//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Keep of Glass - Part I // Story: Flame of Disparity // by Cinders of War //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer left the Bronze Workshop, entering a vast grassy field, surrounded by mountain ranges that pierced the clouds above. The sun’s rays shone down, illuminating the center of the valley, where a broken structure stood. It was tilted to the side like one of its foundations had collapsed under its weight and it seemed to stretch all the way back into the mountains, maybe even going through it. It was made of stone, along with plenty of open windows, their glass panes shattered long ago. Birds hovered in the sky above, flying in circles like they were marking something ominous. Then again, everything in this world seemed ominous. Sunset Shimmer approached the structure, knowing it was where she had to be, seeing as there were no other places to go to. In front of the entrance, where a bent gate lay to the side of the entrance, Sunset found a cluster of orange words, carved into the ground. Se bent down to observe them, waiting as they formed into something she could understand as her eyes seemed to translate the symbols for her. “Keep of Glass,” Sunset read out aloud. “Traps ahead, therefore, good luck.” Keep of Glass. Sunset remembered Twilight telling her about it. This was where one of the Flames of Death resided! Drawgren, Spear of Fire. Finally… Sunset thought to herself. Her journey was actually leading somewhere. She looked up at the keep again, wondering why it was called the Keep of Glass. There were windows, yes, but most of them were shattered. Perhaps it used to have more glass than it did now, that’s why. Walking through the entry archway, Sunset promptly removed her steam sword from her scabbard, knowing well enough that she would have to fight her way through. The was a courtyard with a broken fountain in the middle, leading up to the keep’s giant gates, which were covered in roots and grass. Walking ahead, Sunset began hearing the crunch of glass under her greaves as she walked, spotting shards of broken glass from the shattered stained windows above. A wind blew in from behind her, chilling her spine and it certainly didn’t help that she didn’t have a shirt on. “Nothing to fear, Sunset,” she said to herself. “Keep going and we’ll see if we can find this Spear of Fire.” The path to the door proved simple, with nothing jumping out to attack her. Yet. Putting both hands on the large rusty door, Sunset pushed with all her might, watching as they slowly began to slide apart. Slowly. She didn’t know why the doors in this world were so poorly constructed. Either they didn’t open all the way, or they were really hard to open. As soon as there was enough of a gap for her to enter, Sunset stopped and slipped inside, noting the drop in temperature; she thought outside had been cold, but in here, it was much worse. It was like a cooler at the back of a restaurant and Sunset had been in those before. “I r-r-really need a new shirt…” Sunset breathed out a puff of fog. “Or a n-n-new c-coat…” The inside of the keep was vast. There was a dirty old carpet leading from the door to two staircases on the sides, both curving and leading up to a second floor, where a larger door stood. All around her were mirrors, each one in various states of upkeep. Sunset could still see her reflection in some, while others were too grimey to look through and some were just outright broken, their shattered pieces on the floor under them. “Who would want to live here?” Something stirred in the shadows ahead, below the second floor, where the light from outside failed to illuminate. At first, Sunset had no idea what it could be, or even if her eyes were playing tricks on her, but then a dark foot took one step out of the shadows and she knew she was in for a fight. Her enemy was a knight, shrouded in shadows from head to foot, wielding a single broadsword. He spun his sword once, then broke into a run, forcing Sunset into a combat stance. Behind him was another mirror, but its surface seemed to have darkened, like its reflection had disappeared. Pointing her steam sword forward, Sunset’s thumb clicked on the special button, launching a gust of steam right into the knight, further shrouding its form. There was a cry of pain from beyond the steam, and then a shadowy sword came crashing out of it, startling the fiery haired girl, who sidestepped out of the way. The knight emerged from the steam, slashing and thrusting his weapon at her, pushing her back. Sunset held up her weapon in a guard position, jumping back as the knight tried to crush her under a high-to-low strike. The knight missed and its sword crashed into the ground, shaking the surroundings with its mighty blow. Sunset was about to try and circle around when a small tinkling noise caught her attention. Up above, on a balcony overlooking the fight, was a large glass statue in the shape of an owl. It must have been twice Sunset’s size, and it was rocking precariously on the edge of the railing. A sly grin formed on the girl’s face. The knight swung at her again, its strike shaking the very ground. It was enough. The glass owl teetered forward, plunging off the balcony and landing atop the knight with an almighty crash. Glass shards flew everywhere, the deadly spinning fragments scattering all around. The knight lay there, unmoving, before dissolving