Chapter 77:
(Band room)
“YOU DID WHAT!!!!?” Rarity’s roar could perhaps be heard for miles echoing across the school shaking it to its very foundation. Students and animals alike jumped at the shout, some scurrying back into their holes in fear. The fashionista huffed and puffed like a wolf ready to pounce on a poor defenseless animal.
Fluttershy, unfortunately, was on the receiving end of her outburst who huddled behind a fortress made of desks and chairs that formed her wall. A tiny slit in-between the furniture showed half of her face looking very distraught. “I might’ve… maybe… possibly… spread a rumor about me… dating Flash Sentry.”
Rarity grabbed onto the frame of her window, eyes bulging, teeth seething together like saws. “And you thought that was a good idea!?”
She squeaked. “Y… yes?”
Rarity palmed her face heavily. A thousand curses passed through her lips, and a thousand more would’ve gone through had she not restrained herself.
“Ok… ok. Calm yourself Rarity. You’re stressing yourself – and stress leads to wrinkles and pimples. Stress is the enemy and you will not let it get to you.” She breathed in and out, trying her best to calm her nerves. “No. You know what? No! To heck with it! I am stressed right now, and I need a way to vent!”
“Eeep!”
“Fluttershy. Darling. I know that this whole thing was supposed to be to get Feather Bangs off your back. But this really NOT the way it should’ve been handled. Do you have understand what I’m trying to say here?”
“That you’re proud of me that I took initiative on a problem and handled it by myself?”
Rarity’s frown wavered for a second. “Well… yes. You did. I am proud of you for that. But… NO!” She screamed that last bit off which prompted the girl in the fortress to grab a hockey helmet and stick from the box of props. “This isn’t just a disaster. It’s a downright mess of a makeup! Out of all the people to get yourself tangled with. Why!? Why him!?”
“Because he was the closest one I could find?” She reasoned poorly which only made the fashionista’s eye twitch. “And he didn’t seem to mind.”
“It sounds more like you didn’t tell him at all.”
“Well… that’s true…”
“And you decided to go with it anyway!?”
“It sounded like a good idea at the time!” She squeaked. “And Zephyr told me that if I did date him, others would stop asking me out.”
That was a miscalculated plan if there ever was one. Though Rarity had to admit that it had some credence. Flash Sentry wasn’t just a small fish in the lake he was practically the King of the Pond around here. If you combine his looks, personality, mannerism, athleticism, talent for music, and his new found wealth, the guy was practically the golden goose of the school. Any girl who manages to hook herself onto that guy would be set for life.
Zephyr wasn’t wrong though. If students found out that Fluttershy was ‘dating’ him, not even the jocks would dare come close to her. Even Fido and his gang would have second thoughts. She’d be untouchable. Heck she would technically be Royalty. It might sound like an exaggeration but it was true. Teens these days cared much for reputation. Folks would bow at her presence or cower like they did with Sunset. Even Feather Bangs wouldn’t be dumb enough to try and seduce her. There wouldn’t be enough poetry or love letters in the world that could compete with a boy like Flash.
Honestly, even Rarity was beginning to see the appeal. Yeah… Flash was on a whole’nother level.
But the bigger question that was plaguing her mind right now was WHY?
No… wait. She knew why Fluttershy was doing this. She wanted to know ‘WHY HIM!?’
This is the fourth time. The fourth time she had to do something eerily similar.
First Pinkie and Applejack. Now Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy!? Granted, the latter two are pretty much just using the guy for a scheme to fool others. But still! This cannot be a mere coincidence. Either this was just a string of strange events, or destiny was throwing a curve ball here. Not to mention there was Sunset Shimmer to put in the equation.
Ugh… this was starting to become a dumpster fire, and the stink was starting to affect the place.
“Ok Rarity. Calm down.” She said to herself after a brief silence. “This is just a problem. You’ve sewn back together Ms. Hemline’s Winter Collection in two hours flat, you can fix this one as well. First thing’s first. We need damage control.” Fluttershy gave a confused look from her fort. “Fluttershy, you’re breaking up with Flash immediately.”
“WHAT!?”
“Don’t ‘WHAT’ me. You brought this upon yourself, therefore you will be rectifying it before it goes out of hand.” Rarity has had it up to her neck with this nonsense. There was no more gentle touch. She was ripping off the band aid and scream the pain off later. “We have to put every back into perspective before the whole school turns this rumor into a monster!”
