Under Her Wing

by Memz

Rating: teen
Tags: Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Human, Adventure, Princess Celestia
Length: 11727

A man with a regular life, a talent for machinery and computer technology, and a massive fetish of magic, finds himself literally blasted into a whole new realm of possibilities. What could go wrong?

I can't remember my original name, but You can call me Sunset Shimmer. Everyone else does, ever since I got tossed up in this wierd mess. I don't remember too much about my old life either, outside of my calling being in engineering and computer technology, and my favorite thing otherwise being magic, which I thought was fictional back then. I was also human, I guess that's an important detail to mention. If you want to hear my story, well, read it aloud to yourself. Everything I can remember and then some should be written down here, so indulge yourself with knowing everything about my life.

I can't believe it, I'm finally trying my hand at story writing once again! Maybe it won't be a reputational disaster this time. I love constructive criticism, so feel free to file a complaint in the comments section, but if you do, at least try to explain what went wrong. I don't know how often I'll be updating this, I've got a lot of stuff coming up in my life, including but not limited to college, and my dedication can sometimes completely change focus on a whim. I've wanted to get back into writing for a while now, I just haven't had any good ideas to write on. Chances are I'm going to hit massive writer's block on this story and completely stop, similar to last time I wrote, but we'll have to wait and see.

And before I forget, compliments to user golden dawn for the base idea, in his/her story, "new life, new me". I have no creativity for this stuff, so when I saw such a great idea for a story, currently abandoned at two chapters and as-of-yet in serious need of extreme editing, I couldn't pass up the inspiration.

FEBRUARY 2022: It's been such a long time. I barely remember what I wrote for this story, beyond the base premise, along with being able to reread what I've published. I had a vague story arc planned out and saved in the form of excerpt notes, but even that got lost on a failed hard drive that I was unable to recover, along with many other projects both writing and otherwise.
If I ever get back to this writing project, and I honestly can't say if I ever will, at this point I might be better off starting over from scratch, with a similar premise but a fresh take, instead of trying to pick this back up from nothing.
My perspective has changed rather drastically over the years, as such my writing style has certainly followed suit, as I've noticed in the tone and nature of comments and content I've posted in years past, and the difference would be rather jarring without a complete rewrite; not to mention having to salvage what I've written of the existing story into what's essentially a new one, compared to my lost and forgotten plans from before.
To those whom have showed their appreciation of my past work, in both likes and comments, thank you. If not for the positive feedback, I'd be just as likely to mark this as another piece of personal history, to be forgotton as I've already moved on through multiple different chapters of my own life since.
It tells me that there were some things I did as a depressed high schooler with anger management issues was of immature origin, and that means a lot, as I'm still trying to put my past behind myself in that regard.
I know, this never made it to any frontpages, or got *too* much attention, but the support it did get still means the world to me.
Now, I'm gonna end this description update before I get too sappy or start repeating things.

Published 2016-12-15 18:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-12-22 23:20:07 UTC

1: The Book

Author's Note

I've gone straight back into typing stories up on my tablet. It probably would have been easier on me to type it on my laptop, but I have my desktop sitting in my chair and I didn't feel like moving it, so tablet it was.

1: The Book

I have always been a fan of magic. The idea of a Human created and controlled paranormal state, regardless of the description used to describe it, always seemed to fascinate me. I had a small three row bookshelf, an assortment of both movies and books, entirely dedicated to magical fantasies and gag guides to magic, in the corner of my room.

I'm not afraid to admit, I'm a little bit of a magic nerd, whether it be British wand wielders, demon excorcists using prayers, or a kid and dragon running around learning magic and trying to dethrone a tyrant king. If it has a good idea of what magic is or could be, and has a good story as well, I'm guaranteed to get hooked, if my basic summary of Eragon wasn't enough of a clue.

But you came here to hear a story, not a description of how obsessed I am, I think. I doubt you came to listen to me obsess, so I suppose I shall start with the story.

Oh, before we start, it's probably a good idea to get comfortable, this is gonna be a long one.

The alarm rang for 8:00, but it was safe to ignore. I had school at ten, and I lived five minutes away, so what's the harm of ignoring it?

...

It keeps ringing if I ignore it. Right, I forgot.

After slapping my table trying to hit the oversized snooze button on my phone's touchscreen, I decided that I should go ahead and get up, since I was already awake. I performed the morning ritual of human equivalent cat-stretches, before jerking myself abruptly out of it and leaning from my bedside over to my bookshelf.

"What do I want to reread today?" I thought aloud, tracing my finger across each spine. "British wand wielders, live clay dragons, Erago- hmm?" My finger, and in turn my sight, had gone over the spine of a leather backed book with gold spine brace things. "Where'd this come from?" I pondered, pulling it out, "I don't remember having anything this fancy, ho...? 'Magic of the Soul', what kind of book is this? I guess I can check it out after I go clean up, since I have it..." I trailed off, before standing.

As I walked to the only bathroom, which was unfortunately on the other side of my house, I thought. What could the book be? Where did it come from? How did it end up on my shelf? Why did I carry it with me here? But I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror before I could think of anything else, and turned around to momentarily place the book against the wall outside, before checking myself over.

Acne ridden face and upper body? Check.

Grease-shined black hair? Check.

Radiating armpit stench? Hurgh, Ch, oh, ew, check.

Sweat stained cheap boxers? Eugh, also check, and going in the dirty boxers corner on that note.

Analysis results seem to say I need a shower...

Do I really have to describe a shower to you? I didn't think so. Now, where was I?

Towel wrapped around me, steam fogging my mirror, smells like soap, every part of my body rubbed raw and red... Best shower I've had in a while.

Now, to get dressed in something more appropriate, and then check out that... where'd I put the book? I looked down in the corner, remembering that I set it down there against the wall, and slipped my fingers back around the spine before making my way back to my bedroom, tossing my towel at the leather couch in my living room on the way, and worked some fresh boxers up my legs to cover the essentials after giving the book a small toss to land on my bed.

The book kept coming up in my mind, and I wasn't hungry yet, so I decided to delay breakfast so I could figure out what I've been thoughtlessly carrying around all morning. I got back on my bed and made myself comfortable, before positioning the book in my hands. I never got a chance to read it, however, because the moment I opened the book, I was hit in the face with a bright yellow beam that came straight from the book, and promptly fell unconscious.

No, no, that's not how it went... what happened again? Sorry, I'm having trouble remembering whether or not I got to read any of it before it blasted me. I can't remember anything about what it might have said, so I guess I'll stick without having read any of it. Anyway!

Next thing I know I feel like I'm everywhere and nowhere at the same time. A lot of details flew by before I could make sense of them, or was I flying by them? One detail, kind of remniscent of a video, however, managed to stay within my sight, so I decided to pay attention to what was going on within it.

A small room was pictured, with a heavy vault door keeping any unauthorized persons from coming in. There was an ovular, ornate mirror in the back, along with several odd looking trinkets scattered across the many shelves that lined the wall.

