Sunset Shimmer was going to leave Equestria. In another timeline, she would slip through the mirror with nothing and come out the other side changed into a human, dumped in a strange world where human counterparts of Equestrians lived their lives, completely unaware of the realm of magic hidden on the other side of a statue in front of a high school. In this timeline, things went differently.
Alright, Starswirl’s notes said that after some incident with a trio of sirens, which I could find nothing about, the portal shifted to a new world, one with background magic but without civilization. Sunset reviewed her research mentally as she prepared to cross, a pair of saddlebags loaded with books, equipment, and supplies for living away from civilization on her back. His trip to the other side was only long enough to determine that the background magic levels were too high to safely imprison threats to Equestria, since they could use the power to potentially find their way back, and then he left it. There are no records of anypony else going through, which means that I’m going to be completely alone, finally unbothered by “friends” or anypony else who could hold me back! Sure, getting what I need to survive wasted most of the three days the portal was open, but not dying before I conquer this alien world is worth it.
With a flash of telekinesis, she distracted the pair of solar guards in front of the mirror, and with a shove they flew across the room. Teleporting from her hiding place to right in front of the mirror, she felt the unicorn guards restraint spell start to grab her as she jumped through. When she hit the ground, it wasn’t on the cold stone floors of the palace, but on rough dirt, and as she stood up she found everything seemingly much lighter, as if her and all her equipment suddenly weighed less than half as much but her muscles were just as strong. Looking around, she took in her surroundings. Directly in front of her was a small hill, and to her left a quiet river flowed slowly as it looped around the hill. Behind her was a second hill, forming a “valley” around the portal a hundred or so yards across, and to her right the ground opened up into a grassland with scattered clumps of trees for a few miles before slowly becoming a thick forest. However for some reason it was so dim, almost like there was thick clouds in front of the sun despite clear skies above her, that she couldn’t see very far either over the river or into the forest.
Alright, first objective, get the lay of the land from up that hill, maybe see if I can figure out why it’s so dim here, is this worlds sun just very weak or something? At least Celestia keeps the world lit properly during the day. I know Starswirl’s notes said there were no cities around here, but he was only here for less than a day to make sure the other end was locked down and wouldn’t shift again, this is probably just something like their version of the Everfree. She began walking up the hill, the uncomfortable weight of her bags much lighter on this world for some reason. It’s so strange how everything feels lighter here, it must be the natural magic of this world… oh sweet Celestia.
Stretching out before her was a sight that proved beyond anything else that she was no longer in Equestria. To her right, a river looped around the hill she was on and headed off towards the sun for around half a mile until it met a body of water her mind insisted was a lake of some sort, stretching somewhere around one and a half to two miles across. However, from the way the water stretched from horizon to horizon and the faint signs of a constant flow from right to left, she had the sinking suspicion that whatever was in front of her was actually the largest river she, or likely anypony, had ever seen. However, even that wasn’t as strange as what lay on the horizon. This world's sun just... hung in the sky, half above and half below the horizon, as if Celestia had one day just gotten bored halfway through raising the sun and left it hanging in the sky when she went for a nap. Whoever is in charge of the sun on this world Sunset thought as she began to hike down towards the large river is either in a load of trouble, or so lazy that somepony else should take over for them. Maybe somepony with a cutie mark of the sun… She smiled as the image of herself as an alicorn filled her mind.
With that image in her mind, Sunset walked happily down to the junction of the two rivers. At the water's edge, she telekinetically lifted her saddlebags, and the first downside of this new world became apparent. Hmmm… the thaumaturgical background energy levels in this world seem to be lower than Equestria, let me just… alright, testing… 27.2%?! With that level of background energy I’ll burn through my reserves insanely quickly doing any sort of major magic.
She pushed the thoughts out of her head as she pulled out her field telescope and scanned the river. After a few minutes, she reluctantly admitted that Starswirl might have been right about the lack of civilization in this world. Waterways are an easy way to transport goods in a pre-railroad society, and they make for decent sources of irrigation water for farming, but both banks of this river are clear of any sign of settlement as far as I can see, and there aren’t any boats or barges on the river. Also, the clouds are obviously unmanaged, no sign of any pegasi or griffons. I’ll need more time to be sure, but I might actually be the only Pony on this planet!
