The Witchblade EqG: The 13 Artifacts

The time was almost upon them, Sunset stood in her underground vault, standing amongst the assembled Artifacts. The Siphon of the Angelus, the Prism of the Brothers, the Blood Sword, Pandora’s Box, the Glacier Stone, her Ember Stone, the…the Spear of Destiny, and soon the Heart Stone will be here. They needed the Wheel of Shadows and the Rapture, the Coin of Solomon was…within reach, but the Witchblade, that would be most difficult as far as she was concerned. The Thirteenth Artifact would be the easiest, because when the person responsible for killing her parents appears before her, she would obliterate him entirely from the face of the Earth and pry the Thirteenth Artifact from the smoldering ashes of his body.

A light went off behind Sunset, she turned around and saw that it was Twilight, however, she was different. Her hair color was darker, her skin was violet, and her eyes had a glow to them. “Sparky, Babe…are you doing alright?”

Twilight had a distant look on her face, she walked up to Sunset and held out the Heart Stone to her. “I’ll be better when it’s over…” Twilight moved closer and placed the Heart Stone in Sunset’s hand, she then closed the gap between them and gave her girlfriend a kiss. Sunset responded in kind.

It was a kiss that spoke of need, of love, and sadness. After a minute Sunset broke off the kiss, “You’re okay, Sparky, I’m right here.” Sunset noticed that the physical changes to Twilight hadn’t dissipated. “Hey, you know you look different, right?”

“What?” Sunset moved Twilight closer to one of the plexiglass containers and showed Twilight her reflection. “Oh…Oh my, I didn’t realize it…my powers are altering my physical body more than I wanted.”

Sunset didn’t want to say, but, for some reason, Twilight was looking a lot sexier too. Her bust seemed to have increased by another cup, and she was a bit curvier. “ Sparky, I know you wanted to be sexy for me, but you don’t have to alter yourself so drastically.”

“Sunset…I don’t think I’m doing this consciously…” Twilight looked at her hands, and then ran them over her body, realizing that her proportions had changed again. “I…I think my powers are evolving me into my idle form, subconsciously anyway.”

Sunset had done some research on the Coin of Solomon in what spare time she was able to get, and now understood why these changes were taking root. Not surprising, the Coin of Solomon’s power is evolution. Once embedded into a host, it accelerates the hosts evolution, making them stronger, and grant them abilities that would suit the host’s idle form. For Twilight, it looks like her idle is someone who is beautiful, intelligent, sexy, and powerful, someone whom no one can look down at, someone to be revered and idolized. If anything, this just shows how deeply the trauma she’s suffered at Crystal Prep has affected her.

The flame haired teen placed her hands on Twilight’s shoulders and said, “You’re alright, Sparky. This won’t be an issue for much longer.”

“I mean…granted I look…good. But this is a bit alarming since I didn’t will this to happen,” Twilight observed. “However, if – when we’re successful,” she corrected, “then I won’t have to worry about this ever.” Twilight looked at Sunset and asked, “Sunset, you…when you recreate reality, you are going to make it so that we’re together again, right?”

Sunset blinked. “Of course I am, Sparky. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because, when you remake everything, no one will remember what happened in the world prior. You could get another girl, someone with less issues…” An idea sparked off in Twilight’s head as her demeanor became more jubilant. “I know! Make me into your perfect girlfriend!”

“What?” Sunset asked in confusion.

“I don’t have to be a genius, or a scrawny little nerd girl with hardly any sex appeal! You can change me to be just of average intelligence…maybe just a bit above average. But you can make me have a sexy body, and-and completely loyal to you! I wouldn’t hate that! Granted, by that time I wouldn’t be able to protest, but I’m just letting you know ahead of time! Y-You could even make me into your personal sex slave!”

“SPARKY!!!” Sunset shouted, cutting off Twilight’s rant. “Read my lips, I will NOT change you! You’re perfect the way you are; I fell in love with that scrawny nerd girl, and you do have sex appeal to ME! When I remake everything, you’re going to be a genius, we’re going to be girlfriends again, I’ll fucking marry you and make you my wife! We’ll be a of pair genius billionaires getting rich off our inventions and solving the world’s problems through our combined scientific knowledge! While also being a dorky, lovesick married couple! The only thing that’ll be different about you, is that you will never have to go through that trauma at Crystal Prep, fuck it, I’ll just make it so that place never exists!”

Twilight’s eyes began to water as she gave Sunset a fierce hug, burying her face in her chest as she sobbed happily upon hearing those words, words that she didn’t think she needed to hear, but now that she did, it only affirmed her resolve to see this through, for that future that seemed so much brighter than this one. “Thank you, Sunset, I love you so much.”

The flame haired teen hugged Twilight tighter and said, “I love you, too, Sparky………Now, if you want to be into kinky stuff in the bedroom in the new world, I can make it happen.”

“C’mon, we’re having a moment.”

“I’m just saying, maybe I should make it so that you’re a futanari in the new world, you seemed to get a real kick out of plowing me and trying to put a bun in my oven,” Sunset pointed out.

Twilight blushed intensely at the memories of their more recent lovemaking sessions, and the adding of her “new equipment” during those sessions. “I-I-I wasn’t trying to get you pregnant!”

“You fucked me like you were trying to. So, is that a no on the futa thing or…?”

“Sunset Shimmer, you are a pervert……we’ll discuss that a little later.”

“I didn’t hear a no~”

“I can make it so that you can’t talk and ruin this moment further.”

“Shutting up.”

Sunset, the former unicorn, spent the last two hours searching for Fluttershy, but had come up with nothing. Her hope that she would find her alive was diminishing by the second, but she needed to keep on hoping that she was alive, otherwise…Sunset shook the tears from her eyes and decided to head back to Shimmer Manor, she needed to a plan, and talking with Sun, who was practically her, might be a good way to figure out what was going on. Sunset landed in the backyard, she strode onto the patio and into the home, deactivating her armor, and putting on a robe that was placed on a rack for her convenience.

