Sunset Shimmer was in a bind. Quite literally, in fact, because she was restrained to a tree by vines. Before her stood a woman who appeared no older than her with blood orange skin, a band of flowers adorning her crown and a terse expression adorning her face. “Why did you tie me to this tree?” Sunset asked. The woman sighed. “I would presume introductions would be in order first, Sunset Shimmer of Equestria.” Sunset felt a chill run through her spine. “Fine. Who are you?” “I am who I am.” “I can’t―” Sunset groaned “―I can’t call you that. Give me a name.” The woman knelt down and picked a flower, sniffing it before it wilted between her fingers. “I suppose you could say I am the shepherd of life’s flock.” Sunset beat her head against the tree. “What am I supposed to call you, shepherd? That doesn’t sound right. [i]Give me a name.[/i]” “Ah, yes. What’s in a name, anyway? A designation in order to assign meaning to an object .I’ll never understand [i]your kind’s [/i]obsession with the separation inherent in assigning one.” She stood up and faced Sunset once again. “However, to facilitate the conversation, I suppose granting myself one would be in order.” She tapped her chin. “How about… “[i][b]Gloriosa?[/b][/i]” The sounds created by Gloriosa’s voice when she uttered her name caused Sunset’s heart to beat faster and her sense of self to shrivel the tiniest bit. “Does Gloriosa suit your needs?” Gloriosa asked. Sunset bit her lip and nodded, currently unable to find words to express her affirmation. Gloriosa clapped her hands together. “That’s lovely! Now, do you know why you’re here?” “It was… a dream summoned me here.” Sunset cringed upon uttering that. “You know,” Gloriosa said as she wandered about the forest, multihued bouquets of floral arrangements blossoming in her wake, “most beings of your [i]supposed [/i]intelligence deem visions to be beneath their purview.” Sunset grunted. “I used to know someone.” “But that would be why you [i]came[/i] here,” Gloriosa said as he laid her hand upon a tree. The tree dessicated, its leaves gracing the forest bed with their presence. “Do you know why you were summoned here?” She sat down and dug up chunks of earth. Sunset growled. “I don’t know. I just came to where the dream said I should go and then [i]you [/i]tied me up to a tree!” “Well, I suppose now that you’re here, I can tell you.” Gloriosa clumped the earth into something resembling a stick. “I’d like to know that myself. I have homework to finish.” Gloriosa chuckled. “Such puerile concerns for one responsible for nearly destroying us all.” She touched the arranged earth with her finger and it took the form of a snake which coiled around her arm. Sunset inhaled. “What?” “You know exactly of what I speak.” Gloriosa strode towards Sunset, the snake still coiled around her arm. Sunset tried to recoil to no avail. “The darkness in your heart which introduced an oil slick unto the world that others have taken advantage of. That alien force that knew not its touch before you gave this place the forbidden fire from your home.” She approached Sunset, the snake snapping in Sunset’s direction as she fruitlessly failed to twist away. Sunset blinked as her breath hitched. “You mean magic?” Sunset shook her head. “No, you can’t blame me for that! It’s not―” “Not your fault?” Gloriosa bowed her head. “You mean to tell me it isn’t your fault when your first act of magic is to [i]stain [/i]the fabric of nature and later when the magic you introduced is used to tear that very fabric into shreds?” She looked into Sunset’s eyes, her own immobilizing Sunset’s thoughts as they hinted at the endless abyss. “You are the source of the evil which threatens this world.” Sunset’s jaw slackened, her gaze locked with Gloriosa’s. “You are the enemy of life. The beast which threatens to crumble all under its fist. You are―” Sunset snapped her eyes shut. “Responsible. Which means I’ve been doing everything in my power to stop it when it crops up.” Sunset shivered as she felt the cold touch of reptilian flesh wrap around her neck. “Look, I recognize what I’ve done. You don’t have to tell me that.” Sunset opened her eyes, noticing that Gloriosa’s had softened. “I was rotten to the core, and no amount of apologies can rectify that. All I can do from this point is to put my best foot forward to be a better person and to assure that everything doesn’t come crashing down around us.” “Remorse doesn’t excuse past actions,” Gloriosa said as she raised her hand. The snake tightened around Sunset’s throat, cutting off her air supply for a few moments before releasing. Sunset gasped for air. “Give me a reason why I shouldn’t put you to death.” Sunset’s breath grew shallow as a cold tendril caressed her. “Because… because…” Sunset smirked. “Because you need me.” Gloriosa stared blankly at Sunset Shimmer, taking in what she said. “For what purpose?” “Well,” Sunset said with a chuckle, “your domain appears to be nature, judging by all of the tricks you’ve pulled in my presence, I guess in an attempt to impress your power upon me. This [i]alien magic[/i], however, appears to be beyond your ken.” She flashed a toothy grin. “It worries you, confuses you… [i]perplexes [/i]you. It’s outside of your realm, judging by your reaction to it.” “It is outside of my understanding because it’s not native to this world.” Gloriosa clenched her fist, and the snake tightened slightly around Sunset’s neck. “So you’re powerless over it,” Sunset eked out. The snake loosened its grip. “You have no control over it, so your solution is to kill the source.” She hummed. “However, the box has been opened. You can’t kill magic by killing me.” Sunset let out a breath. “Others will abuse it, and if you snuff my life, you can say goodbye to this world.” Gloriosa glared at Sunset. “So you’re holding the world