Sunset opened her eyes, barely. Pain going trough every inch in her body. She blinked a few times, but only managed to half open them. She was laying in the mud, facing up, more accurately, she was staring right at the abyss that made up the sky, forever dark in every way. Lips and mouth dry, from the dehydration, not drinking anything in quite some time. Stomach rumbling and hurting, if she had a guess, she was suffering from a serious case of malnutrition. Chest burning with an intense pain, like someone was operating on her while she was awake.

She blinked a few more times, then took a deep breath, or tried to anyway, and slowly exhaled, before she gathered every bit of strength left in her, and slowly and with great effort, rolled, so she could stand up. Just the simple act of rolling was enough to have Sunset scream and wail as she could feel her muscles being torn apart and crying for Sunset to not move, but she persisted. Pushing trough the pain, she finally managed to turn. Soon, she placed one hoof on the ground, pushing with all her might against gravity to try getting up. Finally, she managed to do so, but not without consequences. As soon as she was up, dizziness enveloped her, feeling like there were invisible hands pulling her into the ground. She tried to fight it, but it was a loosing battle, as she soon fell down on her side, causing a chain reaction of pain and soon after, coughing an excessive amount of blood.

She tried again to get up, knowing that if she stayed like this, her chances of surviving would go down even further, however, she found little success in doing so. She tried to look around, for anything that can help her, and almost immediately finding the abomination that put her in this state. The corpse of the creature was a few feet from her, on top of the roots of a tree. It's head was a bit further.

Carefully considering her options, or more accurately, lack thereof, she decided that if she couldn't stand, she will crawl. her target was the greatsword near the corpse, she would use it as a crutche, to support her weight. It wasn't a great plan, but it was all she got. With her decision made, she began her long journey. It wasn't a long distance, but in her condition, it might as well have been. Slowly but with determination, she began to crawl, pushing her body way past her limits. If Sunset was being honest with herself, she didn't see much chance of survival, after all, any second now another creature could swoop down and eat her.

After a few minutes of crawling, she finally reached the base of the roots and began the great climb. In normal circumstances, she could just walk, but there was nothing normal about her circumstances. Finally, she reached the corpse. Feeling the exhaustion and the aggravating situation
of her injuries, she leaned her back on the corpse, taking a little break. The Dizziness did not stop, nor did the pain. Breathing heavily at this point, sometimes having troubles gasping for air, and going in and out of conscience, she closed her eyes, knowing that her time will soon come.

This is it, huh? She thought. Part of her was relieved. As soon as she embarked on this journey, she had to struggle. And worst of all, the one who promised to get her there, died horribly, crushed by a sea abomination, then dragged to the dephts to be it's food. Even before the journey, most of her life was miserable. Being the student of someone who promised her everything, then took it all away in her paranoia, being forced to flee her world for another one she knew nothing about, being consumed by rage and revenge, being a bully, just because she was miserable. Getting friends that understood and loved her as much as she loved them, only to abandon her as easily as when they took her in. In a way, she felt relieved, not having to push trough, not having to fight, and not having her heart broken time and time again.

But on the other side, she felt a maddening anger inside her. Why didn't Celestia loved her? Why did her so-called friends not believe her when she was innocent? These were the questions that Sunset was asking furiously in her mind, unfortunately, no answer came, untill a voice came from somewhere.

"Well, This is certainly hard to watch. But i do commend you for killing a Corrupta Est, although they are one of weakest, they are a formidable foe for your level." A mysterious voice said. A bit of disappointment in her voice.

Sunset, who was surprised to hear the voice of someone else in this forsaken lands, opened her eyes, but the only thing she saw was a silhouette, standing besides her. Feeling a bit hopeful that maybe this someone could help her, she began to speak. "W-who are you? Can you help me?" She asked, beraly audible.

The silhouette just stared at her for a moment, before letting out a sigh. "Unfortunately, i cannot, not in the way you want me to. The only one who can help you, is yourself. As for who i am. Well, let's just say i am someone who knows you very well, and have showed myself to give you some advice."

