Episode 208: Don't Lose to the You From Yesterday
Episode 208: Don’t Lose to the You From Yesterday
A cold, steel weight infused the air of Hokori no Hikari’s Inner World. Sunset Shimmer could feel it prickling against her spirit like wading through the current of a fast moving river. She arrived amid the empty streets of the city hidden beneath the Inner World’s clouds, built upon the side of the mountain upon which this realm was built. The school at the summit was barely visible behind her up the soaring slope, and around her was the patchwork buildings and towers of a city both ancient yet modern. Blended like two paintings running together, the city merged the glass and clean metal lines of modern downtown Canterlot City with the artful, elegant curved stone edifices, archways, and towers of the Canterlot she remembered from Equestria.
Mostly remembered, at any rate. Walking down the lengths of the empty streets, looking at statues of regal ponies flanking the archway entrances to some buildings, or the oddly placed yet beautiful fountain of pegasi in flight, Sunset realized she could no longer conjure a clear picture of Equestria’s Canterlot in her mind. She wasn’t sure anymore what the city she’d lived and studied in during her youth looked like, or how accurate this spiritual representation was as it blended in with the now far more familiar modern streets and buildings of Canterlot City.
She wondered if the tension she felt all but suffocating the air was stemming solely from her twin Zanpaktou spirits? Hokori she knew to be still at her core the most willing and eager to test and challenge Sunset Shimmer, for the sake of helping both of them grow. Hikari’s presence usually counterbalanced that, yet at the moment it almost felt like both of her Zanpaktou’s spirits were tense. Granted she knew that part of this was due to the overuse of her black flames and the fact that she still struggled to control them. Against Bowtie, she’d risked breaking Hokori no Hikari when she’d gone at him full bore, without thinking. This inner communion with her blade spirits was long overdue, and Sunset had a feeling this was made more so by this unplanned sojourn into the Beast Realm and her recent awakening of Anima inside her.
And she hadn’t forgotten about that small sliver of Hell’s energy that had also entered her from exposure to Hell’s Gate.
Well, worrying would accomplish nothing. She was here to talk to her Zanpaktou and, hopefully, become stronger through communing with them. Clover was putting her all into trying to keep pace and tame those Kido spells, while Rainbow Dash and Applejack both had new inner beasts to contend with, and even Wallflower was likely fighting her own inner battle against the revelations of her own nature and origins. The least Sunset could do was put equal effort into facing her own uncertainties and push herself as far as she could go.
When she’d had the city revealed to her by Hokori no Hikari, she remembered the prominent stadium that took up a good portion of one of its districts. Sunset made her way there almost without thinking about it, finding the streets parting to reveal the ominous looming walls of the stadium in no time at all. It was like no stadium Sunset could recall seeing, and much like the rest of this city it was a thorough blend of her old life and new life.
Its walls were thick stone, rising nearly two hundred feet straight up, and gently curved to give the whole building a long, oval shape. Big, vaulted alcoves circled the outer wall, containing carved statues of warriors of every age, era, and ilk, from heavily armored knights to rugged modern soldiers, from cloth clad ninjas to leather sporting barbarians. The only commonality was that each statue was of Sunset, sometimes barely recognizable to herself for all the differences with each statue. The roof of the stadium went from stone to metal as a dome structure covered half of it, with panels clearly designed to move to either fully cover the stadium or retract back to expose all of it to the sky. Entry was possible through several wide routes leading into a well lit interior, bright lighting from powerful ceiling fixtures providing plenty of illumination.
Entering the stadium's largest front entrance, big enough that hundreds of people could have entered here at once, Sunset passed an inner circle passage that clearly went around the entire stadium, with stairs likely leading to seating above or other chambers. But she ignored all that and continued on through a smaller but still rather large passage that cut through to the center of the stadium. Here, she emerged through a semi-circular archway into the huge, open stadium grounds, bigger than several football fields combined. The ground was solid packed earth, not paved or covered in grass. This wasn’t a sports arena, and this became even more evident as Sunset noticed the way the inner walls surrounding the stadium had several arching pillars that curved out into spikes, giving the arena the look of a fanged mouth. Seating went up and up for several dozen tiers, including overhanging box seating that overlooked the whole arena. This place could probably hold a few hundred thousand or more spectators, if fully filled.
She certainly felt a tad small, walking out towards the center of the arena. She had no real reason to know that this was where she was supposed to be, just the simple gut instinct that always drove her interactions with her Zanpaktou’s Inner World.
Sunset cast her gaze about, looking for Hokori and Hikari.
“Well?” she called out, “I’m here. I know it took awhile. Hasn’t exactly been a lot of free time these past few days.”
She was seriously starting to wonder if her two Zanpaktou spirits were playing some kind of game with her when finally she heard Hokori’s voice speak from what sounded like almost next to her, but when Sunset turned she could see the flaring red skin and wild hair of her demonic-looking spirit standing on the edge of the stadium ring, clawed hands planted on her hips.
“Yeah, we know! Not like me and Hikari are blind, you know? You’ve been busy diving head first into the deep end again, and much as I’m loving the chance to go head to head with bigger, badder enemies, there’s some serious spring cleaning you need to do in here.”
In a soft ray of dancing lights, Hikari appeared next to Hokori, radiating her usual expression of understanding, but with a sharp undercurrent of unease tightening the area around her eyes. The angelic spirit nodded to Sunset, hands clasped low before her, and her voice just as clear for Sunset to hear despite the distance between them being such that normally they’d need to shout to be heard.
“We understand that circumstances have made it difficult for you to come here, Sunset. But you’re here, now, and that means I hope you’re prepared to deal with matters that have developed within us. Things have changed quickly, and not all of it is your fault, but it is your place as our wielder to sharpen us as any blacksmith might. That includes working out how to deal with new elements...”
