//------------------------------// // The Line Crossed // Story: Her Sunlit Lineage // by Graglithan The Greater //------------------------------// Sunset galloped. As hard as she could, she charged forward down the vines that connected the islands she had been on. All the while, she found herself jumping over patches of glass that were forming, or almost falling from a vine dying as she crossed. She needed to get back to the real world. Back to where Twilight was gathering the guard to catch Line Writer. Back to where she couldn’t get erased by stepping on the wrong spot. Back to where her dad was barely holding on to his mind. Her focus slipped a moment, and she almost tripped into a large patch of glass that formed in her path. Gritting her teeth, she leaped over it and landed on the other side, before continuing her charge. It was not long before she could see the door leading out of the mindscape just ahead. She took a moment to breathe and looked around the sky. “Line Writer isn’t here. Hope that means I beat him to the exit.” Sunset hopped onto the next vine and heard a crunch. Looking down, she noticed her hoof was stuck in the rotted plant. She growled and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge. “Oh, come on! Not now!” “Leaving so soon?” Sunset’s blood froze as she looked over and saw Line Writer smirking as he floated to the island in front of her and landed, calmly stepping off. “You.” The venom in Sunset’s voice would have put down entire countries if it could. “Just what was worth coming in here and doing all of this!? Why destroy what little of my dad I had left!? What was so important you’d do this to your best friend!?” “Friend?” Line Writer’s smirk fell some as he started to walk closer down the vine. “Friend!?” He snarled and put himself nose to nose with Sunset, horn burning with magic. “Everything we strove for. Every battle we fought together. He tossed it to the side like it was NOTHING! And for what? A mare who wasn’t even from this dimension? He knew her for less than a few weeks before he was putting more of his time into her than he needed! Less and less, I see them until they’re barely around at all!” Sunset snarled back and lit her own horn. “And!? So what! Just because he liked my mother, you think he abandoned your friendship!? The only one who did that was you Line Writer, and you did it far worse than you say he did! You spent years pretending to be his friend just so you could do this! How sick are you!?” “I LOVED HIM, CELESTIA DAMN IT!” Line Writer snapped as his breathing started to get slightly haggard. Sunset was stunned for a moment, as she watched the enraged stallion pant. Slowly, Line Writer’s eyes darkened. “But he chose her. I tried, so long, to forget how much it hurt to see him turn away. She stole everything from me before I had a chance to tell him, and he went with her willingly.” A twisted chuckle slipped out of Line Writer’s lips as his eyes dilated. “So if he misses her so badly, he can join her in the abyss where their disgusting love belongs.” His horn lit up again as he smiled wider. “And so can you.” Sunset’s legs trembled as she locked eyes with the deranged unicorn. Through the fear, however, she could feel something under her stuck hoof and got an idea. Letting her fear show, she shifted her leg as if she was trying to step away from him. “Y-You’re insane.” “No, just heartbroken.” Line Writer stepped towards her and stared down with a small hint of disappointment. “You know, a part of me wants it to be true that you’re actually his daughter.” Magic began to gather more towards the tip of his horn as his focus was turned to finishing his spell. “That way, I could get rid of the ultimate product of their love in one-.” Sunset struck as soon as his attention was off of her. With a swift kick, she ripped her hoof free from the vine’s rot and sent a shower of splinters into Line Writer’s eyes. In his pain, Line’s spell fired off and struck the ground behind Sunset as she ducked. “GAH! YOU LITTLE WHORSE!” Sunset cracked her neck as she lowered her horn and gathered her own magic. “You’re also not getting away with this!” Line Writer’s bloodshot eyes burned with both rage and pain as he snarled. “And who’s going to stop me? You?” His horn lit up again as he recharged his spell. “By the time I’m done with you, you’ll be fading with everything else here!” There was a shimmer in the air around Sunset as she focused on every single spell she could remember from her time under Celestia. “Try me.”  Line Writer’s magic blasted forward, slamming into Sunset. Only, Line Writer’s eyes went wide as Sunset’s form expanded as a hole was punched through it, before fading into the air. “WHERE ARE YOU!”  He looked around in anger until a blast hit him in the stomach. The stallion was launched into the air, flipping uncontrollably as Sunset jumped from inside the deteriorating vine’s newest hole, flames licking around her horn and forelegs. “Right here, jerk.” Knowing this was a fight against time, Sunset started her charge back down the vine and kept her eyes on Line Writer as his horn lit up again, and he screamed in rage. Twisting in the air, he fired a beam of magic that sliced through the air, barely missing her. However, the vine was struck and quickly filled with a series of explosions that steadily caught up to her. Sunset barely managed to lunge her way off of the vine as the plant matter burst into a shower of debris. Sunset tumbled across the ground, nearly sliding off the edge of the island. She looked to see Line Writer jumping back into his air-balloon and taking off. As she charged back towards him, he started sending shockwaves of magic into the island, making it tremor violently under her hooves.  Her eyes went wide as the island exploded, and she was launched back into the air. Cold air ripped painfully around her fresh burns as she started to fall. Sunset’s eyes looked up to see Line Writer headed for the exit. Determination flooded through her as she charged a different spell, and fire burst from all around her. Line Writer narrowed his eyes as the fireball erupted, putting up a shield around his balloon. No sooner did he finish his spell did the flame slam into his protection and knock his aircraft off course. Rather than explode, however, the fireball continued to push him further and further from the exit. When the fireball extinguished, he was face to face with Sunset as flames propelled her through the air, hooves pressing into his magic.  