Mirror Finale

The sun beat down on the four of us on the lawn outside of Canterlot high. The air smelled like tin and sulfur. Applejack's arms glistened deliciously as she dragged an overflowing trash bag to the curb, awkwardly straining to avoid stabbing herself on the steel spars that jutted out of it. Behind me, Sunset and Pinkie Pie sipped from plastic cups of lemonade and leaned against each other. I wiped my own forehead, swung Mark Antony over my shoulder, and took a step back to admire our creation.

It had been a long day. As soon as I'd made my plan clear to her, Princess and I broke into one of Canterlot High's science labs and, under her supervision, I basically trashed the place. I upended vials covered in warning labels into sparkling, toxic masses that slowly burned away as the night dragged on, while she scrawled variations of my design around the room with a piece of chalk in both hands. The science I knew and the science I didn't started blurring together. I had to admit, this girl was a genius. It was probably a huge relief for her to be able to talk to someone who knew as much about such an obscure subject as she did. I kind of felt the same way.

We stayed up talking about magical theory and running tests until she finally passed out from a combination of exhaustion and chemical fumes. There was a big smile on her face when I carried her outside and dumped her in the parking lot. After that, I barely had enough time to swipe some food from the cafeteria and take a nap before the sun rose and the real work began.

Princess saved me a lot of time by doing the coordinating, at least until she passed out again and two of her friends drove her home. While Pinkie Pie was put in charge of getting permission (or, failing that, later it would be her job to apologize), Applejack and I took a field trip to the dump. With her brother's help we loaded as much junk as we could into her truck, hightailed it back to the statue, and got to work.

This, half a day later, was the result.

Around the shattered surface of the old mirror portal, an asymmetrical frame had sprung up: car parts, bike frames, ancient computers, all crushed and tied together by cables into a surprisingly solid arch. Rusted spars jutted out from it in every direction like skeletal wings. Black oil trickled down through the whole thing, already shriveling the grass below. Two crooked antennae stood to either side with a third resting on top, each hooked up to a plastic tub of car batteries that even Pinkie Pie wouldn't go near. A small metal boiler of unspeakably toxic chemicals lurked menacingly by the corner. The whole thing looked like it could kill a person a dozen different ways, and we hadn't even attempted to turn it on yet. It was perfect.

Whether it would actually work as I intended was another matter.

Applejack returned to my side, folding her arms and glaring. After our lunch break she'd rolled up her shirt, exposing her midriff, and her strong arms and legs had been my eye candy for the day. Her skirt was way too short for the work she was doing - I doubted her family could afford to order anything bigger with her crest on it - and she never seemed to catch on when I sent her up ladders ahead of me. She would have been the perfect little assistant if it weren't for the attitude. "We done here?" she snapped.

Ungrateful bitch. I sighed and stretched wide, watching her gaze out of the corner of my eye as I bared some skin for her. Sadly, her eyes seemed fixed entirely on my head. "Are you really that eager to get rid of me?" I asked.

She made a spitting motion, but was too polite to follow through. "If you think I'm letting you out of my sight for even one minute after the stunts you've pulled..."

"Whatever." I stretched the other way and looked back over my shoulder. "Hey. Detachable shower head girl," I called.

"Yes, Shimmer?" Pinkie Pie answered instantly. Sunset turned bright red.

"All we've got left is some heavy lifting. You and Sunny can fuck off. Go catch the last ten minutes of class or something."

The girl sprang even more to life. "Oh, thank you! I've got so many supplies to move into the gym and numbers to ring and favours to call and sweets to buy..." While still babbling, she grabbed Sunset's arm in one hand, lifted half a pitcher of lemonade with the other, and scampered toward the school at a speed that left a trail of dust behind her. "...and streamers to hang and balloons to fill and invitations to write SHIMMER YOU'RE INVITED and playlists to compose and volunteers-"

I tuned her out, turning back to Applejack. "Another party in the fucking gym?" I queried.

She let her own gaze narrow. "Shimmer, don't you think you could maybe stand to watch your mouth a little? There's kids about."

"So?" I turned up my nose, carelessly dropping Mark Antony onto the grass. "Since when do you care about the rules? Your principal seems to let you do whatever the fuck you want."

"Celestia and Luna trust us. And we earned that trust, by not doing whatever the... flip we want."

"Oh, sure. The queen stops watching once she knows it's a good little drone who just follows orders. Gotcha." I threw another look back at the entrance. "I'm out here nearly getting her new favourites killed, and she can't even get off her ass long enough to come and visit."

"Oh, we didn't mention you." Applejack grew a smirk that seemed calculated to make my blood boil. "All we told her is Sunset Shimmer and Twilight had some magic business in front of the school, and she left it to us. Figgered if she knew you were the brains behind this doohickey and not Twilight, she wouldn't let us near you with a whole joustin' set of ten-foot poles."

I clenched the hand that was furthest from her into a fist. "So she remembers me, then?" I said calmly.

She snorted. "Hardly. She never mentions you. But she did once tell us all the new you is a big improvement."

I exhaled smoothly, naturally, masking my breathing. I remembered a joke Shining told me last week and my smile twitched further into place. My hand slowly unclenched. "Yeah, that bitch always hated me," I laughed. "Now are we gonna finish this or what?"

I started to walk forward. Applejack grabbed my arm and held tight. I slowly turned, locking eyes with her. The smirk was gone, but the eyes were the same. "Do we have a problem?" I said.

"If it were up to me," she growled, "I wouldn't let any of us near that thing with a ten-foot pole either."

