//------------------------------//
// Chapter 18 
// Story: Alternative Origins 
// by TalkingToMyself 
//------------------------------//

Over the next days, Sunset Shimmer only saw little of either Princess Celestia or Cadance. While Cadance kept being surrounded by the usual cloud of noponies, Princess Celestia was busy with diplomatic work. Nearly every day, so it seemed, there was some kind of ambassador or representative from the neighbouring kingdoms or far-away cities visiting the princess, which left barely any time.
Sunset Shimmer wasn’t bothered too much, since Princess Celestia still kept her promise to continue her personal lessons, even if she strictly refused to talk about anything outside of Sunset’s curriculum.

Well, outside of Sunset’s intended curriculum, that is. With the princess busy as she was, Sunset took the chance to browse through Celestia’s personal library on a few things that the princess tried to avoid. She told nopony of what she learned yet.

Besides that, Sunset Shimmer had a few things to take care of as well, like school. Even though she had long stopped visiting classes, she was still a student of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, and as such had to take part in some mandatory exams. She aced them all, of course, but it was still a nuisance and cut into her independent studies.

The only pony she could bear around her when she was studying was Crystal Note. The crystal pony knew when to be silent around her, but she also developed like a sixth sense on when Sunset Shimmer would accept a little distraction. Usually, when Sunset Shimmer grew frustrated that she had run into another dead end with her research, Crystal Note would pull out her violin and play. It was never intrusive the way she did it, but the effect it had on Sunset always made the mare smile.

More than once, Crystal Note asked her if she wanted to visit the small garden again, and Sunset always agreed. She didn’t get too much done in these days as Crystal Note lost most of her anxiety in the peaceful surroundings, which led to her asking apparently mundane questions. Sunset Shimmer knew of course that they were mundane to a normal pony like her, but very important to Crystal Note, now that she tried to fit into the ‘modern’ life of Canterlot. Crystal Note even started to get a hang on reading, though she didn’t diverse much from history books and old legends.

When Crystal Note wasn’t around, Sunset Shimmer saw her making the first careful steps in interacting with other ponies. The first of them was the maid who was assigned to clean their rooms each morning, an earth pony mare named Dusty. Apparently, she had been cleaning Sunset’s room for years now, but Sunset never learned her name before Crystal Note mentioned it.

Despite the difference in age, the two of them got along swimmingly. Crystal Note would often help Dusty with her chores. Extra hooves always came handy. Dusty was very grateful and friendly with the shy mare who called her ‘Miss Dusty’ and shared stories of her family with Crystal Note, but also the daily gossip among the palace staff. 

In return, Crystal Note played songs on her violin for Dusty, first only while she was working but one night, Sunset Shimmer heard music from Crystal Note’s room next door and Dusty’s laughter in between. Sunset Shimmer smiled at that, not without any pride. After weeks of anxiety and fear, Crystal Note was finally getting a grip on her life again. Spending an evening with a maid was probably not the most productive way to pass the time, but it was better than hiding away all the time, so Sunset Shimmer took it as a step in the right direction. Sunset heard their laughter until late into the night from the room next door. The thought of joining them never even reached her mind.

It didn’t stop there, though. Soon, with some encouragement from Dusty and after she had gotten Sunset’s approval, Crystal Note spent more time with other ponies from the royal staff. Most of them were maids or kitchen aides, but also one of the many ponies who looked after the palace gardens, including the small secluded one.
Word spread quickly about Crystal Note’s talent for music and as soon as she played, she now had at least a few listeners around. The fact that she was a crystal pony never stirred any questions, most ponies just accepted that she was different. Out of respect to Princess Celestia, that knowledge stayed within the palace walls for now.

Sunset Shimmer didn’t really care too much, as it did not intrude with her study sessions or her research. Crystal Note always stopped everything when Sunset Shimmer needed her or wanted to talk to her. Recently, her dreams had become clearer and often, she could offer Sunset some useful snippets of information. There had not been any big breakthroughs yet. However, as Sunset reminded herself, there had been no panicked flashbacks either. That was probably a good thing.

