A pen took absent notes in a notebook as Sunset turned another page in the magical diary. She’d finally reached a section that was useful, and she was making copies of the information as best she could. This whole section appeared to be some kind of makeshift bestiary of magical creatures that supposedly lived at one time in the human world. Some of them seemed like made up superstitious nonsense…but there were a few that she recognized as being Equestrian in origin, with data fairly consistent to the version she knew. That suggested that there was, at the least, some grain of truth, even if a good bit was wrapped up in human myth. Like minotaurs being born from the liaison of human women and cattle. Minotaur calves were born the same way any mammalian species had their young, not through some form of divine punishment for ‘coupling with beasts.’

The former unicorn rolled her eyes. Humans were so strange sometimes. Still…the book’s entries had just enough truth that it might be important to her research and for defending the school from external magical threats…and that alone would be valuable to her principals.

So despite the cramping in her hand and sheer boredom from committing to book research, she copied carefully and paid close attention to each entry. It was certainly one of the easier sets of notes to take, given that the original writer had organized it neatly in each entry. She was still struggling with distilling the useful parts of the minotaur treatise into English, even with now having a copy written in modern Ponish, simply because she was having to invent approximations for so many terms that just didn't have human equivalents.

It felt like she was starting to get somewhere though. The girls were now starting to be able to actively feel their magic on command, and she’d started them on trying to bring it out under controlled circumstances. That was proving a bit of a mixed bag. Applejack found bringing out her power far easier than sensing it, for example, while Fluttershy cowered from using hers again, afraid she might hurt someone by accident. Meanwhile, Rainbow had proven hit or miss, Rarity was surprisingly sensitive to feeling magic…and Pinkie? Sunset winced a little. Pinkie was an anomaly that gave the redhead a headache trying to measure in anyway. Half the time she seemed to have no idea what she was doing, the other half of the time it felt like she knew more than she was letting on, and Sunset was left wondering which one was the truth, or if both were and Pinkie was somehow this world’s answer to Discord himself.

Taking a deep breath, Sunset glanced around the research room. Nowadays it resembled a cross between a science lab, a band practice room, and a clubhouse, with each of her friends having added personal touches: curtains, fancy cushions to sit on, and a rolling rack of costumes and half finished sewing projects courtesy of Rarity, a case of sports drinks, a discarded soccer ball, and a bunch of CDs alongside a portable stereo from Rainbow, stacks of sheet music, a few bags of dog and cat treats, and here and there clumps of shed fur from Fluttershy and her furry friends…The mini-fridge was full of snacks, many of them made by Pinkie, and over by her drums sat bags of balloons and confetti, and even Applejack had contributed to the clutter with a case of fizzy cider, more than a few boot prints, and a forgotten pair of work gloves (as well as a few forgotten worksheets from her chem class.)

Sunset shook her head good-naturedly. Sure, she should probably have them try and clean up a bit, but the fact was that the room was thrumming now with ambient layers of magic that felt just like her friends, right down to the touch of Harmony’s power laced through it. It was turning out to be more of a boon to her research than anything, since it let her analyze how their magic was growing, how it was affecting their environments…she’d even managed to compare the ambient SET of the school and their research room to several of the girl’s homes during sleepovers, and the differences were striking. Whatever was causing them to produce vast amounts of magic was ‘dialed up to 11’ as Rainbow put it, but mostly in school. Or, more specifically, in places where they were more likely to be together as a group.

Flipping pages in her notebook to prepare a new entry, the redhead turned the page in the diary in front of her…

And felt her blood turn to ice.

Staring back at her, in neat but blocky script were the words Infernales Daemones. The heading had a short description and generic data, before it gave a table of contents on the opposing page. It was not a short table of contents.

The former unicorn struggled to breathe, her heart pounding so badly that all she could hear was it thumping in her ears.

Alp/Alf.

She wanted to look away, to close the book, but she couldn't stop her eyes from slipping over the list of words, many of which had no meaning to her…

Imp.

Her pen clattered to the desk from nerveless fingers, rolling until the nearby keyboard stopped it.

Shadow demon.

Sunset could feel it, the burning pain that had started in her head and traveled down her nerves with the rush of magic.

Aluqah.

Hands curled into fists reflexively, and she found she couldn't breathe, couldn't stop, couldn't tear her eyes away from the damning words that felt like they weren't just written on the page, but burned into her screaming soul.

Efreet.

In her mind she could hear her own maddened laughter, dark and sadistic, full of all the cruelty she could conjure.

Se’irim.

