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Chapter 1: Jealousy2,732 words
Chapter 2: Anger2,877 words
Chapter 3: Fear3,664 words
Chapter 4: Terror2,302 words
Chapter 5: Regret3,238 words
Chapter 6: Desperation3,049 words
Chapter 7: Resignation4,635 words
Chapter 8: Remorse4,414 words

Chapter 2: Anger

Crimson Sunset
By Nebula Star

Chapter 2: Anger
***

“In short, you want us to approve of you gathering nearly one hundred and sixty volunteers to be subjected to a dangerous draining technique – a technique that is, in essence, a form of dark magic – in order to power an experimental spell of your own design, and you won’t even tell us what your spell is supposed to do?”

Sunset glared up at the stallion. Chairpony of the council that oversees Celestia's school, Arch-mage Runic Passage had never cared for Sunset. From the moment they'd met when Sunset had started at the school, she'd never gotten anything but disapproving glares and harsh words from overly proud unicorn noble. While part of it was her commoner heritage, she was certain he resented her for her talent and power as well. She had surpassed him in his own specialty of runic circles and arrays by her fourth year studying under the princess.

Luckily it wasn't up to him alone whether her proposal would be approved or not. There were six other members of the council, and most of them weren't likely to let their personal feelings toward her affect their choice on the matter... She hoped.

“My spell has the potential to change the world!” Sunset insisted, trying to sway some of the less prejudice members of the council.

“So you claim.” Runic Passage countered. “But changing the world is not necessarily a good thing and you won't even tell us what your spell is meant to do. For all we know, you could be trying to rip open the gates of Tartarus.”

Sunset glared up at him. “What kind of Pony do you think I am?”

“If you don't have ill intentions then why won't you tell us what your spell does?”

Her eyes hardened. “This spell is my masterpiece!” She growled. “Until I know it works, I will not risk anypony else even knowing what it's meant to do, let alone how; I will not have my life's work stolen!”

For the first time the smug look Runic Passage had been wearing since Sunset had started her proposal was replaced by a glare. “Are you insinuating that we, the members of this council, cannot be trusted?”

Sunset's glare only hardened. “I am not taking any chances.”

She knew it wasn't the best thing she could have said. But it was how she felt. She may have only been working on the spell for the last two years, but ever since the possibility had entered her mind; her studies had been focused on reaching this end.

The various council members exchanged glances at the relatively blunt insult to their integrity, but Sunset went on before any of them could speak. “This spell is what I've focused all my studies toward since I was taken on as Princess Celestia's student. If it works, it could change the world in ways you can't even imagine. I just can't power the spell on my own. Believe me, I've tried everything I can to reduce the amount of energy needed, or temporarily boost my own power. This is the only way I've found that could power my spell.”

“You just so happen to need enough power that you could rival even the princesses in power.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “An arch-mage, even doing a rough estimate in their head, should realize I'm talking about gathering a power nearly eight times that of Princess Celestia.”

Runic Passage's expression hardened again. “I think we've heard enough.” He said coldly then looked to the other council members to see if there were any objections. When none of the other arch-mages spoke up he gave a nod. “Then let us vote on the matter and be done. All in favor of approving Sunset Shimmer's proposal?”

Only two of the council raised their hooves.

“And all opposed?” Runic Passage said with a smug grin, and the other five council members raised their hooves.

Sunset glared up at them, barely keeping from lashing out in anger. “I knew it was a waste of my time bringing this to you.” She growled. “This council has been prejudiced toward me since I first came to the school!”

“It is not because of prejudice that we're denying your proposal.” One of the other arch-mages spoke up. “What your asking is completely unreasonable, and considerably dangerous.”

“What my spell will accomplish is worth the risks! And besides, I'm not a fool! I've done my research and know all the appropriate safety measures to take, the risks would be minimal!”

“Regardless, our decision is final. Your request is denied.” Runic Passage told her with undisguised satisfaction.

Sunset grit her teeth, refusing to move. “You've always hated me! All of you! I surpassed every last one of you in your own specialties by my fourth year! It must just burn you up to find yourselves inferior to me; an orphan commoner given a position your arrogant noble houses have always dreamed of claiming!

“Oh yes; it's all too clear why you've always favored Twilight over me! You wouldn't have denied Twilight Sparkle of house Aegis if she'd brought this proposal to you!” She shouted accusingly.

