The girls had met up at Sugar Cube Corner, a favorite hangout spot of the CHS students. The proprietors of the sweet shop had a front row seat to the devolving state of the students that frequented their establishment, even the young woman who would part time for them was not immune to the goings on.

Speaking of which, the Rainbowbooms were sitting in their usual spot, each one with a forlorn look upon their face, Rainbow Dash however had an angry expression. The events of this afternoon were still fresh in their minds, and neither of them could shake the sound of Sunset’s raspy breaths, or the look of fear on her face as she was nearly killed, and by someone Rainbow had once considered a friend no less.

“Fucking Lightning Dust, what the hell was she thinking?!” Rainbow fumed.

“Ah don’t think she was thinkin’ at all. Bein’ mad at Sunset’s one thing, but that was goin’ way too far,” said Applejack.

“Do you guys still think she’s Anon-A-Miss after all that?” Pinkie asked with a hopeful tone.

The girls seemed hesitant to say anything, Pinkie believed they were probably feeling the same way she did on that night, holding onto some guilty hope that they were right, that Sunset was Anon-A-Miss, and that their actions were justified, but the longer this continued, the more doubts were forming in their minds.

“I suppose…I suppose it’s a possibility?” Rarity answered.

“I talked to one of the other students who was there when it happened, she said Sunset made some kind of declaration of war against Anon-A-Miss. Sunset also accused that it might’ve even been someone in the crowd watching it all,” said Fluttershy.

Applejack crossed her arms as she sat back and closed her eyes. “None of this is right…and Sunset didn’t deserve none of that.”

Rainbow Dash sighed heavily. “Look, I think we can all agree here that as pissed off as we are at Sunset–”

“I’m not,” Pinkie Pie interjected.

“As pissed off as some of us are at Sunset, we can all agree that what Gilda and Lightning did was going overboard, Lightning especially.” A round of nods affirmed this. “But, Pinkie, we’re not doubting that Sunset saved you, as shitty as all this is, even I don’t think she’s that much of a shitty person to let you die.”

Pinkie Pie frowned at Rainbow. “She ponied up, Rainbow! You know, the Magic of Friendship kind of ponying up! If Sunset was really the mean, cruel girl that everybody’s saying she is, then how would that happen?! If anything, she would’ve demoned up instead of ponying up!”

That was a fact that no one at the table could deny, Sunset ponying up could not occur without her feeling some kind of connection to the Magic of Friendship. Normally this shouldn’t occur without the use of their instruments, but it could possibly be due to the danger Pinkie Pie and Sunset were in that allowed her to access it, it could also be the reason Sunset was able to survive the encounter with the monster.

“Shouldn’t that be reason enough to think she may be telling the truth?” Pinkie asked with a pleading tone.

“Darling, I think that’s also what’s making this all the more confusing. But, there’s still one thing we can’t explain, if – and that is a big IF – Sunset isn’t Anon-A-Miss, then how did Anon-A-Miss get the pictures from the sleepover that were on Sunset’s phone?” Rarity asked.

“And how did Anon-A-Miss know about that story I told y’all at the party? Ah told y’all that story before and up until that night, no else knew about it,” said Applejack.

Pinkie Pie gritted her teeth. “I don’t know how…I wish I did, I really, really, really wish I did know so I could make all this stop! But I don’t know…but what I do know is that Sunset saved my life, I looked her in the eyes and she swore that she wasn’t Anon-A-Miss. That’s enough for me, I – we’ll – figure out the rest.”

The girls watched as Pinkie Pie collected her things and got up from the table, she then looked to her friends and said, “Oh, and Sunset said that Anon-A-Miss will probably be making up rumors and things about me now that I’m sticking with her. So…yeah, we’ll probably both be getting it.”

With that said, Pinkie Pie left the restaurant , leaving her friends to contemplate what their pink friend had said.

“Um…I think I believe Pinkie Pie,” said Fluttershy.

“What?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“L-Look, I…I’ve been having some d-doubts about this…this whole thing. And…I’m tired of being mad and angry. Sunset helped us during the Battle of the Bands, without her, the Sirens would’ve won.”

“We never said we fergot that,” said Applejack.

“I know, but…I just don’t want to take the risk that we’re wrong about all this. Sunset was seriously hurt, she could’ve gotten killed by Lightning today!” Tears began to flow from Fluttershy’s eyes. “It was Lightning today, but what about tomorrow? Or the day after that? What if someone succeeds?! I don’t want the last memories of Sunset or for me to be about how mean we were to her, how mean I was.”

Fluttershy wiped her tears as a stern look appeared on her face. “And what if it does turn out that it was someone else after something terrible happens to her?! We’ll have to live with the guilt that we abandoned our friend in their hour of need.” The cream colored girl stood up. “I need to go home and think, I’ll…I’ll see you later.”