“Can’t we just… leave it alone? Maybe it’ll just go away like all the other rumors.”
“Not this kind of rumor. This is the kind of thing that sticks in people’s minds. What do you think would happen if everyone else hears about it? What do you think Sunset would say if she heard about this whole fiasco?”
Fluttershy visibly gasped. “Oh no. I haven’t thought of that.”
“Of course you didn’t. Now see here. You will break up with Flash and you’ll do it quickly and painlessly. It has to be public. In a place with lots of people. The more eyes to witness it the better.” She’ll also have to request Flash to put on a show as well. Hopefully it won’t have any repercussion later on.
“Oh no. I don’t think that’s possible. I’m uh… I’m not good in public.” She sank deeper into her fort. “I think I’ll just stay back here and wait for the whole thing to blow over. That sounds like the safer option.”
“Oh no you don’t, Missy! You’re not getting out of this one.” Rarity reached out for the girl’s fort, rattling it. “You made this mess and I’ll be cursed before I clean it up. I’m already handling three other scenarios. I am not doing a forth! Now come out of there!”
“Umm… no.”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO!?” The girl’s patience was nearing its end. She hammered her fists on the fort, trying to get her friend to come out. “Fluttershy. Get out of that outrageous contraption immediately. You look ridiculous.”
“No!” She responded, quickly covering the last hole in her fort, slamming it shut.
“D… did you just… did you just slam the door on me!? Why I ought to…” The fashionista began banging again. “You come out of there right now, young lady! You can’t possibly stay in there forever. Even a girl like you will have to come out.”
“Just watch me!” She challenged back, voice raised. “I’ve stayed cooped up under my bed for a whole week living on peanuts and tannin tea. I’ll stay in here until this whole thing goes away!”
Alright. That’s it. No more Ms. Nice Lady. She tried to be nice. She tried to be reasonable. But if the girl wasn’t willing to cooperate, then it was time for Plan B. “You are not locking yourself in your safe space! You will rectify this problem now, even if I have to drag you out of there myself! You know full well that I have the power to rip this fort of yours to pieces.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
Oh I dare. I dare it when one of my friends becomes stubborn as a mule.
Conjuring a pair of diamond shields, Rarity plunged them into the frames of the tables and lifted them off like they were balloons. But to the fashionista’s surprise, the wallflower inside only replaced that lost furniture with another.
“For goodness sake, Fluttershy! Stop acting like a child. This is unbecoming of you!”
“And I said… NO!”
The process went on for another minute or so with Rarity ripping off portions of her fort only to have it replaced with another table or chair. The two friends shouted and barked, but neither saw reason in the others’ actions. The whole fight blew over that it scared everyone away.
Even the animals felt like this whole thing was gonna end up with someone getting hurt. Only sweet little Angel remained behind, but even he thought it was best to keep a relatively safe distance, behind a tick concrete wall.
“You… are… coming… with me… NOW!”
“And I said… NO!”
“Darn it Fluttershy! You are not leaving me with your mess! You have to come and face the music!”
“I’d rather starve!”
“Get out of there! You don’t have unlimited furniture!”
“That’s what you think!”
“Grrr! That’s it! I didn’t want to do this. But you forced my hands.” Rarity decided to throw caution and patience out the window and throw herself right into the matter. Quite literally in fact.
Removing her shoes and her jewelry, the fashionista dove face first into the fort tumbling the whole wall down into a crumbling mess.
“Aha! Got you! Now come here you little rascal. No one says no to Rarity and gets aw—yeow! You bit me! Hey! Come ba—ow! Stop pulling my hair! I spent a small fortune getting it perfect! N… no! Don’t you dare touch my… MY BLOUSE! That was part of my Spring Collection! It took me days to get this right! Oh you little…”
“THAT IS ENOUGH!” It was Principal’s Celestia’s voice that managed to stop them from escalating the fight. Her words made the pair stop dead on their tracks, turning towards the woman who wore a deep frown on her face. She scanned the room, noting the damaged furniture and equipment scattered around – and the single bunny who somehow managed to survive the onslaught.
“You two… my office… now…”
(Cafeteria)
Hmm… odd. Still nothing.
