Cracks in Reality - Book One

Since the night she had stopped Nightmare Moon, Sunset had hoped to never again enter the Everfree forest. During her journey to the castle of the two sisters she sensed there was something, a kind of hidden presence watching from the dark shadows of the Everfree Forest. Tingles starting in the back of her neck and running down her spine made her glance behind her at the eerily quiet stillness of the Everfree Forest. Nothing moved. No slight breaths of breeze rustled the leafs and branches of the forest’s plants, the creatures living in the forest were absent and there were no signs of life aside from herself and Twilight Sparkle. She sped up into a brief jog and caught up with Twilight.

Twilight’s left ear flicker in her direction, but she made no other signs of acknowledging her existence. Sunset shivered the icy cold aura of necromantic magic flowing from Twilight’s armor which made the shadows grow darker and flicker with life as Twilight past them. The armor’s potent and thick aura soaked past her clothes, fur and skin straight into her bones, but despite how much the presence of such powerful dark magic tempted and reminded her of her own power levels in dark magic she stayed close to Twilight. If something really was out there watching them, she knew staying so close to somepony as powerful and skilled as Twilight would make the invisible presence hesitate to confront them.

While Sunset was feeling completely nervous and uneasy being in here, Twilight was walking with the confidence of a predator who knew there was nothing in here that could hurt them. Sunset noticed despite her apparent self-confidence, Twilight’s eyes continued flickering to every little shadow or or plant that moved. Her grip was clenching unclenching on the hilt of her sword, no doubt in nervous anticipation for any confrontation that was sure to come from the creatures that had made the Everfree Forest their home. Sunset also kept an weary eye out for any signs of danger from the predators stalking around the forest.

The way Twilight walked, almost gliding with predatory, confident grace sent a nervous shiver up Sunset Shimmer’s spine. Twilight’s mere act of walking made the fighting style of Celestia’s most elite guards look like young, clumsy colts bashing at each other with wooden sticks. Sunset cleared her throat, finding the deafening silence all around them just too creepy.

“H-how are we going to go about taking on this Garro?” She might as well have commented on something as inconsequential as the weather for all the attention Twilight gave her. She huffed with annoyance and was about to reprimand Twilight for being so uncooperative, instead she took a deep, calming breath bringing her temper under control. She didn’t want to find out would happen in provoking somepony as powerful and dangerous Twilight. “Ummmmmm... Shouldn’t we spend at least a few moments discussing what we’re going to do when...”

“No amount of talking or planning will matter when Garro finds us. We either survive through tonight, or we die. There’s no middle ground.” Sunset licked her dry lips and wished she had thought to bring some water with her to moisten her drying throat. From Twilight’s tone and immediate dismissal it was obvious she wasn’t going to say anything else on the subject of fighting Garro. Sunset scowled. She was putting her life at risk for this stranger, she wasn’t going to just let fate take its course. Her temper flared and she grabbed Twilight’s shoulder, pulled her to a stop and leveled a glare at her.

“We need to think of something! Anything that will give us a higher chance at survival!”

Twilight stepped close to Sunset and observed her with cold, narrowed eyes. “You want a higher chance of survival?”
“Of course!”

Twilight pulled a throwing knife from the straps around her upper thigh. “My guardian, while I was in Tartarus, gave me a simple lesson in survival. He put me in a room filled with lethal traps and deadly predators and told me ‘if you want to live, just don’t let yourself die’ he threw a knife in the room for me to fight with before locking the door for three days and nights. On the third night, the door opened and I dragged myself out of that room broken and bloodied, but alive.”

Sunset blinked several times as her mind processed what she had just heard. “T-that’s horrible.”

Twilight shrugged. “Maybe. But that experience and many other similar experiences my guardian put me through gave me the skills and instincts for survival I needed to live through worse ordeals.” Twilight placed the knife in Sunset’s hand. “If we die tonight. Equestria dies with us.”

Sunset’s fingers curled around the hilt of the blade and she tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Facing Nightmare Moon, while scary, was a lot easier to handle then facing Garro without her friends and their newly acquired Elements of Harmony to back her up. Sunset knew from her time using dark magic, Twilight wouldn’t hesitate or second guess stabbing her in the back if it meant accomplishing her goals. She wished Celestia would hurry and join them, she needed somepony she could trust to watch her.

“Do know any pyromancy magic?”
Twilight’s question bought Sunset form her mind.“Wha?...”
“Can you perform pyromancer magic!?”Twilight snapped.
Sunset’s brow furrowed with confusion at Twilight’s question. “Yes, of course. Why?”