I checked her out in my peripheral vision and tried to calculate if I could drag her along the ground behind me. I settled for ripping my arm out of her grip instead. "Then it's a good thing you're a good little drone who can't think for herself, isn't it?" I answered.

"I don't take orders from them who make their livin' telling lies."

"You follow Twilight just fine."

She didn't go for it. "I won't say nothing in front of Pinkie and Sunset. Let 'em have their fun. Twilight deserves some hope for once. But you-" She jabbed a finger into my chest. "-I don't trust further'n I can throw you. And if that hope turns out to be built on a lie..."

"And you have some reason to think I'm lying, do you?"

"What I don't have is any reason to think you're tellin' the truth." She set her stance, crossing her arms. "I grew up with another one of you hanging over my head. She was wicked to my brother, she was wicked to me, and she would'a been wicked to my sister if Twilight hadn't stepped in. I know exactly what people like you can do for no other reason than to make yourself feel powerful. And you've given us every sign that you're just as bad as the old Sunset and then some."

"Excuse me?" I matched her, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not the one insulting the person trying to help her to her face."

Again, she kept going like I hadn't spoken. "So what I want to know is where you get the gall to come in and say that you know something about the portals that Twilight doesn't. She spent more than a year trying to get it to work, longer than Star Swirl himself. She's read all the writings, crunched all the numbers, and she's one of two people in the entire world who've ever even seen one. And now you come in, smug as you like, and without even asking you say you know exactly what she's been doing wrong? And we're supposed to believe that?"

I looked her up and down. Her chest rippled with mounting fury, her arms tensed to strike. "Wow," I said. "It really burns you up that someone could be better than her, doesn't it?"

I started to circle her, swinging my hips to brush against her on every other step. "Seems to me that if I really wanted to hurt you, all I'd have to do is be exactly right," I mocked. "The portal opens, Twilight finally goes home, and you and her get to spend the rest of your lives knowing that it only happened because I was better than all of you. That's what you want, right? I sure hope it is." I tutted. "Because if it isn't, and me being wrong is more important to you than your friend getting off this world, I guess that means that makes me a better friend to her than you."

I didn't get far. As I completed my first circuit she roughly grabbed my shirt, pulling me close. "Shimmer, I ain't playing around," she barked. "You don't know squat about portals. No one in this universe does. Tell me what this machine is really for."

I looked down my nose at her. "This shirt cost two hundred dollars. If you put a wrinkle in it, I'm doing worse to yours."

As expected, she twisted harder. "Tell me what it does!"

I sighed in mock exasperation. "It uses heated base elements and crystals to transform an electric charge into an electro-kinesthetic field which should, if our calculations are correct, match the resonance of the unicorn magic found at Princess Twilight's point of origin." I noted Applejack's dubious look. "What? The reason you're in this mess is because of the one person from Twilight's universe who was so into portals that she threw herself into one. Now you're surprised that her human mirror had the same hobby?"

Slowly, she shook her head. "No. That ain't it," she said. "You're leaving something out. Twilight must have told you we've already made half a dozen doorways that did the same thing and they couldn't even make a spark."

"Have you?" My eyebrow twitched. "Did they look anything like this?"

She reluctantly glanced at the black monster we'd made. "Well, no."

"Then maybe you should just accept that what we're doing here is way above what your pretty little head can comprehend, and you can be a good girl and get back to work." I smiled, reached out, and patted her cheek.

Applejack took a second to absorb this, then bared her teeth and yanked me even closer. "Now let's get one thing straight," she snarled.

I glanced down at her hand, which was white from clenching. "Wow, you must really want me to rip your shirt off," I said.

She finally seemed to notice what she was doing and let go, backing off. "I ain't some dumb country gal that you can pull the wool over. I ain't budging until you start giving me some answers. And if I even get an inkling that you've got a mind to put Twilight or any of my friends in danger-"

"Remind me," I said, checking my nails, "Twilight Sparkle herself approved this plan, didn't she?"

She hesitated. "Twilight... ain't been right in the head lately," she said. "And you ain't answered a single one of my questions."

"She approved, didn't she?"

"And what's your dang hurry? Why does this all have to be done by tonight?"

"Didn't she?"

"And why do you care about any of this? Why is it so gosh-darn important to you-"

"Didn't she?"

Applejack wound to a halt. "Yes," she grudgingly admitted. "She did."

"Then that..." I stretched, smiling cheerfully, then grabbed the brim of her hat and yanked it down over her face. "Is all you need to know." I spun, flicking her with my hair, and started to walk away. "Now let's get this thing up there before one of your dumb classmates mistakes it for a keg, okay?"

I was halfway to the gate when she shouted after me. "Shimmer, just give me something!"

I stopped. My patience was running dry, and so was hers; she was as much a brick wall as I was. "If you don't help me, it could be dangerous for me to try to finish on my own," I said, letting some testiness creep into my voice.

"If you don't give me some reason to trust you, I might just have to let that happen. Or maybe you'd like me to run and tell Celestia you're tryin' to blow us all to kingdom come?"

I hesitated. I was almost certain that she was bluffing. Almost. "Well?" she said.

Applejack was solidly built. I'd been undressing her in my mind all day; I knew exactly how her muscles worked. People like her were a rarity in the city. She was a farm girl, strong and fast and so used to both that she didn't know how to hold back. If I turned now, I would have to aim for the throat. She would see it coming; I gave myself 50% odds of connecting. Would that be enough? I would have to stay close, overwhelm her before she could cry out, not giving her the chance to back up and put her legs to use. Keeping her focus up high would be the only way to get her off-balance, knock her to the ground, and as she reflexively tried to catch herself I'd have one clear shot straight at her pretty face...

