Sunset Shimmer - The Princess of Lordran

by ratedoni

First published 7th of July, 2016

The Elements of Harmony didn't just purify Sunset Shimmer, they killed her and send her to the worse place any being would want to be, the world of Dark Souls. Will Sunset crumble or she will be the Chosen Undead?

Part of The Destiny of the Ancients

We all know how it went; Sunset turned into a demon, the Elements purified her and later on she became the lovable human that we know. Except that this time some outside force changed the outcome, this time Sunset did not survive the purification. Sunset Shimmer was killed and thrown into the dangerous realm of Dark Souls.

Finding herself in the Undead Asylum, Sunset must survive the gruesome tests in her way to either save the world, or doom the Age of Fire into darkness, but is it all so simple and who is this mysterious white robed figure that seems to be so focused on Sunset?

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the girls battle their own guilt and egos while the portal now closes and functions as a Scrying Mirror, being witnesses to the suffering and accomplishments of the redheaded undead. They will find themselves awed of what this lone figure can do by herself.

But who is moving all these strings? What is the purpose? Does it have bigger ramifications? Keep on reading to find out what will happen in Sunset's road to become the Princess of Lordran.

Previously part of The Many Destinies of Sunset Shimmer

Edited by: XIII Hearts (thank you buddy)

Also, if anyone could find or make a better cover for this tory I'll be forever grateful.

What did the Elements do? (Edited version)

It was done, it was over. Once again the Elements of Harmony were victorious, this time not against a powerful monster bent on the destruction of Equestria, but a young girl that had been influenced by the dark side of magic.

Sighing once, the young princess landed and with one last look to her new friends walked in the direction of the small crater left behind by the powerful artifact that was once again on top of her head; she knew what she had to do. Offer a hand in friendship. It was what they have done before and she knew it was the right choice.

But what she found inside left her cold and senseless. Instead of a young girl there was nothing but rocks and dirt; that couldn’t be. Never before had the elements reduced her enemies into nothing.

Quickly moving her gaze from the crater to the large satellite in the sky, Princess Twilight Sparkle almost prayed for the visage of a pony in the surface of the moon. It was wrong of her to think like that, but everything would be better to the other possibility. But the moon was not the answer this time; its surface devoid of any figure, just a plain face like any other time she had looked at it since arriving to this world.

The other students watched the way Princess Twilight crumbled and began to cry, they then soon got closer to observe the reason why and they all understood the reason.

Sunset Shimmer was dead, and it was at their hands.

She may have not been a welcomed presence at school, maybe they had secretly wished she would disappear or die, but it was simply simple wishing. Being witness of the fact that the teenager indeed was destroyed by magic was another; none of them felt like celebrating.

-----

Twilight sat for a long time crying at the steps of the school. Some students tried going back to the gym to continue the festivities, but none of them felt any desire to party; the rest simply started their journey home not quite sure of what to say while five girls accompanied Twilight outside school, all of them with their own thoughts.

“You shouldn’t feel bad my dear, none of us could have seen something of this magnitude happening. Magic in general is not quite our forte,” Rarity tried to console her new friend even though a deep feeling of shame and regret began to bloom inside her heart. Something like a feud about a high school dance and election seemed childish now considering the other party involved had been killed with your help.

“But that’s not how the Elements work! They never kill, they always try to find the good in someone and bring it to the surface. The most they have done is turn a chaotic creature into stone and Sunset was no chaotic creature!” Twilight said still feeling a little bit of the hysteria that had invaded her not too long ago.

“Ah don’t really know much about this fancy magic that ya can use, but Ah can tell you this. All the bad things Sunset said she would do at the end, she was just bluffing. She never had intention to do it.”

"How are you so sure Applejack?" the fashionista asked her old friend, to which Applejack simply shrugged.

"Ah don't know, it just feels like it. It’s a gut instinct if ya ask me."

“I believe you Applejack. I could see it in her eyes when she put on the crown; it was painful for her to transform, she wasn’t in control at the end,” Twilight said with her head on her hands, knowing that the responsibility landed squarely on her shoulders.

“Everyone… there’s something happening to the statue,” the usually quiet voice of Fluttershy resounded around the front gates taking the trio of girls out of their ruminations. They ran in the direction of the shy girl knowing that whatever was happening must have been serious.

And then they saw it. The side that contained the portal back home to Twilight was shimmering and twisting, as if the magic itself was being molded. In a panic the princess tried to reach out for the portal but an invisible force pushed back sending her flying into the grass much to the surprise of the rest of the girls.

Rainbow and Pinkie helped the pony turned human to her feet as the rest of the Elements of Harmony watched the portal become stable once again, but instead of a clear surface, this time it began to reflect something else.

“Is that… a hallway?” Rarity asked noticing the stone walls and torches lighting up the long corridor. The girls then flinched back at the thin body of a corpse leaning against one wall, then they all took a step back in fright when the corpse began to move now clearly showing that it was alive.

“The portal is now… some kind of scrying mirror. This is amazing!” the princess exclaimed making everyone even more amazed at what was going on.

“You don’t think that this mirror is trying to find Sunset?” the, so far quiet, pink haired girl said surprising everyone. She hadn’t talked or did anything except support the others. It was a start, they thought.

“I… I’m not sure. I never really looked deep into that kind of magic, but it is a possibility,” Twilight said, peering deeper into the mirror which began to focus on the end of the hallway past more walking corpses. Finally, the end of the hallway was shown and inside the last cell door they were able to see a lone figure, wearing a long hood and robe. Its hands looked thin and frail, the face had its eyes sunken and seemed more dead than alive, but there was no doubt, this creature was Sunset Shimmer.

She was very tired, and felt herself nearly losing the last vestiges of her sanity. She didn’t know how long she had been inside the cell, if it had been mere days, or if she had been inside for months. Time here seemed something without meaning. The usually cocky and confident girl had been ripped apart by both the elements of harmony and complete isolation. She didn’t know if she was even alive anymore; she hadn’t felt hungry or thirsty since she appeared inside this cell. Maybe it was all part of some eternal and unusual punishments by Harmony.

Just as this thought had went through her head she heard a noise, something different than the usual rumbling steps and groaning. It was as if something had been dragged and as that something fell into her cell she understood what was going on.

Looking upwards Sunset saw a figure in full metal armor looking down at her before disappearing from sight, only leaving behind the corpse which Sunset began to inspect. Inside its rags she only found two things; the remnants of what was once a sword and a key, the latter making a smile appear on her face, though it was not a nice sight for the five girls watching from another universe. Seeing the ghoul-like Sunset Shimmer smile brought some deep fear from them considering the near zombie like features of the once beautiful girl.

Not knowing that her steps were being monitored Sunset opened her cell, and with one step she finally found herself free without realizing that her long pilgrimage was just merely beginning; not knowing that this was just the first step for the future Princess of Lordran.

The Undead Asylum (Edited)

All the girls standing in front of the statue felt their heartbeats increase watching Sunset use the rusted key and step out of her cell. The dark corridor and the bodies looking like corpses were the only welcome that the redhead had. It was a desolate feeling that she had as she took short steps along the stone floor, being wary of the rest of the inmates.

For their part, the girls watching the mirror flinched at the spectacle in front of them; how the few creatures residing on that nightmarish place looked empty and hollow, not knowing how important that last word was in the world Sunset set foot on.

“I hope Sunset wasn’t teleported into one of those movies Dashie loves!” the so far quiet and taciturn Pinkie Pie said surprising the rest of the girls. It had been proof of how much depression, guilt and despair the six girls had been feeling over the possible death of the defeated bully that none of the others had even reacted to Pinkie’s now straight hair.

“Ah hope not, she may have been a pain in the ass but Ah don’t wish that kind of fate to Sunset,” the farm girl answered back without taking her eyes from the screen. Seeing Sunset turn her face to one of the broken bars and the body impaled on them, then they all saw what had caused the impalement.

Sunset gasped in fear and put as much distance as she could to the open window, her back now getting cooled by the stone as her eyes widened at the spectacle mere feet from her. The rest of the girls saw the creature too and couldn’t blame Sunset for reacting in that way. After all, a monster of those proportions would scare everyone. It was a demon; there was no other name to call it. A winged demon as tall as a building and holding a hammer that would crush anyone either by an attack or due to sheer size and weight.

“Okay, it’s official, she is not in a zombie movie,” Rainbow Dash said holding a frightened and whimpering Fluttershy as they all observed the abomination walking circles in its small chamber. Then Sunset began to move once again in search of an exit or anything at all.

“You don’t think that we… sent her to hell?” A nervous Rarity asked to her friends, but they didn’t have an answer, afraid of the truth if indeed that was the destination of Sunset. Thankfully, Twilight Sparkle answered their doubts without moving her eyes from the scrying mirror.

“She wasn’t sent to Tartarus. She’s obviously in another world. I don’t think this Hell of yours has buildings of that kind. Besides, we already saw that Knight so it’s probably a world more in tune with mine.” Twilight only told them her hypothesis to calm them down because she had no way of knowing if it was true, but at least she knew that Sunset wasn’t destroyed. They just had to see more to be sure of it.

Sunset for her part wasted little time on walking away from that corridor and began to ascend up a ladder, hopefully close to an exit, but the only thing that appeared to welcome her was an empty courtyard with a sword in the middle and ashes around it. There was something beckoning Sunset to it and as she got closer she felt better, as if life finally throbbed through her veins. With that quick rest she found two doors, one made of metal on the right but seemed to be locked, and a huge set of doors at the north that made her way.

“Do you think that’s the exit?”

“Ah think whoever made that building didn’t make those doors just for decoration,” Applejack answered back just as Sunset began to push with all of her strength on the doors, finally getting enough space to get inside another courtyard. The sight before her however was a big letdown. She finally thought she had escaped that nightmarish place, only to be greeted by another set of doors; this one even bigger than the set she had just opened.

Sunset slowly trudged to the doors, but unfortunately something else had another idea in mind. A shadow descended over the open room, followed by a creature crashing with enough strength to shake the whole place. Gasps of terror resounded throughout the girls as they took in the sight of the creature; a demon that they had the unpleasantry of bearing witness to just a few minutes ago.

“It’s the same demon!” Fluttershy screamed in terror, while inwardly thankful that she was only just looking at it through the screen. She would’ve fainted if she ever saw the demon in real life.

“No, this one’s smaller, not that it makes a difference.” Twilight continued watching the confrontation, feeling apprehension at the sight of the minuscule Sunset having to fight against that monster.

For her part Sunset knew that the only weapon that she had was a broken hilt. It would barely scratch the skin of that creature, let alone doing any actual damage. She needed to think of a plan fast. Unfortunately the demon wouldn’t allow her that and began its assault. She barely had time to roll back to avoid the first hammer strike, but couldn’t avoid the next attack, sending her crashing against the stone pillars; her scream resonating through the room and constricting the hearts of those who hours ago had condemned her to that reality.

Sunset felt as if her ribs - scratch that, as if her whole torso - was shattered by the power behind the hammer. She began to lose consciousness, barely making out the form of the demon as it closed in. Even if Sunset had found the energy to get back up after such a hit, she wouldn’t have been able to avoid her imminent death. The demon took its hammer and, after raising it above its head, slammed it down upon Sunset, the hit strong enough to shake the foundations of the Asylum. Blood was splattered in all directions, with nothing more than a pile of blood and guts staining the area where Sunset was in her final moments. The sight of such gruesome display was enough to make Fluttershy scream and Rarity faint.

“No… she’s dead… that demon killed her,” Twilight could only whisper while Pinkie, Rainbow and Applejack simply stared in silence at the remains of the redhead. They knew the girl had to pay for all those years of bullying, but this was too much. It was beyond excessive, and they were the ones responsible for this cruelty.

Then a gasp from both Twilight and the other side of the mirror took them from their thoughts, and upon seeing the sight Twilight saw, reacted in the same manner. There, sitting up at the previous bonfire, was Sunset Shimmer, once again complete... and still looking like death, but very much alive and no injury present.

“I’m… I’m back, but… he killed me,” Sunset said in complete surprise before getting up and taking a look at the other side of the doors. The demon was still there, wandering around the room as if searching for Sunset Shimmer, who now having more time saw what could be the only way to avoid another confrontation with the demon; a human sized door on the left wall. Preparing herself, she then took off in a mad dash in the direction of the door, hearing one stone pillar crumble into pieces behind her as the demon missed its target. Without looking backwards Sunset jumped through the door before a metal gate fell down behind her, making it impossible for anyone to follow her.

Taking a few seconds to recover her breath, Sunset finally began to walk through the dark corridors, making sure to light up another bonfire as she continued to make her way through this forsakened prison. She was sure that her miraculous recovery was product of these strange things.

Taking a turn through a corner she saw an arrow strike the wall just inches from her face. The guilty party was another walking corpse shooting arrows and guarding the only walkway. A quick look later and Sunset saw a destroyed cell and made a run for it, barely dodging an arrow much to the relief of the other girls, who had no idea of how Sunset could be walking again. Maybe it had something to do with her new look.

Sunset found another dead body inside the cell, but this one was not empty handed. It had what Sunset could only call the remains of an old wood shield, but it was better than nothing. Carefully moving out of the cell with the shield up, she felt the sharp head of the arrow bounce back on her shield, the impact shaking her arm. The creature then turned around and began running away, as if knowing its attacks were useless now. Sunset began to chase the creature, then she saw another body in the floor, this one holding something that made Sunset grin. She then threw away the useless weapon she had and in exchange she was the proud owner of a beautiful hand axe.

Walking up the stairs in the next room she quickly showed the archer how much she liked being armed. Watching the way the redhead was using that hand axe made the girls flashback to Sunset using the sledgehammer with ease. Looking at the creature being hit directly in the head, practically breaking in half its head, they were really happy that Sunset never found axes interesting in the past.

Oscar and the Asylum Demon (Edited)

Sunset put one foot on the kneeling corpse and with a mighty push she dislodged her axe from its skull. The contents, a mass of rotten goo that left the girls in another world gagging at the display, began to gather on the stone floor much to the curiosity of the warrior. She didn’t know she had it in her to be able to hit with that much strength.

Shrugging her shoulders she then took notice of the bizarre fog that seemed to be gathering in the threshold of what could possibly be an important part of the building where she had been imprisoned.

“Well, I died once, what’s one more… hopefully it wasn’t a weird one time deal. Here goes nothing,” Sunset said under her hood before slowly walking inside, and like that the fog dispersed and she found herself at the top floor of the room with the first bonfire she had lighted.

Scanning around the floor, she found two different staircases. One going up and another down, possibly directing to the same metal door she had found in the lower level. Knowing that the only way she hasn’t seen yet was up, she then took a step on the stairs and then she stopped.

Meanwhile, at the other side of the mirror, the girls had helped Rarity wake up after the gory view of Sunset being flattened by a hammer. The fashionista would swear that she would dream with that image. But right now, unlike the other girls, she was not confused by the actions of the redhead. She had always had eye for details and hidden things and understood perfectly why Sunset had stopped at the first step.

“That’s a trap,” she simply said while the others turned their heads on her direction. Thankfully she was more than used to being the center of attention from time to time and she simply pointed at the top of the stairs. “Don’t you see that huge ball? I’m sure that once Sunset goes up the ball will come down and… well, we all saw what happened last time with Sunset,” she said shivering at mentioning that moment.

“Like that time in Daring Do, when she was escaping the Zebrican Jungle Temple,” Rainbow said with all present knowing how much she enjoyed those adventure books and accepting the comparison. Meanwhile Twilight was pleasantly surprised that this Rainbow was as much of a fan of Daring Do as the one of her universe.

As one they all then put their attention to the image of Sunset finally beginning to ascend the stairs, cautiously placing one foot after the other, until the movement of the ball signaled for Sunset to roll to the right, quickly aligning herself in the right direction to avoid any unnecessary damage. The sound of the heavy ball impacting and subsequently destroying the wall was the only thing of importance. Something inside her told her to check the small room that had been opened by the rock, and thus went to investigate.

Inside the moldy and wet room Sunset gasped at what was inside; a person wearing a very familiar set of armor lying down on what seemed rubble from the destroyed roof. The knight must have been smashed through the roof. Was that why that huge demon fell from the sky? Was it fighting this knight on the roof?

Not wasting any time Sunset walked to his side and this one turned his head in her direction, his face hidden beneath the heavy helmet.

“Oh, you... You're no Hollow, eh? Thank goodness,” he said, with some degree of relief present in his voice

“Hollow?” Sunset questioned. “What’s that? I just know that when I woke up I was already in a cell.”

“You don’t know what you are? Then you truly have bad luck my child… This place is the Undead Asylum, and only the dead walk through its halls. Those that were found with the Dark Sign on them are hauled and dump in this forsaken place… I’m so sorry, one as young as you should not have to suffer due to it,” the knight said making Sunset gulp, suddenly very weak and at the same time very awake now understanding more of her current situation.

Meanwhile, the six girls were dumbstruck by the declaration of the knight about the current form of Sunset Shimmer. Pinkie would have pumped her fist up while saying that she was right, Sunset WAS a zombie, but after tonight she would have found that reaction infuriating considering that a person she knew was suffering, and to be honest, Pinkie herself was starting to feel pity of the victim of such state.

“I see… so that’s why I survived… I’m Sunset Shimmer.”

“And I am Oscar of Astora. Under other conditions this would have been an honor, but alas, my time has come. Soon I will die and become a hollow, just like the rest in the Asylum. You should leave soon. I don’t want to see you hurt because of me.”

“I’m sorry… and thank you for saving me.”

“It was nothing, I saw the way you suffered inside your cell and noticed that despite your appearance, there was still hope for you… Before you leave, would you hear me out, for one final request, Sunset Shimmer?” Oscar asked her and without a doubt Sunset nodded at his request. Once upon a time, before being transported to this place, Sunset would have laughed at the situation of the knight. Now she could do nothing but help lessen the suffering of someone that had helped her in the midst of the darkness.

“Of course. If I can help you, please let me do it,” the redhead said while the knight took something from a bag at his side.

“Regrettably, I have failed in my mission... But perhaps you can keep the torch lit... There is an old saying in my family... Thou who art Undead, art chosen... In thine exodus from the Undead Asylum, maketh pilgrimage to the land of Ancient Lords... When thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, the fate of the Undead thou shalt know... Well, now you know.”

“The Bell of Awakening… if I find it once I get out of here I will do it” she said, then she tried to stand up before Oscar’s hand took her by the arm.

“Wait, before you go, you should take this. It’s called an Estus Flask, an undead favorite if I have my information right… Also, take my key. It will help you get back to the bonfire below.”

“Yeah, I saw the door before. Thank you Oscar.”

“Don’t thank me yet Sunset Shimmer. That demon may be powerful, but the road ahead of you is even more dangerous… I see that you are ill equipped. Tell me, where did you found that sorry excuse of a shield?”

“I found it on a body. I don’t seem to have the luxury of being picky at the moment, though this thing looks like it’ll break at any time.”

“That is not good… Here, take my shield. I don’t think I’ll be needing it anymore,” he said, taking the crescent blue shield on his arm and presenting it to a jaw-slacked Sunset. She took it in both hands while throwing aside the cracked wood shield and, with the Crest shield on her left arm, she somehow felt almost complete. It was an odd sensation.

“Thank you Oscar… I will find the Bell for you,” Sunset said before getting up this time and walking out of the hole. At the first step of the stairs she heard a sound that chilled her bones; the sound of a sword stabbing something and then a body hitting the floor. She, like the girls watching, felt pain at the loss of a human life, someone that she had barely met and just like that had to say goodbye.

“Sunset… you were truly cleansed by the elements, now you feel kindness. I don’t know if this is a test or something like that, but you didn’t deserve this suffering,” Princess Twilight Sparkle whispered in a low voice, not wanting to interrupt the mourning of her friends. It was weird too, to feel pain and to mourn the death of someone you have never met but you knew that it was important to do it because that person was once alive.

Meanwhile, Sunset was not mourning. On the contrary, she was furious. She was beyond mad. This had now become personal for her. Ascending the stairs, she found herself face to face with the culprit of the boulder. She then blocked the slow strike by the hollow and struck it down with her axe. She found herself surprised at the ease in which she was capable of using the shield alongside her axe.

She then quickly dispatched of the next two hollows that tried to attack her in the next open hallway and dodged a slow arrow by another archer. She then quickly got behind it and with two smashes of her axe it went tumbling to the floor. Sunset ignored the fog wall and instead walked into the next room, finding a new type of hollow, this one with what truly resembled armor, shield and a functional sword.

“Well, seems that you won’t be that easy to deal with,” Sunset said to herself before getting ready to combat, but just as the hollow trusted his sword at her she did a quick sweep with her left arm completely countering the sword and apparently shocking the undead. She then used the opening to quickly strike down the hollow with two quick smashes of her axe into his side, “.... or not… I even surprised myself.”

Sunset didn’t feel ready. She probably wouldn’t be ready if she waited a lifetime, but this was something she needed to do. If not for her then for the knight that had given her freedom she said to herself mentally before walking through the fog door, ending up on a small balcony, and there it was. Right beneath her feet was the demon that caused the death of Oscar.

“You killed me once and you killed him…never again you fatass!” Sunset all but screamed the last word while she jumped over the small balcony, both hands doing a vertical strike with the axe. What was most surprisingly, however, was that the blade of the weapon seemed to be radiating small red particles, as if it was feeding on Sunset’s rage.

Sunset falling through the air caused the six girls to hold their breath until the moment the axe made contact with the head of the Asylum Demon, striking him with great power, and causing equal amount of damage apparently due to the scream and howls that the creature released, before grabbing Sunset with one hand and sending her flying against the farthest wall.

Rolling around and recovering after her daredevil maneuver, Sunset stood to her feet seeing the demon covering his head, striking wildly in his blindness. Sunset knew this would be her only chance. Gripping her axe with both hands she began to run in the direction of the demon, rolled under a hammer strike and slashed the belly of the monster finally sending it to the floor where it turned into particles of light. The only thing remaining was a key of peculiar shape.

The victorious warrior then felt something warm come to her and paradoxically she found a weirdly shaped object floating on the palm of her hand. It looked as if someone had slashed reality and the black infinite void could be seen through it. Curious indeed.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash were the ones that screamed the loudest of the six as they all celebrated the victory of Sunset while they continued watching how the axe warrior opened the heavy doors of the Asylum and was finally free, just to feel once again dragged down by what they all saw; nothing but mountains in all directions. No road, no exit… until a crow, black as the night, flew in suddenly grabbing Sunset by its shoulders and taking her to the place she was needed the most.

The Land of the Ancient Lords.
The place where the chosen undead was destined to fight for and conquer.
The kingdom that will one day rival Equestria in power and greatness.
The kingdom of the Princess of Lordran.

The First Night (Edited)

Watching the raven suddenly appear and take Sunset on its claws had made the girls jump in slight fright. Although considering everything that Sunset had gone through in the Asylum, this was nothing. At the very least, they would probably be immune to all scary movies for the rest of their lives.

The six finally breathed easily once the image on the statue began to clear away and in its place there was once again a clean surface; no mirror, no portal at the end. It was a weird sensation for Twilight. After all the portal was her only route to where she could go back home, to her own friends and family, her own obligations and where the crown was more relevant than a simple teenage dance and high school popularity.

It felt weird. She knew very well that the portal was not working anymore but still felt surreal to touch the stone surface of the statue base. She knew she should feel sadness, even some depression, but right now she was barely winding down from the rollercoaster that was Sunset’s first step into the world she had all but helped throw her in.

Twilight knew that no matter what she would have the image of Sunset lying under the hammer, her body torn apart and her blood splattering everywhere imbedded on her mind. She would probably dream with it tonight, if she ever went to sleep.

“Oh no, Twilight, the portal is not…” Fluttershy couldn’t finish the sentence as she put her hands over her mouth, then the rest of the girls also saw the smooth concrete base be as unyielding as every day and they all understood.

“But it’s not possible. The moon is still up. Shouldn’t it be open until next morning or something like that? You told us it works with moon cycles.”

“That’s true Rarity; it should be open. But it seems that whatever happened with the Elements of Harmony and its power just… closed the portal, or maybe it changed its properties so we would be able to see what happened with Sunset. I’m not sure, and frankly I feel too tired tonight to get to a conclusion,” the princess told her friends as they all turned and began to look each other, silently asking who will take care of the pony turned human.

As one they all put their attention on Applejack. She silently sighed knowing well why she was the perfect candidate. She was the only one that had enough space in her house and there were no crazy antics, no younger siblings that created shenanigans (Apple Bloom by herself was way more tame than Sweetie Belle would ever be) and it was in a nice enough area. Also she was the only one with her own transport; but before she could open her mouth to offer some assistance the sound of something burning caught their attention.

Turning around to the statue something began to appear on its side, almost as if the letters were being burned on it. The girls put their attention to it and saw a message slowly being burned into the stone.

The mirror will open.
Once the ruler finds her crown.
Let those guilty see their actions.
The stage for Faith is upon us.

-----

There wasn’t much talk inside the pickup truck as Twilight watched the world go by through the window. For his part Spike continued to slumber, this time on Twilight’s lap. That he had been asleep for the duration of Sunset’s disappearance was a testament to how tired the little doggie was and Spike’s propensity to deep slumber.

The princess felt a little bad that she had all but forgotten about Spike in the aftermath of the mirror message. It had taken Fluttershy, always the animal lover, to remind her of her small assistant.

Absentmindedly petting him as he kept sleeping helped Twilight calm down, but she still felt her brain working a mile an hour, or as fast as it could considering how exhausted she felt at the moment.

Applejack noticed that. She too felt tired, but being raised among farmers and her constant visits to other members of the Apple clan’s farms made the blond girl a tough cookie when it came to late nights and tiring labor.

“Still thinking about that weird thingy in the statue?”

“I… I don’t know what to make of it. It’s so fascinating but leaves more doubts than answers for me. Who wrote that? What happened with the portal? Am I… am I ever going to go back home?” That last question was the one that was in the head of the group and Applejack knew that it was something she didn’t have an answer for. She tried to think what she would do in her place and found herself with a sadness so deep that it scared her. She knew that she was nothing without her family. After all, it was what made her… well herself.

“Don’t worry Twi, we’ll find a way to get ya back home.”

“Thank you Applejack… but truthfully, I’m more worried about Sunset.”

“Yeah… can’t believe Ah would say this about that gal, but Ah sure hope she finds a way back home… Tell me something Twi, is the world Sunset is in anything like your own world?”

“Oh no, we may have some dark magic and dangerous monsters but those are few and between. I don’t think there’s anything as dark and dangerous in Equestria. Not even Discord could do something like that. Even when he tried to take over, he went for the wacky and insane instead of death and destruction.”

“Nice to know. So… think we will find more about Sunset? Ah mean, the portal is not working so how are we supposed to check on her?”

“You know what? I have a feeling that whoever is behind all this, be it the elements or someone else, will let us know very soon… I just hope Sunset is fine wherever she is.” It was quite the day if Applejack agreed to it when talking about Sunset. The usual bully may not have been a constant thorn on her side, but she was someone that knew how to make Applejack’s blood boil. Then all this happened, and now she found herself waiting for the return of Sunset, or at least to see her well.

‘You hear that Sunset?’ The blonde girl said on her mind while driving. ‘You better come back in one piece. Don’t you dare be beaten by that stupid world.’

Author's Notes:

Twilight and the rest rest for a night, mentally preparing themselves for Sunset's next stop, Firelink Shrine, but wait, where is the usual knight and who is that figure in white?

Now I got the great XIII Hearts as my editor so thinks will probably be alright... who am I kidding? This is Dark Souls, nothing will be alright for now.

Firelink Shrine

Twilight would like to say that she had the best sleep since she arrived at the human world thanks to a proper bed and comfortable sheets, but the truth was that for the whole night she had terrible nightmares of herself having to fight that undead Demon all by herself.
Waking up at 3 in the morning once and having to remember that Sunset was alive –or what passed as alive in her situation- and that she was not in trouble, mostly to calm herself, even though she knew nothing was right in the world.

She never thought that the Elements of Harmony had such power as to take a person and transport them into a new world. It was certainly an eye opener, but what truly scared her was the fact that they had straight up killed someone. It was more than the young princess could process.

Twilight frowned at the idea of killing. Although she knew that Ponykind in the past had been immersed in both civil and global wars at various points in the past, the centuries of peace and harmony had brought a feeling of wrongness, of taboo, to the whole concept of the death sentence.

She sighed while looking at the blinking clock at the nightstand. The modern human gadget showed her in red numbers that it was 6 o’clock, not an unusual time for her to get up, but knowing full well that she would not be able to get back to sleep she decided to get up knowing that the Apple family would probably be up by now too.

And it seemed that Twilight kept on thinking that by knowing the Apple family in her world she knew everything about this one, so imagine her surprise when instead of a family of four already eating breakfast before going into their orchard to work diligently like every time, there was only one woman preparing a big enough breakfast.

The woman had long flowing blonde hair, pale skin and a light array of freckles across the nose. It was clear the woman was an Apple family member. Twilight had to contain her gasp of surprise when the other woman looked and smiled at her. The princess would swear that this was how Applejack would look like in the future.

“Well, nice to see awake and up so soon. Breakfast will be done in a couple of minutes so you sit down. I’m Anna Apple by the way, Applejack’s mother,” the woman said and it answered the question about the similarities with her daughter.

“Oh, I am… Twilight Sparkle”

“I know dear, Applejack told us about you yesterday after you went to sleep. You were pretty much out like a light by the moment you arrived,” the woman said, examining Twilight closer. “You know, for being someone from another universe you do look remarkably like a human”

“It’s the effects of the portal I went through… Wait, you know about that?!”

“Of course, Applejack has never been good at lying and her father and I have always known how to get information from our kids. Although if what I understood was correct, she is the chosen to be Truth or something like that?”

“She’s the bearer of the Element of Honesty,” the princess said surprised about the nonchalant way in which the older woman reacted to the information of other universes. Maybe that was the source of Applejack’s attitude in life.

“That would explain so much. Applejack always looked like it physically pained her to even lie. I’m sorry that your stay in our world wasn’t the most comfortable, but as long as you remain here you can stay at our house.”

“I don’t want to impose on your family,” Twilight replied but the woman simply waved away any kind of excuses the pony princess would say.

“Nonsense. Winston and I would love to have you here, especially after we heard you were from another universe, so don’t feel bad. Besides, we have a guest room that we barely use these days.”

“Well in that case, I would love to stay in your house Miss Anna.”

“Please, not the Miss Anna bullshit, I already get enough of that at the office,” the woman said with such aplomb that Twilight didn’t even recoil at the cursing and instead smiled at her.

“So what do you work in?”

“I have a Law Firm with some of my old classmates, meanwhile Winston and the rest of this wacky family produce fizzy cider with the apples the other Apples make way south”

Twilight and Anna continued to chitchat and get to know each while the later put an assortment of finished products on the table. Some of them were very familiar to her like pancakes and hash browns, but others were rather interesting considering they were made of meat.

Twilight’s good mood lasted until the moment a plate with strips of bacon was placed on the table. It may have been silly and funny to correlate immediately the redheaded girl with bacon, but once Twilight saw the meat product she finally understood the joke several students have said yesterday before the voting. Now, it only reminded Twilight of what she and the other girls have done.

Anna followed Twilight’s eyes when she went quiet and quickly understood the situation. Everything that had happened to her daughter and her friends was beyond any kind of comment or parental advice she could give them. The only thing they could do was be there for them as the situation unfolded.