Suddenly, the door opened, revealing a cloaked quadrupedal creature, with red and yellow hair sticking out of the hood, as well as the rear. It resembled an equine, but the eyes were far too large to be an earthen equine, and the pupils gave an air of sentience. There was a bony protrusion jutting out of its forehead, not unlike a narwhal. A unicorn, through and through.

The unicorn approached the mirror, cautiously so as to not make noise, before raising a hoof to touch it. The moment its hoof touched, the mirror seemed to... wobble? After the wobbling stopped, the unicorn took a few paces back, before charging into the mirror, and becoming completely absorbed by it.

As fate would have it, the mirror must have not liked being charged into, because it turned a blood red, before flinging the unicorn out at such a high speed that when it hit the wall opposite the mirror, the wall was completely caved into the impact point, with spiderweb cracks extending fromnthe floor to the cieling, and the cloak around the unicorn began to take on blood, staining in several places. As the mirror faded back from red to a regular reflection, I felt a strange pulling sensation, in the direction of the unicorn.

All of a sudden, my world exploded in pain, and I was looking through what seemed to be the unicorn's perspective. I heard some terrified screams, and loud mentioning of a hospital, before my awareness failed me.

2: The Hospital

Author's Note

I hath graced thee with another chapter, painstakingly done entirely on my tablet. That's a positive occurence, well, at least I assume it is. Right?

2: The Hospital

Consciousness be damned, I'm waking up to a constant beep. Of course there is always something that's gonna keep me from relaxing, that's life for you. I shove my hooves under my pil... wait, hooves?

I have hands, if memory serves me right. When did I start reffering to them as hooves? Come to think of it, my fingers were completely numb, almost as if they weren't... there...

I opened my eyes and moved my eyes in the direction I heard the obnoxious beeping from, and felt my ears... do something. All of a sudden the constant beeping seemed to be right up on me, prompting me to groan and tilt myhead so I could find the source, only for streaks of ong, red and gold hair to enter my peripherals.

Wait, no.

That can't be right, can it?

As I become more aware and awake, I realize that the beep was coming from a heart rate monitor, and was starting to speed up in sync with my rising consciousness. I tried to move my head to look don as the rest of me, to confirm my fears, only to be blocked by something wrapped around my neck. I was right on time with starting to move, too, because not a moment later, and I heard a door open, with a series of approaching clop sounds accompanying it.

"Doctor, I think she's waking." She? "She's showing incresingly regulated heart rate, and showing signs of movement." Oh god. "Heart rate is rising further, I think we should keep an eye on her in case she needs sedatives." I'm a god damn FEMALE unicorn!? "She's struggling against her casts, can we get someone in here to hold her down?" No, I want my balls back first! "We need doctors in here, right now! Bring sedatives too!"

"Let... me... eugh!" I failed to rasp out, "LEMME GO!" I finally managed to yell through the sandpaper texture in my throat. In response, I got a hoof holding my forehead down, followed by more hooves holding each of my own down.

"Calm down, now, I don't want you breaking your casts and upsetting all of those bones we had to set now." I heard, before seeing what could only be the face behind the voice come into my range of vision, horn alight on her white face, with a red aura, and a needle syringe floating next to he, also covered in the red aura. "I don't want to have to sedate you either, so can you please try to calm down for me?"

Iforced myself still for a moment, staring at her face, "Eas... easy for you to say, when... when you're not the one freaking out." I resumed trying to break free of the grip, before feeling the pin of the syringe stabbing into the side of my neck.

"I'm sorry, but you were the one that asked for it." replied 'white face'.

"God... damn you..." I wheezed out. I guess I brought that upon myself.

I felt awareness return to me once again, and decided to open my eyes first thing this time. I saw the regular old bare white cieling, and looked around, to find another white face starung back, this one with a longer horn and some kind of colorful floating mane.

Its pink eyes were obviously puffy, and the face was contorted with both worry and relief. Obviously this equine cared much for th state of the equine I ended up somehow inhabiting, I had to think of something to say. "Hrrk..." I'm not sure I can talk, with how bad that just felt. Either way the noise prompted... 'longhorn' to respond to me.

"Sunset, don't talk." Sunset? I like that name. "You damaged your throat when you yelled during your little... tantrum. I ended day court the moment I heard."

"Courteaoww?" I forced out, unable to say anything coherent without feeling like an electric grinding wheel got shoved down my throat.

"Shush, Sunset. Yes, I ended court early to be here. What difference does it make, the only ponies that come to court now have either some ridiculous argument over something, or are looking to mooch off of my money. What difference does it make?" 'longhorn' responded.

"Riaeiiught!" I painfully ejected, before erupting into a fit of coughs that would have had me bent over at the stomach were it not for the cast that was practically an exoskeleton, with how it covered everything from just above my... lower stomach to the base of my neck,and goingabout halfway down each hoof , from what I could tell.

"Shush." 'longhorn' commanded, "At the least, let me get you some water. I imagine anypony's throught wou;d be severely parched after spending week sleeping in a hospital."

I expected her to leave to get water, but instead I saw her horn light up a golden yellow, and with little delay, there was a small paper cup sloshing over my face, prompting me to open my mouth. as soon as the gold lit cup's rim touched my lips, I ripped it out of the magic grip by clamping it with my teeth, and directed it to pour as fast as it could without dowsing my face, finishing it off within three seconds. I felt a little better, so I tried to vocalize that thought. "Betth" I managed.

"That's good, but try to keep it to a minimum, until your throat heals." She paused to look at what must have been a window, before standing, "It's almost time for me to go raise the moon, so I should probably get going. Just know that if you need anything, ask the doctors.Try not to throw any more tantrums for them, okay Sunset?"

As she began to walk off and out of my peripheral vision, I began to think. Who was she? Why did she have wavy hair? Why did she talk about raising the moon as if she could actually grab it and move it? What was this Day Court she talked about? Did I inhabit the body of a close friend to a magic queen or something?

One thing is for sure, this is going to be a long hospital stay.

3: The Recovery

Author's Note

I grace you once again, this time with a chapter written on my laptop!

Now bow down to me and drink greedily from my pool of fiction!

Jokes aside, I hope you enjoy. I carried a twenty pound desktop computer from my chair into another corner of my room to make this chapter!

3: The Recovery

The night passed by, and I did my best to remain calm and quiet, as instructed by ‘longhorn’. I really needed to ask her name, when I regain the ability to speak. I tried several things to pass the time, from tapping the uncasted half of a rear hoof against what must have been the frame at the end of the bed, to waving a forehoof up and down, in and out of my range of vision. In, and out. In, and out. I even tried moving my eyes back and forth to the rhythm of my heart rate. Left-right, left-right, left-right.

In the end, though, nothing could entertain me for long. As an act of saving grace, though, another equine came in, supposedly to check on me, just as I gave up with any sort of self-occupation.

“How is our patient today? Enjoying your stay?” It was the same nurse that sedated me. “I hope you don’t plan to struggle against your cast again, I had to pull four nurses to hold you down last time.”

