Sunset Shimmer: Student of Magick

At least the pain was gone. Sunset Shimmer could feel the knife wound in her side, though it was an abstract feeling. The sensation was there because she remembered its presence, created when Flash Sentry slipped the blade between her ribs that punctured her lung. Despite the wound and the fact that she knew she had been suffocating, she could breathe normally. She wondered briefly why she was no longer dying, but the idea became a phantom that floated on the breeze to be forgotten as quickly as it had appeared.

Sunset felt cold all over. She moved, but her limbs responded lethargically. Only then did she realise she was lying flat on some very chilly ground. She rose, grunting with the effort, to a sitting position.

Then she heard the whispers.

There were mocking, bitter, and angry voices. Voices she recognised. They came from all around her, sometimes seeming to sound right next to her ears.

She clapped her hands over her temples, fumbling to get her numb fingers to close properly. They did little to stop the sharp words, the terrible accusations from ripping into her.

"Witch!"

"Demoness."

"Disappear ... you don't belong...."

"Stop," Sunset whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut. The vocal assault was just like when she had been caught in the hallway during the Anon-A-Miss incident. "Please stop. I'm not like that anymore."

"Oh, really?" Applejack's voice spoke in her ear. "That lust fer power ain't just gone."

A strangled sob fought its way from her throat despite her best efforts to suppress it.

"She seems to think a few crocodile tears will convince everyone." Rarity's voice was as cold and unforgiving as ice. "We will not be fooled so easily this time."

No, this was not like the Anon-A-Miss incident. This was even worse.

"They're not-" Sunset swallowed, cutting off her shaky reply. "They’re not crocodile tears. I really am trying to change. I want to be a better person. I thought you guys saw that. I thought we were friends."

"Friends? With a mean-meanie-meanpants like you?" Pinkie asked. "Why would we ever do that?"

"I welcomed you into my home. I even shared my bed with you." Fluttershy's voice had a hard, nasty edge to it that Sunset would never have believed was possible. "A monster like you deserves to ... to-"

"Die," Rainbow Dash interjected. "I wish we'd burnt you in that pit. That would've been just perfect for you. Demons love fiery pits."

Sunset shook her head violently. "Twilight, you believe in me, don't you? Please, Twilight, you have to believe me!"

"Why should I? You started everything when you stole that other Twilight's crown. If you hadn't done that, none of the other bad things would have happened. In fact, if you hadn't come here, everything would have been perfect. You yelled at me for risking your friends' lives, but just admit it: If not for you, they never would have been at risk."

"Monster. Monster. Monster," the six voices chanted. Every few seconds, one took a turn to break from the chant to hurl another insult. The abuse continued until their voices eventually faded to mesh into the low current of angry whispers and occasional sharp outbursts all around her.

The hating, mocking voices of Sunset’s friends still rang in her ears. Desperate to move, to escape, Sunset pushed herself to her feet. She finally opened her eyes and saw the people she considered friends standing around her, the rest of the student body arrayed behind them. Though she could see every face distinctly, the crowd seemed somehow smaller than it should have been.

Each eye judged her and found her lacking. Each voice condemned her, damning her to the worst torments she could imagine. Her friends were the worst, the hate in their eyes burning her. As the onslaught continued, she saw not just humans, but every pony she had ever known joining the throng.

Princess Celestia called for her to be thrown into Tartarus to be used as a chew-toy for the creatures there, to which the crowd cheered. Perhaps the only one she knew that was not present was Princess Twilight, but she knew it was only a matter of time until that voice was added to the crowd.

Then it was not just voices anymore. They pushed closer, pressing their collective weight forward as if to crush her, hands clenched into fists or outstretched like claws.

Panic seized Sunset's mind. She cast about, looking desperately for some escape. A small gap was open between them all, the space sufficient to allow her escape.

'No. I deserve this,' a small part of her mind whispered in a broken voice. 'I'm a monster. A she-demon.'

She began to sob freely. Images of every terrible act she had ever committed burnt her like fire from within, not in the least relieved by the cold rejection being heaped upon her. Sunset found herself agreeing with the mob, ready to offer herself to whatever punishments they believed she deserved.

"Don't listen to them," a hushed voice breathed into her ear.

The voice was familiar, but Sunset could not see from where it originated. "Princess Twilight?"

