On the road to Fillydelphia, Sunset and Trixie galloped on. It was nearly dusk, and they were already very tired.
"Trixie, do you feel like stopping at all?" Sunset asked, panting. "I feel like I could fall over if I go any further."
"Yes, we should." Trixie replied.
The two unicorns skidded to a halt on the road, and decided to rest next to a fallen log nearby. Sunset took some fruit out of her bag, and lay them down on a piece of paper on the ground.
"You're probably hungry." Sunset offered. "Why don't you have some of these with me?"
Trixie felt her stomach growl, which she hadn't noticed until now.
"Certainly." Trixie said, hungrily staring at a pear. "Thanks, Sunset."
"I wasn't that hungry, anyway." Sunset Shimmer nodded. "I'm just troubled by so much, that I can't even enjoy eating as much as I'd like."
"Really, what kind of problems?" Trixie asked.
And just like that, Sunset closed her eyes, and remembered what happened back in the human world. She remembered fighting with Twilight Sparkle over the Element of Harmony. She remembered proudly putting the crown on. She remembered the intense pain that she felt as its power surged through her body, transforming her into that vile demon.
"I'm not a monster." She unintentionally said aloud, for Trixie to hear. "And yet, I became one. I can't believe I actually did that."
"Did what, Sunset?" Trixie asked.
"Remember when I said I tried to take Twilight's crown?" Sunset answered, hard-faced. "I actually succeeded. But when it happened, it drew out the evil within me. It...transformed me into a horrible abomination from out of my own nightmares."
Trixie leaned forward, both curious to learn more, and afraid to do so.
"It couldn't have been that bad, could it?" Trixie said. "I mean, you got the powers of the crown, right?"
"I did." Sunset nodded. "But by doing so, it transformed me into a demon. My inner evil conquered me, and drove me to insanity. It filled my being with anger, cruelty, malice, and bloodlust."
"Bloodlust?"
"Yes." Sunset nodded, her eyes watering. "I was driven by those powers to destroy...to conquer...to murder."
"Murder?" Trixie gasped, her violet eyes widening. "Murder who?"
"The pony I tried to murder," Sunset said, taking a deep breath. "...was Twilight Sparkle."
Trixie was horrified.
"And those powers did that to you?" Trixie said.
"Yes! A thousand times, yes!" Sunset Shimmer exclaimed. "Without that power, I couldn't even bring myself to hold someone hostage, let alone kill them. I may have bullied people, but I rarely inflicted physical pain on them. But when all that power entered my body, I couldn't control it. I would never willingly kill someone in cold blood, yet my inner self forced me to try."
Trixie opened her mouth, but found herself speechless. She just stared at Sunset, who was now in tears. It shocked her that the bossy, cranky mare that she had met just four hours ago was now crying her eyes out. It shocked her even more to know why she was crying. It reminded her so much of herself.
"I'm not a monster..." Sunset Shimmer was sobbing to herself, her head facing down so that Trixie wouldn't see the tears on her face. "I'm not...I'm just not..."
Trixie hesitated for a second, then decided to comfort her. She used her telekinesis on the pear she was about to eat to give to Sunset.
"Here, you clearly need this a lot more than me." Trixie comforted her companion.
"No thanks." Sunset Shimmer said, waving a hoof against it. "I'm really not that hungry."
"I understand your problems." Trixie said.
"And how could you?" Sunset turned her head up, as if she was suspecting a lie.
"Sunset, I do feel your pain." Trixie said, her lower lip quivering. "I felt the same when I wore the Alicorn Amulet. It gave me incredible powers, but it drove me mad with power. I couldn't stop it. It turned me into a vain tyrant. Well, more vain."
"At least you had crowds to please with your magic." Sunset said. "The only crowds I ever had around me were all terrified to talk to me. I've never had any friends of my own. I only knew how to tear other friendships apart."
Trixie looked on, understanding.
"That's the reason I've been traveling out here, Trixie." Sunset Shimmer told her. "I wanted to make friends."
Sunset started wailing again. Now that Trixie could see Sunset Shimmer's troubled face for herself, her own eyes were getting watery, too. She raised her front hooves, and hugged Sunset.
"Well, if you'll stop crying..." Trixie said. "I'll be your friend."
Sunset Shimmer's eyes widened, and a smile spread across her face like an inferno.
"Thank you, Trixie!" said Sunset Shimmer, who hugged Trixie back. "You don't have any idea how much this means to me!"
Now the moon was visible in the night sky. Trixie and Sunset Shimmer stopped hugging each other, and looked down at the fruit, and decided that they'd better start eating, before it spoiled. The two mares were both calmed down now, and decided that they both made a great choice for a friend.
