The Element of Generosity
The world was ending. Sunset watched as the sky, once a tranquil blue, mixed with tendrils of purple, red, and magenta. She saw as people kneeled over, trying to claw their eyes out. She witnessed the thing in the distance, the tower, pulse with eldritch influence. Every pulse was a beat against her mind, trying to get in. But she would not give in. No. She would not, she would not, she would not, she would not not not no-.
Sunset shook her head, clearing her mind. She could tell that her mental barriers were beginning to crumble under the onslaught. She had begun to rebuild them after the incident with the sirens, but they were being shattered by the ever droning pulse. It was getting harder to think, but she knew she had a mission.
She needed to find Twilight, and then the rest of the Elements. Then they could have a chance against…against whatever this was. She needed to get to CHS, for that was the last place she had seen Twilight.
So she ran, as fast as her legs would take her. She pushed people prone on the ground, and though her peripheral vision she could see them began to change. Sunset shut her ears to the best of her ability as she heard them scream, in agony as their minds and bodies were shattered. She saw flesh melt, bone change, and bodies twist into absolute horrors. She saw things emerge from the shadows, creatures that had no place in this world, or any other.
So as Sunset ran amongst the world's end, she held onto hope. It was the last thing she had left.
Sunset’s eyes slammed open as she bolted upright. She breathed in and out, slowing it down to try to calm herself. Eventually her breathing evened out, and she relaxed. A nightmare, it must have been a nightmare. Like with all dreams, the details were fleeing from her, but she had managed to snag some extra details.
She finally could remember the high-school’s name- CHS. Canterlot High-school. There was something important about the word Canterlot, but she couldn’t recall why. Eventually, eventually it would return to her, and all her questions would eventually be answered. But until that time came, she would continue her search for her friends, the Bearers of Harmony, and a way to save the world.
Shaking away the final remnants of sleep, Sunset looked around her. She was in the school’s foyer, and there was even more life than the day before. Grass now covered the floor, creating a soft carpet that was surprisingly comfortable. Bushs dotted the room, and vines crept up the walls. One of the stairs now had a small trickle of water flowing down it, combining with noises of animals to form a beautiful harmony. She could also hear someone singing a quiet, but peaceful tune.
That someone turned out to be Fluttershy, who was singing a soft lullaby to the foyer creatures. There were a couple squirrels, a few rabbits, a deer or two, and even Celestia was here. Fluttershy's melody carried throughout the air, mixing with the natural sounds of the growing landscape. There was another sound in the air, though. Barely audible, it sounded like it was singing with Fluttershy. It sounded like it was resonating from the crystal tree in the center of the room.
Eventually all good things must come to an end, and Fluttershy finished her song. She slowly opened her eyes, all four of them, and they widened when they saw Sunset. Sunset simply smirked, and put a single finger to her lips. Fluttershy’s shoulders relaxed, and she watched as Sunset sat down amongst the crowd of animals. Sunset gestured to Fluttershy, and a small blush arose on Fluttershy’s cheeks. Nevertheless, she began to sing once more, her melody soft and beautiful.
Sunset opened her eyes to see another pair of eyes staring directly back at her. They were small, black beady eyes, and they were impossible to read. Her eyes widened in surprise, causing the bunny sitting on her to scoff and jump away. She blinked a few times, before looking around to get a read on her surroundings. She was in the same place where she had found fluttershy, but now there was no girl, instead only an empty field. The only animal in the area was the bunny, who was standing at one the hallway entrances. It was looking at here, one of its feet stamping the floor repeatedly.
The bunny crossed its arms and scowled at her, before jerking it head backwards. It then turned around and began to hop down the corridor, moving as quick as a bunny could hop. While Sunset couldn’t understand why a bunny wanted her to follow it, stranger things had happened.
