Arming Up

"Well here it is." Aria said as her and Sonata sat the crate down in the kitchen. It shook violently as something inside tried to get loose. "Just ignore that, it's just Sonata's Axe trying to get loose so it can kill us all."

"Snookums is just happy that mommy is here." Sonata said as if she was talking to a pet while everyone but Aria moved back away from the crate.

"Just be ready to grab that thing as soon as I open the lid." Aria said as she removed the padlocks and took up the position behind it.

As soon as she yanked the lid open Sonata called out, "Come Day Ender! Your Mistress, the Dusk-Bringer, Summons You!"

The battle axe flew out of the crate and into Sonata's waiting hands.

With a smile Sonata kissed the axe before she began playing the half battle axe half bass guitar.

"Cor Blimey! That's Brill!" Pipsqueak yelled from the kitchen door as his accent got thicker with his excitement before yelping as he fell down when the Axe yanked itself out of Sonata's hands and was stopped mere inches from his head. Looking up in shock he saw a man sized furry creature dressed like Toshi holding it back with the blade of a sword before Sonata grabbed it and yanked it back to her.

"No! Bad Day Ender! No Killing Children!" Sonata scolded the battle axe that some how seemed to appear apologetic as it played a small rift on itself. "I don't care if he finds out that magic is real!" It then played an angry rift. "Don't take that tone with me! You no longer belong to THAT necromancer! You're going to apologies to Pip right now and behave yourself or I will put you up and you won't get to be in an awesome epic battle against someone worthy of the Dusk-Bringer and the Day Ender!" It then floated over to where Toshi stood over a scared Pipsqueak and played a rift before floating over to Sonata's back and materializing a strap and slinging itself onto her back. "Much better."

"That thing exudes pure evil, malice, hate, and death." Toshi said as he returned to human form. "Yet you treat it almost killing a child like it was a puppy peeing on the carpet."

"What is even more frightening is it actually listens." Adagio said as she pulled an ornate pair of pistols, a Winchester, and shoulder holsters out of the crate. "At least the rest aren't alive and completely insane, though the people who made them were definitely bat shit crazy." She then set them on the table and removed her jacket before putting on the holsters and the pistols. "Take these beauties, the man might have been a genius to figure out how to give them seemingly unlimited randomly enchanted ammunition, but he also believed he was the reincarnation of a time traveling dog god of bouncing rubber balls named Bob. The best explanation I got on how they work from him in the insane asylum is something about them stealing ammunition from multiple parallel universes. As for random enchanted bullets, I've seen them shoot everything from silver bullets, bullet shaped marshmallows, radioactive molten electrified metal bullets, mint filled chocolate bullets, poison filled glass bullets, and rose colored and scented air. It's the randomness that make them so useful and so frustrating at the same time." With that she put back on her jacket, grabbed the Winchester, and looked over at Aria who was talking to Pipsqueak. "Is he going to be OK or..."

"No, he's good, the axe scared him more than seeing Toshi's true form and he'll keep quiet about it." Aria said.

"She said you're all like super heroes in the comic books and I can't let anyone know who you really are or the bad guys will find out and try to stop you." Pipsqueak said with a big smile.

"And some pirates were heroes as well, like the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Dread Pirate Roberts. They pretended to be bad guys, but were actually good guys." Sonata said as she looked through the crate and pulled out a necklace and a strange metal belt. "Here you go Sunset, a shield necklace that becomes a two foot round unbreakable shield for about an hour per day, so use it sparingly, and a belt that becomes a sword that electrifies so you can use it as a stun gun. Technically the belt isn't a magic item, but one of Presto's inventions. He likes the saying about sufficiently advanced technology and magic looking a lot alike and built several things to prove it."

"Umm... I don't know how to sword fight with hands." Sunset said as she looked at the belt.

"Don't worry, it just takes a little practice for a day or two to get it, like with writing with your hand and not your mouth or magic." Sonata said as she pulled out two knives on a belt and put it on. "We can help you out with that."

"Me and Adagio will do it." Aria said as she brought Pipsqueak over to the crate and began looking through it. "As long as that thing is out of the crate you need to focus on binding it to yourself again so it stays on it's leash before Monday because I'm not trusting it near a school full of emotional teenagers until you do."

"Fine." Sonata said as the axe gave a growling warning rift towards Aria.

"That brings up a question," Sunset said. "We did promise Principle Celestia that we would try to give her a heads up on any magical problems we see coming and she'd turn a blind eye to some things for us." She looked around at the others before blurting out. "Not it!" a second before Adagio and Sonata did.

"Dammit! I guess I'll stop by her house after I drop Pipsqueak off later." Aria grumbled.