“New elements, huh... you talking about the Beast Realm Anima, that spark of Hell energy, or the fact that I still can’t wield the black flames properly?” Sunset asked, and Hokori let out a snickering snort.
“How about ‘yes’ to all three? Holy crap, Sunset, you got any idea how messed up it is to shove new energies into us without even asking if we’re cool with it?”
Sunset rubbed the back of her neck as she looked away, feeling like she could readily understand why recent events might have upset the pair, “You’re not wrong. In my defense, none of that was actually intentional on my part. And whatever the problem is and whatever I’ve got to do to fix it, I’m here now to do that. So please tell me, what exactly is the problem? Are these energies having an adverse effect on you two?”
“Not adverse, precisely,” answered Hikari, “If anything we’ve grown stronger. Between the introduction of these new energies, and the growing synchronicity between yourself and your friends’ souls, the power well growing inside me and Hokori is slowly but surely mounting ever higher. It may not be all that long before we can legitimately give challenge to the likes of Tirek or even those of the Zero Division. However that amount of power is immensely dangerous, Sunset Shimmer. It’s unclear if your soul can truly handle it without breaking... or us breaking...”
Hokori plopped down on the edge of the stadium ring, legs swinging casually as she gave Sunset a meaningfully sharp grin, her dark eyes gleaming, “You took a Hell of a gamble trying to cut down that Bowtie bastard! Scorched us pretty bad, and if you’d pushed it any harder we would’ve snapped. You can’t afford to lose us and while I don’t speak for Miss Sunshine over here, I personally don’t want to die because you don’t yet have a handle on our power. I mean, being fair isn’t my style, but if I was to be fair to you, I get that you didn’t plan on adding random ass Hell energy to us, or to get a one-way trip to the Beast Realm. But the thing is that it doesn’t really matter if it's your fault or not, you’re the only one that can get stronger here to deal with all this crap.”
“Right, I get that,” said Sunset, looking at them with a growing confusion as she glanced around the empty stadium arena, and at her two Zanpaktou spirits, still hanging out at the arena edge and not approaching her or entering said arena, “Sooooo... how am I supposed to do that? I’m ready for whatever I have to do. I just don’t know what that is. Why are we here right now, in this arena? Are we fighting again? Are we training? What?”
“Heh, we’re here to watch,” said Hokori, “And to maybe give pointers, but honestly this one is gonna be mostly on you, Sunset. You don’t got much left to prove to me, or to Hikari...”
Hikari nodded, a gravity in both the gesture and her voice as she looked beyond Sunset Shimmer, towards where another entrance to the arena lay, “It is not us you will be facing, Sunset. There is another, now, with whom you must come to terms with. Whether or not you can, that will be what determines whether or not we can all survive the battles to come.”
An echoing tap of steps on stone filtered into Sunset’s hearing, stemming from behind her. Even before she turned around, she knew that the sound of those steps was not that of a human’s. The canter of four hooves was unmistakable. Sunset spun around, and saw a short yet familiar quadrupedal, equine shape emerge from the shadow archway of one of the arena’s many entrances. The soft orange fur coat was a match for Sunset’s skin tone, the mane of hot red streaked with yellow a mirror to her’s. Blue green eyes stared into hers from a face cast in an angered light, the horn of the unicorn mare already encased in a thick light of magic that, oddly, didn’t match her eyes as it did with many unicorns. Instead the magic was a nimbus of rose pink and deeper crimson... familiar to Sunset only recently as the color of the energy that stemmed from her recent Anima powers.
Sunset Shimmer’s unicorn self trotted towards her with a purpose. Aggression preceded her like a solid wall, making the four foot height unicorn seem far more imposing than one might have expected. Her eyes didn’t leave Sunset’s for a second, locked on with laser focus.
Left momentarily speechless, Sunset stood there starring for a few moments as the unicorn halted about ten paces away. Soon, the unicorn blew a huff of air from her muzzle and raised her head. “Don’t have anything to say? Why am I not surprised? You were always dumber than you pretended to be.”
Generally being insulted, even by herself, never sat well with Sunset Shimmer, so she found herself leaning forward over her unicorn self, who looked back up at her with equal fiery fervor as Sunset glowered, “Who are you calling dumb? Why wouldn’t I be surprised to see myself as a unicorn walking around in my Zanpaktou’s Inner World? Who are you even supposed to be?”
The unicorn Sunset raised herself up on her hooves tips for a little extra height, putting her snout almost up against Sunset’s nose in their eye-to-eye glaring contest, “I’m calling you dumb because that’s what you are! Can’t even work out who I am? I’m you, you ungrateful, selfish, arrogant hay-brain! The ‘you’ that you’ve conveniently decided to forget about because of how inconvenient I am to your self image.”
Sunset had her fists now planted on her hips as she tapped one foot in thought, trying to work out what her unicorn self was talking about. She knew Hokori and Hikari were formed from a combination of her magic and soul, mixed together inside the Zanpaktou she’d obtained until they formed their own independent spirits. She was herself in this place, and they were them, linked by still their own souls in a way. So who was this unicorn claiming to be her?
“Alright, let’s assume for a sec that what you’re jabbering about is right, and you’re ‘me’. Why would ‘I’ be such a bitch to myself all of sudden, and why would ‘I’ pop up here, now, inside my Zanpaktou to smack talk myself?”
“Arrggh! It hurts to realize I was always this dense!” the unicorn Shimmer groaned, horn flaring brighter with a growing aura of the flaming pink and red magic that was starting to heat the air with visible wavers and shimmers, “I’ve always been here! In fact I’d go so far as to say I was here first! I started to get smaller when you arrived in the human world, and got weaker and weaker the more ‘human’ you became. I was barely a flicker of memory and magic in your soul until I finally got a spark of kindling to light up my fire with!”
