The Pass of the Raven
The Pass of the Raven
I’m still not entirely sure that this is a good idea, but if you’re determined to do it
Which I am.
I was afraid you’d say that.
Sunset’s eyes narrowed, even as a slightly amused smile began to play upon her face. Twilight, are you stalling?
Maybe a little.
Twilight, I know that this has risks but I need this, for the sake of my own peace of mind as much as for the sake of my friends.
I believe you. Or at least I believe that you’re sincere, otherwise I wouldn’t be helping you at all with this. But, because you’re sincere – and because I’m too nice for my own good – I took Starlight with me out to the Castle of the Two Sisters to have a look in the old library there for anything that might be useful.
Can’t you just teach me what you know?
I could, but I’m not sure how much the ability to make rocks grow out of the ground would help you, even if they are black and spiky rocks. However, after doing some research with Starlight’s help
That’s your student, right?
That’s right, Starlight Glimmer. She’s really coming along well, and she was a big help to me in this. Anyway, I think that I’ve found something that will be of use to you, without crossing any lines that I’m not going to help you cross no matter how much you beg.
Don’t write that like I’ve tried; there are lines I wouldn’t cross either. I want to protect my friends not take over the world.
My fear is that by trying to do one you’d end up wanting to do the other. That’s why my idea should only be used in small doses, for a limited time only. Each one will take a strain upon you, and if you use them continuously then that strain could prove too great to bear.
When you say that there will be a strain, you mean upon my mind?
And upon your soul. However, if you use this magic sparingly then you should be able to handle it. Just try not to use all three at once, or even sparing use might be too much.
Three what at once? What kind of spells are we talking about?
Do you know the legend of the Dark Regalia?
Of course: when Celestia and Luna ascended to the rule of the three tribes Princess Peridot, the last descendant of the unicorn royal line, gathered together a band of malcontents from all three tribes and used a mixture of natural and black magic to forge three powerful artefacts, each tied to the abilities and magics of one of the three pony tribes, to act as amplifiers to their powers.
Exactly; for unicorns, the Alicorn Amulet; for pegasi, the Tempest Crown; for earth ponies, the Obsidian Hoofguards. Of course, if the legends are correct then they are more than just amplifiers; it was said that if, for example, an earth pony where to put on the Alicorn Amulet then they would sprout a horn and gain the powers of unicorn. I didn’t really want to see if it worked when I had the amulet in my possession.
No, you just decided to leave it in the care of a zebra mystic living alone in the woods. Twilight had already described that particular adventure to Sunset, and her course seemed no wiser to Sunset now than it had then. In fact it seemed far less now, after the things that she had learned and experienced since that first telling.
There is no one I would trust more with it than Zecora.
Evidently not, since you did trust her with it, but her trustworthiness is not the issue. She paused, tapping the tip of her pen upon the page. Professor Ozpin is the first to admit the mistakes that he has made, but when he came into possession of four artefacts of terrible power he had the wisdom to lock them away in the bowels of the four great strongholds of the world. Why didn’t you entrust the amulet to Princess Celestia in Canterlot?
Because the enemies that trouble us are drawn to Canterlot like bees to honey, but no one would ever think to search the Everfree Forest for a power like the Alicorn Amulet.
Huh. That’s actually a very good point.
I have my moments.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. I suppose that being in Remnant so long has affected my thinking in all kinds of ways.
Like thinking of strength as the solution to your difficulties.
Oh, no, you are not going to get me to reconsider so easily. I understand that there is more to life and to success than power as you well know, and if Jaune and Pyrrha were here – not to mention Blake and our friends of RSPT – then perhaps I would not tremble so much in fear of this new opposition. Not least because if RSPT were here then we could just call in a strike package or whatever the military term is and have one of their ships drop a ton of bombs on one of these things.
You were saying how well you understand that there’s more to success than power?
But they’re not here, and if we want to get to them then I have to be able to stand up for us. Now what did you find in the Castle of the Two Sisters, and what does it have to do with the Dark Regalia? The Tempest Crown and the Obsidian Hoofguards are lost and even if they weren’t you couldn’t get them to me here in Remnant.
No, but in my research I found what might be the only record left in Equestria about how they were originally made, and with a little alteration I think that I can talk you through it.
Sunset’s eyebrows rose. You’re going to talk me through making my own Dark Regalia?
Well, when you put it like that it sounds terrible.
I’m not complaining, I’m just surprised, all things considered.
A lot of dark spells are very specific, and dark magic has a very afterlife upon the caster. But Trixie wore the Alicorn Amulet for several days without taking it off, and yet when she did take it off she was fine; which means that if we go this root you should be able to wear whatever it is you decide to imbue the power with without, you know, going crazy and evil. However, although I tried I wasn’t able to find a way to make this spell work without the side-effects, so you will still feel them whenever you wear any one of the three and more if you put them all on at once.
Well, I’d be lying if I told you that this was what I had in mind, but this is not a bad plan. Although since I don’t have the energy of the thirty unicorns who, according to legend, laboured to craft the Dark Regalia in the fires of Ancalagon the Black, I take it that this is going to take some time.
By my estimates, at least two weeks for you to infuse your chosen objects with the necessary levels of magic.
At least it’s not as if I have anything better to do.
So, what are you going to use?
Sunset chose rings, in the end. She didn’t want anything too conspicuous, anything that screamed ‘the source of all my powers’ to anyone who might be watching closely, something that she could put on and take off again without arousing too much notice or suspicion, and rings were rather perfect for that. Lots of people wore rings. Ruby’s uncle had been wearing three of the things on one hand the last time they’d seen him for no immediately obvious reason at all and yet nobody had found this at all odd or worth remarking upon. Now, it was true that Sunset didn’t wear rings as a matter of course, but if she were to slip one or two onto her fingers before the battle then most people would probably hardly notice, and those that did notice would probably not care.
Of course, there was the slight issue that she didn’t actually have any rings with her at the moment, but that was more easily fixed than turning them into objects that would grant her a great boost to her power at the cost of her sanity: a simple trio of transfiguration spells was sufficient to transform a stick, an acorn and a crab apple that she found in the forest into three rings of gold, silver and iron that each fit snugly to her fingers. She didn’t mean to imply anything by the descending order of metals, she just needed some way of easily telling the tree apart so that she didn’t accidentally put on the ring for pegasus powers when what she really was the ability to flick someone’s head clean off their shoulders with one finger.
There were no more encounters with either of the two dread servants of Salem which they had already encountered, nor with any others like them but distinct from them, as the company made its way afoot towards the mountains which rose so high and so sharp, jagged like a saw slicing through the world, a constant dominating presence as the group made their way towards them. The shadows of the mountains grew ever longer, and the peaks themselves seemed to grow ever higher, with every step the group took in their direction. Sunset could see why, faced with those grim, forbidding peaks, faced with the challenges of scaling those vast mountains, both the Mistralians during the Great War and the Valish in their later efforts to expand again had scorned the notion of crossing the high passes and instead had chosen to focus their resources and attentions on the gap that lay to the south east, and the flat, green lands there that offered freedom to move and build. But that road, aside from being very long, would have taken them far too close to Mountain Glenn and the grimm multitudes that still infested it, and Sunset had no wish to tread those dead and empty roads again. She had a feeling that Ruby had no wish to do so either. So they would take the mountain path, though it had be a harder road to travel, and hope that the hard road would also, in the end, transpire to be the safer one.
The weather had cleared up, the storm that had dogged them up the river abating now and the skies – when they could be seen through the tall eaves of the ever crimson trees – clear and disturbed only by a few wispy clouds that seemed too small to bear the weight of any rain. But though no raindrops fell upon their heads often times the east wind would rise out of the mountains and blow icily in their faces, chilling them through their aura which, though it protected them from some of the worst effects of the cold, did not stop them from feeling it in the same way that it would let you feel a punch to the gut even if it stopped you getting your ribs broken or your organs messed up by the same.
The journey was long and dreary, and of the travel to the mountains there was little worth saying. They travelled by day and rested by night, since grimm could see in the dark as well as any faunus and better than any man there was little to be gained from appealing to the secrecy of the night. Sometimes they came upon a ragged path, a dirt track or the remnants of something a little more substantial upon which to walk; for a few days they journeyed down what appeared to be the remains of an ancient road, and though it well deserved to be called remains it was nevertheless a flatter and an easier than any days of travelling they had before or since. Other times there was neither road nor path, simply the trudging over uneven forested countryside, following Sami’s lead, as she guided them closer, ever closer, to the mountains.
“I would have thought,” Sunset said. “That if your people use this path a lot there would have been an actual path leading up to it.”
“My people don’t start from an almost random spot on the river bank,” Sami replied. “There’ll be more path the closer we get.”
That was true, and Sunset would not deny it; as the mountains loomed closer and closer, and as they rose higher and higher into the sky at the same time, so too did the times when they were forced to traipse across the countryside stumbling over tree roots and falling into molehills as they went. They found more paths, even if they were little more than places where a few trees had been felled and the land flattened a bit. Sometimes they were a little more than that, but even when it was not so it was better than nothing. And it became increasingly clear that somebody was using these paths that Sami had brought them to: although they were not recent Sunset could nevertheless see the marks left by wagons, carts or maybe sleds dragged along the ground; presumably these belonged to Sami’s migratory people.
