Sunset, after a fatal incident finds herself in a different world.
There are many who dislike Sunset Shimmer. Recent happenings have brought that to a head which has resulted in her death. But that's hardly the end for her.
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Inspired by reading WAY too many Isekai LN's and Manga.
This started as an experiment to try shorter chapters. I gave up on that later on.
Sunset couldn't believe what happened. She reached for her throat. Her panic and confusion overpowering the pain that should have come from the hot fluid leaking from her neck. She fell to her knees and blearily looked around, the alley was dark and it was almost impossible to make out who was in it with her.
The perpetrator said something, but Sunset couldn't make it out. Her mind was hazy and light. She knew that there were plenty of people who hated her since the whole anon-a-miss thing started, but to do this?
She tried to croak out a question, but it seemed that the other person was sick of Sunset not responding to their words and threw out their leg towards her abdomen.
Sunset felt an impact on her stomach, but not the pain that should have come with it. As the feeling slowly slipped from her body, a final realization came to her, she was dying. The liquid covering her chest was blood oozing from her throat. She'd been murdered.
Her eyesight was getting progressively darker and her body getting weaker. Her last moments would be in a cold alleyway, getting kicked by someone who hated her. The heat seemed to pour from her body in a sweat, mixing with blood as it dripped down her quickly paling skin to an ever expanding pool on the cement below, any semblance of energy she had left following, as if being sapped by the force of gravity. A strange, almost fuzzy sound, assailed her ears, growing in volume while the already dark alley before her faded to black. Just before Sunset thought the incessant noise would reach its crescendo, It abruptly went silent.
Wasn't she supposed to see her life flash before her eyes? Family that had passed? A light? Something? No. Of course not. She never really expected anything like that, those were just hopeful wishes. She had no meaningful last thoughts. No apologies to be made, no peace to be found, no further matters to settle. The last thing that passed through her head was simply-
The forest was still, muffled, as if sound itself felt apprehension at the prospect of traveling through the dense vegetation. Even the beasts that called it home kept inside their dens. However, not everything was asleep. A sole adventurer quietly made her way through the thick underbrush, trying her best to avoid disturbing the foreboding atmosphere. Well, She called herself an adventurer, but she still wasn't old enough to apply as one. Once she could prove herself though, they'd have to let her in, Right?
With a deep breath, Belle continued on her way. The forest was creepy, creepier than usual. It was like going into the guild warehouse, with its thick walls blocking out any outside noise. But this was different. She was outside. There were no walls, no reason it should be so quiet.
Finally, something broke the silence. Though Belle honestly wished it hadn't. A loud, high pitched squeal which gradually morphed into a lower pitched one, punctuated by what sounded like an explosion. She could see the light ahead. Fire. The reds, yellows and oranges licked the area ahead. While she couldn't see any fire per say, that was the only thing it could be.
She gulped and prepared to run, it would be a huge problem if the forest burned down! But as quickly as it started, it went dark again. Nothing. No crackling of flame, no noise, no lights.
She gulped as she looked at the dark area ahead of her and shook her head. If Maria had been here, maybe she'd have been brave enough to check it out, but right now, she only wanted to go home.
What if there was a monster? Or worse! A Demon! There was no way she'd even last a second against one of those things. With that last thought, she left. She'd tell Maria what happened. As much trouble as she'd get into for going into the forest at night, she knew it'd be worse if something terrible was out there and she kept it to herself.
Pain. Sunset could feel it throughout her body. Was she still dying? It sure took longer than movies and books made it seem.
But wait, she was starting to feel more. She could feel heat on her body, she could feel something rough and hard against her back, she could smell something burning.
"Am I on fire?!" She thought as she forced her eyes open. It was dark. She could still be in the alley but… the ground wasn't hard. Had they dumped her body somewhere?
Wait. She reached up to her neck and hesitantly felt along it. She could feel something but… it wasn't the brutal slash from before it was more like… a scar. But that couldn't be. It just happened and it was clear there wouldn’t have been anyone around to save her in time.
Deciding that line of thought was going to lead to even more questions she didn't have answers to, she felt around her body. The ground felt crisp, breaking and turning into dust at her touch. Where in the world was she?
Soon her sight began returning to her, it looked like she was in a forest. That wasn't too surprising. There were plenty of forests around town after all.
She tried to push herself up, only to fall back down. Great. It was then, as her chest hit the ground she realized something. Her shirt was soaked in cold, sticky liquid. "Well shit. There goes the dream possibility," She cursed with a sigh. "Then again, the scar on my neck already kinda ruined that," she thought as she managed to push herself up.
She still felt weak, which made sense. Even if she somehow got it all back, she had lost a lot of blood.
Now standing with the help of a nearby dead tree, she took a deep breath, regretting it almost immediately as some dust filled her lungs.
Through her hacks and coughs she was able to place the smell. Ashes. Something had burned here recently. It was strange that the ground was still warm, but that wasn't something she could worry about. She had to find her bearings. She had to figure out where she'd been dumped, and could worry about the other stuff later.
With that in mind, and after a few minutes of deep breaths, she carefully, and as quietly as she could, began making her way through the forest. Heading to the far left of where she'd woken.
“Deep breaths Maria, deep breaths,” Maria muttered to herself. Her little sister Belle had just willingly told her she’d broken her rules. She’d gone out into the woods. At night.
Belle gulped and twiddled her thumbs as Maria continued to take deep breaths. “I’m really sorry Maria… I know you didn’t want me to go out but I was telling the truth! There really was some kind of explosion out there!” She exclaimed.
Maria, finally relaxed and knelt down to her sister. She gently ran her hand through Belle’s hair before taking one last deep breath “Belle.”
“Y-yes?”
“You’re grounded,” Maria said simply before she stood up, “I’ll ask the guild to send a team out to investigate, but you are very, very grounded. Not only did you break two of my rules, but you went and broke them at the same time, in the worst combination humanly possible. You went into the forest at night. I’ve told you so many times that there are monsters in there. What would I do if something happened to you?”
Her sister’s tone made Belle flinch. Maria was a worry wart, sure, but she was right. Anything could have happened. If she’d left earlier she could have been caught in that explosion. She sniffed and wiped the tears that’d begun rolling down her cheeks as she thought of what could have been. “I- I’m sorry…” She said with another sniff
Maria sighed as she swept her sister up in a hug and gently petted her hair down, “There, there. Maria’s here.”
Sunset sighed. Her breathing had gotten better, but the blood on her shirt was drying, and dried blood rubbing against skin happened to feel particularly uncomfortable, especially after a brush with death. “Well it’s not like I have anything else to wear,” She grumbled to herself.
At least she had her energy back. Most of it at least. She could walk like normal and wasn’t limping or anything. But even still, the forest just kept going and going. Maybe she should have taken a different direction? It was annoying to just keep walking through trees, trees, and more trees. For all she knew there could be wolves! Though she hadn’t heard of any around town… Still, no reason to not be prepared for the worst, right?
She froze as a noise echoed through the air, she wasn’t sure what it was but it sounded dangerous. Low, and distorting into something that sounded like a howl, ending with some sort of insect like chitter. It was like nothing she’d heard, even back in Equestria, let alone where she… thought she currently was.
She gulped and turned her head from left to right. She could hear a strange sound as something moved through the brush nearby, what in the world was it?!
Her fears were founded as what emerged from the brush, was a wolf… well, a wolf torso and head, but it’s legs… they were like the legs of a spider. It was not only disgusting, but the foam falling from it’s lips caused Sunset’s legs to freeze.
“St- stay back!” She shouted, getting enough control of herself to kick some dirt at it, but of course, the creature just made things even more frightening as it jumped to the side, it’s legs sticking to the trunk of a tree.
“This is bullshit. I survive getting my literal fucking throat slit, and now I’m going to get killed by some mad scientist’s leftovers?” she spat before it jumped at her. The next thing to leave her throat was a scream as she tightly clenched her eyes shut.
But then… she heard something else scream, more of an ear piercing shriek, really. The creature, it had to be. She felt warmth nearby and she slowly opened her eyes. The creature was on the ground, letting out a series of high pitched howls and screeches with it’s strange mix of noises while it’s body went up in flames. No matter how it rolled or moved, it couldn’t put itself out.
Eventually it slumped onto its side, it’s legs curling up as it’s cries fully subsided.
Sunset panted as she stared, it was dead. What happened? Why are things around here always burning? Well… okay, it had only been two times, but still!
“What the fuck? What in the actual fuck? This- this can’t be earth.” She muttered to herself as she looked at the creature. Earth had some weirdness to it, but these creatures felt unnatural, something definitely not native to that planet.
She had no clue what was happening. Where was she? Who had killed her? How was she still alive? Why wasn’t she bleeding anymore, and why did that creature burst into flames?
Sunset gasped for air, panting as she ran. That first… thing had caught fire, but the ten behind her had yet to spontaneously combust, and she was cursing that fact with all her being. The creatures were fast and agile, so Sunset had been rushing between trees and doing everything in her power to trip them up. Unfortunately, that meant she ran the risk of tripping up too.
On some level, this wasn’t even surprising, it was on rare occasion that fate spared her any kindness. Soon enough, with her panting and vision swimming from how much she’d been exerting herself, her foot caught a branch, sending her flying ahead onto the hard ground.
She gasped as she had the breath knocked out of her, and turned over as soon as she could, only to pause seeing the creatures had… stopped. They were snarling, glaring at her with hunger and rage, but they wouldn’t get any closer.
She held her breath as she watched them, making sure they weren’t going to jump her, and soon enough she caught her breath. The wolves finally started to leave, probably figuring they’d find other food sooner than waiting for whatever was holding them back to pass.
The ground was still hard as she let her body relax, falling to the dirt. So much running and panic. She hated today. Everything was going wrong.
She took a deep, greedy, breath, and looked around. The ground was dark. Not burned or bare dirt but… dead. It all looked just… dead. There was grass and trees but it was brown and shriveled and in the middle of the clearing she found herself in was, well not quite a building, but there was an opening, and what looked like it was at one time a wall.
With a grunt she pushed herself off of the ground and made her way to what was left of the entryway. There was nothing off about it visually, but there was something, like a primal warning, sent to the back of her mind. Her curiosity was piqued.
As she got closer she felt a sort of hum in the back of her mind that got stronger and stronger until she passed through the opening. Then it was gone. Even the feeling of danger was gone. This place felt… good. Safe.
With a sigh, she leaned against the broken wall and examined this strange space. There was a patch of soft dirt, it wasn’t dead like outside. Heck, It looked… really good for a nap. Though anything probably would have looked good after what she’d just been through.
The patch was just as soft as it looked, thankfully. It wasn’t the first time she’d slept on dirt, but it was the first time she’d done it while feeling so safe.
Maria sighed as she looked over the group of five she’d gotten to help her search for the anomaly her sister had alerted her to. “I swear, she’d better not have been lying,” She groaned with a sigh
“Over here!”
Maria perked up and made her way over to the one who shouted. She recoiled as she got there due to the intense feeling that came with the presence of thick magical energy. The closer she got, the more sick she felt. It was overwhelming.
