Twilight’s mind went completely blank at the sight of the mare that she’d been obsessing over just lounging around in her home without a care in the world.
“Twilight?” Sunset asked, cocking her head innocently to the side. “Is something wrong, Twilight? You look kind of tense.”
“I—what—you—” Twilight stammered, trying to get her thoughts in order.
“Me?” Sunset asked, looking down at herself. “Is there something wrong with little old me?”
It was just… what did she actually do in response to this? Jump on her and start beating her up? Of course not—but Sunset didn’t appear to be doing anything, which seemed to limit the number of things that she could do to stop her.
A moment of awkward silence later, Sunset’s attention shifted to something behind Twilight. “Girls? Is there something wrong with Twilight?”
Twilight turned to see that the rest of her friends had caught up to her at some point, but they seemed to be just as much at a loss as she had been. Finally, she realized what she should do. “Rainbow! Go find a guard—no, wait—go find Spike at the market and bring him here, then find a guard!”
Snapping out of her astonishment, Rainbow Dash saluted and said, “You got it!” before racing off.
“Spike?” Sunset continued to pretend this was all completely normal. “Do you need to mail something?” she asked, then perked up. “Oh! That reminds me!” Sunset quickly levitated a pair of saddlebags with her cutie-mark embroidered onto them over to herself, dug around in them for a moment, then produced an envelope of very similar style to the one that Twilight had just received, only with a golden seal instead.
Princess Celestia’s seal.
Oh no.
She didn’t.
Shellshocked, Twilight gingerly took the letter, confirmed that the seal was real, then opened and read the letter.
She did.
Twilight gaped at the mare sitting in her home as happy as could be. “I—you—you—”
“I apologized,” Sunset Shimmer confirmed. “Celestia and I have had our differences over the years, but I’m willing to try again if she is.”
“But you came here to steal my magic!” Twilight accused, then immediately winced, already knowing exactly how Sunset would respond.
“Steal your magic?” Sunset asked, putting on a very good bewildered face. “Is that even possible? I’m sure I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to do that.”
Twilight was grasping for straws when she remembered the one concrete thing they had on her. “You were trespassing in the Crystal Castle and stole the element of magic!”
“Technically, as artifacts with some semblance of inherent morality, the Elements of Harmony can’t actually be owned in the traditional sense, so it’s actually impossible to steal them,” Sunset said, finally letting through the slightest amount of vindictive triumph through her mein of innocence. “Also? I’m a minor.”
“How?!” Twilight shouted, incredulous.
“Funny thing!” Sunset Shimmer said, brightening up even further. Setting the book in her lap aside she turned to face Twilight directly in order to explain. On closer inspection, she did look rather young. Younger than Twilight, which shouldn’t have been at all possible, though she had already suspected as much on the train. “So, it turns out that time flows differently in different dimensions. The world that I ended up in is only one of several that the mirror connects to. It opens every thirty moons in each world, but from this side it goes through a cycle. This is actually the first time the portal on the other side has opened up since I went through, meaning—”
“It's only been two and a half years,” Twilight concluded for her.
“Yep,” Sunset Shimmer said with a toothy grin.
“Is there a problem here?” asked a rather irate pegasus of the Ponyville guard patrol that had just come in with Rainbow Dash, and it was only then that Twilight deduced that Spike had been present for a while.
After one long, trying glare at Sunset Shimmer, Twilight sighed and apologized to the guard. “Sorry, officer,” she said, not taking her eyes off of Sunset. “It seems that we’ve had a small misunderstanding. I apparently left the library unlocked while I was gone and this innocent little filly wandered in. Nothing sinister going on at all.
The guard seemed to take Twilight’s statement entirely at face value and nodded in understanding. “Please remember that your place of residence is also a public building,” he said and made a show of looking around the room. “If there’s nothing else?”
Twilight waved him off and waited until he was out of earshot to angrily snap out, “Spike! Take a letter!”
“Uh, sure thing, Twilight,” he said, pulling out a scroll and parchment.
Twilight nodded in satisfaction, took a deep breath and calmly recited the phrase she’d spoken many times before, “Dear Princess Celestia,
“Are you bucking serious?!
“Signed, your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.
“P.S. I always wondered why the distinction. I get it now.”
Spike finished transcribing and looked up at Twilight with uncertainty.
“Send it,” she instructed him.
He hesitated. “Umm… Are you sure, Twilight?”
“Send the letter, Spike,” she repeated, quite serious.
