While far from extravagant, especially given its advanced state of disrepair, Xandra’s house was nonetheless quite large. At least two stories tall, not counting the attic or the basement, and each room was appropriately spacious for what could only be described as a ‘non-haunted haunted mansion.’

…Well. Sunset hoped it wasn’t actually haunted-haunted.

Moving past the foyer, through an expansive living room, Xandra eventually brought Sunset to a large study. Dusty and cobweb-lined bookshelves were arranged from wall to wall, along with several reading desks and chair. The oil lamps on each desk were unlit, and from the looks of it, they probably wouldn’t have worked regardless.

But that didn’t matter, as Xandra snapped her fingers, and a large circular orb of light materialized into existence. It floated into the center of the room, shining brightly and illuminating its interior as though it were bathed in the midday sun.

“Start looking,” said Xandra. “And if you see anything in these books that hints at a connection to your world, let me know right away.”

“Got it,” said Sunset. “And these books, they won’t…?”

“They’re not the kind that disappear,” Xandra answered. “That would defeat the entire purpose of a library, wouldn’t it?”

“…Right. Dumb question.”

And so, the two began their search. As Sunset had entirely expected, it was not a very fruitful one. Not at first. Hours passed, and the two of them scoured through almost every book they could think of that may be relevant, from texts on advanced theoretical magiphysics, to books on the study of magical artifacts, to even a couple of… science fiction novels, that involved interdimensional travel.

Graphic novels.

“Why do you even have these here?”

“What?” said Xandra. “I have hobbies.”

Sunset wasn’t sure just how long the two of them kept searching. It was starting to feel like they had gone through almost everything that the library even had to offer.

But eventually, in a seemingly unimportant book on Neopia’s history, Sunset found something. Something of immense significance.

She had to read the passage again, just to make sure she had read it right.

Her heart began to race, when the epiphany fully hit her. This was it. This could very well be her key to returning home.

“Xandra! Xandra, come quickly!” she called out. “I’ve found something!”

Xandra looked up from the book she was reading, turning her attention to Sunset.

“You’ve found a lead?”

“Yes! And it’s huge!” Sunset cheered. “Not strictly a way to return home yet, but this proves that travel between our worlds has been done before!”

Sunset had Xandra’s curiosity before, but now she had her full attention.

“Is that so? What does it say?”

“This book mentions a powerful wizard by the name of Star Swirl the Bearded,” Sunset explained. “And Star Swirl the Bearded was the most famous and accomplished wizard in all of Equestria! He’s the one who invented the Magic Mirror that connects my world to the human world! And if he was here, he must have found a way to travel to Neopia, too!”

Sunset’s excitement had apparently begun to rub off on Xandra. For the first time since the two of them met, she seemed genuinely happy for her.

“Really? That’s great! Anything about where he was was?”

“Let’s see here…” Sunset flipped through another page of the book, and skimmed over the dry descriptive text for any information of use. “…It doesn’t say a lot about what he was doing on Neopia, but it does say that he had a tower in a place called ‘Brightannia,’ where he conducted his studies.”

A sudden understanding reached Xandra’s features. “Brightannia?”

“Yup! That’s what it says here,” said Sunset. “You know where that is?”

“I know where it was,” said Xandra. “Brightannia was the name used in antiquity for the peninsula northeast of here. The kingdoms of Meridell and Brightvale were founded there, centuries later.”

“And that’s where we’ll find his tower? In one of those kingdoms?”

“If it’s still standing,” said Xandra. “Which is doubtful, as the region was ravaged by multiple wars in ancient times. That said, the Brightvale Royal Library has preserved most of the magic traditions of Brightannia. So if there’s anywhere in Neopia with more information on Star Swirl or his research, it’ll be there.”

“Great! So let’s head out to Brightvale, then!”

This immediately brought a reaction out of Xandra. She visibly winced at Sunset’s suggestion.

“Um… something wrong?”

“Sort of,” Xandra answered. “Brightvale is… one of their soldiers was working closely with Queen Fyora at the time of my apprehension. I’m… not exactly on good terms King Hagan or his men.”

This time, Sunset couldn’t help but wince herself. “Oh,” she said. “That’s… that’s not good, is it?”

“Definitely not.”

“So then, what do we do?”

“I’m not saying it’s hopeless,” said Xandra. “The Royal Library is open to everyone. And with the right glamour, I should be able to disguise us to avoid suspicion. But it’ll be a risk, especially since Brightvale is home to some of the most learned magic scholars in Neopia. And we’ll probably have to take a detour to avoid passing through Illusen’s Glade.”

“And ‘Illusen’ is…?”

“A powerful earth faerie. Easily the last person we want to run into in the region.”

“…Right.” Sunset couldn’t find any argument there.

Not that she could have argued, as her thoughts were immediately cut off by the sound of another voice. A female voice, strong and commanding, carrying the weight of years of military experience.

“Weapons at the ready, men! She’s close, I can feel it.”

Immediately, Xandra’s entire body went stiff. The fur on her body stood on end, and the book she carried in her hands fell to the floor.

“Captain Brynneth!!?”

“W-wait, what!? Who’s Captain Brynneth!? Xandra, what’s going on!?”

Xandra lunged forward, seizing Sunset’s withers with her paws. The sheer fear and panic that was pooling in her eyes would be burned into Sunset’s mind forever.

“Sunset! Sunset, we need to run!! We have to get out of here right n—”

“There you are. Thought you could escape justice, did you?”

Sunset’s attention was immediately turned around, to the entrance to the library. Standing in the doorway was a new figure — she was an orange Kougra with a slender build, yet there was an unmistakable strength in the way she carried herself. Though not particularly tall, the air of authority that surrounded her made her seem to tower over the room. Her knightly armor, adorned with a pink cape and a plumed helmet, seemed to shine of its own accord. She carried a long arming sword in her left hand, with runes etched into it that glowed bright pink with a magic Sunset didn’t recognize. A short tuft of red hair peeked out from underneath her helmet, complimenting the natural shade of her fur and framing her bright blue eyes.

