The Witchblade EqG: The 13 Artifacts

Sugarcoat drove to the “Good ‘Ol Days” Retirement Home, it was a facility that catered to the elderly of Canterlot’s wealthy, which means it had a lot of money to take care of their residents and it also meant that they did everything they could to take care of them, or else. It was Spring Break for Sugarcoat, despite this being the time for teenagers of wealth to leave their homes and hit up the beaches or whatever party tourist hot spot there was. In Surgarcoat’s case, she just went mellow and visited her grandmother.

Plus, most of the things that teens her age did at Spring Break hotspots were just drink, party, go to clubs, see tourist traps, and of course have sex with random strangers. In all honesty, Sugarcoat got enough of the latter back at school among her classmates, so why would she fly to some random place and waste loads of money for what she was doing already at school? It wasn’t like she liked doing that stuff, it was one of the few things she could do to avoid ending up in the same boat as Twilight Sparkle.

Sugarcoat sighed in her car upon mentioning her name. Now that we’re friends…and the social order’s been disturbed, is it really necessary for me to keep doing those things? I mean…it’s not like I like going down on complete strangers! That’s it, I’m done, as of the end of this Spring Break I’m going to stop, no matter what someone asks of me or says about me. If Twilight could put up with everyone’s shit for almost four years, then I can put up with people’s shit for a few months until graduation.

This was the decision that Sugarcoat came to as she parked her car. Once she got out, Sugarcoat made her way through the lobby and entered the hallway, she didn’t need directions, she had made the walk through the facility plenty of times to know where her grandma was. Sugarcoat stopped at the door that had the numbers “302” on it. Sugarcoat knocked at the door and waited for a response.

“Come in,” a kindly voice answered.

Sugarcoat opened the door and smiled upon seeing her grandmother. Her name was Candycoat, her skin was pale pink, with silver hair that matched that of her granddaughter’s, and was done up in a ponytail. Her eyes were the same orchid color of Sugarcoat’s, despite being eighty plus, Candycoat had aged gracefully, even now she was on the floor, sitting in a meditative position as she brought her hands out of a prayer position. She wore white, loose fitting yoga pants, a blue shirt, and a gray shall. Around her wrist was a bracelet, it had a vermillion colored gemstone that was cut in the shape of a heart, it was held in place by a silver outer casing, and the strap was made of weaved brown leather.

“Hello Sugar,” said Candycoat.

“Hi, Grandma,” Sugarcoat replied in a happy tone.

Candycoat looked upon her granddaughter for a moment, Sugarcoat had a good idea of what she was doing. More often than not, the elderly woman had a knack for figuring out how other people were feeling just from a glance, but right now, it seemed as if she was studying Sugarcoat. After a few seconds, Candycoat patted the space next to her and said, “Come sit by your Grandmama.”

Sugarcoat closed the door behind her and placed her purse in an empty armchair. She folded her skirt to make sure that she didn’t accidentally flash her grandma before sitting down next to her.

“You know, you don’t have to waste your time visiting an old bitty like me. This is the last Spring Break of your high school life, you should be out with your friends, partying, and whatnot,” said Candycoat.

Sugarcoat chuckled as she waved off her concern. “I’m perfectly happy visiting you, I get enough drama at high school, I just want to mellow out with you. Plus, I need a break from my ‘friends’.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Something wrong, Grandma?”

“More to the point, isthere something wrong with you?” Candycoat asked.

“N-No…nothing’s wrong,” she replied.

The elderly woman raised in an eyebrow as if saying, “Really?”

Sugarcoat looked away from her grandma, staring at the floor, feeling shame. She hadn’t spoken to her grandma since the incident with Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer. Honestly, she didn’t know how to talk to her about it. Her parents were, to say the least, disappointed by her actions and the part she played in it, but they knew that they had to sweep this under the rug or risk their daughter going to jail and losing the chance to go into law school.

Candycoat reached out and placed her right hand over Sugarcoat’s left, this caused the teenage girl to reflexively look back at her. “Sugar, you know you can talk to me about anything. You’re not the kind of girl to just clam up and not speak your mind.”

“Mostly because it’s a condition that I can’t always control,” said Sugarcoat.

“Maybe so, but to me, it’s the mark of someone who’d rather be honest with those around her than tell a lie, so, be honest.”

