All That Shimmers

by Justice3442

Chapter 4: Woke Up On the Wrong Side of the Hellish Landscape

All That Shimmers

Chapter 4: Woke Up On the Wrong Side of the Hellish Landscape

-ooooooo-

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig.

Not that I’m sold on the idea this barren wasteland full of lava and thick with the smell of sulfur is actually my home. I may not remember the first few years of my life clearly, but I distinctly remember them being full of less fire…

“Welcome back.”

…and less demons.

I turn and there I am again. Well, demon me or the demon inside me. She’s hovering several yards away with folded arms and smiling at me with her fanged teeth as she chuckles.

I just shot her a sort of unamused look. She killed me once, or at least it sure felt like she did, and I’m still here. I’m guessing I’m not in any mortal danger, but probably in for a pretty painful evening.

Still grinning, the demon turns green irises set against a pitch black void up at the sky and places a claw against her chin. “Let’s see…” she coos, “… I think my favorite part of today was when you almost lost your breakfast during a group hug… No wait,” she says with a smile, “actually it was when you had to pretend you actually cared about lemurs.” She tilts her head and purses her lips as she stares at me, “No, actually… the part when you started crying when you got your new jacket,” she smiles wickedly at me “that was definitely the high, or should I say ‘low’, point of the day.”

I sigh and roll my eyes as I fold my arms over my jacket. Not sure what I was expecting, but it’s my old one. My new one has a few less studs in the collar and more prominent, metal buttons. Must be some sort of mental projection thing like out of a Sci-fi movie where people are hooked up to computers or something…

“Are you going somewhere with this?” I ask snidely. “I have a full day of figuring out how to get rid of you, and you’re kind of cutting into my sleep here.”

Demon me gives me an open mouth smirk that shows off her fangs. She flies down in front of me, kneeling so she’s roughly at my level. I’m reminded at how big I…erm… she is and it’s a bit unnerving to say the least.

She flicks out a large claw and holds it under my chin. I suddenly regret the whole ‘cutting into my sleep crack’, especially as she flicks the claw up. For me, this was something of a nice power move to jar whoever I did it to into noticing who they were dealing with. In this case, the claw cuts up my face, through my lips, and slices my left nostril. I quickly raise a hand over the left side of my face as pain shots through it and blood starts pouring out. The idea that this meeting probably won’t be fatal is suddenly not as comforting. This hurts.

Hello.

I’m Sunset Shimmer and…

… You know what? You probably get it by now…

“Silly Sunset Shimmer~,” the demon practically sings out, “you can’t get rid of me. I’m in you, I’m part of you!” The demon chuckles softly and raises back to her full height. “Go ahead. Buy your little books and try whatever spells or rituals you find. You know you’ll just screw it up.”

I look up at demon me with a glare, “I don’t think so. Magic is something of my forte, remember?”

“Was, maybe,” demon me says, “but you haven’t used magic in a long time...” she stares up briefly and cocks her head slightly, “well, aside from the day before yesterday, of course.”

I shake my head and point an index finger at demon me, “Mark my words, I’ll find what I need to get rid of you and then it’s back to nice, restful sleep.”

“Ah, yes. And back to your great, big plan of a nice, quiet life of hanging out with friends, talking about primates, going to birthday parties?” Demon me rolls her eyes, “Sounds riveting…” she says sarcastically.

I try frowning, but the shooting pain in my face turns my expression into a grimace. Aside from staving off soul crushing loneliness, what exactly am I trying to accomplish?

“We both know that isn’t you,” the demon says. “You never had any friends back in Equestria, and you never made any here. Do you really think having friends is suitable replacement for your ambition?”

I spit out a gob of blood, “My ambition was become a princess! Not march into Equestria and take over!”

Demon me snickers, “You make it sound like the two are mutually exclusive. What were you going to do when Celestia was inevitably displeased with the power you gained and denied you and stature of you own?”

This shuts me up in a hurry. I always just hoped the crown would turn me into an alicorn and then after my big, ‘I told you so!’ moment, Celestia would be all smiles and suddenly I’d have a title and kingdom of my own, or something… I retrospect, probably not a likely outcome given how I would have come about my transformation. In all likeliness, I’d probably end up angrily challenging Celestia for the throne when she snubbed me. Judging by how well things went here with an elementless Twilight and crew, I have a pretty good guess how that might have turned out…

Demon me chuckles, “Anyhow, you’re out of practice when it comes to magic. Maybe you should get some help?” She grins, “I suggest a young priest and an old priest.”

I narrow my eyes at her. Dang, that was a good line.

She taps a claw against the side of her face thoughtfully, “I guess I’ll have to prepare a bunch of nasty things to say… work out my timing with spinning my head around, that sort of stuff…”

“It’s not going to matter because I’ll get you out of me myself,” I declare.

The demon gives me a knowing smile, “Sorry, but it won’t work, removing me would be like trying to remove a vital organ and seeing how long you could last without it.”

