Chapters Prologue: Cupcakes Ex-Machina
NOTE: This is a completely re-written and almost completely different version of Rainbow Dash Resurrection, the original Prologue to my grimdark series. Due to it being so bad it turned away all readers from the amazing story that follows, I have re-written it as the story you see here. The characters are portrayed as humanoids. You are free to portray them as you please though, and this should not deter you from the story. Enjoy.
Cupcakes Ex-Machina
Glass shattered and metal clanged, resounding through the room, as Pinkie Pie was on a rampage destroying everything she could get her hands on. She falls to her knees and cries into her hands, pulling them away and staring at the blood that was soaked on them. She screams loud enough to wake the dead, and she wished it had, if only to bring back one of the many lives she’d now taken. She tried to put up with it for so long, the horrible things she was doing without control, but now she’d gone too far. She looked over one more time to her friend Rainbow Dash, stitched up and filled with cotton like some sort of doll, sitting in a chair like some over sized teddy bear.
She crawls over with a sob, hugging the lifeless skin of her friend. A voice calls out to her from behind to say, “What’s wrong Pinkie Pie? Don’t you see how much of a good thing this is?” Pinkie’s eyes go wide, and her teeth grit, as she slowly looks back to see her smooth haired counterpart standing there with a growing smile that would make a Cheshire cat proud. “As long as she’s like this she can be with you forever. It’s even better than taxidermy because you can snuggle her. Now how about me make those cupcakes? I didn’t grind up her heart into love just so we could use it as a decoration.”
Pinkie grabs the hack saw she’d chopped off Rainbow’s wings with and swings at the girl, the blade going right through her like a specter. She screams in frustration, swinging at her again and again, falling to her knees as her tears are renewed. “Why, Pinkamina? Why did you take Rainbow Dash out of everyone you could’ve taken from me? Why did it have to be her?”
The girl kneels down and places her hands on her shoulders with ‘shhh’ and a giggle. “I don’t make the rules Pinkie. I just draw names from a hat. Everyone’s names are in there. I didn’t want to kill her, to be completely honest with you.”
Pinkie sniffles and stares into the girls eyes and says, “Then why did you do it? Why even have her name in there in the first place? You told me none of my closest friends were in there, so why? Why was her name in there?!”
The dark twisted version of herself shakes her head and says, “I needed a backup plan, because you’d grown so used to my horrendous acts. How else am I going to make you ‘MISERABLE’? Not to mention full of anger and hatred!”
Pinkie roars and swings at her again, hard enough to lose control of the hack saw and send it flying. She pounds her fist hard enough on the ground to bruise it and says, “You’re not going to get away with this! I’ll find a way to fix it!”
The dark Pinkie’s eyes become red, and her pupils slit, as her grin becomes a frown. “I already got away with it! She’s gone, and there’s nothing you can do! Just give up, or do you want me to kill another one of your friends? Maybe next I should turn Fluttershy into a rug!”
Pinkie goes pale and she falls back, starting to crawl away. “No… you can’t do that!”
The demon Pinkie’s teeth grow sharper as she says, “I can and I will when I control your body! You’re wrath feeds me, for I am wrath incarnate! If you mess with my grand scheme, then you don’t belong in my world!”
As the creature walks towards her, Pinkie screams covering her eyes. “Leave her alone!” Pinkie’s eyes go wide hearing a familiar voice, and she uncovers them to see blocking the way to her was Rainbow Dash. “I knew Pinkie Pie was innocent! Even when being tortured to death, I had faith in her! Even when I was about to die, I figured there had to be something that factored into this change in her complete character!”
Pinkie Pie looks back over to the chair to see the Rainbow Dash doll was still there. The dark Pinkie hisses and says, “Tortured soul! Be gone! This does not concern the souls of the tainted and dead!”
Rainbow Dash growls and says, “The only thing tainted here is you!” She sprints forward at her legendary speed, and her fist hits the other manifestation so hard in the chest, you could see the shape of it on the other side of her back. She flies backward and through the wall, Rainbow Dash arm pumping in victory as the evil entity vanished from sight. “Even as a ghost, I’m a badass!”
The evil beings voice echoed from beyond where they could see her, “You cannot defend her forever! Pinkie’s shell belongs to me, and I will have what’s mine! You can’t stop me from coming to the surface, only aid me!”
Rainbow Dash raises an eyebrow and says, “And just how is kicking your butt going to aid you?”
Intense laughter echoes through the room, still covered in horrific party decoration made from victims past. “You’ll aid me in your own way soon enough, smart ass! Have your Pinkie Pie, and enjoy your time together while it lasts!” Her laughter was loud, but it slowly faded away and the room became quiet.
Rainbow Dash carefully monitored the room, making sure she was gone. With a sigh of relief, she turned to talk to her friend. “Pinkie Pie, I know this is a lot for you to take in, but…” She looks down to see Pinkie’s hand was in her chest. “Pinkie, what are you doing?”
Pinkie laughs and sings, “She reaches in, and goes straight through to your heart!”
“Cut that out, this is serious!” Rainbow Dash flails at Pinkie’s arm, unable to touch her.
Pinkie backs away giggling and says, “I’m sorry Dashie! I couldn’t help myself! It’s so great to see you, as you were! I’ve got my happy back! If I could hug you to death I would... in a metaphorical sense.” She bounces up and down happily. “So why are you a spooky ghosty?”
Rainbow smiles and says, “Only you can remain so energetic in the face of death. That dark side of yours did a real number on me. I was so tortured, mentally, that I wasn’t able to pass on. I don’t think I’m supposed to either.”
Pinkie gasps and says, “Does this mean you’re going to haunt me forever, and only I can see you? We can solve mysteries, and you can give me advice and stuff, just like a TV show!” Pinkie Pie squees with excitement as Rainbow Dash just stares at her.
Rainbow Dash shakes her head, rubbing her temples, and says, “Not quite, Pinkie. I don’t think it’s my time to die quite yet. I don’t know what it is, just a feeling I get. Like something really bad is going to happen, and I need to be there for it.”
Pinkie shrugs and says, “Maybe your death gave you the ability to sense the future?”
Pinkie smiles and says, “Well then how about I play some music so loud that it can raise the dead?”
Rainbow Dash groans and says, “Pinkie that was lame even by your standards.”
Pinkie sulks a little and says, “I know, I think that dark side of mine’s crappy jokes and puns rubbed off on me a little. How are we going to bring you back to life? Should we go to Zecora?”
“PFFT! Zecora is more like a herbalist. She makes potions, and I doubt any are for bringing the dead back to life. Besides, it’s late, and there’s no way we’d make it through the everfree forest with all this rain.”
Pinkie blinks and asks, “What rain?”
Rainbow smirks and says, “You’ll see outside. What we need is somepony with knowledge over things no one else has. Somepony, who could easily use magic to bring me back to life…”
Pinkie blinks and says, “You’re talking about Twilight… But Dashie, this is black magic we’re talking about here, and Twilight’s a good girl. I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with getting her involved.”
Rainbow blinks, thinking that over a little more carefully, and sighs and as goes to lean on the wall. “You have a point Pinkie. I don’t want to get Twilight involved either. What else can we do though?” She looks over to Pinkie with tears welling in the corners of her eyes. “I can’t think of any other way Pinkie. It’s not that I don’t want to be dead, though I’m not saying that I do. It’s just that I’m supposed to be alive. She’s one of our closest friends, so I’m sure she’d understand.”
Pinkie nods and says, “You’re right. What are we going to need?”
Rainbow Dash wipes her eyes and says, “We need my body, even if it is stuffed with cotton. And we’ll need all my organs.”
Pinkie grabs the bucket where she put them all and says, “I got them right here!”
Rainbow Dash bites her lower lip and says, “All… my organs…”
Pinkie goes wide eyed and gulps, slowly looking over to the table with the heads of other ponies. She walks over, seeing the cloak of cutie marks, and knocks it off the table. Beneath it laid a heart shaped container filled with red liquid. “Your heart… Hey look Dashie! New liquid heart! Now you can get your bottle of love for only three easy payments of thirty bits!”
Rainbow Dash holds a hand over her mouth to hide her laugh. “Pinkie, that’s gross. Don’t make jokes about my heart. It’s bad enough that dark you grinded it up into liquid.”
Pinkie laughs and tosses it in the bucket, wrapping her arm around the Rainbow Dash doll that was rather light when filled with nothing but cotton. She grunts and says, “This bucket is heavy!”
Rainbow Dash flutters her wings and hovers alongside her. “You have an entire me in there, of course it’s heavy! Now come on, let’s go!”
Pinkie shuffles forward a bit, reaching the base of a staircase and looking up it with a whimper. Once she made it to the top, she shoves against the doorway with all her might, opening it to reveal a closet where Mr. and Mrs. Cakes had stored things. This was appropriate, since she now found herself in their storage basement. She notices another staircase and groans. “Why am I being punished? I’m not the one who killed you!”
Rainbow Dash lies on air lazily next to her and says, “Come on Pinkie Pie, exercise is good for you!”
Pinkie Pie whines and says, “That’s easy for you to say! You got wings, and you’re a ghost! Can’t you affect inanimate objects or something, like other ghosts?”
Rainbow Dash shrugs and says, “I haven’t been a ghost long, I wouldn’t know. Here, let me try on this fluff ball that used to be me.” She places her hands on the doll, and pulls it away from Pinkie. “Woo, check me out! I’m haunting myself!” She laughs and flies up the stairs with it, using its hands to open the door at the top of the stairs. “Meet you outside Pinkie!”
As she flies off, Pinkie’s eye twitches and she says, “Oh, sure, take the husk! Well at least I can lug this thing with both hands now.” She grips the bucket, and pants as she carries it up the stairs trying to keep it up. She even grabbed it with her teeth, rushing to the top as fast as she could. She sets it down and shakes her hands, blowing on them to alleviate the sting. She continues to carry it to the front door, seeing it hanging open and the rain pouring like cats and dogs from the sky. “Wow, it is raining pretty hard. But I don’t have a hand for an umbrella. I hope her organs don’t mind getting wet. Do you guys?” She stares at the bucket of organs, tempted to make several organ puns. She decided that would be in bad taste and walks outside. She was ready to be drenched, but noticed the rain wasn’t hitting her as hard as it could be. She looked up to see the Rainbow Dash doll was blocking rain, and the ghost it belonged to was holding it up. “Such a gentle-colt,” Pinkie says fluttering her eyelashes.
Rainbow smirks and says, “Here Pinkie, let me shield you from the rain… with my body.” She said the last part in a suggestive tone, almost making Pinkie Burst right there.
Pinkie raises the back of her palm to her forehead and says, “Oh, Rainbow Dash! You know that’s not going to keep me from getting wet! It will only make things worse!” The two of them burst out laughing. “As much as I love a good joke, we’ve got to hurry before somepony sees us. Come on!” She rushes to Twilight’s house, finding the bucket a lot easier to carry without stairs, Rainbow on top of her with the doll.
Twilight had just come from her room, a book she’d been reading in hand. She finds its place in her bookshelves, and uses magic to put it back. “I think that’s enough reading for one night.” She looks outside to the rain with a shiver. “Something about tonight makes me uncomfortable. Probably the storm… I wish one of my friends was here to keep me company. Even Spike is spending the night at Rarity’s.” Her front door burst open, and she quickly turns to see who it was. “Pinkie Pie? Rainbow Dash? Wow! What timing! I was just…” She goes wide eyed seeing Pinkie was carrying a bucket of organs, and a see through Rainbow Dash was holding a stitched up husk of her former self.
Pinkie Pie smiles nervously and says, “I kind of need your help Twilight.” Twilight’s eye twitches and she takes a deep breath, proceeding to rear back and scream at the top of her lungs. Both girls look at each other and shrug as Twilights scream begins to hurt their ears a little. “I think she’s taking it a little better than I expected.”
Rainbow rolls her eyes and says, “Could you please slap her, it’s getting old.”
Twilight takes another deep breath and points to the bucket. “Please tell me those aren’t real organs!” She points to the doll. “Please tell me that’s not the real Rainbow Dash!” She points to Rainbow’s ghost and says, “Please tell me that’s a magic spell gone wrong!”
Rainbow looks shocked and says, “You can see me?”
Twilight scowls and says, “I’m a unicorn with magical abilities that could rival Celestia one day. Of course I can see ghosts!”
Pinkie sets down the bucket, splashing a few drops of blood on the floor, and says, “Then why can I see Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow sets the doll against the wall and says, “Because you technically killed me and now I’m haunting you.”
Twilight slaps her palm to her face and says, “That’s so romantic, I’m happy for you two. You mind filling me in on what’s going on?!”
Pinkie Pie nods and says, “Oh, sure thing Twilight. I’ll just explain it all off screen to save some time and monotony for the readers.”
Twilight stares at her for a moment and says, “The who?”
“And that’s everything that’s happened up to this point!” Pinkie Pie crosses her arms with a confident nod as Twilight and Rainbow Dash stare at her with grim expression.
Twilight gags a little and says, “I could’ve done without the excruciating details Pinkie!”
Rainbow Dash clenches her eyes shut and says, “Yeah, I could’ve done without reliving most of that.”
Pinkie giggles nervously and says, “Sorry about that. Anyways, that’s why we’re here! We know it’s probably dark magic, but we need your help to bring Dashie back to life! You’ve just got to know a spell Twilight!” She clings to Twilight’s leg and looks up at her with puppy eyes.
Twilight stares at her, her will weakening, and she sighs in defeat. “I do know a way, and it is dark magic. I familiarize myself with dark magic so I know how to handle it, but if the princess ever found out… Look, you guys can’t tell anypony about this. I’m only doing this because Rainbow Dash is my friend too.” She walks upstairs and digs through her private bookshelf, walking back down with a dark and twisted looking book. She flips through it and says, “It’s lucky that you saved her body and her organs, we’ll need all of that. We’ll also need a magic circle to focus the energies, and a piece of the killer given willingly to guide her soul back to her body.”
Pinkie Pie gulps and says, “So I have to give up something that can guide her? Like what?”
Twilight pokes the page and says, “It has to be something like one of your five senses. See, hear, smell, even taste your way back to your body. That kind of thing, understand?”
Pinkie smiles weakly and nods. Rainbow Dash wanted to hug and comfort her, but knew her arms would just go right through her. “Pinkie, I know it’s a lot to ask, and you don’t have to do it. I know you will no matter what I say though, so please, choose carefully.”
Pinkie giggles and says, “I’ve already chosen! I need everything else, but I don’t need both my eyes to see everything! I’ll just give up my left eye, and it can guide you home Dashie.”
Rainbow smiles, wiping her eyes of ghostly tears, as Twilight showed them a diagram of the magic circle. After she and Pinkie got it drawn nice and big, she set up several candles for ambience and laid Rainbow’s body in the middle with the bucket of her organs on top of it. “Alright… I’m sorry if this ends up hurting you two, but it’s dark magic for a reason.”
As the circle begins to light up the floor and glows, Twilight’s eyes to the same as she raises her hands. The bucket floats into the air and scoops through Rainbow Dash’s body as if it were an illusion. When it was done, all the organs in the bucket were replaced with cotton from the body. Rainbow Dash’s wings fluttered from the bucket as well, and latched back onto their stumps with a loud gushy cracking noise. Pinkie Pie nervously asks, “Hey wait a minute, just how are we going to get my eye out of my he-EEEYAAAAH!” She screams in excruciating pain as an unknown force grips her eye and tugs on it, pulling it from her socket and tearing it at the stem.
