14. Fall of the Monster
The moon had risen on the city of Canterlot. This time, however, the moon was not crimson red, which was a pleasant surprise thought it didn’t mean that whatever caused this bizarre phenomenon was gone. Sunset Shimmer was waiting outside in the dark, a good distance away from the barn. She patiently watched over the horizon, wondering when he’ll finally show up.
Since she had nothing to do, she’d often check her phone to see if her friends sent her any messages regarding their situation inside. They must be fully prepared before the killer’s arrival or else they’d have to fall back on their plan B, which Sunset wasn’t a big fan of. Stardust Radiant didn’t deserve a second chance, she knew that, but his spirit did deserve to be put to rest.
Almost done, Sunset. You gotta keep him busy for a couple of minutes when he’ll arrive. Texted Applejack.
A branch somewhere in the distance snapped, causing Sunset to put her phone back in her pockets. Since she looked at its bright light, her eyes hadn’t adjusted to the darkness so she couldn’t make anything out... except for the two glowing eyes piercing the night itself.
“Sunset Shimmer... I can see we’re both going to end this tonight.”
The red-haired girl was taken aback by the ghostly voice of the killer. Not once has he uttered a even a single word in his ghoulish appearance, so it was surprising to hear him talk. Her eyes had now adjusted to the dark and thus, she could make out the silhouette of the hulking behemoth.
“Got nothing to say?” said Stardust, this time sounding impatient.
“You can talk.” she started under a slightly panicked tone. “Why didn’t you say anything when you ambushed me in the bathroom? Was it just to scare me?”
“I couldn’t. I had no vocal cords with which to scream.” Swiftly answered the zombie. Strangely enough, his mouth wasn’t moving when he spoke. “I was just granted the ability to speak again a few hours ago. But I see no point in having my voice again. You and I have nothing to say to each other.”
Sunset sighed, knowing that diplomacy’s out the window. They will have to solve this conflict this violence whether she liked it or not. “Alright then... Come get me.”
Stardust’s eyes flashed red, and he took out the butterfly knife he stole days ago. With one swift movement, he opened his jacket to reveal something that shocked his adversary. He had strapped tons of flammable substances and he had a detonator in hand now. “Once the deed is done, I will burn in the flames of Tartarus. Such is the fate I chose for myself, don’t try to save me, Sunset for I do not want your pity.”
He stored the detonator inside his jacket and marched towards his victim in an aggressive manner. Sunset ran back to the barn; thought she didn’t appear too scared or anxious. She was feeling a little bit of both, but it wasn’t enough to Stardust’s liking, so he suspected that something was up.
He stopped his hot pursuit and examined his surroundings. No longer hearing his thundering footsteps resonating behind her, Sunset slowed down and looked back at him. “Come on... I’m here! Come and kill me, I’m here! Kill me!”
Stardust stared at her, almost with a disappointed look. “This place must be booby trapped.”
Indeed, it was, and Sunset Shimmer knew that this would happen. The unicorn was always known for being quite smart, and it seemed that he had gotten more perceptive since then. Thankfully, they prepared everything with that notion in mind, so she kept her cool despite this setback.
The zombie picked up a big rock from the ground and threw it at a specific place he was eyeing for a few seconds. Once the rock made contact with the floor, it tripped a wire that sent a bucket filled with heavy objects swinging down. It would have hit the killer in the face had he tripped it himself.
Stardust looked nervous now, his victim knew where all the traps where, and she’d surely try to lead him through each and every one of them. Was this their plan to bring him down? No, couldn’t be. Where were her friends? Could this whole booby-trapped field be just a façade to hide their real plan? The questions were flowing through his mind at a rapid pace, and he failed to notice that an awful lot of slime was dripping down every single orifice on his face.
Sunset felt her stomach-turning upside down as she watched the vicious, almost mucus like liquid pouring down from the zombie to which the latter noticed. He wiped the slime away before taking his first steps down the booby-trapped field. His approach was hesitant but determined all the same to reach his prey. “I’ll stop at nothing to get you. You may have the magic of friendship on your side, but I have something greater.”
The ground began to shake as the Tyrant reared its ugly head. His purple eyes and pearly white teeth pierced the darkness of the cold night. “You could use some friends for a change, Stardust. I think it’ll do you some good.”
