The Witchblade EqG: The 13 Artifacts

Sunset was hovering in the air at the location that her big sister had texted to her. She searched the area for ten minutes before she just sat there on a building, waiting for her big sister to appear and explain to her why she kept her waiting TEN WHOLE MINUTES. As a favor she waited an extra five minutes before she walked into the middle of the rooftop, changed back, and pulled out her cellphone. She called her sister and tapped her foot impatiently.

{Sun, hey, what’s up?}

“What’s up?! You kept me waiting for a whole fifteen minutes! That’s what’s up!” Sunset exclaimed.

{Whoa…Why are you all aggro right now?}

“You texted me telling me that there was an Artifact user in the far end of the city! I flew out here, searched the area, but I didn’t find the person or you! So, tell me why you sent me on a wild goose chase?!”

{Sun, I didn’t text you anything like that…hold on.}

Sunset waited for a minute and then a text message came, she went to the thread and saw that it was a picture, a screenshot of her sister’s phone. And to Sunset’s surprise, it was a screenshot of her recent texts to and from her, but the real surprise was that the message that was sent to Sunset wasn’t there.

“That’s…That can’t be!” Sunset did the same, taking a screenshot and sending it to her sister. “Take a look, it shows that you sent me a text not too long ago!”

{Wait……Okay, what the hell is going on? I didn’t send this message, I was in the locker room taking a shower after gym when this was sent, my phone was in my locker.}

Sunset was starting to get worried, someone had sent a false text under the guise of her big sister, all to lure out here. For what though, a trap? The fiery redhead quickly scanned the area, checking for anything suspicious, but she couldn’t sense anything amiss, nor could she spot any signs that there was something or someone about to attack.

{Sun, are you okay?}

“Something’s not right, does anyone know about me at your school?” Sunset asked.

{No, aside from my friends, Principal Celestia, and Vice Principal Luna, no one else.}

{SUNSET, DID YOU SEE!!!?}

“OW!” Sun exclaimed, the loud voice on the other end forced her to move the phone from her ear. “Who the hell was that?!”

{Hang on – Rainbow, what the hell?! I’m on the phone with Sun!}

{You are?! Did she burn down Crystal Prep Academy?!}

“What did you just say?!} The Sunset’s asked in stereo.

{Crystal Prep is burning down right now! There’s, like, firetrucks and ambulances all over that place! They’re trying to stop the fire but it’s not going out! I only asked because…well…there’s only one fire element power-based person at that school. I just figured that you finally had enough of their crap and burned the joint down!}

“Okay, no, I did NOT burn down the school! I’m not anywhere near that place right now! I–!” Sunset’s eyes widened. “Oh shit…! I GOTTA GO!!!”

Sunset ended the call, put the phone in her pocket, erupted into a pillar of flames and shot off into the sky at breakneck speed. She appeared as flaming comet that zoomed through the blue, her face was plastered with an expression of panic as she rushed back to the school.

Please, god, don’t let it be him! Please! Please!

Sugarcoat groaned in annoyance as she lightly banged her head against the steering wheel of her car. She had been stuck in this traffic jam for over twenty minutes ever since she left her parents’ workplace. It was strange, neither of them asked her to come down there, they even found it weird when she showed them the text message that she got from them. They didn’t know how that text was sent, but after checking their phones, they confirmed that neither of them sent the message.

From there Sugarcoat left and has now been stuck in traffic, from what she could see the traffic lights were messed up and it was causing the cars in the four way to pile up and stop. Police cars were trying to get through so that they could direct traffic, but they were making slow progress once they got there. It wasn’t that she was in a rush to get back, but she wasn’t keen on having to make up the assignments that she missed.

Sugarcoat sighed and then turned on the radio, she turned it onto a station that was playing “PostCrush” and left it on that. She opened her phone and began to thumb through some things on her phone, she brought up a photo of her, Twilight, and Sunset that they took during the week. She smiled every time she looked at it, because it was the first photo she took that was with actual friends, and not something she took for posterity, or to show off to the other popular kids to make sure that they knew who was friends with.

Twilight was a great person, she wished she had gotten to know her when they first met. If she had the chance, she would’ve redone that whole meeting, become her friend, weathered the storm that was Crystal Prep together. But she was determined to make up for that now, and god willing, she would continue to be her friend when they entered the same university. She may not be as smart as Twilight or Sunset, but she wasn’t a slacker, Sugarcoat was confident that she would be able to.

A friendship that continued into their adult years, the thought of it made her happy. Just then, Sugarcoat got a news alert notification, she was about to ignore it until she saw the words “Crystal Prep” in the tag. Sugarcoat quickly opened the notification and saw the headline.

[CRYSTAL PREP ACADEMY ABALZE!]

“WHAT THE HELL!!!”

Shining Armor and Cadence arrived at Crystal Prep Academy, but when they did, the entire structure was on fire. The blaze was somehow contained to the building itself; Cadence covered her mouth when she saw the scene, but she became increasingly worried when she noticed that there were no students or teachers present outside. The school had practiced its fire drills religiously and was nothing if not precise in getting out in under five minutes or less.

Cadence rushed to the nearest firefighter and asked, “Excuse me, where are the students and teachers?!”

“Lady, I need to get in there,” said the firefighter.

Shining came up behind her and flashed his badge. “She’s asking because she’s the Dean of Students for this school! Where are they?!”

“We haven’t found anyone! No one’s outside, we’ve searched the entire area…we’re thinking they’re inside!” The firefighter went back to his crew to assist.

“Oh god…Shiny…” Cadence gasped.

“It’ll be okay…” Shining Armor assured, although his voice made it sound as if he were trying to assure himself.

The couple watched as the brave firefighters hurriedly doused the flames with their hoses, at least five engines were gathered, all of them piling on water from different angles, but no matter how much water they poured on it, the flames didn’t die down. It was as if the fire was ignoring the water altogether, unfortunately, the structure was crumbling more and more by the second, the intensity of the flames was gradually turning the cement and metal beams into molten slag, and soon the entire building would fall. The flames were so hot that no one could go inside, even when they tried, it was as if the flames lashed out at the firefighters as if saying “You shall not pass!”.

“This is taking too long Shiny! Twilight, the students, the teachers, their still in there!” Cadence exclaimed.

“I don’t know what else they can do! They’ve got more engines coming in but it’s like the fire doesn’t want to go out,” said Shining Armor.

Just then, the couple noticed a comet blazing across the sky and stopping right over the building.

“Is that…?” Cadence asked.

Before they could figure it out, that same comet plummeted straight down and smashed its way through the roof.

“I think it is!”

Sunset landed in the middle of the hallway; her eyes were wide with fear as she tried to find her lover. There were traces of bodies, but the fires were burning them so bad that Sunset couldn’t make out who they were, let alone if they were male or female. She could already tell that the building wasn’t going to stand up much longer, at best she had at least three minutes or less, and if she couldn’t find Twilight by then, the whole structure would come down and crush whatever remnants were left.

