The Witchblade EqG: The 13 Artifacts

Sunset stared at the pictures that hung on the wall, several of them were of her parents. It was surreal to see them in picture form, even more so as humans. Sunset hadn’t seen them in so long, she wondered what they were doing, or if they were even still alive back in Equestria.

“Hey, Sis.”

Sunset turned to her left and watched as her “little sister” came walking up to her. “Hey…” she replied while turning her attention back to the pictures. “It’s still kinda hard for me to believe the things you said about Mom and Dad, how they were nice even though they were rich.”

“That’s funny, ‘cause I still can’t believe that Mom and Dad were that big an asshole to you,” said Sun.

Sunset rubbed the back of her head. “Like I said, they weren’t always like that, when we were poor, they were really humble, kind, and caring. But after I got accepted to the school, and became the Princess’ protégé, our elevated status made them more arrogant, and more like the nobles that looked down on us. Heh, funny, our family got money and status in my world, and we ended up turning into complete jerks. Mom and Dad were born into their money, and you turned out more grounded.”

Sun gently threw her right arm over her big sister’s shoulders and chuckled. “Oh, not exactly. For a while there I acted like a spoiled little brat, but Mom and Dad drilled that nonsense out of my head real quick.”

Sunset smiled at her little sister, as she continued to stand there with her and gazed upon the numerous photos, a burning question begged to be answered, but she wasn’t sure if it was the right time to ask it, or if it was even a good idea to do so. “Um…Sun…I…”

“You want to know how Mom and Dad died, right?” Sun asked. She saw the look of shame on Sunset’s face and rubbed her big sister’s right shoulder in assurance. “Hey, it’s alright. I figured you’d want to know at some point, I mean, they’re essentially your Mom and Dad too, y’know.”

“I just don’t want to reopen an old wound for you,” said Sunset.

“Believe me, I’ve had plenty of time to reconcile with what happened, and you deserve to know.” It was at that time that Sun glanced to her left, towards the corner of the hallway. “Sparky, you should hear this too.”

A small “EEP!” sound was uttered from around the corner. As predicted, Twilight turned the corner, her hands folded in front of her as she had a look of remorse for her eavesdropping. “I’m sorry, I really meant to say I was here, but I didn’t want to ruin your moment. Also, how did you know I was there?”

“Easy, I sensed your flame of life, so I always know where you’re at.”

Sunset smirked as she teased, “Wow, lil’ sis, not stalkery at all.”

Sun blushed and countered, “Oh shut up, I’m not stalking her! After what happened at school, I’m keeping an eye on her as best I can. So, I make it a habit to lock onto her life flame whenever we’re apart in case of emergencies. Besides, it’s not like I can see where she is, it’s more like a general GPS locator ability.”

Twilight blushed and smiled; she didn’t know that her girlfriend was keeping such a close watch on her. After dealing with Indigo’s stalker tendencies, one would assume Twilight would dislike knowing that her girlfriend was keeping tabs on her location, but at the same time, it also made her feel very safe, knowing that Sun would always know when she was in trouble and be there to help her when she needed it.

“Thank you, but really, I’m fine, it’s private and you don’t have to include me,” Twilight assured.

Sun shook her head. “No, I want you to hear this. Because it’s not only the story about how my parents died…it’s all the story of how I got the Ember Stone.”

Sun led Twilight and Sunset into her room, letting them sit on her bed while she pulled out a chair and turned it around to sit in it with the back towards her front. “Let’s see…it’s been about five years now. We were on vacation in Prance, I was thirteen at the time, and we were visiting the Louvre. That’s when shit went sideways…”

~*~*~*~

Sunset was a bright and happy thirteen-year-old girl, she lived a life that most kids could only dream of. She was the child of a wealthy couple who were loving parents to her. Sunrise Shimmer, her father, was a tall man, his red hair cut short, with golden colored skin, and blue eyes. Evening Glow Shimmer, her mother, had porcelain white skin, with hair that shined like gold, and teal colored eyes. Sunset was dressed in designer pants and a tank top, her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, her hands promptly placed behind her back as she looked upon the lovely pieces of art with her parents.

Her parents felt it was important for Sunset to immerse herself in the arts, not only to see the works of the greats before, but to learn from them. They spent quite a bit of time in the Louvre, and just like the rest of the patrons, they were happy, content, oblivious to the goings on around them. Like say, several people gathering and acting in conspiratorial manner.

It all happened so fast, screams were heard, along with the sounds of gunfire. Sunrise and Evening quickly moved to protect their daughter as a large group of armed men took control of the Louvre, they spotted a door on the other end of the exhibit hall, where it led to they didn’t know, but hopefully it would allow them a place to hide. With that in mind, the family of three bolted for the door. Unfortunately, the armed assailants saw their actions and gave chase, Sunrise pushed his daughter and wife ahead of him and charged for the armed men. He managed to tackle one of them down to the floor and wrestle his gun from him, now armed, Sunrise opened fire on the second assailant, killing him.

