The Witchblade EqG: The 13 Artifacts

Twilight set up her cellphone on a tripod, acting as a camera as she got it in place within her walk-in closet. She had it hooked up to a laptop, allowing her view how she was positioned in the camera. Once she was satisfied with the positioning and setup, Twilight stepped back and started.

“Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m eighteen-years-old, and I am currently a senior at Crystal Prep Academy. I’ve decided to document the recent change that has occurred to me not too long ago, for now I have decided to keep these experiments a secret as I do not want to alarm my parents, big brother, or my girlfriend, Sunset Shimmer.”

Twilight fixed her hair and took a deep breath as she gathered her thoughts.

“For some unknown reason, I have attained the ability to self-heal, or rapid regeneration to use another term. I was……recently assaulted and severely wounded to the point of death, but somehow, I was able to heal from the serious injuries and avoid death altogether. When I came back to Sunset’s mansion, I discovered something else about my body. I have the ability to alter it. Earlier today I was able to reshape my body into – for lack of a better term – something resembling a supermodel, wider hips, rounder – uh- posterior, fuller breasts, all of it. I was able to reverse the changes before my girlfriend could see, and what you see before you is my true and unaltered body.”

Twilight took up a piece of paper that had a list of experiments she wanted to try.

“I wish to see how far these abilities of mine can go, as far as I can tell, I am able to manipulate my body on a cellular level, how much is still unknown to me. The purpose of these experiments is to help me figure out to what extent I can control these abilities, I don’t want to give my family or Sunset a reason to worry, and if I can help Sunset and her sister with these abilities then I can finally contribute something to their efforts in keeping the city safe. For reference, it is currently one in the morning, I fell asleep around ten ‘o clock, and woke up around eleven. I feel as if I just had a full eight hours, it’s a strange feeling, to say the least.”

Twilight bent down and brought up a small whiteboard and wrote on it, “Test #01: Hair & Nail Growth”.

“For this test, I will attempt to grow out my nails and hair, I chose these parts of my body as they naturally grow quickly, so it might not take that much concentration to make them grow, I will start with my nails.”

Twilight put the whiteboard down and raised her hand so that it was facing the camera. She focused on the index finger of her right hand, visualizing the piece of keratin to grow longer. A dim green glow was emitted from the nail, and after a second, Twilight’s nail grew out about three inches. With that success, she moved onto the other four nails on her hand, each of them glowed the same green color and then grew out to the same length as the first one. Twilight flexed her hand, feeling them, inspecting them for any abnormalities. So far, she could spot none. The teen genius moved to her left hand, this time willing all five nails to grow at the same time, but this time she willed them grow instantly.

No sooner did she give this mental command did her nails grow, it was practically instantaneous. “I’d say the nail portion of this test was a success, now for my hair.” Twilight undid her bun and let her hair flow down her back. “As you can see, when not tied up, my hair reaches down my back. So, for this part of the test, I will attempt to grow it down to my legs, then make it short, and finally return it to normal.”

Twilight looked in the standing mirror and concentrated, her hair started to glow the same green color, and then grew quickly until it reached the back of her knees. She swished her head a little to make her hair sway, it felt odd to have the extra weight, the sensation was odd. Next Twilight willed her hair to shorten, something like a bob cut. A second later, Twilight’s long locks retracted until her hair came down past her earlobes. And for the final part of the test, Twilight returned her hair back to normal, without any complications.

“Success!” Twilight exclaimed as she began jumping up and down. “I was able to control the growth rate and length of my hair and nails!”

(2 HOURS LATER)

“Test #36…Breast Growth and Reduction. I know this isn’t as scientific as the other thirty-five tests, but this also has importance!” Twilight argued to the camera.

Twilight removed her pajama top and then her bra, revealing her chest to the camera, which gave her an odd thrill if she was being honest. The young genius already saw that she could make them grow, but how small or big could she make them? Twilight decided to go for smaller, so she concentrated, and just like all the other times before, the green glow appeared over them and both of her dirty pillows began to reduce in size until they were an A-cup.

“Okay……” Twilight thought to take it further, so she focused more. Both of her mammries shrunk more and more until, they were gone, her chest was flat, giving her an androgynous look. Twilight turned to the mirror and felt around for any bumps or anything, but there was nothing. “Now I look like a Trap character from a Japanese hentai doujin.”

With that, Twilight now did the reverse. Her chest reinflated, quickly returning to her B-cup size, but then going to a C-cup. She pushed it further, making the two mounds grow to DD-cups. She stopped there for a moment, feeling the heavy, bouncy melons that now rested on her chest. Twilight cupped them in her hand, both in astonishment and a bit of fun. She pushed it further and made them grow until they were now at an E-cup. The massive boobs jiggled with each motion, her dark areola was more profound as her nipples were stiff and a couple of inches wider and longer.

“And now I look like a BBW character from a hentai doujin,” she commented. She stumbled a bit, trying to get used to the shift in gravity thanks to the new weight. “Oh, those doujins are really scientifically inaccurate, I can barely move around like this, and my back is already killing me…” Twilight hummed for a minute as a thought came into her mind. “Hmm, perhaps I could reinforce my spine, improve my leg muscles to help me become steadier? Yes, yes, I think that might work. Anyway, test number thirty-six is a success!”