Following behind her were several other Neopets, each of which was dressed in a slightly less decorated variant of the same armor — though none of them had the same determination or hardened composure. On the contrary, they all looked terrified, cowering behind their apparent leader while feebly clutching their weapons.

Xandra’s entire body went stiff as she turned to face the Kougra. She was met with a vicious scowl, teeth bared as though they were prepared to tear out Xandra’s throat.

“Brynn!” Xandra said. “Listen, I can explain—”

“Save it,” Brynn interrupted. “You can talk once you’re properly behind bars.” She turned her eyes towards Sunset, and immediately Sunset could feel Brynn’s gaze boring straight through her skull. “And you. I don’t know what kind of freakish Uni you are, but I recommend you both surrender now. Unless you and Xandra want to do this the hard way.”

Sunset remained unfazed by the threat. She stepped forward, meeting Brynn’s eyes with a hardened resolve of her own.

“Okay, I’m going to need you to back up. I don’t know what happened between you two, but I can guarantee you that this is all just a misunderstanding. So put the weapon away, and—”

Sunset let out a sudden yelp, as Brynn’s sword swung through the empty space she was standing in just moments ago. Her hooves fell heavily against the floor as she landed from her sudden reflexive jump, her heart pounding in her chest.

“…And now I understand why Xandra’s terrified of you,” Sunset squeaked.

“As she should be,” Brynn said. “As for you, I don’t know what sort of fool you take me for. Do you really expect me to believe you don’t know what you’re doing working with the most loathsome villain in Faerieland’s history?”

Xandra flinched at Brynn’s words, as though physically struck by their bluntness. Sunset, no less shocked, couldn’t stop herself from turning to stare at Xandra.

“Wha… Xandra? Is… is this true?”

“I…” Xandra tried to answer, but any words she might have intended to speak died before she could utter them.

“When you told me you were a wanted criminal, I didn’t think that’s what you meant!”

“Look, can we talk about this later!?” Xandra called back. “We need to get out of here!”

“That won’t be happening,” Brynn cut in. “My Guards have got the entire mansion surrounded. Neither of you will be leaving except in chains.”

The steely resolve behind Brynn’s gaze only grew more intense. In her eyes, made evident in the way her fangs were bared, Sunset could see an anger and disgust that was reserved only for the most heinous of betrayers.

Beside her, she could hear Xandra quietly muttering to herself.

“I knew this would happen. I knew this was all too good to be true.” Xandra’s hands trembled, and her gaze hardened. Magic began to swirl in her hands as her voice intensified, cracking with fear and desperation. “But if you think I’m going back, then you are sorely mistaken!”

“No,” said Sunset. “Leave her. I’ll take care of this.”

Xandra’s eyes snapped towards Sunset Shimmer. “Wha… Sunset?”

“I have a feeling she knows what to expect from you,” said Sunset. “But I can guarantee she’s never dealt with someone like me.”

Sunset stepped forward, turning her attention towards Brynn. Brynn’s steadfast attitude seemed to waver, if only for a moment. She held her gaze steady at Sunset, weapon at the ready, yet she couldn’t hide the uncertainty on her face.

“What…?”

Sunset immediately answered Brynn’s question by channeling a powerful spell into her horn. There was a sudden flash of light, and instantly Brynn’s weapon clattered to the floor. She stood in place, swaying back and forth in a daze. The guards standing in the door behind her had it even worse, all of them having collapsed onto the ground, fully unconscious.

“Shoot, her will’s really strong,” Sunset said. “Xandra, we need to go! I don’t think that spell will hold her very long!”

Xandra hesitated for a moment, but soon quickly concurred. “I… Right! This way!”

She ran over to a bookshelf towards the back of the room, and pulled on a book that was suspiciously less dusty than the others. It revealed itself to be a hidden lever, and with a sharp click, the bookshelf swung inwards, revealing a hidden corridor behind it.

“This should get us past the guards surrounding the mansion. Quickly!”

Sunset gave a nod, then hurriedly followed behind Xandra as she led her through the secret passage. The dark, rocky tunnel twisted and turned, winding down into the earth, and then up again. Eventually it led to a simple door built into a rocky wall. Xandra slammed against the door with a palm as she ran forward, and it quickly swung open, nearly breaking off its hinges.

The door opened on the other side to a rocky outcropping on a small hill, with the typical large crooked trees of the Haunted Woods blanketed the skies overhead with their long, crooked branches. As the two finally escaped to the surface, Sunset stopped to catch her breath.

“Whew… that… that was close,” she breathed. “Good thing those old creepy mansions always come with hidden passages, right?”

Xandra didn’t answer. She looked away, pointedly avoiding eye contact.

“Um… hey. Is everything okay there? You alright?”

Xandra’s entire body shook. She screwed her eyelids shut, tears streaming down the sides of her face as she trembled, refusing to even look in Sunset’s direction.

“I… I-I can’t… I can’t do this anymore!”

“Huh?” said Sunset. “Xandra, what are you…?”

“Just stay away!! Can’t you see that I’m a MONSTER!!??”

Before Sunset could even say a word in response, Xandra ran away, disappearing into the woods as fast as her legs could carry her.

It didn’t take long for Sunset to find where Xandra had gone. Following the general direction she had ran off to, she eventually came to a small clearing, a rare part of the Haunted Woods that wasn’t perpetually shrouded in darkness and gloom. The afternoon sun shone down through the clearing from above, and as Sunset stepped in, she had to momentarily squint to adjust her eyes to the sudden light.

There, in the center of the clearing, was Xandra. She was sitting on a fallen log, face buried in her hands, her entire body shaking as she sobbed.

“Xandra?” Sunset approached, slowly, her stomach twisting itself in a knot as she took in the sight. She’d seen this exact scenario before… more than that, she’d experienced it.