She followed the bunny down the hallway, before it stopped. It turned to a nearby doorway, and rapped its foot mutiple times on the door. The door opened with a creak, and the bunny headed inside the room. Left with no choice, Sunset followed suit. Inside she found a classroom, and there were two figures in the room. In Between them was a group of desks assembled to form a large table, and canvas covered the desks. It was very easy to tell who the two figures were, especially since one of them was the size of a car.
Fluttershy and Celestia were looking at the canvas, and it took Sunset a second to figure out what she was looking at. A map. A map of the entire city. There were some markings on it, and a few items scattered around. She could see an eraser placed behind the city proper, and a plastic tree located at the school. There was a large X drawn over main street, presumably due to its infinite nature.
They had been trapped on that road for hours even after they saved Fluttershy. It was only when they rested in one of the alleyways did they realize the trick to the Endless Road. While there was some sort of eldritch influence causing Mainstreet to be repeated forever, it only applied to the road and buildings. If you could get past the buildings, and onto the otherside, you would be free. Once on the outside, it would appear as if the road was completely normal, deceiving any survivors. If there were any that had not been transformed into beasts.
It was as she approached the makeshift table that she was noticed. Celestia saw her first, and her eyes brightened visibly. Fluttershy was still hunched over the table, and it took a light nudge from Celestia to draw her attention. Fluttershy’s head spun, and with four eyes she stared at Sunset.
“Sunset! Oh, I’m glad Angel Bunny was able to retrieve you.” The bunny that had led Sunset to the group jumped up and into Fluttershy's waiting arms, before sending Sunset another scowl. What was that bunny’s problem? Sunset was interrupted from her thought when Fluttershy gestured to map and spoke.
“We’ve,” she said while making a gesture to Celestia and herself, “made a map of Canterlot City. I’ve marked areas to avoid, like that horrible road, and have also marked points of interest.”
Caught off guard by how normal Fluttershy was acting, it took a couple of seconds for Sunset to formulate her words. “Thank you, Fluttershy. How are you, considering…” She trailed off, while making a hand motion to Fluttershy’s lowerhalf. Fluttershy followed the motion, her four eyes staring at her spider-like lower half. A quick grimace ran across her face, which she covered immediately with a sad smile.
“It's…been better. Getting through d-doors has been difficult, but things are getting better.” Fluttershy said, her voice quiet but with an underlying power. It was like something was humming the words she spoke, creating an eerie effect. Sunset simply nodded and smiled. It was then she felt a very familiar tugging. The sword at her hip was jerking backwards, towards the foyer. Sunset gestured to the group to follow her, and they headed back to the foyer. Fluttershy had some difficulty, but she did manage to get through the small door.
When they got the foyer, Sunset was met with a surprise. Where before the tree had only been as tall as her, now it had grown considerably. It was at least eight or nine feet tall, its branches pulsing…with a feeling? It felt right to look at the tree, like a weight was being taken off when she was near it. Not only that, there were two new glows around the tree.
The first wasn’t truly new, as it had been the glow that had led Sunset to Fluttershy. Now, like both Suns and the Star, it was glowing with that soft golden light. The other light was coming from the trio of Diamonds. It was a pale white, with a soft tint of blue. It was growing in strength, but it never hurt to look at. Just like before, Para vibrated more and more, in cadence with the light. When the light had lit the room up so much that no shadow existed, and the Sword was audibly rattling inside its scabbard, it suddenly cut out.
The tree no longer glowed with the pale white blue light, but instead the light originated from Para’s pommel. Just as when they journeyed to rescue Fluttershy, the sword was lightly pulling in a direction. From her best estimation, it was in pulling towards the north. Towards Canterlot City. Sunset looked back to the other two, and saw that Fluttershy was holding two bags.
“I p-prepared some travel bags for you. One for y-you, Sunset, and one for Celestia.” Fluttershy said with a slight stammer.
“Thank you, Fluttershy. Are you not bringing a bag?” Sunset asked.
“I t-though it would be better if I s-stayed here. Clean up and gather supplies. If I can do that?” Fluttershy said quickly, her voice weak and soft. Sunset sighed before nodding.