She focused, quickly scanning the entire building for Twilight’s Life Flame, what made her fear escalate was that in a school filled with hundreds of kids, and a hundred or so teachers and staff, there were hardly any Life Flames to sense. C’mon, Sparky, be alive, please, please be alive! I swear to god if that bastard finally reared his head, I’ll burn this whole damn city down if it means he dies!

Suddenly, Sunset found Twilight’s flame, it was strong and burning bright, and it wasn’t far. Sunset ignited the soles of her feet and took off down the hall, blasting through debris as she made her way towards her lover. After destroying several pieces of debris, Sunset finally made it close to where Twilight was. Sunset transformed her hands into dragon claws and ripped open the door to the connecting swimming pool. Thankfully, it seemed the flames hadn’t been able to get near the pool water, but that didn’t do much for the intense heat.

Sunset looked about and saw Twilight treading water in the middle of the pool, trying to keep away from the edges as much as possible. When she spotted her, Sunset cried out “TWILIGHT!!!”

The teen genius turned her head towards her direction and shouted back, “SUNSET!!!”

“HANG ON, WE’RE GETTING OUT OF HERE!!!”

Without wasting a moment, Sunset dove into the water, jetting through it and scooping up Twilight into her arms. Once she had a hold of her, Sunset wrapped them in a sphere of burning flames and quickly ascended, smashing through the roof, rising higher until she was hovering over where the firetrucks were. It was at that moment that the entire building collapsed in on itself, crumbling into a burning heap as the once prestigious school of Crystal Prep Academy was completely burned to the ground.

“Sparky, are you alright?!” Sunset asked.

“I…I am…just a little tired from treading water for so long,” said Twilight.

“I’m taking you down to those firefighters, and then I’ll take care of this fire!”

Sunset quickly descended and landed near an ambulance, thankfully, it seemed that there were others there who would look after her lover.

“TWILY!” Cadence and Shining Armor shouted.

“Cadence, Shiny!” Twilight replied.

Sunset released Twilight and let her run into the loving arms of her big brother and future sister-in-law. Now that she was sure that she was safe, Sunset flew over the school, she waved her hands about, connecting to the flames below. The flames started to move in tandem with Sunset’s motions, and then they began to rise. Higher and higher they rose turning into a twister that coalesced into a sphere above Sunset. The flames that were so stubborn and unwilling to bend to the element of water, bent to her will, the Ember Stone’s power was absolute over the element of fire, no matter how strange they acted.

The flames continued to collect and condense into the sphere at a rapid pace, and in less than a minute, Sunset was able to remove every last ember from the charred remains of Crystal Prep and contain it to a sphere that looked like a mini sun. Sunset condensed it more and more until it fit in the palm of her hand, then she clenched that hand into a fist, snuffing it out.

Sunset hovered in the air for a while, she was still finding it hard to believe, Crystal Prep was gone.

It was Saturday, and the mayhem of yesterday hadn’t died down. The news of Crystal Prep’s downfall was echoing throughout the city, along with a huge amount of information pertaining to Principal Abacus Cinch and her illegal actions of sweeping incidents under the rug, as well as implicating several people in the local government and law enforcement in covering it up in exchange for favors.

It was the incident that was shaking Canterlot City, especially when, out of the entire school, there few survivors. A small handful consisted of janitorial and maintenance staff, while the last four garnered a bit more attention, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Sugarcoat, and Mi Amore Cadenza. The school had no cafeteria staff as the cafeteria was catered to by some of the best restaurants in the city.

Crystal Prep was already getting attention due to the attempted murder of Twilight Sparkle on campus, so she was already a reluctant celebrity, but now she, Sugarcoat, and Sunset were in the spotlight, just as much, if not more, was Cadence. Being the Dean of Students, and for all intents and purposes, the second in command of Crystal Prep, she was under watch from the media.

Unfortunately, this did bring the press to Sunset’s doorstep, but thanks to her gate, they never got in. Police were stationed outside to keep the horde of reporters from coming onto her property, Shining Armor put on the additional order that if any of the reporters or anyone not approved to go in stepped foot on the property, they were to be arrested for trespassing.

Of course, they were questioned about any strange goings on prior to the fire. Sugarcoat had mentioned she had gotten a strange text from her parents that she was to meet them at their work, but when she arrived, they had no knowledge of sending a text, and was stuck in traffic. They were able to confirm that Sugarcoat was on the street that was experiencing a strange electrical issue that was making the traffic lights go haywire, requiring the police to do traffic control.

Sunset had explained that she did drive Twilight and herself to the school, and did attend classes, but decided to play hooky and left the school on foot, deciding not to take her car to make the teachers think that she may be somewhere on campus.

Unfortunately, this put her in the crosshairs a little, as well as Cadence. As the only school administrator who survived, she was also a suspect, having left under suspicious circumstances. However, the fact that she met with Shining Armor helped her case, but it was still strange that Shining Armor, Cadence, and Sugarcoat received text messages requiring them to leave the school not too long before the school went up in flames.

After another round of questioning, Twilight and Sunset decided to have a video chat session with Sugarcoat, all three of them looked wiped.

“Ugh…I don’t know how many times I can repeat myself before they finally stop asking me the same question,” said Sunset as she laid on the bed.

{Standard police tactic, they’ll ask you the same question ten different ways to see if your story changes. But you shouldn’t worry. How are you doing, Twilight?}

The teen genius sighed. “About as well as can be expected.” Twilight had fed them a lie about how she smelt something strange in the air before she lost consciousness, after that the next she remembered was the school being on fire and her classmates and teachers all dead. The only reason she said she survived was because she dove into the pool and treaded water for a long time. “Although I think I got off easy compared to everyone else.”

“Don’t worry about it, what matters is we’re all alive,” said Sunset as she squeezed her lover’s hand.

Twilight blushed and leaned forward, kissing Sunset on the lips as Sunset returned the kiss with as much feeling.

{If you two are going to engage in intercourse, at least end the call first.}

Sunset ended their kiss and smirked at Sugarcoat. “Be honest, Sweets, you know you’d love to get a show.”

“Maybe we should treat her to one?” Twilight suggested in the same teasing tone.

Sugarcoat blushed noticeably on screen and shook her head. {Okay, so apparently near-death experiences have increased your sex drive. Noted. But, speaking seriously, how are we going to graduate?}

Twilight waved off that concern. “Oh, that’s easy. Cadence told me that Crystal Prep has a private cloud server where they backup all grades and important data regarding Crystal Prep’s financials and other things. So, our grades can be easily transferred to whatever school we choose to go to.”

{Well, that’s a relief. Have you decided where you’re planning on going?}

Sunset and Twilight glanced at each other and then looked back at Sugarcoat.

“We were thinking of finishing at Canterlot High School,” said Twilight.

{Seriously? Why there?}

“Well, with our grades we’d easily be able to graduate without having to do much. Plus, my sister and her friends are there, and her adopted mom, Principal Celestia, said that she could easily get us in by this Monday if we want,” said Sunset.

Sugarcoat blinked. {Hold on, you have a sister, with an adopted mother?}

“The explanation is weirder than you think, take my word for it.”

