"Sunset, wait!" Flash called out as he descended before her, blocking her path as he touched down.
"What do you want now?" she growled.
"Well, I would like to know what you think you were doing." He replied.
"I was protecting Cadance-in case you hadn't noticed, they were trying to kill her." she retorted, impatiently.
"Yes, I know." he sighed. "And I'm grateful that you helped protect her, but what you were doing to those Changelings back there was going way too far!"
"'Too far'!?" Sunset repeated incredulously. "Have you forgotten that we are at war with these parasites?"
"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are looking for an alternative means to reason with them, so we can avoid any more unnecessary bloodshed!" Flash protested.
"Yes, because the sneak attack on Canterlot and subsequent massacre of your fellow guards has clearly shown that they are nothing, if not reasonable." she replied dryly.
"The point I'm trying to make is that we are trying to be civil and the reason war crimes are punishable in the first place is because we are supposed to be better than that!" Flash continued exasperated. "Cadance and I merely incapacitated them, but you were actually torturing them-I thought you wanted to change?"
"Look Flash, some of the things I've said weren't entirely true..." She began.
"Like what?" Flash pressed.
"I haven't always killed in self-defense, which was a lie I made up to keep you from hating me..."
"And you being abducted by the Changelings?"
"The circumstances were more…complicated than what I've already told you."
"How?"
Sunset let out a deep sigh.
"Okay, I’m going to warn you right now that even abridging it as much as I can, this is going to be a really long story.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Flash replied.
“After Celestia and I had our falling out, I was living on the streets-she said that if we couldn't get past our issues then in addition to no longer be her student, I would be banished from the castle-but, still welcome to stay in Canterlot...but, what she didn't realize was how petty my parents are...or maybe she just didn't care."
"I don't think that's true, Sunset." Flash commented softly.
"Whatever," she grunted dismissively. "The point is; my parents didn't like how their daughter failing as Celestia's star student would make them look and disowned me without a second thought-in fact, the only reason they even had me in the first place was to keep other snobs in the community from gossiping about them being infertile, one or both of them secretly being homosexual, or having an affair...whatever, the list goes on-so I didn't even bother checking in at home-waste of time and energy."
"So what did you do?" Flash asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Is that when you went into selling narcotics?"
"Wow, that's a big word for you..." She replied, snidely. "But yes, being gifted with my intelligence and a healthy thirst for more knowledge I already knew the basics of alchemy and chemistry simply by reading books on the sciences while I was still under Celestia's tutelage-it really wasn't that hard to master the art as soon as I applied myself-making any kind of drug or poison you could imagine and I made good money doing it, too."
"Why aren't there any records of your dealings, then?" Flash asked, suspiciously.
"I'm certain there are." Sunset replied. "But, I never stayed in one place for too long and I used multiple aliases and when it came to the formulas; I would occasionally switch up the recipes with decent substitutes, but I went to great lengths to ensure that the quality stayed the same."
"So what happened?"
"There were some rival dealers; in the past I was able to take them out easily utilizing poisons after offering them some kind of partnership and exchanging false pleasantries or stealthy assassinations on those who couldn't be bothered to play nice...but, after a while the others caught on to me." She continued.
"What happened after they figured it out?"
Sunset shot him a dirty look, annoyed that he couldn’t piece together the obvious outcome.
"What do you think happened? It was a bloodbath-not only were they after me, but the tensions between each group that they decided to take out their long-standing aggressions out on each other as well. Before that night, I had reasoned with myself that they were monsters that purposely destroyed the lives of others by getting them addicted, but I was merely doing it to survive-that was all the justification I needed to kill them and to be able to sleep at night..."
Flash remained silent as Sunset cast her gaze down at the ground.
"But that night, in the midst of the carnage and the bloodshed I had an epiphany-the truth was I enjoyed killing, there was some twisted, primal pleasure I took from it-a sense of superiority..."
Sunset then looked up at the stars, tears running down her cheeks.
"That night I learned I really was a monster....I realized that all of the deception and killing I had done up until then was because deep down I got a sick thrill from doing these horrible things."
"In the end, there were only myself and two others left alive when the Guard showed up...we all fled, the other two undoubtedly preparing to lick their wounds and prepare for round two, now that the rest of their competition had been so brutally cut down-complete dominance of Canterlot's underworld would have been two deaths away for them-at least, that's what would have been if they hadn't been caught." She paused briefly, contemplating the fate she would have endured had she insisted on standing her ground.
