Sunset in the gods

“Princes, princesses, kings and queens, five hundred years ago when that rebellion failed and All Master decided to extinguish the royal bloodline, he decided to personally kill the entire royal family except the king and queen, they would be responsible for choosing an orphan and raising him or her to be the new king or queen.” Velvet was leading her two children through the castle as they looked at the portraits of the former kings and queens of Equestria.

“I know, mother.” Shining Armor said as he carried a six-year-old Twilight. “The king and queen were the last of a great noble lineage. You’ve told me and Twi that story many times, but why are you telling us again?”

“As you know, Queen Luna’s sister returned a few days ago and she…” Velvet looks seriously at her two children. “She brought a girl and Queen Luna has accepted the girl as the next in line of succession.”

“Does that mean that Twi or I will have to prepare to dedicate our lives to the future queen?”

“Yes.” Velvet replied, not knowing if her children would want that future or not. “The reason I tell you the story again is because I will now reveal to you the part that is only told to the children of our family when the next heir to the kingdom is chosen.”

“Is there more to the story?”

“Yes, the last queen of the royal line was pregnant and if the gods found out they would kill the baby, but the first orphan queen, Queen Megan knew, kept the secret and protected the baby, that baby would be the first Sparkle.”

“Are you saying that we have the blood of the true royal family?”

“Yes, but that doesn’t matter anymore, now our family is dedicated to serving the orphan kings of Equerstria, since it is our oath, our duty and our responsibility, I don’t want them to ever forget it.”

PRESENT

“You’ve all been brought here because you might be special!” A guard shouts.

“I always knew I was special.” Lightning Dust says proudly.

“Can you remind me why you are accompanying us?” Applejack asks a little desperately..

“It couldn’t be helped.” Lightning Dust replied. “I’m the only one out of my entire group who was brought here and you’re the only ones I know.”

“We’ve only just met for the first time today and you already consider us close?” Pinkie Pie asked with a wide smile. “Friendship hug!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she jumped up with her arms open to hug Lightning Dust.

Lightning Dust quickly dodges her. “Please respect my personal space.” She said simply.

“Silence!!” The guard shouted as he looked at the group that was making a fuss and then he continued to soften. “Do any of you know what the Aura of Materialization is?!” He asked the crowd.

Pinkie Pie was about to raise her hand but Applejack stops her. “You’ll have to calm down, sugar cube, but it’s better that for now they don’t know that we know.”

“And why don’t you stop Twilight?” Pinkie Pie asks.

Applejack sees how Twilight raises her hand but her friend quickly lowers her hand before the guard notices. “You too.”

“Sorry, I got a little emotional.” Twilight said a little embarrassed.

“It is a unique power among humans!” The guard said. “You all have the innate talent to be able to use it.” All the prisoners began to pay more attention. “Through the training and refinement of mental vision, the practitioner collects the invisible air that surrounds him!” The guard raises a hand and slowly begins to materialize a spear.

“He is definitely a master of the aura.” Twilight said.

The guard finished materializing the spear. “With the aura you can create solid objects, whether normal weapons, simple objects, or you can even create elements like fire or water, your only limit is your imagination!”

“Isn't that great?” Lightning Dust said. “I guess if we stayed we could learn that stuff, but I guess you guys already know something about that.”

“What makes you think we know?” Twilight asked a little nervously.

“He is definitely a master of the aura.” Lightning Dust said trying to imitate Twilight.

“Maybe we know a thing or two about aura but what good does knowing that do you? From what I noticed here they are going to train us for that.” Twilight said.

“Would you keep a secret?” Lightning asked.

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Pinkie said suddenly, catching Twilight and Lightning's attention.

Applejack intervened. “It's a 'Pinkie promise', don't worry, it's something she usually says.” Then she seriously says. “I assure you that she keeps her word when she says that.”

“I guess I can trust you three.” Lightning said.

"Seriously!?". Pinkie Pie said with a wide smile.

“No.” She replied indifferently and Pinkie gets a little sad. “But I like your redhead friend.” And Pinkie’s smile returns.

“Why?” Twilight asked.

“Because when I saw her she had the look of a reject.”

“Rejected?”

“Yes, call it instinct or sixth sense but as I told you most of the recruited Washouts are rejects of something.” Lightning Dust answered. “And usually the rejects always try to prove or compensate something.”

Twilight understood what Lightning Dust was referring to, she had heard rumors about Sunset Shimmer's poor health, that the girl's body was delicate and weak, but Twilight attributed it to the fact that she was almost always out of sight and was rarely seen in public or in the throne room, but when Twilight and her brother saw her for the first time they did not see a girl with health problems.

Sunset Shimmer didn't look delicate and weak, she was the picture of health, she has a strong body as if she had been trained to survive, but Twilight also noticed that she overexerted herself a lot, from the escape in the mines to the training at the Fallen camp.

"I wouldn't say she's trying to compensate for something or feels rejected, she just has a lot of weight on her shoulders." Applejack said trying not to give away Sunset's identity.

“I guess she'll tell me herself if I see her again.” Lightning Dust said.

“But tell us what the secret is!” Pinkie Pie said as she shook Lightning Dust.

“Pinkie, she won't be able to say anything as long as you keep shaking her.” Applejack said.

