The world was shocked early this morning when the sun failed to rise. Even more shocked were the ponies present at the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville, where, at the height of the celebration, instead of Princess Celestia, a dark figure appeared as if from legend. Nightmare Moon had returned.
According to witnesses, when Princess Celestia was supposed to appear to raise the sun, the princess of day was found to have vanished. Instead the legendary alicorn spoken of in Nightmare Night stories appeared before the stunned celebrants, and declared that the night would last forever. Members of the royal guard tried to apprehend the Alicorn but were struck down and the villain then escaped into the Everfree Forest.
It was then that Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's most faithful student, led a small group of ponies into the forest to the ruins of an ancient castle in search of the artifacts needed to defeat the dark alicorn. Details are vague as to what happened on their way to the ruins, but what is known is that upon reaching the castle, the group found the artifacts, known as the Elements of Harmony, and then used them to defeat Nightmare Moon, allowing the sun to rise.
They then emerged from the forest victorious, with not only Princess Celestia, freed from the prison Nightmare Moon had locked her away in, but another alicorn as well that Princess Celestia identified as none other than Princess Luna, Princess Celestia's younger sister. The younger princess had been saved from the darkness that had consumed her by Twilight Sparkle and her friends, using the Elements of Harmony.
Princess Celestia then decreed that her faithful student would remain in Ponyville to undertake a new mission for Equestria: studying the magic of friendship. Upon hearing this, Twilight Sparkle declared that she would study harder than ever before.
The newspaper burst into flames under the hateful glare of a fiery maned golden coated unicorn; her horn glowing an acid green with an excessive amount of magic that she used to incinerate the article into a fine ash.
“Twilight Sparkle...” She growled. “'Most faithful student'!? She's just a naïve little brat!” Sunset Shimmer batted away the remains of the paper, and stomped over to her work-desk. “I was Celestia's first student in two hundred years! Celestia herself said I was the most powerful unicorn she'd ever met! I surpassed every one of the arch-mages by my fourth year! Then that little purple pest showed up and just like that, they all forgot about me!”
She slammed her hoof down on the desk in frustration. “Twilight Sparkle, the most powerful unicorn ever!” Sunset growled, remembering when the newspaper had run an article with such a title. “Just like that I was yesterday's news; forgotten and ignored...”
She glared at the seemingly empty desk a few moments more before finally taking a deep breath and letting out a sigh, calming her racing heart. The most infuriating part was, try as she might, she couldn't really bring herself to blame Twilight, to stay angry with her. She'd only met the young mare a couple times in passing, but she had made a point of finding out what she could about her rival. One thing was clear; Twilight was oblivious to the attention, to her standing in Canterlot. She hadn't tried to take Sunset's place in the spotlight, in fact she'd probably be terrified and horribly embarrassed if she ever found out how much attention she'd garnered over the years.
No, Sunset didn't hate Twilight Sparkle; in fact, she wished the mare well in her endeavors in her new home. It was probably the best thing Sunset could have hoped for; because with Twilight out of the castle, perhaps once the excitement calmed down from the Nightmare Moon incident, ponies would start paying attention to her again. The fickle ponies of Canterlot and the rest of Equestria; they were the ones she was really angry with. Sure Twilight was amazing, but Sunset was still the second most powerful unicorn to date, she was still Celestia's student. Sure she didn't have lessons as often as she used to, but she still had private lessons with the princess. She still had accomplished more at twenty years old than most unicorns did in their entire lives. And yet they'd all but forgotten her.
Even Celestia seemed to forget about her at times.
That really was what hurt Sunset the most. She'd looked up to the princess since she was just a tiny filly. When the princess had taken her on as her student, it had been like a dream come true, and for the first few years, everything had been perfect. Even when Princess Celestia had taken on Twilight Sparkle as her second student, Sunset hadn't really cared at first. Sure she wasn't getting as much attention anymore, but she was still the princess's student, and the princess had always made sure to have time for both her students.
As time passed however; Sunset began notice that her lessons with the princess were becoming less and less frequent. She'd ignored it at first, but then she'd realized that while her times studying with the princess were becoming less common; Twilight's lessons seemed to be increasing. In hind-sight; now it was clear that the princess had been preparing the younger mare for her role as the chosen bearer of the element of magic. But at the time, it had hurt. Especially when the rest of Equestria seemed to have forgotten about her as well.
With a groan Sunset tried to push the depressing thoughts out of her mind. She knew it wouldn't solve anything to dwell on it. She'd just have to show them; show them all that she was a mare to be remembered. She’d show them that she didn't have to be the most powerful unicorn alive to change the world.
Her horn lit up and across her work-desk, the documents and sketches she'd had hidden under a subtle invisibility spell became revealed. In the center, was a single large sheet, held down with weights at the corners, that depicted what she was confident was one of the most complex rune circles ever devised in the history of magic. It was her masterpiece, and what was more, it would work; she was sure of it. There was just one problem: She needed more power.
The spell required more power than even the princess's held and try as she might, she couldn't reduce the power required. Neither would the spell work with multiple unicorns powering it. The magic had to come from one source, one single pool, and had to all be wielded by the one the spell was targeting. It couldn't be cast on anypony else, not without exponentially increasing the power required. She'd looked into ways of temporarily increasing her power, but so far she hadn't found anything that could give her the kind of boost she'd need to cast the spell and she was running out of avenues to research.
With a sigh, she levitated over a large tome and got to work once more. The tome was the last she'd checked out from the library and if it didn't hold the answers she needed, then she'd have to ask permission to access the restricted section in order to search for the answer. Something she was trying to avoid since she really didn't want to tell anypony about this project just yet.
As the evening wore on though, she began to realize she wouldn't have any other choice.
~~~
“She forgot again...” Sunset grumbled under her breath as she made her way to Princess Celestia's chambers. It had been a couple of weeks since the princess's little sister had returned and things had been hectic around the castle, so she'd understood when the princess had canceled one of her lessons and completely forgotten about a second. But it still hurt. And now it seemed she'd been forgotten again.
She knew the castle by heart now, and so it wasn't long before she reached the princess's chambers. The guards let her pass into the entry room without question and Sunset didn't hesitate to knock on the door to the inner chambers.
“Enter.” Sunset heard the princess call from within and lit up her horn, opening the door with her magic.
“Princess?” Sunset asked looking in.
Princess Celestia wasn't alone. There was another younger alicorn with her, with a dark blue coat and lighter blue mane that bore a cutie mark of a crescent moon on a black splotch that covered her flank. Sunset recognized her of course, from all the photos that had been in the papers over the past couple weeks, but this was the first time she'd seen the younger princess in person.
“Oh, Sunset, come on in.” Celestia said cheerfully, clearly in a good mood. “I don't believe I've had a chance to introduce you to my sister. Luna, this is my other student: Sunset Shimmer.”
'Other student'!? Is that what everypony thinks of me now. I'm just the other student? Seething inside, Sunset had to fight not to grimace at the thought as she bowed respectfully to the princesses. Luckily Celestia didn't seem to notice.
“Sunset, this is my younger sister: Princess Luna.”
Composing herself, Sunset gave a second respectful bow to the smaller alicorn. “I'm pleased to meet you, Princess Luna.”
“We are pleased to meet thee as well, Sunset Shimmer. Our sister hath spoken much of thee. We must admit, we are curious how our sister didst come to find two students both named for the transition of night and day,” Luna told her smiling pleasantly and Sunset couldn't help smiling as well.
“I wondered that myself, actually, when Princess Celestia first took Twilight Sparkle on as a student as well.” She glanced at her mentor, giving her a questioning look.
Celestia shrugged. “How am I to know why fate chose to give the two most powerful unicorns of modern times such similar names?”
“Then what hath you been up to all these years, sister, that you hath not found time to decipher the mysteries of fate and destiny?” Luna asked, a little playfulness in her tone.
“Indeed, I've been quite lazy in your absence, sister.” Celestia said with a slight roll of her eyes. “Anyway, what brings you to my chambers this evening, Sunset?...” Realization crossed her face even as she asked. “I forgot your lesson again didn't I?”
Sunset just nodded trying not to look too upset.
“I'm so sorry, Sunset. With everything that's happened in the past few weeks, there's just been so much to do.”
“It's alright, Princess,” Sunset assured her automatically. She gave her best understanding smile despite how she felt. “You have been restructuring the whole government after all...”
“Even so, I should have remembered.” She sighed. “I'm afraid I don't have a lesson prepared. Will you be alright studying on your own this evening?”
“Of course. That's fine,” Sunset told her pleasantly, though on the inside she wanted to kick something.
Celestia gave her an apologetic smile. “I promise I won't forget your next lesson.”
“It's alright princess. I have a personal project I wanted to work on anyway.” Sunset said, forcing herself to not sound upset. “I'll just work on that for tonight.”
“Alright, I am sorry, Sunset.” Celestia said in a gentle dismissal.
“It's alright, princess. I'll see you in a few days,” Sunset said turning to go, then hesitated, realizing that this was probably the best time to request access to the restricted section of the library. “Actually, princess, as part of my project, I've been looking into methods of either reducing the power required in casting a spell or temporarily boosting the caster's power. But I've searched almost the entire library and I haven't found anything that will work. I was wondering if I could have permission to search in the restricted sections of the library for any techniques that might work.”
Celestia frowned in thought. “Well I can't think of any techniques that would be safe to use off-hoof, but you're welcome to search for yourself. I'll send word that you're to be allowed access.”
Sunset smiled. “Thank you, Princess Celestia,” she said then gave a quick bow to her and Princess Luna as well. “Princess Luna, I wish you both a good evening.”
“And you as well,” Celestia responded, smiling.
~~~
“Are you certain giving her access to such knowledge is wise, sister?” Luna asked once Celestia's student was gone.
Celestia glanced at her curiously. “What do you mean?”
“I do not know all that is contained within the restricted sections of the library now, but I do know that there are techniques that do what she desires, most of which are forms of dark magic. Are you not afraid that she may be tempted to use such techniques if she does not find another option?”
She smiled. “I understand your concern, sister. But I've known Sunset since she was just a little filly. She has a short temper, but she's no fool. I know she'll ask permission before using any questionable techniques. I trust her.”
Luna sighed. “Yes, but you also knew me from a filly, and did you not also trust me?” She lowered her head in shame.
“Sister...” Celestia said gently, nuzzling Luna. “You know as well as I that I... that I did not know you as well as I should have back then. I neglected you, and ignored your pain. A mistake I will not make again.”
“I know. In any case, she is your student, so I will trust your judgment. I just wouldn't want another to make the same mistakes that I did.”
~~~
There were no other options. Sunset was all but certain of it now. After nearly four weeks of research in the restricted section of the library, she'd only found one possibility for powering her spell. It was a questionable technique; some would even call it dark magic. And it couldn't be done alone. The power had to come from somewhere after all.
Sunset looked up at the large double doors at the end of the hall she was waiting in; where her future may very well be decided. The doors led to council chambers of the arch-mage council that oversees Celestia's school. Celestia herself may be the finale authority at the school, but the council of seven arch-magi were the ones who ran it on a day to day basis. They were among the most powerful unicorns in Equestria. Mages that had each proven to be unrivaled masters of some field of magic. And not one of them had near the potential that Sunset had, let alone Twilight Sparkle. But while they had always seemed to adore Twilight; Sunset was certain that at least a few of the council members resented her for her talent. As a result, she'd never really gotten along with the council.
And now her entire future would rest in their hooves. Usually she would try to avoid the council all together, but that wasn't an option. If she ever wanted to cast her spell, she'd need volunteers to provide the power. Not just a few, either, by her calculations she'd need approximately one-hundred-fifty-seven ponies of average magical strength. And to organize such a large number of volunteers to be subject to a potentially dangerous technique in order to power experimental magic... well, she'd need the permission of the council at the very least.
She glanced at the clock, seeing it was time for her appointment. Any moment now one of the aides for the council would call her in.
Fidgeting, she tried to keep her nerves in check. The clock seemed to be ticking abnormally loud in the empty hallway.
Several minutes passed. She knew the council had been in a meeting beforehoof, they had likely just run a little over...
Finally, there was a loud click and with a creak of old hinges, the enormous double doors swung open.
“Sunset Shimmer? The council will hear your proposal now,” a young aid said, stepping out into the hall.
Taking a deep breath, Sunset climbed to her hooves and, trying to look more confident than she felt, entered the council chambers.
“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.”
It was one of the finer residences in upper Canterlot where Arch-Mage Runic Passage made his home. It wasn’t the largest by far, but it was certainly not modest, with four floors and nearly two dozen rooms. More than anything it was a status symbol and a show of wealth. Especially where it was located in the heart of Canterlot. To have so much space alone was a great luxury. The numerous statues that decorated the halls, plush carpets, and excess of gold filigree placed him as one of the wealthiest ponies in the city.
But it wasn’t just the wealth shown in his home that set it apart. The magical security in his home was unmatched save for Canterlot Castle itself. His wards were works of art, and the runic enchantments lain throughout the house were completely unique, exquisite examples of his talent. There wasn’t a safer home in all of Canterlot.
He’d designed it as a layered defense, each layer overlapping and interconnected with multiple others. Even should an intruder get past one line of defense they would trigger another. Alerting Runic Passage at the very least, or disabling the intruder if they were less fortunate. In the years that he’d lived in this home, there’d been several attempted break-ins from everything from a common burglar to several jealous mages seeking to learn his secrets. None had made it past his outer perimeter.
He was therefore, unconcerned when the lights went out unexpectedly. Power outages had happened before and he had plenty of mage lights that he could light up for the time being. Lighting his horn, he went about what he’d been doing, getting a late evening glass of wine.
