Flame of Disparity

by Cinders of War

Chapter 6: Derelict Catacombs

After leaving the huge archway from the Underscale Ruins, Sunset Shimmer soon found herself descending yet another long flight of steps, crudely carved out from the rock surface, spiraling down into the dark unknown. She had managed to relight her torch back at the bonfire, but even its flame couldn’t penetrate the darkness below.

“Just when I thought I saw the sunlight…” she sighed. Instead, her path kept leading deeper and deeper into the earth. If she saw lava down there...

One of her feet almost slipped, bringing her full concentration back to descending the winding staircase. It seemed to go down forever, and when Sunset was about to give up and take a break, her torch finally cast light on something down below.

Tiled flooring.

“Woah, is that for real?” Sunset leapt down two steps at a time, hopping down onto the ground below with a loud ping.

It was. The floor below her feet were tiled. Meaning she was about to enter a more civilized place, or at least she hoped it was more civilized. In this nightmare, nothing was certain.

A large archway bore into the rock wall, leading down a dark path with small sconces, slightly lighting the tiled path.

“Hey, not bad…” Fire meant that the place wasn’t quite abandoned. Then she remembered the first city, not giving her much confidence in safety. “Right… The people here could be dangerous too…”

Going down yet another long hall, Sunset had time to examine her new blade more carefully. If she didn’t know better, she’d say that the sword was actually made out of a dragon, or maybe even that wyvern she had fought back in the Underscale Ruins. The entire blade was rough, except for the edge of the blade, which seemed to be some sort of sharpened scale. For a crude blade like this, it was pretty sharp.

Sunset soon emerged into a new underground cavern, her path ending at an old wooden bridge, leading to the other side of a huge chasm. A huge stone entrance was on the other side of the bridge, like it was built for giants to walk through, though Sunset didn’t see how giants could walk across the old rickety bridge. One step would likely cause the entire bridge to fall, taking the giant along with it.

Taking her first step on the bridge, Sunset sheathed her blade to have one hand on the rope keeping the bridge up, while her other held her torch.

The planks below her feet wobbled at each step, but Sunset told herself to focus and press on. On the upside, even if she fell, she would just wake up at the previous bonfire.

Not helping, Sunset. Think positive. Just think positive... Even though she held on to the rope, her body swayed back and forth on each plank. Whoever built this bridge sure didn’t understand basic architecture…

The fiery haired girl started regretting her choice fourteen planks in, but she had no choice unless she wanted to go back and spend the rest of her days with Twilight, staring at fires.

Pressing on with nothing but her strength and determination, Sunset finally reached the other end, breathing heavily and bending over.

I did it… Ridiculous bridge…

Regaining her posture, Sunset ventured in through the archway. The first things she saw were tombstones lining the sides, along with skulls in small alcoves above each one.

Sunset realized where she was. It was no civilized town or anything. She was in a graveyard, or at least some kind of catacombs. And a graveyard only meant-

The first skeleton shambled into view, carrying a curved sword in its right hand, its bony feet clacking on the tiled floor.

“Gross!” Sunset stuck out her tongue. She didn’t particularly like skeletons.

It attacked first, slicing sideways and then spinning around for a second slash. Sunset parried the first strike and then backstepped the second before lunging forward with a powerful vertical strike. The skeleton broke to pieces across the floor, it’s head rolling off the cliffside.

“Well… That was easy,” Sunset smiled and moved on, venturing deeper into the catacombs.

Her next obstacle was a set of open coffins, with two skeletons emerging from them. One had a straight sword, while the other had a curved one. The straight sword one ran straight for her, while the curved sword one poised itself for an attack.

“Please, just leave me alone!” Sunset pleaded as she knocked the first skeleton back with a push of her weapon. “You’re already dead. Couldn’t you just stay dead?”

Without warning, the skeleton with the curved sword jumped forward, spinning itself, blade first, like a drill, aiming right for Sunset’s heart. The girl instinctively threw herself down to the ground, waiting as she felt the skeleton pass over her. Just as she was standing, the first skeleton began fixing itself up from the ground.