Sunset began to chuckle, which soon began to turn into her coughing up blood. After she calmed herself enough to form coherent words, she began. "Advice? I don't need advice, i need help!" She basically spat the last word, furious that she finally found someone, and it didn't even tried to help her.

"The only 'help' i can give, IS advice. If you decide to take it or not, it's up to you, but i can quite assure you, although it is considered taboo, and disgusting, it's the only choice you've got right now." The mysterious voice said, clearly a bit annoyed that her help was not treated with the respect it deserved.

"And if i dont want to take your advice?" Asked Sunset, still beraly clinging to life.

"Then you are going to die. Simple as that." The voice said, in a serious tone that clearly was describing the gravity of the situation. She then continued. "Frankly, i have no desire to see you die, as we would have to wait for another one, and on top of it, it would have to survive this place while still in it's infancy, and that could take thousands of years in the best of scenarios. So i suggest you take what help you can get."

Sunset stayed quiet, thinking if she should trust in the silhouette. Should she? Everyone she knew except Twilight, hurt her in some way, so Sunset didn't think she could put her trust in another ever again. Then again, what other choice did she have? Die? While the thought of dying and finally being freed from this miserable life appealed to her, one thought stopped her. Twilight will be sad.

In that moment, the thought of making Twilight sad was stronger then any desire to end it all. Looking back at the silhouette, Sunset just gave a nod. The silhouette, in turn, grinned from ear to ear. "Well, it seems you want my help after all." The voice said. "I will warn you though, what you are about to do, you will not like it. You will probably have regrets. But this is the only way to survive in your predicament. If the gods were still alive, I'm sure they would damn your soul to the deepest parts of oblivion."

Sunset wanted to inquire about what she needed to do, but something else the voice said took priority. "What in Tartarus
are you on about? Celestia and Luna are still alive." Sunset said, completely confused at what the silhouette just said. Not only did she insinuated that there are other gods besides Celestia and Luna, but she insinuated that they have died as well.

The silhouette chuckled at first, then started laughing, maniacally. "Celestia and Luna, GODS? Ha! Please! At best they can be considered demi-gods, and that's me being generous! Especially for Celestia." She spat those last words, full of venom. "But anyway, you are dying, so let's get this over with." The silhouette said, then moved right in front of Sunset, placing her left hood on her head. "This will hurt."

Before Sunset could say anything, the silhouette started pressing her hoof on Sunset's forehead, pressing harder and harder, until soon, the hoof began to burrow in her forehead littld by little. Pain soon began to envelop her whole body and brain, as information was being forcefully transferred directly in her head. Sunset screamed, her body spasming and violently shaking. Her eyes rolled back, bleeding from the sheer forbidden information. Information so dark and twisted, that it would break the minds of anyone not well versed in the magical arts, and even then, it strained the body and soul very much.

Luckly for Sunset, as soon as it started, it ended just as quickly. Though it was only for a few seconds, for Sunset it felt like days. As soon as it ended, Sunset's eyes went back to normal. She grabbed her head in a vein attempt to stop the pain. Eventually, it did stop, and Sunset could think clearly again. Only then she understood the meaning of the silhouette's words. Yes, she will regret what she will do, but she had to do it nonetheless. Summoning every last drop of magic, she forced her body to stand up using telekinesis. Then, she bagan speaking in an ancient tongue, long forgotten, and for a good reason. Her horn and eyes lit up jet black as she began casting a spell, unlike any other. This was dark magic, no, the darkest magic known to pony kind over the ages. Both her body and the creature's body began to levitate. Glyphs and runes started to appear all around her, shaking around, as if to indicate that they too, wanted to run from what it's happening. Soon, they began to quiet down, to remain in place, but not for long, as more and more Glyphs appeared, they began to group together, form words, not known to any anymore now. Soon those words formed sentences, longer and longer, untill they encircled Sunset and the corrupta est few times over. It was an incantation.

The corpse began to shake violently as a red aura enveloped it. After a few seconds, the body too, calmed down, and the red aura started to move from the creature's body, to Sunset. At first, it started to circle her, then it started to embed itself into mage, and rapidly at that. It covered her whole body, the wounds and her insides. Sunset began to feel it, not in a painful way, but in a very disturbing way. Her wounds began to heal, leaving only scars behind, but soon, those too were hidden by the new coat that grew over them. Sunset could feel her body becoming stronger, more durable, and on top of all that, she could feel her mana pool expand and her magic becoming stronger three times over. The red aura enchanted her body, mana and magic.

