The Quickverse Chronicles

by Quick Fix

15 Years Ago (Sunset/Twilight)

Author's Note:

Contains spoilers for Unrelenting Conviction.

Part 3 of the Sunset arc. < Previous / Next >

Twilight's Castle, Ponyville
February 19th, Year 17 under the Four Princesses

---

It was late evening in Ponyville, the time of day where the town fell almost completely silent as everypony settled in for the night ahead. The sun was just finishing it's decent under Celestia's guidance, the last rays of light mixing with the gentle darkness above to create a final burst of colour over the land. Even if they weren't out in it, many ponies were simply by their windows and enjoying the sight of the sunset. Even those that were supposed to be keeping busy.

Sunset Shimmer sighed happily to herself as she found herself unable to tear her eyes away from the view outside her window. It had been two months since Princess Celestia had given her a special assignment to study directly under Princess Twilight Sparkle. It had been a productive winter, learning the nuances of advanced magic, science and of course, friendship. Sunset couldn't deny that she'd come along in leaps and bounds in that time, to the point that under Twilight's guidance she'd finally mastered the teleportation spell that Celestia had been teaching her for the past few years. She'd still spent the few days after in a more dour mood though, since she'd failed to achieve it before her twentieth birthday like she'd been aiming for. The fact that she was only the sixth pony alive that was capable of it was small comfort. Still, she had a few weeks left before returning to Canterlot and memorizing all the friendship lessons she'd learned here would be just as good a way of impressing Celestia.

Hopefully it would impress Twilight too...

Nothing else seemed to. Sunset had gone into this temporary mentoring expecting the princess to be bouncing off the walls at the chance to have her own student to impart all that knowledge upon and the opportunities that collaborating with somepony as smart as her would provide. Instead, she'd been met with a quiet, focused pony who seemed more interested in seeing success that she was, if that was even possible. Even the whole teleport success hadn't gotten the kind of reaction she'd expected for becoming one of only two living, non-alicorn ponies who could do it, the look in Twilight's eyes at the time had betrayed a sense of fear rather than joy. That was something she really wanted to get to the bottom of, another reason to pour herself into her studies, finding out what was wrong with her mentor was just another challenge she would beat in her remaining time here.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of somepony coming into the library and she quickly snapped back into looking like she was focused on the book laid out in front of her, the journal of the Elements of Harmony. Her eyes went up as if she'd only just started to focus on something else and she relaxed as she realised it was just Spike coming in with a plate of sandwiches. She'd always been on good terms with the dragon on the few occasions they'd met in Canterlot but these days it always felt a little weird to see him walking on all fours and grown up enough that she had to look up slightly to make eye contact. It didn't change anything though and she gave a thankful smile as he took the plate down from his back and set it on her desk.

"Thanks, Spike. I didn't realise I'd missed dinner. Again."

"Actually, Twilight said she'd be delayed for dinner tonight. So I made these for you in the meantime." Spike replied in that slight draconic tone of his, picking up a gem that had been hidden behind the sandwich pile and chewing on it while Sunset took a daisy sandwich and started on that.

That comment had set her mind racing again. This wasn't the first time that Twilight had separated herself from meeting up with Sunset at a communal time and the more it happened, the more she was curious what the reason was. All she needed was a chance to try and talk about it, and she had an idea on how to get that chance right now.

"Oh, okay. Somepony come in with a friendship problem?" Sunset asked, trying to keep her voice nonchalant and yet slightly disappointed.

"No, Twilight just said that she'd be delayed and headed for the map room." Spike replied, sounding a little uneasy about it.

"Do you think one of us should talk to her about it?"

"I've tried, but she's been pretty adamant that I can't just 'talk out the greatest failure of my life'" He stopped and gasped slightly at his slip of the tongue. Sunset paused at this point as well, either Twilight was considering something about her as a failure, or she was reminding her of one. Either way, she couldn't just let that stand as it was. She had to get to the bottom of this and hopefully help her mentor a little at the same time.

"Well, maybe I can. I'm a different perspective and Princess Celestia always says that the student teaches the master an equal amount."

