant…… Hate you all …… pant… hate you all so much…….”
“Well whatever are we standing around here for, girls?” Rarity asks with exasperation as she trots over to the road leading out of the town square. “If Twilight gets even a scratch on her coat I’ll never forgive myself!”
No more words are needed, no more pep talks or Pinkie themed jokes are permitted. Together all five of Twilight’s closest friends and acquaintances put all their energy and focus towards getting to the police station at top speed. Their hooves blur, their wings flap and their breaths grow heavy as their bodies try to keep up with their racing minds, each one of them trying to suppress the images in their mind of what this mystery stallion did to Bon Bon and Lyra as they try not to imagine what gruesome fate is awaiting their friend.
…………..
Twilight lies crumpled on the floor, impaled by a single bloodied sword, her prone form and red-stained pelt a sign of the serious blood loss she is suffering from. Pinned against the wall, Trixie remains trapped, forced between choosing to serve the stallion who killed her parents to save a friend, or achieve her revenge and reap all the rewards that come with it. And of course, watching the blood leaking out of the purple mare like it were some form of demented pastime, is the villain himself, the leader of the gang that had just finished sacking the town, is the dreaded boss of Melodia: Sombra.
“Well, Trixie? Time is wasting; if you had some plan to save your friend, now would be a good time to implement it.” Sombra smiles darkly as he looks over towards the ever paler Twilight Sparkle. “Unless you were considering my gracious offer?”
A dark shudder passes through Trixie’s frame as she is forced to look deep into the luminous green eyes of the murderous stallion before her. ‘Well this is it, back against the wall, no chance of escape, and no desire to either. In front of me, the serial killer that I have been chasing for years, the very stallion that murdered my parents.’ Trixie narrows her gaze. ‘And he has just made the fatal mistake of letting his guard down.’
Glaring at the grinning stallion before her the mare clenches her jaw, as a rudimentary plan forms in her mind. ‘Alright Trixie, here is the plan, distract him with your words, make him believe that you’re going along with his insane plan. Then cut off his head with the garrote wire you have in your mane with your third trick: Magic Rope Trap! It’ll be instantaneous, and even with his ability to regenerate it will be impossible for him to survive!’
Her mind made up the mare takes one last glance down at the purple mare behind Sombra, her every breath growing weaker by the second. ‘Twilight…. Trixie…. Trixie is sorry, but it was your own fault for being caught. I wasn’t responsible, it was something Sombra did! And I can’t pass up this chance to see justice be done; Trixie is not letting this psycho get away on my watch!’
“Well, Trixie?” Sombra asks.
‘Alright, Trixie!’ the showmare psyches herself up, ‘it’s Show Time! Carefully now, lure the stallion in with soft and difficult to hear words so that he’s right up next to you!’
With perfect acting skills, the showmare subtly opens her mouth as she prepares to utter the whispers that will lure Sombra to his gruesome death. But to her great surprise, no words come out, as if her very body is rejecting the falseness of the words she was prepared to utter.
‘What!? What happened? Say it, Trixie! Say you’d never join him, attack while he’s distracted! Do something!’
“I…… I……” the showmare stutters for perhaps the first time in her life as she tries with all her might to pronounce two simple words. The two words that will signal her counter attack, as well as the end to Twilight’s life.
‘How hard is that for you to say, Trixie!? Two words, ‘No’ and ‘Way’, in that order. Just tell this scum off and end him!’
“Well, Trixie? Have you reached a decision? Regardless of what you choose, you are coming with me.” Sombra smirks, revealing his fangs. “And since you possess no chance of victory, you might as well swear your undying loyalty to me and save yourself the heartache.”
‘Say it, Trixie! Twilight would understand! This stallion is evil, I need to kill him, he murdered my parents and will kill others if I don’t stop him right now!’
Glancing over at the lavender unicorn clutching one of the swords protruding from her body, the stallion seizes the fact of the unicorn’s worsening condition to put more pressure on his captive. “Time grows short for your friend, Trixie, and while I take great pleasure in seeing anypony close to the Sun Witch die, I have a schedule to keep. So I would suggest that you MAKE A CHOICE.”