"Tell me Mr. Squirm, what are your plans for the future?" Filthy Rich asked the gangly boy in his study.

"I really don't know." Snails said slowly. "I mean I never thought about it before since everyone said I was stupid, but now Sonata has shown me that I am a slow deep thinker and told me to take my time and think long and hard about what I want to do before I make up my mind."

Filthy thought about it for a moment since the kid looked like a slacker, but if Sonata saw something in him it changed everything he thought about the kid. "Hmm... I have had dealings with deep thinkers before and can suggest a few things you may not have thought of like Economist, Management Consultant, Political or Medical Scientist. All of which require long, slow thinking to get it right." With that he wrote the suggestions down on a memo before giving it to Snails while ignoring the dirty looks from Spoiled. "Just a few things for you to look into and see if any of them might be right for you or might lead you towards something else that works for you." He then looked Snails dead in the eyes and said. "And now that I know what type of personality of the person I am dealing with I know not to beat around the bush and just come right out and ask you, 'What are your plans for my little girl?'"

"Umm... Go to the Valentines day dance like she told me to do." Snails said. "She said that if I can wake up more freaked out about being too close to her than she was after we fell asleep at the Dazzlings New Year Eve party then I was a safe friend to take to the dance."

Holding up his hand to stop his wife he asked, "Was Sonata involved with the two of you waking up mere inches from kissing?"

"How did you know that she did that?" Snails asked as Spoiled Rich tried hard not to lose it.

"Let's just say we have had dealings with her jokes in the past." Filthy said with a chuckle before adding. "Go hang out with Diamond Tiara."

After Snails left the room the Rich's both lost it and laughed so hard that tears were running down their faces. Finally Spoiled Rich got control of herself and asked, "So how do we deal with this? Threaten that they will never find the body if he hurts her?"

"Actually I wouldn't since I saw it in his eyes, he hasn't even thought of her that way." Filthy Rich said as he handed his wife a handkerchief.

"Hmm... and here I thought we'd have to worry about some boy to take advantage of her." Spoiled said as she dabbed her eyes.

"More like we'll have to save him from her if anything." Filthy said.

Principle Celestia was reading a book when she heard the door bell. Getting up, she looked out the peephole at on of the Dazzlings, no they were calling themselves the Furies now, fiddling with something on her arm while waiting. Finally she opened the door and looked at Aria and asked, "May I ask what you are doing here?"

"I lost out and get to be the one who tells you about a magical problem." Aria grumbled.

Celestia looked at her for a moment before stepping aside, "Come on in and I'll fix some tea."

A few minutes later they both sat at Celestia's kitchen table while the kettle heated up on the stove. "OK, me and my sisters have been in this world for a thousand years and we have met a few other magical beings in that time, but mostly avoided going and looking for them for the most part since some of them are known to be down right dangerous, even by our standards." Aria said as she sat there looking across the table at Celestia. "Well a few of the ones we're friends with showed up and told us that one of the really dangerous ones is headed this way." Aria then fidgeted a bit before asking, "How much do you know about the Three Terrible Yokai from Japan?"

"I learned about the three most dangerous beings in Japanese mythology when I was an exchange student in Japan. There's the Oni king Shuten Doji, the ghost of Emperor Sutoku, and the Kitsune Tamamo no Mae." Celestia said. "Only two of them are suppose to be dead and Sutoku was suppose to be placated."

"Well that's the thing, we've known Tamamo no Koemi for centuries and she's the little sister of Tamamo no Mae." Aria said getting a gasp from Celestia. "Something happened and Tamamo no Mae is back, found out about CHS, and is coming here."

Celestia sat in stunned silence as the kettle began whistling and Aria got up and made the tea for them. Finally she said, "Your telling me that a 3,500 year old fox demon known for leaving a trail of depravity, death, and destruction is headed this way."

"Yeah and her sister is already here with some friends and we're already pulling out our spare magical items so we can be ready for her, but the problem with her is she is smart." Aria said as she sat a pot of tea on the table for them. "We won't really know what she is up to until she is ready to start, but once we do we'll try to take her down."

"You know what, I actually miss the days when my biggest problem was just kids running in the halls and staff meetings." Celestia said as she added honey and cream to her cup of tea.

"Trust me, I understand, I'd rather be doing anything other than wearing this thing." Aria said as she waved the thing on her arm.

"What is it?" Celestia asked.