Twilight grunted something and turned around resuming her walk to the Everfree Forest. Sunset rolled her eyes at Twilight’s back. It was hard for her to contain the annoyance she felt at Twilight’s lack of communication. But she knew she’d have to play the good guy in order to get Twilight to trust and bond with her in friendship. Right now she only felt like wringing new ‘friend’s’ neck.

The further they walked into the Everfree Forest she couldn’t help but notice how Twilight’s eyes and ears were in a constant state of moment, flickering in every direction, never focusing on the same thing for too long. Twilight’s state of constant agitation was putting her on edge, making her feel like they were about to be attacked by whatever presance was hiding in the shadows, watching them. Sunset mentally slapped herself. She was hunting, and being hunted by, a powerful dark demon that had escaped from Tartarus with an unhinged and dangerous Alicorn who had also escaped from Tartarus as her partner. She wanted nothing more than to just go back to hanging out with her friends and occasionally burying herself in her studies of magic. She already had gone through enough adventures to last her entire life.

“Stop.” Sunset glanced at Twilight as she finished pulling on that dark cloak and drawing a dark, glasslike sword. Sunset licked her lips nervously, with her knowledge and experiences of dark magic she easily recognise the presence of a powerful weapon that deserved the utmost respect and caution. “This is where you need to setup a defensive perimeter and hold off the icewalker’s Garro’s summoned or created.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed and she raised her sword into a defensive position. “Somepony’s following us.” In one swift, blinding movement she pulled a throwing knife from her upper thigh, muttered a spell, and threw it straight into the forest. Sunset could only stare in absolute disbelief as the knife spun through each tree trunk as though it was nothing more than a ghost. A loud thud echoed through the silent forest.

“Hey!” Sunset face palmed as she heard Rainbow Dash’s annoyed protest. “What the hell?! Are trying to kill me”

“Let’s go,” Sunset muttered, walking in the direction of Rainbow’s voice. They found her still pinned to a tree by the collar of her shirt, the blade of the knife missing her flesh by mere centimeters. “What are you doing here, Rainbow! Of all the stupid, irresponsible-” She cut herself off taking a deep breath. “Rainbow, you need to leave now, it’s extremely dangerous-”

“Well, duh! No shit it’s dangerous!” Rainbow exclaimed, still trying to pry the knife out of the tree. “I’m not gonna just let you do, whatever it is you’re doing, without having your back!” She sighed and slumped in defeat. “A little help?” she asked Twilight, gesturing to the knife. Twilight grasped the knife’s handle, muttered a spell under her breath and pulled it free. Rainbow squeaked in surprise and flared her wings to stop herself face planting into the ground.

“You need to leave, Rainbow,” Sunset said urgently. “Go back to Ponyville, wait for us there okay. You’re not equipped to handle-”

“Not happening!” Rainbow folded her arms across her chest and glared defiantly at Sunset. “You’re crazy if you think I’m gonna just walk away!”

Twilight stepped forward, tilting her head at Rainbow, just staring at her with something akin to admiration? Curiosity? Respect? Sunset didn’t couldn’t tell. “Are you at all combat trained with weapons?”

Rainbow stepped back a bit looking uneasy and self conscious under Twilight’s scrutinizing gaze. “Uhhhhhhhh... I’m pretty good with a bo-staff. Spitfire even said I’d make a pretty awesome fighter with that weapon.”

“She stays,” Twilight said in a tone that brokered no argument. Sunset felt a cold dread in her heart and she whimpered softly at the thought of her friend being with them in such a life-threatening situation.

“NO!” Sunset stepped in front of Rainbow, pulling the piece of parchment with Twilight’s binding rune out of her pocket holding it threateningly in front of her. “You have no right to play God with my friends life! She’s going back to Ponyville where it’s safe!”

“Safe?” Twilight’s voice was cold, hard and filled with sarcastic scorn. “If Garro kills me tonight, there will be no concept of ‘safe’ for Equestria. He will turn this world into a frozen hell, everypony will die. Not even the princesses will be able to stop him. Not in this lifetime of their’s anyway.” Twilight shifted the grip on her sword, even in the dark confines of the forest its black, glasslike surface subtly gleamed. “Put the rune away, without me, my magic, Equestria will die. Or just you can die.” Sunset saw a calm confidence in Twilight’s gaze that made her realize Twilight could kill her before she finished destroying the rune. She put the parchment away. Twilight held out her empty hand, black, oil like liquid began flowing from her armor and forming a long slender bo-staff. She handed the weapon to Rainbow. “You two will handle the ice-walkers so I can focus on killing Garro. Whatever happens, keep the icewalkers away from me.”

