A Monster's Sunset

by PrometheusX

Catching Up on News...

I remember that day clearly. I had just finished my newest personal experiment out by the pond when she found me, panting heavily but triumphant. By this point in my studies, I had begun performing tests meant less for academic pursuits and more about improving my total magical output. The test in question was to see whether or not I could create a fire underwater and if so how long I could maintain it.

Ridiculous? Perhaps to your narrow minds, but for one such as myself it was possible. I simply had to use my magic to separate the hydrogen and oxygen water molecules in the water for fuel, create a little spark to start off the reaction, manipulate the temperature and size of the flame that it would be hot enough to survive against the water and wouldn't outstrip the fuel supply faster than I could make it, control the size of the fuel supply so the flame wouldn't spread too quickly. Oh, and make sure I didn't kill every living being in the pond and disrupt the ecosystem, because Celestia would never let me hear the end of it.

Don't feel bad if I lost you. All you need to know is that I tried to make fire underwater and it worked. Granted, by my eleventh try I had only built up enough control to keep it going for three minutes, but I figured it was a good enough place to stop. Pretty sure I had generated enough excess carbon dioxide in the water that anymore would have poisoned the aquatic population.

Musings about the well-being of fishes was the last thing on my mind at the time though, as I was interrupted by a familiar multicolored mane flowing around my body and tickling me, a familiar and welcome voice joining it.

"I see that you've been taking to your studies again, Sunset." she said simply, yet those words only boosted my spirits even higher.

I turned my head to see her still-smiling face, and I felt like the sun itself as my own smile stretched across my face.

"W-Well, of course, Princess! Though I've actually finished them for the day; this one was more of a personal test of my skills if anything."

"Interesting. Do you mind sharing with a mare who could use a good story?"

"Absolutely!"

It was moments like that I treasured above all else; when we were less like princess and student and more like mother and daughter. I remember happily recounting to her my experiment, beaming with pride at the compliments she gave and laughing sheepishly when she took notice of the pond at the blackening of the water and used her magic to remove the waste causing it.

But all good things must come to an end.

"I'm sure Cadence would have enjoyed being here to help you, or at least as an audience." Celestia finally said with a smile as we sat next to the pond, just observing the cloudless skies the pegasi had created for the day and enjoying the sight of unbreaking blue as far as the eye could see.

For me though, the mention of that pink alicorn casted a shadow over my thoughts. I shrugged.

"Eh, I don't think so. She'd probably be afraid of getting soot or water in her coat or mane."

"I wouldn't underestimate her, my dear. She can be...quite willing to get down and dirty with a physical sport. Particularly if it involves wheels."

To this day I still don't know what she meant, but back then I just disregarded it. "Maybe another time," I replied, not really meaning it.

It would seem that Celestia saw through that, or perhaps I didn't put enough effort into the lie, because a slight frown crossed her face before it vanished. I might have felt a twinge of guilt, but it wasn't my fault that me and Cadence had agreed to disagree. We tolerated each other and could get through a conversation without shouting at each other. What more did she want?

"Speaking of studies, Sunset, how go your friendship lessons?"

I went for my automatic excuse whenever the subject came up. "Manageable. Annoying, but I can get them done. Why?"

"It's just that I've been hearing some complaints from several students about your recent behavior. Backhanded comments, little patience, something about an exploding cake?"

"It's not my fault if they can't get sarcasm," I replied simply. And maybe I get a little annoyed when they don't follow my instructions quickly enough. And that cake? My fault, but a complete accident.

I neglected to mention how I was trying to hit that particular complainer in the face with a magic beam, but she ducked at the wrong moment. She was an annoying one, but luckily no one saw the murder in my eyes and I passed it off as a misfire.

Celestia simply sighed. A silence passed between us, one that admittedly left me feeling a little worried. Before I could say anything; however, Celestia then stood up.

"Walk with me, Sunset."

"Huh? Where to?"

"Just a little something I want to show you. It's magical, powerful, and something only known to few in Canterlot. Well?"