“Yes, you can stay here. Just make sure to stay safe.” Sunset responded, and she could see Fluttershy’s smile become more real.
“You too. S-stay safe, and promise that you’ll c-come back.” Fluttershy said, her voice relieved and urgent simultaneously.
“We will.”
Sunset Shimmer walked down one the roads that led throughout the town, and was in awe at the destruction that had been wrought. Maybe awe was the wrong word, as it was truly horrific. She had seen it before, when they went to rescue Fluttershy, but now that she was back she took the time to appreciate the true horror of the situation.
The most normal thing was the road, for it had only been shattered. Cracks ran up and down the street, and chunks of the road had been raised up or sunk down. Some of them formed outcroppings of at least five or six feet, and some the pits must have been three to four feet deep. Water collected in the holes, and Sunset made a conscious effort to avoid the holes. She was especially venerated when she witnessed small animals, she couldn’t tell what, wandering too close to one the holes. Tendrils surged out the water, grabbing the creature. Some of them wrapped around its small body, while others tore into spurts of blood. Sunset watched as the creature was slowly dragged kicking and screaming into the water.
Around the road were the occasional building, mostly ruined houses. While most of the houses were just destroyed, falling apart or rotting, a few had become home to other things. Clusters of vines slowly twisted around some of the houses, and now Sunset was granted a better look at them. They were thorned, the spike visibly dripping with some kind of toxin. They curled around skeletons and half rotted bodies, which upon realization of what they were caused her to gag. In other houses mist curled out of the windows and doors, only being stopped by the light from the mutated sky. While that cursed mist obscured all sight into the house, she swore she could hear sounds echoing from within the ruins.
It quickly became clear where the sword wished them to go. Creeping ever close was Canterlot City, and it had not been spared during the end. In fact, Sunset would argue that its proximity to the Tower had affected it even worse than other areas she had visited. The entire city had been twisted into some nightmare version of itself. She was grateful that she could only see some parts of the city, as it truly had become wrong.
Some of the skyscrapers had become flesh and bone, limbs jutting out and wrapping around other buildings. Others were still steel and glass, but they had grown, twisting at untarural angles. Parts of the buildings were simply gone, and above the gaps they continued as if nothing was wrong. Corridors bridged between the skyscrapers, but they looked as if they had been grafted on. Sunset could see things move in between the scrapers, almost like small flocks of birds.
She was snapped out of her musings when she saw Celestia stop in front of her. Her posture was rigid, and Sunset could hear a soft growl emanate from her. She stepped to the side of her former principal to find out why she had stopped, and her eyes grew wide. In front of them was bowl shaped depression, and she guessed that it had to be at least three hundred feet in diameter. Houses stood on either side of the hole, making it impossible to pass. They had to go through the depression. That was not what had surprised her, though.
In the middle of the depression a girl was kneeling over two bodies. She had long, bushy orange hair with a yellow stripe then ran through it. She was wearing a purple dress with a small pink jacket, pinking leggings, and she had two purple boots on. She was drenched with blood, mostly likely from the two bodies in front of her. One of the bodies had purple hair with lines of blue, and the other had blue hair with lines of purple. Both were definitely dead, and as Sunset approached, she could see that their necks had been torn open. Other bodies dotted the depression, the corpses unrecognizable from how they had been ripped apart.
The girl in the center was familiar, and Sunset struggled to remember her. Orange hair, purple clothes, a trio, a broken red gem necklace- Adagio Dazzle. The Sirens. Memories rushed back to Sunset, of a trio of girls who had used dark magic and song to cause grief and strife throughout the schools. She remembered a battle of the bands, of her friend group fighting amongst itself before solving their issue and using the magic of friendship to defeat the Sirens. Something was missing though, like a part of the memory refused to be accessible.