(Another 2 Hours Later)

Twilight was…different now. She was no longer a five-foot-three-inch-tall eighteen-year-old. Now she looked like a ten-year-old, wearing clothes three times her size.

“Success! I managed to regress my age! And as a bonus, it seems that my mental state remained the same as I was when I was eighteen!” Twilight sighed in relief. “Thank god, I really didn’t want to have Sunset come in here and see me like this, although I’m sure Mom might get a kick out of it. Now to return to my original age so that Sunset doesn’t get arrested for dating an underaged minor!”

(More Hours Later…)

Now Twilight stood in front of the mirror admiring her naked form yet again, she was much older now, at least in her thirties, with a more filled out and more mature body, she even managed to manipulate her vocal cords to make herself sound older. She posed in the mirror, enjoying how she looked as an older woman.

“Test #58 is a great success! I wonder if Sunset would be into older women?”

Twilight couldn’t help but think of all the ways she and her girlfriend could have fun with her body modifying powers, hopefully Sunset wouldn’t be too mad at her for keeping this a secret.

“Okay, so then, we’ve covered a few miscellaneous things about my new abilities, and now that we have, now might be the time to move onto another part of the tests.” This time Twilight faced the camera. “So far, I have been able to manipulate various parts of my body, everything from the growth of my nails, hair, height, and proportions. As well as manipulate my body’s age, let it be noted I have only regressed my age as far as five-years-old after becoming ten, as I did not want to trigger spontaneous rapid age regression. Bearing that in mind, I will now try to…ahem…change my biology a bit.”

Twilight brought up another piece of paper that read, “Test #60: Gender Change”.

“Yes, I will now attempt to change my gender. Earlier I succeeded in reducing the size of my bust until I was flat, with my pajama pants on, I had an androgynous look, I could’ve been mistaken for male or female. So, this time, I will see if I can…become a full male.”

Twilight didn’t really have much in the way of a frame of reference for how she would look male wise, or rather as a gender swapped version of herself. She thought about using Shining Armor as a bases for her transformation, but then she worried that she might accidentally come out looking like her big brother. The thought of that made her shiver with disgust, she did not want to imagine what her older brother looked like naked.

“Okay, guess we’ll just play this by ear.”

Twilight closed her eyes and began picturing herself as a male, soon her entire body began to glow as the transformation began to take hold. Her slender build was replaced by a slightly more muscular frame, her height increased by a few inches, her hair shortened, what curves she did have were gone, her chest was replaced by male pectorals, and her shoulders broadened. Her face, which had a rounded quality to it, now had a squared jawline like her big brother’s. The last thing to change was her genitals, which, was a strange sensation for her. The vulva and labia sealed up, the flesh mending and connecting to completely erase its existence, what was left began to grow out, forming her new male sex organ, and a pair of balls to go with it.

The green glow faded, and when Twilight opened her eyes, she gasped loudly and jumped back when she saw herself. “Is…Is that me?!” Twilight covered her mouth with both hands when she heard her voice. “My…My voice is deeper! I…I sound just like a guy!” The teen genius carefully examined her new body, the small amount of new muscle, the rigidness of her chest and abdomen muscles, her square jaw, and, well, the absence of her original sex organs.

“Oh…my…god…it’s gone! I…I can feel it inside! My womb, my ovaries, it’s all gone! And this! I…I have a…a penis!” Twilight exclaimed.

She gulped loudly as she reached a hand down to her new appendage, her right finger gently prodded the rod and a strange sensation shot through her that made Twilight retract her hand. “This…This might require a bit more…more testing…”

“Seriously? She said that?” Sunset asked.

{Last time Sunny Flare warned me it was to make sure that Sour Sweet didn’t cut me up while she was being possessed. Now, she’s telling me to tell you that Lemon Zest isn’t done. She’s going to come after Twilight, again.}

Sunset growled frustratingly as she paced her underground lab, “ Fucking, big mouthed, bitch! She just had to say that Twilight was alive, if she had just kept her mouth shut, Lemon could be halfway around the world and be none the wiser! Now she’s going to stalk around the city until she can figure out the perfect time and place to kill Sparky, again!”

{I’ll agree, saying that Twilight is still alive was a big ‘shitting the bed’ moment. But what can we do? Twilight isn’t one to miss school, not like she really needs to at this point, her grades are high enough that she could simply take a vacation from now until graduation and still graduate with high honors and as valedictorian.}

Sunset chuckled, “At this point, I’m willing to convince her do just that.” The rich girl sighed as she rubbed the back of her head. “Well, we have a couple of things working for us, one of them being that Lemon Zest doesn’t know where Twilight lives, their home is still a bit messed up, so even if Zest heads there, she won’t find anyone. And since I kept my house out of the school registry, there’s no chance of her locating me.”

