Flame of Disparity

by Cinders of War

Epilogue: The Sun Rises

Sunset Shimmer once again stood in a large white expanse, this time, dressed in her normal clothes, her armor gone. All that remained with her was her moonlight greatsword.

From her left, a wisp of black robes made a figure known and she turned. It was the Spirit of the Rite of Kindling again.

“You have done it, Sunset Shimmer,” the spirit said, floating closer. “You have beaten back the nightmare and secured your freedom.”

“Why am I still here?” Sunset looked at her hands and weapon, then back at the spirit. “I thought I was going to wake up.”

“And you will, Sunset Shimmer.” The Spirit of the Rite of Kindling stretched one hand out. “But first, I must speak with you. The world is stirring, Sunset Shimmer. Times are coming that will test your resolve. That is why I have a gift for you.”

With a flash of light, Sunset’s greatsword lit up and began to shrink. It shrank to the size of a little teardrop shaped gem, which now rested on her palm.

“What’s this?”

“The moonlight gem,” the spirit explained. “With it, you will be able to conjure the moonlight greatsword when you require its use.”

“I will have it when I wake up?” Sunset looked between the Spirit of the Rite of Kindling and the turquoise gem in her hand. “But I won’t need a sword. I don’t want to have to kill anyone.”

“The power of the magic within the weapon will be up to you, Sunset Shimmer. But you will need it. A darkness is coming, Sunset Shimmer. One that will threaten the existence of both Equestria and the world you love. Guard well that gem, Sunset, for when the time comes, it will guard your life.”

With that said, the spirit began to fade, and the world around Sunset began to get brighter, till it got too bright for her to see.

“Wait, wait! I need to know more!”

“Awaken, Sunset Shimmer. The sun rises for you now…”

---

Beep… beep… beep…. Beep…

Sunset Shimmer felt the softness of a bed beneath her, as well as the smell of disinfectant and the sound of some kind of device. A microwave?

She opened her eyes, but everything was blurry and spinning. Sunset blinked a few times, then tried to say something, but her throat was so dry that all she could manage was a weak croak.

“...set?” Something made a sound to her left. Or was it right? She couldn’t tell. “... you hear… me?”

A cluster of colours appeared within her vision, each of them bobbing about like apples on water. As her eyes finally began to adjust, she could see that those shapes… were her friends!

“Sunset’s awaaaake!” Pinkie Pie was the first to throw herself on her, knocking the air out of Sunset’s lungs in a bear hug.

“Not so rough, Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash pulled her back. “She can’t deal with your full power just yet.”

“R-Rainbow…” Sunset croaked. It was good to see her alive again. “Yo-you’re okay…”

“Well, of course I’m okay.” Rainbow flexed her left arm, then gave her a thumbs up. “You’re the one who had us worried, not waking up!”

“Y-Yeah, we didn’t know what happened,” Fluttershy said. “You just couldn’t get back up.”

Sunset tried to push herself up to a sitting position, but she couldn’t quite muster the strength on her own. “How long… was I out?”

“Four days, darling.” Rarity counted. “Thankfully not any longer, but you haven’t moved in a while. I suppose it’s normal you’ll be a little sore and stiff.”

“Wait, I was gone for four days?” Sunset accepted a glass of water from Applejack.

“Yup,” the farm girl confirmed. “Ya weren’t answerin’ your phone or the doorbell, so eventually we had to bust down your front door to get in. Guess Ah owe ya a new door on top of that.”

“Then we called an ambulance and had you brought here to the hospital,” Rarity said. “The doctors weren’t sure what was wrong, only that you had fallen into some kind of coma.”

“You know…” Sunset gulped down the water so fast, she almost choked on it. “Plehh… I don’t actually really know what happened myself. I just woke up in this nightmare…”

Sunset began the story of her most recent ordeal, how she found herself in another world and how she had worked to get out, followed by the arrival of the Lord of the Waking Nightmare himself, Phantom Pain, and the message he parted to her when he disappeared.

“So, you had a really scary dream?” Fluttershy asked, concerned. “Do you think it means anything?”

