“Spike?! What are you doing?! Let me go!”

The dog barked happily. “You're back! I was worried! You started walking away and talking to people that weren’t there, and I had to knock you down to keep you from going in there!” He pointed his nose at a dark gap in the cave walls. “I don’t know what’s in there, but if you went in there, you wouldn't be able to come out!”

A shiver went through Sunset, and she hugged the canine before gently pushing him away so she could stand. “I was caught in some kind of illusion…or waking dream. It was…like I was living this whole other life in Equestria, and it was so real…” She scrubbed her face. “It was a lie, but…it…didn't feel like it for a while. It felt…” Like a life she could have had. Maybe a life another version of herself had actually gotten to live, with a mother and a place in Equestria.

But it wasn't her life, and it was missing all the people that made her life wonderful. “Thank you, Spike,” she said quietly, scratching his ears as she stared at the yawning hole in the wall. “You saved me from that.” Scowling, Sunset ran claws through her hair. “Guess this place does have defenses after all. I was kind of hoping they'd be something I could hit…not weaponized emotional trauma.”

—It's a prison for demons, horn-head. They could shred regular guards. Look at what we did at the formal.— The voice sighed. —I’d expect more of the same and worse. A place like this…it's going to do everything it can to stop us. Permanently.—

The odds of this being a one way trip for her suddenly seemed much higher. “Ponyfeathers…Alright…we need to be super careful then. Can you still tell which way Twilight is?”

Spike nodded. “Sure can! It's this way now.” He led her up the passage and down a sharp left turn.

Sunset jogged after him. “You can also feel when a passage is a trap?”

He considered that as they jogged along at a steady pace. “…I know when it's bad. When going that way is bad,” he explained, hesitantly. “It feels Hungry, like youre a Treat made of Tasty, and I know if it eats you, it won’t let you go.”

Yikes.

—Well, that just gives us all kinds of mental images, doesn't it?—

Or maybe it was an ew? Sunset shuddered, quite capable of imagining a giant pony/demon gobbling monster.

—No,— the voice joked. —Definitely a yikes.—

Either way, the former unicorn gave another full body shudder, feeling the fur along her lower spine prickle—which was a weird way to learn that the line of curly pony fur actually went most of the way up her back in some kind of dorsal stripe. “Just…warn me if you feel it again…and yes, you have my complete permission to knock me down and sit on me until I break out of another illusion if it happens again.”

Tongue lolling out, Spike bumped her leg with his shoulder. “I can do that!” He licked his nose. “Maybe you can explain some things to me since I can ask questions now?”

“Sure,” she said, somehow not surprised that Twilight’s dog was both intelligent and inquisitive. “Though, if it's about why humans do things the way they do, I might not know. I’m still a unicorn, even though I wander around in a human body.”

“Hu-man. Is that what they call themselves?” Spike bobbed his head. “It's fine. If you don't know, it just means humans are weird.”

Snorting, Sunset shook her head. “Trust me, you don't know the half of it.”

Spike didn't seem to register the sarcasm. “Can you tell me about the Good Thing and the Bad Thing?”

Oh. That was definitely a subject she could fill him in on. “I…think what you are talking about is what we call magic,” she began. “Where I’m from, Equestria, magic is everywhere. In the air, the water, the ground. It's in all the living things and all the stones underhoof, and in the deep places of the world, in sunshine and moonlight and the blackness between the stars. Magic, on its own, is not good or bad. It's…just magic.” She found herself falling into the easy cadence of teaching what was essentially a foal’s first magic lesson, talking about how living things grew to use the magic inside them in certain ways, to hunt or protect themselves, or to survive or have clever tricks. “I…think your Choosing thing is like that. A type of magic that dogs can have, that helps you and the humans you live with survive better.”

His nose wrinkled, and he sneezed, sending a gout of green fire in front of him. “Okay, but I don't live in Equestria?”

“No, but I’ve learned that there’s a little magic in your world. Just enough for the small stuff like that.” She idly traced her cutie mark with her index finger. “And the more magic in our part of the human world, the more that kind of thing will happen. Magic…is growing, and I think the word used to have more but it dried up for some reason.”

“Like a puddle on a hot day?”