"Don't trust the roads. They'll only lead you into darkness," Twilight's disembodied voice warned. "You'll never escape."

Looking again at the tiny gap, Sunset asked, "Then how do I get out?"

"Remember the truth, Sunset. Please remember who you are."

'The truth? The truth is that I'm a monster,' she told herself again. 'Monsters have to be destroyed.'

Though it sounded like Sunset's own voice, the phantasmic whisper was just a little different. She picked up a small hint of glee in her personal condemnation as well as something a little alien about her self-deprecation, like an actor practising a mimicry that was just a hair from being able to replicate the original perfectly. That was the first time she had noticed it.

"No! I'm not a monster anymore. I'm not perfect, but I'm doing the best I can."

A small glimmer just above her head lit the space around her. Suddenly, Sunset was alone.

Her new light was only a single pinprick of illumination, but it was warm, unlike the harsh glare that had revealed the raging mob. Even the ringing in her ears vanished when they did to be replaced by absolute silence. The tiny beacon only illuminated roughly the distance she could reach around her, so she still could not see much. Beyond the circle of light was only inky blackness.

'Like my soul.'

'No, not anymore,' she shot back at her not-voice.

The light grew brighter, revealing a twisted forest that would have made the Everfree Forest seem tame. She could just see a road below her feet that led between its trees. She saw another tiny pinprick of light in the distance, peeking over the tops of the trees. The beacon was inviting; she understood deep inside herself that it was her destination. The road curved through the woods, meandering to the distant light. Following the paved way required a longer walk. Taking a straight line meant travelling into the thickest section of the forest and potentially encountering whatever called it home.

She remembered Twilight's warning and left the road to trek into the forest. Sunset quickly realised that rejecting the road meant subjecting herself to the flora's ire. She pressed into a dense wall of foliage that resisted her efforts and scratched at her with branches like thorns before finally yielding. As though every shrub and tree had united to fight her progress, they almost seemed to move whenever she was not looking. Where once only three trees stood to her side, now there were five. The shadows only made them more frightening, hints of grotesque faces hidden within the foliage appearing only in the corners of her eyes.

Malicious giggles accompanied slithering movements, whatever shared the forest with her always remaining just beyond her sight. She only caught glimpses of the creatures: Barbed tails that vanished into shrubbery, eyes glowing red like blood, glinting fangs suitable for tearing into flesh. They seemed to be everywhere and nowhere. What sounded like claws against bark came from her right, but even whirling as fast as she could revealed naught. Her tormentors refused to show themselves, leaving their full appearance to her imagination.

The forest was cold, and Sunset belatedly noticed that she was naked. A cool breeze raised goosebumps on her skin and made her shiver, clutching her arms around herself for warmth and security. Far more than embarrassment, she feared what the daemonic entities rustling in the underbrush might do to her. She knew objectively that clothing would make no difference, but the terror remained all the same.

Despite the initial barrier of flora, the interior of the woods were a little more open once she struggled her way through the initial hostility of the environment. Careful movement would allow her to avoid the worst of the overgrowth that was attempting to tear at her skin. The abrasions already present across her body stung in the chill as though punishing her for violating the sanctity of the woods.

The glowing beacon occasionally disappeared behind the canopy only to reappear a few steps later. The fact she never lost sight of it for long raised Sunset's hope that she had made the correct decision to leave the road. At one point, she thought she saw another light dancing between the trees, though it disappeared when she blinked. Another blink and more of them began to appear, flitting like fireflies about her.

As the lights drew near, she heard the whispers again. They continued to speak of her many transgressions, vivid images of every terrible abuse dancing through her head in time with the fireflies. She was grateful her friends were absent this time knowing she could not survive their verbal assault a second time.

"Please," she whispered, "Please, I just want to go home."

"What is home?" a quiet, genderless voice asked.

The lights vanished, and the one floating above her head dimmed until she could see only the length of her outstretched arm about herself. The forest went silent, even the creatures no longer moving.

She stopped, twirling left and right to look for the speaker, but she was alone. The creeping darkness was her only companion, hiding whatever might be hunting her.

"Where is home?" the voice asked. "So few options, young traveller."

"Home is with my friends," Sunset replied as she began walking again. She could escape this voice as she had her false classmates despite the stumbles and thistles slowing her progress.