Fluttershy left the room, leaving the past holdouts alone. Rainbow Dash sighed as she looked to the two remaining girls in the booth. “Don’t suppose you two are going to give a speech about how Sunset’s innocent and storm off?”

Rarity crossed her arms over her chest and then cupped her chin with her left hand. “Quite frankly, darling, I sympathize with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie about why they wish to stick by Sunset, but…I’m sorry, but there’s two pieces of evidence we still need to have cleared up. The photos at my house, and Applejack’s story. I’ll remain cautiously hopeful about the idea that Sunset’s innocent, but…”

“Ah hear ya, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Still, Ah can’t condone anyone harmin’ Sunset over this, it ain’t right,” said Applejack.

“I’ll see about talking to Lightning,” said Rainbow.

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “I thought you weren’t that close anymore?”

“We’re still teammates, and we have respect on the field. Professional courtesy, I guess. Still, I’m the captain of the CHS soccer team, and she’s also the second best in the school alongside me, so I have a responsibility to at least chew her out for what she did.”

Lightning still couldn’t believe what had happened today. She and Gilda had planned on beating the hell out of Sunset Shimmer, but…that was on another level. Sure, Sunset deserved that and then some, but Lightning barely remembered it, she remembered getting up after Sunset knocked her to the floor, she remembered telling her off and lunging at her.

Then…things started to get iffy after that. Even now, the phantom feeling of having her hands wrapped around Sunset’s throat still lingered, and the look of fear and desperation in the redhead’s eyes as Lightning squeezed the life out of her, it haunted her even now. And yet…part of her liked it, and that was the scariest thing of all.

“Lightning!”

The blonde was snapped out of her reverie and glanced to her left. She was riding in a sleek, navy blue sports car, the man driving her had a sky-blue complexion, with an aviator’s jacket and a white scarf. A whiff of the air made it known that he had a strong cologne, a scent that Lightning often associated with him. This man was her father, a former professional racer, Wind Rider.

“Y-Yeah, Dad…?”

“What the fuck were you thinking back there?” Wind asked, his tone was even and yet hinted with a barely controlled rage.

“L-Look, it’s…it’s just that girl, she’s messing with everyone…! Me and Gilda…we just wanted to teach her a lesson…” Lightning stated.

“‘A lesson’, A LESSON?! You nearly killed that girl you stupid girl!”

Lightning at least had the decency to look ashamed.

“You have scouts coming to your games, and something like this will no doubt go to the police! I’ve covered up most of your bullshit before, but this is…UGH!” Wind took a deep breath as he turned a corner and continued down the road. “Can this girl be bought off?”

“W-What?” Lightning asked.

“Can. This girl. Be bought off?! Yes or no?!”

Lightning had to think about that for a moment. “I-I don’t know…if this was a few months ago, I’d say yeah. But…recently…it’s like she’s trying to be some goodie-two-shoes, or at least she’s acting like it…”

Wind ran his left hand through his hair. “So there’s a possibility that she can. Fine, that’s something to work with. Anything else I can use? She have a criminal record? Does she hang out with gangs, do drugs, whore herself out? Anything?”

Lightning had to think. “Not sure about the drugs, gangs, or prostituting, but she did do a lot of shit like blackmailing the students, she was kind of the Queen Bee Bitch of the school.”

Wind Rider nodded. “Okay, so she ain’t no saint, even better. We’ll also say that that tall girl convinced you to do it.”

Lightning looked at her father with a furrowed brow. “W-Wait, Gilda? N-No, don’t do that! She’s my best friend Dad! Plus, her home life’s not that great and all–!”

“Just as good, she looks like a thug, messed up home life. Writes itself, okay, this isn’t a total disaster,” said Wind Rider.

They finally arrived at their house, a modern, two story home, an homage to all of Wind Rider’s wins on the pro racing circuit. The car pulled into the garage as Lightning said, “No! Dad, just go after Sunset! Gilda isn’t–!”

*SMACK*

Lightning’s body lurched to the right side, her cheek throbbing as she bit back tears.

Wind Rider’s hand was still hovering in place, preparing to deliver another blow if necessary. “You need to get it into your thick, fucking skull, girl! Only associate with those who can elevate you, or who you can use to elevate yourself! That one with the rainbow hair is a good example, you’re on the same teams.”

Lightning looked away from her father. “She’s my teammate…that’s it. We’re not friends anymore.”

Wind Rider huffed. “Well maybe you should change that. You said she’s a carpet muncher, might as well put that body of yours to good use.”

Lightning’s eyes widened. “You want me to fuck Rainbow Dash? And what? Become her girlfriend?”

“If it helps you, and you can use her.” Wind Rider glared at his daughter. “Yes.”

Lightning couldn’t believe what her father was saying to her, had she really messed up that much to warrant going that far? Granted, this wasn’t the first time her father had to use his money to cover up some misdeeds she had done, but to go to this extreme?

