Author's Note

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Chapter 1.1: Charlotte

There were many morbid things a person could witness. Watching your sister dig her own grave was undoubtedly up there on that list.

Charlotte stepped to the side quickly, bumping into a tent post as the mound of soil between her and the hole grew slightly larger.

"Hey! Don't rock the tent! You'll bring the damned thing down," Andrea shouted at her, not breaking her rhythm in shoveling.

Charlotte used a hand to steady the pole and looked at the semi-opaque blue canvas walls. "The tent's fine. Don't you think you should take a break? It's not right that you're doing this. Someone else can do it. Don't torture yourself like this."

"It's perfectly right! She's me! Who else should bury her?"

Charlotte balled up her fists and stomped a foot against the ground. "It's not natural!"

Her eldest sister looked up out of the hole and then adjusted her emerald earrings, causing her to shrink down to her human form, climbed out of her grave, and adjusted her earrings again, so she was standing at the full height of her natural form, towering over Charlotte with four legs, two arms, and crystalline skin and hair.

Andrea locked eyes with her, staring her down. "When has anything about us been natural?"

Charlotte took a few more steps back, tripped over Andrea's pile of clothes, and landed hard on her ass. "Ow! Don't try to intimidate me just because you're in a bad mood! You shouldn't be in that form; someone could see your shadow and ask questions."

Her sister scowled and adjusted her earrings again, shifting to human form; she was stark naked, but she wasn't big and intimidating anymore.

"You'll never understand what it's like," Andrea whispered. "Your other you is practically fucking immortal, so you'll never have to watch her die. You're naturally human and don't have to hide what you really are. You don't have any right to talk to me about what's natural. You don't have to ever deal with any of this shit. Get out of this tent, and let me finish digging this grave."

Without waiting for an answer, Andrea turned her back, adjusted her earrings again, so she was once again a crystalline centaur, and climbed back down in the hole.

Charlotte got up, dusted her pants off, and raised a one-finger salute towards the hole. She'd tried. No one could say she didn't try to talk sense into her big sister. She didn't know why it had to be her to try anyway. The whole family was here for the funeral; there was no shortage of other choices. They didn't want to have to be the one to confront the giant emotionally unstable centaur, and Charlotte worked as a sacrifice.

"And Sunset isn't immortal!" she shouted at the hole.

"Practically immortal! She'll probably outlive your dumbass! The point stands, you don't get to see your older self die like the rest of us!" Andrea shouted back.

Charlotte picked up a hard clump of dirt from the pile and chucked it in the hole. As soon as she heard the accompanying cry of pain, she knew she was in deep trouble and quickly exited the tent flap before her sister could come out and wring her neck.

Once outside, she took a deep breath and looked up at the clear blue sky, hating it. The sky had no right to be so cheerful looking on the day of a funeral. It should be gray, not bright and pleasant. It should be cold, not warm enough to go around in a short-sleeved shirt. This entire day was wrong.

She looked to the side, seeing the graves for Dry Soil, Hook Line, and Legal Brief. This place was becoming a regular cemetery. How many people could be buried on a property before someone threw a fit about it? This was Wabash Manor; the City of Denver didn't ask questions and tried to forget it was here, so maybe a lot. Would she be buried here one day?

As she turned to head towards the house, she spotted her other sister sitting off to the side, under a tree, with an empty champagne glass beside her. Charlotte diverted course and went to her sister instead.

"Were you sitting here watching the entire time?" Charlotte demanded as she got close to Kristin.

Kristin took a drag from her vape pen and let out a plume. "Yep. I'm guessing you didn't get her to stop."

Charlotte kicked at the grass. "No, I didn't. You could have come and helped."

"Do you honestly think me being there would have helped at all?" Kristin asked.

"No," Charlotte conceded. She held out a hand to her sister. "Can I get a hit off that thing?"

Kristin shook her head. "Nope. Get your own. Mom would pitch a fit if she knew I had let you."

"Who cares?" Charlotte countered.

"Me, who doesn't want to get yelled at during a funeral. I'm not stirring up any more drama than there already is, no matter how small."

Charlotte shook her head and considered saying something about Kristin being a grown adult who shouldn't have to worry about that but decided that it wasn't worth it. "Whatever. So how is other you doing? Why are you out here if you aren't here to help your eighteen-year-old sister try to baby your older sister?"

