Broken Promises

"Sunray was a kind and selfless soul, and an inspiration to all of those around her."

Sunset watched, trying her best not to cry as the coffin was lowered into the grave, and found herself biting back a sob. It was just so unfair. Sunset had been able to deal with the loss of their parents primarily because she'd had Sunray. The whole experience had brought them closer together, but now...
Now it was worse, and Sunset had to face it on her own. She'd never been that close to her parents anyway, they'd spent far longer caring about their own reputations and pushing the pair to their absolute limit than they had spent actually loving them. But it had still hurt.

Losing Sunray hurt over a thousand times more.

The coffin came to a rest at the bottom of the pit, and the earth ponies who'd been carrying gave her a respectful nod before moving away. Sunset scrunched her eyes shut and reached out with her magic, lifting the Fire Lillies into the air, each one surrounded by a teal aura. Fire Lillies had been Sunray's favourite, and Sunset remembered the day well.
She let out a deep sigh before releasing the lillies from their dance in the sky, watching sadly as they drifted slowly, painfully, into the pit and coming to a rest on top of Sunray's coffin. Sunset felt a tear rolling down her cheek, followed by another.

Sunset kicked at a pebble in the road with one hoof, knocking it to the edge. The sun was going down, there was still no sign of Sunray, and her parents didn't care enough to come out looking with her. Sunray was only 8! Sunset was only 10! She scoffed. Sunray deserved better than those pathetic excuses for parents. But there was nothing she could do about that, other than finding her sister. She sighed as she trailed along the road, brushing her yellow-and-red mane out of her eyes as she walked.

Where is she?

Sunset's head snapped up as she heard a distant cry.

Was that?

The cry came again.

"Sunray!"

Sunset took off sprinting towards the noise, barely looking to make sure she wouldn't be hit by a cart as she ran across roads. She passed by the marketplace, which had fallen silent as the sun set, and eventually skidded into an alley. It was different to others, in that most in their hometown had lights strung across from building to building, but this was dark. She gulped, suppressing her fear and cast a soft light spell as she entered the alley. A few rats ran across in front of her, and she flinched reflexively. She let out a breath before continuing to walk, confident Sunray was here.

"Sunray? Sunray, are you here?"

"S-Sunset?"

Sunset turned a corner, finding her sister curled in a ball, head raised to look in her direction. Her usually bright red-gold mane was matted with dust, her wings were missing feathers, and her yellow skin had blood stains.

"Sunray! What happened? Who did this? I swear I'll-"

"Sunset, it's fine. I'm fine. I just want to go home."

Part of Sunset wanted to refuse and hunt down the criminals who had done this to her sister. But the rest of her was too busy making sure she was okay.

"Okay. Can you stand up for me? I just want to make sure you're fine."

Sunray nodded hesitantly and stretched out, revealing a few gashes on her side. Sunset gasped and let the magic build on her horn, quickly patching up the wounds, then began nudging Sunray forward.

"Where are we going?" She mumbled.

"I'm taking you to get looked at by a professional. Then we go home."

Sunray nodded, and it broke Sunset's heart to see none of the usual vibrant, energetic pegasus in her actions.

"Sunray, let me know if anyone does something like this again, okay?"
"You don't have to, I'm fine."
"Ray, you're slurring your words. You're not fine. I'm your sister, okay? It's my job to protect you."

Sunray turned to face Sunset, tears in her eyes.

"You promise?"

"I promise on my life. Sunray, I will fight all of Equestria for you. I promise, I'll keep you safe."

Sunray nodded, tried to bite back her tears, failed, and then buried her head in Sunset's shoulder as she cried. Sunset wrapped her hooves around her sister, pulling her into a hug as she lifted a fire lilly from a nearby flowerbed, settling it into Sunray's mane.
In that moment, Sunset knew she'd been telling the truth. She'd fight all of Equestria, every beast in Tartarus, the Everfree forest, it didn't matter.
For Sunray, it was worth it.