I looked around. School wasn't quite out yet; if anyone was watching us, they were nowhere in sight. Very slowly, making absolutely certain that she could see what I was doing, I relaxed one of my shoulders.

"Ever heard of Middlemore?"

"Middlemore?" She sounded uncertain. "As in Chronicles of Middlemore? The book series?"

I looked back at her. "You know about it?"

"I've seen Sunset readin' em a few times."

"Do you know the story?"

"No."

In a delicate motion, I turned again to face her and lowered myself down to the grass. Applejack watched me suspiciously for a moment, then approached and knelt in front of me. I twirled my fingers along the ground, not looking at her, and idly plucked a dandelion. "You probably already guessed, but I was kind of a wild child," I told her. "You know the kind. Loud, obnoxious, always has to have her way. I thought I was the queen of the whole universe. Then, when I was eight, all of a sudden I mellowed out. I finally got my head together and started spending most of my time reading. And a big part of the cause of that was Middlemore.

"It was a dumb story. For kids, you know?" I smirked at Applejack, confirming that she was staring at me with rapt attention. "It was a gift from one of the women from my mom's book club. It's about this little girl who's got deformities or some shit; she can't walk right and her lungs don't work and her head's generally fucked up. But other than that, she's got parents who love her and a good grades and a nice house in the countryside. The perfect life, you know? Then one day, a tornado swoops in out of nowhere and takes all that away, too. House, gone. Parents, gone. And she doesn't even have any friends to wonder where she is. So she crawls down into what's left of the basement, thinking she's gonna die there, when this doorway opens up in the cupboard under the stairs. A magic doorway that only opens up once in a blue moon, and only to the person who needs it the most. The door to Middlemore.

"Through there, the girl goes into this crazy, messed-up world where everything is backwards. Being weak makes her strong, being scared makes her brave, and being ugly makes her beautiful. Everything that held her back in her world turns into something that makes her powerful in the other one. So she gathers a bunch of travelers who came through portals like her and spends three books on a quest to find the wind witch who stole her parents, and then another three just saving the world in general." I ground the dandelion between my fingers. "I guess you could say I got a little obsessed. I used to ditch school to go hunting through the local woods on my own, searching for my own portal to the other side. Glad to say I grew out of that pretty quickly.

"Fast forward like six years, to just after I transferred to Canterlot High. I got dragged into the office after getting into a fight with some asshole who was hitting on me, and we got put in different rooms. He ended up with Luna; you know, the 'vice-nightmare'-"

"No one calls her that any more," Applejack interrupted.

"Whatever. And I end up with Celestia. She starts talking at me, going into the whole 'your grades are acceptable but your attitude is not' thing that I'd heard a million times before, and then all of a sudden she notices the Middlemore badge that I'd had on my bag since I was ten. She asks me what I thought about the books. I tell her I used to like them when I was a kid. I even told her about when I used to go hunting for portals. I thought it would make her laugh, or something. Instead she just gave me this really nasty look, like I'd failed some kind of test, and she sent me out.

"It wasn't 'til I got home that I put two and two together. Turns out she was the weird tall woman who'd given me the books in the first place. So I did some research, and apparently she fucking wrote them, based on some of the more obscure essays by Star Swirl the Bearded - who she actually fucking met before he died. Can you believe that?" I gave Applejack another look. She nodded hesitantly. "Bitch is older than she looks. Anyway, that was where it all started for me. I started reading Star Swirl's theorems and a bunch of other rare books. It was interesting, but I felt like Star Swirl had abandoned mirror portals too early. Even if they didn't work, there was a lot to be explored in the concept. The other me must have thought the same thing, because six months later my ticket out of here arrived and I never looked back.

"Skip ahead another three years. I'm between schools, traveling the world, and one day I come home and find that I don't have parents any more." I avoided looking directly at her, but I watched Applejack's arm stiffen, judging the effect of my words by the subtle shifting of her posture. "It was a house fire. Arson. Would have killed me too, if I hadn't snuck out that night. I remember standing on the ashes, watching the last of the walls fall down, and I had this crazy idea that... I'd gotten what I wanted. That if I just went down to the basement, there'd be a portal of my own down there, waiting to bring me to a place where I could take back everything that had been stolen from me."

I shook my head. "I knew better, though. I read the books a third time and I figured it out. The point of the stories was that no one who found a portal really needed it. All they needed was to look at things from a different point of view, and they'd see that the things that made them weak had nothing to do with what made them strong. Which is stupid as fuck, obviously, but hey, it's for kids." I chuckled. "It stuck with me, though. And when I started university the next year, when I saw that one of the early courses was an introduction to Star Swirl's unfinished works, I snapped that up right away."

We both sat still through a prolonged silence. I wrapped my fingers around another dandelion, but didn't pluck it. "So that's the story," I said. "That's how I know about portals."

She watched me for a moment longer. "Is that story true?" she said.

"Hey, come on." I gave her a toothy grin. "Would I have told it to you if it wasn't?"

We stood up at the same time. "I'm... sorry about your folks," Applejack said.

"Whatever." I shrugged. "I'm just saying, I know how it feels to need to get away from it all. And even if that wasn't my destiny in the end, there's no reason I can't use that to fix someone else's." I reached out my hand to her. "Now come on. Are we gonna finish this and send your friend home, or what?"

She hesitated just one more second and then grasped my hand, hard. "Alright," she said. "Partner."

As I turned away, I smirked.

