Chapter Nine “Shades of the Past”
The moon shone brightly across the night sky. The hours were late, and most of the Canterlotian residents were sound asleep. However, the denizens of the royal guard, including its princess, were ever vigilant. Deep within the confines of the castle, a pony snuck through the halls, garbed in a black cloak of sorts. Their bright amber gaze shifted about alternatively as she snuck past each guard in the vicinity, staying out of sight and mind.
One guard approached the pony’s position as she neared the item safe room, shifting his gaze in their direction. Suddenly, the individual faded from sight in a blur, materializing into existence inside the room before the guard could spot them. They waited patiently for the guard to leave his post, exhaling once the armored stallion left. Once certain they were alone, the cloaked individual’s horn glowed, removing a crimson book from the nearest shelf.
In turn, this prompted a hidden mechanism to click. A door within the wall shuffled before sliding open, revealing a hidden room. The pony chuckled under their breath as they entered the area, settling their gaze on an assortment of jewels. Each held a specific design, matching that of the current wielders’ cutie marks. However, at the center was a crown, bearing a symbol reminiscent to that of Twilight Sparkle’s mark. With a confident grin, they extended a hoof and readied to claim the crown.
“I highly doubt this is legal,” a male’s voice declared, giving a soft set of knocks behind the pony. They turned to face the source, spotting a stallion garbed in a dark costume while holding a bright shield in hoof. “I know having a desk job can suck, but it beats stealing. I mean, you probably make more than I used to, but that’s not saying much.” He cleared his throat, nodding. “Anyway, step away from the crown, and nopony gets hurt. Capiche?”
The cloaked pony was slow to respond, removing their hood before facing the stallion. “Don’t you understand?” they spoke in a feminine voice. A flow of brilliant crimson and gold fell over her shoulders. Suddenly, a mare stared intently at the stallion with a furrowed amber gaze, her fur as reminiscent of a sunflower’s shade. “This crown was rightfully mine to begin with.”
Peter raised his hooves defensively. “Please. Don’t do anything you’re going to regret. I’ll cut you some slack and count to five, but if you’re still here by the end of that, you’re going to go from being a guest to an intruder. One--”
Suddenly, the mare unleashed a magical bolt at the stallion before he could commence his count. Yielding to the pulsating throb echoing across his cranium, Peter instinctively reacted and sidestepped the projectile, tossing his shield across the room past the mare. She briefly chuckled as the weapon missed, readying herself to retrieve the crown. However, the shield ricocheted off the walls in rapid succession before colliding into the back of her head with a crack. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she fell in a slump, and the shield bounced, falling perfectly into Peter’s waiting hoof.
“Five,” Peter muttered blankly, kneeling next to the unconscious mare. The stallion could only shake his head and shrug. “Why do they always like doing things the hard way? I’d rather not be known as that guy who gives girls concussions with a shield. Just who is this girl anyway?” Finally, after a brief minute, a pair of knights reached the edge of the door and shared a glance with the stallion. Furrowing his brow, the stallion tilted his head to the side. “Hey, would you guys grab Princess Luna for me?”
“Yes, sir!” one of the guard firmly replied, raising a hoof over his forehead in a salute.
Peter chuckled sheepishly. “At ease, guys. No ‘sir’ is needed when you talk to me.”
After a brief duration, the alicorn entered the room with a furrowed brow. “Peter, what is happening?” She paused upon spotting the unconscious, cloaked mare on the ground. “An intruder? How could I have missed this? What was she doing?”
“No biggie, it happens to the best of us. Anyways, she probably used her magic to cloak herself or whatever,” Peter dismissively claimed, shifting his gaze to the crown. “Sunshine here was trying to steal the crown. She even said it was rightfully hers before attacking me. I acted out of self-defense and tossed the shield. Hopefully, she’s not concussed.”
Frowning, Luna shared a glance with the stallion before her demeanor softened. “You caught wind of a disturbance and prevented a potential disaster. I thank you, beloved. I chose my knight well,” she added sweetly, earning a smile from the stallion. Sobering, the princess returned her gaze to the mare, staring intently at her fiery mane. “My sister once spoke of a pupil with a mane such as this. If this mare spoke of the crown as if it was meant to be hers, she could very well be my sister’s apprentice prior to Twilight Sparkle.”
Peter nodded. “It’s a guessing game right now. If we’re getting answers, we’d better wake Celestia and see if she recognizes our guest.”
“I don’t believe this,” Princess Celestia whispered, pacing in place. Large bags formed under her eyes, seeing as she was woken abruptly, but the alicorn could barely steady her nerve, having heard what had transpired. Per Celestia’s request, the intruder was moved to the archives under Peter Parker, Princess Luna, and her own supervision. ...after the alicorn brushed a hoof over her eyes and groaned. “It really is her.”
