Episode 9: The Saints Born from Shadows

Twilight Sparkle walked further along the path to Fluttershy’s mansion…

Soon, she will face us, believing that all she has to do is defeat us and then Fluttershy…

Ninja Time God Rarity said this as she stood by the gate to the mansion with Fantasy God Discord…

Foolish, how foolish...even if she had the power to defeat us, it would make no difference...but that’s exactly why I want her to get past us…

Fantasy God Discord said that, chuckling as both of them saw Twilight approaching…

Don’t act as if the feeling isn’t mutual...we always act as a team for this very reason...though I don’t know what to say about our third team player…

NTG Rarity guffawed as she thought about what was behind the gate...Spike’s body lying seemingly lifeless on the clouds…

Spike has proven quite useful, even though his true loyalties lie with the traitor and not us…

FTG Discord smiled as he felt confident in his premonition of what was going on behind the gate...Spike’s body became surrounded by a dark aura that grew larger and larger the closer Twilight got to the gate. Finally, when Twilight finished her tred and stood her ground in front of Fluttershy’s most trusted guardians, a bright light appeared over Spike’s head and said these words…

“Noimman has arrived. Twilight’s lust for power has driven her to bring a terrible evil into this realm...Spike...you know what we must do to stop her...to free her from Noimman…”

“Yes, master…” Spike answered as he opened his eyes, which gave the same bright red glow as Twilight’s when she looked upon the two gods with rage…

As for Myra Michaels...

Myra Michaels was lying on a bed inside of the large, white tent belonging to Priest Loki. She was meditating, her eyes closed, a dark aura surrounding her body. In her mind, she was staring into a dark abyss before a glowing, white soul floated towards her and grabbed her attention.

Meanwhile, outside of the village, Edward Miles, who had purple hair styled to stick up, and was wearing his white cape, purple and black robe, and white mask, led a posse of twenty ninjas dressed in black garbs and black masks to the entrance. Posted there was a signpost that read…

“The Village of Salvation

We make saints from those in the shadows
A clinic for those in the darkness
A home for those now in the light
A haven that welcomes all
This is our village.”

Edward read this, but did not understand what it meant.

“A haven that welcomes all…” he said, beginning to chuckle. “I guess they don’t know that the thief only comes in to kill and destroy...and that’s just a thief. Just imagine what the worst kind of serial killer would do…”

Myra, who was still within meditation, focused on the soul in her mind, said to the soul…

“I can feel how strong how he is as well...let us concentrate and prepare…”

Edward then gave a wave of his hand as a signal to his subordinates.

“Men…” he told them. “Spread out. I want five to hide in the central area, three in the north, three in the east, three in the west, three to guard the entrance, and three to follow me.”

The ninjas obeyed as they all leaped in their assigned direction. Each one stealthily snuck into the village under the cover of the shadows and hid, lying in wait.

“True ninjas leave their enemies with nowhere to run…” Edward said as he entered the village, his three subordinates he had commanded to follow him trailing behind, and the three he had commanded to watch the entrance take position there. “Because everywhere is a place for them to hide…”

Edward was thus far pleased with himself, having cut off any escape route as his first move. But unbeknownst to him, he had been expected…

“Hmm?” he went as he looked around the village and saw nobody. All that was in sight was barren ground, a good number of white tents camped out across the place, and a large, black structure in the center of the village that appeared to be a shrine.

“Wait here.” he said to the three men behind him. “I’m going to have a lookout from the top of the shrine.”

Edward ran and leaped his way towards the shrine at great speed. Jumping on the white roof, which was rectangular and flat with the exception of an erected structure in the middle that held a flag with a Yin-Yang symbol on it. On each side of the roof, he scanned the area down below for any villagers, but couldn’t see anyone.

“Pfft, what, is everybody on vacation?” he said sarcastically.

Suspicious about all the tents he had seen, he sat down, crossed his legs, put his hands together, and began meditating. Through this meditation he was able to sense the auras of people in all the tents except for the one Myra had stayed in.

