Duel #30: Sinner or Redeemed (Edited 28.4.2020)
The notion of ever having to find herself at a police station rarely crossed her mind. Although, lately she had entertained the possibility of being stuck into an interrogation room over some of her deeds. Thankfully, at least this time around, she was seated in relative comfort in a walled off cubicle office in front of a desk. Beside her sat Rainbow Dash, remarkably more relaxed, one leg heft against the other and an arm slung behind the chair.
“Miss… Sunset Shimmer, was it?” asked the officer across the desk, a grey-skinned woman with dark grey, bordering on black, hair tied in a formal looking bun, dressed in a dress shirt with her badge pinned to the chest pocket. The name plaque on her desk labeled her as “Investigator Penchant”. “You can relax; I understand it might be a little daunting, but you’ve nothing to worry about. Now, the officer at the front desk informs us you two provided evidence regarding the recent disappearance of…” she peeked at the folder open on her desk, “Trixie Lulamoon?”
Sunset fidgeted slightly in her seat, “Um, yes- That is… I mean, that’s correct, ma’am.”
Penchant did not outwardly respond to Sunset’s stuttering, “Since you’re from the same school, when did either of you last see Miss Lulamoon?”
“Just yesterday, actually,” said Sunset, Rainbow affirming this with a nod. “She was my designated opponent for a duel test.”
“I can confirm,” said Rainbow, lifting her hand over her backrest. “I was spectating. My- *ahem* Our friend Fluttershy can attest.” Hearing Rainbow speak formally was an odd spectacle, to say the least.
“I see,” said Penchant, jotting down notes onto a pad. “Where exactly did you find her belongings?”
“In an alley along Stirrups Street,” said Sunset, “I think it was between a laundry and a… Sorry, I don’t remember.”
“That’s alright,” stated Penchant. “How did you come across the items?”
“Not much to say; I looked in, there was a turn with garbage bags, I just found everything spread out.”
“Right,” as she jotted down more notes, Penchant raised a questioning brow. “What were the two of you doing going down the alleyway?”
Sunset almost fretted, the implications making it sound like the two of them were up to something illicit, when Rainbow spoke up, “Our friend Rarity from school got it into her head to look into the whole shebang. She’s been having this obsession with detective stories.”
Penchant uttered a faint chuckle at that, “It is pretty noble of her to help look for your friend and all, but perhaps insist to her to let the proper authorities handle it.”
She’s not really our friend, thought Sunset, but remained silent. She sat in silence, all the while the sounds of the rest of the office space carried into the cubicle. Penchant then looked over something on her desktop, before turning back to address them.
“By any chance would the two of you know of any possible reasons for Miss Lulamoon’s disappearance? Was she involved in something? Did she have enemies? Anything like that?”
Sunset glanced to the side before responding, “None that I know of.” Just remembering her own time with the Ghouls made those questions all the more troubling. “I mean, I think a lot of people at school might find her… Difficult, but I wouldn’t say she has enemies, per say.”
“She’s loud, obnoxious, and a hack performer,” said Rainbow, much more bluntly, to which Sunset motioned in disapproval.
Sunset shrugged, grinning awkwardly, “She’s theatrical.”
Penchant seemed to realize something as she jotted down further notes, “Now that I think of it, isn’t there that one stage magician in Las Pegas named Lulamoon?” Sunset was not certain who she meant. “Anyhow, on behalf of the Canterlot P.D., we appreciate you two coming forth with this evidence. I assure you we will not stop until we find your friend and bring her home.”
Sunset nodded glumly as she and Rainbow stood up to be led out of the office by Inspector Penchant. After the parting of gratitudes and farewells, the two of them rejoined with their friends who were left waiting in the lobby, and exited the police station. The fresh afternoon air helped alleviate the constrictive uneasiness Sunset had felt being inside, but it did nothing to alleviate any trepidations she had pertaining to Trixie’s whereabouts, and health.
“Ah’ guess that’s the best we can do for now,” said Applejack, her tone belying the same unease everyone else was feeling after finding Trixie’s possessions.
“I just really want to know how on earth did Trixie’s belongings; all that was on her, end up where it was,” said Rarity who, by Applejack’s insistence, had taken off the fedora.
“I don’t think I want to know myself…” said Fluttershy with a shudder.
“Damn straight!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “It’s like something out of this manga I read where-”
“Pinkie, now’s not the time,” Rainbow interjected. “For all we know some creeper just snatched her up, did who knows what, dumped her stuff and god knows what else!” The elicited an audible whimper from Fluttershy, prompting Sunset to put a comforting arm around her shoulders.
“You misconstrue one thing though,” prompted Rarity. “Everything was there, but her deck.”
Oh right! Sunset looked up in realization, her deck wasn’t there!
“Well isn’t it obvious then?” asked Rainbow. “It’s Ghouls.” The athlete’s conclusion sent a shiver up Sunset’s spine.
