Prologuish: Story of a Sunburst
Ever since Flurry Heart's Crystalling, the Empire's filled with more love than anywhere in Equestria!
Through Sunburst's words we start this story. A story about love, friendship and betrayal – okay, maybe not the latter.
But let's start from the very beginning, because as gone as the past may be, it will always have weight over our actions. Shall we begin already?
An unknown amount of time ago, in an unknown part of Equestria, lived an unknown colt. Although his name is well known to us, his story isn't. This is the story of a pony whose destiny was lost. This is the story of Sunburst.
"Oh, for analepsis' sake!" Sunburst exclaimed, stomping his forelegs in the ground. "Is all this dramatic balderdash really necessary?"
Legend has it, the sound of the fourth wall shattering could be heard all over Equestria.
Sunburst had always been a smart and helpful colt – a bright and beautiful beam of sunshine, his mother would say – always willing to lend a helping hoof. Never did he expect anything in return, on the contrary, he was grateful to be able to help ponies with his knowledge of magic. Smiles and friends all over, lil' Sunbie couldn't ask for a better life. Could anything bad ever happen?
Yes, it could. Oh, it could, and it did. Read carefully and you will find out what Miss Destiny had in store for our quadruped friend.
Cutie Marks can be real jerks, I tell you. They come into your flank fast as light and never wash off. Like, not even with bleach. Real pesky if you ask me, but that's just how ponies live. And you can imagine how happy Sunburst was when he got his, singing and bouncing and dancing all over the place, showing it to his parents and everypony in the village.
It was a very simple Cutie Mark: it depicted a sun with four beams, a sunburst, just like his name. Its meaning, however, wasn't quite as obvious. But everypony, including Sunburst, thought they knew what it meant.
Of course, knowing Sunburst's abilities and the way he got his Cutie Mark, it made sense that his special talent would be magic, and thus, he was sent to Canterlot to study magic in Celestia's School.
But school was a little more intimidating than Sunburst expected. Even more than that: it was terrifying. Really, being alone and surrounded by gifted unicorns wasn't something Sunburst liked. He had no friends, he had no family – his parents had to go back to their hometown to continue their weather labor – and, to make it all worse, he had no magical skills.
Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns isn't the best place to find such a harsh truth. But as ponies say, truth hurts, and words too. And Sunburst was attacked by both of them. And by paper planes.
Yep, it was clear. When it came to theory, he was a prodigy. But he couldn't do advanced magic. No matter what he did, everytime he tried he just ended up with an F, a headache and a whole lot of humiliation.
And that wasn't his only problem. The most important problem, maybe. Or an over-problem. Is "sub-problem" a word? Whatever. Sunburst had a lot of sub-problems. For example, he couldn't walk through the hall without getting teased. No matter how hard he tried to hide, ponies always managed to find him.
And despite that, he felt invisible.
Everything was different. Nopony needed his help, and there was nopony to help him. And he really needed help.
Thanks to his knowledge he managed to go through the first years, but as time passed, the spells they studied got harder, and harder, and harder.
There was no choice: Sunburst had to leave magic school.
Now, I believe you can imagine how bad Sunburst felt. Actually, he didn't feel "bad". How about "awful"? "Terrible"? "Like a worthless piece of trash that fell to the ground and was never picked up, left to decompose as years and years went by"? Yes, I think that's good.
The next years weren't exactly... relevant. He stayed in a small, neglected house in Canterlot, sending letters every now and then to his parents, telling them he was doing great. But he wasn't, and one day, he had to tell them the truth. That same day, when Sunburst was preparing to go back to his hometown, Princess Celestia made an important anouncement to all of Equestria.
Sunburst, of course, didn't bother to atend. He was too busy swimming in his own deep, dark thoughts and anxieties, plus he ditched all his mirrors a long time ago, so he didn't know if he looked decent enough to go out.
"I don't want to go back! I can't!" Sunburst yelled. "What will they–"
"Hey Sunburst! Did you hear the news?" a pony interrupted from the other side of the window.
Sunburst immediately recognised Moonlit Pride, one of the so-really-annoying unicorns who teased him at magic school, and still did. He walked to the window, cleared his throat and said, "No." Then he closed the window.
Sunburst read all he could read about the Crystal Empire, and the way out of his problems came like a slap to the face. Whatever a slap is for a pony. Since he heard the empire had reappeared out of thin air – and I apologize beforehand for what I'm about to say – the answer was crystal clear.
He didn't have to go back home after all, he could move to the Crystal Empire! He took a bag full of coins from a drawer, a "small gift" Princess Celestia gave him so he wouldn't say what happened to her protégé, and started planning his journey.
The Crystal Empire was perfect for Sunburst. It was beautiful, quiet, and most importantly, it was far. Also, there was no such thing as a crystal unicorn.