away into the air. “That was easy enough.” Sunset rested her blade on her right shoulder. A few shards of glass had cut her abdomen when the owl broke, but it was nothing a little estus couldn’t solve. She figured if the owl was alive, it’d be hooting in laughter at the knight right now. The fiery haired girl examined the other mirrors on the way, only now noticing shapes within them. Approaching one such mirror, she could see something beyond her reflection. Something moving within the glassy surface. “What is that…?” Sunset only had enough time to take a step back as a dark hand reached out of the mirror, followed by a greave. Another knight soon pushed out of the mirror, its surface going black and opaque as it raised its spear to Sunset’s chest. “Not again.” The dark knight thrust its weapon forward, but Sunset stepped aside, then cut back, severing the spear in half. She lunged forward, piercing the knight right through the chest, her sword going all the way through and coming out the back. The shadowy knight gurgled where it stood, then tilted its head down and dissolved away. Sunset breathed in as she placed her sword by her side. Good thing she had reacted fast enough for that one. For now, she resolved to ignore the other mirrors, instead looking to the most promising destination: the top of the stairs. Sunset Shimmer quickly made her way up, rubbing at her exposed arms as she tried to shake off the cold. At the top was a long hallway with a few sparse portraits lining the walls. They all seemed to depict the same landscape: a desolate snowy ruin, with a few gnarled trees growing here and there. A rope bridge spanned from the ruins to a place out of sight. She had no idea why someone would paint something multiple times, but that was truly some feat. Sunset herself painted a little, but she could never replicate the exact same details into more than one piece of art. As Sunset was examining one of the pictures, suddenly the frame shuddered and fell from its hook on the wall,  revealing an alcove behind it. And standing in that alcove was someone about her size, dressed in white robes with a golden owl mask, brandishing a one-handed axe and a small round shield. “What?” Sunset fled back as the figure darted at her, swinging his axe from left to right and right to left. One such strike nearly took Sunset’s head off. Righting her footing, she swung her steam sword at the robed man, but his small shield somehow absorbed the blow, glowing blue and knocking Sunset back, before he slashed at her side with his axe. “Aaah!” Sunset stepped away, her left hand going to her side and coming back with blood. The figure spun his axe, then pointed the tip at her. Sunset watched as blue energy began to form before it, congealing into a ball of blue magic, twisting and turning with power. Grunting, Sunset kicked to the side and rolled away just as the ball of magic slammed into the ground behind her, sending blue sparks arcing across the spot she had just been standing on. Ignoring the pain for a second, she swung the blade at the owl mage again, but this time, thumbed the button on her hilt. A jet of hot steam shot out into the mage’s face, making him scream and drop his weapon. Sunset took that chance to slash him across the back, spraying blood on one of the nearby paintings. The mage fell to his knees, then stopped moving, his owl mask a melting mess. “Gross…” Sunset quickly pulled out an estus flask and downed its contents, watching the wound on her side close up. She had only one left now, meaning she would have to be more careful, at least until the next bonfire. She looked down at the fallen owl mage, noticing something shiny poking out of the corner of his robes. Sunset knelt down and picked it up. It was a kind of rock, or metal ore. Shiny and black, it was quite heavy and dense for such a small chunk. Still, she pocketed it; perhaps it would come in useful later. Making sure to stay well away from the paintings now, Sunset tiptoed down the hallway. Here, the path split into two. One way led left, while the other led right. Sunset shrugged and peered down the passageways. Neither of them was well lit enough to see more than about a dozen meters. Choosing at completely random, Sunset set off down the left passage, her footsteps the only sound, echoing around her. It was still rather dark, and she regretted the loss of her torch, but at least her flame lit up a small circular area around her. However, it soon became clear to her that there was something blocking the way ahead. It looked like a wide, feathery wall. She tentatively moved her hand up to touch it. It was soft and warm. Then she looked up and shrieked. She was looking at a gargantuan, extremely wide owl that was looking back down at her, its large orange eyes half-lidded as if it had just woken up from a nap. “H-Hello,” Sunset said slowly. The owl peered down at her, its expression not changing. Then it reached out with a massive foot and clicked its beak. “You want something?” Sunset interpreted. The owl’s huge head inclined about an inch. “Well, I don’t have any food for you…” Sunset rummaged around herself and drew out the rock she had picked up from the owl mage earlier. “How about this?” The owl squinted at her, then shrugged and flexed its foot. Sunset placed the rock in its grasp. No sooner had the owl taken the rock was there a strange hissing sound, like air being let out of a balloon. To Sunset’s