Forgotten Friendship
Forgotten Friendship
Sunset Shimmer, Queen of Freeport, caught Dawn’s body as it fell. She cradled the soulless form of her closest confidante and good right arm as she lay, eyes closed, limbs cold, her face in such repose that she might have been a sleeping princess, waiting for a prince to kiss her awake.
But no kiss could wake Dawn Starfall now, only the return of her soul from out of the body of Equestrian Sunset Shimmer where it had taken residence, and Queen Sunset didn’t plan for that to happen any time soon.
Sunset knelt, her eyes fixed upon Dawn’s oh-so-peaceful, lifeless face. Still holding onto her with one hand, with the other she reached out and ran her fingertips through Dawn’s red and white hair.
“Thank you, Dawny,” she murmured.
“If you want to thank me,” Dawn said in Sunset’s own voice, “I’m standing right here.”
Sunset looked up to where her doppelganger from the pony world stood in front of her. Only it wasn’t really Sunset Shimmer anymore, was it? It wasn’t even the other Sunset, the fake Sunset, the cheap imitation of the real thing, namely her. No, it was Dawn who stood before her now, wearing Sunset Shimmer’s skin like an expensive suit.
Sunset smirked. “How does it feel?”
Dawn shrugged the other Sunset’s shoulders. “I’ve got a lot of time to get used to it, haven’t I?” She cricked the other Sunset’s neck. “Funny, I always thought of you as being tall, but now that I am you, in a manner of speaking… not so much.”
Sunset snorted. “You were just short.”
Dawn grinned. “I won’t have that problem anymore.”
“Sunset?” Robyn murmured. “Sunset, is… what… are you…?”
Sunset saw the vicious smirk on Dawn’s stolen face before she turned the other Sunset’s body around to face Robyn. “Sorry, Robyn, but Sunset can’t talk right now.”
Robyn scowled. “Dawn.”
“Uh huh,” Dawn replied; Sunset had found it strange to hear her voice coming out of another’s mouth, but now, it seemed even more strange knowing that those words belonged to her old comrade. Still, she had mastered her feeling of discomfort around her other self; she would get used to it where Dawn was concerned.
Robyn growled. “When Sunset gets back-”
“That’s where you don’t understand,” Dawn said. “This isn’t going to be like it was with you. I’m not dipping into her mind to recover some information that she’s too stubborn to give up voluntarily before flitting into my… well, I suppose I should call it my old body now, shouldn’t I?”
Robyn’s eyes widened. “You… you’re going to stay there? You’re going to take her body over and live in it?”
“Yeah, that’s about the size of it.”
“But it doesn’t belong to you!” Robyn yelled. “That isn’t your body; it belongs to another soul.”
“So righteous,” Dawn mocked. “You really are Robyn Hill, aren’t you?”
Robyn bared her teeth, her body tensing up as though she meant to leap on Dawn.
Sunset produced a pistol from out of the folds of her regal robes. It was an old gun of Great War vintage, a Mantle pistol with a slender barrel and a shape like the number seven. It was small calibre, but Sunset liked it; it was classic, and if it didn’t have weight in its rounds, it had the weight of history behind it, and she liked that.
And it was perfectly capable of killing a human. Especially a human without aura. Not only did Robyn not have aura, but she’d never even heard of it before; she’d never seen a gun either, which made them particularly effective at keeping her in line.
To prove the point, Sunset fired. A single shot from her pistol slammed into the wall just above Robyn’s head, making the transplanted pony cower before her.
“Careful, Robyn,” Sunset warned her. “I gave you my word that I would take you home, and I mean to keep it, but you must be a good guest until then, do you hear? Take her back to her quarters.”
One of the guards - the two guards she had earlier dismissed had returned along with Dawn - kept his gun trained on Robyn as the other advanced into the room – Dawn made way for him – seized her by the arm, and began to drag her out.
“Why?” she demanded. “Answer me that: why would you do this?”
“For power,” Sunset replied. “For the only thing that can keep us safe in this world so full of peril, the only thing that we can rely on. You Equestrians have been so selfish; I don’t think even now you quite grasp how utterly, monstrously selfish you have been: you hoard power that you have no need of while we, who live surrounded by dangers, who pass each day under the threat of a most painful death, must grub about for morsels of might with which to defend ourselves. Well, I’m done starving. Freeport is done starving. Soon, we shall have the power to defy Salem and Atlas and anyone else who might presume to threaten us; why, we shall be strong enough to laugh at any danger. We shall be safe, and Freeport shall be safe, and I will not apologise for that, no matter the cost.”
Robyn had no answer to that. Of course she did not; you could not argue with right, and Sunset was right; she knew that for a certainty; she would brook no argument upon the point, for she was right. This kingdom could be the safe haven of humanity in a world flooded with darkness, but they needed power, power like her unworthy alter ego had possessed, power such as lay beyond the portal in Equestria. The power to protect everyone who was depending on her.
Robyn, rebuked beyond response, said nothing else as she was led away.
Sunset picked up Dawn in a bridal carry, her head lolling back as though she were… well, she was dead, in many ways. Her body would die, soon enough, if Dawn’s soul did not return to it, and it would not return. Perhaps in Atlas, they would have possessed the means to keep Dawn’s body alive as a sort of vegetable, but here in Freeport, matters were too primitive for that.
Dawn’s semblance was named Oak; they had considered Chill or Poppy as names, but since her semblance had more in common with the fairy story than with the behaviour of actual Chills, they had decided, when they were young, to make the allusion explicit in the name. She could possess people; aura was no defence against her ability, and unlike a Chill, she didn’t even need to touch you to do it; eye contact was enough. She could possess you for a minute, an hour, a day, a week; she could even possess you forever, dwelling in your body, having access to your mind while you, a prisoner in your own mind, languished until you were devoured.
So they had theorised, anyway; Dawn had never actually tested it until now.
There’d never been anyone worth giving up her own body permanently for until now.
“Is she still in there?” Sunset asked.
Dawn nodded. “I can feel her.”
“Is she giving you any trouble?”
Dawn smirked at her with the other Sunset’s lips. “She’s dazed right now, the way they all are when I take control. Usually, I’m out before they recover.”
“Not this time,” Sunset said. “You’re going to have a fight on your hands once she recovers.”
Dawn narrowed her stolen eyes. “I’m not so sure.”
Sunset cocked her head slightly to one side. “You think you know me better than I know myself?”