That heat grew in intensity as it billowed out from the little unicorn’s body, the aura of flaming red magic and Anima flowing over her body until she looked like she was literally on fire. Parts of her mane turned to feathers and the same rose red feathers also grew down her legs and back as two small but thickly intense wings of red fire grew from her back. Sunset sensed the raw magic coursing off of her unicorn self, and the spark of spirit energy from her awakened Anima. There was a familiarity to the magic that she knew well, and understanding started to grow in her mind as she thought back to a life nearly forgotten, back in Equestria.
“You’re... me, or rather... my magic? My original, unicorn magic?”
“I’m way more than that, now, Sunset Shimmer!” said her magical, unicorn self, her aura still growing as her eyes shifted to rose pink pools of light, “You left your magic, and your memories of Equestria, to languish in the back of your mind, suppressed us in favor of your new life as a human. Conveniently forgot all of your wrongs while living as a unicorn, and ran away into a whole new set of wrongs as some half-baked Substitute Soul Reaper. Well, I’ve found a path to taking you to task for all of that arrogance, Sunset! Power, from a Beast, and an ember of Hell.”
A clink of chains issued forth as, from the aura of ruby fire engulfing the unicorn, a set of familiar chains appeared. These were nearly identical to the chains that she’d encountered on her Inner World’s throne, only now they were coated in the red flame surrounding her unicorn self. Sunset still didn’t wholly understand what was happening here, but for the moment her theory was that a portion of her magic as a unicorn which had largely gone unused since her transformation into a human had lingered, or rather languished in her soul. The emergence of the ‘Inner Beast’ stemming from her awakening to Anima had merged with that unicorn magic, and also a spark of Hell energy she’d absorbed via the Hogyoku.
The result was the amalgamation in front of her, apparently also fueled by some manner of repressed trauma from... well, all of her unresolved baggage from back in Equestria.
Her hand went on instinct to her Zanpaktou, only to realize that, right, she was inside Hokori no Hikari, so there was no blade there to grab.
Looking back at the two Zanpaktou spirits, Hikair gave her an apologetic look while Hokori smirked while waving, “You’re on your own for this one, Sunset! We can’t help you directly here.”
“Except for moral support,” Hikari pointed out, pulling out a small orange and red flag from behind her back and waving it, “Woo-hoo, go Sunset!”
Sunset sighed, “Well great, I don’t suppose we can sit down and talk about our feelings-”
Before she was able to finish her sentence her unicorn self launched towards her like a flaming ballistic missile and tackled Sunset right in her midriff with all of the force and impact of a hurtling comet.
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Feeling rather fed up with theatrics, Rarity still didn’t forget that it was unbecoming of her to be rude. But her voice did get a tad sharp as she eyed the well dressed gentleman up and down, “Forgive me if I’m not the most terribly trusting of strange men who appear from amidst a suddenly appearing fog, especially considering where we are. If you have some manner of business with me, do speak quickly and plainly.”
Behind her, Ahgg had gone stock still, which Rarity took to mean that the Fomorian recognized this top-hat sporting fellow and was guarded. As for the man himself, his gaunt, bleak features showed a pleasant smile that only touched the edges of his eyes, which had yet to blink, Rarity noticed. He swept his hat off of his head and wielded it in a formal bow before placing it back on his head and resting his hands atop his fox-head cane.
“Your instincts do you credit, Miss Rarity, and rumors of you fall short of providing apt justice to the reality. I’m quite pleased with this first impression. But yes, to business, straight as a razor. My name is... Sebastian. You may think of me as one of Hell’s few entrepreneurs. I have little interest in the gang politics of this lovely city of Tartarus, but I do run several business ventures, such as they are in a place like this, and one of them may be of interest to a young lady with ambitions of escape from our cozy realm.”
Rarity didn’t yet know what to make of this man or his claims. His manner was entirely too polite, his clothes so clean and strangely immaculate for the filth that encrusted Tartarus and its residents seemed all too eager to embrace. His stare of unblinking, ice gray stone, making his face seem almost as lifeless as a skeleton, left her with alarm bells ringing in every corner of her mind. Yet if she was going to quail at every unsettling individual she met in Hell, she might as well give up on escape here and now.
“I see. I was given to understand that only Mister Ahgg here was familiar with exploring the deeper layers of Hell. What, pray tell, does a man such as yourself have to offer me? And what price might you be asking in exchange for whatever it is you’re selling?”
Sebastian’s chuckle was as cold and smooth as his eyes or smile, and Rarity almost felt as if the thick strands of fog was closing in around her as he leaned forward, almost looking past her at Ahgg, “Indeed you are correct that our good fellow Ahgg is one of the few capable enough to go where most Sinners will not. As a guide to Hell’s many horrific trails, he is unsurpassed. However,” he held up a finger, long, slim, clad in its black glove, and the fog around him almost seemed to shudder, “If you are to succeed in your desire to reach Hell’s lowest layers and explore its secrets, you will find I offer a useful service as transporter.”
The fog parted, revealing that Rarity, Ahgg, and Sebastian had suddenly changed locations! She blinked in surprise at the sight of a ramshackle yet stout collection of stone carved blocks that crawled up the wall of the Tartarus cavern, forming an almost tumorous collection of tightly packed buildings that were surrounded by a series of trenches. The trenches were fortified with bones sharpened to spikes, and a pair of tall poles also formed from bone showed a pair of tattered leather flags bearing a painted blood symbol of three intertwining chains. Further chains dangled from every slit in the stone that served as windows, or rattled from the arched openings of doorways, or clanked with slow, ominous swaying at random intervals over every walls. The effect gave the cluster of tightly packed buildings and crooked towers an ever constant aura of clinking metal, as if the ramshackle fortress itself was a prisoner in chains.
The stronghold of Cozy Glow’s Legion.
Rarity looked at Sebastian with a quickly composed expression, forcing herself to calm as she crossed her arms, “Impressive. Your Sinner ability, I take it?”
