Sun Never Sets

by CrownofDissonance


23- The Affection of Apathy

    Starlight had grown in strength since the last time she and Sunset fought. Their battle began up on the elevated portion of the room, in the tight area where the two thrones were supposed to look over the rest of the wide room. She was expending more of her energy, but also more vigilant about recharging herself, absorbing residual magic from Sunset's sword every time she parried or blocked. She dashed, flipped, and threw out her Tether Hand more frequently as Sunset dodged and rolled around her attacks. 

    The moon shining in through the shattered windows was now the only source of light in the room, and the softening patter of rain from outside indicated the storm was evening out. The sound of swords clashing would still continue to ring out from the castle's insides, however. It was nothing new, these halls had seen the crossing of many weapons over many a millennia.

    Facing away from the window, Starlight charged into a wild swing across, shooting forward but finding Sunset rolling to the side and diving into a similar attack, driving her sword with forward momentum that shot her across the distance between them. Starlight was still catching her balance though, and the tip of Sunset's sword dug into her side, and she was knocked onto her back in a quick, snappy motion. 

    "You want to take on Twilight, but can't even get a hit on me?" Sunset beckoned Starlight closer with a quick motion of her hand as she jumped to her feet. "Come on!"

    As she rose again, Starlight pounded the ground, and was tempted to launch straight back into Sunset. But she stopped herself, realizing that's exactly what Sunset was trying to get her to do, so instead, she drew her revolver, taking only a split second to load up the chamber and point it forward. 

    Before the first shot went off, Sunset brought both of her pistols up and was countering Starlight's shots with ease, slowly advancing as her two pistols controlled Starlight's one. Every six shots, Starlight would reload, but she did so fast that it didn't even matter. Six shots. Twelve shots. Eighteen. Sunset steadily paced closer. Soon, she'd be close enough to bring out her sword again. She always seemed to be one step ahead.

    Except Starlight was about to throw that off guard. As she reloaded for a fourth time, she spun back, snapping the cylinder shut and firing off one, two, three shots, but then on the fourth-

    BOOM!

    A cloud of smoke erupted right front of Sunset as she shot the bullet down. She let out a disoriented cough, but then-

    POP-POP-POP!

    A volley of miniature fireworks went off in her face, causing her to recoil again.

    Immediately after, Starlight jumped through the smoke, landing a cut right across Sunset's chest and going into a nasty combo of slashes that ended in an uppercut, sending her towards the ceiling.

    Sunset rolled with the hits, flipping herself midair and using the motions to bring her sword back out, barring it against Starlight's aerial strikes. Their blades met twice, Starlight kicking her legs and spinning her body with each motion, the impact of each hit pushing Sunset back into the air just a little bit. Starlight started into a third attack after a short delay, some mechanism in her mechanical body activating and thrusting her into an upward slashing spin.

    Rather than block this attack, Sunset kicked off of Starlight entirely, sending both of them higher into the air as they chased each other. Sunset brought her sword around, beginning her own string of midair moves, each one utilizing miniature magical bursts to provide her with her own upward momentum, further juggling Starlight with each landed hit while also keeping Sunset airborne. She cut across Starlight three times in her aerial rave, but before she could follow through with the down launching finisher, Starlight fired off her revolver again, right in her face. The shot hit her dead on and before she was expecting it, throwing her back and jeopardizing her aerial balance. There was another bang as the bullet dug into her, and Sunset was thrown higher up as smoke and bright lights popped off around her. Another firework bullet.

    Starlight's arm flashed again, pushing her horizontally as she sped into another of her charging sweeps, and cutting into Sunset as she fell from above. This time, Starlight kicked off of her, and the solid hit knocked Sunset further through the air. Sunset couldn't help but notice that the two of them were now suspended over the gap in the floor where the demon realm's portal once was. This air game they were playing just got extremely dangerous.

    Before executing her next move, Sunset pondered whether going into her demon form would keep her afloat. She recalled her demon wings only providing her with limited flight, they allowed her to glide more than anything else. Thinking better of it, she decided that she should save her magical energy for more sustainable options. Sunset instead dug around in her mind for a specific technique, one she was taught to use specifically during situations like this, but rarely ever used.