Xandra looked up, turning towards Sunset. The fur on her cheeks was practically soaked.

“I thought I told you to stay away.”

“I know. And I’ve decided I’m not doing that.” Without another word, Sunset sat down on the log, right by Xandra’s side.

For several seconds, Xandra could only stare. Eventually, she turned away, not even bothering to meet Sunset’s eyes.

“…You’re such an idiot. You know you’re only putting yourself in danger by associating with me.”

“Well, you know what they say. In for a bit, in for a bale,” Sunset answered. She reached up, placing a hoof on Xandra’s shoulder. Xandra turned to face Sunset, her eyes still raw and bloodshot.

“…Tell me what happened.”

Xandra coarsely brushed Sunset’s hoof away. “Hmmph. I guess you do deserve to know. It’s only fair.” She breathed in, and a rough sigh pushed its way past her lips. “What Brynn said wasn’t an exaggeration. I really am the worst criminal in Faerieland’s history. It’s… hard not to be, after destroying the entire kingdom.”

Sunset could feel her jaw going limp as she stared back. “You… you what?”

A pained look crossed Xandra’s. She turned her eyes away once again.

“I told you I was a monster.”

“But… but how? And why!?”

Another sigh pushed its way past Xandra’s lips. “Right. I guess I should start from the beginning. When I was young, the faeries recognized that I had a particular talent for magic. Much more so than almost any other Neopet around. They decided to take me in, and before long I became something of a prodigal student of theirs.”

“…Right. In that memory of yours I saw, Queen Fyora referred to you as her student. She was the one who taught you?”

“Among others. But… yes,” Xandra answered. A smile formed across her lips, but it was devoid of any joy or humor. “It’s almost funny, when I think about it. How that was the memory you saw. Because looking back… I think that’s the very moment where it all started to go wrong.”

An understanding slowly began to dawn on Sunset. When she saw into Xandra’s memory, she could feel the anguish that had built within her, and the sheer disappointment she felt with the ones she had looked up to.

It only made sense, that this disappointment would coagulate, twisting and curdling into a bitter resentment. She knew that experience all too well.

“Over time, I started to realize the faeries were a lot more powerful than they let on,” Xandra continued. “Not only was nearly the entire study of magic in Neopia built on their teachings, they also kept the most potent magical secrets to themselves. They could practically reshape all of Neopia to their whims if they really wanted. And yet, despite being around for thousands of years… people have still suffered that whole time. War, hunger, poverty, famine… they could have ended all of those things forever. And they didn’t.”

“And you decided to take matters into your own hooves… hands, I mean.”

“In a manner of speaking,” said Xandra. “Something had to change, I thought. Nothing good would come from letting the faeries have such a monopoly on magic. So I started studying the Faerieland archives, looking for anything that could help me reclaim that power from them. And… I found it. The Mirrored Amulet, it was called. An artifact that could amplify its bearer’s magical abilities a thousandfold.”

“An amulet that amplifies the wielder’s magic?” That sounded… very familiar. Twilight had mentioned something like that in one of her letters once. “Did it have some kind of corrupting influence on your mind?”

Xandra gave another sigh, made heavy with the weight of a thousands regrets. “No. Unfortunately. Everything I did with its power, I did entirely of my own volition. And… and that terrifies me. I don’t know what it was but… the very moment I got my hands on it, my ambitions just… spiraled out of control. I suddenly had the power to do anything I wanted, and… and…”

Her words trailed off, and Xandra wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering softly.

“…and all the bitterness and resentment you’d built up over the years came pouring out,” Sunset finished. “Like a dam suddenly bursting, flooding your entire soul.”

Xandra’s eyes went wide. She turned towards Sunset and gawked.

“Wha…? How did you…?”

“I wasn’t hard to put together from what you told me,” said Sunset. “So what’s the part about destroying Faerieland? It seemed pretty intact when we were in that garden.”

“Only because it was rebuilt,” said Xandra. “It used to be a kingdom in the sky, built atop the clouds. But not anymore, thanks to me. The Mirrored Amulet. I… told you how I specialized in transmutation magic, right?”

“Yeah,” said Sunset. “Why?”

“Well, that’s exactly what I used to destroy Faerieland. Once the faeries were busy with their annual festival, I…” Xandra shuddered again. The memory was clearly not pleasant to recall. “…I performed a magic ritual that turned every single faerie alive to stone.”

Sunset’s eyebrows shot upwards. Yet despite her surprise, she continued listening intently. “And I’m guessing the faeries were maintaining some kind of spell to keep their kingdom airborne?”

Xandra nodded softly. “Exactly right. It would be a while before the spell failed completely, but… in the meantime, I had to deal with the other kingdoms sending their best soldiers and advisors to investigate. And since I had a reputation for being a powerful sorceress in my own right, I was called to investigate too. I anticipated that, of course. I knew they wouldn’t ever suspect me.”

“But something went wrong with your plan, right?”

A deep frown crawled its way across Xandra’s face. “One very big thing in particular. His name was Hanso.”

Sunset raised a single eyebrow, but said nothing else. Xandra took notice of the look on her face.

“…Right. You don’t know who he is. He was petty thief, as far as I was concerned. Apparently he had a bad reputation for stealing all kinds of valuable artifacts from Brightvale. I wouldn’t have factored him in at all… if it weren’t for the fact that he stole the Mirrored Amulet from right under my eyes. Before I could even use the Amulet for my ritual, he snuck into my mansion and took everything he could carry. By the time I saw him, he was already bolting out the door.

“That meant I had to improvise, and quickly. First, I used a glamour spell to disguise myself as Hubrid Nox. Nox was an infamous necromancer who had already tried to conquer Neopia multiple times. Given his track record, I knew he’d make a perfect patsy.