Peter furrowed his brow, sitting upright on the nearest table. “So, she really is your apprentice? Who is she?”
“Former apprentice,” Celestia emphasized, her gaze softening. “Her name is Sunset Shimmer. She was one of my best students. Extremely talented and gifted, but we had… disagreements on her learning progress.”
Luna blinked, tilting her head to the side. “I have not heard of this. What happened, Sister?”
Celestia inhaled deeply before sighing. “Sunset Shimmer was an exceptional student at the School for Gifted Unicorns. With her unprecedented potential as a filly, I was confident that she could reach unbelievable heights in her adult years if properly guided. However, after I deemed her my apprentice, things began to change over the years.” The alicorn walked over to a desk, lowering her head shamefully. “She grew brash and arrogant with the rate of her progress, always believing I was holding her back unjustly. With her mindset, Sunset knew it was only a matter of time before she became a princess and alicorn.”
“A sense of entitlement? That can be pretty dangerous,” Peter declared, folding his hooves.
Slow to respond, Celestia nodded. “Exactly. I knew she wasn’t ready. Sunset simply believed power was everything. I refused to make her a princess, not until she learned what true power was, and the responsibility that came with it.” The alicorn shared a glance with the stallion and her sister. “Sunset refused to listen. She wanted to gain absolute power by any means necessary, even studying dark magic spells. Once I learned of that, I sought her out to punish her, but she ran away into a portal, saying that if I couldn’t make her a princess, she would find a way to become one herself. That was the last time I saw her.”
Spinning his shield upright over a hoof, Peter hummed. “Kids are a rebellious and stupid bunch. You can’t blame yourself for what happened. I wish I listened to my uncle back in the day.” As if a realization came to mind, his eyes widened. “Hold on. A magic portal? Does it lead to Neverland or Wonderland? Disney might sue her, if that’s the case.”
Luna huffed. “Such potential lost to arrogance. It’s certainly a good thing that Peter stopped her before she could escape into the portal.” Shaking her head, the alicorn raised her hoof and shared a glance with the stallion. “And no. There is a magical mirror that holds a portal nearby. It leads into a neighbor dimension, a world similar yet different from our own.”
Peter blinked. “And something like that is just out in the open? What’s stopping anypony from just walking in and out of it on both sides?”
“The portal opens and closes on its own. Otherwise, it’s just a simple mirror,” Celestia replied, pursing her lips. “It's only open for a few days, and it's closed for many months before the next time it's opened.”
Luna slowly nodded. “Then, she must have been waiting for the right moment to use it. Thankfully, Peter was on watch to stop her.” Luna frowned, glancing down to the captive mare. “Had she escaped, we would have been in a rather compromising position.”
Celestia managed a smile. “I must echo Luna’s sentiment and thank you Peter. We might have lost the Element of Magic if you hadn’t intervened.”
Peter simply shrugged, placing his shield down before leaning forward in his seat. “Just doing my job. Besides, it’s not too often that a guy is thanked for knocking out a girl with a blunt object. I was actually expecting a reprimand for excessive force or something.”
Sunset steadily stirred as her eyes fluttered open. Everypony in the room shifted their collective gazes at the mare, furrowing their brows respectively. She readied to respond, only to brush a hoof over her horn. A ring was wrapped around her appendage, layered in jewels, and Sunset simply growled in response before shaking her head groggily.
Luna scoffed. “Escape is futile. The ring contains your magical power. Try anything, and I’ll ensure my knight reintroduces to you to his shield.”
Peter groaned under his breath. “I don’t condone mare violence. Stop enabling me. Otherwise, ponies will get the wrong idea and assume I beat you with a shield when I don’t get a sandwich.” He paused, glancing off to the side. “Then again, it could be a cover up. I mean, you are the abusive one. I always get beaten or scolded, but you’re a princess. They’d never accuse you. I swear there’s such a double standard in this world. Why can’t anypony see that princesses are the dangerous ones? #ColtfriendsLivesMatter.”
“Silence!” Luna exclaimed in a distorted voice, having listened to the stallion’s rambling long enough.
Clearing his throat, Peter’s complexion paled as he ignored Luna’s piercing gaze. “Yes, dear.”
Sunset Shimmer glanced about her surroundings. “Well, this obviously isn’t the dungeon, so what do you want?” she bitterly whispered, growling.