It didn't matter in comparison to her current situation, so she focused on the present. She drew Para, the sword ringing as it escaped its scabbard. It was glowing with both that pale white blue light, and mixture of scarlet and pink light. If this turned into a fight, and considering the corpse that littered the ground, magic would be very useful. She dropped the bag she had been carrying onto the ground, and helped Celestia drop her stuff as well.
It was when they were about ten or so feet away that Adagio began to move. It started with a single twitch that ripped through her body, and then another, until it looked like her body would rip itself apart. It was then that Sunset made the mistake of speaking.
“Adagio…?” As soon as the word had left her mouth, she knew she had made a mistake.
Adagio's head snapped upwards, and Sunset had to fight back a scream as she stared at it. Instead of a face, it was smooth skin, There were no eyes, no nose, or mouth. It was simply…flat. It was as if she was wearing a mask, but Sunset could tell that it melded completely with the rest of her head. The other thing she noticed was the claws on Adaigo’s hands. Or rather, claw. Where once there were hands now there was a single, bony claw that must have been two feet in length.
The thing that had once been Adagio let out a scream despite its lack of a mouth. It reverberated from its throat, echoing around the basin despite being muffled by the mask of skin. Sunset barely got Para up in time to parry the claw as came slamming down. The force of the blow threw her backwards, and the only reason she was spared from a follow up attack was Celestia.
Celestia let out her own roar before rushing at the siren. The noise drew Adagio’s attention, but it turned too late. Celestia’s claw raked down its side, drawing a roar from the creature. It counterattacked by slamming one its singular claws towards Celestia, but she battered it away with one her own. By this time Sunset had gotten back to her feet, and she could feel Para pull on her. It was no longer pulling towards the city, rather towards the mutated siren.
Memories washed though her, of a time before chaos and madness. Times where learning and study had dominated her life. When she had been a student to a princess. She remembered how magic was as ordered as the other races-the Pegasi and Earth Ponies believed. Even other Unicorns clung to the same old traditions that dated back for over thousands of years. Magic is not controlled by words or rituals, rather through will and intent. Those words simply let one focus their wishes more easily. Over time, unicorns had been taught to do magic in such a specific way that they needed “spells”. But the Princess didn’t, and as her student, she didn’t either.
Sunset summoned her magic from her very soul, and began to focus it. She aligned it with her intent, and used her will to push it though Para. The sword, instead of acting like a Unicorn’s horn and being a conduit for the magic, seemed to grab her magic. It grabbed and held for a second, interpreting her will. Sunset’s eyes widened for a second as she realized what was about to happen. Red energy surged up the blade, wrapping and flowing like rapids in a river. It collected at the tip of the sword, forming a scarlet orb of pure energy. Then the Energy roared.
Pure Crimson flame flew outwards, from a torrent of magical fire. Instead of the directed beam of fire Sunset had expected, a raging inferno of deep, red fire poured out of the blade. She could see the rock underneath the flames begin to char, and any plants that had existed were instantly transformed into ashes. Sweat beaded on Sunset’s face as she struggled to direct the insane amounts of energy flowing into the sword, the heat not doing her favors.
While the heat may have been bad for her, it was a lot worse for the mutated siren. Celestia saw and heard the inferno before Adagio could, and she only just managed to escape in time. Parts of her fur were burnt, and the ends of her flowing mane charred and cracked. The Siren got it much, much worse.
The thing was stuck dead on by the flames, and Sunset could hear its screams. Flames curled around its body, devouring whatever they could for fuel. Its hair was gone in an instead, and the bone scythes it had for claws became black and cracked. Sunset clamped down on the flow of the magic, and the fire died down. A couple flames still raged around her, but they were orange and yellow, natural fire started by the magical flames. She found herself surprised, as her magic reserves were only about half empty. Not only that, but she could feel them slowly refilling. That shouldn't be happening, as the leylines were-it moved.
