Outer Demons
Almost everyone turned to the screams. The first thing most noticed was the hulking, vaguely ursine thing to the left of the stands. The general shape, placement of the claws, and guttural grunts all fit in the mental folder labeled "bear." The pitch-black body bigger than a station wagon didn't, nor did the skull-like faceplate, jagged back spines, or bony plates along the forearms. If anything, those only encouraged students to fleeing from that side of the bleachers.
Those students promptly collided into the ones trying to get away from the similarly sized, armored, and distorted boar that snuffled at the other end of the stands. A few pegasus-aspected kids had the presence of mind to take to the air, but most milled aimlessly as the two hulks approached. Drool like dilute tar dripped from both mouths.
A flash of gold put Sunset just in front of the stands, one palm pointed at each. Her headgem flared like a tiny star as raw magic poured forth from her hands.
After a few moments, the audience grew restless. "Sh-shouldn't something be happening by now?" said Scootaloo, who was only holding Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom so they wouldn't feel afraid, really. And indeed, while the bear and boar hadn't moved any closer, they were weathering the blasts with no visible reaction.
Rainbow Dash left her starting block and zipped to Sunset's side. "Everything okay?"
Sunset shook her head, sweat beading along her forehead. "They seem magic resistant," she grunted. "They may have some weakness, but I don't have time to find it."
"You evacuate everyone. We'll take care of it." Dash turned and waved a hand at her friends. "Come on, guys!"
Sunset put a shield around the bleachers and formed stairs going down the back of them. As she guided the students down, the other Wondercolt competitors ran forward without hesitation. Mostly. "Don't you think we should see if they're friendly?" said Fluttershy.
Both beasts beat against the barrier, roaring their displeasure. "I don't think it's terribly likely," Twilight said as she removed her skates, having teleported as far as she'd come.
Applejack cracked her neck. "Dash, Rares, an' I'll take the bear. Twi, Pinkie, an' Shy, yer on hog-wranglin' duty."
Twilight took in her apparent opponent and backed away a step. "Do we have any kind of plan?"
"Whoop butt!" cried Dash, already zipping around the bruin.
That was enough for the designated boar fighters. Meanwhile, Rarity sighed. "How exactly are those of us burdened with a sense of self-preservation supposed to 'whoop butt,' as she put it?"
Applejack quirked a brow. "Still got yer bow, don't ya?"
Rarity looked to her hand, eyes widening as she found that she did. A look behind her confirmed her quiver was still in place as well. "I suppose I forgot I was holding it. But you can't possibly be suggesting—"
"Little help!?" Dash's shout drew their attention just in time to see the bear swat her out of the air. She slammed into the school, and neither Applejack nor Rarity breathed until they saw her struggle back to her feet.
"This is serious, Rares. C'mon."
"Oh... Very well." Rarity pulled back the string. "Pardon me, you loathsome rapscallion. Would you be so kind as to—" The creature faced her. "Thank you." She let go, little flashes of her magic guiding the arrow along its route.
Applejack paled amid the deep shrieks of pain. Rarity simply smiled. "It's so nice to work with someone who anticipates your requests, isn't it?"
"There are times when you scare me."
"Oh, I assure you, I will no doubt be shivering in a little ball once the adrenaline wears off." Rarity nocked another arrow. "Now, do you think I should take out the other eye?"
"Don't think it'll be necessary," Applejack said as she upended her own quiver, "but if ya can, do it."
"Understood."
Applejack charged forward, twirling the rope she'd retrieved.
"Do you ever not have a lasso?" said Dash, once again harrying the bear.
"Jus' 'cause the rest o' you ain't practical don't mean I gotta follow suit."
As more ursine anguish rang out, Fluttershy dealt with the other creature in her own way. "Mr. Boar? Could you please stop trying to gore me to death or trample me underhoof?" She drifted to one side, enough that the van-sized beast's latest leaping charge got it nothing but another faceful of turf. "I would appreciate it a great deal, and I'm sure I could find you something yummy to thank you."
"Fluttershy, you've been trying to persuade it for more than a minute. I don't think it's going to listen to reason!"
"Just a little bit longer! I— Twilight, run!"
Twilight turned to see two tons of angry pork barreling towards her. The tusks were scant inches away by the time she teleported well behind it.
Fluttershy snarled and swooped closer. "Now see here, mister!" She caught the boar's eyes as it spun. It gave a deep squeal and stumbled to a halt. "We have been nothing but polite to you, but if you think that that means you're free to attack whoever you like, then you have another thing coming! If you hadn't appeared out of nowhere, I'd be telling your mother about this behavior. As it is, I think I'm going to have to discipline you myself. Why, if any of my friends at the shelter were as badly behaved as you, I'd... I'd—"
"Fire in the hole!"