Sunset made it to the first step of the stairs, but that’s when she noticed her shadow elongating. “THE HELL?!” Sunset disrobed and summoned the Witchblade armor. However, her guard lowered when she saw Tempest emerge, and with someone new. “Tempest, fucking hell! Don’t do that!” Sunset’s armor returned to bracelet form as she bent down and put her robe back on. “My friend’s gone missing, and I’m really on edge right now!”

“Sorry, kid, but we have an emergency, where’s your other self?” Tempest asked.

“First off, who’s she?” Sunset asked.

The middle eastern woman bowed slightly to Sunset and said, “My name is Somnambula, I’m a wielder of an Artifact, the same as you. My student has spoken a great deal about you, Sunset Shimmer, and I hope you can aid us.”

“You’re student? Who’s your student?”

“Her name is Fluttershy, but to the Holy Church, she is known as the Magdalena.”

Sunset’s eyes widened. “You know Fluttershy! Wait…are you with those Vatican nutjobs that tried to turn her into a weapon?!”

Somnambula shook her head. “Nay, my services are freelance, I taught her as a favor to the Church, but I do work for them. I care deeply about my student, had I known what Cardinal Neighsay was up to, I would’ve silenced him earlier on.”

Sunset hurriedly approached Somnambula and asked, “Have you heard from Fluttershy?! Anything at all?! The animal shelter where she volunteers at exploded into flames! They say that she didn’t survive, but I tracked the energy of the Spear to the warehousing district, but that’s as far as I can go, the trail went cold!”

Somnambula had a worried look on her face, she turned to Tempest, and she seemed to understand what was going on.

“Sunset, we really need to get you and your ‘sister’ out of this city and move the rest of the Artifacts away!” Tempest stated.

“What was that about moving the Artifacts?” Somnambula, Tempest, and Sunset watched as Sun appeared from a doorway in the that opened from the wall. “What’s going on?”

“What is going on, Tempest?”

“There’s not much time, but someone is trying to gather all Thirteen Artifacts together, my Wheel, her Rapture, your Witchblade, and her Ember Stone!”

Sunset crossed her arms, “Yeah, wasn’t it you and the OSOD?”

“NO! Fuck them! Someone is playing us, Sunset! And that someone is heading here right now to collect all the Artifacts, ours included! He killed my friend and said that he would on his way to Canterlot City! I don’t know if this guy can fly or teleport, but we can’t take any chances, we need to collect the ones you have, find Fluttershy and her Spear, and anyone else who has an Artifact in this city, and get them the hell out of here!”

Sun’s brow raised when she kept mentioning “he” a lot. No…It couldn’t be…?! “Tempest, right?” The woman with a mohawk nodded. “This ‘he’ you keep talking about, did he have a distorted voice?”

“……Yes, but how did you know?” Tempest asked suspiciously.

Sun was shocked for a moment, but then became enraged. “Son of a bitch, he’s finally making his move…fucking finally! Now I can finally kill that bastard!”

“Sun…what are you talking about?” Sunset asked.

Sun cursed inwardly at herself; she had just said something that she shouldn’t have. It was too early for them to find out about him, and add to that, she just found out that two more Artifacts were now standing right in front of her, and that they seem to be in the hands of two professionals to boot. She wasn’t ready, she didn’t know the identities of the last two holders until now, she hadn’t had the time to run background checks, nor did she have time to think of a strategy to face them one on one. Not to mention, her “big sister” was standing right there next to them.

“Goddammit…” Sun glanced to her left and saw Twilight in the stairwell, looking up at her and listening in on everything that was being said. She too seemed to understand the gravity of the situation, and like her, concluded that there was only one outcome to be had right now. “…Sis, trust me, this will all make sense in the end.”

Before any questions could be asked, Sun suddenly transformed into her fire form and shot out a torrent of flames from her right hand and towards Tempest and Somnambula. Sunset jumped backwards out of the way, slamming against the wall just as the flames engulfed both of their house guests. The flames blasted through the front door and extended into the front yard before stopping.

Sunset got up and gawked at the scorched area where Tempest and Somnambula once stood, she turned to her little sister and shouted, “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, SUN??!!!”

“What I have to, Sis.”

“So that’s how it is, huh? Fine, then you’ll understand what happens next.”

Sun’s eyes widened when she heard that voice, the shadows around her began to move and from them emerged a tendril that took the shape of a hand. That hand had a time sphere gripped between its fingers and slammed it against Sun’s chest. Sun screamed as she suddenly felt her body aging rapidly. However, what Tempest hadn’t accounted for was the accelerated healing power of the Ember Stone, the Artifact that represented the Flames of Life renewed her like a phoenix again and again, keeping its host from dying. However, it was a bit of a stalemate, while Sun could not die, she couldn’t fight back either. For Tempest it was the same, she could not kill her, but at least she managed to immobilize her.

A mist appeared behind Sun, revealing Somnambula. In her hands she had several bayonet blades, each one had ancient sigil markings engraved into them. “While my student’s Spear of Destiny is a weapon that can slay supernatural foes with ease, the holy sigil markings on these blades can very easily wound a supernatural opponent, and with the right placement, kill them. Even in this form, you are not immune to their power.”

“NO, LEAVE HER ALONE!!”

Somnambula sensed a power building and quickly ducked back into the Hell Realm just as a blast of psychokinetic energy ripped through the stairwell and into the floor and wall where Somnambula once stood. From the stairwell emerged Twilight Sparkle, Sunset’s jaw dropped when she saw how she had changed since the last time she saw her, which wasn’t long ago. Twilight used her powers to rip apart the floor beneath Sun, disrupting the shadows and making Tempest’s tendril arm disappear.

Sun went down on her knees as she panted from the continuous regeneration she had just gone through. Thankfully, the Ember Stone managed to keep her at her original age. “Thanks, Sparky…”

“Twilight…?” Sunset spoke. “What…What happened to you?”

Twilight glared at Sunset and stated, “This is who I am now, Sunset. I’m sorry, but this is bigger than you know. I’m going to help Sun change the world for the better, and you have three choices. Either give us the Witchblade and walk away, help us, or fight us. But no matter which you choose, it’s going to end the same way. With the Witchblade coming with us.”