She falls back on the ground, holding the socket as she sobbed and screamed in pain, the eye floating over to the ghost of Rainbow Dash. The specter gulps and says, “Whoa, creepy, it’s like it’s looking at my soul!” She paused for a moment and said, “Oh wait… That was stupid.” The stem stretches to an impossible length, and wraps around Rainbow Dash’s body, making her yelp in surprise. “The hell is this thing doing to me!?” The eye turns towards her body, and zips into it, dragging her along screaming. Her body’s eyes go wide and she gasps, sitting up in horror as she returns to the realm of the living completely intact. Well, aside from all the stitches.
Twilight crawls over as the light fades from the magic circle and her eyes. “Rainbow Dash, is that really you? Did it manage to work?”
Rainbow Dash smiles and nods saying, “It’s me alright Twilight. Damn it feels good to be alive again. My body feels a little weird, but I’m sure the tingling will pass.” She notices Pinkie still rolling around in pain, and they both rush over. “Oh my gosh, Pinkie, are you okay? We should get her to a hospital!”
Twilight scowls and says, “Wait a minute… why isn’t her socket bleeding if it hurts that much?”
Pinkie sobs and says, “It’s not my socket that hurts, it feels like something deeper! I don’t know what it is, but it burns!”
Rainbow Dash leans in close, peeking into the socket as if that might give her a better look, trying to figure out what was wrong with her friend. She blinks as a pink hand clasps around her throat, and she stares in horror as it was coming from Pinkie’s eye socket. She hacks and coughs and manages to spit out, “What is this?!”
Pinkie screams in terror and pain as her dark side pulls her nude form out of Pinkie’s head through the eye socket, a firm grip on Rainbow Dash. She brushes aside her hair to reveal she was missing the left eye too now, and she cackles with glee. “I warned you Rainbow Dash, in the end you only provided me with the means to get out! You have no idea about your connection to the other side! That’s why it had to be you, but you just had to go and ruin it, didn’t you? You all had to interfere with my plans and bring little Dashie back to life! Well, now I’ll just kill you all to save myself some effort!”
The pain Pinkie had been feeling was gone, and she quickly grabs her double and yanks her off Rainbow Dash, who fell backwards gasping for air into Twilight’s arms. Pinkie growls and says, “Who do you think you are?!”
The double elbows her in the gut, and throws her over her shoulder into the ground before her. “I am Wrath, of the seven deadly sins! It’s my mission to create a gateway for my allies! Now that I’m here, Pinkie Pie, you’ve exhausted your usefulness as a vassal.”
Pinkie rubs her head and struggles with balance to her feet, rushing for the kitchen. Wrath hisses and follows her, running into the kitchen to have a butcher knife thrown at her. “Eat this demon!”
Wrath catches it in her teeth with a giggle, and grabs the handle licking the side. “Ole.” Pinkie gulps and grabs a knife of her own, and rushes Wrath, pressing her blade into hers and shoving her back against the wall. She then goes through the kitchen doorway, and sprints for the stairs. Wrath cackles and gives chase saying, “Where do you think you’re going? Do you think you can run and hide from me? You’re only delaying the inevitable!”
Pinkie Pie rushes out onto the upstairs balcony, the rain pouring against her as she tried to find a way to get away. She squeaks and jumps to the side as Wrath slams her blade into the balcony railing. “Ha! Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me!” Pinkie leaps into the dark copy, pressing her lips against the shocked creature’s own. By the time Wrath realized what she was doing it was too late, as they both went flying over the railing to the ground below. They hit the ground with a splash and a thud, Pinkie Rolling off of her completely fine but shaken up. She laughs and says, “So nice of you to cushion my fall.”
She gasps and stares in horror as Wrath stands up. Her head was twisted too far right and her arm bent in two places. Her arm cracks noisily back into place, and she grabs the sides of her face twisting her head back to face Pinkie. “That almost felt like a massage.”
Pinkie shivers in disgust, and strikes a stance with her blade, Wrath imitating with a smirk. They glared at each other as they rain rushed against them, the cloud creating a dark tone for their scene. They sprinted for each other, but the world seemed to flow in slow motion for Pinkie. She watched as the water splashed beneath their feet, and shattered against their blades. She jumped and twirled through the air, gaining some slight momentum as her blade slammed against Wrath’s. The clang was faintly heard over the roar of the rain as the blades sparked and splashed at the same time. Their blades danced, slamming against each other as they swung for each other. Wrath kicks Pinkie in the stomach, sending her flying backwards to the floor.
As she approached the downed Pinkie, her path was blocked by a familiar Pegasus who was still panting from her recent revival. She hacks up some cotton and says, “You want her, you have to go through me!” She leaps through the air, her right leg outstretched for Wrath’s chest, only to be caught by the ankle.
Wrath grins widely and says, “So nice of you to just offer yourself up like this Dashie! Better not let your little sacrifice go to waste!” She slams her knife into the side of Rainbow Dash’s knee, making it gush with blood as a loud crack of broken bone could be heard, inducing a horrified pain filled scream from the cyan pony.
Rainbow Dash glares and stomps her in the face with her free foot, making Wrath stumble back. “This pain is nothing compared to when you chopped off my wings bitch!” She grabs Wrath by the neck and the crotch, lifting her over head and slamming her head first into the ground, where Pinkie was waiting to stab her in the back.
Pinkie blinks as Wrath’s legs wrap around her neck, and she is thrown against Rainbow Dash. Wrath grips the ground and pushes off it, yanking the blade from her back as the wound sealed itself slowly. She twirls the two blades she now had and smirks at the girls. “Thanks, now it will just be easier to kill you two.”
Rainbow Dash bites her lower lip and says, “Twilight, we could use some help here!”
Twilight peeks from the front of her library, trying to keep to the cover from the branches of her tree. She was flipping through the book as she said, “I’m working on it! This wasn’t exactly covered in the ritual, it’s completely different! I need time!”
Pinkie Pie stands and picks up Rainbow Dash. “How good are you at dancing on a broken knee?”
Rainbow raises and eyebrow and says, “Well that was random! I got wings, remember? Don’t need my legs. I don’t see what that has to do with anything though.”
“Follow my lead!” Pinkie grabs her hands and strikes a tango pose. Wrath growls and begins to swing at them, only to find Pinkie twirling Rainbow Dash, and swinging her out of the way of her blades.
Wrath grits her razor sharp teeth and says, “Is this some kind of insult? Dancing around my attacks? Hold still and accept your death’s willingly!”
They continued to dance, until Wrath felt her blades yanked from her grip by magic. She turns around just into to watch as Twilight punches her fist into her eye socket. She howls in shock and pain as Twilight aims her palm at Pinkie. “Screw the book! I’m stopping you my own way! Now go back to the subconscious and stay there!”
Wrath and Pinkie glow, and their body’s writhed in pain as Pinkie rolled on the ground and Wrath tugged at her arm. “You fool, don’t seal me back in that goofy prison!” Wrath screamed and clawed at the arm tearing several gashes in it. “You son of a whore, I’ll get you for this! I’ll get all of you! You haven’t seen the last of meeeeee!” Her body rapidly disintegrates, flowing back into Pinkie’s eye socket before the glowing stopped and she was gone.
Pinkie pants and says, “Is it finally over, because I don’t know how much more damage to my happy I can take today!” She rubs her head, enjoying the feel of the rain as it quickly rinsed any sweat. “Twilight, you’re amazing. You managed to pull that off without any instructions?”
Twilight nods and falls on her side panting. “I have no idea what I was thinking, but it’s nice to know your okay.” Rainbow floats over, and Pinkie crawls, both helping Twilight to her feet. “That took so much out of me. I think I need a hospital.”
Pinkie laughs and says, “We all need a hospital right now Twilight!”
Rainbow sighs and nods in agreement. “Definitely… This will be a hell of a story for everyone. Minus gory details of course.” She shoots a glare to Pinkie who giggles nervously and begins to whistle innocently. “I can’t help but wonder what she meant by a lot of those things she said though. I’m kind of worried that won’t be the last we see of her.”
Twilight shakes her head and says, “I sealed her away in there, nothing’s bringing her back out. I don’t think we have to worry about Wrath anymore.”
“I’ve failed you master SIN. I alone was not enough, and I beg your forgiveness.” Wrath kneeled before a throne in a realm of shadows, a shrouded figure on the throne before her.
A hand reaches forward and strokes under her chin. “Fear not Wrath, for I am very entertained and pleased with your efforts. You’ve caused much pain and misery, and after all that’s what we are all about. We will have out time in the realm of the living, and next time we’ll all come to the surface. My seeds have been planted, and it’s only a matter of time now. It’s time for plan B, my lovely Wrath.”
Wrath blushes and presses into the hand, smiling as she said, “And just what is plan B master?”
SIN draws their hand back, holding their hands together as they said, “For now, we wait.”
Wrath frowns and lets the room grows quiet, shifting around a little before she asked, wait for what master?”
SIN simply replies, “For the right time to take action, my pet.”
Wrath glares and crosses her arms with a pout. “I hate this plan. It’s boring.”
End Prologue
MLP: My Seven Little Sins
The sound of construction and panic fill the air as up and down the wall surrounding Canterlot, several folk do everything in their power to finish the great wall in an effort to offer their homes a little protection. Many of those working on the wall were refugees from Ponyville, which had been lost to the army of SIN; a being of pure evil that was foretold to of awakened and had come for their lives. All those in his path were struck down, and transformed into shikibane, beings who died in vain and misery and were transformed into creatures of evil and malice. SIN seemed to be after one thing alone, the destruction of all life as he marched to assault princess Celestia and Luna. Where he came from and his motives were a mystery, but everypony had escaped Ponyville in time to avoid joining his armies ranks, but Canterlot could only remain their sanctuary for so long before SIN came, because it was there that his true target lied.
Apple Bloom wipes her brow, working up a sweat as she's doing the most work on the wall. She wears a yellow T-shirt under her blue overalls, the picture of red toolbox with an apple shaped lock on the front, this being her cutie mark. She plucks a nail from her mouth, and begins hammering it into a pillar on the wall. Sweetie Belle comes running as fast as she can with a look of terror on her face, just in time for the cities alarms to go off. She skids to a stop, hands on her knees panting, and she brushes the dirt off her white T-shirt with purple sleeves and the picture of a winged bell with musical notes around it, this being her own cutie mark. Apple Bloom lets the nails fall from her mouth as her eyes go wide. "Don't tell me he's already here!"
Sweetie Belle nods and says, "He is! SIN and his entire shikibane army are here! The Heroes of Harmony need time to get here. They need the Cutie Crusaders to hold off the army!"
Apple Bloom scowls and waggles her hammer at her friend. "Now I know your lying! Our big sisters would tan our hides if we tried to take on that army by ourselves! Cutie Crusaders or not, my work is here making sure this wall is strong enough to keep those creatures out!"
Sweetie Belle bites her lower lip and flails her arms a bit. "There's no time for that now! The shikibane are almost here, and you won't finish the wall in time! We can buy everypony more time if we go out there and slow them down! We've been waiting for this moment, preparing, and now it's our time to shine! But we can't do it unless all three of us work together! Please Apple Bloom, we need you!" Sweetie Belle falls to her knees, her hands together pleadingly, puppy eyes at the ready.
Apple Bloom cringes under the gaze and groans, tempted to smack herself in the head with her hammer. She drops her hammer behind her, kicking it away with one of her hooves. "Okay fine, I'll help, but I need to change first!"
Sweetie Belle smiles widely and takes her friends hand, dragging her off at top speed. "Your karate outfit is by the car! Scootaloo is waiting for us! Come on, hurry!"
She rushes her friend into a nearby building with a set of huge barn like doors. Hidden inside is an oversized race car covered in turrets and cannons, three separate glass domes for three people to sit in a V-shape on the vehicle. Scootaloo is applying some finishing touches with a welder when she notices her friends walk in, turning her tool off and throwing her apron and mask to the side. She stands before them with an orange hoodie with a pair of checkered race flags crossed in an X shape on the front. Under her skirt, which is a familiar shade of purple to her hair, is a pair of black shorts, and on her feet are some steel toed boots she'd been borrowing from the maintenance area she was working. Scootaloo strokes a hand across the vehicle and says, "Impressive isn't it? I've combined explosive powders and modern machinery, attaching them to this car I made for a vehicular assault weapon for the army of SIN. By the sounds of the alarms, I'd say maintenance is over, and it's time to take this baby for a spin." She walks over to a table covered in tools where Apple Bloom's karate kimono lies, tossing it to her friend. "Get dressed kung-fu country girl. The Cutie Crusaders are heading to battle!"
Apple Bloom unbuttons her overalls and lets them drop, slipping into the karate uniform. Scootaloo crawls on top of the car and open the driver hatch, jumping in and activating the opening of the other two glass domes. Sweetie Belle hops in the right side and Apple Bloom in the left, each of their seats having their cutie marks on them. Scootaloo turns on a DJ PON 3 CD and starts up the car. Apple Bloom blinks and says, "Wait, don't we need to open the-". Scootaloo accelerates and bursts through the wooden doors to the garage, shattering them with the mass of her car. "Doors… Um, never mind. At least we got some epic music to go into battle with." They drove through the streets, which were mostly cleared, due to everypony hiding for their lives. As they approached the wall's gate, Apple Bloom interjects again, "Wait, we can't crash through that! We'd give the shikibane a big welcome mat!"
"Who said we're going through it?!" Scootaloo responds with a smirk, pulling a pair of levers down synchronized. A pair of jets on the bottom of the car propel it into the air, slowly, but gaining enough altitude just in time to make it over the wall before they came slamming back down into the ground. The car bounces a few times making the hydraulics sound off loudly, and Scootaloo gives a cheer. "That was awesome! Activate targeting parameters Sweetie Belle!"
Sweetie Belle nods and says, "Activating the target para-thingy ma-whatzits!" Sweetie Belle blinks and brings up a targeting screen, yelping as several targets appear across the visible spectrum. An army of mutilated and demonically morphed pony folk rushed, flew, and swarmed their way in a huge angry mass, hissing and howling as they approached the city. "Holy smokes! There's too many to count Scootaloo! What do we do?!"
Scootaloo scowls and says, "I'm driving! Activate the heavy artillery! Fire!"
Sweetie Belle blinks and looks over the buttons, pressing any of the one's that have pictures of weapons. The car unleashes a payload of missiles and turret fire into the creatures, destroying several of them and leaving others with obvious scars and chunks missing. "Wow, how often can I do that?!"
Scootaloo shakes her head and says, "Not too often. I didn't make a lot of ammo for these things! We just need to stall these things till back up can arrive. Shoot, we're too close! Hang on girls; I'm making an emergency one-eighty!" She twists the steering wheel, drifting the car to steer clear of the oncoming wall of undead demon folk, but not in time as several slam into the side of the car, one of which clings to it and comes along for a ride. Its hair is a mangled set of green and its eyes gone from its head. The creature's jaw unhinged as it howled at them, stabbing a pair of mantis like claws into the hood. "Shoot! I can't shake that thing! Apple Bloom it's your turn, see if you can shake this thing! Your blades are behind your seat!"