Once she got close enough, the cause was obvious. Just like Belle had said, there was an area of the forest burned away. It still had heat to it. “This wasn’t a natural fire,” She thought before beginning to turn around, only to pause as she saw something. There was a disturbance in the middle. Something had been there and moved after it all burned. It didn’t look too big, and seemed to make its way deeper into the woods. She’d have to report this. Whatever it was, if it used this much magic it would probably die soon anyway.
“Dolf,” Maria spoke up. “You see all of this?”
The large man raised a brow as he looked it over. “Something exploded?” He offered with a shrug.
Maria rolled her eyes “This was magic. I know you can’t feel it but there’s enough in the air that I almost feel sick to my stomach.”
Dolf’s eyes widened as he looked at the area with a new appreciation “What could have done this? Did it burn up?”
She shook her head and pointed to the middle “No. Something walked out of there. Two feet it looks like,” She stated before gasping as Dolf just walked in. “What are you-”
“You said it makes you feel sick, but I don’t have a magic bone in my body,” He said as he approached the disturbance on the site. “Two legs. Not very straight. Seems like they were wobbling. Wearing shoes,” he noted.
Maria sighed as he began but nodded as he continued “So not an elemental. Not that I expected that,” She thought aloud. “Whatever it was, that wobbling is probably because it’s dying.”
“Ah. Yeah. Magic hurts huh?” He said as he looked ahead, eyes following the trail that was made.
“Yeah. Different bodies handle different amounts. I can handle a couple fireballs but that’s about my limit. Most can’t even handle one.” She explained as she followed his gaze “You’re thinking about following it?”
“Like you said, It’s probably dead or dying and if it’s not, we have to make sure it’s not a danger to town.”
“True. I’ll get the others and inform them of the situation.”
Sunset’s eyes felt dry and dirty as she woke. “Ugh… where?” She mumbled as she looked around and her memories returned. The alley, the forest, the wolves.
“Oh, fuck,” She cursed as reality hit her. She was even further from Equestria. At least on Earth she knew how to get back. The portal that opened each month, but now? She didn’t know how she got here. She didn’t know how to get back. All she knew was that this wasn’t Earth. It wasn’t Equestria. She was still a human, and Earth most certainly did not have those… things!
This was a problem. A big one. But, this wasn’t the first time she found herself in a new world. She could handle this.
She let herself wallow in the reality of the situation for a little before finally groaning and pushing herself up as she smacked her dirty face, “I am Sunset Shimmer. I’m not going to get beat by this!” She declared.
She took a breath and dusted herself off. Yeah, everything was all kinds of messed up right now and she was a mess, but that wasn’t about to stop her. She frowned as she noticed the blood on her shirt. That was just… disgusting. She’d just have to deal with it for now, the idea of walking around shirtless was certainly less appealing than wearing what she had, even if that was a shirt covered in flaky, dried gore.
Once her attention diverted away from her shirt, she noticed a stone doorway, one door cracked open. This was the safest place she’d been in for a while, so her usual caution was lessened.
She peeked inside, frowning as she couldn’t see anything. It was too dark. With a grumble, she pressed against the stone door and grunted, pushing against it.
“Wah!” She screamed as she fell. The stone door looked like it should have weighed hundreds of pounds, but it opened as if it were made of styrofoam. She would have said it was strange, but it was starting to seem as if that were par for the course. At least it wouldn’t get too much weirder, right?
Of course, she was quickly proven wrong the moment she took her first step and her world went black.
When she could see again, everything was a blinding white. Nothing as far as she could see except two rows of tall braziers leading up to a set of stone steps. At the top were a pair of obsidian thrones.
“What are you doing here?!” She shouted, spotting a dark memory she wished to forget. Herself after turning into that thing at the fall formal. But this was different from her nightmares. Starting with little things, like it’s hair being down instead of aiming skyward, to larger discrepancies, such as her being nude. Sunset would have blushed if she wasn’t so confused.
Though the biggest thing that tipped her off to the situation just not being right, the silence. There were no threats. No insults, jabs or anything. It just sat there watching her.
“Well?!” She shouted again, hoping for an answer. She was used to that form shouting at her back, so this one sidedness was starting to make her feel like the bad guy. It was weird.
She stared at the pseudo twin for a while. Sometimes trying to shout her into action again but it just stared. When it finally moved, it simply moved it’s hand towards the other throne and held it there.
Sunset waited to see if anything else would happen, but it simply stayed in that pose. Eventually she had enough and scoffed, “Fine,” Before walking up the stairs. Nothing happened though. She had expected some sort of trap to be sprung, but from the bottom of the stairs to the top, nothing appeared.
She stood there, staring at the red skinned version of herself. With the hair down and a crazy look in her eye, Sunset hated to admit that she could see the resemblance.
It just watched her, waiting for her to take a seat. Sunset didn’t try to egg her on or shout this time. She just sighed and took the seat. That seemed to placate the other as they looked forward and raised a hand straight outwards.
Sunset watched carefully, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice as it raised it’s fingers and snapped. Instantly the braziers started to light with a bright, calm flame. As Sunset watched them ignite, the other Sunset turned and looked towards her.
It took Sunset a couple of moments to get it “You want me to do it too?” Her only reply was more staring causing Sunset to sigh and lethargically raise her arm “Fine,” she mumbled before snapping. To her surprise the braziers on her side lit too.
She didn’t have long to bask in it however as her vision once again went black. When she came too this time however, she was still at the first step of the long stairway down.
“This place is friggin weird,” She grumbled, looking around again. Honestly, a part of her felt like going down there was a really dumb idea now, but at the same time she didn't feel like going into the woods again, and it did feel safe here.
"... fuck it," she said, leering at the steps as she began her descent.
After a minute or so, she turned around to see how far she'd gotten. "What?!" She shouted, finding herself still on the first step. Even after all the walking she'd done she hadn't moved an inch.
She tried again, keeping a close eye on her feet. She lifted her foot, moved forward, and stepped down… onto the step where her other foot still stood.
She immediately stepped back and thankfully had no issues. She took a few greedy breaths as she inspected the entrance-way. There was nothing out of the ordinary as far as she could see. No runes along the walls, no enchantments she could feel. Nothing. Just the stairway.
She took a deep, hopefully calming breath and stepped in once again to the same results. She couldn't get any further than this step.
With more tries and more time passing, her emotions turned towards curiosity. She may not have been in the position for many years, but she had been Celestia's student and a researcher in her own right for around a decade.
She tried many things. Throwing things had turned out to be the most dangerous. Fortunately, she had tossed the pebble gently since shortly after the throw she felt it collide with her back.
From her observations she could discern a few things. The teleportation back to the beginning of the stairs has two triggers. Touching any of the stone, meaning the walls, ceiling, or steps. The other was going deep enough without touching anything. Luckily that test didn't have as dangerous an outcome as she expected. When she'd thrown a rock deep inside, instead of continuing it’s flight through the air, when it returned to the first step it was simply sitting on it.
All the while during her tests, that… whatever it was... stayed near the forefront of her mind. What was that vision? Why did it appear? Was there a trigger? What did the vision itself mean? Too many questions with no answers.
She sighed as she ran out of things to test. Without anything to record her findings it was best to only test simple things, and without tools there wasn't much she could test anyway.
The only thing left was what she had contemplated after that vision. It sounded dumb from the start, and she really didn't even want to consider the idea that something might happen.
Even so, she raised her fingers with a sigh followed by an eye roll, then snapped.
“Dammit,” Dolf grunted as they stopped. The footsteps went far deeper into the forest than they expected. “Damn thing must have some cursed luck. Survived that blast and ran right into the chitterwolves den,” he shook his head, as he looked over the webbing that began to permeate the area ahead “If they hadn’t died before then they damn well have now.”
Maria let out a breath at the sight. Chitterwolves were dangerous. More than dangerous. Outright deadly. The viciousness and pack mentality of wolves and mobility of giant spiders. That’s not even touching on how many webs there are in there. “I suppose we should turn back then.”
Baurd, the youngest of the group spoke up. “We can take it! I mean, come on, a little fire and the spiders are no more.”
Dolf stopped, turning to him with a mix of anger and annoyance on his face, “Oh, yeah. Let’s just set the forest on fire to find someone who’s probably already dead, and if they’re not? Well a forest fire will sure do the job.”
Maria put a hand on his shoulder, stopping his scolding as she instead garnered Baurd’s attention. “Look, Baurd, I can understand that you want to prove yourself. I’ve known plenty of adventurers like that,” She said as the usually kind expression she wore disappeared without a trace. “About three fifths of them die. They’re the reason I have this-” Maria lifted the soft red hair that usually covered a side of her face, exposing a large burn. “-So don’t make the same damn mistake. They’re dead, and if miraculously they are somehow not dead, they aren’t worth the risk.” Letting the hair drop again, she sighed. “We’re going back home. Come on.” Maria began on her way, not waiting for a response.
Dolf had a smirk on his face as he wrapped an arm around Baurd’s shoulders and started pulling him along. “There’s a good reason she’s the boss.”
“Y-yeah.”
“She’s right though. She saw a lot of bad stuff in a decade of adventuring. It’s not an easy job, and getting fame or glory is rarer than finding gold in your own shit. We do it because it pays, but it ain’t worth dyin’ for.” Dolf let go and began walking ahead. “Keep that in mind.”
Baurd’s eyes were fixed on the ground the entire way back, and would continue to be even as they went their separate ways in town.
Maria sighed as she arrived home. Today was… slightly strange but mostly draining. This was why she was a receptionist now. But, now it was her favorite part of the day. She pushed the door open with a smile “Belle! I’m home!” She called out into the simple two floor house. One of the few luxuries she’d bought herself after her retirement.
“Mary! Did you find it!?” Belle shouted, almost tripping over her own feet as she rushed to her elder sister.
Maria easily lifted Belle into her arms, mentally recharging herself by taking in the scent of her kid sister’s blond hair. It was always so calming. “Mhm” She mumbled before taking her over to the dining table and letting her take her seat. She could tell from the shine in her eyes that she was barely able to wait for an explanation about what it was.
“It’s not as exciting as you’re hoping.” Maria said with a chuckle as she started gathering things for dinner, using a small bit of magic to create enough flame to get the stove started. “It was just an elemental that ran into some chitterwolves.” She didn’t like lying to her sister but telling her the truth would only feed her curiosity and that would be the worst idea. “They won and it exploded.”
Belle frowned and crossed her arms. “We don’t have elementals here”
Maria raised a brow at that. Looks like Belle had been studying the wrong things again. “That may be true that we don’t naturally have them, but they do have their strange ones. I’ve told you about the ice elemental we found in the swamp right?”
Belle frowned “That was… the job with that pretty boy mage, right?” She asked, trying to remember the many stories Maria had told her.
“That’s right! But remember, I called him the ‘Empty headed pretty boy mage.’ Titles are important, ”She joked, but that idiot was such a pain. Acting like a princess and never planning things through. She was the one who told them two mages on a job was bad luck and they ended up relying on her anyway. “We ran into the elemental and he told us to attack it, since it’s resistant to his magic and he’d already used it once that day.”
