“You could at least wait for me to finish talking!” Sunset shouted as she stood up from the ground.

“You sent me an ominous four-word letter, I guessed it was urgent,” Celestia responded, easing her posture a little. “I will be more careful next time.”

Sunset sighed her annoyance away. “Doesn’t matter. I’ve a question, and I want you to answer with the truth,” she demanded, pointing a hoof at her. “Did you erase Twilight’s memories of the mountain incident?”

Truth, or lie?

Truth.

Celestia lowered her head. “I did. Of her and all her friends. We promised each other; ‘Not a word of this to Twilight’. With everything going on at the time, I thought it would be better this way, and you seem like you also didn’t remember, so I didn’t tell you anything. I can give her memories back, or you can tell her yourself in a better way.”

Sunset remained in silence for a few moments, thinking, filling the room with a silence that was putting Celestia’s nerves on edge. “Have you erased my memories before?”

Lie.

Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out of it.

Lie.

She remained without words, and Sunset grew impatient. “Answer me!” she shouted.

Lie!

Truth.

“I have, once,” she finally admitted, closing her eyes.

“Why? What did you erase?” Sunset asked, her anger rising.

Lie! Lie! Lie!

Truth.

“The mountain incident. That wasn’t the first time your fire got out of control.” She looked at Sunset’s eyes. “You’re still recovering from the mountain after almost three months, and the first time happened when you were still a foal. It would’ve destroyed you if I didn’t erase it.”

Sunset was shaking, tears running down her face. “Who did I hurt that time?”

Celestia stood up, her own tears staring to flow from her eyes. “Sunset, you’ve lived all your life without knowing. You can live the rest of your life without that memory. Would it really help you to relive all that pain?”

Sunset lifted her head to look at her, showing the anger and sadness in her eyes. “It wasn’t your choice to make.”

Celestia walked up to her. “It was. That’s the responsibility any parent has with their children; Choosing what’s better for them.” Celestia sat in front of her. “I will give your memories back if you ask me. I really don’t want to, but you’re an adult now, you can make that choice.”

Sunset didn’t respond, she kept silence for seconds that felt like years to Celestia. Finally, she took deep breaths, and the temperature in the room lowered drastically. “Do you still think of me as a monster?”

Celestia allowed herself a little, comforting smile. “These months have showed me that you’re the complete opposite of that. You-”

“Take me to the Empire,” Sunset ordered.

“Why?” Celestia asked confused.

“Now!” She shouted to her, and Celestia could see a dangerous wrath in her eyes.

Fearing that the seal had been broken, and Sunshine had taken over her body, Celestia quickly casted the spell, sending them to the winter wasteland where the empire once stood.
Sunset walked away from her, her hooves melting the snow around them, and before her mentor could ask what she was doing, she screamed with all her might, a roar that would send a manticore running for its life. Red flames erupted from her body, fiercer than ever before, almost reaching the skies above her and making the indomitable winter retreat to the far corners of the empire.
Celestia quickly felt her jewelry melt on her body, pooling between her hooves. She looked in fear as the fire around Sunset condensed into a small area around her, and when she turned around, she had transformed into something far worse than what they saw in the mirror.
It was reminiscent of the half thestral form she had taken when she faced Nightmare Moon, but this one had a deep red coat, her wings where completely bat-like and black, her hair flowed straight up, looking like the flames that surrounded her, and her eyes showed a deep, volatile hatred.
She slowly started advancing towards her mentor, turning even the floor she walked on into molten rock.
Celestia could only look in terror at her pupil’s transformation, and it only increased when she noticed that the hairs in her coat had started to singe at the intense heat coming from her flames.
‘She’s going to kill me.’
Sunset continued advancing, her flames only getting fiercer with every step.
‘No, she won’t.’ Celestia stood up, and her own golden flames covered her body, burning with equal if not more intensity than Sunset’s.
She walked towards her pupil with determination, knowing that this would possibly be the end of everything.
Sunset only seemed to get angrier, her flames rising in intensity, trying to overpower the ones of her mentor.
Celestia could cast her spell and cancel Sunset’s magic, leaving her vulnerable. She could increase her flames to be like the sun itself, overpowering her. She could summon her Praetorian Armor and become immune to any damage she could possibly deal to her. She could summon her axe and end things with a quick swing or a blast of concentrated magic.
But when both ponies finally stood in front of each other, Celestia kneeled, and hugged her pupil. “You’re not a monster Sunset. You will never be a monster.”
Sunset increased the intensity of her flames, but Celestia didn’t back down, she just hugged her tightly, and even lowered her flames, letting the heat singe her coat, but it never got to burn her flesh.
Sunset’s flames died immediately, and she slowly turned back to her normal self.
Celestia pulled back from the hug and looked at her pupil expectantly, noticing that there were no more tears in her face.
Sunset took a few deep breaths and smiled. “I don’t envy Twilight anymore. She can live without the memories that you took.” She looked at her, showing no anger or sadness in her eyes. “And I can do the same.” She pushed her hoof against Celestia’s chest with a little force. “But, don’t do it ever again, or I swear to your name, I will hurt you.”

