Seven Days in Sunny June, Book II

by BlueBastard

Friday, PM: And Then You Dropped The Bomb

Friday, PM: And Then You Dropped the Bomb

“Uh, Twilight?” asked Razz, “Are you sure about this?”

“Totally!” confirmed the alicorn, a determined look on her face. Her horn aglow, she was surrounded by a sphere of magical energy with arcane runes forming lines going every which way. “I modified this one myself with what I know of dark magic, so feel free to put a little more punch into your attack than before!”

Raspberry just watched the spinning runes go back and forth. There was something wrong with them, she knew, but she just couldn’t put a hoof on it. Though, if Twilight was using more conventional magic, Razz considered that she may just not recognize Twilight’s spell. After she’d finally given up on trying to use ordinary unicorn magic years ago, she’d never bothered to really read up on normal magic. It only made her feel depressed, and in a way, “inferior” to accomplished magic prodigies like Twilight.

“Hey, you okay, Razz?” called back the encapsulated pony. “Something wrong?”

“Huh? Oh! No, no, sorry about that! Just lost in my own thoughts for a moment.”

“Gotcha, but I’d rather not keep this spell up forever, you know!”

“Then let me solve that problem for you!” Immediately, Raspberry lit up her horn, a thick cloud of a purple, bubbly mass boiling on her forehead that was ready to be unleashed. She reared, throwing her head back, then upon landing fired a bolt of raw dark magic. Despite Twilight’s boastfulness, Raspberry intentionally made this attack weaker than the earlier ones, just to make sure that protective bubble actually could stop dark magic at all.

The result, however, was alarmingly different than expected. Even if the shield had done absolutely nothing, Raspberry’s attack would have done nothing other than turn Twilight an ugly shade of green. Instead, the spell shattered the shield on contact, before somehow both spell and shield fragments converged into a single-point of mass in front of Twilight and exploded again, sending Twilight spiraling backwards.

“Twilight!” cried out Razz, immediately teleporting to the downed alicorn’s side. Thankfully, whatever had happened, the immediate aftermath showed Twilight wasn’t hurt too badly, just a bruise here and there. The adverse reaction from the spells, both offensive and defensive, did knock her unconscious however, and there was no telling-

“NO!” screamed somepony in the distance. Raspberry barely had any time to react to that before Sunset Shimmer suddenly appeared next to her and delivering a hoof right into Raspberry’s face. “STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HER, YOU MONSTER!”

Oh, great, the one pony I don’t need involved, thought Raspberry as she hit the ground.

I’m too late. A shell-shocked Sunset Shimmer looked at the still, lifeless body of Twilight Sparkle. Taking in trembling breaths, Sunset’s thoughts were flooded with images of the bloody, mangled human with Twily’s hair. And to think, she wanted me to be friends with that monster! How could she have been so blind?

Suddenly, the truth about what was really going on hit Sunset like a ton of bricks. She thought about what she’d read in that article, and about what Rarity had told her. It all started when Raspberry Beryl was caught and forced to stand trial. After her outburst at said hearing, Raspberry had come up with some big sob-story about her ‘dark and troubled past.’ She had Twilight and the others wrapped around her hoof after that. The princess must have just now discovered the truth, forcing Raspberry to silence her once and for all!

Hearing a grunt, Sunset looked over to see her dark counterpart struggling to stand. Sunset lowered her horn and began channeling magic. “Don’t bother getting up!”

.Back on her hooves, Raspberry hollered, “What, you don’t want me to help her?”

“You’ve done enough already!” Sunset roared.

“Look, just calm down, I’m sure that-“

“NO!”

A blast of magic rocketed forth from Sunset, and Raspberry barely managed to raise a wall of dark crystal to block it. Even still, the wall only held up so much without reinforcement, and Raspberry darted out from behind it before it shattered under Sunset’s relentless force. However, Sunset had to recover from using so much power at once, a brief respite that Raspberry took full advantage of.