A piercing, ear splitting chorus of howling echoed through the Everfree and a Timberwolf, its body turned to pure ice, stepped out of a bush and slowly stalked towards them. Twilight pulled the cowl of her cloak up over her head. “Garro’s coming. I’m leaving.” Shadows swarmed around Twilight’s body and she disappeared in the swirling darkness.

Sunset swallowed nervously and backed away from the wolf stalking them. Four more wolves joined the first, their ice bodies moving with deathly silence. Rainbow stepped up beside Sunset, the bo-staff ready for defending their lives.

“So we’re alone, then?” Rainbow asked, trying to sound brave as she backed slowly away from the wolves. A low growling stopped their retreat and they both turned to see six more frozen wolves stalking towards them, only the wolves weren’t alone. Behind them were at least a dozen pony shaped bodies of ice slowly walking with no urgency as they surrounded the two mares.

Sunset gritted her teeth with determination, lit her horn and hands with crackling teal magical energy and met Rainbow’s gaze. “We’re not alone. We have each other.”

Rainbow sighed and gave her staff an experimental twirl. “We’re fucked.”

Sunset Shimmer licked her lips with nervousness, there were almost twenty of what Twilight called, ice-walkers, she nor Rainbow had any real protection, magical or physical and Celestia was nowhere around to help them. She clenched her fists tightly and banished those thoughts of Celestia’s rescuing them from her mind. She was the princess’s personal student, her magical skills and knowledge surpassed any other student in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns combined. She was the bearer of the Element of Magic and she had even gone up against Solar Flare, Celestia’s most powerful form of magic, and survived.
The ice-walkers still hadn’t made any move to attack other than to make a surrounding circle, they stood there silent, frost rising off their frozen forms. The teal energy in her palms erupted into flames and she turned to Rainbow. “What’s our best strategy here?”
“Stand back to back and try our best to break out of the circle. Failing that, we defend a two meter perimeter around us and hope to goddess we don’t die.”
Sunset couldn’t see any flaw in that plan, nor could she think of anything better, so she turned, pressing her back against Rainbow’s. As though given an unspoken command, the icewalkers attacked.
　　*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
As Twilight completed her shadow walk, the shadows fell from her body and she slashed her sword at the first thing that moved, a timberwolf that had yet to fall to Garro’s spell. The sword cut through the creature’s throat, its body crumbling into tiny splinters that would never reform back into a timberwolf. Her hands clenched tighter around the hilt of her sword and she turned in slow circles making sure she was alone in the forest’s clearing. She wasn’t going to go after Garro, she was going to invite the Lord of Tartarus straight to her and whether she lived or died, their feud was ending tonight.

Off in the distance, several hundred meters away she heard the sounds of Sunset Shimmer and Rainbow Dash’s battle as they defended themselves from Garro’s ice-walkers, occasionally she caught a glimpse of bright light when Sunset Shimmer used one of her more powerful spells from her arsenal. Twilight would have loved nothing more then to observe the two mares fighting for their survival just to see what they would do with so many odds stacked against them and their deaths were more then likely.

Would the friendship she had observed between Sunset and Rainbow be enough to keep them fighting for each other’s lives, or would they succumb to their basic instincts of survival and flee? Twilight mentally sighed as she lit her horn and focused on pouring magic through to the blade of her sword. Dark, electric blue flames flared to life within its glasslike blade and Twilight stabbed the blade’s length halfway into the ground. Sect-atarria-pefictis-thorsium she whispered into the night. Blue flames flowed from the hilt of the sword and covered Twilight’s entire body. She gritted her teeth ignoring the pain of the spell she was performing and placed a hand on the ground. Rivulets of the blue flames flowed from her fingertips and as though a giant quill was using the flames as ink, dozens of intricate runes began carving themselves deeply into the ground forming a large circle in the clearing with herself at their center.

She pulled the sword from the ground, exposed a small part of the flesh on her left arm just below the elbow and sliced the blade deeply into veins and arteries. She stopped when she hit the bone and let the stream of blood pour down her arm, into the ground forming a large pool of thick crimson liquid. For a moment nothing happened, then the blood she had sacrificed soaked into the ground, the circle of runes flared blindingly bright with power and when her vision cleared, thirteen black, torn and tattered bodiless cloaks were floating over the runes circles of runes.

The summoned specters whispered coldly with a thousand different languages that had been lost to the living world. Twilight grabbed her sword, it flared briefly with blue flames and flowed like thick oil into her armor. Specters were the few creatures of the living dead powerful enough to wield Itherious and their knowledge of dark magic combined with the power of the sword would be enough to permanently rip asunder the boundaries between life and death.