She always knew what to say to get my attention. "O-Okay!"

If I could go back in time, I would slap my younger self and Celestia after hugging them both in that moment. It would be worth it just to keep them away from that damned mirror.

---

"And then, with my staff shattered and my back to the wall, I casted my spell of freezing, bringing the Dragon Knight to her knees as frost coated her form. But I had underestimated the strength of my foe, for with a mighty roar she ignited her sword and body with the flames of her heritage and tore through it like tissue paper!"

Sunset Shimmer threw her arms apart suddenly for emphasis, grinning as her audience of children moved back in surprise and wonderment. Their reactions reminded her of the children of Ilias Village on the rare occasions she bothered to travel in town and the fancy of entertaining the rowdy tikes struck her. While she didn't care much for adults in the village, the children she decided weren't worth the effort of hating, and the fact that they always crowded around in excitement and curiosity, not mockery, of the "Witch of Ilias Village" had warmed her heart to their antics.

The old Sunset probably would have brushed them off, but becoming a self-proclaimed hermit devoid of nearly all contact save Luka had a funny effect on changing one's view about having willing company. Besides, seeing their looks of wonder and hearing their complaints when their parents inevitably arrived to get them away from the "witch" always managed to preen at her pride and happiness.

Of course, the children here weren't exactly normal by any stretch of the imagination. Before her sat four little girls, probably no older than ten at most, all of them staring at her with awe, but that was where the similarities with the children of Ilias Village ended. After all, the children of the village didn't have horns, tails, fangs, and claws.

The lamia Puchi had practically dragged her out of the inn and to an alleyway where her three friends-slash-partners-in-crime were waiting, apparently all of them on their lunch breaks from their jobs considering the presence of the food boxes they had been eating out of. From there, she had pretty much been begged by them all to tell the story of the "battle" of Iliasburg.

As per Puchi's request (and taking a minute or two to get her breath back after her first bit of exercise since her injuries and dealing with the pain, which was much less than she expected), she agreed...though she wasn't above adding a flair of dramatics to the tale. Now they all listened with their food forgotten...though not without throwing their own bits of commentary at times.

"O-Of course she would!" one of them, a dragon girl with purple scales and hair, shouted. "She's a dragon, after all! A bit of cold would never defeat her!"

"But Papi, don't you remember what happened when you accidentally fell into that underwater lake near our base back in the mountains for a few minutes?" a grey-skinned goblin girl asked, scratching the horn on her head in confusion. "You came out all shivery and clammy, and you didn't stop even when you sat in front of a fire for an hour!"

Papi blinked, her yellow eyes flashing around as she tried to come up with an excuse. "W-Well, I'm just a kid, Gob! Granberia is a Heavenly Knight and a fully grown dragon! She can take it!"

"Sheesh, now you're just covering your own butt..." muttered the little blond vampire wearing a black cape that ironically barely covered her own chest. Thankfully, said cape was more or less completely covering her right now thanks to how she was sitting with her knees up in front of her body. Looking at Sunset, she gestured for her to continue with an almost impetuous gesture Sunset was sure she had been practicing in a mirror. "Keep going, please, Ms. Sunset!"

"Yes, listen to Vanilla, Ms. Sunset!" Puchi called out, hands clasped in front of her as she sat on her tail. "What happened next?"

'Sheesh, and these girls were apparently bandits harassing the city? No wonder Ilias needs heroes running around if people can't deal with these problems...'

Leaving her doubts as to the strength of Ilias' most devoted followers aside, Sunset smirked, lowering her voice to a conspirator's whisper that forced the four former bandits to lean in to hear her clearly. "Well, with my newest plan to trap my foe foiled, I decided it was high time to use my secret, ultimate technique. Using her distraction to my advantage, I teleported right next to her while calling forth my strongest spell, a spell so powerful that if properly used would have annihilated this entire town off the map!"

