Equestria at War: Solar Sacrifice

by White Comet


Chapter 6: Impasse

A loud buzzing noise pierced through Sunrise’s ears, startling her awake. The sound still made her jump in bed, despite being used to it by now. She raised her forehoof high before she bought it crashing down on the infernal alarm clock on her nightstand making the noise, silencing it.

She groaned slightly as she shifted over in bed, taking in a moment to remember… the dream…

The fact that she had her first good nights sleep in a while was a strange feeling. She felt good. Better than good even. But she still couldn’t help but think about the substitute for the nightmares she had been having recently.

Thinking about the dream even took precedence over the comfort of her mattress and duvet. She lifted herself up with ease and moved into a perched position on the side of her bed as she thought. It must have been another one of Twilight Sparkle’s memories. Back when the Crystal Empire had first returned to Equestria. She had been tasked by Celestia to retrieve the Crystal Heart.

“You look troubled.”

Sunrise turned her head to look at Twilight’s mirage standing in her bedroom. The morning sunlight that pierced through the gaps in her curtains and glistened nicely through Twilight’s translucent body.

“I… Had a dream,” Sunrise admitted, bringing herself to her hooves. She quickly ran a hoof through her mane to get it out of her face while at the same time using her magic to draw the curtains back, letting the morning light fully illuminate her room.

“So did I,” Twilight replied, slowly walking through Sunrise’s bedroom and glancing at all the furniture and trinkets.

“You did?” Sunrise raised an eyebrow, thinking about it. If she had one of Twilight’s memories in her dream… then that meant…

“I had one of your memories,” Twilight stopped her casual trot and looked back at Sunrise. “I was by a river, we had just crossed a bridge…” She glanced away and to the floor, “Then some Changeling infiltrators got the drop on us. They got so close we ended up fighting hoof to hoof…” She looked back up at Sunrise, “Ring any bells?”

Sunrise chuckled and nodded. “That scar never did go away completely,” She reminisced, then lifted her right hind leg up slightly. Using her magic, she gently parted some fur on the inside of her thigh to reveal a faint pink line that was otherwise invisible until Sunrise pointed it out.

Twilight hissed and winced slightly, “Did it hurt?”

Sunrise gave a single nod. “But I think it hurt him more when he was dismembered by my magic,” She answered flatly, beginning to trot towards the bathroom.

“...Right…” Twilight replied, remembering the more gruesome parts of the dream, causing her to cringe…

Sunrise trotted into the bathroom, closing the door behind her and clicking the lock shut with her magic. She used her magic to turn the shower on, the sound of the water cascading onto the base of the shower filling the room. Sunrise waited a few seconds before the water to get up to temperature before she finally stepped under the water, gently sighing as the refreshing warmth flowed over her. She felt her mane grow heavy and droop down around her neck and face as it absorbed the water.

Using her magic, she levitated a bottle of soap over and squeezed a generous amount onto her back between her wings. Her magic was also useful when it came to lathering it into her fur. She gave herself a little massage all around her body as she continued to wash herself down.

“You missed a spot.”

“AH!” Sunrise yelped at Twilight’s voice, her hooves skitting across the soaked porcelain floor of her shower before she found some grip to stop herself from falling. Through her wet mane drooping over her face, she glared at Twilight standing in the middle of her bathroom. “Would you stop doing that?!” She said out loud.

“Sorry,” Twilight replied flatly, lidding her eyes. It sounded like she didn’t care much for Sunrise’s request.

Sunrise huffed and looked away, back at the tiled shower wall. “Can’t you just leave me to shower in peace? It feels weird with you watching me…”

“How so?” Twilight raised an eyebrow, “I’m you. And you’re me. It’s not like you’ve got anything to hide, it’s my own body.”

Sunrise gritted her teeth, trying not to let that repeated statement get under her skin. “I don’t usually have an audience…”

Twilight chuckled, “Well, I would offer to help, but my magic still isn’t there yet.” She closed her eyes and tried to use her magic, but all she got was the familiar purple holographic embers that fell limply from her horn. “But it’s only a matter of time…”

Sunrise just ignored her and continued showering, trying her best not to let her spectator distract her. Twilight’s unexpected presence made her work more quickly than usual when it came to washing herself.