Evening didn’t look back as she pushed her daughter forward, continuing to run. When they got to the door, she immediately shoved Sunset inside and slammed the door behind her. Sunset banged on the door, yelling at her mother to open the door, and come inside with her.

“Sunset, you have to run! Run and run if you can’t run any more than hide the best you can! I love you, sweetie, just remember that we will always–!”

*BANG!*

Sunset jumped back from the door and clasped her hands over mouth. When she looked down, she could see a pool of blood forming under the door, her mother’s blood. The young teen didn’t wait, she did as her mother told her and ran, the room was actually a storage room for exhibits that were either to be rotated out, or new ones that were yet to be displayed. As Sunset ran, she heard the door get busted down, she made the mistake of looking back, causing her to trip on a rolled up rug that sent Sunset fumbling across the floor and eventually smashing into a wall, causing several items to fall from the shelves.

One of these items fell right in her hand, she had shut her eyes at first, but when she opened them, she saw the item that she was holding. It was a necklace; it had a gold chain and metal pendant that had a bright ruby gemstone in the center. Something about this necklace entranced her, as if it was meant to be in her hands. Then her worst fears were realized, the armed men found her, two of them. She raised her arms to show that she wouldn’t resist, but they didn’t care. One of the men pulled out his pistol and fired one shot.

*BANG!*

The lights went out, the bullet striking her skull and splattering her brain matter onto the wall as she fell backwards. After a few seconds, something happened that made the two men jump back out of fear. Flames engulfed Sunset’s head, and in an instant, the damage was healed as if nothing had happened. Sunset took a deep breath as she rose back up, in a panic she felt her head, and to her relief there was no damage, but she did get shot, she remembered things going black after she saw the gun fire.

What…What happened to me…they just shot me, right?!

The two gunmen looked at her with fear now, more afraid of her than she was of them. Both pulled out their automatic weapons and opened fire on her, practically tearing her apart with each successful hit. Sunset fell back onto the floor, this time parts of her body were removed, her right arm had been blown off and was now lying across from her, the gunmen believed that they had done it, but they were wrong. Flames ignited all over her body, the blown off end of her right arm shot out a rope made of pure fire that latched itself back to where it belonged. The arm was pulled back to its original place, the damage being erased as if it had never happened. Sunset once again took in a deep gasp as she came back to life for the second time.

“S-Stop…!” The two men were genuinely afraid now and readied to fire again. “I SAID STOP!”

When she heard the clicking of their guns, Sunset screamed loud, but when she did, she released a jet of flames that caught her off guard. The flames struck both men and set them on fire, they ran around frantically, eventually dropping onto the floor and rolling to put out the flames the best they could. However, it was no use, the flames were not normal flames, they burned regardless of what they did, for so long as Sunset perceived them as a threat, the flames would continue to burn them until they were no longer screaming or moving.

Sunset didn’t understand it, she somehow breathed out fire like some kind of dragon. The young teen still had the necklace clenched in her right hand, refusing to let it go, she could feel it, this necklace, it had to be the reason how she was still alive. Regardless, she ran back to the door, if she couldn’t die, then that meant she could help her parents. Sunset finally made it back and paused, lying on the floor were the dead bodies of her parents, her father was full of bullet holes, while her mother had one single shot to her head.

The gunmen and the hostages all stared at the girl, her tattered and bloody clothes already made her a sight, but that wasn’t the only reason. Sparks began to form around her body, small embers that grew and formed into bigger plumes of fire.

“You killed them…” The flames spread all over her body. “You killed them…!” Sunset clenched her fists. “You killed them!” Her hair transformed into pure fire. “YOU KILLED THEM!!!!!!”

A burst of fire roared out in all directions, indiscriminately burning any and everything in the room. The gunmen stood no chance of defending against the inferno, unfortunately, neither did the hostages, the flames intensified, growing in power as she released a throat destroying roar of sadness and anger, the power grew inside her, becoming stronger until it released in a powerful explosion that destroyed the room and vaporized everything inside.

When it was over, Sunset realized that she was the only person left alive, the room and exhibits were charred beyond recognition. Sunset fell to her knees, she couldn’t believe what she had done, not only did she manage to kill the gunmen, but she also killed the innocent people, and cremated her parents’ bodies. The sole survivor wailed, her cries carrying through the halls of the museum…

~*~*~*~

Twilight and Sunset were crying now, while Sun remained calm throughout the retelling of her story. Sun sighed and said, “So, yeah, I not only killed the people that killed my parents, but I also killed about thirty innocent people, and vaporized the bodies of my parents, there wasn’t even anything to bury, not even ashes…”

“Oh, god…Sun…” Twilight rose from her seat and approached Sun, she then embraced her in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry.”

