It is said by many that God moves in mysterious ways.
It was also said by Voltaire that God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
Both explanations, and many more besides, could explain just why, with all the churches in Canterlot, both Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle wound up at the same one at exactly the same time: just as the sun was beginning to creep up over the horizon. The sky, however, was thick with clouds and rain was coming down, so the sun wasn't having much success in making its presence known.
At that moment, however, they were unaware of each other's presence, for Twilight was in the upper bell tower while Sunset was just coming in out of the downpour and walking slowly down the aisle of the empty church.
Having put the pieces of the game into their proper places, God made His moves. The audience remained afraid to laugh.
Still wearing the black costume, Twilight sat in the bell tower, looking off toward the horizon. Her fancy Italian suit was piled in a heap on the side.
She had no idea what to do. The words of The Doctor were haunting her. When she'd first heard them, she'd laughed them off. But she kept replaying the image of her swatting aside Trixie, and it was like having ice-cold water repeatedly dousing her in the face.
A huge church bell hung above her. It was three times her size, but she wasn't really paying attention to it. She was caught up in her inner torment, oblivious not only to its presence, but to the timing mechanism nearby that was ticking down toward the moment when it would set the gears into motion and send the bell ringing.
A part of her was urging her to forget everything that had happened. Find a way to make it up to Trixie if she had to, but not to dwell on it.
Even as she thought that, though, she knew it would be impossible. Not only had too much happened, too much more could still happen. Just in wearing the costume for a couple of days, she felt as if she was losing touch with her soul. What in God's name would happen a couple of weeks or months from now? Would she even be recognizable as herself? What would she become?
She couldn't chance finding out.
Twilight stood and started pulling on the suit, figuring that she would be able to peel it off as easily as she had the last time.
Wrong.
Perhaps sensing that matters had reached a crisis point, the suit refused to yield. Twilight pulled at it harder, using the full power of the amazing adhesive abilities that lay in her fingertips. Nothing. The suit stretched like Gak, then snapped right back.
She started digging into it with her nails, pulling as hard as she could.
Oh my God… get off me get off me get off me *GET OFF ME GET OFF ME GET OFF MEEEEE*!
The alien symbiote didn't speak back to her, not possessing that power of communication. She sensed a deep-seated feeling permeating her, a feeling originating not from her but from the suit. If she'd had to find words to express the emotions that the costume was projecting, it would have been…
Make me.
Sonorous organ music crept through the church as Sunset walked slowly down the aisle. She glanced in the direction of the actual organ, and it sat there, silent. But the music was coming from somewhere. Probably a sexton or someone like that playing recorded music. It was unbearably creepy and added a foreboding Gothic flavor to the chapel.
Feeling sad, lonely, and pathetic, she took a seat and stared at the image of Christ on the cross. A man with good intentions who'd been crucified for her troubles. Sunset Shimmer could relate.
"Sunset Shimmer, sir," she introduced herself. "I've been wronged, and the man I worship will have none of me. I don't qualify as the perfect girlfriend, but… who does?"
Jesus didn't answer. That was okay. What could he really have said? Sunset didn't mind its being a one-way conversation. "I ask you, why do I have to suffer for everyone else's imperfections? Why can't I ever have what I want? What about me?" She thumped her chest. "What about Sunset? I try to do what's right. I follow your rules. I obey the 'thou shalt nots.' I'm a decent person." She raised her voice to get it above the organ music, which seemed to be getting louder. "I'm a decent person!"
Sunset frightened herself with her vehemence and the intensity of her emotions. She didn't understand why it had come to this. Why no one else in the world was able to see her the way that she saw herself.
Never for a moment did she consider that she had brought her problems upon herself. Instead they had been forced upon her by a world that judged her and found her wanting without ever truly comprehending her.
