Sunset is trying to cope with her nightmares, and with her feelings for Twilight and equestria at stake, what's a reformed ex-villain ought to do?
Sunset is struggling to cope with her nightmares and it's now been years since THAT incident.
After high school ended and all of her friends parted ways to pursue their ambitions and goals, Sunset decided to go back to Equestria. It was all going well at first, until she started having feelings towards her mentor and more importantly, the fate of Equestria was layed in their hooves.
That's the only thing Sunset sees at this moment in time, eerie, unsettling darkness.
She tried to speak, or more accurately whisper, but the only thing that came out of her lips were her ragged short breaths.
She stood up, despite nothing being there, all she felt was pain coming from her back, as if something sprouted there.
Amidst the darkness Sunset could see a light get closer and closer, was this the end, or just her mind trying to fill in the darkness?
She did not know, but as the light grew she realised that it was real and quickly grew aware of her surroundings.
She looked down, she was expecting to see hooves, or at the very least hands. But what she saw was something beyond what she'd had imagined.
Blood red claws is what was revealed before her, and right in the corner of her eye she saw six astounded bipedal beings, seeming to be in utter shock
One blue, one yellow, one orange, one pink, one white, and of course, a very familiar lavender princess.
She started to tremble, this all seemed too familiar, as the Déjà vu washed over her the purple one began to speak
"The magic contained in my element was able to unite with those that helped create it"
What is she talking about?
But before she could think about what was happening the crown she somehow was wearing started to set a glow and shoot a slow beam of light towards the six friends
"Honesty"
Why is this so familiar? Sunset looked on, masking her confusion
"Kindness"
What's going on?
"Laughter"
Suddenly everything came rushing back into sunsets mind
"Generosity"
A feeling of extreme dread and worry shot down her spine as she felt herself pale
"Loyalty"
Oh crap...
Her mind was completely phased, as Twilight started rambling on about friendship. Of course, she heard it all before, as she knew exactly what was going to happen next.
It's such an honour to have to hear THIS again, Sunset internally rolled her eyes.
As on cue of Sunset thinking that, a seemingly colourful, eyesore rainbow crashed into her and all she feels is the sheer pain before all going pitch black once again.
CRASH
Sunset opens her eyes to see that she had fallen onto the floor in a rather uncomfortable and none the less painful position.
Sunset moaned in pain as she stood up on three hooves, as the one she had lifted up took damage from the fall.
Sunset grumbled as she noticed that the rather unpleasant fall had made her glass of water, that she left on her bedside cabinet, crash onto the crystal floor erupting into tiny little shards of itself, like a blanket of miniature knives.
Not only was she parched from another horrid nightmare, but she also had just realised that the reason her raised leg hurt so much is that there were little cuts and blood oozing out from where the shards had decided to stab her.
"Well that's fantastic," she croaked, her voice laced with sarcasm. She heard a faint knock on her door.
"Hey, Sunset? Are you okay..? I heard a loud crash and just wanted to make sure you're alright..."
Sunset grumbled What in Equestria is she doing up at this hour?!
She walked over to the door and encased the doorknob with teal aura
"Hey, Twilight..." Sunset muttered trying to hide her wounded leg behind the door "Everything is fine,"
Twilight was not convinced, she has known Sunset for a good couple of years and she knew when she was lying to her, granted a lot of that friendship was from half a dozen books that were filled to the brim with their conversations, but even then Sunset has been living in her castle for a good several months now and she knew something was up.
"Don't lie to me Sunset," Twilight bluntly replied.
Twilight pushed the door to find Sunsets wounded leg that her friend and haphazardly tried to hide.
Sunset grumbled in annoyance "It's nothing Twilight-"
"'It's nothing' my flank! C'mon, let's go to the kitchen and patch it up okay?"
Sunset sighed, even if she fought back, she knew she would lose the argument.
"Fine..." she said in a hoarse whisper.
"How did this even happen?" Twilight questioned as she took little shards of glass out of Sunsets coat and then proceed to wash it with a damp cloth.
"I fell out of bed I guess," Sunset exclaimed as she winced and looked away
Twilight gazed worryingly into Sunsets eyes after wrapping up her foreleg in a bandage.
"You had another nightmare didn't you..."
Sunset recoiled as if she just said the most absurd thing she has ever heard.
"What?! No, I just..." Sunset looked back at twilight only to see the concern in her friends' eyes, she felt the urge to carry on lying but there was something in them eyes that stopped her, "...yeah," she whispered while bowing her head
Twilight sighed, she decided not to go any further with this conversation and just said "Would you like to go to Ssugarcube Corner? The treat'll be on me."
"I really don't think that will be-" before Sunset could finish Twilight Had put a hoof over her mouth
"I insist,"
Sunset mumbled something incoherent and then just nodded her head, knowing once again, even is she fought it, she'd lose in the end.
"SUNSET SHIMMER!!" A familiar earth pony with different shades of pink for her hair and her mane shouted at the top of her lungs. This, of course, is none other than Pinkie Pie.
"Hey Pinkie..." Sunset said awkwardly as she felt multiple eyes of passersby and customers look at her in confusion.
"What brings you here?" She says jumping up and down, "Did you come to try out our Summer Sun Celebration cupcakes?!" She was at least only an inch away from Sunsets face now.
Sunset shifted uncomfortably "I-"
"Of course Pinkie! Are they as good as last years?" Twilight interjected.
"BETTER THAN LAST YEARS!" Pinke shouted with excitement and proceeded to flail her arms in the air.
Twilight giggled as she walked inside, Sunset trotted not so far behind.
Sunset stared at the cupcake, the icing was many different colours of yellow and orange.
