Sunset sat, magic activated in preperation. She looked over herself once more, attempting to distract herself from her rising anger. Her gem shone very dimly, as it had channelled all the magic in it into Sunset. Her horn almost seemed solid, yet still maintaining its form of pure light. Her wings twitch irritable, lick of flame occasionally leaping off of them. She had figured out why the armour kept on appearing on her at this stage, and knew how to control it, so she didn't appear like a knight anytime she used her magic. Regardless, she had it on now, as she wanted to prove a massive point, a point that might turn out to be painful. Sunset obviously couldn't see her eyes, but just by waving a hand in front of them, she could tell that they were glowing intensely, causing Sunset to ponder if they somehow pooled magical energy, before dismissing the thought as low priority.
The girl was currently sitting in the rafters just behind the stage curtains, where Celestia said they'd be. She fiddled with her almost astral like red and gold hair, as it shimmered in the darkness. The armour plates grinding against each other as Sunset swung her legs back and forth, her growing impatience fueling her now righteous fury. Her pony ears suddenly twitched, as voices were heard from below.
"Well?! Where is she?!"
"Why would she care about this knock off Sparkle, Gilda?!"
"You heard the demon! She called her her sister!"
Sunset didn't even bother to wait to listen to what else the voices below her had to say. She dived downwards, slamming into the floor, before rising back off of it, hovering above Gilda and her gang. "Why?" She whispered, before raising her voice, "Why?!" Orange tears streamed down her face as she waited for an answer. She didn't even notice the previously unconscious Twilight coming to, staring at her with wide eyes.
The powerful girl's anger couldn't be hidden for any longer, and she let out a powerful ear piercing shriek, something similar to that of a bird. Her animal instincts appeared to kick in, as she rose up higher, projecting a red bird like silhouette behind her, increasing her visual size tricefold. She screamed again, this time coming out with much more fury than before.
At last, her opponents restarted their logical part of their brains, and the vast majority of the gang fled in every possible direction. Infuriated, Gilda called out, "Get back here you cowards! You're seriously afraid of some... lights... and..." She trailed off, as Sunset moved to hover just infront of the dumber members' heads. She stuck out a hand, closing it into a fist, apparantly casting a spell which caused everyone but Twilight and Gilda to go unconscious.
Suddenly, Gilda saw sense in her cronies' actions, and made a mad dash for the stage curtains, with the knowledge that lunch had begun. Hopefully, Sunset wouldn't want to expose herself the the entire school, as they slowly shuffled in. However, Gilda did not factor in how blinded by rage Sunset was, and, as she raised a gauntleted fist, she charge after her, stunning several students at the certain approach.
Sunset let out an emotion filled roar, and grabbed Gilda shoulders, slamming her into the wooden floor. She moved her face to be an inch of her opponent's, and growled, "Before I smash your face in, tell me why you did this."
Spluttering, Gilda answered, mostly out of fear, "Li-Lightninh D-Dust got a-arrested, the c-cops got bl-blackmail th-that you pro-provided."
"So that's what it is? Trying to get revenge by any and all means? Pathetic." Sunset's face turned into a sneer, clearly displeased with the reasoning. "See, Gilda, this is a problem now. I am angry, and my soul is lost, drifting through a void. I'm trying to put it back in place, but people like you are preventing me from doing so. What I should do is pummel you until you can't think at all. What I am going to do, well..." She gave out an irritating sigh, which still somehow sounded aggressive.
"Sunset..." Twilight had managed to break out of her daze, and approached Sunset.
"One moment Twi." She started to breathe heavier, before releasing Gilda, who scrambled away, yet remained on the floor, still shocked. Sunset started to rise higher, her wings flapping erratically. She rose up further, and her armour disappeared, replaced by her usual purple and orange attire. Her leather jacket remained, but seemed to be more prominent. She bent her head back, closed her eyes, molten tear still flowing, and opened her mouth.
She screamed.
It was full of pain, full of anger, hating almost everyone around her but also hating herself. Emotion poured out of her mouth, as if it had been making Sunset ill. The sound pierced everything it met, metaphorically and literally. The entire school heard it, and every single living being felt it in their ears, whether it was a subtle buzz or a stab in the eardrums. Some of the closest students had to cover their ears, Gilda especially, as she was almost squirming under the sound.
Even as Sunset started to run out of breath, the scream never decreased in volume. It just got higher and higher pitched, until finally, Sunset's lungs felt empty. Instead of simply stopping, she disappeared in a flash of light, leaving a multitude of confused students in her wake.
"Hmmhm hmmm mmhmm mmm..."
As Celestia opened the door to the roof, a gentle humming reached her ears, and a perfectly normal looking girl sat, looking into the horizon. She glanced backwards when she saw the door opening, but soon continued to gaze at the landscape, still humming her song.
"Thought I might find you up here." Celestia said as she approached, "Might I ask what the scream was about?"
"Well, apparantly, my magic increases the levels of my emotions, and therefore I needed to vent really badly." Sunset explained, before asking, "Believe it or not, Gilda wasn't after me for the MyStable pages, she was after me because Lightning Dust got arrested after the police recieved what looked like my old blackmail material. Know anything about that?"
