Sunset Shimmer and Eric, who was holding Alise's hand, were walking down the stairs in silence, and as soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs, Sunset decided to finally break the silence.

"So what are we going to do about Alise?" Sunset asked Eric.

"We can't leave her here." Eric said. "It's dangerous to leave her alone. So I guess we have no choice but to bring her with us."

"But isn't it too dangerous to bring her along?" Sunset said.

"I believe so, but it is more dangerous to leave her alone," Eric said before he looked down to look at Alise. "Alise, from here on, I need you to stay near me and do what I said. Ok."

"Ok," Alise said.

"Good." Eric said before he and everyone began making their way out of the house. However, the second they walked out of the house, they immediately heard what sounded like a howl. The three turned to the direction where the howl came from and saw that standing not too far away from them was a figure holding a chain attached to a wolf.

"What the heck." Sunset said. "Who the heck is this guy?"

"It's the huntsman." Alise said with fear.

"Who?" Sunset said, confused.

"The huntsman is a fierce hunter that works for Sombra." Alise said. "Sombra would normally send him to hunt down anyone that dared to oppose him."

"And I take it he's here for us." Sunset said as Eric stepped forward, sword in hand.

"Eric." The huntsman said as he turned his attention to Eric. He then turned to look at sunset."And you must be the girl that my lord sent me to hunt down." The huntsman then grabs his axe and pulls it off his belt. As soon as the axe was off his belt, it instantly transformed into a long chain attached to a mace. They watched in horror as he spun his mace before tossing it towards them. Seeing the incoming attack, the three quickly get out of the way before the attack hits them.

"Sunset, take Alise and get out of here,"Eric said as he turned to look at Sunset before turning to look at the huntsman.

"But what about you?" Alise asked in concern.

"I will stay here and handle this guy." Eric said as he turned his attention to the huntsman. "Now go." Sunset stood still, not knowing what to do, but eventually she turned to look at Alise.

"Come on, Alise, let's go." Sunset said before she grabbed one of Alise's hands and began running away with her.

"But what about Eric?" Alise said as she ran with sunset.

"Don't worry; I am sure he will be alright." Sunset said as she continued to run. "Now let's get out of here while we can." As the two run, the huntsman turns his attention from Eric to Sunset and Alise.

"No one going anywhere." The huntsman said as he let go of the chain, and immediately after he did that, the wolf ran towards them.

"Oh no, sunset, Alise." Eric said. He was about to run towards them, but before he could, he quickly saw from the corner of his eye a mace heading towards him. Acting quickly, he quickly moved out of the way before the mace hit him. He then turned to look at the mace and watched it being pulled away. He followed the mace with his gaze until it returned back to the huntsman, who was once again spinning the mace. Before he could do anything else, the huntsman threw his mace towards him again. Fortunately, however, before the mace could hit him, Eric quickly used his sword to swing the mace away. After the mace landed, the huntsman quickly pulled the mace back towards him, and shortly afterwards he began swinging it again.

Both Sunset and Alise run as fast as they can as the white wolf chases after them. However, no matter how fast they run, the wolf is able to keep up with them with ease, and at the rate it is going, it won’t be long before it gets them.

"What are we going to do? It's getting closer." Alise said in fear as she looked behind to see that the wolf was getting closer to them.

“Keep running.” Sunset said in fear. However, as the two ran, they didn’t see the rock that was in front of them. By the time they did, it was too late, as the rock caused Alise to trip and fall onto the ground.

"Alise," Sunset said as she turned to look at Alise. She then knelt down and was about to help Alise up, but before she could, she saw the wolf was about to be on them. Panicking, Sunset looked around to see if there was anything that could help them, and immediately after she did that, she saw a shovel was on the ground next to her. Acting quickly, Sunset picked it up and walked in front of Alise. When the wolf was near enough, it jumped in the air and was about to pounce on Sunset, but before it could, Sunset swung the shovel at the side of the wolf's face, sending it away. The wolf landed on its side, and immediately after landing, it quickly got up and turned to sunset. It then let out a small growl as it looked at Sunset and Alise. It then charged at sunset again, who acted quickly by using her shovel to swing the wolf away. However, this didn't stop the wolf, as it simply got up again and began circling the two.

"What are we going to do?" Alise said as she quickly grabbed onto Sunset. The two move their bodies to follow the wolf, making sure to not let it out of their sight.

