Everything spun around her as Sunset opened her eyes, forcing her to shut them again, one hand going for her forehead.
“Ugh… what?” she mumbled, but then strength suddenly filled her and she felt so much better.
Opening her eyes again, Sunset noticed she was still in the chapel room, with the bonfire still going strong beside the altar. With such a strong light source now, Sunset could see carvings on the altar’s surface. They depicted more of that same winged creature with the human head again. There were two, both facing each other and in between them was a carving of what looked like a flame.
“What a strange place this is…” Sunset shuddered as she looked at the winged creature’s face. It still gave her the creeps.
When she was done making sure her estus flasks were refilled, Sunset got up and looked up above the altar. A part of the wall had opened up, revealing a very large staircase leading up into more darkness.
“Hmm… Okay.”
With no alternatives, Sunset hoisted herself up onto the altar, then up each step. These were likely built for people like that magical blade figure she had killed, with the steps being high enough that she had to climb each one.
Huh. Killed…
She had thought that so easily and it scared her. She really didn’t want to get used to killing, but there was no denying it now. She was used to it and if she had to choose between herself or her attacker, she would not even hesitate to kill anymore. That wasn’t who she wanted to be, but if was definitely who she had become.
And that was more terrifying that anything this world had thrown at her thus far.
She contemplated toning her violence down as she continued to climb the steps, but that wasn’t an option. All she would get would be more injuries and death. The inhabitants of this world were unforgiving. To win, she had to be unforgiving too. There was no other way.
No… That can’t be true. It can’t… What is this world…? I need to leave. I need to get back.
Finally arriving at the top of the steps, Sunset looked down a long dark tunnel, unsure of where it led. As she walked on, light soon began to pierce the darkness on the other side of the tunnel. Running now, Sunset soon emerged out the back of the abbey she was in, now looking at a long borderless bridge, leading through a forest, with tall trees standing on both sides. On the other side, stood a much taller structure, almost like a spire, with statues of the winged creature guarding the front entrance and parts of the structure, all the way up.
As she walked, a sign on the floor read out, High Cathedral. Try jumping.
High Cathedral. This was it. She was finally at the second home of one of the Flames of Death. Doland, Light of the Sky. Sunset wondered just what this Doland was.
Beginning her walk across the long bridge, Sunset took some time to gaze up towards the sun, glad to feel the warm light against her skin. The last two places had been dark and dreary and she didn’t particularly like those. Warmth made her feel more alive, and it was a welcoming sight to know that the world wasn’t completely dark.
An archway loomed ahead, hanging above the doorless entryway, with one statue of the winged creature perched on it. This one’s face was larger and with more details, making it much more eerie to look at.
Sunset hurriedly scurried into the cathedral, now looking at a red carpet leading in, with statues of knights at the sides, each of them resting their sword tip on the base. The cathedral was quite wide here, with more pews dotting the left and right sides and a staircase at the back leading up, almost similar to the one Sunset was just in, though this one was more to the right and the steps were smaller.
Near a similar altar at the end was a bonfire, which Sunset was quick to use. These rest points always made her feel safe. When she was done, the only visible pathway was the staircase leading up, so that was where she went.
It curved to the left and eventually led up to a room similar in size, but this one had plenty of barrels in it and her first enemies of the area. Strange skinny and hunched figures stood before her, carrying swords and sickles, their teeth sharper than the regular human being and their eyes almost devoid of life. Grey hair trailed from their bodies, almost like fur, but more… human.
They always have to look so grotesque.
With a blood curdling shriek, the first one lumbered its way towards her, using its long arms to help itself move forward.
Sunset put a foot back, then at the right moment, she ducked under its swing and slashed out at its side as it past her. The creature grabbed for its side as blood began to pour, but as Sunset got ready to face the second, she felt a change in the air. Suddenly, from the back of the first creature, wings began to sprout, bloody and of a dark grey.
