Equal Opportunity Ascension

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 1
Chapter 8

Chapter 2

The door to the basement of the Golden Oaks library hadn’t creaked ominously since about a week after Twilight had moved to Ponyville. There was a part of her that occasionally regretted this fact, such as situations where she was feeling dramatic, or, more often, when she would have really liked to have known that somepony was sneaking up on her.

“Hey, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash greeted from directly behind her.

Twilight jumped at the interruption, scattering what she was working on all over the floor with several heavy thuds and a metallic clatter.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight cried out in aggravation. “Don’t do that! Somepony could have gotten hurt!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, dismissing Twilight’s concern. “I’m sure your—err… Twilight?”

“What is it, Rainbow?” Twilight asked with a sigh, levitating what she was working on back into order.

Rainbow Dash pointed at the large, round slabs of metal on the floor with a length of bar between them. “Were you… lifting weights?”

Twilight let out a huff not entirely out of exasperation. “Yes, Rainbow. I was lifting weights.”

“Um, good on you, I guess?” Rainbow Dash said, taking a wider look around the basement. “Is this about the—”

“No, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight interrupted. “This is not about me getting tired ten minutes into your so-called ‘flying lessons.’”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash shouted, growing indignant. “There’s nothing wrong with my lessons! It’s tradition!”

“And flailing about, screaming myself raw after you drop me from 50,000 hooves up is tiring,” Twilight countered.

Rainbow Dash refused to dignify that with a response. “So why the weights, then?”

“I was lifting them with my magic, actually,” Twilight explained.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Does that—”

“No—well, sort of—yes, I guess,” Twilight said, stumbling over her answer. She’d never actually heard of unicorns exercising their magic like that, but there was probably somepony out there doing it and she couldn’t see any reason that it wouldn’t work. “But it isn’t about that. I was gathering various metrics so I could characterize the effect my alicorn ascension has had on my unicorn magic.”

“I understood most of that,” Rainbow Dash said, phrasing it as a positive.

“Since becoming an alicorn, my magic has gotten stronger,” Twilight explained. “But magic and the usage of it isn’t just one thing. Being able to lift twice as much with my magic isn’t the same as being able to move what I lift twice as fast or hold it for twice as long, and that’s just one spell—not even a spell, really, but the concept translates perfectly fine to more complicated applications of magic.”

“So, you’re twice as strong?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight frowned and said, “It’s complicated.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I heard you about strength, speed and stamina and all that. I get it. But strength-wise, what have you got?”

“No, I mean it’s actually complicated,” Twilight clarified. “At first I thought I was seeing an enhancement in basic lifting strength of about a hundred and fifty percent, but that’s where things get weird.” Seeing that Rainbow Dash’s attention was wandering, Twilight decided to skip the details and get to the conclusion. “I think that my unicorn magic hasn’t changed, and it’s my alicorn magic mixing with it that’s making it more potent, but that doesn’t just happen all at once. The alicorn magic is… thicker, for lack of a better word, causing a ramping effect as it builds up—and that’s another thing; it builds up and tends to linger. Weights that I lifted for ten minutes remained aloft for several more before showing any sign of tapering off and about the same amount of time again before the effect was completely gone.”

Rainbow Dash scrunched up her face in thought. “You know, I have no idea how that would work with flying.”

Twilight pressed her lips together in consternation at the reminder of her… inadequacies. “Yes, well, it seems to work fine for the other princesses, at least in normal usage. It might mean that they would excel in long-distance flight or it might manifest entirely differently with pegasus magic. It would help if I had one of them to ask.”

“So, you think if maybe you got your stamina up, the alicorn magic would kick in after a bit of effort?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight’s face twinged in an unhappy grimace. “If I actually knew what I was doing, then maybe, but I can’t even tell when or even if I’m using my pegasus magic, so I’m really not hopeful in that regard.”

“Bummer,” Rainbow Dash said, clearly let down.

“After what happened at Sweet Apple Acres, though, I’m increasingly convinced that there’s a root cause other than Fluttershy’s theory about it being in my genetics to be a weak pegasus. I mean, what are the chances?”

Rainbow Dash blinked and cocked her head in question. “What happened at Sweet Apple Acres?”

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, paused and looked away, saying, “I don’t want to talk about it. Suffice to say, I won’t be making a living bucking apples any time soon.”

Rainbow Dash continued to flap in place for a moment, then drifted down to land on her hooves as the awkwardness began to get stifling.

“So, err, what did you come down here for anyway? Just to talk?” Twilight asked, attempting to change the subject.

“Oh! Uhh—right!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Rarity wanted to fit you for something.”

Twilight glanced at the clock, which was nearing five in the afternoon, and let out a huff. “You could have said so sooner. We could have talked on the way.”

“Ehh… yeah, but the later she gets to you, the less likely it is she’ll have time to drag me into it.”

***

Twilight was surprised to find the rest of her friends all in attendance at the Carousel Boutique. Curiously looking around the room, she absently apologized. “Sorry if you were expecting us earlier, Rarity. Rainbow Dash took her time in getting the message to me.”

“All accounted for,” Rarity informed her happily as she pinned a yellow frill around the neck of Pinkie Pie, who was miraculously, if not entirely convincingly playing the part of a stone statue during her fitting. There was probably a story behind that, but Twilight didn’t really want to know.

“So, what’s the occasion?” Twilight asked instead, gravitating to a less crowded part of the room, which, of course, was next to Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash, concurrently, did her part by occupying the top half of the room as usual.

Keeping an eye on Pinkie Pie as if she was worried the excitable mare would explode given a single moment of inattention, Rarity retrieved a pin from the side of her mouth and used it to point down at Spike, who was holding a scroll sealed with an impression of Celestia’s cutie mark. “If I’m not mistaken, that letter will explain better than rumors and hearsay.”

Twilight cocked an eyebrow at the roundabout method of explanation, but her attention was quickly drawn to the letter from her mentor, who she hadn’t seen or heard from since her disastrous coronation.

Halfway between eagerness and apprehension, she broke the seal on the scroll and began to read.

Thirty seconds later, neither emotion had been satisfied. “What in the world is a ‘Princess Summit’?”

Applejack, who had been reading over Twilight’s shoulder along with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, whistled and said, “Ain’t that just a fancy way of her saying, ‘We need to talk’?”

“Oh, it’s much more than that,” Rarity assured them. “As a ceremonial meeting of heads of state, we can expect at least one formal dinner, which is to say nothing of events happening on the periphery.”

“Rarity,” Twilight said, giving her a flat look. “It is literally my mentor, her sister and my old foalsitter. It might as well be a parent-teacher conference.”

“You know, that is weird,” Pinkie Pie said, then faux-whispered, “Do you ever get the impression that advancement in the ranks of our government might not be entirely based on merit?”

Twilight cringed at how close to some of her recent thoughts that actually came.

“Actually,” Rarity said to Twilight, ignoring Pinkie Pie’s random aside, as was custom. “While it is true that the purpose of this summit is to have all four of our princesses discuss issues facing Equestria, that doesn’t mean that only you four will be involved. In fact, this is an opportune time for visiting dignitaries to bring forward subjects for the summit to discuss. I have specifically heard that the duke of Maretonia will be in attendance to arrange several future events, and I expect he won’t be the only one.”

“Ah,” Twilight remarked, understanding. “Hence the dresses.”

“Hence the dresses,” Rarity confirmed, finishing up with Pinkie Pie and pulling the pinned-together assembly off of her in one piece. “Now,” Rarity said, giving Twilight a slightly wicked smile. “I believe it is your turn.”

For all that Rainbow Dash had made a fuss over it, getting fitted for a dress wasn’t actually all that big of a deal, though it was a little more trying than usual since she’d just spent all afternoon lifting weights, even if it was with magic. She thought that she’d done a fine enough job freshening up before heading out of the library, but Rarity’s version of the spell was a little more thorough.

As Twilight was fitted, the girls chatted, playfully poking fun at Twilight’s expected eventual increase in dress size due to her ascension—though there was no sign of it quite yet—and moving on to things that they would like to do in the Crystal Empire while they were there.

The answers were as one would expect, mostly revolving around seeing what their various interests were like given the difference in time and culture that the empire represented. Twilight admitted to having a desire to see what kind of otherwise lost books might be found there, though she wasn’t likely to have as much free time as her friends would.

Much to Rainbow Dash’s dismay, her delaying back at the library did her no good, as it wasn’t long before Twilight was stepping down from the stool and Rainbow Dash had to come down and sit still for her own time on it.

“Now, I realize that things haven’t exactly gone as anypony could have expected…” Rarity said, changing the subject away from Rainbow Dash’s measurements and looking at Twilight. “But alicorn features entirely aside, have you considered what you’re going to do about your position as a princess?”

Twilight’s ears flattened briefly. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Ponies here in Ponyville have been nice enough to go on mostly as always other than my getting called ‘princess’ more often than not, and I think the fact that I’ve been more reclusive than usual trying to figure things out has mostly put a damper on the flow of outsiders who just want a look or a picture, but to be honest, I still don’t feel like much of a princess, so I’ve been trying not to think about it. It isn’t like I don’t have plenty of other things to concentrate on.”

“Oh, well no wonder!” Rarity exclaimed, making Rainbow Dash recoil from a pincushion that got a little too close. “Darling, you have it backwards. Of course you won’t feel like a princess if all you do is hide out in your basement and wait for ponies to go away.”

Twilight puffed up her cheeks in a pout. “I’m not—I’ve been doing research.”

“Of course you are,” Rarity dismissed. “But what you need is a change! Something new that will shake up your routine and remind you that you are more than just a small town librarian now.” Suddenly, she gasped, almost Pinkie-Pie-like. “And I know just the perfect thing!”

“You can have my library when you pull it from my cold, dead hooves,” Twilight darkly growled.

“… Not that, then,” Rarity said, moving on quickly. “Actually, that is a thought. It wouldn’t hurt for you to have some separation between your home and official business, so why not a separate palace?”

“I don’t know if I really need a palace,” Twilight said, blushing slightly. “But… an office of sorts might not be a bad idea, I suppose.”

“Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said, earning a severe look from Rarity for moving as she talked. “You’re missing the point. Do you think Cadance is going to meet the duke of Maretonia in an office? No! It’ll be in the throne room of a towering crystal palace, surrounded by bowing ponies and tapestries whose only point is to look awesome and say how awesome she is!”

“That’s two different points,” Twilight deadpanned, but her heart wasn’t in it. “Look, I’ll… I’ll think about it, okay? Maybe I’ll feel more like being princess-y after this summit.”

Rarity wasn’t gentle in yanking Rainbow Dash back into place. “That’s all we can ask,” she said, and began to talk about brocades.

Of course, this was Twilight, so she actually did think about it in between commenting on Rainbow Dash’s idea of style and various other subjects that came and went.

Was Rarity right? Should Twilight, in essence, play up the princess angle in hopes of eventually growing into it? That sounded like something she would have ended up writing a friendship letter about just a short while ago. Well, probably not her. Twilight had always been rather blunt at times, not one to fake being something she wasn’t, which was why the idea just rubbed her the wrong way.

This wasn’t quite the same as pretending to be somepony she wasn’t in order to get something, though. She already was a princess, no matter how much she didn’t feel it. She had a responsibility now, and that did include doing things that might be out of her comfort zone, like convince people to listen to her through the power of ostentatious bric-a-brac.

Of course, it was that sort of thinking that had resulted in her faceplanting into marble, so there really wasn’t any winning for her.

Twilight did her best not to let any of her friends see her sigh. Maybe things really would be clearer after the summit.

Chapter 3

The train ride up to the Crystal Empire was a breath of fresh air that Twilight hadn’t realized that she’d needed. She really had spent too much time in her basement as of late, which was hard to admit, as she’d been doing science. Fairly boring science consisting mostly of measuring things, admittedly, but outside of fiction and newspapers—so, fiction and fiction—that was mostly what science was.

It was good to get out and remind herself that there was a world outside of her library, though. Watching the scenery that represented ponies entire lives go by in seconds was something she hadn’t yet gotten tired of—though there was a niggling thought in the back of her head telling her that it would be so much better if she could actually fly.

“Bit for your thoughts?” Applejack asked.

“Do you think the stewards would mind if I attached myself to the top of the train car with my magic?” Twilight answered honestly, then blinked and realized what she said. “Err, no—I mean—”

Applejack snickered in mirth. “Hey now, no need to be ashamed of being honest,” she said with a wink.

Twilight scratched under her chin, thinking. “You know, that’s another thing that me being a princess has kind of messed up.”

“What’s that?” Applejack asked, and the ears of the others seated nearby also went up in interest.

Twilight waved her hoof vaguely. “Just that out of the six of us there used to be two unicorns, two pegasi and two earth ponies. Now everything is lopsided… sort of… I guess I’m still mostly unicorn anyway.”

“Yeah, well, while it does seem mighty convenient that it all worked out that way to begin with, Ah don’t think the elements chose us specifically just to meet some diversity quota.”

“Oh man, I hate when ponies do that,” Rainbow Dash griped. “It never works. I mean—news flash—if you have to consciously add it in, you’re probably not gonna do it justice anyway. You’ve got to write what you know. That’s one of the things that makes Daring Do so great; you can tell that A.K. Yearling has actually been to all those places all over the world and it shows in how she writes the ponies there.”

“Err, right,” Applejack said, having lost her train of thought.

Outside, the landscape was beginning to show signs of snow in the shadows and Twilight’s mind began to wander again.

To Twilight, ruling Equestria was just something that Celestia had always done, but it was much more difficult to reconcile Cadance out here in the frozen north ruling a nation with only Shining Armor beside her, and while Shining Armor was a leader, he wasn’t really a diplomat. He was likely learning, she supposed, but it still seemed like a daunting task.

Twilight wondered if she would be able to do it if it was her. For all that Ponyville and Canterlot were as different as night and day, it was hard to forget that the capital of Equestria was always looking over them. With not just Princess Celestia, but now Princess Luna as well being so close, there really was no likelihood that Twilight would ever have to actually find out what it would be like to rule her own nation. She certainly wasn’t going to leave all her friends behind to go beyond Equestria’s borders and find or found one any time in the near future.

Twilight glanced around to see if anypony was paying attention to her and gently knocked twice on the wooden legrest of her seat.

You couldn’t be too careful with these things.

Five minutes of sourceless anxiety later Twilight waited for a lull in the ongoing conversation and said, “You girls did bring your elements with you, right?”

“They’d better have” Rarity declared with a snap in her voice that promised repercussions to anypony who answered otherwise. “There are dresses for each of you that absolutely require those necklaces. If any of you has forgotten yours then I’ll—well, I shall be very cross and disappointed with you.”

“Easy, Rarity,” Applejack soothed. “Ah’m sure we’ve all got them in our luggage. Right girls?” There was a round of nods all around. “There, see? Nothing to worry about.”

“Well, allright,” Rarity said, mollified, then stopped for a moment to think. “Actually, Twilight, it is likely that there will be a formal greeting of some sort when we arrive at the Crystal Empire, so you should probably have your crown at hoof before then so you can wear it off the train.”

Twilight chewed her bottom lip as she considered this, and asked, “Do you mean my element, or my crown crown.”

Rarity gave this some careful thought. “I suppose that is up to you. I would normally scoff at the mere suggestion that it be anything but your crown of office, but the Element of Magic is an ancient magical artifact that is unique in all of the world, so you could make an argument that it takes precedence…

“Then again, you are here expressly in your official capacity as a princess, and this is your first such event. It might send the wrong message if you were to completely disregard that.”

That was a good point, Twilight admitted. She probably should wear her crown of office.

Hrm.

She probably shouldn’t admit that she hadn’t brought it.

“Or,” Rainbow Dash piped in. “Why not both?”

The ice in the look that Rarity gave Rainbow Dash would have lowered the temperature in the room by twenty degrees. “I will end you.”

***

It was late in the day when the train finally reached the sole remaining city of what was once the Crystal Empire. Farms had been started out near the edges of the area protected from the cold by the Crystal Heart and eventually they would spread the magic further and further out, but it wasn’t likely that it would ever actually merit the title of ‘empire’ again.

Twilight was going to do her best not to point that out.

Truthfully, she was exhausted from the overnight trip, but that was to be expected. The Crystal Empire was about as far from Ponyville as Appleoosa, but the roundabout route the train took through Galloping Gorge resulted in the actual travel time being nearly twice as long. At just that moment, she wouldn’t have minded skipping dinner and going straight to bed.

She was a princess now, though, so that had about as much chance of happening as she had of joining the Wonderbolts.

There was a squad of crystal pony guards waiting for them as they disembarked onto the train platform and Twilight put on her best chipper smile to greet them. No need to actually come off as unapproachable when she was really just tired.

After gathering their luggage—ninety percent of it Rarity’s—onto a cart, the seven of them were escorted down the central thoroughfare that led to the Crystal Castle, perched over the Crystal Heart like a four-legged crystal spider.

That was another thing that Twilight wasn’t going to mention.

To be fair, though, it was a very unusual design for a castle, forgoing the large central door leading to a throne room that was typical in favor of making the Crystal Heart the focus.

It made sense, then, that Cadance would use the area beneath the castle as a sort of proto-throne-room and greet ponies there, as she was evidently doing. The path down to the Crystal Heart was lined with crystal pony guards standing at attention, with Cadance and Shining Armor standing at the end. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were there as well having arrived not too long ago.

Twilight was calmly walking down the aisle of guards, Element of Magic on her head, when the trumpets started, nearly causing her to jump out of her skin.

“Her Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle!” she was announced as she settled herself with a nervous giggle.

“Welcome, Princess, to this inaugural Princess Summit,” Princess Celestia greeted with open pride.

Twilight was about to bow and make her own greeting, but froze when she realized that she no longer needed to. She wanted to kick herself. More than a full day just sitting in a train and she hadn’t even thought to brush up on her official procedures—not that she didn’t know them from years watching Princess Celestia at court, but—

Fortunately for Twilight, Cadance was much less formal in spite of it actually being her own ceremony and ran forward to give Twilight a hug, which she automatically reciprocated. “Twilight! I’m so sorry about what happened at your coronation! Shiny and I wanted to stay at least until you woke up but we just didn’t have the time with how short-notice everything was to begin with.”

“I was fine,” she insisted, which was true enough. She had spent several days unconscious, but she’d been fine when she’d actually awoken. “How have things been going here? You must be busy planning things out for the Equestria Games.”

“It has been difficult,” Cadance agreed. “But having such a big event here will go a long way to introduce us to the rest of Equestria and help us gain some economic stability. Organizing the games is one of the reasons for this summit and why it’s being held here instead of Canterlot.”

“I see,” Twilight said and was caught glancing at Princess Celestia. “Well, hopefully I can help out.”

“Don’t worry, Twilight,” Princess Celestia said. “We have many things to discuss… but they can wait until tomorrow. You all look tired from your journey—” Somewhere behind Twilight, Rarity gasped in quiet horror. “—And I think that a good night’s rest will do you good.”

“Oh thank Celestia,” Twilight said under her breath then realized a moment later what she’d just said. “Err, I mean, thank you Princess Celestia. It has been a long trip, and I think you’re right. It’ll be a lot easier to approach things with a clear head after some sleep.”

***

As it so happened, given how early Twilight had turned in the night before, ‘after some sleep’ ended up being two o’clock in the morning and it didn’t really bring much in the way of a clearer head. Spike had had no trouble sleeping on the train, so Twilight didn’t know when he’d actually gone to bed.

Being as quiet as possible, Twilight inched her way out from under the covers, doing her best not to wake him. Sitting on the edge of her bed, she briefly contemplated the Element of Magic on her nightstand and the crown that she had left behind in Ponyville.

There was an interesting sort of irony in the fact that she hadn’t even blinked in becoming a Hero of Equestria, yet her second crown had been the cause of so much more hesitation.

It should really be the other way around, shouldn’t it? She, the princess’ student, had been all but groomed for the position, and if you had asked her at any moment before that thousandth Summer Sun Celebration, the idea of putting herself in danger, entering a wild, dangerous forest to seek out a slim hope of bringing back the day would have sounded ridiculous, and she certainly wouldn’t have expected to then be called on on a regular basis to handle similar issues. What place would an asocial, nerdy bookworm have in challenging a chaos god, fighting a hopeless battle against an army of changelings, or freeing the very ancient empire she was sitting in from the domination of a mad tyrant?

Yet she had done those things, and she had done them just by being herself. In hindsight, her experience with the changelings especially impressed her because she and her friends had lost. They’d failed to get the elements and use them, and it was only Shining Armor and Cadance who had saved them. And yet… and yet, when the next crisis came, there had been no more hesitation than there had been the first time that she had gone out into the unknown to save Equestria.

She couldn’t explain that.

There were plenty of possibilities, of course, but too many to nail it down. Who knows? Maybe it was just all of them.

There was the fact that with the elements, she always knew with certainty that she had the tools to succeed and all she had to do was live up to her end of the bargain.

Here and now, though, she had somehow ascended to an alicorn in a process that she still didn’t understand, and yet her alicornhood had failed her at step one.

And that step had hurt—maybe more than she knew. It wasn’t unheard of for ponies to have fears about things that they couldn’t actively remember.

Sighing, she gave it up as a bad job. All stewing over it in her head would do is make things worse—and really, how relevant were her physical qualities as an alicorn in doing the job of a princess anyway? Her coronation probably hadn’t given her the best reputation, and maybe some ponies and creatures would contest her right to her position, but the one thing she did know was that when the time came to actually do something and live up to her title, she would do everything she could. She would step up… and hopefully not jump off any more balconies.

Rather awkwardly, it was that exact moment when she decided that it would be nice to go get some fresh air. Her own room didn’t have a balcony, nor did she expect any of the rooms that her friends were staying in did. Balconies didn’t really fit the whole ‘towering crystal’ aesthetic that the castle had going on, though she knew there was at least one front and center that led straight into the throne room on the first actual floor of the castle.

Hrm.

Was it possible that there were crystal pegasi in the past, and King Sombra had gotten rid of them? It would be interesting to see if they started to show up once more outside ponies were introduced into the population.

That wasn’t important, though. Twilight stood up off the bed and crept quietly past Spike. Maybe she would find that balcony, or maybe she’d just walk the halls for a bit and stretch her legs. The halls were anything but claustrophobic, so why not?

Chapter 4

Wandering through the Crystal Castle at night was a unique experience. The crystal walls were just barely translucent enough to give the whole place an ethereal glow that was accentuated by the moonlight coming in from large windows, reflecting and refracting to fill the space and chase away dark corners. It was refreshing, and she found herself considering ways to get more light in the library basement back home.

The quiet was nice, too, after a day in close quarters with all of her friends, though it struck her as a bit odd, too. There simply weren’t the amount of guards that she had come to expect from a castle, and the guards that she did come across weren’t crystal ponies, but Celestia’s royal guard doing random patrols. Twilight supposed that the crystal ponies were all fairly well-behaved… though maybe that description was a little too on-the-nose, considering the likely cause for the lack of defiance in the crystal ponies.

She would be very interested to see a chart of crime in the city in five years’ time, especially before and after the Equestria Games, which, as Cadance had said, would bring a lot of attention and trade to the isolated Crystal Empire.

Twilight realized that she had come across something different when she noticed two guards who weren’t patrolling, but were standing guard instead.

It wasn’t a great mystery, of course. In hindsight, it was obvious that Princess Celestia would also be put up in a guest room while she was here, it was just… strange to actually picture her in a room like any other pony.

It was stranger still to have her suddenly open the door and walk out looking tired, downtrodden and wearing a nightcap.

If it was any consolation, Princess Celestia seemed just as dumbfounded to see Twilight and spent a short amount of time blinking in stunned surprise before straightening up and putting a smile on her face. “Twilight,” she said warmly. “I didn’t expect to see you up at this time of night. Are you alright?”

“Oh—um—I’m fine, Princess,” she said, stepping back and shuffling her hooves. “I just went to bed a little early.”

“Ah,” Princess Celestia said with an understanding, if slightly melancholy smile. “If only I were so forward-thinking. Glancing down the hall, she gestured with her horn and said, “Why don’t you come walk with me? I have someplace that I need to be, and I am already late as it is.”

Twilight blinked then quickly hurried behind Princess Celestia, who had already begun to make her way off into the castle without waiting for a response, which was unlike her. What could she possibly have to do somewhere in the castle at two-thirty in the morning? Princess Celestia didn’t appear hurried, but her long strides force Twilight into a slight canter to keep up—something she hadn’t had to do since her foalhood, when no amount of mincing steps on the princess’ part could match their gaits.

The nostalgic feeling made it all the more rather jarring, then, when the princess said, “You do know that you do not need to call me ‘princess,’ don’t you?”

Twilight did know that, yes. She’d thought about it during the greeting the day before, when she had almost bowed to her as well, but… well, she supposed this was as good a time as any to say it. “I know, but it’s difficult. I don’t… really feel like much of a princess.”

Princess Celestia’s lips tightened, even as she turned down another hallway. “That’s not…” she said, and sighed. “Twilight, I don’t just mean because of your title. You—” She cut herself off when she came across a short hall ending in two large, double doors and stopped walking. The doors looked much the same as any other in the Crystal Castle, but to Princess Celestia they were clearly significant.

Princess Celestia approached the doors with an uncharacteristic wariness, as if she wasn’t sure what she would see on the other side. Twilight waited back as the princess opened the door and… nothing happened. Princess Celestia let out a breath she’d been holding, and walked inside, checking around the room to ensure that she hadn’t missed anything.

Twilight idly followed at her own pace, mirroring her mentor’s actions out of curiosity, but there was nothing special about the room that she could place. It was full of various artworks—pottery, paintings, a slightly creepy statue of a foal and so on—but they were nothing she wouldn’t have expected to see in a similar room back in Canterlot.

“Are you expecting something here to be stolen?” Twilight asked, turning back to Princess Celestia, who had seated herself in front of a large mirror.

Princess Celestia shook her head. “No, I’m hoping for the opposite, in fact.”

“Now, this I would like to hear,” said a voice from the door, which had been left open.

Both Twilight and Princess Celestia turned to discover not only Princess Luna, who had been the one to speak, but a very very tired and bedraggled Cadance, who clearly hadn’t been consulted about her presence here at this hour of the night.

“…Luna?” Princess Celestia asked, unintentionally revealing that she was not actually much better off than Cadance.

Princess Luna led Cadance into the room and they both sat, making something of a circle with Celestia and Luna. “I felt you awaken and thought to offer you some company,” Luna explained. “When you encountered Twilight in the hall, however, I knew that the time for a conversation long due had come and I gathered Princess Cadance so that we might all be involved.

“This, however,” she said, looking all around the room, settling on the mirror that Princess Celestia had seated herself in front of. “This, I know nothing about, and I would very much like to.”

Princess Celestia gazed longingly into the mirror, sighed and said, “Very well, but it is not a story that I am proud of. As you all should know, Twilight is not the first filly that I have taken as my personal student.”

“Oh, great,” Cadance muttered, raised her hoof and said, “I’ve heard this one already, can I go back to bed?”

“No,” Princess Luna immediately said.

“Drat,” Cadance cursed flatly.

Princess Celestia shook her head and continued. “Before Twilight, I had a student named Sunset Shimmer. On the surface, she was very similar to Twilight; studious, driven and eager to please.”

Twilight shifted uncomfortably and fought off a blush. That wasn’t exactly how she’d like to be described, but it wasn’t inaccurate.

“Let me guess,” Luna said, crossing her arms. “The pony that she desired validation from was you, but she never got it until she did something horrible.”

Cadance faux gasped. “How did you know?”

“It is a familiar story,” Luna deadpanned.

Princess Celestia looked hurt at Cadance’s flippancy. “Cadance? I thought—”

“Hey, I was dragged out of bed with Shiny for this,” she said. “Do I wish that things had gone differently back then so that we could have gotten along? Yes. Have I gotten over it? Also yes. Do you have an eerily repetitive problem with ponies close to you suffering from mental breakdowns because they desire your approval? So very much yes. You’re just lucky that all Twilight did was mind-control a town when she had her breakdown.”

Twilight shrank in on herself, not feeling very well represented in this conversation, which wasn’t helped by Princess Celestia suddenly looking at her like she’d never seen her before.

“Can we get on with the actual tale and how it involves this mirror? Luna asked.

“I… yes, of course,” Princess Celestia said and paused to collect herself. Twilight expected her to draw herself up and sit straighter, but if anything, her shoulders actually drooped a little.

“It may be tempting to liken Sunset Shimmer to some of my other failures, but the truth is a little more complicated than it appears on the surface.

“You see, Sunset Shimmer came to me at a low point in her life, having just lost her parents to illness. She wasn’t the first orphan that I had taken in, so when she began showing signs of being prideful, arrogant and aggressively independent as many ponies who have gone through trauma at a young age do, I believed that I understood her, and placed her in a box.”

Princess Luna gasped in horror.

“A mental box, Luna,” Princess Celestia said, covering her face with one hoof. “I mentally categorized her… incorrectly. I hadn’t understood her at all, and that was how and why I failed her.”

“Oh,” Princess Luna said. “Carry on.”

“I treated her the same as I had many of my previous orphaned students. I was strict when she acted out and allowed her free reign when she behaved. In hindsight, this was the worst thing that I could have done.

“At the time, I didn’t understand why I couldn’t get through to Sunset. Why it seemed like all that I could do was push her away. It wasn’t until I talked to Cadance after the fact that I began to understand.

“Sunset Shimmer was most of the things that she showed to the world with one exception; unlike the orphans that I had taught before, independence was a burden that she shouldered out of necessity, but wished dearly that she could throw off.

“The one role she actually needed me to take was the one thing I failed to be for her—a mother.”

There was a moment of silence before Twilight spoke up, needing to ask, “Um, princess? No offense—I mean, that’s… tragic and all—but isn’t that basically what Luna said?”

“On the contrary,” Luna said. “I find the fact that ‘orphaned foals need love’ is a new concept for my sister extremely enlightening…”

Princess Celestia grimaced, but said nothing.

“So—um—the mirror?” Twilight asked, gesturing at it.

Princess Celestia whipped her head around to look at the mirror, but was disappointed when it remained just a mirror.

“I just meant, are you going to explain it?” Twilight clarified, even more curious now.

Princess Celestia was no longer in the mood. “The mirror is a portal to another world that only opens once every thirty moons,” she explained plainly and simply. “When things got really bad between Sunset and I, she became convinced that I could make her an alicorn and demanded that I do so. When I refused and threatened to dismiss her as my student, she refused to back down, so I had the guards escort her out of the castle. She chose instead to exile herself through the mirror. Every thirty moons since then, I have stood vigil over the mirror as best I could for the three days that it remains open, hoping that she will return.”

“I… see,” Twilight said, not quite sure how to take that.

Princess Celestia cocked her head in question at Twilight’s tone. “Is there something wrong?”

“Well,” Twilight said, scratching her neck. “The thing is… she wasn’t wrong, was she?”

Princess Celestia blinked. “I’m not sure what you mean, Twilight.”

“Just… you could have made her into an alicorn, couldn’t you?” Twilight elaborated, hoping that Princess Celestia would be honest with her. “I’m not saying it would have been a good idea, but you could have.”

“Hold,” Princess Luna interrupted. “I believe that this is the conversation for which I fetched Cadance.”

Twilight wasn’t quite sure why Princess Luna felt the need to declare that until she turned to look and realized that Cadance had fallen back asleep, and from the drool coming off the corner of her mouth, had likely done so some time ago.

Princess Luna approached the sleeping princess and gave her a poke.

Cadance groaned, said, “Not now, Shiny. I have gumdrops in the morning,” and turned over.

Luna pursed her lips in consternation, then cleared her throat loudly.

Cadances’s eyes shot open, and she scrambled away from Luna, shouting “I’m up! I’m up!”

Nopony said anything.

Cadance composed herself, walked back to where she’d been and sat down with grace and poise, pretending none of that had happened.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Cadance asked, “So, where were we?”

Princess Celestia turned back to Twilight. “I don’t know why you think that I could have made Sunset Shimmer an alicorn. I am not all-powerful.”

“Then why did you lie to me?” Twilight asked.

“I never claimed—”

“You fed me some line about ‘creating new magic’ that a foal out of magic kindergarten could poke holes in,” Twilight said with a huff. “I’m insulted.”

“Is that what you told her?” Luna asked, disbelieving. “I concur. That was not your most well-thought-out move, sister.”

“Wait, so you did lie?” Cadance asked, looking to Princess Celestia for answers.

Princess Celestia closed her eyes, took a breath and let it out. She addressed her answer to Twilight. “I… did not wish to burden you with living up to a legacy that you have only the most tenuous of connections to.”

“Irony is a vengeful mare, is she not?” Luna said.