“N-no struggling.” I managed. It was a little easier than last time, but it still hurt to talk,and the different voice was throwing me off. “I pro-mueoow- promise. Just bored.”

“That’s good,” ‘white face’ replied, “Just keep the talking to a minimum, until you can talk without pain. Your throat was so raw you were bleeding into your stomach from when you, you know.”

“R-Right.” I answered, opting to keep to the advice that was given to me by two of them by now. “Name?”

“Oh, right, I do need to introduce myself, I suppose.” she concluded, “My name is Fresh Bandage, and I’m one of the nurses here at the Canterlot Medical Facility. Pleasure to meet you, Sunset Shimmer. I never thought I’d get to be the caretaker for the princess’s personal student, but here I am, heh, helping you with your…recovery.” She trailed off, probably embarrased from rambling, if my knowledge of social cues is up to date.

“Well, Since introductions are over, I’ll finish up here, and move on to the next patient. Got to do my job, you know. Eheh…” That sounded painfully embarrasing. I heard her move a few things around, and do something, before scurrying out of the room at what sounded like a rapid pace.

That conversation was very one sided, and ended with Nurse Fresh Bandage leaving the room flustered at herself, but either way I got a lot of information from her rambling. My body’s full name was Sunset Shimmer, the original Sunset Shimmer was some sort of Protege, being privately tutored by an heir to this country’s throne, probably the only heir considering she used “the” to describe the Princess, the city I am in was probably called Canterlot, and that the intelligent equines here have very odd names.

I mean, Fresh Bandage? Who names their child Fresh Bandage?

As if on some kind of cue, light began showing through the window, softly radiating onto the ceiling and prompting the artificial lights to turn off, signifying that they were automatic, similar to an outdoor flood lamp. I admired the idea for a second before bringing my thoughts back to the situation at hand.

If I’m that important, then how can I play off probably not knowing anything about whatever it is I’m being tutored over? Amnesia doesn’t work that deeply, as far as I know.Do I just tell the truth? Do I dig for all the information I can and try to play off learning everything the original Sunset Shimmer knew as rehashing over past lessons?

I’m not sure how far I can get with it, but the best option I saw, was to figure out and learn everything the original Sunset Shimmer knew, and pass it off as rehashing, but if they suspect me, I’ll admit to not knowing anything, enough to where I can safely be assumed an amnesiac.

I gained a soft smirk, as I was satisfied with the final game plan.With that out of the way, I decided to try to pass the time with idle tapping with my hind hoof again.

Tap

Tap

Tap

Barely three taps, and the door opened again, and someone came in.

“Hello, my faithful student, I thought I would drop by and see how you were doing before I started Day Court. Did I come at a bad time?” It was ‘longhorn’, and ‘longhorn’ must be the princess? That actually makes sense. I saw her towering head enter my peripheral before hearing her position herself. “Okay, you’re awake. Have you given the nurses any more trouble?”

“Does it look like it?” I responded naturally, only momentarily realizing that it was much easier to speak than before. “Hmm, I can talk now, at least. Still hurts though.”

“That’s good news, I suppose.” ‘longhorn’ responded, “I guess since you can speak now, I can ask you a question.” her face turned darker, and her voice gained a sharp edge to it. “Why did you attempt to pass through the mirror, Sunset Shimmer?”

She must be talking about the one from my vision. I don’t know why Sunset entered it, so I’ll just say what I know. “I-I ‘m not sure, curiosity, maybe? I don’t remember.” I started to think back,”I remember some of it. I tested it before I ran in. I’m not sure what happened, but… I can remember pain, and the mirror was red. Like blood, I think. Princess, am I gonna be okay?”

Her gaze softened, before taking on the worried look that she carried last time. “It took a few blood transfusions, and enough painkillers to down a whale, but I think you’ll be fine, Sunset. You’ll probably have to go through full body rehab when the cast comes off, the doctors said there were a lot of broken bones, and several breaks in your spine. You’re lucky to not have any nerve damage, though you did get a concussion.”

My eyes widened. ”That’s… what I get for blind curiosity, I guess. What was that mirror, anyway? Feels like a gateway to immeasurable pain or something to me.” I tried to play off the seriousness, “It really left me speechless.” She knocked me on the forehead, just hard enough to hurt. “Owww, what was that for?”

“If you’re well enough to make self deprecating jokes like that, you’re well enough for me to punish you for them.” She answered, though I can see the amusement in her eyes. Nailed it. “But what that mirror is, is something I’m not going to tell you.” She shifted back into the dark gaze, staring me in the eye, “Because you pulled that little stunt, and got yourself very hurt in the process, I forbid you from returning to the Artifact Vault. Any future study of an item within the vault will go through me, and I shall retrieve it personally.”

“After that I don’t want to go back there anyway.” I said truthfully. “I know you have Day Court soon, but before you go, I have one more question, just out of curiosity. Whose blood was transfused into me, or was it just general blood drive stuff?”

“Mine.” She answered. I was about to protest, before she held my jaw with a hoof. “I know you don’t like it, but you know we’re the same blood type, and the magical properties of my blood will help you heal faster. Don’t forget that you also get a permanent boost to your magic, so shush, and consider it a win for both of us, okay?”

“At least tell me how much, so I know how much I need to adjust my magic when I heal, as well as how much of my life I owe to you.” Please say please say please.

“You were bleeding faster than they could transfuse with one tube.” She took on a grim look, that was very unsettling from my perspective. “They had to have multiple tubes led from me into you, and they kept it going until my blood was strong enough in you to reduce the bleeding to a controllable level.”

“But that means…” I trailed off. Her blood gave me a permanent magical boost, on top of whatever sort of magic this body already had, and she gave me enough to accelerate healing enough to reduce bleeding on the spot…

“I had to magically accelerate my bone marrow to keep up, I know. You took enough blood that you have about three quarters the size of my mana pool.” With the way she’s talking, that probably means I’m pretty magical now. “You’ll also be out of the cast by tomorrow, because of the accelerated healing.”

“W-why did you…?” I began to tear up. Obviously Celestia cared deeply about this pony that I’ve somehow replaced.

Celestia. Where did that come from? Is that the Princess’s name? Princess Celestia sounds better than Princess Longhorn, I think I’ll use that from now on. Who knows, maybe that’s actually her name.

“Because there was no other way.” With those words, I knew. I knew that I had just replaced someone dear to this powerful equine creature, and she doesn’t even realize it.

As I felt like the world was falling apart around me, Princess Celestia left, silently. If there is anything I know for certain right now, it’s that if I fuck up, I’m dead.

I think I’ll just fall back onto the amnesiac plan before it’s too late, perhaps hint at it next time she visits. But for now, I’m finally getting tired. My eyes close, before I once again drift away from the land of wakefulness.

4: The Release

Author's Note

I couldn't decide whether I wanted to call this chapter "The Rehab" or "The Release".
The Release is more relevant, so I ended up using that.

Next chapter is going to have rainbows and chaos in it. No, not Discord.
Something you'll recognize when it happens, I'm sure.
Unless, that is, you are an UNCULTURED HEATHEN!
But I doubt that.