}}} Humph, she has truly lost her mind if she believes that is even a possibility. {{{

“I…I don’t understand, why did you attack them?! Why do you want the Witchblade?! You never wanted it before, so why now?!” Sunset demanded.

“Because…” Tempest emerged from Sunset’s shadow, still in her shadow form, while Somnambula reappeared from a haze of mist next to Tempest. “She’s after the power to alter reality, too. Aren’t ‘cha?”

Sun got back to her feet and ignited both of her hands. “I am, but not for what you think. I want the power to right the wrongs of this reality. I’ll bring back my parents, make it so that Twilight is happy, and kill that bastard that killed my parents!”

“We’re committed to see this through, Miss Tempest. It’ll be easier for everyone if you just give us your Artifacts,” Twilight demanded.

Somnambula twirled her blades around and stuck them into the floor. She then took out her blindfold and placed it over her eyes. “Tell me, young ones, the fire at the animal shelter, and the disappearance of my beloved student, Fluttershy, these are not mere coincidences, are they?”

“We…She didn’t give us any other choice.”

Sunset started to walk towards her “little sister” and Twilight, an almost hysteric look was on her face, evident of the warring emotions that were no doubt going on inside of her. “Hey…c’mon, that’s not funny, Sun. You’re joking right?” Sunset was a foot away from Sun, placing her hands on her younger self’s shoulders as she lightly shook her. “Sun, please tell me you’re joking. You didn’t kill Fluttershy, right? You wouldn’t do that! She’s the nicest person in the world! C’mon tell me you’re lying, Sis!” Sunset glanced over at Twilight. “Twi, tell me she’s joking!”

Sun gripped Sunset’s wrists and pried her hands off. There was a glowing liquid light in her eyes, which was representative of her tears. “I’m sorry…Sis…I really am.”

Sunset stumbled backwards as she fell to her knees, her mind unable to grasp what she just said.

“Sun doesn’t shoulder all the blame, I…I was the one who ended her life…Sun merely attacked the animal shelter,” Twilight clarified. She squatted until she was eye level with Sunset and said, “Sunset, it’ll be okay, none of this will matter once Sun gets all the Artifacts together and remakes the world.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not going to happen. Fuck OSOD, these things are too dangerous to be kept together. Last chance, kid, hand over the Artifacts and let us scatter them, or else,” Tempest warned.

Twilight stood back up and glared at Tempest. “I…I didn’t kill a gentle soul, and my first real friend for us to back out now. As said before, we’re committed to this, Miss Tempest, and we’ll see it through to the end!”

Somnambula exhaled deeply as she took up the bayonet blades. “I can see that your actions are to bring about a new world, and while admirable, you do so at the cost of your loved ones’ lives. If you are truly repentant when this is over, I will make sure that your souls cross over to Heaven and spare you the torment of Hell.”

Sun’s whole arms burst into flames as her eyes glowed bright orange. “Lady, we’re already in hell! TWILIGHT!”

Twilight used her telekinetic power to launch Sunset from the spot between them and into the living room. Granted her landing wasn’t gentle, but only because she knew that Sunset’s Witchblade healing factor would keep her from getting seriously injured. But now that Sunset was out of the way, Sun released an even bigger blast of flames towards her targets, and just as predicted, Tempest dove into the shadows while Somnambula exited their realm via a white mist and into Hell.

“Let’s get out in the open, an enclosed space works to our disadvantage!”

“I understand, hold on a moment.” Twilight placed her hand against Sun’s head, her eyes glowed for a moment and Sun felt a strange tingling in her mind. There, we should be able to communicate over long distances via telepathy.

Won’t this make it hard to fight if we’re constantly beaming our thoughts to each other?

Think of it like a cellphone. If you’re not actively wanting to talk to me, then I won’t be able to hear you, and vice versa.

Okay, at least we can coordinate without having them hear us. Be careful, Sparky, I don’t know how well your regeneration-alteration power will do up against Tempest’s chrono powers. The Rapture is a silver cross with two bars going through it, it’s not deadly, it just allows someone to travel into Hell, but it does give that woman an easy way out of danger, or worse, she can send you directly into hell itself, and I know for a fact that you won’t be able to fight against the demons that are there.

I don’t think it should be that big a deal–

Listen to me, this is a big deal! Living people have no power in Hell, you’re on their turf, and whatever the demons say there, goes! Your power will be useless there! The only ones who could fight back in there are me, Sis, and that woman! So, if you fight her, you need to be hyper aware, if you fall into a portal, I can’t rescue you, Sparky. You’ll suffer a fate worse than death in there.

Twilight slowly nodded her head. I understand, whichever I face, I’ll be extra careful.

Sun leaned forward and kissed Twilight on the lips. Come back to me alive, otherwise this will be meaningless. Sun jetted out the front door, while Twilight grew raven-colored wings and flew out after her.

Meanwhile, Sunset, after being thrown into the couch and rolling onto the floor, had gotten up and groaned. But the pain she felt was nothing compared to the pain in her heart. It had to be a lie, Sun would never kill Fluttershy, someone must be controlling her, and Twilight, that’s the only explanation for what is happening.

}}} Do not dwell in denial, Sunset. I sensed her intentions just a moment ago and she’s not under any control. Your other self is fully intent on executing this plan of hers. {{{

“NO! Someone must be messing with them! This whole story about rewriting reality is absurd! There’s nothing in Equestria that even comes close to that kind of power, there’s nothing here that has that kind of power!” Sunset argued.

}}} ………It is true. I, along with twelve others combined, have that kind of power, Sunset. {{{

Sunset’s eyes widened as she stared down at her bracelet. “What…You knew about this?”

}}} Bits and pieces have been coming back to my memory, it started when the Ember Stone and Spear of Destiny appeared here alongside my Mother and Father. The longer I spent in their presence, it felt as if something was trying to come back to me, a memory long forgotten. Right on the cusp of my mind but just out of reach. But, when your other self announced what she was planning, the final pieces fitted together, and now I remember why these objects have similar yet different energies to my own. We are all connected, because together we have a power that can change this universe, think of it as an all-powerful wish, allowing someone to change everything to what they desired the most. {{{

“This…This can’t be real…A power like that…it’s too unfathomable…” Sunset pressed her left hand against her forehead as she tried to grasp what the Witchblade was telling her. Her mind fell back on her magical teachings back in Equestria, and throughout all her studies in magic, and talks with Princess Celestia, but try as she might, she could not dredge up anything in Equestria that came close to what the Witchblade was saying.

