Broken Promises

Sunset bit back a cry as the gears on the faceplate began to whir, slowly pulling a wooden panel up the coffin to cover the plate. She found not crying to be the hardest challenge sge could have ever faced, and as the plate covered more and more of her sister's face, ever so slowly, she gave up altogether, breaking down into more sobbing.

She was unsteady on her feet, but tried her best to stay upright as she blinked tears from her eyes, wiping them yet again with the back of her hoof. The cover continued to move, and Sunset found herself leaning further and further forward in an effort to keep the entirety of her sister's face in view.

And then the plate closed. And Sunset was alone. Part of her knew she wasn't actually alone; she had Raven, Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance. She had a few friends, too. But none of them were Sunray, none of them were her sister.
That was something she was never going to get back.

Sunset woke up in darkness, cold, very cold, and confused. Where was she? Where was Sunray? She attempted to stand up, but let out a scream of pain as her front right leg gave out from under her the moment she put pressure on it. Which meant it was probably broken. Sunset started to take stock of her surroundings, and realised it was snowing hard around her, and very windy. A blizzard must have blown off course.

Sunset took a deep breath to try and steady herself despite the pain lancing through her head, and cast a soft light spell. The snow around her was stained red, and she realised she was bleeding from numberous scratches of varying lengths on her side. She felt something warm dripping down her cheek, and she dimly registered she had a head wound. She needed care, she knew that. But she also needed-

"Sunray! Where are you?!"

Sunset let the strength behind the light spell grow, but couldn't find a sign of Sunray anyway.

"Sunray?!"

There was no response.

Sunset staggered to her hooves, careful not to put any pressure on the broken one, which she now registered was at an odd angle. Not a major break, but still too much for her to deal with. She let magic flow through her, feeling a comforting warmth as it tried to close most of her bleeding wounds. She then exchanged her light spell for a flame, as even though it would weaken her faster, it would keep her warmer. She needed to get out of the valley.
Sunset began limping forward, trying her best to avoid her broken leg, and letting out cries of pain whenever she failed. Still, she staggered on, alone.

Come on Sunray. You'd better be fine.

Sunset let out a deep breath and pushed on through the snow, steadily approaching the edge of the valley. She found herself incredibly greatful the snow wasn't yet past knee height, as otherwise she wouldn't have been able to move at all without her leg causing her to pass out. As it was, dragging it forwards through the snow was already painful enough. It was around this point that Sunset's emergency training re-emerged in her brain, and she took a deep breath before launching her flare spell. It was a specialised spell that she and Princess Celestia had created together, and she watched as the flaming ball flew high in the skies, casting light over the valley.

Sunset looked up to the sky, and felt tears and blood dripping down her cheek. The snow around her glittered with red light, and the trees were pushed forwards and back in the wind. Her mane whipped at her face and followed the wind, and she watched the flare arc higher into the sky, and for a moment she felt serene.

Then it exploded, sending red lines shooting across the sky in all directions, leaving a ring above her.

As well as being a way for ponies to find her, it was also magically linked to her shared journal with the Princess, and would trigger a notification roughly ten times stronger than an ordinary message. It didn't matter that it must have been early morning, Celestia knew something had gone wrong now. With that done, Sunset began pushing forward in the snow, but it wasn't long before she heard a cry and a whump behind her. She turned, and-

"Sunset! Oh Celestia, you're okay! I was so worried when I couldn't find you and I-"

"Sunray!"

Sunset felt herself begin to cry as she used her good hoof to pull in her sister.

"Sunset! You're injured- your leg, your head! We need to get you to town, now!"

Sunray settled in next to Sunset, supporting her leg and wrapping a wing protectively around her, which would also help warm them both up.

"Y- You've been flying?"

Sunray bit her lip.

"I know it's dangerous, but I always landed before I got too cold!"

Sunset had no choice but to nod, knowing that if Sunray was wrong about her limits, she would end up eith a frostbitten wing and possibly be forced to lose it.

"Now come on, there's a cave not far from here. We can rest up in there and then push for town when the storm ends."

The walk through the snow was long and cold, but they didn't encounter any other problems as they reached the cave. Sunset was dimly aware she was in a worse state than she'd previously thought, as she'd been forced to return to a simple light spell, and even that was starting to falter. As well as that, fog had descended over her brain, and she couldn't think clearly as she sank to the floor.

Sunray looked at her before quickly diving out of the cave to scavenge fire materials. This warmed the cave considerably, and Sunset found herself beginning to drift off to sleep as Sunray stroked her mane comfortingly.

"I'm going back out, Sunset. I need to get you help."

"N-No. Too dangerous. Stay."

"Sunset, I'm sorry, I have to. You'll die otherwise!"

Sunset shook her head dimly, aware that she wasn't putting on a very convincing show from where she lay, sprawled out, barely able to lift her head.

"Ray, stay. 'M n charge."

"I don't care if you're in charge, Sunset."

Sunray backed up to the entrance.

"You need help."

"Ray, please, stay-" her voice was barely a whisper.

Sunray looked at her sadly, then dived back into the blizzard.
Sunset let out a pained cry, but Sunray didn't return. She sobbed in silence, alone, until sleep claimed her.