Assassinverse: Let There Be Light

Twilight was currently flying over Equestria like a white blur on her way to Canterlot while she had a lot going through her brain, mainly what to say to Celestia when she finally sees her.

I still can’t believe she’d actually go that far just because I died… I mean, she was like a second mother to me, and I could tell she saw me as something like a daughter, but what she did… it just added gasoline to the fire that’s started, thought Twilight before a familiar voice caught her ears… three familiar voices in fact.

“Do ya really think we shoulda walked this far away from the rest of the class?”

“Miss Cheerilee said we could explore, didn't she?”

“I don’t think she meant halfway across the city when she said explore, Scoots.”

“Whatever. We’ll be fine.”

Twilight slowly stopped what she was doing and gently landed on the roof below her, looking over the side as she did. Down below her were three fillies, one was a light yellow Earth Pony with a red mane, freckles on her cheeks and a red bow in her hair, the second was a white Unicorn Pony with two colors to her curled mane, and the final one was an orange coated Pegasus Pony with a cerise mane.

The Crusaders! thought Twilight as she saw them walk towards an alley. An alley that she saw the girls get dragged into!

“No!” Twilight cried as she flew to one of the building roofs hoping it was just a prank from one of their schoolmates, except it wasn’t as she heard a unquestionably male voice come up from the alley.

“Ya know, yous three fillies shouldn't be hangin’ ‘round these parts of Manehattan.” said the stallion dressed in mafia-like clothing and holding a lit cigar. “Yous could get in an accident.” he said sarcastically as he took a smoke while his three flunkies held the still struggling Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom.

“Whattaya want with us?!” Apple Bloom said as she tried to break the hold of her captor, a large Buffalo with sanded down horns.

“Yeah what did we do to you?” said Scootaloo, doing the same with the orange-scaled drake holding her in place.

“Why are you doing this?” Sweetie Belle asked angrily as she was nearly choked by the overly muscular Zebra.

The Earth Pony just continued to smoke his cigar before he took the cigar out of his muzzle and blew the smoke in their face, making the CMC cough. “Ya see dolls, me and my compatriots’ employer has offered us quite the hefty sum of bits to…’accident’ yous three.” he said as he blew three smoke halos above the girls confused heads.

“What the heck do you mean ‘accident’ us?” Scootaloo asked while Sweetie Belle dawned a look of horror.

“He means he's going to kill us, and make it look like an accident.” she said completely horrified causing the other two to gain a similar look as Apple Bloom barely got out a terrified “Why?”

“‘Cause apparently your sisses have gotten him quite angry for their ‘outspoken political position’, or so he said, and he wants their tunes to change.” he said, “An’ what better way than knockin’ off their lil’ sistahs.”, this was when everyone present heard the voice of a dead mare.

“Not on my watch.” said Twilight as her voice echoed in the alley. The thugs looked around for the source of the voice. The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked around in disbelief, hope, and joy.

“Twilight?” Apple Bloom asked hopefully.

“Someone's playing a trick, trying to be a hero. Princess Twilight is dead! And good riddance to ‘er!” said the gangster before he heard Twilight’s voice coming from right behind him.

“Then this shouldn't hurt at all,” said Twilight, her voice making him turn around and get punched in the face.

WHAM!

As the gangster regained his balance, and by that it means fell on his rear, he, the rest of the muggers, and the CMC, just stared at the sight of Twilight, the white aura around her making her look like an Angel.

“Sh-she’s back! T-Twilight Sparkle has returned from the grave!” stammered one of the gangsters, the drake it sounded like if the gravely voice was anything to go by.

“And if half the stuff I’ve heard that has been going on the last seven years is true, then I’d say I have some unfinished business to take care of. The first thing on my list is making sure your Traditionalist benefactors pay for what they did to me,” said Twilight, a small dribble of what looked like blood leaking from her mouth, except it left a sizzling hole in the ground.

“Woah,” said Scootaloo in awe of their savior. The still unnamed stallion got up from the ground and wiped at his lower lip, coming back with traces of blood, before he turned back to his flunkies, anger plain as day on his face.

“Well, get her,” he said to them before the zebra spoke up.

“But sir, surely you jest. Not one of us can harm this undead pest,” he said before a bullet went through his head, spraying blood everywhere as he fell backwards releasing his prisoner in the process.