The Summer Sun Celebration... The memories of the times she attended the celebration, both good and bad, flowed through her mind. She sighed and pushed the colourful cupcake away.
"Not hungry?" Twilight said with nothing but the concern in her voice.
The only answer she got was a shake of the head
"In a couple of days the Summer Sun Celebration will be happening, but all that it reminds me of is how stupid I was back then," Sunset placed her head on top of her crossed forelegs
Twilight gazed at her, Sunset and Princess Celestia have made their amends and was even going to Canterlot to meet the Princesses at the Celebration as it was being held in Canterlot this year.
Twilight placed a hoof on her friend's foreleg, "Hey, it'll be okay, everyone knows you're not that type of pony anymore and you've gotten so far now, I'm proud of you," she shakes Sunset gently with the last sentence.
Sunset looked up and smiles lightly, "You can not even comprehend the number of times I've been told that by my friends back in the human world. But thanks, Twilight, it means a lot to hear it from you,"
Twilight blushed slightly at the sudden compliment and smiled warmly "The Celebration is going to be great this year, even better now that you're going to be with us,"
Sunset was a bit shocked to hear that sentence, "Nah, if anything I'm probably going to end up making it worse, bad things always happen to me"
"Well now that you've jinxed it, it will!" Twilight said in a joking manner.
The only reply she got was a roll of Sunsets cyan eyes as they both stood up and started walking back to the castle to get ready to pack for Canterlot because they were leaving first thing tomorrow morning.
Sunset woke up to the sound of screaming. She got out of bed and trotted over to the door.
What in the... She opened it to find the source of the screaming.
Sunset was greeted with Twilight galloping around like it was the end of the world.
"I can't believe I slept in!" Twilight had a look of dread on her face "How could I let this happen!" she stopped pacing and began breathing heavily.
Sunset walked over to Twilight and put a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "Calm down Twilight, breathe," she stared at her friend with calmness in her eyes.
That said calmness along with the breathing Candace taught her, she stared back at Sunset with fright. "How in Celestia's name can I be calm when we're going to be late for the train!"
"No, there's still five minutes left. We'll be fine, you get your luggage and meet me in the throne room. Okay?" She took her hoof of Twilight's shoulder.
The purple mare only nodded and watched as her friend trotted off down the corridor.
Twilight paced moderately fast on the wooden platform. "I hope it hasn't come already, what if it came early and left us, we'll never get to the castle in time-" she started breathing heavily again.
Sunset rolled her eyes. "Twiliiight" she dragged her word in song to catch the other mares attention. "You know how stupid that sounds, don't you? Even if the train did come early, it's not allowed to leave this stop until its designated time. So stop worrying,"
Twilight examined Sunset and then looked to the train tracks but before she could say anything there was a faint whistling in the distance.
She looked back to the amber mare to see a smug grin on her face, Twilight rolled her eyes not even trying to hide her own smile.
The train slowed down and finally came to a halt and the two ponies waited for everyone to get off before getting on themselves.
Fire.
Was it fire? Sunset tried touching it but it did not burn her.
An illusion?
As the fire faded, the lone mare looked around the dark, grey wastelands. Not even the wind dared to break the silence.
She stomped her hoof on the cold desolate ground causing dust to fly up into Sunsets face.
Sunset coughed as she wiped the dust off her face and examined it with her hoof.
Ash?
Before she could confirm what the substance was, a loud cackle broke the silence in the air.
Sunset turned around to see none other than her demon self, she rolled her eyes at the sight.
"Oh don't be like that little Sunset, aren't you happy to see me?" she smirked
"The contrary actually" she answered in annoyance as she wiped the supposed ash off her foreleg.
"Oh sunset, I'm wounded, how could you say that you yourself,"
Sunset laughed, a bit more sincere than she wanted it to be, "I am nothing like you, to be frank, you're old news," she shouted the third word with anger and frustration.
The demon scoffed "And so is you faking all this friendship crap, but you don't hear me complaining. Oh, and you should watch your mouth. you wouldn't want to say something you'll regret, now would we?" The crimson demon smirked once again.
She rolled her eyes at the first sentiment "And why should I? You gonna pop up with a high school of teenage zombies or something?" Sunset chuckled at that, she still doesn't know what in Equestria (or more accurately, the world) she was thinking back then.
"No, but if you don't you will regret it. Now if you don't mind, I have somewhere to be," the demon snapped its fingers.
Sunset was just about to say something snarky, but before she could Sunset suddenly bursted into a ball of flame, she wailed in pain as everything went black, just like how most of her dreams ended.
She gasped for breath and held her chest, her eyes darting around as she was trying to remember where she was.
Her eyes ended up locking with a pair of purple eyes showing worry and a hint of confusion. "Another nightmare?"
It took her almost a minute of heavy breathing before finally answering her question, "...You can call it that, I guess," Sunset took a big breath to ease herself as she looked out the window to see that they were almost at Canterlot train station.
Twilight watched her friend calm her breathing and sighed herself. She felt useless trying to help Sunset with these nightmares, but she really didn't know what to do.
The train slowly came to a halt and everyone started getting their luggage to depart. As Twilight and Sunset stood up and grabbed their luggage, the purple mare took one last glance at her friend before heading off the train first.
The two mares walked up the beautifully tiled cobblestone road. Sunset really missed the way Canterlot looked from up close, there was a familiarity to it that nowhere else in Equestria could fill.
She took a deep breath of the sweet, familiar Canterlot air before speaking,
"Any idea when the others will be getting here?" The red-headed mare questioned
"They had things to do today, so we all decided to meet up tomorrow in the castle foyer," the princess responded
"And Spike?"