“Then, I followed any leads I could find on the stolen Amulet’s whereabouts. I had connections in the black markets of Neovia, and I knew a thief like him would try to unload his goods somewhere. Soon enough, I met Hanso in disguise, and bought the Amulet back. It didn’t matter to me how much money I lost taking back what was rightfully mine. I’d have everything I ever wanted soon enough.

“But that lying Ixi, he…”

As Xandra’s lips twisted into a bitter, hateful scowl, Sunset could see a flash of the rage and power in her eyes, the kind that could fell an entire nation. Without even thinking, Sunset flinched away.

Then, just as quickly as Xandra’s anger ignited, it faded away. Her shoulders slouched, as she leaned over held her head in her hands.

“No, I… I can’t be mad at him. As much as I want to, I just… can’t. Everything that happened to me after that was my fault.”

Sunset held her gaze steady at Xandra, but said nothing. Any judgment she could make was put off, for now.

“I completed the ritual near the Faerie Festival, still in disguise as Nox,” Xandra continued. “All of the faeries were petrified, with no one any the wiser. And from there, I got involved in the efforts to catch Nox, hoping to throw everyone off. But while we were off on a wild goose chase, evil spirits called wraiths began to manifest on Neopia. I later learned that they’d been trying to invade this plane of existence for centuries, kept away only by Queen Fyora’s protective wards.”

Sunset couldn’t stop herself from cringing at that.

“I know,” Xandra said with another sigh. “Just another way that I messed up. It didn’t matter to me, though. I’d already put so much effort into my plan, I couldn’t let it go to waste. I could still salvage something from it, I thought. Eventually, the group found information on the whereabouts of the second Mirrored Amulet.”

“There’s another one?” said Sunset.

“There was,” Xandra answered. “It’s not just called that because it had a reflective surface. The two Mirrored Amulets were reflections of each other, two parts of the same whole. I convinced the others that the second amulet would be able to undo the spell that I used the first one for. But in reality, I was planning on joining the two artifacts together, amplifying my own power so greatly that I’d be completely unstoppable. I could conquer Neopia by myself, and rule it the right way… or at least, that’s what I convinced myself.”

Sunset paused, letting the information roll around in her head.

“So your plan hinged upon securing a powerful artifact, which you believed would make you strong enough to take over the entire world? And you thought you deserved to have that power, because you didn’t think your mentor was using it responsibly?”

Xandra winced. Hearing it stated back to her so bluntly was clearly not pleasant for her.

“…That would be the short of it, yes.”

“I see,” said Sunset. “Sounds awfully familiar…”

That caught Xandra’s attention. “Hm? What do you mean?”

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it,” Sunset replied. “What happened after that? How did you get turned to stone?”

It took a moment for Xandra to answer. Her eyes grew dull and distant.

“…A product of my own hubris,” she finally said. “Once Faerieland had crashed to the ground, I used the completed Amulet to turn all of my so-called ‘allies’ to stone. The power that I had at that point was practically godlike at that point. The only ones I spared were Captain Brynn and Hanso, because I foolishly believed they’d see my point of view. I needed people who were resourceful, strong, and had a strong will. People who could help me rebuild Neopia into the world I had envisioned. Brynn refused, but Hanso accepted… or so I thought.”

“You thought?”

A harsh puff of air pushed its way out of Xandra’s nostrils.

“It was a trick. He offered to shake my hand… and when I did, he snatched one of the two Mirrored Amulets right out of my grasp. By the time I realized what was happening, it was too late. I tried again and again to turn him to stone, but he used his Mirrored Amulet to absorb all of my spells. Then, just before I could wring his neck with my bare hands, he plunged his dagger into the Amulet, releasing all of the magic at once. My own spell was turned back on us, turning both me and Hanso to stone. Unable to maintain my own magic, the faeries were freed from my spell, and Fyora decided to personally unpetrify Hanso for his bravery.”

Xandra exhaled sharply, and her entire body relaxed… though it was clear from her posture that the weight on her shoulders had not been lifted.

“So now you know. You know my story, and… you know exactly what I did.”

As Sunset slowly soaked in everything Xandra had just told her, a single question began to form at the forefront of her mind.

“There’s one more thing I need to know,” she said. Her voice lowered gravely as she spoke. “…How many?”

Xandra blinked. “How many… what?”

“I think you know exactly what I’m asking,” said Sunset. Her voice had a sharpened edge, moreso than she ever intended it to. “How many casualties. How many people died from all of this?”

Xandra recoiled from the question. She clearly didn’t want to think about it. Nevertheless, she gave her answer with a deep, protracted sigh.

“Well, um… zero. If you can believe it.”

“Really? Zero?” Sunset prodded. “From causing an entire kingdom to fall from the sky?”

Another pained look crossed Xandra’s face. “…Okay, maybe not zero,” she admitted. “There was Hubrid Nox, who I… personally killed. But given how much trouble he’s caused, I doubt anyone would have minded anyway. I’m fairly sure his ghost is still trying to conquer Neopia these days.”

“Oh,” said Sunset. “That’s… good? I think? Maybe?”

“Not really,” said Xandra. “I didn’t really have a good reason to do it. I just… I needed him out of the way, even if death was only a temporary inconvenience for someone like him.”

“And no one else died?” Sunset said. “You’re sure of that?”

“Yes. I am. I know it sounds hard to believe, but it’s true,” Xandra replied. She sniffled slightly, and wrapped her arms around her as she recounted the memory, a visible shudder running through her body. “I… All the faeries I had turned to stone were restored, and all the Neopets who lived in Faerieland were evacuated before it fell to the earth. It’s… it’s a miracle that more people weren’t hurt much more badly. It’s only through sheer dumb luck that I didn’t kill anyone else.”

“But that’s a good thing, though, isn’t it?” said Sunset. “That means that, whatever you might have done, you’re not a horrible mass murderer.”

“And WHAT difference does that make!?”

