When the world around her reappeared, Sunset Shimmer realized she was not back in Fyrlon, like the last two times she had beaten a Flame of Death.
Instead, she now stood in a white world, where ground and sky seemed to have no edge, and everything was bright as though everything she looked at was like looking up at a morning sky.
“What happened? Where am I?” She looked at herself. To her relief, she still had all her gear.
“Welcome back, Sunset Shimmer. I must say, I did not expect we would meet again.”
Behind her walked a figure from her past, and like she had said, a figure she also didn’t think she would ever see again.
It was a woman with pale green skin and glittering green hair of different shades. A set of steel armor adorned her body, along with a flowing tattered red cape over her right shoulder and there was no way Sunset would ever forget who she was.
“Emerald Edge,” she breathed. “What are you… Are you really here?”
Emerald Edge was the founder of the Assassin Brotherhood, which Sunset had come into contact with quite some time ago. At the end of that adventure, Emerald had assisted her in defeating Sombra, an ancient enemy from Equestria. In doing so, she had fulfilled a thousand year-long quest in service of the late Princess Amore of the Crystal Empire and could finally have rest, or at least, Sunset had thought so.
“I am, Sunset.” The First Assassin nodded and placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “I wish I could say it was good to see you, but that would not be fair for you, would it?”
“B-But how are you here? What’s going on? Do you know where I am?” Sunset fired a barrage of questions at her. “Do you know how I got here?”
“We are inexorably linked, Sunset Shimmer,” Emerald said serenely. “Though my spirit has passed on to the beyond, it’s possible some small part of my consciousness remains with you. Outside of that, I do not know why I can still speak to you. Perhaps someone more skilled in the studies of magic can tell you. As to why you are in this world, I do not know, but I can tell you that someone must have brought you to it.”
Sunset looked around at the expansive white. “Am I still in that world? Where is this?”
“Why, you are in the Memory Core, Sunset.” Emerald lifted a hand and a small white glassy orb floated down from above and stopped just above her palm. “This is where I have chosen to meet you. To explain to you the powers you house.”
Sunset looked down at herself. “You mean the Flame of Life?”
“Yes, this flame.” Emerald spun the orb in her hand. A display of images could be seen among its surface, with images of Sunset battling Drawgren, Doland, and even the grineer queens from another event. “There is much about it you still do not yet know. That is why I am here. To teach you once again.”
“How do you know about all this?” Sunset asked. “Isn’t this far ahead of your time?”
Emerald shrugged. “It is possible that I am not really Emerald Edge at all, but rather another entity which has taken her form because you trust me. But even if that is so, I promise you that I mean you no ill will, whether I truly am who I appear to be or not.”
“Oh.”
“The powers you had awakened during your fight with Sisha the Immolating Flame revealed to you the true strength of the Flame of Life. Just like the Flames of Death, you are able to draw out your flame’s power and use it against your enemies.”
“So you’re going to teach me to do this at will?”
“Yes, Sunset, but be warned…” Emerald wagged a finger. “A Flame of Life’s goal is not to harm, but to save. Its lethal power is not meant to be used continuously and should only be used in times of dire need.”
“Like my fight with Sisha?” Sunset had almost lost that one, but because of her sudden transformation, she had come out of that victorious.
The First Assassin nodded her head. “You are only able to conjure up its power once, but each time you rest, you rejuvenate your flame and yourself, allowing another use again.”
“Oh, that’s… neat, I guess,” Sunset said. “That’s not fair, how the Flames of Death can just blow everything away all the time.”
“While they may have more destructive power, yours, Sunset, as you have heard, gives life to you. Each time you die-”
“Which thankfully, hasn’t happened yet.” Sunset looked at her attire. Her chest armor and gauntlets were gone, and what cloth she had left was tattered and burnt, but at least she was still fine.
“Which thankfully hasn’t happened yet,” Emerald agreed. “But if it were to happen, why, you’d just come back to life. A Flame of Death has no such power.”
“I suppose not.” A few moments of quiet after that made Sunset a little restless. “So… What happens now? How do I learn this power?”
Emerald responded by drawing a sword at her side. It was gold and silver with a straightedge and a little horse head pommel at the bottom.
The Sword of Equestria.
Sunset had wielded this weapon once before, during her fight with Sombra. She knew its powers and what it could do. It was certainly a weapon to behold.