“Normally, I would be inclined to say no,” Twilight Sparkle pushed her glasses further up onto the bridge of her nose. “But given that Sunset just woke up from a four day coma with no unusual symptoms other than this dream, we can’t rule anything out just yet.”

“It wasn’t just a dream,” Sunset insisted. “It felt real, like someone had put me under a spell.”

“Ya sure you just didn’t get food poisoning or somethin’?” Applejack asked, turning her hat over in her hands.

“Food poisoning doesn’t result in comas,” Pinkie said impishly. “Trust me, I would know.”

“Maybe not for you, Pinkie; you’ve got a stomach of steel!” Rainbow guffawed. “But seriously. If the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong, maybe it is magic.”

“If this Phantom Pain is from Equestria, I wonder what he wants with you.” Rarity rubbed her chin in thought. “Does he think you might pose a problem to his plans?”

“I don’t know,” Sunset admitted, lying back down on the hospital bed. “I’m just so glad not to be trapped in that horrible nightmare anymore. I thought I would never get out.”

“Do you think we should tell Princess Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, concerned. “This sounds like something we should inform her about.”

Applejack stood up and folded her arms. “Ah agree. ‘Specially this Nightmare Lord guy. Ya think he’s another person who’s jacked up on Equestrian magic? Twilight’ll know.”

“Yeah…” Sunset sighed. She tried to get comfortable in the bed, but there was something that felt like a small hard lump near her thigh. Curious, she reached under the sheets and fumbled around. Her fingers touched something hard and cool; she took it out and into the light. It was the stone that the Spirit of the Rite of Kindling had given her. The moonlight gem.

“So it was real…” Sunset said as her friends craned their necks to look at the jewel. It seemed to glow gently with a comforting light in Sunset’s palm.

There was a sense of familiarity while it rested between two of her fingers. It reminded Sunset of home. Of Equestria. Whatever had made this gem for her, it had definitely been of Equestrian magic. Something of Equestria had aided her in her travel through the nightmare. Perhaps it was magic that seeped out of the portal. Or perhaps it had been a secret benefactor from Equestria. Sunset guessed it was a question she wouldn’t figure out any time soon.

Sunset remembered Phantom Pain’s last words to her. Something was coming; this was not the end of it yet. Phantom Pain’s speech lingered in her mind, but she did not know what to make of it. She sighed. What would come, would come, and there was no point worrying about it at present.

“You know, Flash came by too,” Pinkie snickered. “He looked really concerned.”

“He did?” Sunset looked up.

“Yeah, I think he still has the hots for you, whatcha think, Rarity?” Rainbow nudged her friend.

Sunset listened to her friends talk and laughed. It was so good to have them back with her again. Her real friends. But the copies of them in her dream world would not be forgotten. Perhaps she could see them in her dreams, like they speculated.

Catching up on the things and people she loved most, talk about the undead and her ordeal were soon pushed further back in her mind. While the future remained unknown, her friends were here with her right now, and they were here to stay. That, Sunset knew.

Sunset Shimmer lay back in her bed and smiled contentedly.

Ah… it’s good to finally be back home.

Author's Note:

And with the epilogue comes the end to another chapter of our years of typing. Thank you all for getting this far and I do hope this story was entertaining enough! Any feedback is appreciated for future stories, be it good or bad, but we'll try to do our best to make our next adventure more entertaining, so stay tuned for more to come! And definitely, there will be more to come...

Cheers, everyone!

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

And that's a wrap! Good story mate, very "Soulsy" without being a 1:1 replay. Had a bit of a judder there where she was both panicked at the thought of fighting a giant rat and trained by a swords-master, but other than that it hung together very well. And I see she's brought home a souvenir, intriguing!

[kyubbiman]

Interesting, I look forward to the next chapter in this series

[PaulAsaran]

You can has review!

[A bag of plums]

11049618
Well for this story, only the last three chapters or so are centric to the overall continuity's plot. You could very well skip most of it and still get what's going on. We hope you have a better time with the other entries in the Bloodlines Continuity~