Sunset wiped the tears from her eyes and joined them, she had no words to express how she felt in this moment, how sad she felt for her little sister. Carrying the burden of killing innocent people, albeit accidentally, but also destroying her mother and father’s bodies. When they were done, Twilight and Sunset sat back down and wiped their eyes.

“I can’t imagine how much that hurt you,” said Sunset.

“It hurt a lot, actually. So much so that I committed suicide, multiple times.”

Twilight and Sunset’s tears stopped as their eyes bulged and their jaws dropped, both shouting at the same time, “WHAT?!”

Sun shrugged. “I was thirteen, I was shot, I vaporized my parents and innocent people because I lost control of my anger. It was too much for me, when I was able to come back home, I drew a bath, and took a razor blade to my wrists.”

“SUN!” Twilight shouted in shock.

Sun raised her hand to stop Twilight. “Hey, hey, it’s alright Sparky. Because, without realizing it, I was wearing the Ember Stone. So, when I did that, the wounds healed immediately. After that I went through so many ways to try and end my life over the course of six months. I tried to overdose on all kinds of different drugs, I drank a whole bottle of bleach, I shot myself, stabbed myself in the heart, jumped off a building, hung myself, threw myself down the stairs, let myself get bitten by several different kinds of poisonous animals, but no matter what I did, I just came back. I thought it was punishment for what I did, God’s way of saying, ‘You have to live with what you did!’.”

Sunset was still trying to process this. “You…You tried to kill yourself, for six whole months?! I mean…I…I didn’t think I…”

Sun got up from her chair and sat next to Sunset, she took one of her big sister’s hands into her own and said, “Hey, that was me, not you. We may look, sound, and we may even think alike to a degree, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll do that, you’re already far stronger than me. And you have a better support system.”

Twilight got up and took the space on Sun’s left as she grasped her girlfriend’s left hand. “You have it now, too! No matter what happens, I’ll be there for you, I want you to come to me anytime you have thoughts like that, understand?!”

Sun gave Twilight a reassuring smile. “You don’t have to worry about that, neither of you do. Because to be honest, I stopped doing it to try and kill myself after the first month. I realized after that that I had the power to come back to life, along with actual fire powers, but I wanted to see what the extent of my healing powers were. That’s when I did all those other things once I exhausted the conventional ways of offing oneself. How do you think I can fight the way I can?”

It clicked in Sunset and she gave voice to her hypothesis, “You did it to build up your pain tolerance.”

“Bingo, Sis, I could still feel pain, but it was only for a short amount of time, but even then it’s a shock to the system, so I wanted to understand and overcome that shock so that, whatever the situation, pain won’t disrupt my thinking or actions.”

Sunset had to admit, she was impressed by her little sister’s thinking. She didn’t like hearing that she attempted suicide, but at the very least she managed to turn the negative into a positive. “So, where were you studying before you came here?”

“Oh, I self-taught myself, I was traveling the world to try and learn more about the Ember Stone, and I didn’t want to get bogged down at a school, so I ended up applying myself harder, making my mind and body sharper to make better use of the Stone. When I heard about all the craziness happening here in Canterlot City, I decided to transfer here to find out more, plus I thought it’d be nice to graduate in a school, I’m pretty sure Mom and Dad would want that.”

Twilight squeezed Sun’s hand and her smile broadened. “Well, I’m glad that you decided to come to Canterlot City.”

Sun smiled back and planted a kiss on Twilight’s cheek. “I’m glad I did, too.”

Sunset stood up and stated, “Okay, I’m going to go and get cutesy with my girlfriend, I’ll let you two have a little alone time.”

Before either of them could say differently, Sunset had slipped out of the room, leaving both of them alone. Sun and Twilight glanced at each other; the topic of intimacy hadn’t come up much in their relationship since the day they became a couple. Twilight removed her hand from Sun’s and changed her gaze downwards towards her button up blouse. With a determined look, Twilight began unbuttoning her blouse, doing it quickly to not think about it. Sun was caught off guard by the suddenness of Twilight’s actions and quickly moved to stop her girlfriend before she was completely exposed.

Sun managed to clasp her hands over Twilight’s, stopping her and leaving Twilight’s blouse half open and exposing her bra. “Sparky, what are you doing?!”

Twilight blushed hard as she avoided eye contact with Sun. “Well…w-we are on Spring Break, a-and we are alone…”

“Yeah, that we are, but that doesn’t mean you have to strip for me just because of that, babe,” said Sun.

Twilight’s eyes watered a little as a scowl appeared on her face. “I hate this…I-I want to…I want to make love with you…I want to erase all those experiences with Indigo and make new ones with you…! But look at me!” Twilight removed her hands from Sun’s and held them out, showing that they were trembling. “I know you’re not her, I know you care about me, you like me, and I know you wouldn’t ever hurt me. I know that, and yet, in the back of my mind, I can’t stop associating intimacy with what Indigo did…”

Sun was really wishing she had burned Indigo Zap alive when she had the chance. Saving that fantasy for another day, Sun wrapped her arms around Twilight and gave her a hug, bringing the teen genius’ head to rest against her chest. “Twilight, no one gets over that kind of trauma right away. I don’t care if I don’t get to make love to you, just being with you is good enough.”

