Sunset Shimmer: Path of the Damned

by Blackdrag-rose

Pandaria: Lei Shen, the Thunder King

After dealing with the Mantid Empress, and raising her into undeath after absorbing the Sha of Fear, Sunset returned to her forces in the Dread Wastes and found that they were silently waiting for their next orders, as most of the provinces had been conquered and more of their enemies had been slain. According to the information she had gained so far there was one more threat for them to take down, that being Lei Shen, the Thunder King of the Mogu, and if her thoughts were right his Zandalari allies might have stolen him away and raised him from the dead. In addition to that there was one more Prime Sha that had to be found and absorbed, where with the power of the other six she discovered something interesting, it was sealed somewhere in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, just as she expected after thinking about the rest of Pandaria earlier, so it was only a matter of time until she found it. Once that was done, and her main objectives were taken care of, she could finish her war against the rest of the living that called Azeroth home and bring an end to this war, so she could prepare for the next stage of her plans.

"My Queen, what are your orders?" Taylor and Nazgrim asked, kneeling before her as they lowered their heads, the latter being echoed by the rest of the Scourge that had once been the living of Pandaria, showing anyone watching that they were eager to please her, regardless of what they were alike when they were alive.

"We make for Kun-Lai Summit... it is time to invade the Vale of Eternal Blossoms." Sunset stated, where she could tell that all of the Pandaren, while initially worried about her order given that it was sacred to their people in some manner, bowed to her and said nothing, revealing that Death had broken them as well.

With that in mind Sunset made her way back to Kun-Lai Summit, to the golden door she had seen earlier, and her army just marched through the land, leaving portions behind in the various provinces to make sure no living creature was spared, not to mention keeping an eye out for potential dangers. When she reached her destination, however, she paused for a time as she waited for the four August Celestials to arrive so they could officially open the door and allow them into the Vale, even though she could blow it down some a bit of her magic. While Sunset waited, staring at the structure in front of her, one of the scouts she left in the summit earlier, to keep an eye on the Zandalari, revealed what she had been expecting, they had made off with the body of the Thunder King and they seemed to be taking him to the Isle of Thunder. According to Taran Zhu that was Lei Shen's domain, where his fortress had been built before he tried to conquer lands outside Pandaria, as the tol'vir had stories about him invading to take their Titan structure for himself, a fatal mistake since it killed Lei Shen, but now Pandaria's other ancient foe would be brought back to life.

Sunset also knew that under normal circumstances Taran Zhu would be claiming that this was her fault, as an outsider, and would have likely demanded that she pay her debts to Pandaria, or something similar to that, but after being risen he had lost much of his hatred towards outsiders, even though they couldn't help him now.

After listening to the report Sunset found that the four August Celestials had finally gathered and watched as they used their powers for a few seconds, causing the seals on the golden door to be undone in no time at all, before it opened before her eyes and allowed her to see the Vale at last. There were all sorts of Mogu structures, since they had been the rulers of this continent until their defeat, with all sorts of golden flowers and trees that gave this place it's name, where she could tell that it was a majestic and beautiful place, even with a pair of large Mogu statues resting nearby. As Sunset stepped into the Vale she noticed something immediately, the province was teeming with power, as if it was a cradle of life or something, just like the Sholazer Basin in Northrend, but that wasn't the only thing she was feeling as she entered the Vale. The other thing she felt was the presence of not only the Sha of Pride's prison, which Sunset knew would be broken in due time, but also the very heart of Y'Shaarj, the core of the fallen Old God's dark power, a fact that brought a smile to her face as she felt a slow beat somewhere below the surface of the Vale.

She followed the beating for a time, walking over to an area that was near a potent well of life energy, while resting right in the middle of three important looking buildings, two shrines and an ancient palace, something that caused her to turn her attention to the soldiers that were waiting for her to give them orders.

"A quarter of you will be staying here, to slay the rest of the living who dare to hide from us, while the rest of you will be following me to the Isle of Thunder." Sunset stated, as she suspected that some Mogu were likely hiding in the palace, due to it looking like a decent place to hide while they waited for their Thunder King to be revived, hence why she wanted to deal with them before they had a chance to counterattack, "Taylor, you stay and make sure this province is claimed in the name of the Scourge... and that prison had better be found by the time I get back."