“What is your will, Mistress?” one of the specters rasped coldly, the tail of its cloak drifting and blowing in a wind that wasn’t there.
“Your knowledge of Itherious. When I cut the demon, Garro, with it, the sword didn’t kill him.”
A cold laughter came from each of the specters surrounding Twilight, she refused to let any of the fear she was feeling show. If she hadn’t performed the summoning ritual perfectly the specters would find the weakness, exploit it and loose themselves on the world. But if they gave her the information she needed, the risk would be well worth it.

“Itherious is an ancient weapon forged from minstrille in the heart of Tartarus. Thousand of spells and rituals were infused into Itherious’s very essence during her birth, all of them useless to somepony as weak and powerless as you.” Twilight could sense a mocking tone to the specter’s cold raspy voice, she clenched her fist and resisted the urge to show them just how ‘weak and powerless’ she really was. “Not even her previous wielder, Darklight, had the knowledge and powers to use Itherious to the proper extent of her abilities. And yet here you are, a pony not even powerful or skilled enough to stand in his vast shadow, wandering why Itherious ignores your will.”
Twilight gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. “I’m powerful and skilled enough to beat him and escape from Tartarus.”

The specters once more laughed coldly with their raspy voices. “Escaped from Tartarus. Did you really?” This time there was no mocking tone to their voices, they were asking her a genuine question.
“I’m standing right here.”

“Yes. You are. But from your own skills and powers?” Twilight was getting tired of their riddles and mockery, she was about to send them back into the Otherworld. “To wield Itherious, and have her obey your will,” the specters continued. “Is impossible for yourself alone. Itherious is a breaker and destroyer of worlds and realms.” The fire of runes beneath each of the specters began slowly fading and dying away to nothing. “Only a breaker of worlds of realms can tap Itherious’s true powers. We wish you a speedy journey into the Otherworld, Twilight Sparkle. Your presence is greatly anticipated.” The specters slowly faded from sight, the runes that she had used to summon them all but dead. But the ritual had served its true purpose, alerting Garro to her exact location in the forest. He had no doubt already caught scent of the powerful necromantic magic, all that was left was to wait.

In the silence of the forest Twilight stood as still as a statue and as dark as a shadow, pondering what she had just learned from the specters. Only a breaker and destroyer of worlds could properly tap into Itherious’s full powers, Twilight, alone, couldn’t do that.

but you’re not alone. Twilight shivered as the words from something buried deep within her subconscious. You’ll always have me. Midnight Sparkle whispered, gently slipping further and further into her conscious mind. For a brief moment that felt like it had lasted an eternity her whole world became black, her existence as Twilight Sparkle slowly melted into an endless abyss where she was just floating obliviously in her own mind, waiting for something else to occupy her thoughts and take over control of her body and magic. All you have to do is say yes. Midnight Sparkle urged. Just let go and let me fight Garro. Without even meaning to do so, thick liquid flowed like oil over her arm and pooled into the palm of her hand and Itherious took on the shape of a massive double edged broad sword almost as long as Twilight’s whole body. It was Midnight Sparkle’s favourite form of the weapon to fight with. Twilight gritted her teeth and with a great force of will she pushed Midnight back down, reforming Itherious back to its long katana styled form.

Somewhere behind her in the forest, Twilight felt Garro’s presence. It was a cold aura so potent she almost physically felt as though she was inside a block of ice. Twilight straightened herback and took in a deep breath, feeling her lungs with the icy air and breathing it. She gripped the hilt of her tighter, taking reassurance the powers and magic running through the sword.

“I’m sorry for not being able to save the lives of your mate or your litter, Garro,” Twilight called out. “I make no justifications for their deaths. Saving their lives was a promise that proved impossible for me to keep.” She slowly turned around and stared into Garro’s eyes of pure ice. “I wanted you to know that before either of us died.”

Garro snarled and bared his long, razor sharp fangs. His hackles raised and he lowered himself into a hunting crouch. “The past is the past. You cannot bring them back. You can only die for your mistake.”
Twilight lunged forward, stabbing Itherious at Garro’s left eye.
　　*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
A frozen timberwolf wolf leaped straight for Sunset. She thrust forward both her hands catching the ice-walker with twin streams of flames. The wolf melted and she aimed the streams of flames at the ground, directing them to form a six foot barrier in the two meter radius Raibow had recommended. The ice-walkers held no fear of the flames. They advanced walking straight through the flames, only a few wisps of steam escaping from their bodies.

