To her left, she saw red walls. To her right, she saw red walls. Ahead of her, she saw darkness.
Once again, Sunset Shimmer found herself in the red corridor.
But unlike the previous times, she wasn't walking forward. She didn't want to walk forward. Every time she had, there was nothing good at the end.
Instead, she sat down, and waited.
What she was waiting for, she really didn't know, but anything had to be better than going down that red corridor.
She looked to her right at one of the walls. Like the previous nights, the walls were blood red, with smudges of cinnamon scattered across them, moving, shifting, and changing their shape. But Sunset noticed something. It wasn't like the previous nights. The cinnamon parts were moving a lot faster and a lot more erratically than before. And the more they shifted, the more familiar the shapes seemed to look.
Sunset found herself unable to look at the walls anymore, and looked down at the cherry red floor. But despite the fact that she was looking at nothing but red, the images she saw on the wall were burned into her mind. She couldn't even distinguish them, but there was something about them that made her feel sick and scared.
Suddenly, she felt something creep up on her back. It didn't feel like anything physical, it didn't feel like anything magical, it barely even felt like it existed at all, but she could feel it. In the clutches of fear, she slowly turned her head around.
And saw nothing but the corridor descending into darkness.
Despite the fact that she saw nothing there, she felt like something Was there. She found herself continuing to look back at the corridor behind her, unable to look away.
She couldn't go back.
And the more she stared into the darkness, the more the fear inside her continued to grow. She couldn't really understand why, but there was something about it that was slowly terrifying her. It was as if she knew that there was something in the darkness that was staring right back at her, but at the same time she knew there wasn't. Worst of all, no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't look away as the fear ripped into her.
After what seemed like hours, she finally broke out of her paralysis, and bolted down the hallway.
She couldn't go back.
It didn't matter what lay ahead of her this time. Anything was better than what was back there. The cinnamon smudges on the walls began to blur as she picked up speed. Air rushed past her ears as she ran, making her hear a whistling sound that just got louder and louder.
She couldn't go back.
The sound in her ears changed pitch and tone in a way that Sunset couldn't understand. But as it continued to change, she realized that it was recreating the sound of the voices.
"Celestia thinks she can keep me from my destiny?!"
She couldn't go back.
"Once I get my hands on that crown, I'll make them all pay for how they treated me!"
She couldn't go back.
"How dare she give my rightful place as princess to that lavender freak!"
Sunset's eyes shut tight as she let out a scream.
"I can't go back!"
And she opened her eyes to find that she had reached the end of the corridor.
It was like the room that she had encountered the first time, only it was much larger, and there was no sign of any pedestal or crown. The walls were curved, giving the room a circular shape. They were also blood red instead of cherry red, and lacking any cinnamon smudges. In fact, when Sunset took a closer look she realised that the colours of the floor and walls had swapped.
Sunset's neck twisted as she looked back at the corridor. The darkness in the distanced seemed to bare its fangs at her as she looked into it.
She couldn't go back.
With no other options she could think of, she walked closer to the centre of the room, her footsteps echoing off the walls. As she got closer and closer to the centre, she looked up at the ceiling, only to discover that there was no ceiling. Like the corridor behind her, the walls just rose up into a blind darkness.
Once she reached the middle of the room she stopped walking. No idea of what she was meant to do entered her mind, and no opportunity arrived. In search of answers, she looked up at the walls.
And it was then that she saw it.
From the darkness above came fiery orange smudges, similar to the ones on the walls of the corridor. Unlike those though, they weren't as random or erratic. Instead, they moved similar to clouds, slowly descending. Despite this, they looked nothing like clouds, instead reminding Sunset of the fire that their colours matched.
As the orange smudges descended, Sunset saw that they were moving closer together. They treated each other like magnets. As two smudges closed in on each other, small orange tendrils protruded from them each one and on to the other, before they merged into one.
One by one the smudges joined together, creating one large fiery orange smudge that seemed to glow. And as it grew, it started to change shape, moving and shifting, becoming an image that was looking more and more familiar...
"No..." Sunset whispered.
Suddenly, the smudge began to glow. The light wasn't big, but it was certainly bright, blindingly so. But no matter how much it hurt Sunset's eyes, she couldn't look away. And before she could comprehend what was happening, the light began to shimmer.