Taylor saluted her before getting to work, separating his forces into three units, one to clear the palace, one to search the rest of the province for targets, and another to start digging so they would have something to show her upon her return to the Vale later, as they knew she would return victorious. While they did that Sunset gathered the rest of the army and set off in pursuit of the Zandalari who dared to come here while she was claiming Pandaria as part of the Scourge's domain, following the tug of the scouts that traveled to the Isle of Thunder before sending one back to tell her the news. The isle, as she discovered, was to the northeast of Kun-Lai Summit and Townlong Steppes, at least thirty minutes away by boat when Sunset considered everything she was learning, before she chuckled for a couple of seconds. That was how long it would take for the mortals, in their bickering and warmongering, but with the power of the Scourge she could teleport all of her forces over without wasting time, and she, herself, could fly over in no time at all.

When she arrived at her destination Sunset found an interesting sight, there was a massive fortress of the northern half of the isle, likely called the Throne of Thunder given that Lei Shen was the Thunder King and the island was called the Isle of Thunder, where she found ancient Mogu structures, an area full of Saurok, and a swamp area full of dinosaurs and statues, the latter like the ones she had seen in the past.

Once her army arrived she set them to work, watching as they spilled out into the island and sought out the living, starting with the Mogu that were trying to bend the spirits of the dead to their will, and once their foothold was claimed she used a portion of her power to enslave the dead to her will. After that her forces separated into three forces, one taking the east side of the island to deal with the Saurok, the second dealt with the swamp area, and the last one went to the west to see if there were any enemies there to deal with, which ended up being some trolls who fell behind the main force. The only real threat her forces faced were the massive amount of Saurok that were on this island, not that it mattered in the end since the Scourge wiped them out and her val'kyr raised them into undeath as well, allowing Sunset to turn her attention to the large fortress that was her destination. With a wave of her hand she magically opened all of the doors that stood between her and her target, allowing the might of the Scourge to surge into the battlements of Lei Shen's domain, cutting down the trolls that served him and every beast that they commanded, until all that remained was an army of death that was ready to swallow anyone who dared to oppose them.

As she walked up to the main entrance, however, a blue cloud serpent with lightning arching between certain scales came down to challenge her, where she dragged it to the ground, slew it, and then raised it into undeath, showing everyone that she wasn't to be trifled with, before entering the Throne of Thunder.

Sure enough she found that the first section was crawling with trolls, those who had either escaped the wrath of her army or were here to guard Lei Shen, though in the end it didn't matter to her as she slaughtered the first group with ease and let a val'kyr raise them, allowing her to turn them against their former allies. Any doors placed in her path were pushed out of the way with a bit of her magic, as Sunset wasn't going to waste time waiting for her soldiers to open them for her, especially since she wanted to claim the last of the Sha before wrapping up her time on Pandaria. One brought her to an area where a large troll was waiting, who looked like he had been enlarged and empowered by the Thunder King, making him a tougher foe to deal with intruders or his potential enemies, where Sunset simply raised her hand before using her magic to pin the troll to the ground. With that done it was a simple matter to stab him in the head before making her way towards her next destination, allowing the val'kyr to do their job, before discovering that she was going to cross a couple of walkways with a number of spirits floating around the place, looking more like sentries, to which she raised her blade and stole all of them.

With that done she spread her wings and took off, slashing through a tall stone golem and a lone troll who was calling up a storm, which didn't bother Sunset at all, before entering a large arena that had a bunch of trolls and a large beast that was on the other side of a wall. She listened to the 'Beastlord' as he went on and on about how the troll empire would soon be the rulers of Azeroth, as if he was spitting in her face since everything belonged to her, and sure enough he even claimed that the Scourge would fall before the might of the Thunder King. In that moment she slaughtered everyone for his claim, as in the Beastlord, the trolls around him, and all of the critters that they had planned on using against her, and she kept at it as she moved down another passage that would bring her closer to the Thunder King. As she did that she discovered that the val'kyr weren't the only ones raising the dead, as there was a troll spirit trying to keep the spirits of his kind tied to Lei Shen, though she stole each and every troll she slew for the Scourge, before finding the keeper of the spirit and four important looking trolls from different tribes.

To her it didn't matter if they were desert trolls, forest trolls, frost trolls, or even jungle trolls, they all fell before her might and were enslaved to serve Death, though after that she approached a bridge that lead to another large door, where she found a bolt of lightning that summoned Lei Shen to her position.