We made a wide berth around the spines of the gate and gathered at the boiler. It came up to about waist height, dented and rusted but still stable, and was close to a third full of what amounted to rocks and liquid metal. I hopped up to a pair of broad beams sticking out of the frame at around the same height and balanced there, bouncing a few times to listen for creaks. "Feels like it'll hold," I said, jumping down. "That's where the mercury furnace is gonna go. It's gonna take both of us to lift it and you know how important it is that it doesn't spill, so I need you with me on this, okay?"

"I'm with you," she answered. We both crouched down, grasped the base of the boiler, and lifted, straining hard. My muscles burned; my skin felt slimy just from proximity. Applejack grunted, no doubt feeling the same. In a set of undignified heaves, we wrenched the container into the air and slid it into place. The portal creaked once, then settled. "Whoa!" Applejack yelled as we pulled our hands away, springing back to hold it steady as the boiler started to tip. "This thing ain't level."

"Didn't think it would be." I took a step back and examined it. "We were gonna have to bolt this into place anyway. You got it?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"Are you sure? Because if this thing tips-"

"I got it!" Applejack adjusted her grip, pressing her shoulder against the grimy surface. "Just be quick, alright?"

"Don't worry. Hold on." I ran back around her, back to where we'd left our tools, and started digging through them.

A minute passed. "Shimmer?" Applejack called.

I just smiled. I finished loading her supplies into my bag, slung it over my shoulder, and picked up Mark Antony as I started to walk.

"Shimmer?" Applejack yelled again. She tried to peer around the boiler, only to have to throw herself against it again as it started to slide. I just kept walking. Summer grass turned into pavement.

The penny dropped. Applejack started to scream my name a third time, but she was drowned out as the school bell rang and I slipped through the doors, vanishing into the crowd of students rushing the other way.

When I dreamed, I dreamed of metal.

I curled up in a small space, letting sleep shroud me like a flimsy cocoon. Shadows rippled over me, then through me, cast from every direction at once. All around me, gears turned, clacking as one to the rhythms of my heart and breath. Inhuman footsteps circled my prone form. They were searching for a way in; always, always searching for a way in. I didn't let them bother me. This was what played out inside my head whenever I slept alone.

The world shifted, while I stayed still. Something in the distance howled. Shrieking metal pierced my ears, the triplet screeches of copper, iron and stainless steel scraping over stone. The liquid that I bathed in turned foul, sprinkled with glass shrapnel that came to rest over my shoulders and spittle from the heavy, wet breathing overhead. I couldn't breathe, but still I breathed, in and out, in and out. A metal hand wrapped itself over my mouth, around my arm, between my legs, metal hands all over me - the smell of burning, of forges, of seared meat - breathing in and out, in and out - a lullaby sang along with me, coming from inside my head - tiny mouths kissing me - the sound of glass breaking, wires breaking, bones breaking - in out, in out - a light that burned into my face, hands bound - and then, nearby, the opening of a heavy door, drawing me back to reality.

My eyes opened silently.

The lights flickered on, illuminating the bathroom stall that I was waiting in. I held my breath, shuddering to work the life back into my limbs, and listened for the noises of the intruder. Was this the janitor, coming back for another sweep...? No; the footsteps were softer, more hesitant as she locked the door behind her. I checked my phone; it was ten to six. My grin curled hungrily. She was right on schedule.

I dropped my phone into my bag on the floor, then dropped myself to the freshly-washed floor to peer out under the stall, staying in the shadows. Sunset took some more tentative steps into the room, listening to make sure she was really alone. She'd gotten changed since working on the portal, dressed up in a fiery little skirt and the shirt and jacket combo that had been my favorite in high school. A purse that obviously didn't belong to her was slung over her shoulder, and she started fumbling with it as she hurried over to the sink.

When water began to run, I made my move. Not trusting the stall door, I lowered myself all the way and slithered underneath it, keeping low even as I rose. Sunset had her head bowed, her fists clenched against the counter. For a second I thought she was crying, but then she took a deep breath and looked up at the mirror. She was so completely lost in her own eyes that she didn't even notice the second, grinning reflection waiting just behind her.

I leaned in close. "Hey, lover."

Her shriek didn't even last a second. As soon as her mouth was open, my hand was covering it, and my arm pinned hers to her side. The simple act of touching her sent a predatory rush through me that I struggled to contain. "Shh, shh," I whispered, pressing tight against her. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

She spat into my palm and wrenched herself out of my grip. As she tried to run I tripped her, caught her waist as she fell, then spun around and threw her against the wall. The back of her head hit the brickwork with a faint crack. Before she could even droop I leaped onto her and pinned her in place, matching her limb for limb. I rubbed noses in her, breathing in her scent and heat, feeling both of our pulses quicken. "Aw, don't go," I continued in exactly the same tone. "We already have so much to catch up on."

Sunset twisted her face away from mine. She squirmed and sweated in my grip, barely able to control her own breathing. "A-Applejack's waiting for me right outside," she stammered out between big, gulpy breaths. "If she catches you, she's going to k-k-"

"No, sweetie, no," I cut her off, stroking her hair. "Applejack's downstairs at the party, isn't she? You made sure to come up here all by yourself. You wanna know how I know that?" She didn't answer, but her face turned white, which was good enough for me. "This is the second floor girls bathroom, across from the art room. It's used maybe twice a year. Just far enough from the gym that if anyone comes looking for you, you're not going to be where they think you are, but not so far away that people are going to come looking if you take your time. It's exactly where I would go if I wanted to be alone. And you, oh, you needed to be alone, didn't you? After all, you've been a very helpful girl today. Working out in the sun, putting up tables, getting all sweaty. It sure would be a shame if all that had to be ruined, just because someone caught you..." I roughly grabbed her head. "Fixing your makeup!"

