Twilight and her friends ran to the center of the town along with the Crusaders, finding a completely out of control Sunset, and the big red sun that had appeared in the sky.

The effects of the phenomenon were becoming evident.

The air was extremly hot, making breathing painful.

The clouds in the sky were evaporating due to the change in temperature.

And the heat was ten times more intense than in the mountain incident.

Twilight quickly cast a shield spell around the sun, preventing the eventual combustion of any flammable material in town.

“Sunset, what’s happening?” Applejack shouted to the mare, running up to her.

“Get away from her!” Twilight tried to warn her friend, but couldn’t stop her in time.

Applejack got too close, and one of the magical bolts shot out towards her, hitting her square in the head and throwing her back.

“Applejack!” Applebloom shouted as she saw her sister hit the ground.

She went up to her, wanting to help her stand up, but she wasn’t moving.

Fluttershy flew over and checked her vitals, sighing with relief.

“Don’t worry, she’s just unconscious.” Fluttershy assured Applebloom.

“Get her somewhere safe!” Twilight said to the Crusaders, and the three fillies looked at each other.

“But where?”

Twilight couldn’t give a quick answer.

Sunset had created a sun. An extremely dangerous thing that had a terrifying capacity for destruction.

If this was a repeat of the mountain incident. If that sun got out of control. They wouldn’t be able to escape it without a long-range mass-teleportation.

“The Apple farm has an underground basement, right? Get her there and stay underground. Tell everypony to do the same. The deeper into the earth the better!”

The fillies nodded, and ran away as fast as they could carring Applejack’s unconscious body atop their backs.

“Will that really work?” Pinkie asked, her normally puffy hair deflated.

Twilight looked back at the sun, and her blood ran cold.

The sun was growing, and was now pushing against her barrier as it tried to expand.

The purple unicorn had to endure the strain on her horn as she put a lot of effort in preventing the recently born star from growing and becoming an even bigger problem.

“What can we do?” Rainbow asked looking around for some sort of solution.

“How can we calm Sunset down?” Rarity asked next, looking at the furious yet pained expression of the orange unicorn.

Twilight tried to think, hard as it was. Keeping them all protected from a fiery death took most of her concentration, but she quickly came up with at least something for each of them to do.

“Rainbow! We need the princesses here. All of them! Fly to Canterlot right now and tell them to teleport here immediately!”

The cyan pegasus didn’t respond, just flew towards the city at top speed, making a Sonic Rainboom before even leaving the town’s outskirts.

“Fluttershy! Go get Zecora, she may know some way of calming Sunset.”

The yellow pegasus looked at Sunset, a myriad of thoughts in her head.

“Does she want to hurt us? Who is she angry with? She looks like she’s in pain. Is this hurting her as well? Can she stop it? Is she trying to stop it? Does she want to? Is she going to die again? Are we going to die with her?”

“Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted, and the pegasus snapped out of it and flew towards the Everfree.

“What do you want me to do?” Pinkie asked Twilight, fear clear in her face.

Twilight took a moment to respond as the sun pushed against her shield, forcing it to move back and let it grow a bit more.

“Tell everypony to hide in their basements and seal the entrance shut until somepony comes for them. If they don’t have a basement, send them to the room below the roots of my library, it should hold a dozen ponies or more.”

Pinkie nodded and ran off, shouting the instructions to everypony in town.

Twilight looked at Rarity, and saw that she was approaching Sunset.

The fashionista ignored her friend’s shouts of warning, and looked at the red magical lightning that Sunset's horn was throwing around.

Rarity used her magic as an improvised shield that just covered her horn, and started walking forward.

The bolts of magic shot towards her, but they were redirected to her horn like it was a lightning rod, and she endured the pain until she was in front of Sunset.

“Sunset… can you hear me?” Rarity winced as another bolt hit her horn. “Are you there?”

The orange unicorn didn’t respond. Her eyes didn’t even move to acknowledge the mare in front of her. But her ears perked up.

Rarity took it as a sign that she was listening, so she continued.

“It’s me, Rarity. We made dresses together. I helped you discover how beautiful you are. I gave you a dress that showed that you are a perfect princess. Do you remember?”

Sunset didn’t respond, she just kept angrily looking forward with fierce eyes, her sight lost on something that wasn't there, but in the past. However her ears kept moving with each of Rarity’s words, so she knew she could hear her.

“Sunset, please remember. We’re your friends. We’re here to help you.” Another bolt hit Rarity on the horn, making her momentarily clench her teeth in pain.