She smiled at the gasps that came from their mouths, nearly laughing at how their eyes became dinner plates and the mouths were in serious danger of hitting the floor.

"N-No way!" Vanilla cried out. "You'd need to have Monster Lord-level strength to do that!"

"Yeah!" Papi quickly added. "There's no way you could have-"

Sunset opened the palm of her hand and a fireball even bigger than one of them standing up straight, shutting all of them up as they stared at it. "See this?" Pointing upwards, she shot the fireball into the sky before it exploded in a brilliant display of color, smirking as she listened to the surprised shouts of passerby who saw its journey, but not the source. "That was a warmup. Burn this into your minds, girls, because I'm the strongest witch on this island bar NONE. When I get serious, MOUNTAINS aren't safe from my attacks. There's nothing on this continent I can't defeat!"

'Well, technically, I suppose there might be someone stronger than me here, but I haven't seen it and they don't know it,' she admitted to herself, but her speech and smirk had silenced any protest from the girls, who were looking at her in even more awe. None moreso, she noticed with some amusement, than Papi the Dragon.

"However, I admit that I underestimated Granberia. Even as I prepared to unleash the spell, she was already upon me with her mighty sword, wreathed in flames hotter than Hell itself! Our blows clashed, fire and darkness locked in a grand struggle for dominance that could probably be seen from outside the town itself! We locked stances, bared our teeth like animals, glared at each other as if doing so would cause the other to drop dead where we stood! Never a more worthy foe have I faced in battle!"

She truly did wish cameras existed in this world. These children's faces were priceless.

She clenched her fist dramatically as she shook her head. "But alas, all things must end. With a mighty roar, the Heavenly Knight unleashed a combo attack unlike anything I had ever witnessed, and I could only watch as she tore through my attack and sent me flying away into a wall. Had I been alone, I would have perished..." She snapped out a finger, silencing any questions that no doubt were about to be unleashed. "BUT! My brother and loyal companion Luka came to my aid, and with a mighty swing of his sword he tore through Granberia's armor, forcing the Knight against the two strongest warriors on the continent! By this point, she had decided she had enough and chose to leave, though not before promising a rematch in the future when we are all rested and ready for a fair fight."

Technically, she didn't know if that was what exactly happened, but she pierced it together from what mutterings she had heard from passerby as Puchi dragged her along and what she could guess from what she figured proud warriors like Granberia would do. They were big on "honor" and "fair fights", so the fact she had even woken up at all had to mean that Granberia had decided to spare them for some reason.

"And with that, I finally collapsed, having exhausted my power. Thus, I saved Iliasburg from destruction! All in a day's work, I have to say."

'Maybe I should look into becoming a traveling performer someday,' she thought to herself as she grinned at her audience, who were clapping loudly and cheering. 'I could make a killing...call myself the Great and Powerful or some other big title...'

"You're awesome, Ms. Shimmer!" Gob shouted, stars in her eyes. "That was even better than the rumors we heard around town!"

"So that Luka boy actually injured a Heavenly Knight?" Vanilla questioned aloud. "No wonder he beat us all so easily! He must have been holding back on us!"

'If anything, I'm willing to bet he just let you four beat yourselves...' Sunset thought to herself, but didn't say aloud. She simply shrugged her shoulders. "Probably, but need I remind you, I trained him, so it would only be natural."

"Can you teach me magic like that too, Ms. Shimmer?" Puchi asked. "I want to shoot fireballs!"

"Hey!" Papi yelled. "That's my thing!"

Sunset chuckled. "Sorry, kiddo, but I'm not ready to take an apprentice yet. Maybe in a few years and you do some growing." She gave Papi a look, noticing her sulking expression. "I'll teach you too if you want. After all, you want a leg up against Granberia, right? You've got that look of determination about you."

Papi stuttered in surprise for a few seconds before finally nodding her head, failing to keep the excited look out of her eyes. "T-That's...thank you!"

Suddenly, there was a sound of bell, signalling the turn of the hour. The four monsters suddenly shot up, eyes wide.