“Whether we would have denied Twilight Sparkle or not is irrelevant, as she would never have been so arrogant as to bring such a proposal before us in the first place.” Runic Passage shot back angrily. “You are dismissed, Sunset Shimmer!”

~~~

A loud crash disturbed the brief moment of silence as another piece of furniture, a small end table, smashed against the wall, shattering on impact. Sunset let out a cry of frustration and collapsed to the floor of her workroom. Her teeth were clenched tight, her forelegs shaking with barely contained rage. 'I never should have gone to the council,' she thought bitterly. 'Those snobs would rather drown in sewage if it were only a commoner that could save them!'

“They're all fools!” She shouted, not caring if anyone heard. It wasn't likely anyway, here in her secluded tower on the castle grounds.

Her rage finally subsiding, Sunset sighed as she sank down to sit on the floor amidst her shattered furniture. She’d worry about repairing it later; she’d gotten pretty good at putting her furniture back together.

She knew that throwing tantrums like this was horrible of her. Princess Celestia had given her long lectures on controlling her emotions both times she had visited to find the aftermath of such tantrums.

Princess Celestia! That was it! Sunset jumped to her hooves. She was supposed to have lessons with the princess tonight. She’d… she’d have to tell the princess what her spell could do. But she was sure the princess would support her. She would recognize the value of Sunset’s spell. She had to.

I’ll ask her tonight! She thought eagerly. She had a lesson with the princess scheduled for that evening after all. She may have heard by then, about her request to the arch-mages, but Sunset was sure she could convince the princess.

A moment later a golden flash of light got her attention as a scroll appeared, dropping down onto her desk, one of the few bits of furniture that hadn’t suffered in her anger. Sunset blinked, only the Princess sent her scrolls in such a manner. Taking it up in her magic, she broke the seal and unrolled it to read.

Dear Sunset,
I’m afraid I’m going to have to cancel your lesson this evening. Some delegates from Saddle Arabia arrived this afternoon wishing to meet Princess Luna. Because of this, I’m going to be hosting a dinner with the delegates that will likely take up most of the evening. We’ll have to reschedule for another time. I am sorry, my dear student.
Your teacher,
Princess Celestia.

Sunset’s horn flashed and a beam of light burned a hole through the letter, her entire body shaking with her rage. Unable to hold it in she let out a frustrated scream that echoed through the chamber, then collapsed into a heap on the floor.

Tears filled her eyes as her body trembled. She took several shuddering breaths through clenched teeth. Why does the world hate me?

She slammed a hoof into the floor with a resounding crack. She couldn’t blame the princess; not this time, but that didn’t curb her anger in the slightest. It just left her without a target for that anger!

She grit her teeth. No, that wasn’t true. She had plenty of targets for her anger; the arch-mage council for a start. Just thinking of them made her blood boil.

Then there were the noble families. They weren’t much better. All they saw was a commoner in a place that they had long hoped to attain for themselves. For the first few years after the princess had taken her on, there had been almost weekly petitions to have her removed.

Their children weren’t much better; many of which attended Celestia’s school. She’d proven again and again that she was the superior student. But even so, they always looked down on her; treating her like she didn’t belong, like she didn’t deserve to be in Celestia’s school, let alone as the princess’ personal student.

She sighed, pushing back those thoughts. Sitting up, she put a hoof to her chest and breathed in deeply, then slowly let it out; pushing her hoof forward as she did, as if to push away those dark thoughts and emotions. It was a calming technique that Celestia had taught her a couple years before, after they’d had an argument that had almost ended with Sunset being banished from the castle. Both of them had let their emotions get away from them that night and so Celestia had decided it would be best if they both learned some techniques in anger management.

Her mind calmed; she decided to look at the problem again; to see where the fault really lay.

The other students weren’t to blame in this case. Nor were the noble families, though she was fairly certain their attitude toward her certainly contributed. No, it was the council alone that had made the decision against her; and even they had reasons besides just prejudice. She sighed; looking at her own proposal. She had to admit, without knowing what the result would be, subjecting hundreds of volunteers to a dangerous and likely painful magic siphoning technique did seem like too high of a cost. But if they knew what the spell would do… except Sunset hadn’t told them.

She’d refused to.

She’d let her own feelings toward the council keep her from giving them the full picture. They still may have turned her down; but she’d never know now. She’d blown it. Stomping a hoof Sunset stood up, heading for the door. Well she wouldn’t make that mistake with the princess; she would tell her exactly what the spell was meant to do. But that would have to wait. For now, she could use a drink.

~~~

The Campus Café was, by far, the most popular place for the students of Celestia’s School to grab a quick bite between classes or relax with friends after a long day. Part of this was due to it being one of the few places on campus that was more than just a snack bar, but also because of the quality of food and drinks they served. They couldn’t serve alcohol since Celestia’s school included underage students, but even so, their drink selection was fantastic, and the food they served was all high quality and made to order, varying from salads to hayburgers and everything in between.

