//------------------------------//
// Chapter 42 
// Story: Severed Ties 
// by Carol Heart 
//------------------------------//

The ringing in Twilight’s ears drowned out any other sound that might have been present as she looked up, including the groan that issued from her own mouth. Shaking her head to try to clear it, the teen straightened her skewed glasses and surveyed the room. The lab was an unmitigated disaster. The device Cinch had tried to use was broken and gutted, though the husk itself still emitted a faint column of smoke. The rest of the room fared little better with a number of Canterlot High students picking themselves up from the scattered amongst the rubble, as well as one unmoving amber unicorn.
“Sunset!”
Twilight's shout drew the attention of the other girls as they all ran to the downed unicorn.  Twilight was first to get there and carefully rolled the small pony over cradling her head in her lap and off of the debris strewn floor.  After a moment of tense silence, a response finally came in the form of a loud groan, and teal eyes blinked repeatedly to clear her vision.
Seeing that Sunset appeared to be in one piece, what followed was a cacophony of tears and sobbed apologies. None were understandable, but the emotion and meaning were clear.
“It’s alright,” Sunset said with a wave of a hoof. Her voice was weak and came out as a bit of a rasp, but she continued, “I know.  I’ve seen how much you’ve regretted what happened and what you’ve done to try and make up for it. And...I forgive you.”  Tears poured down the faces of the CHS students, finally hearing the words they had wished for the past three months.
Looking up into the tear filled faces that now surrounded her, she continued, catching each of their eyes and making it clear that this was important. It was enough to quiet their sobs, though tears still rolled, unabated down many of their cheeks.
“Now all of you need to forgive yourselves.  I know what it’s like living with regret. It hurts. It makes you question every choice for the fear of messing up again, to the point you stop making any decisions at all and just shut down; paralyzed you withdraw from the world. It’s what I did after the Fall Formal and again when I got back to Equestria.  I don’t want that for you,” she paused and found Twilight’s gaze, “for any of you.”
Sunset turned away and coughed, presumably to try and clear her throat, but it only seemed to make it worse. When she was able to speak again, her voice had gone from rasp to a wheeze, and it appeared to be taking a lot of effort to force the words out.
“We’ve all made mistakes, but we can’t keep beating ourselves up over them. We need to move on, but take the lessons we learn from them, and try to do better next time.”
This time, the wheeze triggered a full-blown hacking cough that rocked the amber unicorn’s entire body. Twilight pulled her friend up, trying to prop her up a bit more to make breathing easier, and hugged the tiny pony body towards her. With the shift in position, the teen’s keen eye for detail caught sight of the two-toned sun on Sunset’s flank. The normally brilliant red and gold symbol looked pale and faded.
“No, no, no! Sunset-”
“I know, Twilight. It’s okay.”
“But your cutie mark, you said-”
“I know what I said, and it’s okay.”
“Do one of you eggheads want to tell us what’s going on,” cut in Rainbow Dash. If there were more dangers heading her way, she’d prefer to know what they were going up against before they showed up.
“Sunset’s cutie mark, the sun symbol, “the scientist clarified, pointing it out, “it’s one of the kinds of magic ponies have...and hers is fading.”
“Okay so just put it back,” Pinkie chirped then proceeded to reach into her hair and fish around, “I have watercolors, oil colors, pastels, and,” she paused sticking out her tongue and squinting before producing several colorful tubes, “Icing, from my personal reserve.”
Twilight looked shocked and affronted how one of Sunset’s supposed friends could make light in this situation when she heard the hoarse laugh coming from her lap. A mix of coughing and weak giggles, Sunset smiled at her and weakly patted Twilight’s arm that was wrapped around her middle. “They were never as thorough as you when they asked about ponies and magic. They don’t know.”
Twilight’s anger abated and was replaced by a sad worry. “You don’t understand. A pony’s cutie mark isn’t decoration. It’s part of their magic. It’s what defines them. It’s a piece of their soul they get to display...And hers is disappearing.”
“But...you’re a unicorn, darling a magical creature. Can’t you... make more magic?” Rarity questioned only to have Rainbow cut in.
“Yeah, like you did at the school with the awesome light show and the laser blasts!” This garnered a backhanded slap to the shoulder from Applejack as she shot a glare at her rowdy friend.
“No,” Twilight said slowly, “She’s right. You should be generating enough energy to maintain your present level, and since the portal was just opened, you should be supercharged not draining.”
“I’m not sure what modifications Principal Cinch had Sour Sweet do to his version of your device, but while it pulled in my magic and opened a portal like yours, this one didn’t go to Equestria. The magic there is similar, but… wrong somehow.” Sunset shook her head to clear the fog that was creeping into her head. It did little to help and only prompted another coughing fit. When she finished, she continued, “I couldn’t tap into that world’s magic, and I needed more magic to close the portal, so…”
The pieces clicked together, and a look of realization that quickly morphed to horror washed over the teen scientist. “You didn’t just use what magic you had in reserve, did you? You pulled from your life force to close the portal.” The look on their pony friend’s face was enough to answer the question.
“I did what I had to do to make sure you, all of you, were safe,” Sunset said and there was a degree of force behind the words no one could miss despite being uttered as barely more than a whisper. Sunset’s eyes closed, prompting a moment of panic among the surrounding girls, but they soon saw her barrel was still rising, taking in regular, albeit ragged, breaths.
