Sunset Shimmer gazed into the darkness of the Abyss once more. Even in the dark of these woods, she could see the sharp difference between the actual darkness and that of the Abyss. Everything the Abyss touched looked like it was being swallowed. It was just so unnatural compared to regular darkness.
Rarity stood by her, gripping her staff tightly. “We can’t go any further. I’m sorry, Sunset. We’ll have to go back.”
“But there’s no way back,” Sunset said. “I came from the Abyss. You can’t go back that way.”
“Then the only way out is up…” Rarity looked to the darkness above them leading back to the Cataclysm Hollows. “There’s no way we’re climbing back out. It’s settled, Sunset. Unless you can stop the Abyss, we’ll be trapped here.”
Sunset swallowed hard and looked at the Abyss’ writhing dark. “What if I fail? You two will be stuck here a long time.”
Rarity smiled and placed a hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “We trust you, Sunset. We know you’ll get the job done. Only you can do this. Only you can end this nightmare and rid the Abyss from this world once and for all.”
Sunset looked past her at the grieving Applejack. “What about AJ?”
“I’ll keep an eye on her. I’ll make sure nothing happens to her, you have my word. And hey, she has her hat back. Give her time, she’ll get over it. It’s hard, losing a sibling. I should know. My sister, Sweetie Belle, she had been eaten by hounds. Devastating, yes, but there’s nothing I can do to bring her back. But I’ve done my part in getting you as far as you need to go. Finish this, Sunset. I know you can do it.”
Nodding, Sunset gave Rarity a hug, then faced the darkness before her. With a final wave and a deep breath, Sunset stepped back into the void, all the sound around her instantly being muffled, returning her once again to the deathly silence of the Abyss.
Leaving her friends, Sunset pushed on, keeping her sword drawn and in front of herself at all times. She remembered how much more deadly the Abyss was to the rest of this world. She didn’t want to be caught off guard again.
The woods continued on ahead of her, with trees all around in front of her. If this part of the Abyss had those dark beasts, they surely couldn’t fit in here. Sunset couldn’t be more wrong.
Without warning, one of the trees in front of her was torn right out of the ground and was already hurling towards her like a giant spear. Teleporting high, Sunset spotted the dark beast ahead, already ripping another tree from the forest floor.
With a yell, Sunset threw her sword back down, spinning it right past the next tree projectile. Teleporting to it, Sunset had avoided the tree and plunged her weapon deep into the creature’s neck.
She had cut through it about halfway when another of the beasts lumbered over through the trees, grabbing her with its hairy hands and squeezing hard. Sunset cried out in pain, but she conjured up a combustion from within the beast’s hand, setting it and herself on fire.
Rolling to her feet, Sunset quickly downed an estus, then swiveled behind a tree as the first beast resurrected, coming for her with its neck lulled to one side.Using the trees to her advantage, Sunset bobbed and weaved among them, taking cover when she needed to and using the beasts’ size against them. Rolling from behind a tree, Sunset sliced up, severing three of the first dark beast’s fingers, then spinning around, she lobbed a fireball at its face, rushing at it at the same time.
With the first beast’s body blocking the second, Sunset slashed at its torso repeatedly, then drove her sword right through it, partially remembering where its heart was supposed to be. Feeling her blade piercing something soft, she pushed harder, lodging it hilt-deep into the creature’s chest, spraying black blood all over her face. The beast screeched, then shuddered, then went limp atop her, forcing Sunset to throw her sword to the side and teleport to it.
Just then, the second beast had removed a tree from the ground and slammed it down. Sunset rolled to safety and rolled again as it fired a beam of lightning at her, clearing a row of trees in an instant. Her eyes wide, Sunset rolled a few more times to dodge swipes from its arms, then cut at it as she got under it. She did the same thing and jabbed it through the heart, knowing it couldn’t get up a second time if she did so. With a final roar, the creature fell and Sunset rolled out from under its arm, getting a safe distance away as she kept her eyes on both bodies.
They didn’t get back up, which was a great relief to Sunset. She didn’t quite know how these beasts worked, but it seemed that their hearts and neck stumps were their weakness.