Two weeks of travel, walking by day and travelling by night, brought them closer and closer to the mountains, and more to the point brought them to a particular mountain, rising higher than those in its closest vicinity, with two peaks slightly spread apart which looked, in the right light, like the beak of a bird slightly opened to a devour a worm; and it was for that reason that it was called the Ravensmount; that, and when the last rays of the setting sun struck the mountain they seemed to turn the stone red.
Two weeks, and a few days longer, brought them to the foothills of that mountain, within which lay the Pass of the Raven over which Sami would lead them, and every night of those two weeks when the company stopped to rest Sunset would work with Twilight to create her rings of power. She infused them with her magic, using spells to draw upon not only her unicorn powers but her new earth pony and pegasus magic as well, and in addition she infused all three with the darkness necessary to make them more than just a store for her power, but a means to actually make her stronger than she was before.
It was a strange experience, and to be honest Sunset would also have to say that it was an unsettling one, drawing upon her anger and her fear and weaponising it in the form of magic. She had to focus upon the worst moments of her life, or at the moments in her life when she had been at her worst and which now filled her with anger and fear just as much as moments when she had had reason to be scared or angry. She thought about the tunnel under Mountain Glenn when she had let her fears overwhelm her reason, been ruled by selfish fearfulness to the detriment of the whole world and of her own position; she thought about facing Adam in the sewers; she thought about Celestia and the way in which Celestia had parted company from her; she thought about her first journey into Cinder’s soul and the way in which the after-effects of unlocking her semblance had lingered in Sunset’s own spirit; she thought about all those times and more of them and she ripped the fear and anger that she felt, the fear and anger that she directed at herself and at her memories, and she turned it into pure magic energy.
It was wayward, it was hard to control. It wanted to break free, it wanted to destroy, and just trying to keep a handle on it meant that Sunset felt the urge to destroy too. The anger and the fear that she was forced to draw upon bubbled close to the surface, and as she drew on the power of those memories she felt again as she had felt at those dark times: the fury at and hatred of Celestia, the terror that had led her to condemn the world, the fear of Adam and the desire to see him dead to assuage that fear, the echoes of Cinder’s anger that had reverberated inside of her, they had all returned, and they lingered there even after Sunset had wrestled with the powers and forced them into one of the three rings and cast the spells to bond them with the natural magic that she had placed within.
Each night made them a little stronger, and each night brought them closer to completion; but each night also left her weary, drained of magic and with a morass of negative emotions bubbling away beneath her skin, dragged to the surface and refusing to sink down into the depths again.
Sunset counted herself fortunate that she wasn’t the only one practicing magic down here. When she was done, when she felt herself weary and angry and afraid and, to be perfectly honest, worried that if she did this too often she would lose the ability to shove her negative back down again, then she would glimpse through the trees a little burst of silver light, only lasting for a second or two, never sustained but it was enough. She would see the light from Ruby’s eyes as she, too, sought to become stronger in the powers that had been gifted to her, and the light from her eyes – the light from her soul – would bring a smile to Sunset’s face and everything became a little lighter.
That was one of Ruby’s gifts, greater even than her skill at arms: even after all the losses she had suffered, she could still light up the darkness.
That was one of the things that Sunset was counting on.
And so, on that last night when they made camp at the foothills of the mountains, Sunset wandered across the eaves of the wood; the campfire flickered to her left, and Lyra’s harp sounded a soft refrain that was almost mournful. Sunset stopped, reminded of that day, the first day in the Forever Fall that was so very long ago and seemed to have been even longer. Lyra had played the harp then, too, but then her song had been soft and gentle and had joined with the atmosphere of the forest to bring Sunset a feeling of peace. Now her song was sad, and Sunset…well, the times had gotten sadder since then.
After all, we were together then.
And not just our team, either; Ruby had Yang then.
Perhaps a sad song is fit for the way the world has turned from that day to this; from the first day to the last.
She kept walking, and came to the edge of the wood where Ruby and her father were sat upon fallen logs across from one another. They both looked up at Sunset’s approach, for she was not stealthy and was making no effort to be so.
“Can I have a word, Ruby,” Sunset said, her voice soft in the still and quiet – apart from the sound of Lyra’s harp, which might have driven all other sounds away – night.
She did not need to say that she wanted a word with Ruby alone, Taiyang was wise enough to take the hint and kind enough not to object to it. He simply got to his feet, wiping his hands off one another. “I’ll leave you to it,” he said. “I should turn in anyway. Goodnight, Ruby.”
“Goodnight, Dad,” Ruby said, a smile rising across her lips and then falling as soon as he turned away. She looked at Sunset, her eyes gleaming expectantly.
Sunset sat down on the same log as Ruby, to her right. She rested her elbows on her knees. “How’s it going?”
“The training?”
“Yeah,” Sunset said. “How are the magic lessons coming along?”
“Turns out I’m not that great at this,” Ruby said, clearly unhappy about the fact. “I can’t keep it up for more than a second or two, not on purpose.”
“Any idea what the problem is?” Sunset asked.
“I don’t know,” Ruby moaned. “Dad’s trying his best, but it’s not like he was ever in Mom’s head when she was using her silver eyes. And it’s hard…getting my head in the right place, you know?”
“Negative emotions?”
“That’s just the thing,” Ruby said. “Dad says that that isn’t how Mom did it. He says that Mom used to focus on love, and what she was protecting.”
That made a degree of sense to Sunset; if dark magic was driven by fear and hatred then it made sense that light magic – and this was literally light magic that they were talking about here – was fuelled by the opposite. The only thing that didn’t make sense was the discrepancy itself. “Why would your mother lie in her own diary?”
“I don’t know,” Ruby said. “Could…could it have been altered, somehow?”
Sunset considered that for a moment. “Do you have it with you?”
Ruby nodded, producing the little black book out of one of her pouches. “Here. Do you want to see it?”
“Can you open it up to the passage where it talks about silver eyes and negative emotion,” Sunset said.
“Sure,” Ruby said, and she flicked quickly through the pages until she found the one that she was looking for. “Here you go.”
Sunset took the journal from out of Ruby’s unprotesting hand. The slanted handwriting of Summer Rose lay before her.
Anyway, the powers of the silver eyes come from, wouldn't you know it, our silver eyes. When we feel especially intense negative emotion - horror, fear, sorrow, anger - our eyes manifest in power unlike any other. Professor Ozpin called it magic, even though he told me not to call it that in front of anybody else.
Well, that seems pretty definitive. But…
Sunset placed the tips of her fingers upon the page, feeling the indentations were Summer had pressed hard upon the paper as she wrote; and then she stopped feeling with her finger tips and started feeling with her more magical senses instead.
And Ruby had got it in one: there was some magic imbued in this paper. Someone had cast a spell – a subtle spell, one that Sunset would never had noticed if Ruby hadn’t inspired her to actively look for it - to alter the words.
But words remember, Sunset thought, as she cast a counterspell. A little magic – and a little magic was just about all that she could spare at this precise moment – flowed out of her and onto the page and as it flowed so too the words of Summer Rose flowed and shifted and changed before their very eyes.
Anyway, the powers of the silver eyes come from, wouldn’t you know it, our silver eyes. When we feel especially intense love, of any kind, and the desire to protect that which we love from the dark powers all around us, our eyes manifest in a power unlike any other.
“Looks like your dad was right after all,” Sunset said, as she handed the book back to Ruby.
Ruby’s eyes widened. “But…why…who change it in the first place? And why?”
“I…I really couldn’t say,” Sunset said. “Magic doesn’t leave a signature.” She was being ever so slightly disingenuous with Ruby; she had a sneaking suspicion that it must have been Professor Ozpin, if only because he had the means and the opportunity to do so, but she didn’t want to slander him without actual proof, and the fact that she couldn’t think of why he would want to do such a thing – the obvious motive was to make it harder for Ruby to learn how to use her silver eyes, or if one assumed that the spell had been cast some long time ago then to stop anybody from learning how to use them; but why would Ozpin want to do such a thing when Ruby’s eyes had been part of what had drawn him to Ruby in the first place? - acted as another restraint upon her tongue.
But if not him, then who? Who else could have done it?
Why would he want to do it?
Why would anybody want to?
“I wouldn’t worry about the answer to that question too much,” Sunset continued. “It’s not something that you can answer, so don’t wear yourself out with fretting about it.”
“Okay,” Ruby said, slightly reluctantly. “It still doesn’t help me use my powers, though.”
“Because you can’t get your head in the right place,” Sunset said. “Care to explain?”
Ruby looked reluctant to do so, but nevertheless she said, “I can’t…I can’t hold it.”
“Hold?”
“The right thoughts,” Ruby said. “Every time we try I fix on something that I think ought to fill me with…with love, you know: Yang, when the four of us where together. I think about that and it feels like it’s starting to work…and then something comes along and ruins it. Just like life: Yang died, Jaune and Pyrrha left, you…you…”
“Betrayed you,” Sunset whispered. “You can say it, Ruby, you don’t have to worry about offending me.”
