29 Hearts, Ace of Spades

All Hands Dealt

“Soooo… You guys ever look at music based magic?”

“What the…? What the bloody hell did that come from Lyra?” Sunset asked her, taking a moment to look up from their homework to eye her friend.

“Well, Sunset may be overreacting,” Arty corrected affluently, “but it is a bit odd.”

“To answer your question, no I haven’t. ” Sunset continued. “I’ll leave that to ponies who understand how music works all on its own thank you very much.” She huffed, tired. She mentally convinced herself she was indeed cut out for this school. And not for the first time in this long, long first week either. Granted, she didn’t have a point of comparison off which to judge Corrugan, but he was definitely pushing the boundaries of her stress levels. And they were still only working with Domains.

“My momma, er… you know who I’m talking about Sunset… anyway, she tried to get me to study music for a little while, but everypony gave up when I couldn’t stay in my seat for anything but school,” Arty replied, giggling and effectively keeping Sunset from getting her attention back to her textbook. She growled under her breath and pulled out and flipped open her journal, something she could do while talking with the other two.

“Ya know, ya don’t gotta be all huffy when somepony distracts you, Shims,” Lyra said, irritated. “The intensity is getting to all of us, aight?”

“Sorry, really. Sorry,” Sunset sighed while planting her head on her book with mild frustration. “I just don’t why this is all so hard. For me, I mean. Don’t the princess’s students just have a knack for this sort of thing?” It was hard to keep the irritation out of her voice, but she managed… barely.

“Sure!” Arty affirmed without a second’s hesitation. “But maybe Domains and stuff just isn’t your thing.”

“You’ve got a buckin’ sun as your cutie mark,” Lyra drawled. “Maybe it’s got to something to do with light and dark magic. Corrugan said we’d be covering that later on… yesterday right?”

“Could be about aether based magic,” Arty postulated, almost to herself now more than Sunset.

“Look,” Lyra said, placing a hoof on Sunset’s shoulder. “it doesn’t matter what your specialty is. You can’t have a talent in just magic, so ya gotta work through the tough bits to find what you’re really good at.”

“Thanks,” Sunset smiled back at Lyra, leaning back up against the central dais in the courtyard and propping her books in her lap. “It’s kinda my fault I guess. I was always so good at pretty much everything I tried…”

“And I sucked at most everything, so doing well for once feels nice,” Lyra cut her off. “Difference in specs,” she shrugged. “But that’s why I brought up music, actually.”

“Very good wheel around,” Arty approved. “Ah… you girls mind if I check out of school work for a little? I wanna take a nap before finishing up.”

“Sure thing,” Lyra said. “Looks like Shims’s gonna need a bit to get to where she wants to be anyway.”

“I’ll be certain to wake you for dinner,” Sunset grinned back at her. Sunset turned back to Lyra as Arty gathered up her things and trotted off. “Funny how the tables get turned when the exam gets closer, isn’t it?” Sunset chuckled nervously.

“I see it as returning a favor,” Lyra all but crowed. “So, I’m guessing the Cosmic Domain’s got you all up in a knot?”

“How did you guess…?” Sunset stammered, but having her concentration restored to her book and studies as opposed to idle chatter and journal ignited what had been slowly grinding her patience away all day long. But Lyra only burst into mirthful laughter.

“Damn, Shims,” she said through giggles, “it’s no wonder you’re the princess’s student! You can’t do anything without understanding every last tasty bit of it!” She stuck out her tongue, only to laugh even harder after a few seconds. Sunset assumed her face looked rather bewildered and confused for Lyra to be so giddy. Then, it didn’t take much to make Lyra snort or snicker, even in class. “Okay, okay,” her friend gradually calmed herself down. “It’s the equation isn’t it?”

“Of course it’s the bloody equation!” Sunset burst out. “We spend three days going over Domain and Flow equations and what symbol, or letter or whatever, meant and how to find it and everything! Then we get to this and the constant the analysis cubes give us we’re just supposed to accept! He explains everything else and then… then… This!”

“Good?” Lyra asked flatly, one eyebrow above the other.

“Yes,” Sunset glowered, not meaning it in the slightest.

“See, I had a tiny moment of brilliance and thought this might be getting under your coat,” Lyra elaborated, “which is why I brought up music based magic.”

“How does that help me at all?” Sunset asked wearily.

