Butterfly Effect IV : Bonds

**Butterfly Effect IV : Bonds** is a Story Arc of the the Exteria Multiverse. It takes place in Interra's Videogame Realm and follows the perspective of the young Avatar Starlight. It is a sequel to Butterfly Effect III : Loyalty

## Main Arc

### A Chaotic Incident

Starlight has since the previous events fully integrated herself as a goddess alongside her new friends, and together they decide to organize a massive contest. Among the participants, Starlight finds a girl with surprisingly high potential, Ruxxie, as well as another, more menacing one, Sunset.

Sunset ends up winning the competition, and using dark magic, overpowers the six goddesses, with Starlight barely avoiding her assault. Grabbing Ruxxie with her, Starlight is teleported next to the castle, and rushes in order to save her friends. The two of them get to know eachother as they overcome various trials until they reach the top of the castle.

There, Sunset attempts to become a goddess in order to take "what was supposed to be hers" once again, but she is interrupted by the one who orchestrated the whole incident. Zizanie, a chaotic deity who has granted Sunset powers, now comes to take them back, as well as the powers of the other goddesses. She then banishes Sunset alongside Starlight and Ruxxie to another part of the realm.

### Wandering through Games

Starlight and Ruxxie, alongside a very regretful and betrayed Sunset, are sent to a world inspired by **Super Mario Bros** series. There, they fight a large gamut of enemies, ending with the royal Searia family : Boris, Fuchsia and Max. All three have been corrupted by a destructive god known as Dormammu, awakened by the presence of a mysterious deity, Sraden'k. Sunset attempts to redeem herself by challenging the creature and sealing it away within Boris. The group then leaves.

The next step towards the goddesses' castle is a deserted land similar to the **Prince of Persia** series. This time, the prince is embodied by a ritualist named Kuri-ma Mazda, chased by a corrupted Dahaka. The trio helps the princess Alcidie Madigan with sealing away the Dahaka, who also has been reached by Sraden'k's strange magic. They then leave this region as well.

The next step is a mansion similar to Alone in the Dark, where, guided by the voice of an omnipotent Tiphaine Quila, the group recruits Derpy, who has also been exiled from the Videogame Realm's main territory. Together, they brave eldricht horrors as they investigate the cause of the disturbance in that territory. This time, it is **Zryg Shriggtnek**, a prophet of Sraden'k. The group defeats her. Tiphaine, satisfied, allows them a safe passage to their home world.

### A World's Enemy

By the time the group returns, Zizanie has been toying with the goddesses, albeit without evil intent. She reveals that she was sent in order to prepare them for an ongoing threat. When the three heroines arrive, however, Zizanie is quite happy to battle them, enjoying herself while getting defeated by the heroines, playing her part as the antagonist.

However, when she is defeated, a curse takes hold of the ex-goddess Spark. Absorbing Zizanie's powers, she turns into a darker version of herself, Midnight. She takes control of the other goddesses and corrupts them as well. As she is about to corrupt Starlight, Sunset, Derpie and Ruxxie, the spectating Conceptual Avatar David Noachia finally acts and teleports the trio, alongside himself, Derpie and Zizanie, to safety.

### An Ongoing Adventure

The group find themselves in a magnificent kingdom, albeit a little unnaturally so. Sunset identifies the kingdom as her teacher Radianza's castle, although it seems now that Radianza has turned tyrannical. With the help of a new recruit, the D.J. Vinyl, the group infiltrates Radianza's castle during a fighting tournament and Starlight battles Radianza while David fights and exorcises the thing that haunted her : the Apocrypha Malediocrina, sent by the queen Severa Linnasteron.

Radianza, recovering from her possession, tells the group that she sent away her sister to a massive zone serving as interdimensional crossroads for the Videogame Realm, the **Crossed Realms**. The group goes there, only to learn from the trio Pink L, Scout and Clochette, that she was captured and tortured by a mysterious government, and is now detained in a sinister prison island.

### Elysea's Hand

The group, helped by David's world-altering magic, manages to deliver prisoners in the sinister island, including Radianza's sister Nightmare and the extradimensional voyager Alicette Miho ; however, the prison wardens Silver and Diamond appear and capture Sunset, telling the group that a woman named Elysea needs her. David uses his remaining forces to warp everyone back to their base, Pink L's hideout.

There, they plan to take her back, gathering as much forces as they can. With Radianza's help, they find a massive boat, and from there sail to distant islands. Zizanie's first move when she recovers enough power is to summon Lowell, Yser and Pucca, heroes from another part of the realm, to her side, saving them from certain death in exchange for their help against Elysea. Lowell having a grudge with Elysea, he complies.

### From Island to Island

The first island the group visits is home to a massive singing competition. There, Alicette becomes enamord with the lead singer Coloress and kidnaps her ; meanwhile, the group confronts the three Sirens, Adagio Dazzle, Sonata Dusk and Aria Blaze, and finally convince them to join them in order to profit from chaos and sabotage the government's plans, as Adagio has a grudge against the government.

The next step is a strange treasure island, where the group is intercepted by Pinky's sister Roche, who at first is hostile, but ends up helping them. They also encounter the explorer Daring who has found the key to a Pandoran Temple, where Starlight finds a strange scepter ; the scepter calls to her soul, but she manages to resist its lure for now. Daring and Roche join the crew as it sails away once more.

### Assault on the Citadel

Finally reaching the capital city of Elysea's kingdom, the group splits to find even more allies ; the witch Zebra assists Ruxxie in infiltration missions in order to free the captive princess Cadenza ; Scout manages to convince the thug Gilda, old friend of Rainbow, to assist them as well. Meanwhile, Adagio infiltrates Elysea's ranks while pretending to be her ally, torturing a detained Sunset while in fact attempting to break her out.