“But elementals explode when you kill them!”
“That’s right! So instead we doused the archers arrow in oil, pulled it back-” She started moving her arms, miming the story as she told it. “-and zoom! It flew through the torch, catching on fire before hitting the elemental. Now what happens when you hit an elemental with their weakness?”
“Bigger booooom!”
Maria swept Belle up in her arms, peppering her with kisses all over her face as they both giggled “That’s right!
Once the giggle-fest was over and Belle had been sat back down at the table, Maria finished up the stew she’d been cooking. Belle was the first to speak up though. “So… a fire elemental wandered into the forest and got attacked by a bunch of chitterwolves? That’s… really boring,” She said with a pout. She wanted something exciting!
There was a soft clack as the crude metal bowls of stew were placed down “The world is usually boring,” Maria said with an eye-roll. “But, the things that are exciting are more often than not the most dangerous,” She warned.
“I know...” It was far from the first time Belle had been told that exact thing and doubtlessly wouldn’t be the last.
Dinner had been simple. With curiosity safely pushed away Belle had gone back to her usual excited self and had gone to bed with only a few complaints. Maria, however, was still awake. Something still felt wrong. Those footsteps hadn’t lost energy the entire time. A few trips here and there but no dragging, no falling. It was as if they hadn’t just used enough magic to easily kill themselves. She may have calmed Belle’s curiosity, but the same couldn’t be said for her own.
Sunset stared between her fingers and the now lit torches. She knew this nostalgic feeling. It was magic. She hadn’t used it in so long. Hadn’t been able to. Earth didn’t have any. But now… She took a breath and focused on her memories. A moment later a small flame appeared at the end of her finger.
“M-magic…” She shuddered as she moved the flame between her fingers. It’d been so long… not since -
She cut off her line of thought and crushed the flame in her hand. The formal wasn’t exactly something she wanted to remember. She almost killed people with her magic then.
She looked back down the stairs and took a step, and then another. She looked back and found herself past the first step. The snap seemed to have changed whatever it was that stopped her before.
She continued walking down. Nothing really changed. Stone, torch, stone, torch, stone. Even as it flattened out and the stairs ended it was still a matching corridor. After what felt like far too much walking she could finally see a difference. Or feel, rather. That safe feeling had persisted through the entire walk, but it was gone as she entered a large room with a single stone container in the middle.
There were a few statues around the room, but they’d been destroyed beyond recognition. Someone had spent a special amount of time on the faces. As she approached the container it quickly became apparent what this room was. A burial chamber.
Inside she could see what was left of some skeleton. It was almost impossible to make out what it had been though. Most of it was nothing but dust and she sure as heck wasn’t going to dig through that to see if anything identifiable was left.
Honestly, without the safe feeling of earlier she wanted to just get out of here. It felt creepy, and now that she looked up, there was a large dark hole in the ceiling that only added to her worry.
She was about to turn around and leave before something caught her attention. Something that had the same safe feeling as earlier, it wasn’t a full body feeling though. It had a source.
She felt it coming from the base of one of the statues. She almost couldn’t control herself as she got on her knees and put her hands around the base. It took a bit of searching but eventually she found something. A loose piece of stone under an overhang of the base. It was clearly meant to be hidden.
As she pulled it out, she found a ring inside. This was where the feeling was emanating from. She took it out and looked at it. It was a simple looking obsidian ring, but as she held it she saw strange symbols appear in a flickering red glow.
Much like when she started looking for the ring, she watched herself as, without control, she put the ring on. The symbols brightened. She let out a small scream as a burning sensation overtook her finger. She tried to pull the ring off but it was stuck, all the while the pain intensifying.
Eventually something changed. Not the pain, but the ring. It was gone! With a small whine she looked at her finger. The base of her finger glowed with the runes for a moment before disappearing along with the pain.
She didn’t want to stick around. This burial chamber made her feel uneasy. She didn’t like this. It felt dangerous, the only safe feeling thing hurt her and honestly she just didn’t like this place.
She made her way upstairs with a grumble. There were no losses of control and no strangeness while moving along the stairs. It was just a normal set of stairs. At least she could feel that sense of safety again.
She took a deep breath as she exited. The air around here was a little stale, but it was still much better than inside the chamber. It looked like the wolf-spider things hadn’t come back. Another plus.
She sat down, leaning against one of the dilapidated structures and looked at her finger. The symbols had disappeared, but if she started focusing magic into her body, they would appear again.
She took a deep breath as she did just that. Focusing magic into her finger and watching as the flame grew at the tip, and then another on her thumb, and then all five. She pulled them together, causing a small ball of flame to form at the base of her hand.
She immediately crushed it as she realized her breathing had picked up. Whatever. Fire wasn’t all she knew. She was Celestia’s student! She’d be a pretty poor student if all she knew was fire. It just took a little more focus is all.
After a couple of seconds she could see the fruits of her labor as her hand was coated in ice. That was a bit different from what she was used to. She expected the ice to form above her hand. Still, this was what she needed. Proof that she had magic once again. It was a strange yet enthralling thought. However, magic wasn’t the most important thing right now. First things first, finding civilization. Ideally a town or city, but she got the feeling something that big wasn’t to be expected.
She grunted as she stood to look around. One of these directions should work. Well, except the one she came from obviously. Not only did it lead back to the woods, but that was where those… things were. She let out a sigh and shook her head. Might as well get moving before it gets dark again. Hopefully there weren’t more monsters.
The forest seemed much kinder now as Sunset walked through."There were a couple of creatures entirely foreign to earth, one of them did resemble a jackalope though." Luckily, all the ones she saw seemed pretty harmless.
How big were these woods though? She’d been walking for ages and the sun was nearly down. It was more than a little worrying. But, soon enough, she found it. Finally. A clearing in the forest, and as an added bonus she could see what looked like a village a little ways away. It had a wall made up of thick log pikes surrounding it with a break for a gate facing her. The warm glow of village lights spilled out over the wooden barricade, filling Sunset with a sense of comfort that could only be felt along with one’s return to society.
She let out a sigh of relief as she left the forest behind. The cool evening air brushing against her skin, no longer stopped by the trees felt liberating. But, there was little time to waste since night was quickly approaching and she had no way of knowing if that village allowed anyone in at night.
Sunset tried not to rush too much. Her body felt much better than it had when she first woke up but still ached. Nonetheless, a part of her still pushed onward. She winced at the sudden spark of pain in her ankle. Running had been a common activity as of late.
As she approached she was greeted by the welcome sight of someone standing guard of the open gate. "Thank goodness" she sighed as she approached.
"Hello! I'm sorry to bother you but I'm really lost. My name is Sunset," she figured that would be a good opening. It explained pretty simply what she was doing here. Unfortunately something still seemed to set him off as he lifted his spear towards her.
"And where did you come from then? Not very common for folks to come out of those woods in weird clothes and covered in blood," he didn't seem very keen on lowering that spear.
"Ah. The uh, the blood is old. An injury I got a while back. I've been wandering lost for a while so these clothes from my homeland is all I've got," she was trying to make it sound believable, but she could already see multiple possible issues with the story.
"Uh-huh. I'll ask again where did you come from?"
"Equestria?" she tried to not make it sound like a question, but honestly, she was getting a little worried. She may have been killed once already, but she really didn't want to risk it happening twice. "It's really quite far away. Hidden and isolated from the world. I wanted to explore and was banished for leaving once so I know very little about the rest of the world," she hated coming up with stories. The human world was easier. She was orphaned and grew up on her own. It wasn't far from her real experience and in a city a lost kid or two was a possible thing. But this was a new world, and she was starting to panic a little.
The guard stared at her a little longer before finally lowering the spear a few degrees. "Like the elves, eh?" He sighed and shook his head, "I don't like your story. Sounds like a load of shit to me," –he raised his spear again and nodded to a nearby building– “Wait in there. I'll get someone so we can figure out how much of what you said are lies."
"I'd rather wait out here if that's alright," an unknown man in a position of power, telling her to wait alone in a similarly unknown building? Yeah. Nah.
He rolled his eyes "Whatever. Suit yourself. I'll be back. Don't move. If you do, consider your entry denied." He nodded towards the dark at seemingly nothing before taking his leave deeper into the town
Maria blinked as she pulled her eyes away from her book. What was- her line of thought was cut off as another knock came to her door. She sighed, pulling away from her desk. She was afraid that she’d heard right. Maria hoped it was just a simple issue, but knowing how today had gone, it was doubtful she’d be so lucky.
Another sigh left her lips as she found Sanse on the other side of her door. “Sanse. What do I owe such a late visit to?” She knew he wasn’t the kind of person to just avoid his duties, but he was a bit… paranoid. At he least he didn’t try to take care of things on his own.
“There’s a stranger at the gate. I think she might be a vampire.”
Maria waited for a moment before sighing “Okay? Why?”
“Ah. Right. She looks unharmed but her shirt is covered in blood with the worst at the neckline. Her name, “Sunset,” is strange, and her clothes aren’t like any style I’ve seen.”
She had to admit. That was pretty odd. But bloodied clothes weren’t automatically a reason to assume she was an undead monster . He’d only seen travelers and locals. Any other clothes would of course seem odd to him. “So I’m guessing you want me to make sure she isn’t? Why didn’t you ask Yvonn to?”
He frowned and Maria already knew how this was going to go. “Because she’s still new. She hasn’t actually found any. How can we trust that she won’t get it wrong? As the head guard it’s on me if something gets through.”
“You have to give her a chance. She’s not “under” you. She’s not the “backup”. She’s your equal. She’ll never have a chance if you come to me every time!” This was ridiculous. She’d trained Yvonn in all she would need to know and Dolf taught her the rest. She knew what she was doing.
“Look. I’ll come with, but you’re going to let Yvonn check. You need to be able to trust more than just me with checking those you’re suspicious of. Otherwise, what will you do if I’m gone for some reason?” She shook her head and softly smacked his head “Now, let’s get going.”
As soon as Maria saw the girl, she could sort of see why Sanse had been worried. Her bright, though messy hair was like nothing she’d ever seen. She’d seen some of those rich types with fake hair, but this… looked natural. Then there was her clothes. They looked in a way like casual clothes, but the fabric looked higher end. It was a strange mixture.
Then there’s the fact that her shirt was covered in blood from the neck to halfway down.
“Well then,it’s been a while since we last had a visitor.” Maria said with a small smile. “Though I have to wonder why you’re out here” She said, glancing back towards Sanse.
He shrugged in response “She didn’t want to.”
“Is that so?” She looked back towards Sunset who also shrugged
“No offense, but I don’t like the idea of going into an unknown building waiting for strangers.”
“Ah. That’s fair. But you wouldn’t have been alone.”
“Excuse me?” Sunset raised a brow at that. She had been alone this whole time, hadn’t she?
Maria wore a small smirk as she nodded towards the shadows where a woman dressed in all black stepped out. The face-mask hid her expression but something about the way she looked at her made Sunset feel… a little embarrassed? Nervous? She couldn’t really explain it well.
