Twi,

I’m sorry about having to cancel on you last minute …and about my somewhat brusque message. Last night…was a bit of a disaster.

And it didn't even require me to say one word about Equestria or magic.

Oh no, Sunset! What happened? Are the other Twilight and her family okay?

…No one was physically hurt. I…

It wasn't a good evening. I ended up coming home last night.

I've talked about Twilight’s school, and the dark magic. Simply put, she wants out and her parents want to transfer her, but she's in the middle of a project that counts for her entire semester grade for TWO of her core subjects, and we’re pretty sure the principal will stiff her on the grades for it if she bails before she turns it in. So she's been working hard to finish it.

Slight problem. She's been studying magic. I mean, she doesn't know its magic, just an energy she’s unfamiliar with, but I've been working to dissuade her the whole time. Not that it has helped.

Sunset…you didn't mention all of this the other day.

Yeah. I know. I was a little overwhelmed as it is, Twi. Anyway, she wasn't there when I went over…and her parents thought I was picking her up from school. Thought I’d been picking her up all week long. She even told her mother that she saw me—the same day I was meeting with you, so…I can safely say she lied on that…

That…seems out of character. I know we’re supposedly different according to you, but lying is something I don't do often. I rarely see the point, and I don't tend to be adventurous enough into rule breaking that lying is necessary.

…Spike is correcting me. He wishes to point out that I will lie if someone is preventing me from following through in my pursuit of knowledge. He has a point; I can be somewhat focused on such things. Is that what happened?

I don't know. It was weird, because you're right. Lying isn't really something she does either—she’s…not really good at it.

Anyway…so her dad went to go get her from school because she wasn't answering her phone either. We were worried about her, that something happened. But when she got back with her dad…she was angry.

We got into a fight. A bad one. She accused me of a lot—she must have learned something about magic. Something big, because she asked me about the Battle of the Bands and the formal. Demanded answers. Accused me of lying…

It was bad.

I…She…

[Waterstains marr the page—tears.]

I don't even know if I still have a best friend anymore, let alone anything else.

Oh, Sunset…I’m sorry. What about her family?

They're…upset at her. Angry. They said that they want to help fix this, because Mr. Night…sort of caused the blow up a bit. Accidentally. We didn't know that they knew about our relationship being…anything other than friendship. (Humans…have some weird cultural hangups about what kind of partners are okay to have…I don't quite understand why, but same gender partnerships are something that is hit and miss on acceptance—kind of like pony-zebra relationships would be among the Canterlot nobles, if you catch my meaning. I swear, Twi…humans pay way too much attention to who other humans want to romance and have sex with.)

Because of that, my Twilight has been trying to work up to telling them about us, but…it turns out they already knew, and her dad accidentally let that slip…

And she thought you told him?

That I went behind her back and did it, but yes. That's what made everything go…out of control. Mrs. Velvet didn't want me to leave, Cadence brought me home…All of them are adamant that it's…going to work out…but…

…I’m not sure. I've heard that before and it's never been true.

She means so much to me…I’m not sure what I’ll do if she never wants to see me again.

[More tearstains make the ink blurry in places.]

Sunset…if she’s really your friend, especially your best friend…then this wont break that. Friendship is stronger than a fight…and so is family.

Don't give up hope, please, and don't let this turn you away from what makes you happy, from making friends and having a good life. The Sunset I’ve come to know since the Battle of the Bands is an amazing mare, one I’m proud to call my friend. She’s bright and full of generosity, compassion, and warmth that she freely shines on those around her, and she knows what its like to struggle, meaning she can show a level of understanding for others better than anypony I’ve ever met; please don't give up on being that Sunset, on how much you’ve grown since the night you stole my Element away.

Thanks, Twi…it means a lot, coming from you. Can't get a better endorsement for my rehabilitation than the Princess of Friendship, right?

I’m…not giving up…but…I’m…not in a good place right now. What she said…it hurt. A lot…and it takes two people to make a relationship. She…still might decide that what I kept from her for so long is…too much. Or she may decide that she’s better off with another human. I don't know, and I guess I don't want to get my hopes up.

I understand, Sunset, but have hope. If she cares as much about you as it sounds like

Twi?