It was at that moment that they heard quick steps on the stairs and Applejack, still wearing pajamas, appeared with a rectangular object on her hands and a shocked look on her face.

“Twi! Quick! The tablet! Sunset!” she exclaimed showing the other side of the rectangle and Twilight understood what the blonde tried to tell her.

Being hold in the air by a flying giant raven, there was a tired and immobile grey robed figure as the bird flew through the air, with the grey sky giving a melancholic tone to the whole scene.

“This object is working as the portal! We are capable of watching Sunset through it!” Twilight said holding the tablet in her hands as Applejack took two plates and began to fill them with the different products. Meanwhile, Anna knew how much this meant for both girls and silently understood her daughter’s actions.

“You can go and watch what’s happening to your friend in your room, just don’t forget to bring back the plates.” Applejack nodded as she and twilight moved up the stairs.

“Sunset isn’t mah friend. Well, I’m not sure really, but please, don’t tell Apple Bloom what we’re doing. Ah don’t think she should watch this even though she already knows what’s going on,” she said to her mother before both teenagers finally arrived at AJ’s room and sit down to eat and watch.

“Do you think we are the only ones with access to this?” Just as the princess asked that Applejack’s phone began to vibrate, indicating a message had been received.

“Well, that answers your question. That was Rainbow and Rarity. They all talked with the other gals and seems like they are all watching from their house,” the blonde said sitting down at her bed with Twilight at her side, watching the moment the crow landed at a small clearing.

The flight had been boring for the most part to the teenage girl and she quickly found out that raven’s weren’t exactly the best conversationalist, so there wasn’t much in the sense of entertainment. Most of the time Sunset found a way to simply sleep the time away. It wasn’t easy, but it at least helped her keep calm and collected.

Finally, after the grey mountains were left behind, the raven had arrived at a pretty unique place. From the distance it seemed like a medieval town, full of towers, aqueducts and homes, but the raven didn’t land in there, instead choosing a clear area full of green not too far away from one of the aqueducts.

Feeling her feet once more on solid ground Sunset took a deep breath and inhaled the clean air, enjoying the difference it made from being either in the air or in the Undead Asylum. With that out of the way Sunset then took a look around the clearing, noticing the broken stone walls all around it, its current state, and quietness.

It seemed that just like the undead Asylum, Sunset had arrived at a place full of loneliness and bleakness, so without even blinking she prepared to shoulder on before a cough interrupted her first step forward.

It seemed as if she wasn’t as alone as she thought. A person began to descend a small set of stairs and Sunset could do nothing but observe how different the person looked in comparison with the place. Wearing a long white robe with a hood the figure was clearly feminine. Under the robe Sunset could see that instead of clothing the woman was wearing a set of light armor which barely made a sound as the woman walked to a wall close to the bonfire and sat down. Sunset knew that the woman was looking at her under the robe but the undead girl couldn’t really see any facial feature from the woman to say.

“Well, look what we have here, another undead ready to make pilgrimage to good ol’ Lordran,” the woman said in a tone of voice that took Sunset by surprise. It sounded so much more relaxed than the ill-fated knight she had met in the Undead Asylum. “Sorry that there is no welcoming party but the current residents are not very big on celebrations these days. Lordran has become so dull and boring lately, although that probably has to do with the fact that everyone abandoned this place. Now the only ones remaining here are the undead and the few crazy humans looking for adventure, guilty of the second one myself,” the woman said clearly finding something humorous by the tone of her voice.

Sunset took several seconds to get back her wits since the woman’s words just took her out of balance. So there was no one alive anymore in the land? Then she had her work cut out for her.

“So there is no one that could help me?”

“Well, there used to be a man that was seated in here, just right where I am in fact, but he just went a little, you know,” she said spinning a finger at the side of her head making the universal signal for crazy apparently. “He lost all hope and let his condition turn him hollow, although there was not much difference with how he acted normally. He was such a crestfallen knight to begin with”

“What’s that? I mean, what’s the meaning of hollow? I got to know someone at the Undead Asylum that told me I was undead, but never quite explained the difference to me,” Sunset said sitting down by the bonfire. The ashes of bones around the standing sword simply filled her with peace. It was indeed a weird sensation, but that probably had to do with her condition, right?

“So you are a new at this. Guess I could help you a little bit. Prepare yourself because this is quite the story that I have to tell you and it goes back to the beginning of time for humanity itself,” the woman said, walking to the bonfire ready to tell the story of Lordran and the beginning of the Age of Fire.

Author's Notes:

AJ's parents are alive in this world, woo! Also, Anna and Winston are real Apple names, you can google them.

So who is this figure? And before you start screaming at me, no, this is not Celestia and is very important to the story. Why the reason for her? Mainly because the knight at Firelink Shrine is a terrible person to use as a guide. Yes, it does work in the game because it wants to you to look for yourself and those things you don't understand you can search on internet.

This character will work as the first guide and trainer of Sunset with a much bigger role to play. Also, did you knotice that she specifically called him The Crestfallen Knight?

The First Flame and its Mystery

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“How is that even possible?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Do you know anything about it?”

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

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

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

“What would happen if I don’t?”

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

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

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

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

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

Author's Notes:

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

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

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

The Benefits of an Axe?

The declaration by the woman to see Sunset fight truly took the undead girl for a spin, considering she wasn’t expecting that. It also stunned the girls watching through different digital devices with none of them knowing quite well if that was a good idea.

“Are you sure about that?”

“I may be a normal human being, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to take care of things. I am stronger than what I look like,” she said, but Sunset didn’t know if she was being humble or making fun of herself. Because under the white coat she saw that the silver armor with golden filigree was well taken care of. Not the kind of work put in an armor that was never used to make it shine, like the soldiers back in Equestria, whose armor was more for show than for real battle. Madeleine’s armor was carefully restored to perfection after suffering scratches and bumps.

The armored woman was not just using the set just because she wanted to look fine. She was using it because she had been in multiple fights apparently. If a person like that wanted to see her fight, it was obviously for a reason, and Madeleine could even help her get better. So far the only way Sunset could fight was to wave around the axe she found in the Asylum.

Deciding that there could be worse things to do, Sunset went up from her place at the bonfire and was prepared to use her tools before Madeleine put a hand up to stop her.

“I would love to do that, but before we go on, I think it would be a good idea to do something about your appearance,” Madeleine said while Sunset took notice once again to her dry and sick looking skin, wondering if her face looked as bad.

“Considering that I’m undead, I don’t think there is much I could do.”

“You would think wrong then. Although the name Undead will make you believe your appearance would be your current state, the reality is that Undead look the same as any human being, except for the Darksign. Just offer the humanity that you have already at the bonfire. Trust me, you will like the result,” Madeleine said, stepping back from the bonfire to allow Sunset access to its properties.

Sunset meanwhile eyed the mystic flames swirling around the bonfire and once again marveled at the intricacies of the world she had fallen into. If she hadn’t been cursed with being undead, then she could have probably found herself investigating more about the world. But for now, she could only feel a little bit better knowing that at least her appearance could possibly be restored back.

Kneeling before the bonfire, Sunset held the small black particle close to her and as she offered it to the flames, she felt a change deep within. Making honor to her last name, Sunset shimmered in the weak rays of the sun while her body changed in seconds.

Gone was the look of a walking corpse and, once the light show ended, in its place was the unblemished peachy skin of Sunset Shimmer. With a big smile Sunset removed her hood letting her once again vibrant red hair free. Even on the other side of the image Twilight and Applejack smiled at the restored looks of Sunset Shimmer.

“This is so amazing! I had no idea I would feel happy by just watching Sunset going back to the way she looked.”

“Yeah, at least now she won’t be making Rarity and Fluttershy faint.”

“That is not nice to say Applejack.”

“Ah know, Ah know. Still, Ah can bet you that Rarity is right now jumping in joy. For some reason she always found Sunset’s hair –how did she put it?- quite fabulous. If it weren’t because they started fighting at the time of the Spring Fling they would have become good friends.”

“Maybe after all this they’ll have a chance for that.” Applejack abstained from answering back. She herself didn’t know if the redhead would be able to come back, but didn’t want to burst Twilight’s bubble.

Meanwhile, while Sunset kept on admiring her now restored good looks, Madeleine began to assess the girl through the dark grey robes, trying to find anything out of order. But after a couple of seconds she was finally satisfied with something and called the attention of Sunset.

“Okay now, enough grooming. I need you to show me your weapons and then we’ll be ready for some practice,” she said while Sunset simply nodded, placing her Hand Axe on her right hand and Crest Shield in the other much to Madeleine’s surprise. “Well, isn’t that unique. Tell me Sunset, where did you find a shield like that?”

“This thing? It was… one last gift before leaving the Undead Asylum. A knight from Astora was heavily hurt and gave it to me so I could defeat the Demon and start my pilgrimage. His name was Oscar of Astora. Did you know him?”

“Astora is home of many great knights, but sadly I do not know of this Oscar, so forgive me. But what I can tell you is that the gift he gave you is invaluable,” she said taking out her own shield from behind. It was as blue as the one as the one Sunset used but instead of the elaborated crest in the redhead’s shield, the one of Madeleine sported a beautiful four winged silver butterfly. “Crest Shields are rare in this world because they are only given to high-ranking knights.”

“That must mean you guys are important in that kingdom of yours.”

“Perhaps. Although I haven’t go back home for quite some time, so it’s possible that I missed something,” she said, grabbing a spear completely made of metal with two small prongs just beneath the spear head. For her part Sunset took her Hand Axe in one hand and began to shift its weight until she felt comfortable with it.

“So how do you want to do this?”

“Just come at me as if you were trying to beat me. I’ll take care of the rest,” the woman said with an easy going smile that for some reason peeved Sunset into making the first move.

Quickly moving in front of Madeleine, Sunset did a wide swing with her axe aiming for the shield of the other woman, but this one merely took a step back and the axe struck the soft ground. Sunset had to take a second to find her footing as the axe swing made her lose her balance and when she focused on Madeleine again, she had the spear head inches from her face.

“I guess I will have much to teach you so listen well. Even though you seem to have the strength needed to move that axe with quite some freedom, they don’t quite work like swords. An axe uses two different things to be successful in the battlefield; momentum and angle. Both axes and maces use momentum to hit other objects with great power.”

“And because of the momentum they gather they cannot stop easily, so once I strike I need to be sure I land a hit.”

“Correct, so I suppose you could use your brain to take a guess at the other point that I mentioned,” Madeleine said before sending a quick thrust with her lance that was repelled by the Crest Shield. Sunset had to blink before regaining her balance. She then began to think about the importance of angle as she began to circle around Madeleine.

“Because if I don’t swing at the right angle, the axe will veer out from target.” And just as Sunset had said that Madeleine took a strike of Sunset’s axe with her shield. Then she angled the blue shield so Sunset’s axe strike seemed to slide over its gleaming surface. Sunset noticed her mistake too late as Madeleine then pushed the weapon aside leaving her completely open to a counter strike, which never arrived.

“You are unpolished, inexperienced and ill equipped for the search of the Bell of Awakening.”

It stung Sunset’s pride to hear the woman said something like that, even though it was true. From an early age the redhead hated to hear people say she wasn’t prepared and in hindsight that phrase was the one that started all of this.

“So what should I do then? Give up and become a Hollow like the rest in the Asylum?” she asked, feeling those embers of rage grow.

“Of course not. This only means you need to train more and gain experience in how to fight with a heavy weapon like that, so why not just start right now?” Madeleine said while raising her shield once again, making Sunset grin. She nodded with her head before quickly preparing for another bout.

Author's Notes:

So Sunset has found someone that is willing to train her, good for her right?

Next episode will show a little bit about the other girls and a priest arrives at Firelink Shrine

Way of White

It had been two days. Two whole days that Sunset had spent training at what the armored woman had called Firelink Shrine. It was quite the eye opener in terms of fighting, planning, strategy and weapons, but after a while it just became a little boring for Applejack and Twilight wanted to spend time investigating the closed portal back at the school.

During the two days that Twilight used to study the portal, and unfortunately finding nothing new, she also spent time getting to know the human version of her friends. She quickly found great differences among them. Fluttershy – for example – was way less shy than her equestrian double and even though quiet, she could joke and could function normally in the open.

Pinkie Pie was the one that surprised Twilight the most. Though the random hyperactive side of the girl was just like her Pinkie, she also showed signs of maturity, reminding Rainbow of the Homework they still had to do or making calls to see if a student was having problems after the Spring Fling. Pinkie seemed deeply rooted in the real world, in the day to day things, unlike her Pinkie, who acted way more like a little kid, usually seemingly more worried about fun and parties.

Maybe what surprised her the most was how welcomed and comfortable she had felt in the human world. The Apples were as nice and caring as the ones she had met in Equestria, but with them not working on a farm and maintaining a normal schedule through the day allowed her more time to spend with them.

Winston and Anne seemed like a weird pair, but it was clear how much they loved each other. Winston was a very nice human that made Twilight feel welcomed. His gentlemanly manners made her feel at ease and the combination of his unruly blonde hair and gold rimmed eyeglasses gave him an air of academia, though hearing him with his accent that reminded Twilight of ponies from Trottingham alongside Applejack’s thick southern one was hilarious.

Twilight did miss her own world, but with Spike at her side and her group of friends and their families, she felt content for the first time in a long while. She knew that back in Equestria her original set of friends and the princesses were waiting for her to take a mantle. One that she didn’t feel ready for. Not after what happened with Sunset.

For now, the only thing Twilight could do was finally be able to live in the present without the usual pressure of wondering if she was working hard enough for the Princess. In its own way, it was liberating, and Twilight found herself with enough time to enjoy the wonders of her new home. Technology was a miracle in itself, and even though humanity seemed much more bloodthirsty than ponies, even she had to be amazed to how far humankind seemed in comparison with her own species.

Twilight’s desire to knowledge led her to books and later on to the Internet. With some help from the Apple sisters, she quickly understood how to use the search engine to search for online books and it was love at first reading. Now with more things to read than she could imagine, Twilight was almost always found in a computer while other members of the house kept an eye on Sunset’s training. Spike took today’s turn and was very entertained by Madeleine’s training.

Spear clashed with Axe. Shield against shield. Two warriors circling against each other, testing one another’s defense in an endless dance. Of course it was entertaining to Spike who found great pleasure in the mock combat of both women. Ponyville was not exactly the most entertaining of places to live for a young drake. Yeah they sometimes had the odd monster from the Everfree Forest, but they usually got taken care of by the Elements of Harmony. This whole debacle with Sunset seemed taken from a novel of Bloody Pen and his series ‘A Pony of Ice and Fire.’ Twilight would have had a conniption if she knew that Spike was a fan. Considering the amount of death and betrayal that happened in the pages, Spike could understand, but the way the books seemed real and not just another fairytale type of story pulled Spike’s imagination into them. What Sunset was living made him feel as if this Lordran was as real and dark as those books.

Sunset for her part may have not enjoyed the training sessions, but could readily admit that it was for the better. Madeleine was an annoying opponent and so far the undead girl had been incapable of landing a solid hit on her. Always moving with a tight defense, Madeleine was a fighter that could have ended her several times and forced her to revive at the bonfire. Using the shield to block any axe strike, while stepping outside of Sunset’s range, allowed Madeleine control of the battlefield. The redhead had to carefully think every one of her moves and how to approach the battle, which showed how effective the training had been.

With one last kick to her shield Sunset was pushed backwards, but she maintained her defensive stance, much to Madeleine’s joy. In two days, the undead girl had understood the value of a shield, how to wait for a strike, how to move and how to counter attack. While the girl was still green, she could admit that she had great potential.

Lowering her shield and placing her spear on the ground made Sunset understand that practice was over and she could take a break. Undead or not, that didn’t mean she couldn’t get tired, and she would be the first one to confess how gruesome the training had been. Basically having to learn something that took years for others in a couple of days was more than anyone could handle.

“Got to say, you are a surprisingly fast learner,” Madeleine said, while Sunset smiled at the praise.

“What can I say? Having a purpose is a powerful motivator,” Sunset said, making Madeleine laugh. The undead girl was showing how much the older woman’s words meant for her with regards to turning into a Hollow. Both of them stood in silence simply enjoying the quietness of the Shrine before both of them heard heavy footsteps. Someone was getting closer.

What appeared in front of them was a knight wearing very heavy armor and the most ridiculous bowl shaped haircut Sunset had ever seen. The man didn’t even pay attention to them as he walked into another corner of Firelink Shrine.

“A cleric, well, isn’t that interesting?”

“Someone you know?”

“No, but I have an idea of what that man is doing here. I would still prefer to corroborate my suspicions. What do you say Sunset? Want to investigate a little bit?”

“As if I had anything else to do in here,” the undead girl said to her teacher as they both walked in the direction of the cleric. They both found him in a corner full of large vases, as if waiting for someone.

“Hello there. I wasn’t expecting people to be on this place. I am Petrus of Thorolund. Have you any business with me?” the man said with an almost condescending voice that made alarms go in Sunset’s head.

“Thorolund you say? Well, I see that the Way of White sent another cleric in search of the Rite of Kindling.”

“Oh no, I’m not the one who was sent. I’m just waiting for my companions,” the man said and he then stopped talking, acting as if the two women weren’t there at all. Sunset caught the message just like Madeleine and they both left the man to his own musings.

“Well, talk about being unfriendly.”

“Would you be in a good mood if others sent you to your death?”

“Wait, what?”

“The Way of White is a covenant that you should be very wary of. Their mission is to hunt undead and destroy them.”

“So he would try to kill me if he knew what I was?” Sunset asked understanding now why she felt like that standing so close to the cleric.

“Yes, but want to know what is truly weird?”

“Let me guess, what happens to a member when it becomes undead?” Sunset asked with a grin on her face while Madeleine looked pleased.

“Clever girl, but yes, no matter how pious or full of faith a man is, no one is safe of the Darksign and many members become undead. When that happens, they are sent to Lordran in search of something called the Rite of Kindling”

“Well, that doesn’t sound ominous in the slightest.”

“Trust me, it is a good thing, or at least as far as I know. Apparently it’s something that allows a bonfire to grow stronger, but for what purpose, well, only the leaders of the covenant know probably. Either way, that is not the interesting part. The man said he was not the one with the mission.”

“So he was sent in advance to guard someone else from the covenant, but whom?”

“Either a very powerful member of the Way of White or someone who doesn’t know how to defend themself. Worst case scenario? Those two things at the same time.”

“Great. Would it affect what I have planning?”

“Ring the Bell of Awakening? They don’t even care about those things, they only hunt undead. They’re not searching for a cure, which makes your own pilgrimage much more important that whatever they’re doing. So what do you plan to do now Sunset Shimmer?”

Sunset took several seconds to think about an answer. She knew there were two Bells that she had to ring before she could finish her promise to Oscar, and she knew where to start.

Author's Notes:

Covenants, beyond some spells and PVP, had nothing to do in the story. Not this time, and you can bet we will see the other Covenants in the story. But for now Sunset's adventure in Lordran will finally start.

Next time: Welcome to the Undead Burg.

The Undead Burg Part 1

Taking the current predicament step by small step seemed like the only solution to the current dilemma Sunset found herself in. The irony in all of this was that it was Sunset the one who was to blame to what happened this time. Although she would be quick to point out that it was partially her fault that she found in Lordran right now due to her bullying antics in the past, this time she was quick to put the entire blame on herself.

A stone under her foot cracked a little bit, making the redhead bit back a curse at the sudden movement as she stood as rigid as a statue. Sunset switched some of her body pressure to her right foot, then cautiously moved her left as she slowly but surely moved across the foundations of the huge aqueduct system.

To know exactly what had happened we would have to move backwards a little bit, seeing exactly what was the chain of circumstances that made Sunset put her undead life on peril in a fool’s errand. Just after the duo of female warriors met the cleric known as Petrous, they went back to the safe haven of the bonfire.

“Can you tell me anything else about the Way of White?”

“My knowledge about that covenant is a little limited. You have to understand, I gained most of my knowledge from covenants due to my interactions with them. So far I met so few members of their ranks that what I know is mostly whispers, fragments and hearsay,” Madeleine told Sunset as both took a seat close to the flames to battle of the morning chill, or at least Sunset thought it was morning. So far the sun hadn’t moved in the days she had been practicing and she had to trust Madeleine’s internal clock.

“You say covenants, as in plural.”

“Well, yes, the Way of White is not the only one out there. For what I know, the Way of White is more or less like a church I suppose, since it was established by Gwyn’s uncle.”

“Wait, you mean Gwyn, as in the guy who found the First Flame?”

“Yes indeed, they are that old. They are very powerful in Thorolund and Astora but my own rambunctious attitude never let me focus on things like prayers according to my Mother. The Way of White’s leader is the Head Bishop who is the guardian of the Law and Caste or something alike,” Madeleine said and Sunset was capable of seeing the dark ebony eyes behind the mask roll as if she found the idea stupid.

The silver mask covering part of her face was a bizarre design to Sunset, who so far have seen undead and people wearing armor and clothing in the style of the Medieval Era back on Earth. The design was truly unique and it didn’t seem to bother Madeleine while fighting.

“So if they sent someone to take care of the person who they sent to look for this Rite of Kindling, it means it’s someone from the high echelons of Thorolund.”

“Thinking like a good adventurer, good. Keep doing that and you will keep your wits in this place. You better because I will be terribly miffed if my best disciple turned hollow.”

“I’m your only disciple.”

“Who knows, who knows. But, you asked me about covenants and believe it or not I know about a couple. There is the Forest Guardians who seem content to simply defend their small piece of grass. Also, there is the Princess Guard Covenant who protect the daughter of Gwyn and themselves, so if you find one, don’t initiate a fight and they will simply let you go. Apart from those only rumors and whispers about other covenants but nothing of importance.”

“Well, seems like I have some work to do,” Sunset said ready to stand up and initiate her own pilgrimage to the first Bell of Awakening.

“Before you go my dear, let me give you one piece of advice and some information that I believe will be vital for you in this perilous adventure of yours. Be careful of who you meet out there, because just like you, Lordran seems to bend the rules of time and space and people from the past, future, and even other worlds could be out there,” Madeleine told her student as she simply nodded at that last bit of information.

Sunset knew well that it was possible. She was, after all, living proof that something like that could happen. So with that out of the way Sunset took her measly belongings and walked in the direction of the aqueduct. Alongside the training, Madeleine had told her about several important places and the two different locations of the Bells and the only one Sunset felt she had a chance of reaching was the one in a tall tower.

The redhead checked her shield and axe one last time and walked in the direction of the stairs, taking them one by one with no hurry and always careful of what could be found. And found she did, because protecting the stairs to the Aqueduct were a number of hollow warriors staying completely immobile, waiting for someone to get close.

Sunset took a look at the hollow warriors she could see but found no other route she could take in that direction. Putting her shield up Sunset began to walk into the danger zone and stopped once one of the hollows took notice of her. With a mighty jump attack, the hollow wanted to eliminate Sunset in one swing of his sword, but Sunset was faster. Instead of waiting for the swing she took a step forward while moving to the left, attacking with her own hand axe. What ended up happening was that instead of the hollow striking Sunset or her shield, he was caught in midair with a thunderous hit from Sunset’s axe, basically ripping the hollow in two, its rotten innards raining onto the floor.

The redhead immediately went back into a defensive position looking everywhere for signals of another hollow, which proved to be the correct move as another warrior jumped down attacking her. It was quickly put down by a savage strike into its temple by Sunset who then noticed something weird. There was an armored hollow not too far away from her - like the one she had taken care off in the Undead Asylum - but instead of attacking or groaning, it simply stood there, looking into the distance like a doll.

If the undead hadn’t attacked yet then it meant he won’t do a thing until Sunset got closer, which she didn’t want to anyway. Continuing her travel up the stairs, she was soon caught by surprise by a small object hitting her shield and Sunset had to curse as flames quickly followed the attack. She had been hit by a surprise attack of firebombs and she had walked right into the trap.

Sunset’s scream of pain a second later made the six girls watching the action flinch as the redhead was struck on the side by another undead which the redhead hadn’t seen. She quickly bashed him in the head with her shield before slashing half of the head of the hollow with the axe. Turning around quickly, Sunset put her shield up again as the flames once again licked the surface of her shield and in one quick move she kicked the hollow sending him backwards. Just as she thought she had beaten all of the hollows another one fell from the stairs above close to the entrance to the aqueduct, but instead of attacking her, it suddenly lost its footing, also falling backwards into the abyss, leaving Sunset blinking in shock.

Looking downwards after checking no other hollows were close, she saw that both of them had fallen into the armored one and the trio had sailed into the dark abyss. Sunset shrugged her shoulders, turning around before glancing at the hollow with half a head, making her almost gag at the gruesome scenario in front of her. The girls back home didn’t have so much luck due to Rarity having to run to the nearest toilet before her late lunch appeared in her mouth again.

Sunset quickly averted her eyes from the cadaver and instead focused on the weapon of the hollow. It was a very beautiful steel battle axe that was basically calling her name. So, how did Sunset suddenly found herself in the position she was currently? Well, because she had seen something shining downstairs and she had been curious enough to not only jump into the foundations of the aqueduct and its small pathway but greedy enough to see if it was anything of value.

The redhead had to be careful to not aggravate her injuries by moving too fast or too wide. She still had the Estus Flask full but she decided to use it only in emergencies, thinking that one small cut wasn’t grave enough.

At last, after a minute of slowly walking almost on air, she reached a decomposing body and with some nudging of her foot she found out that the body had been once human. With everything under control, Sunset soon found out the source of the blinking light, a rather old and plain oval ring that she took out of the body. For a second she felt like a thief but quickly came to the conclusion that if she wanted to survive long enough in this place she needed to take all the advantages she could.

With the ring in one of her multitude of pockets, Sunset began the arduous journey to the entrance of the aqueduct and the Undead Burg.

Author's Notes:

And we are back!

The Undead Burg Part 2

Sunset winced at the pain that the open injury brought to her body as she climbed the stairs up to the aqueduct. It was intense, the worst that she had felt, or at least the longest pain, remembering the first time she had ‘died’ in the Undead Asylum. It was slowing her down and knew that it would be a problem later on, but she had no intention of just turning back and resting by the bonfire back at the Shrine at the foot of the mountain.

The knowledge that Madeleine had about Sunset’s current predicament - mainly being an undead - had come from a lot of studying that the girl had done back at her home kingdom and since she arrived at Lordran. The redheaded girl took out the small jar that now was glowing brightly and decided against using it for now, not knowing when will be the next chance she will have to refill it.

How could a flame be able to heal? Sunset had no idea, but maybe the fire was not a physical energy, but instead it could have been created by pure magic like those used sometimes back at Equestria. Whatever the case, Madeleine had taught her how to fill and use the strange flame to heal and reinvigorate her. According to the white armored woman, most undead afflicted people had gotten their hands on those types of jars a long time ago and had become something necessary for adventures or researchers looking for the cure of the dark mark.

Looking at the vase once more, Sunset shook her head and put it back inside her robes before ascending to the top of the aqueduct. The view was breathtaking in a way, almost surreal and serene, considering all the pain and suffering that seemed to permeate the kingdom. With one last sigh Sunset then noticed the hole made on the rock that was obviously man made. She had no idea of who had made it, but it was probably good fortune as she then walked inside and took a look.

She expected the air inside to be humid and thick, to be oppressive in a way. Seems that she was right as the smell of stank water filled her nostrils and for the first time Sunset wished that as an undead maybe she wouldn’t have to breathe. Alas, it seemed that luck was not on her side this time and took a step inside the dimly lit, narrow passage. It was obviously never designed for people to transit through it because Sunset felt herself be even more slow with her feet being dragged by the water. It was obvious that the aqueduct was still working, even if most of the population had turned hollow.

The ripples of her feet moving along the water and the sound that they made were… relaxing, in a sort of way. Probably due to being a new sound that had nothing to do with screaming or hissing, nor the sound of fire burning. Sunset began to walk in the direction of distant light before turning around to see the other way. Immediately she began to walk towards the light after watching the rat of huge proportions that had been feasting on a decayed corpse at the end of the aqueduct. The girls back at Canterlot High made faces of disgust after seeing that grotesque monster.

Watching the journey of Sunset in the middle of lunch hour was a bad idea considering the strange and disturbing things that they had to see so far. Lyra and Bon-Bon had asked the six friends if there was a problem with Twilight still living in the human world and while Pinkie was explaining things, Twilight continued watching, her lower lip between her teeth due to worry at Sunset’s injury.

She knew that even if she died due to blood loss, Sunset would simply rise once again, but that didn’t stop her from getting worried. In fact, it just made things worst. Now that she had time to process the strange things happening to the redheaded girl, Twilight felt a deep sense of shame and guilt due to her part in the whole situation.

It felt wrong to think that the power of the elements could do something like this to another denizen of Equestria, but there was something more. There was a little voice on the back of Twilight’s head asking the ‘what ifs.’ What if Sunset was supposed to be there? What if Sunset was thrown into Lordran for a specific reason? What if… it was her destiny? These thoughts were only in her subconscious, while her mind worked more on trying to understand the strange events surrounding the kingdom of Lordran.

Just as Sunset reached the end of the aqueduct she found that steel bars barred Sunset form the other side of the aqueduct. The only other place Sunset had access to right now was a hallway that continued on stone stairs. Looking at the door that made it impossible for Sunset to get deeper into the Burg, she noticed that the lock seemed to be on the other side, making it even harder for her to open the door. With a shrug - which brought another pang of pain - Sunset ascended the stairs, ending up almost face to face with two more hollows who snarled in her direction. Simply smirking Sunset raised her shield and guarding against the attacks of both hollows. She was capable of sending the two reeling back due to hitting the strong steel of Oscar’s shield.

Sunset then did a horizontal arc with her new shiny battle axe; she broke both hollows in half, sending the pieces flying around the open space. The redhead knew better than lowering her guard and quickly saw that her paranoia was correct as she was the target of one more fire bomb that exploded harmlessly on her shield and did short work of two more hollows. If that was the worst the world could throw at her, then things would be easier from now on.

Passing through another mist filled gate Sunset was then thrown to the floor by both the shock of what just landed on top of the open hallway and the way it shook due to its weight. In front of her was a red, big, winged lizard.

“You gotta be fucking kidding me, a dragon! I just had to tempt fate!”

The Undead Burg Part 3

The way Madeleine was looking at her made it even worse due to the way her eyebrow was raised, as if asking what in the world Sunset was doing. The redhead slightly groaned, knowing that the beginning of her adventure was not good and will definitely only get worst from this point onwards.

“Okay, I know this may sound a little heartless but… how in the sun are you here so soon?” Madeleine was trying to be serious, but Sunset could almost hear the way the black haired woman was trying to contain her laughter.

“I died okay? Wow, never thought I would be using those words in a sentence and mean it,” Sunset said, slowly getting up and checking her body; she was getting used to the benefits of being an undead since she didn’t feel a thing out of place with her body, no pain or broken bones, even her slash injury form before was healed.

“So how exactly did you die?”

“It’s quite funny in fact,” Sunset answered, thinking back to several minutes ago when she finally saw the shocking revelation that dragons still existed in that world and that they were very cranky. “Why didn’t you tell me that dragons were alive?!”

“Because Seath is the only one that exists right now, all the others are dead, that’s why the Age of Dragons ended.” Madeleine looked quite confused at the way Sunset was asking something about that. After all, she had already explained that part of the history of Lordran.

“Then why the fuck did I met a dragon at the other side of the aqueduct!?”

“Dragon? What are you talking about? What did it look like?”

“Well, it was big, red and was throwing fire everywhere!”