“Because music based magic is almost exactly the same,” Lyra said, more excitedly. “There are just certain assumptions you have to make about the music’s effects. They’ve never really nailed down why it works that way, but it does. There are just some things about music we know. Like whether it’s good or bad or a slew of other shit.” She paused with Sunset’s lack of a reaction. “You still want to know what it means don’t you?” she asked, on the verge of outright frustration. “I mean, I’m trying to help you down the easy road here.”

“I know,” Sunset sighed, closing her book. “And it’s a creative way of looking at it and helps you obviously. But… I took the offer for the hard road for a reason it seems. Do you think Corrugan would be able to explain it?”

“Sure, if ya wanna know that badly,” Lyra shrugged. “I’m just glad my math works out personally.”

“I just get so hung up on not knowing,” Sunset grit her teeth, trying one last hurrah to understand it under her own brain power, only to once again meet with a wall in the knowledge she’d been given. “Will you go with me?”

“Uh… sure? I don’t got anything else to do. I’m mostly just twiddling my hooves here. What I’ve got in my noggin’ is all I’m gonna get in my noggin’,” Lyra said, standing with an exaggerated yawn and stretch before stuffing her things into her saddlebags, Sunset not far behind. She hoped Lyra and Arty were right. That her stumbling block just happened to be in the beginning rather than the middle. She shook her head, trying to clear it of negative thoughts. She refused to think about what happened to drop out students, but she knew that they’d have to drag her kicking and screaming if they tried sending her back home. This was home now.

* * *

Corrugan admitted to actually liking Friday evenings. The bright future of not having to teach for the next two days was always a plus, as was the chance to use that time to pursue what he had left in the way of hobbies, but neither were the main attraction to Friday evening. No, it was quiet. Blessedly quiet. All of the older students who had obtained permission earlier in the week were off in Canterlot enjoying themselves. Which gave Corrugan time to enjoy himself in peace without ever having to exercise a hoof in travel.

He sucked in a deep scent of the evening air and let it out again, casually taking the spiral staircase even further up than the students were allowed. The lock on the ceiling hatch was undone, and several names flew through Corrugan’s mind even as he slowly pushed it open. The well-oiled hinges made no noise as he came to the top of the central tower proper, the light of the moon and stars unimpeded save for the dome of metal pipes extending over the tower’s cap. A small huff of amusement escaped him at the site of the silhouette already gazing into the distance.

“Curiosity finally got the better of you, I see, Ocean,” Corrugan said, coming to stand at the cap’s edge alongside her. “Got a nag in your mind?”

“You,” she snapped back.

“My voice isn’t actually all that good for nagging,” Corrugan replied, noting idly he enjoyed needling Ocean far more than he should.

“It’s close enough,” she grumbled. Corrugan just shrugged and waited. Whatever was on her mind, she would either tell him or she wouldn’t, in which case she’d leave afterward anyway. And he had all night after all. But either Ocean was an exercise in patience he hadn’t suspected she would be, or she was genuinely thinking about something. He stood on the tower beside her, not moving or speaking for an entire hour as the pure darkness of the night fell into place. And when the moon and it’s ever present mare seemed to reach the extent of her glow, Ocean’s mouth opened again.

“I… I can’t believe she let you teach here,” she whispered, disgust layering every syllable.

“What? You see some kind of bias between myself and the princess?” Corrguan asked, mildly offended Ocean would suggest something of the sort about Celestia. “I may have been her student once, but it’s not as though other, better qualified - ”

“Shut up!” she screamed, and Corrugan’s brows furrowed in wary concen. “Stop pretending to be a pony, you monster!”

Shit, Corrugan mentally swore. But he would remain impassive, like the princess had shown him all those years ago, and he had put to good use in quite recent memory. “You looked at my social file I’m guessing,” he said, remaining as still as ever while Ocean had backed away and was scowling at him with more than a little distaste. “I’m not angry at you, for the record,” he added before she could rant on defensively. “You’re the school’s secretary. It’s your job to handle all our paperwork.”

“I’m going to have words with the princess about you,” Ocean growled. “I knew there was something off about you, but… to let something like you teach our foals! The princess is out of her bucking mind.”

“You won’t convince her of anything, that I’m sure of,” Corrugan said, now turning to face her. “And don’t you think it’s a better idea for me to be teaching? I know where things go from skill and research to obsession. It is the princess’s position that who is better to steer them from that path? You think you can convince her otherwise?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Ocean spat back. “If the princess won’t listen, there are hundreds of others in the world that would agree with me. And they’d help me get you away from these innocent minds.”