4: The Release

I was nudged out of my sleep by something being nudged under my chin. Apparently whoever held the object noticed, because I felt it slide away after I heard a snip.

“Sorry to bother, I’m just cutting you out of your cast, I took scans and you appear to be fine. How did you heal so quickly, anyway?” It was Fresh Bandage, again. She replaced what I now knew to be serrated scissors, and continued. “With all the severe injuries you had when you came in, I was sure you would take another month before you were out of this!”

“I guess I have healing in my blood or something,”I joked, earning a look of confusion, “I was transfused with some special blood so I would heal.” I half-truthed. The confusion cleared.

“I don’t know of any blood like that being stored here, but perhaps there was some transported from the castle.” She assumed, obviously clueless about the massive royal transfusion I was told I recieved. “Anyway, I’m certain that you’re eager to see the room you’ve been staying in, so let’s cut the conversation so I can focus.” I felt the scissors start to move faster as she concentrated on the cast, revealing the pale orange fur underneath.

Soon enough, I was completely out of the cast, and I scooted against the head of the bed to take in myself and my surroundings. My tail, seemed to match the curly red and yellow locks that made up the hair on my head. Directly at the base of it, I saw final confirmation of the gender loss that I had previously panicked about, though I now felt more indifferent about it, resigned to the fact that everything I knew about my body was now completely different. I had some kind of tattoo on each side of my hind legs, picturing a radiating sun. There were a few dried blood stains, some with what appeared to be light scarring underneath.

The room was about as standard as it could get for a hospital room. White walls, monitoring systems,a few chairs for guests, a small bathroom, and an impatient looking Fresh Bandage… Right.

“Are you done studying yourself yet?” She asked, as my eyes locked onto her. Now that I could see the white unicorn in full, I saw that she also had a leg marking, resembling crossed bandages. “Get up and stop eyeing me like a newborn foal, you need to start trying to walk if you’re going to get back to your life.” Fresh was getting stern with me. Heh, I know just what to say.

“Geez, alright mom.” I say, as I worked myself to the edge of the bed, bracing for impact between my face and the floor. When it didn’t happen, I opened my eyes, to find myself staring down at my hooves, which were firmly planted on the ground. I looked up, to find exactly the reaction I was looking for, flustered embarrassment. “What, can’t take a friendly joke?”

She dragged her hoof against the ground for a moment, before collecting herself. “N-no, I guess I can’t. Anyway, at least you can stand. That’s good.” She finished restoring her mood before continuing, “Now we have to see if you can walk, at all.” She moved to my side, “I’m here in case you’re going to fall over.”

I had no idea how to start with this. What did I even move first? Foreleg, hind leg? Left, or right? Either way, I had to get started somehow. I tried to start with my left fore. I took a step. What would I move next? Perhaps the right hind leg. That seems to have worked. Maybe I walk in a cross pattern? That would make it finish with front right then hind left.

I tried my idea, and found that it worked, and felt natural. In fact, it felt… oddly familiar. I couldn’t remember ever trying to walk like this, so perhaps it could be the muscle memory of this body. Soon enough, I was doing a fast enough pace that Fresh had decided to stand to the side and watch as I learned how I moved in this body.

It wasn’t long before I decided to stop, with a contended smirk on my face. “I feel like I got this, are you sure I need rehab?” I turned to face her, “Other than feeling stiff when I started, I’m walking perfectly okay.”

“Well, you seem to be walking okay,” Fresh thought aloud, “I’m sure we can brush over that part of the rehab. We still need to check if your mana pool has atrophied any. Could you try to levitate this fork for me?”

My face fell, as her horn lit, followed by a plastic fork sliding out of her mane and onto the floor. I tried to mentally command it, will it to float, but it didn’t work. I tried to pull off an incantation in my head, Wingardium Leviosa, but that didn’t seem to work either. I almost gave up, before feeling some sort of twitch, followed by a quick feeling similar to having the skin on my forehead pulled. I brought my attention back to the outside world, to find that Fresh Bandage was looking up, and the fork was missing.

I followed her eyes, only to find that the fork was embedded into a chunk of the ceiling, and said chunk of the ceiling was completely broken free from the rest of it, and teetering at an angle, as if it cold fall at any second.

“Uhh… sorry?” I said, as we both backed away from the area for our safety, “I think… I underestimated myself?”

“Yeah…” She drew out, before forcing herself to regain composure... again. “Right. I think that means you passed the test with flying colors. You should do fine without any of the rehab, as long as you tone the magic down a bit, now let’s go sign you out before anypony notices the hole.”

I silently agreed, before pondering over the vernacular I just heard as we made our way to the front desk. If my logic is right, then through Fresh Bandage’s use of anypony would hint that the name of the equine species is fittingly ‘pony’, and I would likely hear other vernacular and names parodied to match as well. Now I see where Canterlot got its name. Heh, Camelot.

The walk had nothing worth noting, other than the fact that I had to figure out how a pony could possibly keep their balance on a flight of stairs, or three of them in my case. Turns out it’s really not that hard when you figure it out.

When we got to the front desk, there was a pale pink pony with a red mane, the first I’d seen without a horn, wearing a bored expression, tapping her chin against the desk. When she noticed us, she perked up.

“What do we need? Did somepony get rushed in the ER? Do you need Scalpels? Yes?” She questioned in quick series, before noticing it was me and Fresh Bandage. “Oh, I see. Just the patient of the week checking out.” She did a quick double take. “Wait, with those injuries, you shouldn’t have been out for another month! How did you do it? Is it some new rapid healing spell you made? Tell me.” She leaned over the desk, eager to hear about my rapid recovery. I noted that her cutie mark resembled a TF2 health cupcake, and she also had wings. A pegasus, if I remember right.

Jeez, this gal was definitely on the hyper side. I better answer her before she pounces on me. “It was a special blood transfusion from what I was told. Can I go ahead and sign out now?” Got to get this over with, she looks like she’s going to burst if I keep her company much longer.

“Okay, no probs!” She piped cheerfully, before practically slinging a clipboard around, with some paperwork and a spot for a signature at the bottom. I took a look at it, before my blood ran cold. I couldn’t read a word it said. “Is there something wrong?”

“I can’t understand what this says.” I answer, “Why can’t I read it? I feel like I should be able to, but it’s not clicking.” I ask, wondering why the reading system was different, yet the spoken language was the same.

“That’s the Earth Pony script copy, I can get you the Unicorn script version if I need to. Be right back!” The pink pegasus walked off in an odd fashion, an obvious bounce in her step. There were different forms of writing for different races here? I have a lot to learn.

While we waited, Fresh Bandage decided to break the silence. “You don’t know Earth Pony Script? What’s the princess been teaching you to not know the base language for everypony?”

She’s catching onto me, I think. Now’s as good of a time as ever to state my lack of knowledge. “I don’t know. Ever since I woke up, all I can clearly remember is what happened, and some basic stuff like how to speak. I couldn’t even remember the feeling of using my own magic until I made myself levitate that fork. Even then I was running blind.” I lowered my head, in shame and sorrow, “I’ve been winging it ever since I woke up. Metaphorically, of course. I didn’t even recognize the princess, until I pieced it together after that introduction thing you did. I still don’t think I remember the princess’s name right.”