Trotting into his dining room he went to his wine cupboard. He always had a few bottles in the house. Fine wines from some of the best orchards in Equestria, none of the cheap swill that most common ponies drank.
Something was missing.
One of the bottles that should have adorned the top rack was gone. Even among his collection of wines, that particular bottle had been exceptional. One of only four that remained in all of Equestria; bottled by the single most prestigious vineyard the nation had to offer. The last of their vintage of fourteen years prior that had been widely regarded as their best in centuries. He’d been saving it for a special occasion.
“I never did care much for wine.”
Runic Passage spun, eyes wide, to face the intruder. He recognized that voice. There, sitting at his dining room table was Sunset Shimmer, and next to her on the table was the missing bottle. How had he not noticed her? Especially with how brightly her horn was glowing? She studied the glass she held in her magical grip as she swirled the red liquid around idly, looking almost bored.
“Honestly, I think the popularity of wine in modern times is all a matter of tradition and good advertising.”
“How did you get in my house!?” Runic Passage demanded. His wards were still in place, he was sure of it.
Sunset didn’t even acknowledge him and simply went on. “In olden times, ponies needed a way to make their fruit juices last longer, so they found ways of controlling the rotting… I’m sorry, fermenting process.” She corrected herself. “But as time went on and ponies developed better ways of preserving fresh juices, the wineries feared losing business; after all most ponies prefer fresh fruit juice over rotting… fermented juices, and if they wanted alcohol, there were already cheaper, more flavorful options available.”
She levitated the bottle up in her crimson aura. “So they found a new angle, they began touting wine as the sophisticated beverage making its price into the attraction. The preferred drink of the wealthy…” She gulped down the remainder of the glass, wincing slightly at the taste. “It’s just another status symbol.” With that the glass and bottle both flew across the room to shatter against the wall and she stood from the table.
“Though I suppose it’s fitting that so many nobles drink the stuff. After all, vineyards are a lot like noble families; it only takes one exceptional year one generation, for them to make a name for themselves. After that, they demand respect claiming they have more value than others, even though all the vintages, all the generations after that first that gave them their name, never quite measure up.” Her eyes narrowed, glaring at him. “And some, don’t even try.”
“I’ll have you arrested for this!” Runic Passage said, trying to keep his fear out of his voice. Something wasn’t right here. Something was off about Sunset, but he couldn’t quite place what. “Not even the princess…”
“The guard will be too late.” Sunset said, the crimson glow around her horn glowing brighter. It was then that Runic realized what was wrong. Sunset’s magic had always been emerald in color; not crimson.
“The princess…”
“The princesses can’t stop me.” Sunset said coldly. “And in any case by the time they find out, it will already be complete, my masterpiece…”
In desperation, Runic tried for his own magic, but even as he did, he felt an overwhelming power smother his like an ocean crashing down on a flickering candle flame. A glow surrounded him and he was lifted up in the air, his muzzle clamped shut.
“You know I did do my research when I proposed using this draining technique to power my spell. I looked into all the dangers, found ways to reduce the risk; techniques to ensure it was as safe as possible for the one being drained…” She looked up at him, her eyes cold and filled with hate. “But I don’t think I’ll bother using them for you.”
The glow around her horn flared brighter and Arch Mage Runic Passage began to scream.
~~~
Luna looked at the stallion truly shocked. “We beg your pardon?”
“I asked if your highness would be willing to grant me a dance before the night is through?”
That’s what she’d thought he’d asked. She stared at him, stunned by his forwardness. True, he was pleasant to look at, and being a Saddle Arabian stallion, he was a rarity in that he was one of the few stallions she’d met that was larger in stature than she was. In fact, he was larger than she was before her fall, when she’d been fully grown. But to ask her… when they’d just met this night!?
“We shall consider it.”
“Then I shall await your decision,” he said and bowed deeply, before trotting off to another part of the ballroom leaving Luna and Celestia at their table.
Luna watched him go in silence. The dinner with the Saddle Arabian delegates had been going smoothly until now. The food had been delicious, even by the high standard she’d become accustomed to since her return. The music was pleasant, the deserts exquisite, and quite a few ponies had already taken to the dance floor, but she had not expected one of the delegates to be so forward as to ask her to…
An amused laugh had her turning to her sister.
“He was only asking you to dance, Sister.” Celestia said softly so that only she would hear.
“But, I do not even know him!” She hissed back, surprised by her sister’s reaction.
“Luna, it’s just a dance, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s one way ponies get to know each other these days.”
Luna’s eyes widened. In her time, dances between couples were reserved to ponies already courting one another. “But, is dancing not part of courting anymore?”
“It is, but it’s also alright for ponies to dance even if they are not courting.” Celestia explained. “Though I dare say he probably is interested in more.”
Luna looked at her sister aghast. “And you would have me dance with him?”
“A dance is no big deal, you might even enjoy it, I’m just saying he may be hoping it will lead to something more, so if you would like to dance with him, just be careful what you say. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s seeking to gain more influence in Equestria by cultivating a relationship with one of its princesses, and since I’ve been around for so long, and have had so many unsuccessful suitors over the years, he may believe you to be… an easier conquest, so to speak.”
Luna snorted. “Does he think me a young mare, going through heat for the first time? That I would be unable to resist his charms?”
“Well… he may…” Celestia said hesitantly. “You do appear…”
“Yes, yes. I know sister. Mine apparent age…” She sighed heavily.
“I still don’t know why the elements reduced you to such a young age.”
Luna lowered her eyes. “I do.”
Celestia looked over at her curiously. “You do?”
She nodded. “This is the age I was when jealousy first began to take hold of my heart. Thus, the elements reverted me to this age in order to restore me to how I was before I fell to darkness.”
Celestia watched her for a moment in silence. The implications of her sister’s words. She had not realized that Luna’s pain had begun so far back; that she had already begun to fall even before they defeated Discord. Before they’d even been crowned as the Princesses of Equestria. How could she have been blind to it for so long… “Luna, I’m so sorry…”
“I know, sister.” Luna assured her, giving her an honest smile. “But it was not your fault. I was the one who fell.” She said then fell silent as a royal guard stepped up to Celestia’s side and leaned close to whisper something to her.
Luna watched, curiously as Celestia’s eyes widened ever so slightly and she gave a nod dismissing the guard. “What is it, sister?”
“There’s been an incident at my school, I’m going to have to see to this.”
“You are not leaving me here alone.” Luna said firmly. “I shall come with you.”
Celestia hesitated a moment, then nodded. “Very well,” she agreed then stood. Almost immediately every eye was on them. “I am sorry everyone, but a matter has come up that my sister and I must attend to. Please, continue to enjoy yourselves, and we will return as soon as we are able.” With that, she gestured for their personal guards to follow and quickly left the ballroom.
More guards joined their escort as they reached the castle halls and continued at a quick pace toward the gate nearest the school.
“Did they say what happened?” Luna asked, easily keeping pace with her taller and longer legged sister.
“Just that several dozen students were found unconscious in one of the campus’ cafeterias.”
Luna’s eyes widened. “Several dozen!?”
Celestia nodded grimly.
“And the culprit?”
“They did not know who was responsible yet, when they sent word.” Celestia told her as she led the way. “They believe the attack occurred some time ago, so whoever it was, was long gone by the time the guard arrived.”
~~~
An ember red flash announced Sunset’s arrival in her tower workroom. It was time, she was finally ready. All the power she needed currently resided at the tip of her horn, however she couldn’t hold it much longer. There was no turning back.
Dispelling the concealing magics hiding her designs she took the mockup of the rune circle needed and with a flick of her horn, sent it to float in the center of the room. Another spell and the array was copied down onto the floor, enlarged to full size at the same time. It spread across nearly the entire room. Next, she imbued the array with a flow of magic, just enough to activate it for its purpose.
Finished with the array, she tossed the mock up aside and took up another large sheet that had the arcane diagrams for the spell forms needed. She had it memorized, but wanted to go over it one last time to be sure. Finally, taking a deep breath, she set the sheet back on the worktable and stepped into the center of the circle. Placing her hooves carefully on the proper positions in the array, she began to shape the spell.
The array lit up with crimson light as Sunset began to cast. A second circle, mirroring but subtly different than the array on the floor lit up in the air above her. The room grew brighter as more and more patterns appeared. Sunset felt the immense power she had gather fighting her. Ruthlessly, she forced it into the forms of her spell. All around her, the magic took shape, ready to perform the tasks she set, simply waiting for her to trigger the final phase.
Sunset began to sweat as she continued. It was the most complex spell ever devised in Equestria’s history, the ponies that could possibly cast it could be counted on her hooves. And none had the power. Not even her. Even a group of six working together would not be able to cast her spell, not even if both princesses were included. That was why she had to take power from others; spells cost exponentially more the more ponies that took part in the casting. Any more than six, and the spell’s cost would be increasing more with each additional pony than what the average mage would provide. But with one pony casting from a pool of gathered magic… then it was feasible.
The last of the spell fell into place, and Sunset fed all the power she’d gathered into it. Once that was done, all that was left was to trigger it and then let the spell take effect. Closing her eyes and bracing herself, she triggered the spell.
Energy in the form of crimson flames swirled up around her as the arrays lit up, both those etched in the floor and the ones formed of pure energy in the air. She felt the magic flowing into her, felt it beginning to fulfil its purpose.
She smiled, this was it; what she’d been working for since the possibility first occurred to her. All her studies under the princess; everything for the past decade of her life, had been aimed toward this goal. She felt the power infusing her, filling her completely. Then it was as if she her body dissolved as she became the magic and her form began to shift, she felt something at her sides and joy filled her. It was working!
The shifting of her form continued and finally set, and she felt as though she’d become solid once more. She couldn’t help grinning as she looked back, feeling something new, she flexed muscles she’d never had and spread her wings for the first time.
Then agony like she’d never experienced tore through her.
Sunset screamed as the magic swirling around her grew darker, began swirling faster, more erratically twisting at random. She collapsed to her side, one wing splayed out across the floor, the other thrashed as if trying to shake off the pain. Then she saw several amber feathers fall to the floor and she looked back at her new wing in horror as more and more feathers fell free. Most of the pain was centered in her wings. She watched as her wing, now completely bare of feathers, stretched and twisted; bony fingers spreading out as the flesh between thinned. Claws tore through the skin at the tips, adding even more to her pain.
A new pain pierced her skull as her horn began to stretch twisting and for a moment that seemed an eternity her world became blinding white as the pain overwhelmed her.
~~~
Celestia watched pain evident in her eyes as the emergency responders carried out one student after another. Dozens already; all unconscious, all drained of their magic to a minimal albeit safe level. “Still no sign of who was responsible?” She asked the guard captain on the scene.
“No, your majesty. So far none of the victims have come to and there were no other witnesses.”
She sighed and nodded understanding. There had been incidents at the school before; usually magical accidents; and a few times ponies had been injured. But never so many, and never in what appeared to be an intentional act. Luna was currently examining one of the victims. Even being only recently freed, she still had more experience with healing magics than Celestia. Ruling by herself, there’d been so little time to pursue the subject in the past millenia.
“Your majesty! Captain!”
Celestia looked toward the shout to see a pegasus of the guard land nearby. “You have a report?”
She nodded. “Yes, your majesty. Three arch-mages of the council have been found in their homes, drained of magic in a similar fashion!”
“The arch mages!?” Celestia repeated stunned. The students were one thing, but for the perpetrator to take on the arch-mages as well… That reduced the list of possible suspects significantly.
“Did I hear correctly? The villain hath drained the arch-mages as well?” Luna said rejoining them, when the captain nodded confirmation, she looked up at Celestia, worry evident in her eyes. “Could Tirek have escaped Tartarus?” The captain and Pegasus guard looked horrified at the thought.
Celestia just shook her head. “This isn’t Tirek’s style. He wouldn’t care how much he drained them; he would have left them all on the edge of death. His spell also didn’t cause ponies to lose consciousness for so long.”
Luna frowned but nodded. “In any case, I do believe one of the students is about to wake,” she said, gesturing back to where she’d been examining the victims.
“Well then, let’s see what they can tell us. Lead the way, sister.”
Luna nodded and led Celestia back toward the student that had shown signs of coming to. It was a young unicorn mare with an eggshell coat and a pink mane and tail, with a trio of blue stars for a cutie mark.
“Twinkleshine.” Celestia said softly, recognizing the mare.
“You know her, sister?” Luna asked curiously.
“Of course, Luna. I know all the students at my school. Twinkleshine was one of Twilight’s few friends here in Canterlot.”
The young mare stirred suddenly then gasped, eyes going wide. Then just as quickly her eyes closed again and she whimpered softly.
“Shh.” Celestia gently stroked her mane. “It’s alright, you’re safe.”
Her eyes opened again and this time she looked up, her eyes drawn first by Princess Celestia’s glowing mane, then to her comforting smile.
“Princess,” she gasped. “Sunset Shimmer! She…”
Celestia’s eyes turned worried. “Sunset? What about Sunset?”
“She… she just went wild! Started attacking everypony! We couldn’t stop her… she, she took our magic.”
For a moment, Celestia stared at her in shock. Sunset was responsible!? True she was one of the few with both the power and skill to take on the arch-mages, but even so, Celestia had never even considered her as a possible suspect. Why would Sunset do this!? “What happened?” She breathed aloud.
“She was upset… something about a proposal being turned down by the arch-mages.” Twinkleshine whimpered.
Looking down at the mare with sympathy, Celestia gently placed a hoof on her barrel. “Alright, it’s okay, you can rest now, you’re safe.”
Comforted by the Princess’s words she laid her head down, eyes closing as she drifted back to sleep.
“Captain, send a runner to the school records office, they should have a record of what proposal Sunset presented.”
