//------------------------------// // Wednesday // Story: Sunset Shimmer is Not Supposed to Save Equestria // by jqnexx //------------------------------// Between semesters, the School of Magic had a great many idle facilities. It wasn’t terribly surprising to find that workspaces could be rented in that period of time. Sunset was able to combine the “active duty” and “alumni” discounts to make the rent entirely affordable, so she’d set herself up in one of the isolated workshops along the city edge. Jokes among the students that they were designed to be pushed over the mountainside in the event of magical catastrophe were mostly untrue. Stellar Flux trotted in through the inner door to find an immense fiery arch had materialized out of the floor, emitting a smell of brimstone and holding a smoky abyss inside it. “Uh, Sunset?” A quick scan of the area located neither Sunset nor anything that indicated that she’d be looking for a past-tense Sunset. Then a clawed hand emerged from the archway. Stellar backed hurriedly away from it as a tall, lanky creature emerged. It had two arms, two legs, and two wings. The legs seemed hairless and reddish, as did the arms. The wings were red on one side, black on the other, and tattered along the edges. It had a fiery mane and tail that seemed somehow familiar, but fear was making it hard for Stellar’s brain to work. “Heya Stellar.” The monstrous figure waved amicably and greeted her in a familiar voice. “Sunset, what the actual hell? Did you turn yourself into a demon?!?” Stellar moved forward slightly, primal fear overcome by confusion and a new, more intellectual fear. “Yeah.” The figure rolled its black-scleraed eyes. “Apparently this is just how I look when I turn into a demon, even over here.” “You’ve turned into a demon before? And you’re not in some containment facility somewhere?” “Oh, right. I have a license for this you know.” “But demonology licenses requires approval by parliament – oh. Oh! That’s what that was for.” Stellar let out a deep sigh as she finally understood the situation. “Uh, why are you a demon at all?” “Well.” Sunset was enveloped in a cyan flame, which turned red and faded, leaving her as a pony again. “Mostly to fit in: I did go to an actual hell, you were right. Although they prefer to call it a ‘netherworld’ instead.” Stellar shook her head. “So what, you tried to make some deal to summon something to fight the Ice Skate in your place? I thought you weren’t doing demon summoning.” “It’s not for fighting, per se. I’m looking for a highly expendable labor force to handle some dangerous stuff.” “Expendable labor force? Are we going to have to have a talk about this?” Stellar glared at Sunset. “Please. These are mortal souls in demon form, destined to purify their sins through labor and suffering.” Stellar rolled her eyes. “Really? Or is that just what the aristos want you to think?” Sunset rolled her eyes back. “Eh, I did think of that. I interviewed a few of my potential labor force, away from any of their masters, individually.” “And?” Sunset shook her head. “It turns out they’re mostly compulsive liars. The ones that aren’t do seem to believe what I was told.” “Well that’s… interesting? I guess. But…” Stellar suddenly started, tottering forward. “Did you just discover the secrets of life after death?” Sunset shook her head again. “No, it’s actually the human world’s afterlife.” “How exactly did you discover that?” Stellar gasped. “I thought the magical energy on that side was way too low for any kind of portal expedition out.” That got a laugh out of Sunset. “Well yeah, not before somebody punched an XK-class hole in the fabric of space.” “Oh, right. Still kind of troubling.” “Anyway suffice it to say that it involved Applejack, human Twilight, and cider and leave it at that.” Stellar trotted over, taking a glance at a table Sunset was looking at. “Is that a diagram of a liquid storage tank?” “Yeah.” Sunset ambled up to the table. “I had the Prognostication Department pin down the exact area where the Ice Skate will emerge, and while I can’t block its emergence with a solid object, I can put a liquid there to mess with it a bit.” “What liquid are we talking about? I don’t recognize that formula, but that’s a worrying amount of fluorine.” “Oh boy.” Sunset chuckled to herself a little. “At one point I decided to see if I could actually set fire on fire – little inside joke – and this is basically as close as you can come to it. Chlorine trifluoride: it’s hypergolic with pretty much everything, even things