• Published 11th Feb 2016
  • 5,105 Views, 84 Comments

Flame of Disparity - Cinders of War



Sunset Shimmer awakens in a cold and distant land, with no recollection of how she got there. With ravenous beasts and blood-thirsty mobs after the flame that she carries, Sunset will need all her wits to survive this deadly night.

  • ...
7
 84
 5,105

Chapter 12: Folstad Prison

Sunset stood before the massive archway, looking up at the building’s entrance. It had an old rusted gate, hanging just above the entrance, and by the looks of it, it hadn’t been in use for a long time.

A verdigris-coated sign by the wall told Sunset that this place was called Folstad Prison. The bars on the windows made sense, but everything else looked more like a castle than a prison.

“Well, here we go,” Sunset said to herself and headed in, first, grabbing one of the torches by the archway. It had a skull-shaped sconce, which reminded her too much of Nicolash.

Thinking about it, Sunset actually preferred a more straightforward enemy, even if that meant an actual fight. Chasing Nicolash around had been too much trouble for what he was worth.

The prison entry led up a dark staircase, which made Sunset thankful she had taken a torch. If not, she would’ve had to walk around with only her flame barely lighting the way.

Once again, the place seems to have been abandoned, with dirty cells on the left and right housing no inmates or anything living. Chains hung from the ceiling, unmoving from the lack of any kind of wind. There were stains on the walls and Sunset guessed they were blood, but she didn’t want to think too much of what had happened here.

At the top of the staircase, Sunset entered a brighter corridor that went left or right, but both paths met again on the other side, which she could see from where she stood. In between the sides was a vast open courtyard, four levels down, where wooden pikes had been placed in the grass below, along with some impaled rotted bodies on them.

“Gross…” Sunset covered her mouth. This part looked like a prison, alright.

There were also benches, most of them broken, and even what looked like a sports court. On the right of the courtyard was another big entrance, built for people that stood at least three times her height, which looked to lead to another part of the complex. Sunset figured that was where she had to go. Now, all she had to do was find her way down to the courtyard. The corridors were flanked by bars all along the courtyard side, so climbing down wasn’t an option. Though, there was likely a staircase somewhere that led down to the courtyard, so all she had to do was find it.

And then Sunset saw it. The first sign of an enemy.

On the left side of a corridor, a hollow slowly approached her, holding a lantern in one hand and a cleaver in its other. A hood hung over its head, shrouding its features in shadow.

“Oh, you don’t scare me.” Sunset figured she would deal with that hollow first.

She would prefer to simply blast a faceful of hot steam at it, but seeing as it was a hollow like the ones in the previous area, that would just prove ineffective. She was going to have to do things the old fashioned way.

Approaching, Sunset kept her sword in front of herself, remembering her training and keeping an eye on the hollow’s cleaver.

However, instead of its cleaver, the hollow raised its lantern instead, swinging it from side to side and screeching at a disturbing pitch.

There were more cells to the walls of the corridor that Sunset had failed to notice. Unfortunately, these ones contained more hollows, and when the lantern hollow screeched, the cell doors went up into the wall, releasing a group of four hollows right onto Sunset’s position.

“No!” Sunset shrieked as they threw themselves on her, clawing at her exposed skin with their dirty fingernails.

Fortunately, she didn’t have much exposed skin now, thanks to her new gear, but unfortunately, her face, neck and upper arms were exposed. She felt the nails dig into her skin and tear at her flesh as she tried to push them off and get some distance.

One hollow tried to bite her nose, but Sunset managed to get one foot under it and launch it back into the lantern hollow before it could do away with her nose.

Unable to swing her sword at such close range, Sunset resorted to her fists, delivering a quick one two to the second hollow. She saw a tooth fly before delivering a hard third punch, knocking it to the side. With only two hollows left on her, Sunset managed to roll away from them after a punch to the third creature.

She quickly pushed back up to her feet and finished one of them with her sword before slashing horizontally at the next two, taking down three in less than a minute. The last one and the lantern hollow had recovered and now approached her again, but with no more surprises, both went down relatively quickly.