In front of Sunset was something one could hardly call a body, much less a human. Ash and small flames licked the corpse, resulting in a thing that should have been dead. Yet, remarkably, unspeakably, impossibly the creature began to rise. It should have been dead, and despite the situation, that caused a bolt of nausea to rush up from her stomach. As it slowly, carefully, got to its feet, Sunset began to panic. As she saw the creature stumble towards her, Sunset felt it in her mind.
A pulse of power rang out like a bell chime across the wasteland. It was the same power that had caused the end, a horrible pressure against her mind. Images flashed through her head, of people kneeling on the streets, their flesh beginning to run like water. Something was different about this time, though. She felt wards in her mind begin to awaken, mental defenses she built years ago when times were much, much nicer. And then she felt another power move in response to the pulse. She felt it link into her mental wards, and curiously, that of Celestia’s.
The Power surged through her, and she quickly realized where it was coming from. Para, the ever magical sword, was amplifying her mental barriers before the coming wave. It raced through her mind, guided by her will and intent to protect. She could see Celestia stiffen as the sword’s energy coursed through them, sharing the mental barriers and strengthening them.
Despite this, the pulse still hit her mind like a tidal wave. It screamed over and around her, trying to smash through the wards she had created. As it swirled around her mind, she swore she could hear…words. They made no sense, and she could only manage to pick out a few.
…power….Dream Eater…forever more…Bow…Gurathanka’s…
The words hurt to think about, almost as if they were trying to escape her thoughts. It mattered not, as despite the pulse’s best effort, her mind did not break. Her wards, while burning with an almost eldritch energy, stood strong. It screamed out in rage one last time, before dissipating completely. She let out a sigh of relief, before she heard a crack and realized she had relaxed too soon.
While she and Celestia had been spared the wrath of the Pulse due to combined strength of her mental barriers, will, and Para’s power, it had not spared Adagio. The burnt and charred body of the once beautiful siren began to crack, and move. It slammed both its claws into the dead corpses of the sirens next to it, and Sunset watched with horror as the began to slide up the claws.
Her eyes widened, before she stumbled back and looked away. She would not, could not look at the horror and atrocity being committed in front of her. She felt a shadow pass over her, and she realized that Celestia had taken a position in front of her, trying to protect her from the coming horror. Sunset could still hear the cracking of bones and the wet, running sound of flesh as bodies were transformed into pure horror.
Eventually the sounds stopped, and Sunset could barely force her eyes upwards. As soon as she did, she immediately regretted it. There was nothing left that signaled that the creature had once been human (or a siren). It was tall, impossibly so, and it was so thin. In fact, the only thing connected to its six legs, now all formed into spikes of flesh and bone, was a single charred spinal cord. It reached ten or so feet easily, and there the true horror awaited. Its chest was a mess of all three rib cages, forming a protective plate around its vital organs. Its arms had been extended by the bones of the other sirens, creating two scythe-like claws that were as long as she was tall. On its back were two wing-like appendages, flowing in a nonexistent breeze. It had hair now, if you could call it hair. A tricolored bonfire existed on its head, mixing the colors of blue, yellow, and purple, but it looked sickly and wrong. In fact, most of it was on fire in some way or another, as if its transformation had incorporated the flames from Sunset’s assault. The worst thing about it was its face. It appeared to almost have three different heads, but they were conjoined from neck to ear. They were near faceless, with no eyes or noses. Rather, a single, horrible, mouth stretched from one side of the head to another. It was filled with sharp, spiked teeth, and its tongue was split like snakes.
Sunset couldn’t even scream, for the former siren, or more accurately, sirens were too horrible to look at. Then it turned its head towards them, and Sunset found her voice. She was running before she knew what was happening, narrowly avoiding the large claw of the creature. It let out a roar that echoed across the ruined city, the sound shaking the ground. As the creature turned to face Sunset, Celestia let out her own roar, but it could not compare to the sound the creature had made. Still, it did its job and drew the monsters' attention.