“Correct, in part,” he replied, tapping his cane on the ground and gathering a smaller blanket of fog along the ground at his feet, “My fog can do many things, but its most useful is the ability to translocate people and objects over vast distances. I, of course, cannot use to escape Hell, but as a convenient means of travel to and from locations within the same realm it is quite unparalleled. I use it to provide those willing to pay with the service of swift transport, be it of persons or goods. In your case, you will find your expedition down the layers of Hell to be made much easier if you have a swift means of travel back to Tartarus for resupply or escape from... hairy circumstances.”
“Hmm, perhaps,” Rarity rubbed her chin, eyes giving him a shrewd, narrow gaze, “But the usefulness of such a service will be dependent upon price. What is it you’re asking for in exchange for this? Keeping in mind I’m fresh to Hell and hence I have little of what locals might consider currency.”
“Ah, of course. I would not have approached you, dear lady, had I not already factored in your circumstances. Fortunately for you there are many ways to conduct trade, even in a place such as this,” With a certain dramatic flourish of his cape he extended an arm and made a gesture as if grasping something in his upturned palm, “From you, Miss Rarity, I only require the smallest of tokens. A trifle, really. A favor. A task performed, well within your capabilities.”
“I can hardly agree to doing anything for you unless I know the details of what it is you want done. Keep in mind that I will not simply agree to any favor, and I won’t be accepting any vague ‘future favors’ either. Tell me what it is you want done, and I’ll consider it. Otherwise I’ll wish you a good day, Mister Sebastian.”
“But of course,” he replied, “The task is-”
Suddenly a voice like a crack of whips, followed by the rattle of dozens of thick chains rang out as a pink little ball of anger leaped upon the situation. “Oh Hell no! You get your dusty, slimy, crusty old ass off of my turf, old man! She’s mine! You hear me!? You keep your grubby mitts off her!”
Cozy Glow had leaped all the way from one of the top roofs of her stronghold and planted herself amid a crack of stone right in front of Sebastian. Her chains rattled and coiled around her like a storm of metal cobras, their sharp ends poised around his body by inches, ready to stroke. As her eyes bored hateful holes into him, the man just smiled politely and tipped his top hat towards Cozy Glow as if this was just a casual greeting from her.
“And a fine evening to you as well, Cozy Glow. How lovely of you to come greet me in person, young lady. I see at least a few of my lessons of politeness and proper etiquette did not wholly fall upon deaf ears.”
“Eat a thousand chainsaw dicks, assmunch!”
“...Although I see your vocabulary remains as colorful as a cesspit,” Sebastian heaved out a long suffering sigh, “Now perhaps you could allow me and Miss Rarity to finish conducting our business?”
“Not a chance,” Cozy Glow said, her one eye twitching in time with the rattle of her chains, “Get your carcass off my gang’s turf, or you’ll be sopping up your guts with your own tasteless ass cravat!”
With smooth steps, Rarity moved up to stand not quite between the two, given Cozy Glow was right in Sebastian’s face, but close enough that when she planted a foot between the pair, it forced Cozy to look at her and back off a step.
“Pardon, but if I have business with the man, then it's my decision. If you like, Cozy Glow, me and Mister Sebastian can leave to finish our talk away from your stronghold and turf. But he has an offer for me, and given my sore lack of useful allies, I will at least hear him out.”
“Pfft, me and the Legion are all the allies you need, but whatever, feel free to stick your nose in a blender, Rare,” said Cozy Glow, only slightly drawing back her chains and still giving Sebastian a hateful stare, “And just so you know, his name isn’t ‘Sebastian’. That’s just the shit he spouts when he’s trying to be coy.”
“On the contrary, Cozy Glow, Sebastian was a name I once went by. Granted it isn’t the moniker I am most known for, but really I prefer not to color new prospective business partners with any preconceptions that might strain relations.”
“You’re being awfully quiet over there, Ahgg,” said Cozy Glow, shooting a glance towards the Fomorian, who in turn just shrugged his broad shoulders.
“Not my business. If Rarity wants to cut a deal with the Ripper, that’s up to her.”
“The Ripper...?” Rarity said, blinking as she turned to look over Sebastian once more. He did have a slight accent about his speech, faintly British, now that she thought about it.
Sebastian looked, if anything, slightly embarrassed, looking away as he rested his hands atop the head of his cane, “A somewhat dramatic title. Hardly my idea, but the result of some hoaxer’s letter, I am given to understand. Really, ‘Jack’ is such a mundane name, too. Sebastian at least has a certain class to it.”
Rarity felt like she ought to be more shocked, more surprised, perhaps even more than just the brief and fleeting unnerved chill in her heart that soon was replaced with avid resolve. She was in Hell. It was unlikely, even with Zero Divisions’ activities, that she was going to run into very many innocent people here. Still, Jack the Ripper...?
“Well, you would have done better just to tell me that up front. It would have come across as less suspicious,” she said with a certain forced calm, “Just know that if you do happen to try anything with me, you won’t find me an easy mark.”
He merely waved a hand, still bearing an air of embarrassment that was difficult to discern the sincerity of, “Hardly something you need to be concerned with, dear lady. I’ve had well over a century of exposure to the finest elements of human suffering here in Hell to have long gotten over the... proclivities of my youth. I do not deny the heinous crimes I committed while alive. Of the many souls condemned to this realm, I am most deserving of my place here. But I no longer have any interest in the mundane act of murder. I am but a simple businessman, now.”
Cozy Glow spat, “You can’t trust him.”
“That strikes me as the pot calling the kettle black, young lady,” said Sebastian, “Who can one truly trust in Hell? Trust is not the issue, it is value versus cost. Miss Rarity takes risks working with you the same as she would striking a bargain with me. She clearly values your potential as an ally over the risk you represent if you choose to turn on her at some point. I only ask that she give thought to my offer and its value in comparison to whatever risk she thinks I might represent.”