Sunset made sure to grind the lantern into oblivion with one greave, and reminded herself that wasn’t going to fall for something like that again. She had to keep an eye on her surroundings.

Assessing the damage on her neck, she decided it wasn’t worth an estus just yet. It hurt, yes, but she could live with it; she didn’t know just how far another bonfire would be. There hadn’t even been one on the Road of Penance.

The next corner held another four cells, but only three of them were occupied. Inside the third one, however, sat some kind of slug creature, holding a staff. It looked up at Sunset as she stopped by the cell door and wagged its stalks.

“Sick…” Sunset stuck out her tongue and kept going, glad to see a stairwell right after the last cell.

Shining her torch down, Sunset made sure it was safe before proceeding, taking a careful step at a time. The stairwell led all the way down to the first floor, which was fortunate. She wasn’t about to go down each floor and look for a staircase with all these crazy inmates and jailers here.

At the bottom, just around the corner, Sunset spotted another of the lantern hollows approaching, its mouth opened wide. Not wasting time, Sunset approached it as it began to swing its lantern, stabbing it through the neck before it could do anything else. The hollow shuddered, then went limp, sliding off her sword and onto the floor.

Grinding the lantern under her foot, Sunset looked in the nearby cells, watching the prisoner hollows just sit in there, minding their own business. She figured as long as she could get the lantern before the hollow were to scream, the others wouldn’t bother her.

Heading out into the open courtyard, Sunset looked up at the grey sky, noticing it was soon to be nighttime, with the sky already darker than it was when she was on the Road of Penance.

The close proximity of the prison to the road made Sunset think. Perhaps the people hung up on the poles were escaped prisoners? That would explain the penance part.

Among the dead bodies around the courtyard, Sunset found a bonfire in the middle and her eyes lit up.

“Yes! Finally.” She trudged over to it and lit it. It was good to finally have a break.

Warming herself up and regaining her strength, Sunset looked past the courtyard and into the other part of the prison complex. The second floor corridor marked the top of the entrance, and past it seemed to be smaller buildings, likely the barracks of prison guards. Maybe more of those lantern hollows.

And then past them, Sunset could see another larger building. Perhaps another wing of the prison. This one, however, was much taller, maybe seven or eight floors instead of the four here. There were no windows on that one and it had ramparts along its side, like a castle.

“I wonder where that leads. I bet it’s where I have to go.”

When she was ready to move on, Sunset pushed up and headed for the entrance, trying to keep her eyes away from the pikes and the bodies on them. There were about six barracks in the new area, but Sunset figured her goal was the other large complex past them. If she didn’t have to, she wasn’t going to go into these smaller structures. There were likely more monsters in them, just waiting to ambush her.

Sunset walked a little bit further when something tall and dark moved at the corner of her eye. A hulking figure in ragged black robes lurched out of the shadows between two of the barracks, holding an empty burlap sack over its shoulder. Its eyes were glowing red and what she could see of its skin was grey and sinewy.

Sunset backed away, keeping her sword between the creature and herself.

“Um… hello?”

Without warning, it’s arm suddenly stretched out, seemingly growing past its normal length, grabbing Sunset around the neck and squeezing hard.

“Ah!” Sunset croaked for a second before all air was stopped from entering her lungs.

In only three seconds, she had passed out, unable to watch as the creature stuffed her head first into the sack it was carrying, heading for the large prison wing.


Sunset Shimmer shot up with a loud gasp, one hand going for her throat as she fought for oxygen. There was a faint ringing in her head and she felt strangely light. As the world swam back into view, she became aware of someone nearby singing.

“Ah left my estus flask back at the bonfire,” A Southern, twangy voice lamented. “Ah’ll never heal myself again…”

“Wh-what?” Sunset said, cocking her head to listen. The voice sounded somewhat familiar.

It made me think of all the many things Ah’ve sacrificed,” the singer continued. “Oh, Granny where do Ah begin?”