“How was your dream anyway?” Twilight asked.

Sunrise rinsed her face free of any shampoo before wiping her eyes with a hoof and looking at Twilight. “What?”

“I told you what I saw inside your head. Now, why don’t you tell me what you saw inside mine?” Twilight mused.

Sunrise finished washing the remainder of the shampoo out of her coat then switched the shower off, casting a silence throughout the bathroom save for the dripping water. “I was here actually…” She stepped out of her shower onto a bathmat, using her magic to wrap several towels around her head and body. “I was you as a unicorn. I was at the top of the palace, looking at the Crystal Heart…” She worked the towels around her body to dry herself.

“Oh, that day,” Twilight picked up, glancing around as she recalled the memory. “The Crystal Empire returned. And with it, so did King Sombra. I was tasked with returning the Crystal Heart…”

Sunrise took the towel off from around her head and hung it back on the shiny chrome towel rail. “I woke up before I saw the conclusion…” She used her magic to form a bubble on her large bathroom mirror, using it to clear away the fog that has accumulated on it during her shower. “It looks like you failed, but if that were the case, then we wouldn’t be here…” She picked up a comb in her magic and began brushing her mane.

Twilight nodded, “You’re right, I failed…” Twilight tried her best to keep a straight face. She could sense a lesson coming on. “Or I would have failed had I not put aside my own goals for the sake of the crystal ponies. When it was obvious that I wasn’t going to win, I made sure to delegate the task to my assistant, Spike. I may have failed my test assigned to me by Princess Celestia, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make to save the Crystal Empire.”

“...Spike?” Sunrise recalled her memories as she finished brushing her mane, setting her mane brush down on the bathroom counter. “The dragon?”

“That’s right,” Twilight nodded, then tilted her head to the side. “...Do you… know what happened to him?”

Sunrise shook her head. “The last time I saw him… Well, I was still you,” She huffed, “My best guess would be he’s hiding in the Crystal Mountains or the Dragon Lands. Other than that, the last thing in my memory is when you were captured by Daybreaker, who then ascended you into me…”

“...Right…” Twilight hung her head, releasing a quiet sigh. “All these years… I hope he’s alright…”

Sunrise raised an eyebrow, “The guards have had rumours of a dragon living in the caves of the Crystal Mountains before...”

“Really?!” Twilight beamed, her ears flicking up. “Is it Spike?”

“I don’t know,” Sunrise shook her head, “I’ve sent patrols to try and find it several times, but all they ever find is a crazy old unicorn living in the caves by himself.”

“A crazy old unicorn?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.

Sunrise nodded, “And we can never make heads or tails out of what he’s saying. Poor stallion probably lost his mind living in isolation all these years…” Using her magic, she levitated up her toothbrush and toothpaste and began brushing her teeth.

Twilight chuckled, “Kind of useful that we can still talk even with your mouthful, isn’t it?”

“No,” Sunrise put bluntly, rolling her eyes before looking back in the mirror. The fact that she couldn’t see Twilight in her mirror was still jarring to her. It really was as if Twilight was just a figment of her imagination…

Twilight grimaced at Sunrise’s blunt response before releasing a long sigh and glancing away. “Well… I suppose I’ll talk to you when you’re ready…” She turned and began walking away towards the bathroom door, simply continuing in her stride when she reached it and morphing through the door as if it weren’t there.

Sunrise finished brushing her teeth and made the final finishing touches, freshening herself up. Satisfied with her appearance, she finished what she had to do in the bathroom and trotted out the door, where she found Twilight looking out the window down at the Crystal City.

“I know I decided to give you some privacy, but… you do know I can still see, hear, smell, taste and feel everything you are, right? We’re essentially two consciousnesses sharing the same mind.”

“Don’t remind me,” Sunrise gritted her teeth as she levitated her regalia over with her magic and started getting herself dressed.

“Well, I don’t quite have access to all your memories and experiences yet. So far I can only see them through dreams it seems…” Twilight pulled herself away from the window to look at Sunrise.

Sunrise raised an eyebrow as she thought about what Twilight said for a moment before returning to fitting her hoof shoes. She could help but smirk a little bit as she thought about the prospects of experiencing more of Twilight’s dreams.

