Everything burned. That was the first coherent thought Sunset Shimmer managed to have after the first wave of power crashed into her. Body, soul, mind--every inch of her had become a living pyre as the storm of power and knowledge flowed throughout her being like a great river, rushing past and scraping everything raw in the process. She writhed in agony over and over again, her screams silent but soul-rending, and through it all, she saw.
In her mind’s eye, Sunset watched as images floated past her, Knowledge in its rawest form. She saw secrets, the deepest darkest thoughts every person in the world had ever hidden from those around them. She saw thoughts, the inner workings of every soul to walk the earth. And she saw Time, broken still shots of the past, present and future, as fate itself twisted and tangled upon its own form in its constant undulating. Everybody and everything the girl who had once been a pony witnessed, before it flitted past only to be replaced by more. All of it burned into her mind, only to be overwritten and forgotten as yet more did the same, over and over and over again, until only the very last few images remained, scraps of a future that might be, and a past that should not have been.
--Armies of the undead marched, warring with creatures floating upon ethereal wings as the world burned around them, and the sky grew dark and empty--
--Seven young women danced among the stars, beauty and power incarnate as they sung the fate of the world into being, guarding all who fell under their aegis--
--Power poured through a crack in the universe, seeking that which it could bind to and reforge. Foremost among these energies was Harmony, the defining law of Equestria, but there was no Harmony here, no center of peace and unity in the universe. Only Order was close enough, broken though it was, and so its shards were gathered and connections formed, channels through which they could reach those who might wield its power--
But then even those were wiped away, lost in the pain. And so she burned, on and on and on…
XXX
When Sunset finally resurfaced to consciousness, it was with a loud and pained groan. Finally, after what felt like an eternity and a half at least, the power coursing through her veins seemed to half subsided, but regrettably the pain had not disappeared entirely. Still, her muscles ached, skin tingling as if lightning danced across it and bones creaking like the timbers of a ship. At first she struggled to open her eyes against the heavy and impressing dark... But then she realized they were open, and still she could not see anything.
“Wha--!” Sunset managed to get out in surprise, before being interrupted as the sudden movement sent another burst of pain wracking through her body, and the exclamation turned to a hacking cough. Before she could fully recover from that, another voice broke into he pitch blackness, distracting Sunset even more.
“Oh my, you’re awake!” the familiar voice said, and then Sunset felt a pair of slim hands on her shoulder, pushing her back down onto the bed. “Best not to move, dear, you’re still recovering.”
“Rar-Rarity?” Sunset questioned, stumbling over the name in surprise, even as she complied with her friend’s instruction.
“Yes, Darling, it’s me.” The fashionista replied, her voice drawing Sunset’s head towards the sound of her voice. Then the ex-pony blinked. What was-- no, it was nothing. She thought there had been a flash of something for a moment, but no, Sunset was still unable to see. Speaking of..
“Rarity.” Sunset said again, stronger this time, and she felt the hands which had been generally fussing over her still. “Wh-why can’t I see?” There was, to her shame, an edge of fear in her voice. Had Sunset gone blind after… well, after whatever happened to her? Doubtless Rarity heard it too, because the other girl was swift to reassure her.
“Oh, don’t worry about that dear, that’s just the blindfold. Doctor’s orders, you’re not to take it off for at least two more weeks.” Sunset blinked in surprise, then blinked again as relief flooded her. Well good, at least she wasn’t blind-- wait, what?
“Why? What h-happened?” Sunset asked, before once again groaning in pain as she jerked a little too fast. Again, he thought she saw a flicker of something, but was distracted by the sound of Rarity wincing.
“I was rather hoping to ask you that, Sunset. One moment everything was fine, and then the next your Geode just disintegrated and you let out this horrible scream. We’ve all been so worried.” Sunset blinked, not that it did any good, before frowning against yet another wave of pain. They seemed to be lessening over time, but it was still highly unpleasant.