like sand or asbestos.” “Please tell me we’re not using asbestos anywhere.” Stellar glanced around the room. “I do NOT want to spend a week picking it out of my lung tissues.” “Nah, it’s just an example. The point is that I’m hoping something that can burn anything will burn the Ice Skate up. I probably won’t be that lucky so I’m still proceeding with all other plans, but it’s nice to have another potion in my inventory.” Stellar considered the plans further. “Where’d you get the materials for this, anyway? I thought you were totally strapped for budget.” “Oh, that’s the best part.” Sunset reared, spreading her forelegs in a sweeping gesture. “They had plenty of chlorine and fluorine lying around for whatever demon purposes, as well as scrap metal, so I requisitioned sardines from the commissary to trade for them.” “Real fans of sardines, huh?” Stellar blinked, not sure what to make of that. “Yeah, their boss, the Penguinist Instructor or w/e thinks they’re the perfect food.” “Penguinist?” Stellar cocked her head quizzically. “Eh.” Sunset shrugged. “The actual name doesn’t translate, but they’re blue penguin-looking things.” Stellar decided to change the subject. “You’re not going to need me to supervise this while your friendship thing goes off, are you?” Sunset swept a hoof down and across. “No way. Planning Officer Stiff Shirt may be too weak to be a Magus Corps field officer but he’s got plenty of authorization to supervise military construction. I even asked him in advance if it was ok.” Stellar whistled. “Wow, you really are different. Here’s hoping that Charge Carrier can see it.” Charge Carrier had been the only one of Sunset’s “rivals” to agree with her that she was in fact Sunset’s rival. The Carrier family was one of the few noble pegasus families that lived in Canterlot, and had invested their wealth into commerce and industry. As the daughter of the family, Charge lived in luxury and was provided whatever she wanted, encouraging her to grow up arrogant and spoiled. She chose to attend the School of Magic as it was the most prestigious school she could attend from her own home. Sunset hated her. Well, Sunset hated a few ponies. But Charge Carrier was a special target of her ire due to being willing to dish it out too. Constant barbed remarks, a simmering prank war, and intense passive aggression were the hallmarks of their proximity. Other students were careful to avoid ever standing directly between the two. A few attempts had been made to get them to get along, including Celestia assigning them a group project together. They’d split the work into two perfectly even halves, then joined them up seamlessly at the end. They’d done a presentation set to a pop song that was popular at the time, and managed to not look at each other too much during it. After some time, Sunset came up with a master plan to defeat her persistent nemesis. The key would be a set of ancient workings from the earliest days of Equestria, where an attempt at unification of the magical traditions of the pegasai and unicorns was made. Its only lasting result was a set of elemental magics that could be used by either. The next step was to goad Charge Carrier into a magic duel with them. What experiments had taught her and Charge wouldn’t learn from reading up on them was that these magics could energize the local air if done correctly, making subsequent castings substantially more energetic than initial ones. When the day came for the magic duel, Sunset made sure she went first and went big fast, creating dazzling lightning wheels and balls. Charge tried to match her, but the extra energy made her attempt go entirely out of control. Sunset “tried” “bravely” to “contain” the rogue elemental that formed, but was zapped and blasted through a door. After the elemental had been dispersed by the guard, the final piece of Sunset’s plan locked into place. She pressed charges against Charge Carrier under the Rampage Act 646, as the summoner of the elemental she was subject to strict liability under certain circumstances, circumstances Sunset had been sure applied. Charge Carrier’s influential family had of course hired as many lawyers as they could fit in the courtroom, but she was suspended from the School of Magic pending the outcome of the trial, which was Sunset’s primary objective. Recent conversations indicated how she’d finally managed to escape the legal consequences: her mother, Duchess Spear Carrier had simply asked for a pardon in return for supporting a controversial request of Celestia’s in