Trixie’s body shivers, her entire system in revolt as her clenched hooves shiver in barely suppressed frustration and rage. “…I…. I……..”
‘SAY IT TRIXIE! SAY IT! SAY IT! SAY IT! SAY IT! SAY IT!’ the mare screams over and over in her mind, her body shaking, her pupils dilating, her body sweating up a storm as she tries to put her entire being into saying two single words.
The words that will get her revenge.
The words that will make her the most respected mare in Equestria.
The words that will kill Twilight Sparkle.
“WELL TRIXIE!?” Sombra shouts over the showmare’s stuttering “What is your decision!? Time is running out for your friend, so if you want to save her miserable life than I suggest that you buckle down and SAY IT!”
Trixie’s minds shatters, her body convulses, her heart skips a beat, and in a moment of utter powerlessness the mare’s arms fall to her side as all hope leaves her eyes.
‘I…… I can’t say it……’
‘……good, sweet Celestia, I can’t say it……..
‘Dear sweet Celestia, forgive me. Forgive me mother, forgive me father…….I just…….’
In that moment the light blue unicorn’s mask of stoic calm shatters, tears course tragically down her face as she looks down at the innocent pony bleeding to death before her. ‘I just can’t say it……..’
Sombra, confused at Trixie’s sudden loss of anger, inches closer just as Trixie opens her mouth. “…. If… if you save Twilight… then….” The dark stallion presses closer towards Trixie, his mind and soul waiting on bated breath for the next words to come out of the showmare’s mouth. “…If you PROMISE…. You won’t hurt her…. Then I…..” Trixie gulps, every fiber in her being trying to reject the words she is about to say. “Then I… I’ll…..”
What happened in those next two seconds was so instantaneous that even Trixie had difficulty following it. The stallion Sombra, anticipating Trixie’s agreement to join him, had neglected to notice a simple fact about Twilight: namely, that the swords that Trixie had impaled her with had all disappeared when Trixie had opened the box. Thus, even Trixie was surprised when the purple librarian pulled out the very sword that was supposedly stuck in her body, only for the gag blade to reform in a slight glint of purple magic. Noticing the small flash Sombra had turned sharply around, to witness just in time as Twilight’s telekinesis shoved the glowing purple sword straight into his chest. With enough force to push clean through the stallion, the sharpened blade had managed to pierce him, whether by coincidence or incredible precision, at the exact spot where the stallion’s heart would be. Understandably, the surprise of being impaled and the pain of the attack itself caused the stallion to scream in pain, dropping the Red Stone in his hoof that he had promised to Trixie. And finally Trixie herself, never one to pass up an attack of opportunity, had manifested her Stand and, before Sombra had even hit the ground, he found his body pummeled by a barrage of the showmare’s most powerful punches.
DOJYA! DOJYA! DOJYA! DOJYA! DOJYA! DOJYA! DOJYA! DOJYA! DOJJJJYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!
Needless to say, now no longer pressed against the wall, Trixie’s anger-fueled punches sent Sombra spiraling through the air, his heart ruptured, his bones cracked and his muscles bruised and torn before his nerves could even scream out in pain.
Panting heavily, all her strength exerted in a single moment, the showmare falls to her knees as her body greedily takes in the oxygen from the stale air around her. Her panting breath is the only constant in the silent darkness around her, the sound of her thudding heartbeat her only other audible companion as her still reeling mind struggles to take in what just happened.
“……. Atta girl…… Trixie….” a small voice speaks out from the darkness.
“TWILIGHT!” The blue showmare rushes to the prone form of Twilight, instantly forgetting her own exhaustion. The showmare wastes no time at all at putting all her magical strength behind her most powerful healing spell, directing all its power into Twilight’s injuries as she smiles back up at her.
“Heh, we really…. We really got him good, didn’t we, Trixie……” Twilight grins, her own blood staining her teeth a dark red. “…….Just like you said….. just gotta…. take a chance…..”
“Don’t talk, Twilight.” Trixie wipes the tears from her eyes. “You…. You were great, Twilight. You beat him, just…. Just stay with me, now. You aren’t going anywhere!” Trixie promises as her horn blazes brighter, all her magical expertise and ability channeled towards patching her friend’s injured form.
