For the first time since crossing dimensions, Twilight felt cold.

Sunset's teleportation spell had taken them to an abandoned warehouse, dark and dank. The smell of aged, mouldering wood hung heavy in the air, and the scant bit of light streaming in through the dirty windows did little in the way of illumination.

Twilight shivered, and then tested her bonds, even though she knew it wouldn't do any good. Sunset Shimmer hadn't bothered with any of the overcomplicated, sexy kind of bondage Twilight saw sometimes on the internet. Instead, Twilight's wrists and ankles were tied to her chair with thick, secure knots. Fine threads of silver wire were threaded throughout the white rope-- no doubt some kind of anti-magic precaution.

The click of Sunset Shimmer's hooves echoed through the abandoned warehouse as she walked in from somewhere behind Twilight. The unicorn still wore her ragged cloak (with nothing beneath it), and carried a satchel brimming with old books and writing materials. Sunset circled around in front of Twilight, and looked down on her with a cold, appraising air.

Twilight cringed as much as she could in her bonds.

“Stop that. It's embarrassing. For both of us.” Sunset ordered. “Besides, I'm not going to hurt you.”

“You're not going to--” Twilight blinked, eyes going wide as the realization struck her. She glanced down at her still nude body, and cringed as she realized how exposed she was. She tried to tilt her thighs inward so she wasn't quite so exposed, but her bonds wouldn't let her. She whimpered, and turned away. “So that means you're going to … “

“What?” Sunset Shimmer's supervillainous composure cracked in an instant. “No! What kind of monster do you think I am?”

“Huh?” Twilight blinked, and looked back at Sunset's indignant expression.

“If I wanted to get between your legs, Princess, I would've just moved to Ponyville.” Sunset Shimmer ran a hand through her lustrous red hair, exasperated. “But unlike some of Celestia's students I could mention, I have bigger ambitions in life than just sitting around a castle and letting ponies fawn over me.”

“Ambitions?” Twilight blinked.

“I tried things your way, you know. I studied under Princess Celestia, just like you did … but she kept trying to hold me back. To contain me. There's so much about magic we don't understand, so much power we don't use.” Sunset Shimmer reached up and traced a fingertip over her own horn, the gesture somehow coming off as lewd. “We have the potential to alter the very fabric of reality at our disposal. And yet, we waste it on trivial, everyday matters.” She brought her hand down, and smiled, slight madness seeping into her smile once more. “There could even be completely new worlds out there for us to explore. Just think of the opportunities!”

“Uh. About that.” Twilight said.

“If you start talking about how I'm delving into things ponies were not meant to know, I'm going to gag you. And not in a sexy way, either.”

“Actually, I just wanted to tell you you're right.”

“That's it, I--” Sunset Shimmer reached into her bag, and then paused halfway. “Hold on. Did you just agree with me?”

“Um. Kinda? Just, y'know, before you started doing … whatever it is you're doing, I thought you should know you were right. About the other worlds thing, that is. There are absolutely other dimensions that can be accessed through magic.”

“You're just trying to flatter me.” Sunset Shimmer took a step back, wary. “Trying to catch me off guard.”

“No, really! It's just a matter of attuning a reflective surface to the resonance of an extra-normal universe's wavelength. It's possible (however statistically improbable) for such a portal to occur naturally, but once you know what to look for, the circumstances can be duplicated.”

Sunset Shimmer's mouth fell open in shock, and she shook her head. “Impossible.”

“It's not impossible! You've been studying the same thing, haven't you?”

“That's it. I've been studying. For years.” Sunset Shimmer stepped forward and jabbed an accusatory finger into Twilight's sternum. “And yet here you are, spouting my own theories back at me. Have you been spying on me? Or did Celestia give you a copy of my notes?” Sunset shook her, and stood back up. “There's no other way you could know so much about dimensional theory.”

“I know so much about dimensional theory because I'm from another dimension!”

Sunset Shimmer stared.

“It's true! I'm not this dimension's Twilight Sparkle, which is why I'm not very good at, uh, applied magic. I don't have wings or a horn where I came from.”

“You're from a dimension where you're an Earth Pony?”

