SunLight Sliders: Infinite

by Amber Spark

Chapter 18 - Dubs Rewatcher

Now wearing the garb of a Prench military general, Discord thrust his inflatable sword into the air. “Allons-y, mademoiselles!” he cried. “Le Lady Sparkle awaits!”

How do you think he’d sound with that sword shoved down his throat?

Twilight flinched. Back home, she'd always described anxiety as like having a voice in her head, constantly dragging her down. But nothing could have prepared her for having a literal voice in her head. Twilight took a deep breath, but Midnight spoke over the whish of inhaling. Not even the clanking clatter of Daybreaker’s armor could drown out the she-demon.

Oh, you still want to drown me out? What a pity. I thought we were really bonding!

Twilight snorted and whispered, “As if I’d ever bond with you.”

She took a step, but a chill wrapped around her gut and her forehooves shot off in separate directions. She hit the ground with a dirt-mouthed grunt.

Keep up that attitude, and there’ll be more where that came from.

Twilight just grumbled and picked herself back up.

The party of four headed away from Twily and Sunny’s house, out to an empty field nearby. Discord had warned that his teleportation methods could be “explosive,” and that hopping between dimensions was no easy feat. If this plan was going to work, he needed space, fresh air, and a tall glass of lemon-tinted iced tea. “An artist’s most important tools,” he’d mused.

So the group trudged, over hills and through the valley, headed for a clear spot Daybreaker had scouted.

As they walked, Twilight kept an eye on Sunset. The mohawked mare walked like Spike after being caught chewing Mom’s shoes: head drooped, ears flat, and gaze cast down. She’d been silent for minutes now. Whatever she and Twily had talked about must have hurt. Bad.

Very poetic.

Twilight imagined herself soccer-punting Midnight into a garbage can.

The sight of Sunset moping hung heavy on Twilight. The two of them weren’t exactly best friends, sure, but adventuring through the multiverse together had at least made them allies. And if hours playing Ogres & Oubliettes through online chatrooms filled with emotionally unstable thirty-year-old men had taught her anything, it was that being a true ally meant lending an open ear.

She drew close to Sunset. “Hey. Are you alright?”

“I think you can answer that yourself,” said Sunset, voice flat.

It took a moment for Twilight to process. “You’re… sad?”

Sunset shot Twilight a slicing look. She sped up.

Twilight hurried after her. “I just want to help,” she said through a huff. “What’s wrong? What did you and Twily talk about?”

Sunset sucked on her bottom lip. Twilight recognized that tic; her own Sunset did it whenever she was nervous. “Nothing, really,” she said finally, speeding up once again. “We just caught up. She’s happy, and I’m—well, I’m fine. Everything’s fine. Now I just need to focus on getting you home.”

“Right.” Twilight paused for a moment, caught in a memory of her original universe—Goddess, how she missed her bedroom, water stains on the ceiling and all—but then ran to catch up. She didn’t need to be a social butterfly to understand that Sunset was still hiding something.

There are easier ways to make her confess.

I’m not trying to make her do anything, Twilight thought back. I’m trying to help. She raised a hoof. “Sunset, please, can we talk?”

“Sparky, how about you leave me alone for a bit?” said Sunset, raising her voice. “Twilight—Twily and I talked in private for a reason. Calm down.”

Twilight cringed back. “Oh. Okay, sorry.”

Goddess above, you’re pathetic.

A familiar chill washed over Twilight as her control slipped away. Midnight, what are you—

“Let me guess,” said Midnight, scratching her chin. “She still blames you for killing her brother?”

The entire group stopped. Daybreaker stared, and even Discord gaped. But Sunset—Sunset just stood, looking like she’d been pushed in front of a truck. “What?”

Stop, Midnight! Please!

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Midnight smirked, tapped her chin. “I suppose you didn’t kill him, per se. You merely left him to trap himself in a magic prison for all of eternity. Quite different.”

Inside, Twilight screamed.

Sunset’s gaze sharpened into a lobotomizing glare. She stomped up to Midnight, her breathing hard, violent. “You’d better shut up,” she hissed. “What happened to Shining was not my—”

“And did you return whatever it was you stole?” Midnight asked.

Sunset’s face went from pink to bloody red.

The chill disappeared, and Twilight found herself back in control of her speech and movement.

I got her to start talking. Enjoy, Little Miss Friendship!

Twilight backed up. “Oh gosh, Sunset, I swear that wasn’t—”

“I don’t care. Why don’t both of you just mind your own business?” Sunset said, jumping forward fast enough to send Twilight falling back. “I don’t know what that snake of a Sunset told you, but it’s wrong.”

Twilight tried to spit out a meek “Okay,” but couldn’t find her voice.

“I don’t need your help or your pity. Were it up to me, I would have dumped you off in some backwater universe ages ago. We’re not friends, and you don’t know anything, so leave me alone!” Sunset’s voice echoed down the valley like a cannon’s boom.

Twilight cowered in her shadow, eyes shut tight, not wanting to cry, trying not to cry, waiting for the onslaught to end.

“Oh, now you’ve got nothing to say?” said Sunset.

Twilight searched deep for a rebuttal. She found nothing of the sort. What she did find, however, was a memory—a memory that had since taken on new meaning.

As Sunset scoffed and turned away, Twilight managed to open her mouth. “You were looking.”

Sunset looked back over her shoulder. “What?”

