The Twilight Wolfos ran through the city, following the scent with Midna easily clinging to it's back. All around them, ponies were either staring in shock or screaming in fear or for the guards. The guards, however, made no move to get in Midna's way, on the contrary they were getting ponies OUT of her way. Midna, however, wasn't paying much attention to the ponies, instead, she was trying to figure out how someone had gotten access to Twilight Magic.
‘Either they've gotten an ally who's a Twili or their hands... hooves on an artifact from the Twilight Realm...’ Midna thought before her eyes widened as a new wave a fear swept through her, ‘The only artifacts that I know of, that aren't in the Twilight Realm, are the pieces of the Fused Shadow, I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this.’
Midna was so lost in her thoughts, that she wasn't paying attention when the Wolfos stopped, sending her flying off it's back and right into a light blue magical aura, "Having fun Midna?"
Looking up, Midna saw it was Sunset who was keeping her in the air, "Sunset? How'd you get here so quickly?"
As Sunset put Midna down, the Wolfos walked over to give Midna's cheek a small lick, before it dove into a new portal to get some rest.
"Princess Luna got a report about this force field around Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns," using one of her hooves, Sunset pointed at a large black wall with yellow edges and patterns on it, upon seeing it Midna paled.
"Miss Midna do you know what that is?" Rarity asked.
"...It's the Twilight," Midna said making Luna, Sunset and Twilight gasp, "Whoever is responsible for stealing my Mirror, somehow surrounded the school with a Veil of Twilight."
"Then this is worse than we thought," Twilight said, panic evident in her voice.
"Then let's get in there and kick some flank!" Rainbow said, as she started to move towards the wall, only to be grabbed by Midna's hair hand.
"DON'T!" Midna yelled, getting everyone's attention, "If you, somehow, got through the barrier, you'd be reduced to your soul! Your body would vanish due to you being a resident of the Realm of Light! Besides, only someone from the Twilight can get through a barrier like this and I don't want to know what happens to anyone not from the Twilight touches it."
All the ponies looked at her shocked. "So what do we do?" Applejack asked, gesturing towards the veil, "Just... stay out here and let whoever set this barrier up work in peace?"
Midna shook her head, "I'm a Twili, so nothing will happen to me when I go through."
"Not alone your not!" Sunset said, stomping her hoof, "After you've been there for me all these years, I am NOT letting my best friend go in there alone! I don't care if I do become just a soul, I'll still be there for you!"
Before Midna could say anything Luna nodded, "Then it's settled, Sunset will accompany Midna while the rest of us make sure nothing gets in, or out, while to two of you take care of this."
"Is there anyone in the Realm of Light who you know can enter the Twilight Realm?" Rarity asked.
Midna hesitated, as if trying to remember something, "As far as I know, only the 'Hero Chosen by the Gods' is able to, but details are sketchy at best."
Everyone except Sunset frowned, "And there hasn't been a Hero in a very long time," Luna sighed, "Not since before Celestia and I took the throne, he just rode of on that odd Timberwolf steed of his and was never seen again."
"But there's no time to talk about the Hero," Pinkie said, "How are the two of you going to get past the barrier?"
"Leave that to me," Midna said, before looking to Sunset, "Last chance to back out Shimmy. Once we're through, we have no idea what we'll find."
Sunset smirked. "Just give me my bow and quiver, and I'll be fine."
From Midna's shadow, a blob of shadow-like liquid rose into the air until it was at eye level with Sunset, hovering. Then the blob 'popped', revealing Sunset's composite bow and a quiver with twenty arrows, ready for use.
Once Sunset equipped the bow and quiver, Midna sighed, "Knew you wouldn't back out, just know that I've never done this before, so I have NO idea if I'm doing this right," with that, Midna hovered up to the barrier, "stand right here Shimmy and I'll take care of the rest."
Midna then went through the barrier which rippled like water. After a few moments, a large orange and black hand burst out of the wall and grabbed Sunset before retreating into the wall.
After watching how Midna got Sunset through the barrier and into the school grounds, Rarity shuddered, "Well I don't know about the rest of you but I'll be having nightmares about that for a while."