I felt her foreleg wrap around my shoulders, weird but oddly comforting. “It’s ok. Maybe you can read the unicorn script, and make your signature that way. If you’re that bad off, maybe I should help you get back to the castle, so you don’t get lost.” I looked up to her, to find a worried frown, not unlike the one that had often plagued the princess’s face when she came to visit. “And her name is Princess Celestia, if you really can’t remember.”

Celestia? I thought that was just a nickname I came up with to replace ‘longhorn’, not her actual name. That’s odd, I’ll have to look into that later. “Thanks. The world needs more people like you.”

After an odd look, she gave me a smile. “No problem, I’m happy to help.”

The moment didn’t last, as the yet unnamed pink pegasus practically hopped back in.”Hey, I got those unicorn script for… Are you guys hugging now? Aww~!”

Me and Fresh Bandage seperated before she could even finish, and I took up denials while Fresh once again went for the flustered blush. “No! I mean yes! I mean, just give me the forms!”

She swiped them over, along with a… quill? I can work with that. The document was even in printed English, just like I had hoped! But how I was going to write, I had no idea, unless…

I replayed the way she handed me the form in my mind, watching how she used her hoof, despite how impossible it would be to grip it like that with regular hooves. Perhaps…

I got my hooves onto the desk, before acting as if I still had hands, and attempted to grab the quill. It rose in the air, exactly where I imagined the phantom muscles of my now missing hand to have it. I quickly signed it with my imaginary hand thing, and noticed that they were both staring at me.

“How…?” Fresh asked, apparently confused with how I signed my name.

“I have no idea.” I responded truthfully, “Anyway, let’s get out of here, I want to see the city.”

On that note, we left. Time for me to see what this city has to offer.

5: The Walk

Author's Note

Sorry I almost missed a day, I got caught up in a mess between personal life and thinking out how I wanted this and possibly the next chapter to go. I admit, I’m pretty sure I don’t work too well with mid-event fillers, which I imagine is what the majority of this chapter will end up being. At least I know how to write up an excuse in my AN before I write a chapter, I guess. As long as I try my best and get it done in the end you can’t fault me. That IS how it goes… right? So much for writing the AN before I actually write the chapter, I’ve gone and made it awkward now.

5: The Walk

As I was escorted through the city of Canterlot by the unicorn know as Fresh Bandage, there were a few things I noticed everywhere I looked. First off, this species of equines, and all three of the subspecies, were extremely varied when it came to fur color. I think I even saw a pony with a bright shade of orange for their coat color, not unlike the safety vests that hunters would wear to avoid getting shot by someone else.

Second thing I noticed, was that all but the youngest of ponies had some kind of tattoo on their legs. Was it some kind of coming of age thing? Was it a sort of identification branding? Another question to ask someone. Or somepony, if I want to use the native puns. Actually, scratch that, I do NOT want to use the pun phrases, they sound stupid. I’ll stick to my bodies and ones, if you don’t mind.

Third, everything here seemed to be carved out of granite or marble, like an array of large, immaculate statues. Even the road was made up of some gigantic slab of marble, which should have been impossible, unless they found some kind of mountain that was practically entirely made of the stuff. Well, it could have been magically molded together without ruining the calcium patterns in it somehow, but I digress.

The last thing I noticed, and this was an issue exclusive to me, was that these creatures, intelligent and modernized as they seem and act, were living in an era of technology so far back that I would place it around the era of Greece. It looked to be closer to Athens, with them having the technological advantage back then, but compared to Twenty-First Century America, this city was extremely Spartan to me. At least there was no gigantic presidential campaign conflict going on here. Well, I hope there isn’t.

“Is something bothering you?” Fresh Bandage asked, pulling me out of my thoughts, “I know Quick Fix can be a little… hyperactive. Once you get to know her, though, she’s practically made of good intentions.”

I double checked that I was keeping pace with her right, before responding. “It’s not that. I’m just taking in the sights of the city, that’s all.” I paused for a second, before continuing. “What’s with all the tattoos, anyway? Is it some form of identification?”

I got another weird look from her, before it softened up, followed by a response. “They’re called Cutie Marks, and while they are used for legal identification, they really just represent the special talent of a pony, and magically appear once they’ve figured out what said talent is. Is your amnesia really that bad?”

That clarified the tattoo deal a little bit, but left me with more questions than before. I’ll ask them later. “Seeing as I entirely forgot the feeling of magic, can’t read earth script, can’t explain where I learned to write like I did from, and had to figure out what my name was entirely through context, I’m not surprised that I can’t recall what a cutie mark is either.”

I could have sworn I heard Fresh do a spit take, but I looked for any sign of a beverage on her or anything nearby, to find nothing. “You… you had to figure out your own NAME, with… with HINTS!?” she was visibly freaking out now, much to my confusion. Did I cause a mood swing? “This is much more serious than I thought, we gotta hurry. Report to the Princess, maybe she can fix you? Gotta hurry, gotta hurry.”

Fresh Bandage’s face was plastered with an odd mix of mortal fear and panic, before she turned and started galloping to our destination. After noticing I didn’t follow, mainly out of confusion, she stopped and started magicking one of my fore hooves up, and in her direction. And she pulled hard. I had to run, just to keep up with the pace of the pulling. Lucky for me, she was pulling both forwards and upwards on a forehoof, so I didn’t have to learn to gallop to keep up, since I could take my other foreleg up and just run bipedal.

Before long, the pulling got me caught up with Fresh, and I looked over to see the same fearful panic she had before. “What…?” was all I could manage to ask, as there wasn’t any coherent question I could think of to ask for this situation.

“No time. Get to Princess. Fix memory. Gotta hurry.” Was all the response that she would give me. Obviously she’s freaking out about finding a quick fix for memories I’m pretty sure I don’t have, and Princess Celestia was the one who could ‘fix’ it in her eyes. But why was she freaking out so mortally about it?

Realizing my position, I took my free forehoof and bonked her on the head with it,just enough to sting a bit. I’m not even sure she noticed it, though. I took my hoof back, and prepared to deliver another, slightly more powerful hit, before something caught her eyes, and she just… stopped. Let go of her magic, too, causing me to skid chest-first across the marble pavement.

I looked up to the general area that Fresh… and now the rest of the pony crowd were staring at, to find… a rainbow.

It was plain as day, this wasn’t just any old rainbow. It was a full circle, and it was rapidly expanding. If it reminded me of anything, it would have to be the dust cloud backlash wind thing that happens around a nuclear detonation. I couldn’t help blink in a double-take of wonder.

Blinking was apparently not the right thing to do, because a blink was apparently all it took to completely change your environment around here. I mean, for real, I just blinked, and now there was this… this endless gray that filled my vision. The crowd was gone, the nuclear rainbow thing was gone, I almost felt like I was gone, before I checked to make sure I still existed.

