Corruption

After spending an entire five hours making the potion, Zecora dropped every last bit into a few vials before placing them in Sunset’s bag.

“What is this?” Sunset asked, looking at the green substance in disgust.

“Drink it. Quickly.” Zecora insisted.

Doing as she told, Sunset drank the entire vial and swallowed it before dropping the bottle, feeling as if she were about to vomit.

“I knew it would be nasty, but I didn’t think it would make me sick.” Sunset said, covering her mouth.

“You must drink this every five hours. Unless you want your final moments to be dour.” Zecora ordered.

“You mean it won’t go away?” Sunset asked as she looked into a mirror.

“I am not certain if it ever will. But the idea of the negative effects gives me the chills.” Zecora said in a dreaded voice.

“So I take it I’m not supposed to use my powers?” Sunset asked.

Zecora solemnly nodded to Sunset’s question upon asking.

“I guess the only way now is to push forward, is it?” Sunset said in a forlorn voice.

Zecora sadly nodded her head as Sunset looked outside for any enemies. Having finished checking for any enemies, Sunset turned towards Zecora and said,

"If you're ever in danger, I'll come back."

"Thank you, Sunset Shimmer. But have no fear. I am much more capable than I appear." Zecora assured.

"Then if I run out of potions, can I come back for more?" Sunset asked.

"Yes, my dear. But you must go. Equestria's fate is now dire. You are our last remaining fire." Zecora said.

"I'll come back if I need something. You be careful, okay?" Sunset said before heading towards the door.

Zecora nodded and helped Sunset out the door. After waving each other goodbye, Sunset started to walk out of the Everfree Forest. Moving through the thick trees and bushes, Sunset encountered various creatures. Nice or vicious, Sunset passed by and paid no attention to them.

But along the way, Sunset started noticing various eyeballs watching her across the forest. They did nothing but watch the defenseless unicorn mosey across the entire landscape and they could only drool with hunger as they eyed her.

Sunset lit her horn up to get ready for any attack the creatures will dish out. But upon turning around, she sees nothing but darkness surrounding her. However, she notices a huge cragadile behind her. It was huge and it let out a huge bellow. Its whole body was partially covered by the ooze and its eyes were bloodshot.

"Uh oh…" Sunset uttered in horror.

The colossal cragadile roared and started chasing after Sunset. In spite of its huge size, the cragadile was fast, agile, and very powerful. No matter where Sunset ran, the cragadile was right on her tail. Running as fast as she could, Sunset kept going until she ended up near a pit of starving cragadiles.

"Like this crap can get any worse…" Sunset said before turning around and seeing the same cragadile that chased her.

Alone and nowhere to run, Sunset tried to teleport away from the cragadiles, but then her head started throbbing. As the cragadiles got closer, Sunset's horn let out a black glow that starts to break apart her mind and causes her to hallucinate. In her mind, she could only see the cragadiles as huge and demonic lizards with a crazy look in their eyes. She panicked and tried to back away, but she always bumped into one when she tried to escape. It was like trying to find a way out of a snake pit. Sunset could do nothing but lose her mind in the overwhelming chaos.

Just then, one of the cragadiles bit her in the left leg, causing her to scream in agony as the giant rock lizard tossed her around like a broken ragdoll. After being thrown into a tree, Sunset tried to back away, but her leg was so bloodied and broken that she could only limp away as the cragadiles got closer to her.

“C’mon. Use your powers. You know you want to.” her demonic visage taunted.

"N-No!" Sunset defied.

"Why not? Nopony's here to help you. Nopony is with you. Who do you have to lose?" the demon pointed out.

"My friends, for starters!" Sunset countered.

"Then what about your friends here? Surely, they have already croaked about now." The demon taunted once more.

"Shut up! They will find a way!" Sunset shouted.

"But what about you? Do you think they would help a disposable pony such as yourself?" the demon asked.

“We both know that’s a load of crap! Just how full of it can you be!?” Sunset retorted.

But while she was arguing against her evil counterpart, the cragdiles slowly crept their way towards Sunset Shimmer. Bellowing with hunger, the cragadiles couldn’t contain themselves while they walked towards the limping unicorn. Their jaws hung wide open as they smelled her scent from a short distance. The closer they got, the louder the bellowing grew. But when one of the closer ones tried to take a bite of Sunset, the big one smacked it away before the other big one knocked it back. This led to one big brawl between the cragadiles as they fought for whoever would get to eat Sunset Shimmer.

“Go ahead. Blast them away. You may as well have a test run against those nasty cragadiles.” the demoness insisted.

“I won’t!” Sunset defied.

“Oh, quit this stubborn act. What matters to you more? Your pride or your pathetic friends?” the demoness countered.

Sunset tried to ignore her and tried to crawl away, but the cragadiles were just finished with their little skirmish towards one another and the large one walked towards her. Sunset tried to get away, but the cragadile scooped her up with its mouth and proceeded to chew on her.

"AGH!!! SOMEPONY HELP ME!!! ANYPONY!!!!" Sunset cried out as she was being chomped.

But while she was giving into despair, Sunset's horn started glowing darker. Her mind was going blank and all she could think of was the looming possibility of death. But before she knew it, her eyes went pitch-black and she did nothing but scream as her Horn glowed brighter.

"C'mon. Just one small nibble." the demoness goaded.

Suddenly, Sunset's horn let out a huge blast, decimating the entire cragadile group indefinitely. Getting out of the now-dead cragadile's mouth, Sunset crawled her way over to her bag and pulled out three potions before downing them in a heartbeat. When she was finished, she reached into her bag and pulled out her journal. But before she read or write anything inside, she heard dragons and griffins coming to her location.

"What in the name of Bahamut is that?" One griffin asked.

"Dunno. Although we have one helluva feast ahead of us." One dragon said, rubbing his belly.

Not wanting to get caught, Sunset grabbed her bag and hid underneath the base of the tree. But the bleeding was still active and Sunset had to keep her scent unmasked. But she was bleeding so profusely that she fainted into unconsciousness.