Interviews With Equestrians

by Jmaster49

Subject 235: Sun Fury

What I saw next threw me for an absolute loop.

Pumpkin Cake reached into one of Sunburst’s saddlebags, and pulled out a piece of parchment. In the meantime, the clash between him and the shadow pony was everlasting with no sign of stopping anytime soon.

Though, the stallion did break a sweat. The pressure from upholding such a powerful spell to block the ever-increasing force of his opponent started to drain him bit by bit. But since I was unable to move, all I could do was hope that they knew what they were doing.

“Sir…” I heard Pound Cake’s voice from nearby attempt to reach out to me, “Is my...sister okay?”

I couldn’t respond. Mainly because of how fearful I was. I didn’t want to give him any false hope. Was it the effects of the shadow pony? Or was it because part of me wasn’t confident enough in Sunburst? What was I supposed to feel in that moment?

But when I looked up at them, I could see that it was no ordinary parchment. Pumpkin bit down on her left hoof just hard enough to draw blood from it, and used her blood to smear something onto it. “It’s done,” she said, “Now it’s my turn…” She rolled it up, and with a flash of her horn, she made it disappear…

The result was a rune on the ground that reappeared just a few feet behind the shadow pony. Just what was it for?

In a flash, Sunburst disengaged the fierce state of struggle between himself and the pony of dark magic. Immediately after that, he followed up, and charged at the mass of shadows with a vicious headbutt attack. There was so much force applied that I heard bone crack as soon as his head made contact with the shadow pony’s neck.

And by jove, it actually worked?

The shadow pony let loose a small grunt once it was hit, and was even staggered backwards by a few paces, but it didn’t suffer much damage at all. In fact, Sunburst was the one who had endured more pain as the struggle from before had caused the blood vessels near his horn to swell, as well as blood that dripped from his mouth from how hard he had grit his teeth.

From what I could tell, the shadow pony was unfazed by his attack, and simply pushed him away with a small blast of magic. “Was that really your best?” it taunted him.

“Argh!” The stallion yelped once he made contact with the earth--facefirst with his glasses snapped in two. “Ow….hm...you’re forgetting something, though…” he mumbled as he rose from the ground, “I assisted in the act of banishing you once...and I can banish you again--on my own.”

“Really? Without your friends and their infinite magical wisdom? Give it your best shot, boy.”

“Oh I will,” his smug expression returned. Sunburst stood on his hind legs, and levitated his book into the air. “SANGUIS TRANSFUSIO!”

CLINK!

Perfectly primed. The shadow pony had been standing on the rune that was on the ground thanks to Sunburst’s attack from earlier that pushed him into it. From said rune, chains appeared that latched onto the shadow’s legs which kept it from moving.

“Oh?”

Then, Sunburst swing his hooves downward to control something else. “SHATTER APART!”

A ray of purifying light pierced the heavens, and struck down the shadow pony. With a high-pitched whizz, the beam cut deep into its soul in order to weaken it. It did its job so well that Pound Cake and I were set free of the clutches of the shadow’s grasp.

“AGH!” Pound took a deep breath of air once he was free, “That...that was not comfortable at all.”

“Bro!” Pumpkin teleported to her brother’s side to aid him, “Relax. Let me take care of you…”

I stood up, and had a better look at what had transpired. I put the pieces together and realized that Pumpkin Cake had activated some sort of special rune for Sunburst so that he could restrain, and destroy the resurrected shadow pony. But just what would he do from there, I wondered…

I watched as Sunburst’s pillar of magic had finished its job. However, the shadow pony wasn’t quite vanquished just yet. Sunburst had to complete the rest of this task by hoof.

But as soon as he got ready to deal the final blow to the now pitifully gray shadow pony, he was stopped by its voice--a voice that we all could still hear.

“...Ergh.Well done. However, before you end me, allow me to make a final request.”

“Oh yeah?” Sunburst asked, eyes narrowed with his horn ready to fire off Luna-knows what, “What is it?”

“...if you allow me to remain alive. I will tell you about your father, Sunburst. I’m sure you’d like to know why he left your mother so that you can finally get your life in order and figure out what’s most important to you. Wouldn’t you like that?”

Sunburst tilted his head downwards, likely to contemplate what he was just told. After a moment or two, he used his magic to grab the weakened shadow by force, and pull him towards his face. “...You really know what happened to him? And why my mother is in such a sorry state? Do you?”

“...I know your insecurities better than anypony here. Even more than that so-called best friend of yours, Starlight. I can help you prove that you don’t need anyone in this world and that you’re stronger than you always were perceived to be. Just allow me the chance to--”

But before the shadow demon could finish that sentence, Sunburst pressed his book against its body, which caused it to disperse into a swirl of light with a pop!

He chose not to stick around either. The stallion turned, and started to trot away as he muttered something under his breath. Something that sent an anxious chill up my spine.

“Burn until we meet again...Stygian.”

Comments

[Neo4K]

“Burn until we meet again...Stygian.”

...Stygian? But he was freed from the pony of shadows years ago. What the hell happened?! Did Grogar get to him?