“What’s so funny?” Twilight suddenly asked, raising an eyebrow herself.

“Nothing, nothing…” Sunrise chuffed, “I was just thinking about what other dreams of yours I might experience…” She looked over at Twilight, lidding her eyes and flattening her eyebrows. “Luna gave me a sneak peek of what your dreams might look like.”

Twilight blinked and tilted her head. “Okay… what was the dream about?”

Sunrise smiled, “Well… Flash Sentry was in it…” She bought a hoof to her mouth to try and suppress a giggle, feeling a small blush forming across her nose.

“Oh…” Twilight awkwardly smiled, glancing away. “Well, Flash was somepony I saw quite frequently. The brain functions in mysterious ways, I’m sure he was only there because he was fresh in my memory and my brain was drawing parallels--”

“Be straight up with me here, Twilight,” Sunrise cut off Twilight’s attempt at a diversion and she enthusiastically hopped towards Twilight’s ghost, landing just right so they were almost nose to nose. “Is he really that… endowed? Because I swear he almost split me in half!”

A short sharp whine escaped Twilight’s throat and she folded her ears flat. The head of her translucent ghostly form was quickly becoming more opaque as a red colour rushed into it.

“Pffft--” Sunrise suddenly wheezed loudly, thrusting her head down. “BAHAHAHAHHA!” She threw herself to the side, landing onto her bed in a fit of laughter.

Twilight simply stood there feeling like an idiot while she watched Sunrise having a hearty laughing fit at her expense. She puffed out her glowing red cheeks and pouted, flattening her eyelids as she waited for Sunrise to finish.

As Sunrise began to calm down, she slowly bought herself back up into a sitting position, perching on the end of her bed while still giggling away to herself. All she could see was Twilight’s unamused expression glaring at her, which in a way made it even funnier.

“Oh, Twilight…” Sunrise huffed, catching her breath, “I can’t remember the last time I laughed like that…”

Twilight’s ears perked back up and she half-smiled. “Well, Pinkie Pie always said laughter was the best medicine…” She slowly trotted towards Sunrise, stopping just next to her. She glanced around the room as if she was making sure the coast was clear. Sunrise raised an eyebrow, as she thought that since Twilight was in her head, discretion was a pointless exercise for her.

Twilight extended her neck to move her lips closer to Twilight’s ear. “But to answer your question…” A smirk formed across her lips, “Yes… Well...” Twilight looked away, running a forehoof through her mane. “I think he is…”

Sunrise turned her head to look Twilight in the eye. “So… you two were an item?”

“Not quite,” Twilight shook her head. “At best, we went on a few dates before the Great War…” She looked away from Sunrise.

“And you fell head over hooves in love him,” Sunrise bluntly filled in the blanks that she could sense Twilight was deliberately leaving out.

“N-No,” Twilight glanced at Sunrise then glanced away again, “No I didn’t…”

“Twilight, we can partially sense each other’s emotions remember?” Sunrise raised an eyebrow, “I can tell when you’re lying…”

Twilight slightly turned her head with a twitched, but not all the way towards Sunrise. She pouted and felt the heat returning to her cheeks.

Sunrise chuffed, “And your little fantasy I had the pleasure of experiencing proves it. He hammered you raw until you were practically begging him to--”

“Be quiet, you!” Twilight tried to give Sunrise a slap with her wing, but obviously, it just passed through her body like it wasn’t there. “When we next see Luna, she and I are gonna have a little talk…”

Sunrise chuckled a little. “Well, for what it’s worth, Twilight…” Sunrise scratched the back of her head, feeling a little blush appearing on her cheeks. “I liked it… a lot…”

“I’m glad,” Twilight answered sarcastically before puffing her cheeks out. She turned to look at Sunrise. “Who is the lucky stallion of Grand Inquisitor Sunrise Sparkle anyway?”

Now it was Sunrise’s turn to pout. “Nopony…” She muttered through gritted teeth. “And… That’s probably why I liked it so much…”

“Pfft,” Twilight smirked, “Been a while, has it?”

Sunrise glanced away, gazing off into the distance while her face scrunched up. Now it was her turn to be embarrassed.