Twilight… wasn’t really sure what kind of excuse that was supposed to be. As much as she didn’t feel like a princess, becoming one should have been a sign that she was ready for more responsibility, not a reason to hide something from her. Whatever it was, she would prefer to know. “What’s going on? What legacy?” she asked.

Princess Celestia opened her mouth to speak, then looked at Princess Luna. “Am I going to be able to tell this one without being badgered with interruptions?”

“We shall see,” was Luna’s response. “You cannot make too long a story of it as there is very little we know, but I do not doubt that you will try.”

Princess Celestia shook her head and turned back to Twilight prepared in her mind what to say. She looked at Luna, pursed her lips, and continued to think. She did this several times, internally hemming and hawing before she finally gave up.

“Oh, fine,” she said with a huff, rolling her eyes. “Princess Amore was actually an alicorn, Cadance is her reincarnation and Twilight is the reincarnation of her sister.”

Twilight blinked. “That’s it?”

“As I told you when the Crystal Empire had first returned, there is very little that we actually know about it,” Princess Celestia said, keeping an eye on Luna. “What we do know is that Princess Amore’s sister left the empire and traveled south to live alone. We do not even know her name.”

“Somewhere around Ponyville, maybe?” Twilight asked slightly sarcastically.

“Yes and no,” Princess Celestia said cryptically, earning a look from Princess Luna. “She lived in what is now the Everfree forest. It was she who first discovered the Elements of Harmony, and it was her notes that led us to them.”

“Her notes?” Twilight asked. “Not her?”

Princes Celestia nodded, not needing to explain.

“I see.” Twilight was… disappointed—both in Princess Celestia and the little information she had. “So, after all this, we’re still no closer to understanding why I seem to be only one third of an alicorn.” Twilight sighed and looked up to her mentor. “I wish you’d just told me the truth in the first place. It’s not like I would go off the deep end obsessing over what some vague story of a previous life says about me.”

Princess Luna cleared her throat. “My sister seems to have—”

“I was getting there!” Princess Celestia whined, snapping at her sister. “I stopped because we were taking a moment of silence for the dead.”

The look on Luna’s face said exactly how much she cared for that excuse.

“We do know—or at least strongly suspect—why it is that your magic seems to be incomplete,” Princess Celestia told Twilight. “I had expected that the situation would have sorted itself out when you ascended. Clearly, I was wrong, and for that I apologize.”

“What situation?” Twilight asked, exasperated.

“Twilight,” Luna interrupted, gaining her attention. “What is it that makes the Everfree forest so unnatural?”

Twilight was thrown a bit by the apparent change in subject, though it was about the Everfree, so it was probably related. “Well, as it was introduced to me—” Twilight faux-gasped, and said, “‘The plants grow, animals care for themselves and the clouds move, all on their own.’”

Luna directed her sarcastic eyebrow at Twilight for that.

“…Sorry,” she said, apologizing for the dramatic recitation. “That’s how they said it at the time. I wasn’t impressed either.”

Neither Princess Luna or Princess Celestia said anything, and Twilight went over what she’d just said. “Wait, you’re not saying that the reason I don’t have any pegasus or earth pony magic is because it’s still out there?” Twilight asked incredulously.

Princess Celestia nodded solemnly. “We could tell as soon as we came across the forest that its magic was not only much like ours, but that something terrible had happened to its source. We settled there both to protect the Tree of Harmony and in hopes of someday unraveling the secrets of the Everfree.”

“The tree of what now?” Twilight asked, shoulders drooping.

“The Tree of Harmony is the source of the Elements of Harmony,” Luna explained.

Twilight looked away from the two princesses sitting across from her. “…That seems like something my friends and I should have been told about,” she said, concerned at just how many things she hadn’t known before today.

“Well… Perhaps,” Luna said, having apparently been complicit in keeping that particular secret if her posture and pawing at the ground with her hoof was any sign.”

“No, I mean we really should have been told,” Twilight insisted. “For all any of us knew, that could have been the ‘back where it all began,’ from Discord’s riddle when he took the Elements of Harmony before we could use them.”

“Ah, well, if that is the case…” Luna said, looking to Princess Celestia, since Princess Luna hadn’t been there.

Princess Celestia coughed uneasily. “Actually, what he said was ‘back where you began,” she said, giving Twilight an apologetic look.

“…Oh.”

“But you may have a point,” Princess Celestia added hastily. “It is true that there may come a day when you need to know more about the Elements of Harmony when Luna and I are not around to help you.”

“There’s more?” Twilight asked, sounding dismayed.

“Ah, no, actually,” Princess Luna admitted.

Twilight’s eye twitched, but she eventually settled down on the side of letting it go. “Well… That’s a relief,” she said and took a deep breath.

“Now,” Twilight continued with a certain edge to her voice. “Can we go back to the part where my pegasus and earth pony magic is just sitting there and you’re telling me this now, when we’re about as far as it’s possible to get from it and still nominally be in Equestria?”

It was entirely unlike her, but Twilight was actually mad at her mentor right then. “I get that you didn’t want to tell me about some alicorn I might have been in a past life—I don’t agree with it, but I understand it—but couldn’t you have at least dropped me a letter in the weeks it’s been since then so I wouldn’t have been tearing my hair out trying to figure out what was wrong with me?”

“I—” Princess Celestia was spared from having to explain herself by the loud crash of a vase shattering on the other side of the door followed by a harsh expletive and the clopping of hooves down the corridor.

In the silence that followed, Cadance snored.

Chapter 5

Sunset Shimmer’s first thought when she stepped out of the mirror was that, more than anything else, it felt good to be a pony again. It was too bad that she would only be here back in Equestria for a short while—just long enough to steal the Element of Magic from that failure of a princess that Celestia had replaced her with.

Back to being a pony, though, the familiar clop clop clop of her hooves on the crystal floors was just so comfortably familiar that it made her want to prance. Which she absolutely did not do. Not even once, just to get it out of her system.

On a completely unrelated note, an impromptu test of her adroitness proved that she was just as light on her hooves as she had learned to be on her feet, which was fortunate, since she was going to have to do quite a bit of sneaking to get that crown.

Well, some sneaking, anyway. The crystal pony guards were kind of pathetic, but this was Cadance she was talking about. What did she expect? Competent leadership? Apparently she hadn’t married that guard captain brother of Twilight Sparkle’s for his military prowess, if you know what she means.

Sometimes Sunset Shimmer felt like a bit of a creep given how easy it was to scry this universe from an outside context using something like the mirror portal and she had to remind herself… yeah, she was a terrible pony and she’d accepted that about herself a long time ago.

What could she say? Some people liked to play sports; others sewed dresses. Sunset liked to watch people and exploit what she learned to the best of her ability. It wasn’t what she’d expected to do with her life, but it was a decent enough replacement for burning things.

…

Sunset stopped just short of a turn in the hallway and blinked in sudden realization. Slowly, she looked crosseyed up at her horn.

“Oh my god.” She had her horn back.

Well, of course she did. She’d been using it to teleport, open doors and distract guards for a while now, but that wasn’t the point.

She had her horn back and she could properly burn things again. It hit her like a shot of adrenaline followed by a bucket of ice water when it dawned on her that she wasn’t going to be in Equestria long enough to do any real magic.

Also, her plans did not include causing enough of a ruckus that she’d be discovered and followed back to the human world where Twilight and her friends would rally the whole school against her and win the fall formal. This objectively meant that it was a bad plan, but it was the only one she’d come up with.

Also also, the Crystal Castle was, appropriately made of crystal and thus, wasn’t flammable. Well, not flammable in any practical way, at least. If Sunset’s time in the human world had taught her anything, it was that anything was flammable if you applied enough chemistry or physics to it, but she didn’t currently have a way to make even something as simple as liquid oxygen let alone any of the more interesting compounds that she’d read about, so her hooves were tied.

“You win this round, Cadance,” she muttered under her breath.

Fortunately for Sunset, what the Crystal Castle lacked in flammability it made up with in ease of navigation and it wasn’t long before she found her way to the guest wing—insofar as towers have wings—where Twilight and her friends were staying. Ironically, the security was actually heavier in this section of the castle thanks to the presence of non-crystal guards that had come with the princesses from Canterlot.

Princess Twilight, on the other hoof, had only brought her friends, which was kind of sad really.

Oh well. Maybe once the Element of Magic went missing Celestia would realize that she can’t just slap wings on some poor adorkable mare and leave it at that. Seriously, the girl clearly wasn’t princess material, yet, like a Christmas miracle, Sunset almost felt sorry for her. Given how Celestia had basically exiled Twilight right back to that podunk little farming town the day after her coronation, Sunset was self-aware enough to realize why she might empathize in some small way with Celestia’s latest student.

She would just turn right around and steal her crown anyway because that was the kind of person she was. Surviving on her own in the human world had taught her that.

Sunset was all but strolling through the corridors when she very nearly walked right into the mare in question coming around a corner. Panicked, she stumbled back and ducked into an alcove with some kind of crystal tupperware sitting on a plinth and ducked behind it, cursing everything from the Crystal Castle’s translucency and lack of shadows to the fact that her brown cloak didn’t really blend into the scenery as she did so. She supposed that it could be worse, though. When she’d left Equestria, she’d gone through the mirror and come out clothed. As shifty as she looked in dingy brown, it was still better than her natural red and gold, which was to say nothing of the fake crown she’d gotten the school’s fall formal committee to make for her. If that had gone missing along with her cloak… well, it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it definitely wouldn’t have helped her chances.

To Sunset’s immeasurable relief, Twilight was looking in completely the opposite direction as she walked past the alcove. Unfortunately for her, that relief was immeasurable because it was entirely encompassed by the raw panic of seeing Celestia walking beside Twilight looking right at her.

Sunset braced herself to teleport and run, but the alarmed shouting that she was expecting never came, and the bleary-eyed princess passed by, talking to Twilight, who was the one she’d been looking at, not Sunset.

Story of her life, really.

Sunset allowed herself a short breather to calm down and catch her breath, but not too long. Whatever it was that had Celestia and Twilight up at this time of night didn’t matter. Twilight hadn’t had her crown with her, so she must have left it back in her room. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Once her heart was finally beating normally again, Sunset took a breath and very nearly stepped out in front of Cadance and Princess Luna, forcing her to bite her tongue to keep herself from shouting. If every ounce of her focus wasn’t split between staying hidden and keeping her cursing internal, she would have appreciated the symmetry in how this time it was Cadance who could barely see or walk straight. Even in her impaired state, however, there was a part of her that felt a spark of envy for the kind of night she must have had for the princess of love to be in that condition.

Oh, and she was envious of the alicorn thing too, she supposed.

Look, she was a teenager and no matter how she might dress as a manipulative bitch, people like her didn’t actually get laid. Ever.

Humans were hardly all that attractive anyway.

Overimaginative analysis on Cadance’s gait aside, the crusty-eyed mare in question was in absolutely no condition to actually see Sunset, so she was once again spared discovery as the pair walked on down the hall following after Celestia and Twilight.

This left Sunset Shimmer in quite the conundrum. On the one hoof, the universe seemed to be doubling down on there never being a better time to steal Twilight’s crown, but on the other, Sunset’s inner voyeur that she’d been feeding by treating scrying like it was the best soap opera in the world really wanted to know what was going on that had all four of the princesses gathering secretly in the middle of the night. It was always incredibly frustrating when she missed something important. With the unpredictable, accelerated way that time worked between the two worlds, there was little to no chance that she’d be able to catch what was going on. With her luck, even if she turned around the instant she got back and started scrying, she’d probably have already missed everything up to next tuesday.

Whatever cosmic uncertainty principle it was that dictated what she was able to scry seemed to gravitate to Tuesdays for some reason.

Sunset squirmed nervously in her little alcove as Cadance and Princess Luna got further and further down the hall. Ugh. Ancient power that she could mold to suit herself by isolating it in another world or not missing an episode of her favorite show.

Life just wasn’t fair sometimes.

Unfortunately, no matter how much she wanted to go straight home and scry in, she would never forgive herself if she gave up this chance.

What she could do, though, was hurry up and grab the thing, then follow and watch what was going on herself. In person. On this side of the mirror. There was no possible way that could go wrong.

Fortunately for Sunset, the time crunch that this plan involved didn’t leave her enough time to worry about whether or not it was actually a good idea. Mindful of her previous experience, Sunset checked to make sure that the hall was clear of unexpected princesses and quickly rushed off in the direction they’d come from—and then, when she almost immediately ran into a hall with a pair of stationary guards, tried another corridor, presuming that Cadance would at least do Twilight Sparkle the dignity of assigning the new princess her own separate hall of the guest wing.

Or, barring that, at least give Celestia and Luna some peace and quiet away from Twilight Sparkle’s friends.

Questionable snap decisions aside, Sunset turned out to be right when the next hall she searched was significantly less guarded and had raspy snoring coming from one of the rooms, suggesting that she was on the right track.

Wasting no time at all, Sunset headed straight for the largest suite and ducked inside, where the presence of an empty, unmade bed indicated that she’d picked the right room.

The Element of Magic sitting right there on the nightstand was also a clue.

In a hurry and on alert for unexpected surprises after her previous two close calls, Sunset Shimmer scanned the room quickly just to make sure that Twilight hadn’t formed a harem with the rest of the element bearers since arriving in the Crystal Empire and she wasn’t about to walk in on a pony pile of the less innocent sort.

Or something.

Considering the snoring by which she’d located the right hallway to begin with had been coming from another room, though, she should have expected to be dissapointed. Disappointed? No, the other thing.

Actually, though, disappointed worked after all, because while the room didn’t contain a pile of polyamorous ponies, it did contain a small, sleeping baby dragon, who she had completely forgotten about, so it was like a double disappointment, in a way, which was one more disappointment than strictly necessary.

Yeah whatever. Dragons could be notoriously light sleepers… except when they weren’t, and while Spike wasn’t hibernating, he also didn’t have a hoard to guard and had lived with ponies all his life. He was also sleeping in a new place where odd sounds were to be expected, so as long as she didn’t do something stupid like step on his tail while trying to sneak past him, she’d probably be fine as long as she was in and out quickly—and just like that, she was.

Crown in hoof, she tucked it into her cloak and rushed off in the direction that the four princesses had gone.

***

“Oh. My. God,” Sunset said as quietly as she could while peeking into the room with the four princesses with the door cracked open a bit. That was awesome. It was worth this entire trip just to be here in person to see Cadance and Luna call Celestia on all of her bullshit while Twilight sat there looking lost and betrayed. She felt so vindicated that she wanted nothing more right then than to step in and say a few things of her own.

No matter how good it would feel to swoop in and have the last word with Celestia, though, that would be… bad. Things would get messy, and she hated messy when she couldn’t watch it from afar and take notes.

And yet… suddenly her whole plan to take the Element of Magic to the human world where she could give it stockholm syndrome and use its power to build up an army to come conquer Equestria with just felt so empty and dumb. None of it would hold a candle to this moment, seeing that look of disheartenment on Celestia’s face.

And then, just when Sunset didn’t think that it could get any better, the two sisters went on to explain the history of the Everfree. She wasn’t sure if she believed the story about reincarnations and how Celestia couldn’t just turn somepony into an alicorn, honest, but the great part was that it didn’t even matter. There was two-thirds of an ascension just sitting out there up for grabs, and she already had the last third just from being born.

That thought brought her up short, and she bumped into one of the plinths lining the hall in the middle of her silent retreat. If she did this, then she wouldn’t be going back to the human world possibly ever again.

She had mixed feelings on—CRASH! Sunset whipped around to see some sort of crystal flower vase shattered on the floor, complete with crystal flowers.

“Oh, shit,” she cursed and started running.

Chapter 6

Twilight immediately teleported out to the end of the hall as soon as she realized the basics of the situation, which was that somepony had been out in the hall and was now running away. Unfortunately, that wasn’t much to go on. It could be something entirely innocent—one of the castle staff or one of Twilight’s friends—or… it could be a figure in a brown cloak who evidently had something to hide.

All she could think to do was yell, “Stop!” as the mysterious figure was already about to barrel into her.

Just when she expected to be bowled over and trampled, though, there was a teal flash of teleportation—and then something hit her anyway. It took her a moment to realize that the figure had left their cloak behind when they’d teleported past her and another moment to get herself untangled from it and resume the chase.

Without the cloak, Twilight could finally see that the figure was a unicorn mare that she had never seen before with a red and gold mane who looked shaken and uncertain. Not to be deterred, Twilight teleported in front of the mare again, only for there to be another flash as the mare repeated the action. In that manner, they hopscotched through the Crystal Castle at an incredible rate. Though she wasn’t one for competing with other ponies, Twilight was impressed and beginning to get an idea who this mystery pony might be.

Okay, admittedly they had been literally, explicitly waiting for her, so maybe it wasn’t that great a leap of logic to make.

“Sunset Shimmer!” Twilight shouted, pleading for her to stop. “Wait!”

And to Twilight’s everlasting surprise, Sunset actually did stop.

Twilight, on the other hoof, found it a little harder to do so. The moment she let go of her teleportation spell, it went off anyway, skipping her forward half the distance to Sunset, who immediately backed away, teleporting the same distance away. Before Twilight could get a hold of the spell, she had blinked forward a half a dozen more times in increasingly shorter and quicker intervals, inadvertently backing Sunset into a corner.

Sunset was glancing around in panic, trying to decide which way to go when she seemed to come to a realization. While Twilight was still struggling to wrest control of her teleportation spell from her alicorn magic, Sunset levitated something out from behind herself.

It was the Element of Magic.

The moment recognition reached Twilight’s face, Sunset tossed the crown out of the window and teleported off in the other direction.

Twilight had no real choice; she instinctively loosened up on the tight grip she had on her teleport spell and went after the Element of Magic. It took three rapid-fire blinks to grab the Element of Magic out of the air, by which time the reality of her actions had caught up to her. Her heart began to race as she realized just how high up she was and she began to remember not just her swan-dive into the ground at her coronation but also all of Rainbow Dash’s repeated attempts to get her to fly.

Logically, if she’d had the chance to think about it she would have realized that she was in no actual danger. There was a part of her that knew that she could teleport to safety at any moment and, in fact, would likely do so the instant she lost control of her spell again. However, that part of her was buried deep at the moment, drowned out by the fact that she was so high up—a fact that was changing very fast as she raced to the crystal courtyard below.

Somehow the fact that she’d survived her last such situation wasn’t much comfort.

And then a shimmering blue light caught her.

“Is that what I think it is?” Princess Luna asked as she levitated Twilight back to the Crystal Castle, hovering beside her as she did so.

It took Twilight a moment to gather her wits and answer. Uncurling herself from around the ancient artifact, she showed it to the Princess. “Yes; the Element of Magic,” she confirmed. “I don’t know why she had it, but it allowed her to get away. You didn’t see which way she went?”

Princess Luna shook her head as she landed Twilight back inside, not far from where she’d left. There was no sign of Sunset Shimmer. “No, she seems to have gone to ground.”

“Well, maybe Princess Celestia had more luck?” Twilight suggested as she attempted to stand on trembling legs, but Princess Luna shot her down.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Celestia stayed behind to guard the mirror in case she looped back and was to send Cadance to check on the Crystal Heart, assuming she was able to wake her. I am afraid that we have lost her for now, though she will not easily leave the city, with the train running infrequently and under our control.”

Well, that was something, Twilight supposed. Still shaking and unsteady on her hooves but not wanting to dwell on it, Twilight did her best to walk off her nerves and bleed the magic out of her teleport spell as she and Princess Luna made their way back to Celestia.

***

The room with the mirror hadn’t changed in the short while that Twilight had been gone, though the same could not be said for Princess Celestia, who looked as twitchy and shaken as Twilight, leaping to her hooves the moment she and Princess Luna came through the door.

“Sunset…?” she asked hopefully and looked crushed when Princess Luna shook her head. “It was her, though, wasn’t it?”

Princess Luna looked to Twilight, who could only tell the princess what she saw. “Cream yellow coat, red and gold mane, cutie mark of a two-tone sun?”

Princess Celestia collapsed with relief. “Yes, that’s her,” she said, letting out a sigh as if the weight of the world had been lifted from her.

“She escaped,” Princess Luna reminded her sister.

Princess Celestia brushed her off and said, “We can worry about that later,” as she turned to the mirror.

Twilight was about to ask what the princess was going to do with the magical item in question when Princess Celestia flapped her wings and kicked it over, toppling the heavy frame, the glass shattering when it hit the ground.

“What—!” Luna attempted to interject, but she was cut off by the sudden daylight of a miniature sun swallowing the corner of the room where the mirror had been.

And then, as quickly as it had appeared, the ball of solar fire was gone and Twilight was left attempting to blink the single giant spot out of her eyes. “Was that really necessary?” she griped, rubbing her eyes.

“My apologies, Twilight,” the Princess said, sounding contrite. “But you have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do that.”

“Since Sunset Shimmer went through the mirror in the first place?” Luna suggested, raising an eyebrow at her sister.

Princess Celestia paused, then admitted. “Okay, you know exactly how long I’ve been wanting to do that, then.”

"Regardless, it makes good tactical sense to cut off any avenues of escape,” Princess Luna said in approval. “If Sunset Shimmer had managed to flee through the portal again, we would not be able to follow lest we risk becoming trapped there ourselves. Even if we were to follow, there would be no catching her with an entire world for her to hide in.”

“Luna!” Princess Celestia scolded. “The aim is not to catch her. She is not a criminal.”

“Technically, she did steal the Element of Magic,” Twilight timidly pointed out, levitating the crown out in front of herself. “If she hadn’t used it as a distraction in her escape, we might not have even realized that it was missing until it was too late.”

Princess Celestia frowned. “That is… not like her,” she said uneasily.

“It has been a long time,” Princess Luna suggested tactfully. “Ponies do change.”

Princess Celestia shook her head in denial. “No. Not that much. The Sunset that I knew would never throw away what she’d come for just to make an escape. Not unless she was truly desperate.”

Twilight had to stop and readjust her expectations before she could continue. “…Well, we were at a stalemate with teleportation and I did have her cornered,” she said, though she admitted to herself that the former had mattered more than the latter.

Princess Celestia was unconvinced. “The castle isn’t on fire,” she said. “Ergo, she wasn’t desperate.”

Luna gave the crater in the corner a dubious look and said, “The castle is made of crystal. It is not flammable.”

“She would have found a way,” Princess Celestia said with complete confidence, having faith in her once-student and pseudo-daughter.

Luna sighed and decided to drop the subject. “Fine, then. If she was not here for the Element of Magic, then what was she here for?” she asked.

“Well, it has always been my earnest hope that she would one day come back to me so that we could talk about what happened and apologize,” Princess Celestia offered.

Twilight and Princess Luna both gave her the exact same deadpan look.

Princess Celestia sighed. “Very well. Let us go check on Cadance and the Crystal Heart.”

***

Twilight wasn’t sure what she had expected and therefore had no idea how to react.

On the one hoof, Cadance was sleeping on the job.

…But on the other hoof, she was sleeping on the job—or, to be more specific, laying on top of the job and curled around it for warmth, making happy sounds in her sleep.

“Well, the Crystal Heart does seem to be secure,” Luna admitted. “Perhaps we should simply leave her be until morning?”

As if prompted by the idea, Princess Celestia was unable to quite stifle a yawn. “Err… yes. Perhaps that would be for the best.”

Princess Luna nodded. “I will inform the proper ponies that no trains are to leave until this matter is settled.”

Princess Celestia briefly hesitated, but agreed. “So long as Cadance doesn’t object, I think that would be a good idea, but do not turn this into a marehunt. We can sort all of this out if I can just talk to her.”

Princess Luna looked like she wanted to disagree, but relented. “Very well. I suppose that she would not be the first to attempt to keep the elements from their bearers and receive no more than a slap on the wrist for it.”

Twilight felt there was something off about that statement considering that Princess Luna would technically be one of those in question and Discord the other, but she wasn’t about to actually say that.

“Very well, then,” Princess Celestia said, yawning again. “We will decide what more to do about this in the morning when Cadance is able to participate. This is her city, after all.”

Luna agreed and the two eldest princesses each went on their way, leaving Twilight alone with the sleeping Cadance.

Giving her old foalsitter a look and appreciating the irony, Twilight went off to find a blanket to put over her.

***

Breakfast was a late affair for the four princesses and their guests. Cadance had needed all the sleep that she could get and Princess Celestia hadn’t actually been that much better off, no matter how much she’d tried to hide it.

Now, though, while Princess Celestia was figuratively glowing with the relief of knowing that her old student was no longer trapped in another world, Princess Cadance looked more like she’d slept on a strangely-shaped rock.

Mainly because she had slept on a strangely-shaped rock.

That said, she too was glowing, though not in the sense of being in a bright and sunny mood. No, she was looking rather crystal-y that morning and quite literally glowing.

Again, this was the fault of the strangely-shaped rock that she’d slept on, and the combination of the two was quite the sight.

Rarity was aghast.

Shining Armor was just confused and rather hungry.

Rainbow Dash looked about the same as Cadance, but didn’t have the excuse of being overworked and woken up in the middle of the night, nor did she have the crystalline form to counterbalance it.

She just wasn’t a morning pony.

The fact that it could barely be called morning any more didn’t really factor into it.

Once everypony had something in their stomachs, Princess Celestia began to explain the events of the previous night regarding Sunset Shimmer, covering the princess’ history with her with significantly less commentary from Princess Luna this time and a little more from Cadance now that she wasn’t sleeping through most of it. Cadance still wasn’t wildly enthusiastic about digging up the past with Sunset, except for the fact that with her actually in the city, it wasn’t quite the past any more and she seemed to be tentatively melancholy about the idea of maybe actually making peace with her after all these years.

Of course, it was also clear to Twilight that that part of her was kept well in line by the fact that she had actually met Sunset Shimmer.

“She stole your element?” Cadance asked, directing the question at Twilight. “Why does that not surprise me? No, wait—what actually surprises me is that she actually let it go. She must have actually come for something else.”

Princess Celestia was happily nodding along, sipping her tea and looking quite vindicated.

“About that…” Twilight said, levitating the Element of Magic up and set it down on the table, getting curious looks from most of those present. “After everything was over, I went back to my room to rest and relax and found this.” The looks turned to surprise when she levitated another, nearly identical copy of the Element of Magic up and placed it next to the first.

“Two Elements of Magic?!” Pinkie Pie gasped. “Does this mean she’s actually you from an alternate timeline come back to prevent a horrible future where cupcakes and muffins have been at war for forty thousand years and it doesn’t even matter why anymore because both sides are gluten free?!”

“No.”

“Oh, good,” Pinkie Pie said in clear relief. “We sure dodged a bullet on that one.”

Rainbow Dash blinked and began to ask, “What’s a—” before she was interrupted by Rarity clearing her throat and giving her a look that said not to encourage her.

“This one is fake,” Rarity declared, levitating up one of the two crowns that had made their way over to her side of the table while the rest had been distracted by Pinkie Pie.

This was welcome news to Princess Celestia. “Really, now? That’s… fascinating. Is it a variation on the want-it-need-it spell that actually creates a simulacra of something the target wants, I wonder…?”

Rarity shook her head. “Sorry, Princess, but no. This was prepared beforehoof. It’s actually quite fascinating; the tooling marks aren’t like anything I’ve seen before. It was definitely made, but I would hesitate to say that it was made by hoof.”

“I see,” Princess Celestia said, a little let down. “So it was a premeditated distraction, then. That is, admittedly, very much like my old student, though it does also imply a worrying amount of foreknowledge on her part. If she has been using the mirror as a scrying focus, then she may know a great deal more about what has happened in her absence than we might expect.”

“That’s… a good point, actually,” Twilight said, then proceeded to give Princess Celestia an apologetic look. “Though, sorry, Princess, but I really should clarify that it was the crown in my room that was the fake. She not only stole the Element of Magic, but she came here to steal it.”

“I… see,” Princess Celestia repeated, more troubled than the last time. “That is… difficult to reconcile.”

“Yes, you and Cadance have already said that she should have been much more tenacious about holding onto it,” Princess Luna said. “I am even inclined to agree. If she has gone to all the trouble of commissioning such a well-made imitation, it seems unlikely that she would simply abandon it unless she had laid her eyes on a greater prize.”

Cadance and Princess Celestia both shared a worried look. “That would do it,’ Cadance said. “But what? I can’t imagine what she thought she could use the Element of Magic for in the first place and she didn’t go after the Crystal Heart. What other sources of power were there in the city that she could be after?”

“Maybe she tried to use the Element of Magic and it showed her that what she wanted was a loving family all along?” Applejack suggested to the chagrin of the table. “Yeah, didn’t think so.”

“Maybe it’s not something in the city?” Fluttershy suggested. “If she was just outside of the room, maybe she heard something. You tend to hear a lot when people don’t realize that you’re there.”

Twilight frowned, trying to recall what they’d been talking about when Sunset Shimmer had interrupted them, but she didn’t think that anything had come up except—Oh.

Oh no.

“The Everfree.”

Chapter 7

“The Everfree?” Rarity asked, dubious. “Whatever she wants out of that dreadful place, she can have. Maybe living with the Timberwolves will improve her disposition.”

“Well, it’s… not that simple, Rarity,” Twilight said with some hesitation, not really sure how to explain that she was, in a way, responsible for the local creepy forest of doom that they’d all grown up terrified of.

“Is this about the Castle of the Two Sisters?” Rainbow Dash asked, bouncing on the edge of her seat. “Oh! Oh! Did the princesses leave some ancient magical research there that they deemed dangerous to use but too awesome to destroy?”

“That would be convenient, but no,” Twilight said. Looking around at all of her friends, sighed and decided to just bluntly tell them, “It’s where my missing alicorn powers are,” stunning all of her friends into silence.

Applejack was the first to recover. “Uh, would you care to explain that, sugarcube?”

Twilight was about to do so, but thought better of it and turned expectantly to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna instead. They weren’t quite primary sources, but they were as close as they were going to get.

When the sister princesses were done summarizing their discovery and subsequent study of the Everfree, Twilight was more uneasy than ever itching to go do something now that they had some idea what Sunset Shimmer was likely to be after. The responses from the rest of the table were a little more varied, though no less urgent.

Cadance was clutching her hooves together, eyes sparkling. “I have a sister!”

“I already became your sister when you married my brother!” Twilight shot back, not unhappy to be ambiguously closer to Cadance, but growing annoyed that this wasn’t being taken a little more seriously.

“Wait, my sister is your sister?” said Shining Armor to his wife, somewhat bemused and trying to work out whether he should be concerned about this or not.

It took a moment for the various reactions to die down, at which point Rainbow Dash voiced the question that was really on everypony’s minds. “So, what? This Sunset Shimmer mare wanted to be an alicorn and now she thinks she can just take Twilight’s magic instead? Is that even possible?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? Princess Celestia shook her head, to Twilight’s small relief. “I do not believe so. Luna and I studied the magics of the Everfree over the course of centuries, hoping that we might put them to rest or at least tame them, but we made little that could be called progress. We were younger and less experienced then, but I do not believe that Sunset will have any more success, if that is indeed the conclusion she came to from eavesdropping on us.”

“It may be supposition, but it is what we have to go on,” Luna surmised and Twilight agreed. “Given that she exiled herself after being denied ascension—”

“Which I cannot grant,” Princess Celestia interrupted, sending Princess Luna a scowl.

“…Yes, that,” Princess Luna said, brushing it off. “Given that, I imagine that the feasibility of it matters little to her. In fact, the idea that it is something that you failed at would likely only encourage her.”

“…Yes? Why wouldn’t it?” Twilight asked, giving everypony a little more insight into the mind of one of Princess Celestia’s students than she intended. Regardless, she carried on. “That’s how progress is made. Everything we do is something that hasn’t been done before—and on that note, I, uhh, think I would like to go back to my forest now? Because that really isn’t a risk that I’m comfortable taking when I have any other choice.”

Rarity gasped. “But you can’t! The Princess Summit—!”

Twilight rolled her eyes, thinking that this was a little more important than some made-up event, so she was understandably shocked when she saw Princess Celestia gently shaking her head.

“There is no need to panic, Twilight. Sunset isn’t going anywhere.”

Luna nodded along with this. “I have already made certain that none shall leave the city. All that is needed is for Cadance to make it official.”

“Yes, of course,” Cadance agreed, looking to Shining Armor.

“I’ll make sure it gets around,” he said, considering something before shaking his head. “Sorry, Twily. The best way to keep her contained is to shut down the trains. No unicorn is going to make it south through the snow and mountains on their own.”

“Compared to stowing away on a train, which ain’t exactly witchcraft,” Applejack said, finishing the thought.

Twilight wilted back in her seat. “That makes sense, but…”

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie was next to Twilight giving her a shoulder-hug. “Aw, cheer up, Twilight! Just you wait and see—the next few days are gonna be so full of parties that you’ll forget all about the nasty, treacherous mare that’s after your soul!”