Sunset traced the pages of her magical journal expecting something to appear. She had written to both Starlight and Princess Twilight since last night and was expecting a reply. But so far the pages next to her request remained blank and dull. A part of her was starting to wish that Equestria had internet connection. If they did, she could just give them a video call instead of waiting a response through this book.
It was like the bulkier version of an SMS or the most oversized-inconvenient pager.
Maybe she should go and check up on things.
Hmmm… no. That might not be a good idea. Starswirl was adamantly clear when he said that using the portal would endanger both worlds, and you can hardly argue the words of Equestria’s most renowned wizard. And Princess Luna was quite clear about her ultimatum. No doubt she’ll chastise her if she discovers that she used the portal just to deliver one measly book. She might even go ahead and do the deed right then and there and smash the mirror altogether.
The Princess of the Night was known to be pragmatic.
Still… this radio silence treatment was pretty worrying. It never takes them this long to respond to a request.
Maybe Starlight’s busy. She is the new Headmare of the School of Friendship after all. Between helping her and the new students coming in, it’d be hard to balance things out.
I should probably give her some space. Maybe wait for another day before jumping to conclusion.
Right now I should probably eat this sandwich while I’m alone.
“Sunset!” And there goes my alone time… and my sandwich.
“Hey Flash.” She responded, picking up the pieces of her spilled meal. The three-second rule should apply. “What do you want?”
“I need your help.” The boy stated in a panicky tone which was quite rare on his part. He was often composed and calm. He approached, one hand clutching onto the other worryingly. “Last night – the scar – Bananas, no… the animals – magic over – and I think that it’s…”
“Whoa whoa there Flash.” Sunset calmed him, raising both her hand and sandwich in defense. “Take it easy. All I got from that sentence of yours was ‘Magic’ and ‘Bananas’. Did something happen?”
“No… well yes! Last night and this morning. I tried to… well I think it was… maybe…”
“A little slower.”
He grunted irritably on the table before an idea struck. “It’d be faster if I showed you.” With one swift motion he grabbed Sunset’s hand and placed her palm on his head.
And then it all came flooding. A strong emotion of last night came into her like a torrent. She saw his pet dog barking – or… no – it was speaking. Words. Actual words. And there, right on his hand, the scar pulsated with magic.
The moment came and went seconds later which the girl blinked back out of her trance.
“Oh my Celestia.” She gasped. “Bananas can talk?”
“Not just Bananas. All the animals!” Flash clarified raising his voice just above a whisper. “I’m hearing them like… constantly. Everywhere I go, I hear voices coming from the sky, the trees. On my way to school, I was berated by a squirrel who said my hair looked stupid. And this morning during math class, a bird flew over and whined to me about his marriage!” That last bit sounded interesting. “I didn’t even know birds had marraiges!”
“The ability to talk to animals? Are you sure?”
“Absolutely sure.”
Whoa. That’s… bizarre. “And you’re saying, you can hear ‘All’ animals?”
“All of them.” He shivered. “Dogs, cats, birds, frogs? Even that horse in the animal shelter in Midtown got some comments about my hair.”
Technically you’re already talking to a former pony, so speaking to a horse shouldn’t really bother you. But Sunset decided to keep that comment to herself.
Still… this was new. She thought that only Fluttershy would have such ability. And it was a pretty rare one even back in Equestria. Super speed, super strength, telekinesis and conjuring spells were all pretty common with professional magic wielding unicorns. But to be able to translate animal speech was unique in its own right.
“That is weird.” She mumbled. “And you said that this all started last night?”
“Yeah. It just happened all of a sudden.”
This is what you get when you dabble with magic in this world. Sunset groaned inwardly trying to keep a composed face. The unpredictable and chaotic nature of it was the very reason she forbade its constant use. Even now she could barely wrap her head around the scar on his hand.
The glow was faint but visible enough to appear behind the row of bandages. If she had her way, she would’ve tried to rid Flash of it. Magic has brought enough misery and madness to this world. But… it wasn’t that simple. At least not here.
“There’s… something strange with the magic.” Sunset explained, holding on tightly. “It’s different. The power inside changed somehow. It wasn’t like this when I first saw it.”
“Can you fix it?”
