The Cat, Witch and the Wormholes

Chapter 9. The Golden Notebook

In the deep dark night that stretched over the city that stood on the ledge of a huge mountain, in the room on the tallest tower of the Canterlot castle, on a nightstand by the bed, where the exhausted and saddened youngest alicorn Princess of Equestria was lying, the gilded notebook began to buzz quietly and glow with a bright yellow light, in the blink of an eye tearing off the chains of grief away from the young filly.

Deeply exhausted Princess Celestia tried unsuccessfully to fall asleep. Her body, drained by the bitterness of loss, did not want and could not give her the necessary rest. Her weary mind continued to ponder the endless internal dispute between the two parts of her soul. One blamed the other for all the mistakes she made in her life, all the tragedies that could have been prevented, all the losses she had suffered through her own fault.

Since the disappearance of Sunset, with each passing day she has more and more plunging into the abyss of despair, less and less seeking to fulfill her duties, has eaten almost nothing, stopped coming to the throne room and stopped conducting audiences. Her sleep became intermittent, and the voice of the subconscious did not fall silent even for a moment, not allowing to find peace and relaxation.

And as soon as she just dozed off, the double doors at the entrance of the gloomy bedroom, swung open with a bang, startling the drowsy ruler of Equestria. And the joyful Princess of Love, not paying attention to anything, ran closer and jumped on the bed of her adoptive auntie, driving away the remnants of her sleepiness. And despite the fact that she was still out of breath, choking with happiness, she shouted something in an excited voice.

"Cadence, Cadence. Calm down, take a deep breath, hold for a moment, and then exhale."

Pink princess sucked the air loudly, stopped for a second, and then, no less loudly, exhaled.

"All right, now, tell me what happened, what made you rush into my chambers in the middle of the night."

"Auntie! Auntie! Auntie! She is alive! She is definitely alive!" Cheerfully exclaimed the princess.

"Wh.. Wha?"

"Sunset! Sunset is alive!"

"Cadence. You are deeply dear to me, but I still can’t ignore your probable delusion!"

"This is not a delusion, auntie!" Slightly indignantly pronounced the young filly. "She wrote to me!"

"She wrote to you. How?" The gears in the tired sleepy brain of the Princess Celestia began to move at a tenfold speed.

"In the golden notebook that she left me! All these days there was no news from her, and suddenly, ten minutes ago, she wrote to me!"

"Please show me!" Hope, which seemingly dried up over these days, with new force rushed to her heart.

Cadence handed her a notebook, which she brought with her, and looked impatiently at her auntie as she flipped through its pages.

"It can't be!" Blurted out amazed Celestia.

"But it's true!"

"Oh Faust! This is definitely her hoofwriting! I still can't believe that she is alive!" Tears began to flow from the eyes of the sun princess. "She is alive! Alive! Thank Faust!"

"I knew! I believed! I felt that she didn't die!" Through her own tears of joy, said Cadence.

"Thank you! Thank you, Cadence, that you brought such happy news!" Celestia hugged her adoptive niece and smiled.

"You're welcome! I'm glad I could give you back the joy, auntie." Cadence smiled back.

Celestia read the notebook again and then exclaimed.

"We must write back to her! We must support her and help as soon as we can."

"I'm not sure that this is possible." Muttered saddened Cadence. "I already tried to write to her, but the ink just disappeared right away."

"But how can that be?" Celestia tried to write herself, but her ink immediately disappeared too. "Hmm. It seems that the two-way communication between the notebooks was damaged, and now we can only see what she writes, but we cannot write anything in response."

"Yeah..."

"Do not despair! She is alive and only that matters! We will definitely find a way to save her and bring her home! I promise! I will do my best!"

They embraced again and now looked at the future with Hope.

[ My beloved friend Cadence, my dear teacher Princess Celestia, I hope that these words will reach you, or you will read them directly from my copy of the notebook in the future. I sincerely hope that you will ever be able to forgive me for my stupidity. Because I can never forgive myself. My excessive overconfidence and rashness almost led to tragedy. And I should have never disobeyed my teacher's will. I ignored warnings about the dangers from Starswirl’s notes, I didn't hear the voice of common sense and the pleas of my best friend. I went on my own, guided by my pride and thirst for knowledge, and paid dearly for it.