Leaning over her, I licked my thumb and swiped it across her cheek. Sunset flinched as ugly, dark splotches smeared into view. "That's what I thought," I said, tracing a ring around her blackened eye. "Tonight's special, isn't it? You can't risk anyone seeing you with even one hair out of place. Can you even imagine what Twilight might do if she ever found out what you've been doing to herself?" I smothered a tiny cry from Sunset with my cheek, letting her wail against my skin. "What would be worse? If she leaves, knowing you're still a little whore for punishment, and you force her to spend the rest of her life thinking she abandoned you? Or if she stays to fix you, her ticket home expires, and Equestria has to burn all over again because you were too selfish to let her go?"

More squeaks of agony moistened my cheek, telling me that she knew all of this already. I nuzzled her and drew back, making sure that she could see my smile. "You're so thoughtful," I told her. "You won't let anything come between Twilight and her chance to finally be happy again. You really are the best friend anyone could ever ask for. And that's how I know..." I kissed her playfully, letting my lips brush hers between words. "...that nothing... and no one... is going to interrupt us... for a long, long time."

I drifted down to lick at her neck, peeling back my lips to let my teeth graze her skin. The fight went out of Sunset's limbs. From this position I actually felt smaller than her, but she shrank under my touch like I was several times her size. It hadn't even been a day but I'd already come to miss this, the subtle asymmetry of our touch, the warm taste of myself that drove me wild. "What do you want with me?" she whimpered, her pulse fluttering in time with the flicking of my tongue.

"Mmm." I rested my head over her chest, looking up at her. "You should know that. Why don't you tell me what you think I want with you?"

She braced herself. "You want to hurt me."

"Oh, Sunny." I laughed, wrapping her up in a hug. "You're the one who wants to hurt you. If I had my way, no one would ever lay a finger on you again. But if you were that easy to deal with, you wouldn't be me, would you?"

Her body stiffened against mine, pushing me away even as her arms were forced back. Still, something shifted in her stance. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on. Sunset, look at me." When she didn't comply, I put my hand on her cheek and guided her head into place, tugging on her eyelid to make her stare at me. "That's better. Now, when you look at my face, what's the first word that comes to mind?"

Her eyes bored into mine. "Evil," she whispered.

"Be serious." I grabbed her ear and twisted; not enough to hurt her, but enough to let her know that I could. "You think I'm hot, don't you?"

I saw her eyes rapidly move over me and watched her debate with herself, juggling spite and morals and strategic answers before landing on the precise mental image of what I would do to her if she answered with anything less than complete honesty. "Yes."

"That's better." I let my hand slip down to the back of her neck. "Tell me what you like about me."

"I don't..." She immediately twisted her head away from me and shut her eyes. "Shimmer, don't make me do this."

"I said tell me."

"Your..." She steadied herself with a breath. "Your confidence. You're not afraid of anything. You do whatever you want and don't worry about the consequences. I wish I had that. I hate that," she quickly added, flinching away. "It's the worst thing about you. I wish you were more like me."

"You love it." I smirked. "What else?"

"The way you move. The way you talk when no one else is around. Your... your body," she admitted.

I purred. "You like my body?"

"I like it. Touching you... it feels amazing. It... it feels like..." I inched my hand inside of her shirt, making her shiver. "Magic."

That would have been a dumb compliment from anyone else, but I had a hunch that Sunset meant exactly what she was saying. I snaked further under her clothes, playing with the strap of her bra and sending excited ripples across her stomach. "You like when I do this to you?" I whispered, and moved in for another kiss.

Her lips were tender, her taste divine; I could get used to doing this forever. She writhed as I gently made out with her, at once trying to push me away and trying to get me to rub her more, a complete slave to what I was doing to her. Her tongue met mine without resistance, and when I finally pulled away her head followed me, mouth parted and unconsciously reaching out for more. "I hate that you make me feel this way," she answered when she had her breath back.

"You shouldn't." I cut off her argument with another light kiss, then moved back down to her neck. "Now," I continued in between licks at the red bite mark just below her collar line, "tell me what you like about yourself."

"What?" She shivered again as I kept working her over. "I don't like anyth-"

"Liar." I pinched her hip. "My body's your body. And you love my body. Feel me." I grabbed both her hands, bringing one to my face and slapping the other over my ass. "Feel what you do to me," I said, sucking at her fingers. "Your hair. Your mouth. The way you walk. There's no part of you that isn't perfect. How can you live in this skin and not love yourself?"

Sunset stayed stiff, still unable to look me in the eye. "That's... different," she said.

"No it isn't." I dragged her fingers from my mouth and pressed them against my chest. "Feel this? Feel how good that is? That's you. That's how amazing you are."

Her fingers twitched, and in response I thrust myself at her, feeling how perfectly my boob fit into her palm. But just as she started to crack, she snatched her hands back and clutched them to the sides of her head. "No. You're not me," she mumbled. "I hate you. I don't want this. I don't want to feel any of this."

"You don't want to feel good about yourself?" I backed off, which got her to finally look straight at me in surprise. I put on a stern face and stared back. "Come on, Sunny. I'm you. I've always been you, and there's nothing I could ever do that would make me stop being you. You might as well be talking straight into a mirror right now. So when you look at me, what's the real reason all you see is something bad?"

All she did was tremble like a little kid. I clicked my tongue in irritation and was prepared to grab her again when she held her arm out defensively. "I can't feel good about myself," she mumbled.

I raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"I just can't. It only causes devastation." She turned away from me again. "The reason I came to this world in the first place was because I thought I deserved the power of a princess. I ruined Twilight's life just to make sure that she could never be better than me. And after what I did to the mirror portal..." She shuddered. "Everything bad that's ever happened to me has been because of my pride. I can't let my friends get hurt by me again. I won't. Not even for you."