Dawn chuckled. “She has your face, she has your fame, but she’s not you, Your Majesty. I’m inside her head, our souls are trapped in the same body, and I can feel her. I can feel the doubt, the regret that was consuming her. This girl barely had a reason to live, or barely felt as though she did.”
Sunset was silent for a moment. “Yes… I observed that she was going through some issues.”
“And those issues are how I’ll beat her, if she tries to fight back,” Dawn replied.
“How long, do you think, until you’ve mastered her magic?” Sunset asked. “How long until you're ready to lead our raiding party into Equestria?”
Dawn looked down at her hand. “Why do you think she wears these gloves?”
“You’re the one inside her head; you tell me.”
“Hmm, best not to take them off until I have the answer,” Dawn said.
“What’s the answer to my question?” Sunset prompted.
“I’m not quite sure.”
“It’s your top priority from now on,” Sunset commanded. “Master her magic so that you can lead our Rangers through the portal.” She had no desire to rule Equestria – the lands east of the mountains were sufficient for her – but she did want to amass a greater store of Equestrian artefacts; she had no doubt that waiting on the other side of that portal were magical items far more powerful and far more useful in defending Freeport and Estmorland against its enemies than the stone that she had found in Canterlot.
Speaking of which, it was necessary to make sure that none of Sunset’s friends would take umbrage at what had been done to her.
Sunset carried Dawn’s still-breathing husk over to the fraying, faded couch, beside which the table was still set for dinner.
“Ah, Sunset,” Sunset mused, “if only you had waited just a little longer, you could have enjoyed a nice meal before you… died?” She glanced at Dawn. “Shall we say died?”
“Why not?” Dawn asked. “She’ll be dead soon enough.”
“Let’s hope so,” Sunset agreed as she laid Dawn’s body down. “It is… a great sacrifice that you do, for me,” she said, “and for Freeport.”
“A necessary sacrifice,” Dawn agreed. “A worthy sacrifice. A sacrifice that I am glad to make, am proud to make. And yet… on the other hand, it is no sacrifice at all.” She came to stand by Sunset’s side. “By this that you call a sacrifice, I have become more powerful than I ever was before. I have magic! The fabric of reality shall bend to my will!”
Sunset chuckled. “Does it feel good?”
Dawn nodded. “Is this how it felt for you?”
Sunset held out one hand. A ball of purple light danced in her palm. “I… I was too busy hiding what I was to feel truly powerful. It’s hard to feel power when the power that you have you must hide away. But I did feel… special. Chosen. Even though I had to hide it, the fact remained that no one else could do what I could. No one else had the potential to do what I could do.”
“And that is why, even were it a true sacrifice that you had asked of me, I would have made it gladly,” Dawn declared. “Because you are chosen. You are the only one who can lead this kingdom. You are the only one who can defend it.”
“Once I have all the power that I seek,” Sunset reminded her. She glanced down at slumbering Dawn. “I will have my servants attempt to keep your old body alive for as long as possible, but… you realise that you will have to be forgotten? Dawn Starfall will fade from the memory, and you… Dawn Starfall the faunus will come from nowhere and become my right hand man.”
She turned away from Dawn – from the body that had belonged to Dawn, and to the new body that now belonged to Dawn – and circled around the edges of the room until she stood beside the roaring fire that burned in the grate. A tapestry hung beside the fireplace, an ancient and slightly faded piece depicting the Duke of Westmorland receiving the submission of the clans. Sunset brushed aside the tapestry, revealing a loose stone in the masonry behind. With her fingernails, Sunset dug out that stone, revealing a hollow into which she could reach with one hand and produce from out of the darkness a stone.
It was round and as large as a turkey’s egg, carved with symbols that to Sunset resembled an eye wearing a three-pointed crown upon its brow with a pair of lines tapering to swirls beneath. Whether it meant anything in Equestria – for now that she was aware of its existence, Sunset had no doubt that this was an Equestrian artefact, one of many more like it which surely existed in Equestria itself – she did not know, but she had long ago learned to harness its power.
She had found this stone long before she had become aware of the existence of Equestria, but she had recognised magic when she felt it. Magic unlike that which she possessed, unlike the fabled Old Blood, but magic nonetheless. Before she had learned where it had come from, Sunset had learned what this stone did: it robbed people of their memories; all she had to do was think about what memories she wanted to remove and from whom, and they would be gone.
That was how Sunset had managed to disappear so completely: by using this stone to erase herself from the memories of everyone who had ever known her. Robyn Hill, Principal Celestia, Professor Ozpin, General Ironwood, they had all forgotten all about her; there was a degree of irony that this had allowed the other Sunset to step into her life as though it was hers by right, but it couldn’t be helped. And besides, that wasn’t an advantage she would be enjoying for much longer.
Sunset thought about Dawn, about everything about Dawn – about her service as Freeport’s Chancellor and Sunset’s right hand, about the ways in which she had served as Sunset’s voice during Sunset’s undercover ridings with the Rangers. She thought about all of that, and she thought about everyone who had ever come into contact with Dawn in any of those functions – the ones whose memories she hadn’t already erased, anyway. She thought about Laurel and Cherry; she thought about the chiefs of the clans, the leaders of the villages; she thought about the Ranger captains and the guards; she thought about all the people of Freeport proper. She thought about them all… and she snatched their memories away.
The stone began to glow; the eye, the crown, the lines beneath the eye, they all began to shine with a sickly turquoise light, and as they shone, Sunset could see red streaks, like old-fashioned strips of film, rising from the floor or drifting in from the windows, memories ripped from the heads of everyone around her, so many memories that the chamber was filled with them, so many that, for a moment, she couldn’t see Dawn – either of them – there were nothing but the red streams of memory all around her until the very last of them disappeared into the stone.
Dawn Starfall was no more. The only people who would remember her were Sunset herself, Laurel, and Cherry, the three teammates who had come with her from Atlas. Everyone else would soon be meeting Dawn for the first time as a pony faunus with fiery hair.
I suppose I shall have to retire Vesper Radiance, or else dye my hair or something when I go on those little excursions.
Sunset refocused, thinking now about Sunset Shimmer, the other Sunset Shimmer, the Sunset who had come from Equestria and thought to be the Sunset Shimmer of Remnant. The Sunset whose power was too great to be allowed to walk away from here.
She thought about Sunset, and she thought about Sunset’s friends and comrades, and as she thought, the stone began to glow once more, and as it glowed, it ripped away all the memories of Sunset from out of the minds of Cinder Fall and Ruby Rose and all the rest of them.