“Okay, fine then!” Her horn encased in its dark aura, it was as if Raspberry suddenly released a concentration of pure shadow that immediately sought out Sunset like a snake looking for its next meal. Sunset could only brace for impact, blinking in confusion when the shadowy mass just passed right on through her and dissolved.

“What was that supposed to do?!” jibed Sunset, wondering if Raspberry was toying with her. It became evident this was not the case when in attempting to cast another offensive spell, she found the energy suddenly reflect back as if hitting a blockage, causing a sharp spike of pain in her head. Quickly darting a hoof up to her strangely malfunctioning horn, she gasped sharply as she discovered strange spikes of something having grown on them.

“In case you hadn’t noticed,” snarked Raspberry, looking all too confident, “I’ve cut off your magic. It’s not permanent, unless I want it to be.”

“Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?!” seethed Sunset. “If you can cut off a unicorn’s magic so easily, why didn’t you do it to Twilight?!”

Raspberry facehoofed. “If you’d just let me speak, I can explain the situ-“

“Ohhhh, I get it now! You think I’m not as much of a threat as Twilight, don’t you?!”

“What? Why would I think that? You’re the one who’s been harassing me all week!”

“Because you’re the one attacking my sister’s mind!” Sunset roared, the look in her eyes pinpricks of rage. She then gestured to the limp form of Twilight. “And it’s pretty clear now what you do to ponies that dare oppose you!”

Rather than retort, Raspberry chose to sigh deeply and close her eyes. If she thinks I’m down and out she’s making a big mistake! Sunset thought. With her horn incapacitated, Sunset elected to go for a more physical assault. She couldn’t help but feel satisfaction when Raspberry opened her eyes only to see Sunset’s hoof connect to her face. The warlock staggered back, blood trickling from a displaced muzzle.. Righting herself from the lump she’d landed in, Raspberry wiped the blood from her face, slitted eyes angrily boring into Sunset.

“You just don’t know when to stop, do you?” accused the darker unicorn. “Y’know, Twilight was wrong about you. You haven’t changed one bit!”

“Pfft, don’t lecture me, you Sombra-born bitch!” shouted Sunset. “You’re the one who used dark magic and manipulation to become a princess. It’s only fitting that you’re just my twisted mirror image. You’re everything I aspired to be! But not anymore. Now, I will protect my friends and my family from you!”

Seeing an opportunity, Sunset took a huge breath and gave Raspberry the deadliest stare she could muster. “Your ass is going to be Discord and I’m going to be all six fucking Elements of Harmony. I’m going to rampage on you like the Princess did against the Minotaur Invasion of 957. I WILL BREAK YOU LIKE SHE BROKE THE ENTIRE CHANGELING ARMY AT SADDLEBACK RIDGE, AND I WON’T FEEL AN OUNCE OF REMORSE DOING IT, DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?”

“What. The Fuck. Are you talking about?” balked Raspberry.

Sunset just stood there, taking a few moments to mentally reboot. “Oh for…I’m in the actual country where all that shit actually happened and I still waste that awesome pre-asskicking speech?!” She groaned.

Raspberry just stared at her opponent with an uncomprehending expression. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“You are!” Without letting Raspberry even think about finishing her off, Sunset rushed forward to try a more “direct” method of assault.

Following her white lie about knowing martial arts to explain to her family just why she’d been able to do otherwise superhuman feats (like punch restaurant tables into oblivion and beat the snot out of her ex-boyfriend in seconds) she’d taken some pointers from Applejack on learning Taekwondo. Now deprived of her magic, Sunset knew this was the only means of fighting the monster she had left. However, trying to actually apply what little she knew into attacking Raspberry was relatively awkward given Taekwondo was not designed for quadrupedal stances, much less sapient equine bodyforms.

