"Okay, I want several explanations right now!" Rainbow shouted, standing between Sunset and Celestia.

The solar princess approached the pegasus and talked in a soft voice. "Please my lit-"

"Don't feed me that crap!" Celestia recoiled at the harsh reaction. "I know you and Sunset aren't in good terms. And I'm 120% sure you've something to do with this. So, you're going to tell me what's going on or..."

"Or what?" Luna asked, standing beside her sister.

Rainbow didn't have a retort. She knew she couldn't take on three alicorns on her own, but she couldn't back down.
She wanted answers, and she was going to get them. Even if it meant brawling with the rulers of Equestria.

"Rainbow please, Sunset needs our help." Celestia tried to reason with the pegasus, but she didn't buy it.

"The Crusaders told us that Sunset's cutie mark triggered this. So, what is it?"

"It's what you saw. She controls the sun just like I do," Celestia explained, hoping to calm down the pegasus, but it had little success.

"She never mentioned that. We all assumed it was pyromancy. So, I assume you kept it hidden from her. Why?"

"Rainbow please, I can give you all the answers you want once Sunset is recovered. She needs help," Celestia pleaded.

"Well, she has it right here with us. So, you can go away and let Twilight handle it." Rainbow planted her hooves firmly on the ground, giving the clear message that she wasn't going anywhere.

There was a flash of blue magic behind Rainbow. "You're a good friend."
The pegasus head got hit by a small blast of magic and was knocked out instantly.

"Luna! That won't help us!" Celestia shouted as she grabbed Sunset's unconscious body.

"We're already neck deep in this mess, we need to solve it one piece at a time," Luna looked at the fallen ponies and noticed that a crowd was starting to gather around them.

"I will stay and try to calm things down," Cadence said before walking to the crowd. “You get her to the castle so she can recover.”

Celestia and Luna nodded in approval before teleporting back to the castle.

“Don’t disappoint me Pharynx,” Cadence thought as she addressed the public to calm them down.

Sunset slowly came back to consciousness, finding herself in a familiar canopied bed.

Her mind struggled as it woke up and tried to form an idea of her surroundings, but when it detected something behind her, it flared an alarm that awakened her completely.

“She’s here.”

“Sunset?” Celestia asked softly when she noticed that she had woken up. “Are you ok-”

The alicorn’s neck was suddenly strangled by a magical red aura, forcing her to lower her head to Sunset’s eye level.

The unicorn slowly turned around in the bed, facing her with wrathful eyes.

“You… remember everything?” Celestia asked, her mouth agape.

“Yes,” Sunset responded before putting more force in her magical grip.

Celestia gritted her teeth as she felt a searing pain along her neck, burning her coat. “You’re hurting me.”

Despite her fiery nature and her anger, Sunset’s words sounded cold and uncaring. “I promised it, didn’t I?”

Celestia closed her eyes, tears running down her face. “I… I deserve it.”

“This is not about you. You self-serving jerk,” Sunset growled.

“It’s about what I did to you,” Celestia said solemnly.

Sunset frowned. “It is. Do you have anything to say? Any defenses you want to bring out? Something to try and convince me that what you did was the right thing to do?”

“None.”

Sunset applied more heat to Celestia’s throat, not noticing that her aura had changed to blue for some time now. “You’re disgusting.”

“I don’t have any excuses or explanations. I know that what I did was wrong. I didn’t at the time, and the rest of our lives have been a domino effect of mistakes that have only made you suffer. But the crown I gave you, the family and friends you earned. They are your accomplishments. What I did won’t take them from you.”

Sunset pulled the monarch closer to her face, and her wrathful stare seemed to scorch Celestia’s very soul. “It did.”

The alicorn opened her eyes in shock. “Wait… no… I-”

“Leave me alone. Never come close to me again. And live with your consequences. And if you dare forget them. I will make you remember.”

Before the alicorn could respond, Sunset’s magic enveloped her completely, and she was forcefully teleported to her office.

Celestia stumbled to the ground, feeling weak and tired.

She put a hoof over the wound in her neck, feeling how it pulsed painfully, extending a worming numbness all over her body.

She felt sick. She wanted to throw up, but her body didn’t respond.
And then the numbing sensation reached her head.

Everything stopped.

Her hoof fell limply to the floor. Her breathing calmed. And the light in her eyes dimmed till they looked like they got the life sucked out of them.

She didn’t feel pain anymore.

She didn’t feel anything.

She just stayed there, unmoving.

Her mind lost in some all-consuming darkness.

Just like she did with Dawn so long ago.

After getting rid of Celestia, Sunset looked around her room.

“No, this isn’t my room. This is my cell.”

She gritted her teeth, and lit her horn with furious red magic.

Her eyes settled on the bookshelf first. Full of books she had studied till exhaustion. With the hope of achieving something that had been planned for her from the very start. And yet, it was taken away from her in a whim.

