I was sitting down to a pot of tea with Sunshine when Twilight burst through the doors of my chambers, a look of pain on her face.
“Sunset,” she whispered. “I just got a letter from Mayor Mare. There’s been attacks in Ponyville, Rarity’s boutique and Sugarcube Corner were vandalized. They also beat a handful of citizens.”
“What?” I surged to my feet. “Are they ok?”
“Bruises, cuts, and scrapes, mostly,” she said, the panicked look in her eye showing her concern. “Rarity and Pinkie were at Sweet Apple Acres at the time and the Cakes are in Baltimare for a conference, so nopony was hurt in the vandalism. But residents are worried, and it apparently occurred at the same time as the attack on your home.”
“This is insane,” I said, striding to the door to ask the guard there to assign a small contingent to Ponyville when the guard pushed the door open.
“Your Highness,” he spoke nervously. “Your sister is here to see you.”
I blinked in surprise as Glory walked in, her normally neat appearance missing and bits of soot staining her hooves. Her eyes were red.
“Glory,” I stuttered as my sister walked up to me and buried her face in my coat, her nose just brushing the edge of my wing.
“My house, Sunny,” she whimpered. “Somepony burned my house.”
Anger kindled again as I reached out with my wings and folded my sister in my embrace.
“Get word to Cadence,” I whispered as Glory broke down. “And to your parents too, Twilight. This is getting to be trying and I want to know who to go after.”
Twilight nodded, turning to leave. “I’ll have Spike send letters immediately,” she told me, her face showing that she wasn’t sure what to think. “Should we send one to your sister Dew as well?”
I shook my head. “I’m going there myself,” I gritted. I looked at the guard who was still standing in the doorway. “Assign her some quarters, please, and post a guard nearby.”
Glory clutched at my coat, and I gently helped her to her hooves.
“Glory,” I whispered to her, touching my horn to hers and channelling some calm into her. “Go with the sergeant here and get some rest. We’ll see what we can get done. It’ll be all right.”
Watching my sister walk mechanically away hurt more than I could say. As I went to the window, Sunshine looked at me.
“Glory’s house isn’t in any of the districts that would have been targeted,” she said firmly. “Nor was Ponyville.”
I paused for a second. “I know,” I replied.
She stood. “I’ll work with Moondancer to see if we missed anything.”
I took a step over to her and nuzzled her for a moment. As I stepped away, she whispered to me.
“Come back to me.”
I gave her a warm smile. “Always.”
But as I winged my way towards the home Dawning Dew and Crystal Hue lived, I felt a sense of fear bubble up inside as I gazed down at Canterlot.
And saw the fires springing up around the city.
I alighted up the street from my sisters house, trotting quickly. The neighborhood was quiet, and I saw no damage. I knocked on the door and Hue opened the door.
“Sunset,” he said, confused. “What’s the matter?”
“Are you all OK?” I asked, slipping inside as he stepped aside.
“Yes, of course,” he said, frowning. “Why wouldn’t we be?”
“There are small riots breaking out around the city,” I said. “Glory just lost her house and the home I had was burned as well. I want you three to come to the castle for safety.”
Hue shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around the information I was sharing. “But, why?” he asked. “We’re nowhere near Glory’s or the old home. We should be safe here.”
I shook my head and stomped a hoof. “It’s not about locations,” I snapped. “Whoever these ponies are, they’re targeting specific places and so far, they’ve attacked not just me and my sister, but my friends in another town entirely. Now I want you, my sister, and my niece someplace safe before they decide to attack you as well!”
“Hue,” I heard Dew’s voice come from the side. “She’s not going to back down.”
I looked over at my sister, unspoken words traveling between us.
Hue sighed and lowered his head. He met my eyes.
“Are you certain?” he asked me.
“No,” I admitted. “But I’d rather be proven wrong than help another family member have to sift through ash.”
The painter nodded. “We’ll get packed,” he said, moving towards the bedroom.
I walked into the castle wearily. I had kept my sister and her family under an invisibility spell as we made our way to the castle, but spells like that weren’t exactly my strength. As I handed them off to a steward to get them settled, I saw Twilight standing nearby.
“More bad news?” I asked, dragging my hooves forward.
“Cadence has had a few minor fights break out following the Princesses stepping down,” she replied. “But nothing approaching the level of difficulty we’re having here. Mom and Dad are staying in the East Wing. They had a break in a few weeks ago.”
