A Shadow of Myself

"Where are our daughters!?"

Sunset kept walking on four hooves through the halls of the Crystal Empire's palace. They kept following. Why they stayed behind her was a mystery. They could easily walk beside her or ahead. She might seem to be going at a normal pace, but she was pushing herself. Her shoulder was still bad and still limited her mobility, even after all these years and treatments. At least it didn't hurt. Still, she was more aware of her injury than usual, and it felt harder to move today.

"I assume the one is still in Care Bear Land, along with my daughter. I have no idea about my other self," she said, not looking their way.

"How are you so calm!?" her not-mom demanded. She missed her mom. Her mom had been a calm and gentle pony– not a screaming banshee like this woman.

"I'm sure she's doing her best to fix this, Wend. You don't need to scream at her," her not-dad said, trying to soothe his wife.

Their heavy footsteps echoed behind her. The three of them passed guards who watched them apprehensively.

"Who is watching my sister right now?" she asked them. "She shouldn't be by herself, not at a time like this."

They didn't answer, and after a few seconds passed, she stopped in her tracks and slowly turned to face them.

"Who is watching my sister?" she repeated, firmer this time.

They gave her sheepish looks.

"We didn't tell her what happened," Charles said at last. "We weren't sure her heart could take it. She's spending the day in the library. She made some friends there."

Sunset chewed on her lip. "When she finds out, she's going to be pissed that no one told her. Don't tell her. I'll break the news to her. She always expects bad news from me. She braces herself for it as soon as she sees me coming."

She turned around and resumed her march.

They reached the throne room after a minute more of walking. The guards must have been expecting her because they didn't stop her from entering.

Flurry Heart stood as they entered, spreading her wings wide. She had a very impressive wingspan, even for an alicorn, and a nice set of flanks. Sunset lamented not being fifty years younger. Oh well, the alicorn didn't swing that way anyway.

"What progress have you made, Blessing?" Flurry Heart said in a dangerous voice. Great, another person who wanted her to solve everything. She intended to try to solve everything, but she hated others expecting her to. It was better when you only disappointed yourself.

Sunset sat down in front of the alicorn. "None, as of yet."

Flurry glared at her. "My mother and my friends are trapped in another world–your family and friends too. We need progress."

"And I'm wracking my brain to figure the puzzle out," Sunset said slowly. "One of the reasons I'm here is that I was hoping that you had gotten word from Twilight or Starlight. If they haven't figured something out, I need their notes on what they have theorized and rejected. I haven't gotten any notes back from them yet. I need the work of others to build on. I don't do well building from scratch. I need pieces to put the puzzle together. I don't have the pieces!"

Flurry Heart's posture slumped as she returned to her throne. "I haven't heard anything from them yet either, and am just as eager for their news. My aunt gets obsessed with things and forgets to do updates sometimes. When she does that, Starlight usually gets stuck making sure my aunt remembers other important things– like eating, drinking, sleeping, and going to the bathroom."

Sunset grimaced. "Has anyone ever diagnosed her as being on the autistic spectrum?"

The princess did a brief chuckle; it sounded forced. "No psychologist in their right mind calls an alicorn autistic." Flurry Heart looked her in the eyes. "You said that was one of the reasons you were here. You don't have any updates of your own, so what other reasons did you come here instead of continuing your research?"

Sunset looked at the guards and the two humans who had tailed her here, trying to decide how much she should say in their presence.

"Something Bursa said about Charlotte is nagging at me," she said at last. "Perhaps it is one of my missing pieces; something odd yet familiar– the mysterious bracelets that appear after she sleeps. The inability to easily wake her from her slumber. It reminds me of something that happened to me once, something small that changed everything."

"Are you being deliberately cryptic, Blessing?" Flurry Heart asked. "Reminded you of what, and why is it important? Will it help you crack the method of duplicating Charlotte the Younger-"

"Charlotte the Younger?" Wendy asked in c9nfision, interrupting the princess. "You're saying it like a title."

Flurry Heart cracked a smile again. "A term coined by my advisors that they've grown fond of using during meetings. There are a few too many Charlotte's in your family to not do without some additional designation. I suggested simply using Portsmith, but The Younger title seems to have stuck. You'll have to forgive them. Many of them were born over a thousand years ago when ponies were dishing out titles like The Clever and The Bearded– not the most original names. She has an ability that redefines how we think about the universe, and they felt the need to assign her a grander name. They'll likely come up with something grander in the future when she isn't so young."

Sunset rolled her eyes. Titles were overrated. She had plenty of them and didn't want a single one of them.

"Anyway, I need help with a spell. It needs to be cast on me, and it isn't something I can cast on myself," Sunset explained. "It also is a potent spell, so it needs a powerful caster. Luna took off somewhere, so you're the most powerful caster I have available."