parliament. Ironically, it was Sunset’s request for a demonology license. In theory, inadvertently saving her rival should work in her favor, but Sunset doubted it would be a good idea to bring it up, since she’d saved Charge from her own scheme. Sunset took a deep breath. In front of her stood the Canterlot mansion of the Carrier family, tall and proud. In addition to the main building, several cloud outbuildings hovered over the grounds, connected by bridges. Sunset supposed the aesthetic was meant to symbolize their significance as a pegasus noble family in Canterlot. She shook herself and trotted up to the gatehouse in the fence. “Hi. I’m here to see Lady Charge Carrier, my name is Sunset Shimmer.” “Hrmm.” The stallion sitting inside looked over a list. “I don’t see you on the list, but Lady Charge Carrier may be free to see you. I shall check.” Sunset was surprised as the stallion began speaking into a microphone. She’d known that some electronics existed in Equestria, but it was always surprising to her to see them. This one looked like a microphone that’d be a “mere” thirty years out of date back in the human world. After a moment the gate guard looked up at her again. “She’ll see you. Please proceed in.” There was a click from the gate as what Sunset realized was an electromagnet disengaged. Huh. Being friends with her might be useful into the future, she’s got a big interest in electronics, just like me. She trotted up the path to the manor. Having a big common interest like this might make things easier on me. “We meet again.” Lady Charge Carrier was a little taller than Sunset remembered her. She’d always been a tall pony, like many of the nobility, and her coat looked even more metallic than before, her fur a brushed silvery sheen and her mane and tail coppery. Her wings were immaculately preened, and she wore a small silver necklace. “It’s been awhile.” Sunset nodded to her old ex-nemesis. The manor’s atrium was decorated with a mix of Canterlot and Ancient Pegasopolis styles, wood and compressed cloud sitting uncomfortably close. I wonder how that works. Maybe they have to replace it every so often? “I’ve read the Journal of Xenocultural Studies articles you published.” Charge Carrier stared down at Sunset imperiously. “So I know where you’ve been. I have you at something of a disadvantage, since you do not know what I have been doing in the interim.” “Uh, yeah.” Sunset trotted forward a little uncertainly. “I’ve been working in the family business. I’ve always had a great fondness for electricity, and I’ve been able to apply it to many uses.” She trotted over to a door, then tapped a button on the wall with her hoof to open it. “Come along, Sunset.” Inside there was something Sunset recognized from old movies, an arcade cabinet. Instead of a tv screen as she had expected, it used cardboard cutouts that were moved about on little arms to create the game’s visuals. She wondered if humans had created such things before the advent of computer graphics. “That’s pretty neat, but…” “Come along. I have more to show you. Ah, this one was my work.” Sunset followed after Charge as she demonstrated electric devices, many of which were things Sunset suspected had been invented by humans around the time they started to electrify their countries. The devices were mostly things that Sunset didn’t think much of, such as a primitive vacuum cleaner, but what stood out to her was that Charge didn’t seem to want her to talk much, not letting her get a word in edgewise. After a few more exhibits, they reached the gallery’s end. “Thank you for your patience, Sunset. I so love showing what I’ve been able to accomplish.” She smirked. “Are you familiar with the expression, ‘the best revenge is living well’?” Sunset felt a chill inside her. This was about to go bad. “I am, but I prefer to follow the Kirin sayings about revenge.” Charge Carrier’s grin turned predatory. “I have no need for an extra grave, I assure you. I have no need for you, either. Now that I have shown you how I am doing, please leave. I do not wish you in my life any further.” Two ponies wearing security uniforms appeared from a door and flanked Sunset. “Please show her out.” Sunset stood outside the estate’s fence, staring into space. Charge Carrier’s revenge was brilliant, allowing her to take advantage of Sunset’s desire to redeem herself to maximum effect. It was something she wasn’t sure how she could fight; she’d prepared to be hated and scorn, but cold indifference to her efforts wasn’t a thing she’d prepared