“You say that…but I know you have needs, and I should be able to help you with those…”

“Just because you’re my girlfriend doesn’t mean you’re obligated to.” Sun stroked the top of Twilight’s head soothingly, feeling the teenage prodigy relax in her grasp. “Besides, I got certain toys back at home that can do the job for me if I need it.”

Twilight’s body stiffened, her mind already whipping up a mental image of Sun in a compromising position with said “toys”. She quickly shook that out of her mind and returned to the moment. “B-B-Be that as it may…I still want to be intimate with you…!”

“Only when you’re ready, Sparky. I want you to feel confident, not forcing yourself because the situation calls for it, and not because I’m feeling horny, okay?” Sun asked.

Twilight looked up into the caring turquoise eyes of her girlfriend and smiled appreciatively. “I can’t believe I found someone like you…I’m so lucky.”

“Really? ‘Cause I feel like I’m the lucky one.” Sun smirked, she then quickly jerked backwards, making both herself and Twilight fall onto the bed, and making Twilight release a cute yelp of surprise. Now the two of them were just lying there on the bed. “We don’t have to do anything; we can just lie here.”

Twilight snuggled up closer to Sun and said, “Thank you.”

Supernatural occurrences happened, you don’t know where and you usually don’t know when, but there are those people who make it a point to know the where and the when, the how and the why, and what to do. They were called the OSOD or the Organization of Supernatural and Otherworldly Disasters. These guys were the ones who came when the creatures from the world beyond or spiritual beings appeared to ruin an otherwise nice day for the normal people of the world. Although, right now, they were embarrassed beyond belief.

They didn’t just let one supernatural event get out of hand, no, they let TWO get out of hand. First with the Wendigo outbreak, and second when a war between angels and demons took place, all in the same location, all within a few months of each other.

Currently, one of its operatives and a “contractor”, were heading into the dense jungle. The contractor was wearing a dusty green explorer’s shirt, with pockets filled with items and supplies for the journey, she wore sandy colored cargo shorts, brown boots, and a sandy colored pit helmet. Her light gold skin was sweaty from the humidity as her long black hair swished back and forth from her movements as she hacked through the jungle with her machete, the woman’s rose colored eyes picked up on movement coming from her right and paused. When nothing happened, she carefully proceeded.

Coming up behind her was another woman, the operative. She had a dark orchid skin tone, her eyes were icy opal colored, and over her right eye was a scar. Her hair was shaved save for the mohawk she sported, she wore a similar outfit that her partner wore, except the shirt she wore had the top two buttons undone and was colored black and the shorts gray. On her thigh she had a gun holstered, and in her right hand she wielded a machete to cut through the brush and strapped to the back of her belt was a strange disc object.

It looked like a sundial, but not a traditional one. The edges were made of a gold-like metal, three pearls were placed at the twelve, three, and nine ‘o'clock positions. The dial’s hand was made of the same gold metal, while the inner parts were crafted of a navy-blue metal. There were no numbers to indicate time, but there were rune markings etched into the edges.

As they walked, the woman with a mohawk took a step forward, but suddenly found herself airborne when she slipped in some slick mud that sent her falling onto her back with a wet squelching sound. The operative’s partner turned around and chuckled at her misfortune, earning an irritated glare.

“Ha, ha, very funny. If you’re done laughing your ass off, give me a hand, Daring!”

Daring still laughed but did offer a hand. “Sorry, ‘Tempest’, but that whole thing was something out of a cartoon!”

When Daring got Tempest up, the latter rubbed off what mud she could and growled a little. “Fucking jungle, fucking mud! And what’s with the way you said my name, ‘Tempest’.”

“Oh, it might have to do with the fact that that’s not your real name,” said Daring.

Tempest threw a glare Daring’s way. “It is my name! Now move your ass, we have a mission to complete.” The OSOD operative took the lead as she angrily hacked at the brush in front of her, but stopped to say, “I better not read about this in your next book! Don’t forget, I know where you live!”

Daring rolled her eyes, “Of course you do, you sleep over enough times that you practically live there.”

After a few more minutes of trekking through the jungle, the duo made it to their destination. A temple stood before them, easily five stories high, and, unfortunately, had streaks of dried blood running down it. It was here that Tempest handed her machete over Daring, allowing her to draw her gun and hold it with both hands. Daring readied herself as well, she had heard rumors of a beast prowling the jungles of this area, taking the local villagers, and performing arcane sacrificial rituals on them.

“Well…looks like we found the right place. What did you say we were dealing with, again?” Tempest asked.

“From what the villagers described, and from what I’ve been able to research based on that information, we’re dealing with a Yahui,” Daring explained.

“On that note, what the hell is a Yahui?”

