Two days had passed since the incident at Lightning Dust’s home, and already word was spreading around. All they knew was what was allowed to come out through the police, which stated that Wind Rider and Lightning Dust were attacked, and that Wind Rider sustained severe injuries to his legs. It was also going about that Wind Rider abused Lightning Dust, not in a sexual way, but striking her and pushing her to the breaking point. Some speculated that this was the reason why Lightning Dust went postal on Sunset Shimmer, nearly killing her.

The student body didn’t know how to take this news exactly. Lightning Dust was kind of jerk, and could be super competitive, but to know that that was going on at home put some things in perspective. On that note, Sunset Shimmer hadn’t returned at all in those two days following the incident, and yet, miraculously, Anon-A-Miss hadn’t made a single posting since. It could be said that Sunset’s declaration of war against Anon-A-Miss meant that maybe she was indeed not responsible, however, not all of the student body shared this sentiment. Indeed a vast majority still suspected Sunset of being the true culprit, the fact that Anon-A-Miss hadn’t posted anything was enough proof for them, what with Sunset being absent.

Rainbow Dash returned to school after about a day off, she hadn’t really said much about what happened when she went to Lightning Dust’s home, part of her wondered if she should say anything at all. It wasn’t that Rainbow thought that the girls wouldn’t believe her, but more along the lines of what she knew and what was going on. It became too much to bear, so, the jock had decided to speak to her friends regarding what happened, having asked them to meet in the music room after school, it’s sound proof walls would allow them privacy and ensure no eavesdropping would occur.

When the last bell rang, the students filed out of school and into the cold winter afternoon. But the Rainbooms had assembled in their music room, with Rainbow Dash looking as sullen as she did when she returned.

“Alright, Rainbow, so what’s goin’ on? Ya’ve been actin’ all quiet and depressed, and that ain’t like ya,” said Applejack.

Rainbow crossed her arms as she stared down at the floor.

“Darling, if it’s too hard to speak of, you don’t have to force yourself to do this,” said Rarity.

“No…I have to. You guys need to know what I saw, what I heard. Because…this could be a whole lot worse than Anon-A-Miss or the Sirens,” Rainbow stated grimly.

The girls all had worried expressions on their faces, Rainbow was serious. After taking a deep breath, Rainbow Dash told her friends what had happened on the night she went to go and see Lightning Dust, she admitted to having an intimate moment with her, earning Rainbow a glare of contempt from Applejack and Pinkie, considering what Lightning had done to Sunset. Rainbow pressed on, telling them of what Wind Rider wanted Lightning to do with her, and how Lightning ended up turning into some kind of demonic monster. The tale continued as Rainbow, almost retching at the memory, told them of how the monster tore each of Wind Rider’s legs in front of her.

Then came the fight, of a girl dressed in skimpy armor who fought the demon and nearly killed it, but Rainbow stopped her. Looking back on it, she was glad she did, it gave Lightning the chance to break free from the demon spirit, the Wendigo.

“She called herself Witchblade, she interrogated the Wendigo, and it told us that there are more of them, and they were all swarming around Canterlot City as we speak,” said Rainbow.

The girls turned pale upon hearing this, the Mystery Murders were being conducted by demonically possessed people, and they were being drawn to Canterlot City.

“But…But why here?!” Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow Dash’s grip on her arms tightened. “That demon said it was because magic was reawakened in the world. That our world’s magic was so faded that it was practically nonexistent. Care to guess how it was reawakened?”

Pinkie was the first to realize the connection, and she shook her head in disbelief. “No…y-you’re not saying…you’re not saying that this was because of the Fall Formal?!”

“…Yeah. More specifically, when Sunset put on the crown and turned into a demon. That was the surge. Thanks to Sunset, she awakened a horde of demon spirits, and now they’re swarming the city because there’s still a lot of magic radiating from here,” Rainbow explained.

