Tartarus was hot, really hot. Sunset's sweat soaked her coat, mane, and tail. She wasn't even moving and she was exhausted and out of breath. Her poorly stitched shoulder blades ached, and were not fairing any better either. Although the conditions were unbearable, they were not life-threatening. Nothing was in Tartarus. And yet, Sunset felt as if she would die any second.
Sunset concluded that this was another torture Tartarus had to offer. The amber-colored mare focused on her breathing for the time being. There wasn't much else she could do anyway. Breath, Sleep, Sweat, Suffer. That was all Tartarus had to offer.
Sunset's cyan eyes bore into the iron floor of her cage. She had long tried to break the bars of her cell, but it turned out to be fruitless. The silver inhibitor ring on her horn gave her a suffocating feeling that she couldn't shake off, giving her a constant anxiety.
Her breathing was ragged, the sound of her exhausted breaths masked the other demonic sounds of Tartarus. This was not fair. The nightmares, the sound, smell, everything.
Sunset started to breathe in huffs of anger, before grimacing and slumping her head to the floor. Did she even have the right to be angry at anypony? No she didn't—she couldn't. She betrayed Princess Celestia, she tried to kill Twilight. She deserved this.
Sunset closed her eyes, she didn't want to go to sleep, not wanting to face the horrible nightmares. She saw the demon every time she would enter the dream world, like it was waiting for her. Sunset tried to recall memories from her childhood, but if on was to look far enough, she had none.
Sunset spent most of her time in her room, studying, bettering herself. She didn't remember having one friend, there was no time for friends. But Sunset regretted her decisions, if she could go back and tell herself how big of a mistake she was making...It would change everything
Maybe she could have been the Princess, maybe she could have been by Celestia's side, not as a student, but something more. She began to doze off, lost in her thoughts....
"We have something in common, you know?" a voice boomed and echoed through the walls of Tartarus, snapping Sunset out of her thoughts.
The amber mare frantically stood up on her hooves, her head snapping left and right, but couldn't find the source of the voice.
After moments of silence, Sunset hesitantly shouted back. "Who's there! What do you want from me?"
There was no response for a few moments, just silence. Even the creatures seemed to go silent, before the voice spoke again. "Think of me as your ally. It only makes sense, we are both angry.." it said again. "I don't think I've ever seen a unicorn in Tartarus before. What is your name?"
Sunset looked around frantically for where the voice had been coming from. Turning to the left, she saw nothing but darkness on the walls of Tartarus, but when she turned to the left, she right, she saw a shadow. The shadow had small horns, and human like top, and a horse body. It was a centaur.
Sunset only knew one centaur that could end up in Tartarus. But she thought it was an ancient legend, something that parents would tell fillies when they wouldn't go to bed or eat their vegetables. The centaur was Tirek, magic stealing, completely diabolical, Tirek.
Sunset knew he couldn't do anything here in Tartarus, but Tirek was practically as old as Princess Celestia herself. Although Tirek could be killed like any other pony, he aged almost one hundred times slower than ponies. Sunset began to wonder how long he had been in here himself, and stepped a little closer to the bars of her cage.
Opening her muzzle, which felt like it was filled with cotton. Clearing her throat, she shouted again, "I know who you are Tirek! What do you want from me?!"
Tirek gave a hollow chuckle. "Just your name..for now."
Sunset hesitated before answering. "Sunset Shimmer, that's my name." Suspicion began to rise within Sunset as she gave her name to Tirek.
"Hmm, interesting. What could a unicorn have done to end up in Tartarus." Tirek asked curiously.
Sunset shuddered at the thought of her crimes against Equestria. "That's none of your business." she muttered miserably.
She heard Tirek's horrifying laugh before he said, "I might have bad hearing pony, but I think it's all my business. He said, making Sunset look in the direction of his shadow. "You serve me now, and together, we are getting out of here, my way. Whether you like it or not."
Sunset tried to shield herself from the maniacal laughter of Tirek, but her attempts were fruitless. Her fears started to close in on her, and the sounds of Tirek's cackling did not help either. She didn't like where this was going at all.
The night before at Canterlot Castle...
Twilight was staring directly into the lavender eyes of Princess Celestia, which widened considerably a large amount at the name of he student. She had to know more about Sunset, more about the pony that was stuck in Tartarus for the rest of her life.
While Twilight had her thoughts on whether Celestia had students before her not, she never gave it too much thought. Celestia was close to Twilight, but whatever relationship was between her mentor and Sunset, was different than any other thing she had experienced. They seemed overall much closer, and Twilight needed to know what it was.
Celestia's shocked face was not very long lasting, and returned to her neutral facade. The diarch cleared her throat, and said, "Of course, I would have thought you would come to me eventually," quickly conjuring two tea cups to calm herself, she took a sip before continuing. "What would you like to talk about?"
Twilight pursed her lips before bringing the tea cup Celestia summoned to her muzzle. After she took her sip, she asked, "When did Sunset become your student?"
Celestia seemed to let down her guard slightly and the question. "When she was a filly, about 22 and a half years ago..if I recall correctly."
Celestia smiled slightly at the memory, before Twilight broke her from her thoughts. "How did she become your student?"
The Princess in question looked up slightly as if she was recalling a memory, and smiled...
Sunset Shimmer was a young filly, at the age of seven. The young unicorn walked through town with a large smile on her face and a small can filled with golden bits. Sunset didn't have a real home, but she could find places to snuggle in when the nights were cold, and when she needed protection from heavy weather.