Twilight looked at Sugarcoat with a hopeful expression, “Why don’t you apply too?! We can have Dean Cadence speak to Principal Celestia, I know it wouldn’t be any trouble for her, that way all three of us can graduate together!”

Sugarcoat contemplated that for a moment. {I don’t know…we do have a rivalry with them. Do you really think they’ll want us there? I don’t to be trading one version of Crystal Prep for another?}

Sunset blew a raspberry of the thought. “Please, there’s no way that would happen, not with my Sis and her friends backing us up. Plus, they’re not as uptight as they were at CPA.”

“Please, Sugarcoat?” Twilight pleaded. “It’d be great if we could.”

Sugarcoat rubbed the back of her head. {I’ll speak with my parents and convince them to let me enroll.} A somber expression befell Sugarcoat. {I know I should feel sad that everybody died…I don’t know what caused us all to survive, but I’m happy that at least the only decent people of that school did survive.}

“Same to you, Sweets.” Sunset watched as Sugarcoat was about to say something contradictory, but Sunset cut her off, “And don’t you dare say otherwise!”

Sugarcoat rolled her eyes. {Fine, you win. I’ll accept your compliment. I guess I’ll see you Monday then if all goes well.}

“See ya!” Sunset and Twilight exclaimed as Sugarcoat signed off.

Twilight closed the laptop and then laid back on the bed, with Sunset doing the same right next to her. Sunset drew Twilight closer to her, holding the teen genius as close as physically possible. “Sunset, are you okay?”

“Sorry, I’m just…it’s not that that wasn’t bad, but I…I thought something worse had happened and it scared me. I really thought I lost you…”

Twilight saw tears forming in Sunset’s eyes, making her heart sink that she thought her life was in danger. “I’m here, Sunset, I’m not going to leave you.”

There was a knock at Sunset’s door, prompting the two girls to look in the door’s direction.

“Come in,” said Sunset.

The door opened and Sun’s double poked her head in. “Hey, girls. Bad timing?”

Twilight shook her head. “No. Did you need something?”

Sunset walked in and closed the door behind her, she walked halfway towards the bed and said, “I just wanted to touch base with you guys, you were serious about wanting to go CHS?”

Sun and Twilight sat up on the bed and nodded a “yes”.

“We are, but is there a problem with that? I thought it was okay?” Twilight asked.

“No, I just wanted to make sure, because there are some things I wanted to get you up to speed on before you set foot in there.” Sunset walked the rest of the way and took a seat on the bed. “Okay, so, Twilight, remember how I explained that you had a pony double as well and that she came to my school, dethroned me, came back again and helped us beat the Sirens the first time?”

“Yeeesss,” Twilight answered.

“Yeah, she was – is – still popular at the school. There’s a high chance that the students are going to flock to you thinking that you’re her, but I’ll do my best to make sure everyone knows that you’re not her and that you’re you. Also, you might run into a guy there, Flash Sentry, who’ll probably be trying to get close to you, and might even have a crush on you.”

Twilight blushed, and Sun scowled a little, she hadn’t even been to CHS and Twilight was already getting attention from boys. “Why would he have a crush on me?!”

Sunset rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. “Well…it’s not so much you, more like the other you.”

A lightbulb went off over Twilight’s head, figuratively speaking. “Oh…were he and the pony me…serious?”

Sunset made a wavy motion with her hand. “Eeeh…hard to say. I mean, he’s not a bad guy at all, he’s sweet and caring, and popular in his own right at the school. He helped Princess Twilight a bit when she first got here, they’ve had a few encounters, according to her. And by that, I mean they’ve literally bumped into each other many times in the school.”

“Huh, sounds like you dated the guy, Sis,” Sun commented.

“Oh, I did…but that was back during my alpha bitch days…I just dated him to leech off his popularity, and then he dumped me because I was a total alpha bitch…” Sunset sighed heavily. “Not one of my prouder moments in my life…he didn’t deserve that from me, Flash helped me out a lot when I first came here, and I tried to be what I thought was a good girlfriend to him, but it didn’t make up for what I was doing to everyone around us.”

Sun scooted closer to Sunset and gave her a hug. “Hey, don’t let that bog you down. You’re not that person anymore.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Oh, that’s another thing…I haven’t told anyone that I have a sister, but they’re probably not going to buy that,” said Sunset.

“Do they know that you’re a pony from a parallel world?” Sun asked.

“Oh yeah.”

“Then let’s just tell the truth, I’m your human double and you’re you. No need to make things complicated,” said Sun.

“Alright.” Sunset got off the bed. “I’ll make sure that Mom’s got everything setup by Monday. But with Dean Cadence’s help it shouldn’t be that hard.”

“Sunset!” Twilight spoke up. “We might have someone else joining us! Her name’s Sugarcoat, she’s a friend of ours!”

Sunset smiled and nodded. “I’ll call Mom and tell her to be on the lookout.”

Three girls stood on the quad of Canterlot High School, one was the exact double of Sunset Shimmer, the other was Twilight Sparkle, and the last was Sugarcoat. Out of the three, Sugarcoat and Twilight felt the most awkward, Sunset, being a social butterfly and able to command attention wherever she went, held her head up high and nodding approvingly of the school.

“This feels…weird…” Sugarcoat managed to say. “Not wearing our uniforms and all…” The bespectacled girl was wearing a purple tank top under a gray designer vest, a matching skirt with a violent line going up the center and a turquoise line going through that, and a pair of converse sneakers with white socks.

“I know what you mean, we’ve worn our Crystal Prep uniforms for almost four years, it’s strange going to school and not wearing one,” Twilight added. She had a powder blue blouse under a magenta sweater vest and kept together with a cloth belt that was wrapped around the waist of the vest. Below she had a violet skirt, with a six-pointed star pattern on the left side, a thin frill around the edge, and pair of thing powder blue socks and a pair of brown loafers.

Sunset wore a black, short sleeved leather jacket, coupled with a pair of black jeans, an orange tube top that showed off her Ember Stone, and some cleavage. She wore a pair of boots that with metal tips that were painted gold, an earring in her left ear, and wore her hair up in a ponytail. She made sure to coordinate with her big sister, taking care to make sure that neither of them dressed alike so that anyone who saw them would know who was who by appearance.

“C’mon, girls, don’t be so tense! It’s a school filled with regular kids! You know, ones who aren’t assholes because they’re rich or have parents in high positions! If there are assholes, then they’re the regular kind,” Sunset explained.

“Well, for a public school, it’s not riddled with graffiti, or seems to be in disrepair,” Sugarcoat noted.

“That’s the spirit, Sweets!” Sunset praised as she gave Sugarcoat a hearty pat on the back.

“I just hope this doesn’t get too weird, for me and you at least. Everyone has a high opinion of the other me, I just don’t want to disappoint anyone when I don’t live up to the hype…”

Sunset hooked her arm around Twilight’s neck and brought her close. “Hey, don’t worry about Princess Twilight, you’re you. You’re Twilight Sparkle, adorkable, super genius extraordinaire!”

“Did you have to tag on ‘adorkable’?” Twilight asked in a deadpan.