Twilight’s ears flattened in distaste. “Pinkie, that’s not—”

“What kind of cake do you think I should bring to a search party?”

***

The next few days were not, precisely full of as many parties as Pinkie Pie had suggested. Even the search parties seemed a bit lacklustre to Twilight, though that might have just been sour grapes over the fact that she didn’t have the time to actually participate in them, nor did they turn up any sign of Princess Celestia’s wayward student.

Busy, on the other hoof, was a more than accurate descriptor. Once they had come to a reluctant consensus about Sunset Shimmer and the rest of the group had made their plans, the four princesses had to move on to the laundry list of items that they had actually come to discuss. Worse, Twilight actually felt like she was helping, which in turn made her feel guilty for not wanting to be there.

“No, that doesn’t work,” Twilight said, leaning over the table on her hooves with a look of concentration on her face. Finding what she was looking for, she pushed the small stack of papers over to Cadance. “Here, look—the materials for the stadium won’t start arriving until two weeks after that. There won’t be enough time.”

Cadance gaped, grabbing the paper and scanning down the list herself. “That’s not… Oh no, you’re right,” she said, finally seeing it for herself. Slumping forward onto the table, the paper began to drift off until Twilight caught it in her magic and made the stack neat again.

“I am sure that a visit from a princess can encourage them to have it ready sooner,” Luna suggested, presuming the matter settled.

Celestia had another suggestion, however. “The Hilltown Hotel representatives are refusing to work with crystal ponies, meaning they’re going to be short on labor and won’t be done with construction until the last minute. I’m sure that we could come to an arrangement with them for the materials they won’t be needing until after ours are available to replace them.”

That sparked something in Twilight’s memory and she went looking for something she knew was there while Cadance was expressing her discontent. “I don’t know…” she said, chewing her lip. “They’ve been rather unpleasant with us. If we can just get the materials sooner somehow, I’d rather work something out there than go hat-in-hoof to them asking for a favor.”

“Aha! Found it!” Twilight shouted. “Hilltown Hotels isn’t the only one receiving the kinds of materials we need before us. The Mareiott are handling VIP accommodation on-site and they can’t actually start their own construction until the stadium construction has started. There should be no problem getting them to release those to us, and they’re much closer to what we actually need anyway.”

“Will it be enough, though?” Cadance asked, taking the paper from Twilight and giving it a look for herself. It was a short list.

Twilight was confident, though. “We’ll have to shuffle things around and focus on one section before the rest, but we don’t have to make up the entire two week difference. It should be enough, barely.”

Cadance sighed and said, “I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with ‘barely.’ It makes me uneasy. See if you can find something else to give us a little more breathing room?”

Twilight considered that for a bit before she began shuffling through even more papers. “I think I know just the thing…”

And so it went. Eventually, they had the immediate concerns over the Equestria Games settled into something they could hand off to other ponies and moved on to other topics. Twilight felt like groaning when she saw that they also had things to do to prepare for the next Summer Sun Celebration, the refilling of Cloudsdale’s reservoir and so on, but these annual events largely ran themselves. Mostly they just covered what would be going on over the course of the next year and covered these subjects rapidly.

After a few days of this, Twilight not only empathized with Cadance’s level of exhaustion, but was well on her way to joining her, her only saving grace the fact that she was already used to long research projects far more than her fellow contemporary princess and double-pseudo-sister.

Unfortunately, research, planning and organization wasn’t all that she had to deal with.

“Now hold still,” Rarity instructed as she circled around Twilight searching for any flaw at all in her appearance. A moment later, her lips tightened a minute amount as she lit her horn and smoothed out a small section of Twilight’s coat that had gotten a little mussed up.

“Honestly, Rarity,” Twilight grumbled and asked, “Is this all really necessary?”

Rarity hmphed. “Your princesshood may have gotten you out of wearing a dress, my dear, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have to look your best. In this situation, you are the dress, and you must be absolutely perfect.”

“Are you… mad at me?” Twilight asked, a little bewildered by the idea.

“Whatever gave you that idea?” Rarity asked with a certain cold sweetness. “Just because you of all ponies didn’t bring your crown of office with you to your inaugural Princess Summit isn’t any reason for me to be mad—and the fact that you didn’t even think to mention it until the Duke of Maretonia had arrived? A trifle, really.”

Twilight sighed, which just gave Rarity the opportunity to correct her posture. “I already apologized about that,” she reminded Rarity. “Besides, it isn’t as if I’d needed it before now. Wouldn’t it be a lot simpler if I just had the Element of Magic as my crown of office anyway?”

“Absolutely not!” Rarity said and was just about to go into great detail about how such a thing would erode the very foundation of meaning of such icons when Rainbow Dash burst into the room, followed shortly by the rest of their friends, causing her to wrinkle her nose at their just-in-from-the-city appearances.

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash grunted, actually dropping onto one of the plush chairs that the guest suites had been furnished with rather than remain in the air. Kicking back, she draped herself over it like a sodden blanket and bemoaned, “Still no sign of that damn mare. No sightings, no disturbances—not even anyone that’s noticed any food missing. Either she’s really good at sneaking around for a princess’ pyromaniac student or she really did try to head south in the snow.”

“Ah wouldn’t say it’s impossible,” Applejack chimed in as she took off her characteristic stetson, set it down on a small end table and claimed another seat for herself. “Only I’d’ve expected some sign that she’d been stocking up. It ain't like a unicorn can just magic up food. That's pretty much a rule, right?”

Twilight gave it some thought. “I wouldn't want to say that it's completely impossible since it's magic, but in practical terms, yes. Creating food with magic is something that unicorns have wanted to be able to do for a very long time for—well—obvious reasons."

Applejack nodded at that, exuding an air of satisfaction and pride.

“Although… that doesn't mean that there aren't other possibilities,” Twilight added. “Transmutation can turn anything edible into something else that might be easier to stomach. There have been stories of unicorn sailors who survived at sea by transmuting the rigging of their ship into spaghetti. Since hemp is entirely edible, they were able to survive long enough to be found and rescued. Of course, that kind of transmutation is hardly easy to get right. Someone who hasn't done it before is just as likely to end up with something that is less palatable then what they started with.”

“Ah see…” Applejack said, scratching her chin. “So it might not be missing food we're looking for, but anything that even comes close, including things in storage that nopony would notice missing. That does make it a lot harder.”

“And that's just things that we should be practically concerned with,” Twilight said. “There's this one legend about a unicorn with a talent for fire who was so in tune with her special talent that she could survive just by burning things—or so the story goes.”

Applejack grunted. “They say similar things about old Jolly Appleseed, but Ah’m closer to thinking this mare is a real good sneak than believe she’s on the level of some sorta storybook legend. Unfortunately, it doesn't really matter which it is so long as we can't find her.”

“Maybe she doesn't want to be found?" Fluttershy suggested, then blushed. “I mean, of course she doesn't want to be found, but is that such a bad thing? I know the princess wants to talk to her old student, and she might have done some bad things, but if all she wants is to be left alone, then maybe we should let her.”

“But she doesn't want to just be left alone,” Twilight said, understanding the sentiment but annoyed at the dismissal all the same. “She wants to be an alicorn and she doesn't care who she hurts so long as she can get it.”

“But she can't get it,” Rainbow Dash said, throwing up her hooves. “I mean, I know that just saying that is tempting fate, but even if it's possible, she's not going to figure it out in a week before you can go deal with things yourself. Sometimes you’ve just gotta let a pony crash and burn before they’ll listen.”

Twilight sighed. “That might be true, but it wouldn't be responsible to just leave it to chance. If there's something that we can do about it, then we should.”

“And we are,” Applejack reassured her. “But patrolling the streets and asking the same grocer if he's seen anything for the third day in a row ain't really getting us anywhere. Ah ain’t saying we should stop, but if we don’t come up with something else soon, they’re gonna have to start running the train again, and then it’ll be all Equestria that we’ll have to look for her in.”

“Sorry,” Twilight apologized, shaking her head. “I’m just stressed and frustrated. I just wish that I could be out there helping.”

“You really don’t,” Rainbow Dash said, not having moved an inch during the entire conversation.

“And you are helping,” Fluttershy insisted. “You’re getting a lot done with the other princesses during the summit, aren’t you?”

Twilight’s ears flattened. “Well, yes, but that’s just…”

“…Just what’s actually important about being a princess?” Fluttershy suggested timidly. “You know that we won’t think any less of you if you never get the rest of your magic back, right? You’ll still be an alicorn.”

“Not much of one,” Twilight defended, almost as quietly as Fluttershy when she’s trying to get somepony’s attention.

“Horse apples!” Rainbow Dash yelled without moving from her spot. “You, uhh, might not be as awesome as—”

“Not helping, Dash” Applejack interrupted and tossed a banana from a nearby fruit bowl at her.

“I mean it,” Fluttershy said, determined to get through to Twilight but slightly weakly all the same. “Even if it actually mattered what magic you have instead of what you can do as a princess—even if Sunset Shimmer got her hooves on your pegasus and earth pony magic, she still won’t be an alicorn. You said so yourself—that’s a different magic entirely, and it’s one you already have.”

“I…” Twilight had to admit—Fluttershy did have a point. “That’s… Thanks, Fluttershy, that does help, actually.”

Twilight shuffled in place feeling awkward when she realized that there were two ponies who hadn’t spoken up for quite some time.

The first was Pinkie Pie, who hadn’t even made it to a chair and had just fallen over onto her front on the crystal floor like a successfully tired-out foal.

The other was Rarity, who Twilight had to turn around to get a look at. The mare in question was just standing there, manebrush gripped tight in her magic… seething with malice.

“It is less than half an hour until the six of us are to have dinner with the duke of Maretonia!” she screeched, scaring Rainbow Dash out of her seat and onto the floor and continuing to berate the others for everything from being ‘sweaty piles of filth’ to their lack of a perfectly-styled coiffure. Out of all of them, only Twilight was spared for already having spent the last hour under Rarity’s tender ministrations.

Twilight blinked, then looked again.

And also Fluttershy, whose mane and coat apparently looked just as perfectly brushed as they had that morning.

Huh.

Chapter 9

Sunset Shimmer let out a sigh of relief as she watched Princess Luna levitate Twilight Sparkle back into the Crystal Castle. The sigh was of course for herself and the fact that she wasn't being chased anymore, not for any concern over Twilight Sparkle’s safety, because seriously, what kind of alicorn couldn’t even fly? It was just proof that Twilight Sparkle hadn’t been strong enough to fully ascend into an alicorn, and with Sunset now in on the secret, she never would. She would feel sorry for the mare, but it was Celestia that had gotten her hopes up in the first place, so it was hardly her fault, was it?

No, she had no regrets—not that there was anything to regret. Not being able to scry Twilight and the princesses would be a wrench, but it would pale in comparison to what she would gain.

Besides, having regrets would imply that she had had any choice in the matter to begin with, and in hindsight there had been none. Sure, technically she had decided to spy on the princesses in person instead of going back through the portal, but that decision hadn’t actually mattered one bit in the end. The princesses had been heading for the mirror portal before Sunset had even stolen the Element of Magic. Maybe there was a chance that she could have made it back to the portal in time if she’d rushed, but she wouldn’t have been rushing. Just the opposite; if she hadn't been in a hurry to spy on the princesses, then she would have been taking things slowly and carefully and wouldn't have had any chance at beating them to the mirror portal at all, nor would she have had the chance to witness such a cathartic event. She might have even missed this latest bit of information that would make it all worthwhile.

No. It was clear that this was what she was meant to do. She had mixed feelings about the Equestrian idea of destiny these days and far preferred to make her own, but if harmony had conspired to bring her here for this, then who was she to argue? All she needed to do was find a way out of this city and head to the Everfree forest.

She was just about to get on that, when Twilight, Celestia and Luna appeared at the base of the Crystal Castle.

Oh, and Cadance was there, too. Huh. She hadn't even noticed. That was cute, but there's no way that it was comfortable. Not even for a pegasus-slash-alicorn.

She forgot about that, though, focusing instead on listening in on the princesses’ plans, cursing at the mention of stopping the trains and almost giving herself away with a snort of laughter at Celestia's insistence that everything would be fine if the two of them could just talk this out.

It wasn't long before three out of the four princesses were gone and the fourth was left sleeping on top of the Crystal Heart. Sunset didn’t move from her position across the courtyard, which was a good thing, because Twilight soon returned with a blanket for Cadance.

It would have been adorable if Cadance wasn't close to twice her age now.

Once Twilight was well and gone for good, though, Sunset got to thinking through what she was going to do from here on out. She was distracted, however, by Cadance and the Crystal Heart.

There was no denying that the Crystal Heart was a powerful artifact but she had no interest in it. Just like she had no interest in the Element of Magic so long as she was staying in Equestria. What she wanted was power—not some wishy-washy do-gooder rock with a moral compass. No, she had no interest in something like that.

It, however, definitely had an interest in her. Considering her… well, her alignment for lack of a better word, that was probably a bad thing. She very much did not want to get smote on her first night back in Equestria, so she deftly turned the magic aside and waited to see what it would do. To her surprise it did nothing. It seemed curious and hopeful, in a way, but what did you expect from an artifact powered by love?

Now curious herself, Sunset shifted her attention to how the Crystal Heart was interacting with Cadance, because whatever it was doing, it was a lot more lively about it than the tentative olive branch that it had been directing at Sunset.

No, this was interesting, so instead of searching for someplace in the city to hide, she laid herself down in the cold crystal alleyway and settled in to watch Cadance sleep, which was a completely normal thing to do.

***

“Worth it,” Sunset Shimmer said with a triumphant, crusty-eyed grin.

By the time ponies were beginning to be seen up and about starting their day, Cadance was looking very sparkly indeed in the early morning sun. Sunset was going to have to get going herself before anypony saw her, but before that, she had an idea.

Standing up and stretching in the small alleyway from which she’d been watching Cadance sleep, Sunset reached out with her magic to the now familiar warmth of the Crystal Heart and forged her own connection to it—‘forged’ in the larcenous sense being the key word in this situation. The Crystal Heart could be said to have emotions in that it was, to an extent, made out of them, but it wasn’t actually intelligent in any way, shape or form. So, while it would absolutely and completely reject anything that was opposed to it, anypony who didn’t fall into that category would be welcomed with open arms and had a lot more leeway. In fact, the depth of the connection a pony had to it was almost entirely up to the pony and it would take a significant amount of soul-searching for the average stallion or mare to accept the warmth of the Crystal Heart into them.

Sunset Shimmer was not an ordinary pony. To begin with, she’d always been good with magic, and that had continued to be true during her tenure as Princess Celestia’s personal protégé. She was no generalist, though, and had always focused on big, impressive and obscure pieces of magic.

Especially when those magics involved burning things. She could do an impressive sun spell.

Yes, that sun. Well, close enough for government work, anyway. Literally. It was the exact same spell that Celestia practiced with, which was no simple thing. Sunset's wasn’t terribly large, but the fact that she could do it at all was a source of pride.

That had all ended with her exile into the human world. At first, she’d felt like she’d been tricked into it. The mirror had shown her as an alicorn, but the actual world that it had sent her to was all but devoid of magic, and what it did have was stiff and brittle. Doing anything with it was like attempting underwater basket weaving with dry spaghetti.

It was a nightmare and she’d been furious.

She’d gotten used to it, though. That simple sentence belied the blood, sweat and tears that she had shed to do it, but she’d done it and that was all that mattered.

Ever since then, she’d spent her time in the human world practicing the subtlest of magics and using them to scry through the ineffable chaos between worlds and watch ponies make friends.

Forming a wide, but shallow bridge between herself and the Crystal Heart? That was foal’s play, and as the connection was made she was filled with warmth, like there was a fire burning in her heart.

She could get used to this.

***

By the time Sunset Shimmer had made up for her lost sleep the night before, it was sunset and she was shimmering.

“Cool,” she said, holding her crystalline hoof out in front of her where it broke a beam of ruddy sunlight into dozens of spots across the floor of the abandoned house.

Well, the hopefully abandoned house. Sure, there was a dusty crib slowly disintegrating in the corner, but as she’d learned in the human world, you couldn’t assume anything. Some people had no self respect and just lived like that. Heck, maybe the family had lost a foal or had to give it up, so they'd walled of the room and cast a spell on it to make everyone forget that the foal had existed at all and there was a whole family living normally on the other side of the walls who would all be coming running to the room and the foal that they'd forgotten after she’d broken the seal by sleeping in it.

…

It could happen. It never hurt to be careful—entirely ignoring the situation that had resulted in her being trapped back in this world, anyway. That was not going to happen again. Probably.

Fortunately, the rest of the small house on the outskirts of the city did appear to be abandoned. Unfortunately, that meant that there was no food in the house for her to steal while secretly living in the closet and only coming out when no one was around.

In hindsight, the human world had been very strange and she probably shouldn’t use too many of her experiences there as a basis for her decisions.

Enough distractions, though. Sunset Shimmer shook her head and took a deep breath. She needed to focus on what she was going to do going forward , not weird stories from another world.

It was surprisingly easy. The moment she decided to calm down the warmth in her heart flared up and a feeling of contentment and belonging spread throughout her.

“Woah.”

That was…

“Woah.”

She began to giggle as she basked in the everpresent comfort and warmth of the Crystal Heart—and that warmth wasn’t just metaphorical, either. One would think that she’d have been miserable and cold sleeping in an abandoned building made entirely of crystal, but while the room was dark and the crystal cold to the touch, she very much wasn’t, and even the shadows seemed to diminish as she tapped into the Crystal Heart’s freely-offered power.

The sky was darkening into evening by the time Sunset remembered that she had more to do than test the limits of the power that she could draw from the Crystal Heart. It might have been even longer if not for the fact that her stomach had begun to growl at her.

Her stomach had good reason to growl at her; it had been nearly twenty-four hours since she’d last eaten. That wasn't unusual for her in the grand scheme of things, considering that she had spent a lot of her time on the other side of the mirror subsisting on rice and eggs and shoplifting multivitamins from the grocery store. She was used to going hungry and could stick it out if she had to.

She didn't yet know if she would have to. It will depend on just how extensive the search for her was. Celestia had told them not to turn this situation into a mare hunt, but surely they would at least have guards out in the streets looking for her, right?

Not as such.

After improvising a crystal scrunchie out of an old necklace she’d found in another room of the abandoned house and using it to tie her mane back, Sunset Shimmer had carefully made her way out into the city, checking every corner and expecting the worst.

She did, eventually spot a few patrolls of guards searching for her, but they were really, really bad at it. That wasn’t even her own inflated sense of self-worth being bolstered by the crystal heart, either. They were seriously bad at it to the point that she wondered if there was some sort of misdirection going on.

Where were the posters, the checkpoints, the guards stationed in the high-traffic areas? All they seemed to be doing was sending a few ponies out in groups to look for her and ask the odd pony on the street if they’d seen her.

That couldn't be all, could it?

After an hour of sneaking around, she eventually decided that, yes, that was all they were actually doing and decided to actually see if she could scrounge up some food when it happened.

She’d been momentarily distracted by the simultaneously hard and crystalline yet pliable form that her body had taken and thus, forgot the one thing that her time as a not-very-good-person in the human world hadn’t taught her, which was to look up.

A pegasus guard landed right in front of her, catching her completely off-guard.

“Have you seen this unicorn mare, ma’am?” the guard asked, holding out an old photo of her a few years younger, not long before she’d gone through the mirror. “She’d be an adult now.”

Sunset was dumbstruck. Now, that is. Not in the photo. She just stood there, shocked, her mouth hanging open.

The guard nodded, as if that was the response that he’d expected from a crystal pony. “Alright. Thanks for giving me a moment of your time. If you do see her, we would appreciate it if you would let the guard know. Princess Celestia would like to have a word with her. She isn’t a criminal, but we wouldn’t recommend confronting her all the same. Have a good evening,” he said and flew off.

She continued to stare into the blank space that the guard had just vacated for a moment. “...Did that just happen?” she asked herself, then rushed off to the end of the alley she’d been in to make sure that the guard hadn’t flown straight off to get Celestia, but no, he was giving the exact same speech to another crystal pony, a practiced smile on his face.

Sunset blinked and watched him fly from pony to pony, as if he hadn’t just asked her if she’d seen herself.

Shining Armor must be really good in bed.

Seriously, poor Cadance. What was even the point of becoming a princess if you still had the same incompetent ponies working for you?

Wait, no. That had been a pegasus, not a crystal pony, meaning that guard would have had to have been one of Celestia's. Poor Celestia? Ehh, nah. Didn’t work. That one was entirely on her. It wasn’t as if she hadn't had a thousand-plus years to get it right.

Suddenly, Sunset really missed being able to engage in her voyeuristic hobby of scrying Twilight and the others, because she really wanted to know what the hell they were thinking. There had to be an explanation for this that she was missing, right? Sure, she’d done the minimum to blend in with the crystal ponies and changed her profile by tying her mane back, but there were limits to what she could believe.

If they were this incompetent, maybe she could get a job in the castle as a maid.

No. Best not to press her luck. They couldn’t be that incompetent, right?

Chapter 10

“Right,” Twilight Sparkle said, scanning down the list of local governmental elections that would be taking place over the next year. There was really nothing they had to do there, but it was interesting to note just how eclectic they all were. Apparently Princess Celestia had never instituted a standard election cycle, so terms and term limits varied wildly. Just in what she’d skimmed, she’d seen cities that elected a new mayor anywhere from every year to ‘whenever we feel like it.’ “I think that’s it, then,” she concluded, not daring to sound hopeful. “That was the last thing on the list.”

Princess Celestia ran her eyes over her copy of the agenda for the Princess Summit, nodding slightly as she mentally checked off each item to ensure that they had covered everything. Twilight edged forward on her seat, unable to contain her eagerness to be done with what had essentially been a week-long meeting. Amusingly, she wasn’t the only one to harbor such feelings; Cadance wasn’t quite squirming, but was sitting with a distinct lean, and while Princess Luna was the picture of collected poise, there was a distinct, intense air about her that said that the answer to Twilight’s question had better be positive.

Fortunately for all of them, Princess Celestia nodded one last time, set the scroll down and said, “Yes, I believe that we have covered everything. Twilight couldn’t be certain, but she wondered if she hadn’t heard a small amount of the princess’ own relief in that statement.

Twilight’s display of relief was much more obvious, involving as it did her flopping over onto the crystal table that she had become intimately familiar with over the past week and shouting her muffled gratitude into its glossy surface.

Cadance tittererd in amusement at the display, while the other princesses may have cracked their own smiles.

“That just leaves what we are to do about the ongoing search for Sunset Shimmer and the embargo on leaving the city,” Princess Celestia said soberingly. “The duke of Maretonia has been getting antsy about not being allowed to return home, and I expect that he isn’t the only one.”

For just a moment, Twilight wondered if the princess would defy expectations and declare some radical action, be it to continue the embargo until Sunset was 'found' or take some greater action that might actually be successful, but in the end, as Cadance had said, Princess Celestia would do what practicality demanded.

With a sigh and a shake of her head, the princess admitted, “I suppose there is nothing more that we can do, and continuing to inconvenience the city now would be shutting the henhouse after the fox has fled, as it were.”

“You think that she’s actually escaped?” Twilight asked, a sudden jolt of irrational fear running down her spine in concern for the princess’ previous student getting a head start on the magic of the Everfree.

“Unlikely,” Princess Luna declared with certainty. “But it hardly matters at this point. If we have not caught her by now—”

“Found,” Princess Celestia insisted tartly.

Princess Luna rolled her eyes at her sister. “If we have not ‘found’ her by now,” she corrected herself with some amount of sarcasm. “Then we are unlikely to do so as she forms a greater familiarity with the city and the guard. If there had been any sign of her, be it by sight or theft, then we might hope that she might be run to ground eventually, but it is clear by now that whatever her methods, they are not only effective at evading our 'efforts', but allow her a comfortable amount of leeway in doing so.”

“It’s not surprising,” Twilight commented. “If we didn’t think that we could stop her from boarding a train, expecting to find her in an entire city was probably optimistic.”

“What surprises me is that she has managed the entire week without doing something to call attention to herself,” Princess Celestia commented, not offended. “She never was a subtle mare.”

“Unless she was breaking into the restricted archives,” Cadance reminded her. “Or doing something else you wouldn’t approve of. She never had trouble sneaking around; it was the aftermath that got her in trouble—which makes sense, because she wanted the attention as much as she wanted to prove herself to you.”

“I suppose that I will simply have to hope that she one day comes to me,” Princess Celestia said with a melancholy glance out the window.

Twilight did her best to ignore the dismissal inherent in that remark, as if Sunset Shimmer was just going to live a quiet adult life and one day come to regret the impetuousness of youth.

“I was thinking about that, actually,” she spoke up. “We know that Sunset Shimmer is going to want to be on the first train south.”

Princess Celestia nodded. “Yes, as much as I don’t expect to be able to prevent her from boarding, that isn’t any reason to be lax on security. It is still the best bottleneck that we have.”

“I don’t believe that was Princess Twilight’s meaning,” Princess Luna said, motioning for Twilight to carry on.

Twilight, in turn, nodded. “Actually, I think it’s a very good reason to be lax on security,” she began. “She’s going to make it south eventually. If we stop her from boarding the first train then she’ll just take the second—or the third. She’ll want to be on the first one, though, if only to stick it to Princess Celestia.”

Cadance was nodding along. “So you want to let her on the train and focus on stopping her while she has nowhere else to go?”

“Yes,” Twilight agreed. “And if necessary, we stop the train in the ice fields to search it more thoroughly. As silly as it might sound—or because, of that, maybe—I guarantee that Pinkie Pie could ride a train by hanging onto the underside of one of the carriages, so we can’t assume that Sunset couldn’t do something similar. We just don’t know what she’s capable of after all these years.”

“It’s not the sort of thing that I would normally do…” Princess Celesia mused, but admitted, “But perhaps that is what is best in this situation. It is certainly a tactically sound plan, though it does rely on Sunset not becoming suspicious of the reduced security.”

The other three princesses all gave Princess Celestia their own deadpan looks.

“What?” the princess asked.

“Sister,” Princess Luna spoke up. “Given the attitude that we have received from you at the mere suggestion of implementing the sorts of security procedures that would have even the most remote chance of cornering this mare, I very much doubt that she will notice much difference. In fact, I think it likely that we can increase security by a significant amount and still go forward with this plan. Truly, she must think that we are imbeciles at this point.”

***

“Ah, but it will be sad to leave this marvelous architecture,” Rarity bemoaned as Twilight and her friends all packed to leave, piling their luggage up outside their rooms.

“Are you kidding me?” Rainbow Dash asked, sticking her head out of her room holding her single bag. “I like crystal as much as the next mare, but there’s such a thing as too much!”

“Well…” Rarity said, considering the point. “I have to admit, they do seem to lean into their theme a tad much, what with it being the Crystal Empire, north of the Crystal Mountains, home of the crystal ponies, ruled by the Crystal Princess and protected by the power of the Crystal Heart.”

“Ah’ll say,” Applejack heartily agreed. “Ah ain’t gonna question how other ponies choose to live, but Ah’ll be glad to feel earth beneath my hooves and get back to bucking apples.”

“Oh, yes,” Fluttershy said, supporting that sentiment. “I do hope all my little animal friends have been getting along without me.”

“Didn’t you get somepony to check in on them every day?” Twilight asked, already sitting out in the hall with Spike and their two bags, having packed the night before.

“Oh, I don’t mean to question Cheerilee,” Fluttershy insisted. “It’s just that some of them can be a real hoofful when I’m not around.”

Spike coughed something that sounded like ‘Angel’ and everypony pretended not to hear him

It wasn’t long until they were all headed to the train with a small squad of guards carrying their luggage.

“It was good to see you again, Twily,” Shining Armor said as they were unloading their luggage into the luggage car.

“Really?” Twilight said. “Even though you had to spend the whole time ‘searching’ for Sunset Shimmer?”

Shining Armor chuckled and waved it off. “No need to worry about that. If it hadn’t been Sunset Shimmer, it would have been something else, or we’d have just spent the entire week doing drills. I don't deny that Cadance has the harder job.”

“Ugh,” Twilight groaned. “Don't remind me. One week of that is about all that I could stand.”

Shining Armor leaned in and gave her a one-legged hug. “Aw, don’t worry, sis,” he said, half-teasingly. “I’m told you get used to it.”

Twilight shoved him off with a huff and said, “I don’t want to get used to it,” pouting. “I still say this whole thing is crazy! I’m barely an alicorn—what about me says that I should be a princess?”

“You've got to admit, it isn't as if you haven't been trained for this,” Shining Armor said.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Before I went to Ponyville to ‘study friendship,’” she said, making air-quotes with her hooves. “I thought that maybe I would become the princess’ advisor or something like that at best. I never imagined… this!”

“And what about after you were sent to Ponyville?” Shining Armor asked, curious.

“Well…” Twilight said, flushing. “To be honest, it’s been a little like I’ve been sent out to pasture—hey! Don’t laugh!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Shining Armor said, getting himself under control. “It’s just that I find the implication that you seem to consider being the hero of Equestria boring and that you'd rather get back to your studies instead hilarious”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I’m hardly the ‘hero of Equestria’ all the time, Shiny,” she half-whined. “I like being a small-town librarian and spending time with my friends, but it's hardly… important work, you know?”

“Well, now you've gotten a taste of the important work,” Shining Armor said.

“And I'll happily go back to being that small town librarian and spending time with my friends, now, thanks,” Twilight responded.

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Shining Armor said with some sarcasm as he reached over and gave one of Twilight’s wings a tug.

“I—” Twilight was interrupted from what would surely have been a witty rejoinder by the whistle of the train calling for all passengers to board.

“See ya, Twily,” he said, giving her a good-natured shove towards the train.

Twilight pouted at losing her chance to deny-deny-deny any implication that she was going to get caught up in anything remotely princess-like back in Ponyville, but it didn't last.

“See ya, BBBFF,” she said, waving back with a smile as she turned and boarded the train.

“That was sweet,” Fluttershy commented as Twilight joined the others on the train. “I wish I had a brother like that.”

Twilight scoffed and jokingly said, “You can have him.”

“She really can't,” Rainbow Dash called out from the front of the group as the six of them made their way down to the passenger car, which Twilight couldn't help but scan for that signature red and gold mane. “He’s kind of taken!”

Twilight sputtered, completely forgetting about Sunset Shimmer in that moment.

***

Two hours into the trip, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both stood up from their seats.

“It looks like it's time,” Twilight announced to her friends, and stood up herself. “Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie; head down to the front of a train with Princess Celestia. Applejack, Fluttershy; we’ll head back to the luggage car with Princess Luna.”

There were various sounds of agreement as the two groups split up and made their way out of the last passenger car. The other passenger cars would be searched by the other group, while Twilight’s—or was it Luna’s?—group would be starting with the sparsely-populated dining car.

“Fluttershy, if you could play Rainbow Dash for a moment and check everything from above, it would help,” Twilight said while Twilight and Luna carefully picked through the car, and Applejack guarded the door back the way they’d come.

As they made their way back towards the luggage car, though, they found few enough ponies at all, let alone the one that they were looking for.

“Ah suppose that we’re the decoy group?” Applejack eventually asked, just to fill the silence.

“I have no doubt that my sister chose the direction which she thought most likely to result in her meeting her old student,” Princess Luna said. “I am not so certain; the luggage car seems to be a prime location for our target to stow away.”

“Maybe a little too prime a location,” Fluttershy said as they all got a look at the boxcar full of bags, suitcases and even a few boxes. “We aren't going to search inside any of these bags are we?”

Twilight’s ears flattened as she saw Fluttershey’s point. “No. You’re right. She could be right here under our noses, but so long as she was inside something, we’d never find her.”

Princess Luna pressed her lips together in consternation. “Quite,” she said, glaring at the luggage as if it had personally offended her. “Regardless, we shall search as thoroughly as we can. Make a space on this side of the room, and we shall move the luggage into it one by one, leaving no suitcase unturned, and if one so much as squeaks, we shall investigate.”

They all nodded and got to work. Princess Luna, Applejack and Twilight all had the heavy lifting covered, so Fluttershy was once again assigned the job of watching from above to ensure that nopony slipped through the cleared area between the searched and unsearched areas.

As organized and efficient as their system was, they had still found nothing by the time the brakes of the train began to screech and the cars lurched, grinding to a stop.

This had been expected. In fact, it was a little late. Princess Celestia's group didn't have a car full of luggage to search at the other end of the train, so it had been decided that when they reach the conductor they would stop the train and begin the search of the outside with Rainbow Dash to spot and chase down Sunset if she tried to escape through the snowfields, Pinkie Pie to ply her contortionistic talents underneath the train and Rarity to… notice anything out of place? Okay, that was a bit of a stretch, but not everypony could have some skill specifically tailored to searching a train for a stowaway.

