//------------------------------//
// Truth and Lies 
// Story: Etheria's Sunset 
// by Wanderer D 
//------------------------------//


Etheria's Sunset


By Wanderer D


Truth and Lies






Queen Angella of Bright Moon, Immortal Ruler, Rebel Leader, Bane of the Horde, Beacon of Light, paced back and forth angrily in front of a small group of teenagers and a horse of some sort.

In her heart of hearts, she wanted to just blame Adora. Even though she had proven herself an ally and worthy combatant, both with and without powers, she had grown up with the Horde, naturally it would be her that would be a bad influence.

But the truth was, and she was well aware of it, that if it weren't for the unknowns in the room, chances would have been that Glimmer herself would have talked the former captain into drinking.

Bow was too well mannered and too much like a poster-child to really be responsible for this, there was no sign of Sea Hawk, either, so the drinking was either her daughter or the two unknown factors.

But still.

There was no evidence, other than the dissipating smell of alcohol that anything untowards had happened. The group was merely collapsed, groggy and with a headache on the single bed. Thankfully, most of them wore clothes.

It still did not explain who these two new… people… were. The guards had reported no arrivals, and Glimmer certainly didn't look like she had been in any position to teleport anyone. Her magic even felt somewhat weak, although she had recently recharged just that morning.

"First, I would like you to introduce your… guests." She frowned and gave Adora, Bow and Glimmer a threatening look. "They are not former members of the Horde as well, are they?"

"Um, no!" Glimmer said quickly. "Uh, girls, let me introduce you to my mother, Queen Angella."

"Sunset Shimmer, your majesty," the red and gold-headed one said, bowing carefully and much more gracefully than Adora had.

"And Starlight Glimmer," the mare unicorn said, bowing as well.

Angella blinked. Both of them were court-trained, if a little rusty. A princess maybe? No. She would recognize Sunset if she were. Assistants? Friends?"

"Yes, they are uh, friends we met!" Bow added quickly. "And we uh, went to celebrate and uh…"

"We're not from this universe," Sunset deadpanned, while Starlight nodded. 

"What are you doing!?" Glimmer hissed.

Sunset blinked.

"Well, lying would eventually just end up being a hassle," Starlight said reasonably, "we would need to coordinate our lies, make sure they match up, plan for future interrogations, make sure those match up, create additional backstories that would not contradict each other, and all of that while trying to figure out how exactly we got here and how to get home."

"So eventually one of us would slip up and put us into a worse situation because we would have been caught lying!" Adora said, nodding thoughtfully. "It makes sense!"

"Huh," Glimmer said. "A perfectly reasonable explanation on why not to lie. Who knew?"

"How about because lying is bad and deceiving others is what a malicious person would do?" Angella growled.

"Oh yeah!" Sunset said, nodding, "That too!"

Angella closed her eyes and counted to ten. Then counted once more before opening them. "While I do believe your priorities are not exactly right, I do appreciate your candid sharing of information. However, that does not explain why or how you got here and apparently became good friends with my daughter, Adora, and Bow in a matter of a couple of hours."

"Oh, we were at an interdimensional party full of former villains that lasted four days and three nights," Adora said immediately. "It was hardly just a few hours."





"...and that is why you don't tell a worried mother that their daughter was gone for several days to an interdimensional party without them knowing about it."

Adora nodded at Sunset's words, a worried frown on her face. Even though the doors were closed and Angella had taken Glimmer to another room, they could still hear muffled shouting. "It's a bit confusing! I've never lied before! I mean, not really! Just tiny things! How was I supposed to know I shouldn't lie about something as crazy as you being from another world, but lie about us being gone for several days?"

"It's a complicated process," Starlight said. "You'll get the hang of it."

"Girls!" Bow whispered running back from the door. "They're coming!"

The trio pretended to be looking at the water in the pond as they heard the stomping feet of the Queen. There was a pause outside the room, presumably for the Queen to get her bearings back, before the door calmly opened.

"In the future," Angella said with carefully enunciated words, "you will not leave this castle without my knowledge, understood?"

"Yes, mom."

"That includes you too, Adora. And you Bow."

"Yes, your majesty."

"As for you two," Angella's glare turned to Sunset and Glimmer. "Any idea how you came to be here?"

"Not really," Sunset said, "I was supposed to go back to Canterlot City… and Starlight also was going to her home world. I'm not entirely sure how we got here."

"Oh no." Starlight said, eyes wide. "Sunset. Sunset!" She turned and, with her magic, brought Sunset down to face level, where she proceeded to grab the human with her hooves. "We have a problem! If we're here… where's the Twilights?!"


[Somewhere, in the Year 20XX]


Zero considered his situation.

Sure, he was in the middle of the lab with two very attractive ladies asleep on his lap, resting their heads on his chest, while every other Reploid looked on with confusion, interest and morbid curiosity. But, as a senior Maverick Hunter, he still had more credibility than not, and there was no doubt that his fellow hunters should believe his explanation—whatever it was—on what had happened and how they shouldn't escalate this past the possible initial shock.

That both Twilights were snoring peacefully, arms around his shoulders and drooling on his armor was a source of some minor self reflection. After all, he was a Reploid and not prone to emotional reactions to humans as other humans would have. It didn't take away the fact that they were both really cute.

Then again, he was in the middle of the lab with two very attractive ladies asleep on his lap, resting their heads on his chest, while every other Reploid looked on with confusion, interest and morbid curiosity.

"So, uh, Zero," X ventured, motioning at the identical humans with his hand. "Twins?"

"Shut up."

Explaining that one of them had been a horse last time he checked wouldn't help either.


[Back in Etheria]


"Calm down!" Sunset growled, forcing the hooves off and standing up, cracking her back and grimacing. "I've given it some thought. When Princess Twilight doesn't appear in Ponyville, Discord will have to come get us all back."

"But some of the other worlds sounded very dangerous!" Starlight insisted. "Remember Vegeta and Goku fought people that could literally destroy the universe?!"

"And Zebra said their world had monsters that could inhale a whole continent if they wanted!" Glimmer added.

"Not helping!" Sunset growled.

"And then remem—"

"Stop, seriously," Sunset said. "She'll be fine. We need to trust them and figure our way out. Come on, Starlight, between you and me? We're magical encyclopedias! We'll figure it out even before Discord shows up to get us."

Starlight took a deep breath. "Y-yes you're—"

She was interrupted by the door opening and a majestic, rainbow-maned male alicorn trotted in, immediately drawing the attention of both Sunset and Starlight.

"Um… S-sunset?"

"Y-yeah?"

"I think we should stay for a little bit."


To Be Continued…