Sunset Shimmer ventured down further into the darkness of the cave, seeing as this was the only way forward from the staircase. A small plate partially dangling from a single rusty nail read, ‘Underscale Ruins’. All it did was give her vibes that it hadn't been used in years, if it was even used at all.
Sunset sighed and shook her head. Everything here seemed to be falling apart. “Just what kind of world am I in?!”
Lighting her torch, she held it straight out in front of herself as she descended the steps in the dark. The path continued to lead down, but the sunlight had already disappeared behind her. From here on, she would have to be cautious once again. There was no telling what horrors might be hiding in the dark ahead.
The fiery haired girl placed one foot slowly after the other, carefully watching the floor. She didn’t trust this place to be able to support her and her suspicions proved true when the next step she placed her foot on unlodged itself, falling down into the black depths below.
Sunset struggled to right herself, but she wasn’t quick enough. Tumbling down the rocky staircase, the girl braced herself as she met the ground at the bottom, scraping a cheek against the jagged floor.
“Aagh!” Sunset Shimmer lay still for a couple of seconds, breathing heavily. It felt as though she had just ran into a wall, but at least she didn’t find herself down in the depths where the loose step had gone.
Rubbing at her bleeding cheek with a gloved arm, Sunset sloppily pushed herself up, stopping herself in a seated position. If it weren’t for her torch, she wouldn’t be able to see much around her.
This new cavern had two separate levels apart from the one she was on. Stalagmites and stalactites decorated the space before her, along with the glistening of a pool of water one level below.
Sunset only stood up after she heard some kind of growl, close to her position. She picked up her blade and held it up in front of herself, casting her wary eyes across the cave.
Keep an eye out, Sunset. Don’t get caught off guard… Where is it?
A few more screeches echoed out in the air around her; they were short lasting sounds, but definitely weren’t human.
She had no idea what kind of creatures made those sounds, but then she heard something she knew relatively well: the sound of something slimy dragging across the floor.
Soon, her eyes caught on to something slithering out of the darkness towards her. It was a strange slug-like creature with slimy white skin, glistening in the torchlight. It’s lower body was a slug, while it’s upper body was humanoid.
Sunset’s skin shivered as she took in the ghastly sight. It’s mouth was a gaping hole in the shape of an ‘O’, just wide open as though it was going to swallow something whole. It was one of the most disturbing creatures she'd ever seen, even in Equestria.
“Back!” the girl yelled, thrusting the torch forward, hoping to scare the slug creature off.
As she stepped back towards the staircase, Sunset noticed two more slugs crawling out from the shadows, dragging their way towards her with their hands; one of them was even holding some kind of butcher knife. Sunset could only wonder where it might have gotten ahold of something like that, but they were still approaching her while she stood there, unsure of her next course of action. Unless she wanted to head back up the crumbling staircase, the only way through was forward.
Taking a single deep breath, Sunset ran forward, swinging her sword and torch in arcs in front of her, trying to either scare the creatures away, or wound them.
The one with the knife drew back, while the other two advanced, reaching their grotesque human-like hands towards Sunset. Still swinging her blade, the fiery haired girl heard a sickening squelch and felt her blade pass through something, followed by the guttural screech.
One of the slug creature’s hands lay close to her feet, still shuddering while the creature that lost it grasped at its stump. The second one didn’t seem to get the hint and continued sliding forward. Sunset swung back and then forward, cutting as hard and fast as she could. Her eyes followed the blade of her sword as it passed clean through the creature’s head, clinging against the floor at the end of her swing.
The slug lifted an arm higher before its upper body fell flat down against the floor.
One down, two to go…
The creature that lost an arm attacked, this time, spraying slime at Sunset. She dodged it, but some fell on her pant leg, instantly melting a hole through it to her skin.
“Aah!” she yelled and swatted at it with a palm, only realizing it was a bad move when her hand began to sting as well
Focusing first on the danger, Sunset slashed a clean cut through the creature’s chest before making a sprint for the water below. Stowing her sword, she grabbed the ledge at the end of the floor and quickly, but carefully swung herself down, landing with a resounding thud. Going full sprint for the shining water, Sunset left the torch by the water’s edge before flinging herself in.
The water was cold, chilling Sunset to the bone, but she didn’t feel it; she was more interested in removing the burning slime from her skin. Rubbing the spots where the slime had made contact, Sunset was relieved to find that the burning sensation was fleeing.