“Think they’ll find her?” Twilight asked Luna, who shook her head.

“I will allow myself to be happily surprised should our luck change at this juncture, but even with two squads of guards undercover inside, I fear that we do not have enough coverage to prevent a creative mare from simply slipping through our blind spots as we search.”

In the end, whether or not Princess Luna’s specific prediction was correct, both groups ended up returning to their car of origin empty-hooved.

Neither group said much after a short exchange of shaken heads, and Princess Celestia appeared to be quite down after having gotten her hopes up.

Twilight, too was rather upset, but for obviously different reasons than her mentor. Her friends did what they could to include her in their conversations, though, and by the time it was getting dark and the train was leaving the crystal mountains, she was laughing along with the rest of them as Pinkie Pie did impressions of certain ponies they all knew back in Ponyville.

“Miss? Miss! Are you alright?”

Twilight looked up at the panicked shouting down the car and craned her neck to get a better look. There was a young crystal pony collapsed in the center aisle, clutching her chest and breathing heavily.

“Oh my!” Fluttershy quietly exclaimed, immediately flitting over the gathering crowd to see if there was anything that she could do to help. Twilight soon lost sight of the mare, but something was bothering her about what she’d seen and she couldn’t put her hoof on what. She was barely aware of Rainbow Dash and Applejack pushing ponies away and telling them not to crowd Fluttershy of her patient, but it was the approach of Princess Celestia from the other direction that got them to finally back off and allow Twilight to get through to join them.

“Oh dear!” Fluttershy mumbled under her breath as she checked the mare over. “What do I do? What do I do? She’s so cold!” She turned to address the princess. “Princess Celestia—is there something you can do to warm her up?” she asked, but the princess was just standing there, shocked.

“…Sunset?” Princess Celestia managed to say, and Twilight finally realized what her subconscious had noticed.

This ‘crystal pony’ had a horn.

And yes, it was Sunset Shimmer.

Chapter 11

“So, it sounds like the train is finally going to start running again,” said a pegasus stallion to his unicorn marefriend as Sunset hoofed over a pair of franchise-standard units of coffee.

She refused to use their stupid names unless she absolutely had to, and the privacy of her own head remained her own.

Mostly.

The warmth of the Crystal Heart filling her did make working in customer service almost bearable.

“Just in time for the end of the summit, of course,” the mare said, rolling her eyes. “Doesn’t that seem a little fishy to you?”

“What, that the princesses would insist the train runs for them even if it means worse problems later?” the stallion asked rhetorically as the two of them retreated to a table. “Sounds like business as usual to me.”

Sunset hated jobs like this, but they were a necessity. Under normal circumstances, the opportunity to eavesdrop on ponies was only barely worth having to actually interact with them, but in her withdrawal from scrying Twilight every week, she’d needed something that would be able to hold her attention and keep her from just spending her nights feeding trash to a tiny sun in the abandoned house she was squatting in.

She still did that, of course, but the important part was that she only did it to relax after a long day at work. So long as it didn’t interfere with the rest of her life, nopony could say she had a problem.

“You really believe it’s just ‘mechanical problems’ like they say?” the mare asked, Sunset’s ear swiveling just enough to continue listening.

“Why wouldn't I?” the stallion asked, looking blankly at the mare as they sat down.

“It’s this mare they’re looking for,” she said. “It has to be. It’s too much of a coincidence.”

Unfortunately for the mare’s theory, all the stallion said was, “What mare?”

“Are you seriously telling me you haven’t been stopped in the past week and asked if you’ve seen a unicorn mare with red and gold hair and a two-tone sun cutie mark?”

“Yes?” the stallion stated as if it were obvious. “It can’t be important enough to stop the train over if I haven’t even heard of it. I mean, come on, how does that even make any sense?”

“W—well…” The mare was momentarily dumbstruck as she searched for an answer until finally she had an epiphany. “Obviously they’re trying to keep it quiet. Think about it; that description? She’s gotta be Princess Celestia’s illegitimate daughter—and she’s been foalnapped!”

The stallion nearly choked on his coffee. “W—what?!” he said, scrambling to contain spilled coffee with a hoofful of napkins. “How in Equestria did you get that out of it?!”

“It isn’t obvious?” the mare asked, looking honestly confused as she levitated a new napkin dispenser over from the next table.

“No!” the stallion insisted. “That sounds like the plot of some Pom Prancy novel.”

“A good one, though, right?” the mare asked, hopeful to at least have that.

“There are good ones?”

Sunset was cleaning up her own little accident with the milk foamer as the two went on to argue the comparative merits of several different authors.

Celestia’s illegitimate daughter? How could some random pony off the street come up with that? Sunset wasn’t any stranger to the inane things that people pulled from whole cloth inside their heads, but that was stretching believability.

Really, that ship had sailed a long time ago. If Celestia expected to have an emotional reunion with her where Sunset cried and called her ‘mom,’ it’d be proof that the princess was even more disconnected with reality now than when Sunset had still been her student.

The rest was very interesting, though. She needed to be on that train when it left, so right now she had to plan.

***

Baffled, Sunset sat quietly just a few seats down from Twilight and the rest of her group. All of her plans had been useless because she hadn’t needed them. She’d just bought her ticket, boarded the train and sat down as if it was just a normal trip.

Part of her was offended, part of her decided that this was to be expected, part of her was suspicious and part of her had a creeping feeling of unease that slowly grew as the train pulled away from the station and began its journey southwest out of the Crystal Empire.

Those last two were both vindicated when the train stopped a few hours into the trip and the princesses started thoroughly searching it, though the fact that both groups essentially skipped the car that they’d started in meant that the first two got their moment as well.

Still, for what might have been the first time since she had come back to Equestria, Sunset was properly nervous. She didn't normally do ‘nervous,’ but she also didn't normally have to sit still and do nothing, hoping that nopony would notice her. There was something else that she couldn’t put her hoof on bothering her, too—enough that when everypony came back disappointed and the train started running again, she didn’t feel nearly as relieved and triumphant as she should have.

Embarrassingly, it took her another few hours to pinpoint where that feeling was actually coming from.

It was her connection to the Crystal Heart, which she had purposefully forged to be wide and shallow and was now peeling away from her the further she got from the borders of the Crystal Empire.

She needed to get out.

She needed to get out right now.

She didn’t make it. Just as she was stepping out into the center path of the passenger car, the train crossed out of the Crystal Mountains and the last small scrap of magic supporting Sunset’s connection to the Crystal Heart vanished.

When that connection then ripped itself free from her heart, Sunset felt like she’d been gutted and a sense of overwhelming loss consumed her, leaving her cold and shaking on the carpeted floor. Through it all, Sunset tried to hold on to any scraps of the Crystal Heart’s magic that she could find, but it was a lost cause. The magic was simply gone and she could already feel her crystal form unraveling.

Not, a small part of her argued, that it mattered because she had already garnered the attention of everypony in the entire passenger car, including Celestia.

“…Sunset?”

Yep. She was boned. Images of magic suppressors and ‘very disappointed’ talks were running through her head when it finally happened—Sunset's crystal body began to crack, crumble and finally shatter with a blinding flash of light, all in the space of a second.

She saw her chance.

While everypony was blinded by the flash of her transformation back into a fleshy unicorn, she powered through the surge of feelings and sensations to follow it up with another flash—a flash of teleportation.

It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that the modern teleportation spell had been made as boring as possible. Sunset’s time in the human world had given her ideas about all the things you could do with conservation of momentum, but unfortunately it didn’t actually work like that. Moving or not, a teleporting pony was always matched to the context of their destination and the difference was added to the effort it took to power the spell.

This was fortunate for Sunset since it meant that all she had to do was teleport fifteen feet to her left and the train was gone in seconds.

It was also unfortunate for Sunset since she really didn’t have it in her to make up that surcharge and having the last of her magic drawn away on top of everything else left her feeling completely hollow. She wasn’t even shaking from the cold that losing her connection to the Crystal Heart had left her with anymore; she just didn’t have it in her to do even that much. If she could just lay there in the dirt beside the train tracks for a while, that would be great.

She couldn’t, though. It simply wasn’t an option. As soon as the princesses realized what she had done, they would stop the train and backtrack. Celestia wouldn’t even bother stopping the train.

Still, they would have a mile or so of track to search. If she could just hide, they probably wouldn't find her and would just assume that she had continued to teleport away.

…

As she struggled to look around, what was left of her heart sank.

There really wasn't much just beyond the hoofhills of the Crystal Empire where a brightly-colored pony could hide.

***

Somehow, curled up and nestled in the middle of a thin, sparse and thorny bush Sunset Shimmer had managed to escape discovery by the princesses and their ponies—or so she assumed by the time the sun began to set.

Even hours later, she was still feeling tender, brittle and lost in more than just the practical ways. She also felt oddly squishy. She’d never gotten entirely used to being made of crystal, but the sudden change back was just as jarring—far more than the changes she’d undergone from traveling through the mirror.

Of course, part of it was that she had nothing to do but lay there in a bush focusing on the gurgling of her stomach while trying to drown out all the other things she was feeling, because immersing herself in the warmth of the Crystal Heart for a week and then having it ripped away from her like that had left her feeling anything but whole.

“Thank god Celestia isn't here to see this,” she grumbled to herself as she wiped the crust out of her eyes with her hoof. “She might think I had regrets or something.”

No, her heart might be raw and oversensitive from injury and she was no doubt suffering from some form of magical withdrawal, but she would heal and get over it.

And then, once she was feeling like herself again, she would find her way south to the Everfree forest and claim what was hers.

Well, okay, no—she wasn’t actually that delusional. She knew perfectly well what she was doing.

She would find her way south to the Everfree forest and claim what was Twilight’s.

Chapter 12

“Well, that happened,” Rainbow Dash rudely exclaimed, dropping herself as heavily as a pegasus could back into her seat on the train, crossing her forelegs in annoyance. “We had her! We had her and she got away!”

As one of the ponies who had gone searching for Sunset after she’d teleported away in the middle of having some sort of seizure, Twilight supposed that Rainbow Dash had the right to be frustrated, but for the most part she was alone in that—or at least in expressing it quite so loudly.

Fluttershy, on the other hoof, was very clearly upset; possibly even more than Princess Celestia, who was at least confident that if Sunset Shimmer could escape, then that meant that she was fine.

Fluttershy was more deeply affected. As a pegasus, she hadn’t recognized the telltale signs of a teleport and had believed that the mare had crumbled to dust under her care.

Rarity was doing what she could to comfort her.

Twilight… had mixed feelings. Yes, she still felt the shadow of the threat that Sunset Shimmer posed to her and her magic looming over her, lending a sense of malice to everything Princess Celestia’s ex-student did, but at the same time…

Laying there on the floor suffering from some sort of magical backlash, Twilight had come to a realization that she had completely missed back in the castle when she’d been keeping her distance.

Maybe it was that she’d been vulnerable or maybe it was something to do with her crystalline form—Twilight didn’t think so, but it was possible—but laying there scared, crying and shaking, Sunset had just looked so… young.

Sunset Shimmer hadn’t looked like a mare ten years her senior, bitter and jaded after living a life in exile and planning revenge; she had looked like a lost and lonely teenager lashing out at the life and the mare who had failed to love her.

Admittedly, she was probably both, but still. The idea that Sunset had actually looked younger than Twilight by a few years… well, it got her thinking.

***

The remainder of the trip back home was quiet and uneventful, giving Twilight a lot of time to think. That wasn't always a good thing with her, but in this case, a little time and distance did help her get some perspective.

“Really, Twilight,” Rarity admonished her for moping a bit over breakfast the next morning. “You don’t actually have much to complain about.”

“Don’t have…?” Twilight wasn’t angry over the statement because she was just that dumbstruck.

“Well, yes,” Rarity said. “If you think about it, we may not have caught Sunset Shimmer—or even really ‘won’ this encounter to any extent that feels good—but Sunset Shimmer has definitely lost. Here we are, on a train, hurtling towards our destination at eighty miles an hour while she cowers in the dirt somewhere. It is far from the ideal situation, not the least because leaving somepony in her condition out in the middle of nowhere isn’t something I can condone, but your magic, at least, is safe.”

Twilight wasn’t so sure that ‘safe’ was accurate so long as Sunset Shimmer was still out there, but she didn’t argue the point and did her best to see it from that perspective.

Paradoxically, what helped the most was actually the source of her remaining uneasiness in the first place—because everypony still seemed to be operating on the unspoken assumption that Twilight would just show up at the Everfree, instantly receive her missing magic and be home in time for dinner. On the one hoof, it meant that she couldn’t just let the issue of Sunset Shimmer go—but on the other, there was nothing she could actually do about that and figuring out just how she was going to reclaim her magic was much more important right then.

It wasn’t exactly inner peace, but it worked for her.

***

As expected, trying to solve a problem with no new information to go on was not wildly successful and by the time the train was pulling up to Ponyville, Twilight was no closer to figuring out how exactly she was going to get the ancient and mysterious powers of the Everfree inside of her.

A fact of which the rest of her friends were woefully unaware. They all waved happily at her as the group split up, eager to see family members, get back to their usual routines and sleep in their own beds for the first time in a week and a half. Even Spike was in a hurry to leave her behind at the station in favor of eagerly digging through the mail for the comics he’d missed.

That was fine, though. Honestly, Twilight thought as she made her way out to the outskirts of the city where it met the Everfree, it was probably better this way.

It would be less embarrassing when she failed.

And fail she did—if she could call standing there just inside the forest scrunching her face for twenty minutes even trying.

Now that she knew what she was feeling for, she could sense the magic of the Everfree, sure; it was vast and so much more present than anything natural had a right to be, but did that extend to her having some connection to it or was it just the same feeling of being watched that had been keeping ponies away from it for a thousand years?

There was no way to tell. It wasn’t as if she could calculate her feelings and compare the 32.4 megaeverfrees that she felt to the 16.6 that another pony like Rarity experienced.

“I feel ridiculous,” Twilight said, sitting down with a groan.

“Well, that makes two of us!” said a very distinct voice from right next to her.

“Gah!” Twilight shouted, leaping away and pointing her horn at the Draconequus in a very well-made Starswirl the Bearded costume sized for a pony.

Twilight couldn’t help it. After all the stress and worry of the past week, she laughed. It was a short laugh—more of a giggle, really—but the look of seemingly innocent glee that crossed Discord’s face at her reaction came as a complete surprise. She was still wary of the Draconequus’ supposed reformation, but if she thought of him as another Pinkie Pie, then maybe she could give him a real chance.

Not that two Pinkie Pies wasn’t a sign to get out of Ponyville while she still could, but it was hardly unique in that and she was still living there.

Discord’s chance lasted exactly negative two seconds. “Wait, isn’t that my Starswirl the Bearded costume?!”

Discord coughed into his fist and snapped his claws on his other hand, vanishing the whole getup. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sparkle,” he insisted, affecting an offended mein. “It is nice to accuse your friends of things like that, you know—and besides, I'm not the pony who spent an entire official holiday publically cross-dressing.”

Twilight blushed. “I—wha—you! They’re robes!” she sputtered and yelled. “It doesn’t—”

“You know…” Discord said, looping over backwards so that he was laying down in the air in a set of fluffy pink pyjamas decorated with the faces of all four alicorns and leaning in to whisper. “Just between you and me, if there was a princess that could really pull off a nice fitted suit, it’d be miss tall, dark and shouty.”

Twilight… Twilight had no idea what she was supposed to say to that aside from imagining a tiny Rarity voice in the corner of her head nodding along and saying, “He’s right, you know.”

Wait, that wasn’t her imagination. There was an actual, tiny plastic Rarity on Twilight’s shoulder performing said actions.

Twilight may have taken a little too much pleasure in flicking the offending doll aside regardless of whether it was objectively right or not.

She did her best to ignore the other five little plastic ponies that rushed up to tiny Rarity, shouting in grief while she bemoaned what kind of cold, cruel princess would do such a thing… to her mane.

“Discord,” she said, growing irritated, but he seemed to have disappeared while the tiny plastic ponies continued their little skit. “Discord,” she said again, raising her voice a little as tiny Applejack began bucking at Twilight’s hooves and tiny Rainbow dash swore vengeance for making Fluttershy cry. She was about to properly yell at him when she remembered the look on his face when he’d gotten a laugh at her.

“Discord, please,” she said, sighing and sitting down—inadvertently crushing tiny Pinkie Pie, who had been sneaking up on her. Then, she said the magic words. “I’m not having fun.”

Just like that, the plastic ponies all stopped and clattered to the ground like dice. Moments later, Discord was there, sulking and picking them up one by one. The way he was acting, she almost thought that he would apologize, but maybe that was expecting a bit much at this stage.

“Look, Discord. I… appreciate your trying to cheer me up,” she said. It was a bit of a stretch, but the fact that he was trying at all said a whole lot more about him than getting his cooperation by threatening him with Fluttershy ever could. “But distractions aren’t what I need right now. I have a head start on this for now, but that's not going to last for very long.”

Discord didn’t say anything, so she just continued. “Everypony thinks I can just flash my horn and do this, but I don’t even know where to start. I've studied a lot of magic; I've even done some of my own research—but I'm a generalist. I can do anything from turning apples into oranges—and outrages if Applejack is nearby—to spells that affect gravity, space and even time… but I have no idea how to feel out a connection to some vast and diffuse source of magic that may or may not feel like having anything to do with me.

“And I think Sunset might. She’s the princess’ previous student who grew up seeking power and she somehow managed to turn herself into a crystal pony—probably within hours of her initial escape into the city. How can I compete with that?”

“Well… I—”

“Oh, I don't expect you to understand,” Twilight said, brushing Discord off. “You're a millennias-old spirit of chaos who could probably snap his fingers and solve this whole—” Suddenly, Twilight realized what she was saying, gasped and turned to him. “You’re a millenias-old spirit of chaos who could probably solve this whole thing with a snap of his fingers!” she said excitedly. “You took away our magic in the hedge maze, it’d only make sense that you could give it back!”

Discord winced just the slightest amount before bouncing back wearing a Trottingham police uniform and holding a sign. “Well, that’s just the thing, Sparkle—it would make sense, and that automatically makes it a no-go.” He showed her the sign, which read in big, block letters, ‘IN THIS HOUSE WE OBEY THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS,’ only the words ‘DO NOT’ were scribbled in between ‘we’ and ‘obey’ in red.

“What?” Twilight said, befuddled. “How does that—”

“I’m going to stop you right there,” Discord interrupted, placing a finger over her mouth to shush her. He then flipped over backwards, and appeared to be sunning himself in a hammock—sans sun and sans hammock, of course. “Tell me, Twilight, how much do you know about chemistry?”

Twilight’s train of thought had to stop and change tracks to answer that, and she could have done without the visual aids that Discord provided to represent it. Doing her best to ignore the blinking lights, she responded. “Well, I don’t exactly have lab coats stored around town in case of lab coat emergencies,” she said dryly, not sure where this was going and only barely willing to play along. “But I know my way around a chromatogram and have all the relevant licenses.”

Discord opened his mouth to comment, but Twilight preempted him. “Yes, that means I have a distilling license. I don’t see what this has to do with the Everfree unless you’re suggesting I chop the whole thing down, ferment and boil the magic out of it and get smashed.” Twilight frowned. “…Would that work?” she asked.

“That’s not the point,” Discord said, dodging the question. Twilight wanted dearly to ask him when that had ever mattered to him, but she wasn’t given a chance. “The point is that an understanding of chemistry implies an understanding of entropy.”

“Of course,” Twilight acknowledged, stating, “Any chemical reaction always results in a product of a lower energy state than its components. You mean you can’t help me because it would make me more powerful?”

“Oh no,” Discord said. “Quite the opposite, actually.”

Twilight’s face twisted up in confusion as she tried to untangle that statement, but she didn’t quite manage it before he continued to explain.

“You see, my dear Twilight, chaos is the opposite of entropy—the antithesis of order.

“In order for order to act, it needs to make things more boring, sending us further and further into the eventual heat-death of the universe

“In chaos for chaos to do something, on the other tentacle, it has to be something that livens up the universe.”

“But that doesn’t make—” Twilight had to stop herself before insisting that Discord make sense again. “I mean—doesn’t it follow that returning the rest of my alicorn powers to me would be a higher—energy state?”

Discord tsked, waving a claw at Twilight. “Twilight, Twilight, Twilight,” he said with an overly dramatic sigh. “You’re overthinking it. It’s not about energy states and free electrons; it’s all much simpler than that. A higher level of abstraction, if you will. Less thermodynamics, more—and I feel this should have been obvious—chaos theory.”

“Are you saying you can’t help me because…”

“I don’t solve problems,” he said with a shrug. “Sorry, princess.”

“That… makes far too much sense,” Twilight said, dropping into a chair that hadn’t been there a moment ago as she contemplated the implications. “Wait,” she said, coming up with an idea. “In chemistry, an imbalance of energy on one side of the reaction can be made up for by heating the solution—couldn’t you do something like that?”

“Well, I could…” Discord said, tapping his chin. Twilight began to have hope that this whole thing could be solved here and now only for those hopes to be immediately crushed. “I suppose the question would be, how many tentacles do you want with that? Not that you’d get to choose, of course. You never know, though? Maybe scorpion tails and lobster claws will be the ‘in’ thing this season?” he said, spinning around to show off a brocade dress with said appendages lifting it up indecently.

All the color seemed to drain from Twilight’s face. “N—no—that’s—”

“Are you sure I couldn’t interest you in an eye-stalk or several?”

There was a flash of light, and Twilight was gone.

“Huh,” Discord said to the empty forest path. “I didn’t even get to ask if these pseudopods made my butt look fat.”

Chapter 13

If anypony noticed Twilight’s continued lack of oneness with the magic of the Everfree, they didn’t mention it to her. In fact, the very next day after they’d come back from the Crystal Empire, it was as if they had never left. Applejack was selling apples at the market, Rarity was talking about her fall lineup and Rainbow Dash was bucking clouds in the middle of doing loop-de-loops in the sky. It wasn't as if she expected her friends not do those things—they were their jobs, after all, and it was likely that they had to make up for their absence when they were all in the Crystal Empire, but all the same, the sheer normality of everything going back to the status quo while she was still at a loss for what to do about her situation… well, it galled a bit.

Not that she was in any way immune to the lure of the routine. She genuinely had work to do in order to keep the library running, and while it was easy not to schedule the various maintenance tasks and delegate a reasonable amount to Spike in order to make time for what were, to her, more pressing issues, it was harder to just switch modes from one to the other at the drop of a hat. One would think that this would mean that she would be driven to distraction during her normal everyday work, and to an extent, she was, but the opposite was also true. As much as she enjoyed research, she wasn’t really getting anywhere with it and her library work at least felt productive.

Of course, part of that was her own fault.

“What’s wrong?” Spike asked, peeking at the blank sheet of parchment that Twilight had in front of her. “It’s just a letter to the princess. You’ve written hundreds of those. You want me to do it?”

Twilight dropped her quill back into the inkwell and leaned back in her chair, letting out an explosive sigh. “She lied to me, Spike. She’s supposed to be my teacher and she lied to me. This whole situation is because she left it until we were thousands of miles away in the frozen north with her crazy ex-student watching to admit that she knew what was going on the whole time, and now that everything has gotten complicated, she’s more concerned with pretending Sunset Shimmer is just going to trot back into her life than she is in actually helping resolve the issue!”

Spike considered Twilight for a moment, then asked, “Are you… jealous?”

Twilight gaped. “Jealous? I—what? Spike, I hardly call expecting my mentor—somepony I've trusted all my life—the ruler of Equestria—to support me against a criminal who wants to steal my magic jealousy!”

“Well, she’s not technically a criminal…” Spike pointed out.

“Which is part of the problem!” Twilight shouted, then forced herself to calm down. “So, you can see how it might be a little awkward to mail her saying, ‘Hey, it’s me, your maimed alicorn student trying to un-amputate the other half of her magic. Remember that research you promised to send me about that? I realize that you’re super busy pining after the daughter you never had who exiled herself to another dimension rather than remain your student, but I’d kind of like to not spend the rest of my possibly-immortal life as half an alicorn.’”

“Well, if you’re gonna say it like that,” Spike said with a shrug.

“I just…” Twilight struggled with a way to express how disappointed she was. “…I can’t believe that this is the same mare who taught me right from wrong and all but raised me. Raised us.”

“Hey, speak for yourself,” Spike said. “Maybe she taught you all that. I, on the other claw, learned how to sneak pastries from the kitchens.”

“I’m so glad you received an education that will send you far in your chosen field,” Twilight deadpanned.

“I know, right!” Spike beamed, little bits of sapphire in his teeth from breakfast. “But okay—if you don’t want to ask Princess Celestia, why not ask her sister?”

Twilight blinked. Ask Princess Luna?

Well, why not?

After penning the letter in question and getting Spike to send it after receiving several confirmations that it would go to Princess Luna and not her sister, Twilight watched the silvery smoke as it drifted up and out of the library window.

Well, that was one thing taken care of, at least.

***

Another day, another twenty-four hours of deceptive normalcy. Twilight wasn’t sure what that meant in regards to Sunset Shimmer. She doubted that the princess’ ex-student would waste any time in coming for her magic, so the continued lack of anything happening concerned her.

Either Sunset had been delayed and could even have been injured—they still didn’t really have any idea what had actually happened on the train—or worse, she might already be here, working on stealing the magic of the Everfree right out from under her nose.

Twilight frowned.

Was it callous to call that worse? She didn’t want Sunset to be hurt or anything. She had actually developed quite a bit of empathy for her since the revelations of that night—which was a little ridiculous, she did realize. She hadn’t even really actually met the mare, yet she seemed to have somehow decided that she could understand her.

Still, her likely incorrect assumptions aside, there had to be a limit, right? She felt that she was a fairly selfless pony, but it only made sense that she should value her own well being over that of a mare who was actively set on causing her harm. That was just how it was, and the fact that she didn’t like it was a good thing.

Twilight was spared her moral navelgazing when Rainbow Dash burst through the door of the library and shouted “Twilight!”

“ I'm right here, you don't have to shout,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes as she got up.

She apparently wasn’t moving fast enough for Rainbow Dash though, because halfway to her hooves Twilight was yanked the rest of the way up and then some and spent just as much time stumbling around as she would have otherwise taken if she’d just been left alone.

“There’s no time for that!” Rainbow Dash insisted, pushing Twilight to the door. “Rarity says that Fluttershy told her that she overheard Sunflower Blossom telling Skydancer and Raisin Surprise that Thunderlane saw a suspicious pony in a brown cloak coming into town from the Everfree!”

“Really?!” she asked, perking up. Suddenly, Twilight was heading towards the door under her own power, leaving Rainbow Dash to crash into the ground at her disappearance. Her instant enthusiasm was just as quickly tempered, though. Her hoof on the doorknob, she stopped to actually think.

“Wait,” Twilight said, scrunching up her face as she went over what Rainbow Dash had actually said. “Fluttershy overheard Sunflower Blossom saying that Thunderlane saw this…?” she asked, hoping that she'd gotten that right.

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash said with some exasperation as she resumed dragging Twilight out of the library. She once again found herself falling over, suddenly without a mare to push, when Twilight teleported out from under her hooves, this time backtracking.

“Hold on—Spike isn’t here, so just let me lock up the library,” Twilight said, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t waiting. Before she could grab the keys from inside, Rainbow Dash took to the air and swooped down on her. Twilight objected vehemently to being picked up like a misbehaving foal, but none of her twisting and turning did any good in the two and a half seconds that it took Rainbow Dash to fly her down the street to the Carousel boutique.

“C’mon, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash said as she set her down.. “I thought you’d be chomping at the bit to catch this mare.”

“I am!” Twilight insisted, brushing her coat down after being marehandled like that. “I’m just not impressed with your sources. These are some of the same ponies who thought that Zecora was an evil enchantress; I’d rather not get my hopes up until I hear it from somepony with a little more credibility.”

“Wait, but we all thought that,” Rainbow Dash pointed out, clearly thinking that she must be missing something.

“You heard what I said,” Twilight deadpanned, heading inside the Carousel Boutique before Rainbow Dash could get her very vocal objection out.

She then walked straight back out of the Carousel Boutique because Everypony else had already been present, and Rarity’s shop was the one place they didn’t expect to find Sunset Shimmer.

As the group asked around, though, Twilight was expecting less and less to find Sunset Shimmer at all.

“A hideous dragon-pony, you say?” Twilight asked the mare, who nodded vigorously from behind the white picket fence around the house she shared with her sisters.

“Yes!” she hissed, glancing down the street with a nervous terror hardly befitting the peaceful, idyllic scene. “I was just coming out of my house to get the mail when I saw it! It had a hunch and was prowling around like something out of a nightmare! At first it was wearing something like a brown sheet to hide itself, but then those fillies came racing by in that devil wagon of theirs and knocked it over! That’s when I saw what it was hiding—great big dragon wings!”

“Which, presumably, this pony used to sinisterly prevent themselves from ending up in the mud like everypony else who falls victim to the crusaders,” Twilight supplied, to which the shaking mare nodded.

“Now hold on a second,” Applejack said, stepping closer and startling the mare. “What happened with the crusaders and this pony?”

“Happened?” the mare asked, stepping back. “They ran, of course!” she said, then proceeded to demonstrate, zipping back inside her house and slamming the door.

“Well, that was helpful,” Twilight said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Devil wagon?” Fluttershy muttered to herself, barely audible and visibly confused.

“Ah don’t like this,” Applejack said, unhappy.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I really don’t think this is anything to worry about.”

“Of course it’s something to worry about!” Applejack said, stomping her hoof. “Honestly! Not even helping somepony up after knocking them over? Ah thought Ah taught Apple Bloom better than that!”

“Er, right,” Twilight said, followed by several seconds of silence. “Moving on—this pony might not be Sunset Shimmer, but we should probably keep looking for them anyway. It sounds like they could really use a friendly face if this is how everypony is reacting.”

“Not Sunset Shimmer?” Rainbow Dash asked, giving Twilight a dubious look while hanging upside down in the air. “How do you figure?”

“Last I checked, Sunset Shimmer was a unicorn, not a—whatever that mare just described,” Twilight pointed out.

“Really?” Pinkie Pie asked. “I thought she was a crystal pony the last time we saw her.” Pinkie Pie gasped dramatically. “Have you been seeing her behind our backs?!”

Rainbow Dash just gestured at Pinkie Pie, indicating that the slightly loopy mare had been right on the mark this time.

Well, Rainbow Dash probably didn’t think that Twilight had been clandestinely dating her predecessor.

Probably. Ever since the excitable mare had started reading Daring Do books, she had started to get the strangest ideas about things.

Still. “I—err—”’ Twilight would have a response to that in just a second.

“They do have a point, dear,” Rarity chimed in with the rest on the side of seeing drama where there likely wasn’t any. “This may yet involve Sunset Shimmer! Why, who knows what ancient magics she may have enacted since we last saw her.”

“You do realize that nine times out of ten, ‘ancient magics’ are lost because they’re bad, right?” Twilight said. “It’s like digging up a toaster from thirty years ago.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Applejack said. “We’ve got a toaster back on the farm that’s nearly as old as granny and it’s better than any of that flimsy junk that Filthy Rich sells. Ah keep telling him, too, but he insists that nopony wants cast iron any more. It’s gotta be stainless steel, even if it’s so thin that Apple Bloom could put her hoof through it without even trying.”

“I’m not sure if ‘things that Apple Bloom can destroy without trying’ is exactly the best metric to go by,” Rarity opined, then hurried up to say, “But we are getting off track.”

“Look, I’ll be very happy if we catch up to this pony and it turns out to be Sunset… and very interested in learning how she made herself into some kind of frightening half-dragon hybrid,” she admitted. “But I think there’s a much simpler explanation for all this. Now, the last few sightings were back that way, so they should be headed… down that street.”

The rest of the group all looked where Twilight was pointing.

Rarity gasped. “But that’s…!”

It was the road leading to the Carousel Boutique. The six of them all shared a look, then began galloping down the street as a single unit, eager to see things proven one way or the other.

Sure enough, there was a pony in a brown cloak in front of Rarity’s business, looking up at the sign. As they approached, the pony turned and… it wasn’t even a mare, let alone one with as striking a palette as Sunset Shimmer.

“Ah!” the thestral stallion beamed, cheery despite his muted gray coloring. “Princess Twilight Sparkle! There you are! If you’ll just sign here, I have a package for you from Princess Luna.”