Thus, her attacks ultimately amounted to awkwardly flailing around in a manner that looked quite ridiculous. She still managed to get in some good side kicks and almost even landed an axe kick without too much strain. Raspberry must have been completely flabbergasted, as she made no real effort to go on the offensive. But she did seem to have unnaturally good reflexes, and managed to either dodge or shrug off anything that wasn’t more than a glancing blow.

This isn’t working, Sunset realized. I need to do something to turn the tide before she decides to stop messing around and finish me with another dark spell. It was then that Sunset caught sight of the brace on Raspberry’s hind leg, and a glimmer of hope appeared. It was a sign that her opponent could take permanent damage after all, and more importantly, it was a good weak point for her to exploit. If there’s anything I was ever good at, it’s exploiting others’ weaknesses.

Sunset reared up on her hind legs, raising her left hoof in a feint. Raspberry fell for it, and shifted her position to best protect herself from the attack, exposing her injured hind leg in the process. Rather than follow through with her projected attack, Sunset spun around and nailed Raspberry’s braced leg with the hardest buck she could muster.

With an agonized scream, Raspberry fell to her side, clutching the broken appendage as her eyes rolled back in blinding pain. Sunset couldn’t help but grin now that her victory was all but assured.

“Not so invulnerable, are you?!” The smug grin on her face quickly faded, however, when she looked back at Raspberry.

Despite the small streams of tears coming from her eyes, the wisps of dark magic energy starting to flow around Raspberry didn’t bode well. Indeed, it was as if a shadow now passed over the injured mare, her colors shifting to darker tones including her cutie mark as well. That made it worse: given the intrinsic link between a pony and her mark, to see a change like that was nothing short of unnatural.

Sunset’s attention, however, was quickly diverted to the other alarming feature, the one that had been the reason she’d been convinced Raspberry was the one causing all of Twily’s problems: her real horn. As the fake, normal-looking horn faded away, in its place emerged the slightly curved, smooth-faced magical conductor that struck fear into Sunset. All around them, the very world itself seemed to grow darker as Raspberry’s agonized cries continued. Indeed, a glance up confirmed that an unnatural vortex of dark clouds now swirled above them. When Raspberry climbed back to her hooves, Sunset was looking at a completely different pony. She was looking at the monster from her nightmare. Now, Sunset finally began to understand that she’d totally underestimated what she was up against.
“GRWAAAAAAAHH!” wailed the monster. It was a loud and unnatural sound - like the cry of a wraith - that shook Sunset to the very core of her being., The monster’s eyes –which Sunset caught for only a brief moment in their normal blood red coloration – poured with the green-and-purple mist, her fangs bared. Almost as if to mock Sunset, Beryl’s first course of action now was to charge her assailant in a full body slam.

“Oooof!” Sunset was knocked back a few meters, the enraged unicorn opposite her having come in like a wrecking ball to her chest. Already gasping for breath, Shimmer’s eyes went wide when she saw Raspberry charging up another spell. The simple thing would have been to teleport away to recover, but as the pain in her head magnified in the attempt, she only then remembered her horn was prevented from working. She was trapped.

As if to underline that fact, Raspberry shot several bolts of magic at Sunset, who found herself encased in dark crystal from the neck down and pinned against a nearby tree. As Sunset struggled to escape, she realized there was one part of her body still exposed: the part of her chest where her heart was located. Sunset’s worst fears were confirmed when she looked up from the hole to see Raspberry charging her, that frightening horn aimed like a dart heading for a bullseye and its piercing tip casting a gleam for a split second. Her almost limp hind leg with the brace dragged sickeningly behind her, yet it had no effect on the mad unicorn’s speed.

Time seemed to slow as the demon unicorn closed the distance between them, and Sunset found herself thinking with despair about all she would leave behind. Her human friends would all be heartbroken when she didn’t return. Principal Celestia would have to tell her family everything. What would they think? Would her parents ever forgive her deception? Would Shining Armor, Tavi, or Twily think of her differently? Oh God, Twily. If the nightmares don’t kill her, this will.