And the best part was, she knew from experience, that nobody would even notice the memories were gone. In part, that was because nobody was so essential to another person’s life that their influence could not be elided over, but at the same time, it was also a simple matter of the magic. Nobody would ask who had spoken for the Sun Queen in her absence, and nobody would ask who had led the company from Vale to Freeport. Sunset Shimmer would be forgotten – she was being forgotten before Sunset’s eyes, as the memories of her flowed like the strands of Sunset’s hair into the stone – and nobody would realise it.
That was probably the most terrible thing about this stone: the way that it showed that anyone could be replaced; nobody was so important that they did not, in the end, lift right out of the world.
Sunset tried not to think about that too hard. It threatened to do much damage to the foundations of her self-esteem if she did.
She was not disposable. She did not lift out of the world. She was not her pony alternate: weak and feeble and pathetic. She was stronger than that. She was more important than that.
Horrifying implications aside, this stone was of immense value to her; she had to keep it secret because it was the greatest treasure she possessed, and as she watched the memories of Sunset’s companions be leeched into the stone, she smiled beneath her mask of gold.
They would never know, and without the other Sunset’s influence, Ruby would be that much easier to convince or coerce into remaining here in Freeport.
All power will belong to me, and I will make my realm secure.
The last memory disappeared inside the stone, which ceased to glow as Sunset set it back inside its hiding place.
The other Sunset Shimmer… had ceased to exist.
Yang walked out of the house and into the sunshine of an eternal summer and stretched, reaching one hand up towards the sun while she held onto her elbow with the other hand. She grunted as she bent her body first one way and then the other.
“Hey, Ruby,” she said.
Ruby followed her out of the house more slowly; she didn’t want to step into the sunlight; she didn’t belong there. The sun belonged to Yang, and the fresh air and the warmth and everything pleasant and lovely in this place, this memory of home.
The dark and the cold were all she felt right now.
When her younger sister didn’t reply, Yang turned around to face Ruby. “Don’t be too hard on Sunset, okay?”
“What?” Ruby cried. “But she’s the reason you’re gone! She’s the reason I can’t see you anymore.”
“What are you talking about, Ruby?” Yang asked with laughter in her voice. “You can see me anytime you want. You’re seeing me right now, aren’t you?”
Ruby pouted. “You know what I mean,” she muttered. “I wanted you back.”
“By travelling through time?” Yang demanded archly. “Come on, sis, you know that was a long shot.”
“It would have worked!” Ruby insisted. “If only Twilight would have let us try! But she didn’t trust Sunset with that kind of power.” She sniffed. “I wouldn’t trust Sunset either.”
Yang folded her arms. “Don’t you think you’ve given her a hard time for long enough?”
“No!” Ruby snapped. “My life would be so much better without her around; everyone’s life would have been so much better.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I can’t imagine how things could have been worse!”
Yang turned away. “It’s time for you to go now,” she said.
“Wait, why?” Ruby demanded. “I don’t want to go yet; I want to stay here with you.”
“I know you do, Ruby,” Yang said softly, her voice tinged with regret. “But someone out there needs you more than I do.”
Ruby awoke, or was awoken by the sound of someone coming down the stairs. The wooden boards were creaking under their steps.
Ruby lifted her head off the pillow; she had been lying on her front, and the pillow was stained with tears; the same could be said of her cheeks, which were sticky with them, so it was kind of a surprise that the pillow hadn’t stuck to her face.
She sniffed and wiped at her eyes with the back of one hand as she rolled off the bed. Her door was ajar, open just a fraction so that she could creep to it and look out to see who had come down onto the landing.
It was her. Sunset, standing on the landing as though she hadn’t a care in the world. Ruby… Ruby hated the very sight of her at this moment, from her boots to her stupid jacket to her hair that was so bright. How could it be so bright when Ruby’s world felt so dark?
“Don’t be too hard on Sunset, okay?”
You’re wrong, Yang. I should be hard on her. She deserves it. She’s the reason why everything has turned out this way.
And she had spotted Ruby watching her.
“Ruby-” Sunset began.
Ruby slammed the door shut, turning her back on it and leaning against the wooden frame. She didn’t want to talk to Sunset right now. She didn’t want to talk to Sunset ever, not until she could give Ruby her sister back.
“Ruby,” Sunset repeated from the other side of the door. “I… I’m sorry.”
You’re sorry? You’re sorry? Do you think that makes it okay? Do you think that that makes anything better? It doesn’t change anything! Yang’s still dead, and it’s your fault, just like it’s your fault that we can’t get her back.
I wish we’d never met.
I wish you didn’t exist.
If Ruby had never met Sunset Shimmer, if Sunset had never come to Beacon, then everything would have been so much better. Yang could have joined Pyrrha and Jaune on Ruby’s team, and together, they’d be in their second year at Beacon by now. The tower would still be up, the sun would still be shining, Yang would still be alive. Ruby could picture it; she could picture them: bored out of their minds in Professor Port’s class, trying to keep up with Doctor Oobleck’s lectures, having picnics on the lawn, having dinner at Benni Haven’s. She could picture them learning, laughing, living; together, happy.
She hated Sunset.
Just like she hated herself.
All the time that she had spent with Sunset instead of Yang, neglecting her sister for someone who had never really cared about her, never understood her. All that time she had spent ignoring the fact that something like this might happen, acting as though she and Yang would have all the time in the world when she should have been making the most of every moment, because it would never come again.
I’m so sorry, Yang.
She flopped back down onto her bed, exactly as she had been before, and must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew she was being woken up by a knocking on the door.
“Go away, Sunset!” Ruby snapped.
There was a pause. Then another knock at the door.
Ruby scowled as she got up off the bed, crossed the room, and opened the door. “I don’t want to-” The words died on her lips because it wasn’t Sunset standing on the other side of the door.
It was Neo.
She beamed, holding up a piece of paper – the pencil was clutched between two fingers – with GUESS WHO? written on it in untidy block capitals.
Ruby took a step back, blinking in confusion. “Neo?” she said. “What…?” She paused, then signed out, What are you doing here? What do you want?
Neo’s mismatched eyes widened in surprise. Pencil and paper alike both dropped to the floor. She began to sign back, You can sign?
Ruby nodded. I took an elective class at Signal. I thought I could use it to give silent orders if I had to go undercover.
Neo grinned. And did you?
Ruby’s face deflated. No. Nobody else took the class.
Neo’s eyes twinkled merrily as she covered her silent mouth up with one hand; Ruby had the impression that if she could have talked, she would have been laughing. Still, she signed, at least you can understand me. That will make this easier.
Ruby frowned. Make what easier?
