//------------------------------// // 4 - Friendship // Story: The Chambermaid // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Mi Amore Cadenza “Cadence” - 17th of Megan, 1000 Solar Era (16 years ago) Canterlot - Equestria I hate visiting Canterlot. I hate it with a passion no other pony could ever hope to comprehend. Perhaps a species of empaths could understand the vast ocean of hatred I have for this city and its snobby elitist prudes who are all far too mired in their misguided sense of what is ‘right and proper’ to even consider others points of view, let alone desires. Is it ironic that the Princess of Love can despise something so totally and completely? I don't think so. The people of Canterlot, not all, but the majority of her citizens, are the antithesis of true love. There are exceptions, like my dear coltfriend Shining Armor and his family, but the majority are truly vile people on the inside. I’m not judgmental or sanctimonious. I know their hearts and desires as a matter of fact. I’m the embodiment of love. My empathy is unparalleled, even in myths and legend. I know the hearts and whatever passion is currently held foremost in every person’s mind out to ten meters, two hundred meters if I were to take out the earing used to limit my power’s range. Whenever I walk the streets of Canterlot, the hearts around me have one thing to say. ‘I must increase my own power.’ The people here are not corrupt enough to be a threat to the nation, they all want to serve Equestria. It’s simply that they all want ever larger slices of the pie. They care nothing for those beneath them save as a means of expressing their power and creating an image of kindness and benevolence. All the while underneath, is a self-centered jerk, drunk on their own self-image. Greedily seizing every chance to gather more for themselves and to put the odd, strange, or bizarre around them in a cage to demonize, so others won't consider their own passions to be despicable. Every time I return home from visiting Canterlot, I spend hours in the shower trying to get my soul clean. That was once a true problem for me. I used to absorb and emulate the passions of those around me, whether I wanted to or not. It took Starswirl a decade, but he was able to enchant a small arcanite disk which blocks that compulsion, save for all but the strongest of passions. The tiny implanted chip restored my free will, but the decade spent serving to aid others in increasing or achieving their passions did leave its mark on me. I knew what my duty to Equestria was ever since the first mare I helped. It was my job to make a safe place for those with harmless but ‘deviant’ desires to live normal lives which included their tastes openly. Canterlot was the city of nobility, pomp, and so-called ‘polite society’. One day I would have a city of my own, a place of love, openness, and kink. More specifically, a carefully tailored society with a legal system and culture which allows people to be themselves at all times and not have to wear stupid ‘masks’ just to be respected. I’d discussed my plans with Shining several times, just to be certain my possible future husband would be okay with me creating what would basically be a city-wide red light district with a culture best described as ‘anti-prudish’. He was, and he understood that such a place is needed. Those who society spurns but are still good people need a place they feel welcome. I couldn’t handle being around politicians and diplomats. I loved being around normal ponies with strange desires. As such, my path was clear. It was my destiny to be their princess. To welcome them, lead them, and play alongside them. Not just the kinky people, but everyone with a passion that guides their life and who is spurned for it. They need a place of their own. Away from a culture which shuns them. Celestia herself agreed with the idea. Her attempts to incorporate me into the Crown as a replacement for her long banished sister failed spectacularly. Before my ascension to Alicorn thanks to Starswirl’s experiments, I was a warrior. My hooves had once wielded a blade in defense of the Outbuck against tyrants. That side of me never left, nor will it. It’s too deeply rooted in my heart. The first day I had sat on the lunar throne, a noble had come before me and presented a tax plan so blatantly self-serving and cruel, and who had held such pure greed in his heart, that I killed him on the spot. Did I regret it? Yes. It was action without thought. Action with noble intentions, but there had been many better solutions. Needless to say, I was removed from office. My place as part of the crown was reconsidered, and Celestia agreed to allow me to proceed with my plan. On one condition. It must be some place remote. In return, I promised to stay out of politics, save for local affairs within my to be established fiefdom. I was more than willing to agree to those terms. A proper place had not yet been chosen, there were no city-sized chunks of land available within Equestria. At least, not within habitable areas. Celestia’s archmage, Raven, was very certain that the long banished Crystal Empire would be returning any year now. With it would come an artifact which made a city-sized region habitable despite the arctic environment. Because the Crystal Empire’s territory belonged to Equestria, no other nation would seek to claim it. Because the nation had not been folded into Equestria before vanishing, no noble house had claim to it. It was the Crown’s property. When it returned, it was to be mine forever. I could wait a few more years. Until then, I had my life to enjoy at my manor in Calmare. And the occasional visit to Canterlot to either visit Shining Armor who commanded the city’s