“Magic in this world doesn’t behave the same way as it does in Equestria. I’ll need to fully analyze it. But… I can do this.” Quietly she clutched her geode and muttered a spell in her head. Flash saw a tinge of light coming from her body coursing all the way down to his hand. Within moments, the glow faded, leaving it as dull as a doorknob.
“Whoa…” He lifted his hand to his face, marveling at the sudden result. “How’d you do that?”
“I added a little bit of my own magic to it.”
He blinked. “So… it’s over? Just like that?”
“No.” She clarified, much to his annoyance. “If it was that simple I would’ve done it a long time ago. I just put a dampener spell on it. It’s a simple spell and not very effective on powerful magic. But it gets the job done. It’s one of the first things we learn back in Equestria. It won’t stop you from hearing animals talk but at least you won’t be walking around school like a human disco ball.” He sighed with relief on that regard and muttered a thank you. “Still… we need to investigate this. Did you do anything unusual yesterday? Think of something. Anything that could’ve triggered your hand.”
The boy pondered in thought though he came up blank. “Other than hanging out with my friends at the Fundraising event. No. Everything was pretty standard. It felt like it came out of nowhere.”
Yeah that sounds about right.
Magic here has a habit of appearing in places that they least expect. Even wild Equestrian Magic has a tendency to go rampant.
“Well… at least it’s not something dangerous.” Sunset looked upon the silver lining. “Talking to animals shouldn’t be that much of a problem for you.”
He chuckled boorishly. “Easy for you to say. You didn’t walk into the aviary at my place. Those guys are relentless. I don’t know how Fluttershy handles it all.”
“Maybe you should ask her. But at least now, you might consider trying to get rid of that magic instead of keeping it.”
Flash brushed his hand off the table, keeping it off. “No way! I just got my magic. I’m not letting it go just because of one bad spell. I just need some time to make it work. I’m sure I can be of use. Besides… I’ve always wanted special powers like you and your friends.”
“Don’t be so enthusiastic. I still think we should find a way to get rid of it. Hardly anything good comes out of magic in this world.”
“Well I’m willing to bet I’ll be the exception.” He countered with that same sweet trademark smile of his. Ugh… even when he’s against her he’s cute. “I mean… if you girls can do it then so can I.”
“That’s different.”
“It doesn’t have to be.” He added which the girl turn to pout which he undoubtedly noticed. “Does it bother you that much? About me having magic?”
Her eyes shifted away. “Well… no. Not really. I mean. Kind of.” She sighed. “Sorry. It’s just that… ever since this whole magical fiasco began, things haven’t exactly been a bed of roses. I mean… ugh…”
“I guess you’ve been having it rough.”
“You have no idea.” Sunset motioned, exhaustion and irritation marring her face. Her gaze darted from place to place, as a mixture of emotion whirled around her. She had so much to think of, so much to say. But everything felt like it was clogging up. It went on for a minute before she finally returned her attention to him. “It’s… well… ugh. No… never mind.”
“Hey come on. You know you can always tell me anything.”
“I know. I just don’t want to bother you with more of my stuff after everything you’ve done for me already. If I do any more than this, I might just get myself neck deep in debt.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t owe me that much.”
Her eyes rolled. “Of course not. I’m sure you just give a house to anyone who asks.”
Flash shrugged back with a cheeky grin. “Only the cute girls with magical powers that come from another world. My standards are pretty high.” The fiery redhead threw him a weak punch on the shoulder. “So come on. If you need to vent, then I’m your guy. You know I’d do anything for you, right?”
Of course she knew. That was perhaps his best quality. Something she clearly took advantage of when they first dated. It’s one of the many reasons why she felt absolutely guilty talking about it. Though she wished the guy could be a little less caring. That kindness of his can be overwhelming.
“Want me to do a Pinkie Promise?” He raised his hand up preparing to take the ultimate oath which made her chuckle briefly. He always did know what to say to lighten the mood.
“I don’t think we need to take it that far. But thanks for the gesture. Right now I just want to relax and unwind without worrying about magic for a few minutes.”
“Well… it’s just right now. Wanna head out and talk? I am known to be a good listener.”
A private moment together with him? To forget all this magic mumbo jumbo for a few minutes?
That actually sounded divine. But the universe again decided to throw a curve ball at her just as she was about to agree. The magical journal buzzed to life snatching their attention.
Thrilled, Sunset quickly flipped the pages, seeing the reply appear word by word.