“Not … exactly.” Twilight said. “But the important thing is, I'm not the princess you're looking for. I mean, you even said it was too easy to capture me.”

Sunset Shimmer blinked again, and then leaned closer, as if she were looking for some tiny flaw or mark that could distinguish Twilight from her theoretical counterpart. “Maybe.” She finally said, and then began to laugh again. “But even if there are two Twilights … that's something I can work with. That's … that's even better for my plan.”

“Plan?” Twilight said, voice going dry.

“It's simple!” Sunset Shimmer opened up her satchel and pulled out a piece of white chalk. She got down to her hands and knees (cloak covering the more intimate parts of her anatomy, thankfully) and stared to draw a circle around Twilight's chair. Sunset soon scrawled complicated runes and arcane symbols along the outside of the circle, and drew another line to contain that, as well. “You obviously have no use for all the magical power that's been given to you. So, I'm going to do you a favor, and take it off your hands.”

“You're going to steal my magic?”

“Is it stealing if it never was yours in the first place? I mean, you're just a copy of this dimension's Twilight. You're worse than she is-- she actually earned her power instead of inheriting it.” Sunset took some candles out of her bag, and set them at the cardinal points of the circle. A snap of her fingers set the wicks to blazing. “And then, once I've got your power, the real Princess Twilight won't be able to stop me. And once I've taken all of her magic, then all of Equestria will be mine!” Sunset Shimmer threw her head back and laughed.

“Wait!” Twilight blurted.

“What now?” Sunset Shimmer cut off her cackling, annoyed.

“You forgot to carry the one.”

“What?”

“Look. There.” Twilight nodded at the arcane equations scribbled out beside her left hoof. “I'm guessing you had to modify your mana transferrence algorithms on the go to take ambient magic into account, especially since there's a lot of it around here. And, um, it looks like you forgot to carry the one, there. It's actually a pretty common mistake when working with this sort of magic. I do it all the time.”

Sunset Shimmer looked down at the symbols in question, and frowned. “Maybe you're right.” She said, and scuffed out the markings on the floor with the heel of her hand. “Or maybe you're just trying to stall me. You know this means I'll have to start over.”

“I'm just trying to help.”

“Why would you help me?”

“Because a single mistake in your magic spell could easily kill both of us?”

Sunset Shimmer sat back in a kneeling position, cloak falling open to reveal her toned body beneath. For the first time since she'd been kidnapped, Twilight let her eyes linger on her captor. Sunset wasn't as buff as, say, Applejack or Rainbow Dash, but there was an undoubted air of power, both physical and magical, practically radiating off of her.

Sunset Shimmer looked up from her equations, and Twilight Sparkle looked up from Sunset's boobs. “Or, you could be trying to sabotage me.” Sunset Shimmer said.

“You're too good at magic for that.” Twilight Sparkle said, earnest. “Besides, if you're gonna do this thing, and take all my magic, I'd at least like to know how you're doing it. I mean, I have a pretty good idea of the theoretical aspects, but there's still a lot I don't understand. Consider it a last request before you suck out all my magic and turn me into a lifeless husk?”

“I'm not going to do that.” Sunset Shimmer huffed.

“Unless you accidentally forget to work in some kind of failsafe cantrip to limit the rate of energy absorption.”

Sunset Shimmer blinked, and then reached down to erase another stretch of symbols. “Fine. I'll give you the short version. You'd better pay attention.”

A better part of an hour later, Sunset Shimmer had turned a stretch of the warehouse's wall into an impromptu chalkboard. She sketched out diagrams and equations for the still-bound Twilight's benefit in quite possibly the strangest 'let's play teacher' scenario Twilight could imagine.

“So does that make sense?”

“Y-yes?” Twilight said, and shivered a little.

Sunset blinked, and canted her head to the side. “What's wrong? I haven't terrified you with my nefarious brilliance, have I?”

“A little?” Twilight said. “That, and, uh, I was feeling kind of cold. Maybe next time you pick out an evil lair, you could find someplace with central heating?”