to deal with. She shook her head. Now was not the time to give up. Charge Carrier stood at her desk, pen in mouth, as she wrote out her instructions for the next round of prototype tests. She knew academics, having been to the School of Magic and all, and they needed careful direction or they’d veer off into wild areas. She had to keep just the right amount of stiffness in directing her staff. Her hoof was tapping. Her ears flicked as she realized there was a song in the air. Not a heartsong, since she didn’t know the words to it, but it seemed somehow familiar. It was coming from outside. She threw open the window with her forehooves and stared down. Sunset Shimmer was standing with her back hooves on the stone fence, holding up one of her company’s portable record players in her forehooves. Exactly why she was doing that rather than hold it in her magic, Charge wasn’t sure. “Sunset Shimmer! What is the meaning of this?” “It’s our song!” retorted the unicorn. “That one time they made us do a group project together, this was the song we used.” Charge shook her head, trying to form any kind of coherent thought. “Why are you blaring it outside my window?” “Because I need to get through to you!” “Sunset, no.” Charge closed her eyes and rubbed her muzzle. “Begone.” Sunset blinked at her, determination fading. “You’re going to call security on me and have me tossed out?” Charge shifted into a confident smirk. “Not exactly. I guess there’s one gap in my lineup of products I failed to demonstrate earlier. Have a sample of the securicloud!” A crackle emitted from between Charge Carrier’s upraised wings, and in response two patches of cloud detached from the nearby structures. Sunset could see copper wires embedded in them, which she realized must contain the enchantments allowing them to maneuver on their own. A second later she realized that they were maneuvering aggressively towards her. Sunset leaned left to dodge a jolt of miniature lightning from the first cloud, but the second one nailed the record player, causing Sunset to fling the ruined device away and drop to all fours. Then the first cloud started raining on her, temperature set to barely above freezing, and Sunset beat a hasty retreat. The clouds chased her to the edge of the property line, then circled menacingly until she was out of sight. Charge Carrier’s electrum-plated carriage came around the driveway and up to the mansion’s door precisely on schedule. She jumped up into the open door and settled in, mouthing a grip of documents out of her saddlebag. “Conic Section, today–” She looked up at a pony that was definitely not Conic Section at all. “What are you doing here, Sunset?” The venom in her voice was considerable, and the last word was pronounced with a hiss. Altogether it gave the impression of a dangerous snake. Sunset brushed off the negative atmosphere with a wave of her hoof. “I’m here to deliver Conic Section’s resignation for him.” “Re-resignation! What in Equestria?” Charge lost all her composure, mouth flapping and wings twitching. A few of her feathers bent askew. Sunset shook her head. “He’d never really been very happy with his career, so I happened to discuss options with him.” Her grin shone like the full moon. “It turns out his family was part of the Magus Corps for centuries. I convinced him to help restart that tradition.” “What have you done?” Charge shook with barely contained fury, crouched as if she might leap across the interior of the carriage and tackle Sunset. “I’m helping a stallion live his best life.” Sunset’s grin didn’t falter. She shook her head. “He’s going down to the recruiting station and signing up for the job that will make his ancestors proud.” Charge sputtered and almost snarled at her former tormentor, now back to haunt her. “He’s ruining his life!” Sunset shook her head, and calmly stared into Charge’s eyes, grin replaced by a determined smile. “No. He’s barely spent any of his pay, not having time or energy for any hobbies. And besides, we discussed a plan to lobby the incoming administration for increased funding for the Magus Corps. I happen to know for a fact that he grew up on the Horn Flash novels.” This revelation caused Charge to flinch back, no longer posturing to fight Sunset and instead cowering away from her. Sunset had come prepared for this somehow. “How?” Sunset sat up a little straighter and stretched her forelegs. “Well, it’s not about me.” She shook her head. “I’d always been good at getting into ponies’ heads. That’s what happened to you after all.” Charge