As Sunset took in the situation, she knew that this fight was unwinnable. She was too tired, and the monster too big, for them to win it. But as she held Para in her hands, a thought occurred to her. They didn’t have to win, merely escape. An old, ancient form of magic came to her mind. She made her decision just in time, as she heard a yelp on the other side of the bowl.
She looked over and saw that Celestia had been hit by the back end of one the scythe-like claws. It slammed into her, and easily threw her thirty of forty feet. Sunset dashed towards her, diving under one of the creature's claws. She now had it’s full attention, but it didn't matter. She needed to get to Celestia.
She barely avoided another claw when he but ten feet from the slumped form of her principal. The creature was playing with her now, she could tell that for certain. That was to her favor, she just-needed-to survive. She rolled across the last few, and landed right next to Celestia. Then she prepared all her magic for her next action. The surging from Para caused the creature to flinch and back away slightly, still wary from the flames.
Instead of fire, Sunset was preparing a very different type of magic. She grabbed ahold of Celestia with her free hand, and pushed her magic through the sword's blade. Then, with a flash of scarlet energy, they disappeared.
Sunset blinked as her eyes slowly adjusted to abrupt change. She took in the surrounding environment, and let out a sigh. It was a mixture of relief and pain. The creature that had once been the sirens was nowhere in sight, but they had a remarkably different problem. In front of Sunset, about ten feet or so, was a sickening high drop. The good news-they were in the city proper. The bad- They were on top of one of the skyscrapers.
To her relief, she felt a very familiar pull in her right hand. Para had begun to glow lightly again, not pink or scarlet, but that pale white blue. Weirdly enough, though she couldn't describe it, but it felt like they were close to their target. Her magic was nearly completely drained from the teleportation. It was slowly filling up, but it would be a few hours before her magic was ready to go.
Still, she was surprised. Teleportation required an intense amount of magic and control, so to manage one while in a fight and to get in the general area she wanted to go was amazing. Even more, to cross such a large distance was awe inducing. Teleporting required exponentially more magic the farther one wanted to travel, which only left the strongest unicorns, and the princess as viable users.
She felt Celestia stir behind her, still mildly out of the blow she had received. She had been hit hard, but it looked like nothing major had been hurt. Celestia might have a fun broken bones, but she would recover. Still, they would need to be careful. Celestia looked up at her, surprise in her eyes.
“We’re safe, at least for now.” Sunset told her, but Celestia could pick up on the exhaustion hidden in her voice. She was once the Principal of an entire high school, she had gotten good at reading people. Sunset could see Celestia look at her with concern, but Sunset tried to wave her away.
“I’m fine. Just magical exhaustion. It’ll go away soon.” Sunset lied. Magical exhaustion would last hours, but Sunset needed to find her friend. She couldn’t waste time now. Celestia gave her a look that said she did not believe her, but she wouldn’t force the issue. They needed to continue.
Sunset looked towards the direction that Para was pulling her, and was relieved to find a rooftop stairwell, one that led deeper into the skyscraper. As she moved closer to inspect it, she found that it still had a lock attached to the door. A swing of Celestia’s claw made quick work of the door, and they ventured inside.
It was surprisingly normal, at least considering the surrounding environment. They reached the top floor of the skyscraper, and were met with their first abnormality. It was a hallway that definitely stretched outside the physical limits of the building. Doors and branch paths were countless amongst the wall, and then they would have been hopelessly lost if not for Para. The sword helped guide them throughout the quickly increasing maze, and after they passed a window she began to piece together how this place worked. The window was very different from what she had expected. It was from the ground floor of a skyscraper, despite the fact that they had just been on top of one. They had only moved down one floor.
This place not only messed with some of her senses, but it appeared that all the rooms and floors of the city were connected. The floor they had entered from the staircase must have been the ground floor of a different building, and they hadn’t realized that they were entering a different building. It appeared that it was the doors that had become connecting pieces, however. Windows and damage in the walls lead to the proper outside, at least according to the laws of physics.