Soon enough, the red aura was consumed completely, and the spell ended. The corpse fell to the ground with a thud, but Sunset slowly floated down. As soon as she touched ground, her eyes and the color of her magic aura returned to normal. She stood there for a few seconds, not really sure of what happened at first, but soon her mind connected the dots. She immediately felt sick, disgusted. She grabbed her stomach as hard as she could in an attempt to not trow up, but failing miserably, as she did exactly that. A few seconds after she calmed herself down, tears soon began to flow as her eyes went black again, and the creature's fragmented memories invaded her mind. Luckily, it eneded fast, but just as it ended, Sunset began to trow up again. She couldn't believe what she saw. No. it was more like she didn't want to belive it, unfortunately for her, she had no choice.

Sunset found out many things from the abomination's memories. For starters, it had a name. Flora Rose. A young mare, only 13 years old, who grew up in a lovely small village on the eastern coast of Navalia called Nara. She loved flowers, and she was was planning to open up a flower shop when she grew up. Unfortunately, like everything in this land, her story did not have a happy ending. Her village was raided by one of the first demon army to come to this realm. Her and many others were taken prisoners, taken to a place so horrible it made Tartarus look beautiful. There, she and many others were experimented on, being imbue with dark and corrupted magic and strange substances untill she turned into a monster with only the slightest bit of intelligence left. Then she was used in the war that was soon to follow.

Sunset did not stopped crying. Partially because of the memories, but also because of what she just did. The memories, the red aura, her body being healed and strengthened, it all made sense now. She didn't just used the creature to empower herself, no, it was something much worst. She ripped the soul, and consumed it for herself. She now fully understood what the silhouette said. What she just did was vile, an attack on life and death themselves. Unfortunately for Sunset, that was not the only vile thing she would do, no, quite far from it in fact.

While consuming the girl's soul did heal and strengthened her body, she still needed nourishment. She still needed to eat and drink if she wanted to say alive. Unfortunately there was nothing to eat in this damned swamp of a forest... nothing except.

Sunset looked at the corpse next to her. she could already see that the flesh was already in the process of decomposing. She looked at it, disgusted just by the thought, but, did she really have another option? Should she not eat, and deciding to leave, she wouldn't last more then a day. She knew that, but the thought of eating that... once, another pony, sickened her to the core.

She closed her eyes to think. She stayed like that for a few good minutes, before signing heavily and opening her eyes. Her horn lit up, and from it, a jet of continuous fire hit the corpse, burning it.... No, cooking it. After a few minutes, Sunset stopped, she looked at the corpse again. Charred on the outside, presumably cooked on the inside, or at least, she hoped so. Sunset got closer to the body, the foul stench hitting her nose, almost causing the unicorn to trow up again, but she held it in. She got even closer, and gulped. Is this what have i become? I wish i didn't see it's memories, it would have been easier this way. Maybe my power to read minds activated, maybe the spell was supposed to work like that, but it doesn't matter, does it?..... Do i really want to continue? She asked herself. No. I don't want this. But i have to do it nonetheless..... To what end? She asked herself, full of doubts.

When she first embarked on this journey, she did it with the intent to find her parents, to find answers. Why was she having these visions? Who is she really? Sunset wanted to know, to find her place, somewhere. She thought that, by finding answers, she would become complete, but so far, the opposite happened. The young unicorn has been on this continent for only one or two days. It was kind of hard to track the time when the sky is a perpetual void, but still, only a short period of time, and in that short period, she saw her companion in this journey, be killed by a giant tentacle of a creature so abominable that her brain beraly could process, she had to fight for her life with a creature of some long forgotten war, she consumed a soul to strengthen her own, and now she was in the middle of eating said creature that was once a pony, a filly no older then 13 years old. Sunset understood now why everypony else called this place forsaken and a blight upon this world.