And so, Sunburst started a new life. Away from magic school, away from his parents, away from Moonlit Pride. Nothing could bother him. It was perfect, but even that couldn't stop Sunburst from feeling empty. Useless. Like a worthless piece of trash that fell to the ground and was never picked up, left to decompose as years and years went by. Deep down, he hoped that something happened, something that forced him to get out of his house and do something, even if he didn't feel capable of doing anything.
And eventually, that something came. In the form of an alicorn baby. And a childhood friend.
Oh, did I forget to mention Starlight? Well, you already know that story. And you also know the story about the crystalling of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor's baby, so I'll try to make it short.
It all started when Sunburst's first friend, Starlight Glimmer, appeared in his front door with her lizard pet and a list, spitting all kinds of nonsense. She said that she was Princess Twilight Sparkle's pupil, that the princess wanted her to be friends with Sunburst again, and that she believed he was an important wizard. Sunburst, not wanting to break somepony's expectations again, went along with it.
To be honest, Sunburst didn't remember who Starlight was until she was already inside his house. During the first months of magic school he was too busy to stay in touch with her, or maybe he was just too ashamed. And after all those years, he forgot about her.
But now she was back, and she was as beautiful as always– wait, that's not the word. She was as awkward and terrifying as always. Had she always been like that, anyway? Sunburst's memory of her was a little... blocked. He felt confused, uncomfortable, and sad. And I can't lie, he was a teeny bit jealous, too. Starlight's visit reminded him of everything he wanted to forget. The princess' protégé was in his house, asking for details he wasn't willing to reveal, not to a successful pony like her. She wouldn't understand.
Oh, and there was that purple dragon and his annoying list, too.
Starlight Glimmer soon left, only to reappear thirty minutes later, saying Princess Cadance thought Sunburst could save the Crystal Empire from... the baby?. Sunburst declined, saying he was too busy, but not long after, he had to confess.
There are no words to describe how Sunburst felt in that moment, unless we use the trash analogy again. But one thing was clear: Starlight could see how trashy he felt, and it seems like she didn't like losing the spotlight, because she started to cry – scream? – too. Starlight's nonsense seemed to make even less sense for a moment. She said something about turning into an evil equality goddess because of Sunburst, and something about traveling through time. Pretty cool, right? Starlight's disgrace made Sunburst feel a little less worthless, and recovering his best friend filled the void he felt inside at least a little bit.
The rest is history: Sunburst found a way to fix the Crystal Heart, crystallized the royal baby and turned into the Crystal Empire's new hero, much to green dog's dismay.
And since that very moment, everything changed for our orange-coated, white-socks-and-stripe-marked, five-variants-of-terracota-maned, star-cloaked, short-sighted unicorn.
Life in the Crystal Empire was a little... over-whelming. Don't get it wrong, Sunburst loved all the attention he was getting, but crystal ponies could get a little... overzealous. Does "Spike the Brave and Glorious" ring a bell to you?
One day, when Sunburst was walking to the crystal store to buy some crystal groceries, he was stopped by the sight of something huge, confusing and beautiful. In front of him stood a colossal sketch of a crystal statue of himself, and beside it, a crystal pony sculpting it.
"W-w-whaa...?" Sunburst stammered.
"Do you like it?" the sculptor said, getting uncomfortable levels of close to Sunburst's face. "I call it Sunburst the Great and Corageous!"
"I-I don't know what to say," he adjusted his glasses. "A statue... of me?"
"So you don't like it?" the sculptor quickly replied, frowning at Sunburst.
"It's not that!" Sunburst exclaimed to the near-to-crying crystal pony. "I just don't feel like this" – he pointed at the big piece of paper – "is me."
"Oh, don't be silly, of course it's you! It even has the goatee! Wait, no, I forgot that."
"No, I mean, I'm not great nor, nor corageous...!"
"But you ARE!" another crystal pony said, grabbing Sunburst's face.
Sunburst looked at him, his pupils shrunken and a few sweatdrops going down his face. "A-aaaaaah..."
"Sorry," the pony said and walked off the place.
Sunburst shook his head. "What was I saying?"
"Lies," the sculptor replied with a smile on her face.
"Oh. Right." Sunburst cleared his throat. "I mean, the whole 'saving the Crystal Empire' thing, it was just... good timing! I am not great nor corageous, I'm more..." he stopped for a second to adjust his glasses again. "short and coward."
The sculptor tilted her head.
In the end Sunburst couldn't stop the craftsmare from making the statue, but instead convinced her to make a much smaller one. Sunburst the Short and Coward, she called it. Sunburst accepted reluctantly.
Yep, that was life now for our royal crystaller. Everywhere he went there was somepony willing to ask for help, or even for an autograph, from Sunburst. Sometimes they even asked for a story about his life, and even though he wasn't exactly proud of many of them, he was almost happy to tell them. Maybe they would work as a lesson. I don't know how, I'll need to ask him personally the next time I see him.
