Sunset couldn’t keep from shaking as she walked through the forest, all of the trees seeming dead just like from those scenes in movies. The full moon hung high overhead casting an eerie light, throwing shadows from the trees making everything look all that much more spooky. Despite how scary it seemed, and the fact that she had no idea where she was, she wasn’t really scared or even bothered.
“Please help me?” a familiar voice cried as a body crashed into her. Looking down a girl who looked just like Sunset was looking up, pleading for help as the voices of two other girls was getting closer. After realizing Sunset wasn’t going to do anything the girl pushed away and ran farther into the forest the way Sunset had come, moments later two more girls who looked just like Sunset and was dressed in her normal style came through laughing madly while ignoring Sunset herself.
Looking up she could see two large shadows flying at each other, clashing as they met over and over again. She couldn’t make out any details but one looked to have bat like wings and the other seemed to posses ethereal wings. Watching the fight as she kept walking she eventually came to a clearing where several beaten and bruised versions of her were on their knees back to trees with their arms either chained behind them or high over their heads.
“What’s going on?” Sunset asked, not liking the monotone her voice was coming out as. There was several free Sunsets milling about, all of them seeming to have dark auras about them.
“So our prodigal master has returned?” A new voice said from behind Sunset. Spinning around she came face to face with a new version of herself, or at least similar to her. She was dressed in what looked like an outfit that the gargoyle wore from that one cartoon. Her skin and eyes were the same as Sunsets, but she had a forked tongue, long claws for nails, a long prehensile tail that was her skin color with a heart shaped tip and coven hooves for feet. Despite those differences, the one she noticed the most was her increased bust size that she had to admit might even dwarf Fluttershy’s own.
“What’s going on?” Sunset asked, staring at the creature yet unable to summon up much care about what was going on around her.
“Why don’t you just stay here with us, you and I can have a lot of fun I imagine.” The thing said, her voice sounding so smooth and inviting. Something about her wanted to make Sunset stay, but the voice of Fluttershy pulled her from whatever spell had bad making her listless as one of the chained up girls seemed to glow a little. “Looks like you haven’t completely forsaken love completely yet. Just wait though, as soon as you do then you will be all ours.”
The versions of Sunset that was free was laughing as Fluttershy’s voice called out again shattering the scene as if it was glass making Sunset blink several times. When her vision cleared she was in bed with Fluttershy sitting on the edge gently shaking her.
“Shy, what’s going on?” Sunset asked sitting up to look at the other girl.
“I came to make sure you were awake, but couldn’t get you to wake up.” Fluttershy said a little worried.
Sunset rubbed her eyes again trying to figure out what was exactly going on as everything seemed so real. So magical! With her eyes widening even more she remembered the hint of magic filling the air of the forest around her. She guessed it could have just been a dream, possibly caused by the stress she had been under lately despite the happiness that Fluttershy had brought into her life. As for the magic feeling, it could have just been the dream or maybe she could feel the magic building not to far from there as the portal would be charged with enough magic to open in just a few short days.
“Sunny, your worrying me, please say something.” Fluttershy pleaded as she ran her hand up and down Sunset’s arm.
“I’m fine, just a really weird dream.” Sunset yawned looking at the clock wondering how she managed to sleep so late. Giving Fluttershy a peck on the cheek, Sunset climbed out of the bed stretching. She noticed Fluttershy watching and couldn’t help smiling at the girl.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Fluttershy asked, making Sunset pause. Maybe it would be good to talk about it, get an opinion other than herself. Yet Fluttershy didn’t exactly believe her about coming from another dimension and magic so maybe it wasn’t the best idea at the moment.
“It’s fine, just weird dreams. Let’s get ready for school before we’re late. I’ll buy us something on the way.” Sunset said making Fluttershy eep out before agreeing and hurrying to get her shower. Smiling softly as the girl retreated, Sunset tried to think about how nice it was to have someone to care about in this way yet again. She couldn’t keep from worrying though when she tried to admit that she might be able to love Fluttershy. It was like there was a block there keeping her feelings from perhaps deepen any more.
Did she wallow in hatred for so long that she just couldn't physically feel that deep for anyone anymore? That couldn’t be the reason though since she knew she loved her ex, she was a good woman. It had hurt, more than she wanted to admit, when the woman broke up with her. She didn’t hate the woman though, Sunset understood why and remained civil, even friendly with her.
With Fluttershy it was different, she could feel the embers of something there. Of friendship and caring and she desperately wanted to fan those embers into a roaring flame. It just seemed the more she tried the harder it was making her want to cancel their date. At the same time she desperately wanted the date, needed to see if maybe it would help make her feelings blossom more. With a heavy sigh, she went to get ready herself for what would be an uneventful day though she couldn’t keep herself from worrying about what the future might hold.
Author's Note
Sorry that this chapter is a little short, it was meant as a prologue for this arc. Updates will likely be more frequent with the Shadowbolt version for the time being though, but I will work on this one too.