“She won’t have anything to do with me…she saw what I did to Sunset, and she was pissed,” said Lightning.

Wind Rider unbuckled himself and said, “She’ll get over it, so long as you can persuade her. Now get to your room, and stay there. I have to make some calls and get ahead of this potential shit storm you kicked up.”

Lightning unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, her cheek would probably swell, but given that she had been in a fight earlier today, no one would look twice at it. The spacious home had a large trophy case in the center of the living room, containing within it all of Wind Rider’s racing wins, with pictures of him standing in the winners circle amongst other top racers. At the far end of the room was Lightning’s trophy case, filled with every sports trophy she could get from every sports team she could join. The only other person in the city she knew who could match this many accomplishments, was Rainbow Dash. The two had been friends at one point, until they had a falling out during a soccer game.

Lightning pushed those thoughts out of her mind, right now she needed to put some ice on her cheek before it got worse. She walked into the kitchen and found an ice pack, being an athlete, having such things was mandatory in their house. Lightning winced as she placed the pack against her cheek, feeling the heat in contrast to the coolness of the ice.

The sound of a door slamming made her jump, no doubt her father had retreated to his study to get to work on covering up her latest mess. Lightning Dust made her way up to her room, which was done up in black and green colors, an homage to the daredevil stunt group, The Washouts.

Lightning put the ice pack on her bed as she tossed her backpack to the floor. She discarded her shoes, jacket, and top, joining her backpack. Lightning stood before the mirror in her black sports bra and looked over the damage she had received from the fight. As expected, there was a bruise forming on her chest where Sunset donkey kicked her, now that Lightning saw the bruise her mind was now more aware of how much it hurt. She discarded her bra to the floor and took a closer look. The bruise was like a perfect impression of Sunset’s boots on her modest chest.

A cursory glance over the rest of her upper body didn’t show any other bruises, her breathing seemed fine despite getting kicked in the chest, and her ribs didn’t feel broken. Lightning released a sigh of relief, and then she chuckled darkly when she remembered calling Sunset sick for saying her father abused her.

The Anon-A-Miss post meant it in a sexual way. But that was far from the truth, in truth, her father struck her, but made sure to do so in ways that wouldn’t impede her ability to perform athletically. He pushed her, hard, and because of that, Lightning would push herself in everything she did, and if she was a shrink, part of the reason she pushed herself so hard was because she was hoping she’d get messed up enough to stop. But, at some point, Lightning was just doing it to be the best, despite her father’s further influence.

“Old man’s trying to relive his glory days through me…fine…” Lightning muttered as she sat on the edge of her bed. “Guess I’ll just fuckin’ seduce Rainbow Dash and sleep with her…bastard, probably buy me all kinds of sex shit and have my room set up. Hell, probably pay for a fancy hotel room for me and her!”

“Kind of sucks, doesn’t it?”

Lightning looked around the room as she shot to her feet. “W-Who said that?!”

“You’re life, being chained to that old asshole, taking his shit and trying to live through you! Ha, bet if he could, he’d take your brain out and put his brain in your body.”

Lightning felt a cold chill in the room, her breath becoming visible as if the A/C had been cranked up. “Okay, s-seriously, whoever’s there, I swear I’ll kick your ass if don’t show yourself!”

“Heh, heh, calm down. I’m not here to hurt you. Far from it, I just want to give you an outlet…look in the mirror.”

Lightning turned around and looked at the mirror, the reflection of herself began to walk forward, until it completely filled the standing mirror, yet, Lightning never moved from the spot she was standing. The turquoise girl slowly approached the mirror, and as she did, she saw that there was a distinct difference between herself and the reflection. Their eyes.

The reflection’s eyes had a silver glow around the irises, and her pupils were “X” shaped. “Now, you know where I am, happy?”

“No…oh shit…I’ve lost it, I’ve finally lost it! I heard about all those concussion warnings but I thought that they were just a bunch of bullshit,” said Lightning in a slight panic.

The reflection rolled her eyes. “No you dolt, you aren’t hallucinating because of a blow to the head. I’m real.”

“Prove it!”

The reflection smiled toothily as it brought its left hand to the spot where Lightning’s cheek was struck. She pressed it against her face and the red mark and swelling went away. At the same time, Lightning no longer felt the heat of her struck cheek, the pain was completely gone as well. The reflection ran her hand over her chest, making the bruise disappear into nothing, and just like with Lightning’s face, the bruise on her own chest vanished along with the pain.

“W-What are you?” Lightning asked astonished.

“What am I? Not really important. But what is important is that you need to let out some steam.”

“Wouldn’t mind that, but my old man won’t let me out of the house after today…”

The reflection had a mischievous grin on its face. “What if we could? The SOB will be hitting that bourbon pretty soon, and then pass out.”

“I can’t take the car…he’ll hear me and know.”

“Let me take care of that, and I promise you, you’ll enjoy every second of what comes next.”

