Sunset sighed as she put her guitar down, she was grateful that the rooms had silence enchantments as long as the doors were closed to activate them. It had been giving her time to play in peace without disturbing the others when she couldn’t sleep since getting here. Usually it was before bed when she would play until she was so exhausted she would trudge into her room and collapse into bed before having dreams of Daphne or those eyes bathed in fire. Tonight was different as she actually managed to get a couple hours of sleep before she ended up awake again, worried about her new friends.

She couldn’t deny it, they were her friends and she loved them as family. She couldn’t help worrying that she had let her heart get attached too fast and open up to these girls. She did though and now she was very worried as the night before proved that the Trix just weren’t going to leave them alone. It made Sunset worry for their safety as some of them would be easier to pick off than others right now as they were powerful, but they didn’t have a lot of experience. She now realized just how lucky they had been back at the siege on CHS before she came here.

“That was awesome!” Musa quietly cheered startling Sunset out of her thoughts, looking up to find Musa still in her sleep clothes of a red tank top and sweatpants with music notes.

“Thanks.” Sunset said, a little bit of pride in her voice as the one most likely to critique her music the harshest was the actual fairy of rhythm and tunes, or music depending on who was asked as Musa not only seemed more than adept with any music, but also dance as well covering the rhythm part of her title.

“No, really, that was awesome! I was going to get a drink before I head out to my dance routine.” Musa smiled, “I happened to catch you playing and it blew me away. You seem so good at everything that I was wondering if you could really play that good or was just learning.”

“Someone I once knew taught me a lot of it and I just picked up the rest. I just had a knack for it.” Sunset grinned, “Maybe the fairy of music blessed me or something.”

“Don’t even joke like that!” Musa groaned, “You have no idea how many people have asked me to bless them when they find out I’m the fairy of music. What? They can’t grasp the concept that I’m more or less like them, not a goddess or something.”

“Sorry Musa.” Sunset said, realizing she hit a sore spot with the girl.

“Don’t be sorry.” Musa grinned, “Anyways, I’m going to grab that drink and change so I can head to the dance hall for my routines before the others get up.”

“Do you mind the company?” Sunset asked as she carefully put her guitar back in her case.

“Not at all, it would be nice to have someone with me. I hate going this morning because nobody else is around.” Musa shivered, “I’ve been to palaces, castles and so many other places when nobody else is around and the only place to give me the total creeps is a school. Go figure.”

“I need to limber up myself. Plus, I kind of wanted to talk to you about something.” Sunset said.

“Sure, we can talk during warm-ups. I’ll meet you back out here soon.” Musa said as Sunset picked up her guitar case and returned it to her room and changed into something a bit easier to move and dance in.

A half hour later found Sunset stumbling for the third time in five minutes doing a routine Musa showed her. To be honest, Sunset expected the girl to be doing breakdancing or something, not ballet which was what was giving Sunset so much trouble. She wasn’t a bad dancer, not really, but these were next level moves.

“I’m actually glad to see you have such a hard time doing something.” Musa giggled as Sunset decided to just stay down and readjust herself so she was sitting looking up at the darker haired girl. “Not trying to be mean, but I was starting to wonder if there was anything you weren't good at.”

“There’s a lot of stuff I suck at.” Sunset groaned, “I never pegged you for ballet of all things.”

“I dance all the time.” Musa shrugged, “So, now that we are warmed up, want to tell me what you wanted to talk to me about?”

“First, I want to thank you. If it wasn’t for Stella, Tecna, and yourself…I don’t know where I would be right now. To say things were getting bad back in Canterlot would be an understatement. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t exactly planning to off myself or anything, but I was at my wits end.”

“You never have to thank me, we’ve only known each other for a short time, but you are one of us. We are family and love each other, are there for each other. That is what family does.” Musa said as she lowered herself to sit with Sunset.

“And that’s why I keep hesitating starting this conversation I wanted to have with you. I don’t want to offend you or hurt your feelings.” Sunset said, worried what she needed to discuss was going to do just that.

“Hey, no need to worry, I won’t be offended. We will talk out whatever is bothering you.” Musa said.

“Musa, I won’t always be there to face the Trix and they are after Stella’s ring. They might come after any of you girls to get it.” Sunset blurted out after taking a few deep breaths. “We need to train.”

“Well, yeah, we don’t exactly have a ton of combat experience. We have been taught self defense and stuff from our families, but nothing beats experience and more training never hurts.” Musa agreed. “We know you are insanely powerful, but we can’t always count on you to solve all of our problems.”