    Her memory spun through the four forms she was taught, recalling basic principles of the Lightdasher Form and how to begin the maneuver. She drew on her magic, and imagined a web of energy appearing to catch her. For a brief moment, a translucent red disc appeared beneath her, and she spun, pressing her feet into it and using it to bounce back into the air. Formed from her own energy, the disc sprung her forward into a sky dash, giving her extra momentum that she used to shoot right for Starlight. The two swung their swords again and clashed midair, but as they rebounded off of each other Starlight reached out, grabbing Sunset in her Tether Hand and reeling her back in to again use her as a springboard. 

    As she kicked up and off of her, she immediately tethered Sunset up to her level again, this time landing her rising upward slash attack and nearly throwing Sunset up into the ceiling. Sunset couldn't do another sky dash until her base of gravity reset—a fault of the magic used in the technique, it meant she had to jump on something again. Luckily, Starlight was directly beneath her, and was still moving upward from her previous attack. 

    In a rather risky move, Sunset swung her sword down, dropping a telegraphed chop right down on Starlight's line. The cyborg easily swung her sword around again, parrying the attack, but giving Sunset the proximity she needed to platform off of Starlight. The moment Sunset's boots made contact she flipped off and away, sending Starlight down and angling herself to land safely to land on the edge of the gap in the floor.

    The sudden kick made Starlight lose her grip on her weapon and it started to spin wildly away from her as she fell back. In a panic, she went into her Bullet Reflex, draining a dangerous amount of energy to reorient herself as she fell, and then even more to shoot her Tether Hand out and catch her falling chainsaber. Sunset felt this time distortion, and activated her Demon Reflex to match, watching Starlight as she thrusted into her horizontal air sweep again, charging across the gap and just barely reaching her with the end of her weapon. 

    Sunset braced herself to block the attack, executing the first swing of her main aerial combo in response, but as their swords collided Starlight's Tether Hand closed into a Tether Fist, socking her right between the eyes as they clashed swords. It didn't impart much force, but it hurt enough to break her focus, and time resumed for both of them.

    Still in the air, Starlight jumped off Sunset one last time and landed on the other end of the gap, near the archway leading to the stairs. She rolled to a stop, readying her revolver as Sunset closed in after her. But Sunset wouldn't have enough inertia to reach the edge, she fell just short of it and dropped out of Starlight's sight before she could shoot.

    It wasn't over, of course, Sunset was bouncing back up with a trail of faint red energy behind her, landing just on the lip of the drop and catching her balance on the tips of her toes. She spun both of her guns up as she landed.

    They'd both taken a fair beating, Starlight was looking to be more drained. She wasn't about to give up, though.

    Starlight rushed forward, firing off her revolver until it was empty and then pulling her chainsaber back to chop it down. Sunset took a few steps forward and spun her sword up to a ready position, deflecting each of Starlight's shots, and then caught her in a bind as she swung her sword.

    One foot dragging against the floor, Starlight pivoted back as their blades pressed together. A quick glimmer behind her eyes, she shoved Sunset's sword down and went into her Bullet Reflex, and in slowed time lined up a cut on the recoiling demon hunter.

    Squeezing the handle of her chainsword, Starlight swung, but Sunset suddenly sped up to her speed to deflect the attack before she and her weapon's edge bounced away in slow motion. Starlight tried again, but Sunset still kept up with her, their swords colliding before she could land a hit. 

    "Give it up!" Sunset taunted, forcing Starlight away with a quick swing. "You gotta be faster than that!"

    Sunset still had her back right against the hole in the floor, Starlight could keep pressing her, she didn't have any ground to give. Both of her guns came up, but this time Starlight leaned forward and ran in towards her twirling her chainsaber to defend herself as Sunset's bullets came at her. Soon enough, she closed the distance, and struck at Sunset again.

    This time, as Sunset brought her sword up and pushed against Starlight, the cyborg leaned away, allowing Sunset's balance to shift forward as she overestimated the strength she needed to deflect the strike. Now that she was mid-parry, Starlight engaged her Bullet Reflex again, and this time aimed her swing for Sunset's hand. Sunset kept up, but wasn't quite fast enough to recover and readjust her guard, and her sword was sliced from her hands and sent spinning away over the pit behind her. 