Even the fact that arriving in another world began with surprises didn't force me to return immediately. And troubles began to pour on my head one by one. And before I knew where I was or what was happening, I was attacked by a horde of bloodthirsty monsters, and only because luck didn't leave me completely, and thanks to Midnight’s incredible reaction, I managed to survive.

The monsters didn't stop attacking us both for even a minute, pushing us further and further away from the portal. In the end, I was forced to flee, and Midnight decided to stay to hold them, covering my retreat. I've never been so scared in my life before. Never before have I had to fight for my existence, fighting hordes of terrifying monsters who know no mercy. The monsters, which, as it turned out, were created by the hooves of this psychotic villain, who imagined himself king and killed hundreds of inhabitants of the whole town, using their bodies as material to create his own subjects.

I was lucky to meet a group of friendly natives of this world who helped me. But even they couldn't stop this disgusting maniac. And by his order, the monsters serving him drove us into a trap in the center of the town, right on the doorstep of his lair. Where we were forced to fight together with all our might. We almost lost. Because in the heat of battle we missed the moment when he sent giant armored monster at us. And from their strike, the force shield, that Midnight held, in the blink of an eye shrank to half of its size, and I and one of the locals were left without protection.

I tried to protect us by conjuring a directional shields, but this was too insufficient, and one of the tall monsters suddenly kicked that local, and mortally wounded me. After that, I ended up in the claws of a villain and he decided to kill me in order to intimidate the others. But something happened and I lost consciousness. And when I came to my senses, I was alive in the hospital, and they told me that everything was over, we won, because somehow I was able to turn the crazy lunatic and his whole army of monsters into dust. But, unfortunately, what I did, also destroyed the statue of a strange pony, which served as the portal exit in this world.

And now I was trapped here, with no obvious way to go back home. I will try to do my best to find a way to return, but for now I can’t even read local books, because they use a completely different syntax and a different alphabet than we do, and without books and information from them, our return will be delayed. But I do not despair, I believe that we will meet again, and I will be able to apologize personally, and accept punishment for my actions, which I deserve.

With a Hope for the future, your friend and student, Sunset Shimmer. ]

"You're not going to punish her, are you?" Said concerned Cadence.

"Of course not! Yes, she did something stupid and almost died, but I don't think she deserves punishment. She has already suffered enough." Reassured her Princess Celestia.

"Good. I hope that we will be able to contact her and say how much we are worried about her."

"I hope so too."

[ Hello there! This is Sunset again. You have not replied to my previous message. So probably you didn't receive it or you can't answer me. And I really hope that this is not because you are madly angry with me.

I'm fine so far. Midnight is fine too, so Cadence, you don't need to worry about him.

I hope that everything is fine at home too.

I was finally discharged from the hospital and can start looking for a solution of returning to home.

Since you don't answer me, I will assume that your answers can't reach me. And if so, then I will use this notebook as my personal diary, in the hope that one day you will be able to read everything yourself. I will use the local date system, because it will be easier to navigate in time, and apparently our home calendar is only twenty-four years behind the local one. ]

[ Today is Tuesday, October 21, 2008

After I was discharged from the hospital, an enclosed black carriage arrived to take me to my new place of residence. I was told that I would live with my peers in a tall building in the middle of a big city.

I also took Midnight with me and we will there together. ]

"Good evening, miss Shimmer. I am Legend, the leader of the New York branch of the Protectorate, and from this moment I am your supreme leader." Legend introduced himself with a hard voice.

"Good evening, mister Legend. Nice to meet you."

"We will see." He noted curtly. "For the near future, you will live here, in the Protectorate tower, at a level dedicated to the Wards. And from tomorrow you will be introduced to a team of newcomers, such as you, and you will be trained and instructed together. You will be given a private room where you can store personal items, clothes, take a shower and sleep. Also in this room we will put a couch for your cat."

"Thank you." Legend scowled a little for interrupting him.

"Your personal training program will be prepared later, after you have completed a full course of examination with our specialists. We will conduct the necessary tests of your abilities in order to better decide which type of action is best suited for you. That's all for now. Everything else will be told to you later." Sunset silently nodded. "Your curator will be Ursa Aurora, she is waiting for you at the doors and she will take you to your room, where you can rest."

Legend turned to the large window, making it clear that the meeting was over.

[ Today is Wednesday, October 22, 2008

My boss at a new job is a meanie. He was so rude to me when we first met that I was almost upset. But they gave me a private room with a good view of the city, so I quickly calmed down. It is much smaller than my room in the castle, but quite good. I also met my future curator, whose name is Ursa Aurora. She is very kind and we chatted a little while she accompanied me to the room.

