Dear Sunset Shimmer,
I need to speak with you directly about an important, official matter. Let me know when you're available.
Sincerely,
Princess Twilight Sparkle
Dry red and orange leaves crunched under their boots. The portal had been kind enough to provide Twilight with season-appropriate clothing, and that had led Sunset to taking her for a meandering nature walk through the woods near CHS. A 'Walking Of The Leaves', since Sunset pointedly refused to go running.
It was silent in the current moment, as Twilight let Sunset process the tale she'd just told. One of adventure, danger, heartbreak and victory - the tale of the last few weeks in Equestria that led up to the final battle against the Terrible Trio.
"Kinda angry with you," Sunset noted after taking it all in. "Equestria was in crisis, you desperately needed backup and just forgot to contact me?" She snorted with sarcastic derision. "Some friend you are."
Twilight laughed, throwing an arm around Sunset's shoulders. "I wanted to save Equestria, not scour it with flame."
Sunset fondly rolled her eyes and gave Twilight a gentle shove. "One time. One time I lose control of a spell, get my cutie mark and all of a sudden everypony thinks I'm a pyromaniac."
The two friends laughed together. For a few moments, at least. Twilight had to break it, though. "In all seriousness. Sunset, I do need to talk to you officially. As Princess. There's something I need you to do."
They stopped where the a small bridge took the path over a creek. Sunset sighed, leaning on the railing with her eyes cast out to the water. Her voice quivered as she spoke, tension tight as Octavia's bowstring. "Don't do it, Twilight. I've been expecting for a while you were going to order me back to Equestria, and I'm asking you. Please. As a friend. Don't." Her whole body shivered, waiting for the confrontation. "I know you need all the help you can get right now since you're taking over the throne soon, but--"
Twilight hugged her friend from behind. "I'm not, Sunset. I wouldn't. I do need a lot of help, but I could never ask you to give up your life like that. Never."
The displaced unicorn released a ragged breath. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet." Twilight gave Sunset another squeeze before pulling away. "The pegasus filly in the story I told you - Cozy Glow. She's... troubled. We all tried to help her, but none of us could get through to her. And she's done such terrible things. But she's still just a filly. I can't bear to leave her imprisoned forever, but I don't know how to help her. All of us have tried, but... " Twilight braced herself for what she feared - a no. "I need you, Sunset. She needs you."
Turning around, Sunset locked eyes with the Princess. "Why me? Why bring a foal to this place and put her in a teenager's care?"
Twilight breathed easier. That response, she'd prepared for. "She's a child who, despite a brilliant mind, decided to turn to evil and used social pressure, blackmail and manipulation to take over a school before stealing magical artifacts of power and was then defeated by a group of six disparate people with the power of friendship."
There was a pause. Sunset frowned. "I feel very attacked right now."
"Is... that a good thing or a bad thing?" Twilight had a pen in hand immediately to record this newest bit of human slang.
Reaching over, Sunset gently took the pen away again. "I mean that I'll do it, Twilight. She deserves a chance, just like I did. And if you think I'm the one that can do it? I'll do my best."
"Then we can't lose." The Princess embraced her friend again. "Thank you, Sunset. I know you can help her. I'm sure of it."
Sunset gently punched Twilight's shoulder. "Worst case, we hit her with the good ol' friendship laser, right? That's always worked before."
Twilight's eyes narrowed.
And Sunset immediately threw her hands up in surrender. "Joking! Joking! No laser-blasting children. Promise."
Sunset paced. She'd chosen to meet them at the statue alone - the entire crowd of Rainbooms would be overwhelming. It was good odds that Cozy didn't even know the mirror portal existed before this, and she would need time to adjust.
The stone plinth rippled in that familiar way, pulling her attention over. The first pony - person - out staggered immediately and landed in a heap. The young salmon-pink girl with baby-blue ringlets struggled to her hands and knees - she stayed there for the moment, shivering at the wave of new sensations. A moment later the portal released a much more familiar person: Luna. The Princess rather than the Vice Principal emerged in a brief halo of magenta magic and blue smoke - she merely stumbled briefly upon being suddenly bipedal. (Sunset silently added why Luna was so comfortable on two legs to the list of questions she really had to ask the Princesses some day.)
Luna simply stood as guardian over the meeting, arms crossed and waiting to ensure no further trouble. She loomed, just as she had when she'd escorted Cozy Glow to Tartarus months before.
Cozy, on the other hand, was nowhere near as placid. She grunted with effort, flexing her back upwards. Then again. And again. Her head whipped around to look at herself. "I can't fly. Why can't I fly?!" The first wave of panic was setting in.
Sunset knew that part of the process well. She'd had a similar reaction about the loss of her magic in the first few minutes. In about thirty seconds, she'd be freaking out about--
"What happened to my hooves?!"
--Huh, she was processing faster than normal. Sunset made a mental note of that.
Crouching down beside Cozy Glow, Sunset put on her best smile. "Hi there." Fearful eyes looked up to her. "You must be Cozy Glow. My name's Sunset Shimmer."
Those pale pink eyes darted around wildly, grabbing every bit of information they could from the environment. Thoughts visibly fired in the child's head as she connected the dots and grasped what was around her. "Are... are you my new jailor?"
"No." Sunset shook her head. "I'm someone who was a lot like you once." She held out her hand to help Cozy up. "And hopefully, I'm going to be your friend."
Another flash of calculation behind those eyes, and Cozy slapped on her widest smile. "Golly gee, Sunset! That sounds just swell!"
Sunset pulled her hand back. "Yeah, not buying it. Twilight told me everything already so you're going to have to do better than that." Cozy's face fell into an angry snarl.
Beside the girl, Princess Luna smirked. "I take it you have this in hoof, Sunset Shimmer?" She waited for the small nod. "Then I wish you luck with your new charge." Sunset bowed to the Princess - and then Luna was gone back through the portal.
By this point Cozy had managed to sit up on her knees and was staring at her hands again. Another common reaction. Once more, Sunset held hers out to help the girl up. "Welcome to your first day of being a human. We're bipedal, like a minotaur, so it's more comfortable if you stand up straight." This time, Cozy took the hand and rose to unsteady feet. "I'll give you the full course on your new body's basics later. The big things are that you walk on two feet now, those weird things on the end of your cannons that you're going to be using a lot are called hands and there's no magic in this world."
The last one made Cozy freeze. There was more panic in her expression than Sunset had expected from a pegasus. "No magic?"
"No magic," Sunset confirmed. "As best I can tell, there's no magic native to this world at all." It was a lie by omission, but given the stories? Sunset didn't want to tip her hand just yet.
Cozy nodded slowly, still visibly trying to wrap her head around the lack of magic. And, if she was anything like Sunset had been told, Cozy was already trying to formulate her first moves to grab for power. After all, it was about at this point Sunset had done the same several years before.
"The first thing on our list, though, is that we need to go see Celestia."
That made Cozy freeze with fear. "Princess Celestia's here?"
Sunset shook her head. "Principal Celestia. The head of this school. This world is an alternate dimension to what you're used to - there's going to be a lot of people who are similar to the ponies you know. But there's going to be differences, and they won't know who you are yet. Consider it a fresh start." She tried to sound hopeful, but Sunset knew the gnawing concern in her gut was there for a reason.
Those words sank in. Sunset turned to guide Cozy into the school - and a slow, dark smile came to Cozy's lips.