Prologue
Adagio couldn't believe it.
months of planning, scheming; even able to turn that blasted Horseman and Sunset Shimmer on each other. Trixie, without any mental suggestions other than her own pride, trapped the Rainbooms below stage, and then everything finally fell apart, giving the Dazzlings more than enough of the magic they needed to restore their power. But, somehow, one of the students was unaffected by the Sirens' Call, and freed the seven girls; and now they're playing a musical counter-spell to defeat the Sirens.
And now Sunset Shimmer is about to complete the spell with her singing.
NO!
Adagio saw someone in the corner of her eye, and smiled: the resource officer; or, more specifically, his pistol. The orange Siren quickly sent the order to the officer, who hypnotically drew his weapon right at that foolish former Unicorn and unloaded four of his bullets. Suddenly, there was a shout that echoed across the courtyard.
"SUNSET!!!"
******Six months ago*******
Sunset couldn't see anything from inside the burlap sack placed over her head; she could feel her hands tied behind her back as she was pulled somewhere by what she assumed to be two boys if the distinct voices were any indication. The last thing she remembered before being knocked out was leaving Canterlot High after she, Snips, and Snails repaired most of the front of said school, then a blunt object bashing against the back of her skull.
"Keep movin'", said the boy behind her, who had a deep, gruff voice, and forcefully shoved the flame-haired girl.
"No", said what Sunset presumed to be the ringleader, who had a voice that reminded her of a weasel: manipulative and shrewd, "we're deep enough that no one can find us, or it." the leader said, referring to the girl. Sunset felt the bag yanked off her head and became fearful of the location she found herself in: deep in the Everfree Forest, just outside of Canterlot City, facing her captors who both were wearing black hoodies, hiding their faces.
What she saw behind the two though, made her blood run cold.
It was a hole, roughly six feet in depth, as well as two or three feet in width, and about five-point-seven feet in length; there was a stone on the opposite side of the pit with these words carved into it:
Here Lies The Witch of
Canterlot High: May She Rot in
Hell.
The larger boy walked behind Sunset Shimmer, who was now crying having figured out what these people planned on doing with her, and pushed her to her knees. The girl could feel the cold metal of a pistol against the back of her head, and prayed to all of the Deities she knew of, including the Great Faust of her home world, to save her.
Before the boy could fire, though, there was a flash of golden light and a boom of thunder, causing all three teens to look up; in the sky was a symbol of the top of a horse's skull, surrounded by a circle of ancient runes, and both were glowing a brilliant gold. The picture quickly dissipated and made way for a gold meteor that crashed just a few feet away with enough force to cause a minor earthquake.
"What the hell?", said the smaller boy, "John, go check it out."
The other boy nodded and made his way over to the crater, pistol ready to fire. Then a white blur hit the teen, slamming him into the ground and dropping the gun. Sunset's eyes widened in recognition of the giant dog that had its gargantuan paw on the boy's chest.
"A Tibetan Mastiff...", true, the dog did look like the breed, but what confused the flame-haired girl was the alabaster color of its coat and the gold tufts on the ears. Sunset then saw more movement out of the corner of her eye-- originating from the crater--and turned to find a boy stepping out.
The boy had long, black hair that was done in a ponytail, while his skin was a pale green; he was wearing a grey hoodie that was unzipped, revealing a pure white t-shirt with the same symbol the girl saw in the sky on the front. His eyes were pure gold, and while seemed young, Sunset could easily tell that the boy was at least as old as her former teacher, Princess Celestia, if not older.
The green-skinned boy took a few seconds to observe his surroundings with an impassive look on his face; but once his golden gaze fell on Sunset Shimmer, however, there was a flash of anger in them. The boy then looked back at her captors and slammed his fist into his palm.
"Alright," he said in a tone that reminded the girl of Rainbow Dash, "who wants their asses kicked first?"
*****Earlier*****
Death, eldest of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, just dived into the Well of Souls; but not before giving the Crowfather his mask. The Old One continued looking down into the swirling vortex of the deceased until finally speaking.
"Come out, Horseman; I know you're here."
The proclamation had the desired effect, as an armored figure stepped out from the shadows. He was barely a head shorter than War, with a figure similar to Death's, and sickly green skin showed where the gray plates didn't cover his body. The stranger had a plum-purple scarf loosely wrapped around his neck, and at his sides were two empty pistol holsters; their residents currently "on loan". His face was covered by a helmet that had metal sticking out the back, with two covered slits so the figure could see.
This was Strife, Youngest of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: the Last-Born of the Nephilim. He followed Death to see if Man could be resurrected, while Fury stalled the Charred Council to bide War time; Strife gave his pistol, Redemption, to the Maker and asked her not to tell Death where she got it, and doing the same to Ulthane with Mercy, if War were ever to return to Earth. And he saw his elder brother just sacrifice himself for Humanity. For War.
Typical Death, Strife thought to himself, before saying, "You know that I'm not letting him go like that, Old Man."
Crowfather chuckled at the Rider's nickname for him, "Just like you know that I can't stop you in my current form, but you should know that you may not end up wherever your brother does", he finished in a more serious tone.
"I know", Strife replied, before grabbing his brother's mask from the Crowfather and dead-dropping into the Well--flipping the old man off as he fell.
What felt like hours of pain finally subsided as Strife found himself rocketing towards what looked like a forest on Earth.
You must learn Humility before you can join your brothers and sister, Strife, a deep, rumbling voice echoed in the Horseman's head as he crashed into the dirt. After getting up from the crater he created, Strife took stock of the situation.
There were three human-like creatures, but the female's skin tone suggested otherwise; the other two were male, the one closest to the female was small and thin, while the one--which Strife noticed was being pinned by a HUGE dog that shared the color scheme of Conflict, his horse--was big and muscular. The skinny one had a gun pointed to the female's head, who the Horseman finally noticed was tied up and gagged, facing a shallow pit with a stone on the other side, indicating a grave. This made the Horseman's blood boil, before he smashed his fist into his palm and stated.
"Alright, who wants their asses kicked first?"