(Sunset's House, Canterlot)
The Sun had risen slowly over cozy houses of the city of Canterlot, its warm glow bathed the city in yellow light.
Birds landed upon the tall trees along the streets and sang their morning tune. From the joyful tweets of the sparrows and robins, to the loud cries of crows and ravens that echoed along the silent avenues of the city.
Not many people were up at this point, and the people that were Up were mostly sanitation workers picking up trash and the mailman making his rounds in the quiet neighborhood that Sunset Shimmers House sat in.
The Shimmer house was quiet, the Human versions of the Main Six had decided to stay the night, sleeping together in sleeping bags or on blankets on the floor.
The Group that Burning Star had brought with him was asleep upstairs, each dozing in their soft beds.
Shadow Armor was curled up in a ball, dreaming dreams about his wife, and how he missed her dearly.
Prince Eclipsio was vacant from his bed, he had gone out early to look for clues related to Black Sun. He also needed to vent off his anger towards Fluttershy confronting him. His ego made it hard for him to forgive.
He groaned aloud as he stomped down the block. "How could she do that to me? ME?! Ugh, whoever gave that girl the confidence to confront me I'm going to find that worm and turn his insides into his outsides. No one, be they mare, stallion, or foal has ever done that to me."
He put a hand through his silver hair and said, "Also, how did she know who I apparently resembled? Whoever this "Sephiroth" is, I'm going to have a word with about his wardrobe. How does one walk with this... this black robe everywhere?"
He leaned his hand against a lightpost and sighed as he looked at the rising sun, "Sisters, please be safe. I will come find you and I will destroy Black Sun. He will pay for what he has done to me... I mean us."
Eclipsio noticed a girl was walking towards him, she was slouched over and the Equestrian of Eclipses couldn't see her face.
The girl stopped in front of him and stayed there, not moving an inch.
Prince Eclipsio finally asked, "Who are you? Why are you just standing in front of me?"
The girl remained silent, lifting her head slightly, but not enough to let Eclipsio see her face. He felt something touch his face quickly, then it left.
She then said. "You're not him." And walked off, leaving the prince very confused.
"Who was that? Also, where is Frostclaw? He must have not come to Sunset's house."
Now the Prince had an objective, find the icy Kirin that had tagged along with the group.
He wanted to shout out for him, but he knew that would only wake up more people before the day began.
He attempted to use his space-time powers to find him, but nothing happened.
He was shocked, This was impossible!
"Why do my powers not work and Burning Star's do? I'm just as powerful as him if not more, so what gives?" he thought to himself, trying to comb the bangs that hung in front of his eyes backwards.
He cursed his appearance, mainly by how ridiculous he looked with this giant sword on his back. He looked like some character from anime, and while Burning Star found Anime intriguing...
Eclipsio thought it was plain childish, why spend so much time on it when you could be focused on training for whatever hellish enemy awaited you.
"Why have emotions at all if all they cause you is pain?"
He looked towards the rising sun and asked it, "Sister, why do you stay among these mortals? All they do is rely on feelings rather than intellect. Don't they know that knowledge is power, and Emotions aren't?"
He received no response, and so he kept walking.
(Canterlot City, Main Street)
Prince Eclipsio eventually reached Main Street, and he sat down on a bench. He began to observe the humans going about their early morning business.
"How in the wide universe does this race prosper so well??" he muttered to himself.
A voice apparently heard him, it was Twilight.
She called to him, "Eclipsio? Is that you?"
The Prince of Eclipses turned his head to Twilight and said, "Yes, what are you doing out here so early? Shouldn't you be getting ready for school or whatever you mortals do?"
Twilight swung her backpack off her back and put in on the sidewalk before sitting down and saying, "Yes I have school, but it's 7:15, school doesn't start till 9:00 am. I was just out on a walk to the pharmacy to pick up some aspirin for Burning Star. All his tears and stress has left him with one heck of a headache."