Twilight’s five friends all stood around stunned as she casually walked forward, took the clipboard that she was presented with, flipped over several pages, nodded and finally signed where indicated. Once she was done, the stallion bent over, reached underneath his heavy cloak and retrieved a small, locked chest the size of a loaf of bread and set it down in front of the Carousel Boutique. A moment later, he also produced a letter with an indigo seal that was conspicuously heavy and lopsided when he handed it directly over to her.

“…Really?” Rainbow Dash asked as the disguised night guard confirmed with Twilight that there was nothing else she needed him for and began to leave. “That’s it? We chased a mailstallion all over Ponyville when he was coming here anyway?”

Applejack scratched her chin in thought. “You know, now that you mention it… Hey, you!” she shouted, getting the stallion’s attention. “How’d you know to come here to deliver that, anyway? I’d’ve thought you’d’ve been told to take it to the library!”

As jovial as ever, the stallion nodded in confirmation. “Oh, I did!” he said. “It was the mare there who told me that Princess Twilight was out.”

“Mare…?” Twilight said, confused for a moment. Abruptly, she then turned to scowl at Rainbow Dash. “I told you you should have let me lock the library.”

“I wonder who it could be,” Fluttershy said.

“Well, let us look on the bright side,” Rarity said. “If it’s a mare, not a filly, then it isn’t the crusaders.”

Twilight shared a shudder with her friends at the idea of those three fillies in the library unsupervised. As the stallion was turning to leave again, though, Twilight had to ask. “This mare, who was it? I’d like to at least know who’s been in my library, if she isn’t there when I get back—which I should be doing.”

The stallion thought back, then shook his head. “She didn’t say what her name was, but you can’t miss her—not with that red and gold mane.”

***

One frantic gallop home later, Twilight burst through the library door, not sure what to expect. An empty library, ransacked, all her research gone and everything else destroyed?

Whatever she expected, it wasn’t to find Sunset Shimmer lying casually in the window alcove with a book in her lap and a smug smile on her face.

“Hey, Twilight. ’Sup?”

Chapter 14

Twilight’s mind went completely blank at the sight of the mare that she’d been obsessing over just lounging around in her home without a care in the world.

“Twilight?” Sunset asked, cocking her head innocently to the side. “Is something wrong, Twilight? You look kind of tense.”

“I—what—you—” Twilight stammered, trying to get her thoughts in order.

“Me?” Sunset asked, looking down at herself. “Is there something wrong with little old me?”

It was just… what did she actually do in response to this? Jump on her and start beating her up? Of course not—but Sunset didn’t appear to be doing anything, which seemed to limit the number of things that she could do to stop her.

A moment of awkward silence later, Sunset’s attention shifted to something behind Twilight. “Girls? Is there something wrong with Twilight?”

Twilight turned to see that the rest of her friends had caught up to her at some point, but they seemed to be just as much at a loss as she had been. Finally, she realized what she should do. “Rainbow! Go find a guard—no, wait—go find Spike at the market and bring him here, then find a guard!”

Snapping out of her astonishment, Rainbow Dash saluted and said, “You got it!” before racing off.

“Spike?” Sunset continued to pretend this was all completely normal. “Do you need to mail something?” she asked, then perked up. “Oh! That reminds me!” Sunset quickly levitated a pair of saddlebags with her cutie-mark embroidered onto them over to herself, dug around in them for a moment, then produced an envelope of very similar style to the one that Twilight had just received, only with a golden seal instead.

Princess Celestia’s seal.

Oh no.

She didn’t.

Shellshocked, Twilight gingerly took the letter, confirmed that the seal was real, then opened and read the letter.

She did.

Twilight gaped at the mare sitting in her home as happy as could be. “I—you—you—”

“I apologized,” Sunset Shimmer confirmed. “Celestia and I have had our differences over the years, but I’m willing to try again if she is.”

“But you came here to steal my magic!” Twilight accused, then immediately winced, already knowing exactly how Sunset would respond.

“Steal your magic?” Sunset asked, putting on a very good bewildered face. “Is that even possible? I’m sure I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to do that.”

Twilight was grasping for straws when she remembered the one concrete thing they had on her. “You were trespassing in the Crystal Castle and stole the element of magic!”

“Technically, as artifacts with some semblance of inherent morality, the Elements of Harmony can’t actually be owned in the traditional sense, so it’s actually impossible to steal them,” Sunset said, finally letting through the slightest amount of vindictive triumph through her mein of innocence. “Also? I’m a minor.”

“How?!” Twilight shouted, incredulous.

“Funny thing!” Sunset Shimmer said, brightening up even further. Setting the book in her lap aside she turned to face Twilight directly in order to explain. On closer inspection, she did look rather young. Younger than Twilight, which shouldn’t have been at all possible, though she had already suspected as much on the train. “So, it turns out that time flows differently in different dimensions. The world that I ended up in is only one of several that the mirror connects to. It opens every thirty moons in each world, but from this side it goes through a cycle. This is actually the first time the portal on the other side has opened up since I went through, meaning—”

“It's only been two and a half years,” Twilight concluded for her.

“Yep,” Sunset Shimmer said with a toothy grin.

“Is there a problem here?” asked a rather irate pegasus of the Ponyville guard patrol that had just come in with Rainbow Dash, and it was only then that Twilight deduced that Spike had been present for a while.

After one long, trying glare at Sunset Shimmer, Twilight sighed and apologized to the guard. “Sorry, officer,” she said, not taking her eyes off of Sunset. “It seems that we’ve had a small misunderstanding. I apparently left the library unlocked while I was gone and this innocent little filly wandered in. Nothing sinister going on at all.

The guard seemed to take Twilight’s statement entirely at face value and nodded in understanding. “Please remember that your place of residence is also a public building,” he said and made a show of looking around the room. “If there’s nothing else?”

Twilight waved him off and waited until he was out of earshot to angrily snap out, “Spike! Take a letter!”

“Uh, sure thing, Twilight,” he said, pulling out a scroll and parchment.

Twilight nodded in satisfaction, took a deep breath and calmly recited the phrase she’d spoken many times before, “Dear Princess Celestia,

“Are you bucking serious?!

“Signed, your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.

“P.S. I always wondered why the distinction. I get it now.”

Spike finished transcribing and looked up at Twilight with uncertainty.

“Send it,” she instructed him.

He hesitated. “Umm… Are you sure, Twilight?”

“Send the letter, Spike,” she repeated, quite serious.

With great reluctance, he did.

Sunset Shimmer, for her part, seemed to be enjoying the situation far more than was healthy.

There was only a short wait until Spike received a reply. Unrolling the letter, he read: Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

“Yes.

“Signed Princess Celestia.

All was silent for a moment before he clarified, “That’s all it says.”

“I don’t know what I expected,” Twilight admitted, rubbing her temples to stave off what she was sure was going to be an incredible headache. “Fine,” she growled out. “You’ve convinced Princess Celestia that you want to resume your studies. That’s… not as surprising as it really should be—but then why are you here?!”

Sunset Shimmer did that thing where she cocked her head to the side in innocent confusion again. “Isn’t it obvious?” she asked in the most sweetly saccharine way she could and followed it up with a beaming smile. “To study friendship, of course!”

***

“Well, if that filly ain’t faker than udders on a snake then Ah don’t know what is,” Applejack remarked as the group reconvened out in front of the library away from prying ears.

“Intentionally,” Rarity added. “She knows that she has the backing of the princess and is relying on it rather than any actual deception to prevent us from acting against her.”

“”I’ll send another letter to Princess Luna just to make sure she knows what’s going on, but her hooves will be as tied as ours,” Twilight said. “More, maybe. I doubt that she wants to be seen as openly acting against her sister, no matter what goes on in the privacy of the castle.”

“There’s gotta be something we can do!” Rainbow Dash instisted.

“Well, there are a couple of things,” Twilight said, gaining Rainbow Dash’s undivided attention. “Pinkie Pie had already gone off to get the party she's been planning since we got back started, and I think Fluttershy is making sure that Sunset Shimmer is okay after what happened on the train.”

“Wait, what?” Rainbow Dash shouted, looking back inside. “Fluttershy!”

“Are you alright, Twilight?” Rarity asked as Rainbow Dash loudly made clear her objections to Fluttershy getting close to ‘that two-faced-filly’ without her to make sure that she didn’t pull anything. “You seem awfully calm about all of this.”

Twilight sat down on the library’s welcome mat and let out a sigh. “I don't know, Rarity. I just don't know. I think I’ve reached the point where I’m actually angrier at Princess Celestia for doing this than I am at Sunset for taking advantage of it, but I don’t actually know how to be angry at the princess. Not really.”

“Well…” Rarity dithered. “I’m not sure if there’s anything I can say about that, but there is one bright side in all this.”

Twilight looked up with hope at her friend. “Is there?” she asked.

Applejack nodded along and said, “At least this way, you know where she is and can keep an eye on her.”

Twilight blinked, not quite understanding. Sunset was here at the moment; that much was true, but—“Wait, no no no no no, Sunset Shimmer isn’t staying here,” she said, balking at the very idea. “Not in the library.”

“She isn’t?” Rarity asked, sharing a dubious look with Applejack. “Are you certain? It seems the obvious choice to me. Where else would Princess Celestia send a student in need of friendship lessons than the princess of friendship?”

“Princess of friendship? Since when am I the princess of friendship? I am not the princess of friendship.” Twilight insisted, then immediately backtracked. “We’ll come back to that to that later. Sunset Shimmer is not staying with me in the library. I will run off and become a hermit in the Everfree before I allow that, and that’s final.”

As it so happened, Sunset Shimmer was not going to be living in the library with Twilight.

Unfortunately, it didn’t make Twilight any happier to learn that the princess’ ex-student—reinstated student? It didn’t make her any happier to learn that Sunset Shimmer was living in the Everfree as a hermit.

Somehow, Twilight didn’t think that accusing Sunset of overhearing her and changing her plans just to be contrary would make her seem entirely mature—not when there were far more obvious and worrying reasons for Sunset to be spending time in the Everfree.

Unfortunately for Sunset, she had made that claim in front of exactly the wrong ponies.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy exclaimed.

Rarity followed it up with a much more vehement, “Absolutely not! We cannot have the princess’ student ‘roughing it’ out in the murder forest!”

“Err, what?” Sunset asked, not having anticipated this reaction. “The what?”

Fluttershy was nodding frantically. “Oh, yes. Lots of ponies have gone missing in there over the years. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that ponies who go in there almost never come out.”

“But the Zebra—” Sunset objected.

“Oh, Zecora can handle it,” Rarity assured her. Aside from being a master alchemist and shaman, she has many years of experience in defending herself. You, on the other hoof, are a filly—a minor. You said so yourself!”

“I’m almost seventeen!” Sunset argued, then immediately winced, realizing how she had just sounded.

“That’s nice, dear,” Rarity said and patted the ‘filly’ on her head. “Come, now. If the princess hasn’t provided you a place to stay, then I’m sure that we can arrange something with the mayor. If not, why, then I shall have to put you up myself! After all, Sweetie Belle only uses her room a few days a week, and I’m sure the two of you would get along marvelously!”

Twilight watched blankly as Rarity, backed up by Applejack, somehow herded Sunset Shimmer out of the library and off to find her a residence, with Fluttershy following along.

“Well, that just happened,” she remarked.

Rainbow Dash grunted in agreement. “She was kind of laying it on a bit thick at the end there, don’t you think? I mean, running with the filly thing, sure, but saying she’d get along well with Sweetie Belle is harsh.”

“A bit,” Twilight agreed. “Though, the crusaders do tend to get along with adults more than other fillies their age.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Only when they’re learning something that’s going to get them in trouble.”

Neither of them said anything for a few moments as that sunk in. “Oh damn,” Rainbow Dash cursed and disappeared after them.

It was another ten minutes before Twilight remembered the box from Princess Luna that had been left back at the Carousel Boutique.

Chapter 15

Third week of spring, Year 52 After Chaos Era

The city outside the walls of the castle continues to grow in spite of my sister’s warnings, leaving me little choice but to prowl the nights in their defense. Thank the stars that the Tree of Harmony happened to be located in such a defensible location, or there would be no watching over it. Already, its power has waned and what was once a wide open glade miles across has receded to a size barely befitting of a small hamlet. I fear there may come a time when we must return the elements to the tree, though Celestia assures me that the tree is recovering and the two will soon balance out. She may be right, but it is clear to me that she covets the symbolic value of the elements as much as she does their use, else she would not object to the idea of sequestering them away instead of keeping them in that gaudy display, nor laugh at me for ‘suggesting that we might unpick an apple.’

There is little I can do about my sister’s questionable taste in artwork, however, so I must turn my attention instead to the other side of the equation. Without the magic of the forest encroaching on its power, the Tree of Harmony would no doubt recover in a fraction of the time it would otherwise take, faster even than if I could convince my sister to return the elements from whence they came.

It is unfortunate, then, that even with the magic of the forest closing in on us and providing ample opportunity to research it, no progress has been made in locating any locus or focus upon which it is concentrated. It is clearly there, and just as clearly not fading with time. If anything, it grows stronger, as seen in its ongoing struggle against the power of the Tree of Harmony. If this magic truly is of an alicorn as we suspect, then whatever did this must have been vile indeed to leave not a single horn or hoof or bone to which the power would be drawn to after all these years. If I was asked how I would accomplish this, I would arrest the questioner and throw them in the dungeons, of course, as such would be a sign of a very worrying mind, but purely theoretically…

First, one would have to kill the alicorn in question, which, while not impossible, certainly is not easy. Actually—no. First, one would need to capture an alicorn and drain them of their lifesblood, allowing them to recover between each letting until one has enough of the material to water a forest.

Then, one would do so.

I said it was vile, not complicated. Likely, the alicorn in question would have been cremated as well, possibly after having been drowned in the mixture. Cremating a pony so submersed would require a spell not unlike that which Celestia uses to replicate her sun, but it would be possible and the symbolical weight of an alicorn's own blood is the only thing I can think of that might anchor and prevent their magic from dispersing.

Regardless, it is all a matter of semantics on a subject that does not bear speaking about in the first place.

Alas, such conjecture is not actually helpful. Unless we can find some source upon which the magic of the forest resonates, I can think of no other way to free the lingering magic of this once-alicorn than to uproot every tree, brush and sprout—and the soil and loam as well—and do… something with it. Burning would not likely work, as it is the element of life associated with alicorn magic to begin with, but simply isolating it and leaving it to rot might simulate a proper ‘death.’ Sadly, such a feat is beyond even Celestia and I, and even with a thousand thousand ponies to do the job, I fear the forest would not go quietly, nor do we know to what extent the roots of the Tree of Harmony extend. It is possible that in culling the dark, we might also destroy the light.

“Well, that was morbid,” commented Twilight as she gently closed the stiff, dry pages of the old journal and dropped her head back onto the pillow of her bed. The journals, of which Princess Luna had provided several, were the most interesting and enlightening part of the collection, though they were dwarfed by the sheer volume of notes in various forms on everything from timberwolves and other magical and malicious life of the Everfree to page after page of entirely subjective readings that were more like gut feelings about whichever part of the forest that the princess had visited each day.

Also included was a small, string-bound collection of observations on the Tree of Harmony before the elements were removed from it, ostensibly by the alicorn who Twilight was a reincarnation of. While informative in their own regard, these notes were also the most disappointing. Not only did they lack any real aspiration to any level of scientific rigor, but they were also almost entirely impersonal, telling little about the mare who had penned them other than the fact that she had evidently had much better hornwriting than Twilight and her illustrations of the local flora and fauna were on a level that few could ever aspire to.

It was a little embarrassing to feel so called out by a few scraps of parchment from before the founding of Equestria, but it just seemed to be another reminder of all the things this alicorn had that she didn't.

Like functioning wings and the ability to grow a tomato.

Then again, it also served to highlight just how different she was from this supposed previous life. Sure, she might feel a little bad that she’d had Spike do a solid eighty-percent of her writing since he’d become capable of holding a quill, but she also couldn’t actually imagine herself as the calm, elegant and serene lady who had left the Crystal Empire to sit in fields of flowers and draw ladybugs and daffodils.

What little information the notes did include involved reading between the lines like that, though there were a hoofful that were a little more direct, including one of the Crystal Castle with a tiny little dot with wings on the top, labelled ‘hornface.’

And that just represented the whole thing, didn’t it? All in all, the relevant information was exactly as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had described, mostly useful as a list of things that had already been tried and done, and yet… actually reading the notes and journals for herself and seeing these illustrations was an entirely different experience than having them all summarized in a few sentences.

Twilight fell asleep that night thinking about flowers and blood.

***

It wasn't until Twilight was hanging her head over a bowl of cereal and grumbling about the lack of blueberries in the library when she realized that there was something else that had gone conspicuously missing.

No, not her research or anything that Sunset Shimmer might have taken while she’d been alone in the library; Twilight had made sure of that. It was actually just about the opposite.

“Hey, Spike,” she said, getting the attention of the young dragon who was seeing to a skillet of small rocks and gemstones the size of peas that were popping and cracking from the heat. “Why wasn’t there a Pinkie Pie party for Sunset last night? There should have been plenty of time for her to get one ready.”

Spike shrugged, taking a moment to focus on tossing his rocks, making a racket like a bucket full of nails falling down the stairs. “Something about turning it into a housewarming party after Rarity got the mayor to fork over the deed for the building where the old bakery was.”

“That mare…” Twilight said with a fond shake of her head. “There really is nothing she won’t do, is there?”

“Err, well,” Spike said, letting his rocks sit there popping as he scratched at the back of his neck. “She did say something about needing more firewood to throw a proper housewarming, but I think she was joking.”

A few bites of cereal later, Twilight asked, “So, when you say the old bakery, you mean—”

“Directly across the street, yes,” Spike confirmed.

“Thought so.”

***

Twilight wasted no time in finishing up her breakfast and heading across the street to check on Sunset Shimmer.

If Twilight had expected Sunset to be half asleep and moping around at being forced into this situation, she would have been disappointed. What she got instead was a happy, smiling mare with a handkerchief over her red and gold mane levitating a ratty old broom with less than half of its bristles remaining.

“Great,” Twilight mumbled under her breath as she stood in the door. “She’s a morning pony.” Twilight wasn’t exactly not a morning pony since you really couldn’t be one when you were the princess’ personal student or just wanted to keep a proper schedule, but it looked like Sunset Shimmer had entirely embraced and weaponized it.

“Oh, hey there, Twilight!” Sunset Shimmer beamed like the absolute picture of open friendliness.

Twilight couldn’t help it, and said, “You seem happy,” as she looked around the room, taking it in. She may have seen it from the outside nearly every day since she’d moved to Ponyville, but she’d never so much as taken a peek in the window.

Her first impression was that it was… small. Compared to Sugarcube Corner, which was nearly twice the size, it was downright cozy, the space behind the counter dominated by two massive wood-fired ovens made entirely of stone.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Sunset Shimmer asked as she levitated a full dustpan up and emptied it… into one of the ovens?

A moment later, Sunset Shimmer lit her horn and Twilight was blinking spots out of her eyes in the same way as when Princess Celestia had destroyed the mirror back on that first night in the Crystal Empire.

Twilight gaped, rubbing the spots out of her eyes. “That—that wasn’t…?”

“Celestia’s sun spell?” Sunset Shimmer said with a knowing, prideful smirk. “It’s how I got my cutie mark, you know.”

No, Twilight hadn’t known that. Like with everything she’d read last night, there was so much that a few sentences of summary just didn’t tell you.

That wasn’t why her heart was beating at a gallop, though.

‘Cremating a pony so submersed would require a spell not unlike that which Celestia uses to replicate her sun,’ Luna had written, and that terrible image hadn’t left her all night.

So, of course Sunset Shimmer knew the spell.

“Is something wrong, Twilight?” Sunset Shimmer asked, seemingly full of earnest concern.

Twilight swallowed and shook her head. “N—no, it’s nothing. I was just… err… remembering how seeing the princess raise the sun at the Summer Sun Celebration is what got me interested in magic in the first place.”

Sunset gave Twilight a look of mild disbelief, then said, “Well, okay, then!” and turned back to her work.

Twilight watched Sunset work for a short while, her frown growing until she let out a sigh. “Give me that for a second,” she said, grabbing the broom from Sunset with her magic. Sunset let her take the broom, cocking her head in curiosity at what Twilight was going to do.

Twilight, for her part, scanned over the room, looking for something appropriate. What she found was perfect—an old broken chair with straw stuffing poking out the side. Retrieving a hoofful of the stuffing, she levitated the two together and hit them with a spell.

She handed the seemingly brand-new broom back to Sunset Shimmer, who took it and looked it over.

“Uhh, thanks?” she said. “What spell is that?”

“It’s one of Rarity’s, actually,” Twilight said. “I’m sure she’d teach it to you.”

Sunset went slightly pale. “No, no,” she insisted, glancing at the door as if to make sure that the fashionista in question wasn’t going to show up out of the blue. “A permanent repair spell like that? I can’t do something like that. I burn things—that’s all. Not all of us can have a cutie mark in magic as a whole.”

Twilight wasn’t so convinced. “Really?” She said, feigning her own innocence and not doing half as good a job at it. “I thought that turning yourself into a crystal pony like that would have required a lot of skill.” She hadn’t been planning on pressuring Sunset, but after such a statement, she couldn’t help it.

To Twilight’s surprise, Sunset openly scoffed, and it seemed genuine. “That? Hardly,” she said, waving the very idea off with her hoof as she continued sweeping. “That artifact is like an orphaned timberwolf puppy; it’ll follow just about anypony—then it gets its claws in you, gets attached and starts growing.”

“…I don’t think that’s how timberwolves work?” Twilight said, and somehow the two of them got into a debate on various magical creatures, none of which Sunset Shimmer had actually seen, having grown up in a big city on the top of a mountain.

All in all, it wasn’t a terrible way to spend a morning.

***

It was nearing lunchtime when Spike came looking for Twilight and was surprised to see them chatting amicably as the two of them cleaned up the old bakery, Twilight showing off various spells, always having something for the occasion.

This all stopped when she saw him.

“…Oh—uhh—hey, Spike,” Twilight said, self consciously setting a scrub brush down in a bucket of soapy water and glancing at Sunset.

Spike didn’t seem to know what to say, so it was a relief when Sunset suddenly perked up. “Hey, that’s right!” she said, suddenly seeing Spike in a new light. “Spike can send letters to the princesses, right?” she asked, directing the question at Twilight, who nodded. “Do you think he could send something to Princess Celestia for me? I have to tell her how things are going and where I’m staying.”

Twilight and Spike shared a look, and he shrugged. “I don’t see why not,” Twilight said, curious to know what she was going to say.

Sunset almost seemed too eager as she cleared her throat and said, “Spike, take a letter,” in an eerie mimicry of Twilight.

“Dear Princess Celestia,

“I have arrived in Ponyville and everything is going well. Things were tense with Twilight and her friends at first due to a misunderstanding, but once everything had been explained, they all opened up.

“Fluttershy says I’m fine, by the way. I told you that whole thing on the train was blown way out of proportion, didn’t I?

“Anyway, after a rough start, we all came to an understanding and Rarity took me to see the mayor right away to get me situated in the city post-haste. Unfortunately, they were all out of libraries, but Rarity did manage to find me an old bakery with two great, big ovens and a modest apartment upstairs. I’m not sure if a bakery is what I’ll actually use it for unless there’s a specialty market for sun-baked goods, but whatever I do, it’s likely to involve a lot of fire, so the ovens are a safe bet. With some work, I could even convert them into forges if I decided to go that route, so I have plenty of options! You know me—as long as I can burn things, I’m happy!

“Of course, I say that Rarity found this place for me, but as it so happens, it’s actually directly across from the library. Yes—Twilight’s library! What are the chances? She actually came over this morning and has been helping me clean this place up—and, of course, she’s even letting me use Spike to send you this letter; I’m grateful… and also a little bit envious, to be completely honest. We filled the time cleaning talking about all sorts of magical subjects, and it’s just amazing all the things she can do. I guess that’s what it means to have a cutie mark in magic, huh?

“Anyway, that just about covers everything that’s happened since my last letter, though this one should arrive a little faster and with a little less jam on it than my last couple. I can’t believe some of the ponies that are allowed to deliver mail. Is there something about the profession that attracts strange and unusual ponies? I swear that mare in Vanhoover was a basketcase. On account of all the baskets. Seriously; nopony needs that many baskets.

“Your student once again,

“Sunset Shimmer

“P.S. Oh! I almost forgot! Pinkie Pie said something about throwing me a combination welcome-to-Ponyville-I-hope-you’re-not-a-meanie-pants and house-warming party! How cool is that?

“Okay, I’m done,” Sunset decided after a short pause, but just as Spike was rolling up the letter to send it, she stopped him. “Wait! Hold on a sec. Lemme see that,” she said, walking around behind Spike to look over his shoulder.

Spike opened the letter back up and let Sunset read it, giving Twilight an uncertain look.

“Okay,” Sunset said, pointing with her hoof. “That’s a semicolon and that should be an em-dash. That too. Good, you got the ellipses. Oh, put hyphens between all those words.”

“Really?” Spike said, but made the corrections anyway.

“Don’t question it,” Sunset said. “Dropping semicolons and em-dashes everywhere might not be proper for an essay, but it’s how ponies talk. It’s how Twilight talks.”

Twilight blinked as Spike looked to her in question. “Err—I mean—I don’t do that, do I?”

Sunset Shimmer snickered, earning her confused looks from the other two.

“Forget it,” Sunset said and went back to scanning the page over to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. Shortly, she nodded. “Okay, that should do it. Go ahead and send it.”

Shrugging, Spike rolled the letter back up and did as he was told.

“Thanks, Spike,” Sunset said, ruffling his dorsal spines with her hoof. Suddenly, she had a thought. “Hey, I don’t suppose you’d mind sending something to Princess Cadance?”

“Can you do that?” Twilight asked Spike.

“I think so?” he guessed.

“Cool,” Sunset Shimmer said with a grin. “Come to think of it, Princess Celestia has her own version of that spell in order to send letters back, doesn’t she? I bet I’d have no problem learning that, considering it involves burning things.”

“What is with you and burning things?” Spike asked. “Are you some kind of pyromaniac?”

“Spike!” Twilight said with a gasp. “That’s something I’d expect Rainbow Dash to say.”

“Well, she’s not here, so somebody had to say it,” Spike defended.

“Says the dragon,” Sunset said with some snark.

“Hey,” Spike said, acting offended. “I learned early on that fire is a sometimes thing.”

Suddenly, Sunset crushed Spike in a bear hug. “Oh, you poor, poor thing!” She looked to Twilight with naked hurt in her eyes. “Twilight! How could you?! Depriving a dragon of his chance to burn things! I mean, by the time I was his age, I’d burned down my wing of the castle three times! You’re like those people who try to feed their cats vegetarian diets—it’s cruelty!”

“…No, but seriously,” Spike wheezed out, stuck in Sunset’s grip. “What’s the deal?”

Suddenly, Sunset let him go, dusted herself off and cleared her throat. “It’s a gift,” she said, as if that explained everything.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her.

“I mean that,” Sunset Shimmer said, turning to show her flank and her two-toned sun cutie mark. “It’s my gift. My special talent. You wouldn’t prevent somepony from expressing their talent, would you?”

“You know, that’s a good point,” Spike said, thoughtful. “I mean, what would you do if a pony had a cutie mark in—”

Twilight coughed, interrupting Spike. “I don’t know how you were going to finish that sentence, Spike, and for both of our sakes, so long as we move right on to Sunset’s second letter, I’m not going to ask.”

“Err—that’d probably be best, yeah,” he said, looking away.

Sunset looked briefly disappointed, but rallied quickly. “Right, then!” she said, clapping her hooves. “Spike—take a letter!”

“You know you don’t have to say it exactly like that every time, right?” Twilight asked.

Sunset flat out ignored her.

“Dear Princess Cadance,

“How are things in the frozen north? It’s hard to imagine anypony living in that kind of place, but from what I saw, you don’t have any problem staying warm at night, do you?

“You lucky mare.

“I know that we’ve had our differences, but, honestly, I regret that now. If I’d known that all it took to make you act like a real person was to get you sleep deprived, I’d have been your wingmare every night of the week.

“And maybe done what I could to get you drunk.

“You have no idea how good it felt to see you get Celestia to make that face. For that alone, I will forgive you for all of your… you-ness.

“Your Best Friend Forever,

“Sunset Shimmer.”

By the time Sunset was done dictating the short letter, Twilight’s face was red. “I—wha—you—!”

“Okay, Spike,” Sunset said. “Send the letter.”

“Sunset!” Twilight shouted, aghast. Quickly, she turned to Spike. “Spike, don’t—”

Spike sent the letter.

“Spike!”

“What?”

Chapter 16

Twilight regretted it the moment she thought of it, but by then it was too late.

Having Sunset Shimmer around was like having gained a little sister; she was sarcastic, aggravating and dishonest to a fault—yet between all that, she was fun, knowledgeable and relatable.

She was also, above all, The Enemy, but some would say that that only strengthened the comparison.

After the situation with the letter—for which Sunset was unapologetic and Spike was just confused—Rarity and Pinkie Pie showed up to prepare for the house-warming party, followed soon after by Applejack and Fluttershy with food for everypony.

Twilight was grateful for the crowd, since it gave her a chance to drop back and take a breath—which, as always, brought her to Fluttershy.

“Are you alright?” Fluttershy quietly asked as Applejack was soliciting opinions from Sunset Shimmer on various apple-based goods.

Twilight sighed. “I don’t even know. I probably shouldn’t be, but after all the waiting, not knowing when or if she would show up and make her move, this is an improvement.

“It’s… weird. I know that every other word that comes out of her mouth is a lie, but I also know she knows I know, so it’s almost like she isn’t lying at all; just going along with it enough to have plausible deniability.

“And it wouldn’t even matter, except she’s really easy to get along with. She’s gone through a lot of the same things I have—she has a lot of the same experiences and frustrations—but she’s a very different pony. Already, there’s a whole list of things I want to ask her about, except she’s…”

“A manipulative, selfish witch who is only after your magic,” Fluttershy finished for her.

Twilight blinked. “Err, well, yes, but I don’t know if I would put it quite like that,” she said, looking at Fluttershy as if she’d just croaked like a frog—which, in hindsight, actually wouldn’t be all that unusual for her.

Fluttershy flushed at her ‘outburst.’ “I have a brother,” she cryptically explained. “He’s… He makes me so mad, sometimes.”

“How do you mean?” Twilight asked, curious, but still confused.

Fluttershy looked over to where Sunset was showing off her sun spell again while disposing of a stack of paper plates. “Zephyr Breeze… he’s the kind of pony who never does anything if there’s somepony else who will do it for him when they see him struggling. He’s not malicious or even a bad pony, but I… I have to remind myself that he’s my little brother, sometimes.”

Twilight tried to imagine a pony like that and shivered. “I guess I’m really lucky to have the brother I do,” she said, then immediately grimaced in distaste when she remembered Sunset commenting almost the same thing with a very different meaning in her letter to Cadance.

Fluttershy noticed Twilight’s grimace, but probably put it down to her picturing Shining Armor acting like Zephyr Breeze, which, now that she thought about it, really wasn’t a great image either.

“Still, I’m not sure if the two are really comparable,” Twilight reasoned. “Sunset is intentionally out to tear others down.”

“Oh, yes, they’re complete opposites,” Fluttershey agreed, then dropped her head so that her mane covered half of her face, and sheepishly added, “But the thing about opposites is that they can still be the same type of thing.”

“That’s a harsh thing to say about your brother, isn’t it?” Twilight asked. “I mean, no matter how lazy and useless he is…”

Fluttershy sat and sighed, working herself up to responding. “With my brother… There comes a time when you have to judge a pony on their actions, not just their feelings. I love my brother… but I don’t trust him. Obviously, you can’t trust Sunset but that doesn’t mean you can’t still try to be friends with her.”

“Should I even want to, though?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t think that’s something you get to choose.”

***

By midafternoon, the downstairs of the old bakery had been all but restored to pristine condition. Between the magical efforts of Twilight and Rarity, even the worst of the damage looked like it had never happened and Applejack knew more than the average pony about polishing wood until it shined.

Coincidentally, it was just after Applejack and Pinkie Pie left to arrange for the actual party preparations part of the party preparations that Rainbow Dash showed up, announcing her presence with an appreciative whistle.

“Wow,” she said, standing in the doorway. “You girls sure did a number on this place.”

“Rainbow!” Rarity greeted cheerily. “Why, your timing is perfect. We were just going to get started on the upstairs.”

Rainbow failed to hide her wince.

Apparently the ‘never leave her friends hanging’ bit didn’t apply to helping Sunset Shimmer clean her house, which… was fair.

Rainbow Dash’s awkwardness was quickly replaced by confusion, though. “Wait, how does that work?” she asked. “Shouldn’t you have started upstairs? You know; where she’s actually going to live?”