"They were both wounded pretty badly...neither could really manage much more than a limp, in addition to the fatigue from the brawl they went down pretty easily...I, myself had quite a few nasty cuts and scrapes, but nothing I couldn't manage-all I knew was that I had to get out of Canterlot, since I no longer had the element of surprise on my side and I had accumulated my fair share of Bits from my dealings-once I retrieved them, I immediately boarded the first train out of the city."
"Where did you go?"
"I wasn’t sure at first because the next few days had been a bit of a blur for me...but, I knew that it was an Earth Pony town and that is was hot...so incredibly hot...I stumbled into a saloon and order six glasses of ice water-I was already in pretty bad shape from the fight and the heat wasn't doing me any favors...I passed out halfway through my second glass."
"They rushed you to hospital after that, right?" Flash asked.
"Not exactly, I awoke in a cool, dark house beneath a ceiling fan, laying on a sofa with a wet dishcloth on my forehead...there was an Earth Pony, a mare with a lime coat and yellow-green hair sitting next to me-she wore a vest and one of those hats that seem to be so common among those in Appaloosa...she had orange freckles and the brightest blue eyes I had ever seen, like miniature bodies of pure water." Sunset continued almost as if she were in a trance.
"Did she have her own farm?"
"Yeah, on the outskirts of town and she only took care of cows to produce and sell dairy products-why?"
"You said she was an Earth Pony, was she one of the Apples? I heard they have family in those parts..."
"No, her name was Peach Gleam-she hated her full name, though-so everyone just called her by her first name. Her family ran a peach farm in Mustangia, she came to Appaloosa to try and make it on her own because she wasn't too happy with what her destiny chose for her."
"You speak of her with such fondness..." Flash noted.
"I should...she was my first and only friend." Sunset replied, solemnly.
“Was?”
“When we first met I wasn’t any more pleasant than when you and I bumped into each other and the fact that I was starving, with my body aching as well as still being dehydrated and…well, let’s just say that wasn’t one of my best moments. I demanded to know where I was and who she was and once she told me, I demanded to know why I wasn’t in a hospital or being taken care of by an actual physician.” Sunset replied shamefully.
“So?” Flash asked, confused. “I mean those seem like pretty reasonable questions-I’d want to know the same things if I were in your shoes.”
“It gets worse,” Sunset sighed. “After she told me that the clinic in town was filled with victims suffering from food poisoning after a recent pie eating contest, I snapped at her. I demanded to know what right a mudpony like her had dragging me off to her home. I saw a nearby glass bottle on the coffee table when I awoke and smashed it before holding the jagged remains up to her throat and told her to give my money back.”
“But she didn’t have it, did she?”
Sunset shook her head.
“No, she didn’t even know I had any money on me at the time and when I checked my pockets all of my Bits were still there. Peach then told me that she had gone through some basic medical training to take care of herself and the animals on the farms and she know that the local doctor probably wouldn’t have been able to fix me up in time-I went to look in mirror she had in her living room and I could see that she had patched up my cuts on my face-as well as the rest of my body, she told me that she had also disinfected them and that I was dehydrated.”
“Did you begin to trust her after that?”
“No, one thing I’ve learned from life is that trust is fatal-turn your back for a second and someone will put a knife in it.” Sunset replied bitterly.
“Well, what about me?” Flash pressed. “A lot of the things you’re telling me are pretty personal, not to mention illegal and I’m a member of the guard-you trust me, don’t you?”
Sunset didn’t respond.
“So…what happened, then?”
“More of the same pretty much, I kept yelling at her and insulting her as she continued to check up on me between her chores around the farm for a few days but, eventually I began to warm up to her a bit when I was confident that I’d regained enough strength to take her down if she tried anything-I didn’t want to take any chances. But, I couldn’t fathom someone being so selfless that they would take in and patch up a complete stranger and ask for nothing in return.”
“And you apologized?”
“Yes, the first and only sincere apology I’ve ever offered in my life; after that we started we started spending more time together and I began helping her out around the farm, I told her that I was from Canterlot and that I used to go to Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns and that I got kicked out, but nothing after that…I tried to find out more about her because I actually enjoyed spending time with her and I knew that if she found out the truth about me, she would hate me.”