“Well, I could also add in cute, hot, nympho–”

Twilight blushed and cut in, “I am NOT nympho!” she harshly whispered.

“Says the girl who plowed me not too long ago,” Sunset teased.

Sugarcoat deadpanned. “Is it entirely necessary that I be in on these private conversations?”

“You’re free to take a step back, Sweets, but, uh, you haven’t done it at all since we started talking.” Sunset smirked as she gave Sugarcoat a sideways glance. “Starting to think you like hearing what Sparky and I get up to.”

Twilight, after getting over the initial embarrassment, gave Sugarcoat the same sideways glance. “Sugarcoat, were you secretly hoping that Sunset and I would bring you into our nighttime activities? I know you want to be closer friends, but…are you sure you’re ready to cross into the other kind of friendship?”

Sugarcoat facepalmed and groaned. “Great, is Sunset’s horniness catching now? How long before I go down the path of no return?”

“If it’s anything like Sparky, not very long, Sweets!”

“Also, you know we’re getting looks, right?” Sugarcoat asked.

Twilight and Sunset glanced about the quad and noticed that the students were staring at them. And of course, the stares only increased when, yet another Sunset came walking towards them. Sugarcoat did a double take as she looked between the Sunset who currently had her arm draped over her, and the one walking towards them.

“Wha – Who – Huh?!” Sugarcoat exclaimed.

Sunset sighed. “Really, Sun? You didn’t tell her?”

Sun chuckled. “And deprive us of this reaction?! Please!”

Sugarcoat looked between them and rubbed her temples as she tried to grapple with this. She was wondering what they were talking about when Sunset and Twilight were talking about “Princess Twilight”, but now it was starting to make…somewhat sense…but now she was seeing it in front of her. Another Sunset Shimmer, after seeing a demon possessed swordswoman, angels and demons, a bikini armor wearing warrior woman, a fire girl, and then there’s her Heart Stone, all of that, and you’d think Sugarcoat would be prepared for all kinds of weirdness, but evidently, she was not.

“You owe me a very long explanation,” said Sugarcoat plainly. “BOTH of you. And how do I address either of you?”

“When we’re together, you can call me Sun.”

“And just Sunset with me,” said the double. “C’mon, I’ll give you a tour, I already got it cleared with Mom – I mean – Principal Celestia.” The group of four headed to the front doors of Canterlot High School, but the moment they did, Sunset stopped and turned around to face them. “Before we head through these doors, I want you to know I had nothing to do with what’s behind these doors.”

That got the trio’s eyebrows raised, Sun and Twilight knew that Sunset wasn’t a malicious person, she wouldn’t knowingly put them in the middle of something. Twilight’s old fight or flight instincts were starting to kick in, remembering all the times she was hazed by the students of Crystal Prep, fears of the same thing happening here were starting to creep up. She glanced to Sugarcoat and saw that her friend seemed to be having the same fears as she was, the blunt girl was good at hiding it, but Twilight’s enhanced abilities allowed to her pick up on the subtle telltale signs of nervousness. Twilight reached out and took Sugarcoat’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze, and silently telling her that whatever was behind those doors, they were going to face it together. Sugarcoat squeezed back, reaffirming to her friend that she was not going to run again.

Sunset inhaled deeply and sighed, “Here we go.” The fiery haired teen turned around and pushed open the doors, stepping aside to allow them in.

The moment that all three girls entered the school building they saw, in the middle of the lobby, a wagon object. It was colored pink, with metal accents that were painted gold, a splash of blue on each side, a bit of white at the top, and at the center of it was a mark of three balloons, along with the back and front sides. Pinkie Pie came in sliding from their right, seemingly, out of nowhere, and came to a halt in front of the wagon. The moment that Twilight and Sun saw Pinkie they understood that whatever was about to happen was a Pinkie Pie brand of silly and fun.

“Hi, Sun, Sci-Twi, and Sugarcoat!”

“How does she know my name?” Sugarcoat asked.

“It’s Pinkie, trust me, just roll with it,” said Sun.

“Sunset told me you three were officially coming here to CHS, and as head of every party planning committee here at CHS, I’m here to officially welcome you to Canterlot High School!” Pinkie announced.

Sugarcoat looked from the pink girl and then to the wagon behind her. “Oooookaaaay…And why is there a wagon behind you?”

“Well, how else am I supposed to welcome you without my official Welcome Wagon,” Pinkie countered.

Sugarcoat glanced between the three girls and asked, “‘Welcome Wagon’?”

“Wait for it…” Sunset urged.

Pinkie Pie kicked the wagon and immediately the wagon, making it open and show off bugle horns, flags, and an oven. She took in a deep breath and then began to sing to the music that it played.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome
A fine welcome to you~!
Welcome, welcome, welcome
I say how do you do~?”

Pinkie rushed towards Sugarcoat, shook her hand to the point that her whole body vibrated, and then went on to do the same to Sun and Twilight. Afterwards she went back to her song and dance.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome
I say hip hip hurray~!
Welcome, welcome, welcome
To Canterlot High School todaaaaaaaaaaay~!”

Sunset began to wince, remembering her first Welcome Wagon was met with a mix up of the cake batter being loaded into the confetti cannons, and the confetti in the oven. How the confetti didn’t burn up or come out as flaming embers was a mystery to Sunset, but one that she was glad didn’t happen either way. Then it happened, the confetti cannons exploded with confetti, and the oven dinged open, revealing a cake that said “Welcome to CHS” written in pink frosting.

“Ha! Nailed it!” Pinkie exclaimed with a fist pump.

“That was…spirited, and not what I was expecting,” said Sugarcoat.

Sunset patted Sugarcoat on the shoulder and said, “This place isn’t like Crystal Prep, you don’t need to be tense or on edge here. This place is safe.”

The word “safe” was foreign to both Sugarcoat and Twilight, “safe” was never a word they would associate with their school, every day was filled with tension and a need to constantly watch your back, your things, yourself. Always on alert, always ready to take the metaphorical punch that they didn’t know where or when it was coming. For Sugarcoat, her defense was to use her body to keep from getting hurt, for Twilight, it was to suffer in silence and try to weather the storm of abuse. Neither girl knew how to feel safe, but the moment they walked through those front doors, they could tell everything was vastly different from their old school.

The feeling that overcame you when you would enter CPA was heaviness, like the gravity had increased exponentially and gradually increased the longer you remained until you finally left. But here, in CHS, the atmosphere felt so…carefree, light, welcoming, normal. Of course, the students were giving them odd looks, because, well, there were two Sunset Shimmers, the lookalike of Princess Twilight, a new girl, and also because they were the famous survivors of Crystal Prep Academy.

“The concept of ‘safe’ is new to me, to the both of us,” said Sugarcoat.

“Well, trust me, it’s a feeling you’ll enjoy for the time you’re with us,” said Pinkie cheerfully.

Sunset separated from the group and stood in front, beaming at the three new additions to the school. “I know it’s already been said, but I’ll say once more. Welcome to Canterlot High School.”

