Sunset Shimmer's magic adventures, Volume 2: The Villain Gauntlet.

by Justafanfictioner

Chapter 1: Versus Sombra

Grogar ordered everyone in the castle to wake up and get to the meeting room. Moonlight was the first to arrive, followed by Starlight shortly after. Discord and Cosmos were next to arrive, followed by Stygian, Sombra, Chrysalis, Sonata, Aria and Adagio. Nightmare and Tirek entered the room at the same time and sat down. Finally, a couple minutes later, Sunny arrived at last, completing the team. She looked tired and exhausted.

“Another one of your nocturnal adventures?” asked Moonlight. “You know we can’t leave the castle at night!!”

“I had a nocturnal adventure alright” answered Sunny, smiling. “But not outside the castle”

“Alright” said Moonlight, disgusted. “Let’s change subject”

He noticed that Grogar was in a good mood this morning, which was rare. Moonlight looked at Sunny and made two and two together. Grogar and her had quite a busy night and this thought both disgusted and enraged Moonlight at the highest point. Like the cold-blooded guy he was, he swallowed his rage and moved on.

“Today is the day, everyone” said Grogar. “Each of you had plenty of time to master your magic and it’s time to put it to the test. As for who is going to go fight first...”

Grogar made a pot full of straws appear in the middle of the table.

“...Will be the one picking the shortest straw” he said. “Discord, Cosmos, no magic!”

Everyone picked a straw and it was Sombra who picked the shortest one.

“I better make a good first impression, then” said Sombra, grinning.

“What’s your plan?” asked Moonlight.

“You’ll know soon enough” he answered.

At Canterlot, Sunset and her friends were on their toes. Rainbow Dash was flying above the city, looking for any enemy coming for them. Fluttershy sent all the stray cats, birds, dogs, rats and even bugs around town with the same intention than Rainbow. Twilight had pirated the town’s camera system and was also looking for anything suspicious. Applejack and Rarity were assisting Twilight in her task in keeping an eye on the hundreds of cameras. Pinkie Pie was cleaning her party cannon and finally, Sunset was turning in circles. The enemy could be here at any time, they knew it. Little did they knew that Sombra already started his offensive. Swift like a shadow, he corrupted the town’s water facility with his dark magic. Everyone going to drink the water would become a mindless puppet that Sombra could control.

“Let’s see how those girls will handle an entire city of braindead citizens” said Sombra, laughing. “This shall be entertaining to watch.”

Sombra left the facility and headed right for the girls. It would take a moment before the corrupted water affect the whole city. He raised his hand and used his magic to turn the cloudy sky black. A black rain soon started to fall on Canterlot, corrupting more and more citizens. Sunset and her friends weren’t affected by the rain and immediately headed for Sombra.

“I’m afraid you’re too late, girls” said Sombra, with his charming voice. “I’ve already won...”

Rainbow Dash rushed at Sombra and tried to punch him. This one took the hit and grabbed Rainbow Dash’s arm. In one move, he broke it, making Rainbow Dash yell of pain. With a powerful kick to the guts, he sent her back to her friends. Mad with rage, Applejack ran toward Sombra. Twilight hold the villain in place with her magic, allowing her friend to hit her target. Applejack punched Sombra so hard, his armor was shattered into pieces and was sent flying dozens of meters backward. Sombra got up and coughed some blood. He was smiling at Applejack. This one realized why: Her arm was covered of small shadow crystals. Sunset realized that the situation was not going in their favor. Rarity ran to Applejack and used her magic to break the shadow crystals. At her surprise, it worked and Applejack could now use her arm again.

“Thank you, Rarity!” said Applejack. “It seem your magic beat his!”

Sombra teleported behind Rarity, about to slice her in half with a sword made of black crystal. This one blocked the blade with a magic shield. The blade shattered in pieces, leaving Sombra shocked, this was enough for Pinkie Pie to blast him with a cannonball filled with sprinkles. Sombra took the projectile right in the chest, injuring him badly. Applejack smashed him with a huge metal pipe that broke his left arm. Sombra turned into a cloud of shadow and retreated far away from the girls. There, he regained his physical form and surrounded himself of an unpenetrable barrier of shadow crystal.

“Your team coordination is better than i expected” said Sombra. “You actually hurt me pretty bad...but it was worth it...”

The streets of Canterlot were suddenly filled with hundreds of citizens. They were armed with diverse tools and weapon and a dark aura was emanating from their eyes.

“Before our fight, i corrupted Canterlot’s water supply with my dark magic” said Sombra, grinning. “I also poisoned the rain with the same magic as well. While we were fighting, my Shadow water, as i call it, contaminated every single citizen in town. They’re all puppets under my control, mindless slaves. You girls might be good at fighting villains, but what about an army of law-abiding citizens?”

Sunset looked at the sky and got an idea. Meanwhile, Rarity was creating magic barriers to hold the mind-controled citizens.

“Let’s blast the sky with our magic, girls!” she said to them by telepathy. “Let’s make it rain...Bow!”

The girls combined their magic, ignoring Sunset’s bad pun. Sombra understood what they were trying to do and took multiple citizens hostage before they could blast the sky. The girls stopped immediately and stared at Sombra.

“What?” asked Sombra. “You expect me to play fair? Please, i’m the Shadow King, the Black Scourge, the Prince of Darkness!! I’m not playing by your rules...”

At his castle, Grogar and the rest were watching Sombra attentively.

“He’s doing good” said Chrysalis. “Holding innocents hostage is a good way to dissuade heroes from doing anything stupid.”