"Huh?" Fluttershy glanced at a beaming Pinkie, then at the boar, who was much closer and looked as shocked as she was. "Eep!" She dove out of the way.
The boar had far less control over its trajectory and ended up skewering itself on a tremendous spike of hardened fuchsia light like a cherry on the very end of a toothpick. Slowly, inch by inch, gravity made it sink down.
"What was that?"
"Remote-activated party mine," said Pinkie. Only then did Fluttershy notice the streamers and confetti littering the ground around the launch point.
"Girls?" Both turned to see Twilight, down on one knee with her hands on her temples. Her headgem shone with brilliant intensity, capturing every drop of sweat as they streaked down her face. "Get ready."
"What do you..." Fluttershy looked to the boar. It was still thrashing atop the spike, no longer slipping down. It squealed and grunted with more rage than pain.
"I'm trying to hold up that thing with my mind. Can't make the spike sharp enough. Can't support the weight for much—"
Twilight felt a hand on her shoulder. "Relax," said its owner.
She did. Her construct vanished, revealing a slimmer, golden spike beneath it. The boar slipped down further, eventually going still and crumbling to powder.
"Is everyone alright?" said Fluttershy.
"Incomin'!" Everyone moved out of the way as a trussed-up, arrow-studded bear monster flew over the bleachers and slammed into the ground.
Rarity sashayed into view. When she spoke the creature flinched away from her voice. "Now, I trust you will be more civilized in the future?"
The cringing bear shuddered for a moment, then collapsed in on itself, leaving no sign it had ever been there.
Dash cleared her throat. "So, uh... Is that normal?"
"Let's find out." Sunset knelt by the remains of the porcine monster, readying senses far beyond the six she usually employed.
Dean Cadence's voice on the PA system interrupted her. "The winner of the Tri-Cross Relay is Crystal Prep."
"Seriously!?" cried Dash. Everyone turned. Indeed, the Shadowbolts were still on the track. Indigo Zap was even doing a victory lap as they watched.
"Even Cadence didn't sound happy about that," said Twilight.
Sunset's jaw dropped. "What were those girls thinking?"
Twilight sighed. "They were probably thinking about what Principal Cinch might do if Crystal Prep actually lost the Friendship Games."
Pinkie Pie shuddered. "Polar opposite of fun."
Dash snarled. "Come on! Maybe we can get them to call a do-over." She raced ahead of the others to see Cinch scowling at the other officials, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. Neither Celestia or Luna looked happy either.
"Principal Cinch, please. You can't call this fair," said a concerned Cadence.
Luna nodded. "Indeed. You usually make sure you trounce us on a level playing field."
Cinch stood firm. "As you yourselves have noted, we have no time to waste. No matter what the circumstances, the Friendship Games must be finished today. Your students chose to focus on that... incursion. Mine chose to focus on the race. There are arguments to be made for both choices. What matters is that our schools are tied and everyone is safe. Now we may move on to the final, deciding event."
"Oh, come on!" cried Dash. "Don't you guys overrule her? It's three to one!"
"Principal Cinch does make a valid point," Celestia said with a grimace. "Time is of the essence, and resetting the course will take far too much time, especially considering the collateral damage."
"What collater—" Dash took in the turf torn up by pounding hooves and gouging claws, the craters from impacts and explosions, and the dent she'd left in one of the walls of the school. "Oh. Right."
"Look at it this way, Rainbow Dash," said Luna. "With the score tied, it's anyone's game."
Dash sighed. "I guess."
Cinch sneered. "So happy to meet with your approval."
By the time Sunset remembered to analyze the remains of the boar, they had vanished.
The sun hung low in the west as the final event approached, Cinch allowing everyone to have some time to collect themselves. More filled bleachers now stood around the entrance to Canterlot High. The Canterlot side was filled with eager chatter. Concerned murmurs sounded from the Crystal Prep side.
As the officials conferred with one another, the competitors mingled. "Sorry 'bout the poor sportsgirlship," said Lemon Zest. "Dunno if you saw, but Auntie Abby never even looked away from the track. You know how she can stare through your soul sometimes?"
"All too well," said Twilight.
"Turns out that's what happens when she's in a good mood."
"As long as no more random monstrosities pop up out of nowhere, we should be fine."
Sugarcoat shook her head. "You just doomed us all."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "That's ridicu—"
"WHAT!?" Principal Cinch's shout silenced the student bodies.
"Told you."
"Not now, Sugarcoat."
More or less. "You're seriously going to run an event where home field advantage will decide everything?"