“Oh, yeah…” she sighed, moving a hand up to push damp locks of hair out of her face.
Sunset hadn’t considered if the water was deep or not, but thankfully, both her feet were touching the ground under her. Unfortunately, both slugs had followed her, sliding down the side into the water.
“Really?” Sunset asked aloud. She removed her sword from its scabbard and scanned her surroundings. What little light she had illuminated a little before her, while the torch brightened the edge of the pool. In between, however, was almost pitch black. There was no way to see the creatures unless they were right in front of her.
Sunset Shimmer waded her way through the water, lifting her blade and arm above the surface. She wanted to be able to swing her weapon fast if the creatures met her on the way to the shore. Moving as quickly as she could, the girl pushed through the water, scrambling for safety, Sunset almost missed one of the slug creatures lunge out of the water, reaching its one good hand for her face.
“Gah!” Sunset cried out, thrusting out an arm, her fist connecting with its face. It fell back just enough for Sunset to swing her sword sideways, cutting a gash across the creature’s chest; it didn’t get up again.
Before she could even celebrate, the third one emerged from the water behind Sunset, using its weight to push her down under the water. Taken by surprise, the fiery haired girl almost didn’t have time to block the slug’s cleaver as it aimed for her neck. She held strong, but she couldn’t push her way out from under the water. Without time to hold her breath, Sunset had already run out of air. She had to do something quick.
Sliding her sword down on one side, Sunset bashed the side of her hilt into the creature’s head, knocking it off her for a second. The girl used this time to cut back up with her sword, driving it through the creature’s head, silencing it for good.
Scrambling to stand, Sunset took in a deep breath of air as soon as her head shot out of the water. “Ooooh man… That was too close…”
Wading to the shore, Sunset slowly pulled herself out, sitting at the edge to catch her breath for a few minutes. Her clothes were soaked and there was quite an amount of water in her gauntlets and greaves; Sunset could hear it sloshing around inside her armor.
Taking the time to empty her armor’s contents, Sunset collected her torch and finally continued on, moving at a faster pace, hoping to get back out to the sunlight; her torch wasn’t doing a good job at keeping her warm.
The next cavern held another two slug creatures, both of them wielding spears. Dodging to the left, Sunset slapped the first creature in the face with her torch, at the same time cutting up with her blade, breaking the first creature’s weapon. The second one stabbed forward, puncturing a hole in her already tattered coat, but otherwise, missed her body. Turning. Sunset cut out in an arc, severing both slug’s torsos with their bottom halves.
“Gross…” she muttered as she watched the second one spasm for a second. Sunset was afraid that she was getting used to killing things and people, but perhaps not all was lost just yet.
Breaking into a jog, Sunset followed the trail, hoping to avoid more of the weird slimy creatures, heading deeper into the cavern. It was still pretty dark, but Sunset began to notice the rocky floor disappearing under her, hidden by a vast amount of what looked like roots.
“Roots?” Sunset asked out loud. If there are roots here… Then there must be trees. There must be sunlight ahead!
Sunset quickened her pace, but careful to not to go too fast. There could be anything out there in these caves. Further in, where the roots had completely swarmed over the cavern floor, Sunset noticed mushrooms growing in certain spots, sprouting purplish-blue caps. Each one was half her height, but the scary part was that they were moving up and down, like they were breathing.
“What… are these?”
Sunset stepped closer, inspecting the closest fungi. Without warning, it lurched back before springing back forward at a high speed, knocking Sunset on her forehead, sending the girl tumbling back to the ground.
“Ooh…” She grabbed for her head, closing her eyes for a few seconds to steady her vision, which began sprouting stars. Even the mushrooms in this world were dangerous.
Sunset got up and walked around it, careful to avoid more of them. She got too close to another one, which tried to hit her with its cap, but this time, Sunset placed her sword in front of herself vertically, cutting a long gash into the mushroom as it swung back to hit her. Spinning around it, Sunset cut it at its stalk, sending the dangerous fungi tumbling down, rolling once before stopping against a wall of roots.
Only noticing it now, Sunset looked up and all around her. There were roots on the walls and ceiling as well, all of them originating from something deeper in the cave. Sunset gulped as she tried to imagine what could be further in. Perhaps more killer mushrooms.
The path ahead led the girl left, following along a slope of roots heading up to a higher platform above. Sunset had noticed something sticking out of the floor under her and only when she got closer did she realize what it was.