Can I come in? Neo asked.
Ruby blinked in surprise. Uh, sure, I suppose, she signed, taking a step back out of the doorway. But why?
Neo didn't reply until she had pranced in through the doorway and settled herself down on Ruby's bed. How are you feeling?
"I'm okay," Ruby muttered.
Neo rolled her eyes. I don't believe you.
Why not? Ruby demanded.
Because I'm mute, not stupid.
Ruby shut the door. A frown settled upon her face as she joined Neo on the bed, sitting down beside the younger girl. What are you doing here? signed Ruby. What does it matter to you what I'm feeling?
You're not the first person to lose their family, Neo informed her.
Ruby winced. Sorry. I suppose- I kind of assumed that- is Torchwick-
Roman's not my Dad, Neo replied. But at the same time, he is, in every way that matters, if that makes sense?
Ruby nodded. Yeah, it does. It makes perfect sense. He took care of you?
Now, it was Neo's turn to nod her head. He took care of me, he taught me how to take care of myself, he raised me.
He made you useful to him, Ruby pointed out.
Neo's eyes glimmered, and once more, Ruby got the impression that she would have laughed at this if she could. If Roman made me useful to him, then why do you think that I was never around? I wasn't there at the dust shop when he first met you and Sunset-
For a certain definition of 'met' us, Ruby interrupted.
Neo took no notice. I wasn't there when he and that Adam jerk went to the bookshop and found Sunset and that other faunus girl. Roman never liked me getting involved in his work; the most that he'd let be me was his getaway. I had to beg and beg before he'd let me come with him on that train job. The irony that if I hadn't come with him, I could have busted him out of Atlesian custody isn't lost on me.
But why did you want to get involved? Ruby asked. If he didn't want it, then why did you?
Because it was what he did, Neo signed back to her. It was Roman's life, and I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to pay him back for everything that he'd done for me. Plus, because it was what Roman did, I thought that it was pretty cool. She grinned. The point is, losing your family can be rough, but if you give it a chance, you might find a new family waiting for you.
Ruby smiled. "Yeah, I know. That's… that's the great thing about coming here, I've met my cousin and my grandfather and-"
That's not what I meant, Neo informed her. I'm not talking about long lost relatives; I'm talking about the people who are always there for you.
Ruby scowled. "Nobody's been there for me, not ever; she only made me think she was." She wasn't my sister, and I was stupid to forget it.
Ruby… Ruby began to feel dizzy. Then she winced in pain; Neo did the same, but silently; both of them cringed and hunched their bodies over; Ruby cried out as red light flashed before her eyes. She could see something coming out of Neo's head, a red strip like ribbon, ribbon with pictures on it, pictures like…
What was she thinking about? She couldn't remember. She had been talking – signing – with Neo, and then… what had they been talking about? Family, and how lucky Neo was to have found Roman after her parents died. Ruby supposed that she was lucky too; she'd found a new family as well, for all that Neo didn't seem to think so. But she was wrong, and Ruby was right.
Sunsprite and Grandfather are my family, Ruby insisted. They're the only family I have left, apart from Dad. That was why… that was why she was going to stay here, with them, in Freeport. Yang's death was no one's fault, but that didn't mean that Ruby didn't regret the fact that they hadn't spent more time together at Beacon. She didn't intend to make the same mistake here; she wasn't about to leave her family behind, not knowing whether she would ever see them again.
It was a pity that she wouldn't get to see Jaune or Pyrrha again, but they'd understand that she couldn't waste this chance, because she might never get another one. True, a charge had been laid upon her as the last member of Team Sapphire – a strange word to make out of APR, but Professor Ozpin had been a slightly strange person in more ways than that – but now that he knew the truth, Cardin could take care of that, with Cinder's help. This wasn't Ruby's fight any more. It hadn't been Ruby's fight ever since Yang died.
Yang's death had taken the fight right out of her. And it wasn't as though she had any friends amongst this company. Her family was here, while waiting for her in Mistral was nothing but a long road by the side of the people she didn't like very much. There was nothing driving her on and everything keeping her here. Professor Ozpin, she was sure, would understand.
Cinder sat in her room, a frown disfiguring her brow as she wondered what she was doing here.
Not here in this room, she knew that… or at least, it would be fair to say that she knew why she was here in Freeport: they were hoping that the Sun Queen who ruled this town would give them a ship across the water to Anima to find Professor Ozpin before the forces of Salem did.
Cinder knew that. What she didn’t know – what she couldn’t remember – was why she cared.
Cinder was no stranger to memory loss; a side-effect of the enhancement that Salem had given her, of the grimmification that her body had undergone that she might claim the power of the Fall Maiden, was that her memories had begun to fade away. Her recollections of the taste of food, of sweet smells that gave delight, of the feel of her mother’s arms around her, they had all disappeared – gone beyond recall, unfortunately; she was having to relearn what food tasted like, and the sensation of a mother’s embrace was something she would never get back – and not just sensory memories, but memories of events, places, moments in her life. No, that was not the way to put it; the better way to put it was that she remembered moments while the events around those moments faded away. Her life as she remembered it had become a sort of movie: a sequence of scenes or moments that she could remember with pinpoint clarity, while all else around it was shrouded in fog or disappeared completely, leaving her to work out the context of her life from inference and logical assumption. Sometimes, she remembered the gist of what had befallen her; she remembered in general terms the abuse that she had endured at the hands of her stepsisters, she remembered the pain she had felt and the anger that had filled her… but she could not recall much of anything that Phoebe had actually done to her. Perhaps that was for the best.
But it seemed that her memory had gotten worse lately – very lately – and that, that puzzled her. Ever since Salem’s influence had been purged from her body… how had that happened? It had happened; she remembered it; it was after she had killed Amber and claimed the powers of the Fall Maiden for herself-
The powers of the Fall Maiden. She had taken half of the power from Amber, then she had killed Amber for the other half, and then… and then… she couldn’t remember. She couldn’t remember what had happened to the powers that she could no longer feel inside of her.
Cinder stretched one hand, holding up her palm to her face, and willed for fire to spring up in her palm.
Nothing happened. Ungovernable flames resolutely refused to sprout up from her fingertips.
Cinder scowled and concentrated some more.
Nothing happened, and at this point, Cinder had to concede that she was kidding herself, because she couldn’t feel the magic inside of her, as she had been able to do after she had ripped it out of Amber’s chest.