“B-but wasn’t their base of operations burned down?” asked Fluttershy. “Um, Sunset, your grip is hurting a bit…”
Sunset released her hold with a prompt “Sorry!”
“I doubt losing said base would end the problem completely,” Rarity remarked, idly putting the fedora back on.
Applejack groaned, “Kill one an’ a bunch more spring up like shrooms in the rain. But Ah’ never expected them to resort to kidnappin’ or… Good god, whatever they did to Trixie!”
Sunset felt the base of her stomach lurch. That couldn’t have been it, could it? The Ghouls were reprehensible, certainly, what with the cage matches with their shock collars, the betting rings, illegal acquisitions, be it through blackmail or outright force, but had they ever stooped to kidnapping random people off the street? Let alone… Sweet Celestia, no. Hazy memories of her final bout in the infamous cage against Spring Steel surfaced. Gauge wanted her dealt with for overstepping her boundaries one too many times, and she could still remember what Spring Steel had threatened to do with her had he won…
“Hey, Sunset,” said Pinkie,” you okay? Why are you looking so suspiciously introspective?”
Sunset stared blankly at the party girl’s oddly specific choice of words, “… I’m fine. Just, you know, bit out of it. I mean I just saw Trixie yesterday, the duel… Everyone thinking I did something to her.”
“You did nothing wrong, you have us as an alibi,” Fluttershy reassured her.
“I know. Thank you,” said Sunset softly. But what about whatever it was I did that night…?
-
Turner was roused from his focus on his work by his psychedelic ringtone, one that for reasons that still eluded him, he’d just grown strangely attached to. “Hello?” he answered, clutching the device to his cheek with his shoulder whilst continuing to type.
“I went over your report,” came the voice of Luna from the other end. “I really appreciate giving me the bullet points, because this stuff might otherwise be Latin for me.”
“No problem at all, Lu,” said Turner. “It’s actually good that you called: I was just going over the recent surveillance data picked up by the rooftop allotted Mr. E. I did have to hack into the school’s security cameras though to provide a visual feed, so…”
Luna went silent for a moment, the only sounds perceivable being the faint creak of her office chair. Knowing her, she was likely pinching her nose or the like. “Alright, but just be wary if the FBI comes knocking on your door, I’m afraid my hands are tied there.” A witty remark. Possibly. Hopefully?
“I was quite discreet I assure you. Mostly… Anyhow, the Mr. E notified me of a duel in progress through the duel disk network, and lo and behold as I turn on the feed, it was your Sunset Shimmer and this other fiery lass.”
“That would be Spitfire, one of our top athletes. I witnessed some of the event myself out the window,” said Luna informingly. “So what did your devices pick up?”
“You remember the brief sensory spike I disclosed in my report? Well, there was another, similar moment this time around as well, and I feel I need not even mention at what moment during the duel it came about.”
“When she Pendulum Summoned?” asked Luna, without a hint of hesitation in her tone.
“Exactly,” said Turner, as he minimized the document writer to reveal himself the graphs of data from earlier, “, well, set the Pendulum Scale, but I digress. Though this time the surge seemed stronger. By a noticeably wider margin. It lasted only a few seconds, just like last time, but the wavelength was more than double the first.”
“What do you suppose the reason is?”
Turner took the moment to pick up his phone proper to rev his cramping shoulder, “The MRE meters are based entirely on a theoretical phenomenon that I can at best attest to using currently understood laws of physics. For all we know it’s just reacting to the duel disk enabling the Pendulum algorithms. Otherwise it could be for a multitude of reasons; surrounding temperatures, air humidity, maybe even just other electronics interfering…”
Luna went quiet on the other end for an uncomfortably long moment, to the point where he was almost inclined to call out to her, when the vice-principal abruptly spoke, “Speaking as one not as familiar to the field as you, I might have my own theory as to why these… wavelengths, was it? Were stronger than the first time. If you will have it.”
This elicited a friendly chuckle from Turner, doing a one-eighty on his chair and putting his weight against the backrest, “Let’s hear it then.”
“I will have to view the security feed on my own, but on the night of the mid-term duel, recall that there were five other people involved…”
-
It was late in the evening, and no matter what she tried to preoccupy herself with, Sunset could not get the events of the day out of her mind. Laying atop her futon, idly flicking through articles on her phone: She was most focused on one from about a month ago; the night the Ghoul hideout in the industrial hub, the very same she’d once frequented for personal gain, to which she could attest her living in quite the comfortable setup in her loft apartment, let alone as a teenager in this particular country. As much as the human world had so many elements and conveniences one could never even dream of in Equestria, she still wracked her mind over how inept the human race had been over such trivial issues such as gender, the economy, war… Though the wisdom of using paper money over Equestrian gold bits did come off as more practical in terms of-
Focus, Sunset! she goaded herself. She was meant to be troubled, not introspecting cross-dimensional economics.