"You won't be eighteen till next month," Kristin replied.

"I'm close enough!"

"Not there yet, though," Kristin tiredly replied. "Anyway, I needed to get away from Amicus for a bit, away from everyone in there, to tell the truth, but mainly her. You know how she gets. I don't know how we're the same person sometimes. It isn't as bad as when Brief passed away, but she's going on and on about how she's the eldest now, how it will be her time next, and telling me that I don't need to dig her grave. Then she breaks down crying about Andri again."

"You aren't going to dig her grave when that time comes, are you?" Charlotte asked, only slightly worried. It was bad enough watching Andrea do that.

Kristin waved the question away. "Oh no, I'm not going to have a psycho break like Andrea when the other me dies. Amicus has plenty of earth pony sons and grandfoals who're more than capable of doing it. I'm not about to bury myself. It's too creepy."

Charlotte rubbed the back of her head. "Hey, um, do you think I don't get you and Andrea because my other me is…you know?"

"I don't know. How much can any of us really understand what it's like for the others?" Kristin asked with a shrug. "You and Andrea are at least like your other selves, personality-wise, that is. I'm nothing like my other me. Andrea feels like she is burying herself, but I don't think I'll feel the same way when Amicus dies. I'll be sad, sure. Amicus is nice and loving. Who wouldn't bawl their eyes out if she died? However, Amicus and I are too different to feel like she's me. She's just a nice old pony."

Charlotte crossed her arms and spit. "You're wrong. I'm nothing like Sunset."

Kristin chuckled. "You keep telling yourself that. Anyone who has to deal with both of you for long sees the similarity. Speaking of her, she hasn't put in an appearance yet. Maybe you should fetch her. She is the preacher, and we kinda need her for a funeral."

"Are you trying to dump more stuff on me?" Charlotte snapped in frustration.

"You are one of the few people that can go to her without having to ask permission. If she's having issues, you're probably the best one to talk to her."

"I can name at least four or five better people off the top of my head," Charlotte countered, then gave a sad shake of her head. "Fine, I'll do it, but only if you go back in there and deal with Amicus. She needs you."

Kristin smiled knowingly. "There it is."

Charlotte gritted her teeth. "There what is?"

Kristin stood up, grabbing the empty glass as she did. "One of the many similarities between you and Sunset, but you don't want to hear it. So, I'll go help comfort Amicus, and you go deal with the preacher."

Charlotte watched her sister walk back towards the front door of the mansion. What was Kristin being cryptic about? It didn't matter. There was another task to do, and it was just as well, anything to keep herself busy, so she didn't have to think about all this crap.

It was time to go back into the house and the crowds of mourners.

It was odd, having so many humans in the house. Most of the family were ponies, but Andri was the only pony in her line. All her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were human. Most of them had never come to Wabash Manor before. They were here to mourn Andri, but they were also trying to take advantage of the opportunity to see what was hidden in the infamous seat of the rarely seen Sunset Blessing. It was probably only Andri's elderly direct children who even cared about Andri. They didn't even know about Andrea digging the grave outside. The only Andrea they knew was in a coffin waiting to be buried. Charlotte didn't want to deal with any of them— parasites.

She stepped into the foyer and was almost immediately confronted by her parents.

"Did you convince Andrea to stop?" her mom asked in a hopeful tone.

Charlotte shook her head. "No, I just made her mad at me."

Her mom's face fell. "She shouldn't do this to herself. It's not healthy."

"I know, but she's going to do what she wants," Charlotte replied, feeling bad that she had disappointed her parents. She needed to escape this quick. "Has Sunset come down?"

Her dad shook his head. "There's been no sign of her. Are you going to check on her too?"

"Call me the sacrificial lamb," Charlotte replied as she headed towards the stairs with her arms raised dramatically. Then she winced. That sounded like something Sunset would say, and that irked her. They were not the same.

As she was reaching the top of the stairs, she began to think that this would be another failure on her part. The manor guards were standing there, blocking her way, and they didn't seem to care that on any typical day, she would be welcome upstairs.

That was until a red unicorn stallion with a purple mane walked by. "Let her through. Auntie is expecting her."