Maria meanwhile looked towards her with a smile "Yvonn. How was she?"
"Nervous, impatient, kind of hot" she answered in an almost monotone.
"That last one was unnecessary. Thank you," Maria didn't seem too phased at her words though.
"I don't know if it would make me feel better or worse being stuck alone with her," Sunset pointed out, actually getting a small smirk out of the guy who had acted like such an ass before. Maybe he wasn’t too bad after all.
“I apologize for her. She’s…” Maria trailed off, searching for the right word, only for the potential jerk to speak up again.
“She’s a horn-dog,” he admitted, earning a snort from Sunset.
Maria frowned at him, but he didn’t drop the smirk. “Yes. Well, with that aside, I’m sure you can understand our worry. The increase in demon attacks throughout the kingdom over the past few months warrant an extra level of caution.”
Sunset was able to actually draw on ignorance this time. Which made things a bit simpler “Unfortunately no. I’m not aware. My people are very isolated and keep to ourselves. I can’t say I’ve heard anything.” At least she didn’t have to come up with a story again.
Maria nodded. In truth, the demon attacks had been decreasing. It was a test in its own right. If they had said that demon attacks were up then she’d be suspicious, down she would have been fine with. The answer she got however was neither, making things a little more touchy.
“I see.” She brought out a map and put it on the table in front of them. She tried to get a read on where Sunset’s eyes looked first, but they didn’t seem to focus on anything too much. Just flicking from one spot to another before she quickly looked back up. “I was wondering if you could indicate where you came from. At least the direction.”
Sunset wasn’t able to stop the gulp as she shook her head “I’m sorry. I don’t recognize any of these. Like I said, I was banished. I got a boat and pushed off with some supplies. I didn’t keep track of how long it took and slept most of the way.”
“Yet aside from the blood you don’t look too bad, and I would expect a stench from someone at sea for so long.” She sighed and shook her head. “Look. I’m not going to ask what you’re running from. I’m not going to ask about the story you gave us. You seem to be in trouble. So here’s what we’re going to do”—she nodded towards Yvonn—“just put your hand on this. It’s a quick test. It’ll tell us if you’re something dangerous. If you’re someone dangerous we can deal with that later on.”
Sunset gulped as she looked at the light blue orb the shadowy woman set on the table. It was about palm sized and gave off a serene feeling laced with something more serious. "So just… touch it?"
"Place both of your hands on it,” Maria explained simply as she simply watched.
Sunset gave a small nod and did as requested. She took a soft breath and closed her eyes as she felt the cold glass beneath her palms. Initially, there was nothing. No reaction. But she was almost afraid to open her eyes. With the lack of reaction around her she didn’t expect that anything had gone wrong.
She took another deep breath as she opened her eyes, only to find a spear pointed at her. She pulled her hands back in and put them in front of her face. Only then, as the spear got even closer did she notice the ring of runes around her finger alight.
“I- I-” she began, only be be cut off by the very person she had just started getting along with barking at her.
“Quiet! Whatever you are, we’ll figure it out and-”
“I’m not a demon!”
“I said quiet! I swear I shoulda’ just taken care of you earlier-”
Maria slammed a hand on the table as she stood “Enough! The reaction was small. I understand your worry, but you already have a spear in her face.” She took a breath and returned to her seat “I’m not saying we’re going to just let her go off traipsing through town, but there are other possibilities to explain this reaction.
Yvonn stood to the side, eyes focused on Sunset but without their laid back calm of earlier. She may have been an oddball, but Sunset dared to say she was someone she didn’t want to get in a fight with. “She’ll go into a cell then?”
Maria nodded softly “Yes. Bring her to one now.” She looked down at Sunset, “Please, don’t fight them. If this is nothing to be worried about I’ll invite you to tea.” Her smile was apologetic “I just can’t take any chances.”
Sunset gulped as she was pulled up by Yvonn, “Yeah. Yeah, I understand” she sighed as she was led away.
The jail itself was deeper in the village. She had asked what the Village's name was, but Sanse only barked for her silence again. It was honestly embarrassing to be led around like a criminal. She hadn’t even done anything!
At the very least Yvonn wasn’t as rough as Sanse probably would have been. Her movements were sharp but not harsh. “Well at least it’s clean” She grumbled as they led her into the jail, prison, whatever.
The door opened with a squeal that made her wince. The inside was simple. The floor was made of hay, against the back wall there was a rug of what looked like animal skin. She expected that was the bed.
The part that made her feel a little disgusted was the bucket. She only had a few guesses of what that was for and she wasn’t looking forward to it. She jumped a little as the door behind her closed. She didn’t turn around at the sound of a heavy lock. She supposed whatever they might have thought she was could easily escape this. But she wasn’t one of them. She told them so but…
She sighed and looked at her finger. It was no longer glowing and the runes had disappeared. She felt like it’d been nothing but problems since she arrived. Why did fate think it so entertaining to torture her?
She turned around and noticed Sanse watching her like a hawk. She sighed and shook her head before sitting down, leaning against the cold walls. This was such bullshit.
The pathetic bed was, unsurprisingly, a poor one. She tossed and turned the entire night. As the sun shined through the small barred window she realized that not sleeping during the night wasn’t much of a loss. It wasn’t like she had anywhere to go or to do. If nothing else she could at least sleep in safety.
She looked over and was surprised to find that Sanse had swapped out for Yvonne. That was… well honestly she should have noticed but she’d stopped paying any attention in Sanse’s direction after the first hour of his glares.
Yvonne was watching her too but at least it was a flat expression instead of outright hostility. “So… What’s the name of this place?” She asked. She was trying to make conversation, sure but she was honestly curious. She still had no clue where she was.
The woman was quiet for a few moments before finally answering “Green Cliff”
“Green Cliff?” Sunset repeated. “I mean. With the forest I get the whole green part. But there’s a cliff?”
“The forest grows on it.” If not for the much needed information Sunset might have been annoyed at her short answers. But now she had at least some info. Which also explained some of their suspicions. Not only had she come out of a dangerous forest alone with blood on her. But it was also a forest on top of a cliff. Not something she could have easily gotten herself to. How in the world was she going to talk her way out of this?
Sunset sighed, trying to make it seem like she was annoyed at Yvonne’s short answers instead of her own situation. She laid back down and stared at the ceiling before soon closing her eyes. She’d have to come up with some sort of explanation for how she got there. Does this world have teleportation? She could say it was part of her banishment or something. Maybe she could tie it to the runes they saw on her finger.
She gently smacked her head on the “pillow” this was going to be annoying. She had some information but any of the other stuff she needed to know would be really suspicious to ask. She sighed again and rolled onto her side. Maybe a nap would help.
But even as she tried to sleep, it wouldn’t come to her. The more she thought about it, the more irritated and angry she got. She didn’t do anything to deserve this. Yeah, she’d been horrible before but she didn’t deserve to be killed. And heck, she literally didn’t do anything in this world.
It was so dumb! Why was she treated like a criminal for doing nothing?! She could feel her anger building as she clenched her hands tight and just thought of escaping. Could they stop her if she just used her magic to create a distraction? Just ran? But… that would only make things worse. She was already being treated like a criminal, the last thing she needed was to BE a criminal even as illegitimate as her incarceration was.
She took a deep breath and with her exhale she relaxed her body. She didn’t want to be angry. It didn’t feel good at all. It was just a lot of frustration and felt like a ball in her gut and throat that made her feel sick.
As she finally put a proper attempt into sleeping she didn’t notice her finger. The red that had appeared during the test was back, and it wasn’t going away.
Maria rubbed her eyes as she put another book to the side. She’d been trying to make sense of what she’d seen on the Sunset girl’s finger. It had reminded her of the demon script but from what little she saw it didn’t make any sense. She'd been trying to figure out something, anything for the past day while Sanse and Yvonn kept an eye on Sunset.
She sighed and looked through another book. This one in particular was actually a demon tome covered in leather with designs. Well. They call them tomes but it was really just a book. They were interesting like that. Mostly it told the tale of demon battles. Tribes amassing power and destroying each other until one stood at the top.
She stopped though.The book had designs and as she rubbed her fingers over them she raised a brow and closed it. As she looked over the cover she saw the runes from Sunset’s finger. Though they were used in different places.
“So, it must be…” She groaned. Someone seemed to have made a curse using the nonsense runes so that someone would be accused of being a demon. Probably some political assassination attempt. With the blood on her clothes… most likely Sunset was far more important than she came off and the curse didn’t have as much of an effect as they had wanted so they took things more directly.
She took a deep breath and stood. This was a tricky situation. A potentially important figure of a new land was currently in their jail with a curse that made her seem like a demon to those without any idea about them. Great. What a headache.
Maria looked over the table at Yvonne. She’d asked her and Sanse over to get their thoughts on Sunset. It’d been a couple of days as she tried to find any and all other information about what Sunset might be and where she was from. “So. I want your honest opinion about her.”
Yvonne may have been an oddball at times but she knew when to keep things serious too. “She’s lying about something. What exactly, I’m not sure. Even for someone from far away she seems too off-put by common things.”
Maria frowned. She’d hoped she wouldn’t hear anything like that but at the same time if Sunset were a sheltered VIP from an isolated land, those sorts of things may fit. “Has anything in particular caught your attention? What was her reaction to the clothes?”
“She accepted them pretty simply. Didn’t seem off-put by nudity and changed right there. She seemed pretty happy to get out of her blood stained top. The fabric was… really soft. I understood why she complained about how rough it was once she put them on”
“I see.” That also fit with her theory. If she were truly that important she may have had servants who helped her change and she’d be used to fine, soft clothes. “Has she asked for anything?”
“Books. Nothing simple. Just, books. Simple things. But, I don’t know if she can read it. She stares at each page, studying it. But her eyes don’t move like someone who’s reading. It’s only speculation but I think she’s trying to teach herself how to read.
That was a little bit of an issue in her theory. An isolated land might not have the same writing system. But she still spoke the same words. It was also a little suspicious if she was trying to teach herself secretly. Perhaps she was going to try to pass it off as if she was already familiar with it.
“That sounds quite odd.” Maria admitted with a small shake of her head. “I can only hope that it’s just because she feels out of place and not some attempt to lie to us.” She shook her head again and waved a hand “That’s enough. Send Sanse in.”
Yvonne stood with a nod “Oh. Also. There’s some periods of time where she just… lays on the ground with her eyes closed.Usually around noon. I doubt she’s sleeping. It’s just strange overall.”
“Thank you for that information.” She said as the woman left and a little bit later, Sanse entered with an annoyed expression.
Before he could speak she waved a hand “Unless your opinion has changed in two days, I don’t really want to hear your opinion on her again. Instead I want to know about certain things.”
He looked even more annoyed but nodded his head “Good. You have a temper but you’re still a smart man” She said, earning a scoff from him. “The first one is her books. Have you watched her read them very closely?”
He shook his head “Not really. They’re just Yvonne’s romance books and some random shit from the library.”