"I haven't even started to look through it, as important as it is, I simply haven't the time. Maybe someone else had found it." Celestia offered.
"Doesn't matter. It's happened, and it's over now. We can find out later, if it becomes a problem. I doubt it will though."
"Right, the police have been called about it." She lowered her voice, starting to mumble, "Should've done that in the first place, now that I think about it."
Sunset stood, but still continue to stare at the sky. "My biggest problem at the moment is getting Anon-a-miss to come clean, and find out who Anon-a-mous is."
"So they're not the same people?"
"Nope. I assume the original culprits will come out soon enough, they're already filled with regret. The new account, well, I honestly have absolutely no clue. The worrying thing is, they're doing illegal stuff to get content. One of them was about some toy Caramel Joy has. Literally no one knew about it. And guess what she found when she woke up? A smashed window, specifically the one in her bedroom." She gave out a worried sigh, fiddling with her red and gold hair. "Things are starting to look up, and that's great, it's just the question of for how long. How long before it all comes tumbling down again? How long before someone else comes after me? You get the idea."
"Mmm. I suspect no one's going to try and mess with you now though, particularly after you pulled that stunt." Celestia subtly chided, "Now most of the school knows about your magic."
"Look, you can't blame me for being angry, alright?!"
"Right, right. Come down when you're ready, I'm not going to force you to go back to lessons after that." The older woman turned and walked away, going back down the stairs.
Sunset sat back down, leaning so she was on her back, and continue to admire her surroundings, letting any and all remaining anger escape from her soul. She was examining the colours of the sky, and the cold grey clouds occasionally gave way to a deep blue. The snow had melted, but the air felt no warmer than before, and the chilling wind bit into Sunset's skin.
After another fifteen minutes, Sunset heard the door open again, and said, "Is there a problem, Celestia?"
"Um..." An unusually high pitched voice mumured behind her. Almost acting on instinct, Sunset turned, reaching for her necklace, before relaxing.
"Oh, it's you three." Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Applejack stood there, all of them seemingly slightly fearful about their own presence. "If you're asking for forgiveness, try again next week. But I have to know: why this sudden turn about? Be honest now. I heard what you had to say when I showed up at your farm, Applejack. And don't think I can do anything magical. That stunt depleted my reserves completely."
"Ta put it bluntly, we actually listened to other people. Mac had ta literally smack me outta a rant Ah was havin' 'bout all this. Finally got it into mah thick skull how far Ah'd gone."
Pinkie spoke next, looking through deflated hair. "Maud talked to me. Actually got angry. Realized I did bad. Not much more to it."
When she started her explanation, Rarity didn't even bother to act sophisticated. "Again, same thing, just with my new shop assistant, Coco. Drilled some sense into me."
"Look Sunset, from what we've heard, we don't expect you to forgive us anytime soon." Applejack once more became the focus of the conversation. "We don't expect ya'll to be friendly towards us either, but we just want ya'll to know we don't hold any ill will towards ya'll anymore."
"We doubt you'll come to us first, if at all, but just know we'll help you if you need it. We'll leave you in peace now." Rarity finished, before they all turned to leave, until Sunset stopped them.
"Before you go, I want you to know this: I still do believe I can trust you, but you're right, it might be a cold day in Tartaraus before we become close again. And for the sake of all of us, don't defend me too much in conversations. Celestia in both universes knows there's already enough strife." Sunset's words were void of emotion, as if she really didn't care at all. "Try to talk some sense into your younger sisters' for me. They don't hate me like the rest but..."
She left the sentence unfinished, then returned to humming, letting the others go without any interruptions. Sunset waited for another few minutes, taking in the air, before she too decided to return.
"Okay Gilda. Usually I'm more formal with my students, but in this case I'm going to make an exception. Mostly so I can say, WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING?!"
A very stressed, frustrated and mostly furious Luna sat up in her chair, yelling at the girl across from her. Gilda was shrunk down as small as possible, almost curled up into a ball. "You know what? Don't answer. I don't need to tell you you're going to be expelled, but what I do need to tell you is that you're most likely going to be arrested. You kidnapped someone, Gilda. I don't know how else to put this to you. You have a criminal record now. That's going to be with you for the rest of your life. This was all revenge for Lightning Dust, wasn't it? Now you're going to be in more trouble than her. The police have your address. Go to Celestia's office to wait. I'm sure she wants to have words too."
Gilda stood, but start to fidget in place, until Luna gave her a harsh look, when she completely disappeared out the door. Luna pinched the bridge of her nose. She had already spoken to the rest of Gilda's gang, and informed them of their own punishments. All of them were also too scared to even mention the fact that Sunset had magic again, something which made the vice principal relax a light bit. Still, it was not enough to deal with the recent stress that came from handing out dozens of punishments as a result of the recent conflict.
Luna slumped back in her chair, sighing from mental exhaustions. She checked the time - three o'clock, end of lessons.
"Vice Principal Luna? We have an admission to make..."