Apple Bloom blinks, feeling around behind her chair and taking out a pair of large scimitars with little silk apples hanging from tassels coming out of the bottom of the hilt. She smirks and says, "This is more like it!" She stomps on the open hatch button and walks out on the hood, the wind flying at her as the car continued to propel forward. She twirls the blades in her hands, stepping carefully to keep her balance and taking a stance to continue this while she fought the creature. It glares and roars at her, leaving her with a smile and a furrowed brow. "Two words shikibane: Breath mints!" It reaches a bladed arm out of the car's hood and slices at her, but she blocks it with one blade and cuts off the arm with the other. She then swing a blade upward down the middle of the beast, cleanly slicing it in half from the neck up. "Well that was e-wait! What in the hay is going on here? " The creature sprouts teeth along the cuts and both halves try to clamp down on her from both sides. She holds up her swords and its teeth clang and scrape against the metal. "What are these things made of?" she asked worriedly, doing the splits to get under its attack. Then she sliced its head off with her scimitars like a pair of scissors, and the body fell limp off the car. "That's what it takes to kill just one of these things huh?"
Scootaloo nods at her work and says over the speaker, "Right then, let's turn around and resume fire!" Apple Bloom went pale and stabbed her blades into the hood. "Hey! Watch the car!"
Apple Bloom bangs on the glass dome and says, "Are you completely bonkers? Just one of those things nearly got me killed! We need to turn around right now!"
Scootaloo blows a raspberry at her and hits the accelerator. "Oh come on Apple Bloom, what's the worst that can possibly-"
Both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom cry no at the top of their lungs, but as soon as they do, a large round metallic figure flies out of the sky and crashes down on the hood of the car. It begins to open, and as it does it tears what's left of the car to shreds in one blow. The Cutie Crusaders fly forward screaming, and Scootaloo tries to keep her friends off the ground, but they all came tumbling down and roll on the ground. When their worlds' stop spinning, they realize the crash landing from the peculiar device left a narrow crater over much of the landscape, dust kicked up like a fog surrounding it. Apple Bloom coughs and growls at Scootaloo. "What's the worst that can happen, right? Well, that can happen!" She points to the figure in the dust cloud as loud metallic footsteps fill the air.
The object has taken a humanoid form, covered in a hazel shade of armor, its arms covered in a pair of tower shields larger than its own body. The being walked over and said in a voice that echoed through the armor, "This is who pilots the impressive device sent to destroy my army? Are they so desperate that they send children to battle SIN itself?" As it gets closer it looms over where they lay on their hand and knees, staring up at the being who had just claimed the same of the evil leader of the army they had just fired upon. "If it is death you young girls seek so quickly, I will be happy to oblige." The right shield collapses in on itself, and gears can be heard grinding as it morphs into an oversized gauntlet for the SIN's arm. It cocks back taking aim at them. "Join your loved ones in the sorrow of my shikibane."
As he pumped his fist forward to strike them, a clear blue barrier blocked his fists path, which sparkled like the night sky. "This barrier... I recognize it. So... you are here?"
"Yes." A purple cloak covered in blue and yellow stars fluttered out of thin air to reveal a familiar hazel maned unicorn girl with blue bell bottom jeans and a lighter shade of blue for her shirt, her cutie mark of a wand with pixie dust trailing from it visible as the symbol on the front of her shirt. She flips her wavy mane to the side and tosses off her magicians cap, her hooves planted firmly in the dirt as a staff appeared in her hand, the large tip resembling a bladed version of her cutie mark. "The great and powerful Trixie has arrived to stop you!" she cried triumphantly.
Apple Bloom blinks and says, "Trixie? What in tarnation are you doing here! We haven't seen hide nor hair of you for five years! What brings you back now all of a sudden?"
"Worry more about yourself young filly. The fact is I'm here and you're safe now." She twirls her staff and arms it at the armored figure, just as several elemental streams seemed to flow from the city walls. "Well, it seems that the Wonderbolts have arrived to hold off your army, and it's only a matter of time before the Heroes of Harmony arrive to further assist them! So what will you do now that you are outmatched SIN?"
The armored figure's fist transforms back into a shield as their voice echoes yet again. "Who says that I am outmatched? This is only stage one of my five part assault. I have struck fear and I will whittle them down to size. It may not look like it, but everything is going according to my plans. Do you truly think your arrival here can stop anything at this point oh great and powerful one? You're too late. The pawns are in motion, and soon this world will be an undead wasteland ruled by me, SIN! And there's nothing you can do to stop me!" The armored figure rears their head back and cackles demonically.
"We'll just see about that!" She lunges at SIN, striking at them with her staff, but SIN blocks it with one of his shields while the other one transforms into a gauntlet. SIN swing at Trixie, but she quickly meets the fist with her staff and pole vaults over it, her cape flowing dramatically behind her. SIN attempts to backhand her, just missing her as she falls under the swift arm. She rolls on the floor and twists around, charging SIN, but the armored demon spin around and catches her off guard with its shield from the side. She lands on her feet and skids back a little, growling annoyed now. "I can't even seem to get close!" She gasps and erects a barrier to block as SIN's other shield becomes a gauntlet, and it punches both forward at the same time. They shatter through the barrier, and SIN slaps his palms on either side of her, pinning her in place, panicking and struggling to get free as SIN lifts her up off the ground. "Unhand me vile demon!"
"As you wish, oh great one." Sin turns around and slams her into the ground. She hits it hard enough to bounce off the solid dirt, a gasp of pain escaping her lips as her staff slides from her hands. His gauntlet comes forth again and lands a direct hit into her in mid air, sending her flying back and dragging across the smooth surface of the dirt, rolling to a stop unconscious as blood trailed from her mouth on the floor. The Cutie Crusaders dashed past SIN and to Trixie's sides. "This one is weak, and stands no chance in stopping my plans, even with knowledge of them."
Apple Bloom tears up and says, "Trixie didn't deserve that, you monster!" Then she realized the wreckage of Scootaloo's race car lied in the crater around them. She scans the area for her blades, and notices them protruding from a chunk of the car's hood. She rushes over and grabs them, striking her battle stance. "I'm going to make you pay for all of this!"
Magic and cyclones erupted in the distance surrounding them as the Wonderbolts fought the army of shikibane. Scootaloo sees her friend ready to face off against SIN alone and takes a look around by herself, noticing one of the turrets from her car. She rushes to it, and begins to fidget with the wiring. SIN slowly rears back into its own ready stance and says, "Do you truly think you can take on the embodiment of all forms of evil? Throw your life away if you will little girl, but your death will only fuel my army further. Would you let your death be in vain due to your inability to control your wrath?"
"You're wrong!" SIN lowers their gauntlets slightly and stares at her for a moment tilting its head. "I'm not doing this out of vengeance or anger. I'm doing this to protect everypony that I care about! None of the people in Equestria ever did anything to deserve what you've done, and if I need to stop you myself I will!" She runs directly towards SIN who retakes its stance, punching at her. Their fist enters the earth, but Apple bloom leaps over it landing on their wrist. She takes a swing at the armored entity, but they duck under the swing, using their other gauntlet to punch her off. She hits the floor rolling and drops one of her swords, holding her arm. "I can't get close enough on my own!"
Scootaloo wipes her brow having finally finished working on the turret. She picks it up, holding it like a makeshift mini-gun. "Sweetie Belle, you take care of Trixie! I'm going to back up Apple Bloom!"
Sweetie Belle whines and says, "How am I supposed to defend her if something happens?"
Scootaloo looks around quickly and says, "There's a missile launcher right over there! I'm sure it has at least one missile left in it. Just defend yourself with that!" Scootaloo flaps her wings as hard as she can to lift the gun with her body, and flies to one side of SIN. "Hey SIN! Look over here!" She holds down the trigger, and the gun fires off rapidly at SIN. The demon growls loud and angrily, morphing a gauntlet back into a shield, but not before their armor takes several hits. SIN aims his shield toward her to block her gunfire. "Quick Apple Bloom now's your chance!"
Apple Bloom winds up her arm to get her feeling back in it, and she quickly rushes SIN from the other side. SIN is shocked, but erects their opposing shield to block her swipes with the blade. Sweetie Belle watches her friends making this effort, but then notices that SIN has left themselves open to and attack down the middle. She notices the missile launcher Scootaloo mentioned and picks it up, aiming as best she can with it and firing at SIN. Before SIN can react, the missile hits them directly in the chest, and the explosion is powerful enough to send them flying backwards. Sweetie Belle cheers, "Direct hit!" SIN's shields come in to form a ball around them, rolling back like a marble. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom stare in shock and disbelief. Sweetie Belle runs up and says, "Did you see that guys, I got him completely off guard!"
Scootaloo blinks and finally manages to say, "I got to say, Sweetie Belle that was pretty clever."
Apple Bloom smiles and says, "There's nothing the three of us can't do when we work together guys!" She puts her hand in, and the others quickly put theirs on top of hers before they all cheer, "Go Cutie Crusaders!"
Then they can hear Trixie's laughter, and look back at her in shock. Sweetie Belle says, "Wait a minute, I thought Trixie was unconscious."
Scootaloo squints her eyes looking over to her. "She is. She's completely knocked out."
Apple Bloom joins their confused blinking and says, "But wait, if Trixie is unconscious, then why can we hear her laughing." She listens for where the laughter is coming from and slowly looks back towards the giant metal ball that is SIN. It unfurls to reveal SIN's damaged armor, their helmet falling off to reveal their identity. "No way, but how can that be?!"
SIN smirks, looking exactly like Trixie. She laughs with sharpened teeth, and eyes a dim shade of lifeless grey. She laughs a little longer before she says, "Surprised, Cutie Crusaders? This is the true form of SIN! This is the mistake that she has made, the mistake that will end your world! Your explosive projectile caught me off guard, but it doesn't look like you have any more left. Now that you know who I am, I think it's time to kill you three." She aims her shields at an angle towards the sky, and piece by piece they launch up into the air. The girls back up, looking to the sky. They scream and begin to run as a swarm of large arrows come falling down at them, dodging between them, Scootaloo using her gun as an umbrella, and Apple Bloom using her blades to deflect a few close calls. They make it to Trixie's body, panting as they gather around it, shocked and exhausted. "You can run little filly brigade, but you can only run so far." All the arrows come to her, disintegrating and forming back into her shields. She slams them together, letting them form into a cannon as she continues to laugh. "Now it's time for you three, and that useless vassal, to all die!"
The cannon charges up and wastes no time in firing. SIN's face becomes one of shock and anger as Spitfire flies into the way, using a barrier made of flames. "The Wonderbolts are the only Pegasus who can use magic! The Wonderbolts can and will protect this city from the likes of you SIN! Girls, are you okay? How's that girl?"
Apple Bloom was the first to snap out of the shock of what was happening and said, "We're fine for now mam, but Trixie over here has lost a lot of blood and probably broke a few bones! She needs medical attention immediately!"
"Then help has arrived!" The three girls turn around to see Rainbow Dash on her way, carrying Pinkie Pie who was holding a machete. "Hope I'm not too late!" SIN runs out of charge and Spitfire falls to one knee panting. Rainbow Dash throws her friend forward and skids to a halt, letting Pinkie's Blade met SIN's shield. Rainbow Dash runs to Spitfire and helps her up. "You okay?"
Spitfire nods and smiles. "I'm fine Rainbow Dash. Just help me get these children and the civilian back to safety."
Rainbow Dash notices who the stranger is and growls under her breath, picking up Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle in each arm and flying off with them. Spitfire picks up Trixie and flies her back to town, Scootaloo quickly flying alongside the two other Pegasus. Pinkie back flips off SIN's shield, aiming her machete with balloon patterns along the blade at her opponent. "So you're the infamous SIN making life one big sad party?" She hops around excitedly, her hooves dancing in the dirt. She wore blue shorts and a yellow shirt with a pink trim and her balloon shaped cutie mark down at the base of her shirt where it would be on her skin at her hip. Her hair is fluffy as ever, and the eye patch she's wearing over her left eye is yellow and says "PARTY!" in pink and blue lettering. She giggles bouncing up and down, twirling the blade around her wrist as if it were a hula hoop. "Life is supposed to be fun and entertaining, not filled with pain and despair! I learned that-"
"After you lost your eye resurrecting your friend Rainbow Dash three years ago?" SIN smirks, her fangs obviously sharper than a regular pony's.
Pinkie stops bouncing and freezes, going pale as she stares at SIN. "How do you know about that?"
SIN cackles and says, "Oh come now Pinkie, who do you think orchestrated the entire thing? After all, I'm the leader of the Seven Deadly Sins."
Pinkie blinks, thinking back to her past and remembering that name. "You mean the evil side to my personality. The one I have sealed away in my subconscious. Before we locked her away I remember her mentioning something like that, and it's been eating at me for years. Explain this SIN. I can see this was no coincidence now."
"Indeed it wasn't Pinkie Pie. You and your friends may hold the elements of harmony and friendship, but they also carry the exact opposite of the spectrum. The elements of sin lie deep in their souls, but your sin is a powerful one and was able to make her way to the surface due to its sheer force of will." SIN began walking a circle around Pinkie Pie who stood there staring into space.
Pinkie stared at her blade and simply muttered the word, "Wrath."
SIN nods and says, "That's right Pinkie Poo, the element of wrath lives within you just as the other six members live within your friends. And that's where stage two of my plan comes in. I need my generals back now." SIN aims her hand at Pinkie, and a pair of ghostly tendrils emerges from her palm, zipping into Pinkie's chest. She screams in pain as she feels herself being torn apart inside, until a second her flies out of her front. She falls to her knees and stares up in disbelief. "No, it can't be! You're supposed to be gone for good!"
Weakly fumbling to her feet is a naked Pinkie Pie, her hair straightened and long, hanging over one of her blood red cat like eyes and dangling around her neck. Her cutie mark isn't that of balloons, now visible to be a set of blue and yellow spiked balls and chains. She stares at her hands in disbelief, her eyes quivering and her grin widening. "I'm alive? I'm alive!" She cackles like a mad devil to the sky, and her head tilts sideways as she glares at Pinkie Pie. "Did you miss me Pinkie? Because I sure as hell missed you, being locked inside your head for three years in all! And master SIN, it's been so very long now hasn't it?"
She tilts her head the opposite direction, a crack being heard in her neck as she stares at SIN. She cackles at the demonic girl's behavior and says, "Indeed it has. Pinkie Pie, why not say hello to your new twin sister, Pinkie Wrath?"
-End Chapter 1-
MLP: My Seven Little Sins
Pinkie Pie trembles in shock, unable to comprehend the smooth haired copy that stands before her. SIN slides an arm out of one of her shields and reaches into her armor, tossing some clothing to the evil duplicate. "I have arranged some clothes for you Wrath. I hope they suit your preferences."
Wrath smiles and slips into a black dress, sliding on some pink panties under it. She slips a black eye patch with a pair of knifes crossed on the front of it over her missin eye, looking over herself as she says, "Very basic, but I truly don't mind master. I just don't need my own naked body to distract me from killing myself." Pinkie blinks and holds up her blade, taking a stance. "I take that as a challenge? Any more presents for me master SIN?"