She nodded. It matched what she’d been told. Nothing specific but also vague enough that Yvonne’s theory might have some weight to it.
“I see. Have you noticed her laying down, not sleeping around noon?”
He nodded “I didn’t know she wasn’t sleeping. Thought that was the case though.I thought it was weird before. She doesn’t lay on the bed. She just lays at some weird angle on the ground. Haven’t really noticed anything weird about it other than the act itself” He explained with a shrug.
“I see. Now, have you noticed anything strange from her?”
She could tell he was biting his tongue. Keeping himself from saying something more accusatory. He sighed and shrugged “Sometimes she looks at nothing. Just… staring into the distance” He shrugged “It’s weird.”
“Thank you Sanse. You may leave” He took his leave the moment it was offered before she turned around and sighed. He was a good guard. But hot tempered and quick to accuse. It was a pain to deal with honestly but he had scared off his fair share of unwanted people. She shook her head and pulled what she’d been keeping her notes on. She had a few things to go over after all of this.
Sunset breathed softly as she laid on the floor. It was uncomfortable and awkward but needed. This was the only spot in the floor with a deep enough hole in it.
She exhaled and felt flames surround her finger. It wasn’t much and when compared to her old magic, felt honestly pathetic. But she had to be careful. She hadn’t seen any magic since she arrived here. At least nothing she could understand or that didn’t come from her. So she’d taken to practicing her control in secret.
Thankfully each finger felt like a horn. A focus for each spell. In fact when she looked at it more widely, her whole body was like a horn. She felt like she could cast a spell from anywhere, whenever she wanted. But there were limitations. She’d tried using her knee for a spell but it was hard to move the magic where she needed it. Her body was like a horn but a numb horn. With her hands and fingers the only parts she could feel. At least she didn’t blind herself whenever she was casting a spell like she would with her horn.
At least it gave her plenty of time to get a feel for what she was doing. This magic was much less controlled than Equestria. It was more wild. Untamed. But that meant it was also more malleable. She could turn a simple spark into a laser within the same spell with just a few...dozen changes to how she was casting it instead of each spell being one thing. It was fascinating. She just wished she had more freedom to experiment but there was no need to risk them realizing how out of place she was.
Sunset was realizing more and more that she was not quite normal here as she watched a small winged human fly around Sanse. He swatted at the air now and again when it poked him and giggled. He didn’t seem to notice, if his grumbles of “Damn flies” was anything to go by.
She had to admit that it was entertaining to watch him get annoyed but she kept herself from directly staring at the display. But, it seemed that the creature didn’t share her wish to seem innocuous.
It flew towards her and right in front of her face. Sunset did her best to pretend to look right through it. She continued looking in that direction for a few moments before sighing and laying down on her side. Specifically so that Sanse couldn’t see her face.
It looked at her directly. Making all kinds of faces and noises. “I know you can see me” It said in a sort of song like voice. But Sunset didn’t react. She kept her face calm, bored even. The last thing she needed was to be heard talking to something others couldn’t see while already. It was pretty annoying to keep a straight face through it all. Luckily it seemed to be working as the creature looked more and more annoyed and - she hoped- doubtful about what it had just said.
But she persevered until she heard the door to the building open and the creature’s short attention span was exposed. It flew away immediately and buzzed around the new woman as she entered. It quickly flew out of the open door though. Perhaps it saw something shiny? Or someone easily annoyed.
Sunset was used to the quick glances when someone entered but this was no quick glance. The woman had focused on her.
“I do apologize about all this.” They were the first kind words Sunset had heard since she had first been locked up in here.
She shrugged “I’m an unknown. It’s understandable. But I gotta ask, are you the mayor or something? It’s a pretty big decision to lock someone up after all” She offered
The woman chuckled “Something like that. The lord over this area doesn’t often visit and the chief is an older man. Officially I’m just a receptionist. My name is Maria.”
Sanse pushed away from where he’d been standing “Officially that’s stupid. You’re the boss.” He said before leaning to where Sunset could see him “Even the chief listens to her. So you better too.”
Sunset took a closer look at the woman. She seemed to be in her mid thirties. Wore what looked like a tough dress with a few bags hanging from the waist. Made to last with a small amount of nice little details sewn into the fabric. Her red hair hung over half of her face and idly Sunset wondered if that affected her depth perception. “Well then. To what do I owe a visit from someone Sanse actually respects?”
She smirked a little at Sunset’s quip “I just had a couple of questions. I’m trying to decide what to do about you. We don’t want to keep you all locked up in a cell, right?”
“We could”
“Quiet Sanse.” She shot back before returning to Sunset. Looking at someone through bars always had a strangeness to it. She knew why of course. But understanding didn’t mean it would stop.
“I’m with her. Quiet Sanse” Sunset said with a smirk, glad to get a little more teasing out of him. Before she’d worry if he’d retaliate. But with her here, she didn’t think he’d do anything. It was possible he might later though. His sneer told her that it was certainly a possibility “It’s just a joke big guy. Come on.”
Maria waved a hand, trying to capture both of their attention “Now, now. Can I ask my questions first? Before you two fall into bickering?”
“Be my guest” Sunset said with a smile.
“Now. These questions might be odd but I want - no - need you to answer as honestly as possible.”
Sunset nodded but internally felt worried. This didn’t sound like a simple check up. “Yeah. Sounds fine.”
“Great. First question” She brought a piece of paper out of the bag on her hip “Can you read this?”
Sunset froze. One week was far from enough time to get her bearings with this language. Honestly without any idea what any of it meant she wasn’t able to figure any of it out. She sighed and shook her head “No, I can’t. Honestly I’ve been trying to figure out something with books but I’m still completely lost.”
“Thank you for your honesty. I would have been worried if you lied or pretended. Since this is absolute gibberish” She explained before stuffing the paper back in the bag, treating it less carefully now that it’s true nature was exposed.
Sunset was careful to keep her face schooled at that information. She had already figured she couldn’t read it. Probably something Yvonne said. It was her she got the books from, since Sanse probably wouldn’t help her even if the building was on fire.
Maria was still smiling as she watched Sunset’s reaction. It was calm but she could see little reactions. Little twitches here and there. She was annoyed with that question. Of course it’d be annoying for anyone to be forced to admit they couldn't read but somehow Maria doubted it was only that.
“The other question is it’s been brought to my attention that at times you lay strangely on the floor. I understand it’s a strange question but I want to ensure I have all the information I need.”
Sunset had actually been preparing somewhat for this question. The way she exposed her inability to read was one thing. She couldn’t counter that. This on the other hand was simple. “A sort of meditation. Put myself into an uncomfortable position, close my eyes and let myself simply be. I learned it quite a while ago and it goes a long way to keeping myself calm when stuck in a cell for doing nothing wrong” She couldn’t help the tensing of her teeth as she said it or the matching way she said it. She was annoyed at this whole thing. More than annoyed. Pissed.
“Ah. Yes. Again. I do apologize for that. As I’ve said I just want to keep this town safe”
Sunset rolled her eyes a little at Maria’s defense. It was a pain, but Sunset couldn’t blame her for it. It made sense after all. “Yeah, yeah.Do you have any idea when I can get out of here?”
Maria nodded softly “Indeed. It’ll take a little bit but I have to adjustments to the test you went through before. I need to… tighten it up so to speak. Make it give less vague answers. But I need someone to come by before I can do it. I don’t have the know-how or delicate touch to do it myself.
“Great. More waiting” Sunset thought as she nodded. “So, I just… what? Stay here?"
Maria nodded "Unfortunately, yes. Though I think I'll allow Yvonne to grab you a book or two for learning how to read. I think that would be a good trade, hm?"
Sunset recognized the attempt to placate her. Unfortunately, outside of breaking out herself, she really didn't want to risk anything like that. Not with how many unknowns this world had.
She let out a heavy sigh "yeah, that sounds good. At least I'll have something to do I suppose" she admitted with a shrug.
"I'll try to hurry things along but I make no promises" Maria said with a smile before she stood and left.
Sanse was wearing that sneer again "looks like you are staying in there."
"Oh, ha-ha. Laugh it up big guy" sunset bit back
"I intend to. Oh, and I'll make sure we get all the kiddie books you need so you can learn your letters"
"Oh you're eating the whole “not able to read” thing up. Great…" she groaned as she moved back to her bed, only to let out a shriek when something moved in it.
"You see a rat or something?" His tone was still mocking and sunset doubted he'd even moved from where he'd been leaning. He wasn't her focus right now.
“Shit.” Sunset was annoyed. Well, she’d been feeling that for a while now. But she was also worried. This… thing and it’s toothy grin worried her. She might even be willing to admit it scared her. It reminded her of the creatures she’d learned about back in Equestria. A Fae. Mischievous creatures who try to make deals and that always turn out horrible.
She wasn’t sure if this creature was the same one but she wasn’t going to take a risk and make any deals. It was clearly intelligent. Or at least a little.
Now that she could see it closer, it somewhat looked like a human girl. But only in a vague sense. It’s skin was slightly transparent, ears were pointed and teeth were all sharp. This thing looked dangerous from the get go.
It flew side to side, singing it’s congratulations to itself for forcing Sunset to show she could see it. She wondered if she laid down and pretended to sleep, would it go away?
The moment she glanced away, it was right in her face again. “So! Why are you in here, hmm?”
Sunset cringed as she pulled away from it. It didn’t deserve an answer so why should she make herself look crazy answering? With that in mind she turned away and laid in her bed.
It followed wearing a frown “Don’t ignore me!” it shouted. With its size it wasn’t too loud but being right in her face made it annoying. A lot of things were annoying her recently. Maybe that was just this world? Or because she was simply easily annoyed. That was a pretty good possibility. “If you do, I’ll just keep shouting.” It was pouting now.
In the next moment it made good on it’s threat and started shouting. Sunset couldn’t accurately explain how it sounded. It wasn’t words she could understand and she didn’t only hear in her ears. It was as if it was echoing in her head. It actively hurt.
She clenched her head as it continued. She hoped that it would have to stop for air but that hope was dashed as she went longer and longer. It felt hopeless.”Fine!” She growled under her breath.
Luckily the screaming stopped right away. Sunset wanted to destroy that smug look on her face as it flew up to her with a look that said “So?”
Sunset sighed and glared at it “Suspicion.”
It looked disappointed and Sunset simultaneously felt annoyed and smug at that. “That’s it?”
Now she was smug “Yup. No horrible crime. Not even a minor one. They just don’t know what to do with me yet”
“But that’s so boring!” It groaned “I was hoping for something unique from whatever you are!”
“Wait. What do you mean by that?” Sunset realized her mistake when it’s grin was full of teeth again. “Know what? Never-mind. I don’t care enough.”
It flew around her, still grinning “I know something you don’t know” It sang. Sunset did her best job to look uninterested.
“Do you want a hint?” It was still grinning and Sunset was still trying to pretend to be uninterested. Luckily, it didn’t take to being ignored well and threw what it hoped would be a little more fuel to the fire of curiosity. “Well. You smell like a human, but barely. You mostly smell like other stuff.