"Oh he's helping rarity with one of her projects again, I couldn't say no so he's coming with them tomorrow afternoon," Twilight said with a bright smile on her face
With her questions answered, Sunset looked around. She never truly looked around the last time she was here. It was probably because of the fact that she was too busy overthinking about what Celestia would do to her to really take Canterlot back in. But as she expected, nothing has really changed. Which Sunset took as a good thing.
They walked up the stairs to the castle. As they reached the entrance doors, the guards bowed. The princess smiled in return and opened the doors heading towards the throne room with Sunset by her side.
When they opened the doors to the throne room, they were greeted with none other than Princess Celestia herself. The two mares walked closer to the princess of the sun.
"Ah, Twilight, Sunset. I hope you had a safe journey, I am so glad you could make it,"
"It is our pleasure princess Celestia, the journey was great..."
Speak for yourself Twilight... Sunset rolled her eyes and looked away.
"...has everything been set up for the Summer Sun Celebration?"
"Indeed it has. Now then, you two go unpack and we shall catch up at luncheon together this afternoon," Celestia smiled warmly to her former students.
Twilight smiled back and the two mares turned around to see two guards there waiting to show them to their rooms.
As Sunset applied a new bandage on her foreleg, Twilight began speaking to her,
"Aren’t you excited Sunset? This is your first time seeing the Summer Sun Celebration since you left to the human world!"
Sunset winced and bowed her head at that sentence, Twilight didn't let this go unnoticed.
The princess jumped off the bed and walked over to Sunset,
"Hey, it’s okay," she put a hoof under Sunsets chin and lifted her head up to eye level. Sunset pretended to take a sudden interest in the first thing that caught her eye, which was Twilight’s crown, this was not helping her case.
"I promise you that this will be the most memorable Summer Sun Celebration you've ever been to because this time you’ll have me and the others!"
Sunset looked over to see the most reassuring smile she had ever seen. She tried to keep a straight face but failed miserably, having her own smile planted on it.
She laughed halfheartedly, “You say that like nothing ever bad happens to me,"
Twilight pushed her friend on the shoulder lightly "I wouldn’t say it’s because of you, I’d just say that it’s always been... inconvenient to say the least," she giggled.
Sunset blushes slightly
I swear that laugh is contagious... Sunset shakes her head and smiles to herself.
"Now then, let’s go to lunch, shall we?" Twilight trotted to the door.
Sunset didn't move..."Twilight?"
"Yeah Sunset?" the lavender mare turned around and looked cheerfully at her friend.
Sunset was quiet for a couple of seconds
"...Thank you... I really don’t deserve a friend like you, “she chuckled "You really are the best thing to happen in my miserable life you know that? Making me see a new perspective, showing me the meaning of friendship, giving me another chance, it’s all thanks to you, I never really got to thank you for that." Sunset smiled brightly.
This made Twilight flush a little for the sudden burst of compliments,
"Oh, Sunset. You don’t need to thank me," she slowly walked up to Sunset and gave her a hug,
"You're the one who chose to change and made an effort, I can’t take all the credit," Twilight broke the hug but kept both hooves on her friend’s shoulders,
"Now c’mon, the princesses will be waiting for us."
Sunset wiped her eyes and nodded. Twilight turned around and exited the room, Sunset following not far behind.
Yeah, very cool Sunset. Where in Tartarus did that come from!? She shook her head and closed the doors behind her.
Sunset woke from her bed and placed her hooves on the cool tiled floor, her expression groggy, her sigh was crackly, and her voice was hoarse.
She walked to the bathroom, the only light being from Luna’s moon. She sat in front of the sink, got an empty glass and filled it. The water to help soothe her parched and sore throat. Then she began to wash her face, she looked up in the mirror to see a familiar demon.
Her heart raced as she quickly turned around to see…
...Nothing at all.
I’m getting hallucinations now?? If I didn’t know any better I would say I was going insane, but then again, I probably am.
She rubbed her face and looked at the time,
It’s dawn in an hour, I guess I’ll just go to the castle library, there’s nothing better to do anyway.
With that Sunset headed off to the library.
Twilight knocked on the mahogany door to Sunset’s room,
After waiting for an answer for at least a dozen seconds, she opened to see no one was in there.
She sighed, where is she?
The mare decided to go to the dining room for breakfast.
Maybe she’s there already?
After a couple of minutes of walking, she entered the dining room, doing so also answered her question from a couple of minutes prior; Sunset was there looking very distant and tired, Twilight walked up and sat next to her.
“Hey, you had a good sleep?”
Her friend waited a couple of seconds to answer,
“Mostly, then I decided to go to the library.”
“Oh, okay. How long have you been up for?”
“Since about half four, why?”
Twilight blinked “Uh, no reason. Just wanted to know if you were okay,”
Sunset groaned and leaned against one of her hooves.
Twilight decided to ignore her friend’s reaction, she looked forward and began eating her food,
“You coming with me and the others to lunch later?”
Sunset shrugged “Sure, I guess.”
Twilight paused and stared at Sunset play with her food, after a couple of seconds she got her spoon and picked up a spoonful of food from her own bowl then ate it, she didn’t really want to carry on with this conversation.
All nine, which consisted of the Mane Six, Spike, Starlight, and Sunset, all sat around the table at a nearby restaurant.
Rainbow looked at Sunset, “What’s up with hothead?” the rainbow-haired mare questioned, “She’s not usually this irritatingly quiet.”
“ Maybe she woke up on the wrong side of the bed?" Fluttershy whispered.
Sunset took a slow bite of her sandwich, emitting a muffled growl, “I’m not deaf you know.”
This made Fluttershy decrease in her seat,
Applejack interjected, "Hey, there ain't no need to be rude."