“A drake… what’s a drake doing in this place?” Madeleine said slightly distracted at the distraction while Sunset was having her crisis and freak out at the same time.

“Excuse me, I’m the one that died right here. Aren’t you a little worried about that?”

“Sunset, you are an undead. Unlike me, you will just wake up at the last bonfire you rested at. Speaking of that, you look too well to have been dead.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just look at your skin and hair; also don’t take it in the wrong way but you still look quite beautiful.” Madeleine said, obviously surprised behind her mask. For her part, Sunset began to check her arms under her long cloak and was quite surprised as well. Last time she had died she had been looking like a corpse but now, here she was, as good as new. “Have you used something out of the ordinary?”

“I found a ring.”

“Did you really? That’s it? You found a ring?” Madeleine said, incredulous at the words of Sunset and the things that were happening so far. Here she was in Lordran and now had to be helping Sunset Shimmer in her own travel, it was just great.

“What do you expect me to say? It’s my first experience as an undead!”

“Well, you have more experience being one than me! For all I know you could have gotten a ring that wouldn’t allow you to resurrect!”

“Wait… there are magic rings?”

“Well, yeah, don’t those exist in your world?”

“They are very weird and very few wizards even bother with them, considering we don’t even have hands or fingers.” With the way Madeleine was arching that eyebrow that was one answer the dark haired woman was not expecting.

“She reminds me of you Applejack.”

“Why? Because of the eyebrow? Rarity, Ah hate ya,” the blonde girl said to her friend once more starting their bantering, helping a little with the high tension. “Wait, where’s Fluttershy?” The five girls that were all hunched over the tablet began to look everywhere but they couldn’t find their friend.

“I think I know where she is, don’t worry,” the fashionista said before the other girls returned to the world of Lordran and the way Madeleine and Sunset were discussing things.

“Okay, you lost me my dear, what do you mean by having no hands or fingers?”

“Oh, I’m originally a unicorn but got turned into a human by crossing into another dimension through a mirror.” Madeleine raised a hand and seemed ready to object those words, but apparently thought it over and simply lowered the hand down.

“You know, I would like to say that that was the weirdest thing I have ever heard but sadly, it is not; that does say something about my life though,” Madeleine finally said before helping Sunset up. “So, you never finished saying about how you died.”

“Right, so, there I was, ready to get into the city when this huge drake comes down out of nowhere and every single hollow gets restless. I think ,well, I guess I will have to run or something to get away from those guys but suddenly they all get scared or something.”

“Probably due to the drake. They are not dragons in the sense that they don’t have stone scales that will grant them immortality. In fact, I’m not even sure if they are related. It’s something that most researchers are not sure of, if they are a subspecies of dragons or simply monsters that try to mimic dragons.”

“That is not comforting. So there I was, minding my own business when this drake decides he watched enough and begins to fly away as if nothing had ever happened. Next thing I know I fight a couple of hollows, get up stairs and to my surprise I start being burned alive by hollows that are throwing bombs at me. Just as I am battling the flames a freaking hollow appears out of nowhere and tackles me, throwing both of us over the small bridge I was crossing,” Sunset explained, remembering those horrible moments in which she felt gravity do its dirty job. It was not a nice experience and she knew she will live through many other bad moments.

“Well, seems that you get all the fun lately.”

“If that’s your definition of fun, then I don’t want to be you.”

“Oh, don’t be so melodramatic my dear. I’m simply talking about having quite an adventure in front of you. Things are so dreadful in here, what with our dear monk not even wanting to talk. I do feel he is not very enthusiastic about his destiny as caretaker and so far I haven’t been able to get even a peep out of him. There’s something in him that puts me on edge. It also doesn’t help that I watched him stash some things in a corridor.” Sunset heard her companion talk as they both began walking in the stairway’s direction without even noticing. Suddenly, at those last words Sunset understood what Madeleine had been doing.

“You didn’t.”

“Oh yes I did; apparently our nice little monk stashed away pieces of cracked red eyed orbs.”

“Okay, explanation for the one that is not from this world.”

“Sorry my dear, sometimes I forget you don’t belong to this realm, considering your knowledge about magic. Cracked red eye orbs are a very dark magic type of item, considering they allow the user to ‘invade,’ in a way, other people’s realities. It is used as an assassination tool most of the time when someone evades the law and crosses to another world or simply as a tool to gain more power through Humanity. Makes you wonder, what he was doing with those magical items.”

“Well, isn’t that just great? Something else to add to the list of mysteries in this place, as if we didn’t need more… what are you doing?” Sunset asked as both female warriors began to ascend and went face to face with new hollows.

“Oh, I’m just going your way,” Madeleine said as she impaled a hollow with her spear and pushed him out of the cliff as Sunset defeated the next hollow. “Let’s just say that I’m a little bored. Besides, I’m on my own mission.”

“Yeah? And what’s that?” Sunset asked as they got to the top and with the two of them it was easier to clean up the stairway directing to the aqueduct.

“I’m searching for an old sword. It belonged to an old knight of Astora so you may say that it is a relic in its own way. So, what do you say? Shall we tackle the Undead Burg together?” Her smile was infectious as both women went into the aqueduct ready for the strange events surrounding the land of Lordran.

Meanwhile, back in the human world, Rarity had spent the last few minutes searching for the last member of their group and finally found her sitting down outside, accompanied by her animal friends and hugging her knees. Even from where Rarity was standing she could see the way Fluttershy was shivering. The fashionista sighed knowing that something had affected Fluttershy.

“Darling, what is going on? You simply disappeared from the table.” The appropriately named girl jumped at the sound of Rarity’s voice and focused her eyes on her friend; they were red and tears were still visible.

“I’m sorry Rarity, is just… it was too much. I know Sunset was a bully but, just seeing her suffer like that, how could I even forgive myself? It’s our fault that she has to fight. She is dying in that world and we can do nothing to help her!” The girl had always had such a huge heart and Rarity knew that a kind soul like hers would suffer greatly at having to see Sunset’s tribulations.

“Fluttershy, you cannot blame yourself. We didn’t know what would happen.”

“And what if she never comes back? What if she gets trapped in that horrible world forever?!” At those words Rarity’s eyes widened. The idea of something like that happening was not nice. How ironic; not a week ago Rarity would have danced at the news of Sunset leaving Canterlot High. Now, it just filled her with dread and guilt.

Author's Notes:

Initiate Co-Op mode! But just for a little while.

The Undead Burg Part 4

Author's Notes:

I've been trying a new kind of narrative for this, consider it something of an experiment.
I tried to give the story a much more moody way of description, more descriptive in how run down the place looks, darker, melancholic like the game, hope you guys like it.

It was the worst kind of déjà vu, at least for Sunset, who had already walked through the narrow corridor that made the aqueduct such a horrible place for anyone that suffered claustrophobia. The water, up to her ankles, made her robes slosh around the murky water and the moss ridden walls of the still serviceable tunnel made the redheaded undead cringe.

It was damp and dark, with only distant echoes of creatures roaming around the aqueduct and water being moved by this old testament of living beings once calling the city their own. It was bizarre for Sunset to have to withstand so much silence. She, who not only had lived on the most important city of Equestria, but also a hub of human civilization on the other side of the mirror, was used to constant movement, the sounds of places where either ponies or human constantly traversed. Now, this world seemed as empty of life as her own body and it was maddening.

Sunset understood that there were many dangers beyond the normal undead beings and hollows, but she didn’t need to go very far to finally meet crazy and horrendous creatures. Just a couple of feet from both warriors there was a rat the size of a calf; its dirty fur reflected the small amount of light present in the catacombs and Sunset had to fight back the urge she had of hurling back her stomach acid.

Madeleine took Sunset by the arm and guided her away from the rat, who was feasting on a very decrepit corpse. It was clear how long these tunnels had been used by the looks of the pest that roamed the burg. Not too far away the two women reached the beginnings of a staircase and cleaner air and sunlight could be felt by both.

Sunset was amazed that her senses seemed as sharp as before since she became an undead. She was sure that the fact that she didn’t need to breathe -even though she did so by reflex- also meant that other things had been changed in her body, like the need to eat since her stomach hadn’t even growled during Madeleine’s three day training. Not even once had she felt the very natural need of sustainment. Looking at the times Madeleine took a break to ingest a small amount of what seemed like jerky and bread never made her stomach growl to give her the clear message of being hungry. Not having to eat, drink or breathe were clear signs of how far removed from humans or Ponykind she was now.

Shaking her head to rid herself of those feelings - she would surely have more time to think about the mysteries and repercussions of what she had turned into later on - both Sunset and Madeleine quietly began to ascend the stone staircase before reaching a small open area that Sunset recognized as the entrance of the Undead Burg. The decrepit houses with windows that showed the empty interior of those made her feel lonely and gave her a small pang of sadness, though she couldn’t understand why she felt like that. Maybe it was because there used to be people in this city that had either succumbed to the Darksign or died at the hand of those who had it?

Once she wouldn’t have cared, but it was clear that her brief experience with the elements of harmony had left a mark on her, one that had changed her as deep as the Darksign. Well, maybe not that much. After all, the latter only changed her body, while the former was the cause of her being sent to this nightmarish world. So much for being the greatest power of harmony from Equestria.

Sunset looked at the empty buildings and columns of smoke rising on the distance before her companion walked at her side. Pulling back the hood of her white long coat Sunset finally got a good luck at the woman that had taken under her wing.

The hair was black as the night, short but obviously for practical reasons than for a fashion statement. It was wild and spiky, but still fit the woman perfectly. She looked older than Sunset. How old? Who knows, but it was clear that the woman had seen her share of battle and loss because she was looking at the city with a grim face, as if she was looking a familiar sight.

“Coin for your thoughts Sunset?” Madeleine asked her as her eyes behind the masquerade mask were now focused on the redhead. The only other sounds on the now dead city were the crackling of ignited pyres and the distant shuffling of more undead lost to the Darksign.

“How can a place be… well, like this? It’s so surreal.”

“I know what you mean, not even my own home has been free of the ravages of the Darksign. It is always hard to see places that used to be full of people and noises; of carriages and peddlers selling their produce. It hurts, because there is not much that we can do for those that lost their home,” the woman said, sighing at the view of the Undead Burg. For her part, Sunset felt sadness at the now husk; it was one more place that showed the imminent destiny of a dying world.

Both warriors continued walking through the lonely segment of the Burg as they once more walked through rock stairs and into the section of the burg where Sunset had fell once more to her death. The redhead took a quick look at the open space and her eyes opened up at what was obviously patrolling the open corridor.

“Well, seems that things are getting a little more exciting,” Madeleine said with a huge grin on her face while Sunset could only watch in shock at how happy the older woman looked.

“Please, explain why would you say something as crazy as that? There are minimum five undead waiting for us!” Sunset was almost hysterical right now because so far the enemies that she had met were lightly armed and armored. This looked almost like a platoon. Instead of answering Madeleine took out something from the inside of her coat, something that Sunset was not expecting. “Where did you get those binoculars?”

“Fun fact, there is a cemetery next to the Firelink Shrine if you go down some stairs. There was a body with these around its neck and well, why waste good tools?” she said with a smirk that looked so cocky that Sunset remembered when she used that same smirk on the past. “And there are some good news and some bad news. There are five undead yes, but all of them light armored and no shields. The problem is that one of them has a crossbow,” Madeleine said while Sunset only sighed.

“Of course one would have crossbow, because why not? When has this whole adventure ever been easy?” Sunset raised her shield, Madeleine did the same and both warriors once again jumped into the fray, right into the heart of the Undead Burg.

Home is Where the Bonfire is

The enormity of the city made everything seem lonelier, darker and grittier. It made Sunset feel like a small animal lost inside a house that had been abandoned by its previous owners. Houses everywhere with winding and almost maze like corridors and stairs directing one to every single place inside the Burg. This was a place where hundreds lived. Now only the echoes of those residents survived, but with all the fighting inside the houses, more and more destruction was left behind by both master and student as they carved their own path among the hollow horde roaming the ghost city.

Broken wood barriers filled the courtyard in splinters as the glint of the unmoving sun on her axe traveled through the air until the rotten and coagulated blood erupted from the skull of the undead. The crack echoed as the head split in two, letting a small rain of blood and brain parts burst up in a second. It said something about Sunset’s mind as the action didn’t even make her blink. She couldn’t blink, she couldn’t think about something else but the fight and the rest of her enemies still pouring from all sides.

She heard a metal clang as Madeleine shielded Sunset from a bolt that had been shot from the other side of the stairs. As one, Madeleine stood right at the beginning of the stairs making it impossible for the rest of the hollows to go after Sunset. The redhead meanwhile took the steps up and turned to the right finding herself face to face with the shriveled face of a hollow as this one was trying to recharge his crossbow.

With her shield up Sunset struck the hollow right in the chest sending it reeling backwards until it almost tumbled over. Instead, the hollow regained his footing, but it was too late. Sunset’s war axe struck it in the chest getting stuck inside the flesh of the hollow. With a mighty kick Sunset send the hollow right into the edge and it sailed down until it struck down a cart left behind.

The redhead immediately put down her axe and quickly took the crossbow on her hands. With a quick inspection, she found one bolt on the floor and put it in the already prepared crossbow. Looking downwards at the three hollows closing into Madeleine she pressed the trigger, sending the arrow flying through the air, crossing the distance until it met its target with a sickening crush. The bolt had found its target, piercing the hollow right on its jaw, sending it to the floor.

For her part, Madeleine had already taken care of one of the hollows and with a quick move of her shield she opened the defenses of the armored swordsman before piercing the cursed warrior’s gut. The white armored woman raised her spear with the undead still on it and with a mighty heave she threw the hollow over the edge until felt right on top of one of the multiple fire pits. The sound of burning flesh and the screams of the hollow made the girls watching on in another dimension wince or shiver. After witnessing the different fights of Sunset, they were sure that no horror movie would ever scare them. They had already seen the most gruesome and scary things in existence. Poor delusional girls, for the horrors were barely starting.

The one remaining hollow finally recovered its wits and was about to stand up before an armored foot was set firmly on its chest immobilizing it. Madeleine raised her hand and in one swift movement the spear was driven right into the hollow’s chest. A couple of twitches from the hollow and then nothing. All sounds of battle were soon replaced by the same stillness and emptiness of the ghost town.

Madeleine pulled back her arm and her spear got unstuck with a loud squelch of blood and meat. Shaking the silver weapon a couple of times to get it rid of excess blood, the woman followed the stairs until she was in front of the young undead.

“New toy?” she said with something akin of humor. It was a feeble attempt at best, but Sunset understood that it was Madeleine’s way of making her relax after the fight they had been a part of. Taking a few seconds to recover her wits and finally calm down, Sunset wondered if warriors of old from Equestria felt like this every time they had to fight against the gryphons and minotaurs, or heck, among the different tribes before Celestia took control of the planet; either way, it was not something she thought she would get to know. Better notch another point in the list of things she never thought she would be part of.

“I just grabbed it.”

“I think it fits you. After all, long range weapons can be quite devastating if you know how to use them, and sadly you need a very thorough training to be able to use most of them, like short and long bows. Crossbows are really good alternatives since you only need to pull back the string or to crank it back,” Madeleine said taking the weapon from Sunset’s hands and inspecting it. “This thing is as old as Lordran itself, or it has seen a lot of action. With the way the world is now, I think it’s a combination of both.”

“Do you think it can be repaired?”

“The only thing that can’t be repaired is a soul. We just need to find a good smith and this thing would be top notch.”

“A smith? Where in the sun’s name will we find a smith in this place?!” Sunset all but screamed while pointing with her hand the bleak and desolated burg around them.

“Oh ye of little faith, there is always a smith closeby, no matter where you go. I bet you my fiefdom that we will find someone working a forge soon. Well, I would bet it if I still had it that is,” Madeleine said looking around before something caught her attention.

“You have lands?”

“Well, most knights in Astora had land. Of course, all of that changed when the curse appeared and we became sieged by countless horrors. I’m not even sure if titles and lands still work… or if Astora still exists. That’s the problem of spending so much time in Lordran,” Madeleine said walking in the direction of a small alcove at their left inside a tower. “Like I told you before, time moves differently inside Lordran. It’s like everything is happening all at the same time. It even pulls people out of their timeline or even worlds and realities. One moment you are talking with a person just to walk into the next room… and then you find their rotting corpse and realize that the new friend you made was alive two hundred years ago and is now a ghost.”

“Has that happened before to you?” Madeleine’s eyes behind the masquerade looked as if she was looking at something that had happened years ago, that thousand yard stare she had seen on many pictures or heard about, and it made her shiver.

“Just pray it never happens to you. If you meet someone, cherish those meetings, because you never know if you’ll ever meet them again. Even now I’m not even sure if we are living at the same time or this is just a cruel prank done by the gods… but enough of dark thoughts, let’s rest for a bit… Who knows? Maybe we can find home in this place. I get tired of sleeping on top of rocks.” Madeleine’s look of distaste made Sunset laugh for the first time in a long time.

Author's Notes:

Once more, thanks to my amazing editor in chief, XIII Hearts, you buddy are a life savior.

Grey Skies

Every place she walked upon only reinforced the same feeling. How fast life can change to everyone. The outskirts of the houses they walked in front of seemed to have absorbed the same feeling of sadness and emptiness that the rest of the place had. It was dark and foreboding, but after spending more than a week on Lordran, Sunset was a little bit used to the heaviness of the cursed kingdom.

The grey sky never changed, maybe with just small patches of clouds floating up in the sky, never raining down a single drop of water, but Sunset knew that if something like that ever happens, the place would only become more morose and melancholic. Although, she was sure that if it rained, the constant fires burning on the lowest section of the city will go out. That probably will be a good thing, but this was Lordran, and apparently nothing good ever happened, or at least anything that could make the life of an undead any easier.

Sunset Shimmer sighed, knowing well that she had been lucky for finding a companion in this place. She would have been constantly killed if she had tried to venture alone. She knew that the learning curve for being capable of surviving the hell that was Lordran had been lowered exponentially by having Madeleine on her side, but she still felt that something was going on with the older woman. It was nothing specific, just a feeling she had after spending time with the white armored woman.

Madeleine was strong, there was no doubt about it, but the reasons she gave her at the start of their adventure, it was a little weird; too simple. To travel in search of some important weapons? To go to such extent of going into Lordran of all places in search of that seemed too extreme, no matter how strong one was, especially considering Madeleine was a normal human being without the advantage of simply awakening on the closest bonfire if something bad happened. That one was still shaking Sunset to the core. To think that no matter what would happen she would not be able to die. After all, she was already dead. She tried not to think too hard on that part because if she did she will start thinking about the humans back at Canterlot High and that was a can of worms that scared Sunset.

She had been defeated, there was no way she could look at it any other way, but beyond that, she had been killed by the Elements of Harmony, the strongest artifacts ever found on Equestria. That was the power that beat Discord and turned him into a statue. It put Nightmare Moon on Equestria’s satellite and beat many other horrors, but she had never read about somepony being killed by them. Maybe the power of the elements judged Sunset and found her devoid of any kind of redemption and simply offed her, throwing her corpse into another world so Twilight Sparkle would not have to worry about the cleanup. It was a very dark line of thinking.

“Wonder how everything is back at the school. Maybe they’re wondering where I ended up? Oh, who am I kidding, they’re probably still celebrating that I’m gone, maybe while they sing ‘the witch is dead.’ It would be fitting I suppose,” Sunset said aloud as she eyed one of the houses among many that had been abandoned a long time ago.

Unbeknown by Sunset Shimmer, she hadn’t been forgotten. It was a little hard when at every instance, any electronic device with a monitor became a scrying device, one that seemed to be focused on the Canterlot area.

Around the school, days have gone by, but the usual chatter and running around of the student body had changed. It had become so quiet and slow that all the teachers were surprised about it. They soon understood the reason for something like that.

The appearance of Princess Twilight Sparkle was surprising, but not as surprising as the pools looking into the world of Lordran and the battles of Sunset Shimmer.

Twilight Sparkle and the rest were not aware at first that the second death of the redhead had been broadcasted around the school. Soon the six girls had to explain what was happening to the other students and some of them watched almost daily the magical broadcast.

At first it had been just for curiosity, a little morbid desire to see what happened to their previous tormentor, but soon it became clear that whatever sins Sunset had committed, it did not merit the curse that she had been afflicted with.

Looking at the way Sunset behaved, moved, talked, it struck something inside most students. It made them look at Sunset Shimmer not as the demon she had been the last moments of her life, but as a slightly morose fighter that had been cursed with the worst kind of immortality.

Hearing her words as she searched inside houses for anything useful made most students look anywhere else but their screens. It had struck too close home to feel comfortable. Many even got up or turned off their devices, wondering how else Sunset Shimmer will suffer inside Lordran.

Author's Notes:

Is Dark Souls, tell me one character that is happy on that game.

Steps Up

“I swear, if it weren’t because the people on this city liked beef jerky and every matter of jerky I would be dead by now.” The melodious voice of Madeleine took Sunset away from her ruminations. She turned around from the place she had been sitting to look at her only companion in this weird land. Sunset had begun to really like the vantage point they had found across the bonfire. It was up some stairs and they had to clean off several hollows that guarded it, especially annoying since those were the guys that were throwing black firebombs -at least that’s how Madeleine had called them- at them. It was a very nice revenge considering one of her deaths had been caused by those guys.

Close to the newly cleansed part of the city they found a door, one that seemed to be impossible to open, at least from their side, but Madeleine assured her that they would probably find some way to open that road later on as they continued to move across the city. It seemed that the place they now inhabited had several roads and alleys that connected everything, some sort of shortcuts the natives had built. Not that it helped them at the end considering the amount of dead people they had found. Madeleine and Sunset ended up creating a bonfire to be able to cleanse the bodies of the hollows. After all, it was possible that at any moment those things would get up once again. It was not pretty and the sound of charring hollow skin was not a nice thing to remember, but hopefully neither of them will wake up with a bunch of charred hollows looking down at them as they slept.

The redhead was now only wearing the robes that had appeared on her when she was transported to Lordran, but took off the hood from it, letting her hair fly in the air thanks to the small breeze that was present that high up in the city. Behind her and walking in her direction, Madeleine kept wearing her full armor alongside the long white robe and masquerade, which Sunset never asked about. Maybe it was part of the whole set? Maybe Madeleine had some kind of scar and didn’t want to show it? Or maybe there was something else involved with the white porcelain mask with golden lace trimming. Either way, Sunset would probably not recognize the other warrior without it.

The seasoned warrior was at that moment munching on some kind of jerky while she held a ceramic jar on the other hand which she passed unto Sunset. The redhead then sniffed the contents and shrugging her shoulders took a long gulp of water that did little beyond making her feel slightly refreshed.

“You are so lucky with not feeling hungry because rations would be a lot harder to get by. Right now I’m surviving on jerky and whatever else I can find, but if we want to make this our main base and home we will have to find a lot of things, or make them ourselves because there is no hint of farms or anything else in this city.”

“What do you think happened to these people?”

“Geez kid, ask me something less somber, but this is Lordran and there is very little that is optimistic. Truthfully, I don’t know. There was not a lot of information about this place when I was training back home. The only thing we knew is that it was overruned by the undead. Sadly we were in no position to help since we were dealing with the first cases of the Darksign and our doctors were going crazy trying to find a cure. None were successful. In the end, people escaped this place in search of somewhere the Darksign couldn’t find them. They’re probably all dead, or wishing they were dead.”

“What about Astora?”

“I don’t know… haven’t been there in such a long time. Spent my time going around the world, trying to find artifacts of Astora… I guess I just… never found a reason to come by,” Madeleine said, looking at the perpetual grey sky and the clouds lazily travelling far away from them.

“Do you… do you have a family?” Sunset asked, slightly curious but also worried that this was a very private question. She herself was feeling homesick in a way, but for what world? She didn’t have many good memories of the two. One, because most memories she had from when she was still Celestia’s student were now tainted with regret, the other because her last moments had been as a literal demon.

“I have several sisters, they’re everywhere… at least I hope so,” Madeleine said, taking the jar and finishing the water inside before putting it on the wooden bench Sunset had pulled from one of the houses just so she could sit down. “Well, enough remembrance. If I remember correctly you have a promise to finish and I also promised that I would help you. Let’s go on with the adventure.”

“Yeah, adventure. More than likely I’m going to die in some horrible way.” Sunset was already imagining the ways in which she will wake up back at the bonfire, but she had a mission, one that involved two bells and probably the cure to whatever was happening to her.

The duo took hold of their few items among them; dust that contained a strong magical aura that Sunset knew will be useful later on, her new/old as Tartarus crossbow with several bolts that were now on a quiver; several packs of jerky and water since Madeleine was still human and needed rations and with that, the two began to ascend the stairs into the tower that connected the Undead Burg with the rest of the city, but as Sunset began to ascend the stairs inside the tower, something called her attention, a small flash that made her look directly at the door closed in front of them.

“That’s weird,” Madeleine said as she followed Sunset. “That’s a very, very weird door.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a… weird feeling…? I just know something’s wrong with it,” Madeleine said, not quite sure how to explain herself, but Sunset fixed her sight on the door and concentrated. After a few seconds she could see it, dark magic rolling out of the seemingly normal wooden door.

“It’s sealed, with very powerful magic. This is not normal. Who would even do that?”

“Who knows? I mean, considering that any hero and villain from every single era, from both the past and future of Lordran, can walk in and out as they please, anyone could have done it… what’s that?”

“It’s a key, but why was it left there? It’s like…”

“Someone left it there, but why?” The two women said looking at the strange key inserted in the keyhole and wondering, what exactly was behind it?

Author's Notes:

Yeah, seems like they are going to meet someone you really don't want to meet most of the time.

Steps Down

At first look, there was nothing special about the door. It looked like every single door that the two warriors had seen in the time they had spent on the fallen Kingdom of Lordran. It had the same build than the rest, as if all the doors and wooden parts of every building had been constructed at the same time. Sunset could almost see it in her mind, how people came together and worked as one to build the city that was full of nothing but shadows and ghosts. How they all took wood and stone and with it they created the foundations, windows, doors, pillars and buildings. So if it wasn’t the form that it was build, then, what made the door so strange?

Her slightly calloused fingers touched the surface of the strange door, her skin tingling as they danced across the wooden surface. Old memories danced in Sunset’s mind as she closed her eyes, her senses picking apart the energies floating around her. It wasn’t like back in Equestria, which admittedly, she was a little out of practice. She could feel old magic, powerful magic, deep within the wood, like serpents coiling around their prey, never letting go. It was, in a way, exhilarating for the redheaded undead to feel the arcane energy flow through her fingers. True, this was not her power and even though she was capable of sensing the magic inside the door, she had no idea how to use that magic nor she knew if she was even capable of it in her current body. Can undead use magic? That would be nice to find out, but it would be a better idea to find out later.

Opening her eyes, Sunset looked at the still locked door and glared at the piece of wood, probably thinking it could ignite due to the force of her glare, but if the door had survived who knows many years then it would not be vanquished by a single glare.

“I still have no idea what this door is doing here or how it can stay locked,” Sunset said, puffing once, a mixture of pride for feeling the magic and annoyance because she couldn’t understand the magic energies coursing through the wood.

“Maybe, but the fact that you could see that not only the door had magic, but that it was locked by it is amazing considering you have no experience with Lordran magic, which admittedly is nowhere near Vinheim’s level, so don’t be discouraged Sunset. For now at least, think that key on the lock is the one to open it?”

“I guess. I mean, why else would it be there? But that’s it. It’s way too convenient, don't you think?”

“Here is a door that was magically sealed and left forgotten with the key to it strategically placed on its lock. If this wasn’t a trap I would be surprised. Although, a trap for who or why for that purpose? There are only undead here and I can’t think of one reason why this thing would be placed in a place like this.” Both warriors looked at each other, Sunset with her cyan eyes showing the curiosity inside and Madeleine’s dark ones behind her silver masquerade. Both nodded and as one, took the key and turned it, hearing the click and then the door moving backwards revealing another set of stairs, this time going down.

“Okay, I don’t know what I was expecting, but that was not it.” Sunset Shimmer sounded more annoyed this time, but at least it was good enough to break the tension, making Madeleine slightly chuckle at the reactions of Sunset.

“Maybe, but think about it, this just make things even more bizarre. After all, we are in a tower, what is a door doing here? One, by the way, that apparently leads to another tower hidden beneath the main tower? I think the mystery has only grown more.” The two then began to climb down the stairs, noticing how empty the tower was. Beyond some torches, everything was completely dark, the air musky and abandoned, oppressive and hateful. It was a myriad of feelings, all of them increasing as the two descended into the darkness of the tower.

Sunset was dead, there was nothing to do about it. There was nothing she could fear now considering she was dead, but it was one thing to know it consciously. Inside your heart, that was another story, because the moment the helmeted man turned to look into their direction, Sunset felt as if the world had begun to crumble underneath her feet.

She was not the only one, because she heard a gasp from Madeleine as she looked at the enormous knight pacing back and forth right at the bottom of the hidden tower. Madeleine gripped her lance and shield so hard that Sunset knew that it would break them if they weren’t steel.

“It can’t be,” she said as the creature began to ascend slowly the stairs in their direction. “He was supposed to be dead, right? There is no way he could be here of all places!” The armored monster raised his hands holding up the biggest hammer Sunset had ever seen on her life.

“Sunset! JUMP!”

The undead and her friend dived from the stairs into the bottom of the tower, barely avoiding the impact of the dark hammer. Both could only watch the dust could form after the powerful swing. Sunset and Madeleine knew that only one hit and they would have been dead and the latter would not come back after dead.

“Who is he? How can he be this strong?” So far Sunset haven’t seen a creature as strong as the armored creature. Was it even human?

“Sunset, when you have the chance, run away.”

“What? Are you crazy?! I’m not going to let you get killed by that thing!”

“You don’t get it! That is Havel the Rock, bishop of the Way of White, friend of Gwyn and killer of dragons! This is unlike any opponent you have ever fought against before!” But the redhead knew she had an advantage against this Havel that Madeleine didn’t have, she was undead. Looking at the armored Rock she knew that she couldn’t run away. Not now, not ever. She made the promise back on the Undead Asylum.

Never Again.

Without hesitation, without fear, Sunset took out her axe and shield and prepared to battle the bishop. At her side Madeleine could only smirk at the way Sunset behaved, like a true knight. She also took out her spear. Havel also didn’t hesitate, he was now devoid of reason and only one thing was left on his destroyed mind. Destroy.

The three warriors only stood standing for a second, because at the next, the battle once again began, with the clash of steel and tooth.

At the belly of the Hidden Tower

Picture the scene.

Lost among the empty hallways of a doomed city, there was a hidden stairway. One secretly placed there by an unknown power with no real purpose beyond more stairs, this time leading down and unlocking a secret tower away from every curious entity thanks to a door that had been locked. Not with just a key, but with strange powers that went all the way back to the beginning of the era, a testament that something deserved to be hidden, or at least it had some reason to why it was placed in such a place.

Now imagine how that hidden stairway would have looked after hundreds of years with no one coming in contact with such a place. Try to imagine how it may look after not only a whole civilization had been wiped out, but the degradation of such place. The sturdy blocks that made the rest of the tower truly showed the age of such a place. While the stone on top of the hidden tower showed some degradation, it was mostly due to being lived in, as in people constantly walking back and forth. That, alongside the strong winds that came with living in such a high place, contributed to the state of disrepair most walls and houses showed.

This place was different.