(DAY 2)

Twilight was roaming the halls of CHS, which were still something she was getting used to. However, the other thing that she was sure she wasn’t going to get used to was how each and every person in the school greeted her so casually and happily.

“Hey, Twilight!” said a random girl.

“Oh…uh, hi,” Twilight replied.

Twilight was so used to the angry scowls, disgust filled sneers, and the condescending tones in their voices whenever they voiced their distaste of her. That was what she was used to, not this, not this…niceness. It was so foreign, so…weird…not just the familiarity, but the overall friendliness of it.

“Hi, Twilight!” said a male student.

“Oh…good morning,” she greeted awkwardly.

“Yo, Twilight, what’s up?!”

“Uh…n-not much,” Twilight replied.

“Awesome!”

“Loving the new look, Twilight, so cute, and so you,” said a girl who looked like she was into fashion.

Twilight rubbed the back of her head, feeling awkward at the compliment. “Oh, well, thank you. Y-You look good, too!”

Despite the efforts of Sunset and the girls, the students of CHS hadn’t quite gotten it through their heads that she wasn’t the pony version that they all knew. Although, she was probably just thinking the worst case as she normally did when it came to a high school environment. They were more than likely just being nice, although the concept of peers her own age being nice was foreign to her.

“I really am jaded…Omph!” Twilight exclaimed as she bumped into someone, landing on her rear and scattering a few of her books.

Twilight looked up and saw a boy with spikey blue hair, a black leather jack, and jean pants. The teenage boy turned around and revealed his face, and that he was wearing a white t-shirt with a shield and lightning bolt at the center. The boy bent at the knees a little and began to approach Twilight, but out of sheer reflex Twilight dropped the books she did manage to hold onto and raised her arms up in a defensive manner.

“I-I-I’m sorry! I-I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going! Please, I’m sorry!” Twilight pleaded as she shut her eyes.

“Whoa, whoa, hey, it’s alright, it was just accident,” said the boy. “I’m not gonna hurt you, Twilight.”

Twilight dared to open her eyes, she studied the boy’s body language for a moment, she didn’t want to use her psychic abilities to probe his mind, not yet, but from what she was able to tell, neither his voice nor body language spoke of hostility.

“Here, let me help you up.”

Twilight watched as he offered his hand to her, she gingerly took it and let him help her back to her feet. “T-Thank you.”

“No problem……” the boy stared at her for a moment, but then shook his head as he blushed a little. “Wow…you really do look a lot like her, sound like her, too.”

“Oh…you mean the other me, Princess Twilight,” said Twilight.

“Yeah – oh shoot, I should’ve introduced myself. My name’s Flash Sentry.”

Twilight blinked. “You’re Flash Sentry?”

“Yes.”

Twilight rubbed the back of her head as she awkwardly explained, “Um, Sunset Shimmer, the one you know, she told me that you and her were…going out?”

Flash chuckled as she got down on one knee and began picking up Twilight’s books. “We never got the chance to, really. If you don’t count the Fall Formal, but that was for only one night. And the second time she came here, we were all being mind controlled and acted like total asshats towards her and the girls…god, I feel like trash.”

Twilight got on knees and began picking up the other books. “Why would you say that?”

“Because I said some things to her during the Battle of the Bands that were really hurtful, and yeah she forgave me after it was all over, but I still feel bad for saying them.”

Twilight picked up the books and stood back up. “You were under mind control at the time, you can’t blame yourself for something that you had no ability to stop.”

“Yeah, you’re right, but the things I said were things that I was feeling at the time, so, it wasn’t like I was being forced to say it, the Dazzlings just made it easier for me to say it without caring if it hurt her,” said Flash as he stood up as well. “Here you go.”

Twilight took the books back and smiled at the boy. “Thank you, and I’m sorry for how I acted towards you earlier. I thought you were going to hit me.”

Flash was genuinely shocked at hearing that. “W-What?! I would never do that!……Did…Did the kids at your school…?”

Twilight nodded.

“I’m sorry…but…why?” Flash asked.

Twilight sighed. “Well, I’m heading to my next class, do you want to listen?”

“Only if you want to tell.”

Flash accompanied Twilight for a while, retelling her horror stories of Crystal Prep as she explained why she thought Flash would assault her, or at the least verbally assault her for bumping into him. During the telling, Flash’s scowl deepened, she could see that this was upsetting him.

“That’s just…wow, I knew kids at Crystal Prep were assholes, but that’s on a whole other level. No offense.”

“None taken, and you’re right, they were. But, Sugarcoat saw the light and Sunset, my Sunset, protected me when she first arrived.” Twilight blushed as she thought about her. “I couldn’t ask for anyone better in my life.”

Flash smiled. “If she’s anything like the Sunset Shimmer I know, then I’m happy you met her. By the way…she’s the Sunset from here, right? I mean, I know the Sunset I know is from the same world as Princess Twilight, so I’m assuming she’s like you, a double from our world.”

“That’s right.”

Flash and Twilight looked ahead and saw Sun walking towards them. The former bad girl of CPA put her hands on Twilight’s shoulders and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You okay, babe?”

“I’m fine, I was just talking with Flash Sentry. I accidentally bumped into him, and he was kind enough to help me pick up my books,” said Twilight.

Sun glanced over at Flash, which made the boy nervously chuckle as she smirked. “Ah, so you’re the guy that Sis dated before she hooked up with Pinkie Pie. Hmm, yeah, yeah you’re cute, I could see why she dated you, I’d probably date you too if I wasn’t with this cutie here.”

“Sun!” Twilight giggled.

“C’mon, let’s head to class.” Sun wrapped her arm around Twilight’s waist and the two began walking the rest of the way. “Hey, Slick, let’s hang out some time, I \ you to tell me as much embarrassing stuff about Sis as possible!”

Before Flash could reply they were already out of earshot. “Why do I feel like she was trying to get her as far away from me as possible?”

“Don’t take it personally.”

“Gah!” Flash yelped as he turned to his left and saw that Sunset was standing there. “Jeez, you’re like a ninja sometimes…and what do you mean?”

Sunset crossed her arms. “Twilight told you about what she went through, I’m assuming.” Flash nodded. “When Sun got there, she became her protector. Saved her more than once from those CPAssholes. I know it’s not right to talk shit about dead people, but after what they put her through, I have no sympathy. So don’t take it personally if Sun’s a bit protective when it comes to Twilight, especially now. They’re in a new school with people they don’t know.”

“Not a problem, I figured it was something like that. Considering that she made it a point to show that they were girlfriends,” said Flash.

Sunset chuckled. “Yeah, she’s just making sure you get the hint that that’s her Twilight. I’m surprised, you seem to be taking it well.”

Flash shrugged a little. “I mean, it’s hard to describe, but I can tell that she’s not the same Twilight. But, I guess, at the same time, I’m trying to move on.”

“Oh…you know, if you want, I could let you borrow my journal. It lets me talk to Princess Twilight, kind of like texting.”

The young guitarist shook his head. “Nah, honestly, it’s kind of better this way. I mean, she’s a princess, a royal. She’s got responsibilities, I can’t just expect her to leave everything behind just to come and be with me here. It’s not fair to her.”

