She screamed. Everything hurt, as if she were being torn apart. It burned, as if her blood had turned into molten silver, her tears as well. She couldn’t stop.
She saw darkness and blood. She saw them, looking as burned as she felt as they lay on the ground. She laughed, she was laughing but it wasn’t funny. She stepped through, seeing them on the other side. They tried, but it didn’t matter. They didn’t expect her, they didn’t think it possible.
Everything was crumbling. The sky had neither Sun nor Moon, and not even Chaos had survived. Nothingness, it was nothingness. No Seas, no Storms, no Forests. No Magic. No Life. And she didn’t care at all.
She screamed, the sound unnatural. She screamed until she couldn’t breathe.
From the darkness came voices. She couldn’t register them, but they sounded oh so familiar. So familiar they were mocking. She shook her head, begging for it all to stop.
One voice took over. It spoke words she knew, words she could respond to on instinct. She spoke back, and as she did, blue came back into her world.
“This falls o-out better than I could d-devise,” Sunset said, her voice shaking. “But hast thou y-yet latched the Athen-Athenian’s eyes with the love juice, as I-as I did bid they to do?”
“I took him sleeping,” the voice returned. “That is finished too. And the Athenian woman by his side, that, when he waked, of force she must be eyed.”
Sunset returned her line, and tough the voice switched scenes, she returned every line. Still shaking, her breath returned, her skin no longer held its fire. She could see more than blue. There was pink surrounding blue eyes, someone holding her still as she trembled.
Everything came back. Everything that had really happened in the last few hours came rushing back, and once more she couldn’t breathe. She kept rattling off lines, words that she’d spent hours memorizing.
Though she still trembled, and her breath was near gasps, she was far more aware. By that time she broke scripts.
“Can you hear me?” Pinkie asked, her voice quieter than she thought possible.
Sunset nodded.
“Do you know where you are?” someone else asked. Was that Rainbow?
Sunset nodded again.
“Are you okay?” it was Fluttershy now.
Sunset shook her head.
“Can you talk?” Pinkie asked.
“Y-yeah,” Sunset managed. “I’m sorry.”
“Good,” she smiled. “You weren’t responding earlier, but I figured your old lines would be, like, muscle memory or something. Enough to get you to focus. Glad it worked.”
“Thanks,” she swallowed.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she wondered.
Sunset stared at the five, all concerned for her. There was no use pretending nothing happened. As she began to register more of her surroundings, she could feel her body again. Her hands were locked in a claw position, nails digging into Pinkie’s forearm.
“Sorry,” she muttered, unclenching her hands.
“Didn’t hurt!” Pinkie waved it off, despite the deep marks. “So, do you want to talk? Because I’m sure we can distract you if you don’t want to.”
“I-it’s okay,” she nodded. “Just a nightmare. I guess I can expect a few of those in the future. It was just… what might have happened. What I could have done if you hadn’t stopped me. I’m not going to describe it all, but I’m going to thank you again for blasting me into a crater.
“It’s strange to say ‘you’re welcome’ for something like that,” Rarity said.
“But you’re welcome,” Rainbow said, once more not thinking.
“It’ll be okay, Sunny,” Pinkie said. “We can work on this. Soon enough you’ll be right back to dreaming about cookies and far too much whipped cream!”
“I think you overestimate my dreams,” Sunset laughed.
“Who knows,” she shrugged. “But it’ll be okay. We can chase the nightmares away, and then you’ll wake up smiling every time instead.”
“If you need to talk, we’re here,” Applejack nodded.
“Even if we’re not the ‘best’ at talking,” Rainbow shrugged.
“I know a few people who could help,” Fluttershy said. “I know you avoid doctors because you don’t know how ‘different’ you could be physically, but my mom can help you find a therapist that could, uh, maybe overlook the differences?“
“And even if you don’t want to talk to someone,” Rarity added, “We’ll be here.”
“I… thanks,” Sunset sighed with a smile. “Thank you.”