The Witchblade EqG: The 13 Artifacts

“So, let me get this straight…you were doing a patrol flyby, when you sensed Twilight’s life force being snuffed out. When you did, you immediately descended – hence the burn hole in the roof – and used your powers to heal her before she could succumb to her injuries, that about sum it up?” Shining Armor asked.

“Yes, detectives, everything is as I have stated,” said Ember.

Sunset Shimmer, or rather, Ember, was standing in the middle of the girls’ bathroom, a large crowd had gathered around the outside, made up of faculty, students, and police officers, the latter keeping the rest back from the crime scene. Cadence was sitting next to Twilight, who was draped in a blanket, both because her clothes were evidence and had to be removed, and to cover her up until a teacher that Cadence trusted could go and grab her gym uniform to wear in the meantime. Shining Armor, along with his partner, Spearhead Thrust, were writing down Ember’s statement as she gave it, along with Cadence recounting of what happened when she heard the commotion. And Principal Cinch was standing at the doorway as well, much to the annoyance of all in the room.

“And, Dean Cadenza, you attest that you screamed when you saw Twilight’s condition and immediately called 911 and issued a school wide lockdown, correct?” Spearhead asked.

Cadence nodded. “That is correct, I’m not sure if the culprit is still inside the school or not, but if they are, I doubt that it’d be easy for them to hide considering…” Cadence let the evidence in the restroom speak for itself, there was no way the culprit who did this could walk away and not get splattered in blood.

Spearhead looked to Shining and Shining to Spearhead.

“Well, I think that flies, don’t you Detective Spearhead?” Shining asked.

“No doubt, clear case of extenuating circumstances, thank you for your help, Ember,” said Spearhead.

“No problem, although, I’d like to find out who or what did this to her, depending on the nature of this attack, it might require my or Witchblade’s involvement.”

The two officers agreed and set to speak to Twilight. Despite the entirety of this situation, she seemed calm, if anything, she was still amazed by the information that Sunset had told her. She never used her powers to heal me…so…why did I heal? How am I alive?

“Twilight,” Shining spoke, gaining the young teen’s attention. “I know it might be painful, but I need you to remember what happened, do you know who it was that attacked you?”

Twilight glanced between her brother, his partner, Cadence, Ember/Sunset, and then there was the crowd on the other side of the bathroom door, and the worried Principal Cinch. There was no easy way of explaining this, no way not to cause a scene, the moment she spoke her name the rumor mills of CPA would start to whisper, and many things would hit the fan. However, maybe it was a good thing that this happened, perhaps it was time that Crystal Prep got turned on its head?

“Yes, I know who it was that tried to kill me. Her name is Lemon Zest.” The moment she uttered that name, Ember’s flames intensified, causing the room temperature to spike for a moment. After a quick apology and temperature decrease, Twilight continued. “She accused me of being happy that Indigo Zap, another student here at Crystal Prep, was dead. And, for the record, I am glad that she is.”

Shining Armor and Cadence shared a glance, which then shifted ever so slightly to an even more nervous Abacus Cinch.

“Twilight, why are you glad about something like that?” Cadence asked rhetorically.

“Because Indigo Zap has been molesting and raping me for the past four years here at Crystal Prep!” As expected, several students on the other side of the door gasped and began speaking amongst themselves. “I know that Indigo died a couple of days ago in an incident at Equestria Land, and Lemon Zest was a good friend of hers, her best friend. Indigo Zap has been stalking me and making me perform sexual acts on her against my will!”

It wasn’t hard to act like this was the first time they’d heard about this, just hearing it again was making both Cadence and Shining Armor’s blood boil. Spearhead’s reaction was more genuine, his brow furrowing and hands tightening around his notepad. He and Shining Armor had been friends since the academy, and Twilight had often been introduced to him, so much so that Spearhead considered Twilight like a sister, so to hear that she had been going through something like this the whole time.

“Twilight, why didn’t you tell someone that this was happening?” Spearhead asked.

Twilight hugged herself. “Because I was already getting enough abuse from the rest of this school…I didn’t want to burden Cadence, my parents, or Shining Armor about it. My Mom and Dad worked too hard to send us both here, and I didn’t want to have them waste their money on me like that. So…I decided to suffer through it, just trying to get through this last year without any incidents.”

Cadence hugged Twilight close to her and spoke softly, “You are never a burden to us, Ladybug.”

Shining Armor rested a hand on his sister’s shoulder and added, “It’s a big brother’s job to look after his little sister, that’s never something that’s a bother.”