    Starlight smiled, she had her now. One more swing and she'd knock this annoying redhead down into the pit too, then she could chase after Twilight without interruption. 

    But as Starlight brought her spinning blade in, Sunset smiled too. Starlight's eyes froze in frustration, helpless to watch as Sunset leaned forward, into her attack, past it, right after she committed to the strike. Sunset pushed Starlight's arm away at the elbow and put a boot on her shoulder, kicking off of her and launching to a backflip over the pit, where she caught her sword and then created a glowing red disk at her back. The next moment, she was kicking off of it, bouncing back towards the ground and landing in a roll as Starlight fell onto her back, then she felt something pinning her sword arm to the floor, followed by warm metal against her chin.

    Just like last time, Sunset stood over a defeated Starlight, one foot pressing down on her arm and holding her blade level with her neck. Starlight struggled weakly, some fight still in her, but was completely immobilized. She shot Sunset a resentful look.

    "Why the glare?" Sunset asked between breaths. "There's more to this, isn't there?"

    "Go to hell."

    "You're awfully pissed about something," Sunset noted. "What did I do to you? This was nothing personal, I promise. But you've got this look in your eyes... If I didn't know any better I'd say you want to kill Twilight, and that's just not something I can allow."

    "Maybe I do." Starlight said, her voice low and her tone still hostile.

    "What I want to know is this," Sunset began. "If she's done so much to hurt you, why even bother chasing after her  now? After she's calling it quits?"

    "She's... She saved my life..." Starlight said, finally letting her expression fall. "She cut me in half, but it was to stop me from hurting other people. And then she brought me into the Order, gave me a family, turned my life around... But now she's treating me like I'm nothing!"

    Sunset's eyes softened, and she let her sword drift away. "So this is for your family? This 'Order' I'm hearing so much about? Or is it revenge?"

    "No, it's-" Starlight paused. Maybe she was just doing this because the Order told her to at first, but somewhere it changed. Revenge might've been what she called it then, but now it felt like something else. She looked up into Sunset's eyes with frustration as this strange feeling built within her. "I'm doing this... for me. Because she doesn't think I'm worth anything. Do you know what it's like to be treated like that by someone you thought cared about you?"

    A strange look crossed Sunset's face. Her lips flattened and after a pause she pulled her sword away, letting it rest on her shoulder.

    "Yeah, I do." She let off of Starlight, giving her a thoughtful look as the cyborg sat herself up. "Does it really matter what she thinks of you, though? If you can keep up with me, I think that says enough on it's own."

    "Maybe." Starlight sighed, glancing to her mechanical arm, balling it into a fist. "But I still need to prove it to myself."

"And you still can."

    Sunset held her hand out, offering to help her up. Starlight found it strange, Sunset had been in control the entire battle but yet... This was genuine encouragement from her. Where before, Sunset clearly looked down on her.

    "What?" Starlight looked up in surprise.

    "Come on, get up." Sunset said, smiling softly. "We've still got demons to fight, don't we?"

    Starlight let her pride leave her with a single breath before taking Sunset's hand. As she stood, she felt something else replacing that strange feeling of worthlessness, something more fulfilling, more meaningful. It was just as hard to put words to, but it was welcoming to her, and in turn she welcomed it,

    Another pause, and Sunset continued. "Just take a breather. You don't want to go against Twi while you're angry."

    "You're..." Starlight was still trying to process this new feeling, she didn't quite realize what Sunset was saying. "You're going to let me deal with her?"

    "Well, we probably shouldn't let her get away," Sunset said, turning back to the broken window all the way on the other end of the throne room. "And I've gotta go have a few words with Demon Diva upstairs."

    "What about your business with Twilight?"
   
    "Eh," Sunset shrugged. "We can square up later. I know she's done all this horrible stuff, but she's still my best friend, there's still good in her. So just... don't kill her, okay? Who knows, maybe it'll take you to remind her of that."

    "No promises." Starlight said. "I'm not going to hold back on her or anything, but... I know there's good in her too. I've seen it before."

    "Well, if I hear something happened to her..." Sunset gave a half-joking, half-dangerous smile. "You and I are going to have another one of these chats. And if that happens, I'm not gonna hold back on you, either."

    "Pfft. Right." With an amused smirk, Starlight turned, taking that as about as much of a blessing as she'd get and started off down the steps out of the throne room, turning right and descending to the level below.

