The Prodigal Daughter

by Sixes_And_Sevens

The Prodigal Daughter Hits the Town

Twilight looked startled. Trixie looked as though she’d been slapped, told that she would be getting coal for Hearth’s Warming, and slapped again. Eventually, Twilight was able to pull herself together. “I think you’d better explain yourself, Sunset,” she said, a note of steel in her voice. “You’d better have a good reason for saying that sort of thing.”
Sunset chuckled bitterly. “A good reason? Fine. How about we start with the way that she took over the school? How she conned her way into everybody’s hearts and got herself into a position of power? How she managed to copy my rise to power to become the new queen bee? How she's been an insufferable troublemaker from the day I met her?”
Trixie looked more confused than hurt, now. “The Perplexed and Insulted Trixie has never met you before today, and that certainly is not how she remembers high school.” She shuddered. “The less said about that, the better…”
Twilight frowned. “Wait. You mean the human Trixie did all that?”
“Yes.”
The Princess of Friendship facehoofed. “Sunset.” she paused. “I— look. You can’t judge somepony by how you knew them in the human world. Not everything is exactly paralleled.”
“Like what? Name one thing, Twilight. Rainbow Dash is still an athlete, you told me that. Fluttershy still works at an animal shelter, Applejack still lives on a farm, Rarity is still fashion-obsessed, Pinkie Pie is… Pinkie Pie.”
“Well, for starters, Trixie isn’t a power-hungry megalomaniac.” She paused, thinking.“Anymore,”
“Oh, yes, thanks for that little clarification,” Trixie muttered.
“Spike and Rarity are in love, which isn't exactly something that would’ve happened in the human world. Heck, look at me and my human counterpart! I never tried to do what she did with the magic of friendship! This world and the human world are imperfect counterparts, and you can’t use something from one as evidence to back up a claim about something from the other.”
Sunset’s mouth opened and closed a few times. Twilight continued. “Trixie used to be more like what you were describing, that’s true. But she’s changed. She's a better pony than that, and I consider her to be one of my closest friends.”
She looked Sunset straight in the eyes. “Please, don’t make me choose between my friends.”
Sunset’s mouth snapped shut. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. You’re right. I’m sorry about that, Twilight, I just don’t know what came over me.”
“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to,” Twilight said.
Sunset grimaced, but turned to look at Trixie, meeting her eyes for the first time. “I’m... sorry, Trixie. I just… your counterpart was a real pain. I’m going to try to get past that, but it might take awhile.”
Trixie nodded. “Trixie accepts your apology,” she said. “She understands. Take all the time you need.”
She extended a hoof, and after a few moments of hesitation, Sunset grasped it and shook firmly. There was a faint fuzziness in the blue mare’s mind suddenly, and she blinked, pulling away from the contact. Twilight beamed. “Well, I’m glad that’s settled,” she said. “I guess we’d better get back to work tidying the store room and then my study. I still can’t find my to-do list…”
“I’ll help,” Sunset offered.
Twilight looked thoughtfully at her. “I have a better idea,” she said. “Trixie, would you help Sunset to a bedroom? I suspect she doesn’t have much in the way of lodgings. Once you’ve done that, if you could show her around Ponyville?”
Trixie looked cautiously at Sunset. Sunset looked with faint horror at Trixie. They both looked at Twilight, who smiled back with optimistic expectation.