hostage with your life.” “Not quite.” Sunset shook her head. “I suppose in terms you would understand, you could say I’m evil’s natural predator.” Gloriosa stared at Sunset for a few minutes as Sunset glared back with a vicious grin. Flies buzzed around them and a woodpecker drilled into a nearby tree for sustenance, the rhythmic tapping punctuating the silence. Gloriosa then extended her hand and recalled the snake to her arm. “Your answer is acceptable.” Sunset let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. “I would hope so. There’s no shame in asking for help with something you don’t understand.” “I understand that you’ve just taken on a massive burden.” The snake absorbed into Gloriosa’s body. “May you blossom like a palm tree and grow strong like a cedar.” Sunset nodded. “...thanks, I guess. Now could you untie me?” “I don’t have to,” Gloriosa said with a smirk. [hr] Sunset Shimmer shot out of bed and hyperventilated, a thin sheen of sweat coating her skin. She honestly couldn’t believe that had been a dream―it felt so real. Everything from Gloriosa’s crushing glare to the snake’s skin around her neck constricting her breath. And she still felt a lingering sense of awe. That definitely happened on [i]some [/i]level, she mused as she extricated herself from her bed and trudged to the bathroom. She’d have to ask Princess Twilight to ask Celestia about visions that lead to visions, if that was even possible. A double vision, as it were Brushing her teeth, she came to the conclusion that it probably wasn’t a vision. Only Princess Celestia got visions, and she certainly wasn’t as advanced as Princess Celestia. That would be [i]arrogant [/i]of her. She soon came to the conclusion that it was just a normal dream. A normal, vivid hyper realistic dream. Everyone gets those once in a while, right? Now that she decided that her crazy dream last night was just a dream, she took to the task of deciphering it, wondering what it meant. Maybe she still felt some lingering guilt over the Fall Formal? Perhaps she shouldn’t have snapped at Twilight during the Friendship Games. Either way, they were things that she already knew on some level, so maybe the dream just brought them to light. There was [i]no way [/i]any of that happened. [i]What kind of dumb name is Gloriosa, anyway,[/i] she thought as she spit into the sink and washed it down the drain. [i]It sounds like parents trying too hard to give their kid a ‘unique’ name.[/i] Her phone ringing threw her out of her reverie as she scrambled to see who was calling. The screen indicated it was Rarity. “Hey, Rarity, what’s up?” [i]“Sunset, I’m surprised you answered this early in the morning.”[/i] Sunset chortled as she stretched out on her bed. “Well, if you didn’t think I was going to answer, why didn’t you just shoot me a text?” [i]“You know that I prefer [/i]actual [i]conversation to texting. It’s just you miss out on a lot of language over text… vocal inflections and all that. It’s rather limiting, if I do say so myself.[/i]” “Yeah, I hear you,” Sunset said before she yawned. “So, I had this crazy dream last night.” [i]“Oh, really? Do tell.”[/i] “Nah, I’ll probably start telling you, then forget half of it and it’ll stop making sense. All I remember is how terrifying it was.” Sunset scratched the back of her neck. “[i]That sounds more like a nightmare, darling.”[/i] Sunset shrugged. “It wasn’t really a nightmare, it was just… weird, you know?” [i]“Right, I understand. Sometimes you get strange dreams, like the one I had where my dresses were attacking me. I don’t even know [/i]what [i]to call that one—[/i]” “So why did you call again at eight in the morning?” [i]“Oh, right! I wanted to see if you wanted to attend yoga with me today.[/i]” “That sounds great!” Sunset got out of bed and rifled through her drawers to find her yoga pants. “When is it?” [i]“It’s at twelve o’clock sharp. I’d love to finally introduce you to Gloriosa—[/i]” Sunset almost dropped the phone as icy terror shot through her veins. “W-what did you just say?” Snapshots of her dream flashed through her mind. [i]“I said the yoga instructor’s name is Gloriosa. Now when should I expect you?”[/i] Sunset sat down on her bed and bit her lip. “Um, I forgot that I had to…” [i]Come on, Sunset, think of something![/i] “... wash my cat.” [i]“... I didn’t think you had a cat.[/i]” [i]Oh crap, she’s right! I don’t have a cat here, that was Equestria![/i] “Well, um, I found a stray kitten last night. I called him… Shepherd!” [i]“... that’s an unusual name. Well, I [/i]completely [i]understand. Washing Opalescence is an absolute [/i]nightmare! [i]I guess I’ll see you at school on Monday.”[/i] “Y-yeah, see you on Monday.” Sunset hung up the phone and let out a deep breath. She was pretty sure Rarity’s yoga instructor wasn’t a cold, calculating nature spirit who contacted her in a dream and tried to kill her. But she wasn’t going to take that chance. It certainly wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility, considering all of the brouhaha she had been through the past year. If she was going to meet this Gloriosa, it would be on [i]Sunset’s [/i]terms in a public place. Sunset pressed her hands into her face. She was thinking crazy. To even suggest what the dream implied may have actually happened was [i]insane.[/i] She had no logical reason to make that connection. Maybe Gloriosa is an actual name people give to their children. Sunset, however, didn’t believe in coincidences. An attempt to be corralled into meeting someone named Gloriosa after dreaming about a Gloriosa was definitely under the list of things that fell outside the realm of coincidence. She just didn’t want to encounter her on an uneven playing field on the off chance of that being true. Sunset would do her best to have the upper hand next time they meet.