Twilight and Starlight gave the same look at each other before Twilight came into the conversation, "Sunset, is there something on your mind? You've been like this all morning, you know you can talk to us."
It was quiet for a couple of seconds.
Sunset rubbed her face, "No, no. Sorry, I guess I did wake up on the side of the bed," she chuckled weakly and glanced at Fluttershy, who seemed to increase back in her seat when she did that.
If that includes having insomnia, hallucinations and being on the brink of insanity.
"It's just that I'm a bit worried about tonight." she stared at her sandwich.
"Don't worry, you have us! This is going to be the best SSC yet because this time you'll be here Shimmy!"
"Please do NOT call me that Pinkie," Sunset replied in a lighthearted tone, she shook her head, "And doubt it, I always mess up some way or another."
"Well if it does, we'll be with you all the way through," Twilight declared fondly as Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement.
This made Sunset smile "Thanks, Twi."
A dozen seconds passed before Starlight spoke up,
"Sorry, SS...C?" she was staring at Pinkie now.
"Summer Sun Celebration of course!" Pinkie shouted bouncing in her seat.
"Of course," Starlight laughed, "Why did I even ask." She smiled.
"Beats me!" Pinkie smiled
Starlight’s stared at Pinkie quizzically at that last sentence as the others just rolled their eyes with a smile on their faces.
Everyone woke up from the nap they always have before this celebration to be able to stay up the following night.
The friends met up in the castle foyer to go to the celebration. Together, of course.
As they were walking on the straight dusty pavement, Pinkie spoke up,
"Oooooooh, I’m so EXCITED!!" The party pony’s hair was just as bouncy as the mare itself.
"For what exactly?" Sunset asked, "The last celebration I came to was just watching the princess put the sun up and then going back to my studies.”
The pink pony gasped, “WHAT?! So you’re saying you didn’t PARTY?!” Pinkie Shouted, Sunset swore she could hear a slight tinge of disgust in there as well.
The red-head laughed awkwardly, “No…?” she said in slight hesitation.
Before Pinkie replied a lavender coloured hoof covered her mouth, “Which means that this is her first proper Summer Sun Celebration party, so it makes it all the more fun if you ask me!”
Pinkie didn’t say anything and just energetically nodded in agreement.
Sunset rolled her eyes playfully, “C’mon Twi. We’ve been friend’s for YEARS now, you don’t need to lie to me.” She put great emphasis on the word ‘years’.
Twilight scoffed heartily “It’s true, I’ll bet it!”
“Well that’s bold,” She smirked, “Fine then, you’ll regret it though.”
Her last sentence made her stop in her tracks as the memory of her nightmares come into play.
Everyone kept on walking, not noticing that their friend had faltered almost tripping over her own hooves for being too lost in thought.
Everyone except Twilight.
Twilight depleted her walking pace to match Sunset's own, “Okay, now I definitely know something's on your mind, c’mon spill it.” She smiled warmly, shaking her friend's shoulder.
This got Sunset out of her thoughts, “Oh, it’s really nothing Twilight.”
“Well your actions say otherwise, you can tell me you know.”
“It's. Nothing.” the amber mare paused between her words.
“Sunset… You know you can-”
"'You know you can tell me anything'" Sunset mimicked, she snarled, “If I told you to leave me alone would you do it!?” Her voice a bit louder and harsher than she was expecting, she stomped off and wedged passed all her other friends to get far in front.
All the other mares (plus a baby dragon) looked back to Twilight, all with questioning looks.
Twilight took a step back as a defeated sigh escaped her mouth.
Sunset may have looked angry and brash on the outside, but on the inside, her heart was pounding. She was anxious but more of an accurate term would be scared.
Well done Shimmer, you idiot. You didn’t have to shout at her.
Well, she wouldn’t leave you alone.
That’s no excuse to do what you did, she only wanted to help.
She could have done that by leaving us alone!
Well, you have to apologise now; That's going to be fun.
She groaned as she realised she was having a conversation with herself. She rubbed her face, at this point it's going to be worn out by the end of the week by the number of times she’s done this action.
“I really am going insane…” She closed her eyes and wiped any hidden sleep in her eye.
Pinkie Pie came out of nowhere looking like she just fell from the sky,
“Ohhh, I wouldn’t say insane. I would say angry, you made Twilight’s earballs droop.”
Sunset jumped in surprise, “What? Earba-?…Really...? I…I didn’t mean to,” She groaned “I’m such an idiot!” Her ears fell as she smacked herself in the face.
She looked back at Twilight, who was staring thoughtfully at the ground. She sighed while looking forward again; concentrating on the road.
They were now hours into the party but the only thing on her mind was Twilight. She really wanted to talk to her, but she didn’t want to disrupt her conversation.
That was a lie, she’s seen her go through several conversations now and she still didn’t move. The only movement she made was replying to people friendly gestures and her obvious, very visible fidgeting.
She finally mustered up the courage to talk to Twilight and apologise for her sudden outburst earlier.
Every step felt heavier than the last, like every time her hoof touched the ground another tonne of bricks would be added. She slowly made her way to her friend who was getting a drink from the serving table, at this moment Sunset suddenly felt very warm and she felt like she was… shaking?
C’mon sunset, you shouted at her, not killed her whole family or something.
She inhaled and breathed a slow breath to steady her heartbeat. She picked up a plastic cup and got a ladle full of juice, she didn’t really want it though. She only did this action to pretend she came here for a drink, the real reason she was here was to talk to her friend of course.
“T-twilight? I..." She paused, "I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” She looked the opposite direction as she felt a pair of eyes on her, “I shouldn’t have lashed out, I was being irrational and stupid.” She almost shouted the last word, she clenched her eyes shut as she felt the sting of tears forming.
