A Monster I Am
“Well…she’s definitely unusual,” Tina Mattson said as she and Bill Collins looked through the one-way mirror. Sunset Shimmer sat on the other side, wearing orange prison garb. It blended well with her striking hair: bright red with yellow highlights that flowed through it like waves—Shimmer apparently took her name seriously enough to make her hair reflect it. Her expression was vacant, and she stared into nothing. Her hands were unbound.
“Do you mind if I speak with her alone?” Mattson asked Collins.
“Not at all. I figured you’d want to. She’s not considered violent, but…” He put a hand on his pistol, in its shoulder holster. “Do you want it?”
“I doubt it’ll come to that, Mr. Collins. I can take care of myself.” She winked. “Besides, if I do need you, you’re right here, correct?”
“You bet.” He nodded at her. “Good luck. No one else has had any.”
Mattson closed the door behind her. She carried with her a tray with two water bottles and Shimmer’s file. Using her feet, she scooted out the chair opposite Shimmer, sat down, and pushed a bottle towards the girl. “Go ahead, drink it. You’ve got to be a little thirsty.” According to Collins, Shimmer was eating and drinking, but just enough to keep herself going. She seemed detached from the world around her, but dutifully reached for the bottle, unscrewed it, and took a drink. Mattson set aside one bottle for herself and slid the file between them.
She let the silence stretch for awhile; it was an old interrogator’s trick. If a suspect was chatty at heart, or had a guilty conscience, they might start talking. Shimmer was neither, and said nothing.
“Miss Shimmer,” Mattson finally said, “my name is Tina Mattson. I’m an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I suspect you know why I’m here.” Shimmer nodded slowly. “Good. Now the reason why I’m here is to talk with you. That’s all. I’m a psychologist—“ she left off the criminal part of her title “—and I want to help you.
“As of now, you’ve been charged with several counts of forgery, mail fraud, and some other minor charges. Assuming a jury finds you guilty—and given the amount of evidence the FBI, the ATFE, and DHS has collected on you, they likely will—you will be going to jail. I should also mention that, given that you are eighteen years of age, you will be tried as an adult. The question you face is this: are you going to a minimum-security prison for ten years with eligibility for parole in three years…or are you going to a high-security prison for domestic terrorism and conspiracy to commit mass murder for life with no eligibility for parole?” She watched Shimmer’s face carefully and saw the girl blanch. “There’s also the possibility that you might even be charged with first-degree murder of one Twilight Sparkle.” There was a definite reaction that time, but Mattson could not place if it was rage, regret, or fear. Still, Shimmer did nothing but take another drink of water.
The silence stretched for long moments, then Mattson sighed. She said something softly under her breath and took a drink of water. Some of it splashed on her hands, and she flicked it away, almost in a pattern. Once she was done, she set down the bottle and faced the girl squarely.
“Listen to me very carefully, Sunset Shimmer,” she said quietly. “I know what you are. I know what you did. And I am telling you to be very, very honest with me, or a human prison is the least punishment you face.”
Shimmer blinked. “What?” she finally said.
“Right now, the people behind that mirror—“ Mattson gestured nonchalantly at the one-way window “—are hearing whatever I want them to hear. They can hear a confession of guilt, or complete innocence, or me having a one-sided conversation with you. But I can tell you this: if you don’t tell me the truth, they’re going to hear about how little Sunset Shimmer conspired to kill her fellow students, and did kill Twilight Sparkle. That’s a capital offense in any realm.”
“I don’t understand,” Shimmer replied.
“Let me put it this way: you’re not the only one who can cast magic around here.”
Shimmer’s mouth fell open, and she visibly resisted recoiling in terror. “You’re…your shadow…”
“Yes. Now shall we cut the bullshit?” Mattson opened the file. “Now the mundanes over there don’t know where you came from, but I know very well that you are not human. Not originally. You’re radiating magic all over the damn place.” She took out a sheaf of papers from her suit; they were not the same sheaf of papers she had given Collins. “These are statements from five students whose lives you attempted to ruin, and possibly end: Amy Applejack, Riana ‘Rarity’ Verdunnt, Fluttershy Everfree, ‘Rainbow’ Peggy Dash, and Diane ‘Pinkie Pie’ Pinkamena. All of them had some very interesting stories to tell me; luckily for you I got to them before the FBI or the ATFE. Can you guess at what they said?” When Shimmer hesitated, Mattson’s voice became a snarl. “Answer me!”
“I have rights—“
“Yes, you do. As a human being and a citizen of this nation, you have the right to remain silent. But you’re not human, so you don’t have rights as far as I am concerned.” Mattson’s eyes narrowed. “I can compel you to answer, but I don’t think you really want me to do that.” Shimmer turned very pale. Mattson could see that had sparked a bad memory. “Now talk to me.”
Shimmer looked away and Mattson knew she had won. She did not feel particularly triumphant. At last, Shimmer began to speak. “Sunset Shimmer is my real name.”
“I figured no one would make something like that up.”