With a heavy conscience, Sunset ripped a bit of flesh with her magic, and levitated it near her mouth. The stench was horrible, and if the smell was any indication, the taste will be just as bad. Sunset realised that, in this land, if she wanted to survive, she would have to brake every taboo and use any means necessary. With a heavy sign, she took a bite. Just as she was thinking, the taste and texture were horrible. It felt as if she was eating bugs covered in shit, but, she persisted for her own survival. Once bite turned into two. Two turned into three, and so on. Sunset was famished. The meat was disgusting, but her body craved nutrition.

After she finished eating, Sunset collapsed to the ground, full. Full of hatred, for herself and for this land, full of sadness, and a full belly. She stayed like that for ten minutes, before an ideea popped into her head. Wait a minute, I'm in a swamp! she slapped a hoof to her forehead. Swamps are full of mud and dirt. Can't i use magic to separate the dirt from the water, then boil the water to get rid of the germs? She thought, although she did feel proud of herself for the ideea, she also felt supid for not realizing it sooner. She quickly got up, and did just that. She scooped a ball of mud and started the separation process. It took longer then expected, as separating the dirt from the water required a great deal of concentration and time, but she did it in the end, then she used fire magic to boil the water. after waiting for a bit for the water to cool down, afterwards she took a big gulp, letting out a satisfying "Aahhh*. Now that she was no longer suffering from malnutrition and dehydration, and she knew how to get more water, she picked up her sword, and started to head further in.

Sunset, now traversing the endless terrain, was deep in thought now that she had the time. Who was that shadowy silhouette? She knew me, she said it herself. Did this land bring back the demon part of me?..... No, that can't be right. I accepted who i am, i accepted that part of me into myself. But, what if this land made it surface once again?.... No again. She gave me a spell that i didn't know, dark magic at that. Even if my demon self was created by the regalia of magic, the spell that was transferred to me is old, much older then the elements of harmony. They couldn't have known it. Also, why did the silhouette help me? She did say that she wanted to help me, but after giving me the darkest magic ever created, i don't think she is trustworthy. Sunset hopped from one root to another. And the war. Demons, not like the demon i was transformed into, no, but real demons. Beings of destruction who crave only death and slaughter. How big was the war for the whole continent to turn like this? She thought, but quickly realized that she would not get an answer any time soon. Also, Celestia and Luna, not gods? They are immortal, and control celestial bodies like the sun and the moon? How are they not gods?

Thinking about it, it didn't make any sense, but the silhouette did seem like she knew the two sisters, and it seems like it had a great hate for Celestia. Sunset's mind was working, coming up with possible theories, she did that until she heard a crack in the distance. Hearing that, She instantly snapped out of it, and instinctively teleported herself to another root, not wanting to be ambushed again. She heard another crack, and another. The creature was making itself known, and that frightened the unicorn. If the thing didn't even bother with stealth, that probably means that it's powerful enough not to care. "Fuck! Is this because of my fight with the Corrupta est? I did find it strange that nothing came to investigate." she whispered to herself. The cracks were closer now, and Sunset was sweating. Should she just leave? Or should she stay? Sunset was debating about what choice she should make, but before she could come to a conclusion, she started to see a silhouette. It got closer and closer, untill Sunset could see what it was. It was a pony, bigger then what she was expecting, as it was about twice her size, but a pony nonetheless. The pony, an earth stalion with a blue coat and tatoos all over his body, carried a monster of a sword on it's back, that seemed to be made from some creature's bones and scales.

Sunset, smiling now, thinking that she finally found another pony, jumped out of her cover and revealed herself to the stalion in an attempt to show no hostility. The stalion, upon noticing Sunset, stopped. He looked at Sunset, examined her, and with a smooth motion, took his sword and shoved it into the ground, in an attempt to show that he didn't want conflict. Sunset in turn, did the same. With that out of the way, Sunset started the conversation. "Hey there! My name is Sunset Shimmer, i mean no harm!" She yelled, because of the distance.

In return, the stalion staid something as well. "Noli timere, pugnare nolo!" He yelled back.

Sunset as taken aback. She did expect some sort of language barrier, but she thought that it would be old ponish, not this. This is not a language she knew, and she knew a great deal of languages from her studies.