“….s-st…..”
“Twilight, just calm down, I’m currently doing everything that….”
“…..S-Stone……”
Trixie’s ears perk up at this. “Stone…. Sombra’s Red Stone!” The mare looks over the room as her horn’s light shines through the dark. “Red Stones have immense healing properties, all I have to do in find it and….”
“And WHAT, my dear Trixie?” Trixie’s heart skips a beat, her pulse escalates, and her body tenses up as the sound of another voice echoes off the walls. It is a voice that fills the showmare with dread, it is a voice that she had never hoped to hear again, but the sound of hoof steps behind her lets the mare know that what she hears is not an illusion. Faster than she can even turn around the showmare finds herself tackled to the ground, her hooves pinned at her back and her face slammed into the ground, and even then she is barely able to turn enough to make out her attacker.
Trixie’s frame shudders as she looks upon the figure pinning her to the ground. Standing over her like a triumphant conqueror, his hoof pressing her face into the ground beneath her with the force of a lion bearing down on it’s prey, is none other than Sombra himself. And, from the look on his face, she can tell not only is he alive, but he is very, very angry “N-No….” the showmare cries out as she is pressed further into the ground. “H-How can you even be alive!? Twilight, she stabbed you in the heart!”
“Tenacity, my dear Trixie,” Sombra growls. “Pure rage and tenacity. After all, this isn’t the first time I’ve had my heart ripped out, and if that fraud CELESTIA has her way it most certainly won’t be the last.” Sombra growls as he looks down at the lavender unicorn, her raw wounds threatening to come apart under sudden shock of Sombra’s apparent return from the dead. Yet even as Trixie is being pressed into the ground, her bones groaning in pain from the pressure of the stallion’s strength, she still manages to pour all her available manna into healing Twilight’s wounds. “Though, to tell you the truth, of all the ponies I have known, I never expected that YOU would be the one who would try to rip out my heart.”
Suddenly displaying an abnormal amount of rage, the stallion pushes Trixie’s head against the ground with frightening strength. “But then you went and betrayed me! You tried to kill me! After everything I’ve done for you! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT YOU WOULD TRY AND BETRAY ME TOO!” the stallion screams out, hacking up another liter of glowing red blood to splash down the side of his suit as the gaping wound in his chest slowly but surely stitches itself together. The pain of the wound causes the bestial stallion to growl out in pain as he pushes the show mare’s face into the ground. “I thought that I could use you, Trixie Lulamoon, but now I’m beginning to have my doubts. Yet I am still more merciful than that fraud. Bow down to my will and you will live.”
Responding in kind, Trixie musters up her will to resist, pushing through the pain as she spits on the stallion’s hoof. “Buck off.”
The stallion pushes the mare further into the ground, causing her to wince in pain. “You still defy me! I could have given you everything, and you threw it back in my face! Why? Why would you….” Sombra eyes widen as he turns around, his vision catching sight of the bloodstained purple librarian laying on the ground, barely managing shallow breaths.
“THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” Sombra yells at the purple unicorn as he rushes over to Twilight’s side. His own fury aroused against the barely alive mare, the stallion throws aside all pretenses of sophistication and mercy as he savagely pummels the mare with his bare hooves. Blood flies as the mare’s wounds begin to reopen from the impact of the blows, all of Trixie‘s efforts at patching her wounds brought to naught. Normally, Twilight would resist, she would fight, but in her current state she finds herself too weak to even scream as the stallion inflicts blow after blow upon her hapless body. “YOU WORTHLESS, PATHETIC PONY! I should have known the spawn of Celestia would be a thorn in my side! A hindrance to my plans, a blasphemy against everything I have ever struggled for!”
“YOU STUPID…..”
SPHCK!
“…UGLY…..”
CRACK!
“……PIECE. OF. FLITH!”
WHUM!