    Looking around the darkened room, Sunset approached the deep chasm in the floor, thinking about how far down Flash might've fallen. It stung to think that he was gone, but maybe it was... no, it wasn't acceptable, she shouldn't have let him get involved in this. She sighed. No matter how capable he was, he was only a human, and he was ill fitted to get involved in matters of demons.

    She considered going back down to look for him, but she heard a commotion in the tower above her and was reminded of her goal. Adagio was at the top of the tower with all of her friends and an open demon portal, and she certainly would've sent more bad guys to stop her on the floors in between.

    "I'm sorry, bud." With Flash still on her mind as she turned to the stairs headed up, she spoke quietly to his memory. She was never one to get stuck on a loss, but she was kind of feeling this one. Regardless, she was determined to trudge onward.

    "I'll stick it to Miss Cheesepuff Head for ya."

-----

    When Flash came to, he was still strapped to the table in the SRAPH labs. Sparrowhawk had her fun with him until he passed out, and he'd surely be in for another round with her taser soon enough. Alone in the room, he struggled against his bindings, trying to think of what he'd do if he could escape. The door to the room was sealed, and he likely had his SRAPH badge taken from him, along with everything else. He could see his radio in a small storage locker off to the side, they hadn't bothered to close it and it looked like it might have some of his other belongings in it.

    Strangely, his shoulder wasn't hurting anymore, but he felt his skin begin to crawl and his blood felt heavier in his veins. The D-Virus injected into him was beginning to spread throughout his body, he could see black marks crawling down his collarbone and onto his chest. It was alarming, but he didn't feel any different yet. Maybe it would eventually give him super strength and he'd be able to bust out of the metal bindings, but that wasn't the case yet. Strangely, he didn't even feel sick or in pain, he had energy, but that only made him more aware of the virus in his body. He didn't like it.

    He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to burn as much time as he could as he waited. Some time passed, and he began to hear noises outside the room. Crashing, gunfire, panicked shouting and an alarm going off. A particularly loud thump rocked the wall next to the door in front of him, and Flash tensed up, startled, wondering what could be going on out there. Shortly after, he heard the click of the door unlocking and he froze up.

    The doors slid open, and Flash was struck with fear at who he saw. In their dark purple and grey suit of power armor, the Hellsoldier slowly paced into the room, their heavy boots stomping with each step as they wiped fresh blood off of their glowing blue wrist blade. This being knew where Flash was, and they'd come all the way through these labs to find him, most likely slaughtering any human, demon, or siren in their way. They stared at Flash for a moment, who was thoroughly frozen in fear as what he understood to be an emotionless killing machine slowly approached.

    As they neared, Flash quivered, but bravely looked into the Hellsoldier's tinted and cracked visor, making out a single detail of their face for a moment—an eye. It was a soft blue color, but not demonic or glowing despite redness around its edges and a huge scar running diagonally across it. The Hellsoldier rose both of their hands, and Flash held his breath, uncertain of what their intent was. If he was about to die, at least it wouldn't be at the hands of the Sirens. After everything they'd done he didn't want them to have that satisfaction. And maybe if he died and turned into a raging demon, the Hellsolider would dispatch him quickly before he hurt anyone. Certainly he wouldn't be too strong for them, right?

    Their powerful, gauntleted hands came in, violently seizing not him but the metal cuffs holding his arms to the table, and in a single motion they ripped the bolted pieces right off their platform and freed Flash's arms. This was the last thing he'd expected, he was still in shock as the bindings around his legs were removed too, and he was allowed to drop at the Hellsoldier's feet. As Flash was released he fell down on his hands and knees in pain, sore from being held still for so long. The Hellsoldier just looked at him expectantly.

    "Uh..." Flash didn't know what to say. He was confused, clearly, whoever was in that suit was capable of reasoning. They never meant him harm, that's why they spared him in the police station before. They could understand him, but Flash just didn't know what to say. 

    "You..." he breathed, looking up into the Hellsoldier's visor again. "You came all the way down here to find me?"

    The Hellsoldier gave a short, simple nod. 

    "Why?"