Ember fidgeted in place, no doubt wanting to add her own words of encouragement or at the least embrace Twilight, but they had to keep up appearances for the time being.

“For now, let’s get you home, you don’t need to be here,” said Cadence.

“Aaaaaand that’s my cue to leave! Let me know if you need any help, officers!” Ember stated quickly before shooting up through the hole in the roof.

Twilight was led out of the bathroom by Dean Cadence, meanwhile, Shining Armor and Spearhead decided to speak with Principal Cinch on the matter. Shining Armor knew that Cinch probably suspected that Cadence told him about what had been happening to Twilight, so instead of letting the woman try and weasel her way out of this by saying he was being biased due to how close this was to his home, the older brother decided to let his partner do most of the talking.

“Principal Cinch,” Spearhead began.

“Officers, may we change the venue of this discussion? I’d rather…” Cinch glanced at the gory scene on the bathroom floor and then back to the officers, “…not talk in a restroom, or one that’s covered in blood.”

With a nod from Spearhead, Principal Cinch walked the two detectives back to her office. It was just as Shining Armor remembered it, not to say that the times he did go see the Principal was for bad behavior, if anything, it was for praise and recommendations to positions to the Police Academy. Now, though, it was an irritating place to be, and after seeing the trophy case, it made Shining wonder how many other students were made to suffer to get these prestigious awards, trophies, certificates, and medals?

“Twilight laid out some very serious accusations, Principal Cinch, I don’t mind saying that this is not a good look for you, or for your school, care to comment on what Twilight meant by her being abused by the students at your school?” Spearhead asked.

“Obviously, Ms. Sparkle is quite traumatized by her ordeal. Perhaps she is just equivocating some light hazing from our students as something more. It’s understandable, given what she just went through,” said Abacus Cinch.

“Have you had any complaints in regards to this, Indigo Zap, in the past?” Spearhead questioned further.

Cinch sat behind her desk and weaved her hands together. “Indigo is – sorry – was our star athlete. She was captain of every one of our girls’ sports teams and was slated for Crystal Prep’s Friendship Games team this year…until her untimely death a couple of days ago. It’s no surprise that there are some students who did not like her, she was one of our more popular students. Some animosity and jealousy are to be expected of others.”

“Still…” Spearhead approached the desk and crossed his arms. “Accusing someone of rape is a very serious thing to say, and Twilight Sparkle is not the kind of girl to just throw out such accusations without a reason. Has she come to you about or alerted any of the faculty to being subjected to such abuse?”

“No, she hasn’t, this is the first I’ve heard of such a thing!” Cinch stated in a “distraught” tone. “Officers, believe me, if such a thing were going on in my school, I’d have called the police myself and have Indigo Zap arrested for harming another student in such a manner!”

There was a thump that came from one of the walls where Shining Armor was leaning up against, drawing their attention for a moment. The blue haired detective chuckled a little, “Sorry, thought I saw a bug or something.”

“Okay…Anyway, we’ll be needing any information you have on this Lemon Zest, her address, parents phone numbers, and any records you have on her, as well as whatever information you have on Indigo Zap,” said Spearhead.

“I’d be glad to help, I can have my secretary pull up the records for Ms. Zest, but I will need permission from the Zap family to release her records,” said Cinch. “Although that could be a while since their daughter just died, and they might not like that someone is accusing their daughter of being a rapist.”

“We’ll get a subpoena if necessary, but we’d appreciate the information on Ms. Zest,” said Spearhead.

The two detectives began to take their leave, but Shining Armor, before exiting the room, gave a glance over his shoulder, glaring directly at the Principal of the school before smiling smugly. He then closed the door and left Cinch on her own. Now that she was alone, the Principal of Crystal Prep began to go into full on stress mode as she ran her hands through her mulberry hair. This could not get any worse for her.

First Sour Sweet ends up in the hospital, which wasn’t so bad as she was slated to return soon before the games started. But now she had lost Indigo Zap, their second ace in the hole for the physical parts of the Games, and then there was Lemon Zest, she had her strengths in academics, trivia, and a bit of chemical science, her promiscuous, party lifestyle aside, she was still a high-grade student. But now she goes and has a mental breakdown and attempts to murder Twilight, TWILIGHT, their true ace in the hole, their trump card against any potential intellectuals that may appear in Canterlot High School’s team. So far, Cinch had lost at least two of her seven strongest competitors, and she might potentially lose Twilight and Sour Sweet if it turns out she’s not completely physically fit to compete in the games.

