Perception was a funny thing, Sunset Shimmer thought. For example: The perception of, “Well, at least I’m not dead.” This implied a level of thankfulness to still be living, but did not take into immediate account that that could change quickly. A lot was going on. Perception was mostly visual, of course. To Sunset, she had been close to Void, about to wound the God of Chaos and slow him down, as she hoped. But her sword found only air. Whether she missed by a fraction of a second or missed by a mile was certainly a matter of perception. Regardless, she did miss. And now he was gone or invisible again.
The snap had rung out like a massive thunderclap. It had caused Sunset to blink and in that moment, she had lost sight of her target. Her ears were ringing and though Sunset knew she was still airborne because she was flapping, it was difficult to tell where she was in relation to others or the ground itself. Carefully, she slowed her wing beats and found ground under hoof. That did not alleviate her disorientation though as she stumbled around. A voice was calling to her. She was certain of it. Another was grunting, it sounded painful. Struggling for or against something? Sunset growled as she once again shook her head to force it to clear.
“I… CAN’T… HOLD THIS!!!”
Sunset Shimmer's vision focused and ears cleared for the most part. She found Flurry Heart struggling to contain a growing Cosmos still inside her magic shield bubble, but not for long. With their primary concern having apparently fled, Sunset fired her horn and layered her own shields over the top of the ones Flurry was conjuring. Sunset could feel the strain in the magic matrix. Cosmos was not just growing in size. She was drawing in power from ambient sources, pressing against their own energy causing lightning to discharge at the many soldiers just standing about unsure what to do next.
“This isn’t going to hold her! We need to cut off the flow!” Sunset ground her teeth and glanced to her right at the dark blue alicorn who was searching about, seeming oblivious to the threat before them. “Aunt Luna! We need help!”
“I know… but Void is not g-”
Sunset only saw it for a second. It looked like a serpent tail surrounding by a shimmering, golden aura. It emerged from a dimensional tear just long enough to smack Luna hard, throwing her off her hooves, then disappeared as quickly as it had emerged.
“Mistress!” Sunset heard Gauge cry out, he still sounded far away, but was in fact standing next to Sunset. I think that snap blew out my ear drums.
Luna shook her head and growled. She summoned a glowing, blackish blue scythe with a black blade that pulse with unholy power. Sunset could only imagine how many creatures such a weapon could kill by even the smallest of touches. “He is funneling chaos energy to Cosmos via the In Between. I will try to stop him from the other s-” A massive claw tore through from above and smashed Luna into the ground, forming small crater. Though trapped and being crushed, she held onto her weapon and willed the death scythe to cut the glowing ethereal claw. The construct burst into pixelated dust upon contact.
“Luna!” Sunset cried out. Much to her astonishment, the Goddess of Death had to wipe the dark, blackish red blood that began to drip from her nose. She held up a hoof to keep Sunset from approaching. It was jarring to process, but even an immortal goddess could be hurt under the right conditions. Despite the injury and possibly others, Luna stood, cut a hole through space/time, and disappeared, sealing it behind her.
“LET. ME. OUT!”
Sunset and Flurry both growled and grunted as their horns began to ache from the strain. Need a real plan, Shimmer! She’s going to explode if we don’t do something!
Cracks began to spiderweb across the layered shields. Then, a unicorn beam lent assistance. Then another. And another. Sunset blinked and smiled as pony and horse unicorns began to add their power to try and contain Cosmos. The Spirit of Malice growled in frustration.
“Princess,” Sunset glanced to her left and found Prince Alsame standing there, directing his mages to assist. “What else can we do to win this?”
“The shields are holding her, but I can feel her still gaining power. She’s either going to break free and wreck havoc or explode. Either will be catastrophic.”
“Might I be so bold as to recommend you simple end the creature with your flaming sword?”
Sunset balked. “You mean kill her?! I don’t want to do that! For Celestia’s sake, I had to kill my own father once! I don’t want to do that again unless there is no other way!”
“And if she explodes and kills many here, yours and mine? Will that be better? Will she not still die in the end?” The prince glanced back over his withers. Sunset knew exactly who he was looking towards even if the body was obscured my others. “Sometimes… death is the greatest mercy we can grant.”