“When we met, you told me you were looking for something.” Twilight stood on shaky legs. “What—what is it?”

Sunset’s eyes widened.

Discord popped in between the two of them. “Girls, girls, stop! Your interdimensional drama is as juicy as it comes, but could we please save it for the reunion show? We’ve got work to do!”

“He’s right,” said Daybreaker. “We need to find Lady Sparkle, and quickly.”

Twilight and Sunset kept their gazes locked for a moment more before breaking. Sunset growled and stormed away, while Twilight just picked herself up and sighed. She imagined grabbing a baseball bat and beating Midnight into pulp.

Daybreaker took a curt glance around the open field. “This should be good enough. All clear.”

“Hold on tight, ladies,” Discord said, adjusting his seatbelt. He snapped his fingers, and the world around them melted into white. “Time for the main event!”

The first thing Twilight noticed was the rain, cold and soaking deep into her coat. The second was the taste of concrete on her tongue.

She yelped and leapt to her hooves, gasping for air as consciousness returned to her. She and the others had landed on a dark, rainy street, somewhere in Lady Sparkle’s world. The scene looked like something out of one of her cyberpunk novels. Endlessly tall skyscrapers surrounded them, awash with the flickering glow of neon signs and orange streetlights.

Discord twisted himself up like a corkscrew, popping what sounded like every joint in his spine at once. “Next time we teleport, remind me not to fly coach.” Meanwhile, Daybreaker trotted to-and-fro, darting glances down the street, around corners, up at windows, like an impatient child waiting for candy.

Sunset cast a spell and shielded herself, Discord, and Daybreaker from the rain. Twilight tried to join in, but found no space under the umbrella.

“Now what?” Sunset asked. “Where do we go?”

“The Lady’s throne. Remember, this is a sneaking mission,” said Discord, donning a leopard-print leotard. “Try not to get caught.”

The ear-wrenching sound of sirens erupted from every corner of the city. Twilight shrieked and hit the deck, while Sunset and Discord tensed their legs.

A familiar army of Twilights poured onto the street, surrounding them. Their horns were lit up bright, ready to incinerate the intruders with magic at a moment’s notice. And above them all, high in the darkened sky, opened a pair of massive violet eyes.

“Greetings,” came Lady Sparkle’s voice from the clouds, drilling into Twilight’s skull. “Twilight, Sunset. And Discord—it’s been a long time. You all look well.”

“But how?” Sunset asked. “How did she know we would be right here—aaugh!”

Twilight gasped as Daybreaker bucked Sunset hard in the side. Sunset crumpled, while Daybreaker laughed and ran to the army. Everypony watched as her armor, skin, mane, dissolved. Seconds later, she was indistinguishable from any of the other Twilights.

“Daybreaker, my ‘original’ Sunset,” said Lady Sparkle. She laughed hard enough to shake the city. “As if I would leave somepony so close to me alive.”

“But—but Daybreaker!” Discord said, looking like his favorite puppy had just been revealed as an interdimensional double agent terrorist. “Our plans, our long talks over PB&J sandwiches… our sponge baths! I thought what we had was special!”

The Daybreaker-turned-Twilight blew a raspberry.

“Surrender now,” Lady Sparkle said, “and I will take care to kill you in one shot.”

Twilight could barely hold herself up. She felt Midnight raging, grabbing for control.

Sunset, teeth bared, sidled closer to Discord. “So, escape plan? Or are we ready to take them out?”

“Neither,” whispered Discord. “I need a few more minutes before I can teleport between dimensions again. And there must be close to a million Twilights in this city—not even I could take them all.”

The army of Twilights took a unified step forward.

“So what do we do?” Twilight asked, hyperventilating.

Discord stayed silent. Then he looked down at Twilight. “Combine and conquer?”

Twilight blinked. “What?”

Shrinking his insectoid arm down to the size of a paper towel tube, Discord leaned over and shoved his claw deep into Twilight’s ear. Twilight had the urge to scream, but was too stunned to even take a breath. A moment later, he grunted, twisted his claw, and pulled out a flaming blue orb.

Twilight gasped and jumped back, throwing a hoof to her head. What did he do? What is that? What did he…?

For the first time in too long, Twilight realized, Midnight had stopped talking.

Discord had ripped Midnight out of Twilight’s brain.

He held the orb up high, letting its ghostly light shine through the night. The Twilight Army stopped, scrambling backwards. Even Lady Sparkle’s eyes, huge as they already were, went wider.

What was he going to do with it?. Maybe throw it down and spark a magical explosion? Or create a portal to throw the army into another dimension? She grinned and braced herself, waiting for whatever awesome stunt Discord was about to—

“Bottoms up!” Discord said. He ate Midnight.

He ate Midnight.

Twilight and Sunset’s jaws fell loose.

The entire universe seemed to shift at that; Twilight felt a pulse of invisible energy pass over her one way then back again, like the push and pull of an ocean wave.

Discord grunted, doubled over, grasping at his stomach—then opened his eyes. They’d taken on a piercing gray-blue aura.

“Twice the power,” he said, standing up straight. He snapped a finger and was now wearing Midnight Sparkle’s outfit, exposed cleavage and miniskirt included. “Twice the sex appeal!”

Author's Note:

Chapter written by Dubs Rewatcher!

Comments

[The Scarlett Mare]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA YES

[SophiaBlaze23]

What.no, wait....WAAAAT?