“Do I look like I’m askin’?” he said holding the still smoking firearm as he grabbed Sweetie Belle, now with the blood from the Zebra on her clothes.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said Twilight, making a chain gun made of pure white light appear out of seemingly nowhere. “Tell you what, I’ve always been a fair pony. I’ll give you until the count of… let’s go with five, to let those girls go and get the Tartarus out of here. One… two… three…”

The sudden appearance of the weapon was enough of a threat deterrent that most of the other gangsters, save for the one holding Sweetie Belle, to almost instantly back down, drop their weapons, and start running for the hills, shoving each in their attempt to escape from what they believed to be an angered spirit.

“Screw this, I’m outta here. Somebody's gotta warn the Traditionalists of what’s coming,” said the drake while he ran, spreading his wings and taking to the air.

“GET BACK HERE YOU TARTARUS-DAMNED COWARDS!” said the still unnamed gangster, Faust rest his mortal soul for what’s to come.

“Four… five.” Twilight said as she aimed at the assassin holding Sweetie Belle before he shoved the gun to her head.

“Ah, ah, ah.” he said in a condescending tone. “Don’t ya move, or this lil’ sweetheart gets a bullet through her brains.” he threatened them. This caused Apple Bloom and Scootaloo to raise their hands in surrender, but Twilight still had the weapon trained on him, trying to figure out a way out of this.

"If I may make a suggestion, why not try using your magic to make the chain gun’s ammunition curve through the air?" Twilight’s power ring suggested.

Worth a shot, thought Twilight. A mere moment later, she opened fire on the assassin, then quickly used her magic to cause the white bullets to curve and nail the assassin before he could get a shot off into Sweetie Belle’s skull, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Twilight let out a sigh of relief as Sweetie Belle ran over to her friends and hugged them as Twilight went over to the downed would-be killer and checked his wounds. From what she knew about medical science, the stallion would be okay, given the proper treatment.

“Umm… excuse me, Miss Angel-Twilight?” asked Sweetie Belle cautiously.

Twilight looked up at the Cutie Mark Crusaders and smiled. “I’m not an angel, Sweetie Belle. I’m back from the dead,” she explained. “Although, I think I understand the confusion.”

Scootaloo frowned. “I thought magic couldn’t raise the dead. If you aren’t a ghost or an angel, then how can you be back?” she asked, sounding confused.

Twilight held up the hand with the power ring on it. “This ring. I don’t fully understand how it works, but I think it brought me back to life and gave me superpowers somehow. But, that’s enough about me. Tell me what’s been going on in Ponyville for the last seven years. How’s Spike been holding up?”

The CMC glanced at each other uncomfortably at the question.

“Spike is, um… well, Spike is…“ Apple Bloom stuttered as she tried to break it to her gently. She looked to the others before she told Twilight the truth. “Spike left, Twilight. Nopony’s seen him in years.”

Twilight simply sat there in shock. Her beloved son was missing? “Wh-what about Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy?” she asked.

“Pinkie Pie, or Pinkamena, rather, has… changed drastically. Ya’ll remember that Cheese Sandwich pony?” asked Apple Bloom, to which Twilight nodded. “Well, he and Pinkamena tied the knot. She’s Pinkamena Pie-Sandwich and they live in this huge mansion now.”

Sweetie Belle picked up from there. “Rarity closed up shop. She lost her inspiration a couple years after you died. Hoity Toity runs the boutiques now, with Rarity working as his assistant. Although, I’ve heard Rarity dreaming about him for awhile now,” she said.

Scootaloo continued. “Rainbow Dash was in a bad accident. She lost one of wings, an arm, and a leg. Even so, I’ve stayed by her side. She’s really the only family I have,” she said.

“Fluttershy… well, she’s been spending more time in the Everfree Forest with Zecora. No idea what she gets up into with her in there, though. But she’s got these weird tattoos now,” said Sweetie Belle.

“But, Ah think mah big sister took it the hardest. Applejack just hasn’t been the same since you died. She’s been spendin’ more an’ more time alone, an’ almost hasta be forced outta bed in the morning. If’n Ah didn’t know any better, Ah’d think she was stayin’ up all night, cryin’.”