Sunset wasn’t going to have any of that. She cut down as hard as she could, scattering the bones all across the room before locating and crushing the skull with a greave, stomping down as hard as she could.

The schoolgirl turned and faced the last skeleton, who seemed to be getting ready to spiral at her again. She dove for its feet as it jumped, spinning up at the last moment with an upward slash, scattering the skeleton’s bones all across the hall. Sunset quickly got up and made sure to crush the skull before it could rebuild itself.

“Why’d it have to be things that can reform themselves?” Sunset asked aloud as she scratched at her hair. She was also starting to smell, seeing as she hadn’t had a shower since her first day here. She didn’t notice Rainbow or Twilight’s smell before, so maybe there was a way to get clean.

The corridor turned down to two different directions, one forward and one to the right. Sunset looked between both, but eventually decided the only way to find out was to try one. She picked the right side and walked on, following a short staircase that led up into a large two-storey room, with four pillars holding the roof up. A simple stone staircase led up to the second floor, which unfortunately, had a skeleton with a bow keeping watch on the area below.

Seriously…?

Sunset kept low, keeping her torch behind her back. Then again, how did skeletons see without eyeballs? Sunset had no idea.

She had only just crossed over to one pillar when she came face to face with a skeleton holding a huge sword.

“Ah!” she yelled instinctively before ducking under the swinging sword.

Three more skeletons ran out from around a corner while the bowman skeleton reached for an arrow behind its back.

This can’t get any worse can it?

Just then, a skeleton at least twice Sunset’s height pushed out from a sarcophagus, its huge gruesome head looking straight at her.

“Shouldn’t have asked…”

Running as quickly as she could, Sunset took to the staircase leading up to the second floor, using the pillars as cover from arrows, while at the same time, dodging all the blades from the other skeletons. She had only just got to the second floor when the giant skeleton attacked, reaching up from below and grabbing one of her feet.

“No! Let go!” Sunset squirmed in its grip, but even for a thing without muscles, the skeleton was pretty strong.

Sunset cut at its fingers with her swords, severing the fingertips and freeing her leg, just as an arrow flew right into her left shoulder.

“Ah!” she cried out and dropped her torch down to the first floor.

By now the other three skeletons had arrived on the second floor, brandishing their blades in front of them. Sunset slashed out with her sword once, knocking one of them to bits before she ran on, heading towards the archer. Another arrow flew towards her, but this time, she leapt out of the way while still racing towards the archer.

Jumping around the next arrow, Sunset barreled into the skeleton archer, knocking it to bits, at the same time, kicking its head off the second floor. Without anymore ranged resistance, Sunset carried on, the rest of the skeletons giving chase behind her.

The girl quickly turned her head around, looking for an entrance or at least something she could get on to get away from her bony pursuers. She soon found an exit, leading out at the back of the room, leading up a small stone tunnel before opening out into another huge chasm with a single wooden bridge leading to the opposite side.

Not thinking twice, Sunset rushed down the unstable bridge, not wanting to have to stop to deal with the skeletons. She could hear their bones clacking away on the planks behind her, but thankfully, they sounded extremely slow. Perhaps even the undead were still cautious.

Reaching the other side, Sunset wasted no time in hacking the ropes holding the bridge up. The skeletons didn’t seem to register her plan, even after the bridge snapped, falling down the chasm, allowing with the group of skeletons.

“Oh man…” Sunset panted, but smiled. She had to admit that that was a pretty exciting moment, watching them all go down when she cut the bridge. “See you guys around.”

The fiery haired girl proceeded on, this time without a source of light. She finally got to yanking the arrow out of her arm, yelling at the top of her voice when its tip scrapped her damaged skin again. Sunset tossed it aside and grabbed her shoulder, at the same time, downing an estus flask to remove the wound. When everything was settled, the girl carried on.

