The Other Journal

by Ganondorf8

Chapter 14: Sunset Sentry

Day: Monday
Weather: Sunny
Time: 11:28am

I guess coming back to Equestria has been both a blessing and a curse for me, as on the positive side, I've returned home for the first time in years, but on the negative side, I've learned that Princess Celestia found a new protégé, and she became a princess. This upstart Twilight Sparkle has gone and claimed the one goal which should have been mine, and knowing what she has done, I had every mind to make sure she paid dearly! My plans, however, have been derailed, as those Royal Guard began taking the mirror away, and I needed it in order to go back to the other world. So, soon I found myself masquerading as one of their own, as I needed to keep close, or I'd never get back. It seemed they were taking it to another castle, and this one was far different from Canterlot; it was a castle made entirely of crystal.

The Other Journal
By Ganondorf8
November 18, 2015
Chapter 14: Sunset Sentry.

" The Royal Guard were taking the mirror away?" Twilight asked, repeating the exact same thing that I just said, but in the form of a question. " They must have been issued an order to take it with them, because otherwise, there would be no real logical sense to it. I mean, surely they knew what the mirror really was, but I doubt they knew that you had recently used it to pay a visit to this Equestria."

" At first I had no idea why they were taking it, but I managed to overhear a couple of them saying that Princess Celestia had ordered that the mirror be transferred over to the Crystal Castle for Princess Cadance to watch over. I remember panicking as I had no idea where this Crystal Castle was, and if I were to lose track of where my ticket back to this world was being taken, I would have been stuck in Equestria." I said.

" That would have been a blessing for you, though, right?" Twilight asked.

" Back then, it was a curse, since I still felt animosity towards Princess Celestia, and I was seen as a wanted criminal in the eyes of the Royal Guard because of the falling out I had with the princess." I answered.

" What is this Crystal Castle?" Twilight asked.

" It was a subject that I never learned during my studies with Princess Celestia, so during one of my friendship reports with Princess Twilight, the idea of learning more about it popped into my mind, and so I inquired about it. The Crystal Palace is the royal castle of the Crystal Empire, a kingdom which had been lost for a thousand years due to a curse, though when it returned, Princess Twilight and her friends were able to save it. Since then, she said that it has become a popular destination spot for tourists, yet Canterlot still gets more attention because of being at the heart of Equestria. I didn't know anything about the empire or its castle, but I did know that I had to remain close to the mirror and use it before it would be beyond my reach." I answered. When I turned the page of the journal, my face immediately turned red, but this was an expression of embarrassment rather than one of anger, and when I tried hiding this page from Twilight, she frowned at my attempt, and pulled my hands away and saw the page in question... and began to burst out laughing.

" It says there that you actually dressed up as one of the Royal Guard!" Twilight laughed, falling over onto her back, arms folded, and kicking her legs about in the air as she couldn't contain her laughter. All I did was just look at her with a frown, yet she didn't take notice and continued laughing, which didn't feel like Twilight one bit. I mean, she's often way too serious and logical to be reduced to laughter like this unless it has something to do with her work, but seeing her in such a good mood made me forget about my own issues for a moment, and I began laughing as well, but not to the same extent that she was. " Oh! I'm so sorry for laughing like that, Sunset, but I thought what you wrote down was sheer delight despite how this journal is filled with so much pain and anguish." Twilight then noticed the previous expression I had on my face, frowning, and she blushed red before clapping her hands over her mouth tightly.

" Yes, I actually did do that." I said.

" I thought it was some kind of joke." Twilight said, removing her hands from around her mouth.

" No, I really did pass myself off as one of the Royal Guard, but I didn't temporarily join them in order to stay as close to the mirror as possible. Instead, I lured one of them away long enough to knock him out cold, and I stole his armour and put it on." I said.

" Another act of desperation?" Twilight asked.

" Considering they were taking my only means of returning to this world with them, I didn't exactly have much of a choice, and part of me wanted to vent out some more frustration over what I had just witnessed." I answered, looking down at my hands, turning them about several times before looking forward again. " Something I never really believed until much later was that I had quite the temper, but then it was so easy for me to get frustrated over even the smallest thing. Back then, such tendencies would have compelled me to do something really bad, actions that could never be forgiven no matter how sincere I'd be."