One of the nearby guards nodded, with a fearful expression, "You're not the only one, Miss Rarity."
—Inside The Veil of Twilight—
After dragging Sunset through the barrier and into the Twilight, Midna took a moment to look around. The area had a yellow tint and black squares were floating up towards the sky before fading from existence only to reappear near the ground in endless patterns that, if Midna had to compare to something, it would be drizzling rain.
"Well that was unpleasant but at least we're through the barrier," Sunset said, her voice having a slight echo.
Midna turned to look at Sunset, then froze as her jaw dropped. Sunset wasn't a unicorn anymore, now she a biped again, now with scarlet skin, two large red bat like wings, long pointed ears, a tattered dress that matched her red and yellow hair, which was now pointing up, and every time it moved her hair seemed to flow as if it was made of fire. She also had a large tail and the whites of her eyes had turned black.
"Shimmy? What... happened to you?" Midna asked, surprised evident in her voice.
"Hmm? What are you talking..." Sunset started before she looked down at herself. After a few moments in a completely flat voice, she said, "What?"
"You look like some sort of demon and your hair and tail look like they're made out of fire," Midna said, before her impish grin appeared again, "but at least you're not reduced to a soul, and you still have your bow and quiver. So, how do you feel?"
"I… don't feel that different really," Sunset shrugged, "I mean, yeah, the wings are new..." Sunset then held up a hand, her light blue magical aura appeared as she made a few nearby rocks float into the air. "and I still have access to my magic, so that's a plus. But, I still wonder why this happened."
Midna thought for a moment, "Maybe due to spending so much time with me and being near my Mirror and my Wards let you absorb some Twilight Magic, slowly enough that it wouldn't mess with your mind?"
Sunset shrugged, "We can find out later, for now let's head into the school."
Midna nodded and the two made their way up to the school doors, which were locked with a large metal padlock, keeping four chains, that were holding the door closed, in place.
Midna sighed, "Should have seen this coming, guess we should expect more Zelda Dungeon tropes."
Sunset nodded and turned only to go wide eyed and jump to the side, dragging Midna to the ground as an arrow smashed into the door.
Jumping back to her feet Sunset's magical aura engulfed her hands, "What are those things?"
Standing a couple yards away were a group of six creatures that had appeared. They had light blue/grey skin with black lines creating patterns on their body, at the center of their chest was another pattern made out of red lines. Their heads were completely covered by a stone like mask that only revealed a single bright orange eye. Three of the creatures had bows drawn and ready to fire, while the other three held clubs.
Midna growled, "Shadow Bulbins, monsters who've been infused with Twilight Magic to such a point that they can survive in the Realm of Twilight, at the cost of being unable to return to the Realm of Light." As Midna spoke a Twilit Wolfos appeared and Midna took her place on it's back.
Raising a hand, Sunset caught the arrows that the archers had just launched at them, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sunset asked.
"Yeah, the only thing to do now, is kill them and then go look for that key," Midna nodded, making Sunset grin and, using her magic sent the arrows flying back at their owners.
Each arrow made a direct hit causing the Shadow Bulbins to fall to the ground before exploding into puffs of smoke, one left a bundle of arrows while the other two left blue gems.
"Huh, they're a lot more fragile than I thought,” Midna said, causing Sunset to raise an eyebrow, “I mean, I know in the game that the original Midna is from, they went down with a single arrow shot, but still, I thought that would be just a game thing."
"Well, at least that's good news, it means that what you know about the game is more relevant than we thought it would be going forward, oh and look, they drop Rupees. For some reason, I was expecting Bits," Sunset said with a small smirk as Midna's Wolfos charged forward before lunging at the center most Bulbin, which both damaged it and made it stumble backwards.
As this happened, the other two Bulbin's raised their clubs, only to get caught in the Wolfos' second attack, which was a second lunge, only this time it spun like a drill in the air, and before the Bulbins had a chance to recover, Midna's hair formed a large hand that smashed the three into the ground, right before two more Wolfos jumped out of portals and, in unison, the Wolfos attacked with the ones on the left and right switching sides, and the moment their attack was over, Midna's hair-fist smashed into the Bulbins, sending them flying only for them to explode into smoke upon impact with the ground.