“Come, Sunset Shimmer.” Emerald lifted her blade to the side of her head and shifted her feet further apart. “We shall do battle.”
“What? I have to fight you?”
“This is but a memory in the Memory Core. You cannot kill me, because I am not really here. And if I kill you, you would just come back.”
“Umm… Okay.” Sunset whipped out her star sword. She didn’t feel comfortable fighting another friend, but Emerald’s words made sense. “So we’re going all the way?”
The First Assassin nodded again. “Do not hold back, because neither will I.”
The clashing of steel resounded across the white expanse as Emerald had suddenly charged in, quick as lightning, both their swords bouncing off each other with a small shower of sparks. Sunset almost hadn’t had time to react, but age old skills that Emerald had passed to her long ago had come in useful once again as she moved, keeping her balance as she scanned for a good time to strike back.
She knew Emerald’s fighting style. Hay, she had Emerald’s fighting style, seeing as the Assassin had passed it down to her. She knew its strengths, she knew its flaws. All she needed to do was use that to her advantage, though this was knowledge Emerald also had.
“Channel your power, Sunset.” Emerald stretched her sword out and it began to pulse with electricity. “Understand what it is inside of you and bring it out.”
The next clash sent jolts of electricity running through Sunset’s veins as her sword struck Emerald’s. She found herself rooted to the spot for a second, unable to do anything as Emerald slid past her, her sword cutting clean through her side and drawing a spray of blood.
“Aah-aaahh!” Sunset collapsed to her knees, gasping as she fought against the pain to get an estus flask. Fortunately, Emerald made no move to finish her and she was allowed to restore her strength.
“Shabby, Sunset Shimmer.” Emerald flicked her sword to the side, expelling the girl’s blood and sparks of lightning. “You cannot deflect a blade that has been imbued with the elements unless
your weapon was designed to do so.”
“Figured as much.” Sunset rubbed at her arm and stood up. It still felt like she had been electrocuted even after the estus. “Again.”
“As you wish. Reach within yourself, Sunset. Find that light… and hold on to it.”
And she was no longer where she was standing, dashing so fast that Sunset almost couldn’t see her. The girl threw herself back as Emerald’s sword pierced through the air where her head had been. . She did a flip backward, keeping her sword in front of herself to guard. Emerald nodded with approval before launching herself a Sunset, intent on performing a flying kick.
To Sunset, everything appeared to happen in slow motion. Emerald sailed through the air at her, one leg outstretched. Sunset ducked beneath the kick, following up with a slash from her star sword, wounding Emerald across the thigh. For a moment, the tiniest fraction of a second, Sunset felt something hot light up in her chest, right under her sternum.
"That's the way, Sunset," Emerald nodded, landing on the ground and spinning to face the girl. "You're getting it."
Sunset tried to hold onto the spark of heat, but it had gone out. She had to find some way to re-ignite the Flame of Life within herself.
A sudden blast of wind from Emerald sent Sunset sprawling, unhurt but stunned and disoriented. She dropped her sword, and as she went to recover it, the blade nicked her finger. Blood dripped from the small cut, but instead of being red like normal, the liquid that came out was a fiery orange, like a tiny wellspring of magma. Magma, or flame. The fiery blood dripped onto the ground, where a tiny wildfire sprang up, its tongues reaching up at Sunset. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt.
“I think I get it…” Sunset said. She drew out an estus flask and let her blood drip into it. The flask bubbled as its contents mixed together, then the flask shone a bright white.
Emerald smiled. “Very good, Sunset. Just keep in mind, your mastery over your Flame of Life is yet untrained, so you will only be able to use it once per bonfire visit, and you must use one of your estus flasks to harness the Flame. That is the price for wielding such enormous power.”
“So I’m down one flask now?” Sunset shook the flask in her hand.
Emerald swished her sword in the air. “Tell you what, Sunset. If you defeat me, I shall award you with more flasks. Come, use your new power and face me.”
Emerald raised her sword in front of herself, parallel to her body. With a flash of bright light, a golden aura began to encase her and golden wings of light sprouted from her back as her body assumed its half-pony form.
“Here goes nothing…” Sunset downed the white estus. Immediately, the warmth in her body began to spread and she was enveloped in the feeling of home, her form shifting to match Emerald’s ears and ponytail. Her sword flashed alabaster and became gold and her eyes blazed a stark white glow.