The Fall Formal, the night that the girls first awakened to the power of the Magic of Friendship, where they met Princess Twilight Sparkle, and defeated Sunset Shimmer who had turned into “Sunset Satan”. Princess Twilight had called the crown the “Element of Magic”, one of six powerful artifacts from her home dimension, and was supposedly the strongest of the six. That much power being unleashed into their world that night had a ripple effect that no one could have foreseen, and now the consequences of that event were showing themselves.

“You’re not going to blame Sunset for this are you?!” Pinkie asked.

“What do you think?” Rainbow asked curtly.

“B-But she didn’t mean for this to happen! It’s not like she was intentionally trying to summon demons from hell!”

“Doesn’t matter, because of her, we have demonic spirits lurking throughout the city, killing people! It’s like we’re paying for all her bad choices!”

Pinkie Pie walked up to Rainbow and looked her in the eyes. “Don’t you dare blame Sunset for those things killing people!”

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. “Why not?! She’s tearing the school apart, again, and now we find out that she’s also called on demon spirits! Don’t forget, you were almost raped by one of those monsters!”

Pinkie’s hands shook at the memory of that night, her body still had phantom feelings of that creature molesting her, but even so, “I know, but don’t you forget that Sunset almost died trying to save me!”

Applejack got between the girls had held them at arm's length. “Okay, simmer down you two!” The cowgirl turned to Rainbow. “Dash, Ah’m gonna have to side with Pinkie on this one. It ain’t fair to put the blame on Sunset for somethin’ she wasn’t even aware of, not like anyone here, not even Princess Twilight, coulda seen this coming!”

“Same. Anon-A-Miss is one thing, but these Wendigos are another. Besides, who’s to say that it was only Sunset?” Rarity queried. “The surge of magic could have also been due to us unleashing the Magic of Friendship. Or when we defeated the Sirens with all seven us uniting our magic. There’s no way to know for sure.”

Rainbow Dash’s fist tightened, her face looking like it was about to explode. But Fluttershy walked up beside her, placed a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder and one over her right fist. The moment she did this, the tension in Rainbow Dash ebbed away. If there was one thing you could count on, it was that Fluttershy could calm the raging storm that was Rainbow Dash, most of the time.

“Rainbow, I know this is upsetting, but I think you’re upset for more than one reason, right?” Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow looked away from her friends and back down at the floor. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to Lightning Dust…I mean…her father was a shitty person, and treated her just as shitty. If it wasn’t for him, she’d probably wouldn’t be the kind of person she is…was…I don’t know anymore.”

“I know you liked her, but they’re right. You can’t blame Sunset for what happened, or what’s happening now. We need to focus on what we can do to stop it,” said Fluttershy.

“The only thing that seemed to stop them was that girl in the skimpy armor.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “Now, Rainbow, when you say ‘skimpy armor’, what exactly do you mean?”

“I mean that she had on this weird armor that barely covered her. I won’t lie, she was hot as hell, that metal barely covered her tits, and it was like she was wearing an armored thong or something,” said Rainbow Dash, a small blush forming on her face.

Pinkie’s jaw dropped, “Hey, that sounds like the person who saved me that night!”

Applejack brought her arms down as she rested her hands on her hips. “Well, at least it looks like someone’s out there fightnin’ them.”

“Yes…although I question their choice in wardrobe,” Rarity commented.

Pinkie Pie sighed, this was a lot to process. “I’m going to go and see if Sunset’s alright. I haven’t heard from her in two days, and she hasn’t returned my calls.” Pinkie gathered her things and made for the door. “I’ll text you guys if something changes!”

Sunset lied in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She felt hollow, the weight of guilt pressing down on her like a fifty ton boulder. She barely moved from her bed, aside from eating, going to the bathroom, and feeding Ray. Just because she was depressed didn’t mean she had to let her animal friend suffer neglect.

The teen would hear the occasional beep and vibration from her phone, no doubt Pinkie Pie or Celestia trying to contact her. She didn’t really care at this point. After all, it wasn’t every day you found out that you were responsible for unleashing an ancient evil upon the world hell-bent on possessing and murdering people.