Nodding, the redhead made a loose gesture with one hand. “Yeah. Except now it's raining again, because I brought Magic to your world.”

He thought about that. “So why is it sometimes Good and sometimes Bad, if it's all magic. They dont feel the same.”

Sunset winced. “Because…magic is changed by how someone feels. If someone is a good person, like…” She thought for a minute. “Like Cady. She’s loving and kind and wants people to be happy and healthy. If she had magic, then her magic would want to be all of those things, to work with what she wanted to help her.” It was a struggle to keep the explanation simple without any of the cultural points of reference that would have been used in Equestria. “…but…if someone with magic is a bad person, and they feel a lot of anger and hate and want to hurt others…then that makes the magic go bad…because the magic in them wants what they want, and it just gets worse because bad magic makes you feel even more angry and hurt, which then makes the magic worse.” Her shoulders slumped a little. “That was me. I was…pretty bad for a long time. I've worked hard to change and be good now, but…it's hard, and I’ve got scars from it.”

“Huh. That…makes sense. So the Bad Things have sick magic? Like a magic tummy-ache?”

Well, that was one way to look at it. “Yeah, something like that. Except…if someone has a lot of magic…” Concentrating, Sunset formed a blood red fireball in her hand and showed it to him. “…then they can use it to hurt others badly. Like the monsters at the school.”

The dog cocked his head. “Like the White Mouth Sick?”

It took her a second to realize what he meant. “Yeah…that's…actually not a bad analogy.”

“Ana-what?”

“It means that's a good comparison. It is a bit like a sickness.”

—Great,— came the snark. —I’ve gone from prisoner to roommate to a disease, all in less than a day. New record there.—

I didn't mean it like that. You're…more like…the embarrassing manecut I had when I was twelve.

—You are comparing me to that ridiculous mohawk we got after sneaking into that music performance with that band that had the zebra drummer and the flirty Abyssinian singer?— The stupid voice huffed. —I don't think we can be friends anymore.—

That would require us to be friends in the first place.

—Bitch,— was the response, though it lacked heat.

That's what they tell me.

Spike slowed as they came to a bend, sniffing. “I don't like this. Something’s changed.”

Sunset tensed, her ears swiveling and hunting for sounds that might tell them what danger was coming, her nostrils flaring instinctively. “A trap?”

“I…dont know.” He sniffed. “I…don't smell anything, but I feel it.”

Considering that, and the way her ears heard almost nothing beyond the two of them, not even air moving, she flexed clawed hands. “Then we move slowly, and stay alert. We can't stop, and this is the way to Twilight still?”

A low growl escaped Spike. “Yeah, it is.” His body dropped into a stalking crouch and together they moved around the curve in the passage…

And stopped cold.

—Okay, this is clearly a trap.—

Staring out at the wide and familiar grassland landscape, with rolling hills and the rising spine of the Luminary Range, Sunset had to agree. Not to mention it was impossible, given how much the path and snaked up and around on this curving route, the way the air did not seem to breach the cave opening, and the angle she was viewing the plains and the mountains from were such that the area was open and free of the terrain features that could lead to an underground labyrinth. “Are you seeing this, Spike?”

“Yes,” he said, “but not smelling it. I see grass and trees…but all I smell is the rocks and you and hot.” His hackles bristled. “And this is the way to Twilight. I don't like it.”

The teen stared at the impossible view. “I don't either, but…I don't see another way…do you? We can't wait forever—Twilight needs us, and I don't know how long the girls and the others can keep Sombra’s attention. Does it feel like the other place? Like if I go in I’ll never leave?”

Spike looked for a half dozen heartbeats. “…no. It feels like this does…but I don’t think it's a good idea. Maybe we can find another way around? There were a lot of different paths.”

“We could try,” she agreed, “but…do we have time? And can we say that we won't end up looking at something like this or worse?” Steeling herself, Sunset frowned. “I think the only way out is through. Let's see what kind of emotional damage it tries to hit me with this time. Maybe it’ll be the world where I’m a princess,” she bit out sarcastically.

—Or one where us and Cadenza are BFFs, in some weird three way with her and Shining Armor. Or even weirder, a three way with her and Princess Twilight.—

And that was a mental image she never, ever wanted.