"Stay calm, Alise." Sunset said as she and Alise continued to keep the wolf in their sight.

Eric quickly jumped out of the way before the mace hit him. After dodging the attack, he turned his attention back to the huntsman, who was pulling back the mace into his hands. After pulling the mace back into his hands, the huntsman then spins the mace again before tossing the mace again. Acting quickly, Eric quickly got out of the way of the attack before the attack hit him. After dodging the attack, Eric quickly charged towards the huntsman, who was pulling his mace back. Just as the huntsman pulled back his weapon, Eric was already in front of him, and before he knew it, Eric quickly swung his sword at him. However, before the sword could make a direct hit, the huntsman quickly jumped out of the way.

After rolling on the ground for a bit, the huntsman quickly got up. He then changed his weapon back into an axe and charged towards Eric. The huntsman swung his axe at Eric, who used his sword to block the attack, and after blocking the attack, he quickly ran to the side of the huntsman and kicked him at his side with enough force to cause the huntsman to fall onto his side. After the huntsman landed on the ground, Eric quickly turned his attention from him and towards Sunset and Alise and saw that the wolf was still circling them. Seeing that Eric quickly runs as fast as he can towards them.

When the wolf heard the sound of footsteps hitting the snow, it quickly stopped and turned to see Eric running towards it. It was about to charge towards Eric, but before it could, Sunset quickly swung her shovel with enough force to send it flying into the air, where it then landed onto the ground across from her.

"We need to get out of here now." Eric said as he put his sword away and ran towards Alise, where he then proceeded to pick her up. "Come on, let's go."

"Right." Sunset said before she and Eric quickly ran as fast as they could. However, unfortunately, they didn't get far as a metal chain was suddenly wrapped around sunset, and before sunset could process what just happened, she was suddenly being pulled back. The pull was so sudden that Sunset accidentally let go of her shovel as she was pulled back.

"Sunset." Eric said in shock as he turned to look at Sunset, who was being forcefully pulled to the huntsman. As soon as sunset was in front of the huntsman, the huntsman gave a hard tug on the chain, forcing sunset onto her knees. Sunset was about to get up, but before she could, she saw the wolf was suddenly standing next to the huntsman. It let out a growl as it moved its face closer to her. Sunset moved her body slightly to the back in an attempt to get some distance away from the wolf. However, before she could put some more distance between her and the wolf, the huntsman suddenly grabbed her by her hair and pulled her up, forcing her onto her feet, and immediately after he did that, the huntsman then noticed the necklace around Sunset's neck.

“What’s this?” The huntsman said as he eyed the necklace. As he eyed the necklace, he saw a small glow on it, and before he knew it, the necklace suddenly let out a burst of light that was strong enough to send both the huntsman and his wolf off the ground and into the air. Both the huntsman and his wolf then hit the side of a house, and after they landed on the ground, a huge pile of snow from the roof of the house fell onto them, burying them completely in snow.

Sunset, after seeing all that, just stood for a moment before she suddenly heard Eric calling out to her. She then turned to see both Eric, who was still carrying Alise, running towards her. Once Eric had reached sunset, he then put down Alise and began the process of getting the chains off her.

“Are you ok?” Eric asked sunset.

“Yeah, I am okay.” Sunset said. ”From what I can tell, the necklace magic protected me from the huntsman and his wolf.”

“That’s good to hear.” Eric said as he finally got the chain successfully off sunset. He then proceeded to pick up Alise. ”Now let’s get the heck out of here while we still can.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Sunset said before she and Eric began running away. The two continue to run until they are about to reach the edge of the village. However, before they could run out of the village, Alise suddenly saw something.

“Look.” Alise said, causing the two to stop. The two then turned to look at Alise to see that she was pointing to something, and immediately the two turned to see that she was pointing towards an abandoned sleigh.

“A sleigh. Eric said before he turned to look at Alise ”Good eye, Alise. We can use the sleigh to travel.”

“Yeah, but we have nothing here that can pull it.” Sunset said, and immediately, as if on cue, the sound of a stick being snapped was heard, and immediately everyone turned to see a horse standing not too far away from them. ”Well, that’s convenient.”