Looking around a bit, she concluded that it was safe for her to get closer, so she wouldn't have to yell, after all, she didn't know what creatures would be attracted. She slowly closed the distance between herself and the stalion, when suddenly, she felt something in her left hoof. She looked down, and she saw that an arrow pierced her hoof. Her brain didn't have time to register what happened, before she was hit with another arrow in her neck. Sunset finally realized what happened as the pain finally started kicking in. She started panicking, blood was quickly flowing out trough her neck. Fear started enveloping her, as she realized she was going to die, but before she could do something, an arrow struck her in the head, killing her instantly.

Sunset gasped, her eyes returned to normal. She didn't even realize that her eyes were glowing white. She stared at the stalion, she suddenly found herself before she started walking towards him. "What the fuck?!?" She said, her voice trembling. "I-I just died?" She asked herself once more. Before she could understand what the hell happened, her body instinctively moved, raising her left hoof, just in time to dodged an arrow. Sunset was confused beyond belief, but she remembered the second arrow. She dodged to the right, just in time to avoid the arrow, and used her magic to grab her greatsword. Now, aware that there are multiple hidden enemies, she teleported behind the stalion and swung her greatsword, with the intent of quickly incapacitating him, but it was blocked by his sword, that was being held in his mouth. Sunset fell the hairs on the back of her neck start to rise, and trusting her instincts, she quickly teleported somewhere else, before another arrow struck the spot where she was standing just milliseconds ago.

Sunset looked left, she looked right and she looked up. Even though she could not see where the archer or archers were shooting from, she did manage to pinpoint the general area of where they were. If her guess was correct, there should be two archers in the trees. Her attention was quickly grabbed by the stalion, who was now charging at the orange unicorn with a batttle cry. Wasting no time, she jumped back just in time to avoid another arrow, and conjured up a few fireballs. She sent a few flying at the stalion, and the remaining two at the location of where she thought that the archers might be hiding.

The two fireballs exploded in the trees. and Sunset saw two silhouettes jumping from branch to branch, confirming that she pinpointed the location accurately. The fireballs that were headed for the stalion on the other hand, didn't find their target. Some of the tattoos on his body started to glow, creating some sort of distortion field around him and causing the fireballs to change direction away from him, hitting only mud and roots. "Ok, so those were runes on his body... Wonderful!" She said, annoyed and sarcastically. A few more runes activated, and suddenly his speed became much greater, causing him to quickly close the distance. He slowed down when he got near Sunset, and used his sword to attack. Sunset intercepted his sword with her own, but his large build wasn't just for show, as he quickly overpowered Sunset, knocking her greatsword out of her magical grasp. He then striked once more, but Sunset smaller build, helped her in this situation, as she dodged his strike and went close to him, launching a devastating lightning attack. Unfortunately for her, being so close to her target, she got caught up in it as well, but her magical resistance was higher and she could tank the hit.

The stalion fell with a loud thud, shaking and unable to move. Sunset, happy that he got out of the equation, teleported up in the trees where she last saw the archers. They weren't there, meaning that they changed location. She looked around to try and find them, but before she could do that, an arrow stuck her in the head.

Sunset gasped again, and she was on the branches of the trees. Quickly moving her head left, she dodged the arrow that killed her. Calculating the trajectory of the projectile, she found out where it came from, and teleported around in that area in hopes of finding the attacker. It didn't take long for the young unicorn to find her pray. She created a platform of magic in mid-air, and she used it to launch herself at her target. The archer, busy searching for the unicorn who was teleporting in various different locations, saw his pray too late, and was hit on the side of his head by the flat part of Sunset's greatsword, knocking him out instantly. Him being on branches high above the ground, meant that as soon as he got knocked out, he lost his balance, and he started falling.

Sunset was busy searching for her next target, but she was taken out of it when she heard something hitting the ground. She looked down only to be horrified at what she just saw. The archer she knocked out, fell on the ground from high up, and splashed on the ground. His body exploded in gore upon coming in contact with the ground, causing Sunset to stop looking for the enemy and stare at the death she just caused. N-No! He can't be d-dead. D-Did i just kill someone? No! No! No! No! She thought. Sure, she killed an abomination, and even though it was once a pony, too much time have passed for the creature to still remembered her old life. It was just that, a creature. But this, this was different, it was a pony's life she had just taken. A living, thinking pony's life. Murderer. I'm a murderer!