Sunset was expecting her? She doubted it unless Sunset had mind-reading powers Charlotte was unaware of, and even if she did, Sunset wouldn't be allowed to use such powers. There was probably just a shortlist of people that were allowed through, and Charlotte just happened to be privileged enough to be on that list. Yippee, didn't she feel special? She was allowed to talk to herself.

She walked by the guards into the second-floor hallway but stopped short when she saw a grey pony with a green mane and webbed wings sitting alone in the hallway looking at her.

"I wasn't aware you were here," Charlotte said dryly to her other self's eldest daughter. Phobia could have told Sunset to come down. Sunset would listen to Phobia, but if Phobia was going to try, she would have already done so.

Phobia gave an unconcerned flap of her wings. "Andrea was my aunt, and I am here to mourn her passing. I also have some business with my mother to conduct, or rather, I am acting as an intermediary for someone to conduct business with my mother."

"During a funeral?" Charlotte asked, partially shocked, partially disgusted.

"It was a convenient excuse to come by. I believe they are almost finished," Phobia replied. "How goes your magic training? Is there anything new to report?"

Charlotte gripped her pants leg and squeezed. "You'd know if there was."

"Yes, but it is always polite to ask," Phobia said. "Please, continue to my mother's office. I don't think she cares if you walk in to find her selling a corpse to my friend."

"Corpse?! She's selling Andri?!"

"Don't worry; it's the one that she had impaled on a pike outside for the last month, not Andrea," Phobia said with a grimace. "That stallion who murdered the three guards at the gate before my mother ended him."

Charlotte blinked. "Oh… I had noticed it was gone. I thought she was trying to make the place more hospitable since she was having so much company today, or, better yet, she had just come to her senses and realized that was barbaric."

"It was as good a time as any to do away with it. My understanding was the city ordered to have it removed or else. They let her get away with a lot, but dead bodies on display went too far," Phobia said. "However, with it no longer being maintained against decay by my mother's spells, the need to have it transferred was fairly urgent; hence the business deal is going down now."

"You're all insane," Charlotte stated firmly.

Phobia raised an eyebrow. "Says the girl who was numb to the fact she walked past an impaled pony every day for the last month like it was nothing but another decoration instead of a warning."

Charlotte gave the pony a long look. "You're getting macabre in your old age. And I'll have you know; I shuttered every time I saw it. It was nuts that she did that!"

"Pragmatic, I would say," Phobia said, and she watched as a young, nervous-looking, brown stallion exited out of Sunset's office. "There's Moses; business is complete. I will see you at the funeral; I'm going to keep my distance from the crowds till then. Take care of yourself, young Charlotte."

She watched the two walk off and then stormed into Sunset's office.

"I know I didn't say anything before, but I want you to know, that stunt with the dead pony was sick!" she yelled.

The red unicorn mare sitting at the desk looked up from the notes she was making. "Hello to you too, child. As for that murderer, I had to conduct three funeral services in the last month and tell three families that their loved ones weren't coming home. Killing ponies when they try to kill me doesn't seem to be working to deter more from coming; I felt a more direct statement needed to be made."

"You could have had a news conference or something instead," Charlotte muttered.

"And endanger the reporters when someone inevitably tries to nail me there?" Sunset asked, sounding offended. "I think not. The story about what I did circulated well enough before I pulled him down. It ran on every national news outlet. The message has been sent. Anyone who tries to hurt me, the people on this property, or any other family of mine, will find their life forfeit. I'm not playing nice anymore. This has gone on for far too long, and the government is too ineffective to prevent further attacks."

And people said she and Sunset were the same person; there was no way.

"Anyway, you're running late, child," Sunset continued.

"Late? You're the one who hasn't put in an appearance downstairs," Charlotte countered.

"Our weekly magic session was scheduled for two hours ago," Sunset reminded her.

Charlotte gaped at the absurdity. "Your sister is lying in a coffin downstairs. You can't seriously expect us to do our normal schedule."

Sunset gave her a level look. "Would you rather be dealing with trying to comfort the heartbroken or fend off the carrion eaters who dare call themselves Andrea's grandchildren?"

"Parasites," Charlotte grumbled without thinking.

"Parasites feed on the living, child, those bastards down there are trying to feed off the name of my dead sister. They're family in name only, and they can wait until I'm ready to conduct the service to catch a glimpse of me."

"What about the rest of us who do care, or Andrea's kids?" Charlotte asked. "Don't we all deserve some time?"