“I...I’m sorry, Twily, forgive me!” sputtered Sunset, the tears starting to flow.

Something happened in that moment that Sunset couldn’t explain. Raspberry’s eyes went wide for a second, and suddenly they didn’t seem as monstrous as before.Then she abruptly locked her three good legs at an angle, kicking up grass and soil while she slid to a stop just in front of the encased Sunset. The oppressive darkness of the clouds above them slowly lifted, and for a brief moment, the two lookalikes locked eye contact, during which Sunset swore she saw a flicker of… something in Raspberry’s eyes. It looked almost like… sympathy? Understanding? However, both mares suddenly felt another force take hold of them and promptly they fell unconscious.

“Oh, no!” gasped Fluttershy. She had arrived during the brief battle when Heliodor – who Raspberry had allowed her to pet-sit for the day – had suddenly taken off without warning in a clear panic. Fluttershy had understood the source of it as soon as she looked to where the bird was flying and saw a swirling vortex of dark clouds. He now was at the side of his sleeping companion, head nestled against her to make sure she knew he was there. Fluttershy herself was by Twilight’s side, helping the dazed alicorn get back on her hooves.

“D-don’t worry,” assured the princess, “it’s only a sleeping spell. I’ll apologize to them later, but it’s the only way to be sure they can’t hurt each other right now.”

Fluttershy gave Twilight her patented worried look. “But, Twilight, they’re not simply going to be nice to each other once they wake up, are they?”

“Most likely not, but something happened with Razz that allowed her to regain control of herself, and I have a small theory as to what that is. But clearly, we need to get those two ponies talking about what’s going on here, especially Sunset,” Twilight closed her eyes. “I should have seen this before, it’s a failure in my position as the Princess of Friendship that this had to come to pass.”

“No, my dear Twilight,” said a voice behind her,, “if anything, this proves you are the only pony who deserves that title.”

Twilight turned around and her eyes widened at the pony standing there. “P-Princess Celestia? What are you…?”

“I was having lunch with Princess Cadance when she felt a surge of Sombra-level dark magic being used. Since we only know one pony capable of such a feat, and that said mare is in the crosshairs of my wayward student, I felt I needed to step in,” Celestia glanced over at the two mares in question. “Though, it looks like you have things under control for the time being.”

“Right,” Twilight turned to address her friend. “Fluttershy, do you think you can take Raspberry back to the Retreat?”

Fluttershy nodded and went over to the mare in question to wake her. Twilight’s gaze then fell on the one who had started this incident. Sunset Shimmer lay on the grass where she had landed when Raspberry’s dark crystals had dissipated. Twilight knew her once-enemy had only acted out of love for her family, but she couldn’t deny the situation looked bad. Sunset had triggered another dark power surge in Raspberry, and it was through sheer luck that nopony was hurt.

Twilight swallowed when she looked back at Celestia. “So… what about Sunset?”

Celestia’s gaze briefly flicked to her former protégé. “Take her back to Golden Oaks and keep her there until we decide how to proceed. There are ponies she should talk to. Ones that in hindsight, we should have had her speak with after she first explained why she’s here.”

When she woke up, Sunset wondered if she’d ever know life without some kind of perpetual headache again. Reaching a shaky hoof up to her head, she got a further surprise as she brushed her horn. It was free of whatever Raspberry had put on it, despite her claims that only she could remove the blockage.

But that was a small blessing to the world of shit she knew awaited her. The bed she was in wasn’t the one she’d been spending the previous few nights after whatever crazy event had occurred that day. And this wasn’t Sugarcube Corner - it was Golden Oaks. Never before did Sunset think coming back to such a familiar name would be bad.