The beast moved towards Sunset, triggering every trap that separated her from the killer before he vanished into thin air with a maniacal cackle. Holes that were covered with leaves, sharp instruments being shot out from cannons and more, there was nothing standing in the way now.
Stardust Radiant glared at Sunset as he opened his jaw wide as his ghostly voice roared before he charged forward with the knife in hand. The red-haired girl ran closer to the barn where she knew there would be more traps to slow him down. She wasn’t an athlete by any means and so was Stardust but as a zombie, he had unlimited stamina which tipped the scales in his favor.
She reached the next checkpoint and thus, took a break to catch her breath. The murderer stopped dead in his tracks, sensing more danger. He examined the surroundings methodically and that’s when Sunset gestured off in the distance. Suddenly, a large sound broke the eerie silence of the night, and many objects flew into Stardust’s left side. He didn’t feel the pain, but he did feel his entire body losing balance and being knocked to the ground.
“Nice shot, Pinkie!”
Hiding in the dark was Pinkie Pie who was armed with one of her special cannons. “Always there to help!” she exclaimed before she ran inside the barn.
Stardust got back on his feet relatively quickly. His entire left side was oozing with plasma which definitely wasn’t a pretty sight. Annoyed, he pulled out the sharp knives that were lodged into his arm and leg one by one, showing no hints of pain. For a zombie, suffering grievous damage is more infuriating than anything, a by-product of having no functioning pain receptors whatsoever.
“You can’t run away forever. Get back here and face me, monster! I will tear you open with my bare hands!” The zombie was angrier than before, a feeling that was translated by his uncontrollable shaking.
“Hey, come get me! I’ll have nowhere to run inside that barn.” shouted Sunset as she opened the large door and headed inside.
Stardust waited for a bit, examining every inch of land in front of him to see if there were any traps laying around. He saw Pinkie Pie enter, which meant that there were two people inside that barn for certain. The rest of the Rainbooms were also high likely to in there. It’s a seven on one, or eight if you counted Spike. These odds weren’t in his favor, but all he wanted was to kill Sunset, just one of them essentially.
A large shadow formed over him, indicating the presence of the Tyrant. “What’s the matter, scared? You’re a hulking zombie in case you forgot, dummy. I literally put you in easy mode, so why are you being so anxious to make a move? You had plenty of chances to kill her, you know and yet you didn’t. You had the situation all under control and now you feel like you’re losing said control. Or... maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you’re just doubting yourself. It’s pitiful. You’re a monster. Kill for Pete’s sake. Kill for your King.”
Suddenly overcoming with a blind confidence, Stardust walked forward without any signs of hesitation. He stepped on a cleverly hidden rake on the grass and the hilt slammed him in the face. The impact broke a few teeth but didn’t slow him down whatsoever. No pain, no gain but that statement sure didn’t apply to him at all.
His shoes stepped on various nails and broken glasses lying on the ground, piercing his feet but the damage wasn’t great enough to hinder his approach.
“I think we may have to fall back on a plan B!” whispered Pinkie Pie as she observed the incoming zombie behind the barn’s door.
“Our traps didn’t cause enough damage. Guess we’ll have to distract him.” muttered Sunset under her panicked breath.
“Uh, how exactly are we supposed to distract him? He’s twice our size!”
Looking around, Sunset spotted a couple of farm equipment laying around. “We’ll hold him off with these!” she said as she tossed a pitchfork at Pinkie.
“Hmm, not usually my style but, that’ll do.” she exclaimed in a somewhat lighthearted tone.
The red-haired couldn’t help but be impressed at how easily her friend was keeping it together. “Gee, you really have nerves of steel, you know that?” She armed herself with a leftover rake.
The animals around the barn were getting more and more agitated by the seconds, a sign that the zombie was drawing near. The two girls took deep breaths to prepare themselves for the confrontation that was sure to prove itself painful.
The creaking of the door announced their last stand. Stardust finally entered; his body was oozing with blood though his injuries were merely superficial. Seeing the weapons in their hands, he chuckled a bit, mostly out of joy that this pitiful chase had reached its end. “Good, let’s get down to business.”
An immense shadow formed over to their side. It cackled as it took out a large bag of popcorn. “Make this entertaining, ladies. I want to see blood, so don’t be afraid to get rowdy.”