" I can attest to you having a temper." Twilight said. She, of all people, experienced my temper first-hand, when I lashed out against her after she stole Rainbow Dash's magic after the Tri-Cross Relay during the Friendship Games; I was already under a lot of stress prior to the event, and while racing on that bike relieved me of some stress, when those plants from Equestria appeared out of nowhere, I began losing control of my emotions, and after I saw what happened to Rainbow as well as that portal to Equestria appearing above our heads, my emotions shattered like glass, and I vented out all of my frustration at Twilight without a care in the world. It was like a switch in my brain had been shut off which controlled my conscience, and nothing was holding me back. " You don't need to feel bad about what you said to me at the time, Sunset; you were feeling so much pressure because of what was going on, so you snapping was your way of finally cutting loose and doing something that could let you release all that pent-up rage. Granted, it was my fault for pushing you over the edge, what with the desire I had to learn about what I believed was 'strange energy', so you were justified in your anger." Twilight said.

" No, I did you a great wrong Twilight, and I apologize for that." I said.

" Sunset, having a temper makes you special in your own way, as you are capable of expressing emotions in a way that most would rather choose to keep within themselves and merely try to bury them within their own subconscious. You've got a fiery passion which blazes onward even now, and while there may be times where having a level head is ideal, never stop being yourself, because we all love you for who you are." Twilight said.

" That... was a pretty bad speech." I said, smiling meekly.

" It was a spur of the moment, and I didn't have time to prepare it, accordingly." Twilight said. Both of us then started to laugh again because of how funny it was, and once tears streamed down our faces after laughing too hard, Twilight handed a tissue over to me, grabbing one for herself, and we wiped away the tears before focusing on the matter at hand: continuing to read the journal. " Okay, the Royal Guard were taking the mirror to this Crystal Empire, and you disguised yourself as one of the Royal Guard to make sure that you stayed close to it so that you could go through it the moment you had the opportunity, correct?"

" What made it even worse, was that I had never been to the Crystal Empire before, so I had no idea what to expect." I answered.

---

None of the Royal Guard noticed me as they were taking the mirror away; they were too focused on their task. So much was racing through my mind regarding how I was to approach this sudden change in my plans. I wanted to simply go back down into the basement where the mirror had been previously, and return to this world in order to prepare an ideal plan, but now I had to find a way to follow the guards without looking like some kind of stalker. Before they truly began to take the mirror away, one of the Royal Guard needed to check to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything, and I followed him because he was going to be my meal ticket, or rather, his armour was, as I needed it. Luckily for me, this unicorn wasn't of particular merit, so none of the others would have noticed that he suddenly changed his appearance slightly, as they all practically looked alike anyway.

Once we were far enough away from the others, I used my magic to stun him in place before knocking him out by removing his helmet with my teeth and smacking him in the side of the head with as much force as possible. Once he was out of commission, I removed his armour as quickly as possible, as I didn't want the others to come check up on him to see what was taking so long. Once I placed the armour on my own body, I used my magic to levitate his body and threw him into a nearby closet before sealing it with more magic before returning to the others, who didn't even suspect a thing. If there was one drawback to my actions, it would be that if these Royal Guards were to somehow encounter Princess Celestia, she may be able to see through my ruse, and I'd be in even more trouble, so I had to make sure we avoided her at all costs, even if it meant having to derail these dense guards. They were idiots for not suspecting a thing.

" Is everything secure?"

" Yes sir! I made sure to double check, and everything is perfect." I answered.

" There's something... different about. You seem... smaller, thinner..." Sweat began dripping from my forehead, and my heart began beating rapidly because this one guard might have figured out that I'm not the same pony who went off on his own just a few moments ago. But how could someone as idiotic as this guy have seen through my disguise? I used dark magic after all! " ... I'm probably seeing things, though. I haven't had much sleep lately, what with the coronation requiring us to be on patrol during ridiculous hours, so I'm groggy, right now, and not really seeing straight."

" It's understandable, sir; we all have our issues with this event." I said, breathing a sigh of relief as my disguise had not been penetrated.