Huge chunks of stone had been torn out from most walls, but even then the place remained in one place, as if it was being held up by an invisible hand. Torches still continued to provide light on this inhospitable place with no sight of being burnt down. In fact, they still looked brand new, or at least they seemed that way since Sunset had no time to do a thorough investigation of the place. No, she hasn’t had time because as soon as they saw the reason for the tower, she has heard something unprecedented since she arrived at Lordran.

Madeleine of Astora was a woman of many mysteries and many stories, one that had received Sunset with kindness and offered her companionship, something she truly needed in a place as dead as this one. Never before have she heard her this worried, not even after telling the story of the doomed kingdom and what may have happened to the knight’s homeland. Now, in the presence of such fearsome power, Madeleine had sounded… maybe not scared, but definitely in awe at the monster they had found.

Since arriving at Lordran, Sunset Shimmer has grown used to the feeling of pain, to the feeling of dying, and it is not a pleasing feeling. Most of the time, this is just a nuisance, something that will disappear soon once she dies and comes back to life, or by sitting at the bonfire close to their new camp. But no matter the situation, Sunset Shimmer has grown used to pain, so an injury that might have made her scream before now merely slowed her down. So it was with this new resistance to pain that she was sent flying through the air just to crash and roll across the worn down stone floor.

Shaking her head to clear it, she quickly found out that there was something wrong and it had something to do with the way she had been sent flying. Landing on a heap against the stone had opened a gash on her head. It was certainly interesting to see that even if her body was dead, it still generated blood, because it was starting to flow freely from her head, falling through her face and obscuring her right eye. She tried to clear it, but it was useless. She was now blind from one eye for this fight.

Across the room, things were still bad since from the cloud of dust the battle had created, Sunset could see Madeleine and Havel fighting against each other. The agile knight, even with her full armor, was capable of dancing her way around Havel’s heavy curved hammer, but her weapon, the Winged Spear, wasn’t strong enough to so much as scratch Havel’s armor. What’s more, the armor alongside the huge tower shield made it impossible for the dark haired woman to find an angle in which to skewer Havel.

Sunset groaned, feeling the way in which her body complained at each movement, but this was nothing new since she had been thrown into this living, or undead, hell. Standing up once more, Sunset raised her axe and shield and with a mighty cry she jumped into the fray. Her attack did nothing beyond maybe shake the tower shield, Havel being too strong and heavy for her to be moved or staggered, but at least it allowed Madeleine time to fall back and try to find the perfect angle to attack the moving fortress.

Sunset understood that a drawn out duel against Havel will mean their doom. Yes, Sunset was undead and she will wake up once again, but Madeleine had said that Havel had been a bishop of the Way of White a long time ago, sorcerers that were capable of destroying undead. Who knew if she would be able to wake up again after facing Havel? But the most important part of all was that Madeleine was human. If she died, that would be it, and Sunset would find herself alone in this dark world.

Both warriors knew that they have to end the fight as quick as they could, hopefully with just one precise strike. Sunset would not be able to find the opportunity. Her weapon was slow and she was still too rough with it. No, this needed Madeleine’s training and experience with the piercing weapon to find the perfect place. And when Havel raised his weapon once more, Sunset knew she had found her opportunity.

Waiting for the perfect moment, Sunset knew that she would not be able to dodge it in time and blocking it would be useless considering the way she was sent through the air the last time she tried. No, this would need something else, another strategy, one that was more dangerous, but she found willing to gamble. Instead of stopping the attack, Sunset threw her shield to the ground and received the hit form the hammer right into her side. The redheaded undead felt how her ribs were shattered and soon felt the metallic taste of blood rushing into her mouth. She was sure that there had been internal damage beyond her ribs, but she didn’t have time to assess the situation, because just as she dug her heels into the ground and halted Havel’s movements, a spear went through her body and struck Havel at the place where the waist and chest armor separated.

Looking behind her, Sunset saw Madeleine wielding her spear and could do nothing but smile, knowing that the dark haired woman had found the chance to counter attack, even if it meant she had to go through Sunset.

As the knight retracted her spear, Sunset fell down alongside Havel, who injured, tried to regain his footing. Sadly, the armor that had protected him for so many years now worked against him. He lost his footing and fell backwards, where he could only struggle to get back into his feet. Thankfully, Madeleine never gave him a chance since she once more struck down, this time right between the helmet openings and a burst of blood flew upwards. Leaving the spear as it was, Madeleine quickly took hold of the heavy curved hammer that Havel had thrown aside when his face had been struck by the knight, and with a mighty swing, the head of Havel had been flattened under the weight of its weapon.

Sunset didn’t know how to feel. Yes, it was a fight for their survival, but even so, it just made her even more convinced that this was Hell on Earth, or at least the closest she will get to it. And that was what went through her head as Sunset once more died.

Author's Notes:

I think it is obvious I changed the way the narration works and even how to do the action part. Mainly I got my inspiration form the magnificent YouTube history show Extra history and the great narration that they have.

From Fight to Fight

“What are you doing?” were the first words uttered by Sunset Shimmer as she arrived once more to the hidden tower. The process of waking up after dying was starting to become routine now that she had been forced to use it several times since she had arrived in this world.

“Oh, I don’t know, I thought maybe we could have a picnic,” the strained voice of Madeleine answered to her as she dragged the corpse of the heavy-armored Havel. The armor weighed down the corpse considerably and the warrior was right now trying to drag it up the stairs, a trying task that was taking a lot out of her by the looks of it.

“Real funny,” was the only thing that was returned as Sunset began to help her companion in the herculean effort. From the two, the only one that was wearing any armor was Madeleine and even she didn’t have this much weight on her body. Just the idea of moving with such heavy armor on top boggled Sunset’s mind. To think that the guy had been wearing the armor for who knows how long, it was truly impressive.

As they kept dragging the corpse slowly upwards, Sunset saw the door at the bottom, a door that presumably could lead to somewhere else, but right now she wasn’t in the mood to look for strange new locations or more secrets considering what they had just gone through.

Just a few days and Sunset had seen places and creatures so strange that not even Princess Celestia would know what to do with them. That is if she ever deigned herself of leaving her ivory tower. Send her newest student to deal with the previous one, nothing like Celestia to delegate actions and missions. Whatever, at the end it seemed she was right and that she got herself a better student, one that had been capable of not only saving the sister of Princess Celestia, but one that had gained wings.

Sunset grunted as the two pulled Havel’s corpse one step further up, all the while she thought about what she herself had gained since her self-imposed exile. Just the hate and fear of one single high school. Oh, and being sent to another world where she became an undead and had to fight for her survival. Not only that, but she had to be a breaking bleeding heart and promise a dying knight that she will ring a bell, one that could do who knows what!

For all that she knew the thing could cure the Darksign, or maybe even bring the world to an end. Whatever would happen, Sunset didn’t have much to go on, except maybe finding a way back home, as impossible as it may be without knowing the exact way in which she had arrived to Lordran.

The heavy burden of the two warriors would soon be lifted when they, after who knows how long, finally cleared the last step and proceeded to drag the corpse to the top of the stairs that they had used to enter the tower the first time, and it was with a sigh of relief that the two sagged against the sides of the stairway. Taking care of not falling through the missing piece of the staircase, the two enjoyed the next step in their plan to move Havel; that of pushing the corpse down those stairs.
After the danger and death that represented the fight against the now completely dead behemoth, the idea of watching it roll down the stairs may be morbid and dark, but hilarious in its own way.

After a last tumble, Madeleine began the arduous task of taking the armor of the old bishop of the Way of White, all while Sunset watched her with a curious look in her eyes.

“So, the reason why we brought this thing up here is because you want the armor?” She could swear that Madeleine rolled her eyes behind her masquerade.

“Well, this thing is a piece of art, from before either of us was born. You can say it has a lot of value, but no. Think about it, if you are capable of coming back from the death every time, guess what will happen to this guy?”

“Oh no, please tell me won’t have to fight him all over again.”

“Seems we are lucky since he hasn’t risen, but I want to make sure of that, thankfully he seemed to still have the sign of the Way of White,” Madeleine said showing her companion a silver amulet, but there was something else on her hands, a curious little ring that she threw to Sunset. “Like I told you, almost every single ring you will find in Lordran have some kind of magical power imbued in them. Maybe that thing will be useful one day.” With a shrug, Sunset put it inside the multitude of pouches and pockets the robe she had been wearing had. After all, the one ring she kept on using seemed to be working in maintaining a normal human look.

With the task of destroying the body of Havel completed, all thanks to the judicious use of plenty of fire accompanied by some dust that had been maintained inside the amulet, the two began to ascend the tower, ready to face the next obstacle in their journey, one that was an open bridge between towers, one that smelled like an ambush.

Pointing upwards, Madeleine indicated a steel ladder to the top of the tower, a perfect scouting position and Sunset quickly followed the silent command. At the top there were two hollows holding crossbows, so it seemed that Madeleine’s instincts were correct.

Throwing both bodies from the top of the tower and into the very far away ground, Sunset gave the Astora knight a thumbs-up as Madeleine advanced a little across the bridge. Once more, Lordran seemed to have a bigger surprise behind every corner, or every tower in this case, because what appeared was none other than a demon that towered over everything Sunset had met on the Undead Burg, with huge horns and an even bigger battle-axe. As the creature appeared, Madeleine began to run backwards in the direction of the gate.

“It’s a Minos Demon! Use your position to land a jumping attack on him! I’ll lure him to you!”

“Well, never a dull moment in here, right?” Sunset asked to no one as she gripped her axe with both hands and once more jumped into the void, once more into the never-ending fray that was Lordran.

Grossly Incandescent

“The sun… it never moves?” The voice of Sunset Shimmer interrupted the other warrior from meditating. Opening her eyes, Madeleine looked up into the sky and beyond the eternal clouds, hiding the sky and the sun from view. Behind the masquerade, Madeleine simply sighed, understanding that the undead had the same questions that she had once upon a time. The world was strange, even more the closer they walked into the darkness that was Londo. Biting into a piece of jerky, Madeleine used the small pause to think of her answer. This will not be easy to explain.

“I think we talked a little bit about the sun when I was training you; good lord, that was only a few days ago, Lordran really does things to your perception of time.” Shaking her head at that thought, Madeleine’s hair ruffled slightly under her hood. “I think it would be easier if I tell you this. That thing up there? It’s not a sun, or at least not a real sun, like the one from your world, you know? The big ball of fire that gives heat to the whole planet. No, that thing over there is not that kind of sun.” Madeleine pointed in the direction of the few rays of light that could be seen through the dense conglomeration of clouds. “It is a power of some sorts.”

“A power? Do you mean like the original flame?”

“No, it’s just… something that stays there. I’m not sure what exactly Gwyn and the other lords did, but whatever that ball of light is, it is not a natural phenomenon. Some say that it is the physical body of the Sun god, whatever that is, others that it is nothing more than an old enchantment created by the lords to give the flame to everyone. If that were true, everyone would have the power to use flames.”

“Wait, you said flame, like some kind of power or magic?”

“Well, yeah, although the art of Pyromancy is not something that I am particularly knowledgeable myself. You have seen that my art is closer to the martial aspects of hand to hand combat. I leave the arcane to the experts. Who knows, maybe you have some power hidden that we could use.”

“Yeah, and with my luck I will end being destroyed with it or get corrupted, like every time I had power. No, I learned my lesson… probably that’s why I was sent here, maybe as my personal hell.”

“Oh, please, don’t be so melodramatic my dear. Besides, I think you are forgetting that this is not just your hell. Basically anyone living in this land will tell you it is everyone’s hell,”Madeleine answered back to her companion making Sunset give her a little smile. Since the moment they had become a duo - Sunset looking for the bells and Madeleine her sword - the dark haired warrior could count on one hand how many times the redhead had smiled. It was clear that the young undead had many problems even before she had arrived in Lordran and this was not a land known for making life easier or happier. The small flashes of white teeth that the girl gave to the world every time she smiled also made Madeleine’s burden seem less.

“Yeah, an everlasting one that’s for sure. What a nice way to spend my eternal life.”

“That’s the spirit, but, I was telling you about the sun; basically no one has ever truly discovered the whole power or the source behind the sun you see unmoving. I guess the true thinkers had already died or have more important things to look for, like a cure to the undead curse, not that I think they’ll find it.” As they left behind the open space, both warriors continued their travel into the abandoned city.

“Yeah, I don’t think they’ll be able to find a cure any day soon. It doesn’t seem like a normal curse, something about all this feels… weird, out of place maybe.”

“Well, you seem to be an expert in magic compared to me so I’ll bow to your knowledge, but, well, you know, the powers that be simply forgot all about this world, probably also forgot how to move or make the sun function again because since they all left Lordran, at least the physical plane, the sun has been stating in the sky, like a signal of destruction, the last nail in the coffin of this world.”

“And you accuse me of being melodramatic!”

“Well, sorry, but I haven’t had companionship in a long time, guess I really turn up the melodrama. No matter, let’s continue ahead and… I guess we found your red friend once more… run!” The heavy steps of armor and boots echoed across the bridge as the flames licked the edges of their clothes. The burning power of the drake roasted everything on its path and both women felt the heat attacking their bodies as the desperation of surviving the wall of flames pushed them into higher speeds than they normally be able to use.

Madeleine was very athletic, even when using her personal armor, but the fear of the flame and what it could do to them was enough to push both into the end of the bridge. As one they both jumped the division that marked the two staircases that ended on a small viewpoint. As the two warriors crashed into the ground, the massive wave of flames went over their heads.

“Well, that is one way to make an entrance.” As surprised as the two warriors were, the amount of adrenaline coursing through their bodies made them get up in an instant. For the first time since both had put a step into the Undead Burg, they were not alone. “It’s good to know that even in this land, a journey does not need to be done alone.” Looking at the guy in front of them, Sunset was really curious about the symbol in the chest of the other warrior, a sun. “I am Solaire of Astora, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Okay, this was interesting.

Jolly Co-Operation

The two women currently prone on the stone blinked several times at what they were seeing standing, half turned, in front of them. It wasn’t that the man - because the voice was a clear proof that he was a male soldier or knight - was armed and very well protected from head to toes; that was a given considering the world they lived in and the place in which they were traveling. The thing that made both warriors blink in astonishment was the jovial and elegant voice that emanated from the inside of the helmet.

Since Sunset had arrived at this world, there was a clear distinction between the living and the undead, or better said, hollows. The ones that had their minds always seemed polite, elegant, dignified even. It reminded Sunset of those nobles back in Canterlot that, even when they had everything, money, fame and power, they still maintained that aura of elegance, of royalty. Sunset had tried to replicate that, but with adverse effects. In the end Sunset had ended up showing only arrogance and pride, things that truly became synonymous with the little brat that terrorized everypony.

The redhead was sure that all these knights, which ironically, all came from the same kingdom, could maintain so much poise in adverse times. Even poor Oscar, on the gates of death and losing his sanity, spoke with such humbleness that Sunset could do nothing but try to emulate, once more with varied results.

Thankfully, even if Madeleine spoke with a little bit of an archaic accent, mannerisms and words, she was more laid back on occasion. It was in the way she walked and fought that you could truly see the elegance and poise. Heck, even in the way she ate, taking measured bites out of her own jerky and always holding her water cup as if it was a ceremony, you could see she was well mannered.

It was due to all of this that seeing the way the man with the sun emblem standing, as if there were no worries or dangers, let her see something important about this man. He didn’t have fear or anger. The man was at peace.

Solaire of Astora stood straight, proud and confident in himself. It was his pose and the way in which he didn’t turn around in their direction that led Sunset to the conclusion that the man was either really powerful or arrogant to the point of suicidal. In either case, he didn’t turn around. He simply looked at them before returning his sight to the sun facsimile behind the clouds.

In this part of the Burg, some rays of light could pierce the mass of clouds, illuminating the mountains beyond their reach. It was a beautiful sight.

“To find a compatriot at this point of the road, either we are lucky or destiny is truly fickle.” Madeleine was the first one to react, quickly standing up while helping Sunset do the same. Maybe her words didn’t show it, but Sunset hasn’t become a master manipulator and liar by sheer luck. She could see behind mere words strung and find a pattern, a meaning behind them. It had become so useful whenever she had been involved in a new scheme.

Maybe Madeleine was being courteous with Solaire, but the way in which she held her spear in one hand and the way in which her gaze never strayed from Solaire were enough indications that she was ready to act if they were attacked by this person. Solaire must have also realized this because he let out a rather jovial laughter before finally turning around to meet them and talk.

“No need to be so drastic, I am not here to become the enemy. In fact, I wouldn’t even dream of trying to fight either of you. I am here only to find my own sun,” It was at those words that Sunset’s eyebrows reached her hair line. What was that thing about finding his own sun? Even to someone that came from Equestria, that whole phrase sounded so bizarre. It wasn’t just that phrase that surprised Sunset and apparently Madeleine had the same opinion with the way she was looking at the redhead. Not five minutes ago they were talking about that same thing, about the strange sun suspended eternally in the sky, so hearing someone talking about it was more than just coincidence.

“Well, who would have thought so? That is not something that you hear every day, in Lordran or Astora.”

“Do you also find it strange? Don’t worry; you won’t insult me by thinking this is a weird endeavor. I know how crazy it sounds, but I love it. If only I could be so grossly incandescent,” he said looking once more in the direction of the hidden sun. “I won’t ask what you came to do to the land of Lord Gwyn, but I won’t stop you from sharing your stories.” And once more, he let out his polite but yet happy laughter. This man was truly bizarre, although considering this was only the second encounter with someone that hasn’t gone hollow, this was a nice change of pace.

“My name is Sunset of Equestria and I… I came here as a favor to a good man… he saved me, so I will ring the two Bells of Awakening in his name,” the redhead told Solaire, still mourning in a way. She haven’t known Oscar, but just the fact that he had searched for a way to save her, putting his life in danger said a lot about the kind of man Oscar of Astora had been.

“I see, so tell me Sunset of Equestria, what happened to this man?”

“He… he was afraid he was going hollow so in the end he took his own life.”

“It is a shame. I would have liked to meet this man. Sunset of Equestria, I have never heard of this kingdom of yours, but just listening to your reasons to be in these lands I can tell you are a good person and I am honored to meet you my friend.”

“No, I… I’ve never been good. I was sent here as a punishment for my sins.” Before she could continue her self-deprecation she felt her hood being removed before a gloved hand began to pat her head.

“Sunset, for what I have seen, you are a caring, courageous and honorable person. You may have sinned in your land, but you have done enough as penance. Now let’s look into the future and try to become a better person. That is all you have to do.” Madeleine’s words and show of affection made Sunset almost cry. To have someone have such strong confidence in her, it was touching, more than she could express.

“Take it from someone that has barely got to know you my dear, to focus on the past only will not allow you to see the chances that the future will bring you.”

“Well put, but I guess it is time for my introduction. I am Madeleine of Astora and I came to Lordran in search of an ancient sword, part of my family history, and I have confidence that I will find it soon,” the white armored knight said bowing slightly to the other man, a bow that was returned with the same level of elegance.

“You said that you are looking for your sun. What did you mean by that?”

“Oh yes, I believe that could be confusing, but I truly believe there is a sun, a true sun in this place, one that could bring back life to this dead land,” he said with enough conviction to make Sunset truly believe he was actually looking for the sun. “I do not know if it is an object or a soul, but something tells me that in this place, Lord Gwyn’s birthplace, I will be able to find it.”

“I’m not sure if that will be possible, but I guess there are all kinds of strange things happening in this land. After all, if the gods once walked these cities, who am I to say what’s possible or not?” Madeleine said adjusting her masquerade, probably starting to think in the way they could take care of the drake still blocking the path.

The creature was like a nightmare to Sunset, who had knowledge of the creature from back in Equestria. There, the fire breathers were dangerous, but were content with only passing through Equestria and its inhabited places, never really stopping to create chaos. They were content with their caves and volcanoes, so watching the drake attack so suddenly and without provocation, it was dangerous indeed.

“I see by your expression that you are thinking about our scaled friend at the other side of the bridge.” Solaire’s jovial voice took the two warriors from their respective lines of thought. “I have a proposition you see. The way I see it, our fates seem to be intertwined. In a land brimming with hollows, could that really be mere chance?” His words echoed Sunset’s thoughts from before.

“I first met Oscar, who saved my life, then Madeleine, who taught me what I know about fighting, now you. This is too much to be mere coincidence; back home, the idea of destiny is truly important and I can say that we are all in the same place is no mere coincidence.”

“Indeed my friend, so I have a proposition for you Sunset of Equestria. Why not help one another in this lonely journey?”

“I suppose we don’t have much to lose, are you sure you want to help us with the drake?” Madeleine pointed at the bridge with her spear while Solaire nodded.

“That’s right. After all, the drake is not only affecting you, and I too want to continue traveling, maybe even find a way into Londo. So what do you say, shall we engage in jolly co-operation?” The way in which he said those words made Sunset smile. It was truly hard not to like Solaire; he was so charismatic and optimistic.

After checking their weapons and armor, the three warriors stood at the end of the bridge, looking at the array of hollows still up and the red monster blocking the path. As one the three began to run across the bridge, calling the attention of two of the hollows that were holding crossbows. Just as the red dragon also prepared to let loose a sea of fire, Madeleine held up her spear and with a mighty throw, the glittering weapon flew through the air, striking the drake underneath its snout, making the creature scream in pain and make it tumble from its perch on top of the bridge’s door.

As the drake fell, both Sunset and Solaire drew their weapons, covering Madeleine as she let her spear go. The sound of the bolts hitting metal was being dwarfed by the roar of the dragon, but the group was focused on their opponents. First one and then another, hollow after hollow was slain as Solaire and Sunset moved across the wide bridge with sword and axe, the light making their weapons shine as if they were heroes of an epic poem.

Sunset jumped and with a strike, practically split in half one of the hollows holding the crossbow while Solaire swiftly decapitated the other. Meanwhile, Madeleine used Solaire’s back as a step stone to jump high and in the direction of the stunned dragon, who was still trying to recover from its fall. Madeleine never gave it time as she took hold of her spear, still lodged in the drake’s snout and with a pull, blood and scales were ripped alongside the steel weapon.

The drake roared in rage and pain, using its claws and tail as its weapons, wanting to rip apart the tiny creatures that dared to defy its power. Those tiny creatures quickly avoided its attacks as Madeleine and Solaire quickly struck each leg from the drake, their weapons slicing even the strong scales of the red creature.

As the battle raged on, Sunset was hit by its tail, fortunately on the shield, but with enough strength that send her sent across the bridge. Rolling to minimize the damage, Sunset groaned in pain at the impact, but quickly recovered, only slightly chuckling at what her life had become.

To think that only a couple of days ago she was getting ready to once again win a high school prom and here she was, more than used to the pain of battle with monsters. Standing up she tried to get her axe, but instead she made contact with an unfamiliar handle. Looking at her hand, she found out that she had taken hold of a long sword, a glittering and powerful weapon that she knew was a Claymore. The grin present in her face would have sent lesser men running away in fright.

Standing up and holding the weapon with both hands, Sunset let out a battle roar calling the attention of all combatants. The drake was ready to let loose another flame attack, but quickly, both Madeleine and Solaire got into position and as one, hit the dragon’s maw from underneath it with their weapons, sending the head of the drake upwards with the impact as it released the flame. With the opening, Sunset used all of her strength and impaled the dragon’s head with the long weapon, piercing the creature completely.

The drake’s head flopped into the bridge followed by its body, the claymore stuck inside with part of it visible coming out from the top of its head. The mighty creature was no more.

Author's Notes:

This is pretty much what happened to the poor drake.

Undead Parish 01

It was sturdy, just like everything else that had been built on this land. It was obviously done with the idea of being a city that will endure the passage of time. Obviously no one that had helped make the city and the Burg thought that the houses and buildings will outlive every single citizen of the place.

Now, every single construction stopped being an interesting place and instead became another obstacle that had been placed to make Sunset waste time to find a way around. It was starting to get annoying, especially considering how eager the city was on throwing more and more Hollows in front of her just to slow her down and make every single street a drag full of peril and danger.

Sunset knew she was cursed, something that may have been inflicted on her by the Elements of Harmony, maybe by the powers that be on this land. She just quite didn’t understand who was responsible, but she knew that being an undead was not the only curse she had been inflicted with.

She was sure that in addition to her body and life altering curse, she also was cursed to experience every single type of chaos and danger possible in the undead life she had been granted. Why else would she have been put in the middle of such a place with nothing but her wits and quick thinking? Okay, yes, she has had invaluable help by a woman who was not only approachable and knowledgeable in the land and in the art of battle, but also a very nice companion.

Thinking about Madeleine, she pulled her attention from the extremely durable gate that impeded her way into what seemed to be a cathedral and towards the good friend she had. Said friend was busy cleaning her trusty Winged Spear from all the guts and blood that had been accumulated on it. So far they have killed a drake, more Hollows - these ones better equipped than previous ones - and even a freaking battle boar, complete with full body armor scales.

The thing was feral, but obviously magical in construction due to the fact it could distinguish from people that belonged in the Burg and those he deemed enemies. Sunset and Madeleine, of course, counted as the last category. At this point in their adventure it had stopped being funny and just became another moot point in their journey.

“I’m not even going to question that boar,” the redhead commented as she walked away from the now closed gate. Apparently they weren’t fast enough and one of the undead had closed the gate as they arrived to the clearing. It had obviously been prepared as an impromptu choke point, but either the guards posted there had fallen to Hollows or they themselves have turned into the enemy. Fires were burning and weapons and crates were spilled everywhere. It was quite the depressing sight, almost like something that came out of a human war movie.

“We could take that as you becoming native and that is quite sad considering what you have seen so far. Not that the rest of the world is any better, but not even I know what was the purpose or the origins of that boar. Want to take something as a memento?”

“No, and I don’t want to see something like that ever again.”

“Believe me, we will see worse things than this, of that I promise you.”

“Great, I will remember to run the opposite way when it happens. So now what? We go somewhere else or something?”

“Well, we can either go downstairs, into what obviously look as an ambush site.”

“Hollows can do ambushes?”

“I’m still amazed that they retain enough intelligence to think of those kinds of tactics. Either way, we can do that or go up that tower we left behind for a better view of the zone.”

“I suppose that’s good enough. Beats walking into an ambush or a trap.”

“We are making a strategist out of you, I’m so proud of you.” Sure, it sounded half in jest, but still felt good for Sunset to receive some praise. Sure, the woman was not Celestia and Sunset was not her younger self - or her living self at that - and this was quite a different situation than the one in the past, when she was still a pony and still favored by the ruler of Equestria.

Those days were literally another life. Here, among the ashes, fire and death, Sunset didn’t feel like her former self. Not the self-assured and egotistical pony or the malicious and diabolical teenager. That Sunset had been killed, literally and figuratively. Still, to receive praise by what can be considered her first friend in years, it felt nice.

Being careful of every step, knowing that there could be traps or even hidden enemies, the two quickly ascended and were met with a gorgeous sight, one that for a few seconds reminded both women that there were still beautiful places in the world.

“So that’s one of the bells?” The redhead pointed upwards, to the tower of the cathedral and the only place that could have the strange bell that Sunset had been looking for. At this point, Sunset even had trouble reminding herself that her quest had not been her idea and she was only following the cryptic sayings of a dying man.

“I believe it is the place you have been looking for, not that there seems to be any other place we can visit to find these mysterious bells. I have heard some rumors about the Bells of Awakening, alongside that rhyme that brought you here, but none have ever seen them or ever heard exactly how or why they were made, if they even exist.”

“Well, what a way to make me sound like a crazy woman here!”

“Oh no, it wasn’t like that, I just… well, like you say, I get a little melodramatic; it is a problem that my sisters remind me of constantly,” Madeleine said, obviously not sorry of the way she had unknowingly ribbed Sunset.

“Wait, you have sisters?”

“Of course, well, they are not sisters by blood, mostly of battle and order. Last I checked there was still six of us alive, wonder what they have been doing these days.” The older woman sighed, thinking about the strange warriors she called sisters and the way they each went their own way. From all of them, she wanted to go and search for the youngest, the Queen of Black. Last time they talked she was still getting to grips with her abilities. In a way, Sunset reminded her of her sister, still immature and young, but with great potential and boundless energy.

“As long as we don’t find their bodies somewhere in Lordran, it is fine by me to never meet them. Now, come on, I want to see these fabled bells.”

“So impatient. We could have had tea while looking at the beautiful forest close to us.”

“I stopped drinking tea a long time ago. Besides, that’s a waste of time.”

“You philistine, how dare you disrespect tea that way?!” The banter went on as the two warriors were ready to go back and into the still unexplored lower corridor, not before Sunset saw something beyond the forest.

“What’s that thing over there? It looks like a fortress.”

“Oh, that’s Sen’s Fortress; I’ve heard it was used as some sorts of a proving ground a long time ago.”

“A proving ground? For what?”

“Never been sure for what exactly, but for what I heard, it holds the key to get access to Anor Londo, the city of the gods, but that place had been empty for such a long time that many knights and would be heroes went in. None ever came out. Besides, that place is only a dead ground. Nothing to do with your quest, right Sunset?” What a way to jinx it, but that path was still blocked. So with that, both women went downwards and after battling more Hollows, they finally reached the Undead Parish and the hollow interior of the cathedral.

Author's Notes:

So, hey, you may be asking, where is Solaire? That is goign to be explained next chapter alongside the return of Twilight and the Human World.

Undead Parish 02

It was majestic. That was the only way in which Sunset could explain the way the cathedral looked, alongside the stone pathway and arcs that guided people into another zone in the Parish. It was breathtaking and awe-inspiring to be standing in front of the lonely city. The loneliness of the city was encompassing, as if it was the only living creature in the world.

Sunset had heard about agoraphobia before and had found it stupid. Now that she was in a place so open with nothing alongside you except for the silence and the fear of what could pop up at any minute, well, yeah, now she could understand better what was so scary about open spaces.

It was frustrating in a way considering how Sunset had grown; always surrounded by ponies and people, never truly alone except when she planned her next move in search of more power and opportunities to punish Celestia for what she had done to her, of how she had pushed her aside once she realized she won’t be the one with the destiny.

Now, in a place like Lordran, Sunset didn’t even care about that power or those excuses that she made for herself. The only thing that mattered today was to survive, to keep advancing on into the eternal death trap that was the world. Everything was trying to take Sunset’s hope it seemed, with loneliness, silence, and bloodthirst every second.

Sunset was barely clinging to herself, to her human side that let her step deeper into the world of Lordran. It wasn’t because she wanted power, but because she wanted to survive, and above all else, because she wanted to make the wish of a dying man reality. That was the gist of it. Nothing grandiose like looking for an exit into her original world to get revenge for what had happened or to escape the darkness of this world.

Now, Sunset already knew that there was no escape, this was her hell and she will not go down easily. She was not going run away this time; nothing will stand in her way. Not even the huge knight that guarded the way into the cathedral.

The footsteps of the giant made the ground rumble with the weight and its slow movement was foreboding. This was not a normal creature that unlike the other undead they had fought, this wall of a being had a complete set of armor from head to toes.

The undead knights that Sunset and Madeleine had battled before were ragged, with armor that barely clinged to their atrophied bodies and could be batted aside. No, this was something that was a true knight, something from an epic book of battles between heroes and monsters. Sunset just wasn’t sure on which side of the story she would be.

“This is a Berenike knight. What is it doing here?!” The voice of Madeleine told enough about the creature. Once human, now obviously only a hollow that walked the abandoned city like many others, but this one was above all other adversaries Sunset had fought before. Yes, she had battled both Havel and the Drake, but that last one had been taken down by working together.

