Chapter 1: Sparkle's Disappearance
“One hundred moons ago...”
A fiery orange phoenix feather dipped itself in an inkwell, the end dripping with the dark ink as it levitated to a page with cursive writing on it.
“Why won’t you tell me? I’ve already met her. Do you not trust me?...”
The feather shifted a bit too far on the paper and the tail of a letter was dragged out across a line.
“Stop thinking about it. I need to stop thinking about it and get these dates right or I’ll never get to the bottom of this.”
The line was crossed out as the feather was dipped again into the inkwell and placed onto the page. The pace of the feather quickened as it zoomed across the page, drawing out the words quickly before another interruption happened once again.
“I do trust you, Sunset. I wouldn’t have entrusted you with the role of princess if I didn’t trust you. However, this is something that I can’t tell you right now. I may in due time but not right now.”
“I already know that she went to your school alongside me. You can’t cover this up forever.”
The feather fell as tiny droplets of ink splattered across the piece of paper. Sunset let out a sigh as she rubbed her temples with her hooves. She wasn’t going to get any work done at this rate. Not with her mind replaying the same conversation over and over again.
She stood up from the small desk in the corner of her room and quietly tucked the chair in, careful not to make too much noise. It was rather late at night and Princess Luna had already raised the moon hours ago. She wasn’t planning on dealing with a sleep desperate dragon when she already was suffering with the inability to think straight.
She quietly made her way to the balcony of the tree library and leaned herself against the railing, inhaling the fresh night air. The scent was a mix of grass and flowers along with a little hint of rain. The smell somewhat comforted Sunset as she stared up at the stars above, basking in the moonlight.
“I wonder if Twilight is able to see stars wherever she is too..” She mumbled to herself.
It was quite a simple thought but one that led to many questions Sunset didn’t have the answers to. If Twilight had simply disappeared through a portal, it was possible there was another world on the other side. But what was within that world? Did they have the same time as Equestria? Maybe that portal was just a teleportation device to another place within Equestria. But why would Celestia not let her investigate further then?
On the night of Twilight’s appearance after many years, Sunset had been able to stop the former student and help her reconsider her actions of taking her revenge on Princess Celestia. It was clear that she was very hurt and angry with her but Sunset wasn’t really able to see clearly why. Her gift had only allowed her to see bits and pieces of the past but it wasn’t enough to conjure up a clear answer.
She didn’t have enough time to do so either since Twilight had fled when Princess Celestia got close to them and she was forced to chase the unicorn until she escaped through a magical portal. Sunset would have jumped in too before Princess Celestia stopped her and told her otherwise. But did Sunset know why? Not exactly.
Celestia kept telling her the same thing, “You’re not ready.”, “This is my responsibility to take care of.”, “It is best if you focus on your own duties as a princess right now than this situation.” But Sunset refused to.
Before leaving the Crystal Empire, Sunset was able to get a record on all of the recorded students from the past that had attended Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns and oddly enough more information from Twilight’s sister in law, Princess Cadance.
Recalling the conversation in her head, Sunset felt rather bad for Twilight’s family as she remembered the look on the princess’s face when she asked about the missing unicorn.
“Before I go, I’ve been meaning to ask you a question,” Sunset said, trotting alongside the Crystal Empire’s ruler as they made their way to the train station. “If that’s alright with you.”
Sunset nervously held a book she had rented from the Crystal Empire’s library underneath her wing, away from Princess Cadance’s view in case she perhaps saw the title and asked questions.
“Of course, I don’t mind at all. With everything you and your friends have done for me and Shining, I would be more than happy to. What are you curious about?” Princess Cadance asked as she smiled warmly at Sunset.
That smile however would soon vanish upon the next thing Sunset would ask.
“Do you know of a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle?”
The princess suddenly stopped in her tracks as her eyes widened. Sunset wasn’t expecting her suspicions to be correct in thinking that the wife of the Captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot would have anything to do with Twilight. She had heard things about Shining Armor being in contact with Princess Celestia on a regular basis so she wondered if perhaps his wife had known anything about her. It seemed she was right as Cadance had gone silent, a tense feeling filling the hall.
Sunset suddenly felt guilty for asking, seeing as Cadance seemed to have a bit of a past with her from her body language.
“You know what, never mind. It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. It was kind of insensitive of me to jus-”
“No, no, it’s quite alright. I’m just a little surprised to hear that name again..”
A silence fell over the two of them as Sunset looked out a nearby window. All her friends were waiting outside at the train station, talking amongst each other it seemed. The train hadn’t arrived yet so it seemed she had some time to spare.
“Are you willing to tell me a bit about her?” Sunset asked. “I have time before me and my friends leave back to Ponyville.”
“Well, I suppose I could. I’d like to know how you know her name as well.”
Princess Cadance and Sunset chose to sit in an empty room near a window so Sunset could see if the train arrived during their conversation.
Sunset explained the night before her Princess Summit to Princess Cadance and how she knew very little about the unicorn yet she could sense there was something rather troubling about her and from the memories she witnessed. Cadance seemed almost a little hurt that Celestia hadn’t told her what happened and that she was learning all these things now. However, despite it all, Cadance decided to explain her perspective of the unicorn.
“When Twilight was young, I was her foalsitter. She was the reason I found Shining Armor and why we’re together now.”
“She helped set you and him up?” Sunset asked, rather confused.
“Sort of in a way. Shining Armor is her older brother and since they lived in the same home, every time I came over to foalsit her, I got to spend time with him too. Once she understood what was going on between us, she tried all sorts of things to get us together. I guess her plans really did work out in the end.” Cadance smiled sadly.