This world was supposedly magicless, but in the recent months the world itself has taught her that that was a very big misconception. This world did have magic, it just hid itself from the world, and somehow, she has been able to face powers so great, that not even Princess Celestia at her peak of power could stand any snowball’s chance in hell of beating.

“What…What am I supposed to do…?”

}}} I cannot tell you that, Sunset. You are my wielder; I am the sword which cuts down all in your path. If you wish to cut down Sun and Twilight, I will be the blade to make it happen. Or, you can stay here, and do nothing, I respect your decision either way. {{{

Sun stayed in the air, away from a solid surface that could produce a shadow, Twilight did the same, making it easier for them to defend. With Tempest’s main attack tactic taken away, that only left Somnambula able to attack from any direction.

Twilight’s heightened senses alerted her to a disturbance, a spatial anomaly that was about to come into existence. “Sunset, something’s coming!”

“Which direction, Sparky?!”

“This can’t be right…I can feel two distortions, but I can’t figure out which direction!” Twilight called out.

Just then, the distortions opened, one of them appeared above them, revealing Tempest, the OSOD agent used her tendrils to lash out with age accelerating orbs, Twilight and Sunset broke away just in time to dodge the attack. However, the second anomaly opened behind Twilight, this time appearing as a white mist that quickly took on the form of Somnambula. Before gravity could take hold, Somnambula swiftly stabbed Twilight five times.

Two of the blades struck each of her lungs, one pierced her liver, another her stomach, and the fifth through her heart. Twilight spat up blood, but before she could react, Somnambula descended and dragged her along with her. Somehow the bayonet blades had wires attached to them, which were also attached to the gloves that she wore. Apparently, Somnambula and Tempest took a bit of time to prepare for their fight.

They descended further and further until they were right over the roof of a residence. Somnambula violently pulled on the wires and threw Twilight straight for the incoming roof. The moment she did this, Somnambula disconnected the wires and disappeared into Hell. Twilight was left to freefall and crash through the roof, landing in someone’s living room.

Twilight tried to breathe, but since the blades were piercing her lungs, drawing breath was difficult. Twilight concentrated, she used her matter manipulating energy to slice the blades off and pull them out of her body. Once they were out, she immediately regenerated, taking a long breath now that she could breathe again. “She was right, those blades do hurt, I can still feel the pain even after healing. I need to be more careful.”

The mist appeared again, but instead of Somnambula materializing, more of the sacred bayonets came flying from the mist. Twilight enacted rapid teleportation, dodging the blades as they were thrown. Twilight focused her psychokinetic energy into her right hand and fired a beam of psionic energy straight for the mist. However, the moment that it reached the mist, it merely passed through it.

That same mist appeared, and Twilight suddenly felt her left leg getting cut at the back of the knee. She screamed in pain as the deep wound bleed out. Twilight hurriedly erected a barrier of telekinetic power to keep herself safe while she healed. I shouldn’t be surprised by these tactics, if she was Fluttershy’s teacher, then it would make sense that she knows assassin-like fighting techniques. She knows she can’t defeat me head on, so she’s trying to wear me down. Cause me enough pain so that I won’t go on. Guess I have no choice, I’ll have to turn off my pain receptors, that’ll catch her off guard.

Twilight hurriedly did this, turning off all pain in her body after her leg healed. Now free from the distraction, the next time that Somnambula attacked her, she could immediately counterattack without being bogged down by the pain. The mist appeared again, but this time all around Twilight. The teen genius readied herself, she would not be caught off guard again. However, that thought was derailed when the bayonet blades came slashing at her from every direction, and unfortunately, despite having turned off her pain receptors, Twilight still felt pain throughout her body, causing her to scream from the many cuts she was receiving.

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?! I TURNED OFF MY PAIN RECEPTORS! The blades, those special markings on them, that must be it! Then I’ll just do this!

Twilight concentrated, her entire body glowed green and suddenly, her epidermis grew black as night as she shifted the carbon in her body to become dense armor. The bayonet blades’ sigil markings glowed and when they struck, they cut her. However, unlike before, the cuts were shallow and not as damaging, but still, that was just a stop gap measure, if this assassin wanted to, she could easily cut off her head, and Twilight wasn’t sure if she would be able to come back from something like that. Twilight had had enough and released a psionic energy wave, the blast of energy erupted all around her, demolishing the house and everything within. When the dust settled, Twilight was the only thing standing amongst the rubble.

Now that the area was clear, Twilight produced her wings and flew up, getting away from the area where she was getting cut. But she knew she wasn’t safe, Somnambula could attack her from anywhere, it seemed that the assassin knew how to make the most of her Artifact, while its power wasn’t as combat oriented as either of the Sunset’s Artifacts, this woman had learned to use its ability as not a weapon, but a movement enhancer, allowing her to attack from any direction she pleased, no matter where her target was.

I’d be more impressed if I wasn’t so egregiously outclassed right now…

For all of Twilight’s genius, tactical, real world combat was not her expertise, chess and video games were one thing, but she wasn’t up against a teenager, she was up against a trained assassin, one has no doubt killed many people before Twilight could even do calculus. It still baffled her, how was Somnambula able to find her on the other side? The only time she should be visible should be when the distortion happens, but by that logic, Twilight herself should be able to attack back, but Somnambula attacks almost instantly when the mist appears. So how was she tracking her?

“Child, it is best that you surrender…”

Twilight heard Somnambula’s voice, she tried to pin down its location, but it seemed that it was echoing around her.

“I do not wish to cause the one you love sorrow, nor do I wish to do the same to my late student’s friend.”

“You’re not the least bit angry about what we did?! We killed Fluttershy, you say you’re her teacher, and yet you’re willing to show me mercy?!” Twilight argued.