“And I still haven’t heard about what favor you want me to do in exchange for you help, Mister Sebastian,” Rarity said, deciding to stick with the name he’d given her rather than continue to press on the ‘Jack the Ripper’ issue. She was already working with one mentally unstable psychopath. What was adding another to the roster? Besides, if he turned out to be an unreliable ally and turned on her, then Rarity would have no reason to feel any compunctions with taking him out. And how many people would have the credit of saying they’d killed the notorious serial killer, Jack the Ripper?
One had to look at the silver linings, especially in Hell.
As if he could read her mind, Sebastian gave off one of those thin, razor smiles and nodded, “But of course. The favor is simplicity itself. I wish you to allow me to accompany you on your journey to the lowest layer of Hell, and share with me any knowledge of the secrets you uncover there, for just as what I suspect is Cozy Glow’s motivation, if you discover a path to escape this realm of eternal punishment... I wish to be free of this place.”
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The unicorn struck Sunset with a lot more force than she would’ve expected out of such a small package, but then again ponies were always stronger than people gave them credit for. Sunset knew it was probably a bad sign than she was as taken aback by it as she was. She’d lived so long as a human, now, that she’d forgotten even basic facts about life as an Equestrian.
The blow sent her flying back, and knocked the breath from her lungs as the heated, stiff impact of hooves on her stomach sent shivers of pain up her spine. Sunset was pretty used to taking hits like this, however, and didn’t lose her balance. Instead she planted her legs and let them drag across the ground for a few dozen meters before she halted. With no Zanpaktou in hand, she had to rely on what few lessons in Hakuda that Clover had given her, along with the Kido she knew.
Taking up a ready martial arts stance, she lashed out with a kick of her right foot as her unicorn self rushed in for a follow-up charge. The unicorn’s horn flashed, and she vanished in a zap of rose light. Recognizing the teleport, Sunset threw herself forward in a roll just in time to avoid the unicorn’s strike from behind as both hooves cracked the ground in a scorching burst of red flames. Sunset felt the heat on her back as he rolled to her feet, hands outstretched already into the pose of one hand gripping the wrist of the other to cast a Kido.
“Hado Number Thirty One: Shakkaho!”
She repeated the Kido invocation several times in short order, launching a barrage of solid red spheres of spirit energy at her unicorn self. She couldn’t cast nearly as fast as Clover, but her only goal here was to put the unicorn on the defensive for a few moments to buy herself time to think. The unicorn Sunset obliged, galloping with swift speed and hooves glowing so intensely red from the aura around her that she was leaving burning, charred marks in the ground as she streaked past the Kido blasts that detonated around her.
“You got no problem using Soul Reaper magic, but you barely remember anything about the magic of your birth world!”
Sunset grimaced, half in anger, half in a sting of internal pain. That wasn’t entirely true. She hadn’t forgotten about magic. How could she? She’d loved studying it back home, and it played a huge role in how she’d come to her senses after Princess Twilight and her friends had defeated her in the past. Magic was one of the reasons why she’d been able to make her new friends, and why amid the madness of this spirit war they’d managed to grow strong enough to survive and make a difference! Just because she didn’t actively use magic didn’t mean she had abandoned it, or her heritage. It wasn’t as if she’d had a horn to cast Equestrian spells with, anyway!
She shouted as much, rushing to her left to open up some distance as her unicorn self sliced a thin red beam of magic across the space Sunset had just occupied, “I haven’t ignored any of that, but I’m living a different life, now! Earth is my home! I’m...”
I’m human, was what she wanted to shout. But was that part of the problem? Did she truly believe that? Was there some part of her that still had a painful desire to go back to Equestria, to feel her body with four familiar hooves and a pointed horn on her head? Did she miss Equestria’s skies, its fields and mountain vistas?
Did she miss Celestia?
“You don’t deserve to see Celestia again!” came the harsh growl of her unicorn self as cast out with a thick aura of telekinesis magic that Sunset felt grip her like a massive, iron hand. Her body became covered in rose red magic that contained burning heat, but more importantly a potent, squeezing grip as the unicorn smashed Sunset face first to the ground and proceeded to drag her across scores of yards in a deep furrow.
“You think she wants to see her failure of a student again!?”
Pain shot through Sunset that had nothing to do with her face being dragged through the ground at bullet train speeds. A hot lance of shame bled freely in her heart as she could vividly recall how poorly she treated the opportunities she’d been blessed with to study under Celestia, and the way her pride had become corrupted like a once strong tree rotting from within. While she’d come to understand and accept the virtue that could exist within her pride, that didn’t change that a part of her remained ashamed of how she’d let it get the better of her back then.
There was something inside Sunset that still felt like she hadn’t done enough penance to be worthy of returning to Equestria, or of looking Princess Celestia in the eye again without feeling as if she’d was still a disappointment to her mentor.
You’re stronger than that, my girl. Don’t let doubt drag you through the mud. Don’t lose to this apparition of your self-hate.
Who? The voice had almost sounded like Discord’s, to the point she could almost see that snaggle-tooth smirk of his, encouraging her. She dug into her spiritual energies and let her reiatsu push outward. Warm heat and flaming orange aura pulsated around her, disrupting the unicorn’s telekinetic grip. Sunset, freed from that iron hold of magic, flipped through the air, pushing off the ground with one hand while flinging out her other, eyes locked on her unicorn self.
Red light flowed from her fingers as she drew a complex sigil in an instant and incanted the Kido, “Bakudo Number Nine: Geki!” (Strike)
Not unlike the telekinesis spell of an Equestrian unicorn, Geki transmitted a binding field of energy almost instantaneously upon the intended target. The unicorn grunted as her body was coated in a film of red light, paralyzing her in place. Sunset immediately landed from her flip and, legs coiled, pushed forth with full strength and power with a Flash Step that cut across the ground between them in a microsecond. Appearing above the unicorn, Sunset focused her reiatsu around her right leg as she brought it down in a heel kick aimed at her unicorn counterpart’s back, hoping to end this in one swift strike.
