I ran from the apartment as fast as my broken foot would allow as tears poured down my face. Behind me was the sound of footsteps in hot pursuit.

"Twilight! Wait up!"

"Where are you going, darling?!"

I didn't answer either of them as I knew they were going to catch up to me quickly. I collapsed shortly after that from the pain shooting through my body.

"Twilight, please tell us where you're going," Fluttershy begged.

"I... I'm going home... to m-my parents house," I cried as I held myself up on my hands and knees. "I-I don't care what... *sniff* ...what it takes."

Rarity and Fluttershy both knelt down on either side of me and held me in their arms as I broke down on the sidewalk. My mind was a jumbled mess of emotions and thoughts as I tried to figure out what I did to cause Sunny to treat me the way she did.

"W-why... why did she, *sniff*, she act th-that way?" I continued to cry. "I-I thought *sniff* she... she, *sniff* loved me."

"She does, darling," Rarity whispered softly. "But the Sunset Shimmer that you ran from has somehow been consumed by her past self."

"Oh no," was the only thing that Fluttershy said.

"What do *sniff* you mean 'oh no'?" I asked nervously.

"It's just... her past self was really mean," Fluttershy replied quietly. "She would make me cry a lot."

"It's true, darling," Rarity confirmed. "Before we got split up, one of us would find her in tears almost everyday."

I continued to sniffle as I had rotated around to sit on the grass beside the concrete sidewalk to be a little more comfortable.

"How about we spend the rest of the night at my house?" Fluttershy asked as she stood up.

"That sounds fine. *sniff* But don't you need your keys?" I asked her.

"I have a spare key for the car hidden in one of the wheel wells and house key hidden in the flower bed," she replied before turning to walk back to the apartment complex.

I wiped my eyes again as Rarity and I sat in silence under a full moon, waiting for Fluttershy to return.

Rarity helped me into Fluttershy's house due to the sheer amount of pain in my foot from running (for lack of a better word). I sat down on the sofa just moments before being joined by Fluttershy's pets.

"Aww, they're trying to make you feel better," Fluttershy cooed. "I'll go get you something for the physical pain though."

Rarity propped up on one of the tan recliners and began falling asleep almost immediately. I wanted to follow suit but the wave emotions flowing through me was not going to allow it.

"Here you go," said Fluttershy as she handed me two aspirin and a glass of water before sitting down. I handed her the empty glass and thanked her after swallowing the pills.

"I know I'm not Sunset but would you like to rest your head on my lap?" she asked quietly.

"Thank you, Fluttershy," I replied as I changed positions. I don't know if it was because Sunny yelled at me twice earlier but I felt strangely comfortable laying in Fluttershy's lap. At the same time I felt like I was cheating on her because we never officially broke up.

"Twilight, can I tell you a secret?" she asked quietly.

"Sure," I replied after thinking a moment.

Fluttershy twirled her fingers in her hair as she barely whispered, "Sunset's bullying kinda made me develop my... um... my..."

"I understand, Fluttershy," I replied. "Can I ask how?"

"Well... there were a lot of days she would force me get down on my hands and knees and kiss her feet," Fluttershy said as she blushed.

I couldn't find a response to that. It was borderline Stockholm Syndrome. "That's, uh, that's interesting," was all I could come up with.

After a few moments of silence and watching Rarity softly snore, Fluttershy asked me, "Is there anything you can think of to try getting through to Sunset?"

My mind drew a blank as I succumbed to the fatigue from all the excitement less than an hour prior, falling asleep in Fluttershy's lap.

"You're just like a parasite," a demonic sounding voice said.

"Sunny? Is-is that you?" I shouted into the black void.

"Sunny? Hahaha! Sunny never existed," the voice cackled. "Come to think of it, neither have you. Hahaha!"

"Wha-what are you talking about?" I whimpered as tears began to form.

The voice didn't reply. Instead it was joined by another voice in laughing at me as a bright light blinded my vision. When I was able to see again, I found myself floating in a white void with Daydream Shimmer.

"Take my hand, Twilight," Daydream said softly. "Let me show you there's another way. Just like someone once did for me."

Instinctively, I reached out and grabbed Daydream's hand. Almost instantly her eyes turned bright teal, her skin became a light red and her wings went from golden to black and red.

"Now it's your turn," she said as a smile full of razor sharp teeth spread across her face. I looked at our hands and noticed a eerie glow begin to spread from her to me, causing me to jerk my hand back in shock.

"Wh-what do you mean?" I asked.

"You know damn well what I mean. Hahaha!" the demon replied. "Break this facade. Show your true self."

"Noooooo!!" I shrieked.

I opened my eyes to find Fluttershy cradling me in her arms. My heart was pounding through my chest and my hands were shaking while the words of that demon rang through my ears.

Show your true self.

What did that even mean? Was she talking about Midnight Sparkle? My mind raced as I tried making sense of the nightmare.

"Are you okay?" I heard through the darkness.

"Wha-?" I responded.

"I asked if you were okay," repeated Fluttershy. "I heard you mumbling and saw tears rolling down your cheeks."

"I... I had a really bad nightmare," I told her as my voice wavered. "Daydream Shimmer was there and then she transformed into a demon when I grabbed her hand."

Fluttershy froze in fear when I told her that. There was something about what told her that managed to strike a nerve. I don't know what it was but I had to find out what.