guard as their Captain, or to talk with Celestia about my ongoing city planning. This was a city planning visit. After which I would be giving my ‘filly’ a loving hug and a good date night before leaving. Ah Shining, part of why I love you so much is that feminine side of yours which pops up anytime you relax. Never change, my sweet. Except for your fear of multi-partner relationships. Please change that. It's hard to be monogamous for you. Worth it to the very last ounce of willpower, but hard. I reached my destination within the maze-like halls of the Royal Palace, which snapped me out of my thoughts. Celestia’s den, a good place for private meetings. I knocked on the twin wooden doors, careful to not scratch the elaborately carved sun emblem centered on the arched doors. Those doors were two hundred years older than me, and I was five hundred years old myself. Nothing makes you respect historic relics like being one yourself. “Come in,” Celestia’s voice called through the doors, muffled slightly by the wood. I carefully turned the door handle with my magic’s grip, and walked inside, closing it behind me. “Nice to see you, Celestia,” I greeted, giving her a short curtsy. “Good to see you too, Cadence,” the not-pink-enough alicorn replied honestly. Of course, her tone carried a little irritation at my reflexive curtsy. She hated how I never could get past having once been her bodyguard. “You didn’t have too difficult a time traveling through the city, I hope?” Celestia asked politely, using her magic to pull one of the white-wax wood chairs out from the small tea table she kept in her overly organized and tidy den. I swear, the only mess allowed was on her desk. And even her in progress notes had a sort of order to their chaos. I took a seat at the table, admiring Celestia’s gold plated, silver inlay decorated tea set, and holding back a smile as my old friend’s foremost passion shifted to eating an entire cake with tea. She knew that I knew what she wanted to do of course, but her cordial expression didn’t change a single wink. Her dignified mask was flawless after millennia of use. It saddened me. Nopony should have to hide their true selves just to be respected. “No worse than usual, but I do have a request for one mare to be sent to my estate,” I informed as she poured us both a cup of tea. “Oh?” Celestia asked as she sat down and we both picked up our teacups. I took the first sip, completing the little ceremony so she could enjoy her own tea and biscuit. “Yes, her name is Moon Dust. A baker living on Prism Lane in Canterlot. I met her in the market on the way here. The poor mare is visibly a nervous wreck, and clearly shunned. Her personal fantasies were exposed by a pony who stole her diary. I’ll keep them private for her sake, but she’s no longer welcome where she lives. I have room for a baker among my staff,” I explained. Celestia nodded. She understood as well as I did the need for a refuge. Not everypony can get along with everyone after all. “Did you offer her a job already?” She asked. I nodded. “Yes, and she accepted.” “I’ll have a moving company transfer her goods and pay for her train ticket this evening,” Celestia informed before turning a bit more serious. “Now then, about your desire to allow otherwise illegal acts via the use of a ‘consent form’. There are several legal problems with the concept, chief amongst which is there is no basis for what is essentially pardoning a crime in advance.” “What if we establish the city as a city-state which is a protectorate under the Crown?” I asked. “That way it can have it’s own independent legal system and would only be required to pay tribute via tax revenue, and submit to Equestrian law in times of war or if ordered to by the Crown for emergencies.” “Yes, but if you did that you would need to run the city’s affairs yourself. You are still very young, and you well... You can’t do political negotiating. I can’t see you managing a government well,” Celestia countered. Fortunately, I was prepared for this particular argument. “Actually, my plan is to establish a technocracy with myself as an overseer,” I explained. “The various administers would be appointed by me, but would consist of ponies who share my desire to protect others and provide a means to thrive. I know it sounds like a pipedream but-” Celestia’s eyes sparkled as she smiled, impressed with the idea. “For anypony except you, it would be. That’s quite brilliant, Cadence. You’d have to find such individuals of course, but you could honestly know if they were right for the job… Let’s flesh out this idea further. If we can smooth out all of the problems with your plan I’ll approve it. However, I want the authority to veto any of the foundational laws for your legal system.” I thought about it for a minute. Celestia did understand what I was trying to do, and she did have more experience with me at drafting a legal system. She also did regret several decisions made early on… “It’s a deal,” I agreed, holding out my hoof for a bump. Celestia rolled her eyes and bumped my hoof, sealing the verbal agreement the Outbuck way. “You haven't lived there in four hundred and sixty-three years,” she said with an amused but dignified flick of her ears. “I agreed to lose the accent because nopony could understand a word I said. But the rest sticks with me, Tia,” I replied with a wink. We discussed the details of my plan over tea for at least three solid hours. I’d spent months working out most of the kinks (figuratively and literally) myself. But Celestia still found a few things to disagree with. Most of them were small errors in ‘social logic’ I didn’t catch, a few were ideas I simply didn't think of, and of course there were things I objected to. But