She could feel the heat of that searing ball of plasma and flame, her hate at Princess Twilight and the desire to kill her boiling over into the magic…

Utukku.

The rush of air as she plummeted, wings desperately trying to slow her deadly descent…right before they vanished in red-flame, leaving her to fall to her death…

Succubi/Incubi.

The door to the room slammed open, jerking her out of her paralysis. Sunset tore her eyes from the book, slamming it shut before she could look again. Lungs burned as the former bully sucked in a much needed breath of air, and she swiveled her chair towards the door to see who had inadvertently rescued her from the collapsing spiral of the book, its contents, and the fears deep in her core.

Rainbow Dash was looking over her shoulder, down the hall. “Too slow!” She crowed, even as a puffing Applejack crossed the threshold a minute later.

Applejack gave her a good natured punch in the shoulder. “Rat,” she grumbled. “Ain’t a real race when ya use magic ta cheat.”

“Even without magic I’m faster than you,” came the athlete’s smug response.

The fist slugged her shoulder again. “Pack yer ego in, Dash. An’ that's fer yer prank earlier.”

By the time they looked her way, Sunset had managed to school her expression and recover from the reaction she’d had. “Um…what’s going on?”

A broad grin spreading across Rainbow’s face was not really the most comforting thing in the universe. “Applejack and I figured out how to be able to practice our powers without having to be cooped up in here!”

Sunset arched an eyebrow. “Alright…that's potentially a good thing, since this space might be okay for Applejack’s strength, but it's not great for your running. You'd be going around in circles and stirring up a cyclone.”

Pinkie’s voice called from the hall, “Yeah! Rainbow Dash would get reeeeeeeal dizzy if she did that!”

She failed at holding back a snort of laughter, even as she responded with a dry, “Thank you, Pinkie.”

Applejack cleared her throat. “Anywho, afore we get led down a rabbit hole by the pink rabbit…Ah realize Ah got a place fer us all ta practice usin’ our magic and stuff without worrying about breaking too much. We can use the farm.”

Biting her lip, the redhead objected. “Applejack, I don't want to risk damaging your trees or your family’s livelihood….”

“Ah appreciate the thought, Sunset, but Ah ain’t jawin’ about the orchard.” She pushed her hat back, even as she cracked open a fizzy cider. “See we also got four good sized fields out there. We run a rotation on ‘em fer the family garden and the livestock grazing. Two years as a garden, two as pasture and grazing space fer our horses and cows, and four fallow ta let clippings and manure break down inta good farming dirt again…always got two plots fallow. Would give us a good place ta work Dash and Shy’s powers since they cant be seen from the road—they're out behind the barn, and we can open up the back room in the barn ta get at the exercise gear there.”

Sunset mulled that knowledge over in her mind, eventually nodding. “….that…that could actually work.” She glanced out the window. “And today is a good day for it, if you girls are up for it—it's not too cold.”

“Awesome!” Dash crowed, punching a fist into the air. “Let’s do this!”

Reflecting on it, the redhead decided AJ’s suggestion had been a good one. The big, sprawling fields backed up to the large barn, and when her friend had opened the double doors to the backroom, it revealed a space holding exercise equipment set up as a mini gym. It meant setting up was easy—she had Pinkie helping Dash mark out a running lane, marked with flags every fifty yards, had helped Applejack drag an ancient plow meant to be pulled by oxen out into the field, and had Fluttershy working on tapping into her powers to run a treadmill—out of all the potential things to set her to doing, Sunset figured that was the least violent.

Sunset herself was working at the punching bag to vent some of her earlier agitation. She hadn't gone quite so far as Applejack—the farmer had stripped to jeans, her work boots, a white tank top, and her battered hat, despite the winter temperatures—but she’d shrugged out of her jacket and sweatshirt, leaving her in a t-shirt and jeans. She’d even taken off her boots so she could get in some solid kicks without messing up the leather or the bag.

It felt good to loosen her muscles up and get into the rhythm of punching and kicking the bag. For a long time, working with a bag had provided an outlet for her to sort through emotions, especially anger, long enough that it had become a habit. The demon from her nightmares danced across her mind’s eye in between bits of memory and the slowly growing worry that maybe that part of her hadn't been as thoroughly purged as she’d initially believed.