“What’s it say?”
“It’s from Starlight.” Her expression suddenly and slowly turned from hopeful to panic as she continued to read line by line. “She wants me to return to Equestria immediately. There’s… an emergency at the castle.”
(Football field)
Rainbow Dash felt a tinge go up her arm. She stopped dead on her tracks in mid game, seeing the hair on her skin stand upright at attention. Her eyes went wide as a smile came across her face. It was a feeling she was all too familiar with. One might say that it was somehow related to Pinkie Pie’s unnatural senses.
She developed this sense, came to acknowledge it a long while back. It was something that didn’t happen often. But whenever it did, she knew that it could only mean one thing.
“I feel it.” She muttered, eyes cast towards the school, her smile turning to a full blow grin. “The call of adventure, awaits!”
A joyous occasion to be sure, were it not for the universe throwing a curve ball at her. Quite literally in fact.
“Rainbow Dash!”
But Pinkie’s words came too little, too late. Before the sports gal knew it, a soccer ball smacked right dab against her face knocking her down to the ground in an instant. The sound of the impact made those around her flinch terribly before rushing to her side.
“Rainbow Dash! Are you ok?” Pinkie came first, pushing the others away and began waving her hand in front of the knocked out friend. “What kind of sandwich am I holding?”
Rainbow Dash groggily responded. “Five?”
“Good enough! She’s ok!”
Urgh…
“Oh… never mind! She’s not ok! To the nurse’s office! Make way people!”
(Courtyard)
Ominous messages was never good. Flash had seen enough movies and read enough comics to know that. Everything played out just as he would expect with everything becoming a blur in a matter of seconds. The moment Sunset received that summons from her book, she dropped everything and bolted off to the courtyard brushing pass anything and anyone that got in her way.
“Sunset! Slow down!” The boy panted, chasing after his ex. “Sunset wait!”
“Sorry Flash. But this can’t wait. I need to go now.”
“Yes. I get that. But shouldn’t we tell the others first? They can help.”
“There’s no time. Something’s happening back home and I need to be there.” They arrived at the courtyard a moment later which was thankfully left empty. Lunch should be in full swing right about now so there was no fear of any students or teachers catching them.
“But what if it’s something dangerous? You’re gonna need help.”
“I’ll be with some of the most powerful ponies in Equestria.” Sunset explained knowing well the situation there. “Whatever it is, we’ll handle it.”
She said it like it was a natural occurrence for her. Granted Flash knew very little of the world beyond the portal. He only visited the place once before and during that time he was irritably sick along with everyone else. Still… knowing that Sunset was going to be with some powerful wizards didn’t sit well with him.
“Maybe I should tag along.
“No!” She snapped violently which startled the worried boy. It was only after the words left her mouth did she realize her actions. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. It’s just… there’s a reason why Princess Twilight and I put on this lock. There are forces at play here. And rules to follow. I can’t bring you with me.”
“But…”
“Please.” She pleaded. “I don’t have time to explain. Just… know that I have a good reason.”
A reason she clearly didn’t want to say.
Flash had the urge to press on but… he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He felt that pushing her now would only serve to push her away. And that was the last thing he wanted. Damn his bleeding heart.
“You’re coming back though. Right?”
Her eyes met with his. “Of course.”
“Promise?”
She smiled, grabbing his hand, unaware of the flare in his scar. “I Pinkie Promise.” That would… probably do for now. “And… in case something happens. Here.” With a small gesture, the fiery redhead handed over her magic journal which he hesitantly accepted. “Keep it safe for me?”
“Of course… I…”
“Which is why you must come to terms, Sunset Shimmer.”
What the…? What the heck was that?
“Should this threat creep its way to Equestria, it is our solemn duty to defend it. Even if it means we have to destroy the mirror itself.”
Is that? Principal Luna? No… that’s a pony.
“I’m off.” Sunset declared.
“Sunset… wait…” But Flash’s words barely made it pass his lips when the love of his life vanished beyond the mirror. Her body sucked through a wormhole made of water of magic. He made an attempt to follow but the mirror turned solid by the time he reached it.
A hallow phrase rung deep in his heart.
Stay safe…
(Equestria)
Oh crud this was a bad idea! Why in the world did I run in!?
