//------------------------------// // Arc 5.1: Chapter 30 // Story: Student 32: Sunset Shimmer // by Show Stopper //------------------------------// The first thing Sunset recognized was the smell of ashes. While it wasn’t a smell she particularly enjoyed, she’d grown to have a fond familiarity for it over her years as a pyromancer. These ashes in particular carried traces of fabric and her own hair. Wonderful, Sunset thought. Magic burnout. She was quite familiar with the symptomes. As the body fed more energy into a spell, it began shutting down less necessary functions and senses until the victim fell unconscious. It was always those senses that first shut down that recovered the fastest and, being the victim’s only way of observing her surroundings, were far clearer in her mind than usual. My hair makes sense, I guess, Sunset thought, waiting for her other senses to return and struggling to remember how she’d ended up burning herself out this time. It usually suffers a bit when I go all out. The fabric… probably whatever I was wearing. And… there’s something else. Something salty and… heady. Brine? Touch was the next sense to return, revealing further clues as to her condition. That’s silk I’m lying on. Feels a little itchy, though. Nice, cool breeze blowing, so I guess I’m outside. And my clothes are… odd. They feel tight. Her curiosity was briefly replaced by annoyance. And revealing. Fantastic, I was dressed by a pervert. How did I even- Stabbing pain. Something squirming around inside. A tearing sensation. Overwhelming heat and energy and power. If Sunset had had any voluntary muscle control, she would have started hyperventilating and shivering. As it was, her panic attack was confined to her mind. That wasn’t an overloaded spell! That was a SURGE!!! I SURGED!!! I LOST CONTROL! I CAN’T LOSE CONTROL! I… I… Slowly, very slowly, Sunset began to calm down. I… I was in a clearing. Evangeline took me out away from everyone. Even with my surge, I doubt she was seriously hurt. Even if I started a fire, she has plenty of ice magic to get it back under control. I’m fine. Everyone else is fine. You didn’t hurt anyone, Sunset. You didn’t kill anyone. Not this time. Not like… A shudder ran down Sunset’s body, a sign that she was recovering more quickly. Okay. Okay okay okay. Let’s just take stock for now. Smell, check. Touch, check. Taste… a bit ashy, and something sweet, but check. Sound… coming back. Kind of a dull roar. That should clear up soon. Movement? Her hand twitched a bit before curling into a fist. She began slowly flexing and relaxing her muscles, relieved to find that they all responded without pain. Nothing broken. Now let’s see about those eyes. She cracked one eyelid and immediately slammed it closed again. Okay, eyes not quite up to it yet. Thankfully, her hearing was clearing up. The roar took on a steady rhythm, a back and forth sort of pattern that, combined with the moist, briny air, gave Sunset a clue as to her location. The ocean? Sunset frowned. I was nowhere near the ocean. And why would Evangeline take me here? Taking a deep breath, Sunset cracked open her eyes again. They slowly adjusted to the surrounding light, revealing a grey stone ceiling high above her. She turned her head to the side, wincing as white stone came into view, reflecting the bright sun above. She slowly sat up, her muscles sore but not protesting too much, and finally got a good look around. She’d been lying on a long, Roman-style couch - almost a bed - covered in a white, silk sheet. The sheet was singed in a few places where Sunset had been lying against it, explaining the itchiness that she’d felt. She was dressed in a tight, black, gothic-lolita dress that left her shoulders and the tops of her breasts uncovered. The skirt had multiple layers of frills and plumed out like a Victorian-era ball-gown. The couch sat in the middle of a stone gazebo, supported by romanesque columns. Beyond the gazebo was a floor of white stone, ending in a drop-off to three sides. The fourth side held a large, open plaza, surrounded by more columns and with a great obelisk at its center. In every direction beyond the structure, Sunset could see an endless expanse of tropical blue ocean. “No,” she croaked, coughing a few times as her throat reminded her that she’d been unconscious until recently and thus hadn’t wet her tongue in a while. Clearing out the dryness with a few more coughs, she glared back out at the ocean. “It’s not endless,” she muttered. “The horizon’s too close.” She stood and, her legs only shaking slightly, walked to the edge of the gazebo. She shielded her eyes from the sun and scanned the empty sky above the horizon. She turned her gaze further up, looking for anything unusual. Her gaze continued further, and further, and further… Sunset blinked, unshielding her eyes and staring straight up into the sky. Despite the light of day all around her clearly emanating from above, there was no sun in the unbroken blue sky. “Strange,” Sunset muttered, walking cautiously to the edge of the platform and looking down. The platform, it seemed, was the roof of a great stone tower, stretching down hundreds of meters with a spiral staircase carved into its side which stretched down to a thin beach below. “Definitely strange.” “Compared to that city your people put on a mountainside, I think my little Villa is pretty tame.” Sunset tensed briefly before relaxing with a sigh. She turned around, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring back towards the gazebo. “I’ll have you know that Canterlot is the gem of Equestria, a center of beauty and the arts.” She raised an eyebrow. “And it has a sun.” “It also stands in clear defiance of physics.” Evangeline sauntered out of the shadows, draped in the same black dress from Kyoto, the hole in the stomach repaired. She smirked, placing a hand on her hip. “I suppose I should welcome you back to the land of the living.” “That seems appropriate, considering you’re the one who almost took me out of it.” Sunset’s glare hardened. “Where are we? What did you do back in Kyoto?” As an afterthought, she added “and what happened to my clothes?” Evangeline grinned, spreading her arms in display. “Oh, this?” she asked with faux