Sunburst still felt bad sometimes, but he knew it didn't really matter. His life now wasn't what he had hoped his life would be once he grew up and graduated from magic school, but it was good. Really good. Smiles and friends all over, Sunburst couldn't ask for a better life.
Not all capes wear heroes
Sunburst couldn't stop walking from side to side across the room. For the last hours he had been busy distracting a bunch of changelings, panicking every five minutes and worrying sick about the wellbeing of his superiors – his friends – and their daughter. The impostors had left hours ago, and for some reason, that just caused him to get even more worried. Nearly a day had passed since the invasion arrived to the Crystal Empire and there was no signal of the and prince and princesses – Sunburst started to fear the worst.
He was shaking on the cold floor of the Crystal Palace when he heard the sound of hooves coming into the castle. Sunburst quickly stood up, and when he recognized the faces of Cadance, Shining Armor and Flurry Heart, he didn't hesitate to jump towards them.
"You're here! Thank Celestia, you're finally here!" Sunburst exclaimed, tears of happiness falling through his face. "Why did you take so long? Where's Thorax? DID THEY HURT FLURRY HEART?"
Cadance giggled. "Don't worry, we're all safe. We were just–"
Shining Armor plugged Cadance's mouth. "We left this poor thing waiting for us while we had fun at the Sunset Festival," he whispered at her ear, "we can't just tell him we forgot about him, we need to think of an excuse!"
Sunburst was confused by the scene, and after connecting a few precipitate thoughts, he deducted a, he thought, more than logical explanation. And betraying his reflexive nature, he inmediately acted over it, charging his horn to the maximum of his capacity and pointing it to Princess Cadance.
"CHANGELING!" he screamed, then stepped back. "Don't–don't get any closer!"
"What? Why would you– oh," Shining Armor took his hoof away from the princess' face.
"Sunburst," Cadance said, "this is not what it seems."
"Whatever it seems," Shining Armor interrupted sarcastically.
Cadance grunted at her husband, then looked at Sunburst again. "We're not changelings!"
"W–whyy–" Sunburst cleared his throat. "Why should I believe you?"
Shining Armor lit his horn and levitated Sunburst. "Could a changeling do this?"
"I guess?" Sunburst folded his forelegs. "I don't know, yes!"
The princess walked closer to Sunburst. "We know you sleep with a jester outfit," she said.
"You've seen me sleeping, so what?"
Shining Armor scratched his chin. What else could he say? It had to be something private, something embarrasing... "I got it!" he exclaimed once he got it, and then whispered something at Cadance's ear.
"What? Really?" she asked, to which Shining Armor nodded. "We... We know you recite love poetry to Flash Sentry in the middle of the night!"
"WHAT THE HELL?" Sunburst yelled. "I only did that once! I don't even like him! How did you know?!"
"He told me," Shining Armor replied.
"He told–" Sunburst put one of his forehooves on his face. "Of course... Ok, ok, it's you, now put me down!"
Shining Armor released Sunburst. He fell to the crystal floor, making a low KLINK! sound. Still charging his horn, Sunburst stepped up and attacked Shining Armor.
"Why did you tell the princess about my poetry?! Not nice!" Sunburst shouted, prepared to attack Shining Armor with a powerful magic blast. Well, as powerful as a blast made by Sunburst can be.
Shining Armor formed a magic shield and, giving Sunburst a light push, sent him half across the room. That also caused Sunburst to throw his magic blast to the roof by accident , but don't worry, it only left a small hole on it. Flurry Heart saw this and tried to follow suit, only to be stopped by her mom. She then trotted to Sunburst.
"Are you ok?" Cadance asked.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine– sweet Celestia, please remind me to never concentrate that much magic again," said Sunburst, panting.
"I'm sorry, I didn't think you would fly off like that." Shining Armor walked onto Sunburst.
"It's ok. I'm sorry I thought you were changelings. I guess I'm just..." Sunburst yawned. "Tired and nervous."
"Don't worry, it's our fault for staying for so long in the Sunset Festival." Cadance lent her hoof to Sunburst to help him stand up.
"The Sunset Fes– WHAT?!"
Shining Armor covered his face with one of his forehooves. "Oh dang."
"You were at a party this whole time?!" Sunburst screamed, shaking.
Shining Armor took a few steps back. "Festival. And it was just a few hours after we–"
"DON'T YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS?! I panicked! Flash Sentry had to help me!"
Cadance giggled.
"I already said I dislike that guy!" Sunburst took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Did you at least... bring some cake?"
"Nnooo... But we got you a party horn," said the princess, trying to comfort him.
Sunburst sighed. "Whatever. I'm just going to..." He got up, walked a couple steps and fell to the floor again. "Yeah."
Shining Armor and Cadance looked at each other for a few seconds, then at Sunburst.
"Is he dead?" Shining Armor broke the silence.