"And what does this spell do?" Flurry Heart asked.

"For most, nothing, but for me, it could let me access a place outside of time and space," Sunset answered. "It happened once before. I didn't remember it at the time. I took Phobia's Dreamwarden abilities to pull the memory to the surface from deep in my subconscious. I didn't seem to go anywhere when it occurred. I appeared to be sleeping, but I brought back clippings of my younger self's ETS-infected mane."

Flurry Heart's eyes widened. "You brought back a live sample– that's how you managed to learn how to duplicate Sunset Shimmer's spell?"

Sunset nodded. "That combined with what I could glean from the heavily redacted notes. Neither would have been enough on their own, but combined, I managed to solve the puzzle. According to Bursa, Charlotte is bringing back bracelets from somewhere when she sleeps. I don't understand the workings of this in-between place, and I can't confirm yet that is where she is touching, but she and I are technically the same person. Maybe there's something inherent about us that lets us reach it under certain conditions. If I can replicate the conditions that allowed me to touch that place, maybe I can contact Charlotte if that is where she is touching too. It's a long shot, but I wish to try."

"And this spell has no impact on others?" Flurry Heart asked.

Sunset shook her head. "A slight daze from a powerful spell going off. It is a broken spell that doesn't do what it is supposed to. I did perfect it, eventually, but the perfected version isn't the version that we need. We need the original broken version."

"What was it supposed to do?" Flurry asked.

Sunset shook her head again. "Best not to discuss it. It's a huge bucket of worms no one wants to deal with."

"It's the time-travel spell, isn't it?" Wendy asked.

Sunset turned her head and glared at her not-mother. "What part of it is best not to discuss it did you not understand?"

"You had a way of reaching Charlotte, and you didn't tell us!" Charles shouted.

She facehoofed. "I'm not sure of anything. I'm trying something, and it is a stretch that it will work. I'm at a dead end without those notes, and I'm reaching for any thread I can while I wait. Even if I'm right about what your daughter is doing, there's no way of knowing if I'll make contact with her. Reign in your expectations."

Flurry Heart sighed. "Alright, Blessing, I'll help you. I want my father here for this, to shield this room. You say it isn't dangerous, but I'd rather be safe."

Sunset gave a slight nod, as much as her neck would allow. Damn thing picked a lousy day to act up. "Thank you, princess."

Sunset looked around at the unfamiliar location. Tall white buildings surrounded her, marble, perhaps? No, not marble, something else. These weren't built for ponies. These weren't made for humans, either. They were much too large. Though they did seem to be abandoned. It seemed familiar somehow. Like she had been here before. Yes, now she remembered this place. Tonya…Arbiter had shown her this place in a dream. It was ironic she had not recognized it after spending so much time trying to figure out how to force it to her spell's will. This was Jeg'galla'gamp'pi. It looked different up close.

"Now you appear?! HERE?!"

She turned and looked at the source of the voice. What could only be described as a human hag stood a short distance away. She was wearing jeans and a short-sleeved shirt and had some sort of electronic device hooked to her side with wires running under the shirt. Some kind of heart monitor or dialysis machine? She had a long wooden staff that seemed to be for support. She was so wrinkled it was hard to make out her bone structure– hell, it was hard to make out her mouth or eyes through all that. Whoever this crone was, she was exceedingly old. It vaguely reminded her of Sha'am Maut, the only other figure she had met who exuded such a sense of age looking at them.

"Sunset?"

And behind the crone was Charlotte. The spell and the theory worked. It was nice to get lucky.

She smiled at her younger self. "Good to see you alive." Her smile dropped. "You are alive, aren't you? I'm not talking to some past version of you before an untimely death, am I? How many days have passed since you departed Equestria for the care bear world?"

Charlotte gaped at her. "I don't know….a bunch. Day and night don't seem to exist where I'm at, so I can't tell how many days have passed since Bursa kidnapped me. I'm not on the world with the care bears anymore. I'm in the same universe as Rainbow Brite, and believe me; it's shitty."

Care bears, then transformers, now Rainbow Brite; at this rate, Charlotte would go through the entire 1980s pop culture circuit. What was next? G.I.Joe? He-Man? Ninja Turtles? Smurfs? She hoped it wasn't smurfs. Chances were they were carnivorous demons or something.

Sunset gestured around. "And what are we doing in Jeg'galla'gamp'pi, and who is this relic?"

Charlotte looked apprehensively at the crone. "She calls herself The Traveler. She says she has been giving me lessons on how to use my powers each time I go to sleep, but I can't remember any of that. I never heard of Jeggella-whatever. Is that where we are? How do you know this place?"

The cronish Traveler recovered from her shock and rapped the bottom of her staff on the ground. "I was going to get to that. Sunset interrupted my introduction! She must have replicated the spell that brought her here last time. This isn't Jeg'galla'gamp'pi; it is simply a vision of the place. This is The Outside. It's called The Outside because it is outside everything, including time and space."