SIN smirks and places a hand on her shield, a chunk of it coming off and morphing into a large cleaver. She holds it from the back of the blade and hands it to Wrath. "Did you have something like this in mind?"
Wrath's eyes light up as she squeals and grabs the hilt. "This blade is for me? Master you truly should not have! It's so large and sharp! I don't know what to say!" She lifts the blade that is as large as her torso like it was made of air, bringing it close enough to rub the side of her face against the side of the blade. She aims the tip at Pinkie with a slight cackle and says, "Mine's bigger than yours."
Pinkie smirks and says, "Quality over quantity!" She sprints forward, Wrath rearing her blade back and swinging at her at an upward angle. As her cleaver rips through the earth, Pinkie jumps and holds her blade flat facing the ground. Wrath's cleaver slams into her machete with a loud clang, pushing Pinkie higher into the air. As she ascends up and backwards, she throws in a flip before she hits the dirt, her crocs skidding backwards as she maintains a stance. "Whatever your blade is made of, it won't be cutting through mine despite how much bigger it is." Wrath's eyebrows furrow as she growls displeased. "And not only that, but I have a power that you couldn't possibly have. The power of laughter is mine alone, and it's the kind that brings joy to your friends, and destroys evil." She inhales as deeply as she can, SIN noticing and slamming both her shields into the ground before her to cover her completely. Pinkie Pie shouts a simple, "HA!" and a shockwave erupts from her mouth, sending dirt into the air and visibly pushing it forward. Wrath blinks and before she can react her cleaver is torn from her hands as she flies backwards and into SIN's shield.
She grunts as the air finally stops pushing her and she falls to the ground, hissing angrily. She grabs the hilt of her blade and dashes towards Pinkie, roaring like a mad woman as she swings at her, Pinkie doing the splits to dodge the blade. "I shall not be made the fool you cartoony goofball! Now just hold still and die like a good girl!" As she raises her blade in the air, Pinkie lays backwards on the ground, rolling in time to avoid the Cleaver slamming into the ground where she had been. The slam made her bounce off the ground and she took advantage of this to leap to her hooves, spinning around and taking a swing at Wrath. Wrath leans back to avoid the slice, bringing her hoof up to kick Pinkie in the jaw, sending her backward. Pinkie catches her fall and rolls backward, bouncing back to a standing position as she begins to run, Wrath yanking her blade from the earth and running parallel to her. "I'll use your skin as a blanket to sleep at night!"
Pinkie laughs and says, "My skin doesn't make a good blanket, I would know! Wouldn't you prefer something warmer like my hair?"
"Shut up you infuriating bane on sanity! Rawr!" She closes the gap between her and Pinkie, swinging her blade at her.
Pinkie dodges under her blade and shouts "Missed me!" She leaps over her blade like a hurdle and repeats "Missed me!" Then she rolls forward to avoid the blade slamming downward, clashing with the earth again. She laughs and says, "Now you gotta kiss me!"
Wrath's eye twitches as she says, "I'll rape your corpse you brainless balloon!"
Pinkie shakes her head and says, "Ohhh, I'm sorry, the answer we were looking for was George Washington Carver. But thanks for playing!" She closes the gap this time, taking a swing at Wrath. The demon leaps back, narrowly avoiding a blow to her gut that leaves a bloody cut across her side through her dress. She aims her machete like a javelin and hurls it straight into Wrath's thigh. Wrath cringes and comes to a stop, looking at the bloody blade sticking out of both sides of her leg now. Then she realizes she took her eyes off Pinkie and she looks up, just in time to be tackled by the energetic goofball and drop her cleaver. Pinkie giggles and says, "Don't you know never to take your eyes off-"
Wrath interrupts, "Yes I know! I heard the narrator's comment! And you know I did! I swear by the end of this I'm going to rip out your other eye."
Pinkie laughs and says, "Well I'm going to smooch your nose!" She kneels down and gives Wrath's nose a big wet kiss, leaving her staring at Pinkie Pie dumbfounded. Wrath gasps in shock as the blade in her thigh is yanked out, and Pinkie proceeds to try and stab it into the evil twin's chest.
Wrath catches her hands by the wrists at arm's length and kicks Pinkie in the side of the head, sending her rolling across the ground, and on top of her own large metal blade's side. Wrath smiles and leaps to her hooves, grabbing the hilt and lifting it off the ground. Pinkie wobbles to stay upright, yelping as she was still standing on the blade. "For my next trick, I'll make a Pinkie pancake!" She swings the blade up over her head, and slams it sideways into the dirt on the opposing side of her, taking Pinkie with it to slam her head first into the ground. Wrath snickers and says, "Tada! Don't eat it all in one bite!"
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SIN watched them rush off with a chuckle. "I'll let them reacquaint themselves. My work here is complete, so now I will take my leave."
"I don't think so!" said an unfamiliar voice to Sin. She turns and raises an eyebrow to see a spiky blue haired girl with a unicorn horn and sunglasses with purple lenses. She was wearing a purple tube top and a matching pair of pants with a black eighth note on the side, matching the one on her hip. On her hands where a pair of mechanical looking gauntlets with a rainbow assortment of neon lights all over them. Standing next to her was a very composed looking grey pony in a formal black dress. Her hair was long smooth and black, and there was a purple treble clef on the side of her dress where her own cutie mark would be. In one hand was a large cello, and in the other was the bow she would play it with. "You're not going anywhere until the Heroes of Harmony arrive."
SIN smiles and says, "Well if it isn't DJ PON 3 and her sophisticated girlfriend. Vinyl Scratch and Octavia wasn't it? I simply love the music you two can compose together, very breath taking."
Vinyl points at her and says, "Can it SIN, I don't want to hear it. We're here to drop a beat and kick your ass." She leaps at SIN, fist reared back, and SIN blocks it with her shield.
She feels herself pushed back by the blow, stumbling backwards in shock. "Those gauntlets of yours seem to be something special. Sadly I don't think they could possibly compare to my own. For example," SIN rears her fist back, her shields morphing back into gauntlets around her hands, and launches a punch at Vinyl. The blue haired unicorn girl holds up her palm, SIN's fist coming to an abrupt stop before it. SIN looks confused, having bigger and more durable gauntlets than the DJ, when she notices a record playing on Vinyl's palm surrounded by small speakers. "I see you've made quite the interesting contraption. What manner of magic is it using to stop my fist?"
Vinyl smirks and flicks her glasses up with her thumb, revealing her red eyes. "Music is the magic stupid. And it's called dubstep!" She rears her other hand back, leaving it an open palm and juts it forward facing SIN. The palm erupts with sound waves against SIN's chest, sending her flying backwards where she lands on her hooves, sweating in surprise. "Hit him with it now Octavia!"
Octavia nods and drops her bow, grabbing the shaft of her cello and sliding out part of it from the rest, not disrupting the instruments form. With the curved end she was able to remove from the underside, she now holds a bow shaped sword in her hand. She places it against the strings of her Cello, and plays a note. The sound sends a visible wave at SIN, flying just past her face. Her cheek erupts with blood as it is cut open and SIN growls in even more shock. "Looks like you two are more to the eye than just musicians!" She is quick to morph her gauntlets back into their shield forms, forming them around her to make the large metallic marble form from before. She was just in time, as Octavia played several strong and dragged out notes that sent wind blades clashing against her armored form. Octavia comes to a stop, seeing her notes were having no effect on SIN's armored form, which leads to SIN emerging with a smirk. "Is that all you got? Your mediocre playing style would make the classical genius of Mozart and Beethoven weep with displeasure in their graves."
Octavia gets a vein on her forehead, and seeing this Vinyl sprints towards SIN with her hands balled into fists. "Don't you dare insult my girlfriend's musical talent you bitch!"
Octavia gasps and says, "Vinyl, wait! You're playing into SIN's hands!" But it was too late. Vinyl lunges at SIN with her fist out, ready to punch her. SIN smirks and her unicorn horn glows as she raises her palm, the very earth erupting from beneath Vinyl in a flat form, slamming into her as she skids across it. Coughing from dirt in her face, she looks around to see herself several dozen feet off the ground now on this small stone platform, and then another one emerges before her with SIN on it. Vinyl stares in shock as the entire area erupts into a mountain, peaks everywhere and rocky terrain. Octavia growls and stares at the mountain that has formed before her eyes and says, "That idiot better not get herself killed before I get there!" Octavia sheaths her blade and lifts her cello, holding it over her shoulder like a sword or an axe. She runs up the side of the mountainous terrain, leaping from any platform she can to get higher faster.
SIN stands high above Vinyl on an alternate platform, her metal morphing weapons becoming gauntlets again. She smiles and strikes a pose saying, "Let's see whose fists can do more damage." Vinyl grabs the floor and does a windmill break dance move to her hooves, striking a similar pose and making a 'come at me' gesture with her palm.
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Pinkie Pie blinks as her vision was a little blurry from the blow she took when her head met the ground with momentum. She blinks and makes out a large blade being swung at her from the side, so she quickly bounces her body off the dirt barely avoiding it. She rolls, avoiding it slamming into the ground where she was laying and crawls as fast as she can trying to get back to her hooves. She feels herself kicked in the side, but even as she stumbles back she manages to maintain her composure, waiting for the world to stop spinning. As she can make out Wrath, she blinks realizing her thigh has healed over, and sighs realizing this girl can regenerate at this point. "This is going to be a lot harder than I thought."
Wrath cackles and says, "You thought it would be that easy? My rage and hatred fuels me, heals me, and helps me strive to destroy anything and everything before my time comes. Face it Pinkie, you can't possibly defeat me!" The ground shakes and quivers as in the nearby distance they can make out a mountain suddenly forming, sparks of metal clashing visible on it. "It appears master SIN is entertaining guests. I should really get to killing you so that I can go assist her."
Pinkie Pie simply smiles and inhales, Wrath blinking and beginning to sweat as she impales the ground before her with her cleaver, using it to block her body. Pinkie laughs hysterically, a wave of air blowing against the cleaver shield like the fury of a hurricane. Wrath growls as the blast of force from Pinkie's laughter begins to curve around the edges of the blade, tugging at Wrath until it finally gets a firm push on her and sends her flying backward. Pinkie finally stops and smiles, seeing this as an opportunity and rushing forward to get Wrath while she was disarmed. "I got you now, you big dumb meanie head!"
Wrath groans rubbing her head and looks up gritting her teeth as Pinkie charges. "You are so predictable, my goody two shoes counterpart." Pinkie leaps at Wrath, her blade raised, but gasps as a hoof meets her stomach, hard. Pinkie cringes as she flies backwards, dropping her blade. Wrath giggles and slowly stands up, plucking up the blade and walking over to Pinkie, holding her stomach as she laid there coughing. Wrath pushes her to her back with a hoof and sits on her stomach, grabbing her by the neck with the blade machete reared back. "You know I got to give you credit for putting up more of a fight than I thought you could. But now this ends with your death dear sweet Pinkamena Dianne Pie."
As Wrath's grip tightens around her neck, Pinkie grabs at her wrist trying to breath. "Don't call me that name. I gave it up along with who you were turning me into."
Wrath laughs and says, "Luckily I don't need you anymore! It's sad honestly. I mean did you really think that you could kill me? ME? I'm living embodiment of wrath, anger, and hatred?"
Pinkie chuckles and pats the doubles arm, making her brow furrow and her eyebrow raise in confusion. "You silly billy filly. I wasn't trying to kill you. I was simply trying to stall you."
Wrath tilts her head, and then her ear flicks noticing the sound of wind being pushed aside by sheer speed. Her entire face morphs into one of sheer hatred as she raises the blade higher ready to stab. "NO!"
A familiar cyan hoof meets her square in the face as she goes flying backward, a crater forming behind her as she skids across the ground. Rainbow Dash stands defensively before her friend, the stitches on her body still visible from the incident all those years ago. She holds up a fist and says, "Boot to the head you psycho bitch! I don't know how you're here, but I'll kill you before I let you kill my best friend!"
Pinkie smiles and grips the ground behind her, lifting her legs straight up before she leaps to her hooves. She holds her stomach, still a little bruised from the kick. "Thanks for the save, Dashie. You showed up just on time." She blinks as a familiar purple dragon flies up, the rest of the mane six hopping off his back before he shrunk down into a muscular anthropomorphic form. "I see you brought friends," she said with a giggle.
Fluttershy hides behind Rarity as Applejack punches her palm and says, "Please tell me that's not the evil Pinkie Pie you guys told us about a few years back."
Pinkie nods and says, "I'm afraid so guys, and her name is Wrath! SIN pulled her right out of me, with these spooky space tentacles, or something. Anyways, she's here, she's evil, and Twilight is gonna make her go away! Yaaay!" She gives a thumbs' up to Twilight.
Twilight shakes her head and says, "I got lucky and got my hand close enough to her brain last time. I don't think we'll get as lucky this time, and for all we know SIN could've cast a spell to keep this evil double out."
Pinkie blinks and her thumb slowly points downward. "Booo."
Fluttershy gulps and says, "She looks kind of creepy. Do we all have to fight her?"
Rarity nods and says, "I know what you mean, I mean look at those cloths! Gothic is sooo last year. I wouldn't want to touch her and have some of her poor fashion sense rub off on me." Everypony looks at her stupid and she blushes. "Well I wouldn't…"
Wrath crawls to her hooves, her one eye twitching as she pants unquestionably angry right now. "Isn't this sweet? It's just one big happy family reunion now isn't it? You know, I was saving something for just such an occasion."
Pinkie beams and says, "Oh! Is it a cake! Because if I was going to save something for a special occasion, it would definitely-"
"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UUUP!!!" Wrath rips off her eye patch as the hole begins to slowly ooze blood like a stream. Her skin goes pale as a ghost, and her other eye falls out, her teeth getting longer and sharper until her maw resembles that of a great white. Her body, arms and legs, lengthen, and her fingernails each grow into large sickle like blades. A third and almond shaped eye appears on her forehead, the white being a shade of yellow, but the iris still being a demonic red as the pupil was still slitted. She cackles and says in a voice like three voices talking at once, giving her a slight echo effect, "Behold my true form you cock sucking tards! Now get ready to feel the strength of pure wrath, as I tear each of you to shreds and make an article of clothing from each of your skins!"
Everypony stares in shock, standing there completely unsure what to do at this point. Fluttershy weakly spits out, "Maybe if one of us goes over there and gives her a biiig hug, she'll-" Wrath howls like a banshee to the sky, swiping at the air, and all her claws flinging off her fingers and spinning fast enough to appear to be buzz saws. They ripped through the gravel and dirt, a line of ten heading right for the girls. "Or not, maybe she doesn't need a hug!"
Rarity scowls and stretches her arms to the sides, violet energy flowing from her palms as a diamond shaped barrier appeared around the entire group. The blades slammed into the barrier, slowly cutting through the magic, giving everypony enough time to get out of the way. As the barrier shattered, Spike snatched Rarity and sprouted a pair of wings, flapping them to get out of the way. Rarity smiles and says, "Thank you dear. You're always there for me." Spike blushes and looks away bashfully.
The blades reverse and fly back towards Wrath, hooking into her fingers as she cackles some more. "That's just a small taste of what I can do."