Rainbow didn’t wait for Sunset to come up with anymore ideas. She moved forward sweeping the bo-staff down in a diagonal strike against a wolf’s head. Without pausing, she twirled the staff, slamming it into one of the frozen ponies. Impossibly, both creatures shattered, like glass, into millions of tiny pieces. Sunset clapped both hands together in front of her, and threw her arms wide, sending a massive wall of flames into dozens of the ice-walkers. They kept walking. Whatever magic had been used to make them, it was adapting to magical attacks, making the creatures immune and unaffected. Sunset gritted her teeth and switched from pyromancy magic to etherial weapons.
Sunset stepped forward swinging a broad sword made of pure energy and cleaved a pony in half. A wolf leaped for her wrist, she twisted out of the way forming the sword into a dagger, slashing the blade into the wolf’s side. She threw the dagger into another wolf’s head, formed a bow and arrow, firing half a dozen shots, dispersing the weapon before she used too much magic, too soon in the battle. Rainbow suddenly switched sides, her staff a constant, almost invisible blur of motion striking at whatever enemy got too close.

Sunset barely had time to reorientate herself, she squeaked as a pair of wolves lunged and sent a dozen streams of magic to spear through their backs, ripping their bodies apart. The streams of magic bound together, forming a massive scythe blade. She sliced through five ponies at once, formed twin sparring swords, took two wolves’ heads, made the magic into etherial claws over her fingers and sliced them through another pony’s head.

“Shimmers! Duck!”

Sunset instantly fell to her knees, sensing an arrow fly over her, through the space her head had just been. Her blood froze as she heard Rainbow cry out in pain and fall to the ground next to her, an arrow of ice stuck through her right shoulder.
Time froze for Sunset.

All she could see was the crimson line of blood steadily trickling from the wound. All she could hear was her friend’s screams and cries of pains. All her world consisted of was her every memory of every moment spent with her friend, Rainbow Dash. The moment she first stepped into Ponyville, told Rainbow to “fuck off and leave her alone” when she was offered her a tour. The moment Rainbow came by later asking if she was okay, every moment since then trying her best to be a good friend to help her transition from Canterlot to Ponyville. No matter how rude and mean she had been to Rainbow, she always responded with the offer of comfort and support. And these monsters had hurt her. These soulless, unloving, cheap, mockeries of life had hurt her friend.

Blind, unrelenting, merciless fury raged throughout her. That Thing she kept buried within the deep confines of her subconsciousness stood, stretching Itself out purring loudly in pure bliss as It soaked in the raw, undiluted anger coursing through Sunset Shimmer’s body.

KILL! It commanded.

Sunset’s screams of wordless rage echoed loudly through the forest. Her eyes glowed with pure power. Every discipline she knew of holding back her magical mana to avoid flameouts became forgotten. Raw, unrestricted, pure magic flooded her veins and she obeyed Its command. She pounced into the air from her crouched position, landed on a wolf, crushing its body into something less then icy dust. She punched both her fists through a pony’s chest and tore it in half. Crushed another pony’s head with a singlehanded grip. Thrust both hands in the direction of a group of ice-walkers, sending twin streams of pure unformed magic to crush them.
Sunset was still screaming as she tore, cut, crushed dismembered the bodies of the ice-walkers with her bare handed and magical attacks. She didn’t care about the dangers to herself of using so much unbridled, raw magic. She kept screaming her rage not caring her vocal cords were already raw and painful. She didn’t even care about It taking advantage of her distractions, cautiously poking forward from the deep recesses of her mind, into her conscious mind to further share in the destruction and violence. She welcomed the icy cold trickles of dark magic ever so slowly inching its way into her veins. She even began opening herself up, welcoming Its invitation to take over her mind and body. Once she was done destroying these ice-walkers, she would find Twilight, kill Garro herself and maybe even take down Twilight herself. The chance to explore the mysteries of Twilight’s powers and artifacts would be more the worth the effort.

‘It’ smiled with Sunset’s mouth down at the ice-walker ‘It’ was currently slicing etherial claws through. ‘It’ could see the intricate weaves, the beautiful ley lines of magic that kept the ice-walker’s bodies moving and fighting. Garro, that was the name of the demon that had created these beautiful monsters. ‘It’ made a mental note to further study the magic Garro had used to create the ice-walkers. ‘It’ eventually got bored of slashing the ice-walker’s body to pieces. ‘It’ looked around at the ice-walkers surrounding Sunset’s body. They were moving so slow, like a swimmer trying to free stroke through a pool of honey. ‘It’ reached out with Sunset’s hand flicked an ice-walker’s head, making it explode in a shower of thousands of tiny ice crystals. ‘It’ smiled wider with Sunset’s mouth. With no real hurry, ‘It’ moved Sunset’s to an ice-walker reaching for the fallen cyan pegasus with an arrow through her shoulder. ‘It’ searched around sunset’s memories. Rainbow Dash that was her name. The arrow through Rainbow’s shoulder looked quite painful.