Once again…my selfish actions come back to haunt me…

She barely ate much, or drank, at this point, she was contemplating going out to buy some alcohol and get herself shitfaced drunk.

“It’s all my fault…”

}}} This state you are in does not suit you. {{{

“Please be quiet…”

}}} Your actions in the past may have brought this turn of events about, but it is not too late to make things right. With my help, we can destroy this evil. {{{

Sunset chuckled darkly. “How…? How can we destroy demonic spirits? We don’t even know where they are…We don’t know how many of them are out there…For all we know, we’ve already lost.”

}}} I see. {{{

“Just go and find another person…I’m pretty sure that there’s a more worthy person out there,” said Sunset.

}}} ……I will not. I chose you as my bearer. Until death do us part, I will not leave you. I will remain silent. But I am here if you wish to speak. {{{

“I don’t.”

Silence prevailed over her home, at this point, Sunset was very much contemplating getting shitfaced drunk.

*knock, knock*

However, a knock at the door prevented that train of thought from forming into action. Sunset sighed heavily as she dragged herself out of bed, thankfully, she managed to put some of her more modest pajamas on as she made her way to the front door. Once she did, Sunset opened the door and was treated to a blast of confetti that nearly made her throw a punch.

“Hi, Sunset!” Pinkie’s cheerful greeting rang.

“……Hey.”

Pinkie tilted her head. “Wow, you almost sound like my big sis. You don’t look so good.”

“Thank you for noticing. Now, please leave,” Sunset deadpanned as she slowly closed the door.

“W-Wait!” Pinkie Pie moved forward and placed her hand on the door to stop Sunset from closing it. “You haven’t been back in two days, and you haven’t been answering my calls, my texts, my emails, my anything!”

Sunset slowly nodded. “Mmm-hmm, and what does that tell you?”

“That you need to check your messages more?”

Sunset’s left eye twitched. “Pinkie…please, I’ve had a helluva night a couple of days ago, and I don’t…!” Sunset took a deep breath. “I don’t want to snap at you because you’re the closest person. So, please, go home.”

Pinkie stood there for a few seconds as she looked away. “Maybe…Maybe you need to snap? Sunset, it’s not good to keep things bottled up inside.” Pinkie looked back at Sunset with a small smile on her face. “I may not know what to do or say, but…I can at least hear you out. Is that too much?”

Sunset wanted to tell her yes, that it was. Because right now she felt like the worst person on the planet and that she had no right being around someone as positive and cheerful as Pinkie Pie right now…but, the other part of her that had been alone for all these months did want someone around.

Sunset sighed again as she moved aside and let Pinkie inside. Once the door was locked, Sunset walked over to her couch and plopped down on it. Pinkie took off her jacket, hat, and gloves and joined Sunset on the couch.

“What happened?” Pinkie asked.

Sunset stared up towards the ceiling and closed her eyes. “I just found out that I’ve fucked up worse than what I did at the Fall Formal…”

Pinkie grimaced as she had an idea of what it was. “What do you mean…?”

Sunset opened her eyes and glanced to Pinkie. “Do you remember, when all of us were outside at the Wondercolt statue, playing Keep-Away with the crown?” Pinkie nodded. “Do you remember what happened when I put it on?”

“Well, yeah. You put the crown on, it went all flashy, and crackly, and then a huge column of light when whoosh, straight up into the air! And then…” Pinkie paused. She knew the “Sunset Satan”, She-Demon, reference was a very sore spot for Sunset. “…stuff happened, and then the girls, me, and Princess Twilight used the Magic of Friendship to change you back.”

Sunset smiled darkly. “Yeah…that moment I put on the crown, was the moment I unleashed a horde of demonic spirits into the world.”

Pinkie once again tilted her head, this time out of confusion. “Wait…how did you know that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Rainbow Dash, she told us about what happened with Lightning Dust, she said she heard this monster call itself a ‘Wendigo’, and that it came here because of a strong magical surge. How did you know that?” Pinkie asked.

Sunset’s eyes darted around the room, cursing inside her mind, of course Rainbow Dash would’ve told them, why wouldn’t she? “Um…I…I was attacked by that same monster that attacked Celestia!”