Twilight scowls and says, "Then I guess we'll have to kick your butt before you can do anything else. Girls, use your harmony powers!" Everypony nods, Wrath getting on all four and rushing at them like a rabid dog.
Applejack stomps her hoof into the ground and shouts, "Honest tree!" A tree bursts from the ground below Wrath, its branches wrapping around and constricting her as it lifts her high into the air.
Wrath begins to rip through them, and hurls her blades at them a second time. Rarity stretches her arms out again and shouts, "Generosity barrier!" The violet barrier forms again, but only to slow down the relentless blades.
Fluttershy gulps and says, "Kindness persuasion! Um, excuse me mister blades, do you think you could go back and attack that big meanie Wrath instead of my friends?" The blades twist through the barrier and do a one eighty as they launch back at Wrath.
Pinkie giggles and says, "Let's give them a boost! Laughter hurricane!" She inhales and laughs, making the blades fling forward at an alarming rate.
Wrath's eye widens as she holds up her hands, the blades cutting right through her body and the tree, sending her falling to the ground, her blood flowing on to the ground. She wobbles to her hooves as the wound slowly begin to heal. "What the fuck is this, an episode of sailor moon?" She bites the trunk of the tree and breaks it, letting it fall and shatter the barrier Rarity had up. Rarity falls to her knees panting, losing energy fast. "It doesn't matter how much you hit me with, I'll keep coming back!"
Twilight holds out her palm and shouts, "Magic missile!" A ball of indigo light flies from her palm leaving a trail in its wake. Wrath swipes at it, but it levitates downward out of attacks view. Then it skyrockets upward, hitting her in the jaw and sending her flying. "Now, Rainbow Dash!"
"Loyalty assistance!" Rainbow splits into three of herself, the two copies rushing over to grab Wrath by her wrists and tug on them to hold her in place.
Wrath bites at the air, her claws gone keeping her from rending them and she tugs and struggles wildly. "Let me go! SIN will never allow you to destroy one of her generals!" Spike walks up, and looks straight up behind Wrath, spitting a huge green flame that geysers' behind her. Rainbow Dash flies backward, obviously getting ready for a sprint forward in mid-air. Wrath stares in shock, and looks towards the mountain where SIN was fighting and cries, "Master! They are going to destroy me! Please, rescue me!"
A cocky laugh echoes in her brain as SIN's voice comes to her. "Foolish Wrath, if your blind fury has gotten you in such a bad position already, then it is your own fault. Besides, you've already served your purpose. Now die with some dignity."
Wrath stares in shock at the distance, unable to comprehend what she just heard. A tear flows from her third eye as she mutters in disbelief, "No… she would never betray me… would she?" She stares straight forward, the rage burning in her soul again as she begins to twitch covered in veins. Rainbow Dash shoots towards her with an outstretched hoof as she cries, "NOOOO!"
Rainbow's hoof meets her chest as she whispers, "Sonic Rain-boom time." She Dashes off her chest at a velocity speed breaking the sound barrier, a rainbow wave of light sprouting in the form of a wring outward, dissipating her doubles. As Wrath flows through the fire from Spike's mouth, lighting a blaze, she screams the entire time as she flies backwards through the air. She flies past the army of shikibane that the Wonderbolts are trying to hold back, over the forest, and crashing into a far off mountain side where a large explosion of rock and rubble can be seen even from their distance. Rainbow lands amongst her friends, the rainbow trail behind her fading.
Spike growls and says, "Do you think that's the last we'll ever see of her?"
Twilight says, "At least for now. Hurry, I don't know who's fighting over there, but they may need our help!" She points to the clashing of metal on the nearby freshly formed mountain.
*********************
Vinyl gasps exhausted from the fist fight she was having with SIN, her dubstep beats managing to give her the extra oomph she needed to match the demon's strength. SIN yawns and says, "I'm getting rather bored with this monotonous battle. Though I will win at this rate, I feel a need to make things more interesting." She holds out her hands and slams them downward, and the entire area seems to sink straight down, leaving several stone pillars in a large field around them, including where they were standing. "There we go. Fewer floors equal a more interesting battle. Make your move DJ."
Vinyl looks around and stretches her fingers a bit, winding up her arms since they were beginning to cramp. "You sure are the flashy type. I like putting on a good show as much as the next girl, so I'll play your game." She jumps across the pillar tops, making her way to SIN's. The armored creature leaps back as Vinyl punches where she'd been standing, quickly leaping from the pillar before it begins to shatter.
SIN smirks and waves at her. "I'm over here sweetie. Don't you have anything better in mind that a frontal attack?"
Vinyl snaps her fingers and says, "What a great idea. Glad you thought of it." She spreads her fingers and faces her palms forward, the small disks spinning faster and faster until her palms sent shockwaves towards SIN, making every stone pillar in their path begin to fall, slanting back from the sound waves.
SIN raises and eyebrow and walks forward, in time to meet the level of the stone pillar as it begins to go sideways. "I'll give you an A for effort, but an F for effectiveness." She leaps between the pillars; punching the one Vinyl was standing on, and making it instantly shatter all the way up to Vinyl's hooves. As she begins to fall, she tries to leap off the shattering stone and reaches out toward another nearby pillar. She gasps as she feels her legs grabbed by a pair of large cold metal hands, looking back to see SIN with a wicked grin. "Oh no, not so fast, or you'll miss out on this perfectly good twenty foot drop!"
Vinyl feels her body pulled downward, tugged by the hand and gravity as she falls at an alarming rate. "Gotta think fast!" she says to herself, grabbing at a nearby pillar only to feel herself jerked away with nothing but a handful of stone for her effort. She sees the ground approaching, and pushes her hands outward toward them, a blast of bass erupting from her palms just enough to soften the fall, but not enough for it to hurt when SIN intentionally slams her into the floor.
As the DJ groans, SIN claps her metal hands and says, "Now that was very entertaining. I'm surprised you even alive. It's going to make it all the more satisfying when I kill you." She laughs, slowly getting louder as her gauntlets come together to form a giant cannon, beginning to charge up. Before she can fire the final blow, a blast of wind slams her in the back like a blade, cutting through to her back. As she jerks her head back to howl in pain, shooting a pillar instead. The pillar falls towards her and her gun returns to its gauntlet forms, allowing her to catch it.
She glares furiously to where the attack came from to see Octavia standing there, bow blade pressed against her special cello ready to attack again. "Don't you dare try and kill my beloved, you demon."
SIN cracks her neck and turns towards her, chucking the pillar at her angrily. "I've had enough interruptions, thank you!" Octavia gasps and quickly begins to play her cello, the blade wind cutting through the oncoming stone pillar until it evaporates into dust. She gasps, unable to see through it all. Once it clears, she can see SIN standing sideways on the side of another pillar with her hands hooked into the stone. "She truly was entertaining, so I will let her live for now. Besides, I can sense the Heroes of Harmony on their way. Know this though; your fates have been sealed. I'll be back, and when I return, it will be your doom. You, your lover, the heroes, and the princess' will see soon enough. Want to know more, just ask my better half." She gives her one final evil laugh as her gauntlets become shields, forming around her into the marble form, and it climbs up the side of the pillar before shooting into the sky like a meteor.
Rainbow Dash zips by going after it shouting, "Come back here you coward!"
Twilight can be heard nearby from the top of Spike, who is in his dragon form, groaning as she shouts, "Rainbow Dash, get back here! You're not going to catch her and especially not alone!"
Octavia drops her instrument and sword, rushing over to Vinyl Scratch and lifting her off the ground with one arm. Vinyl's sunglasses were broken, showing off her red eyes, as she blinks and reaches out towards Octavia. The fine dressed girl stares down at her hurt lover with a tear in her eye, which quickly comes to a look of shock and embarrassment as Vinyl's hand grips her boob. The DJ giggles and mutters, "Boobies." Octavia scowls and slaps her across the face. "OW!" Vinyl cries as a handprint is left across her face. "What did you do that for love? I just fell twenty stories and survived. Is this the best time to slap me?" Octavia slaps her across the face again in the same spot. "OW! Stop doing that!"
Twilight winds her way through the pillars and to the musical duo. "Are you two alright? I can't believe you were able to hold your own against SIN."
Vinyl holds up a mechanical finger and says, "In my defense, I nearly died." She then holds the finger to her cheek, just in time to block another slap from Octavia. Vinyl huffs and sticks her tongue out triumphantly; only to have her head meet the dirt as Octavia moves her hand out from behind her.
While she holds her head rolling around in pain, Octavia stands and faces Twilight. "I believe it would be wise for us to talk to Trixie about what is going on here. From what SIN said, our answers we've sought for so long lie with her."
Twilight nods, looking up to see the royal guard going by overhead. She smiles and says, "Good, reinforcements are finally here if they can leave the wall. Take Vinyl back to the palace where she will be safe. The girls and I are going to help push back the wall of shikibane."
Octavia nods and picks up Vinyl, bridal style, making her blush. She begins to rush back toward the city and says, "What am I going to do with you love?"
Vinyl stretches out her fingers and snatches up her lover's instrument and weapon as they pass them, the strong woman able to carry the extra weight. She chuckles and says, "You can start by making me a victory sandwich."
Octavia rolls her eyes, tempted to drop the cocky girl. Then she takes one look at her grinning face and just smiles. "I don't understand why I love you sometimes."
Vinyl pauses for a moment and says, "I bet it's the hair."
End Chapter 2
Chapter 3: Plan of Action
MLP: My Seven Little Sins
The Cutie Crusaders stood before their older sisters, and Rainbow Dash, shuffling their hooves in shame. They stood in the main hall of Celestia’s castle, Twilight nearby with Fluttershy and Pinkie. Vinyl had been taken to the medical wing by Octavia, and Trixie had apparently regained consciousness while they were out and was currently in audience with the princess’. Apple Bloom nervously looks up at her sister and says, “Big sister, we only did what we did to help protect the city. We’re not babies anymore, and you can’t treat us as such. Don’t you think what we did was right, and justified?”
Applejack growls and says, “What in tarnation are you talking about? You must be a few churns short of butter if you think you can talk your way out of this with what’s right and just. All you did was rush off to your deaths, and caused the guard to change their entire attack strategy! Did you know one of the Wonderbolts kicked the bucket today to make sure you made it home safely?” The three girls cringe hearing that and begin to wish they could sink into the floor.
Sweetie Belle begins to tear up and sniffles. “We just wanted to help. Everypony, even our sisters are risking their lives. It’s not fair that we have to just sit back and watch because you’re worried we’ll get hurt.”
Rarity sighs and says, “We do that because you are not prepared for these kinds of situations. You may be older now, but you are still too young to take on an army of death by yourselves! We are not even able to do it alone, and we are the Heroes of Harmony! What you did was dangerous and reckless, and it made us worry sick about you!”
Scootaloo bites her lower lip and says staring at the floor, “I was trying to put everything you taught me to good use Rainbow Dash. I even worked for weeks on that car you found me. You’re not mad too, are you?”
Rainbow Dash scowls and says, “Of course I’m mad! I told you I wasn’t done teaching you everything I know and you still rush off with little to no knowledge of what you’re up against! And then you take that car that you’ve been working on for weeks, and get it destroyed in minutes, seconds even! And worst of all I almost lost the closest thing I’ve ever had to a sister!” Rainbow Dash tears up and turns around. “Man! Now you got me crying! You know how un-cool that is?” Scootaloo tears up, but smiles a little at the same time from her words.
Apple Bloom smiles weakly and says, “At least we’re all alright now. We’re alive, uninjured, and the armies have been pushed back. Doesn’t that warrant celebration, and not punishment?” Applejack’s eye twitches and she removes her belt, doubling it over and slapping it in her palm. The girls go wide eyed and gulp from the loud smacking noise it made, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looking at Apple Bloom who was now going pale. “Now sis, n-no need to go crazy with that belt… I thought you might get this upset, so I thought long and hard how to respond to this situation.” Apple Bloom holds up a finger and takes a deep breath as if ready to give a speech. Then she twists around and sprints for the closest staircase screaming her head off.
Applejack chases after the poor girl trying to match her frantic speed. “Get back here you naughty little brat! I’m gonna tan you hotter than a black top at high noon on a sunny day!”
Once they were out of sight Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo look worriedly back at their own sisters. Rarity’s horn glows, as does Sweetie Belle’s ear, and she can feel it tugged till she’s on her tippy toes. “Ouch! Please big sister, not the ear!”
Rarity ignores her plea and begins walking, letting her magic drag her little sister along. “You’re grounded young lady. When we get back to your room you’re in for a long scolding.”
As Sweetie Belle flails as she’s dragged off, Scootaloo notices Rainbow Dash is still looking away. She slowly scoots sideways away, trying to get out of this. “And just where you think you’re going.” Scootaloo cringes and slowly looks at Rainbow Dash, who stares back with a smug grin. “Did I ever tell you how much I love you?”
Scootaloo goes pale and says, “No Rainbow Dash, not that! Anything but that, please!”
Rainbow Dash rushes over and hugs her off the ground, snuggling her and wiggling her around in her arms. “You’re my snuggly wuggly little sister wister poo, and I love you Scootaloo! Mushy gushy lovey dovey wovey doo!”
Scootaloo screams and struggles to get free from her arms. “It burns! It burns! Make it stop, oh god, make it stop!”
Rainbow Dash carries her off spouting as much ootsy cutesy nonsense as she can to torture the poor girl. Twilight, Spike, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all watch this scene take place with mixed reactions. Twilight shakes her head and says, “The Princess’ seek audience with us everypony. Meet up at their throne room three hours. Until then, try and relax a bit. Okay?”
Spike nods and says, “I’m going to go make sure Rarity doesn’t get out of hand with her sister, and make sure they’re both okay.”
Fluttershy takes off and says, “I need some quiet time. I’ll be on time though Twilight, so don’t worry.”
Pinkie sighs, starting to feel like she was going into a dark place with everything that was going on. She looks up from the floor and blinks having Twilight in her face. “Are you okay Pinkie Pie? Normally nothing gets you down. Is it… seeing her again?”
Pinkie’s ears droop and she nods. “When I became wrath I killed a lot of innocent ponies Twilight. I killed fillies, I killed Gilda, and I turned them into party decorations. And then I tortured Dashie to death and turned her into pastries. Seeing her again, in the flesh, after all these years… It brings back bad memories that I’d rather not think about.”
Twilight hugs her friend and says, “It’s okay Pinkie. We finished her off this time and you’ll never have to see or hear from that demon ever again. Go take a short nap, we’ll wait as long as we need to for you before seeing Celestia and Luna, okay?”
Pinkie smiles and hugs her back. “Okay Twilight, I’ll take your word for it. Thanks.” Pinkie Pie walks up the stairs, and many more like it, making her way to where her new bedroom and home was. As she approached the door, her body began to tingle. Her ears flopped, her tail twitched, she blinked uncontrollably! Her legs crossed, her stomach churned, and her teeth chattered! She felt like her body was going out of control, and that’s when she realized something big must be waiting for her on the other side of the door in her bedroom. She was horrified as to what it might be, but she curiously peeled the door open slowly to make her way inside, peering about the room with caution.