Sunset Shimmer turned back to Gauge, who had been listening intently to the exchange. Her eyes were wide, pleading for another solution. The bat pony gazed back with stern resolve and nodded his agreement. The cold but honest words from the prince spoke truth. Sunset’s mind offered her the gruesome memory of the poor mare that had been trapped under Pelican Island, slowly being eaten away by dark magic the Red Clover left behind. Most of her body turned to crystal, including her eyes which wept tears of blood. She was in so much paid that her mind had broken long ago. It stung Sunset’s heart, but she knew they both spoke the harsh truth.
“Grrrr! Dammit! FINE!” Sunset Shimmer turned her attention to Flurry Heart. “I’m going in. Drop the shield on my sig-” If she had turned her head just two centimeters, or had her mane blown just the wrong way, Sunset would not have spotted the dimensional tear that had just opened in time. “EVERYPONY, DUCK!”
From the tear a cloak covered pony was hurled end over end. Sunset, on instinct brought the flat of her blade around to try and defend. It was not meant to deflect an entire body, however. Especially one that could kill simply by touching another living soul. SHIIIIIIIIT!!!
The center of the blade flashed with golden light and immediately changed shape to a body sized kite shield, deflecting Luna, who let out an "Oof!" Sunset blinked twice and the weapon reformed back into a flame covered sword. Huh. Well, how about that.
In her moment of distraction, Sunset stopped reinforcing the shield. As had several other unicorns when they had been ordered to duck. The strain on the others, especially Flurry Heart was immediately known.
“I CAN’T…”
The shields failed and Cosmos roared triumphantly as she broke free. She was now the size of a small office building and cackling with glee. “OHHHHH! THE POOOOOWER!”
A Saddle Arabian naively tried to help Luna back up. Before she could pull away his body went ridged upon touching her and he fell over. Luna gasped then grimaced. Hard. She shook her head. An issue to deal with later.
“Sunset! You must…” Luna turned and fired her horn blast at another rift that tried to open.
Sunset Shimmer shook her head. Things had spiraled completely out of control and yet continued to steadily getting worse. Cosmos turned her mad eyes to Sunset, filled with murderous intent. But that was not what caught the alicorn’s attention. She was focused on the glowing welts that were forming all over the growing spirit’s body.
Cosmos’s toothy smile suddenly faded. Her glorious, well planned monologue died in her throat that suddenly felt too tight. Her power mad eyes widened but not with joy, instead with fear. She could feel herself being burned up from the inside out. Her body could not contain the amount of energy that continued to flow into it. “W-What did you do to me?!”
A glowing eye and part of a face emerged from his invisibility. “I gave you what you wanted to achieve what I wanted. The legacy of Celestia, Aine's last toy must die. Do be useful in your last few moments and see to it that she does.”
Luna reached out with her power, but the chaos alicorn retreated once more. There was no point chasing him again. He was too powerful in his realm without help.
“She’s going to blow!” shouted Sunset Shimmer. “Gauge! Sound the retreat! Get them all as far away as you can!”
“What are you go-”
Sunset did not waste time answering. Her horn burned brightly as glowing red vines shot from the soil and wrapped around Cosmo’s legs. The vines burned away in seconds eliciting a frustrated growl from the alicorn. “Dammit!”
“Are you trying to ground out her power?” asked Flurry Heart.
“Three things need to happen right now,” Sunset replied without turning her head and she tried again with larger, stronger vines. “We need to discharge as much of her power into the ground as possible, I need to get her to a safe distance in the air, and then I need to, essentially, disperse the remaining amount of chaos energy and hope not too much flashes towards space for the omega beast to see like a giant ‘come eat me’ sign.”
Flurry nodded and stomped her hooves to the ground. Crystal vines shot from the soil where Sunset’s earthy vines had burned away. She then reversed the polarity on her spell matrix and the energy siphoned downward instead of up. If there were long term consequences for discharging massive amounts of chaos magic into the ground they would deal with them later.
Luna wrapped the writhing spirit in a levitation field and began to lift her. Flurry grew her crystal vines to match. “How high is sufficent?”