“As if,” Corrugan almost laughed, but restrained himself. “I don’t think they’d be counting on the Princess of the Sun interfering. Go to bed, Ocean. Chat into Celestia’s ear if your conscience insists you do, but don’t expect anything.”

“I’ll see you kicked from these grounds at the very least,” she growled before shuffling off, slamming the hatch down harder than was necessary. Corrugan waited for a few moments to collect himself, several good sighs escaping his lips as he did so. It seemed he could add another pony to his relatively small list of those who knew of his condition. Not that Ocean’d be able to do anything more than make his life somewhat more cumbersome. The trick would be the same it always had been. Help them forget. Which, he found, even the most vicious of his enemies did indeed do after a time. He would just act and be normal, like he was, and only residual tension would be left.

Still, the lengthy talk Celestia was likely to want to give him wouldn’t be pleasant. She’d always want him to do the same thing she’d wanted for the past five years. And he’d have to deny her, insist he was determined to make a positive mark on the lives of the young before he entered the beyond. It would be depressing, and not a little frustrating, what with having had to convince her he was still stable earlier in the week.

Whatever, they were thoughts for another time. For now, he had far more important work to do. He sealed the hatch with a flick of magic and seated himself in the center of the tower’s cap. He allowed his eyes to slowly drift shut. Not so slow that he fell asleep, nor too quickly that his mind was too distracted. It was a meditative action. And now situated where he liked in his mind’s eye, the sky seemed to fly around him, turning from night to day in the briefest of flashes. There was wind in his mane, but that soon disappeared as he mercifully let the shroud be taken away by the magic imbued gusts.

The world changed and altered at his call all around him, and somewhere between his meditative conjure and reality, he could hear the flashing and connecting of the metal as the magic found its many marks and flowed through his design and met with other such strands. In the end, the magic coursing above him was no longer just above. It formed a loop, circulating magic from his construct, through the world, and through him before beginning again. And sensing this, he opened his eyes and stood.

The dome around him was no longer dead and lifeless metal. Instead, it was a gorgeous collection of magic, warped and controlled by the hundreds and hundreds of casting rings engraved on the surface of the metal, some even projecting out larger, more complex rings. Colors of every hue, every brightness flashed around him, small beads of multicolored light flashing and moving around in instants or at miniscule crawls. A tingling rush spiked through Corrugan’s form, and a contented thought drifted through his mind. It was here, in this place, he was home. Ocean wouldn’t be able to take him from this.

But all the same, as much as this was his element, it was also an important part of his job, and he set about his routine, waiting for the princess to show up as she always did. Or perhaps she wouldn’t for a long while. Sunset was here on the grounds now where a veritable army of the most skilled mages Equestria had to offer would protect her. There wouldn’t be much for Corrugan to interpret from his array when those around her would know and alert somepony if something went badly just as quickly as Corrugan could. Perhaps he could use it to relax. Just observe in general.

Then again, she had only been on the campus for a week. “May I enter the array, Corrugan?” Princess Celestia’s voice asked from behind.

“I am assuming you have the armor on?” Corrugan replied, not even looking away from a particular fluctuation near Canterlot. His eyes darted around, drawing in multiple light-constructed casting rings. He winced as the princess entered the dome’s maelstrom of energy, connected as intimately as he was to it. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to you being late to the activation process,” he mused, eyes shifting around at a lightning pace. The assembled rings aligned and spun with one another, altering the dome’s assembly of moving lights. The princess came up beside him as he strolled within the confines of the array, searching for a more exact point of the fluctuation. It was likely nothing, but following little trails like so kept his skills sharp.

“And I don’t think I’ll ever become used to how claustrophobic this stuff is,” the princess answered, her voice muffled by the helmet.

“I always invite you to try entering without it,” Corrugan said, trotting off in the opposite direction, still searching. “I know the output isn’t healthy for normal ponies, but alicorns aren’t exactly spilling out the walls for me to test… Not that I ever would, mind,” he added after a teasing pause, not even having to see the princess’s face to know the look she had given him. “What are you…?” he mumbled as she clanked past, likely watching a different cluster. He was closing in on the source of the fluctuation, but the more magnifications he performed, the more the anomaly seemed to condense. His rings narrowed into the Arts District, to a specific neighborhood, to a specific street… and even to a specific house.

And there it was still, isolated and distinct in a humble little house. “Teacher…” he said apprehensively, leaning his head over his shoulder but still keeping his vision trained on the pulsing magic detected by his array. “When I first built this array and you tasked me with searching for the pony that I found to be Sunset… there should have only been one like her, yes?”