The answer came quickly. An unearthly roar tore through the jungle as a creature appeared at the top of the temple. The creature crouched low and jumped straight into the air, Daring and Tempest backed away quickly, letting the creature land on the ground without any obstruction. Dust was kicked up from the landing, but when it cleared, Daring and Tempest got a clearer look at what it was. The creature had the head of a crocodile, with scaly arms and legs, and jagged flint-like claws. The Yahui’s body was like a tortoise shell, overall, this monster was an armored killer. The Yahui had yellow eyes that bounced between Daring and Tempest, waiting to see who made the first hostile move.

“Uh-huh…so, that’s what a Yahui looks like,” said Tempest.

“Don’t attack, Yahui are typically docile and sapient. They usually help humans and don’t kill unless they’ve been angered.” Daring slowly crouched and stabbed the machetes into the ground, showing her hands empty in a gesture of non-hostility. “Yahui, why have you done this? Why are you killing so many people?”

The creature looked at Daring but glanced every now and then at Tempest as she hadn’t lowered her weapon. “The humans kill this land and kill my kind! We’ve helped them so many times, and they repay us by calling us monsters and killing us! I will offer their blood and hearts to the gods and bring forth the wrath of the gods unto them!”

Daring nodded. “I understand, the world isn’t fair to your kind after all you’ve done. But don’t make them right, don’t give them that.”

“Tezcatlipoca had the right idea, to rid the world of Quetzalcoatl’s favored creations!”

A dark aura flared around the Yahui and Daring sighed sadly. “It’s no good, he’s steeped too deep in his hatred…Tempest…you’re up.”

Tempest noted the sad tone in Daring’s voice, she was a proponent of keeping the ancient creatures and sights intact, for they were as much a part of our world as the trees, oceans, and animals that resided in it. However, there were times when even she knew that those things presented a threat and needed to be stopped. Tempest put away her gun and instead unhooked the sundial which was on her belt. Below the dial was a handlebar that allowed someone to hold it like a shield, Tempest held the dial up, and immediately the three pearl shaped crystals began to glow. Shadows flared out from the disk and wrapped Tempest in a cocoon of darkness.

The cocoon shrunk and form fitted against Tempest’s body, several points of pearl white lights appeared over her body, it almost appeared as if she was cloaked in the night sky itself. The sundial object had switched places, now it was around her waist, held there by the shadows, her eyes glowed bright blue as strands of shadows wisped off her body and flowed like ribbons in the wind.

“I’ll tell you now, I’ll make it as quick as possible.”

“Witch!” The Yahui accused as he charged straight for her.

Tempest jumped into the air, spun, and landed a few feet away from his reach. The Yahui skidded to a halt and turned around to charge again, but this time, Tempest charged as well. The creature lunged with its right claw and Tempest met it with greater speed, she brushed her hand over the creature’s arm, practically pirouetting around him as she stopped and let the creature stumble forward. The Yahui stopped and turned to face her but stopped when it looked at its right arm. The scales around its arm began to shed, again, and again, and again, in rapid succession.

In less than a few seconds, the Yahui’s right arm began to shrivel up, the skin disappeared, leaving only bones, and not long after the bones were exposed, they too were turned to dust. The Yahui didn’t scream, nor did it look like it was in pain, but it was stunned. “What…What did you do…?!”

“The nerves that were connected to your arm are gone, that’s why don’t feel any pain, they’ve aged so far that they’re useless. That’s the power I wield, the power of time.” Tempest formed a sphere of shadow energy, it spun around and around, creating a whirlwind around Tempest. “I promised this would be painless, and I meant it.”

Tempest dashed towards the Yahui and slammed the rotating sphere into his chest. The sphere erupted and swallowed the Yahui whole, once inside, the Yahui underwent many years’ worth of aging in less than a few seconds. Each second that ticked by was another hundred years, the Yahui aged rapidly, its skin shedding continuously until it appeared old and feeble, but even then, it didn’t stop. Without so much as a gasp or scream, the skin disappeared, leaving only its skeleton, and a second later, that skeleton was turned to dust.

Daring had witnessed the power of Tempest’s mystical item before, the Wheel of Shadows. From what she gathered about the object, it had the power to manipulate time, but not all of time. She could control the time of living things and objects, either aging them to the point that they were dust or regressing that age. For example, if she used it on a human, she could regress their age back to that of a child, or even further, she could regress them to a mere zygote.

Once the work was done, Tempest undid her shadow form, returning them to the Wheel. She hooked the Wheel back on her belt and sighed. “I have the power over time, but I can’t undo the bad shit that happened here…what kind of bullshit is that?”

“Probably better that you don’t, there are enough movies about what could happen if you mess with time.”

Tempest chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Okay ‘Doc’, I won’t go back in time and accidentally make out with my mom or go to the future to find a sports almanac and get super rich.”

Daring raised an eyebrow. “You better not be bad mouthing my favorite movie trilogy.”