“Forgive me if I don’t take your word on that,” I reply.

Demon me raises her hands in a shrug, “Go ahead then, it’ll be worth it just to see the look on your face when you find out it what trying to remove me will do.”

I am starting to lose an awful lot of blood. Pretty sure she cut me to the bone with that little claw flick. “Seriously, was there a point to this little visit?” I ask. “I’m starting to get light headed here.”

The demon cocks her head and smiles at me. “Point?” She leans down and simply pokes me in the stomach with a dagger like talon. It pierces a couple of inches, and I let out a pained gasp and fall to my knees. I use my right hand to cover the puncture wound as more blood slowly seeps out of me.

I glance back up at her, and make a mental note to avoid words that can result in sharp, pun related injury. “Wha…why?” I stammer out. It’s about all I can manage at this point.

She grins at me as she flaps her wings and puts some distance between us once more, “Because it’s fun! Much more entertaining than watching you pretend you care about Twilight’s friends or see them as anything more than resources to be used and thrown away when they’ve outlived their usefulness.”

The words cut much deeper than any wound she’s inflicted on me. It’s actually quite possible I’m not cut out to make and have friends. I managed to calculate and bluff my way through today, but who knows if I can keep it up? As much as I want Twilight’s friends to like me, I’m honestly not sure if I like them… or even if I’m capable of liking them.

“Oh, poor Sunset Shimmer,” the demon says in a soft mocking tone, “did I hit a nerve?”

Guess I’m not doing a good job hiding my feelings with all the effort to keep my blood inside my body. “GO TO HE...aven,” I say, narrowly catching myself before I said something stupid… or at least stupider than the thing I did say. Hey, cut me some slack. It’s getting increasingly harder to stay focused, let alone conscious.

The demon just shakes her head, “You really should just give it up. Abandon this friendship garbage and accept that I’m who you’re destined to be. It’ll be quicker,” she smiles at me again, “and you’ll be happier.”

I sneer at her, “I think I’ll take my chances with people who don’t have a habit of slicing me up.”

The demon rolls her eyes as her smile remains plastered on her face, “Have it your way~!” She holds her hands out in front of her and her palms begin to glow green. Black beams shot out from the glow and meet in front of her, creating a fireball that grows wider and wider. I can do nothing but stare at the large ball of flame as it’s hurled in my direction.

I scream as the flames touch my body. An excruciating, burning sensation envelops me and then my eyes shot open as I sit up.

It’s morning, and I’m in bed. Bonus points, I’ve soaked another pair of PJs and my blankets again.

Swell…

I do a quick feel of my body. On the plus side, I don’t seem to be cut anywhere and it’s rather likely my skin is still attached and not burnt to a crisp.

I feel rough. The last couple days and nights have been a whirlwind of activity, sure, but I’m starting to sense the demon’s visits are affecting my sleep somewhat. She mentioned breaking me down. I wonder if this is all part of it.

Well, no time to sit and dwell on exactly how this all will go down. I’ve got to sort out how I’m going to get out of this mess before I’m a heap of sleep deprived, angstridden sadness, or worse; a giant, magical, ice-blooded killer.

I throw my sweat soaked sheets off me and hop out of bed. My options are leave them for the day in all likelihood that I’ll be sleeping in that disgusting mess tonight, waste another hour or two on laundry, or buy a few spare sets to avoid either of those things and maybe minimize trips to the complex’s laundry mat and having to scrounge up cash and quarters if this continues.

The later sounds more appealing at the moment. I got sidetracked and lost a day already, I need all the time I can get.

The mall was a bust, but I wasn’t expecting much from it. There’s a few other bookstores in town. The used bookstores in particular might have the odd item here and there and I can probably get digital copies of anything I want to start with.

I grab my phone off my nightstand and consider my options. I already had a sizable portion of the school’s contact info saved for one reason or another… Alright, so those reason where almost always blackmail or manipulation related to me winning whatever it was I wanted at the time. However, in this case, I may have a few options to consider.

I dismiss most of Twilight’s friends as options immediately. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity are likely to be skeptical at absolute best regarding my predicament. Fluttershy would probably faint on the spot if I told her what was happening, and might continue to do so if I she was expected to look through books on demonology and dark magic. Pinkie Pie I actually consider briefly; she’s definitely more open minded than anyone else in the group, and between her eagerness to be my friend and her sheer craziness, she’d probably take whatever I say at face value… Unfortunately, I don’t know how great she is at keeping secrets. Given she practically never stops talking ever, I’m guessing she’s not that great at it.

I scroll through my contacts and stop dead in my tracks as my eyes catch a particular name, ‘Flash Sentry’. Flash, like pretty much all my boyfriends before him, was a means to an end. That being said, Flash could further my goals better than any of the boyfriends before him. He was popular, well liked, had the coolest car out of the entire student body. He helped softened my image for a while with that ‘nice guy’ personality of his. Trouble was, my demanding nature and tendency to treat people around me like slaves who should be grateful that they even get to look at me wore on him. Usually my social stature, looks, ability to fake moments of human warmth, and made up sob stories will keep a guy interested until I no longer have a use for them.