Unfortunately, the next area did not contain a bonfire. Instead, a large skeletal dragon lay slumbering at the bottom of a large flight of steps, along with a bunch of patrolling skeletons wandering about the sides of the platform below.

“What's with all this?” Sunset resisted the urge to sit down and give up. The surprises kept getting better and better.

Moving down, Sunset kept her footsteps as quiet as she could, not wanting to wake that monstrosity below. A human skeleton was good enough, but a dragon one? She really hoped it was just a pile of dead bones.

Her wish wasn’t answered.

Behind her, a ball of what looked like skulls descended upon her, rolling down the steps behind her.

“Aagh!” Sunset yelled and tossed herself to the side. It barely missed her, but there wasn’t enough space to hold on as she dodged forward. Her body weight carried her over the edge of the staircase, sending her tumbling into the darkness.

Sunset braced for a hard impact, but before she knew it, she had landed on a wooden extension sticking out of the stairs.

“Oh, man…” she breathed and pushed locks of sticky hair from her face. “Too close for comfort… Oh, wow…”

She looked at the bottom of the steps where the ball had gone. It had barreled right into the dragon, shattering on impact, but waking the skeletal drake from its sleep.

“Perfect. Things just couldn’t be easy for once.”

The dragon stood on its four legs and somehow managed to breath what looked like a cloud of poison into the air, even without internal organs. The few skeletons around it had been blown to bits when the dragon uncoiled itself, but they were already in the process of putting themselves back together.

“I’m going to regret this…”

Sunset jumped out from her hiding spot and sprinted down the steps, trying not to lose her footing. A fall from here would likely break her neck.

The skeletal dragon turned its head to her and opened its huge maw, letting out a loud roar as the rest of the skeletons stood to face the incoming girl.

Sunset took a deep breath and dodged the first skeleton’s sword, spinning against its arm before severing its skull from its spine. Using its body, she pushed forward really hard and fast, smashing it against the next skeleton, sending them tumbling down in bits.

The dragon had taken two steps forward as Sunset sliced the third skeleton in half, slowly raising a hand to swipe at her. Sunset put all her strength into her legs and ran to the dragon’s legs. She figured the safest place would be under it where its arms and legs wouldn’t be able to reach her.

The dragon’s slammed its claw back down to the paneled floor, taking a chunk of them out and shaking the entire platform. Luckily for her, Sunset had rolled forward, landing to a stop right under the dragon’s frame. Grabbing her sword in both hands, Sunset slashed up continuously, breaking apart the dragon’s ribcage, sending bone fragments falling down over her.

The dragon roared and collapsed down over Sunset, raining heavy bones on her.

“Yeowch…” Sunset groaned as she shifted a large piece off her chest. At least she got it.

The rest of the skeletons still stood beyond the dragon’s bones, wary of stepping forward. Sunset used this time to push away from the pile and sprint away to the nearby entrance. It seemed to her these catacombs led from pit to pit, each one almost the same as the previous. Maybe they were to separate the different social classes of these dead people.

The girl gulped down another estus flask to remove the aches and pains she had received from the heavy dragon bones, allowing her to move on at a good pace once again.

Without her torch, Sunset wasn’t able to see very far now, as her next room led out of the large spacious cavern into a more dark and dilapidated hallway, filled with coffins and cobwebs.

A part of the floor had slightly fallen away, revealing a dark pit down below. Stepping back a few seconds, she started in a run, jumping at the last second, leaping clear over the pit. Unfortunately, the floor under her feet began to collapse, forcing the fiery haired girl to run along, moving from tile to tile as they began falling into the abyss behind her.

“No no no no no no no!” she mumbled as she fought against the collapsing floor.

One skeleton got up as she passed it, but it fell into the dark hole before it could even pull its sword out. Seeing an opening to her left, Sunset tossed her whole body down the tunnel, sliding a few inches, scraping her elbows, but finally escaping the collapsing ground.

“Seriously…” Sunset groaned and turned her back to the floor. “I need a break…”

“Who’s there?” a voice called from her right.