“I’m here too!” Twilight shouted, getting closer to them. “I’m Twilight. Your nerdy sister that you like to prank and blow up her doors, remember?”

“T-twilight…” Sunset finally mumbled, and the purple unicorn got closer.

“Yes, it’s me! And Rarity. Your sister and best friend. And soon everypony else will be here. We can all help you. You just-”

“Shut up.”

“Wha-”

“Shut up!” Sunset screamed, making the two unicorns step back in shock.

“You don’t know me! I don’t know me! I don’t have a family. I don’t have friends! All I have are lies! Lies that have been fed to me to the point that I repeat them without even knowing!

I lied about my own name! I lied about my own dreams! I lied my entire life up until this point! And got punished for it!”

The lightning coming out of Sunset’s horn became more violent, forcing Rarity to run out of their reach.

“What are you talking about?” Twilight questioned, feeling the sun in the sky pushing harder against her shield. “Sunset, we are your friends and family! Even if we’re not-”

“What even is a family?” Sunset shouted, showing two sharp fangs on her now serrated teeth. “Because in my experience, my family has lied to me, manipulated me, made me feel like I was being discarded, and we all got hurt because of it!”

“I never said it was perfect Sunset!” Twilight tried to fight against the sun, but it was slowly pushing her shield away, and soon it would be too large for her to maintain it.
“Think about what you’re about to do! About all that you will lose if this gets out of control!”

“And what do you think I will do to hurt you this time? Because I would love a heads up for the next biggest regret of my life!” Sunset shouted, and the two mares realized their mistake.

Rarity reacted first, and she ran straight for Sunset, enduring the now stronger bolts of magic hitting her body until she reached the unicorns head and tilted it up so she could see the sun she had created.

As a bolt of magic finally knocked out Rarity, Sunset’s eyes widened in horror. “No…”

Rainbow Dash, along with the three alicorns, arrived at the outskirts of Ponyville via teleportation, and immediately took flight towards the center of the town.

The pegasus looked back at the determined faces of her companions and asked. “What’s the pl-”

They all stopped dead in their tracks as the deafening sound of an explosion assaulted their ears.

Celestia managed to shrug it off first, and when she looked back towards the town, she saw, to her horror, a wave of fire coming from the currently exploding sun Sunset had created.

The fire flooded the town, covering every corner in its infernal flames, and continued expanding, speeding towards them.

Celestia flew towards Rainbow, covering her with her wings while Luna and Cadence used shields to protect themselves.

The four of them were quickly surrounded by the fire, and they felt the heat trying to boil their blood from the outside in.

Celestia used her magic to calm the flames around them, trying to keep the pegasus between her wings safe while the fire continued expanding in an apparently never-ending wave.

“How far will it reach? How many ponies will be incinerated? How much of the landscape will be forever changed by this?”

Celestia’s thoughts were interrupted when she heard a sob coming from the pegasus between her wings.

Rainbow’s normally courageous and reckless spirit was being crushed by the realization that almost everything she knew was now being destroyed.

All her friends, her home, the ponies she always tried to awe and inspire…

...They were all gone now.

Celestia felt Rainbow trying to move her wings apart, either because she was so desperate to help, she ignored the certain death, or a very early case of survivor’s guilt pushing her to die with her friends.

But Celestia wouldn’t let her. She wouldn’t let history repeat itself if she could do something about it.

She lit her horn, preparing a massive spell to counter Sunset’s magic.

But before she could cast it… everything suddenly just… stopped.

Nightmare continued repairing the barrier as fast as she could, enduring the unbearable heat that Sunset’s body was emanating.

She worried that it could somehow force her out of her host, which made her move even faster to try and keep Dawn trapped.

While she did this, she could hear Rarity and Twilight trying to calm Sunset down, and for the first time, she rooted for their success.

However, they only seemed to be making things worse.

Sunset was getting angrier and angrier, and Dawn seemed to get stronger because of this.

Nightmare flew to another rift in the barrier, putting her hands on its sides to start healing it, but suddenly, there was a fierce scream coming from Dawn, and a long red arm pierced the barrier.

It immediately sank its claws on Nightmare’s neck, moving around inside its flesh and causing the creature an enormous amount of pain.

Nightmare roared with fury, and violently forced the rift to close, severing Dawn’s arm and making it fall to the floor.

Dawn screamed in pain, and the fire that was coming out of the fissures in the barrier subsided, and they started to heal on their own.

It was a victory for Nightmare, but she wasn’t celebrating.

She was terrified.

“How?! How did she hurt me? This isn’t even my original body! Can she actually… kill me?” She thought in a panic as the wound in her neck healed, but even if there wasn’t even a scar left, she could still feel a ghost of pain under her skin.