“What was she like as a filly?”
“She was very bright and always willing to learn new things. She unfortunately didn’t have too many friends so it was mostly me that she hung out with. When we weren’t playing games or messing around, she was usually telling me about how she wanted to meet Princess Celestia and be really good at magic. And then of course she got into her school from all her hard work and things went on from there.”
“Did you know she disappeared before this?” Sunset rubbed her chin, thinking.
“I wasn’t in the loop with the Sparkle family for a while after Twilight was old enough to be without a foalsitter, but Shining had always seemed very bothered by something and never really had the courage to open up about it. Before we were married, I learned more about the situation after Shining broke down about her not being there. it deeply saddens me that she’d just run away. Her parents nor her brother have no idea why she’d do such a thing. All I know is that they’re very upset and they want her to come home, they have for years now.”
“Hm, well, I suppose this does answer a few things I’ve been wanting to know.”
The chuffing of a train rolling into the station outside was heard as Sunset looked out the window, seeing her friends and other ponies beginning to board the train back to Ponyville. Sunset frantically stood up, tucking in her chair.
“I’m sorry, I have to go. Thank you for talking to me though!”
Before Sunset could leave though, she felt Cadance’s hoof touch her shoulder and stop her. Sunset turned around to look and saw that the princess’s eyes were a little teary.
“Wait, before you go. If you ever do happen to see Twilight again, tell her that she’ll always have a place here and that her family misses her. We just want her to be okay.”
“I will, I promise.”
Sunset opened her eyes again as she looked back into the dark room of her bedroom. Her eyes fell onto the book of records on her desk and the messy writing where she had attempted to record the times of when students joined and graduated Celestia’s school.
Sunset let out a sigh. “I don’t think I’m going to get anything done tonight. It’s probably best if I just head to bed.”
Sunset quietly trotted back inside and slipped back into her bed, covering herself in her blanket and burying her face into her pillow. It seemed the exhaustion from working so hard all night had got to her and she drifted into a deep sleep.
Sunset awoke to the sun shining in her eyes and the sound of glass smashing as she slowly sat up in bed, rubbing at her eyes. The mare could barely see anything considering her messy red and yellow mane was in her view but she could see everything in front of her beginning to become more clear as she looked through the strands of her mane.
“Spikeee, did you break something?..” Sunset asked groggily.
“I-...Uh...No?” Spike replied sheepishly.
She pushed her mane out of her eyes and looked over to her right, seeing Spike hastily trying to clean up a mess of ink that was dripping off the desk and to the floor. She could see her inkwell had been overturned somehow, most likely by Spike bumping her desk, and it had spilled all over the place. She was a little peeved that her ink had been wasted but something suddenly concerned her more than that as she hopped out of bed.
“Wait, did you spill it on my records?!”
“Your what?”
Sunset’s horn glowed a turquoise color as she quickly pulled a slip of paper off her desk and away from the mess of ink. However, it seemed she was too late as a large puddle of dark ink had gathered right on where her writing had been. She could barely even make it out anymore as she folded her ears.
“What’s that? Was that something important?” Spike pointed to the paper Sunset was levitating. “I couldn’t even make it out so I figured it was just some draft or something.”
“Yeah, it was important.” Sunset replied bitterly, crumpling up the piece of paper. “Now it’s not.”
She tossed it in the nearest trash can and trotted downstairs, leaving Spike with the mess he had created. She heard him call out to him but she was too angry with the whole situation right now to talk calmly to him. It wasn’t even just him that she was angry at, however. Princess Celestia refusing to tell Sunset more and hide it from her was the biggest issue right now. Now that Spike had ruined her notes that she was going to use to further help her investigate, it felt like she was at stage one all over again.
She suddenly noticed that she was trotting down the busy square of Ponyville and that she was no longer in her home. She must have gotten carried away with her thoughts to notice her surroundings and where she was going. However, she was quickly grounded from her thoughts when she noticed a little filly leave from her mother’s side when seeing her trot past and galloped up to the princess excitedly.
“Princess Sunset Shimmer, is that really you?” The little one gasped.
“O-Oh! Yes, I suppose I am.”
Sunset mentally punched herself in the gut for responding so awkwardly like that. She wasn’t used to being a celebrity and sometimes even forgot she was a princess, quite like now. It was strange being approached for such a reason. Of course, nothing felt worse than forgetting your own royal title.
“That’s so cool! Can you sign my head?” The filly pointed to her forehead, a big smile on her face.
“Uhh...Are you sure about that? I don’t think your mother would be very happy with a bunch of words plastered across your face like that.”
As Sunset said that, she leaned over to her right to see the mother of the filly taking pictures of them both with a hoof held camera. Sunset rubbed her eyes, nearly blinded by the flashes from her camera as it seemed the mother was a little too happy to see her daughter with the Princess of Friendship.
“Naw, mama doesn’t care. Can you sign it, pretty please?”
Sunset looked down and saw the filly looking up at her with puppy eyes. Sunset had once thought she was able to resist this tortuous look but it seemed it wasn’t so as she sighed, giving into the filly’s request.
“Fine, but you’re going to have to find a pen or something. I don’t have one on me.” Sunset replied regrettably.
“Hold on a sec, I’ve got one!”
The filly began to dig around through her fluffy mane as Sunset simply just raised her eyebrow. This young one had seemed to have mastered the talent of using one’s mane as a portable inventory as she immediately pulled out a little purple pen from her mane. It reminded Sunset of how Pinkie sometimes stashed party canons in her mane or her other party supplies in her tail. Sunset still couldn’t figure out how it was logically possible but there was no point in wasting her energy on trying to find out. Thinking about it too hard could drive somepony mad.
