Beside Herself

Chapter Fourteen: Sunset

The throne room was silent. She didn't like silence. Silence meant stillness and a chance to remember every terrible thing Twilight and the others forgave. Even to this day she couldn't erase the shame of using dark magic and letting it consume her. Once her blade was an inch from Queen Celestia's throat. Worse yet, at the time she wanted that blade between her perfect eyes more than life itself.

She was now Lady Sunset, Queen in waiting and knight of Harmony. Her fire-red hair was cut short so nothing could grasp it while fighting, yet it still waved in streaks of red and blond. Her eyes were a pale green, her fur a golden blond. These bold sun-related features often birthed rumors of her being Celestia's unclaimed daughter. Perhaps she was. The Queen of day had her secrets, but Sunset was finally beyond this. Nobody was perfect, nor did they need to be. Such was the wisdom gained in her Ascension.

Her eyes rose as one of the throne chamber's doors began to swing open. The two meter tall oak door made a groaning sound no matter how many times her royal servants oiled their hinges. The damn things were just too dense for their own good.

Her eyes opened with shock as she saw who was making their way inside. She wore a thin tiara of gold with a single Opal mounted in the center, the sort of crown one would wear before the Night of Scars. Sunset's crown hung on the armrest of her throne, the bronze colored tiara wider and armored to protect her forehead in combat. She wore a sleeveless dress of blue silk that exposed the off-white stripes of her healed scars. She wore No armor, nothing to protect her.

Sunset stood in disbelief. The skeptic in her reached for the hilt of her sword and gently gripped. What she saw before her couldn't be real. She couldn't be standing here.

"Hello, My pupil."

Celestia walked across the red carpet leading up to the three steps before two thrones. A majestic smile graced her lips, but the tears in the corner of her eyes betrayed her emotions. Behind her walked four guards in gold, two Equis, two Dragons. Among the foursome were MoonDrop and MoonDrop.

Something shimmering with dusky hues was held in Celestia's left hand. She extended her arm and spread her fingers to let Sunset see. Sunset looked at it with a hint of confusion, but it still spoke to her. It felt like a mirror, or a part of her soul she was born without.

"Celestia!"

Thoughts of the stone fell away from her mind as Sunset dashed down the stairs and embraced the white mare. She tried so hard not to cry. She managed not to sniffle or whimper, but Sunset couldn't stop the tears from escaping. The guards that looked on offered no judgement. They too wanted to cry happy tears when their Queen was restored.

"There, there, Sunset. No need for tears."

Her naked hand stroked the knight's red and blonde hair like a mother would to her foal. She leaned into that embrace and gently pressed her cheek to Sunset's. If Celestia were not her daughter, one would be forgiven for thinking so.

Sunset leaned back yet didn't break her embrace. She looked into Celestia's eyes and smiled.

"What happened? Did we find a cure?"

Celestia gave her subtle nod and motherly laugh.

"Yes, and the ones responsible are busily at work healing our fallen soldiers. However, that isn't the only good news."

Her voice had a hint of weight to it, a mixture of relief and sadness.

"Sunset, When I first put you under my wing I wanted to forge you into the Knight of Bonds. I was so sure that you were the one. You were so like me, born with a long shadow that held others at an emotional distance. I was so sure that my arrogance pushed you away.

You turned out to be so much more than I had eyes to see. You walked the darkness and the light unlike any other. I see you now."

Celestia looked into Sunset's eyes. Her face showed a level of hesitation and doubt that was unlike the Queen. She took a deep breath and spoke two more words.

"My Daughter."

Sunset furrowed her brow and fell back. Part of her was furious. After so long she confirms it, only now. Only now after so long. Only now after nearly dying. Yet, she was happy. She wasn't a saint and neither was the mare that brought her into the world. What did all that matter? She loved her Queen, she loved her Mother.

"Is… it okay if I call you 'Mom'? In public, I mean."

The stone rose from Celestia's hand and drifted towards the armored mare. Sunset closed her eyes and accepted that lost part of her. It fused into her armor with a brilliant light that shifted from orange to pale emerald, the color of Sunset's eyes. The emerald light spread over every piece of her armor before it changed shape. When the light faded, Sunset wore a simple pair of dark brown trousers and an untucked blue dress shirt. The stone in its new form now hung around her neck from a bronze chord.

"Of course you can."

Celestia said as she reached out and caressed Sunset's cheek.

"I name thee Sunset Shimmer, Knight of Redemption."

They embraced again, this time without the bulky armor in their way. Sunset had so many questions, but for now she could set them aside. Sunset showed Celestia her engagement ring and spoke of the night Twilight had proposed, or to be more exact, the night Twilight froze in place on one knee. The poor introvert was so overwhelmed by the moment she couldn't get a word out, so Sunset took the ring, knelt, and proposed to Twilight.

