//------------------------------// // Rosario+Pony 06: The Mirror of the Soul // Story: The Many Destinies of Sunset Shimmer // by ratedoni //------------------------------// Opening her eyes, the only thing she saw was a void, devoid of anything or anyone. It was darkness as she had never seen before, or better said, one that had been cleansed from her. It had happened a long time ago, when she was different. No, she stopped lying to herself once Twilight saved her from the darkness. She had never changed; maybe she changed her clothes and had become friends with everyone, but that same girl that had been lost in the darkness still existed and went nowhere, even with the power of Harmony hitting her with pinpoint accuracy. Being the target of the Elements of Harmony was one thing; that you wanted to change was another and Sunset had many chances to go back to the same cruel girl that she had been since she arrived at Earth. This time it was no different. The redhead human girl was by no means and evil person, at least now, but she knew that the choice to become truly evil was there and it truly alienated her from the ponies back on Equestria. That a pony deliberately would try to mock and humiliate others; that it will fight others for every ounce of power and control over others, it was beyond any pony’s wild imagination, not to mention that it went against every cultural idea of ponykind, ones had to be truly crazy to do it. Yes, Sunset knew that there had been cases like back in Equestria, but the few isolated cases were always resolved once the guilty party had been dealt with. Those were cases of jealousy, uninformed ponies or misunderstandings, not the works of a true criminal mind or a psychopath like human beings. Maybe that’s why she had felt such empathy with human beings; after all, most of the things she felt have been explained just as ‘human emotions’. These creatures were more bellicose than ponies, more aggressive, probably due to their background as hunters and predators. In the end, Sunset could only blame herself due to the decisions she took on her life. Fighting with Celestia was only the first of many in a long list. In the end, even if she truly felt guilty about the people she have hurt and the things she had done, she knew that there was nothing she could do that could stop her. Definitely not now that she had gained a great power, one that had shocked her more than the time she had helped save Twilight Sparkle form the darkness. Now, that darkness was a part of her, and not only a part, has it been basically branded on her thanks to years of studying and practicing the dark arts? It was disconcerting to know how willingly she could go back into her days of dark mage now that she had been thrown into the wolf’s den. Well, more like monster’s den. She was standing on nothing, pure darkness and she could see one object in front of her. It was the object that could also be her cutie mark at this point due to how important it was on her life. The physical form of that full body mirror was back on Equestria, sitting down on an empty room inside an immense crystal castle. The mirror that started it all.  “If you start talking then I truly have a mental problem,” Sunset said almost jokingly, but it was disconcerting to see that artifact once again. Looking up and down she noticed the small details that were put on the object, reacquainting herself once more with the artifact that had been her obsession years ago. To see it inside her mind was worrying, and yes, Sunset knew that she was inside her mind. Last thing she could remember before going inside her mind was the sight of the small little witch using her own magic to summon all kinds of items to strike down people. In a way, Yukari reminded her of herself more than any other person. She was proud of who she was but had so many problems connecting with others, never sure of what to do and always being afraid. Afraid of who you are and what you can do; of where you belong and who will stand alongside you. Sunset giggled a bit, realizing that those words could have also applied to her when she was starting to understand the magic of friendship. “I know, there is no one on the other side,” Sunset said while the image on the other side mimicked her movements “this is not like Moka, there is no dark version of myself ready to switch sides with me, all this time I was afraid of what I could do. My fight with twilight probably didn’t help,” she knew what she had to do now; she also understood why that version of herself was here “there is so much darkness and I have become used to it. I walked into the valley of shadows and came back cleansed, but that doesn’t mean there is no darkness in me. Who am I saying that for, you’re just a mirror,” Sunset said rolling her eyes as she took a step forward, walking right through the mirror and in the other side, a red scaled form stood. Opening her eyes, Sunset was once more in the physical world, looking at everything with new eyes. For so long she had been worried about what it meant for her to transform once more into the Sunset Satan  as people back in Canterlot had nicknamed. The trio of lizardmen was truly ugly, but also extremely weak compared to her new form, but it wasn’t them that Sunset was looking at, but the small witch looking at her with eyes of wonder and maybe a little fear. “I know how you feel,” The voice of Sunset came out with a special effect it seems, almost as if it were two people talking at the same time “you are afraid of connecting with others, because you feel that they won’t like the real you. You think that you don’t belong with any of them because you don’t belong in either world, human or monster. That’s not true, is not that you don’t belong, is that you are part of both, in a way that no one else can, so feel proud of yourself, because you already have a friend, now, let me show you what I gained through friendship,” the tall demon said ready to strike down some foolish monsters.