“Okay, I got it! Now you just need to- AAHHHH!”
The filly screamed and dropped the pen onto the ground as she ran and hid behind her mother. She was clearly shaken as she clung to her hooves, her eyes the size of pinpricks as she stared upwards. The reaction almost seemed contagious as the mother gasped and picked up her filly, galloping the other way through Ponyville.
“Wait, where are you going?” Sunset called out, rather confused. “I thought you wanted me to sign your forehead!”
But it was no use, they definitely couldn’t have heard her from that distance. Sunset sighed and turned around to go the other way when she suddenly bumped into something large and brown. She rubbed her head and looked up as she too almost developed the same expression as the mother and the filly did upon seeing what was behind her.
“Discord?!”
“Well, that’s rather unfair isn’t it.” Discord said, crossing his arms.
“Hold on, what are you doing here. You’re not here to cause trouble again, are you?” Sunset asked, a bit disoriented.
“I’m just standing here and all you ponies think I’m here to cause some kind of mayhem. I can’t even look at somepony without them running away. It's very bad manners.” Discord began to levitate in the air. “Since you’re a princess now, you should issue a law where it’s rude to run away from someone and scream. Perhaps it’d solve my little issue.”
“To be fair, it wasn’t long ago you turned Ponyville upside down, quite literally. I don’t blame them for being suspicious of you because I am too.” Sunset narrowed her eyes.
“But I’m reformed now! Surely I wouldn’t do such a thing again.” Discord smiled smugly.
“Yeah, I don’t believe that.”
Sunset began to walk away. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with Discord’s games and pranks at the moment. She already had a lot on her mind and she didn’t exactly need anymore problems. However, it seemed Discord was like a fly that wouldn’t go away as he teleported in front of her, stopping her in her tracks.
“It’s rude to walk away from someone mid conversation you know. I was really entertaining the thought of speaking with the new Princess of Friendship. That’s what you are now, right? If so, shouldn’t the Princess of Friendship make time to speak with the Lord of Chaos? He’s her friend sooo...”
“That’s not really how it works and I’m honestly not sure if you’re my friend. You haven’t really shown it very well.”
“What must I do then, Sunny? Perhaps a box of chocolates?” He suddenly had a heart shaped box of chocolates in his paw and claw. “Or perhaps a bouquet of flowers?” He held a bouquet of roses with his tail. “Or maybe even-”
“Discord.” Sunset said sternly.
Discord stopped as the princess stared him in the eyes seriously. As she did so, the flowers in his tail suddenly shriveled up and died as its dead petals fell to the ground and all the chocolates in the heart shaped box melted and leaked onto the ground.
“Look, friendship isn’t about giving your friends gifts to earn their respect and trust. It’s about selflessly caring for them and making memories with them. You don’t need to shower them with gifts to let them know that you care about them. But as for me and you, I’m not so sure I’m ready to forgive you just yet. I know Fluttershy already has but I need some time. Do you understand?”
Discord dropped the empty box and packaging for the bouquet as he pouted, looking the other way. “Fine, if that’s how you feel.”
Sunset shook her head sighing as she attempted to leave the draconequus behind again. She honestly couldn’t tell if he was just faking being upset or if he actually was. Discord was a jokester and quite the actor. It wasn’t worth entertaining something if it was just a joke.
“So I heard you and Princess Celestia got in a little scuffle. What was it about? I’d love to hear all about it.”
Sunset screamed as Discord was now riding on top of her head, nestled into her mane near her ear. He was about the size of a small bug as it seemed he had somehow shrunk himself with his chaos magic and he was already bothering her about something else.
“Do you really have to do that?” Sunset asked in annoyance.
“Well I always do enjoy some good tea from the higher ups. It’s always so interesting.” Discord sipped a small cup of tea.
Sunset sighed. “Well for your information, we didn’t really fight. I just didn’t get what I was looking for in what she was saying.”
“And what were you looking for?”
“I wanted to know more about an old student she had in the past. She disappeared suddenly one day and came back in the middle of the night to do something to Princess Celestia but she failed to carry out her plan when I stopped her. And then she ran away when Celestia showed up through some strange mirror. Princess Celestia told me to not get myself involved with the issue and that I wasn’t ready but I think she’s just scared about something that she doesn’t want me to know.”
“Ah, ol’ Cay-Cay is hiding her mess ups again, ay? She’s always done that. She’s too proud to face the truth.”
“Cay-Cay?”
“Just an old nickname I gave her years ago. You wouldn’t know the amount of things she hides from ponies to keep her ‘perfect reputation’ in check.”
Sunset suddenly stopped and looked over at Discord. “She hides things? Things that could ruin the way others see her?”
“Precisely. She’ll never tell you what happened with that old student of hers because she’s too afraid you’ll know what she’s done.”
“I’ve seen bits and pieces of it but they weren’t really bad..”
“Perhaps there’s a bigger piece to it that would change your entire outlook of that prissy little princess.” Discord grinned mischievously.
Sunset thought to herself. She couldn’t believe that she was questioning her own mentor over ideas Discord was putting into her head. This all couldn’t be true, could it? Discord had lived for thousands of years, way more than an average pony so he had the luxury to see Celestia’s actions over the years. Did he know more than her because of this? He could easily twist all this information because he knew nopony else but the princesses and him would know the truth. But was it worth not taking it into consideration and passing up something important? She didn’t really know.
“And since she’ll never tell you that, I may have a plan that I can propose.”
