Night Class

Sweetie Drops was dropped on the floor. She could see the stars above her. She was bathed in sweat from the horrible agony of being dragged up the stairs. She didn’t have the strength to scream anymore.

“My poor darling, your eyesight isn’t the best right now, is it?” she heard a woman speak somewhere behind her. She chuckled affectionately. “You got it almost right, dear. And you even hobbled her. But this one’s more of a cream color than yellow. We don’t need her.” There was a short pause. “Yes, put her with the others and finish her.”

She was dragged again. After only a few steps she was picked up. The pain caused by this motion in her shattered limbs made her black out for a moment. When she regained what was left of her consciousness she was lying on something. From the corner of her eyes she saw a purple face with closed eyes.

“Chipper,” she tried to say, but she couldn’t speak anymore. I told you we’d see each other again soon. She was happy that he’d be with her for this last part, that he’d once more help her through her pain.

The skeleton’s arm holding the knife came into her vision again. The pain as he sunk the blade into her was sharp and short. Then there was nothing anymore.

***

They saw the skeleton immediately as they stepped onto the roof. It was standing next to the chimney where the dead bodies lay, looking down on something.

This was their chance.

They hurried across the roof, praying that the skeleton would remain distracted for long enough. They were lucky; as they had crossed about half of the distance the skeleton bent over for a few seconds. It looked like it stabbed one of the dead bodies they knew were piled up there.

Just as they reached it, the skeleton straightened up once more. Not wanting to alert it, Sunset didn’t hesitate, raised the hammer, and smashed it on the skeleton’s right shoulder. Bones shattered, and the impact sent the skeleton sprawling to the ground. Sunset almost lost her balance, but managed to raise the hammer once more. She vaguely realized that Trixie was yelling something next to her as she smashed the hammer into the skeleton’s lower back, just as it tried to get back to its feet.

Then a gunshot was fired. Startled Sunset looked up. Behind the second chimney, the one covered in weird symbols, stood Vice Principal Luna, aiming a gun at the two girls.

“Drop the hammer, or I’ll shoot your little friend,” she said coldly. “I’m not going to ask twice.”

Sunset’s thoughts raced. But Luna was too far away to reach her. She’d just gun them down. At least she had almost smashed the terrible skeleton into two pieces. With a concerned look at Trixie she dropped the hammer. She wasn’t going to let her be murdered as well.

“Good girl,” Luna said and fired. Without a sound Trixie collapsed to the ground.

“Noooo! Trixie!”

“Stay right where you are!” Luna slowly came closer, the gun pointed at Sunset’s chest. “You’ve caused me a lot more trouble than I would’ve liked. You and your little friend with her annoying pranks.” She stopped in front of Sunset and picked up the sledgehammer.

“Since you’ve proven to be quite the troublemaker, I’m afraid I’ll have to hobble you for the ritual,” Luna said and seamlessly brought the sledgehammer down on Sunset’s right foot. Sunset screamed in agony and fell on her side, right next to the lifeless shape of Trixie.

Luna put the sledgehammer down, seized her arm and dragged Sunset along behind her. She groaned, then put the gun down as well and grabbed Sunset’s other arm. Sunset shrieked in agony as she carelessly grabbed her burns.

She tried to keep her smashed foot above the ground, but the pain was still almost paralyzing. When they finally reached the other chimney, Luna propped her up against the wall, inside the magical symbols.

“I’ll show you what I’m doing,” Luna said. “You are interested in magic, aren’t you?”

Magic? What in the world is she planning?

Trixie…

Sunset only caught a glimpse at the ritual circle. It was painted on the floor and the wall of the chimney. She was surprised to recognize some of the symbols used—mostly, she thought, from some of the books in the forbidden library back home in Equestria. If she wasn’t mistaken they were for shaping living flesh.

“And now we’ll see what you’re actually made of,” Luna said, a cruel curiosity in her voice. “Normal girls don’t turn into winged demons, which means you’re not normal. Just what are you?”

“Buck… you,” Sunset groaned.

Luna gave Sunset’s smashed foot a poke with the tip of her foot, making her scream again. “In fact, it doesn’t make a difference. Ever since you turned into a demon I’ve known that there’s enough magic in you to power the ritual. I am ever curious, but in the end the ritual is more important.” She suddenly laughed. “Oh, I know what you are thinking. ‘At least I destroyed the skeleton’, is that close enough? It’s true, my poor darling looks pretty grim right now, and you deserve all that you’re suffering for what you did to him alone—but this ritual will fix him. It will make him whole again. It doesn’t matter what he looks like now. He shall be fine within no time.” She bent over to look at Sunset from up close. “You’ve lost. If it is any consolation, you never were a match for me to begin with.”