“I’ll take your silence as a yes,” Twilight chuckled, then bought her hoof to her chin while raising an eyebrow. “But I’m just curious. If you had the same reaction I did to that dream…” Twilight’s eyes bounced left and right before moving her hoof to scratch the back of her head. “Well… how did you explain it to your cleaners?”

Sunrise couldn’t help but smile awkwardly, feeling the heat in her cheeks increasing ever further. “I, uh… did my own laundry yesterday…”

“You mean you incinerated your bedding?” Twilight said with a laugh.

Sunrise couldn’t help but laugh along with Twilight. “I was THAT close to it,” She answered through her laughs.

Sunrise and Twilight shared their laugh for a few moments before Twilight finished with a sigh. “I guess we’re not so different, you and I…”

Any sense of comfort in the room suddenly vanished into thin air. Sunrise’s face slowly formed a straight expression. “We’re more different than you think…” Sunrise stood up, taking a trot towards her large window. “Don’t think you can butter me up just because we can agree on something and have a laugh now and again.”

“Of course,” Twilight replied in a serious tone, shadowing Sunrise’s movements. “That’s what I was going to go over with you next… The plan.”

“What plan?” Sunrise replied, twisting her neck to look at Twilight standing to her left and slightly behind her. “You said it yourself, I can’t wield the elements. And I have no intention to die.”

“You’re right, you can’t wield the elements…” Twilight looked up to look Sunrise in the eyes. “But I can.”

Sunrise turned herself to stand directly at Twilight. “What do you mean? You’re not making any sense.”

“Not right now I can’t,” Twilight explained, “But over time, as my body slowly forces you out, I’ll get better control over my magic. Right now I can’t do any more than make a few twinkly lights,” Twilight demonstrated by closing her eyes and trying to ignite her horn. But it only resulted in the usual holographic embers that fell limply to the ground. “But eventually, if my theory is correct… I will be able to channel my own magic through your horn.”

Sunrise raised her eyebrows as if she was starting to understand what Twilight meant. “So…”

“If the Tree of Harmony detects my own magic instead of yours, it will allow me to proceed without the reaction you provoked from it last time. You will be able to come into contact with the elements without causing your death.”

“So… I could wield the Element of Magic?” Sunrise tilted her head.

“No,” Twilight shook her head, “The Elements don’t work like that… but it will allow us to secure the Elements.”

“Secure them?” Sunrise scoffed, “So you can use them when I’ve outlived my purpose, right?”

“Actually, I was just trying to protect the Elements,” Twilight replied flatly, lidding her eyes. “I’m not trying to stab you in the back with everything I do, you know…”

“Yeah right…” Sunrise glanced away, staring off at a wall.

“We need to secure the Elements because once Daybreaker realises what’s going on, that’s the first thing she will try to do,” Twilight explained.

Sunrise gritted her teeth. Despite her protests… Twilight did have a point. “But… to use the Elements…” She looked at Twilight. “All six have to be present… right?”

“And that’s the next task,” Twilight answered, glancing off at Sunrise’s desk and wishing that she had her magic back so she could start taking notes. “We need to get the Elements to their bearers…” Twilight lowered her head, staring down at the floor. “My friends…”

“Yeah… YOUR friends…” Sunrise glanced away. “I think Luna tried to get me to talk to them through a dream a couple of times, but obviously I’m the last thing they ever want to see.”

“I know it will be tough, but we need to do this,” Twilight explained, looking back up at Sunrise. “If the Elements are already with them, it will be easier to use them in the heat of the moment.”

Sunrise rolled her eyes. “Okay, let’s assume we go through with this. I go through with your plan and it comes down to the point where we need to use the Elements of Harmony to defeat Daybreaker. What makes you think I’ll just submit and let myself be killed like that?”

“...I…” Twilight sighed, glancing away. “I just hope that if it comes to that, you’ll be ready to make that sacrifice…” Twilight bought her head back up, staring back into Sunrise’s eyes with a determined glare. “But I promise you, I won’t do anything to stop you trying things your way first. I promise I will only intervene as a very last resort.”

Sunrise held her gaze down for a moment before shaking her head. “Empty promises…”

“...Maybe so…” Twilight admitted with a sigh, folding her ears flat. “I guess I can’t blame you for not trusting me…” She thought for a moment, raising an eyebrow. “But… What did you have in mind?”