Sunset’s eyes began to adjust and she spotted a bonfire right in the middle of her cell. The floor was quite cold to the touch, so Sunset was glad to see it. Scooting over, she reached a hand out to the bonfire, but then she noticed she didn’t have her gauntlet on anymore.

Looking down, Sunset’s eyes shrank as she realized all her gear was gone. She was standing by the bonfire in just her black underwear, which fortunately, survived all of her journey. Even her sword and satchel were absent. Someone had taken her estus flasks too.

When Ah broke my pots,” the singer continued, taking Sunset’s attention away from her lack of clothes. “Ah never knew, just how much Ah’d need them now…

The voice seemed to be coming from the cell next to hers and it sounded extremely familiar. Leaving the comfort of her bonfire, Sunset crept over to the bars, getting as close as she could to the neighbouring cell.

“Hello?” Sunset called. It was getting cold from her lack of clothing. The singing stopped. “Is someone there?”

“Well, Ah’ll be,” the singer said in apparent surprise. “Someone new. Ah didn’t see them bring ya in. Then again, Ah don’t see a lot of stuff in here.”

She sounded so familiar, but Sunset just couldn’t- Wait. She only had two friends that spoke with that accent, and only one of them was female.

“A-Applejack? Is that you, Applejack?”

There was a short silence on the other end vefore she spoke again. “Huh? Who’re you? How’d you know mah name? Have we met, stranger?”

“Well uh, I know you, Applejack. From my world, you’re one of my best friends.” Sunset tried explaining quickly. She went on about how she woke up here and her journey so far, trying to get the Flames of Death.

“So you’re Sunset Shimmer. Well, nice to meet ya.” A tan arm stretched out from the other cell’s bars and waved at Sunset. “Unfortunately, there ain’t no way out. Ah’ve been in here for a week now.”

“No.” Sunset grabbed the bars to her cell. “There must be a way out. I didn’t come all this way just to get stuck here.”

Sunset tried to open them, but they were locked shut.

There must be a way out. There has to be…

She investigated her cell further, walking back to the bonfire to bask in its glow as she scanned her surroundings. There wasn’t even a bed or toilet bowl in here. It was just a square cell with some hay on the floor and some chains on the walls, likely to hang prisoners from if they misbehaved.

“Applejack, is there anything in your cell?” Sunset returned to the bars and looked outside. The pathway was sloped, leading downwards and there was a massive drop off beyond the path, leading down to Celestia knows where.

The other girl, who had begun humming, stopped to answer. “Nope. Just a plain ol’ cell.”

“Hmm…” Sunset leaned back against the wall, which was cold against her skin. She looked up. There was a skylight, but it was far too high up to reach. The heavens were a dark, murky colour now, which matched Sunset’s current mood.

Hoo,” came a voice. Something loomed over the skylight, blocking out the light.

“Who?” repeated Sunset. She squinted up. Unbelievably, it was the owl from the Keep of Glass, not quite in its gigantic size, but not as small as a regular owl either.

Hoo,” the owl hooted before dropping something from its foot into the cell. It hit the floor with a metallic clang and bounced to Sunset’s feet.

It was a key.

“Well, that certainly changes my impression on you, owl.” Sunset picked it up and examined it. “Thank you.”

Rushing back to the cell door, Sunset jammed the key into the lock and turned it. It was a little hard to disengage the lock at first, but it got easier near the end. With one final clunk, Sunset grabbed the bars and hauled the cell door open, free at last.

“Applejack, I’ve got a way out!” She headed to the next cell. Her friend was seated against the wall, equally as undressed, and her blonde hair was a mess. Shorter than the real Applejack’s hair and untied, and her signature hat was missing.

“Well… burn my biscuit. Where’d ya find that?” She got up and watched Sunset deal with her door.

“Would you believe an owl gave it to me?” Sunset swung the cell door open and grinned.

“Ah see no reason for ya to lie.” Applejack ran a hand through her hair. “And we’re free! Finally free! Hoooweee, Ah never thought I’d be out. Thank ya kindly, Sunset.”

“Anything for a friend.” Sunset gave her a quick hug. It was nice not being alone. “Come. Let’s find the way out. Are there guards?”

