Twilight awoke with a start, something rough thumping against her side. Twilight’s first emotion was a sense of mild relief that at least the light was shining over the First Circle, her second was irritation as she recognized what was hitting her once it hit her again.

“Can I help you?” Twilight groaned as she grabbed Sunset’s hoof before she could kick Twilight a third time.

“Yeah, we gotta move out,” Sunset said sternly. She hadn't said much of anything to Twilight since her battle with Orchard Blossom, Twilight figured Sunset was still annoyed by how Twilight had handled it, so this must have been serious if Sunset was talking to her now.

“What’s going on?” Twilight asked as she stood up, gratefully accepting Sunset’s hand as her aching bones stretched. Lying on the stone and dirt of the arena where she’d fought Orchard— where Sunset had decided they’d camp for the night, before scaling the cliffs to the gates of Paradise in the morning— wasn’t good for any part of Twilight’s body.

“There’s two bands duking it out nearby,” Sunset said. “We don’t wanna get caught up in that,” Sunset gave a catlike smirk, and now she was starting to feel more like the Sunset Twilight was used to, “but we do wanna be close enough to mop up the stragglers.”

“What? No we don’t,” Twilight groaned, still trying to catch up to the fact that she was now awake. “We should avoid battles with other monsters entirely if we can.”

“Okay,” Sunset shrugged. “You can stay here then, I’ll go mop up some stragglers. How’s that sound?”

“That sounds awful!” Twilight yelled, Sunset ignoring and walking past her. “Sunset! You can’t just leave me behind!”

“Then you’d better follow me,” Sunset said with a conceited smirk, looking over her shoulder at Twilight for just a moment before walking off, ignoring Twilight’s protests.

Twilight begrudgingly followed behind Sunset, keeping her complaints to herself once she was sure Sunset was completely ignoring her. It wouldn’t do to for Twilight to just wait around for an enemy to possibly attack her while she was all alone, but times like this made her wonder if perhaps she was better off by herself. It felt like all Sunset wanted to do was put them in more danger.

Twilight swore every time she got to the top of a hill, she was never prepared for the sight that greeted her. Looking down at the environment where the two bands of monsters were battling, it was a suffocating mass of brown grass, dried lakes and withered trees; Twilight felt her throat drying up just by looking at it.

But what was most interesting to Twilight, was the familiar face battling down on that field.

“Sunset! That’s Orchard Blossom!” Twilight said, pointing toward the large red werewolf that almost looked like a tiny spec from atop the hill.

“Hmm yeah it sure is,” Sunset nodded, not even pretending to sound interested. “And?”

“We should help her!” Twilight said confidently, adjusting her glasses. “She seemed like a really… I dunno how to put it, but I got the feeling that she was a good person. It doesn’t look like she’s doing too hot down there.”

“No, it looks like she’s about to lose,” Sunset said casually, looking down at the battle below them. “If I had to guess, I’d say this other band took hers by surprise, and by the time they knew what was happening, they’d already lost.”

“Sunset,” Twilight put her hand on Sunset’s shoulder, Sunset looking lethargically over at Twilight, whose eyes burned with conviction, “let’s help her.”

“Tch, what happened to staying out of things?” Sunset grinned smugly.

“I thought you wanted to fight?”

“I wanted to mop up stragglers,” Sunset griped, “not throw ourselves into a battle that doesn’t have anything to do with us, and on the losing side no less.”

“It does have something to do with us,” Twilight said. “Orchard Blossom’s weakened because of her battle with me, so in a way I’m responsible for her band being unprepared for this battle.”

“Real martyr complex, huh?” Sunset rolled her eyes, and Twilight just clicked her tongue in frustration.

“Besides, we need all the help we can get!” Twilight argued. “There’s only two of us, we should be working to gain allies and build friendships to help us along on our journey!”

“Twilight,” Sunset said in disgust, and now she seemed less ‘casually disinterested’ and more genuinely irritated, “don’t think that ‘friendship’ is a thing that exists in the Underworld, cuz it doesn’t. You have temporary alliances of convenience at best, and even those will shatter the moment a better opportunity comes along.”

“Fine then,” Twilight pushed up her glasses and did her best impression of Sunset’s smug grin, “you can stay up here, I’ll help Orchard Blossom. How’s that sound?”

“What, you think you can just leave me behind and wander on your own?” Sunset let out a single unimpressed laugh.

“No,” Twilight shrugged and started down the hill, only turning back for a moment to look at Sunset, “I think you’re going to follow me.”

Twilight ran down the hill without waiting for Sunset to respond, and it was a good thing she did because she was able to throw her lance and warp in front of Orchard just in time to defend her from the claws of one of her enemies with Twilight’s shield.

“What’s this?” the enemy said; a large lion man whose mane streaked with gray hair and hunched over posture betrayed his age. “A stranger inserts herself in a battle between blood? Have you no manners, child?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Twilight said from behind her shield. “I see someone in danger, I defend them! It’s as simple as that!”

