A Shadow of Myself

"Ow! Mom! You're pulling too hard!" Charlotte whined before she could catch herself.

Her mom immediately released some pressure from her brush pull. "Sorry, baby."

Charlotte gritted her teeth at being called that nickname but didn't protest. Her Mom had been barely holding it together the last few weeks since Kristin's death, and it was best not to say too much that could upset her. It was walking on eggshells, but Charlotte could manage. Her own crying fits were less frequent now, but they still came at unexpected moments.

"You're going to look so cute with your mane all braided," Andrea said with a smirk from where she stood in the corner.

"Yes, she is," their mom confirmed, sounding slightly more upbeat than a moment ago. Charlotte bit off her retort about not needing to be cute, not wanting to hurt her mom's feelings.

She looked at her sister, who, for the first time ever, was wearing clothes other than a t-shirt while in centaur form. It was like a skirt, except it covered all her equine parts and hung halfway down her legs, with a slit in the back for her tail to hang out. Her sister's chest was bare, but that didn't matter— Andrea was more equine in that respect and didn't have breasts up there; her mammaries were down below. She'd done something to her fur around her torso that made it even more shiny than usual. Even the ordinarily crystalline-looking skin above, along with her hair and tail, looked more glistening than they typically did.

"You look nice, by the way," Charlotte mumbled to her sister.

"She does look lovely," their mom agreed, still brushing slightly too hard, but it was bearable.

Andrea's blushed, which made her crystalline cheeks look like rubies. "Thank you very much."

This was the happiest Charlotte had seen her sister in a long while. Andrea was going to get to be her authentic self while in Equestria. Charlotte wasn't annoyed she didn't get to enjoy the same luxury. What was annoying was she still had to go to school! Even worse, she had to go to something called magic kindergarten. Kindergarten! She thought they were kidding until they didn't back down about it. She would be eighteen in less than a week, and she was going to kindergarten. She could die of embarrassment. At least they assured her that it was only temporary until she got fully up to speed with her unicorn magic, and then she could be promoted to more normal classes for her age— at least in terms of magic classes. She might be in remedial classes for subjects like history all year long.

Not that it was any sure thing she would need those magic classes or history classes in the long run. She still was undecided about permanent transformation. She was going to be wearing Sunset's necklace at all times that she wasn't asleep or wasn't being directly supervised by approved ponies. Equestria wasn't any happier than Earth was about the idea of her randomly opening portals to who knew where, but it was still only temporary.

Plus, she was still supposed to do practice sessions with her magic with Sunset. That was actually grating, because after studying the bears' armlets, Sunset now understood Charlotte's magic better than Charlotte did herself, and could replicate the spell. So much for having her own unique thing. Sunset might not intend to, but she never failed to make Charlotte feel inferior. Charlotte wasn't an idiot, but she was jealous she couldn't just put pieces together to figure out magic like her other self could. She tried, and Jordan had complimented her excellent progress back when she was first figuring out how to use her horn, but Sunset had an advantage other than just experience. Sunset had her mark, which enhanced her ability to put things together. Charlotte didn't have a mark, and the necklace wouldn't allow her to get one. Without the cutie mark, she really was the lesser copy.

"We need to hurry with this braiding," their mom fussed as she worked on Charlotte's mane. "Why is your mane so much longer than Sunset's?"

Charlotte shrugged. "I guess she cuts hers short to be less maintenance, but I like the long look.. Not really thrilled with getting it braided, to tell the truth, but I know this is a big deal." The longer mane was another way to distinguish herself from Sunset.

"I'd help braid, but bending down that low is problematic for me while wearing this thing. It has this strap underneath that digs into my udders if I try to bend down. Sorry, sis," Andrea said apologetically. It sounded legitimate.

It figured that the tailor that had worked on Andrea's 'dress' had screwed something up. The mare had spent most of the time just staring in disbelief at Andrea. The same mare had worked on Charlotte's dress and did a much better job. Why it was so much more complicated to do a centaur dress left Charlotte clueless. Most of the body parts were the same, it shouldn't be that hard.

"Almost done," their mom said. "Then I can help you get your dress on. We'll be ready in time."

"Mom, I can get the dress on by myself, but I'm going to need help with the makeup. I'll poke my eye out if I try to do it myself."

"Nah," Andrea said. "Pony eyes are pretty tough, but you might make it all red and irritated."

"I was speaking figuratively," Charlotte grumbled.

The door opened and Empathy walked in and shut it behind him before looking at Charlotte and tooting his trunk in adoration. "Miss Charlotte, you look very pretty! So do you, Miss Andrea, and Miss Wendy."