Sugarcoat couldn’t help it, her grandma was probably the one person who wouldn’t judge her. “Okay…this is what happened…” From there, Sugarcoat went into detail about what happened over the past couple of weeks. As she told Candycoat everything, Sugarcoat took note of how her grandma’s expression never changed from its neutral state. While she was at it, Sugarcoat even opened up to why she did it, and what she was doing to keep her fellow classmates from doing the same thing to her. When she was done, Sugarcoat realized that she was crying. “I…am a horrible person…I’ve done these things to keep from being picked on…and I helped my so called ‘friends’ do that to a girl who didn’t deserve any of it…I’m horrible…”

Candycoat scooted closer to her granddaughter and gave her a hug, rubbing gentle circles on her back as she said, “Sugar, are you sorry for what you did?”

“Yes…I really am…” Sugarcoat replied without hesitance.

“You saved that girl from getting seriously hurt, and you became friends, that’s a step in the right direction. Now, this whole sleeping with most of your classmates thing, I won’t say I approve, but I would appreciate it if you stopped it,” said Candycoat.

“I will,” Sugarcoat sniffled. “I’m done with it all, I just want to make things right with Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, I want to be a better person.”

Candycoat smiled upon hearing this, she separated herself from her granddaughter and held up her right hand. “Do you know what this is?”

“That’s your bracelet, you said it’s an heirloom that’s been passed down through our family,” said Sugarcoat.

Candycoat nodded. “It was given to me by my mother, passed down to the women of our family from one generation to the next. I had planned to give this to you when I passed on, but I think you need it now more than I do. Put your hand on the stone, sweetie.”

Sugarcoat placed her hand on the stone as instructed, the moment she did her vision changed. Around her grandma was an aura of blue, violet, and a tinge of gray. Sugarcoat looked at herself and saw colors coming off her own body as well, red, purple, and yellow. “W-What’s going on?!”

“Do you see something, dear?”

“Y-Yes! I see colors around you, and me!”

Candycoat nodded. “That’s not all you’ll see.”

As if on cue, a ghostly image appeared next to her. It was that of an old man in overalls, with a beat-up old hat. His skin was tan, with gray hair and a beard to match, his kindly eyes fell on Sugarcoat and he gave a little wave. This made the teen jump a bit, removing her hand from the bracelet, upon doing so the ghostly old man and the colors disappeared.

“W-What’s going on?! H-How was I able to see that?!” Sugarcoat asked.

Candycoat chuckled as she pointed to the bracelet. “This is called the Heart Stone, ‘til this day, no one in the family knows where it came from. But what I do know, is that it grants you certain powers. One of those powers is the ability to read the auras of the people around you. The other is to see the spirits of the departed.”

Sugarcoat paused, she thought about the ghostly old man she just saw and asked, “That man who was standing next to you…you’re saying he’s a ghost?!”

“That so hard to believe, Sugar? Considering that we just had ourselves a little war between demons and angels going on here in the city.”

The teenager had to admit, to question such things now would be the height of ignorance. “Okay, so who’s that man?”

“That’s Mr. Greenhoof.”

“WHAT?!” Sugarcoat yelled. “H-H-He’s dead! When did that happen?!”

Candycoat took her granddaughter’s hand and put it back on the stone. “He died a few days ago.”

“No need to worry my dear, it was peaceful and painless while I was sleeping. Best way to go if you ask me,” said Mr. Greenhoof.

“Okay…so…why are you here?” Sugarcoat asked.

Candycoat sighed. “Cause this stubborn old fool doesn’t want me to be alone right now.”

Sugarcoat raised her eyebrow in suspicion, “What do you mean by that?”

“Listen to me, Sugar. The colors of the auras will tell you everything about the person in front of you. Red is the color of anger, orange is the color of greed and envy, green is the color of courage and bravery, blue is the color of happiness and hope, purple is the color of compassion and kindness, and violet is the color of love.” Candycoat’s expression became a bit more serious. “Now pay attention, the shades of the auras also tell you more about how strongly they’re feeling that emotion. If the negative emotions are darker in shade, it means they’re feeling that emotion stronger, the opposite for the positive, if they’re brighter than they’re feeling them even more. But there are two that are just as – if not more important.”

It was here that Sugarcoat became worried.

“If the color is black, then you need to get as far away from that person as possible. Black is the color of death, if someone has this color about them, it means that they’ve killed or want to kill. And the gray color…it means that someone is close to dying.”

Sugarcoat’s heart fell upon hearing this because she could see the gray tints in Candycoat’s aura. “N-No…No you’re lying about that last one! If that’s true, then that means–!”