    After a moment of thinking, the Hellsoldier deliberately lifted both of their hands, balled one into a fist, and smashed it into their other palm in an aggressive fashion. Flash recognized something in that. If they weren't trying to hurt him, they wanted to hurt someone else? Thinking, Flash recalled them bursting in on his fight with Adagio in the core, and how aggressively they went after her when she finally showed up at the police station. They always showed up when the Sirens were around, and they always attacked them.

    "Adagio." Flash said, now certain that he and the Hellsoldier had a common enemy. "You're trying to get her too, huh?"

    In response, they went to the storage locker on the side of the room, opening it and pulling Flash's SRAPH badge from inside. They looked at it, then at him, then held it down for him to take.

    "My badge... you need my clearance for something?"

    The Hellsoldier shook their head, then pointed to Flash himself.

    "You need... me?"

    Another nod. What would they need him for? He was under the impression that they didn't care about him, but they did come all this way to save him...

    Flash found the rest of his clothes in the storage locker too, alongside his radio and tactical pouches. As he geared himself back up, the Hellsoldier looked away, impatiently balling their hand into a fist and then releasing it. They didn't seem to be the talkative type, Flash wasn't even sure if they could talk, but there was more going on in that helmet than one would think at first glance. 

    "I don't know how much help I'll be..." Flash looked away, then gestured to spreading black corruption on his neck and chest. "They've put their virus into me. I don't know how long it'll be before it takes me over."

    This time, the Hellsoldier just looked at him, not suggesting anything with body language or a head motion. Flash had to draw his own conclusions on what they meant. It seemed like they weren't going to stop him if he didn't want to help, but... Flash's friends were still in danger, the demon gate was open, and the Dark Sister was still out there. Who knew where Sunset and the others were? Or Trixie and Sunburst? For all he knew, he and the Hellsoldier were all that was left to stop Adagio from destroying the world. And even if he wouldn't be much help in a big battle, maybe he could at least save his friends and let the Hellsolider do their thing a little more smoothly.

    "I guess we'll just have to make it quick, then."

-----

    Sunset ascended the stairs of the castle's main tower as fast as she could, but found the floor above her had a strange veil of darkness separating it from the rest of reality. Demonic shenanigans, no doubt. Without hesitation she crossed the barrier, and was surprised when the first thing she felt was a gentle breeze brushing against her neck. Looking around her, she found herself in a dark forest, just before a flat, grassy clearing. In one direction there was a lake, but beyond that nothing but a black, empty void that seemed to surround and encompass everything. Another pocket dimension, Sunset realised, but this definitely wasn't Rarity's world. Who, then? One of her other friends? Presumably their magic was coursing through the entire tower, it could've been any of them.

    She racked her brain as her eyes darted around, trying to figure out who she should be expecting here. Amidst the trees, tangling between their roots were thick, thorny vines, the tips of which spread out into the clearing ahead.  Sunset felt a strange sense of numbness as she approached the vines, the pink flowers growing from them giving off an alarmingly soothing aroma. They relaxed her, but in a forced manner. It wasn't comforting, she was being made to feel sluggish against her will. Whatever was within those vines was trying to suppress her.

    She hurriedly made her way through the trees, breaking through the treeline and feeling the effect of the flowers weaken as she cleared them. Her awareness was suddenly set off by the sound of snapping twigs behind her though, stopping her in her tracks and tempting her to look over her shoulder. 

    Watching her from the darkness of the forest were a pair of greenish-yellow eyes, glowing with some otherworldly light.

    A rough, brown blur leapt for her, a huge wolf like creature composed completely of animated wood. Sunset leaned forward and drew her sword into a slash, cutting right into the wolf and splitting it apart before it had a chance to land a blow. It hit the ground behind her with a weak whimper, and turned again to looking at what now resembled a broken tree branch than a predator. 

    "Pfft." Sunset shook her head, disappointed, but her attention was snatched by a rumbling growl that was released from the depths of the forest behind her. Another wooden wolf jumped forth, a mouth full of tiny stake-like protrusions serving as teeth wide open, and two sets of solid claws held forward. Her sword spun back around and broke this one apart too, but another emerged from the forest from a different angle, and then another, and in short order Sunset was facing down dozens of these wooden wolves. Each one was relatively easy to destroy, but their numbers were great, and Sunset quickly found herself losing footing, needing more breathing room between each strike. 