The We-saved-Equestria-and-Starlight-Graduation Party had just finished. Spike was taking a walk across the castle, making sure none of the guests had snook through it after the party. Unfortunately – or luckily? – one did. When he was going through the castle's main room again, Spike heard some loud sobs coming from behind the door. Already familiar with the sound, he inmediately recognised the identity of the pony, or more accurately unicorn, hiding in the castle.
"Sunburst?" Spike said, opening the door a little more.
"Wha– ACK!" Sunburst yelped after slamming his head against the door. He stood up and peeked at Spike from behind the door. "How did you know it was me?"
"I've heard you cry before. What are you doing here?"
"I was just– I wasn't crying!"
Spike raised an eyebrow.
"I was..." Sunburst admitted.
"What's wrong buddy?" Spike patted Sunburst in the shoulder a couple times.
"It's nothing..." he looked down. "Just, you know, you saw them at the party. She has so many friends, they are heroes, and I'm me and... I don't know, you know?"
"I didn't understand a word of what you said"
Sunburst sighed. "Trixie, Thorax, Discord, Starlight... they saved Equestria. It's great, but... It's weird, too. Like there's something inside me that just... made me want to run away from here?"
"But you stayed here after everypony else left."
Sunburst frowned at Spike.
"You're jealous," Spike affirmed, giggling.
"What? No! I'm just– sweet Celestia, I am jealous"
"Uh-huh."
"And what can I do?"
Spike shrugged. "I don't know, steal everypony's attention by doing something heroic?" he said, jokingly.
Something in Sunburst's head seemed to click as Spike said this. He stepped up, then thanked Spike, then left the castle. He ran as fast as he could, which wasn't much, hoping he could catch the last train to the Crystal Empire.
By the way, he couldn't.
Sunburst arrived to the Crystal Empire the next day and went straight to the castle. It was still early in the morning, so he snook through the halls to his room making sure he didn't wake anypony up. He still had some trouble making his way through the palace, even though he had been working there for several months already. But this time it was easy for him to find his room, he just followed the beautifully recognisable voice of his roommate. The closer he got, the clearer he could hear a song coming from his room. Once Sunburst reached the door, he put his ear to it and listened: behind the door, a familiar voice sang a copyrighted song. Sunburst paid attention to the angelical melody, and it seemed like he didn't enjoy it as much he should. He opened the door, stepped back, adjusted his hooves and, when he was ready, burst into the room. "YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHTS TO USE THAT SONG, CIPHER!"
"It's on the internet, it belongs to the world!" the triangled assured.
"Not in my fanfiction!"
"I am the only one with permission to break the fourth wall!"
"You can't tell me what to do!"
"Oh, yeah?" The dreamboat demon got closer to Sunburst and wrapped his arms around him. All of a sudden the objects surounding them started to move. His eyeball displayed a dark blood-red color and it seemed to be shaking along with the items in the room. He brought Sunburst closer and, opening his eye as big as he could, talked. "And what are you doing here? It's your day off."
"What? Ugh, right! I completely forgot!"
"So, shall we resume this chinwag of ours at your place?"
Bill Cipher, demon of the Dreamscape, ghost by accident and full time hunk sat in front of professional stutterer Sunburst. He took a cup of tea, got it near to his eye and took a small sip.
"So you're going to be a superhero?" Bill asked, putting the teacup back on the table.
"Yup." Sunburst levitated the cup, turned it around and took a sip too. "I really need to buy more cups..."
"You just kissed me!"
"No way!" Sunburst put the cup in front of Bill's eye, showing him the spot where he had drank from. "See? Your lipstick is all over it. Why do you even put lipstick on your eye?"
"Why not? Anyway, what's your plan?"
"About the teacups?"
Bill raised his eyebrow, failing to throw a sarcastic look at Sunburst.
"What? Oh, you mean about the superhero thing. Well, I'm– I am just going to, uh.." He adjusted his glasses. "Save ponies and that stuff."
"I see." Bill got up and rose over the table. With a sole snap of his fingers Sunburst started to float.
A bright light started to come from Sunburst and quickly covered the whole room, making it hard to look around. The scene almost mimicked the moment when he earned his Cutie Mark, something Sunburst didn't quite enjoy. The light got brighter, followed by a SHEENG! sound, and then it faded. Sunburst slowly descended, except it wasn't him anymore. Ok, it was, but he looked different. Very different.
"Now, ladies and gentlecolts, allow me to introduce the new and improved Sunburst!" Bill Cipher said, clapping.
Sunburst blinked twice, trying to clear his sight. He walked towards a mirror and said, "What the hay, Bill? You only turned my cloak into a cape!"
"I also got rid of your goatee. You're welcome"
"WHAT?! Bill, bring it back!"
"Ponies are never going to take you seriously with that thing on your face. Believe me, this is better."
"Bill Cipher, give me my goatee back NOW!" Sunburst stomped one of his hooves.
Bill grunted. "Fine. Whatever you want, dad." He snapped his fingers, bringing Sunburst's objectively horrible facial hair back.