“Yes, my time’s almost up. I’ve used this to help as many people as I could in my life, this stone has other abilities, and I’ll give you my journal that catalogs everything I’ve learned.”

Sugarcoat ripped her hand away and glared at her grandma with fresh tears streaming down her face. “I don’t give a damn about that stupid thing! Why do you sound like you’re just accepting this?!” Sugarcoat reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out her cellphone. “I’m calling Dad and we’re taking you to the hospital so they can find out what’s wrong with you! You’re not dying on me now!”

Candycoat gently placed her hands over Sugarcoat’s cellphone, stopping her granddaughter from calling her son. “Shh, Sugar, it’s alright. To be honest, I’m actually older than you think. I’m not eighty-six, I’m really a hundred and six years old.”

Sugarcoat dropped her cellphone and stared at her grandma with her mouth agape. “W-What?! How?!”

“The Heart Stone gives me some longevity, but even it can’t stave off death forever, my body just can’t keep up anymore. And I’ve lived a long and happy life, now it’s time for me to pass this along to someone who can get much better use out of it.”

Sugarcoat continued to cry as she shook from her sobs. “B-But I d-don’t want you to d-d-die…”

Candycoat removed the bracelet from her wrist and carefully slipped it over Sugarcoat’s left wrist. “We all have to go some time, it’s natural, it’s the cycle of life at work. I’m not afraid, I know where I’m going, and Mr. Greenhoof will be here to watch over me when I do go. And with this,” Candycoat pointed at the Heart Stone, “I’ll be able to talk to you any time, or if you ever need someone to talk to, just call on me.”

Sugarcoat didn’t like this at all, she didn’t want her grandma to die, she loved her, and was probably one of the few people in her life that cared deeply for her. Her mother and father did love her, but they weren’t always there for her as busy as they were, they expected her to be independent, and she was, but sometimes it got lonely.

“I promise you; this will help you on your way to becoming a better person. Have I ever steered you wrong before?” Candycoat asked with a smile.

Even though she was sad, Sugarcoat couldn’t help but smile, it was true, her grandma had never steered her wrong before, so why start now?

“I love you, Grandma,” said Sugarcoat as she hugged Candycoat.

“I love you too, my little Sugar,” replied Candycoat.

Hell, it was an awful place. A dimension where demons reigned and the souls of the damned were sent to spend eternity in agony for their misdeeds in their life. There were nine circles in hell, surprisingly enough, the story “The Divine Comedy”, although accurate to some degree, didn’t do this place justice. It was worse. Within this hellish realm roamed a woman who looked of middle eastern descent, her coat was white as snow, she wore a black body suit that hugged her form, and around her waist was a silver belt with pouches filled with different items. Her skin was a bright scarlet color, her hair was artic blue with highlights of turquoise, and her eyes were a grayish violet.

Around her neck was a necklace, and upon this necklace, resting just below her collarbone, was a cross. It was silver and had two horizontal bars going through it instead of the traditional one. What made this person different from the rest of the denizens of this godforsaken realm, was that she was not dead, no, she was very much alive. She made her way to the seventh circle of hell, Violence, within this circle there were three levels, each one divided up depending upon the nature of that violence.

The first was reserved for those who committed violence against others or property. It was here that the mighty and terrible Phlegethon river flowed, a wide river of liquid fire where the violent were forced to burn under its waters. The mysterious woman walked along the shore of the river, peering into the flames to see the unfortunate souls that were forced to swim these rivers. Many of the souls clawed, bit, and punched others that tried to get in their way, trying desperately to reach the shore and pull themselves out of the burning river. However, it was a futile effort, for the constant battling between them prevented even one of them from reaching the shore. Even if they did, she could see in the distance that there were demons waiting for them, either they’d torture the soul that managed to get out or throw it back in like a fish.

One soul caught her eye though, she was a young girl, a teenager. Her skin was a pale orchid, with brown eyes, and violet curly hair. The traverser of Hell watched this young girl, her bare soul – literally, every soul there was without clothing – was fighting with a berserker’s rage as she gouged eyes, ripped out throats, and broke the necks of every single soul that tried to get in her way. But for each one that she managed to get out of her way, two more would come up in their place. The pain was unimaginable for these souls, constantly burning and feeling the flames on such a deep level that the brain couldn’t even begin to translate through a human nervous system, but still she pressed on, she continued despite getting her arms broken and her stomach ripped open. The sadistic part was that all the damage that was dealt to them would regenerate in a matter of seconds, forcing an endless battle and endless pain. The roar of the flaming river was only matched by the screams of the damned in the waters, but even among the screams, she could hear that girl’s voice.