“My student was not one to hold grudges, she is a kind and loving girl, a good soul that would not hate, even ones who have wronged her so.”

Twilight’s mind flashed back to Fluttershy’s last words, the words of forgiveness for what they did. “Why…Why can’t you just hate me?! I can understand that! But forgiving me for taking someone important to you?! I…I can’t!”

“I sense you have been through a great deal of hardship, suffered at the hands of others. You love that girl who fights at your side, the first love from someone outside of your own family. I am sorry that you’ve only known the evils of strangers without ever seeing the good. This world is not as ugly as you may believe it to be, there is good here.”

Twilight started to laugh, maniacally. “Good? Where was that good when I was getting hazed?!” The teen genius slashed the air and released a psionic energy sickle that cut through the air and eventually slashed through some homes. “Where was that good when I was getting raped by someone I didn’t even care about?!” Twilight created a sphere of telekinetic energy, a sphere that glowed brighter by the second. “No, the only good anything in this world is my family and Sunset, this world is rotten! This world is cursed! But Sunset will fix that, she’ll fix everything!…So…IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT HAPPENS FROM HERE ON!!!”

Twilight’s sphere unleashed a barrage of energy blasts in every direction, up, down, right, left, and every angle in between, it was a death blossom attack of energy blasts that rained down and out everywhere. Down below, the blasts that struck the ground exploded violently, creating large craters, and incinerating whatever they hit. Several people below panicked and screamed as they tried to run away and avoid the barrage, but it didn’t matter where they ran, the blasts were raining down so frequently, and the blast radius was so large that there was no gap that anyone could escape.

This attack was more than her lashing out, it was a way to buy her time to figure out how to outmaneuver Somnambula, while she kept up this attack, the assassin couldn’t get anywhere near her for risk of getting hit herself. Just then, several silver bayonets appeared around her sphere, all of them shot towards her barrier and pierced through the cocoon of telekinetic power. The attack ceased as cracks started to form, all the blades’ sigil marks glowed at the same time and released a pulse of energy that shattered Twilight’s barrier. The bayonets fell from the air but disappeared into a mist that awaited them.

Somnambula appeared above Twilight and came down with two of her bayonets, slashing Twilight across her chest in an “X” shaped pattern. Blood spewed from the large gash as the teen genius wailed from the intense pain that wracked her body. Somnambula wasn’t done, she disappeared and reappeared a moment later, slashing at Twilight’s left arm, severing it completely off of her. The assassin did this again, taking off Twilight’s right arm, followed by her right and left legs. Somnambula appeared again, but instead of slashing, she came down with a strong ax kick onto Twilight’s head, the attack sent a wave of nausea and pain resonating through her skull as she was forced to plummet several feet onto the harsh, scorched earth below.

Twilight landed in a ruined home with a powerful “BOOM” upon impact. When the smoke cleared, she was a limbless torso that was bleeding out onto the ground. Her eyes were blank for a moment from the concussion that she suffered from Somnambula’s kick. Twilight’s senses came back, and she tried to rush her regeneration, but Somnambula appeared again, but this time she impaled Twilight, two blades in the stumps of her arms, and two more in her thighs. With a flourish, Somnambula produced another bayonet and stabbed it right through Twilight’s gut, effectively pinning her to the ground. All the while the teen genius continued to scream in pain, it was agonizing, it hurt so much, a burning pain that wouldn’t cease, on top of the pain that was her lost limbs and the blade in her stomach.

“The sigils seem to keep you from speedily regenerating, so, by keeping my bayonets implanted in you, that healing factor will be stymied for the time being,” said Somnambula.

“IT HURTS, IT HURTS SO MUCH!!!” Twilight cried as tears streamed down her face. “WHY IS IT THAT I’M ALWAYS BEING PUT THROUGH PAIN?!!! WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?!!”

Somnambula removed her blindfold and placed it in the pocket of her coat. She knelt beside Twilight’s head and made gentle shushing sounds to her as she stroked Twilight’s hair. “Child, we all experience pain, some more than others. But God has not forsaken you, you still have a chance to make things right and atone in this life.”

Twilight sniffled as she listened to Somnambula’s words. “It is too late…look at what I’ve done to this place! How many people did I just kill?! And that’s not counting the ones in the distance, the city surely got hit hard!”

“A mistake, from a child who has been hurt in mind and body, but not unfixable,” Somnambula assured.

“You’re right…it’s not unfixable…” Twilight closed her eyes, but when she opened them, they flashed a bright magenta.

Somnambula had no time to react before she felt an intense pressure grip at her heart. In less than a second, Twilight used her telekinetic powers to crush Somnambula’s heart inside her chest. The assassin had a surprised look on her face, but that changed into a smile as she slumped over and went silent. Fresh tears appeared in Twilight’s eyes again, not because of the pain, but for what Somnambula did.

“You smiled too…why…why can’t you hate me?!” Twilight focused her power and pulled out all five of the bayonets from her body. The green glow of her power intensified around her lost limbs, immediately regrowing them, ten seconds later, Twilight had her arms and legs back. Most of her outfit had been ruined, but modesty had to take a backseat for the time being, there was more important work to be done.

Twilight turned Somnambula onto her back, and once she did, she could see the item that Sunset had described to her earlier. A cross with two bars going through it, the Rapture. Twilight carefully took the necklace off Somnambula and stood back up. Sunset, I have the Rapture. What’s your situation?

My situation?! It could be better!

After Twilight was separated from Sunset, Tempest wasted little time in attacking her. The OSOD agent wrapped a shadow tendril around Sunset’s neck and dove straight down towards the ground. Without giving Sunset time to counter, Tempest spun in the air, taking Sunset with her. After about ten rotations, Tempest had built up enough momentum and hurled Sunset the rest of the way down. Sunset was unable to course correct and prepared herself to hit the ground. However, she did not hit, instead she passed right through her own shadow, with Tempest following right behind her.

“What the hell?!”

Sunset was suddenly attacked by a tendril slamming against her back and sending her flying through the black void. The void ended when Sunset emerged from the darkness and crashed through a concrete wall. She rolled on the floor for a few seconds before righting herself, but she was not given time to think as more tendrils appeared from the shadows, wrapping around her ankles, and throwing her around the room like a ragdoll, slamming her from one thing to the next before throwing her into another shadow pool where she disappeared.