“A plan? And why should I trust you? You’ve led me and my friends astray before and turned them to the opposite versions of themselves. How am I supposed to even believe anything you’re saying right now? You’re the least trustworthy creature out there!”
“I may have had a little too much fun in the past but I can assure you, I’m a changed draconequus.” Discord bowed as a tiny halo appeared over his head. “Besides, it’s not only you who will be gaining from this plan. I will as well.”
“Alright, what exactly would you be gaining?”
“Well, the plan entails me helping you get through the mirror without anyone seeing. Of course, by helping you, I will come along. I’ve always wanted to explore the other dimension on the other side and now would be the perfect chance for me to meet its inhabitants.”
“Hold on, sneak in and just go through the mirror? I could get in huge trouble for that!”
“Not if no one sees.”
“But what if somepony does see? I’m a princess, you know. I can’t just risk everything for this. Princess Celestia would be so disappointed in me and I’m sure my friends would notice I was gone and-”
Discord suddenly placed a finger to Sunset’s mouth as he was now oddly enough his normal size again. He quietly shushed her as she looked up at him annoyed.
“If you knew anything about me, I’m a rather powerful Spirit of Chaos. I can take care of all that quite easily. All you need is a compelling story to sell them for a while. They won’t question a thing then.”
Sunset tapped her hoof to her chin thinking before she looked up at Discord again.
“Have you made up your mind yet, princess?” Discord asked, his same smug smile playing on his lips.
“I guess I have. But don’t make me regret this or I swear I’ll turn you to stone again. Also, don’t call me princess.”
“Oh, you ponies are no fun.” Discord chuckled.
Author's Note
Yup, I decided that Discord will be Sunset's travel companion instead of Spike. Totally not because of biased reasons but because I think since both Twilight and Sunset are two different ponies, they deserve different travel companions as well. Unfortunately Sunset's more loud and annoying. It seems she'll just have to deal with that though. 
I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter! It'll get more interesting in the next few, I promise! It's a pleasure to work on this and improve the story. ^^
Chapter 2: Through the Mirror
Sunset levitated a brown book into a stuffed saddle bag on her bed as she pulled it tightly shut. She threw the bag onto her back and faced her five friends who were all gathered in her bedroom with a smile.
“I think I have everything I’ll need. I wouldn’t want to over pack after all.”
“Wait, you’re forgetting something!”
The other girls watched as Rarity rummaged through a pile of books and tossed scrolls that Sunset had scribbled research on. Normally she would have been furious by such an act but considering the alicorn had been unsuccessful in finding out information on her own about the pony she was hunting down, she wasn’t exactly fazed seeing her sleepless nights of research get thrown around. She already knew that she was about to know a lot more by going to this strange new world. There was no point in worrying about a few useless scrolls.
Finally, Rarity pulled out a gold crown with a red and yellow sun in the middle. Sunset immediately frowned when she saw the item. Rarity carefully positioned the crown on her head and stepped back, a look of approval on her face.
“Perfect, now you’re ready.”
“Rarity, I don’t think I’ll need my element. Canterlot isn’t in any sort of danger right now and besides, I can’t use it without all of your elements.” Sunset said, taking off the element crown.
“Oh, no, no, darling. I meant that you should wear it during your time in Canterlot. You are a princess after all and all princesses wear crowns.”
“But I’m only going to see Princess Celestia. I really don’t think she cares whether I’m wearing a crown or not.”
However, this wasn’t exactly the case. Sunset was blatantly lying to all her friends about going to Canterlot. She was definitely leaving Ponyville and would be gone for a few days but it wasn’t to go and see Princess Celestia.
She and Discord had made plans to head to the Crystal Empire together secretly and somehow infiltrate the palace and into the mirror room. How? She wasn’t exactly sure yet but it sounded like Discord had a pretty good idea. After all, it was his plan and she didn’t have anything better. She would have to trust him.
Although, she felt rather guilty lying to her friends like this. She wouldn’t on any normal occasion but if they had found out what she was planning to do, they would never agree and possibly hold her back on it. It didn’t make it any better that she was working with Discord and the only pony who would be remotely fine with this was Fluttershy.
“Well you should at least treat yourself and have fun while you’re there!” Pinkie said excitedly. “Think about all the cake you can order with the simple flick of your hoof. Mhmmm...Frosting…”
The pink pony began to drool as her eyes glazed over, deep in thought about mountains of sugary frosting and other delectable desserts. Applejack waved a hoof in front of Pinkie’s face to check if she was consciously there but she made no reaction to it. Applejack rolled her eyes.
“Ah’ really don’t think that’s how it works.” Applejack cleared her throat. “You just focus on doin’ what ya’ need to do with the Princess and ah’m sure things will go smoothly.”
“Speaking of, what did Princess Celestia need you for anyways?” Rainbow asked.
“O-Oh! It’s all just really boring paperwork that I need to fill out and then some tips on being a princess and whatever else. Nothing that’s worth talking about.” Sunset lied, sheepishly smiling.
“You have to do all that for three days straight?” Fluttershy looked at Sunset with concern.
“Yeah, it’s a lot. But if I get it all done now then I won’t have to worry about it in the future! I’m sure it’ll be a piece of cake.”
“Cake?!” Pinkie shouted, suddenly waking up from her frosting daydream.
“You’ll definitely need a spa day after all that. I’ll make sure to book us one right away so that when you come back you’ll get a nice neck and back massage. All that hunching over definitely won’t do you any good.” Rarity replied, quickly writing down to schedule a spa session three days later on a small notebook.
Spike suddenly came thumping up the stairs as the small purple dragon carried a bag on his back. He looked ready for adventure as he smirked up at Sunset.