Luna facepalmed. Celestia was a bit more diplomatic. "Principal Cinch, you agreed to this event weeks ago."
"And I don't know what I could have possibly been thinking when I did!"
"Abacus—"
"No. I have had enough of this. Every step of the way, you spared no effort to skew the results in your favor! You even went so far as to alter the universe itself into a state where your school might possibly win."
Sunset approached her. "Principal Cinch, you can't possibly—"
Cinch whirled on the girl and stabbed a finger at her. "Don't you talk to me about possibility, girl! You said it yourself; it's your fault that the world's become as impossibly insane as it is!" Cinch turned back to Celestia and Luna. "All throughout this farce, I have tried to stay calm. To stay mature. And all it has gotten me is childish ridicule and the scorn of my so-called peers. Well, if that's the sort of world we live in, then so be it! Let us embrace the madness!"
A shockwave knocked back everyone not sitting in the stands. Darkness spread across Cinch's body like time-lapsed fungus, mixed with sullen reds and midnight purples. Black lightning crackled along her skin. Another burst revealed a figure hovering a few feet above the ground, obscured by her own umbral aura. As everyone's eyes adjusted, they revealed...
Abacus Cinch. No demon, no angel, no expression of some fundamental aspect of the universe. Just a woman projecting darkness like the exact opposite of a lantern, her eyes leaking purple vapor. "I propose a different third event: Grand melee!"
Applejack tilted her hat back. "How come every magic-crazed lunatic can float?"
"Because gravity's a pansy," said Twilight. A terribly familiar scream drew her attention.
Sunset... flickered, blinking in and out of existence like the glow of a loose light bulb. It took her a few moments to stabilize, at which point she was on her knees, eyes wide and clutching at her throat. Her hair and outfit had both turned the color of her skin, and bits of her continually flaked off like embers from a dying fire.
Numerous outcries rang out. The rushing crowd of supplicants came to halt before the half-dome that formed around Sunset and the girl who hadn't been there a moment before.
Twilight swept a glare across the crowd, eyes ablaze with energy. "Give. Her. Space." She helped Sunset to her feet. The girl weighed almost nothing and lacked the warmth of life, feeling more like plastic than flesh. "What's wrong?" Twilight looked around the area for the other Canterlot competitors. They all looked to be on the wrong side of the press of bodies that didn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon. "Also, if you could explain what's going on in general, that would be very helpful."
"Dark magic," Sunset managed, her voice faint and echoing as though it were coming from the other end of a long tunnel. "Cinch is acting like some sort of emotional refractor, projecting so much of it that it's disrupting my projection. It's also driving the local magical density dangerously high."
"Crap. I heard that last part." Both looked up to see Rainbow Dash hovering over the barrier. "Can you do anything?"
Sunset shook her head. "Not alone. If I try to smack her down, I'll take a very crowded chunk of reality out with her. Together, we might safely—"
"AVAUNT, FOUL CREATURE!" A purplish streak slammed into Dash.
"Oh dear. That was Indigo Zap." Twilight noticed the crowd around the barrier thinning out. "Hey, Sunset?"
"Yeah?"
"Just checking, but does dark magic usually induce discolored sclera that leak quasi-gaseous magical discharge?"
"How'd you guess?"
Twilight pointed. Several dozen examples of said symptom presented themselves, arrayed behind Cinch in precise rows. "The Crystal Prep student body."
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Did you add the flames in Cinch's eyes?
Oh. This is gonna be really interesting!
When the bear appeared, I thought it might have been Fluttershy's bear arriving to cheer her on.
Creepy.
I feel like the pacing here got accelerated a little too much. Also, Grimm?
Bet the monsters were her too...
Oh dear, I wonder if Sugarcoat and Zest made their will saves.
The show never really gave us any idea how to neutralise someone who had given themselves to dark magic completely. Unless you wanna count "reduce the body to ash".
Welp, she went full-on Sombra. This'll be interesting.
Also, yikes.
7993293
Ahem
GONG YI TANPAI!
Okay, so the Creatures of Grimm were perhaps not entirely surprising. They're semi-magical end products of bad human emotional vibes energising Dust (a magical crystalline mineral). The sheer amount of bad vibes that the Crystal Prep contingent were probably generating would have made it more surprising if they didn't manifest. What I want to know is whether the Dark Magic they're now seeing is just a by-product of Crystal Prep's generally bad atmosphere, Indigo Zap's insanity, Cinch's narcissism or the presence of an unpleasant and previously-unseen third party.
