Equestria's Weapon

“Is she contained?” One of Celestia’s royal guards asked as they walked down the dungeon’s dark and dank hallway.

“She should be.” The other answered. “Celestia knows how many lives she’s taken.”

“... I kinda feel bad for her.”

“Really? You feel bad for that beast?”

“Did you see her expression when it was done? She was tearing up. Obviously, she didn’t want to do that.”

“But she did.”

“I still think she’s innocent.”

“Your opinion doesn’t matter, corporal. Only the princess’s does.” They stopped at a door at the end of the hallway. The door was covered in chains and magical tombs, keeping the prisoner in the back. He pulled a key and unlocked the center lock. Everything fell. With a sigh, the guard stood on his hind legs and opened the slide, seeing the prisoner inside, cowering in the left corner, sticking out of the otherwise pitch black room. Inside was their prisoner: according to Twilight, she was a human, but nothing like the one the princess of friendship went into. She, as far as they could tell, had long, black hair, and wore some poorly made clothes that looked like some foal’s first attempt at fashion. Everything about her was dirty, especially her exposed feet. However, the disturbing part was that some of the filth wasn’t mud or grass stains, but… she was covered in blood… dried blood, especially around her knuckles and feet.

“How is she?” The concerned guard asked.

“... Hasn’t moved an inch.” The other replied before turning back to her. “Rise and shine, Sweetie! You got a whole of ‘splainin’ to do!” He pushed the door open. The other guard pulled a leash out.

“Um… p-please… make this easy on us, okay?”

There was little to no reaction. They would’ve thought that she wasn’t listening if it wasn’t for her head to lift up a little bit at the voice aimed at her. Beside her filth and badly made clothes, her hair was rather messy as well, some of it covering parts of her face to the point that her eyes couldn’t be seen, but they could tell when she was looking at them or not, which thankfully, she wasn’t.

“... Do it.” The gruff guard ordered. His partner nervously swallowed before putting the leash around her neck, followed by putting some cuffs around her arms and feet.

“C-come on now… it’s better to face it now than delay it.” He said meekly, giving the leash a light tug.

The girl made no resistance as she slowly got up, her bare feet touching the cold floor that wasn’t warmed up by her own body heat. Thankfully, the cuffs on her feet numbed the feeling, them only making sure she doesn’t try anything. She moved her hands on the leash to lightly tug on it, the tightness being rather bothersome. Other then that, she just stood and waited for the expected to happen.

The walk felt like the end of the world. All she could remember was bits and pieces of what happened… most of them just screaming.

She’s gone berserk!!!

Run, everypony!!!

HELP!!! HELP!!!

Mommy!!!

Then… darkness. All she did remember was blacking out as she was taken to the dungeon, with destruction everywhere, and bodies. If she was unlucky as she thought she was, then a good majority of them were innocent families.

She couldn't help but start rubbing her hands nervously, only looking down at them as she could feel a lump in her throat. She had a feeling on what to expect, but just couldn't be ready for it. ‘If it is what I think it is, at least I can finally be free.’ She thought to herself.

To her, the sunlight was blinding. It had been a while since she had seen sunlight, but she trudged on, awaiting her sentence. They stopped at a pair of large doors, hearing a loud crowd inside, each arguing over each other. A loud horn blew, silencing everyone inside.

“Announcing the prisoner!” An announcer spoke. “For the slaughter of innocent civilians, both Canterlot and foreign.” The doors opened and loud shouting came. She looked around, seeing rage filled creatures, all from different mythologies, and all wanting to kill her. Only a wall of guards kept them back from hurting her, though their warning came to her.

“You killed my mother, you bitch!!!”

“My son! Do you have any idea what you’ve done!?”

“You’re an abomination!!!”

She trudged through slowly, only looking up to see the tall, heavenly looking figure sitting on a throne. She was a pony, a unicorn-pegasus mix, wearing a golden tiara, necklace, and boots. Her mane somehow swayed, despite the lack of wind inside. Like everyone else, she had fury in her eyes, but remained professional about it, not wanting to lose her temper and look bad. The pony raised her hoof. Everyone was silenced with the occasional whisper, cough, or sneeze.

“... State your name.” The heavenly figure spoke in a threatening tone.

The human was silent for a moment, not even looking up at the mythical creature as she only looked down at her hands, feet, or just the floor. It took a moment for her to speak, but when she did, her voice seemed much nicer and didn’t go well with how everyone else in the room saw her as. “X-23.” She mumbled, not bothering in saying her second or even actual name as she felt that didn’t matter at the moment. ‘I’ll be dead either way.’ She thought.

“... Your real name.”

“...Laura” She answered differently as she was now focused on her hands, flexing her fingers a bit while also wishing she could at least wash them.