The sound of rattling armor turned every eye to the two dragon guards. MoonDrop and a male black dragon looked ill. They shook as they stared at the chamber doors. Their pupils grew to pinpricks as the white of their eyes grew a pale shade of magenta.

"MoonDrop? MoonDrop, What's gotten into you?"

The mare form of MoonDrop whispere, worried she just offended her Queens. That annoyance quickly evolved into worry as the shaking and clattering grew more violent. The Dragon MoonDrop slowly turned her head to face the Queen and her Royal knight. Her lips parted and a grin not her own formed. A far-too masculine voice spoke.

"Your magesty, I will ask you to remain safely in your chambers. I already failed you once. I do not intend to do so a second time. Just wait patiently, I promise this will be worth your time."

A magenta flame that swirled with black smoke poured from under the door and ran along every seam. It spread along the baseboards and spread up the walls to cover every inch. It gave off no heat, but it lifted everything from floors and walls as if repelling everyting solid.

Sunset gave a berserker's howl and ran at the doors. Her hand was poised as a green flame consumed her. When it extinguished she was in full armor again with her bastard sword raised above her head. She thrust down with all her strength only to have the wide blade bounce and throw her violently back.

The ceiling was made to flood the throne room with light while keeping royalty safe. A thick beam of wood that was once a ship's backbone ran across the roof and supported two massive crystal mosaics in a stained glass pattern. Even without the strange magenta energy it was impenetrable by most forces, more so since the Night of Scars. From beyond the canopy an army of black birds took to the sky and flew in a dark cyclone all around New Canterbury. Some were as high as the clouds and yet still visible, each possibly the size of small houses.

"I'm truly glad to see you alive and well. I can't tell you how long I labored to make you well, or the terrible things I have done to right this wrong. I'm jealous, but still glad to do my part. No matter. There are greater things needing attention."

"Who the hell are you and what's happening to my people?"

Sunset grit her teeth in rage at the blue dragon that spoke with an old male's voice.

"Your people? These Dragons are your people?"

The voice sounded insulted, perhaps shocked.

"These creatures sank their claws into our flesh and robbed us of our powers, all in the name of a manic Goddess. All they have ever done is spread misery and pain. Your sense of mercy blinds you, young knight."

The two dragons tapped the butt of their spears on the ground to wake them. They turned on each other and thrust before a golden light enveloped them. Celestia's tall horn stood from her forehead as sunlight radiated from her eyes.

"Begone!"

Celestia's royal voice shook the foundations under them. It did nothing to the barrier, but the two dragons fell onto their knees and dropped their spears, each crawling backwards and away from their weapons. It was standard guard training. If one is recently possessed they should distance themselves from any weapon, just in case they are taken again and try to harm their partners.

Ravencroft stood at the palace with a scowl marking his youthful face. The power that clouded his eyes in pale magenta had healed his wounds and returned his youth, all he had to trade for it was his conscience. It barely felt different from any other moment of his life since that day, but now it seemed far easier. There was no more remorse, no more hesitation. All of that emotional burden was gone apart from the pure pleasure of harming those that deserved it. He was free, finally free.

"Come."

His mind reached into the palace and down a hall. It raced through corridors and burst open locked and guarded doors. It appeared as a shadow that passed through everything and left beings falling onto the floor like puppets with their strings cut. It moved like a flash until his shadow found the chamber.

A dark transparency reached out its hand to the tall standing mirror and commanded the glass to ripple. When the connection was made his will reached past his reality into the wastes she called home.

RavenCroft clenched his teeth as he fed his soul to the six shadows bonded to him. He would gladly extinguish himself and any hope for an afterlife if it meant turning that bitch into his puppet. His shadow walked into the mirror and crossed into Dagon. He found himself in a second palace of white marble and white gold in ornate patterns along walls and ceilings.

The shadow walked past servants of bone and flame. All of them shook and rattled in place. Brushes and mops lay on the ground as they rythed. He made his way into her throne room unchallenged.

The Six rattled and shook in place. Six tall figures of black bone wreathed in flames having familiar colors. The six were her version of the knights. Lady Twilight, Lady Rarity, Lady Jack, Lady Fluttershy, Lady Dash, and Lady Pie. These dragons, these pathetic copies of Celestia's Knights, submitted to his will as easily as a sparrow. Of course they did. Dragons were not pure avian, but with the shadows help, they were avian enough.

The Dragon that looked so much like his Queen wasn't so fully dominated, however, her defiant look surprised him. Her brows were furrowed and blue eyes focused into what would be his shadow's eyes, if shadows had eyes. He anticipated hatred and malice, but she radiated a motherly determination. She was like a lioness remaining strong for her cubs, not the monster he expected at all.