After attaching the reins of the sleigh onto the horse, all three quickly got onto the sleigh, and immediately after getting on, Eric quickly took the reins and got the horse to move them out of the village as fast as they could. Unknown to them, however, shortly after they left the village, both the huntsman and his pet wolf burst out of the snow pile, and after the huntsman dusted off the snow that was still on him, he and his wolf were about to return back to the hunt for Sunset and Eric when suddenly he heard a beeping sound. Quickly the huntsman pulled out a glowing necklace from his pocket, and shortly after he brought out his necklace, the necklace then projected an image of Sombra.

“Report.” Sombra said. ”What’s your progress so far?”

“Both of the prey have unfortunately managed to get away.” The huntsman said. ”But I will continue with the hunt, and the next time I encounter them, I will succeed.”

“You better. For your sake.” Sombra said angrily before his image disappeared.
….
Back in the throne room, Sombra was sitting down on his throne, rubbing his forehead in frustration.

“The huntsman failed to capture both Eric and sunset. Once mother heard about this, she will be furious.” Sombra thought to himself in annoyance as he knew he would have to deal with his mother's wrath, which he was in no mood to deal with. His thoughts then slowly drifted to sunset, and immediately the strange feeling overcame him again.

“This feeling again.” Sombra thought to himself. ”Why does that keep happening every time I think of her, and why do my thoughts always drift back to that girl?" Sombra then makes an image of sunset appear in front of him. ”Why can’t I get you out of my mind?" As Sombra stared at the image, he found himself once again feeling enamored, and as he continued staring at the image, he found himself in a trance-like state as he found that he was unable to look away, not because he couldn’t look away but more like he refused to look away. However, his trance was broken by the shout from an angry voice that was calling his name. Once Sombra heard the voice, he quickly made the image disappear, and shortly after he did that, his mother appeared in front of him with a look of fury.

“Hello, mother.” Sombra said annoyed, knowing he had to deal with his mother when he was in no mood to deal with her. ” What seems to be the problem?

“Don’t act like you don’t know,"Sombra's mother said as she glared at her son. ”I heard the huntsman had failed.”

“It’s just a minor setback, Mother.” Sombra said.

“We can’t afford setbacks.” Sombra's mother shouted angrily. ”We need to catch that girl now before it is too late. Send in the Umbrum and the Black Guards; we need to find them now.”

“Very well, mother, if that is what you wish.” Sombra said before he suddenly disappeared.
….
In the highest tower of the palace, a female figure can be seen looking out of the window. She had purple eyes, which were beautiful, though they were a bit reddened and shadowed, indicating that she hadn't slept well for the past few nights. She has long pink hair that reaches her neck; however, the hair was a bit messy, indicating it has been a while since it was properly taken care of. For clothing she wore a tattered pink dress that looked like it was once an elegant gown fit for a princess. In addition to that, most of the sugar plums decorating the hem and collar had fallen off, and those remaining were shriveled and dry, and around her neck was a pink crystal heart necklace. This person was none other than Princess Serenity, the Sugar Plum Princess, and the rightful ruler of the land of dreams.

As Princess Serenity looked out the window, she let out a sigh before turning her attention to the necklace around her neck. The necklace around her neck was the first present that her beloved had given her, and it was the only thing she had left to remind her of Eric. As she looked at the necklace, she suddenly heard something, and immediately she looked out the window to see countless umbrum flying out of the castle, and accompanying them was the black armor guard now known as black guard, riding on large black demonic bats.

“What’s going on here?” Serenity said, wondering what was happening.

“Greetings, princess.” A voice said, and immediately Serenity turned to see that standing behind her was Sombra.

“ Sombra, what do you want?” Serenity demanded. ”I am not in the mood to deal with you.”

“Now, now, there's no need for such attitude.” Sombra said mockingly. ”I am just here to give you some interesting news that you might like to hear.”

“And what news would that be?” Serenity demanded.

“Eric is back.” Sombra said, and immediately Serenity's expression changed into a mix of shock, happiness, and hopeful.”

“Eric is back.” Serenity said in a happy tone.

“He is, and from what I heard, he is traveling with a new female companion.” Sombra said in a taunting voice. ”I think he might have finally moved on from you. Not that I can blame him, as from what I have heard, the girl is quite beautiful.” As Sombra said that, his mind slowly drifted back to Sunset, and suddenly, for some reason, the idea that Eric and Sunset were together somehow made him feel something unpleasant. He didn’t know what it was, but he didn’t like it almost as much as he didn’t like the thought of Sunset and Eric actually being together. He quickly shook that thought out of his mind before turning his attention back to Serenity, who was glaring at him with a look of fury.

