Failure
Sunny blinked her eyes open.
She was alone in the airstation. Her alicorn form was gone. Instead of feeling powerful like she had a moment ago, she felt drained and exhausted, ready to collapse. She rubbed her tired eyes and staggered to her hooves, looking around, trying to figure out what had happened.
It was day. The airstation was full of light - more light than there should be…
Sunny looked up at the stained glass window and felt her heart skip a beat.
The top part of the window, the part displaying the six-pointed star that was the mark of her ancestor, was shattered. Little bits of magenta glass littered the ground around Sunny. She felt a sob build up in her throat. It felt ridiculous, but that star had helped her so much - it had been a reminder to her of everything…
“Zipp?” Sunny called out, her voice hoarse and thick. “Zipp? Where are you?”
No answer.
Sunny felt her heart start to race with panic. She ran over to the lift and rose through the grate, launching into a gallop as she tore through the palace. It was every bit as empty as it was last night, and while the moonlight had been befitting of the creepy feeling that tingled over her skin, the bright golden sunshine felt like a mockery of it. Sunny skidded to a halt in front of her bedroom door. Thunder no longer stood outside it; there were no guards at all. Sunny tried not to think about that too much as she flung the door open and ran inside-
Her friends weren’t there. All the letters Imara, Kailani, Ash, Lukas, Brooks, Little Braveheart, Hugo, Midnight, and Flurry Heart had sent her were torn into shreds, the scraps of paper shifting with the slightest movement. Dozens of Dear Sunnys floated around Sunny as she stepped into the room, her expression frozen with shock.
“No…”
Sunny fled the room, letting the door slam behind her as she tried to put as much distance between her and that place as she could. She ran blindly through the palace, not paying much attention, not even caring that she didn’t meet a single soul as she ran, her mind frantically grasping at any possible explanation other than the one she was dreading. She shouldered a pair of doors open and dashed out into the palace gardens, where Misty’s blue together tree was standing, proud and erect, in the sunshine. Sunny skidded to a halt and tried to calm her racing heart.
“It’s okay, Sunny,” she tried to console herself. “It’s going to be alright… I’m sure they’re around here somewhere…”
She paced in circles around the tree, her mind blank as she tried and tried but couldn’t get past the fact that her friends were gone, might never come back, but she couldn’t imagine that they would be gone - they had to be here somewhere. They couldn’t be gone. They had been through too much together for them to be gone. Sunny had to find them - she couldn’t abandon them like this again…
The together tree hummed with power, and Sunny stopped, looking up, hope flooding through her as a doorway opened up in the tree’s trunk, and a pony stepped out-
“Sunny?”
“Misty?” Sunny thought that she might just collapse with relief. “Oh, thank the stars!” She ran up to the unicorn and wrapped her in a hug. Misty gripped Sunny so tightly that Sunny should have picked up on something being wrong, but she was just so joyous that her friends might be alright that she didn’t think clearly.
“Misty, where’s everypony else? Where’s Zipp? And Hitch and Izzy and Pipp?”
Misty’s green eyes dropped to the ground, and Sunny felt her heart plummet again.
“Misty… what happened?”
“I don’t know,” she responded hoarsely. “Pipp’s cell phone went off, and we all woke up, but then these… these creatures came through the window-”
“Wolves,” Sunny said, her voice thick with dread and sorrow.
“They might have been. I couldn’t see them clearly. But they had these eyes - and they, they made you lose sight of what was in front of you, Sunny. They showed you something else. And one of them managed to grab Hitch and they became… they became the same thing. It was like Hitch disappeared, and then the wolf became stronger, like it was using him-” Misty caught the look in Sunny’s eyes and broke off. “Anyway, they got Pipp and Izzy, too. They didn’t seem that interested in me at first, and I - I was scared, Sunny. I ran away. I ran here, and there was one of the wolves right behind me, and I activated the tree to escape-” She swallowed. “And then I came back here. Sunny, where’s Zipp? You two weren’t there last night, and I got scared…”
“Zipp wanted to do more investigating on her own,” Sunny said sullenly. All the hope and joy and happiness that she normally radiated drained away, leaving Sunny so stoney and depressed that Misty didn’t recognize her. “She went to an abandoned airstation below the palace, and I found her there. We were attacked by these wolves. I managed to escape, but Zipp-” A sob suddenly wracked her body, and Misty reached toward her, but Sunny stepped out of reach. “I failed. I couldn’t-”
“It wasn’t your fault, Sunny,” Misty said, her voice full of so much compassion and understanding that it made Sunny hurt. She didn’t deserve to be comforted, not with everything she had done. “You wouldn’t have been able to-”
“You would say that,” Sunny snapped, her voice suddenly as sharp as broken glass and dripping with venom and heartbreak, “because you don’t know, Misty. You don’t know everything that I’ve done, everything that’s happened, all because I failed. You weren’t there, but my other friends were. They saw what happened, and if they were here, they would understand. But they aren’t here, so you can’t pretend to know what it’s like, because you don’t know. And you never will!”