Flash, unfortunately, never really stopped being useful, and I ended up getting attached without really noticing. Sadly, this didn’t result in me altering my behavior, and Flash, who actually had quite a bit going on for him, eventually dumped me.

That night, I probably ran through just about every fake emotion and made up tragic incident from my childhood before it dawned on me that Flash had caught on to what I was doing some time back. Which probably explained why he was breaking up with me in the first place. I’m ashamed to admit I actually pleaded with him to give me another shot. When this didn’t work, I tried another tactic…

… Turns out angry screaming and throwing things is not an effective trick to keep someone in a relationship with you.

The following days were spent coming up with various plans and schemes to get Flash back. Most of which were dismissed when I realized how ridiculous they were. The few I did try just resulted in embarrassing and somewhat painful moments of being rejected anew, and the last one I had to abandon because I could never pull together the resources or timing to get Flash and I stuck in an elevator together…

I almost convinced myself to go through with my plan of sabotaging the breaks on Flash’s muscle car as a final act of revenge, but realized that I’d probably be suspect number one after his untimely demise. I had a feeling I’d regret the action, anyhow.

I push my thumb against his name, go to options, and hit the delete button.

A message on my phone asks me if I’m sure and reminds me the number will be permanently deleted. I sigh, hit cancel, and backtrack back to the contact menu. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done that. Who would have thought the mighty Sunset Shimmer was just as susceptible to ridiculous post break-up nonsense as anyone else?

Anyhow, I’m wasting time. I know exactly who would be willing to help me here… At least… I hope they’re willing…

I scroll down to the ‘S’s and hit a name.

“Snips? I need you to call Snails,” I say as my voice instinctively slips into ‘business mode’, “we’ve got work to do.”

Comments

[MythrilMoth]

Shame she didn't try the one tactic that would've WORKED: a blowjob!

[LightningBass94]

I'm really glad that you wrote another chapter of this. It's one of my top 5 favorites.

I did notice you kept switching between past and present tense in this chapter, though.

[Justice3442]

4020349

Ooops.

Sunset does mention a few things take place in the past... But I'm sure I screwed it up elsewhere. I'll check the chapter at some point and try to fix it up.

Glad you like it!

[LightningBass94]

4020465 I applaud you for attempting a present tense story at all. I've tried, and it never turns out well.

This story, and one other, had me on the hunt for more Sunset Shimmer fics, but I can't find any more of this quality.

[Justice3442]

4020526
Awww, shucks! Thanks!

[Justice3442]

4020728

Glad that you're enjoying it and you like Sunset Demons personality here.

She's like an evil (er?) version of Sunset, with all the snark and possibly more.

[Evowizard25]

Another great chapter. I'm actually wondering about the daemons words.

“I suggest a young priest and an old priest.”

Not those, but I don't understand what she meant by that.

No, I mean about taking her out would be like taking out a vital organ.

Is the daemon pretty much Sunset's past self incarnate that'll haunt her until she changes herself,

Or is she a fragment of the transformation that managed to hang on?

Intriguing questions. Hopefully I'll get answers.

Until then, keep up the good work.

[ForSpite]

4021099
It's an Exorcist reference.

As for the Demon it's probably at least claiming to be her own darkside incarnate the removal of which would ruin her psyche (without all your anger, ambition, lust, etc, you'd probably sit in a lump and starve to death-- of course with only such urges you'd ruin your life with overindulgence).

[ILurvTrixie]

I retrospect,
In

laundry mat
laundromat

softened my image for
soften

will keep a
would

the breaks on
brakes

[Csquared08]

This whole demon thing is kinda interesting, but narration style is starting to grate on me a little bit. I think you went a bit overboard on it

[Csquared08]

“No, actually… the part when you started crying when you got your new jacket,” she smiles wickedly at me “that was definitely the high

In order
*.
*She
*me.
*That

“My ambition was become a princess!

You accidentally a word.

What were you going to do when Celestia was inevitably displeased with the power you gained and denied you and stature of you own?

Something wonky happened at the end of this sentence.

I retrospect, probably not a likely outcome given how I would have come about my transformation.

That should start with "In"

The later sounds more appealing at the moment.

It's spelled "latter"

Alright, so those reason where almost always blackmail

*reasons were

might continue to do so if I she was expected to look through books on demonology and dark magic

You added in an extra word.

He helped softened my image for a while with that ‘nice guy’ personality of his.

*soften

While these mistakes (I'm not pointing out all of them, either) are certainly obnoxious, I know that your current writing is significantly less sloppy than this. So I'm willing to reread and catch back up on this for when you eventually get back to it (with that new and improved writing ability!). The story itself is also quite a bit of fun, and there aren't too many even reasonably well-done stories involving Sunset dealing with Sunset Demon.