Sunset jumped from one root to another, struggling to keep her balance. When the distance from one root to another was too big, she used her magic to create a small platform so she can traverse without stepping in the mud. It was not that she didn't like getting dirty, although that was one part of it, it's that she didn't know where it was safe to walk, after all if she walked and sinked deep, it could spell disaster.

Eventually she found a bigger root that she used to catch her breath. She didn't like it, but traversing this swamp forest took more energy out of her then she could spare, and it was not the only thing that exhausted her, she had to keep constant vigilance. She didn't know what could be hiding in the mud or in the trees, and she didn't want to find out. The lack of food was also a problem. She lost all her resources when the deep sea abomination destroyed the ship, so energy management became very important. She had to keep low and steady, spending the least amount of energy to travel in order not to die of exhaustion. It was hard, and it didn't help that going further and further into the swamp, the fog that permitted in this place became thicker and thicker.

At one point she tried to eat some of the red leaves, she quickly found out that was a mistake. As soon as she took one bite of the leaf, her entire mouth became numb. She quickly spit it out, and lucky, the effect only lasted about two hours, but if she did eat one, she would have probably been paralyzed for a good amount of time, and in a place like this, it meant certain death.

Getting up, as she rested enough, she continued forward. From root to root, tree to tree, and occasionally, going trough the mud. To say she was exhausted was an understatement. As she traversed, she kept feeling like something was watching her. She stopped, looked around, but found nothing. But the feeling still remained. Was it the loneliness? Was it the exhaustion? Was it the swamp that played tricks on her? She couldn't tell, but she couldn't afford to dismiss it. Finding nothing, she decided to just pick up the pace a bit, and hope it's just in her head.

Need to find water soon, food as well. I wonder if i can find som- She stopped moving as she heard some leaves rustling up in the trees. This was the first time she heard something unusual. Her horn glowed as she took hold of her greatsword in her magic, immediately getting into battle mode. Ok, so that feeling was not in my head after all. She thought as she listened and searched the area up in the trees where she heard the noise.

Another noise was heard further then the pervious one behind her. Turning her head to try and get a look at what made the noise, she got this weird feeling of impending death that loomed over her. By pure instinct she jumped to the right, just in time to avoid something slamming right where she was a second ago. The force of the slam was so powerful that it caused the roots and mud to shoot out like a wave, heavily restricting Sunset vision. A second later, something came out of the wave of mud and bit her left hoof. She didn't even have time to scream in pain before whatever creature or abomination that got a hold of her started to lift her up and slammed her against a tree with tremendous force, causing Sunset to lose her grasp on the sword.

Sunset gasped as her back hit the tree. Blood came out of her mouth as the pain in her left hoof, back and whatever organs were injured, set it. griting her teeth, in hopes of some pain relief, she lit up her horn, and quickly teleported out of the creature's grasp. Because of the intense pain when she used teleport, she missed the place she wanted to teleport to. Instead of teleporting safely on some roots far away from the creature, she instead got teleported a few feet from the ground, only a short distance from the creature.

She fell down with a thud. Luckily, she fell in the mud, and that somewhat cushioned the fall. She slowly got up on all fours, trying her best to ignore the pain she was feeling. After she did so, her horn glowed blood red, using magic to quickly get the mud on body off of her. It wasn't that she was a clean freak, it was more because the mud was heavy, and it could get in her eyes and wounds. After a quick clean up, she raised her injured hoof to inspect it, and she didn't like what she saw. The first thing she noticed was the bite marks, deep in her flesh and constantly bleeding. The second thing was the fact that bits of flesh and fur were torn off when she got slammed into the tree. The third and most concerning was that some black spots started to appear near the wounds, on closer inspection it seemed like the black spots were starting to corrod the flesh. Luckily, very luckily, Sunset didn't feel that much pain anymore, she wasn't sure if it was because of the shock or some other factor, but she was grateful that the pain was somewhat mitigated.