Hang on, Sunset. I hear Spike arguing with somep—-

The magic of the book thrummed sharply, almost aggressively, and the final sentence came through as hurried, hastily scrawled glyphs, the last one half finished and broken by the sharp motion of the reinforced quill being jerked across paper so fast and hard that it tore through the page and left ink splattered everywhere. In all the years Sunset had used the journal, that had never happened before, and she touched the ink stained tear that had appeared in her book with shaking fingers and a sinking stomach. Sure, Princess Celestia had left off mid-message on occasions where duty required, and Princess Twilight had stepped away on numerous occasions to deal with trouble, but it had almost always come with a quick “I’ll be back later,” message and never with the implication of some kind of fight or act that cut the alicorn off in the middle like that.

Cribbing her thumb, she waited for an agonizing thirty minutes before trying to gain a response from the book. Nothing major or overly frantic, just a “Hey are you there? Did Pinkie blow up the castle kitchen again? That happened once when I was talking to some of your friends here…”

Another ten minutes went by, and then her senses flared with the agony of a brutal burst of magic from the book itself, as if the enchantment had encountered some kind of ward scheme that interfered or interrupted the magic on the linked journals. It felt…wrong, somehow…reminding her of her nightmares and the warp in reality where the portal should be.

—Something bad has happened, horn-head. You need to check the portal, now.—

Demon or not, the voice was right, and she was throwing on her shoes even as she blitzed the group chat with a huge SOS.

Sunset: GIRLS! We have an emergency! Something has happened in Equestria, and maybe to the portal! I’m headed to CHS now! Meet me there ASAP!

RD: WTF happened?

Rarity:Give me two minutes to lock up the shop and wake Applejack. She came by after dropping Applebloom off at my place to play with Sweetie.

Fluttershy: Is Twilight okay?

Sunset:We got cut off in a journal talk.

RD: U sure she didn just hv to hit the can? actually what does a pony shitter look like?

AJ:Not the time Dash.

Sunset: Im sure. The book had something happen to its magic. It felt wrong. Will explain at chs

RD: omw!!!

Racing out, Sunset barely remembered to lock her door, leaping on her bike after shoving the journal in the storage and helmet on her head. The redhead peeled away from the alley like Cerberus was snapping at her hooves, weaving through traffic at a speed that would get her one hell of a ticket if the police caught her. Luckily for her, she didn't pass any on her way there.

She screeched to a halt at the curb and dropped the kickstand, only to realize Dash was already there. The soccer player was already Ponied-Up, vibrating in place with jittery energy being expended by super speed augmented fidgeting. “Youwereright,” she said without preamble, words so fast it was one long syllable. “Something’swrongwiththeportalmagic!itslikeantsonmyskin!”

“Dash…not everyone is operating at one hundred times normal speed. Slow down, put spaces between the words and try again.”

Her ears pinned back in a seeming subconscious gesture, a first for the athlete, though Sunset had noticed similar gestures from Fluttershy, suggesting the girls were adjusting to the pony appendages as time went on. “Sorry…but you were right—there's something weird about the portal and it feels like bugs crawling on me!”

Sunset turned her head towards the school, and couldn't detect anything openly out of place, but even without her senses focused she could feel the sense of wrongness Dash had picked up on. “Okay. I want to wait for the others before we get close, just in case something comes out of the statue.” She fished her phone out. “In the meantime, I’m going to text Flash and let him know we’re investigating something with the portal that might be dangerous.”

The rest of the girls arrived over the next fifteen minutes, with Fluttershy jogging up out of breath and Pinkie just…appearing from…somewhere…once Applejack and Rarity arrived in the latter’s car. Rarity wrinkled her nose. “Oh dear…Sunset, I do not like the way the statue feels right now. I am assuming that such is in line with what you felt from the book?”

“…yes. And given that the book wasn't connected to the portal in any way when it happened, that is…the least likely scenario.” Sunset took a deep breath to steady herself and get a handle on her already messy emotions. “Time to see if the practice has paid off, girls. Pony-Up and be ready in case something comes out of the statue or tries to kill us.”

Applejack snorted. “Comfortin’ thought.”

