Sunset Shimmer - The Princess of Lordran

by ratedoni

The First Flame and its Mystery

“Tell me, when you look up at the sky and see beyond the bank of clouds, what do you notice?” the hooded woman asked taking a seat besides Sunset. The redhead couldn’t see her whole face due to the presence of the hood, but the soft smile that could be seen relaxed Sunset for some reason. Maybe it was that finally she was getting human contact, or perhaps that since meeting Oscar no one had simply talked with her to explain things.

Following the raised armored finger, she tried to see past the dark grey clouds and the sky. The question was a little vague but the answer was more than obvious.

“That’s the sun. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Everything, because before the Age of Fire, there was no sun.” At the confused look of her companion the woman quietly laughed. Unbeknownst to her two girls had the same reaction to the information about the sun.

“So wait a minute, the planet was created first? Ah may not be good at science but even Ah know the sun formed first.” At Applejack’s sides Twilight searched for a second through her mental library for an answer.

“In my world there is the belief that the primordial alicorn was the one who created the universe we inhabit. There has been no clear evidence if that is right or wrong, but we have to remember is that Sunset was brought into another world, one where even the law of physics could be completely different than the ones in our own.”

“Next time you should give us a little bit of your own world’s history,” the blonde girl told her friend before both put their attentions to the tablet.

“How is that even possible?”

“A long time ago, the world was vastly different to what you see. And I’m not referring to the undead. There was no light or darkness, there was only grey, and the world was dominated by the everlasting dragons.” Sunset could almost picture the look of the world in her head with the way the woman was explaining things “These dragons were powerful, and their grey stone scales granted them the greatest power of them all. They made them eternal.”

“I’ve never heard of dragon scales being capable of doing something like that.”

“No one knows why, and it’s probably for the best, due to those that have gone closer to the truth ended up in madness. One day you should tell me about the dragons in your own world my dear.”

“Sure, maybe I can… how did you know?” Sunset’s eyes narrowed in the woman’s direction before she simply chuckled at the rather grim visage of an undead with that kind of look in its hollowed eyes.

“It wasn’t that hard to figure out. Everyone in this world knows about the undead and the hollows. The last clue was your need to know about the Age of Fires and the dragons. Now, don’t be like that. I will explain to you why that in itself isn’t very weird. So the dragons govern eternally on the surface, but down beneath the ground, the First Flame was discovered, and with it, the power to fight back against the dragons.

“You see, inside the First Flame, several creatures found the Lord Souls, and with them power like never before. Four Lord Souls were found and the ones who collected them became the first Lords. Lord Gwyn of the First Flame, he and his knights protected this First Flame and became the front line in the war. Nito, First of the Dead, a humongous mass of skeletons that used sickness and pestilence. Some say that he became the guardian of the death, feasting upon the darkness. Then there was the Witch of Izalith. She alongside her daughters found the way to use the First Flame and the flame inside all of us as a weapon. After all, she is the godmother of Pyromancy.

“These three were joined by a traitor among the dragons, Seath the Scaleless, a dragon that had been born with a mutation that separated him from his brothers. It caused him to lack the scales that his brethren possessed, thus making him mortal. Jealousy towards his brethren began to fester within him, and it was this jealousy that guided him to tell Gwyn of the weakness of the dragons; take their scales and they will become mortals too.

“And so the war ended with the Lords vanquishing the dragon and ushering the Age of Fire using the power of the First Flame. But nothing could last forever. Of that great flame, only embers are left, and we all cling to them like our life depended on it. Which is true in a certain way, because we don’t know what would happen to our world if the Age of Fire ends”

“Well, that definitely sucks… Twilight, what are you doing?”

“I am taking notes of the story,” Twilight said, or rather, that’s what Applejack thought Twilight had said considering that the magenta haired girl was using her mouth to write the pencil. It was a very disconcerting look, that’s for sure.

“I can see why everything is so bleak then, but wait, you mentioned four Lord Souls, what happened to the fourth?”

