The Devil Inside

by Chelis

The Devil Went Down to Coltoctin pt 2

Sunset looked on at the She-Demon in fear, in thought of what it wanted. She looked to her friends, who were behind the tree line trying to not be seen by the monster. A deep feminine voice called her name, but she didn't hear it. It was telepathic, and meant for her.

"Sunset Shimmer."

"Yes?" She asked out loud, confusing her friends.

"You have used me, the spirit of your old ways, for a while now. The problem with that is that I have gotten stronger with every use. Before, I just consumed you from the inside. Now that your heart is stronger, my abilities cannot consume you at will. Now I’ll have to do it from the outside." The voice explained.

"What!? Why!? I didn't use you for evil, I did it for good!" Sunset asked in shock.

"It is not how you used me, Sunset Shimmer. It is the fact that invoked my power. Irony cannot save you."

"No, it cannot. But my will alone can," Sunset said as she opened both palms at the monster, and fired a beam from her right hand while her left glowed. The beam missed, and the creature flew at Sunset, her mouth open and exposing her many sharp teeth. The girls called out for Sunset, yelling at her to run as the creature closed in on her. A flash of metal zoomed past the girls and stopped in Sunset’s hand, halting the creature’s attack.

"You think I would go down quietly?" Sunset grinned, her father's machete holding against the full force of the She-Demon's jaw. The creature took a swing with her claws, but only hit the air. On the other side of the meadow, on top of a tree branch Sunset reappeared, waiting for the creature to attack.

The She-Demon charged right at her and swung, which Sunset countered by teleporting away at the last second to another tree branch.Her She-Demon form's cut would snap the tree branch off, sending the large piece to the ground below.

"I have to do something!" Twilight shouted as she trudged through the mud back to the van. She was joined by the rest of the girls trying to find cover in the truck.

"Twilight!" Spike yelled as he watched the girls narrowly miss getting crushed by the branches.

"Spike! Get the spectrometer from my bag!" Twilight commanded as she arrived at the truck. Spike disappeared in the darkness of the truck for few seconds and returned with the spectrometer in his mouth.

"Girls, Sunset can't beat that thing alone!" Twilight said as she opened the device up. It went to work immediately, absorbing the magic from her friends.

Sunset saw Twilight's plan as she was teleporting from tree to tree, dodging her attacker’s claws and objected. "No! Let me!-"

That distraction was enough for the She-Demon to backhand the much smaller sunset, throwing her off to the mud far below. Sunset tried to get up and away but was instantly pinned by the creature.

"Once I consume you, I can finally lead an army of able-bodied teens to Equestria! A take-over, just like planned!"

"That wouldn't have worked!" Sunset rebutted.

"Celestia would of never harm my army, she would rather let them take over if it meant preserving lives!" The creature answered.

"Those lives are my friends. I will keep fighting to keep them safe!" Sunset proclaimed

"Oh, yeah!? And how are you do that in the state you are in?!"

"If you know me at all, you know I'm a resourceful cunt," Sunset answered as she reached out to her friends. An aurora of opal formed around the spectrometer. The object was yanked out of Twilight's hands and went straight to Sunset. Sunset opened the device with her thumb, and a brilliant ball of light surrounded her and the device. The light was strong enough to force the creature to back away.

When the light disappeared, Sunset was changed. The girls were no stranger to that form of her. Her heavenly glow lit up the night, and with no preamble or speech, Sunset fired a steady beam of magic at the She-Demon, the creature firing her fiery own beam to counter. Once the beams met,sparks flew in the middle and began the dance of deathly magic. Both kept pushing more magic against the other, hoping the other would budge. Even though Sunset was as powerful as her counterpart, she still had the energy reserves of a mortal.

"She’s losing! What can we do?" Rarity asked, on the rare occasion of not caring about being covered in the cold, wet mud.

"Spike, get El Diablo!" Rainbow commanded. As Spike disappeared back into the dark trailer, Rainbow felt along the graveled mud beneath her until she found what she was looking for. When she went back up, Spike was waiting for her with the slingshot.

Rainbow grabbed the slingshot, loaded her projectile on the sling and pulled, concentrating on the creature. When she felt the time was right, and when Sunset had all but ran out of energy, she released.

The stone whistled in the night and landed on the side of the creature's head. It was distracted long enough for Sunset to give off what was left in her magic tank to swing the battle her way, the ball that collected in their fight went the other way, right to the shocked creature. It disappeared in the ball as the energy wave blasted into the sky, and out to space.

Sunset had return to normal as the small embers floated from the surviving trees of their battle.. Her friends came to get her, but she waved them off to see what was left of her former self. When she arrived at the small crater, she was shocked to see what was left, to the point of stepping back in fear.

A red jewel: The same ones that were around the necks of the dazzlings and in the chest of Arachne.

It was also cracking.

"You see sunset. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. I am energy. If you can't accept me, I can just manifest around the necks of those in your world. My candidates are a bit ‘dazzling’ for my tastes, but it is what it is."

The girls and Sunset broke a cold sweat. Those three coming back would have been bad for business.

"Alright, what do I need to do?" Sunset sighed as she held the jewel in her hands.