“I don’t…” Sunset started, before forcibly stopping herself and trying to think. What had happened? She was examining the Geode, testing different powers and reaching deeper into well of magic it carried. Then she came across that barrier at the end, realized it was a conduit to some greater force and… Sunset’s head slammed back down into her pillows, but she ignored the resulting pain. “Fuck.”
“Darling?” Rarity questioned worriedly, and this time Sunset definitely saw something flickering on the edge of what would normally be her vision. She couldn’t describe it, even the color wasn’t one for which she had a name in the brief few seconds it existed, but it seemed to be coming from the same place as Rarity’s voice.
“Sorry Rarity.” Sunset apologized for her rough language, trying and failing to smile. “I just realized I did something really stupid that I probably shouldn’t have. And here I thought I had learned from the last time I poked a powerful mystical artifact I knew next to nothing about.” She would have chuckled if it didn’t hurt too much to try. Rarity, for her part, didn’t quite laugh but she certainly made an amused sound--and there was that flash of something again, except this time it was a completely different color. That was really starting to get on Sunset’s nerves. Was she just imagining it? Or was it real, and she was missing something important. Honestly, she just wanted to reach out and--
Sunset blinked as, for the briefest instant, she could once again see. Except it wasn’t sight, not like normal. Instead of looking around at what what was presumably her sickroom, with the normally colored shapes and forms of a bed, walls, plastic chairs and Rarity sitting in the one closest to her, she was instead met with something that was similar, except all the colors had been changed for impossible shades that flowed and shifted like currents under the sea. Most were angry, dark colors that made Sunset somehow think of a lot of negative emotions--pain, fear, rage--with a few softer but still dark ones--sorrow, resignation, worry--mixed in. The only bright spot in the room aside from one or two specks here and there, was Rarity’s form, which was a mix of something like amusement, concern, and something between pink, yellow, and white that she couldn’t make sense of.
--then she was hissing in pain as a sharp sting assaulted her eyes, and the strange form of sight disappeared, leaving Sunset to be consumed by darkness once again. Rarity paused in what she had been about to say, voice suddenly turning worried.
“Yes, well I-Sunset? Are you alright? What just happened?” The white-skinned girl asked, and Sunset could feel her lean over the bed as if to stare directly into her eyes.
“I-I’m fine, rares, I just--what did you say the blindfold was for again? Is there something wrong with my eyes?” And there was that note of panic again as Sunset wondered if perhaps she had gone blind, or perhaps even worse. What had she done to herself?
“Well, not wrong, per se.” Rarity replied after a moment’s pause, sounding very cautious. “The doctor said that they were very strained by something, but couldn’t tell what, and ordered that they be sealed off from light for a few weeks to let them recover. The same with the rest of your body, actually, but your eyes got the worst of it. Do you have any idea why that is?” Sunset frowned, mulling over the question. Well from what she remembered, most of the powers she had found bound to the Geode were sense-based. If a large portion of those were centered in the eyes, then when she was suddenly overloaded by shattering the conduit they might all have activated at once. In that case it made sense that her eyes might have been strained, trying to view a dozen different spectrums all at the same time, some of which didn’t even apply to the purely physical world.
“Maybe.” Sunset replied, grimacing. “The Geode was a conduit to something, something very powerful, but most of its abilities seemed to be tied to the senses. If those abilities were all activated at once and thrown into overdrive…”
“Then you would be overwhelmed. Yes, that makes sense.” Rarity agreed, following the train of logic to its conclusion. Then her voice turned stern. “And what, exactly, were you doing to cause that to happen?” Sunset winced. Sometimes it was hard to remember that out of her six friends, Rarity was probably the second-most intelligent of them, and possessed a maternal instinct to match that was only bested by Fluttershy at her angriest.
“I… may have accidentally broken the safety regulators trying to figure out just what the Geode connected to.” Sunset admitted sheepishly, shrinking under the glare she couldn’t see but still felt. A beat passed, then another, and then Rarity sighed.