It was one of the slug creatures, somehow trapped in the tangle of roots below her; it was as if the roots were embedded into the pale creature.
Ewww. Sunset resisted the urge to throw up. Nothing in this world was right.
As she stepped over it, the creature screeched once and reached for her leg, grabbing on to one of her greaves.
“Let go!” Sunset instantly yelled and cut its arm off, hobbling away a few steps before breaking into a short run.
All around her, she saw more of the slug creatures, trapped in the roots, waving their arms around trying to touch her.
Sunset shivered internally and grabbed for her shoulders. Whoever came up with this world is sick…
Doing what she could to avoid the slugs and more mushrooms, Sunset didn’t see the short drop as her foot left the safety of the roots under her. Widening her eyes, Sunset couldn’t catch on to anything in time, falling straight down and rolling along a small slope the plant organisms had created. She didn’t remember hitting her head against the ground below.
Hmm? What happened… Sunset pushed her upper body up, immediately feeling pain lance across her scalp, throwing stars into her vision. Ah! Ow ow ow…
She placed a hand to her head, only to feel something warm and sticky dripping down from her hairline.
Blood? Great. Then she remembered the fall. Must’ve hit my head pretty hard.
Given herself a few moments to catch her breath, Sunset realized the pain was only getting worse. There had to be something she could do. Then she remembered the flasks of estus Twilight had given her.
“No better time to use it…” Uncapping the flask, Sunset downed the contents in a single gulp, swallowing hard as it proceeded to work its magic.
Instantly, she felt the pain in her head lessening, along with the lightheadedness. The strength in her body returned, allowing Sunset to push to her feet, almost as if she had never hurt herself to begin with.
Checking her inventory, Sunset counted two more estus flasks. I’m gonna have to save these, I guess. Though, she hoped she wouldn’t have to come close to death again.
Picking up her now unlit torch, Sunset continued on in the darkness, using the dim light of her flame to light the way ahead. The roots made a left turn, then a right, leading Sunset down a flat path, almost as if it was unending. Two slug creatures, uncaught in the roots, went for her immediately, but Sunset cut the first one down quickly, using its body as a shield from the second one’s acid. Sprinting around it, the other creature didn’t have enough time to spit again before Sunset’s blade found its neck.
Without her torch lighting the way, the entire cavern seemed to be much spookier. The tunnel continued ahead, the end unseeable without the extra light. Even the shadows around her seemed to dance and move as though they were alive. Sunset tried to tell herself it was all in her imagination, but what if it wasn’t? For all she knew, the shadows could peel apart anytime and try to kill her.
Just to prove her point, another of those slug creatures jumped out, trying to tackle her. Sunset was lucky enough to be one step ahead, allowing her to dash forward and away from the slimy creature. Stopping, she kicked back and aimed her sword tip for its chest, catching it in the left shoulder. It fell, writhing on the roots, grabbing for the blade. The fiery haired girl swiftly yanked out her weapon and drove it through its head, silencing its screeches.
A little more down the cave, Sunset found something she was all too familiar with, racing towards it as fast as she could go. Reaching the bonfire, she placed her arm out towards the sword in the middle, as if reaching for it. As she thought, the weapon sparked as a fire blazed out to the ground, contained within the outcrop of rocks surrounding the blade.
Taking her time to rest, Sunset sighed and sat down by the flame, closing her eyes as the warm feeling enveloped her like a soft hand protecting her. The pain and aches in her body started to fade completely, providing her the strength to push on through the rest of these ruins. Even her clothes and hair had dried out in the fire.
Given the time to pause, Sunset began to think of the dark area she was in. There hadn’t been anything to indicate that the caves she was in was indeed the ruins of an old city.
“So why was it called the Underscale Ruins?” she wondered out loud. It was an answer she was probably going to be finding out soon, whether she wanted to or not.
Deciding that she had spent way too much time sitting before the nice flame, Sunset got up, ready to continue her journey. As she proceeded down the long tunnel, she could still hear the screeches and cries of the slug creatures around her, though she saw none. Either they were all trapped in the thick grey roots, or they didn’t know she was here. Sunset hoped it was the latter.
You can do this Sunset. Not much further. Just picture a bright light and the end of this tunnel and you’re home free. You can do it.
Sunset kept trying to tell herself that she was getting closer to the end. Walking down this dangerous tunnel had her mind on the edge and she just wanted it all to be over. In fact, hoping to see the light at the end, she had indeed begun seeing a light, just at the end of the tunnel.