"Hmmm..." Spike looked away in thought for a minute, mulling the option. "I guess that's worth a try, and Twilight didn't say she couldn't be disturbed. Alright, but if it seems like you're not getting anywhere, please don't push it. Twilight's very, very tender on the subject"

"Of course. I'll be back for the rest of the sandwiches later. Thanks for your help, Spike" Sunset got up and headed out of the library at a quick trot. As much as she was already relishing the challenge of getting the truth out of Twilight, she liked Spike enough that she was willing to do as he asked if it didn't work.

She'd managed to memorise the basic layout of the castle by now and soon made her way to the entrance of the map room on the ground floor. The doors had been left open, letting her peek in to try and gauge what she was in for. The spacious room that had helped organise dozens of friendship adventures looked practically unchanged from the days Twilight Sparkle was first settling in, complete with the memory roots chandelier that rested above the cutie map. From this angle, Twilight's throne was facing away from door but the princess herself was still visible sitting on it, silently looking at a photograph in her hooves. Sunset couldn't see the full picture from this angle but she could make out that it was of a pink pony with a slightly curled purple tail that had a teal streak, as well as a grey equal sign for a cutie mark.

Sunset Shimmer recognised it instantly.

She'd last seen that pony staring death at her through a cell door ten years ago.

A small gasp escaped her lips before she could stop herself. Twilight heard the sudden sound and jumped clean out of her seat in shock, managing to get her wings open enough to stay in the air and dropping the photo out of sight as she looked round at the source. Sunset gave a sheepish smile on being caught and stepped into the map room, expecting to be chewed out for snooping even as she tried to think of how to handle this.

"Sunset Shimmer! I ah, what're you doing here?" Twilight asked quickly, a few drops of sweat visible as she tried and failed to compose herself. "I was just, thinking! About what we're going to be studying tomorrow but we can't get to that if you're not studying now. I mean, I've got so many friendship lessons to show you and we'll be busy busy busy with-"

"Did you know that pony in the photo?" Sunset asked before Twilight could slip further into her unprepared venting, making the alicorn stop and land slowly with a worried look.

"You, saw that?"

"I did, and I know her as well. Starlight Glimmer, right?" Sunset asked. As she watched Twilight look down and scuff the floor slightly, she realised that she wasn't considering the challenge she'd set herself the top priority anymore. She'd never seen a pony look so...Fragile. Like the alicorn could just shut down in front of her if she said the wrong thing. Even though Twilight was more than a head taller than her, Sunset had never imagined a pony could hold less of a presence than in this moment.

"...Yes. How did you...?"

"Princess Celestia once took me to see her as an example of what my responsibilities of helping Equestria may need to include. I, tried to understand why she did what she did in the past. It didn't work," Sunset explained as she had a sudden burst of clarity. That hoof she had seen when she had projected herself into Starlight's mind had been...Twilight didn't need to know that part. "I know you played a major hoof in stopping her. I had no idea that it was that bad for you though."

Twilight hesitated as she eyed Sunset. Part of her wanted to brush this off and just go into the rest of the day like it was nothing. She'd been doing that for years though with only Celestia and Luna for limited support and she couldn't maintain the façade forever. Sunset sounded like she wanted to listen and who knew, maybe telling her would help her avoid a similar situation one day. Twilight sighed and turned back toward the map, resting a hoof on it's edge as the memories came back to her.

"Yes. It was that bad for me. It all happened right here..."

---

February 19th, Year 2 under the Four Princesses

She had failed.

Twilight Sparkle, had failed.

Any other pony would have considered what she had just done, stopping an insane, dangerously powerful unicorn from wilfully disrupting time itself and throwing Equestria into countless unspeakable perils, as a resounding success. The problem lay in the way she had done it. She was the Princess of Friendship, she was supposed to have found a peaceful solution that resulted in her opponent agreeing to stop of their own accord. Instead, this disaster had ended with her blasting a magically exhausted Starlight Glimmer as she fell from the skies, even if it was only a stunning spell. She hadn't been able to get through to her, find a way to end this peacefully, one unicorn to another. Instead she now had to ensure that this broken pony wouldn't threaten Equestria again.

