Sunset Shimmer walked through a hallway towards Princess Celestia's personal chambers in deep thought. She had decided to ask the princess directly if Daybreaker could tutor her for the next meeting.

Ever since her talk and lesson with the advisor, she had noticed a significant difference between the way the fiery mare and the princess taught her. This was something that she realized the moment they started the session.

Compared to Princess Celestia, Daybreaker seemed a lot more open and... 'informal', the student supposed, when she teaches. Sunset silently admitted that the princess can be a bit too by-the-books and frustratingly cryptic sometimes. The excitement that she gets whenever she figured out the answer or meaning of a lesson based on the vague clues she had been given was enjoyable, sure, but there's just something about the way the flaming alicorn taught her that felt a lot more... preferable.

'Not like how I expected, like, at all...'

Prior to the lesson itself, Sunset had expected the blazing mare to be pretty standoffish in the way she would articulate the subject matter. It wasn't just mere speculation, as the advisor does act rather formally to the other inhabitants of the castle. Even referring to the yet-to-be coronated Cadance as 'Princess Cadance'. She thought that Daybreaker would have been one of those 'do as I say or you'll fail' kind of teacher.

To her genuine surprise, however, Daybreaker's demeanor was almost the exact opposite from what she thought. The—presumably—elder alicorn was actually quite jovial and oddly casual about the entire ordeal, frequently making jokes and witty remarks all the way until the end of the session. And earlier into the lesson, she had told her to forgo any formalities between them, up to the point of making up potential nicknames for each other.

It was only when Princess Celestia visited them that she went back to calling her 'Miss Shimmer'.

'She called me Shimmy, so what do I call her? Daysie? Breaky? DB?'

It was quite a surreal experience, really, to see such an intimidating and powerful individual act so carefree. Just another surprise from many others.

Sunset couldn't help but admire the mare for that. For a significant part of her life, she had always tried to keep up with her status as 'the princess' personal student', which had affected her ego greatly. She was proud of being the absolute best, and she's not afraid of showing it!

But then came Daybreaker, a pony who could likely rival Princess Celestia in terms of power and knowledge, who acts like a, well, normal pony. Despite her commanding presence and intimidating aura, with the way she acted, one would think she was once just an average, everyday pony.

This made Sunset stop and think for some time right after they parted ways. She thought back to the vision the mirror showed her and her attempts at trying to pry information out of the princess.

All of that time planning, studying, scheming... everything swept away just by three simple words from Daybreaker.

'Friendship and Harmony...' Sunset recalled.

It truly was a revelation. All this time, she thought that Princess Celestia had been holding her back, that her destiny had been stolen from her by that prissy pink princess.

But it wasn't the case at all. The princess never had control over it, and Cadance didn't even want to become an alicorn, nor was she even aware that whatever she did had made her worthy. It was all due to the will of an unknowable force that ties the very foundations of Equestria together.

And Daybreaker was more than willing to share knowledge about it with her.

It didn't take long for Sunset to reassess her perspective on the prospect of alicornhood ever since that fateful day. The mirror showed her destiny, she was sure of it, but perhaps she had been taking the wrong approach to reaching it.

Challenging herself by studying sophisticated magic and various other forms of essential knowledge to prepare herself if- when she becomes an alicorn was all well and good, but it wouldn't be worth diddly squat if 'Harmony' didn't see her as being worthy.

And to become worthy, she needed...

"Friendship... ugh..." the student muttered.

Based on what Daybreaker had told her, if a pony wishes to 'gain Harmony's favor', then they would need to actively partake in activities that help maintain or even spread its influence, like making friends. Evidently, everything that Sunset has done up to this point in time hadn't been very harmonious. Heck, she's probably even farther from being harmonious than she would have thought.

And that's exactly why she needed Daybreaker.

While Sunset knew that Princess Celestia would certainly be more than happy to guide her towards what she would likely consider to be a 'brighter path' if she asked, her pride wouldn't let her do so. There was something about admitting she was wrong to the solar monarch that didn't sit well with her.