It let out cries of pain as the new appendages broke out of its skin, but then whipped around and flew to Sunset at a high speed. The girl only had a fraction of a second to roll away, but unfortunately, the second creature clawed at her with one hand, cutting through her shoulder and throwing her down underneath itself.
Sunset hit her head on the stone floor, but managed to lift her star sword to block its sickle, the tip curving around her weapon and just barely touched her forehead, dangerously close to piercing through her head.
Readying her crossbow, Sunset pushed it up into the creature’s face and fired. The force of the three bolts knocked it off her, sending it falling back, dead.
“So close…” Sunset touched her forehead, where blood was dripping from a tiny wound.
And then the winged one grabbed her, smashing her against the ceiling with both hands. Sunset vision blurred on impact, but she managed to escape by throwing her sword down and teleporting to it.
Not wasting time, she threw it as soon as she got back to her feet, watching her sword embed into the creature’s left wing. Teleporting back up to it, Sunset pulled down on her weapon, hearing the rending of flesh and muscle as she landed back on the ground below. The creature struggled to maintain lift and soon came crashing down beside her, which let her finish it off by stabbing it through the head.
“That… wasn’t so bad… right?” she said aloud to herself to feel better, like someone else was here.
“Yeah, cool new sword, Sunset. Wish I had one,” someone actually answered.
“What?” Looking around, Sunset soon noticed it had come from Rainbow Dash, who was seated atop one of the many barrels in the room. “Rainbow Dash!”
“Glad you haven’t forgotten me.” The rainbow haired girl hopped off her barrel and dusted her leather pants.
Sunset kept her weapons and ran over to give her friend a hug. “What are you doing here?”
“Heh, I told you, I was looking for something. Didn’t I?” Rainbow squeezed her back. “At long last, after all my journeying, I know where it is. It’s here. It was here all this time in the High Cathedral. Wish I knew sooner. I wouldn’t have wasted all my time in the thief dens.”
“What’s this thing you’re looking for?” Sunset asked as she checked her pack. She still had fourteen arrows left after reloading her weapon. “I could help you find it.”
“Ah, glad you asked, Sunset.” Rainbow panned a hand in the air. “It is a light unlike any other. A brilliant glow in a dark place. It is a light I have set out to find since I left my home. It would only make sense now that it is in the possession of the Light of the Sky himself.”
“Why do you even want it? Does it do something fancy?”
“You haven’t been here long, so I guess I’ll tell you.” Rainbow patted Sunset on the shoulder. “Everyone in this world craves a source of light, be it your Flame of Life, or something awesome like the Sunlight Maggot I search for.”
“Ew, you’re looking for a maggot?” Sunset stuck her tongue out. “Really?”
She knew Rainbow wasn’t one to shy away from bugs, but to spend one’s life searching for a bug was gross.
“What? What’s wrong?” Rainbow shrugged. “It’s bright. That’s what matters. A light of my own, see. You obviously don’t need one, having this flame and all. Must be nice, huh? Being unable to get killed permanently.”
“Well, I haven’t got the chance to try, nor do I want to.” Sunset pictured herself dying, only to supposedly be sent back to a bonfire. “Yeah, no thanks. So this bug, this maggot, it’s in this place?”
“Somewhere.” Rainbow looked over at the walls, where grime and some portraits have been put up. They were pictures of a sunny town or a bald man in some kind of old suit. “I’ll just have to find it.”
“We could look together,” Sunset suggested. She liked having her friends around. “And then there’s the case of defeating Doland. Perhaps you could help me with that?”
“Sounds like a fair trade, Sunset. You get me what I need I see to it you get what you need. Deal.” Rainbow shook her hand. “Then let’s go! We have a mission ahead.”
“Always good to have a friend around.”
The two girls next found a staircase by the back, having to roll through a couple of barrels to see the way. Sunset didn’t know what the point of the barrels were, seeing as they were empty when they broke. Perhaps they were just there for aesthetic reasons.