Sunset Shimmer blinked, and then shook her head as she crossed the room once again. “Well, I can't have you getting distracted while I explain my amazing plot. Here.” She swept her cloak off of her shoulders, and draped it around Twilight. Sunset's hands grazed Twilight's skin as she made sure the surprisingly warm cloak was settled in place.

Twilight swallowed, but managed to find her voice. “Thanks?” The brief physical touch reminded her just how worked up she'd been before Sunset had … abducted her. She took in a deep breath to steady herself, and got a noseful of Sunset's scent lingering on the cloak for her trouble. “Um. Where were we?”

“As I was saying,” Sunset's hips and tail swayed back and forth as she went back to the wall, looking up at the lines and lines of strange equations. “Once I tap into your quintessence, and link it to mine, it'll operate in a manner similar to basic physics. The pressure exerted by your greater magic power will push it along the link, and into me. And then, once I have all your magic, I'll conquer Equestria!” Sunset Shimmer threw her head back and cackled again.

“How?” Twilight Sparkle said.

“What do you mean, how? I just explained it.”

“No, no, you just explained how you're gonna take all my magic, and it looks like you've got that figured out. I'm just curious how you're going to conquer Equestria afterward.”

“By using my newfound power to subdue anyone who would oppose me.” Sunset Shimmer said, nodding.

“That's … not much of a plan.” Twilight said. “I mean, sure, you'll be super powerful and scary and stuff, but … you're still just one pony. You can't be everywhere at once. Unless you've got, like, minions or something?” Twilight looked around the warehouse.

“Well, no.” Sunset admitted. “But once I start taking over, I'm sure I'll have plenty of ponies who'll line up to do my bidding.”

“What kind of bidding?”

“You know. Uh. Bidding.” Sunset Shimmer shrugged her bare, elegant shoulders. “I'll figure it out.”

“You'll figure it out?”

“Of course I will. I'm brilliant.”

“Got me there. But. Well, do you know how much work goes into running a country?”

“What?”

“I mean, I don't, because I've never really run one before. Unless you count video games, which is kind of close but not really? Buuuuut, you do know there's more to being a queen than just sitting in a big chair and having people grovel to you, right?”

“Obviously.” Sunset Shimmer crossed her arms.

“So what's your post-conquest plan?”

“I … don't have one. Yet. I'll improvise.” Sunset Shimmer scratched at the back of her head.

“Seems like a big thing to improvise. Especially after you've gone into all this detail for this part.” Twilight Sparkle nodded towards the wall of diagrams and equations Sunset had so eagerly sketched out. “It's like … what's a dog going to do if it ever catches the car it's chasing?”

“A car?” Sunset Shimmer blinked. “Like a train car?”

“Nevermind. It's a turn of phrase from my dimension. But, um … I just figured I'd ask … do you really want to rule Equestria?”

“Of course I do!” Sunset Shimmer said, even if her voice had less of her typical conviction. “I wouldn't have gone through all this trouble if I didn't want to show Celestia, show them all what true power means!”

“But that's it!” Twilight leaned forward as best she could despite her bonds. “You just said it-- you don't want to rule anything, you just want to show how smart you are.”

Sunset Shimmer took a step back, and clutched her fingers around the nub of chalk she'd been writing with. “You don't know me. You don't know what I want.”

“But I do! Kind of. Sort of. Back where I'm from, there's another Sunset Shimmer, and she … kind of tried to take over the world, just like you want to. Only her plan was to mind control a bunch of high school students to be her army to go take over the pony dimension she came from. Or something.”

“That's a terrible plan.”

“I know! And, uh, I guess yours is slightly more plausible? But the important part is that once Sunset-- my Sunset got over the whole 'supervillain' thing, everyone could see just how nice and smart and brave she really was! She even helped me when I went power-mad and started zapping stuff.”

“You?” Sunset Shimmer said. “You went mad with power?”

“It's a long story. But it's kind of like yours-- I just wanted to prove my theories … prove myself, really, and then … uh, things got a liiiiittle out of control and I almost tore the fabric of reality before you-- er, before Sunset talked me down. So now, it's my turn.” Twilight pulled in a deep breath, and locked eyes with Sunset Shimmer. “Please. Let me help you. It's not too late.”

