//------------------------------// // 13. Faded Magic // Story: Sunset's Wonderful Life // by sonicfan05 //------------------------------// “W-W-W-WHAT!?” Sunset exclaimed in shock with a perplexed look. She constantly looked back and forth between Rebecca and Midnight Sparkle while still trying to make sense of things. She then slowly pointed her shaking finger at Midnight Sparkle, who was still destroying the city in the process.  “Y-you've gotta be kidding me!" Sunset shouted. "Midnight Sparkle is Princess Twilight? HOW!? How can this be? And how did she get in the human world?" Sunset would've continued her tirade, but Rebecca grasped two of her shoulders to get her to calm down. "Listen Sunset, you remember what I said earlier that your life matters to both this world and your homeworld?" She asked. When Sunset slowly nodded, Rebecca continued. "Sunset… the most critical part of your life is your time in Equestria before you fled to this world! You recalled when Princess Celestia showed you that mirror, which was an important part of your life… yes?" Sunset, who was now calmed down for the most part nodded. "Y-yeah," she responded slowly and then frowned. "While I'm not proud of who I was and how I acted to everyone including my mentor, but at the same time… I don't regret it either because if I hadn't come here… I would never have met my best friends." Even when I didn't know it at the time. "Well, believe it or not, that moment changed for Princess Celestia too!" Rebecca explained. "She learned from her mistakes after how she acted to her sister… and to you. So since then, she decided to be close to the ponies she cared about instead of keeping her distance and how to plan things out a little more carefully for the sake of Equestria." Sunset gave Rebecca her confused look since she already knew of this fact. "Okay… but what does that have to do with Princess Twilight?" "...everything!" Rebecca answered, strongly emphasizing the word to show Sunset how serious it was. "As much as this hurts you, she didn’t want to make the same mistake with mentoring Twilight with how she tried to mentor you. Instead of letting her be like what she did to you, she decided to push Twilight in the right direction by having Twilight meet the ponies in Ponyville during the Summer Sun Celebration, which then became friends with later on and helped her defeat Nightmare Moon. Overtime, Twilight eventually became the Princess of Friendship and saved the world along with her friends multiple times!” Her eyes then narrowed. “But without you being born…” Sunset eyes widened, fully understanding the issue. “Then... Princess Celestia mistakes with me... carried over to Twilight, including–” “Showing her the mirror!” Rebecca finished with a serious expression. “However, with Twilight prematurely seeing the mirror was actually worse than when Celestia showed it to you!” Sunset swallowed nervously. “You mean… Twilight seeing that mirror... is the result of Twilight becoming…" Sunset then slowly glanced up in the sky where one of the building was currently demolished. "...her?”   “Essentially… yes,” Rebecca answered grimly. "You remembered that your Twilight becoming Midnight Sparkle was a result of not just peer pressured from her former classmates, but also her unhealthy thirst for knowledge about magic? Well in Princess Twilight's case, she was pretty much the same as the human version, but instead of peer pressure, she was a total shut-in and preferred to seek knowledge. Seeing that mirror early before when she was truly ready only fueled her hunger for even greater knowledge… about the world beyond Equestria. What really didn’t help was that she also learned the history about three certain sirens being sent to another dimension by her idol, Starswirl the Bearded. When Princess Celestia denied that, well… let's just say… that Equestria isn't the same anymore." “W–what do you mean?” Sunset asked nervously. Without saying a word, Rebecca snapped her fingers and she opened up what it appeared to be some kind of small portal, but it was a size of a viewable window. Sunset felt uneasy but also curious about what Rebecca was trying to show her. After debating with herself, her curious side won and decided to take a peek into that "window". The moment she looked into the "window" her heart nearly stopped beating. What Sunset saw through that "window" was her original home, Equestria. But Equestria isn't how she remembered from the last time she visited. Instead, Equestria was nothing but a wasteland with no pony or any creature in sight. Everything is all dark and all plant life and buildings are destroyed. What disturbed Sunset the most was that it was supposed to be Canterlot where Princess Celestia's castle was supposed to be. "M-my home!” Sunset cried with a look of horror on her face. “What happened to my home!" "Twilight destroyed it,” Rebecca simply answered, much to Sunset's shock. “After years of gathering knowledge of magic, especially dark magic, which slowly transformed her into her own version of Midnight Sparkle. She also allied with other villains, only to betray them after she got what she wanted. And when she eventually at her full power, she banished Princess Celestia to the sun… permanently."  "She then ruled Equestria with an iron hoof for years as the most fearful tyrant in history, and no pony was able to defeat her, especially that the Elements of Harmony is rendered useless without the magic welder. But despite all of her accomplishments, she still wasn't satisfied. So after studying the mirror, she eventually figured out a way to use it and then entered this world in hopes of ruling it as well. From there, she teamed up with the Dazzlings to help her take over the world, only for them to betray her and take the world for themselves. This, of course, infuriated Midnight Sparkle and as a result, they were having a war of who rules this plant and still goes on to this very day, leaving everyone else caught in a crossfire." Sunset stared at Rebecca with a mixture of stunned and horrified expression. She looked at the direction to where Midnight Sparkle was, who was still wrecking the city in search of the Dazzlings. Sunset then slowly looked back down and held her head before her knees collapsed onto a snowy ground. “This is… all too much,” Sunset whimpered, keeping herself from freaking out further. She removed her hands from her head and looked up towards Rebecca with her sad expression. "How… how could things be so bad without me?" Rebecca gave Sunset a look of empathy before she let out a long sigh. "Well, I guess it's because someone like you made a lot of difference in a lot of lives. Whether you realize this or not, you are just as important to your friends as they are to you!" Rebecca answered softly. She’s right. Sunset thought. My friends are important to me in my life. I guess I never realized that I’m important to them too. And here I thought earlier that they are better off without me. She sighed heavily. I’m so sorry Principal Celesia, Vice-Principal Luna, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight and… Suddenly, as if a bolt of lightning had struck her, Sunset realized the one crucial thing throughout her little "trip" with Rebecca. “Wait… where’s Twilight?” Sunset inquired as she turned towards her guardian angel with a look of expectation. Rebecca hesitated for a brief moment before she quickly pointed behind her. “She’s over there, still rampaging the city.” Sunset shook her head. “No no! Not that Twilight, the other Twilight! MY Twilight!” Rebecca then had a teasing grin on her face. “Well, well, well. So you’re having the hots for your friend eh?” Sunset's cheeks were red before she quickly shook her head and glared at Rebecca. “D-don’t dodge the question! Where is she? Where’s the human Twilight?” Rebecca was silent for a moment with a blank look before she turned away slightly.   “I… I can’t say.” "Can't!? What do you mean "can't"?" Sunset yelled angrily. "You've been telling me how my other friends' lives were like without me, why not her?" She then narrowed her eyes at Rebecca. “Now that I think about it, every time I tried bringing her up, you either changed the topic or you just flat out ignored me!” Sunset stood up and looked directly into Rebecca's eyes. “What are you hiding Rebecca? What happened to Twilight?” Once again, Rebecca was hesitant for a moment before answering in a low voice. "I… I don't think I should be telling you. You were distraught enough already after seeing your friends, but because of how close you are to Twilight… I feared that this would only devastate you." "You mean… Twilight's life without me is worse than Fluttershy's? Worse than Princess Twilight's!?" Sunset questioned in a panicked tone. Rebecca turned away. "I said too much!" Rebecca's cryptic answer only made Sunset feared for her best friend even more. "Rebecca… what happened to Twilight?" Sunset demanded with huge anxiety. "Sunset, I really can't–" "ANSWER ME!" Sunset roared. Rebecca could only stare at Sunset, who was almost having a meltdown for almost a full minute. Finally, Rebecca closed her eyes and sighed. "Twilight… is miserable… more miserable than all of your friends combined!" Rebecca revealed, most to Sunset's dismay. "You know how difficult her life was like when she stayed at Crystal Prep before she transferred to CHS?"  