—It was funny…hey. You think Cadenza is into that kinda thing? I mean she is the ‘Princess of Love,’ after all…and if what we’ve learned about Cady translates at all to her counterpart…—

Were you not paying attention when Twi told us how things went down at her brother’s wedding? I’m fairly certain she’d throw anypony who suggested it right out a window. Sunset clenched her fists. “C’mon, Spike. I refuse to let Hell stop me from keeping my promise to her.”

Mustering her courage, she stepped forward, her foot breaking the invisible threshold, followed by the rest of her, and as soon as she was across, it was like it became real. She could see and hear and even smell Equestria. Spike followed her, yelping in panicked worry, but Sunset stretched, savoring even the illusion of sunlight on her skin. It was a disorienting moment, as her body felt like it was twisting in on itself and leaving her on four hooves…though her tail retained its flamelike appearance and she could feel the sharpened fangs in her mouth—even as a four legged unicorn. It seemed the demon features she had been sporting remained. Which was different than the last illusion, suggesting that there was a mind capable of learning behind all this…in which case, she really would have just preferred a face to face conversation to plead her case. It would have been quicker, and it wouldn't have flayed some of her unhealed wounds open again.

Her companion looked at her. “So…is that what your outside is supposed to look like? Like prey?”

The unicorn-with-demonic-overtones rolled her eyes. “Yes, mostly. My kind used to be prey, until we mastered our magic to make us not worth the effort to catch to any but the hungriest or meanest.” She arched her neck and shook herself. “I’m also faster this way, and I can use all my magic too, I think. Can you still find Twilight?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“…well then, Spike…which way?”

Spike gave her a look. “That way, but this is still a really bad idea.”

“Protest noted. I don't like it either, but we need to keep moving. Tell me if you feel one of those traps.”

With a heavy and long suffering sigh, Spike took the lead again, heading along a trail only he could discern, right into the heart of the grasslands and towards the mountains in the distance, Sunset following at his heels and trying not to feel too giddy at being mostly a unicorn again, able to stretch herself into a ground eating canter as the massive hound picked up speed. There was something freeing about going this fast under her own power, with the staccato drumming of her hooves on the earth in her ears.

“Can you be like this at home too? I like having someone to really run with. Humans are slow.”

Chuckling, Sunset leapt over a large rock with ease, landing on the other side without breaking stride. “Sorry, Spike. I can’t—the transformation happens when you cross between worlds…plus your world would kill me if I was a unicorn. There's not enough magic anywhere but around my school.”

Spike huffed. “Oh. Too bad. That would have been nice.”

“I can still take you running. I want to get Twilight in better shape anyway, before her self defense lessons advance too much farther.” She tried not to think about the fact that she might not get a chance…

Blue-green eyes had strayed to the familiar sight of Canterlot’s terraces on the mountains they were heading towards. It struck a painful chord, seeing the gleaming white stone, the spires of the palace visible as the highest point of the city, with the sprawling, curved, interconnected terraces widening out as the layers went down, the city having grown horizontally and vertically over the course of its history. Canterlot was the shining jewel of pony accomplishment, though these days Princess Celestia tended to enlist more than a few minotaur stone workers and architects to ensure that the city was supported on good stone whenever they had to expand.

Then she noticed the smoke rising up from the palace, just before the bright flash of light that blinded her enough that she skidded to a halt. Spike yelped in pain next to her, and she heard him go down in a crash of brush bushes.

The amber unicorn joined him a few seconds later when the first shockwave hit her, the concussive boom accompanied by a blisteringly hot wind and magic that made her shudder at how powerful it was. She was bowled over from the force of it, her ears ringing painfully. “Discord’s moss covered hindquarters, what was that?!” She blinked rapidly to clear the spots from her eyes, and then found herself staring in numb shock at the now burning, damaged city. “How?!”

“Uh…Sunset, I think we should find a place to hide.”

Sunset tried to plant her hooves under her and get back up. “Why—oh. Horseapples. That cannot be good.”