“State your name, being of chaos.” I heard. I couldn’t tell if it was male or female, but the ungendered voice was definitely deep, and sounded powerful. Kind of like near the final scene of The Wizard of Oz, with the hologram and smoke.

I tried to think of my name. I came up blank, other than Sunset Shimmer. I guess I really am getting amnesia then, huh? “I went by a different name a few days ago, but all I can remember now is Sunset Shimmer.” I stated, surprising myself with my calmness.

“Sunset Shimmer, hmm? State your intentions, being of chaos.” It sounded interested, but at the same time angered.

“Well, I’m not sure. I kind of want to go home, but I have a gut feeling that I died there, with the beam to the face and all.Well, maybe I’m not dead, but I’ll still have to figure out ho-” My ramble was cut short by the boom of the odd voice. Why am I so calm?

“And if you cannot return?” The voice was angered, as if I stabbed a kitten or something. I couldn’t figure out why, for the life of me, it was mad, yet I remained so obsessively calm. I should feel frightened just by the thought of my emotions feeling muted like this, but, well, you know.

“I will attempt to bring back the original Sunset Shimmer, if she didn’t die in the accident that caused me to get absorbed into her body.” I can’t believe my mouth. I’m pretty sure she died, from what I saw and felt of that impact.

“Sunset Shimmer, the one you are referring to, is, in fact, dead. She betrayed all that is harmony and became a being of chaos in search of power. We denied her life as a result. We did not expect another being of chaos to rise in her body. State your intentions, with this new knowledge.” I suppose that will save me time and trouble. Still sounds like I stabbed his cat, though.

“I’m not sure of what I want to do. It’s not like I want power or anything all that much. I think I might try to take over the late Sunset’s life, and learn magic under her tutor. During and after that, I might take a shot at advancing Equestria’s non-magical technology. Perhaps I cou-”

The voice cut me off again, but this time it sounded rather relieved, rather than angry. “That is all I need to know. I merely needed to ensure your goodwill, to judge your effect on the future of Equus. You may return to your friend now, though you may find yourself far closer to your destination than you were.”

If my emotions weren’t so muted, I guarantee I would feel some immense relief. “Goodbye, then, I suppose.”

“We shall meet again soon.”

I jerked up, as I felt all of my regular emotions return to me in a gigantic rush, while simultaneously feeling an ungraceful “Eep!” escape my throat.

I must have surprised someone, because I felt shuddering under me, as well as heard a small scream. Was I on somebody’s back?

My vision faded back in to a view that matched up with the summary of my thoughts, as I found myself perched on the back of a certain Fresh Bandage, with her neck twisted around to face me with comical anger. For some reason I found it slightly funny, and responded with a small chuckle, followed by an unsuspectingly loud snort! The comical anger did not part her face though, as she continued to bore her eyes through me.

“I carried you all the way here, in a very embarrassing position to carry an adult pony mind you, just because you fell asleep to an unexpected phenomenon, just for you to wake up, SCARE me, then LAUGH AT ME?” Geez, she was peeved. Not much I can do about it, though I wish I could.

“Sounds about right!” I chirped.

“Get off. We’re almost to the throne room.”

I finally decided to take in my surroundings, and confirmed that we were indoors. In a long hallway, with Stained glass windows. At the end, there was a giant set of double doors. Probably to the throne room.

So I stayed put, and opted to hug her from my position, with a smug grin.

“UGH!” I should do this more often.

6: The Ride

Author's Note

This was the hardest chapter to write so far. It probably has something to do with the fact that there's been a TV on in the background the whole time. I had to drown it out with music, but that turned out to be almost as distracting. I hope that it doesn't show that I couldn't focus too well. If it did show, let's hope that it's not too bad.
This has been way more fun to write than anything I've written before. The more careful pacing has proven to be troublesome to write through at times, but I just got a feeling, that the trouble it's been giving me has more than paid off, in story quality. This may not be as long as the long-abandoned LH (I abandoned it because there were too many ways it could go, but no way to transition into any of them) yet, but I feel a much stronger sense of pride over this than I believe I ever did for that one. Whether it's because I'm actually developing the world in my mind and thinking a few chapters ahead, or because I'm trying to pay more attention to detail, I can't say.
Either way, enjoy the chapter!

6: The Ride

Fresh Hope must have thought it was a good idea to play a game of bullride in the hallway, or she was trying to pull off a wild dance with me on top, but she quickly relented when I hadn’t budged, smug grin plastered on my face the whole time. “For a severely amnesiac mare, you’re impossible. I hope you realize that.”

“That I do.” I moved my long neck around to see her face, only to find it in a pout, and completely red with blush, before sweeping my eyes once more over the hallway. “Shouldn’t there be guards at the door or something?” I noticed. The blush and pout visibly reduced from her face, as she brought her attention back to the world around us.

“There usually is, during day court.” She answered, before continuing the pace towards the door. “Something must have happened.”

I thought it over, and the only thing that came to mind was the rainbow thing that brought me to that grey-space place. “Do you think it could have had something to do with the rainbow thing?”

“Maybe, I wouldn’t know. All we can do is find out, I guess.” Fresh sounded a little uncertain, yet I couldn’t help but agree with her deduction.

If Fresh’s magical push was any indication, the door to the throne room was still unlocked. The throne room itself was empty as the hallway before it. The theme was of white and gold, white Romanian columns lining each side, and a small staircase that lead up to two thrones, presumably for the unnamed king and queen of this place.

A male voice piped up behind the two of us, causing us both to jump in sync.“If you’re looking for the princess, Miss Shimmer, she’s over at the school’s preliminary exam room. Something happened that she had to take care of personally.”

“R-right” I stuttered, recovering from the light scare, as Fresh turned around to face the stallion, “Could you escort us there, please?”

“Of course, Miss Shimmer, just follow me and I’ll make sure you get there in no time.” The stallion, now revealed to have a pearl white coat, and electric blue mane and tail hanging out of a full set of golden yellow armor, turned and led us through a door to the side of the throne room, behind one of the columns. “Who’s your friend, anyway? Not every day that I see two mares walking around in that position.”

Fresh Bandage huffed, while I snorted, before replying. “She’s part of the hospital staff. She was escorting me here, and I dozed off at some point. She decided to carry me like this until I woke up, but I got lazy. What, are you into mares riding mares or something?” Fresh developed yet another full face blush, while the stallion seemed unfazed.

“I already have my sights set, mind you.” Jeez, I was just joking. “No, it’s none of your business.” I wasn’t even about to ask…

Before I even got the chance to ask anyway, my ears picked up a voice from further down the hall. “Twilight Velvet, Night Light, you have my word, your daughter will be safe under my care.”I recognized the voice to be Princess Celestia, but didn’t say anything, as we were already well on our way towards her.

“As long as it’s what Twilight wants.” sighed a male voice, “But remember this. Any harm that comes upon her, I don’t care who you are. There will be consequences.”

“Believe me, I will do my best to protect her. If I fail in that task, I will not hesitate to tell you, nor will I hesitate to provide punishment to myself. You have my word.”