Celestia closed the gap between herself and the mare with a softened gaze. “I want to talk, Sunset.” The mare’s demeanor lightened upon sharing a glance with her former mentor, but she soon frowned, glancing to the side. However, Celestia never averted her gaze from the unicorn. “Why would you try to pull a stunt like this?”
“That crown is mine anyway, and you know it!” Sunset exclaimed, pointing a hoof angrily at the alicorn. “You never thought I listened, but I knew a lot more than you think. You were thinking about replacing me with that other student of yours. You gave her the crown without a second thought, and you were going to make her a princess soon!”
Peter furrowed his brow. “Hold on a minute. You had two apprentices at the same time? How does that work? It seems like they barely knew about each other. I don’t remember Twilight ever mentioning her.”
Celestia nodded. “This is not the first time I have taken on more than one student at once. Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle were always within the same vicinity as one another, but they never expressed an interest in the other’s presence. At that point, Twilight was too fixated in her studies to notice anypony, and Sunset was too arrogant to ask who my other student was, even after I mentioned the other to both respectively.” The alicorn exhaled. “Honestly, they were both too focused on their own worlds to acknowledge each other, so to speak.”
Sunset scoffed, waving a hoof dismissively. “She simply wasn’t worth my time. I had better things to do.”
“Yet, you still felt threatened by her presence it would seem,” Luna interjected, narrowing her gaze. A low silence filled the room as the younger alicorn frowned. “Surely, that is what pushed you to make such a rash decision?”
Celestia huffed, walking up to the mare with a stern gaze. “You want to become a princess, but you’re of the mindset that you are ready. All evidence points to the contrary currently. You were willing to steal and betray me to achieve your goal. I’ve told you countless times that I can’t make you a princess. That power lies within you, and you have to learn from within. For eons, that has been the case.”
Sunset’s demeanor softened, evident by her lowered ears. “So, you really… weren’t lying?”
“Of course not. It’s never been within my power to ascend a pony to alicorn status. Only you can do that, with the right circumstances, and right now, your heart isn’t ready,” Celestia whispered as all lightness had left her voice, giving it a firm and stern tone. “Is power worth so much to you that you’re willing to disregard everything and everypony around you? If so, you have learned nothing under my care.”
“I don’t get it! You always go on about that!” Sunset exclaimed, holding a hoof over her forehead. “What haven’t I learned!? My skill is at the greatest it has ever been! You even admitted yourself that I’ve learnt more about magic than most could in a lifetime! I’m one of the most powerful beings on the planet!” Screaming at the top of her lungs, Sunset pulled at the strands on her mane. “What more do you want from me!? What do I have to do to prove to you that I was ready? That I am ready!”
Peter scratched the back of his head, hesitant to respond. “Power isn’t everything. Just because we have the power to do something, doesn’t mean we should do so. We have to gauge each situation and find a sense of balance.” The stallion tapped his hooves together. “I think you’re so focused on actual power that you forgot about everything else. The ponies around us are important. Celestia was never holding you back. If anything, she was just saving you from yourself.”
Taken aback, Sunset glared intently at the stallion. “Oh, shut up. What do you know?”
“Well, Sunshine, I know if Celestia made you a princess and alicorn right now, you’d probably be a power-hungry mongrel bent on world destruction or a loathsome jerk. Probably both,” Peter blankly declared, brushing his chin with a hoof. “Plus, you’re not really friendly. If you were a princess, you wouldn’t be held in very high regard with the populace. You’d just step over everypony because you can. You’re no different than a schoolyard bully, overcompensating for your own shortcomings.”
Luna blinked at the stallion with a widened gaze. “I wasn’t expecting such a blunt response from him. I’m… pleasantly surprised.” The princess inwardly eyed her stallion with a quiet gaze, unaware of the glowing tint beaming on her face. “Am I having an influence on him? He’s hardly been so… upfront. It’s surprisingly… attractive.”
“As if you’re one to talk!” Sunset lashed out, never shifting her glare from the stallion. “The only reason you’re in any position of power is because of your strength!”
Huffing, Luna stepped in front of the stallion while facing the mare. “I chose Peter as my knight not just for his physical strength but also his strength of character, something you thoroughly lack. I never would have fallen in love with Peter if he was a power-hungry brute that’s willing to throw away anything precious to him.”
Blinking, a pink flush filled Peter’s cheeks as he choked back a sob. “I think I’m going to cry-- Ouch!” He cried out, clutching at his hoof once Luna stomped on his limb furiously.
Before Sunset could hope to respond, Celestia raised a hoof. “No. My sister has a point. We entrusted Peter with knightly status because we trust him. He has proven to be kind to those around him, and in spite of his status and power, he treats everypony equally. That is something you have lacked, Sunset.” However, her expression softened. “Yet, I can’t give up on you. I know you’re capable of learning from your mistakes. You’re still my student, after all.”
