Volume II - Chapter 15: Right There in Front of Me
Earlier…
The moon rose high in the sky as a hooded figure discreetly made her way on Canterlot High School campus. She quietly hid herself behind the marble horse statue in front of the school, and after a brief glance checking her surroundings to see if the path was clear, she walked towards the entrance.
As she climbed the steps, she reached her lock-picking kit in her jacket’s pocket and crouched down in front of the front door’s lock.
“Hopefully, it won’t be as tricky as…” She started as she pushed the door, then, she lets out a surprised gasp when she realized the door was already open. “It must be my lucky day.” She snorted.
She quickly entered the school’s entrance hall and closed the door behind her.
The school’s atmosphere at night completely differed than what she expected it to be. It was dark, quiet and somewhat a bit creepy.
She gulped as she lowered her hood, revealing her mint and white haircut.
“I should hurry,” She said with a shiver, “I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.” Lyra stated to herself as she swore to herself she saw a shadow moving in one of the hallways. “My therapist also said I should stop talking to myself.”
She walked next to the glass trophy case, and clutched her teeth at the view of every Sunsets Shimmer’s pictures. The first one on the left was when Sunset earned her first crown at the winter ball in freshman year when everyone thought she was just an exchange student from abroad. She looked nice, sincere and surprised that she had won, but Lyra knew it was just a mask Sunset wore at that time so she could easily stab you in the back later.
She moved on to the next picture. This one was more reflective of Sunset’s true personality, a fiery look in her eyes and a smirk on her face saying ‘I cheated to get there… And I would do it again!’
And finally, she moved on to the last one. That one showed the true nature of Sunset that Lyra learned to hate. It was the pinnacle of all the twisted blows, blackmail and threats Sunset has used to get there.
Lyra bit down her own cheek and managed to keep her calm as she continued her way. She still didn’t understand why everyone in this damned school already has forgiven her. Sunset Shimmer made their lives a living hell for the past two and a half years, and now all was sugar and rainbows? With just one song? One cheesy, bad written song?
Even Bonbon forgave her! Lyra would never understand why.
“But it’s not about Bonbon anymore, isn’t it?” She muttered to herself.
No, Bonbon made peace with the enemy. She was dead to her now. Every person in Sunset’s side deserved nothing but a visceral hatred.
She quietly made her way through the halls, stopping at each intersections to see if the path was clear. She was surprised no one was watching the school grounds at night, but she wasn’t complaining.
Slowly, she managed to reach the room she was searching for. She stopped in front of the door and looked at the sign with a frown.
“The music club…” She muttered. “My little paradise… Until she clawed her way in!” She crouched and started picking the lock. “It was the only thing I had left, and she had to take that from me too! Having the whole school in the palm of her hand wasn’t enough, no… That demon had to take everything I cared about!”
She remembered when she joined the club in freshman year. At first, it was only her, Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody. But quickly enough, Vinyl left saying she ‘was getting too bored’ and Octavia followed her best friend not long after that. She never forgave them obviously, Lyra hated now both of them but Vinyl Scratch was now well known on Youtube as DJ-Pon3, earning no less than two hundred and thirty thousand subscribers.
Octavia, has for her, quickly joined the Canterlot Orchestra as their youngest member. They even called her the ‘musical prodigy of the 21th century’ in an article of the Daily Bugle one day.
She understood why Vinyl said that, Octavia and her were geniuses in their respective field. Vinyl was not getting bored of the club per se, she was getting bored of Lyra for not being as good as them.
Both of them already succeeded in their respective career before finishing high school, when Lyra on the other hand, failed everything she ever tried to accomplish.
She knew she wasn’t a prodigy. She was trying really hard to improve, but it seems no one even tried to see it. Even her father.
She thought back about the day she told her parents she wanted to be a musician, she might have been around nine years old at the time. Her mother told her she could do anything she wanted to do if she tried hard enough, but her father wasn’t having none of it. He told that only a few musicians had enough money to make a living out of it and that it was a waste of time.
After pleading for months, her father reluctantly bought her a lyre for her tenth birthday, telling her she better exceed his expectations. But after seeing she wasn’t as good he wanted to, he quickly told her that was a mistake and that she should persevere in her studies to be a doctor, like her cousin.
But even if she wasn’t as good or talented as the other kids from her age like those stupid Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody, she knew deep inside her that it was what she wanted to do.
Since then, her father gave her nothing but looks of disappointment.
It all went worse when her mother died of cancer, a year ago. He became more violent and mean. He started drinking a lot too, and Lyra suspected he also tried a few drugs.
She could understand that he missed her mom, she missed her too.
And the cherry on top was when he found out she was gay. It was the first time her father punched her, but unfortunately it wasn’t the last.
He became more physically violent with her, more aggressive. Every time she did something he judged was wrong, he would punch her in the stomach.
She lived in hell for the past year of her life, shivering from fear every time she had to come back home from school.
Lyra wasn’t a pushover, but there was nothing she could do against her father.
She learned to deeply hate him, wishing for his death some nights after a rough beat up he gave her.
No one knew about this, not even her therapist or Bonbon. She didn’t want for people to have pity on her, pity was for the weak.