Around Sunset, Crystal Note behaved as she always had, polite and respectful with that same thankful admiration she had since the first day. So when Sunset Shimmer learned how much Crystal Note had really changed over the course of only a couple of weeks, it took her and everypony else by surprise.

Sunset Shimmer was sitting in the main dining hall with a fresh cup of tea and a book, after a late breakfast. The hall was mostly empty, so Crystal Note had asked if they could have their meal here for a change. Sunset didn’t mind, food was food after all, but of course she knew that Crystal Note would meet some of her new acquaintances as well. They can’t really be friends, can they?

While Sunset read her book, Crystal Note had her violin to keep her occupied. The kitchen ponies who came in to clean after breakfast didn’t mind either and despite their busy work, there was a calm atmosphere all around.

Until all of a sudden, they heard some commotion from the hallway. The sound of breaking glass, a shriek of a mare, then somepony yelled
“Stupid wench! Watch where you’re going!”
They heard another shriek and Sunset Shimmer recognized the voice, as did Crystal Note. She rushed out of the room before anypony else. Sunset and most of the staff followed

In the hallway, Sunset Shimmer took in the scene in front of her. Dusty was down on the floor from an awkward fall it seemed, next to her was a tray with some broken cups and shards, probably she had dropped it when she had fallen down.
In front of her stood a white unicorn stallion wearing a silk vest. He would have been kind of handsome if it wasn’t for his pompous posture and behaviour. The mask of undignified rage on his face didn’t do him any favours either.

Sunset Shimmer groaned and rolled her eyes, as she understood what happened. Dusty must have run into somepony while carrying a tray and fell down. A mess for sure, but no big deal. However, Dusty had not just run into anypony, unfortunately it had to be Prince Blueblood.

Blueblood was part of the oldest unicorn families in Canterlot. Their history apparently dated back towards the times of Princess Platinum, hence why he insisted on having the title of a prince and forced everypony to call him like that. Sunset Shimmer usually stayed away from him, mostly for his own health, since his indecent behaviour and her short temper didn’t go along very well.

Right now, Blueblood glared down at Dusty and yelled at the top of his voice
“I’ll have you thrown to the dungeons for this, you clumsy hag. Look what you’ve done!”
There was, indeed, a stain on his vest. It wasn’t very big and by the looks of it, it was just tea and would wash out. That didn’t stop Prince Blueblood to go into a raging fit and his usual over-dramatics.

Sunset Shimmer would usually just ignore this, but Blueblood had his hoof raised up to strike and from the look on Dusty’s face, he had already hit her. The mare was shivering all over as she tried to crawl away from the angry stallion
“It was an accident, sir. I’m sorry.”
Apparently, sorry didn’t cut it for Blueblood and a stepped closer again with his hoof ready to strike. Before Sunset Shimmer could blast him with a freeze spell (or worse), Crystal Note was in front of her friend and glared right back at Blueblood. There were no sparkles on her coat at all.

She wasn’t scared as usual and she wasn’t furious like Sunset. Instead, she fixed the taller stallion with a cold, levelled anger that even made the guards hesitate to come closer. Blueblood stared back at her, surprised for a moment before his rage turned on her instead
“Step aside, commoner.”
“No.”

Crystal Note’s soft voice was gone, instead Sunset Shimmer heard a hard and unbending sound that had the prince freeze on the spot. He needed longer this time to recover, but was just as enraged when he did
“Don’t you know who I am? How dare you stand in my way? Get out of my way or I’ll make you move.”
“I won’t let you hit her, Prince Blueblood.”
She spat out the name with obvious disgust.

Sunset grinned and she heard some snickering from the little crowd they had gathered. Prince Blueblood gaped with a not too intelligent look on his face, before he returned to rage
“You know who I am and you still disobey, you common piece of trash. I don’t know who let you into the palace, but I ensure you, when I’m done with you and your clumsy friend, you’ll join her in the dungeons. You will suffer for your disrespect towards royalty.”
At the end of his rant, everypony was silent.

