Sunset Shimmer awoke to a dull pain in her legs and a sharp pain in her head. She opened her eyes, and the red light almost made her panic until she realized it was the western sky at dusk. She greedily guzzled the stream’s water and wolfed down the nearby cattails before she felt sound enough to attempt to stand.
She was dizzy and her legs wobbled, but she managed to make it upright. Her legs and head ached, but she gritted her teeth to step upstream despite the pain. But now there was another source of red light there — standing in the stream bed was the bull ox. He pawed at the stones and snorted. Sunset decided she was too exhausted to run and stood her ground. The giant ox charged forward, and adrenaline overrode Sunset’s pain and fatigue as she galloped recklessly downstream in the twilight.
Sunset blasted the door to Hollow Shades’s library off its hinges. “Banishing spells! Where are the banishing spells?” she yelled into the unoccupied building. Sunset frantically looked around the shelves by the green light of her horn, but her search was quickly halted when the giant ox, aglow with a hellish red light, smashed its own entryway into the library. Sunset screamed and ran back outside into the night, the bull racing after her.
Sunset Shimmer stood on the moonlit beach, panting and drained of endurance. She was barely able to stay upright, but the demonic ox had run out of land to chase her down. She glared at her pursuer. “This is it! This is all there is.”
The bull stepped silently forward, and Sunset stepped into the surf. “This is the shore, there’s nowhere else to go.”
The red ox advanced and forced her another step onwards, and the saltwater stung all the fresh scrapes on her legs. Desperate, Sunset pleaded, “There’s no more land!”
The bull pressed forward, and Sunset took another step into the sea. Her legs were mostly submerged now, and the sea–spray stung her eyes. If she went any further, she’d have to swim. She’d been driven harder than she thought was possible, driven for half a day and half a night, and she knew she didn’t have the fortitude to swim after that. “I’m sorry I summoned you! I just wanted wings!”
Sunset Shimmer looked over the shelves of the restricted section until she found the target of her interest — the books on magical artifacts, just past the shelves covering alchemy. As she approached, the cover of one of the alchemy books caught her eye. Curious, she opened the thin volume, skimming its contents. It suggested an entirely new angle for Sunset to take on her personal quest. This is perfect! I won’t need to bother with that stupid mirror at all. Smiling to herself, she put the small book into her saddlebag and slipped back out, leaving the inattentive librarian unaware of her brief unauthorized visit.
Princess Celestia looked over the alchemy lab, full of students working through their exercises. She whispered to the alchemy professor, “What’s Sunset working on now?”
The professor whispered back, “Currently she’s doing a synthesis of isethionic acid.”
“She hasn’t been pestering you about enantiomers, has she?”
“No, your majesty. Why do you ask?”
Sunset galloped down the mountain road, away from Canterlot, chased by a large, sinister, and partially ethereal–looking red ox. It’s clear I can’t outrace this beast. The most obvious difference between them was his great bulk. How can I make being smaller into an advantage? The answer was right there in front of her at the foot of the mountain.
Sunset bolted out of the Everfree Forest, burrs on her legs and a mane full of leaves and twigs. As she caught her breath, her ears swiveled. Not that she’d need them to — even if she’d been half deaf, she’d be able to hear the racket of her pursuer crashing through the forest. Failing to hear anything unusual, she grinned with relief and began grooming her coat as she walked to the nearby crossroads, taking the path back to Canterlot.
Sunset’s eyes widened and her blood ran cold. The large red ox was there, blocking her path home. She turned back to the crossroads and took the path to Ponyville. Impossibly, the ox was there. She stood still in shock, and he pawed the ground. Sunset turned around again, and took the path to Appleloosa.
He blocked this pathway as well. Sunset stared at him, and he pawed the ground. She stood there, and the ox snorted and lowered his head, pointing his horns at her. Her legs began to shake, and the giant ox, second only to Babe in size, charged her. Sunset yelped and turned tail, rushing back to the crossroads and down the only path available to her, the one leading to Baltimare.
While Sunset maintained her fitness well, she was hardly an athletic pony, and before long she was winded, slowing her to a canter, then a trot. Looking around the empty roadway, she sighed in relief and stepped off the road to begin grazing. Her stomach had been upset by her fright, and some grass should help to settle it. She’d only gotten a couple mouthfuls before she heard the ox snort right behind her, immediately startling her back into a gallop.
Sunset trotted down the road blearily, her legs aching from overexertion. Any path that didn’t lead to the coast was blocked by the giant red ox. Every time she stopped or slowed to a walk, he would appear within a minute to drive her forward. Her head lolled from exhaustion, and her mane was plastered to her neck by sweat. Her eyelids drooped closed.
Sunset stepped blindly off the path and stumbled. Her eyes shot open, but she’d already lost her balance and she fell over onto her side. As she rolled down the embankment, she hit her temple on a stone and she was unconscious before her body rolled to a stop beside the stream.