“Ah’ve only ever seen like, three of them. Ugly fellas. They’re kinda like jellyfish, but they walk.”

“Jellyfish?”

“Yeah. Their heads are even see through an’ all. But then there’s the one big baddie. Calls himself Folstad, Keeper of the Keys. He’s our ticket outta here, Sunset. Ugly son of a gun, that one.”

“So he named the prison after himself, huh?” Sunset looked over the edge at the drop.

Down below, water shimmered back up at her, but it was still shallow enough for her to see the bottom, even though it was quite dark. The sloping stairway led down, attached against the wall with no railing until a point closer to the bottom, where it left the wall and stretched across to the opposite end.

“Careful now. One misstep and…” Applejack dipped a finger down and made a whistling sound.

Sunset nodded. “And we can’t go walking around like this. We need to find some clothes and armor. Weapons too.”

The two girls decided to proceed down, heading for that one bridge that would get them to the other side of the drop. As they walked, Sunset began to feel colder, wrapping her arms around her shoulders to try and fight it off.

“Gee, we r-really n-need some c-clothes…” Applejack’s teeth chattered. “It ain’t th-this c-c-cold back in my c-cell.”

“Yeah…” Sunset exhaled a cloud of breath. Her flame lit a little bit of the steps down, but now, she wished it would keep her warm too.

Just past the next cell, a hollow jumped at the bars, startling Sunset and making her take a step back. Unfortunately, that step sent her back off the edge and would’ve sent her plunging down if she hadn’t grabbed on to the ledge.

“H-Help!” she cried out, her feet swinging back and forth over nothing.

“Ah gotcha!” Applejack was quick to her side, grabbing her hand with both of hers.

She took a deep breath and pulled, hoisting Sunset high enough for her to grab on with her second hand. It had been a heart-stopping moment, but once Sunset got to the top, she felt her heart beating again, her face caked in sweat.

“That was too close… thanks for the help,” she panted. If anything, at least that sudden scare had helped to raise her body temperature, at least for now.

“Ah wasn’t just gonna let ya die, so don’t worry ‘bout it, Sunset.” Applejack clapped her on the shoulder, careful not to hit her too hard. “Come on. We better scoot before one of them jellies show up.”

“How often do they show up?” Sunset kept an eye on the cells, ready for another random hollow to jump at the bars. “The jellyfish, I mean.”

Applejack shrugged. “Been a while since Ah kept track of time, though, they come every meal time to feed us, then now and then to patrol the block.”

“Reckon we can take them?”

“Sure, but with weapons.”

“Oh,” Sunset said. “Then we better find some, fast.”

She pointed down to a lower part of the stairway. A blue creature, gelatinous in nature, seemed to be walking up to them on two beast-like legs. A shroud of tentacles covered its body and its round head, just like a jellyfish, was see through as Applejack had said. Sunset could see its brain and other organs in there.

“Scrap! Here’s one now! We’ve gotta skedaddle!” Applejack pulled at a nearby empty cell’s door. It swung open easily. “Get in! Quickly!”

“It would’ve seen us, what’s the point? We should fight.” Sunset followed the blonde girl into the empty cell.

Applejack shut the door almost all the way and gazed out. “They ain’t got eyes. As long as they’re far enough, they won’t be able to sense us.”

“They won’t sense us here and lock the door, will it?”

Applejack shook her head. “They ain’t got the keys. Folstad keeps them all.”

“Then that gives me an idea…”

As the jellyfish got closer, Sunset opened the door and waited by it. As it reached them, two of its tentacles raised up, likely sensing them. Then it turned towards them and made a gurgling sound before one tentacle reached out to grab her.

Sunset rolled to the side, while Applejack stood on the other. The jellyfish looked at her and began walking to her, four tentacles reaching out.

Perfect. It’s taken the bait.

As it got closer to the back, Applejack let out a shrill whistle as she made for the cell door. The jellyfish paused to look at her, giving Sunset the chance to squeeze past its tentacles and get out the door, slamming it shut and locking it.