Sunset nodded while dreading where this conversation was leading to. "Midnight Sparkle incident aside, you showed Twilight another way to live her life and became her first friend," said Rebecca. "And because of you… her life is much brighter and happier with you and your friends than how she lived in her old life. Most importantly, you understand what she was going through and you were there with her during her hard times… even after she transferred to CHS. She always considered herself lucky that she has you… as her best friend!" Rebecca looked downward with the most pained expression that Sunset had ever seen from her. "But without you… her life after the games… turned for the worst. She ended up single-handedly botched the Friendship Games for the Shadowbolts and for the first time in history… Crystal Prep lost a single event. Despite that they still win the games, everyone at Crystal Prep hated her after that and openly shamed her as the one who ruined the school's "reputation" of being the perfect school. People would either mock her, shun or even bully her whenever they see her, making Twilight feel more and more worthless by the day." "That's awful!" Sunset exclaimed in her angered tone. "And Cinch let the bullying happen and didn't stop it?" Rebecca scoffed. "Let it? She's the one who started Twilight's torment!" "She WHAT!?" Sunset roared in fury. Rebecca nodded. "Cinch was furious that Twilight cost one of the events during the games, so she singled Twilight out as being the most incapable person in the academy and even encouraged anyone to mock her, just to use her as an example so that no one will end up being a failure as Twilight. Cinch even went as far to deny Twilight’s chance to not only take that Independent Study Program she always wanted, but to go to ANY academy!" Sunset tightly clenched her fist in rage. She never felt so much hatred towards anyone in her entire life, not even when she was once a bully. "That… cold-hearted… WITCH!" Sunset spat out in anger. "What about Dean Cadance in all of this? Didn’t she help Twilight?" "She tried,” Rebecca said miserably. “But apparently, Cinch decided to "let her go", due to Cadance's “poor” performance as a Dean and held back on having Twilight release her potential. She even openly accused Cadance of giving Twilight a “free ride” through the academy due to her abuse of power." "What!? That's ridiculous!” Sunset cried in disbelief. “From what I've known Cadance, while she loves her sister-in-law, she would never abuse her position just to give Twilight a free pass. She treats her like every other student. And she also cared about the students from Crystal Prep and always took her job seriously! Heck, she did a much better job at the school than that hag of a woman!" "Yes, and I agree with you tenfold!” Rebecca replied with a frown. “But unfortunately… Cinch has her ways to shift the blame off from her and then pin it on another person. Not to mention, she easily manipulated the school board to agree with her, thanks to that artifact of hers. Everyone then openly accused Twilight of being a cheater once the news about Cadance was out. Not that it matters to her, because after Cadance lost her job, Twilight felt even more responsible and blamed it on herself." "And... what about her dog, Spike?" Sunset asked with hesitation. Rebecca paused with an uneasy look. "Spike protected Twilight... for a while. Until Spike bit one of the bullies arm while defending Twilight. Despite the circumstances, Cinch had her dog... to be put to sleep." Sunset felt her voice hitched and her eyes widened in terror. What Cinch had done to Twilight’s beloved pet (and only friend) really crossed the line. Sunset wondered how could anyone be so cruel to another living being, let alone a dog. Rebecca sighed heavily. "After she lost her pet, Twilight's depression has gotten worse with each passing day after another until…" "Until… what?" Sunset demanded with fear in her voice. “What happened to Twilight?” Rebecca sighed. "As we speak, she ditched the school and fled somewhere after another terrible run-in from the bullies." “Where!?” Sunset pressed. "Where is she now?" Rebecca didn’t respond as if she refused to answer. "Rebecca, answer me!” Sunset cried desperately. “Where. IS. TWILIGHT!?”   After what it felt like an eternity, Rebecca finally responded which sent chills down Sunset’s spine. “She’s at the bridge… the very same bridge where I found you and where we last saw her."   “W-what?” Sunset stammered. “What are you talking about? And why would she be at that bri–” That was when it finally hit her. She finally understood what Rebecca was talking about from earlier. She recalled that mysterious figure who walked through her earlier when she and Rebecca were on their way to Dazzling city for the first time. Sunset didn't know it then, but she thought she saw parts of that purple hair and that familiar pair of glasses when she took a glance under that person’s hood. That person from before was none other than Twilight. Sunset cursed herself for not realizing this sooner. On top of that, Twilight was at that very same bridge where Rebecca found Sunset. “...no!" Sunset whispered with widened eyes. "No... she wouldn’t!” She quickly turned towards where the bridge was. If what Rebecca was saying about how bad Twilight's life was is true, then that would mean that Twilight is all alone and in grave danger. "Rebecca, you must take me to that bridge right at–" By the time Sunset fully turned back, she was taken aback that Rebecca had disappeared without a trace. "Rebecca, where are you!?" Sunset cried as she searched around the area. "This is no time for games! I need your help! Please!" When she received no response from the girl, Sunset yelled out both in frustration and in panic. "GAH! I have no time for this!" Sunset then quickly ran towards the direction of the bridge, leaving the rampaging Midnight Sparkle behind.   