"Crap! Our shifts are starting again!" Gob cried. "We need to go!"

They immediately grabbed the last of their lunches and stuffed them in their mouths as they ran off.

"Bye, Ms. Shimmer!" Vanilla shouted as they took off, removing the sausage she had in her mouth as she spoke. "Thanks for sharing the story!"

"See ya, kids," Sunset called out to them as they went, leaving her behind. "Stay out of trouble!"

Alone again, Sunset looked around the alleyway, then up at the sky. By her reckoning, she had several hours to go before nighttime.

'Might as well amuse myself around town...' she mused, walking off. 'Who knows, maybe something will catch my eye...'

A growl erupted from her stomach, reminding her she hadn't eaten anything for days aside from some cookies.

"Hopefully a good food stand, for starters..."

---

Sunset could feel the stares of various passerby and fellow patrons on her as she finished devouring the cooked steak in front of her, tearing into the meat with relish before only pausing long enough to wipe the juices from her mouth with a nearby napkin and drinking from the glass of milk right next to her. This was only the most recent dish she had ordered, as shown by the plates stacked neatly nearby, and she still felt like she could eat another plate or two.

'Course, need to remember my wallet...' she chided herself before she could give in to the temptation. 'Hunger is the enemy, but so is running out of money...'

If her former contemporaries in Equestria could see her now, they would probably be aghast that she would consider her money more important than the fact she was currently eating what had once been a living, breathing animal. Admittedly, there was a time after coming to this world that Sunset had considered the act of eating anything alive that wasn't a plant to be a horrifying idea, but her living conditions when she was with Luka and his mother and latter on her own on the outskirts of Ilias Village had drilled it into her head that she couldn't be too picky about her next meal.

She didn't have much talent for gardening (the equipment was expensive and her own skills barely produced enough to feed herself and Luka, much less surplus to sell off) or foraging (a bad encounter with some mushrooms left her leaving that job to Luka), and what money she did make from doing various tasks around the village usually went to getting essentials like bread and milk. But hunting? It was often as simple as casting a spell to stun her prey before letting Luka finish it off with his sword, and then letting him skin it while she made a fire to roast it over. The simplicity made it a logical crime to not partake in the easily gained spoils, and hunger was one hell of a motivator to do so. After all, this body could eat meat and plants in equal measures, so why deny what few blessings she still had?

Plus, Luka's cooking skills had essentially silenced any remaining qualms she had. There was something about a good roast that a salad couldn't replicate, at least for this body. As long as the meal wasn't equine in nature, she could eat it without her conscience bothering her too much.

'It's not Luka's cooking, admittedly, but definitely filling,' she thought to herself as she picked at the bone for any remaining meat, letting it drop on the plate with a content sigh as she wiped her mouth again with another napkin. 'Might come here again sometime.'

"Check, please!" she called out to a nearby waiter, who had been trying not to stare. Admittedly, while her meal size had been impressive, it was the way she had gone at it, quietly tearing into meat and vegetables without making loud and obnoxious sounds, that surprised people. From how much she had eaten, they would have thought a starving woman had ordered it all, yet not once did she lose control.

"Well...you had three bowls of cheese and potato stew, three plates of salad, one plate of fish, two plates of chicken, and finally two plates of large steak," the man rattled off, still trying to comprehend how this girl ate so much and yet her stomach still didn't look distended. "Along with seven glasses of milk."

"Hmm...a new record," Sunset mused aloud, smirking at his expression. "How much?"

"Well, with the one-time-only Hero's discount going on..."

Sunset blinked. "I'm not a Hero..."

"Considering what you did for the town, Sunset Shimmer, you more than qualify for it," the waiter replied simply. "Plus I'm certain our restaurant would be swarmed by angry protestors if we shortchanged you out of at least one meal. As I was saying, your total comes out to 170 gold pieces."