The sudden shout nearly knocked Sunset over with its force. Xandra stood up from the log, her bellowing voice pierced through the forest clearing like a sudden crack of thunder. Her fur stood on end as she stared down Sunset with bloodshot, tear-soaked eyes.

“Do you have any IDEA just what I was willing to do!? I was willing to sacrifice an entire kingdom’s worth of people! I… I COULD have killed them all, and it wouldn’t have even MATTERED to me!”

Everything went quiet. Xandra’s chest rose and fell, and she collapsed onto her backside once again, her entire body wracked with shuddering sobs.

For a long time — too long — Xandra simply remained there, crying softly. Sunset thought to say something, anything, but the dull ache in her chest silently suffocated any words she could utter.

Eventually, she finally managed to speak her mind.

“Xandra,” Sunset said firmly. “Listen to me.”

“Hm?”

“Don’t think too hard about how many people you could have hurt or killed,” Sunset continued. “Your past isn’t who you are today, and you’re definitely not the same person as a past that never happened. So don’t dwell too hard on how much worse you might have been, okay? Because you weren’t that bad, and you know it.”

“Small comfort,” Xandra muttered. Her eyes drifted towards the ground as she spoke. “It wasn’t for a lack of trying.”

Sunset sat in silence. Slowly, she reached up and rested a hoof on Xandra’s shoulder, and this time she didn’t bother to brush it away. The sound of her ragged breaths loomed over the clearing, echoing into the darkness.

Eventually, Xandra spoke, barely above a whisper. “...I was still awake, you know. The entire time I was petrified. Flesh to stone spells aren’t meant to leave the targets conscious. But I wasn’t petrified by my spell, I was petrified by it backfiring on me.”

Sunset winced sympathetically. Given what she knew about magic, that could only mean one thing. “And because of that, the effect was incomplete.”

“Exactly,” said Xandra. “It… it imprisoned my body, but left my mind and soul awake. For over a decade, I couldn’t do anything but watch the world around me, unable to move or speak.” She exhaled sharply, shuddering slightly as she did.

Sunset felt her heart drop. The pang of sympathy within her chest rapidly grew, until it felt like a rail spike that pierced straight through her torso.

“Y-you were petrified and conscious for over ten years!?”

Xandra nodded gravely.

“H-how? How did you not end up losing your mind?”

“I don’t know. But I feel like I very nearly did,” Xandra said. “I had to keep my mind occupied, or I’d go mad with boredom. And most of the time, that meant reflecting on myself. Thinking about what I’d done, and where it had all gone wrong. I… I couldn’t escape it. The guilt. The weight of my sins, bearing down on me.” She shuddered softly, and another tear fell from the corner of her eye. “It… it was torture. And worse, it was torture that I deserved.”

“That’s not true and you know it.”

“Wha…?” Xandra balked. “What are you talking about? I just admitted to you that I—”

“No. You listen to me.” Sunset’s voice cut in forcefully, halting Xandra’s words in their tracks. She met her eyes with a renewed determination of her own. “I don’t care what you did. Being turned to stone is one thing, but turned to stone while conscious? Having to endure that kind of isolation? No one deserves that.”

Xandra’s eyes held steady at Sunset, her expression frozen in shock. Her mouth briefly opened, then closed again.

“You… you actually believe that, don’t you?”

“Of course I do,” Sunset answered. “You were already incapable of hurting anyone as a statue. There’s literally nothing to be gained from making you suffer on top of that.”

Xandra continued to stare. There was a disbelief written clear across her features, and yet… there was also the beginnings of an understanding. She turned away, her eyes drifting once again to the ground.

“…I suppose I can see your reasoning there,” she admitted. “Still… It’s just… it’s hard for me to accept that, after everything.”

“I understand the feeling,” said Sunset. “Trust me, I really do.”

“I somehow doubt that,” said Xandra. “I just… I don’t know. I wish I could take it all back. But even if I found some way of traveling back in time, the knowledge of what I did would still haunt me forever.”

Xandra gave another sigh. She’d been doing that a lot lately, and Sunset couldn’t blame her.

“Don’t get me wrong, I still think the faeries should have done more to share their magic. But...”

“You think you took it too far.”

A snort escaped from Xandra’s nostrils. “That’s an understatement. Half the reason I was mad at her was that Fyora didn’t lift a finger against Neopia’s worst evils. Sloth, Captain Scarblade, the Monoceraptor… they all terrorized countless people, and the faeries were strong enough to stop them all easily. But they didn’t.”

“I can see what you mean,” said Sunset. “There’s a saying in my world: all it takes for evil to triumph is for good ponies to do nothing.”

“I wouldn’t call them good,” Xandra said. “More like they were complicit. I… wanted to punish them for that, among other things.” She paused, and her eyes trailed once again away from Sunset’s, staring distantly at the horizon. Her lips drew tightly together, into a deep frown.

“But I was so caught up in my own idea of setting things right, that I didn’t even realize I’d become something worse than complicit. Thousands of people lost their homes because of me. Not just faeries, but the Neopets who lived in Faerieland too. They might have been able to evacuate in time, but I still destroyed everything they had. All while I convinced myself I was helping them.”

As they sat there, side-by-side, neither of them said anything. The silence of each other’s company spoke more than words ever could.

But eventually, the sorrow in Xandra’s eyes began to fade away, becoming something sharper, harder, more piercing.

“…And do you want to know what the worst part of all of this is?”

“Um…”

“When it was all over, when I was left by myself to gather moss, Fyora mourned me,” said Xandra, her face beginning to twist into a scowl. Her gaze intensified even more sharply, smoldering with the embers of a rage that was once hotter than the sun. “Every so often, she’d stop by my statue and plant flowers. Bring me news from the rest of Neopia. She grieved. But she didn’t have to grieve, because I WASN’T DEAD!”

Sunset instinctively flinched away, as her companion suddenly raised her voice. Xandra’s anger burned brighter now, and a chill ran down Sunset’s spine as she saw a glimpse of a face that could destroy an entire nation.