Lyra wasn’t weak, she was strong.
‘And I’m going to prove it one day.’ She thought to herself, ‘But first, I have to deal with you, Shimmer!’
She hated both her father and Sunset equally, her dad made her life a living hell at home and Sunset made her life a living hell at school.
There was only one place she could hide from both of them. The music club, the only thing she ever managed to accomplish. Of course, it was just a question of time before Sunset or her father would manage to destroy that too. And of course, it happened. Because nothing ever goes in Lyra’s way.
With a loud ‘click’, the door opened and Lyra snickered, pushing all those thoughts away.
“Easy peasy.”
She gently pushed the door open and made her way inside the room. She turned on the light and frowned at the display of every member’s instruments. There was Flash’s stupid guitar, she never disliked the guy at first, but now that he was on Sunset’s team, she despised him. He should hate Sunset Shimmer more than anyone in school! Yet, he too, forgave her.
Then, there was Thunderlane’s drums. At least, Thunderlane was the only one who cared about Lyra here, asking her on many occasions when she was coming back. And every time, she responded ‘Never.’
Her gaze stopped in front of Red’s brown bass. She walked towards it and kicked it to the ground and spat on it. Of course her father and Sunset were the people she hated the most, but Red was close second after them. He had shown nothing but antipathy towards her since he joined the school.
Of course, he wasn’t there when Sunset brainwashed all the students at the Fall Formal, but she was pretty sure he at least heard of it! Why was he on Sunset’s side? One of the many questions left unanswered in Lyra’s mind. She also felt sick at all that romantic shenanigans between him and Rainbow Dash. She always thought Rainbow was gay though.
At least, Red didn’t seem to come to school anymore. Lyra hoped he was very sick.
She took slow deep breaths, retrieving her calm as she started to get worked up. A technique her therapist taught her, allowing her to calm her nerves. She had a lot of tension problems lately, thanks to that red and gold haired wench.
Now that she thought about it, she wasn’t seeing Rainbow Dash’s instrument anywhere. Lyra guessed she must’ve taken it back home.
Finally, her gaze reached Sunset’s guitar. She opened her backpack and grabbed her spray-paint can.
“Sweet, sweet revenge…” She mumbled as she shakes it up and down. She started to spray pink paint all over it with a wide mischievous grin on her face. She knew Sunset loved her guitar. And she also knew Sunset hated pink, thanks to the tantrum she threw at the ball last year when she saw that all the tapestry was pink as a gum.
Was she petty? Yes. Did she care? Not in the slightest.
She had thought long and hard at how she could get back at Sunset Shimmer and a part of her was disappointed that it was the only thing she could think about.
“At least, she’ll be too embarrassed to play with that!” She said to herself, grinning at the sight of the guitar slowly getting pink. “Hopefully, she’ll get disgusted enough to quit! And the club will be all mine once again!”
With those happy thoughts in mind, Lyra continued her mischief humming the song Sunset sang at the winter ball.
Now…
“Sunset, this is a bad idea!” Twilight called through Sunset’s ear device, “It’s the most obvious trap I’ve ever seen!”
“I know!” Sunset called back, swinging through the city as fast as she could, “But if I don’t do anything, Luna might get hurt! Or worse!” She swings left to take a turn and she arrived in the suburbs of the city, “She’s the only family I have left, and I’ll be damned if I don’t do everything I can to save her!”
“You can’t save her if you DIE!” Twilight screamed.
“I won’t die!” Sunset screamed back, “I can’t…” She finished in a hushed tone. She wasn’t especially panicked, but she was mad. Very mad. Sunset couldn’t even remember if she ever got pissed like that before. “I’m gonna rip his freaking head off!”
“It’s the suit talking Sunset! Please at least take it off before-”
Sunset had enough and turned off her hear device. She made a mental note to apologize to Twilight later, but she had no more time to waste.
She finally arrives in front of her house and saw the front door wide open. Of course she knew it was a trap, but she didn’t care. Celestia already died because of her and if Luna died too…
“No.” Sunset said to herself as she slowly entered her house.
The inside was dark and quiet.
“So… You really came, Sunset Shimmer.” She heard Taskmaster’s voice echoing through the house. She checked around her but couldn’t tell from which direction the voice came. “But I notice you haven’t brought the stray cat as I asked you to.”
Sunset didn’t respond. She angrily marched through the house and arrived in the living room. No sign of Luna, nor Taskmaster.
“Of course, I knew you wouldn’t. You’re too… pure of heart to ever sell out one of your friends. An admirable talent of yours.” Sunset noticed speakers in each corner of the room, that is why she was hearing though the whole house. “See, when I first heard about you… I couldn’t believe it.” Taskmaster continued their monologue, “A teenage girl got rid of the well-known Vulture and is now targeted by the two most powerful man in this city. How intriguing…”
“Yeah yeah, you fell in love with me, great talk, but I’m already taken you creep.” Spider-girl walked towards the staircase. “Luna better be there…” She muttered.
“Oh, she is.” Taskmaster replied. “I was… Surprised that the only family you had left was none other than the infamous Nightmare Moon herself.”