The old man chuckled, his band followed suit; it looked like they were all lions, so Twilight presumed they were family. That would almost explain the man’s comment about a ‘battle between blood’, except how were they blood with Orchard Blossom, a wolf?

Except… now Twilight was remembering, the statue Orchard had of a lion woman. Now things were starting to fall into place.

“What’s your name?” Twilight asked the old man.

“My name, child, is Grand Pear,” the man said, running his claws through his mane which was kept surprisingly immaculate considering the circumstances. He was sharply dressed too, and despite the clear evidence of his age he certainly didn’t seem to lack strength or energy. “And, as I said, you are interrupting a battle that, doesn’t concern you.”

“Doesn’t concern me,” Twilight clicked her tongue and groaned.

She looked back at Orchard Blossom, who was badly injured; her allies weren’t able to come to her aid at the moment, locked in battle as they were with Grand Pear’s allies, so all the wolf could do was sit and wait. It was frustrating, it was so damn frustrating!

“It does concern me!” Twilight balked, pointing her lance at Grand Pear. “All of you down here in the Underworld, killing each other over resources when if you just worked together there would be enough for everyone!”

“Is that what you think?” Grand Pear let out a single disgusted laugh and flicked his claws at Twilight. “Child, you’re… even more naïve than I thought.”

“I know about the Paradise,” Twilight said, and she could feel a pin drop in the area as everyone stared at her in silence. “I know about the vampire who’s hoarding the magic inside the Paradise for herself, forcing the gangs outside the wall to battle for scraps.

“But by working together, you could overthrow her! You could defeat her and end the hierarchy that’s been forced on you! But instead you’re more interested in fighting over what’s being dangled right in front of your noses!”

“Don’t pretend to speak on things you don’t understand!” Grand Pear snarled, and Twilight just let a tiny groan escape her lips. She was extremely used to having her points brushed aside by people older than her who couldn’t provide a counterargument. It never stopped being tiring.

“Fine then,” Twilight smiled and stood proudly, “how about we settle this argument with a duel?”

“If you’re that eager to lose your life, or at least your freedom,” Grand Pear let out a growling chuckle, “then I’ll be happy to oblige.”

There was a lot of things about the surface that Twilight Sparkle had already begun to miss even just a few days in the Underworld. Right now, she was thinking of wind. A cool breeze would do a lot to calm her nerves as she stood in a patch of dead grass, cliffs towering over her from all sides and a bitter, angry werelion staring her down and about to do battle with her.

Sunset had indeed caught up to Twilight before her duel with Grand Pear was ready to begin, which was weirdly a relief. Despite Twilight’s gripes with Sunset, it was still nice to feel as if someone was in her corner. Orchard Blossom and her gang, despite Twilight saving her life, didn’t seem too impressed with Twilight; it felt like they were all waiting for her to fail.

Honestly, Twilight expected the same of Sunset too, but—

“Wooo! Kick his ass!” Sunset cheered, throwing her fist in the air. “Twilight Sparkle hype squad! Let’s do this!”

“Surprised you’re actually rooting for me,” Twilight said, “considering you spent my entire last duel heckling me.”

“That was then,” Sunset shrugged. “Let’s just say your last match surprised me, and I kinda wanna see if you’ll surprise me again. Don’t get me wrong! I’m expecting you to lose.”

“Thank you,” Twilight said flatly.

“But like I said,” Sunset smirked, “I’ve been surprised before. So let’s see what you’re made of, huh Twi?”

“Fine then,” Twilight nodded confidently, pushed up her glasses and then pointed her lance at Grand Pear. “I don’t intend on losing! I’ll show you, Grand Pear, that there’s more to this world than battling each other over table scraps!”

“You’re nothing more, than an… ignorant child,” Grand Pear scoffed, his claw crackling with green magic that dripped from his fingertips into the dirt beneath him. “You have, no idea how the world, even works! And yet, here you are lecturing me.”

The ground resonated with Grand Pear’s magic, and a trio of tree soldiers sprouted from the earth, brandishing makeshift weaponry at Twilight as Grand Pear retreated to the top of a craggy knoll behind him, watching the battle from above.

Twilight just scoffed; if he was underestimating her, he was going to regret it.

“Battle is the language of the Underworld,” Grand Pear said, “and if you, don’t speak it? Then you will be killed. It’s as simple as that.”

“Your metaphorical skills would be laughed out of a grade school classroom,” Twilight snarked, but she did wonder for a moment if he was right. Would it be possible for her to survive in this place that was governed by a system of battle and killing without giving in to that system?

She didn’t want to think about that; for now, she just wanted to defeat Grand Pear.

Twilight charged with her lance, tearing through the side of one of the tree soldiers. Their body offered some resistance, but not much; clearing through them would be an easy task and that made Twilight smirk confidently.

Just as she was starting to feel that confidence though, she found the two other soldiers closing in on her from her left and right, Twilight blocking one with her shield but taking a painful scrape to her forearm from the other’s weapon, before jumping back and piercing it with her lance.