Perhaps that was why Rainbow Dash was screaming so loudly? ‘It’ frowned not enjoying the sound of Rainbow Dash’s annoying screams. ‘It’ grabbed the ice-walker’s head and with a quick yank, tore it clean off of the ice-walker’s body. ‘It’ switched its grip on the decapitated head and through it into the chest of another ice-walker, both of them exploded into tiny beautiful ice crystals. Now to stop those annoying screams of pain coming from Rainbow Dash. The quickest most easiest way of course would be to crush her throat, but Sunset was so generous in sharing her mind and body, ‘It’ decided to repay Sunset for her kindness. Kneeling down she wove a simple numbing weave through Rainbow Dash’s injury, tapped the arrow with a finger, causing the projectile to slowly crumble into snowy powder.

‘It’ placed Sunset’s hand over the wound and healed it. Something tickled Sunset Shimmer’s side and ‘It’ looked down just in time to see an ice-walker stabbing a long, jagged icicle into Sunset Shimmer’s stomach. Frowning with annoyance, ‘It’ pulled the icicle from the ice-walker, grabbed the ice-walker’s throat with Sunset Shimmer’s free hand, and slammed the icicle into the ice-walker’s forehead. The ice-walkers were moving much faster now. It smiled. Garro’s magic was adapting to combat Sunset Shimmer’s Survival Magic. ‘It’ formed a massively long, thick etherial cleaver and spun Sunset Shimmer’s body around in a tight circle. The etherial cleaver cut through the ice-walker’s bodies like a hot knife through butter. When ‘It’ completed spinning in the circle, the bodies of the ice-walkers littered the ground around Sunset Shimmer’s body in cleanly cut halves. ‘It’ looked in the direction where Twilight Sparkle and Garro were trying their best to kill each other.

‘It’ focused in on Twilight Sparkle and Garro. ‘It’ knew If ‘It’ focused enough, ‘It’ could tear both Twilight Sparkle’s and Garro’s life from their bodies. Such a task would be difficult, but not impossible. ‘It’ closed Sunset Shimmer’s eyes, focusing on the Alicorn and the Ice Demon several hundred meters away.

“Stop!”

Sunset Shimmer’s voice pierced through to ‘Its’ mind making ‘It’ pause and tilt Sunset Shimmer’s head curiously. Her voice was much stronger then ‘Its’ own voice had been while ‘It’ was trapped within Sunset’s mind.

‘It’ took Its attention away from Twilight Sparkle and Garro and instead focused on locking Sunset Shimmer’s voice and consciousness deep within the confines of her own mind, not content to be trapped away from the world once more. Not when there was still mysteries and magic for ‘It’ to explore. Kingdoms and countries ‘It’ could destroy.

“NO!”

‘It’ felt Sunset Shimmer’s consciousness trying her best to reclaim her mind, body and magic from ‘Its’ control. ‘It’ pushed Sunset Shimmer’s voice down into the deep subconsciousness of ‘Its’ mind. ‘It’ giggled with Sunset Shimmer’s laugh of genuine amusement. ‘It’ was finally free! ‘It’ was finally able to- What? ‘It’ had saved Sunset Shimmer’s and Rainbow Dash’s lives from the ice-walkers. ‘It’ could go around destroying empires, bringing entire countries to their knees. But what then? All ‘It’ would have was a world of ashes and death to rule over. ‘It’ sighed and leaned against a tree. Every part of the ice-walkers’s dead broken bodies suddenly twitched. Every tiny piece of ice and snow slowly rolled to the center of the battlefield, melting together.

‘It’ watched in fascination as the magic of the ice-walkers built and formed itself into a massive titan. The titan had taken on the shape of a pony, standing over ten meters high, easily clearing most of the trees in the Everfree Forest. ‘It’ moved forward with Sunset Shimmer’s body, eager to tear her new playmate apart each tiny piece at a time. As ‘It’ pounced into the air and landed on the titan’s chest, blasting a stream of fire straight through the titan’s body, ‘It’ found ‘Its’ worries disappearing to the back of ‘Its’ mind. She shut off the stream of fire, formed a scythe of etherial magic, using the weapon to hack and slice chunks of the titan’s body away. Just as long as ‘It’ had an enemy to fight ‘It’ would be happy and content with life. A massive hand of ice wrapped around ‘Its’ body, and ‘It’ squeaked in surprise as ‘Its’ bones, internal organs and muscles were crushed by the titan’s brute strength. The titan dropped ‘Its’ mangled and broken body to the ground and raised a foot to squish ‘It’ like an ant.