As she finished climbing the stairs, she felt a drop of cold sweat in her back. “W-What did you just said?”
“A lot of people have forgotten about her and her little crew… But I didn’t. I have an excellent memory.” He replied, Sunset could hear what looked like resentment in his voice.
“Great, so you won’t forget the beating you’re about to take.” She heard Taskmaster laugh through the speakers, she didn’t know he was able to.
She arrived in front of Luna’s bedroom, she prepared herself for whatever was about to come and she gently pushed the door open. Oddly enough, her spider-sense stayed quiet, and she narrowed her eyes to adapt her vision in the dark room.
Her heart skipped a beat when she saw an unconscious Luna, laying on her bed.
The young hero was next to her before she could even think about it, and quickly checked if she was okay.
Luna didn’t seem to be hurt in any way, her chest rising up and down, proving she was still breathing. Sunset lets out a sigh she didn’t know she was holding.
She had to take her to safety. She didn’t know where Taskmaster was, but for now, Luna’s well-being was her top priority. She always could kick his ass later.
As she gently took Luna’s unconscious body in her arms, she heard a small ‘click’ as she saw a string attached to Luna’s wrist, activating some sort of mechanism.
Her spider-sense went crazy as ever before. And in a matter of seconds, Luna in her arms, she ran at the nearest window and jumped through it, feeling glass shards making their way into her arms as she protected her surrogate family member.
The moment she jumped outside, a massive explosion detonated behind, burning her back and sending her fly away in the front lawn.
With a scream of pain and her black suit shrieking in agony, she managed to land on her back, protecting Luna, who even with the sound of the explosion that Sunset was sure all the neighborhood saw and heard, was still unconscious.
But was now only a matter of minutes before the police arrives.
Sunset’s eyes grew wide in horror behind her black mask, at the sight of what used to be her home. All it remained was a few walls still standing up under the heat of the fire that the explosion triggered.
“No…” Sunset said in a whisper, flabbergasted at that horrifying sight.
Before she could even come back to her senses, she felt something kicking her in the back sending her a few feet away, dropping Luna in the process.
Luna ungracefully fell on the grass, without making any sound.
“You’re even willing to sacrifice your own body for those you love,” She heard Taskmaster said as she managed to get up, ignoring the pain. “The more time passes, the more I learn about your character, the more I appreciate you, Sunset Shimmer.”
Sunset’s symbiotic suit managed to repair itself in her back, soothing her pain. She looked at him with hate in her eyes, not that Taskmaster could see it under her mask, but she was sure he could sense it.
Her attention was quickly drawn to Luna’s unconscious body on the ground.
Taskmaster noticed it and drew his sword out of his back as he marched towards Luna, pointing it to her neck.
“LEAVE HER ALONE!” Sunset screamed out of her lungs, charging at him.
She tried to punch him with a left hook, but Taskmaster quickly dodged it as it was the easiest thing in the world. He dodged a spin back kick coming from Sunset and quickly drew his shield, parrying the upcoming blow.
He pushed her away with his shield, and tried to slice her with his sword but Spider-girl dodged it at the last second.
“Very good.” He calmly stated with his robotic voice.
‘I won’t be able to lay a good hit in a hand to hand fistfight with him,’ Sunset thought to herself, ‘I’ll have to be tricky!’
Sunset dodged another attack from Taskmaster with a moonsault, and now at a respectable distance she shot a web aiming for his face. Taskmaster saw it coming from a mile away, and protected himself with his shield.
What he didn’t knew was that Sunset hoped for him to do that. She draws on her web with all her might, Taskmaster not moving an inch.
She then propelled herself forward, dropkicking him right in his shield, which landed right on his face. Taskmaster made un grunt, taking a step back.
Taking advantage of the situation Sunset used the momentum her dropkick gave her to launch herself above him, this time when she drew on her web, the shield came with it. With a front flip in the air, she smashed Taskmaster’s shield in his direction, aiming for the top of his head.
Unfortunately for her, Taskmaster sidestepped the attack and when the shield hit the ground, he grabbed Sunset’s web drawing her in his direction, before head-butting her to oblivion.
Sunset fell backward, but with a backflip, managed to land her feet.
As soon as Spider-girl landed, Taskmaster stomped the tip of his shield, propelling it in the air, and spin kicked it, launching it in Sunset’s direction. She dodged it, but Taskmaster’s speed took her off-guard as he already closed the distance between them and stroke her with his sword, aiming for her chest.
She managed to dodge most of it, but the sword still cut through her arm, making Sunset grunt in pain.
Taskmaster wasn’t going to let her take a break, as he immediately followed up with a high kick aiming for Sunset’s face.
Spider-girl shot webs from both her wrists around the mercenary and propelled herself under him, sliding on the grass, before using her right hand to launch herself from the ground jumping in the air and kick him in the back of his skull.
He quickly turned around and tried to slice her up, but with an amazing agility, Sunset dodged it and landed right on top of Taskmaster’s sword.
“Eh.” She simply stated.
If she was getting on his nerves, Taskmaster shown nothing of it as he simply launched her forward like she weighed nothing.