"Nice job Middy," Sunset said as she walked over to grab the bundle of arrows to examine them.
"Thanks, though to be honest I’m mostly just going just letting my Wolfos do most of the fighting right now. As I told you a few days ago I haven’t really had a chance to really master fighting alongside the Wolfos or with my Mirror I at least have the basics down and I'm very glad that all that training paid off!" Midna said with a large grin on her face, "It's kind of a shame that they didn't have the key, but I guess that would have been too easy."
"Well, for now, let's just explore the school grounds," Sunset said as she drew her bow.
After about five minutes of searching and killing Shadow Bulbins, they'd covered about half of the grounds and had gotten fifteen Green Rupees, but they were nowhere closer to finding the key.
"Where, in the name of Nayru, is that fucking key?!" Midna growled after another group of Shadow Bulbins fell to the ground before exploding into smoke.
"Maybe in the storage shed?" Sunset asked as she pointed to a large shed nearby that had a large hose coiled neatly next to the door.
"There's no way it's going to be that easy Shimmy." Midna deadpanned.
"Tell ya what, why don't we make that a bet. I win I take sixty percent of the Rupees AND you stop teasing me for one month. You win and..." Sunset started only to stop and think.
"I win then you have to cosplay as one character of my choice for an entire week." Midna smirked holding out her hand.
"Deal." Sunset replied shaking Midna's hand.
Midna's smirk grew into her impish grin. "Don't worry I won't choose anything that embarrassing."
Rolling her eyes, Sunset walked over to the shed and opened the door revealing a small wooden chest. Shrugging to herself Sunset gave it a swift kick making it pop open to reveal a small silver key.
Smirking, Sunset picked it up and showed it to Midna, "And now I have the entire month of November free from your teasing," Midna's visible eye widened at the sight of the key.
—Meanwhile with Princess Luna and co. 3rd person—
About ten minutes had passed since Sunset and Midna had gone through the ‘Veil of Twilight’, as Midna had dubbed it.
“I hope everything’s alright in there,” Fluttershy said as she looked at the school.
"There's no point in focusing all our thoughts into how Midna and Sunset are doing," Luna said frowning, "For now, we just need to focus on making sure that nothing gets out."
Before anyone could respond a loud and very annoyed scream. Looking around Applejack said. "Hey Pinkie do you hear that?"
Pinkie shuddered. "I FEEL that."
—Inside the school 3rd person—
The pony who'd stolen Midna's Mirror looked up from the notes they were currently writing down and said, "What the Tartarus is that noise?"
—With Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna 3rd person—
Vice Principal Luna was sitting in her favorite chair as she worked on a few side missions in, "Metal Gear Solid 5, the Phantom Pain", after returning home while Celestia had to stay and run the Fall Formal. At one point, she had to pause the game as the sound of a faint but very annoyed yell could be heard. "Sis? Sis is that you? You already stole all my beer what more do you want!?"
—Midna 1st person—
Once I'd calmed down and Sunset's laughter had stopped, the two of us went back to the front door.
As the two looked at the door Minda looked at Sunset, “Think the key will break the moment we open the door?”
“I’d make a bet, but I think we can both agree that it’s just going to happen,” Sunset smirked as she put the key in the lock only for the key to melt into the lock causing the chains to disappear and the padlock fall to the ground.
Midna and Sunset looked at the door before looking at each other and shrugging, “Guess we know what happens now, but that’s still somewhat underwhelming.”
“Not all mysteries will be satisfying Middy,” Sunset said.
“I guess, at least we can get inside now,” Midna said as she opened the door, “So, where do you think we should start looking for the thief and my mirror?”
“Well, I’d guess in the main lab, but I haven’t been here in years, so, it might not still be in the east wing,” Sunset said, “But chances are, the hallways are going to be to narrow for your Wolfos to fight like they did outside. We’re probably going to have to change how we’re fighting the monsters.”