{Unless she follows you from school or hires someone to investigate you. Sunny did mention she withdrew a substantial amount of money before she attacked Twilight, so she has the resources.}

The fiery redhead chuckled as she raised her left hand and let a fireball poof into existence, which then hovered over the palm of her hand. “Yeah, but I’m the one with the Artifact of Fire, a shit ton of money, and zero qualms using either to utterly crush someone, especially when they have the balls to threaten someone I love.”

{……Have I ever mentioned how I’m glad we’re friends now?}

“Relax, Sweets, you came off my shit list the day you took a pair of scissors to your gut for Sparky,” Sunset assured. “Thanks for the heads up and be careful. Zest’s lost it, and that makes her unpredictable.”

{Not to worry, my Heart Stone will let me know if she’s nearby. And I have someone looking out for me when I’m asleep. And to that I say goodnight.}

“Goodnight, Sweets.” Sunset ended the call and went back to staring at the screen on her table. The screen displayed the results of Twilight’s scan, and it just made the situation even more complicated. “Goddamn that stupid Coin…”

On the screen was an outline of Twilight’s body, and at the center, the screen focused a target box on a round object that read, “Foreign Object Detected”. It was her worst fear, the Coin of Solomon had merged with Twilight, but right now Sunset was still wondering if she should curse the fact that it was there or thank it for saving Twilight’s life. For right now, Twilight was oblivious to the fact that she had the Artifact inside of her, and most likely the Coin would make it so that she doesn’t feel its presence. If anything, Twilight may think that her healing abilities may be due to the exposure of magical energies from herself, her big sister, and their new friends. So long as she can keep Twilight thinking along those lines then there will be little to worry about…but still…

“DAMMIT!!!” Sunset yelled as she beat her fists against the table. “I’m so fucking close…so damn close…all I need is the Spear, the Wheel, the Heart Stone, the Rapture, and the Witchblade. I know Fluttershy has the Spear, and Sweets has the Heart Stone. Shy might not put up a fight…maybe. Sweets might hand it over, if I threatened her a little, but otherwise I shouldn’t have to use force. Sis on the other hand…that might be more difficult…” Sunset looked back at the screen and her frown deepened. “Although…that might not be as difficult as Twilight…”

There were too many unknown factors when it came to the Coin of Solomon, all her research could dig up was that the Coin had amazing powers over the body of which it is bonded to. A lot of references to healing, but other than that, she couldn’t find much else. Although when it came to the use of the Artifacts, much of their true power was hidden from the world, as if someone was actively making sure that the true extent of their abilities was left unrecorded. Not that Sunset could blame them, in the short time that she had had contact with other Artifacts, she learned that her Ember Stone not only controlled fire, but that the fire was part of Life itself, that it could breathe life back into someone and transform her into a primordial fire dragon. Whereas the Glacier Stone possessed power over ice and represented the end of life, she was sure it could do more, but considering Indigo was a newbie wielder, she wasn’t able to draw out its full potential.

Fluttershy’s Spear of Destiny was a unique weapon, able to take on multiple forms to suit the combat situation of its wielder. The Heart Stone, according to Sugarcoat, allowed her to see spirits, read auras, and even influence and control the emotional energies of the auras, something that she was sure that Sugarcoat would master with time. The Wheel of Shadows’ time powers were a bit underwhelming as far as she was concerned, it could only manipulate the temporal stream of an object, organic or inorganic, so long as its shadow was touching, granted the user a shadow body, and allowed travel through shadows.

Guess I shouldn’t complain, it would be more trouble if that agent could travel through time.

Her big sister’s Witchblade posed the biggest threat out of all of them, especially with her sister having just unlocked a new power of the weapon. In all honesty, fighting her double was going to be hard enough, but now she might have to wrench the Coin of Solomon from her girlfriend’s chest. Again, there were too many unknowns with the Coin, one of them being if Twilight would die if she removed the Coin, even if she used the power of the Ember Stone to heal her?

“Ugh…one problem at a time, Shimmer,” she said. “First off, kill Lemon Zest. Second: figure out how to get the Heart Stone from Sugarcoat.”

Compared to the others, Sunset believed Sugarcoat would be the easiest to get, but with the Heart Stone’s power, she’d easily see through her intentions from a mile away. There were two ways she could go about this, either she could kill Sugarcoat from a distance and retrieve the Artifact from her corpse, or a more direct approach. She could just walk up to Sugarcoat, and demand the Heart Stone from her, despite the Stone’s manipulation powers, it wasn’t a combat-oriented Artifact, so Sunset was sure that Sugarcoat would hand it over knowing that she couldn’t fight her.

“But then after that there’s no going back…Sugarcoat will tell Twilight, and then it won’t be long before Sis finds out…unless I kill her right after…?” Sunset released an exasperated sigh as she sat down in the rolling chair close to the workbench. “Kill, kill, kill…I’m predicating everything based on a legend and what he said. But if it’s right, I can set everything right. I can bring them all back!”

That was her guiding light, her hope beyond all hope, that somehow, someway, the power of the Thirteen Artifacts could and would restore everything she’d destroy to get to her goal. But there was always that dread in the back of her mind, the all-encompassing fear that nothing would happen, that the legends were just that, legends. The Artifacts were powerful objects, but how were these thirteen supposed to bring about such reality altering changes? If it was just a story, then the bridges she burnt and will burn, the lives she will and has taken, there was no way to take it back, everything she did and would do will be permanent, and Sunset would have to live with the consequences of it all.

