Corruption

Having made her way through Everfree Forest, Sunset kept her horn glowing. She was unsure if there was a misplacement on the map, but the Element of Laughter was inside a spooky cave in front of her. Knowing that she had no other choice, Sunset glowed her Horn ever more brighter and entered the cave.

Inside the cave, there was nothing but water dripping from the large stalagmites above her along with the occasional squeak from the rats inside. The cave's eerie silence was the only thing that kept Sunset on her hooves. And the only presence remained that remained with her was evil. Everywhere she went, there was nothing but the same, corrosive ooze that was stuck across the walls and the ceilings. Deciding to have a look for herself, she sucked in the ooze with the device given to her by Luna.

"Just what is this slime?" Sunset said to herself as she analyzed it.

But before she could think on it any further, she heard heavy snoring deep inside the cave. Putting the device back inside her pouch, Sunset heads further into the cave to investigate the source of the snoring. But upon getting closer, she sees a huge family of corrupted Ursa Majors nestling with the Minors. Immediately panicking, Sunset hid behind a big rock and closed her mouth. Trying to slow her breathing, Sunset looked around and tried to find a way past the Ursas.

Just then, one of the Ursa Majors wakes up from its slumber and scratches itself. Sunset's blood froze the moment the Ursa Major opened its eyes. She had no idea what she would be able to do if she were to be spotted. But trying to keep her nerve, Sunset peeked behind the rock to see if the Ursa Major would either leave or go back to sleep. But it went from bad to worse as the rest of the Ursa Majors and Minors woke up from their slumber.

Sunset kept as still as she could behind the rock to avoid detection. But it wouldn't help for much longer as one of the Majors picked up on Sunset's scent. Knowing this, Sunset kept as low as she could and crawled through the stalagmites to avoid being seen. The Major who picked up on Sunset's scent growled an order for the others to find her.

Sunset kept silent and crawled as hard as she could to avoid the Ursas. Getting closer to another boulder, Sunset hid behind it to catch her breath. But while she was catching her breath, two Ursa Majors peered in closer to sniff her out. Sunset was dead silent as she felt their thick breaths hit the surface of her skin, their snouts were close to touching her, and their sloppy drool hitting the floor like a water faucet left unturned. Sunset was sweating bullets as the Ursa Majors got closer. But before they could catch, a roar echoed in the cave, prompting the Ursa Majors to leave her spot.

Peeking her head to check for any Ursas, Sunset was relieved to see that there were none left in the cave. Getting out of her hiding spot, Sunset proceeded to walk deep into the cave. But as she moved further down, she started to see these terrifying cave paintings on the walls. Some of which depicted a goat finding some form of fountain carrying the ooze. Sunset had no idea what it meant, but she knew that there was much more to the Corruption than she ever knew.

"Sweet Celestia…" Sunset said to herself as she looked at the cave painting.

But before she could inspect it any further, a couple pebbles startled Sunset. Doing her best not to panic, she proceeded to move forward and not look back for any reason out of fear that she would be killed with only the sound of the water dripping to break the silence. Venturing deeper into the cavern, she could see what appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Looking closer into the darkness, it appeared to be none other than the Element of Laughter.

“At least I now have one less scary cave to spelunk in.” Sunset said to herself before heading towards the gem.

But before she could grab it, she heard growling in the background. Knowing for certain that the Ursas would show up, she grabbed the Element and put it in her bag. But just as she was about to leave, a droplet of the ooze fell on her horn. Panicking and hyperventilating with the Ursas coming back to check on the racket, Sunset activated her horn. But for some reason, her teleportation spell wouldn’t activate.

“What the-!?” Sunset shouted upon realizing the teleportation spell wouldn’t activate.

Just then, an Ursa Major appeared in front of her. It snarled with a manic look in its eyes and it sported what appeared to be a smile on its face, accompanied by overflowing drool in its mouth. Sunset was as frozen as a statue the moment she made eye-contact with its bloodshot eyes. Sunset did what she could and tried to teleport out of the cave, but to no avail. The Ursa Major walked towards Sunset Shimmer, growling with hunger and anger before charging at full-speed.

“Oh, screw this!” Sunset shouted before charging at the Ursa Major.

The Ursa Major roared with terrifying fury as Sunset ran towards the monster. Seizing the opportunity, Sunset ran between its legs before it could catch her. In its clumsy attempt to get ahold of her, the Ursa Major fell right on its back before recovering to chase after Sunset. Keeping her eyes forward, Sunset kept running as fast to avoid the clutches of the pursuing Ursa Major. In spite of its colossal size, the Ursa Major kept really close to Sunset, almost within the grasp of its own paws.

Sunset tried to teleport out, but all it did was hurt her mind. While she kept running, Sunset suddenly started to see hallucinations. Hallucinations of which were twisted silhouette versions of herself as a demoness. Doing her best to ignore the images, Sunset kept moving and ran forward without looking back. But along the way, the hallucination started laughing. She had no idea why, but she couldn’t let it distract her. The more that she ran however, the laughter grew louder to the point that the hallucination started to cackle. Sunset’s nerves were in tatters the more she heard the laughter.

Seeing the exit of the cave, Sunset rejoiced as she ran towards the outside while the cackling suddenly stopped. But her happiness was shortly when the Ursa pack came back from their investigation along with a few dead ponies and creatures.

“Not good…” Sunset said to herself as she ran.

Seeing no other choice once again, Sunset ran full-speed ahead and ran between the legs of one of the minors. The Ursa pack tried to get her, but they clumsily fell down and lost sight of her. The Ursa pack roared in frustration and fury as they realized Sunset has escaped from their grasp.

Having made it out of the cave and running towards the Everfree Forest, Sunset started to feel her head spin.

“W-What’s happening to me?” Sunset said as she felt a sharp pain in her cranium.

Sunset looked everywhere in terror as she started to see things that ponies or any other creature would only see in their nightmares. It was hurting her so much that she could feel her brain began to split apart from all the pressure she felt from the ooze. Looking everywhere across her body, the veins in her body started turning pitch-black and went all the way into her eyes. She fell onto the ground, trying to fight back against her demise as she crawled across the ground. Just then, she started to hear a voice inside her.

“You seem to be looking well…” a voice called out.

“Who…?” Sunset asked, immediately turning around.

Upon turning the opposite direction, she could only see a burning silhouette approach her. To her surprise as the silhouette moved closer, it was none other than her previous demonic form. She was surprised to see her evil self again after so much time has passed since Twilight and the human versions of her friends have defeated her.

“What…? No! It couldn’t be you!” Sunset reasoned, trying to figure out why her former self was here.

“Oh, sweet little Sunset Shimmer. I just came here to see how my present-self was doing. And what I could do to pay her back after allowing herself to lose to Twilight and her pathetic friends.” Her demonic form said in a venomous tone before shifting into a pony.

“No! Th-This can’t be real!” Sunset shouted, stepping away from her demonic self.

“Poor, deluded Sunset. Still thinking she has been forgiven for her past transgressions! When she should have died in her battle against Twilight!” the demon shouted as flames surrounded her student.

“No! NO!!!” Sunset shouted as she felt her flesh get burned to a crisp.

Feeling her nerves break and her sanity slipping, Sunset screamed in panic as she tried to escape before finally fainting from the pressure she felt. But before she closed her eyes, she noticed a silhouetted pony come to her before finally passing out from the stress.