Sunset woke up to the sound of screaming. She got out of bed and trotted over to the door.
What in the...
She opened it to find the source of the screaming.
Sunset was greeted with Twilight galloping around like it was the end of the world.
"I can't believe I slept in!" Twilight had a look of dread on her face
"How could I let this happen!" she stopped pacing and began breathing heavily.
Sunset walked over to Twilight and put a hoof on her friend's shoulder.
"Calm down Twilight, breathe," she stared at her friend with calmness in her eyes.
That said calmness along with the breathing Candace taught her, she stared back at Sunset with fright.
"How in Celestia's name can I be calm when we're going to be late for the train!"
"No, there's still five minutes left. We'll be fine, you get your luggage and meet me in the throne room. Okay?" She took her hoof of Twilight's shoulder.
The purple mare only nodded and watched as her friend trotted off down the corridor.
Twilight paced moderately fast on the wooden platform.
"I hope it hasn't come already, what if it came early and left us, we'll never get to the castle in time-" she started breathing heavily again.
Sunset rolled her eyes.
"Twiliiight" she dragged her word in song to catch the other mares attention.
"You know how stupid that sounds, don't you? Even if the train did come early, it's not allowed to leave this stop until its designated time. So stop worrying,"
Twilight examined Sunset and then looked to the train tracks but before she could say anything there was a faint whistling in the distance.
She looked back to the amber mare to see a smug grin on her face, Twilight rolled her eyes not even trying to hide her own smile.
The train slowed down and finally came to a halt and the two ponies waited for everyone to get off before getting on themselves.
Fire.
Was it fire? Sunset tried touching it but it did not burn her.
An illusion?
As the fire faded, the lone mare looked around the dark, grey wastelands. Not even the wind dared to break the silence.
She stomped her hoof on the cold desolate ground causing dust to fly up into Sunsets face.
Sunset coughed as she wiped the dust off her face and examined it with her hoof.
Ash?
Before she could confirm what the substance was, a loud cackle broke the silence in the air.
Sunset turned around to see none other than her demon self,
she rolled her eyes at the sight.
"Oh don't be like that little Sunset, aren't you happy to see me?" she smirked
"The contrary actually" she answered in annoyance as she wiped the supposed ash off her foreleg.
"Oh sunset, I'm wounded, how could you say that you yourself,"
Sunset laughed, a bit more sincere than she wanted it to be,
"I am nothing like you, to be frank, you're old news," she shouted the third word with anger and frustration.
The demon scoffed "And so is you faking all this friendship crap, but you don't hear me complaining. Oh, and you should watch your mouth. you wouldn't want to say something you'll regret, now would we?" The crimson demon smirked once again.
She rolled her eyes at the first sentiment
"And why should I? You gonna pop up with a high school of teenage zombies or something?" Sunset chuckled at that, she still doesn't know what in Equestria (or more accurately, the world) she was thinking back then.
"No, but if you don't you will regret it. Now if you don't mind, I have somewhere to be," the demon snapped its fingers.
Sunset was just about to say something snarky, but before she could Sunset suddenly bursted into a ball of flame, she wailed in pain as everything went black, just like how most of her dreams ended.
She gasped for breath and held her chest, her eyes darting around as she was trying to remember where she was.
Her eyes ended up locking with a pair of purple eyes showing worry and a hint of confusion.
"Another nightmare?"
It took her almost a minute of heavy breathing before finally answering her question,
"...You can call it that, I guess," Sunset took a big breath to ease herself as she looked out the window to see that they were almost at Canterlot train station.
Twilight watched her friend calm her breathing and sighed herself. She felt useless trying to help Sunset with these nightmares, but she really didn't know what to do.
The train slowly came to a halt and everyone started getting their luggage to depart.
As Twilight and Sunset stood up and grabbed their luggage, the purple mare took one last glance at her friend before heading off the train first.
The two mares walked up the beautifully tiled cobblestone road. Sunset really missed the way Canterlot looked from up close, there was a familiarity to it that nowhere else in Equestria could fill.
She took a deep breath of the sweet, familiar Canterlot air before speaking,
"Any idea when the others will be getting here?" The red-headed mare questioned
"They had things to do today, so we all decided to meet up tomorrow in the castle foyer," the princess responded
"And Spike?"
"Oh he's helping rarity with one of her projects again, I couldn't say no so he's coming with them tomorrow afternoon," Twilight said with a bright smile on her face
With her questions answered, Sunset looked around. She never truly looked around the last time she was here. It was probably because of the fact that she was too busy overthinking about what Celestia would do to her to really take Canterlot back in. But as she expected, nothing has really changed. Which Sunset took as a good thing.
They walked up the stairs to the castle. As they reached the entrance doors, the guards bowed. The princess smiled in return and opened the doors heading towards the throne room with Sunset by her side.
When they opened the doors to the throne room, they were greeted with none other than Princess Celestia herself.
The two mares walked closer to the princess of the sun.
"Ah, Twilight, Sunset. I hope you had a safe journey, I am so glad you could make it,"
"It is our pleasure princess Celestia, the journey was great..."
Speak for yourself Twilight...
Sunset rolled her eyes and looked away.
"...has everything been set up for the Summer Sun Celebration?"
"Indeed it has. Now then, you two go unpack and we shall catch up at luncheon together this afternoon," Celestia smiled warmly to her former students.
Twilight smiled back and the two mares turned around to see two guards there waiting to show them to their rooms.