Only just arriving at the next level, which was a similar room but with windows, three more of those winged creatures attacked, each of them holding a sickle.
“Watch out!” Rainbow dodged to the side, her daggers already in hand. She had new ones, from the last time Sunset had seen her. “I’ll lure them around, try and flank them.”
“Got it.” Sunset clashed with one, blocking and parrying its strikes.
Rainbow had dashed to the other end of the room, drawing the attention of the other two creatures. Using her sword, Sunset teleported right behind her attacker and spun a wide slash out. The creature’s head rolled from its body and it fell shuddering to the floor. Sweeping around and with the other two creatures’ backs to her, Sunset threw her sword into the first one, lodging it between its shoulders. Teleporting to it, Sunset ripped upwards, tearing her blade through flesh and bones, cutting completely through the creature’s head.
The final one turned to face her, sprouting its wings, but Rainbow was already on it, stabbing it in the back with both her daggers, hard enough to slam it against the ground. It thrashed around for a few seconds, trying to fly away, but eventually, stopped moving.
“Phew, you’re right. This isn’t too hard.” Rainbow wiped sweat from her forehead and grinned.
“It’s kinda a lot easier with two people around.” Sunset looked around this room. There wasn’t much here, but there were benches by the far wall. “Is this it, though? Just a straight shot up? Sounds easy enough to navigate.”
“I don’t know.” Rainbow shrugged. “I’ve never been here. Let’s just go on and see. We can handle anything we come across, cause I’m pretty awesome.”
Sunset laughed and followed her friend over to the next staircase. “That you are, Dash.”
The next floor didn’t have any winged creatures, but it did have a big fat brute, holding a large tree trunk-like club in its hands. Its stomach was so large, it seemed to be dragging the creature down, but at the same time, it bounced disgustingly everytime the creature performed some kind of movement.
“Gross.”
The next floor only had a few barrels, so there was much more room to maneuver around its club swings, though Sunset did find herself rolling through one of the barrels to avoid a downward strike.
Throwing her sword to the other end, the fiery haired girl teleported away from its next horizontal swing, getting behind it. Rainbow Dash slid under its legs, cutting at its knees with her blades, though it didn’t seem to do much.
“It’s like its fat is made out of jelly.” Rainbow flicked her blades to rid it of the creature’s blood.
“We’ll have to aim high.” Sunset looked at its head. It had a circular mouth with teeth on its left and right instead of top and bottom, and its eyes were of a faint milky pink, unblinking and disturbing, but the head definitely seemed to be the least protected of its whole form, at least in terms of its bloatedness. “Distract it for me.”
Sunset ran at it again, dodging under one of its club swings as she approached it. Rainbow Dash cut away at one knee, then using her daggers, pulled herself up to the creature’s back, stabbing into it with all she had. The large creature turned to try and rip Rainbow from its back, but it couldn’t reach her.
That moment gave Sunset the opportunity to strike. Aiming up, Sunset spun her star sword into its head, watching as it lodged in there, cutting right through the top of its head. With a teleportation of sparks, Sunset was at her sword, pulling it out and spearing it right through the creature’s left eye, watching her blade tip pierce out through the back of its head.
It took a bit of effort to push her sword through, but soon, the creature fell to its knees and would’ve crushed Sunset when it fell to the floor if she hadn’t teleported away.
“Man, this place is such a joke!” Rainbow kicked the body as it began to dissolve. “I could take them all with my eyes closed.”
“Really?” Sunset did her best to rearrange her red and yellow hair. “I’m happy if it’s easy. Makes getting home easier and faster.”
“Meh. Still better if they put up a good fight.”
The next floor didn’t have walls on the left and right. Instead, they simply led out to a ledge without any railings, meaning if you weren’t careful, you could easy step off the end and just fall all the way down to your doom.