Pinkie gasped in shock.

“Thankfully, this girl in armor saved me. Detective Shining Armor found me and took me back to his place where he and his girlfriend kept me safe,” Sunset half lied. “A-And I found out through him that night…later on.”

Pinkie Pie narrowed her gaze as she stared at Sunset. The flame haired teen was sweating bullets, hoping that Pinkie bought that lame ass story. The pink teen continued to stare at Sunset, inching herself closer as she did so, and making Sunset back away ever so slightly. At the same time, Sunset couldn’t help but notice the generous amount of cleavage that she could see from the open collar of Pinkie’s shirt.

“Hmmmmmmmm…Okay!” Pinkie moved away and smiled. “I’m glad you’re alright though…but, you’re not really blaming yourself for this, are you?”

Sunset breathed a sigh of relief, she then leaned forward and rested her arms on her knees. “Why shouldn’t I? Pinkie, those Wendigos are out there, possessing people! Either forcing their hosts to commit murder, or worse, their hosts are enjoying that they’re committing murder! Turning them into monsters! Monsters like the one who almost hurt you!”

Pinkie felt her body shiver, recalling the memory was never pleasant. “I…I mean…”

“All the people who have died in the last couple of months…all the pain…the trauma…It’s because of ME!” Sunset felt a lump form in her throat as tears started to flow down her face. “I’ve…I’ve tried to do good…I’ve tried to make up for all the shit I did here! To everyone in the school! But, no matter what I do, my sins keep coming back to kick me down back into the smoldering crater I was trying to crawl out of! Fuck…at this point, that rainbow laser was better off destroying me then –!”

*SLAP!*

Sunset found herself lurching to her right, the left side of her face stung as a red mark formed. She turned to her left and saw Pinkie Pie, tears were flowing from her eyes as she furrowed her brow at Sunset. “Don’t you ever say that again! I don’t want to ever imagine not having you around, Sunset Shimmer!”

“P-Pinkie…?”

“Okay…so, maybe you did unknowingly unleash a horde of demonic spirits onto Canterlot City, but you didn’t know that could happen!” Pinkie stated.

Sunset narrowed her gaze. “Regardless, if I wasn’t such an arrogant, prideful, egotistical bitch, I wouldn’t have ran away to this dimension! Then I wouldn’t have had the ‘brilliant’ idea of stealing the Element of Magic, and bringing it here!”

Sunset stood up and then turned to Pinkie, making her back away a little. “And, lest we forget, if I hadn’t done that, the Sirens wouldn’t have come to CHS, and very nearly, becoming all powerful! One mistake after another, you’d think I’d have taken the opportunity of ending up in a strange new world to remake myself, but stupid me, no! I just tried to find a way to get what I thought I deserved!”

Pinkie probably would’ve been afraid of this rant, but she couldn’t be afraid, not when Sunset was crying throughout her rant. There wasn’t just anger in Sunset’s eyes, but also remorse and sadness. The pink party girl stood up as well, she then reached out and embraced Sunset, hugging her tightly against her body. The flame haired girl struggled to get away from her, to the point that they both collapsed onto the couch, but still, Pinkie Pie didn’t let her go. She continued to hold on until Sunset ceased her thrashing and just cried into her chest.

The pink teen began to stroke Sunset’s hair in soothing motions, offering her friend as much comfort as she could. “Sunset, you’re not that meanie from before. Not anymore. The Old Sunset Shimmer is gone, she was destroyed by that rainbow laser. You’re nothing like her anymore. Yeah, you kinda do have a lot of bad things to make up for, but I know you’re not one to give up!”

Sunset seemed to stop crying, letting her body shudder as she tightened her hug around Pinkie.

“Besides, you’re smart, strong, pretty, and just a badass all around.”

Sunset chuckled at that last one.

“If there’s anyone who can find a way to stop these things, I know it’s you. I know all of us can stop this, we just need to work together again, Anon-A-Miss or not!” Pinkie stated.

