Twilight walked through the dark halls of the Canterlot Castle. She should have been in her bed resting, but the anger and regret boiling inside of her kept her wide awake. Twilight wanted to blame Sunset's imprisonment on someone else, but she couldn't. She was the on that brought Sunset here to be punished. So it was her fault.
Her fault that Sunset would die in Tartarus. Her fault that she would suffer alone. Her fault.
Twilight continued through the halls of the castle, nodding solemnly to guards as she passed by doorways and hallways. She didn't have the energy to teleport to the other side of the castle, she figured that a walk through the palace would calm her down before she talked to Princess Celestia.
Twilight finally made it to Celestia's room, the tall doors guarded by the two guards with long spears. Twilight approached one of them, and said, "I would like to see the Princess please."
The guard in gold armor shook his head. "I'm sorry Princess Twilight, the Princess asked for no one to disturb her majesty." He said apologetically.
Twilight resisted the urge to shout and said impatiently. "This is an emergency, I must speak with her right away."
The guard looked at the other guard, who shrugged his shoulders. He sighed and tapped his spear on the door, to warn Princess Celestia that someone was, coming in. Twilight nodded a 'thank you' before opening the door open with her magic.
Twilight stepped into the large foyer, Celestia's cutie mark was marked on the floor. Shelves of books lined the walls, and windows filled the room, Twilight looked to her right and saw walk-in curtains, that were currently drawn closed. Twilight huffed and made her way slowly to the bedroom portion of the room.
She stopped at the curtains, not wanting to disturb or walk-in on the Princess while she was improper.
Twilight cleared her throat and spoke. "Princess Celestia, it's Twilight, can we speak?" Twilight waiting for a few seconds, but there was no response. She cleared her throat louder this time. "Princess?"
Twilight hesitantly stepped through the curtains and looked around. It was silent for a second before she heard sniffling. Turning towards the sudden sound, which came from the large bed. Her eyes widened as she saw a blob of blankets and pastel-colored hair sticking from under the sheets.
Twilight tilted her head and stepped towards the bed. "Princess?"
The blob on the bed stopped sniffling, seemingly frozen, before the Princess's head stuck out through the piles of pillows and blankets, eyes wide. "Twilight!" She yelped in shock. "What are you doing here?"
Twilight looked down as Celestia tried to make herself look decent. "I was hoping I could talk to you," Twilight started to walk back to the curtains to leave. "But if you are not fit to have a conversation, that is alright."
"No! I'm fine, I just—give me a second to make myself decent please." Celestia said, before getting up and making her way to the bathroom.
Twilight nodded and waited intently as she heard sounds of water splashing. Looking around the room, she saw that all the curtains were drawn, and the room was relatively dark. Twilight knew that Celestia liked to keep her room nice and bright, even if it was night time. She was drawn from her thoughts as Celestia walked outside the bathroom.
It was still clear that she was crying, due to the redness in her lavender eyes. The pair of alicorns made their way to a small tea table in the middle of the room. Twilight took her seat at one end, and so did Celestia.
Finally, Celestia plastered a smile on her face, and spoke up. "So Twilight, what did you want to talk to me about?"
Twilight set her hooves on the table. "Princess, I was hoping that we could talk about Sunset."
Sunset awoke up at a certain large bump in the road. She opened her eyes slowly and got up painfully. Her shoulder especially aching in pain. Looking around, the first thing she saw was flies. A lot of them. They surrounded her and the guards escorting her, Shining Armor looked particularly the most annoyed.
Worst of all, storm clouds gathered above, they were dark and ugly, and about to release their downpour on the earth. The plants around them even looked gloomy, and overgrown. Ahead of them, a rigid stone mountain. Sunset's pupils shrank, they were there, they were at Tartarus.
"No, no, no," Sunset pleaded desperately, backing up against the cage.
The guards ignored her pleas, stopping the cage as Shining Armor walked up to the large gate. The red complex patterns decorating the door looked as dark as blood. Shining Armor closed his eyes, and his horn lit with magic and began casting the spell to remove the seal to Tartarus.
Sunset could swear she felt her heart skip eight beats when she heard the slow cranking of gears. The door opened painfully slow. Tears rolled down Sunset's face as the cage began moving again. She closed her eyes, she didn't want to see. Sunset heard animals and creatures screeching at her arrival. Flinching back at each one, she kept her eyes sealed close, and the cage moved forward.