“I swear, it’s like talking to Celestia,” Sunset griped as she fluffed up the pillows in her new room. “That sort of cheerful manipulation…”
“Trixie was thinking more along the lines of some unholy combination of Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, but Celestia works as an analogy as well, she supposes.”
Sunset stared. “Why those two?”
“Pinkie Pie for the cheerfulness, Fluttershy for the Stare.”
“The… stare?”
“Did your Fluttershy not have that? All she has to do is stare very hard at an animal and it… well, it is difficult to explain, but Trixie has seen her make a manticore curl up into a ball and weep.” She grinned widely. “It was awesome.”
“Uh… huh,” Sunset said, sitting back on the bed. She stared at Trixie for a long moment. Their earlier contact had been enough to read a decent outline of the mare, but no more. “You see what I’m saying though, right? About the manipulation?”
Trixie shrugged trotting over to sit next to Sunset. “Trixie thinks that comes with the territory of being a superbly powerful, basically immortal goddess. Or god,” she added. “Discord can be very manipulative as well.”
Sunset spun around, eyes wide. “Discord? The spirit of chaos, breaker of minds and destroyer of harmony? That Discord?”
Trixie nodded. “They live with Fluttershy. The town has made a pool regarding who will be first to admit they’re in love with the other, and when it will occur.”
“That’s— I— but—”
Trixie smiled. “It’s okay. It took Trixie a few days to get used to the idea as well. But if we can be reformed, why not Discord?”
Sunset stared at her. “So you were a villain,” she said.
Trixie’s smile dropped. “...Yes,” she admitted. “That was not a good time for the Great and Powerful Trixie, and she would very much prefer if the subject was dropped altogether. Preferably down a deep well, or possibly into a volcano.”
Sunset smirked a little bit. After the little bit of mind-reading, she had mostly logically accepted that this Trixie was far removed from the bullying grifter of Canterlot High, but emotionally? Finding a spot to twist the knife around a little felt good.
“Oh, go on,” she said. “I’m not going to judge you. I’m just a little curious. Besides,” she added, a vicious smirk on her face. “Don’t friends share their secrets?”
Trixie looked at her for a long moment. “Fine. Trixie first came to this town an arrogant braggart. She humiliated the townsponies, but then failed to live up to her bluster and left the town with great speed and shame. Word spread. Everywhere Trixie went, she was known as “the braggart who unleashed an Ursa on a small town”, which wasn’t even true. It was a pair of local foals who did that.”
Sunset winced, suddenly sympathetic. “Snips and Snails?” she guessed.
“You know them?”
“Their counterparts, yeah.”
Trixie gave her a knowing look. “Henchponies?”
“Henchmen, technically, but yeah, basically. You were saying?”
Trixie winced. There was a slight hitch in her voice as she continued. “Trixie was… a pariah. Everywhere she went, she was chased off. Nowhere in Equestria would have her. Trixie’s ego was too great to admit fault, so she blamed Twilight Sparkle. The location of a magical talisman of great power and corruption fell into Trixie’s hooves, the Alicorn Amulet. An anonymous admirer informed her it would give her everything she desired-- power, revenge, glory..."
“Go on,” Sunset encouraged, now honestly interested.
“Trixie returned to Ponyville to challenge Twilight to a duel. The loser was to be banished from town forever, and Trixie won. This was, it should be stressed, before Twilight became an alicorn. Under the influence of the amulet, Trixie became a tyrant, until Twilight returned and removed the talisman with some help from her friends. Once more, Trixie fled the town. Upon reflection, she grew to realise that all of that misfortune was her own fault. So, cleaning up her act, she started again. Eventually, she made it to Manehattan. With help from Rarity, Applejack, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, she caught a jewel thief. She was really moving up in the world… she made friends with a mare named Starlight Glimmer, another member of the ‘reformed’ club… and then she came back to Ponyville. Eventually, everypony more or less forgave Trixie— they really are nice ponies around here— and she moved in with Twilight and Spike.”
She looked at Sunset. “Your turn.”
Sunset paused. “Uh. I flew into a jealous rage against Princess Celestia, escaped to the human dimension, and basically took over the local high school. Because apparently traveling to that universe turns you into a human teenager, I guess. Then, I came back, stole the Element of Magic, and tried to use it in an attempt to form an army of hypnotised teenagers to take over Equestria. Then Twilight and her friends helped me reform and redeem myself, and that was basically my life until my crazy human doppelganger chased me back here.”
Trixie blinked. “That’s it?”
Sunset glanced down awkwardly. She couldn’t just tell Trixie about her mind reading ability. “What more does it need?”
“Detail! Trixie just poured out her life’s story to you, apart from her early family life because we are not going there. Ever. Just consider that one a locked door. You could tell me about your adventures, how you redeemed yourself in the eyes of your peers! You could tell me about the weird ways humans do things! You could tell me how you felt when you first arrived in the other world! Give it some detail!”
Sunset looked at Trixie closely. “You said ‘me’.”
Trixie went bright red. “The Confident and In No Way Embarrassed Trixie has no idea what you are speaking of,” she said stiffly. “Come along. Trixie will show you around town while your room airs out.”