Above all else, what had actually happened? Sunset was certain that she’d managed to sign her own death warrant through rash, hasty action, but the fact she wasn’t dead meant nothing to her. Is Twilight okay? Is she even alive? Sunset fretted. Getting out of the bed, she still felt the lingering effects of getting headbutted in her barrel; no more running around for her tonight. Magic use was also most likely out of the question, both from the pains in her chest and her head.

And of course things just had to get worse when she accidently overshot a step while trying to go down the staircase, causing her to promptly turn into a rolling, maize-and-red colored ball all the way to the floor where she landed with a loud thump.

“Yeah, I keep telling Twilight we need a railing for the stairs,” said one of the few male voices Sunset had heard all week. “But of course now that she can fly, she doesn’t need stairs, much less rails.”

The mare simply groaned in pain before regaining her senses. The sight of Twilight’s number one assistant sitting at the table casually reading a newspaper helped put some of Sunset’s fears at ease. If Twilight was dead or seriously injured, she was sure the baby dragon would look a little more concerned.

“I take it Twilight’s fine, then?”

Spike closed the newspaper he was reading and looked in Sunset’s direction. “Better than you, at least,” he told her, a satisfied grin coming onto his face, “but then again you’re the only one Raspberry beat up.”

A flicker of anger came to Sunset’s face. “Well, not the only one…”

Spike blinked in confusion, then asked, “Are you talking about how she accidently knocked out Twilight right before you charged in like an angry minotaur?”

Now back on her hooves, Sunset glowered at Spike. How could he of all people ignore the obvious? “Accidently?! She threw an exploding beam of energy at Twilight!”

“No she didn’t; all she did was throw a minor hex that would have recolored Twilight’s coat. What happened was Twilight’s fault by complete accident!”

“Huh?”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Here’s the deal, at least what Twilight said at any rate: she and Razz were testing out a bunch of anti-dark magic spells Twilight had found, with one of them having been modified by Twi herself. Only she got some of the spell’s composition wrong, and so instead of having the intended effect of dampening the dark magic’s effect, it amplified the power. She asked Raspberry to use a strong spell out of ill-placed confidence, but it was Razz who used a relatively weak spell instead because she didn’t trust Twilight’s defenses.”

The unicorn was struck dumb, her understanding of the entire situation turned on its head. “Huh?”

Spike lowered his brow and gave Sunset Shimmer a deadly glare. One that she remembered seeing on much more canine features. “Let me put it simply: you assaulted a member of Equestrian royalty for no reason, and potentially endangered all of Ponyville in the process.”

Sunset sat in place, suddenly feeling like she was tumbling down the stairs all over again. Celestia’s parting words on her first day back echoed in Sunset’s mind. I know you’re worried about Twily, Sunset, Celestia had warned her. But I would strongly advise against any more violent outbursts during your stay here.

“I’m screwed…” Sunset said at barely a whisper. “When Celestia finds out…”

“She already knows.” When Sunset looked back up at Spike, it was with a look of pure terror. “She apparently arrived just after you passed out and ordered you sent back here. You’re pretty much under house arrest until she and Twilight figure out what to do with you, so don’t go anywhere.”

As Sunset just sat there in chilled silence, Spike continued. “Hey, what do you know about my counterpart in that other world? Is he a dog too?”

Sunset forced herself to focus. She didn’t really care to indulge Spike, but it served as a brief distraction. “Oh, um…yes, the human world does have a version of you, but….”

Spike narrowed his eyes. “But what?”

Sunset merely blushed. “He’s not a dog - he’s a human just like the others; more specifically, he’s the little brother to Twily. And so therefore, since Twily’s my foster sister, the other version of you is my foster brother.” An embarrassed cringe followed on Sunset’s muzzle.

Spike didn’t change his questioning glare. “So…the other version of me is a ‘hyuo-mahn’, like what Twilight turned into, and not a dog like what I turned into?”

“Yeah, just a normal kid.” A pause. “Well...mostly.”