“Ha… ha…..ha….” Sombra straightens out his bloodied tie as he wipes the blood from his face with his snaked tongue. With eyes filled to the brim with endless malice he stares down at the mare beneath him, still clinging to life despite his savagely-delivered beating. “You made a quick decision in such a weak state; therefore as an opponent I will praise you, Twilight Sparkle.” Manifesting his Stand, the dark stallion raises its nail-driven and bandaged hoof as he looks down on the shallowly breathing mare. “But your acts were completely meaningless in the end. DIE!”
His hoof raised for the finishing blow, it looks as though there is nothing that can stop Twilight’s end. Her body is torn ad ragged, far too weak to even beg for mercy, and above her a psychopathic stallion is prepared to crush her head with the level of concern that one musters when stepping on an ant.
Yet, even in the darkest of moments, a light always finds a way to shine. “Where… what do you think you’re doing…. Sombra…..”
Looking over his shoulder at the showmare behind him, the stallion manages the faintest of smiles as he watches the cocky showmare struggle to even stand. “Still you insist on saving this pathetic unicorn? I commend you for your tenacity.” Sombra laughs mockingly as he raises his hoof to inflict what will undoubtedly be the finishing blow against Twilight Sparkle. “However, there is nothing on this green earth that you can say that will save….”
“I know how your Stand works.”
Sombra’s hoof stops in mid swing, his Stand shaking from the mental turmoil he is no doubt experiencing. His eyes, previously so filled with his assurance of victory, grow beady and narrow, his breath catches in his throat, his entire body breaking out in a cold sweat. Turning around, the stallion locks eyes with the mare rising shakily to her hooves, and in the way a millionaire might ask a dragon not to eat him, the stallion gulps and with a quivering lip asks, “…… I beg your p-pardon?”
“Your Stand power,” Trixie says with every degree of confidence and as much strength as she can muster. “I know how it works.”
The stallion’s mouth gapes in disbelief as he stands paralyzed by words; however, the smirk crossing the showmare’s face lets the dark stallion know she isn’t even close to being done. “And didn’t you say that anypony that ‘betrayed your secrets’ must die? That is what you said right? Therefore, since I know what your Stand does, surely you mean to kill me, Trixie Lulamoon, in cold blood just as you killed my parents.” The mare fakes a swoon. “Oh woe is me! To die in the same way as my parents, well get on with it! I, Trixie Lulamoon, am prepared to accept my fate!”
“I TOLD you, Trixie. They DESERVED to die! They stood in the way of my ascension!” The stallion shakes his head frantically. “Wait, This doesn’t make sense…..” Sombra tugs on his mane. “Is this some ruse? A trick?!” His eyes bulge. “You’d never just present yourself up for me to kill, offer yourself up as a sacrifice! It has to be…..”
“I’ll give you ten seconds to make your decision,” Trixie states with a tone of finality. “You can either kill me for knowing your Stand’s power, or you can take me with you and risk me killing you in the future. It’s your call.”
“Wait… What?!” Sombra shouts as he accidently pulls a clump of his own mane out.
“T…Trixie….” Twilight mutters, “Wha…What do you think you’re doing……”
“Those ten seconds start now.” Trixie grins as she takes a step closer towards the dark stallion. “Ten….”
Sombra stutters, “F-For once I agree with your pathetic friend! If this is some kind of joke….”
“Nine…” Trixie says as she takes another shaky step towards Sombra, her body completely defenseless.
“What…. What do you think you’re trying to pull?!”
“Eight….”
“Do you honestly think I’ll fall for another one of your tricks, Lulamoon?” Sombra snarls.
“Seven….. Well, Sombra?”
“Trixie would never do this….” Sombra futilely assures himself, “She’d never walk straight up to a superior opponent without something up her sleeves…. It’s impossible…..”
“Six….. time’s wasting….” Trixie states mockingly.
“I get it now! You’re just an illusion!” Sombra points his hoof towards the advancing blue mare. “You’re just an illusion created by Trixie’s Stand! The real Trixie would never so recklessly approach me!”
“Five….”
“Now I get it!” Sombra’s glowing green eyes swivel about as he scans the room. “The real Trixie’s somewhere in the shadows, just waiting to attack me….. BUT IT’S NOT GOING TO WORK, TRIXIE!!”
“Four…..” Trixie stops not a hoof’s length from the dark stallion in front of her.