“The details are a little more complex than that but, yes, why?” Celestia asked, moving to where Corrugan was staring and bending to see the fluctuation through the protective armor.

“My array doesn’t lie,” Corrugan said, almost as though reassuring himself. He flicked his eyes away briefly, sending a multi layered sky blue ring careening toward them before stopping between them. A touch of thought later, and Corrguan had the ring disassemble, expanding down to reveal a swirling, almost organic set of magic beams. “This is a constant monitor of Sunset Shimmer’s Domains,” Corrugan said, “and it was the highest connection rate between the Fundamentals I’d ever seen. But this thing…” He eyed the pulsing magic dot, only a representation in his array, and before he could convince himself otherwise or let the princess stop him, a set of similar rings encircled the light.

The process was complete in a matter of seconds, which only deepened Corrugan’s confusion. Hesitantly, he shifted it alongside Sunset’s expanded ring and duplicated the effect. But rather than reveal the complex interwoven Domains, only a single, thick beam of violet light could be seen. “The buck is in Canterlot?” he asked aloud, not expecting a ready answer from the princess.

“By Tartarus…” she whispered in something like horror and awe. But her voice became the hardened tone of a leader with the next words she spoke. “Corrugan, destroy this record. And do what your array can to hide - !” Both Corrugan and Princess Celestia winced and braced, the princess even screaming a little as a massive shock wave shook the entire tower.

“Who the bucking blazes -?!” Corrugan yelled upon recovery, collapsing the monitor rings and spinning the stationary rings at their maximum. The array flung outward, surveying the whole of Equestria. But even with the range so large, the ripple it detected was obvious immediately. Another blast shook the tower, and with it’s second impact, Corrguan felt what the array depicted. Domains were attempting to cross.

“It has to be one of the students, Corrugan!” Celestia yelled before shedding the armor in a burst of cosmic fire and disappearing into the distance. Corrugan growled in desperation, taxing his array until he found the exact location, shut the entire thing down, and warped as close as he could manage himself. He hoped she wasn’t beyond saving.

* * *

“Shims, the teach isn’t in his office,” Lyra repeated for the third time while Sunset knocked in as many times. “He’s probs off doin’ teachy stuff.”

“I think Corrugan would have told us when he would be out, especially if it were something scheduled,” Sunset said, stepping back and waiting again.

“Then it probably innit,” Lyra insisted, now rather impatient. “C’mon, let’s go drag Arts off her fat flank, get some grub, then you can give it another shot. Hell, maybe the colt had a date and’s out to dinner with ‘er. Ya never know.”

“Does Corrugan really strike you as the type of colt to attract a mare? Or pursue one for that matter?” Sunset asked, disbelieving, despite turning and following Lyra around their inner balcony back to their room. She was at least right about getting something to eat. The food wasn’t exactly the same as the things from the Isles, but it was tasty all the same. And if she were being honest with herself, thinking about food was making her hungry.

“Sure!” Lyra said, an evil look in her eye. “He needs a filly that’s smart as him, but’s got way too much of an idea of what romance is like. ‘Cause I see ‘im as the kinda colt that’d fall into it for her.”

“You think about this sort of thing too much,” Sunset decided.

“And my oh so elegant response is that you don’t think about it enough,” Lyra said, punching her in the shoulder. “C’mon… You know that accent of yours would earn you a date from any colt here. Don’t tell me you’re not even interested.” They both slid their bags off in the room, Sunset neatly stacking hers in her desk while Lyra simply levi-threw hers onto her bunk. Sunset didn’t even bother sighing. Lyra did as Lyra was. Or perhaps that saying was the other way around… Or… Oh, flub it.

“Most colts are idiots,” Sunset replied simply, restraining from holding her head up and sniffing. “And I haven’t seen one here at this school that is a decent exception.”

“Picky, picky filly…” Lyra sing-songed as they stepped out and rounded on around to Arty’s room. “Well at least I have a mission now,” she said happily with a notable spring in her step.

“No! Absolutely not!” Sunset protested.

“Ah… Just you wait. We get to the potions part of school… Mmm hmmm,” Lyra grinned helplessly, licking her lips. “Hell, I’m pretty good. May not even take me that long.”

“Have I reminded you how much I hate you today?” Sunset rolled her eyes.

“Twice,” Lyra answered matter-of-factly. “But I shall have to discuss this with Lady Arts. She will be a fine and willing assistant.” Lyra winked cheekily at Sunset, prompting another eye-roll, though she couldn’t hide her genuinely amused smile and sigh. Both of them rapped on Arty’s door, waiting for the royal pink mare to answer the door, bleary eyed and mumbling nonsense. Only she didn’t and after Lyra and Sunset eyeing each other in concern, Sunset tapped the door again.