The mare was worried what Twilight's expression would be, hard? stern? angry? She craned her neck to see… soft, apologetic eyes?
What…?
The next thing she felt was a soft warm hug, the confusion of why was threatening to overwhelm her.
“You don’t need to apologise at all Sunset. If anything, it’s my fault, I should have left you alone to think.” She broke her hug and gazed softly at Sunset.
This made Sunset flush, “I-I, B-,” she spluttered.
The purple mares gaze went from soft to worried, “Sunset, are you okay?”
She replied almost immediately, “Y-yes! It’s just that… I should have acted differently.”
“Well let’s not dwell on it, okay? We’re supposed to be having fun tonight anyway,” She grabbed Sunsets hoof “So c’mon!” Twilight ran to the dance-floor, Sunset being dragged behind her.
Sunset was startled by this and was still trying to process what’s happening.
Sunset had to admit, this had been the best Summer Sun Celebration party she's ever been to. Well, she's not really been to any of the parties that were prior to Celestia actually raising the sun, she thought it was all a waste of time and stupid. If Pinkie ever met Sunset's past self, she would think Sunset was some kind of sin or something.
They were all now waiting for Princess Celestia herself to come out and raise the sun.
They waited.
And waited...
Rainbow Dash couldn't take it any longer,
“What’s taking her so long?!” Rainbow Dash was looking around like she would just see Celestia and say that she needs to raise the sun already.
“I-I don’t know…” There was a panic in Twilight's eyes, Sunset knew that expression all too well.
The amber mare put a hoof on Twilight's back to hopefully soothe her stress, “It’s okay, she’ll be here any minute now to raise it.” Sunset uttered optimistically, smiling nervously.
Silence, the night was still as dark as ever when it was supposed to be bright about half an hour ago.
Twilight looked like she was about to collapse under the stress. Sunset felt bad because all she could do was try and comfort her.
She was about to speak to her until...
BOOM
...A large and very loud explosion happened, the podium that Princess Celestia would of stood on to raise the sun was now in rubble and engulfed in a layer of scurrying lanky creatures.
Ponies were running and screaming as soon as the explosion happened, the creatures increasing in number as they got closer to the crowd.
As they got closer sunset could define their 'features',
The creatures were small and wide, their spines as sharp and ragged as broken glass. their forearms were thin and lanky but their back legs were stubby and fat. Their skin was a scaly matte grey. Its sharp, pointed claws echoed an eerie screech as they scraped across the floor, that noise would probably never leave Sunset's memory. Their tongues were like snakes' as it slid past their yellowy pointed teeth. But what Sunset found the most discomforting was the things' eyes. Their eyes were as black as an abyss, not even letting light escape its grasp.
They were running to ponies and even jumping on pegasi flying dozens of feet in the air, their jump was like a spring. They grabbed onto ponies' neck's as their pray fell to the floor gasping for air. But they weren't being strangled, no. They were being drained and put in a state which seemed to be some sort of coma, the creatures were sucking all the magical energy out of the ponies that were unlucky enough to get caught.
Sunset couldn't even process what was happening, how could she? An invasion from what appeared to be from some kind of demons are invading Canterlot.
She saw a bright flash of purple and a screech before she snapped out of it, "Twilight?!" Her heart thumped and her head banged.
"Are you okay?" She looked out of breath as her eyes darted across Sunset from horn to tail looking for any sustainable injuries, how long has Sunset been zoned out for?
Sunset could only stare at her, Twilight took that as an answer.
"We need to get out of here!" The alicorn screamed, not hiding any of her fear or stress, but you can't really blame her.
Sunset took a couple of short bursting breaths"Where are the others!?"
"I-I don't kn-"
"Twilight!"
Twilight screamed in surprise and pain as a claw of what seemed like knives dug into her fur.
Sunset's ears felt assaulted as they dropped, but she focused on the fact her friend was hurt more than any frequency of sound could. She shot a beam of cyan out her horn, the creature hissed and scurried across the ground and decided to get a different poor soul to 'feed' on.
She looked back to see Twilight bawling and struggling to breathe, it hurt Sunset's heart seeing her like this.
Sunset decided to take action, she shook her friend vigorously, "Twilight, we need to get out of here!" She looked around trying to spot any of them black eyes she has grown to hate in a matter of minutes.
"B-but.. t-the others, they need our help!" She groaned in pain
"We can't help them if we don't know where they are! And you're hurt, we need to-"
"Then we find them and I don't care about what's wrong with me!"
"WELL I DO! And they are fully capable of defending themselves!" she grabbed Twilight's hoof tightly, tears brimming in her eyes, "Please..."
Twilight stared at the tears falling down Sunset's cheek, as were hers.
"O-okay..." she replied with such hesitation that Sunset didn't even know there was any confirmation in there.
They both galloped, galloped as fast as their legs could take them. Their legs ached, and if it wasn't for Sunset being right next to her friend, Twilight would of fell right down on her face multiple times.
"I can't..." The princess' two front legs stopped working, "The cut..." she began to fall to the ground, "I feel dizz-" her head came in contact with the ground with a thud.
"TWILIGHT!" The amber mare, who was now covered in dirt, dust and blood, ran over to her friend and tried to get her on her back. She struggled for a couple of seconds but in the end, she succeeded.
It was an hour before Celestia had to raise the sun, but there seemed to be problems sprouting up inside the castle walls.
Celestia looked out at Luna's calm night sky,
“You never fail to impress me, sister.” A peaceful and warm smile was found on Celestia's face.
There was a knock on the door,
“Enter.” She turned around as the door opened to see a mare pegasus and stallion unicorn wearing the familiar Royal Guard armour.