Para led them around a bend, and they were confronted with their first horror since the sirens. Luckily, it appeared to be a stationary object, rather than a creature. It was a door, or rather, it had been or. Now it was made of flesh and bone, and she could see veins running up and down the door. Unfortunately for them, Para was pulling straight into the door. Sunset, with some disgust and a more than a little hesitation, pushed open the door. It opened with a wet squish, and Sunset tried not to gag. The air in the room was hot, and humid.
The room past the door was a hallway, and it followed the same theme as the door. It was made of flesh, muscle, and bone. Veins, much larger than the one in the door, coursed through the hallway. Everystep she took was disgusting, and she was suddenly very thankful for the shoes she wore. She could see Celestia grimacing with every step of her paw, and she shuddered. This whole hall was disgusting.
They continued on through the hallway, moving as quickly as they could on the gruesome floor. Paras glow helped make it slightly more bearable, but it was just that, slightly bearable. They took a few turns, and thankfully, found themselves back in the normal buildings. Their path took them up and down floors, past lefts and rights, and even though a few more of those horrible fleshy hallways. Eventually they found themselves at the door, and Sunset stopped. She could feel it, emanating from the sword, that this was their destination. It was a door to the outside, to an indoors garden.
Sunset pushed open the door, and she met with a blinding light. The sun was beaming down, somehow piercing the multicolored skies. It was refreshing, and quite honestly, peaceful. It was a place unlike any other in waste, save the Crystal Tree. It was a respite from the hell outside, an oasis.
The sword had directed them to this room, so somewhere in this room was one of her friends. She moved past the flora, looking for anything out of the ordinary. There was a flock of birds nesting on one of the trees, but there were no obvious monsters. She circled the room once, twice, before stopping and looking towards Celestia. Celestia simply shrugged her shoulders, having found no evidence of any person turned beast in the room.
Sunset looked towards Para, and she realized that it was still pulling her hand. She followed slowly, and it led her to a tree. She looked around the tree, finding nothing, before looking upwards and towards the branches. It was the same tree with birds nesting in it. Since she was closer, however, she could see that these were no ordinary birds. They were made of pure, pale white-blue crystal.
Sunset paced underneath the sun, and she was surprised to see that it hadn’t moved at all. They must have been there for an hour, atleast. Despite all this time, they hadn’t figured out how to reach the birds. Every Time they tried to get close, the birds flew up and away from them, eventually nesting in another tree. Every time, Sunset could feel Para pull her towards the new tree. At least that confirmed that the birds, or one of the birds, was her friend.
Celestia slumped near one of the koi ponds, which were curiously absent of any koi. They had rightly reasoned that if Sunset couldn’t get near them, Celestia would have even less of a chance. Every time the birds flew around, they always avoided the place where Celestia sat. Like prey avoiding a predator. If only Fluttershy were here, she was so good with animals. But Fluttershy hadn’t come, so they would have to make due. She was Sunset Shimmer, once the Loyal student of Princess Celestia, she would see this done. She would free her friend.
She absentmindedly played with her necklace, and a thought raced across her mind. Her necklace had the power of Empathy. She could see memoires, and even her thoughts. It was how she had freed Celestia, perhaps it would aid her here. With one hand holding Para, and the other her necklace, she approached the birds.
They stared at her, warily watching her to see if she would try to climb the tree again. She got up right to the base of the tree, and began to call on her magic. She was immediately slammed with a wave of magical exhaustion, but she powered through it. She felt the magic begin to course through the sword, and then into her necklace. It warmed up in her hands, and I could hear them. The thoughts of the birds ran across her mind, but they were simple, single word thoughts.
Survive. Food. Things. Human. Predator? No. Friend? No. Human. Fear. Survive. Must Survive. Please.
Sunset immediately grabbed a hold of the last thought. It was different from the other ones, in a way she couldn’t really tell. It felt more…powerful. As if there was something more behind the thought. She could feel the thought try to slip away from her mental grasp, but she clamped down on it. She blinked, and found herself somewhere else.