“...Something just as impossible,” Sunrise confessed, cringing slightly. The more she talked about it, the more impossible it seemed. “I know the support is out there, but the politics are balanced on a knife-edge. Any attempt to overthrow Daybreaker and the Griffonian Empire will swoop in to take any advantage they can. I need to orchestrate some sort of distraction for Dawnclaw to stop him from doing that…” Sunrise sighed, “But there’s no way I can do that on my own. I don’t have the contacts, and there’s no way I can do it discreetly being an Alicorn.”

“Hmm…” Twilight thought about Sunrise’s explanation, rubbing her chin with a hoof.

Sunrise could sense through their emotional link that Twilight was pondering something. She looked over at Twilight, who she could tell was pondering something just from the look on her face. “What is it?” Sunrise asked.

Twilight smiled, “I think I’ve just thought of a way to prove my trust to you, Sunrise,” She stated proudly with a smile, lowering her hoof. “I have contacts…” Her ears slowly folded down, “I don’t know if they’re even still alive, but we can try…”

“Even in the Griffonian Empire?” Sunrise raised an eyebrow.

“Uhh…” Twilight’s eyes glanced up and to the left as if she was trying to recall something. “No, I don’t… The River Republic maybe though…”

“It’s called the River Federation now, it’s a single united government,” Sunrise corrected Twilight, trying to keep a straight a face as possible. But the reality was that the sentence Twilight just spoke (thought?) to her proved exactly how long she had been gone.

“Oh, that finally happened?” Twilight replied, rubbing her chin with her hoof. But she quickly saw the doubt forming on Sunrise’s face. “Alright, I get it. I’ve been gone a long time, quit rubbing it in,” Twilight complained, rolling her eyes before quickly relocking them with Sunrise’s. “But it’s the last idea I’ve got, and we have to try. Do you have anypony you can trust?”

Sunrise chuckled, “Well, funnily enough, we were just talking about him,” She answered with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Twilight’s eyes beamed, “Flash is alive?!” The corners of her mouth quickly stretched from ear to ear on her face.

“And just as handsome as you remember him,” Sunrise winked back at Twilight. “I spoke to him a few days ago… He seemed to have the same opinion as me about Daybreaker…”

“...But?” Twilight could sense the unease in Sunrise’s voice.

“Well…” Sunrise glanced away, “Talking about it is one thing, but actively planning a rebellion is another. I don’t think he’d rat me out, but I’m not convinced he’ll play along.”

“Well, you never know until you ask… but at the same time, we don’t want him to become a liability if he refuses. It’s a difficult one…” Twilight rubbed her chin.

“All I know is that we won’t make any progress if we sit here talking about it all day,” Sunrise turned and slowly trotted towards her door, using her magic to levitate her crown onto her forehead as she walked.

“You’re right,” Twilight replied, rather optimistically, as she walked alongside Sunrise. “I suppose we haven’t got much left we can talk about in here. My magic is still trying to regenerate, and you need to speak to Flash. In the meantime, I’d like to get to see more of what’s changed in Equestria since I’ve been gone.”

“Prepare to be disappointed then,” Sunrise replied semi-sarcastically.

“I already am,” Twilight replied flatly. “But most of all, there are a few things I need closure on. I hope you can help me with them…”

Sunrise withheld a groan as she had a pretty good idea of what was coming. And the feelings of sorrow she was getting through her emotional link with Twilight was anything to go by, she was right. “I’m not sure what answers you’re expecting, but I’ll do my best…” Sunrise gripped the handle on the door out of her room and gently pushed it open.

She managed to get a single hoof out the door before Twilight teleported in a flash to stand directly in front of her, looking straight in Sunrise’s eye. “I know you’re keeping secrets from me Sunrise. Which only means I’m probably not going to like what I hear.” Twilight craned her neck forward, getting her face closer to Sunrise’s. “Do you have anything to say for yourself now?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sunrise answered flatly, then casually walked through Twilight’s ghost, closing the door behind her with her magic.

Twilight turned and watched Sunrise slowly trotting down the hallway. “Remember earlier when you told me you could sense when I was lying through our emotional link? That works both ways you know.”