“Pish posh,” Rarity said. “We had to have the downstairs ready for the party, of course. We still have plenty of time to make the upstairs livable while the others bring the supplies in and get things set up down here.”

“You know…” Sunset interjected. “This seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to for one night. I mean, not to look a gift-party in the fire code, but this is not a large place. How many ponies can we even fit down here?

“Oh, not to worry,” Rarity insisted. “It isn’t at all unusual for Pinkie Parties to outgrow the space they’re in. As it is, you can only expect most ponies to show up for a short while to graze and see what’s going on. Now—let us see what we have to work with upstairs.”

Rainbow Dash made the same sort of whistle of appreciation that she had upon seeing the downstairs. That was where the similarities ended. “Wow,” she said, taking it all in. “This place is a dump.”

“Rainbow!” Twilight and Rarity hissed in stereo.

She had a point, though.

Looking the room over… It had been swept; that was about all that could be said about it. Broken fixtures and furniture aside, the downstairs had been downright habitable compared to this. The roof wasn’t thatch like a lot of Ponyville was—chimneys and thatch didn’t really work well together, especially on an industrial scale—but it had leaked anyway and the water damage was significant.

Rarity had poked her head into the bathroom and immediately looked ill. Twilight followed suit and sympathized; the window was broken, the sink looked like it had housed a bird’s nest until just recently, and the rest of it… Well, the bathroom had been used for its intended purpose, in a way.

Even Fluttershy let out a quiet “Oh my,” at the sight, and it was a problem that Twilight expected the animal caretaker had had extensive experience with.

“This… This is not acceptable!” Rarity declared, aghast.

“Yeeeeah,” Rainbow Dash said, flying a little lower than usual to avoid getting any closer to the moldy ceiling than she had to. “This is going to take more than a couple of hours to fix.”

“You didn’t know?” Twilight asked Rarity. “Don’t tell me you bought this place sight-unseen?”

“Ah—well—considering there was no actual buying involved, I can truthfully answer no,” Rarity dithered.

Twilight couldn’t help but roll her eyes at her friend’s naiveté. This wasn’t a public building like the library; even if the city owned it, they would no doubt be charging the crown a premium for it, especially on short notice.

“Wait,” Rainbow Dash said, looking around. “You didn’t actually sleep in all this last night, did you?”

Rarity apparently hadn’t thought of that, what color she had draining from her face since, the way Twilight had heard it, Sunset had indeed been essentially handed the keys and pointed in the right direction late yesterday.

“Eh,” Sunset said with a shrug as she wiped years of grime off the window. “I’ve lived in worse.”

That was, quite possibly, the absolute worst thing that Sunset could have said to Rarity in that moment. Even Twilight found it hard to believe.

“Please tell me that you’re joking!” Rarity pleaded. “You were the princess’ student! You are the princess’ student!”

And that was very much not the right thing for Rarity to say to Sunset Shimmer.

“And between those two things, I—” she said with a sudden ice… and then just as suddenly, it was gone, along with any actual explanation. “…wasn’t,” she finished lamely.

Twilight let out a breath that she’d been holding.

After a moment of awkward silence, Sunset expanded on her answer very slightly, “The world on the other side of the mirror was not a nice place for a filly with no no money, no identification, no family, no magic and no idea how the world works.”

“Yeah, well, nopony made you go through that mirror,” Rainbow Dash casually remarked.

As if that was just something you say to somepony.

Sunset didn’t respond at first, and Twilight wished that she could at least see Sunset’s face so she could judge her mood, but she was still standing at the window.

“It wasn’t the mirror that made me an orphan, Rainbow Dash.

“It was Celestia.”

There was a flash of teal light and Sunset was gone.

Chapter 17

“God damn it!” Sunset cursed, kicking the tree in front of her with her forelegs back at her camp in the Everfree. The mistiness in her eyes was not from the dust she’d just kicked up. “How could I let one god damn comment get to me like this? What the hell is wrong with me?!”

Sunset knew what was wrong with her. She was naturally hot-tempered, as proven by the screaming matches she’d had with Celestia before her exile, but she’d discovered on the other side of the mirror that a temper was something that could be exploited, so she’d learned to be cold instead.

She’d hardened her heart to become the pony that she was today, and she was damn proud of it.

Only… it wasn’t true any more. She could feel it. Ever since her connection to the Crystal Heart had been torn free, her once calloused and weathered heart was raw and throbbing, which was an uncomfortable level of physicalness to ascribe to such a metaphysical concept.

She didn’t very much like not having control of her thoughts and feelings—or the idea that they were the result of something that could be manipulated, bled, burned or broken.

Those were all supposed to be metaphors. She was no bleeding heart, god damn it, but now it was her heart that was bleeding.

Worse, it made her much more skittish of trying to do something similar with the magics of the Everfree. All of her efforts to open herself up to the forest were trepid and hesitant—and not entirely by choice. There was a none too small, visceral part of her that was terrified of being burned again, and that was a problem.

Ironically, her renewed sensitivity had made it so much easier to let herself get swept up in the whole totally-a-reformed-student act, only now it had turned out to be a liability even for that.

Sunset lit her horn and dropped a sun the size of a pony into the ground just outside of the cave she’d been using for shelter. The dirt instantly ablated and the rock hissed and popped as it melted. She was able to keep it up for a solid minute before she collapsed from the effort, leaving a bubbling crater that was too hot to even approach.

That was fine; she couldn’t have moved to do so even if she’d wanted to. Completely spent, she tried to pretend that the warmth from her little temper tantrum could fill the hole in her left by the Crystal Heart.

It couldn’t.

***

It was dark and the stars were out by the time Sunset Shimmer awoke from her self-inflicted exhaustion. Annoyingly, her first thought was that she had missed Pinkie Pie’s party. She immediately corrected herself, because it was really Pinkie Pie’s party that was missing her and she could clearly derive some vindictive spite from having ruined something that the simple-minded mare had been invested in, but frankly…

Her heart wasn’t in it.

Somewhere nearby, a cricket was chirping and Sunset's ear twitched.

Something felt off.

Still groggy and sore from her exertion, Sunset pushed herself up to a sitting position, holding her head—and that was when she felt it.

No.

That was impossible.

She was wearing a party hat.

A quick, panicked look around revealed no sign of anypony else nearby, but plenty of signs that she’d been pinked. The entire cave, which was more of a wide overhang in the cliffside a few ponies deep, had been done up with balloons, streamers and every kind of party decoration imaginable. There was even a table piled completely solid with food, desserts and even a punch bowl that looked like it was still cold.

Completely bewildered, she walked blankly in, taking in what had to be at least a cartload of supplies that had been set up without waking her.

The moment she crossed the actual threshold into the cave, several rapid pops echoed out and there was suddenly confetti everywhere.

Sunset cringed, expecting dozens of ponies to pop out of nowhere and yell, ‘surprise!’ at her, but aside from the pops and the barely there whisper of confetti in the air, everything was completely silent.

Slowly, Sunset opened her eyes back up and looked around, confirming that, yes, she was still alone.

Looking down at her hooves, she realized that she’d stepped on a pink, glittery tripwire attached to the confetti cannons.

Shaking her head, she stepped over the wire and went back to looking—and then there was silly string all over everything and the wheezing of several balloons let loose. Sure enough, there was a second tripwire of thin, dirt-brown thread one step past the first.

“Oh my god,” she said, bringing her hoof up to her rapidly flushing face.

If there was any consolation, it was that after two jumpscares Sunset was pretty sure that she was actually alone.

Still, she double and triple checked for another tripwire or any other surprises, but all she found was a small card on the table with the food.

“Hey Sunset,” she read.

“We’re super-duper sorry that Dashie was mean to you, so here’s a cake.

“Your new friend,

“Pinkie Pie.”

Sunset let out an involuntary snort of laughter. It was so… simple and stupid that she couldn’t even mock it. How was she supposed to be sarcastic when, ‘sorry we were mean, so here’s cake,’ was what it actually said.

Admittedly, it was some pretty good cake, so there was that. Boston cream was her favorite.

“This is so pathetic,” she said, not specifying whether she was deriding the childish decorations or herself as she licked chocolate off the plastic ring from the cake.

In hindsight, Sunset hadn’t given Pinkie Pie enough credit, either as a baker or as a party planner. Normally, planning was one of the last words that she would have associated with the spontaneous mare, but those tripwires told a different story, and as Sunset moved on to get some punch before it turned into a watered down mess, it became clear just how devious the seemingly simple mare could be.

It was the complete silence that did it. There was no phonograph off in the corner playing upbeat music or the sounds of a crowd, or the quiet hum of a refrigerator where she could put all this food that she couldn’t eat. Well, she could kind of blame all of that on there not being electricity run to her little cave in the Everfree, but it also made the whole scene entirely more creepy than it would normally have been.

It was designed to make her lonely, and she couldn’t even blame the fact that it was working on her bleeding heart. The fact was, being alone sucked. Hiding away in a forest with nopony around for miles wasn’t what she did. It wasn’t like her and she didn’t like it.

When she went to parties, she was the center of attention; the one wearing the crown.

And damn it, she couldn’t have asked for a better place to stalk Twilight from than right across the street from the library.

Ugh, fine. Maybe she would consider going back—but not right now. She still had cake to eat.

She blinked.

And presents to open. Right. This was supposed to be a house-warming party, wasn’t it? How had she missed that?

A minute later, she was staring down at a newly unwrapped blender.

An electric blender.

***

In spite of everything, the food spoilage issue, at least, was not unsolvable by Sunset. Cutie marks weren’t video game elements, so her propensity for setting things on fire didn’t mean that freezing things wasn’t cool too. Actually, for certain types of spells, there was barely any difference.

Sunset was just trying to decide where and how to set up the thermal transfer spell when she smelled something foul.

“Oh, come on!” Sunset groused, stomping over to the table of food. “What could possibly have gone bad in less than an hour?”

The answer was: Nothing. Nothing on the table had gone bad, nor had any durian or other highly contentiously pungent food or prank item been snuck in. In fact, remembering to use her nose properly, which she still forgot to do after spending so long as a human, she was fairly sure that the smell wasn’t coming from the food table at all.

Unfortunately for her, the fetid stench only got sharply stronger in the moment after the timberwolf’s teeth sank deep into her haunch.

“Aaauuugh!” she cried out, only managing to teleport out from beneath the wooden jaws before they clamped down completely and began to tear because teleporting away had become her go-to snap-reaction to problems since returning to Equestria.

She didn’t think looking innocent and giving the timberwolf puppy-dog eyes would have been nearly as effective at saving her life.

Still, even as she reappeared on the other side of the wide-mouthed cave, Sunset’s back left leg gave out completely the moment she put any weight on it. “F-F-F-Fuck!” she cursed, barely managing to remain standing as the injured leg curled up against her barrel.

There were three of them that she could see, and though they might have been attracted by the scent of the food on the table, she was the food that had their full attention now.

They were going to regret that.

Probably.

Maybe.

The truth was, Sunset knew plenty of magic, but she had never actually been in a fight with it. What experience she did have, she had gotten as a human and it had involved fighting dirty against human males.

It was barely enough to keep her from getting attacked from behind a second time, and she shot several blasts off with her horn in retaliation that seemed to do very little.

On the bright side, not even Sunset’s empathetic heart had any problem with escalating against what was basically the uppity wild magics of the forest getting ideas above its station.

…

Briefly—very briefly—Sunset considered what she could learn from the timberwolves that would help her on the way to her ascension, but the pain in her leg and the sticky sensation of the blood in her fur quickly reminded her that she had bigger things to worry about right now.

She could chase down some magical stick puppies later when she wasn’t bleeding out.

In fact… Why did she need to stick around at all? She had come here from Ponyville in a single chain of teleports and nothing but her waning ability to concentrate was keeping her from just running away.

Except… that had been a really nice blender. And she hadn’t even tried half of the pastries. She was Sunset Shimmer, damn it, and Sunset Shimmer would not just roll over and let a bunch of sticks playing pretend rut though her camp and ruin her things.

It had nothing to do with the fact that passing out halfway to Ponyville would have been an even worse idea than staying to fight.

Sunset carefully backed away from the timberwolves, putting the side of the wide-mouthed cave behind her to prevent herself from getting attacked from behind again. She was tempted to just light up her sun spell again and show them who they were dealing with, but there was no telling how long it would actually take to scare them off for good that way and, again, she didn’t want to pass out from exhaustion again when she was bleeding so badly. It was very likely that if she did, then she wouldn’t ever wake up.

Unfortunately for Sunset, discounting her first reaction meant that she was spoilt for choice. She was a planner, not somepony who made snap decisions, and all she really knew about timberwolves was that fire was probably a good bet.

Yeah, that didn’t narrow it down any.

If her shield spells were better, she would have preferred to box them in and watch them burn, but… they weren’t. Defensive spells in general had never been her forté. In fact, it was a miracle that she was as good at teleportation as she was—but come on; it was teleportation. Who wouldn’t practice it any chance they could get? It had paid itself off in just the first year in cookies stolen and ponies framed because she’d ‘been on the other side of the courtyard this whole time!’

A testing nip from one of the timberwolves brought Sunset back to the present, very aware of just how little space she had left. In fact, they were even backing off slightly.

They were getting ready to pounce, weren’t they?

They were getting ready to pounce.

Sunset cursed. All she needed was a solution, not a perfect one! Unfortunately, while fire was no doubt the answer, even dry wood took some effort to light, and the timberwolves were mossy, dirty and half rotten. A few bits were even green with new growth.

In the end, it was the sheer hate and vindictiveness for being put in her current situation that finally gave Sunset an idea. She had just asked herself what the absolute worst thing she could do to these poor excuses for topiary was, and it had come to her like a bolt from the blue.

Napalm. The answer was napalm. If the timberwolves had had any sense of self-preservation, the sudden grin on Sunset’s face would have sent them running then and there. They did not, however, and so they pounced—and Sunset took that chance to teleport behind them, turning the tables on them.

Of course, there was no spell that Sunset Shimmer had ever heard of to create napalm, and even if there was, the creation of a physical substance wouldn’t be entirely within her wheelhouse just because it was something that burned.

Entirely magical sticky gobs of fire, though?

Those were something she could just whip up on the fly—and she did.

The timberwolves did not enjoy it, and Sunset knew that she would never be able to use that spell in the presence of another pony.

Those were two entirely separate, unrelated points, mind. Her reluctance to let anypony see the spell had nothing to do with the fact that it was a war crime and everything to do with the fact that a spell for spraying a sticky, white (hot) substance from her horn was not something she wanted to be known for.

Or something she wanted to be wanted for, she supposed. The war crime thing was honestly a good point too.

It was only as she watched the three burning timberwolves run off into the forest dripping fire that she considered that maybe it just hadn’t been the best choice of spell in general.

Well, whatever. The Everfree wasn’t going to burn down from just one spell, and if it did, then maybe she’d inherit its powers that way?

Then again, she should probably do something about all this blood loss before she went around signing away the movie rights to her ascension.

Chapter 18

“Woah,” Rainbow Dash said. “You don’t think—”

“No, Rainbow,” Twilight interrupted, pinching the bridge of her nose in the crook of her hoof. “I very much doubt that Princess Celestia killed Sunset’s parents.”

“Well, then what—”

“The princess essentially adopted her,” Twilight reminded her. “Dismissing her as her student… Princess Celestia did essentially disown her and kick her out on the street.”

“Pff,” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Whatever.”

“Okay—what the hay, Rainbow?!” Twilight said, angily turning on her friend.

“What?” Rainbow Dash said, seemingly surprised by Twilight’s reaction. “It’s not like—”

“Not like what, Rainbow? Not like she’s a pony who deserves the slightest amount of consideration for her feelings when she’s clearly lived a hard life.”

“Oh come on!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “You don’t actually believe any of that crap about her suddenly being ‘reformed’ any more than I do!”

“Of course not!” Twilight snapped back. “That doesn’t make it okay to rub her nose in her mistakes!”

“Somepony thinking they deserve immortality just because the princess taught them a few things isn’t just ‘a mistake!’” Rainbow Dash insisted.

That…

That hurt.

“…Is that what you really think?” she finally asked, her voice weak and trembling.

“Uh, yeah?” Rainbow Dash said, confused before her brain caught up with her mouth. “Not you, obviously,” she said, quickly backpedaling. You’re, like, Princess Cadance’s sister reborn and stuff!”

Somehow, that didn’t exactly soothe Twilight’s feelings. “Oh, so it’s okay because of some quirk of luck that we don’t even understand and can’t actually prove, but if Pr—if Celestia hadn’t been lying to me, then I guess having the audacity to actually think that I deserved something would be a problem?”

“If the princess had been lying to you, then you’d be an alicorn because you created new magic!” Rainbow Dash said, growing exasperated.

“Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?!” Twilight shouted back in anger.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Rarity said, placing a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, hoping to calm her down. “Darling, you know that our dear Rainbow Dash has a tendency to put her hoof in her mouth. I’m sure she doesn’t have any objection to your situation.”

“Of course not!” Rainbow Dash agreed.

“Well, I guess that's what happens when you have double standards,” Twilight bitterly responded, wiping the moisture out of her eyes.

“Oh, for Celestia’s sake!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, throwing up her hooves. “You two are nothing alike! Just because you were both the princess’ student doesn’t mean squat! She’s the enemy! Next, you’re gonna say we should try and get along with Discord!”

“Yes, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight acerbically replied. “That was kind of implied when we decided to leave him free.”

“Tell me you’re not serious,” Rainbow Dash said. “He’s Discord! Even if he’s behaving for now, he’s just going to end up going back to his old ways eventually.”

“Well, maybe he won’t if you actually give him a chance!” Twilight said.

“And now you’re just playing Discord’s advocate,” Rainbow Dash complained.

“I’m not playing,” Twilight insisted. “I am advocating for Discord. And Sunset. And Chrysalis. And Luna. You can’t treat somepony like they’re less than a person just because they’ve been in the wrong.”

Rainbow Dash gestured her lack of belief in what she was hearing. “There’s no ‘just’ about it,” she said. “Except in ‘justice.’ That’s how it works. Somepony does something bad and they get punished for it!”

“There’s no ‘justice’ in making fun of somepony for having to live on the street.”

“That isn’t even what I said!” Rainbow Dash complained.

“Okay, that really is enough,” Rarity said, interrupting again. “Twilight, please. Rainbow may have been indelicate, but it was one comment. Surely it isn’t worth all this.”

Twilight took a breath and looked away from Rainbow Dash. “It only takes one comment to hurt somepony. That she ran away says a lot—especially since it’s her.”

“Yes, well, Rainbow Dash is going to have to deal with that,” Rarity said, sending Rainbow Dash a disapproving look. “Starting with explaining herself to somepony.”

“The princess?” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Maybe the fact that Sunset ran off will get her to open her eyes.”

“Her too,” Rarity said, thoughtful. “But I was actually referring to telling Pinkie Pie why her ‘welcome to Ponyville’ party isn’t going to have a pony to welcome.”

“…Oh.”

***

Twilight was still mildly annoyed after everypony else had left, but at least part of it was directed at herself for turning that into an argument. That part of it, at least, had been entirely her fault, and probably wasn’t behavior befitting a princess.

Still, though. She’d meant what she’d said. She’d never thought that she’d have defended Discord like that and she’d thrown Chrysalis in just for shock value, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true.

Even if you hated somepony, they were still a pony.

The fact that she had not actually been planning on giving Discord a chance until he had made her laugh and actually listened to her was suddenly something that she was not especially proud of.

She still wouldn’t have insulted him right to his face, though.

“And now she’s probably back in the Everfree doing who knows what,” Twilight remarked to no one as she took a second look at the terrible state of the second floor of Sunset’s probably-not-a-bakery.

Would she come back?

It only took Twilight a moment to come to the conclusion that yes, she would. She would have to. Sunset had sent that letter to the princess gushing about her new place, so if she wanted to continue the whole ‘returning student of the princess studying friendship’ act, she was going to have to actually live here and try to make friends.

Twilight glanced in the direction of the bathroom and shuddered. Entirely ignoring the question of whether or not what Sunset was doing actually counted as making friends, it was hard imagining anypony living here.

The very idea made her skin crawl.

Somepony was going to have to do something about that.

Given that everypony else had managed to have some excuse to be somewhere else, she supposed that that was going to have to be her.

Admittedly, breaking the news about a canceled party to Pinkie Pie was a pretty good excuse, but it was probably still preferable to… this.

Well, it was probably for the best. Rarity was Rarity and any of their other friends would have to actually get their hooves dirty, which was as distasteful as it sounded.

For a moment, Twilight considered just calling it quits herself and calling in professional help. It was what Princess Celestia would do, and the princess would certainly pay for it. Nopony actually expected Equestria’s newest princess to scrub toilets.

Sunset would have done it, though; she hadn’t even balked at the idea. If the princess’ prideful, entitled student could do it then so could she.

It actually turned out to be an interesting challenge. Rather than spend the rest of the afternoon tracking down tools and cleaning products, she decided to do the job entirely with magic—and in order to not spend the rest of the afternoon tracking down cleaning spells, she decided to make do with the magic she already knew.

She did not, as it turned out, actually know a great many cleaning spells, nor was she all that good at coming up with new ones from scratch, but combining and applying her existing repertoire in new and interesting ways? That she could do, and she came away from the experience with some intriguing results.

Placing a shield spell between the wood and something she wanted to vaporize? Possible, but impractically difficult.

Actually magically vaporizing things? Also possible, but ventilation required.

Accidentally inhaling a decade’s worth of accumulated bird droppings? Not recommended.

What was really fascinating, though, was what happened when she decided to use a small, localized gravity well to collect loose material.

She already knew, of course, that her alicorn magic would cause spells to build in power over time and persist beyond the point that she ceased feeding them magic, but what she hadn’t actually considered was exactly how the numbers would work if she continually lowered her magical input as the alicorn magic built up.

Instead of allowing the spell to grow more and more powerful and subsequently take forever to actually go away, she ended up with a manageable gravity well that she only needed to feed a trickle of power to maintain and was still under her control.

She supposed that was how Princess Celestia and Princess Luna made moving celestial objects seem easy; they had long since built up the persistent alicorn magic they needed in order to do so and it just… stayed there, for the most part. Obviously, the fact that it was their special talent factored into it as well, but with enough time, even that probably wouldn’t be much of a hurdle—which would be how Princess Celestia had been able to move the moon during Princess Luna’s banishment.

It was fascinating enough that for a short while she forgot about what it was that she was actually doing experiments with—until she didn’t.

Hastily, she vaporized the clump of detritus that was caught in her little gravity well. She even remembered to hold her breath that time.

That was pretty much how it went. She tried various things on various problems, stringing her little gravity well along like a balloon. Restoring the water-damaged wood was relatively simple using the same process she had gone through downstairs, and all in all, she was rather proud of her results by the time it was dark. She doubted that a dozen professionals could have done it so quickly.

Her pride, of course, fell a little flat when she went back downstairs and found only a barren, empty room instead of any sort of party—not that she had expected anything else, but it was understandable that she would feel a bit unfulfilled when the pony who was supposed to be living there was still missing.

Well, ‘missing,’ with massive sarcasm quotes. She was probably out there right now working to undermine Twilight and her magic. No matter what Rarity’s excuse for forcing her to live in the city, Sunset Shimmer’s safety was probably the last thing that any of them needed to worry about. She was a powerful unicorn with fire for a special talent.

She’d be fine.

***

Twilight couldn’t help it. The first thing she did the next morning was look out the window to see if there was any sign of Sunset across the street.

There wasn’t, of course, and she was able to wait until after breakfast to head over and make sure that Sunset hadn’t come in during the night without disturbing anything.

She hadn’t.

“I don’t know what I expected,” she told Spike with a sigh as they came down from the second floor of Sunset’s place empty-hooved.

“Ehh,” Spike said, unconcerned. “She probably won’t be back for a few days, after she can just Rainbow Dash it and pretend nothing happened.”

Twilight gave it a thought and agreed, “That sounds about right.”

Just then, she opened the door and was greeted by the absolute last thing that she had expected to see.

An irate princess.

An irate Princess Cadance.

“Um?” was all that Twilight could get out before her old foalsitter fixed her with an unamused glare.

“I do not appreciate receiving letters that I cannot respond to in kind,” she said, her eye twitching. “First, you’re going to take me to Sunset Shimmer so that I can give her a piece of my mind—then you’re going to show me how to cast that spell.”

Twilight rose her hoof to stop Cadance and opened her mouth. A moment later, the only response she could come up with was, “How did you get here in less than a day?”

“I flew over the Crystal Mountains,” Cadance flatly explained. “Now where is Sunset Shimmer?”

“…I’m fairly sure that showing up to yell at her while sleep deprived isn’t exactly going to go how you think, considering what was actually in that letter,” she pointed out.

“Sunset. Shimmer. Now,” Cadance growled, causing Twilight to back off.

“Err, well, the thing is…” Twilight hesitated. She didn’t actually have any reason to keep Sunset having run off a secret, but—well—she wasn’t exactly sure how Cadance would take it.

“Rainbow Dash was kind of a jerk to her and she stormed off,” Spike explained in the gap left by Twilight’s hesitation. “Seems kind of huffy if you ask me.”

“You weren’t there, Spike,” Twilight said, managing to distract herself from the irate princess in front of her for a moment.

“And whose fault is that?” he shot back.

“Yours, for sending that letter in the first place,” Twilight reminded him dryly. “I thought it’d be best not to have the temptation if you weren’t going to control yourself.”

“Oh sure, blame the messenger,” Spike groused.

“Anyway,” Twilight said, turning back to Cadance, who didn’t seem to have gotten any less angry. “He’s pretty much right; Sunset teleported off yesterday and we haven’t seen her since.

“Really?” Cadance asked.

Twilight’s, “Yes?” was rather unfortunately unconvincing, purely due to the sheer ire being directed her way.

“Really really?” Cadance asked again.

“Really really,” Twilight said, managing a proper level of conviction this time.

Cadance stared Twilight down for a distressingly long moment… then collapsed nearly on top of her.

“…Cadance?” Twilight asked, her voice muffled under the weight of the slightly taller alicorn.

Spike poked her and she began to snore.

Twilight struggled under the limp and floppy form of her old foalsitter for a moment until she could disentangle herself enough to properly levitate her.

“Bleah,” Twilight exclaimed, spitting hairs from Cadance’s mane out of her mouth. “Ptew. Fweh. Spike, get the door,” she said, gesturing across the street at the library.

“Got it!” Spike said, rushing across the street to do so, though once he did, he just stood there in the doorway.

“Out of the way, Spike!” she yelled as she came up behind him, but he didn’t move. It wasn’t until she was pushing her way past him that she could finally see why.

Lying there in the library, exactly where she had been the day before yesterday, was Sunset Shimmer.

A very bloody Sunset Shimmer with party streamers and strips of a polka-dot tablecloth wrapped around her flank.

There was a heavy thunk as Cadance hit the floor.

Chapter 19

“Why am I on the floor?” Cadance asked, slurring her words and not actually moving to get up. “And how long has it been? Tartarus, I feel like I haven’t slept at all.”

“You haven't,” Spike told Cadance, answering her last question first. “It's been, like, thirty seconds, and Sunset Shimmer is bleeding out in the library.

Cadance jerked her head up at Spike’s last answer, though it wasn't clear if it was at ‘Sunset Shimmer’ or ‘bleeding out’—possibly both.

“She’s not bleeding out,” Twilight corrected, already at Sunset’s side, examining her while chewing at her lip with nervous energy. “But I’m a librarian, not a doctor. We need to get her to the hospital. This didn’t just happen, so there’s a good chance it’s infected. Party supplies aren’t exactly the ideal replacement for the medical variety.”

Twilight blinked.

“…Actually, why is she wrapped up like a Hearth’s Warming Day present?” she asked, pausing for a moment.

A gentle hoof rested itself on Twilight’s shoulders and Cadance whispered in her ear with a giggle, “Maybe she wants you to unwrap her.”

Twilight blinked again. “Okay, so you’re useless right now. That’s good to know, actually. Spike, get the door again,” she instructed, picking Sunset up in her magic. “And don’t stand in the way this time!”

The trip to the Ponyville General Hospital didn’t take very long, but Twilight still had to back off on her levitation a bit when she felt her magic building up.

Of course, carrying a bloody unicorn through the market in the middle of the morning didn’t exactly go unnoticed, but Twilight didn’t have any answers for the first pony to ask what had happened, so she didn’t have any answers for the next two dozen.

“Ohmygosh, what happened?” Rainbow Dash asked, following Twilight from above.

Instead of answering, Twilight’s eyes lit up with an idea and said, “Rainbow! Go ahead to the hospital and tell them I’m coming with an injured pony."

Rainbow Dash mock-saluted and was immediately gone.

Other than the questions that she couldn’t answer, the gallop to the hospital went smoothly and quickly, most ponies having enough sense to get out of her way, and it wasn’t long until Twilight had caught up with Rainbow Dash, who was standing out front with a couple of ponies and a wheeled stretcher.

Twilight wasted no time in setting Sunset down as gently as she could, but even with her efforts to moderate her magic on the way over, it still took an awkward couple of seconds for the levitation spell to actually dissipate. It wasn’t as if Sunset was in urgent danger where the extra few seconds would actually matter, but it certainly didn’t help the already anxious situation.

Twilight watched as the ponies cut away Sunset’s impromptu bandages and winced as she saw what the injury was before they wheeled her away—a bite low on her haunch, probably Timberwolves and probably infected.

On the bright side, it was at least below her cutie mark, so there was that.

“See something you like?” Cadance leered, suddenly there leaning on Twilight’s shoulder.

“Wait—is that what that was all about?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight facehoofed.

***

Unfortunately, the hospital was disinclined to let Twilight sign Cadance into their care for acute exhaustion, sleep deprivation and annoying innuendo, so she had to suffer her queer mood all the way back to the library and Rainbow Dash wasn’t helping.

“All I’m saying is you could have just said so,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’d have understood!”

“For the last time,” Twilight said in a huff as they began to near the library. “I was looking at the bite—nothing else.”

“Uh-huh. Sure,” Rainbow Dash said, unconvinced.

“I still don’t get it,” Spike said. “What’s the big deal if you were looking at her cutie mark?”

“Wait,” Twilight said, suddenly realizing that Spike had followed her to the hospital. “You’re here? Did you at least lock the library up after us?”

The answer was immediately obvious when he glanced away. “Err…”

“Spike!” she chastised. “You know what happens when we leave the library door open!”

“…Ponies can still borrow books during business hours when we’re supposed to be open?” Spike suggested dryly.

“No,” Twilight said, stepping up beside the door and opening it without looking through. “It attracts annoying ponies.”

“Excuse me?” Rarity asked, standing over by the periodicals.

Twilight turned and poked her head through the door. “Oh, it’s just you. Sorry. False alarm, I guess.”

Rarity didn’t seem to know what to say to that, so she ignored it. “I heard from Applejack that something was going on,” she explained. “She had to watch the apple cart, but I came right over; what happened?”

“I found Sunset unconscious and bleeding in the alcove this morning,” Twilight explained in a hurry, entering the library, followed by Spike and Rainbow Dash. “Look—I dropped her off at the hospital and I need to get back there to see what they actually have to say about her condition so I have something to tell the princess. Could you take care of Cadance for me in the meantime? She hasn’t slept, so she’ll probably collapse again pretty soon, but until then, don’t listen to any of her lies.”

“…Princess Cadance, you say?” Rarity asked, possibly wondering if maybe it was Princess Twilight that hadn’t had any sleep.

Twilight looked around to confirm that, yes, she had lost Cadance somewhere along the way. Fortunately, a quick search found her just outside, so Twilight lifted her up with her magic and tossed her through the door in Rarity’s general direction. “Remember—don’t listen to anything she says!” Twilight shouted after her, then began making her way back to the hospital, calling for Spike to follow.

A minute later, the lack of flapping wings in her immediate vicinity clued her in to the fact that Rainbow Dash had stayed behind at the library with Cadance and Rarity.

It was going to be one of those days, wasn’t it?

Oh, who was she kidding? It already was.

***

In spite of her hurry, Twilight and Spike ended up having to wait at the hospital for any word on Sunset’s condition. Most of the waiting was spent debating whether or not she should send a letter to Princess Celestia with nothing more to say than, ‘Sunset is hurt,’ but given that she also hadn’t yet sent anything about Sunset running off in the first place, she figured that it could wait until they knew how bad it was.

Honestly, it could go either way. The actual bite and blood loss weren’t likely to be life threatening, but an infection from a timberwolf bite could be serious. Animal bites in general were not something to be brushed off and Timberwolves didn’t even have their own hygiene to worry about; they were just thorny, often rotting husks of wood with breath like swamp gas.