She didn’t see anything out of place in the dark room as she slowly walked in, but then she noticed an odd scraping noise. It sounded like something grating against stone. Then she took notice of a figure in the moonlight on her floor from her window. “Hello Pinkamina, I’ve been waiting for you.” The familiar voice left Pinkie frozen in fear, but somehow she managed to turn her head to look at her window. Laying there in the stone frame, raking one of her long clawed fingers along the wall, was Wrath, completely unscathed in her regular smooth haired Pinkie form, aside from one finger. She grins and slowly looks over. “I need to have a word with you about today’s events.”
Pinkie screams in horror and says, “Wrath?! But we killed you, once and for all! Beat you up, and burned you, and sent you flying into the side of a mountain at the speed of sound causing a big scary explosion!”
Wrath shrugs and says, “I regenerate remember? I got better, surprisingly quickly. It appears that angrier I am, the faster I heal, and that’s what saved me.” She yelps as a blast of air hits her in the form of a laugh, clinging to the windowsill for dear life. “Did you just laugh at me?!” she shouts angrily as she crawls back in, only to find Pinkie was gone. “You’re kidding!”
Wrath leaps over the staircase railing cutting her off, landing directly in front of her. The elevation was too high though, and she hits the floor with a loud cracking noise as her leg breaks and the bone juts from her skin. She falls to the ground with a shriek and slowly looks up at Pinkie. “That wasn’t my best idea I suppose. Pinkie, I need you to-“
Her words were cut off with gargles as Pinkie kicks her in the face so hard her head bends backwards and her spine erupts from the front of her neck. “I won’t let you hurt me! I’m free of you now, just die already!” Wrath attempts a curse hacking up blood as Pinkie leaps over her and rushes down the hall, finding that it breaks off into several passages. She picks one which winds its way to the kitchen. It’s dark and empty, it already being past dinner time, and she quickly searches for a place to hide. She grabs a frying pan and crouches behind a counter. “Oh please don’t find me in here…”
She gasps and covers her own mouth, hearing hoovesteps. She clenches her grip to the frying pan, trying not to let her bodies over the top action give her away. The hoovesteps stop and everything goes silent. She gulps, slowly working her way to the end of the counter to take a peek out at the kitchen. Wrath’s face bursts into view staring at Pinkie with a malicious grin from around the corner, and she says, “Found you!” Pinkie shrieks and smacks the frying pan against her face, making her fall to the ground holding it in pain. “A frying pan, you hit me with a bucking frying pan! Who the hell does that to somepony trying to help them?”
Pinkie blinks and stands up, aiming the frying pan at her. “Trying to help me? You’re one of the seven deadly sins! Why in the world would you want to help me?”
Wrath rubs her face and says, “Because we have the same enemy!”
Pinkie raises and eyebrow and stares at her confused. “What? Do you mean… each other? You’re going to have to explain this.”
Wrath groans and sits up, her eye twitching irately. “I’m talking about SIN! I want to kill SIN! That’s why I came here, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you! Now would you please put down that frying pan?”
Pinkie Pie shakes her head and says, “No! Why should I trust somepony who killed so many?! Who used me and tried to kill my friends on top of it all?! Why in the world would you want to kill your own leader anyways?”
“Because she betrayed me, that’s why!” Her ears fold back and she tears up, gritting her razor sharp teeth. “I begged her to save me, and she said I was weak and she no longer needed me! She left me to die… I loved her and she left me to die. My desire to kill everything you loved, which was misplaced rage without anything to use as an outlet. I’m Wrath, I need to hate and destroy something. Now the only thing I hate, the only thing I want to destroy, is the thing I loved that apparently doesn’t love me back.” Pinkie folds her ears back, staring down at the rather pathetic looking demon. Wrath wipes her eyes and says, “There, satisfied? You got your reason for why I’m doing this. Now help me up…”
Wrath blinks feeling a pair of arms wrap around her, the frying pan falling to the ground. “I don’t forgive you for all the things you’ve done, but to me it sounds like you could use a hug right now.”
Wrath blushes and clenches her eyes shut. “I bucking hate you so much, and yet I can’t hate you.”
Pinkie laughs and says, “I get that sometimes.” She stands up and helps Wrath to her hooves. “So you thought the best way to get rid of SIN was to join us?”
Wrath nods and says, “I don’t know the details of her plan, but I know that I might be able to help you guys fight at the very least. I want to help. I wish there was a way to prove I wasn’t lying right now, but there’s not, so I need you to take my word on this.”
Pinkie thinks for a moment and says, “Is there anything you can tell me about SIN’s plans?”
Wrath nods and says, “A little, but I think your house guest could help with that a bit more than me.”
Twilight scowls losing her train of thought and says, “Pinkie I told you to go rest. What could you possibly-“ She looks up and goes pale seeing Wrath with her. “What?”
Pinkie Pie covers her mouth just before she can scream. “No no, Twilight, she’s on our side!” Twilight mutters through the hand over her mouth raising an eyebrow. “I know it’s hard to believe, but SIN turned her back on her. Wrath wants revenge and is willing to help us just so she can get it.”
Twilight yanks off her hand and says, “Are you crazy? Things are hard enough around here without one of the deadly sins wandering about! We can’t trust her!”
Wrath says, “Then use you’re magic! Use it to see if I’m lying!”
Twilight glares at her, and approaches cautiously. Her horn glows as she reluctantly waves it inches from Wrath’s body, as if scanning her. “I still sense that you’re as evil as hellfire, but your story checks out. You really hate SIN that much? Even enough to hate her more than us, even after what we did?”
Wrath nods and says, “I don’t hate you for what you did to me, I struck the first blow. SIN was somepony I came to love and trust with my very life, and she threw it away. Cast me aside like I was meaningless. That hurt more than the dragon fire that burned my shattered body on that mountain side. It hurt more than years of solitude in the darkness of Pinkie’s conscious. You don’t know what happened in that realm, between me and her, so I don’t expect you to understand.”
Twilight and Pinkie look to each other as Twilight says, “We may not trust or forgive you, but you’re obviously on our side. We can use this to our advantage, considering we need all the help we can get right now.”
Pinkie nods and says, “Let’s go get everypony else and go see the Princess right away. We need to know more about what’s going on.”
Vinyl was in her room, her gauntlets on her desk as she worked tirelessly on them. She wipes her brow, feeling a little weak still. She wipes her hand off on her hospital gown and tries to get back to work. “Looks like I found you.” Vinyl looks to her door to see Rainbow Dash leaning on the frame. She walks in and says, “Even when I’m injured, I feel like I need to work on something. I’m always improving myself and everything about me. That’s something we have in common I suppose. Don’t you think Octavia will get mad you’re not resting though?”
Vinyl giggles and says, “Yeah, and then she’ll scold me. I’ll talk back, she’ll spank me, and I’ll enjoy it. Then we make out, have crazy sex, and ‘then’ I’ll relax. Until then I’m working on making my gauntlets more powerful. I was able to match SIN’s thanks to the dubstep amplifiers, but I wasn’t able to keep up with her in the end. I need something that can give me a little more edge.”
Rainbow Dash laughs and looms over her shoulder looking over the equipment. “Maybe if you replaced some of the fluid tubes fuel source with liquid rainbow. That should help it pack some punch.”
Vinyl smiles and lifts her sunglasses and says, “Thanks Rainbow Dash, I’ll see if I can incorporate that somehow. So how’s your little sister?”
Rainbow Dash sighs and says, “I wore her out and put her to bed. I hate punishing her, but I was scared I would lose her. She means a lot to me. I’m sure Octavia felt the same way about you.”
Vinyl pauses and sets down her screwdriver, setting her shades to the side. She turns around and says, “I don’t like to make Octavia worry about me, especially since she’s all I have and I’m all she has. This is something I have to do though, and I’ll see it through to the end.”
Octavia walks in, and Vinyl gets an “oh shi-“ face. The woman glares and marches up to her saying, “How did I know that you would be here? Why do I even bother worrying about you? Can you just lie down and sleep when a doctor recommends it as the best course of action for you, for once? Of course you can’t! You’re busy trying to find new ways to get yourself killed!”
Vinyl holds up her hand and says, “Hold on love, just a second!” She reaches past her gauntlets, her lack of cover in back making Octavia blush. She turns back around holding a slice of pie on a plate and a fork. She takes a bite and says with a full mouth, “Okay, continue.”
A vein appears on Octavia’s forehead as she says, “Will you take me seriously for once? I was worried I’d lose you, I almost did! It hurts that you won’t look at how bad that situation was and just take a break from your need to look cool! And another thing, did you seriously walk all the way from the hospital wing to here with those exposed panties riding up your rump for everypony to see? That should be for my eyes only and yet you parade about half naked anyways all the time! You’re an exhibitionist and you’re full of yourself, and I can’t take it anymore! What do you have to say for yourself?”
Vinyl holds out the plate and says, “This pie is amazing. Want a piece?” Octavia slaps it out of her hand, Rainbow Dash stepping to the side to avoid it whizzing past her. Vinyl folds her arms and says, “You madam, owe me a new slice of pie. Now put on your maid outfit and clean that up so I can pinch your butt inappropriately.”
Octavia stomps her hoof and says, “That does it! I’ll deal with you the old fashioned way! Rainbow Dash leave, if she wants to act like a little girl I’ll treat her like one! Get over here Vinyl!”
Rainbow Dash makes her way to the door, Vinyl walking up to her and whispering, “I love when I’m right.” She sticks out her tongue and goes to Octavia, Rainbow Dash quickly exiting the room before she burst into laughter.
She sighs and begins a walk down the hall, thinking aloud, “Well that was entertaining.” She hears rushed hoovesteps behind her and looks back to see all her closest friends rushing up to her. She blinks and says, “What’s going on guys?” Then she notices Wrath with shock and confusion. It quickly changes to rage and she says, “You! What the hell are you doing here?!”
Everypony holds her back, but she still drags them along and lands a good punch to Wrath’s face. Pinkie whines and says, “Cool it Dashie, she’s on our side! We’ll explain on the way!”
Rainbow Dash blinks and says, “On the way where?”
Wrath rubs her cheek and says, “On the way to the one who caused this mess.”
All the girls, Spike, and Wrath all approach the large double doors to throne room, the guards opening them for them. As they rushed in they could hear talking, and saw the Doctor and his assistant Derpy were talking to princess Celestia. “Don’t you worry your majesty, I’ll figure something out. I’ll return when I’m needed. Let’s go Ditsy Doo. We’ve got things to do!” The two of them rush into a blue police box, and with a loud whir it slowly vanishes from their sight as they arrive at the base of the steps leading up to Celestia and Luna’s thrones.
Trixie looks down at them and says, “Fashionably early I see. Why have you interrupted the great and powerful Trixie’s important meeting with the royal princess’?” She shrieks and points to Wrath saying, “And what is that thing doing here with you! She is a demon agent of SIN!”
Twilight shakes her head and says, “Not anymore she’s not! She’s brought to our attention SIN’s plans to attack us from the inside by using the deadly sins that lie dormant in each one of us. She’s also brought to our attention that you’re behind SIN!”
Trixie steps back, beginning to sweat. Rainbow Dash flies up the steps and lands in front of her to say, “If we dislike you before we loathe you now Trixie! What the hell did you do?!”
Everypony walks up the steps behind her, Trixie looking to Celestia and Luna for guidance. Celestia nods and says, “Go ahead and tell them what you told us Trixie. It’s okay.”
Trixie sighs and takes off her hat, sitting at the top of the stares as she stared off into open space. “After what happened several years ago in Ponyville, my career was ruined. Word spread fast about me, about Twilight, and everything else. No one was impressed with me, everypony hated me. I was homeless, and the only job I could get was shaking my flank in a mature club. I resented Twilight, hated her for what she had done. I envied the love she had earned from everypony. I ate just to eat and laid around in a drunken stupor too lazy to even shower unless it was before shows. I stole money from other performers, and was too proud to admit that I was anything less than who I was. That led to me enjoying selling my body for shows…”
Rarity counts fingers and says, “Wait just a minute that sounded like all seven deadly sins.”
Trixie nods and says, “That’s what made me the perfect vessel. I heard voices, promises, and I used my magic to resurrect SIN. She came through my body, so she looks exactly like me. She tried to kill me, because the only way to truly kill a sin demon is by absorbing them in the original body, and that’s only when you’ve weakened them. I tried to stop her once and for all, correct the horrible and world devastating mistake I had made in my dark state, but she’s grown too powerful for me to stop her.” She looks back at them with tearful eyes and says, “Even after all this somehow the princess was able to forgive me. I know I don’t deserve it, but I will do everything I can to fix what I’ve done.”
Applejack holds up a hand and says, “Hold on just a minute here. Are you saying the only way to defeat SIN is to kick the stuffing out of her so you can absorb her? That means that-“
Celestia interrupts, “Trixie is the most important person here right now.”
Spike growls and says, “Well it sounds like you got what you always wished for. How does it feel?”
Trixie sniffles and covers her face as she starts to cry. “It’s awful! I never wanted any of this to happen! I was just so upset, and now I don’t know what to do! I’m a monster!” She goes wide eyed, stuttering as she feels a set of warm arms wrap around her. “T-Twilight?”
Twilight holds her tightly and says, “You’re not a monster. You’re just a misunderstood girl that no one cared about. I wish you had stayed, because I didn’t hate you. I felt sorry for you, but I cared about you. I just wish I could have been there when you needed a friend.” Trixie’s eyes begin to flood as she twists around and hugs Twilight back, bawling over her shoulder. Twilight smiles and rubs her back gently. “There there, let it all out.”
Luna stares at Wrath and says, “Do you have anything to contribute to the information we have just gathered demonic one?”
Wrath smiles and nods before saying, “Actually I do. I know how SIN intends on bringing forth the deadly sins. The same way she and I were made, by pulling them out of their vessels. Perhaps if we could understand the spell, then we could find an easier way to reverse it. Rather than that spell you used on me years ago Twilight.”
Rainbow Dash nods and says, “She’s got a point. You had to get your horn so close to her brain to seal her away last time.”
Wrath grins wider and says, “I’m glad you agree Rainbow Dash, since we’re going to use the spell on you.”
Rainbow Dash blinks and says, “Me?!”
Pinkie Pie says, “Why Dashie? She’s the strongest stronger than most of us put together. Do we really want to face a sin that strong? Let’s do somepony weak and scared like Fluttershy.” Fluttershy squeaks and hides behind Applejack.
Applejack says, “It’s the quiet ones you gotta look out for sugar cube. And besides, best to get the worst out of the way to make the job look easier.”
“Agreed.” Celestia walks down from her throne and takes out a morning star, colored and shaped like the sun. Luna follows, taking out a scythe shaped and colored like a crescent moon. “While we are all here and at top form, let us test this spell you speak of.”
Trixie wipes off her face and says, “Very well, if you all insist. I will show you the spell. Watch carefully Twilight, because I’m relying on you to remedy it.” Twilight nods and takes a deep breath, Trixie doing the same as she stands and faces Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow blinks and gulps saying, “Wait a minute, don’t I get a say in this?” Trixie’s eyes glow and tendrils emerge from her arms, zipping into Rainbow Dash’s chest. Rainbow Dash screams, feeling as if her stitches might pop, and before she knew it a second her was yanked from her. She fell to the floor, staring at the naked being who matched her appearance. “Wait a minute, which sin do I represent anyways?”