amazement, the owl was deflating, shrinking down into a regular owl size, leaving the corridor open. Sunset was delighted. “Thank you, mister owl,” she said and walked past the owl, which was sitting on the floor with the rock. Despite Sunset’s initial elation, the path came to a dead end not two minutes after she passed the owl. A solid stone wall blocked her advance, with nothing more than a wooden chest in the middle for decoration. Maybe I should have taken the other path… Sunset thought. Still, she may as well see what was in the chest. Prying the lid open with her sword, Sunset was dismayed to see a chunk of ore, almost identical to the one she had given the huge owl. Feeling more than a little puzzled, she took the chunk from the chest and put it in her pocket. She spent the next ten minutes examining the dead end for any hidden paths. There were none. “Guess I’ll have to take the other way,” she concluded, and walked back. But when she reached the spot where the owl was, she was shocked to see that it had grown back into a massive creature, blocking the way yet again. “Hey!” Sunset shouted. The owl looked down at her and did nothing but reach out with one foot. The owl clicked its beak and yawned, as if to say, ‘get on with it’. Annoyed, Sunset took out the chunk of ore she had gotten from the chest and put it in the owl’s foot, which closed around it. There was the same hissing noise and the owl shrank down to a regular owl size. Shaking her head in disgust and resisting the urge to kick the owl on the way past, Sunset passed and found herself back at the place where the paths divided. “So what was the point of all that?!” Sunset shouted once she was alone. The next path led into a corridor with five mirrors on each side. Some were shattered. Sunset sighed and planted a hand to her face. “What is up with this place…?” Readying her weapon, Sunset walked warily down the corridor, keeping her eyes on the mirrors as she passed. There were definitely shadows swirling around inside the ones that weren’t shattered, but so far, they seemed to be content with where they were. Sunset began to feel optimistic as she passed the fourth row of mirrors. Nothing had bothered to come out yet. Things were looking good. And then, just to get her hopes up, the last row of mirrors shuddered and out stepped two shadowy knights, each one with a sword and shield. “Can this get any worse?!” Sunset readied her sword in two hands. As if to challenge her statement, the other mirrors behind her shimmered and three more knights appeared behind her, two of them with broadswords and one with a mace. “Come on…” Sunset readied her stance. Five enemies and one estus flask. Things weren’t looking great. Seeing as she only had two enemies forward instead of the three behind, Sunset decided to approach them first, her sword pointed at them already as she thumbed the button. Steam hit the one on the left, but it had already raised its shield to block her before the one on the right slashed its sword down at her. Sunset put one foot back and parried the blow, twisting her body around and then cutting low, trying to get behind the knight’s shield. Unfortunately, it raised its shield, blocking the strike, before cutting at the girl again, the first one joining in as well. The girl lifted her weapon horizontally, blocking both strikes. She kicked out with one leg, but the knight on the left caught it between his body and his shield. And then he pulled back, sending Sunset falling to the dirty marble floor, her leg still in the knight’s grasp. “Let go!” She aimed her sword and blasted it with steam, but its shield protected it from most of it. This isn’t looking good… Instead aiming low, Sunset swiped at the knight’s feet with her sword, cutting through its shadow and armor and wounded both legs. The knight bellowed a gurgling screech, then let go of Sunset’s leg just in time for her to roll away from the other knight. Using that moment of recovery, the fiery haired girl thrust her sword through the side of the second knight, pushing her blade deep. It soon fell and dissolved into nothing as the first one bashed Sunset across the face with its shield. The girl fell again, rubbing at her face, but she scrambled back as the knights on the other side approached, dodging a mace to the face, which cracked the floor with an echoing smash. Scrambling up to her feet, Sunset blocked one of their swords, then pierced hers through the chest of the one with the mace. Just then, there was a fiery pain coming from her right thigh and she looked down to see a sword through it, plunged through her skin by the knight with the shield. Screaming, Sunset ripped her sword from the now dissolving knight and swung it at the shield one, but it simply blocked it and twisted its weapon. The girl cried out again, almost losing her grip on her sword, but managed to pry its shield away with her other hand, then speared her weapon straight through its helmeted face. The knight with the shield fell back, allowing Sunset to hobble back as the sword began to disappear from her wounded thigh. “Stay back!” She pointed her sword at the last two knights, one hand digging around her satchel for her final estus flask. The first one dashed at her, jumping in the air to deliver a thrusting attack. Sunset rolled to the right, her thigh flaring up, but managed to get back to her feet as the second knight attacked, slashing down at her