“If this is your attempt to get me to marry you, then you need to try something else,” Serenity said. ”Eric would never do anything like that, and if he did, marrying you wouldn’t be any better. I would rather die than marry you.” Immediately after she said that, Sombra let out a huge laugh before eventually calming down.

“Do you think I still want to marry you after all this time?” Sombra said as he turned his gaze back to Serenity, who was still glaring at him. ”You know better than anyone that the only reason I wanted to marry you was so I could become king of this land, and now that I am already the king of this land, I don’t need you anymore. The only reason why I kept you alive till now was so I could use you as bait for when Eric returned, and now that he has returned, I will not only end him but you as well. So enjoy your last few nights, princess, for the time of you and your lover's death draws near.” Sombra then turned and left through the door, leaving Serenity by herself.

“Oh Eric, please be okay.” Serenity said as she looked out the window with a look of sadness.
….
Somewhere on the path to the sugar plum palace was sunset, Eric and Alise, all of whom were still riding the sleigh. As they continued to travel down the path, Sunset took a moment to look behind to see that no one was following them.

"So far I don't see the huntsman anywhere." Sunset said as she looked around before turning to look at Eric. "So it is safe to say we lost him for now."

"That's good to hear." Eric said happily before a sudden rumble sound was heard. Both Eric and Sunset then turned to the source of the sound and saw it come from Alise, who blushed in embarrassment.

"It's been a while since I have eaten anything." Alise said in embarrassment.

"It's okay, kid." Sunset said. "If it makes you feel better, I am feeling a bit hungry myself."

"Then it must be a good thing that there is a farm right ahead." Eric said as he pointed in the direction ahead of them, and sure enough, when Sunset and Alise turned to look in front of them, they saw that there was a farm just ahead. "Let's stop and ask the people at that farm if they can give us some food and maybe even some supplies."

"I wouldn't get my hopes up, Eric, since there is a chance that, like with Alise Village, the people on the farm could have also been taken.

"Well, even if they were taken, there is still a chance there are supplies and food on the farm." Eric said.

"Good point." Sunset said as Eric got the horse to pull the sleigh into the farm. Once they were near the farmhouse, Eric pulled the rein, causing the horse to stop.

"You two wait here while I go knock on the door." Eric said as he got out of the sleigh. After getting out of the sleigh, he immediately went to the front door of the house and knocked on it a few times. When no one answered, Eric knocked a few more times again.

"Hello, anyone home?" Eric said door. "We are not with Sombra, we swear. We just want some food and supplies. Once we have them, we will leave, we swear." when it becomes clear no one was coming Eric turned to look at both Alise and Sunset. "I guess no one's home."

"My guess is that either the people here left or they were taken." Sunset said. "Either way, there might still be some food and supplies we can take." Shortly afterwards, both Sunset and Alise got out of the sleigh and quickly joined Eric, who had turned the doorknob of the front door to reveal the door wasn't locked, which in turn confirmed their suspicions that the farm was abandoned. The three then enter the house and begin looking for any food or supplies. However, unfortunately for them, they found that the house had no food or any useful supplies they could take on their journey.

"Well, that was a complete waste of time." Sunset said in annoyance as she, Alise, and Eric walked out of the house.

"Maybe there is something in the barn," Alise suggested.

"Well, it doesn't hurt to at least check." Sunset said before she, Eric, and Alise went to the barn that was located at the back of the house. As soon as they entered the barn, they saw that the only things inside were some farm tools, empty barrels, and hay.

"Well, this was a waste of time." Sunset said as she and everyone went out of the barn. Just as they were about to walk to the front of the house where their sleigh is, Alise suddenly saw something that caught her interest.

"Look," Alise said, pointing to somewhere. Both Sunset and Eric turn to see a tree full of oranges.

“Well, look at that,” Sunset said as she turned to look at Alise. "First the sleigh and now the oranges. You seem to have a good eye when it comes to spotting things useful.”

“Good job, Alise.” Eric said as he petted Alise's head. The three then make their way to the tree.

“So how are we going to get the orange off the tree?” Sunset said as she and everyone stood in front of the tree.