"Fluttershy? Are you okay?" I whispered, trying not to wake Rarity.

"K-k-kinda. It-it's ju-just... Sun-Sunset tur-turned into a d-d-demon when Pr-Princess Twilight first c-came here," Fluttershy stammered.

"A demon?" I asked. "What did her demon form look like?"

"Well... her skin was red, um, she had these really ugly bat wings and these pointy teeth," Fluttershy said barely above a whisper.

It was uncanny. I had never seen Sunset as a demon yet the entity in my nightmare was exactly how Fluttershy described her. I was baffled how my mind was able to perfectly create that image in my nightmare.

"Do you think maybe Princess Twilight would be able to help us out?" Fluttershy asked as Rarity let out a loud snort.

After a small giggle from the two of us, I answered Fluttershy's question. "She might but I'll have to get Sunset's journal so I can get in touch with her."

"That shouldn't be too hard, should it?"

A few hours later, the morning sun shone through the windows as Fluttershy and I woke up after we had fallen back to sleep earlier in the morning. After a moment or two I recognized the scent of french toast coming from the kitchen.

As Fluttershy and I entered the dining room, Rarity said, "I hope you don't mind me using your kitchen, darling. I figured we could all use a good breakfast to think about how to deal with the situation with Sunset."

"It's okay. I think it's going to be a long day anyhow," replied Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy and I were talking last night and we think that the answer to this may rely on Princess Twilight," I said.

"Does that mean we have to get ahold of Sunset's journal?" inquired Rarity.

"Yes but how we get it is another..." I said before being interrupted by a knock on the front door.

"Should I answer it?" Fluttershy asked quietly.

"I'll look out the window to see who it is first, dear," Rarity volunteered as she slunk toward the door.

"Who is it?" Fluttershy whispered as Rarity peeked out the window.

"It's Pinkie Pie," Rarity told us before answering the door.

"Hi everyone," Pinkie shouted as she bounced in the door with our luggage. "I managed to get out shortly after you guys did but I couldn't find you so I snuck back in the apartment and got everyone's things and hid at my house until this morning when I could find you."

"How did you manage to get back into the apartment?" I asked in astonishment.

"Well you see I got outta there as Sunset was turning into a She-demon but after I got back she was gone and so was Applejack and Rainbow Dash and so I grabbed everybody's stuff and drove to Rarity's house and Twilight's house and finally to here and..." Pinkie rattled off before running out of breath.

"And then what?" I asked.

"And then I looked around for some clothes for you Twilight and I found this," Pinkie continued before producing a brown, leather bound book with a combination of Princess Twilight's and Sunny's cutie marks on the front.

I was overjoyed that we didn't need to try stealing it but at the same time I was skeptical as to the method it was stolen. It seemed too convenient that we needed the journal and it almost magically appeared into our possession.

"Can I see that, Pinkie?" I asked as I reached for the journal.

"Sure! Whatcha looking for in it?" Pinkie asked excitedly.

I ignored her as I checked out the last couple entries. None of them mentioned our accident or Sunny getting paralyzed.

How did she know about the geodes healing her if Princess Twilight never told her, I wondered.

"Twilight, darling, what ever is the matter?" Rarity asked me.

"Something isn't right. Does anyone else think it's suspicious that the one thing we need just happened to show up right now?" I wanted to know.

"What?!" Pinkie replied before going nose to nose with me. "Are you implying something?"

Before I could respond, Fluttershy got in between the two of us and pushed us apart. The strength of our shy friend surprised the hell out of me. I knew she had a little more strength than most of us but I couldn't believe she was strong enough to shove two grown women apart that were nearly glued together at the forehead.

"Girls, we don't need to be doing this right now," Fluttershy reprimanded us. "We need to focus on how to save Sunset."

What could I say. She was right. I asked for a pen to write the distress call to my pony counterpart. I had expected a few hours to pass before she responded however it was answered almost immediately.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I have no idea how this could've happened. The blast from the Elements of Harmony at the Fall Formal should have purged the demon side from Sunset. I have an idea on how to stop her, though. I'm going to need you to bring that pendant you used at the Friendship Games to the CHS statue in an hour. I'll be closing the portal at that time for the safety of Equestria.

-Princess Twilight

"What did she say, darling?"

"We have to get moving," I said. "I have to go to my parent's house get my magic spectrometer and meet Princess Twilight at the Wondercolts statue within an hour."

The four of us arrived at CHS just in time for us to see a flash of light from the opposite side of the portal.

"Princess Twilight must have just arrived," I stated. "Hopefully she can tell us her..."

"Hahaha! It's about time you showed up!" came a demonic voice. Looking around, I finally found the source floating about ten feet above us: the same demonic figure from my dream.

"Sunny, why are you doing this?!" I shouted as tears began welling up in my eyes.

Instead of replying, Sunny formed an energy ball between her claws until it was the size of a volleyball before hurling it at me. Nothing happened at first when it hit, aside from knocking the pendant from my hands into the bushes, but seconds later it began expanding large enough to consume me.

A minute later, I felt that my foot and ribs were healed up but something was off. My vision was blackening as I heard a familiar laugh.

Midnight Sparkle is back, I thought as I noticed a figure grab the pendant just as I lost control of my body.

Author's Note

This was originally going to be a multi-POV story but I just couldn't make it work. That's why it took so freaking long to get out.

Thanks to Uncle Bob for editing.