Lightning should probably think twice about accepting the help of a doppelganger in the mirror, but something about her mirror self enticed her. She had done more than one rebellious thing to spite her father before, what was one more?

“What do I have to do?”

Shining Armor was pouring over some documents late into the night, he had a hunch and he wanted to follow up on it, but it was late, and Cadence was probably waiting up for him. He had told his girlfriend time and again that she didn’t need to do that, being a cop meant that he was more than likely going to be working late at night and come home just as late.

Of course her response to that was always, “I don’t mind waiting for you. I mean, I waited most of high school for you to ask me out, you dork.”

Thinking on that made Shining Armor smile, at Crystal Preparatory Academy, Mi Amore Cadenza, or “Cadence” as she preferred, was easily the hottest, smartest, and most popular girl in the school. Shining Armor would be the first to admit, the school could often feel like a viper pit with how competitive everyone was. But Cadence made the place feel less oppressive, she was always cheery, never put anyone down, and was never stuck up to anyone that was low in the “high school pecking order”.

Shining still couldn’t believe how he managed to snag her as he drove down the snow and ice slicked roads. He was cleaning up the Anime Club room, the group had had on an episode of Sailor Moon on and it was still playing in the background, the teen boy humming along to the English dubbed song as he moved some chairs back.

That was when she walked by and saw it playing on the screen. Shining Armor paused when he saw Cadence walk into the room, her eyes transfixed on team of magical super heroines.

“C-Cadence…?”

“What’s this show?”

“Uh…S-Sailor Moon. It’s a show about a group of teenage girls who have magical powers based on the planets of the solar system, and they fight demons, monsters, and save people.”

“Really? Huh, this is ‘anime’ right? I thought it was nothing but big breasted girls, gore, and other junk?”

“Ahem, well, i-it’s not always about that stuff. I-I won’t lie there’s a good amount of that, but there’s also some good stuff that will seriously make you bawl your eyes out.”

“Oh, which one would you recommend?”

Shining Armor looked around the room and wondered if she was really talking to him. “Y-You really want me to recommend you something?”

“Well you are in this ‘Anime Club’, I’m sure you have some ideas? But, nothing that’s raunchy or too messed up that I’ll have to hide it from my folks.”

So, Shining Armor made his recommendations of “Clannad/Clannad: After Story”, “Kanon”, and “Angel Beats”. Shining Armor didn’t make contact with Cadence much after that day, figuring it was just Cadence being nice and asking about his hobby to spare him any awkwardness. That changed over the weekend when Cadence actively sought him out and called him a “jerk” for recommending those anime. At first he thought he had royally messed up. Those three had the least amount of fan service, and were more story heavy and emotionally driven so he didn’t think there was anything too bad in it.

“You said ‘bawl my eyes out’, that was an understatement, I freakin’ lost it! That guy losing his wife and having to care for his little daughter alone…! The other guy finding out the girl he loved was a ghost…! And then that one girl finding out her heart belonged to that boy and saved her life! And that art and lighting was beautiful!”

Apparently he was a jerk for not warning how emotionally impactful it was. From then on, the two became friends, and Cadence had a different outlook on the art form. It wasn’t until after the Friendship Games that Shining Armor worked up the courage to finally ask Cadence to be his girlfriend. His friends thought he was aiming too high with that one, and was inviting the ire of many a jock and other pretty boys in the school for even attempting it. However, Cadence said yes, and the rest as they say was history.

Now the two of them owned a place together, with his money as a detective, and her money from being the Dean of Students at CPA, they were able to get a nice house. Although, Shining Armor hadn’t yet popped the question, which his coworkers, parents, and even his own little sister would pester him because of it.

“One day,” he said.

Shining Armor turned down one of the streets, but slowed down when he spotted something. There was a man going down an alleyway with a young girl. He couldn’t make out too many details, but Shining Armor could plainly see the man’s left hand was unabashedly shoved down the pants of the girl’s rear.

“Cop’s work is never done.”

Shining Armor turned his car around and pulled over. He stuck the red police light onto his car and turned on his radio. “Central, this is Detective Armor.”

{Go ahead, Detective.}

“I have a possible 10-30, going to check–”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!”

A scream pierced the night that made Shining Armor’s blood run cold.

“Central, belay that code! I need backup, at the corner of Main St. and Clydesdale Ln.! Possible 303!”

{Notifying all units, Detective requesting backup.}

Shining Armor threw open the door, drew his gun, checked it, and rushed towards the alleyway. The cop pressed his back against the wall of the opening, a flashlight in his left hand and a gun in his right, the sounds of gurgling and pleading could be heard echoing down alley, prompting Shining Armor to steel himself as he whipped around and entered the alley.