Out stepped a cerise red leg, half covered in a pitch black boot with red edges at the top. Pulling forward, it revealed a red and yellow dress in the style of Sunset's hair. And as the light faded, revealing the creature in its entirety, she found herself looking upon cerise skin covering a monstrous female form. From its back were black and red wings covered in holes, and from under the dress, a red and yellow tail that featured a similar style to the dress was sticking out. On the head were fearsome white fangs, pointed ears, and a mop of red and yellow hair sticking up like fire. Upon the head sat a golden crown that was the element of magic, and underneath were pitch black eyes with Sunset's own opal green irises.
In short, Sunset had found herself face to face with the demon she had once become.
"Hello Sunset." It snarled. Its voice was like three Sunset Shimmer's speaking at once. One furiously angry, one weeping, and one maniacally elated.
"Get out of my head." Sunset uttered, trying to sound determined, despite the fact that her heart was racing with fear. "I'm not scared of you!"
The demon chuckled at this. "Of course you aren't, you have no reason to be. I am you after all."
Sunset stumbled back as she heard this. Partly because the very thought of that suggestion was horrifying, partly because she felt that there was truth in it. Especially since it had been true once.
But not anymore.
"I am nothing like you!"
The demon Sunset was now straight up cackling, which just made the human Sunset feel more and more nervous.
"Keep telling yourself that. It doesn't change the truth. And the truth is that deep down, you just want to be the greatest and most powerful there is, like you were always meant to be. Nothing is going to change that, not some blast by the elements of harmony, not some band of friends, and certainly...not some love for the freak who took what should have been yours."
"Shut up!" Sunset shouted, turning around and running, only to find the red corridor leading into the darkness.
"You can't go back Sunset. You know that."
Sunset found herself shaking, but she still managed to turn around and face the monster that stood before her.
"I have Twilight now. I have no reason to fear you."
The demon went back to howling with laughter. She took a few steps forward and glared at Sunset, the opal irises faintly glowing.
"You think you can get rid of me by moving on to a relationship? You think that you can just get over it?" She laughed some more. "Then tell me Sunset Shimmer, why am I still here?"
Sunset didn't want to listen. She wanted it all to end. She backed away, but the demon just walked closer and closer towards her.
"Y-Your...your not real..." It was just a manifestation of her problems that her mind had created, it had to be. But at the same time, there was something inside her that was telling her otherwise. "Are you?"
The demon smiled, baring shining white fangs. "Time to find out..."
Before Sunset could react, the demon before her burst into flames, charging at her as her vision went black and she heard nothing but a roaring scream.
***
"Are you alright Sunset?"
Sunset jolted upright. "W-What?"
The music room was so quiet, she hadn't noticed that she was on the verge of falling asleep.
Fluttershy had a concerned look on her face. "You've been acting really sluggishly today. Did you have a bad night?"
It took a bit longer for her to process the question. "Im fine...just nightmares..."
"What kind of nightmares?"
"I...dont really want to talk about it." Though she knew that Fluttershy meant well, she couldn't help but feel a bit bothered that her personal buisness was being invaded.
"Are you sure?" Fluttershy asked. "Its always better to talk to someone when it comes to mental things like dreams."
Sunset was now starting to feel irritated. "Look, just...I dont need your help."
"But isnt that what friends do..."
"I SAID I DONT NEED YOUR HELP!"
Sunset's sudden outburst was followed by a few seconds of silence. Fluttershy stared at Sunset in shock, and Sunset slowly realised what she'd just done.
"Fluttershy...Im...Im really sorry..."
Fluttershy continued to stare at Sunset with a look of shock and fear while her body shuddered. Sunset couldn't believe what she had done. She could never even imagine shouting at Fluttershy, but she suddenly had a huge burst of anger. She didn't even know why. It just...came out of nowhere.
"Its...its fine Sunset." Fluttershy, though she was still shuddering. "I guess I should have just minded my own buisness."
"No Fluttershy..." Sunset insisted, continuing to feel guilt and disbelief of what she'd done. "That outburst was my fault. I...think I lost more sleep than I thought."