Salem had betrayed her, that she remembered. Salem had betrayed her, and so, she had… what had she done? How had she ended up here? Cinder rose to her feet, stalking across the room to the window. The fires burned in Freeport, mirroring the lights of the stars that shone down upon this town.
Why am I here?
She hadn’t lost any memories since she had been freed of Salem’s influence, but now… now, she felt as though huge chunks of her mind and memory had been torn away from her by some means she knew not.
What was she doing here? Why was she with these people who she… no, it wasn’t right to say that she disliked them, but she didn’t care for any of them enough to follow them halfway across the world on this perilous venture.
So why had she done it?
Cinder sighed, her body bending so that her forehead was pressed against the wall beside the window. She had felt so empty before their meeting with the Frost Mountain Clan; she had felt as though she was flailing, adrift, lost without purpose or meaning in her life. She had begun to rebuild that life, rediscovering her interest in the craft of sewing, turning her mind to thoughts of beautiful things… but now, it felt as though all her work had been unpicked, her mind and nascent self violated.
She felt even emptier now than she had done before.
Why am I here?
Where is my magic? Why am I no longer the Fall Maiden?
Why… why am I a good person? Why am I trying to be a good person now?
Why do I feel as though my life has just lost the most important thing in it?
Her musings were disturbed by a knocking at her door.
Cinder turned towards it, the frown remaining upon her lips as she sighed again. “Who is it?”
“It’s Ruby.”
Cinder exhaled through her nostrils. Ruby. Ruby Rose. Not someone that she particularly wanted to see, but then… she couldn’t really remember who she did want to see. In any event, it wouldn’t do to be unkind to Ruby… because… because it was wrong, yes. Because she lost her sister and was, or had been, a rather pitiable figure. Although Cinder was feeling rather irritated with her at the moment for reasons that escaped her. Ever since she had met her cousin, she had been rather putting on airs, but why should that bother Cinder so much? It was almost as if she had hurt someone that Cinder cared about… but if she had, Cinder couldn’t remember it.
I have sinned against her far more than the other way around, so why do I feel as though the balance ought to be in my favour?
In any case, it wouldn’t do to keep her standing at the door waiting. “Come in,” Cinder said briskly.
Ruby opened the door and stepped inside. She glanced at the journal to Equestria sitting on the table by the writing desk. “Were you writing to Princess Twilight?”
“No,” Cinder said. “I… what do you want?” she asked, to distract from the fact that she didn’t know why she had the journal out. Or why she had the journal at all. Shouldn’t Ruby have it? Ruby had known about Equestria before Cinder had and been in contact with Princess Twilight Sparkle before Cinder. Ruby had not yet attempted to claim ownership of the book, and Cinder was not particularly anxious to have that discussion.
Ruby looked away from the magical journal. “I… I wanted to tell you that I’ve made my decision,” she said. “I’m not going with you to Anima.”
Cinder stared down at her younger companion. “You’re going to stay here in Freeport?” she said, her voice even.
Ruby nodded. “I’m going to stay here with my family.”
Cinder said nothing for a moment, her voice still and her face frozen. She couldn’t honestly claim that she was surprised; it was no secret that Ruby had been very unhappy lately; she hadn’t enjoyed the trip or the company – who could blame her? – and she had only really seemed to find joy again with the arrival of her long-lost Rose cousin. Small wonder, then, that she would jump at the chance to stay here. Family first, as the saying went.
It was not surprising, and yet at the same time, it disquieted her. It upset her, almost, for reasons that passed understanding.
“I… understand-” she began.
“No,” Ruby said firmly, “you don’t.”
“I understand more than you think,” Cinder replied, her voice acquiring an edge of sharpness. “I understand that this must feel like a second chance-”
“This isn’t about Yang!” Ruby snapped. “I mean… it is, kind of, but not the way you’re saying it is! I know that Sunsprite isn’t Yang, and I know that nobody can bring Yang back… but she’s still my family; my grandfather is still my family, and… and I don’t think that he has much time. If I want to get to know him, if I want to get to know my family, then… then I have to stay.”
Cinder’s expression softened, in spite of herself. Ruby’s reasoning was unchallengeable, as much as the decision she had come to as a result of that logic was not what she would have wished. “And what of the quest?” she asked. “What of your mission?”
“It’s not my mission,” Ruby replied. “At least not on my own.”
“You were Professor Ozpin’s agent,” Cinder pointed out. “You are the only one amongst the company; if you will not keep faith with him, then why should anyone else?”
“Cardin will go on,” Ruby said.
“Will he?” Cinder asked. “Why should he? What reason has he to go on? This is not his fight; Professor Ozpin is not his leader; why should he not go home to Vale, where his people have need of him? Why should he not go home to his pretty girlfriend and make her his bride before the world ends?”
Ruby was silent for a moment. “Because… you’ll go on, won’t you?”
“Will I?” Cinder asked.
Ruby frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It means that you’re not the only one questioning your purpose,” Cinder declared. She turned away. “Why am I here, Ruby? Why… why am I a good person?”
“I’m not sure that you are.”
Cinder laughed aloud. “A very good answer, but let me ask you something else? Why did I join you? Why did I save Pyrrha’s life, why did I choose to fight alongside you?”
Ruby did not reply for a long while. “I don’t remember.”
“Neither do I,” Cinder murmured. And I had hoped that it was only my memory that was failing. She turned to face Ruby once again. “You and I both know that I do not have the strength to lead this company on to Anima; you and I both know that Cardin doesn’t have the strength. You and I both know that without you, this enterprise will fall apart. For better or worse, you are the one the Ozpin chose; there is no one else.”
“So what?” Ruby cried. “So I have to go on, even if I don’t want to?”
“I didn’t say that,” Cinder said softly. “I just want you to understand the consequences of your decision before you… make your choice.” Choice, after all, was the most important kind of magic; Cinder couldn’t remember where she’d heard that.
Ruby was silent for a moment. “I understand, and I choose my family. This fight, Salem, all the rest… I’m done. I’ve been done ever since Yang… I choose to stay.”
“And what of the grimm?” Cinder asked. “What of the creature that attacked you on Patch?”
“If it comes, then Sunsprite and I will face it together,” Ruby declared. “Like family.”
“A brave choice,” Cinder murmured. If a foolish one. The corners of her lips twitched upwards. “I will… I hope that you find happiness, Ruby Rose.”
“Thank you,” Ruby whispered. “You too. I hope that you… work out who you are.”
Cinder snorted. “That would be a fine thing,” she muttered.
But if I did, it would probably be stolen from me once again.
Sami pushed open the door to Jack’s room without invitation and strode inside, her booted feet tapping upon the wooden floorboards.