“Um…” started a quiet voice, “if she needs magic, is there a way we could, um, give her a transfusion?” Fluttershy looked up to find everyone staring at her and promptly grabbed hold of Spike and tried to hide behind the little puppy.
“A magical transfusion,” repeated Applejack, turning the idea over, “Is that even possible?”
“I will gladly volunteer whatever magic I have,” stated Rarity.
“A heaping dose Pinkie will put the pep back in your step.. er, trot in no time.”
“It won’t work,” Twilight hissed.
“It’s worth a try,” Rainbow shot back, “We’ve got to help Sunset no matter what it takes.”
“Don’t you see?” the genius girl spit out. “Look around you!  Even after each of those displays of friendship, of devotion to Sunset, not one of you is glowing or showing any sign of possessing magic.” Twilight looked down at the pony in her lap, and tears that she hadn’t registered before found their way out from behind her thick lenses and down her nose, dripping onto the unconscious unicorn. “Whatever magic you had is gone! I stole it from you, and then, instead of using it to get Sunset home safely, I used it to get revenge.” A shudder wracked her body, and the sobs were set free. “This is all my fault.”
“Twilight,” the voice from the body clutched in her lap was barely more than a whisper, but had a tone that commanded attention, “listen to me. This is not your fault.”
“But my experiment is what dragged you here-”
“And I already told you how that might have saved me from something far worse.”
“And if I hadn’t turned into Midnight, we’d have enough magic to send you home now,” the teen pressed through her tears.
“Twilight, that much magic...you weren’t ready for it. Believe me, I know. That much magic without direction, it just latches onto what you desire and pours itself into achieving it, and what you wanted was to protect the ones you cared for... I understand that, too. You did what you thought you had to do to protect your friends...and so did I.” Sunset started coughing again, a dry hacking cough that held tight as she seemed to struggle to pull air back into her lungs against the force of the coughing. When it finally abated, she looked up, teal eyes finding amethyst, “Never regret standing up for your friends,” she smiled her knowing half smile and then added, “but maybe next time try relying on them more for help.”
“But I don’t have any friends,” the teen croaked out between sniffles.
“Grr,” retorted Spike from Fluttershy’s lap, unable to fully articulate what he thought of that statement.
“Except for you, of course, Spike,” Twilight corrected with a watery laugh.
Sunset gave a warm smile, recognizing the words that she herself had uttered not too long ago when she had been at her lowest. Remembering the words one Twilight had told her then, she smiled at another and shared the advice, “Maybe they can teach you.”
Recognizing the words and what it meant coming from Sunset. It was Applejack who managed to speak. “We won’t let ya down, Sunset,” she said, removing her hat and placing it over her heart. Her eyes were glistening, but her voice was strong as she made the promise.
“Yeah, we’ll look out for her. You don’t have to worry about it,” Rainbow added her bravado giving way to faint cracks in her voice though she was managing to hold back the waterworks as she wanted to be strong now for the friends she had failed all those months before.
Pinkie popped in and encompassed the bookworm and unicorn in another layer of hug. “Maybe since Cinch was a big old grumpy pants and blackmailed Twilight, and all the students were basically meanies and picked on her or ignored her, she'll want to transfer to CHS where she can have a bunch of friends and we can throw a big party-”
“Whatever happens,” Rarity cut in, dabbing at the tears that had already turned to a river of mascara, “we will see to it that Twilight gets every opportunity to experience the joys of friendship.”
“No, I-I can’t,” Twilight sobbed, “not without you, Sunset.”
“You can. Remember, friendship is…” Sunset trailed off as her eyes fluttered closed.
“Sunset? Sunset!” the teen shouted as she tried to wake the tiny pony in her lap and saw that the two toned sun was now beginning to flicker in and out. Hugging the unicorn tighter, she marveled at how this magical being had fallen into her life only a week ago. Their relationship might not have always been good. They had definitely gotten off to a poor start, but in such a short time, Sunset had come to mean so much to her. She had taught Twilight about a mysterious world of myth and magic. Sunset had stood up for her against her perpetually bullies, even having barely known Twilight. The memory of finding the amber unicorn teaching her puppy to play O&O still made her smile. And when Spike was dog-napped, Sunset had stayed up with her all night comforting her and working out a plan to get him back safe and sound, promising that everything would be alright... But they weren’t. Twilight was losing her first real friend as Sunset willingly gave her life to save all of theirs.
Friend. She may not have said it and didn’t always show it, but that’s what Sunset was. Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter, Kindness, and Generosity, all traits that Sunset had demonstrated to her. She had never realized how lonely and isolated she was. Sure, she had her family, but having Sunset as a friend had shown her how much better it could be if she let others in. Sharing her interests, collaborating on experiments, laughing, and crying together, Sunset’s friendship made her life so much fuller with every experience, meaning so much more when it was shared with someone else. It opened something inside of Twilight she didn’t even know was missing. Like a warmth, it spread out from her heart and enveloped her entire body.
“You were right, Sunset,” Twilight whispered to the unicorn clutched in her arms, “Friendship really is magic."