“At any time — any time she wanted — she could have set me free! She could have undone the petrification easily! I spent over ten years being trapped as a statue! So why did she actlike she cared about me so much, if was she just going to leave me to my fate!? Did she think I couldn’t be forgiven!? Was she afraid of me!? Why would she go out of her way to tell me how much she missed me!? Why do that, if she was just going to LEAVE me there!?”

By now, Xandra was trembling with her entire body, and just as quickly as her anger ignited, it sputtered out and extinguished. “I don’t… I just don’t understand. I don’t…”

Sunset reached up and place a hoof on Xandra’s shoulder again, feeling her breath slowly steady itself out. Eventually, Xandra turned to look Sunset Shimmer in the eyes, her own eyes glistening with tears.

“Sunset… why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?”

“Trying to make me feel better,” Xandra said. “You know exactly what I did. Why are you acting like I deserve your pity? Is it because you weren’t there? Do you just not grasp how bad I really was?”

“I mean… maybe,” said Sunset. Slowly, a smile worked its way across her muzzle. “But it’s more that I’d be a massive hypocrite if I judged you for your checkered past.”

“...Huh?”

“I might not have let on it, but I used an absolutely horrible person,” Sunset said. “Just utterly and completely rancid. You have no idea.”

Xandra scoffed. “I somehow doubt you did anything like destroying an entire kingdom.”

“Does stealing the single most powerful magical artifact known to Equestria count?” said Sunset. “Or using said artifact to hypnotize a bunch of kids into an army of thralls to conquer the world?”

“I…” Xandra blinked rapidly. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Oh yeah, and I also turned into a demon. That’s not a metaphor, I was very literally a she-demon for bit.”

For several seconds, Xandra could do nothing but stare blankly. Her mouth moved silently, her brain evidently struggling to piece together a reply.

“…You are entirely too comfortable with admitting all of that.”

“Look, I’m just saying, I can sympathize. Everything you’re feeling right now? I’ve been there. I know how awful it feels. That’s exactly why I’m not going to turn my back on you.”

“Oh. That’s… Um…” Xandra blinked, several times. It was the look of someone who’s train of thought had suddenly broken down. “…Thank you, I suppose.”

Despite everything, Sunset found herself smiling. “Hey, what are friends for?”

Xandra continued to stare blankly. Somehow, that statement had caught her even more off-guard.

“…I’m sorry, could you go back to the part about you turning into a demon?”

“Ah. Right. That. It’s, uh… it’s a long story.” Sunset could feel a deep tension building up within her, as the memories of her past flooded the front of her mind.

As much as she tried to be comfortable with herself, that tension, that schism between her past and present, never quite managed to fade. Perhaps it was because that schism was far less profound than she’d like to think. ‘My past is not today,’ she had told herself, but that didn’t change the fact that her ‘today’ was built on her past.

Xandra had taken immediate notice of Sunset’s discomfort, evident by the concern that was painted across her face. “It’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“No. No, it’s fine,” Sunset reassured. “I was the one who brought it up to begin with. And… I feel like if we’re gonna be friends, you should know what happened.”

Xandra nodded silently. The stiffness in her posture gradually began to melt away as she sat by Sunset’s side listening intently.

“Like I said before, I was… a personal student of Princess Celestia’s. But the fact of the matter is, she was basically family to me, too,” Sunset explained. “I never knew my parents, and as a filly I had made a living doing performance magic on the streets of Canterlot. A street urchin, you could say.”

Xandra looked Sunset in the eye, a hint of horror crossing her eyes. “Your kingdom didn’t have a foster care program?”

“I mean, it did. A very good one, actually,” Sunset answered. “I could have gone to a foster family, but… I honestly don’t know. I guess I just thought it was shameful to look for help, even though I could have easily found it. Though really, I was… honestly pretty well off, for a homeless kid.” Her voice turned dour as her mind flashed forward, to much less pleasant experiences of homelessness later in life. “Certainly much more than I was in the human world.”

Xandra’s eyebrows subtly moved upwards. She didn’t show it much, but it was easy to tell that she was deeply concerned.

“Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself,” said Sunset. “Point is, I was making of living on the streets. When I wasn’t doing tricks for money, I was going to the local public library to read books on magic. It helped me develop my craft, and… eventually, I got an idea. Princess Celestia was going to feature in a parade one day, and I decided that I’d try to show off my magic in front of her, to see if I could impress her.”

A wistful smile worked its way across Sunset’s face, as she continued.

“Almost got in big trouble with the Royal Guard for interrupting the procession. But it worked. Celestia was impressed, and she saw such promise in me that she decided to take me as a student. And… I guess in hindsight, she probably also wanted to give me a home. I… honestly can’t imagine where I’d be now, if it weren’t for her kindness and generosity.”

“So that’s how you became her student,” said Xandra. “How did you… fall out with her?”

Sunset’s smile vanished. She tensed, briefly, trying to consider how to best explain it. Where would she even begin?

“It’s, um… like I said, it’s complicated. There were a lot of things that just… didn’t really click for me, with being her student. I loved the Princess dearly, I really did, but… I just. I kind of felt like I was… not really being told what she wanted from me, you know? I know she was just trying to help me, but she really just was never straightforward about what she expected me to become, as her student. Would I be given a diploma? An honorary degree at the University of Canterlot? Would I continue studying under her, until the day I died? I really had no idea, and it bothered me that I didn’t. But I just… didn’t know how to ask her, I guess.

“And it all came to a head when I met someone named Princess Cadence. She was a former pegasus who accomplished some great deed, and harnessed an ancient magic to become an alicorn. The first new alicorn in over a thousand years, and the third to appear since Equestria’s founding. She was given a royal title and a crown, and… and my immediate first thought was, what if that’s what Princess Celestia wanted from me? What if becoming an alicorn was the destiny she’d had in mind for me, from the very beginning?”