Frowning with annoyance, ‘It’ lit ‘Its’ horn and reformed the etherial scythe and sliced the titan’s entire leg off. ‘It’ had wanted to have more fun destroying the titan, but now the fun was over. Streams of magic flowed from ‘Its’ horn and reconstructed and healed Sunset’s body back to new. The titan would have been smarter to crush Sunset’s head, not Sunset’s body. Without Sunset’s head, ‘It’ couldn’t continue to live. Growling ferociously, ‘It’ stood and raised both hands to the titan. Twin streams of magic burst from Sunset’s palms, and ‘It’ directed the streams in every direction cutting the titian’s body and the trees surrounding them into tiny little pieces. Before the pieces of ice could start reassembling, ‘It’ waved Sunset’s hand and pulled Garro’s magic from the icewalkers. Grinning, ‘It’ formed the magic into a ball and created a seal of crystal around the magic.

A burst of bright, yellow magic announced the arrival of princess Celestia clad in a suit of golden armor, a glowing, gold sword held in her hand. ‘It’ moved forward to stand in front of the princess, ignoring the confused looking Rainbow Dash laying against a thick tree root for support. It watched as Celestia also slowly walked forward, dropping her sword, smiling gently at and holding up her hands in a placating, non threateningly gesture of peace. ‘It’ raised Sunset Shimmer’s hand burning with blue etherial flames. Just one thought and Celestia’s life would drain from her body. ‘It’ only had to exert ‘Its’ will and Celestia would cease to live. ‘It’ smiled wilder, clenched Sunset’s fist-

“What’s your name?” Celestia asked. She kept smiling at Sunset Shimmer’s form of Survival Magic, hoping to keep ‘It’ calm. She took a step towards Sunset Shimmer’s form of Survival Magic, looking into the glowing eyes or her former pupil, hoping to find some semblance of Sunset Shimmer left. This was the first time Sunset’s form of Survival Magic had emerged, it was imperative she taught ‘It’ the difference between right and wrong, just Starswirl the bearded had taught her form of of Survival Magic, Solar Flare. To do that, Celestia knew she had to give ‘It’ a form of identity. “Do you have a name?” she inquired politely.

‘It’ tilted Sunset’s head with confusion. ‘It’ had never considered ‘Its’-self as nothing more than an existence. Something that just “was.” ‘It’ had never considered making an identity for ‘Its’-self. ‘It’ ran Sunset Shimmer’s tongue across her lips.

“I don’t have a name,” ‘It’ said, with Sunset’s voice. ‘It’ frowned. ‘It’ may be using Sunset Shimmer’s body, but ‘It’ wasn’t Sunset Shimmer. Sunset Shimmer was in ‘Its’ subconsciousness, no longer controlling her body or magic. “I am nameless.” ‘Its’ frown deepened. Sunset Shimmer had a name while she was in control of this body while ‘It’ was trapped in her mind. Sunset Shimmer had a sex classification, a name, her own identity in the world. ‘It’ looked down at Sunset Shimmer’s. No! ‘Its’ body. ‘It’ tilted its head, there was no point in changing her sex, so technically ‘I’t was a ‘she’.

‘She’ smiled with genuine pleasure, having finally having something of ‘her’ own ‘she’ didn’t have to share with Sunset Shimmer. ‘She’ looked back up Celestia.

“I want a name.” ‘She’ nodded and licked her lips. ‘Her’ lips! Not Sunset Shimmer’s lips.
Celestia gave her a comforting, loving smile. “Okay. I can help you with that. What would you like your name to be?”
‘She’ bit ‘her’ bottom lip, thinking. “I…Don’t know.” ‘She’ gave Celestia a hopeful look. “What do you think I should be called?”
Celestia was still smiling comfortingly, wary, but still presenting herself as something that wasn’t a threat. “That’s really not up to me. My other form gets her powers from the connection I have with the sun, she calls herself Solar Flare. Think about what makes you special.”

‘She’ frowned thoughtfully. ‘She’ came into existence when Sunset Shimmer discovered dark magic. ‘She ‘had always been there, basking in Sunset Shimmer’s negative feelings, ‘she’ had fed off those feelings, but now ‘she’ was more than those feelings. Now ‘she’ longer felt that the blinding rage she felt towards the icewalkers, ‘she’ no longer felt such overpowering jealously towards Celestia, ‘she’ no longer wanted to harm anypony.

‘She’ felt Sunset Shimmer trying to push her back, trying to regain control. ‘She’ felt Sunset Shimmer’s worry for Celestia and Rainbow Dash’s safety. ‘She’ felt Sunset Shimmer’s heartache. Why would ‘she’ want to hurt them? They had done nothing to ‘her’. ‘She’ didn’t want death and bloodshed to be ‘her’ identity.