“So you would be okay doing training exercises with me every day after school for an hour or two?” Sunset asked with hope.

“I can’t speak for the other girls about the timing, but I know we all want this Sunset. It will give us all a chance to bond with you more and get stronger. We want to protect you just as much as you protect us.” Musa said with an encouraging smile as she squeezed Sunset’s arm in reassurance.

“Thanks, Musa, that takes a load off my mind.” Sunset said with a smile.

“Well, let’s get back to it then!” Musa said as she hopped up with a flourish before turning to offer Sunset her hand to help her up.

The rest of the morning went pretty quickly, unlike the day before they strictly went over theory and more detail about what their class time would entail. It was getting close to the time she needed to meet Ryoko and Sunset couldn’t help but feel nervous. How could she not between feeling the large amount of attraction to the woman on top of what she hinted at the previous day as well as having no idea what she would be learning from the woman. Walking out of Palladium’s class expecting to have to go find her new tutor, she was surprised to see the woman leaning against the wall opposite of the door with a smirk.

“You didn’t think you were going to escape little old me, did you kid?” Ryoko asked, the woman getting a lot of attention from the surrounding students. Sunset could feel a little bit of attraction toward the woman, but thankfully that seemed to be considerably dimmed compared to their last interaction. She could see where that could come in handy as it would help the students know what it feels like and what to look for as well as a basic immunity towards it. Stella was right, along with this woman’s knowledge she was an invaluable asset to the school.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, I have so many questions.” Sunset said with a hand on a cocked hip as she stared the older woman down.

“I like your sass girl, but save your questions until I tell you.” Ryoko said, snapping her fingers and motioning for Sunset to follow.

“You know I’m not a dog. Right?” Sunset groaned as she followed her tutor.

“Yet, you are following like a good girl.” Ryoko smirked at the teen, “I might even give you a treat.”

“Still not a dog!” Sunset growled out as the woman led her to the upper floors and to a classroom she suspected was her new tutors.

“Still cute as one.” Ryoko shrugged making Sunset splutter before the fiery haired girl was handed what looked like a cloudy glass bead. “Now hold onto that, it will be very important.”

“What do you mean?” Sunset asked before she felt a large amount of power wash over her, the energy originating from the woman as the fiery haired girl felt a subtle shift in the space around her. Narrowing her eyes, she demanded, “What did you do?”

“This is how I teach all of my classes. I pulled us into a temporary pocket dimension I created. It has three ways out, the first being if I release you out of this place. The second is if I kill you because you can’t be hurt here, but any attacks that would have been fatal triggers a return trip for you.” Ryoko explained.

“And third I smash this bead?” Sunset asked, now more curious than wary as she looked around. She could feel it in the air, it was different from the classroom she entered. The atmosphere was wrong, but exciting as she realized creating an actual pocket dimension like this was possible. Despite everything she was taught in Equestria, told to ignore wild magical theories, here she was standing in one.

“Correct. I knew I was right about you.” Ryoko grinned as she floated into the air as if sitting on some invisible chair.

“You sounded like you knew something about me yesterday.” Sunset said, looking straight into the woman's eyes searching for any kind of reaction.

“I believe I do.” Ryoko said as she created a ball of light and was rolling it around in her fingers, weaving it around them. “But first, I want to give you a quick history lesson on the Magix Dimensions.”

“I already know the basic history, King Radius made sure of that before Stella and I came to the school.” Sunset said.

“That’s all well and good, and I suspect that it mentioned dark fairies and how the specialists as you know them are actually the male variant of fairies because men can’t harness their powers like the fairies?” Ryoko asked, getting a nod from Sunset in agreement. “Well, that history is wrong. It is what is widely accepted, but it is wrong.”

“So it’s all lies?” Sunset asked, a little surprised at the claim as Ryoko shook her head in a negative reply.

“No, not exactly. It’s what is generally accepted as it is what all people know and anyone who claims otherwise is believed to be a crazed conspiracy theorist. Problem is, some people have been around much longer than what is believed.” Ryoko said with a grin, “A secret I expect you to keep.”

“Of course, I know how to keep a secret.” Sunset said. Getting an appreciative nod from the woman.

