//------------------------------//
// Through Dimensions 
// Story: Glowing Embers 
// by Sun Aura 
//------------------------------//

                It hurt. Everything hurt. Sure, nothing was physically wrong, even a transformation and a rough landing on a stuffed backpack was barely enough to register. Yet she still felt like crying, like screaming until her voice gave out.

                	It was not physical pain, but emotional. Something that hurt so much that it became an ache across her body. It was why Sunset Shimmer had run, even with no idea where she was going. Because it hurt too much. It hurt to be in that castle, to be in that city. It hurt to be in that world.

                But the thing that hurt most of all? The thing that made her want to cry? Everything Sunset had ever done, had been for Her. Every spell she’d learned, every time she pushed her family away, every time she fought some noble that dared to suggest she wasn’t capable, even breaking into the Restricted sections of the Library to find new spells to learn. All of it was for Celestia.

                Not the ‘Princess’, in a way. No, Sunset had known Princess Celestia since she was ten, since the day she earned her Cutie Mark. But there was a difference, between ‘Princess’ and ‘Celestia’. ‘Princess’ had been the invincible goddess, the mare that raised the Sun and defeated evil, always with a calm, neutral smile. ‘Celestia’, was a pony, a real pony like anyone else. One who had been through things and had a lot of her own sadness.

                Despite wanting to forget, Sunset remembered the first time she saw ‘Celestia’, the event that led her here, sobbing in the autumn air in a world without Magic.

On the Hearth’s Warming Eve after becoming her student, the duo had taken stroll through the gardens, admiring how beautiful the snow looked in the Moonlight. Sunset wandered near the hedge maze, and stopped at the base of a statue. She had planned to climb it and hide before jumping out at her, but as she put her hoof on its surface, she heard Celestia shout.

                “Sunset don’t!”

                Sunset reluctantly stepped down, looking at the statue. It looked old, but still very sturdy if not ridiculous. Some sort of unrecognizable Chimera singing dramatically. 

                “It’s a statue?” Sunset protested. “If I’d broken it you’d fix it like the vase!”

                Celestia didn’t answer. Sunset tried to ask, but the thought died the moment she saw her face. It was soft, sad, perhaps a bit nostalgic. She looked near tears. Turning away from the statue, she gave the same look to the Moon. It was ten seconds at most, before she turned to her. 

                “Yes, it’s a statue,” The Princess smiled. “But just because I can fix it doesn’t mean you should break it.”

                At the time, Sunset had been too shocked to question it. But every day after, she strived to see Celestia again. She didn’t want to see her sad, but she had wanted to be someone to trust, someone she could talk to. A-a friend, perhaps. Sunset didn’t have any friends, just her brother really, but neither did Celestia.

                Since that day, she’d done anything to see ‘Celestia’ again. To learn about her, and perhaps help make her not as sad. Yet the Princess remained. After years of trying, of doing everything she could think of to impress her, to make her like her, to maybe get even a glimpse of ‘Celestia’ again, nothing had worked. Sure, she said she was proud, but it wasn’t right. There was no care in the words, not like Mom and Dad, not like Lance or Philomena. Even the other Royals sounded like they cared more.

                And that was the problem wasn’t it? Sunset was not Royal, and without that, there would always be a need for ‘the Princess’. But what if she wasn’t? Was there some way to become a princess? Sure, she could marry a Royal, yet it wouldn’t be the same. Besides, her only options there were the mare not interested in her, or a guy. No, she’d have to do it herself.

                It had been nearly four years since she started this. It took almost damn four years for her to break. She had grown desperate, frustrated, and resorted to things she never thought she would. Dark magic was terrifying, but it was the only thing left for her to learn. Maybe it would give her answers, maybe she’d control it so well that Celestia would recognize her as worthy, maybe it contained the spell to make her a princess herself.

                Of course it backfired. What did she expect? If Celestia could not bring herself to care for a thirteen year old filly, why would Dark Magic do anything? Sunset didn’t help. She lost it, she screamed at her, wanting to know why she wasn’t worthy of being loved, why Celestia couldn’t just make her a princess so that they’d be equals? She’d probably be a better Princess. At least she knew how to care about someone.

                She cared, far too much. She cared so much that it hurt. And once it hurt too much, she stopped caring. It was nearly night by the time Sunset wandered away from the statue. She didn’t know what she was or where she was, but she couldn’t care.

                Numbly, she passed by the Ponies. No, they weren’t Ponies, but they acted like Ponies. Maybe, when everything wasn’t so numb, she’d figure out what they were. There were too many shops here that reminded her of home, of Canterlot. Too many not-ponies too.

                She stopped once, staring at a group as they passed. The tallest looked almost like that other princess, Cadence, but she didn’t recognize the three behind her. They had to be younger than Sunset, assuming these creatures aged similarly. One was pink, and the other two were mint-colored twins. One of the twins, the one with her mane tied back, stared back at her. She almost looked familiar, but she couldn’t place why.

                All too soon, the quartet had passed.  Sunset kept moving. She reached some sort of station near a park. The sign said it was a ‘bus station’, but she didn’t know what a ‘bus’ was exactly. It looked like a bigger version of the small trains she’d seen on the way.

                The park right now was more interesting. She didn’t know if the shops around her took Bits and Gems, much less how much a hotel room would cost. But it was still warm enough that she’d be fine on a bench. Not ideal, but until she figured out this world, she had to have something.

                As she settled on a bench, she looked back to the ‘bus station’ once more. There was someone there now. No, it was just a reflection. After all, it looked just like her, in this new form. Same face, same eyes, same red and gold mane in the same style.

                Deciding she must be tired if she thought her reflection was a not-Pony, she lay down on the bench. It was uncomfortable as expected, but she was thankful that the outfit she had come in wearing had a thick jacket. Maybe whatever Magic gave her the clothes knew what she’d need.

                It took forever to fall asleep, so long that she started crying again. But a part of her didn’t want to wake up. She want to go back in time, back to when she had just turned ten, and refuse the Princess’s offer to be her student. Maybe then, she wouldn’t care.