“Princess,” They both bowed,
The mare spoke up, “We have failed to locate the captain of the royal guard.”
It was the unicorn that was next to speak, “We have also lost multiple guards that were supposed to come here from the outposts near where the sun shall be raised, what should we do?”
Celestia put a hoof to her chin and paused, “Stay vigilant and be in pairs, we need to stay on our hooves. Don’t do anything that any of the civilians will be suspicious of, we do not want to cause an outburst."
The two smaller ponies nodded as they closed the princess’s door to go back to their duties.
Celestia was now alone again; she turned around and looked back out at the night sky, pondering.
She was careful, like holding a newborn foal, while Twilight was lying unconscious on her back. This meant she had to deplete her speed making her more prone to being attacked, but she counteracted this problem by being more vigilant.
Her legs have never been so sore, her hooves got off the hard cobblestone floor and onto the fresh wet grass, her destination was to go to the forest, where the trees were lush and green, but Sunset could see barely anything. If it wasn’t for the night sky illuminating off the wet leaves of the trees, Sunset wouldn’t know where she would be going.
She didn’t know how much longer she could run for. As she put her next hoof down it entered a pothole, making her fall face first.
She groaned in pain, her ankle was in an odd and painful position. She sat up and tried to put Twilight back on her back.
She couldn’t tell if she fractured her ankle or just sprained it, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to get to safety.
Twilight uttered something unintelligible, Sunset took that as a good sign; It meant her friend was okay.
She, fortunately, got Twilight back on her back. With both Twilight and her unusable leg, the chances of her collapsing were getting higher. But Sunset refused to give up, she didn’t care what happened to her as long as Twilight was safe.
Entering the calm, wistful forest calmed Sunset exponentially. It was dark, but it was safer than anywhere else she could think of right now.
After some scouting around deeper in the forest, she found a nice patch of grass where no trees were grown there.
She put her friend down and took off the bandage that was surprisingly still on her leg.
It’s not clean on the outside but it is on the inside, that should be alright?
Right??
Ugh, I should NOT have missed Vol. lV of The Encyclopedia of Advanced Medical Needs, Well it's better than nothing I guess.
She wrapped the bandage around Twilight’s wound before laying on the floor herself falling straight to sleep. She didn't want to fall asleep, but her body refused to keep her eyes open.
Sunset heard a rustling of something nearby. When her eyes opened, she saw her friend sat up and staring up at the night sky.
She groaned in discomfort as she sat herself up, keeping her damaged leg raised.
“Hey, Twi…” She called, her throat was dry making her voice break.
Twilight looked at Sunset with a relieved smile on her face,
“It’s not that bad honestly, nothing fatal.” She paused as she examined Sunset, stopping at her injured ankle, “You, on the other hand. You ended up fracturing your ankle. So I put a spell on it and with rest, it should be healed soon.”
Sunset smiled, “Thank you.”
The princess tried smiling back but it faltered. Sunset could see the tears forming in the other mares eyes.
Sunset stood up, her body expressed its opinion by flaring all her muscles around her body but she really didn't care. She slowly walked over to her friend and hugged her tightly.
She didn’t say anything, there was nothing to be said that hasn’t been said before.
Twilight sobbed in her friend's shoulder, “I…I didn’t do anything,” She gasped between sobs “W-we could have found our friends and stopped it Sunset, we could have saved-”
Whatever she tried to say next was now just muffled noises in Sunset’s coat.
Sunset took Twilight off her shoulder and stared at her with strong certainty, “Twilight, we ARE going to get them, and we ARE going to stop this. You get me? If not, then so help me Faust that you get to survive this.”
Twilight didn’t say anything, she just stared at the emerald eyes that had such determination in them, that said determination grew on her as she was beginning to get some of it herself,
“Y-you’re right,” she smiles weakly, “and on the contrary, it would be boring without you around. So, you’re living whether you like it or not.” She smirks, she knew what her friend was implying in the sentance she told her.
Sunset smiled and looked up at, the still, night sky,
“You know, I think the night is very underrated; It’s so beautiful.”
The lavender mare stared at Sunset looking up into the starry night sky, little glimmers of light twinkling in her cyan eyes.
Her friend craned her neck to look at her, the eyes of the fiery-haired mare shimmered. “Don’t you think?”
Twilight flushed slightly as she looked up at Luna's night sky, “Yeah…” A light smile showed on her lips “It is.”
Twilight woke up to the sound of chirping, but when she woke up all she saw was darkness.
She groaned and looked around, was she… in the forest?
She tried to speak but nothing came out, her throat has never felt so dry; She looked around. When her eyes laid upon a worn out and resting Sunset, she smiled.
She internally thanked her friend. She could have easily left her to those creatures, but she didn’t. The mare could tell that Sunset saving her sorry flank caused the fiery-haired some visible pain.
Twilight rubbed her eyes, pain was spreading across her back where that thing decided to attack her. That made her realise that it was bandaged, haphazardly but still maintained enough to do its work.
The purple mare shifted a bit and looked up into the starry night sky.
There was a brief pause before there was a very familiar voice say,
“Hey, Twi…”
“What I would do for some water right now,” Sunset chuckled “and maybe a daffodil sandwich while I’m at it.”
Twilight smiled “Ditto, Sunset,” she looked towards the direction of Canterlot for a second before looking back at her friend, “but we have more pressing matters right now.”
“Than dying? Yeahhh no.”
Twilight rolled her eyes, “You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure,” she groans, “I just wish it was light, any chance you can raise the sun? It’d come in real handy.” She smiled playfully.
“Been there, done that. And it’s an experience I don’t want to go through again,” she walked up to her friend, “and that was with the other princess’ magic.”