“Celestia, if your student is responsible, if she’s stolen magic with the intent to use it for some cause then she is in grave danger!” Luna told her, eyes wide with fear. “We cannot wait, we must find her!”
An unnatural light lit up the grounds with an eerie crimson hue. All eyes turned toward a tower on edge of the castle grounds next to the school as the top floors lit up like a beacon with more magic than Celestia had ever felt without the elements. This was far more than Twilight’s surge during her entrance exam.
“Sunset!” She breathed.
“Celestia, we must go at once!” Luna shouted, already taking wing. With so much magic in the air, it wouldn’t be safe to teleport.
“Captain, hold your ponies back!” Celestia ordered then took flight after her sister.
They were nearly halfway to the castle when the magic shifted and an inpony howl echoed through the night. ‘Sunset!’ Were they already too late?
Heedless of the danger, Celestia surged forward, passing her sister as she desperately tried to reach her student. Even so, the magic faded from the tower long before she reached it. She didn’t hesitate, throwing open the door with her magic and finally skidding to a stop just inside the door. Sunset was there; at least, Celestia believed it was Sunset. The pony in the center of the room was taller, likely even taller than Luna. Her fur was longer, looking unkempt. Large webbed wings hung limply at her sides as she was slowly climbing to her hooves. The wings were far larger than the average nocturne, the webbing connecting all the way back to the base of her tail. As she raised her head, Celestia saw her horn was also longer, and curved back slightly like the eastern unicorns.
She whimpered as she slowly got to her hooves, her large wings flexing and folding back to her sides.
“Sunset?”
Sunset spun to face her, fangs glinting in the light from the door, but Celestia hardly noticed them. No Celestia’s focus was on Sunset’s eyes. The were wide and filled with a single emotion. Fear.
Without warning her horn lit up with a crimson light and magic swirled around her like blood red flames, hiding her from view. When they cleared, Sunset was gone.
Celestia stood staring at the place where the transformed Sunset had stood. There was too much magic still in the air to trace her. So Celestia just continued staring at where she’d last seen her student. What had she done?
“Sister…” Luna said softly, having arrived just before Sunset had vanished.
“Oh Sunset…” Celestia closed her eyes against the tears that were even now filling them. Whatever Sunset had done, somehow she knew that it was her fault. She felt Luna step to her side, nuzzling her neck. She appreciated the gesture, but at that moment it only served to remind her of the last time she’d failed somepony she loved.
“Luna… you’ve always been more clever when it comes to magic… see what you can make of this. What was Sunset trying to do?”
Luna looked up at her concerned, but nodded and went over to the worktable where many of Sunset’s notes still lay out in the open. Noticing another sheet discarded on the floor, Luna used her magic to gather it as well.
Meanwhile, Celestia went to the center of the room and simply stared at the spot where Sunset had vanished.
What had driven her student to this? How had she not seen the signs… No. She knew how. So many canceled lessons, some outright forgotten. She’d been seeing her first personal student less and less, ever since Luna’s return. Even this very night, she’d canceled their lessons… if she hadn’t… If only she’d been there for her student… But no, she’d been at a dinner party for foreign dignitaries that hadn’t even had the curtesy to send word ahead of time.
She shook her head. No, one night wouldn’t have caused this. This was something that had been building for some time… something she’d failed to notice… again.
“Father’s stars…”
Celestia looked up at Luna’s exclamation. “Have you found something?” Celestia asked, with little hope in her voice.
Luna looked up at her, then held up a sheet covered with notes and drawings of complex arrays. “Sister… this, this is a spell to turn a regular pony into an alicorn.”
So that was it. Sunset’s old ambition. “What did she do wrong?”
Looking back at the sheets, Luna’s eyes were wide as she shook her head. “Nothing… Celestia, this spell… I’m certain this spell would work!”
Celestia sighed. “Obviously not, sister. You saw as well as I, that was not an alicorn form.”
“Yes, but the fault was not in the spell,” she insisted.
“What do you mean?” Celestia asked looking over at her sister sadly.
“Sister, she used dark magic to power it.”
Bitter realization made Celestia close her eyes. She knew well the price of dark magic.
Luna shook her head. “It would work… but the amount of magic required is far more than anypony alive could ever manage alone. Not even you or I could cast it, not that it would do us any good, and that is if it is cast on one’s self, casting it on another more than triples the cost. Even a full circle of six couldn’t cast it, not even if both of us took part.
“Your student must have realized this, so she sought a way to gather a sufficient pool of mana for one pony to cast it. Unfortunately, her search led her to dark magic,” she sighed. “A dead end of course, even if ponies were to volunteer, to give their magic freely, the extraction would be painful and that pain would corrupt the magic… But clearly, she did not know the risks of such magic. She didn’t know that the magic would corrupt her spell… that it would punish her.”
Celestia lowered her eyes. Hadn’t she warned Sunset about the cost of dark magic? No, she hadn’t had she. She’d simply taught her that it was forbidden except in rare, very controlled circumstances. It never occurred to her that Sunset might not know why dark magic was forbidden. “I should have warned her. I should have… I should have known… known that she was looking into dark magic… Oh light, the proposal she made to the arch-mages; she must have wanted volunteers to gather magic from.” She shook her head, tears coming to her eyes. She collapsed down to her belly. “If only I’d paid closer attention; I could have warned her before she made a mistake. But I’ve neglected her… I wasn’t there when she needed me… I didn’t give her the attention she deserved.” With a whimper, she looked up at her sister, a pleading look in her eyes. “Oh, Luna, why do I always hurt the ones I care for the most?”
Luna quickly set Sunset’s notes aside and wrapped her sister in a comforting embrace. “Do not blame yourself, sister. You have many responsibilities that demand much of your time. It is not your fault…”
“But it is! A thousand years ago I neglected you, and because of that I lost you for a thousand years! And now my neglect has cost me my beloved student as well.”
“You have not lost Sunset!” Luna told her firmly, stepping back and forcing Celestia to look into her eyes. “The magic will have altered her form, but you saw the look she gave us before she vanished. That was not the look of the madness that took me. That was fear in her eyes. She knew what she had done was wrong. She was frightened, and in pain. She ran because she couldn’t bear to face you in her guilt. But she is both alive and sane! You need only find her and you can set things right!”
Celestia looked into her younger sister’s crystal blue eyes and took heart. “You’re right… Sunset isn’t lost to me… not yet.”
Luna nodded firmly. “Her crimes thus far have been relatively minor. You can yet be lenient. We need only find her before she goes too far.”
“Yes.” Celestia agreed, but then sagged once more. “Unfortunately, I haven’t a clue where to start.”
“We start, by regrouping with the guard, and gathering all information we can.” Luna provided, then turned back to Sunset’s notes. “As for this… it would be best if we keep this safe, lest another make the same mistake.” With a flick of her horn, she gathered all the notes and rolled them up into one roll, tucking it under her wing.
“Indeed. The temptation of becoming an alicorn would likely lead a great number of ponies into the trap of dark magic.” Celestia agreed, sadly, but then slowly smiled as she looked up at Luna. “But if we were to find a way to power the spell safely…”
“It could very well usher in a new age for Equestria,” Luna said solemnly.
Celestia nodded. “And should that happen, I will make sure that Sunset receives the credit she deserves.”
~~~
There were several streams running down the cliffs into Canterlot. Most of the largest, of course, formed beautiful waterfalls as they fed into the main channels flowing through the city before pouring over the side into the valley below. But a few of the smaller streams were far enough from the main channels and small enough, that they instead poured down through a grate along the cliffside into what was in appearance, a sewer. One that simply carried the run-off of these small streams along the cliffs to connect with one of the main channels. These tunnels weren’t connected to the main sewer network in Canterlot, and had few maintenance entrances. It was there, behind the downpour of one of the streams, in the cold, damp tunnel that Sunset sat in the darkness, her wings wrapped around her body against the chill.
Her body trembled as she sat. Not from the cold, but from the soft sobs that wracked her frame. The pain had faded shortly after the transformation had been complete, now her pain was entirely emotional. The guilt of what she’d done, the shame of her failure. What had she done wrong? She’d gone over the spell again and again, checked every detail, run the calculations hundreds of times.
With a sniff she folded her wings and stood, walking over to the edge of the pool fed by the stream pouring in from above. Looking down, she could just make out her reflection in the rippling water. Her longer curved and sharpened horn, and fangs were the most obvious of her changes. Looking closer, however she could see her coat had become longer, her snout a little sharper and her colors faded slightly. As for the rest of her body, she was definitely taller. She had been about average for a unicorn, now she likely matched the newly returned Princess Luna or even Princess Cadence. And her wings…
A tear fell from her eye as she stretched out the two large, bat-like wings. Far larger than the average pegasus, they were far from the elegant feathered wings she’d had only a glimpse of before the spell had turned horribly wrong. Those had been wings to inspire admiration, respect; these… these were the wings of a monster. Even the outcast nocturnes’ wings weren’t nearly as intimidating being not much larger than a pegasus’ wings.
Why had her spell done this to her? Where had she gone wrong? That everything seemed functional was little comfort. She closed her eyes, refolding her wings as more tears fell to the water below.
She was getting thirsty.
The mountain streams pouring into Canterlot were known for their purity, so she didn’t hesitate to reach down to the pool and take a drink of the cool clear water. After a few moments, she straitened again, frowning. She still felt thirsty… but not for water.
What else would she be thirsty for?
Taking a deep breath, she tried to put it out of mind. She had more important things to worry about now. She knew she should turn herself in. Now that her anger had faded she knew that she deserved to be thrown in the dungeon. She could handle that; she deserved it. But she didn’t think she could face Celestia after what she’d done. Something that would be unavoidable if she did turn herself in.
They’d be searching for her by now; Celestia had seen her after all; and she knew enough of the guard’s methods to know that these drainways would be searched. The trick would be to keep moving until she could slip into an area they’d already searched.
Following the outflow, she made her way down the tunnel to where it connected to one of the main channels, passing under a small bridge for the lower walkway that ran all along the river. There she paused, still in the shadows of the tunnel’s entrance, and listened. There were two ponies nearby, walking along the path, but no sign of any guards.
The two ponies were coming her way, however. Two young mares, likely her own age. Unsure how they would react to her appearance, she slipped back further into the tunnel where the shadows would hide her while the two passed.
There voices became clearer as they drew near, not that what they were talking about mattered to Sunset. They were merely speaking about how much more beautiful the stars looked ever since Princess Luna’s return. Sunset had heard as much before, though she hadn’t taken the time to see for herself. Perhaps she would ask for a dungeon cell with a window so she could see the night princess’ work…
The mares reached the bridge at the entrance of the tunnel and started across, not even sparing a glance in Sunset’s direction.
Then she caught their scent.
The thirst she’d felt before came roaring back, clawing at her insides as her mind registered one thing about their scent: they smelled good.
Eyes widening, she hurriedly backed away, even as the thirst began clawing at her mind. Why did ponies smell good!?
Sunset stumbled in her haste, her hooves clattering loudly in her efforts to recover, but ultimately falling anyway.
“Is someone there?” One of the mares called out sounding nervous as she and her friend paused on the bridge.
Sunset couldn’t respond. The thirst was overwhelming. It clawed at her mind. Her mouth opened almost on its own as her body screamed at her that she needed what she could smell from the ponies. She tried to fight it. Tried to maintain control. But it was in vain, everything went black.
The hot metallic taste filling her mouth was the first thing Sunset became aware of as conscious thought slowly returned. It tasted good. Really good. Then she realized she could also feel fur in her mouth, and something solid, something that twitched.
Her eyes opened. Opened to a nightmare.
One of the mares was lying nearby, unconscious or worse. Two small puncture wounds in her neck still dripping with blood that marred her coat around her throat. And the other mare…
The other mare was under Sunset, held pinned with her throat in Sunset’s mouth, blood pouring down her throat from the punctures her fangs had made. She wasn’t moving either.
Eyes wide, Sunset let go of the mare’s neck and leaped back. Blood continued to flow from the mare’s neck, staining her coat and creating a small pool on the cobblestone path; every beat of her heart adding more to the gruesome scene. In horror, Sunset looked back and forth between the two mares. She could still taste the blood on her tongue, feel it coating her muzzle, staining her fur; and in that moment, she realized one terrible fact: She wasn’t thirsty anymore. Throwing her head back, she screamed.
“Princess Celestia, there’s been another incident.”
Celestia sighed heavily. So far they’d had no luck in finding Sunset, though a search of the city was well underway. “Related?” Celestia asked the Pegasus guard that had brought the message.
“Unknown.” He said shaking his head. “A resident near the cliffside along the Canterhorn river reported hearing multiple screams coming from the canal. The guard investigated and two mares were found unconscious with puncture wounds in their necks as well as a few other injuries and signs of struggle. They’re alive, but both had lost a dangerous amount of blood and have been taken for medical care. Oddly, the guards that were on the scene reported that only one of the victims had a pool of blood near them, and he said even that didn’t seem to account for the amount of blood she’d lost.”
Celestia frowned and looked to her sister. Luna knew what she was thinking. “She did have fangs…” Luna reminded her.
Wincing at the memory she shook her head. “No. Draining ponies to power her magic aside, I refuse to believe that Sunset would willingly attack innocent ponies in such a violent manner.”
“None the less, perhaps I should investigate just in case.” Luna suggested.
Reluctantly Celestia shook her head. “No, we both should. We haven’t any leads here and it will be reassuring to our ponies to see us both investigating such violent crimes.”
Luna nodded, watching her sister carefully. She may not want to admit it, but Luna could tell that her sister was worried that the incidents were, in fact, connected. “Very well, sister,” she said then turned to the guard. “Lead the way.”