With the help of Solaire, they were able to defeat the Drake; sadly the man disappeared once they got closer to the hidden bonfire inside the tower. Not only did they find the bonfire, but also a mysterious statue that had been demolished; only the feet remained from what seemed like an important effigy considering all the hollows praying in the place.

Madeleine had watched the place for a long time, obviously thinking about something, before the two turned around and began to walk again. It was clear that Solaire was not from their time or their world, so he was pulled back once they stopped overlapping.

It was a shame since his presence was useful in the destruction of a great adversary. Now, in front of the Berenike knight, she sure missed his presence.

As the enormous steel mace descended upon them, Sunset rolled away from the swinging arm and tried to recover her footing, but found difficulty with the shield strapped on her back alongside the steel axe on her hip weighing her down.

The shining claymore that Sunset had on her two hands was a heavy weapon, obviously used to do both cutting and smashing damage, something that she will put to the test with that opponent, but it was really heavy. She could already feel her muscles working just by holding the weapon up.

Everyone in Canterlot was holding their breath as once more Sunset had to fight a strong opponent. It was like something out of an epic novel, with the hero constantly being tested by the dark forces. Yes, they all considered Sunset the hero in the book, considering the way she went on no matter the obstacles.

It was something that made Twilight feel proud of the redhead. She would have never thought that she would see the exiled unicorn like this. She only wished there had been another way for her to become like this.

The steel mace moved through the air with precision and power, making the two smaller warriors jump everywhere in search of the perfect spot to attack. Sunset was not crazy enough to try and absorb the damage this time; she remembered what happened against the Demon at the Asylum and didn’t have a desire of repeating that experience.

Thankfully, it was Madeleine who started the offensive by thrusting her lance at the place where the right leg of the Berenike knight’s armor was thinner, right on the knee. The thin blade of the winged spear went right through the two armor pieces obviously damaging the giant knight, making it swing wildly its mace. The white armored warrior barely avoided the attack, but her cape was the one that got hit, ripping part of it.

Sunset used the knight’s confusion to raise the new sword and with a mighty swing alongside a scream, the weapon struck right behind the Berenike knight’s head, striking true with a sickening crunch, doing an amazing amount of damage, enough to send the giant into the ground, not moving even once.

At Canterlot High, one could hear the cheers and elation from the street due to how loud the students reacted to Sunset’s victory. It was quite the mood change from several days ago, which was great, if only Sunset knew of it of course. Speaking of her, both Sunset and Madeleine were surprised at the ease in which they defeated such an opponent; probably all the time fighting together had been useful in a way.

So without losing much time, they both went into the cathedral in which, thanks to the trained eye of Madeleine, they noticed something strange. An elevator was there, and thinking on the way the whole Burg was designed, thinking back on the places they had already visited, there was only one way it could land.

With a mighty sigh of relief, both warriors were back to where their team started, but this time they weren’t alone.

Souls and Flasks

The day was eternal, no sun would move through the sky and no cloud will disappear, making the day as eternally grey as every day before it. The two warriors were used to it, maybe not to the point where they could call the place a home, but enough so that they could simply take it out of their minds while worrying on other more important things. So far they have made good time in reaching new places and getting a good idea of how bad the situation was the more they walked into the heart of Lordran. It wasn’t that much of a distance considering that both Madeleine and Sunset were walking inside an abandoned city, but its hallways and buildings were more like mini bunkers, always having an undead or a new danger waiting for them. It was slow and mentally exhausting, but finally, the time had come to go back to camp. They were so close to the first bell that they could finally take a breather, but the camp wasn’t alone.

The one thing they knew was that the church in which they walked into had a prodigious invention, one that brought them back into the place where their partnership started, much to their surprise since it seemed that it was direct link, one that had been rendered unusable, maybe to help people escape, or probably to make people less likely to step into an undead infested zone. Whatever the case, both were finally at the Firelink Shrine.

Even though the empty streets of the Undead Burg offered more protection and were relatively safe now that they had cleaned it of hollows, the sight of their initial camp brought a small smile to their tired faces. The stone path felt a little bit like home with its slightly eroded surface due to the wind and the weather. It was a fantastic place, one that could have been a relaxing and interesting place if it weren’t for the Darksign and the melancholy that permeated the world they lived in.

As they walked the steps going down, they were surprised of what were they able to find and the sight caused both warriors to freeze in their road to the bonfire. They weren’t alone in the Firelink Shrine. Sure, there was already the bizarre presence of the monk, but this time, instead of standing alone among the clay urns, he was quietly talking with another.

The voluminous armor made out of metal plaques, adding such girth to their bodies that it was impossible for Madeleine not to recognize the origins of such protection. A man with short dirty blonde hair and a man that had most of his face hidden underneath his helmet accompanied Petrus, all obviously protecting a woman on her knees, praying to gods that could hear no more the voices of mortals.

Sunset felt the eyes of the armored guards on her the moment they went down the stairs and she saw one of them, the one with short hair, put a hand over the morning star’s handle at his side, but his hand stopped after seeing the woman behind the redhead. She couldn’t see Madeleine from where she was, but she could feel the burning power of her glare. So far she has only seen the woman with a smile on her face, or at the very least she was very calm and composed.

Even without seeing the glare, Sunset felt the danger and the power rolling like waves, making her shiver and stop. Thankfully it stopped once the guard took his hand away from his weapon. The silence was suffocating and the air was filled with tension, with only a light wind picking up and the bonfire burning and crisping not too far away.

“I see that we are not the only ones resting at this place; I cannot believe there are people still living in these plains.” The short haired man obviously wanted to break the tension, which both Sunset and Madeleine were glad that no confrontation started among the two groups.

“The city may have been abandoned by their previous citizens, but it does not mean that there is no hope or knowledge in it.” Madeleine was obviously the correct one to continue the conversation; Sunset was still shocked at seeing more humans staying in the Firelink Shrine, not to mention how tired she was. For the first time since she had been a part of the world, she had been able to meet more people, but sadly she realized that this was the Way of White and for what Madeleine had explained, they were not exactly hollow protectors, or even undead friends.

“May it be. I recommend you to step aside so we could start our mission,” the man said as the one with the helmet slightly nodded. At his side, Petrus simply turned his face to the other side, watching the chasm in front of Firelink Shrine. It was nothing major, but the actions of the Thorolund priest made a little bell inside Sunset’s head go off. You could call it instinct, or maybe she had become used to the small clues of human beings when they were lying or there was something hidden.

“If you are in this place, then that means you are looking for the Rite of Kindling? So that will mean… oh, I see.” Madeleine suddenly looked at the woman kneeling, her eyes understanding, but in no moment she had pity in her eyes. The woman in white understood something about this, but instead of calling attention, she simply turned around and started walking. Sunset was about to follow her when a voice, clear and pristine as a crystal bell reached her eyes.

“Wait, you are undead, are you not? What is your purpose in Lordran?” The woman’s voice didn’t remind Sunset of anyone specific, but it was the way in which she spoke, that same elegant intonation that made Sunset remember days spent under the sun alongside her teacher. That seemed so long ago, when Sunset could still feel heat. She was sure that the coldness will never abandon her now.

“I came here to make a dead man’s wish come true. I have a mission to do in this place.” The woman slightly smiled and for a moment, Sunset was sure that the cold inside her soul had abandoned her, for at least a second.

“I see, then I suppose we are similar. We both have a mission that we must do, a purpose that keeps us binded to this unholy land; my name is Rhea of Thorolund, would you tell me yours?”

“I am Sunset of Equestria.”

“Sunset, I see… your name is truly fitting for the world we live in. I would like to say that I wish we could meet again some other day, but alas, I’m sure that will not be.” Rhea gave her one last sad smile before going back to her praying, leaving Sunset Shimmer standing in the middle of Firelink Shrine, close to the flames of the bonfire, but frozen entirely, as if a fire had been extinguished.

“Poor girl, having to be sacrificed in that way, just because she is an undead.” It took a time for Sunset to fight the coldness, even after sitting down close to the bonfire still ignited.

“What do you mean by that? I saw how you were looking at her. You know what’s going to happen, don’t you?”

“Yes, indeed. She is the one that has been chosen to recover the relic known as Rite of Kindling. Sadly, I fear that it’s impossible for her. The Way of White does not allow undead among their members, but instead of simply killing them or banishing them, they do something even worse. They throw them into the catacombs. They are close from here, you just have to follow the stairs that way.” Madeline pointed somewhere in the distance. “But I advise against going there. It is a death trap, one you are in no way prepared for, a place to make sure that whatever undead falls into it will never return. It is cruel, to send a woman as unprepared as her to a place like that.”

“Do you know her?”

“Personally, no, but even though I have been far from home, I still get some information, believe it or not. She is the daughter of the main Thorolund family, a woman that gave her full life to the guild, and this is how she’s rewarded. The gods truly have a twisted sense of humor.” Madeleine closed her eyes, obviously angry at the topic. “Enough with that, we still have a bell to find and ring. Meanwhile, why don’t you show me the ring we got from Havel? Maybe we can find its usage.” Sunset shrugged, knowing that if she continued thinking about Rhea she will only get depressed.

The redhead put a hand inside one of the many pockets her robes had, but instead of closing her hand around the metal ring, her hand found something different, an object in the shape of a vase. Taking it from inside her robes, Sunset stood staring at the flask that had been given to her some time ago. Her robes had more padding than it looked, probably the reason why Sunset had forgotten about it.

“Where did you get that thing Sunset?”

“This? It was… well, it was a farewell gift from Oscar.” That, alongside his shield, were the only two things in which she could remember of the man that helped her escape the asylum in which she had been thrown in and forgotten. It was warm on her hands, as if it had a flame inside. Although, considering the place she was living in, it was probably the reason why it was warm.

“Well, seems that the knight was prepared, or maybe not considering what happened to him. That my dear is an estus flask. It holds flame from the bonfire and from what I have heard, it helps undead recover from injuries. There has been talk that they are linked to the same power that maintain the bonfires, but no one is sure where they come from.”

“Is there anyone that could tell us anything about them?” An object that could help her recover? Maybe it was not a cure, but anything that could help her in her constant death and rebirth cycle could surely be good. Madeline once more closed her eyes, obviously pained due to something and Sunset knew she had done something wrong, or at least something she will not like.

“There… is one person, but she is in no condition to tell us about it. I suppose you have a right to know Sunset Shimmer.” She stood up and it was clear she wanted the redhead to follow her, down stairs that Sunset had never taken and into another place that the Firelink had almost hidden.

In front of her, behind bars and with her face almost completely hidden by rags, Sunset understood what Madeleine was talking about. The redhead turned to look at the other warrior, but she simply shrugged.

“Don’t look at me, I had no hand in her situation. This was done by people that are probably dead. Or not, there is no way to know,” she said, clearly not giving Sunset a direct answer. Meanwhile, the redhead stood close to the bars that confined the girl to a cell that was no more than a hole in the mountain and began to tug at them with all of her strength. “You are wasting your time Sunset Shimmer. You won’t get her out of there, not that she herself wants to.” At these words, Sunset took a look at the girl trapped inside the cell, but instead of a hopeful look, the girl was terrified, huddling inside the cell, almost as if she was afraid of Sunset.

“Why? Wouldn’t she want to get out?”

“Of course. That’s the reason why she’s trapped in her cell, although I don’t see how she could escape, considering that they took her feet.” At those words Sunset fought against the desire to look closer at the woman trapped, but knew that the warrior was telling the truth. “The first time they took her tongue, the second her feet, the third she was trapped inside. She is a fire Keeper, being bound to the bonfire upstairs. You see now Sunset? Why I don’t pray? People think that the fire and its warmth will keep us safe.”

“You don’t believe that.”

“No I don’t. After all, they have already abandoned us, and imprisoning women like her just to keep a flame alive? No, the gods left, but we are still here and we are in charge of setting all their screw ups right, so if ringing the bells can help us right some wrong in this world, you can count on me Sunset of Equestria.”

Farewells and the Church of the Undead

Watching the gleaming spear cut through the air was a spectacle in and of itself for Sunset now that she had become used to weapons in general. So long ago, the only thing she ever used were her horn and, years later, a single sledgehammer.

The last one mostly due to how effective it was when she needed to open something, no matter how small or weak it was. It was something like killing a fly with a cannon; it had the same results, but the destruction was greater. Now, here she was, sitting down in front of a burning bonfire, reflecting on life while checking her own weapons.

Across Sunset, using the open space of the Firelink Shrine was Madeleine, twirling her gleaming spear around, making the blade shine even in the dimmed sunlight. It was a dance that was as elegant as it was deadly.

She has seen her use it time and time again with clear results; capable of going through most armored undead as if it were nothing. As she continued to train and relax at the same time - how the woman could use her spear as some sort of relaxation and meditation was anyone’s guess - Sunset thought about her own situation.

Spread on the dry grass were her spoils of their adventure across the Undead Burg, the first being her battle axe, dirtied and showing wear and tear after being used constantly. It was still in working condition, but one could see now that the weapon was not for decoration or as some sort of status tool. It was the weapon of a warrior and even among the darkness and melancholy of the land, Sunset was proud of that.

Alongside it, Sunset had the shield that was given to her by Oscar, as radiant as it was that first day, probably maintained due to strong magic, like the one Madeleine had with her. Also, the old crossbow, whose wood showed signs of decay, almost rotten in several parts, making it very hard to rely upon in a world that could eat you at any minute.

At its side, the one blade that surprised her for finding something of that quality. The claymore was made of great steel, but its handle was simple and unadorned, something that didn’t bother Sunset. Since arriving at Lordran, Sunset had found out that there were many things that didn’t make her mad, like the years she lived in Canterlot. Back then, anything could make her snap, but here, under the unmoving sun of Lordran, she felt almost empty, as if the world was sucking all emotions from her.

The way she was now, it was probably due to everything that happened in the few days since she had been exiled to this reality. All the death, the loneliness, it just made everything look even worse and sucked all hope she could ever have to survive in Lordran. If it weren’t for Madeleine, Sunset would have already lost her sanity, spiraled into hollowness. That was not a thought that Sunset wanted to focus on right now; she saw the results of what happened and it pained her in another way.

The redhead owed her survival and sanity to two… well, three people and all of them were from Astora; Oscar, with desire to protect her and his fear of becoming hollow; Solaire, who was jovial and a true joy to meet and most importantly, Madeleine. She was her companion, her friend, her teacher. In a way, it was a little bit like Celestia, but there were no barriers between them, no etiquette and no over the top expectations from her. It felt nice to finally have someone at her side like that… if only.

Before she could go even deeper into her mind to think about the way things were in Lordran, Madeleine put the lance over her shoulder and ruffled the redhead’s hair. At this action, Sunset looked up to see the eyes of her friend behind the masquerade.

Instead of their usual twinkle, this time they were melancholic. They have been like that since Sunset had seen the woman trapped downstairs. Madeleine pointed at the other side of the Firelink and Sunset went up, understanding what the other warrior was doing.

Alongside her guards, Rhea of Thorolund was walking, her feet slowly moving across the stone field in the direction of the catacombs, a place Sunset hasn’t been nor did she want to. Her clothes, as white as when she saw her the first time, with her head held up high and with the bearing of a noble, but with the silent doom of a woman that knows she is going to the execution block. The air around her was not of peace and camaraderie that she shared with Sunset, but melancholy and darkness.

As if sensing the eyes upon her, Rhea stopped for a second and her guards did the same thing. From beneath the white cowl, a pair of deep blue eyes peeked and met the cyan ones of Sunset. At that moment it was as if time stood still and there was no need for words. With a bright smile, Rhea bid her farewells to the Equestrian undead and a deep sadness took hold of Sunset’s heart. As the group disappeared in the direction of the catacombs, Sunset and Madeleine could only watch, immobile on the Firelink Shrine.

In one swift moment, Sunset took hold of her claymore and bean to hit the stone like roots of the dead tree. Her screams of rage and impotence echoed on the now empty walls of the shrine as Madeleine remained silent.

Lordran was truly a land of sadness, farewells and hopelessness, and this was the last proof of that for Sunset Shimmer.

Placing a hand on Sunset’s shoulder, Madeleine quietly offered her companionship to the younger girl, as she finally relaxed after venting her rage. As the silence continued, the two warriors put everything in order - weapons, rings and armor - and began to ascend back into the Undead Church. Their thoughts focused on one thing, and that was the bell that was present on top of the church.

From the foot of the church, it seemed almost insignificant, but Sunset was there for a reason, and she was not going to back on her word, but just as Sunset was ready to begin walking up the stairs, Madeleine’s hand stopped her from walking. With one finger, Madeleine pointed at a figure that was looking at them from its vantage point.

“What is that thing?”

“A Channeler, a minion of Seath the Scaleless.”

“Wait, you mean that dragon that betrayed his species? Wouldn’t that dragon be older than dirt by now?”

“Well, considering that dragons were only eternal due to their scales, I think it safe to say he has extended his life with some very dark magic. After all, he is a being with enormous powers and way too dangerous by itself. What I don’t understand is, what is that thing doing here? Is Seath doing something or searching for some particular thing?”

“Whatever the case may be, that thing is going down. I’m too close to the bell to let a thing with such a stupid helmet stop me.” That was such a Sunset response that lifted both women’s spirits and made them ascend the church, quickly finding a veritable army of hollows guarding the Channeler. Sadly for them all, Sunset and Madeleine used the narrow corridor to their advantage.

Thanks to the way it was built and the general stupidity of average hollows, they all began to walk across the bottleneck, being easy prey for Madeleine’s spear, which stood behind a kneeling Sunset who, wearing her shield and holding up her claymore horizontally, they created something of a phalanx, quickly dispatching the whole group.

The channeler didn’t fare well either, with a jumping Madeleine piercing him in the head at the same time Sunset took off one of his legs. It was messy, but the strategy between the two women proved very effective, and lo and behold, they now had unfettered access to a long steel ladder that put them a step closer to the bell.

Their steps echoed across the empty lands, rebounding across the old and decrepit walls of the church before both stood across another fog door. So far, Sunset hasn’t found another place like this and found it quite bizarre. Apparently, neither Madeleine knew why they were created, but she had a theory. Due to the concentration of magic and demon energy present on Lordran, the excess of it turned into a kind of lock, a warning to others to leave the place be.

Whatever the case, it was clear that the place meant danger, but just as she was about to cross it, a certain light began to call her attention and in this case, it was a very familiar fog wave.

Almost as if she had been dropped in the middle of a fogged road, the world turned grey and featureless, before the warriors stood once more on top of the tower, but instead of two, this time it was three.

“Well, I must say this is fascinating and also fortuitous. Apparently we were both at the correct place, at the correct moment, don’t you think so Lady Shimmer?” The jubilant voice of the sun garbed knight was like a ray of sunlight, which was quite fitting for one Solaire of Astora.

Author's Notes:

Guess who's back?

The Cathedral 01

His armor was so distinctive that it was impossible to confuse the warrior with anyone else, since there was probably no one else that would wear a smiling sun in the middle of his armor. If it weren’t because Solaire was really interesting as a human, not only because he treated Sunset nicely, she would at least do a couple of jokes in reference with his attire. Sunset knew that the sun drawing would be akin to the idea of a cutiemark considering his mission, but it was so childish in a way that it could be funny, that is if Solaire wasn’t also a rather formidable warrior.

“I didn’t think I would see you again, not after you disappeared in front of us.” Sunset readjusted her large coat’s hoodie. True that it didn’t quite work for armor, but by now she had grown attached to the wide sleeves and amount of pockets that were part of the attire. The only thing Sunset didn’t like was the way it flattened her hair.

“I will be truthful and say that I did not think I will find you, but it is fortuitous that our paths had crossed once more. After all, our roads seem to be parallel.” He seemed be every bit the gentleman he was when they found him, so at least that was good.

“What do you mean Solaire? You are thinking about something in particular.” Madeleine used her lance to rest her shoulder as she looked at her compatriot with curious eyes at his words.

“Well, you have to admit that your travel and mission deviates from the normal on this land. Usually undead and humans are in this place for their own gain, but you two, you are looking for an answer to the undead curse, isn’t it?”

“Well, technically I just came to Lordran to ring the Bells of Awakening.”

“But that’s the important part. After all, the legends say that by ringing them both, the fate of all undead shall be known. What could be more important? Well, except finding my own sun, but I admit it pales with your own mission Sunset of Equestria.” At those words, Solaire of Astora chuckled jovially at his own expense, making Sunset crack a smile too at the humor.

“It was just a favor. Besides, I needed something to keep me focused, anything, so it led me here, right in front of another gate of fog.” Pointing at the aforementioned construct, the trio of warriors left their humor behind and put attention to it.

“Indeed and so far we have found two situations behind them, either a great monster or another unexplored part of Lordran, but considering how close we are to one of the bells, well, I don’t think this will easy.” Madeleine put a hand over her face and slightly adjusted her silver masquerade. Sunset had been in the company of the dark haired knight that she had all but forgotten of that accessory. After so long, it had just become normal, although she had to admit it looked good on her.

“Do you think it will be another demon?” After meeting several of those abominations, Sunset was sure that she will find more and more of those obstacles in her mission.

“Well, from what I saw, there is little no chance of finding something like a demon. After all there is no space for a big creature like that.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure Solaire. After all, I would not be very complacent, knowing that a minion of Seath has been in this place.”

“Seath you say? I must admit that I haven’t met him through my travels. This is interesting. What would one of Lord Gwyn’s oldest allies want with this abandoned cathedral?”

“Nothing good, knowing what we know about that treacherous dragon.”

“I see you have a very bad opinion of the Scaleless one Lady Madeleine.”

“I have never trusted traitors and Seath is the greatest traitor of them all.”

“Whatever the case, we need to cross that gate to find the bell, but we know there will be some kind of ambush. What are we going to do about it?” It was clear that Madeleine had some strong opinions about the Scaleless dragon, but as informative about Madeleine’s personality it was, they had something important to do right now. Sunset was sure that with the three of them in one place, things would probably be less dangerous than in previous fights, if they found one at the other side of the fog gate, but it would be better if they had any solid plan about it.

“I believe there are not many options about this Lady Sunset. After all, there is only one way in which any adversary could appear, and that is in front of us. So beyond some archers I don’t believe there is much in which the enemy could surprise us.”

“If only I could be so optimistic about this as you Solaire. So far we have found many dangers, so I wouldn’t be complacent. Still, if you all have your shields, I suppose we could step into the gate.” Madeleine took her spear and checked her shield before turning to Sunset.

It was a bizarre feeling for the redhead. After all, she was in front of two warriors that had more experience than her, but she didn’t feel any change in their behavior with her. It wasn’t as if they were looking down at her just because she was an inexperienced fighter. Sure, after the kind of trip she had inside Lordran, there was no way she could be a novice at fighting, but she could feel how experienced and powerful the two were in comparison with her. It was humbling in a way, but not in the bad sense of the word.

This whole time Sunset didn’t feel as if Madeleine was mocking her for her own inexperience, but that she was fond of her and was trying to help her. It was a bizarre experience for the teenager that had tried so hard to break others apart, to gain power in any way, and here was this woman, giving her company and friendship, just because she was there, never asking for anything, just… standing at her side.

Sunset looked at the two of them, one wearing the masquerade, the other with his bucket helmet with a feather and felt, if not happiness, at least contentment for the first time in a long time. So that’s how it felt when she allowed others to help her? She had been such a fool. So with one nod at both of her companions, Sunset took a step inside the fog gate, quickly dissipating the energy that made it cling to the archway and she stepped into the tiled roof.

Sunset felt the wind that hit her right on her face, making her long coat move alongside it. It was refreshing, but also dangerous, considering the kind of drop that it represented. At least it wasn’t as if she could fall down by mistake, but it was true what Solaire had said. There was no way something like the other demons could step onto the roof. It would not only be very dangerous, but the proof of their weight would be visible on the tiles. The only thing worrying her were the statues at each side of the roof. Fearsome granite vigilantes, forever protecting the site, even after the people living in the city were long gone.

Behind her, she heard two set of footsteps signaling the rest of the group standing atop the roof, but before they could safely advance, they heard it - the sound of stone creaking, of something moving, of something breaking, and something hollering at them.

Author's Notes:

*Creak*

The Cathedral 02: Fight on the Roof

Author's Notes:

just something I wanted to say before we go into the story; first, thanks to XIII Hearts who is an amazing editor and beta reader.
Next, we need to understand that while in the game the bosses are hard, you only need to hit them on random spots until they die, but in real life, I don't think something like that will happen, not to mention that, while the Souls games have great difficulty spikes, with some hiccups right and there, the real Lordran is not that nice, so expect a lot of dangerous factors trying to make Sunset's travel as bad as it can be.

They were grey, just like every day in the world of Lordran, just like the sky, and they were looking at them, or at least Sunset thought they were looking at them since their head and their eyes were hidden beneath a rusty green helmet that were as old as the cathedral they were obviously guarding. Some were flying, others patiently standing on top of the cathedral. Waiting maybe? Sunset didn’t know, but it was clear that these monsters, these gargoyles, were the guardians of the Bell of Awakening.

She should have realized that things would not be as easy and there would be something in their way. It seems that her theory about the fog gate was correct and that it had something to do with the amount of magic or darkness that was amassed behind it.

Looking into the sky and their surroundings, Sunset counted the figures looking at them and she cursed loudly at the perfect ambush. As the stone crumbled and the figures freed themselves of their outer shell, she counted six gargoyles and knew that they were in some deep trouble.

She had never seen creatures like them, although she had read about experiments and sculptures of the type. Gargoyles that were not alive, but instead were made like golems, pure magic and stone, of metal and rock, that guarded places of utmost importance.

Whatever the case may be, or whoever created them ages ago, it seems that the evacuation of the city and the subsequent invasion of hollows meant nothing to them, because here they were, ready to fight and defend the bell from invaders, in this case, Sunset and company.

“Well, this is definitely a surprise,” Madeleine commented on a very weak attempt of humor at the sudden appearance of their opponents. Her shield high alongside her spear, the female knight stood in a circle alongside the other two as they watched the gargoyles circle around them, the flying monsters taking their time to go ahead and attack them.

“Surprise must be an understatement Lady Madeleine. I never considered the cathedral will have guardians like this, nor did I think that the ambush will come from the sky.” Alongside them, Solaire had his circular shield, its solar illustration catching the few rays of light on its almost pristine surface as the knight held his sword, ready to strike any opponent that came close to them.

Far away from them, in another reality, six girls huddled together as they recovered from the sudden appearance of the monsters, several of them already holding each other in fright as if this were a horror movie and the monster had finally appeared. In Rainbow’s case, she felt as if the only thing missing were a bag of popcorn considering the epicness of the situation. Across her, Applejack had her hat on her hands and was nervously shifting it around as she watched the action unfold in their screen.

Everything was calm, but that was only because they were in the eye of the storm and things could get bad really quickly. Staying calm and collected allowed Sunset, Madeleine and Solaire to remain still on top of the cathedral. With their backs to each other, the three kept looking at their enemy which, for now, were content with just watching and flying around, that is until one rushed into them. That was the wrong thing to do.

As one, the trio of warriors acted, intercepting the green halberd with their shields, slamming against them so hard that the gargoyle recoiled back, losing his footing on the tiled roof of the cathedral. Following this, the three warriors struck as one, with spear, claymore and sword going through the rock like skin of the gargoyle, impaling him with ruthless, but effective synchronization.

The weapons found their target, making the creature vomit blood as dark as night and on his back, with the three weapons coming out of it, a shower of more darkness was jettisoned into the roof, where it splashed and echoed across the battlefield.

With a kick by them, the weapons were pushed out of the now dead gargoyle and the battle began. Now, the gargoyles struck as one, flying closer and trying to overwhelm the invaders. With halberds, tails and jaws full of powerful teeth, the creatures fell upon them like birds of prey.

Sunset was almost sent flying off the roof when one of the gargoyles hit her shield with such strength that sent her flying backwards. Thankfully she was sent in the direction of the door that served as the only access to the roof, not into the air, where she would have turned into a stain of blood and guts as she struck the ground. Shaking her head to get her bearings, she had to roll away from her opponent who, taking flight, aimed his bladed tail on her, cracking the tiles and almost cutting Sunset’s body in two halves.

As this fight went on, Madeleine had her own worries and could not help her friends. Both gargoyles, instead of taking flight, battled her two on one, with the two using their halberds. Unfortunately, Madeleine’s weapon was made for thrusting attacks only, while the gargoyles’ weapons were multipurpose, being designed to cleave their opponents in two while also serving as excellent clubs due to their extreme weight.

Seeing that she could not be in the defensive all the time, the masquerade wearing woman used her spear in a rather ingenious way. Instead of sticking randomly, Madeleine twisted her spear and, in a movement that took the gargoyles by surprise, stuck it with the halberd of the gargoyle at her left side. Thanks to the small wings of steel at the sides of her spear, Madeleine was able to make it hook on the halberd’s long axe blade and with a movement of her hand made her surprised opponent strike the halberd of his teammate, leaving them defenseless.

Striking with her left hand, Madeleine struck the Gargoyle right in the jaw with the top end of her shield, sending him reeling backwards, stunned for a few seconds. Rolling her spear, she unstuck it and with a thrust, she aimed to finish her next opponent. Sadly the gargoyle acted quickly, dropping his halberd and taking flight, so Madeleine’s spear only scratched the rock like skin of it as it took some distance from her.

As the gargoyle took flight, Madeleine quickly noticed how it tried to spin and immediately ducked underneath the bladed tail of her opponent. Sadly this was not the only thing that happened because the other gargoyle, the one she had struck with her shield, opened its maw and with a roar, it filled with red energy before sending out a cone of flames. Thankfully, due to her own blue and silver shield, the damage of the flames were mitigated, but it pushed Madeleine backwards as the warrior tried to not lose her footing and fall backwards due to the strength of the flame.

“Oh, come on! Those things also have fire! That is not fair!”

“Ah call bullshit on it too!” Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack stood up from the table they were sitting before remembering where they were and with a sheepish grin to Cherilee, they both sat down once more. One thing they learned was to never make Miss Cherilee angry in her domain known as Canterlot High Library.

“I may not have the same reaction as you two, but I do believe that giving those hideous creatures fire was too much,” Rarity told them as she and Fluttershy hugged each other as they watched the battle unfold in front of them. Thankfully, this time the battle was being transmitted on one of the library’s computer, so they were able to get a better view of it. For her part, Fluttershy was almost biting her nails due to how nervous and surprised she was.

At their left side, wearing rather gaudy old 3d glasses and holding a paper bag full of popcorn, Pinkie Pie was enjoying the fight. She wasn’t nervous. After all, she knew that no matter what Sunset would win. There was no way she could be defeated at this point of her adventure. Maybe next time she could make a foam hand with Sunset’s favorite symbol.

In the middle of her friends, Twilight Sparkle didn’t know what to do with her hands, so instead she was gripping her skirt a bit too tight, enough that there would be obvious wrinkles on the fabric.

She was nervous, she was hopeful, but most importantly, she was afraid. Afraid of what Sunset was doing and what it could mean, not only for her survival, but her mental stress and the torment she must be going through. This was in part her fault and if there could be a way in which she could help Sunset, she would have done it a long time ago. Sadly, the only thing she could do was be witness to her struggles and silently pray for her survival.

On the battlefield, Solaire was faring a little bit better than his companions, quickly striking the knee of one gargoyle, making the creature scream in pain and rage. Kicking him down while leaving his sword inserted on the knee, Solaire concentrated the energy of the flame on his right hand. The energy was strong enough that sent shivers through Sunset as her hair began to stick up as static began to be stored. In seconds, a spear made out of lightning appeared in Solaire’s hands and with a mighty heave, he sent it hurling through the air as it struck one of the flying gargoyle’s wings, sending it spiraling out of control until it struck the ground and didn’t move again.