"Friends?" A light chuckle followed the single word. "Those who sought to destroy you? Or those who drove you away? Perhaps both?"

"The Equestrians didn't drive me away. I left on my own."

The shadows of the trees shifted to follow her steps, stretching into her little bastion of light. Tendrils of darkness reached for her feet. Though she dodged them, their number and lengths increased until they nearly covered the ground around her. She could no longer move without encountering one. They might have been harmless, but she did not wish to take the risk.

"How kind of you to absolve their guilt. 'I left on my own.' Why, though, did you feel a need to leave?"

'Ignore him,' Sunset told herself.

"It couldn't have been the whispers, could it? Or that look of disappointment your teacher always had every time she looked at you? What about your parents? Why were they so eager to abandon you, the quiet, unloved little filly always left alone when she was not beaten?"

"My mentor loved me." Sunset immediately covered her mouth.

"Sure she did," the voice mocked. "Why do you deceive yourself? Your parents saw what you are and tried to get rid of you before you turned on them. That princess saw it, and she decided to finish the job of making sure you'd never be back."

Tears tried to force their way out of her eyes as her knees trembled. Creeping shadows be damned, she took a step forward. When her foot landed on a pinecone, she fell to her hands and knees as pain shot from her foot up her leg. The shadows began to crawl over her skin, leaving her cold wherever they touched.

From the ground, she could see the first dancing light again. Sunset forced herself not to blink this time to glare at it.

She remembered her last night in her parents' home. The image came into clear focus, the forest fading until she was viewing her memories as though she were again living them.

Sunset Shimmer, barely more than a foal, was too nervous to sleep. Her parents were finally taking her on a trip in the morning. She was ecstatic; the outing was the greatest thing that could ever happen, though her excitement came more from the fact that her beloved mummy and daddy finally wanted her to be with them and had not been hitting her lately.

Sunset was too energised to stay in her bed and decided to sneak outside to watch the moonrise. As she cracked open her door, she heard her parents' voices coming from the kitchen.

"-don't have to worry so much. It's a perfect plan," her father said, his voice hushed yet fierce.

"You really think no pony will find out?" her mother asked. Her voice sounded relieved. "It'll be gone and we'll never have to see it again?"

"It'll be gone. We'll get it there tomorrow, drop it when we're sure no pony's around, and then we're done."

Sunset hurried back to her bed, wondering at what she had heard.

Her memories shifted to a period about two years later, after Celestia had taken her as a personal student. She was living at the palace by that point and attending the School for Gifted Unicorns; as the memory sharpened, she could hear her hooves tapping on the stone of the school's halls.

A trot through the arched corridors came with whispers that quieted and stares that were averted whenever Sunset tried to meet the eyes of her accusers. She could feel it everywhere, yet not one had the courage to say to her face what they thought of her.

'It wasn't my fault,' she thought. 'Those bullies attacked me. No pony else even tried to help; they all just watched. So what if I lost control of my magic?'

The injuries she inflicted on her tormentors had been an accident due to her extreme duress. They would eventually make a full recovery. The headmaster had spoken in her defence to the Princess and made a formal announcement to the school of those exact facts. So why did everypony still look at her like that? Was it because of the grin she bore when she finished punishing her attackers? Anypony would be happy to stand up to their abuse and win. The shrieks of fear and pain were just an added bonus.

Another change brought her to one of her final days with Celestia, specifically their last fight before the one that saw her banished from the castle and her mentor's side.

"Why did you shut me out of the library?" Sunset complained to her mentor.

"Because the last time you went to research, you were found hours later with every book about questionable and outright forbidden magic sprawled around you. You know you're not permitted in the restricted section."

"How am I supposed to protect myself from dark magic if I don't know anything about it?"

Celestia's gaze pierced her. "Is that really why you want to study it?"

"Aren't you going a little overboard? Just because your sister lost control of herself doesn't mean everypony will."

"No, it doesn't, but I won't allow the same darkness to fester again when I see it." Celestia gave a heavy sigh. "I will be blunt: Despite my every attempt to help you, you refuse to acknowledge that there is something wrong with you. I cannot and will not allow you to advance in your studies until you-"

Sunset would hear no more. She teleported elsewhere, as far as she could, cutting off the Princess mid-diatribe.

Sunset would show her.