With great reluctance, he did.
Sunset Shimmer, for her part, seemed to be enjoying the situation far more than was healthy.
There was only a short wait until Spike received a reply. Unrolling the letter, he read: Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
“Yes.
“Signed Princess Celestia.
All was silent for a moment before he clarified, “That’s all it says.”
“I don’t know what I expected,” Twilight admitted, rubbing her temples to stave off what she was sure was going to be an incredible headache. “Fine,” she growled out. “You’ve convinced Princess Celestia that you want to resume your studies. That’s… not as surprising as it really should be—but then why are you here?!”
Sunset Shimmer did that thing where she cocked her head to the side in innocent confusion again. “Isn’t it obvious?” she asked in the most sweetly saccharine way she could and followed it up with a beaming smile. “To study friendship, of course!”
“Well, if that filly ain’t faker than udders on a snake then Ah don’t know what is,” Applejack remarked as the group reconvened out in front of the library away from prying ears.
“Intentionally,” Rarity added. “She knows that she has the backing of the princess and is relying on it rather than any actual deception to prevent us from acting against her.”
“”I’ll send another letter to Princess Luna just to make sure she knows what’s going on, but her hooves will be as tied as ours,” Twilight said. “More, maybe. I doubt that she wants to be seen as openly acting against her sister, no matter what goes on in the privacy of the castle.”
“There’s gotta be something we can do!” Rainbow Dash instisted.
“Well, there are a couple of things,” Twilight said, gaining Rainbow Dash’s undivided attention. “Pinkie Pie had already gone off to get the party she's been planning since we got back started, and I think Fluttershy is making sure that Sunset Shimmer is okay after what happened on the train.”
“Wait, what?” Rainbow Dash shouted, looking back inside. “Fluttershy!”
“Are you alright, Twilight?” Rarity asked as Rainbow Dash loudly made clear her objections to Fluttershy getting close to ‘that two-faced-filly’ without her to make sure that she didn’t pull anything. “You seem awfully calm about all of this.”
Twilight sat down on the library’s welcome mat and let out a sigh. “I don't know, Rarity. I just don't know. I think I’ve reached the point where I’m actually angrier at Princess Celestia for doing this than I am at Sunset for taking advantage of it, but I don’t actually know how to be angry at the princess. Not really.”
“Well…” Rarity dithered. “I’m not sure if there’s anything I can say about that, but there is one bright side in all this.”
Twilight looked up with hope at her friend. “Is there?” she asked.
Applejack nodded along and said, “At least this way, you know where she is and can keep an eye on her.”
Twilight blinked, not quite understanding. Sunset was here at the moment; that much was true, but—“Wait, no no no no no, Sunset Shimmer isn’t staying here,” she said, balking at the very idea. “Not in the library.”
“She isn’t?” Rarity asked, sharing a dubious look with Applejack. “Are you certain? It seems the obvious choice to me. Where else would Princess Celestia send a student in need of friendship lessons than the princess of friendship?”
“Princess of friendship? Since when am I the princess of friendship? I am not the princess of friendship.” Twilight insisted, then immediately backtracked. “We’ll come back to that to that later. Sunset Shimmer is not staying with me in the library. I will run off and become a hermit in the Everfree before I allow that, and that’s final.”
As it so happened, Sunset Shimmer was not going to be living in the library with Twilight.
Unfortunately, it didn’t make Twilight any happier to learn that the princess’ ex-student—reinstated student? It didn’t make her any happier to learn that Sunset Shimmer was living in the Everfree as a hermit.
Somehow, Twilight didn’t think that accusing Sunset of overhearing her and changing her plans just to be contrary would make her seem entirely mature—not when there were far more obvious and worrying reasons for Sunset to be spending time in the Everfree.
Unfortunately for Sunset, she had made that claim in front of exactly the wrong ponies.
“Oh my,” Fluttershy exclaimed.
Rarity followed it up with a much more vehement, “Absolutely not! We cannot have the princess’ student ‘roughing it’ out in the murder forest!”
“Err, what?” Sunset asked, not having anticipated this reaction. “The what?”
Fluttershy was nodding frantically. “Oh, yes. Lots of ponies have gone missing in there over the years. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that ponies who go in there almost never come out.”
“But the Zebra—” Sunset objected.
“Oh, Zecora can handle it,” Rarity assured her. Aside from being a master alchemist and shaman, she has many years of experience in defending herself. You, on the other hoof, are a filly—a minor. You said so yourself!”