"Thank you," he said, smiling. "Now... What's my superhero name going to be?"
"What about Ultralame?" said Bill, frowning.
"It's got to sound great, corageous..."
"Super Party Pooper? Dad Joke? Sunburnt?"
"I got it!" exclaimed Sunburst. He got over the table, causing the remanents of their tea to fall over Bill, and with the face to the crystal lamp hanging from the roof, he said, "Sunboy!"
Bill, who was looking for some napkins to dry himself, took a small pause from his quest to throw a judgemental look at Sunburst.
"You're right, it sounds like a sidekick name."
"What about Sunman?" Bill suggested.
"Sunman... has a nice ring to it, like a rhyme... I like it!"
And thus, Sunburst – Sunman – went on a journey to find ponies in trouble at the Crystal Empire. He didn't find any the first hour, nor the second, nor the third... Actually it was still around 8 AM so there weren't many ponies in the street. Thirty minutes later, when the first crystal foals could be seen coming out of their homes, the opportunity for Sunman's first heroic deed finally presented. The conditions couldn't be more perfect: from this side of the road two crystal stallions and their carriage ran frenetically, trying to get to their job in time. From that other side, a small filly did her best to retrieve her homework from the floor. Sadly, pony hooves aren't good for picking thin pieces of paper up nor for stopping at the sight of a silly filly you're about to killy. Not if your hooves are made of crystal, at least.
All of a sudden, the biggest hero the Crystal Empire had ever seen arose from among the roofs. His cape waving along with his perfect hair, everypony present could agree that he was also the most handsome pony they had ever seen. Like a knight in shining armor he jumped from the roof and performed a perfect double backflip, grabbing the little girl and her homework. The crystal ponies cheered and clapped when the hero got the filly to safety, and the local sculptor offered to make him the biggest and most beautiful statue he'd ever see. He denied, saying he was just doing his duty, and headed for the palace. All of the Crystal Empire cried and bowed to their new protector, except for Sunburst, who could only sit and watch as another pony stole his first and only chance to be the hero of the day. Making an effort to hide his ire, the only thing he could do was curse the name of the robber of his spotlight. He closed his eyes, opened his mouth and said, "Flash Sentry..."
"I know, right? What a guy! Could he be more perfect?" Bill said with a dreamy tone.
Sunburst sighed. "No..."
Silence prevailed in Sunburst's dark, cold bedroom. The aforementioned unicorn closed his eyes and let himself fall over his bed, a failure, a nopony.
"I give up," he said to Bill Cipher. "I don't remember feeling this bad since the last two weeks."
"You know, it's funny how after being a failure your whole life, you're still afraid of failing!" Bill replied.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
Sunburst shook his head. "Nevermind." He sighed. "I... It was stupid of me to think I could be a hero. I'll just sleep it off. Goodnight, Bill Cipher."
"Woah, woah! Come on Sunman, the day's just started, don't give up just yet! Did you really think you would turn into a hero at the first attempt?"
"It worked for me before."
"Oh, you funny man! C'mon, get out of that bed! I bet there's plenty of adventures waiting for you!"
Sunburst stepped up. "I guess we don't have anything to lose..."
"That's the spirit!" Bill sat on Sunburst's back. "Now let's find more near-to-be-killed fillies!"
"Yes!"
"But wait, we can't work on the Crystal Empire anymore, that good-looking Flash Sentry's got it well covered. Hmm..." Bill scratched his bricks for a second. "I got it!" He snapped his fingers, transporting Sunburst and himself to...
"Ponyville? Wha–what are we doing here?" Sunburst stuttered, hiding behind Bill.
"More like what are you doing there."
"I–I don't want Starlight Glimmer to see me dressed up like this. We should go somewhere else."
"Whatever do you mean? It's perfect here!"
"No it's not! Besides, the princess and her friends can take perfect care of this place. Let's get out of here."
"Haha! Oh, they are going to need a lot of help to face what I got planned, I betcha. But don't worry, we are going to get out of here. It's time to start phase two of my master plan!" Bill stretched his hands and scratched the air, opening a portal that immediately sucked both friends right inside it and into a completely different place.
The purple skies and grey ground contrasted with Ponyville's gentle atmosphere, and the air was fairly suffocating. Sunburst patted the ground a few times, then turned around, getting face-to-face with a yawning colossal canine. His hooves sent him off the floor and up to the sky as an involuntary reflex, and shaking, he exclaimed, "BILL CIPHER! WHERE IN EQUESTRIA DID YOU SEND US TO?!"
"Out of Equestria," Bill corrected. "Welcome to the home of the naughty and the miserable! It's not what I expected, I must admit. Where's the fire and the wailing? You really call this hell?"
"We call it Tartarus." Sunburst got a few steps closer to the three-headed sleeping beauty. "I gotta say it. Though atemorized, I can't help but feel fascinated by this place. I never thought I'd see Cerberus!"