“... Laura… tell me… how did you get here?”

Laura was quiet once again, glancing to the side before she gave a light shrug. “I don’t know.” She mumbled yet again, it being a bit of a lie.

“You don’t know? … Well then, I guess the execution will go as according to plan then.” A loud cheer came from the crowd.

Laura only remained quiet at this point, knowing this was happening and knowing that she had no way or reason to even try to stop it from happening. In all honesty, she secretly wished for it.

“Wait!” The shy guard yelled, stopping everyone. “Surely, she has something to say!” He turned to her. “Please, I know what you did was wrong, but there had to be a reason why you were in the market that day, and a better explanation for what had happened.”

“Get away from her!” His partner growled. He turned to him.

“No! She has to tell her story! She can’t have been there to gone on a mindless rampage to get herself executed! Nopony in their right mind does that!”

Laura was still quiet, looking down at the floor as she thought about what he said. “Even if there was a reason as to why I did that, it’s not like it will change what’s going to happen.” She said as she remained looking at the white floor. “I don’t belong here, and I have no right to be here. It only makes sense if my life is taken as well.”

“Perhaps not.” The deity spoke, leaning in. Various whispers came from the crowd, each sounding unsure. “Laura, if you tell us your story, on how you came to Equestria and how you landed here, then maybe, if it’s possible, you will live and go through a… certain program.” The crowd murmured to themselves, unsure if this was a good idea.

Laura couldn’t help but raise a brow at what they were compromising. “You’d hear about the life of a killer?” She simply asked as she was a bit confused. ‘No one would bother listening and just end the killer’s life.’ She thought.

“I’d probably be hearing the life of a victim.”

“Probably...” She repeated as she felt that this would be a waste of time, it all just leading to her death. “... where do you want me to start?” She mumbled the question as she knew she had no choice on the matter anyways.

“How you got here will work.” She leaned back into her seat. Her horn glowed yellow and she carried a tea set to herself, sipping from the cup. “I have all of the time to listen.” Some members of the crowd groaned, a few turning and leaving. “Now, how did you get here?”

The human girl let out a small exhale, looking at her hands before she glanced up at the pegacorn. “Do you know what a convention is?” She simply asked.

“I’ve heard of them. Been in a few of them… under disguise, of course.”

“Well, I went to one of those… where I came from.” She looked down once again. “I dressed up as someone that was made up and had the… ‘abilities’, that I have now.”

“... Care to explain in detail?”

It was the first day she was going to do it. She had been to various conventions, but had never thought of doing it. The act of cosplaying. It seemed rather ridiculous at first; people dressing up as their favorite characters for a few days that isn’t on Halloween? While it did seem childish at first, but some of the Cosplayer had on costumes that looked almost spot on to the source material, and a few others even better than what Hollywood came up with. Truth be told, she was a bit envious, but she decided to go with it and dress up as her new favorite character, Laura, or better known, X-23.

When Logan came out, Jenny fell in love with Laura, mostly for how much of a complete badass she was. It only wasn’t until a friend of her told her more about X-23, how she was first made in the X-Men Evolution T.V. series, and her origin from the comics. Surprisingly, she practically looked like X-23 from the comics, both to the face and her figure. It didn’t take her much time to get the costume right: leather bra and pants, boots, and a collar were all that was needed. Unfortunately, the claws were another thing. While it didn’t seem that important, having the claws, the two for each hand and one for each foot, would really help her stand out.

‘Dang. So far, I’ve only seen gloves for Wolverine and not Laura. I mean, I could just take the center blades off of them, but it might ruin the gloves while also ruining what the creators have done.’ She thought, having a feeling that those who did sell the gloves she needed were already sold out. ‘Guess this is what I get for sleeping in late on the first day of ComicCon!’ She lightly hit her head over how dumb she was.

“Ooh! Nice costume.” A merchant spoke, dressed up as the King of the Cosmos from the Katamari games. “X-23?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Are you the King of the Cosmos from Katamari?” She asked, looking at how well made his outfit was. She honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he had a small little prince to go with his cosplay.

“Indeed! But you’re looking quite down. Missing something? … Missing some claws, perhaps?”

“Urm, yes, actually. Without them, no one can really guess who I’m cosplaying as. You wouldn’t mind telling me if you know a stand that has a pair, or even one that wouldn’t mind if I tweaked their Wolverine one.” She said.

“Actually, I do happen to have what you need.” He leaned down and pulled out a pair of the 2 bladed gloves and single claw boot straps. “I’ve been meaning to sell these for a while, but no one wanted to buy them. I can only guess that like Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad, a lot of women assume that other ladies will be dressed up as the Joker’s Henchwoman. Want them? They’re cheap.”