“Good, but before you ask I haven’t been around since the dawn of time or anything like that. I have been around long enough to have had access to the infinite library before the ancestral witches attacked it looking for the secrets to the Great Dragon and ultimate power. I was an apprentice to the Eternal Librarian before they were killed and the anchor snapped, releasing the library and making it disappear from this world in search of a new anchor and librarian.” Ryoko explained, “That isn’t important right now though, what is important is our little history lesson and where that leaves you.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just tell me straight out?” Sunset asked as she perched on one of the desks realizing this was going to take awhile.

“Where would be the fun in that?” Ryoko grinned, creating illusions around them showing scenes of what she talked about. “In the beginning, the creator rewarded one of his most prized celestials, as well as an infernal who helped prevent a calamity that would have wiped out the newly born human race by giving them the gift of creation. He tasked them with creating their own little corner of reality that they would be responsible for, thus the Magix Dimensions were born. The worlds were created and filled with magical creatures ranging from wild animals and livestock to higher intellect creatures such as fairies, merfolk, elves and more which were all called the Fae.”

“Sounds like mythical stories from the world I just left.” Sunset snorted.

“Of course it does, these were creatures of magic and intellect, an intellect that came with curiosity. So the two schools of magic, which neither is evil, were split into more and more smaller branches. Name one school of magic that you believe is to be purely and unforgivably evil.” Ryoke said.

Crossing her arms and tapping her fingers on her upper arm, Sunset considered it a few moments before replying with, “Necromancy.”

“Not evil, at least it wasn’t created to be and still isn’t unless specifically used for evil.” Ryoko said with a grin at Sunset’s shocked expression, “Sadly, with all free will comes the will to do evil such as murder. Necromancy wasn’t created to disturb the soul from whatever peace it found, it was created to temporarily reanimate a recently deceased body to get the truth of what happened to it. It was also created to make soldiers from those bodies in graveyards to protect the innocent from those that would harm them for no good reason such as a greedy ruler invading another’s territory.”

“Isn’t that desecrating the dead?” Sunset asked, swallowing nervously at the distasteful thought of disturbing the dead like that.

“Let me ask you this, Sunset. If you were responsible for a village with a thousand people, all of them innocent and simple farmers and craftsmen with no combat training, would you let a force invade and rape and kill every person there or raise the graveyard where there are numerous bodies who would be puppet soldiers who would be near impossible to stop in order to protect those innocents?” Ryoko asked.

“I guess in that situation I would protect the innocents.” Sunset said.

“Good answer, and the right answer. People were afraid of it though, so it ended up with a bad reputation. Then evil people twisted it for their purposes making it an even more feared branch of magic. Point is, it isn’t evil until someone twists it and uses it for evil. That brings us to a branch of magic that was a combination of light and dark, space time magic.” Ryoko explained, the image changed to show humans being led from portals bound in chains. “At first it was used for good purposes when it was discovered, exploring other dimensions in the greater cosmos leading to many nonmagical planes to have sightings of what would become folktales to them. They weren’t folktales, and there were those who had nefarious purposes as they kidnapped humans and used them as slaves.”

“That’s awful!” Sunset gasped.

“It is, but it was those slaves who changed the magical world. Unlike most fae, humans could have children much more often than most fae. Much easier too. It was because of this that the human population grew quicker and sparse villages quickly turned into bustling cities. Then the Fae learned something else about humans, they were compatible with the fae. The elitists tried to curb that with laws forbidding a fae taking a human lover, but it did no good as many of the fae never liked the thought of slavery as it was and actually cared for the humans. With the mixing of fae and humans came the different groups that you know today. Fairies of course led to the more human-like fairies who only have their wings when transformed. The offspring of the human and elves led to two different groups, the light elves gave way to the specialist while the dark elves led to the witches and other magical groups.” Ryoko explained, the image showing an enraged dragon and groups cowering from it.

“He doesn’t look happy.” Sunset mused, feeling a little bad for the people cowering in fear.

“The Great Dragon was far from happy with all these developments and grew tired of the races twisting the gift of magic and long life the fae was gifted with to more evil purposes. He announced he was going to create one last race which would be his emissary while he retired to a pocket dimension on what was known back then as the Holy Planet of Dominus. Thus the Dragonairies were born and made the rulers of the Magix Dimensions. As time went on the elitists created their own little pocket dimensions and retired there. As the centuries passed some of the planets were granted a ruling government themselves as the populations grew beyond what was feasible for one ruler to handle it all.” Ryoko explained, “As with all other species though, the Dragonairies mated with the other species left and their bloodlines were diluted until like fairies, their wings were only shown when transformed and people started calling them dark fairies.”

“Like me?” Sunset asked, somehow not shocked at this.