She blasted it with her magic, sending flaming splinters and pages all around her.

She jumped out of the bed and blasted it too, not wanting to ever wake up in it again, or in the castle all together.

Then the next target, her workbench.

All her artistic achievements.

A skill she never explored due to her obsession with power and princess-hood.

“I could’ve been an artist. I could’ve been a designer like Rarity. I could’ve been anything other than a freaking puppet!”

She blasted the workbench with her fire, destroying all her hard work and memories. All of it tainted by lies.

Sunset breathed hard, filling her lungs with the ash of her burning childhood.

The childhood fabricated for her.

Manufactured to give her everything she wanted.

Everything except freedom.

And whenever she tried to achieve it.

Something, or someone, took it away.

She tried being a friend, and found a glass wall.

She tried being a helper of friendships, and ended up hurting the ones she cared about.

She tried to be a princess, and discovered that it wasn’t even her own dream.

It was the dreams of a tortured being.

The only other being that could understand what she felt. What she had been through.

The being that gave her an easy solution to all her pain and suffering.

Wrath and destruction.

With a roaring scream, Sunset released that wrath, destroying what remained of her false childhood, until not even the ashes remained.

The entire Canterlot Castle shook violently as a powerful explosion punched a hole in the western side of the marble structure.

Guards immediately ran to the site with their weapons drawn, wondering who or what was attacking them.

Shining armor was among them, his spear at the ready to defend the castle.
“Maybe this will finally convince them to give us a better-”

His train of thoguht crashed headfirst into a wall as he brought down a door and found the culprit standing among the debris and fire.

Sunset was on fire, her body trembling with rage, and her eyes looked like they were about to shoot a beam of pure destruction on whatever dared to approach her.

And she slowly turned towards them.

The soldiers readied their crossbows, but Shining stopped them.
He slowly took a step forward, extending his hoof towards his sister. “Are you hurt?”

Sunset didn’t respond, but her eyes seemed to answer for her.

She wasn’t hurt, and if somepony tried to hurt her, they would die.

Shining took another step forward. “I’m not going to hurt you. None of us is going to. But you need to calm down.”

“Shining Armor,” Sunset said in a voice so filled with animosity that made his blood freeze. “For your own sake, you will leave me alone.”

Shining’s hoof started to shake. He wasn’t sure that she wouldn’t hurt him anymore. “I can’t do that Sunset. We’re family. We help each other.”

Sunset closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, hearing a voice that told her to calm down.

Shining took it as a good sign and took another step towards her, starting to feel the immense heat coming off her.

Sunset opened her eyes; her glare of death had lowered in intensity a bit. “I want to-”

Suddenly, a crossbow bolt hit Sunset on her flank, making her scream in pain.

Shining looked for the origin of the shot, and saw Phalanx standing on the floor above, watching the scene from the edge of a hole Sunset had created in the ceiling.

And right at his side, was an unloaded crossbow.

Shining’s attention went back to Sunset as he felt the heat rise in intensity, and saw a wall of red fire speeding towards him.

He quickly put up a shield, protecting himself and his soldiers from becoming ash where they stood, but he felt it being push back by Sunset’s magic.

He put all his effort in fighting back, gaining ground bit by bit, but he didn’t know what to do next.

Sunset was trying to kill him. And he didn’t know if he had it in him to fight his adopted sister.

Suddenly, he heard a crack so intense that made his skin crawl, and the fire died seconds later.

He looked at the spot where Sunset had stood, but she wasn’t there.

“Where is she?” He asked as he looked around, trying to figure out what had happened.

“Sir, what are your orders?” a terrified guard asked, his weapon discarded and will to fight lost at the threat of an agonizing fiery death.

Shining turned around, anger clear in his eyes. “Find Phalanx, bring him to me.”

Sunset slowly regained consciousness as her bones snapped back into place with Nightmare’s magic.

“What was that?”

“A warning shot,” a regal voice answered, and when Sunset looked up, she saw the princess of the moon standing before her.

They were in a very small cave, apparently recently made judging from how the roof had small rocks and dirt falling from it.

Her mind slowly pieced together the events prior to her loss of consciousness.

She had tried to burn the guards that attacked her, and then she felt something hit her with a strength she never experienced before.
It launched her away from the castle with enough force to dig her body deep into a mountain, forming the cave she was currently in.

“You tried to kill me,” Sunset growled as she tried to stand, but even after recovering from her wounds, she barely had any strength left, and just collapsed on the floor.

Luna took a few steps forward. “And you survived anyways. You’re clearly not a regular pony.”
She let something fall in front of her which made the entire cave tremble.

Sunset looked up, and saw a black war hammer filled with white glowing runes.

At the sight of the weapon, every instinct in her body screamed for her to get away from it.