Going over the article for maybe the eighth time that evening; how Caliber Primer, the Ghouls’ master of ceremonies and who originally got Sunset her place among the syndicate talking about demons and monsters killing everyone while “she” watched, and how Gauge Primer was in custody. If she… No, if that aberration that was hijacking her body killed everyone, would there be many Ghouls left to begin with? If Gauge and Caliber were still in custody, who would even be next in the chain of command, if there even was one to begin with? Had the loss of leadership led to survivors going rogue and doing their own things?
Was this what really happened to Trixie? That she just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time that just coincided with the exact same day she would duel Sunset? And it would be something so disgustingly abhorrent as… Sunset didn’t even want to imagine it. Even if it was Ghouls, would she be at fault? If anyone found out that she used to run with them, obstinate as it was, could she have a hope in hell to defend her case, especially before the students of CHS who so readily pounced on her with accusations?
Flicking off the Internet browser and bringing up her contact information: The thought of coming clean crossed her mind. But not just to anyone. There was only one whom she thought would listen to her wholeheartedly. She was certain Fluttershy would hear her out; of all the five, she was the most understanding, though perhaps Pinkie was on the same level. Sunset needed to get this off her chest at last…
She couldn’t bring herself to hit the call button. With a sigh, she slumped her head down against the pillow underneath her head. She reached out to her coffee table beside her and picked up her deck, holding it over her, with Odd-Eyes staring down at her from atop it.
Why are you helping me so much, when I tore you away from your original owner? she wondered, staring up at the transformed Pendulum card. Her thoughts swam back to that moment of a waking dream, when she saw the Tree of Harmony and Twilight (in all her nude splendor). Ignoring the flushing in her cheeks, how she’d continued to yearn for her and Priestess’ guidance right now.
Lowering the deck back onto the coffee table, laying on her side, Sunset found her eyelids growing heavy, before drifting into the blackness of sleep.
-
She found herself there again: An unending blackness, centralized by the resplendent majesty of the crystalline tree standing over her, its vast network of roots snaking all around, spreading the soothing glow of the mystical font further into the void. The six elements gleamed in their rightful placements around and in the center.
Sunset approached; her sensation of body blurred. Two or four legs, she couldn’t tell. In her silent wake, from the base of the tree a bud opened to bloom; a magnificent pair of wings encompassing a familiar female form, gazing down at her, her eyes belying a sense of wisdom as well as admiration (or at least how Sunset thought, or rather, wanted to think so).
“I… I needed to see you again,” uttered Sunset, eyes transfixed on the image of Twilight standing before her. “Twilight, something’s happening and I don’t know what to do about it. The day you came to me, Trixie’s gone missing, and everyone still thinks I’m the same monster you fought during the Fall Formal, I… I’m scared about what’s happening to me.”
Before she could press further, a familiar sound echoed in the blackness. It came from something clearly living; a fearsome call of a great beast. Twilight, seemed none perturbed by this, when she peered behind her. The groundless expanse trembled as heavy feet stomped somewhere beyond the tree. Soon a pair of eyes, one orange, one teal, were perceived, staring back from the blackness. Another call echoed around her, coming from the direction of the eyes.
“Your new friend believes you are on the right path, Sunset,” said Twilight, her calm, kindly composure never faltering, when the dichromatic eyes stepped forth, entering the illumination: A sharp, attenuating visage, framed by a wide pair of white horns extending from a matching crest over those very eyes.
“Odd-Eyes?”
“Your strength keeps growing,” said Twilight cryptically, raising one arm as if to indicate the Tree of Harmony. “Continue to make them your strength too, and all will become clear. It’s already begun.”
Looking back up at the tree, Sunset noticed something that wasn’t there before: From each of the branches, coiled around beneath each facet of the Elements of Harmony, winding down and along the crystalline trunk what looked to be similar, glistening vines, one embedded beneath the centermost Element of Magic. These vines worked their way down into the roots. Further down into the blackness formed three vein-like growths, each bearing a distinct bi-colored coil:
One was magenta and purple, one pink and red, one orange and blue. Each of them reached down into something: Great ovals buried(?) further down in the void. Within each oval Sunset could barely make out small shapes. If she focused hard enough, she could hear something over the magical chime of the tree: A two-part rhythm… A heartbeat?
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This fic made me try out an Endymion/Mythical beast deck on Yu-gi-oh Nexus, and it works really well for me. Not quite as well as Raid Raptors, but what does?
why is this story cancelled?
10029793 I concur, I just noticed, does anybody know what happened?
10029823
Because I'm not happy with it for multiple reasons and feel this whole thing was a waste of time.
10030564 Sorry about that
10030564
Have you ever thought of rewriting it?
10031601
No because that would entail having to rewrite huge swathes of Arc 1 due to my awful deck choices and I can't find a 2/2/2 balance with the Summoning methods for six of the girls.
You mean like THIS
ending is interesting. What fun does the main human 6?