“Hmph, just as I thought.” he said. “Looks like it’s time for Plan B. Instead of sneaking, we’ll hunt…”

However, as Edward lept off of the roof and went to return to the entrance, he hadn’t yet realized that his stealth strategy had already backfired. He didn’t see that the five ninjas he had sent to the central area, having hidden well in the shadows, were now unconscious...

“Come out of hiding, men.” Edward said to the men at the entrance, who came out from under cover in the shadows. “Looks like we’re going to have to readjust our strategy because evidently, sneaking around isn’t enough. I thought we could take some hostages by surprise, but it seems they knew we were coming and have gone into hiding. So instead, we’re going to have to seek out the enemy while the others wait for the enemy. I was able to sense people in the tents, so we’ll start there. Investigate every tent you see and apprehend anyone you find. We’re going to interrogate everyone we encounter until one of them spills something about where Myra is. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!” they answered.

“Good!” Edward exclaimed as he turned around and raised his right arm, ready to give a signal. “Now, let’s begin the hunt!”

Edward brought his arm down to give the signal. However, what immediately followed this was not the sound of the three men behind him moving out, but the sound of the three men behind him collapsing to the ground unconscious.

“?!” Edward was shocked, but didn’t waste time making an exclamation of disbelief. He immediately pulled out the katana he carried in the sheath by his side and slashed behind him, believing there was an enemy there he couldn’t sense.

“What the hell is this?!” he shouted in his mind before something caught in his eye. Looking down at his unconscious subordinates, he saw that in the back of the head of each one was a needle…

“Tranquilizers?” he said to himself in thought. “Why not just kill them? This can’t be Myra’s doing…”

Thinking about it more, reminiscing on everything he had seen so far, he came up with a theory…

“I see…” he thought as a figure came out from the shadow of a shaded area behind him and pointed a tranquilizer gun at his head. “This likely isn’t Myra...this must be the work of the head of the village. A pacifist, I assume. Shit. It’s possible Myra isn’t even here. And I wanted to wrap this up before Dawn arrived!”

While Edward was in thought, the figure fired a tranquilizer needle from the gun...only for Edward to turn around and deflect it with his katana as soon as he heard the sound. He grinned at the assailant.

“So you thought you were safe because I couldn’t sense you.” he boasted. “Too bad that even if you have a silencer on a gun, the sound of a projectile being fired can’t slip under the radar of my trained ears...and especially not my nonpareil reflexes. Surprised? I sure am. Because I didn’t expect the one who took out my men to really be you...Myra Michaels.”

Myra didn’t answer, but instead got out her sword, knowing a gun wouldn’t suffice…

“I can’t really say that you using a gun pisses me off…” he said as he brought his hands together...and threw a shuriken he had concealed in his sleeve without showing any signs of hand movement at Myra’s forehead. “...because I’m not “above” such tactics.”

Myra quickly moved her head to the side to avoid it as it hit the shrine behind her. Edward then dashed towards her and tried to slash her with his katana. Myra immediately blocked it with her sword, and the two inevitably started exchanging blows. Eventually, Edward disappeared, leaving behind an afterimage.

“Above!” Myra exclaimed in her mind as she blocked Edward’s aerial slash, realizing in time that he had jumped.

“Very good…” Edward thought as his blade slid off Myra’s, which she had held with both hands to combat his strength. “But that leaves your chest wide open!”

Edward then tried to stinger Myra in the heart, only for Myra to grab his blade with her right hand.

“What?!” he shouted to himself. “GRAAH!”

Edward then tried to slice off Myra’s fingers as he slashed her hand to pull his katana out. Jumping back, he looked at Myra and was shocked to see a powerful dark aura like none he had ever seen. Examining her hand where he had cut her, he was stunned to see that the gash he had made was already starting to heal…

“This is insane…” he said to himself. “Nobody alive has the speed and power to stop one of my attacks after I catch them off guard...even Dawn and Nick could only dodge...and that healing power...it’s not a rumor...she really is a demon!”

Meanwhile, from atop the peak of a cliff, Dawn Dedde, a woman with spiky, blonde hair who wore black sunglasses and was dressed in a red cloak, saw that there was no smoke in the area above the village.

