Raise You Like a Phoenix

by Gapeagle

Chapter 16: Separate Ways

Sunset looked up at the cloudy night sky. There was not much outside her barred window. It was too dark to see the valley far below and it was too dark to even see anything of worth. It was just blackness. She didn't move away from the window, but remained fixed on looking at the nothingness.

"So close...So close..." she said absently, "I made a promise."

With nothing else to do, she turned away from the window and took a step to the hay bed. She had no blanket and the night was cold. With no one to speak to, she lay down and tried to sleep. It was cold and she curled up to keep herself warm. Her teeth started to chatter and sleep seemed farther away than ever.

"Psst! Kid, wake up."

"Huh?" Sunset sat up instantly, looking about the cell. "Hello?" she asked the darkness. Surprisingly, the darkness responded in a rather rude manner.

"I'm over here, ya halfwit!"

Sunset looked to the window to see Wing Beat hanging on the bars from the outside. His frown was there as usual and his eyes glared at her. The thief looked at the thief without much care. She got up and walked over to the bar with a slight curiosity.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"Listen, kid, I know ya been having it rough the last days, but I was at home and I saw Celestia there. She was speakin' with Dayshine."

"Really?" Sunset said sarcastically. "I didn't know that! It was like Celestia didn't tell me she was going to do that or something."

"Oh?" Wing Beat snarled. "Fine. Well, whatever sob story ya told the princess has been contradicted by the little lass."

"I knew she would do that!" Sunset rolled her eyes. "Never cares about her older sister. I would have had all this under control if she didn't run off. Of all the days she has to guts to leave the house, she leaves at the worst time."

Wing Beat shuffled his wings and he clutched the bars. "Ya don't care about her either, lass. I've never seen sisters hate each other 'til I met ya two."

"I don't hate her!" Sunset snapped. "She's my little sister, you idiot! I made a promise to her and I still plan on keeping it!"

"What promise is that?"

"I promised her, long before I met you, that I was going to be her savior. I was going to be the one to make her normal. I was going to be the one to keep her life running! We both know she doesn't have much time. She's either gonna die in a hospital bed or she's gonna die in your blasted house. I'm the only one who can prevent either from happening."

"Some of me has a hard time believing that," Wing Beat snorted. "I have a feeling ya gonna be in this cell for a while, maybe for years. Ya promise is over, lass. I have to take her to the hospital."

"Beats, they'll arrest you," she shook her head. "Ya can't go in public like that. You know that."

"I know that, lass. I know. I've had a good run and I tried to take care of her..."

"Keep it up! Just a few days longer! I'll be out of here with the amulet and I'll teleport right over there. They aren't going to cure her, Wing Beat. All they'll do is extend her a few days longer and then she'll die and nothing would be achieved. I made a promise, and I shall fulfill it!"

"Why do you care? Is that pride I hear? Or is it that you really don't care about her and only want the power of the amulet?" Wing Beat poked his muzzle through the bars. "I'll give ya one day! One day only! If she dies in my bed, her death will be on you. Ya understand me, lass?"

"Yeah, I do. Now get outta here, ya jerk."

"See you in Tartarus," he spat.

"Yeah, you too. I'll bring lunch with me."

With a gust of wind, he flew off from the bars and into the deep darkness. Sunset watched him leave before popping her hooves. With a deep breath, she composed herself, only to have her calmness be utterly replaced with a fiery anger. She was going to win. She was going to have her way no matter what.

She picked up a piece of broken stone that was in the corner of her cell and began banging it on the cell door's iron bars. The loud clangs echoed through the quiet dungeon hallway. Ding! Ding! The noise was loud enough to make her ears sting every time she struck the iron.

"What's that noise?" a stallion yelled from down the hall.

She kept beating the iron.

"Eh! Will ya stop it!" the stallion walked over in his guard armor, his face illuminated by the torch in his hoof.

She ignored him standing there and continued to smack the stone against the bars.

"I said stop it!"

He reached to grab her. Sunset instantly threw the stone at him, hitting him squarely in the muzzle and grabbed his extended leg and pulled him towards her. He dropped the torch, which lit his short tail on fire. He started to curse and scream to snuff it out, but he stopped when Sunset took hold of him by the neck and pinned him against the cell door. With furious anger, she kept slamming in the iron until he fell into unconsciousness.

With haste, she reached into his plated armor and found the keys to her cell. She took the keys and unlocked her door, kicking it right open. While outside her cell, she searched the guard for anything that could help her with her anti-magic device. Nothing was found. She then looked at the torch.

She stuck her horn in the flames of the torch. The fire was relaxing and soothing to her. As the fires went around her horn, her cutie marks began to glow vibrantly. With determination, she forced herself to concentrate and fight back the device. The flames grew larger and the intensity was damaging the device.

"C'mon! C'mon!"

Finally! The device snapped off and fell on the floor. All the magic came back to Sunset instantly, and the flames of the torch reached to the ceiling. With a deep breath, she picked up the torch with her magic. She love having the fire with her, but she stopped before running down the hall to freedom.

"I must get the gem. I doubt I can fight my way. Can't be seen, not once. Then goodnight, dear flame."

With her magic, the torch's light was extinguished as if a heavy wind blew it out. She dropped the useless torch and in the darkness, she ran towards the stairs that would lead her to the palace.

---

---

With only taking out any guards she had to, Sunset made her way quietly through the palace. With every step, she kept to the shadows of the halls. It was just like how she crept about when she first entered to steal the artifact, but now her destination was different. She had plan for this. When she acquired the gem, she could put anywhere she wanted.