Shrugging, the former unicorn offered apologetically, “In Equestria, it's pretty safe to assume the wildlife thinks you're either edible or a challenge to its territory. That way if you’re surprised it's at least a pleasant surprise.” Hesitating only briefly, Sunset reached for her magic, and it responded as it should, without any of the pain and twisting from before. Had Rarity been right about her stress and exhaustion levels?

—Maybe. Or maybe for once you aren't fighting yourself.—

Her ears twitched backwards in annoyance, but she refused to rise to the obvious bait. Instead, she led the girls close to the statue and inspected it with eyes and magic. Physically it looked no different than normal, but when she fell into the sense that was her magic it was wrong in a way that defied words. “It's not dark magic…” she told them as she circled carefully around the plinth. “Its…raw. Distorted.” Ragged magic writhed around the statue, faint tendrils of arcane power grasping in all directions and dimensions like the tentacles of some kind of cephalopod, and deeper in, where she could normally feel the tether that connected the two worlds…

“Sweet merciful sunfire and a thousand waking nightmares…” Sunset whispered, stepping carefully forward to touch the marble.

“Darling…what is it?”

She shivered. “It’s…like touching an open wound…except…” Sunset groped for an analogy. “If you think of the connection between the worlds like a rubber band or a long tube…it's as though the end attached here is fine, and where it starts to traverse the In-Between is normal…but then…the tether just…ceases to exist beyond that. Not severed, not cut, not torn…there's not even some kind of portal or hole or anything. Just…a nothingness where there should be a something, and the nothing is something that should not exist.”

Fluttershy pulled her away from the statue with gentle hands, hugging her around the shoulders. “What could have done this?”

A shiver went through the redhead. “I don't know. Twilight mentioned hearing yelling before she got cut off.”

“Ya said once that the other side of the portal’s a mirror, right?” Applejack asked. “What’re the odds someone smashed it somehow? Mirrors ain't exactly sturdy.”

Sunset considered that, before shaking her head. “I don’t think it's that simple. If someone broke the mirror, it would just snap the spell or enchantment. Like tearing or cutting the line. There might be a bit of leaking magic or implication of the broken end, but..”

“But not some yawning nothingness that has latched onto the other end like some kinda big mouth bass?” AJ offered.

Dash crossed her arms, her wings keeping her several feet in the air. “So what do we do? We can't just leave it…bleeding all over the place!”

It was a valid point. They could not ignore the magic that was thrashing like a wounded animal. Not only was it dangerous, but it furthered the creeping sense of wrongness that Sunset could feel…that they all could feel, she amended. “The question is what to do,” Sunset said tiredly, feeling the stress headache starting behind her eyeballs. “If this were Equestria, I could write a spell or modify one to contain the wild energies, or do something to dump the energy into the lines effectively, but…I can't, even Ponied-Up.”

“Do you think the Rainbow would fix it?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“…I dont know. I’m barely sure of what's wrong with it.”

Rarity touched her shoulder. “Surely it couldn't hurt to try? It might at least act like a tourniquet or stitches? Or at least encase it in a bubble so it can’t harm anyone?”

Running a hand through her hair, she thought it over. “I suppose we could try it, if you girls think you can summon it without our instruments or any music. We can't exactly get inside right now.”

Dash did a restless bit of zipping back and forth. “What about that busted lock on the roof access door? I could get in that way and get our stuff using my speed?”

She shook her head. “I don't want to accidentally set off the alarms and have the police show up to witness a magical light show.” A flash of pink caught her attention. “Pinkie?! What are you doing?”

The bubbly teen carefully stuck the colorful bandaid to the smooth marble. “Helping!” she chirped, smoothing the sticky surface and pressing it down so it would stay….

Only for the hand to suddenly wind up flat against the stone and a bright pink glow to envelop her. “Oooooo….Shiiiiny!”

“Shit…” Applejack cursed, and moved to grab Pinkie and pull her away. She managed to wrap her arms around her friend’s middle, but even her magically enhanced strength failed to separate Pinkie from the statue. In fact, the pink glow spread and shifted into a warm orange where it touched the farmer. “Uh…this ain’t good…”

Like a cascade reaction, the glow reached out for the rest of them. Sunset could feel it now, the Harmonic magic in her friends starting to flicker and react…and deep inside, she felt something twinge, like an ache in her magic and soul.