The day after, the fight goes as planned, however, several events complicate the struggle. Elysea, in a ritual attempting to mimic the goddess Elysandre and her world-controlling spell, seizes control of Sunset's body and kills Ruxxie ; Radianza goes berserk and slaughters hundreds of civilians, adopting the guise of the demoness **Hellfire** ; and finally, as Starlight uses the staff to correct it all, the power of Phyrexia overpowers her and condemns the Videogame Realm.

### For a Better End

The whole thing turns out to be a vision, from Lowell's Prescience Mystifact amplified by Zizanie's magic. Preparing for the worst, Zizanie, David, Lowell, Yser and Pucca attempt to find help in another realm, a glitched dimension where David manages to bargain with the shadowy existence known as Rinate ; she ends up landing her help to the group as well.

With Rinate's manipulations, Elysia's attempts are sabotaged as everyone is warned in advance of the traps laid down for them. Adagio convinces Diamond and Silver to help her and together they stun and stab Elysea, while Sunset and Ruxxie contain Radianza. The threat has finally ended and Sunset celebrates her return in the crew. However, there is still a final destination : the corrupted palace of the goddesses.

### Fight against the Shadows

Meanwhile, Midnight has consolidated her defenses and has become an undisputed queen of the Realm. However, her entourage has been infiltrated by an old friend of Spark's, Selesnyal, as well as a recovering Ace Weisner, both with similar aims : for Selesnyal to purify Spark and for Ace to seize the power of Midnight's curse.

Midnight uses Ace's expertise to extract and copy the Soul of her new friends, the corrupted Bitter, Erynies, Obsidian, Joker and Neg Strike. As Starlight and her crew arrive to defeat and purify them all, for each apparent victory of Starlight's team, Midnight has already created a new body for the corrupted double. Finally, Midnight herself is fought at the top of her castle.

Turning her opponents to stone by returning their doubts and weaknesses against them in a psychological battle, she ends up fighting Starlight, Sunset and Ruxxie three on one. Finally defeated, she smiles as she leaves Spark's body in order to gain her own, bearing no grudge against the group ; she merely played her part as the antagonist. Selesnyal and Spark finally see eachother again.

### All is Sraden'k

However, Sraden'k, who had slowly made her presence forgotten, attacks in order to claim the Videogame Realm, and soon all of Interra, in the name of Emeria. The resulting attacks drags everyone into a shadowy realm, from which Zizanie through her magic manages to protect mostly everyone. The scattered individuals search for eachother and unite against the immense threat.

As Starlight, Sunset, Ruxxie and Adagio are trapped inside Sraden'k herself, fighting her core, the rest of the group manages to unite and defeat Zryg with the help of the enigmatic sidekick Fluffle, then clash with the outer cocoon of Sraden'k who has possessed Obsidian's body. Midnight arrives as reinforcements and manages through her massive curselike power to shatter the cocoon, weakening Sraden'k's core.

Seeing a weakness in Sradenk's essence, Sunset uses her full power to finally redeem herself fully by crashing against her core, apparently dying in the process and shattering Sraden'k's attack. While the massive power of the multiple godlike entities allow them to make Sunset survive, she still suffers from amnesia and has lapsed into unconsciousness. Still, life must go on, as all unite to rebuild the Videogame Realm the way it was before.

## Other Arcs

### Sunrise Shade

Sunrise Shade, Sunset's corrupted double, appears soon after in the shadowy lands of the Videogame Realm that belong to Midnight. Quite destructive in nature, she almost slaughters Joker when she meets her ; it takes Midnight's presence to calm her down, and after harsh negociations, Midnight ends up recruiting Sunset as one of her antagonists.

### Shin's Travels

Shin Igami, an irregular presence in the Videogame Realm, has traveled with Sunset, Starlight and Ruxxie without their knowing, hiding in Tiphaine's territory and following them afterwards. During the attack on Zizanie, Omega, Avatar of Optional Bosses, recognizing part of Yser's essence in him, allowed him to escape the ensuing chaos. Their exact destination, as of now, remains unknown.

### Tempestorm's Arrival

Tempestorm, a young woman desiring to retrieve what she had lost, participated in a battle royale, seeking to overthrow the Gamewatch and replace them and obtain influence for a corporation that used her; she ended up however being defeated by the winners of the competition, respectively Gilda and Sunset.

## Characters

* Starlight
* Sunset / Sunrise Shade
* Ruxxie
* Derpy
* Nightmare
* Radianza
* David Noachia
* Zizanie
* Daring
* Cadenza
* Zebra
* Rinate
* Alicette Miho
* Coloress
* Pink L
* Scout
* Clochette
* Vinyl
* Roche
* Gilda
* Spark / Midnight
* Pomme / Bitter
* Fluffy / Erynies
* Jewel / Obsidian
* Pinky / Joker
* Rainbow / Neg Strike
* Selesnyal
* Adagio Dazzle
* Sonata Dusk
* Aria Blaze
* Silver
* Diamond
* Fluffle
* Elysea
* Ace Weisner
* Boris Searia
* Fuchsia Searia
* Max Searia
* Alcidie Madigan
* Kuri-ma Mazda
* The Dahaka
* Tiphaine Quila
* Severa Linnasteron (Malediocrina)
* Lowell
* Yser
* Pucca
* Sraden'k
* Atraxa
* Shin Igami
* Tempestorm

## Trivia

* Like the previous Storyline, this one is a major homage to the My Little Pony franchise.