Turning her head, Sunset noticed a pink haired girl in some dark leather armor, sitting atop a pile of rusty armor, checking an arrow. She was another familiar face Sunset knew.

“Wait, Fluttershy?” Sunset asked bewilderedly. “Is that you?”

“You know my name?” she asked in a quiet soothing voice.

Sunset forgot her friends didn’t know her in this world. “I’m Sunset Shimmer. It’s going to sound strange, but you’re my friend, just not in this nightmare of a world.”

“F-friend?” she stuttered and looked at the nearby wall. “I don’t have any friends…”

“Oh, uh… Well…” Sunset rubbed her bruised shoulder. “We can change that. I did meet some old friends earlier, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. They didn’t remember me, but I think we’ve rekindled those friendships. How about you? Would you like to be friends?”

“You really want to be friends with me?” she asked, a light shine in her eyes. “No one’s ever bothered to talk to me. That’s why I’m here. The Derelict Catacombs is a quiet place. I come here to just… enjoy the silence.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “How’d you get past all the skeletons and breaking floors?”

Fluttershy looked back to the entrance. “You mean that? Yeah, it did collapse, but I made it through.”

“Hmm… That’s odd. It only just collapsed when I came here.”

“I don’t think too much about it…” the pink haired girl whispered. “This world doesn’t exactly make sense sometimes.”

Sunset thought about it, then extended a hand to the other girl. “Would you like to come with me? I was told of a way home. You see, I have this flame within me, and if I collect these other ones, I can open a way out of this nightmare.”

“Oh, yes, I saw that flame,” Fluttershy nodded. “Hmm… I would like to leave, but I don’t know… I don’t really like to go about. Hmm…” She suddenly began digging around her pouches before pulling out a white chunk of stone and extending it to Sunset. “Why don’t you take this? It’s a white sign soapstone. I have one too, so if you need my help, search for my sign, and I’ll come help you.”

“Oh, cool. Thanks Fluttershy,” Sunset smiled and pocketed the soapstone.

“Don’t mention it,” she blushed. “Besides… I’ve never had a friend before. It feels good to help a friend…”

“Thanks, Flutters.” Sunset walked closer and gave her a hug. The pink haired girl squeaked and was stiff at first, but soon relaxed a little.

“I should be the one thanking you,” Fluttershy patted at her after Sunset released her. “I have a friend now, and… Well… You’re nice.”

“I’ll see you soon, I guess.” Sunset walked for another entrance and waved. “Stay safe, Fluttershy.”

“I’ll be right here,” she waved back.

Sunset walked to a new room, looking at an exact replica of the previous one, with the exception of Fluttershy and the pile of armor. More coffins lay in niches in the wall, but thankfully, no skeletons climbed out of them.

The next path split into two, with a staircase leading down to a lower floor and a doorway leading straight across a stone bridge. Sunset decided to take the former, making her way down to the lower floor. Tombstones sat on both sides of the path ahead, along with a strange fat skeleton holding a wooden staff.

It turned its bony head towards her slowly, before lifting the staff up to the air. With a sickening shriek, the skeleton began waving it around wildly. Suddenly, to Sunset’s left, she noticed a horde of skeletons emerging from a dark hallway, shambling towards her with their weapons drawn.

“Time to go!” she yelled and raced for the fat skeleton.

She cut at it once with her blade, scattering it across the floor, but the damage had already been done. Behind her, the army of skeletons continued after her, swinging some of their weapons above their heads like barbarians.

Sunset kept moving, searching for anyway out of this straight hall. There were two staircases, one on each side. The fiery haired girl picked the left one, dodging through it and running up two steps at a time. One of the skeletons had closed in on her, but Sunset spun around and slashed it away before sprinting up, arriving in a larger hall with pillars supporting the ceiling up. Two skeletal archers stood on the other side of the hall, arrows already in their bows, ready to fire on Sunset.