No pony wanted her; no pony loved her, that much was clear. Only a matter of time remained before Princess Celestia would decide to be rid of her, though Sunset was certain that she would ensure her former student had no chance of surviving. A personal execution was the most likely, though Celestia might try to have her guards perform the killing so as to keep her own hooves clean. If she had been willing to banish her sister, there was no chance she would allow a 'dangerous' Unicorn to live.

'Darkness? If that's was all she sees, I'll be happy to oblige," she thought. She felt a grin turning her lips. 'I know I read about that stupid mirror before. Starswirl and portals. That'll be perfect.'

The memory faded, but no others replaced it.

"Sunset, open your eyes," Twilight's voice pleaded.

Blinking herself awake, Sunset found herself lying on the ground, face half-buried in the dirt. The shadows that had been slowly devouring her retreated as the light brightened.

"Am I in Tartarus?" she asked.

"You're almost to your destination. Go quickly."

The cold had spread throughout her body. She could not stop shivering as she pushed herself to her feet. Her teeth chattered uncontrollably, so she pulled back her tongue to protect it when she could not stop the audible gnashing. Mentally commanding her legs to work, Sunset oriented herself to the beacon and began limping as quickly as her damaged foot would allow. Whatever creatures had been stalking her now seemed absent.

A few minutes of trembling steps accompanied by a silence broken only by her footfalls and thudding heartbeat found Sunset at the edge of the forest. Before her stretched a flat plain covered in grasses that waved quietly in a non-existent breeze. What dim light revealed the clearing had no obvious source. So far as she could tell, the ground itself was vaguely luminescent.

A small path led through the clearing straight to the door of a grand tower. The edifice stood proud and terrible at the centre of the clearing. Dark stone that both absorbed and radiated warmth comprised the building material, the area around it warming the cold from Sunset's bones. The shivering stopped, the chattering dying as feeling returned to her extremities.

Had it occupied any other world, the tower would have been foreboding.

She looked up and saw the beacon came from the tower's peak. Spires of stone more like daemonic wings than spikes encircled the source of the light.

Her gaze travelled down to view hideous gargoyles perched upon the tower as they glared at the approaching girl, the stone from which they had been carved somewhat lighter than the tower itself. Sunset was not afraid of the tower's guardians despite their hostile visages. Something in her reasoned that they only warned away those unworthy of approach. That she had reached this point meant she was not part of that group.

A symbol of a clenched fist wreathed in flame filled a space near the top and glowed white. Almost hidden behind it was a strange chimera-like creature, its stern expression simultaneously fixated on her and looking into the distance.

Enormous doors blocked the entrance, made of some dark wood like that of the trees at her back. Upon the doors, as though burnt into the wood, was a glyph she did not recognise. Like the runes sometimes used to encode the magic she had once studied, the unknown symbol whispered of power. She was so very close to something she did not yet understand, but she knew the answers waited for within the tower.

Sunset marched forward, looking over the doors from a distance for a handle or something to open the way. Even from a stone's throw, they appeared to be solid with no obvious seam or means to manipulate them.

"Welcome to the Watchtower of the Iron Gauntlet."

Nearly falling at the start of the voice, Sunset managed to control herself and turned to find someone sitting on a massive dark stone throne now occupying the path behind her. Neither had been present when she first arrived.

She could not get a good look at the person. Shadows covered almost the entirety of the enthroned individual, though she could still see some outline. Even seated in the dark, she could tell the other person was tall and radiated an aura of power and majesty. The mere presence reminded her of Princess Celestia when she took her courtly demeanour.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"That question is better directed at yourself. Who are you?" The voice was steady yet cadenced, reminding her again of the princess she had abandoned so long ago.

The voice from the shadow was not asking her name and did not care, though Sunset could not have explained how she knew that. She thought she knew what was being asked and decided to avoid answering, hoping to turn it back on the other.

"Is this a test?"

"Hardly. Everything you have endured before you arrived here was a test, if that is what you must call it."

Gesturing at the tower and then the land around them, she asked, "What is all of this?"

"You have found a way to the Watchtower of the Iron Gauntlet, located within the Realm of Pandemonium, Abode of Deamons. You should be proud of yourself."

"That tells me its name, not what it is."

The other party stood but did not approach her, the shadows themselves moving to maintain the obfuscation. "You possess an inquisitive mind and a courageous spirit. We are alike in many ways, else neither of us would be here. However, you should be aware that names tell us many things. I have told you what this tower is by naming it."