"So I come to you today, humbled . . . . . . and humiliated . . . . to ask of you but one thing." She clasped her hands together so hard that she felt them going numb, but she didn't care. Tears were starting to stream down her face, but she didn't care about that either. Nor did she care about the voices of a choir—also recorded—that joined the organ music and got louder and louder, like a chorus of demented angels urging her onward, ever onward. Her body trembling, praying harder than she ever had before, she begged for the only thing that would give her life any meaning…
"I want you to kill Twilight Sparkle."
The bell thundered to life overhead.
Twilight staggered as the bell started to swing. It distracted her for only a moment, as she continued to pull at the costume. It fought back with a life of its own.
Parasite… dangerous… very dangerous . . . you didn't keep any, did you, Ms. Sparkle?
All the words of The Doctor flew back at her, and Twilight cursed herself for her stupidity, even as she continued to battle against the costume.
I want my life back! GIVE ME MY LIFE BACK! Twilight furiously thought, and the suit redoubled its efforts, seemingly fighting for its own life as well.
The bell clanged above them, deafening, and apparently it seemed to jolt the suit's concentration. She felt it loosening slightly, felt its influence upon her starting to diminish. She was winning the contest of wills. I've got you now, you bastard, she thought grimly, not noticing that the black goo was starting to slip through a crack in the flooring.
Sunset Shimmer, heading out of the church, passed under the bell tower, which was situated above the front doors. The bell was clattering away high above her, and suddenly something fell on her shoulder with a thick splat.
Great. Pigeons are crapping on me. Thanks for answering the prayer, God.
She reached up to brush it off and saw that it wasn't like anything she'd ever seen. At first glance it was akin to tar, but when she reached for it, it seeped into her shirt without a trace. She twisted around, thinking that maybe it had fallen to the floor, but no. Nothing there. Then another drop landed on her other sleeve. This time she never took her eyes off it as, once again, it soaked into her shirt and vanished.
What the hell?
She glanced upward, and there, high above, was the unmistakable form of Spider-Girl. She was trying to peel her black costume off, and the damned thing was… leaking? No, it was oozing off her as if it was… alive… "Sonuvabitch," muttered Sunset.
It was as if Twilight were peeling her own skin from her bones. This was worse, far worse than that previous time. Both she and the symbiote were struggling for their lives, and no prisoners were being taken.
Between the clanging of the bell and the agony that was ripping through Twilight's head, it was all she could do not to pass out. But that wasn't an option; if she did, she knew the symbiote would reassert itself, and next time she might never get it off her. She continued to peel it away, bit by bit, feeling as if she was starting to get some momentum, and so kept at it with growing determination. At one point, when her will started to flag, she mentally pictured Trixie being sent tumbling over a table by her hand—by its hand—and she increased her efforts.
Sunset watched in fascination as a drop landed on her hand and then seeped into her skin. She staggered, her mind whirling with thoughts that were simultaneously her own, yet seemed to be coming from somewhere else, as if her own thoughts were magnified and heightened. It was like mainlining a particularly potent narcotic.
And she wanted more.
So much more.
A drop descended from on high, straight toward her face. She opened her mouth and caught it on her tongue, like a snowflake, and swallowed it. It burned pleasantly, like a fine wine.
The shadows around her seemed larger, darker. She kind of liked it.
Spider-Girl was screaming overhead. What a bitch. What a little pussy. She clearly wasn't woman enough to take what this… this whatever it was… had to give.
Sunset raised her arms over her head and started screaming sync with Spider-Girl, making fun of her. But where Spider-Girl's stemmed from fear and pain, Sunset's was a primal scream of fury against all the raw deals that the world had heaped upon her shoulders. She owed the world for all of that, and this was where she started dealing out the payback.
And Sunset's scream was changing as it continued. It was getting deeper with every passing moment, as more of the black goo poured down upon her, until her voice no longer sounded human. Instead it could have been a beast growling: a lion bellowing a challenge, or even a dinosaur from a primeval era unleashing a deafening roar designed to freeze its prey in its tracks.
