A Broken Mirror

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 2: In Which a Talk Continues Significantly Longer Than Five Minutes
Chapter 3: In Which Sunset Gets Bugged
Chapter 1: In Which a Bathroom is Trashed

Prologue

"Snrk... bwah, huh?" Sunset Shimmer snapped awake as the building around her shook. She could hear the dull sound of an explosion coming from outside the school's front entrance and quickly snapped to action. Getting out of her makeshift bed, she shoved her bedding-- a pile of unused foam insulation-- back where it belonged. She gathered up her belongings and shoved them into her jacket pockets, checking the time on her phone as she did so, "Nobody should be here for at least another three hour, what in Tartarus is going on?"

She slowly opened the door to the storage room that had become one of her temporary shelters and looked around the hallway. Seeing nobody, she exited and locked the door with the set of keys she'd stolen from Janitor Discord. Cautiously making her way to a window, she could see that there was nobody outside, but that the mirror portal out front was shining with a brilliant white light. 'This shouldn't be happening... the portal shouldn't be opening for another 4 moons!' she thought as she began to swiftly make her way towards the front entrance. Once there, she had to begin shielding her eyes against the brilliant light emanating from the portal.

As she approached, Sunset could hear a soft whirring coming from the portal. The closest comparison she could find was that it sounded like an overheating computer. The light from the portal began to die down, allowing Sunset to observe her surroundings. The portal's light was beginning to fluctuate rapidly as a steady wind began to pick up. Sunset's hair began to stand on end, and she could almost feel the air ionizing around her. Suddenly, the portal exploded with light and sound, forcing Sunset to the ground as though she'd been hit by a flash grenade. As her vision returned to her, Sunset could see the blurred outlines of a crumbled statue and a mixed pink-purple blob laying in the dirt about ten feet from where the glowing portal had been moments before.

As her vision cleared further, Sunset realized with increasing dread that not only was the equine statue now crumbling onto itself, the mirror portal that had been part of its base was completely shattered. The strange blob she had noted before could now be distinguished as two teenage girls tangled together into a mess of limbs. Both seemed to be battered and bruised and, considering they had not moved at all since Sunset had first noticed them, they were likely unconscious.

As Sunset got back to her feet, she noticed that one of them looked strangely familiar. She began to translate the features she saw into an equine body. Light pink fur; flowing tricolor hair of pink, purple, and gold; and finally and most damningly, a white T-shirt with a picture of a light-blue heart-shaped crystal emblazoned on it. This was, without a doubt, Princess Cadance.

A flood of thoughts flowed through Sunset's mind as she inspected Cadance further. Why was she here? She was an alicorn, an adopted relative of Princess Celestia! Celestia could have sent her as an agent to retrieve Sunset, but then why did it look like she had been beaten and then flung through the portal? Why had the portal been forced open in such a dramatic fashion in the first place? Surely it wasn't for her. Tartarus, Celestia hadn't even bothered writing to her in her journal, so why would she send an alicorn to come retrieve her when there would be so many risks involved?

The alternative, Sunset realized, was that something very, very wrong had happened in Equestria. As she turned to inspect the other girl, Sunset's sense of dread grew even further. She didn't know who this was personally, but she could easily recognize the starburst pattern on her skirt. She had seen it once before, in one of the books that Celestia had tried to hide from her-- it was the cutie mark for the Element of Magic. Internally, rage warred with dread. On one hand, the unconscious girl in front of her reminded her of everything Celestia had been grooming her to be. On the other hand, here was the Element of Magic herself, a prophesied savior of Equestria, beaten and trapped in an entirely different dimension with no clear way back.

Sunset resolved quickly that, regardless of her opinion of those laid out before her, she would need to get them awake and talking so she could figure out just what was going on, hopefully before any cops came to investigate the explosion. Revenge on these two would be pointless if she could never get back at the one mare who truly deserved it.

After deliberating for a few more seconds, Sunset turned and ran back into the building and, after a few minutes of rummaging through the nurses office, returned with a first aid kit and what she could only hope were smelling salts. After untangling the two teens and covering every cut that she could find with bandages, she pulled out the smelling salts and, propping up Cadance's head on her lap, began to waft them under her nose.

"W... Wha?" Cadance mumbled as she began to stir. As she slowly drifted back into full consciousness, she lifted her hands up to rub her eyes and, upon seeing them, snapped fully awake with a surprised expression on her face. Scrambling to her knees as best she could with unfamiliar limbs, she began to frantically search her body for any familiarity.

"Cadance, Cadance." Sunset said softly, trying hard not to let her own stress at the situation seep in, "I know this is all new and strange, but I need you to take a nice... calm... deep breath." Cadance began to slow her search and take deep breaths, driving Sunset to continue "Yes, in and out. Panicking won't help you, just take a nice deep breath, just like you used to tell all those colts and fillies..."

This caused Cadance's attention to snap to the strange creature that was talking to her. She'd heard that voice before, and though the creature before her was as unfamiliar as the body she now inhabited, the color scheme only served to confirm it. "S- Sunny? Is that really you?"

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Sunset Shimmer struggled to stifle a groan, "I told you a million times Cadance, my name is Sunset, unless you want me to start calling you Candy I suggest you get that into that empty head of yours."

Cadance, seeing something mundane in a sea of unfamiliarity, latched on and began to giggle softly, "And now I know that it's you. It's been so long since I've been insulted like that by somepony who isn't Chrysalis!".

Sunset let out a huff, "Listen, it's great that you've calmed down and are now back to your goody-goody self, but we kinda have a situation here. You and whoever this is-"

Cadance noticed her fellow inter-dimensional traveler for the first time since arriving, and immediately scrambled over to kneel by her body, "Her name is Twilight Sparkle! Is she okay? Where do I check for a pulse? Oh gosh..."

Sunset gently pulled Cadance back from Twilight's body, "Listen, I already bandaged her up and checked for a pulse. You don't know how these bodies work, so you'd probably just hurt her if you tried to do anything else. Take a deep breath, calm down, and we'll get to work waking her up. Okay?"

Cadance nodded, and didn't try to move back to Twilight after Sunset released her. As Sunset moved to apply the smelling salts, Cadance looked back towards the shattered remains of the mirror portal and wilted, "I assume that used to be the portal we came here through?" she said, pointing at the wreckage.

"Huh, so they did teach you something in princess school. Yes, that right there is an extremely intricate and powerful magical artifact crushed into hundreds of tiny, jagged, irreparable pieces." Sunset said, fists clenched and head starting to shake.

"Listen to your own advice Sunset. Deep breaths, in and out. We won't resolve anything if we panic." Cadance cautioned, "let's just get Twilight up, then we can figure things out from there. Here, prop her head on me and apply the salts. I used to foalsit her, so I know she'll freak out much worse than I did unless I'm right there calming her down". Sunset did as advised and began to apply the salts while Cadance struggled to give herself an aura of serenity.