“Great. Now I’m going crazy. Too much, Sunset. Too much.” The girl rubbed at her eyes, trying to chase away the hallucination. When she looked back, the light was still there. “Quit thinking so hard Sunset. Now you’re seeing things.” Then the thought crossed her mind. “Unless… You aren’t seeing things…”
Picking up her pace, Sunset almost started running, getting closer and closer to the light source. Could it be true? Was she almost out of here?
Reaching the end of the tunnel, Sunset Shimmer closed her eyes for a second, opening them slowly to get them adjusted to the bright light shining into the huge cavern before her.
The space shocked her and amazed her at the same time. Instead of a big grassy field she had imagined, Sunset looked on into a new cavern, much higher and wider than the one she had been in. Roots continued to cover most of ground, but the source of those tendrils were two gigantic trees, one on each side of the cave; they were at least twenty times larger than she was. Holes in the cave roof above allowed sunlight to shine in, the rays glistening into a small waterfall pouring in from above. More mushrooms grew around the shallow waterbody the rush of water had created, slowly moving up and down like they were breathing in.
Chunks of debris and destroyed buildings littered the area, overgrown with roots. Here were the ruins Sunset had been looking for. The architecture looked almost modern, but with a tinge of an Old Canterlot style to them.
“Wow…” Sunset would’ve stayed here to explore, but she wasn’t going to take her chances with all the strange creatures around.
Stepping forward, the fiery haired girl decided to go to the opposite end of the cavern. Perhaps there was an exit, or at least a way up from this terrible place. Approaching the water’s edge, Sunset almost didn’t feel the faint rumbling beneath her feet.
“What the…”
She looked down, thinking it was perhaps her imagination or lightheadedness playing up, but unless her eyes were faulty, pebbles on the ground were rocking up and down as well. Without warning, cracks snaked away from her position, spreading across the cavern floor under the roots.
Then she was falling. Once the ground gave way, the roots, unable to take Sunset’s weight, followed along, sending the fiery haired girl plummeting down with a scream.
Able to at least calm her mind, Sunset reacted swiftly, grabbing on to one of the long tendrils alongside her. Her weight dragged her down, burning her palm as she struggled to hold on, but it wasn’t enough. Letting go, Sunset dropped a few more feet before trying her little stunt again. All the way down, the girl switched from root to root, careful not to burn her hands too much, trying to slow her fall. Even if she couldn’t die permanently, Sunset knew she would still feel the splat if she hit the ground from this height.
Finally close enough to the bottom, the girl let go of her latest root, dropping the rest of the way. She landed with a thud before falling to the side, slightly breaking her fall.
“This better be a way out…” Sunset coughed. She’d fallen enough times for one day.
Walking ahead, the blue eyed girl noticed that this cavern was a lot smaller than the one above. This one had a simple pillar close to the center with roots spiralling along it to the ceiling, which was also covered in roots, as were the walls and ground.
Walking around, Sunset tried to slow her breathing; the air down here was really bad. She couldn’t even describe the smell. It was definitely worse than a pile of horse sh-
Then something moved in the corner of her eye.
Sunset froze and turned her head slowly. The room was empty. There weren’t any slugs or mushrooms rushing out to try to kill her.
Must be my eyes playing tricks on me again…
Then a movement again. This time, Sunset was looking directly at it. A wyvern of sorts looked out at her with one eye, the rest of the creature stuck in the wall as if the roots were absorbing it. Its only visible arm lifted from its side, claws opening as it reached for the girl.
Sunset reacted quickly, spinning away with a slash of her sword. It cut a gash across the wyvern’s palm, making it pull its arm back. It focused its single eye on her and roared, though its mouth wasn’t able to open all the way.
“This is odd…” Sunset muttered as she looked for a way out. She found it, but unfortunately for her, a thick wall of fog prevented her from walking through. “Nononono… Great.”
She remembered what the last one signified. She had to defeat this immobilized wyvern if she wanted to get out of here.
“Sorry,” she said to the creature. “I need to get out of here, so I’ll have to kill you. On the upside, you’ll be free.”
The drake didn’t stop moving as Sunset would’ve hoped. Instead, it reached for her again, though faster than the first. This time, she had to roll out of the way as its claws scraped at the floor where she was standing. Just as Sunset was getting up, the claw slid across the ground, breaking apart roots as it flew towards her.
