//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Red at Night // Story: Night Reigns // by tursi //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer was a brilliant amber unicorn with a vivid crimson and yellow striped mane whose cutie mark depicted a crimson and yellow sun. It represented her talent for magic and thirst for all knowledge related to it. But it had been ten years now since she had been able to learn any new spells; ten years since she had failed to stop eternal night from falling. "Happy birthday to me-eee," she sang quietly to herself, although there was little joy in her voice. She blew out the lone candle burning atop a small cupcake on the table before her and plunged her tiny room once more into darkness. Her horn was allowed only a faint glow of light, even less than the candle had given off. Once her eyes adjusted, she started to take tiny bites from the cupcake - the lone yearly treat she allowed herself since the bakeries had again started functioning openly. She always tried to keep this moment from being unhappy, but her mind always seemed to roll back to what had happened all the same. She had been in Ponyville overseeing the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. Why Ponyville was still a mystery to her, it was just a tiny little village on the edge of the Everfree Forest. But she was there all the same - checking on decorations and snacks and so many menial little things. She had seen the signs - Nightmare Moon was coming - but Celestia had sent her there anyway. At the dramatic moment of reveal, Nightmare Moon had appeared in place of Princess Celestia, cackling and proclaiming that the night will last forever. She had swatted away the royal guards as if they were flies and Sunset's own attack, powerful though it was, was simply reflected back at her. It was only by the smallest of margins that she had avoided being obliterated by her own spell – a spell that she had studied for years! She had had no choice but to run. She went underground, fearful of being recognized. She didn't know if all of Nightmare Moon's new 'Royal' Guard were looking for her, but she occasionally saw somepony that she recognized wearing the new dark blue armor. She was fairly certain that if they recognized her, they would certainly call her out. She had heard of too many ponies imprisoned for the crime of being "sun lovers" - what crime would they invent for Princess Celestia's own star pupil? She supposed that her attack on Nightmare Moon would have been enough in any event. Then she had begun to research. Without access to Canterlot's grand libraries, she had to rely on lone books scattered across Equestria. She sought out fragments of legend and forgotten books in the corners of dusty libraries. Little of it was complete and less was clear - and she always had to be careful of who she spoke to and how long she stayed in one place. Eventually she pieced the legends together. Nightmare Moon had originally been banished by the Elements of Harmony - the only magic powerful enough to stop her. Very little was recorded about the Elements, but the clues led her to an ancient castle deep in the Everfree Forest. She went there, and she did find them, but she had no idea what to do next. She took them away and studied them in secret for nearly a year. Eventually, however, she could find no trace of magic within them and abandoned them. Life began to recover in Equestria in the meantime and as ponies began to live more openly, she finally tired of running. She had found a basement room in Vanhoover where she could stay largely out of sight. This far from the capital, she could keep a low profile and no pony need know who she was. She performed odd magical jobs and traded items from under a cloak, reading and re-reading the few books she had managed to collect and keep for herself. She even rotated the shops she frequented to prevent becoming too familiar - all except for the one bakery where she allowed herself one birthday treat a year. This one treat was supposed to be a respite from her self-pity, but it never seemed to work. "It wasn't really my fault!" she insisted to the room in general. But the darkness disagreed with her. "Celestia only had to tell me what she knew," she cried out, defending herself from the invisible accusers all around. "I would have known what to study. She didn't trust me!" Or perhaps you didn't trust her. "But she KNEW! She could have made me a Princess! We could have faced Nightmare Moon together!" Or you could have become Nightmare Moon yourself. Sunset dropped her head and spoke no further, her cupcake sitting half-eaten on her plate. Her shoulders began to shake gently, and occasionally a sniffle came up from under her hanging mane. The shadows were right - all she had wanted was the power. She would have been as likely to abuse the power as to use it wisely. Five minutes, ten, twenty, she didn't know how much time had passed and she didn't much care. Her head came up slowly and she used the back of her hoof to wipe the tears from her cheeks. Pushing back from the table, she left the cupcake unfinished. All she wanted to do now was go to bed. A loud buzz and a flash of light caused her to pause in mid-step. She turned her head towards the heavy blinds covering her sole window out to the city streets. "What kind of fool would be doing street construction at this hour?" she wondered. "That is, whatever hour it is." Again the buzz