How is this all going so wrong?! And not only this, but when Sunset Shimmer finds out……! Cinch didn’t know what the teen rich girl could do, she hated to admit it, but despite everything the other families who sent their kids here had as far as influence, when she looked at Sunset Shimmer, Cinch felt more fear from her than any of those parents. She didn’t know what Sunset had backing up her stature. Power? Abundantly, obscene amounts of money? Political clout higher than just what was in this city? Ties to organized crime?

The true terror lied in how the teenage girl showed no fear when facing down her elders who had higher authority. Sunset had brazenly talked down to Cinch as if she was a common worker drone in some company. That girl had no fear when it came to authority figures, had the physical strength to take down the star athlete of their school, and the intellectual acuity to match their resident certified genius. Sunset Shimmer was a real threat to her and everything that she had, but that would only come about depending on how Twilight Sparkle recounted everything to her later.

The ride home was very silent. Once Sunset had returned in her normal form, Cadence had asked for her to take Twilight back to their home, and that both were excused for the rest of the day. Cadence had assured them that she’d contact Twilight’s parents about the incident at school.

Twilight was still trying to wrap her head around what had happened to her, she was stabbed to death, she remembered the horrendous pain she was in, the taste of her blood as it filled her mouth, all of it. And yet, here she was, alive and well if she was being honest, she felt better than ever. Her eyes felt sharper, she was picking up details that she couldn’t have before with her glasses on. Colors were more vivid, sharper, and cleaner, it was as if an HD filter had been placed on her eyes and the world was coming in clear like the graphics on a high-end gaming computer.

When Twilight would glance over to Sunset, she found her girlfriend with a serious, intense look upon her face. No doubt Sunset was trying to figure out what her next course of action was going to be, part of Twilight wanted to tell Sunset to not go and kill Lemon Zest, but to just bring her to the police and let the justice system take care of the rest. But there was another part of her that wanted to just hold her tongue and let Sunset go out and dispense her brand of justice onto Lemon.

“Sunset…? Are you alright? You haven’t said anything since we left the school,” said Twilight.

She was met with silence.

“If you’re worried about me, I’m fine, honestly, no wounds or anything! I feel really great as strange as that sounds…” Twilight looked down at her right hand as if it held the answers she sought. “I still don’t understand how I came back. Are you sure you didn’t use your powers to help me?”

Sunset sighed heavily and said, “Yes, Sparky, I am sure. Right now, I’m worried about something else that might be the cause of why what happened to you happened. I’ll deal with Lemon Zest after I’ve figured out what I need to do. I’ll also need to talk to Sis later to find out what she thinks.”

For some reason, Twilight felt as if she was in trouble, even though her girlfriend wasn’t saying anything specific. In fact, it was because of her lack of specifics that made Twilight believe that there was something serious going on, enough for Twilight to probably panic. But then again, this feeling of “healthiness”, for lack of a better word, it didn’t feel like something that she should be worried about.

Eventually they returned to Shimmer Manor and entered the house, Sunset had asked Twilight to go and wait in her room while she looked into something, to which Twilight nodded in agreement. They were greeted by Spike, who, upon seeing his master, looked upon her with concern, yet another sign that didn’t fill Twilight with much confidence. Dogs had senses that could alert them to certain diseases within human bodies just by smell alone, so perhaps he was catching a disconcerting scent from Twilight that made him worry for her.

Twilight made it to her room and sat on the bed, allowing Spike to jump up and rest on her lap as she petted him gently with her right hand. With her left hand, Twilight rubbed over her chest where she had been stabbed repeatedly. The fresh memories of that event flashed in her mind, remembering the manic face of Lemon Zest as she raised the knife and plunged into her body over, and over again. She began to tremble as a panic attack threatened to rear its head, but Spike, sensing his owner’s unease, raised his head and licked Twilight on the cheek.

The teen genius hugged her little canine companion, his soft fur and worry over her wellbeing allowed her panic to subside. “I thought I was done with being afraid, Spike……but now I’m more afraid than ever…” Twilight confessed as she began to cry. “Lemon Zest almost killed me…I’ve never had anyone look at me with such hate in their eyes…I…I could feel her hatred with each stab…!”

Spike whimpered and licked her cheek again, then he nuzzled her gently, trying to comfort her the best he could.

“Why…? What did I do to deserve the ire of everyone in that school?! What did I do to draw the attention of such a despicable person as Indigo Zap?! It’s not fair…!” Twilight cried. “All I wanted to do was further my knowledge, improve my skills, get a good education, and go on to become a prominent member of the scientific community!”