Misty took a step back, her expression beyond normal hurt - it was a pain so intense that she couldn’t even begin to describe it. But Sunny didn’t see. All she saw was a blinding anger and guilt at herself, and she turned and ran back through the palace, again going blindly. Somehow, she found herself going through the grate and riding the lift down into the airstation, where the shattered glass was still littering the floor.
And that’s where Misty found her: curled up in the center of a sea of magenta glass, sobbing, each jagged piece reminding her of who she was: a failure.
Misty put her hoof on Sunny’s shoulder, and the earth pony flinched. But Misty pulled Sunny up into a sitting position, and Sunny looked up, her eyes glimmering with unshed tears. Misty felt like crying, too, but her friend was so broken that she couldn’t leave her like this.
“Sunny… I’m sorry.”
Tears streamed down Sunny’s cheeks and splashed into puddles at her hooves. “No, Misty,” Sunny sobbed, “I’m sorry. I should never have-” She broke off, and Misty pulled Sunny into a hug. She stroked Sunny’s mane while the earth pony wailed into her shoulder, held her while she shuddered and shivered. “It’s not your fault,” Sunny finally whispered between cries.
Mist didn’t say anything; she just held her. Sunny felt her sobs gradually cease, and she finally found the strength to pull away, wiping her eyes and sniffling.
“It’s just…” Sunny took a deep breath, closing her eyes and tilting her head back. “I remember what it was like, back when… when I wasn’t me. I remember all those feelings, all those lies, and how awful it was… and then I lost myself, and I abandoned my friends, and because of me, they got in so much trouble… They went through so much just to find me, and I failed them, and after it was all over… I swore I would never do that again. I wouldn’t abandon my friends like that again. Even when new threats would emerge, I was afraid that what I would do would make something like that happen again…” She opened her eyes and looked at Misty. “But it was wrong of me to talk to you like that. I’m sorry. I’m just so…” She shook her head listlessly, looking down at her hooves.
“I know, Sunny,” Misty said softly, her hoof on Sunny’s. “I know. When I accidentally led you ponies into Opaline’s trap… I wasn’t sure what to think. I had finally pleased her, which I was always trying to do, but it didn’t feel like I thought it would. I realized that I didn’t care about what Opaline thought anymore. It was you ponies being angry at me that hurt more than anything she had done to me. I was so afraid to face her because I was worried that she would take you ponies away, and then I would lose the only thing that I really cared about.” She put her hoof under Sunny’s chin and lifted the other pony’s head so that their eyes met. “If you ponies can forgive me after everything I did to you, I know that we can forgive you for anything. We care about you, Sunny. All of us.”
They were kind, beautiful words, but they didn’t make Sunny feel any better. She had rescued herself, but she couldn’t save her friends - what kind of a princess did that make her?
This is why I’m not a princess, she thought to herself bitterly. Because I’m not capable of it. I can’t do anything right.
I have to fix this.
“Misty,” Sunny said softly, “I need you to do something for me.”
“Of course!” Misty looked at Sunny with such earnesty that she felt another wave of guilt. “I’ll do anything, Sunny! Anything to help you.”
“Misty, there are these magical stones - they’re called the Elements of-”
“Elements of Harmony?”
Sunny nodded. “After they were stolen, we never found them again. I think that we’re going to need them to get our friends back. I need you to go find them. I don’t know where they are, but there’s a cave in the swamps where the Legion of Doom made their headquarters, and they might still be there…”
Misty nodded uncertainly. “Find the Elements of Harmony, got it. But… why don’t you come with me? We can find them faster together.”
Sunny continued as if she didn’t hear Misty’s question. “And then I need you to find my other friends - they’re going to be coming here, to Equestria, and I have a feeling that they’ll be coming to Maretime Bay. I need you to go with them and help them - tell them everything that’s happened. And tell them…” Sunny looked down at her hooves. “Tell them I’m sorry.”
“Sorry… Sorry for what, Sunny?”
Sunny didn’t answer. She stood up and walked over to the basket elevator and stepped onto it, still not meeting Misty’s gaze.
“Sunny… what are you going to do?”
She took a deep breath. “I’m going to find out who has our friends and how to get them back.”
“You’re going after them, aren’t you?”
Sunny refused to look up. She refused to meet MIsty’s eyes, refused to let her figure out everything that Sunny was thinking.
“I want to help.”
But Sunny hit the lever and rose out of the airstation without another word.
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Oh dang that was pretty hush sunny I get it you're hurting right now but you didn't have to go that far
Oh boy this is even worse now so it looks like sunny have woken up but unfortunately Zipp is not there anymore and she has a realization that she was been kidnapped and same with thunder all the guards are gone and what makes things worse her friends as well she was almost in a panic mode until she saw Misty hiding in the together tree and she asked her what's going on what happens to the others there will also the same Faith as Zipp they will all kidnapped by those Shadows and sunny was devastated that she failed her friends again and she even lashed out at Misty after a couple of minutes she apologized to Misty about her comment but it looks like Sunny has a plan but apparently a very Reckless one she asked Misty to grab the Elements of Harmony and even tell the other creatures of Equestria what is happening and it looks like sunny is going to find her friends alone which that's a bad idea I just hope they figure out what's going on because this is way out of her lead
Oh, dear, all but Sunny and Misty were caught. I wonder where Sparky is?