Sun Burn

II

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"I fear, that as time passes, fewer and fewer unicorns will master the arte of fire beyond cheap parlor tricks and warmth spells due to the grave misfortune that has sent us downward."

– Hillberry Blue, Master of Fire, Fifth Incanter

'The Journey Underneath' Pg24

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New Canterlot. A city of wealth and stone, a hub for scholars and intellectuals alike to gain and spread knowledge. Founded in a hollowed out dome of dried lava during the first voyage deep underground, the city never darkened past dusk. Thousands of glow lights tethered to thick and unmoving black rock hung high above shops and homes. A continuous night sky displaying constellations few had ever witnessed.

Every once in awhile, a pony would gaze upward towards the dazzling night forever occupying the 'sky' and wonder at the depth of the true sky far above.

Every hundred years the Nocturna festival would be even grander than the typical yearly holiday. The Princess would spread forth her wings and create a blackout on the surface; just long enough for a reenactment race of the journey into the deep cool earth. Few where alive today that had seen the last race made by those ponies and unicorns swift enough to be chosen for the surface run from New Canterlot to Terrafoalia. The city sparkled with excitement as everypony prepared for the celebration of the century – the Millennial year of the founding of New Canterlot.

Colts ran through the cobblestone streets bubbling with happy laughter, caravans and hopeful races from far off cities interfered through the massive city gates. A month was a long time to wait for the celebration of a life time; ponies bounced and leapt in anticipation of the event.

In all of New Canterlot there was one pony that jumped around for a different reason.

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"Gah!" Twilight pirouetted through the air like a rock attempting to fly.

"Is that all you've got?" The mocking voice of who, Twilight was eighty percent sure, Princess Luna in some version of madness.

Twilight's typical royal foster parent was garbed in blackened silver armor, and she herself had changed from being a shifting shade of blue-purple to a total black only seen in the deepest un lit caverns.

It was the eyes though, that Twilight found most horrible. Slitted eyes belonged on nopony. It made the Princess all the more alien; as if the warning signs emanating from Twilight's own ambient magic and the continual storm of freezing blasts with ice spears weren't enough.

The stone between them groaned as if it ached in agony when struck by the unrelenting shards of hail. Small chunks of ice chimed in frozen musical harmonies sweeping in the magical wind.

Twilight grunted unfilly-like when sharp pieces speckled against her muzzle; just enough to scratch the delicate velvet skin. She put up with this annoyance.

Twilight's body fell into a familiar stance as she focused on imagining a thin slip of power encasing a dome around her. Her eye closed as she concentrated on her resistance against the familiar and alien power shooting around her insignificant bubble of defense.

She had never felt so small; the icy breeze whipped around her dome in a playful manor almost teasing, like a hungry dwellercat stalking wounded prey.

It pounced. Her thin sheet of defense began to ripple inward as it was forcefully prodded from one side.

Twilight gasped and imagined the defensive strength of solid granite, bricking that area with streams of pure magic shot from her horn. The fighting magic of the princess-not-princess retreated. Twilight prepared for an assault on the other side, breath blooming out like smoke from the once companionable dragons.

Twilight waited in her meager defense knowing she was countering and quickly loosing. The words of one of her professors rang through her head – The only way to win a battle of will and magic, and well, anything else is to be on the offence! Twilight Sparkle, are you listening? She grimaced. The foe on the other side was leagues ahead of her; to win she would need to outwit, or at the very least be unexpected. The frown turned to a bittersweet smile.

She could easily bring out a surprise; she valued the life of everypony and her own above her status at the royal academy.

She just had to buckle down and wait for the opportune time.

She shivered.

And waited for the expected attack ready to thicken the wall with magic she was conserving.

And waited.

And waited longer still.

When the frost began to crawl up her leg, she realized her mistake.

"No!" The lavender pony shouted as her entire focus franticly turned to the marble beneath her feet where bone chilling frost seeped up like water from a frozen hot spring.

Her first coating of power failed as the micro particles found tiny holes in her hasty attempt.

A second layer failed and her fetlocks met the chill's cold embrace.

A third stabilized the first two, siphoning her magic in great bursts of power slowly becoming weaker. A pulse of magic sent to her legs shattered the icy grasp around them.

Twilight's head lowered as she sucked in large gasps of air. Drips of sweat ran down and through her hair. She was burning out. This needed to end soon.

That choice was quickly taken away from her as the column shielding her from the majority of head on offensive ice magic, death rattled and collapsed toward her.

The suddenness of falling, cracked marble snapped Twilight's concentration and her bubble defense popped like an overfilled membrane.

Quick pony reflexes had her out of the way in a flash and skidding across the frozen floor toward her doom.

There was nowhere left to hide. A quick glance at the demolished throne room proved that. The lavender unicorn refused to hide behind the frozen forms of her downed brethren and had tried to keep the fight to the emptier portion of the room.

Ice touched her ear and she gasped at the freezing temperature. It was time to move. Her horn glowed as she dove away from her cover. The throne was the last pristine object in the room. Pieces of ice bounced off her hastily created shield glowing dimmer as the seconds passed.

The throne exploded into a pincushion as icicles pierced wood and rare metals.

"Nowhere to run, my little…little filly," the princess said as she emerged from the shadow. It was odd; the dark armor clad winged unicorn with a mane reminiscent of the night sky, slowly morphed – starting from the hooves into the kind, yet somewhat mischievous form of Princess Luna.