Twilight gently removed Spike from her hug and placed him on the bed as she got up and started to pace around the room. “So why is that such a bad thing?! Why does being smarter than most people a crime?! It’s not as if I wanted to be born a genius! But then what else am I supposed to do?! Why should I not improve my abilities to help mankind! My mind can only help to make the world a better place to live for them and everyone, it’s as if they can’t or refuse to look past the petty world of high school, instead of looking to the future!”

The teen genius’ emotions were shifting from sorrow to anger as years of abuse and now the attempt on her life began to boil over. “I don’t deserve to be treated this way! I just want to live my life! I want to go to a good university and use my talents to help people! I want to…to…marry Sunset and start a family with her! But no, apparently, I’m not allowed to have ANY OF THAT!”

Without really thinking, Twilight threw a punch right at the closest thing she could hit, which in this case was her wall. Her fist broke through the wood and drywall and ended up on the other side. Twilight gasped at what she did, she wasn’t strong, she wasn’t that strong, ever. She was a skinny thing, no muscle, unlike both Sunsets, whom she knew full well could punch through a wall even without their enhanced abilities. Slowly, Twilight withdrew half her arm from the wall, there was some obvious scratches on her arm and hands, but she didn’t feel any pain. However, her nerves did send singles to her that her skin was breached, but the pain that should accompany that feeling did not occur.

Just as before, the damage to her body was healed as green light shined from the wounds, the bulk of the light was concentrated around her hand, which made sense since that was the first thing to hit the wall. After a couple of seconds, the damage was undone, and Twilight was free to flex her fingers. “What…? Okay, so it really wasn’t Sunset who healed me…” Twilight shook her head. “Calm down, Twilight, just focus on something else! A book! That’s it a book!”

Twilight went over to the bookshelf, she scanned the rows and found the book she wanted, but it was on the top shelf. The teen genius began to reach for the book, her hysteric mindset made her ignore the fact that there was a footstool not two feet away. “Oh c’mon, ugh, sometimes I wish I was as tall as Sunset.”

Not long after saying that, she was able to reach up and grab the book she wanted. “Ha!” Twilight exclaimed as she managed to take the book into her hands. However, something was off. When she looked straight ahead at the row in front of her, the books listed weren’t the ones she was looking at a moment ago. “Quantum Physics and You’? ‘The Wonderful World of Chemical Engineering’? Wait, why are these on the fiction shelf? They should be in the nonfiction shelf!”

Twilight’s mild OCD was about to kick her in the rear for overlooking something so simple. But when Twilight took a step back, she realized that the books were in their correct shelf, the lavender girl took a step forward and realized what had happened, and it shocked her. When she walked up to the bookshelf, she was on eye level with the fiction shelf, which mostly contained the Daring Do series, the top shelf above that had her scientific books, while the top had her astronomy books, but for some reason she was eye level with the shelf that held the scientific books now. Twilight rushed to the standing mirror that was in her closet, and when she did, another gasp escaped her lips.

“I’m taller…!” Twilight whispered. It was true, her legs were a little longer, to anyone else it wouldn’t be that noticeable, but for Twilight, who was a detailed oriented girl, the change was apparent. “H-How?! Did I have a sudden growth spurt?!” Twilight held her head as she tried to think. “Stay calm, Twilight, just stay calm! There’s a perfectly logical explanation as to how you just gained a foot of height in less than a few seconds!”

Twilight looked at herself in the mirror again, taking a moment to try and accept this change. After a moment, she thought it was fine, at least now she would be able to look at Sunset on eye level instead of looking up at her.

“T-This is okay, yeah, yeah I can live with this. I mean, it’s not as if my breasts went up an extra cup size.” Twilight looked at her smallish breasts, feeling a little self-conscious about their size. Even though Sunset liked them just as they were. “Although it probably wouldn’t be too bad for that to happen, I mean, I’d like Sunset to have something more to grab onto then just my-my-my WHAAAAT THE??!!!”

As if on cue, a dim green glow focused on Twilight’s breasts, both of her dirty pillows swelled a bit more, growing bigger until the light finally faded. Twilight immediately discarded her shirt, feeling that her bra had become a bit tighter than it used to be. Once she managed to detach the bra, she gave a sigh of relief now that they weren’t being constricted, but that was only part of the worry. Twilight looked at herself in the mirror again, and without a doubt, her breasts had become bigger, at least a c-cup. The teen genius gently cupped both of her mammaries and gave them a light squeeze, they still maintained the same softness as her previous cup size, so this wasn’t due to fluid buildup.

Oh, who are you kidding, Sparkle?! Fluid wouldn’t build up this quickly even if you were sick! But how did this happen? She only thought about wanting her bust size to increase a moment ago and……It can’t be that simple…can it? Deciding to try, Twilight thought about her previous size and desired that her breasts return to that size. As if her body understood her command, the green glow appeared again, and her bust size returned to normal. I don’t normally like to curse but…HOLY SHIT!