A small, unhelpful part of Twilight insisted that they had warned Sunset about the Everfree, but it was hard to claim they’d been serious, considering how often she and her friends were in and out of there on a weekly basis. Even Twilight’s own existentially terrifying experience with a cockatrice hadn’t deterred her for long, though it probably should have.

Admittedly, they didn’t usually go into the Everfree at night, but she had no doubt that they would if they had to.

Eventually, Nurse Redheart found Twilight in the waiting room and motioned her over to explain the situation. In a word, yes, there were signs of infection, but since it had only been around twelve hours since the bite, they were comfortable stitching the wounds after a thorough cleaning. With antibiotics, Sunset Shimmer would likely see a full recovery in two to four weeks.

That was a relief… and not because that was two to four weeks that Twilight wouldn’t have to worry about her sneaking out into the Everfree.

Not just because of that, anyway.

Wait. Was she supposed to be denying that, or was she supposed to be denying that she was concerned about Sunset to begin with?

She honestly wasn't sure.

Then again, did it really matter?

Shaking her head, Twilight took Spike outside and prepared to dictate a letter.

***

“Dear Princess Celestia,

“I’m sorry to say, but the introduction of Sunset Shimmer to life in Ponyville has not gone as smoothly as one might otherwise have hoped. As a result, it is with significant regret that I must inform you of the injury and subsequent hospitalization of your student.

“Great personal effort was made by all of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony in order to provide for her a home which would offer her the appropriate levels of comfort and dignity for an independent, self-sufficient mare of means so that she would be able to focus on the lessons of friendship for which she was sent to Ponyville.

“Ponies are ponies, however, and during the process an unfortunate comment was made which tested her self control. Admirably, rather than lash out she chose to temporarily remove herself from the situation. Not so admirably, I can only guess that in doing so she headed back to her previous accomodations in the Everfree because she showed up at the library this morning with makeshift bandages covering what I believe to be a timberwolf bite on her left haunch. She has not yet recovered consciousness in my presence, and so I have not been able to verify the circumstances of her injury.

“The nurse has informed me that, as of a few minutes ago, Sunset Shimmer is out of immediate danger, though she will require a significant period of convalescence as expected of such an injury.

“While this situation is regrettable, I also believe that it was inevitable. The dangers of the Everfree are not to be understated, and every effort was made to impress upon her the seriousness of the matter when her previous accommodations there came to light. This was, in fact, the primary impetus behind providing alternative accommodations in town with such haste. It is clear, however, that your student did not take this warning to heart. This should surprise nopony, as previous instances of boundary-pushing behavior have gone unresolved.

“Note that I say unresolved, not unpunished. In fact, it is the extremity of her previous punishment which no doubt encourages her rule-breaking behavior due to the expectation that not only can no worse punishments be made, but also that the punishments for future infractions will be nullified until her previous excess can be balanced out. So far as I can see, any such assumptions to this effect on her part would seem to bear out.

“Sunset Shimmer seems capable of being a nice, agreeable pony who I would be glad to call my friend, so hopefully we can find some way to convince her not to endanger herself needlessly in the Everfree. While it would be best if her current injury were encouragement enough to warn her off such actions, it is ever the imperative of the young to think themselves immortal, and I, for one, would sleep better knowing that I won’t wake up to an injured pony in my library again, or worse, something worse.”

Spike screwed up his face at what he’d just written. “‘Or worse… something worse?’” he asked. “Really?”

“Well, I’m not going to just come out and say ‘I’d rather not wake up to a corpse next time,’” Twilight insisted.

“You know,” he said, skimming over the letter. “The way Rarity tells it, I’d have expected you to be throwing Rainbow Dash under the cart a bit more.”

Twilight waved her hoof in dismissal. “We had a disagreement,” she said. “She really shouldn't have been that insensitive, but I overreacted, and I guess she also wasn't really on the same page as the rest of us in regards to keeping Sunset here in town where we can keep an eye on her.”

“Can we, though?” Spike asked. “It's not like she wouldn't be able to just disappear from inside her bedroom.”

Twilight sighed. “No, but it’s something, and it also means that she has to at least pretend to be ‘studying friendship.’ I’d guess that there’s a lot she won’t be able to do if she’s only slipping away here and there.”

“Does that mean you know how to do what she’s trying to do?” Spike asked.

“Not… as such,” Twilight reluctantly admitted. “Just going out there and meditating on my magic hasn’t really taught me anything except that I’m not good at meditating.

“Anyway, go ahead and sign the letter ‘Princess Twilight Sparkle,’ and send it.”

“You’re not going to mention Princess Cadance?” he asked, holding off on the signature for the moment.

“No, of course not,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “Whatever Cadance has to say to Sunset is her own business.”

“No snitching, gotcha,” Spike said, went to sign the letter, then hesitated again. “What about the spell she wanted, though? So she can write back? You don’t actually know that one, right?”

Twilight froze, then cursed. “Damn it, you’re right. Okay, sign it and add a postscript.

“P.S. On a somewhat lighter note, after her letter to you, Sunset Shimmer has also made an effort to reach out to Cadance via mail and expressed interest in learning the spell you use for sending letters to Spike. I think that this would be a wonderful project for her during her convalescence, and I don’t doubt that Cadance would like to be able to respond in a timely manner as well, and I admit to some curiosity myself. If you could send me your notes and references on the subject, then I’ll ensure the information gets to the ponies who need it.”

Spike gave Twilight a flat look. “You ‘don’t doubt that Cadance would like to be able to respond?’” he asked.

“Well, no, of course not,” Twilight innocently answered. “Do you?”

Spike facepalmed. “Considering she said it to your face…”

“My sources are good,” she defended.

“You’re really getting into this passive-aggressive thing, aren’t you?” he asked dryly, pointing out the obvious.

“Given the introduction to princesshood that I’ve received, are you really surprised?” she asked in return. It’s only going to get worse when Sunset and Cadance wake up.”

“Princess Cadance isn’t really passive-aggressive, though, is she?” Spike said. “She seemed more like she was channeling regular old aggressive-aggressive when she showed up.”

“No, believe me,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “When she feels like it, she can be just as catty as Sunset. Anyway, go ahead and send the letter.”

Finally, Spike had no more objections or comments, so he shrugged, rolled up the letter and sent it on its way with his flame.

Twilight idly watched the silver smoke until it was no longer discernible against the clear blue sky, then did what she could to stretch the tension of that whole mess out of her shoulders. Hopefully, she would have at least half a day of peace and quiet before she had to deal with any more of—Twilight was blinded by a flash of sunlight.

Blinking the spots out of her eyes, Twilight was suddenly faced with an agitated Princess Celestia.

Joy.

Chapter 20

Twilight was not really a jealous sort of mare, but the way the princess immediately asked, “Where is she?” without so much as a greeting kind of ticked her off. The princess had appeared facing away from the hospital and was jerking her head back and forth, almost in a panic, looking for her student.

With a sigh, Twilight gestured with her hoof, directing Princess Celestia to the large, two-story building behind her.

“Show me to her,” Princess Celestia said.

Twilight attempted to object. “She’s—”

“Show me to her,” she insisted.

It went about as one would expect. The ponies were all flustered to have Princess Celestia there and were quick to show the two of them to a small room where Sunset Shimmer had been placed.

“She looks so… young,“ the Princess whispered, tentatively walking forward.

Twilight blinked. That sent alarm bells ringing in her head. “Princess, this isn't by any chance the first time you've seen her since the train, is it?”

Princess Celesetia was so distracted that she wasn't really concerned with what Twilight was implying. “Yes.”

“You mean to tell me…” she said, trying to wrap her head around it. “…That you pardoned and forgave Sunset Shimmer… through the mail, without ever actually talking to her face to face?”

The princess nodded. “Succinctly put.”

“Meaning that you haven't once looked her in the eye and asked if she was actually sorry,” Twilight clarified.

“Don't be ridiculous, Twilight,” the princess scoffed. “Of course she's not sorry.”

“But—err—what?” Twilight stammered, caught off-guard by that answer.

“I’m not an idiot, Twilight,” the princess bluntly asserted. “I know perfectly well that Sunset has as much intention of quietly making friends as you did when I first sent you here.

“If you’ll forgive me the trite metaphor, life is a journey, not a destination, and it is the way of such things that the road we travel shapes us far more than we shape it.

“Even from the few interactions I’ve had with her, I can tell that Sunset’s time on the other side of the mirror hasn’t done her any favors. She has, if anything, become more cunning and callous than the filly I remember. That is why, so long as she remains fixated on this relatively harmless path which keeps her in Ponyville, I am content.”

Relatively… harmless… path?

That… That… Twilight almost managed to suppress her reaction. She had just blown up on Rainbow Dash the day before, and she was better than that. Still, she couldn’t help the sharp intake of breath, her lips were pressed into a line and her only response was a stilted and flat, “I see,” followed by an equally unemotive, “Okay.”

Then, she decided to take a page out of Sunset’s book and disappeared in a flash of pink light.

***

Twilight still didn’t have any words when she slammed the library door open and stomped in, having appeared directly outside precisely so that she could do so.

“That… that mare! Argh!” she shouted, seething.

“Oh dear,” Rarity exclaimed from where she was sitting with a steaming cup of tea and a book with a stallion on the front. “What's gotten your dander up this time? Or should I say, ‘who?’”

“Hoo,” Owlowiscious agreed from where he was having a staring contest with Rainbow Dash.

Twilight pulled up short when she realized she wasn’t alone. “Sorry,” she said, and stopped to take a breath and calm herself down. “It’s just… Celestia.”

Rarity’s ears perked up at that. “The princess? Did you get a letter?”

“No, she actually came in person,” Twilight explained, then belatedly added, “To see Sunset, of course.”

“So, she still thinks her old student can do no wrong, huh?” Rainbow Dash guessed, not taking her eyes off of Owlowiscious.

“In a manner of speaking,” Twilight said, walking over to the table that Rarity was sitting at and seating herself, hanging her head between her hooves. She then went on to explain the very short discussion she had had with Princess Celestia. “…And she thinks that Sunset coming to Ponyville to steal my magic is just some harmless distraction. That was what she called it—harmless!”

“Well, that is unusually careless of her,” Rarity admitted. “But surely with Sunset in the hospital now, you’ll have plenty of time to finish your research ahead of her, so it should be a non-issue.”

That only made Twilight sink deeper into her hooves. “Finish?” she said. “Rarity, I’m no closer now than I was five minutes off the train. I don’t even know where to begin.”

“If you can’t do it, then what are you worried about?” Rainbow Dash said, sounding like she’d solved world hunger with a hotdog. “I mean, she’s got, what, five or six less years of learning magic than you, right? She’s got no chance!”

“It’s not like this sort of thing is in the regular curriculum, Rainbow,” Twilight said, rubbing her temples to ward off a headache. “I’ve only talked to her for a few hours, and it’s already clear that she knows more about handling raw magic than I do. Don’t forget—she managed to turn herself into a crystal pony by connecting to the Crystal Heart and she had some plan to do something with the Element of Magic, too. I wouldn’t underestimate her.”

“What about that box that you received from Princess Luna?” Rarity asked. “That was all of their notes on the Everfree, yes?”

“Years and years of logs that mostly say things like, ‘the far canyon felt moderately Everfree-y today,’” Twilight said, waving her hoof dismissively. “Look, I appreciate your confidence in me, but I’ve already gone over all this in my head enough times. I haven’t given up, but the fact is, no matter how smart I might be, all the things I know are just things that other ponies figured out.”

“My dear Twilight, you don’t give yourself enough credit,” Rarity insisted. “We all know that there is more to these things than the sum of their parts.”

“Besides,” added Rainbow Dash. “What about that whole thing when our cutie marks got mixed up? The answer to that didn’t come from a book, did it?”

If anything, Twilight’s mood only soured even more. “We’ve been over this,” she said. “Celestia made the whole ‘new magic’ thing up. She. Was. Lying.”

“Be that as it may…” Rarity said, picking up the subject. “Rainbow Dash does have a point. Just because your ‘new magic’ was in no way a unique achievement does not mean that it wasn’t ‘new magic.’”

“It was based on a broken spell to begin with,” Twilight instisted, still dismissive. Really, at that moment she was considering just asking Rarity and Rainbow Dash to leave so she could go lay down for a bit.

“Fine,” Rainbow Dash said. “Maybe it was just a magical crossword that you solved with words from the friendship dictionary. Don’t you still think it’s kind of important?”

Twilight lifted her head up off the table to look at Rainbow Dash. “Why would it be?” she asked.

“Duh!” Rainbow Dash said, tossing her arms up in frustration. “It still shot off your ascension, didn’t it? Don’t you think that a spell like that would be someplace to start when you’re trying to move magic around?”

Twilight stared blankly at Rainbow Dash.

“Oh. Kinda, yeah, I guess?”

***

“I can’t believe that you just left me there,” Spike grumbled as he searched the shelves for a book that wasn’t where it was supposed to be. Sometimes, the fact that her library was a public library really came back to bite her.

“And I can’t believe you’re still bringing it up,” Twilight said, not looking up from a treatise on spell modification. “I said that I was sorry.”

“What’s all this, then?” Cadance asked, announcing her presence from the stairs while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Twilight blinked. “Wait, you’re up?” she said and glanced at the clock above the library entrance. Sure enough it was already approaching late afternoon.

“For a certain definition of the word,” Cadance dithered, finding a seat across from Twilight. “Coffee?”

“I’ll get it,” Spike volunteered, giving up on his search for the moment.

“So, what’d you do this time?” Cadance asked again.

Twilight rolled her eyes and explained, “After getting Sunset Shimmer to the hospital—you do remember that, right?”

“Mmgh,” Cadance grunted, furrowing her brow in concentration. “I remember Sunset on the floor bleeding. That wasn’t a dream?” she asked, then added, “I didn’t do that, did I?”

“No—no!” Twilight assured her, waving her hooves. “I’m pretty sure it was a timberwolf bite, though now that I mention it, I don’t think I ever got confirmation from Nurse Redheart on that.

“Anyway,” Twilight continued. “After getting Sunset to the hospital and bringing you back here to sleep off your innuendo—”

“Oh!” Cadance exclaimed. “Now I remember! I caught you staring at her—”

“Injury,” Twilight interrupted right back. “And again, after all of that, Spike and I went back to the hospital to wait for something concrete to tell Princess Celestia. Long story short—she showed up and got into a… I wouldn’t even call it an argument, but I got annoyed and teleported off.”

“And left me there to make excuses for her and take the books she brought,” Spike finished as he brought out a steaming princess-sized cup of coffee for Cadance, who didn’t even let him get halfway across the room before she took it from him with her light blue magic.

It was an awkward minute or two until Cadance stopped making obscenely appreciative sounds.

“So,” Cadance said breathily over her half-empty cup. “How is Sunset, anyway?”

“Sunset’s fine, though they’re going to keep her in the hospital for a while,” Twilight explained. “You’re not going to ask about what happened with Princess Celestia?”

“I was a teenager when I became an alicorn,” Cadance reminded Twilight. “In spite of Sunset clearly holding the gold medal for it, I did have my own disagreements with her from time to time. You’re overdue, and I won’t pry if you don’t want me to. I can guess, though.”

Twilight considered it, but shook her head. “I’ve already ranted about it to Rarity and Rainbow and it really isn’t something that takes all that much to unpack.”

“Alright,” Cadance said and took a long, blissful sip from her cup. “Now, about that letter-sending spell…”

“Actually,” Twilight said, glancing at the clock again to make sure that it wouldn’t be too late. “We should go check on Sunset again. If she’s up, she wanted to learn it, too.”

“That is the exact opposite of what I want, Twilight,” Cadance deadpanned.

“Well, given that I wasn’t sure if you wanted Princess Celestia to know that you flew all the way down here just to yell at Sunset…?”

Cadance managed to communicate her negative response with a blush and the shake of her head.

“Right,” Twilight said. “Given that, I asked for her notes on the spell on Sunset’s behalf instead.”

“Wait,” Cadance said, pulling her face away from her coffee for a moment to give Twilight an inquisitive look. “You don’t already know it?”

“No?” Twilight said, thinking that should have been obvious. “I have a Spike,” she said, gesturing at her assistant.

Somehow, that didn’t seem to appease Cadance.

***

The trip over to the hospital was quiet and uneventful, which was probably a good thing. Twilight very much doubted that it would have gone over well if, for instance, Rainbow Dash had decided to join them for this particular visit. Maybe later she would get her brash friend to apologize, but it would have to be much, much later.

Not that Rainbow Dash was the only one who had a bone to pick with Sunset Shimmer.

“Actually, maybe this isn’t the best idea,” Twilight said, having second thoughts as she signed her name on the hospital’s visiting list.

“Relax, Twilight,” Cadance reassured her, briefly placing a hoof on her shoulder as she took Twilight’s place and signed her own name. “I’m not going to pick a fight with an injured pony.”

And she didn’t.

Not exactly.

The first words out of Cadance’s mouth when she saw Sunset Shimmer were, “Geez, you really are just a filly, aren't you?”

Sunset's immediate response was, “Bite me.”

Cadance won that exchange with the addition of a raised eyebrow and a glance at Sunset's bandaged flank.

“…Okay, yeah, that wasn't my best,” Sunset admitted, disgruntled but accepting. “Anyway, what are you doing this far south, lovebutt?”

“Oh, you know,” Cadance said with a nonchalant shrug. “I got an interesting piece of correspondence and decided it deserved a personal response.

“Oh?” Sunset said, acting innocent. “Must have been some letter.”

“It was very enlightening,” Cadance said, approaching Sunset’s bed. “And, you know, a little enlightenment never hurt anypony.”

Sunset had to shift herself in the bed to back away from Cadance, who was getting awfully close. “Oh?” she said, still pretending not to have any idea what Cadance was talking about, but clearly getting uneasy with her status as a captive audience.

“Yep!” Leaning in, Cadance said, “The answer is, ‘no.’”

Sunset blinked. Suddenly, she didn’t need to fake her confusion. “No?”

“Yep!” Cadance said, backing off. “No, as in, ‘No, I don’t have any problem keeping warm at night,’ thank you very much.”

Sunset… blushed.

Chapter 21

The lesson went… better than Twilight had expected, at least, with Sunset and Cadance only taking minor shots at each other. Cadance, for her part, was in a hurry since she really shouldn’t have been in Ponyville in the first place, while Sunset didn’t seem to actually have anything to say once Cadance proved that she had, in fact, become rather adept at magic in the decade or more since Sunset had last seen her.

Eventually, they ran out of time and Nurse Redheart came to tell them that visiting hours were over.

“Well, I think I’ve just about got it,” Cadance said. “If I have any problems, I’ll—well, mail you the slow way, I guess.”

“I still can’t believe that you managed to make it trail little pink hearts,” Sunset grumbled. “It’s supposed to be a fire spell.”

“Are you at least going to stay for dinner, Cadance?” Twilight asked, standing and stretching.

Cadance stopped halfway to the door to think. “I should be able to do that much, I suppose,” she said. “But I really do need to be getting back to the empire.”

“Hey, uhh, Twilight?” Sunset said, getting her attention. “Could you stay a second?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow in question, but shrugged and sent Cadance and Spike on to the library.

“What was it you wanted?” she asked once the two of them were alone.

“Well, since I’m kinda stuck here,” she joked with a self-deprecating chuckle. “I was just wondering if you could have somepony take a cart out to the Everfree and bring back some things.”

That was… an interesting request. Twilight wouldn’t have expected Sunset to want anypony to know where she’d been holed up. Maybe her close call with the timberwolves had really shaken her?

…Nah, she probably just intended to move camp somewhere else.

“I suppose we can do that,” Twilight said, glancing out the window. “Not tonight though.”

Sunset shook her head. “No, that’s fine. It’s not urgent.” She paused. “Not super urgent, anyway. Eventually, the cake and the like will go bad, but thick ice lasts longer than you’d think, so any time in the next week is probably fine.”

Twilight blinked and had to ask, “…Cake?”

“Not that I would mind if it was sooner rather than later,” Sunset clarified. “They haven’t put me on a restricted diet or anything, and day-old pastries are still better than hospital fare.”

“…Pastries?”

“I should probably be more concerned about the presents,” she added, thoughtful. “I left those more out in the open, and I'd really rather that nothing gets into them.”

“Presents…?”

“Seriously—that was a nice blender and I’d rather not have squirrels using it to make acorn smoothies,” Sunset said. “I mean, there’s no power grid in the Everfree, but they’re smart enough to hold a conversation with, right? I’m just saying, if that thing goes missing and ends up at Fluttershy’s place stuffed full of nuts, I’ll be kinda ticked. Do you have any idea how much a decent blender costs?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Twilight said. “But I’m pretty sure I know who does.”

***

The next morning, Twilight found her way to Sugarcube Corner after an embarrassingly good night’s rest. She supposed that if she was going to derive pleasure from Sunset being out of commission for the immediate future, then fulfilling her request was the least that she could do.

It had nothing to do with what she might learn from the site of Sunset’s camp.

No, really. It didn't.

She was sure going to take advantage of it, though. Sure, Sunset hadn't seemed at all concerned about sending Twilight out to go gather her things, but there could have been a whole research station out there and she probably would have acted the same. So long as Princess Celestia considered her student’s focus on the Everfree to be ‘harmless,’ Sunset would be able to get away with just about anything and she knew it.

Getting Twilight to pack up actual proof of what Sunset was doing in the forest and bring it back for her was absolutely something that she would do.

The bell above the door jingled as Twilight entered Sugarcube Corner.

“Hiya, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie welcomed her from behind the counter with her signature inexhaustible pep. Pinkie Pie wasn’t exactly a morning pony so much as she was just an all-day, all-the-time pony. “Did you come to try our donut Johns?” she asked, pointing at a selection of donuts with cookies jammed in vertically on one side. “They’re like donut Joes, but with an extra surprise!”

Half of them were covered in chocolate icing.

“I… already ate, thanks,” Twilight said, eyeing the pastries with some concern. They were also labelled as having either chocolate or custard filling. “Actually, I came to ask about Sunset’s party.”

Pinkie Pie squeed and eagerly asked, “Did she like it?!”

“Just to be clear… You mean to tell me that after Sunset stormed off, you followed her and threw a party for her all alone in the middle of the Everfree?”

“Don’t be silly, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

Twilight just sat and waited for the inevitable stinger that would end up confirming her assumptions after all.

“It wasn’t anywhere near the middle of the Everfree—more off to the side, really—and my Pinkie Sense told me there’d be guests!”

Twilight opened her mouth, paused, and said, “I… see.” A moment later, she added with a grimace, “Well, you’re not wrong.”

“Did they like it?” Pinkie Pie repeated.

“…The guests were timberwolves,” Twilight deadpanned.

“Aaand…?” Pinkie Pie asked leadingly.

“They… had a bite, but had to leave early,” Twilight told her, managing to be both truthful and dishonest. Sunset was probably rubbing off on her. “They definitely left their mark, though. I dare say, the party wouldn’t have been the same without them.”

“I knew it!” Pinkie Pie beamed.

“…Right,” Twilight said. “Anyway, on a completely unrelated note, Sunset is in the hospital and asked me if I could go out there, clean everything up for her and bring all of her things back to town now that she has a place to live. I was hoping you could show me the way, since you’ve apparently been there, but I guess you’re busy with the shop…?”

“Yep!” Pinkie Pie confirmed. “The cakes are taking the twins to see their parents—the Cakes’ parents, not the twins’ parents; that would be silly since the Cakes are the twins’ parents—so I’m a~all alone for the next couple of days!”

Twilight took another look at the ‘Donut Johns’ and said, “That explains… a lot.”

“Oh! But don’t worry! I can totally bake you a map!” she insisted and ducked down behind the counter looking for something.

“…Bake?”

“Yeppers!”

“You mean make, right?”

“Just let me find the icing.”

***

“…And that’s why I’m here,” Twilight finished.

Sunset Shimmer was sitting up in her hospital bed, looking at the giant, awkwardly-shaped pastry in her lap and trying not to laugh. “No, no,” she reassured Twilight, grinning ear to ear. “This is pretty accurate.”

***

In spite of the relatively simple concept, it was nearly noon before Twilight finally rolled up to a clearing next to a cliff with one of Applejacks carts.

And Applejack.

And Rainbow Dash.

And Fluttershy.

Admittedly, it made sense not to go alone when somepony had already been ambushed by timberwolves in the area, but Twilight hadn’t expected more than half of her friends to be both willing and available.

Applejack whistled appreciatively as she unhitched herself from the wagon and walked closer. “Well, now. Ain’t that a sight.”

“Do you mean the cave full of ice or the giant crater out front?” Rainbow Dash asked. “’Cause I could go either way.”

That just about summed up what Twilight could see. As far as campsites went, it was an okay one. The cave was wide and shallow and there was a stream nearby. As Rainbow Dash had observed, though, the cave was now faced over with a solid chunk of ice.

It was… kind of a mess, if Twilight was being honest. She could immediately tell that ice spells were not Sunset Shimmer’s forté. Rather than a nice, clean block filling the cave, the whole thing was layered, blobby and rounded.

“Looks like she used separate spells for creating the water and freezing it,” Twilight said, squinting into the ice. The way it had been frozen in rapid layers meant that there was too much air and frost trapped in it to see anything. Twilight tsked. “This is going to take a while to melt.”

“Seems like an awful lot of bother to go through for some cake,” Applejack commented, tapping at the ice with her hoof.

“And a blender,” Twilight reminded her. “Supposedly, there are other gifts and things in there, too.”

“It’s too bad Pinkie couldn’t come,” Rainbow Dash said. “She’d have loved ‘digging for buried treasure' in all of this.”

“Considerin’ she got a whole two weeks off for the Princess Summit when the cakes have the twins to take care of, Ah’d say it’s only fair that she let them get a vacation in now that we’re back,” Applejack commented.

Twilight was looking at Applejack expectantly. “Aren't you going to say something about having an old blender that's better than anything they make these days?”

“Nah,” Applejack said. “The girl is right; a good blender's worth it's weight in gold. We did have an old one that Applebloom couldn't even lift, but it was gas-powered and damn near shook itself apart when she and her friends tried to be Cutie Mark Crusader smoothie makers.”

“So, how are we gonna do this?” Rainbow Dash asked, bucking the ice like she would a cloud. She managed to leave some surprising craters in it thanks to her pegasus magic, but it still only scattered about as much ice as it would take to cool a couple of drinks.

“Well, Ah didn’t bring any tools, so Ah guess it’s up to Twilight,” Applejack said, scratching her chin with a hoof. “First things first, Ah’d suggest a trench so the water has someplace to go. Ain’t nothing worse than trying to get real work done when you’re hock-deep in mud.”

Twilight agreed and got to work.

Two minutes later, Rainbow Dash was bored. “Why are we doing this, again?”

“Compassion for an injured pony?” Fluttershy suggested, but Twilight didn’t even have to look away from her work to know how that went over. Still, it was Fluttershy saying it, so Rainbow Dash didn’t actually make the expected sarcastic response.

“That,” Twilight said. “And I was also hoping to learn something about what she was actually doing out here in the Everfree.”

“Living in a cave and making reeeally big bonfires,” Rainbow Dash concluded, flying over to the crater and landing at the edge. “What kind of spell do you figure makes a crater like this?”

Twilight glanced over to give it a second look, but her first impression hadn’t really changed. “That’s the Princess’ sun spell, I’m pretty sure,” she said. “A pony-sized one, from the looks of it. That’s… more than a little scary.”

“Sun spell?” Rainbow Dash asked. “You don’t mean like…” she pointed up at the sky, disbelieving. “I mean, come on, I know enough Equestrian history to know that Princess Celestia didn’t make the sun.”

“She didn't make the sun, no,” Twilight assured her. “But her cutie mark is in raising and lowering it and that's no small feat. Not only does it take a lot of power like you’d expect, but a lot of control as well—and practice.

“Of course, ponies don’t tend to like it when the sun goes all wibbly-wobbly because the princess is getting a feel for it, so she created the sun spell. It’s functionally identical to the real thing, just a whole lot smaller.”

Rainbow Dash scoffed. “So it’s a fake. Gotcha. Sounds about right.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “You say that, but Sunset got her cutie mark by casting that spell. Think about it for a second. The princess has a cutie mark in moving the sun; Sunset has a cutie mark in making them. If they were both alicorns…” She left the rest unsaid.

“Yeah, well, they’re not,” Rainbow Dash insisted. “One is an alicorn and one is some chump with delusions of grandeur.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and got back to work. After a short while doing little more than blasting things with her horn, she had a nice, three-hoof-deep furrow leading to the nearby stream. She was also slowly getting used to the way that her alicorn magic affected various spells and had little issue bleeding off the extra energy when she was done.

“Looks good to me,” Applejack said, tamping down some of the loose dirt around the furrow with her hoof. “Gosh, I feel right useless. If Ah’d had a plough, Ah coulda done this in a cricket’s minute.”

“Couldn’t Twilight have just magicked one up?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“In practical terms, not really, no, ” Twilight said. “The spell I used to fix up so much of Sunset’s place relies on things being both conceptually and materially similar to the end product; it just so happens that broken things are very similar to brand new things—though even then, there’s a significant amount of magic that goes into bridging the conceptual gap. In order to make a one hundred kilogram plough, I would need a hundred kilograms of metal at the very least, and ideally it would be in the form of other farm tools. It’s an extremely useful spell, but it doesn’t let me just wish things into being.”

“Alright, so, what next, then?” Applejack asked, approaching the ice. “You gonna use that sun spell?”

“I… actually don’t know it,” Twilight admitted, her cheeks reddening. “I wouldn’t use it here even if I did, though,” she insisted.

“You got something better?” Rainbow Dash eagerly asked.

“Err, well, it’s an ice-melting spell,” Twilight said. “It’s not very exciting.”

And it wasn’t. Twilight’s horn glowed and the ice just started turning to liquid, quickly and efficiently.

Rainbow Dash was not impressed.

Neither was Twilight, but in the opposite way. “When I get back to the library, I think I’ll look up a sublimation spell.”

“Huh,” Rainbow Dash said, thinking. “That might be kinda cool?”

“You know what sublimation is?” Twilight said, surprised, then added, “Err, no offense.”

“I’m a pegasus,” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes. “Phase transitions are kinda my entire job.”

“Oh,” Twilight said, considering this. “Well, when you put it that way…”

In the silence that followed, Fluttershy abashedly asked, “…What's sublimation?”

“Ah’d kinda like to know, too,” Applejack chimed in, curious.

Twilight waited a second to give Rainbow Dash a chance to explain, but she apparently wasn't interested in sharing her institutional knowledge. “To put it succinctly, sublimation is the transition of a substance from solid to gas without passing through the liquid stage.”

“That can happen?” Applejack asked.

“You’ve heard of dry ice, right?” Twilight asked and got a nod. “Well, that’s where it gets its name; frozen carbon dioxide sublimates at normal pressures and temperatures. Sublimating water, on the other hoof, requires something close to vacuum, but magic can get around that.”

“Actually…” Rainbow Dash said, eyeing the mass of ice that Twilight had by then made a significant dent in. Without saying anything, she flew up and bucked the ice. Then, she bucked it again. On the first buck, all she did was scatter another few hooffuls of ice, but on the second, she buried her hooves into the ice down to the hock and there was a hissing, crackling puff of vapor instead.

“Wah!” she shouted, struggling to stay flying as she extracted her hooves from the ice. “Okay, so that kinda works, but also kinda doesn’t,” she said and didn’t try again.

By the time Twilight had melted nearly all of the ice, Rainbow Dash wasn’t the only one who was bored. Twilight had been really hoping to find something, but, “It’s… just a cave,” she said, rather disappointed at the lack of any real clue on how Sunset was planning to usurp the magics of the Everfree. “Honestly, it looks like she’s barely done anything with it at all.”

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash said, talking with her mouth full. “At least there’s cake.”

Chapter 22

“And… done!” Twilight exclaimed, sliding the last book into its place. “Mark that down, Spike.”

“Complete reshelving of the entire library… Check,” Spike said as he made the satisfying mark.

“Great!” Twilight beamed, bending over to look over his shoulder. “Now, what’s next?”

Spike scanned down the list, stopping on one out of place entry that was surrounded by checked-off items. “Acquire space for princessly duties,” he read expectantly.

“Ehh,” Twilight hesitated. “Not right now. What else have we got.”

Shrugging, Spike went down to the actual bottom of the list and noticed. “Oh, looks like Sunset’s getting out of the hospital today.”

Twilight frowned and said, “That can’t be right. It hasn’t been a week, has it? Check again.”

Spike rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. Unfortunately, Twilight’s doubt wasn’t enough to change the date. “Shouldn’t you know this? You’ve been in there every other day with stacks of books for her.”