With a sigh, Spike got up from his seat. “I’ll be right back,” he said cryptically, before proceeding to head on upstairs. Sunset didn’t understand what was going on until a distraught cry rang from the upper floor: “NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” This was in turn shortly followed by the baby dragon coming back down the stairs with the exact same unamused expression on his face. However, it was clear that he still had something else to say.

Sunset knew exactly what it was. “Anything else, Spike?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, getting to it. Twilight told me I have to apologize to you for what I did earlier in the week.”

She eyed him carefully. “Are you really sorry?”

“Only insofar as that Twi took away my gem stash and comic books.”

The fiery-maned mare rolled her eyes. Well, at least he doesn’t have a 3DS to confiscate, or else he’d probably start doing worse things to me. “Fine, apology accepted, since that’s probably the best I’m going to get out of you.”

“Good. Just...tell Twilight I was really sorry, okay? Or else she says she won’t give me my allowance to buy the new Power Ponies issue that comes out next week!”

“Don’t push your luck,” Sunset nickered.

“Fine, I get the message. Okay, now that I’ve taken care of that, we can move on.”

“Move on? To what?”

Spike gave her another hard look. “You need to stop harassing Raspberry Beryl.”

Sunset gave a weary sigh. She was getting sick to death of talking about that pony. “Don’t tell me she got to you too.”

“I don’t know what you mean by that, but Razz isn’t a bad pony. The only times she’s ever been hostile to anypony is if they were hostile to her first. Though, I guess you know all about that!”

Sunset gave the drake a skeptical look. “And what about when she fed you that dark crystal? Was that in response to some hostility from you?”

“So she tried to kill you for no reason, then?”

“No! Just…” Spike sighed and rubbed the space between his eyes with a claw. “Look, that whole thing was an accident, okay?”

“Yeah, the article I read said the same thing,” Sunset said with a touch of venom. “Guess it pays to have a princess under your control.”

“Look, here’s what happened: you know that Raspberry used to make gem forgeries out of dark crystals for a living, right?” Sunset nodded. “Well, she made a particularly big, juicy looking one for Sweetie Belle’s Nightmare Night costume. Problem is, it ended up within my reach.”

Spike gave a lamenting sigh. “It was my fault, really. I knew I wasn’t supposed to eat that gem, but I was thinking with my stomach that night. Anyway, the very magic in my fluids that allows me to eat gems in the first place somehow caused the disguised crystal to grow inside my throat. If Twilight hadn’t been so quick to use the Haymlich, I wouldn’t be standing here. But Raspberry was horrified.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yeah, once her secret was out, Raspberry ran off.”

“Doesn’t that just prove her guilt?” Sunset asked. “The innocent don’t run.” I know that all too well.

“Not unless they know they’re going to be locked up or put to death for something that’s beyond their control,” Spike answered. “You do know that she only uses dark magic because she can’t use regular magic, right?”

Now, both eyebrows made their way up Sunset’s forehead. “That’s news to me.”

“Anyway, she only ran after she knew I was okay,” Spike continued. “Heck, running when she did ended up putting her in a position to save Apple Bloom from a terrible fate!”

“She…she saved that filly?” Sunset didn’t know what to think. Everything she thought she knew about her supposed enemy was suddenly being turned on its head. “But why hasn’t anybody told me that? All I’ve been hearing is that there was this big event everypony was involved with that featured her, but nopony will tell me what that was!”

“You will learn that in time, Miss Shimmer,” came a third voice, both feminine and regal. As unicorn and dragon looked to the stairs, Princess Luna was standing atop them. “But it is not Spike’s position to inform you of that, nor is it mine.”

“P-princess Luna!” blurted Sunset, immediately bowing. “What are you doing here?”

“My sister feels that, in light of today’s ‘incident’, you and I needed to talk. Frankly, from what I know about you, I do agree with her that such a conversation is long overdue.”

