//------------------------------//
// Sunset Trailer 
// Story: Remnant's Harmony: Volume 1 
// by Equestrian Defender 
//------------------------------//


Sometimes all it takes is a spark to ignite a blazing fire within your heart.


And as you leave the ashes of your past behind, you rise as a Phoenix in the sky.



-The Outskirts of the Emerald Forest-

A young girl of seventeen sat on the edge of a cliff. She seemed normal enough at first glance, wearing a simple leather jacket with a red stripe on each sleeve and a red and gold sun emblazoned on the back. The jacket was open, revealing a light blue t-shirt. She wore simple blue jeans, if you didn't count the knife sheath strapped to her right thigh (complete with a knife.) Attached to her belt was a moderate sized pouch, which didn't seem to weigh that much considering what she had packed in it. The boots she wore were worn down and had clearly seen better days. She was easily identifiable as a faunus by the pony ears that stuck out of the top of her head, as well as her tail. But the most eye-catching thing about her would have to be her hair that matched her tail, both a mix of vibrant red and shining gold.

Her name was Sunset Shimmer.

Below her sprawled the Emerald Forest, a seemingly normal patch of woodland located right next to Beacon Academy. But if you were to actually walk among its trees, you'd find that the forest was home to many different species of the Creatures of Grimm. From what she'd heard it housed anything from Beowulves to Ursa Majors to Deathstalkers, and if the rumors were to be believed, a Giant Nevermore. It was typically used by the teachers at Beacon Academy to train their students. 

But Sunset didn't care about any of that right now. She only came to see the view.

It wasn't often Sunset Shimmer got to enjoy the object of her namesake, the sunset. As the sun slowly began its descent, the sky would light up in brilliant red and gold hues, bathing the landscape in a natural beauty that no painting or photo could ever truly capture.

Sadly the moment was ruined when she heard screaming coming from within the forest, followed by a series of howls that she instantly recognized. "Beowulves." 

Rising to her feet she grabbed her weapon off the ground. It was called Solaris Phoenix; a large red and gold Zweihander, easily five feet in length from the tip to the cross-guard. But after she pushed a button on the hilt it transformed into a double-barrel shotgun that was loaded revolver-style, allowing it to hold up to six shells at a time. Opening her pouch, she took note of her inventory. She counted 120 12-Gauge shotgun shells, which came in several different colors to show what kind of dust they were filled with. Except for the plain white ones that weren't filled with dust, but rather with her favorite solid steel buckshot. While it couldn't do much on larger Grimm or Grimm with heavier armor, they worked pretty well for your usual run of the mill Grimm. 

Plus the buckshot was a helluva lot cheaper to buy than Dust.

A smile worked its way on her face as she pulled out six of the white shells and loaded them into Solaris Phoenix's six chambers, then slipped it into the holster on her back. 

Standing at the edge, she spread her arms wide and allowed her self to fall off the cliff. As she sped towards the ground a red glow began to surround her body, rapidly slowing her fall until she gently touched down on the forest floor. Pulling Solaris Phoenix off her back she took off running through the forest towards the Beowulf howls. 

As she ran she immediately noticed the claw marks on the trees. But she also noticed slash marks that weren't from claws, but from blades. As well as several bullet holes from what she assumed were a pair of pistols judging by the number of said holes. Their owner screamed again, and Sunset picked up the pace. 

Eventually she came to her destination.

She counted one, two, twelve Beowulves; all of them surrounding a large tree and looking up at the branches just out of their reach. Sunset figured whoever had screamed was hiding up there. One Beowulf dug its claws into the trunk and attempted to climb up-

"Bad dog!" Click! Ka-BOOM!

-only for its head to get blasted into coleslaw and its corpse falling to the ground and fading away into dust.

The rest of the pack turned to see Sunset standing there, Solaris Phoenix's twin barrels smoking. Smiling, she asked "Anybody else want some?"

One particularly brave (or foolish) Beowulf charged at her, but Sunset sidestepped it and blasted a shell right in its chest, leaving a nice hole the size of a dinner plate. As it faded into nothingness, she fired the other shell into another Beowulf's waist, both halves fading away. She heard a Beowulf growl and lunge at her from the side, but she quickly converted Solaris Phoenix into sword form and sliced it from its shoulder down to its waist. She jumped back to avoid a claw swipe from one of its companions, before lunging forward and running it through with her sword. She followed this by pulling both triggers and firing her last two shells, which tore through its chest like tissue paper. She then vanished in a flash of red light, appearing behind two more. And with a surprising display of strength she cleaved through both of them with a single one-handed swing.

The remaining five roared at her before charging, apparently thinking all five of them could swarm her and hopefully tear her apart.

Sunset wasn't fazed and simply focused some sort of energy into her sword, which began to glow a brilliant scarlet. She then swung it in a horizontal slash, releasing her control of it.

The effect?