"Hmm...not bad," Sunset decided, reaching into her pouch and pulling out the necessary amount. Before leaving her home she had taken all of her savings over the last decade, plus what was left of the gold and jewels she had taken with her from Equestria through the mirror, with her. She could comfortably say she had 3000 gold pieces worth on hand, so losing little more than 1/20th of it wasn't too bad. "Here."

"Thank you, ma'am. We hope you return sometime..." he said, glancing at the plates as he said that.

Sunset nodded as she stood up and went for the exit, ignoring the whispers from the other patrons as she went. If anything, she was more interested in how her body aches and shaky legs had all but vanished since waking up, as if having a meal was all she really needed to get back into shape. Even her still bandaged arm itched more than anything else, and that hadn't stopped her from using it to eat.

'Whatever was used to heal me up must have been impressive,' she mused to herself as she stepped outside, putting a hand over her eyes as afternoon sunlight hit them. 'I'll have to ask Luka once he finally gets back.'

Come to think of it, she was quite curious as to what her adoptive brother had been up to since she was unconscious. She had gotten snippets from the four monster girls before she launched into her tale, along with rumors of a strange snake monster that no one wanted to talk about, but apparently his and her own renown was growing amongst the people here. She could see it in the way people's eyes lit up as she passed, from their calls of hello when they could see her to their whispers of awe when they thought she couldn't hear.

It was...nice, she had to admit.

'Guess I'll head back to the inn...' she decided, then looked up at the rooftops curiously. '...Or maybe...'

A quick teleportation spell found her up on the rooftop of the Sutherland Inn, where she settled down and just stared at the sun while listening to the bustle of life beneath her. For a moment, she couldn't help but remember a similar scene back in Canterlot, when she stood on the balcony of the castle with the faint sounds of the residents going about their business, a book next to her as she waited for Princess Celestia set the sun.

A frown came to her as she remembered back then Celestia would actually come and sit next to her as she allowed the sun to set and raise the moon. She sighed to herself, annoyed that she managed to destroy her own good mood.

"Need to learn to quit while I'm ahead..." she muttered as she settled against the roof, content to just lay there. Maybe if she was lucky she'd fall asleep and wake up when Luka and Alice got back.

"Here's to hoping..." she muttered again before closing her eyes, the blue sky above her the last sight she saw.

---

"Nice spot for a nap."

Those five simple words alone, delivered with such a matter-of-fact tone, wouldn't have been enough to rouse Sunset from slumber. The sharp pain that suddenly lanced through the right side of her face, on the other hand, did. Eyes snapping open and catching sight of something silver, Sunset's head shot up as she tried to take stock of the situation and-

*THUD!*

"OWW!"

"AHH!"

-smashed her forehead against something hard and uncompromising. Fall back, the former progeny rubbed her head with her free hand as a string of curses fired off under her breath.

"Alright, who the hell..." she trailed off as she finally caught sight of the perpetrator, her eyes trailing along a familiar cloak and exotic wear before they settled on a head of silver hair and a purple tattoo. "Alice?"

"The one and only," the disguised lamia muttered as she rubbed her forehead before opening her golden eyes and staring at Sunset with some annoyance. "You have quite the hard head, I must say."

'I could say the same to you,' she thought with annoyance, but brushed it aside. "Well, nice to see you too. Is Luka here?"

"Downstairs. He originally freaked out when he learned you left your room and never came back, but I told him you were somewhere on the premises. Your smell is quite overpowering, you know."

"Smell like a bonfire, I remember," Sunset sighed as she looked around, surprised that she could still see the sun peeking out over the horizon and painting the sky various reds, oranges, and yellows. "Huh, the maid said you would be back by tonight at the earliest."

"Luka wanted to double time it back so he could check on you and see if you were ready to go on our next merry adventure," Alice answered her. "I agreed, since I wished to taste the true form of the Ama-Ama Dango with the honey I obtained from Happiness Village." She lifted a jar of the honey in question, an expression of bliss upon her face. "There wasn't much left, admittedly, but just enough to behold the perfection of the treat at long last."