Shimmer shakily took another drink. “Um…as you say, I’m not human, though for all intents and purposes I am. But not originally. Originally I am…was…a unicorn pony from the land of Equestria. I was a student of the ruler of Equestria and the greatest sorceress in the land, an alicorn named Princess Celestia. An alicorn is—“
“I know what an alicorn is. I have quite the working knowledge of mythology.”
“Uh, yes. In any case, Celestia held me back. She didn’t want me to learn certain things.” Now Mattson could see the anger rising. Shimmer’s voice lost its tremor. “I wanted to be an equal to her. I wanted respect. She wouldn’t give it to me. She wouldn’t let me learn. I just wanted to be an alicorn, like her. I wanted to rule. I mean, that simpleton Cadance is an alicorn! What makes her so special, just because she’s related to the royal family? What a load of horseapples—“
“Sunset Shimmer.” Mattson’s voice brought her back to the here and now. “Please stick to the point.” Her voice lost some of its edge. “I know what dealing with royalty is like. Go on.”
Shimmer took a breath. “When Celestia wouldn’t let me learn what I wanted to, I got very mad. Angry, I mean. I rebelled, but I was just a student. I didn’t have a chance. She kicked me out, but she didn’t know I’d already decided to leave. So I did. I left Equestria through a magic mirror and came here.”
“It must’ve been rough to learn you were a teenager here.”
“It sure was, but I adapted just fine.” Now Shimmer was on a roll. Mattson had already figured out that Shimmer liked to talk about herself, and let her do so. “I used my magic to forge my identity. I figured out real quick that you can’t get anywhere here without some sort of background. I looked up some people that died a while back in a car crash and took over their identity. The rest was easy, once I had established all of that. I enrolled in middle school, got through that easily, and made my way into high school.”
“Staying under the radar.”
“I knew humans would find me suspicious if I didn’t go to school. I figured this was the easiest way to stay hidden. Occasionally I went back to Equestria to see how things were going and try to figure out how to get back at that bitch Celestia, but I had to be very careful.”
“I can imagine,” Mattson said sympathetically. “This Celestia sounds very frightening.”
“You don’t know the half of it. She exiled her sister to the moon for a thousand years.”
Mattson didn’t have to fake shock. “A thousand years?”
Shimmer nodded emphatically. “See what I mean?”
“Indeed. Please, continue.”
“Well, I found out that after I was unfairly kicked out, Celestia adopted another student, Twilight Sparkle.” Mattson nodded; now they were getting somewhere. “Little Miss Perfect Twilight. Somehow, she finagled her way into Celestia’s trust, and got hold of the Elements of Harmony.” Before Mattson could ask, Shimmer told her. “They’re very powerful magical artifacts. I knew if I got control of those, I could show Celestia a thing or two.
“So I bided my time. When I found out that Twilight got to be an alicorn—“ Shimmer’s fists clenched and she actually ground her teeth “—I knew I had to make my move. I’d already pretty much taken over Canterlot High—“
“Sorry to interrupt, but I noticed the similarities between your world of origin and the name of the high school,” Mattson said.
“Oh yes. Turns out that this city is a reflection of Equestria. Everyone here has a pony counterpart there. They’re very similar. So far I think it’s just this town. Apparently it’s some sort of nexus or something. Even Celestia has an opposite number—Mary Celestia, the principal of my school. Even that dimwit Trixie Lullamoon has someone here just like her. It’s a bit like that one Star Trek episode, the one with the mirror universe.”
“Fascinating,” Mattson deadpanned. “So, you went after these Elements of Harmony to overthrow this tyrannical sun goddess…”
“I stole Twilight’s crown easily enough, and I knew Celestia would send her after me. Celestia can’t come through the portal; her plot is too big or something. Her ass,” Shimmer explained when Mattson raised an eyebrow. “I was ready. I knew Twilight would end up finding her friends’ counterparts here, but I’d already driven them apart so they couldn’t help her. Twilight didn’t have a few months to figure out human customs and such. She made such a fool out of herself!” Shimmer laughed.
“How so?”
“Walking around on all fours, trying to use her fingers like hooves, that sort of thing.”
Mattson snickered. “God, you didn’t introduce her to the internet, did you?”
“No; I imagine she did that herself.”
They shared a laugh at that. “Poor girl.”
“Yeah…” Shimmer abruptly became angry, a slow burning fuse rather than towering rage. “Turns out Twilight managed to get her friends back together. That little bitch. She even got Flash Sentry on her side—Flash Sentry! The most popular boy in school and my former boyfriend!” Shimmer shook her head and tried to calm down, and succeeded. “I underestimated her. I admit that. And she took me by surprise when she was willing to give up her chance to go home to fight me for the crown. She got herself elected princess of the Fall Formal, but I got the crown anyway.”
“And that’s when everything went wrong.” Mattson ran her hands over the file. “Becoming a demon, and all.”