with its sword. Sunset managed to block the first one, but the second one cut her just below the waist, with the irl feeling the blade lodging into her pelvis. She screeched in pain, but it gave her a free stab at the knight, eliminating it. Now there was only one left, but Sunset almost couldn’t stand anymore. She needed that estus, but the knight likely sensed that as well. It pressed its offense, trying to give her no room to get to her flask. Sunset could only block left and right, desperately looking for an opening to get her flask out, but there was none. She had no choice but to kill this knight first. The question was, could she in the state she was in? The knight attacked again, but this time, Sunset let it hit her, with the knight’s sword lodging deep into her left shoulder. “Aaah aaaah!” she shrieked, but then took the chance to drive her own blade through the final knight’s chest, all the way to the hilt. The knight let go of her, then fell back into dissolving particles, her sword falling to the marble floor with a resounding clink. The girl fell back against the wall, then slid to her knees, one hand already digging through her satchel, looking for the estus flask as her strength began to fade from her limbs. Her fingers eventually closed around it and Sunset swiftly brought it up to her lips as she began paling from her blood loss. Once the contents hit her stomach, however, she instantly began to feel better, with her injuries healing themselves and the strength returning to her body. “Oh boy, that was close…” Sunset panted, putting the empty flask in her pack. She really needed a bonfire now. If she were to get injured again… She went down the rest of the corridor, walking around a large square block in the middle of the room, with the path leading down a short flight of stairs, leading into another corridor with mirrors, along with two paintings of the snowy landscape near the ceiling. Sunset groaned to herself, but pressed on, hoping to find the Spear of Fire quickly. This next corridor had only one uncracked mirror, which of course, sent out a shadow knight against her. As Sunset was about to engage, one of the paintings above popped open and another of those owl mages fired a bolt of magic at the girl, which Sunset had to throw herself back to avoid. The magic blast hit a coil of rope that was attached to a pulley system. Sunset barely had time to look up and say, “Oh…” before a glass chandelier plunged down from the ceiling at her. Fragments of crystal flew everywhere as Sunset dived out from under it. The knight tried to follow her, but was delayed by the chandelier in the way. Sunset took this opportunity to look for the owl mage. It was standing up there looking down on her, its masked face inscrutable. It took a black stone, like the one Sunset had given the huge owl earlier, out of its robes and held it up. The stone glowed, and in a flash, a huge ghostly owl appeared and rolled down at Sunset and the knight, crushing the latter beneath its weight. The spectral owl continued to roll toward Sunset, but she was quick and stepped out of the way. The owl smashed into the wall and dissolved into light. “What is it with this place and owls?” Sunset exclaimed. Doing the only thing she could to reach the mage up top, Sunset fired a jet of steam at him. The owl mage left his perch, leaping for safety, only to give Sunset the chance to cut him before he even reached the ground. The mage just fell flat on his face and stopped moving. “Right. Continuing on…” Sunset brushed her hair from her sweat-caked face and proceeded past the chandelier and down the corridor. Sunset found her way down a flight of steps, then through another few halls and rooms, one of which had plenty more paintings of the snowy scene. Another two mages pushed out from behind the paintings, which made Sunset wonder why all these owl mages were hiding behind the paintings, just waiting for someone to pass by. How often did they even get visitors here? Likely no one else… Sunset thought as she thrust her blade through the first mage, then used her steam jet to blast the second one when the blade went through the first mage. Killing these guys was getting easy, but that was something Sunset was afraid about. She’d already stopped having second thoughts about taking a life here and that was scary. Scarier than anything else in this world. She really hoped when she got away from all this, she wouldn’t find killing so easy. After the next room, Sunset found herself in a long glass tunnel. Everything around her, including all the walls, was made of reflective glass. Parts of it were cracked and smudged, but the rest was still intact, leading down over to a metal door at the end. As she went over to the door, nothing jumped out of the wall to attack her, which pleased the fiery haired girl very greatly. She put both her hands on the door and pushed at it, straining as she began to open them, the doors scraping against the glass floor and creating a deeper groove in the already cracked surface. Past the door, was a second, but much larger glass room, with panels all around Sunset, where she could see her own reflections staring back at her. “What is this?” Sunset looked at all her reflections scratch at their heads. She looked all around herself, but she couldn’t figure out where to go. There wasn’t a single clear path from where she was standing. “Things just can’t be easy, huh?” Sunset