Sunset shivered and hugged herself, her mind creeping at the edge of a panic attack. But then she gripped her bare arms harder and harder until her nails broke the skin. She couldn’t afford to think that way, she couldn’t stop now, besides, that person was still out there, and there were zero doubts in her mind that he would come for the Artifacts that she had gathered. Truthfully, Sunset was hoping he would come sooner rather than later, part of her worried if she’d be strong enough alone, but if her twin, and possibly Fluttershy, got in on the fight, then his death would be assured.

“One thing’s for sure…I can’t tell Sparky, not yet. I must find a way to remove the Coin without it killing her, or failing that, shift my focus onto getting one of the other Artifacts. But above all else…I need to kill that psychopathic bitch. Indigo, don’t worry, I’ll be sending you some company real soon!”

Somnambula, the Traverser of Hell, Giver of Hope, and wielder of the Rapture, was currently walking through the chaotic whirlwind level that was Hell’s second circle, Lust. Her dear student, Fluttershy, had asked her a favor, which she was happy to take on as the kind and caring girl hardly asked anything of her or anyone. The request was simple, but a bit time consuming, Fluttershy had asked her to check and make sure that a dear friend of hers hadn’t fallen into the depths of Hell.

In confidence, Fluttershy spoke of the reason why her friend, Applejack, might be here. When she asked if the young girl had done anything else aside from committing incest with her brother, Fluttershy told her no. While it was a sin, Somnambula did not rank it as high as some of the graver mortal sins, considering that it was mutual thing between the siblings and was subsequently ended on their terms. But it never hurt to check.

The Circle of Lust was, like the other descriptions of Hell in “Dante’s Inferno” were more artistic in their description. There was a raging whirlwind vortex that howled like an unholy beast within the entirety of this section, a raging storm like none that Earth has seen or ever will see. It took up the center of the entire level, appearing as a giant tornado that stretched from the “ceiling” all the way down into the void below, which would lead to the next level. Amongst the bellowing winds were the souls of the dead, men and women who steeped themselves in lust, ignoring all others or committing horrible deeds in the name of lust alone. For those who were lovers in life, their souls were doomed to be trapped in the vortex, violently whipped around by the ungodly g-forces as their limbs were stretched, bones snapped and broken, and their skin burned by the friction of the wind. Their souls were whipped around so that they would never be able to embrace again, the pain of being so close and yet so far away, and forever in pain.

However, for those who committed acts of lust and did horrible deeds, for instance, forcing themselves onto another, or if their other half did not die with them, their fate was not the vortex, instead, they were taken to one of many “Palaces”. Somnambula didn’t believe that Applejack would be thrown into the vortex, as she was the only one who died. So, it stood to reason that the “Palaces” would be the best option.

To be clear, Somnambula wouldn’t give such wretched buildings as these such a title. There was a patch of land that stretched all around the Lust Circle, and on this land were huge buildings made of obsidian that were carved in a Romanesque fashion, with tall, imposing columns, and Latin inscriptions written at the top, some said things that even Somnambula wanted to translate, despite her being fluent in the language. She made her way up the long steps to the opening; she was greeted to a familiar sight. This was not her first time walking through this level, her exploits took her to all the levels of Hell, she had to be extra careful the closer she got to the bottom. But up here, the Demon King’s evil eye wasn’t as all seeing.

The Palaces were multilevel, about three floors filled with demons, succubi and incubi, each one assigned the task of torturing the souls within. The level of which varied depending on the demons themselves, they were given free reign on how they were to torture the souls in this level, some resorted to inducing pain on the damned souls. Somnambula witnessed one of them as a soul, a female, was wrapped up in a black leather suit, restricting all arm and leg movement. The only thing that remained uncovered was their mouth. The suit tightened and tightened, making the person inside scream in agony as she felt her body compressed. All while the succubus and incubus that were running her torture touched themselves as they got off on her pain.

Another one showed a man who looked like a shriveled raisin, a succubus demon was riding the man and making him have one orgasm after the next, draining of his bodily fluids. At some point, the man probably thought he was getting off easy and was enjoying the session for a while, but when the succubus didn’t stop, he probably panicked and begged her to stop, all the while continuing to release over and over again, the pleasure turning to pain as the demoness enjoyed every moment of his writhing. And of course, the damage would be undone after a while, his fluids replenished rapidly in a painful way, and then a new succubus would take over and the torture would begin again.

Somnambula’s Rapture hadn’t glowed yet, normally the Artifact would lead her to a soul that still retained hope of some kind in their heart, a spark of good that was still worthy of redemption and entry into the lofty heavens above, but as she walked further in, nothing happened. The Traverser of Hell stopped at one tortured soul.

