20,000 Legumes Under The Sea

Sunset’s steps echoed through wide corridors, matched by the rhythmic dripping of water. An odd smell filled the air, like overripe vegetation.

Twilight followed behind, still floating along dutifully in silence. “Sunset, I’m sorry, I just—”

“Sssh!” Sunset hissed. She held up a hand, and strained her ears. The soft scuff on metal, a faint shifting in shadows. Something was out there.

“Sunset? What’s going on?” Twilight asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Sunset pointed down an adjacent hallway. A low growl rumbled from the darkness, and something stepped forward, revealing a large, lumpy body, glinting yellow eyes, and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

“Run!” Sunset screamed. She grabbed Twilight’s hand, and took off down the corridor.

“We’re almost to the submersible, take the next left!” Twilight directed. She swung wide as Sunset pivoted their directions, the growling, wet barks of their pursuer following them.

A heavy looking door loomed in front of them, and Sunset skidded to a stop, and Sunset wrenched the bar to the side to open it.

It snapped off.

Sunset stared at the rusty club she now held in her hand, then shook off her momentary confusion. “Twilight, get the door open with your magic. I’ll hold this thing off.”

“But, I—”

“Do it!” Sunset snapped. She turned around, brandishing her makeshift bat in front of her.

The bean creature, whatever sort of horrible abomination it was advanced, drool slobbering from its fangs. It was the size of either a large dog or a small horse, and it did not seem particularly happy to see her, judging by all of the growling.

“Easy does it,” Sunset called out, trying to be soothing. She shifted her stance and took a deep breath. Couldn’t be any harder than the Blood Dome. “Come on now, boy, you don’t actually want to fight, do you?”

It growled, then lunged, fangs ready to sink into her tender flesh.

Sunset pivoted to the side and lashed out, scoring a solid hit against the thing’s back. It yelped in pain, then landed and spun, facing her again, a bit more wary this time.

“Guess you do!” she said, panting. “Come on, is that the best you—oh fuck!”

Sunset’s foot slipped on a wet patch of floor, and she went down.

The bean-monster was on top of her in a second, sinking its fangs into her hastedly raised left arm.

“Oww! Fuck, fuck, fuck!” She swung her weapon at it, but without much leverage, she wasn’t doing any real damage, and the monster shook hits head, its fangs rending her flesh, and—

A purple aura enveloped the monster, lifted it into the air, and slammed it against the far wall. Before it could finish its yelp of pain, green fire erupted from inside of it, and it was quickly consumed in a maelstrom of heat and light, until only ash remained.

Sunset lay there, panting heavily. She looked up to see Twilight, hand raised. “Well damn,” Sunset muttered through clenched teeth. “If you have that kind of power, you should’ve opened with that.”

Twilight closed her eyes, tears of green fire falling down her cheeks.

“Twilight? What’s wrong?” Sunset struggled to sit up, grunting through the pain. “I’m not mad or anything, I just wish you would have—”

Sunset’s vision landed on her wounded arm, and she froze.

She wasn’t bleeding.

Not regular blood, anyway. A white substance leaked out of her torn flesh. And underneath, wires running through pale muscles.

Her heart started pounding in her chest, and her breaths came in short and shallow gasps. Did she even have a real heart? Lungs? “Twilight? What is this? What’s going on!?”

Twilight turned away, head hung low. “I’m sorry, Sunset. It’s just me being selfish again. I wanted to see you again. Spend a little bit of time with you again. I wanted things to be like they were. It’s impossible, but just for a minute, I wanted to pretend.”

Sunset shook her head, her voice catching in her throat. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight whispered. More tears streamed down her cheeks. She spread her wings wide, and floated higher into the air. “Goodbye, Sunset. Despite everything, I still love you.”

With a purple flash, Twilight disappeared.