Sunset widened her eyes, “Now that's a story I need to hear!”
“I haven’t told you?”
“I’m afraid not,” She sharply looked away “after several years of being friends.” she put her good hoof up to her heart in mock disgust.
Twilight couldn’t help but roll her eyes, a slight smile showing on her face.
Twilight was laying on the lush grass, thinking extremely hard. As she was doing that, Sunset was laying on a tree with her back to it.
She took a quick glance to Twilight and then looked up into the sky, doing so made her remember a particular conversation from days prior,
“So,” She paused with a smirk on her face “what do I win on the bet?”
Twilight slowly drew out of her phase of extreme thinking and simply said, “What?” With a confused look on her face.
“You know, the bet we held yesterday; You said nothing would go wrong and we betted.”
This made Twilight pause in confusion for a couple of seconds but when she realised what her friend was on about she got a bit annoyed, “THAT is what you’re thinking about right now?! Our friends and not to mention Equestria are in DANGER and you’re thinking about some JOKE we made?!”
Sunset shrugged, “Stress is not going to help our problems, Twi.”
“Well, stress gets things DONE!”
“It also takes a toll on ponies,” she got on her three hooves, “besides, I have an idea of what to do.”
Twilight's ears perked up in curiosity but also in suspicion, “And what’s that?”
Sunset stared at Twilight boldly, “The Royal Archives.”
“What?! That’s suicide Sunset!”
“Well, it’s better than not getting our friends’ back, worse yet dying out here!”
“And what if that doesn’t answer our problem?”
“Then we look harder for any clues whatsoever and go along from there.”
“That’s way too risky Sunset.” A hint of worry was hiding in her voice.
“Fine, I’ll go and you try to find information elsewhere”
Twilight scoffed, “There's no way in Tartarus you're going in alone!”
“Then you're coming?”
“F…" She thought for a couple of seconds "...Fine…” She shifted in discomfort and spoke hesitantly.
Before Sunset could respond, Twilight spoke up again "But first, let your leg heal."
"What?! That'll take weeks!"
"No, I put a spell on it, remember? So every couple of hours I'll put a spell on it and it'll only take a couple of more days before it'll heal enough to go, and then after we look, you're going to let it fully rest."
"You have GOT to be kidding me, Twi. I can live only using three hooves for a couple of days."
"Yes, but if something happens and we need to run, you will be behind a possibly caught. I cannot take that chance."
The amber mare's eyes darted all around her friend with a look of annoyance and slight anger. She wasn't going to carry on this fight, she'll lose in the end anyway.
She grumbled, "Fine..."
"Thank you!" Twilight smiled, "now, we are in the forest that's on the outskirts of Canterlot, correct?"
Her friend responded with a slow nod, "Why?"
"Some time ago, I remember some ponies say talk about some kind of rumour about an abandoned camp that used to be ran by a dark magic wielder who taught anyone who paid him a fair amount of money to teach them illegal magic."
"You want us to learn illegal magic?"
Twilight resisted rolling her eyes, "No, I was just saying if it happens to be true, we'd have somewhere proper to sleep instead of the hard ground. And if we're lucky enough, there might be some food around there."
“Hmm…” Sunset looked at her sceptically, “Not sure that’s a good idea, Twi. Not only would we be walking around for Celestia knows how long, but if it turns out to be just a rumour then we’d accomplish nothing and just ware us both out.”
With a hard stare twilight replied, “Well, it would be worth looking, because if there is something there then I would presume there would be medical supplies and water.”
“Which would probably not be there, even if this ‘camp’ exists.”
“Stop thinking so pessimistically, it's not good for health you know.”
“Well, Miss Sparkle, its hard not to be a pessimist at this moment in time.”
“That’s a bit hypocritical to say when not even ten minutes ago were you talking about a stupid joke we made.”
Sunset rolled her eyes, “Let’s just find this supposed ‘camp’ then, lead the way.”
Twilight nodded while saying, “Gladly.”
Tree, after tree, after tree. A certain red headed mare was getting irritant as all she was seeing was the same tall stupid trees.
“Twilight, it’s probably been hours!” her brows furrowed, “we can’t keep this up.”
“How exactly do you know how long it has been? It’s dark, and as far as I can tell its only been about an hour or two.”
If it wasn’t for their horns being set aglow, then they wouldn’t have been able to get far travelling in just moonlight. It would be unreliable and not to mention dangerous.
“Everything feels longer when all you see is the same thing.”
“Actually, if you look close enough, you’d be able to see the different coloured grass and bark of the trees.”
She looked around, her friend was right, the grass had come from a fresh, bright, lush green to a darkish, mucky, yellowy green.
That’s when a huge wave of magical energy hit them that made them unknowingly shiver,
“What was that?”
“I would assume the dark magical energy that has accumulated over the years,” Twilight responded, “if the rumours are true of course.”
Only after about ten minutes later did Sunset come across a fairly small cluster of cottages, calling this a camp would be an overstatement.
Twilight spoke aloud, “Not exactly a camp, but it’s far better than the cold ground,” Twilight turned around with her eyes closed and a smile on her face, “wouldn’t you agree Sunse-“ She opened her eyes to reveal sunset was not there.
She looked around frantically, but her friend was nowhere to be seen.
"Sunset?!" She looked around everywhere but to no avail, her friend was missing.
She started panting heavy, visibly freaking out. She walked closer to the cottages, they were not as well preserved as she hoped they'd be, the wood was visibly rotting and the beams were cracked slightly. One of the cottages had holes in the roof, there was even one that looked like it fully collapsed on itself. If Sunset being missing didn't assure her that this was not a safe place to stay, all this did.
The mare looked around, very vigilant in each and every step she took.