Sunset sniffled as a smile graced her lips. “I’m really glad we’re friends again…”

“I’m sorry I ever said we weren’t…”

Sunset lifted her head and looked at Pinkie. “How about we both try and stop feeling sorry for ourselves? I’ll promise to try and stop blaming myself, and you try and stop berating yourself for this whole Anon-A-Miss thing?”

Pinkie Pie smiled Sunset as she asked, “Pinkie Swear?”

Sunset rolled her eyes, but returned the smile as she said, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Pinkie Pie’s smile widened as she then booped Sunset’s nose with her right finger. This caused Sunset’s face to cutely scrunch up. “Don’t forget, you can’t break a Pinkie Promise.”

“I know.”

Silva Evergreen was a good looking girl, twenty-one years old, long cherry red hair, flawless emerald green skin, and jade colored eyes that sparkled like jewels, was it any wonder she was scouted for a modeling agency? With her slender frame, and hourglass figure, she wasn’t just the perfect model, but also a knockout when it came to boys.

The young woman was paid handsomely for her modeling work, although it was for small competitions, but it was good work, and if the designer’s collection did well, then she’d get noticed as well.

For the past couple of years, Canterlot City would host a little fashion show for the spring, summer, fall, and winter lineups. It was the city’s version of Fashion Week from Manelan. The competition brought in local talent, granting them a stage for which to showcase their creations. Of course, these kinds of things drew in a lot of scouts from different fashion labels, looking to snatch up the next big hit in the fashion world.

Now Silva modeled for a lot of clients, but the one she liked to model for the most was a girl named, Rarity. The ones she worked with before were either snobbish, pushy, or just plain rude. Silva knew they could be eccentric, but sometimes they took it too far, but not Rarity. That’s not to say she wasn’t eccentric in her own ways, but the girl took great pride in making sure not to sacrifice comfort, even making fine tuned adjustments to ensure that the models were able to move about without restrictions.

Yes, Silva loved working with Rarity, to the point that she decided to work almost exclusively with Rarity for whatever design gig she wanted to enter. Silva even contemplated working up a contract with the young designer, becoming partners in business.

Silva was snapped out of her contemplation as she heard her phone go off. Her studio apartment was quite spacious, and she often would leave the phone somewhere far without realizing it. In this case it was located in the living room, Silva walked in and found the device on the counter. She unlocked the phone and grimaced at the name that popped up, reluctantly, she answered it.

“Hello? ……Uh-huh. Yeah, I know and as I told you, last time, I decline…” Silva walked about the living room as her frown deepened. “Because I am already working with Rarity……Money is not an issue, I make even more just walking down the runway in her outfits…” Silva stopped as the caller seemed to have said something that made her frown turn into a scowl. “Well, that’s fine. ‘Cause your shit is weak, and you’re going to lose to her!”

Silva ended the call, a smug look plastered on her face after telling that person off. “They’re so getting their ass kicked at the show,” she mused.

The young woman chucked her cellphone onto the couch and headed back into her room. She entered her bathroom and began to disrobe, turning the knob to unleash a small deluge of water from the showerhead. The young woman was about to enter the shower when the lights flickered off.

“What the hell?”

Luckily for Silva, she was prepared. In the socket opposite the sink, a flashlight kicked on. It only ever went on when there was no power feeding it. Silva quickly took it and put on her robe as she exited the bathroom, she tried flicking on the switches in her room, but nothing happened. Something like this was not normal, it was snowing outside, but the news had made no mention of rolling blackouts nor that the snowstorm was bad enough to make this happen.

“Fuck, someone probably plugged in too much shit and blew the fuse,” said Silva.

She was about to go to her nightstand to call the building manager, but remembered that it was in her living room. Silva groaned in annoyance of her actions as she began walking into the living room. The spacious loft had high ceilings, and a wide open living room, perfect for hosting parties, and she did have a few now and then, but she just didn’t like cramped spaces.