The female soul had spikey green-blue hair and yellow eyes; her physique spoke of a life dedicated to athleticism. She was currently being assaulted by a succubus; however, this succubus had shapeshifted, quite possibly into someone that the soul had wronged in life. The succubus was a girl of the same age as the sports girl, she had purple skin, glasses, a slender frame, and navy hair with two streaks of pink and magenta was done up in a bun. The sportsy girl was crawling away from her, eyes wide with fear and her body covered in some kind of slime-like substance.

“NO, STOP, PLEASE STOP!! NO MORE, NO MORE!!!” she cried out.

“Oh, but Indigo? Isn’t this everything that you wanted?” the succubus motioned with her hands at the body she had. “You finally have me all to yourself, and now you don’t want me?”

“You’re not her! You’re not Twilight! You’re a fucking demon! Don’t touch me!!”

Succubus-Twilight giggled cutely at Indigo’s demand. “Oh, how many times did I ask that of you?” Suddenly, tentacles started to sprout lewdly from between Succubus-Twilight’s legs, some were small, others were large, they kept growing out more and more until they were practically wrapping around her legs and arms. “How many times did you violate me despite my tears, my pain, and my pleas? I’ll tell you, ZERO.”

Two large tentacles shot out like cobras and wrapped themselves around Indigo’s legs and dragged her back towards Succubus-Twilight, Indigo cried out for her to stop, and desperately clawed at the obsidian floor, cutting up her hands and breaking her nails with each futile struggle. Two more large tentacles reached out and coiled around Indigo’s arms, yanking them back and allowing the demoness to lift Indigo off the floor and back to her. Succubus-Twilight turned Indigo around so that she could see her face, which was a frightened, crying mess as she looked upon the demon’s sadistic, sultry smile.

“I’ll keep making you experience every caress, every violation, that I felt, but dialed up to eleven!”

Two slimy tentacles, about as thick as Indigo’s wrists, shoved themselves into her womanhood. Indigo released a soundless scream as her mouth hung open and her eyes widened with pain from her private parts being stretched so suddenly. The tentacles didn’t stop there, they dove deep, deeper than anything should be able to, penetrating her womb. She could feel them wriggling around in there, playing with her insides as if they were a toy. Suddenly a sharp pain was felt as a smaller tentacle about the width of her index finger, slipped into her urethra.

“OH GOD, PLEASE STOP!!! IT HURTS, IT HURTS!!!”Indigo yelled as tentacles began to pump in and out of her two holes.

Succubus-Twilight’s smile broadened to a demonic length as she brought Indigo closer, she opened her mouth and let her long, snake-like tongue lap at the tears that streamed down her face. “Mmm, does it hurt, Indie? Because I feel sooooo good right now. Your pussy, your piss hole, it feels so tight and good! I bet you wanted me like this too. I bet you wish you could feel what I feel, is this how you wanted to violate me?”

“NO, I LOVED YOU, I LOVED YOU TWILIGHT, I DIDN’T MEAN TO HURT YOU – OH GOD…!!!! IT HURTS EVEN MORE!!!”

“Ha, ha, ha, that’s the beauty of it.”

Smaller tentacles slowly began to grow from Succubus-Twilight’s nipples, their needle-like tips positioned themselves right at Indigo’s, and without a warning, pierced through them, causing Indigo to release another scream of pain as she felt her breasts getting ravaged from the inside out. Those same tentacles coiled around her breasts and began squeezing them, while the piercing ends began to pump themselves in and out of her.

“You’ll love it here, Indie. There’s pleasure for everyone, so much so that it’s painful. And at some point, the pain and pleasure will mix until you can’t tell which is which, and then…upon reaching that moment…” Succubus-Twilight leaned closer and whispered into Indigo’s ear, “That’s when we’ll reset everything back to zero, and do this all over again. Only each time we reset, I’ll make sure you sense of touch is increased, I’ll kill you with overstimulation, but since you’re just a soul, you won’t die here. You’ll just come back to play again!”

Another of her tentacles slipped into her ass, which made Indigo stiffen and croak as she felt the intruder move deeper and deeper, it just kept going and going, filling her insides. Indigo dared to look down and saw a bulge in her skin of where it was traveling through her intestines.

“NO, MAKE IT STOP, DON’T GO ANY FURTHER PLEASE!!!”

Somnambula knew where this was going and decided to continue her search. After that “Palace” she went to a few more, thankfully, time passed differently in Hell, it was more accurate to say that it was a place that did not know time, it didn’t exist here. Which made the torture of a soul even worse, with no sense of time, the torment would just be endless. After checking through all the “Palaces” and taking in more unwelcomed scenes of debauchery, Somnambula decided to check one more place.

She used the Rapture to transform herself into silver mist that flew upwards at great speeds. She passed through the barrier that separated each individual Circle of Hell and slipped into an in between dimension, a realm that was neither Heaven nor Hell, a transitional space for those who did sin, but were still virtuous at heart, Purgatory. Here Somnambula saw several souls, souls in the stage of preparation, or some awaiting final judgement. When she did enter this realm, the Rapture began to glow, a thread of light shot out and led the holy mercenary towards her destination. After floating through the nothingness for a minute, she found who she was looking for.