Shining Armor shined his light and paused at what he saw. There was a man on the ground, his mouth pouring blood, crawling on the ground. A wet “thunk” went off as something fell between the man and Shining Armor. He shined his light on the object, his eyes went as wide as saucer plates as he saw that the thing before him was the severed half of the man’s body. His legs were kicking, as if still receiving singles from his brain despite their separation. Shining Armor shined his light on the man still crawling towards him, and finally noticed that his lower half was indeed missing. The detective was about to reach for his radio, until something fell from the air behind the crawling man.

This creature was monstrous, it was female, it’s exposed, turquoise colored torso showed off its B-cup sized breasts, its lower half was covered in silver feathers, like that of a bird, halfway down its black avian legs could be seen, with black talons that were covered in blood and gleamed in the light of Shining Armor’s flashlight. It’s arms were like giant wings, with silver feathers covering everything from the shoulders down, stopping at around the wrists where its four fingered hand showed off the same black talons on its feet, which were also covered in blood. The creature’s face was angular and had pointed ears, with long silver hair that flowed down to the middle of its back, and at its rear was a long flowing, whip-like tail that had feathers at the end.

The creature was the fantasy textbook definition of a harpy, even Shining Armor could see that. It’s eyes were silver in color, with “X” shaped pupils that shrank due to the excess light. The Harpy smiled and showed off its rows of sharp teeth.

“Bastard was looking to get lucky tonight, guess he wasn’t as lucky as he thought,” said the Harpy.

Shining Armor shook his head and pointed his gun at the monster. “I don’t know what exactly you are, but you need to back off, NOW! This is your only warning!”

Harpy walked over to the man who was, amazingly, still alive as he continued to crawl in an attempt to get away. Harpy pressed her right foot onto his back, while her left foot’s talon tapped the ground. “Hmm, no.” Harpy pressed her right middle talon into the man’s back, piercing his flesh and digging all the way down into his spine, the man screamed in agony as his eyes went into the back of his head before finally falling silent. “Jeez, he was a real screamer, am I right?”

Shining Armor opened fire on the monster, the sounds of gunshots rang out in every direction as he emptied his entire clip into the monster, with each hit, Harpy jerked backwards from the impact as green blood seeped from her wounds. When Shining Armor was empty, he quickly replaced the clip, in that time, Harpy’s body began to heal itself, the gunshot wounds ejected the bullets as they clinked against the pavement. Shining Armor saw it, he had heard what the officers said, but now he was seeing it with his own eyes.

“How about it, officer? You feeling lucky tonight too?!”

Suddenly, the sounds of several police sirens filled the night, Harpy’s enhanced vision could see the telltale signs of blue and red light’s approaching them in the distance. “Well, I’ll take care of a few more before the night’s through. Let’s turn this into a race! How many people can I kill before you catch me?! If you can tag me with a gunshot before I get that person, you win and they’re saved! Ready, set, GO!”

Harpy jumped high into the air and then spread her wings, taking off like a bat out of hell as she soared through the sky. Shining Armor hurriedly ran out of the alley as the rest of the squad cars arrived.

“Detective, what was –?!”

“LISTEN! THAT THING’S GOING TO KILL MORE PEOPLE IF WE DON’T HURRY! ALL UNITS, SPREAD OUT, SHOOT THAT THING THE MOMENT YOU SEE IT!”

The other officers didn’t understand, but knew that there had been enough weird killings in the city that there wasn’t time to question such things. The other squad cars did as Shining Armor ordered, while two remained at the crime scene. Shining Armor hurried to his car and took off down the road where he saw Harpy go. This was a futile effort, he knew that, the monster was just toying with them. The creature was fast and the city was vast, even with every police cruiser in the city patrolling, there was no way for them to stop her. Still, that didn’t mean they couldn’t try.

“Celestia, I told you I was fine.”

Sunset and Celestia had spent the last few hours in the waiting room at Canterlot General Hospital. Despite informing the front desk of the injuries Sunset had sustained, the nurse at the station could see that Sunset wasn’t as bad off as Celestia had informed, and as such their wait was longer. Upon finally getting to see a doctor, he confirmed what Sunset had been saying to her since they left CHS, she was fine, and there were no visible injuries.

“I’m sorry, Sunset, but after what I was told and the way you looked, I’d rather be safe than sorry. I know they say kids can heal faster, but you really take it to another level,” said Celestia.

“Uh…what can I say? I mean, you know I’m technically not human,” Sunset pointed out.

Celestia shrugged. “That’s true, so I’m guessing that this has something to do with your magic, maybe?”

“Y-Yeah, magic,” said Sunset.

As soon as they got outside, the sounds of police sirens filled the night, making Sunset and Celestia looked at each other with worry.

“What’s going on out there?” Celestia asked.

“I don’t –?” Sunset sensed something, even the Witchblade was becoming agitated.

Suddenly, something silvery swooped down from the sky and snatched Celestia. Sunset turned and looked up as she watched her guardian get taken into the sky.

“CELESTIA!!!” Sunset screamed as she ran after her.