She landed a few feet away, taking back a fighting stance as she waited for his next move. She quickly spared a glance toward Luna next to her. She seemed unharmed.
Taskmaster slowly retrieved his shield and took back a fighting stance as well.
“I must admit, I underestimated you.” He stated, “It seems your answer to stronger opponents, is to become stronger yourself.” He chuckled, “How entertaining.”
Sunset was breathing heavily. She couldn’t see what was entertaining in all of that. Her back was hurting like hell, and she almost couldn’t feel her arm anymore thanks to the blood she lost.
It seemed the explosion from before weakened her symbiotic suit’s healing abilities.
“Tired already?” Taskmaster taunted.
Is she doesn’t end this quickly, she was going to lose. She greeted her teeth at that thought. It was unacceptable.
Then something strange happened.
‘Wait… Why am I holding my punches?’ Sunset thought, ‘Do I really want to kill him?’
‘Yes.’ A voice replied.
‘But, I get that he’s dangerous, but if I kill him… I won’t be a hero, just a murderer. I won’t be better than him.’ She thought, shaking her head.
‘He tried to hurt Rarity.’ The voice stated, getting louder in her head.
‘Y-Yes but… I saved her didn’t I?’
‘He hurt Luna.’
Sunset glanced back at Luna. It seemed Luna was slowly getting awake, as she started to move her legs. Taskmaster saw it too, and slowly made his way towards her.
Sunset tried to stop him but fell to one knee, feeling dizzy. She had lost more blood than she thought.
‘You’re exhausted, let us do the work.’ The voice in her head said.
She felt her symbiotic suit slowly overpowering her body.
‘W-What are you doing?! Stop th-’ She tried to fight back, but her body as her mind were too tired after that long night she went through.
‘Don’t fight it.’ The voice finally said as Sunset slowly felt her mind drifting away. ‘Go to sleep. We will save Luna.’
‘Y-Yes…’ Sunset’s eyes finally closed, losing whatever hold she still had on her thoughts. A good nap seemed nice after all, the symbiote could take care of it. Like they always do.
On the other side of the lawn, Taskmaster stood still above Luna who was slowly opening their eyes.
Luna wasn’t panicking, she was too tired for that. She glanced at the sight of her house, burning to ashes. Then she glanced at Spider-girl who was on her knees, not making any sound.
She then turned her look back to Taskmaster standing above her, pointing her with his sword.
“Am I going to die?” Luna calmly asked.
“Yes.” Taskmaster calmly replied.
Luna felt a single tear dropping from her left eyes, a part of her wanted for all of this to stop. The struggle to keep living her life without her sister was just too hard to deal with. She wanted to be with her sister again.
But she knew she couldn’t, because then, who was going to take care of Sunset?
She was doubtful the day Celestia told her she was taking Sunset in. It was only a few days after the fall formal, less than a year ago. But when Celestia told her Sunset was living in the streets for the past years, Luna knew Celestia’s mind was set.
She had her reservations at first, but she quickly found out that, when Sunset wasn’t putting her mean face and when she was slowing down on her snarky comments, Sunset was a lovely, caring girl.
It wasn’t even a year ago, and Luna felt like Sunset lived with them for ages. That is how quick she accepted her as a part of her family.
“Why?” Was all Luna managed to ask.
“Because I hate you.” Taskmaster stated.
Before Luna could ever ask why, Taskmaster slowly grabbed the bottom of his mask and lifted it up, showing his face to Luna.
Luna’s eyes grew wide in stupor. Taskmaster quickly put his mask back in place and drew his sword near Luna’s neck.
“That’s… not possible.” Luna muttered.
“Quite.” Taskmaster calmly replied. “But here we are.”
“What have they done to you?” Was all Luna thought to say.
“They improved me.” He said, raising his sword higher. “Perhaps a bit too much.” He finally stated, bring his sword back at Luna’s neck at high speed.
Luna closed her eyes. It will soon be over.
“I’m sorry Sunset.” Luna said as her last words.
At the moment Taskmaster sword’s was going to make contact with Luna’s neck, a beastly growl drew Taskmaster’s attentions to his right. It was already too late however, as a black monster charge at him and pinned him to the ground.
Taskmaster stayed calm at the sight of a black monster with a wide grin and sharp teeth looking down on him.
When the monster left his arms up to strike, Taskmaster saw the opening and kicked back the monster of him. It didn’t hurt the monster, but at least Taskmaster was now able to get back to his feet.
He took a closer look at the monster standing in front of him. It was a bit taller than him, a slim but muscular body, long black arms with claws replacing the usual hands, two big and fierce white eyes and a Cheshire grin on its face. The monstrosity’s long tongue pending from its mouth.
Then, Taskmaster noticed the white spider covering most of its torso and quickly understood what was happening.
“How curious.” He stated, “You keep getting more interesting as time goes by.”
The monster ignored the remark and growled loudly at him. Taskmaster was surprised the sound of that growl made him wince.
The monster charged forward with a surprising speed for its size and Taskmaster dodged the upcoming blow, but quickly, a black tentacle came in his way, send him flying right into what remained of Luna’s car, which had exploded with the house.