The letter she had quickly written for Princess Celestia explaining what she was about to do was placed to one side and she turned to look down at the unconscious body of Starlight, still crumpled where it had landed after coming out of the time portal for the last time. She had been incredibly talented, enough that she could have easily qualified to be a princess' student on raw strength alone. Sadly, her mind was effectively gone, consumed by scorn and malice for both cutie marks and Twilight Sparkle, a broken shell of a pony. She couldn't just be held regularly, even somewhere like tartarus wouldn't be able to hold such a powerful unicorn for long, especially when she had few or no morals keeping her from using her powers to destroy everything between her and Twilight. There was a thin glimmer of hope, that she may one day recover as her problems were identified and treated, but she could not have her magic until the day that came. There was only one way to make that happen with what was available.

Using her own unique magic against her.

Twilight's horn glowed and she slowly aimed it at the helpless Starlight, feeling a sadness building in her chest and spreading through her body, almost overwhelmingly so. She'd been on the receiving end of this spell. She knew how much it was going to hurt, that Starlight would never forgive her if she found out, that she was throwing away any chance that she might be able to look at herself in the mirror and not think about how she had to live with this. It had to be done though, for safety of all Equestria, she just hoped that everypony would understand why she did it.

"Starlight Gimmer...I'm sorry."

Her voice cracked slightly as her emotion started to overflow, tears welling her eyes as her magic surrounded Starlight. Even while deeply stunned, Starlight's whole body flinched at the feeling and her face contorted in a hint of pain. After several seconds her cutie mark slowly separated from her body, hovering silently as Twilight glanced round to find something to store it in. She couldn't bring herself to look at what she'd done...What she'd done. Suddenly she had an idea of just why Luna had created the Tantabus, just having to live with this was going to be almost impossible. But she'd have to find a way...Somehow.

---

"I ended up sticking Starlight's cutie mark in a chest while I teleported her to the Canterlot dungeons," Twilight looked down as she spoke, sounding more and more ashamed with each word. "The guards took her into custody on my authority and I finally transferred the cutie mark to a secure location. So, that's how I saved Equestria for the eight time...But..."

Sunset could only watch in stunned shock as Twilight slumped back in her seat and covered her face with her hooves, clearly trying not to cry in front of her student. For all she'd heard about the heroics that the Elements of Harmony had done, she'd never given any thought to how it might have affected them along the way. Twilight's voice had none of it's usual excited energy now that everything was out in the open, now it sounded worn out, tired of sounding like everything was alright while she carried a guilt heavy enough to crush a lesser pony. Before she could think about it, she had moved to the alicorn's side and placed a gentle hoof on her shoulder.

"I let her down," Twilight eventually continued. "I was supposed to be the Princess of Friendship, the one who manages to find a way to save even the most strained relations between ponies. Instead I pushed a unicorn in need of help to the depths of mental breaking, and for what? To try and protect my own friendships? Maybe Starlight had a point when she said I was just covering my own tail out there..."

"Look, I may not know the full story, but from what I heard I know you had much better reasons for doing what you had to." Sunset commented. She didn't know what to say to try and cheer Twilight up but she had a feeling that simply letting her get it all out would do more than she could.

"I didn't believe it at the time. It felt like I had betrayed everything I stood for by my actions against Starlight," Twilight shook her head slightly and looked back at Sunset. Though she still looked badly shaken, there was a little more strength in her words. "I let that feeling fester and ended up broken myself. I'd, really rather not talk about that period, but it took months of help from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna before I could resume my duties."

Sunset simply nodded, not wanting to push Twilight any further than she wanted to go. This gave a lot of context she had been missing though. Celestia had been very distracted during those same months and constantly taking time away from mentoring the filly Sunset to meet with the other princesses. While this had resulted in Sunset meeting Singularity, it had interrupted her studies. In addition, Luna had often joined their study sessions to oversee 'significant plans' with her sister. In hindsight, the creation of the Equestrian Defence Force several years later may well have been somewhat attributed to this.