"Yeah yeah, quit that, you'll wake him up! You'll have plenty of time to squeal about hell in your afterlife, now we have work to do!" Bill opened another portal and threw Sunburst inside it.
From the other side of the portal, Sunburst was shaking once again at the sight of an "old friend". Half monkey, half bull, 100% freaky flashbacks. "T–T–Tirek?!"
"You know him?" Bill asked as he came out of the portal.
"I, yeah, he–he attacked Equestria some years ago. I remember he didn't bother to steal my magic..." Sunburst looked around to see all the other prisoners, and with each one of them, he felt more and more surprised. "King Charlatan? Lavan? Grogar? But these are villains from little filly stories!"
"Every story in your world is real, I thought you would know that by now. You got a weird concept of fiction, I... Whatever are you doing?"
Sunburst giggled hysterically, hugging the cage in which Grogar remained asleep. "My favorite villain! I can't believe he's real!"
"Could you concentrate? We gotta go on in my– I–I mean our plan!"
"It would be easier if you told me what the plan is."
"I did! Wait, no I didn't. We're going to free your world's bad guys!"
Sunburst's glasses slipped through his muzzle. "FREE THE BAD GUYS?! We can't do that, Bill!"
"Of course we can, we're already here! Come on, you said you wanted to become a hero no matter the cost!"
"I didn't!"
"But it's true, isn't it? Just cooperate! Once all these menacing chaps are free, nobody's going to be able to stop them! Not even Flash Sentry!"
Sunburst's eyes widened. "Not even Flash Sentry..."
"They will need you, Sunburst! Are you in or what?" Bill extended his hand to Sunburst.
"I... I guess I am." Sunburst took Bill's hand. "So, what do we do now?"
"Now we free them!" Bill snapped his fingers, one by one the villains disappeared from their cages. "Oh, except for this one," he said, getting closer to King Charlatan's cage. "What is he, some kind of duck?"
"I'm a penguin, you inferior, two-dimensional life form!"
"Of course you are, buddy!" Bill opened yet another portal and crossed it. "Let's go, Sunman!"
"Coming!"
"WAIT!" King Charlatan shouted. "I have a wife and a son! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HE–!"
POP! The portal disappeared right behind our heroes.
By the time they put their eyes over Ponyville, the place was already unrecognizable. Fire here, wailing there, here some fire, there some wailing, everywhere some wailing fire...
"Oh, regrets..." Sunburst covered his eyes.
"Haha! Now this" – Bill put on sunglasses – "is what I call hell!"
"When did you have time to plan all of this?" Sunburst asked.
"Some time ago."
"I'm starting to wonder if you really are on the good side."
"I'm on the rad side! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find a comfy chair and a nice ceiling and watch your doom unfold!" Bill floated away, disappearing within the smoke.
"WAIT!" Sunburst shouted. "I have a life and it's not done! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HE–!"
"Sunburst!" a familiar voice called. "What's going on, what are you doing here! Why– why are wearing that?"
"Starlight! I–I, you see..."
"No time, you can explain later! Equestria is under attack, we need to stop that gross goat guy!"
"Gross... goat... guy?! That, my ignorant pal, is the great necromancer Grogar!"
Starlight blinked.
"Gusty the Great? No?"
"Ah..."
Sunburst groaned. "I can't believe I'm your friend."
Starlight grabbed Sunburst's ear with her magic. "Enough chit-chat, you need to come with me! Twilight is organizing and improvised army in her castle, we need all the help we can get!"
"No! Starlight, this..." Sunburst looked down, then looked back at Starlight. "This is all my fault. I freed these villains, and I will be the one to put them back into that hell where they belong!"
"You've got to be kidding."
"You're not the only one qualified to do bad things, you know?"
"I don't trust you, Sunburst! Please let me help you!" Starlight begged, holding Sunburst's hooves.
"I said no! You got your chance at heroism, now it's my turn to save the day! Please, Starlight, I need to do this."
Starlight sighed. "Fine."
"Thank you!" He jumped up, hugged Starlight, then let her go. "I promise to do my best, now shoo, get into the castle!"
Sunburst watched Starlight disappear, and once he was sure she was gone, he turned around to see the one who'd be his enemy: Grogar, the ram necromancer. Red eyes, blue fur and a pair of horns over his head. He had read Gusty the Great about a hundred times, and had imagined himself fighting Grogar about a thousand times. Now he would fight him for real.
Although his legs were shaky, Sunburst's steps were steady. He had been waiting all day for this. This was the climax of his life. He didn't have any other plan but to believe in himself, and Sunburst was sure it would be enough. Sure, the last time he believed in himself didn't go well, but that had been a long time ago. This time was different. He had never felt more determined.
Meanwhile, a group of ponies discussed a plan of attack inside the Ponyville Castle. All the screaming and panicking made it hard for Twilight to concentrate, but she was giving all she got to be the leader her little teeny kingdom town needed.