"You have swept the filth from my doorstep... perhaps you are worthy of my attention." Lei Shen stated, though as he said that Sunset noticed that he was a large blue skinned Mogu who wore no shirt, had a necklace that channeled lightning in a blue gem, which almost looked like an eye, with a helm that had four curved spikes, "But your trespass ends here. No one, I mean no one, may enter my forbidden stronghold! I shall rebuild this bridge with your bones for bricks!"

Sunset chuckled as she tanked the potent bolt of lightning that slammed into the bridge she was on and shattered it, but to give the illusion that he had succeeded she delved into the caverns below his palace, especially since her forces were able to follow her without delay. What she discovered was that there was a massive crystal turtle blocking the way and she slew it with a swing of her runeblade, showing her forces that Frostmourne was stronger than most material in this world, though since it broke into a thousand pieces she just absorbed it's soul into her weapon, adding it's Anima to her own as she continued down the path. It brought her to a massive chamber that was full of fog beasts and small crystal spiders, all of which fell before her soldiers as soon as she gave the order for them to begin the assault, but she did notice that there were a few bells for the undead to ring, which they did so after clearing the area out. The chimes ended up summoning a hydra in the nearby pool of water, a beast that had red, blue, green, and purple colored heads, though she wasted no real effort in slaying it, as her forces literally dived into the water and stabbed it to death, allowing the val'kyr to raise it while Sunset headed up what appeared to be a trash chute.

As such she cast a spell to allow her to levitate, since she didn't want to get her wings caught in the webs, leaving most of her soldiers to lay waste to the spiders and other insects that were down here, before spotting a large bird of some kind resting in the central pillar.

The bird didn't stand much of a chance as Sunset tore it out of the air and crushed it against the pillar, where she raised all of the fallen into her growing army before discovering the way forward, which brought her to a circular chamber that had four statue heads that looked like eyes. As such she cut down the fog beasts that were guarding the area and discovered that her actions caused the statues to fall, revealing four more creatures for her to slay, even though that lead to yet one more foe showing up to fight her. This one was a floating eye beast with golden material on the backside of it, which was either armor or a way to signify that it was allied with Lei Shen, not that it mattered since she cut the beast down, where it's death opened the door leading deeper into the fortress. A few moments later she found some blobs that looked a lot like moving blood wandering down the stairs, though her forces laid waste to them as Sunset moved forward, though she did have to wonder what else lurked in the depths of the Thunder King's grand fortress.

The path brought her to a chamber that looked like the power source for the strange dark Anima that the Mogu used, or at least that was what the legends claimed, before she spotted a crimson scaled Saurok who seemed far stronger than all of the others she had seen so far. She confirmed it not a few moments later, as when she clashed with it the beast actually withstood her first blow, unlike most of the creatures and warriors that came before it, but it, in the end, fell in no time at all, and when she raised it into undeath it clearly had a bone to pick with the Mogu. They wiped out the rest of the area in no time and made their way to another chamber, where the Mogu were trying to contain a machine that ran on Anima, an interesting thing in her mind, and by destroying the sphere they were working on it allowed her to awaken the machines in the chamber. Of course she couldn't raise any of the machines into undeath, but she could siphon their power into her runeblade before they found a path leading outside, right to where a Mogu was in the middle of training his forces, which also included a number of stone quilen, dog like creatures who served the vicious warlords.

Of course none of them could stand before the overwhelming might of the Scourge, allowing her to enter the main part of the fortress, where she found that more Mogu stood between her and Lei Shen, including an interesting sight, two female Mogu who were slimmer and more majestic than their male counterparts. They, too, were stronger than most Mogu, yet another pleasant surprise when she thought about everything she had discovered so far, where one was radiant like the sun with red attire, Suen, while the other was as beautiful as the moon and had darker skin and blue attire, Lu'lin. Sunset suspected that in the time of the Curse of Flesh, when stone and metallic beings were turned to flesh and created many of the races of Azeroth, Lei Shen or those before him created female counterparts in the off chance that they were trapped in mortal flesh, but, since they were stone again, she knew they undid the curse. She did, however, find it weird that there were only two female Mogu for the entire race of warmongers, meaning the others were either dead or they were being kept elsewhere, where she knew that the information would be gained when she revived the Thunder King under control of the Scourge.