“Hmph.” she said to herself. “I knew it. Edward’s not going to be able to handle this by himself. I’ll kick his ass though if he’s expecting me to wipe it for him…”

With that, she leaped down from the cliff and pulled a bushido blade out from the sheath on her back, and plunged it into the ground as she landed, causing a massive quake. From behind her sunglasses, her eyes could be seen giving a serious glare...

Back with Edward and Myra, Edward realized that he needed a new tactic in order to take Myra down...so he began conversing with her…

“You’re much more powerful than I expected…” Edward buttered her up with a compliment. “No wonder you were able to defeat Nick…”

“I can’t accept your “praise”, I’m afraid.” Myra replied, knowing something was up right away. “I was the one who was defeated.”

“Impossible.” Edward said. “If you lost, how are you not dead?”

“How do you not know that Nick was the victor?” Myra asked. “Was he too prideful to speak of his victory after seeing me alive?”

“That would be a fair assessment.” Edward replied. “There’s no way he’d consider it a real win if he hadn’t killed you. I’d heard about the duel prior, but the agent who called me out of the blue told me he said nothing to her about how it went, which struck me as very odd. Seeing your strength now, I think it’s safe to assume that you won…”

While Edward was talking, Myra moved her head to the side again to dodge a shuriken from behind. It looked like the shuriken Edward had thrown came back to him as he caught it with his hand. Seeing a blue aura emit from it, Myra theorized the secret of this ability…

“Aura manipulation…” she thought. “He was able to pull back the shuriken…”

“How about I give you a compliment now?” she told him in a snarky tone. “You’re really fast and crafty, with a jacked up notion of fair play to boot.”

“I don’t believe in “fair”, to be quite honest.” he replied cockily. “Just looking at things in the world objectively, on even terms are not how most battles are won…”

Myra felt a chill down her spine as she turned around to see what he was really up to. Before she knew it, another shuriken from behind had struck her in the forehead. In that same moment, Edward tossed his katana straight into her heart, and she fell to the ground headfirst. Holding out the shuriken he had caught, he caused it to vanish, revealing it to only be an illusion he had created with his aura. The shuriken that had hit Myra was the one he pulled back.

“I knew one distraction wouldn’t be good enough for someone of your caliber…” he boasted. “...so I just used two. Words and a shadow shuriken. It was just that simple. The story of how Edward Miles accomplished what even Nick Rohn couldn’t doesn’t need to be long and convoluted…only incredibly satisfying.”

Edward thought about retrieving his blade as he approached Myra’s body, but reconsidered when he remembered that there were still people in the village, if only in hiding.

“Yeah...I’d rather them witness this spectacle in all its glory.” he said, continuing to rub his ego. “Besides, I want to see Dawn’s reaction to me doing this all without her help…”

“Don’t excite yourself too much.” Dawn said in a deadpan tone of voice, abruptly appearing at the entrance to the village. “I’m notorious for my underwhelming reactions to the “great achievements” of others…”

“Oh, whatever.” Edward replied, shrugging her off. “I cleaned up Nick’s mess for him on my own, I don’t give a shit.”

“You act like I insulted you.” Dawn said, retaining her tone. “I was just joking. You’ve obviously accomplished something notable. But you still need to work on your strength as well as your attitude.”

“Most importantly…” a voice came from the shrine. “...he needs to work on his heart…”

Edward and Dawn came closer to the shrine to see Priest Loki standing there, surrounded by Edward’s twenty ninjas, lying there unconscious as a tranquilizer needle could be seen in the back of each one’s head or heart area.

“What…” Edward muttered, witnessing what was easily his biggest shock. “She didn’t kill...any of them?!”

“You didn’t give a single regard for your subordinates as you fought Myra…” Loki said with a heavy heart as he lowered his head. “You only cared about defeating her and being the star hero of your own little story...truly pathetic.”

“Piss off…” Edward retorted. “What did you expect me to do, sing them a lullaby? War is hell. People are going to die. Live with it.”