Twilight used the same process with her height, and like with her chest, the dim green light appeared over her legs, and in less than a few seconds she was back to her original height. Twilight decided to get a little more creative, she removed the rest of her clothing to avoid them ripping or causing uncomfortable squeezing and created a mental image of her ideal body. Within seconds her body glowed, and Twilight was granted what she envisioned. Her hips were wider, granting her an hourglass frame like that of Fluttershy, tall slender legs like that of Rarity’s, a thicker rear, with breasts to match, and just a bit of muscle to not make her look too scrawny, with just a healthy amount of fat to make herself not too bulky either.

“Oh…my…god…” Twilight gasped as she looked down at herself.

Twilight had secretly wanted a body like this, she hated feeling self-conscious about her body, and tried not to let such things bother her. But there was always that little part of herself that was just a bit vain that she wanted to look like the girls who mocked her, with a supermodel physique, a body that would garner attention to her. A perfect mixture of beauty and brains. Twilight walked up to the mirror and touched it, still in disbelief that this was her.

“Sparky, you decent?!”

Twilight released an “eeek!” when she heard her girlfriend call to her. “Uh – No! – I-I’m changing out of my clothes right now!”

“Oooh, mind if I watch?”

“Ugh, you are such a pervert! You know that?!” Twilight countered.

“I thought we established this, didn’t we? Or did I not make that clear when we were doing it last night?”

Twilight blushed furiously.

“Seriously, Sparky, can I come in? I need to check something.”

“Uh…give me a second!” Twilight responded. She quickly brought up the mental image of her original look and just like before with the change was immediate, her body glowing and returning to normal. Twilight took a moment to check herself to make sure nothing was out of place, once she had, Twilight grabbed a robe and exited the walk-in closet. “Okay, you can come in.” She quickly shot a glance at Spike who was looking at her funny, to which she put her right index finger to her lips and went, “Shhh!”

Spike tilted his head, not sure what she was getting at.

Sunset opened the door and came in with a device in hand. “Hey, how are you feeling Sparky?”

“Um, alright, really. You know, for someone who was just stabbed…” Twilight joked.

Sunset visibly shuttered, apparently, she had not gotten over the traumatic experience of seeing her girlfriend lying in a pool of her own blood on the floor out of her mind. Not that Twilight could blame her, if anything, Twilight found it strange that she herself hadn’t been more traumatized by it.

“I just wanted to check you out, we managed to talk the police out of sending you to the hospital, but I don’t want to take any chances. Can you sit down right quick?”

Twilight nodded, she didn’t argue with Sunset, knowing that this would put her at ease. Once she had sat on the edge of the bed, Sunset came over and carefully undid the robe, Twilight blushed a bit when her chest was exposed.

Sunset giggled and said, “We just had sex last night, and you can still blush about me seeing your breasts?”

“Context…t-that was sex, this is different…” Sunset shrugged at Twilight’s answer and began examining her chest for any wounds, lightly palpating where she remembered the wounds used to be. As Twilight watched her girlfriend work, she took this opportunity to ask Sunset a question, “Um, Sunset, do you…do you sometimes wish my chest was…bigger?”

Sunset looked up at Twilight for a moment with a confused look before going back to her work. “No, not really.”

“But…it’s not like you haven’t thought about, right?” Twilight probed.

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Sparky, you could be flat as a board or have tits as big as my head, it wouldn’t matter to me. I didn’t fall in love with you because of your boob size, I fell in love with you.” The fiery haired teen raised her device, which looked like a metal detection wand, and ran it over the area where Twilight was stabbed. “Besides, I think your breasts are cute and perky, and I can’t wait until I get my turn to show them the same kind of love you showed mine.”

Twilight smiled at the compliment. “Thank you, Sunset. And I…I look forward to that, too. Anyway, did you have a theory about why I healed on my own?”

Sunset’s brow furrowed. “Maybe…but I want to double check on something before I start assuming anything. I’m just hoping its residual energy from my Ember Stone that healed you. Either that or all the exposure to my Artifact and Sis’ Artifact is somehow having an effect on your body. Kind of like radiation.”

Twilight contemplated Sunset’s theory and nodded. “It is a possibility, my Mom and Dad haven’t shown any signs, Shiny has had more exposure than I have, but his exposure has been sporadic, whereas we’ve spent a lot of time together at school and after.”