“You’re such a nerd.”

“A nerd who knows various martial arts styles, has degrees in archeology, linguistics, anthropology, cartography, zoology, entomology, cryptozoology, the occult, proficient in firearms, a world-renowned best seller, and to top it all off…I’m rich bitch,” Daring countered with a smirk.

Tempest crossed her arms, thought about it for a moment, and conceded her point. “Touché.” Tempest took out a device from one of her pockets, a secure satellite phone that connected to OSOD headquarters. “This is Tempest Shadow to HQ, we’ve found the target location and have eliminated the threat, send a cleanup crew to my coordinates to wash off this temple.”

{Confirmed, Agent Tempest. Be advised, headquarters has issued that you start investigating the ‘Hotspot’.}

Tempest knew what the “Hotspot” was, it was the code name that the OSOD came up with for Canterlot City. “Seriously? I just got through with this one, I’m due for some R and R!”

{Unfortunately, Agent Tempest, this is an order from the top. There’s been too much activity in the Hotspot to be ignored. We need an agent who can not only investigate, but also counter and/or eliminate the source of the Hotspot’s activity.}

“In other words, this has gotten so embarrassing that they need someone there to get shit done.”

{Agent Tempest–!}

“I got it, I got it. I’ll be on the first plane out of here.” Tempest hung up the phone and sighed in annoyance. “I was looking forward to vegging out on your couch for a while, rich nerd.”

Daring chuckled. “Rain check then. Do you think you’ll need my help?”

Tempest thought for a minute. “Don’t know, but I’ll call you if I do.”

Daring lightly punched Tempest’s right arm. “You’d better.”

Sunset was on the beach, just relaxing as she sat in the chair under the parasol, listening to the sound of the ocean as it ebbed and flowed. The sun was setting and bathed the sky in orange, red, and yellow colors. The water reflected this light, only adding to the beauty, along with this was a warm breeze that blew in from the west. Sunset hadn’t felt this peaceful in a long time, well, she took that back, there was another time.

“Hey, Sunny!”

The former unicorn cracked open an eye and smiled as she saw Pinkie hovering over her. “Hey, babe.”

“Whatcha doin’?” Pinkie asked as she crouched to eye level with Sunset.

“Just enjoying the moment.”

“Oh, did I mess it up?” Pinkie asked with concern.

Sunset chuckled as she shook her head. “How could a visit from my cute girlfriend mess up this moment? Actually…why don’t you join me?”

Pinkie smiled and happily chirped, “Okay!”

Sunset let one of her legs fall off the chair, Pinkie Pie sat on the open space and laid back against Sunset, resting the back of her head on the former bad girl’s chest. Sunset gently draped her arms over Pinkie’s shoulders and draped her left leg over Pinkie’s left thigh. The two of them just lied there, the peaceful moment only becoming that much more perfect because of Pinkie’s presence.

“Sunset, are you really going to become a cop?” Pinkie asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s what I want to do. Well, being a regular police officer is just the first step, I want to become a detective and solve crimes.”

Pinkie snuggled into her lover’s embrace. “You’re amazing, Sunny. You’ve already figured out what you’re going to do. Me…I’m still trying to figure it out.”

“Don’t sweat it so much, Pinkie. Not everybody figures out what they want to do before they hit college, sometimes it just clicks when you’re in college, that’s the point of going.”

“I know…I just feel like I’m weighing you down,” Pinkie confessed.

Sunset took her right hand and ran her fingers through Pinkie’s curly locks. “Don’t start with that, I want to be with you, I care about you. I…I love you, Pinkie. Only that should matter, I mean, who else can put up with my crap and all this magical craziness?”

Pinkie shrugged. “Eh, maybe Princess Twilight, or my sister, Lime.”

“Heh, yeah………Wait – what about your sister?!” Sunset wasn’t so much surprised by the Princess Twilight bit, it had become an inside joke to their group that Sunset and Princess Twilight would make a cute couple, hell, even Pinkie Pie had made a few – she believed – jokes about having a threesome with Princess Twilight. But Pinkie’s big sister, Limestone Pie, that was new.

“Oh…heh, heh…turns out that Limestone had – still maybe kinda has – a crush on you.”

Sunset took a moment to absorb that. “I mean…uh…wow, I thought she hated my guts for a second until we made up.”

Pinkie rubbed Sunset’s hand and answered, “Yeah, she didn’t want to come between us so she pretended to not like you so you wouldn’t like her, and probably not want to talk to her so that would make it easier for her to stay away from you.”

Sunset blinked. “Oh…um…wow.”

“Yep, face it Sunny, you’re just too damn sexy. You make straight girls turn gay for you! No one is safe from your sexiness! Hide your daughters moms and dads of the world!” Pinkie proclaimed.

Sunset smirked and held Pinkie tighter. “Well, your parents messed up, ‘cause you’re all mine.”

“Nooooooo! Please, Sunset, don’t take my purity away!” Pinkie mock pleaded.