She was standing in some sort of lake, or maybe an ocean? Inch deep water covered the land for as the eyes could see, no land or rock marring the still surface. The sky was a dark black, and while there was no sun or stars she could still see. In fact, the watery surface appeared to be reflecting some sort of light. It was silvery, further amplifying the stillness of the landscape. She looked around, every movement causing small ripples in the water.
Eventually her eyes landed on something in the horizon. It was too far to truly make out what it was, but it almost looked like a forest. Sunset began to walk towards it, the trees growing ever bigger. She did not know how long she walked, time didn’t really make sense in this place. When she reached the forest, she was surprised. The trees weren’t that big, in fact, they only came up to her hips. They glowed with that same silvery light that reflected off the water. There was something that caught her attention, though. In the center of the grove was a tree that was taller than the others, reaching up to twice her height.
Something strange was happening. Every Time she touched one of the small trees, she heard a voice. They were the same voices she had heard before, from the collection of birds. Survive. Food? Play? No. Safe. They continued on and on, each a single word. There was no complexity to any of them. Eventually she reached the tree in the center, and she laid her hand on the base of the large tree. At once, all the simple thoughts from before came crashing into her. They bombarded her, but she stood tall against them. She pushed through them, and eventually found a lone thought at the end.
“Please. Please, someone help me.”
“Rarity? I’m here. I’m here to help you.”
“Sunset? Darling, is that you? Are you really here this time?”
“Yes, Rarity. I’m here. I know that this is weird, and probably a little scary, but I need you to trust me. Take my hand.” With that though, Sunset did her best to hold out the mental equivalent of a hand. She could feel Rarity hesitate for a second, before she grabbed her hand. Sunset held it tightly, and then pulled.
Sunset blinked, and found that she was laying on her back in the atrium. Looking straight into her eyes, perched on her forehead, was a small crystal bird. It blinked a few times, before opening its beak.
“Sunset? What in the world has happened? Whats…What's happened to me?” The words spoken by the crystal bird were definitely that of Rarity’s voice, but it sounded like multiple Raritys were speaking at once. It was an eerie and trippy effect.
“I don’t know exactly what has happened to you, but I do know why.” Sunset said as she slowly climbed to her feet. She pointed out the windows that dotted the side of the wall. In the distance, almost hiding behind the other skyscrapers, was the Tower. “We need to rescue the ‘Bearers of Harmony’, and destroy that Tower to end this apocalypse.”
“Darling…I don’t mean to offend, but how exactly do you know this?”
Sunset couldn’t just say that a person from her dreams told her that, despite all the insanity. Or…maybe she could?
“The man who gifted me this sword, Para, told me. It’s how I found you.” Sunset said, causing the flock of the crystal birds to look at the sword, then at Sunset. The main bird, the largest one, the one on her forehead, did its best to frown. Turns out frowning, or smiling, with a beak is quite difficult. Still, it got the intended message across.
“Well then. Do you have somewhere safer to go? I’ve gotten quite sick of this place.”
Sunset froze. Para had guided them to Rarity, and now it’s pull had stopped. The three of them were kind of lost in the maze of conjoined rooms. Unless… Sunset took Para in right hand and prepared to ask a question.
As if the sword already knew what she was about to ask, it started glowing again. This time, with a soft pink light. Through Sunset’s physical and mental connection to the sword, she swore she could hear it sigh. Then she felt that familiar pull, the one that would lead them home.
“See? It’ll all work out in the end.” Sunset said to Rarity, who simply gave a small chuckle. Sunset called out to Celestia, who jolted awake and looked towards Sunset and the Sword, along with the horde of crystal birds circling around them. With sword in hand, Sunset would lead them home.
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That’s a thing?
Looks like he never got over the bullying.
That’s pretty interesting.
Interesting to know.
Is she a tree? Fluttershy would be jealous.
Is it leading them back to fluttershy?