It opened at last, but only her roommate, the pastel blue filly Sunset vaguely remembered as Lulamoon answered the door. She looked rather like Arty did after a nap, oddly enough, eyes puffy and half closed, but the sniffle was clear enough. For whatever reason, she’d been crying pretty hard, and Sunset felt the heat rising in her face. “Um… sorry,” Lyra managed to say, but she sounded as awkward as Sunset felt. “Your roommate, Arty? You know where she went?”

“Ha- Haven’t seen her all day. Bye,” Lulamoon answered as rapidly as possible with her sniffling and slammed the door shut again.

“Dammit,” Lyra muttered, and Sunset nodded in agreement. “You ever feel like that sort of shit only happens to you?”

“All the time,” Sunset replied. “Bloody hell… well, we might as well go eat. She might already be down there, and it’ll be easier to search for her on a full stomach.”

“Not with the way I eat it won’t,” Lyra countered, though she followed Sunset down the central spire anyway. The meal was some kind of vegetable cassarole which Sunset privately thought was the chef’s excuse to get rid of all the leftovers. But she couldn’t deny he was a good cook. Cassarole or not, it tasted delicious, and Sunset would have taken second helpings (at which point Lyra was already half way finished with her third) had her twinge of a headache not continued to strike wincing pains in the base of her horn. She couldn’t exactly place it, but thought it’d started sometime around when they’d started off for supper in the first place. And even with the constant merriment that was the dining hall, it had progressively started growing worse, to the point Sunset couldn’t even use Lyra’s sloppy table manners to distract herself anymore.

“Lyra, I think I need to go see the nurse,” Sunset winced, talking making the ache worse. “Ah!” she yelped, holding her hoof to the base of her horn. “Just something for my head…”

“Hey, you aight?” Lyra asked, concerned. “Hey. Damn, yeah, you look pale as a Windigo. Sheesh. C’mon. You can walk, right?” She dismounted from the table and popped over to the other side with a quick teleportation, holding a hoof out for Sunset to grab as she slid out of the chair.

“Hee, thanks, but I don’t feel that bad,” Sunset said with grin she could muster. “Just a pretty bad headache.”

“And I’m sayin’ you look a whole lot worse than just a headache,” Lyra fired back, more insistent. “The last thing we need is you fallin’ down the st- !” Everypony, Lyra, Sunset, everypony screamed as the entire school shook with all the power of an earthquake. Sunset sank to the floor, yelling more than screaming as the headache intensified in a matter of seconds. Another blast ripped through the school, this time whiffing out candles and chandeliers with a gust of air. Sunset screamed, tears coming from behind her tight eyelids, the headache migrating solely into her horn. “Sunset! Shims!” Lyra’s panicked voice came from the darkness, and it was something Sunset could latch onto in the chaos of pain and terrified yelping.

“Lyra!” she called back, and almost immediately the filly’s rough grip found her waist. “Lyra!?”

“Yeah, yeah! I’m here, Shims! I’m here. You okay?” she asked, her rapid breathing and fearful tone not enough to mitigate the reassurance of the presence of a friend.

“Something’s wrong, Lyra!” Sunset yelled over the growing cacophony, and was only able to buckle and wail when the third shock wave slammed into the school. “Follow… follow me,” she breathed through the haze of piercing pain. “And don’t… don’t let go.” Her horn discharged far more easily than it ever had before, and without even her conscious directing, she was dragging Lyra through a teleport unlike any other. She wasn’t directing them or her magic, just letting it take her where it would.

And when they landed in a rolling heap, in dewy grass, a maelstrom of magic blocking out the night sky and pulsing and crackling all around them, Sunset eyes wished she had just been stronger and endured the pain.

* * *

Corrugan had traveled the world, seen the strange and wonderful in his quest for magical knowledge, but nothing ever set his heart to beating in both pity and fear more than the spectacle before him. A wall of electrified clouds were slowly climbing in a cylindrical shape only feet from him. Wind whipped around it and raw Elemental Domain energy pulsed out from it. Trees and grass warped inward, and his own magic even felt as though it were tugging against his mind, attempting to separate and join the maelstrom.