She heard rustling from the leaves behind her, with that she turned around as quick as she could to see Sunset,
"Sunset!" She was about to hug her friend when she realised something, she was walking on all fours.
"Hey, sorry, I lost you for a second there." Sunset chuckled.
"Your leg... It's alright now?"
If Twilight wasn't staring at her friend with such perception, she would have missed the very quick and almost unnoticeable confusion on her friend's face.
"Oh, it's better now, already feels good as new!"
Twilight took a step back, "I see."
There was something in those emerald eyes of hers that seemed suspicious.
"So, let's go look around, yeah?"
"Okay..."
Twilight's wariness wore off a bit after a while. She found first aid supplies in one of the cottages and decided to reapply new bandages before she gets some kind of infection she didn't know of, also disinfecting it while she was at it.
While looking around there were many, many books about books about dark, illegal magic.
She shook her head in disgust but was actually slightly intrigued, this subsided very quickly though as she found bottled water in one of the cupboards. Admittedly there were only about four or five bottles there, but they weren't planning on staying for long. Hopefully, they weren't going to be either.
She grabbed one and started drinking it, her throat was as dry as a desert so this both quenched Twilight's thirst and satisfied her.
As she finished the bottle, she turned to see Sunset but the look on her friends made her freeze; there Sunset was staring at her with such uncouth and malice, it made the lavender pony step back.
“Sunset?” She stared back at the pony, searching her eyes for an explanation.
The next thing she saw was a stream of putrid blue hit her, “Agh!” she shouted in slight pain.
Another stream of blue came towards her, but Twilight was able to dodge it this time,
“What has gotten into you?!”
“Well damn, and here I thought it would be a one-shot kill.” ’Sunset’ was now in a spiral of black as they transformed into their original form.
Twilight was fully expecting one of the creatures from Canterlot to appear before her, but it shocked her to see a tall dark grey stallion unicorn before her instead.
“A body manipulation transformation spell? But that's banned magic!” The mare cried in shock, stating the obvious.
This made the stallion roll his eyes, “One point to the Princess of Obvious! This is, or for lack of a better word - was, a place where such magic was present after all! You should really try it some time.”
“I'll pass, “she stomped her hoof on the ground, “now where’s sunset?!”
“You mean the foolish unicorn mare? She’s well…” he chuckled, “going to be taken care of.” He grins.
Twilight growled but before she could speak the stallion spoke up again.
“You know it's illegal to trespass in this place? Oh, the irony of that!” His grin turned into a smirk.
Twilight was far from amused, she was mad.
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry! I forgot to introduce myself, I,” he put his hoof on his chest, “am Midnight Haze, a pleasure to meet your acquaintance,” he cooed in a mocking tone.
“Spare me the introduction.” Twilight spat, she stomped her hoof on the floor again, “Where is she?!”
He crinkled his nose in false disgust, “Such an uncouth manner for a princess, I expected better your highness.”
This earned a glare off the princess, she stood in a position to prepare herself for what might happen next.
Haze laughed, “Oh princess, as much as I’d love to fight you, it’s not my fight to take.”
“What?” Twilight was genuinely confused at this point.
He shook his head, “You’re not that ignorant, are you? I’m disappointed. Anyhow, I must go, I have certain business to attend to now.” With that, he disappeared into a cloud of smoke like Trixie sometimes does.
Twilight did not know how long she was there, staring at the same spot; It felt like hours or days.
A very loud crash got her out of her state, she ran over to the sound of the crash. She looked and it seemed that another cottage collapsed in on itself. As she looked she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, some of the rubble was moving ever so slightly. The mare ran over and took the rubble off the thing that was causing it to move…
It was Sunset laying there on the brink of consciousness, shaking and breathing heavily.
The dread and fear overwhelmed the princess to the point that she couldn’t even speak, the only thing she could muster was, “No…”
Twilight waited and waited for what felt like years, but it’s in fact been two days Sunset has been unconscious for and every second of it was making sure her friend was alright, she gave her water every once in a while but she couldn’t feed her anything until she woke up; this made Twilight freak out even more than she already was.
She saw her friend move ever so slightly and Twilight instantly jumped up by the bed.
Her friend groaned, “…Celestia?”
Twilight chuckled wearily, “Not quite.”
The amber mare sat up slowly and rubbed her head, “Ugh, it feels like I’ve just been to Tartarus and back.”
“I’m not surprised honestly, ponies don’t usually survive a house falling on them.”
“What?!” Sunset almost screamed, then all the memories flooded back.
“I knew it was a bad idea coming here Twilight, I’m in a worse condition than I was before and now we might never get to...” She studied Twilight and saw more bandages than there were before, this made Sunset scowl, “Did that unicorn get to you too?”
“Not quite, he hit me once and then disappeared, I have no idea where he went. But that doesn’t matter at the moment,” Twilight picked up what Sunset assumed to be wild berries, “first you need to eat.”
Sunset was happy to oblige, it's felt like forever since last time she's eaten.
“While you were sleeping, I had a better look around. I found water in some of the cottages but in limited supply, so if we’re going to be here for a while we must keep it rationed. Food is not a problem though, there is plenty of that.” The princess smiled warmly.
Sunset’s heart fluttered, Twilight’s smile was so warm she swore that she felt the heat of the rays attack her cheeks.
What in Equestria is wrong with me…
The mare smiled back, “Thank you…” she put some more berries in her mouth and started eating them.
I feel like I should say something since I haven't updated either of my stories for over two months:
It seems that I do not have any motivation to be able to carry on these stories as of late. There is also a problem of how these stories will turn out and peoples opinions on them that makes me terrified to continue. :(
I'm so sorry, I'll try to update these stories as soon as I have the motivation to.