Taskmaster quickly got back to his senses only to see the monster landed in front of him and grabbed him by the skull.
With a growl, the monster launched Taskmaster in the air and shot a black tentacle at his ankle. The monster then smashed him on the ground and drew it back at him, grabbing him by the throat.
Taskmaster tried to get free from the monster’s grip, but in vain, but the monster was just too strong. His heart started to race in his chest for the first time in years.
For once, he wasn’t the hunter… He was the prey.
“I miscalculated.” He simply stated as the monster smashed him on the ground several times.
Luna stared at it in shock as she started to hear police sirens coming in their direction.
She could swear to god that the monster was Spider-girl. But Spider-girl wasn’t hurting bad people because she liked it, she did to protect the weak.
Luna’s eyes grew wide in terror when every time the black monster smashed Taskmaster on the ground, his smile grew larger and larger.
Luna crawled her way in their direction. To do what? She had no idea, but she had to stop this before Spider-girl does something she might regret.
But she already saw that kind of rage before.
And she saw what it might do to people, she experienced it herself.
Perhaps Spider-girl and herself were not that different after all?
Spider-girl already saved her life before, maybe now is the time that Luna saves hers.
The monster smashed Taskmaster one last time before being bored of it. With its black claws, it gripped Taskmaster’s mask and ripped it from his face.
Revealing a middle aged woman, with mid length blue hair and numerous scars on her face, she was still conscious and her expression was unreadable, like she was ready to die, almost like she didn’t care at all.
Even if she tried, Taskmaster couldn’t do anything now that most of the bones inside her body were broken.
The monster opened his jaw revealing his big white teeth and prepared to swallow Taskmaster’s head whole. Just when its jaw was going to snap around Taskmaster’s neck, the monster felt something, or someone wrap his arms around it. It wasn’t to stop him with strength, it was a caring and gentle touch which made the monster froze.
“It’s okay.” Luna gently stated, her arms around the monster’s waist, her face resting in its back. “Everything is going to be okay.” Luna said the words she wanted her sister would’ve said to her when she was younger. Maybe things would’ve worked differently for her? “Come back to your senses Spider-girl. This city needs you… We all need you.”
It calmed the monster straight away.
“L-Luna.” The monster stated with a mixture of Spider-girl’s voice, and a dark, deep one.
“I’m here.” Luna said, leaning further on the monster back. “I won’t go anywhere.” She wasn’t surprised Spider-girl knew who she was, she already suspected that the young hero was one of CHS students.
Police cars parked around the house and several policemen got out of their car carefully, taking cover behind the doors. They all watched the monster with scared looks.
Shining Armor got out of his own car, a speaker in his hands. He marched forward confidently, if he was fearing the monster, he wasn’t going to show it to his fellow policemen. “CCPD don’t move!” He called, stopping in front of his own car.
The monster pushed back Luna who fall on the ground, and growled at the policemen who were all pointing it with their guns.
“Put your black claws in the air where I can see them! You’re surrounded!” Shining Armor said with authority.
The monster didn’t comply and growled loudly right at them.
Luna wanted to do something, but her legs weren’t moving anymore. She tried to call Spider-girl in front of her, but she didn’t have the strength to do so. The only thing she could do was watch with fear what was about to happen next.
She also realized the monster put itself right between the police and her. Perhaps, deep inside, Spider-girl still had control over her body.
“I’ll repeat one last time, put your claws in the air, or we will shoot you!” Shining Armor said in a final warning.
When the monster only replied with a defying growl, Shining Armor put his arm in the air, “On my signal!”
All the police force around him made signs of acknowledgement and put the monster in their line of sight.
“Ready…” Shining started, the monster wasn’t going to wait and prepared itself to charge at them. “Fi-”
The monster who wasn’t going to let them shot at it already charged in their direction and threw a black tentacle to one of the nearest police cars. Shining realized what was going to happen and called, “Take cover!”
The symbiote launched it in the air and smashed it against another car, which exploded both of them, distracting the CCPD policemen.
Then the monster turned around, grabbed Luna and launched her away in a safe spot, making her land carefully on a symbiotic web.
“FIRE!” Shining didn’t waste any more time, the last thing he wanted was that some of his subordinates to be hurt under his direct command. It already happened once, and he never forgave himself.
“Wait!” A voice pleaded.
A purple haired girl appeared from the adjacent street, running like her life depended on it, sweat all over her face.
Shining recognize that voice and the girl running in front of them, spreading her arms between them and the monster.
“Twilight?” Shining asked himself, a mixture of anger and fear ran though his mind. “What are you doing here?!” Shining’s voice cracked, “It’s dangerous!”
“Shining listen to me!” Twilight screamed. She was breathing heavily since she wasn’t used to run such long distances, but she had to do something before anyone could get seriously hurt.
She was standing right between the monster which was standing still, looking right at her like she was the only thing left in the world, and the police forces ready to shoot at the monster if he made any move.
“This is not a monster! It’s my friend!” Twilight admitted, she didn’t know what else she could do. She wasn’t really hopping for Shining to understand her point of view, she actually wanted to buy Sunset some time to get out of here.