"The delivery system for one of the magic weapons." Aria said, "Presto Lulamoon, Trixie's grandfather, actual made a lot of his own props when he was still touring as a stage magician and has several degrees as well as a lot of patents to his name. A few of which were inspired by seeing a wild animal from Equestria and real magic. Any ways, it was either wear this, which is a bitch to get adjusted right, or carry a small working model of scorpion catapult or a miniature medieval crossbow into the school and try to talk that hit man you hired as a history teacher into letting me use it for extra credit."

"What? Northern Spy isn't a hit man, he's a former consultant contractor...." Celestia began only to stop as Aria burst out laughing.

"What do you think a hit man will call himself on his business card?" Aria asked between fits of laughing, "A threat assessment specialist or a cost reduction specialist are also favorites." She couldn't help laughing at it. "Trust me all of them are true in a way because nothing reduces costs and takes care of threats like putting a problem in it's grave."

"But he has resume with real references that check out." Celestia said, "Besides do you really think a hit man would give all of that up just to raise his daughter?"

"Oh the references are real, they just can't tell you any details because of industry secrets and non-disclosure agreements." Aria said as she got a hold of herself. "As for him giving it up for his kid, that's actually nothing new. Hit men come in two flavors, either their complete psychopaths that will be in it until the day they are killed or the type that will eventually grow tiered of it and just quit sooner or later. He's definitely the second type and reached his limit for it and retired. Now he's teaching and dealing with his kid and the best thing you can do is just leave him alone so he can move on."

"I'm responsible for the students in my school and can't..." Celestia started.

"Can't what? Have a person that could disarm a school shooter in seconds with a pencil be a teacher at a high school? Have a teacher who will be able too keep calm when something insane happens at a school that has had two magical incidents already?" Aria nearly shouted as she slapped her hand down on the table causing Celestia to jump. "I'm telling you he's the best you're going to get because a normal person will quit the moment weird things start happening." With a sigh she then then realized what she was doing and said, "Listen, I'm sorry, I know every instinct is telling you to keep him as far away from your students as possible, but weird things will keep happen because your school is sitting on top of a portal to another universe. It's best to have someone who has dealt with bad situations like him around to keep your students safe."

Celestia thought about it for a moment, "Sunset keeps putting off telling me about Equestria and now your telling me that a monster is coming for my school and has magic that has nothing to do with Equestria. Can you at least tell me something more than vague hints, because I'm getting tired of always being in the dark about all this shit?"

"We're a bit in the dark about this as well, but I can tell you what I know." Aria said and then added, "I'll even tell you about Equestria, but I'm not sure how you will handle knowing about one person."

"Is who ever it is someone who will give me nightmares?" She asked, not sure if she really wanted to know.

"No, I don't think hearing about an actual living breathing thousand plus year old sun goddess who has lead her nation into an age of peace and prosperity will give you nightmares, but hearing about her might affect you in another way." Aria told her. "I think Sunset didn't tell you because it will both change your outlook on things and break your heart when you hear about what she had to do to her own sister."

"I think I can handle it then." Celestia said.

"Then the first thing you need to know is Equestria doesn't follow all of the same rules about physics as this universe does and that both the sun and the moon have to be raised by someone there." Aria started. "It use to be that a lot of unicorns like Sunset and Adagio had to raise it, but now the job is done by two goddesses named...."

Rarity sat on her bed looking at the scroll and thinking about everything Lady Duckweed had told her. She had left the final say to Rarity, but had told her that how she would help her get her magic back would be distasteful and that Rarity had to make the decision willingly and on her own. Lady Duckweed had made it very clear that once this started there was no going back or Rarity would most likely suffer horribly for it before dying and the scroll was a magical point of no return.

So now she sat looking at the scroll and knowing that once she untied the ribbon holding it closed and unrolled it she wouldn't be able to turn back. She then looked at the pictures she had laid out next to the scroll and considered each in turn. So far only her dad had come close to understanding since his professional football career had been cut short by a drunk driver and a bad wreck. She loved him to death, but she doubted all of this would 'blow over' by this time next year. Her mother did try, but all she had ever wanted was what she had, a home, a husband, and children and Rarity dreamed of much much more than that.

Then there was the picture of her sister and she felt nothing but anger and betrayal from just thinking about her. Her and her little friends started all of this, brought Kijo down on her, and ruined any chance she had to achieve dream of becoming a fashionista. She would never see a star walking down the red carpet in one of her dresses or design a wedding dress for a celebrity wedding because of what she had done. She would never make the cover of fashion magazines or become the CEO of her own clothing business now because of Sweetie Belle and it infuriated her. Her and her friends had ruined everything and it would take a miracle to salvage anything... Either that or something else.