Sunset ventured deeper into the Abyss-taken section of the woods, occasionally looking back and wondering just what Applejack and Rarity were up to. She hoped they were okay back there. She didn’t know if Applejack was still distraught over having to kill her brother, because that would mean Rarity would be the only one protecting them from those pale creatures out there. Sunset knew she needed to end this as fast as she could so she could dispel the Abyss and send them home.
Traveling further, Sunset eventually came across a large stone door, just there between a couple of trees, and to its right was a bonfire.
Squealing with glee, Sunset dashed to it and lit it, basking in the warmth and comfort of that orange fire. The girl took this chance to rest and look around as far as her eyes could see, which wasn’t much.
Darkness radiated from all around her, even with the bonfire now lit. The woods had already been dark before and now, with the creeping Abyss swallowing her, it had become much harder to see, not to mention there was a void of ambient sound all around her, making her heart thumping in her chest so much louder.
Using the bonfire to her fill, Sunset checked her estus flasks to make sure they were all full, before venturing away from the flame’s safety and to the large door next to it.
She slid a hand across the door’s surface, then looked for a way to open it. She tried pushing against it, but it would not budge.
“Well, what did you expect, Sunset?” she said to herself and wiped a lock of hair from her forehead. “It’s solid stone. Hmm…”
Feeling around, Sunset eventually found a small indent. It was small enough that she almost couldn’t see it. To the right, not even close to the middle of the door, was a small hole, shaped almost like that of a lock. Could it have been one?
Sunset remembered something from earlier and fished out the key she had found at the beginning of the place. She had no idea how someone could build a locking mechanism into a large block of stone, but she tried slotting the key in anyway.
The little metal object slid in quite perfectly and with a twist, Sunset could hear an almost resounding click of something within the door. It suddenly began to swing out slowly, pushing away soil and grass under its weight. As expected, the door had only opened just barely enough for her to get through, with the girl squeezing through it to the other side. Behind the door was a flight of steps, leading down a path amongst the trees, where growls and high-pitched hisses could be heard somewhere at the bottom.
Whatever was down there couldn’t be any good.
Descending slowly and warily, Sunset tried to peer through the darkness that was the Abyss. She could see trees on her left and right, but other than the ones close to the steps, she couldn’t see much more. Even the faint light that the woods had been emitting had been darkened by the Abyss. She could still make out the yellow light beyond the trees, but only barely; even the bottom of the steps were shrouded in darkness and Sunset couldn’t see where they would eventually lead her to.
The sharp calls from below sounded again, freezing Sunset in her tracks. Sunset could picture of host of nightmarish creatures that could be waiting for her below, but at the same time, this was the Abyss, the worst of this world. Whatever was down there could also be something way past what her mind could come up with.
After nearly fourteen more minutes of walking, Sunset could finally see the bottom, which was a forest floor with a clearing just ahead, looking like it was surrounded by trees. Just past those trees, in the darkness beyond, Sunset could see the shimmer of a fog gate.
A fog gate.
Ah, horseapples… Here we go again.
At least that meant she was at the end of the area.
Stepping off the foot of the steps, the growling and shrieking all around her suddenly stopped, as though she had just stepped on a hidden pressure plate and set off a trap. Whatever was awaiting her ahead now knew she was here, and it was ready.
Around her, Sunset could hear movement. Twigs snapped, trees swayed, and gravel shifted. Something was close, something big. Her instincts taking over for a second, Sunset tried to go back up the steps, only to find a wall of fog had materialized and cut her escape off.
This was it. Do or die.
Suddenly, a shadowy apparition of sorts swooped out of the trees to her right, long black fingers reaching for her. Ducking, Sunset slashed upward, severing the pinkie finger of the shadowy hand. A shriek sounded from somewhere in the woods as the hand retracted itself. Then there was the sound of a flock of birds taking flight. Sunset read that as something moving again, but she didn’t know which direction it had come from.
All of a sudden, a pair of sharp talons dug into her shoulders, piercing right through her armor and flesh and she was taken up into the air, her weight pulling herself against the beast’s talons.
“Ah!” Sunset gasped and looked up.
Above her was a raven, or at least, it was almost a raven. Its body was long and slender, almost like that of a woman’s, but instead of arms, jet black wings spread out at least two meters on both sides, and where its head was, was a beakless face, with glowing red eyes like burning coals in the darkness. It looked down at Sunset and screeched, a lack of a mouth making Sunset question where the sound was coming from.