The guard took flight and both princesses followed, easily keeping pace. It didn’t take long before they’d reached the scene. Celestia’s eyes turned sad as they landed. She never liked seeing any of her little ponies harmed.
Both victims had already been taken for medical care, but outlines on the ground marked where they had lain. The guard had blocked off the area, but despite the late hour, a crowd of ponies had gathered watching curiously.
“Princesses!” The guard in charge greeted bowing along with the rest of the guard and most of the crowd.
“As you were, tell us what you know, Sargent.”
He nodded and turned toward the scene. “At this time, we aren’t sure who or even what was responsible, the mare that reported the incident only heard several screams; she didn’t see anything. The two victims were laid out here and here. Both had two puncture wounds on their necks as well as various other bruises and injuries indicating a struggle.” He said gesturing to the chalk outlines that were marked ‘A’ and ‘B’. “At first, we thought A had been the first attacked due to the amount of blood, but now we’re unsure. The medics informed us that victim B had been drained of blood to dangerously low levels, for this reason her wounds didn’t bleed as much. What was more, A’s right hind leg was broken. Our current theory is that this was to prevent her from running while the attacker drained B of blood.”
“Viciously efficient. I suppose it is unlikely that this is an animal attack then?” Celestia asked.
“I cannot say for certain; disabling one victim while attacking the other seems to indicate intelligence, but the rest of it…” He shook his head. “What’s more, the puncture wounds on their necks appeared to be bite marks from a creature roughly pony in size bearing fangs. I don’t know of any intelligent creature that fits, except possibly a Nocturne…”
Luna looked at him sharply. “No Nocturne would commit such a violent act!”
“Forgive me, Princess.” He said quickly. “I did not mean to suggest a Nocturne was responsible; just that they are the only intelligent species I know of with such fangs. So, the perpetrator is either not an intelligent species or were dealing with a species I’ve never heard of before.”
Reluctantly, Luna nodded acceptance of his apology. It still appalled her how the Nocturne had been treated over the years and she would not have them spoken ill of now. It was one of the few things she was still upset with Celestia about; that her sister hadn’t even noticed the prejudice that had been directed toward the bat winged ponies.
“Was there any sign of where the attacker might have fled?” Celestia asked.
He shook his head. “The tunnel is the obvious choice, but we’ve already searched it end to end. There were some fresh hoofprints in a few places, but whoever made them was long gone before we arrived.”
“Very well, carry on with your investigation and please make sure that I am kept up to date on the victims’ condition.”
He gave a small but respectful bow, recognizing a dismissal. “Of course, princess.”
Luna waited until he was out of earshot before speaking. “Sister… I fear this may be your student’s doing.”
“Sunset would never do such a thing!” Celestia hissed sharply.
“I know, sister, but the signs…”
“You said it yourself, Sunset was still sane when we saw her!”
Luna sighed. “I know. But we don’t know what the dark magic did to her, how it punished her… She may be struggling to maintain her sanity, or perhaps this is part of dark magic’s punishment for her. Whatever it may be, it is imperative that we find her. And if this wasn’t her doing, then we’ll know. But only if we find her.”
Reluctantly Celestia nodded.
Luna gave her a reassuring smile. “Let us regroup with the rest of the guard and see if there have been any developments.
“Yes. You’re right, Luna…” Celestia said staring at the outlines of the two victims; “we have to find her.”
~~~
In the center of Sunset’s workroom, crimson flames burst to life swirling briefly before clearing to reveal Sunset herself. Without wasting a single moment, she dashed to her desk eyes searching for what she’d come for. It wasn’t there; the desk was bare of any of her notes.
‘No, no, no, NO! How can I fix this if I can’t figure out where I went wrong!’ Sunset wanted to scream in frustration, but she dared not make a sound. There were guards posted on the tower, she knew.
Looking around she clung to the vain hope that perhaps her notes had just been blown off the desk during the casting; but deep down she knew that wasn’t the case. ‘The princesses or guard must have taken them as evidence…’ She gave a soft whimper. All that remained was the rune circle drawn across the floor, and the multitude of golden feathers that had fallen in the center. She looked at them and shuddered at the memory of the pain as her wings had twisted and stretched.
No, no time. The rune circle probably wouldn’t be enough, but it was at least something. Pulling a new roll of parchment and ink from the storage cabinet she quickly used a transcription spell to copy the circle back onto the parchment. That done she took one last look around the room just in case something, anything, had been missed.
She’d just about finished a final pass of the room when an anti-teleportation ward went up over the tower.
“Stop right there!” A rough voice shouted even as the door slammed open.
Sunset didn’t hesitate; nor did she panic. She’d designed her flame burst teleportation specifically to be unaffected by wards, as well as being untraceable. Crimson flames surrounded her once more, and when they faded, she was back in the crystal caves.
She’d spent some time exploring the crystal caves over the years. They ran for miles and miles under the mountain and much of them had never been explored. Most ponies didn’t even remember they existed. Sunset knew the princesses had closed off the caves around the same time they began building Canterlot Castle. That had been shortly before Luna’s fall. She also knew that they were never patrolled by the guard. The known entrances were all closed off after all. But there were others, several others.
It was the perfect hideout for her until she could fix whatever the spell had done to her… or work up the nerve to turn herself in.
The memory of two ponies lying one the ground, bleeding, with the taste their blood in her mouth… Sunset shuddered. She couldn’t bear the thought of Princess Celestia seeing her as such a monster. She had to fix this. Then she could turn herself in and face the consequences of her crimes.
She just had to figure out where she’d gone wrong… fortunately she’d already acquired quills, ink, parchment, and a few other supplies from one of the school’s labs and stashed them in the chamber she’d made into her hideout. So, she taped up the copy she’d made of the rune circle and set about writing down everything she could remember about her spell. She wouldn’t be sleeping tonight.
~~~
It was well after midnight by the time Celestia finally returned to her chambers. She and Luna hadn’t returned to the dinner with the Saddle Arabian delegates. The thought of returning to the party that was the reason she hadn’t been there for Sunset when her student had needed her most… It made her sick to the stomach.
Instead, she and Luna had overseen the guard in their search for Sunset as well as investigating the second attack and checking on the victims. So far neither the search nor investigation had had any success. Sunset might as well have vanished and as for the other; they still didn’t even know who or what was responsible. At least, that was what Celestia wanted to believe. Deep down, though, she knew Luna was probably right… Sunset did have fangs when they’d seen her. Fangs that were just the right size for the wounds they’d seen and for such an attack to occur on the very same night.
Understandably, she wasn’t feeling ready to sleep just now, so instead she stepped out onto her balcony overlooking the city. Once there, she looked up at the moon shining brightly over the city, blessedly free of the dark silhouette that had tarnished its face for so long. For a long time, she just stared up at the moon.
Some time later a shadow crossed the moon, though Celestia didn’t really notice. She was so deep in thought she didn’t even see her sister’s approach until she was landing on the balcony next to her.
“Sister, you should be resting.” Luna admonished, stepping to her sister’s side.
“And you should not?” Celestia countered halfheartedly.
“If I am to resume my duties at princess of the night, then I should begin adjusting to a nighttime schedule, should I not?”
“I suppose that is true.” Celestia sighed, though deep down she wished it didn’t have to be that way; she liked having her sister around during the day. They’d already lost so much time together. “Has there been any developments in the search efforts?”
“There has, actually.” Luna said and Celestia looked up sharply at her reserved tone. It was clear that what her sister came to tell her wasn’t exactly good news.
“What is it?”
“The guards we left watching Sunset’s tower just reported a break in. They believe it was Sunset herself. They say that she somehow got inside without them noticing. She was there for an unknown amount of time before the guards noticed the light of her magic inside. When they did, they attempted to restrain her.”
Celestia winced. “Were they hurt?”
“Nay, sister. There was not a fight. She didn’t need to. According to the guards she left using the same teleportation spell we saw her use earlier; but this spell apparently ignored the anti-teleportation wards that the guards employed. What is more, the guards also claim the spell to be untraceable.”
Lowering her head, Celestia closed her eyes.
“Sister, if your student truly has created a teleportation spell that bypasses our wards and is untraceable, then capturing her may be all but impossible for the guard.” Luna said softly, watching her Sister in concern. For a time, Celestia was silent.
“If she returned to the tower, then she was looking for something; most likely her notes and designs for the spell. Which most likely means she is trying to find out what went wrong, to find a way to fix whatever the dark magic did to her.” Celestia said finally.
“Sister, you know as well as I, that that will be an all but impossible task.”
“It will likely take more power than the spell that caused it.” Celestia agreed.
“And the only way Sunset knows of to gain that much power…” Luna trailed off.
Celestia looked up, fear all too clear in her eyes. “We have to find her before she makes the same mistake again!”
Luna nodded. “We will.” She said softly, putting a wing around her sister’s shoulders. “But for now, you must rest. I will keep watch over the night.”
Reluctantly, she nodded, though she knew she would not sleep easily. “Sister…” She said softly. “I may require your aid this night…”
“I will watch over your dreams, Sister. I will always watch over you.”
Celestia smiled thankfully, and giving her sister a gentle nuzzle, turned and returned to her chambers. Even with Luna’s aid, she doubted she would sleep well tonight.
~~~
A loud crack echoed through the chamber as Sunset slammed her hoof down on the stone floor of the cave. “Dammit!” She cried out in frustration. All around her the cave was littered with notes and diagrams, some taped up in various places around the chamber, but far more were discarded and cast down to litter the floor. It had been three days; three days since she’d holed up in the chamber. Three days, and three nearly sleepless nights. She’d written down everything, all that she could remember about the spell, every last detail, but still, she couldn’t find where she went wrong.
Fearing it was a dead end, that there was something she’d forgotten, she’d turned her focus to what exactly the spell had done, what had changed, and to see if she could formulate a new spell to undo the changes, or to perhaps cancel whatever curse that had been lain on her. So far that too was proving fruitless. She’d performed numerous scans on both her body and magic; what she’d found was that there was no curse; no magic holding her in this twisted form. Her body had been fundamentally, and permanently changed. Even her magic was changed. And as far as the medical scans were concerned, her body was in perfect health. The only good news was that her magic did appear to be alicorn magic now, small comfort as that was.
What that meant however, was that it would take a spell just as powerful as the first to alter her body again; and unless she could figure out what she’d done wrong, she just risked repeating the same mistake. But it was the only option she could see. She’d have to recreate her spell, do her best to make sure there’s no mistakes…
But the thirst…
She’d felt it growing stronger each day… every hour that passed. She tried to ignore it but it was getting worse; distracting her, making it impossible for her to think. She knew what it was now, what she needed to satisfy it. She had to resist.
There had to be some magic, some spell, that would alleviate her thirst, or at least suppress it. If she could just buy herself enough time to fix whatever she’d done wrong… If she could just…
~~~
Luna sighed heavily, walking the halls of the castle, it was well after moonrise and she’d just seen to it that her sister had retired to her chambers. She was worried about Celestia. Sunset’s unknown whereabouts was weighing heavily on her. The search continued, though it had yet to produce any results and at this point, Luna was beginning to suspect they wouldn’t find Sunset until she showed herself again. From what she’d found out about the mare, she knew enough about the guard and their methods to avoid them indefinitely. And clearly, wherever she’d holed up; it was somewhere unknown to the guard.
Luna feared that until Sunset was found, Celestia’s condition would only grow worse day by day. She’d already found that Celestia had canceled her usual afternoon court sessions ever since her student had vanished, along with several other meetings that while important, weren’t vital to the running of Equestria.
If this continued however, Luna knew she’d have to start picking up the slack, despite her inexperience in the modern age. She just wished she could do more concerning Sunset. She should have followed up on her worries when she’d first suspected the mare might look into dark magic.
She shook her head, there was no point in dwelling on what she should have done. She needed something she could do. If only she could find a way to locate her. But her searches in the dream realm hadn’t been any more successful than the guard’s search. She wasn’t familiar enough with Sunset to be able to call her dream to her as she could with Celestia. Truly she was not yet familiar enough with anypony in this age to do so. And so she was left to wander the dream realm aimlessly hoping she’d stumble across the mare’s dream.
Reaching one of the castle’s balconies she stepped out into the night and turned her gaze up toward her moon. Though it had been her prison, she still found comfort in her moon’s beauty, and always sought its light when she needed to think.
She’d only been there a few short minutes when a shadow swept up from the city, climbing high over the rooftops. Luna looked in surprise as it approached the moon in the night sky. It couldn’t be. The shadow reached the moon and was silhouetted against it, her bat like wings spread wide.
‘It’s her!’ Luna realized, and leaped into the air without a moment’s hesitation. "Sunset Shimmer! Wait!" She shouted urgently, hoping her sister's student might be willing to speak with her if she were still too ashamed to see her sister. But then the mare turned her head, looking back at her with one eye and Luna felt her blood freeze. There was no compassion in that look, no personality, nothing one would expect from a living being. Instead it was cold, calculating, and at the same time feral. It was as if everything that had made her Sunset Shimmer had been locked away, leaving only raw intelligence driven by primal instinct and her most primitive of needs.
The next instant, the familiar crimson flames encircled her and she was gone.
Luna continued on to where she’d been regardless and there came to a hover, scanning the magic residue left by the spell. It was just as the guard had said: She could find no way to trace the spell’s destination.
This wasn’t good; she knew a predator on the hunt when she saw one.
The nightmare had gotten worse. Sunset stared down at the pegasus mare who’s blood she could still taste on her tongue, feeling as if she may be sick. It wasn’t enough that the mare was unconscious by her doing; that she bore the puncture wounds in her neck of Sunset’s fangs. It wasn’t enough that the mare’s wing was twisted oddly and clearly badly broken, or the various other scrapes and bruises from the struggle Sunset couldn’t remember. No, what truly brought the bile to Sunset’s throat for what she had done, was the slight bulge in the mare’s belly, in her otherwise trim body.