“I WON’T STAY HERE! I’LL GET OUT OF HERE! I’LL GET THAT FUCKING WHORE, RARITY!!! AND THAT BITCH SUNSET, TOO!!! I’LL KILL THEM BOTH, I’LL SKIN THOSE FUCKING CUNTS ALIVE AND MAKE THEM WATCH ME SEW THEIR SKIN INTO A FUCKING DRESS FOR MYSELF!!! DO YOU HEAR ME???!!! I’LL COME FOR YOU, SURI – FUCKING – POLOMARE IS COMING FOR YOU BOTH!!!!!!”

The traverser didn’t know who this Sunset and Rarity were, but for their sakes, it was a good thing that this young woman was trapped in this burning prison. The mysterious woman approached a macabre gate made of the brimstone of this world, and once through it she entered the middle ring, a place lovingly called the Suicide Forest. It was here that those who committed the sin of suicide resided, the “sky” was crimson red, the ground was gray and lifeless. The trees themselves were the only living things here, but these were not ordinary trees, oh no, for you see, this vast, almost never ending forest, every single tree that inhabited this landscape was created from the body of a person who committed suicide.

And it seemed that she was in time for one to be planted. Two demons walked past her, there was a silver aura around the woman, which resonated with the cross on her chest. This aura not only made her immune to the harsh conditions of Hell, but also allowed her to remain unseen by the demons that dwelled here, as well as the souls of the damned. Her cross seemed to pulse when they walked by, more specifically, for the person whom they were dragging.

She was also a teenage girl, from the looks of it, she was eighteen years old. Her skin was porcelain white, pale pink hair with white highlights, and violet colored eyes. She looked like a supermodel, or at least she could’ve been one if she was still alive, her once-upon-a-time flawless skin, was now marred by scratches and dirt as the demons literally dragged her body across the unforgiving ground. The demons were large, about eight feet tall, gray furred with their lower halves appearing more lupine. They wore black loincloths that were held in place by a chain belt, and upon their faces were masks made from the skulls of rams. The eye holes were dark as night, with only red dots for eyes, upon their chests were glowing upside-down pentagrams that looked as if they were carved into their flesh.

One demon dragged the young girl by the arm, she tried to resist them, tried to break away, but her efforts were for not, in Hell, a human soul had no power here, unless you possessed a powerful item, or were of divinity, there was no way to go against the demons, or their master. The second demon was hauling a wagon filled with infernal tools for their dark deed. The two demons stopped, they looked at each other and wordlessly agreed that this was a good spot. The traverser looked at the surrounding trees, you could still make out the human bodies that made them, they appeared as though the tree itself molded around them to make a perfect cast of their body, but, in reality, the tree was grown from their body, over the years, their flesh would turn to wood.

The trees bared no fruit or leaves, what they did have were veins, red veins that ran up and along the branches. These trees fed on the blood of the person whom they grew from, pulling it from their bodies very slowly, pulling their individual veins and stretching them through the trunk, roots, and branches. It was agonizing, but what was worse, was that they felt pain through the tree itself, and flying overhead were the creatures that fed on these trees, harpies. The traverser watched as one of them landed on a tree, digging its talons into the tree and forcing the person who was attached to it to scream in pain, the harpy broke off a branch, causing it to bleed as she ate the branch, gnashing it with her razor sharp teeth.

“LET ME GO! LET ME GO!” she screamed.

The demons paid her no mind. Why should they? They were demons after all. The second demon took out a shovel from the wagon and dug a shallow hole, just deep enough to get her ankles in there. The first demon threw the girl near the hole, he stomped over and picked her up by the waist, digging his black claws into her flesh as he did so. He placed her in the hole while the second demon covered it with the soil. Despite the shallowness of the hole, when the girl tried to move her feet, it was as if they were anchored in concrete. The second demon took a seed from a cloth sack and brought it to the girl.

“Swallow,” it commanded.

“N-NO!” she replied.

The demon grunted and went back to the cart, it came back with a sharp knife and plunged it into her stomach, causing the teen to spit up blood. The second demon shoved its fingers into her wound and released the seed, when it took its fingers the wound closed as if nothing had happened. The first demon released the girl and both demons took a step back. The girl suddenly felt pain throughout her body, her limbs were getting stiff as she found both of her arms rising upwards and fanning out against her will. Her flesh began to tear as vines burst from her arms, back, sides, and legs, painting the ground around her red with blood.