}}} I AM READY! {{{

“THEN LET’S GO!”

Sunset ran in the direction that the monster was heading, but then concentrated her strength into her legs and jumped straight into the air, causing the pavement beneath her feet to crack and fissure. Sunset bounded from one building and then another until she was on the roof.

The heat filled Sunset’s body, her eyes shifting to black as her turquoise irises shined. The flame within her burned hotter as the Witchblade’s gemstone shined bright in the night. The magical symbiotic weapon wasted no time in shredding through Sunset’s clothes, leaving her nude as the Witchblade’s armor fastened itself to her body. Once the armor was formed, Sunset willed her metallic wings to form as she shot into the air.

Meanwhile, Celestia was screaming as she felt the sharp talons of Harpy piercing her shoulders. “Let me go!? Please, let me go!” she pleaded.

“Oh you don’t want me to do that, look down.” Celestia did as Harpy said, and only now realized how high they were. “That’s right, we’re as high as one of these buildings, a fall from here and you go splat!”

“What do you want from me?!” Celestia asked.

“Oh, nothing. I just want to play with your body, maybe eat your liver in front of you? I’m still deciding, I mean, I just killed about three more people before you, so I’m trying to not repeat myself,” said Harpy.

Harpy suddenly saw something fly by her, something that gleamed in the light. A red dot seemed to be getting closer and closer until a sharp pain erupted from Harpy’s chest, causing her to shriek in pain. A long spiked chain had embedded itself in Harpy, and on the other end was Sunset, reeling Harpy in like a fish.

Harpy struggled against the chain, and in so doing, released her grip on Celestia, letting her fall out of the sky.

“CELESTIA!” Sunset exclaimed as she dismissed her chain, letting it dissolve into strands of dust as she flew down at breakneck speeds.

Celestia was screaming her head off as the wind roared in her ears, the ground quickly approaching. But right before she hit, something else caught her, princess style, and flew up with her into the air. Celestia had closed her eyes but opened them to see yet another monster had her in its clutches. Fear was prominent in the teacher’s eyes as she looked upon Sunset in her Witchblade armor, thankfully she didn’t seem to notice the similarities, either due to the night’s shadows, her fear, or the overall transformation.

Sunset flew down to the streets below, startling several people as they backed away from her. Sunset propped Celestia against the wall, her wound still bleeding profusely.

Those wounds, she’ll bleed out before help arrives.

}}} We can heal her. {{{

Wait, you can do that?!

}}} I have the capability, you need only to focus on healing her and it will be done. Press your hand against her. {{{

Sunset nodded as she raised her right hand.

Celestia’s eyes widened with mounting fear when she saw the clawed hand of the skimpy armored girl. “P-Please, don’t hurt me…I-I’ll do whatever you want!”

“Hold still.”

Sunset pressed her hand to the center of Celestia’s chest, the red gemstone glowed brighter as its energy pulsated through the older woman’s body. Celestia was surprised when she no longer felt the pain, she glanced to her shoulders and watched as the wounds started to close up. In a matter of seconds the puncture wounds and whatever pain she was feeling were completely healed. Sunset retracted her hand and smiled at her guardian.

“T-Thank you,” said Celestia.

Before she could reply, Sunset was tackled to the ground. Harpy had dived down and slammed herself into Sunset, the warrior girl grunted as she kicked Harpy off of her, jumped up, and turned to face her. The feathered creature flared her wings to stop herself from going further and stared down the new enemy before her.

“Who the hell are you, and why are you ruining my fun?!”

“Tch, ‘fun’, you have a real twisted sense of humor. Call me Witchblade, but you can also call me…” Sunset’s forearms formed two, three-foot long silver crescent blades. “You’re executioner!”

The armored maiden dashed towards Harpy, the feathered monster flew higher, dodging Sunset’s initial attack, but she quickly found out that flight wasn’t going to be her advantage as Sunset’s metallic wings sprouted. Sunset managed to close the distance as her twin blades pierced Harpy’s shoulders.

With a mighty flap, Sunset forced both of them back to the ground, slamming into the asphalt as several cars swerved and crashed to avoid hitting them. Sunset detached her forearm blades, but kept them connected via small chains, the tips of the blades had created hooks that anchored themselves into the asphalt, effectively pinning Harpy. Sunset stood up and saw that Harpy was about to try and do the same, that is until Sunset stamped down onto Harpy’s stomach with her left foot. The heel of her boot turned into a blade pile driver and shot down through Harpy’s stomach and came out the back, piercing the road beneath.

“AAAAAH!!! FUCKING BITCH!” Harpy howled in pain.

“Okay, since I have you like this, I’m going to need you to tell me what the hell you are and how many more of you are out there?!” Sunset leaned down as a sadistic grin split her face, showing her vampire-like fangs. “And if you don’t tell me…” Sunset’s right arm began to morph, taking on the appearance of chain saw blades. “I’m clipping your wings. Now talk!”