Her eyes had found what the dog was looking at: distant specs, clashing with more brilliant flashes of light and rumbles of distant thunder. Sunset could make out three of them as they got ever closer, and her heart sank as their silhouettes became discernible…alicorns. Three of them, in some kind of two on one battle. Her stomach twisted and sank to her fetlocks, as the battle raged in the distance, blasts of magic or even the titanic impact of a body crashing to the earth only to kick off it back into the sky reducing the beautiful plains to a burning, smoldering disaster.

The air shifted and she could smell the fires, watching them coming closer, with creatures fleeing the destruction in blind instinct. There was nowhere for them to really hide, but Spike pushed her bodily to a spot behind a boulder as fleeing animals stampeded by. “What is that?” he asked.

“That’s…those are alicorns…special ponies with magic greater than any others, who do special things in Equestria, like raising the sun. What I don't understand is why they're fighting like that!” The fight was still coming ever closer, and Sunset peered from around the boulder to watch, unable to really look away. “What is this place pulling from my head that would justify all of that?!”

As they watched, periodically ducking to avoid getting hurt by stampeding creatures—including plenty of terrified ponies—one of the figures was hit by a powerful blast of magic, and, after falling for a few heartstopping seconds, with a second that caused a violent explosion on contact. When the smoke cleared…there were only two alicorns fighting.

“No…” Sunset whispered. This was a nightmare.

Spike’s eyes widened, and he pushed Sunset with his head. “Move!”

Her eyes tracked to him, and then back upwards towards the fight again, rather than at the spot where the alicorn had vanished. A burning streak was headed for them like a meteor. Yelping, Sunset joined Spike in scrambling out of the crash zone in a hurry.

The force of whatever princess it was hitting the ground still sent them tumbling, and Sunset shook dirt from her mane. “That is getting old, really quickly.” She hauled herself back up, determined to figure out who was fighting and why…so she ignored Spike’s worried cry and headed for the smoking form still in a crater.

Her heart lurched as she beheld a singed, battered form with a lavender hide and tattered wings. “Twilight?” came the hoarse whisper from the amber unicorn as she stumbled and tripped down the steep sides of the divot in the earth to see if she could help. She knew it wasn't really Princess Twilight, and it couldn't be her Twilight since Spike would have said something, but just standing and doing nothing felt beyond wrong.

A weak cough, and the injured pony raised her head, bleeding freely from a gash across her nose and cheek. “…Sun…set…Shimmer? What are you…” she broke off into ragged coughs.

Spike had run to the rim of the crater. “Twilight? That's not Twilight, Sunset!”

“I know—it's part of the illusion, because even if she was real, she is the wrong Twilight, Spike…but…the real one is still my friend, and it hurts to see this.” She summoned her magic to horn when she saw a wound gushing blood from the other mare’s shoulder, the flash of white bone visible. It wasn't much, but the tourniquet spell stopped the bleeding on it and several other wounds like it. Another covered the wounded form in a faint mist that cooled down smoldering fur and feathers, and washed away the worse of the dirt from open gashes. “Hang in there, Twi…who…who were you fighting?”

“SUNSET! LOOK OUT!”

Spike’s howl jolted her, and she looked up to see a massive ball of molten death streaking towards her…towards the fallen princess, from the other alicorn. In her mind's eye, she could see this from the other side, of her own taloned hands hurling a fireball at the princess while she screamed inside her own head. Something twisted inside, and Sunset leapt…

To intercept the fireball the size of a bus.

Her magic flared so bright her horn was a crimson-white star, and she stretched out to feel the fire that was heading right for her. It was heat and light and Elemental Fire…but it was also Sunlight and golden and Other…demonic fire’s opposite number, Sunfire. It burned her mind and magic, and it hurt to grab at it, but Sunset dug into the raw rage at who the caster had to be, and challenged the flames and the magic behind it. “Not…today, PRINCESS!” she roared with guttural effort, as she wrenched the magic into her control and hurled it back at its source despite the way it left painful marks across her mind and magic…

It careened right into the hovering form, knocking it out of the sky. Sunset watched it crash nearby, panting harshly with her coat steaming from the energy coming off her. “Spike…stay with Twi. I’ll handle this…imposter.” She climbed out of the crater, lighting her horn again and preparing to defend herself, even as the smoke cleared and she could get a proper look at who the nightmare villain was…even though she knew there was only one pony it could be.