“I’m ready to go!”
“Oh, I’m sorry Spike but you can’t come.” Sunset said regrettably.
“What?” The bag suddenly fell off his back. “Why not? You always take me to see Princess Celestia with you. I’m your number one assistant!”
“She said that it would be best if I came alone this time. It's more confidential.”
“Best if you came alone, huh? You sure this is Princess Celestia we’re talking about or another changeling incident?” Rainbow replied suspiciously. “It’s not like her to refuse you from taking Spike with you.”
Sunset bit her lip anxiously, quickly trying to think of a solution. It definitely wasn’t like Celestia at all to refuse her from taking Spike. She knew how close they both were and that wherever Sunset went, Spike went. And truthfully, she would have loved to take Spike with her but she felt he would possibly get in the way and make things harder. She already had to deal with Discord and the Lord of Chaos was enough distractions for a lifetime.
“No, no, we already dispelled the threat from Canterlot a long time ago, remember? Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor blasted Queen Chrysalis and the other changelings away with their love. If there was any changeling still hiding among Canterlot and impersonating ponies, then they would have to be ten times stronger than Queen Chrysalis and she’s the one leading the changelings.”
“What if there is a changeling ten times stronger than Chrysalis?”
“Highly unlikely, Dash.”
While Rainbow continued to be fixated on the idea of a stronger changeling, Sunset made her way downstairs along with the rest of her friends. Sunset stood at the door, preparing to leave after her goodbyes as she turned around to her friends.
She saw Spike standing among them with a sad look on his face as he fiddled with his claws. Sunset felt a twinge of guilt within her and smiled at him, opening her arms wide.
“Come here…”
Spike smiled and ran into her arms as the two hugged for a moment. She heard Spike sniffle and she had to mentally prevent herself from getting a little choked up herself. It wasn’t common for her to not take her best buddy with her so this was a bit hard for the both of them.
“Can you bring back a cool souvenir for me?...” Spike whispered.
“A souvenir? But we used to live in Canterlot.”
“I know but...It’ll make me feel better.”
“Well, alright, if it makes you feel better. Don’t get too excited for something cool though because I doubt I’ll find anything interesting.”
The two released each other as Spike wiped a stray tear from his eye before joining the rest of her friends with a confident expression.
“Well, this is it. See you all in three days I guess.” Sunset said, a little less confident now.
"Bye darling! Remember to wear your crown when you get the chance!” Rarity said.
“If you see a changeling, beat em’ up!” Rainbow made a punching motion in the air.
“Take care of yourself.” Fluttershy said softly.
“Eat lots and lots of royal cake!” Pinkie shouted.
“Please don’t do what Pinkie said and just enjoy yourself!” Applejack called.
“And don’t forget my souvenir!” Spike reminded.
The calls of her friends goodbyes followed her all the way to the train station as guilt and regret started to wash over her even more. She was a liar that had her friends believing she was going somewhere else and they would never know. Well, they won’t know until she’s already done it.
“Ticket please!”
“Oh, right!”
Sunset opened her saddle bag and moved around her belongings, searching for her train ticket. In the corner of her eye, she noticed a line of ponies waiting behind her for the chance to board the train and she quickened her searching pace.
“Hold on, is that Princess Sunset Shimmer?”
Immediate fear struck Sunset’s face as a pony from the line stared curiously at her. Their eyes lit up when they recognized her as the newly appointed Princess of Friendship and Sunset felt sudden dread.
“Why are you asking the princess for a ticket? She should be able to ride for free!” The pony shouted angrily.
“It's the policy of the train. Every passenger must have a ticket to ride.” The conductor in front of her replied.
“But she’s a princess!” Another pony hollered.
An argument between the conductor and a large majority of the ponies in line broke out and Sunset backed away. While Sunset would join a confrontation if someone dear to her was being unrightly hurt or accused, she wasn’t exactly one to join the fray if there was no purpose in her doing so. She would only escalate the situation and not set a good example as a princess.
She simply stood near a bush, watching the ponies argue over something so small and useless to Sunset.
“Psstt.”
Her ears twitched at the sudden noise and she looked back and forth. There appeared to be nopony around her so she assumed she was just hearing things.
“Pssstt!”
“What? Is there somepony there? I can’t see you so I don’t know what you want.” Sunset said, a little irritated.
“Princess, over here!”
Sunset turned around and saw a strange brown colored bush beside the green bush she was standing in front of. It clearly hadn’t been there before and it looked so oddly out of place in the green landscape surrounding them. Perhaps it was dying?
“I’m looking but I don’t see where I’m supposed to be looking.”
“Boo!”
Sunset screamed as two red and yellow eyes popped up from the brown bush. Laughter erupted from the bush and it slowly morphed into the large draconequus, Discord. Even when he was back to his normal, unnormal self, he was still laughing to near tears.
“Discord?!”
“You should have seen the look on your face, absolutely priceless!”
Discord cackled noisily, all the while Sunset scowled at this un-amusing behavior.
“Oh lighten up, Princess. You couldn’t have expected me to come on this trip without a few tricks up my sleeve.”
“I told you to stop calling me Princess.”
“But doesn’t it sound more regal and exquisite? It just rolls off the tongue so nicely. Princessss…”
Sunset raised an eyebrow at him as he cleared his throat.
“You’re right, maybe it isn’t the greatest but I personally liked it.” Discord snapped up a map and began to read it upside down. “So what are we doing all the way out there? This looks nothing like a shiny palace or crystal ponies. Are they really crystal as they say? I fear that would cause many unfortunate accidents per say if they fell down a flight of stairs…”
“Well I was supposed to be boarding the train to take me to the Crystal Empire but this happened.” Sunset gestured to the ponies still arguing in her honor.
