Shattering Ascendance: Book 1--Quest for the Tree of Life

by Myrlin


Chapter 1

Author’s Notes: Hello everyone I am super excited about this story and I already have 10 chapters planned out! Feel free to follow me on tumblr for chapter updates and walk-through of my cover art!


Sunset Shimmer always thought going through the portal from her world back to Equestria felt like walking through a sheer curtain made of oil, the feeling of moving both incredibly fast and exhaustingly slow as the magic stuck to her skin and then all at once the spell ended spitting Sunset out onto the marble platform of the portal.

For a moment she tried to balance on her hind legs before falling awkwardly to all four, her saddlebag falling hard against her sides. But she had no time to think on how she was more used to her human body than her original equine one as her eyes fell on Twilight at the foot of the stairs, her head bowed down, alicorn wings hanging listly next to her.

Without a thought she raced to her friend's side but before she could speak Twilight raised her head to look up at Sunset, her eyes puffy and red-rimmed as if she had been crying, which she actually started anew as a whine formed in her throat. Almost desperately she reached for Sunset burying her face within her friends chest as she tried to speak, broken sobs making her hard to understand.

Sunset hugged her tightly before grabbing her shoulders and pushing her back so they once again were faced to face. Softening her expression Sunset raised a hoof and brushed away the tears on Twilights cheek calming her down.

“Twilight Sparkle, you know I can’t understand you like this. I know you are upset but please tell me what’s wrong. I got your message in the book saying something had happened with the Princesses. What’s going on?”

With a hard sniff and a rough swipe of her foreleg across her face Twilight pulled herself together enough to speak clearly.

“P-Princess Celestia a-and Princess Luna have fallen asleep and haven't woken up. S-Starswirl had to raise the sun this morning so no pony would notice. We are all going to the Castle to find out how to help them bu-but I couldn’t do this without you Sunset. You had to be here, shes your teacher too.” Her final words almost came out like a whisper as she looked back up at Sunset, fresh tears gathering in her eyes again but this time they matched Sunsets own.

Taking in a shaky breath Sunset reached forward to hug Twilight once again, both holding on tightly, almost trembling.

This time it was Twilight that broke the embrace. “There's a carriage outside to take us to the Castle as fast as the guards can fly, we shouldn’t keep the girls waiting. I’ll tell you everything else on the way there.”

Tears now staining her face too Sunset nodded and followed Twilight out of the Castle of Friendship to the waiting pegasus guards. Each of them white and gold stood at attention, their armor shining in the noonday sun. A glance was all Sunset needed to see the stress in their bodies as wings twitched and hooves scratched grooves into the ground, maybe they didn't know what was happening but experienced soldiers could always tell something was wrong. As they approached she could see some of that stress ease. No words were needed after they got in and latched the door; both guards looked back, nodded, then took off.

Flying was always a rush that excited Sunset but now was not the time to enjoy the feeling, or marvel at Equestria speeding below her, all she could feel is a kind of numbness. It must of shown on her face as Twilight took Sunsets hoof in hers giving a comforting squeeze. With a small smile she returned the squeeze almost wishing for hands again so she could interlace them together with Twilights and rub comforting circles with her thumb. A small shake of her head was all Sunset needed to clear her thoughts, now was not the time.

“Twilight do we know anything else about what's causing this? Maybe Discord is acting up again? Chrysalis maybe from what you told me of her?”

Silently Twilight nodded no as her midnight mane whipped behind her like a flag, after a particularly strong gust of wind she spoke.

“I saw Luna and Celestia just last week and I noticed they seemed a bit tired but both of them said it was nothing. When they did not awake Starswirl asked their closest attendants who repeated what I noticed. That they seemed perfectly normal, just tired, is what they all said. We have to wait until we get to the Castle to see if we can sense any dark magic causing this.”

“Well we don’t have to wait long, look.” Said Sunset glancing over the edge of the chariot. They were crossing the Moon river which flowed south from the city. Ahead they could see the great mountain the city of Canterlot rested upon, the waterfall that fed the river below created rainbows as they drew closer.

It would have been beautiful if not for the reason for the trip.

With little delay they were grounded with barely a bump as they entered the front courtyard. The massive doors to enter the castle were intimidating as always but it helped calm Sunset’s nerves to see Rainbow Dash waiting at its base.

Both girls rushed to the pegasus giving hugs and sharing whispers if there was any news, an update maybe. Dash shook her head no and looked around at the castle staff walking about.

“Not everyone knows what's happening so we'll talk more in a sec okay.”

All in agreement they walked through the empty halls, the echoes from their steps reverberated, sounding more and more like mourning bells to Sunset as the walked deeper into the castle.

Before her anxiety could spike anymore they finally made it to two gray oak doors for a private antechamber, and behind those them maybe some answers.

In a series of knocks Rainbow Dash made her presence known to those inside and a second later Pinkie Pie let them in, it was almost jarring to see the pink mare without a smile on her face, even her hair seemed to be going limp.