    There was a shifting at her feet as she jumped back and the moment she landed a thorned vine burst from the earth with great force, causing Sunset's balance to reel back into a hurried backpedal. Yet again, there was another presence behind her, and she bent her knees, masterfully catching her balance and ducking back right as another piece of wood swung over her head. Letting her head roll back further, she'd see that this wasn't one of the wolf monsters. It was made from the same strange, animated wood, but it took the shape of a full length staff. 

    As she looked back further, she saw in her inverted perception a woman's body covered in a complicated crossing of plant growth. Her nose nearly brushed the woman's chest, and up that close she could see that her layer of organic clothes sprouted directly from her skin, accented with flowers and patterns of thin vines along her arms and legs. Looking up, Sunset saw familiar blue eyes were marred with the vertical slits of a demon glaring back down at her, soft pink hair falling around a face stricken with both pain and detachment. 

    Sunset twirled into the air as the demon swung her staff at her legs. She recognized it, that was the same staff Twilight used during their duel. She landed again, but another thick plant stalk shot up from the ground in time with the demon slamming her staff against the ground. This time, Sunset pulled her legs in and perched herself on the growth as it writhed about, taking down several more of the wooden wolves as they jumped for her again. Less came at her this time, the ones remaining instead chose to wait around her length of twisting plant mass, looking up at her as they impatiently waited for her to either fall or jump down.

    Sunset instead chose to focus on the demon commanding them, standing beyond the circle they made. Her eyes lit up with recognition. It was another of her friend's demon forms. Puzzling, Sunset thought, weren't their bodies all up on the roof? Adagio wouldn't leave them behind and risk them getting away, would she?
   
    "Fluttershy?" The stalk was thick enough to support her weight as its core, but Sunset chose to balance herself on its thinnest part, gently bobbing as the vine began to curl. Her eyes scanned up and down this friend-shaped demon, letting out an impressed whistle as she took in all of this demon's form. A cool smile showed on her face as her voice took on a darker, more tempting tone. "Ooh, that plant-top thing looks really nice on you."

    The demon didn't respond with words, instead her lips curled down angrily and she struck the earth with her staff again, prompting Sunset's perch to whip up straight in an attempt to fling her away. Sunset tilted herself forward and kicked off in time with the movement, catapulting far over the pack of wooden wolves waiting for her to drop and landing behind Fluttershy's demon, both her guns drawn but held out to the side with arms crossed.

    "And if you don't mind me saying..." Sunset continued, taking a step back as the demon attacked with her staff. "Those flowers really make your hair pop- Quite cute!"

    The demon's face scrunched up into an annoyed sneer, and she swung her staff again with vocalised force. Sunset pushed against it with one of her guns, redirecting the swing while shooting off behind her and blasting apart one of the wolves—they were now quickly closing in around her again. She also shot the demon another grin, pleased to see she was pushing her buttons. 

    "Oh, cute isn't your style, is it?" Three more rapid attacks came in, Sunset again redirected them with one gun while firing the other behind her back, keeping the wolves in check as she sparred with Fluttershy's demon. "How about... Beautiful? Breathtaking?"

    Fluttershy was usually timid and reserved, under normal circumstances these kinds of compliments would fluster her, shying away and hiding her face, but every kind word Sunset offered only tilted the demon's temper further. Sunset ducked beneath another staff swing in time with a wolf lunging in, and Fluttershy's demon ended up whacking it out of the air in an attempt to hit her. Wood shattered wood, but Sunset cartwheeled backwards and came back up with her arms out wide, shrugging her shoulders as if to invite even more attacks.

    "Ha! Powerful, maybe? Stunning?"

    Through clenched teeth, Fluttershy's demon growled. Her voice had the same signature scratch and echo that most demons had, and her tone had none of the softness Sunset was used to hearing in Fluttershy. Just from the growl alone, Sunset felt an intimidating and commanding presence in her voice. She attacked again, this time shooting a pair of twisting vines from the staff, reaching out to ensnare Sunset. 

    Sunset rolled to the side, coming up and immediately planting her feet as she fired both in front of her and to the left, splitting her pistols' lines to shoot down any more wolves brave enough to close the gap. More came, and Sunset had to shift her stance several times to cover all around her, raining down sheet after sheet of wood chips as she worked her guns. Her hold would be interrupted though. Thinner yet more flexible vines rose from the ground and grabbed tightly around her ankles, heralding another charging dive from Fluttershy's demon.