As she shined her flashlight about, Silva paused upon hearing rapid scurrying. Silva shined her flashlight in the direction that she thought she heard the noise, but there was nothing. Silva dismissed it, without the extra noise of the heater, the noises of the building were becoming more prominent, at least, that’s how she rationalized it.

Silva took a few more steps and found that the cellphone was not on the couch. “What the hell? I…I threw it right here!”

Just then, more of that same scurrying sound echoed in the room, making Silva move her flashlight rapidly up to the tall ceiling. With the light now on them, the metal beams of the rafters caused eerie shadows to be cast, making the young woman feel very uncomfortable. The tip, tap, tapping scurrying went off again, but was more rapid , moving as if it was crawling all over the ceiling and the walls. Some furniture was nudged, causing it to screech as it scratched against the hardwood floor.

Silva’s heart was racing, something big was in her home, something that was moving too fast for her to see, and what made it worse was that whatever-it-was could be right behind her, but with the lights out she didn't know.

As if either by grace or eerie coincidence, the light of her cellphone shined from the kitchen counter. Silva shined her light on it, scanning the area from where she stood. She didn’t like this, oh no, she’d seen this horror movie before, but Silva was smarter than those stupid teens and college kids from horror movies. Whatever was in here wanted her to go towards the light of the cellphone to call for help, however, the front door was only five feet from her left. A quick dash to the door and all Silva had to do was run like the wind, the hell with the freezing cold, if it was between that and facing whatever was in her loft, she’d choose frostbite.

Silva edged herself closer to the making like she was going to bolt for the cellphone, however, that wasn’t the case. The young woman bolted straight for the door, a smile formed on her face as she thought herself brilliant for not making the classic horror movie mistake. That, unfortunately, was her mistake.

As soon as Silva ran for the door, the young woman felt her right leg get pulled from under her, sending Silva face planting straight to the floor. Her flashlight rolled across the room, hitting the wall and angling just enough to illuminate Silva herself. The model rolled onto her back, her face radiated with pain just as much as her leg did from the sudden jerking motion. Silva brought up her leg and saw something glimmering, carefully, she pulled at the thin looking rope, or wire, that had somehow gotten around her ankle.

“What the hell is this…?”

Suddenly, several more strands of the wire lashed out of the darkness and wrapped themselves around her wrists and ankles, snapping taut as they held her arms and legs out to where she was forming an “X" with her body. Silva was about to scream, that is until something shot at her mouth, covering it in a thick substance that hardened immediately. Her cries came out as muffled, too low even for a passerby to hear her.

A sudden thump silenced Silva as she stared towards her left, her eyes were still adjusting to the dark, but she could vaguely make out a large, shadowy figure. She could hear the tip tapping of the figure as it walked, it then turned towards Silva, making the young woman gasp when she saw six, fuchsia colored eyes. Silva tensed up as those eyes approached her, she struggled in vain to get herself free from the wire, but it was no use, she was helpless.

The figure was now hovering over her; the flashlight illuminated some of figure's features. The legs were long, sharp, and violet colored, from what she could tell, there were six of them. Whatever this was, it was definitely not human.

“Hello, Silva Evergreen, I need you to do me a favor,” the feminine voice stated. The being showed Silva her cellphone, which also gave her a good look at her four clawed hand. “There’s a certain girl that you work with, a – ugh – ‘talented’ designer, that I want you to cancel on.”

Silva had a look of confusion upon hearing this strange request.

“Now, if you do as I say, I’ll let you go. But if you refuse…”

The figure brought its left claw into view, the tips began slide up, revealing small holes. From those holes, wire-like thread began slithering towards Silva as the creature before her brushed part of robe aside, revealing the left side of her chest. Silva watched in horror as the threads began to pierce her skin, she could feel the threads burrowing into her skin, going deeper and deeper, strangely enough, she felt no pain from what this monster was doing, but she could definitely feel them moving around. Panic gripped Silva as she went still, feeling the threads closing in on her heart and then stopping.