sounded, and the flash of light. She could clearly see the light reflected from the blinds - it was inside her room! Her eyes traced the flash back to the apparent source and she walked towards it, approaching her bookshelf carefully. Again the buzz, and again the flash, and her jaw dropped. Hesitantly, she reached out with her magic, drawing a book from its spot and levitating it halfway between the shelf and herself. She turned it in the air so that she could see the cover. It was an old book and the cover was inscribed with a copy of her cutie mark. As she stared at it, holding it in her magic, it buzzed and flashed again. "That's impossible…" she whispered. "It must be a trick…?" Her eyes were wide as she stared at the book, reflecting the flash of light as the book signaled again. This was her training journal - a magical book connected to a similar book in Princess Celestia's library. Write in one book and it appears in the other. If Nightmare Moon had found it, maybe this was a trick. Maybe opening the book would trace the guards to her. What if it's not? Open it. Sunset looked around again. It was rare for the shadows to encourage her. But they were often very right. "Yes. I have to take that chance." Carefully, she set the book on the floor. Then she dared to light her horn further and cast a shield around the book. She didn't know if it would help, but she hoped that it would confuse any tracing spell that might be tied to it. She bit her lower lip carefully, looking around at the shadows for confirmation, and then opened the cover. As a dim glow on the page began to illuminate new writing, she leaned forward to read the words. My dear Sunset Shimmer, I was overjoyed to receive your last update - you are learning so much so quickly. As you know, next week is the Summer Sun Celebration. I will be performing it this year in Ponyville, which is of course one of the closest small towns to Canterlot. I will need you to go there to assist me with preparations. Do be wary of the ruins in EverFree Forest - the woods are not safe. I know that with your help, we will be ready to greet another wonderful sunrise! Yours Truly, Princess Celestia The book's glow faded, and once Sunset sensed that the magic was finished she let down her shield. She approached the book cautiously, as if expecting it to strike like a snake, but it did not move. Again her eyes reviewed the message. This message could have been from ten years ago, when she was sent to Ponyville, but in that case why would the book trigger now? Besides that, she had received her orders from Celestia in person; her teacher had not used the book to send instructions in the past. It was almost a meaningless message… a throwaway from a decade ago - but her eyes kept coming back to one sentence. I will need you to go there to assist me with preparations. She read it again. It nagged at her. …assist me… Sunset had gone to Ponyville to oversee preparations, not to assist Celestia. It was one of the things that she had considered so demeaning about the task. The Princess herself had not been expected to arrive until just before the performance. Her eyes shifted downwards and another passage struck a chord. I know that with your help, we will be ready to greet another wonderful sunrise! Celestia had hated the Summer Sun Celebration. Sunset had never understood why and Princess Celestia had always dismissed any questions about her mood as being due to nerves. But Sunset knew this all the same and Celestia had rarely pretended otherwise in private. …to greet another wonderful sunrise! A scenario started to form in Sunset Shimmer's mind. Sunset herself had treated the book with caution as she didn't know who was on the other end. What would be the safest thing for someone on the other end to write, if they had the same doubts? A message from the past, so easily dismissed as a glitch in an old spell! Her eyes scanned the message rapidly, her breathing increasing as she allowed herself a faint glimmer of hope. Her eyes caught on another sentence. Do be wary of the ruins in EverFree Forest - the woods are not safe. That had to be it! On the surface, a typical warning that anypony would give a first-time visitor to Dodge City or Ponyville, but there was no need to tell a studied pony like Sunset Shimmer. Or to mention… …the ruins… The ruins were buried so deeply that few ponies even knew where they were, let alone would anypony be foolish enough to think that they could stumble through to them. But Sunset knew where they were and how to get there - it was where she had found the Elements of Harmony. It had to be a clue. But she was uncertain about what to do first. She considered her options carefully. If it was a real message, she thought that she should write back that she retrieved it, maybe even that she understood it. But if it was a trap… writing back would tell Nightmare Moon - or whoever it was - that she took the bait. She knew that she was going to follow the clues, but it would be unwise to tell them. After a moment's further thought, she closed the book. She fetched her saddlebag and stored the book there rather than back on the bookshelf. The train to Ponyville was an overnight trip, by the clock. She would send a carefully worded reply, but only after she was much closer. Then she'd have surprise on her side if it was a trap. She found herself humming as she began to pack. It was nice that somepony had remembered her birthday after all.