"Figures..." Sunset muttered.

"Anyways," Alice continued, drawing herself out of her fantasy to look at the mage, "Luka is waiting for us. No doubt he wishes to regale you with the tales of his exploits."

"Yeah..." Sunset tried to ignore the smirk on her face as she said that, simply turning her head to look at the sunset again. Once more, old memories surfaced of Celestia, good and bad. She remembered snuggling against the alicorn's white coat on cold nights while a large wing rested over her, and immediately afterward recalled standing in front of her with her head down while Celestia flicked the mud from an ill-timed catapult test from her mane, her expression anything but pleased as guards worked to clean up the mess that covered the throne room. Yet each memory felt like a spike through the chest as they flashed through her mind.

"Something troubles you?"

Alice's words, strangely lacking their biting quality, drew Sunset from her thoughts. Turning to the lamia, she shook her head.

"Nothing...just memories of another life. Sunsets have a bad habit of drawing them out."

Alice's expression was blank, though she didn't pry. Without another word, she turned to leave, showing a door that led downstairs.

"Hey, Alice?" Sunset didn't know what compelled her to open her mouth, but there was no going back as Alice looked back, an eyebrow raised. "This might sound weird, but...what was your mother like?"

A strange expression passed over the lamia's face, so quickly that Sunset barely registered it. It almost looked like...regret?

"Kind, if a bit stubborn in her beliefs," she answered softly, perhaps the most emotional Sunset had seen. "She always tried to protect me, yet wasn't afraid to scold me too if I got out of hand. We had our arguments, but she loved me and I her. I only wish our last meeting could have ended better."

Sunset offered her a small, empathetic smile. "Well, I guess that's one thing we have in common, huh?"

The two stared at each other for a moment longer before Alice looked away.

"I'll tell Luka you're coming. Make sure you don't stay up here until nighttime though, or I will drag you back down."

"No worries," Sunset chuckled, taking just one more look at her namesake before following. "I was done anyways."

Alice offered no more comment, simply walking through the door. Sunset followed on through, a part of her curious as to what Alice had meant by her and her mother's last meeting, but deciding that it wouldn't be wise to pry and ruin this moment.

'We all have our secrets, after all,' she mused, 'and not all were meant to be shared.'

---

Of course, some secrets, while meant to be shared, weren't necessarily any more pleasant to reveal.

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

Luka flinched but could only sigh as he sat in the chair in Sunset's room. Alice was sitting on the bed, now back in her true form and smirking at the spectacle before her, which consisted of Sunset walking around the room to the point Luka thought they'd have to pay for the wear and tear in the floor.

Taking a deep breath, Luka began again. "Well, Alice and I went to Happiness Village and-"

"I know what you said!" Sunset interrupted him. "I followed your story perfectly. Even the part where you apparently slept with the Harpy Queen!"

Yeah, he figured this would happened. Upon returning to Iliasburg in record time, he and Alice had made a beeline to the Sutherland Inn to check on Sunset and finally have the Ama-ama Dango respectively. When the innkeeper, while Alice was busy snacking down with her honey and dango, told him that Sunset hadn't been seen since she was dragged outside by the little lamia Puchi, he nearly had a panic attack before Alice told him she could smell her somewhere in the residence and to settle down before he had a heart attack. She then took off and told him to wait in Sunset's room until she was back.

With no other recourse, he did as told and just waited, mentally going over what he'd have to tell her. No doubt she'd ask about his travels, particularly his new shirt and sword, and the presence of the bone bracelet on his arm. He figured he'd go with the tried and true method of saying his piece with a basic summary, and not mention anything that she herself didn't question him on. He was almost glad when the door opened and Alice arrived with Sunset, who was looking much healthier than he would have expected. Granberia's tonic and Alice's healing magic worked wonders, it seemed.