Sunset did not immediately answer. She just watched and waited. But more than that she listened. Not as much with her ears as she listened to her magical senses. She felt the shift like a changing breeze moments before the rift opened behind the three of them and then spun with a snarl, bringing Godslayer around in a quick, overhead slash. Sunset did not see what she hit, but there was no mistaking the loud, painful whine as her blade sunk in deep and burned something before gouging a molten divot into the earth. The rift that had formed resealed as quickly as it opened.
Luna nodded and flashed a brief smirk at Sunset. “You hurt him with that one. Well done.”
With Void limping away to lick his wounds, Sunset turned back to her aunt and niece-in-law. “You two should probably get clear.”
“What are you planning to do?” asked Flurry with obvious concern in her eyes.
Sunset grimaced, turned to Flurry, then Luna, then back to Gauge who was helping the prince organize the retreat. He must have sensed her staring or just had that good of peripheral vision. The bat pony paused to turn to Sunset. They stared at one another for longer than they probably should have before Sunset returned her attention to Cosmos, who was screaming in pain as if burning alive. That’s probably exactly what is happening to her. Void, you sick bastard. She’s like a daughter to you from what I heard. Even if from another dimension. How could you be so cruel?
“I’m going to try and channel the excess power down and around while I… put her out of her torment. It’s going to get hot and loud. Anypony nearby might not make it so farther is better.”
Flurry stared harder, her blue eyes beginning to glass over slightly. "And where will you be?"
Sunset sighed, then looked up again. "Directly beneath her."
Luna sighed and directed Flurry to retreat while taking control of the assistance spells. Flurry was not pleased by the answer in the slightest. While more brutal than a technical magic user, even Flurry Heart understood that directing so much power downward would subject Sunset Shimmer to most of the excess energy.
Sunset Shimmer shrouded herself in defensive spells and flew up just under where Cosmos was writhing about, the only thing keeping her steady were the crystal vines that were fracturing under the strain. The prince had been correct, she was going to blow catastrophically. There was no way around that. But at least she could make it less painful and keep all the others safe. That was her job after all. That thought brought little comfort as Sunset could already feel the gems on her armor heating up from use.
“I don’t know what you did in the past, Cosmos, but no creature deserves to suffer like this. I’m sorry for what he did to you.”
Cosmos turned her wide, tear filled eyes to Sunset. All she could do was blink. Her jaw had become too swollen to speak. Sunset Shimmer lit her horn and prepared her magic to channel the power. She next raised her sword, let out one last exhale, and then pressed her will upon the weapon. The blade began to glow from red to bright yellow, Sunset’s fiery wings mimicked the blade as they too changed to golden light. Sunset's mane and tail whipped around like wild flames and if she could see her face, she would have found a familiar red stripe mask across her eyes. With one last silent prayer for forgiveness, Sunset used her magic to stab Cosmos in her bloated, molten glowing throat. The results were immediate.
Cosmos exploded.
Several ponies called out Sunset's name. The words lost in the cacophony of broken sound and blinding light. It felt as if all the air had been blasted out of the immediate area, pushing clouds away, toppling trees. Even the ocean water was shoved back in the blast wave. Even from what they had hoped was a safe distance all the Equestrians and Saddle Arabians were knocked to the ground as energy and air rushed over them.
Fog Gauge rolled on the ground holding his hooves to his flattened ears. He was fairly certain he had blacked out for a few seconds. With a helping hoof, Gauge found his way back upright. He still felt disoriented and wet around the ears. It was then that he noticed it had been an Al Haras guard that had helped him up and that the Saddle Arabian had a small trickle of blood from his ears. Gauge touched his own umber fur covered ears and found blood as well.
His eyes focused on the shore where Sunset had been. If they had all sustained concussion damage from range what happened to Princess Sunset? Grunting his fatigue with every step, ignoring the calls to slow down despite his wobbly legs, Gauge moved forward. The smoke was clearing and there was now a crater along the shore that was slowly starting to fill with sea water. Gauge felt his voice cry out, but his ears were broken. He imagined it must have been the same for many of them. A concern for later.