I trusted her to have my best interests in mind. Princess Celestia had kept a utopia running by herself for almost a millennia now. She knew what she was doing. However… “No deal! All guards and soldiers MUST be allowed to incorporate fetish gear into their uniforms. There WILL be lifestylers amongst their ranks,” I objected. “Cadence, foreign diplomats will eventually have to visit. If we don’t allow the occasional diplomatic function, other nations will assume something sinister is going on with your city which the Crown is directly working on, it could lead to war. Citizens can be asked to leave the court for a day, but the guard must be present. They have to be decent,” Celestia countered with a sigh. “Then we’ll have a prude friendly uniform for those functions. They are announced in advance after all,” I countered. “Yes, but soldiers are visible to everypony. Photographs of a guarded door in a newspaper will have other governments looking on us poorly for having a city devoted to debauchery. I know, I know, that’s not how you see it, and I do understand the purpose and agree that it would make many miserable ponies happy to have such a place. But our nation’s image is half of what keeps us at peace,” Celestia protested. Buck! She was right. I chewed my lip as I thought about what I could do to get around this problem. “What if,” I proposed slowly, ”I create a series of illusions which mask ‘deviant’ behavior from non-residents?” Celestia frowned. “I’m too busy to help with that. There’s been an… Incident with one of my apprentices.” “I think I can do it on my own. Or with a little help from another mage at the most,” I said after some thought. “Very well,” Celestia said with a nod and a sigh. “If you can manage that, then I’ll allow it. But if not, and until you do, the uniforms must be decent in nature.” I sighed and held out my hoof. “Agreed. Are we finished?” Celestia bumped my hoof, then nodded. “Yes, that’s all we need to discuss right now.” “Good… Because what’s wrong with your apprentices? Did Twilight turn her parents into plants again?” I asked hoping to keep from snickering. I hadn’t seen the little filly in years but- Oh. Wow. I hadn’t seen her in eight years! She was a grown mare now, give or take a month. I should plan a visit, especially since I might be marrying her brother soon. “No, not Twilight. It was Sunset,” Celestia sighed. “I thought you would have heard, how- Oh yes. You were traveling this morning.” Ah, right. The downside of taking a train to delay getting to Canterlot as long as possible instead of just teleporting or flying on my own. Missing the day’s news. She turned to look out her bay window, her ethereal mane blocking any view I had out of it myself. “I thought she might be ready to begin learning about her destiny. I was wrong,” Celestia lamented. “I showed her the Crystal Mirror three months ago. Not it’s true function, but it’s prophetic reflection. She… She did not take to learning she could become an alicorn one day as I had hoped. This last morning she threatened me, demanding I stop limiting her power and allow her to accend immediately. As in, she threatened to kill me. Her desire for power is too great, I was forced to have her banished from Canterlot.” My ears fell sadly. “I’m sorry… I know you cared for her greatly,” I sympathized. That was an understatement. Celestia had personally raised Sunset for the last ten years after her parents had died. “That’s not the worst of it. The mirror was active as a portal, you recall how we couldn’t shut it fully?” Celestia asked, waiting for me to nod before she continued. “Whatever world we can’t close the portal too, she fled there. I saw her enter myself…” “You didn’t pursue? Or post a guard to see if she would come back?” I asked uncertainly. “That doesn't sound like you, Celestia.” “No, I did not,” she sighed. “I’m not exactly in the best of emotional states right now… I did not want to wait in my dead adoptive father's laboratory for my wayward daughter to come home… And I don’t trust my guard to not accidentally disrupt some ancient artifact in his lab. I did post a door guard and have scrying crystals turned to her aura. The lab’s shielded but if she teleports out of it I’ll see her immediately. If she returned, she has not left the lab, and the portal is closed now. She will be there for at least thirty moons.” I thought for a moment, then nodded slowly to myself. “The mirror showed her as an alicorn, didn’t it?” I asked. Celestia nodded. “Then, knowing Sunset, she probably believes the mirror itself is what will transform her. She won't leave it until she is certain that the world on the other side isn’t some sort of, testing ground,” I said as I stood up and wrapped my forelegs around Celestia in a tight hug. “I’m sorry…” “I can’t repeat this mistake with Twilight,” Celestia said as I embraced her. “What will you do?” I asked curiously. “I can’t show her her destiny, she will have to stumble upon it. Or rather, be guided towards it,” Celestia replied, eyes narrowing in intense thought. “I- I can’t go into the laboratory right now. Cadence, could you please find Starswirl’s prophecy about Nightmare Moon’s Return, and the guide to the elements of harmony, and bring them to me? I’ll mix them into Twilight’s next book shipment. She’ll notice the books she didn’t order straight away.” I let go of Celestia and gave her the most concerned look I could. “Are you kidding me? Twilight’s destined to fight Nightmare Moon?!” “Yes,” Celestia replied morosely. “Not alone, but she’s the new Element of Magic. I’ve known it for five years now. That she was more than just an extraordinarily powerful mage.” “Okay, but, you’re doing this literally one day after Sunset… Betrayed