“Everything fades,” Ruby said. “Nothing lasts. And I can’t keep it in my mind as though it does.”
“That’s…I wish I knew what I could say right now to help but…I’m afraid that I’ve got nothing,” Sunset said. “Because you’re right: the days you think are perfect never last forever and it really, really sucks. And I don’t know what the answer is, I wish that I did, but…the truth is that I actually came over here to ask you for help, not the other way around.”
“Help?” Ruby asked. “Help with what?”
Sunset didn’t reply. She looked up at the moon hanging above them, and the craggy peaks of the Ravensmount looming overhead. “What do you think of our road?”
“I don’t know,” Ruby said. “Do you trust Sami?”
“Not really,” Sunset said. “But she’s our best shot right now. It’s not her but the weather that worries me.”
“Why?”
“It’s very early in the year,” Sunset said. “You heard Sami, her people don’t usually cross the mountains until later. We’ve only just seen the end of the snows down here, they could linger on the heights. But we don’t have any choice in the matter. It’s not like we can camp out and wait for summer. We’ll just have to take the risk, and trust to our strength.”
“Sunset?”
“Yeah?”
“The fact that you don’t want to tell me what you need my help with is kinda worrying,” Ruby said plaintively.
Sunset grinned, probably not long enough to be genuinely reassuring. “I, um, I’ve been working with Twilight, while you’ve been practicing your silver eyes, on a way that I can strengthen my own magic. A way that I can become strong enough so that you don’t have to worry about whether you can use your silver eyes or not.”
“That sounds great,” Ruby said. “Except that it doesn’t.”
“No,” Sunset said. “What we’ve come up with…is not without consequences. So if I start to go a little crazy-“
“A little crazy?”
“It’s not ideal, I know-“
“You wouldn’t let me practice my silver eyes because it would make me a little tired!” Ruby snapped. “And now I’m supposed to let you go crazy.”
“No, you’re not,” Sunset said. “That’s what I’m trying to get to…this might sound like a lot to ask but, if I do overdo it then I need you to use my semblance on you.”
Ruby blinked. “You want me to use your semblance on me?”
“Yes, like you did the night after the dance,” Sunset said. “Remember? I was so full of rage leftover from what I’d seen in Cinder’s soul, but when I touched your hand and saw what was in your soul instead…it purified me. It drove out all the bad stuff or at least it made it so that it wasn’t…I could function again, is what I’m trying to say. And I might need you to do that again, to pull me back the way you did before.”
Ruby stared up at Sunset, the two of them looking at one another in silence. “What if I can’t?” Ruby asked. “What if I’m not the same person any more? What if I’m not-“
“Not what?” Sunset asked. “Not good? Not kind? Not brave? You’ve suffered, Ruby, I don’t deny that; you’ve suffered more than any of us, but in spite of that here you are, still doing your part and I think…I believe that that shows that in spite of everything your heart remains the same. Like I believe in you.”
Ruby looked away. All of a sudden her body slumped sideways, leaning against Sunset. “I don’t know if I believe in me that way,” she said. “So do you think I could believe in the you that believes in me instead?”
Sunset chuckled as she put an arm around Ruby’s shoulders. “Yeah. I don’t see why not.”
“So…” Ruby began. “I’d like to help, but…can’t you just not do whatever it is you’re going to do that’s going to make you lose it.”
“Not if I want to win against those things,” Sunset said. “You saw the way that first one overpowered my magic, straight up. I can’t just ignore the fact that they’re so much stronger than I am.”
“And there’s no better way?”
“Not that we have time for, no,” Sunset said.
Ruby was silent for a moment. “I don’t want to lose you, Sunset. You and Dad are all I have left. And Zwei.”
“Mustn’t forget Zwei.”
“I’m serious,” Ruby said. “I don’t want to lose you, Sunset.”
“You won’t.”
“You might, if-“
“You won’t,” Sunset repeated. She squeezed Ruby reassuringly. “You’re the best person I know. If anyone can pull this off it’s you. And that goes for silver eyes too, you’ll get there, I’m sure of it.”
Ruby was silent again. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll do it.”
Sunset let out a sigh of relief she hadn’t even realised she was holding in. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you, Ruby, that means a lot. I…I couldn’t do this without you. I don’t think I could do any of this without you.”
Sunset stood at the foot of the mountain, all alone.
The wind howled around her, the cold biting her through her aura as it blew through her hair, scattering it in every direction. The knifelike and forbidding peak, with its narrow cleft to offer passage, loomed large and dark over her head, casting a shadow as it blocked out the light of the moon which hung in shattered fragments behind it.
“Ruby?” Sunset called, turning this way and that looking for any sign of her companions, any sign of their camp, any sign of where they had gone or how, for that matter, Sunset had ended up here. “Cinder? Cardin?”
“They’re not here,” said a voice, a voice which came from what was now behind Sunset, for just as she had turned to put her back to the mountain so the speaker was closer to the peak than she was. “But don’t be alarmed,” she added, as Sunset rounded on her. She was swathed in a green cloak, with the hood up so that her face could not be seen. “This is just a dream, and when you wake up you’ll find them right where you left them.”
That cloak…and that voice… “Amber?” Sunset murmured.
Amber threw back her cloak, revealing her face scarred by Cinder’s attack. “Hello, Sunset Shimmer. It’s good to see you again.”
Sunset wished that she could say that she felt the same way. As it was she drew back just a little. “No offence, Amber, but…which one are you?”
Amber smiled. “Both. I’m whole again, at last, and I don’t…I don’t have to be afraid any more.”
Sunset frowned. “I’m sorry, for...I’m sorry about what I did to you.”
“My fate is not your fault.”
“Isn’t it?” Sunset said. “I brought you back.”
“And if you haven’t I would have died anyway,” Amber said. “What climbed out of Uncle Ozpin’s machine wouldn’t have been me, any more than it would have been Pyrrha.”
“You would have been remembered more fondly,” Sunset said. “As a victim, not a traitor.”
Amber was silent in response to that. She looked away from Sunset for a moment. “I really did care about them, you know: Uncle Ozpin, my friends of Bluebell…Dove.”
“Are you with him now?” Sunset asked. “Is there a place where you can be together?”
Amber nodded, a soft smile returning to her face. “It’s wonderful. It’s…it’s everything I ever dreamed of. We have a cottage, and a stream running by and some woods not far away. We’ll never grow old…we’ll never have a family,” she added, with some sadness making its way into her voice. “But we have each other, and Sky visits too sometimes.”
Sunset flinched to hear that. “I’m sorry that he’s able to.”
“I’m sorry,” Amber said. “I didn’t come here to make you feel guilty.”
“Why did you come?” Sunset asked. “How did you come here, for that matter?”
“I’m here because you were a Fall Maiden,” Amber said. “If only for a little while. You held the mantle that has been passed down from maiden to maiden ever since the first of us. That…that creates a bond between us, between our souls. We’re all connected, down through the ages. And so I can come here, and help you.”
“Help me?” Sunset repeated. “How?”
“I’m going to show you the way,” Amber said. “Follow me. Are you ready?”
“Can’t you just tell me where to go?” Sunset asked.
Amber giggled. “I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that.”
“No, I’m not surprised,” Sunset muttered. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Alright then,” Amber said, as she turned away. “Follow me!” she cried, sounding suddenly giddy as she leapt upwards, a single kick upwards off the ground carrying her up into the air.
Sunset leapt too, and as she leapt after Amber she found that she was flying, soaring through the air without even needing to call upon her pegasus powers – if she ever could have done so – in this place she had no need of them, nor any other magic; a simple jump carried her all the way to the top of the mountain, where the air was frigid, so much colder than it had been down at the base of the mountain. The wind roared so much more violently here, blowing Sunset’s hair into her face. She brushed it out of the way, and kept her eyes fixed on Amber’s back as the previous Fall Maiden stood in what looked like the highest part of the Pass of the Raven, the moonlight falling silver down upon her. She stood there a moment, looking up at the shattered moon.
“Amber?” Sunset said. “Is something wrong?”
Amber, it seemed, was allowed to look back because she did just that. “No, nothing,” she said quickly. “I just…oh, come and look.”
Sunset scrambled the last few steps up the mountain pass after her, as she began to descend the other side of the mountain. Sunset was forced to stop herself as she reached the highest point, because all of eastern Sanus lay spread out before her and if Amber had stopped because she was struck dumb by the view then, as her eyes beheld even in a dream the vast expanse of the world beyond Sunset had to admit that it was a view worth being temporarily halted for. The rivers glimmered under the moonlight, the forests rose tall and ancient, the ground rolled upwards and downwards, undulating gently towards the sea while, if she looked closely, Sunset could see the smoke rising from the chimneys of half a hundred scattered townships and villages that lay between the mountains and the coast.
So people have survived here. Ruby will be pleased.
“Sunset,” Amber called, and Sunset followed where she led. It had only a single bound to clear the mountain, and it took only a few steps to descend as Amber and Sunset walked like giants, their every step traversing great distances as they came down the mountain and entered the valley called the Goat’s Cleft on the other side as easily as if they were descending the most meagre of gentle rises along the way.
