//------------------------------//
// Please Die. 
// Story: The Twin Students of the Sun. 
// by Whiteeyes 
//------------------------------//

"So this is the Everfree Forest huh? You know for an accursed land of doom it's not that bad." Sunset noted, looking around. Sure the canopy was so thick that even the dark night was rendered to near pitch black save for the slivers of light that illuminated the forest in patches. And sure the plants were covered in thorns, vines, pointy branches, and grew in twisted patterns. But all in all, the last half hour really wasn't any worse than walking in any other forest.

"Don't say stuff like that! Seriously, never say stuff like that!" Masquerade shouted as she trotted along. The canopy had been so thick that even Rainbow Dash, flying fanatic, had agreed that the pegasi needed to walk to avoid being separated from the group. "In every story I've ever read or acted in, saying stuff like that is like giving fate a gold leaf invitation to screw with you!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "This isn't a story Masquerade, so I think we're fine. Now come on, we have to get through this evil magical forest to find the ancient castle in order to get the magical artifacts to defeat Nightmare Moon and save the princess." Twilight got five steps before she fully processed what she said. "Not a word Sunset."

"I have no idea what you mean Protagonist Number Two...or should that be one? I'm not sure, which one of us got introduced first in the story again?" Sunset stopped as she seriously started to ponder this. "Is it just ego that I put myself first? I mean from a narrative perspective I might not be that important. For all I know I was the late introduced comedic relief sidekick. I listed myself as the most important pony out of sheer hubris. I'm an out of control ego monster! Somepony stop me!"

Masquerade smacked Sunset at that point. "Get a hold of yourself. If anypony is going to be over dramatic it's going to be me. I'm properly trained for it. You amatures might hurt yourselves."

Applejack took the oportunity to slide over next to Twilight for a more private conversation. "Twi, ah'm a bit worried 'bout Sun there. When she was down on the farm yesterday she had a panic attack like that, saying she was a bad pony and such. What's goin' on with that?"

Twilight sighed. "Well, the thing you have to understand is that, based on my observations, Sunset Shimmer is a little crazy." Seeing Applejack's incredulous expression, she elaborated. "Not like 'lock me up in a padded cell' crazy mind you. I think she's got an inferiority complex. She seems to panic a lot in social situations and starts blaming herself whenever things go wrong. I think something happened where she doesn't think she's as good as other ponies, but I don't know what. I've tried to help by prasing her skills whenever she learns a new spell or the like to help boost her self esteem, but it doesn't seem to work."

"Hey guys I found a clearing up ahead." Rainbow shouted, rushing forward...and then falling down with a shout.

"Rainbow!" Sunset shouted, rushing over as fast as she could, the others following right behind, only to be met by a quickly rising RD.

"Whoops, cliff, my bad guys." Dash said, coming in for a landing. Seeing the looks of shock on the other ponies' faces (except for Masquerade), she blinked a couple times in confusion. "What?"

"Sorry, just forgot you had wings for a second. But this is perfect!" Sunset said, heading up to the ledge. "We can totally scan the whole forest from up here and plot out a route! This is a huge break for us!"

It was then that Murphy decided to attack in the form of a cloud of dark mist. It seeped into the cliff face, causing it to break and crumble, sending four of the ponies falling as the two pegasi instinctively took to the air.

"Ohmygosh, catch them!" Rainbow shouted, dive bombing and snatching Sweetie Drops out of mid-air as Masquerade swooped in and caught Twilight. The other two, Sunset and AJ, were lucky and managed to wind up sliding down the cliff side, slowing their pace and giving the flyers more time to come back and rescue them.

Applejack managed to bite into a root, halting her momentum and keeping herself safe, when she caught sight of something that sent a chill down her spine. Sunset hadn't slowed down enough and her rear hooves had gone over the edge of a sheer drop, and the rest of her was slowly following as she scrambled for purchase. "Hold on, ah'm a coming!" AJ shouted, releasing the root and controlling her slide so that she came to a halt just in time to lock her forelegs with Sunset's own before the unicorn plunged over the side to her doom. "Don't worry, ah got ya. Everything is gonna be fine." Applejack did her best to give a reassuring smile as she fought to ignore her own very slow slide forward.