“Oooohhh, so you’re a chaos maker yourself, ay?”
“No I’m not. They just started doing that because they think it’s unfair for a princess to have to pay for a ticket to ride a train. Honestly, I really don’t care and I’d rather be treated like anypony else.”
“Now where’s the fun in that? I would love to have ponies fighting to carry me around for free or doing everything for me. That’s what they were meant for after all.”
“Excuse me?”
Sunset’s eyes narrowed as Discord realized he said something rather offensive.
“Oh, sorry, I meant that they’re meant for love and compassion and all that lovey dovey stuff.”
“Nowhere in your last sentence did you ever hint on saying that.”
“I made a slip up from a prejudiced book I’ve been reading. They really hate ponies but not me of course! I was just memorizing a line.”
“Then why are you even reading a book like that? And why would you even-”
“Those are questions for another day, Princess.”
Discord grinned seeing Sunset all flustered over his little nickname once again before turning his attention back to the upside down map. He traced a finger down the streetways illustrated around the crystal palace and came up with an idea.
“Hey Sunny, I want to show you something.”
“Look, if it’s another bad joke I’m really not interested.”
Without warning, the draconequus took both of her hooves into his claws and forced her to stand on her hind legs to halfway meet his height. He smiled at her mischievously as she wore an uncomfortable look.
“What are you doing?…” Sunset asked nervously.
“As peculiar as this may look, just trust me.”
The atmosphere around them seemed to shift and distort as the voices of the angered ponies near them started to fade away. The grass beneath them seemed to take on a liquid like texture as it waved around before fully disappearing. Sunset felt like she had butterflies in her stomach as her and Discord traveled through some sort of starry wormhole, still holding onto each other. She felt herself grasping his claws even tighter in fear that she might lose her grip and get lost in the strange dimension.
To her relief, the sensation and the place dissipated as fast as it came and Sunset and Discord found themselves on solid ground again. Sunset was happy to stand back on her four hooves and took a few deep breaths to calm her anxiety.
“So did you like it? It’s a more sightful experience compared to just teleporting somewhere. You get to observe the cosmos and the very fabric of space pass by you in an instant. A wondrous memory that none will know unless they know how to utilize space travel.” Discord explained passionately, making a flicking motion with his paw.
When he received no response, he looked down and saw the alicorn still getting her bearings and rolled his eyes.
“You didn’t even pay attention did you?” Discord crossed his arms and pouted. “Well we’re here, enjoy your boring world you call reality then.”
Once Sunset was more stable on the ground, she looked up and her and her complaining companion right in front of two large pink crystals which were protruding out from the ground and forming some sort of gate. When she looked past them, she was immediately met with the stunning view of the large crystal palace, surrounded by many other crystal buildings.
Celestia’s sunlight reflected off the large structure and made the entire city appear to be glowing, including a lot of its inhabitants, the crystal ponies.
“Wow, that was a lot faster than taking the train.” Sunset said, staring at the city in awe.
“Exactly! But if you actually listened to me you would have known that already.” Discord replied bitterly.
“Well, thank you Discord.”
Sunset smiled softly at him before slowly walking through the gap between the two crystals. He seemed to pause for a moment, not expecting his efforts to be appreciated. After basking in his pride for a moment, he followed after the princess.
After a bit of walking, the two drew closer to the palace and Sunset felt herself starting to get a bit anxious as she noticed other crystal ponies around the area. It would only be a matter of time before they noticed her and swarmed her. Not only that, but she was walking with Discord, one of the more known historical figures in old Equestria who was not only responsible for the destruction of many lands but also known to play and manipulate with the innocent. Perhaps none of his tyranny had reached the Crystal Empire but he didn’t exactly have a good track record.
“I can feel your apprehension from here. If you didn’t want to do this then you could have said no. I wouldn’t be offended.” Discord said.
“No, it’s not that. I want to do this. I just don’t think we’ll be able to get to the mirror like this. I’ll draw too much attention and who knows what your presence will provoke in the ponies here.”
“Well why didn’t you say so? I have the perfect solution!”
With the simple snap of his finger, Discord disappeared from Sunset’s view and the pony looked around confused, unsure whether the draconequus just dipped on her in the middle of their plan.
“Over here!”
It sounded like he was speaking right in her ear and quite literally, he was. She looked to the side and saw a smaller version of the once tall Discord, now perched within her mane and the size of a mouse. She jumped a little but the surprise wore off as quickly as it came, realizing this was just normal Discord behavior.
“That’s kind of creepy, you know. I thought you were just going to use some kind of disguise, not invite yourself to yell in my ear whenever you want.” Sunset complained.
“I’d be grateful if I were you. You get to hear my brilliant ideas whenever and wherever! It’s not everyday a pony gets to hear the knowledge of centuries whispered into their ear.” Discord grinned smugly.
“Except you’re not whispering, you’re practically yelling.”
“If yelling helps you listen then so be it.”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “Okay, so you have yourself figured out. What about me? You said you had a solution.”
“Ah, of course!”
But it appeared he didn’t have a solution for Sunset as his mouth remained open, preparing to speak his idea but nothing came out. He stroked his goatee for a moment before he shrugged and snapped. A black cloak draped over Sunset’s head, blocking her vision of everything around her as she struggled to pull it off.
“Hey, get this off me!”
Eventually she got it off herself and repositioned it so it hung over her body, concealing her wings underneath it.
“A cloak, seriously?!”