“That’s the smartest comeback you’ve ever made.” Dawn concurred as she actually smiled at Edward before turning to Loki. “You’ll regret your foolish coddling, you so-called herald of salvation. Myra was just complying with whatever you told her to gain your trust. She would’ve eventually killed you and everyone here if we hadn’t stepped in. Be grateful that you’re only getting arrested and not killed.”

“Ho ho ho…” Loki laughed. “You both are so wrong. You two have so much potential, yet you squander it believing the lies of a deceived and destroyed man…”

Both of them growled.

“Like you’re one to talk, Mr. I Harbored a Psychotic Serial Killer!” Edward mocked.

“If Nick is like you say he is, it’s only because of Myra!” Dawn shouted angrily.

“No…” Loki said, shaking his head. “Nick is how he is because of Nick and the false teachings he believes in. Myra has been given new life because of her belief in the truth...she is a restored woman...and I believe in her because she now knows what you two have forgotten…”

Just then, Edward felt the presence of someone behind him. He couldn’t contain his disbelief as he turned around to see, standing there with his katana pointed at him, was Myra Michaels. Holding his shuriken and katana, each in one hand, she presented them to him saying…

“You forgot these…”

Back with Twilight, in the realm of the Reborn One…

“Finally, you’ve come…” Rarity said. “And finally, we get to talk normally.”

“I swear, that italicized text was driving me crazy!” Discord exclaimed. “Not. everything. I. say. needs. to. be. emphasized!”

“Cut the balogna…” Twilight replied, unimpressed by their schtick. “I didn’t come to watch you two practice improv. I’m here for Fluttershy.”

“Oh, this again…” Rarity retorted.

“You stole my line…” Discord followed up. “Do tell, what’s going to be different this time?”

“EVERYTHING.” Twilight responded tersely, putting heavy emphasis on the word. “You will open that gate and take me to Fluttershy this instant! This is the only chance I’m giving you to not get hurt!”

“We have no plans to resist you…” Rarity said slyly as she put a hoof on the door of the gate she was standing by. “But you’re wrong on both accounts.”

“Obviously, you have no chance of hurting us…” Discord bragged as he put a claw to the door he was by. “But what should come as a surprise is what lies beyond this gate.”

“Like anything would surprise me at this poi-” Twilight paused as she was surprised to see her expectations be surprisingly averted when Rarity and Discord pushed the gate open.

“SPIKE?!” she exclaimed as she saw his body lying there and immediately went over to him. “W-what are you doing here?!”

Spike’s eyes were shut, but as soon as Twilight came to him, they immediately flew open, showing that his eye color had been restored to normal…

“Twilight?” he said as he looked over at her. “Is that really you?”

“Of course.” Twilight answered. “What are you doing here? Why do you ask that?”

“Because you don’t feel the same…” Spike replied. “I came here to train under Fluttershy, to increase my power and better resist the temptations of the traitor. Now that the powers I have gained have been tempered I can feel something very evil within you…”

“Is that so?” Twilight retorted in a distrusting tone of voice. “And why should I believe anything you say, Mr. “I Just Need to Find Rainbow Dash and Rarity to Ascend”?! You lied to me! You deliberately misled me into rushing to my ascension because you’re in league with that bastard, the traitor!”

“Yes...that was a horrible thing I did to you…” Spike concurred with a tone of remorse in his voice. “But I only did it because the traitor ordered me to. He manipulated me...he is the one who stirred up the hatred within you...because of him, Celestia and Luna died...because of him, your robot self created Noimman, the embodiment of the evil that lies within you. Your robot self believes it is the only way to defeat Fluttershy, to defeat God, your “enemy”...and that’s exactly what he wants you to think…”

“I SHOULD’VE KNOWN…” Twilight’s robot persona said. “SO EVEN FLUTTERSHY IS ONLY A PAWN IN ALL THIS…”

“That’s right…” Spike replied solemnly. “The true enemy in all this is the traitor...or should I say…”

Twilight gasped as she saw a light appear above Spike’s head and she finally remembered…

“...the star.” Spike continued. “This is what he has been so desperate to hide...the memory of you being called just as Fluttershy was...that is the secret...he has been behind everything!”