Then, what did 'she' want? ‘She’ looked down at Rainbow and felt some spark of affection for the mare. Rainbow had always been such a good friend for Sunset Shimmer. ‘She’ wanted to get to know Rainbow Dash for ‘herself’. ‘She’ wanted to make ‘her’ own friends, develop ‘her’ own life.

‘She’ looked down at her hands still glowing with electric blue flames. ‘She’ clenched them shut, and with a bit of effort began damning up the dark magic flowing through ‘her’ veins and very slowly, the magical flames glowing in ‘her’ hands, eyes and horn slowly turned to a teal color a shade darker then Sunset Shimmer’s. Then ‘her’ name came to ‘her’. ‘She’ giggled softly, feeling lighter and more carefree than she had ever felt before. She looked up and met Celestia’s gaze.
“I’m Daydream Shimmer.”

Celestia extended a hand to shake. “Hello Daydream, I’m Celestia, princess of Equestria and mentor to Sunset Shimmer. Would you mind letting Sunset back out? I need to say a few words to my pupil.”

Daydream opened her mouth to reply... And Sunset Shimmer took advantage of the distraction, forcing Daydream down and reasserting control over her mind and body. Sunset gasped and fell to her hands and knees, her whole body tingling and aching with the amount of pure magic that been coursing through her veins. She looked up at Celestia and slowly the corners of her vision darkened and she passed out.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Twilight cried out in pain as Garro pounced on her, biting deeply into her armored forearm as he clawed and shredded at her exposed wings. Itherious had been knocked several meters from her grip, but she grabbed a throwing knife with her free hand and repeatedly stabbed it into Garro’s chest. Garro leaped away, hissing with frustration and bunching himself up for another pounce. Streams of shadows flowed into Twilight’s back and she unleashed them through her hands in a sharpened torrent of dark spears.
Garro’s eyes glowed, the shadows turned to ice, and Twilight teleported into the air as the ice exploded, sending thousand of razor sharp shards in every direction. She pulled the last four throwing knives from her upper thigh and threw one after the other into Garro’s back. The ice demon hissed with the pain, and shook the blade from his flesh before pouncing into the air, raking his claws across Twilight’s chest and sinking his fangs into her previously injured shoulder. Twilight’s armor held against his fangs, she formed long spikes across her knuckles and rained blow after blow into Garro’s side intent on turning his lungs to mince meat.

They both hit the ground, and still Garro didn’t let go of his grip around Twilight’s shoulder. Magic flowed from his mouth, and Twilight could feel her armor weakening and giving way. “Let me out!” Midnight screamed from Twilight’s subconsciousness. “You’re going to die! I can help! Just let me out!”

“NO!” Twilight screamed in pain and frustration. She pushed Midnight away and redirected her spiked punches to Garro’s face and one of the spike’s hit him in the eye. Roaring with intense pain, Garro backed away, blood dripping from his eye socket. Twilight rolled to her feet and wiped blood from her mouth. She ran at Garro, shadows writhing in the forest all around them. She directed one patch of shadows to spear Garro through his back, another patch of shadows to spear him from underneath and a tendril of shadows to pull Itherious into her hand.

The shadows speared through Garro’s body broke from his magic, and dozens of razor icicles burst from the ground beneath Twilight’s feet. She screamed out as the magic in the icicles allowed the deadly shards to pierce through her armor and into her feet and legs. She lit her horn and shattered the icicles, flared her ruined bloody wings and used whatever air they could grab to fling herself backwards. She landed awkwardly on her back and flung a pillar of shadows at Garro’s body while he was midair, pouncing in for the kill. The shadows wrapped and coiled around the demon and slammed him, once, twice three times into the ground with enough force to crack the surrounding earth.
Garro’s bones shattered. The shadows turned razor, cutting his flesh into mince meat, and before he could use any of his magic Twilight made one last desperate attack.

“Secti-tharsium!” she screamed pouring all her magic and will into the death spell that flared along the blade of Itherious. With a surge of adrenaline filled strength, she threw the sword and buried it in the middle of Garro’s heart. Garro’s screams of pure agony as the flames of the death surged through his body echoed through the forest and into the night, chilling everypony’s blood from Ponyville to Canterlot.

Twilight stared at the dying demon, her vision blurring with tears as she watched Garro shudder and thrash. Garro’s undamaged eye met hers and she whimpered, seeing the pain of betrayal and heartache for his dead loved ones shining through his gaze. “I’m... So... Sorry...” she breathed out, feeling herself slip further and further into unconsciousness. “So... Sorry...” Darkness invaded her vision and she welcomed the embrace of unconsciousness, not wanting to think or dwell on anything that had happened.