glared at her. “Yes, I am aware of your attempt to ruin my life.” Sunset looked up again. “It would’ve stuck perfectly on anypony less powerful. What I did was crazy and awful. Incidentally, I've got a petition working its way around to request the strict liability provision of the Rampage Act be removed.” “How magnanimous of you.” Charge rolled her eyes. “Well, I might as well close that loophole.” Sunset nodded, sizing up Charge’s posture. The pegasus was still vacillating between wariness and anger. “I was looking for an opportunity to meet with you again when I came across him and we got to chatting, shaking hooves, that sort of thing. I was able to help him and get something I wanted.” “Another shot to make me care about you.” Charge huffed. Sunset decided to divert the subject a bit. “Do you know how I knew about the Magus Corps to make suggestions and give advice to Conic Section?” Charge’s muzzle elevated slightly. “No doubt you had done considerable research on my associates, as was your modus operandi.” “No.” Sunset shook her head again. “I’m in the Magus Corps now, serving the nation and all.” “How selfless of you,” Charge sniffed, “I am certain you are doing this as some sort of scheme.” The last word was delivered with a particular distaste. “No again.” Sunset didn’t bother to shake her head this time, instead chuckling a little. “I was drafted, actually.” “Drafted? Really? There hasn’t been a draft in decades. Maybe a century now.” Sunset levitated out a rumpled letter from one of her saddlebags. The seal on it was broken, but was folded up with enough care that the seal’s imagery was still discernible. Charge looked over it, then pressed a band around her left forehoof to the seal. It sparked slightly. Sunset had heard of magical signature-checking items, but had never seen one before. Then again, she’d spent most of her life around unicorns. Charge looked back up at Sunset. “This is… real. You’re not lying.” Sunset smiled for a moment before Charge continued. “Not that I have any confidence this is not still some trick of yours.” Sunset looked at Charge’s forelegs. The pegasus’s posture had relaxed slightly. Having concrete information to work with was helping, and Charge’s adrenaline had faded somewhat. They might actually be able to talk it out now. “It’s not a scheme. Twilight told the Magus Corps to ‘handle’ an upcoming emergency, and I’m drafted until it’s done. Even if I wasn’t living in Equestria at the time.” “So, how do I come into this?” Charge leaned in a bit, curiosity overcoming her earlier feelings. “Princess Twilight goes on about how friendship is magic and all.” Sunset’s head drooped slightly. “I want to set as many things right as I can before I have to face this.” “Well.” Charge Carrier drew herself up to her full height and her posture stiffened in a way a drill sergeant would grudgingly respect. Sunset blanched slightly, unsure if she’d made some sort of mistake. “House Carrier has always served Equestria, and always taken our charge as nobleponies seriously. If that is what the defense of our nation requires, I will make an effort to get along with you.” Sunset breathed a sigh of relief. This wasn’t the reaction she’d quite been expecting, but she could work with it. She leaned forward. “I feel like we have a few interests in common. Now, Conic Section was supposed to discuss the construction of parabolic microphones. I happen to know a few things about those, so I’ll try and fill in…” “I suppose I should not be too surprised that you knew a lot about the potential for their use as spy devices.” Charge Carrier trotted back into the manner. Her discussion with the research group had gone well, since Sunset had been able to fill in on discussion of the applications and gave a brief mathematical overview of the design. They’d taken a slight detour on the way back to pick up a package from the post office; Sunset had arranged for something to be delivered from Ponyville’s castle, which she said was a “surprise” for Charge Carrier. Currently it was levitating along with them, wrapped in Sunset’s red aura. “Well, I hate to point out how I was in the bad old days, but I acquired a variety of skills that I still find uses for.” Sunset shook her head and smirked. “Admittedly my mastery of old-style photo manipulation wasn’t quite as good as I’d thought.” Charge cracked a hint of a smile. “I sense a story there.” The door into the manner opened and she trotted through while motioning Sunset in with her wing. Sunset nodded, following along