Sunset Shimmer felt her own anger boiling up inside her, but then she noticed Crystal Note’s expression and held back.

Crystal Note’s eyes never left Blueblood, even when he was yelling at her from close up, she stayed on her spot. When he ended his little speech, her lips twitched. She started to giggle, only to turn into a full-blown laughter seconds later. The sound had a musical quality to it, but it was harsh and unkind, enough for Blueblood to lose his arrogant confidence.

When Crystal Note finally stopped laughing, her voice was filled with snide
“Are you trying to be intimidating? By yelling at me like a toddler?”
Crystal Note locked her eyes with Blueblood again and took a single step forward. At the same moment, her silvery-white coat lost all shine and turned grey. Blueblood flinched and backed away instantly. 

Sunset Shimmer could see Crystal Note’s eyes as well and they looked like nothing she had seen before. Not a single spark of light remained. Instead, they were cold and hard, almost lifeless like stone. Their gemstone shape and unusual colour only increased this.

Her voice matched those eyes as she took another step towards the stallion
“You speak of suffering? You don’t know what the word even means. You sit on your plot all day on silk cushions and have ponies serve you. You have never suffered, you have never seen anything like it. You’ve never known hunger, or pain, or freezing cold. You never had to watch anypony struggle and fight for their sheer life.”

Crystal Note took small steps forward as she spoke, only to have Blueblood back away further. He could not look away and everypony could see that he didn't know how to react to the small mare who just openly defied him. At some point, he stumbled and ended up landing on his plot, now crawling backwards and cowering with Crystal Note hovering above with her hard and unbending gaze.

"You want to intimidate me? You want ponies to fear you? You don't know fear."
Crystal Note didn't growl, she didn't yell, she barely even spoke louder than usual, yet somehow, everypony who heard her felt shivers running down their backs. Blueblood who also had to face the full force of her glare started to whimper like a foal.

"You don't know what it's like to live in a world of endless fear. How it feels to avoid the light and cower in the shadows all the time, praying to the stars that nopony will find you. You don't know what it feels to hear the screams of ponies you called your friends, but instead of helping them all you could do was hope that you're not next. You never had to face fear."

At some point, Crystal Note's voice grew distant and Sunset Shimmer noticed how her eyes seemed to look past Blueblood, past the palace walls even, only staring into the distance as her coat took and even darker shade of grey
"You never had to look into the eyes of evil, eyes so dark that they seemed to swallow everything, sucking all light and life right out of your soul. It was like looking into your deepest nightmare, no escape, no way out, no more light in all the world for you. And when you thought it could not become any worse, you'd see the flame.
You could see how the eyes began to burn with a flame of vile insanity, so terrible that you wished back for the darkness even, just anything but..."

"Crystal Note."
As Sunset Shimmer said her name, the crystal mare blinked and her eyes struggled to regain focus, as if she had just woken up from a deep sleep. She saw Blueblood in front of her, curled into a ball on the floor and still whimpering fearfully.
Sunset Shimmer noticed how Crystal Note's eyes grew hard again, but this time Sunset spoke up
"I think you better stop now, before Prince Whinypants leaves a puddle on the floor."

Crystal Note finally seemed to snap out of it and nodded, turning her head towards Sunset with a small smile
"That would be unfortunate, especially since somepony else had to clean up behind him as always."

Many ponies started to snicker and giggle, a lot of them guards as well. Prince Blueblood didn't seem to care too much right now. As soon as he was free of Crystal Note's gaze on him, he crawled backwards, away from the mare, before he remembered how to get on his hooves and vanished behind some doors, followed by more snickering.

Sunset Shimmer watched Crystal Note very closely, and she noticed the tremble in her hooves even though she tried to hide it. She turned around deliberately slow, as if to mock the frightened stallion, but Sunset knew that Crystal Note just desperately tried not to run away in panic now.