"Alright everypony, Princess Twilight is no more," she said.
Collective gasp.
"Now you shall all call me Duskhorn Damagespark, cold-hearted commander of the Ponyville army."
"ALL HAIL COMMANDER DAMAGESPARK!"
A door creak deviated everypony's attention to the other side of the room, making Duskhorn upset. She stomped the floor three times trying to put the crowd's eyes back where they should be, but when she opened her mouth to talk, another pony talked first.
"Twilight, Twilight!" Starlight said, struggling to get through the crowd.
"No, no." Duskhorn put a hoof to her chest. "I'm Duskhorn Damagespark now, cold-hearted commander of the Ponyville army."
Starlight rolled her eyes. "Twilight, I–"
"Commander. Duskhorn. Damagespark."
"My commander, I found a distraction like you told me to."
"I'll be honest Starlight, I was hoping Grogar would get distracted trying to chase you. Good job though! Who's this brave pony, who risked their own life for the future of Equestria?"
"SUNBURST!"
Spike, who was bolting down big amounts of gems out of panic, choked on his snack and had to be assisted be one of the many background ponies in the room before he could say anything. "SUNBURST?!" he finally said, stealing the words from everypony's muzzles.
"Yes! He–he was acting all weird, saying things like 'I will be the hero to this town, stay out of the way Starlight Glimmer'!"
Spike took a few steps back. "Oh, no! What could have caused him to say that?"
"I don't know, he isn't like that! He usually allows ME to solve all of his problems! I... I couldn't stop him. Twilight–"
"Duskhorn"
"THERE'S NO TIME TO DISCUSS NAMES! We need a plan now! Duskhorn, I won't lose Sunburst again. He's in danger, we need to help him!"
Duskhorn chuckled. "Come on Starlight, he isn't the colt who abandoned you when you were young anymore, he can take care of himself! Don't you trust your friend?"
"NO!" Starlight shouted, and she shouted so high the echo of her scream could still be heard for a vast two minutes.
"Gee Starlight, calm down!" The voice of Starlight's best friend Trixie broke the silence. "Your oldest friend and... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... eleventh BFF could be risking his life Celestia-knows-where, big deal! You will always have the Great and Powerful Trixie to be your bestest friend!"
Starlight hyperventilated.
"Oh dear," Trixie put her hoof over Starlight's shoulder. "What I mean is... You have plenty of friends! Is it really worth it to panic over losing one of them?"
"We need to find him! He could be anywhere! We– "
A loud BANG! interrupted Starlight and was shortly followed by a CRASH!{/i] and a few DING!s. Everypony looked to the place where the sound seemed to originate, only to be surprised by another CRASH! and the sight of Sunburst crossing the room and smashing the wall with a final BANG!
"I think I found Sunburst..." Spike said. He was later punched out of the room by Starlight.
"Sunburst? Sunburst, stop pretending you're still unconscious, I saw you open your eyes."
Sunburst opened one of his eyes to look at Starlight. She seemed happy to see Sunburst alive, which made him happy, but also worried. "Please don't hug me," he said.
Starlight grinned. Sunburst knew that face. She put her hooves around Sunburst and gave him the tightest, most painful hug a pony's ever felt.
"Don't you ever get so near to dying again!" Starlight said, covering Sunburst's mouth to keep him from yelping. She tightened her hug and then put him back on the floor once she was done.
"Sweet Celestia, my head feels like I just made some complicated spell. Did I win?"
"You totally failed us all!" Starlight replied, smiling.
"Gosh darnit."
Starlight giggled, but her face changed suddenly as she looked at her friend in the eyes. "Sunburst... did you really cause all of this?"
Sunburst looked around, the looks of the crowd seemed to be pushing and shaking him, trying to make him talk. "I..." Sunburst gulped. "I did."
Everypony in the room took a step back as another collective gasp crossed the castle.
"Sunburst, I have never been so disappointed. That was really out of character from you, why did you do it?"
"I, ah... W–well you see, sometimes I... I just..."
"Quit the drama and answer already!" Starlight grabbed Sunburst's head and put him in front of her, forcing him to look into her eyes.
"I'm in love with you," he quickly replied.
Starlight threw Sunburst away. "WHAT?!"
"Augh!" Sunburst yelped. "I–I mean–" He sighed. "Yeah, I... I was too afraid to tell you. I thought that performing a great, heroic deed would give me the courage to say it. The truth is, Starlight, I... I was just trying to impress you."
"I–I don't know what to say... Are you serious?"
"Yes, my heart is... No I'm not."
"Oh, what a relief!"
"The truth is..." Sunburst stepped up. "I just felt unappreciated. I'm sorry, everypony. The lack of attention and success in my life has led Equestria to impending destruction... I will leave now, I don't want to get in your way." Sunburst turned around and made his way through everypony's disapproving looks. Starlight turned around too.