The energy felt familiar to Sunset, almost warming despite the electrical shiver down her spine and the smell of ozone in the air. It was almost nostalgic in a way, making her think back on days where she spent training and studying with the help of an alicorn as white as clouds and with a smile that could always calm her. It hurt to think of her, of the life she had thrown aside, but it was this feeling, this spark of nostalgia and love that revived the embers left behind by her sins and the elements of harmony.

As she thought about the magic and the world she had left behind, the gargoyle that was her opponent prepared himself to attack, opening his maw, ready to roast Sunset into cinders. But with eyes full of conviction, Sunset pulled magic from deep inside of her, from her heart and soul, things that she herself though she had lost a long time ago. In her hand, sparks instantly turned into embers and then in a powerful flame as Sunset took aim and hurled it into the air, striking the gargoyle on the head, mixing with the flame already on its mouth, doing a chain reaction that ended with an explosion, sending bits and pieces of the gargoyle’s head everywhere, culminating with the gargoyle’s now dead body plummeting into the ground.

With half of their forces down, the fight was now even having three fighters on each side. The gargoyles attacking Madeleine now had to look out for a pyromancer that had finally found her flame and this was what the white armored woman needed to turn her battle around. With a quick movement of her left hand, the halberd’s attack was sent awry, quickly counter attacking the now wide open gargoyle, sending her spear deep into the other creature’s chest and soon, another gargoyle laid dead.

Turning around to deal with one of the last gargoyles, Madeleine struck the leg of the flying menace as this one was trying to hit Sunset with its tail. This meant that it stood floating for just the right time for Sunset to do a vertical slice with her claymore, cleaving through the bladed tail as if it were butter, making the creature flop into the tiled roof.

As Solaire inserted his sword in the other gargoyle’s chest, there was now only one last opponent for them on the roof, one that was right now trying to stand up and keep on fighting. Stabbing her claymore on the floor, Sunset took a look at the axe tail, finding that the severed member felt more like a conventional weapon than skin or a normal tail. Seeing the downed gargoyle still trying to stand up, Sunset took aim and with a big swing, she struck behind the head of the gargoyle with its own tail, sending splatters of dark blood everywhere on the roof.

The Cathedral and the Bell

It was quiet in the world, at least it seemed that way for the weary warriors as their tense bodies still ran with the adrenaline that pumped through them. Undead or not, there was very little difference among the three, with armor and weapons worn down from usage. Wind moved the trees not too far away from the cathedral, bringing the smell of a forest, the first sign of life in the dried husk that was Lordran. Alongside the rays of the immovable sun, it was a serene scene that made the perfect counterpoint to the blood and clash of weapons and rock.

For a few seconds, everything remained the same atop the cathedral, with only the wind playing a tune of loneliness, whispering in the wind, and crackling of distant fires. Everything was still on the roof, until slowly, the weary warriors slowly began to relax tense muscles and their minds stopped their battle focus.

Dropping the now bloodied halberd, Sunset almost fell backwards due to her body losing all the energy. Her tired mind attributed it to adrenaline leaving her body now that the danger was over, but when she took a step she then felt the sting and one of the reasons why she felt light headed. Moving her cloak to the side, she saw a red spot growing and the cloth damaged. She must have been hit harder than she thought to have an injury like that.

Sunset knew that the injury didn’t feel that painful right now, but if there was something she had put attention to both in Equestria and the Human World, it was about biology and first aid. It had become invaluable to understand what she could about her own body and the alien form she had gained across the mirror, so she knew that she had some problems.

The cut didn’t feel deep enough to have reached her ribs, but still, it would be a very painful injury that could take some time to heal. Thankfully, she was an undead and a simple jump over the roof will make her wake up completely fine. Before she could continue that train of thought, Sunset remembered something that could be a little less gory and quickly tried to get a hold of the container inside her robes.

She felt twitches of pain along her side as she tried to get the object from her body which made her movements slow down a bit. Her body may be dead, but all of her nerves seemed to be working. If pain was a sign of being alive, then someone truly needed to investigate the whole undead deal. As her fingers curled around the flask, Sunset thought about her situation and how bizarre the whole idea of being already dead was. It just didn’t make sense according to the magical theory she knew from back home.

Sure, she was less powerful than Princess Twilight since she never really finished her studies. She could be sincere and admit it if only to herself, but she knew a thing or two about dark magic and necromantic theory. Whatever she was right now broke all the laws and theories that were written in those books. How could she move? Even more amazing was the fact that she retained her personality, minus the darker aspects of it, probably due to the lingering effects of the Elements of Harmony.

One thing for sure though, Princess Twilight probably knew more about them considering she was bonded to them permanently. Thinking about that made Sunset wince, and not because of her injury. It had been some time since she thought back on her days on Earth and CH, especially why she was stranded on Lordran, the reason why she was dead and with no real plan beyond her promise.

She could go back to the topic of being banished some other time, right now she had to take care of herself and the injury that was starting to get pretty annoying. Taking the small vase from her robes, Sunset noticed how warm it felt to the touch which took her by surprise considering how little her body’s nerves worked. Sure, she had noticed the heartbeat of the fire inside, clearly indicating the medicinal properties of the magic trapped inside the flask, but the chipped and old looking flask didn’t betray the powerful enchantments that had been etched inside the artifact. It was almost hypnotic how calm and concentrated the magic inside the flask were. Thankfully, she was taken from the trance by her mentor.

“Sunset, are you alright? You seem a little out of it.” The woman’s hood had been blown back during the fight, but her hair looked as pristine as ever; Sunset was sure that if there were wind, it would be moving alongside the breeze. Beyond some marks in her shield, courtesy of the gargoyle’s halberds, Madeleine looked perfectly fine and not even winded. Sunset already had an idea of how strong Madeleine was, but this just confirmed that she was indeed a powerful knight.

“I got cut, it hurts a little bit.” Showing her flask, Sunset was for a moment lost about what to do now. Sure, she has had the flask since she started her journey but since then she hasn’t even payed attention to the enchanted object. “So… what do I do now?” with such a comment from the youngest member of the party, Madeleine blinked once before she had to put her fist in front of her mouth to fight back the laughter that was starting to dominate her body. It wasn’t that funny, but the combination of relief, adrenaline and non sequitur were enough to make the three warriors lose their composure and laugh.

It was a sound that hadn’t been heard for a long time in the now dead lands of Lordran. It was the sound of people living, still surviving and having hope for tomorrow, and it was enough to make the girls back on Earth look at each other before getting up and almost ran away from the library. Once outside, they all let a loud cheer. Jumping around in celebration, the six found themselves doing something they would have never thought possible just a couple of weeks ago. They were together as friends, celebrating the victory of the one that had separated them for a long time, as if their favorite team had won the championship or a family member had been awarded something.

It was still up in the air their true thoughts about the situation they had put Sunset Shimmer in, the way in which Twilight Sparkle had been left stranded on their world. Why were they able to see Sunset Shimmer in that other world? Was there any way in which they could help Sunset or Twilight? Those were questions they still had to find answers to, but for now they were happy for the success of the young girl and her companions.

“Alright, I think we all needed that.” Back atop the cathedral, the trio of warriors finally calmed down from their adrenaline filled relief after the arduous battle. “But now that you talk about it, I’m not quite sure how those things work. I’ve seen many undead with those at hand, but I don’t know how they work at all.”

“If I may interrupt you two, the only thing you need to do is to put the flask close to your lips and do the same motion you would do for drinking out of it,” the solar knight said getting closer to the two women, his sword having been retrieved from the corpse of one of the gargoyles. The squelch and torrent of blood made Sunset think of those creatures as not simple machines or summons. The mystery of their existence only grew along many more questions that Sunset had of this place.

Shrugging her shoulders, Sunset decided to stop thinking about such things for now, instead focusing on her injuries and taking a metaphorical sip of the light filled flask, feeling the energy flowing through her body, reminding her of the old healing spells she had been a subject of in the past, when her own rambunctiousness and curiosity made her visit the Canterlot medical clinics after a botched spell back home.

Her body began to shiver, not in cold, but of relief as the cut on her side closed down as if by magic, although it probably was some kind of magic involved in all of that. The flask seemed dimmer now, less bright, which made Sunset realize that the flask could only hold so much power before it had to be… what? Refilled at a bonfire? Lordran was a place filled with strange artifacts and creatures, many of which she hoped she could get a look at, if she survived that is.

“Well, now that we have all of that under control, why don’t we take a look at the reason why we are all in this place?” Madeleine pointed upwards, at the tower close to them and at the bell currently sitting unmoving, waiting for the moment to ring its sound across the empty city.

The trio all nodded before silently moving in the direction of the last tower, knowing that they still had much to do. They all knew that they will have more problems ahead of them and that many mysteries were left unanswered for now, like the power that Sunset was able to show in the form of a fireball.

Still, the trio went on, letting Sunset get up the ladder alone while the other two stood down, serving as sentries and guards for the young undead. Sunset didn’t need to ask why. After all, it was her mission to ring the Bells of Awakening, while the other two knights were in Lordran for their reasons, it was Sunset’s promise to Oscar what made her climb the cathedral and face the dangers of the abandoned city.

As she climbed, Sunset thought back of the monsters she had faced, like the boar, the bull demon and even Havel, but her mind brought the image of Rhea to the front, how empty those eyes looked and Sunset had to grit her teeth to rein back her temper. Never before had she felt that connected with someone without realizing it and it made her feel confused about the whole experience.

Sunset knew that the elements of Harmony were in part responsible for her new perspective of the world and her emotions, but the level of empathy that she gained was something else, like feeling sorry of Oscar and his pilgrimage that had been cut short too soon and the hopeless mission of Rhea which was most definitely an execution in disguise.

Finally reaching the top of the tower, Sunset was face to face with the artifact that had been the main force behind her own pilgrimage, finding it less than impressive. It just looked like any other bell she have seen, almost rusted in disuse. Taking a hold on her lever at the side, Sunset pulled and soon, across the abandoned city, the sound of the bell ringing filled the corridors. Across Lordran, those who were close to the source of the noise turned their eyes upwards in surprise. Demons and undead alike stood a second in silence, while those in their pilgrimage couldn’t believe their ears.

A blacksmith close by stopped the hammering on his anvil. A man with bulky armor and a round helmet stopped his study of an unmoving door. A young mage, inside his room full of barrels stood, feeling some small amount of hope reignite inside of him. Another mage, this one of fire, struggled even harder against his bounds, energized once more in his desire to survive. And believe it or not, as if it were an act of the gods themselves, Rhea of Thorolund heard the bell ring all the way down in the catacombs and a smile appeared on her face.

Author's Notes:

That was it, the first bell has been reached, Sunset has her first true victory, but there is no more up, now she needs to drop into hell.

Sinners

Jumping up and down across the halls was nothing new for the students in Canterlot High, although it was indeed a long time since that happened with regularity. Although every student will tell you that the specific circumstances for seeing the old group of friends together were not optimal, they were all healing and reconciliation was in the air alongside healthy doses of sugar and smiles from the pink haired girl jumping all over the place.

Most students would say that it was due to one of Pinkie’s regular sugar rushes, but thanks to watching the ‘show’ or by others telling them what happened, teenagers understood that her reaction came due to the latest success of their former bully now turned martyr.

As the six girls kept chatting and walking their way back into the school after celebrating Sunset’s milestone of reaching the first bell, across the hall a pair of inquisitive eyes followed their moves, all with the same amount of patience she always showed, but with a small smile in her face that would have surprised most students since they were aware of her fame as a nightmarish taskmaster.

Turning around and closing the door of the office, Luna walked into her sister’s office, which was right now paying more attention to the monitor in front of her instead of the forms currently littering the desk of the older sister. Since the explosion in front of the school, Celestia had been busy with the reconstruction efforts, not to mention that one of the reasons they needed to rebuild the entrance was right now trapped in a hellish dimension.

Principal Celestia was currently away and instead, the only person present in the office was the Celestia that the dark haired woman knew very well. Not the principal, not the educator, but the woman that had a heart too big for her own good. The woman with the hair like morning sky sighed as in front of her the monitor showed Sunset and her slow descent after activating the bell.

Luna didn’t need psychic powers to know exactly what was going on her sister’s mind as the older of the two kept torturing herself with things that were beyond their power. It was the main reason why she became a teacher and ultimately reached for the Principal office, all so she would be able to watch over her precious children day after day. Luna was all for education, but her sister had her beat on that aspect, even more on the whole nurture type of education that she was all for. Luna was more like the stern taskmaster than the second mother for the students. She left that job to Celestia who simply thrived on that. It was probably the only reason why Sunset Shimmer hadn’t been punished hard enough, or at all considering they had no real proof of her attempts to gain control of the whole school.

That all changed days ago, when they saw the transformation of Sunset and her defeat at the hands of their newest member in the school… and also Sunset Shimmer’s demise. Luna saw the way in which Celestia kept looking at the now repaired crater in front of the school and knew that she was blaming herself of what had happened that night, no matter how many times Luna told her that it was out of their hands. Besides, not even Princess Twilight was sure of what had happened or why their magic had acted that way and transported Sunset to that nightmarish world.

So Luna was now trying to get control of a hopeless situation, what with Sunset Shimmer’s pilgrimage being transmitted everywhere in the school. It’s as if someone or something was doing it on purpose, as if taunting them, or maybe that was just her slight case of paranoia. Either way, everyone in the school and their dog knew about Sunset’s fate and watched the way she died and fought, all for a promise to a dying man. Luna would have felt proud of what Sunset was doing if it weren’t for the whole point of being dead and thrown into another world about to also die if she could read between the lines.

“You know, no matter how much you stay on that desk the paper will not complete by itself.” Luna’s voice had never been the best method to show her kinder side, which very few even knew existed, but it was the one thing Celestia needed to get out of her funk.

“I know Luna. I just wished there was a way I could have helped her. There’s still a part of me that thinks that if I had only just paid more attention to what was going on, all of this could have been avoided.”

“Well, it’s not as if we knew Sunset was from another dimension and was trying to gain magic powerful enough to transform herself and gain control of her original world, although hindsight is 20/20 they say.” Luna’s dry humor had always been her first line of defense against things like guilt and sadness.

“But the signs of her being alone, of a teenager that had been abandoned, were still there. I just wanted to think that everything was right with her. Now I just lost my chance.”

“Celestia… Tia, we cannot do anything about it now and you are only punishing yourself. Just wait until Sunset Shimmer returns from this Lordran to tell her all of this.”

“You think she will come back?”

“Please, with Sunset? That girl is the most stubborn student we’ve ever had in this school. If anything she will come back just to shove it in the face of everyone in this school.” both sisters smiled at Luna’s poor excuse of a joke, but they knew that if anyone could survive that world, it could only be Sunset Shimmer.

And as the two sisters talked about their regrets and desires for the future, the redhead that was the topic of their conversation was right now basically using Madeleine as a crutch. Sure, her side was much better and the injury had been closed as if by magic, which technically it was the only explanation of it, but in general, she felt drained, as if her body was finally letting go of the stress that had been accumulated over the past few days.

At her sides, both Madeleine and Solaire were quiet, helping her stand up and walk without saying a thing about it and she was grateful, of both their help and their presence since she was sure she would have simply vault over after going down the ladder and it would have been probable that she would have awaken all the way back at Firelink Shrine.

Right now, the only thing she wanted to do was to sleep all that she could before finding a way into that so called forsaken town. She could imagine how horrible that place was and she was in no hurry to find it, but just as they finally went down the stairs, they found that someone else had found a home on the old cathedral.

Looking across the empty pew rows of the cathedral, there was a man wearing an ornamented helmet and along dark coat that made it look as if he was wearing sacramental robes. He was clearly not hollow and there was even some merriment clear on his eyes as he watched the trio of warriors.

“Well, I must say it is quite a good day whenever the bells of a church are struck. So what do you say? Here to confess of your sins and repent? After all, it is only human to commit a sin.” As Sunset and her companions stood gawking at the man and how at ease he was, the man simply smirked even more. “Oh, not here for my services? That is a shame. But, where are my manners? I am Oswald of Carim, it is quite an honor to meet undead champions that want to complete the pilgrimage,” he said bowing at them, although Sunset knew very well that it was more in jest than in any kind of true chivalry on his part.

“‘Carim’. Now that is a place I haven’t heard in a long while.” Under his helmet, Solaire sounded marveled by the simple mention of that kingdom or country Sunset didn’t quite know considering she still had no real idea of the geography of Lordran.

“No wonder, since very little news comes from that place, although it is quite the sinister land, full of rogue characters and dark objects.” It was clear that unlike her compatriot, Madeleine was rather guarded after hearing the name of where he came from.

“Well, you are cautious my good woman, which is astute, but what about you young lady? If you are not looking for absolution, then maybe you are interested in my wares? After all, a woman with such an abundance of souls must be looking for a way to use them.”

“Wait, what souls?”

“Oh, poor, poor lost child.”

Author's Notes:

After all, it is only human to sin.

Hehehehehehehehe

The Importance of Souls Part 1

“I must admit, I didn’t see myself having to explain what souls are in this day and in this perilous land. Are thou telling me that none of your companions have spoken about the power of the souls?” the helmeted man said, obviously enjoying the talk by how animated his eyes had become in the last few minutes. To Sunset, the man was starting to gain more resemblance to that of a crow, what with the front part of the helmet and the way in which he put attention to everything in the cathedral. It was disconcerting in a way, but looking at his clothes and how he spoken about sin, Sunset remembered the religious priests back at the human world with their long outfits. Although, none ever used clothes as dark as the man in front of them.

“I must admit that I didn’t know of Lady Sunset’s lack of knowledge about souls. If not, I would have gladly told her all that I know, although I’ll be the first to admit my knowledge is lacking on the most advanced usages of souls.” The calm and polite Solaire took a seat on one of the pews and removed his helmet for the first time since Sunset could remember. Underneath it she saw a man with well-kept blonde hair, fine looks and a small smile on his lips. Back on Earth, the reaction among the school populace was more varied, with a couple of swooning girls.

“Don’t look at me, I have no use for those things. After all, I’m completely human here.” Madeleine slightly raised her hands while the undead in the cathedral began to listen to Oswald’s lesson. It was bizarre how not many people thought about why Madeleine never spoke about these so called souls. Maybe because she didn’t find them useful? Sunset didn’t know and truthfully. One thing was for sure, whatever souls worked like in this world, it probably had nothing to do with what Sunset knew about them from her original world.

“Human you may be, but everyone and every creature in this land has a soul. It has a weight, sometimes too heavy for our actions. Most importantly, just like humanity, it is not a simple philosophical topic. Thou only have to pay close attention to what thou have, to what or who thou have defeated to see the power souls have in the age of the fading light.” Oswald’s voice was captivating, but probably not for the right reasons. His voice was of someone that was used to speak, to teach and to give sermons, but Sunset could hear how mocking he was. She just didn’t know if he was mocking her or the way the world was.

“So, it’s like humanity?” Sunset said looking through her plethora of bags, finding the small speck of darkness inside one of them. Weird, did the small dark spot grow since the last time she had used one?

“It does share similarities, although both have its dangers. Souls are indeed valuable, so valuable that even in these days of ruin and fallen empires, what we once used as currency, like coins and gold, have turned into nothing more than useless trinkets.”

“Wait, souls can be used as currency? Why? How can that be valuable?”

“Because the more souls you have, the stronger you can become. Your soul can grow alongside your powers and some say that some souls have grown so powerful that they can rival those of the gods themselves. But even if that is true, this humble servant of Velka knows nothing of that and indeed, I do not wish for that knowledge since it is said to be forbidden.” That word, forbidden. It truly made Sunset wince remembering her last days at Canterlot castle. She had spent enough time in the forbidden area of the library to know that some things were better left alone. Sunset wondered if her dive into those grimoires had accelerated her fall of grace or if it had truly twisted her personality.

“Souls are powerful, capable of changing many things, or help ascend creatures that weren’t that strong to begin with. Remember when I told you about the Lord Souls? Guess who received a part of the soul of Gwyn?” At the words of Madeleine, Sunset tried to remember what the masked woman had told her that first day at Lordran. The redhead had been overwhelmed by many things, but she remembered that lesson.

“You said that the Witch and Nito had a Lord Soul, alongside Pigmy, but who else besides Gwyn?”

“None other than Seath.” The way in which Madeleine said that name, Sunset was sure she would have spit on the floor if the other woman wasn’t always that elegant. It was that same hate that she had shown when talking about the Scaleless dragon and his experiments. “That’s why I don’t trust that creature. Even beyond the fact that he is the greatest traitor of them all, he dived into the study of souls, never caring for anything but his own mortality. What kind of madness can be found in the Royal Library with him there, I don’t even want to imagine.”

“He is not the only one that has fallen into madness due to souls Lady Sunset. After all, even the Witch of Izalith had fallen prey to its power,” Solaire, who so far had remained silence, was checking his trusty shield for any damage, “when she tried to generate another flame, but in the end her soul became the Bed of Chaos, the place where all demons are born. So yes Lady Sunset, although souls are valuable and powerful, that same power can bring your doom and with it, the rest of the world,” To hear a man as jovial as Solaire say that and with such conviction was truly sobering. “Ah, but not all is lost, I do still have hope that by finding the right soul or maybe using mine as the catalyst, I’ll be able to find my own sun, if only to become as grossly incandescent. Well, a man can dream, don’t you think so Lady Sunset?” His smile and laughter were enough to make the cathedral stop being so dark, at least for now.

“Well, it’s good to find people that haven’t gone hollow,” a voice came from the entrance of the cathedral, taking everyone by surprise. It was a man with wild white hair and an imposing figure, ripped with muscle and with soot everywhere on his body. “You must be the one that rang the bell. So, you came to this land in pilgrimage then girl?”

“Ah, yes, I… well, I promised someone.”

“Good, then that means you will need stronger weapons and armor than you have apparently, so come with me to my forge and let’s do something about it.”

“Told you we would find a blacksmith.”

Author's Notes:

Next episode will have the explanation of big souls, or at least partially and not only new equipment for Sunset, but the way in which Sunset can grow stronger.

The Importance of Souls Part 2

Outside of the cathedral, everything was as they had left them, as if the world had been stopped in time, which wasn’t that far from the truth apparently. Lordran and the other kingdoms had been turned into graveyards and want it or not, with only the dead in residence, the once mighty towns and cities now looked ravaged by the elements. And yet, they stood tall and proud every day, like a still painting that the author had left unfinished. Lifeless, with only the minimum of colors and brushes to make it look like a town, but anyone that looked at it could see how lifeless the painting was. That’s what went through Sunset’s mind as the group walked from the cathedral and across the arcs.

The sight was lovely, with trees growing everywhere and the presence of ivy branches twirling around the lovely arcs of stone, but this was not by design, but by letting nature conquer back territory stripped from it by humans and gods. The pathway then went into another building, one with a pleasant surprise for Sunset. It was a bonfire, abandoned for who knows how long, with its cinders squashed and a chipped and rusty sword signaling how dead the flame and the world were.

“I suppose you can get more usage of this thing than me in the end,” Andre said and Sunset noticed his words. Looking at his body, Sunset couldn’t find any clue of a Darksign in the tall smith which made her think about her own, hidden underneath her clothes. It didn’t hurt, but it was a presence that Sunset couldn’t keep out of her mind, like the sting of a mosquito. It was always there, reminding her of what she had become, mocking her with the dark circle of her curse, of waking up over and over, never finding true rest, until at last, she will lose her mind and become one more walking ghost in this forsaken land.

The redhead shook her head, sending her red and gold hair fly around her. Thankfully, her companions had kept on walking, with only Madeleine standing close to her, watching her and asking her with her eyes if she was okay. It was a true testament of how much time she had spent with the silver armored woman that Sunset could recognize the look, but it was exactly what she needed to get back from that dark place she was about to jump into.

This was no time to lose hope, unless of course she desired to turn hollow, so, no thank you.
Taking the steps down, the group of five reached the obvious workstation of Andre, consisting of an anvil, tools, steel and many other materials and among all of that, a small box with a bright light emanating of it. Looking at it closely, Sunset could see small embers fly out of what appeared a small flame.

“Had to walk all the way to the cathedral. It was impossible not to hear the rumbling and crashing followed by the bell ringing after who knows how long,” Andre laughed, obviously finding the whole situation hilarious.

“So, this is where you work?” Madeleine started the conversation, with Andre taking place behind his anvil and taking a set of prongs, took a longsword and with his other hand holding now a hammer, began to do his job.

“This is a good place as any these days,” the mountain of a man said, the thundering strikes of his hammer resonating across the small building. “It’s far enough that no hollow comes close, yet a nice place for many undead to walk by so I’m never idle.” That was definitely new.

“Wait, what do you mean by other undead? So far we haven’t seen many, except for Solaire," Sunset could count with one hand the amount of undead she had met, including the Way of White members that had walked to their doom. She knew Madeleine was human and wasn’t even sure if Oswald was even real, with the way he looked as if everything was a big joke.

“That’s what you think. After all, Lordran is always pulling other worlds together. Dozens of travelers can cross our path and all of them are always looking for something; a friend, a treasure, the cure of the undead curse. I can recall only a handful of them that had truly conquered their paths and even they could go so far before they also fell.”

“So, is that why you are here? To help these errant souls?” Solaire knew about the way in which the worlds could sometimes connect with each other. After all, that’s how Sunset and Madeleine had met the solar knight and since then, well, the redhead hoped that same fog wall didn’t separate them again.

“It’s the least I could do. Besides, I cannot let myself become idle, gotta keep my art alive as long as I can, so show me your weapons and equipment. I’ll get them as good as new.”

“No need for me, my weapons and armor are something unique,” Madeleine said placing a hand over her masquerade, confirming the fact that the seemingly frail accessory was something important to the other woman. Still, Sunset wasn’t quite sure if it was magical reasons or sentimental ones that made the woman keep on using it.

“Meh, magical, demonic or made by humans, all weapons can still be modified and repaired; you only need the right titanite for it.”

“Wait, what? Excuse me, titanite? What’s that?” As with all new information, Sunset’s ears had basically zeroed on the new word, almost like radar, or maybe it was the years of experience in new technology and esoteric information that she had gained after years of studying and practice. If there was still a thing that she loved like nothing in the world was new information. Andre meanwhile just took a small piece of something that looked like metal. It was rugged and reminded Sunset of a scale due to the way it was shaved.

“This little thing is a small piece of titanite. There used to be hundreds of these things around if you believe the books, but now, well, you’re lucky if you find any of the original slabs,” he said, throwing the small piece in Sunset’s direction, who quickly caught it in midair.

“What are they made of? This doesn’t look like any metal that I know of.” It was indeed a weird discovery to be made, one of so many that could fill a whole library, of course, if she could survive the ordeal.

“Who knows. After all, the ones who made them are gone or dead. Either way; no one alive knows how to create more so there is always short supply. But with their power, mixing them with souls, well, the ways in which one can modify a weapon is only restricted by another source of power.” Andre then pointed to his embers box sitting down among his tools. “There are very powerful embers, tools that can help you change the properties of a weapon. They can be imbued with the power of lightning or you can even enchant it with pure magic, but those embers are also a lost art.” Andre’s face showed how much that thought truly affected him and Sunset understood well why. After all, all knowledge lost was something worthy of sadness. It was a light that had been snuffed too early and even though she did know nothing of things like souls or smiting, she hoped they could find lost knowledge and return it to this dying world.

“So far we have seen many strange artifacts and remnants of the old world, like the armored boar, a drake… even Havel,” Madeleine said and every set of eyes in the room were now fixed on the elegant figure of Madeleine. “We found him underneath the tower in the Burg. He had gone hollow for… I don’t even know how long, but it was obviously a very long time ago considering he is now just a legend for some.”

“Are you saying that thou fount Lord Havel? Well, I guess that if thou are here and he is not, thou finally granted him rest,” Oswald said placing his hands behind his back, deep in thought and memories. “I suppose it does not count as a sin to put down a hollow as strong as him, so it’s not a sin, but mercy that you granted him.”

“Did you know him Oswald of Carim?” Madeleine had that look on her face, the one that Sunset sometimes had when there was something intriguing around. After the days traveling with the silver armored woman, she had seen first-hand how curious she was about new stuff.

“Oh yes, but that was a life before I became a priest, something I left behind me to being the word of Velka. Still, it’s good news to know that someone we thought lost was found, just not in the way most would find joyful.”

“But what was he doing there? I mean, I don’t think he simply wandered around and got himself trapped by mistake, so who put him there?”

“Sunset, I can only think of two creatures that could have done that. One would be Seath since Havel was said to hate all dragons, so working alongside one must have rubbed him the wrong way.”

“But we know that cannot be since Lord Seath never leaves his library, so who is your other culprit?” Solaire was enjoying the talk as much as the others. After all, it was bizarre to see so many people side by side, be them undead or simple human beings; Solaire was sure that something like this was not something that happened every day in Lordran.

“To be sincere, there can be only one person that could do something like that; Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight.” Madeleine’s words were like the final nail of a coffin, strong enough that no one dared to contradict it. After all, someone as strong as Havel could only be betrayed by someone equally strong or important. Still, there were no real facts and soon the talk moved along to weapons and armor.

“Well, I do hope you took care of his armor. That beast is a relic and a masterpiece of protection,” Andre said while both Madeleine and Sunset smiled at the precautions they took. “Wait, you have it?”

“It’s back at the Burg, at one of the houses we turned into our base, but yes, we have it.”

“Now that is some good news for you. After all, that armor could withstand more than enough damage, just not good enough to stop a piercing weapon between the seams, but it’s an armor that many would pay handsomely just to see it. You need to give that to me so I could repair it for you if you want to, although, it is way too heavy for most people.”

“Well, now that you mention the weight of the armor, I do believe something else that we found on his body has been useful for you Sunset, remember the ring we found on his body?”

“Yeah, I’ve been wearing it. I liked the design.” Sunset showed them all her hand, with two rings already on her fingers, one was a featureless ring with dull stone, the other, had a set of stones in a circle with a bigger one in the middle.

“Havel’s Ring. No wonder you are capable of using that Claymore with one hand Lady Sunset. That ring is a powerful relic you have found.”

“You know what this thing can do Solaire?” Sunset looked at the ring in her possession, still surprised that the ring was important.

“From what I know, that ring was used by Havel to make his armor and weapon weigh less, almost as if another force was fighting the weight. Still, the armor is still heavy in all accounts, even with the usage of that ring.”

“But if you have become stronger with both fights and ring, then you may grow even stronger with time, so what do you say? Want me to check your weapons? Your journey is still long, you will need stronger weapons.”

“And while you do that, I think it will be a good idea to see the power of your flame. After all, Pyromancy is a powerful weapon that could be useful in the future,” Madeleine said taking her own spear and placing it in the floor alongside Sunset’s claymore and axe.

“Why don’t you practice with the demon underneath us? That thing is blocking the road to the forest.”

“Wait, what demon? What forest?”

Author's Notes:

The Arc of the First Bell is over.

Welcome to The Arc of the Forest Whispers

Pure Titanite

As the sounds of hammer and steel clashing against each other echoed upstairs, there was but one road that Sunset could take, at least in her mind. After all, she had made a promise to a dying man, a desperate gamble in a lost and forsaken place, one that looked less forgotten as time went on. Sunset knew that this land was devoid of most hope, but still, at every turn she met more people like her. Sure, they haven’t trapped in Lordran like her, but they all had their promise or mission to accomplish and they all refused to fall into despair.