“Sure,” Twilight said. “But I’ve only done that—”

“Three times?” Spike suggested, looking down at the entries on the checklist, knowing perfectly well that that was the answer. “Honestly,” he said. “Isn’t a whole week in the hospital kind of overdoing it anyway? They said full recovery could be as little as two weeks, right? Is she really doing so badly that they still need to keep her there?”

“No, she’s doing fine,” Twilight admitted, chewing her lip. “I might have suggested that they keep her as long as possible. She does live alone, after all.”

“Well, she’s probably up and about by now,” Spike guessed. “Not much reason to keep her cooped up any more… unless you want to stage a little accident for her?”

Twilight balked at the suggestion. “Spike!” she chastised. “Honestly, you worry me sometimes. Comic book plots are not a guide for how to solve problems in the real world.”

Spike mumbled an apology, which was followed by a moment of awkward silence.

“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?” he said eventually.

“If I pushed her down the stairs just right, I could break her horn,” Twilight mused. “That would solve everyth—I mean—no! Absolutely not! I would never do any such thing!”

***

Sunset Shimmer was nose-deep in a book when Twilight and Nurse Redheart entered the room. Still, it didn’t stop her from immediately perking up. “Am I finally getting out of here?” she asked.

“Yes,” the nurse said. “Let me just check your bandages one last time and we can sign you out.”

Twilight went about collecting the numerous books beside the bed… and everywhere else in the room. For a pony on forced bedrest, Sunset sure had managed to spread things out, but then, she was a unicorn and there was no reason she couldn’t levitate things from across the room.

Taken all together, it was such an eclectic collection that she actually began to feel a little guilty. She didn’t even remember picking out half of these books. She may not have wanted to give Sunset anything that could be used against her, but flower pressing? Calligraphy? Really?

When Twilight reached for the book that Sunset had been reading, she was blocked by a teal aura. “I’d like to keep this one if you don’t mind,” Sunset said, levitating the book over to her side.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at that. The book was another one she didn't remember picking out, though this one actually was on magic. Sympathetic magic, to be precise, which was strange enough to catch her interest. She would have thought that she would have actually remembered that one.

“That’s an interesting choice,” Twilight said, nodding at the book.

Sunset set the book down next to her on the bed. “Isn’t it, though?” she said. “I was fairly familiar already, but there’s a lot that I’d forgotten, too.”

“Really?” Twilight said. “Like, what?”

“Oh, you know.” Sunset shrugged, dodging the question. “This and that.”

Sunset refused to be drawn any further on the subject and the ongoing process of getting her checked out of the hospital got in the way of even trying.

“The stitches look fine,” Nurse Redheart said. “You’ll want to come back in a week or so, so that we can remove them. Now, do you feel up to standing, or would you like a wheelchair?”

“I should be able to stand, I think,” Sunset said.

“Alright,” the nurse agreed. “Now, since your injury is on one of your rear legs, we can do this one of two ways. You can either go hind legs first like normal, or you can twist yourself over and roll out forelegs first.”

Sunset made a show of testing her injured leg, bending it forwards and back before deciding, “Normal should be fine, I think.”

“Good,” Nurse Redheart said, sounding pleased as she carefully helped Sunset pivot until her back legs were hanging off the bed. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Sunset nodded and slowly lowered her hooves to the floor, stopping there to test her weight on the leg. Apparently satisfied, she began to slip off the bed with almost exaggerated slowness until she finally tipped over and came down on her forehooves.

“Wonderful!” Nurse Redheart said, clapping her hooves happily. “Now, give me a few steps around the room,” she prompted.

Gingerly at first, but with increasing confidence, Sunset followed the nurse’s instructions, walking around the bed over to where Twilight was, turning, then walking back, where she was shown through a few more exercises before she was finally declared fully ambulatory.

“That should just about cover it,” Nurse Redheart declared. “If Princess Twilight has all of your things, then we can head to admissions and get you actually checked out.”

Twilight gave a start at the sudden attention, double-checked that she had everything she could find levitating in three stacks behind her and went for the book on sympathetic magic, only for Sunset to grab it again.

“I think we’re good!” Sunset said. “Lead the way.”

Once all the paperwork was signed, the trip back to Sunset’s place was about as calm and sedate as could be. Sunset didn’t seem to be having any trouble, but they took it easy all the same. Even so, Sunset seemed to slow as they got closer to the old bakery.

“Are you tired?” Twilight asked. “Do you need to stop for a second?”

“What?” Sunset asked, blinking. “Oh, no, no, I was just remembering the state of the upstairs bathroom. In hindsight, I really should have arranged to have it done while I was in the hospital. Probably shouldn’t go anywhere near it with my stitches, so I might have to borrow yours until I can arrange it.”

It took Twilight a moment to remember that Sunset hadn’t been back to her place since the argument. “Oh! No, no—I mean, you’d be welcome to do so, but that’s not necessary. I took care of it that same day, actually.”

“Really?” Sunset said, blatantly surprised. “I would have thought that if it was anypony, it’d be Rarity that would have retreated to a safe distance and called the professionals.”

“Well… she got the retreating to a safe distance part done, anyway,” Twilight commented dryly as they approached the house and unlocked it. “It was no big deal. Here, let me show you what I did.”

Sunset didn’t react with anything more than a fond smile when they entered the downstairs area of the old bakery since it hadn’t really changed since she’d seen it last, but Twilight was happy to see her eyes widen when they went upstairs.

It looked… Perfectly normal, which was anything but. There wasn’t a single sign of the rot, water damage and worse that had been present when Sunset had stormed off.

“This is—wow—this is great, Twilight!” Sunset exclaimed, beaming. “I can’t believe you did this in half an afternoon!”

“You’ll still have to furnish it, of course,” Twilight said, frowning at the completely empty room. What had remained of the bed had gone into restoring the ceiling joists. “But I imagine you’ll be getting a stipend from the princess pretty soon if the mayor isn’t already holding it for you. Sorry, I didn’t even think to check.”

“No, no, this is fine,” Sunset assured her. “It’s clean and dry—I can handle the rest. I’ve never had a chance to pick out a bed before. Or a couch. I need a couch!”

“Well, I can recommend Quills and Sofas…” Twilight said and began to explain all the various useful stores around Ponyville.

***

It wasn't until Twilight was back at the library shelving all of the books that she'd retrieved from the hospital that she realized that something was wrong, because she was fairly sure that she had given Sunset her book on the griffon wars of the Celestial era, yet there it was sitting on the shelf, right where she remembered shelving it just that morning.

She could have been wrong, of course, except, now that she thought about it, she also remembered picking out a book on baking as a business that she didn’t see in her stack of returns either. Sure enough when she checked the shelves, it was there.

“Is something wrong, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy from directly behind her, giving her a start.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight exclaimed. “Oh, geez, I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Sorry,” Fluttershy apologized, lowering her head. “You look really tense; did something happen?”

“No, I—” Twilight started to say, then reconsidered. “Well, yes. Maybe?”

Fluttershey said nothing, merely tilting her head in question.

“It’s just… I think that Sunset might have been sneaking out of the hospital.”

“Oh, no!” Fluttershy quietly gasped. “She hasn’t been going back into the Everfree in her condition, has she?”

“No,” Twilight said, looking at the bookshelves and frowning. “At least, I don’t think so. No, I think she’s been coming here and swapping out the books I’ve been giving her.”

Fluttershy let out a breath and said, “Oh! Well, that’s a relief.”

“It’s really not!” Twilight insisted, distressed, though unable to quite pinpoint why, other than that it was Sunset doing something behind her back.

“She probably just didn’t want to tell you that she didn’t like what she picked out for you,” Fluttershy said, looking away and blushing. “It’s… um… what I would do.”

“Wait,” Twilight said, thinking back. “Is that why—”

“A—and it’s better than Rainbow Dash waking everypony up in the middle of the night trying to steal books from the hospital, right?” Fluttershy said, stumbling over her words in a hurry to interrupt.

“It is worse,” Twilight insisted. “She’s enough of a danger as it is.”

Fluttershy poked at the stack of books that Twilight had been shelving. “And books on making nature drawings are going to make her more dangerous?” she asked doubtfully.

Contrary to Fluttershy’s expectations, Twilight whipped her head around in alarm, quickly focusing on the aforementioned books. There were, as Fluttershy had implied, several books on art, mostly focusing on drawing from nature.

Twilight’s heart filled with dread. “No,” she said. “No no no no no.” Bolting across the room, she headed upstairs to her bedroom where the box that Princess Luna had sent her had been.

It was still there, locked, with the key sitting right beside it. She grabbed the key and opened the box.

Everything looked perfectly normal.

“Twilight?” Flutterhy asked, poking her head through the door. “Twilight, you’re scaring me. Are you sure you’re alright?”

Twilight let out a breath, locked the box back up and, looking at the key… dropped it right next to the box again since it didn’t matter any more. Slowly, she pulled out her chair and took a seat so she could bury her head in her hooves.

“Twilight?” Fluttershy repeated, stepping into the room. When Twilight didn’t respond, she crossed the room and placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Twilight, please say something.”

“…Sorry,” Twilight apologized. “It’s just… When I went to pick her up at the hospital, Sunset was reading up on sympathetic magic,” she explained. “And now I find that she’s also been looking into nature drawing—and now that I think about it, calligraphy and flower pressing too.”

“…Okay?” Fluttershy said, clearly not understanding what the big deal was.

Twilight sighed and explained. “Sympathetic magic is about forging a connection between things of a similar nature. At the most basic level, it’s rather innocuous. Unicorns do it naturally when they levitate a hoofful of smaller things as a whole, making it easier to do so if the objects are all the same in size, shape and function.

“It’s also a lot more than that, though. There’s a large sympathetic magic component to the mail spell, for example. It’s how the spell targets a recipient—only instead of a sympathy between two real objects, you build up a picture of the recipient’s magic in your mind and mimic it.

“Calligraphy, nature drawings, flower pressing… They might look innocent, but they’re things that Princess Amore’s sister did; they’re some of the only things we know about her, and only Luna, Celestia and I should even know that much. That means that not only has she been sneaking books from the library, but she’s been in here.”

“…Oh,” Fluttershy said, as understated as always. “That sounds… bad? What about you, though? Does this bring you any closer to getting the magic of the Everfree back?”

Twilight grimaced and said, “I… don't know?” After some thought, she decided, “Regardless, I think I’m going to need to start taking some more drastic measures.”

Fluttershy’s ears folded back and she asked, “How drastic?”

“I need to talk to Rarity and send a message to Princess Celestia. I know what I’m going to do about my need for a castle.”

Author's Note

But wait—there's more!

Continue reading the redacted next chapter over on my snippets story.

If you'd like to encourage me to write, consider contributing to my Patreon. It makes a difference.

Chapter 1

Twilight was willing to admit, she was a bit off-kilter and more than a little sleep-deprived. Yesterday evening, after the day’s usual sort of shenanigans that regularly happened in Ponyville, she’d suddenly sprouted wings, and she hadn’t quite managed to regain her equilibrium since then. Sure, she’d tried to get some sleep after getting shuffled onto a train to Canterlot, but she hadn’t quite managed it, what with everypony asking her question after question, and she hadn’t quite been willing to tell them all to be quiet for a moment so that she could think.

Ever since then, she’d been pushed from one thing to another—getting fitted for a crown that she’d probably only wear to fancy events, among other things—and she was still wondering if maybe she’d tripped and hit her head, and this was all some sort of ridiculous fever dream. She really didn’t feel much like an alicorn princess at just this moment, and that seemed like the sort of thing that would change… well, something. In spite of the wings stuck to her back like a pair of fluffy cicadas, Twilight still just felt like an ordinary unicorn.

Which was fine, she supposed. Well, it was a little disappointing, if she were being honest with herself. Really, who hadn’t imagined being an alicorn princess when they were foals? Realizing that alicorns were really just normal ponies was a bit of a hit to her worldview, and she was still adjusting. Worse, she was surrounded by ponies who were very much on the other side of the masquerade, and she didn’t need to study friendship for as long as she had to guess that they wouldn’t appreciate having the illusion broken.

Okay, that was a lie. Before Twilight had moved to Ponyville, she absolutely would have been as blunt as possible in shattering the dreams of anypony that got between her and a quiet afternoon with a book.

Still, Twilight felt bad that everypony else was just making so big of a deal about it and she just wasn’t feeling it. Fortunately, she hadn’t yet been asked to make a speech, because she hadn’t had a single moment to plan one and she wasn’t sure if she could wing it convincingly. The basic ideas were all there in her head in the same way she’d know what to expect if it was somepony else who would be taking up a crown in the name of Equestria, but it was only about that much. She’d say that she was incredibly proud to have earned her ascension into the ranks of the Equestrian nobility and would do her best to live up to this great opportunity… or something… but all it would be is words.

Most of those things were true, of course. It really was an honor and she really would do her best to live up to the mantle, but… she hadn’t earned it, had she? She was still stuck on that. How she’d actually become an alicorn and some of the things she’d been told about the heretofore unknown feat of having created new magic…

…Well, it didn’t make a lot of sense, did it?

“We’re here, Twilight,” Princess Celestia announced, bringing Twilight out of her brief moment of reflection.

‘Here,’ as it turned out, was a large balcony overlooking the west castle courtyard where over a thousand ponies were gathered, because of course it was. Twilight very much didn’t want to disappoint her mentor, but she also very much didn’t want to go out there and make a fool of herself in front of that many ponies.

“P-princess,” Twilight stammered. “This isn’t—I don’t have a speech prepared or anything!”

“Relax, Twilight,” Princess Celestia reassured, placing a hoof on Twilight’s withers to calm her—or maybe it was to keep her from running away. “It isn’t anything to worry about. It doesn’t have to be a dissertation—in fact, I rather expect they would prefer it wasn’t. Just a few words of reassurance will do.”

Well… that didn’t sound so bad.

“And then you fly out over the crowd to finish off the day.”

Princess Celestia began to walk forward, guiding Twilight with the hoof on her withers, but Twilight took one step and then stopped dead in her tracks, not sure if she heard that quite right. “Wait, I do what now?”

“Fly out over the crowd,” Princess Celestia repeated, making it sound quite reasonable when the logical part of Twilight’s mind insisted that it was anything but. “You haven’t forgotten that you have wings now, have you? I assure you, they work perfectly fine. In fact, I’m surprised that you’ve been able to keep yourself from experimenting with them for this long.”

“But—Princess!” Twilight pleaded. “You’re missing the part where I don’t know how to fly!”

“Nonsense!” Princess Celestia beamed cheerily. “Why, it wasn’t more than ten minutes after Luna’s ascension that she was flitting all over the place and complaining about dust in the rafters. All you need to do is take a good jump off the balcony and spread your wings. Your instincts will do the rest. The worst that can happen is you freeze up and glide down, which will do just fine.”

Instincts? Twilight wasn’t entirely convinced that she had any instincts. What would they feel like? Was she supposed to have an inner-pegasus now that wanted nothing more than to take to the sky and wiggle her wings? She did have an urge to be anywhere but where she was as she was levitated out onto the balcony by the golden glow of Princess Celestia’s magic that became all but invisible as she passed into the noonday sun, but she was fairly sure that was just nerves.

Speaking of which: Crowd. Speech. Now. Twilight took all of her nervousness, uncertainty and doubt and pushed them away. Her princesshood might not have sunk in quite yet after only half a day, but she’d been the bearer of the Element of Magic and the princess’ protege for much longer than that, and that was something that she could fall back on. When something needed to get done, she’d do it and worry about the rest later.

Twilight stepped forward, took a breath and prepared to speak.

Err, what was it that Princess Celestia had said she needed to say? Right. A few words of reassurance.

Twilight drew herself up to stand proudly over the crowd, noting with some nervousness the lack of railing for just such an occasion as this and spoke, “Everything’s going to be just fine!”

Then she spread her wings and jumped off the balcony.

The entire crowd winced at the audible crunch of her body hitting the ground directly below.

***

The first thing the Twilight noticed when she groggily awoke was that she was in her bed at the Golden Oaks Library. She felt a palpable sense of relief at this, since it meant that all that nonsense about her ascending as an Alicorn and being crowned princess had all been just a dream.

Also, the whole jumping to her death thing. Come to think of it, that should have made it obvious that it was a dream. That was prime nightmare material—like the ones she had about showing up for class only to discover that she hadn’t been given a schedule, or standing in front of a class for a presentation only to realize that all of her notes were blank. Going through a whole coronation ceremony to celebrate her becoming an alicorn only for her wings to not work would fit right in.

Thank Celestia. It would have been mortifying had that actually happened in real life.

Twilight was happily basking in the early morning sun coming through her window and enjoying the short lie-in before her alarm when she rolled over and felt something under her. Figuring that it was a bundled-up blanket and miffed about having to move, Twilight shifted, reached around and did her level best to pull it free.

That was not what happened.

The scream she let out at having her wing nearly dislocated brought a clattering of claws and hooves scrambling up the stairs.

The soft, “Oh my,” that came from the door was distinctly Fluttershy, while the one that rushed over to her bedside and started climbing up, asking if she was okay, was, of course, Spike.

“It’s... fine,” she lied unconvincingly, wincing in pain and she tried to shift herself back into a normal position so that she could see Fluttershy, Spike and… actually, that was it; it was just them.

Twilight ignored them for just a moment while she took stock of her situation, if just to confirm that, yes—if the pain in her side wasn’t a clear enough sign—she did, in fact, have wings.

Wonderful.

Twilight couldn’t help but shrink down into the covers as she came to the conclusion that this also meant that she had taken a swan dive into the ground in front of all those ponies. She was suddenly very glad that Rainbow Dash wasn’t there at the moment; she really didn’t want to know what the flight-obsessed mare would have to say about her… performance.

Celestia, on the other hoof, she wasn’t sure if she wanted there or not. On the one hoof, she felt that she would be justified in wanting to give her a piece of her mind, but on the other… If Twilight could just find a hole to crawl into and never talk to her mentor again, that could work too.

“I’m fine... I think?” Twilight told them, only belatedly realizing that she should probably be injured. “Actually, why am I not in the hospital?” she thought out loud, then added, “Or at least Canterlot, for that matter.”

“Given how, um, public your injury was, Princess Celestia decided that it would be best if you spent your recovery somewhere that you wouldn’t be harassed,” Fluttershy informed her.

“Away from the vultures in the media, she means,” Spike added. “And you didn’t really need hospitalization, what with the whole alicorn thing.”

“What does being an Alicorn have to do with anything?” Twilight asked. “I’m still a flesh and blood pony.”

“You’re actually kind of... not,” Fluttershy admitted.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked. A poke in the slight bit of paunch that she had on her flank assured her that she was definitely flesh and blood, and no matter how out of it she was, she would have noticed if she had been turned into something other than a pony.

“Celestia really didn’t explain it too well?” Spike said a little awkwardly, scratching at the back of his neck. “But what I got out of it was that you’re sort of like a ghost possessing yourself. Not that you died or anything! Or that you can’t die, but instead of a body supporting a soul, you’re more like a soul supporting a body.”

“Be honest, Spike. How much of that is what Celestia said and how much is from your latest comic book?”

“Fifty-fifty?” Spike said, momentarily avoiding meeting Twilight’s eyes. “But it’s a good example!”

“I’m sure it is,” Twilight said with a roll of her eyes, letting the subject go. She had other things to concern herself with right now than semantics. “So… I definitely am an alicorn, then?” she asked, directing the question at Fluttershy.

“Oh, yes,” Fluttershy confirmed, gently folding Twilight’s tender wing back up. “See for yourself.”

Twilight craned her neck to see what Fluttershy was talking about; surrounding the joint where her wing connected to her body was the glow of a strange sort of magic that she had never seen before. It was pink, like her normal magic, but more viscous, flowing out from her barrel, flowing over the surface of the joint that she’d just pulled and then back below the surface as it traveled down her wing to the tips of her feathers. The shape of it was cohesive, almost solid in a way that magic wasn’t. It was almost as if there was another her made of magic standing in the same place that she was, with only that part being slightly off or swollen.

Internally, Twilight guessed that maybe Spike’s description might have been more on the nose than she’d thought, but she wasn’t going to admit it out loud.

Gently, Twilight flexed her wing ever so slightly, just to watch the phantom image of her joint flex with it.

Weird… and not really helping the reality of the situation to sink in. It made her want to blink and squint to get it in focus, or maybe clean her glasses.

She didn’t wear glasses.

She did wear safety goggles on occasion, though. Proper PPE was important.

Where was she, again? Oh, right.

“I don’t suppose that the princess said anything about the whole…” Twilight glanced back at her wings, not sure how to describe that moment of terror when she’d leapt into the air and dropped like a sack full of hardcovers.

Spike and Fluttershy both shook their heads, though the latter did have one anecdote of her own to add.

“Not all pegasi are the strongest of fliers. I know I’m not. It’s rare, but it can happen that a pegasus is born without even the ability to get off the ground. I don’t know how being an alicorn is supposed to change things, but everything has to come from somewhere; it’s possible that if you’d been born a pegasus, you’d have been one of those ponies, and now that you’re an alicorn, one third of you is that pegasus.”

“That… makes far too much sense,” Twilight admitted.

“Or,” Spike added, lowering his voice for effect. “A demon from tartarus has stolen your alicorn powers and you’ll need the power of all the Elements of Harmony—plus the timely help of one arc-specific friend—to stop him and reclaim them just in time to prevent the secret of your powerlessness from getting out!!”

“Spike,” Twilight said with a sigh. “Thousands of ponies saw me jump off that balcony. I’m sure all of Equestria knows about it by now.”

“Oh, right,” Spike said. “It’s probably the other thing, then.”

Chapter 8

Dinner with the duke of Maretonia was… well, it was dinner. Twilight wasn’t exactly unfamiliar with sitting next to Princess Celestia at official dinners; the only difference now was that she had a crown on her head. It wasn’t her real crown, nor was it her element; technically, it was a forgery whipped up in a hurry by the Crystal Castle’s resident smith who Twilight could only guess didn’t actually do all that much smithing considering how even the fixtures and fittings of the castle were made of crystal.

…Actually, did it count as a forgery if it was officially commissioned? Twilight supposed not, so it was probably the other way around, then—technically not a forgery. Regardless of the vague legal limbo that it existed in, the commissioned counterfeit copy crown wasn't perfect; there was still a spot of forge scale on the inside that was scratching her ear and frankly, Sunset Shimmer's blatant forgery of the Element of Magic was superior in every way.

…

Twilight would have chastised herself for getting distracted thinking about her crown if there had been anything at all that she should be doing instead, but Princess Celestia was talking to the duke about Equestrian history, telling stories and anecdotes that Twilight could recite word for word by now and she just… couldn’t seem to escape feeling like a foal sitting at her mentor’s side rather than the princess that she supposedly was.

A princess with a counterfeit crown.

Yeah, that wasn’t actually helping.

With a sigh, she turned her attention instead to the conversation that Rainbow Dash was having with one of the duke’s guards several seats down the table. Of course, she’d heard that story a few times too, but at least in Rainbow Dash’s case, the laughs she got weren’t merely polite.

In the end, though, even as Rainbow Dash was explaining the quarray eels of Ghastly Gorge, Twilight’s mind drifted back to Sunset Shimmer as it often had in the past few days when she had a moment to spare.

The problem was, the only interaction that she’d had with Sunset Shimmer had been a chase through the castle followed by a short standoff, so rather than the haughty and disagreeable pony that Cadance and Princess Celestia had described, all she could actually picture was a twitchy mare who had yelled ‘Crown!’ and run the other way.

That seemed like something she would do. Well—not in a situation like that, when things were on the line, but maybe if a conversation was getting awkward?

The point was, she could empathize, which only made her more concerned about the other half of her alicornification just sitting there in a forest, because she knew how she would react if she were in a similar situation.

She was in a similar situation.

It hadn’t escaped Twilight’s notice that nopony had yet broached the subject of whether or not the thing that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had insisted that Sunset Shimmer couldn’t do would be possible for Twilight to do, and going quietly back to her mentor after accepting failure was not something she could ever see herself doing quietly.

There was a reason that her mind always used to go straight for exile when she was freaking out about getting in trouble with the princess, and looking back, there was no reason to expect the princess’ previous student to be any different and every reason to see some similarity.

Sunset Shimmer had quit her position by running off to another dimension, after all.

There was a certain irony to the fact that Twilight, who felt that she could understand Sunset, wanted nothing more than to catch her and prevent her from doing anything to cause trouble, while Princess Celestia just wanted to talk to her in spite of a seeming acceptance that her previous student had grown into… not quite an upstanding member of society, but one who would rather everypony else be on their knees instead.

Oh, hey, Rainbow Dash was telling the story about the time that Cerberus had ended up in Ponyville and most of the table was listening to her now. That was good. She was proud of that one.

Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash didn’t stop there.

“Did you really declare that you were going to stop time, Princess Twilight?” the duke asked.

Damn it, Rainbow Dash.

***

“I'm glad that's over,” Twilight said, collapsing onto a couch back at her suite after seeing the duke off the next day—though that wasn’t quite accurate as he and his entourage wouldn’t be allowed to actually leave the city for due to the travel restrictions that the city was under.

Awkward.

Regardless, the duke’s business had been short, mostly to arrange the details of his wedding, which he had for some reason decided the Crystal Empire would be an excellent locale for. Well, Twilight supposed that the ‘empire’ was rather picturesque all year around.

“Speak for yourself, my dear,” Rarity said, fanning herself as she stood by the door. “It isn't every day that you get to meet royalty from the entire other side of the world. Why, so many ponies completely forget that Equestria isn't the only civilized nation of ponies we have.”

“Sure, but you got to trade fashion ideas with the duchess-to-be,” Twilight reminded her. “I got to have all my most embarrassing stories narrated to everyone present by little miss tactful over there.”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash objected. “What was I supposed to do? After the first one, they kept asking me for more!”

“I'm afraid that that's just part of being a princess, Twilight,” Cadance said, following Rarity in.

“Oh, hi, Cadance, I didn't see you there,” Twilight said, perking up. “Did you need something.”

Cadance giggled from behind a warm smile. “Nothing like that, Twilight. I just thought that it would be a shame if you were here for an entire week and we never got to spend any time together outside of business.”

“Oh, well, sure!” Twilight exclaimed, jumping up to her hooves. “You know, I've been the princess' student for most of my life and I never really appreciated how tiring it actually is. You have no idea how glad I am to be going back to Ponyville where all I'm in charge of is a library.”

Rarity cleared her throat meaningfully and gave Twilight a certain look.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I know, I know. I'm going to have to do something to present myself as a princess, but having a day palace is still not the same as running an entire nation.”

“It really isn't this bad normally,” Cadance insisted. “The whole point of this summit is so that we can get as much as possible done in the short amount of time that all four of us are here together.”

“Will it be a short time, though?” Twilight asked, glancing uncertainly around at her friends. “From what I've heard, there still hasn't been any sign of Sunset Shimmer and the summit is almost over. Pretty soon, our only choice will be to either keep looking for her or let Princess Celestia and Princess Luna return to Canterlot so they can get back to running Equestria.”

Cadance sighed and walked into the room so she could close the door and take a seat. “You don't have to worry about that,” she said. “Auntie Celestia may be a little more focused than seems reasonable on the idea of having her tearful reunion with Sunset Shimmer where everything is forgiven, but I think you know as well as I do that when it comes down to it, she will go back to Canterlot regardless of her feelings.”

“And what do you think?” Twilight asked, curious. “You knew Sunset Shimmer too. You were also, uhh, not very complimentary about her when she came up.”

Cadance looked momentarily embarrassed, but she resisted blushing admirably. “I'd like to say that the relationship that we had was complicated, but it really wasn't. I came in and had everything that she ever wanted and I was insufferably cheery about it to boot. In return, she didn't take it at all gracefully and was kind of a bitch to everypony.”

“So, what do you think would happen if we were actually able to track her down?” Twilight asked.

Cadance grimaced slightly. “Now, that actually is complicated.”

“Well, she'll at least be on the hook for stealing food right?” Applejack said. “I mean, we haven't caught her at it or anything, but she's gotta to be doing it.”

“It would be hard to prove,” Twilight said, crossing her forelegs in thought. “She wouldn't be obligated to tell us what or if she's eating, and technically a pony can survive three weeks without food, but she would certainly be feeling it by now if she wasn't eating at all.”

“It's more complicated than that, even,” Cadance said. “Considering the history of the Crystal Empire and how the Crystal Heart works, we don't actually have courts or jails as Equestria would recognize them. For the small amount of crime that we have, we have social programs focused on helping ponies.”

“We have those in Equestria too, don't we?” Fluttershy asked.

“We do,” Twilight said. “But they don't get used quite as much as they should. The lower courts tend to get too caught up in punishing lawbreakers when they should be doing what they can to rehabilitate ponies and reduce recidivism. That's one of the reasons that Princess Celestia tends to be so much more forgiving than seems prudent sometimes; she really is like that, but she also does what she can to balance the scales when problems actually reach her.”

“Ah understand helping ponies, but having no jails at all is a mighty strange way to run an empire,” Applejack remarked.

“I'm well aware that we’ll be forced to consider other options eventually,” Cadance said. “But I can't just introduce those sorts of things to a traumatized population coming out of slavery without consideration. It's possible that the way we deal with Sunset Shimmer will set a precedent for how we deal with more serious situations going forward.”

“If we catch her,” Rainbow Dash said.

“And if we can actually pin anything on her,” Applejack added.

Cadance nodded at both of these caveats. “That is a concern, yes, but for what I had in mind, stealing the Element of Magic should suffice.”

“What’s that?” Twilight asked. “I'm not sure that princess Celestia will actually support anything being done about that.”

“I don't think she'll mind,” Cadance said with a hint of a smile. “You see, what I was considering doing was remanding her into the custody of Equestria.”

“That’s… no, I don't think she'll mind at all, Twilight mused. “Assuming that Equestria can hold on to her.”

Cadance shrugged rather helplessly. “There's not much that we can do about that. We aren't in any better situation there, after all.”

“That's all well and good for Sunset Shimmer, but how does that work going forward?” Applejack asked. “Ah mean, you can't just dump all your criminals onto Equestria and expect ponies to just go along with it.”

“Well, aside from the fact that many of those criminals will probably be from other countries to begin with, I was thinking that in exchange we can take some of the ponies who aren’t getting the softer hoof they need,” Cadance explained. “Rehabilitation appears more expensive in the short term, so I don't doubt that the idea will garner a lot of support.”

“Yes, that does sound like quite the nice little system. You will, however, have to make some attempt to ensure that you won't simply be getting the ponies the system was going to take care of properly any—”

“Enough of that,” Rainbow Dash shouted, catapulting herself up into the air. “The princess didn't come here to talk about prisons and social reform programs!”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Social reform is actually—”

“I don’t care!” Rainbow Dash interrupted. Come on—we’ve got a few hours before anybody has to be anywhere, let’s go do something! Princess, what do you have around here to do for fun?”

“Well, there is a new paint balloon center that somepony from Fillydelphia just opened where the old Crystal K used to be…”

***

“Ugh,” groaned a slightly more rainbow than usual Rainbow Dash, trotting along behind the group. “Whose idea was it for us to go up against a squad of trained guards, again?” she asked the group as a whole. “I feel like I'm more paint than pony at this point.”

“That would be me,” said an unapologetically grinning Cadance who was walking along happily next to her husband, her coat almost completely clear of paint.

“Never again!” cried a distraught Rarity, a single spot of green paint on her hoof. Everybody else had a generous smattering of colors and smiles on their faces.

“Aw, come on, Rarity! That was fun!” Pinkie pie said, bouncing along leaving little spots of paint along in her wake.

“You do realize that the whole point was to not get covered in paint, right?” Rainbow Dash asked Pinkie Pie, who was the only one who had fared worse than her.

“Ah could ask you the same thing, sugarcube,” snarked a moderately mottled Applejack.

Hey!” Rainbow Dash objected. “It's not my fault that I’m so awesome that everybody went after me!”

“Naw, but it is your fault that you wouldn't know what cover was if it snuck up on you and bit you on the backside,” Applejack ribbed with a good-natured chuckle.

“I still say they shouldn't have been able to hit me like that,” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “Do you have any idea how fast I was going?”

“Are you gonna tell her?” Twilight asked her brother with a bit of a smirk.

“Tell me?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Tell me what?”

Shining Armor chuckled and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter how good or fast you are if your opponent knows where you’re going to be. You flew straight into some of those balloons, you know.”

“I told you not to just go straight for their flag,” Fluttershy quietly chided with a sigh.

“What?” Rainbow Dash said, turning to her oldest friend, shocked. “No you didn’t!”

“Well—um—you were usually on the other side of the field covered in paint by the second word…” Fluttershy admitted.

Twilight, though, was thinking. “Where she’s going to be, huh…”