Interviews With Equestrians

by Jmaster49

Subject 234: Sunblast

“Mediocre…” Pumpkin Cake repeated the words of the shadow pony to herself. “I’ll show you what I can do!”

I tried to warn her that she was headed straight for a trap. “Kid wait! You’re gonna--!” But I was cut off. The swords became a massive clawed hand that closed in upon me, and tried to squeeze all of my breath out. “Ngh! Ack...dammit…” My body trembled from the force applied from all sides. I wasn’t going to suffocate, but I couldn’t speak unless I wanted to lose more air.

Which left Pumpkin Cake to her own devices. Which is to say…

She did her damndest.

Her brother was still being pinned to the ground. Now wrapped completely in a blanket of shadows. Pumpkin charged forward with her magical aura allowing her to fly just as fast as the average pegasus pony.

With cold, dead eyes, she flung punch after punch in a vain effort to knock the pony’s lights out. But it was of no use. The shadowy figure blocked every strike she slung with a passive, automated shield that kept it safe from harm.

Its mouthless face didn’t so much as flinch either. Almost as if it had gotten a sick type of enjoyment out of watching her struggle.

“Why...can’t...you just...GO AWAY?!” she screamed in its face, only for it to repel her a second later with a magic-nullifying blast.

BLAM!

“AGH!” Her magic aura disappeared as she was forced backwards, and into the rubble of the bakery. Part of me hoped that she would stay down. It would be best if she kept herself out of it so others would arrive to help out. It would be wasteful to fully carry out one’s hatred solely upon one being, right?

Wrong.

Pumpkin Cake rose to her hooves once more, and pushed the rubble out of the way with levitation. “Argh...you. You’re not gonna get away with this. I swear that with every fiber of my being, I will put an end to you! Even if it kills me! I will show you that I’m not just some baker’s foal!”

Pound Cake still struggled beneath his jet-black prison of shadows, but even he knew that it was risky. “...Sis...no...get back…”

Once again, though, it was of no use. This mare seemed very intent on attacking the shadow pony constantly regardless of the risk. She had been effectively tricked into the very definition of insanity: performing the same action over and over whilst expecting different results.

“STOP!” A voice called out to us from on high. The body of a pony dropped down from the rubble of the destroyed bakery, and in front of Pumpkin Cake.

“...Sunburst? What are you doing here?” the unicorn mare questioned with a stern, cold tone, “Get out of my way. I have business to settle.”

The stallion turned to face her, and blocked her path. “You need to listen to me! What you’re doing is only going to make things worse! By repeatedly attacking it, you make it stronger and only make yourself more upset!” He levitated a book, and flipped through its pages with his magic, “But I know who this is. I’ve dealt with him before. If you just give me a chance, then…”

Pumpkin huffed. I could see the rage that had built up behind her eyes. But, she was thankfully willing to cooperate once she took a look at the book he had. “...fine,” she replied, “What do we do?”

“Simple...follow my lead,” Sunburst whispered as he shut his book. As soon as he turned around, he was assaulted by more insults from the shadow pony that we could all hear.

“You...I remember you. You were the one who helped put me away. But that was only because you had the aid of the alicorns. And of course, your old friend Starlight who has far outclassed you in every conceivable way. What reason do you have to be here? Why not get her instead? Then things will be interesting.”

Sunburst grit his teeth, but didn’t lose his mind over it. “Hmph...while that may be true, that was more than two decades ago. You have no idea what’s changed in that time,” he snapped back with a smug grin on his face. “Don’t underestimate what you can’t see. I’ve already got you figured out.”

The shadow pony demon remained silent. If I had to venture a guess, this was all part of its plan to rile up its enemies before it took them down. Pound Cake and I were still restrained by the limbs, but the pony itself moved forward. It grabbed one of its swords via magic, and made it a bit smaller for personal combat.

POOF!

In an instant, the pony took off with enough force to put pressure on the sound barrier. He moved so fast that none of us could actually see him anymore. But Sunburst?

“Code Reflect!” With an equal amount of magical force, Sunburst shoved his book forward which generated a specific type of barrier with runes on it.

With a hard ching!, the sword clashed against the barrier, unaffected by the shadow pony’s anti-magical corrosion!

Taken aback, Pumpkin Cake spoke up in a barely audible tone. “...How did you?”

“I said I knew what I was doing, didn’t I?” he said in return, “Now it’s your move, go for it while you have the chance!”

Just what had those two planned in the span of forty seconds?

Comments

[Neo4K]

😁 Now I know it's the pony of shadows. Who else could it be that Sunburst and the others have encountered in the past?

“Code Reflect!” With an equal amount of magical force, Sunburst shoved his book forward which generated a specific type of barrier with runes on it.

With a hard ching!, the sword clashed against the barrier, unaffected by the shadow pony’s anti-magical corrosion!

Taken aback, Pumpkin Cake spoke up in a barely audible tone. “...How did you?”

“I said I knew what I was doing, didn’t I?” he said in return, “Now it’s your move, go for it while you have the chance!”

Just what had those two planned in the span of forty seconds?

Good question. Maybe Sunburst really is a wizard to have that kind of power against an enemy. Not as powerful as Starswirl, but still.

[Jmaster49]

10766947
He's undergone lots of changes that nobody has realized yet lol.

[Frazikar]

But that was only because you had the aid of the alicorns.

Hmmm, seem to remember only one alicorn (Sparkle) as the rest were EUPs ...

[Jmaster49]

10767432
True but the point he was making was that Sunburst can't do anything alone. XD

[Frazikar]

10767609
Technically true (as he doesn't have the power, that was Starlight's position) but it was a group effort for both banishments (and he was there as he 'found' the book that started things off). Which does show Grogar's influence as Shadows wouldn't really know that about Sunburst (though the time from Ponehenge and Hollow is a bit unknown for picking up knowledge).

[Jmaster49]

10767840
You pretty much hit the nail on the head. Let's see if he can prove himself to be able to fly solo shall we? 😁