“Is that a dinosaur?” curiously asked Pinkie, not too fazed by the Tyrant’s imposing stature.
Stardust began his charge, though was surprised to notice that he was now limping. Nevertheless, his burly body gave him a strong advantage. Sunset swung her rake full force to which he blocked the hit with his left arm and grabbed her by the neck to lift her off the ground.
He lifted his knife up to stab his nemesis but rapidly diverted his attention to Pinkie Pie.
“Here it comes!” she exclaimed as she thrusted her pitchfork into the zombie. A last-minute block left Stardust with a badly injured arm. The tool had pierced many ligaments, which weakened his left arm. “Woops, guess I shouldn’t have announced myself like that.”
The killer kicked Pinkie away, launching her into a pile of hay before returning his attention to Sunset Shimmer. Before he could make a move against her, she kicked him in the chest will all her might. The resulting impact loosened his grip, and she broke free.
All the while, The Tyrant was cheering on the battle, taking copious amounts of bite out of his popcorn bag." Kick his scrawny butt back to the grave, Sunset!” He shouted before looking at Stardust. “Gouge her eyes! Split her skull in half! Come on, you can do it!”
Although difficult to notice, there was some bias in his voice. Guess who he was truly cheering for.
Stardust went for a powerful jab, but Sunset evaded the attack and countered with a chop to his throat to little effect. The zombie delivered a brutal knee to her stomach. Fighting someone who can’t feel pain isn’t an easy task. They can’t be staggered, can’t be stunned. Each hit you dish out must deal a meaningful amount of damage or else it would have been for nothing.
“Come on... Finish her! I want to see a fatality! Please your King, he gets off to brutality.”
His body was moving like a berserker now and not much like a human. Stardust was giving in to the monster inside as he picked Sunset up the head and lifted two thumbs up to her eyes.
“Oh! You took what I said literally. I’m touched.”
Then, the lights turned on, revealing the rest of the barn’s content. There was a stage in the back with speakers everywhere.
On that stage was the rest of the Rainbooms with their instruments in hand. They were wearing ear mufflers, quite foreboding indeed.
“We’re done prepping up! Now prepare yourself to get shredded, zombie!” screamed Rainbow Dash. Yeah, that was an awesome one-liner, Dash!
“Well, you’re screwed, zombie.” Mechanically said the Tyrant.
The group began to play their tune, the high volume of their music disoriented Stardust who suddenly lost balance. Sunset and Pinkie took out their own set of ear mufflers and put them on. The murderer then heard nothing but silence as his ears broke, leaving him nearly deaf. The Tyrant seemed unimpressed with their performance but quickly began to feel just a little nervous when he saw them ponying up thanks to their magic, all except for Twi but that didn’t impact the result too much.
“Friendship magic! Better play it safe and leave for the moment...” he muttered under his breath before vanishing in a cloud of smoke.
A beautiful rainbow erupted from each of the Rainboom’s instruments before it fused to form one wave of magnificent colors. It descended upon Stardust Radiant, who, looked at it with a solemn expression. He didn’t try to resist or even move an inch as it came into contact with him and tore away a significant portion of his magic out of his hollow body. It wasn’t painful in the slightest, no, it felt rather warm, pleasant.
Once it was over, he dropped to his knees. His red eyes have died down into a faint yellow light that barely illuminated his face. The feeling that emanated from him had changed completely. Gone was the insatiable rage, replaced with fatigue and regret.
Noticing their victory, the Rainbooms stopped playing and took out their ear mufflers before approaching the vanquished killer. Just like with Sunset, their Equestrian magic changed Stardust on a deeper level.
“It’s over, Stardust. There’s no use in fighting anymore, we don’t want to hurt you any further.”
More slime oozed from all of the orifices on his eyes, nose and mouth alike. He was looking at the floor, seemingly struggling to even lift his head. “You’ve grown too soft, Sunset. I’ll repeat one last time; I don’t need your pity. I’m a monster, an insult against both ponykind and humankind. I shouldn’t be here in the first place.” His eyes now crossed with Sunset, whom the latter kneeled to match his current height.
“You’re not a monster, Stardust. We both made terrible mistakes but it's never too late to seek redemption.” she spoke with an optimistic tone, something the zombie didn’t reciprocate.