Sunset could feel her self shaking, and on the verge of collapsing once again. This was cruel. All of it. Nopony should have to go through this. Anger flashed in Sunset's mind before another guilty wave covered it up. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she peaked her eyes open slowly and instantly wished she hadn't.
Tartarus screamed 'Welcome to Hell!", it screamed death. Sunset's breaths became quicker as they moved her down further down the large prison. The pathway separated into three more paths. The cage took a sharp right, and Sunset was led down the narrow path.
A large three-headed dog barked at the group of ponies as they continued their walk down the long path. Sunset squinted her eyes to see what was at the end, and her eyes widened. A small platform, slightly larger than her cage, was at the climax of the path. Looking over the edge of her cage, Sunset saw magma running in the pits of Tartarus.
She could not spend the rest of her life here. Anywhere but here. Anything but this. Sunset began to sweat from both hyperventilation and the heat that filled the large prison. Her body quaked with each breath she took.
"Unicorns, help me lift this cage on to the platform!" Shining Armor called, which only made Sunset's breaths intensify.
The cage was filled with a multicolored aura and was lifted slowly off the cart, and onto the platform. It went down with a large rattle and thump. Sunset threw her arms around the bars of the cage, large sobs racked out of her body.
"Please! you can't leave me here! YOU CAN'T" Sunset begged.
Shining Armor looked away and turned his back to Sunset. "Our work here is done, let's move!" Shining ignored Sunset's continuous pleas as the walked back down the narrow path again.
Sunset slid to the ground, sweat starting to soak her mane and coat. "Please, no. No." she cried silently.
Hours Later...
Shining Armor sat on a bed in the bunker room. He looked mangled and stressed. Rubbing his eyes with his hooves, he got up and walked towards the bunker door, he needed a shower. Eyelids half-drooped, his horn lit up to grab the door handle, then—
*BANG*
"AH! Oh—Twily, you reall-" Shining began.
"No, stop." Twilight cut him off. She walked into the bunker, and looked around briefly. "Are we alone?"
Shining Armor nodded his head.
"Good, BECAUSE HOW COULD YOU BE SUCH A—SUCH A DICK?!" Twilight screamed, getting in her brother's face.
Shining Armor pushed Twilight off of him, and backed up against the bed. "What do you mean Twilight?"
Twilight's wings flared out. "You know exactly what I mean Shining! How could you say all those things to Sunset! I was there you know. If you weren't so obsessed with being such a dick to Sunset, you would have saw me! I should have stepped in and said something, but NO I WAS TOO GUILTY TO EVEN GO NEAR SUNSET! And here you are telling her she deserved to be sentenced to LIFE IN HELL?! Are you kidding me?"
"You, uh—you saw that? Twily look I'm sorry, I shouldn'—"
"No you shouldn't have." Twilight finished for him.
"Can you let me speak!" Shining roared, Twilight closed her mouth and waited intently. "I've been feeling really bad about what happen. It was the first time I've been inside Tartarus. It's bad." Twilight's face fell. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you feel worse. But Sunset had what was coming for her Twily, whether you like it or not."
Twilight eye's hardened. "I can't believe you!" she yelled at her brother. "Would you have done the same thing to Princess Luna? Would you?"
Shining Armor shook his head shamefully.
"Exactly! But she tried to do the same exact thing Sunset did, and WORSE. Not only did she try to kill me, but Princess Celestia too!" Twilight paced around the room. "I thought I would have taught ponies something by forgiving Luna, but no, it's all about titles isn't it?"
Shining Armor tried to approach his sister. "Twilight calm down, you need to understand from my point-of view. Luna is an alicorn. Basically a born leader and you expect us just to through her in Tartarus? Sunset was, was just a nopony!"
Twilight shook her head in disbelief and scoffed. "I didn't expect you to understand Shining, you've always been as stubborn as a mule." She made her way to the door again. "Don't expect to see me at breakfast next morning, I'll be heading back to Ponyville as soon as possible."
And with that, Twilight left the room with a huff. She had failed, and wanted to blame it on everyone else. But it wasn't Luna's fault Sunset was dragged to Equestria. It wasn't anyone's fault but hers. And Twilight would do whatever she could to make it right again.