"Hmm... Urgh... Wha?" Twilight opened her purple eyes to find a matching set calmly staring back. Memories flooded in, "Cadance, Shining, monster... monster!" Twilight tried to jolt herself up, but her bruised and unfamiliar body responded by leaving her awkwardly sprawled back into the dirt.

"Calm down, Twilight! It's me, Cadance! Take a nice, deep breath." Cadance said, waving her hands at the purple girl.

"How do I know that it's you? You don't look like her... I don't look like me! How can I be sure that I'm not trapped in some illusion, or in a coma? How do I know you aren't just another monster in disguise?" Twilight spurted out while attempting to use her new legs to distance herself from her potential captor.

Cadance raised her new hand to rub her chin thoughtfully "Hmm... Well, you aren't in a coma or an illusion because you're almost certainly feeling pain right now... As for proving I'm not a monster..." Her face lit up in realization. Awkwardly wobbling onto all-fours, she proceeded to convey a rough rendition of a secret ritual that spans all times and dimensions,

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" Cadance exclaimed, doing her best to clap her 'hooves' and shake her rump at the appropriate times.

Twilight's face immediately brightened and tears of happiness began to roll down her face as she struggled forward to wrap Cadance in a hug, "It is you!"

Sunset, watching from the sidelines, allowed a small smirk to form. "Huh, after all these years you still teach foals that stupid dance?"

Cadance turned to her while petting Twilight's hair, "Hmph, I seem to remember catching a certain fiery little filly doing it with herself in the mirror once while she thought nopony was looking. Maybe you know her?"

Sunset sputtered, "Y- you... I mean... We're getting off track! How did you two end up here, what's going on in Equestria?"

Cadance's face tightened into a thin frown as Twilight seemed to notice Sunset for the first time and immediately set about barraging her with questions of her own, "Who are you? Where are we? What are we? How did-"

Sunset cut her off, "I'm Sunset Shimmer, former student of Celestia and Cadance's old roommate. We're in the human world. We are currently humans. This world was linked to Equestria by a mirror portal in Canterlot Castle, but the portal was destroyed when you came through. Any other questions can wait. Now please, tell me what's going on. Make it quick, too, we don't have much time before people start coming to investigate and find us hanging around a destroyed statue!"

Cadance looked like she was about to object to Sunset's rude treatment, but her expression softened when she noticed that Sunset's hands were beginning to tremble. Thus, she began to give an abridged version of what happened, with Twilight filling in on what happened after Cadance had been replaced...

Cadance was not having a good day. For the past two weeks, Queen Chrysalis had been personally checking in on her and providing her with a daily dosage of dull-green gruel with a side of vicious taunting. Today though, Cadance thought, Chrysalis was running extremely late. Or, at least, late enough that Cadance could tell despite having little sense of time anymore.

Cadance's musings were cut off as a green flame suddenly roared up right in front of her. Perhaps on the first day this would have gotten a reaction from the pink alicorn, but by now Cadance had come to expect Chrysalis' "surprises". What did get a reaction out of her, however, was the unconscious purple unicorn that Chrysalis held in her sickly green magic.

"Ah, what a lovely look of despair! Why, it even tasted delightful too!" Chrysalis said, taking a deep whiff of the air. "This pesky unicorn is the only one who saw through my disguise at all. And to make it even better, when she pointed it out, nopony believed her! Not your friends, not your aunt, not even your fiance! I bet I could replace you for the rest of eternity and act however I'd like and nopony would notice, because regardless of your title you don't matter!"

Cadance was used to such taunting at this point, but still couldn't hold in a sniffle as Chrysalis' words crashed down on her.

Chrysalis took this as a sign to push forward, "Aww, is the little princess breaking now? It's too late now, my plans are already coming to fruition and you no longer matter even as a captive. I think it's time I dispose of you and this pesky little unicorn once and for all, what do you say to that?"

Cadance simply gulped and, composing herself as best as she could, raised her head to stare defiantly at the Queen.

"Ah, defiant to the last. I guess you do have at least one notable quality, not that anypony did note it, mind you." Chrysalis sneered, "Well, it's about time you meet your maker. Don't worry about me making this easy on you, I know you'd like a long painful death where you can resist to the last, so I'll respect your wishes..."

Chrysalis unlatched the chains holding Cadance and pulled her squirming body into a tight telekinetic grip, "Ah, don't go resisting now! You need to keep your energy up for when you'll really need it!"

Cadance, now held upside-down, raised her head to meet Chrysalis' eyes, "And what trial could be worse than being in your company, Chrysalis?"

Chrysalis allowed her face to pull into a sinister smile, "Ooh, I'm glad you asked. My changelings have found an ancient mirror hidden away in Canterlot castle, a mirror that houses an ancient prison created by Starswirl the Bearded himself. All kinds of ancient beasts that ravaged Equestria, trapped in one convenient place in the heart of Equestria's capital! I imagine, of course, that Celestia never told you about something so important, not that she'd have any reason to."

Chrysalis sat back on her haunches and adopted Celestia's trademark benevolent smile, "I, however, take pity on all of my little ponies, even those as worthless as you. Therefore, I shall give you the chance to prove your worth as one final act before your death. You and your pesky unicorn friend shall go into the portal and spread the magic of love and friendship to all those poor, lonely souls on the other side of the mirror. Preferably by being their playthings, but I'll let you decide what's best once you get there."

With that, Cadance began to struggle even harder against the telekinetic grip. Chrysalis lit her horn even brighter, coating the entire cavern in a soft green glow, then everything was darkness.

"... A-and when I woke up next, I was here" Cadance said, sobbing a bit as the memories of her captivity came back to her. Twilight had a deep set frown on her face, but was doing her best to hug and comfort Cadance while Sunset awkwardly watched.

"Well, I don't know about any unimaginable ancient horrors on this side of the mirror," Sunset said, standing up and looking at her phone, "We have other problems right now anyways. We're currently sitting in the middle of a blast zone and police are bound to come investigate any second now. If they catch us, trying to get back to Equestria will be the least of our worries. We're going to gather a few mirror shards, then I'm going to take you two a few blocks away to my hideout. I'll get us some food, and we'll try to figure out what to do from there. Good? Good. Try to figure out how to use your bodies while I go put away these supplies."

Without waiting for any acknowledgment, Sunset began gathering the medical supplies and then swiftly walked back into the school building, leaving Cadance and Twilight to fumble their way onto two feet.

As Twilight began to stand on wobbling feet, she turned towards Cadance and tilted her head questioningly to the school building, "Was she telling the truth about who she was before? Celestia's former student, your roommate? Why have I never heard of her?"

Cadance swallowed nervously, "Well..."

Author's Note

Welp, I've finally done it. I've wanted to write a story like this on and off for something like two or three years, and today I finally forced myself to sit down and write a chapter all in one go. Then I accidentally closed the tab before saving and wrote a new one twice as long.

This story as I envision it now will mainly follow Twilight, Cadance, Sunset, and whoever they pick up along the way as they attempt to repair the portal. Any chapters on what's going on in Equestria, if they happen, will be supplementary and will not influence the plot until a link is reestablished between the two worlds.