"Thanks, Empathy, but aren't you supposed to be watching Amicus?" Charlotte asked.

"Miss Ami needed to go potty," Empathy said, looking flustered. He chose odd things to get flustered about. Taking a piss or crap was extremely taboo for him, and he avoided standing near where someone was going to the bathroom. He didn't ever go to the bathroom himself, in fact, he didn't seem to have any orificices or methods down low for expelling waste or for procreation, even though he had to have some method to do those things; they were essential functions of life. Charlotte hadn't mustered the courage to ask exactly how he managed to do them. It seemed too personal to ask. He still farted…somehow…but Charlotte had no idea where it came out. Sunset had practically dissected a bear, she might know.

"Did she eat?" Andrea asked.

Empathy nodded quickly. "Yes, I made sure she finished her whole bowl of oatmeal. She ate it all like a good pony!"

"Good. She's been losing weight. She needs to eat more. I don't want to bury another family member," Andrea worriedly said.

"We've had enough of that," her mom agreed, voice catching at the end. She did a harder yank, but Charlotte grit her teeth through it and didn't say anything.

Amicus had made the surprise decision to go to Equestria with them. She had mainly been despondent the last few weeks. Losing her sister, her nephew, and her other self within a week of each other had hit her exceedingly hard. It was three of the four closest people to her, other than Sunset. After that, Amicus said she didn't want to be in the manor anymore, and she didn't want to be a burden to her foals or grandfoals by moving in with them. Equestria was somewhere to just get away, with no reminders of what she had lost.

In fact, it seemed no one wanted to be at Wabash Manor, and that had been a problem for Sunset, because someone in the family needed to take it over since her workshop was still there and needed to be watched over. None of Sunset's adopted foals wanted the place where their brother died. Phobia retired to Equestria, so she wasn't even on the planet. Out of Sunset's grandfoals, Martinez gave a flat and direct no to the question. Nightmare Moon was considered too unstable in his relationships with mares for Sunset to risk giving it to him and then having him lose it in some court case with a disgruntled lover. Arachne was someone Sunset didn't trust to be near her workshop. Drizzle objected on the same grounds as her mother and remaining uncles. And all the remaining grandfoals and great-grandfoals were young kids or teens.

So to the shock of everyone, Sunset had given it to Jordan, who was probably the most shocked of all. People had expected Sunset to start looking at her various nieces and nephews for an option, but Jordan wasn't even a blood relative. She was Sunset's ex-husband's daughter from his second wife. Sunset's reasoning was that she preferred a unicorn to have it, just in case something from her workshop was needed, and there weren't any unicorns in the family who wanted the manor. Jordan was effectively family as far as the old mare was concerned, and she liked the idea of the manor being filled with the laughter of foals again. She'd also left seventy percent of all ongoing royalties from her book sales to Jordan to pay the house bills and property taxes. The remaining thirty percent went to Méng's widow. The workshop had been sealed and locked, with a magical combination that Sunset shared only with Jordan and Shǔguāng.

Now they were in Equestria. They had been here two days, but the royals were just getting around to publically welcoming Sunset Blessing to Equestria— apparently there had been some last-minute scheduling issue. They were very busy trying to quietly make preparations to receive refugees. That was understandable, but it was going to turn this entire thing into a bigger formal affair, by doing it during a gala that had already been scheduled for today. They'd also be announcing Sunset's upcoming appointment as the new headmare of The School of Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot. Sunset's reputation as a mage might not be well known to the general Equestrian population, but it was well known in Equestrian academic circles. Still, heads were going to probably spin that the princesses were putting an Earthling in charge of their most prestigious school.

Add to that fact that Sunset had already privately stated that there were going to be changes in the admissions process that would favor lower-class unicorns with talent over nobles with lots of donations and it was fixing to be a very big uproar. That wasn't even counting her plans to allow kirins to enroll. Charlotte was actually looking forward to seeing the nobles react. She'd get her chance since she and Andrea had been added to the guest list as well. Andrea was coming as 'somepony everypony should know', which translated better as 'someone to gossip about', and Charlotte was coming as a close member of Sunset's family, although how exactly she was related was left vague. The guests were probably going to assume her to be Sunset's daughter or granddaughter; she looked the part.

She turned her attention back to Empathy. "Can you go check on Amicus again, please? She shouldn't be left by herself for too long. She's not right in the head right now."

He nodded and hurried back to the door. "Yes, Miss Charlotte!"