The creature slowly opens her eyes, which were much like Wrath’s except they were blue. She growls, exposing her sharp teeth, and slaps away the see through tentacles. She then lies on her side on the floor, resting her head in her hand and scratching her butt. She says in a raspy tone, “Would somepony go get me some cloths? What a drag, this floor is too cold.”
Everypony stares with raised eyebrows, and Wrath says, “Hello Sloth. Wish I never had to see you again, but it can’t be helped I suppose.”
Applejack says, “Wait just a cotton picking minute here! Are you telling us Rainbow Dash, strongest and most skilled member of our group’s biggest sin… is sloth?” After a short pause, everypony except the princess’ and Wrath begin to laugh uncontrollably.
Rainbow Dash blushes and says, “Shut up! I’m not that lazy! Stop laughing! Would somepony get her clothes already! I feel a little exposed just looking at her.”
As she crosses her arms and pouts, Luna has a slight giggle and says, “Allow me sister?” With a wave of her hand a pair of grey jeans with a studded belt appears on her, along with a black tank top with a skull design on the front. She also gets spiked wrist bands and a collar. “There, I think that should do just nicely for now.”
Sloth looks over herself and says, “Not bad. I could do without the thong though.”
Celestia blinks and glares at Luna, who gulps cutely. “It’s the best underwear I can do right now, I swear!”
Spike wipes away a tear from his laughter and says, “So are we supposed to fight her now, or what?”
Sloth yawns and lies of her back, her hands behind her head. “Do whatever you guys want. I’m gonna take a nap.”
Wrath raises and eyebrow and says, “This is why I chose her. We won’t need to worry about her while we figure out a cure for the spell.”
Twilight nods and says, “Trixie I want you help understanding that spell you used. With your help researching a cure should be easier.” Trixie nods and walks with her down the steps.
Celestia sighs and says, “I suppose all we can do now is wait for results. I’ll have my guards continue their patrols, but everypony is dismissed for now. Pinkie, Rainbow, you’re in charge of your sins.”
Pinkie Pie smiles and says, “Yay! Let’s go back to my room and play a game!” She drags off the groaning Wrath as everypony else begins to leave.
Rainbow Dash glares down at her sin form and gives her a kick, earning one open eye glancing at her before it shut again. “You suck, you know that? Get up so we can go.”
Sloth shakes her head and says, “No thanks. I’m fine right here unless you plan on carrying me.” Rainbow Dash groans and kneels down, trying to scoop her up and lift her. “That’s it, with your knees and not your back.”
“Shut the buck up!” Rainbow Dash hisses, lifting the girl cradled in her arms. “Am I seriously this heavy? I need to go on a diet.”
“Maybe you should try exercise fat flank.”
“I told you to shut up!”
“I’m hungry.”
“I don’t care!” Rainbow Dash begins to carry her down the steps, grumbling in agitation. “Twilight better get rid of you soon, because I already can’t stand you!”
Sloth smirks and says, “Yes, and what does that tell you about what everypony else thinks of you?” Rainbow Dash scowls and drops her, letting her roll down the stairs quietly until she reached the bottom. “That was admittedly painful…”
Rainbow Dash smirks and says, “Well that got you down faster. And it was satisfying.”
Sloth mutters, “I contribute not carrying me down the stairs to your laziness.” Rainbow Dash screams loud enough for it to echo through the halls, while Sloth just chuckles to herself.
End Chapter 3
Chapter 4: Appleglutton (IWS)
Author's Note: (IWS) stands for Improved Writing Style, as this series will from now on be written in past tense with improved paragraphing.
My Seven Little Sins
Applejack awoke with a yawn and took a look around, her vision a little blurred. As her sight came into focus, she realized she had fallen asleep in the kitchen. She also noticed there was someone else in here with her. She went to the light switch and gave it a flick, but the kitchen lights wouldn't come on. "What in tarnation? Dag nabbit, don't they ever change these lights?"
"That's alright. I reckon I can rustle up some grub even without them lights on."
She froze and slowly looked at the other pony in the room with her, curious about her familiar voice and accent. "Have I met you before, you sound awfully familiar." She walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, and the mare turned around, shocking Applejack to the point of sheer terror as she backed away. "No… you can't be! Me?!"
An exact duplicate of her stood there, teeth sharp as daggers and eyes orange and slitted like a cats. "Darn tootin! I'm feeling mighty hungry, ain't you? I heard you love apples, so I baked you an apple pie! I added a 'secret' ingredient." She opened the oven and pulled out a large pie, as big as a dog, and on top of it was a big red bow. "Go ahead, guess what it is!"
Applejack went pale and teared up, shaking her head. "No… NO!" She balled her fists and began to charge the evil doppelganger, but a surge of pain shot through her body. She fell to her knees hugging herself as she screamed in agonizing pain while the dark double cackled maniacally. Applejack sat up in her bed screaming, holding her covers tight as she quickly looks around her dark bedroom with tears in her eyes. She noticed how sweaty she was, and hopped out of her now damp covers, panting and trying to catch her breath. "I feel like my somepony's walking over my grave. I-I need to go for a walk or something."
She made her way to her dresser, switching from her pajamas to some rolled up blue jean shorts and a button up plaid shirt. She grabbed her hat and stepped out of her room, a figure emerging from the side of her bed. "Just put on some of her clothes, I need to get back before I'm noticed missing." Another figure crawled across the floor and began to dig through the country pony's clothes.
Applejack made her way through the halls, finding comfort in the light given off by the torches. She heard some loud voices, and what sounded like glass shattering. Curious and a little worried, Applejack made her way to the noise. She noticed a door cracked, shedding extra light into the hall, and took a peek inside. It was a recreational room, comfy furniture and a big TV surrounded by large stereos and various video games. She noticed Pinkie was giggling her head off, running from a rather annoyed looking Wrath, a decorative vase or two in pieces on the floor hence the glass breaking sound. "What are you doing?"
Twisting around, Applejack saw Rainbow Dash floating before her, holding Sloth under her arms like some lazy cat. "Howdy partner. That's a mighty fine rug you got there."
With an obvious fake laugh, Rainbow floated past Applejack kicking open the door. She noticed a cloud and hovered over, dropping Sloth on her face with her butt in the air and dropped into the cloud with a relaxed sigh. Dash then used Sloth's rear as a foot rest placing her own hands behind her head. "Looks like you're good for something after all lazy bones."
"Oh be still my beating heart," Sloth responded in a sarcastic tone. "You've made me the happiest sin in the underworld."
Applejack walked in and had to giggle at all of this. "It looks like you two are having some fun with your evil counterparts."
Rainbow Dash sat up and said, "Fun? You think I have fun dragging this sack of useless space around everywhere to 'keep an eye on her'? The only one having fun here is her!" She pointed, and her finger met Pinkie's nose, who was now standing next to her.
"Beep!" Pinkie cried with a giggle. "Poke my nose and win a prize! OOG!" Wrath tackled Pinkie and the two of them began wrestling, Pinkie laughing and obviously treating it like a game while Wrath got madder by the second.
Applejack's brow furrowed as she watched this, and she rubbed her hands together. "Dash, give me a hand separating these two." Rainbow Dash shrugged and hopped off her cloud, wrapping her arms around Pinkie's waist. Applejack hooked her arms under Wrath's, and the two of them pulled in opposite direction to separate them. "Now that's enough fighting. You two are practically sisters… I think. Now if we're going to be on the same team then you need to take a chill pill sugar cube."
Folding her arms as she pouted, Wrath shoved her way out of Applejack's arms and found a chair to sit in. "In case you didn't notice, I'm a sin. I don't make nice, even if I am on your side. I'm a demon from hell, that's just the way I am."
"Beg your pardon Wrath, but you don't exactly come off as much of a threat anymore. Neither does Sloth over there, no offense to you girls."
As Applejack said this, Rainbow Dash floated Pinkie over the couch and dropped her. She wiped her hands and said, "The only reason why we don't feel threatened by them is because Wrath is a traitor, and Sloth is lazier than Spike in winter." She looked back to Sloth and her jaw dropped. Sloth was comfortably laid back in her cloud. "What in the… How did you get up there if you don't move?"
Sloth shrugged and said, "It's not that I can't move, I just choose not to. I saw a comfy empty cloud unoccupied, so I took it." Rainbow Dash growled and flew straight towards her with the intent of knocking her off the cloud, but with one flap of her wings Sloth and the cloud were on the opposite side of the room. "Too slow."
A vein appeared on Rainbow Dash's forehead, and she said, "What did you just say? How dare you! Come here you lump on a log!"
As Rainbow Dash sprinted through the air towards Sloth, the demon grumbled and rolled over to hug the cloud tightly. She flew away from Rainbow Dash, and they circled the room. "Stop chasing me, I'm tired! Aw man, what a drag!"
Applejack walked over to the couch and sat on Pinkie's stomach. This made Pinkie stretch out as if she was inflated with air, and slowly made a deflation noise with her lips as she went limp on the couch. After her last few spurts, the two of them had a soft laugh together while Wrath rolled her eyes and leaned on her elbow. Pinkie rested her hands behind her head and said, "So I noticed you're up late, and you have bags under your eyes. Have a bad dream AJ?"
"Am I that easy to read sugar cube?" Applejack let out a loud sigh and took off her hat, holding it to her chest. "You're right, I had an awful dream. I dreamt I was in the kitchen, and the lights wouldn't come on. There was somepony in there with me, and it 'was' me. Some sort of evil me, like she was my sin. She offered me pie, and then took out a big one."
"Yummy!"
"And it had Apple Bloom's bow on it! She cooked my little sister in a pie!"
"…Not y-yummy…" Pinkie scooted out from under Applejack enough to sit up and hug her. "Don't worry Applejack, it was just a nightmare."
Applejack shook her head and said, "That's just the thing, it felt so real! I woke up in pain and shock, covered in cold sweat!"
"That was no dream." Pinkie and Applejack's gazes shot to Wrath, who was examining her own nails. "What? You heard me, it wasn't a dream. Sort of a dream, but more like a vision, you know? It was a vision of what your sin most wants to do. It should give you an idea of who they are, and how they'd make you and those around you miserable. You get it when your sin is released from your body. Just ask these two."
Pinkie raised her hand and said, "Oh, I got one! When Wrath was pulled from me, I had a vision of her standing on top of a pyramid of my closest friends' corpses, screaming angrily until she disintegrated. Then she screamed in terror!"
"Wait, I did what now?!"
Rainbow Dash skid to a halt and said, "I had one of those too. In my vision-" She was cut off by getting slammed into from behind by Sloth's cloud.
A horrified expression came over Applejack's face as she stood up. "Doesn't that mean my sin is on the loose out there?!"
Wrath waved her hand in the air dismissively and said, "That's not possible. Without the spell that Trixie or SIN used to pull the sin out of you, there's no way for them to get out. Besides, wouldn't you have seen her in the room with you? There's no way."
"What if there was though? What if my sin got out somehow and I didn't notice? And if her greatest desire is to make an Apple Bloom pie, then my sister could be in danger!" She ran to the door, but was blocked by Rainbow Dash.
The rainbow maned pony said, "Whoa! Slow down there Applejack, calm down. I'm sure your sister is fine, and you just had a nightmare. If you're that worried though, then we can go check on your sister, together. I want you to remain calm though, okay?"
Applejack took several deep breaths and said, "Alright. I'm calm. Let's get going sugar cube."
"Anything to get away from my annoying sin."
The two of them jogged down the hall together as Pinkie waved them good bye. She then turned to Wrath and Sloth and said, "So what's you two's deal or whatever? Are you friends, enemies, something happen?"
Wrath grunted and said, "If you must know, Sloth divorced me and never gave me an explanation why."
"Too many to list, too much effort," Sloth said in a casual tone. Pinkie raised a brow and her mouth hung open in uncertain confusion.
Meanwhile, Apple Bloom stirred a little in her bed. She heard her door creak open loudly, which woke her up with an annoyed grumble. "Hello? I seriously need to get that squeak fixed. Who's there?"
She noticed Applejack stepping inside and shutting the door behind her. Applejack said in a hushed tone, "Howdy sugar cube. I was little worried and decided to check up on you." She closed her eyes and took a few steps forward. "Everything okay, sis? Sleeping well?"
"I was until you barged in." Apple Bloom giggled and yawned. "You worry too much about me sis. It's not like a shikibane is just gonna walk in here and attack me or something. We have guards stationed around here, however few."
"Yeah, there is a few. Sadly, that's why I'm not full yet." Applejack stepped closer, the moonlight from the window shining on her now. The light glistened off her pearly white razor sharp teeth, and her eyes opened to reveal they were orange and demonic. "After all, what's dinner without dessert?"
Apple Bloom went pale and scooted against the backboard of her bed. "Y-You're not Applejack! Who… what are you?" The demonic version of her sister crawled over the base of the bed, opening her mouth to reveal she had several rows of teeth. Her tongue slithered out like a snake, as her clawed fingers ripped through the blankets and mattress as she approached. Apple Bloom held up her arm defensively and said, "Stay back!"
The evil Applejack's tongue stretched out and snatched Apple Blooms arm, wrapping around it. "Let's start with this tasty looking arm of yours, shall we?" She reeled in her tongue, dragging the young filly towards her as she screamed and tugged away.
Tears welled in Apple Blooms eyes as her arm began to enter the shark like mouth. "Please, I don't know who or what you are, but please don't eat me! I'm begging you!"
"And that's what makes this all the more delicious!" Her mouth clamped shut, and her rows of teeth punctured into the young girl's skin. A loud snap could be heard as her teeth crunched right through the bone in her elbow. Blood gushed over the bed sheets as Apple Bloom gave off an ear piercing screech loud enough to wake the dead.
Her scream reached the neighboring rooms of her friends, and down the hall to where Applejack and Rainbow Dash were. The two of them were shocked by the scream, and ran down the hall to find several guards who looked as though their heads had been bitten off. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo rushed out of their room and gasped seeing the guards. A sense of urgency filled everyone, and no words were spoken as the four of then ran to Apple Blooms room. Without checking to see if the door was locked, Applejack round house kicked it, knocking it off its frame. As the door hit the floor, the gruesome scene of the sharp toothed Applejack looming over her sister, now lacking an arm, came into everyone's view.
Applejack's heart sank at the sight of her sister covered in tears and blood, and the evil double looked back at her with a hiss. Before she could do anymore damage, Applejack leapt at her with an outstretched foot. The demon dodged to the side and stepped back towards the window. "You monster, I'll kill you for what you did to my baby sister, Gluttony!"
"So you figured out your own sin? Gave you enough clues! Okay, come and get me then you side winding pole cat!" Gluttony leapt out the window.
"Them's fighting words!" Applejack ran to the window and looked down to see she was gone. She then turned her gaze upward, and saw Gluttony using her claws to climb up the side of the palace like a spider. "No time for a rope, but she ain't getting away! You girls get my sister to the infirmary as fast as possible, and put some pressure on that wound!" She turned to face the room and stood as far off the edge of the windowsill as she could. Bending her knees, she jumped as hard as she could straight up, wall flying by not even an inch from her own nose. She curled up and her feet met the wall as she began to run up it sideways, going straight up after Gluttony.