All five Beowulves were sliced in half by a wave of scarlet magic, fading away into... wherever it was that dead Grimm went to. 

Sunset smirked. "That was easy."

That's when she heard the footsteps.

"Me and my big mouth," she muttered as she turned to face her newest challenger.

Most Beowulves topped at around the six-seven feet tall mark. This one was at least eight feet tall with fangs as long as daggers. It also had more patches of bone armor that were adorned with scars and scratches of previous battles. Its red markings gave off an eerie glow, like neon blood.

But the eyes, those eyes; they radiated not only anger but a dark, primal hatred. As if Sunset herself represented everything it hated in the world.

It was an Alpha Beowulf. Older. Bigger. Stronger. Much more dangerous.

"So," Sunset said jokingly "you must be the Big Bad Wolf." 

It's only response was to growl at her.

"Well, Little Red Riding Hood's not available." She switched Solaris Phoenix back into shotgun mode, emptying out the slots and putting in six new shells: two green, two red, and two purple. Clicking the revolver back in, she added "But I'd be happy to tell her you said hi."

The Alpha Beowulf roared, before charging at her. 

She responded in kind, charging at him while pulling back the twin hammers of Solaris Phoenix.

And with that, it was on.

The Alpha slashed at her but Sunset dropped down, sliding underneath its arm. She spun and attempted to bring up her shotgun, but the Grimm had surprisingly good reflexes and backhanded her away. Her Aura numbed the initial pain, but it still stunned her enough for the Alpha to attempt to close the distance. No doubt it was hoping to clamp its large jaws around her neck and try to tear her head off.

Fortunately, Sunset had managed to recover and teleported away. Unable to stop in time the Alpha slammed its head into a large tree, its head coming out the other side. Appearing right behind it Sunset capitalized on its plight and fired her two red shells, filled with Fire Dust. Both shots hit their mark, striking the Alpha and erupting in a massive fireball. "I love the smell of burning Grimm in the evening."

To her surprise though, the Alpha had survived with only some singed fur. And it had managed to yank its head out of the tree.

"Seriously?"

The Alpha charged at her again, but this time she switched Solaris Phoenix back to sword form and brought it up in time to block a swipe from its claws. She ducked under the next swipe, before bringing up her sword and slicing through its outstretched arm and eliciting a wail of pain from the beast. Enraged the Alpha tried to slash at her with its remaining arm but Sunset jumped back, switching her weapon back to shotgun mode and firing the two green shells. The green shells were filled with Wind Dust, which unleashed two powerful blasts of compressed air that struck the Alpha in its shoulder. They then expanded and blasted its arm clean off, making it scream even louder.

Deciding to finish it, Sunset switched Solaris Phoenix to sword form and lunged forward. She ducked under the Alpha's attempt to bit her, bringing her sword up and impaling it right where its heart (if it had one) would be. She pulled the triggers, firing her remaining purple shells that just so happened to be filled with Gravity Dust.

The result?

The Gravity Dust launched the poor dis-armed Alpha Beowulf high into the sky, just above the treetops. Sunset then charged her sword again, before slashing upwards and unleashing another Scarlet Wave. The wave traveled up and slice the beast in half from head to toe. As the two halves began their return trip to the ground they began to fade, until all that hit the ground were a few fangs that had been broken out of its maw and a bit of black Grimm matter that continued to fade into nothing.

Reverting her weapon into shotgun form and putting it into its holster, she looked at the upper branches of the tree and said "It's safe to come out now."

There was a rustling from the branches, before the person hiding dropped down. The person in question was a girl of about twelve years with light red hair that reached the small of her back, tied into a ponytail with a pink bow. On top of her head she wore an old Stetson hat. Removing the hat revealed that the girl had pony ears similar to Sunset's. Her attire consisted of an orange shirt and faded blue jeans. Attached to her belt were two holsters that held two revolvers that, from what Sunset could see, would transform into hatchets. 

The girl looked at her and said "Thank you, miss. I thought I was done for."

Sunset smiled. "No problem, kid. But what are you doing out here, by yourself?"

The girl looked at the ground and whispered "I... I thought I was ready. To be a Huntress. Ah'm supposed to go to Signal Academy when summer's over, but I figured since I got my Aura and my weapons-"

"You thought you'd go for a nice stroll in a Grimm infested forest to test yourself and not bring anyone with you because you want to prove you can be an adult in this world." The girl refused to make eye contact with her, so Sunset put a hand on her shoulder and said "I get it. I do. You want to go from Point A to Point B in the least amount of time possible. But the funny thing is, it's not Point A or Point B that matters. It's what happens in between those Points. Get what I'm saying?"

She nodded, and said "It ain't about the destination, it's about the journey."

Smiling, Sunset replied "Yep. Now come on. Let's get out of her before another pack decides to make us lunch."

And with that the two of them headed off towards the cliffs, the setting sun illuminating their path as they walked.

The girl said "By the way, my name's Applebloom."

"Sunset Shimmer."