The Issue of Multiple Sunsets

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

A disturbing but handy tool

The dark street mage version of Sunset, who had decided to call herself Darth Phoenix to separate herself from the other versions of Sunset Shimmers (and yeah, she thought it sounded cool, and who cared what the others thought), pulled up in front of the apartment building in the car that she had "borrowed." She smirked to herself as she looked at the building, her red and black nails tapping on the steering wheel.

So this was where this world's Sunset Shimmer normally lived, and where several of the "good" Sunsets were staying.

It looked like a total shithole. The kind of place that people only lived in because they could not afford to be anywhere else.

Her gaze drifted to the small bag she had with her, considering the contents inside. How would it work with an apartment building? It was supposed to affect everyone in a house, even if it was a large manor. Since it was all one building, it could possibly put everyone in it to sleep if she used it in one apartment. On the other hand, there were houses that shared walls, and, supposedly, it had no affect on the two houses attached to the targeted one. Like that, each apartment could be seen as its own house, which means that it would have no affect on the neighbors.

Grabbing the bag, Darth Phoenix slipped out of the car, shutting the door as quietly as she could manage. She made her way toward the steps, leading toward the floor she had been told. Her thick boots thumped against the rusted metal of the stairs with each step she took.

At the door, she stopped, looking at it for a long moment. Reaching out, she pressed her hand against it, closing her eyes.

"Permittere meus auscultare."

The door became a giant microphone, allowing Darth Phoenix to listen in the room with greater detail. Supposedly, it was possible to expand it to a larger object, or even use it as something akin to sonar, allowing the caster to "see" the interior of a room (or multiple), but she had never figured out how to do it.

From what she could hear, everyone inside was asleep.

Now there was a question of if they were trusting and stupid enough to leave the door unlocked.

Turning the knob, she gave it a small push. The door opened, no chain appearing in the gap.

After closing the door, Phoenix reached into her bag and pulled out a Hand of Glory: the left hand of a hanged criminal (preferably a thief), that had undergone a special ritual to preserve it. It had a sickly white-yellow color to it, with bits of the paper thin skin peeling away to expose the dried out, leathery flesh and bits of similarly colored bone. The nails had fallen away at some point before had gotten it, with no sign they had ever been there in the first place.

Darth Phoenix then pulled out a candle, supposedly made of virgin wax and the fat of the same hanged criminal, with bits of their hair made into the wick. As she lowered the candle toward the hand's palm, the fingers shifted, gripping on and holding it in place. With that done, she then pulled out a match, and lit the wick, muttering a small incantation under her breath.

Opening the door, she stuck the burning candle inside the room, then stepped inside. There was the barest feeling of resistance at it, the threshold's power extremely weak and taking a negligible portion of her power with it. She made her way further, setting the hand down on the coffee table, then looked around.

Several human Sunset Shimmers were spread out in the living room, sleeping like they were at a slumber party. Included among them was the mage version of Sunset Shimmer that Darth Phoenix had run into earlier.

There was something about this particular Sunset that she hated. Not simply because Phoenix had been beaten by Sunset and Rainbow Dash, although that was a part of it. The instant that she had seen her, Phoenix had hated mage Sunset and wanted to kill her.

It was tempting to do so here and now. Being asleep, she was completely vulnerable, and none of the others would wake up while the Hand of Glory was burning. Just slit the girl's throat, do what she had come to, and leave. She would be long gone by the time the body was found.

Except she had been told not to. Sunset Satan wanted the other Sunsets alive and with minimal harm as possible. They were vital to the plan or something.So, as much as she hated it, Darth Phoenix let the good mage Sunset Shimmer live for now, turning her attention to find the Sunset Shimmer she was looking for.

The Crystsal Prep student Sunset Shimmer laid curled up in one of the chairs, using her blazer as a blanket. Her shoes were on the floor, and tie and glasses had been set aside. Prep Sunset's head was tilted back against the armrest, a bit of drool running down one cheek.

The girl did not look impressive. Why Satan wanted her, Phoenix could not even guess. Still, it her mission to capture this Sunset and bring her in.

Reaching into her bag, Darth Phoenix pulled out a small bag. Undoing the string, she took out a pinch of powder.

"Somnum penitus," she whispered as she sprinkled the powder over the girl's head.

Crystal Prep Sunset let out a single cough, but otherwise did not move.

Really regretting not learning that stupid marionette spell now, Phoenix thought for a moment. Unfortunately, she never had, and it was too late for her to try and use it. More so since she did not have the materials required.

Instead, she grabbed a hold of the unconscious girl's shoulders and pulled her from the chair. She then reached under Sunset's arms and wrapped her own around the girl's chest.

With a grunt of effort, Darth Phoenix began the slow and painful process of dragging the sleeping Sunset Shimmer to the car. Getting her to the door was not too bad, although she did have to try and avoid hitting any of the furniture. The trip down the stairs, however, was quite the pain in the ass. She had to walk down backwards, trying to keep from stepping too far and falling, or too close and hitting her foot on the edge of the step, while dragging what anyone who saw would assume to be a dead body.

Hopefully no one would hear, or maybe the hand somehow worked and everyone in the crappy apartment building would stay asleep.

Through some miracle or dark aid, she managed to make it to the car without breaking her neck or having the cops called on her. After dropping the girl onto the street (yes, she could have set her down, but her back was hurting and the girl was heavy, damn it!), Phoenix opened the back door, then wrestled the rag-doll of a girl into the back seat.

With that done, Darth Phoenix headed back up the stairs and into the apartment. Grabbing the hand, she rushed for the door, shutting it as quietly as possible just in case, and headed down the steps. Once at the bottom, she pulled a small bottle of milk from her bag, ripped the top off, and poured it over the candle to extinguish it.

She then ran for the car as fast as she could, wanting to hurry out of there just in case someone woke up.

Comments

[aceina]

this cant be good

[Comickook]

Whoa mama. I'm getting a bad feeling here, but I DO love the work that went into this chapter. So the villainous Street Mage version of Sunset (or Darth Phoenix as she is being called now) managed to kidnap Crystal Prep Sunset. Somehow, I have the feeling that Sunset Satan is going to try to "upgrade" her Crystal Prep counterpart a day or two earlier than Sci-Twi was in her own timeline. And, since Crystal Prep Sunset's (figurative AND literal) Morality Pet is NOT in this universe at this time, the upgraded Crystal Prep Sunset is going to prove tougher to stop than Midnight Sparkle was.

[Ri2]

...Darth Phoenix? Seriously? She's right, she's the only one who thinks it sounds cool.

[Herald of Opera]

Dresden did love his somewhat dated pop culture references... (They were dated by necessity, because of the aforementioned advanced-technology-futzing)