Rainbow Dash ripped up Apple Blooms bed sheets and used them to tie up her wound and give it some pressure. By now Apple Bloom had passed out from the pain and blood loss. She picked the young girl up and said, "I'll rush her to the infirmary as fast as I can, and you two get there as fast as 'you' can. Also, Scootaloo, I need a favor."
Scootaloo looked shocked as she responded, "Anything for you big sis. What do you need?"
"You invent weapons like no pony has ever seen before. I need something you think would work well for me and to bring it with you to the infirmary, can you do that?" Scootaloo smirked and nodded, rushing from the room with Sweetie Belle close behind her, while Rainbow Dash flew down the hall at high speed carrying the injured Apple Bloom.
Gluttony heard footsteps coming up behind her and her claws scraped the wall as she twisted around to face downward. Seeing the oncoming Applejack, she growled and said, "You don't give up easily. No problem, I came prepared for just such an occasion." She reached under her hat and pulled out a pair of small orange balls the size of baseballs with magic seals on them. She gave them a squeeze and threw them down, and both balls exploded to reveal a pair of shikibane. Their eyes were stitched shut, their mouth's stretched out and filled with jagged fanged teeth, and their hands and hooves clawed for them to climb walls. "Glutton shikibane, soups on!"
The demons ran down the wall towards Applejack, whose brow only furrowed further as she sprinted forward bravely. When they got close enough they pounced, claws out stretched and drooling. Applejack jumped forward and twirled between them, shoving her legs outward to the sides abruptly to kick them in the sides of their faces. She then kicked the wall before her and shouted, "Honest tree!" forcing a tree to erupt from the wall just below her. Applejack landed on the tree, watching as the shikibane fell roaring to their deaths into the endless abyss below. "That all you got, Gluttony?" She bounced on the tree for a moment before leaping up towards Gluttony, the roots of the tree tugging through the now loose bricks in the wall to force it to fall and take a chunk of the wall with it.
"I'm just getting started!" Gluttony watched Applejack fly towards her, and her mouth stretched out to the length of a crocodile's as she waited for the pony to come right to her with closed eyes.
Her bite was interrupted by her mouth being unable to close, and she growled opening her eyes to see Applejack keeping her legs stretched to the sides again, this time to keep the demon's mouth from closing. Gluttony's tongue tried to wrap around her, only to be snagged by Applejack. "Not so fast ya varmint! I'm not gonna let you hogtie me!" She noticed a ledge to a roof not far past Gluttony, and dropped out of her mouth. Using her tongue like a bungee cord, Applejack sling-shotted past Gluttony, fist tightly clenched to the tongue as she made her way up the wall. Gluttony gargled and her eyes twitched as all this happened, annoyed and confused at the mistreatment of her tongue. When Applejack made it to the roof, she had a level surface to support her as she jerked on the tongue as hard as she could, yanking Gluttony from her place on the wall below and swinging her over and above herself to slam her into the roof before her.
Gluttony hit the roof so hard, she crashed through it, her tongue yanked from Applejack's hand as she fell. Applejack adjusted her hat and jumped down the hole after her. The two of them found themselves in large hall with a tile floor and marble columns. Gluttony rolled out of the way as Applejack landed where she'd been lying, her foot cracking into the tile floor as she stomped where Gluttony was. The demon's tongue wrapped around her ankles and forced them together, lifting her up off the ground. With a swing of her shockingly strong tongue, she slammed Applejack into and through one of the marble columns, letting go to watch her fly into another one before falling to the ground with a groan. With a laugh Gluttony said, "Have you had enough 'sugar cube'? Fighting your sin isn't as easy as those common shikibane now is it?"
Applejack slowly climbed to her feet and asked, "Am I dead?"
Shaking her head, Gluttony replied, "Delusional already? I thought you had much more fight in you than that Applejack. No, you're not dead yet, but I'll fix that soon enough."
The demon's lip licking was halted when she saw the grin on Applejack's face. "If I'm not dead, then I'm not done kicking your flank!" She stomped her foot into the column that she had been slammed through, tearing out the entire base section. With the upper section cut through as well, the column fell, Applejack making sure to catch it. She then turned it towards Gluttony, and threw it like a javelin, sending her flying back and into another column behind her. "I reckon that will learn ya' to flap your gums." Applejack's eyes went wide as she stared in awe as the column slowly vanished. "Tarnation, it can't be…"
Gluttony's mouth had grown around the column thrown at her, and she was eating it! She wasn't getting any bigger. It just kept going into her throat and vanishing until there was nothing left. She belched and said, "Marble tastes mighty fancy, but when it comes to hard food I prefer bones. They got tasty marrow in the middle. Not that I don't prefer blood and flesh anyways. It's so much better when it's from a living individual, especially the young ones."
When Gluttony gave her a smirk after saying that it pushed Applejack over the edge, and she ran towards Gluttony as fast as Rainbow Dash could fly. Gluttony joined the dash and they both twirled through the air, their right legs meeting. As they both landed back on the ground, Applejack went for another kick to Gluttony's head, but the demon grabbed her ankle and punched her in the face. Applejack stumbled back, lifting her foot as Gluttony tried kicking it out from under her. Gluttony gave another punch to the face, and as Applejack raised her arms to protect it Gluttony gave her another punch in the stomach. The pony gasped as both of her hands covered her stomach, followed by both of the demon's fists to her face, making her spit a little blood.
Applejack growled and stomped for Gluttony's chest, but the demon put her own arms up in time to block it. The orange pony twirled around to kick her in the side of the head, but her foot met another arm. Gluttony grabbed the floor and windmill kicked Applejack in the face a couple times before back flipping and kicking the pony in the jaw hard enough to make her fall over backwards. "You ponies lose more focus than you realize when you're angry!"
Applejack figured it out just then! She was getting her flank handed to her because she wasn't thinking clearly. She didn't want to, but she pushed the image of her little sister out of her mind, and replaced it with one of them lying peacefully together under an apple tree. The image brought a tear of joy to her eye, and she wiped the blood from her lips with a smirk. Gluttony rushed her with a reared back fist, but Applejack gave her a shove to the chest. Gluttony blushed as her breasts bounced and covered them, rewarded with a fist to her own face this time. Applejack punched her in the gut, and when she went to cover it the pony's hands met and gripped each other as she slammed them into the demon's face, making her spit blood this time.
Applejack gripped her by the neck, and slammed her forehead into Gluttony till her nose was broken, and then gripped her hands together again to slam them down on top of her head. Gluttony shook her aching head, and looked up just in time to receive and uppercut hard enough to knock out one of her many sharp teeth. Applejack proceeded to jump and stomp her with both feet, sending her rolling backwards. "You may have clouded my judgment for a moment there, but for the sake of my little sister and all my friends, I refuse to lose to the likes of you! Now get up so I can beat you to a pulp again!"
Hacking up blood, Gluttony shivered and muttered something to herself. Curious, Applejack carefully made her way closer. Then she heard the demon say, "Food. I need food." Gluttony ran down the hall, and while taken back by this Applejack hurriedly rushed after her. The sin was a lot faster on all four it seemed. "Food, I need food!"
What was driving her forward finally became apparent as a guard walked from around the corner. Applejack screamed, "Get out of the way! Run!"
The guard turned to them and said, "Halt, who goes-" His sentence was cut off as a stretched out mouth reached past his shoulder and waist, and bit his body diagonally in two. The look of terror on his now lifeless face brought a tear to Applejack's eye as what was left of him fell to the floor. His armor hadn't offered any protection from the demon's teeth.
"I smell more food! Need more food! Need to be stronger!" Gluttony continued to run forward, and leapt over a railing to the floor below. Applejack quickly followed, rolling as she hit the ground and continuing her run. If Gluttony was looking for people to eat, then she had to run fast to keep her from killing anyone else.
"Applejack!" She looked behind her and saw Rainbow Dash as she came flying up, a pair of machine guns in her hands and ammo clips strapped to her thighs. "I followed the trail of destruction and heard you running. Where is she?"
"Just ahead!" Applejack managed through her pants. "I think she's looking for more guards to eat."
Rainbow Dash's eyes went wide as she made a startling realization. "I don't think she's looking for guards. Doesn't this hall lead to one of the chambers of refugees?" Applejack joined her wide gaze, and her feet picked up speed, Rainbow's wings flapping faster.
They came into another large hall, big enough to be a ballroom, and at the end of it was a large pair of doors that lead to a chamber filled with woman and children with nowhere else to go. Gluttony picked up speed, her tongue hanging out as she drooled, and the two girls desperate to catch up. Gluttony skid to a halt, making the two of them do the same confused. When they looked past her, they could see Wrath was standing in her way, and she had her cleaver. "Wrath, you traitor, get out of my way! My dinner lies behind those doors!"
Wrath rolled her eyes and said, "Oh by all means, let me just step to the side then. I'll just file my nails till you're done. I'll bucking kill you and send a message back to SIN with you!" She took a swing at Gluttony, who flipped over her blade and ran for the door.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash gasped as she reached for the handle. "Nothing can stand in my way!"
She gripped the handle, and found that it was flat against the door. In fact, what she grabbed felt like cloth! A tarp disguised as the door fell, and standing between her and the real door was Pinkie Pie, and her party cannon. "Surprise!" She tugged the string, and amongst the usual confetti an actual cannon ball flew out, slamming into Gluttony and sending her flying back past everyone.
As she slammed into the floor, she bit down on the cannon ball until it shattered in her jaw. Gluttony leapt to her feet and said, "That's the last straw! I'll kill all of you with my true form!" Her legs split down the middle, forming into spider's legs, and an extra set of four grew around her waist. Her lower half formed into that of a spider's, her upper half growing from it like a centaur. Her mouth opened four ways diagonally, and a pair of pinchers grew from the sides of her mouth.
Rainbow Dash wasted no time in unleashing a volley of bullets into the demon, which turned around and sprayed web to catch most of the bullets. She slammed her abdomen into the floor, and a wave was sent through it tearing up tile as it made its way towards her. Applejack and Rainbow rolled to the sides of the shockwave, and Rainbow Dash fired another set of lead at the drider demon only to have it stopped by more spider web. Her guns clicked and she quickly tried to reload them, but her arms clung to her sides as Gluttony lassoed her with some of her web.
Wrath ran up and slammed her blade down on the web, to no effect. Gluttony laughed and said, "Did you really think that would be enough to cut through spider web?!"
Smirking, Wrath rolled up the web twirling her cleaver, tugging back so Gluttony no longer had a hold on Rainbow Dash. Rainbow wiggled free of the web and grabbed her guns starting to reload them. Gluttony scowled and yanked back on the web, tugging Wrath's cleaver from her hands. "Give that back!"
"Oh this?" Gluttony wiggled the cleaver back and forth. "Come and get it." Wrath roared and her teeth grew, her nails becoming long and sickle shaped, her eye melting and the sockets oozing blood, and the third almond shaped demonic eye appearing on her forehead as she got taller and lankier. She sprinted towards Gluttony who swung her on cleaver at her, but Wrath caught it with one hand and slammed her claws from her free hand into Gluttony's shoulder. Gluttony roared in pain dropping the oversized sword, and bit into Wrath's shoulder to bite and rip off her arm from the joint. "Why don't you just die already?"
"Not until I take every one of your sorry flanks with me!" She opened her mouth to return the favor, but her teeth became clamped together as Gluttony shoved some web into her mouth. She then proceeded to bite off Wrath's other arm, and punched her to the floor.
Applejack ran up and said, "Your beef is with me gruesome! You hungry? Come and get me!"
"I don't need to come!" Gluttony's tongue launched from her mouth.
A boot stomped down on it as it got too close to Applejack, who grinned and said, "I was hoping you'd say that. Pinkie, toss me your machete!" Pinkie threw her blade to Applejack, who swung it into the tongue, only to have it stopped like it was hitting rubber. "I should've known that wouldn't work!"
Gluttony laughed and said, "Foolish mortals, all of you! The only thing that can cut my mighty tongue is-" Her speech was cut off by several blades of visible wind fly through her tongue, chopping it to pieces as the sound of a cello being played could be heard. Applejack looked up to see Octavia standing on the railing of an upper story, looking down on them with her bow blade and cello in hand. Gluttony shrieked in pain, glaring at Octavia. "Damn you angel! How dare you, destroying my beloved tongue?"
"Honest tree!" Applejacks hoof stomped into the floor, branches wrapping around Gluttony and lifting her into the air as a tree grew. "Now Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow nodded and fired everything she had in her guns into the defenseless demon, who screamed in pain. "You too Wrath!" Wrath leapt to her feet, Pinkie rushing up and using her sonic laugh to blow her sword to her. Though armless the demon caught it in her mouth, and leapt towards Gluttony, cutting her in half at the waist. Her torso fell to the floor, and Applejack walked up grabbing the back of her hair. "Still alive?" A groan came from the beast. "That's all I needed."
Everyone stared as Applejack dragged her off, down a hall, and towards a nearby kitchen. What was left of her in the tree disintegrated and followed them in an orange cloud of dust, Rainbow and Pinkie following the trail of blood. Octavia jumped down and began to follow, stopped by a cleaver blocking her path. She glared at Wrath and said, "Out of my way sin."
Wrath dropped the blade from her mouth and said, "I should've seen it before. It explains so much. So when were you planning on telling your allies that you, and your girlfriend, are angels?"
Octavia was silent for a moment. "…They'll know when and if it is necessary." She walked past Wrath, who huffed and followed silently.
Applejack made her way into the kitchen, leaving her on the floor by the stove and turning it up to high as the fires light. She grabbed a pot and filled it with water, setting it down on the stove to let it boil. The cloud of orange dust floats in and seeps into Applejack. She grunts and says, "Looks like you're going back where you belong permanently. I'm not letting you go without a parting gift though."
The water came to a boil in a mere few minutes, and Rainbow and Pinkie walked in to see this. Applejack grabbed the back of Gluttony's head and lifted her up, blood raining on the floor from her. "What are you doing? What are you doing?!"
"This is for Apple Bloom." She shoved the demon's face into the boiling hot water, and held her there as she flailed desperately, screaming in pain through the liquid. Pinkie looked horrified and hugged her face into Rainbow's chest, who rubbed her back gently. It wasn't long before Gluttony stopped moving, and what was left of her disintegrated and flowed back into Applejack. That's when Applejack fell to her knees, and sat up against the stove with her hands covering her face as she cried. Pinkie and Rainbow ran over, turning off the stove and hugging their friend comfortingly. "I always wanted to try out all kinds of foods from across the world and become a famous chef. That was my dream when I was a little girl. She took it too far. She ate four guards and my little sister's arm, all just because I like to eat."
Rainbow Dash slapped her and said, "Are you retarded? This didn't happen because you like food! This happened because of SIN! The question is… how she got out of you." Rainbow Dash stood up and said, "Pinkie, try and cheer Applejack up. Take her to her sister Apple Bloom." She walked out of the kitchen to find Wrath and Octavia walking up. "You two, I need you to come with me. We're going to have a word with Trixie." The two of them looked at each other confused, but seeing how mad she was reluctantly obeyed and followed.
Pinkie helped Applejack to her feet, and kept her arms wrapped around her as they walked. Watching this scene from the nearby shadows, a hidden individual grinned with a sharp toothy grin and said, "Dumbasses. Not a single one of you can figure out who the real traitor is can you? By the time you all realize who it is, it will be too late."
End Chapter 4