Five minutes in and the redheaded teen had worked up a sweat, pausing to tie her wild mane back in a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes and to wipe away the sweat on her face with a rag. Blue-green eyes swept over the area, checking on her friends. Rainbow was running and flying along the measured area, Pinkie bouncing and cheering while manning the stopwatch. Fluttershy was meditating near the treadmill, her arms and legs moving and twisting slowly as if they were made of taffy, producing fur that appeared and disappeared as bones and muscles reshaped with unpleasant noises that made Sunset’s stomach churn. Applejack was using the plow on one of the fields, pulling the ancient hunk of metal so that it dug a deep furrow in the earth behind her, while Rarity watched from a pair of hay bales nearby, the faint flush on her cheeks and the intense stare telling a great deal about how she felt about the sight.

After a moment, Rarity seemed to feel Sunset’s gaze and turned towards her with a raised eyebrow. “Is everything alright, darling?”

Sunset coughed, grabbing a bottle of water and taking a long drink. “I’m fine,” she deflected.

Blue eyes stared right into her soul in that way Rarity was so good at. “Sunset, dear, it's unbecoming to lie. It is also difficult to….admire the scenery…when you are clearly out of sorts.” She rose and padded over to hold the punching bag as the redhead began to throw more punches at it. “Why don't you tell me what’s going on, get it off your chest?”

“It’s…” How could she explain any of it without giving it all away? She might’ve been getting to the point where she was okay mentioning her girlfriend was okay, but Twilight was not ready for her friends yet….and the situation was fairly wrapped up in things that had happened around her girlfriend. “…it’s…complicated…” she hedged, her fist impacting the bag twice in rapid succession.

The other girl raised her carefully manicured eyebrows. “Sunset,” she said in a dry tone, taking one hand off the bag to gesture with it. “Look around you, darling. Rainbow Dash is flying under her own power and about to break the sound barrier, Applejack’s strength can now be measured in horsepower, and I regularly sprout horse ears and a unicorn horn when I play music. Our lives are complicated now.” She gave the redhead a challenging smirk. “I think I can handle ‘complicated.’”

Sunset looked away, her hands lowering a moment. Her friend continued, “Darling, something has been bothering you for weeks now, and avoiding it doesn't seem to be helping. Maybe talking to a friend will—that's what we’re here for.”

“…I’m having nightmares.” It was hard to admit it, and she covered her discomfort by hitting the punching bag again.

Rarity made a thoughtful sound. “Are they…about something in particular?”

“….kind of…” Taking a breath, she forced the words out. “…I’m seeing myself. From the formal.”

The pale skinned tailor scrutinized her. “I assume you mean the rather unpleasant, crown wearing version of you?” At Sunset’s nod, she made another thoughtful humming sound in her throat. “Is there something specific that seems to be triggering these nightmares? Something going on in your day to day, as it were?”

She rolled her shoulders in a half shrug, before focusing on a rough combination of blows that would have sent the bag swinging if Rarity had not been holding it. “I guess there could be a lot of things…Magic, my research, the way my own magic is having awful surges…trying to figure out how to teach you girls…that freaky…vision that I had…” Worrying about her girlfriend, about her girlfriend’s school, she added mentally.

“Is it possible that these nightmares are being caused by the stress of all the magical endeavors you have taken upon yourself as your responsibility despite the fact that we have offered our assistance repeatedly?” Rarity’s tone was ever so slightly chastising, and Sunset felt her ears heat.

Still, she shook her head. “…I don't think so…and I’m trying to get help from you girls,” she added. “I’m just…the only one with all of the knowledge of the laws and math, and I’m the only one fluent enough to read all the texts because they don't exactly offer Old or Modern Ponish as a foreign language credit here, let alone any of the other possible languages texts from Equestria are written in.” Sunset stared off into the distance for a long minute, while Rarity waited patiently for her to continue.

“It’s…what if the demon I became…what if that's not gone? What if it's still inside me? What if my surges are because of it?” The former bully of Canterlot High shuddered. “I don't want to hurt anyone, especially my friends…but if…if I turn back into her…”

Rarity interrupted. “If you turn back into her, we will stop her, and get you back.”

She blinked. “What?”

“Darling, we’re friends. I do not believe for a minute that you are harboring some hidden evil—not with how dedicated you have been to changing your entire outlook on life. But on the off chance that something forces such a transformation upon you…we’re your friends. We will deal with it together, as friends are wont to do.”

A shiver went through her, remembering the rainbow and how much she had hurt for days after. “What if it's stronger? What if it can't be stopped?”

Rarity let go of the bag to step around and put a hand on her shoulder. “I do believe we are up to the task, should it arise.”

“I can't ask that—I don't want to risk any of you…” Sunset tried to pull away.