"Swallow me. Let me become a part of you. You can gain my power as long as I can become part of your soul. But, just to warn you, the more you call my power, the stronger I get. In the near future, we will meet again to fight for your body, and your willpower shall be a whole lot less than before since I will be a part of you. You have moments to decide. Tick tock."

As the jewel said that, another form cracked.

"Sunset…" Rarity said.

"I have to. The Dazzlings, the power... Yeah, it will hurt me in the end, but its benefits for the greater good are too much." Sunset lamented

"Ya know they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions," Applejack pointed out.

"You don't think I know, AJ? I have to." Sunset answered.

"What about you, Sunny?! You can get hurt if you agree!" Pinkie begged.

"It's not worth it!" Fluttershy pleaded.

"we can kick the dazzlings butt again, Sunset" Rainbow explained.

Sunset looked to them and shook her head. "I can't, girls. I'm sorry but it seems like the benefits outweigh the costs."

She took a deep breath and swallowed the ruby. She expected that the energy of their bodies merging would kill her or make a dramatic fuse, but instead, she felt nothing. By then she was lethargic and wanted to get some sleep. She walked through the mud, with her friends following behind her. She got on the truck bed, found her bag, and collapsed.

"Is she going to sleep like that?" rarity asked.

Her question was answered with Sunset clasping her hand like a ball, which attracted the mud in the truck bed. she flicked it away, blasting the area in front of the bed with mud-like buckshot.

"Forget I asked," Rarity said as she was fighting the urge to kill Sunset with her own hands.

***

"Do you think Axel managed to score the booze?" Brawny asked. Flash, himself, and Big Macintosh were waiting in the SUV outside of the mini-mart in town.

"If you boys would have told me sooner, I would have brought some Apple Family moonshine," Mac said, looking out the window.

"No thanks, Mac. I want to drink alcohol, not paint thinner," Flash commented.

The conversation ended with the driver side door abruptly opening. The mustached assistant for Flash’s band entered with a paper bag "I got it, guys! Let's get wasted!"

"I think we are going to get more than that. Look," Mac said as he pointed outside. The sky over the mountain range lit up in a colorful assortment. The crackling of thunder was heard as well, even with the clouds and rain moving out of sight a while ago.

"Looks like the girls got themselves into another magic incident… Again," Flash groaned as he reached to the driver seat and took the paper bag from his band mate. "Drive."

The trek to the campsite was quicker going down, even with the mud and rocks, mostly due to Flash pressuring the guy to drive faster because he feared whatever fate might be in store for him if any of those girl's fathers found out… Especially Sunset Shimmer’s.

When they arrived, they were met with nearly every tree in the camp slashed. Bark, wood, and branches were strewn all over the place. There were places where the debris were smoldering, caught on fire but was extinguished by the damp wood.

"What the actual fuck happened?" Flash asked when stepped out of the SUV. The girls were covered in mud, with the surprise exception of Sunset who was fast asleep in the truck.

"B-bear attack?" Twilight explained nervously.

Flash sighed. "I've dealt with my ex turning into a She-Demon, I've seen three hot chicks turn into flying screaming sea horses, and I saw Twilight here turn into She-demon herself. For just this one time, I'm not going to even question it."

The cars were put back together, the tarp laid back over, and the girls showered and changed in the shower stalls that miraculously survived the battle. The space heaters were wired to spare car batteries as well. In the midst of the pizza and alcohol, Flash scooted to the girls side to of the two car tent next to Sunset. He had to wake her up at times so he knew how to without any thought to the process.

"Wake up, you little shit," he lovingly said as he poked her side. Sunset jolted up and looked around in fear. She calmed down once she saw Flash and his offering of pizza. "Hungry?"

She snatched the plate from his hand and devoured the pizza.

"I keep telling you to stop eating your food like that, Sunny. Anyway. I have been thinking about it and… I've decided to ask Twilight out. The thing is I wanted to make sure that you were coo-" Flash stopped when he felt a mass push up against his side. Sunset fell back asleep, her hands wrapped around him. Her light snoring could only heard by him.

"Ah think you can let her be for the night, Fash. She had a long night with them… bears." Applejack said.

"I can't. Back when we dated if I move when she was sleeping she would make me pay for it," Flash answered.

"I guess that means your other side is open?" Twilight chimed in.

"Would be a weird way for us to study, but sure," he said while opening his arms for her. Twilight pulled out her notebook and opened it up.

"So I took notes on the raccoons you shot, and I found some astute observations of what happens when animals take death blows to the head!"

Should I be horrified that Twilight is interested in this?

Comments

[the other sans]

another tree branch.Her She-Demon
the much smaller sunset
them safe!" Sunset proclaimed
beams met,sparks flew
surviving trees of their battle..
You see sunset. Energy cannot
"we can kick the dazzlings
rarity asked

1. Forgot your spacing.
2. Forgot to capitalise.
3. Forgot your full stop at the end.
4. Forgot your spacing.
5. Extra full stop. Which probably migrated from up previously.
6. Forgot to capitalise.
7. Forgot to capitalise.
8. Forgot to capitalise.

Well then... Let's really hope that the She-demon doesn't come out at some inopportune moments. Like with her father watching over her. Let's also hope she doesn't pull some sort of Noble Sacrifice in the end, that would make things heartwrenching.