The Prince frowned, "Figures. These bodies are so vulnerable. I wish I still had my Alicorn Body, then at least I wouldn't have to worry about menial head pain caused by his little tantrum yesterday."
Twilight's eyes widened, "What do you mean tantrum? Burning Star was clearly upset, I assume you heard him from upstairs, right?"
Eclipsio nodded, "I did. While I offer my sympathy for his failure, I don't Understand this race of humans."
The purple haired teen raised an eyebrow, "Well what don't you understand? Maybe I can help."
The Prince sighed, then said to Twilight. "Humans, they are by far the most frustratingly complex species I've ever observed. Do They know that they are mere specks of life on our planet, even if this race died no one would know. The planet would keep spinning even without them, why stick around?"
Twilight Sparkle put a hand through her hair before saying, "Yes, but Humans are pretty resourceful. We have survived for thousands of years because we adapt to our environment, shape it to our own."
The Prince's eyes narrowed in annoyance. Not at Twilight, but at the comment, "So what does it matter what humanity does Twilight? Their lives appear for a moment on the time stream, then flare and die. How do they cope with their mortality, when they could die at any moment?"
Twilight racked her brain for an answer to the former Alicorn's question, eventually settling on, "we are mortal beings, yes. But until our species dies out we can make the best of it, humanity can keep pushing forward. And who knows? Maybe we may transcend the grip of time and leave a legacy on this world and possibly others. Only time will tell, Eclipsio. You can't always expect everything to go exactly as planned."
The Prince bared his teeth and growled out, "There. That is the problem with your kind! You constantly defy the notion that your species doesn't matter in the universe."
He got up on his feet and glared at Twilight, "Ponies are easy to understand, they always seem to accept whatever the universe throws at them, this is because they operate under simple and predictable motives."
He pointed a finger at Twilight, causing her to shrink back, "But for some reason that is unknown to me, your kind has consistently been defying fate since day one, and I'm angry because I don't get it!"
Twilight unexpectedly snapped back, thoroughly annoyed by Eclipsio harsh rhetoric, "That is because every human is unique, Mr Nihilist! Not everyone follows the same motives and has the same desires as you. Frankly, I think you are getting this worked up about humans because your pride has been hurt since you couldn't protect your sisters! Now, all you can do is lash out because you're too scared to admit you failed!"
Twilight realized what she just said and clamped her hand over her mouth before picking up her bag and running away, leaving Eclipsio stunned by her words.
He slumped his shoulders down and walked back towards Sunset's house.
he said to himself, "Why did Twilight do that to me? No one has ever told me that my opinion is wrong, it's right... right?"
(Sunset's House)
Meanwhile back at the house Sunset Shimmer awoke to the sound and smell of something burning.
She bolted out of bed and rushed downstairs to see Burning Star angrily glaring at the toaster, which was charred black and smoking.
She said to him, "What are you doing?! That's a toaster, Burning Star. What did it do to you to warrant being blasted with fire?"
Burning Star turned around and said, "It kept burning my toast. I lost my cool and toasted the toaster, since I thought I could make toast better than it could,"
Sunset looked at the toaster, which was unharmed, just a little charred from the fireball Burning Star had hurled at it. She looked at the number on the toaster and sighed.
"You had it set to level 9, Burning Star. You needed it to be set to either level 1 or 2 to make toast well." She said looking at Burning Star's confused look.
The Equestrian of Fire paused for a moment, then sheepishly smiled, "Sorry, I didn't know. Did I destroy the toaster, Sunset?"
Sunset looked at the toaster and sighed, "No. but it's not usable right now. I'll make eggs for all of us, ok? Wait, can you eat meat?"
Burning Star nodded, "Yeah, I'm human now, I may have been a pony, but humans eat meat as well as plants."
Sunset raised an eyebrow, "But you're from Equestria! Do you eat meat there?"
Burning Star nodded, "Yes. I was raised by King Sombra after all, and since there is little to no plant life in the Frozen North... I had to adapt."