“Ha… hA…. HA! I’ve seen through your tricks, Trixie…..” Sombra gulps as the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. “…haven’t I?”
“Three….” Trixie states as her star-studded Stand, it’s cape waving in a nonexistent wind, manifests out of her body.
“Trixie’s Stand….. that means this is the real Trixie?!” Sombra shouts out as he takes a step back. “Is she stupid?! Doesn’t she know I can kill her in an instant from this range?!”
“Two….” Trixie cracks her neck as she releases her pent up tension, her body loosening up as her muscles relax.
“Is this a suicide attack? A feint? A stall for time?! The final part of an elaborate plan she’s been setting up from the beginning to kill me?!?!” Sombra raves while fear begins to course through his body.
“One…..” Trixie’s Stand winds up for a punch.
“You have to kill her Sombra, you have to kill her now! But it’s Trixie, I can’t kill her. You can and you will! But she knows how our Stand works, we can’t use it! Shut up and attack, DO SOMETHING!!”
“Zero.”
In half a second, two extremely skilled Stand users react with all the speed and responsiveness that they can muster, their Stands lashing out with all their power like an erupting volcano. Trixie’s Magic Mare, its glistening, star-spangled hoof shooting out in its most powerful, most sharp, and most deadly right cross to date, the blow slicing through the air, directly towards Sombra’s terrified mug. Sombra, on the other hoof, stunned by the mare’s audacity as well as his own crippling paranoia, finds himself raising his Stand cowardly, its flailing hooves forming a ramshackle guard in an attempt to ward off whatever trick or scheme the mare in front of him has hatched to kill him.
However, there is no trick in Trixie’s actions. No ruses, no falsehoods or second measures in her attack. No, her blow is simply what it appears to be, one straight cross from her Stand, thrown with everything she has. All of her rage towards Sombra, all her remaining energy and power, all her desire for justice, and all her long nights of loneliness while sitting in an orphanage are put into this one blow. And Twilight…… her punch is thrown with the desperation of a pony who is willing to risk everything, sacrifice all, to protect a pony that is truly irreplaceable to her. All these traits, ephemeral and physical alike, are condensed, distilled and unleashed in one simple act of physical synchronicity, as every part of her very being is put behind a single blow. The result of all this energy, all this pain and practice, is a punch, nothing special, just one simple, basic left cross.
KA-KROOM!!
Yet, though it is just a simple punch, it is said by many great warriors that with enough force behind a leaf one can cut through a dragonhide. Meaning that, depending on the resolve of one’s heart, that even a simple jab can become a fatal blow. And with everything behind Trixie’s one punch, it is no surprise that a simple cross becomes a blow that shakes the very air, her hoof impacting the stallion’s face with the force of a thunderclap. His face bends from the impact, his body breaks as the blow presses further into his face, the shockwave traveling through his body shattering the floor underneath him even as he is lifted into the air. His body spasms and bends like rubber as it contorts under the righteous strength of Trixie’s hoof. His bones vibrate and shatter, his eyes bleed, and even his skin ripples from the blow’s resounding impact like miniature title waves.
DDDDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOJJJJJJJJJJJYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNN!!!!!!
Sombra’s body cartwheels through the air, smashing into the wall behind him with enough force to bring down the entire thing around him in a cloud of rubble. The dust drifts in the air as The Great and Powerful Trixie pants heavily, her Stand receding back into her body as her exhaustion reaches her peak. Taking a knee the mare pants harder as her hooves shiver like a frightened foal, her body having reached its limit long before, and even now it is taking her every ounce of energy just to keep herself upright.
Yet once again, like a bad cold, or a notice from the IRS, the rubble flying apart as a dark, bandaged Stand pulls its user from the debris, Sombra has returned. His body is bleeding profusely and massively bruised from the impact, his heavy breathing an indication of his exhaustion, yet still the stallion still manages to look intimidating, even as he struggles to understand what just happened. “W-What….” The bloodied stallion hacks up another cup of Red Stone-infused blood as his injured body somehow manages to rise to its hooves. “It was….. it was just a punch?!”