She once again looked at the scroll and without even looking at the last picture of her former friends she reached out and pick up the scroll. Quickly untying the ribbon she unrolled the scroll and looked at the strange symbols on it as they rearranged themselves in front of her eyes into English. Outside the wind picked up as storm clouds began to roll in at an incredible pace, darkening the room. Yet she could read it perfectly as if it was a bright sunny day and as lightning began lighting up the sky while the heavens poured their watery fury upon the city below she stood up and began casting the spell on the scroll as the thunder matched her every word:

Abandoned and Betrayed
Yet here I stand at the edge of the Abyss.
With a Heart Barren and Bereft of Companions
I call to those Primordial Forces to hear my plea.

All across the city every magic user felt something powerful pulse through the city. Below an old house in some old tunnels, Tamamo no Mae looked up from reading over the reports Bobu had had her servants collect for her on where the plan was and smiled. In the mansion they all felt it and gave a shiver, knowing this was just the beginning.

Broken and Robbed of my Destiny
I cry to the Universe for my Justice.
With no Sacrifice too great
I ask a Dark Blessing be granted.

Twilight tried to turn her equipment off as purple energy arced all around her in the garage before striking her and throwing her towards the door. Only she seemed to just flicker before appearing outside and flying towards the windshield of her brother's parked car and then flickered again before landing in the backseat as Shining Armor and Cadence looked at her in shock. "Spike!" She yelled as she jumped out of the car and ran back into the garage through the pouring rain and grabbed him from the floor as the equipment gave a ominous sound. Turning to run for the door she saw her brother and sister-in-law in the door just before everything was filled with bright purple light that quickly faded into darkness.

From the shattered remains of my Heart's Desire
Torn asunder by Childish Games.
I shall Forge my Armor in the burning flames of My Soul
And Bathed in my Blood and Tears I shall be Reborn.
For if none will mourn for the death of My Dreams
Then a Nightmare shall I become.

Suddenly her whole body erupted in light blue flames that were as cold as ice, yet incinerated her, and her alone, completely in seconds. Yet the flames remained and from those flames stepped Rarity completely nude and feeling more powerful than she had ever felt when she ponied up. The flames quickly swirled around her before becoming clothes and armor just as she stepped in front of her mirror and laughed as she saw the new her.

Finally she calmed down and realized this might be a problem since this new look would be hard to explain to her parents. She then caught a glimpse of the scroll in the mirror and turned to reach out for it when it just glowed blue and floated over to her. Unrolling it she saw there was now a list of powers and instructions on how to turn back to normal. "Hmm... telekinesis will definitely be useful and just saying 'All dreams end when the day begins' to change.... Well that was quick." She said as soon as the flare of light blue light died down and she was back to normal along with her clothes. She had been about to read more when she heard a knock and Sweetie Belle telling her it was time for dinner. "Well maybe later then." She said as she placed the scroll in her nightstand and headed down stairs to dinner.

Dr. Stygian smiled at the rather large and brutish man across the desk from him. "Rest assured sir, I am grateful to your employer for her extremely generous financial contribution and have taken pains in insuring the three patients in question will be on the bus to the Tartarus Maximum Security Mental Institution tomorrow at 8:30 A.M. when it passes the Everfree Juvenile Detention Center's turn off, as per our agreement. I will personally be on board along with Mr. Shadowfright to insure that the guards are of no problem when the bus has a slight mishap. I have also, as per instructions, stock piled all of the equipment she has requested, including the rather unusual ones, in this storage unit at this address." He explained as he slid the sheet of paper across the table to Bobu.

Author's Note

Adagio's Guns, suggestions for strange and silly ammo is welcomed.

Sunset's Shield Necklace.

If you think about it a stage magician like Trixie's grandfather would be inspired to build pseudo-magical items after seeing real magic.

Sonata's knives, what they do is a mystery for now.

Heaven help poor Snails... Just kidding. He's a safe and easy going friend and she likes that about him.

Aria's toy

I almost removed the conversation between Aria and Celestia because it felt off, but then I thought about it and realized it would be off. Just telling principle Celestia that the sirens are a thousand years old and her realizing it in her heart are two different things. In her eyes she sees the children they appear to be. Aria on the other hand is a thousand year old being who is a bit rusty at the whole dealing with mortality and is still having trouble letting go of her 'like I give a shit' attitude that she has used to protect herself through the ages. In a way both of them have come at the conversation with the wrong mindset, but Aria realized it and towards the end is trying to readjust.

Things are about to heat up with Nightmare Rarity, an empowered Sci-Twi, and soon the return of a few of my favorite psychos from Nuclear Option. The Furies and Co. better bring their A game and recruit more people because Tamamo no Mae's plan to reveal magic to the world is looking more like a slaughter for Canterlot.