The traverser had seen his more times than she’d liked to admit, and it never was any easier to see. The look of pure agony on the face of that soul as they felt the vines grow inside their bodies and tear their way out as they grew. The vines weaved together, eventually morphing into bark, the girl’s body was raised up thanks to the new growth beneath her, and now she was at the center of a new tree. The parts of her flesh that tore had melded seamlessly into the bark, and eventually, that bark would overtake the rest of her flesh, but until then only her head, parts of her arms and legs, and torso would remain flesh and bone. The demons nodded, done with their work, they departed.

The traverser waited a few minutes to make sure they were gone, once she was sure, she walked up to the newly made tree, she changed the cloaking to allow souls to see her, and once she did, the girl noticed her.

“Are you…Are you going to hurt me too…?”

“No, child, I am not.”

“Where am I…? What is this horrible place and what have they done to me…?”she asked with tears in her eyes.

“Child, this is Hell. This is the Suicide Forest, tell me, what is your name, do you remember what you last did?”

The girl thought for a moment and then spoke, “My…My name is…is Fleur de Lis…I lived in Canterlot City…I was…I was in jail or something like jail…I…” Fleur’s eyes went wide as the memories rushed back to her at once. “Oh god…I let myself get possessed by a monster…I killed so many people and I didn’t care…no one cared about me, only what I could give them…my body, my status, my looks…that’s all I was worth…and when I was in prison, no one visited me, not my parents, nobody…I was alone. I just didn’t want to be there anymore…no more…”

The traverser got closer to Fleur and gently wiped her tears. “I’m sorry, it seems as if you were deprived of the kindness and love that is the right of all living things. People only saw you as an object, and not a person, and that left you hollow inside. Made you easy prey for a demonic creature to take you and do with you what they willed. Complacent though you were, had you not been subjected to such treatment, this tragedy would not have come about.”

Fleur’s eyes grew wider upon hearing the woman’s words. “How…How do you know that about me?”

The traverser’s eyes flashed silver for a second. “I can see the true nature of things, and at your core, you are not evil, just denied a chance. And that’s something that you shouldn’t be punished for dear child.”

The mysterious woman took a step back, she placed her hands into a prayer position, and upon doing so a silver light began to glow between her hands. This glow did not go unnoticed, as the many damned souls that were turned into trees looked upon this light with reverence and joy. When the traverser separated her hands, she revealed a glowing orb of silver light, she shifted this orb to her right hand and held it.

“What’s that…?”

“Hope. Hope is the core of faith, hope is the light in the darkness, hope brings joy to the joyless. It is through hope that all can be set free.”

The traverser stood before Fleur and pressed the silver orb against the teen’s chest. The orb phased into her body and its effects were immediate, Fleur took in a deep breath as if she had been deprived of air. The tree glowed silver and from it Fleur’s body was separated, allowing the tree to shrivel up and die. Fleur’s body was then clothed in silver light, and above her was a portal of bright light, the divine light, the light of Heaven.

Fleur looked upon the woman as tears of joy flowed down her face. She floated over to her and hugged the mysterious woman tight. “Did you just set me free?”

The traverser hugged her back and said, “Indeed I did, now go, you needn’t linger here any longer.”

Fleur released the woman and began to ascend towards the light but stopped and looked back down. “Wait, I don’t know your name! Please tell me your name!”

“Somnambula, that is my name.”

“Thank you! Thank you, Somnambula!”

With those words spoken, Fleur was whisked up into the portal of light, freed from Hell. This was the power of her item, her Artifact, the power of the Rapture. The power to traverse the depths of Hell itself, and the power to grant hope to the hopeless within this realm, and in doing so, allow them to be set free and enter the lofty heavens above. Not all were worthy of this gift, Somnambula chose wisely, only those whose circumstances didn’t allow them to make the right choices, or who had lost all hope.

“Canterlot City…” Somnambula whispered. “That city has been a nexus point of all things supernatural lately.” The traverser of Hell walked off in a random direction, as she did, the silver aura around her body began to grow in intensity, transforming her body into a vapor-like state that began to breakdown with each passing second. “Perhaps it is time I paid this city a visit and find out what drove that young girl to such an extreme.”

With those last words, Somnambula exited the realm of Hell, her next destination, Canterlot City.