Xandra gave Sunset a curious look. “You were jealous of this Princess Cadence?”

Sunset winced. “Um… well, not yet. Not at first. I genuinely thought I was going to become an alicorn princess like her, if I just kept studying. And I thought that, once I did become an alicorn, I’d be able to help people. With the power of an immortal super-pony, I’d be capable of curing diseases, ending hunger and war, and creating infinite clean energy for Equestria’s burgeoning industries. That sort of thing. At least, that’s what I told myself. And I genuinely thought I’d be a force for good in the world.

“But then, months passed, and I made no more progress towards ascension. Months became seasons, and seasons became years. I was only ten when I convinced myself I’d become an alicorn, and before long I was a frustrated teenager. By that point, I’d started to realize that I probably wasn’t getting what I wanted, and for the life of me I couldn’t understand why.”

“And you blamed Princess Celestia for it,” said Xandra.

Sunset let out a sigh. “Yeah. I… I said before that I was frustrated with how she was… not exactly straightforward with me, sometimes. I just knew that she had to know what my ultimate purpose in life would end up being. Given how old she was, how could she not? But she wouldn’t tell me what it was. And I became more and more convinced that, whatever she wanted me to be, it wasn’t an alicorn.

“And then I discovered the Magic Mirror. At that point, it hadn’t been forced permanently open yet — the original enchantment would only allow passage between worlds once every thirty moons.But it had a secondary enchantment, it… for whatever reason, its reflection could show you your heart’s truest desire. And it showed me everything that I thought Celestia had been denying me.”

Sunset’s eyes turned away, as she recalled what was now, without a doubt, the single worst day of her life. The day that she had burned all of her remaining bridges, and turned her back on her entire world. She could feel a moisture beginning to form in the corner of her eye.

“At that point, I’d completely forgotten why I wanted to be an alicorn in the first place. I wanted to be powerful, because I thought I could help everyone. But I was driven to such obsession with that power, that I totally forgot what I was going to use it for. The power, it… it became the entire point. And once I concluded that Princess Celestia was the one thing standing in my way, I betrayed everything that I once cared about.”

A deep, powerful understanding twinkled in the very depths of Xandra’s eye. She spoke nothing, but the way she gazed at Sunset said everything she needed to know

Another sigh came from Sunset’s throat. “I… based on my research on the mirror, I found out that the human world had a sort of… amplifying effect on magic. Because magic was entirely foreign to that universe, there were no natural forces to counterbalance it. So anyone with magic would find it vastly more powerful than normal. I figured that if I went there, I’d finally have what it takes to ascend.

“But… I miscalculated. When I entered the human world, the mirror also transformed me into a human, and that meant losing all of my unicorn magic. For another two and a half years, I was forced to live as just… some homeless punk teenager. I had to squat in an abandoned apartment just because there was nothing else for me there. No identification papers, no known history, and nobody who even knew or cared that I existed. It was rough. Real rough.”

Xandra shot Sunset a sympathetic look. “Wow… that sounds awful. You were really all alone there? In an alien world you knew nothing about?”

“Yeah. But I didn’t let that curb my ambitions,” said Sunset. “If anything, it only made me more determined to prove myself. It was like… like I couldn’t stand the thought of letting this new world defeat me. So I attended the local school, and started ruthlessly clawed my way up the social ladder. Turning people against each other, manipulating them, and then discarding them when they were no longer useful to me. I didn’t really have a good reason at that point. I just… couldn’t stand the thought that I was so powerless, I guess. So I seized on whatever small power I could find.

“Either way, I wasn’t going to be stuck there forever, and that gave me the drive to keep going. The portal eventually opened again. When I returned to my own world, I discovered that in the time since I left, another pony had ascended to become an alicorn. Her name was Twilight Sparkle, and she was Princess Celestia’s new personal student.”

Immediately, Xandra physically winced. “Oh… oh no.”

“…Yeah. I was pretty upsetabout that, as you can imagine. But I didn’t let it get to me for long. As it turned out, Twilight had somehow managed to bond with the Element of Magic, which was the key to her ascension.”

“The Element of Magic?”

“…Right. I guess you don’t know what that is,” said Sunset. “It’s not really an ‘element’ in the traditional sense. The Element of Magic is sort of a magical artifact, but it’s also much more than that. It’s like a kind of… physical embodiment, of the abstract concept of peace and understanding. More importantly, it’s also the centerpiece of the six legendary Elements of Harmony, which are the most powerful known anything in my world. And the day that I decided to return to my world, Twilight had decided to leave the Element of Magic on her bedside table. Completely unguarded.

“What followed from there was… well, it was mostly a bunch of nonsense that I didn’t really care for. But what mattered was that it ended with me placing the Element of Magic atop my head, and…”

Sunset paused. It had been a while since she really thought about the specifics of what happened that day. From her own perspective, it was a blur of rage and power, ending in a burst of rainbow light that washed over her entire being.

“…I still don’t really know the details of how it happened,” she continued. “But the best I could figure was that the Element of Magic… peered into my soul, somehow, and transformed me into some kind of reflection of my innermost self. My whole life at that point was resentment and rage and lust for power. It… didn’t so much turn me into a demon, so much as it made me into what I already was on the inside.”

“And what happened next?” said Xandra.

“Well… like I said, I tried to brainwash everyone at the school I was attending. Used my magic to turn them into an army of thralls. Not a very strong army, mind. They were just kids for the most part, but I didn’t really even need them. I just… did it just to prove that I could, and that there was no one alive who could stop me.”

Sunset sighed heavily, as a deep, powerful malaise began building up within the center of her chest. It felt like her soul was being smothered, choked by the regrets that she had tried so hard to put behind her.

“I… I hate to think about what would have happened if I wasn’t stopped. Definitely nothing good. By that point, I was more than willing to kill anyone who stood in my way to get what I wanted. And I was powerful enough that I could have burned all of Equestria to the ground by myself. I probably would have, too.”

