//------------------------------// // Chapter 42: The War Within // Story: A Rift Between Worlds // by Cinders of War //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer gazed down a deep mountain pass, watching as the thick snow blowing around the mountains whipped and spiraled all around her. She clutched her shoulders, shivering from the cold, her jacket doing nothing to warm her up, but there was nothing more she could do but go forward. After leaving the bright white area a few minutes ago, the fiery haired girl had found this mountain side, its bottom invisible, blocked by fog. She didn’t know how much time was left, but she needed to push on. A little cold was nothing compared to what would happen if she ran out of time. Ember needed her help. Everyone did. Placing one foot down the slope, Sunset began making her way down, careful not to fall and roll all the way. She knew she needed to hurry, but dying was probably going to mess things up quite a bit. “Pathetic… You’re still going to go slow even though you know this might be the end?” Sunset stopped and looked up. Immediately, one of her feet slipped, sending her tumbling down the mountain pass, scraping her skin against the rocks before coming to a stop at the bottom, tumbling against the soft snow at the bottom. “Ow…” she rubbed at her head, blood already dripping from a cut above her brow, along with multiple bruises all over her body. “Look at you, groveling on the floor like a little whelp. Get up.” “Where… Who are you…?” Sunset opened an eye to look around. Now she was in a cavern, with two holes on the sides allowing her to see out to the vast expanse of snow beyond the mountain. Then from the space within, a small spark seemed to shoot out, then an entire fireball began to form, melting the snow in the middle of the cave as red wings began to spread from it. To her horror, there before Sunset, her demon form emerged from the fire, laughing hysterically before fixating her green eyes on her. “Yes, it’s me, Sunset. It’s yourself. Your true self,” her demon form cackled. “No, you’re not my true self!” Sunset yelled at her as she floated around the cavern, her fiery aura melting the snow from the walls. “You are no longer a part of me!” “Oh, is that so? I guess that’s why I’m here, right?” her demon flexed a finger. “Because I don’t exist any longer? I am you, and you are me. There’s no escaping that, Sunset.” Sunset told herself it was just her imagination. She had left that part of herself long ago. This demon was no longer her. Getting up, she dusted off her sleeves and limped forward, something in her left leg hurting when she stepped down. “And where are you going?” her other self swooped in and blocked the way. “You don’t know the way out. I can help you, you know? All you have to do is ask.” “No, I’m not asking you,” Sunset walked past her and looked on, deeper into the cavern. “I can do this on my own.” “What, with no powers? With the strength of just being a human? What if I told you of the powers you wield? Would you believe me? Would you accept me and use it to save your friends?” “Why would you help me?” Sunset scowled at her demon. “You don’t care about my friends. I didn’t when I was you. I’ve never been more wrong.” “Why do I want to help you? That one’s easy. I want to return, Sunset Shimmer,” her demon form guffawed. “All you have to do is ask. I’ll help you wipe out the Grineer. I’ll help you rescue your friends. Then once we’re done, we can set our eyes further! Imagine all the power you’ll have! The world will do as you ask.” Sunset thought about it. There was no way she was going to accept that much power again. It almost destroyed her the last time and she wasn’t going to risk it a second time, but her friends needed her and she needed the strength to get out of this and back into the Warframe. In the end, she shook her head. “No. I will not accept your help. If I’m doing this, I have to do this on my own strength. Not yours.” Her demon seemed to grow agitated at her words, but then calmed herself and smirked. “Well… Then let’s see your strength against mine.” Without warning, Sunset’s demon raised her hands up high and conjured a large fireball above her head. Reacting on instinct, Sunset made a dash through the cavern, spying light at the end; her only way out. She slid under her demon form at the right second, just narrowly avoiding the fireball as it smashed into the cave ground behind her, slightly singing her hair. Sunset got to her feet and kept going, dodging to the right as another fireball sailed past her, exploding out in the snow beyond the cave exit. “Come back, Sunset Shimmer!” she heard the demon yell behind her. “You cannot escape me! You cannot escape yourself!” Sunset ran on, tripping in the snow once, but regained her footing before another fireball melted through the snow and ice she was just standing on. I have to find my way out of here. Fast. Sunset didn’t know what she was supposed to do, but avoiding her demon form’s attacks was definitely a place to start. The snow sent shivers down her entire body, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it but to endure it till she got out. The icy landscape soon led her to a second cavern, but this one had a floor made of ice with plenty of frozen fish below. Taking a few steps back, Sunset ran forward, stopping as her feet touched the ice, sending her sliding across the floor. Once she started to slow, Sunset kicked off with a boot, moving herself over the frozen lake, looking once over her shoulder to make sure her demon wasn’t anywhere close. Unfortunately, she had just arrived at the entrance, a wicked smile on her face. “Where are you going, Sunset? You know you can’t beat the Grineer if you can’t even beat me!” Then a fireball crashed into the