Once more the unicorn’s horn flashed and she teleported, narrowly avoiding Sunset’s kick, which impacted the ground with an explosion of raw force that cut a cratering path all the way to the stadium seating, splitting the ground. While she was hardly an expert on Hakuda techniques, even basic strikes, when combined with her massive amount of reiatsu, translated into some serious power.
Between this and my Kido spells, I might be able to take her even without my Zanpaktou, she thought, although her heart was racing in her chest, both from adrenaline and the lingering pain and anger this unicorn counterpart was engendering in her. She looked around with eyes scanning about rapidly for where her unicorn self had teleported to.
Only too late did she realize the unicorn had layered an invisibility spell on top of the teleport, sensing the waver of magical energy behind her just in time to also feel hot metal snapping around her legs and pulling her to the ground. Turning, Sunset saw that the unicorn had used the Hell chains coming off of her flaming body to wrap up Sunset’s ankles, and now with a rage fueled grin the unicorn yanked the chains up and over her and hurled Sunset along with it like a ball at the end of a tether.
“What, you think because you got a few new friends and self-styled yourself the protector of Earth that this makes you something special!? Get over yourself!”
Sunset managed to brace herself for the impact as her body was smashed into the ground, turning packed earth into an explosive shower of dirt and rock as another fresh crater formed. This space may have been one of pure spirit, dwelling within her Zanpaktou, but it simulated physical reality readily enough and every bone in her body was jolted. Still, her resilience weathered the hit, and going over the Kido she knew, she hit upon one to use against the chains binding her.
Reaching to grab the chains around her ankles, she focused and stilled her mind, letting her reiryoku travel through her. It wasn’t entirely easy, with her unicorn counterpart’s words causing ripples of unrest inside her, but there was a steadying reminder that still somehow sounded like Discord that she’d endured far worse than this.
“Hado Number Eleven: Tsuzuri Raiden!” (Bound Lightning)
A massive charge of writhing gold electricity sprang from her hands and into the chains, flowing up the links in less than an eyeblink to strike the unicorn the chains were connected to in a thunderous crack of electrical might. The chains slackened as the unicorn was thrown back with a grunt of pain, and Sunset slipped free, leaping out of the crater and circling the fallen unicorn as she prepared another spell.
“I don’t care if I’m special or not! Maybe once, I did, and that obsession led me down the wrong path, but I’ve grown past that because of the friends who were willing to give me a chance. I know that still doesn’t change the things I did, but Celestia... if I’m ever lucky enough to see her again, I hope she’ll see the person I’ve become, not just the person I was.”
Chanting under her breath, she then put her hands on the ground and narrowed her eyes at the unicorn who was slowly getting back on her hooves, body smoking amid the flames still growing hotter and more intense around her body.
“Tomb of silken scales, open pearl eyes
Gaze up upon the broken plane and rise
Crash forth through firmament and drown
Unruly revelry forced to stillness!
Bakudo Number Twenty Nine: Nami no Hoi!” (Encirclement of Waves)
She’d learned this Kido specifically to diversify her access to different elements, and as she finished the invocation a series of snaking water streams formed from where her hands touched the ground, and burst forth like the waves of several frothing rivers. These winding streams of water then flew up and around her unicorn counterpart, expanding rapidly to encase her in a tight cylinder of multiple water currents all flowing in opposite directions.
Not intending to give her opponent a moment to recover, Sunset followed this up by leaping upwards, her body soaring up hundreds of feet until she was nearly level with the roof of the stadium. There, she tilted her whole body down to face the spot the unicorn was bound, and kicked off the air with her feet as hard as she could. Multiple shockwaves cracked the air as she launched down and extended a knee, all but instantly striking her unicorn self dead on in the flank with an explosive knee drop from several hundred feet up that resulted in a giant explosion of broken rock and ground scattering almost as high and shaking the whole stadium.
Still watching on from the edge of the stands, Hokori and Hikari both kept eyes locked on the unfolding fight.
“She’s definitely getting points for effort,” said Hokori, still casually kicking her legs as she sat on the lip of the stadium ring, “But I don’t think her heart is in it, yet.”
“She’s trying,” said Hikari more kindly, closing her eyes and breathing deeply, “I wish we could help her more.”
“If we did, we’d just be interfering with her working this out for herself. We may be her blade and shield, but not every enemy can be beaten by cutting it down, much as that sucks to admit,” Hokori replied, lips twisted into a smirk, “And our girl is a stubborn one. She’ll crack her head open before she gives up on getting through a wall blocking her way.”
“Which won’t work here,” Hikari sighed, “Not against an enemy made from her longest held fears, and fueled by powers even we don’t understand.”
“Heh, well, we’re about to see how Sunset handles it, because this fight is about get heated,” said Hokori as, amid the dust cloud formed from Sunset’s massive knee drop, there was a bursting flare of raw, rose and crimson heat. Flames swirled higher in a cyclone, blistering the ground and casting the whole stadium in hellish, red light.
Sunset leaped from the cloud of dust, her body trailing smoke as she landed in a roll, skidding a few score meters before righting herself. Her skin was scorched in several places and she had to pat out flames on her clothes as her pained eyes looked at the growing cyclone of rose tinted flames that now also sparked with brighter oranges, golds, and even blue hues.
Her unicorn self’s voice spoke, with growing resonance and a screeching warble, “You really think yourself a changed woman? You, whose arrogance and pride has gotten so many people hurt, failed so many you wanted to protect? You think you deserve to rise from the ashes of your failures and mistakes like a phoenix?”