They were giants, Sunset realised. Although when she had Amber had first talked the mountain had loomed over them to make them seem as small as ants now when she looked back Sunset could see that she and Amber were both as tall as the mountains now, or maybe a little taller, for she could just see over the top of the peaks. Although, now that she had noticed that, she also noticed herself shrinking noticeably; she was not her natural height, far from it, but the mountain grew larger behind her as she left it behind and passed through the valley.
The valley where the wind died down and the air warmed noticeably around her, and though it never became warm it was at least a relief from the bitter cold that had prevailed upon the mountain slope.
The valley where a host of growls and snarls arose all around them, the valley where the shadows loomed dark and dangerous, the valley where – when Sunset looked away from Amber for a moment – she saw the monsters lurking the darkness; not grimm, but other creatures: hydras and manticores such as one might see in Equestria; chtonic boars and bulls and lions; giant suits of armour with pale glows of magic animating them; pale, wraithlike figures and bleached skeletons with swords and shields; creatures she could see moving beneath the ground but which did not show their forms; and a man with the legs of a goat and a pair of proud, curving horns – also goat-like, or at least like pictures of some mountain goats that Sunset had seen in books - growing out of his head who sat upon a throne of bones and laughed as he gorged himself upon a feast.
“What is this?” Sunset murmured as she watched the creatures roar and snarl and growl and dance about their enthroned lord as if their monstrous revelry might please him. “What am I looking at?”
Amber stopped, and despite everything she shivered. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “But I’m afraid…be careful.”
“Of course,” Sunset murmured, looking for ways to avoid going through the centre of the valley if it was home to this menagerie. Perhaps they could get onto one of the outer spurs and climb along it that way?
“We have to go,” Amber said. “We don’t have much time.”
Sunset followed, partly reluctant to go before she understood what she was seeing and partly glad to leave this sight behind. Amber led the way and Sunset followed, and their steps were so broad that they covered leagues with every single stride. Forest and field and farm passed beneath their feet, vast rivers presented no obstacle to either of them, and as they walked Sunset memorised the route that she had been shown: how they passed over – or through – this forest here, and crossed the river at such a place where there was an island in the centre of the channel; how they gave a wide berth to that settlement with the stockade, but rather passed through those ancient ruins that crowned the high but lonely hill; how they followed that road so far. Their steps devoured the land, covering the whole of this part of Sanus in mere moments, and as they walked the temperature changed by the moment, becoming cold in this place and warm in that; for a second Sunset would feel a breeze kissing her cheek, the next she felt the pitter-patter of rain upon her head and then that was gone just as swiftly as the breeze had been and if anything she felt uncomfortably hot.
There were people moving around at their feet as they walked: people in the towns and villages that they strode over, wagon caravans upon the makeshift roads, woodsman treading the forest paths alone; and the grimm, always the grimm, roaming everywhere in wild bands, making the night shake with their howling. But though they saw plenty of grimm they saw no more monsters like those than Sunset had seen in the Goat’s Cleft, just as there had been no creatures of grimm to be seen there.
Amber brought her to the coast, to a natural bottleneck formed by a lagoon on one side and range of steep and rocky hills upon the other. Within the bottleneck stood a bustling port that seemed like it belonged more in Vale than in the eastern wilds: a town with walls of iron, albeit thin, and a road dug into the soil leading to its gates, and what looked like some kind of ballista turrets placed outside on guard. Smoke belched out of a crude factory, and a small fleet of modest boats anchored in the bay.
“What is this place?”
“Here is where you’ll find a ship to take you across the sea,” Amber said. “But right now, we can jump it.”
Sunset didn’t argue. She knew better than that by now, but simply leapt as Amber leapt and let the momentum of this dream-realm take her in its embrace and send her flying through the air across the ocean, the great waves and all the creatures dwelling in the deep passing away beneath her before she and her companion set their feet once more upon the dry land of Anima.
Sunset could see Mistral far off, the shining city on the mountain gleaming in the darkness.
“No,” Amber said quickly. “Not there, not yet. There’s somewhere else you have to go first.”
Sunset’s eyes widened. “You know where Ozpin is, don’t you?”
Amber nodded. “I know where you’ll find him.”
Sunset folded her arms. “You could have started with that.”
“Wasn’t it obvious?”
“When you said you were going to show me the way I thought you were being a bit more…general.”
Amber laughed. “Sorry,” she said. “I meant to be specific.”
“How?” Sunset asked. “Are you connected to him, too?”
“When I was…alive,” Amber murmured. “I…sometimes I saw things. I had dreams of my own. They weren’t always clear, but…I know that I’m right this time. You have to go where I show you to find Uncle Ozpin, and you have to find him.”
“Are you being specific again?” Sunset asked, a trifle anxiously; she already knew that she had to find Professor Ozpin – that was the task that Professor Goodwitch had laid upon her – but was there some extra-special reason she had to do it, such as he was going to die again if she didn’t?
“Follow me,” Amber said, and Sunset was left no choice but to do as she bade, and continue trying to commit the landscape of Anima to memory as they passed over the forests and the mountains, treading over the ruins of villages destroyed by bandits or by grimm, until they arrived at a rustic, undefended village which by the looks of it had an airship but not any way to keep dangers at bay.
Amber stood in the middle of the village, her head bowed. “This…this is the place. I think…I think it’s name is Shion.” She looked at Sunset. “You have to get here and you have to find him. He’s in danger, or he will be by the time you arrive. You have to protect him.”
“I will, but can be a little more specific?” Sunset asked. “Is Salem going to find him too?”
“I don’t think so,” Amber said. “It’s hard to explain, I just…everyone is going to betray him. When the truth comes out even those whom he called friend will turn on him…just like I did.”
“What?” Sunset said. “That’s not possible. Pyrrha, Ruby, they’d never turn on Professor Ozpin, no matter what truth…what could we possibly learn that he hasn’t told us already?”
“I don’t know,” Amber said. “I don’t know everything, I only know what I see and what I see is…you have to protect him. Don’t make the same mistakes that I did. Don’t break Ozpin’s heart like I did. Promise me, Sunset, promise me that when the swords are drawn yours will be in his defence.”
“I can’t imagine anyone drawing a sword against-“
“Promise me, Sunset,” Amber insisted. “Please.”
Sunset nodded, her back straightening. “I am at his service,” she declared. “And so I shall remain until my lord release me, or death take me. I will keep him safe from any and all dangers, you have my word.”
“Upon the honour of a Fall Maiden?”
“Or a huntress,” Sunset said. “Or a scholar or an Equestrian gentlemare or anything else you like. My word, whatever I am and however much honour I have left.”
Amber stared into Sunset’s eyes for a moment. “There are times when I look at you and I almost feel as though…” she trailed off. “Thank you, Sunset Shimmer. I’m sorry that we didn’t get the chance to become friends. I think…I think I would have been very lucky if I had.”
“Thank you, for this,” Sunset said. “I promise, your faith in me won’t be in vain. This time, I swear, I won’t let Professor Ozpin down.”
Sunset had been born in the shadow of the high mountains, but it was not in Equestria that she had learnt what little she knew of travelling in high, cold places; that she had learnt at the other Canterlot, or at least that was what Vice Principal Luna had tried to teach her there. She hoped that she could still remember the lessons.
"Everyone gather as much wood as you can carry," Sunset said, as they prepared to set off. "Hopefully we won't need it, but-"
"But sometimes life gives you a simple choice," Sami said. "Fire or death."
Sunset said, "Like I said, let's hope it doesn't come to that."
They gathered wood, and piled it atop the packs that they already bore loaded with their food and all other essentials. Cardin looked as much a beast of burden as a man as his back bent ever so slightly under the weight of the enormous pile of wood that he had gathered. Taiyang was almost as encumbered. Only Neo, whose aura was not activated - a situation Sunset had no plans to alter - bore nothing at all, but simply watched Torchwick with a kind of childish amusement as he struggled to master all the burdens that had been laid upon him.
Thus prepared they began to move, surmounting the grey foothills of the great mountain chain as they advanced upon the mountain itself that loomed above. The air was cold, but briskly, not debilitatingly so. No one struggled as they emerged from the woods and felt the sun full upon their faces, in light if not in heat, before they passed after all too brief a sunlit spell into the shadow of the mountain.
Soon, after not much more than an hour's walk, they came to the base of the Ravensmount itself and there, at the beginning of their ascent, they found an ancient altar, a grey block of stone marked with crimson stains and carved all about with ancient runes. A goat's skull had been set upon the altar, staring at them out of its eyesockets, and amidst the carvings Sunset thought that she could see the horned being that she had seen in her dream.
She knelt before the altar, staring at this creature with the legs and the horns of a goat. "What is this?" she murmured.
"An altar," Sami said. "There's another one on the other side, for those who enter by the Goat's Cleft."
"An altar?" Emerald repeated, her voice wary. "An altar to what?"
Sami shrugged. "The old gods?" she said. "I don't know. I didn't believe it, I just knew that every journey we would sacrifice someone to appear the powers of the mountain and the valley, and assure a safe passage."
"Sacrifice like kill people?" Emerald said.
"Yep," Sami said. "Of course, I never believed in all of that, but you're the one who told me that magic is real, so maybe there's something to it after all." She leered at Emerald. "Maybe we should draw lots."