Feeling his broken and bruised skull, the stallion’s sudden apprehension fades away in the wake of realization. “It…. It was a bluff! You never….. you never had a plan!” Sombra’s previous fears, his paranoia and angst, all vanish in a moment as he releases his nervousness in a burst of uproarious laughter. “BWA HA HA Ha ha ha……. Not bad, Trixie, you actually were successful in bluffing me! The head of Melodia, of all ponies, with nothing more than a simple lie…. I should have known that you would never be able to decipher the mystery behind my Stand. Ha ha ha ha ha ha…….”
Suddenly the room grows as deathly cold as Sombra’s voice. “However, your pathetic ruse has failed, and with it your chances of victory have just reached absolute zero. In short, you lose, Trixie Lulamoon.”
Yet even in the wake of absolute defeat the showmare can’t help but smile. “No, Sombra, Trixie did have a plan, one that you were actually able to guess.” Trixie stands over Twilight’s form, her senses primed and ready to defend against any surprise attack the stallion may throw. “Trixie wasn’t trying to take you by surprise or make a foolhardy attack; Trixie simply put all her confidence and her strength into their best and fondest ability, her bluffing. You see, Trixie knew that she couldn’t defeat you alone.…”
In a sudden explosion of sound the door behind Trixie shatters, a large, colorful group of pastel ponies bursting into the room, their faces locked in deathly-serious expressions as they survey the room around them and the carnage contained within.
Her face a mask or resolution and focus, Applejack tilts her hat, fastening it firmly on her head as her Stand manifests out of her body. Foundation smashes its wood-covered hooves together with the force of a bomb blast as its flowing green leaf mane flutters in the aether.
Dash, being as quick as she is, lands with a loud crash, positioning herself on the front, ready to defend her friends behind her with body and soul. Her hooves, glowing with the rainbow aura of her Valkyrie, drive off the dark around her as she stares down the dark abomination threatening to harm her friends.
Even Fluttershy, thought to be the weakest in her group, can’t help but make a stand after seeing the condition of her two best friends fighting with everything they have. Standing like a vanguard in front of the injured Twilight and the exhausted Trixie, her dark, fathomless eyes signify the power of her Stare, ready to crush the wills of any who would hurt her friends.
Rarity, her discerning eye having noticed her lavender friend even in the dark, suppresses her shock at seeing her Twilight in such a condition even as she rushes over towards her injured friend. Her Stand Quicksilver, moving itself with expert precision only a seamstress could muster, dances like starlight as Rarity works quickly to sew her friends wounds shut.
Pinkie’s flippant attitude had disappeared the moment that she walked through the door, her happy smile replaced by determination as her deft hooves work at patching Twilight’s wounds with bandages and gauze alike. Her Stand Surprise works overtime pulling out disinfectant, Band-Aids™, and various medical supplies as her full attention goes towards keeping her friend breathing.
The showmare grins as the group of very familiar ponies enters the room, each one of them ready for a fight at a moment’s notice. “…However, Trixie never said that she was alone!”
“Trixie!” Lightning Dust shouts as she rushes up to the showmare. “Are you okay? We heard that you needed….” The light green pegasus looks over the room her eyes catching sight of a bleeding and prone mare lying off to the side. ”……Twilight?!”
“Reinforcements…… How troublesome,” Sombra growls as he retreats further into the darkness, the entrance of the new arrivals forcing him back as he looks around for a way out.
Her plan having come together, Trixie musters her rising enthusiasm as her Stand manifests itself alongside the others. Her brash and confident attitude returning in full as she stands ready once again to fight. “Now if I were you…” Trixie says in a crude mimicry of the stallion before her. “I’d suggest running away; after all…. I never said that knowing your Stand’s power was a bluff. And now that I know your Stand’s weakness, your defeat is at hoof.”
“You LIE!” Sombra spits out with venom and ill will of a serpent.
“Then call my bluff, Sombra!” The showmare shouts as her hooves dig into the ground. “Attack me, but I’ll have you know that we outnumber you seven to one, so if you’re willing to risk dying right now, then come and get some!”