Her friend held firm, her other hand coming up to Sunset's other shoulder, turning the redhead to face her. “…you don't have to. We would do it freely, because you're our friend, a member of what I would tentatively call a sisterhood, and it's not in human nature to abandon a friend. We are not as helpless as we appear, Sunset.”

“I never said you were, but…it's just…”

A small smile was on Rarity’s lips. “I know. Care to put that to the test though? Or do you prefer a stationary target?”

The redhead’s brain ground to a painful halt. “Wait…what?”

One eyebrow arched upwards. “You do understand the concept of sparring, yes?”

“I…yes? But…since when…?”

Rarity laughed, guiding Sunset away from the punching bag and over to the open stretch of flat ground with close cut, winter-brown grass. “Darling, please. Do you honestly believe for a second Daddy wouldn't have made sure I can take care of myself? He hired a private self defense instructor years ago, and truthfully, I find the exercise it provides quite good for my figure, so I kept it up.”

“Oh.” That made sense, Sunset decided. Rarity was a lot of things, but at the heart of it, the young designer was independent and self-confident. Shaking her head to clear it and gain focus, Sunset shook out her limbs and let her body fall into a ready stance. “If you're sure,” she told her friend, “then I’d love a sparring partner.” At least, a sparring partner that she wasn't teaching and that she did not get distracted with fighting because she wanted to kiss her.

Rarity took a moment to tie her hair back out of her face. “I’m quite certain, Sunset. It will allow me to stretch myself as well—it has been some time since I’ve fought a skilled opponent.” She brought her hands up, and Sunset’s focus narrowed to the sparring ring and Rarity, blocking out everything else.

Sunset was not the kind of person to fight defensively—her training had not been passive, but active. She took only moments to size up the other girl’s posture and stance, before launching into motion. Bare feet stepped in close, and she lashed out with a series of sharp jabs, watching intently as Rarity stepped away, pivoting and putting distance between them. Blue eyes watched her with just as much scrutiny, and pale hands redirected an open palm strike with ease.

The former unicorn felt something shift after they exchanged a few more testing blows and blocks. Rarity hadn’t been joking—if anything, it was beginning to feel like she’d downplayed her skills. A faint grin grew on her face at the thought of an actual challenge to her skills. As much as she loved teaching Twilight, her girlfriend was still a beginner, and Sunset had focused on teaching her skills to disable and get away, or how to break holds, not on crushing her opponents. In any matches with her nerdy partner, she had to keep herself in check, providing the services of a living punching bag more than actually testing her own skills. She could have gone to the gym not far from her house to find a sparring partner, she supposed, or called up her former instructor, but before she hadn't cared much, and now she just didn't have time.

This match though, against her fashion fixated friend, was something different, and it was exhilarating. Discarding her testing strikes, Sunset’s brain engaged on a higher gear, analyzing and modifying her own behavior, adapting to the style that was starting to emerge in Rarity’s movements. She stepped in again, with a series of rapid strikes; most never made it past Rarity’s guard, but the last one did, catching the other girl in a glancing blow.

She paid for it though, when a retaliatory jab made her elbow go briefly numb, and Rarity moved away again with the fluid grace of a dancer. Sunset growled in her throat, a sound that made her friend arch one eyebrow at her. “Problem, darling?”

“No,” she responded, her muscles singing with enthusiasm. Her fist was slapped away with a pale hand, and Sunset was caught by surprise when Rarity took advantage of her mistake by stepping in instead of away and actually shoulder-checking her, throwing her off balance enough that the follow up leg sweep sent her to the ground. “Just didn’t expect you to be this good.”

Rarity smiled. “I am more than fabric and lace, Sunset.”

Arching her back, Sunset hopped to her feet and shook out the sting from the fall. “What happened to ‘a lady doesn't condone violence?’” she asked in genuine curiosity as she came in again, only for her friend to practically dance out of range—something that was starting to frustrate her.

“A lady does not condone brawling like an unwashed savage,” Rarity corrected, blocking a one-two punch that would have left her breathless. “A lady does not seek violence as a method of solving problems…but that does not mean it is inappropriate for a lady to be able to defend herself effectively from violence brought upon her.”

How the other girl could offer such a long winded speech in the middle of a fight, Sunset didn't know. She saved her own breath for the fight itself, and for the unpleasant, guttural utterances that always seemed to unnerve her opponents. Sunset shook off the distracted musings in favor of the sparring match at hand.