“I…don’t think it’s bad,” Rainbow said, frowning. “I've felt like this before…”

Fluttershy froze, then grabbed Rainbow’s hand. “In the magic room, when Sunset saw something, and it felt like she needed our help,” she pointed out, pulling the athlete with her to put palms flat to the stone. “We need to help, all of us.”

Blue eyes were thoughtful as Rarity studied the blue-violet glow around her pale hands. “I do think you're right, Fluttershy…” She looked to Sunset. “And I think that includes you, darling. You feel it too, don't you?” She gestured with that same hand to where Sunset had clenched hers into fists flickering with fits and sparks of red magic.

Sunset flinched. “I…I don't know what I feel…” It didn't feel nice, she knew that much. Her heart hurt, but that was already there, because of what her mind had dubbed ‘The Fight.’ She ached, and she did want to fix the portal—it had just started to dawn on her that she may never contact Equestria again, and on top of her already miserable uncertainty about her gir—about Twilight, she hurriedly corrected herself—the realization made her nauseous.

But she’d also felt the twinge in her magic, her soul that needed to help.

Pale fingers curled around her hand. “You are a light, Sunset, a sun. Help us,” Rarity urged gently. “You keep talking about how you aren't part of the Elements…but…you are. If we represent the Elements of Harmony, then you do too.”

“We can't do this without you, Shimmer. All for one and one for all, remember?” Dash said, extending a wing towards her.

“Ain't gotta know what yer Element’s name ta make it count….and ya know denying it is just lying ta yerself again.”

Indecision warred. How could she be a bearer for Element based magic and still have a demon as part of her?

—Does it matter right now, horn-head? If you do nothing we could lose everything! You can't let the Bond be severed—They were never truly meant to be Two!—

She couldn't move, couldn't breathe. In her mind, she could see Twilight dropping the key on repeat, could hear it hit the floor. Could hear the accusations all over again, feel her heart being ripped out over and over, the terror and hurt and grief that Twilight might truly believe now that she hadn't changed.

But she had.

Sunset Shimmer had clawed her way back from the brink, denying the broken monster she had allowed herself to become. She had done what some might call the impossible and rewritten herself into someone new, someone she wanted Twilight to be proud of.

Fire burned in her, then out, like Philomena on her burning days, crimson and wild and bright. Even if Twilight didn't want to believe her now, it didn't matter. Sunset would do everything in her power to keep being who she had become…for herself, and for the people that did still believe in her, if nothing else.

“You're right…if you girls represent the Elements, then so do I. Who cares if mine doesn't have a name?” She stepped forward, letting the magic do as it willed, filling her up and flowing out to mingle with her friends as she placed both hands on the polished white marble. It was hot to the touch, and she could feel the magic like a heartbeat, faltering and erratic. She could see the light and colors of her friends around her, as their magic flowed through each of them, mingling, growing, until the it drowned out her senses and left her little more than a conduit for the power that was being pulled out of her.

Everything was white, touched by auroras…and white noise clogged her ears. It frightened Sunset, because it reminded her of her first trip through to the human world. Faintly, though, she thought she could hear…wisps of voices, broken and faint…

“…like…a betrayal…”

“…necess…”

“…the only way…”

“…seems…exactly…nset…Shimmer…”

Some were male, some female, some neither, some both…some soft, some harsh, some broken, some strong. They overlapped and echoed, until it felt like a wave cresting and collapsing on top of her.

“…monster of…making…”

“…sorr…My Other…not…”

“…Desired…no…reason…You…”

“…what has begun…”

“…not…problem…solution to…Shattered…”

“…Show You…how brightly their Light can shine…”

And then she fell back, into her body, just in time to have her backside impact the hard concrete of the sidewalk. Sunset let out a grunt of discomfort, but the cold stone as she laid back felt cool and soothing to a body left steaming hot after being a conduit for incalculable amounts of magical power. “…Everyone alright?” she panted, trying to calm her racing heart.