When Fog reached the crater, he hesitated for only a moment before ascending the crest. What he saw both filled him with joy and panic in equal parts. In the bottom center was an unmoving Sunset Shimmer lying on her side as sea water began to rise around her. She was unconscious… or worse. He shook that thought from his mind immediately. She was strong. Stronger than any mare, any creature, he had ever known. She was missing a few feathers from her wings and several armor pieces were broken or simply missing, including her helm crown that had either been blown off or turned to slag. The exposed goldenrod fur had been singed in some places down to her skin forming angry red welts. Immediate medical attention was not even a question. Gauged slid down the crater wall, ignoring the painful heat from the scorched stone beneath his fur and hooves. He dropped down into the water and quickly lifted Sunset’s head into his lap.
“My princess! Wake up, look at me!”
Sunset did not move, her body limp in his forelegs.
Gauge removed his armored hoof guard and felt around her neck for a pulse. Her remaining armor was searing hot and her body was not much cooler to the touch. “No. Do not do this to me. Not again. Please look at me with those beautiful eyes, Sunset… Please come back to us. Twilight needs you... we all do.” The bat pony was about to cry out his anguish when he felt it. Ever so faint, but it was there. A thump under his hoof, a beat, the pumping of life blood. Sunset groaned and slowly her eyes opened as she turned. Sunset smiled and then coughed a mix of sea water, blood, bile and sand up on her captain. He did not care one bit.
“Ow.”
“My princess,” Gauge whispered as he stroked the side of her face smiling with relief.
“How many times am I going to find myself at the bottom of a crater in my life?”
Gauge was about to cry out for help when several others gazed over the top and offered assistance.
“Give me room!” Sunset and Gauge were both wrapped in a golden aura that easily lifted them both out together. A moment later they were set down and Flurry Heart released them. “Sweet Mother of Love! She’s okay!”
Gauge registered the words but they were faint and garbled. Something in his expression must have conveyed that to Flurry.
“Right, sorry. Let me check you for damage. I had to heal a whole bunch of ponies’ blown out ear drums. I was mostly okay other than getting thrown for what felt like halfway to the Empire. I don’t know what happened to Luna. I mean, she’s immortal and a Death goddess now so I’m sure she’s fine… fine-ish. Crap, I’m rambling like Aunt Twilight.”
About halfway through the garbled speech Gauge felt his hearing pop back and winced at how loud everything suddenly was. He always had good hearing. The thestral transformation ritual made it better and far more sensitive. He next felt the aura pass over Sunset and Flurry winced and furrowed her brow.
“Damn! Sweeet Celestia. I’ve never… it’s like her entire aura is armored and is fighting me from even taking a peek.” Flurry shook her head, blinking the spots from her eyes. “Aunt Twilight was right. You really are hard headed.”
Sunset chuckled. It hurt to do so, but it was still felt good to laugh. Pain told you that you were still alive. “So I’ve been told… more than once.” Despite Gauge’s objection Sunset rolled over out of his grasp and forced herself to stand. She glanced down at herself and groaned. Damn. I really liked this armor too.
Everyone was milling about, unsure what to do next. A small commotion caught Sunset and Flurry Heart’s attention and they both turned to find Prince Alsame and a few of his guards gently making their way towards them. Sunset placed a hoof on Gauge’s shoulder to tell him to relax. He in turn signaled the other guards to stand down.
The prince stopped a respectable distance away and examined Sunset Shimmer. There was great concern in his eyes along with just a hint of awe. He coughed and composed himself. “I do not know if that was the plan you had in mind, princess, but I am happy to inform you that my horses suffered only minor injuries and no additional casualties. Also, many thanks to Princess Flurry Heart and her fellow unicorns for helping heal so many so quickly.”
Flurry blushed a bit but accepted his respectable bow and gave her own.
“It pleases me greatly to see that you live. I would hate to have our recent peace agreement shattered because of this.” The prince reached into his robe and held out a familiar object. “I will admit, when I found this lying next to me after the explosion, I feared the worse.”
Sunset’s teal eyes brightened to see her circlet helm mostly undamaged. She made to reach for it but he waved a hoof. “Please, allow me.”