you,” I said, frowning as I was forced to cut the emotional wound even deeper. “That’s why I tried to accelerate Sunset’s ascension by showing her what her potential was,” Celestia groaned. “There are only thirty-three days left.” I felt my heart skip a beat. “Why didn’t you tell me!? I’ll have my war gear ready in five min-” “No!” Celestia shouted, her morose face flashing in an instant to deep concern. “We’ve been over this, you are excellent in physical combat. The Nightmare almost killed ME. She would obliterate you in an instant. Her arcane power is overwhelming. “I can’t risk you in combat against her because if I am killed or captured, somepony will have to lead the resistance. That pony can only be you. Equestria has had an alicorn as a unifying force for so long that I fear without one the tribes will fall apart looking for someone ‘worthy’ of leading them. I know you hate politics, but you led a resistance once before, I trust you can again.” “Buck,” I swore in a single long sigh. “You’re right. As you command, Your Majesty.” Nopony said I had to be happy with leaving Celestia unguarded with her sworn enemy returning. “Sunset would have been comparable in power to me, she could have tipped the scales…” Celestia lamented. “I had hoped she would have ascended long before now but- But that ship wrecked. “Getting the Elements to new bearers is our only hope now. The Element of Magic will find the other bearers, it is her destiny. I just need to get her started on the path now. Right now. Please.” “I’ll get the books for you,” I said after a moment of silence. “But for the record, you should l have told me months ago.” “I’m sorry… I’m too used to keeping you out of politics,” Celestia sighed. “I forgive you,” I replied sincerely. “Before I go, how certain are you that we can defeat her?” “If we get the Elements working again, completely. If not… Hopefully, the thousand years has made the difference and I can best her in combat. I know Twilight can succeed, but I don’t know if she will. Even Starswirl couldn’t tell you the exact future, only the most probable one,” Celestia said, slipping back into her stately calm mask. “I’ll be back with those books as soon as I find them,” I promised. “I’ll be in court. The nation must run normally, they would only create a chaos which would make it impossible to mount our defense if they knew... Leave the books on my desk, please. Goodbye, Cadence,” Celestia said as she vanished in a golden flash of light. I left Celestia’s den and traveled through the palace’s white and gold halls to Starswirl’s old lab. It was easy to find. Head down. All the way down. Below the dungeon. Behind the hidden door to the heart of Mount Spurr. The lab was a leftover from when the Palace had been a Cathedral for the Old Gods. A hidden chamber dedicated to Dusk, the Goddess of Death. The myths and legends surrounding her always made me nervous to enter the lab. I firmly believed the Old Gods had simply been mages of incredible power. It seemed to me that messing with one of their ‘shrines’ might be a way to resurrect them. But Starswirl had always insisted that ‘Eh, she’s more of a geek. Perfectly harmless as long as you’re not evil.’ He had been born when the religion was still practiced. I trusted him to at least know how to not recreate some sort of undead wizard by accident. And prevent others from doing the same by accident. I didn’t expect the guards Celestia set to be a pair of knights. Equestria still maintained a few feudal militant orders, but for the most part, Guard Regiments filled all defense and police duty. The two unicorns, invisible behind their burned steel gothic plate armor looked at me through their angular visor slits, almost like statues in a museum. She must have trusted their battle mage training to contain a rogue Sunset more than a pair of guards ponies. A good call. I kept telling her that the guard needed more training than law enforcement tactics and basic combat training. The knights green and blue auras blazed as they dropped their halberd points to bring them in line for battle. “This area’s off limits, ma’am,” one of them said as firmly as the steel in her armor. “Good afternoon, Sirs,” I greeted. “Princess Celestia asked me to fetch some books for her. You can stand down.” The two shared a sidelong glance. The other who had yet to speak saying to his comrade. “Well, it is Cadence.” “Yeah, but she could have turned traitor too,” the first objected. I rolled my eyes and focused my power on the two, intentionally looking into their hearts. “You two are very good ponies, brave, loyal, and smart. You both know that if I wanted in and was a traitor that I would be in right now, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Right?” I asked, doing my best to keep my tone factual and non-threatening. “Or you could try persuasion to get in without raising the alarm,” the lady knight aggressively pointed out. “Oh my Celestia, Summer! She’s a Princess, she has clearance, she started her business here. Let her in,” the other knight objected. “What books are you after?” His partner probed quizzically. “The Elements of Harmony: A Guide Book, and The Mare in the Moon,” I replied immediately. The Lady knight sighed and raised her halberd. “Alright, it does seem like you are on a specific mission. Go on in… But if you find the traitor in there, be careful. Who knows what old relics are just strewn about the place.” I nodded as the guards opened the doors for me, the musty smell of a place long abandoned blasting out from the doors in a wave. “I do. I’ve been here before. I was ‘born’ here, in a way. Funny thing is it was this cluttered when Starswirl was alive too,” I said as I walked inside. “Ponyfeathers,” the male