"Don't be ridiculous," Sunset said. "We're not going to do that. I can barely believe your people did something so barbaric."
Sam's face fell. "When I saw my father lead my sister to the altar I didn't want to believe it either. And as far as I was concerned barbaric was the kindest word for it."
Sunset frowned. "I'm sorry."
"Not half as sorry as she was," Sami said. She snorted. "Not half as sorry as my father was when I slit his throat for what he’d done either, I bet."
Sunset shivered, and not from the cold. The more she learned about Sami the easier it became for her to understand how she had turned out the way she had. Human sacrifice? That was the kind of savagery that ponies had left behind in the very earliest days of prehistory: the times when the Father of Monsters had required a tribute in blood had passed with the tyrant himself, and all philosophers and historians condemned the practice. And amongst men and faunus Sunset could not recall a single instance of the practice in any part of the world save in the worst periods of rule by the bloody-handed Maidens, who had sought to be worshipped as gods and delighted in blood sacrifice. Hardly respectable company for Sami's old gods.
And yet she had seen that creature on the altar in her dream, and if it was no more than a representation of the altar then what of the monsters who had rebelled around him?
She would get no answers here, and the questions did not change her plans: to climb the mountain, but avoid passing through the valley on the other side if at all possible.
And so they began the climb.
For a while everything was fine. They made good progress up the mountainside, following a path up the rock which was wide enough and easy-seeming enough that Sunset could believe it was used by a large group of people including the very young and the very old, a whole tribe with wagons and sleds and babes in arms and all their worldly goods. To be sure, there were one or two steep inclines where Sunset could imagine that Sami's sacrificing tribe would have to manhandle their carts up or gently down to prevent them being left behind, but even those places presented little obstacle to the company, unencumbered by such things as they were. Only Neo struggled at times, and when she did it seemed child's play for Torchwick to assist her. Though there were times when they walked with a sheer incline to their right - as opposed to being hemmed in by rocks on either side as was otherwise the case - the path was so broad that there was little feeling of danger. The rock was dry, and their feet were able to get good purchase on it; what few patches of snow lay further up were exceedingly shallow, and crunched beneath their boots.
As they climbed higher, however, so too the clouds began to get her overhead, heralded by a dark wisp of cloud that was the first to appear and seemed to hover about the jagged peak as other clouds gathered around it.
Cardin made his way up towards her. "Do you think we ought to stop?" he asked, nodding his head in the direction of the clouds.
"If we stop we'll be exposed," Sunset said, for they now stood on an exposed ledge with nothing but a sheer drop onto a scree slope to the right of them. "We either push on, or turn back for shelter."
"What shelter?" Sami asked. "Those rock faces won't protect us from snow falling straight down. We should keep going, and hope the snow doesn't start until after we've crested the peak. At this pace it won't take us more than another hour."
Sunset looked at Cardin. They both nodded; Sami might be many things but she was the only one who had climbed this mountain before, and neither of them felt confident ignoring her advice.
"We press on, then," Sunset said. "Everyone, keep going."
They pressed on, climbing higher and higher, but as they climbed and as they came to a narrower part of the path - a part where Sunset thought it must have been a sore struggle to get the goods and the infirm of the tribe up or down, a part where it became precarious for more than two to dare to walk abreast - it began to snow.
It fell quickly, descending from the clouds that had gathered in such mass above their heads in a furious flurry, flakes falling in clouds that swirled on the rising winds that blew into the faces of the company and bit like icy knives, pinching them through their aura.
At first Sunset hope it would not stick, but it stuck and soon began to gather on the rock. Then she hope that it would not last long, that the rapid falling of the snow would cause the clouds to wring themselves dry and clear the skies once more, but it did not abate. First the snow rose up over the tips of their boots, and then the snow was over their ankles and their pace was slowed to a crawl as they struggled through the rising snowdrift, feet rising and falling as they were plunged again and again into the rising banks of soft, wet, shiver-inducing snow.
"Zwei?" Ruby called, her head turning to look frantically in front and behind, searching the rising snow. "Zwei? Has anyone seen Zwei?"
"We're stuck in a blizzard and you're worried about a dog?" Emerald snapped.
"He's not just a dog, he's family," Ruby yelled, her words almost lost as the wind snatched them away. "Zwei, where are you?"
Something moved under the snow, perceptible only by the movement that it caused in the snow bank above it. Zwei popped his head our, whimpering as he tried to shake the snow put of his coat.
"I know, boy, I know," Ruby said, as she reached out with her pale fingers and swept him up in her arms. She hugged him tight. "We're going to get through this, just a little further."
Unfortunately, even a little further seemed like a great distance away, the snow showed no sign of abating, in fact if anything it seemed to be constantly falling faster and faster, rising higher and higher at an ever-increasing rate. It was falling so heavily that Sunset could barely see ahead of her, let alone the peak, and she was conscious that with the path narrowing it was not safe to blunder forward, hoping for the best.
The same applied to turning back, where all the same difficulties applied to moving forward.
"Hey, kid!" Torchwick yelled. "Neo needs her aura on before she freezes to death!" Neo was on his back, her arms dangling limply over his shoulders, her lips blue.
"Okay," Cardin said, and Sunset could just make out the light on Neo's collar going out before Torchwick was holding her in front of him, whispering something to her as he massaged life back into her limbs.
Sunset summoned her pegasus powers, her phantasmal wings of burning gold rising behind her as she reached out for the magic of wind and rain, storm and lightning, cloud and sky. She felt the winds rising around her in counterpoint to the biting gales assaulting her and her companions as she stretched forth her powers into the teeth of the storm and commanded it to cease.
She bade the winds be still. She ordered the clouds to disperse. She willed the skies be clear and the snow to cease. She issued forth her power to halt the storm and scatter it to the corners of Remnant.
Wind and snow and clouds all alike refused to bend the knee before her mastery of the weather. The snow yet fell no matter how Sunset strained at them; the winds yet blew and cracked their cheeks. Sunset stretched forth her power against the storm and the storm pushed back with a yet greater power against her.
"Whatever you're doing," Jack said. "It isn't working."
It was then that Sunset heard the voices: fell voices in the air, carried on the wind and blown all around them. Two voices, both gnarled and twisted like ancient trees knotted with age, one laughing at Sunset's feeble efforts to dispel the storm, the other snarling in anger at her impertinence for even attempting it. The voices filled Sunset's ears, and as she strained in vain against the blizzard the snowstorm seemed to grow even stronger, the snow falling faster and the wind howling louder.
The clouds darkened, casting the world into a night-like shade, and a bolt of lightning descended out of the dark clouds.
Sunset threw up one hand, conjuring a shield against which the lightning bolt slammed and dispersed harmlessly. Sunset maintained the shield in place, a green dome covering the whole of the company, as a second bolt of lightning struck the mountainside above them and sent a small avalanche of snow and stone down upon them that would have buried them all if Sunset's shield had not been there to take the blow without flinching. Rock and ice alike thumped and thunder upon the shield before slouching off of it and falling down into the abyss beside their mountain path.
"What in God's name is going on here?" Jack shouted, had to shout to be heard over the howling wind.
"Was it true?" Sami demanded. "Was it true all along? Are the old gods punishing us?"
"No," Sunset said. "This is our enemy's work."
"That's bad enough, isn't it?" Emerald asked.
Sunset didn't answer. Her eyes swept up and down her companions. Aura would protect you from the most lethal consequences of the cold, but it wouldn't numb you to it any more than it numbed you to pain, and too much cold would drain your aura the same as too many blows, though it might take a little longer to get there.
But if aura was a reflection of the soul then it probably didn't fare so well in any case in such dispiriting circumstances, and all of her companions looked dispirited by the weather's turn and by the fact that it was more than mere ill-weather. Even Ruby looked as though her spirit was sagging. And she looked pale, too, even paler than usual; water must be seeping through her ripped up stockings and turning her legs to ice.
Sunset knew that they couldn't stay here. She couldn't stay here, letting their opponents pound upon her shield until it broke. The snow was falling off the shield for now but in the end it would simply gather around the shield until it broke at which point the snowfall would descend upon them. Sunset couldn't just wait for that to happen.
Not when there was something else that she could do.
"Stay here," Sunset said stupidly, as if there was anywhere else that they could go. "I mean...you're going to have to bear this for just a little longer. Keep close to the rock face, I won't be long."
"Where are you going?" Cinder asked. "What are you going to do?"
Sunset cast the glimmer wings spell upon herself, conjuring a pair of shimmering gossamer butterfly wings, gorgeous and gaudy in equal measure, appeared upon her back to carry her out of the snow. She fished the silver ring out of her pocket, the ring that would by arts black and perilous amplify the pegasus parts of her magic. "You probably don't want to know," Sunset said, as she slipped the ring onto her finger.
She felt the power - power in potential, at least - explode within her, along with an ungodly amount of anger. She had been angry already, but her temper had been muffled by the cold; now it burned like an inferno. They dared do this to her? They dared to threaten her friends? They dared to laugh through the tempest into her face?
They dared to meddle with her?
Then she would have to show them the folly of their arrogance.
"Hold on," she growled at her companions. "I won't be long."