With a shrug and no reason to object, Sunset bowed her head and he gracefully slid the armor regalia back into place. Alsame stepped back and admired Sunset Shimmer as if seeing her for the first time all over again. Then bowed and curtsied more deeply than he had at any other time before. Sunset nodded and smiled. For the first time since it was placed upon her head by her wife, Twilight Sparkle, at her coronation it did not feel so weighed upon her body and soul. Then, a thought occurred to her. He was, in fact, no longer a prince, but the new sultan of Saddle Arabia.
“Your Highness,” Sunset began, “If you would permit it, I would like to return the gesture and place your crown upon your head as well.”
Alsame paused for a moment before coming to understand what Sunset was referring to. He whispered to one of his servants who ran back a few rows. “I think, given the circumstances that we are in fact standing upon your lands that such a gesture is within your right. And more so, I would be honored to be crowned as sultan by the alicorn goddess who reaffirmed peace between our nations once more.”
The servant returned and unwrapped the jeweled and cloth headpiece that she had seen the previous sultan wearing not long ago. With great care and respect, Sunset examined the ancient regalia before holding it up for all gathered to see. There were probably more profound words she was supposed to say, but none came to mind. Besides, everything was beginning to hurt as the adrenaline wore off. Sunset then carefully placed the crown upon the new sultan’s head and wrapped it in a way she hoped was correct. If it wasn’t, thankfully no one pointed it out.
Sunset bowed her head and curtsied. “You Holy Sultan, Alsame Aldhahabiu. Long may he rule.”
The words were repeated throughout the Saddle Arabians and they broke out into joyous cheers. Soon after, the Equestrians joined in the cheering. Much to Sunset’s surprise, some of the back rank Saddle Arabians began to sing and play music. Sunset started tapping her hoof to the catchy rhythm that was being played on lutes or ukuleles from the sound of it. There was also the beat of a drum and a whistle or flute. It was upbeat and made her aches and pains sooth ever so slightly.
Seeing Sunset start to move and dance a bit caused Flurry Heart to get into it as well. Soon after, with both princesses moving and dancing, the rest of the Equestrians also began to dance and move to the rhythm. Even the hard disciplined thestrals joined in, though they mostly just tapped hooves and bobbed their heads a bit while still keeping a watch for dangers.
After two songs the sultan offered his hoof to Sunset and asked for a dance. Sunset glanced down at herself, still smudged with dirt and burns with missing feathers, but he did not seem deterred, so she shrugged and gladly honored his request. They both smiled and laughed while making small talk through the entire set. Gauge smiled as he watched his princess move with such life and energy. Her smaller wounds healing quickly right before his eyes. Many thoughts were swirling through his head, but most revolved how amazing the mare before him was. She truly was a sword and shield in one. It gave him hope that not all was lost as long as the diarchs, especially Sunset Shimmer was there to protect them.
It was about an hour later that a solar guard lieutenant found his way to Sunset Shimmer and bowed deeply. She blinked twice before she realized he was holding out a SunLight crystal. With only slight hesitation she picked it up. “Um, hello?”
“SUNSET!” Sunset winced and jerked back a bit from Twilight’s shout. “Oh, thank Celestia! You’re okay!”
“Uh, yeah. I’m good. We’re all good here, actually. Crisis averted. How are you?”
“I tried calling your crystal and all I got was static. Then I tried Fog Gauge’s and then Flurry’s and then I started to panic and had Tempest and Isa try to call numbers of other guards. So many of them were just static! I started to freak out! I was about to pull my mane out!”
“Twilight.”
“Yes?”
“Breathe.”
“Yes, yes. I’m good. I can hear your voice and… singing and music?”
Sunset laughed a bit. “Well yeah. Like I said, crisis averted.”
“Well, what happened?”
“That’s… going to take a bit to explain and I’d rather do it while seeing your beautiful face.” Sunset could imagine Twilight blushing from the compliment and it just made her grin more.
“Well, I have a lot to tell you too. We will be heading back to Canterlot tomorrow once we finish with our talks here. There are still some bumps with how to deal with the omega beast, but we have every creature on board to help. At least for now.”
“That’s great news. The Saddle Arabians are with us too. You know, if the singing and dancing wasn’t a giveaway.”