Well that told Sunset something. She wasn’t human as far as this world was concerned. At least not fully. “Oh, is that so? How interesting” She droned as she checked her nails. They surprisingly looked alright except for the finger she’d been digging into the hole to practice.
But then she froze for a moment. The red where the ring had been. It was still there! Worse yet, it seemed like… it was thicker than the ring was.
“Do you want to know what that is?” The creature asked, swaying in the air. “I’ll make you a deal and tell you all of it. How’s that sound?”
That single word. Deal. It sent a shiver down her spine. That wasn’t just a word. That was magic. Like the old days when Unicorns used words to cast spells. “No way. Might as well jump into a hydra nest with how safe that feels.”
The creature growled, sounding just as feral as the creatures she ran from in the woods. “You’re no fun!”
Sunset took the opportunity to act a little childish herself as she stuck her tongue out “Too bad. I’m not here to entertain you. If you won’t willingly tell me something then I’ll just figure it out myself.”
“You’ll fail that little test they’re coming up with”
Sunset’s interest peaked further but she wanted to play dumb. For now. “What test?”
“Oh, the one where they find out you’re not a widdle human like they are~ Then they’ll be all scared and the loud guy will probably stab you on the spot.” It pointed at the wall in the direction of where Sanse usually was.
Sunset hated that the possibility was annoyingly high for exactly that to happen. Sanse had made it very clear he’d have no qualms about getting rid of any potential problems like he seemed to expect her to be.
“So. What about me could make them so scared that they’d kill me?”
“Nuh-uh. You’re not getting anything out of me for free.”
Sunset hadn’t expected that to work but she really wished it had. It would have made things so much better “Alright. How about this. Give me a little bit more. Add a little bait so I can’t help but make a deal.” There was no way in Tartarus she would make a deal with this thing. But she needed more information.
It swayed in the air a little. Sunset was starting to hate that little sway. It felt so… cocky. She just hoped it was as dumb as it felt.
“Well… you’re not human. Not fully. but you’re not just one other thing either. You’re one freaky hybrid” It said as it’s grin grew “So how about that deal?”
Sunset hummed before shaking her head “Nah. No way.”
“What!? You said you would!”
“I did not. I told you to tell me something so that I couldn’t help but make one. But, while I’ll admit I’m more curious, there’s no way that’s enough to push me to make any sort of deals with you. Besides, have you felt the magic coming from that word? It was like you pulled it from a swamp of dark magic.” Sunset stuck her tongue out.
Unfortunately that didn’t seem to have the effect Sunset hoped for and it looked even more curious about her. “You felt the magic in the word? Oh, now that’s interesting.”
“What is?” The only answer Sunset got however was a grin before it disappeared. “Oh come on!” She shouted.
“Shut up in there!”
“Damn thing. Just giving me more questions.” She grumbled under her breath
Sunset ground her teeth as she thought about everything that… thing had said. She learned a few things from it for free at least. Not only would this world not accept her as a human, but she wasn’t just half and half. She knew she was human and a unicorn. But apparently that wasn’t all as far as this world was concerned. What the other ones could be, though, she wasn’t sure.
It was always possible that the little monster was lying to her. Something told her it wasn’t but that doesn’t mean it’s not a possibility. Escaping may be a more important thing to think of than she predicted…
Not that it would be difficult. A small bit of magic could do any number of things. Pick the lock, teleport, move through solid surfaces. Plenty of options.
She took a breath and focused her magic as she pressed her hand to the floor. She just wanted to push her hand through the floor. A simple little thing and… she couldn’t do it.
Her eyes widened as she pushed more magic into it. It still wasn’t working right. More and more magic was pushed into the spell. She was a prodigy damn it! This should be simple!
Eventually she did feel her finger slip into the stone below her but the next moment she pulled away. She was almost out of magic. That simple little spell had taken so much out of her. That wasn’t normal. Maybe it was here but… She had no problems with fire and even used ice back in those ruins!
She grit her teeth as she thought about this development. Was it this world? Was it her magic? She took a breath and felt flame appear at her finger tip with ease. It barely used a drip of what magic she had left. Another breath and the flame changed to ice. It used a little more but it was still inconsequential.
Sunset continued to change the magic at the tip of her finger. Going from element to element with ease. But the moment she tried to do anything else, nothing happened. Most likely unless she put an obscene amount of magic into it like earlier.
That limited her options. Clearly the freedom she was used to when it came to magic wasn’t a thing here. It seemed to all be nature based. Fire, water, ice, lightning, ground, ect. All of those were easy enough. Fire was the easiest. It was the same back in Equestria.
That made things more difficult. Not by a huge amount but enough. She still had options to make her way out of this cell. But none were as simple as her former ideas. The biggest obstacles however were her guards. While Yvonne may not react… too violently, Sunset had a feeling she’d notice much faster than she could make her way out.
Sanse… she figured if he noticed before she could run she might end up dead if not very hurt. To say he didn’t like her was an understatement from what she had seen.
She sighed and dragged her hands down her face but froze as she noticed something wrong.
Her ring finger, pinkie and part of her palm was red now. Whatever the ring was doing had spread.
"What? Why?! Ugh! This whole situation has been one thing after another!" she thought as she groaned in annoyance. She had no clue what was going on with the red and it wouldn't simply brush away or anything.
"What should I do now? If anything this is just going to make them more suspicious when they find it." she stopped for a moment at that. If it would be bad for them to find it, why not take the initiative instead?
She went up to the bars and called out "Hey! Sanse! Can you get that woman, uh, Maria back here?”
“Shut it!” Was his immediate reply.
She expected that much though. “Oh, come on! Something weird is happening with my hand and now I’m scared and would rather someone with expertise looks at it!” She shouted, waving her reddened hand through the bars.
She couldn’t see his face but with the lack of immediate insults he seemed to have recognized something was off.
“You can wait.” He grumbled “Not exactly a problem for me if it kills ya.”
She rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall. What an annoying guy. “You’re such a jerk.” She said aloud as she closed her eyes. She was just annoyed by this whole situation. But as long as he actually got Maria then things would be going according to the plan she just came up with.
She lost track of how long passed before she heard the door open up to the building. She hurried over and listened as closely as she could.
“Yyvone. Before you start your shift, get Maria. The prisoner is having some kind of issues.”
“An issue?” She asked and Sunset could just imagine her raised brow. She wouldn’t blame her. The thought he was doing something for her seemed pretty unlikely.
“Kay.” She said simply before Sunset heard the door shut again. Well… it sounded like she would get Maria here to look at her hand. Hopefully she’d understand something.
It was about ten minutes later that Sunset heard the door open again.
“She says something’s wrong with her hand.” She heard Sanse explain before the sound of footsteps made their way towards her. “Yvonne, you can take over here. I’m going home.” It seemed like Sanse really didn’t want to stick around. Though to be fair, Sunset could empathise a little. If her shift was over she’d leave right away too.
Luckily the woman didn’t seem to be in a poor mood as she stood in front of the cell. “Hello again. What seems to be the matter?”
Sunset could see the confusion in her face when she simply stood up and walked over. “Well…” She offered her hand “It looks like whatever that ring did spread.”
Maria looked at her hand with a serious expression. “Do you know what might have caused this?”
Sunset shrugged, poking the red part on her hand a couple times with the other hand, trying to show it was safe. “I have no clue. I’ve just been stuck in here. Maybe it’s something in the Cell? Maybe the food or air?”
Maria hummed as she finally took to touching it. “It’s warm.” She mumbled before speaking up “I doubt it’s anything directly caused by your situation. You had the red on your finger during the test afterall.
Maria seemed distracted however, which worried Sunset a bit. What could be so interesting in this cell besides herself?
Maria spoke up again “Did you use magic?”
Sunset was thrown off by the change of topic. At least that showed that magic might not be an odd thing. But the sudden question was worrying. “What do you mean?” She asked with a raised brow.
Maria sighed “Please don’t lie to me.”
“I really don-”
“Look. I know you’ve been using it. If you lie to me again I won’t even think about going easy on you.” Maria seemed serious and that was an issue. Sunset had initially thought that she might be easy to deal with but she wasn’t stupid it seemed.
Sunset sighed and nodded “Alright… yeah. I have. I just needed to practice a bit. I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t know how anyone would react.” She offered
Maria’s gaze hardened a bit before she sighed “Well. I can see that you’re not going to be completely honest with me then-”
“What?! I am! I was just practicing!” Sunset declared with a glare.
“The amount of magic I can feel from the cell is way more than just “Practising”” Maria replied
“Oh, please! If you can really feel that much magic, the how am I still here? How does the cell look the same? I’ve just been creating a tiny flame, snuffing it out and then repeating.” Sunset explained. Her calm nature had been slightly affected by this. Being accused of lying was annoying. Sure, she had thrown a lot of white lies into the mix while dealing with this bunch, but being accused of straight up lying was annoying.
Maria stopped and approached Sunset again. “Then show me this, “tiny flame” of yours.”
Sunset took a calming breath and raised her finger, easily creating a flame on the tip. “Happy?” She asked before getting rid of it and bringing it back. “This is all I’ve been doing.”
Maria looked calm and stood back up “I understand. I apologize for accusing you but we can’t be too careful.”
Yvonne who’d been standing to the side during this, spoke up “Sanse did make the comparison to the elves when she first showed up. Since she said she came from a pretty hidden and cut off area. It would explain having more magic.”
Maria raised a brow and stood up “Is that so? She looked back towards Sunset, glancing towards her ears “Are you a kind of elf?”
Sunset sighed and shook her head. She was a bit tired of all this fantasy stuff that she only knew from books. Which was a little funny to think of since she came from a fantasy world herself. “I couldn’t say. I don’t think so.” She nodded towards Yvonne “Like she said. I come from a really cut off place. I didn’t know anything about the elves you’re talking about. So for all I know, I could be related.” She explained with a shrug.
Maria looked her over for a few moments longer before nodding softly “I see. I just ask that you keep your practice to a minimum. Some people are very sensitive to magic and could get sick.”
“Ah. I see. That’s never been a problem before. But I’ll keep it in mind.” As crazy as all of this had been, she would feel bad if some random person had ended up sick just because of her magic. Aside from that, it gave her a little more information about the world. Magic was common enough that it was accepted but not powerful if her practice was enough to worry someone.
Maria nodded softly and stepped away. “Getting back to the original topic. We’ll keep an eye on it but I don’t think it’ll be a problem for now.”
Sunset looked at the red on her hand again and sighed “Yeah. I hope not. I like my shade of orange.” She said with a frown before adding “Red doesn’t look as good with my hair.”
Maria smiled a little and nodded “I see. I do have to admit your skin and hair work together really well.”
Sunset smiled back and looked around a little “So… Can I get a little freedom?”
Maria sighed and shook her head “No can do. Especially now that I know you have magic. Soon hopefully though.”
Sunset sighed and felt her body slack. “Dang it. This cell is really dull.”
“Even with those books?” Maria asked, looking at the three book pile towards the front corner of the cell.