Legends. Stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, by-products, of a forgotten past. Man, born from Dust, was strong, wise, and resourceful, but he was born into an unforgiving world. An inevitable darkness — creatures of destruction — the Creatures of Grimm — set their sights on man and all of his creations. These forces clashed, and it seemed the darkness was intent on returning man's brief existence to the void. However, even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change, and in time, man's passion, resourcefulness, and ingenuity led them to the tools that would help even the odds. This power was appropriately named "Dust".
"Who are you?"
"You can call me... Salem."
I really hope this story ends with Abacus Cinch being punched in the face.
Well that escalated quickly. I mean the lady just flipped her lid. What in the hay is wrong with her? However her transformation was very classy. and I suppose from the damage to local space time. She is very powerful.
Well compared to the other forces it is, it just happens to have a longer reach than most.
And might be slipping out into other dimensions we can't detect.
Wait, what?
Let me see if I follow your reason for ignoring blatantly unsportsmanlike conduct: "We'll pretend that the event was not interrupted due to an obvious emergency, because the same emergency that we're pretending didn't happen has damaged the course. Even though we have powerful magic at our disposal, we just can't be bothered to make repairs and resume the event where it was interrupted. Instead we'll just say that the team who ran the course of the stopped event alone, despite the interruption, has 'won'—against nobody, apparently—because... reasons?"
Concern is only natural, after Principal Cinch pretty much declared outright, "Our students simply cannot compete with those of Canterlot High. The only way we can 'win' anything at all is to run alone without any competition." That's gotta hurt their pride something awful.
7994549
Well, no one called for a do-over in canon after an extradimensional plant monster ate a competitor's motorcycle.
Well, that settles that, then.
It's morphin' time!
7994630
Well, bonus points for consistency with the source material, I guess — but is “My fanfic makes exactly as much logical sense as the EQG movies” really something you should be striving for?
7992868
They were there when I found the image.
(As for why I cropped it the way I did, her nose looked too much like a smile to convey the mood I was going for.)
7992927
I can only describe the sensation of trying to get this chapter out as "creative constipation." As such, it may come off as a little dry and compacted.
As for the Grimm, the setting ended up crossed over with RWBY in the flash fiction thread and snowballed to a degree I didn't anticipate. I rolled with it.
7993293
Crystals, tyranny, and an office on the top floor of a school without elevators. Cinch was most of the way to Sombrahood as it was. It's also interesting to note that the most recent local incarnation of Sombra was the previous principal of Crystal Prep.
7993992
I can confirm that all involved parties have appeared in the story already. No need for any witch hunts.
7994189
I can definitely confirm that limbs will fly towards said face in the next chapter.
7994261
This has been building up for quite some time. Abacus Cinch's fury has been building from the moment Twilight transferred out of Crystal Prep. But she is a consummate professional. She refused to rant and rave like some child who'd been denied her favorite toy. She kept most of her ire contained, even as it intensified day by day. Even as her attempts to find a way to clinch victory at the Friendship Games proved fruitless. Even as the respect she'd come to expect from those around her vanished like a mirage.
She's had all she can stand, and she can't stand no more. And it turns out that suppressing negative emotions when your body so readily responds to your emotional state doesn't lead anywhere good...
7994538
You want me to run another gravimetric experiment?
I swear this will be the last one! ... This week.
7994874
In my defense, I didn't even let the possible legal minors ride motorcycles for an intermural sporting event, to say nothing of establishing an explanation for most of the magical phenomena in the human world, up to and including cutie marks. If anything, that was a low point in this setting's logical consistency.
At least, that's what I like to tell myself.
Tracking.
Definitely no hope for this fanon endeavor.
8004476
Care to explain what you mean by that?
Holy Cheese, it's Midnight Cinch!
Did somebody say "it's anyone's game" ?
Still, I really like this series. Some parts can feel a bit jank like The Grimm showing up randomly, and Cinch being able to almost shut out Sunset after her Evil Power Boost. but it is the good kind of jank.
needs clarity.
this line tickled my fancy for reasons unbeknownst to myself.
7992924
That would have been so cool.
PS:what is the bears name?
8360352
The bear's name is Harry. Or, at least for the Equestrian version.
First: What kind of god are you?
Secound: you can alter the entire universe, grant powers of Destiny to individual people and a host of other stuff but you can't defeat Cinch, who is using magic originating from you, without collateral damage? What the hell? Sorry I'm just so confused by this
9535699
Read up a paragraph.
Remember, this is the issue that nearly destroyed the world in the first place. Sunset using enough power to take care of Cinch directly would be like trying to hammer a nail into a window. These are not prime conditions for wielding vast cosmic power.
Just what they needed.
Where did those comes from!?
Great...
Looks like it's down to the final round to determine the winner.
https://m.What's happening to her!?!?
God damn it!