There were more of those creepy winged creature statues in here, most facing outside, while one was placed at the other end of the room, just looking at Sunset and Rainbow eerily.
The sky was a bright blue yellow now. An odd colour for sure, but perhaps it was getting close to sunset now.
“Hmm…” Rainbow Dash stared at a wall and rubbed her chin. “It seems there aren’t anymore steps up.”
“Is this the top?” Sunset bent her head out one of the balconies and looked up. They still had a long way to go to the top of the cathedral. But then she noticed a ladder on the side, bolted into the wall, leading up to another floor of the tall structure. “Hey, Dash, over here. I think I found the way up.”
Sheathing her weapons, Sunset swung herself over to the ladder’s rungs, making sure her feet were stable before attempting the climb. There was no floor beneath her and any wrong move would mean her almost certain end. She had to make sure she took this nice and easy.
Of course, about half way up, an arrow suddenly flew down past her, a little off target, behind her.
“Archer on top, Sunset. Watch out!” Rainbow called from below her, a few rungs behind.
Sunset looked up, spotting one of those winged creatures standing at the top, already readying another arrow. She didn’t want to risk throwing her sword, in case she were to miss or send it flying down instead. She didn’t want to have to start her climb up the cathedral all over again.
Instead, the girl took out her crossbow, holding on to the ladder with one hand, keeping an eye on the archer above at the same time. Another arrow came sailing down and Sunset had to inch herself over to the left to avoid the arrow. Below, there was a cry of pain and she looked down only to see Rainbow hanging on with dear life, the arrow in her right arm.
“Hang on, Dash!” Sunset yelled and quickly aimed her crossbow up, firing at the creature. The bolt pierced right through its neck and after a brief choking, the creature fell past her and Rainbow, falling all the way down into the forest surrounding the High Cathedral. “I got you, Dash.”
Sunset had kept her crossbow and climbed back down to where her friend was dangling in the air. Stopping next to her rainbow haired friend, Sunset took out one of her flasks and tipped it to Rainbow’s mouth, allowing her to down its contents.
“Man, that’s the stuff…” Rainbow smiled as she pulled the arrow from her upper arm. “Thanks, Sunset.”
“Anytime for a friend.”
Climbing the rest of the way up, the top of the ladder led them into a much more decorated floor, complete with red banners hanging from rafters above and a red carpet leading down to some kind of altar, where more statues of the disturbing winged creature were positioned. Pews lined the sides, almost like the ones at the end of the Unlit Abbey she had been in.
There were no monsters on this floor, but instead, there was a bonfire smack in the middle of the room, between a row of pews. A bonfire was always a welcoming sight.
“Finally, a break.” Sunset lit the fire and sat down before it, stretching her hands out to warm herself up.
The warmth of a fire wasn’t exactly something she really needed right now, but the bonfire’s warmth was different. It was the comfortable feeling the fire gave her that made her want to just sit and stay for a while. Something about it reminded her of home, of her friends, and of a world without these nightmarish monsters at every corner. It made her feel safe.
“So…” She decided to strike up a conversation with her friend. “This Doland, do you know anything about him?”
Rainbow looked out the edge where they had climbed up from, where dark clouds were beginning to roll in, blocking out parts of the yellow sky. “Everyone knows the story of Doland, Light of the Sky.”
Sunset chuckled and shook her head. “Not everyone.”
“Ha, well…” Rainbow looked back down at one of her hands. “Doland used to be a sorcerer from a far away land, coming here to search for a flame.”
“Everyone comes here for flames, huh?”
“Lucky you, Sunset, that you started your journey here with one. You don’t know what most people here would do for a flame, especially one like yours.” Rainbow mimicked slicing her throat with a finger. “Hay, even I came here looking for one, and well, thanks to you, Sunset, I’m about to finally find it! Hopefully…
“Anyway, continuing on. So not much is known about how Doland found his flame, but rumors say he got it from the Abyss, as with all the other Flames of Death. The tales speak of the Abyss creating its own dark flame to counter the ones of the life. I don’t know how the Abyss even came to be, Sunset, but there’s no denying, the Abyss is a dark place.”