Timelines are pretty loose in the MLP world, being as it's a children's cartoon, and I myself haven't watched a single episode beyond Season 2, so let's just say that this takes place after Sunset has established her queen-bee status but before she fully develops her plan to invade Equestria. I am aware of Dean Cadance, but have decided that, considering Sunset is significantly older than Twilight and yet looks to be about the same age, the mirror just doesn't care much for age consistency (or maybe it just likes being a convenient plot device). Any minor discrepancies with canon can, if you'd like, be chalked up to this being an AU.

Finally, to end an already long authors note, the appearance of human-Cadance is based off of an image by dm29 over on Deviantart, which can be found: here. All credit to him or her.

The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history. - Mao Zedong

Chapter 2: In Which a Talk Continues Significantly Longer Than Five Minutes

Raise, bite, lower, chew. Raise, bite, lower, chew. It was something mechanical, near-instinctual, but it had so many nuances for Twilight to observe. The way her hands wrapped themselves around the bagel; the way her forearm rotated around a single joint to raise it; and the way that her teeth cut, stabbed, and pulverized the delivered product all provided something for Twilight to latch onto. There were no unknown variable, no decisions to be made, and no major views to be shattered. It was observation in its purest form and for its own sake, and Twilight quietly relished it as she popped the last bite of bagel into her mouth.

Taking a sip of her coffee, Twilight began scanning the room for another distraction. To her left, Cadance was attacking a pile of scrambled eggs with a hungry look in her eyes. In fact, it reminded Twilight of when she'd helped feed the carnivores of Flutterhy's cottage. What would the animals do, Twilight wondered, if Fluttershy was--

Twilight cut that train of thought short, looking across the table towards Sunset. She was a mystery to Twilight, but a comparatively benign one, and thus a welcome distraction. How did a former student of Celestia's end up here? She briefly considered the idea that Sunset had been banished by Celestia, but remembered that Sunset hadn't brought up anything of the sort when attacking Twilight's mentor. Or was it former mentor, or even--

Twilight cut herself off again, knocking back her coffee and taking a large gulp, savoring the caffeine rolling down her throat. If time on this side of the mirror was the same as on the other, she figured, she had been awake for over 24 hours with only a brief period of forced-unconsciousness breaking it up. Normally this wouldn't have been much of a problem, as she was no stranger to all-night research binges. Yet, her mind had been on a roller coaster of a ride over the past few days. First it had been the letter. How could her BBBFF have waited until the very last minute to tell her about the wedding? Then it had been the imposter-Cadance, was one of her only fillyhood friendships just a lie? It couldn't have been, and she had been right, but the stress of everything had heaped up on her and she'd just ended up making a fool of herself pointing it out. She could have, should have taken a few minutes to compose herself and come up with a plan, but she'd instead charged ahead and accused not-Cadance without a single shred of evidence. If she'd just taken a few minutes to compose a rational argument, everypony would have believed her.

Now, though, she was banished an entire world away. The last she would possibly ever see of her friends and family in Equestria was their disappointed looks, and she deserved it. She had completely dropped the ball this time, and all of Equestria was surely paying for it now. And here she was, staring into a cup of cold coffee. A voice echoed in her head, accompanied by a disappointed set up magenta eyes. 'You have a lot to think about'

Suddenly, a pink arm wrapped around Twilight and pulled her down into Cadance's lap. As Cadance began to pet her head, Twilight realized that she was shaking. Taking a few deep breaths, Twilight cast her eyes up into Cadance's. No matter what had happened, no matter how much she'd screwed up, she was safe, Cadance was safe, and they would find some way to fix everything. She felt like her whole world was falling down around her, but hadn't she felt like that before? Hadn't she felt like she'd failed when she'd first found the Elements of Harmony? Hadn't she been utterly devastated when Discord had turned all of her friends into mockeries of themselves? Yet, she'd bounced back and succeeded in both cases. This time would be the same, it would just take a bit longer.

But what would happen in the meantime? This was the biggest unknown, something that scared Twilight to her core. Maybe Equestria would turn out alright, with Chrysalis discovered and defeated? Twilight didn't feel very optimistic, and her imagination provided a treasure trove of ways that things could go horribly wrong. What would the Changelings do? Imprison ponies? Mind control them? Kill them?

Before Twilight could fully restart her downward spiral, however, Cadance leaned down and whispered into her ear, "Don't worry right now, worrying won't help anypony. I'm just as concerned and scared as you are, but all worrying will will do is waste energy we should be using to get back home."

Twilight's mind returned to her thoughts from before, 'If I'd just calmed myself down...', she began doing the breathing exercises that Cadance had taught her as a filly, trying to clear her mind as she did so. She laid there, Cadance slowly running fingers through her hair, until she began to feel sleep overtaking her. Knowing that she would just have to sleep later, she slowly raised herself back into her seat and began to drink the remainder of her coffee. Looking across the table, she saw Sunset tapping away on her phone.

Eventually, Sunset looked up and realized that Twilight was no longer having a freak-out. Sunset's face softened a bit, "I know it must be hard not knowing what's going on in Equestria, but the best thing that we can do is work together to get back. I can tell that you're running on fumes, so I'll take you to my hideout and you can sleep there while I gather up some supplies. Okay?"

Twilight nodded and, after draining the last of her coffee, followed Cadance out of their booth chair. After they stepped out, Sunset turned to face Cadance and Twilight and pulled out her phone, "I need to take a picture of you two so that I can get you two proper documentation."

Twilight assented, but then a thought hit her. "Wait, so how are you going to use photos to get us documentation anyways? What exactly do you mean by documentation?"

Sunset tensed up slightly and spoke in a hushed voice, "Well, if you want to go to school or get a job in this world, you need government documents proving that you're you. I know somebody who can make fake documents. They're not perfect, and if anybody got suspicious they wouldn't hold up, but they were good enough to get me into Canterlot High."

At this, Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Alright, but... Where's the camera?"

Sunset put a hand to her face, "It's part of the phone. Now smile and say 'Cheese'".

Twilight and Cadance, still ragged from the physical and emotional trials they'd been through in the past few days, did their best to smile at what they could only hope was the camera bit of the phone. Eventually, Sunset nodded her head, "That'll do. Don't worry about not looking good, I can get the photos cleaned up nicely for what I need them for."

As they began to walk, Sunset began expanding on her plan, "So, I'll run to a few stores and drop the pictures off while you two sleep. I'll probably be back around lunchtime, and whenever you two wake up we can start making a game plan. Is there anything you two need other than food and water?"

Twilight considered for a moment as they started down the street, "Well... I wouldn't mind having one of those 'phones', it would definitely make research here much easier..."

Sunset cringed, "Well, phones are pretty expensive... I have enough money saved up that I could buy one for you and Cadance, but then I wouldn't have money for much else. Then again, I think you two will actually need phones if you're going to fit in around here, I don't know anybody who doesn't actually have one... We'll discuss this more when we make our plans, alright?"