Sunset shivered, "Well then... not gonna ask what you ate, but let's talk for a minute before we all get up and go to school. Are you going to our school? You're supposed to "blend in" right?"
Burning Star shrugged, "I would, but if I'm away from you girls it's less likely that you would get into danger from Black Sun. He seems to attract to me like a moth to a flame. Actually, all danger seems to attract to me."
Sunset smirked, "Guess you've been a hero for so long that villains just can't help but try to take a swing at you."
She put her hand on his chest and said, "But that isn't the issue. The issue at hand is to help you find some peace of mind. I can tell you're on the right track or you wouldn't have told me about your problems."
Burning Star sat on the counter, saying "Thanks Sunset, but where should I start? It's not like something interesting is gonna happen today..."
The Equestrian of Fire closed his eyes and waited...
Sunset looked confused and asked, "What are you doing?"
He replied quickly, "Quiet! I'm tempting fate, seeing if the universe reacts to my bluff."
A good 3 minutes of silence passed before Burning Star sighed. "Dang it, I was hoping something would happen. Getting back on track, where would you have me go?"
Sunset thought for a moment, "I can't bring him to school with me, he needs someplace to go and enjoy himself... aha!"
Sunset spoke her idea, "How bout you go out to the mall? Maybe something there will catch your eye, or you'll meet someone new. Who knows?"
Burning Star swallowed hard, "You realize that we have a psychopath in a suit of nigh-invincible armor running around? One that is trying to kill me, nevertheless?"
Sunset shook her head, "Listen to me, the less you worry about Black Sun, the better. I'm sure even he has something to do that doesn't involve trying to kill you."
(Somewhere...)
Up atop the pinnacle of Canterlot Tower, Black Sun was busy scanning the city.
He had found where that fool Burning Star and his idiotic friends were living, in the care of someone named Sunset Shimmer and the human versions of the Elements of Harmony found in Equestria.
While he was capable of bursting down the door of the house and gunning down the entire group... that would be too painless. Leave too many witnesses...
He'd have to kill the entire city just to get away clean.
He was there to make Burning Star hate himself, to destroy his happiness before he snuffed out his annoying life forever. then he would do it to every one of these flimsy little humans, until the world would fear him.
But right now, He was busy scanning... and scanning... and scanning...
He finally stopped and said to himself with a bored snort "Come on, Burning Star... come look for me. I'm ready and waiting with a few of my friends to tear you apart."
He scanned the house again and still found Burning Star there...
Chucking the scanner off the roof he sighed in boredom. "Out of all the enemies I picked... Burning Star just has to be the most indecisive twit in the universe."
Burning Star walked back upstairs and Black Sun put his head in his hands.
"Great, now he's gone out of my vision. I swear to god if you don't leave that house I'm going to blow it up." He said, a missile in its launching tube.
Black Sun breathed a sigh of relief as Burning Star finally exited the home and walked down the street.
He positioned himself for take off before thinking. "Its broad daylight out, people are going to see me and my little army...
The thought passed and he took off saying, "When has that ever stopped me before? I finally can kill this pest."
Black Sun flew off like a rocket towards the Park Burning Star was walking through, his group of minions arrived in black vans across the park and began to watch.
(White Tail Park)
Burning Star had not gone to the mall, he feared that Black Sun would easily find him in such a popular place to be.
So he chose to take a walk in the park.
During his walk, he accidentally bumped into a girl that was walking the other way. She was knocked onto her butt.
He said to her, "Oh... sorry about that." And offered her a hand up.
The girl accepted the hand up and stood slouching in front of the Equestrian of Fire.
Burning Star felt something lift his face slightly and the girl lifted her own, but only high enough for her to see his.
The unknown touch disappeared and the girl walked off, leaving Burning Star very confused.
"That was odd, something touched me. Don't know what though, must have been a bug." He said as he sat down in on the bank of a lake, skipping stones across it.
Well by skipping he meant throwing them across like darts and having them embed themselves in a tree on the other side...
But he enjoyed the Park.
it was calm, it was peaceful...