" Princess Twilight will make for a fine princess, but hopefully, she doesn't give any of us any ridiculous shifts."

" So, shall we be on our way sir?" I asked.

" Yes. We need to deliver this mirror to the Crystal Empire as soon as possible, since Princess Cadance has been tasked with watching over it. Personally, I don't see what's so important about an oversized mirror, but Her Highness insisted that we take extra care to make sure it doesn't break or anything. Okay! I need all unicorns to use their magic to keep this mirror floating while we make our way to the train station." I found myself using my own magic to help move the mirror along, and it was convenient that the pony whom I replaced was a unicorn otherwise they might have figured things out. As we slowly moved throughout the castle in our efforts to transport the mirror outside, I was laughing in my head over how this apparent "superior officer" blurted out exactly what these guards were doing, but then, he assumes I'm one of them, yet I just found it all convenient that he would just say something like that without thinking of the consequences.

It didn't take us too long to get outside, and my eyes were filled with amazement, as everything looked the same as I remember before leaving Equestria years ago. Well, with the exception of what sounded like a parade, which most likely was in celebration of Twilight Sparkle becoming a princess. As much as I would have liked to go over there and see her with my own eyes again as a reminder of the hatred inside of me, I refrained from such actions, as I had to maintain my deception as a member of the Royal Guard. Then again, perhaps I could learn something about it by asking the same guard who had spoken before, as he sounded like a pony who was in the know, and that made him a reliable pawn who had no idea what he was going to be doing for me.

" Why the celebration?" I asked.

" When you have a new princess crowned, it's to be expected that a celebration would be thrown."

" I get that, but what I don't understand is why Twilight Sparkle was chosen." I said.

" We of the Royal Guard don't know that much either, as we just serve and protect, but what I do know is that Princess Twilight went above and beyond what was expected of her, and achieved something most will never get to experience. Yet she herself doesn't really get why there needs to be such a grand spectacle. If she could have had her way, she probably would have wanted everything to be a low-key affair."

" Really? She certainly is an unusual princess." I said.

" That's what makes her unique, I suppose." So, this upstart of a princess feels like she's better than everypony by not wanting a big celebration? Ha! Not only is she delusional--I would have had an even bigger celebration had I been made a princess--but she also shows hesitation already, which will help me get what I want from her. I just needed to bide my time until everything has been sorted out, as rushing into things will leave me vulnerable. Our group continued making its way through the streets of Canterlot, where several guards requested that bystanders move out of the way by order of Princess Celestia, and we unicorns were even asked to hide the mirror by flipping it upside down so that the polished side was facing downwards so that no one could see their reflection. As we got closer to the train station, I couldn't help but feel that this decision to hide the mirror was Celestia's way of making sure nopony made the mistake I made, and that really burned me up inside. She was using her failure to pin the blame squarely on me! Why did she continue to pin the blame on somepony as innocent as me while avoiding taking responsibility for her actions? That's why she needed to go, so that somepony with more common sense could lead this kingdom down a path of glory; somepony like me!

---

" I thought you were going to tell me what this Crystal Empire was like?" Twilight asked, feeling rather annoyed that I said one thing but ended up doing something else entirely. My response to her accusation was that I needed to explain how I was able to go there in the first place. I couldn't just waltz over there thinking that I could use the mirror and come back to this world, as I had no idea where the empire was even located, and even if I did, I had no knowledge of the Crystal Castle. " Oh, so what you just described is how you ended up getting there. Wow, while the thought of you dressed up as a guard is something I just can't picture in my head, you must have felt all kinds of pressure, seeing as one slip up would have exposed your real identity." Twilight said.

" At first, I did feel pressure, what with maintaining my disguise, but as we made our way over to the Crystal Empire, I actually enjoyed the experience." I said, placing a hand onto my chest before breathing heavily for a few moments. " When I was a student of Princess Celestia, I secretly had a fascination with the Royal Guard; they were so majestic in their nature, serving to protect ponies of all kinds, and I'll admit that I was jealous, because they got to experience things which I never saw. As time passed, something within my heart changed, and I started to view them as incompetent, useless, even gullible."

" Did you once desire to be a Royal Guard?" Twilight asked.

