//------------------------------// // 10. Reflections // Story: The Student and The Princess // by ModMCdl //------------------------------// Sunset stared into the teal pools of her own eyes. They gazed back, revealing absolutely nothing about her current situation. She had hoped for and expected some vision or some glimpse of what to do, an idea of what was coming, just as this mirror had shown her before. But this time, no such apparition came. Instead, Sunset merely sat alone in the closet, staring into the magical mirror, wasting away the rest of her day. Things had changed dramatically since she had drank herself half to death. Cadence had been going out of her way to spend more time with her, and Celestia had even offered Sunset an apology for her harsh treatment. It was, quite frankly, embarrassing. Every pony was treating her like a fragile glass ornament, rather than a pony. They were afraid that the slightest provocation would set her off into another tirade, but they were wrong. Sunset was tired of fighting. She would never be a princess, Cadence had won that fair and square. So now she sat before the mirror, gazing into it and trying to unravel its elusive mysteries. It was one of the few things that she couldn't figure out, and trying to was a welcome distraction from the inner turmoil she was feeling inside her. But her thoughts drifted back to Cadence anyways. Sunset had to admit that the pink princess was very quickly growing on her. Every since their conversation, she had found herself cherishing the time she spent with her, and enjoying the company. It was a strange sensation as Sunset had never had a real friend before. And Cadence was definitely that - a friend. The idea made Sunset smile. She had a friend. A real, genuine friend. "I thought I might find you here." The voice startled her, and Sunset whipped her head around to watch Princess Celestia walk into the closet, closing the door behind her. She approached her student, a warm smile on her face. "Good morning, Princess," Sunset said quietly, avoiding her gaze and looking back at the mirror. She could see Celestia standing beside her, but no longer needed to look at her directly. It added a degree of separation that the unicorn felt she needed, but could not wholly address why. Celestia took a seat beside her, and also gazed into the mirror. "You know, there is something quite special about this mirror that I haven't yet told you about," she said cryptically. "It's actually quite an interesting thing, and I'm sure you'll have fun trying to dissect exactly how Starswirl was able to achieve it." The mystery piqued Sunset's interest, and she broke her gaze off from the mirror to look at Celestia in questioning. The alicorn smiled knowingly at the unicorn, and she smiled sheepishly as she realized she trotted right into Celestia's ploy. Sunset could not refuse a mystery, and that had been used against her. "What else can it do?" she asked, still intrigued by the premise anyways. "Take another look at it, and see if you can tell me," said Celestia, pointing at the surface with a hoof. Sunset looked back towards the mirror and attempted to figure out what Celestia was talking about. It's surface shimmered back at her, and she leaned in closer to get a better look. Visually, it still looked like an ordinary mirror. Not knowing what else she could do, she quickly cast a spell of arcane revel on the object. She had tried this before, and the results now were not much different. The mirror hummed with a steady magical aura, like most arcane machinations. With a sigh of defeat, Sunset looked back at Celestia and shook her head, indicating she could not figure it out. With a slight smile, Celestia suggested, "Why don't you try touching it?" Rolling her eyes and wondering what touching the mirror could possibly do, Sunset reached out a hoof and pushed it against the smooth surface. Her body expect to rest against the solid face, but to her surprise, the unicorn instead found herself nearly falling forward into it. Celestia's golden magic quickly caught her however, and gently pulled her back. Sunset looked at her hoof, and gasped in shock when it was not there. Her foreleg had sunk into the reflective surface of the mirror, her hoof having gone completely through. A steady, pulsating ripple rolled out around the perforation, and Sunset suddenly realized what she was looking at. "It's a portal," she breathed in awe. "Indeed it is." The unicorn slowly pulled her hoof back through, before poking the portal experimentally. She had heard rumors of magical portals before, they had apparently been widely used in the long-lost Crystal Empire. Yet she had never seen one before, and had assumed she never would. "Where does it go?" she asked as she poked her hoof through again. Celestia smiled at her student's curiosity. This was a far cry from Sunset's recent behavior, and far more akin to how the unicorn was when she had first taken her on as her pupil. "It leads to another world, one quite like our own," she explained. "But also quite different." Sunset looked up at her, drawing her attention away from the mirror for a moment. "Have you ever gone through?" "Once," Celestia said with a reminiscent smile. "Shortly after it's creation, I decided to venture through. Little did I know, however, that the gateway had a limited window. It only opens for three days, once every thirty moons. So, I got trapped on the other side." She chuckled as Sunset's eyes widened. "When I got back I had never seen the royal court so angry! It was chaos," she laughed. "Imagine if I just up and disappeared for two and half years now, the entire monarchy would probably fall apart." "Wow," Sunset commented. "What is that place like?" she asked, gazing back through the mirror. Celestia placed a hoof on her shoulder. "It is different, as I said. It is it's own, unique pocket. A society completely different to our own in customs, appearance, and even creatures. But there are far more parallels to Equestria than seems coincidental," she explained thoughtfully. "One day, maybe we can take a trip there together. The next time it opens." "Why not now?" With a smile, Celestia stood. "Unfortunately, it's a little bit late for that. Today is the last day that the portal will be open. It closes at midnight, we wouldn't have nearly enough time to enjoy the experience." The alicorn turned