“To either of you. I know she wouldn’t want you to give up your whole life here just to live in Equestria. Sure, it’s a magical place and it’s pretty peaceful the majority of the time. But then you have to adjust to the cultural differences, and then there’s getting used to a new body, it’ll be frustrating to say the least.”

Flash bumped Sunset’s shoulder with his own and said, “Speaking from experience.”

Sunset smiled up at him. “I never thanked you for your help, when I first came to this school you approached me and gave me a chance.”

“I always knew you were a nice person deep down, if you could be nice to me, then it wasn’t a stretch that you could do the same for everyone, and now look at you.” Flash pretended to wipe a tear away. “I feel like a proud parent.”

“Fuck you, Sentry,” said Sunset as she punched him in the arm. “Seriously though, you tell her anything about the embarrassing stuff I did when we were dating, I’ll turn you into a human pretzel.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

(DAY 3)

Sugarcoat was adjusting well enough, the curriculum was nowhere near as intense as Crystal Prep, which was a good thing as far as Sugarcoat was concerned. After all the madness of last week, she didn’t need anymore added on stress. It was either that or the teachers were taking it easy on her because of what happened at Crystal Prep. Either way, she appreciated it. The kids at this school were far nicer, the conversations she managed to overhear weren’t centered around trying to do something to someone or talking about how expensive something they bought was. It was normal stuff, what they were planning to do after school, what their weekend plans were, the latest movie or videogame that was out, and depending on the clique the hottest fashion.

It was almost unnerving, and it annoyed Sugarcoat. She had been so used to Crystal Prep’s brand of meanspirited gossip that she never knew what normal idle chatter and gossip sounded like.

I really need to reevaluate myself here, thought Sugarcoat.

She was on edge, feeling as if someone was going to do something, and part of her was contemplating going back to her old habits just as a way to keep from being harassed. Being the local slut gave her mild protection back at Crystal Prep as no one wanted to damage her and being a part of Sunny Flare’s clique gave her more protection against anyone who even thought about hazing her or giving her the same treatment as Twilight. But she shook her head of those thoughts, Sugarcoat promised herself and her late grandmother that she would never go back to that again, no matter how bad it would get.

“Hello there.”

“Huh?” Sugarcoat turned to her right and saw girl shyly waving at her. She wore a sweater that had brown and tan horizontal stripes, denim jeans, and a pair of slip-on shoes. She had some freckles that were admittedly cute, grass green hair, light-green complexion, and brown colored eyes. “Oh…hi.”

“You’re one of the new students, right? From Crystal Prep?” she asked.

“Yes, that’s right. My name is Sugarcoat, and who are you?”

“M-My name is…never mind, sorry to waste your time.”

Sugarcoat placed a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow. “Hey.” The girl stopped. “I’ll decide if this is a waste of my time. And it is kind of rude to not give someone your name after they’ve politely introduced themselves.”

“S-Sorry!” the girl turned around and nervously fiddled with the straps of her backpack. “M-My name’s Wallflower, Wallflower Blush.”

“Hmm, cute name, and it seems appropriate.”

“Y-Yeah…most people tend not to notice me…or remember me, I’m just one of those forgettable faces,” said Wallflower.

“So, you thought you would try to become noticeable to at least one person, and given that I’m new and don’t know that many people here, you figured that introducing yourself to me would force me into seeking you out as my only companion in this school,” said Sugarcoat.

Wallflower lowered her head out embarrassment and shame. “You…You’re really perceptive…”

“I am, I also lack a filter on my mouth when it comes to pointing out people’s shortcomings, it’s a neurological thing that I’m working on, so I apologize in advance if I say or said something blunt,” said Sugarcoat.

“Oh…that sounds exhausting,” Wallflower replied.

Sugarcoat sighed. “It is, believe me. So, would like to be friends?”

Wallflower blinked. “You…You want to be friends with me? Why?”

“Truthfully, the friends – actually no, they weren’t my friends – they were a group of girls a stayed a part of so that I wouldn’t get hurt or hazed by the kids back at Crystal Prep. The only real friends I made were Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer,” said Sugarcoat.

Wallflower raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah, I heard that Twilight Sparkle was here, but apparently she’s not the one we all saw last time. And that there’s another Sunset Shimmer here that was from Crystal Prep, good god like we need another…”

“Sounds like you have history with yours, let’s talk and walk.”

Wallflower smiled and walked along with Sugarcoat, retelling the events of Sunset’s tyrannical days which honestly surprised Sugarcoat to hear. “The worst part of it all…it’s that she never really hurt me physically or verbally…she just ignored me. That was the worst part, I don’t know if it was malicious on her part or if she just didn’t notice me, but she acted like I was invisible the entire time. And that hurt the most, it’s kind of sick…I actually wanted her to mess with me, at least should acknowledge me. I’m kind of messed up, aren’t I.”

“Not as much as me…how much do you want to hear about what I went through at Crystal Prep?” Sugarcoat asked.

“Only as much as you’re comfortable telling me,” said Wallflower, not wanting to force her new friend into reminiscing about anything painful.

“Alright, but feel free to stop me if you feel uncomfortable.” From there Sugarcoat told her about what happened to the Twilight of her school, and what Sugarcoat did to avoid getting the same treatment, and how she became friends with Twilight and Sunset Shimmer. “I’m so used to the environment of Crystal Prep that all of this feels…strange to me.”

Wallflower, well, blushed, she never thought that that kind of thing was happening at Crystal Prep, and it made her angry that they made someone like Sugarcoat have to resort to something so drastic just to keep from being bullied, and there’s what they did to Twilight. “I can’t believe they put you all through that…it’s disgusting! Just to be clear I meant them not you!”

“I got it, don’t worry.”

Sugarcoat reached into her vest pocket and slipped on the Heart Stone. The moment she did, Sugarcoat was able to see the aura around Wallflower Blush. She could sense anger coming from the red aura, anger towards Sunset, but it wasn’t like the anger she would occasionally sense when she was at Crystal Prep. Perhaps if she intervened now, she could prevent Wallflower from making a mistake in the future.

“Listen, Wallflower, I know you don’t have a high opinion of her, but trust me, it’s better to talk things out than let it come out in an unhealthy way later,” said Sugarcoat. “Trust me, I’ve seen too many bad things at Crystal Prep happen because someone went for the violent option first. But unlike them, this place gives you the chance to change.”

Wallflower sighed as she rubbed her left arm. “I…I don’t know…”

“It’s better to try than not to,” said Sugarcoat. “Besides, the Sunset from my school is a friend. I’d like it if we could all get along.”

The green haired girl smiled just a little. “Okay…I’ll try.”

“Thanks. It’s about lunchtime, let’s go and see them then.”

Sugarcoat and Wallflower made their way into the cafeteria, the whole time they were walking Sugarcoat kept the Heart Stone bracelet on. She kind of liked seeing Canterlot High’s aura, it wasn’t harsh or threatening like Crystal Prep’s, it was bathed in softer colors, and gave off a welcoming presence. There was something odd, something that gave her worry the closer she got to the table that Sugarcoat had come to associate was their table.