Knowing that leaving the corrosion alone would only bring her more harm, she decided to try and use a basic healing spell. Sunset's horn glowed again blood red as the injured hoof was enveloped in an aura with the same colour. A few moments later the spell was completed and the injured hoof began to regenerate. The pain was great, but it was mitigated by the allbthe adrenaline. The low tier spell *regeneration* basically did as the name suggested, it made the cells of any living being multiply exponentially and reconstruct any missing mass, however, the side effects of such a low tier spell was the fact that there is no pain mitigation into the spell, meaning that Sunset could feel all of the mass that was destroyed by the corrosion and all of the new mass that was reconstructed, she didn't heal her hoof, she just prolonged the corrosion. Amidst the pain, she cursed herself for not learning any propper healing magic.

Somewhat relieved that the creature didn't attack her yet and gave her enough time to gather herself, she finally looked at the creature, and made a disgusted face. The creature resembled a pony, only bigger, about twice as big as Sunset. There was no fur, no coat, not even skin, the only thing she could see was flesh and very few strands of hair that were once a mane and tail. She could also see some organs out in the open, that were only held by the exposed ribcage. Black eyes that seem to stare into your very soul and a mouth that was way bigger then should be. The creature also had wings made of flesh, like a pegasus, but more deformed, more mutated.

She almost trew up seing the creature, but she endured, she had to look, she had to keep an eye on it, and so, she watched, every movement, every part of it's body. Sunset could see that the creature didn't attack yet because it did the same as her, it was studying her. Sunset could see that the creature possessed some kind of intelligence, not enough to have sapience, but enough to know that attacking recklessly will get it killed, and that scared her more then it's appearance, after all, a creature that possess intelligence is a more formidable foe then a mere beast. And so each of them studied the other, waiting to see what the enemy would do.

Sunset decided that it had studied the creature enough, and decided to make the first move. Her horn glowed for a second before a bolt of continuous electricity shot up, striking the creature right in it's chest. The creature shrieked in pain as electricity coursed trough it's body, causing most of the muscles to spasm and lock. It raised it's head, and opened it's mouth to the limit. Something glowed inside it's mouth, and when it was ready, it released a sickly yellow laser towards Sunset.

Because of the lightning obscuring some of her vision, Sunset beraly saw the laser and jumped to the left, narrowly dodging the attack, stopping her spell in the process. The creature, free from the attack, extended it's wings in an intimidation attempt and let out a roar so loud it caused Sunset's ears to almost burst.

Sunset recovered quickly and shot out a fireball at it, but the creature dodged sideways, then, using it's wings, propelled itself forward at tremendous speed. Sunset teleported to another root, firing more fireballs at the creature. Most of them missed, but the last two hit. One in it's side, one in it's head. The creature shrieked in pain, but quickly used the terrain to it's advantage. The creature, enveloped in flames, trew itself into the mud, rolling around to put the flames out, but Sunset didn't miss the opportunity and fired another bolt of lightning, and with the creature stunned for a few seconds, Sunset teleported the greatsword to herself and began infusing mana into it and simultaneously casting a sharpness enchantment. After it was done, she launched her greatsword at the creature. Being stunned, the creature couldn't dodge the attack and received heavy damage as the greatsword embedded into it's chest. It shrieked in pain once again, but thanks to the pain, it managed to regain use of it's body. It spread it's wings, but this time it didn't dash forward, it dashed upward.

The creature knew that staying on the ground was not an option, so it decided use it's ability to fly, it's advanced mobility and it's long range attacks in hopes of tiring or killing it's pray. It shot to the skies, and launched a barrage of lasers from it's mouth in the general direction of Sunset.

Sunset quickly deployed a barrier around herself and teleported away, using the barrier as a distraction for the creature who still thought she was inside the barrier. Teleporting somewhere outside of the creature's field of view, Sunset got to work on a spell.