“Ha! That’ll hold it! How’d you like that, jelly?” Applejack smirked at the creature inside. “How’s it feel switchin’ places?”

“Come on. We need to move. It’s made of jelly. The bars won’t hold it long.” Sunset grabbed her friend’s arm and dragged her along.

They finally arrived at the bridge as the jellyfish squeezed itself out of the cell, running across it now, careful not to fall.

On the other side was a metal door, with grills near the middle, likely for the guards to squeeze through. Sunset threw it open and shut it when Applejack was through.

“What do we have here?”

Inside the room were stack of barrels and a few old wooden chests. Another door at the other end, just like the first, stood against the wall, leading out to a hallway.

“There’s our way out!” Sunset pointed.

“Hold your horses.” Applejack threw open one of the chests. “Sweet. We got some gear here. This’ll even out our odds.”

Sunset didn’t say no to clothes and weapons. Throwing open another chest, she found a set of steel armor with cloth segments. The chest piece was like a tank top with a steel plate on her chest and back. The gauntlets were like her old ones, but with cloth that went up to her upper arm. As for her pants, they were like her old chain leggings, but with steel plates on the sides. The greaves were basically just like any other greave she’d seen before.

There was also a single-edged sword with a black and white pattern and a blue gem in its hilt in the chest, but when she gave it a few swings, she found it was surprisingly light, but unfortunately, it didn’t have any hidden features like her steam sword had, but it would have to do.

“I guess I’ll call this one…” Sunset looked at the gem in its hilt. It seemed to twinkle at her and it gave her an idea. “The star sword.”

“You name your weapons?” Applejack put on a set of armor that made her look like a knight.

“It helps.” Sunset fished out the top first.

“Well, Ah suppose I ain’t too different. Ah’ve an axe. Well, had an axe. It was taken from me when I got locked in here. Ah named her Dragonslayer.”

“That’s… a… nice name. Heh…” Sunset winced.

She had only just fastened her greaves in when the sight of blue tentacles came through the grill in the door.

“Here they come.” Sunset picked up her new star sword and waited. Applejack had found a mace and a shield in the chest, which she now had at the ready.

The jellyfish first squeezed its tentacles through, then its body and then its head. Sunset didn’t wait for it to finish. Running to it, she cut out at one of the tentacles, shearing it right off, while slashing at its body repeatedly.

The creature gurgled, then spread its tentacles out to attack. Sunset kept an eye on each one, cutting them off as they reached her, only for them to regrow almost instantly.

“This isn’t working!” Sunset’s left arm and leg were grabbed and she was hauled off her feet.

“The brain. You gotta get the brain!” Applejack blocked a tentacle and beat another down with her mace.

Swiping the tentacles off her arm and leg, Sunset rolled away from another few and charged the creature’s body. The tentacles tried to get her again, but Applejack cut them off with her shield, before smashing another two into mush.

With her way clear, Sunset jabbed her sword through its visible brain, watching as the blade pierced right through it, releasing yellow blood into its body.

The jellyfish convulsed on the spot before melting down into a blue puddle, its brains and organs lying uselessly on the floor now.

“Not bad. One down. Eat that!” Applejack kicked the brain into a corner. “Serves ‘em right for holdin’ me here for so long.”

“Yeah. Come on, let’s see where this door goes. The faster we’re out of this prison the better.”

Sunset pushed open the metal door and scanned her new surroundings. It was a simple hallway with a strange ominous orange glow coming from the walls. She could hear the sound of metal clashing against metal, almost rhythmically.

“Ah wonder where this leads.” Applejack kept her shield forward, just in case.

Walking on, they eventually left the hallway to see a squarish room with all kinds of pots and pans hanging from everywhere. Tables were full of meat and cleavers and one even had a hollow, sawn open from the neck down, its intestines spilling out to one side.

“I think…” Sunset covered her mouth and ducked. “I’m gonna…!”

She quickly ran to the corner and let it all out.

Applejack took the chance to investigate the room further, finding a short staircase that led closer to the clashing sounds.