Midna tapped her chin, “Well, neither of us has a melee weapon and if we both focus on just ranged attacks that would put us at a disadvantage if a Bulblin got close.” As she thought her impish grin reappeared, “I think I have an idea.”
Sunset’s eyebrow rose until Midna floated up to whisper in her ear, which had Sunset giving her own impish grin, “That would give us an option for close range. We’re doing that the first chance we get.”
As the two walked into the Entry Hall, they saw three large doors: one to the north, one to the west and one to the east.
Both groaned when they saw the north and east were locked with more large silver padlocks, “And the Zelda tropes continue! So, we can expect at least one mini-boss, a dungeon item, and the infamous map and compass duo,” Minda grumbled, “So, the labs are to the east… what’s to the west and north?”
“Well, to the west was mostly classrooms, and I think conference halls to the north,” Sunset said, “I think there was also a library in the west and an astronomy tower in the… I wanna say north-east? Hard to say with how long its been since I was last here.”
“Well, at least we know to expect a fight the moment we walk farther into the room,” Minda said with a savage grin.
As the two walked farther into the Entry Hall, large iron bars rose out of the floor and blocked the door, while portals opened in the floor and more Shadow Bulblins jumped out of them.
Once the group of fifteen Bulbins with all, but two of them, wielding clubs were standing in front of them, Midna cracked her knuckles, “So, who’s going to start this off?”
With a roar, the Bulbins charged, “Well that answers that,” Sunset smirked as she blasted a couple of them with her magic, while Midna was using her hair hand *she really needed to come up with a better name for that* to smash Bulblins into the ground or simply knock them away.
As the fight continued, most of the Bulbins decided to focus on Sunset, as she was the one dealing out the most pain, giving Midna time to sneak to the back of the group. Soon, two of the Bulbins felt their clubs yanked from their hands, before Midna lifted them into the air with her hair hand and her impish grin.
“Thanks for the donation of melee weapons you two!” Midna snickered, before throwing the two towards Sunset, “Incoming Sunset!”
Grabbing the two in her magic, Sunset slammed them onto the two Bulblins that had just raised their clubs to attack her.
“Well did the plan work?” Sunset asked as she created a shield to block a thirds Bulbins club.
“Like a charm!” Midna cackled as she sank into the floor, before appearing next to Sunset and she handed Midna one of the stolen clubs, “Now, not only will I be able to fight in here without my Wolfos, but we’ll be able to save on arrows too.”
“Let’s just hope these don’t break on us,” Sunset joked as she brought her new club down on a Bulbin’s head, destroying it.
“Don’t even joke about that Shimmy!” Midna said as she blocked a Bulbin’s attack, “I don’t even know how degradable weapons would work in a Zelda game.”
“By making it that you get them off of enemies or find them in chests and the Master Sword could run out of power and need to recharge?” Sunset offered as Midna finished off the second to last Bulbin.
“I was following you until the part about the Master Sword,” Midna said as Sunset lifted the last Bulbin into the air before throwing it high into the air, “if the Master Sword is the ‘Sword of Evil’s Bane’ why would it run out of power? Is it close to its last legs? Is Fi dying? Did Hylia forget to plug it in so it could recharge?”
“Well Hylia gave up her life as a Goddess so she could be reborn as a mortal,” Sunset mused as she and Midna began collecting the Rupees that the Bulbins left behind, “And we don’t know if the other Goddesses could fix it if it started to break. So, who knows what might happen if it starts running out of power.”
“You mean apart from Demise breaking free from the sword and either absorbing Ganondorf to become whole or getting absorbed by Ganondorf?” Midna asked.
“That about sums it up yes,” Sunset agreed, “And now that we have some melee weapons, let’s go explore the classrooms and see what we can find.”
“Probably the Map, that’s usually the first main item Link finds in a Dungeon,” Midna said with a shrug.
As the two explored the classrooms, they fought their way through more Shadow Bulbins and found a couple small chests, one with a small key the other had a Red Rupee. Using the small key, they entered a large room that looked like it could hold around fifty students, if judging by size alone, due to all the desks being nowhere to be seen. As the two walked into the room, two shadowy figures leapt through the room’s windows. Both of them were bipedal lizards with black and red scales, orange eyes, holding silver scimitars, small square buckler shields, two axe blades tied to their tales and wore a grey vest and loincloths.