Applejack, the teenage farm girl, floated in the nothingness in a fetal position. Her eyes were open but blank, like all the others. A way of sparing them the madness of waiting for their final judgement, if they were to wait in a waking state, the soul would go mad spending any amount of time in a bleak, monochromatic nothingness.

“Well, it’s not Heaven, but at least you’re not in Hell,” said Somnambula.

She touched Applejack’s shoulder and felt that judgement was to come to her, but it was going to take some time. But Somnambula didn’t think she needed to wait a moment longer. A blue light emanated from the Rapture, becoming a sphere of light that Somnambula took into her right hand, she gently pressed that orb of light into Applejack’s chest, and the result was instant. All color returned to Applejack’s body; her eyes were full of life again as she came out of her trance.

“Who…Wha…Where am Ah?” she asked.

“Peace, Applejack, I have come here on behalf of your dear friend, Fluttershy, and your lover, Rarity.”

Applejack’s eye widened upon hearing those names. “Fluttershy?! Wait, Rarity, is she okay?! Please tell me she’s alive!”

Somnambula nodded. “She is alive, your friend saved her and slew the one who threatened her life.” Applejack visibly calmed, her fears put to rest. “Do you remember what happened to you?”

Applejack unconsciously raised her right hand to her neck. “Ah…Ah was killed…by Suri. She…She cut my head off and then…everythin’ went dark.” Applejack looked around, seeing the void and the many souls that floated around them. “Am…Am Ah in…in Hell?”

“No, Applejack, you are not, but neither are you in Heaven. You’re in Purgatory, a place where all souls are judged before entering one or the other,” Somnambula explained. “Fluttershy requested my help to make sure that you weren’t in Hell, and if you were, to ensure that you didn’t remain there a second longer.”

Applejack rubbed the back of her head as she thought about what the middle eastern woman just told her. “Wow…Shy went and asked ya that, huh. So…does this mean Ah’m going back to my body or…?”

Somnambula rested her right hand on Applejack’s shoulder and shook her head in the negative. “Unfortunately, I do not have the power to do that. That steps into a realm of Authority upon which I have no sway or control over. The best I can do for you is make sure you enter paradise.” Just then, a beam of light shot through the void and illuminated the space around Applejack and Somnambula. “And it looks like it worked.”

“W-What worked?” Applejack asked.

Somnambula was about to answer her but stopped when she saw two figures materializing in the light. “Perhaps it is best you spoke to them about it.”

Applejack turned around and saw to figures shimmer into existence before them, and when she did, her eyes filled with tears. Standing side-by-side, hands clasped together, were her parents. A pale gamboge woman with orange curly hair, and bluebell eyes, and a tall, strong looking man with pale yellow skin, red freckles and hair, and green eyes like Applejack’s, just like she remembered them, but younger.

“Ma…Pa…?” Applejack gasped.

“Oh, AJ, we’ve missed you so much,” said Pear Butter.

Applejack suddenly hid behind Somnambula embarrassed and ashamed to face them.

Bright Mac, her father, was confused by his daughter’s actions. “C’mon now, why’re ya hidin’ from us? We ain’t gonna bite ‘cha.”

“Ah can’t face ya…Ah…Ah’m too ashamed,” she confessed.

Pear Butter looked at her husband, an understanding passed between them as if they knew why their daughter was feeling this way. “Does it have anythin’ to do with the fact that you and your brother were secretly havin’ sex?” A visible flinch from Applejack confirmed it. “Well, I will say, when I hoped you two would get along, I wasn’t expectin’ ya to get along that well.” Pear chuckled.

Applejack, still hiding behind Somnambula, spluttered at how her mother had just made a joke about what they did. Prompting Bright Mac to add, “Ah heard a ‘kissin’ cousins’, but y’know, that was taken it to a whole other level there, AJ.”

The young Apple finally peeked from around Somnambula and asked incredulity, “Why are you two jokin’ about this?! Ah…Ah had sex with Big Mac! My own brother! My family! My CLOSE family to be exact! Why aren’t ya mad at me?! Or sayin’ that Ah’m a disgrace or…or…?!”

“So, you want us to judge you on one bad thing? Which, yes, it was an act done in lust, but neither of you forced the other. And are we supposed to ignore all the good ya’ve done, girl?” Bright Mac asked. “Heck, ya helped save that city at least twice.”

Applejack, feeling a bit more confident, floated from behind Somnambula and looked angrily at her parents. “Yeah, the last time was with Sunset’s help, but then I went accusin’ her of goin’ back to bein’ her old bitchy self! Even when she begged us to believe her, Ah let my anger get the best of me and just turned my back on her!”

Pear Butter shook her head and said, “Sweetie, we’re only human, we’re not perfect. We all make mistakes, but it’s what we do to make up for those mistakes that matters. And you did so in bringing Sunset to work on the farm, you confided in her, and she protected you. Also, I had no idea our farm was had an untapped gold mine!”

Bright Mac laughed loudly. “Ah know, right?! All this time we were literally sittin’ on gobs of money. Shoot, had Ah known that, Ah would’ve grabbed a shovel and started diggin’ for it faster than a mole chasin’ down a worm.”