Jack was lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He looked at her. “Didn’t they teach you no manners in the-?”
“Camp of bloodthirsty barbarians?” Sami suggested.
Jack stared at her blankly. “Oh. Yeah. Right.”
Sami folded her arms. “I see you’re keeping yourself amused,” she observed.
“What am I supposed to do?” Jack asked. “Read a book?”
“I was worried you might have found some fun out in the city,” Sami suggested.
Jack shook his head. “A place like this, you go out looking for fun, and the next thing, some guy is chasing you down the street with a hatchet on account of you looked at his woman funny.”
“That sounds like the voice of experience.”
“It was a long walk to Vale from the farm they stole from me,” Jack replied. “I had some time to learn some hard lessons. Besides, it ain’t like I’m just sitting here.”
“You could have fooled me.”
“I’m making a map,” Jack said. “In my head like.”
“A map of what?”
“Of the farm I’m gonna get when we’re done here,” Jack said. “I’m gonna build a barn-”
“Yeah, very nice, except you won’t have to where we’re going,” Sami cut him off. “Get your gun and anything else you can’t bear to be without, and let’s go.”
Jack sat up. “'Go'? Go where?”
“Anywhere but here,” Sami replied. “There are horses picketed not far from the gate. You know how to ride, farm boy?”
Jack got to his feet. “I can ride any damn horse ever sired.”
Sami smiled. “That makes two of us then. We kill the guards, we take their horses, and we ride into the night; they’ll never catch us, even if they bother to try.”
“Why?” Jack said. “I mean, why now? When I suggested that we should run, before we even reached the Frost Mountain Clan, you wouldn’t go, even though you were worried they were going to cut your flesh open and spill your guts! You said we had to stick around, on account of we wouldn’t survive out in a place like this by ourselves.”
“We won’t survive if we stay here,” Sami replied. “Fighting a monster that can’t be killed? Do you think there’s any way that any of these idiots come out of this alive?”
“No, I don’t, but I didn’t think there was before, and that didn’t stop you wanting to stick around, and I’d just like to find out what changed your mind?”
“I don’t know!” Sami snapped. “I don’t know what I was thinking, okay? Emerald told us that magic was real, and I… I guess I thought that we might find some. That I could get my hands on some relic of the old gods, that I could… that I could do what my clan has always wanted to do but never been able to manage.”
Jack’s eyes narrowed. “And now?”
“And now…” Sami shook her head. “Where is it?” she demanded. “The magic? Have either of us seen any sign of it?”
“Ruby’s place?” Jack suggested. “That light-”
“So the monsters have magic, isn’t that terrific?” Sami growled. “Meanwhile, what have we got? No magic of our own, that’s for sure. I thought that… but we aren’t going to live long enough to get to Anima and…” We aren’t going to live long enough to kill one of the Maidens; it’s too big a risk. At these odds, I’d rather survive. Maybe it would have been different if there’d been somebody to stick with, someone with power of their own, someone whom Sami could shelter behind until the time was right… but there wasn’t. There was only a grossly uneven struggle and the promise of death at the end of it.
“I know that,” Jack said. “But you said-”
“I know what I said,” Sami interrupted. “And it won’t be easy; in fact, it’ll likely be hard. But we’ll survive, you and me, if we have one another’s backs. We’ll… we’ll kill some old thegn and take his steading for ourselves, with a palisade and towers and people to work for us. Maybe. We’ll see. But we need to get out. Out from under the thumb of Cinder and Cardin, out and away from Freeport before they stick us on a boat. Out, away from the Queen and her law.” Out away from my clan. “So, are you in?” She’d go without him, if she had to, but it would be easier to stay alive with somebody to watch her back.
Jack was silent for a moment. His jaw worked as though he was chewing on something. Slowly, he bent down and picked up his shotgun-axe from off the floor. “I never much wanted to be a hero anyways,” he said.
Sami grinned. “Smart boy. Now, let’s get out of here.”
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Wow, that took a dark turn. I expected a power siphon of some kind, not a body hijacking. Did the memory stone take away the writing in the book? If Ruby or Cinder look through the book... they will know something is wrong. Does it work across the dimensional barrier? Will Twilight have forgotten?
Does it work at long enough range to get Sunset's friends in Anima and Atlas?
Very curious to see how this develops.
Wow. I didn’t expect Sun Queen to have the memory stone. And I certainly didn’t expect most of what happened in this chapter. Great story!
10618317
I’d guess that twilight in equestria remembers, after all in the Forgotten Friendship special Princess Twilight and the equestrians still remembered sunset when Wallflower blush erased her from her friends memories.
... important facts
1, pony twilight didn’t forget sunset.
2, cinder is probably suspicious of what happened
3, sunset has experience that will help her free herself
4, sunset has her dark regalia
5, they do not know what sunset’s semblance is.
The magic to remove the memory of a person in such a widespread manner is horrifying
10618317
The impression I got from the special was that only the memories of people the person using the stone is thinking of are erased, which is why Princess Twilight didn't forget Sunset, and that will be the case here too.
10618358
Okay, that makes sense and clears things up. Still, this really puts Remnant!Sunset over the moral event horizon. Power stealing would be bad enough, but body hijacking while the other person is CONCIOUS of it? High octane nightmare fuel...
So, Does Sunset still only have 3 days to gain back control and destroy the Memory Stone? Is Wallflower Blush around?
10618380
Yes, to the 3 days, and no to the Wallflower Blush, not because I have anything against her but because she doesn't really fit in this kind of story.
10618218
On the contrary, if we take into the account that Semblance is reflection of the person, "Mettle" just shows what kind of person Ironwood is.
That's what pains me. I've already said something like this before but I'm going to say it again- characters in the story seems to do it with little progress.
Kingdom of Atlas' been hit hit with massive dose of Adaptional Heroism just by the fact the Cantelot City along with the (EQG) characters from there which makes the Country way nicer. It's a big cheapshot. Sure, there is poverty in Mantle and racism in general is more talked about than shown.
And every character that badmouths it is either a bad guy (Adam, Chrysalis) r in need for personal growth (Blake).
I guess, there were attempts to mitigate the black-and-white morality but they are scarce and superficial, at best. Keeping Ironwood as much as in canon would really do the trick.
Let's put it that way- Ironwood is a personification of Atlas. The representative of it's values. Good and Bad. Honorable, brave and generaly upstanding guy but also demanding unquestionable loyalty, exploative (building Amity Tower) and uncorcerned with rigged status Quo.