Sombra smiles cruelly as he looks down on the ponies beneath him with animosity that could kill, his free hoof rubbing the still throbbing wound on his face inflicted by the offending showmare. “You think you’ve won, Trixie Lulamoon?! You think you’ve duped me!? Well think again!” Sombra spits out with venom as his dark red horn glows with the aura of dark magic. “Though I will commend you for a stellar performance, this battle was moot to begin with, for I have already achieved my objective!”
With perfect timing and no small amount of dramatic flair the stallion reaches into the darkness underneath him and with a single tug pulls a large object out of thin air. Out from the shadows, glistening in the dark with a powerful golden light, the dark stallion holds out the crude glowing silhouette of the Corpse. Trixie and the other arrivals, despite the horror of a pony like Sombra coming into possession of an object so powerful, can’t help but be swayed by the object's inherent beauty as its light seems to mesh perfectly even with the darkness surrounding it. “This Corpse! This was my objective! And I succeeded in obtaining it! Victory, in the end, belongs solely to me, Sombra!”
“The Corpse!” Lightning yells, “Stop him! We can’t let him get away!”
Yet before the ponies can even react, a gaping vortex of pure darkness emerges from around the dark stallion’s red glowing horn, and he and his prize are sucked into the singularity with the force of a windstorm. Holding on to the ground for dear life the Stardust Crusaders are only able to shield their eyes as they watch Sombra disappear back into the darkness. Then, as suddenly as it began, the vortex dies down and all that can be heard as the dark portal closes around the stallion is the soft echoing voice that seems to be amplified by the darkness itself. “Farewell, Trixie Lulamoon….. and Twilight Sparkle….. we will most certainly meet again.”
Plip….
And with that, Sombra vanished into thin air, the Corpse was gone, and despite the overwhelming joy at just being alive, everypony knows that today’s fight, for all its fanfare, ended in their defeat. One would need only to look at the countless dead soldiers littered around the darkened room to know that. Despite all their best efforts in saving the town, their enemies had won, they had lost an object of limitless power to a psychopath who had nearly killed their best friend. And speaking of the unicorn in question, even now her life was hanging by a thread.
“…he… he… he…” the purple, bloodstained unicorn chuckles on the ground in a feverish delusion as her eyes begin to dim. “….that’s right…. you’d…..better……. run…….” Twilight Sparkle breathes out and, to every pony’s shock, she doesn’t breathe back in. As her eyes begin to flutter closed, the last of her strength leaves her body, as a large group of ponies surround her prone form shouting meaningless words of comfort and fear.
“Oh my gosh TWILIGHT!” Fluttershy shouts, on the borderline of hysteria.
“TWI! Stay with me, Twi!” Applejack shouts as she grips the unicorn’s hoof firmly.
“Good Sweet Celestia, what happened to her, she looks like a pincushion!” Dash cries out.
“EVERYPONY STAY BACK! SHE’S NEEDS MEDICAL ATTENTION!” Pinkie shouts with urgency.
“SHE’S GOING INTO SHOCK! Does anypony here have an ‘A’ blood type!?” Rarity cries out even as she works her best at stitching her friend back together.
“How could you let this happen…… If anything happens I swear I’ll……”
“…Twilight, stay with me, Twilight….”
“..she’s gonna make it rig…. She al…..”
“…Rarity, I need….. Bandage her…..”
“….Twili…… hear…….”
“…..Twilight…..”
“…o…that….. ge…… help……”
“…shu…..th……er…..pa….”
“…………..”
“………”
“…”
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this fits sombra so much with what he can do.
Make all the references!
ORAORAORAORA!
OH MY GOD!
MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA!
WWWRRRRRRRYYYYYYYY!
You expected a comment..but it was me-Dio!
Yare yare daze.
Your next line will be: This comment makes no sense!
Man, that was one hell of a bluff right there; like Jotaro and D'arby the Gambler! Great job with the chapter, with everything going on right now I have no idea what'll come next. Hell, I don't know if Twilight will even be alive. Anyway, great chapter, keep goin and stay golden^^
6541175 Considering that he IS basically Dio? Yeah that fits him... but Trixie TRICKING him like that? That earns her.... THIS:
6541713 This comment makes no sense!.... GAH!
6541833 if that's her theme then this is twilights!
6542155 That's very fitting.