She dropped the shield - an unfortunate necessity - as her shimmering wings, now tipped with a red that had not been there before she put on the ring, carried her beyond its reach and over the edge of the cliff into the storm.
More lightning hammered down in brilliant bolts, lighting up the darkness as the wind howled around it, and Sunset felt a fear amplified by a furious sense of possession: these were her friends, her companions, her party belonging to her and they were not for other creatures to play with! A part of her was alarmed to catch herself thinking that way, a mode of thought that she thought she'd left behind in first semester, but that same part had more important things to worry about than stray hubris right now: like getting that storm away from her friends.
She put forth her powers, stronger now, oh, so much stronger now, straining against storm and tempest and all the fury of the fell powers that directed it, and Sunset's strength began to win out. The howling winds changed direction, the clouds began to break, a patch of light broke through the darkness, the snow eased up around her.
"Yes," Sunset hissed. "Yes! Break, storm, and bow before me!"
She could feel the anger in the sputtering blizzard, a feeling of outraged pride and wrath at her impertinence. Sunset recognised those feelings well, because she was feeling the exact same things herself. The snow ceased, and the winds changed direction as the clouds tightened up away from the mountain. The world was dark around Sunset once again but at least her friends would hopefully catch sight of the sun as the powers behind the storm redirected their energies and attentions towards Sunset herself. Lightning descended from the black clouds, but Sunset simply laughed as she raced through it, dodging the falling bolts as she turned and swooped and dived. She was as swift and as nimble as any pegasus, even the celebrated Wonderbolts themselves, and no lightning could catch her even with the winds howling into her wings to try and stay her.
Sunset frowned as she turned her powers to the task of breaking this storm once and for all. It seemed weaker now, much weaker, as though the energies of one of its architects-
A bolt of purple magic erupted out of the darkness like a lance. Sunset flipped in the air, letting the bolt pass harmlessly beneath her as she rolled away. The lance of magic was followed by a creature, another of those grimm-like things that were not grimm. This one...this one had the most uncanny resemblance to depictions of Nightmare Moon from out of the storybooks: the same unusual, overly rounded shape of the head, the slender limbs, the jagged wings; she even bad bone plates where Nightmare Moon was drawn to be wearing her armour.
I know this world is full of doppelgangers, but isn't this getting a little ridiculous?
Nightmare Moon - as Sunset could not help but mentally refer to her - charged towards her, wings outstretched on either side, carried forwards by the fury of the storm.
"Sunset Shimmer!" she hissed as she swept forwards.
Sunset grinned, glad of the infamy amongst her foes as she watched Nightmare Moon’s charge. She used a touch of telekinesis to steady hand and ring alike as she reached for the golden ring tied to unicorn magic and placed it on her finger.
Yes, Twilight had warned against using more than one at once but Twilight wasn't here right now, and she'd already learned that her own magic wasn't string enough in the face of these creatures. And besides, as the ring of gold slipped onto her finger it felt so glorious, so glorious that surely Twilight had only advised against wearing it because she wanted to keep Sunset down and keep her from reaching her true potential. But that was for later, for now nothing mattered but victory over this anger little pest swooping towards her.
Sunset let her come, and then as Nightmare Moon rushed forward on the wind Sunset soared upwards, out of her onrushing path, getting above the creature as she passed beneath.
And as her enemy passed beneath her Sunset struck, hammering her with a beam of magic red as blood that leapt from both hands, landing down to strike Nightmare Moon in the small of the back. She shrieked in pain as she was beaten downwards by the blast, her wings flailing as she was blasted down. Sunset followed, dropping like a thunderbolt even as she effortlessly dodged all the real thunderbolts that sought to strike her down. In fact, she was able to wrench control of the storm away from they who had conjured it and redirect those same bolts of lightning to fall with thunderous crashes upon Nightmare Moon herself.
Nightmare Moon continued to shriek and roar in mingled pain and anger as she struggled to right herself in the midst of winds that were no longer just her servants now but also her opponents. Another beam of magic shot from the tip of her horn, and Sunset met it with a crimson beam of her own power.
Once more the two beams met, just as Sunset and the other dread servant of the enemy had matched power with power once before. But this time, as Sunset's crimson beam pressed downwards against the purple beam of Nightmare Moon, it was Sunset's beam that proved the stronger. Sunset's anger burned hotter than the fury of her for as her beam pushed back the magic of her enemy. Sunset laughed, and fancied that she saw Nightmare Moon's eyes widen a little with fear before the red ray struck her.
A bolt of lightning, loosed when all her concentration had been bent upon the enemy beneath her, struck her in the small of the back, tearing into her aura and, just as importantly, distracting her long enough for Nightmare Moon to take flight, casting another blast of magic at Sunset, who conjured up a shield on which he blast dispersed harmlessly, even though in the air she was forced backwards by it nonetheless.
Sunset thus briefly disoriented, Nightmare Moon flew upwards, disappearing into the midst of the storm's darkness. Sunset hovered in place, watching as the lightning strikes lit up the black sky that the overbearing clouds had made, and with her pegasus powers kept them from striking her again. Her unicorn powers she held ready, two score of lances of magic red as blood hedging her like an obedient guard in preparation for the reappearance of her foes. She heard their voices yet upon the wind, not laughing now but filled with consternation. Sunset smiled, a smile that had something of a snarl within it for she knew, even if her foe did not, that she had become the hunter now - the huntress, even. And then let Nightmare Moon beware, for she had dared to meddle with Sunset Shimmer and the company that dared to shelter beneath her protection, and for that she would answer grievously.
Sunset would suffer no harm to come to her and hers.
A blast of magic presaged the arrival of Nightmare Moon from out of the dark. Sunset rolled in mid-air out of the path of the bolt, sending a half-dozen lances shooting towards the grimm-like thing as soon as her eyes beheld her. The lances struck, and the illusion of Nightmare Moon shattered as the real Nightmare, or at least Sunset's real opponent in this battle to be specific, charged out of the storm wreathed in a shield of green against which all the rest of Sunset's lances and the lightning of the storm turned against her beat like pebbles on a wall as she rushed on, fangs bared, bent on Sunset. She struck Sunset using her shield like a battering ram, bearing her enemy back and then bursting her own shield as Sunset herself was wont to do, tossing her into the storm depths as lighting landed down all about her. Sunset recovered, her shimmering wings beating furiously to right her, and it was her turn to conjure up a shield of her own as she rushed backwards to meet Nightmare Moon once again.
She put on her last ring, the iron ring of earth pony strength and stamina. By Celestia! The power which she felt, the tightening of her muscles, the way she felt as though she would burst out of her clothes, as though she could topple this whole mountain of the Ravensmount; as though she could tear Nightmare Moon to pieces with her bare hands, and she wished to do it too.
She charged, her wings beating furiously. The shield that surrounded her was proof against Nightmare Moon's magic as she swept through a broad beam unscathed. Nightmare Moon conjured up a shield of her own, and for a moment the two barriers ground against each other like two diamond blades each endeavouring in vain to cut the other. Sunset dropped her shield and cast a dispel, disrupting the barrier of her enemy in turn as she clubbed Nightmare Moon about the face with the butt of Sol Invictus.
Sunset roared as Nightmare Moon, her head near snapped clean around, whinnied in pain. She reversed her weapon and thrust it so hard into her chest that the bony armour that protected it cracked. Sunset extended the bayonet, driving the blade forward and into this demons heart...save that the enemy turned to smoke before the blow could land and fled away into the east.
Sunset howled with outrage. "Coward!" she cried. As well might her enemy run, as well might all the servants of the enemy flee before her death, but what impertinence to deny the complete triumph that was her due! Why she would follow where that dark cloudy wisp went, even to the ends of Remnant and see it dead before her.
But that would mean abandoning Ruby and the others.
So what? Let them stay behind if they could not keep up; she had a hunt to finish.
She wasn't here to win fights, but to end the storm and safeguard her companions.
Companions? What need had she of any company? She was the most gloriously powerful being seen in this land; she was greater than any maiden, greater than Ozpin, greater than any of them. These fools of Vale had dared to abuse her, to imprison her, to treat her like a slave to serve them in the humblest and most hazardous of offices until her dying day. They had collared her like a beast, and put her in a cage for their amusement, thinking that she lacked the power to do ought but bow her head and say 'why, thank you, sir'. Well, she had power now, and no reason to be humble nor to scrape and serve. She would return to Vale and punish all those ingrates who had transgressed against her, starting with Ruby-
Ruby.
Ruby, her fingers pale with cold as she clutched her dog close to her.
Ruby, who alone had-
-betrayed her-
-had the courage to condemn what deserved to be condemned in-
-saved her life-
-Sunset's conduct.
Sunset warred against her anger for control. She was no nightmare, she was no dark alicorn, she was the leader of Team Sapphire and her friend was waiting for her.
Sunset fought for control, and as she fought she cleared away the last vestiges of the storm and brought the clear skies back upon the mountain. She wrenched the rings of silver and iron off her fingers and stuffed them back into her pockets. She felt a little calmer after she had done that, and it was easier to think clearly, albeit she was still somewhat distracted by the feeling of debilitating weakness that had replaced the sensation of unstoppable strength. As her hands trembled and her arms hung limp by her sides, Sunset hoped that the surge of anger she had experienced towards Vale - and towards Ruby - was entirely a product of dark magic, and not something that she would find ordinarily in herself if she looked hard enough.