Though Fluttershy had stopped shuddering, she looked at the floor, and Sunset couldn't tell if it was in shyness or fear, but either way it just made her worse for what she did.
"I think we should get to class now..." Fluttershy mumbled.
Sunset checked the clock. Classes didn't start for a few minutes, but after what just happened, it was probably best if they split up for the time being.
And it just so happened that their seperate classes were in opposite directions of the hallway. After one last apology, the two girls parted, as Fluttershy headed for geography and Sunset for history.
Walking down the halls, Sunset thought about the way she shouted at Fluttershy, and was still shocked at the fact that she had done such a thing. Even in her...less morale days, she had never shouted at Fluttershy. She'd mess with her and say some really horrible insults to her, but succumbing to anger was never her style.
But the weirdest thing was the sudden appearance of the anger that fuelled the outburst. Before Fluttershy had started talking, Sunset was nothing but tired. And then there was just this...sudden build up of rage that she couldn't explain.
"Oh, Sunset Shimmer!"
Sunset found herself knocked out of her think state and looking at Principal Celestia standing at the door of the computer lab.
"Uh...yes Principal Celestia?"
Celestia turned around and picked up a large pile of papers from a desk behind her.
"I need to get these papers to Vice-Principal Luna, but I've got my hands tied at the moment. If it isn't too much, would you mind delivering them to her for me? I believe you have history next, and the Vice Principals office is located on the way there."
Sunset felt herself shake a bit as the agitation that she had been feeling in the music room suddenly returned to her. Upon realising what was happening, she took a deep breath to calm herself down.
"Sure. No problem."
"Thank you Sunset." Celestia responded, handing the papers over to her, before rushing back into the lab.
As Sunset walked away, her thoughts returned to her sudden surges of rage. Particularly the one that just happened to her.
'Why is happening to me?' She thought. 'She was just asking me to deliver something, why would I get so angry over that?'
'Because that lazy bitch can't bother to get things done herself!'
Sunset stopped in her tracks.
What was that?!
The noise of all the students around her getting ready for class was too distracting for her to completely focus on fully remembering what just happened, especially with how tired she was feeling.
But for a second, she thought she heard...
'I guess Im more tired than I originally thought.'
A few moments later, she arrived at the door of Vice-Principal Luna. She knocked on the door, which was followed by Luna's voice permitting her to come in.
"Principal Celestia wanted me to deliver these papers to you." Sunset said as she entered the office.
"Ah yes, I've been expecting those." Luna responded. The Vice-Principal's office was dark as always, the only light originating from the open door behind Sunset, the computer screen that Luna was using, and the small remnants of sunlight peeping through the blinds.
"So...where do these go?" Sunset asked, holding up the papers.
"On my desk please."
Sunset walked over to Luna's desk and placed the pile next to the computer. "I don't really get why I had to deliver these. I mean, your office is only like a minute walk from the where she was."
"You would be surprised how busy Celestia can be." Luna said, keeping her focus on her computer. "And when it comes to work, my sister doesn't let any thing get in her way."
There was something odd about that last part.
"She doesn't let...anything...get in her way?" Sunset asked.
The Vice-Principal took her hands off the mouse and looked at Sunset. "You wouldn't believe the kind of things Celestia has sacrificed for her career."
"What kind of things?" Sunset enquired. It was probably rude of her to ask questions regarding the Principals personal life, but when it came to Celestia, Sunset always wanted to know more.
"For starters, I've lost count of how many relationships she has been in. None of them ever lasted long. She was always too busy. And then there was the baby."
It took a moment for that last word to sink in. What did Celestia have to do with a baby?
"What baby?" Sunset asked.
"A few years ago...about two decades I think it was, it appeared that one of my sisters failed relationships accomplished a bit more than the others had, as Celestia found herself pregnant."
Sunset was now a lot more woken up than she had been a few seconds ago. Celestia had been pregnant? When was this? The Celestia in Equestria never had any children. At least...none that anyone knew of.
Luna continued with her story. "I was there as she gave birth. Not a pleasant place to be in, but we were family, and I had to be there for her. The baby itself was...quite honestly one of the most beautiful things I can remember. Amber skin. Opal eyes..."
Luna stopped for a second, gazing at Sunset. "She looked a lot like you actually."