Somehow, the girl found herself rolling to the right, just as an arrow passed her, missing her completely. She got up on one foot and jumped left, dodging the second arrow. Now as they were loading a second arrow into their bows, Sunset took the time to close the distance, her sword already at the ready in both hands. If skeletons could look surprised, the first one did as Sunset dashed through it, slicing it in two before cutting the head off the second skeleton. She crushed its skull before moving on, trying to lose the horde of skeleton warriors through a maze of hallways ahead.

Sunset didn’t even know if she’d been down a path before, seeing as they all looked the same, but she had to get away from the skeletons before they caught up. She could always deal with her position at her own time after they were gone.

One managed to cut her across the back, but thankfully, she was far enough that it only cut her jacket.

Ugh. I’m gonna need new clothes when I get home…

Deciding she had enough, Sunset stopped and turned around, just in time to parry a skeleton’s strike. She knocked its blade away and followed up with a horizontal slash, breaking it apart. Sunset made sure to crush the skull before dealing with the next one, who completely missed her when she sidestepped.

Sunset dropped low and cut at its feet, crippling it while she cut the next skeleton’s head in half.

“Just stay dead!” she yelled at them, hoping her words would take effect as she cut down another skeleton.

The remaining enemies approached her fearlessly. Sunset gritted her teeth as she attacked again, slashing through bone after bone. She felt strength surge through her arms as she fought them off. These skeletons were numerous, but they were easy.

I can do this. I can do this.

Soon, her enemies were nothing more but broken bones strewn across the stone floor, unable to even form an arm back together. Sunset panted and huffed, glad the fight was all over. They didn’t manage to hit her, but she felt as if all her stamina was drained. She needed a break.

Sunset Shimmer sheathed her blade and continued onward, navigating through the dark maze with the small glow of her flame; at least it was a decent light source. She eventually found a tunnel that led down into a step staircase, or at least, what was left of the staircase. Most of it had smoothed out, making a sort of rocky slide with the exception of a few steps along its length.

Bracing herself, Sunset slid herself down, trying to control her movement as she avoided the steps; Hitting herself on one of those would definitely leave a bruise. She also hoped the slide wouldn’t burn a hole in her jeans. She’d hate to be walking around this terrible world with a hole in her pants.

The end of the slide ented in a two feet drop, launching Sunset off into a crouch. Standing up and dusting her clothes off, Sunset quickly checked her bottom, sighing with relief when she couldn’t find a tear in her jeans.

A large underground dome was the next room she entered, so large that it could probably fit her house and a few more. In the center was a burnt out spiral sword, one that Sunset only knew too well.

“Yes, finally!” she muttered and ran to it, placing her hand out to start the bonfire.

She sat down and basked in its radiance, glad to get a good time of rest. She also checked her bag, making sure that her three estus flasks were all full and ready to be used when she needed them.

She contemplated her position and the next path as she recovered her strength. Just ahead, there was a rather dark tunnel, exiting from a half-built archway just under the dome; the entire room seemed to be rather suspicious, almost as if she was going to encounter another fog wall soon. Sunset gulped, dreading the appearance of yet another powerful foe. Every place she’d been to so far has had one, meaning these catacombs will definitely have something in store for her; she guessed it would be something bony.

Finally getting up after a few more minutes, Sunset traveled to the dark tunnel under the archway, leaving the warmth of her bonfire once more. Once again, as she had guessed, a wall of fog blocked an entrance further down the tunnel. This time, however, something was different. Just by a small staircase leading up to the fog wall, Sunset spied something white and yellow glowing by the side.

She remembered Fluttershy saying something about signs with her white soapstone sign. After inspecting it a little closer, Sunset realized the words spelt, ‘Fluttershy’.

Understanding, she removed her soapstone from her pack and lifted it to the sign. It glowed brighter once before disappearing.

“Uh…” Sunset scratched the side of her head. “Was that it?”

She was about to go on without thinking twice, but just as she stepped up on the staircase, a golden glowing form began ascending from the ground, crouched at first, then standing up straight as she extended both arms to the sky.