Sunset looked at the screen that was on the wand and nodded, believing that she had gotten what she needed, the amber skinned girl stepped back and let Twilight tie her robe. “Okay, I’ll run the data through my computers and try to get an idea about what’s going on. It might not be anything.”

Twilight watched as Sunset began to exit the room, “Sunset!” she called out.

Sunset stopped and glanced over her shoulder. “Yeah, Sparky?”

Twilight knew that Sunset needed more information if she was going to make a conclusive diagnosis about her condition, and the information about her newfound ability to manipulate and change her physical body might help Sunset form a more precise conclusion. However, even while knowing this was the right thing to do, she stopped herself. “Sorry, I just wanted to say I love you.”

Sunset smiled at Twilight and replied, “I love you too, Sparky. Always will.”

With that declaration given, Sunset left the room. Twilight groaned as she let herself plop backwards onto the bed; her gaze pointed up at the ceiling. Spike walked over to her and looked at her with confusion. “I know I should’ve said something, Spike. But I’d like to understand what’s happening to me first, from what I can tell so far, I can change my physical proportions, I have accelerated healing, and some level of pain nullification.” Twilight raised her right hand towards the ceiling, and then made a fist. “Maybe this isn’t a bad thing. I’ve been on the sidelines for a while now, I don’t have magical powers like the other girls, and I don’t have an Artifact like the Sunsets, or Fluttershy, or Sugarcoat, but maybe…maybe this is my chance to actually contribute to their effort. I couldn’t help Shiny when he asked me to find out who Anon-A-Miss was, and during the ‘war’, I couldn’t do anything but provide emotional support. Now…I might be able to do something!”

Spike gave a little bark, whether or not that was his way of saying he agreed with her was another story. Twilight’s attention was then drawn to the hole in the wall that she made earlier, thankfully Sunset was too preoccupied with making sure she was okay to notice.

“I better move the bookshelf to cover that.”

Canterlot High was just as Sunset thought it would today. Black streamers were hung throughout the school, a memorial wall was created that had Applejack’s picture on it, along with various other photos, either from school functions or club activities. There were a few that were obviously brought by her friends, some showed Applejack together with the whole group, others had two or three of them, and others were from the Apple family.

Condolence cards littered the desks that were assembled there, as well as vases filled with flowers, and a basket of apples. Applejack’s death had hit everyone in school hard, the country girl was like a steadfast rock among the student body, always the honest one, always the hard worker, and never one to judge.

Sunset had arrived a little late to school today, mostly because she didn’t want to have to go through a school day where Applejack wasn’t going to be walking through the halls with her telltale boot stomps or hear the warm southern twang of her voice. Not to mention the guilt, although the Applejack of Equestria had assured Sunset Shimmer that her double wouldn’t have blamed her, it was still hard to get rid of it. Lessened though it was, Sunset knew that this was something that would take awhile to get over.

She was so wrapped up in staring at the wall that Sunset failed to hear the footsteps approaching her from behind. She didn’t react when she felt a comforting hand rest upon her shoulder. A quick glance to her left and Sunset figured who was there. “Hi, Mom…”

“I didn’t expect you to come today,” said Celestia. “Pinkie Pie called and told me where you were all yesterday. Are you alright?”

Sunset sighed heavily as she turned her gaze back to the wall. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all…so much shit went down on Saturday, not just AJ’s death…I just didn’t want to be alone in the house is all.”

Celestia brought her adopted daughter into a half hug, wrapping her right arm around the flame haired teen. “It’s okay if you want to stay at my house for a little bit, if you want, I can stay with you.”

“You’re the Principal, you can’t just up and leave,” said Sunset.

“I’m not just the Principal, I’m your mother. And my child’s wellbeing comes first, your Aunt would agree with me that that would be fine with her,” said Celestia.

Sunset leaned her head against Celestia’s shoulder. “I still feel like it’s my fault, I should’ve been faster…”

“I heard everything from Pinkie, she said you did everything you could to try and save Applejack, if you hadn’t, we’d be mourning two deaths instead of one,” said Celestia in an encouraging tone.

Sunset’s head shot up as she looked to Celestia and asked, “Oh man, I completely forgot, how’s Rarity doing?!”

Celestia’s expression turned into a frown. “She’s taking a leave of absence for the time being. Understandable as the two of them were romantically involved.”

Sunset smiled a little. “Heh, you noticed too?”

“I’m not blind, I can spot a couple in love pretty easily. That being the case, I think it’s the best thing considering how it happened in front of her,” said Celestia.