Sunset was still coming to grips with the fact that Celestia had given birth to a child. How had she never heard of this. Did the child not have a counterpart in Equestria? Was it even possible for a human to not have an Equestrian counterpart?
"Sadly..." Luna sighed. "Being single and being dedicated to the career of education meant that Celestia couldn't take care of the baby. Before it was even born, she decided to have her sent to foster care in Europe. Neither of us have seen or heard from her since then."
'Good riddance. We don't need another of her kind around.'
Sunset froze. There it was again. In the quietness of Luna's office, she could clearly hear it. A voice.
And it appeared that she had a much more physical reaction to it, as Vice-Pincipal Luna narrowed her eyebrows.
"Are you alright Sunset?" She asked.
"Im fine." Sunset insisted. "I'd better get to class. It was nice talking to you Vice-Principal Luna."
Once she closed the door behind her, she found herself in an empty hallway. Alone with her thoughts.
'Whats happening to me?'
Back in Luna's office, with little sound to distract her, she had heard it clearly.
The voice of the demon from her dream.
***
"Fluttershy!" Sunset called as she ran down the hall.
Fluttershy stopped walking and turned around as Sunset caught up with her.
"Yes Sunset?" She asked.
"Fluttershy, Im really sorry for what happened back in the music room. I just got a bit too worked up over nothing. I just want us to get passed that."
Fluttershy put her hand on Sunset's shoulder. "Its fine. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash have had plenty of moments where they got really angry at me. People will have their moments of strong emotions, and theres nothing we can do to change that."
Sunset gave Fluttershy a small hug. "Thank you. I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again."
They both left the school together, and said goodbye as Sunset boarded her bus.
Although her mood was lifted by Fluttershy accepting her apology, nothing could stop the concern and fear she was feeling at the moment.
She had heard the voice of her demon self in her own mind. The dreams were one thing, she could see that demon as a mental projection of her own inner struggles. But this was different. It was as if the demon was its own separate entity. Was that even possible?
Or maybe it was just her lack of sleep. If she heard that voice in her dreams, it would make sense if she could hear it when she was tired.
Either way, she was really tired, and she needed her sleep.
Eventually, the bus reached its destination, and Sunset went straight from the bus to her room. She changed from her day outfit into her pyjamas, and went into the bathroom to get her teeth brushed. It was really early to get ready for bed, but she was feeling more tired than she usually did at bedtimes anyway.
Once she was ready, she left the bathroom and entered her room again.
And found Discord lying in her bed, reading a book.
"Ah, Sunset Shimmer." He greeted her, removing the reading glasses from his face. "Good to see you."
"Haven't you gone back to Equestria already!" She shouted at him, in spite of her sleepiness.
In a white flash he was out of her bed and sitting on top of it. "Pfft. Why would I do that? Nothings really happening in Equestria at the moment, besides some civil conflict going on in the Griffon Kingdom. Oh, and the cyborg ninja mice from space that intend on invading , but that'll probably solve itself. Here, I have centuries of knowledge and pop culture to check out."
One white flash later and he was wearing black clothes, his horns replaced with long black hair.
"You are tearing me apart Lisa!"
In another white flash he became a large round hairy man with brown robes and a lantern.
"You're a wizard harry."
In a third white flash he was sporting an afro, a horseshoe mustache, and a white and black suit and tie, in his hand he brandished a gun.
"Does he look like a bitch?!"
And in a final white flash he was in his normal form.
"Humans are just so creative!"
Sunset just groaned. "Discord, I need to get to sleep. Why are you here?"
"Well, first of all, I wanted to congratulate you on your new relationship with Twilight Sparkle." He said with a grin.
Sunset's eyes shot open. "How...how did you know..."
"Oh please Sunset, you know me. You should never be surprised to learn where I've been."
Sunset looked back on the moment when she and Twilight kissed for the second time, confirming their relationship. She realised that they had been sitting on a grey bench.
"That was a private moment you jackass!" She yelled at him in anger.
Discord frowned. "Sheesh. Rude much. I do have to say though, it was extremely enjoyable to watch."