“Hi, Sunset Shimmer,” Fluttershy waved, readying her bow in her hand.

“Fluttershy!” Sunset looked at her from head to toe. “Why are you golden?”

“Oh this,” she giggled and looked at herself. “It’s my duty. I help out. It’s what we Warriors of Sunlight do.”

“Uh, Warriors of Sunlight?” Sunset raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“A group of warriors that lead others safely to Fyrlon, or for your case, to help you get to your goal.”

“Oh,” Sunset continued to stare at her friend’s gold aura. “Is anyone else part of this group? Rainbow Dash, perhaps?”

“Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy seemed to cower at the name. “No. That big bully isn’t part of our group…”

“Big bully?” Sunset remembered the time she had turned Twilight’s friends against each other, all those years ago. Maybe it was something like that here too. “What did she do to be considered a bully?”

“She’s always making fun of me...” Fluttershy puffed out her cheeks and folded her arms. Then suddenly, she widened her eyes and shook her head. “Please don’t tell her I said that…”

“Don’t worry,” Sunset placed a hand on her shoulder. “I won’t say a word about this to her, but I will try to get you two to be friends. Back where I came from, you two are good friends.”

“W-well, that’s a strange world you come from then…”

“Okay, okay…” Sunset directed Fluttershy onward, deciding to change the subject. “Shall we go see what lies beyond this wall?”

Fluttershy turned her head and looked at it. “Oh, this? Yeah, s-sure…”

Sunset led the way, pushing past the thick fog with one hand, while gripping tightly to her drake sword with her other, ready to face whatever dwelled beyond the wall.

As soon as Sunset had entered, a large skeletal arm swept at her from above, knocking her to the side with a bounce, injuring her left shoulder.

“Ow…” she mumbled as she struggled to stand.

Looking up, the girl noticed a large skull looking down at her with burning coals in its eye sockets. It looked just like any other skeleton, except this one was much larger, and where its legs supposed to be was what looked like a centipede’s body.

“Careful, Sunset!” Fluttershy ran over and pushed her out of the way as the skeleton centipede dropped from its perch, its sharp feet narrowly missing Sunset’s face.

“Thanks, Flutters,” Sunset rolled back and grabbed an estus flask from her pack, quickly drinking its contents, feeling the pain leave her.

Sunset ran for the skeleton centipede’s legs, swinging her sword through a few of them while Fluttershy stayed back and shot a few arrows at its eye sockets, angering it more.

Sunset felt as if she was getting better at all this. She had been able to see through a lot of the skeleton’s attacks, dodging and blocking whenever it was necessary, making sure to avoid being hit in the process. She cut at its bones with her blade, cracking its body and severing a few centipede limbs.

Unfortunately, Sunset mistimed her next step, moving too far forward as she slashed at its legs. She managed to hack off one of its limbs, but it turned around and grabbed her in one of its hands, lifting her high and squeezing hard.

“Sunset!” Fluttershy called and shot an arrow at its body.

The skeleton centipede was unfazed, staring down at the trapped girl with its burning eyes. Sunset thought she saw a smile on its face, but there was really no way of telling, especially since she was fighting to escape its grasp.

Without warning, it clamped down harder on its grip, forcing the air out of Sunset, including a spat of blood from her mouth as her organs were crushed.

Aagh… No… Not like that…

And then it tossed her down, bouncing the girl against the stone floor before she came to a stop next to a sarcophagus jutting out of the wall.

Sunset tried to get up, but this time, it really felt like she had been run over by a train. She could hardly breathe, and her body seemed to have lost all feeling. All she could do was watch with fading vision as Fluttershy tried to make her way over, at the same time, continuing to fire volleys of arrows at the monster.

Is this what it feels to die…?

She was just about to let go of her last breath when Fluttershy rolled over, picking her up under the neck.

“You can’t die here, Sunset,” she said as she placed an estus flask to the fiery haired girl’s lips. “You’ve got a world to get back to.”