“Ah think this is a kitchen…” she breathed, tapping one of the pans hanging from the ceiling. “A really demented kitchen.”

“Y-Yeah, sure is…” Sunset wiped the corner of her mouth.

Just then two tentacles emerged from a drain on the floor, wrapping around her legs and pulling her down. Sunset slipped on her puke and fell on her face, dragged back as the jellyfish emerged from the drain.

“Sunset!” Applejack ran over, bashing the jellyfish on the head with her mace.

The creature lashed out and grabbed her around the neck, but she easily smashed it off with a mace strike and attacked again.

Gaining her bearings, Sunset cut off the tentacles that held her and pointed for the brain and thumbed- then she remembered this new sword didn’t have a steam attachment and grumbled. Running for it, Sunset slashed through a tentacle, then speared the jellyfish through the brain.

Like the first one, it melted down and disappeared down the drain, leaving only its organs.

“These guys aren’t so tough. Right?” Sunset wiped a hand down her face, then wiped it on her shirt in disgust.

“Let me tell ya, if Ah had Dragonslayer, these jellies would be a joke.”

“How did you get captured, Applejack?”

“Wasn’t one of them jellies. It was a big fella. He had a sack.”

“Oh.” Sunset remembered her captor. “Yeah, he got me too.”

“Whoever he is, if Ah find him again…” Applejack slammed her mace against her shield.

Sunset nodded, remembering the fingers around her throat. She was about to complain about him when she realized something. The metal sound had stopped. The kitchen had become deathly quiet.

“Trouble.” Applejack spun the mace in her hand.

From a doorway, where the orange light was coming from, two shadows grew larger, wide and grotesque in nature.

“Get ready,” Applejack said, hefting her mace. “Here they come.” Sunset thought the shadows had been creepy, but when they actually came through the doorway, she almost wanted to barf again.

Standing there were two very fat and lumpy chefs, sporting chef hats and aprons, stained with blood. They both held cleavers in their hands and when they saw Sunset and Applejack, they pointed their chubby fingers at them and screeched, before charging at them, their flabby legs taking them forward very unsteadily.

“This prison is ridiculous!” Sunset rolled aside as the first one tried to grab her. Applejack blocked the strike of the second chef, then clubbed him across the face with her mace. The chef crashed against one of the tables, sending meat sailing all across the room and breaking some pots of murky liquid, which spread across the floor and made it slippery.

Gross. Sunset tried not to think too hard about where the meat came from before vaulting over a chair and kicking one of the butchers in the face. It let out a guttural roar and swiped at her with its cleaver. However, it missed and embedded itself in the wall in a shower of golden sparks.

Sunset was about to attempt a cut at the butcher’s face when the sparks fell onto the floor, where little plumes of flame popped up.

One chef screeched and tried to stop out the fire, but Sunset used this chance to slash at him with her star sword, her weapon cutting right through his apron and flesh, spilling more blood down his front. The chef grabbed for his stomach and fell back, landing in the growing fire, which quickly engulfed his body.

Sunset left him as he began to thrash around, going over to help Applejack. Her friend had clubbed the second chef on the face, and Sunset ended it by throwing her sword into the chef’s back before teleporting in a flash of blue sparks to her weapon.

“Woah.” She looked at her hands as the chef fell to his knees, dead. “How did I just do that.”

“Yeah, that was some fancy magic, alright.” Applejack reached up, like she was trying to adjust a hat, but she didn’t have one. “Dagnabbit, that Rarity and her thievin’ ways! Come on, we better get outta here before the fire spreads too far.”

Sunset pointed over to the entryway where the chefs had come from and they ran for it. “Rarity? She said something about you locking her in a metal tomb.”

“What, you know that varmint?” Applejack frowned as they entered the next room, not stopping until they arrived at a wooden door with a bar across it. “Ah didn’t lock her in any tomb. She stole my hat! My most treasured of possessions besides Dragonslayer!”

“She said you did.” Sunset kept her sword and pulled the wooden bar up. “She didn’t say anything about taking your stuff.”