knight cursed as the doors closed. “I keep forgetting how old she is.” “Yeah, she looks younger than me. Damn alicorns!” The mare muttered jealously as the doors banged shut. I smiled to myself. I looked about middle aged if I didn’t use any illusion spells on myself. Normally I kept myself looking more youthful, if only because of my habit of going back to high school every twenty years or so. It was a good way to stay informed of the new things we learned and invented as time went buy. Also, it got me my colt friend. That was worth dealing with, ugh, twenty-year-olds… As always, the old lab was dark. Normally there was a lantern on a hook by the door, but it seemed to be missing. Deciding that Sunset must have taken it I cast a simple light spell, tinting the light white for the sake of reading the aging ink on dusty book spines, and walked deeper into the converted cave. The old floorboards creaked worryingly beneath my hooves as I walked between the seemingly chaotic ‘corridors’ between banks of bookshelves, display cases, and workstations. Thankfully this was the ground floor. Somepony could probably fall through one of the most worn down spots. I’d have to tell Celestia the floors needed to be redone. This was very unsafe. A bookshelf could fall from an upper floor and crush somepony if things got much worse. Finding things in Starswirl’s old laboratory was never a simple matter. While he did have signs clearly labeling every section, the arrangement of the sections themselves had no real order to them. I’m sure it had made sense to the old wizard, but to anypony else except for maybe Celestia, you needed to find one of the signs which listed what you were looking for. In my case, I needed to find the ‘cleaning supplies’ section. It was actually the weapons storage and development section, Starswirl never trusted security enough to clearly label something as ‘Destructive Device Storage: Limit One per Robber’. I knew it was on the first floor, but where? Roaming through the maze of old artifacts I couldn’t help but notice some of the items interred in the old lab. A seemingly empty glass jar with a label reading ‘Jar of infinite bees and one wasp’. A small spiky ball beneath a bell shaped glass case labeled ‘Angry spiky ball, do not open’. A small twig broom lashed to the leg off a workbench with a note reading ‘Defective, sweeps dirt evenly across floor instead of into piles.’ A small twenty-sided die labeled as ‘Magic ‘lucky’ die. “Only 20's" enchantment undetectable by ponies!’ THAT CHEATING BASTARD! So that’s how you crushed every last dungeon I made! Grumbling to myself I moved deeper into the lab, past the weird brass helmet which I’d been screamed at for touching once, and through the ‘worked once then broke’ DIY bookcase door into the back half of the lab. It had to be here, it wasn’t in the front. Books on home enchantment maintenance… Upside down wooden mug with a rock on it and a note reading ‘Really big spider. Maybe’... A pretty cool old alchemy workbench- Ooo! Neighponese erotic potions brewing guide! I picked the book up and stuffed it into the extradimensional storage pouch hidden under my mane. I always wanted one of these, but imports of Neighponese erotic materials had been banned outright thanks to their age of consent being fifteen instead of our twenty-seven. On the upside, Celestia did say I could borrow books from here. Heh heh. Shining will LOVE this! I’ll be able to replace that strap on with something more fun and convenient! Ooo maybe it had some special animated restraint spells along with potions! Shining loved using those on me! No! Bad Cadence! Work now, fun later. Getting back onto track I continued my search. I managed to find the section dealing with obscure magical creatures, a workstation for testing golems, a bookcase which had something glowing and sobbing behind it, a big silver plated table etched with Tartarian ru- Wait, glowing sobbing thing? What?! My eyes narrowed. Sunset. It had to be. If I could restrain her and bring her back to Celestia, maybe they could patch this whole thing up. Especially since she sounded like she was having a total emotional breakdown. I extended my empathic senses to ‘sweep’ the area around the bookcase and immediately winced. Yeah, that was a total emotional break. Right, think fast. How best to approach a pony who likely found out she threatened her sort-of mother over nothing? Slowly so as to assess the situation. I took a nervous breath and steeled myself, just in case she decided to attack me for whatever reason. I was fairly certain I could handle a unicorn, even one with Sunset’s perfect knowledge of every spell book she had ever read. After all, she couldn’t cast every spell she knew. There’s more to a spell than knowing it. I slowly walked towards the glow, the sobs getting louder as I approached, but only to a point. They were muted, muffled. Odd, it sounded almost like somepony was gaged. I reached the bookcase and rounded the corner to see an- Alicorn! No impossible. Double check, brain! Horn, pale yellow in color. Rest of body scar tissue, no fur, extremely pretty thanks to the patterns the scars form. Wings which- OH DEAR FAUST SHE WAS ON FI- Oh, nope. Not on fire. That was merely flame like illusions, forming her feathers, mane, and tail. Damn girl, you look metal as buck! And very very pretty. I knew I liked scars but I never though I’d like a full body scar pattern. Live and learn. You are probably in terrible pain though… So that sucks. But are you Sunset? I quietly stepped around to her left side. The unknown alicorn remained laying on the floor, eyes closed, and shaking with full body sobs. As soon as I got enough of an angle to see her flank, I nodded slowly. Yes, it