“You don’t say…”
“Yeah… So to continue, the flame changed Doland. Everyday, he became one step further and further away from being human, and well, just look at him now.” Rainbow panned a hand over to the winged creature statues. “You can’t even tell he’s human anymore.”
“That’s Doland, huh?” Sunset looked at the statue for as long as she could. It still sent chills down her spine. “He’s definitely not really a human anymore, that’s for sure.”
“Yup. And those that come here, they come here to worship Doland like some kind of deity.” Rainbow shook her head at the statue. “I don’t even know what for.”
“But he has that light you’re seeking, huh? That Sunlight maggot.”
“Yeah, that’s what I heard in my recent travels. Doland has these bugs feeding on the flame he emits. Apparently, some of them mature into sunlight maggots after consuming enough of it, turning his dark flame into a really awesome bright one, which I intend to acquire.”
“Well, I guess you’ve got life sorted out, huh?” Sunset dusted her hands near the bonfire and then stood up. “Come on. We should move. The sooner we find Doland, the sooner I can go home and the sooner you can get that bug of yours.”
“Right-o, Sunset!” Rainbow hopped to her feet.
There weren’t any staircases on this floor, but behind the altar, there was another balcony, with a ladder leading up to another entrance above.
With nothing else to go on, Sunset began the climb up, though she kept her crossbow ready, just in case. She didn’t have very many bolts left, so she had to make her shots count.
This time, the way up the ladder didn’t include any random monsters and Sunset soon found herself on the next floor. However, there was an enemy on this floor, one of the winged creatures with a sickle. It saw her and immediately broke into a frenzy, rushing towards her with its weapon already swinging at the air.
Dodging away from the ladder, Sunset kicked it in the back as she rolled, turning around just in time to see the creature fall off the ledge. There was a shriek and it plummeted out of her view, with only a feather remaining, slowly floating down to the floor.
“What the hay! That was a shocker.” Rainbow Dash was soon up the ladder, patting at her head. “Didn’t expect to see that.”
“Yeah… uh, sorry about that.” Sunset smiled sheepishly. She had just reacted instinctively. She forgot Rainbow had been behind her. “You okay?”
“Yeah yeah, don’t worry about it. No harm done.” She arranged her rainbow hair. “Look at that!”
She ran past Sunset, looking over at a tall statue in the middle of the room. This time, it wasn’t a statue of Doland, but of a tall man with a crown of sorts on his head. He stood straight and held a sword, its tip resting against the base of the statue.
“Huh. Never seen one of these before. I wonder who this is…” Rainbow rubbed at her chin as she went around the statue. There were stone bugs scattered at his feet in various states of metamorphosis. “Hey, it’s the sunlight maggot! I knew it was here somewhere! We’re on the right track, Sunset!”
“Uh huh.” The maggots were a lot bigger than she had imagined. Judging the size of the statue maggots, they were almost as big as Sunset’s own head.
The rear of the room led to another staircase past a few barrels, which was easily dealt with with a combat roll, with Sunset shattering them all in a single roll. The steps up here were dirtier and filled with more smudges of oil, at least, Sunset thought it was oil. She guessed perhaps the monsters didn’t come this far up, but that was a silly thought. Of course there was going to be more resistance up here. There always was.
“Man, how much further up?” Sunset looked up the stairwell and spotted an open ceiling in the next floor. There was an old wooden ladder that lead up a few more floors, all of them with a hole to allow the ladder to go all the way up, unhindered. “That’s… a pretty long ladder.”
“Oh, what a thrill.” Rainbow clapped her hands and skipped up three more steps. “As long as nothing else falls down the ladder while we’re climbing, we should be fine.”