Dash was deeply concerned. She hadn’t been able to find Sunset all day, not since she ran into math class, handed her the Friendship Journal, and ran away again. It was as though she’d vanished off the face of the planet. “I’m telling you, Flutters, it was like she’d gone crazy or something. Just shoved the journal into my chest and ran off without even saying goodbye.”
“Oh, my,” murmured the willowy girl. “That doesn’t seem very like her.”
“I know,” Dash said, exasperatedly leaning against a row of lockers. “It was weird. She was acting really…” the athlete’s brow creased. “Scared. She was scared.”
Fluttershy looked down the hall, frowning. “Well, she looks a lot better now…”
“Huh?” Rainbow Dash  followed her friend’s line of sight. “Sunset?”
Indeed, a frizz of red and yellow hair could be seen sticking out among the crowd, its owner bobbing and weaving in their direction. Dash grinned, inwardly letting out a sigh of relief. “Sunset!” she called. “Over here! Hey, Sunset!”
The other girl looked up in surprise as Dash barreled into her with a tight embrace. “Dude, you scared me,” she chuckled. “I thought you were dead or something!”
“I scared you?” Sunset asked incredulously. “I’m not the one giving people hugs out of nowhere!”
Dash smiled sheepishly. “Oops. Sorry ‘bout that.”
“And how do you know my name?” Sunset continued, staring at the blue-skinned girl with squinty eyes.
The smile fell from Dash’s face. Suddenly, differences started to stand out more clearly. Sunset didn’t usually wear a ponytail, and she’d never worn that red shirt before, nor those yellow leggings. And when had she gotten her ears pierced? “What do you mean? Of course I know your name, we’ve been friends long enough, even if you did do something new with your hair.”
Sunset shook her head, looking alarmed. “I’m sorry. You must have me confused with someone else. I’ve never seen you before in my life.”
Before Dash could form a response to that, the fiery-haired girl had hurried away as fast as she could. Fluttershy walked up behind her colorful friend. “What just happened?” she asked, befuddled.
Dash shook her head. “I dunno, Shy.” Her face hardened, and her mouth creased tight. “But I’m gonna find out.”

It was a beautiful day in Ponyville. The birds were singing, the sun was shining, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were not yet causing anything to become covered in tree sap. Sunset smiled as she saw the cheerful townsponies going about their day… a smile which dropped somewhat when she realized how much they reminded her of her friends on the other side of the mirror. Oblivious, Trixie continued to point out various attractions of the town. “That’s the town hall,” she said, pointing at a large, stone building. “Over there, we see the town bar, the Stick and Carrot. Hi Berry!” The earth pony bartender smiled and waved. “There we see Sugarcube Corner, and leaving it, we see the local time-travelling alien.”
Sunset blinked. “What?”
Trixie shrugged. “What can Trixie say? This is a weird town. Hi, Doctor Turner!”
“Hello, Trixie!” the tan pony said cheerfully. “And you must be the famous Sunny that Pinkie’s been talking about.”
Sunset blinked. “What? Wait, you’re Dr. Turner?”
The Doctor paused. “Sorry? Have we met?”
Trixie frowned. “Long story short, no. But Shimmer here seems to think that meeting an alternate-universe version of somepony is the same as actually meeting them.”
“Hey! That’s not what I mean— this guy doesn’t even look like the Doctor! He’s too young and… not mint-green.”
“Mint green?” the Doctor repeated, scratching his head. “Never been that color before.”
“Yeah, well, this guy was. Physics teacher. Old dude. Really bad at names. He kept calling me Sunrise, or Sunup, or Sundown. Crazy old coot, but he was nice enough, I guess.”
The Doctor furrowed his brow, but before he could speak, Trixie cut him off. “Nice to see you, Doctor Turner, but we have errands to run. Good morning.” And she was off, dragging Sunset in tow behind her.
The Doctor frowned. “Odd,” he murmured. “Alternate universes? Mint green doppelgangers? What in the world is going on?” A slight frown on his face, he glanced up the street at the crystal castle. “No harm in investigating, I suppose…”