Unfortunately fot Sunset, the enemy did not let her grieve and contemplate. The other archer, laughed an arrow at Sunset while she was distracted, hitting her in her back left hoof. Sunset screamed as a jolt of pain suddenly broke her concentration of any thoughts she was having, and reminding the young magician that she was still in a fight. Sunset quickly teleported on the ground, and launched more fireballs at the trees. The fireballs exploded, causing branches and pieces of bark to fly in all directions, but she saw no movement, meaning that either she blew up the archer, or the archer was never there to begin with.

A few arrows stuck the ground around where Sunset was standing. Six arrows, forming a circle. None of them hit Sunset, so she thought that they all missed and didn’t pay any attention to the runes inscribed in the shaft of said arrows, but just because Sunset didn't see them, didn't mean that they didn't exist. The runes began to glow green, and a circle was quickly formed around Sunset. After not even a second, chains shot out from the arrows, enveloping Sunset and bringing her down on the ground.

Sunset tried to teleport away, but it didn't work. Next she tried to conjure a fireball, or electricity, but it didn't work either. It seemed as if the chains were restricting Sunset's magic. With magic not working, she tried to use brute force break free, and surprisingly, even to Sunset, the chains started to break, little by little. She almost managed to get herself free, when suddenly, her horn got cut off. Sunset screamed. The horn held the most nerves in the body except the brain, so it being cut off, meant a world of pain for Sunset. Unfortunately for the young magician, Sunset saw a shadow standing in front of her, she looked up to see the stalion that she incapacitated, holding his weapon up. The last thing before she lost consciousness was the flat part of the blade coming for her head.

Author's Note

Hello again lovely readers, it's ya boi. Unfortunately, i am still alive (This is a joke btw)

Jokes aside, damn it has been a long time since i posted. Sorry for that, you know how it is in December. Christmas, new year, work and a wedding. I was busy as fuck, and on top of it all, a cold that lasted one month and two weeks, and from the looks of it, still going strong. I fucking hate my shitty ass immune system.

Anyway, let's talk about this chapter. Basically, i was busy as hell, but that is only half of the reason why it took so long to write. The other half is, i had to re-write this chapter like three times. and the ending still seems a bit rushed, but it kind of is intentionally so (I'll get to it later). I had to re-write it like three times because i felt like it was too depressing and cruel, or not depressing and cruel enough. I think this is the best i could come with in terms of it not feeling like you are reading some torture text like Twilight of Fifty shades of Gray. I am quite happy with how it turned out.

About the ending, i intentionally wrote it like that, and i mean like it was hurried. Sunset is now stronger, like way stronger then before she consumed the soul, the problem is, she doesn't know how to use that power up. The reason why she didn't really use much magic and she felt weaker then when she fought the corrupta est, is because she wasn't fighting against an abomination, she was fighting against sentient being, ponies. She didn't want to kill them, but she also didn't know how much force she needed to use to knock them out. I didn't realize expressed is well, but the blow she delivered to the archer, was almost enough to kill him. So yeah, the ending feels rushed because the tribe ponies needed to end the fight as quickly as possible. A shit reason, i know, but it kind kf does make sense. also i just wanted to finish the dam chapter, but we don't talk about that.

Another thing is, when she killed the archer, and she stopped to contemplate and think on what she just did.... i will be honest, i think i did a very shit job portraying the gravity of the situation and Sunset's feelings. When i read Fallout Girls, and Sunset had her first kill, i was amazed by how well he described how Sunset was feeling, but when i wrote it, it felt ok-ish. I don't like how i wrote it one bit, but it was the best i could do.

I'm sure you have more questions, which i urge you to tell me in the comments of this chapter. I will try my best to answer. Also, here is a fun question for you that you can try answering. Who is Sunset? And how does her powers work? Try giving me your theories, if you have any.

Well, see ya in the comments.