Right up until a metal bola went whizzing above his head, he ducked as two more were let fly and multiple guys dressed in black rushed out of the trees.
He thought to himself, "AMBUSH!" as he ignited his fists and went into battle position.
He tried to reach for his sword, but it had been left at Sunset's House!
"Guess it's flaming fists for today, bring it on." he thought as three guys approached him with stun batons.
He opened his palm and pushed it outward, creating a wave of heat that burned the exposed skin of the guys causing them to drop their weapons.
Before they could recover two of them had their own batons smashed into them and the third was quickly knocked into a tree by a haymaker punch from Burning Star's iron fists.
He was about to take on the next group when something tackled him from the sky and threw him into a tree, snapping it in half and pinning him to the ground by someone standing on him.
It was Black Sun!
Burning Star struggled to get armored monster off of him, but he didn't budge. The armored figure looked down on him and said as he was lying underneath his feet, pressing down on him with his clawed boots and carving various scrapes on his body.
"Come now Burning Star, you know I won't let you relax even a bit, you should have stayed inside all day alone."
Black Sun lifted the young adult to his feet and delivered a crushing punch to his chest, causing Burning Star to double over in pain. Black Sun must have broken his ribs...
He tried to retaliate by blasting fire from his hand but Black Sun caught his right hand and crushed it, sending waves of agony across his body.
He didn't dare scream, he wouldn't give the psycho the proof he was in pain...
Black Sun lifted Burning Star up by his arm and two thugs put restraints on his arms and legs, before Black Sun threw him against another tree.
Intense pain rocketed all over his body as Burning Star felt a slug to his face from Black Sun's metal gauntlet, it left cuts on his cheek.
Multiple tugs stepped out of the woods, until there were about a dozen or so heavily armed men staring him down with assault rifles.
Black Sun then stepped forward and said to the bloodied human, "You're weak, Burning Star. No wonder you fall apart so easily, humans are so pitiful, so you have to die now... but at least you should know that your friends will follow soon after."
Burning Star managed to weakly say, "What about making me feel the worst pain imaginable, You Heartless f--k?!"
Burning Star spat blood on Black Sun's visor, which earned him another punch to the face.
The armored Monster loaded his machine guns and said, "I believe the pain you will feel in Tartarus will suffice. Burn in hell, Alicorn of Fire."
He fired his guns, but the bullets stopped midair, before falling to the ground.
Burning Star thanked god for... whatever just did that.
Suddenly, a scream was heard and a spray of red went across Black Sun's visor, obscuring his vision.
Burning Star looked at each of the thugs that surrounded him, trying to find the source of that scream.
then one of the thugs was quickly sliced to ribbons and another had his head crushed, bits of the thug's skull covered his face, and he held back vomit as it oozes off of his face.
Black Sun looked around as multiple men were quickly eviserated and demolished by what appeared to be nothing, their bodies rendered a blooded mess from the unknown assailant.
Black Sun suddenly felt something...
Fear.
He fired his weapons into the trees, shooting anything he heard approach him. His gunfire shredded the trees and left holes in the leaf-covered floor.
"Show yourself coward! You can't hide from me!"
Then a voice, presumably female, spoke. It's word were like the coldest ice found in the deepest darkest parts of space.
They were cold enough to send a shiver of dread up the spine of Black Sun.
"No one hurts Matthew."
Black Sun fired his entire magazine towards Burning Star, hoping to hit him as well as his unknown guardian.
The bullets once again stopped short, then fell harmlessly to the floor.
The voice spoke again, its words so cold and disturbing that it practically hurt to hear them.
"Die."
Black Sun's midsection was suddenly bent into a V, and his arms were crumpled in his armor. Somehow feeling pain, he broke free and rocketed off.
Burning Star cranes his neck up to watch Black Sun hastily make retreat, flying farther and father away until he was but a speck in the distance.
Burning Star looked around at the dead bodies littering the floor, they were horribly mutilated and the ground was drenched in blood.