Twilight, please... don't do what I think you're gonna do! Just… hang in there!   Sunset eventually reached the bridge between the town and her neighborhood. She ran along the bridge in Hope's to find her best friend. Where is she? Where is she!? WHERE IS SHE!? Sunset thought in panic, desperately looking around the area as she ran. I hope I'm not too late! Every second of fruitless searching made Sunset feel more and more hopeless, believing that she had failed to find her friend. Eventually, she found someone standing in the middle of the bridge by the railing, looking over the ocean. What was bizarre to Sunset was that the person was standing was the same spot where Rebecca had found her before she could do the deed. The person who was standing there was the same person from earlier who wore that same hooded sweatshirt, only this time, the hood was off and Sunset can see the person's face. "Twilight!" Sunset cried, both relieved and concerned after spotting her friend. She ran up to Twilight to try to give her a hug but stopped herself when she noticed something seriously wrong with her friend. Twilight is that same happy and eager brainiac that Sunset comes to love. Instead, Twilight was deeply depressed, miserable and defeated. Her eyes were lifeless and her face was dull. Even her body looked too thin and frail like she hadn't eaten anything in weeks. Sunset stared at Twilight with widened eyes as if she was just watching herself from hours before. After a whole minute of silence, Sunset heard Twilight letting out a sad sigh.    “Who could ever cared about some nerdy girl like me?” Twilight asked herself softly with a sniff. “My parents are always busy, my big brother cared about the school’s reputation than me, Cadance's life is ruined because of me, the students at Crystal Prep hates me, and Principal Cinch was just using me for her own gain and then turned it around and have me blacklisted from every academy! I have no future, I’m all alone and my life’s ruined… and no one cared.” She let a lone tear trailing down along her cheek. “No one cared about me at all!”   “That’s not true Twilight!” said Sunset, as she began to teared up. “A lot of people cared about you! Your family cared about you! Our friends cared about you! I cared about you! You’re the most amazing person I know and a best friend to me! Heck, it was you that kept me going every day when things get tough! Just… don’t give up! Please don’t give up!” Sadly, Twilight didn't hear any of Sunset's heartfelt words as she sniffed again with a look of pure sadness on her face.   “My life is worthless,” Twilight whispered, letting more tears falling down from her face. “If no one in the world cared about me to begin with, then it’s probably best if I… disappear!” Sunset eyes widened from Twilight's words and shook her head. “Twilight! Twilight no! Don’t do this!” Sunset begged. Sunset tried to grab onto Twilight's shoulders to prevent her friend from climbing up the railing, but her hands kept going through her. She watched in horror as Twilight climbed up the railing and then slowly walked along the beam to go further and further towards the edge.   “No Twilight stop! STOP IT PLEASE!” Sunset screamed, now full-on crying. “PLEASE DON’T JUMP!” No matter how much Sunset screamed, begged or cried, Twilight was still slowly walking forward towards her doom. Not wanting to see more of this and as desperation, she began to scream out towards the sky.   “Rebecca!" Sunset shouted. "Why are you doing this!? Why are you doing this to me!? I don’t want to see Twilight like that! I don't want to see her go! I don’t want to see my friends or anyone else I know suffered!” She held her hands together in a pleading manner. “I understand now! I don’t want the people that I love to suffer without me there! I want my life back! I WANT MY LIFE BACK!” Twilight was now dangerously close to the edge. Sunset realized if Twilight takes another step forward, she's done for. “Rebecca, somebody, please! I’m begging you!" Sunset sobbed. "PLEASE! PLEASE! I want to live again! I want to live again!” Sunset buried her head into her arms the moment Twilight was about to take her final step off of the ledge. “I WANT TO LIVE AGAIN!”