With a feral pony sound that would have been a source of mockery in polite unicorn society, Sunset darted forward, delivering a satisfying jab to the shoulder, followed by several more successful strikes that got through her friend’s guard. The tailor fell back, keen on putting distance between them, but Sunset pressed the attack, not letting her gain an inch. Her whole world narrowed to action. Strike. Block. Twist. Step in. Punch. Redirect. Close again. Counter.

It worked for a while, her brain adapting to Rarity’s strategies almost as fast as they were presented, and for a few minutes, they were both in constant motion as each tried to out-maneuver the other, to find an advantage or a weakness. Sunset briefly registered that they had an audience—the rest of their friends had come over to watch by the fence, and even Applebloom and her friends had been drawn away from their clubhouse to stare at the spectacle. She pushed it away when another of those surprise body-blocks from Rarity rattled her senses.

Pay attention, Shimmer, she told herself, shaking off the disorientation from turning an almost fall into a roll that brought her back up into a fighting stance within seconds. The redhead drew on the frustration and annoyance that had made her an agitated mess, turning it into fuel for another aggressive assault, ears pinning back a fraction instinctively. The explosion of action soon had Rarity on the backfoot, though the smile on her face and the Pony-Up features told her that her friend was enjoying this as much as she was. Grinning, Sunset committed to what should have been the finishing blow in the fight, ignoring the hits that got through her guard in her pursuit of victory, fixed solely on the strike-that-wasn't-a-strike that would signal the end of the match—she didn't intend to actually hit her friend with a crippling blow, after all. Tasting victory on her tongue, her fist launched forward, knowing Rarity’s arm was out of position by enough that she’d never get it up fast enough to block…

Only for her mind to register a surge of powerful magic, and her knuckles to crash with all of her force into something that felt like punching a smooth wall. The air rang with the sound of the collision, the soft edged chime the only sound to break the abrupt silence that fell over the whole yard. Sunset froze, her eyes meeting Rarity’s equally startled ones, before both of them looked at where Sunset had impacted a glimmering construct that resembled a flat polygon of hard light and gem-dust…with a fist wreathed in crimson flames.

“...A question…if you will, darling,” Rarity began.

“Uhh…” Sunset responded, still processing what had happened, even as she straightened up and stared blankly at the crackling, blood-red fire that covered her hand and part of her forearm without burning her skin. It was warm, and its movement felt faintly like the ticklish brush of a feather against her nerves, but…it did not harm her.

“Did you…mean to do that?”

The former student of Princess Celestia shook her head, trying to shake the flames out—to no avail. “…no…did you?”

Rarity looked down at the shield that had protected her from the unintentionally burning blow, the whole thing fading from existence. “Completely a surprise—though I suppose I am thankful I did. Burning hair smells awful and it is nearly impossible to get the stink out of fabric.”

Sunset attempted several times to put the fire out on her hand. Even dunking it in a water trough did nothing but violate several laws of physics and create a generous amount of steam. “Now if I could just figure out what I did, so I can stop doing it, that’d be great.”

“Holy shit!” Rainbow yelled, leaping into the air. “Did you see that?! That was so awesome!”

As if her yell had broken a spell, the rest of the watchers all started talking at once. Sunset winced, but a moment later the flames guttered out on their own, and she offered a hand to Rarity to help her up. “You okay?” she asked as Applejack leapt the fence to come check her partner over.

Rarity gave her a warm smile and patted an amber skinned arm. “I’m quite alright, Sunset. Though perhaps we should call that match a draw.”

Lots going on here in this chapter.

Poor Sunny. She's got so much on her plate....

Not to mention more than a few unresolved issues and inner demons.

Also, yep. Power reveals. I like the versatility of Rarity's constructs, so I kept those, but...Sunset...like Pinkie and Shy, has undergone some reworking in the power arena. Besides. Sunset is absolutely the type to be a Pyromancer.

And yes, Rarity being trained in self defense is something thats been...sort of hinted at...throughout the story. It felt appropriate, given just how self-assured and self-confident the character is. Plus, with all the ice-cream she eats, she needs some kind of exercise to keep fit. Yoga is great for flexibility, but it does not burn off ice-cream pudge.

As a side note, the things listed under "demons" in the strange book Sunset was given are not ALL demons, though many of them are creatures from various folklores who are typically malicious or demon-like. Some of them are labeled as "demons" by their original cultures though...

Though mentioning "Alp/Alf" was actually an homage to a webcomic I read many years ago: Charby the Vampirate. The comic had a delightful character named "Tony" who always made me laugh, and that is what he was.

One more chapter to to go before my Holiday Hiatus, and I can't decide if you guys are going to hate me for it or not.

Stay tuned next week! :P