A few minutes later, Sunset and Princess Luna were outside, atop the elevated deck on Golden Oaks and gazing up at the starry skies. A tea set was laid out before them, courtesy of Spike’s usual ministrations; Luna had briefly teased him about being around for “girl talk” before giving the baby dragon some gems and sending him on his way. Seeing the princess do that, it made Sunset wonder if Ms. Luna had ever done something similar for Spike before she entered the picture. It seemed like something she would do.

“Tell me, Miss Shimmer,” began Luna, a teacup floating just before her lips, “are there nights like these in the human world?”

Sunset looked up to gaze at Luna’s handiwork. The night sky was covered in a blanket of shimmering stars, each vying for her attention. The shapes of ponies, ursas, and dragons looked down at her from every corner of the dark expanse, and every time Sunset thought she’d seen them all, she’d spot new shapes she’d failed to notice before. Even when studying under Celestia’s wing, the night sky had never looked so beautiful. Of course, that could be because it hadn’t been tended by its proper master.

“Probably, but one would need to be atop either Mount Shasta or Mount Lassen, at least where I live. Elsewhere, generally you have to be somewhere far from a highly commercialized area,” replied Sunset. “My world’s a bit more densely populated than Equestria.”

Although Sunset’s slip-up was barely noticeable, Luna caught it immediately. “Your world? Does Equestria no longer bear that title?”

That thought had lingered over Sunset’s thoughts like a dark cloud on the back of her mind. The more she thought about the past week, the more she realized she was a stranger in what had once been her home. Despite how accommodating Twilight and the others had tried to be, she was still treated like an outsider. She was an anomaly at best, and a criminal at worst. The realization drew a dismayed sigh from Sunset.

“I guess not.”

Luna gave a sympathetic smile. “And yet here you stand. That you have returned even after all that has transpired is proof enough that you will always be a part of this world.”

Sunset returned Luna’s smile with her own, but her heart wasn’t in it. “With all due respect, Princess, you know why I’ve come back.”

Luna nodded. “Yes, which brings me to why I’m here, now.” Luna shifted in place and studied Sunset for a moment. “When you stepped through that mirror five days ago, what was your plan?”

Sunset opened her mouth to answer, only to realize she couldn’t. She’d come to stop whatever was causing Twily’s nightmares, but that wasn’t a plan. That was an objective.

When Sunset didn’t answer, Luna did for her. “You didn’t have one, did you? You just waltzed back into Equestria expecting to find some evil monster plotting to destroy your family.” Luna then gave Sunset an impish grin. “I thought my sister’s pupils were supposed to be smart!”

Sunset was unable to hold back an indignant glare. “I did find a monster plotting against my family. It calls itself Raspberry Beryl.” Except, Sunset wasn’t so sure anymore. The more she hunted for evidence of the warlock’s guilt, the more she seemed to find the opposite.

“Remember when we first met at the start of the week? I said that you and I were not so different,” Luna said, setting down her teacup. “Let me tell you the tale of another monster. One that called itself Nightmare Moon.”

Tilting her head, Sunset gave Luna a quizzical look. She knew the tale of Nightmare Moon just like any other pony in Equestria, and now knew there was a great deal of truth to the myth. But Sunset did not know where Luna was going with this.

“The tale may seem familiar: Nightmare Moon was a monster born of jealousy and spite. The princess that birthed that abomination believed that she was entitled to more than what she already had. She believed that Celestia was holding her back, and so betrayed her. Wounded her in the deepest, most personal way imaginable. It was some time before that pony was shown the error of her ways, but when she finally did, she made it her goal to better herself, so that she might never fall prey to such vain temptations again.”

“Seems like I’ve been hearing that story a lot these days,” Sunset commented.

“There is another aspect to the story that others do not tell,” Luna continued. “The truth is, Nightmare Moon was born of fear as much as she was born of vain ambition.”

“Fear? Of what?”