It’s a dark world, but one filled with secrets, powers and history that truly called for her in a way that Sunset haven’t felt in a long time. Maybe the last time had been when she set foot on the human world.

The technology humans had created vastly outpaced anything ponies had ever created, with monuments, constructions and discoveries that made ponies look like barbarians that had barely discovered fire. It was that same feeling of things undiscovered, of secrets yet to find that also pushed Sunset this time, but she knew that it was just something to distract herself from the fact that once again, she had left behind her world.

For the second time, she had been pushed from the place she had been living. It may not had been as glamorous as the Canterlot Palace, but it was hers, and in just a blink, she had lost everything, all due to her pride and jealousy. She had the chance to start all over, but she couldn’t let things be, so she pushed too far and once more had been found guilty, this time by harmony itself.

It hurt. It still hurt in her heart, like a knife that had plunged in her darkened heart, but she knew that the elements were still working on her. Why else would she have promised to complete Oscar’s pilgrimage?

Whatever the case may be, traveling through Lordran was the only way in which she would be able to find a way back, if not to Equestria, at least to Canterlot. But what would she do when she arrived there? Ask for forgiveness? Plan some revenge? She didn’t know. She was just tired of all that planning for revenge or the idea of becoming an alicorn. Everything seemed so childish now. Guess that happens when you are fighting constantly for your life.

So it was with those feelings in her heart that Sunset, accompanied by both Madeleine and Solaire, walked downwards across the hall, into the new road open to them from Andre’s working station and found themselves in a new place, an underground hall with broken pillars and only one resident. A creature that looked as if it had been carved out of a stone was guarding the hall and the door at the end of it. It had no head and one leg was missing and Sunset wasn’t sure how such a creature could exist.

“So that thing is a demon?”

“They come in many different forms, but I think this is a Titanite Demon, made of that stuff.” But as they talked, the demon, even without a head, knew that new enemies had arrived at its home and from its pole, a light began to emanate, quickly becoming a bolt of lightning that traveled across the sky. With a yelp, Sunset had to throw herself to the side. As she rolled away from the danger, her body felt the energy moving through the air, the static traveling through her body even though she wasn’t touched.

“Why didn’t you tell me they could use magic?!”

“Because I didn’t know!” Then, the demon clearly prepared his next attack. With a movement that caught everyone by surprise, the headless creature vaulted into the air while aiming his pole to the place Madeleine was. Fortunately, the knight quickly ran and slid underneath the attack as the pole crashed on the ground and got stuck on the rock. “Well, didn’t we come here to let you practice?” Madeleine’s smile was all Sunset needed to understand what was the purpose of the fight and with a glare to her companion Sunset quickly got herself out of the range of the demon.

As she did this, Solaire, who was the one who didn’t have his weapons being repaired, took the position as the front line, quickly gaining the attention of the demon. How the creature could follow their movements was a question for later, but for now their attention was completely on the monster attacking them, crawling across the floor, waving his pole around as both Solaire and Madeleine fought the creature.

Using only her shield, Madeleine began moving it around herself, shifting the weight of her body to let the pole slide over her powerful shield as Solaire struck quickly against the demon’s side, but instead of blood, the sword only made pieces of metal fly around, signaling how different the creature was to anything living on Lordran, how alien and corrupted the power that created them truly was.

As they kept on taking the creature’s attention, Sunset once again tried to concentrate on the power she felt before on the roof of the cathedral. For someone that never felt magic, it would take a long time to understand that kind of power that could grow inside the body, but for a unicorn, it was second nature. There was just one problem. When she was a unicorn, she already had a tool to focus the power and release it. A unicorn’s horn was a true miracle in itself, a tool that had evolved with years of usage and refinement, until all unicorns were able to use magic. But now she had to figure out how to find that energy as a human being.

When she created that fireball against the gargoyles, she had been working on instinct and adrenaline. Now, she tried to conjure the magic that apparently was inside of her, but she needed more because right now she was searching in the dark. Darkness… that was it! What did Madeleine had said when she explained magic? That it was a flame inside oneself, so that was the route, to feel the flame that was inside of her, like the witches, because everything was light, fire.

Sunset had always been proud of how close her magic was to fire, because fire was close to the sun. In the end it was just something she told herself to make herself be more important than she really was, but what if she hadn’t been mistaken back then? Or at least looking at it in a much more positive way, what it meant was that she had a higher affinity with flame than normal, something that was completely destructive in Equestria, but in Lordran? It was basically the thing that started it all.

In this world, fire was everything. It was what initiated the age. It was the Age of fire after all, although more like Age of Cinders currently, but if she was right, then the flame was already inside of her, ready to burst into the light, ready to turn her enemies into ashes! And like that, she felt the power of fire grow in her hands, turn from embers into a flame, making her hair fly backwards as if it were another fire that had been ignited. Opening her eyes she smirked at the fire that was dancing on her hands and as if she were a pitcher, she took aim and let the flame fly, catching the demon in the back, sending pieces of his body everywhere. As the body wriggled in pain, Solaire took aim and hit the demon right in the chest and like that, the demon stopped, as if a puppet had had his strings cut down.

The trio of warriors stood a second watching the mighty creature become nothing but a statue, immobile once more, as if it were a statue that had been left unfinished and then, they heard it, a slow, almost mocking clapping coming from the stairs leading to Andre’s smith. It was none other than Oswald who had his same smirk and was clapping at their success.

“Bravo. It was truly a magnificent battle and show of courage.”

“I think that sarcasm was way too thick, even for someone like you priest,” Madeleine fired back, but Sunset was simply ecstatic of finding the power inside of her, magic that she thought she had lost, or at least twisted with her own ambitions and disgrace. Now, she had found it, the fire that lived inside of her. How fitting for a world that had been born out of fire that she had gained that same ability. She just hoped she wouldn’t end like the witches of past.

“What do we have here? A mountain of titanite,” Andre’s face had such a big grin that it was startling to see so much white, his teeth basically gleaming among all the soot and ashes. “These demons are basically moving slabs of titanite… I told you about repairing your stuff. To cinders with that, I’ll make you new armor with all this, just you wait.” Hearing that was nice, but her sight was still on the other door, leading somewhere else and she could hear… a whisper, something calling her, or was that just her imagination?

She was probably just tired after all the fighting. What she needed right now was to rest, maybe find some information about the next bell, maybe even ask about Madeleine’s own quest and what she was looking for.

Unbeknown by Sunset Shimmer, in a tower deep in the forest, an ember box began to light up among the ashes. The trees and vines casted a shadow, but the wings of an almost ethereal butterfly dwarfed the ancient trees as it began to basically vibrate, feeling the awakened magic in the forest. Without any orders, without any master, the butterfly kept on guarding the forest, without knowing the power that it was guarding.

Close to them, a woman wearing a deep red armor with her mouth hidden by a piece of armor that looked like a demon’s mouth watched the forest, waiting for her next customer. She could wait. After all, she knew her sister was close and with her, the woman that could mean the end or revival of the kingdom.

The Princess of Highschool

If there was a thing that everyone involved on the current dilemma could agree, was the fact that they all didn’t deal well with something like repairs. It was required and something at this point was vital if they ever wanted to go ahead and find more secrets about the land they were traveling through, but it was so boring to simply lie around and wait for more things to be created, no matter how custom made or how great the final items could be.

Although Sunset had lived a life of mostly comfort, she was always doing something with her time, from studying everything she could about either the pony or the human world, to making plans and putting them in action, but this was beyond those two situations because, well, she couldn’t do any of those things.

In the land of Lordran there was a lot of silence and stillness, which in turn either made you be careful of every corner, never knowing what could be waiting for at each street, or in the case of the trio of warriors that had already cleansed the road, it was quiet and calm. With no real danger around them and how the stress had left their bodies after gruesome battles and tenseness of not knowing what awaited them, made Sunset, Madeleine and Solaire feel lethargic and tired. For the first time since Sunset had arrived at that cursed land, she was, if not at peace, at least satisfied with what she had accomplished and was taking a deserved break from it all.

She may be already dead, but her brain was working, which meant that she needed to take a break from the constant battle mentality she had been on since she landed in Firelink Shrine, so taking a break from the constant walking and worrying felt nice for a change. It also helped that she was surrounded by other people that used the time to either work on their craft, like Andre who was creating something new for her with the remnants of the Titanite Demon. Others, like Oswald, spent his time talking with strange shadows, figures of other undead that were on the border between the worlds, clearly more pilgrimages that were crossing between their world and that of Sunset’s.

Seeing the shadows moving as if they were only a small part of a being, hidden in darkness as if they were ghost, well, it didn’t sit well with Sunset. While what she had learned back at Equestria could be considered important, seeing the kind of magic and power found here in Lordran was a little strange and disconcerting. She always thought that humans weren’t able to use magic or that they were incompatible with it. Her defeat at the hands of those girls at CHS showed her that she was wrong. Well, that was something to keep an eye and try to study now that she had the chance.

Madeleine and Solaire were also taking a break alongside her, with the female knight reading a small book that she had with her, probably had it stashed somewhere inside her own long white immaculate coat. Sunset asked her what it was and the other knight simply smiled before going back to her book. Sunset was slightly offended at the way Madeleine had ignored her, but the white knight stood up and showed Sunset the book she had on her hands.

She said that it was an old story, about a witch that found a young thief. She said the story was funnier than dramatic and that in a way it reminded her of her life before she arrived at Lordran. The redhead didn’t know how to take what she had said, but decided to leave Madeleine to her book. After all, she knew how annoying it was to have someone interrupt you while you were reading. Still, there was something that kept nagging at her.

While Solaire was also bizarre in the way he was so chivalrous and optimistic, to Sunset he reminded her of ponies he had met back at the castle, or at least some of them. He reminded her of those teachers she had back then, those that were always smiling and encouraging her. It was nice and heart breaking at the same time, mainly because it made her remember all the dumb things she had done in the past and the way she had step on them. She had wasted so many opportunities that it was a miracle that she was still in one piece. Well, she was dead, so maybe that was her punishment then.

With one last sigh, Sunset left the underground road, the place where the Titanite Demon had been defeated. There were other places that were unknown to her and apparently interesting and safe, like the other road they haven’t walked. Apparently there was a door that couldn’t be moved, so that was interesting at least.

-----

If there was one thing that Twilight knew didn’t change from one dimension to the other was the presence of her friends and that of Spike at her side. What did change in fact was the fact that everyone was different with very few exceptions; Bon Bon and Lyra were always ‘Best Friends’ no matter the dimension apparently, always being with each other. Also Muffin was there, still a klutz, but as friendly as her pony counterpart, so it was nice for the newly crowned Princess of Friendship. Probably the only thing that differed from her life at Ponyville was the fact that there was a boy at her side right now that was listening to her. Well, listening was probably a little too much considering neither of them had said a word.

“I think… things were a lot easier before the dance.”

“Life was a lot easier before that night in general.” While she hasn’t had a chance to really get to know Flash, beyond the fact that he was a nice guy and wanted to help her, she knew talking with him was probably a good idea. After all, they have gone to the prom together, but after the tragic ending of it things simply fizzled out. There were more things to think about, like the fact Twilight was now trapped in the human world, that she had to find a way to go back while living in a world completely alien to her, and, oh right, the fact that Twilight had been part of the assassination of Sunset Shimmer. What a great way to start a conversation.

“Yeah, well, I guess we all need to keep on living now; look, Twilight, I… I don’t blame you, you know? That night it was crazy and I… god, I don’t know what to say.” Flash put a hand over his face, the awkwardness and hint of desperation clear on his voice, his body tense and his mind lost. That’s when he felt it, a hand over his shoulder.

“I know… but I thank you for telling me that,” Twilight didn’t have a smile, not the one she showed when they did that music number, or the night of the prom when he saw her with the dress made by Rarity. This time it was just a little bit of sadness in her eyes, one that couldn’t be dispersed by mere words, but maybe it would be forgotten for a while as the two embraced at the front steps of Canterlot High.

-----

Reading was something that she hadn’t done in a long time. Now that she thought about it, it was not something that she used to do at all, or at least when she was a mere witch. Back in those days, she enjoyed nothing more than to stroll around and hold bags and bags of new stuff. Nice clothes, bags, hats and more used to be what filled her calm days, not sitting around with a nice book, but well, things change after all.

Madeleine was calm for the first time in a long time. Sure, Sunset still had to find the next bell while dodging the meddling stupidity of the serpents, but beyond that everything was nice and quiet. She smiled knowing that her other sisters were doing their part to see the redhead be crowned as the Princess of Lordran.

Rubbing her eyes slightly with the back of her hand, Madeleine, for the first time since she arrived at this world, took the masquerade from her head and put it safely on the table. While the houses in the upper Burg were not the safest, they had been thorough with the removal of undead to be able to use one piece less of armor. As she did that, Madeleine looked for something inside of her coat and after a few seconds of rummaging around, she took out a pair of black, glossy glasses that were as elegant as they were practical. It was almost like good old times when instead of a lance she used to wear stilettos with guns on them. Truly, elegance had changed since those days.

Author's Notes:

HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE

Canterlot High is being shown little by little as Sunset is able to relaxe for a bit and Madeleine... well, she does whatever the hell she wants like always.

And again thank you to my great editor XIII Hearts.

New Skin

Looking up and down and truly taking in the design and details that had been engraved on the different parts of the armor, Sunset inspected everything about the armor to know exactly what parts could leave her vulnerable. Once she finished the inspection, she had to be sincere about the armor. The level of protection it granted was superb, allowing enough movement freedom for Sunset to move around the field and still sturdy enough to let her absorb damage. Andre was a complete genius and Madeleine was amazed at the kind of work he did in just a couple of days.

The armor covered her whole body, with the exception of the face and part of the neck in the front, but it was clearly not something off the shelf, because it was molded to Sunset’s body while still keeping her padded like her original robes. It was a teal green, almost jade and on top of it, there was a long cloth, probably what remained of Sunset’s robe alongside the pockets and holsters that the undead had used to keep different objects with her. It had engravings that looked like ivy, but it didn’t look excessive or out of place, like many armors that were made to be used as statues or simple trophies. No, this armor was made to receive damage and look good in the battlefield all at the same time.

Sunset, who knew next to nothing about armors in general, was also incredibly happy about what she just gained. Back in Equestria, she never took interest in the armor of the guards, nor the enchantments that had been casted on it. After all, to her, the guards were just a formality, remains of an era long lost. Equestria hasn’t always been peaceful, but with long years under the protection of the sun, well, people usually grew complacent and now guards were just for decoration really.

This armor was simply marvelous, being made specifically to her size and done with enough care that it would be an invaluable companion to her throughout the rest of her trip. It was a little painful to say goodbye to her worn robes since she got used to them, but she was still happy that she could keep her pockets and useful space with this new robe.

Moving her arms in a circle, she was amazed at the amount of movement range that she had with such an armor, so she could have no problems walking around, although things like acrobatics and rolling around were still pretty much a lost cause for her with something like this on. She left such tactics to Madeleine who always seemed like a cat in her movements. Maybe more like a panther, considering how dangerous the woman was.

“It is indeed a great job that you did Andre, truly a perfect gift for our little sun,” the pleasant voice of Solaire traveled across the room, clear even with the sound of Andre’s hammer. Sunset smiled a bit at the man’s nickname for her. There had been no one in her life who have gave her a nickname before and while before all this she would have tried to break the neck of whoever have uttered the nickname, now it felt… nice. It was proof of friendship, companionship, and it felt right.

“Probably one of my best works if I say so myself,” Andre said with a rumbling that was supposed to be his laughter, but it was clear that he was proud of his job and he had all the right to be. “It is slightly heavier than a normal knight armor, but considering I took inspiration from the Berenike knights, I think the end results will go well with your way of fighting.”

Way of fighting? Sunset had no way or style. She simply ran up to the enemy and then used her weapon like a madman. So far she had been lucky, only dying a couple of times since she had someone watching her back, but maybe she should try to gain some experience with the weapons she had. Maybe next time she could use her claymore and shield, or maybe only the big sword with both hands now that she could withstand some damage.

“Berenike knights? Like that giant in the cathedral?” Sunset took off the helmet of her new armor and was surprised to see her hair regaining the volume she was used to. No matter the kind of magic Andre had used to make the armor, just for that simple fact she already loved her new armor.

“Indeed, we already took care of one of those things, but there are more all around the place, probably idiots that accompanied Tarkus in his travel to Anor Londo. Now they are ghosts of a long lost place too.” Madeleine truly loved to make melancholic speeches, but just the idea of many knights of those dimensions made Sunset shake. If they had problems with only one, what would she do if she was ever in a fight with many of those things?

“So, who’s Tarkus? Another hero from another age?”

“You’re learning Sunset. Basically, he was a knight that did a pilgrimage to Anor Londo and apparently was powerful enough to gain entry to the city, but after he went in, well, nobody knows what happened. Some say he met his end at the city, others that he arose alongside the gods when they left Lordran. Some even claim that he simply went home.” Too many mysteries in one city for Sunset, who by herself was very bad with mysteries. Just look where she was because she couldn’t resist not knowing about one mystery.

“Not only was he strong, but he survived Sen’s Fortress, the only known access point to the God’s City, and we are close to it.” Solaire still didn’t put his helmet back on, clearly wanting to see his companions face to face. Sunset preferred it that way. It felt a little too impersonal to always talk to someone underneath a mask. Well, Madeleine was an exception since she was always using that masquerade of hers. Besides, it did suit her.

“So, if there is a way to get into Anor Londo faster, why are not we using that route? I mean, if it’s supposed to be the city of the gods or whatever, maybe there is an answer to the undead curse there after all, or of why the Bells of Awakening are so important.”

“Sunset, if it were so easy, Sen’s Fortress wouldn’t be such a dark place. The problem is that the door to the fortress is forever closed and no one has an idea of how to open it. And believe me, getting into Sen’s Fortress IS the easy part. You don’t wanna know the kind of dangers you could find inside my dear.” For Madeleine to be saying something like that, well, it must be horrible inside.

“Well, guess I have no choice but to go for the next bell then… right?”

“Sunset, what is it? You’ve been a little… I don’t know, pensive. Something on your mind?”

“I don’t know, I… well, I think I heard something, like when we were getting closer to the cathedral, something like a call, or maybe magic? I’m not sure, I’m not an expert in Lordran’s magic,” Sunset explained, though she herself wasn’t so sure about that last statement, especially when she already showed that she could not only use Pyromancy, but that she could detect and break locked doors and enchanted places? Both Madeleine and Solaire looked at each other and like one took their weapons and got their own armors in order.

“Well, why didn’t you say so earlier? If you think something is bizarre, then the only thing we can do is go and check it out, don’t you think? So where exactly did you feel that?”

“At the hall, where we fought that Titanite Demon-wait, just like that?”

“Because we trust you,” Solaire said, his voice now echoing slightly underneath his full helmet.

“And think about what we could find. Maybe some long lost artifacts? We already found Havel. Just imagine what could be underneath this place, so let’s go.” Sometimes Sunset was truly surprised about the energy Madeleine had all the time.

“Yeah, sure, why not? Andre, thank you for the armor, I’m grateful for your help.”

“Well, what else could I do except keep my abilities from rusting? Now, you be careful out there Sunset of Equestria. Don’t go and become hollow on me okay? Neither of us would like to see that happen.” And like that, the three went on, taking their first step into garden and closer to Sunset’s destiny.

Author's Notes:

Let the Forest of Shadows Arc commence.

Step into the Forest 01

“So...” She had to blink. That’s what she had to do because what was in front of her was so out of her expectations for the world that she was not sure how to react. She blinked once again, trying to get her mind back on track, but right now she had a little bit of problem with that. First, not only what she was seeing made her logical mind just quit, the one that she had trained since she arrived at Earth, but also the magical part of her mind was completely dumbfounded by the walking piece of grass and bark that she could see in the distance.

The fact that something that was moving that shouldn’t be moving was not the most incredible thing in existence for someone that used to be a unicorn in a past life, but the whole thing was so ridiculous she didn’t know what to think at the moment. Magic allowed great things in Equestria, but to think there was a walking freaking tree guarding the entrance to some kind of forest was enough for Sunset to question the magic of Lordran.

Magic had rules, it always had, like fire. In both worlds with Pyromancy, the two were linked to emotions, which was probably a reason why she was so good at it no matter the place, but it was something else to think that a tree was able to walk around as if it owned the place. Although, now that she thought about it, maybe it was the owner considering how little people actually exist around Lordran anyway.

“So?”

“That’s a tree. What’s a fu-freaking tree doing in a place like this?”

“I was under the assumption that trees liked forests.” She expected a joke like that from the woman at her side, but the fact that it was uttered by the jovial knight behind them, it was the perfect mixture of strangeness alongside the tree that it made Madeleine outright laugh aloud so hard that she had to hold her stomach. “Sorry for the answer. I don’t have many opportunities for tomfoolery like this one, but to be sincerer this time, I admit that creatures like this are quite the mystery.”

“It’s just that, I’ve never seen or heard of magic enchantments or anything like that that could bring trees to life. Flowers yes, but not to the point where trees will simply stand up and walk away!”

“I swear, being with you guys is never dull.” Madeleine finally composed herself while with one armored hand she removed tears that had accumulated on her eyes. “But think about it Sunset. Magic is everywhere in this place, can you feel it?” she asked and Sunset had to nod at what the other woman had said. After all, just feeling the power that emanated from deep inside the supposed forest was enough to pull at her. “It’s not going too far to think that the same magic that is circulating everywhere could slip into the very same land and, I don’t know, change it? Wake it up? Mutate it into a being that can know defend itself? Like this thing is apparently going to do.” As the woman finished her speech she had time to roll away from the imminent danger thanks to an overgrown bush that sent a vine in Sunset’s direction as if it were a proper whip.

The redheaded warrior barely had time to raise her shield and was surprised by the way in which she barely moved. So far, she had been the target of many creatures and although she could withstand the damage induced to her thanks to her shield, she never escaped unscathed. Sometimes she got hit so hard that her arm would be bruised if she was still alive, other times she was sent flying. It was a new experience for her to not only block the attack, but not feel much in terms of pressure or even much pain. Sure, she felt the force behind such attack, but the armor was doing its job so she was thankful for that.

While she was busy being the proverbial rock, Solaire had no problem taking advantage of the way in which the Tree had been stunned after hitting something as hard Sunset’s shield, and with no real fanfare, he simply hacked the tree, sending leaves and some kind of green sap flying through the air, splashing against the ground. Then the tree, which seemed to go back to being an immobile object, simply fell backwards into a small puddle of water.

Checking the trees and observing that the tree was indeed dead, just not in the way Sunset expected of a tree, they decided not to look too much into the whole vegetation acting like an animal stuff. No matter how much Sunset’s mind wanted to crack open the whole mystery, she decided to leave as ‘it’s magic fault’ and keep on looking for… well, she wasn’t sure what, but she knew that whatever she was looking for will soon find her. That was the kind of luck that she had in this place really.

Still, as she walked across the dangerously small pathway, she was amazed at the vegetation that had been able to grow underneath such a place. She had been an avid visitor of the garden located at Canterlot Castle, but it was under great care and brilliant light that flowers and trees could grow like that. This, this was truly something else.

It was dark, no surprise considering this whole place was underground for what Sunset could see, but it was nice and cozy in a certain way, with fungus and some flowers being able of bioluminescence, creating an atmosphere of otherworldliness that Sunset wasn’t sure it could be replicated elsewhere. All of her thoughts about the beautiful forest were quickly stopped by one strange thing happening close to them, something that maybe she should have expected, the sound of a hollow. It was bizarre, mostly because she hasn’t found other undead since she fought the gargoyles, but that was probably because she was safe and sound these last couple of days, but there was something wrong. These were not the hollows she was used to.

They had nothing in common with other undead she had seen around Lordran. In fact, she couldn’t be sure they were human to begin with, that’s how bizarre they were. Their arms and legs were too long, too wiry, almost as if a giant had grabbed them and had begun to play with them as if they were taffy. That’s how bizarre they were, but it was so much worse. Their fingers were long and thin, almost like spiders, but it was their heads that made her doubt they were humans. After all, humans shouldn’t have that many eyes in their head, nor was it supposed to look like an egg due to how bloated those same heads were.

There were several, probably ten or more and she was completely taken back due to the sheer numbers and it was apparent that the trees weren’t expecting it either by the pieces of trees being thrown around. The appearance of these monsters was probably so hideous that even Madeleine and Solaire had stopped in their tracks, but it was Madeleine’s face that had the most bizarre expression, of sheer incredulity of what she was seeing, as if she couldn’t believe or… maybe wasn’t expecting this. But that was insane, right?

Sadly for the group of warriors, the undead were rather bored with what was left of their previous opponents and were ready to keep on fighting, so they turned around. Sunset knew that all of their eyes were on them, ready to jump and attack them, when suddenly a metallic object flew through the air and hit right in the middle of one of the monsters, sending it flying backwards as everyone in the battlefield stopped to watch the new opponent.

She wasn’t that tall, but Sunset knew it was a she due to the skin tight red armor that covered all the body from her feet to her neck, with pieces of red armor over a what seemed like very tight black clothing. Her face could be seen, with eyes like almonds, a face that looked oriental and hair as dark as midnight. Sunset was sure that if she were wearing all black the woman would be impossible to see in the darkness.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting to meet you in these conditions sister,” the red armored woman spoke and for a moment, Sunset thought she had heard Princess Twilight Sparkle speak. Their voices were so similar that if it weren’t because the woman looked nothing like the alicorn’s human form, she might’ve thought that Twilight got dragged to this cursed land with her.

“Wait, she’s your family?”

“Less talking, more fighting. Introductions after we survive.” Madeleine simply glared, first at her ‘sister’, then to the monsters that were on the move, ready to tear them apart one by one.

Author's Notes:

And the train is coming... well, it has been derailed, poor train, guess we will have to have fun without the original Dark Souls plot, oh well, too bad.... for the serpents.

What was the phrase i was looking for? Oh yes.

IS SHOW TIME!

Step into the Forest 02: Uninvited Guests

She was gaining strength. That was obvious with the way in which she impaled one of the monsters and using both hands, raised the body inserted on the claymore and threw it against another, sending both mutated beings into the distance, finally plowing into the chasm behind the warriors. He was sure that if the sun - or whatever existed in this world that looked like a sun - hit the armor of Sunset Shimmer, the light would bounce, making the beautiful armor shine like a beacon, or maybe a mini sun. With her name and past symbol of the girl it would be quite poetic.

Stopping one claw with her sword, Sunset this time wasn’t pushed back or knocked into the ground. Instead, she was able to push back and make the creature lose balance, enough so she could raise her claymore and plunge it into the sphere that once was a human head, making the creature shudder once before it stopped moving, hopefully forever.

She had become quite ruthless. Although, maybe she had always been ruthless, or maybe since coming to this world, she had been able to heal from her mental and physical punishment by returning it to others? Nah, that was way too dumb. Maybe she just got used to fighting. Still, with the way in which she just went to town on the enemy, it was clear that Sunset didn’t have any moral qualm in stopping monsters like those and in a way she was right to do, because if she didn’t, she could become one more monster that roamed the place.

As she moved her sword around, making arcs that would’ve caught unaware less talented soldiers, Sunset became reckless in the battle. She had never used a sword, that much was certain watching her use the sword as if it were a club, simply trying to break her enemies in a swift move, but she wasn’t a soldier. She wasn’t trained in the art of fighting and in time, that lack of skill will be the end of her. No wonder Madeleine was there, but that was probably because the woman in White armor liked to mess around.

Madeleine was quite the mystery and it was reflected in her art. Long gone was the flashiness and ego, alongside the over the top movements and arrogance. Now, instead of that woman, the warrior that took the lance and drove it into her enemy had become one of elegance, but without wasting one move, ready to finish the fight in the least amount of movements needed, either to avoid wasting her energy or because she never truly used all her power in battle.

Whatever the case, while the woman used her shield as the perfect parry accessory, her spear never was idle, striking back her opponents or with a well-placed lunge destroying those foolish enough to attack the powerful woman.

Among them, probably the one that was the most mysterious of the figures was none other than Solaire of Astora, an undead that beyond the armor, there was nothing that should be incredible. But yet, here he was, making a pilgrimage that many would think was a curse or foolish endeavor, but unlike the hundreds of other undead that had lost everything, Solaire remained jovial, friendly and above everything else, full of faith.

In a place that constantly fed on creatures of faith, Solaire was not only alive, if that adjective could be attached to creatures like those with the dark mark, but he was thriving, walking full of light in a place that little by little was being engulfed in the worst of darkness.

That the serpents haven’t got their hands on him at this point was a weird thing, considering how much they valued their plans for power and sorcery. Solaire was untainted and THAT was a very peculiar trait in the land of Lordran.

Among the sands of time and countless eons, in a land that would be destroyed by time and shadows, over and over again, the fact that one creature could walk among the shadows and come clean and even brighter at the end was inspiring and so, SO, nauseatingly good. It made his teeth hurt due to how good it sounded. But the brave knight could fight, that was for sure, and he had no desire to go one on one with the man right now.

Then, there was the last guest of the forest this… night? It was hard to keep track of time in this world, what with the unmoving sun in the sky and the darkness of the underground forest. She was good with her style of fighting, agile, moving all the time with a glee for combat that hasn’t been cleansed since the days of her youth and deadly with a set of knives.

She was strong too, more than her slender build would make you think, but that was to be expected when it wasn’t just the body, but the soul that which truly let you shine and with so many opportunities in the land of Lordran to make your own soul as big as a sun, well, anyone could become quite the monster.

The Red warrior seemed to enjoy the moment, but for a second, she let her own anger dictate her movements because she basically sliced a humanity-filled monster in half. She quickly glanced at her sides to see if the others had seen her actions, but it was in the middle of a big battle, probably the biggest Sunset had ever had in Lordran, so everyone was a little busy right now.

He continued spying at the group of people fighting for their lives and to gain access to the big forest and the secrets hidden inside, like butterflies and fungi, like ghosts of witches and wolves, of warriors long gone and… well, it would be a surprise for Sunset Shimmer.

With a big grin, the man currently enjoying the battle simply stood up and with silent steps he proceeded deeper into the forest. After all, they had everything under control right now. Sunset will be pointed in the right direction so he didn’t have to break his promise of not engaging Sunset in battle, not yet at least. What would happen later would test her anyway and he couldn’t wait for the moment Sunset would see right into the void. Will she react like Artorias or will she make her own road? He hoped for the second. After all, what’s the point of defeating a warrior that had neither soul nor mind?

Author's Notes:

He is hungry for more than fight

Step into the Forest 03: Cheshire

What an irony.

Sunset Shimmer had to smile at the thought that just went through her head as she impaled her sword on the soft ground and inspected the results of her last battle. As she tried to recover her breathing, the redhead took off the helmet of her armor set, letting her hair flow free as the breeze of the underground forest helped her cool down. It was easier this time thanks to the sweat that had been accumulated on her face after moving around with heavy gear.

It was a complete irony that right now, as she moved thanks to a curse that left her body legally dead, she felt more alive than when she was the queen bee back on Earth. Heck, even when she was studying with Celestia she had felt as if days went by with no change, with no real drive, just learning whatever the Princess wanted her to, just like a little china doll that she could present to the court. Sunset snorted at the memories of those so-called ‘parties’ in which Celestia paraded her as her latest accomplishment, as if helping such a young girl and taking her from an orphanage was enough.

