Chapter 63 - "Screams Echo Around You..."
-EQUUS, TWILIGHT’S CASTLE-
Sunset Shimmer was absolutely shocked by the poor condition of her friend’s beloved castle as she continues to make her way towards the throne room.
“How could Twilight allow this?. This place is an absolute wreck, she’s always on top of stuff like this... Or is it Spike who handles the cleaning?. For Celestia’s sake, even her books in the library were thrown all over the place. She’d lose it just from that alone. Now, I believe the throne room is riiiiight... Here!”, Having found her destination, the orange unicorn lifts her right forehoof and starts to press against the door. It only occurred to her seconds after that... She could’ve just used her magic to get the door open.
“Oh!, right... Unicorn horn. I’ve been in that world for soo long I forgot-”, As she was opening the door via her telekinesis, Sunset’s words were cut off the very moment she saw a large purple orb floating above The Cutie Map. Said map was noticeably inactive.
“What in the world have you been doing, Twilight?. What is this orb and why-”
“Well, well... Looks like I might’ve found our traitor. Now whatever could you be doing here?, admiring your latest addition to Twilight’s castle?.”, A new voice interjects which sends chills down Sunset Shimmer’s spine. The orange unicorn slowly turns her head around and her eyes widen as she gazes upon a purple unicorn wearing armor of the same coloration with a blade held within their muzzle. Most notably, this unicorn has a broken horn which was currently both sparking and leaking out magical energy.
“I... I... This isn’t what it-”
“This Isn’t what it looks like?, you know something... It’s funny. I heard that exact same phrase back in the day... Before they then turned on me in an effort to escape. Spoiler warning: They. Never. Did. So I’ll ask you this: Why are you here?”
Sunset was simply shocked and filled with fear as she could hardly form the words to reply to this unknown mare’s inquiry. The unicorn before her was just soo intimidating and her voice was filled with soo much authority, it could even rival Princess Luna’s. Miraculously, Sunset swallows a lump in her throat and finally replies with:
“I’m... I’m not from this world... I mean, I am... but... m-my name is: Sunset Shimmer.”
“Sunset Shimmer?, wait, you’re the one they told me about... You took Twilight’s crown.”
The orange unicorn was now sweating a river as she says internally:
-Are you kidding me?!, this mare is going to zap me for something I’ve already redeem--
“That sounds impressive... I’ve got to give you props for that. Personally, I shattered her crown... Which I do regret.”, Tempest comments as the magic in her broken horn dies down and she attaches her blade onto her armor. The broken unicorn then takes on a neutral expression.
Sunset simply stares at her with a dumbfounded expression and her mouth hung agape before she shakes her head and says:
“Ok, F.Y.I, her crown was also her Element Of Harmony. And, wait... What’s going on here?. I thought you were going to attack me?”
“Truth be told, I was... That is until you told me your name. My apologies for the rough treatment but we’ve been through a lot, Sunset Shimmer. You chose a heck of a time to return to Equus. The Princess asked me to-”
“Tempest!”
Yet another voice calls out but still very familiar to Sunset as a certain dark alicorn turns the corner, along with a pegasus guardspony, and enters the throne room.
“Hath thou found anythi-”, Princess Luna’s words were cut off as she takes notice of not just the large floating orb but the orange unicorn in the room. “Sunset Shimmer?, thou hath returned...”
Sunset raises her left front hoof awkwardly and waves back with a sheepish smile. Tempest simply looks on as she seems to catch onto Luna’s current predicament: How will the dark alicorn tell her sister’s former student about her... Fate. The pegasus guardspony continues to observe like a statue.
Luna swallows a lump of her own as she then breaths deeply and exhales before saying:
“We hath much to tell ye, Sunset Shimmer. But, before we go any further we must inform thou about our dear sister’s fate.”
“Princess Celestia?, let me guess... She ran out of cake and became depressed?.”, Sunset then chuckles before she continues: “She’s always extreme about-”
“Sunset.”, Luna interjects with authority. “Thou hath no idea how terrible the world hath become as of late. We art currently fighting against an otherworldly infection and our sister... Lies dead. Celly was struck down by a foul demon called: Razeem, The Moon Lord. She’s gone, Sunset Shimmer... We art truly sorry.”