The pyromancer suddenly found herself floating through the void again, but this time she found Tempest waiting. A red sphere was in her hand as she slammed it into Sunset’s chest. She was expecting to start that painful rapid aging process again, but instead, she was growing younger. Realizing this, Sunset released a burst of flames that forced Tempest away from her. Unfortunately, it had the semi-desired effect.

“You have got to be kidding me?” The voice of a twelve-year-old Sunset squeaked. “Your plan was to turn me into a kid?!”

“Actually, I was trying to turn you into a zygote, maybe a baby, but this works too!”

Once again gravity inverted on itself, and Sunset found herself falling from the shadows into something painful. Sunset screamed as her lower half was suddenly getting eaten away at, sliced, and ripped as liquid fire blood sprayed out in every direction. The young pyromancer released a jet blast of flames from her hands that propelled her forward and away from the whatever it was that was tearing her apart. When she was far enough away, Sunset saw that the shadows had opened a gateway to the dark insides of a meat grinder, which explained why she was now missing her lower half.

“You psycho bitch! Who throws a twelve-year-old girl into a fucking meat grinder?!” Sunset cursed as her lower half regenerated from the flames.

“You should see the shit I fight on my missions, hell, half the time these monsters and ghosts take on the forms of kids because they think people won’t think twice about hurting them. But when you’ve been at this job as long as I have, you learn not to judge a book by its cover! Just because you’re that age now doesn’t mean you suddenly don’t want to kill me anymore!”

Well, she’s not wrong…

What was bad about this situation was that Tempest blended well into the shadows, and the only light source was that of Sunset’s flames. In here, Tempest had complete dominion, not only that, if she could open gateways to places that had shadows, any dark place was easily accessible to her here. And any of those dark places could be something bad.

I only hope she can’t open a gateway to a black hole, then I’m completely screwed, Sunset thought.

“You really screwed up, kid, you betrayed your ‘Sister’, and killed her friend. How long have you been playing her, and everyone else for that matter?”

Sunset lobbed a fireball in the direction she thought she heard Tempest’s voice, but the sphere only sailed into the void before exploding some distance away. “I never thought that the Witchblade would choose another version of me as its wielder! I didn’t plan on betraying her, it just happened!”

“Tch, really? Do you call her your sister just for sick kicks? Make her let her guard down so that when the time came, she wouldn’t be able to hurt you? Or maybe even give up the Witchblade to you?”

“THAT WASN’T A LIE! I care about her! She’s like the twin sister I never had! After my parents died, the rest of my family didn’t care about me, just my inheritance! Sis was the only one I can truly call family, she didn’t care that I was rich, she just wanted to know me! You think I liked knowing that at some point, I was going to have to hurt her to get the Witchblade from her?! I’ve been dreading that day! But now I had to accelerate my plans!”

Tempest stopped in the darkness and asked, “Now that’s interesting, you had to accelerate your plans? Meaning you wanted to keep this going?”

“For as long as possible, yes!”

“What changed then? What made you have to accelerate everything?”

Sunset didn’t think this stranger had the right to know but seeing as how she was going to have to die, the least she could do was tell her why. “My girlfriend, Twilight, she’s in trouble, and the only way to put things right, for her and me, is to rewrite this world into something better!”

Tempest’s eyes widened when she realized what she was talking about. “I’m sorry, kid, if that’s true, then I’m the one to blame for this.”

Sunset’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I was the one who uncovered what happened, her big brother was there when I did, so he knows what’s going on, too. My organization forced me to threaten your sister to give up the Witchblade or they would have me take it from her. But I told her about what I found out about Twilight, and if she could, it might help if I can show them that she’d be unbiased when it came to protecting people. I figured that she might tell Twilight about the investigation, but I didn’t think it’d lead to this,” Tempest explained.

“So, you’re the one responsible for digging all this up! If you hadn’t, I could’ve had more time with Sis! We could’ve worked together to kill that son of a bitch! But now I have to…to…”

“Listen to me kid,” Tempest created several tendrils that were slowly snaking their way towards Sunset, “Thirteen is dangerous, more dangerous than anything I’ve faced, or the OSOD, we have to stop him. If you still want revenge on this guy, then we can still work together for that much. He killed my friend just recently because she found out about the Artifacts.”

That made Sunset curious. “So, he calls himself Thirteen, but he killed your friend because she learned the truth about the Artifacts?”

“She also figured out that, maybe, this guy might be manipulating everything, somehow making it so that the Artifacts gather here. If that’s the case he’s been playing all of us from the beginning! Sunset, don’t give him what he wants! Let’s flip the chessboard on this douchebag and all of us fight him together!”

Sunset chuckled. “And when it’s over? We can’t take back what we did, we killed Fluttershy, Sparky killed Sugarcoat, she killed everyone in Crystal Prep, and I’ve scoured and scorched the earth behind me to find the Artifacts. No, there’s only one option left for me…” The flames around Sunset began to build up. “And that’s to move forward! I WILL create a new world for Sparky and me, for Sis, for everyone!”

Sunset’s flames raged as her diminutive form changed into that of her draconic form, Dragon Shimmer. The great beast roared into the vast ether of the void, its intense flames stopping the creeping tendrils from getting any closer and lighting up the darkness a bit more.

“Oh, right, forgot she could turn into a fire breathing dragon.”

Sunset began charging up her flames, making them burn hotter and stronger, she continued to build up more and more power until her entire body was wrapped in a flaming sphere. But at the nucleus, the flames were starting to burn white hot.

“Oh, hell no, you’re not about to do what I think you’re about to do?!”

Dragon Shimmer’s muzzle curved upwards into a smile as if saying, “What do you think?”

“Shit!”