After she gave him a hug, she settled back and asked him to tell her everything that happened. He agreed and started with talking about the tonic Granberia gave him to heal her (not mentioning Alice's involvement as per her instructions), and then how he went about town gathering info and helping where he could. Sunset was interested in the new muted purple shirt he was wearing and he told her he got it at the armory shop, with it apparently having been made in a small village named Enrika, just south of Ilias Village.

"I have a good idea for armor," Alice piped in then. "While it might look like a plain shirt, it is much stronger than it looks. Luka learned that quite well during his battles. Not a single tear, even facing off against a foe as dangerous as a dragon...even if it was only a child."

Luka added his own two cents in, regaling Sunset with his misadventures against the Four Bandits after receiving a quest from a strange and disturbing lamia named Amira, including his acquirement of his new primary weapon from Alice. He had to admit it was quite amusing to see Sunset jerk back upon seeing him bring out the Angel Halo, a twisted amalgamation of 666 angels melted together into a sword that just screamed "villainous".

"Luka, that's not a sword," Sunset told him frankly. "It's a damned monstrosity...and I'm pretty those eyes just winked at me!"

"Oh...those do that sometimes..." he had admittedly sheepishly. "But at least it works at sealing monsters without killing them. Makes my mission easier, right?"

"You're a hero chosen by Ilias, using a weapon made from the bodies and souls of hundreds of her servants that look like they're being eternally tortured. How have you not been smited yet?" She looked over at Alice. "And where the hell were you hiding that thing?!"

Alice smirked. "Oh-ho, you haven't heard the best part yet! Tell her ALL about what happened at Happiness Village, Luka...or should we say 'Harpy Village'? Entertain her with how you managed to broker peace between man and monster."

Which had lead to the current predicament of Sunset looking like she was on the way towards a panic attack. Alice piped in unhelpfully. "To be fair, the Queen did offer a choice-"

"And that almost makes it worse!" Sunset shouted. "Now we can't use the excuse that he was an unwilling participant! Do you have any idea what the Ilias-devoted population will do to Luka if it gets out he chose to bed a monster of his own free will? We'll be lucky if they don't lynch him!"

"Oh, don't be so bothered," Alice shrugged. "The fact he hasn't been reduced to ashes on the floor from a lightning bolt is proof that the Goddess Ilias either doesn't know about this, or more likely doesn't care. It would seem her little 'Hero' can get away with quite a bit of heresy around here."

Sunset seemed to calm down as she contemplated that statement, a fact that Luka himself admitted he was curious about. He had dreams of Ilias coming to him and telling him about how he needed to defeat the monsters threatening the world and kill the Monster Lord, and yet he had slept with the Harpy Queen and not suffered a single punishment for it...unless one counted how sore and naked he felt in the morning. As a matter of fact, Ilias hadn't appeared in his dreams since that night all three of them camped out on the way to Iliasburg, and even now he wasn't sure if he didn't imagine that.

"I suppose you have a point..." Sunset admitted, then looked over at Luka. "So, what's your excuse for sleeping with the Harpy Queen?"

"Her name is Sofie, actually..." Luka found himself saying aloud as he looked at his bracelet, ignoring Alice's snicker.

Sunset raised an eyebrow, but wasn't moved. "Still doesn't answer my question. She gave you the option to back out despite having you dead to rights by the word of the agreement she made, yet you still went through with it. Was she really that attractive?"

Luka blushed. "W-Well, she was beautiful, but that wasn't the big reason."

The mage sighed. "Was it your whole coexistence thing going on?"

Luka took a deep breath. "I guess you could say that. I mean, if coexistence is going to be a thing, monsters and humans are gonna need to...well, be allowed to be together again..."

"Monsters can't reproduce without human semen after all," Alice spoke up from the bed. "Your Goddess's little commandment to not have sex with monsters has made more than a few of us a little forceful in our tactics."

"I know what the damn commandments are...even if I agree they're kind of crap," Sunset muttered. "So, you basically figured that if you didn't accept the offer, you'd be calling yourself a hypocrite to your dream of peace?"

"Basically," Luka got out. "I-I mean, it's not like I'm just gonna start dropping my pants for every monster that crosses my path and tries to attack me."