Sunset’s eyes were shot wide open upon hearing those words however denial was starting to pour into her mind as she says:
“H-hey now P-princess L-Luna... That’s n-not funny... You’re pranking m-me... I...”, Tears starts to form in both of her eyes as denial turns into sorrow. She suddenly stomps her right front hoof and shouts: “No!, she can’t be gone!. She’s The Princess Of The Sun!, no one can defeat her let alone kill her!. I... No!... I never got to make things right with her!, I came here to do that!... I wanted her to know that... I forgive her... I wanted her to... Forgive me... for my stupid actions.”, Sunset’s tears were flowing down her cheeks as she drops onto the crystalline floor of Twilight’s castle and sobs uncontrollably. Tempest could only take on a saddened expression while Luna was filled with pity and says internally:
-Our sister hath never hated you, Sunset Shimmer. She still loved thou more than ye could ever know.-
A few moments have passed and Sunset was now rendered unconscious as she literally cried herself to sleep. Luna had taken the initiative to float the unicorn onto her back all while Tempest turns her head back towards the large floating orb and says:
“I don’t mean to ruin this, but, we have an orb to destroy. I want to test a theory... If you’d allow me, Princess.”
“What doth thou have in mind?”
“Now that The Corruption is purified, I want to see what would happen to an orb outside of the infection. When Spike attacked the orb above Town Hall, a powerful barrier was in place. It took a very powerful being to destroy it which, at the time, was Discord.”
“Discord?... that doth explains as to why he was present outside with everyone else. Very well Tempest, we wish to observe this as well.”
Tempest nods in response as she then turns towards the orb and draws her blade, detaching it from her armor.
-Here goes nothing.-
The unicorn says internally as she starts to run towards the object, hops high into the air, and swings her Demonite forged blade against the large orb.
[SHLINK]
[SKASH]
Like a hot knife through butter, the purple unicorn’s blade slices right through the orb as the sound of a shattering jewel echoes throughout the room.
“Huzzah!, Tempest Shadow!. Thy theory is tru-”
Suddenly, both Luna and Tempest were stopped dead in their tracks as screams echoed around them, even the guardspony was startled by the event. What was most disturbing was the fact that these screams came from souls who were freed from the orb. These anomalies literally starts to fly around the room before they shoot up into the ceiling and phases right through it.
The alicorn, unicorn, and guardspony were simply shocked beyond belief. They just witnessed the souls of the dead, likely those who were harvested by the parasites, who were imprisoned and likely tormented. Fortunately and hopefully, these souls could find true peace as they are now free to do so.
“This is absolutely disgusting... It’s bad enough that they extract the souls from the living and shoves them into these orbs. But, to know that they remain prisoners as well?, despicable.” Tempest says in disgust.
“Thou speaketh the truth, Tempest Shadow. We hope that those souls can now find true peace. Now, thou hath shown us that thy suspicions were right.”, Tempest perks her ears up as she listens tentatively and comes to attention. “Tempest Shadow, we hath a secret mission for thou.”
“Anything Princess, just say the word.”
“Thanks to that orb, thou hath proven thy suspicions of a traitor being within our midst to be true. They were strategically placed within well known landmarks. Case in point being Twilight’s castle, Ponyville, and thanks to Dr Whooves’s drone footage... our throne room. Which is why we hath already come up with a plan and it involves you. We’d like for you to play...”, Luna chuckles to herself before she continues: “The role of a villain.”
“What?... What are you asking me to do?”
“The traitor is no doubt scheming amongst us as we speak. We would like for thou to appeal to them, make yourself seem like an ally. A double agent, thou could say.”
“So if I understand this correctly, you want me to act as if I’m part of The Coalition but actually scheming behind the scenes in hopes of drawing out the true traitor?”
“Yes, Tempest Shadow. If the enemy wants to play games of deception, The Princess Of The Night shall happily oblige. We ask for thou to be our precious piece in this particular game of chess.”
Tempest ponders on this for a moment before she then chuckles to herself and says:
“Did I ever mention that you’re the best Princess of them all?, no offence to Twilight and the others. Princess Luna, you’ve got yourself a piece on the board.”
“Excellent, our precious chess piece. However, we shalt not let you go alone for there are those who shall aid ye. We have procured appropriate allies.”
“Hmm?, who?”
Suddenly, green flames erupts and consumes the pegasus guardspony. The flames dissipates and it is revealed to be the former changeling ruler: Queen Chrysalis.
“For one... You have, me.”, Chrysalis replies with a smirk.
Suddenly, four more beings enters the room which catches Tempest completely by surprise. She does however recognize them upon closer inspection as she question’s:
“G-Grubber?!, Stygian?... Capper?, and Trixie?”
“That’s the Grrrreat and Powerful Trixie, to you.”
“Tempest!, I’m so glad you’re ok!. Me and Capper escaped Canterlot thanks to Captain Celaeno. She let us catch a ride with her on their new ship.”, Grubber says happily as he runs up to his old friend and hugs her front right leg.
“Good to see you made it out, Grubber. I thought I lost you in that event.” Tempest replies as she lifts her left front hoof and rubs the hedgehog’s head.