Twilight didn't follow up, and they began to walk in silence. Eventually, Twilight noticed that the area they were in now seemed to be completely abandoned. Most of the buildings were a dull grey, with windows either smashed or boarded up. Sunset seemed confident in where she was going, though, so she kept silent.

After about five minutes of walking, Sunset suddenly stopped and, after looking around, ushered the group into an alleyway. She then led them about halfway through, to a tall pile of cardboard boxes. Again looking around, she carefully pushed the pile to the side, revealing a rusting metal door. Reaching into her jean pockets, she produced a key that went into the door's lock, which Twilight noted looked significantly newer and less rusted than the door it was a part of.

Opening the door with a creak, Sunset then ushered the other two inside. After stepping in, Twilight took a moment to observe the interior. It was dark, but Twilight could make out most of the room just fine. It was probably about five by five meters at most. In the way of furniture, all it had was a small table, a chair, a bed, and a small cupboard. The table seemed to have a few candles along with a pile of school supplies. Otherwise, the room seemed to be completely bare.

Sunset lit a few of the candles and, noticing the looks that Twilight and Cadance were giving to the room, rubbed the back of her head and blushed slightly, "I know it's not much, but it's what we've got. I found this place a few weeks after I got here and it's served me well. Nowadays I usually just sleep at the school, but it'll probably be crawling with cops for the next few days so we'll have to use here. There's some waters and snacks in the cupboard if you get hungry or thirsty. I'll be back in about... four or five hours. Lock the door behind you and don't try to leave, I'll pile the door up with cardboard boxes again so that you'll be nice and safe. Baseball bat is under the bed if that all fails."

At this, Cadance only became more concerned, but Sunset slipped out the door before she could ask any questions. Groaning, Cadance locked the door and grabbed two waters from the cupboard while Twilight inspected the bed. It was a hard spring mattress, with a few odd lumps where the springs had become bent or unwound. It was covered up with what seemed to be a clean sheet, though, and that was enough.

As Cadance sat down next to her and passed her a water, Twilight silently decided that, tired as she was, she wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully without at least some answers. She turned towards Cadance with pleading eyes, "Listen, I know we're both tired right now, but... I don't think I'll be able to sleep unless I get some answers. Can we just talk for five minutes?"

Cadance sagged a little, but gave Twilight a tired smile nonetheless, "I shouldn't have expected any different, Little Miss 'One-More-Chapter'. Alright, what's on your mind?"

Twilight took a deep breathe, "Well, there's a lot of things on my mind right now, but I want to hear more about what you and Sunset talked about earlier. Were those things she said true? Was Celestia just... using her? And what about you? Did Celestia really ignore you like that?"

Cadance thought for a few seconds, "Well... I can't be sure about everything that Sunset said, but I definitely wouldn't take it as the full truth. Sunset's a very determined, clever individual, but she can also be very arrogant and hotheaded. If she wants something, she'll do everything in her power to get it and will spite anyone who gets in her way. She was also, I think, a very lonely little filly. Before she was made Celestia's student she'd been living at the Canterlot orphanage. She had a few friends there, and would make a few friends at the School for Gifted Unicorns too, but I don't think she ever had a close friend."

"As for Celestia", Cadance continued, "she may be a great and benevolent ruler, but I think the same thing that makes her a great ruler, her centuries of experience, also makes her a horrible pony. Er, well... more like, horrible at being a pony. She's lived for thousands of years at this point, and has seen everypony around her grow old and die. I think, at some point, she became detached from the lives of mortals. She wants to see us all happy, but she can't connect on a personal level. She got a bit better when Luna came back, and even invited me to 'family bonding time' once or twice, but I don't think she's gotten past seeing everypony else as her subjects."

Cadance paused to take a sip of water, "So, Sunset Shimmer was ambitious, but also desperately in need of the kind of companionship only close friends or family can provide. When she was moved to the castle by Celestia, it was the closest thing to adoption that Sunset ever got. Here was this warm, motherly mentor figure taking her into her own home, and Sunset latched onto that. She was going to be Celestia's daughter, no matter what it took. But, again, Celestia just couldn't connect with her subjects. A few months after I ascended, Sunset outright asked Celestia if she would adopt her, but Celestia refused to give a straight answer. A week later, Celestia started sending Sunset on 'assignments' to learn about all the staff that worked at the castle. It was probably Celestia's attempt to get Sunset to find somepony else to latch onto, but all it did was make Sunset more determined."

"Sunset--", Cadance stretched her arms out as she yawned, "Aah... So, Sunset was smart. She knew that Celestia wouldn't adopt somepony that she just viewed as a subject. She also knew that I'd been adopted as her niece after ascending, so she put two and two and decided that if she ascended like I had, Celestia would finally adopt her. Since Celestia was pretty much the only pony who knew how ascension worked, that meant that Sunset began pushing her subtly and not-so-subtly to spill the secret. This went back and forth for years, and I think in her growing feeling that Celestia was holding her back, Sunset lost sight of her original goal-- becoming Celestia's daughter."

"Eventually, everything came to a head. Celestia had found a new protege to teach-- that means you-- and, being Celestia, began splitting her time evenly between her two students without addressing Sunset's increasing resentment. Sunset felt like she was being replaced and decided that if Celestia was going to force her out anyways, she might as well go out with a bang. She snuck into Celestia's private library to find information on alicorn ascensions. I don't really know if she found anything, though, because she was caught in the act and was apparently told that she'd be banished from castle property-- though Celestia claims she'd never have gone through with such a thing. Anyways, faced with the possibility of banishment, Sunset decided to flee instead. Nopony had any idea where she ran away to, but I guess she must have known about the mirror portal somehow..."

Twilight processed what she'd been told while Cadance stared distantly ahead. She had never really though of Celestia as being so distant, but she couldn't find anything in her memories to contradict what Cadance was telling her. Celestia had been a good teacher, and she clearly loved all of her little ponies, but Twilight couldn't think of a single pony that was actually close to her personally other than Luna. Twilight shivered, was there some truth in Sunset's claim that she had just been a tool? Was she herself just a tool too, one that could accomplish the ultimate task of bringing Celestia the only one she truly loved? One that could be pointed at world-ending threats? If she was just a tool... How much of her life had been orchestrated to sharpen her for use? Could she even really be mad about being used to save the world?

Twilight could feel a growing sense of unease in the pit of her stomach and decided to stave off such thoughts until she'd at least had a full night of sleep. Grasping for some way to distract herself, she finally settled on another question to ask Cadance. "But... What were you doing in all this? You seem to know a lot about what happened."

