//------------------------------//
// Empress of loss 
// Story: Empress of flame (year one edition) 
// by Pathious 
//------------------------------//

Sunset was on a train that was headed for disaster. She felt she had to come with Twilight today; the only problem is that she was weak from the other night. Luna had fought for her and clearly warned her that today was a bad idea.  Sunset had unfortunately managed to set up her downfall. Luna was holding off the news about Empress until tomorrow. Right now all that mattered to Sunset was the mare sitting beside her. Twilight sparkle was looking rather nice today.

“I hope you’re excited to meet my Friends Sunset. I know they are going to love you.” Twilight said in a nervous voice.  She still hadn’t told her that she wasn’t single when the two of them had done what they had done. 

“Of course I am excited to meet them; I can’t wait to see them… I sure hope they like me”

“Of course we are going to like you, Twilight invited us on the train to surprise you duhhhhh~!” Pinkie pie said as she poked her head up from behind Sunset. Twilight rolled her eyes and let her head drop down slightly.

“So much for surprise Pinkie~!” Twilight said loudly with an almost immediate giggle after words. “You’re so silly pinkie~!” Sunset was very quiet knowing her friends were actually all here.

“Now you want to tell me why you haven’t brought flashy along… he owes me a pastry after I let him have one for free.” Pinkie said as she now sat between the two mares. Before Sunset could ask who flashy was Rainbow spoke out from in front of them. 

“Probably… because she wanted us to be here for Sunset, not flash.” Rainbow said as her raspberry eyes shifted over toward Sunset… “So you’re the infamous Sunset Shimmer huh?” She flapped her light blue wings as she gave her a smile.

“I think your all overwhelming her…” Fluttershy whispered nearby so it was so hard to tell exactly where she was.

“Who is Flashy?” Sunset finally managed to say. Twilight immediately motioned for her friends to not answer that one… Unfortunately the gabby gums of Pinkie pie rang out the answer.

“Well you see Flashy is Twilights stallion…her lover kind of thing?” Pinkie said with a large smile. The words entered Sunsets ears and almost immediately the heartbreak became visible. Her brain went numb as tears filled her eyes. The mane six stared at her almost unable to speak. If they could see the inside of her they would have been able to see the hurt pinkie had just brought upon her. She started to sob slightly as she looked towards Twilight.  The whites of Sunsets eyes turning a black color. Once fully white the breaks of the train locked suddenly, a screeching sound heard as she shook her head at twilight.

“You lied to me~!” Sunset jumped out of her seat and tried to get away from Twilight. Several hundred ponies were on this train. Sunset was having trouble getting through everypony. Her hurt growing ever stronger. Twilight and her friends ran after her. Twilight keeping quiet as to why this was happening, she felt so horrible, she should have told her earlier. Sunset couldn’t run anymore her limps aching from her internal pain. She closed her eyes as she felt a voice talking to her in her head. Sunset stumbled into one of the bathrooms; her loss of breath was excruciatingly painful. She let out a scream; her yell was heard throughout the whole train. Her scream caused the bathroom door to lock. The handle glowing red hot, as red crystalline structures started to grow on its surface. Sunset was desperately trying to breath but no matter how hard she tried she felt like a hand was around her neck. She looked in the mirror to see the demon form was visible. It picked her up by the throat and smiled.

“Your mine now, soon this pain will fade.” Empress had a tear in her eye. “She hurt us both today.” Empress opened her mouth to allow black mist to transfer from her mouth into Sunset through her nose and mouth. Twilight and Rainbow were banging on the door to try and get it open. The full metal door eventually turned a bright orange making it too dangerous to touch. Sunset let out another scream as she started to change form physically. Her legs first became longer and her snout more slender and long. Her ears grew longer as well. She was in loads of pain as of right now. Her heartbreak only feeling worse as the transformation continued. Sunset felt there was only one way to make this less painful.

“Just take me Empress~!” She yelled out as she was then engulfed in a bright Cyan light. The large shaft of light filled the whole bathroom and shot a hole through the roof. A wave of energy was shot across Equestria. Both Luna and Celestia were shaking from the feeling. Luna feared deep down that the energy came from Sunset. The light stopped and everything in the bathroom became silent. The bathroom door was steaming as it cooled down. Twilight slowly using her hoof to open the door.

“Sunset shimmer are you… in there?” Twilight tilted her head trying to see in the smoke filled compartment. Rainbow Dash started to back away when she saw demonic wings spread. A ponies muzzle began to poke out of the dark smoke.  A pair of cyan halos peered out of the smoke. They looked right at Twilight and a growl was heard. The demonic wings flapped and sent Empress flying out back hooves first. The back legs slammed into twilight making her smack the metal wall of the train. Empress stomped a hoof and the train’s engine sprung to life.