“Just make sure she learns a lot of magic.” Another, female voice butted in. “She gets really desperate if you don’t let her have her regular fix of spellbooks. It got so bad once that I even found her on top of our bookshelf demanding that we get more books for her. I still can’t figure out how she got up there.”

“Well then, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to give her full access to the royal library when she isn’t receiving personal lessons from me.” We were almost right up on the trio of voices now, and the other two had no doubt noticed by now. We went around a T-intersection, and found ourselves in front of the princess, with a lavender purple unicorn filly on her back, the unmistakable parents of said filly standing in front of her. Behind them was a room with a crushed cart with what appeared to be eggshells on it, and a hole in the roof that leaked an absurd amount of light.

But before I could start taking in the finer details, our escort interrupted the seemingly peaceful moment. “T-Twilight? What happened here? Is she hurt? Mom?”

“Lieutenant Shining Armour, calm down.” Princess Celestia interrupted, calling upon the training he had recieved, “You can hear the story from your parents as you return home to begin a week’s leave. Is that clear?”

“Y-Yes, your highness. We shall get to that right away.” He turned to leave, the two ponies whom were presumably the parents of both the purple filly and the guard in tow. When they were back around the corner, Princess Celestia’s eyes turned to me. “Sunset, your timing couldn’t be better! It’s great to see you out of the hospital… why are you riding on a nurse?”

“I got lazy, and she was already escorting me.” I half-truthed.

“You shouldn’t take advantage like that.” Celestia put on a disappointed face. “Is she at least willing?”

“I picked her up when she fell asleep on the way, I didn’t expect her to stay.” Fresh answered, “But… I guess I don’t mind.” Those words were enough for me to give her another neck hug, inciting more blushing and another yelp out of her. “Will you please stop that? We have to tell her and I can’t focus with you hugging me from back there.”

Princess Celestia perked up in interest, “What are you telling me? Don’t tell me, are the two of you an item or something?” Now that was enough to get ME to blush. Imagine that.

“NO!” we both said, in sync. When we both realized it, though, our faces got even redder, and I ended up sliding off sideways somehow through the tension.

I managed to recover first, quickly dusting my coat off with a hoof, before answering. “No, we are not an item. What we were going to tell you, is… I have amnesia.”

All positivity seemed to drain from the room, and I looked over as Fresh went straight from flushed and…aroused? She went from that to shivering in fear. I took a quick sniff, to confirm what I thought I saw. Weird.

“How bad?” the Princess looked absolutely devastated. “Tell me, how bad is it?”

I looked up at her, torn up inside over the matter. “I… I couldn’t even… remember the feeling of magic, until I… I finally managed to levitate a fork. I’ve been going off of context ever since I woke up. I even had to figure out my own name.”

I didn’t think she could look any worse, until a pair of color matching wings drooped to her sides, out from under the unconscious filly. “I… I can work with this.”

She magicked the purple filly over to Fresh Bandage, who promptly hugged said filly like a teddy bear, before approaching me. “I hope it’s not too late.” She said, before kneeling to my level and igniting her horn in the increasingly familiar golden aura.

“What are you doing?” I questioned, before she touched her horn to my head. For the second time today, my world completely changed.

At least this time I didn’t blink.

7: False Memory

Author's Note

All I know, is that I let my imagination go for this chapter.
It was hard to figure out a way to describe the way I imagined it in my head, but I think I managed well enough.
It explains some things, but at the same time adds onto the background and gives more depth to the story.
Since I like to put the AN at the top, I can't say too much about it. If I do, it'll spoil the chapter.
Well, enjoy!

7: False Memory

I felt the unnatural suppression upon my emotions once again. This time, however, I felt something inherently wrong. I tried to pinpoint the feeling, but I couldn’t. I tried to move, but I found myself unable to.

I felt a natural feeling of comfortable calm wash over me, and the world seemed to build itself around me. I felt fur against my side, before I involutionarily moved my head up, but not by my command. My eyes focused on a larger Princess Celestia, who was looking down at me with a smile.

“Are you ready for your first lesson, Sunset?” She asked, levitating a small book, titled ‘Compilation of Magic, Level 1’ over to the pillow. At that moment, I understood exactly what was going on, and tried to seperate myself from the memory of the filly, to take it in without letting it feel like it was me.

It was not too hard, and I soon found myself mentally seperated from the memory, looking through the young Sunset’s point of view as if it were a television. “Yes!” the young filly squealed, rapidly switching into bubbly excitement, and forcing me to struggle to ignore the rush of forced emotion.

“I see. You seem very exited for this.” memory-Celestia chuckled, “I suppose we could get started.”

Memory-Sunset forced another, more intense rush of excitement through me, and proceeded to stand, followed by a four-hooved hop. With the point of view forced upon me, the sensation of all this movement being done without my input was very weird, and I concluded that this would probably traumatize anyone with a weaker mind.

“If I’m going to teach you anything,” memory-Celestia continued, “You’re going to have to sit still long enough to focus on the lesson.” memory-Sunset stopped all too fast, and found herself tipsy from dizziness. She fell over, and I felt a blush form on her face, followed by a rush of forced calm and what must have been the sensation of embarrassment.

This felt all too convincing, and I felt like I could easily get lost in this, but the emotions running through me carried that distinct feeling of wrongness, and that fact made it easier to keep myself seperate from the memory I knew wasn’t my own, and hold a seperate thought process.

Memory-Sunset settled back into her previous position, but before the book cracked open, everything seemed to… fade out? However it happened, I lost all connection to the emotion from that memory, returning to the suppressed state I was growing used to in this state of mind.

It didn’t last long, as I felt emotion wash over me all over again, this time a combination of anger and sadness, and the world built up around me to reveal an older form of Sunset, though she must have been in the middle of puberty or something at around this time, in an argument with a tired, saddened looking Celestia.

As I resisted the tug of anger, which proved to be quite hard, I listened in on the event. “I want to learn the next tier of spells, but you keep putting it off! I told you I’m ready, and I meant it!”

This memory-Celestia was quick to respond, “I want to believe you are ready, but until you can prove it to me, you are not ready.” She sounded hurt. Badly hurt, even.

The anger flared to be even more intense than the excitement from before, almost leading me into a blind mental rage. I barely managed to resist it, but I managed to gain enough ground to pay attention to the conversation, though barely. “HOW DO I PROVE THAT I AM READY!? I CAN’T PROVE MYSELF IF I DON’T KNOW HOW!” memory-Sunset screamed to the point that her, and collectively my, throat hurt, making it harder to focus on fighting the bonfire of forced emotions I was being twirled on a spit over. I felt blood start to seep down my collective chin, signifying that memory-Sunset must have really made some noise.

“I’m sorry.” memory-Celestia responded simply, but sadly. Then the memory faded back out once more.

As I had concluded to be standard, the world started to reform again. This time, it was a large hallway of books… a library. This time, the emotions were primarily resolution and determination, but with a hint of fear. I found this much less distracting than the other emotions, so I didn’t resist it.