“They also messed him quite bad” said Tirek, laughing. “I’m sure Sombra didn’t expect them to hurt him this bad.”

Sombra, meanwhile, was becoming weaker by the minute. His left arm was bleeding intensively and many of his ribs were broken after taking Pinkie’s bomb right to the chest. One of those ribs pierced his right lung, making it hard for him to breathe. Sunset was well aware of his state and tried to stop him from killing himself.

”Stop it, Sombra!” said Sunset by telepathy. “You’re killing yourself...Just give up...”

”Your compassion make me sick” said Sombra, grinning.

He used his dark magic to disperse the clouds in the sky. All the shadow crystals disappeared, but the citizens were still under his control. As he was on death’s doors, he had a thought for Hope, his first and only friend. Sunset perceived his thoughts and felt empathy for him. But as he was ready to accept his fate, he was suddenly overwhelmed with a torrent of magic energy.

“Where does all that power comes from!!” shouted Sunset. “A second ago, he was on the verge of death!!”

Sombra got up and laughed like a maniac. All his injuries had been healed and he was more powerful than ever before. His eyes were glowing red, as if he went berserk.

“Before fighting him, we need to free those citizen!!” said Applejack. “The rain was our only option, but Sombra cleared the sky!!”

Sunset suddenly thought about Eris, she owed her one.

“Eris!” she said mentally. “I need your help!! We need rain, some time and the citizens safe!!”

A magic barrier appeared around the group and black clouds soon covered the sky. Sunset and her friends immediately combined their magic aura and turned it into a laser. The beam reached the clouds and a rainbow-coloured rain started falling on the city. Soon, all the citizens were freed from Sombra’s corruption and transported safely into their house. There was only him and them left in the street.

“Thank you!” said Sunset.

“You’re welcome, sister!” answered Eris.

Sunset and her friends faced Sombra, ready to fight. Pinkie Pie fired an explosive cannonball at Sombra. This one grabbed it with his hands and threw it back at her. The explosion destroyed her cannon and blew the girls away. Only Rarity was fine thanks to her magic barrier.

“I guess it’s just you and me, sweetheart!” said Sombra, with an evil smile. “I’m coming for you!!”

Sombra charged at her, two magic swords in hand. Rarity created two shields on her forearms, acting like defensive gauntlets. She blocked Sombra’s attacks, but this time, his blades didn’t shatter. She continued parrying his attacks like a champion, but would inevitably make a wrong move. Applejack and Rainbow Dash finally got up and executed a combo move they invented. Her arm had been healed by Eris earlier, as a bonus and she could fight again. Rainbow Dash grabbed Applejack by the feet and started spinning on herself, quicker and quicker. Applejack hardened her first with her magic and Rainbow threw her in Sombra’s direction.

“Supersonic Fist of Doom!!” shouted both Rainbow and Applejack.

Rarity got out of the way in time and Applejack hit Sombra directly, and with such force that he was projected hundreds of meters back. In his castle, Grogar was enjoying the fight.

“Those girls are full of surprises...” he said “Let’s see how Sombra took that hit”

Sombra was fine, but the violence of the blow he received made him recover a bit of his sanity. The girls arrived shortly after as he was getting up.

“Even that didn’t hurt him!!” said Applejack. “That power-up he got all of a sudden is terrifying.”

Sunset noticed his eyes weren’t red anymore.

“You’re wrong” answered Sunset. “Your attack seem to have knocked him out of his enraged state.”

Sombra looked at them and with his dark magic, immobilized them.

“Time to face your fears, girls” he said.

The girls were forced to face their worst fears and they fell on their knees.

“The poor animals...” said Fluttershy. “Don’t hurt them...Please...Stop!!!”

“My team was counting on me” said Rainbow Dash. “I failed, i betrayed them!!”

“Please, not Sweet Apple Acres!!” said Applejack. “Don’t do it, Granny!! Don’t sell the farm to this greedy man!!”

Only Sunset was not giving into her fears. With her magic, she shared memories of her and them having fun. One after another, the girls came back to reality and looked at each other with love.

“Of course they would break free” said Sombra for himself.

A portal opened behind him and he smiled.

“I guess we’ll settle this another time” he said, before disappearing through it.

The portal then closed, leaving the girls on their knees.

“We won...” said Twilight.

“Why did he retreated?” asked Rainbow Dash. “He was far from being exhausted.”

“Who care?” said Applejack. “I’m happy he’s gone...”

“Let’s get back home, girls” said Sunset. “We need to take a rest.”

Sombra was back to Grogar’s castle, his hand on his chest. Everyone was looking at him, with different expressions.

“I hope you enjoyed the show...” he said with a bitter attitude. “Now, if you excuse me, i need to take a nap...”

Sombra was heading to his room.

“You did great, Sombra” said Grogar. “Using the populace as a pressuring tool against the girls was smart and cunning. I learned a lot about those girls during your fight. I hope you also learned a valuable lesson too...”

“I learned something alright” said Sombra, laughing. “Taking a beating sucks...I believe you’re next, Discord...”

“Unlike you, i’m not going to expose myself to them...” said Discord. “They can overcome their fears and the pressure, but can they resist to their deepest desires?”

“What’s your plan?” asked Grogar.

“I’m going to put them in a self-contained reality where they will live their ideal life.” answered Discord. “Of course, i’m gonna make sure you can all watch them separately in their own reality.”

“I see...” said Grogar. “Go with it, Discord...”