modesty. “Just a little something I put together once in my spare time. A twenty-four to one time-dilated subspace tropical villa that’s been gathering dust in my basement. I figured it would be the perfect place for you to cool off while you got your new abilities under control.” Sunset’s jaw dropped and she couldn’t help but stare around in awe. Twenty-four to one?! And it’s stable?! The best I could ever manage was five to one, and that was with some pretty powerful magic circles. Even Starswirl was only rumored to have managed a six to one time-dilation. Just how much time did she pour into crafting this place? “Okay, that is impressive,” Sunset admitted, turning back to Evangeline. “I guess that means I haven’t been missed these past two days if it’s only been two hours in the world outside.” It was Evangeline’s turn to be surprised. “You could tell?” Sunset nodded, licking her lips. “Honey-water,” she said. “I could tell from the taste. Best you can do for a long-term unconscious patient if you don’t have an IV.” She brought up an arm, flexing slightly. “No muscular atrophy, but there’s enough soreness to tell me that it’s been more than just a day. Finally,” Sunset’s stomach let out a loud and well-timed growl, “I’m absolutely starving.” “Hm.” Evangeline crossed her arms and offered a shrug. “Well, you got it in one. Two days and maybe three hours. I was surprised you recovered so quickly.” “About that,” Sunset’s eyes narrowed into a glare once again and she began walking towards Evangeline. “What exactly was I recovering from? All I can recall is you doing something to my wellspring before...” She shuddered. “Severe burnout,” Evangeline answered. “The most extreme case I’ve ever seen. Heh, guess your ki didn’t like being bound for so long. As soon as I tore up that barrier Tenko had installed on the mirror, your ki exploded out like an erupting volcano. Anyone but me would have been vaporized.” She pointed to Sunset’s new clothes. “Your old clothes didn’t stand a chance.” She frowned and glared over her shoulder. “If you’d been out for much longer, my couch wouldn’t have fared much better.” Well, that explains the burnt silk, Sunset thought. Still, I’d rather not spend anymore time alone with her than I have to. “So,” she said, stopping just outside of Evangeline’s reach, “how exactly do I get out of here?” Evangeline rolled her eyes. “You don’t. At least not for a while. You have basically no control of your ki, and after taking the time to save everyone’s hides, I’d rather you didn’t kill our entire class by sneezing too hard.” She looked up and rubbed the back of her neck. “I’d probably be held responsible, too.” Sunset grit her teeth and resisted the urge to grab Evangeline by the collar. “My control is fine,” she seethed. Months of recovery, therapy, and being terrified of your own horn will do that. Evangeline scoffed and looked back at Sunset. “You really think that, don’t you?” She raised a single finger and pointed to a nearby column. “Prove it. Punch that pillar.” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “First you insult my lack of control, and then you tell me to break my fingers?” “Your fingers will be fine,” Evangeline countered. “Let me put it this way: punch that pillar, or I’ll leave you here for another day.” She smirked. “From the outside’s perspective.” “A month-long vacation in a tropical paradise? Oh no,” sunset mocked. Nevertheless, she stepped beneath the gazebo and approached the column. Just play along, Sunset. Once you prove that you’re in perfect control, you can get out of here. Bonus, you’ll be able to rub it in her smug little face. She faced the column, cocked back her fist, and winced. Still, this is going to hurt. Not giving herself another moment to reconsider, she threw her punch. She almost lost her balance when the column shattered with almost no resistance. The pulverized stone flew outward, carried by a wave of force well over the edge of the platform to plummet to the ocean below. Sunset stared in shock between where the column had once been and her now-glowing hand. “Wh- what the…” A series of cracks sounded from above. Sunset looked up, her eyes widening in horror. Without the column to support it, the ceiling above her was beginning to crack and sag. Horseapples! Desperate to get out from under the tons of collapsing stone, Sunset dove forward- and shot like a bullet off the side of the platform. She screamed, the billowing wind catching the sound and throwing it behind her before it could reach her ears. She tumbled end-over-end, realizing too late that she was heading straight for the water below at an unforgiving angle. She curled up on herself, praying to whoever was listening that she wouldn’t land on her back. She did, and she barely felt it. The water below her parted with a steaming hiss, cushioning her descent for a second before she finally felt herself surrounded by water. Her eyes snapped open and she resisted the urge to thrash around, turning her head in a desperate attempt to find the surface. She barely managed to avoid gasping in shock as she saw that the distant light was a hundred feet above her, at least. What?! How?! The burning in her lungs informed her that she didn’t have time to contemplate such things. She angled herself towards the surface and desperately kicked. She shot upwards, the water pulling her lips back and her eyelids shut. In seconds, she was out of the water and flying through the air again. She screamed when, a few seconds later, she felt herself start to descend again. She landed hard on her back, again registering no pain as the sand below her flared with heat and melted into glass. Sunset lay there, sweating, her clothes smoking, and terrified beyond belief. Her thoughts raced and tumbled, half-formed questions dissolving into panicked exclamations. After almost a minute, she managed to pull herself together enough to take in her surroundings, not daring to move more than her eyes. She found the tower she had woken up on nearby, which placed her on the beach down at the base. A moment later, her vision was filled with the smirking face of an unfortunately familiar vampire. “Oh yes,” Evangeline chuckled. “You’re going to be staying here for quite some time.”