“Yes, like you. So all dark fairies can be traced back to the original ruling family of the world that became Domino that took this symbol up as their crest.” Ryoko explained as the images shifted again to show Sunset’s cutie mark making the teen’s eyes widen in surprise. “While there is an official crest of Domino, this is the personal crest of the ruling family. A crest I take it you have seen before.”

“Well, yeah... In the city there is a fountain with it as well as in some books.” Sunset stammered, unsure of what to say.

“Don’t play coy with me girl, you know this crest because it is your crest! You are the missing princess of Domino!” Ryoko crowed, triumphant that her theory was correct before seeing the worried look on the girl’s face. “Don’t worry about your pretty little head, kid. I will keep your secret, yes even from my husband, as you will keep mine.”

“Thank you, I still don’t know if it’s true and don’t want to get Stella’s hope up.” Sunset explained.

“Look kid, if somebody cares for you they will care for you despite your status. Anybody who cares about status over who the person is, well they are just a leech.” Ryoko said, “Enough chit chat, I am your tutor for dark magic. Let’s do some dark magic!”

“Okay, I guess.” Sunset said, less than enthused at being reminded just what type of magic and fairy she is. Sure she can transform and use her magic, but when she dwelled on it too much it drove her crazy as she was raised to believe dark magic was bad and light magic was good. Despite being told so many times, despite telling herself so many times and actually managing to be okay with it at times, deep down she still had old hang-ups when overthinking it too much.

“Kid, I know you were probably taught dark magic is the infernal’s shtick, and anyone using it thinks the sun comes out of their ass. That’s all a load of crap, magic is magic and it all depends on what you use it for then what it is.” Ryoko said as she patted Sunset’s shoulder. “Remember, you aren’t sacrificing little bunnies, you are training to save as many people as you can as a guardian fairy.”

“Pfft, if I’m a guardian fairy, what am I a guardian of? Even if I am some lost princess, from what I understand my home planet is desolate. Am I going to be the Guardian Fairy of Olaf and Frosty?” Sunset snorted.

“I don’t know what those are, but you are the guardian fairy of the dragon flame. All true guardian fairies of the flame have been dark fairies, but I’ll let you in on a secret.” Ryoko grinned, “You carry the great dragon’s flame within you meaning you have just as much potential for light as you do dark.”

“What? So I can do light magic then?” Sunset asked.

“Something much more, kid. I can’t say much or how it works, but if you find the right reason you might just wake up an even greater power within yourself.” Ryoko said, “Now, no more stalling, it’s magic time!”

“Okay, fine, you win. We will do the whole ritual thing.” Sunset snorted.

“Kid, the last ritual I did was a royal betrothal ritual.” Ryoko said with a grin, “Some baby prince betrothed to some baby princess.”

“So you took the free will from two innocent children?” Sunset gasped.

“I did no such thing!” Ryoko growled out, narrowing her eyes at Sunset for a moment before taking a step back to gather herself. She knew Sunset was just saying the first thing that came to mind from a flawed ideology shoved down her throat by bigots and idiots. “Look kid, you get a free pass here because you don’t understand, but never jump to conclusions about people like me. Some of us may not take it as well as me. No, I didn’t take their free will from them, the ritual just creates an attraction between the two that would draw them together enough to meet and get to know each other. If they are compatible, they get married and everyone cheers. If they aren’t, no hard feelings as it is their choice in the end. The beacon effect is canceled out with enough time, one of the two dies, or with a kiss.”

“How would they know that they were bonded and if it’s true?” Sunset asked, Ryoko giving Sunset a large Cheshire like grin as she took Sunset’s hand. The teen could feel a small pulse of power wash into her right hand as Ryoko gently held it before a crest glowed on the back of it.

“This is the crest of Eraklyon, the royal family your parents betrothed you to right after you were born.” Ryoko grinned, “Kid, I knew your parents. They were good people.”

“No. No, no NO!” Sunset denied as she pulled her hand out of Ryoko’s making the crest fade. She started pacing, shaking her head and pulling at her hair as she was getting close to a panic attack. “I can take being the lost princess, but I can’t deal with that. I refuse to even entertain the thought of being betrothed. This is insane!”

“What’s wrong with being betrothed to a hot, intelligent and kind prince who would adore you?” Ryoko asked, giving Sunset a knowing grin making the girl feel as if Ryoko knew something that Sunset didn’t.