“Hmm...” She looked at the gloves and straps as she wasn’t quite sure if ‘cheap’ was the word to call any ComicCon merchandise. She knew that it would be more than a hundred dollars, but she just had to ask. “How much exactly?”

“Fifty bucks.”

“Woah, seriously? I thought I’d be over a hundred.” She admitted, hoping that maybe her pointing that out might change the merchant’s mind and make it that way.

“Yeah, it was, but some other X-23 cosplayers came along and didn't want to be considered ‘generic’, like the amount of Deadpool cosplayers. That, and you really do look like Laura, unlike the others.” He shivered.

“Yeah, well, you can’t have good without some bads.” She shrugged a little before she took her small(but slightly bigger than normal) black purse out and opened it to take her wallet out. “I’ll take them.” She smiled as she took out two twenties and a ten and placed it on the counter. “I guess next time, you’ll bring Harley Quinn’s bat and pistol for those cosplayers to throw money for.” She joked a little.

“I wish.” He chuckled, handing her the fake claws. “Oh, as a little bonus, they're retractable; just flick your arms and legs for the claws to come out and in.”

That was when she was a little curious, looking at the claws that she just put on. She did as instructed and felt the claws go inside a hidden section that blended in with her own gloves. “Neat! If you make more stuff like this, I bet marvel itself would hire you to make some sweet props.” She complimented as she did it again, the claws coming out this time. “Thanks again for the claws.” She smiled as she made a small wave farewell before she went back to searching for more things she would most likely fill her entire room with. In other words: nerd junk.

There were a few things here and there that got her attention: some cute plushies, some interesting artwork, and some inappropriate things. However, she spent most of her time getting pictures and recorded while acting like Laura, no doubt becoming Gifs her friends would see and be jealous of. But, throughout it all, she slowly began to feel light headed. She only figured it was the need for water, but it only got worse. With a single trip, she fell to the floor, unconscious.

~

The sound of birds chirping away came to her ears. With a groan, she slowly woke up, seeing she was no longer at ComicCon, but in a field of some sort. She felt off; not sick, just different. She could feel the prickly grass underneath her exposed skin, the gentle breeze of the wind going over her, and could even see the clouds up above that seemed more… fake, than normal ones. One thing was for sure, clouds were not as curly as she was looking at… or more detailed for that matter. ‘Something’s not right.’ She thought, slowly sitting up as she rubbed the side of her head. ‘Where am I? And how did I even get here?’ She asked the obvious. ‘Was I drugged? Kidnapped? Maybe pranked?’ She guessed some assumptions as most of them would come out blank. ‘No. I don’t remember drinking anything but my own water bottle, and I remember passing out when I went to get something to drink. No one was following me… I think. And my friends were going to come tomorrow, not today. They wouldn’t lie for some sick prank.’ She rubbed her chin, looking down at her hand as she noticed the blades she bought were gone. “Huh?” She spoke. “Did someone really steal my blades? … Wait a minute... I bet that guy had plenty of extras cause of all those Harley cosplayers.” She grumbled. “Son of a-” She clenched her fists.

SNICKT!!!

A sudden sharp pain came from her fists and feet. She did the only sensible thing: fall and scream in pain.

“GAAAH!!! FUUUUUCK!!!” She teared up as she looked at her hands: popping out, covered in her own blood, and out of her knuckles, were two pairs of razor sharp, metal claws. The sight made her hyperventilate; it was cool looking in the comics and the movie, but having it happen to her… that was a different story. It didn't help when she looked at her feet; if the boots weren't there, she’d see but two bloody feet. More screaming came out.

“SHIT!!! God…. Fucking shit!!!” She tried to calm herself, slowing her breath. “Come on… take it slow… slow… and steady…” She winced as she felt her claws going back in, also slowly. As soon as they were gone, she slowly got up. The flesh wounds healed without leaving a scar, much to her surprise. “Gotta get out of here… find a way home… and get these claws out.” She told herself as she couldn’t help but place a finger where the wound was, seeing if perhaps it was just hidden somehow. Once she felt nothing but skin, she sighed and looked around, seeing more grassy field and trees in the distance, while another side got more lifeless and had more dirt and rocks. She wasn’t sure where to go, not knowing which might lead to seeing people again. ‘It’s either the side with life, or the side that looks like it was drained its life.’ She thought as it was honestly a hard choice. Her answer came when she looked up: right on the side of the mountain was what looked liked a village of some sort, surrounded by large birds. “Guess the tree village it is.” She thought, looking at the large birds as she felt they might just be messenger birds linked to an owner. She started heading towards the mountain to which the village was perched upon, seeing that it would be a long walk.