With a tortured cry, she pointed her curved horn skyward and sent a bright red flare into the sky. Once the area was bathed in crimson light, she teleported to a nearby tower with an enclosed top floor to wait. She couldn’t just run off as she had the first time. She had to make sure the mare was found…
It wasn’t long before a squad of pegasus guards flew in. Sunset’s ears twitched hearing their wing beats clearly in the all too silent streets.
“By Celestia, not again!” One of the guards gasped as he saw the fallen mare. “Swiftwing, go for a medevac team! Thunder Strike, Sky Sight, search the area; last time there were two victims!”
Three of the pegasi took to the air again, but Sunset kept to the shadows within the top of the tower, wanting to make sure they got the mare help in time. She watched as the remaining guards began giving the mare first aid, hoping it wasn’t already too late. It wasn’t long before one of the pegasi returned.
“We found a second victim, Sir. Unicorn, stallion; in his thirties. He’s breathing but unconscious. Skysight is administering first aid, but he’s lost a lot of blood.”
Sunset’s heart sank further, hearing the report, and she looked skyward, hoping to see one of the chariots the guard used for their paramedic teams. She had to wait another couple minutes before one finally appeared.
As soon as they landed, the paramedics quickly gathered the fallen mare. “Just like the first two…” One of them said. “Get the blood replenishing potion.”
Sunset watched a moment more, then decided there was nothing more she could do. With a burst of flames, she was gone.
~~~
Luna was already in the dining hall, though her sister had only just raised the sun. She wasn’t looking forward to what she had to tell Celestia when she arrived; she’d began a search soon after her encounter with Sunset, but it had proven in vain. It wasn’t even an hour later that she’d received the report from the guard concerning the two latest victims… three, truth be told. She knew her sister wasn’t going to like the news.
She sighed, there would be no denying the truth now.
Celestia was later than usual, reaching the dining hall. One look, and Luna could tell her sister hadn’t slept well at all. It wasn’t nightmares that had disturbed her sleep. Luna had made sure of that. But unfortunately, there wasn’t much she could do if Celestia couldn’t get to sleep in the first place.
“Morning, Sister.” Luna said giving a weak smile.
Celestia looked at her seeming to just notice that she was already there. “Good morning, Luna.” She said with a yawn. It was all the more reaction she gave until she took her own seat at the table.
Luna frowned and gave a nod to the guard at the door. He quickly stepped out and spoke to someone in the hall. A moment later the castle cooks brought in their breakfast, quickly serving them before quietly leaving once more. It spoke volumes that Celestia didn’t even complain that she hadn’t cooked it herself as she began listlessly eating.
“Sister, I’m afraid I have some news concerning Sunset Shimmer.”
Celestia looked up sharply. “Good news?” She asked hopefully despite her sister’s expression.
Luna sighed. “I’m afraid not. Shortly after you retired, I spotted her flying over the city. I flew after her and called out to her, but then she looked at me… Sister, the look in her eyes, It was not the look of a thinking being. The look she gave me was cold, unfeeling and feral; a predator on the hunt.”
Celestia winced, closing her eyes and lowering her head.
“Some time after I saw her, I received word of another attack. Two victims, drained of blood, just as the first two were. A unicorn stallion and a pegasus mare. Both were given blood replenishing potions and taken to Canterlot General for further treatment. I’m afraid the mare was pregnant. So far both mother and foal are expected to recover, but they intend to keep a close watch on them for the next few days.”
Head down, Celestia nodded acknowledgement. “Do you think Sunset is lost then?” She asked, wanting to know, but dreading the answer all the same.
“Maybe not.” Luna said softly, and Celestia looked up, hope returning to her eyes.
“Something more?” She asked and Luna nodded.
“The guard squad that found the victims reported that they were responding to a flare. However, when they arrived, they found only the victims and there was no sign of who had cast the flare. Then just after the paramedic team arrived, one of the guards reported a burst of crimson flames in a nearby tower, but when he investigated, he found nothing.”
Luna could see the pieces fitting together in her sister’s eyes, coming to the same conclusion she’d made herself. “Sunset Stayed long enough to make sure the mare got help. She must have come to her senses and seen what she’d done…” Celestia said, hopefully.
“That was my thought as well,” Luna said with a nod. “Whatever is happening to her, it appears to be driving her to seek blood every few days. And when it does, she loses all control, entering a feral state…”
Celestia nodded, thinking, their breakfast all but forgotten. “But surely she doesn’t think I would blame her if she is losing control. Why wouldn’t she come to me for help?”
“You would know better than I, sister? Is she the kind of mare that would seek help?”
She sighed heavily. “No, Sunset is proud. She would try to take care of it herself, and only when her attempts fail will she seek help.”
Luna frowned. “Then it seems we will simply have to keep searching and hope she comes forward before more victims are added to her toll.”
Celestia shook her head. “No… I mean yes, but… I’m not doing enough myself. I want to join the search directly.”
“But sister, your responsibilities…”
“Yes, I know,” she said tiredly, looking over at her sibling with a pleading look. “Luna. I have a favor to ask…”
Luna sighed, knowing all too well what that favor would be. “Sister, I will do whatever I can, of course, but I am only recently returned; I do not know enough of the modern government’s workings to take on more than a few or your responsibilities.”
“I’d only need you to take over a few things, the rest can be put on hold until this is resolved.” Celestia insisted.
It was entirely likely she would end up doing those things whether she agreed to or not, Luna knew; but she was more than willing to help her sister after all the work Celestia put into orchestrating her own release from the nightmare she’d become. “Tell me what needs to be done.”
~~~
The frantic scratch of a quill was the only sound that could be heard in the cave that Sunset had made her lair. There was hardly any of the stone floor that wasn’t covered with crumpled and discarded pages as she ran calculation after calculation trying desperately to figure out what had gone wrong with her spell, and how to fix it. Whenever the scratching slowed and her eyes began to drift shut, the image of a young pegasus… a mother to be… lying there in the street, the dark stain of blood covering her neck filled her thoughts and the intensity of the scratching would intensify.
She had to find a way to fix it. She had to; before she hurt anypony else… before she killed somepony.
A shiver ran through her body at the thought. She hoped she hadn’t killed anypony. By Celestia, she hoped she hadn’t killed anypony.
What she’d already done was bad enough; but at least with those she’d drained of magic, she’d been in enough control to make sure she didn’t do any permanent damage… Except with Runic Passage, she thought guiltily. There was a good chance his magic would be permanently weakened after what she’d done… But even then, she’d been in enough control to make sure she didn’t put his life in danger. That was not the case with the victims of her thirst. She wasn’t an expert in the medical field by any means, but being drained of so much blood was definitely dangerous. She didn’t even know for certain if they’d survived. She couldn’t let it happen again.
But so far, her attempts at fixing herself had been fruitless. As had her attempts to find a way to control the thirst. No matter what she did, she could feel the thirst growing stronger every hour she went without blood. If she couldn’t find a way to control the thirst… then perhaps she’d have to control the feeding.
The scratching of her quill paused as Sunset considered that option. If she were to satisfy the thirst before she lost control again, then maybe she could stop herself from taking too much. At least then the ponies’ lives wouldn’t be in danger. But that would mean assaulting ponies to take their blood. Obviously, she already had, but in this case, she’d be doing it by choice. There was no way anypony would let her take their blood willingly. At least if she was in control she could make sure they weren’t hurt any more than a couple puncture wounds and a little blood loss.
Sunset shook her head angrily. Why was she even considering it!? No! She was the most talented unicorn in all of Equestria!... Well, second most talented… She wouldn’t have to resort to such desperate measures. She’d find a way to fix this. She had almost three days before she’d lose control again. She’d find a way!
The image of a pegasus mare, young and obviously pregnant, lying on the ground unconscious and broken winged flashed through Sunset’s mind. She hoped she’d find a way.
~~~
The throne room was empty except for the royal sisters. Luna was about to hold night court for the first time since her return and usually she would have been nervous, but at the moment she was too concerned for her sister to worry about herself. Two days had passed since the last attack and she’d managed to take enough of the vital responsibilities of running Equestria to give Celestia at least a few hours to focus on finding Sunset each night. The first night, Celestia had spent trying every scrying and locating spell she’d ever learned, to no avail. Sunset’s magical signature had changed too severely for any of them to get a lock on her. Now Celestia was trying to plan her next move.
“You don’t think she’ll surface tonight?”
Luna shook her head. “No. There were three days between the first two attacks, and it appears she took roughly the same amount of blood each time.”
Celestia frowned. “That’s not much to go off of.”
“True.” Luna conceded. “But I think it is reasonable to believe that the same amount of blood will last her the same amount of time.”
“If your theory is correct.”
“Yes.”
Celestia sighed. “In which case she’d likely lose control again tomorrow night. There has to be something I can do before then.”
“I do not see what else you can do, sister. The guard has been searching for days to no avail. Your student clearly knows how to hide.”
“I know Sunset better than anyone. I just have to think about what she would do…”
Holding her tongue, Luna did not point out that she hadn’t known her student well enough to see this coming. Instead she focused on the problem. Perhaps there was something else that could be done…
“Wait; Luna! If Sunset is going to lose control again on the third night, and she knows it, then if she’s going to try something desperate, it will likely be tonight!”
~~~
Berry Bit yawned briefly as he made his way toward the bakery in lower Canterlot where he worked. It was well before sunrise, but that was a baker’s life. Early as it was there wasn’t anypony else on the streets save for a few guard patrols. There’d been a lot more patrols as of late, but he wasn’t sure why. Something about an ongoing search, but that was as much as he knew.
Otherwise, this part of Canterlot was always quite this time in the morning. It wasn’t one of the wealthier neighborhoods, not by a long shot, but it was a pleasant enough part of the city, with little crime, a nice marketplace, and plenty of friendly neighbors. He smiled a bit smugly; and the fourth highest rated bakery in the entire city. A rating they earned the year he started working there, not that he was claiming credit, of course.
Taking an alley that connected the two main roads, he began humming a soft toon. Not too loudly, though; he wouldn’t want to wake any of his neighbors.
A sound of hooves touching down behind him and the beat of heavy wings, accompanied by a rush of air made him freeze. Slowly he turned to look. The last thing he saw was a pair of emerald eyes that seemed to shine unnaturally bright, and the glow of a long, curved horn. Then everything went black.
Sunset looked down at the stallion lying in the shadows of the deserted alley. She swallowed nervously. He seemed to be healthy enough. He could likely handle some blood loss. She’d still had no luck curing herself or resisting her thirst, and she knew she couldn’t wait another night. She was already struggling to control herself. She could smell the stallion’s blood from where she stood and ever fiber of her being was screaming at her to sink her fangs into his neck and drink her fill.
But she couldn’t, she had to only take a little. That was the whole point of doing it herself, she had to only take a little from each victim. Sure there’d be more victims, but at least their lives wouldn’t be in danger; she hoped. When she lost control, she always took a dangerous amount from two ponies. To be safe, she figured she’d have to take just a little from five or six, just enough to satisfy her thirst until she could fix this.
She would find a way to fix herself! She had to! She just needed more time.
Stepping closer, she reached down toward the stallion’s neck. The scent of his blood was intoxicating. Her mouth watered and she found herself licking her lips between her fangs. Opening her jaws, she reached for his throat.
And froze.
Could she really do this? Take this poor stallion’s blood? He’d never done anything to her, she didn’t even know who he was. She hesitated, pulling back slightly.
Her body screamed at her to sink her fangs in, to drink. Slowly she began to reach for his throat again. But then a terrible thought occurred to her: What if, once she tasted his blood, she lost control and ended up taking too much like the first two times? What if he wound up in just as poor condition as the others? It would be no better than when she had lost control before only this time she will have chosen the victim… that almost made it worse!
And even if she didn’t lose control, how would she even know how much she was taking? How could she measure how much she drank? What if she took too much anyway? What if he died because she couldn’t tell how much blood she was taking? She could just try to just take a little, but if she took too little then she’d have to attack dozens of ponies instead of just a few.
The image of the pegasus mare filled her mind. No, she couldn’t let that happen again! She couldn’t control the thirst so she had to control the feeding! She had too!
She reached toward the stallion’s neck once more. This was how it had to be! Until she figured out how to fix it, she had to satisfy her thirst before she lost control again! Still she paused, her fangs poised ready to pierce his neck and draw out his delicious smelling blood! She couldn’t wait to taste…
‘Delicious!?’ She recoiled in shock; stumbling back several steps as she realized she was actually looking forward to the taste of blood in her mouth!
‘No! NO! That’s just the thirst! I… I don’t actually like it! The thirst is just making me think I do!’ She thought furiously. Even so she found herself staring at the unconscious stallion. If she was already so far gone that she couldn’t wait to taste blood again, was it already too late? Would she lose control as soon as the taste hit her tongue?
She began trembling as she thought of accidentally killing him if she did. Who knows how long it would be before he was found if she lost control and drained him like the others? But if she didn’t satisfy her thirst now, she’d definitely lose control! The pegasus mare once again flashed before her eyes. She had to… she couldn’t risk…
…she had to.
…
…
… she couldn’t.
With a scream of anguish, she shot an enervating spell into the stallion and vanished in a burst of crimson flames.
Celestia felt dead on her hooves as she forced herself to trot as regally as she could into the Eastern Canterlot guard station. Not knowing what else she could do; she’d been up patrolling the city with a squad of her personal guard nearly half the night. Then when she’d finally retired to her chambers, she’d spent another hour trying a few more scrying spells she’d found in the library archives.