And today they have to introduce me to my colleagues. ]

"Hey." A young female in a half-helm with opaque visor greeted her.

"Hello." Mumbled Sunset in response. Her own face was hidden by a checkered half-mask.

"I'm Flechette."

"My curator told me not to give my real name."

"This is not my real name either." She giggled.

"I don't have an alias yet. The curator said that they will come up with an alias for me later."

The door opened and a young male in a white suit with purple patterns entered the room.

"Oh, hello, Quasar."

"Sup. Who is new girl?"

"She don't have a name yet."

"Huh. So, the New Girl, for now. I hope it does not offend you?" He asked Sunset.

"No it's okay."

"Well, where are the other two?" He asked the young female.

"Ursa went to find them."

"Momma-bear is back in business, it seems."

The door slammed shut behind them, forcing them to turn around sharply.

"Momma-bear will definitely teach her cubs how to call their elders appropriately." Growled Ursa Aurora coming into the room.

"Someone got caught." Laughed one of the young males who came with her.

"Okay, enough! Attention everyone, we have a newbie today. PR has not yet chosen a name for her, so I just suggest that you greet each other with real names. She is now one of us, and there is no danger for your secret identities. Well, let's start with a new girl. Please take off your mask and introduce yourself."

"Uhm, hello. I'm Sunset Shimmer." Sunset said, pulling the mask off her face.

"Hey, you said she doesn't have an alias yet." Shouted tallest one of the newcomers.

"Thats her real name, you dumbass." Retorted a young female.

"Who the hell in their right mind would name someone like that?!"

"Shut up, peabrain! Hey, Sunset, I'm Lily Yukimura, I hope that we will become good friends!"

"Stephen White." Smiled a young blond male who she already knew was Quasar.

"Names Tony Hall, better known as, The Onyx!" Boasted dark skinned youngster dressed in blocky black and gold polished costume.

"Hex, or James Rodriguez when I'm out of a mask." Saluted olive colored lanky male dressed in wizard robes.

"Well, since everyone introduced themselves, I will introduce myself too." Ursa Aurora unstrapped her glossy bear mask revealing a dark skinned female with faint lines of scars on her face. "Sunset, you already know me as Ursa Aurora, but when we are in a safe place, you can call me Marsha Davis."

[ Today is Friday, October 24, 2008

New colleagues are a bit annoying. But they seem to be nice. They try to make friends with me, but I don't know them well enough yet.

I also learned a little about the world in which I found myself. Locals call themselves "human", which pronounced as "hue-man", weird name for the species. They call the colts "boy", and fillies "girls", the adults they call "man" and "woman", respectively, which is even weirder, because it is like calling a stallion "pony" and a mare "wopony".

And they all think that I'm local, and that Midnight is not real, but my conjured projection, because they said that he is too smart, and there are no such intelligent animals. When I told my colleagues that he was magical, they laughed and said that magic does not exist. I decided not to voice my opinion about it until I got to know everything better.

Today they are going to test my abilities. But I didn't tell them that this is magic, in order to avoid misunderstandings. Everything magical they call powers, and those who have Special Talents they call Capes. As it turned out, only some of the locals in this world have Special Talents. They hide their faces under masks and don't tell anyone their real names. ]

"Good day, miss, hmm, it seems that your name wasn't specified in the papers. They haven't come up with a name for you yet?" Asked a short bald man in a white coat.

"No, my curator said that they would do it on Monday."

"It's okay, not for first time. So let's see what you can do." He flipped through the pages in the file. "Hmm, a grab-bag cape, and a powerful one. Unusual. You are like our own little Eidolon?"

"Eidolon?"

"Not interested in capes, I see. He is one of the most diverse and powerful capes in the world."

"Uh-huh."

"Well, lets begin. Please step onto the stage and use your fire powers on these dummies."

"But they will melt."

"It's fine, they are here exactly for this purpose."

"Okay." Sunset shrugged and cast a fireball into the dummy, setting it on fire.

"Is this your most powerful blast?"

"Uhm, no?"

"Then please use your power at the maximum, we need to determine your limits."

"But wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"Do not worry, this test chamber is designed to withstand anything you can throw at it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, and please proceed, we don't have all day."

"Okay."