“It’s been a crazy series of events but if we can save the day by doing this... It’s a good thing this cat’s got nine lives.”, Capper comments as he takes off his top hat and bows. “Plus, I never got to repay the ponies properly so I’m here to help.”
“Star swirl and the other Pillars will no doubt become angry with me should they discover this plan of ours. Regardless, I shall do what I can to assist.”, Stygian says as he nods contently.
“What is this?, I’m still kind of confused about what’s going on but If I didn’t know any better... Everyone here happens to be former villains. At least... going off of their profiles that Princess Cadence showed me when I joined the guard.”, Tempest says with a small hint of shock.
“Profiles?!, we have profiles?!”, Capper, Trixie, and Grubber shouts in unison.
Capper is the first to recover from the exclamation as he says:
“Hey so... Uh, how about you destroy that there profile on me when this is all over, ok?”
Trixie imitates a goldfish as she opens and closes her mouth.
Chrysalis simply rolls her eyes while Stygian replies:
“I expected that to be the case. Princess Luna is one of Star Swirl’s students so I’d imagine they’d take such precautions.”
"Just so you know, I'm a much different hedgehog than what I was before."
Luna chuckles to herself before she says:
“Thy deduction skills is commendable, Tempest. Yes, we hath gathered those who hath indeed wronged Equestria, and even beyond, with their actions. We ourselves are admittedly amongst them. Sure, Nightmare Moon may have been a separate entity but it was we who allowed her to take root within our soul. These are your allies, your fellow board pieces. If we are to truly sell our charade then it must consist of those who have grave sins of their own.”
To say that Tempest was shocked is an understatement as she looks to everyone else present with a matching expression. She then chuckles to herself and smiles with a hint of mischief as the broken unicorn comments:
“Well then, let’s get this party starte-”
“I want in.”, Sunset Shimmer interjects as she finally manages to regain consciousness while still positioned on Luna’s back. “Mind letting me off, Princess?. Still getting used to using my magic as a pony.”, Luna nods understandably as she ignites her horn and floats the former student of Celestia off of her back and onto the crystalline floor. “Thanks Princess Luna. As I was saying, I want in on this operation.”
“You sure you’re up to this?, stealing Twilight’s crown probably doesn’t amount to much.”, Tempest question’s.
“Maybe, but I’m sure Princess Luna knows about what happened back in my world... What I did to Twilight when she and Spike crossed over... to everyone. Trust me when I say that I have grave sins of my own.”
“Very well, Sunset Shimmer. If thou hath no other objectives in thy world, ye shall join our operation. Also, it might be best that we take the mirror back with us to The Empire.”
“No worries, I can write a letter to the girls and they’ll cover for me. Things are actually pretty chill there as of late.”
“Very well. We shall update you on what hath transpired in thy absence. Is everyone else here content with this decision?”, Luna question’s which causes the following reactions:
Tempest nods in acceptance in addition to Grubber who gives a thumbs up.
Chrysalis simply shrugs her shoulder and says:
“So long as you don’t buck it up, pony. I’m not going to drag you out of anything if we get caught.”
Stygian nods as well.
Capper winks and says:
“The more the merrier.”
“The Great And Powerful Trrrixie, approves.”
“Thank you everyone. I promise, I won’t let us down... And, it’s the least I could do for Princess Celestia.”, Sunset says happily.
Luna smiles contently upon hearing their reactions and Sunset’s determination. The dark alicorn spreads her wings and proclaims:
“Then it is settled, all present shall become our double agents. Go forth, former foes of Equestria, and bring true honor to us all. We shall do our part in trying to keep our dear niece, Shining Armor, and the other leaders of The Coalition off of thy backs. Be warned, should they or anypony else discover thy makeshift plot, we will have to act the part and punish you. Of course, we won’t truly do that but we must keep our appearances until the traitor, or even traitors, reveal thyselves. We hath much to do... Legion Of Doom.”
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At least 1 of them will die being found out.
10619615
Ah yes, Double Agent 7. I was not expecting that, just like what you said the last chapter.
10619615
I'm calling Trixie out as the one most likely to make the mistake.
10619626
10619627
I agree but It might be Grubber though.
This reminds me of nightmare knights and I LOVE IT!
also can I just say how much of a missed opportunity this was
Empress of light: so your the guardian that keeps peace in that realm pathetic you choose 6 individuals who have as much darkness as light in their hearts and you don't even do anything to protect your realm until the last second.
Tree of harmony: atleast I am not a galeem knock of who is mature accept to know that true peace can never be achieved instead of killing innocents just because they harmed an insect
10619632
Empress Of Light: "You leave my little butterfly out of this!"
10619627
Nooooo not Trixie
What a turn of events
10619657
Clarifying, Trixie to make the mistake, Grubber is most likely to get reckt as a result.
I concur.