Only one pony, alicorn or otherwise, could control Sunfire to any successful degree.

—Seems like it's a day to remind us we have mommy-issues, doesn't it? Also, OW.—

Sunset grunted, tense and angry. “Yeah. It's not like it's not obvious to anyone who knows us even a little—and they've had Sparky down here long enough to read her mind too.”

Rising out of the crater was a white alicorn, almost twice the size of a normal pony, but that was where her similarities to the princess Sunset remembered stopped. Rather than the soft, rich white of fresh snow, this mare’s hide was the blistering color of bone-white ashes over a cherry red ember, and the aurora of her mane had become flames that burned yellow at the edges, the core a superheated yellow white that edged into blue white in teasing flickers. Her golden regalia was glowing dark red from the heat of her body alone, and eyes that should have been full of compassion—or disappointment, considering Sunsets own warped state—instead were miniature suns in a dark void, the pupils irregular and skittering across the surface like sunspots.

And there, splashed on her flank like a cancer, was a blanket of flame on the fur, surrounding and almost consuming the shimmering golden sun.

Princess Celestia…but with a form that seemed to pay homage to Sunset’s own demonic transformation.

“Who dares?!” the alicorn demanded harshly. “Who dares to challenge the will and might of Daybreaker?!”

Sunset snorted derisively, and stepped forward, head high and ears deliberately relaxed in calculated dismissal. “Was that what we sounded like at the Formal? Discord’s mismatched apples, no wonder Dash wanted to punch my teeth in.”

—It's certainly a bit on the nose.—

“You?” The self proclaimed Daybreaker looked her over with a sneer.

“Yes. Me. The only pony ever capable of setting the Princess of the Sun on fire and having it actually burn.” She brandished her horn like a weapon, making her challenge to the imposter clear. “And the only pony in a thousand years who didn't see a goddess when I looked at her. The only one to challenge her authority and get away with it.” She smirked, showing off fangs. “What's the matter, Princess? Don't you recognize me?”

Those burning eyes stared at her, taking in her appearance, and then moved towards her flank for a glimpse of her mark. “Sunset Shimmer?” Daybreaker began to smile, a cruel, dark thing. “Of all the ponies I expected to stand against me today, you were not one of them.”

“What can I say? You’ll find I’m full of surprises. I’m not a fan of imposters who pretend to be ponies I knew turning into monsters.” She clicked her teeth, lips curled back in a snide and rude gesture. “I don't know what the game is here but real or not, I refuse to stand idle and watch this play out.”

“Imposter!? I am the greatness Princess Celestia has finally chosen to embrace! Better, stronger, more powerful, shed of all the weakness that allowed her to be manipulated!” Daybreaker flicked her wings and set fire to the grass around her. “I would have thought you, of all ponies, would understand.”

Sunset laid her ears back and lifted her muzzle. “I would have agreed with you a year ago, but a year ago, I was a monster too. I became a monster and almost became a murderer…but I realized that I was wrong.” She raked her eyes over Daybreaker. “You are a murderer. You killed your own sister, and almost killed your ‘most faithful student.’” Even now, the title was bitter on her tongue, but Sunset pushed that aside. “You've caused death and destruction to your citizens and completely forgotten your duties and obligations to the crown upon your head.”

“They defied me! Refused to yield to my greatness! I have forgotten nothing! I make the rules! I hold the power!”

Shaking her head, the amber mare stepped forward. “All the power in the world is useless if you don't know the time and place to use it…and I’ve learned that leadership is a responsibility. Being respected, being looked to for direction, it's earned through trust…not fear…and you should never turn that power against those you're meant to protect.” Her own magic met Daybreaker’s as the alicorn flared her wings and her aura. “Princess Celestia knew and understood that. It's what she spent years trying to instill in me.”

Daybreaker met her steps with strides of her own. “Princess Celestia feared your power, feared what you could do if your true potential was realized. She shunned her daughter because she did not wish to be surpassed.” That heated magic clashed with Sunset’s both of them burning red and touched by hints of gold.

“She could see the terrible path I was walking. She wanted to teach me something I was just too stubborn to learn!” Sunset refused to give an inch, and used the anger inside to fuel her magic once again.