Sunset snorted. "Well, the name is to the point, at least. I'm assuming Charlotte maintains some instinct concerning her lessons in her subconscious, even if she can't actively remember them. This would be a waste of time if she didn't. Bursa did get some portals out of her, so the results are showing."

Traveler seemed to regain her composure, at least somewhat. "I swear the omniverse likes to laugh at my expense sometimes. Whatever, you're here, but not the Sunset Blessing I'm looking for. Do what you came for so you can get out."

"Not the Sunset Blessing you are looking for?" Sunset asked with a raised eyebrow. "God help the universe if there is more than one Sunset Blessing. Why are you looking for a version of me, and what does that have to do with Charlotte?"

Charlotte raised a hand. "Hello?? Another version of you sitting right here."

"You're a version of me, but you aren't Sunset Blessing," Sunset said with a grumble. "If this hag meant the version of Charlotte Portsmith, she would have said the version of Charlotte Portsmith."

Traveler threw her arms up in frustration. "What is it with young people insulting the old? Looking for the right version of you has nothing to do with my involvement with her. I wasn't even actively looking– I haven't searched in decades. Now, I'm assuming you're here to question the young lady about her current condition and recent events. Be about your business and go. She'll be joining you soon enough. I have a lesson to teach."

Sunset looked at the hag. Really looked her over, and her eyes widened as she realized who she was looking at. "Lord in Heaven…."

"Hardly that," Traveler scoffed. "I see that look in your eyes, and I know what it means. Keep your revelations to yourself. Be about your business."

"Well, it seems I pissed you off somewhere along the line," Sunset said with a roll of her eyes. "Probably better if I didn't drill you for too much information." She turned her eyes to Charlotte. "So, are you in good health? Is my emergency return damaged? What is this about Rainbow Brite?"

Charlotte pointed at Traveler. "Why are you so okay with dealing with her?"

"Because I'm confident she has your best interests at heart, and this is one thing I don't want to meddle with or know more about than I have to," Sunset answered calmly.

"Something she doesn't understand that she doesn't want to meddle with, what a wonder," Traveler muttered.

Note to self, be nicer to Charlotte, so she doesn't have such a big grudge against me at however many years old this hag is. Sunset thought to herself. At least it was confirmation Charlotte should survive. That was good. Sunset was apparently still alive, too, if this ancient version of Charlotte was looking for her. That was oddly depressing. She hoped she didn't look as worn out.

Charlotte seemed uncertain for a moment, then took a deep breath. "I'm injured, both my right arm and leg. After Bursa knocked me through the portal, I tumbled down a mountain. Rainbow Brite and Starlight– her horse, not your friend– found me. Rainbow is nursing my injuries and says they should heal in a week or two. The emergency return was not damaged, but I don't have the use of both hands right now. When I wake up, I plan to have her activate it for me."

Sunset frowned. "If she's close enough to have her hands on the return, she'll get caught up in it as well. I thought I explained this."

"We know," Charlotte replied. "I'm bringing them back with me. The world I'm on is dead, or close enough to it. No sunlight, no light of the moon, no light of the stars, and it is cold as hell. They haven't seen another living thing but some fungi in caves for a long time."

"And they survived how?" Sunset asked with a raised eyebrow. "I heard who you are bringing back, but what are you bringing back?"

Charlotte looked away. "Vampires."

"Vampires," Sunset repeated flatly. "Of all the…alright. Have they been eating from you?"

Charlotte shook her head.

"And you aren't feeling vampiry yourself?" Sunset continued.

Charlotte shook her head again.

"You aren't even going to remember this conversation. So your interrogation doesn't matter much," Traveler informed her. "But to put you at ease and get you out of here, I'll tell you that Rainbow Brite and her horse aren't bad people."

"Okay…" Sunset said slowly. "Guess that means I don't get time to get in contact with Luna before Charlotte pops out of the air. We'll deal with all the suspicion of yet another pair of aliens then." She looked around and then at Traveler. "How do I get out of here?"

Traveler gestured at the building Sunset had first looked at when appearing. "Your lesson is fulfilled. You can just walk out now."

"Lesson?" Sunset asked in confusion.

"What counts as one, anyway. Be on your way."

This older Charlotte didn't seem to like her. She hoped she hadn't done something too terrible to her in the future– one she didn't want to know about, and this elderly Charlotte seemed to have the wisdom not to elaborate on– the girl could develop good sense with time. The falling out was a problem for another day. Today, her younger self was going to be safe.

She looked one last time at Charlotte. "I'm glad you're safe. Mind your lessons well. I'm glad you found someone who knows how to teach you. See you soon; God bless."

And she then walked through the door of the colossal building into the black void.