and headed back towards the door. "Now come on, Sunset. Let's start today's lesson." Sunset stood, her gaze at the mirror not wavering. An idea was forming in her mind, and she quickly began trying to sort out the logistics of it. Silently, she followed the princess out of the closet and to her study, all the while formulating the logistics of this new plan. There was nothing left for here in this world. The revelation came to her suddenly, but in retrospect it made perfect sense. Everything in this world had been taken from her. Not maliciously, she realized that now. But maybe it was simply her fate. Sunset would not amount to anything here, and she was finally coming to terms with that. The portal, however, changed things. Now, there was a whole new world presented to her. Sunset could go there and get a fresh start. She could start anew, with every opportunity available to her. It would be a new world and anything would be possible. "Are you alright, Sunset?" Celestia asked, as she realized the unicorn had stopped following her. "Yeah," replied Sunset, giving Celestia a genuine smile. "Yeah I'll be okay." The day's lesson flew by, with Sunset not actually paying much attention to the content. It was a review of astral manipulation techniques anyways, and since the topic was mostly theoretical there was nothing for her to actually do. After all, it wasn't like she of all ponies could move the sun. So she kept her mind busy with trying to figure out exactly how to enact her plan. She had a short time frame. Celestia said that the portal closed tonight, meaning she needed to gather everything and figure it out as the day progressed. The unicorn made a mental check list of what she would need, and as soon as her lesson was over, she would go about to get it done. "Well, I'm afraid we're going to have to end here today," Celestia said after Sunset had successfully calculated the exact amount of thaumaturgical aura she would need to adjust the stellar zenith. "I have something I need to attend to this evening. I will see you tomorrow." "Goodbye, Princess Celestia," said Sunset softly as the alicorn left the room. It struck her then, that if she went through with her plan this would be the last time in a long while that she would see Celestia. It was a solemn feeling, but if there was one thing the unicorn was good at, it was burying the feelings that she did not want to feel. Besides, it would only distract her in her preparations. In that case, it would probably also be best to avoid Cadence as well. She did not know how her friend would react to her plan, and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out. Her heart winced at the idea, however. Her friendship with Cadence was still very new, and she felt guilty that she was just leaving her. But, the unicorn's mind was made up and she did not want anypony trying to steer her away from it. This was the only solution, it had to be. There was nothing else she could accomplish here, and she craved the feeling of something novel. She would not find that here. Her goal solidified, Sunset left the room after Celestia and headed in the other direction. There was much to do, and with determination in her steps, she went to put her plan into motion. "Princess, Princess Cadence you must wake up!" The pink alicorn stirred, looking around in confusion before her eyes focused on Eventide's panicked ones. "Wha- what time is it?" The unicorn shook her head and pulled on her hoof. "Please, you must come quickly, I am afraid Sunset is going to make a big mistake!" At the mention of Sunset's name, Cadence quickly sat up and rubbed at her eyes. "What's going on?" she asked. "What do you mean? Is she okay?" The seneschal's frantic behavior was not helping her understand anything. "Please, calm down." "Quickly, Princess," Eventide said. "I saw her in the corridor near the library. She had heavy saddlebags full of her belongings." The unicorn nervously shifted in place. "I think she's running away." Cadence quickly threw back the covers and climbed out of her bed. "Where did you say she was?" she asked as she threw on her horseshoes and headed for the door. "Near the library! A guard had stopped her when I saw, but I do not know how long they'll be able to stall her!" Eventide called after her. The pink alicorn left her room and ran as fast as she could towards the other wing of the castle. She blew past the library, frantically searching for any sign of Sunset Shimmer. As she turned the corner, she found a startling scene. A royal guards-pony lay unconscious outside a half-open door, and Cadence quickly rushed over to it. She paused to make sure that the guard was okay, and then pushed the door open and stepped inside. "Sunset!" The fiery unicorn froze, and turned to look at Cadence. She was standing in front of a large mirror, saddlebags adorning her flanks and a dark cloak wrapped around her. Her teal eyes stared at Cadence, but she did not say anything. "Sunset," Cadence said again, softer this time. "What are you doing?" Sunset's feature's hardened, and she squeezed her eyes shut as she turned away from her only friend. "I have to do this, you don't understand," she replied sharply. "There is nothing left for me here." Tears began to pool in Cadence's eyes as she took a few steps towards the unicorn. "W-what do you mean? Where are you going?" "You wouldn't understand," Sunset said again, looking back up at her. "This is the only option left for me. I will amount to nothing here, but there's a chance I could be something through there." She gestured to the mirror with a hoof, only confusing the pink alicorn more. When she just stood there in silence, Sunset gave her a small, sad smile. "Goodbye, Cadence." With that final word of parting, Sunset stepped forward, and Cadence watched in shock as she melted into the mirror and vanished. "SUNSET!" she screamed after her as the unicorn disappeared in front of her. Cadence's mind was reeling as she rushed over to where Sunset once was. Tentatively, she stuck her hoof and out and observed as it slipped through the mirror's reflective surface with ease. Not knowing what else to do, and terrified for her friend, she did the only thing she could think of to do. Cadence stepped through the mirror, and let the violent swirl of color take her wherever it intended. Wherever it was Sunset had gone, Cadence was determined to follow.