frozen floor behind the girl, melting the immediate area and sending Sunset crashing down into the ice cold waters below. “Sleep, Sunset Shimmer,” she heard her demon form cackle as she slowly began to sink. “If you can’t find your own strength, then don’t bother coming back up.” “Sunset Shimmer. Arise, Sunset Shimmer…” Sunset opened her eyes, noticing the icy waters around her, along with a barrier of light surrounding her, protecting her from the water’s icy grip of death. “What’s going on?” Sunset looked around, reaching out to touch the barrier. “It is good to see you again, Sunset Shimmer…” The fiery haired girl turned to the sides, still unable to see anyone else, but she recognized the voice. It was a voice of a pony that helped her through a string of events many months back. “Emerald Edge? Is that you?” “It is, but at the same time, it is not,” the voice answered her. “This is all but a figment of imagination in your head, Sunset. All of this is. But it is a strong one.” Sunset looked at the flowing waters beyond her barrier of light. It all looked pretty real to her. “How do I get out of here? I need to save my friends and stop the Grineer.” “Why, you can do it, Sunset. You are stronger than you know. That suit you have, that Warframe, it’s more than just a means of protection and mobility.” Sunset creased her eyebrows as she tried to make sense of Emerald’s words. “But how? How do I find that strength to escape this place?” “Look deep in yourself, Sunset Shimmer. Remember, you’re not human and these suits are conduits of magical energy. You need only look for that strength.” “What? Are you saying-” “Yes, Sunset,” Emerald’s voice replied. “You are a unicorn. You know what you can do. Save your friends, Sunset. Face yourself and stop the Grineer threat.” If what Emerald said was true, then Sunset Shimmer knew what she could do and what she had to do. Looking up, she concentrated, just like how one would cast a spell if they were a unicorn. To her amazement, she began floating back up towards the surface, the barriers still keeping her safe from the freezing water around her. Gaining speed, Sunset braced herself as her barriers smashed through the thin ice sheet that separated her from the cavern once more, startling her demon form as she dispelled the golden barrier. “No, how are you still here? You were to drown!” the demon snarled. “No,” Sunset shook her head as she placed her feet on the ice floor. “I couldn’t give up, not when my friends need me. This isn’t about myself. This is about the world.” “You need me, Sunset,” her demon scoffed. “You cannot save the world without me.” The fiery haired girl smiled faintly. “That’s where you’re wrong. I can do it. Friendship is the strongest magic out there. I’m not who I was when I first came to this world. You’re not me anymore.” “Then show me your new strength!” her demon growled and formed another fireball in her hands. Roaring, Sunset’s demon threw the burning projectile at the girl, only for Sunset to raise a hand and project a barrier of magic, nullifying the fireball completely. “What? How?” the demon grasped her head. “You cannot conjure magic without me! That’s why I am here! You are supposed to be powerless without me!” “Not this time. I was never powerless. I was just hungry.” Sunset narrowed her eyes at her demon form. “Hungry for power. I wasn’t satisfied with what I had, but now I see how wrong I was. You may have been me at one point, but my past isn’t today.” The demon Sunset brought up more fireballs and tossed them at Sunset like dodgeballs, attacking left and right with all her might. Sunset Shimmer brought up a shell around herself, blocking each and every of her demon’s attacks. Then her demon form lifted her hands high and began forming a massive fireball, growing bigger and bigger until it was about the size of Canterlot High itself; maybe even larger than the school building. “Let me show you what power can give you!” Wrapping herself in a magical aura, Sunset channeled her magic into a glowing horn, floating where her horn would be if she were in Equestria. When she was ready, she fired it at her demon, watching as the blue energy speared forward, impacting into the massive fireball as her demon brought it down as hard as she could. Sunset’s magic pulsed against the fire, sending flames and magic skating and spiraling around the cavern, melting portions of the floor and breaking down parts of the rock wall, allowing the snow to waft in from outside. Then Sunset’s magic broke through the fireball’s center, evaporating it from the inside before hitting her demon right in the chest, enveloping her in its grasp as its magic exploded across the icy cavern. “No! What is this power? You can’t beat me!” the demon screamed as she dissolved into nothing, once again leaving the cavern empty and quiet, the only sound being the strong winds of the snowy landscape. Sunset levitated herself back down to the floor, careful not to step too hard on the thin ice as she took a deep breath and exhaled. “Glad that’s all finally over…” she said to herself. She didn’t know her demon was still a part of her, but not anymore. From today on, she wasn’t going to worry about that part of her any longer. Looking to the opposite end of the cavern, Sunset channeled more magic and teleported across the expanse multiple times, eventually finding herself outside the cave and on the tip of a mountain top, looking down into a misty gorge below. “I’m coming, Ember,” she said as she looked down at the drop. “The Grineer aren’t going to be victorious today. That I assure you. I’m not going to let them take our homes from us.” Taking a deep breath, Sunset projected up an aura of light blue magic and took a step off the ledge, watching her body descend slowly into the misty unknown.