"No it won't, you're sliding. Let me go or you'll fall too!" Sunset pleaded.

"Not happening sugarcube, ya just need to hold on there until Dash and Mask come on back up from taking the others down." She then slid forward another inch and dug her hooves in all the harder. "Hey, ah heard some unicorns can teleport all over the place, any chance ya can do that?"

Sunset closed her eyes and concentrated, her horn glowing...and then quickly fading out. "Sorry. Normally I could, but I haven't had any sleep since last night, I'm too tired. I am so useless right now."

"Ya ain't useless, ya could just use a nap." AJ said with a grin. "Anyway back to plan A, wait fer the pegasi to come on back up."

"No, plan A is you letting go so you don't die too. I'm not worth you dieing too." Sunset argued, trying to wriggle free of Applejack's grip, but stopping as soon as she realized it was just pulling AJ forward as well. "Seriously, let go."

"No." was AJ's response, her face hardening in determination. "Now listen here. Ah don't rightly know what happened to you before, ah don't know why you think you're worth less than a wooden bit, and ah don't care. Ah met ya, ah ate with ya, Ah even showed ya my family. Ya were nice, the kids liked ya, and yer out here risking yer life to save Equestria. And when we both got in danger, yer main concern is fer mah safety. Yall are a good pony, and yer lying to yourself if ya think otherwise. Now just hang on, they're almost back."

Sunset stared, and then snorted. "You know, just because I'm about to die you don't have to say nice things about me."

"Darn it, ah ain't doin' that! Ah'm no lier, and ah ain't gonna start now. Ah say what ah mean, and ah mean it. Yer not a bad pony, and it's about dang time ya two got here!"

"Yeah yeah. Do you know how hard it is to find clear ground to place you guys on after a rockslide? And that's without having to help Mask here land the egghead safely." Rainbow Dash said, grabbing Sunset by her barrel on one side.

Masquerade rolled her own gems as she grabbed Sunset from the other side. "Well sorry if we're not all athletes aiming to join the Wonderbolts like you. Not everypony can fly full out while carrying another pony on their own you know. I mean I slowed her down enough to make it a survivable landing even if it hasn't slowed her down enough for you to come help." Nodding to AJ, the earth pony let go as the two pegasi performed a textbook cumulus carry of their passenger down towards the ground. "Oooof, no offense but even with Dash here, I think you weigh more than Twilight." she teased.

"How in any way is that not offensive?" Sunset snarked right back, though the relieved note in her voice robbed it of any venom. "I'll have you know she works out by walking all over the place with Spike on her back. You'd be in better shape too if you had to carry a lazy dragon around everywhere."

After coming in for a landing, Sunset was quickly hugged by a relieved Sweetie Drops and Twilight. By the time she managed to extract herself, Applejack had also been ferried to the ground. "Hey listen. Um, thanks for saving me back there. And for the stuff you said. It was nice."

AJ nodded. "And ya remember what ah said. Ah ain't no lier, and ah ain't never said nothing that weren't true." She then flashed a big smile."Also, while ah was up there, an managed to spot what ah think might be the castle we're looking for."

Sunset was ecstatic. "Yes! Yes yes yes! We are back on track girls! It's smooth sailing from here on out!"

Mask proceeded to facehoof. "Seriously, just stop tempting fate."

Twilight snorted. "Oh please, what could possibly go wrong now?"

"I don't know." Sunset admitted, stepping out from behind a tree with her eyes closed and a smile on her face, coming face to face with a stunned group of ponies. "It could really be anything I guess."

RD, AJ, Sweetie, and Twi kept on looking to their Sunset Shimmer and back to the suddenly appearing double. Sunset was no less confused. "What the bucking Tartarus is this?"

"What is what?" asked a thoroughly confused Masquerade.

"Beats me, but hey do you girls think you could do me a favor?" the double asked. Opening her eyes, they were reptilian and shining with dark green energy that seemed to leak out. Her horn flared with a black roiling aura that floated a dagger from out behind her back and into the origional Sunset's chest. "Please die."