Sunset sighed and leaned closer to Celestia. “I swear, no one else I love will die like that again.” Just then Sunset’s cellphone rang, when she took it from her pocket, she saw that it was Sun calling. “Huh, wonder why Sun’s calling me at this time?” Sunset answered the call and said, “Hey, Sun, what’s up? Uh-huh…Uh-huh…WHAT HAPPENED TO TWILIGHT??!!!”

Sunny Flare was having an off day, well, not that bad of one. Mostly because her mother was having a nervous breakdown about what had happened at the school today. Not only had Lemon Zest tried to kill Twilight Sparkle, but Twilight also confessed to the abuse she had been dealt during her time at Crystal Prep to two police detectives. While Sunny was worried what would happen whenever they got around to her involvement in the nerd’s torment, she was more amused by how her mother was taking it.

The last hour and a half were spent with her mother making various calls to different people in her little black book. Influential people who her mother knew had the ability to cover up most of the bad stuff that was done at the school, some of which Sunny had a hand in, along with her clique. However, it seemed that she was having trouble garnering much help. As evident when Sunny was standing outside the door.

“What do you mean, you can’t do anything?!” Cinch exclaimed.

{It’s as I said, you had a murder attempt, in your school! And from what I understand there was a substantial amount of physical evidence left behind at the crime scene. All of which has been processed by the CCPD, not even Maria Mare could get you out of this one, Abacus.}

“The elite of this city send their children to my school; I can’t have Crystal Prep Academy’s reputation be tarnished by something like this?! We aren’t some slum, public school! We’re a high educational institute!” Cinch argued at the phone on her desk.

{What else can be said? It had to happen at some point. You have that many rich sociopaths clustered together, do nothing to curb that behavior, let it proliferate, and eventually something like this was bound to happen. You don’t have anyone else to blame for this but yourself Abacus, my only advice to you is to cooperate the best you can and try to keep them from digging into the rest of the problems you managed to sweep under the rug.}

“UGH!!!” Cinch exclaimed as she hung up the phone. She plopped herself into her office chair and pinched the bridge of her nose, desperately trying to figure out some way out of the mess that she now found herself in. “Dammit all…why can’t these brats just get their shit together?! Why must I suffer such incompetence?!”

Sunny smirked just a little as she walked upstairs to her room, her mother was having a really bad day and she couldn’t help but get some enjoyment out of it. Her mother had pinned all her ambitions on Twilight Sparkle, having Sunny herself encourage the students into taking out their frustrations and angst out on the nerd, while at the same time touting Twilight as her most prized possession. Honestly, it annoyed Sunny Flare, here she was the most popular girl in school, was a straight A student, and the girl everyone revered, feared, and respected. And yet that wasn’t good enough for Abacus Cinch, she needed more than what her own daughter could give, enter Twilight Sparkle. While she found the girl annoying and a nerd to the max, she never had any true ill will towards Twilight.

But when her mother started asking her to spread the word through the students that they could essentially treat Twilight as the whipping girl. At first, no one did anything to Twilight, which she reported back to her mother, who then gave her the instruction to lead by example. Her mother knew that she was atop the social food chain that was high school, so if the most popular girl in the school, along with her clique was messing with the teen genius, and didn’t suffer any consequences, then it’s fair to speculate that nothing would happen to them either.

Thus, began the torment of Twilight Sparkle, in retrospect, some – actually most – of the things that her fellow students did skirted the edge of extreme. On a level, she did feel sorry for Twilight, the nerd didn’t deserve what was happening to her, but unfortunately, Crystal Prep was not a forgiving or merciful place. You either establish yourself as a person not to cross, or you let yourself get trampled, Twilight had been forced into the latter. Her reluctancy for hazing Twilight decreased more and more with each act done by her fellow students, and ones she did herself. She did kind of draw the line around Indigo forcing herself on Twilight, not even any the boys tried do what Indigo did to Twilight.

Again, in retrospect, perhaps she should’ve tried to rein in Indigo, or at the very least stressed the importance of getting Indigo under control to her mother a little more. Sunny Flare released a sigh, there was nothing to do about it now, Sunset Shimmer saw to it that the entire school would have hell to pay if they laid a finger on Twilight, a threat that Sunny Flare felt firsthand.

In a way, she probably needed to thank Sunset Shimmer. As a result of what she did, Sunset managed to take some of the pressure off Sunny, although she’d never admit it. Once Sunny Flare returned to her room, Sunny’s cellphone rang. She expected it to be Sour Sweet, after acknowledging their feelings for each other, they had been exchanging correspondence through texts and calls a lot more than usual, although they had to keep it secret. God help me if Mother ever found out I was gay…

Abacus Cinch was a traditional woman and expected Sunny Flare to marry to a man who was well connected, things like “love” be damned, so long as her financial future was secured, little else mattered. When Sunny looked at the caller ID, she gasped. The phone showed the name “Lemon Zest”. “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Sunny answered the phone and cautiously said, “Hello?”