The creature continued to attack the barrier for a few seconds, but stopped when it saw that it was ineffective. Just as the dust and mud cleared, it saw that the shield was empty inside, but before it could search for it's pray, it got teleported back to the ground. Before it could snap out of it's confusion of suddenly being teleported, Sunset released the spell that she was working on, and less then a second later, she shot out a massive laser, containing most of Sunset's remaining mana. The laser hit the creature, but did not stop there, it continued forward, destroying everything in it's path. In a few second that the laser existed, everything that crossed it's path remained no more. Some trees were completely destroyed, while others were scorched so bad they started to fall. The mud and whatever was beneath the laser was instantly evaporated, leaving only scorch marks, dirt and fire for miles.

Sunset breathed in and out fast, hyperventilating as the launched that attack. While such an attack was extremely strong, it also left her exhausted. She could beraly stand. After somewhat managing to get her breath in control, she heard something. She looked ahead. "Fuck. *Huff* *Huff* How is that thing still alive? That attack had enough *Huff*, power in it to blow a sizable hole in a mountain." She said, completely baffled at how resilient her enemy was.

She watched as the creature started to stand up, but let out a small sigh of relief when it saw what state the creature was in. The creature was obviously damaged enough to beraly be able to stand, missing it's front right hoof, both of it's wings and it's flesh and organs were heavily burned. But, with all the damage it has suffered, Sunset could also see that it already started to regenerate. Great. Just great. It has regeneration on top of being as sturdy as a mountain!? Bullshit! She thought as she tried to figure out a plan of attack.

Truth be told, Sunset wanted nothing more then to run as far away from this creature, but she knew that she won't make it far before her body gave out, and with the creature's regeneration, it won't be long before it could hunt her again, and so, she decided that fighting was the best option, the only option. She just needed to figure out how to kill it. Almost all of her mana was depleted, meaning that she could only do simple magic like levitation and a few fireballs or teleportations at best. Luckily, looking at the creature, she saw her trusty blade, still stuck inside the creature's chest. She smiled, and grabbed the greatsword in her magic, yanking it out of the creature and bringing it back to her side. At first Sunset wondered how in the seven gates of Tartarus was her greatsword still in one piece, but then she remembered the durability and protection enchantments that Twilight and herself put on it, and the fact that it was made from high quality materials. Twilight, you beautiful girl! Seems that you are protecting me even from this far away! She thought, excitement and happiness coursed trough her mind, but she quickly regained her composure.

Now with a weapon, she felt confident. Happy that her sharpness enchantment still persisted, she started running towards the creature to end it once and for all. Sunset started running gaining more and more momentum before she teleported before the creature, using her greatsword in an arch motion to try and cut it's head, but the creature beraly dodged it by moving slightly back, however it did not completely dodged it. While the creature didn't get beheaded, Sunset still managed to cut half of it's neck. The creature trying it's best to defend itself, started to use it's head and remaining front hoof to try and stomp and bite her, but Sunset was quick to dodged them all while she used her weapon to cut her opponent, not as deep as before, as she didn't have enough momentum, but enough to have it bleed and overload it's regeneration. She dodged a few more stomps before she found the right timing to dash between it's legs and get behind it, and impaled her weapon in one of it's back hooves, causing the creature to lose it's balance and collapse to the ground. Quickly getting her weapon out, she jumped on the creature's back to try and cut it's head completely, but as soon as she landed on it's back, the creature used the fact that only half of it's neck was attached and bent it to impossible means in Sunset's direction and launched a laser from it's mouth. Sunset didn't have time to react, and the laser hit her straight in her chest, causing it to send her flying a few feet from the creature. Luckily, because the creature was at death's door, the power of it's attack was lower then before, but it was still powerful to scorch the coat and skin of Sunset, giving her a nasty wound.

Sunset wheezed as the impact from the laser hit her. She hit the ground with a thud, but quickly used the momentum to roll back on all fours and charged. She ignored the searing pain that was in her chest, and she ignored the fact that her chest area now had a second degree burn. None of it mattered in that moment, or more like, it was required not to matter. If she took the time to tend to her wounds, the creature would do the same, and with it's superior regeneration, it would heal much faster.