“Well, gee, Ah wonder why she didn’t.” Applejack kicked the door open and they both ran out. “Ya believed her?”

“Look, just like how you’re my friend in my world, so is she. I don’t know why you two are fighting in this world.”

“Cause she’s a thief! She may be a fancy wizard and all, but she’ll stab ya in the back for somethin’ shiny.”

After leaving the inferno behind, the girls found themselves in a darker room, with grates on the floor and more chains from the ceiling. There was a hole in the far right of the ceiling, along with a ladder propped up, leading right out.

“Look, a way out. We’ll discuss more on this topic later, AJ.”

Sunset was about to take another step forward when something moved from the floor ahead. Through the grills, another of the jellyfish creatures squeezed out, wiggling its tentacles menacingly in front of it. A brown familiar satchel hung from its head.

“My bag!” Sunset wanted it back. It had her items and estus flasks in it.

“We got this. Revenge time, jellies!” Applejack yelled and charged for it, using her mace and shield to smash apart the incoming tentacles.

Sunset figured her sword’s magic must have something to do with that blue gem in it, so throwing it up high, she looked at it and willed herself to fly to her sword. To her astonishment, she was suddenly by her sword in a flash of sparks, grabbing ahold of it, all within a second.

“Amazing…” she took the chance to drive her sword right down into the jellyfish’s brain from above.

The creature stopped flailing and melted down through the grates, vanishing from sight and leaving its organs and Sunset’s satchel.

“I’d never thought I’d see this again.” She picked it up and held out an estus flask, glad to have them back. Her dried finger and soapstone also sat inside, untouched.

“Good for ya. Wish Ah’d find my hat on one of these…” Applejack blew up at her fringe. “Well, that’s all them jellies taken care of. Glad to be done with ‘em.”

“Yeah.” Sunset looked at the ladder and smiled. “Come on, let’s move.”

Tossing her sword up through the hole, Sunset soon teleported to it in a shower of blue sparks, already at the top.

“Show off.” Applejack climbed up the ladder after her.

Their new surroundings was the top of the building, just an empty flat area, but with a bonfire in the middle, which Sunset was glad to see. A stone bridge led from the building to another building further away, out of the prison walls. This one looked more like a cathedral than anything else. Perhaps that was where she would find her second flame.

Unfortunately, about halfway through the bridge, there was a building. A simple small square, and the entrance to it was covered by fog. That only meant one thing.

“Looks like we’ve got a fight ahead.” Applejack grumbled and ran a hand through her hair. “But… we’ll need to get the keys to get out of here, so Folstad will have to go anyway.”

“Do you know who or what this Folstad is?” Sunset asked, looking uncomfortably at the fog door.

“Ah’m not entirely sure, besides him bein’ the Keeper of Keys and all...” Applejack replied. “He must be tough if he runs this entire prison though. Where’re you headed anyway, Sunset? Ah’m gonna track down that Rarity and make her give me my hat back.”

Sunset pointed to the cathedral ahead. “There. The cathedral. I’m looking for the second Flame of Death. And come on, AJ, I’m sure you and Rarity can work something out.”

“Yeah, once Ah get my hat back from her.”

“Non-violently.”

“Oh. Well, that one’s gonna be up to her. We’ll see how she reacts.” Applejack folded her arms.

“Oh, you girls…” Sunset shook her head. “Come on. Let’s just forget about it. We’ve still got that Folstad to worry about.”

“True that, Sunset. Come on. Ah’m ready to get outta here. I’ve been here too long as it is…”

Leaving the safe confines of the bonfire’s warmth, Sunset led the way across the narrow bridge and stopped before the fog door.

“Well, here goes nothing,” she muttered, pushing her way through the fog as before.

Inside, the building was just an empty room, with a skylight above to let the moonlight shine in. Near the other end, before a set of double doors, was a desk. A large wooden desk cluttered with papers and metal objects. Behind it, however, sat a very large shape, dressed in a dirty brown coat, already taller than Sunset while seated. It was a bald humanoid creature, with a glowing red metal eyepiece instead of a left eye. His big meaty hands unfolded from in front of his mouth and he snarled a most grotesque snarl.