When she’d finally gotten to sleep it had only been a few scant hours before dawn. Unfortunately, centuries of conditioning had made it impossible for her to sleep past when it was time for dawn. It was then, as she staggered onto her balcony, that Luna had found her and, clearly hesitating, informed her that there had been another incident. Different than the rest, only one pony was involved and he hadn’t actually been injured.
“Your Majesty!” The ranking officer greeted, bowing as she entered.
“The stallion that was attacked, is he still here?” Celestia asked, trying not to sound as impatient as she actually felt. There were times she could hardly bear all the bowing as scraping, and right now she was just hoping she hadn’t missed her chance to question the stallion herself.
“Yes, though we were about to send him on his way.”
“I’d like to speak with him first.”
He nodded. “Of course, this way!”
He led her to a small office where a young stallion was waiting. His eyes widened as Celestia entered the room and almost fell over his own hooves getting up to bow.
“Be at ease, my little pony.” Celestia told him gently. “I only wish to ask you a few questions about what happened, if that’s alright?”
“Yes, of course, your highness!” He said quickly.
Celestia smiled and decided to get right to the point. “I was informed that you reported being attacked, but that you weren’t hurt, nor did you have anything of value that they could have taken. Can you tell me exactly what happened?”
He nodded. “Yes… uh… well, I was on my way to work. I work at a bakery, you see, so I have to start very early in the morning so that we can get the bread and pastries cooked fresh…
“I’m well aware of a baker’s schedule.” Celestia interrupted.
“Oh, right, uh…” He fidgeted, nervously.
Celestia suppressed a sigh and instead put on her best comforting smile. “It’s alright, just tell me about the attack.”
“Okay… uh, I was in an alley that I take every day to get to the bakery when I heard somepony land behind me. Though I don’t think it was a pegasus, the wing beat seemed far too heavy. I turned to look and the last thing I remember was bright green eyes and a red glow. I must have passed out then, because I woke up, laying in the alley several minutes later.”
“The red glow, do you think it was magic, perhaps from a pony’s horn?”
He frowned. “Maybe, it was above the eyes I saw. But they had wings… they… they couldn’t be an alicorn could they!?” he asked as if he feared even doing so was crossing a line.
Celestia frowned. “No, not an alicorn; not quite.” A red glow. By the sound of it, Sunset was in control, but in the past, her magic had always been emerald in color, similar to her eyes. No wonder her attempts at scrying her had failed; for a pony’s magic to change color signified a tremendous change indeed. But had the change been in her magic; or in Sunset herself?
“Your highness?”
Celestia looked down at the Stallion, realizing she’d just been thinking for some time. “Do you mind if I scan you for residual magic? I would like to check something.”
“Oh, uh… no, I don’t mind.”
“Thank you.” Celestia said and lit up her horn, casting the spell. As she’d suspected, there was still residual magic on him, since it had only been a few hours since the incident. The strongest was easily identifiable as an enervating spell. He hadn’t woken on his own then. Being the most recent spell cast on him it was by far the strongest, but there was one other spell there, almost hidden by the first as it was almost the polar opposite; a sleep spell.
Celestia felt a bit of hope join her worry for her student. It appeared Luna was right; whatever had happened to Sunset, she now had to consume pony blood, and if she didn’t, she’d eventually lose control. The amount of blood she’d taken in the first attack had lasted her three days before she’d lost control again. Sunset had realized this and decided to try and feed in a more controlled manner rather than risk doing another pony permanent harm if she lost control again. Clearly, she’d intended to feed from this stallion, but for some reason she hadn’t gone through with it and instead cast a spell to wake him before leaving.
‘Which means that she still hasn’t fed and will likely lose control again tomorrow night.’ Celestia thought with a wince. And thus far she’s been able to evade both Luna and the guard, even when in a feral state. Luna had said she’d even cast her teleportation spell while in that state. Celestia felt torn; that casting such complex spells had become so second nature to Sunset that she could still do so even in such a state was impressive to say the least. But at the same time, she almost wished her student weren’t so skilled. At least this seemed to confirm Luna’s theory…
She froze. It was more than just confirming the theory. The enervating spell Sunset had used would have woken the stallion almost immediately. She looked down at him.
“Do you recall seeing or hearing anything when you woke? Anything at all?”
He frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t think so… I thought maybe there was a flash of light, but I’m not sure.”
If Sunset had run or flown, he almost definitely would have heard her, which meant she most likely had teleported. She was always teleporting away. She’d become reliant on the spell. They may not be able to trace the spell, but teleportation spells always took a lot of power; more than most unicorns could even manage. In addition, every teleportation spell created a surge of power both at where it was cast and at its destination.
She’d already experienced what the spell felt like at its casting location. True she’d been distracted at the time, and there’d been a lot of magic in the air, but she was sure she could recognize it if she felt it again. So, if she were to set up a ward over the city to detect powerful spell casting, she’d just have to wait until she felt Sunset cast the spell again. When she did, any other spikes of magic at the same time would likely be the destination.
But setting up such a ward would not be easy; though she was sure she could recognize it, she wasn’t familiar enough with Sunset’s spell to create a more passive ward with it as the trigger. This would have to be an active ward, requiring constant upkeep, and over the entire city. She doubted she could keep it going for much more than an hour, two at most. It would also need to be subtle, all but undetectable so Sunset wouldn’t notice. She’d need Luna’s help for this, but she was sure they could do it. She gave a firm nod, satisfied that she had a course of action at last.
“Thank you, that’s all I needed.” Celestia told the stallion with a gentle smile. “Rest assured, everything that can be done about this incident is being done.”
He nodded nervously then bowed as Celestia turned to leave. She had preparations to make.
~~~
The cave was silent save for Sunset’s soft breaths. She wasn’t working. She couldn’t concentrate enough to do anything of use. Instead, she laid across the floor, all of her focus going toward maintaining control; trying to resist the thirst. She knew it was a battle she couldn’t win; knew it was only a matter of time; but still she fought. She had to fight, because if she lost control… when she lost control… somepony might die. That was something she couldn’t bear. Not when it wasn’t her choice.
It would happen. She knew it would. It was only a matter of time. That is, if it hadn’t happened already. She didn’t know if all her previous victims had survived. They’d all been alive when she’d last seen or heard; but if any had died later on…
A soft whimper escaped her and for a moment she nearly lost control; nearly lost to the thirst. It was only a matter of time; but she would fight it for as long as she possibly could. She had to.
It wouldn’t be much longer.
~~~
“Are you ready, Luna?” Celestia asked as she entered the workroom where Luna waited. She’d just seen to the setting of the sun and it was time to put her plans into motion.
“I’ve prepared everything you asked, sister; but are you certain that you are up to this? You have hardly slept these past few days.” Luna said, concern clear in her voice.
“I will be fine.” Celestia told her dismissively.
“Cellie, immortal we may be, but we are not without limits. You need more than a single hour of rest.” Luna insisted.
She shook her head. “I can’t afford more, Luna. If we don’t find her tonight… if she were to cause anypony permanent harm… I can’t let that happen. She’d blame herself; I can’t let her have that on her conscience.”
Luna sighed. She knew it would be no use trying to push the issue. Turning toward the center of the workroom, Luna moved to the center of circular design painted on the floor. “I have prepared the array needed for the ward. Together we should be able to keep it going for four hours, perhaps five, but no longer.”
Celestia frowned, thinking. “The first attack was before midnight.”
“And the second was only a little after. But I fear it will still be a matter of luck whether she shows herself while we are casting the ward or not.” Luna told her.
“Then let us hope luck is with us.”
Luna watched her a moment more, then nodded. “Harmony willing, this will end tonight.” She said, trying to sound more confident than she felt. “I will do the casting.”
“Luna, I’m not so exhausted that I can’t cast the ward. I know what Sunset’s spell feels like. I should…”
“That is not what I meant, sister. I too know what your student’s spell feels like, I have felt it cast once more than you have. What is more, if I’m the one casting, then if we do detect her and you go to find her; I will be able to keep the ward going for a time in case she tries to escape you. And tell you where she goes via mind link.”
“Oh, right. That makes sense.” Celestia admitted with a slight wince. Perhaps she was more exhausted than she thought. Regardless, this couldn’t wait. She had to find Sunset before any more ponies were hurt… before Sunset suffered any more guilt added to her conscience. “Let’s end this.”
Luna sighed, but nodded. “Yes, let us end this.” She centered herself in the array and gestured to a circle in front of her. “Take your place, and we will begin.”
Celestia did as she was told. Once she was in place, Luna’s horn lit up and she began casting the spell. Celestia’s horn lit up a moment later. She could feel the spell Luna was casting, feel the shape of the magic. Focusing she began to overlay her magic on top of Luna’s weaves letting Luna’s magic guide it. Immediately she felt the resistance of forcing their magic to work together, but with only two of them it was negligible and soon the ward took form.
It was like opening another eye, one that wasn’t confined to their physical bodies. All of Canterlot was within its view. It wasn’t physical light they were seeing, but magic. To this new vision ponies appeared as masses of light, varying in brightness according to their internal magic. But they were hardly all there was to see. Magic was everywhere. Flickers could be seen all over as ponies used their magic for everyday things, but those were hardly noticeable behind the ambient magic of Equestria. Flows like great rivers of light passed through the entire city and then far beyond. As they flowed, smaller branches split off again and again, spreading magic throughout the land.
Settling into the casting, Celestia could feel Luna had been right. They wouldn’t be able to keep it going more than four or five hours at most, not without draining themselves to the point that they wouldn’t be able to perform their duties come morning. Hopefully it would be enough. Opening her focus to all of Canterlot she made herself as comfortable as she could as they watched, waiting for Sunset’s spell.
Where are you Sunset…
Hours passed, midnight came and went, still they kept the ward going. Celestia was beginning to fear they’d begun to soon; or even worse, too late.
“There!” Luna nearly shouted, startling her even as she saw a bright flash within the ward.
Celestia focused on the flash that had just appeared in her extra sense it didn’t feel like what she’d sensed before, but by the location, she guessed it was Sunset’s destination. “I didn’t sense the origin, you sure it’s her!?” Even as she said it, she was preparing to end her connection to the ward and teleport herself.
“Yes, the origin was underground, but it was definitely her spell!”
Celestia nodded, satisfied that she had her destination and cut off her magic. “I’m going!”
“Good luck, sister!” Luna called after her and Celestia disappeared in a golden flash.
When she reappeared, it was in the air above one of the lower sections of Canterlot. Opening her wings, she caught herself before she dropped very far. Immediately she spun in the air, scanning her surroundings. Nothing.
No! That couldn’t be right! This was the only other location they’d sensed when Sunset cast her spell. This had to have been her destination and it was high enough in the air that there was no way she could have gotten out of sight before Celestia had arrived.
Before she could check again, she felt the touch of a magic she knew well. Relaxing her mind, she let Luna make the mental link.
‘She teleported again even as you did!’ Luna’s voice came through the link followed by the impression of a location. Celestia didn’t hesitate, teleporting again, though doing so broke the link.
This time she found herself in an alley, still well above the ground but below the rooftops. Again, she looked in both directions, this time she spotted her quarry in the form of a shadow swooping down toward the end of the alley and the connecting road. A road where a lone pony was just trotting past.
Celestia’s eyes widened and she gave chase. The young mare hadn’t noticed them and had no idea she was in danger. “SUNSET!”
Sunset’s wings snapped wide and she spun in the air, even as the mare behind her jumped at the sudden echoing shout. There was no recognition in Sunset’s eyes. As Luna had described, the look she gave Celestia was a feral beast responding to a loud noise rather than a pony responding to her name. She gave a hiss and her horn lit up.
She was going to teleport again. Celestia knew it even before the spell began taking shape. Pumping her wings, Celestia drove herself forward with a burst of speed. Crimson flame began to swirl up around Sunset, but she didn’t slow. Her hooves touched the flames and she felt an instant of pain as they scorched away her coat. She didn’t stop, she slammed into Sunset wrapping her hooves around her. As she did the swirling flames expanded to surround them both.
An instant later the flames dissipated and they were in darkness, tumbling across a stone floor. They finally came to a stop amidst what sounded like fluttering leaves of some kind. Sunset thrashed in Celestia’s hooves trying to break free. Celestia was on her back, holding Sunset against her barrel as she struggled. One of Sunset’s wings was wrapped around her and currently pinned under them while the other swung around trying to get purchase. She could hear it beating against the ground. The rest of Sunset’s limbs were swinging wildly, trying to break Celestia’s grip. Then the thumb claw of Sunset’s pinned wing dug into her shoulder. Celestia grit her teeth but ignored the pain as she managed to catch one of Sunset’s forehooves with her own, pinning it. One of her own wings was pinned with Sunset’s wrapped around her but with the other she managed to catch her remaining forehoof.
That left only her hind hooves kicking uselessly off to the side. Her strength surprised Celestia, but she managed to hold on as Sunset continued to struggle.
“SUNSET, STOP! Pease just stop!” Celestia cried, and finally lit up her horn with a soft golden glow, suppressing her magic in case she tried to teleport again.
She continued to thrash, trying in vain to break free.
“Sunset, please… I’m sorry…” Celestia whimpered. “I’m sorry. Please… come back to me.”
…
…
“Princess?”
“SUNSET!” Celestia cried as Sunset finally stopped struggling. Rolling onto her side, still holding Sunset, she managed to use her free wing to push herself up to a sitting position, cradling Sunset like a foal. There she looked down at Sunset and found her green eyes gazing back up at her. There was fear there, guilt and regret, some pain, but also relief. Tears filled her eyes and she reached up, clinging to Celestia and burying her face against her neck as she began to cry.