“Oops, sorry.” Pinkie Pie said.

“They should put a leash on her.”

“Wouldn't work, it's been tried, believe me, that was one of the worst ideas.” Applejack said.

Lightning Dust noticed Applejack's seriousness and decided to believe her. "I'm not going to give it another thought, tonight there will be a breakout."

The three of them remained silent, none of them expected those words.

Lightning Dust, satisfied with the reaction, continued to speak. "When they were making us walk through the citadel, someone approached me and my group, saying that they had almost everything ready but they needed people to complete the escape plans."

"Don't you think it's strange that suddenly someone comes and offers you an escape plan the day you arrived?" Applejack replied.

"Of course it's strange, but many of the Washouts decided to take the risk and I'll just accompany them and if it turns out that they manage to escape, I'll escape too."

“I don't think it's as easy as it sounds.” Twilight said. “We're in the central citadel, there's the outer citadel, then there's the city.”

“That's true.” Applejack said. “Those pale guys living there give me the creeps, and those claw marks we saw in the city didn't just happen.”

“Plus we're in the middle of the desert, that red mist covering the city seems a bit suspicious to me.”

“All the more reason for me to go, they're my people and if something happens they'll need their leader, don't you want to come with us?”

“No.” Twilight replied. “For now we just want to contact our friends who are in the outer citadel.”

“I can understand that, until we meet again.” Lightning Dust said goodbye. “If I see the others, I'll send them my regards.”

“Do you think we should ask someone if the guard said anything important?” Pinkie Pie asked after noticing that the guard had finished explaining the aura.

“These beds are incredibly comfortable!” Pinkie Pie says happily as she jumps on a mattress.

“I can’t remember the last time we slept in a real bed.” Applejack said.

“I wonder if her majesty has a comfortable bed too?” Twilight wondered.

“I hope so, she must be really tired right now.” Applejack said.

“Why do you say that?”

“Didn’t you notice? There was more noise on the side where Sunset, Flash, and Shining went, whatever’s going on on that side they’re just being rough with them.” Applejack said. “While we were sent to rest after they explained what they were planning to do next.” Applejack notices the concern on Twilight’s face. “Don’t worry, I don’t think whatever they’re doing to them is any worse than the training we had at Fallen camp.”

“You're right.” Twilight said, managing to calm down a bit. “It's simply my family's duty to care for and serve the kings of Equestria.”

“My grandmother told me that ever since Equestria began to be ruled by orphan kings, there was always a Sparkle at their side.”

“It's our oath, our duty, and our responsibility.” Twilight said as if those words were sacred. “My brother or I are supposed to dedicate our lives to serving the queen. Normally, a family member would dedicate their entire life to serving the queen unconditionally, even though the entire family is at her service, one of us would always be at her side.”

“That's too much responsibility.” Applejack said.

“I know, but I'm not complaining. The truth is that it's an honor for me to serve the queen directly. I would give my life for her.”

“Everyone get up!” A guard shouted.

“Is it dawn yet?!” Pinkie Pie was frightened by the guard's sudden appearance.

“Pinkie Pie taken by surprise? I have to tell Big Macintosh about that.”

“Actually, it got dark three hours ago.” Twilight said.

As Twilight watched the guards lead many prisoners to the outer citadel in the middle of the night, she took the opportunity to look for Sunset.

“I guess that's why they sent us to bed early.” Applejack said. “Whatever they want to do, they need us wide awake for that.”

“Look above.” Pinkie Pie says.

When they looked up they saw some guards with wings. “They look like those wings that Rainbow Dash materialized.” Twilight said surprised by the number of guards who knew how to use the aura. “Do you think there is any aura master who survived the purge around here?”

“Right now I'm just worried about where they're taking us.” Applejack replied.

“Look! There's Rainbow Dash! But she looks a little weird.” Pinkie Pie said as she noticed that the expression on the flyer's face was too serious.

As they continued walking all the prisoners were leaving the inner citadel, they also noticed that people from the outer citadel had joined and then one of the flyers stood in front of everyone.

“My name is Stormy Flare, I'm in charge of everything here and tonight we will show you why you have been brought to this city!”

“Finally!” Pinkie Pie said before Applejack covered her mouth.

“Some try to listen... and not draw attention.” Applejack whispered.

“Everyone is going to climb to the top of the walls!” Stormy Flare says as she points to the walls of the outer citadel. “And you'll have to see what happens in the city tonight.”

“I guess that's why they only took out the prisoners who came with us.” Twilight said as she climbed up the wall with her two companions. “I hope we can see her majesty now that we're in the outer citadel.”

“Twilight.” Applejack called out to her friend. “I think Sunset is out there.” She said as she points to a group of prisoners she could see despite how far away they were. “Look, right in the middle of the city.”

“But what are they doing out there?!” Twilight screams, upset and worried at the same time. “And my brother and Flash are there too!”

“There's something else.” Applejack said. “There are small groups of prisoners in various areas.”

“I'm sorry for your friends.” Then Rainbow Dash comes down and stands next to Twilight while her expression represents a repressed anger as she observes the city. “But right now we need you, everyone to observe and learn the true danger of the City of Beasts and that's why I regret to tell you that none of your friends down there will come out alive.”