“I can climb up and get it for you guys,” Eric said before he began climbing up the tree. Once he reached the top, he quickly sat on one of the tree branches and quickly grabbed one of the oranges. However, when he pulled on it, he found it was stuck. Annoyed, Eric pulled harder, and immediately after he did that, a face popped out of the leaves, shocking him. He saw the person staring at him was a girl that seemed to be around sunset age, and in addition to that, he saw that the girl was wearing a green helmet covered in leaves and orange, and one of said oranges was the one he had been pulling previously. Before Eric could process what was happening, the girl pushed him off the branch and onto the ground. As soon as he hit the ground, both Alise and Sunset ran to him.

“Eric, are you alright?” Sunset asked as Eric slowly got up.

“Yeah, I am alright.” Eric said, and immediately he and everyone turned to look at the girl who was now holding a handbell. The three watch as the girl rings it.

“What are you doing?” Sunset said, and immediately, as if to answer her question, the ground around them burst open, revealing there was a secret entrance buried under the snow, and immediately afterward, coming out of the entrances were a large number of men and women, as well as some children, all of whom were armed with various weapons, from axes, swords, pitchforks, knives, pickaxes, and spears to even some kitchen tools such as cooking pots, pans, and even a rolling pin, and not only that, she saw some wore makeshift armor and were using cooking pots as helmets. Sunset then looked around and saw more people coming out of the trees, and like with the girl, the ones coming out of the trees were wearing green helmets covered in leaves and orange, and before she knew it, she, Eric, and Alise found themselves surrounded.

“Well, look at what we have here.” One of them said. ”It seems we have some intruders.”

“Who are you people?” Sunset demanded.

“We are the resistance.” The girl who pushed Eric off the tree said as she climbed down the tree. ”We have reunited to defeat Sombra and free both the Sugar Plum Princess and this land from his rule.”

“Well then that’s good to hear, because we are also against Sombra.” Sunset said before gesturing to Eric. ”In fact, this person here is Eric himself, the sugar plum princess lover.”

“Do you expect us to believe that?” A girl who was probably a year younger than Sunset said. ”In fact, how do we know you aren’t spies sent by Sombra to look for us?”

“We are not spies, and she is telling the truth. I am Eric.” Eric said desperately.

“Oh yeah.” A voice said, and immediately everyone quickly moved to the side to reveal an obese man. The man had white hair and a white mustache, indicating that the man was of old age, and for clothing, he wore clothes that were completely identical to Eric's.

“Captain Mathew.” Eric said in shock towards the man now known as Mathew.

“You know this man.” Sunset asked Eric.

“Yeah, I do. That’s Captain Mathew. He was the captain of the guard before me.” Eric said. ”You see, before I was the captain of the guards, I was originally the second in command, but shortly after Mathew retired, I was promoted to captain.”

“If you are really Eric, then tell me something only Eric would know.” Mathew said as he stood in front of Eric. Eric then got near his ear and whispered something that caused Mathew to blush.

“I told you that was an accident.” Mathew said as Eric pulled away. However, after he calmed down, he had a look of realization on his face. ”Eric, so it is you.”

“Yes, it's me.” Eric said before Mathew suddenly hugged him. After pulling away from the hug, Mathew turned his attention to Eric.

“You're actually back.” Mathew said happily. ”I can’t believe it. How, when, and who are these people you are traveling with?”

“That’s a long story.” Eric said. ”And by the looks of things, I am not the only one since it looks like you have quite a story to tell me.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Mathew said with a chuckle before he motioned for all of them to follow him. ”Come on, let’s go; we have much to talk about.” Mathew and the rest of the resistance began walking towards the secret entrance, and it wasn’t long before Sunset, Eric, and Alise followed them, and as Sunset walked towards the entrance, a sense of hope overcame her as she believed that with the resistance's help, they might actually have a chance at defeating Sombra, and with Sombra defeated, Sunset can return back to normal and return home. However, as soon as she thought about home, her feeling of happiness was instantly gone as she remembered the mess she had made during her time at Canterlot High School.

“I really make a mess of things at that school.” Sunset thought to herself. ”I need to clean up my mess.” As sunset thoughts slowly went back to Canterlot High School and all the wrongs she had done during her time at the school, she made a promise to herself that if she managed to survive all of this, she would do everything she could to undo all the damage she had done to everyone she had ever wronged.
….
End of chapter 3

Author's Note

Don't forget to leave comments on what you think of my story.