“What are you talking about?!” Shining asked, his eyes moving from Twilight to the monster. Now that she was mentioning it, the monster stopped from attacking the moment he saw Twilight.
“It’s my fault, I was working on an experiment and… It got out of my hand!” Twilight said, on the edges of tears.
Shining Armor wasn’t understanding the words her sister spat out, he was to distracted about the black monster only a few feet away from his sister.
He gulped hardly, “T-Twilight, come here.” He calmly said, “It’s too danger-”
“I’m not a child anymore Shining!” Twilight stomped her foot on the ground. “What is happening right now is my fault! So please, don’t hurt her! We have to help her!”
He knew her sister very well, in fact, he might be the only person in the world to fully understand her. He knew what she was saying was the truth but he still had a hard time processing it.
He looked back at the monster who wasn’t moving an inch.
Twilight turned around to face the monster and slowly started to walk towards it. Shining was about to yell at her, but he didn’t want to startle the monster.
The scientist girl slowly put her left hand on the monster’s face and calmly said in a hushed tone, “Sunset, it’s me Twilight.”
The monster just looked at her with its big, empty white eyes.
“I know you’re inside.” She tried a smile, caressing the monster’s cheek, “I know you wouldn’t hurt me… Sunset, please come back. Without you I…” She looked away, but sighed and looked back at the symbiote with a determined glare, “You saved me Sunset. More than you could ever imagine. Since I met you, my life’s been crazy… But the good kind of crazy. Sometimes it was dangerous, scary and even frustrating… But I enjoyed every part of it… Because you were right there in front of me.”
‘Twilight?’ Sunset gently opened her eyes, to see nothing but darkness surrounding her. Was she still asleep? She could swear she heard Twilight’s voice right now.
Then, Twilight turned around when she saw a loud noise coming from the sky. She looked up and saw two CCPDs helicopters above them, each had two snipers pointing at the monster.
“The monster’s in sight, waiting for command.” One of the snipers called in his talkie-walkie.
“Twilight get back!” Shining called, retrieving his composure. “You come back here this instant young missy, or you’ll be in a lot of trouble!”
When he said that, she heard the monster growl of anger and grabbed her by her wrist. Twilight lets out a scream of surprise and the police force prepared themselves to shoot.
One of the snipers was directly aiming for the monster’s head. “I can take him.”
“Wait! Don’t shoot!” Shining called at them.
“But sir-” A policeman next to Shining started.
“SHE’S MY SISTER! I SAID DON’T SHOOT!” Shining Armor yelled at them.
They all listened with doubtful looks but they all understood the fear in Shining Armor’s eyes.
The monster put Twilight on its shoulder and jumped away, on the next house’s roof. It shot two black tentacles from his wrist right at the helicopters blades.
Fortunately, since they weren’t that high, the helicopter just fell on the ground loudly but without any complication, it seemed nobody was seriously hurt.
“Twilight!” Shining panicked.
Twilight was surprised the grasp of the monster wasn’t hurting her, which gave Twilight an idea.
“I’ll be okay!” Twilight called back, disappearing in the starry sky of the night on the monster’s shoulders.
“TWILIGHT!” Shining called one last time.
The black symbiotic monster jumped from roof to roof with incredible speed, making them arrive in the next neighborhood in a matter of a few minutes.
When it landed in a park, Twilight thought it was now or never and lets out from her white blouse’s pocket a small device.
‘I really hope it’ll work.’ Twilight thought.
She sticks it on the monster’s back and pushed a button on her watch, at that moment, the device lets out a series of high frequencies sounds Twilight knew the symbiote hated.
The monster dropped on his knees, letting Twilight fall on the ground in the process, and grabbed its head with his black claws with a deafening scream.
“I-I’m sorry Sunset…” Twilight said, a tear flowing down her face at the sight of her best friend agonizing. ‘It will soon be over!’
She pushed the button one last time making the sounds louder, the monster screamed harder than ever before.
Then, the monster shot a black tentacle at Twilight and drew her close. Twilight lets out a “Meep!” of surprise and shivered from fear when the monster held her right in front of its face.
She honestly thought she was going to die at that moment, but the monster only grabbed the watch on Twilight’s wrist and snatched it.
It destroyed it in its hand and the sounds stopped. He dropped Twilight from his grasp and then turned around before jumping away.
“Sunset!” Twilight called after her but it was already too late.
Twilight watched as her friend disappeared in the night, before she once again heard police sirens coming in her direction.
“Where are you going Sunset?” She asked herself.
She looked behind her when she heard a car parking, and saw it was her brother that had followed them.
‘Well, I can at least mislead them, I’ll just have to trust Sunset.’ She sighed, ‘Please Sunset, be okay.’
Sunset Shimmer looked around her but all she could see was nothing but emptiness. A dark void surrounding her, she was walking on an invisible ground which made her look like she was walking in the air.
“Hello?” She tried, but her call was left unanswered.
Now that she thought about it, she could swear she already saw that place before. Maybe in her dreams.
Sunset blew a raspberry before crossing her arms. “Well, that’s great.” She grunted with a frown. “How am I supposed to get out of here anyway?”