“Oh, I took that a long time ago, you’re never getting away from me!” Sunset shifted hands’ position to Pinkie’s sides and began tickling her. “Never!”

Pinkie began laugh hysterically as she flailed like a madwoman, trying to get away from Sunset, but the flame haired girl had locked her legs around Pinkie, keeping her girlfriend restrained as she was forced to endure the torture.

“S-Sunset! HAHAhAHA S-S-s-S-toP I-IIAIIIE g-going to p-p-pEE myself!!!” Pinkie pleaded for real.

“Hmm, kinky. I’ve never done watersports, but there’s a first time for everything.”

“S-S-SUNSET!”

Sunset stopped her tickling, leaving Pinkie a panting mess as she took in deep breathes. Pinkie looked up the best she could and smirked a little, “Y-You know I-I’m going to get you back for that right~”

With a gulp, Sunset replied, “Yep, totally worth it though…!”

The streets of Canterlot City were still a mess from the recent battles, but the tireless efforts of the city’s construction workers have made them more presentable. With the ending of the war between Angelus and the Darkness, the people believed that the streets were safer. Crime hadn’t been that high since most worried that there were still demons and angels lurking about and ready to take the wicked and sinful away at a moment’s notice.

It was, unfortunately, not enough to stop every criminal, as was the case now. A gang of four, three men and one woman, had cornered a young couple. One of the gang members, a large man, had forced the young man to the ground, leaving his girlfriend to the mercy of the other two. The woman of the gang had sifted through their belongings to see what was of value, unfortunately she didn’t find much.

“Well this is shit, dammit, all this angels and demons shit’s keeping the good marks at home,” said the female of the gang.

“So, now what?” asked one of the male members.

“Do whatever ya want,” she replied.

The three men had a lecherous gleam in their eyes as they looked the young woman up and down.

“NO! LEAVE HER ALO–!”

The large man punched him across the face and shouted, “Shut the fuck up!” He then turned to his colleagues and said, “Hey, you better not wear that bitch out before I have my turn!”

The young girl began to scream as the two men started to rip at her clothes. The gangster woman lit up a cigarette and took a puff as she said in annoyance, “C’mon you dipshits, you two got hair triggers, so just nut her already! I got better things to do than – ACK!”

The couple, and the three male gangsters turned towards the female gangster. Their mouths fell open in horror as they saw a sword blade protruding from her chest. The female gangster looked down her body and saw the silver blade, now drenched her in her blood. She was too stunned to react to the pain, the blade swiftly retraced from her body, allowing a steady stream of blood to come flowing from the wound. The girl stumbled forward, but she didn’t get the chance as a streak of red light went through her left shoulder, the reaction was delayed as half a second later the arm fell off, another red streak went through her right shoulder, and just like the first, it too fell off. Blood sprayed from the wounds, splattering against the walls on either side.

The female gangster screamed in pain as she spun around to try and see who was doing this to her, but that only allowed her a brief glimpse of the blade as it slashed again, this time beheading her. The sliced neck released another spray of blood into the air as her head flew up and fell before the others, not a moment later, her body joined it, drenching the ground in a pool of crimson. Now with no obstructions, they could clearly see who it was who had killed the woman.

From what they could tell, it was a she. She was wearing a black hoodie, black pants, sneakers, and gloves. In her left hand she held a scabbard, and in her right, she held a katana. The blade was coated in the blood of its victim, but after a few seconds, that blood seemed to seep into the blade itself, making it pulse and glow red.

From the darkness of the hood, they could only make out the killer’s glowing red eyes, which shifted between all of them as she swayed back and forth. “Wow, she bled a lot…who’s the next bleeder? C’mon, c’mon, don’t be shy!”

“YOU BITCH!” the large gangster shouted as he got off the young man.

That same gangster pulled out a gun and fired it repeatedly at her. The killer didn’t even flinch, but she did swipe her sword swiftly through the air, her movements were a blur as she did this. By the time the gangster’s gun was empty, all his fired bullets had clattered onto the pavement, sliced in half, their movement having been halted, not a single one had passed her.

“Wow, that was shit. My turn!”

With inhuman speed, the killer dashed towards the large gangster, slicing upwards with her sword, and severing his forearm. The half that held his gun flew up into the air, like his female companion, he didn’t feel the initial cut, it all happened too quick for his nerves to interpret that his limb was gone and that pain should follow.

While he was still stunned, the killer shifted her sword into a reverse-grip, and spun around rapidly in place, creating a red circle as she stopped with her back to the man. A second later, a clean cut formed on the man’s stomach, it spewed out blood, but after that, more cuts formed, splitting the man’s stomach open to the point that his entrails spilled out in front of him. The man screamed in terror and was about to vomit, but the killer stabbed her sword into the open wound, and with a malicious chuckle, slashed upwards, cleaving through bone and muscle with no effort at all. When she flicked her blade downwards, a line formed on the large gangster’s body, and a second later, his body split in half, causing more blood to release into the air.