Celestia held her in her hooves, wrapping her free wing around her comfortingly as all the emotions of the past few days finally came out, and her own eyes began to sting with tears as well.
“Princess, I’m so sorry. I… I’m sorry.”
“Shh. I know. I’m sorry too,” she said gently, but she couldn’t help smiling as she did. She knew she had Sunset back.
“Please… just kill me.”
Her eyes went wide and she looked down at Sunset in shock. “What!?”
Sunset looked back up at her, her eyes full of pain and fear. “Just kill me… before I kill somepony else.”
“Oh, no no no! Sunset, nopony has died!” Celestia assured her.
“It’s only a matter of time.” She said softly. Her fear of that inevitability was clear. “I tried to find a way… to fix it. But I can’t. And I can’t control it… the thirst. It will take me again, I can’t hold it back for long! Please, just kill me before I hurt somepony else!”
“Sunset, no! I am not losing you! We’ll find a way to fix this!”
“We can’t… not soon enough! The thirst… I can’t control it!”
“I am not going to kill you!”
“You have to!” Sunset cried. “I’ll lose control again! The thirst will take over! Please, I don’t want to be a monster…”
“Sunset you’re not a monster! You’re strong! You can get through this! You can control it; I know you can!”
“I TRIED!” Sunset screamed, then with a whimper buried her face against Celestia’s shoulder again. “I tried to fix it… I tried to control it… the thirst…”
“For blood?” Celestia asked and Sunset tensed.
“I can’t stop it. The thirst gets worse every day until…”
“You need blood, to satisfy it?” She asked. It was as they suspected but she still wanted confirmation.
Reluctantly Sunset nodded.
In some ways, she wished they hadn’t been right. That her student now had to feed on other ponies… Dark magic could be viciously cruel. No matter, they could find a way to deal with this in the long term later. For now, she knew what she had to do. “Then take mine.”
Sunset looked up at her, eyes wide. “Princess no! I… I can’t!”
“Yes you can.” Celestia said softly.
“No! I…”
“Sunset look at me!” Celestia said in a commanding tone that caused Sunset to obey out of reflex. She smiled reassuringly. “Sunset, I’m an alicorn. I’m far larger and have far more blood to spare than any other pony. And I have enhanced healing besides. The amount of blood you took from those other ponies, I could give every day and be no worse for wear. If a little blood is what it costs to not lose you; then it is a price I’ll gladly pay.”
“But… I tried to… I couldn’t.”
“You tried to feed on your own terms, I know.” Celestia said gently. “But you couldn’t go through with it; not when the victim was unwilling. But that’s not the case here. I am freely offering you my blood, Sunset.” She lifted her head a bit, exposing her neck completely to Sunset. “Go ahead.”
For a moment Sunset didn’t move, then Celestia felt her shifting in her hold. She felt Sunset put one hoof around her neck and pulled herself closer. Then she felt Sunset’s hot breath on her neck, but she hesitated.
“Princess, I…”
“Sunset, It’s alright.”
“But…”
“It’s alright.” Celestia assured her once more. Still Sunset hesitated, but finally Celestia felt her shifting and a moment later she felt the sharp pinching sensation of Sunset’s fangs piercing her skin as she closed her mouth around Celestia’s throat. She winced slightly at the pain, but managed to keep herself from flinching or vocalizing her discomfort, wanting to make this as easy for Sunset as she could.
She needn’t have worried. The moment Sunset tasted Celestia’s blood, her grip tightened and she pushed forward into the princess’ neck, causing the puncture wounds to open up behind her fangs and let the blood flow.
Celestia held still and let Sunset take what she needed. It was a decidedly odd sensation, having Sunset latched onto her neck, but not really painful. Really the worst part was when her fangs first pierced her skin. After that it was just a little odd, knowing that Sunset was drinking her blood. But as odd as it was, sitting there, in the small pool of light cast by her horn, holding Sunset in her hooves; she couldn’t help feeling just a little like a mother feeding her foal.
With no way to track the time, Celestia wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that. It was long enough that she began to worry she had overestimated her vitality as she began to feel light-headed. If she were to lose consciousness, she knew Sunset would never forgive herself. But eventually Sunset’s grip loosened, and Celestia felt her jaws release their hold on her neck with a slight twinge as her fangs came free. For a moment her blood continued to flow, but with a touch of magic she stopped the bleeding and her alicorn enhanced healing began to close the wounds.
Looking down, Celestia gave her a reassuring smile. “Was that all you needed?” She asked gently.
Reluctantly, Sunset nodded, her eyes flicking to the blood staining Celestia’s coat with no small amount of shame.
“Don’t worry about that, it will heal.” She told her.
“I’m sorry.” Sunset said softly.
“I’m sorry, too.” Celestia told her and pulled her into a tighter embrace. “We’ll figure this out. Together, we’ll figure this out.”
Celestia continued to hold Sunset as all the stress pain and lack of sleep from the past week finally caught up with her and she slowly closed her eyes, drifting off into a dreamless sleep.
~~~
Luna couldn’t wait any longer. Celestia had teleported the second time without even responding and then she’d sensed another of Sunset’s teleports. Luna had tried contacting Celestia again, but found her sister must have accompanied Sunset on that final teleport and wasn’t where she’d expected. By the time she had located Celestia at the location Sunset had teleported them to, she was already casting a magic suppression spell that blocked her from making the connection.
She had to find out what was going on. That last teleportation spell she’d sensed through the ward had taken them to what she guessed was the old caves under Canterlot. Caves she knew had been closed off since before she’d been banished. Even then, the known entrances had been closed except for the main one in the castle grounds. Now even the main entrance was all but hidden under the castle barracks. How Sunset knew about them she could only guess. It wasn’t that they were secret, just that they were, for the most part, forgotten.
But the first of Sunset’s teleports had originated from there, and for the last, it had been the destination. If she had to guess, Luna would be fairly confident to say that it was where Sunset had holed up, which would explain in part, how she managed to evade the guard for so long. They hadn’t thought to search the caves. Of course, with how extensive the cave system was beneath Canterlot, even if they had, it likely would have been a futile effort. The caves never had been fully mapped or explored.
Luna had the location from the ward, though, a location she focused on as she cast her own teleport spell. An instant later she found herself in a shadowy chamber. Celestia was there, the glow from her horn the only source of light. In her hooves she held the still form of her student. Even in the dim light Luna noticed the scorch marks on her forelegs and the blood staining her neck.
“Sister.” Luna said concerned as she approached. “You are wounded.”
“Sunset needed blood.” Celestia told her softly in explanation.
Luna understood. She looked down at the strange alicorn noticing her peaceful expression as she slept. “You shouldn’t have risked yourself, sister.” She said though she wasn’t really upset.
“I had more than enough blood to spare… but she will need more in a day or two.”
“Indeed, arrangements will have to be made,” she agreed with a rueful smile. “We probably should have thought of such before.”
Celestia didn’t respond, and was instead content to simply hold her student close as she slept. Luna stepped closer and put a wing across her sister’s back. “We should get her back to the castle for now. And it would be for the best if you took care of your wounds before somepony sees you. We would not want ponies to worry after all.”
Reluctantly she nodded. “Yes, we wouldn’t want anypony to worry.” Even so, she didn’t move right away; wanting just a moment more, sitting there, cradling Sunset like a foal. She knew she’d been practically a mother to her; and yet, how long had it been since she’d held Sunset in such a manner? Years, certainly; at least since she’d grown old enough to be embarrassed of such things. Six, seven years? How quickly the time flew by. But just because she could be embarrassed by it, didn’t mean she didn’t need it sometimes. In how many other ways had she neglected her student?
Canterlot had changed. At least for Sunset it had. She’d awakened in a room in the castle, one she didn’t recognize, and she didn’t dare leave. Not that she thought she’d be in trouble if she did, but because she was terrified of being around other ponies, of losing control. Oh, she was sated for now, but she still didn’t want to risk it. Because of that, the sight of Canterlot spread out below no longer offered her the comfort it once had. Instead it was a reminder of what she’d lost. What she’d thrown away. But at the same time, it was a sight she wasn’t sure she’d see again for some time; so she sat there, staring out at the world she could never be a part of again.
The click of the door latch made her look over even as it opened and a figure she hadn’t expected stepped inside.
“Ah, so you are awake.” Princess Luna said as she stepped inside, levitating several rolls of paper as well as a tray bearing some breakfast pastries and a pitcher of orange juice. “We weren’t sure how long you would sleep.”
Luna smiled reassuringly. “Resting. Sister did not get much sleep these past few days. She was worried about you.”
Sunset looked down. “I see.”
“Do not worry; sister will be just fine when she wakes. She just needs to catch up on her sleep.” Luna told her and levitated over a small decorative table to set the breakfast tray on. “Unfortunately we… I am not the cook my sister is, so we will have to make due with the castle baker’s pastries.
Sunset gave a weak smile. “The royal baker’s pastries? What horrible torture.” She said sarcastically. But the smile was short lived and quickly faded as she turned back to the window. “Thank you.”
The thanks was sincere, but lacked much enthusiasm.
Luna gave her an understanding look as she closed the door. “I was hoping to speak with you about a couple matters while we break our fast if you don’t mind.”
“About what?”
“This, first of all.” Luna said levitating over the rolls of paper and laying them out before her. Sunset recognized them immediately, of course. It was after all, her own work. She sighed heavily seeing the original drawings and notes concerning her spell laid out in front of her.
“What did I do wrong?”
“Nothing,” Luna said and Sunset looked up at her sharply in disbelief. “The fault does not lie in your spell, Sunset. Your work is flawless.”
“But then what… what caused this!?” She ruffled her large bat-like wings for emphasis.
“That is the fault of the magic you used to power it.” Luna told her, sitting down by her side.
Sunset frowned, not understanding. “Why would that matter? I know the technique I used is considered dark magic but it’s just energy; why would it matter where it came from?”
Luna sighed. “I am afraid this is a matter sister neglected to teach you. Tell me, Sunset, after seeing how much power dark magic techniques can provide, did you ever wonder why there have not been more instances of ponies using dark magic? Surely you know that the laws alone would not dissuade some?”
She thought back. It hadn’t really ever crossed her mind, but considering how much power could be gained it was kind of odd that there hadn’t been more incidents involving dark magic through the years. “I guess I never really thought about it.”
“The reason is simple. Dark magic, or magic forcibly taken from another creature, simply isn’t safe to use. You see, no matter the technique, taking magic from another will always be painful for them, and that pain inevitably causes negative emotions; anger, resentment and such. These emotions taint the magic. And that taint, causes the magic to seek to punish the wielder and any who would benefit from its power.”
“I see…” Sunset said softly. “So this is all dark magic’s punishment for me?” She said gesturing vaguely to her body.
Luna nodded. “I am afraid so,” she sighed heavily. “Dark magic’s punishments are exceedingly cruel. I wanted nothing more than to be beloved and respected as my sister was, and so in punishment it gave me a form that would inspire only fear.”
Sunset looked over at her in surprise.
“Indeed, my transformation into Nightmare Moon was not of my own design,” she confirmed. “My spell was meant only to increase my power, not to alter my form. That was dark magic’s punishment for me.
“And you, from what sister hath told me, it sounds to me as if you desired nothing more than to prove your own worth. To show that you are more than just Celestia’s student. And so in punishment, you have been given a form that cannot even survive without feeding off of others.”
She looked down at her work for a moment in silence. Luna was right, she had wanted to prove herself; to prove her worth; more than anything. But in her eagerness, she had instead brought about her own downfall. “It turned me into a leach.”
In silence Luna stretched a wing around Sunset. “As I said, dark magic’s punishments are exceedingly cruel.”
They sat for a few moments in silence, Sunset gladly accepting the comfort and understanding the young princess offered. “Then there was nothing wrong with the spell?” She asked at last.
Luna shook her head. “No, I am certain that this spell would work. Unfortunately, I do not know of any way a pony could safely power it,” she sighed. “Tis truly a pity too… to be so close to being able to grant our subjects the very gift we have wished to give them since we first took the crown and yet still unable.”
“It would change the world.” Sunset said softly.
“Indeed.” She rolled up the pages again and set them aside. “Perhaps one day we will find a way to power your spell. Until then, I believe it would be best if we keep this locked away. There are those who would think dark magic’s ire worth the risk for what your spell promises.”
“Probably for the best.” Sunset agreed.
“But should we ever find a way to safely power the spell, I assure you, the world will know who is responsible for such a magnificent gift.” Luna assured her. “And you shall be there to see it come to pass.”
“Maybe…” Sunset said softly.
Luna looked at her curiously. “I trust you did examine thyself after your transformation? Did you not sense that your magic is indeed alicorn magic now? You are immortal now just as sister or I am.”
“I did sense that…” She looked up suddenly realization in her eyes as she looked over at Luna. “Dark magic changed you into Nightmare Moon!?”
“Yes…” Luna answered hesitantly, wondering why she’d turned the conversation back to that.
“But the Elements of Harmony changed you back! If they changed you back, then couldn’t they be used to change me back as well!?”
Sadly Luna shook her head. “I do not believe so.”
Sunset looked over at her confused. “Why not? If they changed you back…”
“Changing me back was a side effect of what the elements did to cure me of the darkness that had consumed my heart.”
Sunset looked at her, confused. “A side effect?”
Luna nodded. “How old do I appear to you, Sunset?”
She frowned, not understanding what that had to do with anything. “Well… I know you’re over a thousand years old…”
“Physically, how old do I appear to be?”
Sunset looked her over briefly. Size wise, she was nearly as tall as the average adult mare, but Sunset guessed that was partially due to her being an alicorn. If she took into consideration her slim frame and youthful features, they, along with her baby blue mane gave her an appearance of a young mare in her early to mid teens. “I guess… about fourteen? Fifteen?”