“Yeah, wasn’t the best of my plans…” Sunset admitted. She should’ve kicked it further.
The climb up was relatively peaceful. There were no monsters on the floors they passed by and the air around them was really quiet. A bird actually flew by at one point, then dive bombing down towards the woods surrounding the cathedral. If Sunset didn’t know any better, it kind of looked like the owl she’d been having to deal with recently.
After another three floors and a few complaints from Rainbow Dash, Sunset could finally see the end of the ladder, with only rusty latches holding it in place. Seeing how it could actually break at any minute, Sunset quickened her pace, wanting to be off the rungs before anything like that could happen.
“That wasn’t so hard.” Rainbow dusted her hands as soon as she was up on the next floor with Sunset. “Isn’t that right?”
“Yeah, it’s a nice change not having to face a monster around every corner.” She still took her star sword out in case. She wasn’t going to drop her guard anytime soon.
The new floor was about as small as the last few floors they had climbed past, with an opening in the floor to allow them to climb down or simply drop back down. A small perimeter allowed the girls to walk around to the other side, where a staircase once again led up. This floor had no paintings or even decorations, except for a few pieces of cloth dangling from the ceiling. Sunset hoped that meant most of the action was below them, where more of the furniture and decor was. Things looked more desolate up here. Maybe devoid of life even.
“We may be nearing the top. Ooh, this is exciting, isn’t it?” The blue-skinned girl clapped her hands.
“Sure is…” Sunset still remembered her fight with Drawgren, the previous Flame of Death. It hadn’t been an easy one and she had to witness another friend die, even if she wasn’t really there. Dash was here with her in the flesh, meaning if she were to die…
Sunset just didn’t want to think about it. Watching Fluttershy and Vinyl die as phantoms was bad enough. She didn’t want to have to see one of her friends die in the flesh too.
Rainbow Dash led the way up, her daggers brandished, her arms at her sides. She looked ready for a fight, but at the same time, not fully prepared, like she really wasn’t expecting any combat at all. Sunset didn’t trust the brief peace she had at the moment. Knowing this world, there was always a creature behind the next corner, she just knew it.
As she had expected, another one of the big brutes smashed a tree trunk-like club through a trio of barrels next to the staircase, almost crushing Rainbow. The sudden attack still caught her by surprise, but at least she still remained ready.
“Woah!” Rainbow threw herself forward the rest of the way up the stairs, just narrowly avoiding another sweep of the creature’s club.
Sunset had thrown her sword up into the air and teleported to it when it began its descent, but before she could strike the creature, two of the winged monsters attacked her from behind, spearing their sickles through both of Sunset’s upper arms, pinning her to the floor, her star sword spinning away.
“Sunset! I’m coming!” Rainbow tried to run over, but another of the winged creature’s jumped on her back and bit her in the neck. “Agh!” The rainbow haired girl took a step back and tumbled back down the steps.
Pain flared in Sunset’s arms as she tried to get back up, but all strength had left her arms and her sword was far away from her reach.
Far away…
That was when Sunset disappeared in a flash of blue sparks, appearing beside her weapon.
Both her arms hurt to the point where she almost couldn’t feel anything else, but she still fought back the urge to simply sit back and die and downed an estus flask from her pack. Almost as soon as she had done so, Sunset rolled back and out of the way as the large monster attacked, sweeping its club at her. It caught one of the winged creatures and sent it hurtling against a painting on the wall, breaking it in half. There was a snap and the creature’s limp body rolled down the steps where Rainbow was still busy trying to pry her creature off her back. Dark blood spilled from her neck as the creature’s teeth sank deeper, but she too refused to give up.
“Heads up, Rainbow!” Sunset aimed and threw her sword at them.
Nodding, the rainbow haired girl turned herself around and Sunset teleported to her weapon just as it embedded itself in the creature’s back between its wings. It screeched into the air as Sunset pulled her weapon upwards, cutting through its neck and head before facing the remaining winged creature, which was on its way down the steps too.