There were what looked like daggers and knives sticking out from his arms, one even going all the way through and out the other side, and on one of these daggers, hung a ring of keys.

“Eeyup, that’s him.” Applejack nodded, raising her weapon.

With a growl, Folstad stood, picking up a gigantic cleaver by the side of his desk, swinging it up onto one shoulder and began walking around the desk.

“Yaaaahh!” Applejack roared and charged at Folstad. Folstad lifted his cleaver to crush Applejack against the floor, but the blow slid off Applejack’s shield and her mace connected with Folstad’s face with a crunch.

Folstad backed away, holding his face with one hand. He swung blindly, grunting as his cleaver swished left and right, but not hitting anything. Sunset circled around, looking for an opening to attack. Applejack bashed Folstad on the arm, making him drop his cleaver, but the Keeper of Keys simply drew a long knife from his body and snarled menacingly.

Applejack swiped at Folstad and he backed away, a little too quickly. The creature stumbled against his desk and fell over backward in a shower of wood chips and paper.

Folstad dropped the knife and instead grabbed Applejack’s arm as she tried to bash him with her mace again. Sunset threw her star sword up above the jailer and teleported there, bringing the blade down with a mighty chop that severed the arm of Folstad, sending dark blood spraying out of the wound. Folstad clutched at the stump of his arm and rolled onto the floor. Then Sunset and Applejack ended it by smashing both their weapons onto his face.

Folstad’s body twitched a few times, but then went still.

“Huh,” Sunset said, pulling her sword out of Folstad’s neck. “That wasn’t so hard.”

“Eeyup,” Applejack agreed, swiping the keys from Folstad’s corpse. “Ah reckon we can both make good use of these.”

“It’s first use is easy enough.” Sunset took the keys from her friend and went to unlock the giant doors.

The locking mechanism sounded like an entire building was about to shatter as Sunset turned the key, but she was glad to know it only sounded like it.

Handing the keys over to her friend, the fiery haired girl placed both hands on the doors and pushed. She eventually got it open, now staring at the other end of the stone bridge that led to the cathedral.

“Come on, AJ. We’re finally off.” Sunset walked out, but turned around when she noticed Applejack wasn’t following. “Applejack?”

The blonde girl was standing by the doors, looking back inside. “Ah think Ah’ll be stayin’ here a little while longer. Dragonslayer’s here somewhere, and Ah intend on findin’ it before I proceed on to find Rarity.”

“Are you sure it’s even still here?”

“That snatcher fella. He kidnapped us. Put us here,” Applejack reminded. “Either he’s put our weapons here somewhere, or he has them himself. Either way, Ah’ll find out where my Dragonslayer has gone and Ah’ll be gettin’ it back.”

“Then I’ll come with you.” Sunset took a step forward, but Applejack raised a hand to stop her.

“You’ve got a more important quest ahead, Sunset Shimmer. You’ve got to find a way out of this, uh, nightmare as you call it. Go on. Don’t worry ‘bout me. Ah’ll manage. We’ll meet again one day, Ah know it.”

Sunset sighed, but then acknowledged her. This was a dream world and whatever it looked like, her friends were all part of the dream as well. Her real friends were back home, maybe even waiting for her to come back. She had to get out and get back to them.

“You stay alive, Applejack.” Sunset smiled as best as she could. “And if you find Rarity, please, I’m sure we can figure something out peacefully.”

Applejack scoffed. “Maybe. If not, it’ll be my axe to her face. When Ah find my axe, that is.”

“Then I’ll be seeing you, AJ.” Sunset reluctantly began walking away from her friend. She didn’t want to have to do this alone, but for now, alone would have to do.

Author's Note:

Achievement Unlocked:
Folstad, Keeper of the Keys - You defeated Folstad, Keeper of the Keys

Once again, I apologize for the long waits between chapters. Work is just really busy.

Here's an image of Folstad to go along:

Just a rough sketch, but it paints him out nice enough. Cheers!