Sunset spat in her face. That bitch was responsible for all the killings, for all the horrors of this night, and she had shot Trixie. She wanted nothing more than to claw her eyes out.

Luna absentmindedly wiped away the spit, looking intently at the magical symbols on the floor and the chimney wall. Sunset turned to look as well and realized that some of them were glowing faintly.

“Yes, my dear girl, it is your blood that is powering the circle.” She pointed at Sunset’s foot. Blood was seeping out of her shoe. “It is beginning! Hold still, my beloved!”

The faint glow from the magical symbols grew and also covered the pile of dead bodies lying opposite of Sunset Shimmer. Suddenly a big chunk of red flesh was torn out of Sweetie Drops’ body, which was lying on top. It circled through the air and finally came to rest on the skeleton’s hips where it stuck with a sickening wet sound.

“Why are you calling this thing your ‘beloved’?” Sunset asked. “Are you sick?”

Luna looked down on her, and for a second Sunset feared she was going to get hurt again for insulting Luna. But then Luna smiled. “I managed to secure his mortal remains. I even had them delivered here. Nobody ever suspected that it was actually my beloved.” She furrowed her brow. “You must understand, they murdered him. It was unjust. They threw him into a hole to rot and killed him. But I loved him. I couldn’t allow for that to happen, could I?”

“So I procured his skeleton. Luckily the school needed one anyway, for the biology lab. And then I took to researching just how I would be able to bring him back. It took me more than a decade.”

“But I only had the theory. The runes. The ritual. For all I tried I couldn’t get it to work. I needed a source of power.” She snorted. “Let me just say that they are incredibly rare, and impossible to obtain.”

Luna smiled again. “And then the Fall Formal happened, and one of my students turned into a winged demon. That was when I knew a way to power my ritual. It was I who convinced Celestia to not expel you. And of course I gave her the idea to suggest you’d join the Astronomy Club for one of their sessions.”

“But why did you have to murder all the others if all you needed was me?” Sunset asked. And why did you have to kill Trixie?

Luna laughed. “You see, I didn’t only need you. As you can see, the ritual requires warm flesh. My beloved’s new body has to come from somewhere after all.”

As if to confirm Luna’s words, a new chunk of flesh detached from Sweetie Drops, whose thigh was looking rather thin now, and floated to its new place in the skeleton’s upper arm.

“Yes, it is indeed working,” Luna jeered. “But not fast enough.” She looked down on Sunset, her eyes shining in cruel anticipation. “We need more of your blood. I think I’ll gut you to speed it up.”

Sunset just glared at her.

“Ah, my dear dropped the knife over there. Don’t run away while I’m getting it.” She chuckled at her own joke as she went over to the pile of bodies, from which a few more chunks of flesh were floating over to the maimed skeleton. She picked up the knife and, turning it back and forth in her hand, returned to the ritual circle where she knelt down in front of Sunset.

“You know what, I think I’m going to enjoy this.” She brought the blade to Sunset’s throat and gently caressed her skin with the point. Applying a bit more pressure she drew a little blood. “Yes, this is a very fitting punishment for an incessant troublemaker like you.” She raised the blade to Sunset’s face and abruptly drew it across her cheek, leaving a shallow yet painful cut. In response to Sunset’s blood some more of the runes began to glow.

“You see, I can take all the time I want before I kill you. Just cutting you accelerates matters.” She gently moved the knife’s tip down Sunset Shimmer’s upper body, almost caressing her. Then she stopped and began to push. The tip slowly sunk into Sunset’s belly. “All the time I want. Isn’t that—“

Suddenly another gunshot was fired.

Luna’s eyes widened in shock. She let go of the knife and brought her hand to her back. She coughed once, spitting warm blood into Sunset’s face. Then she collapsed sideways. With the view now open, Sunset saw Trixie, propped up on one arm, holding Luna’s gun in the other. She gave Sunset a weak grin and slowly sunk to the ground.

“Trixie,” Sunset gasped.

The skeleton suddenly turned towards Trixie. She was only lying a yard or two away from the abomination. It seemed that the skeleton was still mostly immobilized due to how Sunset had damaged it with the hammer, but it was still able to slowly pull itself towards Trixie.

“Sunset… eleton…” Trixie moaned.

“Not her too!” Sunset screamed. She rolled over, crying out again because of the pain in her foot and her burned arm. Then she used her healthy arm and leg to drag herself towards the skeleton, grabbing the sledgehammer with her other hand.