As soon as she said that, she noticed a very small ball of light far away on her right. She raised an eyebrow when she almost felt like the light was calling her.
“Uh.” Was all she thought to say at that sight.
Feeling like there wasn’t anything else to do, she walked in that direction. The more she approached the light, the more it became easier to see it.
“Sunset.”
She heard a voice calling her. Sunset quickly turned around taking a fighting stance, but she couldn’t see anybody.
“Who’s there?” Sunset called.
“You should know by now, Sunset.”
Sunset frowned, of course she knew. “The Symbiote.”
“We HATE that name! Or that name Twilight gave us!” The voice barked, “We… We are V-”
“I don’t care who, or what you are!” Sunset snapped back, “Right now, you’re just standing in my way!”
The voice chuckled, then Sunset could see an enormous shadow rising in front of her. She dark shadow slowly took form as a gigantic Symbiotic monster, a large grin on its face, his eyes locked into Sunset’s.
“Uh-oh.” Sunset stated as the small bits of courage she had left were now long gone.
“You… Are not going… ANYWHERE!” The monster barked, smashing one of his palm on where Sunset stood a second before but she managed to dodge it.
Her spider-sense wasn’t working, and it was scaring her.
Sunset looked behind her and saw that the light which appeared earlier was now gone. She sighed and looked back at the monster. Unfortunately for her, she was in her casual clothes, which meant she didn’t have her web-shooters.
‘Even if I had them, I won’t be able to swing around in here.’ She thought while looking around her.
The monster tried to smash her once again and Sunset dodge it while jumping back.
“Well there’s only one solution,” She stated with a confident smirk on her face. “Skedaddle!”
She turned around and started to sprint away from the monster who lets out a frustrated growl.
“COME BACK HERE!” It called.
“I’m okay! Thanks though!” Sunset said back.
The monster threw black tentacles in her direction and even if she managed to dodge a few of them, one grabbed her by her ankles and made her fall forward on her face. Her world felt dizzy once again as she felt getting dragged on the ground.
When the monster lifted her up by her ankle, Sunset realized it was now to a more ‘reasonable’ size, measuring at least six or seven feet tall.
“Poor Sunset Shimmer.” The monster stated, “The lonely, misunderstood girl.”
“Fuck you.” Sunset simply stated which made the monster chuckle.
“You abandoned your first mentor to only make the second one killed.” The monster stated, making Sunset bit her lips. “You made the despicable Rainbow Dash mad at you for what?” Sunset never wanted for that to happen, she had made a mistake about Red, she knew it now! But it was too late. “You send Conhorse to prison without even trying to help him for what?” Sunset wasn’t an accomplished scientist like Twilight! What could she even do? “You said you wanted to make friends, you said you wanted to help people! But you know what happened? You became more and more alone as time goes by and it is all your fault.” It licked his lips, “But that is why we’re here Sunset Shimmer, with us, you can do anything you want! We make you stronger, faster and smarter!”
The black tentacle around her ankle slowly began to cover all of her body. She tried to get free, but she was just making herself more tired than she already was.
“With us… You won’t be alone anymore.” Was the last thing she heard before the symbiote started to cover her face as well.
“But she’s not alone isn’t it?” A calm voice called from next to them.
The symbiote quickly dropped Sunset on the ground and as soon as it turned around, a ray of light shot right through its chest send him flying away.
Sunset turned her head toward whoever helped her and her mouth was wide agape.
In front of her stood Celestia. But not the one who took her in a few months ago, but the ruler of Equestria herself.
Standing tall on four hooves, a gentle smile on her face. “Hello my faithful Student.”
“Ce-Ce-Ce…” Sunset stuttered, her eyes tearing up. “What-Why-How??”
“Well, you tell me Sunset.” Celestia stated, “We’re in your head after all.”
They both heard the monster getting back to its feet and charging at them.
“P-Princess Celestia!” Sunset called.
“I know Sunset, stand behind me.”
Sunset did what she was told and when the monster tried to attack them, Celestia threw a light shield around them.
“I don’t think I can hold him for long.” Celestia said, wincing each time the symbiote smashed on the shield.
“What are we going to do?!” Sunset asked.
“Only you have the answer Sunset.” Celestia said calmly, even under the constant attacks from the symbiote.
Sunset didn’t know, the symbiote actually scared her. It overpowered her every time and her spider-sense wasn’t working against it. She punched the ground at how pathetic she was.
Here she thought she was a super-hero, the great protector of her city.
“Sunset!” Celestia called when she saw the teenager on her knees, defeated.
“I-I can’t Celestia! Every time I try to help people, I only make things worse!” Sunset started to cry. “I didn’t protect anyone!”
“In that case, who protected you?!” Celestia shot back, her eyes shut with concentration to maintain the barrier.
Then, an attack from the symbiote made the shield crack in pieces. Celestia fell on her knees, exhausted, and Sunset watched in slow motion at the black claw slicing in the direction of her mentor’s head.
‘Who… Protected me?’ She thought.
Tears fell on Sunset’s face as realization hit her. She stood on her feet and stomped the ground, a wave of light appeared and threw the monster away from her mentor.
The monster landed on its feet but held its chest, like the light actually hurt him.