Sunset mentally cursed herself as her body flung from the mirror slamming her back against the wall. She completely forgot about the backlash with these magical portals. Despite her and Princess Twilight working tirelessly to perfect the portal itself, they never could fix the blowback from traversing between two worlds.
Perhaps she’ll ask Starlight to put pillows around the room to cushion her fall the next time she drops by. The girl was liable to break her neck at this rate.
Oh well. Something to think of anyway. Now where’s Starlight? She said that she needed to meet her immediately. And… speaking of which…
Where is here exactly? This place doesn’t look like the Castle of Friendship. It was too dark and not too… ‘Crystalee’. Not to mention it smelled worse than a Gryphon’s outhouse. Either Starlight had done some redecorations or something really bad happened here.
In either case at least she knew she was in Equestria. Sunset noted immediately from her reflection on the mirror that she had turned back to her unicorn form. It always felt weird when her limbs turn from fingers to hooves.
Anyway – enough distractions. She needs to find Starlight. The red mane unicorn turned towards the only door in the room which she could hear noises coming from. A rough guess would say that it was either Starlight herself with a bunch of her students.
…
But then again she could be wrong.
“What the?” A pegasi clad in golden armor turned to face her as if caught off guard when the door opened.
“Uh… hello? Where…?” Sunset barely got the chance to ask her question when the other pony yelled in alarm.
“Intruder!” In a moment’s notice, a dozen royal guard soldiers burst from the doors pushing her back into the room. They swarmed through the door like a river of gold and silver, huffing and gruffing, with all their weapons pointed in her direction.
Ok… either she was in the wrong place or the School of Friendship’s curriculum made a dramatic change from peaceful cooperation to… military dictatorship.
“Ok guys.” Sunset chuckled worryingly raising her hooves up in surrender. “I think there might’ve been a misunderstanding here.”
“Silence Intruder!” The pegasi warned, spear trained at her face. “How did you get in here!? Who are you!?” She blinked back, obviously confused. “Answer!”
“W… well which one is it? You told me to be silent and now you want me to talk?”
“Grrr. Search the room!” He ordered. “She must’ve come through somewhere. You three, take her to the dungeon.”
“No wait…”
“That’s alright Sergeant.” Thankfully a third voice interceded before the guards could take her away. The figure stood by the door, prompting the soldiers to stand at attention in proper military discipline. Slowly the figure showed himself, donning a cool purple armor.
“You’re…”
“Red mane, sun cutiemark. I take it you’re Sunset Shimmer?” He asked with genuine concern to which she nodded hastily. The white unicorn sighed with relief and quickly dismissed the guards with a wave of his raised hoof. “It’s alright everyone. She’s expected. Return to your duties. I’ll take her to the throne room.”
The throne room?
“Follow me.” The white unicorn ordered to which she complied. She was led to the hallway which she was unfamiliar with flanked by even more royal guards armed to the teeth. “Sorry about that. We weren’t expecting you to arrive so quickly.”
“I wasn’t expecting to be surrounded by royal guards either.” She replied, keeping up with the older pony’s brisk pace. “You’re… Shining Armor, aren’t you? Princess Twilight’s brother? She told me a lot about you.” The purple clad soldier nodded with a positive hum. “I thought you moved to the Crystal Empire.”
“I did.” He confirmed it. “But Princess Celestia recalled me to assist with security around Canterlot Castle. With the new Captain of the guards on tour with Twilight, she needed someone who knows the layout of the defenses. Not to mention the incident a few days ago.”
“Incident?” Sunset’s head snapped in his direction. “What incident?”
Shining Armor opened his mouth but decided not to answer. “It’s best you asked Princess Celestia herself. I’ve only heard about it from Cadance.”
This was getting from weird to worse. Something was going on around here and Sunset could feel it in the pit of her stomach. Even the air around the hallway felt heavy due to the presence of so many guards. You’d think Equestria itself was preparing for war.
“Where are we? This doesn’t look like the Castle of Friendship.”
“It’s not. We’re at the basement underneath Canterlot Castle.” The castle!? Wha…? How…? “Princess Luna ordered the mirror portal to be moved here for security reasons.”
“Is that why she stationed guards out here?”
He bobbed his head sideways in response. “Sort of. But you’d best ask the Princesses.”