Sunset Shimmer faltered, biting at her lower lip. She took a hesitating step forward, and then another, finally coming to set her hand on the back of one of Twilight's. “I--”

“FREEZE!” Somepony bellowed, and the wall Sunset had been scribbling on exploded in a burst of broken timbers and shattered brickwork. A large stallion, clad from ears to tail in gleaming, intricately-etched armor, stepped through the fresh hole in the wall. Bewildered, Twilight could only stare as she realized the armored colt was the most dressed pony she'd seen since she'd gone through the portal.

“Sentry!” Sunset's vulnerability disappeared in an instant as she spun around, horns and hands glowing with fiery magic. “I should've known you'd show up, eventually.”

“Make this easy on yourself, Sunset.” Flash Sentry's voice echoed inside his helmet. “I'm bringing you in, one way or another.”

“How sentimental of you.” Sunset said. “I guess you're still carrying a torch!” With that, she flung both hands forward, sending a stream of searing flame straight into the center of Flash Sentry's chest. He grunted, and fell back a step-- but as the magical fire hit him, silver wires all along his armor began to glow, redirecting and dissipating the magical energy.

Sentry flared his wings (which were also encased in ornate, articulated armor) and pushed forward against the magic, launching himself into the air to tackle Sunset Shimmer. The fire flickered off as he made impact, and the two of them crashed down to the warehouse floor in a pile. Between Flash's greater mass and his magic-resistant armor, Sunset Shimmer didn't stand a chance. Within moments, he had both of Sunset's hands behind her back-- and there was a resounding click as he fastened a set of silver cuffs around her wrists.

The redheaded unicorn let out a sob of frustration, squeezing her eyes shut. “So close! I was so close!”

“Don't hurt her!” Twilight cried out, voice echoing through the chaos.

Flash Sentry looked up, and then pushed back his helmet's visor to stare at the prisoner. “Princess Twilight!” He blurted. “What are you doing here?”

“I … “ Twilight looked down to where Sunset was still pinned to the floor, suddenly small and vulnerable. “I order you not to hurt that pony. Because I'm a princess, and I can do that. Right?” She tried to make herself sound official.

“Of course, Your Highness.” Flash Sentry nodded with a little clank of metal, and then waved one hand. Several more ponies in armored tunics tromped through the broken wall and started securing the warehouse. Flash Sentry handed Sunset Shimmer off to the burliest of the pair, and then reached up to take off his helmet and bow deeply at the waist. “Tales of your kindness and mercy have not been exaggerated.”

“Um. Yes.” Twilight said. “So, um. Second order, think you could get me out of this chair?”

“Of course, your highness.” Flash Sentry tucked his helmet beneath one arm, and then pulled a dagger from his belt with his free hand. The steel cut through the rope easily, and Twilight pushed herself back to her feet. Her joints ached from their long bondage-- she faltered as she took a step, but waved Flash Sentry when he reached up to help.

“You.” Sunset Shimmer hissed from between the two guards holding her. “You never cared at all, did you? You were just leading me on, stalling until the guards came.”

“But-- I--” Twilight stammered, but couldn't find the words beneath Sunset's hateful gaze.

“Take her away.” Flash Sentry said. The other guardsponies nodded, and hauled Sunset Shimmer off.

“What happens now?” Twilight pulled the ragged grey cloak tighter around herself.

“Sunset Shimmer will be put on trial, of course.”

“For what?”

“Nearly everything. Grand larceny, trafficking in forbidden knowledge, tampering with the fabric of reality without a permit … and now, royal kidnapping.”

“Oh.” Twilight Sparkle said, voice small.

“Your Highness, you must be in shock.” Flash Sentry said, and tentatively put his gauntleted hand on Twilight's shoulder. “Please, follow me. I'll escort you to the palace.”

“Palace?”

Flash Sentry nodded. “I know you've been through a lot, Your Highness, but Princess Cadance will know what to do.”

Author's Note

Oh snap, where'd an actual plot come from? I'm just as surprised as you are, folks. That's what I get for adding Sunset Shimmer. Stuff pretty much wrote itself by that point. So, uh ... yay productivity?

Things should get smuttier next chapter, I promise.