Cadance let out a sigh, "I was mostly just an observer. I tried to help things where I could, but I didn't fully understand what was going on at the time and couldn't get either of them to budge. When I had moved into the castle, I had been assigned to be Sunset's roommate-- probably another attempt by Celestia to give Sunset a close companion-- but Sunset mostly just saw me as a competitor for Celestia's affection. I would sometimes try to talk to her, and even asked her to tutor me in magic once, but she'd always either ignore or insult me. I never really took it to heart, but eventually I stopped trying. I also tried to connect with Celestia as a niece and steer her in the right direction, but she just ended up doing the same thing to me that she'd done to Sunset: she started sending me out to connect with other ponies instead. In my case, though, it actually worked. I ended up meeting an absolute hunk of a guard cadet who treated me like a real pony. Eventually I visited his house and met his adorable little sister and his lovely parents, and from then on it was like I had a second family with me in Canterlot..."

Cadance let out another heavy sigh and leaned her head onto Twilight's shoulder, "I miss them so much, but I can't break down and cry. Princesses don't do that, especially not when Equestria is in danger..."

Twilight wrapped her arms around Cadance and pulled her into a tight hug, "Princesses may not cry, but my Big Sister Best Friend Forever can, and I'll always be here for her if she needs to. We need to be strong, but I think you know as well as I do that locking our emotions away will only hurt us more. Let it all out, then let's try to get some sleep."

Cadance laid her head on Twilight's shoulder and quietly wept while Twilight ran her fingers through Cadance's hair. After a few minutes, Cadance pulled back from the hug and gave Twilight a slight smile, "When did you become an expert on emotions, LSBFF?"

Twilight smiled back before yawning, "I've learned from the best. Let's get to bed, I think I've had enough heavy thoughts today to last an entire lifetime..."

They both lay down to sleep and, after a few minutes of adjusting in order to find a somewhat comfortable spot, they both drifted to sleep, Twilight's arm loosely draped over Cadance's shoulder.

Author's Note

So here's the Twilight chapter. This chapter was difficult to write, and I'm still not satisfied with it. There are a lot of things going on with Twilight specifically, and I'd like to pace myself with her development. She's not going to have one big epiphany about her relationship with Celestia and the other pony-Mane 6, it'll be coming through bit by bit as the story progresses, so a lot of this chapter was just about trying to set the right pace. It also, of course, developed into a bit of an exposition-fest at the end, something that I hope didn't become too much of a drag.

So, any questions? Comments? Concerns? Critiques? Advice on hair dyes? All are appreciated.

“留在基督教青年会是好玩儿的。” - Mao Zedong

Chapter 3: In Which Sunset Gets Bugged

As Sunset moved the last of the boxes back into place, she began to grumble to herself. Everything had changed so fast and, while she had already come up with multiple ways to turn these changes to her advantage, for every new advantage there was a new and pressing issue. She now had two 'sisters' who could be powerful allies if Sunset kept playing her cards right. That also meant, though, that she now had two more people to take care of. Two more mouths to feed, bodies to clothe, and shelters to furnish. The two former-equines' reaction to the condition of Sunset's "hideout" had only served to remind Sunset of just how difficult living would be for the next few months if a new portal back to Equestria wasn't forthcoming.

Sunset had managed to scrape by and, through ruthless tenacity, even begin to thrive in the world that she'd been dropped into, but now all kinds of new variables were coming into play. She turned a mix of tutoring, bullying, and outright blackmailing into a somewhat reliable source of income, and had even become fiscally confident enough to consider making a down-payment on a small apartment, but whatever she made now was nowhere near enough to support three people.

That wasn't even to consider that Sunset's primary sources of income nowadays, bullying and blackmailing, were now potentially no-goes. While she had no qualms about taking from her lessers, she knew that doing so now would only raise tension between her and her potential allies. She'd probably have to go back to tutoring, and hope that Cadance and Twilight had some serviceable skills to make their own money...

She filed those thoughts away as something to address with them later, and pulled a small and slightly-beaten flip phone from one of her pockets. She fiddled with it for a few seconds, then raised it to her ear. "Hey Thornton, you free today? Yes, business not pleasure... Yes, it is always business with me... I've got two 'sisters' living with me that need some papers... I'll explain it when I meet with you in person, it's a bit complicated... No, they don't know where I'm going... I took a few pictures of them, if you give them a touch-up it should be fine... You can? That'll work. See you in a bit."

She hung up and began her trek towards the nearest shopping district. It wasn't the cleanest or safest part of town, but it had everything she would need for a relatively low cost. As she walked, she continued to think about implications of what had happened. She couldn't help but smirk at the thought that, though the next few days, weeks, or months would be hard on her, she would be able to return to Equestria in triumph. If things were going as bad as Cadance had implied they were, Sunset could even come out of this as Equestria's savior, while Celestia would forever be tarnished by her failure. It was, in short, exactly the kind of opportunity that Sunset needed, and it already more than made up for whatever pain it would cause her.

After a few minutes of walking, Sunset finally made it to her first destination, a run-down apartment complex one block from the shopping district. She walked her way up to room 213, taking care not to trip on the lopsided metal stairs on the way. Once there, she gave the placid blue door her customary knocks, which Thornton had insisted be done to the rhythm of some funk song he listened to obsessively.

Almost as soon as she'd completed the knock, the door flung open to reveal a tall, thin man with dark grey skin and piercing blue eyes. This would make an imposing combination, Sunset figured, if Thornton hadn't decided to dye his hair lime green and start wearing flamboyantly colored suits soon after he'd met her. Today, Sunset noted with some slight satisfaction, he was wearing a relatively modest orange two-piece suit and matching fedora. 'At least it isn't teal this time...'

Sunset's thoughts were interrupted as Thornton leaned through the doorframe and sang, "Sunny, are you okay? Are you okay--" she shoved a hand onto his mouth to stop him from finishing his verse.

Despite having a hand shoved into his face, Thornton continued to stare at Sunset, eyes betraying the smile that Sunset's hand now concealed. Sunset stared back for a few seconds, unamused, before pulling her hand away. "You know, that's only the ninth time you've tried to greet me like that. Maybe the tenth time I'll actually laugh."

"Oh, I sure hope so! Ah, what am I doing, keeping you waiting out here? Come in, come in! Sorry about the mess, if I'd had a bit more time I'd have cleaned up more" Thornton said, ushering Sunset in while simultaneously trying to push a stack of pizza boxes further into the corner of his apartment. As Sunset stepped inside, she took a quick look around to confirm that, yes, it was a mess, not that she was surprised at this point. How Thornton managed to keep all of his suits so clean in a room with so much dust, Sunset couldn't begin to guess.

Sitting down on the faded red couch-- after whipping cheese dust from her spot, of course-- Sunset pulled out her phone and pulled up a photo of her new 'sisters'. After shoving a few more pieces of junk into the corner, Thornton plopped down next to Sunset and leaned over her shoulder, "Ah, so those are your sisters, yes? Are they little horseys like you? I can't imagine why else you'd come to me for something like this."

Sunset groaned, "Yes, they're also 'little horseys', and they're going to help me get back to 'magical mirror horsey land'. I thought I told you to never bring that stuff up again."

Thornton leaned back, "Well, you did tell me, I just thought you meant to never bring it up in public."