Not showing his faults- which is hypocritical as every other character has at least one extra- is a sign of blatant fanboyism. Losing said character for the "perfect" version which is weird for a story of this scale.
This whitewhasing of Ironwood only proves it (thought it's more like making Atlas better because Ironwood is there), not concentrating on his flaws, detracts the fallacies in the system that is Atlas.
Ohh, where to begin? Love the inclusion of the memory stone, and I can't wait to see sunset battle for her soul. I expected the 3-day limit and cant wait to see how sunset gets out of this without mirror access. I will again predict an "I have become Celestia" moment when she confronts herself over magic/power use and abuse and boy will that be worth it if it does come. Also, not just princess twilight, but most of her atlas, vale, and myrmidon friends will remember sunset has there is no way VR would know to remove their memories
I kinda hope native Sunset from Remnant gets her ass kicked/killed. I would be fine with either.
10618403
You mean she won't appear in the story at all? or that she litterally doesn't exist in remmant nor in equestria?
Well....that was unexpected.
Sunset is many things, and broken is often one of them, but Dawn? She also has her pride and is so stubborn some Mules back home probably took lessens.
Once she wants you gone? And it's a *when* not an *if* you will be gone, and your own soul, what little of it you have you heartless bitch, might not make it back to your own body intact.
The question is, will the stone stay intact for the full three days? Because The so called Queen is wrong, some people aren't replaceable, and Sunset is just that to Cinder.
Hopefully, she will check the book soon.
Well it can go two ways:
-Twilight find a way to traverse to remnant and help Cinder, Ruby &co. to save sunset. Pretty exciting but problem is, if Twilight can cross, so can Celestia. And since her power-level is set at God Slayer in this story... yeah, narratively speaking, the stakes are rather low.
-Ruby and Cinder are informed by twilight with the journal (with a bit of lecture i'm sure they can be convinced) and so we will follow our dear friends in a quest to save someone they know nothing about but who is responsible of few trauma and life changing events. It can be very interesting (perhaps reliving/rediscovering their life with sunset will after having been given the "world without" option will help them understand their feeling an self) and very funny (-But APR? -Sunset. -But breach? -Sunset. -But fall maiden? -Sunset. -Could you please give an other answer!!)
Either way, very excited for what's coming.
Scipio, We love your storie and you give it to us in addition with your personal life. Were gratefull surely know your limits beter than anyone but please don't lead yoursef to Burn-out
10618495
I won't say that she won't appear, although I've no plans for her to do so at this point, but she's definitely not in Freeport.
10618509
OK, so she exist, regardless if she apepars or not in the story, good to know :D.
10618149
10618412
Okay, two things here. The first is that you say that it isn't very realistic but what, up to this point, has suggested to you that realism was ever a goal of this story? Even leaving aside all the things about Atlas that you don't like, this is also a story in which Mistral is crying for its rightful Empress to return so that the waters of the fountain may run pure again and all will be set to rights once more; a story in which Pyrrha fell in love at first sight and it worked out perfectly for her; a story in which the random hobo that Blake bumped into in the street turned out to be her knight in shining armour (but no shirt); in which Sunset, Cinder and Pyrrha all routinely start talking like they're performing Hamlet. Not only has this story never been 'realistic' it has also never aspired to realism, at least in a naturalistic sense of the word. This is a fantasy, and whether it's fairytale, high or military science fantasy depends on which kingdom you're in or which part of the cast you're following.
Second of all, on your criticisms of Ironwood, I was - and fairly recently - prepared to admit that my version of Ironwood was not canon Ironwood. However, that was before I came across this excellent tumblr post analysing the character from volumes 2-6, and I've come to the conclusion that my version of Ironwood is much closer to canon than I was giving myself credit for.
'Forgotten Friendship'? Oh no... please no. Out of everything in Equestria Girls, everything in MLP, nothing horrified me as much as what the Memory Stone did to Sunset. Like I said in a previous review, nopony has had to come as far as Sunset did on the path of redemption, of becoming a better person. Starlight Glimmer was never as horrible or evil, and while Discords comes closer he's proved constantly and consistently that he still hasn't changed nearly as much as Sunset has. She is a completely different person now, as different as night and day. Her friends lifted her up. They mean everything to her. They were her whole world. This is one of the greatest lessons that MLP teaches us about why Friendship is so cherished, so valuable, and irreplaceable to every one of us. Why Friendship is Magic.
Deep down, I knew that Sunset clung to her friends like a lifeline, how hard she worked to change and move on from her dark past, and that there was nothing that she dreaded more than the thought that her friends might suddenly turn around sneer at her with contempt for her misdeeds. To tell her to go away. And that is why Forgotten Friendship was so hard for me to watch, when they actually made an episode about that nightmare coming true. To watch Sunset's friends look at her like a stranger that could not be trusted. As if all the good she had accomplished was forgotten and they only saw the worst about her. For the circle of happiness to shut her out and leave her all alone. Don't we all fear that?
Let us hope that Cinder can do something once she can speak with Twilight. She's already suspicious that something is wrong; her entire new life revolved around Sunset, and she's familiar with having her memories tampered with. And once she realizes that someone tried to steal something that gave her life meaning again, Cinder Fall's wrath will be terrible to behold.
As for Sunset, she is in no position to fight back and reclaim what was stolen. She may have some experience in mental defense thanks to her Semblance, but as Dawn said Sunset is consumed by grief and regret. I still have hope for her, but she may not even fight back, let alone against someone intent on using her guilt against her. She may think that she deserves this. To be forgotten.
This is your time now, Princess Luna! You are sworn to protect the minds of your people. This is your domain, not Dawn's. Most importantly, Princess Luna, you understand better than nearly anyone else what it is like to break away from a dark past. The trials of earning everypony's trust again, to prove that you are not a monster. Sunset needs you! Your little ponies need you!
10618529
I remember saying before, and not being the only one at that, that your version of Ironwood has always been quite close to canon.
Being able to keep your head when the world doesn't decide to screw you over at every possible way and you have a bigger emotional support is not changing the character personality (what "not being canon" usually means), it is just applying the consequences of the changes to the world you have introduced.
You would be going against canon Ironwood characterization much harder if he had still got to the same point as in the canon story even when all the events that took him to that place where removed.
10618540
I don't think that Sunset will be freed from this particular fiasco by Cinder, or even Luna.
I think that Dawn, in her idiocy and hubris, is going to use the rings. After all, she was told by Vesper to get the secrets behind Sunset magic at any cost, and those rings are the obvious answer.