Raising her star sword to her side, Sunset was now ready for battle.
“Now come.” Emerald smirked and flew to Sunset almost in a blink of an eye. “Let us see what you can do with this. Remember, it does not last forever. Make sure you make it count!”
Sunset could not, in all her time in this new place, remember fighting a foe as nimble, powerful, nor stalwart as Emerald Edge. Emerald flew at her with diving slashes, which Sunset deflected using her own blade. She grunted with each impact, for Emerald’s strength had been elevated to levels beyond human or hollow. But Sunset would not submit. She hurled her blade up at Emerald, and when she swooped out of the way, Sunset simply threw it again, while hanging in mid-air. Chaining teleports was not something she had tired before, but with the power of the Flame of Life, it felt as natural as breathing. The two struggled in mid air, Emerald’s wings flapping in a desperate bid to keep them airborne.
Using her right hand to keep Emerald’s sword away, Sunset reached out with her left hand and fired off a combustion spell. But to her surprise, the resultant explosion of fire was over a hundred times as large as she had meant to cast, and the blast tore the two fighters apart.
Sunset landed in a crouch. She felt good, amazing! Her sword felt as light as a wooden switch, and with the energy running through her body like electricity, she could do this all day.
Emerald, about fifty meters away, rose to her feet. Scorch marks were smeared across her armor and one of her wings looked as though it had been damaged beyond flight capability. Still, she flourished her sword in her right hand and curled her functional wing around her left side like a shield.
Sunset pressed the attack, sprinting across the space to Emerald. She threw a fireball as she ran, and as she half-expected, the orb that she launched out was a huge mass of heat and flame. It fell short of her target, but as it hit the ground it exploded, spraying molten magma all around.
Emerald aimed her sword at Sunset and a crackling lightning bolt shot at Sunset. The girl countered by throwing her sword forward so that it caught the lightning bolt, rendering it harmless. Once the flash of electricity subsided, she teleported over to it and slingshotted herself at Emerald.
The spymaster raised her wing to block the attack, but Sunset would not be denied. She pressed the tip of her weapon into the shield wing, punching through and scoring a line in Emerald’s armor. Sunset pulled the wing aside and headbutted Emerald, who reeled back, stunned.
Without hesitation, Sunset threw another fireball, this one exploding right in Emerald’s face and scattering more magma across the ground. Smoke and vapor rose up, obscuring Sunset’s view.
Then, out of the smog, Sunset’s star sword was thrown out, landing tip down in the nondescript ground.
“Well done, Sunset Shimmer.” A ghostly voice said. As the smoke began to clear, Sunset realized that whatever she had been fighting was not Emerald Edge at all. It was a tall, willowy figure in a black robe, wearing a smiling mask.
“Who… who are you?” Sunset asked, plucking her sword from the ground and holding it before herself.
“I am the spirit of the Rite of Kindling,” The masked figure said. “I oppose the Abyss and the Nightmare. Dark forces are at work, and I have long waited for someone like you to come and set things right.”
“Nightmare?” Sunset repeated. She had heard of the Abyss, but Nightmare was something she has only thought she had heard about.
“You must travel to the Abyss and defeat the master of this evil dream. Even now your friends are converging on you, to bring you back to the waking world. But to return, you must finish your quest.”
“So it is a dream.” Sunset scuffed her shoe against the ground. “If this is all a dream,” She reasoned. “Won’t I wake up if I die?”
The masked figure shook its head. “This is no normal dream, Sunset. Should you fall, you will rise and rise again… until you lose all hope and become hollow.”
Sunset shivered. She had seen plenty of hollows and had no desire to join their ranks.
“But my time runs short. The Lord of the Waking Nightmare turns his attention to us. I will give you the Rite of Kindling and send you on your way.”
“Wait, lord? Tell me who it is!”
A writhing black flame outlined in red appeared in the spirit’s outstretched hand and flew over to Sunset.
“With the Rite of Kindling, you can gain more estus flasks at bonfires,” The spirit explained. “Equestria needs you, Sunset Shimmer. More than ever. You must succeed in your quest and return. Forces are stirring, and this is but the beginning. Remember to use the power of your Flame, Sunset Shimmer. Goodbye.”
And then all the lights went out, and Sunset opened her eyes to find herself back in Fyrlon.