Flapping her bat-like wings, the demon scoured the ground for prey. She needed to kill tonight—her blood wouldn’t have it any other way.

Finally, she spotted a grazing cow. Smiling, she swooped in. The first strike of her spindly claws pierced the bovine through, forcing out a terrified wail that rang through the night and scattered the rest of the herd. She bit into and tore out the cow’s throat ending its miserable life while feeling its warm blood pouring down her throat. She smiled as she flipped the cow over, slowly chewing and swallowing the piece of meat in her mouth.

She examined her prey, a lifeless lump on the ground. The demon then clenched the cow’s body and one of its legs. With a sickening crunch, she tore it off easily. She then bit into it, tendons popping as she tore off a chunk in her mouth and chewed carefully, savoring the taste. Her eyes closed as she swallowed its flesh, giving out a content little growl.

A loud bang distracted her, and made her drop the cow's leg.

“You god damned wolves get away from my livestock!”

She turned her head to lay eyes upon a young woman with fair skin, long blonde hair, and apple-patterned pajamas pointing a shotgun in front of her. The woman hurried towards her, shotgun raised as she traversed the field. When she came close enough to make out what had killed her cattle, the blonde’s eyes popped open and she slowly lowered her shotgun.

“Sunset?”

The demon screeched at the blonde, causing the blonde to point her shotgun at her. She stared at the demon, who glared back.

“Now listen, I don’t want to—”

The blonde was cut off by an ear-piercing roar as her hair flew back from the force of the scream the demon released as she took off into the night.

The blonde slowly lowered her shotgun as she stared off into the night, then back at the eviscerated cow. She then sighed as she trudged back towards the house.

I’m gonna have a talk with her tomorrow.

Sunset Shimmer woke up to the harsh buzzing of her alarm throttling her ears. She quickly slammed the snooze button and pulled a pillow over her head. She almost fell back asleep when she heard a loud knock at her door.

“Sunset, honey, one of your friends is here!”

Sunset grunted as she pulled the pillow off of her head. “Who is it, mom?”

“It’s Applejack.”

“Fine, I’ll get up.”

“I put some sausages on the frying pan for both of you.”

Sunset smiled as she slowly rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, confused when she felt something wet on her hands. She pulled away her hands to see that they were stained red.

Oh, Celestia, not again!

“Uh, that sounds great, mom!” she said as she grabbed the wet wipes from her night table and quickly wiped down everything she had touched, throwing the stained wet wipes into her trash can. Sunset got out of bed, quickly got dressed, and headed downstairs to the kitchen, where Applejack was sitting at the table. Sunset’s mother, an older woman with crimson hair and a pale yellow complexion wearing hospital scrubs put a plate of sausages in front of Applejack.

“Thanks, Mrs. Sunset Chiffon,” Applejack said.

Sunset Chiffon giggled and waved a hand at Applejack. “Please, call me Chiffon. Any friend of Sunset’s is a friend of mine.” Chiffon then saw Sunset. “Oh, hey honey!” she said as she put some sausages on a plate.

Sunset waved. “Hi, Mom. Hi Applejack.” Applejack glared at Sunset, who stared back in confusion as she took a seat at the table. Her mother then put the plate of sausages in front of Sunset, who grabbed one and greedily chomped down on it.

“Well, you two enjoy your day. I’ve got to get to the hospital,” Chiffon said as she headed towards the door.

“Have fun, Mom,” Sunset mumbled out between bites.

Chiffon snorted. “Yeah, right,” she said as she headed out the door and shut it behind her.

Applejack locked her gaze on Sunset Shimmer, who was biting into another sausage. “We need to talk about last night.”

Sunset Shimmer stopped chewing. “What about last night?”

“Really?” Applejack asked, glaring at Sunset.

Sunset Shimmer swallowed the sausage that was in her mouth, enjoying the feeling of it sliding down her throat. “Really.”

Applejack buried her face in her palm. “Sunset, you don’t remember anything about last night?”

“Nope,” Sunset said as she grabbed another sausage and bit into it.

Applejack grunted frustratedly. “Alright, let me give you the skinny: You turned into a raging she-demon and started eating Francine before I chased you off with a shotgun.”

Sunset’s eyes shot open as she choked on the piece of sausage in her mouth. She eventually hacked it out onto the plate, her eyes watering. “What?”

“Yeah. I had to stay awake last night as I burned her.”

Sunset blinked, her jaw hanging open. “What?”

Applejack picked up a sausage and bit into it. “Yeah, but it was different than before… you were all feral-like. You couldn’t even speak.”

Sunset finally collected herself as she bit into the sausage again. “Well, that would explain why I wake up covered in blood every so often.”

Applejack stopped chewing and stared at Sunset. “Every so often? Sunset, how many times has this happened?”

“Oh, I don’t know… about five or six times since the Fall Formal,” Sunset said.

Applejack blinked a few times, then continued chewing. “What the heck, Sunset? You might’ve killed someone!”

“Have any murders shown up in the news?” Sunset asked, swallowing the piece of sausage in her mouth.

“No, but—”

“—but nothing.”

Applejack grunted. “Sunset, you might get worse!”

“Worse how, exactly?” Sunset asked, picking up another piece of sausage and chewing on it.

Applejack took off her hat, ran her fingers through her hair, and pulled on it. “Sunset, if this continues, you might start eating people!

Sunset hummed. “I see how that could be an issue.”

“Well, that’s good,” Applejack said with a smile. “Maybe you should write to Princess Twilight about it?”

Sunset nodded. “Sounds like a plan. But maybe we should finish breakfast first?”

“Alright,” Applejack said with a giggle, “can’t argue with that.”

After they finished their breakfast, Applejack and Sunset Shimmer headed upstairs to Sunset’s room. Sunset removed a journal with her former cutie mark on it, sat down on her bed, and started writing. Applejack sat down on the bed next to her as she watched Sunset write.

Finally, Sunset finished writing and closed the book. “Now,” she said, “we wait.”

They sat there for a few minutes waiting for Twilight’s response.

“So,” Applejack said, “you, uh, didn’t think to tell any of us when you woke up covered in blood?”

Sunset blushed. “Well, I was still gaining your trust. I’m not sure ‘hey, I’m waking up covered in blood’ is exactly something you spring upon a new friend.”

“Heh, I guess not.”

The book glowed pink and vibrated. Sunset quickly grabbed it and opened it, reading the contents inside. Applejack watched on as Sunset’s face fell.

“What’s it say, Sunset?” Applejack asked.

Sunset grunted. “It says here that she theorizes that because only one Element of Harmony was involved in my cleansing, the darkness inside of me couldn’t be completely erased and is buried somewhere in the back of my mind.”

“Hmm,” Applejack said, “maybe you should go over to the pony world and have them give you the once-over with the full set?”

“No, she explained that that wouldn’t work. The Elements have only been proven to activate against world-threatening circumstances... and Discord.” Sunset’s eyes widened. “Discord’s free?”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Who’s Discord?”

“It’s not important,” Sunset said while shaking her head, “just… wow. I think I need a hug.”

Applejack leaned into Sunset and hugged her tightly. “It’ll be okay. We’ll figure something out.”

“Yeah,” Sunset said as she returned the embrace, “Twilight said she’s going to work on something to help with the whole thing.”

“I’ll just install an electric cage around my farm in the meantime.”

“Gee, thanks,” Sunset said flatly.

Applejack giggled. “Gotta protect my family’s livelihood somehow.”

“I guess,” Sunset said.