Once the pair was brought down the val'kyr raised them without wasting time, allowing her to head up a staircase before arriving at a chamber that contained all of the Thunder King's power, to which she flew down and found that he was eager to fight her. Together the two of them clashed and the chamber shook as lightning faced the power of Death, but in that moment she understood the source of Lei Shen's power, he had the power of a Titan Watcher, stolen power as if he had found a fragment of a Titan's power, meaning this was a clash between Order and Death. His stone body was tough, just like she expected after all of the last couple of major foes she had faced, but Frostmourne, the strongest runeblade in all of Azeroth, was tougher as she cut into his body and dealt lasting wounds that surprised him, despite his attempts to take her down with bolts of lightning. She brought a swift end to the fight by stabbing him in the heart when his defenses were open, allowing her to lay low the Thunder King before bringing him back as a servant of the Scourge, before she felt the power in the fortress change and followed it for a time.

It brought her to the Saurok chamber, where she found a ladder heading into the depths and discovered that it lead right to where the Titan Watcher was resting in chains, who happened to be wounded as she discovered that his blood was the same as all the Mogu's dark anima.

"For millennia I have waited in darkness, in silence pierced only by the shrieks of the tormented, my dreams are a waking nightmare." the Watcher stated, Ra-den according to Lei Shen's information, though as he looked up, allowing her to see that he was missing his right eye, as there was a slash over it and it seemed to be gouged out, meaning she might have been right to suspect the true nature of the Thunder King's necklace, before Ra-den broke himself free, "This twisted world is beyond redemption, beyond the reach of deluded heroes and foolish villains. The only answer to corruption is destruction... and that begins... now."

Sunset said nothing to that as she used Frostmourne like a lance, piercing his heart with ease, though she prevented him from escaping and ensured that Death claimed him, allowing her to gain a new general for the Scourge as she retrieved her weapon, allowing her to focus on returning to Pandaria so she could claim the final Sha and get ready for the last stage of her quest.

---

While all of that was going on Celestia sat on her throne in the empty throne room, as she had asked her guards to leave her for some time when Twilight arrived, because this conversation was best kept between them and she made sure to put up a number of anti-eavesdropping spells before her student arrived. Spike had sent her a letter saying that Twilight had made some progress in searching for Sunset, since Celestia was certain that the Elements of Harmony, or Magic since it was the only one in the other world when the event happened, wouldn't kill her, rather she believed that Sunset was just lost. Twilight, true to form, had gone ahead and done her own studies into what had happened to the unicorn that came before her, in terms of students anyway, so the letter was a good thing, as Celestia had been having a few nightmares on what might have happened to Sunset, which Luna had taken care of. Of course she talked with her sister about it, since it occurred far too much for her to admit to herself, which was why she was hoping that Twilight had good news for her, not to mention an idea of how to get Sunset back here so they could mend the bonds between them.

That's why when she heard the knock on the door she called for whoever it was to enter, where she found Twilight, minus Spike, walking into the throne room, allowing Celestia to remove herself from the throne so they could have a civilized talk about her discoveries, and Spike's absence meant it wasn't good news.

"Twilight, have you... have you found Sunset?" Celestia asked, as part of her almost didn't want to know, mostly out of fear that something terrible had happened to her old student, even though the vast majority of her wanted to hear what her current student had to say on the matter.

"I... I have, but... well, it isn't good." Twilight admitted, where she paused for a moment, unsure of how to tell Celestia that her former student was a mass murderer who was devastating the timelines and wiping out everyone who dared to stand in her way, that she had slain thousands of individuals and was raising them to serve her as undead minions, before she steadied her breathing, as she noted that it had gotten heavy, and prepared herself, "Sunset... she's..."

"Been raised as a servant of Death, becoming the Lich Queen that has slaughtered thousands... no, tens of thousands... of people in her quest for power." a new voice said, where Celestia and Twilight turned to the shadows on the western side of the throne room and watched as a bipedal being in some strange clothing appeared before them, though Celestia, due to her age, could tell that a dragon was standing before them, an incredibly powerful one despite being so young based on what she was feeling, "She took the position of her former master, the Lich King, and has ushered in a new era of darkness that is unlike anything that our world has seen, as it has been accompanied by a feeling of hopelessness... our heroes, the best of the best, have fallen before her terrible might, the Dragon Aspects of other timelines have fallen to her, and my father, with all his terrible power, has been laid low. Even now she is slaughtering her way across a new continent, one we only just discovered, and she's claiming the terrible power hidden below the surface as her own... it's only a matter of time until Pandaria falls and Sunset lays siege to the rest of Azeroth, and after that it won't be long before she comes seeking revenge against those who beat her."