When she focused on Twilight and Sun there were colors she didn’t expect to see, especially in Twilight’s aura. There was black tinting both their auras, and what was worse, Twilight’s was a whole lot darker than Sun’s. Sunset Shimmer, the CHS one, she found out was Witchblade through Sun, and so the small tint of black in her aura was understandable considering the battles she fought as the superheroine, and given that Sun was Ember, she supposed that Sun had fought against bad people before coming here. But Twilight? Why in the world would Twilight’s aura have such a heavy black tint?

(LATER THAT NIGHT)

Shining Armor drove to the ruins of Crystal Prep Academy, he stood before the building that was once his school. He was filled with mixed emotions, this school was the reason why he wanted to become a police officer, this school was the place where he met the love of his life. On the flip side, this school was the place responsible for constantly hazing his little sister, this school allowed a student to rape her nearly every day, where she was held against her will, and where she was blackmailed into joining the Friendship Games and nearly murdered.

Shining Armor was grateful that the custodial staff, Cadence, Sunset, Twilight, and that one girl made it through it all, but there was still something. It annoyed him that he cared this much about it, but his instincts as a police detective, as well as his sense of justice, wouldn’t allow him to let it go. Hundreds of kids and tens of teachers were killed here, mysteriously, and considering all that’s happened, Shining Armor wasn’t about to write it off as an accident.

“Looks like you’re the only one who had a feeling about this.”

Shining Armor looked around, he couldn’t see anyone, but then he noticed the shadows begin to gather and rise up. A few seconds later a figure formed from the shadows, with a body that looked like a starry night. Shining had seen this form before, which was the only reason why he hadn’t drawn his weapon.

“Agent Tempest, nice to see you,” Shining greeted.

“Same to you, Detective Armor. Wish it was under better circumstances,” said Tempest as she casually walked towards him and stood next to the officer.

“Since you’re here, I can assume you think that there’s something supernatural behind this?”

“You would assume correctly, I stayed back for a bit to let your forensics teams get in there and do what they can, but it seems like they couldn’t get much,” said Tempest.

Shining Armor sighed as he nodded his head in confirmation. “Everything’s burnt good, add to the fact that the building collapsed in on itself, it’ll take a lot longer to identify the bodies and even longer to dig what we can out of there.”

“Yeah, but there’s another option if you’re up for it.”

“That would be?”

“I create a localized time distortion, rewind time, and find out what happened,” said Tempest.

Shining Armor raised and eyebrow and asked, “Are you saying you can bring them back with time travel?”

“Yes, and no. I could bring back their bodies, but their souls are long gone from this realm. If I did bring their bodies back, they’d just be empty meat sacks just living, no different from a person who’s a comatose vegetable. As much as their families probably want a body to bury, or want them back, I don’t think they want them back in such a soulless state.”

Shining shuddered at the idea, a soulless husk of a person, not really inside, just existing, to have to see that everyday without any hope of them coming back, it would be torture for their families. “Got it…so, how are you going to do this?”

“Like this.”

Tempest knelt before, what used to be, the front entrance to the school. She placed both her hands against the ground and immediately her shadow stretched towards the school. A purple bubble of energy surrounded the entire school building, born from the shadows beneath it, the entire school was rebuilding itself, the ashes reformed into their original parts as they put themselves back into their original places. The fire returned but it was quickly put out as time rewound back to the point before the fire, it was here that Tempest stopped the time bubble for a moment.

“What’s up?” Shining asked.

“Take a look at the front door,” said Tempest.

Shining looked where Tempest was indicating and saw that there was no front door. “What the hell?”

“Yeah, no front door.” Tempest restarted the time bubble rewinding time further until the door miraculously reappeared as if someone had done a bad edit and put it back. “And now there is one. Something did go down here. Let’s get a look inside, here.”

Shining watched as a dark tendril grew from Tempest’s back and latched itself around Shining’s left wrist. “W-What the – what’s this about?”

“So long as I’m in contact with you, you won’t be affected by the time bubble. If we go in there and we’re not connected, you could end up turning into a little kid,” Tempest explained.

Shining looked from the tendril to the building, and back to the tendril. “Lead on.” The two passed through the bubble’s wall and then went through the front door. “Twilight said that Principal Cinch gathered everyone to the auditorium for an announcement, she also reported that there was gas that knocked her out and then the building was on fire.”

“Lead the way then.”

Shining Armor headed down the hallway, taking care not to get too far ahead and disconnect from Tempest. After a couple minutes of walking, they arrived at the doors to the auditorium.

“Hold on, let me just rewind it a bit to see if anyone came in or out during the assembly.”

Shining nodded.

Tempest made a motion with her right hand, the purple energy of the regression bubble passed through the entire area, minutes passed like seconds as Tempest and Shining watched for anyone coming or going, but no one did, she kept rewinding until they started to see students and teachers come out in reverse.

Shining Armor was stunned when he saw the living bodies of the students and faculty, and now that he did, he understood what Tempest meant about being soulless husks. When he looked into their eyes, he saw nothing, it was as if they were just living dolls devoid of their essence.

“Now I know why you said it wouldn’t be good to bring them back, I wouldn’t want to see Twilight or Cadence in this kind of state,” said Shining.

“I only did that one time……I regret it to this day. Anyway, it doesn’t look like anyone other the students and faculty entered the room, so whatever happened it did start in there. You ready to see it?”

“How bad will it be?”

“Whatever you see, whatever you hear, you have to remember that it’s already happened. You might feel the urge to jump in and help them, but it’s not going to make a difference. Understand?”

Shining Armor nodded, as hard as it was going to be, he knew he had to keep from doing anything. Both he and Tempest entered the auditorium, they saw the assembled students and Principal Cinch up on stage along with the rest of the faculty members. Tempest pressed play, proverbially speaking, and let the events unfold before them. They listened as Cinch went on about Crystal Prep and how the things that had been happening at the school last week were all the fault of Canterlot High School, the insinuation made both the detective and agent’s eyes roll.

It was disturbing to hear Cinch talk, knowing that she was dead, that all of them were dead. However, Cinch’s demeanor seemed to change, the direction of her gaze shifted in their direction, more specifically, to someone who was possibly walking down the aisle and towards the stage. It seemed that the other students and faculty members were turning their attention to whoever was walking down the aisle, they remained silent, presumably to allow whoever it was to speak. Judging from their expressions, they weren’t afraid, in fact some were either surprised or looked annoyed even.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Cinch spoke.

“Miss Sparkle, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I will ask you to return to your seat,” Principal Cinch instructed.

Tempest paused the event. “Did she just call out your little sister, Armor?”

“Wait, Twilight walked up the aisle towards the stage?!”

Tempest let the event play again, more silence and then Cinch talked again, three students yelled in the back, presumably reacting to whatever Twilight must’ve said to them.

“Miss Sparkle, I understand that you’ve been through a lot, but you cannot go accusing your classmates of assault, especially those who have passed away.”

“SHE WAS ASSAULTED, AGAIN?!” Shining yelled in rage.