It then dawned on him. She was truly insane.

"Leave and you can keep your wretched life, shadow!"

She said within the deep growl from her throat.

His laugh passed through his world and into her's. It came out of his shadow and echoed across the decedent marble walls and the stained glass canopy which looked out onto a sky with its shattered moon.

"You honestly think of yourself as the protagonist?"

He walked about the room and approached each of the skeletal dragons. The one with pink flames that gave a mirthless giggle as it rythed uncontrollably. The blue one with a prismatic flame that stared him down with determined resistance even as its body spasmed.

"Ecclestia, is it? Forgive me, I've been studying how to kill you for years. I never meant to learn your name, but your whelps can be talkative after a little interrogation.

Your motives still confuse me, why you gave us those scars? You wanted to save us from ourselves, from our freedom to choose. That's why you bound the ones you loved. No free will, no mistakes like the one made those years past. Free from starvation. Free from a spiteful nature spirit that wants to kill each and every one of you for what you did. All of this from one moment of weakness.

You killed your sister, shattered your moon, destroyed your elements, and made an enemy of Nature herself. All of this in one act. Shameful."

She let out a growl as yellow fire made her flawless fangs glow like an overheated furnace.

"I loved my sister with a heart more pure than you knew from birth. Do not sully her memory."

He laughed again, hollow and vicious. He didn't fear her fire, not as the shadow. He walked up to her and brushed fingers along her neck. Ecclestia didn't have the strength to pull away.

"Your sister was madd before she was consumed by darkness. She was cruel. I restored a few of them before putting them out of their misery. One was a servant of hers. The things your sister did, how do you will yourself to remember things so… selectively?"

Ecclestia didn't scream or strike down the shadow that mocked her dear sister. The truth did nothing to increase her rage. In fact, it only made her determination stronger. Her face relaxed and she stood straight. She took in a deep breath and exhaled gently.

"You clever little pony."

A wisp of smoke blew past her lips as the fire extinguished within her.

She moved freely and cupped the shadow's face in a gentle touch. Ravencroft felt a cold shiver of panic. He should have known. Ecclestia was insane and taken into mania, but that didn't make her a fool. His trick was crass and simplistic in comparison to her experience. She realized his game. Appeal to her inner shadows, her rage, once her mental focus was at its lowest he could possess her.

Then he remembered what a wise old General once said to him, one of his earliest patients. 'If you come across a strong opponent, don't waste your time attacking them. Attack what makes them strong.'

Ravencroft allowed his shadow self to stare helplessly into the dragon's eyes. Frozen terror was easy to fake for a time. While that form of himself satisfied the mad Queen's desire to monologue, another tendril of his shadow slithered up to the black bones wreathed in purple fire.

This Twilight's mind was flooded by feelings of love and happier memories of a past she never lived. Her soul couldn't make sense of her prison, but what a nice prison it was. Ecclestia's forced bond kept the poor creature fed with illusions of love, and in return this Twilight served as an Element. This was true for the other five, and thus it kept the eternal queen alive in an otherwise dying world.

"Remember."

RavenCroft's shadow said only one word in Twilight's ear, but he knew it would be the first domino of a much larger reaction. Twilight did remember. She remembered the night her parents were murdered trying to protect her. She remembered that dank little cave they hoped would hide them. She remembered looking up at that wild eyed Queen who saw Twilight's love for her slain parents.

She remembered waking up and thinking it was all just a terrible dream. They were at her side. Her father took her up in his arms and hugged her so tight. They were never far after that. Then more came. A blue dragon with rainbows in her head feathers. Another who would never lie. Another who always had a good joke to tell. Another who was kind and loving. So many friends.

It never felt quite right. It never felt like the cave. More like a dream. It never felt quite right.

A whimper escaped the dragon in purple flame. She shook harder, not out of resistance but out of something more primal than a need to be free. Black smoke came from her fire as the whimper became a cry, and a cry became a scream. The smoke coiled into the shape of a chain that joined the shadow's neck. Another chain of white showed itself before shattering, severing Ecclestia's connection.

The shadow before Ecclestia faded. She screamed and rushed towards the shadow that stood near Twilight, but he didn't need to dodge her. The dragon wreathed in purple smoke grasped her neck and threw her onto her back. Two talons pricked her neck and drew blood as Twilight began to choke the life out of her.

"Calm yourself, daughter. Don't give her the mercy of a quick death."

The shadow spoke and Twilight's grip loosened, but not fully.

RavenCroft's shadow kneeled down and looked upon Ecclestia with an odd admiration.

"I promise you will not be harmed."

He lied with a satisfied grin.