Sunset used most of it's already little mana that she had to give her weapon an electricity enchantment, then launched it at the creature in an arch motion. It beraly had enough time to get up before Sunset's weapon cut it's front two hooves, causing it to fall back to the ground. The swords then looped back and impaled the back of the creature's neck, sending electricity towards all of it's muscles and organs, and temporarily blinding it. The creature shrieked, it could feel it's demise. As a last attempt to kill it's pray, it charged another laser, but this time, it rotated it's head to shoot it everywhere.

Sunset wasn't stupid, she saw what the creature was doing, and teleported her weapon back to herself. She saw the laser coming to her, but she dodged it sideways and continued to run. The creature, now able to kind of see, thanks to Sunset's weapon not sending electricity in it's body anymore, started to focus it's fire in Sunset's direction.

Sunset Jumped, dodging another attack, then used her weapon to block another laser. She then decided that she was close enough to deal her final strike. She bit the handle of her greatsword, holding it in her mouth, then used her last mana to teleport above the creature, and used telekinesis to rotate her body extremely fast, gaining enough momentun to finally cut the creature's head.

Sunset hit the ground and rolled, but quickly got back up, however, because of the high rotation speed, dizziness enveloped her fast, and she quickly fell back down. Everything was spinning, everything looked blurry. She tried to get back up, but her body didn't listen. She could feel herself drifting in and out, but she had to stay awake. Taking one look at the creature, even in her blurry vission, she could see that it was dead. It was squirming and spasming, but it was dead. Seing as she was finally victorious, she finally relaxed a bit, however, that was a mistake. As soon as she started to relax, the pain started to come back as well. A sudden jolt of pain came from every part of Sunset's body. The internal injuries, the corrosion that was still eating her, the pain from her various cuts, bruises and her chest pain. Sunset screamed as the pain hit her all at once. Unable to take it all, her body just shut down, and not long after, she fainted.

*"Shitty view, isn't it?" Someone said besides her.

She stopped looking in the distance, and turned her attention to the stalion next to her."What? No! This is the most beautiful view in the city." She said sarcastically to the stalion, then returned her attention what she was previously looking at.

The stalion rolled his eyes. "No need to be all sarcastic, i was just trying to light the mood a bit, h̵̟͒̈́̕ḏ̴̞̋̿͑i̸͇̅͒͋͘s̵̺͙̦̔͆m̷͇̲̤͗̾̐͗n̵̖̽̓͘̚ş̸͕̍͌s̵̱͓͚͐͑͛̍ knows we need it." The stalion said.

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Sorry A̶̢̺͙͙̒̊͌̂̍͆̚͜i̴͙̹̤̣̖͇̗̯̍̽̅͌̚̚r̶̩̭̐̓̍f̸̩̝̈́̓̚ȑ̴̫̤̱̂̓̐̋̌̓s̷̤̼̮̏̐, didn't mean to take it out on you, I'm just a bit on edge." She said, opening her eyes once more to look. In the distance, stood and army of demons, millions strong. Even from so far away, she could see what will await them in a few hours, death and destruction. Even as she stood on the mighty walls of the city, she didn't feel confident.

"Corrupted ancient dragons, Undead, Demons, Titans, Blood altars...... They really want to take this city." The stalion said with a grim tone.

Both of them stood in silence, looking at the approaching threat. The stalion finally broke the silence. "Do you think we'll win?" He asked with concern and fear.

"We have to, otherwise this city will fall and all the sacrifices we've made will be for nothing." She said, but took a few seconds before speaking again. "What about the S̶͈̓̒*̸͍̝̩̀̏͋ȓ̵̠̲̖ ̴̡̻̻̀J̴̰̯̠̏r̸͚̖̤͌@̴̯̜̆͐y̸͔͉̖͂͂͊ ̷̪̅g̸̡̩͆w̵̤̹͌ ̷̝̙̉̕×̴̡̲̈́̈́͝ḁ̶̧̤̍̋n̷̲̙͋'̵̺̩̘͊̏%̶̛̮̹̽̇3̷͕̠̕p̴͎̮̗̒̊?"