I considered her quietly for a short while, then gestured her closer. "Come here," I said. She slouched against the wall. "I said come here," I ordered more sharply. "I promise, I'm not gonna hurt you."

Sunset gulped. On shaky legs, she took a step forward. I immediately snatched her into my arms again and twisted her arm above her head, making her cry out. With a low growl, I yanked down her sleeve. "Was it your pride that did this?" I yelled, running my thumb over her scars.

She turned her gaze away yet again, burying her face in my neck. I lowered her arm and held her. "You are hurting your friends," I whispered to her. "Every time you cut yourself, you were cutting one of them. It doesn't matter if you didn't want them to feel it. They did. For every night of sleep you lost, you gave them twice as many. And there's nothing you can ever do to change that. You're a killer!" I hissed as she started to shake. "These girls are like fucking dominoes and you know it. Try to save them some trouble by taking yourself out and they're gonna start running after you, one by one. You kill yourself, you kill all of them. But Sunny, it doesn't have to be that way, and you know this shit runs both ways. Tell me what they like about you."

Her voice broke. "They sh-shouldn't like me. Everything would be better if they-"

"Shut the fuck up!" I punched her in the stomach, forcing her to clutch at me or keel over. "It's too fucking late for that. Tell me some goddamn nice things about yourself or you're never leaving this room again." I glowered into her face. "I know you know what they are. Those girls have given you speeches every time this happens. Spill them."

Sunset lay against me, gathering her breath. "Twilight likes me because I'm the only one she has from back home," she started to recite robotically. "I'm the only one in this world who understands her. That's why she doesn't want to lose me. Applejack likes me because I help her on the farm and never complain, even when the work's hard. Rarity likes me because of the colour of my hair."

I tightened my grip on her arm. "Nicer," I warned.

She flinched and tried again. "Rainbow dash li- loves me because I'm a rival to her. We compete but we never hate each other, and we help each other to get stronger. Pinkie Pie loves me because I can make her laugh and I never abandon her, even when she screws up, because I know how it feels to be alone. Fluttershy loves me because I can be gentle and I can be tough and I always know which I need to be. I helped her get the respect of others and I'm the only one she trusts with absolutely everything. I never let... anything... hurt her..." She choked on her words and hugged me, using me for support as she re-opened a familiar wound.

"Good. Good." I patted her. "Now. Tell me what I like about you."

She answered through clenched teeth. "You hate me. Compared to you, I'm a failure."

"You are so fucking stupid." I pushed her gently back and smiled into her tear-streaked eyes. "Want me to help?" She sniffed and nodded. "Then I'll start with what you like about me. You know I love your body." I craned my neck and took another sniff of her, grinning as her scent flushed heat through me. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. You're even a part of my dreams now. I don't ever want to stop touching you. You're so soft." I ran my hand along her arm again, this time teasing and squeezing, feeling her up. "Look at you. I've got the muscles, but you're like a cuddly toy. You weren't made to fight. You were made to be held. To be loved," I added as I put both hands on her ass. "That's the most perfect body anyone could ever have."

She shivered, unresisting, as I moved over her. "And don't tell me I'm the confident one," I went on. "Your friends tell me you're quite the little adventurer. Fighting off monsters just about every week, isn't that right? And all while finishing school, paying rent, and keeping you and Twilight hidden from the rest of the world, without any fortune or any training. You're one tough bitch to keep that up at all. I've been all over the world, and do you know how few people I've been able to say that to and mean it?"

"It's not like that," she protested quietly. "We don't fight like you do. And I never do anything on my own. I'm nothing without my friends."

"I didn't see any friends when you stood up to me in your room. Believe whatever you want about where it comes from, but I know bravery when I see it." I smirked at her. "For better or for worse, you always stand up for your friends."

"I thought you hated that."

"It's not for me. But you don't have to want something for yourself to be jealous of it. And when I hear the way your friends talk about you... I admit, I get a little jealous." I sighed, nuzzling her. "Look, I know I'm a bitch, okay? I can't help it. I've spent my whole life fighting monsters who take advantage of people exactly like you. Friends are that last people who I can afford to trust. But here's you, going to parties at night and sleeping with your window open. Don't you understand how amazing that is?"

She blinked at me. Evidently she didn't. "Look, I hate what you're doing with your life, but I don't hate you for being different. How could I? Look at you." I traced my hand over her cheek, gently touching her features. "No one's ever broken this nose. Or this arm. You've never had glass in your stomach or the skin stripped off your hands or some old guy fucking your face while he cries about his daughter. You've got your own scars, but you barely have any of mine. You're my chance to try again."

Her eyes were starting to widen. "Sunny, you're a sickeningly good person. You're everything I could never be, and I'm the same to you. We complete each other. And now that I have that, I don't want anything to take that goodness away. I want to show you the world and see it through your eyes. I want to save Manehattan, your way and mine, together. I don't want there to ever be a minute when I'm not touching you." I laughed, setting my face a little more like hers. "Because Sunset, you're the most beautiful person in the world. And I'm not letting you say goodbye to Twilight Sparkle until you believe that as much as I do."

I waited a few moments while that sank in. All Sunset could do was stare at me, her mouth slightly agape, quivering in my arms. I coiled my leg around her side and crushed out chests together, feeling her heart hammering against mine. "Now I'm going to ask you again," I whispered. "Now that we're here, and alone, with the door locked and no one coming to look for us... what do you think it is that I want to do with you?"