Celestia smiled despite the threat. “I don’t have any reason to do it anymore. I’m really proud of you. My brightest pupil.”

Sunset chuckled. “Don’t let Twilight hear you say that.”

Celestia put her hooves on her pupil’s shoulder. “I have plans for you Sunset. For things that I’m sure that you’re now ready for.”

Sunset lifted a hoof to stop her. “Can you first send me back to the crusaders clubhouse? I owe them two month’s waiting for me to return to Ponyville so we could talk.”

Celestia laughed a little embarrassed. “Right, again, sorry about that. But please don’t send me more cryptic letters.”

“Deal.”

Celestia lit her horn and teleported her back to the clubhouse in an instant.
She then took a deep breath and sighed in relief. ‘She’s finally free. She finally regained control.’ She looked at the sky, in the direction of Ponyville, tears cornering her eyes. “I can finally give you the future that you deserve.”
Her victory was interrupted as a loud rumble shook her hooves, almost making her fall. “What is happening?” She looked around and noticed that the eternal winter had not returned to freeze the area once more.
The ground cracked below her, and she quickly took flight, ascending to get a bird’s-eye view of the area, noticing that the entire ground where the Crystal Empire used to stand was being covered in thin and long fissures.
She was about to teleport to safety when the tremors started to subside, and the cold winter returned, filling the cracks in the ground with ice and snow.
Celestia descended again, looking at her surroundings with worry. “The Crystal Empire may return sooner than expected.”

“How?!” Nightmare screamed as she bashed the barrier with all her strength, not making even a dent on it. “How did Sunset gained such power with you still locked behind this thing?! Why can she transform at will?! Why is Celestia still alive?! What are you hiding from me?!”
A laugh came with the response.

_{“I did nothing. That was all Sunset.”}

“Are you expecting me to believe that all that fire wasn’t coming from you?!” Nightmare asked as she tried unsuccessfully to pry open the barrier.

_{“Yes. All that was just her half.”}

“Half?! What do you mean half?!” Nightmare asked, not believing nor understanding any of her words.

_{“Tell me. You call me your ‘sister’ because you and I were created by Celestia’s choices, right?”}

Nightmare calmed herself, trying to get what she was saying. “Yes.”

_{“Then technically, Sunset is also your sister.”}

The CMC were very confused. Just a couple of minutes ago Sunset had suddenly banished from thin air mid-sentence, leaving them alone in the clubhouse with various questions.

“Maybe she had important fairy godmother stuff to do?” Applebloom suggested while Scootaloo poked the air where Sunset had been sitting, checking if she had somehow turned invisible. “Still, she could at least say-”

Sunset suddenly appeared right in front of them with a big smile. “Hey kids! Want to see a cool trick?!”

Author's Notes:

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Harmony Will Remember This

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Sunset's morale maxed out!

Current morale: 100/100

Sunset leveled up!

Sunset's gained a new skill: Pyromancy mastery

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Okay, sorry for the short chapter, have another one.

Have a nice existence.

I will be watching you.