Sunset rolled her eyes “Books are one thing. But I’m still stuck in a jail cell.” She said with a shrug “Not like I can go for a jog if I get bored.”
Maria nodded softly “Yeah. I can see what you mean but, as soon as everything is taken care of, you should be free to come and go as you need. So you just have to put up with it. If everything turns out fine we’ll compensate you a bit.”
“I suppose.” Sunset sighed as she stepped back towards her “bed”. She didn’t feel like this conversation was going to go anywhere anyway.
Maria looked towards Yvonne and moved her head away.
Sunset sighed again as the two left and with a little exertion she telekinetically pulled a book towards her. It didn’t need as much effort as moving through a wall like she tried before but it was still much more effort than it should require. “Stupid world. Stupid magic.” She grumbled as she looked through the book. Much of it was still strange to look at but she was slowly beginning to make some sense of it.
Sunset was glad she'd never ended up in jail in either world she'd been in before this. Sure they were probably much more sanitary but they probably had a lot better security. Here she could do whatever she wanted to an extent. Though her ability to practice magic had been harshly curtailed, which left her with little more than physical training. Which meant sweating. Which was annoying.
The other annoying part of it was that if she didn't want to sit around in a sweaty shirt she'd have to do those exercises without it and she didn't want to do them with Sanse around. Even if she didn't care about nudity, she'd rather not give him a pleasant sight. The issue with that however was that it left Yvone. She wasn't sure if she appreciated the woman's gaze yet or not. Their first meeting wasn't exactly pleasant.
Still. She couldn't exactly just sit around and do nothing. She never liked not doing anything.
"Hey there, freak~"
Sunset groaned as she heard that familiar voice. She glanced to the side and sighed as she saw that annoying fae. It's weird, slightly transparent skin, that too wide grin, and that annoying sway as it floated there. "What do YOU want?"
It flew closer to Sunset's face, too close for comfort. "It's not about what I want. It's about what you want and what you want is information. Right?"
Sunset did her best to look unimpressed, looking at her nails. "What makes you think that?"
The fae giggled and kept swaying. Sunset had decided. She did hate that sway. Definitely.
"Because you don't know anything. Not about yourself. Not about this place or creatures." It said as it mimicked Sunset's actions.
Sunset rolled her eyes and put her hands down onto her hips, her frown deepening as the fae copied that too. "So, what? You want me to make a deal for information?" She scoffed "That's pretty transparent. I made my thoughts on your "deal" Pretty clear last time."
The fae raised a finger and wagged it side to side. "Ah, ah, ah. While in the end I would love you to make a deal with me, I can tell you're way too cautious for that. The annoying type we usually leave alone." It admitted with a shrug. "But you've piqued my interest. So I did you a little something to earn your favor first."
Sunset did not like the sound of that. Not one little bit. "That means you're going to give me a little info for free, right? Cause, I have a bad feeling anything else is just going to cause me issues."
The fae laughed at her with its sharp fangs. "Oh, but causing you issues is fun! The more issues you have the less you can rely on yourself and others! That means the more likely you'll rely on me."
That sent a shiver down Sunset's spine. Just like she expected. Nothing good would come of this annoying, dangerous creature.
The fae looked like it was lounging on a couch as it floated in the air "But don't worry. I didn't do anything that would cause you too many issues right now. I couldn't get any deals out of you if the big brute kills ya."
"How kind." Sunset deadpanned
"I know!" The fae grinned, inches from Sunset's face. "Anyway, I should get going. Your dumb little cell is boring and you don't look like want to make any deals right now... unless-"
"No."
"Just checking." It was still grinning as it moved backward with that damn grin on its face before vanishing into thin air.
It definitely felt smarter this time. Maybe someone else gave it the idea? Or maybe it just wasn't as dumb as she thought. One option meant more than one case was interested in her. The other meant that a clever fae was interested in her. Both were particularly bad options.
Sunset sighed. Her worries about Yyvone and being topless far were from her mind. She tossed her shirt to the side and got down. Some pushups would get her mind off whatever horrible things that little monster might have done.
Maria massaged her temples and sighed. It seemed like nothing could go right with this situation. The ring, Sanse's attitude towards Sunset, Sunset's "little" magic practice and now this.
"Are you still there?" Came a young voice from the orb nearby.
"Yes, yes." Maria sighed. She looked back up to see the face of one of the assistants to the magical tool expert she'd been requesting to come to help. "Is he alright then?"
"Ah, well, he should be. For now they're recommending no travel outside of emergencies and I'm sorry to say-"
"I get it." Maria grumbled, cutting the assistant off. As much as she understood that their village wasn't important enough for his visit in such a situation, it didn't mean she wanted to hear it said out loud. "What about my request then?"
"We'll still be sending someone but we only have trainees available."
Maria sighed again but she could at least hear the apologetic tone to their voice. At least they'd be able to tell if Sunset was trouble or not. Maria had planned to ask a few questions about the results they'd run into before and see if she could glean a bit of knowhow on how it works. But it looked like now they'd be lucky if they got better results than before. Hopefully before Sunset's whole arm turns red.
"My whole arm is turning red." Sunset mumbled. It was a bit of an exaggeration but as she looked at her now fully red hand she couldn't help but feel a strange mix of horror and numbness.
The change of pigment wasn't the only oddity though. She could feel that the flow of magic through the red part of her hand was strangely smooth.
Before it was like pushing frosting through a tiny oil funnel. But now it was like she had a proper tool. It was an odd analogy. Maybe she was just craving sweets.
Whatever the reason, the red hand felt more akin to a horn with how much easier it was to cast magic through it. Anything but fire still needed a little extra oomph to work and while she couldn't do any tests that might risk angering Maria again, she suspected that bigger spells would pull from the rest of her body.
As a small test she created a small flame with her other hand and it was still just as difficult as her other hand had been yesterday if not more so.
A part of her wanted to blame that fae for this but she doubted it had anything to do with it.
Nothing was going her way since she got dropped in this damn world outside of the fact she didn't die.
Four more days. FOUR more days. Inside a cell. She felt like she was getting abs though. Luckily the red also stopped spreading from her hand.
She'd had plenty of time to think while she was in here. She was a little further understanding their language. If she treated it like cipher it started to make sense. The words were the same. Just looked different. She learned a whole new language once already. She could do it again.
But then there was a surprise. Someone new in the jail. Some young guy. He looked like he spent a lot of time in the sun, but the lack of muscle made it seem like it wasn't as a farmer. He looked at Sunset with a mix of curiosity and caution. "So, you're Sunset, huh?"
Sunset shrugged "Yup. But I don't know anything about you." She pointed out. "What about Sanse and Yvone?"
The young guy shrugged "No clue. They didn't tell me anything. Just told me to keep an eye on you until they come back."
Sunset groaned. So, it sounded like they got someone they could trust just enough to watch her and sent him here. How fun. "Great. Just... great. So, that still doesn't tell me who you are."
"Baurd. Mage in training." He explained with pride.
"A mage? Good to hear. I actually was wondering a few things about magic. I don't know much of anything about your magic. Would you be able to give me a crash course?" She asked, figuring that she could use the fact they didn't tell him anything extra to her advantage. Hopefully that pride he had in his voice a moment ago would be the last part she needed to get info.
"Ah, I can understand that. There are many people nowadays that don't understand magic. Even fewer of them want to learn." Bingo. Sunset fought to stop her grin from showing as he continued. "Magic is in nature all over. But humans can't use much of it. Our bodies can only stand so much and it can be very difficult to train it to handle more. Over time your body will absorb as much as it can handle on it's own. That magic can be used in a huge variety of spells. Offensive spells that leave your body, like a fireball, are much harder to cast and use much more magic."
Sunset hummed and nodded "So, I'm guessing that most mages are more used for smaller things?"
Baurd huffed and looked put off "Yeah. Little things. Cleaning, small details, and the like. There's a lot of variety out there. Successful offensive mages like Maria are rare. Most mages who aren't used for small things are used as sheilds, since it doesn't usually go far enough away from the body to use too much magic. But it's still dangerous and just using a, you know, shield is better."
"I see. I was wondering." She said as she mentally went over the information. So, magic was much weaker and offensive magic especially. Good thing she didn't do anything more than a little fire. "But what happens if you use too much magic?"
"You get sick and can die." He said simply "If you force your body to use a spell way stronger than you should be able to it will use your vitality itself. Your body will shut down. If you're lucky and there's a healer nearby and you didn't overdo it too much, you could be saved." He explained
Sunset blanched. That was... extreme. Very extreme. In Equestria, overusing magic, you might get exhausted and need to rest for a while. Extreme overuse and you might feel sick and need to rest longer. This world, you can just straight out die. Just how careful would she need to be? How much magic would make them suspicious?
He continued on over her silence. "Magic is very dangerous and needs to be studied carefully before use." He looked pensive for a moment. "Something I need to keep in mind at times too admittedly."
"Ah. Yeah. Gotcha." Sunset mumbled half-heartedly. The implications of just how limited magic is was still making her head spin. Or at least powerful magic. Hopefully they'd made up for it with a wealth of smaller things but this Baurd guy made it seem like magic was uncommon and people didn't take interest in it. She didn't want to stand out!
At the same time sunset was meeting Baurd, Maria, Sanse and Yvone were at the entrance to town and a few horses with riders were approaching. The two on the sides had a pair of rough looking men wearing armor. In the middle was a younger woman wearing a thick robe who was looking to the side of the village at the forest that surrounded the back and sides of the village.
"It just doesn't make sense." The woman said, causing Maria to groan.
She knew these types and she really didn't want to deal with it right now. She was the one with questions right now! Still. She was the representative.
She stepped forward with a business smile. "Welcome to Green Cliff. My name is Maria. I'm the representative for the village chief who's bedridden due to his advanced age.
If she were honest, the chief had just waved the meeting off, saying it sounded like a pain and asked her to do it. But no need to be overly honest right now.
The woman mouthed the villages name as if testing it. "Such a strange place. Where does a cliff get enough nutrition for such a dense forest? I've heard the trees continue like that all the way to the edge and it's a far drop to the sea afterwards."
"I'd be glad to tell you what I know, though it sadly isn't much, after the completion of our request." It was times like this that she was glad for all her years of experience in dealing with all sorts of people. It let her keep a calm expression when she was annoyed. "Which we should get talking about, miss...?"
The woman looked confused for a moment, as if she didn't remand why she was actually here or that she should introduce herself. Luckily things seemed to click afterwards.
"Ah. Right. I'm Jane. Magic tech trainee sent in Dr.Oswald's place." She said with a small nod of her head.
"Well, Jane. If you'll leave your escort here and come with me I'll give you a rundown of what's going on."
Jane turned towards the two rough looking guys and nodded. They got off their horses as she turned back. "Lead the way."
Jude and Maria took a seat in the the same room Sunset had been tested in over two weeks ago and the orb was set on the table.
Jude took a careful look at it with an appreciative nod. It's in good condition. I've seen too many cheap ones that use quartz instead of pure crystal. They give bad results." She muttered as she moved it back and forth, seeming to look for cracks.