The skeleton had reached Trixie’s legs. The girl was trying to crawl away, but was obviously too weak. The skeleton clawed its fingers into Trixie’s flesh and pulled itself closer towards her. There were still sporadic chunks of meat floating through the air and attaching themselves to the skeleton’s body.

“Leave her alone, you piece of shit!” Sunset growled. The skeleton ignored her. She was going to be too late.

Gritting her teeth against the immense pain she also used her shattered foot to propel herself forward. It was sheer agony, but she managed to close the last bit of distance and could hold on to the skeleton’s legs.

Trixie screamed her name as the skeleton crawled over her. Then her scream became a choked gurgle as the skeleton closed its hands around her throat.

Sunset pushed herself into a kneeling position, groaning from the strain. She tried to lift the hammer, and for a second it seemed that she just didn’t have the strength anymore. Trixie, her face already purple, looked at her pleadingly.

She managed to get the hammer up and brought it down on the skeleton’s shoulder. Bones shattered audibly, but it wouldn’t let go of Trixie’s throat. Sunset lifted the hammer again and hit the skeleton again. This time the impact almost knocked it off of Trixie, but Sunset didn’t stop. Trying to ignore the sickening grating of the shattered bones in her foot she changed her posture so that she could hit the skeleton in a wide arc from the side. This time it fell off Trixie, but immediately came clawing for her again.

“Stay dead, dammit!” She swung the hammer again, smashing the hip. Again, breaking the left arm. Again, smashing in the skull. Again, shattering a few ribs. Again, and again, and again, until her strength finally left her and the hammer fell from her numb hands. She realized she was screaming.

She looked at Trixie. She was breathing heavily, and of course she had a gunshot wound. They needed help. There was simply no way they’d be able to leave the school on their own power.

Maybe Luna had a phone.

Sunset turned around and noticed Luna’s bag. It lay next to the ritual circle, a few yards away. Or rather on the other end of the world. She started crying desperately, wondering how she should manage to return there. Trixie was wheezing next to her, and she knew she didn’t have a choice. She was going to get to that bag somehow.

She rolled around and blacked out. When she came to, she had no idea how much time had passed. Or if Trixie was still alive. She groaned her name.

“Sunset…”

“Don’t die,” she murmured, pushing herself towards Luna’s body. Her stomach was wet from the blood from the stab wound. Her shoulders were aching from the strain of hitting the skeleton with the hammer. In her foot her bones were grinding against each other. She had no strength to scream anymore, and so she only cried silently.

Another push. “Don’t die.”

Sunset blacked out once more before she reached Luna. She reached into Luna’s bag and hit gold—all the phones that had been taken from the clubroom were in there, including Sunset’s own. She dialed 9-1-1—

—when suddenly Luna’s arm shot up and gripped Sunset’s throat. Sunset dropped the phone in surprise. Luna tightened her grip, cutting off Sunset’s air. She was screaming, blood spewing forth from her mouth. Sunset raised her arm and began feebly punching against Luna’s arm, but she didn’t budge.

Someone gasped behind her. Probably Trixie.

Sunset could feel how with every second without air she became weaker and weaker. She couldn’t keep punching Luna’s arm and let hers drop to the ground. It landed in something painful—the knife!

With a gurgling groan Luna sat up and pushed Sunset to the ground. She almost collapsed on her, staring at her from above, dripping blood onto Sunset’s face.

“Will… kill… yooouuu…” she groaned.

Sunset managed to get a hold of the knife’s handle, but she was now rapidly losing what was left of her strength. She raised the knife and jabbed it at Luna’s arm, drawing blood from her wrist, but she kept holding on.

Can you just die already die die die!

Luna kept staring at her, her face a grotesque grimace. With her last ounce of strength she turned the knife and pointed it at Luna’s chest. Luna’s murderous grin only grew wider as Sunset drove the blade upwards. Luna spat fresh blood into Sunset’s face. Her grip loosened, and she slowly fell over to her side. Sunset drew a painful wheezing breath.

“Hello? Can you hear me? Are you still there?” came the voice from the phone lying next to her on the floor. Sunset turned her head towards it, not even bothering to pick it up.

“Please come and help us… we’re on the roof of Canterlot High… my friend’s been shot.”

The operator replied something, but Sunset didn’t hear it. She turned her head to look at Trixie. “Don’t die, you hear? You can’t die on me!”

“I’ll… try…” Trixie whispered, then she broke into a nasty cough.

“Don’t die,” Sunset whispered. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She pushed herself around once more. She had to get to Trixie. Make sure she was okay. Be there for her friend. “Please don’t die.” Trixie didn’t reply anymore.