“I laced my thread with an anesthetic venom that deadens the pain that you’d be feeling from this. Now, if you don’t call her, I’ll wrap the threads around your heart and squeeze it until it pops! And it won’t be sudden, no, it’ll be slow, very slow. Do you understand?”

Silva nodded slowly, eyes wide with tears running down her face. The creature carefully placed the phone in Silva’s right hand, with her free right claw, the creature gently removed the patch that she had put on around her mouth. Afterwards, she loosened the wires wrapped around her wrists, allowing Silva to use her arms and hands to make the call. Silva made to dial, and was secretly about to call the police.

“Show me that you’ve called her once you’ve done so,” she ordered.

Silva gulped, her eyes glanced back at the four threads that were still inside her chest and the feeling of them close to her heart. With little choice, Silva brought up her list of contacts, scrolled through them and pushed Rarity’s phone number. The young woman turned the phone around and showed the six-eyed creature that it was ringing.

{Hello? Silva?}

“Y-Yes, Rarity, it’s me.”

{Darling, so glad you called! Listen, I was wondering if you could come by my home after my school lets out. I need to make a few more adjustments and–}

“Rarity I’m sorry but I can’t come,” said Silva.

There was a brief pause before Rarity spoke again. {Oh, I’m terribly sorry. Of course, you must be busy. Tell me, when do you think you’ll be able to come over?}

“I-I can’t…I mean, I won’t. I’m not going to model for you for the competition.”

{W-W-What?! Silva…I…This is…P-Please, you can’t cancel on me now! The competition is this weekend! I can’t find another model on such short notice! I-If this is about financial compensation, I promise I’ll give you a very generous portion of the prize money! Plus whatever else I have!}

Silva hated this, she hated hearing the desperation, the hurt, and betrayal in Rarity’s voice. The last two years she’d spent working with her, wearing her brilliant clothes, elevating their careers as both designer and model, and now she was throwing it all away, abandoning her in her hour of need. This monster, who literally held her life in its claws, was a monster in the truest sense of the word.

“I’m sorry, but…I’ve gotten an offer from another client. One that p-pays better, and works in Manelan. I’ll be working exclusively with them, and as such, I can’t be seen modeling for another designer………I will say, the years I spent working with you were some of the best I’ve ever had……goodbye.” Silva didn’t wait for a reply as she ended the call, tears running down her face as she looked away from the creature. “I did it…”

“Yes, you did. Well done.” The creature pulled back its left claw, withdrawing the four threads from Silva’s body.

Silva felt the wires holding her go slack, granting her free movement again.

“I did what you wanted…so, please, leave me alone,” Silva begged.

The creature hummed as if contemplating. “Here’s the thing, hon, I know I said I’d let you go, but now that I think about it, you’ll just tell the cops and then go back to working with her. I can’t really have that kind of heat on me.”

Silva’s eyes darted up to the glowing eyes of the creature as she tried to back up. “B-B-But you promised you’d let me go!”

The six eyes of the creature narrowed into slits, the creature then slammed its claws atop both of her Silva’s arms, pinning her against the floor. “I lied.”

The creature reared back its head and then chomped down onto Silva’s neck. Silva tried to scream, but no sound came out. A paralytic venom was injected into her, silencing Silva’s vocal cords. The young woman thrashed about, as she screamed in her mind. Her eyes managed to catch a glimpse of the creature, seeing red glowing veins appear over its body.

Silva was suddenly feeling lightheaded, her strength waned with each passing second, after a minute, her thrashing stopped and she went limp. The only sound that could be heard was a kind of gulping, sucking noise. When Silva stopped her thrashing, the creature lifted her up and continued its work, the flashlight still shone, illuminating the darkness just enough to see Silva’s feet as they twitched every so often. Finally, her feet stopped twitching.

Silva’s body was then dropped to the floor, showing that her vibrant, emerald colored skin had become pale and lifeless.

The creature’s red veins continued to glow in the darkness, funneling towards her claws as a red thread was produced from them. “Hmm, tasty.” The creature looked down at the corpse on the floor. “Don’t worry, hon, you’ll still make it big in the fashion world. Just not the way you thought.”