Twilight collapsed, sagging to the floor, her head whirling, the world spinning. It was gone. The creature was gone. She didn't know where it had vanished to and, right now, couldn't bring herself to care. She was more exhausted than she could ever remember, and she knew that if she allowed herself to rest for even a few moments, she would pass out. She didn't dare take the chance, fearing that when she came to, she'd be right back where she started.
She pulled the Italian suit on, every move an exercise in agony. She didn't bother to button the shirt, and she held the shoes rather than wear them. The bell had mercifully stopped ringing, but she could still hear it clanging away between her ears, and she hoped that she hadn't done permanent damage to her hearing.
Climbing to the top of the bell tower, she paused there a moment, waiting for the dizziness to subside, then she fired a webline and swung away from the church. Her spider-sense told her that no one was watching her, but she wouldn't have cared if the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was looking on. She had to put as much distance between herself and the church as possible.
She would have to go back. She couldn't leave that… that thing just slithering around. But she was going to be prepared. She would return with some sort containment equipment and be wearing armor if she had to—anything to make sure the creature didn't take her over again.
Through the pelting rain, Twilight made her way to her apartment and staggered in through the front door. With bleak amusement, she noted that the hinge had been repaired. She wondered if the shower had also been fixed. No better time to find out. Her clothes were soaked from the inclement weather. She pulled them off, dumped them on the floor, and headed for the bathroom. Once there, she turned on the shower and discovered that, yes, the showerhead was now functioning properly.
At least the symbiote did me some good. Then she pictured Trixie's stricken face once more and decided that no amount of household repairs was worth the grief that she had brought on.
She allowed the water to wash away her sins. Thank God it was over.
Sunset Shimmer headed toward Twilight's apartment and spotted her name on the mailbox. Apartment 501.
It was only a confirmation of what she already knew.
The black costume had been a part of Twilight. Now it was part of Sunset. What the suit knew, Sunset knew, and the suit knew quite a lot about its previous host.
Sunset had initially been stunned to discover that Twilight Sparkle was Spider-Girl. The sheer audacity of that bitch! Here Sunset had to bust her ass to take pictures, and obviously all Sparkle had been doing was setting up a camera, taking pictures of herself in action, and laughing to herself as she collected paycheck after paycheck for self-portraits. To Sunset Shimmer, it was the final confirmation of the fundamental unfairness of the universe.
But after the shock had worn off, Sunset was pleased about this development. She had begged God to make sure that Twilight Sparkle died, and God had answered her prayer in as efficient and direct a manner as Sunset could possibly have hoped.
He'd granted Sunset power, so much so that killing Twilight Sparkle wouldn't have been any fun if Sparkle had been a normal human. But because Twilight was what she was, Sunset could take genuine pleasure in smashing both Sparkle and Spider-Girl in one shot.
If nothing else, it was a monumental time-saver.
Sparkle had left the front door of her apartment ajar. Sunset pushed it open gently and entered. She heard the shower running and ignored it. Instead she started going through the drawers. She found assorted clothes in most and a grand total of seven dollars in one. She went to the closet and found a couple of Spider-Girl costumes hanging in it. They looked so sad, so useless, that pathetic red and blue.
A picture of a good-looking platnium-blonde girl was on the wall. Sunset leaned forward and studied it with curiosity. Quite the looker, she was. She searched the pieces of Twilight Sparkle's thoughts that the symbiote had peeled away when it had departed its previous host and locked into the girl's identity. Trixie Lulamoon. She immediately knew all that Twilight knew about her.
She thought about when Spider-Girl had been kissing Flash Sentry. Knowing now that it had been Twilight Sparkle, she wondered just how many men Sparkle felt the need to collect.
Sunset Shimmer could start collections as well.
She heard the shower go off and silently eased her way out of the apartment. Even if Twilight hadn't finished her shower, Sunset would have been ready to leave. She had seen enough.
She wasn't quite ready to attack Sparkle. Not yet. The symbiote wasn't ready. She could sense it within her, still bonding with Sunset on a molecular level. It would take a little while longer, and when it was done… when Sunset Shimmer was ready…
All debts would be paid in full.
With interest.