One white flash later and he was standing next to Sunset. His hands were covered by two sock puppets with googly eyes. One was lavender and wearing a little Twilight wig, the other was amber with a little Sunset wig.
"Oh Twilight." Said the Sunset sock puppet in the high pitched sound of a masculine voice trying to imitate a girl's voice. "I love you more than words can describe."
"But Sunset!" Squeaked the Twilight puppet in a similar voice. "It can never be, as a princess, I must have the favour of the aristocrats."
"Blah, blah, blah, your issues, DO YOU WANT ME!"
"More than anything!"
"Oh Twilight!"
"Oh Sunset!"
Discord than rubbed the sock puppets faces together as he made kissy kissy noises.
"Such romance! Such drama! So engaging!"
"And I'd prefer to keep it between me, you and Twilight thank you very much." Said Sunset. "Well, in full honesty I'd rather just keep it between me and Twilight, but it looks like that opportunities gone. Now would you please leave, I need to get some sleep."
"Oh yes." Discord replied. "You've been having bad nightmares I believe."
Now Sunset was just plain baffled.
"Is there anything you don't know?!"
Discord tapped his chin as he pondered. "Well for one, I don't know who wrote the journals in Gravity Falls. But what I know and don't know isn't important. Whats important is that there has to be more to these nightmares of yours than meets the eye."
There was a white flash that consumed not only Discord, but the entire room. Once the light faded, Sunset found herself in a similar situation to when she'd last seen Discord, with both of them sitting down as Discord was dressed in his psychologist outfit and holding a clipboard and pencil.
"Now Sunset." Said Discord. "I'd like you to tell me in good detail about your nightmares."
Sunset moaned. She just wanted to go to sleep. But this whole situation with the demon could be a serious problem, and Discord was probably the best option she had right now for help.
So she sat up straight and told him everything. The red corridor, the room, the crown, the demon she encountered, the outbursts of rage, and the voice she had been hearing in her head. All the while Discord scribbled on his clipboard.
Once she was finished, Sunset slumped in her chair. "So what do you think."
Discord looked carefully at his clipboard. "Hmm...I think this panda drawing could have been a lot better." He turned his clipboard around to reveal the squiggly doodle of a panda before throwing it away. "As for the nightmares, I think it might have something to do with the element of magic."
"What do you mean?"
"Simple, you took the element of harmony into this world, cutting off its connection to the magic of Equestria. This made it rely on its own reservoirs of pure magic, converting it into a more raw magical state, meaning it couldn't work with the other elements but also meaning it could bond with anything, and not just someone who represented the element."
"I know that Discord, that was my plan last year."
"Let me finish. At the time when you put the crown on, you could certainly be defined as evil. So when the crown bonded to you, the element itself became corrupted with evil magic and energy. When it returned to Twilight Sparkle it reverted back to good, and back to its original state of magic once it returned to Equestria. But I believe that some of the evil energy stayed with you, its host. That raw magic merged with a part of yourself, effectively creating something of a separate entity within you. In simpler terms, the evil within you now has a mind of its own."
"Well how do I get rid of it?!"
"Sunset, you can't get rid of this demon any more than you can get rid of a part of yourself. Im afraid this is more or less permanent."
Sunset's buried her face in her hands. She wasn't crying or anything, but she was feeling serious distress at the moment.
"Its not as bad as it sounds Sunset. This demon inside shouldn't have a thirtieth of your inner strength. She can't go so far as to possess you or anything, just feed your inner rage and occasionally manage to communicate with you, but only in cases where you are consumed by negative emotions, or like today, where you were too tired to hold her back."
"So as long as I remain positive, and get plenty of sleep, Im fine."
"Exactly." He responded with a smile.
"But what about the nightmares? How do I stop those?"
"That Im not as sure about. The nightmares are likely fuelled by some kind of doubt or guilt regarding your past, and Im not so sure how you can fix that."
It wasn't the best help, but it was something. "Thanks anyway Discord."
"No problem." At the snap of his fingers there was another white flash. Sunset found that she was no longer sitting in a chair,but tucked into her bed. In front of her she saw Discord standing near the foot of her bed.
"Now get some sleep Sunset, that should keep your head demon free."
As Discord left in a final white flash, Sunset felt her eyelids lower as she drifted off to sleep.