After that revelation, Sunset spent a few more minutes magically testing the plants in the area to ensure she could eat them, since her whole plan would fall apart if she starved waiting for the portal to reopen. Satisfied that the plants were, if not the tastiest food she had ever had, at least enough to keep her fed, she turned and climbed back up the hill overlooking the portal to set up camp. As Princess Celestia’s student, Sunset Shimmer had a lot of knowledge and experience many unicorns two or more times her age would never have, but living in Canterlot and focusing single-mindedly on her studies tended to leave her with certain gaps in practical knowledge. For example, how to properly set up a tent.
“Look, you stupid thing, just get in there and… GAH!” Sunset screamed in frustration. “Alright, one more time, the poles fit together like… that! Yes! Alright, and now I just slide this on and… Alright! Finally!” She stepped back and admired her “camp” which at this point consisted of a tent and firepit (dug according to the diagrams in a survival book) next to the obelisk that contained the portal back to Equestria. She’d considered camping on top of one of the hills to reduce drainage issues if it rained, but if there were ponies or some other intelligent creature in this world they would be able to see her from the river if she did that. Sure, if they were friendly it might delay their meeting, but if they were hostile being harder to see from the river could only be a good thing.
As she looked over the camp, she felt an uneasy sensation in her horn, similar to wearing an inhibitor ring. In a panic, she cast a spell to clear any physical or magical object off her horn, but even though the spell worked there was nothing for it to remove, so the energy just disappeared. In a panic she pulled out her thaumaturgic background level scanner, and her worst fears were confirmed. 7.1%?!?! HOW!? How is it dropping that quickly, this shouldn’t be possible, none of Starswirls notes mentioned this… but he was only here while the portal was open. She looked down at the obelisk, eyes wide in terror. No no no no no! She ran down the hill, falling and rolling most of the way in her panic. At the bottom, she pulled herself up and rushed towards the portal before slamming into it and falling backwards. Dazed and confused, she pulled herself back to her hooves and tried to collect her thoughts.
If the magic disappears… If all the magic disappears until the portal opens back to Equestria, I’m doomed. Without magic, I won’t be able to hold things in telekinesis or with my hooves, and I’ll have to rely on the few plants I’ve already tested as safe for all of my food, and I don’t even know if I can boil the water without magic so I might either die of dehydration or some sort of infection! She curled up against the edge of obelisk and began to shake. This was a mistake, this whole thing was a mistake, I could handle this world when magic was only a quarter or so of Equestria’s, but with no magic… Sunset Shimmer let out a sob as she pulled herself closer, feeling the magic slip away from her.
However, after a few minutes of crying, when she climbed back up to the camp and looked at the scanner again, she noticed that it was holding steady at a couple percent of Equestrian normal, and realization dawned. Running down to the river bank, she tested the levels again, and her theory was confirmed. While the portal to Equestria dumped massive amounts of energy into the environment for a short three day period every twenty moons, the great river that stretched from horizon to horizon was giving off a small trickle of power. It wasn’t much, and the fact that the rest of the planet was thaumaturgically dead was a bad sign, but it was power, and Sunset could work with limited power much better than she could work with no power.
Pulling herself to her hooves, she started to plan. Alright, I’ll need to ration my magic use, and some of the enchantments on my equipment won’t be able to draw power from the environment at levels this low, but if I can make some thaumaturgical batteries… but how to charge them…? Maybe a magic circle to pull in and concentrate background magic? She thought to herself as she walked back up the hill to her camp.
As she set up her camp, she took the crystals she’d purchased for enchantments and laid them out. Relying on half-remembered principles and esoteric crystal lore, she arranged eight of them in an intricate double circle, four in the inner circle at the top sides and bottom, and another four rotated 45 degrees and a few inches outwards, connected by channels carved in the hard dirt. It wasn’t pretty, and any rain would disrupt it, but it was functional. Placing a ruby in the center, she watched as the circle began to light up, the gems working with the spell to draw power from the air into the gem. Alright, I have a few more crystals I can use as batteries, that gives me a decent reserve if I need it for complex magic. Now I can get to work. Sunset thought as she pulled out her books, looking through the spell matrices for any way to cut down the magic required for each spell. She might have been working with a fraction of the magic she was used to, but one does not get to become the personal student of Princess Celestia by being bad at magic, and as the alien sun rested on the horizon her expedition truly began.