But where had the dark magic's anger come from, if not from herself?
Sunset teleported back to the mountainside what she had left the others, and as she teleported she took off the golden ring and as she took off the ring the last of her strength left her and she collapsed to her knees in the snow.
"Sunset," Cinder said. "Are you alright?"
Sunset gasped for breath, "I'm done," she confessed. "Fortunately, so are they."
"So we could move, if we weren't still snowed in," Jack said.
"Now that it's stopped snowing it will clear up," Lyra said. "Maybe."
"We're not standing here and waiting for that in this weather," Cardin said. "Hey, Pops, come up front here with me and let's see if we can't force a path."
Taiyang's eyebrows rose. "With our bodies?"
"Sunset just stopped a whole storm," Cardin said. "How hard can this be?"
As first Cardin and then Taiyang squeezed past Sunset to take the lead, Sunsrt glanced down the company at those that were left. "Where's Emerald?"
Cinder's face was stricken with pain. "Another lightning strike dislodged more rock before you put a stop to it. Emerald...I couldn't get to her in time."
"Celestia," Sunset murmured. She could not imagine what that must have been like. In truth she could not imagine a worse death than falling, having so long to contemplate the inevitable before it happened. "Cinder, I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," Cinder said, her voice harsh with bitterness. "It's mine."
"You can't blame-"
"I got her into this," Cinder snapped. “She never wanted to be a part of any of this, she was no huntress; she didn't want to be a hero or a villain. She didn't want to change the world, she didn't want to make her mark upon the pages of history. She was just a little sneak-thief like you can find on the streets of any city, albeit an exceptionally talented one." She sighed. "And it was that talent that led me to seek her out. I promised...I promised her food, that was all. That was all it took to make her a pawn in this war of Ozpin and Salem: to guarantee that she would never go hungry again." Cinder closer her eyes for a moment. "So who should I blame for her death, if not myself?"
"The mind that directed the lightning strike," Sunset said.
Cinder shook her head. "I can't absolve myself that easily, any more than you can so simply forgive yourself. We both know that guilt is never that simple. I got her involved, Sunset; if it weren't for me she'd still be running the streets of Alexandria. Her presence was my doing, and that means her fate is too." She was silent for a moment. "Of all the deaths that I have caused I think that hers is the one I will regret the most. Because with the others I could tell myself that if I had not done the deed some other servant of Salem would have been sent to wield the knife in my place but none other but I would have recruited Emerald. But also because...she trusted me. Right to the end, she thought that I would protect her."
"Cinder-"
"Don't try to talk me out of this, Sunset," Cinder said. "Don't try to tell me that I'm wrong. Just...leave me to my grief."
Sunset had no choice but to agree; she didn't like it, it stuck in her craw, but she had no choice in the face of Cinder's intransigence.
Right now, at least.
Meanwhile, Cardin and Taiyang were busy putting bodies to work since heads were at a loss. Taiyang was the tallest of the company, while Cardin was broader in the shoulders, and together they set about brute-forcing their way thoughts snow that, before Sunset had stopped it snowing, had risen to be waist high in places or higher still thanks to falls from higher places. At times Cardin had to burrow with his arms, shovelling snow aside to try and clear a path for the others to follow, while at other times the snow banks rose so high that it seemed the strong men must be buried for certain until, with a shout and a heave, they broke through onto the other side. And step by step they forced a pathway through the snow and blazed a traol for the rest to follow.
It was not an easy path; it would have needed a dozen or more men with spades to achieve even some semblance of that, instead there was a way forward which was passable but difficult. Cinder had to take Sunset by the arm and support her along, while Ruby kept shivering and stumbling until eventually Bon Bon swept her up in her armoured arms and bore her along like a babe in swaddling clothes, while Lyra took off her multi-coloured cloak and draped it over Ruby's shivering form.
Nevertheless, though the way was hard at least there was a way, and they followed in the rough, uneven, sometimes still as high as ankle deep path that Cardin and Taiyang had laid out for them until at last, with the last days of the sun they escaped the snow and, reaching the very top of the pass, gazed down upon eastern Sanus spread out like a painting before them.
They could not help but stop and stars, relief at their escape mingling with exhilaration at the sight of the whole world, or so it seemed, laid out in front of them for their awe, every river and field and forest yet visible on the dying light, every hamlet and village and all of it rendered beautiful by the soft orange glow that engulfed it as the light faded.
Sunset would have been awed too, had she not seen all this last night.
And had she not also caught a glimpse of what might be waiting for them below in the Goat's Cleft.
"You were defeated," Sombra said, his words laced with contempt. "By Sunset Shimmer?"
Selene winced. Her chest plate was already beginning to knit itself back together but it was a painful process. "I am not the only one," she said, with a glance towards the Storm King, who had been sharing the creation of the blizzard with her, and doing the greater share once she had begun to fight. And yet his storm had been utterly swept away by Sunset Shimmer and her power.
"I was not forced to flee," the Storm King said.
"No, you were merely rendered impotent," Selene snapped.
"Have you both grown so weak?" Sombre demanded. "Sunset Shimmer was a gnat to me."
"Then she has grown stronger by far since," Selene said. "For to me she was as Ozma reborn."
Sombra hissed in disgust. "Speak not that wretch’s name in my presence." He paused. "Though you are the weakest of our company it is disturbing that you were bested so easily."
"If you wish to try, O warrior king, perhaps you will have better fortune," Selene said. Even if she was the weakest of the four, the only one amongst them who had been a great warrior prior to receiving this curse, but that didn't mean that she appreciated having the fact rammed down her throat.
"If Sunset Shimmer has grown stronger then we had best engage them together," Sombra said. "Even if Tirek will not join with us then we three should have sufficient strength to overcome our foes; for are we not the last heroes of the elder days, however twisted and malformed we are?"
"But how are we to come at them?" Selene asked. "I dare not shadow them now that they have seen my incorporeal form."
"Even to find them on the mountainside was a stroke of rare good fortune," the Storm King said.
Sombra was silent in consideration. "They have crossed the mountains, into a land where, so we are told, there is nought worthy of notice. Why? To cross the sea, and regain their comrades in the land of Mistral, perhaps. Let us cross the mountains by another way, come to the coast before them and hope to find them there."
"How will we know where they plan to cross?" Selene asked.
"Perhaps such crossing-places will be few, and far between," Sombra suggested. "And if not, then we must hope for another stroke of rare good fortune."
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The plot thickens!
It feels weird for a character with some level of actual importance, like Emerald, to be unceremoniously killed off off-screen. I wouldn't be surprised to see her stay dead, but I also wouldn't be surprised if she turned back up again.
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/413/624/8eb.jpg
The breathtaking descriptions of the landscape, the epic magic battle among the storms and sky, and Sunset overcoming her darkest urges! Seriously, this chapter was AWESOME!
Sunset was pointing out to Twilight earlier in this chapter that it might not have been the wisest thing to leave the Alicorn Amulet with Zecora. Combined with the precautions both she and Twilight have been taking, I certainly hope Sunset made sure the rings work only for her, as mere amplifiers to those who already possess magic. They said the Alicorn Amulet could give a horn to a pegasus or earth pony, and I cannot conceive of any reason that Sunset would devise the rings in a similar way, as if she intends for them to be worn by anyone else.
Otherwise, Sunset has just brought three new magical artifacts of dark power into Remnant that can be misused by anyone that puts them on.
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Much as I would love to be rid of one such problem, there's a chance that Emerald used her Semblance to fake her death, to escape the notice of Sunset and the others in order to plot Cinder's 'liberation'.
That being said, it would also be a very poor plan for the same reasons I knew that Neo and Torchwick wouldn't try to run. Where would they go? Run across the icy mountains, through terrain and forests they don't know, with unknown Grimm and other creatures, and no supplies or backup. So, it's pretty likely that Emerald is truly gone.
Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!
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it's possible that they were in those forms when the god of darkness did that; while it was never explicitly stated, it was implied that many years passed in between her gaining immortality and her amassing her army to take the gods, leading Dark to do what he did.
Well shimmy painted a target on their back
10084997
The full backstory of the Four Kings will be given eventually, explaining all of their history with Salem and indeed Ozma.
Love the inclusion of the darkmregalia (long road to friendship was my first fanfic and i loved a sunset through time). I loved how sunsets inner battle was portrayed but i really hope she stays in the light. a relapse would be devastating for sunnykins
Three rings for the faunus-queen under the sky.
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gotcha, sounds good.
Yeah, I don't buy Emerald's supposed death, and I'm not entirely convinced the readers are supposed to. Unless this is a matter of the author legitimately giving up on knowing what to do with her, this is too obvious of a set up for something else to happen later, I wouldn't be surprised if she faked it with her semblance and is somehow keeping up with the group waiting for a chance to...do something
Are you trying to give me a panic attack with the Dark Regalia, Scipio? Sunset using all 3, with the bbeg being unkillable? Just seeing the mention made me nervous, naming them began worry, her making them started panic, her using all 3 made it worse, knowing the bbeg is unkillable and knowing fics is downright scaring me. And now you have bound me to reread Sunset of Time.