Mentally, I lit a fuse. Ten seconds. Nine. Eight.

Sunset's lips formed a word, then stopped. Seven. Six.

I let out a slow, subtle breath, filling her head with more of my scent. Five. Four. Three.

That was as far as I got.

Sunset answered me with an explosive kiss, releasing all of her inhibitions in one burst. She grappled at me, forcing her hands under my shirt, needing more of my my skin against hers. I returned the favor, grasping the back of her neck tightly and teasing the waist of her tight skirt. She panted into my mouth, practically sobbing as she lapped at me. Maybe for the first time, she was loving the feel of her human body, even if it was only by proxy of loving mine.

Finally feeling at ease, I relaxed a little and let Sunset take control. Within seconds she'd backed me up against the sinks, both her arms inside my shirt, kissing me harder than ever. I stealthily unhooked my bra and let her slide her fingers underneath it. A tiny moan escaped me as she cupped my boobs, intensifying our connection as well as feeling just plain good. I spread my legs and let her bump me onto the counter, grasping at her hips to pull her close. She squeezed against me, groping me as we made out, doing to me exactly what I'd been dreaming of doing to her.

Under her direction, my shirt came off. I stripped topless and leaned back, finding purchase against the cold mirror as Sunset moved down my body. With her hands and mouth she worshiped her own breasts, sending sugary thrills through me that I knew that she could feel as well. She even dropped one hand back and started to feel herself up through her shirt, creating a tingle that I in turn pulled her mouth over to massage. Her hair formed a visual inferno in front of me, but I leaned back and rested my head on the girl on the other side of the glass, grinning at being pressed against myself on both sides.

When Sunset trailed her fingers down further and reached my jeans she finally hesitated, which was my cue to step back in. "My turn," I growled at her, pushing her away. I leaped from the counter and tackled her into an embrace, using the momentum to carry us across the room and shove her into a divider between stalls. I resumed kissing her, aggressively tearing at her shirt and jacket. To my surprise, she twisted away from me again. "Not my clothes," she begged.

I stopped and gave her a predatory glare. "Excuse me?"

"These are the clothes I had when I arrived in this world," she said, keeping her gaze apologetically low. "They're all I have left of Equestria. Please, don't ruin them."

"...Fine." I let her go and took a small step back. "But you'd better not keep me waiting."

Sunset gulped. Still, she obediently slid off her jacket, pushing open the stall beside her to hang it on the hook inside. Her shirt followed, neatly folded and placed over the door. My eyes trailed expectantly downward. When she squeezed out of her skirt she again turned away from me, giving me a delicious show with every wiggle back and forth. The moment that her plump butt was fully in view I was on her again, paralyzing her with my teeth on her neck and the faintest press on her cotton panties. "You won't steal all the fun from me, will you?" I purred to her. Trembling, she shook her head.

Enjoying myself a little too much, I used a party trick that Suri Polomare had taught me and undid her bra with my teeth. The rubbing on her panties increased, compelling me to grind against her as both our legs started to buckle. She whimpered, giving in as I completely took control. "This is what you like, isn't it?" I whispered. "Forget about what you can do for me. I know this body better than you ever will. Let me take it for a real ride."

Her bra hit the floor. With a few more shakes, her skirt dropped low enough for her to step out of it. I pushed her against the stall divider, still teasing her through her panties. My bare front pressed against her bare back, reddening us both with the heat from each other's skin. I twisted her arm behind her back, then her other, letting her feel the familiar sensation of being completely at my mercy. Then, before she could see it coming, I reached back and slipped my surprise out of my back pocket in a practiced flick. Maybe she heard the faint clink of a chain or recognized the motion, but by then it was too late. With a duet of decisive clicks, Shining's handcuffs snapped around her wrists.

Sunset gasped, uselessly thrashing her arms. I held her tight. "Oh, come on," I laughed. "You can't say you didn't see this coming." I spun her around and pushed her against the divider again, cutting off her protests with a kiss. She immediately gave in, grinding against me as our nipples rubbed. Once I was satisfied that she'd stopped struggling, I steadied myself and gracefully dropped to my knees. My fingers played at the edges of her panties while my lips kissed her through them, turning her breathing into more intense panting. I started to pull her panties down and then stopped, kissing her again. With every half-inch I teased her further, enjoying every moment of the slide down her deliciously smooth legs. By the time I finally made contact with the prize waiting for me beneath the wrapping, she was practically dripping into my mouth.

Hunger overwhelmed me. I ripped her panties to the floor and lashed my tongue over her pussy, spreading her wide to eat her deep. Right away my mind was filled with bliss, and I knew that hers was doing the same. I ate her out in just the way I would want done to me, determined to match the ponygirl at least in skill; I sucked and licked at her with wild abandon, getting lost in the taste and joy of being this close to her. This delicious, nectary treat, better even than dick, flooded my mind and body until I wondered how I'd lived without her clit dancing on my tongue. As her legs shook I had to hold on to her ass to keep her still, burying me even deeper in perfection.

As I increased my pace Sunset's strained cries finally erupted into a lusty moan, which brought me back to my senses. I licked her once more for the taste and then pulled away, smirking up at her pale, pleading face. "Now that won't do," I said, tormentingly tracing a finger along her thigh. I stood up, carefully pulling at the fabric looped through two holes in my pocket. As if by magic I produced what seemed an impossibly long ribbon of tough black silk from my jeans, unwinding it from where it had coiled tight around my leg. Before Sunset could fully take this in, I grasped it by the middle and forced the rope between her teeth, wrapping it once around her head. "That's better," I said. "We don't want anyone hearing you, and believe me..." I leaned in close. "I have every intention of making you scream."