{Hey, Sunny. You doin’ alright?}

“Lemon! What the fuck – why are you calling me?!” Sunny hurriedly closed the door behind her and retreated into her bathroom to avoid her mother possibly overhearing her conversation. “You do know that the police are after you, right?!”

A chuckle came from the other side of the cellphone. {Yeah, I figured they would be. I did leave a mess back there.}

“Goddammit, Lemon, why did you do all that?! Do you have any idea what you did?!”

{Of course, I did, Indie’s probably going to be super pissed at me for what I did to Twilight…but it was the only way I could get back at Sunset for what she did to her.}

Sunny had a confused look on her face when she heard what Lemon Zest say. “Wait, what does Sunset Shimmer have to do with Indigo dying?! I heard she died at Equestria Land!”

Lemon scoffed. {Tch, that’s only half the story. You saw the same thing I did, Sunset Shimmer’s hair was on fire, well turns out there was more to that.} Lemon Zest disclosed what had happened between Indigo and Sunset, how both were in possession of magical necklaces that allowed them to use fire and ice powers, and that a strange woman had snuck into the school and offered to help Indigo get rid of Sunset Shimmer for good. {The only reason she was even there was because Sunset and Twilight were there, and whatever went down, it ended up with Sunset killing Indie! She had a hole in her chest, like she was stabbed by something burning hot!}

Sunny Flare sat on the toilet cover, she didn’t have any idea all this was going on in the background, although it did explain Indigo’s increased hostility towards Sunset. A couple of months ago, Sunny Flare would’ve called Lemon Zest crazy, however, after what Sour Sweet told her happened to her, and the goings on in the city, she decided to keep a more open mind about the supernatural.

“Okay…so you tried to kill her to…to what?”

{I know I can’t hurt that bitch; Indie had a magic necklace like hers and she still couldn’t beat Sunset! So, I just decided to hurt her in a way I knew would destroy her. Fortunately, I decided to drain a few thousand bucks from my account before I went and did her in. I’m pretty sure my ‘rents cut me off by now.}

“What do you plan on doing?” Sunny asked.

{Eh…not completely sure. I can’t stay in this town or I’ll get sent to the slammer. So, I figured I’d fuck off to some place overseas, maybe go on the hunt to try and find another magic weapon or piece of jewelry that can finally kill that fucking bitch! Anyway…just wanted to talk to someone and let ya know what I’m plannin’. You can tell the cops you talked to me, and tell ‘em not to worry, I’m not planning on shootin’ up the school or some shit like that.}

Sunny Flare sighed in frustration at the thinking of her former companion. “Lemon Zest, listen to me carefully. Twilight Sparkle is alive.”

{Heh, ha! That’s a good joke, but there’s no way that’s possible. I stabbed that little slut about seven times, in the chest, and left her in a pool of her own blood. No way in hell she survived that.}

“Well, she did, apparently Ember came crashing through the roof and saved her,” Sunny explained.

There was silence for a moment, not a word spoken from Lemon.

“Lemon, listen, I’m not a lawyer or anything of the sort. But right now, just go, just leave the city, and try and live whatever life you can. If what you’re saying is true about Sunset, then she’ll hunt you down and kill you before the cops get a chance to arrest you!” Sunny warned.

{………I can’t do that, Sunny. If that little slut is still alive, then I gotta make sure that I fuck her up so bad that nothing short of black magic can bring her back. Thanks for the heads up, see ya.}

“WAIT!” The phone cut off then and there. Sunny called the number back but got nothing. “Shit!” Sunny Flare wanted to throw her phone against the floor, but she knew that she had to do something now. Sunny called another number and waited for an answer, she shot to her feet when she heard the other line pick up.

{The last time I got a call from you, you told me that Sour Sweet was possessed by a demon sword and was coming to kill me. So, what supernatural force is after me this time?}

“Well, you’ll be happy to know that this new thing isn’t supernatural, and it’s not after you, Sugarcoat.”

{…Okay, so that means there is something out there that wants to kill someone. Is it you?}

“No…listen, I can’t contact either of the people involved because they both hate my guts, so you’ll have to call them.” Sunny Flare took a steadying breath and said, “Lemon Zest is still in the city, and I think she’s hellbent on killing Twilight. You have to warn her and Sunset because she knows she’s alive.”