Luna smiled, glad that Sunset wasn’t lying for fear of insulting her. “You are not far off. Physically, I’m about sixteen now. But before my banishment I was well into my second century.”
Sunset tilted her head curiously. “But then why are you so young now?”
“It is how the elements of harmony healed me of the darkness in my heart. To put it simply, the elements reverted me back to the age I was when that darkness first began to take hold. I still remember everything that happened, of course, but those memories are… distant, disconnected; almost as if they belonged to someone else.” She sighed. “I think the elements did that so that I could look back at my actions clearly and more objectively without the distortion of the pain associated with those memories.”
“But how does that make changing you back from Nightmare Moon a side effect?” Sunset asked.
“You know how the elements work? Do you not? How they seek to bring harmony in all things? To cleanse the darkness from my heart, the elements reverted me to a younger age; changing everything back, including the physical changes dark magic had wrought upon me. But it was not those physical changes the elements were targeting.” Luna looked up at Sunset, eyes full of sympathy. “You said that you have examined your body?”
Sunset nodded.
“And did you find anything that seemed wrong or broken? Anything out of harmony?”
Thinking back, she reluctantly shook her head.
“Sister asked me to do a thorough examination of you when we first brought you back. I can confirm, that there is nothing wrong with your body. Your need for blood is simply how your body works. As far as the elements of harmony are concerned, your body is in perfect harmony. And I fear that in your case, the elements would not do what they did for me because while you have struggled with anger and bitterness; I do not thing that they have truly taken hold of your heart.” Luna reached out a hoof and placed it gently on Sunset’s should. “It is a cruel irony that the reason I do not think the elements would work, is because you are a better mare than I.”
Sunset gave a hesitant smile at the compliment, though her disappointment still showed.
Luna smiled in return and shrugged. “But, perhaps I am wrong; if you wish, we can still send for the bearers to make an attempt.”
For a moment Sunset was tempted, but deep down she knew Luna was right. She’d performed several scans on her body since the transformation and she knew there was nothing technically wrong. She sighed and shook her head. “No, I trust your judgement on this princess.”
“Truly, I wish I were wrong, but I do not believe that I am.”
Silence fell between them for a few moments as Sunset turned and looked out the window once more.
“Well let us not let our breakfast go stale.” Luna said levitating the table with the tray closer to the two of them.
Sunset glanced at the tray and decided she might as well. She’d been living off of a small stash of supplies she’d been able to steal when she’d gone for quills and paper. That and of course the blood she’d stolen every third night… Looking over the selection, she selected one with a caramelized glaze and chopped pecans. “If we found a way to safely power my spell; do you think casting it again would change me into a true alicorn?”
“Perhaps with some modifications.” Luna said with a nod, selecting a pastry for herself.
Sunset looked at her as a thought occurred to her. “Could the elements of harmony be used to power my spell?”
“Nay. Not that they do not have the power. The bearers don’t truly wield the power of the elements, rather they direct it, focus it toward a target. It is the elements themselves that then decide what is to be done.”
Sunset nodded understanding and took a bite of her pastry. It was every bit as delicious as she’d expect from the royal baker. For a time, the two ate in silence, enjoying the meal.
“It is actually quite annoying being so young again.” Luna said conversationally. “Even being a princess, I still struggle to get ponies to take me seriously.”
Sunset glanced at her. “I guess I can see that.”
“Just last week in fact I had a foreign dignitary make a pass at me as if he thought me an inexperienced filly.”
“Seeking to further relations with Equestria?” Sunset asked.
“Most likely.” Luna rolled her eyes. “Or at least to enhance his own standing.”
Sunset gave a small smile and selected a second pastry; this one filled with cream cheese. The rest of the meal was finished in relative silence before Luna again spoke up. “There was one other matter I wanted to speak with you about.”
Sunset looked at her and raised a brow.
“I trust you know of blood magic?”
Sunset nodded.
“It is of course one of the most foul forms of dark magic. Spilling another pony’s blood to gain access to greater magical power… most forms of blood magic involve killing the victims; but not all. As every drop of our blood carries magic within it, there are a few forms of blood magic that involve only spilling a portion of the victim’s blood. Still a foul thing to do, but at least the victim is left alive. In any case, what I am getting at, is that the blood you drink may in fact carry a great deal of magical power.”
“It does…” Sunset said softly.
Luna looked at her surprised. “You have felt it?”
She nodded. “This morning when I woke, I could feel a vast pool of foreign magic within me. It’s been fading, but there’s still a lot left. I guess I didn’t notice before because the first few times they were just regular ponies… but last night, it was Princess Celestia’s blood I drank.”
“Yes…” Luna said hesitantly. “I wanted to warn you against using that magic, except as a very last resort. And even then, you must never try to use that magic in any way that would be beneficial.”
“Because of dark magic’s punishments?”
“Indeed. Such magic can only be used offensively and even then, you must be very careful not to leave an opening for it to lash out at you.”
“Alright. I wasn’t planning on trying to use it anyway.”
“It would be for the best that you do not.” Luna agreed.
Sunset nodded and gazed out the window again for a time. Luna, having made sure she had plenty of time this morning, was content to relax and keep her company. It was a lovely view of the city though she truly thought the city was even more impressive at night.
“What’s going to happen to me now?” Sunset asked, being the one to break the silence this time.
Luna sighed. “That is yet to be decided. I will not lie to you, Sunset; while we will not hold you accountable for the attacks when you were not in control of yourself; there is still the matter of the events leading up to your transformation. You attacked numerous students using dark magic, most of whom were completely innocent of any transgression against you. And we cannot ignore the attacks on the arch-mages; I understand Runic Passage will likely never recover more than half of his former power.”
Sunset lowered her head in shame.
“These are serious crimes and there are many powerful ponies who will be crying for you to be put in chains, including several noble families whose children were among your victims. Fortunately, with the exception of Runic Passage, there was no other permanent harm done, otherwise things would be dire for you indeed. As it is… well, it will be up to Celestia to determine your punishment.” Luna told her.
Sunset took a deep breath and looked out over the city once more. “No. Princess Celestia shouldn’t be the one to decide. She’ll be too soft on me… she won’t give me the punishment I deserve.”
“And what is it you think you deserve?” Both Sunset and Luna looked back at the door, where Celestia stood, having quietly entered while they were talking. Celestia looked at Sunset sadly and tilted her head questioningly. “Well, my student?”
Sunset lowered her eyes. “You have to imprison me; and not just for a few weeks or months. It has to be years, decades even.”
“Sunset…”
“It’s what I deserve!”
“No it is not!” Celestia objected. “It was my fault, Sunset! I wasn’t there when you needed me…”
“But I’m the one that lashed out!” Sunset almost shouted back. “I’m the one that let my anger get the best of me! It doesn’t matter how upset I was; what I did is inexcusable! I hurt dozens of innocent ponies; they deserve justice! Some will demand it! You can’t protect me this time…”
“She is right, sister. Several of the victim’s families are already petitioning for justice.” Luna put in.
“But it’s my fault…”
Luna sighed and got to her hooves. Reaching up she placed a forehoof against Celestia’s chest and looked her in the eye. “Sister… you cannot always take all the blame on yourself. I know you care for Sunset just as you care for me; but the choices we made were our own. Yes, your actions hurt us, but you did not force Sunset to attack those ponies any more than you forced me to become the nightmare. There comes a point that you have to let us pay for our own mistakes. By law, Sunset would face a minimum sentence of one year imprisonment per victim. And at least five years in the case of Runic Passage.”
Celestia winced, knowing the laws concerning dark magic all too well.
“Besides, it would be for the best if I were locked up.” Sunset added, from where she still lay, by the window. “If I ever were to lose control again… We can’t risk me getting out. Until we find a way to fix this; I have to be locked up anyway. I’ll show you how to block my teleportation spell.”
Celestia looked at her student feeling torn. She and Luna were right; as Princess, it would be immoral of her to deny the victims their justice in order to protect Sunset. Even so; she wanted to… she was so tempted.
Sunset stood and turned toward her, dropping her head down in a deep bow, her snout almost touching the floor. “Please, Princess. I have to be locked up. For justice; and also for the safety of the ponies of Equestria. You know it has to be done.”
Celestia stared at her student as she begged her to be imprisoned, not knowing what to say. Sunset just held her pose waiting for her response. Finally, she reached out and gently lifted Sunset to look into her eyes. There she saw Sunset’s fear, guilt and most of all, her determination to set things right. Tears filling her own eyes, Celestia, stepped forward and wrapped her student in an embrace. Sunset hesitated, but eventually returned the gesture, wrapping her hooves around her. “Alright…” Celestia whispered, though it pained her. Still she held Sunset for several moments more.
“Thank you, Princess…”
Celestia tightened her embrace briefly as if she’d never let go. “But I’m not going to simply throw you in the dungeon.”
“Princess…!” Sunset started to object in exasperation, pulling away.
“It will be secure and you will be confined to your… ‘cell’ for the duration of your sentence, but I’m not going to put you in the dungeon.” Celestia went on. “Besides; you’ll need a good workspace if you’re going to continue work on fixing this; and there’s your other needs to consider as well.”
Sunset looked back at her a moment more in silence. She knew it was still better than she deserved, but she could also see that Celestia wasn’t going to change her mind. She sighed. “As long as it’s secure.” She agreed reluctantly. She couldn’t help feeling guilty knowing that if she didn’t want to be locked up anyway, Celestia would never have agreed to it, despite what justice demanded. But at the same time, she also felt comforted, knowing that the princess would always be there for her when she truly needed it. And it was in that moment that she knew she’d never turn her back on Celestia either.
~~~
A few weeks later, Sunset found herself in a suite of rooms within one of the towers of the castle. Not her original rooms; those had been on the edge of the castle grounds nearest the school. No, this tower was one of the furthest from the city, right near the edge where the castle hung off the cliffs over the valley far below. She knew many unicorns and especially earth ponies, would be nervous being so near such a long drop. Because of this, the tower hadn’t been used for some time. Sunset had never been bothered by heights, though; and now that she had wings, it was even less of an issue.
This was to be her prison. Sunset sighed; Celestia had made the arrangements of course, and so the ‘cell’ was more akin to a comfortable apartment. In addition to the basics; bedroom, bathroom and kitchen; there was also a large study and a sitting room as the entry. The only real difference was the enchantments added to the windows, the locks on the doors, and the anti-teleportation wards including one specifically made for Sunset’s unique teleportation spell. It was secure, but it was still much more than she deserved. But she knew Celestia wouldn’t be swayed, so she would just have to accept it.
Officially her sentence had been set at fifty years; still far less than the letter of the law would demand, but even so, Sunset knew Celestia would try to get her out early. After all, even ten years from now, few ponies would even remember or care. But Sunset had no intention of leaving until she either found a way to change herself back or was absolutely certain that she could control her thirst.
Not that she wouldn’t ever see beyond these rooms in that time. Celestia had arranged for her to be escorted to a secluded training field on the castle grounds on a daily basis for exercise and flight training. She hadn’t had many chances to try flying and the one time she had; when she’d tried to sate her thirst willingly the first time; she’d nearly crashed. Luna had found her clumsiness in flight amusing and just a little odd. According to her, she’d been a rather graceful flyer when she’d been in her feral state.
Sunset smiled thinking of the flight lessons she’d had with Luna in the past weeks. That was one good thing that had come from everything that had happened; her newfound friendship with the princess of the night. Luna had visited her almost daily since she’d woken up back in the castle. Most days they’d simply talk about magic or modern times, though a couple times Luna had vented her frustrations with the nobles or how aggravating it was being stuck in her younger form. She’d even asked Sunset if she’d help her find a way to accelerate her aging. Sunset had agreed, knowing she’d likely have a great deal of free time.
As for Sunset’s need for blood. That was already being provided for. She’d been surprised to find out that ponies in the medical field already had a way to extract blood and transfer it to another pony in need of it, for the rare cases where a spell or potion couldn’t be used. Many larger hospitals even had a small supply always on hoof, in case of such emergencies. If she’d known… Well, it would have been just one more crime added to her list. In any case, Sunset had a special cabinet in her kitchen that had a few dozen bags of blood kept in a stasis spell so it would keep indefinitely. Blood donated by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna themselves for the most part, though Celestia had also asked for volunteers among those of the royal guard who knew about Sunset’s situation. To her surprise, a few had actually volunteered and she was grateful for their generosity. Already the cabinet held enough to last her for at least a couple months.
Altogether it looked like she’d be living in relative comfort while she waited out her sentence. With another sigh, she went to her bedroom and stepped in front of a full-length mirror. There, she looked over her slimmer taller build. To be honest, it wasn’t as bad as she’d thought at first. As she’d thought, she was taller than Princess Cadence now, though only just. Her fur was longer, but after a good brushing, it was hardly noticeable anymore. Truly she liked the longer curved horn; it looked elegant and rather unique in Canterlot. The fangs however; those she could do without. And the wings… Well they weren’t the wings she’d wanted, but they were still wings. And they were truly unique. She’d seen a few nocturne, since Princess Luna had begun reintegrating them into Equestria; their wings didn’t even compare. Not even Princess Celestia’s wingspan matched hers. It wasn’t the body she’d wanted, but so long as she kept her thirst under control, she could certainly make do.
Turning toward the window, she looked out over the valley, over Equestria. She’d made some mistakes, and she would pay the price for them. Here, where she wasn’t a danger to anypony, she would pay the price.
But she wouldn’t give up. She’d find a way to ensure she never lost control again, and then… She looked over at the dresser, where several rolls of paper lay; her original spell. Then she’d find a way to change the world, a safe way. No matter how long it took, she would find a way. She had plenty of time after all.