The group of girls sat very close together on the couch provided, each comforting each other in little ways. Fluttershy seemed the most visibly distraught laying her face on Applejacks lap as AJ rubbed soothing circles on her back. Pinkie pie sat back down where Spike offered a clawed hand, silently she lifted her hoof and put it within his grasp then with his free hand he patted her foreleg.

After a quick glance around the room Sunset noticed someone missing and looked towards Twilight and asked in a quiet voice so as not to break the atmosphere. “Where’s Starlight I thought you said she would be here?”

Twilight shook her head and whispered back. “She's going to the Crystal Kingdom to get Sunburst. We're going to need all the help we can get. They should be here by this evening.”

Though she didn’t know who exactly Sunburst was Sunset understood this was a critical time and she was right, any help would be welcome.

After a few moments and whispered hello’s everyone was settled down and not a moment later Starswirl the Bearded entered loudly, a quill and notebook floating next to him. In only a few strides he made it to the center of the room and locked eyes with each pony and dragon in the room.

“I have done every spell I know. Nothing has worked.” His last words seemed to echo through the silent room. Only seconds later Sunset heard sniffling and looked over to see fresh tears on Fluttershy's face and quietly almost without energy she buried her face into AJ’s chest.

Twilight was the first to speak breaking the silence. “Have you done spells to detect outside or evil magic to see if it's influencing them?”

Almost offended he looked down his muzzle at her “Young miss Sparkle, who do you think I am? Of course I have. Nothing is showing up. As of now, we are no closer to awakening them.”

She could almost see Twilight deflate and Sunset had to hold herself back from running to her friends side. But before the atmosphere became even sadder Starswirl spoke again.

“Fear not Twilight you and I will search the library for anything that may lead to the recovery of Celestia and Luna. Come now young princess we have much work to do.”  With no other words he turned and began to walk out of the room not even glancing back to see if Twilight was following.

But before he could exit Twilight looked first at Sunset then sharply looked back at the aging unicorn.

“Starswirl, wait!”

Slowly he looked back one eyebrow raised in question. “Yes miss Sparkle?”

Twilight walked briskly to stand next to Sunset. “She has to come too! Sunset Shimmer is also Celestia's student and is just as capable as I am if not more. She will join us in the restricted archives while everyone will search the library together. It's every hoof on deck, it would be ill-advised to ignore help when we need it.”

Sunset actually expected him to put up a fight or argument as to why she and the others should not join but he simply nodded and continued his stride out of the room.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as some of the tension faded with Starswirl as he departed. All eyes drifted to Twilight for guidance, what to do next. Their eyes almost pleading for anything to feel like they are helping.

Twilight gave a hard stomp to the ground and smiled at her friends. “Alright everypony you heard what he said! Let's go to the library and find something to help our friends.”

Finally, with a goal in mind, all of them made their way to the Canterlot library where all hoped the search would not be in vain.


Somehow the last time Sunset was here in the restricted section felt like years ago and not simply months. This year was her final one at CHS and she had graduated in this spring. Leaving school before her friends was one of the only downsides of her being older in the human world. Before the call from Twilight she was looking for a job, maybe thinking of going to college, but being here, back in Equestria that all seemed so irrelevant.

Why would she get a job as a pizza delivery girl or waitress, all to barely get enough money to go to college and learn about what? It's not like she hadn’t thought of these arguments already but back then she was still exiled, and the thought of returning home was just a dream.

But after meeting the girls and walking the long road back to redemption, then seeing Celestia again, being forgiven, that changed everything. No longer was she the zealous power hungry unicorn, now her dreams had shifted, she wanted to go home.

Back to Equestria. With Twi--

The heavy thump of books hitting the table kicked away her wandering thoughts. The silver glittering magic from Starswirl released one stack and then another, Twilight following behind depositing her own stack of books.

Starswirl separating them into three equal groupings and without a word said and began reading the closest one to him. Sunset and Twilight shared a look before each getting a book to look for any little clue to save their Princesses.

She wasn’t sure how many hours had passed, this room deep within the castle had no windows and the magically lit fireplace never waxed or waned in the light it gave out. Only Starswirl leaving saying the moon must be raised gave her any idea to the passage of time.

Sunset murmured to herself that she had forgotten ancient unicorns used to raise the sun and moon before falling back to silence.

Time blurred together a repeating motion of reading one book, get another, walk to the wall and find something still on the shelves looking for anything that could help. Sunset barely noticed Twilight getting up again to get another book at the far side of the room. Only looking over after the slap of something hitting the floor drew her attention.

“What was that?”

“I was pulling out this book when,” Twilight said bobbing up the large tome with her magic, she then floated a small leather-bound book on the other side of her head. “This one fell out from behind it.”

Finishing her sentence trotted back to the book heavy table and made room for the much smaller one in front of her. “This style doesn't really fit in with all these ancient books it just looks like a journal. I wonder what it could be.”

Sunset looked on as the other unicorns eyes scanned the first yellowed page before stopping and locking eyes with Sunsets own. “This is Princess Celestia’s personal journal.”

“How far back does it go?”