" Perish the thought! I may have had a fascination which lead to jealousy, but I would have never done anything of the sort, as I was destined for greater things. I suppose in an alternate timeline, becoming a Royal Guard may have been a possibility." I answered, turning the page of the journal, revealing a rather crude drawing, and my memories immediately kicked in, as I remembered this incident quite vividly. Twilight wanted to see what it was, and I knew that trying to hide this would have been impossible, given how it was difficult to deny her anything, so I showed her the drawing, and blushed because I was embarrassed at what it looked like and for being a lousy artist.

" This looks like you stealing something, and the room is filled with crystals." Twilight said.

" It doesn't picture me in a positive light, does it?" I asked.

" I should say not, but why would you resort to thievery given everything you've done as a unicorn? I would have thought that, despite everything that happened to you after your falling out with Princess Celestia, you'd have some dignity left to not reduce yourself to such a low standard as stealing." Twilight answered, her words reminding me once again of Principal Cinch. The head of Crystal Prep wasn't a thief by any means, but rather when she was ridiculed at the end of the Friendship Games for wanting to take up the implications of magic to the school board, she managed to walk away from that incident with her dignity intact. Dignity... there have been many times where I would lose it, struggling to get it back, or would be on the verge of losing it, backing off before it was too late.

" I had a mean streak." I said, shamelessly.

" Doesn't change the fact that you stole something." Twilight said.

" This wouldn't be the only time where stealing became a necessity for me, Twilight, but I'll be getting to that really soon, as what I would do ended up changing everything in this world, and it doesn't take an egghead to figure out what I mean." I said. Twilight just sat there for a few moments after I said that, her muscles refusing to move, her expression blank, no words coming from her mouth, as though she were in some kind of trance. She knew what I was talking about, and she had to recall what can be described as her own internal nightmare: becoming a monster, just like I did.

" You mentioned putting on a crown, and being overwhelmed." Twilight said.

" Again, I'll be getting to that. First, I need to reveal what happened when I arrived at the Crystal Empire. Don't think of this as me trying to change the subject. I just want to focus on what leads into perhaps my biggest mistake, even bigger than my falling out with Princess Celestia." I said.

---

When we arrived at the train station, the only ponies there who were "official" were delegates representing Canterlot, as Princess Celestia was unavailable due to being preoccupied with the coronation. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that I didn't have to deal with her. We unicorns used our magic to carefully load the mirror onto the train before it departed. Oddly enough, we were the only ones on board. My former mentor was really serious about making sure that no pony was to see this mirror, and I merely scoffed at her typical weakness, yet I made sure to keep this feeling to myself; these guards were fanatically loyal to her. As the train chugged along the track, the guards were given free reign to relax until the train reached its destination, which the commander said would take an hour. I myself took the liberty of seeing the beautiful scenery as it whizzed by. To think that I would once again be witnessing such beauty after being away for so long, yet I could never truly come back here as long as Princess Celestia was the ruler. Her methods were nothing short of weak, and Equestria needed a pony who could rule them with an iron fist, like me.

Yet, how could I achieve such a goal? I know Equestria deserves a ruler like me, but I don't have the power to take the throne, as Princess Celestia was perhaps more powerful than any pony, with the possible exception of her sister Princess Luna, who was on equal footing. To rule Equestria, I needed something which would grant me more power. That was how I ruled over CHS without trouble: gaining more power through unscrupulous means. But those humans were easy to conquer. The ponies of Equestria are far greater than those two-legged beings with no concept of magic. Then it dawned on me. The crown that upstart Twilight Sparkle was wearing. There was something about it which reminded me of one of my early lessons as Princess Celestia's protégé, but my mind was drawing a blank. Regardless, I was sure it would come to me before heading back to the other world.

Eventually, the train arrived at the entrance to the Crystal Empire, and I was completely in awe of it all. Never had I seen anything so gorgeous as this place; it even made the likes of Canterlot pale in comparison. Every last facet of this place sparkled due to the crystals, which covered all nooks and crannies. Even the ponies of this empire looked as though they were made of crystal. However, I couldn't allow myself to become consumed with such pointless thoughts. My aim was to go back to the other world, and I needed to focus on that and not allow my thoughts to become twisted by false hopes of grandeur like the social elite, as they would be beside themselves upon seeing this place.