The last two gangsters were scared out of their minds at this point, watching the killer dance as she let the blood flow over her and her sword. The two gangsters decided to take their chances and run while she was distracted, they bolted around her, thinking that they were going to escape. But they were oh so wrong.

“Oh, that won’t do! I still want to play!”

With the same inhuman speed, the killer vaulted off the walls, pinballing from one to the other until she had gotten in front of them, and closed off their exit. The two gangsters stumbled backwards onto their rears, crawling backwards as the killer approached them, slowly, methodically, relishing the fear and in their eyes.

“P-Please, we’re sorry!”

“W-We won’t do this again! We swear!”

“Huh? Oh! You think I’m killing you because you guys were about to rape that woman and kill her boyfriend? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!” The killer released loud, hysterical laughter, as if the men had told the funniest joke in the world. The killer held her sides for a moment, genuinely finding humor in their assumption. After a few seconds more of laughing, she took a deep breath and sighed. “Thank you, I needed that laugh. No, no, you sillies, I’m not killing you because you’re bad people. I’m killing you just, well, because I like it!”

With that said, the killer sliced off the legs of one of the gangsters, and when he screamed she plunged the blade into his open mouth, his eyes moved erratically as he gagged and flailed his arms back and forth. The red eyes narrowed as she pushed the blade forward with a final crunch to end the gangster’s life. The remaining gangster had thoroughly soiled himself at this point, and tried to crawl towards the couple, begging them for help. However, the moment he reached out towards them, she sliced off both of his arms, followed by his legs.

The last gangster was reduced to a stumpy torso that wiggled on the ground, crying and begging god, or whoever would listen to save him. The killer kicked him over onto his back, she straddled his waist and held up the katana with both hands, with a sinister, happy gleam in her red eyes, she stabbed the man through the heart and quickly pulled it out, letting a steady stream of his blood come spraying upwards and coat her clothes until they were practically a dark crimson color.

The killer drew back her hood, allowing her face to be seen. Her light-yellow skin was spotted with bloodstains, making her red freckles look like they were taking over her whole face. Her rose colored hair with aquamarine streaks was tied up into a bun to keep it from thrashing about. When her eyes opened, they were filled with red light, she ran her hand over her body, and brought that same hand to her mouth, licking the blood off it as if it were a sweet wine. She got off the corpse and stood a foot away from it, the glow of her eyes faded and now were back to their regular indigo color, the color of Sour Sweet’s eyes. Said eyes shot back and forth between the carnage that she had wrought, trembling that it was her who had committed this atrocity.

“Oh, god…what…what did you do?!” Sour Sweet asked.

“Don’t act that way! You know what I did! You weren’t asleep, you were awake the entire time!”

Sour couldn’t move her hands or legs, this unsettled her a little, but even more so was the fact that she was drenched in blood and…wet? “What the fuck…? Did you – Did you have an orgasm after killing them?!” Sour asked her dark half.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help it! It’s been so damn long since I’ve reveled in killing and blood! I got a little overstimulated.”

“You fucking…” It was then that Sour Sweet noticed the couple that were still huddled at the other end of the alley. “At least they're safe…”

“Yeah, and that’s a problem, or didn’t you notice that your hood was pulled back?”

“WHAT?!” Sour – the Sword relinquishing some control of her left arm – touched her head with her left hand and realized that her hood was drawn back. “Nonononononono! Why did you do that?! They’ve seen me!”

“H-Hey, w-we won’t tell anybody, right, babe?” the young man asked of his girlfriend.

“No, no we won’t! Y-You saved us! We won’t tell anyone what happened here,” she assured.

“Can you really trust them? I mean, how long will it be before they go to the police? How long before Witchblade is on your ass? You’ll be blamed for all of this, no one will believe that you’re possessed by a demon sword.”

“After everything that’s happened in this city?! Why not?!” Sour demanded as she shouted into the air.

“You were already a bit unstable before I awakened, and the more I’ve come out, the worse you’ve gotten. Take what happened to Twilight Sparkle, after what you nearly did, do you think anyone will believe that you’re not capable of doing that on your own? You’ll either end up getting killed by the city’s great defender, or you’ll end up like Fleur and hang yourself in your cell.”

Sour Sweet’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks, the Sword was right, even though part of that was the influence of the demonic weapon, Sour had made the choice to not take her meds that would’ve dulled the voice’s influence, Witchblade wouldn’t hesitate in killing her if that happened.

“The only way to keep yourself from ending up in either of those two positions, is to kill them.”

Sour looked back at the young couple; her eyes began to water as tears flowed down them. “I’m sorry…” Her eyes shifted back to their red glow; her remorseful expression dramatically shifted to one of pure murderous glee. “She is, but I’m not~” The only thing that was heard after that were the screams and maniacal laughter of a young teenage girl in the middle of a bloody carnival.