“Easy to say when you’ve only got one murder under your belt. My list of crimes extends far beyond just one and unlike you; I didn’t feel the slightest remorse up until now. You want to help? Just kill me already. I’ve got nothing left to live for.”
A singular tear formed under Sunset’s eye as she tried her best to hold it in. The guilt hurted much more now when she finally got to see the broken stallion that used to be her best friend, now a human zombie, a form that made him truly unrecognisable.
“The magic left in me is keeping me alive, but I don’t want it anymore. I’ve got no goals left, no ambitions. I’m just a husk, and it’s not a life worth living.” Moving even just a single part of his body was a hassle. The little magic in him was the bare minimum required to make even the slightest movement. Appearing only to the rotten corpse was the Tyrant himself, coming to bid farewell to his most prized toy.
“You’ve been an enjoyable punching bag, but I'm afraid I've got no interest left in you. You know what this means, right? It’s time to die, Stardust Radiant. Speak your last words.”
Sunset placed a hand on Stardust’s shoulder, then leaned in closer for a hug. The zombie was taken aback by this affectionate gesture and for the first time since he rose from beyond his grave, he felt something, warmth. “I’m... sorry.” she said in a broken voice.
“So am I.” responded Stardust. His voice sounded at peace. He didn’t belong to this world. He was dead, and he should stay that way. Messing with life and death can never lead to good thing, but the Tyrant clearly didn’t care as long as it was amusing him. “My vengeance... is over.”
As Sunset let go of the undead, his body slowly turned into ash. His skin and muscles were blown away by the wind, leaving behind only his bones. In a matter of seconds, all that was left of the once terrifying killer of Canterlot was an inanimate skeleton.
The Rainbooms watched the scene in silence. Some of them even started to feel sort of bad for the zombie while the others weren’t quite sure how to feel. Sunset didn’t move a muscle as her eyes were still on the remains of what was once her best friend.
Fluttershy approached her, terribly concerned about her feelings. “Are you okay, Sunset?” she asked in a tender and caring voice.
Sunset stood up as if her friend’s voice brought her back to reality. “Yes. I’m going to be fine, don’t worry about me. I guess I just needed closure, that’s all.”
Rainbow Dash yawned loudly, bringing everyone’s attention onto her. “I’m tired. We’ve been working our butt’s off for this entire day. Now that this case is closed, why don’t we go back to sleep and talk about it tomorrow instead?”
Spike was barely able to keep his eyes open, which Twi noticed very quickly. “Yeah, I think we all deserve some rest after what we’ve accomplished.”
The whole group slowly dragged their tired bodies out of the barn while Sunset collected the remains of Stardust Radiant, placing them in her bag before leaving herself. But just as she reached out for the door, an ominous presence made itself known.
“I’ve got something to confess myself. Have you ever received a response from Sketch after all these years? No? How quaint, I wonder why he isn't being a good friend right now.”
Sunset’s eyes widened.
“I see I don’t need to say more. I got the message across. To be fair, it wasn't exactly me who did it. It was more or less the work of someone I once considered my greatest enemy, but now he's no longer among us.”
She didn’t say anything, rather, the implications behind the Tyrant’s meddling sent her in a deep state of shock and she simply left. The beast laughed manically as she watched her exit the barn.
“Oh, you’re a vile one... and that’s why you’re the King of Tyrants.” The monster said to himself with a fond tone.
Now is it over? No, I believe I still have one last thing to say. Stay tuned, for I'll be taking this story in hand.
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Stardust?
Friendship magic is a thing?
Actually that’s debatable. I’d say sunset is worse, but that’s just me.
Didn’t he confess that last chapter.
11555930
Shit, you're right. I must have forgotten about it. I'm going to edit it now.
Also the friendship magic comes more from ignorance on the part of the Tyrant who prefers to be cautious around it since he doesn't know much about this type of magic who only recently came into this world.
11556158
I meant is friendship magic it’s own type of magic? Similar to fire magic and dark magic?
11556163
That's kind of the impression I got from the movies, so yeah, I guess it counts as its own type of magic seeing as how the effects used for it is mostly rainbows and such. Not to mention that it always ends up overpowering the villains, no matter how strong they are.
11556169
Oh ok