“Calm down, Detective, we need to see this play out.”

Shining Armor grit his teeth as he let the scene play out. More and more back and forth went on between Cinch and Twilight until Cinch’s eyes and everyone else’s turned to the stage, stranger thing was, they’re eyes went high before landing near the stage. Did Twilight jump onto the stage?

More exchanges went on, and then the audience gasped in fear. Whatever happened, it was bad, bad enough to frighten them. Abacus Cinch backed up, and then she and the faculty behind her all raised their hands up in an effort to defend themselves, but then all the faculty behind Cinch were cut down, literally, their top halves fell off and onto the stage.

“What the shit…!?”

“No…”

The students panicked and began to run, but then it was like the whole school came alive and started killing them. Tempest levitated them into the air to avoid the rushing students, some were getting impaled, snapped and crushed in their seats, but the majority managed to exit the auditorium. Once they were gone, Tempest and Shining followed them into the hallways where they witnessed a massacre of the students by the droves. Tempest paused the entire thing, allowing them to observe the area. They rushed towards the front door, trying to figure out why not a single one of them managed to get out.

When they arrived at the front, they understood why. The doorway was gone, which explained why it wasn’t there on the outside. Shining and Tempest checked the other exits and were treated to more horrors on the way there, but they were able to confirm that the exits were gone.

“This…This doesn’t make any sense…!” Shining exclaimed.

“Me neither…Armor…me neither. C’mon, let’s head back to auditorium,” Tempest suggested.

They returned to where it all started, and watched as Cinch was bound on the stage, the stage itself somehow having turned into restraints. Cinch’s attention seemed to be drawn to something floating in the air, whatever it was she was looking at, it was horrible.

“T-Twilight, please let me explain!” Cinch pleaded.

Another wordless exchange was had between Cinch and…Twilight. Then the doors opened as two girls were thrown onto the stage by an unseen force. Tempest recognized both of the girls and said, “I know those two. That’s Sour Sweet, she was possessed by the Blood Sword, and that’s her girlfriend, Sunny Flare.”

“Sunny Flare’s the daughter of Abacus Cinch, those two are also part of the group that’s been constantly causing Twilight grief…”

Sunny Flare suddenly jolted, a red mark appearing on her face.

“Looks like Twilight just slapped her.” Then Sunny Flare’s clothes burst off her body. “Oh shit…uh, well, that’s kind of kinky.”

Shining Armor covered his face, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Why was this happening? How could Twilight manage to do any of this? Was it even Twilight? Then Sour Sweet put herself between Sunny Flare and their assailant, they seemed to barter with Twilight, wanting her to kill Cinch and free them from her.

“Jesus…Cinch really was a monster…” Shining commented.

“And apparently a homophob.”

After their exchange was had, the two girls fell to the floor, silent. Their bodies were arranged so that they were holding hands by the same unseen force. Tempest and Shining Armor continued to watch everything, right up to when Cinch and the entire school was set on fire. Abacus Cinch ran about the room, trying to escape the blaze, but eventually she succumbed to the inferno and died on the floor.

“I…I can’t believe this…”

“Me neither, Armor.”

“This has to be a mistake! Twily would never do this! She’s not a murderer!” Shining stated.

“Armor, look at the facts.”

“Rewind it again! Back to before it started! I want to see!”

Tempest did as Shining Armor requested, rewinding the whole event until everyone was back to where they were seated. Shining looked among the crowd, and that’s when he spotted the empty seat, he had Tempest play it again, and witnessed the other students’ gaze shift to that spot and follow it down the aisle.

“Fast forward to after the fire, started,” he demanded.

Tempest did as he said and fast forwarded. Both of them noticed that the flames were parting, presumably this was the path that Twilight was taking. They followed the parting flame trail all the way into the halls, and then the trail took them to the Olympic swimming pool, the water rippled as if someone had just got in and then the center of the pool rippled and splashed as if someone was there swimming.

“Rewind it again…”

“Armor–”

“I SAID REWIND IT AGAIN DAMMIT!!!”

The OSOD agent complied, rewinding the events again and again and again. Each time the victims’ words never changed, it was the same name each time, Twilight Sparkle. Tempest replayed the entire event at least twenty times before Shining Armor collapsed to his knees.

“Stop…just…stop it all.”

“I’m sorry, Detective Armor…but it looks like your little sister is responsible for this massacre.”

“Can you blame her?!” Shining asked angrily. “They pushed her into this! They gave her no choice! She was abused and harassed on a daily basis here and kept it from us all because she didn’t want to cause trouble for Cadence, me, or our parents! She’s a selfless girl! Whatever she did–!”

“STOP!” Tempest ordered. “Don’t say that it was justified Armor, because then I’m going to agree with you. And I do. But you know as well as I do, that that’s no excuse. What I gave you on Cinch would’ve buried her and taken all the students who harmed her down with Cinch. This wasn’t justice, Armor, this was revenge.”

“Revenge against a bunch of shitty people,” Shining commented.

“Granted, but revenge and justice aren’t the same thing. No matter what they did to her, there was a better way to go about it. Plus, OSOD isn’t going to be silent about this, not after what happened here in this city already. And since I’m here…”

“Don’t tell me, you’re going to…”

Tempest shook her head. “I don’t know enough to confront her. WE don’t know enough about what all happened here. She wasn’t the only survivor, the custodial staff, along with Sunset Shimmer – the one that goes to this school – along with a girl named Sugarcoat, and your girlfriend, Dean Mi Amore Cadenza, were the only survivors. I’ve already looked into the staff, and none of them seem to have any supernatural affiliations. So that just leaves the four of them.”

Shining Armor looked at Tempest with anger in his eyes. “You’re accusing Twilight and my girlfriend of this?!”

“I can for sure rule out Sunset, there were eyewitnesses that spotted Ember flying across the sky and arriving on the other side of town, and then a few minutes later she was seen heading back this way. We need to tread carefully, we don’t know how this was done, it’s possible that it was demonic possession, and if that’s the case, we have a few people here in town that can help with that. Witchblade Sunset being one of them, along with the Magdalena, a holy assassin.”

“Did you just say a ‘holy assassin’?” Shining asked.

“Trust me, it’s better that you don’t know.” Tempest brought them back outside and released the time bubble, letting the entire structure return to its ruined state. “I need you to monitor Twilight, and don’t say a word of this to her girlfriend or Witchblade Sunset until I can confirm a few things. Armor, you listening to me?!”

Shining shook his head as if snapping out of a daze. “Huh…Oh, y-yeah…I did. I heard you…”

Tempest walked over to Shining Armor and patted his shoulder. “I know this is hard, but the sooner we get to the bottom of this, the sooner we can clear Twilight’s name and possibly save her before she does something she’ll regret……more.”

After Tempest disappeared Shining Armor drove himself back home, the whole time he was in a daze, the world passing by around him as his mind tried to grapple with what he just saw, but in his mind, he couldn’t stop replaying it all, the vacant spot where the victims were speaking to their killer, in that place he put his sweet nerd of a little sister there, his Little Sister Best Friend Forever.

“Twily…Why…?”