"I have been spending time with each of you privately since Andrea passed. They don't need me right now. I can also see from my window that your Andrea has not yet finished digging, so the body is not yet ready to be buried. Don't make me have to look at my dead sister's face more than I have to. Let me work and focus on other things instead of being forced to confront the mortality of my loved ones. Let me mourn in my way in my time. I don't want to break down crying during the service."

Charlotte stood quietly for a few seconds, then went and took a seat on a nearby stool. "Well, I'm not going back down there without you."

Sunset snorted. "I didn't expect you to. I have scryed and seen you. You've been keeping busy doing the things no one else wants to do. I'm not the only one looking for a distraction from the pain. So, shall we begin your magic session?"

"Whatever you want. Not like it will be any different than other sessions," Charlotte spat.

"Perhaps," Sunset conceded as she left her seat and walked in front of Charlotte. "Begin concentrating; focus on your power. Let's see if we can get it to do something for once or if you will fail again."

Charlotte wanted to kick the unicorn for rubbing that in. She didn't care if Sunset was upset about her sister; that was out of line. Years of these sessions, nothing had ever happened other than giving herself a headache. She would probably die being remembered by Sunset only as the pale imitation of herself who always disappointed. When Charlotte was young, she had dreamed of being a great mage. Sunset Blessing was a great mage, and she was a younger version of the pony, so that meant she had to be great too, right? Great big failure. Her parents wondered why she got so bitter. They didn't have to live in the shadow of this unicorn; their other selves had been simple earth ponies before they passed away.

"By the way," Sunset said, casually flicking her tail as Charlotte tried to concentrate. "I'm going to be offering your sister a job. Security here went downhill when my Andrea got sick and could no longer monitor it. I think I might be best served trying again with the younger model."

"Andrea—"

"Don't speak, child, concentrate," Sunset snapped. "I'll talk, and you'll be the obedient girl who keeps her maw shut. You can voice your displeasure at anything I say after you inevitably fail."

What the fuck! Sunset was rarely nice during these sessions, but she was laying the nastiness on hard right now. It was probably because of the funeral, and the unicorn was lashing out because she didn't have anywhere else to lash out, but that was no excuse! She wasn't the only one hurting!

"I won't start her off as head of security; she doesn't have the experience for that. She can act as a bodyguard to start. Someone who can take a bullet."

Charlotte gripped her hands together so hard they hurt. It felt like she might draw blood if she gripped any tighter. Was Sunset trying to get a rise out of her? Watch her fail again so she could mock her for it? All because Sunset wanted to hurt someone because her sister was dead, and there was no one to blame or hurt for it? Screw her; Charlotte wasn't going to give the unicorn that. She clamped her mouth shut.

"Your new school year is starting soon, senior year, that's an important one. Are you planning on doing better than your regular mediocre performance this year?" Sunset asked. "At your age, I might have been going through the whole tragic goth phase, but I still made straight A's, and I was in both the band and the debate team. This is your only extracurricular activity to worry about, and you still don't keep your grades up."

Yeah, Sunset was definitely trying to get a reaction.

Sunset turned and looked her in the eyes. "I mean, I know you aren't dumb. You're me, after all. That means you must be lazy instead. I didn't save you from your timeline to let you be a worthless couch potato. Do you think I won't let you fall flat on your ass just because you're an alternate version of me? Think again, child, if you can muster the effort to do that much! You fail because you don't apply yourself."

Charlotte squeezed her eyes closed as she started to cry. She knew this was all some tactic on the unicorn's behalf, but it still hurt. Nobody knew a person as well as themselves, and Sunset knew every last hurtful thing that could be said.

"At least you'll avoid one mistake of mine," Sunset said with a sigh. "My first year of college, I was sexually confused and felt the need to prove I was straight, and I went and got pregnant and chose to have an abortion. You might be just as sexually confused, but I doubt you'll be going to college to make that mistake, not that anyone would touch a loser like you in any case. Congratulations, your failure to live up to me amounts to something."

The stool tumbled away as Charlotte jolted to her feet and slammed her foot down. She leveled her gaze on her other self and tried to bring her rage under control.

Sunset wasn't looking at her; she was looking at something on the far side of the room.

"Well, if I knew that getting under your skin would bear fruit, I would have done it a long time ago. Turn your head and look."