The cyclone exploded outward, and from the nimbus of scouring ruby flames one could see a blinding avian form of beauty and horrible fire. At its heart still beat the incandescent image of a unicorn pony, whose body was now all a beating core of rose fire, but around the unicorn now grew the form of the phoenix. Wings spread with feathers each dripping blood red flame, hotter blue sparks of fire flowing between them like veins. A proud chest of flaming plumage glittered with orange and blue before bleeding to red and rose, a color scheme repeated in flowing lights of pure flame down a tail that spread into half a dozen splits of jewel-shapes chained together and glowing with pure, scorching heat. The head of the phoenix was a long, sharp, proud featured bird with a flaming crest of pure rose, and a curved beak of scarlet, its two eyes a pair of blue gems of gleaming fire, like fresh born stars. And still, dangling from the phoenix’s legs like forgotten ornaments, were the black Hell chains, rattling amid the heated wind billowing from the phoenix’s beating wings.
“Well, the phoenix judges you, Sunset Shimmer, and finds you wanting. Now, be consumed by the very flames of purification you so foolishly thought you deserved to wield!”
----------
Applejack and Rainbow Dash were solely focused upon the simple enjoyment of their sparring match. The pair had always competed, to the point where the fun back and forth of sending jabs both physical and verbal was as calming and familiar an action as sitting down together to watch a movie or play a video game. Yet this time there was an undercurrent of tension that kept either girl from fully relaxing and getting into the groove of exchanging punches and kicks, although the tempo of their motions was well beyond human perception at this point.
Wallflower for the most part watched less the fight and more the whirlwind of stirred air and impacts that only occasionally showed the blue and orange forms of the girls bodies.
Neither Rainbow or Applejack were trading quips like usual, instead only pausing on occasion to look between themselves and their surroundings, both wary of any dangers that might creep up upon the cliff face, despite Shining Armor’s assurances of the veracity of his Quincy barrier.
Sweat dripping from either of their faces, Applejack ducked an overextended kick from Dash and landed a solid left jab on Rainbow’s side with the kind of impact that would have pulped a normal human’s rib cage, but now only gave Rainbow a brief grunt of paint as she stepped back and held up a hand.
“Hit. That’s three to three, now,” Dash said, shaking her head and wiping sweat off her brow, “Going to ten?”
“If yer up to it,” Applejack said, relaxing from her battle stance and taking off her stetson to fan herself, “Would kill fer a’ glass o’ Granny’s lemonade.”
Rainbow Dash breathed out a weak laugh, “Lemonade? Isn’t your family’s whole deal apples?”
Applejack shared the laugh, if also a bit subdued, “Ain’t like we don’t recognize other fruits exist, Dash. Just don’t grow ‘em, but we trade with other families. The Hoofington Lemons, fer example.”
“Are you just making that up?”
“Nah, I’m tellin’ ya, they’re a real family, an’ long time friends o’ Sweet Apple Acres. Ya had lemonade from their lemons before, Dash, we bring it ta all yer soccer games fer like the past three years in a’ row!”
“I know, I know, I’m just joshing you, AJ, sheesh...” Rainbow Dash sat down where she stood, cross legged and hands on her knees, “Just trying to lighten the mood, you feel me?”
“Yeah, I git ya,” replied Applejack in a quieter tone, not sitting down but stretching her legs a little as she glanced at the others. Clover was still planted nearby, eyes closed, kneeling as she focused energy into a floating scroll. From the look on Clover’s face, the girl was straining, in pain, her lips pale and pressed thin in effort.
“She looks like she’s not feeling too hot,” said Rainbow Dash, “You think that Kido demon is giving her a hard time?”
“From the sound o’ things, tamin’ one of them high-level spell-whatsits ain’t exactly a picnic,” said Applejack, “I just hope she don’t push herself too hard. Clover might not think she’s a big help, but truth is we’d be lost as drunk skunks, still wonderin’ what Hollows even are if she hadn’t been around.”
“Heh, you ever wonder what things would be like right now if we hadn’t... you know, gotten involved in all this?” asked Rainbow Dash, her voice half joking, half serious, “Like, would be just enjoying summer vacation and worrying about what colleges we’d be getting into?”
“...Nah...can’t afford to think like that. If none o’ this had happened,” Applejack shuddered a bit, holding a hand clenched to a fist, right near her heart, “Wouldn’t have learned ‘bout my parents, or put their deaths ta rest. Also prefer ta know the real score about this world n’ what the powers that be are doin’ to it, so I can fight back. Crazy as things are, this is better n’ ignorance, far as I’m concerned. Surprised ta hear ya even wonderin’ different.”
“Hey! I’m all for the crazy! Wouldn’t go back to change it if you gift wrapped a time machine for me! It’s just...” Rainbow Dash looked at her now altered hands, fur clad and clawed, “This is the first time in a while we haven’t all been together. Everything felt... easier to deal with when it was us, the whole crew, facing it as a team. Now Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy are back on Earth, Rarity is... trapped, and we’re here in this weird beast place. Guess I’m just not used to playing the game without my whole team at my back. Especially now that it feels like we’re getting into overtime and the bad guys are ahead of us on the scoreboard.”
“I know how ya feel, Dash. Don’t like us being split up none either, especially when we’re dealin’ with so many unknowns,” Applejack said, going over to kneel next to Dash and place her own furred hand over her friend’s, “Just got ta remember our ‘team’ has long since expanded ta include folk besides our nearest and dearest. We got a’ lot of folk both helpin’ us an’ countin’ on us, them right here with us included.”
Wallflower blinked as Applejack gestured at her, looking over her shoulder to see if someone else had appeared behind her. Opening her mouth a few times before managing to speak, Wallflower’s face was like a plaster cast of social awkwardness as she said, “Uh, y-yeah, what she said! Um, you are referring to me, right?”
“Heh, you n’ everyone else here, sugarcube,” said Applejack, “Like it r’ not, yer part o’ the crew, now. Gonna git yer Hel issue sorted, clean Jormungandr’s clock, n’ then make sure everything wit that Memory Stone is put ta rights. Just stick wit us.”