Sunset glanced around the classroom in bewilderment. All day, she had been getting the same treatment from all the other students. A sense of camaraderie. Familiarity. Friendship. Certainly, it was far from a bad thing, but the immediate acceptance was Twilight-Zone levels of bizarre. She’d been getting smiles and friendly greetings from students and faculty alike, and it was really, really freaky. She took a deep breath. Okay. Time to test how deep the rabbit hole actually went. She walked up to the teacher’s desk.
“Excuse me? Hi!”
The chemistry teacher glanced up and smiled faintly. “Sunset Shimmer, come to wish me good day? Or have you something of greater substance to say?”
The girl coughed. “I was just wondering, where do you want me to sit?”
The teacher cocked her head. “You may sit at your usual place in the lab. Do you find your group’s company to be truly so drab?”
“...I’m sorry, I don’t know which group that is,” Sunset said. “I only just moved here. From Oregon?”
The teacher blinked slowly. “My dear Sunset, are you feeling quite well? You’ve been here all year, from the very first bell.”
Sunset frowned. “Do you rhyme all the time?”
“For near three years we have known each other, and this mode of speech, I’ve ne’er eschewed for another.”
“Three years? I’m sorry, you must be confusing me with—”
She was cut off as an alabaster hand wrapped around her arm. “DO pardon her, Miss Zecora,” a new girl said smoothly. “There’s been a… minor incident. Nothing to worry about. I rather like that new jacket you’ve got, by the bye, stripes really do suit you.”
With that, Sunset felt herself being steered away from the teacher’s desk and toward a small group of students who were staring at her like she had just grown a second head. One blue-haired boy looked like he was about to say something, but the alabaster-skinned girl glared at him until he looked away.
“I don’t understand,” Sunset muttered. “Who are you? How does everyone know who I am?”
The other girl looked at her for a long moment. Her blue eyes were full of sorrow and deep concern. “Everything will become clear in time, darling. At least, I certainly hope it will. Until then, I believe introductions may be in order? I’m Rarity. This is Flash Sentry, Thunderlane, and…” she faltered. “Twilight Sparkle.”
The bespectacled purple girl, the last one indicated by Rarity, was staring at her with an expression that Sunset couldn’t identify. She smiled weakly. “Hi? I’m Sunset, but you… probably already knew that…”
Twilight smiled back, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, I did.”

“So, you weren’t joking when you said we had some errands to run?” Sunset asked as the duo reached Sweet Apple Acres.
“No,” Trixie replied. “Twilight does keep Trixie rather busy, and if she can give you the grand tour of Ponyville while she finishes her to-do list… well, so much the better.”
“Killing two birds with one stone?” Sunset suggested.
Trixie stopped in her tracks, nose wrinkling in an expression of sheerest distaste. “Why would Trixie want to kill birds?” she asked incredulously. “Let alone with such a primitive weapon as a stone. You are a strange, strange mare, Sunset Shimmer.”
Sunset flushed, all her anger and embarrassment returning in a flash. “It’s just an expression,” she growled. “Humans are omnivores, idiot.”
Trixie took a step away from the sullen mare. “Trixie did not know that,” she said carefully. “That is a very interesting factoid.”
“What-ever,” Sunset grumbled. “Lets just get our apples and get back to the castle.”
“Trixie is inclined to agree.”
The two unicorns made their way up to the farmhouse, where Granny Smith sat on the porch, napping. Trixie put a hoof to her mouth in a silencing gesture. “Do. Not. Awaken. The Elderly One,” she hissed.
Sunset smirked. “WHAT WAS THAT, OH GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE?” she shouted. That was the awful, terrible thing about sarcasm, Sunset thought. It was just so hilarious.
Trixie cringed, cowering from the snoring green mare, who snuffled and snorted, shifting in her sleep… and then rolled over, cozying up against a pillow. Trixie let out a huff of breath. Taking a moment to glare at Sunset, she took a step forwards… right onto a twig, which snapped quietly.
“WAZZAT? WHOZZERRE!” Granny Smith demanded, sitting bolt upright in her rocking chair. Her eyes fell on Trixie. “Ah, t’s you ‘gain. An’ y’brought a frien’? Hmph.” She glared at Sunset. “Ain’t ne’er seen y’aroun’ ‘ere afore. Wha’s yer name, filly?”
“Uh, Sunset? Sunset Shimmer.”
“Hah! Y’can’t fool ol’ Granny that easy! Sunset Shimmer’s th’ purple’n. She got wings. You got wings, Orangey?” She poked her hoof into Sunset’s side, making the unicorn yelp. “No. Y’ain’t. But iffin ye wuz Sunset Shimmer, ya would have wings. Look at yer sides, filly! Now look at Granny. Now back at yer sides! Now back at me. You see any wings?”
Sunset shook her head slowly. “Wrong!” the old mare crowed, throwing her hooves wide. Loose, wrinkly flesh hung down, wibbling and wobbling distressingly. “If you young’ns stopped bein’ so young all th’ time, you could look like you have wings! I’m on a soapbox,” she added.
“Darn,” Trixie interrupted. “Looks like you caught her, Granny. This is, um… Spitfire, which is totally not a pegasus name.”
Granny gave ‘Spitfire’ a triumphant grin. “Takes more’n that t’pull the wool over ol’ Granny’s eyes!”
“Aaanyway, we’re looking for Applejack. Have you seen her?”
The old mare stepped off of the soapbox and hobbled back onto her chair. “She’s out in th’ orchard with that Spectrum Blast filly. Now, are you young’ns jes’ gonna stand ‘round shootin’ off at the mouth all day? Git! Go! Scoot!” She waved them along imperiously. Neither needed any further encouragement. Granny smirked as she watched them run. That'd learn them to respect their elders, she thought as she leaned back in her rocker. The fact that she had been purposefully acting crazy should be irrelevant.