“It works, doesn’t it? You didn’t want to be spotted so now you can just blend in with the shadows and sneak your way in with no issues!”
“Yeah but couldn’t you have thought of something better? I mean, you’re Discord. You’re the Spirit of Chaos and reality bending fanatic.”
“Yes, keep talking.” Discord leaned his head on his tiny claw.
Sunset slapped her hoof to her forehead and groaned.
“Fine, I’ll use it.” Sunset pushed the hood of the cloak over her head. “Just tell me what to do and I’ll get moving.”
“Well I think it would be in your best interest to sneak around the crowds of ponies and once you’re close enough to the empire, hide behind something. I have an idea on how to distract the bystanders and buy you some time to get in.”
“This idea better not include harming anypony.”
“Oh trust me, they’ll be alright.”
About fifteen minutes later, Sunset found herself weaving in between houses and slipping past ponies. The sun was beginning to disappear behind the crystal palace as time seemed to be running out and Sunset grew more anxious by the minute.
She had nearly knocked over Princess Cadance’s royal advisor on the street already and out of the corner of eye, she could see crystal ponies giving her strange glances. This so-called ‘disguise’ Discord had given her was only making her more suspicious and the plan harder than it should have been. His laziness was costing them this.
Sunset dived into a bush and only peeked over it enough to view what was in front of her. The center of the Crystal Empire was only a short trot away and she could see the crystal heart in the center endlessly spinning as it provided protection for the empire from the harsh snow storm outside of the city’s bounds.
“I’m pretty close to the entrance, what next?” Sunset whispered.
“Just sit back and watch as I work my magic.” Discord replied.
Sunset heard a tiny snap near her ear but nothing seemed to happen. She lifted her head even more out of the bush to look around at the small groups of ponies gathered nearby but they all seemed unaffected and continued to carry on their daily life. She opened her mouth to speak again but she quickly noticed a small stir in a group who were chatting away. It could have been pure coincidence but one of the crystal ponies amongst them seemed to wear a disturbed look on their face.
“Lucid, are you alright? You look a little pale.” One of the ponies asked their petrified friend.
“I-I heard…AAAHHH!”
Lucid galloped off screaming without another word as his friends looked at each other in uncertainty. They weren’t sure why their friend was so worked up but their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice creeping around the empire.
“My glorious slavessss…”
The voice dragged the end of his speech sinisterly and that was enough to make all the ponies gathered around the crystal heart dash off just like their friend.
“It’s King Sombra, he’s returned!”
“Please, don’t imprison us again!”
“I have a family, please!”
“What’s happening?” Sunset asked.
Eventually word spread around the empire and everypony Sunset could see was panicking and screaming to be spared from King Sombra’s wrath. Although, she couldn’t see Sombra anywhere. She and her friends had already banished him by using the love and light of the crystal ponies and the crystal heart. Surely that was enough to banish him from getting anywhere near the palace?
“There we go, all clear for your grand invasion.” The tiny Discord said, brushing off his paw and claw.
“What did you just say?” Sunset’s tone turned accusing.
“I cleared the path for you. With all of them so busy worrying about an event that will never happen, it’ll be a piece of cake for you to get inside. I know, you don’t have to thank me. I’m so clever!”
Sunset’s mouth hung open in shock for a moment, absolutely astonished at what Discord had just done.
“You just impersonated Sombra’s voice to scare those ponies so that the empire would be in utter panic?!”
Discord nodded, a proud smile on his face.
“Do you even hear yourself right now? When you said you had a distraction, I never in a million moons had wanted you to put everypony in total fear over a guy who had just been torturing them for centuries. Are you crazy?!”
“Is that really a question?” Discord titled his head.
“What’s going on here?”
Both Discord and Sunset turned to look from their hiding place and saw Princess Cadance accompanied by her husband Prince Shining Armor at the entrance of the palace. They were surveying the chaos currently occurring outside with concern as Sunset felt immediate guilt.
“Why are they all so scared?” Shining asked, watching a crystal pony trip over their own tail and roll across the ground just to get away.
“I don’t know but I need to help them.” Cadance replied, taking off into the sky with her wings.
Shining followed suit, leaving the entrance of the palace wide open. It was the perfect time to get inside and Sunset felt rather bad for taking advantage of it.
“I’m sorry, Princess Cadance. This won’t be for nothing. I promise I’ll bring her back to you both before you know it.”
Sunset galloped through the halls of the now lit palace as fast as possible. Discord was only hanging on by a single strand of her mane as the cloaked alicorn zoomed past guards on duty, alerting them immediately. She heard them call out at her to stop but that only motivated her to run faster.
Her legs began to tire, seeing the door to the mirror room right in front of her. She was mere seconds away from being hit to the ground by a guard who was on her tail when Discord gave her a little boost with his powers and sent her flying into the room. The door slammed shut on the guards and they pounded and slammed themselves into it in attempts to get inside. However, Discord’s magic was too strong for them and it kept the door locked tight.
Unfortunately for Sunset, she was sent right into a floating shelf holding antique vases which she had remembered seeing the first time she came into this room. Her side slammed into it and all the vases, including herself, came tumbling down onto the floor. She was surrounded by broken glass and wood as she flinched in pain, scrunching her eyes shut to cope with the pain.
“Sunset?” Discord asked, reverting back to his normal size and standing over her.
“Ughhh…You didn’t have to just throw me like that.” Sunset replied irritatedly.
“You were hardly moving those small legs of yours. You couldn’t expect me to just allow you to be trampled by all those guards because you’re as slow as a rock.”
“A rock? Rocks can’t-...Ooooh.”