" I take it you've never been here before?" The commander in charge of this group of the Royal Guard spoke out to me, which did catch me off guard, but I quickly regained my composure before responding to him.

" This is my first time being here, sir." I answered.

" That isn't surprising; this place used to be lost for a thousand years, and thanks to the support of Princess Twilight and her friends, the empire has returned and now has new rulers in the form of Princess Cadance and her husband Prince Shining Armour, Princess Twilight's older brother."

" Her brother is royalty too?" I asked.

" He used to be the Captain of the Royal Guard back in Canterlot, and my superior, but ever since his marriage, he took up residence here in the empire, and a new captain was personally picked by him to succeed as the new leader of the Royal Guard." I just couldn't believe it! Not only did the upstart become a princess--which was my destiny--but her older brother had become a prince simply by marrying a princess! Why was this one family giving me so much grief? It's like they were popping up like weeds, entangling my hooves, and preventing me from getting anywhere in life. " Is something wrong? You look like you're about to explode."

" Sorry about that, sir." I began, lying to maintain my disguise, " I was just thinking about something personal, but don't let that distract you from leading this group to the Crystal Castle. Actually, this may sound a little personal, sir, but why did we bring this mirror here?"

" Her Highness wished for Princess Cadance to watch over it, as the thoughts of what happened in the past involving her former student Sunset Shimmer continue to weigh down on her heart, and she could no longer look back upon what happened. The mirror became a sort of painful memory. Hopefully, she and the other princesses won't need to come and see it when they come here for the Royal Summit many moons from now."

" They are coming here?" I asked.

" Correct." Despite once again being annoyed at how Princess Celestia was trying to forget all about my existence, blaming me for what happened, this little tidbit of information was exactly what I needed to hear. The upstart was going to be here for a summit. It was at this moment that I suddenly remembered what I had forgotten, but could this idiot of a commander even know anything, given how insignificant his position was.

" Do you know of the Elements of Harmony?" I asked, nervously as to avoid being too obvious.

" I don't know too much, since how it doesn't come in the job description, but I hear that Princess Twilight and her friends have been using them to save Equestria from all kinds of problems that have plagued this fair land. A fun fact is that Princess Twilight's crown actually contains her Element of Harmony, and it is the one among the six which binds the other five together, or so the legend goes. You could say that her crown is one of the most powerful artefacts in all of Equestria." This idiot had just sealed the fate of Equestria by telling me that, as now I knew where to get all the power I needed. Princess Twilight's crown contains magic which I can use to conquer this world without even batting an eyelash, yet it would involve me somehow stealing it away without anyone knowing what had happened. Twisted thoughts ran through my head: me wearing her crown upon my head, conquering Equestria with ease, banishing Princess Celestia for how she treated me, sitting on a throne while other ponies bowed before me... I had to go back to the other world as soon as possible, and prepare accordingly.

The Royal Guard then made their way through the backstreets of the Crystal Empire so as to not draw any attention to themselves, and despite what was going on within my mind, I still managed to take everything around me in awe, yet my eyes were still on the prize of Princess Twilight's crown. All kinds of crystal ponies, as I soon discovered they were called, were watching our every move curiously, yet the guards insisted they not interfere, as this was an interest of national security. Complete hogwash; it was just a mirror that goes to another world and can show ponies their future if they were to look at it long enough. We weaved our way through the streets, making detours every so often to avoid curious onlookers, and soon I would find myself staring at the Crystal Castle itself. Words alone couldn't do justice to what I was seeing. This was the kind of place a pony like myself could get used to, especially when I become ruler.

" Where are we taking this mirror, sir?" I asked.

" Princess Celestia ordered us to take it to a room located behind the throne room, so that only the royal family may have access to it."

" And after that?" I asked.