"It didn't just affect me either," Twilight continued, drawing Sunset's attention back to the discussion. "Aside from what my friends and family had to go through while I was dealing with it. it affected other ponies hard enough to change their lives completely. I imagine you've heard of Sweetie Belle?"

"The name rings a bell. Err, no pun intended," Sunset replied, pausing for a moment as Twilight cracked a smile at her choice of words. Considering how Twilight had been before, just seeing that smile was a major win in the unicorn's books. "Some in Canterlot have mentioned her as an up-and-coming singer."

"She's always been a talented singer. What many ponies don't know is that she's also highly adept at magic. Her talent isn't what many ponies would call powerful, like Starswirl the Bearded or you, but her abilities are beyond the average unicorn. I first discovered it shortly after I became an alicorn, when Sweetie and her friends came to me for help trying to get their cutie marks. She was only seven years old and picking up the basics of many spells far quicker than fillies her age were expected to. Mastering them was another matter, but I thought as time went on that I could help her with that. I actually intended to offer her the chance to be my first student..."

"What happened?" Sunset asked, though she had a very good idea already.

"I closed that door on her," Twilight replied, rubbing her leg slowly as though she could scrape the guilt away. "I'd been showing her more advanced magic as a lead in to asking, then after what happened with Starlight Glimmer I essentially forgot all about her for a time. By the time I was in a position to continue, she had gained her cutie mark for her singing and was following that instead. She still dabbles in her magic from time to time, but I can't help but wonder what she might have been capable of if I had given her the chance."

"I see," Sunset bit back the sudden sense of indignation at the thought of another powerful magic user at the same time as her and moved next to Twilight. "You know now though that it wasn't your fault. Nopony could blame you for having to step back and recuperate after what you've been through and if Starlight was so fixated that she was completely unreasonable..."

"Maybe, I guess we'll never know now. Even with the best support in Equestria, it's probably going to take the rest of Starlight's life before she gets all the help she needs. I just hope that one day she understands why I did what I had to, even if she doesn't forgive me for it...Or if you don't."

"M-Me?" Sunset stepped back and looked at Twilight in confusion as she got up off her throne and back to the floor. Though it was hard to tell, there seemed to be a little more energy in her movement now and even more in her voice. It seemed like no longer bottling it up was helping a bit.

"I know you've seen how wary I've been during your lessons. It's just...The last time I was dealing with a unicorn as skilled as yourself, it was Starlight Glimmer. It brings up bad memories and...I don't want the same thing to happen to you."

"Me? Come on, I've got Princess Celestia keeping a close eye on my studies, let her worry about anything going wrong," Sunset grinned at her effort to lighten the mood and saw, to her relief, that Twilight was smiling a bit again. "Seriously though, I have the fantastic eye of Celestia keeping watch over me and another great teacher right here helping me through things I couldn't do alone. Between you two, I'm going to be firmly on the road to joining you both in making Equestria a better place."

Twilight was silent for several seconds before looking straight at Sunset, her eyes showing a glint of relief behind those few tears that had managed to make it out. She slowly wiped them away and cracked a small but proper smile, her student's words hitting closer to home than she could have expected when she was saying them.

"Thanks, Sunset. For believing in me. You don't know what it means to hear that but I'll do my best to make it up to you in what's left of our lessons."

"You're a good teacher, I know you will. Now, I happen to have some sandwiches left up in the library. What do you say we just unwind with them and a look over my study book? I've got so many questions about your journal."

Twilight smiled more and nodded, heading out of the map room with a definite air of returning confidence in her step. Sunset followed her out, glad that her efforts at reassurance had some effect, but at the same time her mind was working overtime. It sounded like Starlight had only gone down after one of the toughest fights any of the elements of harmony had gone though. It was a crazy, idle thought but she couldn't help but wonder...Was there a better way that Starlight could have been brought down? Would it have been possible to bring her in without doing such damage, maybe even redeem her?

Sunset shook the thought from her mind as she followed her mentor out of the map room. Finding out would require Starlight Glimmer to be at large again and nopony would be letting that happen.