With as much strength as she could muster, Sunset threw her sword up and over the demon’s head, teleporting to it and removing herself from its talons. Falling fast, Sunset readied a fireball and her star sword, first igniting the demon’s back in flames, before reaching it and piercing its back with her weapon.
The creature screeched in pain, then did a nosedive, heading straight for the ground of the woods. Sunset leapt off the demon as it crashed into the ground, dissipating into a cloud of smoke and fleeing back into the woods surrounding the arena.
Before she could even really recover from the fall, shadowy hands emerged from the woods again, their fingers grabbing for Sunset as she dodged and rolled to avoid them. Using her shield again, Sunset found the shadows bounced against its sleek surface, unable to penetrate it like weapons did.
“So this is what it’s good for.”
Eventually, the demon once again emerged from the treeline, its shadowy arms sprouting from its black body like tentacles, its red eyes glowing brightly and malevolently.
Sunset rushed the demon, using her shield to deflect its arms, while using her sword to cut through them. Although the arms seemed to be made of shadow, they fell away like regular appendages and dissipated before touching the dirt ground beneath them.
With another shrill screech, the demon leaned down and covered the distance with a single powerful flap of its wings, ramming Sunset in the chest with its head as it flew by, launching back up into the dark expanse above.
Sunset winced as she propped herself up, something in her chest broken and hurting. Downing an estus flask, she was only able to just narrowly roll away as the demon glided back down and past the spot she was just sitting at. The sky was too dark to see, so she didn’t exactly know where the demon was when it was flying, though she could see its glowing red eyes when it got close. That was all the time she had to act necessarily.
She wanted to drink her white estus flask, but she didn’t know if she would be able to take it down before it wore off, so for now, she stopped herself from doing so.
She could hear it out there, screeching across the large area, flying somewhere above her, far enough that the Abyss shrouded its red eyes from Sunset’s sight.
And almost as quick as a blink, it was back, swooping low in an attempt to ram Sunset with its head. The girl let herself fall and passed under it just as it zoomed over her. Stretching her arm out, Sunset cut along its chest, then threw a fireball at it, setting its left wing on fire.
The demon shrieked and took to the air again, more shadowy hands sprouting from the tear in its chest to reach for Sunset.
Using this chance, Sunset slashed off one of the arms, then threw her sword up, teleporting beside the creature. She first fired off a combustion, then flipping her sword around, she stabbed it right through its right eye, putting out its ominous glow. The demon screeched at her from its unseen mouth and grabbed her with two of its arms, but Sunset wasn’t done. Teleporting back to the sword embedded in its eye, Sunset yanked it out and jabbed it in repeatedly, then cut to the side, taking out its second eye, before she leapt on its back and lobbed a fireball right in its face. The explosion threw her off, but the damage had been done.
As Sunset teleported herself safely to the ground, she could see the mass of shadow and fire falling from the sky, crashing a few meters from her in a fiery explosion. Light enveloped the area for a second before the Abyss swallowed it again, the burning mass disappearing into the air like the ashes of a flame.
Sunset Shimmer took this time to catch her breath and steady herself, glad that another ordeal was over. “Creature of darkness banished…”
A bonfire had sprouted from the ground close to the other end of the open area. Sunset, of course, wasted no time and lighting it to bask in its glow and refill her flasks. The trees around her all stopped just past her, leading down into what looked like a dark cave, where wind seemed to be wafting from.
Sunset groaned in annoyance. She had thought the Cataclysm Hollows would be the last deep place she would see. Unfortunately, these woods had been even deeper, and now, here was a cave that led even deeper underground. This was getting a little out of hand.
Eyeing the shield she had with her, at least she now knew its use was more for blocking non-physical attacks, like the demon’s shadowy arms. It was actually quite a useful item, and she was glad that random owl had traded it to her. Whatever that owl was doing, setting up its strange business down here, Sunset didn’t care, but she was glad it had done so.
Moss and vines hung from above the cave entrance, blowing in the wind coming from it. This was it, she could feel it. Down that cave rested Gravewing, Firedrake of the Depths. There, Sunset would find the final Flame of Death, and with it, her ticket home.