Sunset squeaked and nodded obediently. I used the silk rope to pull her away from the wall, then used both ends to wrap around her arms, her chest, her back. I made a dance of it as I looped around her, wrapping her up like a spider, immobilizing her more with every twist. Finally I dropped her to her knees, pulled off her boots and made a pair of final loops around her ankles, then bent her back to weave the threads back up between her arms and knot them around her neck. She squirmed, but only succeeded in wriggling her hips and thrusting out her chest. "Don't even try to get out of that," I cautioned, yanking on her hair to keep her still. "Even I can't get free when Shining Armour ties me up. But that's only when I've been a very, very bad girl." I knelt down and leaned over her, brushing her face. "Have you been a bad girl, Sunny?"

She couldn't give much of an answer, tied up the way she was, but she worked up enough mobility to faintly nod. I sighed in mock frustration. "Come on, Sunny. Do I really have to explain this again?" I traced my fingers along her neck. "You're the good girl." My fingers tightened. "And I'm the bad girl."

Even though I was on the giving end of what came next, time still slowed down for me, like in a dream. In a motion so practiced that it barely registered, my free hand flicked down to my boot. On the upswing my knee collided with Sunset's stomach, knocking the air out of her in a gasp, which came out as a strangled wheeze as my grip tightened. She only had a moment to register my silver knife being raised above her; no time to scream, to think, to act, even if she could. In a single, decisive strike, I plunged the knife down into Sunset's mouth.

There was no sound. There could be no sound. Sunset lay frozen under me, her breathing and mine completely stopped. Once a tiny, terrified whimper finally penetrated the moment, I exhaled and carefully let go. The blade jutted out of Sunset's mouth, suspended by the black silk that I'd driven it into. About three quarters of it extended down inside of her; from where I'd measured it on myself, the tip would be just tickling the back of her throat. "Ah, ah, ah," I cautioned as she started to struggle again. I flitted back into view, my lusty smirk transforming into a more sinister grin. "You've seen how easily this cuts through skin. Do you think a piece of silk will protect you any better?"

Realization blossomed in a pale flower across her face. Her eyes, now the only part of her that she dared to move, crossed to focus on the silver handle sprouting out of her. "That's right," I said. "One tiny movement, and this could be the last deep-throating you ever give. Do you know how little it takes for a person to choke to death on their own blood? I've seen it happen. Just one tiny scratch, and then hour after hour of coughing, then choking, then a slow, agonizing fade as your lungs clog up with your own fluids." I stroked her hair, producing another restrained squeak of terror. "You're the light of my life, Sunny. I would so, so hate for that to have to happen to you."

I straightened up and turned away, crossing quickly to the sink. The purse was where we'd left it, but first I splashed water on my face, rinsing Sunset's juices from my lips. A quick rummage through found me what I'd wanted. "You know, I could have made this a lot easier," I said as I started to brush my hair. "I could have just cracked your head against the wall as soon as you walked in. But this was a lot more fun, don't you think? I know you were enjoying yourself. Besides, I really do want to get to know you. After all, we're going to be spending a lot of time together in the near future. Just think about all the games we can play when we're completely on our own."

Applying makeup was a snap. Unlike Sunset, I didn't have any injuries to hide. After that I stepped to the side and stripped, positioning myself to make sure Sunset could see me sensuously wiggling out of my jeans. Her gaze didn't really change until I picked up her skirt in their place. "You know this stuff has been out of style for like three years, right?" I said, slipping it on. "Oh well. I'm sure you know what Twilight likes." I caught her look and feigned surprise back at her. "Oh, I'm sorry. You didn't think this night was all about you, did you?"

Finally, and as promised, Sunset found it within herself to scream.

I gathered up the rest of her clothes took my time dressing myself in them, even painfully squeezing into Sunset's old and definitely missized bra. Once I was done, I returned to the mirror and performed a few finishing touches, tweaking my hair so more fell on the other side of my head. As a final test, I widened my eyes and smiled like it was my fifth birthday. Perfect.

As I slid the purse over my shoulder, I turned back and gave Sunset another look. She was struggling not to breathe, desperately blinking away tears that dripped down the sides of her face. "Aw, don't cry," I said, drawing near to her one last time. "You'll still get to say your goodbye. It'll just be coming out of a different mouth. If you're lucky, I might even get you that kiss you've always wanted." Her hands tensed into futile fists, but she could do nothing else. "Besides, tonight you learned a lesson about yourself. No matter how bad things look or how bad you feel, you always, always trust yourself to do the right thing. Isn't that worth holding onto?" I lovingly kissed her cheek. "You're so pure. Never change, Sunny. Never change."

With a spring in my step, I skipped to the door. Sunset weakly cried out again as I unlocked it, the reality of this only slowly sinking in. I just blew her another kiss. "Sleep tight," I called. Then I opened the door and slipped out, flicking off the light as I went, leaving my precious fake bound, naked, and alone in the dark.

The halls of Canterlot High were quiet. Music was playing somewhere, but it was distant and echoing, like it was from another world. I took one breath to purify myself, draining out my giddiness, my hunger, even all my plans for the rest of the night. Barely thinking, I gripped the purse as if it were a weapon. When I exhaled, it was natural, calm, and utterly single-minded. I smiled like a child and had no difficulty doing so. A tiny giggle bubbled in me, but I effortlessly swallowed it. Like the world's most finely-crafted puppet, my body turned without a thought from me and started the ancient, familiar route toward the stairs. All I had to do was keep this up...

"Sunset Shimmer?"

My stride broke. I looked up.

And the whole world fell away around me.