She threw her sword at it, but before she could land a hit, Rainbow was already on it, spinning like a top and slashing through its arms and chest repeatedly, each slash drawing dark blood. When Sunset’s star sword found its way into the creature’s neck, it was already dead, sliding down the steps with a sickening squelch.
“Not too bad.” She pulled out an estus flask from her pack and gave it to her friend. “Quick, drink this.”
“Definitely, Sunset.” Her friend took it and drank it all down in one breath. The wound on her neck was quick to close up, but the estus did nothing to remove the bloodstains on her skin and garb. “Phew, not bad.”
And then the large grotesque creature began wobbling down the steps, its club at the ready. Sunset nocked in three arrows and fired them, each one finding its mark on the creature’s face. Like its body, its face’s flesh wobbled and shook, but the arrows didn’t seem to slow it down at all.
“Two against one. We’ll finish this quickly.” Rainbow’s daggers reappeared in her hands and she held them up near her shoulders. “Go high.”
“Right.”
As Rainbow Dash charged at the flabby monster, Sunset aimed her blade up high, disappearing in a flash and materializing above the creature.
The creature sensed her descent and looked up, raising its club to smash her aside. With another toss of her star sword, Sunset was hurtling away from the large weapon, then rolling to a stop behind the creature as Rainbow began to spin slashes at its legs.
The monster bellowed and lifted a foot to kick her with, but Sunset was already moving, throwing her sword to the back of its head. She reappeared at her weapon as it thudded into its thick fleshy skull, placing her feet on its squishy shoulders as she tried to steady herself.
With all her might, the fiery haired girl pushed against her sword, feeling it slowly move through the back of the creature’s head. Before it could swing its club again, Sunset felt her weapon’s blade slip through something with a crunch and the creature fell to its knees, then its belly, still wobbling long after it had died.
“Close one.” Rainbow wiped sweat from her forehead, narrowly avoiding the body as it fell. “Nice going, Sunset. Man, if I had a sword like yours…”
“That would definitely help.” She stowed her sword by her side and helped her friend up. “Think we’re almost to the top?”
“Probably. We’ve been climbing for, what, five hours?”
“That long?” Sunset raised an eyebrow. Now that Rainbow had mentioned it, she hadn’t been keeping track of time since waking up here, and she didn’t wear a watch too.
“See?” Rainbow pointed outside at the yellow sky. “Sky’s getting darker already.”
“Looks the same to me.”
“Meh, it’s a little darker.”
“Uh, okay. If you say so.”
After taking a few seconds to breathe, the two girls approached the staircase at the other end of the room. This one was larger and wider, and stood next to an open wall, allowing Sunset to look down to see just how high they were; the trees below were almost the size of mugs now.
“Man, imagine falling from here!” Rainbow guffawed and slapped Sunset on the back, almost sending her over. “Hey, hey, I didn’t mean to actually try falling.”
Sunset flashed her a look of disbelief, which she answered with a shrug before moving up the steps. These steps seemed to go on and on, spiralling up the cathedral, unlike the previous floors. Looking up, Sunset Shimmer couldn’t even see where they led, going so high that she couldn’t even make out what the next landing would look like.
“Come on. Time’s a’ wasting!” Rainbow kept her weapons and started into a light jog.
“Well, I do want to get home, after all…” Sunset sighed and began running up behind her.
Using her desperation to return home as her energy source, Sunset found herself moving up flight after flight of steps, winding round and round as she pressed for the top of the cathedral. It had been about the thirteenth flight when she began to feel her legs grow heavy and it it was around the nineteenth flight where she began to pant and slow down.
“Come on! Keep up, Sunset!” Rainbow called from above, two flights ahead of her.
“Oh man…” Sunset murmured, but looked up and wiped her hair from her face. “Coming… Rainbow… Just… Wait up…”