"And I've been in public with you... when?" Sunset asked, raising an eyebrow towards Thornton.

Thornton scratched his neck, "Err... When I met you?"

"A dark alleyway is not a public place!" Sunset said, staring a hole into Thornton's head.

Thornton leaned back further from Sunset's stare and tried valiantly not to sweat on his clean suit, "Well... It was behind Public's Deli, that has to count for something, right?"

"That just... Ugh," Sunset massaged her temples, "This is all besides the point. These two girls came from the same place that I did, wherever you think that actually is, and they need papers and disguises."

Seeing that Sunset wasn't going to bruise his elbow (again), Thornton relaxed and looked back over Sunset's shoulder at the phone. "So I understand why you need the papers, but why the disguises? Did they have a run-in or something?"

Sunset hesitated. On one hand, Thornton was the only one who knew the truth about Sunset's homeland, and showing him that her 'sisters' were exact doppelgangers for two locals might finally convince him that it was more than just the mad ramblings of a starving teenager. On the other hand, did it even matter? Maybe if she...

"Sunny are you okay, are you okay, are you okay Su-- Ack!" Thornton recoiled back as Sunset punched him in the elbow.

"Tenth time wasn't the charm either. They need disguises because, like I've told you before, there are mirror versions of everyone here. I need them to look as different front these people as possible, alright? I really don't care if you believe me." Sunset said, flipping to the pictures she'd saved of the human world's Twilight and Cadance.

Thornton rubbed his chin, "Hmm... I do see the resemblance, though I think some of my cousins could probably do just as good with a bit of makeup... Well, either way, I can work up some disguises..." he furrowed his brow, "You said they were your sisters, correct?" Sunset nodded, after which Thornton continued, "Well... I don't really see much family resemblance..."

Sunset raised an eyebrow, "I'm pretty sure your family is an exception to the rule, Thornton. Most people I know look almost nothing like their siblings."

Thornton looked up at Sunset, "Well... If that's how you want it to be, that's how I'll put it down on paper. Don't blame me if somebody gets suspicious, though! Anyways, I can work up some disguises and get their papers together, but what's in it for me?"

Sunset did the best pout she could manage, "Come on, isn't this what you do now? Help poor unfortunate souls like myself to find new hope?"

Thornton stared at her "Well yes, but you could at least hang out with me every once and a while with how much I've done for you at this point. I just want to know how things are up... going... hanging! How about... We go down to the second-hand store and pick up some supplies for your friends' disguises, and then you introduce me to them while I help them change their looks? I rarely get to meet the people I help nowadays."

"I'll go with you to buy disguises, but I don't think having you meet them is such a great idea..." Sunset said after some deliberation.

"And why not? You know I'd never harm a fly!" Thornton said, staring even more intently.

"It's not you", Sunset said, flipping back to the picture of her 'sisters', "You see in this picture, the bruises they have? It was Changelings that caused that. If they found out you're also a Changeling, they'd want to turn you in immediately."

Thornton's expression softened, "Was a Changeling. I can understand the concern, though. How about... I get you the disguises and papers, and sometime later you introduce me to them, discreetly. Not as Thornton, the document-forger who helped get you on your feet, but as Thornton, that weird friend you found in a Public's dumpster. Or Thornton, that guy you play tennis with. I don't know, you've always been much better at making up convincing lies than I have."

"... I think I'll go with the dumpster story, actually. The closer it is to the truth, the better. I just won't mention any of the illegal things you've done for me. If they figure you out, it's your fault though," Sunset said, rising from the couch, "The photos I have on my phone will work for their IDs, right?"

Thornton raised an eyebrow, "Err... No?"

Sunset looked back at him, "And why not?"

"Well, you have a picture of two ladies who look exactly like other people in this city, and are asking me to make disguises that make them look not like that, so if I make the IDs before they have disguises, their IDs simply wouldn't match up. Not to mention the horrible lighting... I'll probably need to take the picture myself, after they have disguises, if they're going to have proper papers." Thornton said from the couch.

"Well... I probably need to have them before Monday if they end up going to Canterlot High with me. If we get the disguises right now, and I introduce them to you tomorrow, could you get the papers ready by then?", Sunset said, rubbing her chin.

"Well... Probably, it'll be a bit of a rush-job though. Maybe you could buy me a new suit while we're shopping at the thrift store to make up for it..." Thornton said, awkwardly ribbing Sunset as he did so.

"Don't push your luck, I'm gonna need all the money I can get just to feed and clothe those two. Shopping"? Sunset said, heading towards the door.

"Fair enough, shopping." Thornton said as he went to follow Sunset out. As he was about reach for the door handle, though, he suddenly felt his head become bare. Looking to the side, he saw Sunset fling his orange, purple-feathered fedora to the other side of the room.

"I'll go shopping with you, but only if you look decent. You aren't a pimp."

Author's Note

Well, it's been a while hasn't it? Certainly longer than I would have liked.

Use of 'Thornton' is ~~blatantly copied from~~ inspired by River Road's Two in Exile. I read it a few months ago and the idea seemed too brilliant to not use. I'm giving him my own spin, though, which is hopefully quite evident. So, why is this chapter shorter than the others? Two main reasons: One, I promised to have this out by the end of today, and then hit a few snags in actually writing it out. Two, I hit the point I wanted to end at, as the shopping sequence wouldn't have added anything to the story.

Interested in being a prereader? Hit me up through PM.

"那我们让太阳马代表美国的资产阶级，所以..." - Mao Zedong

Chapter 1: In Which a Bathroom is Trashed

"AOOGA," Cadance was snapped out her stupor by a loud honk from the road beside her. After having her explanation of who Sunset was cut off by the return of the aforementioned teen, backpack in hand, Cadance had gradually slipped into her personal thoughts as they all walked together towards Sunset's "hideout". On some level she acknowledged that the self-propelling carriages that zipped by them every minute or so were new and fascinating, but she barely spared them a glance as her brain attempted to process everything she'd observed in the past hour. The fact that Sunset was alive and breathing was just the tip of an iceberg that included ancient portals, Changeling plots, and a rumbling stomach that was definitely not in the same place it had been yesterday.

Cadance spared a glance towards her fellow Equestrians, noting that not a single word had been said by either of them since they'd left the school grounds. Twilight seemed to be almost as deep in thought as she herself had been, though instead of staring blankly ahead her eyes were tracking every new and fascinating thing that passed their way. Cadance imagined that Twilight was making a mental list of questions to barrage Sunset with later. As for Sunset herself, she was guiding them forward with a look of stony determination. Cadance could almost hear the gears turning in Sunset's head as she planned and replanned... something good or evil, Cadance wasn't sure.

As they kept walking, Cadance began to notice a gradual shift in the scenery. The more colorful storefronts they had first passed gave way to graying and decaying facades that looked dull even in the light of the rising sun. If human settlements were anything like their pony counterparts, they were now entering a "bad" part of town. Cadance stole another glance at Sunset to make sure they were going in the right direction. Sunset had the same look of determination as before, but now also bore a small smirk. A smirk, Cadance knew, that indicated Sunset had finished crafting a particularly conniving plan. A smirk, she realized, she had last seen before Sunset had embarked on her ill-fated quest into Celestia's personal library.