She also couldn't just start being all buddy-buddy with other ponies out of nowhere, and especially the ones from CSGU. While Sunset had isolated herself from interacting with her peers, she wasn't totally inept in social interactions either. She knew that they'd be pretty suspicious of her sudden change of heart after years of actively mocking and belittling them. She needed to approach this carefully, lest she ended up making everything harder than it should be.

With those two options off the list, Sunset only had two possible others left. Cadance, who had been trying to be friends with her and also appeared to be well-versed in making friends, or Daybreaker, the pony who seemed to know the ins and outs of how Harmony works, along with what the student assumed to be centuries worth of knowledge relating to it.

Considering her less than amicable, yet somewhat mending relations with the youngest alicorn, Daybreaker was pretty much the best and only option for her goals.

'And then what happened a few days ago...'

The event that everypony in Canterlot referred to as the 'Sonic Flameboom'. Based on the legendary phenomenon that it resembled, the Sonic Rainboom.

Yet again the advisor from beyond Equestria baffled every single pony around her. Based on Sunset's own studies on Equestrian history, such a feat had been considered impossible for millennia, with sparse records claiming that Commander Hurricane had executed but a single one prior to Hearth's Warming.

What was the most notable thing about the event, at least to her, was the reason behind the Flameboom itself.

Daybreaker hadn't done it on purpose, it wasn't a show of power or dominance, nor was it the result of some competition, no.

It was a byproduct of Daybreaker pushing herself to her absolute limits in an attempt at saving the lives of three ponies. It was merely an accident, and nothing more.

And it was this very event that caused, as far as Sunset knew, everypony who is aware of the advisor's existence to change their view on her.

Daybreaker may not have noticed it, but prior to the Flameboom, most of Canterlot's populace saw her with incredibly high amounts of suspicion and fear. An alicorn who appeared to be just as old as the princess herself and came out of pretty much nowhere suddenly became the royal advisor. To top it all off she looked like she emerged from the deepest depths of Tartarus itself.

And yet, with a single act of what most would consider to be a selfless sacrifice, everypony now saw her as a hero.

That, along with the Flameboom and her talk with Daybreaker, was the final straw for Sunset. She was now more determined to achieve her goal of alicornhood than she ever was. After all, who wouldn't want to be like Daybreaker? A mighty, powerful pony who is admired and respected, all while staying humble and respectful to those around her.

And if that meant that Sunset would need to make friends with the entirety of Equestria, then by Cel- ah, by Harmony, she'll do it!

She'll become the friendliest, nicest, coolest, most awesome, and dare she say, the most badass alicorn to ever exist! None of that prissy princess stuff! She'll go around Equestria, saving the day like a superhero! And she'll wear one of those cool studded jackets! With sunglasses! And she'll learn how to play an electric guitar because only badass ponies play those!

Sunset giggled excitedly to herself as she neared the doors to Princess Celestia's room, "And it all starts with this."

She knocked a hoof on the door and called, "Uh, princess, could I talk to you for a moment?"

The sounds of paper being scratched by quills and shuffled around could be heard from the other side. Not long after, a muffled voice replied.

"Come in!"

Shrugging to herself, the student proceeded to open the door with her turquoise magic and entered before stopping mid way as she saw what was inside.

Sitting on either side of a large circular table in the middle of the room were Princess Celestia and Daybreaker. Both of them appeared to be doing some paperwork together, as evident from the three stacks on the advisor's side and an extra large inkwell along with another stack close to the princess.

'Welp, didn't plan for her to be here...'

The two looked up from their respective tasks towards the newcomer, with Celestia giving her a smile.

"Hello, Sunset. I am so sorry for this mess, it's been rather busy recently."

Sunset waved a hoof, "Oh, uh, that's fine."

The princess nodded before placing a quill back in the inkwell, "So, what is it that you wish to talk about, my dear student?"

The young mare took a quick glance at Daybreaker, "Um, well, I've been thinking... maybe... Miss Daybreaker... could teach me... for the next meeting...?" she asked slowly and carefully.

A moment passed in silence as Sunset waited for Celestia's reply. Daybreaker had put her own papers down and stared at her with an unreadable expression, which only made her feel more anxious.

The monarch happily clapped her hooves, "That sounds like a wonderful idea!"