I glanced at her. “Anything taken?”
She shook her head. “Not that they could see,” she answered.
“Why would anypony break in without taking anything?” I asked.
I never got an answer as an explosion rocked the foyer of the castle, making Twilight and I stumble. As I got my bearings, I saw guards rushing to the gates, a huge sphere of darkness enveloping where the entrance courtyard was.
I threw up a shield as I saw several arc-shaped bolts of energy slice through the air, one glancing against a guards’ armor freezing him in place. Several others struck guards full brunt, being rooted in place with a strange whitish aura. The ones that passed through crashed into the kinetic barrier I had raised and gave off minor explosions, the shockwaves ruffling my mane.
“Sunset!” I heard Twilight shout, her coming up to my side, wings flared and horn blazing as another fusillade of the strange energy bolts arced in towards us.
As they crashed against the shield Twilight held, I shoved mine forward, slamming through the edge of the black void. I heard loud shouts of surprise and I felt a backlash sear through my horn, making me grimace in discomfort.
“You ok?” the Princess of Friendship asked.
“Magical shielding,” I gasped, shaking my head to clear the fog. “That’s high tier magic their packing.”
“Got it,” she said, her horn taking on a strange blue-silver light and my shield flickered. She was spreading an anti-magic field, and I saw the edge of her field hit the darkness, the two effects flaring and flickering in arcane light. I leaped into the air, grunting slightly as I had to propel myself purely with my wing muscles until I was above her field. I focused on a spell that I hadn’t used since my time as Celestia’s student, my mana slipping forward and entering the encroaching darkness. I shut my eyes and breathed out slowly, and when I opened them again, I saw faint outlines surrounding everypony; the guards shimmering with silver-white, Twilight ablaze with bright magenta.
And inside the darkness I saw ponies whose auras appeared as blood-red whirpools. They fixed their gaze on me as one, and an eerie screech burst from their mouths, the sound rending at my ears.
And as soon as it started, it ended, the inky zone of darkness vanishing, leaving guards ponies frozen in place and broken masonry scattered around.
And a giant scorched portion of the grounds that I’m sure I knew what it said.
I slammed a hoof down, the flagstone cracking from the strength I was still getting used to even now.
“This has gone far enough,” I said as medics came forward and began to treat the stasis-locked guards. “By attacking the castle, they just committed treason.”
Twilight ruffled her wings as she walked over to me. “We don’t know who they are yet, Sunset,” she reminded me.
“Yet,” I said, turning and stalking off. The lavender Alicorn hurried to catch up with me, frowning as I turned away from the living quarters and headed towards the Tower of Duty.
“Why are we here?” she asked me as I opened a door leading downwards.
“Because we need to be ready,” I said as I descended the stairs. “And I don’t do subtle very well.”
“I’ve noticed,” Twilight remarked.
I halted before the door at the base of the stairs. “I’ve only seen this room opened once before, when the mirror was stored within,” I said. I felt a cold shiver run up my spine. “Before we open it again, I need to ask you for a favor.”
“What?”
“I have a problem with containing my temper when it comes to my friends being hurt or in danger,” I admitted slowly. “And anger in general has always been quick to flow in me. If I do find those responsible for burning my home, my sister’s home, and damaging the homes and businesses of our friends, I need someone to help balance me.” I looked into her eyes, a dimly remembered scream and orange fire flashing in my mind’s eye. “To keep me from doing certain things again.”
She looked at my face, and after a moment, she nodded.
“Agreed,” she whispered.
I turned and opened the doors, revealing a room slightly smaller than the Map room in Twilight’s castle, several racks with artifacts of all sorts resting within. I saw several weapons, including the double-bitted axe Luna had wielded in the war in the Crystal Empire resting alongside a golden broadsword and a series of curved knives and a mace of glittering crystal.
I walked up to a pair of armored bardings of a silvery gold metal, their design clearly made with an Alicorn’s physique in mind, a hole in the helm for the horns and jointed armor around where the wings would rest. Sigils and runes were carved along the riveted joints and the crest of the helms.
I could feel the magic pulsing inside them, and doubt crept into my mind. Was I ready to commit to this, or was anger clouding my judgement?
I looked at the barding, and the images of Glory crying and Sunshine sifting ash, looking for surviving possessions from the wreckage of our home.
I reached out and rested a hoof against the metal.
“Celestia forgive me,” I whispered.