And once she has the rings on, she is going to be reminded that there are bigger fish in the ocean. She may be able to keep Sunset down by using her insecurities and guilt, but those rings feed on that and transform it into pure rage. A rage so great that Dawn will have no hope of containing the demon they created.
10618575
I have also considered that. Something needs to come to a head with those rings. I'm just hoping that Luna will be able to lend a hand/hoof, because I'm pretty tired of the show throwing the princesses aside so that the main characters have to be the only heroes. Besides, this is a perfect opportunity for the parallels between Sunset and Luna to be used in a way that the show never did.
10618529
10618506
Scipio? I too don't want you to burn out, this is one of the best stories I have ever read and an imagination as wonderful as yours should be cherished and respected. All the same, I am grateful that we will be having these 'new-new' chapters a little more often for a bit. We're entering the climatic endgame for the Freeport arc now, and it will be delightful to not have it stretched out too much. This is the perfect period of time for the weekly schedule to pick up again. Good luck!
Oh, they have no idea what keystone they pulled loose erasing Sunset like that.
Especially in Equestria.
10618575
She will probably be forced too. The majority of the magic Sunset knows, and the ones that humans would think of as "magic" in the first place is her unicorn magic. Even if Dawn can use Sunset's memories to see them, we are talking complicated stuff.
Sunset, Twilight and Starlight are well above most unicorns, geniuses in their own rights. If Dawn isn't smart enough to understand the spell it's not going to work.
So she will go looking for the brute strength times, and that goes right to the rings.
And that's if she can even use Sunset's magic. While not a pony's soul it is tied to it. And even more to the pony's cutimark. Who knows how those are going to interact with a body jacking, even more so while Sunset is still in there!
10618403
Oh, Remnant-Wallflower is around.
It's just that her semblence can even hide her from the author...
:)
10618529
Heh, I knew the world "reality" would be the main victim. I meant in-universe, like Dash seems to idealize the capabilities of the military. I know it's a fantasy.
First-
Second- read the tumblr and I will admit that every point is right. But I also won't back my arguments. I'm not saying Ironwood is evil, far from that, but I'll say he's also flawed. The same could be said about Ozpin, it's just different kinds of flaws. If we look at the eariel seasons James've had good ideas, but then there was Ozpin (who, yeah bacame old fashioned and stagnant) and it's always easier to point flaws in someone's logic/actions (I see the irony
). I think the best course would have been if they've met and talked as equals and came out with unanimous plan.
And I also would like to point out that while Ironwood could push Ozpin to take more forward actions, Ozpin could help Ironwood from taking too drastic actions. After the old man was gone there was onone who Ironwood treated as equal and an advice. There was Winter yes, but there was always that thin veil of command. Besides Ozpin there were Qrow and Glynda but Qrow was busy and Glynda... yeah no explonation for her so far (she was still in Vale?). Lonely at the top and all. It's hard to be the Big Good guy.
And... I admit I might have been a little forceful. Guess it's because- and that's my main point- Atlas' good the best- The EQG cast. All of it. Not that it's multinational situation. They were born there and what's most important to them is there. Truism on my part but it feels like wasted Aesop.
10618153
eeyup
Today in Freeport:
Temperature is a sunny 103° F, mostly cloudy, with a 85% chance of body-snatching sociopaths going into the afternoon, so pack an umbrella.
Remnant Sunset really is a bitch, isn't she?
10618358
One saving grace is that Vesper Radiance didn’t know that the Grimm waiting outside her walls are sapient. Their caution of Sunset’s incredible power is what’s keeping them from another attack, for now. Nightmare Moon even described her as “Ozma reborn.”
Much like Sami is about to leave, if the Four Kings forgot about Sunset, they would attack immediately in full force to find Ruby... whose decision to stay here has made Freeport a target.
Seething with rage I am.
10618540
OK. One nit pick. “Starlight Glimmer was never horrible or evil...”
What? Seriously. The pony who forcibly stole the magical souls from an entire town of ponies (and the main Six) as well as used time travel to destroy the world in multiple different ways (it really shouldn’t matter that it all got fixed in the end) wasn’t horrible or evil?
I would have to disagree on that one.
10620327
To play the devil's advocate, her time-travel stunt was intended purely for Twilight and her friends. She legitimately had no idea that undoing the Mane 6 would doom Equestria in dozens of ways. That's why Twilight took her back to the present to show what had been wrought. Sunset on the other hand was ravenous for power and respect, as self-centered as you can get. She even demanded Celestia to make her into an alicorn. Her exact words were "I am your equal, if not your superior!"
So, I would say that Sunset was much more horrible as an individual and intent.
By seeing what her actions had done to the timeline, Starlight's actions were out of an innocuous ignorance, and her arguments were proven wrong from a practical standpoint (which was further emphasized in the Christmas Carol episode). Whereas Sunset's beliefs were of a twisted worldview and were disproved from a fundamental standpoint.
Is anyone else just not reading any of the newly inserted chapters at all?
10620377
Actually it is pretty horrible. Starlight's entire reason for doing what she does is just to ruin the Mane Six's friendship after they break up the society she'd created in the season premiere.
She had been stalking the Mane 6 the whole season and was ready to destroy their friendship for "disrupting her life"- when she first disrupted their lifes by stealing their Cutie Marks.
Petty, hypocritical and full of anger. I'm trying to say who's worse but Starlight wasn't exactly good or stable pony.
10621127
I don't know, Ciel might surprise us by being more open to it considering how strong her faith and sense of morals are shown in SAPR.
10624373
LET ME LIVE IN DENIAL!
10618575
The problem is if they make her the bad guy who goes into the dark magic form who will stop her Except maybe Ruby’s eyes.
10620849
I’m waiting till they’re done so I read the story from the start.
10624854
Cinder can talk Demon Sunset down.
Ruby eyes are useless on her since she is not a Grimm and we already have confirmation that there is too much resentment between Ruby and Sunset for that to work, yet Cinder was able to calm her down already with minimal issues.
10624961
If the grim are spells what is it that the silver eyes actually do?
10624996
Silver Eyes are magic from the God of Light to counter the God of Darkness, in particular the Grimm. It does nothing to other forms of magic.
10625058
what else but dark
What type of magic are the grim?
10625079
You are combining 2 completely different magical systems. The Grimm are a creation of the God of Darkness. Equestria magic, even Dark Equestria magic, is still from a different source. And the magic of the Silver Eyes is not a generic "banish evil" magic. It is specifically made to counter Grimm.
10625132
Did the author say that?