Meanwhile, Red Dawn was staying the evening in an inn outside of Ponyville. As he was there, waiting for the train to return him to his home, he decided to guzzle down more apple cider. What had been satisfaction of seeing his sister again after so long had again become bitterness that it didn't last long.
"I can't believe it!" Red grumbled aloud. "I can't believe my own sister could just forget about me like that!"
"Sir, could you please calm down?" said the pegasus innkeeper, who came up to quiet him. "You're really making a scene, and it's embarrassing. Also, I think you've had enough cider as it is. I wouldn't want your bladder to explode all over the parlor!"
"Fine!" the reddish-orange unicorn groaned, rolling his eyes. "Forgive me for not meeting up to social standards, but I didn't really get what I expected out of meeting someone that's dear and close to me for the first time in years!"
"Oh, goodness." the landlord said, taking a deep breath. "Forgive me, sir. Would you like to talk about it? I just can't say no to a distressed patron."
"Thanks." Red Dawn slowly nodded, and began explaining his problems. "So, you see: My name is Red Dawn, and I have a younger sister: Sunset Shimmer, who's been hanging around in Canterlot as Princess Celestia's student. I haven't seen her in a very long time, since I live in a different part of Equestria."
"I see." acknowledged the landlord. "But you're both unicorns, aren't you? Haven't you tried enrolling in Princess Celestia's school, yourself?"
"I tried that..." Red Dawn frowned. "But as it turns out, I'm absolutely terrible at casting any spells more complex than telekinesis. That's all I'm going to say about it."
"Hmm..." nodded the innkeeper. "Could you have at least tried finding a place to stay in that town, so you wouldn't be too far from your sister?"
"I tried doing that, too." Red nodded, gloomily taking another sip from his apple cider. "But I felt I would just be a hazard around Sunset Shimmer."
"Because of your magic skills, or lack thereof?"
"No, because I'm extremely protective of my little sister, and I figure I would've gotten violent and impulsive if I found out if anyone wasn't treating her fairly in Canterlot." Red Dawn explained, before adding with sarcasm. "I bet that worked well for me!"
"But why are you so protective of her, anyway?" the innkeeper asked. "I understand she's your family, but you make it seem as though she were unable to help herself. How old is Sunset Shimmer, anyway?"
"She's about twenty years old, right now, when I last checked her birthdate." Red replied. "Yet she's better at spellcasting than I am, and I'm twenty-three."
"Your sister seems like a capable mare. Why worry so much about somepony that seems as capable as your sister?"
"Sure, she's one of the best unicorns I've even known in Equestria, but that doesn't change that the fact the she's the only family I still have left, or at least, that I know is still alive and well. And words can't begin to imagine how much I've missed her for such a long time. But if she was gone for so long that, if Princess Celestia didn't send messages every so often, telling me that Sunset Shimmer was doing fine, I'd have assumed something bad happened to her, too."
Red Dawn took yet another sip from his drink, and his copper eyes sank into a glare.
"Either way, I've been worried sick about her." he continued, his voice subtly elevating into depression, and then fury. "I tried shaking off my worries by moving on to other things, and by drinking so much apple cider to calm my nerves. Thanks to the long time I waited, all it did was make me a nervous wreck, and a clumsy, dimwitted colt addicted to cider."
Red Dawn snorted loudly, clearly frustrated.
"And you know what else is troubling me right now?! I hadn't seen Sunset in years, and when I finally got to talk to her earlier today at Canterlot palace, she didn't even recognize me until I pointed myself out to her, and then she slammed a door in my face, treated me like some brain-dead oaf during breakfast, and Princess Celestia wouldn't even let me ask MY OWN SISTER where she was for such a long time!"
Now the other customers of the inn were staring at the furiously hyperventilating unicorn. But the pegasus innkeeper was in an understanding mood, and decided to comfort the unicorn.
"I feel your pain, Red." he said. "If you think that Princess Celestia wasn't right in keeping you from asking your sister questions, I'd suggest going back to Canterlot tomorrow, and setting the record straight. But tell me, friend: Did your sister do those things to you on purpose?"
"Well, the Princesses did say that Sunset Shimmer had returned from some long journey that she had left her very exhausted." Red answered. calming down. "'But I won't believe that until I hear it straight from Sunset's mouth. For all I know, Princess Celestia was deliberately keeping her from me!"
"Surely, you don't think that?" the innkeeper asked. "Princess Celestia is a fair and just ruler. She would never keep a family separated unless it was of their own will!"
"I guess you're right." Red Dawn nodded. "But I still think I should have a little chat with our Princesses tomorrow, before I go back home."
"That sounds reasonable, Red." the innkeeper encouraged him. "And just for you, the apple cider you've drunk will be given a 75% discount."
"Thanks!" Red said, leaving the parlor. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get some shut-eye! I'm gonna be a very busy pony, tomorrow."