Taken aback, Sunset inhaled sharply. “Wait. You’re taking me back?”
“Yes,” Celestia said simply, managing a small smile. “But only if you are willing to give my lesson a try. I want you to learn why integrity and friendship are important to the foundation of a princess. If you can manage to learn that, then I believe with all of my heart that you will be truly ready for your next step. Ascension comes from within. You will know when you are ready.”
For the first time all night, a confident grin surfaced on Sunset’s face. She soon nodded. “That sounds easy enough. How hard could it be?”
Luna furrowed her brow. “Are you certain, Sister? What’s stopping her from attempting to steal the crown again?”
Peter tilted his head to the side and hummed. “She doesn’t have a choice. I’m sure trying to steal an Element of Harmony is no minor criminal offense. If Sunshine here doesn’t take this new offer, I’m willing to bet she’s looking at some serious jail time.”
Celestia nodded. “It’s exactly as Peter suggested. So, the choice is yours, Sunset.”
Inwardly, Luna blankly stared at Celestia while shifting her gaze to Peter. Suddenly, a heavily bemused expression surfaced on the alicorn’s face. “Faint intimidation. I see my sister’s… trollish antics are rubbing off onto him as well. I can’t say that I very much like that idea...”
Meanwhile, Sunset scoffed a response. “So, he’s not as dumb as he looks. Fine. I accept.”
Letting out a relieved sigh, Celestia chuckled. “Very good. Thank you, Sunset.” Once Sunset stood from her seat, the alicorn closed her eyes. “Your socialization skills leave alot to be desired. If you are going to become a princess, you must learn to practice and learn how to interact with those around you. Peter is a prime example of a pony that treats everypony with kindness and respect. You would do well to learn from him.” Suddenly, she raised a hoof objectively. “So, I want Peter to escort you on a pilgrimage around Equestria. Learn from each other’s interactions over the coming months, and once you both believe you are ready, return to Canterlot.”
“What!?” Peter and Sunset blurted out in unison, their eyes widening.
Sunset frowned. “You have got to be kidding me. I’m not going anywhere with that shield-tossing maniac! He’s insane!”
Peter quickly shook his head. “Oh, come on! Clearly, Sunshine’s disposition would have a negative effect on me if I hung around her too long. Don’t I at least get a say in this? What do I have to learn from this?”
Celestia grinned. “Simple. You are a kind-hearted pony, but if you are to become a great knight, you must practice fortitude and patience. You have a great resumé dealing with unreasonable ponies for short durations, yes. However, we must learn how you cope with long-term situations. This will provide some good practice for you, especially if my sister becomes unbearable for a course in the near future.”
“...and there it is,” Luna blankly muttered as she deadpanned, her voice inaudible through a faint groan. “I knew part of this had to do with me.”
Sobering, Celestia cleared her throat. “In all seriousness, this exercise shall shape both your diligence and tolerance as a knight. You will partake in many missions that don’t necessarily require brute strength, but strength of character. We have chosen you out of trust. I simply ask that you repay that in kind.”
Frowning, Peter glanced to the side. “Luna? Are you okay with this? I’ll pretty much be gone from Canterlot. We… won’t see each other for a while. It could be weeks or months.”
Slow to respond, Luna lifted her gaze before nodding. “My sister is right, Peter. Sunset needs to learn strength of character, and I firmly believe you are one of the only ponies in Equestria that can help her with this lesson.” She placed a hoof over her heart, smiling sadly. “I’ve spent eons alone on the moon and land during this lifetime. Waiting for you, whether it be weeks or months, is but a grain of sand in a hourglass to me. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Yet, I trust that you’ll succeed and come back in good time.”
Dismayed, Peter shook his head, but he managed a defeated sigh before taking hold of his mare’s hoof with his own. “All right. If you believe in me, I’ll try my best. I’m not happy about it, but I’ll do it.”
Luna soon lowered her body, rubbing the side of her head against the stallion’s own affectionately. “Thank you, Beloved.”
Celestia clapped her hooves together. “Excellent. You two will depart first thing in the morning. We shall remove the restraint ring from your horn only then, Sunset. I’d rather you not leave with regrets again.”
Sunset huffed, bemused. “Whatever. I’ll deal with it.” The mare walked past everypony in the room, pausing to share a glance with the stallion. “Just don’t slow me down.”
Exasperated, Peter rolled his eyes. “Oooh, I can tell she’s going to be oodles of fun.”
To be continued...