“She wanted you weak!” Daybreaker’s magic slammed into her like a sledgehammer to the horn, and Sunset’s hooves slide backward several inches.

It burned inside her, and she let the words come out. “I WAS WEAK!” Her magic surged with the words and she shoved the false alicorn’s energy away from her, making the mare stagger back. “I was weak,” she panted. “Weak and alone and miserable. I hated everyone and everything, including myself. I could not see it, and I blamed Celestia for it, but it was me. I was weak and wrong and I did not deserve what I demanded of her, not Ascension nor adoption.”

Daybreaker sniffed, recovering. “As Celestia, I was a fool. You are powerful—look at you, holding off my power. You are everything I could imagine in a daughter, little sun,” she murmured, her eyes raking over Sunset again. “The things we could have accomplished, you and I…although it's not too late. You could join me. We can stand together on the thrones as mother and daughter, as you always wished.”

It was a terrible, cruel twist of a knife already lodged in a heart that had taken blow after blow over the last two weeks, and Sunset felt tears burn tracks down her cheeks. “I can see why humans believe this to be their realm of eternal torment…but…you're acting by an outdated playbook,” she said darkly, all of the broken shards of her heart feeding her anger with pain and loss. “I did want that…sweet sunlight…I wanted it so bad it consumed me, made me into a monster and almost cost me my soul.” The air around her shimmered with heat, and she tightened her will around the fury wanting out. “…but never like this. Never at the cost of her soul—she wasn't perfect, but Princess Celestia is a caring, loving mare who sacrifices her own well being for her ponies, losing sleep, giving up free time and hobbies, and working herself to the brink of collapse if her citizens need her.”

She lifted her head and advanced on Daybreaker, her magic writhing around her like the corona of a star, and it latched onto Daybreaker like ropes, trapping the figure. “This mockery of her was a mistake, and this twisted version of an offer to love me as her own an insult of the worst sort.” She let her breath out, a slow and steady stream of red and gold fire that heated the air in front of her muzzle. “And it failed…because I don't need it anymore. I have a family now, one that wants me freely, despite my flaws. I have friends who support me and showed me what real strength looks like…and I have someone who is counting on me…”

She was face to face with the apparition that called itself Daybreaker. “And that was your biggest mistake, whoever you are…You are getting between me and the girl I love, when I’m here to save her from this place, a prison where no innocent person belongs. You can hunger for broken souls, bind them and keep them and cleanse them…but you can't keep her…”

“And you won't keep me from her.”

Red flames burned brighter, and they began to consume Daybreaker, melting her into nothing by inches, then feet, faster and faster. “What…are you?!” Daybreaker demanded, as the flames dissolved her wings.

“I’m Sunset Shimmer.”

Fire consumed the illusion.

Author's Note

Right.

So couple of things I forgot to mention. The shiny obsidian like parts of the Hell? They are modeled after something called "Fire Obsidian." Its a REAL thing, and its shimmering and streaked with rainbows.

Lessee...we get a little more about what was going on last time....and see Hell's next attempt.

The voice makes a few jokes, Sunset makes some back, we find out Sunset made some questionable choices in her adolescence...I make a few really obscure references...

Oh, and then Daybreaker.

So one of the interesting things about the Daybreaker episode is how SIMILAR Daybreaker's dialogue is to Demon Sunset. How her attitude is similar. How Celestia, in this episode, reminds me of Sunset herself. Not just the dark side that is all of her traits twisted into evil, but also the fact that under the confidence of a millennia old ruler is a person constantly second guessing their own abilities and terrified of making another mistake.

This was the episode that solidified for me "Sunset was basically Celestia's kid."

Now... chronologically, this event obviously predates anything to do with Starlight the shonen-protagonist. Which raises some questions, of course.

Is Daybreaker really what Celestia would become if she became corrupted, rather than Starlight's nightmare vision? Is it a glimpse into another reality, perhaps? A world where she does fall? If so, how does Hell know? Or is it all cobbled together from Sunset's mind and memories this time? If its that...then why? What is Hell after? Is there a thinking mind here at work, or is Hell just...reacting, like a computer program?

So many questions.
So few chapters left.