There was an explosion that shook the entire building, causing the fire alarm to went off over the building.

"Well, I didn't expect that." Muttered singed bald man covered in soot.

[ Today is Monday, October 27, 2008

My power testing went wrong, and I was forced to repeat it after they fixed the damage. And Midnight was very unhappy because he was splashed with water from the sprinklers. The boss summoned me to his office and was mean as ever, but my curator said that nothing was my fault. She is very nice.

Midnight continues to disappear from time to time, and no one seems to know where he is going. I plan to tail him to find out.

And for today scheduled a meeting with someone named Glenn Chambers and my colleagues for some reason began to giggle when I told them about it. ]

When Sunset entered the room, there was already a obese man dressed in very shabby clothes with the most outrageous mane style she had ever seen, she even thought he was Zebrican.

"Ah, finally, hello, please come in." He greeted her.

"Hello."

"I'm Glenn Chambers, head of PR department of the PRT. I will be the one who has the final decision on the choice of your heroic appearance."

"You mean my costume?"

"The costume, the image, your public speeches and promotional materials."

"Speeches? I will need to make speeches?"

"But of course! You are a hero, you must inspire, motivate. Your whole self should promote the goodwill of the PRT."

"But what if I don't want to be in public and make speeches?"

"You of course do not have to interact with the crowd, but you still need to know what and how you can say and what not. And to be a Ward means that you will still meet people, and your circumstances make it much easier for us to make masses like you."

"What is so special about me?" Sunset is slightly tensed.

"Well, you are a young red-haired girl with a gentle personality, which already gives you a lot of positive reaction from the projected age group, you have powers that let you heal, and healers always liked by the general audience, and you have a semi-autonomous cat projection that will make you quite popular with every animal lover."

"He isn't a projection." She silently mumbled.

"The only issue is your fire powers, because people always wary of an open flame, but even this we can easily turn in our favor. But first we had to make some changes to your appearance.."

[ Today is Wednesday, November 19, 2008

It was nearly month already as I come to this world. And with everything I was forced to deal I didn't even had much time to make new entries in my diary. The training regime and coaching from PR people left me so exhausted that I was only able to crawl on my bed and immediately fall asleep.

The day after tomorrow will be the day when they introduce me to the public for the first time. They have already chosen a costume and name for me. But they made me dye my mane a uniform color, saying that it would be easier to hide my secret identity. And that would be safer for me.

I'm a little afraid, and not very comfortable with all these speeches and presentations, but I think I can handle it.

I also managed to find out where Midnight disappears. It turned out that he had found his way to the common messroom and now spends most of his time there, closer to the kitchen. I always knew that he was a glutton, but did not think that he would exchange my company for a bowl of food.

And I'm slowly learning the local alphabet, and maybe soon I will be able to read their books.

I miss my home, Cadence and Princess Celestia very much. I want to go home. ]

[ ... today we proudly present our newest hero to you. She is the flame of life. She is like the very power of nature. A Soul-warming impulse. A Lady of the Restoration. The Magnificent priestess of the Sun. THE PHOENIX! ]

Loudly announced the host of the show and a girl in a red and gold tight-fitting costume with two-colored sun ornaments in a flash of flame appeared on the scene. Making the audience applaud loudly.

[ I bring you the Light of purification from Darkness. I will Cure this world from the wounds of Despair. And those who want the New Dawn of Hope say with me - Praise the Sun! ]

She shouted in inspiring tone, appealing to the public.

[ Praise the Sun! Praise the Sun! Praise the Sun! ]

The audience echoed her aloud.

[ Thank you, thank you everyone for your support! ]

Smiling young heroine sincerely thanked the people gathered in the concert hall.

[ Thank you for supporting our newest Ward. ]

Announcer seized the opportunity, gazing around the crowd.

[ But that isn't all. Our heroine is not alone, she has a faithful companion. He who follows her everywhere, shielding her from the dangers. He who covers her from harm. The Midnight Shield! ]

The enormously large cat appeared on the scene and sat down to the left of the heroine, looking around the audience indifferently.

[ He is personal pet and close friend of our heroine, who will help her fight the evil of this city. He is smart as a dog. ]

At which cat visibly scowled at host of the show.

[ And specially trained to assist her on patrols... ]

And somewhere in Boston, the eyes glittered behind a mouse themed half-mask and a smile crawled on the face of the watcher of the TV show.