The fiery haired girl cut out again with her sword, but couldn’t get away in time as the hand grabbed her in its talons.
“Let me go!” she yelled as she slashed away at one of the fingers.
Eventually, the wyvern tossed her to the other side of the cavern with a howl of pain. Sunset braced herself as her back smashed against the thick roots, knocking the wind out of her, along with a spat of blood.
She fell to the ground, almost unable to move.
“Hhkk…” Sunset gasped as she reached for her bag. It felt as though her spine had snapped. She had to work fast if she wanted to live.
Digging around, she grabbed ahold of a bottle of estus and pulled it close to her lips. Opening her mouth, she tilted the contents in, needily lapping up every drop, feeling the warmness spread through her body. Soon, she found herself standing, ready to challenge the immobilized wyvern once more.
Rushing at it, she ducked under its arm swing, continuing for its body this time. Sunset tried holding her sword in both hands, swinging at the creature with all her might. The wyvern roared and attempted to grab her, but its arm couldn’t bend too close to its body, allowing Sunset to wail on the portion of the creature that was sticking out of the root pillar. Its clawed away, trying to grab the girl, but to no avail as Sunset’s blade finally cut through its armor, spilling thick blood across her sleeves and the roots.
The wyvern tried to struggle, but it couldn’t really do anything but swing its left arm around.
“I’m sorry,” Sunset yelled over its roars. She didn’t want to kill a creature that couldn’t even escape, but she had no choice if she wanted to get out of here. “I need to get home.”
It continued to struggle and without warning, a portion of the root pillar broke apart, revealing a second hand as the wyvern thrust it towards Sunset, narrowly missing the girl as she got out of the way. Its claws raked across the root floor before heading back to its trapped body. This time, its right arm was able to tear at the roots holding it to the pillar, freeing a larger portion of its body.
Sunset took a big gulp as the wyvern turned back to look at her. Its upper body was almost free, but thankfully, its legs were still trapped somewhere in the tangle of roots. It swiped at Sunset with its right arm before trying to smash her with its left, forcing Sunset to dodge in and out to survive.
Seriously, like it wasn’t hard enough already???
Sunset cut at its arms whenever she could, but she could never hit it more than twice at a time, seeing as she needed to keep moving if she didn’t want to be a bloody pancake on the cavern floor.
The fiery haired girl kept up her hard work when she finally found an opening. The next time its left arm came down, Sunset ran towards it, jumping aside from its right hand and leaping onto the left. She kept running, getting up the arm and closer to its head while it lifted both arms, trying to shake the girl off.
Sunset’s determination kept her going strong as she crept along the arm, careful not to fall. She was almost close enough when its right arm swatted down towards her, trying to flatten her. Sunset took her chance and leapt clear from the hand, jumping as close as she could to the immobilized wyvern’s face.
Flipping her sword around, Sunset thrust it as hard as she could into the drake’s eye, pushing as hard as she could as it tossed its head around. Blood and other kinds of liquid began dripping out of its wound, but it couldn’t do anything to dislodge Sunset as it fell to the cavern floor, defeated.
Sunset yanked her sword out and pushed off the ground, panting from exhaustion and stress. That was no easy fight.
As it lay dying, the wyvern’s body began to glow white, before dissipating into fragments, floating away in the air, finally free from its botanical prison.
“You’re free now,” Sunset said as the last of the glowing white particles disappeared from sight. “You’ve earned your rest. I’m sorry I had to do this…”
Sunset was just about to walk off when she noticed something shiny where the wyvern once was. Walking closer, the girl noticed it was a sword, but its blade was slightly curved and what looked like scales covered it from tip to pommel.
“What’s this doing here?” she asked aloud as she picked the weapon up. It was surprisingly light in her hands as she gave it a few good swings. “Wow.”
Seeing as it was no competition, Sunset placed her old sword by the now ruined root pillar and placing her new blade in her sheath. She had no idea what else to call this weapon, but drake sword seemed like a good name.
Finally able to proceed forward, Sunset almost missed an unlit bonfire under the hole she had dropped from. Almost running to it, she lifted a palm towards it like the last one, glad to see that a fire erupted from its center, allowing the girl a time of rest. Checking her bag, she noticed all her estus flasks had replenished. She didn’t know how that was possible, but she didn’t complain. Those things were useful.
Feeling better than ever, Sunset left the bonfire and resumed her mission. The only way home was to press on and she was going to do just that.