"Princess Luna! What are you doing?" Twilight yelled. The shadowy form of the princess, pelt much darker than normal – black as pitch in fact, pawed at the ground exuding wisps of frost.

"Doing what I should have done long ago!"

"Uh…What's that?" Twilight said in distraction as she focused on drawing up all of her magic to perform a spell. She shuddered at the thought of anyone seeing her cast it…but desperate times called desperate measures. If the power of fire saved the ponies frozen in ice then she accomplished something.

"What?" The evil form of the princess stopped. Fog wrapping and brushing against the Princess's hooves as if it was a pet begging for attention.

"What is it?"

"What was – enough! Prepare to fall before my will and powers of frost. When you are gone, I will bring eternal slumber to everypony!" The mare standing in front of Twilight shouted loudly in success; Thousands of icy shard materializing behind her outstretched wings in a massive overkill attack.

Twilight breathed in deeply and closed her eyes calmly. Her hooves aligned themselves into a relaxed position, and from the bottom of the nearly empty well deep within, a kernel pulsed slowly, gaining speed until in matched Twilight's own physically beating heart. Warmth spread outward from her bones, entering her blood, flowing though muscle, seeping through skin and fur.

The darkness within her mind lighted to white; Twilight was sure her eyes and horn were glowing.

The heat escalated, sending tingles down her nerves and she felt as if she was nearly on fire – and ready to unleash an inferno of fire and molten rock; forbidden by her professors.

Twilight's eye's opened and – she hesitated.

The power she grasped with her mind lost momentum; the lavender pony was unable to destroy the winged unicorn in front of her.

Her friend – mentor – foster parent.

Princess Luna smirked evil and tauntingly said, "You really are weak. Nothing but a scrap of life unable to withstand my power. Every other force between me and conquering lay defeated here in this palace. You are the last able to make a stand. Amazing how love will destroy and enslave everypony in my new empire, because. You. Have. Failed."

She laughed, and it echoed off ponies frozen in ice and walls of stone. The shrill laughed hung in the suddenly still air.

Twilight hung her head in defeat. The spears of ice launched.

The lavender unicorn looked up at the hiss of sharp objects slicing through air.

Face to face with the thousands of icy fragments, Twilight could almost imagine them all as the number of ponies she had failed.

"I can't, I'm sorry." Twilight whispered, a tear dripping down her check.

Her front hooves braced themselves as she lowered her horn toward the incoming onslaught, and her enemy.

With everything she could well up, Twilight released a cyclone of forbidden fire magic in the form of a screaming cyclone melting barbs of ice with ease.

"Don't be." The voice of Princess Luna answered back in whisper; though Twilight was sure she imagined it.

The wall of fire struck the winged unicorn, disintegrating her into dust.

As it smashed into the wall of rock behind the throne the flames scorched the back wall. Twilight stood alone in the still frozen throne room paralyzed in fatigue.

Slowly, Twilight noticed as she still tried to come to terms with the fact that she had killed the Princess and her foster parent, the ice melted.

She fell to her knees in despair.

"WHOO! Way to go Twilight! You did it!" A jubilant voice called out; she painfully turned her sore neck. Buckwheat's head was out of the ice and large chunks were breaking off as he nearly vibrated in enthusiasm.

"I say! That was a marvelous good show," the guard commander said as he became deiced.

Soon ponies once frozen surrounded her downed form babbling happily as Twilight tried to think through the muddle her head had become.

"Hmph! The apprentice fails dramatically as expected and now must be expelled," the shrill voice of Twilight's most disliked teacher shouted over the din. The circle of ponies surrounding her quieted for some reason Twilight couldn't quit fathom through the buzzing in her ears – a familiar voice spoke up. A familiar voice she had just burned to a crisp.

"I disagree. She passed every hurdle set out with flying – hm, burning," at this the ponies parted and Twilight had a clear view of a not-dead-but-alive Princess Luna; who's eyes twinkled in ecstatic delight, "colors. She passed end of story."

"Prin – Princess? What? But I just – How?" Twilight's mouth questioned as her mind cycled through emotions on a trolley built of confusion.

"Oh. Uh. Heh." The princess said while smiling awkwardly and looking off to the side of Twilight's face. Like a young filly caught with their hooves caught in the cookie jar, the Princess rubbed one hoof against her other foreleg.

"Well, you see Twilight, it is kind of like this – oh, and don't get angry–"

And suddenly the trolley of confusion crashed into a wall built of anger and surprise with a window of displeased understanding.

Her ears dropped to the sides of her head and her pupils shrunk to pinpoints pointing in opposite directions.

"Twilight?" A concerned princess waved a hoof in front of Twilight's unblinking eyes.

Someone started to laugh hoarsely gaining in volume.

A second before the last trickle of magic in her body shot out and exploded into a cloud black smog and static coating everypony's face in char while causing their manes to stand up; Twilight realized she was the one laughing hysterically.


TBC...

A/N: Thanks for reading please review! Also, something that is pretty important to bronies and anyone who is not a 70 year old congressman who does not understand the internet – look up SOPA if you do not know what it is. It is rather scary that a bunch of old men might effectively kill free speech and creative works on the internet because they do not understand it.