" We go back to Canterlot and await our next command." Unfortunately for him, I had no intention of going back to Canterlot, as doing so would likely drive me insane, what with that upstart flaunting about her new title, and me having to constantly be reminded of it. We were then greeted at the entrance of the castle by a crystal pony, and she ushered inside, but we took our time, as the mirror had to remain intact until it had reached its intended destination. While the exterior of the castle was beautiful beyond all reasoning, the interior felt lacklustre, as though it were a mere shell that just couldn't compete. I would soon discover that this castle had many different passageways, which would be confusing were I to carry out my plan without getting a lay of the land, so when we finally escorted the mirror to its final location, the commander told us all to take five before we were to go back to the train station.

This gave me a chance to get a better sense of where everything was in the castle, so I began walking around, making sure to check every room I could because any one of them could be used to house the likes of Princess Twilight. In order for my plan to succeed, I needed to know exactly where I was going; going blind was not an option. However, the plan also depended on when the portal would actually open as intended, as my being here in Equestria was the result of sheer coincidence. Each corridor within the castle looked almost identical to the next one, and it eventually started giving me a headache, so then I started to think practically on the matter by thinking about where each of the princesses would reside when they have that summit of theirs. They'd need to be situated close to one another, in case they need to meet in an emergency, and I guessed that Twilight Sparkle wasn't familiar with this place, as she knows only the likes of a backwater town like Ponyville, so she would want to be as close to the central hallway as possible. That means the only logical place she would stay is a room near the throne room, or at least within the general area.

" Alright everypony! It's time for us to head back to Canterlot!"

" This is where we part ways, you gullible idiot." I said to myself, removing the armour from my body before tossing it aside in a heap in the corner of the room I was currently in. " I've gotten everything I need from you, and while it was slightly pleasant to pass myself off as a member of the Royal Guard, I'm not going to be making a habit out of it." Since I knew exactly where the portal was now, I quickly made my way over to it, avoiding any pony who may have been wandering around. I finally reached the portal, which was a pleasant sight to see, but before I went through and back to the other world, I used the same dark magic spell to remove the disguise I had been wearing and change my cutie mark back to normal. Finally, I put on my raincoat, which I materialized out of thin air. Without waiting another moment, I went through the portal, and came out the other side as a human again. No one was around, making the transition a flawless one. " Now I just need to wait for the portal to open again as intended, and that's when my dreams will come true."

---

" What were you stealing in that drawing?" Twilight asked.

" Something small and insignificant, but it was nothing compared to what I was going to steal." I answered.

" The crown the other Twilight wears?" Twilight asked.

" Wearing it would give me everything I wanted. Or so I thought, at least." I answered.

" The same crown you mentioned when you were trying to reach out to me when I became that demonic creature." Twilight said, her brain already coming up with all sorts of answers, which lead her to conclude that everything was beginning to connect together, like one of those connect-the-dot puzzles that children and avid fans constantly thrive over not only because of how simple they are but also because of how fun they could be. " Sunset, how did magic come into this world to begin with? I mean, as a scholar, I must acquire as much knowledge as possible, especially if the information proves itself to be practical."

" Magic came here because of me." I said.

" That would mean you brought the crown to this world--" Twilight said, stopping herself when she covered her mouth with both hands and gasping. She had just figured out the answer to her own question, and I merely lowered my head in shame because I alone was solely responsible for the changes this world would receive.

Comments

[icecreammac]

This was pretty good. Looks like we'll finally be moving into the first movie. I very much look forward to it.

[Nova Blaze]

This is getting good. Just out of curiosity, did you catch the reference I made in my last comment?

[Ganondorf8]

6650495

I did notice that, and it turns out you were correct about Sunset relying on stealth to get what she needed. This chapter was a fun one for me to write as the idea of Sunset being part of the Royal Guard, albeit unwillingly, was something I had to go with. Who knows? It might spark some fanart in the future.

6650390

Which has been a long time coming, and should last approximately six to eight chapters... in theory at least.

[Nman625]

Back to the human world. You explained the plot hole in the movie very nicely. Reading this story will, no doubt, make further viewings of the movie more enjoyable. =)

This chapter moved at an easy pace. It was a simple thing to follow. I look forward to seeing what that small thing Sunset stole is.

Another note: I'm not sure what it is yet, but there's something about the Sunset/Twilight scenes that miffs me in a way. It just doesn't feel natural. Maybe too emotional? I'm probably just thinking about what I would do in the situation, not what Twilight or Sunset would do. You know?