He left the room in such a hurry he nearly knocked over one of the ponies on the hotel staff. The pony gave him an annoyed look, but didn't stop to gape. After two days, the staff and the ponies who worked and lived near the hotel had gotten used to seeing him, and while he had attracted stares at first, now they barely paid him much attention. Andrea got more stares when she went out and about. The issue was more her height than her strange appearance. She was extremely tall by human standards, which was all the more tall compared to a pony, but even those stares were dying down now, and ponies weren't frightened by the big crystal centaur. Strange creatures were not unheard of in the Crystal Empire, and as long as the strange creatures weren't hostile, ponies seemed to lose interest after the initial round of gossip had run its course. Luckily, the hotel they were staying at had reasonably tall doors and ceilings— they said they sometimes had to accommodate medium-sized dragons and had mentioned yaks could jump surprisingly high when they really got into stomping. Yaks got away with stomping loudly because 'Yaks best tippers!'

"All finished!" their mom announced happily. Charlotte looked herself over in the mirror. The braid did look nice, she supposed, and her tail had been curled earlier, giving her an exquisite look. Still, it was a little much for her tastes, but it was just for today.

She focused on the dress that was hanging in the closet and lit her horn, levitating it to herself. The dress kind of wrapped around her instead of having to go on over her head, so she didn't have to mess up the braiding her mother had just put so much effort into. She had to watch herself put it on in the mirror, since she wasn't very good at manipulating things she couldn't see, which annoyed her, since Sunset seemed to be able to move things around without ever looking at them. Her mom helped her with getting her tail through the slit in the dress and straightening the dress out, but in seemingly no time, she was dressed.

Next came the makeup, which her mother applied with extreme care. It wasn't a lot, just eyeliner, mascara, and purple lipstick (the color stood out better since her fur was red, but the purple matched her mane well). Charlotte wasn't adept at applying this stuff even when she was human, and trying to manipulate such small objects with her horn using the amount of care needed to apply them correctly was entirely beyond her skill.

The door opened again, and Sunset marched in. She was wearing a simple black silk dress but had forgone any other accessories. Her mane and tail were the same as ever. She hadn't put on any makeup or jewelry. She hadn't even made an attempt to conceal her neck scar with a scarf or something. Truthfully, it was actually surprising she went so far as to put a dress on, and Charlotte wondered if one of the princesses had pressured her to do at least that much. Sunset might have listened to Luna. Charlotte only met Luna once or twice in passing, but she knew the alicorn was one of the few ponies who could convince Sunset to do anything she didn't want to do.

"The carriage is here. Are you about done?" Sunset asked.

"Almost," Charlotte answered, trying not to shut her eye as her mother worked around it.

"Um…how big is this carriage?" Andrea asked.

"Small enough that I will have to shrink you down to fit in," Sunset replied.

Their mother paused and looked at Sunset. "You can do that?"

Sunset snorted. "I wouldn't have said so if I couldn't. Unless she wants to give the carriage ponies a break and haul the thing herself. She's strong enough."

"As long as it is a temporary thing for just the ride, I'll accept being shrunk," Andrea said nervously. "How small are we talking about?"

"Pony-sized, unless you make me angry. Then I might shrink you down to the size of a puppy," Sunset said, grinning.

"I'll be on good behavior," Andrea said hurriedly.

Sunset expression softened as she turned her attention to their mother. "Take Amicus out somewhere. I don't care where. It can be shopping or to the park. Just make sure she gets out. She'll get even more depressed if she doesn't get out."

Charlotte's eyes went wide as she anticipated an issue. "Hey! Maybe we should let her stay in for tonight. I can go out with her tomorrow."

"Why?" Sunset questioned with a raised brow.

How to answer this? She didn't know how to dance around it. "Mom and Amicus might not be the best mix to be with each other right now."

Their mom started tearing up and Charlotte knew she'd screwed up by mentioning it.

Sunset still seemed befuddled. "Why would…" The light of realization hit her eyes, and her expression immediately shifted to a mix of embarrassment and shame. "Oh…I hadn't given that thought. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. You are right, that was thoughtless of me. Just make sure the elephant stays stuck to her like glue. We'll try not to be out too late."

"Thank you," their mom whispered. "I'm sorry. It's just…she's…I just can't right now."

Andrea placed a hand on their mom's shoulder. She looked like she wanted to give her a hug, but the size difference made it too difficult. "We understand. Hey, you did a really good job on Charlotte's braid and make up. She looks gorgeous."

"She does," Sunset quietly said, not even bothering to look. She took a deep breath. "Let's get moving before we all start crying. It wouldn't do to mess up the girls' makeup with tears."