AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!
"Whahabu?"
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. I just– I know that you've been sealed away there for so long and I know I just took you away from the life you had there, but I didn't know what else to do! I swear I'll do whatever it takes to put you back after we're done."
"I, uh. Okay, for starters, who are you?"
"Sunny Starscout! But that's not important right now. I brought you here because we desperately need your help. I know you were one of Princess Twilight's greatest allies and right now Equestria needs you!"
"Okay, sure, but Equestria's always in trouble. Something goes wrong, like, every week. Why do you need me so bad this time?"
"Her name is Opaline. She kidnapped our baby dragon, Sparky Sparkeroni–"
"Seriously?"
"Hitch is trying very hard."
"Ah, so he's your Flash. Got it."
"Um. Right. Anyway! Opaline kidnapped Sparky so she could drain his dragonfire and become the strongest fire alicorn."
"I'm sorry, the what?"
"With the dragonfire, she can power up and unlock her full powers as a fire alicorn!"
"Okay, that's what I thought you said. You made the right call in bringing me in, kid. Let's go handle this 'Opaline'."
Opaline's wings ignited, spread wide to show off their new iridescent flames. The entire throne room was cast into hellish light, the flickering flames making shadows dance in a way that was fairly expensive to animate but totally worth it for the effect. Before her, a worried Misty clutched the drained and feeble Sparky, watching in horror and realizing the scope of what she had done. But she was powerless to do anything, trapped watching as her overlord-slash-boss gleefully reveled in the newfound fiery might. "And now with this dragonfire, I am the mightiest fire alicorn to ever exist! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The heavy double doors to her throne room flew open, revealing Sunny Starscout with another alicorn by her side. This one - who's wings and horn were not holographic - stood straight and tall with an amber coat, a red and gold mane, and a look of extreme anger.
"The fuck you are," said Sunset Shimmer.
Opaline blinked. "Who the devil are you?"
Her response was not what she expected. There was no witty banter or verbal jabs. No playful tête-à-tête where they matched wits to prove mental and moral superiority. There was, however, screaming.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH–"
Heat and light pulsed outward from Sunset Shimmer's horn. Waves of energy poured off of her as her magic ramped up - the years of dormancy in the human world falling away like blankets off a waking sleeper.
Blinking in confusion, Opaline tried to puzzle out what was going on. This - considering rather than running - was her first mistake.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH–"
Sunset's body shook with effort as she tapped into the primal well of energy at her core. Tiny shocks of lightning danced through the air around her. At the tip of her horn, a point of pure light started to coalesce, pulling in motes from the air surrounding her.
Opaline looked to Sunny Starscout. "Is she having a seizure?"
Sunny - who was at the moment dragging a gawking Misty and an unconscious Sparky out of the room - said nothing. She only glanced back at Opaline with a look of deep pity.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH–"
Outside, ominous thunder boomed. Wind swirled around her, as if Sunset were the eye of a hurricane that was being born. Sunset's very form started to vibrate, as if a second copy of herself was superimposed over her with a quarter-second lag.
The other two ponies (and their baby dragon) disappeared out the door and could be heard galloping down the hall at full speed.
"Seriously, if you're having a seizure we can do this some other time," Opaline pointed out. "I may be evil, but going after a pony during a medical emergency? That's just punching down and I, for one, have more self-respect than–"
The floor under Sunset's hooves cratered as her growing power reached an overwhelming point.
"Um." Opaline took a step backwards as she realized that she might be in trouble.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!"
An aura of pure energy ignited around Sunset Shimmer as she reached the peak of her power up sequence, cascading outwards as she became a miniature sun.
"Oh dear lord–" is all Opaline could say before the flames washed over her.
There was something beautiful about watching Opaline's castle melt. Stone normally couldn't do that, but normally stone also didn't have a fusion reaction take place inside of it. So the aforementioned castle was currently resembling a wet cake as it collapsed in on itself and transformed into a pile of molten mush.
The six ponies (and one knocked out baby dragon) could only stare at the absurd devastation wreaked by their newfound friend. (Sunny had assured them she was a friend, at least. They really, really hoped she was right.)
Said friend waded out of the molten slag, kicking it off her fetlocks like mud. She looked more than a little different now than when she had gone in: taller, for starters. Her legs were long and lean, her wings far broader. But most striking was her new mane. The red and gold glowed with power, sparkling and resplendent, as the whole mass waved in an unseen breeze. The only thing missing for her to have been identical to the alicorns of old was the lack of regalia - which was understandable, as it probably would have melted off her in the fiery cataclysm anyway.
Sunset Shimmer yawned. "It has been so long since I cut loose like that. I gotta come back more often." Laughing, she shook her head. "I swear, you spend a decade or two in a non-magic world and you just forget how awesome it is. Not that any of you would know about that, eh?" She winked at the ponies… who all stared at her silently.
"Um." That was as much as Sunny managed.
Sunset's brow wrinkled. "Did I miss something?"
Author's Note