“And that in itself is one of the greatest mysteries of Lordran, one that not many scholars wanted to focus on for some reason. The last Lord Soul was taken by a curious creature called the Furtive Pigmy, whom is shrouded in mystery. Some say that he was vanquished in the war since he was never the strongest creature. But there are others that have been digging even further, saying that furtive pigmy was the most important of all Lords, because we are born of him.”

“How?” The scholastic side of Sunset was clear on her desire to understand the bizarre world she had been thrown into, and to be frank it was incredibly interesting to see the immense differences between the three worlds she had been an inhabitant.

“No one knows, and that is the greatest weapon for those that are loyal to the idea. Since we weren’t created by dragons or the other Lords, then that means that someone else had a hand in our birth. Some say that the humanity that we find in others when they die is in fact a part of pygmy itself.”

“Wait, go back, what do you mean by finding humanity, is that some kind of metaphor?” Sunset said already dreading the answer. Living with Princess Celestia had made her abhor metaphors and riddles.

“No, and believe me, you would probably prefer the idea of humanity being a metaphor more than the truth,” the woman said before taking something from inside her cloak. Looking at the dark void in the hand of the woman made Sunset remember the one thing she had got from the Asylum and she showed it to her companion. “Indeed, that is humanity, and it is of great usage for someone like you.”

“In which way could this thing help? Because I’ve gotta tell you the truth, whatever the hell this is scares me.”

“It should because what you have in there is the one thing that stops your corruption. Since you were brought by the raven to this place, then that means you found yourself at the Undead Asylum, am I correct?” At the nod from Sunset she continued. “So you already know about the undead.”

“Yeah, I’ve got a crash course about it, mostly about what happens if I die”

“Messy stuff. I’m grateful that I don’t know and hopefully it will continue since I have no desire to be an undead.”

“Is there a way to cure this thing? To come back to life?”

“To fight it yes, to cure it no. I’m so sorry my dear, but so far no one has found out how to remove the Darksign. And believe me, many have tried and no one has succeeded in even why the Darksign appeared and marked the undead.”

“Well, that’s just perfect, guess I will have to find more about it once I ring the bell.”

“Are you by any chance talking about the Bell of Awakening?”

“Do you know anything about it?”

“Well, of course I do, after all it began in my own home. Listen well my dear, what you are looking for is not one bell, but two. One high above in the cathedral, the other down below in a forsaken town. I’ll say you have a long journey ahead of you.”

“Any other news that you need to give me?” Sunset asked, a little peeved at the idea of not only having to find two bells instead of one, but also find her way to those two points.

“I said I was going to tell you about the difference between undead and hollow, so listen child. To become undead is to be immortal in all senses. If you die, you will simply awake at the last bonfire you used. These ones are linked to the First Flame, so never forget that it is a curse and blessing at the same time. But remember something and promise me something, that you will always have a purpose in this world and that you will find this purpose and will hold tight to it.”

“What would happen if I don’t?”

“Then you will become hollow. To become one of them means losing your mind and that happens due to you letting go of your own mortality. Once you find yourself without a purpose in this world, your mind and body deteriorates to the point of being incapable of recognizing friend and foe and becoming a true monster. The only way to avoid this is if you have a will so strong that fights back the darkness, or if you collect and feed upon the dark specs of humanity you could find.”

“Seems like my world is turning darker and darker every day.”

“You have no idea my dear. By the way, I feel that I done you a disservice by not introducing myself… call me Madeleine of Astora, and you my dear?”

“I am Sunset of… Sunset of Equestria,” the undead girl answered back finding for the first time -but which will definitely not be the last- missing her home, although not the citizens in it.

“Great, now, take out your weapon. Let me see the way an undead of the Asylum can fight, and to see if you are ready for your pilgrimage.”

Author's Note:

Exposition is over, now it is time for Sunset to grab her weapons and truly learn how to fight.
I want to adress something that is really important in this story and I probably told you guys already. IN the game of Dark Souls when you get a weapon and have the qualifications to use it you immediately gain a set of moves for it and can fight perfectly well with it. the problem is that this is not the game. Sunset can use the axe because she is only swinging it and her oppoenents were for the most part simple hollows. From now on she will start using weapons and finding an style that fits her, so what do you think guys? What weapon would fit Sunset more? Give your suggestions.