Groans answered her. “In one piece,” Dash groused. “That was freaky—anyone else hear the voices?”

“Do ya one better,” Applejack countered. “Ah could swear Ah heard mahself sayin’ things Ah ain't ever said.”

Sunset frowned. “I…heard a lot of voices, but most of them were…far away and distorted.” What had they heard?

It was Rarity who provided a clue. “I distinctly heard Princess Celestia challenging someone called Discord.” Blue eyes looked to Sunset. “You’ve mentioned such a being before, I believe. A being of Chaos that was sealed by the Elements in Equestria?”

“Are you suggesting you heard things spoken of by past wielders of the Elements?” the redhead ventured. “Because the Princesses wielded them against Discord over five thousand years ago.”

Fluttershy blinked. “How do you know it was Princess Celestia and not Principal Celestia?”

The tailor sighed. “There was a quality to the voice that our principal…lacks. And I doubt the principal would have made a statement about Discord’s ‘play time’ being over.”

Frowning, Fluttershy considered that. “…then I think I heard Princess Celestia too. She was talking about a ‘Tree of Harmony’ having powerful magic.”

Pinkie peeled the wrapper off a cupcake and took a huge bite. “I heard a whole lot! There was Princess Luna, and me, and Princess Celestia and the other me, and me again, and some pony with a weird accent speaking a funny language. I dunno who or what a Stygian is, but apparently they don't find jokes about bees and buffalo funny. Which is too bad because that joke was hilarious!”

Rubbing her face, the former unicorn thought about what she had heard. Some of it was familiar. “I heard…Magic…the Element in the Crown… or maybe it was Harmony itself. I don't know. One of the things I heard was that, though…from when I was the demon at the formal. It addressed me by name then, and it didn’t like me much at the time? Told me I got exactly what I asked for.”

“How…unpleasant…” Rarity commented.

“But everything I heard was hard to understand, and I didn't recognize most of the voices.” She had to consider this. It sounded like the power of the Elements in the girls…and herself…held echoes of the past users of the power…somehow?

Applejack scratched her head. “So what does it mean, if we’re hearing…what? Folk who used the Elements before us?”

“I don't know,” Sunset said worriedly. “I can't even begin to think of why, and…I can't exactly ask Princess Twilight right now…”

Ponyfeathers! The portal!

She had almost forgotten—a sure sign that she had too much going on right now. Her senses honed in on the portal quickly, and she felt some small bit of relief. It wasn't fixed, but the magical leakage and faltering connection that disappeared into nothing was repaired, surrounded by a thick layer of Harmony’s magic that followed it into that infinite nothing. “Maybe…it was a side effect,” she mused. “Whatever it was, its fixed the most immediate problem with the portal, but the whole thing is still…disappearing into nothing.”

“Priorities, I think,” Rarity said firmly. “We took care of the urgent danger—the portal bleeding magic. I propose we monitor it, but focus on the Games and what may happen there. In the meantime, each of us should write down as much of what we heard the voices say, as well as who said each thing, if we can. We can research the details of it later when we are less overrun with other, more pressing matters.” The look she threw at Sunset was pointed.

She didn't have it in her to argue, even if she had wanted to. Sunset was tired, her heart hurt, and her emotions were still all over the map. She just wanted to go drown herself in her shower and then faceplant into her pillow and never leave. “…That…sounds like the best plan for now,” she said. “Write down everything you can remember, and I’ll take a look after this week is over and we survive.”

Murmurs of dubious and concerned assent tickled her ears before the other girls hesitantly went their separate ways. Sunset lingered for a long time, staring at the marble as if the answers to all the questions she’d ever asked were hidden inside the stone, and privately wondered if things would just keep piling on like this until she broke under the strain.

Sunset was afraid to find out the answer.

Author's Note

Bit of a mashed up chapter. We've got Sunset talking to the princess, right before...things happen. We've got shenanigans happening at the portal...

Clever readers or those with good memories might be able to place all of the dialogue Sunset hears. >:}

And a taste of some important things in the past. And Future. Bruhahahaha.

Also, this should cover that pesky question of "How is Starlight "Psychopath" Glimmer's Time Traveling Jaunt going to fuck things up in Rubicon?"