breathed out through her nose and decided to walk in a straight line. It went well for about ten paces, then she slammed into a pane of glass. “Oww…” Sunset said, rubbing her nose. All around her, dozens of other Sunsets did the same. It was almost like a billion shards of glass that decided to come and haunt her. Taking her sword, Sunset reached out and poked one of the mirrors. Her sword scratched the smooth surface, and an idea came to mind. “A mirror maze, is it? Well, I can play that game.” Sunset recalled a moment she had spent with Fluttershy, though it felt like it had been ages ago by now. They had been doing a newspaper puzzle in the cafeteria. Fluttershy was explaining that if one wanted to solve a maze, all one had to do was stick to the wall on the right, and if you followed the wall, you would eventually get out. “Time to put that to the test, Flutters.” Keeping  one hand on the wall, Sunset advanced, her sword held at the ready in case of any unexpected enemies. Sunset walked for what felt like the longest time, one hand on the wall. It was still chilly, and her breath came out in billows of fog. It was slow going, and Sunset often had to take long detours while following the wall. All around her were reflections of her own nervous face. After an indeterminable amount of walking, Sunset came to a long passage with some glowing orange words etched into the floor. “Finger ahead, therefore try holding with both hands,” Sunset read. “Finger?” Sunset then saw a largish chest nestled in the darkness. It was not being reflected by the mirrors, which somehow didn’t seem right. Sunset crept up to the chest and prodded it with her sword, jumping back immediately after in case it was a trap. Nothing happened. Sunset then wedged the tip of her weapon under the lid of the chest and lifted it. At first, it appeared to be empty. Then she looked at the bottom. There was some kind of shriveled thing there; it looked like the talons of a mummified bird. A dried finger, to be precise. “Ew,” Sunset said, picking it up. It didn’t smell, but she couldn’t see why someone would bother leaving something like this in a chest in the middle of a mirror maze. “What is this, even? Why do I need to hold it with both hands?” With no answer forthcoming, Sunset tucked the dried finger into her belt and went back to finding her way out of the maze. Keeping her hand on the wall, she walked in silence for another fifteen minutes. Then she saw something shining at the end of another long corridor. Hefting her weapon, Sunset warily approached. Once she got close enough, she smiled to herself. There, etched onto the polished floor, was a summoning sign. It read: Rarity. Finally something good in the Celestia-forsaken place. Raising her soapstone to the sign, Sunset watched as a white figure rose up from the floor, slowly materializing fully into view. She had on a small hat atop her curly violet hair, and she wore some kind of scholarly robes, but there was no mistaking her generous friend. “Rarity, it’s good to see you.” Sunset threw her arms around her before she could say anything. “Oh, uh, hello.” Rarity seemed a little awkward. “It’s… nice to see… you too? I must say, I don’t recall you. Have we met? Forgive me if I’m wrong.” “Oh, right…” Sunset let go and scratched at her cheek. “I’m Sunset Shimmer. I… I know you, Rarity. Elsewhere. I’m… not from around here.” “Yes, that I can tell.” Rarity’s eyes drifted down to Sunset’s chest. “Aren’t you feeling cold in the slightest? That top simply won’t do around here.” “Oh, uhhh…” Sunset blushed and instinctively covered part of her body with her arms. “Long story. I’ll need to find a new top somewhere…” “I’m sure you’ll find one in this dreaded place somewhere.” Rarity flipped her hair back and beckoned for Sunset. “Come. I believe I still know the way out.” “What are you even doing all the way here, Rarity?” Sunset complied and followed behind her. “Why’d you put a sign in this maze?” “Oh, truth be told…” she chuckled. “I forgot I had put it here. I was already searching the other rooms for treasure when you summoned me. But not to worry, I wouldn't mind helping you. Perhaps you could help me too. In your travels, from wherever you are from, have you encountered a warrior named Applejack? Lightning axe, chainmail.” “Applejack? Is she here too?” Rarity stopped in her tracks and turned around, gripping her staff in both hands. “You know that backstabbing traitor? Are you allied with her?” “What? No. She’s a traitor?” Sunset figured she needed to explain some things. “Okay, look, Rarity. It’s going to be hard to believe. I’m not from this, uh, world. Back where I’m from, you girls are all my friends. You two are great friends.” “Another world, you say?” “Yes. Just a regular world. We go to school, we hang out, we do homework. Nothing like what I’ve had to do here.” “Huh.” Rarity put her staff back to her side, but kept her frown. “Well, Applejack and I were friends once. Partners. We hunted treasure together, but then she locked me in a metal tomb and I was stuck in there for months.” “What? That’s terrible.” Sunset couldn’t imagine Applejack doing something like that. “Yes, well, you see why I have a problem with her. If I ever find her… Let’s just say, she’s going to lose more than just her hat.” Rarity grumbled, but turned and continued walking. “Come, Sunset Shimmer. I said I would help. I suppose you can be trusted, for now at least.”