It's funny. Because of alicorn natural affinity to soul (my headcanon, see 10072882), they are more resistant to Dark Regalia. But, because of that affinity, Sunset's Rings of Dark Power are significantly stronger than their Equestrian counterparts. More amplification and more dark temptation (although latter is partially negated by aforementioned alicorn resistance). Also, Sunset's magic could synergise with Ruby's Silvereye Light magic to artifice Rings of Willpower for Ruby to use. And some Darkness dampening ring to block effects of Rings of Dark Power. Just because in combat situation discarding dampeners are better than equipping amplifiers. Something about knowing weaknesses of your enemies.
Emerald Sustrai. to quote RWBY reactor Murderofbirds: "No body, no death." So I'm gonna keep an open mind as the chapters go by; she might do a Neo and reappear a few arcs/Volumes down the road.
Nice to see a Vesper Radiance cameo. Sami gonna get them rings, tho. Much easier to steal than a Maiden power or Sunset’s innate magic.
Retconning how it works to bring it more in line with canon? I don't really mind one way or another, but I just figured that it's been so long as it is and I wasn't expecting it to change.
Yeah, I thought the description of the Regalia sounded familiar. Sunset of Time was a fantastic story. Also, since Sunset forged herself some rings, I will now consider her the Lady of the Rings.
10087179
The Three Rings.
Sisterhood of Rings.
And so on.
I'm not sure if its possible. But a notice me not type thing, or binding those rings to her somehow would be a good idea. So only she can use them. Or she can call them back to her if she loses, someone steals them, etc...
Sunset mastering her ability's more to help Ruby focus her emotions would be good for both of them as well. Keep it up. Great story as usual.
Well, the Dark Regalia escalated quickly.
Also, anyone want to take the suckers bet that Emerald just used an illusion?
Edit: Forgot to mention it previously, but nice Silmarillion reference there. ^^
As I said in other reviews, I have been looking forward to when Sunset learns that Ozpin has his own form of immortality. After all, she used to be more skeptical of him than anyone in SAPR, partially because it was hard for her to trust leaders who didn't have centuries of vast wisdom and experience like Celestia. The sweet irony is that after she would eventually learn of Ozpin's immortality, Sunset's own experience with immortals and the great burden they carry would make her his most understanding ally. Every time I thought of the reveal of Salem's immortality being revealed in the SAPR setting when everyone else gets angry, I always saw Sunset being Ozpin's most staunch defender.
But other than that, Ozpin is already in a delicate spot right now. We'll know for sure when we see things from Oscar's own mental perspective how Ozpin is doing, but I imagine he's not doing well. He died the same way he did at Salem's hands long ago: betrayed and then incinerated by someone he loved. I imagine he's almost in the same depressed state as he was for most of Volumes 6 & 7. He cannot withstand another heartbreak. What's worse, he won't take the news of Vale well. The state of affairs by the Council, the outrage from Atlas and Mistral, the exodus of non-Vale born students and even recruiting from middle schools...! It will devastate him to hear.
And that's before he learns for certain that Salem now has a Relic.
I thought the Dark Regalia sounded familiar, but I couldn't place where from! But while Sunset may have succeeded in fending NMM and the Storm King off, she also pulled out all the stops to beat back only half of their foes. Getting Ruby's silver eyes involved can hard counter one more, but if Tirek gets there before they get to Pyrrah (especially if he's still a magic-thief) there's trouble.
Also, I couldn't help but picture Cinder watching Rage Monster Sunset and flip-flopping between "this is wrong, she shouldn't be like this" and "oh god that's hot"
Nice new cover art! Sunset and Cinder look a little odd, but everything else looks amazing!
Twilight: Now remember, don't wear more than one at a time. It's very important you don't them all at once, ESPECIALLY right after you make them and don't know their effect on you!
Sunset:
i.postimg.cc/SQTd8Vw4/Wear-ALL-of-the-rings.jpg
Also I hope Emerald isn't really dead, there's so much potential for her in this story still
Ooh, I like the new cover art.
Basically this chapter in a nutshell.
I started to notice it last chapter but now the resemblance is uncanny, it’s even both chapter Titles!
Im on to you Mr. Author!
What terrible beast awaits in Goat’s Cleft...
On a separate note.
God damn hilarious!
Ya know... as much as i like the new cover... it really makes it feel like this current arc is a Book 2 in this grand saga you’re writing. If i look just ever so closely it spoils quite a few things from Book 1.
Not judging, just food for though.
Not going to fly down and check on Emerald? Dick move, Sunny Bunny.
Putting five interwebnets on Sami stealing the rings.
Yo! i'm really digging the new cover art! who's the chick on the bottom right, though? is that Ciel?
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That is indeed Ciel Soleil.
Sunny gonna relapse and get addicted to power at this rate. Hey, whatever works in the moment right? Regrets are for future-self.
How many Lord of the Rings references did you manage to cram into this chapter!?
As far as I can tell there seems to be at least 3.
Am I the only one who thinks sunset could actually control these power rings similar to how Ruby is with her silver eyes? I just think it would be really awesome if sunset could master the darkness within her and not get consumed by it. Although always cautious about it.
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I hope so too. Her cutie mark is a sunny ying and yang and she has learned to hone her ambition, pride and competitiveness into positive forces, characteristics that are not exactly associated to forces of good.
If anyone can tame her own demons and obtain strength from them it is Sunset Shimmer.
I feel like Twilight is missing the two major problems that we saw with the Alicorn Amulet:
1. The longer it was worn the more corrupt and insane the user became.
2. It could only be removed by the person wearing it. Which is easier said than done when that person is slowly being driven mad, and they can't rely on Sunset being tricked as easily as Trixie was.
Basically, there is no way that this doesn't blow up in their faces.
I lament that there are only three, and not seven rings, or else I could make Sonic and the Secret Rings jokes all though this commentary.
Nope, mustn't forget Zwei.
More seriously, I had a few thoughts on different parts for the first whole section (almost the first half of the chapter), but most of it ended up being touched on by the characters themselves. To that I can definitely say they were good discussions to read, and gave us ground to where characters stand, or strengthened it where we knew they did. The bit about the Diary is peculiar, and I'm wondering if it will come back or end up reversed in rewrites, or what exactly will happen with it. That alone is probably the standout questionmark, but there's not much I can say that isn't idle speculation.
I do want to touch on how we go from the Diary discussion, to the weeks worth of effort and work, and finally into the scene with Sunset and Ruby. It feels perhaps similar to a run-on sentence, except rather a run-on scene. I might suggest breaking the last bit with Sunset and Ruby into it's own bit, but at the same time, I'm not sure it's necessary. It's all topical to the same point, but with the weeks breaking things up, I really felt the length reading the segment.
i think, in my initial reaction to this chapter, I hung more on the whole 'Avatar-ness' of the Maidens and how I felt about it, but that's generally settled. Instead, and which really makes me excited, is a detail I was remiss in picking up properly that I did this time around: Amber's warning of Ozpin's secret, how he will be betrayed, and in particular, her promise to stand by him. Now that, that has a lot of promise, especially by who is included in that betrayal. Worst/most interesting, it might just be Sunset and Ozpin (and, perhaps, Celestia?), and it will be interesting to see how Sunset manages her own friendship problems with anyone against her/them, especially if she considers herself in the right for what might actually be the first or second time (second if you count her turning herself in? I dunno, maybe I'm just trying to be dramatic).
Yea! Where would be be without Zwei! Who would I jokingly ship with Winona at random intervals that are hopefully not frequent enough to become annoying? (Opal? I can do that anywhere!
)
Fight's good. I, uh... yea I've got work to do there, something I'll be planning for later this week (I have a schedule and I'm sticking to it! Really, this time, I swear! Though not tomorrow, tomorrow's a computer break/ computer chair break day). Cinder's guilt is definitely interesting, for how alien it must be to her, perhaps. However, that the four know of Ozma is a very interesting bit of lore drop that I don't think I caught previously. It speaks to their age, though perhaps the exact relationship is in question. Anti-maidens, of a sort? Oh, the tangled web that's been weaved... and we haven't even gotten to the GOAT Goat. I think he's a goat, anyways.
GOAT's gotta wait though. I was hoping to pull through, but staying up late after pulling 12 hours apparently isn't as much of a thing as I'd like. Rather than continue on with this though, before going to the Atlas story arc, I plan to jump back to where I left off just getting to Mountain Glenn. I really want to comment on those before you get to rewriting those, and also because it is perhaps the place that stands out when it comes to fight scenes to me, so looking more detailed at it should really help me understand what makes your fight scenes work so well.
I did recognize the Dark Regalia from Sunset of Time
stirred some memories ngl
Your scenery descriptions get better by the day
I don't much care for Emerald at the moment mostly because there's yet to be a confirmation to her death beyond falling. Literally everyone falls in this show, whether it kills you or not is another story. I mean, I hope. like a few said before me she is a character of some importance and I doubt casually throwing her aside is something you would do, that is, based on my observations so far.