“But she did ask, right?” Flash pressed.
“Yes, but I lied to her and said that I didn’t remember what happened between here and there-for the first time in my life I actually felt bad about lying to someone who trusted me-and I think part of her knew that I wasn’t being completely honest, but she never called me out on it…” Sunset continued.
“Peach probably knew it made you uncomfortable and trusted you to open up to her and tell the truth when you were ready.”
Sunset seemed to consider this for a moment before sighing.
“That’s even worse…”
Flash gave her a questioning look.
“One day, I agreed to go into town and pick up a few supplies for her farm while she took care of the animals-who seemed to be spooked by something-and when I got back, the house was torn apart and there was green liquid splattered everywhere and there were bodies of these black insect-like equines…and in the middle of it all was Peach just lying there faced down.”
“Dead?” Flash asked.
“Not quite…but, maybe that would have been better-she wouldn’t have had to suffer as much; I slowly rolled her over to see a large gash in her torso, the entire front of her body a drenched in dark red blood and more of it was pumping out every second…I had taught myself a few spells for basic first aid, so I tried cauterizing the wound.”
“Did it work?”
“The spell did, but I underestimated the damage that the Changelings had caused-there was internal bleeding I hadn’t accounted for and by the time I realized my mistake it was too late, all I could do was watch as the life drained from my friend’s eyes…but, instead of anger all I could see in them was…it was like she felt sorry for me.”
Flash slowly, placed a sympathetic hoof on Sunset’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry…did she say anything before-?”
Sunset shook her head, trying to prevent the tears from spilling out.
“No, she wasn’t strong enough to speak when I got to her…but, I was able to piece together what happened after finding out more about the Changelings; they must have disguised themselves as me or some others from town to lower her into a false sense of security and then they tried to take before she realized something wasn’t right and tried fighting them off.”
“Sunset, I knew you that you didn’t like them but-I had no idea…”
“So do you understand now why they need to purged?” Sunset pressed. “If we don’t wipe them out completely they’ll just keep doing this again and again until they rule not only Equestria, but the world-even that may not pacify them-what if they want to convert all living creatures into Changelings?”
“I understand why you feel so strongly about this and the need to protect others, but genocide is never the answer.” Flash replied calmly.
“Alright, then barring a massive mind-control spell-how do we prevent them from doing what’s in their nature?” Sunset asked, annoyed.
“I don’t know.” Flash admitted. “But, it’s been a long night and I think we could both use some rest.”
“Whatever.”
-------
There was an extremely loud, obnoxious pounding on the door of Rainbow Dash’s guest room.
She let out a groan of irritation at being so rudely awakened in the middle of the night and kneeled upon the bed that had been provided for her, which was so soft and fluffy that it almost rivaled the clouds she typically slept on.
Almost.
Grabbing the large pillow, she pulled it tightly over her head in an attempt to silence the relentless noise as she laid face down.
After growing impatient, Shining Armor flung the door open and rushed inside.
“Rainbow Dash! Wake up!”
She let out another irritated groan.
Shining used his magic to rip the pillow away from her before she pulled the blanket from her shoulders up over her head and rolled onto her side.
“Mom, just ten more hours….”
“DASH!”
He then ripped the sheets away from her.
“Nooo….I don’t wanna go to school today…” she protested, groggily.
“Dash! This is important!” he shouted.
“Fine,” she grunted, sitting up and rubbing the grit out of one eye. “What’s so important that you had to wake me up from my nap!?”
“A group of Changelings attacked Cadance in the garden a half hour ago.” He informed her, seriously.
“Is she alright?” Dash asked.
“Yeah, Sunset Shimmer and Flash Sentry were there to help protect her until Princess Luna’s Night Guard arrived to take them prisoner and interrogate them.”
“Then what’s the problem?” she pressed, annoyed.
“There could more of them around the castle…doesn’t that bother you?” he pressed.
“The only thing bothering me right now is a guard who apparently has nothing better to do with his time than worry about things that MIGHT happen and keep my from getting my shut-eye. Seriously, does Twilight’s OCD run in the family or something?”
“Forget it,” Shining sighed. “I guess you’re right…if there are others, we’ll probably be able to get it out of the ones we caught-hopefully.”