Before Cadance could ask about the smirk, however, Sunset suddenly stopped in front of a small store with two tables out front. Above the door hung a sign that said "Java Bean Cafe", with the letters seeming to ride the steam coming from what Cadance hoped and prayed with every fiber of her being was a depiction of a coffee cup. Sunset cleared her throat and pointed a thumb back towards the shop, "We're going to get food here, and then we'll head to the hideout. Just a quick warning, humans can pretty much eat anything a griffon can, so there will be some meat on display."

Both Cadance and Twilight had witnessed foreign dignitaries and their entourages eating meat on multiple occasions while living at the castle, so neither displayed the usual look of queasiness that ponies usually gave when told about cooked animal parts. Taking this as a good sign, Sunset led them into the small store. As the door let out a soft jingle, the heavy-set mocha-colored man at the counter raised his eyes to meet hers and offered a hearty bellow, "Ah, little Sunset, it's been a while since you've come by. Oh, you've brought friends? Great, great day!". As Sunset slung her backpack into the corner, he leaned over the counter and grabbed first Cadance's, and then Twilight's right arm into a vigorous handshake that would have made Applejack flush with pride.

Before either could recover, he turned back towards Sunset, who was blushing slightly, "Sunset Shimmer, aren't you going to introduce me to these lovely ladies?", he said with a grin.

"These two are uh... just a second", Sunset's face morphed into a grimace, "I just remembered something urgent. We'll be right back!" she said, grabbing onto her companions' arms and pulling them back out of the store and into a nearby alleyway.

"W- what was that all about?" Cadance stammered out as she and Twilight fought to stay balanced on two legs against Sunset's rough pulling.

Once they were a few feet into the alley, Sunset let go and turned back to face them. "Sorry about that, I just realized something important that I need to tell you. This world mirrors our own in a lot of ways. The city we're in right now, for example, is called Canterlot, and parts of the city are called things like Ponyville and Cantershade. As for the people-- that is to say, humans-- they also usually share the name and look of ponies from Equestria." Twilight's face displayed a roulette of emotions as she processed this information.

Sunset continued, "For example, the principal of Canterlot High School is named Celestia. She isn't a millennia-old princess who raises the sun, but she looks and acts a lot like the Princess. The reason you need to know this now is that if you use your regular names, somebody-- and it is somebody, not pony here-- might get suspicious about why there are two Twilight Sparkles running around."

"But wait," Twilight interjected, "Why does that even matter? If we just explain the situation to these, uh... 'people', then won't they try to help us get back to Equestria?"

"There are a few reasons why we can't do that" Sunset said, turning towards Twilight, "This world has almost no magic. Imagine if somebody came up to you and claimed to be from another dimension. You'd probably assume they were crazy, but you might give them the benefit of the doubt. Now imagine they claimed that in a world where dimensional travel, or even just instantaneous travel like teleportation, is considered pure fantasy! Even if some people did believe you, humans are more paranoid about unknowns than ponies are, especially when it comes to things like aliens. They'd be more likely to lock you up and study you than help you open a portal."

Twilight nodded, but then noticed another peculiarity, "I can accept that, but then why did that man back there still call you Sunset Shimmer? Is that not your original name?"

At this Sunset cringed slightly, "Well, I didn't really know that there were alternate versions of everyone here until after I'd given a few people my name. As for the other Sunset...", she hesitated, "among many other small differences between this world and ours, she, uh...", Sunset glanced away, "She's dead. I was curious about her once I realized she probably existed, so I did some research. She accidentally started a fire when she was seven, and didn't make it out of her house alive...", she trailed off as Cadance moved to wrap her arms around her.

They stood like that for another minute, with Cadance pressing into Sunset, who self-consciously looked anywhere but at the pink teen wrapped around her. Twilight stood off to the side, internally debating on whether to join the hug or not. Finally, she moved forward and quickly wrapped her arms around the two others, "I'm so sorry, I can't even imagine what that must feel like." She said, as Sunset finally moved to break free of their grips.

As they broke away, Sunset attempted to school her blushing face into something one might see at a business meeting, "Anyways, as I was saying, there's probably another Twilight and Cadance running around somewhere around here, so it'd be best if you came up with new names for yourselves. We should also get some hair dye later, so you don't look exactly like your other versions."

Sunset turned towards Twilight, "We'll start with you. Any ideas for a good name?"

Twilight considered for a moment, "How about... Dusk Shine? Or Starlight Glimmer?"

Sunset frowned, "Those are just alternate ways of saying the name you already have. I think it would be safer if you came up with something completely different. I assume your talent is magic, but surely you have some other hobby or talent you can make a name from?"

Twilight rubbed her chin, "Hmmm... Well, I've always loved books, and I ran a library back in Ponyville. How about... Codex Keeper?"

Sunset nodded, "That should work, just give me a second." She pulled out her phone and, as the other two stared, began typing away. After a few moments, she looked back up. "Okay, I didn't find anything about anyone else named 'Codex Keeper', what about you Cadance?"

Before Cadance could respond, Twilight cut in, "Wait, wait, wait. What exactly was that thing? I thought you said there wasn't much magic here!"

Sunset held the phone up so that Twilight could see it better, "There isn't much magic here, but humans have made up for that with their technology. I'll explain it more to you later since Java Bean is probably starting to think we ditched him right now, but it basically lets me access libraries worth of information almost anywhere I want to. The 'libraries' don't contain any information on somebody named Codex Keeper, so it should be a safe name. Anyways, Cadance?"

Cadance responded a bit hesitantly, "Well, I was thinking... Love Beat."

"Love... Beat?" Sunset asked, "Why that name in particular? Secretly wanted to pummel all those stallions that used to hit on you, eh?"

"No no no," Cadance said, waving her hands, "Even after I became a princess I'd sometimes dream about being a DJ. I had even asked my parents for a turntable for my birthday, but I ascended before that could happen."

At that, Sunset starting laughing to herself, "Heh, Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of Raves! Was Love Beat going to be your stage name?"

As she attempted to withdraw into her own hair, Cadance made a passable Fluttershy impression, "No... It was actually going to be Cad-Z..."

Sunset clutched her own stomach and began to laugh loudly as Twilight watched her in disapproval. Eventually she composed herself and began typing away on her phone again. "Alright, that name should work. Codex, Cad-Z, let's go get some food." Snickering a bit more, she led them back into the coffee shop.

"Welcome back, welcome back! I was beginning to fear you'd ran off on me!" the mocha-man said. "Are you finally going to introduce these lovely ladies?"

Sunset nodded and motioned towards them, "The pink one's name is Love Beat, while the purple one is Codex Keeper. Love Beat, Java Bean. Java Bean, Love Beat..." she went on to introduce the two, with the respective parties each receiving another vigorous hand-shaking.