A pause as she looked closer “It's a little after you first became her pupil.” Her eyes drifted along the words for a moment before she began to read aloud. “I fear that my most prized student Sunset Shimmer has a darkness within her and that to teach her any more of great magic would be fruitless. After showing her the Crystal Mirror she is all consumed by it. I believe she is beginning to study dark magic I will have to dismiss her from my care. I must think of ways to prevent this issue next time. Maybe it has something to do with the lack of emotional connections she has with other ponies.” A pause. “I will miss her greatly.”

Hearing those words again after so long, of how she failed her mentor, hurt just as bad as the first time. But rather than the rage, she felt bubbling in her chest the first time now it was replaced with a ball of lead at the pit of her stomach. These feeling must have shown on her face as she felt the warm touch of magic brush against her face, she knew whose magic it was without looking, somehow she always could tell. Looking up through her lashes Sunset was able to see Twilight giving her a soft smile the magic encircling her horn fading as she spoke.

“That was in the past Sunset you know Princess Celestia has forgiven you. Now you have to forgive yourself too.”

Sunset raised her hoof to brush the spot on her cheek, still warm, before smiling back and nodding. With that, both returned to reading their books.

Minutes pass in silence before Twilight stands up suddenly slamming her hooves on the table, startling Sunset causing her to yell and fall backward, then a breath later a mountain of books lost its balance and slid like an avalanche to the floor.

“Twilight! What was that for!? You almost scared the magic out of me!” After a second she scrambled to all fours and indignantly brushed the dust from her coat. But Twilight was too engrossed in the page before her to notice Sunset’s pout.

“IthinkIfoundsomething. I think I found, something Celestia wrote that could help us. See here,” Twilight flew the journal over showing a certain page but before Sunset could even begin to make anything out it was right back in front of Twilight “This is the final entry and it was from last week. ‘I have spoken with Luna of this malaise we both have been feeling, though unsure we both think this may be related to our ascension as alicorns. I haven’t talked with Twilight yet about our past, but I think it is time. I will see her in two weeks we will talk then.’ Sunset. I was going to meet with her tomorrow for tea. B-but she couldn’t m-make it…” Twilights voice began to tremble with emotion as despair washed over her once again, now it was Sunsets turn to comfort her friend.

Walking briskly she sat next to the alicorn and leaned hard against her side wrapping a foreleg around her middle, grounding her, and giving as much comfort as she could before speaking. “Twilight, Twilight, its ok. This is good see? It's the first lead we’ve gotten all day. That's great, you did great. Come on, let's go show that old colt what we found, he's so old he probably knows all about how the princesses became alicorns.”


“Hrmm. Now this is intriguing. I had not thought that their own magical transformations into all-powerful alicorns could have a disastrous repercussion like this. But we have one problem.” he said first looking at Twilight then Sunset “I only met the Princesses after they were as we know them. And they never shared that knowledge with me.”

With those words defeat washed across both mares, almost in unison their ears swiveled back and low against their heads. “But,” And again just as quick both ears perked back up as they looked expectantly at the unicorn sage. “I have an idea.”

Sunset was the first to ask what it was.

“I am not choosing this option frivolously but because these are dire times. Though I do not agree with how this world had turned in my absence Equestria as it is now cannot, without great upheaval, survive as we know it without the presence of the Princesses.” While he spoke it seemed he unconsciously began to stroke his long beard while deep in thought. “So we must go to great lengths to find the secret of their ascension, we must go into their past and find it.”

Twilight visibly shaken stood up quickly as her wings splayed in alarm. “Starswirl I understand your concern but time travel is dangerous! I told you what happened when Starlight Glimmer changed the past! How grievously it affected the present. I can’t even imagine the consequences if we went back before they became Princesses. We could distort our whole reality!”

Nodding Starswirl kept stroking his beard before giving it a sharp tug. “I am well aware of what occurred and the consequences. Did you forget she used my spell to wreak her havoc? No, after you told me how my spell had been twisted and the results thereafter I began to toy with a theory which will be of help to us now. Rather than sending you back in time I will send your spirit instead, leaving your body here. You will be able to view the past as it unfolded but only as a bystander, and would not be capable of interacting with anything.”

Sunset then spoke up too excited at the thought of a viable plan to keep quiet. “Then that's perfect we’ll go into the past find out what happened and save the Princesses!” Finally finally something that could work, a plan of action to actually DO something and not sit around reading books and not watching as time drifted through her hooves.

The old scholar turned his head to look upon the other unicorn almost as if he had forgotten about her presence. “Yes miss Shimmer I almost impress myself sometimes.” A ghost of a smile was apparent through his thick beard. “Though I need all the help I can get raising the sun and moon I believe it would be safest if both of you Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer take on this mission. I will make use of Starlight Glimmer and what was that colts name, ah yes Sunburnt, to assist me here. Go now sleep tonight my little ponies I will spend a bit more time working on my spell and in the morning after the sun has risen I will send you off on your journey. Prepare yourself. Tomorrow will be a long day.”


Authors Note: First chapter DONE!

Heres a cute picture from this chapter!