“Sunset isn’t here anymore, you have yourself to blame for that~!” Empress yelled out and the train started to move forward from her magic. Rainbow couldn’t stand to see a friend hurt. She took flight inside the small cabin trailer of the train and went to slam into the demonic entity. Empress was much more ready than she appeared.  Her right wings flapped causing a low altitude barrel roll affect. She rolled over Rainbow dash to elude her. Rainbow missed and slammed her head against a wall. 
Empress was filled with a rage that was going to hurt a lot of ponies if she remained on the train. Growled at Twilight friends and even looked willing to kill them if one more tried to attack her. Oddly this didn’t diture Applejack from delivering a strong kick directly into the side of her face. Empress didn’t evade this one. The kick whiplashed her head right into a table nearly knocking her out. She batted her eyes as she attempted to recover from the blow. Her dark eyes looked at AJ.

“Stay away from Twi now, ya don’t wanna be messin with me.” Applejack said as she shakily stood between Empress and an unconscious Twilight Sparkle. Empress looked very unfazed now as she stood back up.

“Alright fine… you win” Empress gave a grin. “For, about, ten seconds~!” Empress’s horn began to glow and the whole train started to tilt of the tracks. The train had been crossing a bridge over part of a canyon the train didn’t take long to fall right off. The feeling of falling in a train slammed Applejack against the ceiling while Empress walked like normal right for Twilight. Rainbow dash felt like everything was moving in slow motion. She knew she had a short distance to do this but she had no choice. She took a deep breath allowing her chest to puff up visibly. Her wings kicked into high gear, almost immediately a sonic rainboom was created as she took flight.  The explosion from her flight ripped the train right in half. Shard flying everywhere as the train began to flip wildly. Rainbow plowed right into the side of Empress… The speed of sound was hard to slow down so the both of them were far from the train before Rainbow could slow up. Rainbow looked back to see a sight she never thought she would see. Discord himself was using his magic now to bring the fall of the train to a halt. His cause magic was unstable when he teleported things and he wanted to get everypony up safely so he struggled to levitate it at an appropriate speed. Empress had finally realized what had happened and grabbed hold of Rainbows neck using her fang filled mouth. Rainbow let out a scream of pain as she went limp and unconscious. She was tossed down the gorge and landed hard on a rock surface. She bounced on impact and a crack was heard from her ribs as Empress let out a laugh. She looked at the train and knew she couldn’t do anything now that Discord was there. She wasn’t strong enough yet to fight him.

“Is everypony alright?” Discord said as he set both half’s on the tracks again. Twilight and her friends that were still on the train were in a lot of pain but ok. 

“Discord we need your help Twilight is pinned down.” Apple jack said as she sat by twilight who was groaning and rather delirious. 

“What happened what did I miss?” She held a hoof to her own head. She had a small cut on there and was going through shock. Discord quickly made it over and lifted the object off of Twilight. He looked around and seemed concerned. 

“Where is Rainbow, why is she not here?” discord said as he held an eagle talon on Twilight her wounds healing. He looked at Applejack as if expecting her to know. He received no response which let him know that nopony would be able to tell him. That was when he heard a scream he would never forget. Fluttershy out of all ponies started screaming at the top of her lunges.

“Rainbow~!, Rainbow~! Rainbow~!” she kept screaming. The rest of the mane six and Discord all rushed for her to see what she was screaming for. All their hearts sank when they saw her on the bottom of the canyon. Twilight reached out screaming now as well. Discord began his climb down. He was aggressively climbing down as tears where filling his eyes. He feared the worst.  Rainbows friends were screaming for her hoping she was alright. The watched as Discord reached her picking her up. He was climbing so very carefully. Once he reached the top Rainbows friends couldn’t bear what happened. Discord the master of chaos fell to his knees holing the limp mare close in a hug as he cried out. Tears streaming down the draconaquss’s face. He slammed his fist against the ground in anger. He laid her on the ground, her eyes hazed over… Rainbow dash was dead. Twilight and apple jack let a cry of a scream. Twilight was trying to get to her friend but was held back by Applejack who was breaking down in tears herself. Discord  pressed a glowing hand against his dead friends chest. He kept trying over and over again to use his magic to bring her back. Everytime he tried he failed making his heart ache more.

“Rainbow, no wake up~!,” Discord cried out as he slumped over her hugging her dead body. “Rainbow please… Y-your my f-friend. P-please.” He cried as memories of Rainbowdash began to play in his head. All the wonderful times of being called dipcord, All the laughs and fun they had together. “Rainbow please no… I can’t fix you please do-don’t g-go~!” He dug his talons into the hard surface below him as he and his other friend were nearby grieving the loss of her friend. Rainbow was more than a label of honesty… She was a friend… a sister. Maybe someponies crush or role model. She had a family who loved her. A family who could never see the lively spark in her eyes again, the strong mare who would always put her friends first found that being the end. Discord couldn’t let go of her limp body. His tears soaked her fur as he cried. “R-rainbow… you were…my friend. I will never forget that. I used to wonder what friendship could be… but you... you helped me know...you helped...me. Rainbow dash I loved you like a sister I never had. We shared secret and t-told stories… Rainbow I just wish… I just…” Discord ears pinned back as his magic was weakening by his sadness. “I couldn’t save you!” he wiped his tears. “You will always be faithful and strong my dear.” He tried smiling but couldn’t