Sighing once, she took a hold of her claymore’s handle realizing that she hasn’t really thought much of the life before the portal, what with most of her mind being occupied by her promise and the years she had lived as a human. It felt like a lifetime ago as she thought back on her days as a pony. It felt odd to think back on those memories now, but truthfully, it was better than thinking about the corpses surrounding them and how they had been mutilated.

She was alive… in a way, but the idea of ending up like those creatures, it made Sunset want to think about her life, both the bad and the good. At least that way, she won’t lose herself. She won’t succumb to the darkness that was this land, not while she could still bring back memories to the front of her mind.

As the enemy was put out of their misery - because seriously, bodies as mutated and broken apart as those can only be helped into the grave - Sunset took the time to see the other human being in the field, a woman that had appeared as mysteriously as could be, only throwing knives and taking down monsters, without a word and moving like a whirlwind.

The skintight suit underneath the red armor and the mask on her face brought an image into Sunset’s mind. It was the image of a shinobi, the warriors of old Japan that everyone seemed to be obsessed with in her school, well, at least the nerdiest members of the school.

Just as they cleaned their weapons of blood and rotten meat, the woman in red armor leaned against the remnants of a stone wall, close to what used to be one of the bonfires dotting the land. The woman looked so calm and collected, so it was no question from her part that both Madeleine and her were sisters.

“Well, I didn’t plan on meeting you in this form, but there’s nothing like a nice little fight to reinforce sibling bonds, right Madeleine?” Her voice made Sunset stop and think about someone, probably the main reason she was in this dilemma. No, Twilight Sparkle was not the problem, she had only stopped her from turning into a monster, although she had probably only slowed the process right now.

“Hello Ashi, seems you’ve been waiting in here for some time.” Madeleine, who was always calm, even a little playful was right now arching an eyebrow at her sister. It wasn’t as if Madeleine was being cold to her sister, she was just showing how curious the encounter was.

“What can I say? I was bored and, between you and me, I’ve been following someone into this place.”

“Being a bounty hunter now? In these days is there someone that will pay for hunting another one?” If Sunset had understood correctly, there was no real money since governments had fallen or simply stopped working since there was no work force, so she could see the logic behind Madeleine’s question.

“Oh, I’m not being paid, at least not in precious metals. What I am after is a unique little thing. In a way it’s similar to what you are looking for dear sister, except that it is not a weapon, but information, something that could be as useful, or even more so than a sword these days.” As playful as Madeleine was, this woman right now made Sunset think of the book she had read for Miss Cheerilee’s class and the redhead could imagine the woman with a huge Cheshire Cat grin in her face right now.

“What is it that you are looking for? This realm is big and even though you have a job, that does not mean we cannot help you a little bit.” Underneath his helmet, Solaire did what Sunset thought he will always do, offer his help to anyone in need of it. From all of them, he was truly the perfect image of a knight.

“Oh, you do have a great warrior among your companions my dear sister, but don’t worry, this hunt is mine alone. I just want to give you a fair warning, be careful of the woman with brilliant blue eyes, she is more than what she seems, like everything else in this land ironically.” And with that, as the world around them began to shift and change, the woman disappeared.

“Did the dimensions shift once again Madeleine?”

“That, or time uncoiled itself and separated the ages. One can never be truly sure in Lordran, much to my consternation. Still, at least now I know that she is alive and well and still as annoying as always. Well, what can you do about family?” Sunset wanted to ask more information about the woman in red armor, but a sound took everyone by surprise. It was a combination of fluttering wings and bells, By itself nothing to worry about, but the size of the creature that made that sound, well, that was the terrifying part.

“What on Earth is that thing?!” was the only words Sunset could utter as a blinding light left her stunned for a second, just enough time for a lance of energy to strike the earth in front of Sunset, sending her flying backwards. As the stars in her eyes began to dissipate and the ringing on her ears lessened, she watched her two friends take their shields out and roll away from more spears of light.

“Great, a giant killer butterfly. What’s next? Spiders?”

Author's Notes:

And there she goes again, flying through the air, how many times has it been?

Step into the Forest 04: Two Eras

Well, it wasn't exactly a spider that attacked her, but considering how many legs butterflies have, well, they are probably very close cousins… ugh, I just imagined a flying spider the size of the Moonlight Butterfly and I just shuddered… you’re welcome for the mental image.

In the middle of the forest and in almost complete darkness besides the weirdly places moon, which really, it does not make sense to have a place like this with no sun and in complete darkness; the whole ‘all-places-are-connected’ thing that happens in Lordran can give you an aneurism trying to understand, with ages being connected, worlds being bridged by the whims of broken time and as things went worse, even places were pulled together, mashed until nothing made sense.

Sunset’s ears were still ringing from the shockwave that threw her around like a crash test dummy; it was sad to admit that at this point she had become a little more than used to being used as target practice.

Sunset Shimmer had understood very quickly that she was no apex predator in this world, that she was just another undead trying to survive an unforgiving world, and the fact that a butterfly (giant notwithstanding) was capable of magic powerful to propel her into the air, well, her ego would have been bruised if it weren’t for the fact that it had been pulverized by the unrelenting madness that was Lordran.

Trying to get her bearings once more to try and fight back, something happened, the world shifted once more and as the mist passed she found herself… alone, with nothing to accompany her, but the sounds of the butterfly wings flapping, with the sound of small bells echoing from the delicate-looking appendages, just as she was once more backed into defense, with her shield having to resist the unrelenting barrage of magic spears, knocking against her and while her shield was able to withstand the damage she was still being pushed backwards.

Oscar’s last gift seemed to be impressively enchanted if it was capable of negating so much magical damage, but Sunset had no time to stay behind her shield, she needed to do something about the flying opponent, even if at the moment she was alone; she didn’t want to think about what could have happened to her companions, if they were just out for this fight or if her world had been disconnected from theirs, she had to survive this moment right now.

Just as she was charging the flame on her hand, a feeling that made adrenaline rush through her body once more, she had to duck underneath something she hadn’t been expecting; the rush of air sending backwards her hair was proof of the force behind the action and as she jumped backwards she was in awe at what was trying to destroy her; it was a huge behemoth of a golem that had for some reason been going for her head.

“As if this thing couldn’t get worse!” She was alone, fighting two opponents that were clearly covering each other's weakness, this was probably the worse situation she had been in alone, but just as she was ready to hold her ground, something underneath her began to shine, illuminating the sunless forest at the moment the golem was preparing for another swing.

In a second, as the flash of conjuration passed, the huge mace that was the golem’s arm was stopped in the air by someone kicking right into it; the power of the golem still sent the man sliding backwards, but the attack had been stopped.

Finally, she got a good look at the man that had just helped her, with short black hair and slightly tanned skin, wearing a long blood red coat with a double A symbol on the back, a white shirt underneath, dark pants and leather boots almost reaching his knees. The man was definitely unlike any other person she had met in this place, he seemed so out of place.

“Well, this definitely doesn’t look like Drangleic, but of course, there is always a redhead involved in this,” he said with a big smile as Sunset stood looking at the man, “yo! Sunset Shimmer, pleased to meet ya! Call me Architect!” He said with a big grin on his face as the battle had now become two versus two.

Author's Notes:

And we are back.

If you don't know who that is, check the Adepta Sororitas story.

Step into the Forest 05: The Road of Warriors

“Why doesn't it surprise me that what called me to this place, will end up being another redhead?” he said with the same kind of grin as he put all his attention to the crystal golem in front of them who, while it didn’t have any kind of face whatsoever, was clear it was annoyed from having another creature to battle with. Meanwhile, the giant butterfly in the sky had taken some time off from attacking, more concerned in having a bite of moss that grew on top of a tower not too far from them. “What does surprise me is that I am clearly not where I was previously. Is this… Lordran?”

“Well, at least what remains of it if what others tell me is correct.” At this point, the fact that people simply appeared at random all around her had become second nature. That truly did put things into perspective, and as the creatures she was battling were currently laying off their assault, she took stock of the current situation.

Fighting fascinating, dangerous and, truthfully, terrifying creatures, seemed to be the only way to survive in the abandoned and cursed land that she had become prisoner of, thanks to the element of harmony and their desire to see her punished for her deeds. At least that was her hypothesis, so more monsters on her path was nothing new now, but what was different was the situation and company.

She hasn’t found the catalyst for the mist storm affecting time and space around her. One moment someone of the far future or the past could simply gallivant into her presence without any warning. From what the young man in front of her had said, it seemed that’s exactly what happened, but for now she was without the presence of her close Astora companions and instead, the only one that was apparently going to help her was someone that seemed so… out of place.

On the other side of the mirror, the girls watching the action sat down on a sofa, on the floor, in whatever place they could as they gathered for a confrontation that made them nervous and excited in similar quantities. It was strange, how these reunions had become the moment they all waited, to see the struggles, and hopefully, the day to see Sunset’s victory and return. But until then, they gathered, they watched, and they hoped for the best.

“Oh, this is truly horrendous!”

“I don’t know Rarity. I think the butterfly is really pretty.”

“My exclamation had nothing to do with that giant butterfly, although I do admit that its wings are truly gorgeous, but it is the situation in which Sunset finds herself right now! Being separated from her companions at this moment! Oh, cruel fate!”

“At this moment I would have said something about the irony of losing her friends when she needed them, but that would be in poor taste.” The athletic girl sitting down on one of the armrests of the sofa was not known for containing herself, which made the pink haired girl on the floor to basically teleport herself in front of her.

“You? Rainbow Dash finding a joke in poor taste? Okay buckaroo, who are you and what have you done with Dashie!” In response, the pinkette was pushed away as the owner of the hand simply sighed at the sheer Pinkieness on display.

“Yes Pinkie, even I know the limits. I’ve tasted my shoe enough after putting my foot on my mouth like a hundred times, especially the last few months.” They all had learned valuable lessons since the dance and like hell she was going to forget that lesson. “But there is something about that guy that just rubs me the wrong way. You know what I’m talking about, right AJ?”

“I sure do. That ain’t any old patch that he has on his back, that much Ah can tell ya.” The stetson wearing gal sitting on the loveseat at their left had seen that image before, so seeing it present on another world was, to say the least, bizarre.

“Yeah, it reminds me of the logo Shining used after going to college.”

“That was Shining’s college letter, but I don’t know Spike, that looks a little too militaristic instead of academic.”

“That’s because it is from the military Twilah. It is the insignia of the 82nd Airborne. Ah sure know the tales from Grampapy Winesap back in Tennessee, there ain’t no doubt about it. You also know them, don’tcha Rainbow?”

“Sure do. The whole family is full of Air Force members, so whoever he is, he doesn’t belong to that world.” So with more questions than answers, they returned to the action as the fight had started anew, but as the girls talked, Sunset also had time to meet her new partner.

There was no armour on him, but he didn’t look like a magic user. His clothes didn’t seem like something that would be found on a battlefield. In fact, it seemed almost mundane compared to what she had witnessed in Lordran.

Undead warriors may be wearing rotten and broken pieces of armour, but they still had their use. They were now more or less relics that remained after long years of disuse and tearing, but they offered some kind of protection against the weather and insane visitors to this cursed land. He had nothing like that on him.

Only his hands showed something beyond the ordinary, besides how ordinary his clothes were. There was a glint of light and then, a small spark flying across the studded knuckles of his gloves. So no armour and no visible weapons beyond his fists. This land never ceased to amaze her.

“Is that… a butterfly?” And just as he said those words, the both of them once more went into defence as new green javelins were shot in their direction, forcing Sunset to hold tight as her shield was once more used to withstand the force of the magical attack. For his part, Architect jumped backwards quickly dodging the piercing attacks, moving quickly to avoid damage. “Any idea of what’s going on?”

“None whatsoever, but however this thing got its powers, it must have only ranged attacks. Those wings do not look sturdy enough to withstand much damage.” As she was in full defence, the golem apparently decided that if something was able to withstand its attack it must be something that was too dangerous to allow wandering through the kingdom. Golems had a simple mind, or what could pass as one beyond the interconnecting and incredibly complex matrix of enchantments that passed as its brain. So at the end, they followed simple orders, and right now, it followed one, just one rule: destroy all invaders.

“Good to know, because rockhead here is definitely not waiting for the bell!” Quickly dashing underneath its mace-like arm, feeling the air that had been generated by such incredible force in his face, he quickly got back into his feet, striking with own left fist the place where the leg joined with the torso of the magical golem; with the impact, not only pieces of enchanted crystal were sent flying into the air, but the sudden burst of light coming from the knuckles of his gauntlet and the small burst of lighting released from such an attack were unmistakable for someone versed on the arcane arts like Sunset and Twilight.

“You have an enchanted weapon?!” Just as she said that aloud, the golem was clearly not hurt enough, so this time his arm did connect with Architect. He crossed his arms in front of him, absorbing some of the damage but still sending him flying across the clearing, using his momentum to roll once before quickly getting back into his feet.

“First let’s get rid of the business at hand and then I can give you the sales pitch, deal? Now, let’s deal with these two roadblocks!” If this had been a video game, it would have been this moment where the life bars would appear in the scene in Rainbow’s opinion, just as they watched the man fight in a way so dissimilar to every single opponent and ally Sunset has had to that point.

Instead of powerful strikes with a massive weapon, or elegant thrusts of a lance in the case of Madeleine, this new man, the so called Architect moved unlike anyone else, dashing from side to side as he got right in the path of the golem’s strike, before suddenly ducking as if he had been waiting for the move. The golem’s right arm had passed inoffensively above Architect’s head allowing him the opportunity to once more strike the same spot as last time, sending even more splinters of golden hue into the air, creating a web of cracks across the area making the magical construct reel back.

Ditching her helmet and letting her hair flow free, Sunset wanted to have a bigger field of view, unobstructed by her headgear. It meant less protection, but when she had to take care of two enemies of different ranges and attacks, she needed to pay attention to everything around her.

Stabbing her claymore into the ground, Sunset once more took her battle axe, knowing that pure strength would be needed, so she had to give it her all, and what better way than using the acceleration and force of an axe into the face, so taking her shield and dashing into the fray, she took her axe with both hands striking the chest of the golem as Architect dashed to the side, leaving the road clear for the redhead.

The axe blade struck truly as it embedded itself deep into the abdomen of the golden golem, and as she felt the impact on her hands, she was quickly targeted by the recovering golem as it swatted at her with his left arm, striking her shield and sending her backwards, her axe being left behind, embedded deep into the golem’s side.

The creature was powerful. She could feel the damage from that swing on her arms, with Sunset knowing that bruises were already forming. But she was no stranger to pain and battle, so once more she got up, ready to continue the fight just as Architect dealt with the latest barrage from the butterfly as this time, instead of lances of pure magical energy, there were blasts following his movements.

He put both of his hands in front of his mouth, like a boxer ready to face his opponent, planting his feet on the ground, ready to meet the volley head on. It would have been suicidal, but instead of withstanding the attack, he simply weaved his way across the barrage, ducking underneath one before leaning back and letting another strike fly by, with the only damage being one of the blasts getting too close to his face, burning his cheek. Ignoring the light, the energy and the burn, the bolts striking the earth with shattering power, making the dirt and the grass fly into the air, pelting him with rocks and debris, his focus remained.

As he received the attention of the Moonlight Butterfly, Sunset had to get out of the way of the incoming crystal golem, as it, despite the size and weight of such an automaton, took a huge leap into the air, clearly wanting to smash Sunset with all of its weight behind it. She quickly rolled out of the way, her own battle senses having been developed across the multiple fights she had been a part of.

Just as the golem got up, Architect retook the fight with the golem, hitting the hilt of the embedded axe from behind by kicking it, making the weapon fly right into Sunset’s waiting hands who didn’t lose a moment before striking the injured golem with all of her strength, using her axe more like a golf club, hitting in an arc just as she had seen Madeleine and Solaire do to the drake, and just like in that occasion, what passed as the head of the golem was sent backwards clearly stunned by the attack.

The cracks travelling across the damaged torso of the creature showed how close they were to breaking it, but it was still a dangerous and powerful creature, designed to withstand the passage of time, but this was the moment that would change.

Even as the golem tried to regain its footing and with the multitude of cracks appearing, it was clear that it had been solidly constructed, capable of withstanding enormous magical and physical damage, so it was still not defeated, still ready to fight, but just as it raised its arm once more, ready to strike down its enemies, the man in front of it had other ideas.

The gloves on his hands began to shine brighter and brighter, the power of lightning travelling across his body, striking the earth. It was a display of magical energy that surprised Sunset Shimmer, never expecting a display of raw energy like that. To be able to not only withstand that kind of power, but to keep it under control thanks to the gloves he was wearing were a clear sign of the level of mastery needed to enchant them.

As the power grew to a crescendo, a fist hit the golem’s torso, and then another, and another. It was a torrent of hits, faster and faster, never stopping, it seemed as if dozens of punches were being delivered at his opponent, a blur of hits releasing the energy until with a mighty roar he delivered one last hit, making the golem skid backwards out of control as it began to crumble into pieces, falling away, sending pieces of it flying into the air, creating a cascade effect, making the cracks travel everywhere until, as if a puppeteer had cut down the strings keeping the marionette standing, the golem stopped moving. His body began crumbling, all its luster gone as the spike growing from his shoulder was the only thing remaining , falling into the ground with a loud thunk.

The only sounds left were that of moving wings, the golden pollen brightly floating around the glowing butterfly and Architect trying to regain his breath after using such an attack and as one, the two warriors put their eyes on the only one remaining and without words, just looking at each other they decided to finish the fight.

Standing side by side they were ready to put an end to the battle. The creature was majestic, like a work of art, designed to be beautiful and deadly, and it almost seemed wrong to destroy it, but regardless of whoever its creator had been or if it had evolved naturally into this, there was only one way this could end.

The redheaded warrior raised one hand, feeling the embers of magic growing inside of her, a feeling that she had thought lost, either by being in a world with no power like it, or maybe because in her road for revenge she had forgotten who she truly was, not a bully, or a tyrant. She was simply Sunset Shimmer, a girl that simply loved magic, that loved to learn. What irony, she had relearned how to feel alive once she was dead, and as the fireball in her hands grew in power she was ready to let that part of her, the tiny little filly who loved every new lesson and every colour that a spell released, free once more.

At her side, Sunset could feel the energy in the air. It made the hair on the back of her head rise up. She could almost smell the power suddenly gathering all around her, but this one wasn’t her own magic. It was her new partner. Then she saw it, sparks of pure raw energy gathering around his body as if they were fireflies and as the butterfly released another volley of magical bolts, Sunset knew that it was useless.

As they grew closer to both of them, the girls in Canterlot held their breath, watching the attack grow closer to her friend and then… they stood gawking as those same bolts moved out of the way, as if swatted by an unseen force.

“They created a magical current, there is no way a weaker magical force could hurt them now.” Looking at her friends’ curious eyes, Twilight was more than happy to explain. “It’s a phenomenon that occurs when one unicorn creates a strong magical field around them. It’s so powerful in fact that any attack thrown at them will simply miss its mark. It’s like a river, so anything weaker than the river will never hurt them.” To see Sunset Shimmer grow this fast, or maybe she was simply returning to who she truly was, it was beautiful.

“I think I know what to name this attack now.” The smile on Sunset Shimmer’s face was free of fear, one that was replicated by her companion at her side.

“What a coincidence, I think so too. Oh well, let’s finish this Sunset.” And as he said those words, he raised his leg before striking the earth, making the energy coalesce into his hands and with a mighty cry, the two let loose.

“SUNSHINE!” The ball of fire and the blue energy fused into one, travelling the distance, burning the air and the pollen, igniting everything on its path. “ROYAL!” And just like that, the butterfly blew into flames, torn apart by a power never before seen in Lordran. And as it turned into dust, sparks seemed to gather in front of them, a little shining spark of a soul.

Author's Notes:

Nothing like knowing that the attack from Architect is canon in Dark Souls!
If any of you have ever gotten or seen the Bone Fist weapon before must know what happens when someone double wields it with a caestus or another bone fist.
So you must be wondering why there was a crystal golem there? Because this part was influenced by the DS mod Daugters of Ash, one where I got a lot of ideas to use in here.

Step into the Forest 06: Duality of Eras

The crackle and burns, the sparks and the moonlight, all became silent as the last burst of magic dissipated, the energy barely lingering in this world that was clearly hanging for dear life. It had been quite the battle, but it was over in a blink of an eye as most battles do, and with it, silence and serenity had once again been returned to the underground forest… or was it even underground? The world of Lordran did not make any sense whatsoever and they could have been teleported hundreds of miles in any direction just by taking one step on the right way.

Atop the trees, the only light that illuminated this part of the world, constantly under the veil of shadows, came from what seemed to be a full moon, with its rays filtered through the deep gathering of trees and vines, making this place feel almost aethereal, as if it didn’t quite belong on the real world. Or maybe that was just the magical energies quickly absorbed by the place.

Still, the world was at peace for now, and the only sounds were distant birds and the sparkling energy coming from something Sunset Shimmer had never seen before in her life, and that was saying something for the traveler of three different worlds. The Architect held on his hand something so remarkable that was left gawking in deference.

“This… is the full energy of a soul… so that butterfly even had something like this on him… Sunset?” The aforementioned girl looked at her partner of the moment, but she wasn’t able to immediately answer back due to her own actions.

Inside the green pale vase, a shining force could be seen sloshing inside, brightening slightly the place around as she took a sip of the reinvigorating liquid, already feeling her burns and her bruises healing after one more battle in this forgotten place.

“I’ve studied a little about these souls. Well, more like it was explained to me by a vicar, but I never thought something this powerful could be found inside a creature like that butterfly,” Architect passed along the golden spark to Sunset as this one began to analyse the powerful glowing light. “This could either be the source of its power, or a secondary reaction to it becoming so strong… what’s wrong with you?” It was clear that something was going on considering that Architect had his arms at his sides, as if he wasn’t able to move them.

“Ah, nothing much… I just broke my hands.” To hear the man say something like that with such aplomb, as if it was only a minor inconvenience, well, it took Sunset a couple of blinks to completely comprehend what he was saying.

“Excuse me, what?”

“The ring and index finger on my right hand and… yeah, the middle, index and little finger on my left hand are completely broken, and I assume at least a couple more are cracked at least.” The grimace on his face as he tried to move his hand to check the damage even made Sunset flinch.

“Here, I still have estus with me.”

“Nah, you can keep it, that thing does nothing for me, apparently it only has an effect with undead. Well, those with the curse better said. Already tried a little while ago and while it feels pleasant, it holds no healing abilities.” Well, that was bad. Sunset would have tried to heal him with magic, but she was sure that was for now beyond her abilities. Maybe with time she will be able to find the way to crack open Lordran’s magical source and rules.

So far she could only feel the embers of a light deep inside her own soul, as if little by little she was breathing life back on it. Would it be that it was her own magic core, or it was simply a mirror of her current predicament as an undead? Sunset wasn’t sure, but if given the chance she will put her whole focus on it, that is if the world stopped trying to kill her every five steps.

“Do you need any help? Is there any way I can assist you?” Right now, Sunset was thankful for her armour, but she had also been really spoiled by the amount of bags and hiding spots her previous attire offered her, so she didn’t have much in terms of ointments, poultices or even bandages.

“Sure, can you… reach into my jacket and take something that can help? Yeah, the right one… no, that’s an amber herb. It’s good with magic apparently… nope, that's a green blossom. You can keep one, it will help you recover energy. Nice when you know you need to be quick… yeah, that’s the thing, it is a really cool rock, right?” In her hands, after rummaging on the seemingly normal inner pocket, was a slightly shining smooth rock, it felt warm, almost if it had a pulse.

“What is this? I’ve never seen anyone around here making use of something similar.” The stone was bizarre, since it looked like a piece of yellowed marble, but deep inside she could feel the power.

“A radiant lifegem. Apparently it is made of crystallized souls. How can a soul crystalize? I have absolutely no idea, but it’s a great source of healing energy. It was probably discovered after the fall of Lordran, who knows? Enough time had passed for it to happen.” Then, just as Sunset put just enough pressure on the rock, it disappeared in a shower of sparks, settling around the man, as he seemed to relax with the energy that had been infused into his body. “Much better. Takes a little bit longer to act in comparison with an estus flask, but it works for absolutely everyone, be it human, undead or even giants.”

“Giants? There are giants in your time?”

“Even worse than that, there are giants and many more monsters here! Lordran is the source of many strange creatures, be it giants and even demons.”

“Don’t mention demons. I think I fought one back where I started.” The distaste Sunset had for creatures like that was visible. After all, the first time she had died had been at the hands of the strange bloated demon back at the asylum, which was ironic, and Sunset would be the first to agree, considering what was the reason for her being sent into Lordran.

“Well, hopefully everything goes well this time, or at least in your time now that I helped you defeat those things. Take care Sunset.” The man then waved, but after a few seconds, nothing happened. “Uh, okay... Am I the only one that finds the fact that I’m still here weird?”

“Were you expecting the bizarre mist that makes people appear and disappear at random?”

“As a matter of fact, well, yeah… What do you know? Guess I’m staying around for a while. That has never happened before… So… What do we do now?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t even know what to expect in this place. I just… you may not believe me, but I swear I felt as if something was calling me, like a pulse, an energy that basically dragged me here.”

“Meh, sounds a lot more believable than just being declared the hero out of nowhere due to a prophecy, but seriously? Considering all the magical artifacts and weapons that can be found everywhere in this place, yeah, that you are attuned to their magical energies is not even weird.” Stretching his hands, Architect took notice of the damage inflicted on his own gloves. It would be better if he made some quick changes to them if he ever found himself in another fight against armored opponents.

“Well, thank you for believing me, but seeing the magical butterfly and the crystal golem in this place, I guess there must be something important around here.” Looking around she was sure there must be something important that they were guarding and seeing the remains of what seemed to be a keep, well, it seemed like a good indication that something had happened in this place.

“Okay, my hands are healed, we got a huge soul, guess we should check what they were guarding in that tower.” The forest had been pacified for now, but the two at this point were veterans in terms of having to survive crazy stuff all the time so they were careful of their surroundings.

Looking around now that they had the time they noticed certain things, among them, the huge armored figures that were scattered in some places among the trees, with shields and swords as big as a normal person.

“Are those golems too?”

“Let’s hope not, but whatever they were, it seems they did their jobs.They are not the only casualties.” Architect pointed at several corpses that had been scattered too across the forest ground, bodies that Sunset recognized from not too long ago.

“Before the butterfly, me and my friends were fighting against creatures like these. Some must have survived this battle and then attacked us.”

“Well, whatever the case may be, they are all dead, Or whatever passes as dead in this freaking world. It’s just… don’t you think they look a little out of place here?” Sunset just raised an eyebrow wondering what her partner for now was referring to. “Look around you, even the armored things look like something that could defend the forest. They basically look like something a druid will summon, but these things look, I don’t know, really nightmarish.”

“I see that, but I don’t think there are people around that could give us an explanation. This whole place looks ancient. Who could even know about something like this?” It was at this moment that the sound of crystal cracking got both of their attention.

“Well, you just had to say something like that, right?” He only got a grumble as an answer as they both saw the golden crystal that had survived from the fight get more and more cracks, until it shattered into sparks, letting free what was inside trapped.

She was regal, that was something the both of them could say at first sight, with a beautiful dress and gloved hands, and on top of her golden hair a delicate looking crown was sitting. She was an aethereal and miraculous sight in this world, and with a blink, the woman took notice of the place she was at.

“Are thou, the ones that saved me?” Even her voice was fragile and delicate, almost like silk, that it made both warriors blink in surprise at what they just found.

“Okay, I did not see this coming.” The most unbelievable trio of the land stood watching each other not knowing how to break the silence after such an entrance, but finally Sunset walked over to her discarded equipment, taking her helmet and placing it back over her head.

“I am Sunset of Equestria, and if you mean if we destroyed the golem. We did. It’s just that…”

“We didn’t know it was a prison, I’m the Architect, just Architect. So I suppose this is one more weird thing in this land, not that there are enough mysteries. Gods forbid anything be a little bit easier to understand!”

“Indeed, the gods truly work in mysterious ways. I am Dusk of Oolacile. For a very long time, I was trapped within the Crystal Golem. From my home I was taken, and banished to a plane of distortion. It was there that thou came to my rescue.” To say that both warriors were surprised would be an understatement.

“This place never stops surprising me. What is that Oolacile place?”

“Hey, don’t look at me Sunset. At the point of time I’m from even Lordran is just a myth. This Oolacile place must be ancient because I have never heard of it.” He had to shrug his shoulders at all these mysteries, but he was right. By the time Drangleic existed, the original land of the gods was just a legend, something to read about in books.

“Oolacile was my kingdom. I fear it must be lost now, but no matter. I know I’ll find my way back to my home soon enough, but for now, would thou allow me to aid you in any way?” Looking at the garments Dusk was wearing and considering how dangerous the lands were, Sunset may have said no, but she had also started with nothing. Besides, she was not one to say no to help from somebody right now.

“I… suppose?”

“SUNSET!” The sound came, not from her side, but instead from somewhere higher, so looking up she saw the source of the voice. It was none other than Architect looking down at them from the top of the ruins of what was probably Oolacile. “I think both of you need to look at what I found!”

“How did he get up there?” There had been a time when Sunset had a normal life, where every day was as normal and boring beyond her dreams of returning to Equestria and.. doing something, even though she wasn’t sure what exactly she was going to do, even less after her turning into a demon herself. Really, teenage zombies? It was enough to feel embarrassed, if it weren’t because she had also been banished and thrown into another reality. Now, every single thing, every single person, every single place was as weird as the last.

Either way, both the warrior and the princess began to ascend what remained of the tower, with Sunset taking a second to look at one of the fallen armored giants that probably defended the ruins. Its back against the wall and monsters at its feet, vanquished nightmares as it followed its command to protect, the stone-like shield propped at its side, the giant sword left abandoned, just another untold story of Lordran, among hundreds more.

“I remember them, my subjects. They lost their bodies and minds. Oh, how I wish I were able to save them.” At her side, Dusk’s face showed her pain at the monsters with the inflated head. “I wonder how they reached this place, maybe they survived like me? No matter, now they are in a better place.” With all the grace of her status, she rose and accompanied Sunset to the top of the tower. At least one question had been answered, just one remained; how did they reach this place?

No matter. They had defeated them, so now, she ascended the tower alongside the princess, marvelling at how so much of it had been destroyed either by monsters or time and still remained solid enough for them to walk, and on the top Sunset saw a figure, so old that had become something closer to stone.

Around the place, she could see dozens of tools, equipment and everything needed for her to recognize this was the workplace of a blacksmith, and among all of that, she felt the call, the feeling that had been dragging her all the way down here.

It was an ornamental box, incredibly beautiful, made of what seemed to be gold and inside of it, oh, something so amazing that she could barely believe it. It was a light, so pure and pristine that it made Sunset’s heart work harder. It was powerful, so incredibly powerful that she felt drawn to it, like a moth to a flame. That’s how she felt, but before she could reach it, Architect grabbed her wrist, making her blink and fight back the spell that caught her.

“What… what just happened?”

“Not sure exactly, but this flame, well, it’s a pure flame, something that is almost divine in its existence. This place was a forge for a very important blacksmith, so I suppose this would be as good a place as any,” he said before taking several of the hammers and after finding them to be of excellent quality and still capable of work he turned around to Sunset and Dusk. “Sunset Shimmer, remember when I told you about the sales pitch? Well, I am the Architect, I can build you anything. Allow me to show you my art.” With the hammer in one hand and the butterfly soul on the other, Sunset was sure that the results would be astonishing.