"Just the ones that ask nicely or are really desperate is what you're saying," Sunset finished for him before sighing and shaking her head. "Well, good thing I'm still with you to make sure you don't get taken advantage of. Still, for you to actually sleep with another person, particularly one who could have killed you with both wings tied behind her back...I'm honestly impressed you built up the courage to say yes."

Luka looked away. "Would it make you proud to say that I imagined a version of you yelling at me to get off my ass and just do it?"

Sunset just stared at him with a blank expression, causing Alice to snicker a bit. It was a face that Luka knew well, the kind of face Sunset made when she was about to either sigh and give up on her train of thought...or chuck a fireball at the annoyance in question.

Thankfully, it was the former this time.

"...Well, at least your first time was consensual. It could have been much worse."

Luka nervously chuckled, trying to avoid staring at Alice, who was smiling teasingly at him, and hoping that Sunset would take his nervousness for dodging her anger. It probably wouldn't be smart to tell Sunset what Alice did to him with her fingers once they got their own rooms separate from her while she was unconscious. He didn't want to add "destruction of famous locations" to his current list of "achievements".

"Y-Yeah...lucky me."

Fortunately, Alice changed the subject and didn't bring up how the Harpy Queen was technically his second sexual encounter.

"Indeed you are, Luka. You should be proud of him, Sunset. For a Fake Hero he's not bad at playing the role."

Unfortunately, she brought up the other elephant in the room.

"And best of all, you'll both be royalty once the eggs hatch!"

"...Eggs? Luka, what does she mean by eggs?"

Luka sighed as he sensed the building storm that was Hurricane Shimmer. 'These two will kill me long before any monsters catch me...'

Author's Note:

Happy 2017, everybody. Been a long time since this updated, huh? Don't know how long I'll be able to write before the writer's block and inevitable creative drought occur, but I'll be damned if I don't try to get some content out before that!

Comments

[rst64tlc]

Well, this is...EGG-cellent Chapter you have and great job...I'll just leave now.

[Eonflare]

I'm going to assume Luka's more flexible beliefs in this are probably due to growing up with Sunset. Being so close to someone who can actually think a bit goes a long way in a world like this.

[PrometheusX]

7849177 Well, I'm just BURNING with embarrassment, now aren't I?

[Emperor]

Ah, nice to see this updated. It looks like we're finally getting some Sunset time, and more proof that despite the many years she's spent in Ilias-land so far, she still has many, many lingering regrets.

[Gobeman]

Ive littereally gotten through paradox now..... time to replay

[PileOfTrailMix]

It's alive!

[guisniperman]

So, I just learned there's going to be a sequel to the Monster Girl Quest Triologie. I guess this story could be a chunk longer,

[Deynarth]

Glad to see this update, and hopefully it will continue to do so.
MGQ crossovers are all too rare, especially those done well like this one.
(Playing Paradox, Sunset now kind of remind me of Sonya... Well, a more hot-headed Sonya.)

[BeardedRedMane]

*Looks at the 'Rated Teen' rating*

...I don't see how thats going to work. Though if we're being honest a friend of mine had a serious if not hilarious discussion on the topic of fights in MGQ. He was like, 'How does that even work? What? Luka takes a swing with his sword and the monster just Matrix dodges under it, reaches a hand down to undo his belt before diving head first onto his perma-hard dick. Then you've got Luka with a thoroughly disgusted look on his face slaping her off his dick as if saying, 'UGH! REALLY? COME ON! Cut that shit out, we are trying to have a proper fight here you fucking slut!' Like the square cuck he is. God I'd have willingly lost to the first monster I came across-- bar anything that wants to eat me, kill me or stick things up my ass.

[Blue Horizon]

Really loved reading this, hope it's not dead. I'd love to see what happens next! (I never played much of the game)

[Blue Horizon]

2.5 years later, and I still love/miss reading this story.

I hope you decide to continue it at some point.