    Unable to move, Sunset locked her wrists and stopped the attack between the slides of her pistols, breaking them away as two rolling follow up strikes came in, one with the front of the staff and another with the back end. As it finished, Sunset caught the back end of the staff with the bottom of her pistol, then used her other gun to lock it by its front end, twisting it around until she could rest her chin on her wrists and keep Fluttershy's staff bound between them, all while giving the demon a darkened yet cheeky look.

    "What about hot?" Sunset pursed her lips, eyes widening in mock excitement as she watched the demon's confused reaction to the question posed. "Attractive? Sexy? That outfit is just the right amount of revealing... Can I say that? Like, is that crossing our boundaries as friends?"

    The demon had a mixture of anger and bewilderment written all across her face. She paused before striking again, and Sunset kept talking.

    "Maybe that is a bit much. Say, it's been a while since we've seen each other, maybe-" Sunset leaned back below a staff swing, then just as quickly popped back up to resume her banter. "Maybe we could just go get lunch or something?" Sunset noticed that the wolves seemed to be just as taken about as their master, momentarily stopping their assault. Of course, Sunset concluded, when Fluttershy was directly controlling them. When she paused, so did they. "Y'know, catch up? Talk about stuff-"

    Another attack came in, but during the time the demon was processing the shock of being asked on a date during a fight to the death Sunset managed to free her ankles from the vines around them, and was able to dash shoulder first under the demon's attack. She shoved her away, sticking one gun under her arm and firing it off into the demon's stomach, then again in the chest. The shots barely stumbled her, the demon came back with a flurry of attacks, and the wooden wolves jumped into the fight again too. As Sunset continued holding her own, the demon finally spoke up.

    "B-Be quiet!" Fluttershy's demon sounded to be in full disbelief, but still carried out her attacks with full lethality. "Be quiet and keep still!"

    Sunset caught her staff on her pistol again, but had to point the other behind her to deal with a wolf. 

    "Ah-ah." Sunset's tone went completely playful. "That's gonna have to wait until a couple more dates- Oh!"

"Stop that!" Fluttershy's staff quickly responded as she did, twirling in a full circle and striking a twisting Sunset on the back of her thigh at full force mid-wisecrack. Both of Sunset's eyes shot open, her back arcing in the opposite direction, but despite taking the hit she didn't fall. She was fully braced and now wore a dark look as she met the gaze of Fluttershy's demon.

"Do it again."

    "What?! No!" The demon's eyes widened. "Stop making it weird!"

    "What?" Returning to her joking smile, Sunset switched back to her sword and virtually scoring a free slash on the demon's body, catching her on an exposed part of her side before she could move to defend herself properly. "I'm not pretty enough for you, is that it?"

    "No, it's not-" Fluttershy's demon winced, but not from the sword cutting into her. It was some weird reaction she was having to Sunset being nice to her. "I don't care if you like how I look... You're just trying to steal my magic, you're just like Twilight!"

    "Actually, I'm trying to help you, Fluttershy." Sunset said, her tone becoming serious for a moment.

    "Help? I don't care what you think you're doing, I'm stopping you here!"

    Behind her, Sunset felt a warm draft on her back, followed by the scent of something awful. Turning, she saw that all of the wooden bits of the wolves she'd destroyed had converged into one single, massive wolf that now was breathing down her back. The wolf growled, standing nearly four times Sunset's height, and quickly snapped up the demon hunter in its powerful jaws, leaving only her leg to dangle form its mouth.

    Fluttershy's demon smiled as her super wolf tilted its head back to swallow it's catch, but it suddenly made a pained whine, trying to tilt its head back. Its jaw was ripped back open just as quickly as it snapped shut, and the demon gasped at the sight of Sunset prying the wolf's mouth open from the inside, that smug smile still on her face.

    "Whew! This thing's breath stinks, what do these guys eat?"

    In the next few seconds, Sunset thrust her sword through the super wolf's mouth and jumped into its throat, tearing it apart as she fell through it. Fluttershy's demon hastily jumped forward, aiming to meet Sunset as the wolf quickly imploded on itself, but the pieces of its were blown outwards as Sunset fired her guns in a circle from within it. 