While Crystal Note forced herself to slow steps, Sunset Shimmer walked to Dusty. The maid still sat on the floor and stared at Crystal Note. Dusty hadn't know the crystal pony for very long, but what she just had seen left her baffled, like most of the other ponies.
When Sunset Shimmer held out her hoof to help her up, she just stared at it for a moment before reaching up. This day was crazy enough so she even Sunset Shimmer offering help couldn’t shake her anymore.
"Thank you, Miss Shimmer."

Dusty flashed a grateful smile, which Sunset Shimmer responded with a short nod before Crystal Note reached them. Sunset looked at her and understood the pleading expression in her eyes right away. Crystal Note had lost her shyness in the spur of the moment, but now that she realized all eyes were on her, she wanted out.

Sunset Shimmer touched Crystal Note's hoof for a moment, before she turned around at started walking
"Come on, let's go."
Crystal Note followed immediately, but Dusty needed a second to realize Sunset Shimmer had meant her as well
"But, Miss Shimmer, I need to take care of this mess first."

Sunset rolled her eyes and cast a spell. Without even looking back, she repeated the spell she had seen from Princess Celestia and behind her, the shards reformed back to cups and glasses on the tray.
Sunset Shimmer completely ignored the looks she got from everypony around and waved to Dusty instead
"There, taken care of. Now come."

Dusty probably tried to remember the last time Sunset Shimmer had done something nice to anypony, but after another moment she caught up to the unicorn. Crystal Note tried to flash a smile at Dusty, but even she could see that it looked forced.

Dusty leaned her head close to Sunset so her whispers wouldn't carry to anypony else
"Why do you want me to come?"
Sunset Shimmer mumbled just as quietly
"Because Crystal Note shouldn't be alone now and I'm probably not the right pony for her right now."
Dusty indicated a smile and glanced between the two mares, before she addressed Sunset again
"What just happened to her back there?"
Sunset Shimmer couldn't quite smile
"I think you reminded Crystal Note how much of a fighter she really can be."
She glanced at the crystal pony and sighed
"I guess it's just a little more than anypony expected. Including her."

Dusty didn’t understand all of it, of course. But, just as Sunset expected, she was the kind of pony who would cheer up a friend first and ask questions later.
So without another word, Dusty switched from Sunset’s side to Crystal Note’s, taking the crystal pony in their middle. She even nudged a little closer so Crystal Note would end up leaning against her. Following Dusty’s example, Sunset scooted closer as well, which was finally enough to get a smile from Crystal Note again, even if it was small and fragile.

There was an awkward moment of silence for Sunset Shimmer, especially when Crystal Note shifted a little so she would lean against her instead.
Still aware of the crowd behind her watching them, Sunset kept her normal walking pace. Acting normal seemed the best option right now, so Sunset did what she though normal ponies would.
She started talking in an overly casual tone
“So, um, Dusty, how are things at home for you?”
She instantly cringed at her own words. I suck at small talk. Why do I keep trying?

Dusty however took the clue and smiled
“Everything is well, Miss Sunset. My little sister is a bit nervous about her entrance exam next week, but I’m sure she’ll do great!”
Sunset tilted her head surprised
“I didn’t know you had a sister.”
Dusty laughed softly and even Crystal Note managed a giggle as some of the glumness faded from her appearance
“Two sisters and a brother, all younger. I moved out when I started working at the palace, but I still visit every other day. Last night, we all went to the park together and…”

Sunset quickly trailed off as Dusty shared her happy family story and only listened with one ear. Crystal Note was grateful for this distraction and kept her attention on Dusty as Sunset led the three of them back towards their rooms.

As they turned around a corner, Sunset Shimmer threw a look back into the hallway. Most of the crowd was gone by now, ponies went their way again, even if they still chatted about what they had just seen. Only one pony watched Sunset and the others as they left.
Sunset Shimmer and Cadance looked at each other from the distance. Sunset knew that Cadance must have seen everything. For a moment, their eyes met, but then Cadance was out of sight.