Xandra’s eyes gleamed with curiosity. Her scholarly side had clearly taken over by this point.

“And how were you stopped? If this ‘Element of Magic’ is as strong as you say, you make it sound like you were completely invincible.”

“Well… no,” said Sunset. “It was Twilight and her friends who ultimately stopped me. Like I said before, the Element of Magic represents the power of Harmony itself. Trying to use it for conquest like I was goes against its very nature. There’s a reason she was the one who bonded to it, and not me.”

“So Twilight was able to turn the Element of Magic’s power against you?”

“That’s what I figure happened,” said Sunset. “Again, I’m still not certain on the details. There’s… a lot people don’t know about how Elements of Harmony work, much less how they work when brought into a completely new universe. But Twilight… she was somehow able to use the bond she had with her friends to draw out the Element of Magic’s true power. The next thing I knew, I was lying in a crater and sobbing my eyes out.”

Xandra paused, her lips pursed in thought as she tried to figure what to make of the story.

“…I see,” she said. “At least you weren’t turned to stone?”

“Well. I… wouldn’t say what I suffered was anywhere near as bad as you,” said Sunset. “But I wouldn’t call it pleasant, either. It’s… it’s difficult to describe what it felt like. Feeling the Element’s power wash over me felt like…” She paused, trying to find the right words to explain what it was she had experienced that day. “…like my entire soul was laid bare before me, and I could suddenly see everything I had let myself become. All of the pettiness, all of the vindictive cruelty, all of the pride and ego and everything else. I saw what I was, and what I would continue to be if I kept going down that path.”

Sunset couldn’t stop herself from wincing, as the terrible half-formed thoughts and emotions she felt that day flashed through the back of her mind.

“Needless to say, I… didn’t like it.”

“And what happened after that? I can’t see everything just going back to normal for you.”

“I… well, a lot of things happened,” said Sunset. “I was never officially apprehended for my crimes. For one, I was just a kid… and I guess I still am, if you’re going solely by human standards.”

Xandra’s brow shot skyward. What Sunset just admitted seemed to surprise her more than anything else she’d just said.

“Wait, you’re still not even an adult yet!?”

Sunset grimaced. She reached up with a hoof, and awkwardly tugged at her geode necklace. “Um… well, I am and I’m not. It’s… it’s complicated. Please don’t ask me to elaborate on that, it gets really weird.”

That answer didn’t seem to satisfy Xandra at all, but Sunset wasn’t about to belabor the point.

“Anyway,” Sunset said with a cough. “Most people in the human world still didn’t think magic existed at that point, so they couldn’t just charge me for things that no jury would believe. But it certainly was difficult for anyone to look at me the same way after that.”

“…I can imagine,” said Xandra.

“…Yeah,” said Sunset. “It was Twilight who ultimately gave me what I needed to stand back on my feet. She… I really can’t thank her enough, for her kindness and understanding. Even after she saw me at my absolute worst, she was willing to give me another chance. Because of her, I was eventually able to turn myself around. It was rough, but… I think I was able to find my way, despite everything.”

For several moments, Xandra could only stare. Her eyes were pleading, desperate for an answer, and it didn’t take long for her to ask the question.

“And everyone… they all forgave you for what you did?”

“Well… not everyone,” said Sunset. There was a deep discomfort in her chest, as she told the truth she’d had such a hard time accepting. “I… I know that Twilight did. The others… not so much. It took me almost a year to earn the forgiveness of Twilight’s other friends. And it wasn’t until I saved the human world from another magical disaster that most others started to accept me. There are still some people who don’t really trust me, or magic in general. And I can’t blame them, to be honest.”

Xandra’s eyes sagged, weighed down by disappointment and sorrow.

“I was afraid of that,” she muttered. “There’s no chance anyone could forgive me for what I did. I’m already one of the most infamous villains in Neopia’s history. And the faeries… I know that they can hold grudges for a long time.”

Sunset hesitated. She wasn’t sure how to answer, and it was difficult to find the words. It took her a moment to finally manage a response.

“I mean… I guess? Maybe?” Sunset said. “But maybe… maybe it’s also too soon to give up on yourself. Sure, not everyone will forgive you. Many won’t. But isn’t it still worth trying to become a better person, regardless?”

Xandra gave a snort. “Please. Who would possibly believe that I’ve ‘become a better person’ after all of this?”

“I believe it.”

The answer struck Xandra like a slap to the face. For not the first time, she could only stare at Sunset blankly.

Finally, much to Sunset’s surprise, a smile worked its way across Xandra’s face. It was a gentle, sincere smile, much unlike the expressions she typically wore.

“You… really are something, you know that?” she said. “Never in my life did I think there’d be anyone willing to give me a second chance.”

“Like I said,” Sunset answered with a grin. “I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t.”

“Heh. You know what? That’s entirely fair.” Xandra stood up, brushing off her dress as she rose to her feet. “We should go. You still have a home to find, and we’ve already stayed in one place too long.”

“…Right. That spell on Brynn’s probably going to wear off soon, if it hasn’t already,” said Sunset. “And it was only that effective in the first place because I caught her off guard. With how strong her will is, I don’t think it’ll work on her again.”

“All the more reason for us to get moving,” said Xandra. “Follow me. I’ll lead the way to Brightvale.”

Sunset nodded, and the two left the clearing, making their way through the Woods as they set off, in search of whatever answers they would find.

Author's Note

Oooof, this one was a hard one to get out. I intended to have it written at the beginning of the year, but being laid off from my old job put a wrench in my plans and forced me to focus on other things. Not to mention that it's a very long one, too, on account of it being a pretty lengthy backstory dump for both of our main characters.

In any case, this story's still alive, and I do plan to finish it hopefully soon. Plus the job I have now actually pays quite significantly better than my previous one, so that's a plus.