Java Bean beamed at them, "Ah, it does me so much good to see you out and about with others." He turned towards 'Codex' and 'Love Beat', "So, how do you two know my little Sunset?"

At this, Sunset began to silently curse herself, 'Idiot! Instead of teasing Cadance, you should have been creating a backstory. Better just say I just bumped into them...'

Before she could respond, however, Cadance seemed to have a flash of inspiration and suddenly uttered, "We're sisters!". She hesitated a bit before continuing, "I can't believe Sunset has never mentioned us! She's the oldest, then me, and then Codex here.", she said, ruffling Twilight's hair slightly while giving Java an awkward smile.

Java looked between the three girls in front of him. Cadance struggled to maintain her smile while on her right Sunset glared a hole into her head and, on her left, Twilight stared into space like a deer caught in the headlights. Suddenly, he leaned back and burst into a hearty laugh before staring back at them, "Little Sunset has always been so hesitant to talk about her family, I was almost afraid they didn't exist!", he didn't notice Sunset cringe, "It's a pleasure to meet both of you. So, what can I do you for?"

At this, Sunset gave Cadance one more heated glance before turning to Java and forcing a smile, "I'll just get my usual, but double the eggs."

While she spoke, Cadance and Twilight looked at the menu and at the items displayed on the counter. After a few seconds of deliberation, Twilight ordered, "I'll get an egg-and-cheese bagel and an iced coffee, please."

Finally, after what seemed like an entire minute, Cadance glanced back up to Sunset, "Is there a limit to how much I spend, or can I get however much I'd like?"

Sunset raised an eyebrow and peeked into her wallet, "This place isn't all that expensive, but I am a bit short on cash right now. You can spend... er... Ten dollars?"

Cadance scanned the menu one more time, and then nodded to herself, "Alright. I'd like a Black-as-Night Coffee, a cream cheese bagel, two early bird specials without bacon and..." she looked back up at the menu for anything cheap enough to keep her under ten dollars (she didn't really know what a "dollar" was, but she hoped it was related to the '$' symbols that appeared all over the menu) "... An apple bear claw."

As those around her stared at her, she looked back at them quizzically, "What? I haven't eaten a good meal in over two weeks, cut me some slack!" Java seemed like he was going to ask a question, but Sunset waved him off and began to pay the bill.

Once the bill was payed and they had sat down at a corner table, Sunset leaned across towards Cadance and whispered harshly, "What in Tartarus was that sister stuff about?"

Cadance shrunk back for a second, but then leaned back in with a determined look on her face, "Well, Twilight and I are practically already sisters. I was engaged to her brother and would have been married to him by now if not for the Changelings.", she leaned back slightly as her gaze softened, "And, as for you... I know you never really liked me, and that you thought I didn't really deserve to be a princess... But we lived together. My parents were the only family I had growing up, but after I ascended they started treating me like a ruler, not a daughter, so I... Kind of thought of you as a bratty older sister. Even if you never treated me that well, you were probably the closest thing to family I had in Canterlot."

At this revelation, Sunset balked, "B- what about Celestia? You're her niece!"

Cadance adopted a small frown, "I think you know as well as I do that I'm only her 'niece' because the nobility demanded it. I saw Celestia two or three times a week at most, and it was always for some formal event or special princess training, never for anything a family would do together. I was actually jealous of you. You got to have teatime with her everyday on top of all of her lessons."

Sunset flared in anger, not even bothering to whisper this time, "You, jealous of me? Celestia never saw me as anything other than a tool! I tried to get close to her, but every time I did she'd just find some way to distract me! She would never give me a straight answer unless I asked her directly, and even then she'd usually just say I 'wasn't ready'. When she showed up," at this she pointed violently at Twilight, "Celestia decided that I wasn't even that useful of a tool and started shutting me out!"

At this, Twilight began to rise to defend her mentor, but Cadance held her back as she began trying to calm Sunset down, "I'm sorry. I knew your relationship with Celestia strained at some point, but I never knew why. I think we were both jealous of each other for entirely wrong reasons. I thought Celestia considered you a daughter, and a part of me wanted to have that too, but clearly I was wrong. You thought because I was her adopted 'niece', that meant that Celestia actually treated me as family, when in actuality she knew me so little that she couldn't tell the difference between me and a two-bit impostor. We were young and oblivious, and if we'd just talked about this years ago, I'm sure we would have become close friends. So... Sisters?"

Cadance offered her hand. Instead of accepting it, though, Sunset quietly got up and walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. As Cadance and Twilight stared at each other in confusion, they began to hear Sunset's muffled voice, "Hahaha, Sisters! All this time, I only wanted... But it never... By Celestia! By Celestia! Oh, she'll..." a series of dull thuds came from within the bathroom and, after a minute of complete silence, Sunset calmly walked back to the table.

"After some thought, I think I'd like that very much." Sunset said, offering her hand to Cadance, who accepted it with some trepidation. "Sisters it is."

Before they could continue, Java came out of the kitchen with a large platter filled with food and bearing three cups of coffee. Laying it out on their table, Java whispered in Cadance's ear, "Take care of my little Sunset, please. I could tell she was hurting every time she came by here, but I could never get her to open up like you did just now."

After Java left, they all began to silently work on their meals. As Cadance digested Java's words, she looked around the table. Twilight seemed to be overtaken by inner turmoil from what she'd just heard about her mentor, and Cadance gave her a quick squeeze of comfort before turning her gaze to Sunset. She was robotically picking at her hash, her face scrunched in deep thought. Suddenly, her face softened and a slight smirk came to dominate her features. Cadance gulped, she knew immediately what that smirk meant. A new plan was afoot, and Cadance wasn't sure she'd like it.

Author's Note

This chapter brought to you by the sound of Old Man Jenkins in his jalopy.

When I wrote the prologue I really just wanted to get a story out that I'd feel motivated to continue, so I didn't really take much time to plan out how the remainder of the story would go. I've since done some more planning and have a better idea of where I'm going with this. Eagle eyed viewers may spot that the Mane 7 tag has been replaced with Sci-Twi. This is one of the results of my planning. The Mane-6 of humanland will have their times to shine, but I felt it was unfair to give them a tag when some of them will only have as much time dedicated to them as, for a totally-hypothetical example, Lyra or Vinyl Scratch. In contrast, I knew from the beginning that Sci-Twi would somehow position herself as an important figure in this prodigious plot of portal producing pones, and that hasn't changed.

I decided to release this chapter today because I feel a lot of the information in it should have been in the Prologue, but from now on I'll be switching to a consistent schedule of one chapter every Monday as long as no unforeseen circumstances come to play. My only real gripe with this chapter is that, like the previous one, Twilight is overshadowed. Rest assured, though, the next chapter will focus mainly on her and what's been going on in that purple smart brain of hers.

Any questions? Comments? Concerns? Critiques? Cool facts about panda bears? All are appreciated.

"History is a symptom of our disease" - Mao Zedong