"It was the best quality I could get at the time. I used to be a somewhat successful adventurer and when I decided to settle down I didn't want to let me and my sister's safety rely on a potentially cheap one, let alone none." She explained, smiling softly as she remembered the village chief's attempts to tell her "It's too much! We can't accept this!". Eventually they came to an agreement that while technically it's still her possession but it basically belongs to the village.
"Good thinking." Jude said as she set it down as carefully as she'd picked it up and took out a piece of paper. Maria could feel a little magic coming from it. Probably a reusable sheet of paper so she didn't have to spend as much on it. "Now. What tests specifically do we want to do? I need to calibrate it before each one."
Maria nodded "the first, while I myself doubt it, is for vampires. It's more to sate the town guard than anything. After that is demon and then elf if possible."
Jude nodded, even smirking a little at Maria's explanation about vampires. That smirk went away at her next suggestions.
"Those two can be... difficult. Elves are pretty... anti-social. They've never willingly given us any readings for us to compare to. So I can really only guess on the calibration for it." She shook her head "Do you think they are one?"
"The way they talk about their home sounds a lot like elves. Isolated from the world to the point of ignorance, magic use being common place."
Jude nodded "Well, I'll do what I can. No promises."
Maria nodded softly "understandable. What about the other?"
"That's a whole other issue. We've gotten readings after capturing wild demons but they're usually pretty chaotic. Fluctuating rapidly and more powerful ones would probably break the test for fun." Jude explained with a shrug. "If you think you have a demon, you might be better off just getting rid of them, honestly."
Maria shook her head. "I don't think she is. I think she's been cursed to seem like one. She's got a scar on her neck and showed up with blood on the collar of her shirt: that's actually why our guard thought she was a vampire at first-
"Understandable"
"I thought so after I saw her too." Maria admitted with a small smirk "I figure people thought she was a demon after a failed test or something and she got run out. Someone took justice into their own hands, she survived and somehow made her way here. Admittedly, there's a lot of issues in my theory. How she survived, why she was wearing the same bloody clothes despite the injury having scarred, why she came from the forest." She shook her head with a sigh. "There's too many questions and not enough answers."
"And that's where I come in." Jude pointed out with a small smirk.
"That's indeed where you come in. Even if we can't answer most of those questions, we can hopefully get rid of any aggression against her and get her out of the jail cell we've had to keep her in for the Green Cliff's safety. Then over time, hopefully she'll fill in those blanks herself."
Jude shook her head "There's a lot, and I mean a lot of questions here and I can only give a couple of answers." She admitted.
Maria sighed "I know. I wish I could do more myself too." She knew the girl was the curious type and telling her all this was probably miserable. "Still. Those are the three we need to focus on. If you have any ideas for other tests we should do, I'll allow that. Once you're ready, I'll have her brought by. Maybe if all this goes well we can all sit down and have a nice conversation with her."
Once Sunset calmed down from the implications of this world's magic she thought about her current situation. Not the village as a whole or the world. But the cell with Baurd watching her. Why would they have called everyone away? She took a calming breath. It was probably the day, wasn't it? When she'd have to take that "test" that the fae had mentioned. She'd have to keep herself as calm as possible and prepare a spell to run, should things go bad.
She wasn't sure if Baurd was saying anything, since she wasn't paying attention but if he was, she cut him off. "Hey. I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when they come to get me." She said before laying down, facing away from him.
"When they come?" Baurd mumbled in confusion to himself.
Maria approached the jail with Yvone in tow. She decided against bringing Sanse. He would be present during the test but she didn't want Sunset running at the first opportunity because he threatened her again.
When she entered the jail, Baurd looked weirdly surprised.
"Huh. She was right."
Maria raised a brow at that "What do you mean?"
"Oh! Well, she asked me to wake her up when you came to get her. I was confused at first but here you are!" He explained with a grin
Now it was Maria who was confused. How did Sunset know? It's possible, of course that she just inferred from Baurd and what information she might have gotten from him, but they hadn't told him anything. Sunset was a smart girl apparently.
"Huh. She was right. Go ahead and-"
"No need. I'm already up. Hard to actually fall asleep not knowing what's going on." Sunset admitted as she sat up and walked a few steps forward. "Are we finally going to have that cup of tea you mentioned on the first day?" She joked
"Ah. Understandable and sadly, no. Though, hopefully after we're done with what's next we might be able to." she said with a small smile.
"I suppose I won't get much info on what's going on first?" She asked as she stepped further and put her arms out of the cell.
Maria smiled "It will be very similar to the test you took on the first day you were here. But it will be narrowed down to specific things. You'll retake it multiple times. Each time it will be for different possibilities." She explained.
Sunset perked up a little. She was happy to actually get an actual explanation from someone for once. Well, Yvone sometimes gave her simple answers. But rarely since she arrived did she ever get a detailed explanation.
"I won't tell you what we're testing you for ahead of time for obvious reasons. But if you'll step back against the wall, we'll open the cell and get you out of there."
Sunset smiled at that. Despite the worries she still felt about the whole situation and the tests in the future, Maria had a calming feeling to her and she'd finally be getting out of here.
The cell door slid open and they led her out. Maria, Baurd and Yvone all escorted her to the building she'd been tested in the first time. The morning air was relaxing and the early hour in theory should have meant less eyes to watch and judge her. But this wasn't a modern town. These people all worked hard and early. Luckily, unlike the world she left, these eyes were filled with curiosity instead of hostility. That was a pleasant change.
Once they entered the building, Sunset took a seat and felt all that anxiety start to rush back to her. The worries that had been lessened by Maria's calming presence and the temporary feeling of freedom. What would happen if she failed here? Would she get killed and sent to another world? Sent back to her original one? Back to the last one? Would she just... die?
She took a deep calming breath, or at least it was supposed to be calming. Dammit. She really needed this to work out.
She looked up as the orb was placed down and someone new sat on the other side of the table. "My name is Jude. I'll be doing the calibrations needed before each test."
"Sunset." She said simply and, though Jude was explaining herself, her eyes were clearly locking onto Sunset's red hand. "I don't know what's going on with my hand." She didn't want to give any more information than needed. Especially to someone she didn't know.
Jude looked back to the orb and nodded. She closed her eyes as her fingertips glowed and the orb was enveloped in a pink glow. It lasted about a minute before she stopped. "Now then. For the first test. Put both of your hands on the orb."
Sunset took a deep breath. Watching her do... whatever it was had just added to her anxiety so she just decided to get it over with and did as asked right away. She watched the orb this time as... nothing happened. She blinked a couple times and then looked to Jude.
Jude nodded "You can take your hands back." Once Sunset did so she looked to Maria. "The Vampire test is negative."
Maria smirked a little but didn't do anything else. Sunset wasn't so reserved.
"So. Do I get an apology then Sanse?" She asked as Jude did more of her thing to the orb. Sanse grunted.
"I won't apologize for doing what I thought was right. But the test showed you weren't a vampire. So, you're not."
Sunset sighed "I suppose that's the best I'm going to get from the one who could have killed me." She shook her head.
"The next test is ready."
Sunset turned away and put her hands to the orb. This time it DID do something, causing Sanse to grip his spear and Sunset to feel a cold sweat as she looked up at Jude. The girl's calm but confused reaction was the only thing that kept her from using her magic then and there. The orb swirled yellow and green lightly as Sunset sat with bated breath.
"That's enough." Jude said as she sighed. She'd let the test go a little longer than needed. She wasn't sure. "Elf test is... inconclusive. Perhaps a distant relative. I don't know. Genetics aren't my thing."
Sunset was confused this time. She'd used the elf thing as an excuse. The people she'd talked to came up with it themselves. She just didn't deny it. But for them to say she could very well be at least distantly related to them was... well, it was confusing. She didn't have any relation to them as far as she knew.
Jude's fingertips glowed pink again as Sunset watched closer. She hadn't failed to notice Sanse' own look of confusion in the moment she glanced over. It was nice to know she wasn't the only one confused.
"Next test." Jude said simply.
"Uh, yeah."
This time the orb shifted with reds, yellows and oranges. They weren't as light as the last test. But they also weren't consistent. They faded in and out sometimes. The colors didn't stay a consistent ratio of colors either.
The test went even longer then the last one. Even Jude started looking nervous. She spoke up without ending the test. "Do you know what this test is for?"
Sunset shook her head "I have no clue. Honestly, for all I know this could just be a fake test using the colors of my hair and skin."
Jude raised a brow and looked Sunset over. "Huh. Your colors really do match." She muttered before shaking her head clear. "You can take your hands off. The demon test is also inconclusive. I really couldn't say what it could be from this point." She sighed before perking right back up "But! There are more tests!"
Sunset didn't want to look back at Sanse and the others this time.
The tests continued on.
Shapeshifter, Skinwalker, mimic, wood crawlers and really any other kind of monster that can fake being humans including one, uncreatively called, fake humans. All negative.
Sunset sighed and leaned back "Are there anymore tests?" She asked, her nerves having been worn down by the tedium of repeated tests.
"Just one. If you could put your hands on-"
Sunset didn't wait for her to finish as she did what they'd already done too many times so far. The orb didn't light a particular color. It simply lit. It wasn't super bright but it was a result. Judging by Jude's relieved expression it was a good thing.
"The human test is conclusive. She's something else too but still human." She said as she stood up and wobbled. "Ugh... That... might have been more tests than I should have done."
"You were the one who came up with most of them." Maria commented as she approached and offered a shoulder
Jude accepted the shoulder and chuckled "True. I thought that since the adjustments are low cost magically it wouldn't be a problem. I was wrong."
Maria smirked again and looked towards Sunset. "Well. With all of this in mind I-"
Sanse stepped forward and was instantly cut off of anything he was going to say.
"I very much hope you aren't going to try to cause any issues right now. She's been stuck in a cell for two weeks and I do still owe her some tea."
Sanse bit his lower lip and took a deep breath. "I- no. I was just going to recommend that she stay under some sort of surveillance."
Maria sighed and waved a hand "With that... one result, I suppose it's understandable. But that's only if she decides to stay here in the first place." she pointed out.
Sunset blinked. The fact was that now she could just... leave. She was free to just go. "I think I'll stick around for at least a little while. I know far too little about how everything works around here." She admitted.
"You can stay with me." Yvone said, speaking up for the first time this entire.
"I don't-" Sunset began
Sanse was the one who spoke up next "Yvone may be a horndog but she's not a criminal. She understands boundaries and won't make you uncomfortable."
Sunset blinked in surprise. "I guess it's just me you don't like, huh?" She accidently thought aloud before, realizing her mistake she turned to Yvone "I suppose I'll take you up on that. Just... don't be too weird. Nothing against you. I'm just not a... people person. Or a romance one."
Yvone nodded simply and Sunset hoped she got the message.
Maria smiled. "That sounds wonderful. I'll let Jude get some sleep and we'll stop by for some tea later."
"Only two weeks late." Sunset teased. She wasn't sure how this was all going to work out. But she knew one thing for sure. She was a free girl again.
