//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: Sunset's Redemption // by TheNewYorkBrony //------------------------------// A tingle ran up Princess Twilight's spine and she shivered. She didn't know why, but she had a really bad feeling. The other girls in the room with her couldn't feel it of course, but being a highly skilled unicorn and a powerful alicorn, she could feel a slight buzz in the air. As if someone was drawing power from the world around them. As of someone was performing a spell. Then, it hit her. She jumped up urgently, making the other girls look at her. "She's here. She's here, right now, performing that spell." "Wha- Already?!" Science Twilight demanded, scrambling to her feet herself. "But we haven't even found out a way to stop her! How are we going to intercept an ancient ritual we know nothing about without getting killed?!" There was a soft knock on the library door, and Pinkie cautiously went over to it. Opening it, she watched as three badly worn bodies fell in through the doorway. "Oh my gum drops!" She exclaimed, bending down to help Adagio up. "It's the Sirens!" "What do we do?" Fluttershy asked. "We can't just leave them here! They're dying!" Princess Twilight took charge. "Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity. You stay here and tend to their wounds. Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie, follow me." She said walking towards the door. "We have a succubus to destroy." Outside of the school, Maeva smirked as she felt the dark power surging around her. Soon she would have a new body, a young one that she could use to hunt. And soon this world would be hers. Equestria too. She laughed. Yes, it was only a matter of time. She heard the school doors open and whipped her head around to see that Sunset's meddling friends had come to save the day. She stood up in the enchantment circle. "You're too late!" She bellowed. "Soon that low life unicorn's body will be mine and there's nothing you can do about it!" "We're gonna kick your sorry ass, Maeva!" Rainbow declared, taking a fighting stance. "How vulgar. I'd like to see you try. How on earth are you going to destroy me and save your precious friend? We're one in the same now!" "Shit, she's right!" Rainbow shouted. "If we hurt her, we hurt Sunset too!" A dark laugh left the succubus's mouth. "It seems that you're in a bit of a pickle. Not like friendship can save you now." "Oh yes it will!" Pinkie challenged with a hard look on her face. "Just watch you meanie! Sunset's gonna come out and kick your butt!" Maeva snorted. "Yes. We'll see." She noticed that the other Elements weren't with them. She grinned. "In the mean time..." Black tendrils of dark magic snaked from her hands and wrapped themselves around the three young girls in front of her. Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash had jumped out of the way in time, but unfortunately for Pinkie, she had moved too late. She shrieked as the magic wrapped around her. "Let me go!" she demanded, but her plea fell on deaf ears. "What's your plan anyway? To take over Equestria?!" Rainbow barked. "Been there, done that!" Maeva cackled. "But I wouldn't mind having a few human slaves." "You won't win!" Twilight told her. "Oh? Amd who exactly is going to stop me?" "Sunset! That's who!" Pinkie yelled. Maeva's laughed louder. "How is she supposed to stop me?! She's trapped deep within her own body and she can't even control it! She doesn't stand a chance! A few moments from now she'll be nothing more than a memory!" "Urgh!" Sunset groaned as yet another cut was made into her body by Demonset. No matter how much she whipped her, no matter how much Demonset abused her in the past twenty minutes, (or so she thought, she couldn't really tell with all the pain,) she wasn't going to give in. Not yet. "It's so cute how you think ny simple will power I'll just go away," Demonset said with a chuckle. "You see Sunset, you may not like it, but I am you. You are me. You are a monster. You are nothing but a power hungry little bitch who can't seem to remember why she fled to this world. You weren't here to make friends. Friends was the last thing on your mind. Now all of a sudden everything is sunshine and rainbows for you?! Ha!" Sunset grit her teeth. "You're pathetic. If it were up to me, I'd kill you and take over your body myself." Demonset smacked her hard. "Are you even sure that those girls really are your friends?" "Yes, I'm sure." Despite the beating she had taken, Sunset's voice was firm, unwavering. Demonset snorted. "Of course you do. You're living a fantasy. You're nothing more than a failure. You're a sniveling little bitch. They aren't your friends. No one wants you. Not even Celestia herself! Stop living under the illusion that people actually care about you! You're nothing more than a failure!" "You don't know anything about me!" Sunset shrieked. "Do I?!" Demonset barked back. "Or have you forgotten that we are the same person?! Face it, Sunset Shimmer! You are a worthless little shit!" "You're wrong!" Sunset shouted. Her hair stuck to her face from the blood and sweat that covered it. "You're wrong," She repeated, looking at her captor. Something strong began to rise in her heart. A warm feeling encompassed her, a strong knowing one. it was if she was getting a hug from all of her friends all at once as their power radiated on to her. Things that were once fuzzy to her made sense now. She could feel it. She knew what her element was. "I am the Element of Redemption." With the utterance of those words, the chains that held Sunset broke. She fell to the floor with a soft thud. Wobbly, she stood up as red and gold magic swirled around her, healing her injuries. "Impossible!" Demonset growled. "You're not an element bearer!" Sunset looked her demonic self straight in the eye. "Yes I am. I am a phoenix reborn from my ashes. I am Sunset Shimmer, Element of Redemption and I will not let you bring me down." A soft tune started within her, something that seemed familiar. "My past is not today," Sunset said, the song on her heart reaching a crecendo. "You're right about one thing. You are apart of me. But you aren't me. Because I am a brand new person. And I won't let you or Maeva have my body!" "Do you really think some silly little speech is going to make me cower in fear?!" Demonset bellowed. "Taking lessons from Twilight Sparkle I see," she laughed dryly. She flew across the room had punched Sunset in the gut, making her spit blood. "Enough with the friendship bullshit. It's even more ridiculous when you say it." "That's what I would have said a few months ago," Sunset weezed. "Sure, this may all seem like crap, but at least I have friends now. People want to be around me because I've shown them another side to me that no one can deny." She glared at Demonset. "And I'm not about to let you take that from me!" The red and gold magic swirled around her again, producing phoenix like wings behind her back and an amulet around her neck that had a jade jewel in the shape of her cutie mark. Sunset raised her hand towards herself. "You have shown me what I could have become if I had let my drive corrupt me. You are nothing more than a memory now. You no longer exist." "What?!" Demonset said. "You can't just-" "Oh, but I can," Sunset said, closing her eyes with a smirk. "Be gone! You no longer have a purpose!" With a flash, the evil version of herself was gone. And with it, left all doubt in her mind. She flexed her fingers and took a deep breath. "I am no monster." "I am a hero of my own story."