He grunted and braced, lighting up a good number of his rings despite their ability to pierce his shroud. Princess Celestia was nowhere in sight, nor was the massive burn patch he had expected. And without her, he would have to cut through the magic storm himself. Only, in proved entirely unnecessary as a filly’s terrified wail cut through the cascading, dissonant sounds like a scythe. And almost as if in response the entire magical warp fell away in a crash of dust and mist. A simple ring cleared it away, and what he saw clenched his heart harder than the fear of the magic ever would be able to do.

* * *

And before Sunset could even cry out, somepony else did first, a supernatural wail that seemed to cut through everything else. It silenced the chaos around them, but everything about her changed. “Art… Arty?” Sunset could barely whimper.

“Help me Sunset! For the love of Celestia! Help me! Pleasse!” she pleaded, screaming the final word. And she broke into horror driven tears, her hiccups echoing over the grass. “Please…” she whispered. “Somepony… anypony…” And she screamed in nothing but what Sunset could describe as other than pure agony. The hoof Sunset had been slowly extending out to Arty she yanked back almost on instinct. And the wraith-like tendrils Sunset had thought she’d seen before shot alight with a demonic blue pulse. They were waving and protruding from…

“Arty… are… are…” Sunset stammered, trying to comfort her, to help somehow, but everything was locking up. Her mouth, her eyes, her legs. All of it. She was shivering all over, unable to look away from the gaping tears in Arty’s spry little body. The rent and hanging fur and skin, the building pool of blood and the oozing drip seeping from where the tendrils exited her body.

“Sunset! Shims! C’mon Shim! C’mon!” Lyra was shoving against Sunset, her voice cracking into a whimper as she tried to pull Sunset from her stupor. “We gotta help her! C’mon!”

“Lyra! Do something! Please! I’m sorry! I’m -” Arty began screaming again, only to be cut off as the tendrils rigidly extended outward, seemingly to nothing. But Arty bent over as their extension rent her small sides even more severely, and her head keeled down, blood spilling out her mouth in uncontrolled retching.

“Oh Celestia!” Lyra cried out, sinking down but trying to crawl to Arty’s side regardless. “Tell me what to do Arty,” she sobbed, holding her head straight. “I don’t know how to help if you don’t tell me… Sunset! Snap out of it! Help me!”

And for whatever reason, Sunset’s stupor broke, and her shaking legs gingerly carried her to Arty, who was barely breathing and her eyes rolled back in her head. “We… we have to get those things out…” Sunset shook, only able to piece together fragments of thought. “Magic… I can use magic… yes. Of course.”

But she never got the chance, as the tendrils pulled farther out from Arty’s body, and she convulsed with helpless whimpers. “Hold her! Hold her!” Lyra screamed, and even as Sunset moved to wrap her hooves around her friend’s body, Arty coughed again, blood some other kind of fluid spraying out all onto Sunset’s hooves and chest. It was warm, and she could feel every small drop as it soaked her coat and dripped away. And what Sunset had been able to somehow gain in coherence evaporated. Her shaking worsened, she couldn’t breathe, and nothing seemed to work properly. Words wouldn’t even form in her brain.

But even as she felt herself about to collapse, a warm glow enveloped her and Lyra and gently pulled them away. “NO!” was all Sunset’s mind could process, as Arty began thrashing and screaming and reaching out for them. “NO!”

“Look away fillies,” a soft mother’s voice said above them as the glow slowly faded from around her. “Look away. This is not something you need to see.” She didn’t know who was talking, or who was holding her still. All she could see was Corrugan striding up to Arty, just where she and Lyra had been moments before. Sunset felt some kind of clarity return to her. Her teacher would know what to do. It was his field of expertise He’d save Arty from whatever creature had attacked her. He’d heal her. Make her better.

But even as Sunset’s hopes began to rise in her chest, her fading daze could see Corrugan’s eyes. His narrow, tear streaked eyes and thin mouth. “Look away you two!” he said, his tone harsher than anything Sunset had heard from him. “Take them, Celestia. This is my responsibility. I’ll make it quick.” And it all fell into place for Sunset.

“NO! NO! YOU CAN’T! NO! ARTY! STOP! PLEASE! PRINCESS NO! YOU CAN’T LET HIM!” she screamed. She flailed and kicked, and screamed and cried, pulling away from the princess’s hold. Corrugan’s gray body flared with dozens of circular lights, and Arty’s hopeful, bloody face turned to one of horror. And Sunset let out a final wailing scream as heat, light, and raw magical force sent her into unconsciousness, Princess Celestia teleporting her away, and Arty’s tiny yell of pain permeating even so far into her mind.