“Shadow Lizalfos huh?” Midna mused, “They didn’t appear in the game, but I can’t say I’m surprised.”
“So any ideas on how to fight them?” Sunset asked as she readied her bow, “In the games, some of these guys have stupid good reflexes when it comes to blocking arrows.”
Midna hummed in thought, before saying, “That shouldn’t be a problem here. In the game Lizalfos were basically just higher grade mooks… these, however, I’m not sure. I suggest sticking to magic and our new clubs, though... if we can get their swords, that could prove useful later on.”
Sunset smirked and rolled her eyes as she put her bow away, “Let’s just take them out and move on.”
After she spoke, the two Shadow Lizalfos let out a screech and charged. Midna and Sunset dodged the attacks and retaliated with their own, Midna grabbing one of the Shadow Lizalfos with her hair hand and spun it around before slamming it to the ground, stunning it, while Sunset set the other’s vest on fire, while also casting a spell so it couldn’t be removed, making it shriek in fear and pain as tossed it’s sword and shield away so it could try, and fail, to get rid of the vest.
Walking over, Sunset picked up the sword and shield before turning to the Lizalfos and giving it a very sinister grin, “Let’s see how well you can fight without your weapons.”
Meanwhile as Sunset was using her magic to defeat the Lizalfos, Midna was having some problems. While she was able to use her smaller size to dodge the Lizalfos’ attacks, she was also having problems counter-attacking. The Lizalfos had quickly learned to get away the moment Midna formed her hair hand, and if it couldn’t do that then it used it’s sword and tail-axe to attack it, which quickly made Midna retract it as she could feel every strike from her foe. She also found that her Imp form didn’t have the strength to do any real damage with her new club.
“I’m not getting anywhere with the way things are going!” Midna growled in frustration.
Internerly she was cursing that the only magic she was able to really practice was illusionary and warding magic, she didn’t have a single offensive spell in her rather limited arsenal.
‘Come on Midna, think! There’s gotta be something you can to tip the scales in your favor! I doubt and illusion would fool this thing for long. Some lizards have pit organs like snakes and I don’t know if my magic affects those and I don’t want to waste the magical power if Lizalfos have them too.’ Midna thought as the Lizalfos tried to bash her with it’s shield which she dodged by floating above her foe’s head, ‘Wards can’t help as you need to be really careful when making one so they’ll impractical to make during a fight... perhaps I should look into finding ways to have some pre-made wards handy the next time I go into a Zelda-esk Dungeon.’ Moving away from the Lizalfos Midna shook her head, ‘No don’t think about that focus! It’s adapted to fighting what I’m able to do and… wait a moment. By Nayru I’m an idiot!’
Midna gave the Lizalfos her impish grin, which, for some reason, seemed to set it on edge if it’s soft trills was anything to go by, “I’ve gotta admit I’ve gotten so used to fighting in the cramped corridors and rooms lately, that it took me a while to fully realize just how big this room is. So now that you’ve had your fun, why don’t I introduce you to some of my friends?” With a loud howl, three Shadow Portals opened up with Midna’s Wolfos lunging out of them, two of them sinking their fangs into the Lizalfos’ arms making it drop its gear, which Midna quickly stole by making them sink into the shadows, and the last going straight for the creatures jugular.
Once both creatures had collapsed to the floor, they vanished into puffs of smoke which came together to form a wooden chest and the classic Zelda Chime.
“Know how that’s possible Midna?” Sunset asked as the two approached the newly formed wooden chest.
“I’m just gonna assume it’s an ancient form of magic to try and keep thieves away, because I don’t have a clue,” Midna said before using her hair hand to flip the lid open. Just like in the games golden light shone out of the chest until Midna reached into it and pulled out a rolled up piece of paper.
“Welp now we’ve got a map, damn Zelda tropes,” Sunset groaned as the two stared at the paper.