“I’m glad you are okay.”
“I’m… I’m alive.”
“Sunny?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you get hurt?”
Sunset hesitated as she glanced down at herself. She had removed the broken pieces of armor that hopefully could be fixed later and was now only wearing her crown helm and peytral, which was partly dented and the fire ruby was badly fractured, but intact. Most of her surface bruises had lost their swelling and would be gone by tomorrow thanks to Flurry and her alicorn healing. Her burned fur patches had already begun to grow back in and her wings mostly just needed a good preening that she would do later or get Gauge to help her. That thought made Sunset’s cheeks a bit hot. The hesitation did not go unnoticed by Twilight.
“Um…”
“Sunset.”
“I got… Look, I know once you hear about it you are going to get mad at me, but it was either I take a chance or a lot of ponies and horses were going to die. And we didn’t lose anyone! Well, except the sultan, but he was going to die anyhow. But it’s okay! Don’t freak out because I can see you in my head freaking out! His son, Alsame and I came to an understanding and we’re good now. It’s all good, I swear. I’m just a little banged up and yeah apparently a lot of our SunLight crystals overloaded and shattered. Going to need to look at that before the next generation go on the market. Plus, we were probably all exposed to chaos magic... that might be bad... I think.”
“Sunny.”
"Yeah?"
"Breathe."
Sunset sighed, but then chuckled lightly. “Babe, serious, I’m okay. We won this round. It’s not over, obviously, but we came out on top. Let’s just be happy about that and worry about what fresh hell we face next tomorrow, okay?”
Sunset could hear a few murmurs in the background and Twilight said something quietly, most likely to Tempest or Isabella. “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”
Sunset smiled and the last of her pain melted away after hearing those words. “I love you too.”
Twilight ended the call and floated the crystal back to Isabella. She then let out a deep breath to calm her nerves. Her purple eyes opened once more and were filled with only strength and resolve. It had been a private conversation with her wife, but Twilight had not bothered to leave the room. It was just as well, the dignitaries at the table had been just as interested in the results of the conflict. Especially the grand vizier, who was flanked by Tempest and Sabaj, the obsidian guard.
“Everypony is okay. Only some minor injuries.” Twilight turned to look directly as Muhasib. “However, the sultan has passed on. You have my deepest condolences. His son is now the new sultan.” The grand vizier bowed his head and closed his eyes, whispered a quiet prayer that was repeated by his guards.
“Now that that issue has been resolved where does that leave us in what our options are with the omega beast?” The question was given to all present, but primarily to Belldandy and Chaz.
“I’m afraid there are only two options,” said Belldandy. “Either we find a way to lure the beast back to where it came from, which runs the risk of letting more in. Or we kill it. It cannot be reasoned with. As I recall it is driven only by instinct and need to feed. It does not communicate. There is no negotiating with such a creature.”
Chaz nodded along. “What she said.”
Twilight glanced about at those gathered and then back to Cadence who smiled encouragingly at her sister-in-law. “How do we fight something like what you descried?”
“You can’t.”
All the eyes in the room turned to the sound of a new voice that just appeared in the room. Or perhaps, she had been there the entire time. The massive white alicorn with black socks waited until she had the entire room’s attention. Easy to get when you stood as tall a minotaur trying to puff its chest out. The other creatures began to whisper among themselves and speculate while the guards bristled at how an intruder had suddenly appeared.
Twilight stood and stared down the goddess. She had been in awe at her before, but that luster had faded away some time ago. “If you have a better option, we would love to hear it because I do not see luring it to some outer dimension as a viable choice.”
“You misunderstand, Twilight Sparkle. There is no ‘WE’ here. There is us and them. Alicorns and all my other children. They need to prepare themselves to flee the coming conflict. The only one who will need to stay to fight and slay the beast is Sunset Shimmer.”
There were several gasps and murmurs about the table. Twilight felt fire and ice course through her veins. She was not going to like the answer to the next question, but she needed to ask regardless. “And how exactly is Sunset supposed to fight a creature so enormous that it once took six alicorn gods to defeat?”
Aine did not even blink.
“By sacrificing herself.”