The Doctor stared blankly at Twilight. “Sorry, you’re saying that your world has the capacity for travel between universes? And that Sunset Shimmer is from one of those alternate dimensions? Have you got any idea how irresponsible—”
“No, no,” Twilight cut him off quickly. “She’s from here, originally. She just spent a few years on the other side of the dimensional divide, hiding from the authorities and I did not make that sound even a little bit better, did I?”
The Doctor frowned. “Hm. Well, the universe doesn’t seem to be ripping apart, so I think we should be fine. All the same, I want to know who is responsible for all this-- this-- these multiversal shenanigans! Was it Sunset herself? No, wait, was it Discord? This does rather seem like their work…”
“I, um, I think it was mostly Starswirl the Bearded.”
“Ah,” the Doctor sighed. “I’m not altogether surprised, really. He was always one to meddle in things beyond his understanding…”
Twilight gaped. “You… you knew Starswirl the Bearded?”
“I still know him. Great thing about time travel is, you don’t have to lose touch with old friends, no matter how old they are. Or how much they cheat at cards, the bloody old goat.”
Twilight’s eyes sparkled in a way that reminded the Doctor uncomfortably of the time Rose had tried to interest his ninth self in anime. “Could-- could you introduce me to him?”
The Doctor hesitated. “As long as you promise not to try to start a transtemporal romance? Yes.”
Twilight blinked. “Romance? Who said anything about romance? I just want to confer with him about some scrolls.” The twinkle in her eyes did not make the Doctor any less discomfited.
“Right. Well. I suppose that’s alright then, he knows about the risks of time travel— hang on, we’re getting off the topic. The point is, interdimensional travel is a very, very nitpicky process. If you don’t have it just right, you might attract… hangers-on.”
Twilight frowned. “Like hitchhikers?”
“Sort of, yes. Except these take a ride in your mind, your heart, your very essence. It’s not unlike stories you hear about ghosts possessing people— ponies, sorry. It’s a tricky, dangerous business, and that’s when you know where you’re going. I suppose we can all count ourselves lucky that nopony’s been stupid enough to just open up the fabric of spacetime and run through it, hah!” he chuckled.
He turned around. Twilight had gone a very peculiar shade of lavender. “...Twilight?”
“Okay, I just want to make it clear that this was completely the fault of an alternate-universe version of me who was possessed by dark magic…”
The Doctor facehoofed. “Right, okay, you are coming back to the TARDIS so I can do a scan on you. Right now.”
He led the nervous alicorn by the hoof out of the meeting room, all the while grumbling Gallifreyan curses against the multiverse under his breath.