From a Sparkle to a Spark

by Infernity Zero

Recollections

The sweet release of sleep continually evaded Twilight's grasp. She'd tried dozens of ways to get comfortable but none worked.

What's wrong with me? Right now, all I can do is rest, and I can't even do that right.

Washing her face, getting a snack, and even changing the sheets didn't help. She was just too hot and restless to sleep.

"Yeah, that's the reason. It's too hot in here."

Of course, all she'd have to do to fix that was summon the nurse. And then he'd (yes he, she'd been surprised too) gladly turn down the thermostat for her. Problem solved.

B-b-but she couldn't do that, could she? After all, the staff had far better to do than to cater to her every whim. Surely she could endure the discomfort if it meant they could help someone who really needed it.

Right?

"Oh who am I kidding?" She finally gave up. "I know perfectly well why I can't sleep. Going to sleep means I'll have to deal with that THING again. And that's the last thing I want to do right now or at all."

She still had no answer. No way to counter its cruel words. No way to prove that she still had value. And that knowledge hurt her even more. Previous threats she'd faced had set their sights on places or ponies she cared about. But this was different. Personal attacks were something she hadn't really dealt with before.

And it's not like I can lie to someone who's looked inside my head.

It didn't really matter. She wasn't a very good liar anyway. It came with having the Element of Honesty as a friend. After their misadventure at Dodge Junction, Applejack had told her that no matter how painful the truth could be, lies, even if they were just half-truths, only made things worse.

"Ow! What the?" Her headache was back, a flare of pain drilling into her skull. Squeezing her eyes shot, she pushed through until it subsided.

Okay then, lying was out. But what else could she do? If she brought up her magical accomplishments, the Shadow would dismiss them in favor of Sunset. And since Sunset had saved her life and set her free from Adagio's spell, that made it a hard argument to counter.

But wait. Now that she thought of it, two ponies with the same talent had caused a conflict before. Pinkie Pie had gone through something similar when she'd planned Rainbow Dash's birth-iversary. Another party planner had come to help and accidentally upstaged her, leaving her feeling like her parties didn't matter if he was better than her. She'd nearly given up on her whole career. But at the end of the day, her friends had reassured her that it didn't matter that someone else was better than her. She would always be Ponyville's best party pony no matter who else came along.

"Aaaagh! Again?" The pain returned, stronger than before. She spent several minutes banging her head against the pillow in agony. This time, it took longer for her head to stop throbbing.

Despite the ache, she was starting to feel better. A drop of clarity had trickled into her sea of confusion. Settling herself down, she took a deep breath, once again thanking Cadance for teaching her that technique.

I wonder if she had her own stress issues when she became a Princess too.

She'd have to ask her sister-in-law about that...if she ever got back to Equestria. As intriguing as the human world was, it just wasn't home. And barring Equestrian threats, she didn't have much of a role here either.

Or did she?

It occurred to Twilight that this wasn't her first identity crisis. When she'd first become a Princess, she had had no idea what her purpose was. Sure, she had extra authority in times of crisis; but other than that, it just felt like a formality. And the times she'd been summoned for special events only added to the irony and frustration of it all. But to her credit, she had figured it out eventually.

And it only took the near-total destruction of everything I knew and love to do so. She thought with a chuckle.

Now was no different. She'd been cut off from her home, and lost her magic, but none of that mattered as long as she still had her friends. It didn't matter whether it was a new town, a new title, or a new world, she'd find a way to move forward.

"And I won't let anything stop me either." Her head was flaring up again, but she ignored it. "Especially not you."

"Well that's just swell." Her shadow peeled itself off of the wall and took on the familiar form. "How'd you know it was me?"

Blowing her hair out of her eyes, Twilight faced her foe with a grin. "My head only started hurting when I started making those personal revelations. After the second time, I knew it was you trying to throw me off the trail. Just like how you knocked me out when Rarity took off my crown."

She noted with a bit of satisfaction that its smirk changed to an irritated frown. "Wipe that grin off your face. This doesn't change anything. You're still helpless without your magic."

"I'll adjust. I already did once."

"For about two days. The smirk returned. "Big whoop. If a new threat marched through that portal, all you'd be able to do is watch it rip your friends to shreds."

There was a opening. "Sunset didn't have any magic either, but that didn't stop her from saving me. After all, she had no guarantee that she'd ascend from taking that hit. She could have just died instead."

"A nice attempt to deflect the issue with 'could-haves' and 'might-have-beens'," it applauded sarcastically, "But she still saved you and--"

"Without magic," Came the cut in. "Which makes your whole argument invalid. Horn or no horn, I can still keep my friends safe."