with the package. “Yeah, it was when I stole Twilight’s crown and was trying to recover it on the other side. I wanted to frame her for something, but I got sloppy and left the originals where somebody, err, somecreature could retrieve them from the trash.” She looked around at the entry foyer. “I’m assuming you have a projector somewhere, right?” “You know, thanks to the multiplexes and the lack of a local HiMax screen, this might be the second largest movie theater I’ve been in in quite a while.” The mansion’s screening room was slightly larger than the tiny multiplex theaters Sunset had been to in her hometown, but with far fewer seats and far more decoration. The walls had subtle motifs worked into them to remind anyone looking at them of the industrial and technological accomplishments that paid for its construction. “Second largest?” Charge Carrier smirked from her cushion next to Sunset. “Well, the studio gave us invites to the premier of the Daring Do movie that we cameoed in after saving the production.” Sunset gazed down wistfully. “That was a good time.” She looked up at the screen, as the lights dimmed in the theater. “Ok, here we go.” On the screen, a group of bulky humans in armor stood in a group, holding what Sunset knew and Charge suspected to be weapons. “Is this a film, Sunset?” Sunset’s grin gleamed in the dark. “Not exactly. Three, two, one…” Suddenly, a box popped up overlaid upon the scene. Text characters appeared within it: “/debug wireframe=on” and then it happened. All the color disappeared, showing a collection of lines that made up the contours of each of the men and their gear. “What the…” Charge’s mouth dropped open. “What is this?” “This is the product of human technology, my dear Charge Carrier. Sets of electronic circuitry are drawing all of this in real time. Those lines show the edge of the polygons the mathematical models work with to draw everything.” Wireframe mode was then disabled, and the camera rotated around one of them men and zoomed into the back of his head. The perspective shifted to first-person, showing the man’s gun at the bottom of the screen. He ran forward and began shooting at skeletons crawling out of the vents. “This is for colts, isn’t it?” Although slightly distasteful, Charge’s grin indicated an appreciation for the technology involved. “Hey,” Sunset huffed, “I’m a fan of this too.” “My apologies.” “Ok. But seriously, I had to record this, then have it transferred to film by some retro enthusiasts since the portal messes with any kind of electronics. It’s a good thing that there’s a human film format identical to our 35 mili-ponylength one so I could get this to run on a projector here.” Sunset gestured a hoof at the screen. “I’ve got to be the only person to ever put a Let’s Play on actual film.” “I… think I understand. But in any case, this is fascinating. How could you possibly have enough vacuum tubes to do something like this?” Charge waved her hoof at the screen. “Oh boy.” Sunset’s grin had grown to its greatest size yet. “Well. I must say, that is quite something.” The discussion had moved from the theater to the dining room, given the time. Sunset had given her hostess a general overview of the evolution of human electronics. “I’m not sure if we’ll ever get things to quite the same level here. For all I know the higher ambient magic levels will preclude miniaturized integrated circuits beyond a certain point.” Sunset levitated her wine glass back onto the table. It was nice to be of legal drinking age somewhere. “In any case, you also mentioned that dreadful monster, the Ice Skate.” At a tap of Charge’s hoof on the table, a mechanical arm lifted a napkin for her to blot on her mouth. After a moment, it retracted into the table again. “We are still entitled to a small force of house guards, even after the EUP Act reorganized Equestria’s forces. I can bring them to the fight.” Sunset shook her head. “The Ice Skate is powerful. I wouldn’t want to try to take it on with an army of normal ponies.” “No, nothing like that. We do not train for monster-busting.” Charge’s smile was electric. Literally, Sunset could see a tiny spark on her teeth. “But I’ve been developing something ever since the airship attack on Canterlot that the dreadful Storm King put us through. A practical demonstration would be quite useful for convincing the Princesses of its value. No, what I shall provide is artillery support.” “That could be useful.” Sunset levitated the wine glass back up and took a sip. “I’ll take all the help I can get.”