Sunset scowled as she carefully lifted herself back onto her hooves, not appreciating being compared to an object that physically could not move by itself.
Her right flank was starting to bruise and felt tender whilst she attempted to maintain herself firmly on the ground. However, Discord simply disregarded the fact she was in pain and focused his attention towards the glowing blue mirror in the far corner of the room.
“Alright, we’re here. It won’t be long before the princess of all things sappy and lovey blasts her way in here so better make it snappy.”
“U-Uh…R-Right, about that…”
Discord turned to Sunset. “What? That tone doesn’t sound very promising.”
“I actually don’t really know too much about the mirror. I’ve only seen it be used as a teleportation device but I’m not quite sure if it has to be calibrated to a destination or needs something-”
“You made me bring us all the way here only for you to tell me you don’t know how to use it?”
“It wasn’t exactly a long way considering you used your magic to get us here.”
“That’s besides the point. You’re wasting my precious time because you didn’t do your research.” Discord crossed his arms.
“Celestia has been trying to hide this from me ever since that night. How am I supposed to get my hooves on anything about the mirror if she’s already revoked my privileges in going into the Canterlot Archives?!”
“Whatever, let’s just mess around with it until it lets us in.”
Discord poofed over to the mirror and began hitting it over and over with his eagle claw, expecting to somehow turn it on by physical force.
“Stop, you’re going to damage it!” Sunset shouted, galloping over and holding her hoof out in front of his claw.
“Then how do you propose using this thing?”
“Haven’t you ever seen or heard of magical artifacts?”
“Hardly, I don’t need them. My magic far surpasses there limited capabilities. They’re nothing more than useless trinkets compared to my powers.”
“And you don’t know how to use this mirror because?...”
“Like I said, magical artifacts are not my forte.”
Sunset rolled her eyes, only taking Discord’s answer to her question as an excuse not to try at all. On the other hoof, she was willing to try by remembering what she had seen Twilight do. She simply ran through it and it reacted like water would by encasing her entire body before disappearing fully to wherever the mirror took her. If it was that simple then perhaps Sunset had nothing to worry about. But if it were that easy then why be kept in a room like this?
With Discord distracted by his own pride, Sunset approached the sky blue mirror and placed her hoof to its surface. Like waves breaking on a beach, her reflection waved and dissipated at the mirror’s edges but her hoof could not force its way into it. Some sort of strong force repelled her from entering it unlike how Twilight had just made her way in like it was nothing. She forcefully pushed her hoof on the glass surface but it continued to keep her out.
“I don’t get it, Twilight galloped right through. Why isn’t it working?”
Sunset started to get frustrated as she now resorted to tapping on the mirror with her hoof, not so much to the point Discord would since he was so careless but enough to vent her anger on it a little.
“She wasn’t carrying anything on her when you saw her, correct?” Discord asked.
“Just a cloak. I couldn’t see anything else.”
“Then perhaps it’s not what's required to unlock it but rather a specific time period.”
“What do you mean?”
“You witnessed her use the mirror during the evening. If this mirror is going off by moons, then perhaps a certain amount of moons must pass by in order for it to open.”
“That’s the most logical thing I’ve ever heard you say in my entire life.”
“I’m only going off the process of magic, my dear. It’s not that logical.”
“Riggghttt…” Sunset replied, unconvinced. “So going off that idea, it appears the mirror isn’t open. And since we don’t know how many moons have to pass by for it to reopen, this idea is sort of benched.”
“Not exactly. We haven’t tried every possible solution quite yet.”
Discord cracked his fingers backwards and stretched his palms out before bringing them together and rubbing them. He shook his fingers and brought them out in front of him, facing the mirror.
“I can try and force the mirror to open myself but there’s no guarantee whether it’ll work or rather just destroy the mirror entirely. This kind of magic doesn’t pair well with set artifacts.”
Sunset was about to immediately disagree with that idea but she could hear the shouts of the guards in the hall and the panicked voice of Princess Cadance drawing closer. If there was no other way to open this without risks involved than this was her last chance. It was now or never.
“Alright, do it then.”
“Really?” Discord asked, both surprise and humor within his voice. “Aren’t you worried I’m going to ruin your reputation and status by allowing me to destroy a very important piece of Princess Celestia’s? To think that her prized student is allowing the Lord of Chaos control over something precious and an-“
“Just be quiet and do it already before I change my mind!”
“As you wish.” Discord grinned.
The mirror began to radiate with energy as Discord’s arms pushed at an invisible force in front of him. He began to strain himself, putting all his strength into it. The mirror began to shutter and vibrate, his powers invading it and forcing it to converge and change from its normal magical properties. All whilst Sunset panicked, hearing the princess drawing closer.
“Almost…There…” Discord mumbled.
There was a strange snap noise heard as if a rope had been fraying and finally broke. The mirror stopped shaking and now glowed both a yellow and blue color, a mix of both Discord’s energies and its own. It was almost hypnotizing as Sunset stared at it in wonder.
“Alright, Princess. Time to go!”
Discord picked up Sunset into his own paw and claw and charged for the mirror. Just as Princess Cadance finally got the door to open, Discord and Sunset disappeared through the portal entirely.
Sunset felt like she had become a stick of bubble gum as her entire body was stretched to a long length and flung around uselessly. It didn’t exactly hurt but it definitely felt strange and unlike anything she had ever felt before. Her vision had begun to fade as Discord, her only companion she had at the moment disappeared into the wavy colors surrounding them and she left to her own mind once more.
This was it, this was where she’d find Twilight Sparkle again and bring her back where she belonged.