Nightmare was suddenly distracted by a bright light shining at her side.

When she turned to look at it, she saw Sunset’s mind-projection touching Dawn’s severed arm.

She witnessed as the arm turned into red flames that were quickly absorbed by the ethereal projection, changing its color from a bright yellow to a light orange.

“You… bitch,” Nightmare growled, and even if she couldn’t see her, she knew Dawn was flipping her off with a huge grin on her face.

Sunset, having just realized what she had created, tried to stop it.

But it only got worse.

The more she tried to control the red sun, the more it seemed to destabilize.

She got flashbacks of the day her first sun destroyed her hometown. It made her panic and try more desperately to stop it, but it only caused it to become even more unstable, which made her panic even more!

The cycle continued, until the red sun had finally had enough… and detonated.

Sunset watched horrified as the explosion shattered Twilight’s shield, knocking her sister out along with her friend.

She couldn’t stop it in time.

She failed.

She killed them all.

As she saw the wave of fire sweeping over the town, Sunset heard a voice in her head.

“You can stop it.”

“I can’t. I can’t control it!”

“That is the problem. This isn’t fire magic. You can’t force it to obey you.”

“How do I make it stop then?”

“The same way you moved the sun. You have to use your connection to it. Tell it what you desire. Not a command, but a wish. And it will grant it to you.”

“I… I can try.”

“Don’t worry, I will help you.”

The wave of fire was just a second away from reaching the town, but that second became eternal for Sunset.

She closed her eyes, and all her anger, her panic, her fears, melted away.

Guided by Dawn’s hand, Sunset felt a connection with her element stronger than ever before.

Now that she knew what her cutie mark was, now that she understood what she had been blessed with, she finally felt in control.

She quickly realized that what the voice said was true. This wasn’t like any ordinary fire.

It felt, alive, in a way.

It had a will of its own, it demanded respect, it wasn’t something to subjugate like normal fire.

So, Sunset used her connection to send her emotions through it. To make it understand what she wanted.

Not in the form of an order, but a request.

The fire flooded the town, setting everything aflame instantly.

But… as Sunset requested… no creature was touched by the fire, choosing to move around them instead.

Now that everypony was safe, Sunset made her second request, hoping that she wasn’t abusing her element’s cooperation.

Celestia stood still as she witnessed the red flames around her suddenly stop their rampage and lose intensity.

Once the fire calmed down, it started moving again, returning to Ponyville.

The princesses and pegasus followed it, wondering what was happening, and who was doing it.

They reached the town, and discovered that the culprit was none other than Sunset herself.

Her horn was no longer emitting unstable sparks of magic, but instead it had a calm red aura that moved the fire around it with care and control.

Everypony present looked in awe as the flames raised up towards the sky and started to form a circle all around the town before filling it with magical runes.

“What spell is that?” Luna asked, and Celestia quickly responded.

“A spell of protection.”

It took all the fire Sunset had created to finish the massive rune, and once it was completed, it shined over the burned but still standing town, and faded from view.

Rainbow Dash immediately flew towards Sunset, grabbing her by the shoulders and looked at her in the eyes.

Sunset seemed… relaxed, but not in a good way.

It was like she had been heavily drugged and barely conscious.

The princesses landed around Sunset, and the unicorn turned her head towards them.

And then just collapsed.

Nightmare saw that Sunset and Celestia were about to encounter each other one more time, and quickly put her hands together, using her magic to send the unicorn to sleep.

“I need some rest. But before that.”

Nightmare looked down at the barrier and spoke clearly and menacingly. “If you mention me in any way, if you hint at my existence to any creature… I will crush Sunset’s heart from the inside."

"She will die, you will die with her, and I will lose a very powerful host."

"So, for the sake of all of us… Keep your mouth shut.”

“Don’t worry, sister.” Dawn said in a voice much clearer than before. “I will behave… for now.”

Nightmare growled but couldn’t do much else, so she simply left the mindscape to rest and plan what to do next.

Meanwhile, Dawn looked at the stump her right arm had been reduced to.

The clean cut was glowing with the same golden magic as the barrier, stopping her from regenerating.

“So, I do have some weaknesses. But that means that lizard has them too.” A big grin spread on Dawn’s lips. “I’m going to skin her and make boots and a jacket out of her, maybe even a full set of leather clothes. She looks big enough.”

Dawn’s thoughts were interrupted as a familiar voice entered her mind.

“Thank you for your help.”

“No need to thank me.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Depends on what it is.”