That was enough to snap her out of her fury. She turned and gasped as she caught sight of what had appeared.

It was a swirling two-dimensional vortex in different shades of grey. It was round and maybe three meters in diameter. It didn't seem to be sucking air in or blowing air out. It was just swirling in place.

"I actually did something with my magic," Charlotte said in wonder. Then her eyes went wide as she looked at the thing. "Oh crap, is the house going to explode or something?"

"I doubt the house will explode," Sunset said in a flat tone.

"What is it?" Charlotte asked as she stepped towards her creation.

Sunset stepped in front of her. "A portal, although not like any I have ever seen. Keep your distance."

Charlotte took a step back. "A portal to where? Did I really make it? My magic never does anything!"

"I certainly didn't make it, and I have no idea where," Sunset answered as she examined the portal. "It's already shrinking. You aren't maintaining it."

"Sorry, I don't know how!" Charlotte shouted.

Sunset shook her head and waved a dismissive hoof. "I don't expect you to. Amazingly, it's able to operate without your power maintaining it. It's a portal unlike any other. You've done something special, child."

Charlotte snorted in contempt. "Oh, now I'm special."

"I hope you didn't take my barbs too seriously," Sunset said apologetically. "I didn't mean most of it— although I do wish you applied yourself a bit more in school. I figured you were already in a bad mood, and strong emotions can help with casting, so I pushed your buttons."

"I figured as much, but you still almost got yourself kicked in the flank," Charlotte replied. "You didn't have to make up that entire story about the abortion."

"Smart girl, but I didn't make that up. Keep that story to yourself, and don't try to emulate me on that one. You're much too wise for that," Sunset replied absently. That was surprising, but at least she got a compliment out of it.

The portal was shrinking rapidly. It was already half the size it was when she first looked. There was no sound coming from it, no light, no smell. It seemed like it was out of place with reality itself.

Sunset stepped back and lit her horn. "Get to cover. I will try to send my magic into it to probe, and I don't know what will happen. I don't want you to get hurt. I'll be shielding the full room, just in case there's an explosion."

Charlotte hid behind the desk quickly. "Explosion?! You’re telling me it could explode?!"

"I don't honestly know. That's why I'm having you take cover while I shield the room," Sunset answered.

"Why would you poke your magic into it if that was even a possibility?" Charlotte asked.

"I don't know when you'll be able to do this again, and I don't have other options to study it. Sometimes you have to jab something with a proverbial stick."

Charlotte ducked down lower. She thought it many times before, but she thought it again; her other self was nuts.

Sunset turned to face the portal, which was now down to less than a meter in diameter. A faint blue glow covered the walls and floor, indicating the shield she had put up around the room. The desk Charlotte was sheltering behind began to glow with the same light to give her extra protection. A final glow surrounded Sunset herself before the great mage of Wabash Manor focused her full attention on the swirling grey vortex.

However, she was unable to stick her magic into the portal before something else came out.

The unicorn yelped as a tangerine orange shape barreled out of the portal, slamming onto the floor. Charlotte had only time to register it was a living thing before it was up and trying to run away. This was a short-lived effort. Sunset Blessing was quick on the recovery and seized whatever it was in her magic.

"Don't kill it!" Charlotte yelled as she sprang to her feet.

Sunset glanced back at her with a disgusted look. "I didn't intend to. I've been attacked enough times to know the difference between an attack and someone trying to run away in terror."

Charlotte came up beside the unicorn and looked at what had been captured. "Is that a pony?"

"Ponies aren't bipedal, and ponies don't have ears that big or trunks," Sunset answered.

"An elephant?" Charlotte asked in disbelief.

"Elephants don't come in orange, don't walk on two legs, aren't furry, and don't have cutie marks on their bellies," Sunset corrected.

That was true, and she was just now noticing the mark on its belly, a pair of hearts with a mirror in between them. Something about the creature was familiar, despite definitely not being anything she knew of on Earth or Equestria.

"Is…is that a Care Bear?"

Sunset gave her yet another look that screamed, 'how stupid are you?'. "Don't be ridiculous. While it might resemble some child's toy, I—"

"Please, good sirs, have mercy! Don't turn me over to the Care Bears! I just got away!" the tangerine elephant pleaded.

What the hell…?