Pear Butter laughed, and Applejack couldn’t help joining in on the laughter. The mother of Bright Mac’s children reached out and hugged her daughter close to her. Applejack was caught off guard by the action, and now that she was close, she could smell her mother’s comforting scent. “We’ve always been proud of you, my little AJ, you, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom. Despite that little incident of hers. Not her best moment, but she’s young.”

Bright Mac floated over to his wife and daughter and joined in on the group hug. “We’ll always love ya, AJ, no matter what. And we’ve missed ya somethin’ fierce.”

“Do Ah…Do Ah really deserve to be with y’all up there?” Applejack asked in a trembling voice.

“Honey, ya sacrificed your life for the person you loved with all your heart, as far as we’re concerned, you’ve done more good than bad in your life, even if it was short…” Pear Butter said with remorse, hating the fact that her second child’s life was ended before she could live out her life.

Bright Mac was of the same mind, in truth, he had hoped to see his children when they were old and had families of their own, but not like this. “C’mon now, AJ, let’s go to our new home, together.”

Applejack hugged her parents tighter, the tears still streaming down her face. “Ah missed you both so much.”

The light began to surround all three of them, and soon the family of three were transformed into glittering golden particles as they followed the light stream all the way up towards the heavens above. Somnambula smiled, her heart swelling with joy seeing a family reunited.

“Guess I should return and give them the good news,” said Somnambula as she transformed into silver mist and flew through a portal back to Earth.

Twilight woke up lying on the floor, her head swam as she tried to recall what happened last night. She was experimenting with altering her body, the last thing she remembered shifting into was a male version of herself and then…then she caught a whiff of something strong, she sat up, groaning as the smell persisted in her nostrils. She then felt a strange sensation around her thighs, stomach, and…crotch. Like something had dried on her skin, there was also the odd sensation coming from her crotch.

When Twilight finally looked at the mirror, her face went bright red. At some point she had reverted to her original state, all except her lower half, which still sported a penis and balls. The smell and dried substance on her lower half suddenly made sense, she had studied her new appendage, thoroughly, and at some point, she reached a peak of overstimulation and passed out. Twilight was glad that she had done this in the closet, if her mother walked in and smelled this, she’d no doubt figure out what it was. She remembered the unfortunate times when she heard her mother walk into Shining Armor’s room at the most inopportune times, so there was a good chance that her mother knew what a boy’s room smelled like after masturbating.

Twilight hurriedly concentrated on that region of herself, willing it to change back. A green glow went off and just as quickly as she thought of it, her genitals returned to their original state. The teen genius sighed in relief, she did not want to explain that to her parents, or either of the Sunsets.

“I need some breakfast…” Twilight took a sniff of herself and winced. “But first a shower.”

After a thorough scrubbing of her body, Twilight put on a shirt and some leggings, she suspected that her parents, and even the Sunsets, would probably do what they could to dissuade Twilight from going to school today. Normally she wouldn’t ever think of skipping school and tarnishing her perfect attendance record, but with Lemon Zest still on the loose, and the powers that she had developed, there were still too many things that made school a bit of an unknown. For now, Twilight had a handle on her abilities, but she didn’t want to risk something happening at school that put her or others in serious danger. Plus, the students already made fun of her, the last thing she needed was for them to call her a freak.

As expected, when she and Spike exited the room and made it down the stairs, her parents and at least Sunset, the pony twin, were sitting at the table. A couple of seconds later, Twilight heard footsteps behind her and saw her Sunset walking up behind her, who looked a little tired.

“Sunset, are you okay?” Twilight asked.

Sun smiled back at her girlfriend and kissed her on the cheek. “I’m fine, Sparky, just a little tired is all. How are you doing?”

Twilight shrugged a little, “I’m holding up.”

The two girls walked into the dining room where they were greeted by all those at the table. Once Twilight got a plate of her breakfast, and poured out Spike’s, she sat down with everyone and waited for the question to be brought up.

“Twily, dear, I spoke to Cadence earlier this morning and she says that it’s probably best that you stay home, at least for the next week at least,” said Velvet.

“Now we know how you feel about your attendance record and about being…the ‘T’ or ‘A’ words, but considering what you have gone through, and given the fact that the one responsible for hurting you hasn’t been apprehended, I’m going to put my foot down here,” said Night Light in an authoritative tone.

Twilight nodded in agreement and added, “I understand, Mom, Dad, I’ll stay home for the next few days.”

“Now I’m being serious, Twilight! I will not let you go back while – wait – what did you say?” Night Light asked.

Twilight stopped her eating and looked around at the surprised faces. “I agree with you, I shouldn’t go back, not yet at least.”

Sun placed her hand on Twilight’s forehead, waited a few seconds, and then said, “Okay, she’s not feverish. Are you experiencing any headaches, nausea, dizziness?”

Twilight rolled her eyes and gently pushed Sun’s hand off her forehead. “I’m not sick, and I’m not suffering a concussion either. I just think that it’s the most sensible thing to do. I can’t be expected to go to school with my killer still on the loose. Nobody at school knows that we’re living at Sun’s home, so my staying here is by far the safest and most secure place I can be right now.”