As the orange fluid left the flask and down Sunset’s throat, she immediately felt her injuries begin to mend themselves, followed by her strength returning to her limbs. Sunset first moved her fingers and toes, followed by her upper body.

“Thanks, Fluttershy…” Sunset coughed and began to get up, remembering there was still a battle to be won.

Sunset was almost up when a warm spray of blood suddenly coated her face, startling her. Looking up, she noticed Fluttershy still standing before her, but something was wrong. There was a spiny white bone sticking out of her abdomen, where blood was already starting to spread.

“No… Fluttershy, no!” Sunset reached for her friend with her free hand, but the pink haired archer was pulled away as the skeleton centipede made its way half up the wall, Sunset’s friend still attached to one of its legs.

“Return home… Sunset…” Fluttershy gagged and threw up blood. “Don’t… worry about me… I’ll just return to… where I was… Go. Win this, Sunset Shimmer… Thanks for being my friend…” Fluttershy fished around her pouch and tossed an old sack down to Sunset, who caught it in her hand. “Instructions… Inside.”

And then Fluttershy began to fade into dust, evaporating up to the ceiling as her golden aura dimmed, finally disappearing into nothing.

Red began to cloud Sunset’s vision, along with her fresh tears, stinging her skin. Fluttershy had saved her life, but at the cost of her own. Even if she didn’t truly die, witnessing her death would haunt Sunset’s mind for the rest of her life.

“You’ll pay for that!” she yelled at the skeleton, as she checked the contents of the sack. It looked like black powder, with the instructions on a piece of paper, folded up inside. Sunset listened to the instructions and coated her sword in the powder, which instantly caught on fire along its entire blade.

“For Fluttershy…”

Sunset grabbed her blade in both hands and rushed the skeleton centipede, still perched up on the wall. It swept an arm down at Sunset, but the girl dodged to the left and came back with a stab, lodging her flaming drake sword in its arm, setting the immediate area on fire. The skeleton pulled back, but Sunset held strong, using it as a lift up to its body.

Kicking off its arm, Sunset leapt up higher, raising her sword in reverse grip behind her head. Everything seemed to slow down as she sailed towards its body, the skeleton’s hands moving towards her to try and grab her.

Not this time, skeletor.

Then Sunset’s blade sunk through its sternum, the force of the impact shattering its ribcage. The skeleton lifted its head and let out a high pitched wail as what was left of its body caught fire. Sunset landed on one of its still attached ribs and sliced up, severing its head from its spine. The head began burning as it flew high, which suddenly sparked and exploded in mid air, raining bits of bone down on the floor below. The rest of its body shuddered and dislodged itself from the wall, bringing Sunset down with it.

At the last second, Sunset Shimmer kicked off and rolled to safety, only scraping her shoulder as she hopped back up to her feet, watching the burning remains of the skeleton centipede dissipate into ash and dust, defeated.

“Victory achieved…” Sunset panted and sheathed her sword, the flames extinguishing as she slid it back into its scabbard. “Thank you, Fluttershy. I’ll make it back… I owe it to you.”

Just like the last place, a bonfire had appeared, just in the middle of the room, atop a pile of bones. Limping over, Sunset ignited it with her hand, basking in its warm and radiant glow. Though she felt her aches and pains leave her, the one in her heart never went away. Though Fluttershy mentioned she was still alive back at the spot Sunset had found her, Sunset couldn’t help but shudder at the image of her friend dying.

Sunset couldn’t control her tears as they began to leak again, dripping down her cheeks to the stone ground below. The fiery haired girl covered her face with her hands and wept.

“I’m so sorry, Fluttershy.”

Author's Note:

Achievement Unlocked: Skeleton Centipede - You defeated the Skeleton Centipede.

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

Dying's always a bad trip, no matter how temporary it is.

[kyubbiman]

Like the combat descriptions, fast and fluid that take advantage of everything the warriors have. They use cover, combat maneuvers, and wit when dealing with enemies. Dark Souls as an experience would be far different than as a game.