“FUCK YOU!”

Sunset wagged a finger in front of Harpy. “Wrong answer.”

The blades began to spin as Sunset slowly approached Harpy’s left arm. Harpy struggled against the blades, but doing so would only tear her apart. Something welled up inside her, a power, something caught in her throat. Harpy inhaled deeply and then released a sonic screech that visibly warped the air around them, creating a linear funnel of sonic energy.

Sunset screamed, although she couldn’t even hear that as Harpy’s screech rang in her ears. Not only that, but her body felt like it was being vibrated and torn from the inside out, causing her nose and ears to bleed, even her eyes were starting to cry tears of blood. All around them the people covered their ears as the sound pained them as well, the windows shattered along with the street lamps, the sound was even causing problems with the power as the entire block went dark.

Sunset’s concentration faltered as the blade constructs dissolved, allowing Sunset to stumble backwards as she continued to hold her head. Harpy stopped her screech, panting from the effort, her stomach still had the puncture wound, along with her shoulders. Her healing factor was slow to work, making Harpy realize that this girl was no joke, had she cut off her arm Harpy was fairly certain that that would remain permanently cut off.

“‘Nother time…hero…!” Harpy declared as she shot into the sky and flew off into the night.

Sunset was down on one knee as her ears rang severely, her vision danced with double images as her senses were thrown into disarray from the direct attack, not only that, but her body felt like it was torn apart from the inside, the irony taste of blood was in her mouth, and pain was felt all over her body.

Got to…get away…n-need time…to h-heal…

Her vision was still unreliable, but Sunset picked a random direction and jumped as high and as far as she could. That turned out not to be such a good idea as soon she found herself smashing into a fire escape, and bounced off a wall.

Unfortunately, her next impact was against a cop car, which happened to belong to Shining Armor. He stopped immediately as Sunset bounced off the hood of his car and into an adjacent alley. The detective got out of his car, abandoning his pistol in place of his shotgun, he cocked it once as he raised it and ran into the alley, finding Sunset still clutching at her head as he approached her.

“CCPD! PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD AND LIE DOWN ON THE GROUND!” he ordered. When she didn’t comply he fired a warning shot at her feet. “I MEAN IT!”

Shining Armor watched as her eyes slowly opened, switched on the flashlight attachment and noticed how there was blood seeping from her nose, eyes, and ears, not only that, but she looked completely disoriented. Shining Armor wasn’t even certain if she was aware of his presence.

“Hey, can you hear me? Hey, how many fingers am I holding up?” Shining Armor asked as he held up three.

Sunset gave no response, she could barely see anything, and then she blacked out.

Shining Armor watched as the girl fell forward and rolled onto her back. At that moment, the armor which barely covered her body was retracting, changing into a bracelet that wrapped around her right wrist. When it was done, he stood there shocked at what he saw. What was now before him was a very naked Sunset Shimmer.

“W-What the hell?!” Shining Armor quickly grabbed his radio and was about to call this in, but then…he stopped. Why did he stop? He knew what he needed to do, protocol dictated that Shining Armor needed to call in for backup or an ambulance. Yet, how was he going to explain this? Finding a naked girl in a random alley, who was just clad in the skimpiest armor he had ever seen? Shining Armor looked and growled loudly, “Shit…!”

Shining Armor ran to his car and placed the gun in the trunk, and then he took out a large blanket and hurried back to Sunset. Carefully, he wrapped the girl up and carried her to the back of his car and laid her down as best he could. The block was completely blacked out due to whatever happened, there were no traffic cams on due to that and it was too dark to see anything. Shining Armor took off his police light and began to drive, wondering just what the hell he was doing.

Cadence had been waiting up, she had received a text from Shining that he was heading home, but that was almost two hours ago, then the news began reporting about some kind of fighting going on in the city, people getting killed and then an entire city block was blacked out. Cadence had no doubts her boyfriend was in the middle of that chaos trying to help people, even though he was well trained and was careful, she still couldn’t help but worry.

Thankfully, her fears were put to rest when she saw headlights approaching their driveway, and the sound of the garage opening up. Cadence rushed to the door and stopped when Shining Armor exited the car.

“Shiny, thank god you’re alright!” Cadence exclaimed. It was then that she noticed her boyfriend’s serious expression. “Shiny, what’s wrong?”

Shining Armor ran his hand through his hair as he grunted in frustration. “A lot of effed up crap, that’s what. But now I have another problem. Cadence, you trust me, right?”

“Of course I trust you,” she replied.

“And you know I wouldn’t do anything without a reason, right?”

“Again, yes! Now what’s wrong?”

Shining Armor sighed as he went to the backseat and carefully scooped up Sunset Shimmer into his arms and revealed her to Cadence. The fuchsia colored woman was speechless, to say the least. Her boyfriend just pulled out a teenage girl who, from what she could tell, was naked and wrapped in a blanket. A myriad of questions flowed through her mind, as well as a million reasons for why her boyfriend had an unconscious naked girl in his backseat and saw fit to bring her to their house.