“Can you show me… how that night ended?”

“…”

“Please?”

“… okay. I will show you.”

Sunshine was suddenly picked up from the ground, and her face was firmly placed in a stallion’s mane.

“Dad?” the little filly asked confused.

“Yes, it’s me Sunshy. Don’t be scared,” her father responded as he started running away from the center of the town, shielding her daughter from the destruction.

Despite her father’s efforts, Sunshine started to hear the screams around her.

“What’s happening? Where is mom and-”

“They are okay sweetie. Don’t worry.”

The stallion suddenly stopped as two of those fire-specters blocked his path, but to his surprise, they ignored him and continued to look for more kindling.

He was confused, but decided to put it aside and continue running out of town.

He needed to protect his daughter.

He couldn’t let anypony know that she the one who did this.

He finally reached the ring of fire that prevented everypony from escaping, and he stopped his mad sprint.

The wall of flames was too tall to jump over, he didn’t know teleportation, nor had wings to fly over it.

Thinking back to the specters ignoring him, he looked at his daughter.

“Sunshy, you would never hurt me, right?”

“Of course not!” the filly responded, trying to get out of his hold so she could see him, but his father didn’t let her.

Taking a deep breath, the stallion steeled himself, and ran straight at the wall of fire and jumped.

He closed his eyes instinctively, but when his hooves touched the ground once more, he was on the other side.

He allowed himself a little smile before continuing his escape, but was suddenly stopped by an unexpected obstacle.

A full squad of royal guards armed with crossbows.

“Stop right there!” a lieutenant shouted, getting closer to him with a spear in hoof. “What’s going on here?”

Sunshine’s father opened his mouth, ready to start the biggest lie of his life, but his daughter responded first.

“I made a sun!” the filly announced with pride and joy, filling his father with dread.

“Did you do this?” the lieutenant asked, and her captain signaled the rest of the squad to ready their crossbows.

“Yes! Look!” Sunshine lit her little horn, and the fire they had just crossed moved towards her, congealing into a small ball of flames.

“Sunshine stop!” His father shouted in a panic, trying to prevent his daughters arrest.

But his actions worked against him.

Sunshine lost control of her spell, and the fireball exploded between them and the lieutenant.

The fire didn’t harm neither Sunshine nor her father, choosing to move around them, but the poor lieutenant received the full brunt of it.

Her coat burned, here armor overheated, and her mane was set aflame.

She screamed in horrible pain, and her captain, shocked and terrified, shouted the order.

“Shoot!”

Sunshine, who still couldn’t see anything due to her father’s firm hold on her, felt a sharp tip sting her nose, and suddenly, a huge weight threatened to crush her.

She struggled to move out from under what was on top of her, and when she finally could see the outside world, and more importantly, what had fallen over her.

Her eyes filled with horror.

“Dad?”

Her father was laying on the ground, several crossbow bolts sticking out of his body.

“Dad… stand up… please.” She begged, heartbroken. But her father didn’t respond.

He just laid there with his eyes closed.

Protecting her had been his last act.

“Reload!” Sunshine heard, and finally noticed the rest of the world around her.

She saw the guards loading their weapons.

Weapons carrying the same ammunition that killed her father.

Sunshine’s eyes narrowed, filled with a palpable feeling of hatred.

“You…” she said through gritted teeth, and her horn lit up violently with a bright red aura, sending red bolts of magical energy around her that scorched everything they touched.

Sunset said one more word, with all the hatred she had forgotten so long ago.

“Burn.”

In just a couple of seconds, the town wasn’t burning anymore.

All the fire had started to move towards the sky, an took the form of a very large, and extremely angry specter, looking down at the terrified guards.

They panicked, some tried to run, one took a shot at the flaming specter, but it was futile.

The fiery personification of Sunshine’s anger and pain fell upon them with all the fury of a sun.

There weren’t any screams.

There weren’t any charred bodies.

The entire squad of royal guards didn’t leave any ash or molten pieces of armor when they burned.

The little filly burned them with such intensity that they were basically just deleted from existence.

Sunshine breathed heavily, completely exhausted.

Feeling her senses going numb, she slowly closed her eyes.

But before she could fall asleep, a familiar white alicorn landed in front of her.

Author's Notes:

---

Sunset remembered a spell!: Create red sun.

Solar magic unlocked!

Sunet gained a new trait from Dawn: Wrathful will.
("No matter how many times the world brings you down, you stand back up to spite it.")
(Any actions that would make morale go lower than 20/100 increase anger instead.)

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Next chapter: Chapter 35: Sunset