But the Sun Refused to Set

Sunset awoke to the sound of crying, but it was Twilight’s face that caught her attention. The deep red light pouring in from the window dyed the color of Twilight’s tears a dark scarlet as they streamed down her cheeks.

Sunset turned to gaze out the window. To call the Sun red would be so gargantuan an understatement as to make it untrue. She looked down, and the Ponyville River was filled with blood. She looked up, and the sky burned. Sunset hadn’t read the signs in some time, but there was no mistaking this one. Something terrible was coming, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that Twilight was at the center of it.

She tore her gaze away from the Sun and forced herself to consider the position she and Twilight were now in. She considered waking Twilight, but she needed sleep so desperately that it was probably better to leave her be. That was the easy decision. The hard decision was to figure out what she would say to Celestia.

Option one, say nothing. Bad option. This was gonna be big, bigger than she could handle on her own. She needed all the help, and knowledge of the signs, that she could get. Option two, tell Celestia about Twilight’s nightmares. Bad option. Not only would that be a betrayal of Twilight’s trust, but Celestia might be part of the problem. Option three, only tell Celestia what she saw that morning. Bad option. She was already on bad terms with Celestia, telling Celestia that she had slept in the same room with Twilight would be a death sentence. Besides, once pointed in the right direction, Celestia's spies would have the full story within the hour.

Ok, maybe Celestia was a dead end. What other magical powerhouses with knowledge of the signs existed? Luna was obviously a no-go. Cadence was a bit better but still too high risk; besides, she didn’t really strike Sunset as much of a powerhouse. Queen Chrysalis might have been able to help, but there were two glaring issues. First was the issue of finding her, and second was the issue of not being eaten alive for daring to ask a favor. Yea, not a great option. Discord, perhaps? He would almost certainly make a game of it, and it wouldn’t be good for her blood pressure, but at this point, she was running out of options.

Sunset looked back at Twilight, and it was at this point that she noticed a detail that she hadn’t yet considered, namely, the small bulges in the blanket above Twilight’s back. Of course, Sunset had known all along that Twilight was a princess, but the implications hadn’t really sunk in until now. First, she had technically just slept with a princess, which was… woah. Second, Twilight had been powerful even before her ascension, so it was almost certain that Twilight far surpassed her in raw power. Third, Twilight must have learned to read the signs much better than her, given her royal status.

There was; however, one problem with relying on Twilight’s help. If the sign did involve Twilight in some way, it would be near impossible for her to read it. Not even Starswirl could read his own future.

Sunset took a deep breath and stared out the window again. It had only been a few minutes, but something felt different. Instead of terror, seeing the sky aflame left her with a strange sense of deja-vu. She remembered wanting this once, but she had no idea why.

The pitter-patter of tiny feet rushing up the stairs broke Sunset from her trance. “Twilight, wake up! Something’s happened to the Sun!”

Twilight looked at Sunset, bathed by the Sun, and gasped.

* * *

The Day Court was always busy, but that morning there wasn’t a single inch left unoccupied, not even on the throne itself. Ordinarily, Celestia reserved half of the Day Court for common ponies, but today, every noble, reporter, and dignitary staying in the castle packed the throne room, wall to wall. A line of guardsponies physically blocked the tide of frantic ponies from getting too close to the throne. Luna, who was seated next to Celestia, looked questioningly at her sister. Celestia raised a gold-encased hoof and the crowd fell silent.

“My little ponies, I understand your concerns, but pushing to the front will get you nowhere. Today has been bad enough without any ponies suffocating or being trampled.” As she spoke, the pushing and jostling slowly came to a halt. “Thank you. As all of you are aware, this morning featured the first appearance of a Blood Sun in over a millennium. As of right now, we do not know the cause.” The hall descended into a thousand barely hushed whispers, the combined effect of which was deafening. Celestia raised her hoof again, but to no effect. She looked at Luna and nodded.

“SILENCE!”

The sudden implementation of the Royal Canterlot Voice left the hall stunned into silence, and a few unaccustomed dignitaries reflexively fell to their knees. One unfortunate noble fell to his rear instead.

“Thank you, Luna. As I was saying, we do not know the cause; however, I have reason to believe that Discord may be involved.” Celestia hesitated for just a moment, and Luna glanced at her curiously, but the crowd wisely elected to remain silent. “Whatever the case, I will personally see to it that the cause is discovered and dealt with appropriately. I will now open the floor for questions.” She pointed to a Saddle Arabian dignitary. “Prince Haakim.”

“Pardon my ignorance, but I simply do not understand how a Blood Sun could occur without your intention. Do you not control the Sun?”

“I control the motion of the Sun, yes, but I do not control it in every aspect. I cannot control its color. Next question.” She pointed to a young earth pony sporting a light gray fedora with a slip of paper tucked into the band labeled ‘Press.’ “With the gray fedora.”

“I’m Quick Study from The Canterlot Times. Do you have any information about previous Blood Suns, such as what caused them or why they stopped appearing?”

“I do not, but I will have a team pouring over the Canterlot Archives to find the answers to those questions. Next question.” She pointed at another dignitary from Saddle Arabia near the middle of the room. “Princess Amira.”

“Why do you suspect Discord is involved in this?” Most of the ponies present seemed deeply uninterested in the question, and a few laughed.

“I cannot discuss that at this time. Next question.” She pointed to a large white stallion near the front. “Prince Blueblood.”

“Assuming that Discord is responsible for this, what will you do?”

“If we must, we will have him returned to stone. Next question.”

***

It was a masterpiece of spellcraft. Most unicorns couldn’t manage teleportation at all, and those who could typically required a few moments to envision their destination before they could teleport. Twilight had gone from asleep to somewhere else in under a second. The power put into the spell wasn’t enough for her to have left Ponyville, but that would still take hours to check, and that was assuming that Twilight didn’t keep moving.

“Sunset, what are you doing here?” Spike asked.

“There’s no time to explain. We need to find Twilight. All I know is that she teleported somewhere in Ponyville. Do you have any idea where she might have gone?”

“She probably teleported to one of the girl’s houses. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy live outside of Ponyville, so she’s probably either at the Carousel Boutique or Sugar Cube Corner.”

“And of the two?”

“I don’t know, but Sugar Cube Corner is closer.”

“Alright. Thanks, Spike.” Sunset started to walk down the stairs, but Spike blocked the way.

“Spike, move.”

“Not so fast. I’m coming with you.” Sunset briefly considered teleporting past him, but even in her frantic state knew better than to teleport on stairs. Like most unicorns, she didn’t fancy turning one or more of her legs into an avant-garde house decoration.

“Not a chance. It’s not safe outside. Twilight would never forgive me if you got hurt out there.”

“You don’t know Ponyville like I do. How do you plan to save Twilight if you get lost?”

That was a regrettably good point.

“Fine. Hop on.”