So she went through the long halls, the tight corridors, and the many flights of stairs to reach her destination. This location was none other than a bathroom. A secluded bathroom on the east side of the palace, far away from Celestia's chambers. This part of the palace had little in it except for the sleeping quarters for some servants. Few guards ever patrolled around this part since so little happened in it. It was the perfect place to hide a gem to a powerful artifact.

She entered the small bathroom and walked right to the toilet. With a hoof, she felt the wall above the toilet. She stopped when she felt a bump in the mostly smooth stone. Her magic gripped this little bump and twisted it, making it break off from the rest of the wall. She then pulled it out to reveal a long tube that had been placed in the wall. She shook the tube and the red gem fell out and she caught it before it fell into the toilet.

"Much better than hiding it in a book," she chuckled to herself.

Without a noise, she left the bathroom. "Now I need to get the rest of the amulet," she said. "Hm, I doubt it's still in the vault. Celly isn't that stupid. If I was an arrogant princess, where would I keep it? Yup, I'd keep it in my bedroom. Can't trust anypony else, right? Yup, it has to be in her chambers."

She put the gem in her tail and braided her hair so that it would keep it in there. With that, she started to trot through the empty halls towards the stairs that would lead her towards Celestia's chambers. She then stopped halfway up them. A sudden realization hit her and she sat down to think.

"This'll probably be the last time I am here," she said. "I shouldn't leave anything I may need. Hm, there can't be anything, can there? Oh! My jacket. That's such a nice jacket too. My study ain't too far from here. I could teleport to it."

Her horn glowed and she popped from the stairs to the desk of her study. She arrived there with a smile, until she looked about the room. It was utterly ruined. The bookshelves were thrown down and charred. Books lay in piles of black ash. It was as if a catastrophe struck the poor study and left it in devastation. Her smile was gone as she saw the destruction.

"I was a gift to you..." the room seemed to say.

"My knowledge was your freedom..." the books uttered quietly.

"We protected you..." the statues cried.

"I watched your sister..." the stained glass window muttered.

In the middle of this ruined study was a phoenix. The majestic bird sat there on a crumbling statue, looking right at the thief. Her eyes were full of sorrow and her fiery wings were almost limp at her tall sides. Her presence slightly illuminated the room, showing the destruction an even more horrid detail.

"What ya want?" Sunset asked the bird.

She said nothing and pointed her beak at what was in her claws. It was the jacket, completely unharmed in the fires that once raged through the entire room. It was if the bird was telling her something by showing a jacket that was bought with Celestia's own money. After pointing at the jacket, her eyes went back to Sunset.

The thief began to walk down the burnt stairs to the phoenix. As she grew closer, the bird did not remove her eyes once. The pupil-less orange eyes that were in the bird's angled head watched the young mare with an emotion that Sunset could not tell. Was it sorrow? Was it anger? Was it disgust? For all she knew, it was all of these.

She took the jacket in her magic and tried to pull it from the phoenix, but the bird held it tightly. She pulled again, but she did not want the bird to attack her, so she stopped. The phoenix leaned towards her, her large head was almost as big as Sunset's. The seemingly soulless eyes stared at her from only an inch away. A terrifying warmness came from the bird. It was like fire, but it did not sooth Sunset at all.

The bird then stretched her leg out with the jacket and dropped it on the soot-ridden floor right in front of the thief's hooves. She kept staring right at Sunset, not blinking once. The thief stared back, but she could only stare in fright of the intimidating creature.

"Re....mem...ber..." the bird whispered.

"Huh?" Sunset gasped. She was not certain if the bird actually spoke, or even made a sound at all.

The bird slowly moved back to her upright position. Her eyes looked up at the moonlight that came in through the giant windows. Sunset watched the phoenix for a moment before putting the jacket on. She gulped and tried to make her way out of the study with dignity, but her hooves shook terribly with each step. A chasm formed in her stomach and it ached awfully.

Before opening the door, she looked back at the phoenix. She was still there, motionless in her wonder of the night sky. Steaming tears were slowly falling down the small cheeks of the bird. When the tears hit the floor, one could hear a faint sizzling. Sunset couldn't handle watching the bird, and with a quivering lip, opened the door and left the study once and for all.

Comments

[KingJoltik]

Uh-oh...this isn't going to end well, is it?

[Gapeagle]

7224559 Well, we kinda know how it ends, don't we?

[NotanImportantPony]

7224559
Seconded. Also the suspense is killing me. Really wanna know what happens next. Ergo, this is a delightfully refreshing story.

[Charedfirescale]

Well, this is the beginning of the end. We got to see what motivated Sunset Shimmer. Out of all the stories about this, yours feels the closest to what actually happened. I quite like how you gave Sunset a sister relationship similar but different to Celestia's. As well as her background, although it's possibly not completely truthful.

[Gapeagle]

7224650 I'm trying to leave some things for interpretation. I think interpretation is fun. So I like yo guys taking some things for truth and some for lies.

[Fistfire]

This is not going to end well. Duh!

[badninja]

Sunset you fool.
I get the feeling that she will never live this down and her human friends will probably never know about her loss. Now I feel that she will never return to Equestria as it will be far to painful for her.

[reboot-this-pc]

this makes me feel sad for celestia , like does the phoenix always say remember and if so .....Luna...hella,sad by that thought

[Gapeagle]

7225203 X100

[reboot-this-pc]

7225262

Right???

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

So many mistakes all around.

[pahnazd]

That last part... holy hell. Shivers down my spine.
This definitely won't end well.
Sunset was looking forward so much to seeing Philomena in the past... and now, all she saw terrified her beyond belief. Worse than anger. Disappointment and sorrow.

It makes me think if this was one of the final straws for her to use the mirror to run away.