Though she could have easily left the enthroned figure and finished crossing the field to the tower, Sunset could not do it. The thought did not cross her mind as she stood facing the dark throne. She could only wait for more words.

"This Watchtower represents many things. It is a beacon of hope to those stranded here, but it is also the same beacon that called them to this place. It protects the integrity of Pandemonium so that others can traverse its paths. Perhaps the most important, though, is that it represents power."

Finally stepping forward, the figure stopped within arm's reach of Sunset. The gait was confident and smooth. She could see powder-blue robes enshrouding the figure's body and pale white unblemished hands at the sides, though the shadows still covered the upper body.

"You are empty," the being said. "That is why you are in this place, why the Watchtower beckoned to you. It opened a path for you." The figure paused for a moment to regard her. Despite her nudity, Sunset did not feel embarrassed. Finally, the figure spoke again. "Why do you want the power that is available to you here? Do you seek to right the wrongs brought against you by those unable to understand you? Do you wish to punish those who have hurt you? What is your desire?"

"I want to be with my friends."

"Once you leave this place, you will find that difficult. When you have touched the Mysteries and breached the Lie, you cannot return unchanged. You cannot forget what you have seen. As your power grows with your understanding of the Truth, you will grow ever more distant. Whether you drift from them or they abandon you, the result will be the same. It is lonely at the top, after all."

"That won't happen. We love each other. They won't leave me, no matter how much I change. Real friends will always understand if you take the time to explain."

"Did they not turn against you once before, leaving you to the vague whims of the masses? You tried to end your own life after the betrayal of your love for them. You told the truth and they rejected you as a deceiver, yet you let them back into your heart without hesitation."

"They realised their mistakes. It's not like they didn't let me in when I did so many more terrible things."

"And where was your honesty about the things you had done before? You have yet to lay out every card. If they will understand, why have you not told them every part of your past and revealed your truest self? I applaud your fiery spirit, but I see the coward hidden behind it."

Sunset bit her tongue. After a moment of silence, the figure took a quiet breath.

When the pale-handed individual spoke again, the tone was contemplative. "This place acts upon visitors to bring them to a crisis in their desires, to confront them with their sins and break them until they have decided what they want. Only then do they reach the Watchtower.

"You and I are alike. I know what is within you. The passions that led you to Pandemonium are as integral to your being as your mind. The Path now laid before you will force you accept who you are.

"If you revealed that naked truth to your friends, would they still accept you? No other has tolerated you upon learning what resides in you, not even the Princess you once adored. Do you believe your friends will be different?"

"They're helping me change. I'll overcome it."

"You cannot overcome what you are, Sunset Shimmer, and still be yourself. So I ask you again: Who are you?"

The door of the tower opened without a sound, yet Sunset still heard it. Light spilt into the plain from its entrance. The tower beckoned her to learn the secrets of its interior, an invitation she could not imagine refusing.

The figure and the throne were gone when she looked back at where they had been.

Sunset might as well have drifted into the Watchtower for all her awareness of the movement. She stood in an open space lit by braziers ensconced in the walls. They did not burn, instead holding lights like the one that had accompanied her throughout her journey.

Writing adorned the bricks of the encircling wall. Carved, scratched, painted, scrawled, the many previous visitors had left their marks in sweat, tears, or blood. A particular block with an open spot invited closer study. Though she could not read the writing around it, she knew they were names. A greater sense of urgency than any she had ever felt pushed her to add her own. The need filled her until she could focus upon nothing else; no matter what she had to do, she would leave her symbol.

Sunset was not completely naked. The weight of the obsidian hair clip Rarity had gifted her seemed unnaturally heavy as she pulled it free. A few light taps on the wall broke an edge until she could pull it free of the metal clasp. A quick pull across her fingers released blood. The cut did not hurt despite being rather deep.

She traced letters on the wall, reopening the wounds as needed until she completed her task. The moment she finished, she felt herself falling away. A yawning void of darkness opened beneath her. Below that, she could feel her home.

As the tower faded, her eyes were fixed on the block's surface. 'Sunset Shimmer' glinted in the torchlight, painted in a gruesome red.

She gave herself to the darkness wrapping around her and plummeted back to her body, ready for whatever was coming next.