And so, these two friends became more distanced with each step, and not only in the literal sense of the phrase. Starlight walked to Duskhorn and Trixie, who were busy throwing rigid glances at each other and didn't pay much attention to the "I have ended my friendship with my childhood friend once again and thus lost part of myself" side of the scene.
"Well, that's that, I guess..."
"I can't believe you're friends with that weirdo!" Trixie put one of her hooves around Starlight's neck. "Don't worry, he's gone for good. Guess it's our job to save Equestria once again, huh, friend? Hey, maybe they'll give us trophies this time! Nothing for Sun-who-knows-what, though."
"Yeah... No." Starlight took Trixie's hoof away from her. "Sorry Trixie, I need to go find him. He's my friend, and I completely turned my back on him... He needs me!" Starlight ran off.
"Woohoo! Friendship!" Duskhorn Damagespark exclaimed.
Out of the castle, Sunburst was hiding behind a bush. The fire dried his eyes and his wailing blended perfectly with everypony else's, so he was confident nopony would find him there. But Starlight isn't nopony. Or she is, because she managed to find him.
"Sunburst?" Starlight peeked through the leaves. "What are you doing there?"
"Snuggling with my sorrow. I'm used to it. What are you doing here?"
"I needed to know if my oldest friend is alright." Starlight smiled and levitated Sunburst out of his hiding place.
"I am. You can go save Equestria now."
"Come on Sunburst, I know something's wrong! Won't you let me help you?"
"I don't know. I'm a little busy now. I saw a pony having trouble with messing up his life. Maybe I can help him."
Starlight sighed and put Sunburst back on the ground. "Sunburst, hear me out. I'm sorry. I'm the least appropiated pony to say whether a pony deserves a second chance or not. I have made mistakes, and it wasn't just a couple eensy weensy mistakes, they were big ones!"
Sunburst looked away. "Did your mistakes lead Equestria to its impending destruction?"
"They nearly did!" She held one of Sunburst's hooves. "But we worked it out. Twilight–"
"DUSKHORN!" Duskhorn screamed from inside the castle.
"Duskhorn showed me I was making a mistake. She gave me a second chance, she lifted me up when I had let myself down! And without it..." Starlight looked down. "There wouldn't be Equestria, or me, or you..." She looked at Sunburst, tiny teardrops forming in her eyes. "...or us."
Sunburst got up, still holding Starlight's hoof. A piece of trash picked up. Maybe he'd go into a nice trash can now. He looked at Starlight, and hugging her, he whispered, "Please don't hug me back."
Starlight smiled. "Okay."
The sound of leaves moving interrupted the two friend's touching friendship scene. They turned around and were amazed to see the kingdom's tallest, whitest, wingedest unicorn horse emerging from a bush.
"It was so very noble of you to forgive your friend, Starlight Glimmer. Twilight–"
"DUSKHORN DAMAGESPARK, FOR EQUESTRIA'S SAKE!" once again said Duskhorn Damagespark.
"Duskhorn has really taught you well."
"Princess Celestia! I–"
"Unfortunately" – Celestia stopped Starlight's phrase with her hoof – "I am the one who makes the rules of this kingdom. And since nopony's ever done it, I, Princess Celestia, finally sentence this instance's antagonist to...!" The princess soared, prepared her royal voice – which was a little rusty – and exclaimed, "THREE DAYS IN THE EQUESTRIAN DUNGEON!"
Another collective gasp could be heard from inside the castle.
Life in the Equestrian dungeon wasn't that bad. Sunburst could get visits from his friends twice in a day and the food was pretty good. Also, there were board games he could play with the other prisoners, but there weren't any other prisoners, so Sunburst imagined he played with other ponies. Chatting with imaginary ponies and walking in circles around the cage were his favorite hobbies.
Sunburst didn't notice when the first two days passed. Then in the third day, when he was staring at the window and thinking about his life – another one of his hobbies – he got a not-so-unexpected visit.
"Sunburst?"
"Starlight? I thought you would never come!" said Sunburst without getting away from the window.
"Haha, yeah..." Starlight chuckled nervously. "I've been kinda busy with the whole 'Twilight's gone mad with power' thing..."
"Oh yeah, I read about it in a newspaper that flew by my window yesterday. It's awful, but don't worry, I know she'll come around soon!"
"I know that, it's not my biggest worry. Anyways, how have you been?"
"Oh, fine I guess. Thinking about life and stuff."
"Yeah? Like what?"
"Oh you know, my past mistakes, my present mistakes... I did something horrible, Starlight. I didn't quite realize how bad it was until I had already done it. I let myself be blinded by dreams of praise and greatness..." Sunburst sighed. "But it got me thinking about something a friend of mine told me not long ago."
"What was it?" Starlight asked.
Sunburst turned back to the window. "I'll have plenty of time to squeal about hell in my afterlife."