And thankfully she didn’t have to wait long as they arrived at the front of the throne room a minute later. Shining Armor waved his hoof to the guards at the front who hastily opened the door using the medal on him.
Inside, Sunset was shocked by the sight of, not two, but three alicorns standing by.
Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadance? The ruler of the Crystal Empire? Here? And why does Princess Luna look like she lost an argument to a yak?
“Sunset Shimmer. Thank you for answering our summons so quickly.” Celestia began with the usual authoritative voice. “I hope we didn’t interrupt anything important.”
Oh nothing. Just my everyday school life back in the human world – and maybe one math pop quiz. No biggie.
“I didn’t even realize I was being summoned.” She replied, lowering her head slightly in the presence of royalties. “What’s going on? Did something happen?”
“You could say that.” It was Luna who huffed back, rubbing her sore wings. “Before we answer any of your questions, we must first ask if you’ve made any progress on your mission. We’ve received no reports from you whatsoever over the last week. I hoped you’ve made some headway at least.”
Oh…
“Umm… define headway.” She tried to smile it off, but their neutral expression did not share her humor. “Ok… it’s… how should I say… complicated?”
“Try us.”
Like she was given any choice.
And so Sunset explained everything to the last detail. From the magical earthquake, to the secret Order hiding in their world, and the existence of magic itself. The story was long despite everything she did to shorten it down. And oddly enough the Princesses nary interrupted her. They simply sat there, listening to every word without breaking or asking anything, eyes glued at her like she was reciting a tale as old as time. It felt about as frightening as it sounds.
“This is… most troubling.” Celestia brooded after she finished. “Thank you Sunset Shimmer. I see that you weren’t exaggerating when you said that things have become… complicated in the human world.” At least somepony gets it. “However, I was hoping for more of an answer to our current predicament.”
It was her turn to ask. “What predicament? What happened?”
“A beast of darkness has attempted to make its way here, in Canterlot Castle.” Luna responded. “Roughly a week ago, Sunburst launched an expedition into the world of Ezaquatel to follow the footsteps of our mentor, Starswirl, in hopes of finding the source of the magical problem. He and the other unicorn, Trixie spent days there against our wishes. And upon return, a shadow monster crossed over.”
“A shadow monster!? Are you sure?” Sunset gasped.
“I am most certain as I have the bruises to prove it.” She gestured to the band-aid on her cutie mark. “According to Starlight, the beast shared the same properties as the ones you encountered in your world. It was strong. Immensely strong. But thankfully I was around to deal with it. Even with my depleted powers, it was no match against my - yeow!” Luna dropped her act and flinched when Celestia poked her wings. “Anyway. It caused a right mess of things. So to prevent something like that from happening again, I’ve ordered your portal to be kept in the basement of the castle. At least there, the guards will be able to keep watch should anything try to sneak its way in.”
“What about Sunburst and Trixie? Are they ok?”
“Trixie is fine.” Celestia answered, which Sunset could sense a ‘But’ coming. “But I’m afraid we do not know the condition of Sunburst.”
“What? Why not?”
Luna sighed. “He never made it back. By the time Trixie returned, the shadow beast came through. The battle I waged against it destroyed the portal to Ezaquatel, along with many others.”
Oh no. That’s… that’s terrible!
“Is there some way we can restore it? Don’t you magic that can create these portals?”
Celestia shook her head in distraught. “These portals were made using ancient magic. Something neither Luna nor I could grasp. Only Starswirl had the knowledge to create them. And he’s currently… indisposed at the moment.”
Her sister scoffed. “You mean he’s napping.”
“But we have to do something! We can’t just leave Sunburst on the other side with… that monster.”
“We understand your frustration.” It was the pink alicorn, Cadance, who responded this time. “And we are doing everything in our power to help. Which is exactly why we summoned another expert on dark magic.”
An expert on dark magic? There are hardly any pony, much less unicorns who would dare delve into something so dangerous.
Sunset heard the door behind her open revealing a single scrawny grey unicorn with a green mane wearing a ragged cape. The guy looked feeble and tiny, and looked even more so with the royal guards flanking him. He pranced upward forward the thrones with an expression that was both a mixture of fear and admiration.
“Your highnesses.” He bowed deeply.
Celestia acknowledged the unicorn. “Sunset Shimmer. Allow me to introduce to you, Stygian. The foremost expert in dark magic.”