was Sunset. That was her cutiemark. Whole and undamaged. Interesting to know that the mark remained despite a burn. What had happened to her? Was ascending in whatever universe lay on the other side of the portal harmfull? Perhaps. Magic might very well function differently in another universe. My eyes caught glints of brass and bronze, drawing my attention first to her mouth. She WAS gagged, with a large pink ball gag of all things. Why was that… The question about the gag evaporated as I noticed the bronze horseshoes on her hooves. Oh no… Starswirl’s prototype for the Alicorn armor. That’s how she was an Alicorn. The burns, the enchantment must not have worked correctly. Or- Or that big broken glass tank a few meters away and the melted hole in the floorboards has something to do with it. What section of the lab is this? I looked away for a split second, searching for a sign. It didn’t take long to find. ‘Disposal’. She’d fallen into a vat of acid… My heart went out to her. No pony deserved to fall into a vat of acid used to destroy things a wizard deemed dangerous. She must be devastated, how do I console her? The empathic probe I pushed towards her sank in easily. Too easily, like she had no mental wards at all. Sure her devastated mental state would make it easier for me to look, but there should still be some resistance. I narrowed my eyes as I concentrated, trying to probe Sunset for her deepest passions, there had to be something I could use to cheer her up. What the hay is computer programming? And motocross? And Off Roading? And- My ears fell and eyes widened with dawning horror. This wasn’t the Sunset I knew. Her heart was kinder, less hasty, largely the same yet slightly different. Her passions didn’t align with ‘Sunset’, especially since this mare liked other mares, the Sunset I knew liked colts. The love for things I didn’t know of. The differences in her heart. The gag. The total emotional hell. The universe we couldn’t close off was a parallel universe. This was the Sunset who belonged on the other side. Ours had banished her here. She stole this sunset’s life, and now the poor mare lay here mutilated, transformed, and sobbing for an ex-lover’s caring embrace. A lover who- Her culture would bucking DISOWN FOALS over their choice of LOVER!? Bullies! Despots! Monsters! It’s one thing to stop talking to them as adults over life choices, but to throw a child out into the cold over something so... So… Trivial!? They must be the same kind of heartless barbarians as Sangria the Tyrannical! As a young pony, fresh from the herd living with the Amyathits, I could not abide the misery that oppressive regem enforced. As a grown mare I could not allow such suffering to fall upon anyone else. I could see her people now, imprisoned within a similar system as the ancient Outbuck. Weighed down by corrupt merchants, treated as tools for extracting wealth for one’s self, their culture carefully created to encourage fighting amongst themselves instead of against their evil overlords. I should gather my forces and launch a Crusade against such evil! Faust did not create us to be miserable. “FAUST VULT!” I bellowed angrily, wings flaring open to better express my wrath as I let loose with my old war cry. The other Sunset’s eyes flew open, her ears lay back face contorting with fright, as a fearful squeak escaped her blocked mouth. No! Calm, calm down. Invading another dimension to literally slap compassion into an entire culture a bad idea. Help this pony instead of doing that! “Eeep! No, no, no! It’s okay!” I said quickly, closing my wings as I realized what I must look like to the poor terrified mare. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to hurt whoever did this to you. Gagging a mare and locking her in a deathtrap of a place like this… Can you take that gag off? Is it hexed to prevent you from using your magic?” The Sunset paused, her backward retreat had been awfully wobbly. She didn’t have a broken leg too, did she? After a moment of fearful recoiling, she nodded and tried to speak around the gag. “Sorry, but that’s a very well made toy. I can’t hear a thing. May I take it off for you?” I asked slowly walking closer. She paused for another few moments, then nodded tearstained cheeks shimmering in the light her flame-mane provided. I walked the rest of the way over to her and dismissed my light spell so I could grip the gag telekinetically. I never really bragged about it, but I’d always been very good with telekinesis. If it wouldn’t have been politically ‘unfair’ for a princess to compete in arcane sports. Otherwise I would have been taking home a good number of medals over the last few decades. As soon as my Aura engulfed it, I felt the lock, and simply focused my magic on the device, turning the tumbler and pins until it clicked open and I was able to gently pull the toy out of her mou- Ew… Now that I had it in ‘hoof’ the whole thing was pretty badly eaten up. I could probably have just pulled it off of her head like taffy. The disgust turned to slight embarrassment as I saw the other side of the ball had a girl’s parts stamped into the rubber. It looked like a life-cast too. “Heh… Now that’s a kinky idea, too bad it was used to torment you,” I lamented as I tossed the gag to the side. “What’s your name? Do you need immediate medical attention?” “Sunset,” she answered, her voice shaky from crying. “I look like cooked bacon… I need a hospital.” “I know a little healing magic, let me check you for first aid,” I said as soothingly as I could before lifting her with my telekinesis to check her belly. I gently poked her skin with a hoof. While scarred, it didn’t seem brittle. Elastic, smooth even. No pebbly texture like you would expect