"The Mirror World!" Twilight exclaimed, as she understood the last part of the strange being's comment, while at the same time she noticed Celestia pale at the thought of Sunset being turned into a killing machine, as if her mind couldn't even comprehend such a thing happening to someone she used to know.

In that following moment Celestia made her move, her magic pinning the figure to the ground as a shimmering lance just appeared out of thin air, likely stored in some sort of storage area that only the Princess had access to, and she pointed it right at the stranger's face with a look of anger on her face.

"You lie! Sunset... she wouldn't... she couldn't..." Celestia stated, though Twilight could tell that her mentor was freaking out, as her former student was close to her heart and the thought of Sunset being twisted into a force of Death, bringing misery and darkness to the world she was sent to, simply broke her heart.

"She is." the figure replied, where he opened his right hand for a moment, as Twilight recognized the appendage from her time in the Mirror World, and some of his magic gathered in a sphere nearby, allowing them to see an image he wanted to show them, only for Twilight's eyes to widen as she witnessed the same scenes she had watched before, the sickening sight of Sunset killing people with glee in her eyes.

"Sunset..." Celestia said, where she pulled back for a moment and walked over to the sphere, watching as it changed over the next couple of seconds, showing the evolution from a simple knight to a terrifying Queen whose word was law, that killed whoever she wished and raised her foes into undeath, depriving them of their rest, all while her magic broke, letting the figure stand once more, "Twilight... did you...?"

"Yes... I knew, but I couldn't accept what my eyes were seeing. I refused to accept that this was her reality." Twilight said, even though she looked away for a moment, as she couldn't meet her mentor's eyes right now, and instead turned to face the sphere, watching as Sunset turned into what looked like a half dragon, causing her to glance at the figure who was just watching them right now, "Who are you? How did you get here?"

"I am Wrathion, son of Deathwing. In order to survive the ongoing threat my allies and I had to sacrifice the races of the new continent to distract Sunset for a time," the figure replied, where he held up a hand to stop them from accusing him of leaving people to die when he could have done something, anything, instead of coming here and telling them about the madness that was unfolding right now, "and with her distracted, a major feat given her own allies, the best magic users in Azeroth, combined with the Dragon Aspects of our timeline, opened a portal for us to send a ship through, one capable of traveling from planet to planet, so we could find the keys to stopping her. This planet holds the only known weapon that could stop Sunset Shimmer... that's why I'm here, to reveal to you the terrifying events reality you have unleashed on the universe and enlist your help in stopping her, before she brings Death to everything in the universe... and you, Twilight Sparkle, are one of the bearers of that weapon."

"The Elements of Harmony... how did you know about them?" Celestia asked, though this time she didn't bother to raise her weapon, an ancient tool she preferred not to use given the peaceful nature of their world, rather both she and her student glanced at the figure.

"Simple. We told him and his allies about them." a new voice replied, where Celestia and Twilight paused as they heard a voice they instantly recognized, as it was Sunset's, but the figure that emerged from the darkness was a figure that looked like Sunset's human form merged with a horse, or maybe a deer, who was armed and ready for war, "Greetings Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, I am Erith Moonglow... or, if you prefer, a version of Sunset Shimmer who was reborn with the powers of Life on her side. Wrathion and his allies made some changes to the timelines I and the other counterparts came from, as Sunset created new ones to see what would happen if she fell to one of the other Cosmic Forces, and we shared the existence of the Elements with them."

Celestia wasn't sure what was going on anymore, other than the fact that there was a version of Sunset she would love to talk to, but she and Twilight had questions that needed to be answered and plans to make, hopefully before Sunset came home, as she knew the Elements were the key and just hoped they had enough time to get ready for whatever happened next.

Comments

[midnight arrow]

interesting chapter wonder what is going to happen next time on sunset ball z

[Glutbier]

Equestria continues!