The world was bright. Blue irises swallowed small black pupils as they constricted from the light. She waited a moment for them to adjust when she realized the space wasn’t dimming. She tried to look around but it was hard to tell she had moved her head at all. The white around her was constant and unmoving. There were no shadows, no sense of space. Every direction from floor to ceiling was indistinguishable. The only reason she knew there was anything at all was the feeling of solid ground beneath her.
She stood, her red and blonde hair swaying with the motion. She stood and thought for a moment. Where was she? Her memory was fuzzy. There was a flash of white… then nothing else, only more white surrounding her.
Unsure what to do, she began to walk. Sunset expected to hear her heels clack against the ground but instead, there was… nothing. She took a few more steps, still nothing. Worried, she raised her hands and attempted to clap. There was no sound. This was only getting stranger. Anxiety welled in her at a possibility that she was too afraid to confirm.
Sunset kept walking, kept expecting something that never happened. She seemed to spend hours in the silence before a sound pierced the still air. It wasn’t natural but it was familiar. She ran hoping to find the source of the strange sparkling and swooshing but found nothing. She stopped panting inaudibly as she heard something much worse, herself.
“I've had to jump through so many hoops tonight just to get my hands on this crown!” She prayed this wasn’t happening, “and it really should have been mine all along.” The white faded into a scene she’d relived too many times. “But let's let bygones be bygones.” The voice pounded into her ears as she stared at herself high in the sky. “I am your princess now, and you will be loyal... to me!” the last word echoed and rang like a siren. She tried to scream, to stop herself, but despite her efforts she watched as she put on the crown.
The light flashed again. Her screams were lost to the silence as she felt the burning of equestrian magic. She never got used to this no matter how many times she felt it. Her skin flushed as every neuron in her body fired at once. She was becoming a monster!
Her eyes opened to the void again but this time she wasn't alone. Before her was her greatest fear, a monster with fiery hair, glowing red skin, and bat wings longer than she was tall. The crown on her head, a symbol of their biggest mistake.
“Well, well, well, you're finally here.” The voice she knew to be her own was unrecognizable in its monstrous distortion. She tried to respond but there was still nothing. “Aw, you want to speak?” the monster asked mockingly, “Too bad! You’ve silenced me long enough! Now it’s your turn!” Sunset had to think. This was her, she knew herself better than anyone. What did she need? “Freedom!” the monster shouted. Sunset looked up, startled and confused before the distorted voice rang out again. “Like it or not we share a mind.” Sunset shook her head frantically, only causing the monster to laugh. “You think you can avoid this? You created me! You don’t get to walk away from what you’ve done!” the monster stepped closer as sunset backed away running into an invisible wall.
“Stop calling me that! I am not a monster!” she yelled, jabbing a finger at sunset. “I am you!” sunset swallowed a lump in her throat. She stared up at… herself. That was her, she knew that but not anymore. She was better than that! She had friends! “You think that makes you better?” Demon Sunset glared down at her smaller self. “They only made you weaker.” Sunset knew that wasn't true. Her friends made her strong, strong enough to fight a thirst for power, strong enough to fight herself! Demon Sunset came closer pinning Sunset to the wall. “Then why am I the one with a voice?”
Sunset wasn’t sure what she was doing but before thoughts had even formed her hands held the demon's claws, they stared straight into their eyes, and she spoke. “Because I don’t need one.” Sunset stood in shock. Another white flash interrupted the moment and Demon Sunset found herself sunset again staring down herself.
“Are you going to go back to ignoring me?” Sunset asked
“I wish I could.” That was all Sunset could think to say.
“I suppose I can see why,” Sunset shot back attempting to exude confidence despite the situation, “it is like you to avoid greatness.”
“You are me.” Sunset said flatly
“I guess but you’re missing the big picture here. You are me.” Despite herself, Sunset flinched and Sunset laughed.
“I’m better than you.” She stared defiantly at herself. Only causing the other to laugh harder.
“Why? Because you gave up your power? Because you gave in to those weakling friends of yours?”
“Because I found real power! I found acceptance! I found friends!” she was shouting now.
“You got weaker! You gave in to your weakness and gave up on your fate!”
“My fate was as a guardian of the human world!”
“Our fate was as ruler of Equestria!”
“No! It wasn’t! Celestia-!”
“Got in our way!”
“Celestia tried to save us!”
“She only held us back! She didn't believe in us!”
“It wasn’t like that! We just thought-!”
“Oh yeah? Then why are we still stuck here?” she shouted. Sunset was taken aback.
“I… What?”
“If she really ever cared then why banish us here in the first place? Why even after you gave in are we not allowed back home?” Sunset hadn’t noticed until that moment but they were crying. Their knees shook. Why hadn’t they been home? She stepped forward without thinking and held herself as the other sunset legs gave out.
“We haven’t asked.” The silence was long only interrupted by occasional sobs before Sunset responded.
“Why?” At that moment that word held a thousand meanings. Why were they like this? Why did their teacher disown them? Why were they so blind? Why wasn’t she enough? There wasn’t an answer among their thoughts, so instead sunset tried another approach.
“Let's ask.”
“What's the point?”
“To make us happy again.” Sunset stared into her own glossy eyes as the bitter truth emerged.
“You hate me.” The words encompassed the void feeling just as blinding and empty. She felt the white flash in those three words. Sunset wasn't sure what to say. How does one respond to such a thing? Thoughts failed her. Words failed her. Sunset knew all she could do was take action.
Pulling herself close she kissed her. That long and passionate kiss communicated everything she couldn't say. they would survive. They would be ok. Because if friendship was magic, love was real power.