“I never protected anyone.” Sunset quietly said. A light appeared behind her, then another and another. Each lights started to take form, slowly taking the ethereal appearance of each of Sunset’s friends.
Soon, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Felicia, Flash, Red, Thunderlane, Spitfire, Luna and the rest of Sunset’s friends appeared behind her. They were all giving her wide smiles and kindness in their eyes. They were all here for her.
The symbiote looked at Sunset for the first time with fear in its eyes. Each of Sunset friends put their hands on Sunset’s back, pushing her forward. Their light disappeared, covering Sunset’s whole body as she jumped in the symbiote direction’s. The light around her finally disappeared as her fist was only an inch away of the monster’s face, revealing Sunset in her Spider-girl attire.
“It is I, who has always been protected!” She screamed as she landed the most powerful punch she could, and for the first time, she wasn’t holding her strength.
Then the symbiote monster exploded in a mass of black goo with a cry of pain. Then world around her started shaking, the walls and the ground breaking like glass. The darkness surrounding her was getting replaced by a warm light.
“Did… Did I do it?” Sunset asked herself.
She felt a soft hand on her shoulder and turned to face the humanized version of Celestia.
“I’m proud of you Sunset.”
The smile on Celestia’s face was the last thing she saw before she started to slowly awaken.
…
…
Sunset shot her eyes wide open and fell on the ground as her symbiotic suit tried to take back control over Spider-girl’s body.
Sunset looked up and saw that she managed to arrive at Canterlot High School.
‘For how long have I been out?’ She asked herself.
She crawled on the ground with cries of pain, it felt like she was fighting with another person over the control of her own movements.
She looked up again at the roof of the school when an idea came in her mind, ‘At this point, any idea seems like a good one.’
She shot two black symbiotic webs at the top and launched herself at the tower above the main building of the school.
She hardly landed through the window, her head colliding with the golden bell of the school. She quickly fell back on the ground, her body convulsing as the symbiote agonized from the deafening sound the bell made.
With all her might, Sunset managed to get up and punched the bell once again, making the symbiote screeching in pain. She felt that if she continued like that, there was a chance she could kill it.
Sunset also felt like she could faint any moment now, but she wasn’t going to give up that easily.
Then, one last time, she head-butted with all the strength she had left right on the bell, making it ring louder.
Sunset could feel it, the symbiote was trying to get out of her. She grabbed the parts of it on her chest and ripped it away. She did the same for her arms, for her legs, and finally, her face.
The small pieces of the symbiote around managed to get back together, forming a seven-foot-tall mass of black goo with two big white eyes. Sunset throw it a fierce look, daring it to make the first move.
“Come on!” She defied.
With a loud growl, the symbiote tried one last time to jump at her, but Sunset dodged it, making it landing right on the bell.
The bell rang louder once again as the symbiote agonized.
Sunset, breathing heavily, fell on her butt and watched it as it cried in pain.
Then, the symbiote made the smartest decision it could. It started to flee.
Sunset wasn’t going to let it get away and tried to go after it, but her legs gave out. “Uh?” She asked herself as she fell on the ground, unconscious.
The symbiote slowly made its way downstairs, getting away from the golden bell and Sunset Shimmer.
“-the hell is going on?!” Lyra asked herself, panicking after she started to hear the school bell ring another time.
She just finished what she had to do here and was going to get back home before her father could realize she was gone.
It been ringing for the past minute and Lyra really hopped she wasn’t going to get spotted here at night. She ran through the corridors and finally made her way to the main hall. She slowed her pace and took her breath.
“Enough panicking for one night, let’s go home.” She said to herself as she grabbed the door handle.
But then, a black tentacle grabbed her by the right wrist and drew her in the air. Lyra screamed from fear as a black tentacle grabbed her by her left leg. Her heart beating loudly, she cried and screamed in despair at the sight in front of her.
A mass of black goo launched itself at her and covered her body as Lyra was crying for her life.
Then, as the symbiote merged with her, her hands became claws, her crying eyes became fierce and white, her mouth transformed itself with a wide grin and sharp teeth.
As Lyra stood tall in the main entrance. She punched the ground, making the wall around the main entrance shaking. She lifted her head up, and saw her own reflection in the trophy case she walked past a few hours ago.
As her eyes grew wide in terror, she grabbed both side of her head, looked at the sky…
And laughed.
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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Cries in villain Venom starting to get his grips on my son again
I THOUGHT WE WERE FREE OF YOU! WE WERE FINALLY GETTING PROGRESS FOR FOLKS!
Jokes aside solid chapter and certainly a different way to handle Spidey separating from Venom
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thanks!
glad you liked it
Music to give effect (from minute 0:50):
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Venom is HERE!
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I felt the same. I felt that he is a unnecassary or just not needed character. I just feel nothing for him. I guess best describing is, he is just uninteresting for me.
And the image in Ch10 V1 is still missing. Idk if its just me.
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Also, Shouldn’t it be Goo or Ooze instead of goose unless the symbiote did take on the form of a goose?
All and all, at last, Sunset has separated herself from the black suit! But it would seem that the symbiote has found a new host body to wield….