Twilight couldn’t believe it. She was out of the picture for seven years, and everything went to Tartarus in a handbasket for her friends. She had half a mind to fly back to Ponyville this instant and get her friends back to their old selves again. However, something inside her told her that she wasn’t ready for word of her rebirth to get out just yet.

“Girls, I need you to keep our encounter a secret, okay?” Twilight told the CMC in a stern sort of voice.

“But, why Twilight? Everypony would be so happy that you’re back!” said Sweetie Belle.

“Think about it, Sweetie Belle,” said Scootaloo. “If we went back to Ponyville and started shooting our mouths off that Twilight was back from the dead thanks to some magic ring that gave her superpowers, who’d believe us?”

“Scootaloo’s right. I’m just not ready for that kind of press yet. I’ll get you three back to your class. Stay close to Cheerilee, got it?” said Twilight.

“Yes, Twilight,” said Apple Bloom.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Sweetie Belle.

“You got it, Twilight,” said Scootaloo.

“Good, let’s go,” said Twilight.

…

Princess Celestia was going over the Royal Guard’s reports for the capture of Twilight’s killers. They were… unusual to say the least. For some reason, some of the guards reported seeing “Twilight’s angel” departing the scene, presumably having laid waste to her killers using some new abilities, including what forensics had identified as “acidic blood.”

Celestia shook her head and sighed as she made her way to her bed chambers. There was something going on here. First, Twilight’s body vanished from its tomb, then this angel in her image shows up out of nowhere. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think Twilight had returned from the grave, but that was impossible, as no magic could reawaken the dead.

As Celestia opened the door to her bedroom she was so deep in thought that she failed to notice the shining white light approach her balcony window. As she made to sit on her bed, the balcony window burst open, revealing Twilight.

Celestia could only stare in shock at the sight of her fallen student standing before her, clad in some kind of white and black get-up with the look of the utmost fury on her face.

”CELESTIA! YOU AND I NEED TO TALK!” roared Twilight in a truly terrifying Royal Canterlot Voice. ”HOW COULD YOU FORCE MY PROPOSALS UPON EQUESTRIA WITHOUT GIVING THEM A CHANCE TO DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES?! IF IT WAS TO QUELL THE FIGHTING BETWEEN THE PROGRESSIVES AND TRADITIONALISTS, YOU JUST ADDED GASOLINE TO THE FIRE!”

Celestia just continued to stare, completely dumbfounded by the sight in front of her before she dismissed it as a hallucination. “I need to lay off the sweets, I'm starting to see things.”

Twilight kept the same face, as she walked calmly up to Celestia…and slapped her across the face! Celestia simply sat there in shock as she lifted a hand to her face, feeling the spot where Twilight had slapped her.

“How’s that for seeing things?” said Twilight.

Celestia turned her head back to Twilight with a hopeful look in her eyes. “Twilight?” she said as she started to tear up. A moment later, Celestia embraced Twilight in a hug so tight Twilight could hardly breathe. “You’re home… you’re home…” the Solar Princess sobbed into her reborn student’s shoulder, never mind that she’d just slapped her.

Twilight found her own eyes beginning to sting with what her older brother would’ve called “liquid pride.” “I’m home,” said Twilight.

Celestia broke the hug and looked at Twilight. “How? How is this possible? How have you returned to us?” Celestia asked her beloved student.

“Well-” Twilight started to say before the door opened.

“Sister, where art thou-?” said Princess Luna freezing her tracks when she saw Twilight, apparently very much alive, standing in front of her tear-soaked elder sister. A glance from Twilight to Celestia heralded an unspoken question.

“It’s her, Luna. Twilight’s returned to us from beyond the grave,” said Celestia, her voice sounding hoarse.

“How is this possible? How have you returned from Elysium?” asked Luna.

”That would be because of me, your Majesties,” said Twilight’s Power Ring.

Celestia and Luna looked wildly around the room for the source of the voice before Twilight spoke up.

“That voice came from this thing,” she said. “This thing is responsible for my return from the grave.”

Both Celestia and Luna just stared blankly at Twilight, as would anyone who had just been told that their loved one had been resurrected by a magic ring.

“Perhaps we should sit down and have some tea, as this might take a bit of explaining.”