It faltered for a second, then flared up, the top of its head catching on fire. "IRRELEVANT! Weak, worthless, little brat. You're deluding yourself into thinking you have value when you don't. She has magic and YOU. HAVE. NOTHING!"

Twilight's eyes widened. Wait a minute. That's just what...

"I have friends. I should have seen it before, but I was too scared. Too scared to see that I already had the answers all along. And you wanted that, didn't you? Because if I was scared, I'd alienate them."

"You don't--"

"And since I get weaker without them, that would make me just weak enough for you to take over."

"That's not--"

A purple glow accompanied Twilight's new-found resolve. It was time to end this. "But your shortsighted gambit missed a critical flaw. When you looked through my memories to make your attack, you never imagined I'd do the same thing for my defense. That's why you failed before, and that's why you'll always fail.

"Isn't that right, SEARING?"

The blistering fury on the figure's face told her all that she needed to know.

"You. You. You..........GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Once more, fire erupted around her, burning away her shadow into wisps of black smoke and exposing her orange skin underneath. As her disguise deteriorated, she became more and more solid. Mass became flesh. Tendrils became claws. And when it was finally over, Twilight once again found herself face to face with the She-Demon.

"I knew it."

"Ugh. No. It wasn't supposed to be like this." Searing hissed, losing the boom in her voice. "You were supposed to break. Why didn't you break? Why couldn't I break you?"

"You were right before. I am nothing without my friends. Why if it wasn't for them, I'd probably end up how Sunset was: jealous, vengeful, and power-hungry. But I'm okay with that. Because I'm not some parasite leeching off of others to support my own ego; my relationships are a give and take. With each exchange, we sharpen each other; and in doing so, we both get stronger. But I wouldn't expect a creature who sees people as assets to understand that. Am I right?"

"Oh spare me your sentimental speech." The demon clutched its heart in mock agony. "I think I'd prefer getting blasted by another Rainbow."

"That can be arranged."

"Whatever." In an instant, she'd gone from angry to nonchalant. "So you beat me again. What now? Gonna try and befriend me?"

"How about you get out of my head first? Go find yourself a new host. Then we'll talk."

"Fine." Came the sigh. "But this isn't over. Remember, I still know everything about you. And everyone you care about."

And with that sinister warning, she was gone.

Twilight took another deep breath. Somehow, the air tasted cleaner. A great burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Her headache vanished. Her mind was clear. She was free.

Too exhausted to think of anything else, she fell asleep. It was the first perfect, dreamless sleep she'd had since losing her horn.

---

"Um, Rarity, I think we have a problem...if you're not too busy, I mean."

"Whatever is the matter Fluttershy? You've gone pale."

"Well," She tapped her fingers together, "It's just that I was on my way to the hospital to check on Twilight and give her her things back, but they wouldn't let me in since she was sleeping, and then someone bumped into me, and we dropped all our stuff, and I think I-"

Rarity put an arm on the girl. "Don't get nervous, Darling. I won't bite. Just tell me what happened."

Too squeamish to say it aloud, Flutters resorted to whispering instead.

"WHAT?! What do you mean, you lost her crown?!"

Author's Note:

You know, in retrospect, I think I might have made this reveal a little too obvious with my blog and thread posts. So with that said, I figured I'd do it here instead of later so that the speculation could be toward what Searing's plan is instead of that she's there at all.

So yeah, Searing is back. This should throw a little monkey wrench into the Shineverse as well as provide its first recurring villain.

But until then, Twilight's inner conflict is resolved. For now.

Let me know what you think will happen next.

Comments

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

why do people keep making this Searing? Sunset never altered her name nor had need to make another perosna like Luna. Having Searing weakens Sunset's character. For it holds her blameless. I'm now on the fence about this story.

[Infernity Zero]

6156205 Oh the irony. I remember saying something similar about the comics portrayal of Nightmare Moon.

It's funny. Searing originally came about because I need a name for the darn thing to make Sunset's internal battle work a little better. But you're forgetting, Sunset's not blameless. The way I have it set up is that she was still malicious even before putting the crown on. Jealous, power-hungry, angry, and hatred, she had all of those before transforming. Searing just takes them Up to Eleven and shows what might have happened if she had been made a Princess while in that mindset.

The reason she's after Twilight now is because Sunset moved beyond her past self and rejected her previous behavior.

[ak0154]

Too squeamish to say it alone

i believe you mean aloud

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

6156234 That's the point Searing shouldn't exist at all. She didn't have Luna's personality shift. She was already that way.

[Infernity Zero]

6156236 Thanks. Missed that.

[Infernity Zero]

6156258 Regardless, I'm not worried. You were on the fence last time too and look how that turned out.

[Emperor]

Did Twilight just tell Searing to go find another host?

Yeah, like that's not gonna end in tears or anything