She would preform her small fire spells she learned from the many books at the Canterlot library. She got particularly lucky today, having attracted a decent sized crowd. Looking into her small bit can, which was almost full, she headed towards the local bakery.
It was Sunset's dream to go to school and learn more spells and magic. She could just reach the amount of bits she needed, she could apply to Celestia's school for magic. It would be a dream come true.
The amber unicorn finally reached the bakery after a small trek, and sighed happily. Nothing could ruin the mood she was in right now...that was until..
Somepony large ran past her, a little too fast, making her lose her grip on her bits, and her balance. The golden bits dropped to the ground and scattered, in the distance she heard someone shouting.
"Theif! Someone stop him!"
Sunset shook her head and and stood back up, her eyes wide. This was her chance! She would get such a large reward for capturing the thief. Quickly, she began to run after the stallion, leaving her bits on the ground haphazardly.
She wasn't the fastest pony in Equestria, but Sunset caught up to the stallion quickly. Thinking fast, Sunset thought of one of her fireball spells, and aimed near the thief's foot. Her horn glowed with cyan magic as a fireball formed above it, and shot at the thieves foot.
It proved fruitful, the thief stumbled and tripped at the sudden explosion. Smoke clouded his vision and lost his sense of direction.
Sunset grinned victoriously at her achievement. Turning around, she saw two guards in golden armor, smiling and waving her hoof to get their attention, she called out, "Over here! I caught the thief!"
The guards turned towards the amber filly, and quickly galloped past her and to the confused thief. Sunset couldn't help but grin as they guards apprehended the stallion, applauded herself mentally and waited on the side to get some type of reward for her act of heroism.
As the guards carried the stallion away, no one seemed to notice Sunset, and she frowned. She was about to open her muzzle, but a large shadow started looming over her. Confused she looked around, and saw nothing. Looking behind her she saw a extremely tall mare looking down at her.
It wasn't just any mare though. This mare had wings, a horn, and looked in shape. Sunset started to shake and backed up to try and get a better look at the imposing alicorn.
Sunset knew who she was, and if she found out who Sunset was, she could get in trouble. Usually, she would just lie to the guards and other ponies that questioned where she lived, and where her parents were. But this was the Princess of Equestria she was looking at.
Not some guard or nopony off the streets of Canterlot, this was Princess Celestia.
The alicorn bent her neck lower so she was more face to face to the small filly. Then she spoke with a voice Sunset knew all to well. "What are you doing here little filly?"
Sunset thought she didn't have any other choice but to answer. "I-I was going to buy s-some cookies a-and I saw the th-thief and went after him!" she spoke, ending with slight confidence.
"Is that so?" she asked, Sunset nodded her head. "What's your name little one?"
Sunset hesitated before answering. "Sunset, Princess. Sunset Shimmer"
Celestia smiled, and stood straight once again. "How would like to take a walk with me little Sun?"
Sunset beamed. This could be here chance and she knew it. She nodded her head, and began to walk with the Princess. Little did she know, that day would change her whole life.
Twilight was stunned into silence for seconds after Celestia had told her story. It was more than interesting how Celestia and Sunset had met, but Twilight was more impressed with was Sunset's amount of power at such a young age. Though Twilight was powerful and skilled, it was amazing what Sunset was able to do.
"She is quite an impressive mare." Twilight said after the moment of silence.
Celestia nodded. "Indeed she is. It's what led her to becoming my first personal student."
Twilight took another sip of her tea. "But if Sunset was your student, why didn't she become a princess like me? What went wrong?"
That question seemed to be the one Celestia had been dreading the whole conversation. Alas, she knew she had to answer it. "It all started when I showed her the mirror." The princess began, making her way to the balcony.
"Sunset was an ambitious filly and mare growing up. She knew what she wanted it, and wanted it badly. A-and when I showed her that mirror, and she saw herself as an alicorn, she did everything in her power to make sure it happened."
Celestia's voice cracked as she spoke the next part. "I saw her sneaking into the forbidden section of the library one night, and when I had caught her she wasn't sincere or apologetic, she was..angry." Tears started to roll down her face, and Celestia struggled to continue. "We argued, and I snapped. I removed her as my pupil, and sent her to her room to pack up her things and be ready to leave the next morning."
Twilight made her way to her mentor's side and looked up. "What happened after that?"
"She didn't go to her room, she ran towards the room the portal was kept in. By the time I got there, it was too late." Celestia couldn't hold back the tears any longer, and she broke down sobbing.
It was obvious now that Sunset was more than just a pupil to Celestia, and how much it had hurt to see her being sentenced to death and Tartarus. rubbing her wing to try and calm the princess, Twilight frowned miserably.
"I have failed her Twilight, more than any other mentor could manage." Celestia sobbed.
Twilight shook her head and looked up at the Princess. "You didn't fail Sunset, princess. Her desicions were her own, and in the end, I failed more as the Princess of Friendship then anything else. I should have shown Sunset forgiveness that night, but I was just so angry!"
Celestia turned her head to meet Twilight's gaze. "Anger can destroy anything Twilight. Because the worst of our decisions are made in anger. We both made bad choices, and both were in anger."
The two remained in a calming yet tense silence for a bit of time, just staring at the moon.
"Do you think there is a way to bring her back?" Twilight asked after minutes.
Celestia solemnly shook her head. "It is very unlikely for court to reverse a decision so large. You'd have to convince a lot of ponies that Sunset is innocent, and can change."
Twilight only nodded and grunted in response. No matter what, she would find a way to get Sunset out of Tartarus. Court or no court.