Tempest opened a gateway, just in time for Dragon Shimmer to go supernova, releasing a scorching hellfire that spread out in all directions. The time shifter fell out of a shadow that was cast by a cloud and stumbled onto the streets of Canterlot City. At that time, the flames of Dragon Shimmer’s supernova bellowed out of the portal, Tempest concentrated and opened a big portal in the shadow realm, right into the ocean. The flames began to recede, but in its place was an obscene amount of steam. It poured out of the shadow, and with it, a large dragon. Tempest saw this at the last minute but was too late as Dragon Shimmer struck Tempest with her giant claw, sending the shadow wielder hurtling towards the ground.

Dragon Shimmer followed her, readying herself to attack the moment Tempest hit the ground. But the OSOD agent was a seasoned fighter and wasn’t about to get immobilized by a single hit. Tempest willed her shadows to become wings, and once they did, she flew straight up towards Sunset. The behemoth dragon was caught off guard as Tempest zoomed past her, once overhead, Tempest flew back down and landed on her neck. Using her shadows, she quickly made tendrils that wrapped all around Dragon Shimmer’s neck and squeezed tightly.

The fire drake coughed and gaged as she felt her airway getting constricted, causing her to veer off course and slam into the side of a building. While immobilized, Tempest made the shadows she had wrapped around Dragon Shimmer’s neck spread out to cover as much of her body as she could. Now that she was directly touching her, Tempest used her time acceleration powers to age Sunset a hundred years per second. The dragon roared in pain as its body was being forced to rapidly regenerate over and over again.

“I wonder just how much of this you can take, kid?! You seem pretty tough, but let’s see how long that endurance lasts,” said Tempest.

Dragon Shimmer peeled herself off the building and charged for another, trying to knock Tempest off her. Debris cascaded from the buildings and to the sidewalks and streets below, causing many crashes and injuries as the concrete, glass, and metal rained down on the unsuspecting citizens.

Then let’s see who can out last who! Sunset thought.

Dragon Shimmer landed on top of skyscraper and set her whole body on fire. In the next moment, she released a pillar of fire that roared into the sky all around her. Tempest’s shadow form was showing signs of being singed, but she wasn’t about to let go, she knew what Sunset was planning, and she wasn’t about to be beaten by her, at least not that easily. Four tendrils sprouted from her back, the ends changing into hands that grasped four huge time acceleration spheres. Tempest slammed all four of them onto Sunset’s draconic body, further accelerating the aging process.

The fiery beast roared even louder as not a hundred years, but thousands of years were passing by in seconds. And yet she didn’t stop, this only spurred Sunset to burn hotter, making the pillar change to an even brighter orange color. The heat that radiated off the pillar was melting the concrete and steel beneath and around her, but no matter what, she wasn’t going to stop. Tempest’s body was starting to show signs of burning, with some of her shadows burning away little by little. The OSOD agent released a battle cry as she willed the shadows wrapping Sunset to grow sharp spikes, each of which impaled Sunset from the inside out. The pain only served as more fuel for the already intense fire as the flames changed to a bright yellow.

Eventually, it all grew too much for the building as they fell through it, the sounds of multiple crashes echoed throughout the area as Dragon Shimmer melted and smashed her way through each level of the thirty-story building. Unfortunately, the civilians that were inside were instantly vaporized due to the extreme heat, and of course, this was devastating the structural integrity of the building itself. The support beams were turned into slag the moment that Dragon Shimmer got close, and soon, the entire building came down. People down below screamed and shouted, scrambling to get away as the entire structure collapsed in on itself, ending with a powerful explosion that sent fiery chunks of concrete flying into the air as fireballs that smashed their way into adjacent buildings and the like.

A thick cloud of dust settled over the entire area, the only thing that could be seen were the fires, and of course, one lone person who glowed as bright as the flames. Sunset coughed as the flames returned her to her original age. She thought she had toughened herself against all manner of pain, but that was a whole different experience. It felt as if she was dying and being reborn again and again, now she knew what a phoenix felt like.

“Just give it up, Tempest…I’m like the core of the sun, I can go on forever,” said Sunset.

“Your powers are like that, but everyone has their breaking point, it’s just a matter of finding yours! And believe me, I’ll find it before this day is over,” Tempest promised.

Sunset’s hand formed two fireballs, she then clutched them until they transformed into two flaming swords. “Then come and find out!”

Tempest shifted her arms into blades as she readied to attack. Sunset turned her head to the left and that’s when Tempest zoomed through the dust and headed straight for her. The pyromancer noticed Tempest at the last minute and prepared to strike.

“ENOUGH!!!”

A sonic boom thundered overhead as a being descended rapidly from the skies and landed with a thunderous “BOOM” a couple of feet away from Sun and Tempest. The impact pushed the dust away from their area and allowed both women to see who it was that stopped them. Much to Sun’s displeasure, it was Sunset, garbed in the Witchblade armor.

Sunset turned to Sun and Tempest, glaring at them both. “Stop this, both of you!”

“Sis…”

“Listen to me, Sun! Look at what you’ve done?! All this destruction, all the people you’ve hurt! Don’t add any more lives to the death toll!” Sunset plead.

“There’s no going back, Sis…This…This was going to happen at some point…I just wished that it was further down the line.” Sun chuckled sadly. “The funny thing is, if we kept going on like this, I might’ve forgotten about my plans altogether and we could’ve just teamed up against Thirteen.”

“That’s the guy who killed Mom and Dad, right? We can still do it, he’s a major threat to everyone!” Sunset offered.

The younger Shimmer gripped the hilts of her fire swords tight as she furrowed her brow. “And then what?! I can’t take back killing Fluttershy or Sugarcoat! I can’t even take back what I’ve done to the people around here! You’re not about to tell me that you’re going to let me off the hook for hurting everyone! Hurting YOU!” Sun shook her head. “No, the only way to make everything right is to bring the thirteen together, and change reality so that all of this never happened!”

Sunset face scrunched up, into both hands the Witchblade formed two claymore swords. “Don’t make me fight you, Sun…”

“This was an unavoidable fight…” Now, Sparky.

Suddenly, a telekinetic force wave slammed into Tempest and sent her flying towards Sun. The pyromancer, spun around, merging her two fire swords into one great sword, and thrust forward the moment that Tempest got close. Tempest released a grunt as the fiery blade impaled her through the center of her chest, her shadows receded until they gathered into the Wheel of Shadows at her waist, which then fell to the ground.