Shimmer sighed. “Do you know what it’s like to have that much power at your fingertips? To realize that you’re more powerful than anyone else, ever? That you can do anything?” She looked down. “I loved it. I wanted more. I wanted Equestria. I wanted to see Celestia begging at my feet for mercy.”
“Do you still?” Mattson asked softly.
“I…don’t know.” Shimmer regarded her reflection in the water bottle. “The crown did something to me. Made me weak while it was making me strong, I guess. I had everything, Agent Mattson. Everything. And somehow…Twilight and her friends stopped me. They didn’t have magical items. She didn’t even have her crown. She just had…friendship.” Tears formed at the edges of Shimmer’s eyes. “I don’t understand how she did it. It’s like she summoned the Elements from Equestria and gave them to her friends. How can she do that? She’s not powerful enough to do that. Not even Celestia’s that powerful…is she?”
Shimmer’s voice trailed off. She had reached the end of her story. Mattson closed the file. “That leaves me with one question, Sunset Shimmer. Why?” Shimmer was obviously confused, so Mattson elaborated. “You were a very powerful demon, with apparently unlimited power. According to Applejack’s testimony, and others, you enslaved the school with a mind-control spell and intended to use them as your army to retake Equestria. Is Celestia’s army so small that a student body of less than a thousand could take the realm?”
Shimmer said nothing for a long moment. “I thought that…if I brought the humans through the portal…Celestia wouldn’t hurt them because she knew they were innocent. That would distract her long enough for me to use the crown against her.”
“If she was the tyrant you say she is, she would kill the humans without a second thought.” Mattson tapped her fingers on the table. “Which is it, Sunset Shimmer? Is this Celestia a genocidal tyrant, or a fair ruler who was merely disciplining a student who had grown selfish, ambitious and foolish?” She let that sink in a moment, then continued, her voice rising. “A student who was so self-centered she was willing to sacrifice a thousand young men and women for her own petty revenge? Young people who might, under certain circumstances, be the friends you wouldn’t allow them to be?”
Mattson felt her own anger swelling, and brought herself under control. “We have words for people like that, Sunset. We call them tyrants.” She stared at Shimmer sadly. “You may not be familiar with the human philosopher Nietzsche, but he once wrote that those who stare into the abyss too long become the abyss themselves. A monster we are, lest monsters we become, and all that. Except you were already a monster, Sunset. You chose that path for yourself willingly and freely. And for that you will pay.”
Shimmer shuddered. “What…what does that mean?”
“I don’t know yet. Human justice and my justice are different, sometimes. If it was me, I would kill you. I still may have to, because you’re not only a threat to Equestria, you’re also a threat to Earth. You’re a threat to the entire timestream. Agency Zero’s job is to eliminate those threats. That’s what I came here for.”
“You’re going to kill me, then?” Shimmer’s eyes were round with fear.
“Perhaps. It depends on what my superiors decide. For now, you’re just going to jail. My suggestion is that whatever deal comes your way, you take it. It’s infinitely better than what I will do to you.” Mattson stood, gathered up the files, papers, and bottles, and regarded Sunset Shimmer. “Maybe, just maybe, you’ll learn what it means to have friends, and what you’ve thrown away. Then maybe you can find hope. I don’t know. I personally think you’re too far gone for that.”
Shimmer looked terrified now, as if she was staring into the open gates of hell. “You hate me?”
“For what you almost did? For what you intended to do?” Mattson bared her teeth. “Yes, I do.”
Collins was waiting for her at the door to the interrogation room. She shut it behind her securely, then looked at him. “You heard all that?”
He nodded. “That girl’s crazy as hell. Talking ponies? Magical crowns? A zombie army?” He whistled. “She’s never going to stand trial now. She’s insane.”
Mattson sighed. “Not exactly my clinical analysis, but close enough. My suggestion is that she be remanded to a mental institution and gets the help she needs for a year or two. Then we’ll see where she’s at. I actually feel sorry for her,” Mattson lied.
Collins blew out his breath. “Same here. And I thought I had it rough in high school.” He grinned at her. “What amazes me is how you kept quiet throughout that whole tirade. Here she’s sounding like a Dungeons and Dragons reject mixed with Hitler, and you’re just nodding. Then you tell her to have a nice day and left like nothing happened. If you don’t mind me saying so, Agent Mattson, you are one cool lady.”
She rubbed her face. “And I could go for a cool one right now. It’s close enough to quitting time, Agent Collins.” She smiled coquettishly. “Join me?”
“Let me get my coat.”
Mattson did not spare Sunset Shimmer a parting glance as she walked away.
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I have to say I am thoroughly impressed with this. The first chapter seemed a little dull to me, but that is usually expected to me. This chapter got me very interested. Shimmer's story on how she got there is very reasonable, I like how you came up with that. I became wide-eyed at the FBI agent's true self. Keep going with this is all I can say. I'm curious to see how this plays out in the end.
Make this a longer story I'm very interesting
After all that for some reason I have a feeling Sunset has crossed the despair event horizon and whatever is decided for her she will choose to commit suicide. Oh and I am pretty sure Sombra didn't ask for redemption.