"Hid it somewhere they will never find it. I made sure of that." He said.

"where?" She asked, curious.

He smiled deviously. "The Palace Of Twelve!"

Her eyes widened at what her companion has said. Of all the places she thought of, The Palace Of Twelve wasn't one of them. But before she could inquire more, she heard a chorus of roars, screams and battle cries from the enemy. It was clear that they wanted to be heard, to be feared. Truth be told, She was. She was scared, scared that they would lose, scared of how many would die, But she did not let her fear show. No, she would show only confidence, only bravery.

She turned to look at her companion, she could see that him too, tried his best to look calm and collected. Then she looked left and right, she could see the soldiers trembling, and looking in fear at the enemy, she saw some that started praying, but she also saw some being brave, not being fazed by what awaited them. She turned around, and looked at the city and the hundreds of thousand of soldiers or every race hurrying to reinforce the city as best as they could. She saw their fear, and had to do something.

Her horn glowed blood red as she casted a spell to amplify her voice loud enough so she could be heard over the sound of the enemy. "HEAR ME, BEAVE DEFENDERS! " She said, magic carrying her voice to all. "Look in front of you, do you hear the sounds of the villains? Do you hear the sounds of those that have taken everything from you? Do you hear the sounds that have killed your loved ones and have taken our lands?...... ENRAGE!.. Enrage at those that are deceived with victory. Enrage at those fools that think they will have an easy fight! We will show them the might of Navalia, we will show them the might of those that fight for love, and we will show them that we aren't called the defenders of Eques for nothing!"

As soon as she finished, her companion began. "Scream, soldiers! Let those disgusting abominations hear your roars! Let them know who they are messing with, and ROAR! FOR THE GRAND DIVINER IS WITH US!"

As soon he finished, every soul inside the city started screaming with new found confidence. They looked at her and cheered. She raised her spear high, and the soldiers roared louder. Satisfied that her troops were no longer afraid, she turned her attention back to the enemy, then at her companion. "It's time."*

Author's Note

Damn, it's been one month since the last chapter. Sorry for taking so long to write.

Not much to say, except some thing about the fight scene.

First, i think i did a decent job at writing it. It's my first time actually writing a fight scene, as the scene in the training grounds didn't really count. However, with as good of a job as i did, i don't actually think i showed what Sunset is truly capable of. I wanted to, but i wanted Sunset to be at a bit of a disadvantage, you know, because of how exhausted she was. In hindsight, i could have done more regardless. I could have introduced more spells, but i wanted to keep them hidden for now. She will use more and more spells and magic, don't worry. Oh yeah, next chapter i will also explain the magic system. It's not really that complex, so don't get your hopes up.

As for the big attack that Sunset did, to give you a reference, you remember when Twilight fought against Titek, and she had the power of three other alicorns? Now, do you remember the big ass lasers she used, able to pierce mountains? Yeah, that's about the power Sunset's big attack was at. But she can only use it once, as it takes out a BIG chunk of her mana. Still, you can see how powerful she is. Twilight needed the power of three other alicorns to do that, and Sunset can do it alone.

Another thing, i am kind of disappointed that i couldn't show Sunset doing close combat much, She will, but against an enemy such as this, she had to use mainly magic, but it's fine, another reason she didn't use that many spells, it's because she has no real battle experience. Sure, she trained, but training and real experience are two different things.

Yeah, that's about it. Next chapter will be About Rarity and Applejack, and who knows, maybe it won't take a month to write it.

Also forgot, the weird text is intentional. Sunset can only remember bits and pieces for now. Those names will be revealed later. As usual, i am always open for criticism, so don't hold back.