“…Hope this is worth it in the end,” said Tempest as the light went out in her eyes.

Sun released a burst of intense flames from the sword that turned Tempest’s body to ash.

Sunset’s eyes widened with horror at what she saw, she quickly looked to her right and saw Twilight floating down from the air and right next to Sun. The pyromancer bent down and grabbed the Wheel of Shadows, creating a construct fire belt to hook the disk onto it. She then turned to Twilight and asked, “The Rapture?”

Twilight opened her hand and placed the Artifact into Sun’s.

“How could you do all of this…?” Sunset asked.

“This world is cruel, Sunset, but after this is over, Sun will make it better, you’ll see,” said Twilight in a comforting fashion. “Now we just need three more, the Witchblade, the Thirteenth, and one more.”

“Actually…Sparky, we only need two more.”

Twilight arched an eyebrow in confusion. “I don’t understand, we need thirteen, and we only have ten so far.”

“The last one, the Coin of Solomon, is close by,” Sun informed.

Twilight smiled at this information. “That’s great, where is it? Who has it?”

Sunset hurriedly tried to think of anyone they might’ve known who had this Coin of Solomon, but the truth was, Sun was the only one who knew anything about the Artifacts, so its power could be anything. Please, Faust, don’t let it be any of my friends, or Celestia or Luna, or anyone from CHS! I can’t take another friend dying today!

Sun placed her left on Twilight’s right shoulder, causing the teen genius to turn and face her girlfriend. The flame warrior then placed her right hand at the center of Twilight’s chest and looked into her eyes. “Sparky, I love you with all my heart. I’ve…I’ve never felt like this for anyone before. Before I met you, I only sought revenge for my parents, but I had no plans beyond that. But after meeting you, I don’t know what my future will be, but I do know that I want it to involve you, from the beginning and until the end.”

Twilight began to cry. “I feel the same way. I knew what I wanted for my future, but I never gave any thought about things in between. Things like finding love fell by the wayside, and then I met you, Sun. That’s when I realized I’ve been missing out on great moments with someone I can share my life with. I can’t wait to have more moments together when you remake this world, and I’ll be there with you until it’s done.”

“You can’t, Sparky…”

“Why?”

“……………”

“Sun, why not?”

“Because……the Coin of Solomon, it’s inside of you……”

At first, Twilight was confused, then, slowly, it morphed to realization. Sun’s entire right hand superheated in less than a second, allowing her to push her entire arm through Twilight’s chest with little to no resistance at all, her hand clutched into a fist. Tears streamed down Twilight’s face as did Sun’s, shaky hands reached up from Twilight’s sides as she weakly placed them on Sun’s face. The look of utter betrayal was plastered on Twilight’s face, as a strong wave of grief and shame overcame Sun. A moment later, Twilight’s arms went limp and fell to her sides, her eyes closed, and then the teen genius was gone.

Sun dropped to her knees slowly as she took her arm out of Twilight’s chest and cradled her on the way down to the ground. Liquid light tears fell onto Twilight’s lifeless body as Sun sobbed heavily.

Sunset felt cold, the swords she had created faded away as her brain grappled to process what she had just witnessed. Twilight was dead…she was killed by…by her human double. “You…How…How could you?!”

“Shut up…”

“She loved you.”

“Shut up…!”

“SHE LOVED YOU!!!”

“I FUCKING KNOW SHE LOVED ME!!!” Sun yelled into the sky. “I LOVE HER, I NEVER LOVED ANYONE AS MUCH I DID HER, DO YOU THINK I WANTED TO DO THIS?!”

Sunset stomped her way over to Sun glared down at her younger self. “Then use your Ember Stone and bring her back, or else let her go and I’ll do it myself?!”

Sun held Twilight’s body closer. “DON’T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER!!!” Flames erupted around Sun, some of the flames extended and turned into hissing vipers, warning Sunset to stay away. “Let her rest…just please let her finally rest! She’s suffered so much here, just let her finally have this moment of peace!”

Sunset huffed, and growled, and grunted, and then she screamed into the air as she rushed over to the nearest piece of debris and began beating it with her fists, repeatedly as she screamed out her pain. When she was done, the rubble was dust that just added to the amount floating in the air. “I can’t forgive you for this…Sun…”

“I don’t expect forgiveness……I’m not worth forgiving…not after this…” Sun gently placed Twilight’s body on the ground, and carefully placed her arms over her chest. “Sis…make sure she gets back to Mrs. Velvet and Mr. Night Light. See if Ms. Celestia will put them up in her home for a bit…I can’t have them in my house after this…”

Sunset walked back towards Sun, her eyes glowed with rage as she knelt before Twilight’s body and held out her right hand. The power of the Witchblade entered Twilight’s body, closing the hole in her chest so that her body was back in pristine condition. The changes that the Coin made to Twilight’s body had disappeared as well, at least her family would not have to wonder why she looked the way she did. Sunset gently put her arms underneath Twilight’s body and lifted her off the ground, cradling the doppelganger of her friend close to her body.

“Tomorrow, at sunrise, Sis. You and me. Either you’ll be the one to face Thirteen, or I will.”

Sunset turned her back on Sun and said, “Don’t ever call me ‘Sis’ again.”

Sun winced from the venom that was laced in Sunset’s words. “Whatever…”

Sunset’s wings flared out, and with a flap, she propelled herself into the air and went off in another direction. Sun was left alone amongst the rubble, on her hip she possessed the Wheel of Shadows, in her left hand, the Rapture. Her right hand possessed the Coin of Solomon, she had almost all the Artifacts, the only one left was her Si – was her other self’s Witchblade. She was close, so close to making everything right, soon she could change everything and bring back Twilight and her parents, so why…?

“Why does it hurt so much…?” Sun asked as she clutched her hands to her heart, falling to her knees and sobbing once again.

High above the rubble and destruction below, on an adjacent building stood the violet robe clad Thirteen. His violet eyes shined as he witnessed the entire event and was pleased with the results. “I guess I could give her tomorrow. This little soap opera is getting too good to stop now.”