The voice said to him,
"Don't Move."
The solid steel chains binding his arms and legs were cut by something he couldn't see, but he heard the sound of something moving.
Burning Star said thank you to every god he knew for sending this... whatever or whoever it was to save him.
Then, the voice stepped out of the woods. It was the girl from earlier!
The girl was maybe a foot shorter than him, and was about as pale as him. Her hair was pinkish-red and her eyes were bright cherry red. She wore a ribbon on the chest of her simple pink shirt and black blouse. Long black socks were seen on her legs, and she wore slip on black sneakers.
The most unusual part of her was the fact that she was covered, no, DRENCHED in blood.
Almost every part of her seemed to have blood and sinew hanging from it. it was light in some areas, but some parts were heavy enough that Burning Star couldn't see her skin underneath all the red.
He suddenly felt his body lift into the air by some unknown force and put into an a sitting position on a nearby tree stump that was formed from the tree Black Sun had toppled during his firefight with him.
She walked over to him and pulled his head up, her gaze was dead-eyed and focused.
Burning Star's normally intense blue eyes were currently being overwhelmed by this girls piercing red gaze. He was too stunned to speak. He had so many questions...
How did this girl know his former human name?!
Why did this girl show up?!
What the hell just happened to Black Sun and his posse!?
She then said to him, "Matthew, are you ok? Are you hurt?." Her voice had no change in tone, it was deader than death itself.
Burning Star nodded, very creeped out by the girls voice. "Y-Yeah, thanks to you... you did all this?
The girl nodded, "Yes, You needed help. I helped you."
Burning Star shuddered at the utterly freaky voice, then squeaked out, "W-Who are you?"
The girl stood up and Burning Star felt something grab his face and pulled him into her embrace. She wasn't moving at all!
The girl put her arms around him and gave him a hug before saying, "Do you remember me, Matthew?"
Burning Star looked at her face and wiped the blood off her face with his hand. then he gasped...
And fainted.
(White Tail Park, Blackguard Van)
"Matthew..."
Burning Star stirred in his sleep, hearing some sort of voice.
It sounded... familiar...
”Matthew... wake up."
The voice got louder, and then a sharp pain hit him across the face, causing Burning Star to jolt up.
"Gah! What the heck was that for?!" He exclaimed, rubbing the red mark on his face, before clutching his sides in pain.
He looked down and saw that his chest was bandaged, and his arm was in a spilnt.
He was also shirtless...
Compared to what happened earlier, this was probably the least strange thing all day.
He looked around and saw that he was in one of the vans that the thugs had rode in on.
He looked to the drivers seat and saw what was left of the driver, a bloodied mangled mess.
The girl looked at him briefly and he felt something touch him, although he could not see the girl moving an inch.
Whatever touched him was feeling Up and down his body, the touch was delicate, as if it didn't want to hurt him.
The feeling of touch drifted south towards his pants.
Burning Star pulled his pants tight, despite the pain it put on his right hand, but they were ripped right out of his grasp.
The girl looked at Burning Star and said, "I need to look at your legs, Matthew."
"Matthew." Er... Burning Star sighed and said back, "Oh phew, I thought you were going to take my underpants off or something."
The girl's face developed a slight blush, but she said with a straight face, "Do you want me to take off your underpants?"
Burning Star's face turned as red as his hair, "N-NO! I mean... No, thank you."
The girl turned her gaze away from Burning Star, and whatever was feeling up and down his body stopped.
Burning Star talked to the girl, "Thanks for the help in tending to my wounds... but who are you, exactly?"
The girl seemed to sigh and a single tear rolled down her cheeks. she said softly, "You don't remember me, do you? figures, it has been over 10 years."
Burning Star asked again, "I'm still wondering who are you, what am I supposed to remember from ten years ago?"
The girl approached Burning Star and placed one of her real hands on his head, and the Equestrian of Fire's head flooded with memories.
Dark, painful memories that he couldn't understand or describe...
they were too horrible to imagine...