To her bemusement however, the gaping hole in the creature’s chest didn’t slow it down. The first soldier Twilight had hit was now limping awkwardly from its weight being awkwardly lopsided after losing a big chunk of its side, but hitting them right in the center didn’t seem to have any real effect on them.

“Is that all?” Grand Pear clicked his tongue, looking down on Twilight both literally and figuratively. “Don’t you have any abilities? Any magic? For such a foolish child to survive in a world of monsters, you must be, pretty strong! And yet, I’ve seen nothing special about you, whatsoever.”

“Don’t underestimate me!” Twilight said, and she threw her lance with powerful speed toward Grand Pear, just missing him by an inch on purpose— she didn’t want to kill him, after all— and warping to his location, pounding his head with her shield.

She grabbed her lance and moved to stab him in the side with it, but he grabbed the lance in his claw and stopped her attack, grabbing the edge of her shield in his other claw and forcing her back as she dug her hooves into the ground. He was much stronger than he looked.

“Who underestimated who?” Grand Pear whispered, and the ground around Twilight crackled with his bright green magic, Twilight’s eyes widening as she was now surrounded by two more of those tree soldiers.

With Twilight’s weapons being firmly in Grand Pear’s grip, and her unable to pull them away from him, her defensive options were limited, and she couldn’t think of a plan before one of the soldiers grabbed her, wrapping its tree limbs around her chest and pinning her arms to her sides, suspending her a couple inches off the ground.

“It would seem you can warp to the location of these weapons,” Grand Pear said, snatching her lance and shield from her and examining them. “It would explain why you threw the lance first and, why you didn’t try and escape from my soldiers.

“So if I just,” Grand Pear handed her weapons to the soldier holding her, the tree absorbing them into itself as Twilight let out an irritated groan. “Now, you have no means of escape. This battle, it would seem, is over.”

Twilight let out a piercing scream as the tree soldier tightened its grip, crushing her body in its grasp as her mind frantically tried to think of a solution or escape plan. She really had walked right into his trap; she was starting to feel confident after her battle with Orchard, but she forgot that all it took was one mistake or miscalculation to lose a battle.

The tree’s wooden tendrils wrapped around Twilight’s muzzle and across and even inside her mouth, silencing her as the soldier was crushing her even tighter, only pitiful pained whimpers able to escape Twilight’s lips.

“Hey,” Sunset called out, standing where Pear’s first three soldiers had been, surrounded instead by a pile of ashes. “You won the duel, but killing Twilight wasn’t part of the deal.”

“She’s my lackey now,” Grand Pear said casually, “I can do, whatever I want to with her. And frankly? I’m not sure I have any use for her.”

“Yeah?” Sunset chuckled and pulled a shining pale lavender light from her chest, the brightness of the glowing object immediately gathering everyone’s attention. It was Twilight’s soul. “What about this then? Without her, this thing disappears, and it’s far more valuable than a dead body, wouldn’t you agree?”

The soldier loosened its grip, at least enough for Twilight to breathe.

“So, what are you saying?” Grand Pear asked curiously.

“You and me,” Sunset pointed her finger at Grand Pear, then her thumb at herself. “Winner gets the whole Twilight Sparkle package.”

There were definitely worse positions to be in. Twilight was bound with fine ropes, her legs folded under her and her arms were tied behind her back as she sat and was forced to do nothing but watch as Sunset battled Grand Pear, with Twilight’s life at stake.

That wasn’t so bad. The gag felt unnecessary though. A wad of damp cloth was shoved into her mouth, and a plain bandana was wrapped around to keep it inside and keep her quiet; it was demeaning.

But even that wasn’t so bad.

What was worst was—

“You’re lucky, you know.”

Sunset’s chastisement.

“You have any idea what would’ve happened if I hadn't been here to rescue you?” Sunset groaned, shaking her head as she stood over the bound and gagged Twilight Sparkle; Grand Pear’s lion allies standing guard behind Twilight but at least giving Sunset a moment to speak to her. She wished they hadn't.

“Rrh, vhmzhrt?” Twilight let out a belligerent reply, her cheeks flushing at the sound of her own muffled mumbles.

“Rrh vhmzhrt indeed, Twilight,” Sunset nodded, looking oh-so satisfied with herself. “Honestly, after I’m done rescuing you, I should just keep you like this! At least for a little bit!”

“Mm! Hrrn vh frrghn drrh!!” Twilight argued, her cheeks flushing terribly as she struggled instinctively against her bonds until a lion put its claw on her shoulder and forced her to be still.

“I’m just kidding,” Sunset chuckled. “Sheesh, you’re too uptight. I wouldn’t actually leave you tied up, that’d be weird. I will say though, you’d like it a lot better if I was the one tying you up.”

Can you just get to the part where you rescue me already?

writing grand pear's dialogue is fun
this was just a fun chapter to write all around tbh :3

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Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!