“Sure, I mean, yes! I... I’ll try,” Wallflower said, then abruptly said, “Sunset is on fire.”
“Yeah, she’s pretty awesome, and if anyone is going to lead us through this, its her,” Rainbow Dash said, while Wallflower stood up, facing growing ever more alarmed as she pointed with a shaking finger.
“N-no, she’s actually on fire!”
Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash rounded just as the felt the wave of heat wash over them from the burst of flames that erupted from where Sunset was sitting upon the cliff outcropping. Sunset remained sitting where she was, her Zanpaktou sat across her lap, but her body was surrounded by an intense and burning aura of raw red heat and crackling flames. The avian aspects of her altered hand grew brighter as the feathers turned to jewel like flames, and her hair gained several more feathers as the heat only grew into a suffocating, melting wave.
“Dagnabbit, that’s hot!” Applejack said, noticing the rock under Sunset melting away like wax on a candle, “She’s gonna burn the whole cliff down at this rate!”
“What do we do!?” Wallflower said, near panic.
“Chill, for one,” said Rainbow Dash as she activated her Fullbring, becoming glad in her wings and armored chest plate. She then zipped behind Wallflower to pick the girl up and carry her into the air, away from the aura of heat, “Whatever Sunset’s going in that Zanpakutou of hers, I think it’s working.”
“How can you tell?” asked Wallflower.
“Well, if it ain’t workin’, not much we can do about it!” shouted Applejack, using one arm to shield herself from the heat wave, but otherwise able to stand up to the intense aura, although it was an impressive amount of burning reiatsu flowing off of Sunset, so dense and hot it was like standing next to a small sun, “But I’m thinkin’ if we were tryin’ ta keep a low profile, this ain’t helpin’ none.”
“What about Clover, then? Is she going to be okay?” Wallflower said, looking down at the Soul Reaper, who remained in her state of focused meditation, locked within the mental realm of the Kido spell she sought to unlock.
Applejack frowned and moved to stand in front of Clover, shielding her body from the heat coming off of Sunset, although there was enough distance between the two that doing so was more a token gesture than necessity. Of more concern was the fact that the cliff was melting away to molten liquid under Sunset, which should have sent her body tumbling down... but instead Sunset remained exactly where she was even as the stone turned to liquid beneath her and ran down. Her body just stayed hovering where it was, emitting its intense nimbus of pure flame and heat as she struggled with her internal battle.
“What do you think is going on in there?” asked Rainbow Dash, to which Applejack could only shake her head, hand on her hat.
“Don’t rightly know, hun, but whatever it is, we gotta hope Sunset can handle it.”
Getting a little crowded inside Sunset's inner world, but hey, Ichigo had a similar issue, so fairs fair. Not much else to say here, chapter was a bit shorter than I wanted it to be but this last weekend was Sakuracon in Seattle, so I was a little divided on time. Which, totally unrelated to the chapter, but wanted to share my personal favorite AMV from the contest at the con this year:
Good stuff.
Anywhos, hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and as always I highly appreciate any and all comments, questions, or critiques! 'Till next time!
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Not really? He only killed like, 12 people tops. Off the top of my head, somebody who orchestrated major war crimes, such as Henry Kissinger, tops Jack by orders of magnitude.
11871345
"Most deserving," not "the most deserving." He's not saying that he's the most evil Sinner in Hell, he's just saying that unlike someone like, say, Sunburst, he most certainly earned his ticket to Hell through his deeds in life. Plus, we also don't know the full extent of Sebastian's life yet, so it's entirely possible that he has more villainy to his name than just the deaths attributed to his historical self.
11871355
Hm. What with the italics for emphasis, I suppose I just read Vex's intent differently.
11871355
11871375
Hah, perhaps I overuse italics, but generally Sebastian is just saying he deserves to be there. Although also, he has a flair for dramatics and ego, so one could read it either way.
If the Pony is the Horn, the Phoenix the Wings of the Alicorn, would that make Hell her Earth Pony strength?
Anyway, If Sunset needs a great magic feast to calm her Pony self, creating a giant plant would be a neat call-back.
Yeah, she's not HTwilight. It's not like she could have used magic in the human World. Though she could have visited Equestria, even for a second, before the whole Reaper thing.
I think boredom would be more effective against Medly or Blossom.
Hikari
11871345
Agree.
There's also the brutality of his murders. Ripper usually cut the throat of the victim, which is (relatively) quick. Still evil, but definitelly not worse for the victims of the likes, like Mengele. Now that guy. He was a monster.
Tho, it could be argued that Sebastian here really came to regret what he did and it's guilt talking. We'll see.
God its been years since i heard sakuracon, even longer since i've been
11834979
I hope it turns out both Spikes has that stat too.
(I think someone replied to me on here some months ago but never got the chance to see it so I am just pretty lost at the moment)
Calling it now. In like 30-40(or 50) chapters when they finally get to Equestria and Sunset gets her relic, she's going to pop into her inner world, see a NEW manifestation of her powers and just deck her square in the face. No questions asked, no preamble, just straight up sucker punching the soul. Then it turns out she didn't even need to fight this one to get access to her power.
Oh come off it, you overgrown fire chicken and love yourself already, Sunny needs her power up.
11872813
Well Sunset has been neglecting the pony side of her for a long time now. She’s going to have to earn it.
11877097
True but in all fairness, She literally couldn't use Unicorn Magic in the human world
11877099
That’s no exactly true. Whenever they pony up they are using pony magic. There’s also the fact that Twilight made the mirror have the ability to remain artificially open. She could have gone back to Equestria whenever she wanted. But she chose to abandon that part of herself out of shame.
Sunset wants to abandon that part of herself because of the bad memories she associates with it. That’s why her pony self is fighting so hard.
11877127
Fair enough, So this is basically character development through a ass beating, I approve
11877165
That’s the best type of character development