Then a name floated into his mind and the girl let go of his head. She walked back to the front of the van and looked at the bloodied corpse of the driver.
Burning Star said the name of the girl, "Lucina..."
The corpse suddenly lifted into the air and was slid out the window, trailing blood across the ground, before it was tossed into the garbage.
Lucina suddenly rushed towards Burning Star and hugged him tightly in her arms. She said to him, "I missed you so much Matthew. I didn't know where you went, I searched everywhere."
Burning Star put his hand on her head and brushed her hair, "Shh... it's ok. I'm back now... although this isn't my world, I'm back with you."
Lucina looked up to Burning Star, tear streaks ran down her cheeks as she said, "W-Where did you go? I couldn't find you at your home... the world was dying... what happened?"
Burning Star hung his head, "My trans-dimensional gate worked... but it sucked in only a choice few. It was experimental, it shot me to a place called Equestria... I'm sure you have heard of it."
Lucina nodded, "Yes I have. I... couldn't reach you. I needed you, I heard from those other girls. You married?"
Burning Star rubbed the back of his neck, "Not officially, it was for political stability. Technically I'm single, but why did you- mmph!"
Burning Star was suddenly kissed full on the lips by Lucina, there was so much passion behind it, and he returned it.
It was a kiss from a love that was never realized... a love that could have blossomed.
The two broke the kiss and both were blushing madly.
"G-good to see you again... heheh..." said Burning Star, red in the face.
"Yeah... same." Said Lucina, so red in the face she could be mistaken for a tomato.
Burning Star stumbled out the door and started to walk towards Sunset's house before he collapsed to the ground in pain.
The cry of pain from Burning Star made Lucina rush to his aid and lifted him into the air with some invisible force.
He landed in her arms and she said, "You are unable to walk, Matthew. Let me take you back to where you are staying."
Burning Star sighed, "Ok... do you know where I'm staying?"
Lucina's eyes grew dark, "...Yes."
With that, Lucina carried Burning Star in her physical arms.
It began to rain, then it began to pour.
Burning Star expected to get soaked, but whatever Lucina used to shred the thugs and turn Black Sun into a crumpled tin can had moved to block the rain from them.
The invisible force covered the pair like an umbrella and the two didn't get soaked.
Lucina looked to Burning Star, who had passed out again since his body needed to recover.
She quietly said to him, "I love you, Matthew. I love you so much, You are the only reason that your friends are still alive... because if I hurt anyone close to you, you wouldn't like me anymore..."
The girl walked on towards Sunset's house and knocked on the door.
She took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.
(Canterlot City, Sunset's House)
The girls were worried sick, Burning Star had been gone when they came back from school after a report of gunfire went off at White Tail Park.
Multiple dead bodies were found by the police, they had no gunshot wounds, rather they looked as if they had been torn apart by something sharp.
Twilight's brother had done the girls a favor and gotten them an escort home, but all signs pointed to Black Sun being behind this.
If he could kill hundreds of armed men...
Who's to say he wouldn't kill them?
The girls all jumped when they heard a knock on the door, Sunset quickly got to her feet and nervously tiptoed to the door.
"Coming!" She said, trying to hide her fear, but failing.
She opened the door a crack and asked, "W-Who is it?"
An unknown female voice called out to her, "Are you Sunset Shimmer?"
Sunset grabbed a vase from the wall and held it in her right hand, she then said "Who is asking?"
Lucina responded, her words like ice. "A friend of his, now open the door."
Sunset shakily asked, "What if you are Black Sun? An group of killings happened in White Tail Park today."
Lucina put one of her hands to her face, "If I was Black Sun you would all be dead already... now open the door."
Sunset slowly opened the door to see a pink-red haired girl carrying Burning Star in her arms. He was bound in white bandages and had a splint on one of his arms.
The girl herself had blood on her shirt, Lucina had forgotten to change her clothing.
Sunset felt weak and fell backwards into unconsciousness, something caught her and brought her inside...
Then Lucina closed the door.