scars to have. It was merely discolored. “You seem fine,” I said setting her back down. “Who did this to you?” She paused again, wobbling on her hooves before laying down and curling up, not really looking at me. “I-um… I did. The me from here. I- I know it sounds insane…” She mumbled, dejectedly assuming I wouldn’t believe her. “Not at all. There’s a prototype dimensional gate on the second floor and one of our monarchs apprentices threatened to kill her if she didn’t give her more power then ran off through it yesterday,” I said sadly. “You share her cutiemark… but I know you’re not her. I’m empathic. Your hearts are different.” “Oh. Um… Magic… I- We don’t… We don’t have that,” she said awkwardly. I could tell that she was unused to not knowing things. But the fact that her world had no magic… Heh. Heh… I bit my lip to try and hold back my laughter, but it burst through. “Hahahaha! Oh, my, Celestia! She ran into a magic free universe to try and find out how to become an alicorn! Hahahaha! And she’s trapped there for years!” The other Sunset scooted away slightly at my outburst. I turned to her and gave her a genuine smile. “The best part is, she inadvertently made YOU into the thing she wanted to be! Hehehe!” I shook my head slowly, taking a deep breath to try and get the laughs out. I had to help this poor mare still. “I don’t think she wanted to fall into lye,” Sunset mumbled into the floor, a few strands of mane falling over her face. “Well no,” I agreed honestly. “But hey, you’re a demigod now. So that’s something.” Her ears perked as she looked up at me curiously. “W-what?” She asked. Woah! What was that emotion? A sort of desperate greedy form of curiosity. I’d never felt it like this before. This was more than mere wonder, this was a drive to learn, assimilate, and utilize new information. An intense emotion, one which carried with it the telltale marks of an evolved species-wide behavior. Damn! The ponies on the other side evolved to be innovators. Cool! “You’re an alicorn,” I explained. “You have the traits of all three pony kinds. A unicorn’s magic, an Earth Pony’s connection to nature, strength, and stamina. The flight and weather control powers of a pegasus. We’re artificial demigods, created through very complicated magic a very long time ago to unite and protect Equestria. There’s only three of us alive today. Counting you. That makes you very special.” She frowned and turned one hoof to stare at the horseshoe on her right forehoof. “But I’m not… This happened when I put this shoe on to scrape the lye off. If I take them off then, won’t I turn back?” She asked curiously. I coughed. “Um, no… I um… I was here when those were made. I’m the template. See? The shoes do the work, but even if you did take them off later, you’d remain as you are.” “Oh,” she replied, then curiously tried to pull the shoe off her hoof. “I can’t… It won't move. At all.” “These were never finished… They may have fused to your hooves. No one ever tested them. The project was scrapped,” I explained. “Before you ask why… Are you feeling any overwhelming compulsion to do a particular thing? Alicorns are… We’re bound to a force of nature. Unfortunately, for us, we’re influenced by that force too. We’ll need to know if you say, are bound to the concept of death and-” “No, no nothing like that,” Sunset said quickly, eyes widening in terror. “I… I just want to… Huh… I want to bring warmth, comfort, and… Life?” “Given your metal as buck mane of motherbucking fire, that probably means you have fire. Lucky you!” I said with a happy smile. Sunset flinched, looking away from me as I smiled. “D-don’t flatter me… I know I’m… I’m mutilated.” “Oh, stop it! You’re pretty!” I blurted out of pure reflex. Sunset flashed me an angry look. “Don’t lie to me! I’ve had the worst day of my life! I don’t need to be lied to!” I felt my ears droop sadly. Sunset’s face melted from angry to sympathetic. “Oh geez I’m sorry!” She yelped. “You look like a dog that got kicked!" “I like scars,” I said honestly. “They tell a story about a pony, and they add some variety to your coat. I used to have some very nice scar art cut into me, but that healed up when I ascended. I’ve missed it ever since. It’s an Outbuck thing. I had a flower and vine pattern all over my body, each part commemorating part of my life. We use scars as a sort of language, everypony knew who I was, and what I did. “I never thought I’d find scarring as extensive as yours to be pretty, until now. You are like a piece of marble or wood. The colors form interesting shapes and patterns. Others might, okay, others WILL disagree. But I think you are very pretty, and I can feel your heart, you’re a good pony, kind, caring, and driven. If my coltfriend was okay with multiple partners, I would already be planning how to ask you on a date once you're mentally stable again.” “Uuuuhhh…” Sunset said slowly, eyes wide with alarm. I blushed and cleared my throat. “I-I’m sorry. I’m the ‘Princess of Love’. I kind of have to express my affection, further others passions… That sort of thing,” I giggled. “Oh. So like, because you’re an alicorn and bound to love… Okay, yeah that makes sense,” she decided. Then her ears flattened slightly. “Wait, does that mean you love everything?” I shook my head. “No. I despise prudes, those who harm others intentionally, politicians, the selfish and greedy… Love isn’t all sex, cuddles, kink, and passion. If I feel something threatening to harm others, I’m compelled to destroy them. Nothing bucks with Cadence’s family.” “So… You’re the whole package then. Does that mean I’m going to have to burn everything flammable? Because I kind of feel like well, that could be dangerous… But I would like a fire… I’m cold,” Sunset admitted