    Sunset's boots caught her atop a mountain of scrap wood and wilted vines, and she looked down to find Fluttershy's demon laying on the ground, immobilized by a sizable chunk of wood sticking through her. It tore through her layer of plant clothes and seemed to immediately interrupt her regeneration. As Sunset approached, she shook her head, bared her teeth, and unable to recover her weapon, held her hands out.

    "No!" She shouted. "Get away from me!"

    "Fluttershy, I'm not here to take your magic." Sunset said. She held her claymore in a hand, but didn't hold it with the intent to strike. 

    "You can't proceed unless you do!" The demon replied, clutching the piece of wood sticking through her. "And I don't care what you say- at the end of the day you just want more power... Just leave this place!"

    "That looks pretty bad." Sunset nodded to the oversized splinter stuck in the demon. "I'm definitely not going to leave you like that. Here, let me help you..."

    "Stop!" She flinched as Sunset took a step, but was surprised to find that the demon hunter respected her request.

    "You're not going to pull that thing out by yourself, are you?" Sunset asked. "That wood looks like it's a problem."

    "I can... I can handle-" She stuttered, scared, but trying to sound abrasive. "Why are you trying to be nice to me? Is this a trick?"

    Sunset sighed. "Because you need it. Please, just let me pull that thing out of you, you look like someone's tried to put you to rest!"

    Closing her eyes, the expression of Fluttershy's demon changed. She still looked upset and angry, but her face gained a small bit of softness, and she looked more contemplative. Her demonic echo spoke in an uncertain, scratchy whisper. "O-Okay..."

    "This'll only take a second. I pull stuff out of myself all the time..." Using her sword to bite into it, Sunset carefully pulled outward on the length of wood scrap sticking through her friend. Her weapon formed a handle, and as she ensured her angle was aligned with the direction of the wound, she pulled the intrusion out in a single motion. Fluttershy's demon didn't make any pained response, she only looked a little relieved. The hole poked in her did slowly heal up though, and her clothes regrew themselves as well.

    "I've been nothing but genuine with you this whole time, Fluttershy. You look good, and I'm only trying to help."

    "Nothing but genuine?" The demon's expression changed again, but this time she looked far more like her host. Contemplative, but still a bit upset, but then also she suddenly blushed. "Even the..."

    "No, you don't have to go on a date with me, forget about that." Sunset waved her hand dismissively. "I can find another way to the top of the tower. I'll go get my bike and ride up the side of it if I have to. Just..."

    "Maybe... could we though?" The demon asked, her eyes darting nervously around. "I've... never really had anyone ask me like that before."

    "I was kind of joking around but... uh, sure?" Sunset put her sword away, and scratched behind her head. "I gotta go save everyone first. And figure out what's going on with Twilight."

    "I... I think..." Fluttershy's demon stood up, despite not having Fluttershy to bind her actions she held herself apologetically. "I'm sorry, Sunset. Twilight wasn't as kind to me as you were. I didn't care about anything but Fluttershy's safety, I was told that you just wanted our magic too. That's not true, is it?"

    "No, it's not." Sunset tilted her head. "Who told you that?"

    "The lady that kidnapped Fluttershy. She made Fluttershy believe it, actually, and I had no way of knowing better."

    Sunset kept that in mind. Adagio had all of her friends under control, but their demons weren't as compliant.

    "But you showed me differently, and now... I think I feel what she feels. Kindness. I've never felt it this strongly before..." The demon looked hesitant, but then suddenly offered the enchanted wooden staff to Sunset as a symbol of her surrender. "Oh, just take it! Take it and save her, will you?"

    "Fluttershy needs it more than me." Sunset politely declined, shaking her head. "Go back to her, and once I free you all just help her get out of here, okay?"

    The demon looked surprised again, but then nodded, a slight smile flashing on her face before she suddenly lit up in a warm glow, dissolving into a beam of soft yellow light that shot into the ceiling—reality was also returning to normal, the forest clearing quickly changed back into an open stone floor within the castle's main tower. 

    After the light faded, the room was cast in mostly darkness, leaving Sunset to find the staircase leading up and follow it to the next floor.