Sunrise bought her stride to a halt in her own time. “I don’t know what you’re insinuating, but…” Sunrise paused. Even she couldn’t speak past that lie. A lie that Twilight could surely feel. She mulled over the thought for several seconds, but in the end, she released a frustrated sigh and continued her pace. “It’s too early for this shit… And I need some coffee.”

Twilight furrowed her brow. "Then let me ask you straight," She once again teleported right into Sunrise's path, her eyes locked with Sunrise's and their noses only inches away from each other. "Princess Cadence, Flurry Heart, Shining Armor… What happened to them?"

Sunrise blinked. She felt her lungs suddenly tense up at the mere mention of those names. She felt like her brain was being twisted in multiple directions as the memories came back to haunt her.

But she quickly regained her composure, slowly releasing her breath to calm herself and glanced away from Twilight. “Long story short, I don’t know,” She bought her head back up to look at Twilight, who was only returning a disapproving but expected scowl at Sunrise. “The Crystal Empire didn’t accept Daybreaker’s rule when it was first demanded, so they put up some resistance. It was ultimately pointless as their armies couldn’t hope to withstand the might of the Solar Empire…” Sunrise slowly began walking again, once again walking through Twilight’s mirage. Twilight stepped to the side and walked alongside Sunrise. “The last time the old royal family were seen was here in this castle, right before a big battle to take control of the capital. The battle was obviously won by the Solar Empire, but there was no trace of the royal family. No bodies were found. We tried to trace them, but we had no luck. They just… vanished... “ Sunrise tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, “Have you tried asking Luna? She was also considered dead until she started appearing in my dreams. She might know something more.”

Twilight scoffed, “You’re trying to dodge the question, I can still sense you lying,” She stated back. “Stop lying and tell me straight,” she ordered.

“I’m not lying,” Sunrise shook her head, “If you don’t believe me, that’s your problem.”

Twilight stopped walking, letting Sunrise continue in her path. Sunrise took a few more lazy steps before eventually stopping herself. She twisted her head around to look at Twilight behind her. “And don’t give me that excuse of using our emotion link as a lie detector. I don’t care what your magic’s telling you, that’s my version of events, and I’m sticking by it.”

“You might not be DIRECTLY lying…” Twilight huffed through gritted teeth, glaring at Sunrise. “But I can tell you’re deliberately omitting certain parts of that story. And I won’t rest until I get the full version of events.”

“Believe whatever you want,” Sunrise spat, resuming her walk. “I’m done with this conversation. As a matter of fact, I was done with it a long time ago.”

Twilight once again teleported in front of Sunrise. Sunrise wasn’t even surprised this time, she just came to a stop.

“Do you really think that I--”

“Do you want to actually do anything today, or do you want to stand here arguing all day?!” Sunrise barked at Twilight, skidding her hooves to a stop.

Twilight stopped just behind Sunrise, simply rolling her eyes in response. This conversation was going nowhere. Perhaps Sunrise was right, maybe it was just best to leave it for now. Sunrise’s attitude towards it heavily implied that it wasn’t good news anyway, so maybe she was only delaying the inevitable.

“Uhm…”

Sunrise’s ears twisted in the direction of the new voice, then turned her head to see one of her maids cleaning one of the stained glass windows. “S-Sorry your Highness, were you talking to me… or…”

Sunrise’s ears folded flat when she realised that in her frustration, she ended up speaking out loud to Twilight instead of ‘thinking’ to her. And since there was nopony else around, that mare must have presumed she was talking to her…

Sunrise quickly cleared her throat, standing up straight. “Nevermind,” She replied, picking up her walk again. “Carry on,” she ordered, increasing her pace. She walked down the hallway a little before turning a corner and slowly coming to a stop, where she released a frustrated sigh.

“I’m REALLY not going to like what I discover, am I?” Twilight said with a slight growl in her throat while glaring daggers at Sunrise.

Sunrise met Twilight’s glare, opening her mouth to speak… But found no words to answer her. She wanted to end this conversation like she had been trying to, but couldn’t think of a way to do it. And she couldn’t exactly just walk off.

Sunrise just flicked her head away and continued her speedy walk through the hallway. There was only so much she could say. And Twilight was right, she probably would be less than thrilled by what she discovered… How long could she keep up the charade?