with a whimper. My heart went out to the poor mare. She didn’t even know what magic was. But her mere existence as an Alicorn, and as Sunset, meant if I told Celestia about her she would be forced into the most brutal arcane training of her life as a means of trying to combat the Nightmare. She didn’t need that. She needed a hug, and some cocoa, and a cuddle, and love. Stupid monogamy! I could fix her and make her whole again if it wasn’t for you being so afraid that being with others would take me from you, Shining! Ugh, why can’t you understand how my love works? What to do? I had to do something… She needed help. I couldn’t let her just stay here. I had only one option. I had to take her home and hide her. But how to conceal an Alicorn’s arcane signature from Celesta? The lab was warded enough to hide her here bu- The mask! The mask Starswirl designed to supplement invisibility spells. It had to be with the books, it was a weapon type artifact. “No, no you won't have to do that. It sounds more like you’re expressing fire’s symbolic traits. If it’s a problem, we will deal with that later,” I soothed. “Now please stand up. You’re in a land that’s a sea of political chaos right now, and I’m the only mare who really gets to be away from it. “I’ll help you get started with life here. But you need to follow me, okay? I have to get some books here, and there’s a mask in here too. It’s a simple undecorated porcelain mask. We need it so that you can’t be found magically when you leave the warded laboratory area. “If anypony learns you’re an alicorn, well… Um… You’ll be drawn into politics almost instantly. It’s a culture thing. Alicorns are in charge of something.” Sunset winced and stood up. “I-I really don't want that. Like, at all. So um, lead on? And what do you rule?” “Nothing yet,” I admitted. “But as soon as land is available, Celestia’s allowing me to make a city for um- You know, I won't lie or dance around the truth with you. I’m going to be ruling a city-state expressly for people into kinky shit so they have a safe haven to live openly and feel welcome in.” “Fitting,” Sunset mused. “Quite! I’m sure a mare like you can see the reasons-” She nodded. “Yes. A lot. My… My parents would kill me if-” “Please don’t mention that!” I exclaimed urgently. “I- I sensed that emphatically earlier. That’s what made me angry. I sort of started planning a crusade to your dimension to purge the wicked… I um, I don't want to do that. Seriously… Abandoning a foal just because they like the same sex! Barbaric.” I spat, disgusted with that very concept. “I think you’ll find we ponies are far more civilized. We only abandon each other for decent kinks,” I said rolling my eyes. “Which is what I’m fixing. Seriously, if a pony wants to be used as furniture for others, let them. If those mares like to be tied up publicly and used, whatever! I fail to see the big deal if the area is foal free. It doesn't hurt anyone and all that kind of stuff is fun! “Uh… Right, back on topic. We should get you out of here. Can you stay quiet in a hotel room for a day? I can turn you invisible until we reach my estate. It will be safe to find a more prominent disguise there.” “Yes but, um, how about you teach me how to make myself invisible? And also basic magic?” Sunset asked hopefully. “Sure! I’d love to spend more time with a pretty mare like you,” I tested flirtatiously. A little flirting should be okay with Shiny. He understood I had to do somethings. … We’ll talk about her later. Assuming she starts to like me. “But for now, come on. I need to get those books and we need to find you that mask,” I said, turning to walk deeper into the lab. ‘Stick close, it’s not safe in here.” Sunset snickered. “You don’t fucking say,” she said snarkily. “Good thing I have a friend to help now.” “Just a friend?” I teased. “Wait, you ACTUALLY think I look pretty?” She asked in shock. I nodded. “Yes.” “Uh… Look, humans don’t just… Meet and then form relationships like that. We take time,” she said slowly. “But um… Look, now's not the time. Let’s stick a pin in this, and come back to it when I’m not on an emotional fucking roller coaster, okay? I’m kinda fucking stuck in an alien world, in a totally different body, and all my family and friends are- Oh god… She won't hurt them, will she?” Wincing at the angry outburst I’d provoked. I shook my head. “No, I don't think she will hurt them. She’s not a sadist. She just doesn't know when to leave something alone… As for the other thing, Sunset. Friends it is. I won't say anything about it ever again, you can build that bridge if you ever want to. I only want you to be happy,” I said honestly. Closing my eyes, I cast another light spell, illuminating the maze-like laboratory enough to see everything clearly. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I never liked this old cave.” “Is it because it’s a huge death trap?” Sunset muttered. “Yeah, but also because it’s where I was forced to learn mathematics,” I added. I shuddered at the memory of Starswirl’s trans-temporal multiplicative tables. Sunset gently set a hoof on my left shoulder. “I feel you. I hate school too. Where are we going?” She asked. “No clue, it’s somewhere on this floor. Stick close. Don’t touch anything. But feel free to talk. I imagine you have a million questions,” I offered walking down the corridor in search of the next sign post. “Oh, you have NO idea,” Sunset exclaimed as she followed along behind me. I smiled happily. This dusty old cave wasn’t so bad with somepony else with me. It’s funny how the old saying, friendship is magic, is both figurative and literal at once. “Try me,” I said, turning and giving her a smile before at last heading into the bowels of the abandoned laboratory.