Cadence took a deep breath as she tried to remain calm, employing the breathing technique she taught Shining’s little sister to calm herself. “Shiny, I’m not going to assume the worst. But I really, really need you to tell me why you have a naked teenage girl wrapped up in a blanket.”

“Believe it or not, I think she’s connected to the Mystery Murders,” said Shining Armor.

“W-What?!”

Shining Armor gently brought Sunset into their home and walked towards the guest room of their one story house. Cadence, after coming out of her shock, hurried on ahead of Shining and opened the door to the guest room, allowing him to carefully place Sunset onto the bed. Shining pulled back a little on the blanket and revealed her right arm, he stared at the bracelet on her wrist, seeing that the ruby gemstone had a slight glow to it.

Cadence bit on her thumbnail as she glanced from her boyfriend to the girl. “Okay, how do you think she’s connected? And if you think that, why didn’t you take her to the hospital or to a cell?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. Maybe it’s my inner nerd telling me that there’s more to this than want we’ve seen, but this isn’t the first time I’ve seen her.”

Shining Armor motioned for the two of them to talk outside, they stood outside the doorway and it was there that Shining Armor told Cadence about how he met Sunset Shimmer, about the abuse she was suffering at school due to some cyber bully, and recently the attempt on her life. He then recalled the case with Beetle Underwood, telling her of the girl who was clad in skimpy armor who was standing over the body of the perp. Now, once again, he saw that same armored girl, but now it seemed that girl was Sunset Shimmer all along.

Cadence looked upon the girl in a different light. “And…that armor came from that bracelet?”

“That’s what I’m thinking. It just slithered over her body and returned to the bracelet, I have no idea what to make of this…” Shining Armor admitted.

“Shining…what are you planning on doing with her? You can’t just keep her against her will, her guardian is going to ask where she is! How’s that going to look when a decorated detective is found to have kidnapped a girl! And with no clothes on top of that?!” Cadence took a deep breath.

“Like I said, I think she’s connected to the Mystery Murders, I don’t know if she’s the one behind it, or…”

“Or?”

“Or maybe she’s someone who’s trying to stop it.”

Cadence placed her hand on his shoulder. “What will you do if it’s the former?”

“Arrest her, if she comes quietly. Honestly, I don’t think there’s much I could do to bring her in, not after what I saw that other monster do, I don’t doubt she’s strong or stronger than that thing.”

Cadence gulped. “I guess we’ll hope for the latter.”

It was late at night, but Harpy finally made it back. The window to her room was open, allowing her to slip in unnoticed by anyone, she plopped onto the floor as her body began to morph. Bones cracked and flesh rippled as a silver aura overtook her body. In a matter of seconds, the Harpy returned to her original form, that of Lightning Dust. The now naked girl huffed and panted, her stomach and shoulders were sore as hell from the injuries she had sustained due to Witchblade’s weapons.

Lightning stood up and looked at herself in the mirror, there were some scars from where the weapons had pierced her, but they were healing, slowly, but still healing.

“What the fuck was that?!” Lightning asked.

“Something that was unforeseen.”

“ ‘Unforeseen’?! I nearly got killed because of that thing! That’s it! I’m done! Get out of me and leave me alone!” Lightning demanded.

The reflection’s gaze narrowed. In a startling move, the reflection lunged out of the mirror and tackled Lightning Dust to the floor, putting her, ironically, in the same position as she had Sunset earlier today. Lightning Dust’s eyes widened with fear as her heart pounded in her chest, Mirror Lightning’s eyes glared with sadistic glee as her smile showed off her shark-like teeth.

“Let’s get one thing clear, I don’t take orders from you! I just need your body you mewling little cunt! So, we’re going to kill again, and again, until you and I are completely melded together.” Mirror Lightning leaned down and licked the side of Lightning Dust’s face. “I can kill you any time I want, and make it look like you just committed suicide, and when you do die, I’ll violate your soul and tear it apart and send you to Oblivion. Do you know that is, huh?”

“N-N-No…” Lightning whimpered with tears in her eyes.

“When the body dies, it’s soul moves onto the next plane of existence, but when your soul is destroyed you’re utterly, totally gone. No reincarnation, no Heaven, no Hell, no Purgatory, no nothing. For any living thing or spirit, that is the worst kind of death there can be. And I can bring that to you. Do you want that?”

Lightning shook her head in the negative.

Mirror Lightning released her grip on Lightning’s throat and patted her face. “That’s a good girl. Now, get some rest. We’ll need to plan our next move soon.” Mirror Lightning disappeared into thin air, leaving Lightning Dust trembling on the floor.

The scared teen curled up into a ball on the floor, hugging herself as she cried. “Help me…someone…help me….”