Built into one of the school’s main buildings; the café had its own cafeteria with plenty of tables for the crowds that gathered there almost every day. Tonight was no exception. Nearly every table was occupied and the entire room was filled with the dull roar of dozens of conversations nearly drowning out the music they played over the loud-speaker.

Despite the crowd however, there was one table in the corner that was empty save for one solitary unicorn nursing a milk shake. Sunset was starting to regret having chosen to stay on campus. At least off campus she could have hit up a bar, even if she’d still have to deal with snooty Canterlot unicorns. Unfortunately, she’d have to travel nearly halfway across the city to avoid such. This close to the castle, it was all but impossible.

She hadn’t done anything but order a drink and claim this table, but even so, she kept catching looks disgust and contempt being directed at her when they thought she wasn’t looking. She’d never been very popular at the school, and unfortunately she couldn’t blame it entirely on the nobility. She wasn’t exactly the friendliest pony in her early years at the school. In fact, in some ways she’d been just as bad, if not worse, than the nobles. She’d been so full of herself, believing she was entitled to whatever she desired because she was the Princess’s protégé. She had only gotten worse when Twilight had come on the scene.

In fact, she’d gotten so bad that Celestia had once tried having her tutor younger students in an attempt to improve her social skills. It hadn’t lasted long, however. Within the first week, she’d brought one of the students to tears. What was her name again? Harpsey? Lyra? It wasn’t long after that that she and the princess had had their argument that almost ended with Sunset on the streets.

She’d tried to do better since then, but she still wasn’t the friendliest pony, and the damage had already been done. Of course, there were ponies that disliked her for good reason…

“Well, well, if it isn’t the mighty Sunset Shimmer, descending from her tower on high to grace us with her presence.”

And then there were ponies like him…

Script Pulse was one of the senior students at Celestia’s school, one that had started the same year as Sunset. She couldn’t remember ever actually doing anything to him directly; but from the earliest memories she had of him, he’d always treated her with contempt and thinly veiled hatred. He wasn’t a noble, so it wasn’t because she was a commoner. She suspected it was just a result of envy for Sunset’s position as a personal student of the princess, but she’d never really paid enough attention to him to find out for sure.

Sunset determinedly didn’t acknowledge him, trying to keep any emotions from showing on her face as she took another sip of her drink.

He didn’t get the hint. “Oh, I’m sorry; are you having a bad day?” He said tauntingly. “I heard someone actually had the audacity to tell you no.”

Sunset sighed and pointedly took another sip.

“Can you really blame them though? I mean, did you really think the arch-mage council would allow you to experiment on ponies with dark magic?” He went on, either ignoring or completely missing Sunset’s warnings. “Did you really think they’d let you do whatever you wanted just because you’re Celestia’s student?” He gave a derisive snort.

Ignoring him, Sunset kept her eyes on the table. Saying anything was pointless with ponies like him. He was only after a reaction.

“What was that about experimenting with dark magic?” Another nearby student asked, unable to resist a bit of gossip. Especially if it was about Sunset.

“Yeah, Sunset here went to the arch-mage council and asked them to let her experiment on ponies with dark magic, and wouldn’t even tell them why.”

He snorted. “You really thought they’d let you just because you’re the Princess’s student?”

“Of course she did!” The first laughed. “She’s the Princess’s personal student! She can do whatever she wants!”

Sunset ground her teeth trying to tune them out. Even so she didn’t miss several other students looking toward the scene; many with smirks, clearly enjoying her humiliation. Perhaps it would be best if she just left…

“That’s all you’ll ever be too! Just the princess’s other student!”

Sunset’s glass shattered.

The rest of the cafeteria went silent as a cry of agonizing pain echoed through the hall. All eyes turned toward the disturbance and watched as Script Pulse collapsed surrounded by an emerald aura. They all watched as he writhed, the aura flowing away from him and coalescing at the tip of a golden horn.

“Thank you for volunteering.” Sunset said softly, her voice sounding dead as she slowly looked up. The magic she’d drained glowing ominously at the tip of her horn and a wicked gleam in her eyes. “Now… who’s next?”

For a moment nopony moved. Then a few of the quicker thinking ponies in the room turned toward the doors, preparing to bolt. Even they weren’t fast enough, though. Emerald magic surrounded the doors, and they all slammed shut. The sound echoing in the silent cafeteria. Turning back in fear, she was the second most powerful unicorn in recent history; they knew they wouldn’t be able to overpower her.

“Now, now… no backing out.” Sunset said softly, her eyes as cold as ice. “There’s no need to be afraid.” The glow around her horn brightened. “Let’s get started.”

Author's Note:

Sunset still doesn't quite have a handle on her emotions...

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