Velvet and Night Light looked at each other and then back at Twilight. It made sense, but Twilight was such a staunch advocate of attendance leading to good grades, and thus higher efficiency in her school activities. But then again, that was before someone had tried to murder her, such a traumatizing event quite possibly changed her viewpoint on the matter.

“Well, that’s good, Twily, but at the same time, your father and I were wondering if one of us should stay home with you,” said Velvet.

“I’ll be fine on my own, Mom, really.”

“Hey, if you want, I can stay behind,” said Sun. “I mean, I can easily make up any assignments that they throw at me.”

“Or me,” Sunset offered, “it’s the same for me, and my Mom will understand. She’s the Principal, after all.”

Twilight sighed. “I really do appreciate all of you wanting to protect me, and because of that, I’m not going to make it harder for you. So, I’ll text you all every hour to let you know I’m okay, if that will help. But I don’t want you to have to rearrange your schedules just to look after me. I’m eighteen years old, a legal adult, I need to learn how to handle things like this. Okay?”

There was a bit of unease about leaving Twilight alone, but at the same time, they knew that she was right, and that they needed to trust in Twilight. With that arranged, Sun, Sunset, along with her mother and father, all left for the day, leaving her alone in the house. And now that she was alone, Twilight could go back to her experiments, in her room of course.

Twilight headed back into her room and moved the tripod that her phone was mounted on, along with the laptop, out of the closet and into her room, placing herself in the middle of the room and the tripod and computer a couple of feet away.

“This is Twilight Sparkle, after reviewing the footage of last night, and after some serious editing of a certain test, I will now be moving on to a new set of tests. So far, I have determined that I can change my body at will, even my gender. Now, I want to see if I can modify my body.” Twilight frowned a little. “I can’t keep worrying my family, or Sunset, I have to be able to protect myself. So, here we go. First test, hardening of my skin to repel stabbing weapons.”

Twilight raised her right arm to show the camera that it was bare and free of obstruction or alterations.

“I don’t think it’s possible to change my skin into something metallic, there is iron in the body, but humans, females in specific, on average have about 3.5 grams of iron in their body. However, there is another mineral in the human body that can effectively produce the same hardness as diamonds in greater concentrations, carbon. Humans are eighteen percent carbon, if I can manipulate the amount of it around my arm, I can layer and bind enough of the carbon atoms in my arm to form graphene, and with multiple layers, I should be able to replace my skin with this new creation. Here goes nothing.”

Twilight concentrated, her forearm and hand began to glow, and Twilight could feel a tingling feeling around that appendage. In her mind, Twilight was rapidly calculating and running through what was needed to make this work. Hardening her skin would make it inflexible, on top of that, creating that much extra weight would make it hard for her to lift her arm up, as well as damage her bones. In light of that, Twilight determined to strengthen her arm muscles, and increase her bone density. While she was at it, Twilight thought about something that could help her fight back, so she believed her fingernails would be best.

After a minute, Twilight’s entire forearm and hand was a grayish black, and had a polished sheen to it that caught the light. Twilight noticed that her arm had bulked up, but looked more akin to Rainbow Dash’s arms, lean and sleek. Her fingernails were white but curved into claws. It felt like she was wearing a glove, but at the same time, she didn’t lose any tactile feeling when she touched her palm with her left hand. Spike had been watching this from his spot on the bed, his head tilting in confusion at what he witnessed.

“It looks like it worked, Spike, but the real test will be if it can withstand at least a stabbing weapon.” To that end, Twilight had brought up a large butcher’s knife with her from the kitchen when everyone left. Twilight grasped the knife in her left hand and pressed it against the middle of her forearm. “Best case scenario, nothing happens. Worst case, I cut myself badly and heal myself.” She gulped. “Here goes…”

Twilight shut her eyes and swiftly slashed the blade across her forearm, waiting for the intense pain to follow. Spike had yelped and covered his eyes with his paws, unable to see the outcome of Twilight’s test. However, while she did feel the blade slide across her arm, she didn’t feel it pierce her skin, in fact, she didn’t feel any pain at all. The teen genius opened her eyes and saw that not a scratch was left on her. Spike uncovered his eyes and once again tilted his head in confusion. Twilight, with eyes open, repeated the motion and slid the blade across her forearm. She the saw blade slide, but not once did it cut her, in fact, it released some sparks.

“It…It worked! I created a physical armor for my body!” Twilight exclaimed.

An idea came to her as she gripped the blade with her armored right hand. She applied pressure, squeezing the blade harder and harder, after a couple of seconds, the blade shattered in her hand, with both halves falling onto the floor, and in her hand, were the shards.

“I think I did create something close to diamond levels of hardness! Not only that, but I also increased my strength exponentially!”

Deciding to see if she could apply this to all of herself, Twilight reapplied the same thinking she used for her arm to the rest of her body. Soon Twilight’s entire body glowed and, in a few seconds, everything except for her hair was coated in the grayish-black carbon armor. Twilight jabbed with her fists, imitating a boxer’s movements while bouncing on her feet, and just as expected, she didn’t lose any mobility.

“I wonder what else I can modify…or add on?”