“First of all!” Sunset frantically yelled out, “There is no way this prince’s family would accept the princess of a lost planet into their family! Especially one who has been homeless more than once and did horrible things! And if that isn’t enough, I refuse to even bring this up with Stella or her boyfriend! She’s the one Prince Sky likes!”

“Calm down there, just cause your hair is fiery doesn’t mean you want to explode into one.” Ryoko snickered, causing Sunset to glare at her. “While the betrothal was ratified by The Nine, it doesn’t mean it has to be seen through. If either party, and I mean the prince and you and not your families, wants out of it then it’s as simple as saying so before the assembly for it to be canceled.”

“What do you mean not our families?” Sunset asked in confusion.

“It was ratified with the council through the Great Dragon’s name with the dragon flame’s magic solidifying the contract. The only two that can break it are the two of you. Nobody else has that power.” Ryoko explained.

“Good, then I’ll just handle that as soon as I can.” Sunset whined out as she realized she actually was the princess. Not that it mattered, without Daphne’s locket she wasn’t able to prove it to anyone else.

“Now, can we please get to some magic? We don’t have much time left!” Ryoko groaned as she threw her hands in the air in exasperation.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry my life has just been shoved in a damned blender!” Sunset snapped.

“Good, I wanted to show you a few things, but we only have enough time for one now. You can create fireballs, can’t you?” Ryoko asked, grinning as Sunset’s nod of affirmation. “Good, make one but don’t throw it or release it.”

“Like this?” Sunset asked as she held a fireball floating above her hand out toward Ryoko.

“Exactly! The problem with a lot of fairies is that they are taught spells that have a preset use by their families. Take Musa’s boombox, it creates sound waves that cause a pushback against an opponent. I’ve seen it used in action by her father so I’m pretty sure she knows it. She probably just uses it as is, but if you tweak your intent and energy flow, it can do even more. It can cause vertigo in an opponent or even cause tremors in the ground and surrounding areas. These spells are okay, but the way they are taught is too straightforward and removes any imagination for variables.” Ryoko explained.

“That’s all well and good, but what does that have to do with my fireball?” Sunset asked, a little confused.

“That’s easy, and I have every confidence that you will master this quickly. First, concentrate on a thinner and more intense flame. Shape your magic and push more energy into it as it thins out.” Ryoko directed as Sunset did. It took a few tries, but the fiery haired girl managed to create a torch with her magic. “Good, not perfect, but very good. You can create a plasma bolt or even cut something like a torch when you get this down more. You could even use it to make temporary repairs to say a hull of a shuttle if needed.”

“That’s actually pretty awesome!” Sunset said with a grin as she stared at the compressed flame.

“Every spell has multiple uses that are only limited by your imagination and mastery of your magic.” Ryoko said as she pulled a small cloth bag out and handed it to Sunset.

“What’s this?” Sunset asked as she opened it to see a small amount of pearls inside.

“That is a gift from both Faragonda and me. As a dark fairy your magic is naturally more potent and more dangerous than the other girls here, so she authorized me to give these to you. They are premade catalysts to create temporary pocket dimensions that last for one hour each. Just channel a little magic into it and it will create a pocket dimension for you and your friends if you want to take them in with you. Like here if someone gets hurt they will be ejected from the dimension instead of sustaining damage. Also, if anything gets damaged here, it doesn’t affect the real world, so go crazy all you want. Just don’t go showing these around to other students or teachers as many of them would throw a fit for one reason or another.” Ryoko explained, shocked when the girl hugged her.

“Thank you.” Sunset whispered.

“Any time kid, and feel free to seek me out away from our sessions if you need anything.” Ryoko said as Sunset stepped back. “Ready to head back?”

“Not really, but guess we have to sooner or later.” Sunset groaned.

“Sadly the sooner is now as we have run out of time.” Ryoko said as the pocket world faded back into the real world. “See you later kid.”

Author's Note

I wanted to thank Sunny Scriber for editing this chapter and the awesome additions he added. Also, thanks to ScisetShimmerEvan and Seven Fates for showing me fixes than needed to be made.

Sorry, this chapter was getting so long I had to split it here. Hopefully it was a decent enough place to split it as the next chapter the girls face Griselda's punishment as well as a few other things. Also, Sunset has a lot to work through as she finally had proof for herself that she truly is the missing princess, even if she doesn't have proof for others just yet. Of course she could use the sigil on her hand and court records, but those who would move against her would claim it being faked so she is going to give it a little time to see if she can find Daphne's locket.

Also, I know I promised that the cover picture does hold importance to the story and it is getting there pretty soon.