One last things.... do you truly believe that woman? Do you truly think she is from Astora?

Thank s to XIII Hearts for the amazing job in editing.

Comments

[HB_DS2013]

I still think she should stick with the axe.

[Deadmanx513]

...... she's not from Astora.
as for weapons, the Chaos blade and Quelaag's furysword are good for a pyromancer. but the just plain uchigatana is good for a dex build or the Gold Tracer and Dark Silver Tracer weapons.
and for armor. i have a few options for light, medium, and heavy.
light armor.
Lord's Blade Set
Hollow Thief's Set
Shadow Set
Witch Set

medium armor.
Brass Set
Dark Set
Favor Set
Silver Knight Set

heavy armor.
Black Iron Set

[diablo4000]

Ax is pretty good, but mace can break thru gaurds and armor...Stilla great Sword would be bad ass.
Zweihander?

[Echo717]

mm I think a spear or halberd would suit her well

[ratedoni]

7388240
The axe will be her starting weapon for now.

7388269
The furysword is a nice idea considering Sunset's magic but that will be a little later on the story once Sunset gets to know the Chaos Sisters. Talking about the Tracers or the Uchigatana, Sunset won't go into the Dex build so far and besides, I have plans for the Tracer set.
Armors
Light Sets: I don't see Sunset using the light ones due to her not having much experience in fighting and they usually require a better use of positioning and dodging which Sunset is not very good at right now.
Medium Set:
Brass: There is already someone that uses that set in the story and won't stay as a Firekeeper.
Favor:... let's just say that Sunset will piss off the goddess.
Dark: Although a good one is still a little too macabre for Sunset but who knows.
Silver: Even though is not that great at late game is still one of my favorites so it can be useful in Anor Londo and later.

Heavy Sets:
Black Iron: I also have plans for that armor.

7388291
Why not Claymore?

7388388
Spears are more Madelein's style apparently.

[Bryce98]

I wouldn't be so sure about this woman being from Astora. Maybe Carim on the same mission Lautrec the Embraced is on for their Goddess, Fina. Imagine, Sunset gets back from fighting Quelaag and finds the bonfire has been put out, so she rushes down to the Firekeeper and finds the Black Eye Orb, which will be how she is guided to Anal Rodeo Anor Londo, by following its gaze and using it as a sort of compass. Then she has to fight the mystery woman and Lautrec at the same time as a Blue Phantom.

As for her equipment, I'd have to say
GIANTS! GIANTS! GIANTS! CHAOS ZWEIHANDER! 16 STR, 10 DEX (DON'T TELL ANYONE SSHHHH) HAVEL'S RING, FAVOR AND PROTECTION! MASK OF THE FATHER! GRASS CREST SHIELD ON BACK!
Balder Shield and a curved sword of some sort, maybe Falchion or Scimitar, possibly becoming the Furysword but that's up to you, and have the Moonlight Greatsword choose her as its wielder later on because magic pony. For her armor, I'd say maybe something that qualifies as either light or medium armor. I'll suggest my build of Wanderer Coat with the rest of the set being either Knight Leggings/Gauntlets or the Elite Knight variants. No helmet, but if she really needs one, I'd say the Knight Helm, the one with the visor up showing half of her face. Rings could really be anything, so long as she doesn't do what I did and use the Ring of Flavor as a crutch. I'd say she HAS to have the Witch's Ring, and should join the Daughters of Chaos covenant to SAVE OUR SHINING SUN, SOLAIRE!

[Maudika]

the other down below in a forsaken town

I like this description for blighttown

[Dustchu]

Hmm... not sure what weapons are in Dark Souls, but I've seen some epic weaponry from vids and on the wiki.
If I had to throw one in... I'd say a large wicked looking battle axe of sorts that leaves a trail of fire when she swings it

nice job

[DJ_Arashi_Rora]

7510000

What rings you got bitch?

On a more serious note, I know I'm late to the party but the Ultra greatswords are amazing. At least in DS 1&2

[Sylica telca]

I'm a bit annoyed that there is no difference between the girls and sunset

[Luviere]

Great swords, please be great swords!