Luna leaned closer. “Of not being loved. Indeed, it was that mare’s fear of losing her sister’s love just as she had her subjects’ that brought her to such madness, and drew the Nightmare Forces to her. Ultimately, it was that pony’s fear that led to her downfall.”

A slight gust sent a chill through Sunset, and she brought the tea to her lips in an attempt to combat it, but the drink was already losing its warmth. “That’s a cool story and all, but I don’t really see how it applies to what we were talking about.”

“Is that not what drives you, Sunset Shimmer? Fear of losing your sister’s love?”

In a way, Luna was right. What the princess was trying to say then dawned on Sunset with sudden clarity as she thought back to some of her actions over the past week. Of those moments where she had let her old side slip out, all because she was afraid of losing Twily.

Seeing the sudden change in Sunset’s expression, Luna smiled. “Ah, now you understand. If you let your fear control you, you’ll just become another monster.”

Sunset gave a single nod. “I... never thought about it like that.”

“It sometimes helps to have an outsider’s opinion, does it not?” Luna then leaned in closer and gave Sunset a conspiratory grin. “Of course, it also helps to talk to someone who was once of the same mind.”

“What do you mean?”

“Someone who at one point or another, believed that Celestia was the biggest, gaudiest, most uncouth butt in all of Equestria!”

Sunset snorted, and before she knew it she was laughing alongside Princess Luna. The pair sat in comfortable silence for a time afterward, during which time Sunset thought long and hard about a great many things. Namely, about what was going to happen the next day.

Once she finished her tea, Luna looked over at Sunset. “So, do you have a plan now?”

“Well, I can’t do much while I’m under house arrest, but I think I do.” There was only one thing Sunset could do now. It had been right in front of her all along, yet it was only now that she finally acknowledged it. “I’m going to talk to Raspberry. I’m going to apologize for attacking her, and then - if she’s up to forgiving me - I’m going to work together with her to solve this mystery once and for all!”

The night princess gave an approving smile. “Spoken like one of my sister’s pupils.”

When Sunset Shimmer crawled into the guest bed of Golden Oaks that night, she found herself surprisingly calm. Sure, the jury was still out on whether Celestia intended to punish her for her assault, along with everything else she’d done, but her dreams were not plagued by nightmares that night. For the first time that week, Sunset went to bed knowing exactly what she had to do.

Comments

[Madd the Sane]

Why does the last line remind me of Twilight singing "Everything's going to be fine" in "Magical Mystery Cure", before everything went south?

[BigMacsPenis]

Now she's acting like the Sunset of Book I, good to see this Sunset again.

[The Literary Lord]

Only Spike! Glad to see Sunset getting a much needed talking too.

[H3lios]

Im kinda on Sunsets side here, someone she loves is suffering and everyone else seems to think shes the bad guy.

[HB_DS2013]

Sunset and Luna finally met face to face and Luna didn't use the RCV!?

[Twilight_Shimmer]

Loved the new chapter and I cannot wait to read more!

[TurboBlaze]

Poor Sunny can't catch a break with that threat, can she? I'm gonna lose it if there's another one in Book III!
Patiently waiting for next week now.

[ParadigmShift]

Blaaaarghhh...

I feel bad for Sunset..

But Twilight, how did you make such a major fuckup? You EMPOWERED the spell rather than weakened it with your shield?! HOW DO YOU EVEN DO THAT?

[ParadigmShift]

5099773 Blagh..For the former Element of MAGIC, you'd think she would understand Magic a bit better..

I get that Dark Magic is a completely different field..But she wasn't the one CASTING said magic...She was forming a spell against it. Which, aside from acting against a type of magic with only some research done into it, shouldn't be too hard.

And there is proof in the show that shields against Dark Magic work... (Season 3 Opener, remember?) So why did she create a MINEFIELD around her instead of a shield..

[Snowdrifter]

5099773
So she reversed the polarity of the neutron flow?