“You destroyed the castle and attacked the guards. It seems you’ve finally lost whatever was left of your rational mind.” Luna’s cold tone of voice and her stoic face put Celestia’s to shame. “Please, tell me I’m wrong.”

Sunset gritted her teeth, and tried to stand up, but she didn’t have the strength to do it.
“How could I not?! My whole life was a lie! Celestia made me! In every sense of the word. And then just discarded me for that useless purple nerd.”

“That’s your sister you’re talking about!” Luna warned with a frown.

“She’s not my sister. You’re not my aunt. I’m alone in this world. As it should’ve been from the start,” Sunset spat the response with as much venom as she could muster.

Luna closed her eyes and sighed. “It saddens me to look at you acting like a rabid dog. But we owe you a great favor for our release from the nightmare.”

She opened her eyes, and looked at Sunset like she was pleading.
“I’m not my sister. If there is something you want. Your freedom, a family, a better future, a way to take away that dangerous magic forever. I will grant it to you.”

“I’ve already lost everything. I have no future to look forward to.” Sunset closed her eyes and let her head fall on the dirt. “Just make sure that…”

Sunset took a deep breath.

“…I won’t come back from the dead this time.”

Luna closed her eyes, feeling an icy sensation grab at her heart.

And then lifted her war hammer.

Twilight stood up from the hospital bed in a cold sweat, hyperventilating and hoping that what she had experienced was just a horrible nightmare.
But when she saw three of her friends also in hospital beds, and the rest of them with sad, worried faces, she knew everything had been real.

“What happened? Where is Sunset?” She asked as she jumped out of her bed, feeling dizzy but doing her best to shake it off.

“Celestia has her. She knocked me out,” Rainbow explained as she also got out of bed.
“Sunset managed to keep the fire away from everypony.”

“Other than some charred buildings, nopony was hurt,” Pinkie added, but the relief at the news was minimal for everypony.

“We need to go to Canterlot right now. I’m sure Celestia sent her there.” Twilight rushed to the exit, her friends following close behind.

When they exited the hospital, they found a very unusual occurrence.

It was raining pamphlets.

They looked up, and saw squadrons of pegasi flying over the town, wearing insignias of different newspapers.

Twilight picked up one of the pamphlets to read it, and her blood froze in her veins.

“The traitor finally shows her true face!

Today, Princess Luna has taken the throne of Equestria as its only ruler after a quick coup that claimed the life of Celestia’s pupil; Sunset Shimmer.
The status of our beloved princess is currently unknown.

For more information, buy our next issue for only-”

Twilight picked up another pamphlet.

“Attack in Canterlot Castle!

Just yesterday, Celestia’s own pupil; Sunset Shimmer, tried to assassinate her mentor in a terrorist attack before being put down by princess Luna.

There hasn’t been any news if the attack was successful, but our prayers are with our beloved princess.

For more details, buy our next issue-”

Another pamphlet caught Twilights gaze and her desperation grew.

“Nightmare Moon has returned!

As we all feared, the false princess has finally enacted her plan to take over Equestria.
Yesterday, an attack occurred in Canterlot Castle where Luna organized a revolt on her sister, claiming the life of her beloved pupil; Sunset Shimmer, who fought valiantly to defend her mentor until the bitter end.

The whereabouts of Celestia are currently unknow, but we hope that she can organize a quick counterattack before her sister can start causing irreversible damage to our country.

Buy our-”

Twilight let the paper fall to the ground, tears running from her horrified eyes.

“This can’t be happening.”

“You’re right. This has to be a lie,” Rainbow said before picking her up into the air. “And we are going to find the truth.”

Once again, Rainbow flew towards Canterlot at full speed, her own tears being lost in the wind.

“She can’t be dead. She just can’t.”

Author's Notes:

---

Seeking My Purpose In The World has run into a problem and needs to restart.

Please wait.

Rebooting…

Starting…

Welcome back!

Error!: Sunset Shimmer file not found.

Attempting to relocate…

Relocation unsuccessful.

Error!: Dawn Shimmer file not found.

Attempting to relocate…

Relocation unsuccessful.

Character Bio Discovered!

Name: Nightmare Moon

Stats:

Strength – 75
Dexterity – 89
Constitution – 67
Intelligence – 100 maxed
Wisdom – 100 maxed
Charisma – 100 maxed

Magic Power – 100 maxed
Magic Capacity – 100 maxed
Magic Control – 100 maxed
Magic Resistance – 100 maxed
Magic Ability – 100 maxed
Magic Generation - 100 maxed

Evocation – 100 maxed
Abjuration – 100 maxed
Divination – 100 maxed
Conjuration – 100 maxed
Transmutation – 100 maxed
Illusion - 100 maxed

Morale: Unknown.

---

Next chapter: Chapter 38: ...