Sunset reeled back one of her hooves and slammed it into the shield as hard as she could, the fire encasing her body, collecting at the impact, and causing small cracks to start. Line Writer poured more magic into his shield and could feel the strain beginning to get to him.  Another punch made the shield shatter as Sunset readied for another strike. Before it could land, Line Writer ducked away from the blow and used his magic to grab onto her, launching her downward. Sunset’s eyes widened as she saw one of the glassed islands heading for her, and thrust all four of her legs down, sending a jet of flame to stop her fall.  As her decent came to a stop before she could impact, Sunset saw that Line was headed for the exit again. A growl escaped her, and she blasted after him, magic licking across her horn still. Line prepared another spell as Sunset got closer, and sliced through the air with several blasts. Sunset rolled and weaved through them as best she could, a few slicing through her sides and cheeks as they streaked past her. The magic in her horn started trailing through the air as she flew closer until a long stream was flowing behind her. With a flick of her head, the trail whipped forward and struck the basket of the balloon, burning through it with ease. Her second shot at Line Writer was blocked as another shield was summoned, and instead wrapped around him, dragging her through the air as she tried to slow him down. Enraged at the slowing of his escape, Line Writer did his best to expand the shield. “How do you know this magic!? This level of Pyromancy is forbidden even to the guards!” Sunset simply glared at him. “You should know who the exception is.” With a quick change in strategy, Sunset changed the direction of her flames. She started to fly circles around Line Writer, making his balloon follow suit. With a flick of her horn, the flame whip extinguished, and the aircraft crashed into one of the islands. Line Writer pulled himself from the wreckage and snorted in rage. His horn crackled dangerously as his magic started to get out of control. “I WILL NOT LET SOME BRAT BEAT ME!” His magic blasted towards Sunset in an unfocused wave. Sunset was forced to veer off course in her charge towards him and saw an opportunity.  “Actually, I think you will!” Speeding up, she spun through the air and quickly started to turn towards him as he tried to re-direct his blast. Only Sunset was slightly faster. With a solid punch, Sunset’s flaming hooves landed into Line Writer’s chest, knocking the wind out of the old stallion. Sunset, however, didn’t slow down, carrying him through the air and towards her destination. Line Writer struggled against her, glancing over his shoulder to see where they were headed, and his eyes widened. Only a moment later, did he slam into the doorway leading out of Hot Air’s mindscape, and he could feel the construct behind him start to buckle under the pressure. Sunset kept up her push, and cracks began to form. “No, NO! I spent years finding the perfect spell for this!” He pressed his hooves into the frame and tried to push back against Sunset with his magic, only for his horn to fizzle and spark. Sunset’s hooves dug a little harder into his stomach. “Years you could have spent finding someone else to obsess about!” In a final burst of magic, her flames exploded out behind her hooves. The pressure finally became too much, and the construct shattered open. It was but a moment later that both of them were ejected back into the real world, and the tear in reality quickly closed. Twilight for her part had not waited quietly for Sunset’s return. While she still remained in Hot Air’s chambers, she had sent a letter to the local police station explaining the situation. As such, a small unit of officers was waiting alongside her. The longer she waited, the more anxious she was becoming. “Please, Sunset... you need to get out of there.” One of the officers looked at her with a hint of sympathy. “Your Highness, if this spell remains any longer-” His words were quickly interrupted as cracks formed on the door. At the sight of them, Twilight’s heart sank. “No! Sunset’s still in there!” She started to head for the door when the officer pulled her away from the trembling portal. “Princess! Get back!” No sooner did he get her away did the portal shatter, and two ponies tumbled out onto the floor. Twilight quickly pulled herself away from the officer and rushed to where they were laying, and pulled Sunset into her hooves. Her heart stopped when she noticed how burned Sunset’s forelegs were. “Sunset! Oh, sweet Celestia, what happened to you!?” The officer looked down at Line Writer and frowned before he turned to the other officers. “Get a medical team in here immediately. We have three magically assaulted; two with Pyromancy and one through abuse of Divination.” Twilight couldn’t look away from her friend. Sunset’s burns were quite extreme, and the patterns of the injuries... she recognized them. It was when an officer put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder that her thoughts were pulled from her own memory. “Your highness, We’ll need you to come with us to the station. If what you’ve told us is true, we need to have your statement for the report.” “I understand.” Twilight gave him a nod and started to follow him out the door as the medical team rushed in from downstairs. “I recognized the pattern of the burns. Sunset was using advanced Pyromancy that only Celestia herself is allowed to teach. She expressly forbids any student from using them unless their life depends on it.” “That’s good to know. This may help us with our case.” The officer nodded, and the two of them headed downstairs. “Let’s hope your friend regains consciousness soon, so we can hear her side of the story. She may have learned something that will elaborate more on this.” The officer left, and Twilight waited for the medical team to come down. When they were moving Sunset out of the home, Twilight stopped the responder. “If it’s alright, can I go with you back to the hospital?” The responder nodded, and Twilight joined them in the ambulance. The entire ride to the Baltimare Hospital, Twilight couldn’t stop glancing down at Sunset. The medical team had done their jobs well, bandaging what they could, but the sight still was rocking Twilight to her core. How could one of her friends get this badly hurt? How could she have let it happen? Why didn’t she jump in after her? Tears started to trail down her cheeks as she gently placed a hoof on Sunset’s bandaged foreleg. “Please be okay...”