“I’m almost seventeen!” Sunset argued, then immediately winced, realizing how she had just sounded.
“That’s nice, dear,” Rarity said and patted the ‘filly’ on her head. “Come, now. If the princess hasn’t provided you a place to stay, then I’m sure that we can arrange something with the mayor. If not, why, then I shall have to put you up myself! After all, Sweetie Belle only uses her room a few days a week, and I’m sure the two of you would get along marvelously!”
Twilight watched blankly as Rarity, backed up by Applejack, somehow herded Sunset Shimmer out of the library and off to find her a residence, with Fluttershy following along.
“Well, that just happened,” she remarked.
Rainbow Dash grunted in agreement. “She was kind of laying it on a bit thick at the end there, don’t you think? I mean, running with the filly thing, sure, but saying she’d get along well with Sweetie Belle is harsh.”
“A bit,” Twilight agreed. “Though, the crusaders do tend to get along with adults more than other fillies their age.”
Rainbow Dash snorted. “Only when they’re learning something that’s going to get them in trouble.”
Neither of them said anything for a few moments as that sunk in. “Oh damn,” Rainbow Dash cursed and disappeared after them.
It was another ten minutes before Twilight remembered the box from Princess Luna that had been left back at the Carousel Boutique.
Well I'm not sure what I expected, but this wasn't it.
10477302
I know isnt it great :)
Yeah that was definitely audacious lol. Though Sunset seems to have overplayed the underage thing if others are willing to corral her with the same excuse XD
Well, that went... the opposite direction I thought it would...
Huh.
This was hilarious. Any chance that we could get the full content of Celestias letter?
Is your Celestia THIS STUPID? Oh my god.
Twilight really needs to tell Celestia to get bent.
The moment when you realize that Sunset might only be the second most dangerous thing in Ponyville when compared to the Crusaders getting some of her knowledge.
Since Celestia addressed her letter to Princess Twilight Sparkle, doesn't she have legal power and authority to deal with Sunset in Ponyville?
10477675
I'll just say there's slightly more behind Celestia's decision than there appears.
This is the most 180 flip I have seen for a while
10477774
Sure, in theory, but this is Twilight that we're talking about; she's not going to order Sunset locked up without a legal basis, nor is she about to make decrees that outright contradict Princess Celestia.
10477811
I was thinking more along the lines of assigning her a place to stay and forbidding her from entering the Everfree, really. You're right that Twilight wouldn't abuse her rank or defy Celestia, but there are a few things that could slip by on technicalities, like forbidding minors from entering the Everfree or assigning Sunset a legal guardian since she's seventeen. Or maybe even enrolling her in Ponyville's school, err, the real one, not the season eight one.
We are a season early for that title. Heck, they haven't even dealt with the plundervines yet. The revelation of the Tree of Harmony's kind of gotten buried under all the Sunset business, hasn't it?
In any case, this should be very interesting indeed, especially with Sunset having overplayed the "legal minor" card. I do hope Twilight and Celestia can talk at some point in the near future. (Preferably with some neutral third party mediating. I recommend Discord, if only because the sheer quantity of ways it could hilariously wrong will leave him spoiled for choice.)
I was not expecting this, but this story is kinda awesome.
10477782
God I hope so, cause your Celestia really concerns me lol.
10478100
That's fair. Getting some guards to act as her guardians would probably be her best bet, and I can see that happening, but step zero will actually be talking to Celestia face to face, which is just one of the things that will complicate matters.
She's actually right, you know. In the actual show, it was strongly implied that her simultaneously ascension to both alicorn-ness and princessdom was based on her merits with friendship, therefor she became princess of friendship.
But since this is an alternate universe where Twilight was always a reincarnated alicorn and the Starswirl spell was complete bullshit to cement her authority to the citizens that she never agreed to rule over... She straight up doesn't have to be princess of anything.
I hope that she chooses not be be one and forges her own path in life, free from the chains of Celestia's desires binding her.
I think Sunset has realized that if she ever wants to find Twilight's magic in the Everfree, she'll need to study a similar magic signature she can use as a starting point. And of course, Twilight herself is the best source for learning that signature.
Rarity is best pony, and it's not even close. After all, this is the perfect opportunity for Sweetie Belle to learn to embrace her inner pyromaniac.
Cutie Mark Crusaders Equal Opportunity Ascenders, yay!
Something about this situation sounds familiar somehow...
I get that all the time.