“And here I thought Rainbow Dash was supposed to be the brashest person in our group. You really must be more careful Darling. A week-long coma will give anyone quite the fright.”
“Sorry.” Sunset apologized, before blinking and pausing. Wait, I was out for a week?” She asked, incredulous. That was way too long. Summer Break would almost be over then!
“I’m afraid so.” Rarity confirmed, not noticing her friend’s sudden panic. “We have all been taking shifts watching over you so that you would not panic after awakening, but don’t worry. The rest of the girls are on their way as we speak.” Sunset flinched at that. Right, the other girls. She had, very briefly, wondered where they were, but was distracted by all that was going on. Even now there were still vague thoughts buzzing around on the edge of her mind that made it hard to focus, like what was up with that weird emotional sight she used, but Sunset shook them off. Then she paused as another thought took their place.
“Crap, she said. “I’m going to have to explain this all over again.”
XXX
At the same time Sunset came to her disturbing realization, a black car was pulling into the parking lot of Canterlot High. It wasn’t a particularly fancy car, nor was it a horribly shabby one, and yet it still drew the attention of what few people were around to see it. This was because it didn’t belong to any of the staff-members, that anybody knew of at least, and no student would be foolish or desperate enough to return to school several days before their precious Summer Break ended--except maybe Twilight Sparkle, but she only ever rode the bus or walked everywhere. Yet more attention was paid when the driver stepped out, glancing around and in the bright morning sunlight before frowning.
The man was, once again, nothing particularly special in either a good or bad way, but there was certainly something eye-catching about him. Taller, taller than even the famously leggy Principal and Vice-principle of this very school and lean, he was dressed in simple clothes, from his black slacks to his white button-up shirt and combat boots. Over those, however, were thrown accoutrements just a tad more interesting, such as the long and worn leather trench-coat adorned with a pure white anarchy symbol across its back, or the opaque black shades and a pure white fedora over his two-tone white and black hair.
After a brief moment’s glaring at his general surroundings, the man moved, ignoring the stares around him as he first crossed the parking lot, then stepped up onto the lawn of the school. By this point, most people had lost interest--Canterlot High saw all sorts, after all, so even mildly interesting people were hardly worth a second glance--but those few people who were still looking noted, eyebrows raised, That he did not follow the walk up to the school, but rather continued on straight ahead, crossing the clean-cut green lawn with as little disregard to them as a lion might give a gnat. Even more interesting, however, was the lawn’s reaction to him--as the man passed by, a ripple seemed to pass through the air, and for a brief instant the grass curled away from his passage, before returning once again to its tall and proud state. And yet all in his wake seemed a touch dulled, as if some of the unnatural brightness those lawns had gained recently had been stripped away, returning the world to its regular state as was originally intended.
By the time the man reached the front door and slid inside seamlessly just as it was being opened from the other side, his frown had deepened even further, and for a moment he paused, glancing down at whoever it was that had given him his chance. To his surprise, it took a touch more craning of his neck than usual, as this was not in fact a teacher, but apparently one of the students--and a young one, too, with an interesting pink and purple swirl of hair to match her pale grey skin. He blinked as she passed, the girl preoccupied with something in her hands and thus not noticing him, before shrugging, and moving on. While that had certainly been an interesting encounter, he had more important things to do at the moment.
Eventually, the man made his way all the way to the central office, at the doors of which he paused. There was no receptionist--while the staff may be preparing for the new school year, there was hardly enough traffic to warrant someone purely for manning the front desk--someone was still someone there. At the sound of his footsteps, Principal Celestia glanced up, before freezing in place and blinking with surprise.
“Discord,” The woman breathed, shock and disbelief evident in her voice. The man, who was indeed named such, smirked, tossing the woman a jaunty salute.
“Been a while, Celestia.” He greeted, smirk growing wider with every word. “Did ya miss me?”