This memory-Sunset was reading under candlelight, taking an occasional glance at a pair of double doors located at the end of this bookshelf. I made myself catch the major details of what she was reading, as well as some of the minor details that looked to be more important than others.

As I pieced it together, I figured out that this must have been one of the memories leading up to the mirror incident, with details like ‘dimensional portal’, ‘opens once every thirty moons’, and a few lines detailing the theories of the consequences of entering the mirror prematurely, including exactly what I had seen when it happened.

I wasn’t able to catch too much more, as memory-Sunset heard the door open, and hurriedly replaced the book as her fear spiked, surprising and overwhelming me with the emotion, before it all fell apart.

I found myself back in the thin strip of hallway, with the feeling of wrongness all but gone. The fear remained, though, and was so intense that I couldn’t even lock up, my body once more falling to the floor feeling as if I were made of Jelly. I still couldn’t move, but now I knew it wasn’t from a lack of control.

I couldn’t even blink from the artificial fear, and my eyes started to water. I was adjusted to separating my emotions at this point, so I wasn’t truly emotionally paralyzed, as weird as it was and felt. I saw a blur of white legs, right in front of me.

“Hush, my child, mommy’s here for you.” Wait, WHAT? Daughter of the Princess? “Shh…” She cooed.

I saw a purple blob float behind her blurry white frame, before I felt her…

…did she just pick me up by the nape?

The more I find out about my predicament, the worse it seems to get.

Dammit.

8: Getting Lost

Author's Note

I missed a day!
My life has taken a turn for the busier faster than I expected.
I'm not sure I can guarantee a chapter a day anymore because of that.
I'll still do what I can.

8: Getting Lost

My fear-paralyzed body was carried by the nape… nape-carried… naped, whatever, to somewhere. I couldn’t see anything for the tears locked in my unblinking eyes.

I couldn’t figure out why that artificial fear refused to subside, even when I was completely mentally separated from it at this point. Probably a side effect of whatever magic spell that was cast on me. Not that I really care, the shivering limp mass that was me was kind of comfortable. Eyes stung, but I was comfortable. I think I peed through, full body relaxation tends to include the bladder.

I peed on a princess!

The comfort didn’t last long, though as the cold sweat completely ruined it. It was at that point I got a little control back from the fear, but it wasn’t much,only enough to shiver. And shiver. And wanna scratch all over. I could feel the sheen of cold sweat, tickling like a swarm of ants crawling on me. I would have suppressed a moan, if I could control my mouth in any way other than the constant twitch of a shiver.

Either this castle was small, or the Princess’s destination was close, because it wasn’t too much longer before I was laid on my side, into something that felt... like memory foam, but weaker? More conforming? Either way, it was something I could sink into and remain in all day… when I’m not covered in itchy cold sweat, that is.

But that was soon to be remedied, when I felt a hot, waterlogged hand towel rub across my side, followed by a dry one. I felt my nape get bitten again, before I was flipped onto the other side to receive the same treatment there.

After the sweat was banished from my body, I felt the dry towel absorb the moisture out of my still unblinking eyes, followed by the sight of a soft smile on Princess Celestia’s face.

“Sleep well, Sunset. You need it.” She said, likely believing I was actually unconscious. To be honest, I probably would prefer that over this, but I can’t really complain. Like, I physically can’t move my mouth to complain. “Twilight, it’s your turn to get cleaned up before you go to sleep on the bed.” Oh, there’s the purple filly. I thought that was her mother’s name… names work weird here anyway.

“Five more minutes?” Weird, everything’s getting fainter.

“No, now.” Oh, I see. May sleep take my body as I fall unconscious.

“Aww, bu-”

[br]

“You cuddle like my brother.”

“Whuah!” I was jolted awake by the sudden voice, to find a pair of deep purple eyes staring at me… attached to the lavender filly that was between my forelegs. Of course Celestia put her in bed with me.

“Sorry!” Twilight apologized, her first name coming to me from my last moment of awareness. “Just a detail that I didn’t expect from an awesome, powerful unicorn like you, Miss Shimmer.”

Did Twilight idol the original Sunset? Oh no, now I’ve got both a motherly princess and an idolizing filly. “R-right.” I noted that she probably had a last name, so I decided to ask. “What’s your name?”

“Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight chirped. “Pleasure to cuddle, Miss Shimmer!” She wrapped her forelegs around me more tightly, her smile growing more elated. Absolutely adorable. I decided to return the favor.

“It has been pleasurable, I guess.” I joked, “But since I’m awake, I need to see the Princess. Some big things have been going on with my life and she needs to know the result of the latest of them.”

As I unlocked the tangle of hugging legs, Twilight voiced her disapproval. It wasn’t until I was at the door that she spoke up.

“Can I come?” Such an innocent question, how can I refuse?

“Sure, but don’t blame me if we get lost.” So far, getting lost seemed high in probability, so I have to make a disclaimer.

“Yay!” I looked back to see unbridled glee on her face, before I opened the door to step out with her.

“Then let’s go.” I’m gonna regret this when we get lost.

[br]

I regret this completely. Not only did we get lost, but I must have missed counting a turn somewhere, and now we can’t go back.

“I’m tired.” Twilight’s mood faded quickly after we left the security of the private bedroom, and I didn’t fare much better.

“Want me to carry you?” We were approaching a T-intersection as I spoke. I stopped and bent down for her, and felt her slide onto me as her answer. “Which way do you think we should go?”

“Maybe the wall is fake or something…” Twilight moaned, “If not, try going right.”

“What? Do they even make fake walls?” I went over and felt said wall, to find it as solid and real as I would expect a wall to feel. “Right it is then.”

Twilight fell asleep on my back, leaving me to my own thoughts. I used this time to ponder over the entirety of what I knew about what had happened to me, as I idly and mindlessly wandered the halls.

So the original Sunset Shimmer was seeking to receive a higher level of magic training, denied by her mother and tutor, Princess Celestia, for a reason most likely related to her attitude. Out of anger, rebellion, and spite, she began sneaking into a library section that she was forbidden from entering, because it had the resources she needed to learn the content anyway.

She soon found a mirror that, by description, lead to a parallel version of this world, but ignored any warnings and precautions. Sunset decided that she wanted to enter that parallel world for some odd reason, and attempted to do so before the mirror was opened, tearing apart her soul and spitting her body out so that it broke against the wall.

Somehow, I must have opened the odd book at around the time that this occurred, and whatever the book did, my soul was separated from my body, and saw the broken unicorn’s body as a first opportunity to have a new host.

I couldn’t think of how the book fit into the equation. Maybe it wasn’t actually the book that did it? I would have to find out more details before I could fully discern the how of it. Details that were a dimension away.

With my summary complete, I decided to restore my attention to my surroundings, and found a stained glass window peeking out the edge of the next turn. If I’m where I think I am…

Yep, throne room’s just ahead. From now on, I’m going to ask to have a guard nearby so I can have him escort me everywhere. This place is too much of a maze to not.

Sheesh.