Sunset and, oddly enough, Daybreaker gave her a confused and suprised look.

"It is?" the two asked.

"Of course! Why, I'm quite surprised it took you this long to ask, Sunset. Seeing as the two of you seem to be quite fond of each other." Celestia continued.

"Huh? no- I mean! uh- I-" the student stammered

Daybreaker gave the princess another confused look, and noticed that there was a glint of... something, in her eyes.

"Why you little..." the advisor murmured.

Celestia covered a chuckle with a hoof, "Oh? did you really think I would disagree to such an opportunity? I know for sure Daybreaker has collected quite an impressive amount of knowledge during her travels, isn't that right?" she turned to her advisor with a discreet wink.

Daybreaker sat up straighter, "Ah." she cleared her throat, "Yes, well... while I'm sure some of it would be beneficial for her, I don't believe most of it would be of use..."

The princess waved a hoof dismissively, "Oh, nonsense! I think it would be good for Sunset to learn more about what lies beyond Equestria. I admit, I am not very well-versed in that particular subject myself, so I believe that you're the perfect teacher for it." she insisted happily.

The flaming mare looked between Sunset, who was trying—and failing—to hide her anticipation, and Celestia, who gave her an encouraging nod along with a smile.

Daybreaker let out her characteristic sigh, "Very well... if you truly think that I could lend a hoof in Miss Shimmer's education, then I'll do it."

She leaned in closer to the princess and whispered, "But you're going to have to share half of that strawberry cheesecake when we're done."

Celestia's eyes widened. She paused for a moment before taking a deep breath and looking at Daybreaker resolutely.

"D-deal." she answered with a slight waver to her voice.

The advisor raised an eyebrow and gave her a nod, "Alright then."

She turned to Sunset, who was giving her an awkward smile, "Come, I think I have an idea on what our next lesson should be."

The young prodigy's smile turned genuine, "Lead the way!" she excitedly replied as the two exited the room.

Once the door was closed, Celestia looked towards the stacks of paper that held important bits of future-altering information that Daybreaker had deemed important enough for both of them to go through.

She brought up one very important—at least to her—sheet of paper. This particular sheet held information regarding Sunset's future, or rather, futures. All organized into a flowchart of decisions that lead to different potential timelines.

The solar monarch sighed as she recalled what Daybreaker had told her earlier today.

'Running away to the world beyond that mirror... I knew something had changed ever since I showed it to her, but I didn't think it would end up like that.'

Supposedly, Sunset and her had a falling out some time in the future, caused by a growing amount of resentment from the young mare due to the princess' incessant need to withhold information from her student.

Fortunately, Daybreaker decided to deal with it first before anything went awry, and had been attempting to lead Sunset towards a better path during their meeting together.

This was the primary reason why Celestia had agreed with her student's request. She had witnessed first-hoof just how effective her future self was at convincing the admittedly stubborn pony to change her ways, as evident from how Sunset went from utterly despising Cadance to mostly tolerating her, along with her being generally less... snooty, towards other ponies who isn't the princess herself.

Sure, it didn't seem like much at first, but the fact that such a prominent change had occurred at all in such a short period of time was quite impressive. Even considering the fact that Daybreaker likely hadn't interacted with Sunset for quite some time, as shown by her trepidation when asked to teach the young prodigy.

'I know I should be the one doing most of the work, since she is my student, but whatever it is Daybreaker's doing is working spectaculary. I'm afarid I'll ruin all her efforts...'

She shook her head and placed the sheet back on its own stack before setting the entire thing in front of her.

"Maybe I should start with a few of these myself."

Author's Note

Okay, before anybody says anything, we'll be going through Daybreaker's persepective and her little adventure with Sunset next chapter, okay? Cool.

I hope Sunset and Celestia's motivations made sense. I admit that I don't think I'm good at deep introspections like these, so I just tried to reference it from how my own mind would process such things. I apologize if it made Shimmy and Celly look silly.

Also! Ever since this story blew up, my mind has been overflowing with countless ideas for other HiE and isekai-style stories. So I would appreciate it if some of you could take the time to share your thoughts on this blog post.

Anyway, that's all for this chapter, I hope you're still enjoying the story so far!

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"