//------------------------------//
// Chapter 26: Maximum Security 
// Story: Equestria Girls - The Tale of Two Sunsets 
// by HumanSunset63 
//------------------------------//

Sunset trotted frantically on the walkway, as she ascended higher up the mountain that led to Canterlot. She already expected needing to sprint for a fair distance, as it was highly unlikely for her to have reached the peak of a mountain by means of a boat. As she did, she began to notice buildings in the distance, which made her slow down a bit for a glance at the one place she used to call home. Although Sunset had already revisited Canterlot a while ago, when she was seeking guidance about her friends' memories being erased after the Wallflower incident, she didn't really have the most in-depth exploration of the city. After all, when Sunset had too much on her mind regarding her best friends suddenly turning on her, it didn't give her much room to live out the whole Canterlot experience. Sunset began to have vague memories seeing all these structures and buildings that she definitely remembered being around, tracing back to the days when she was a young unicorn filly.

She took notice of the many fancy restaurants that she used to eat in for free, as Celestia covered the costs of the food when she was formerly the Princess's pupil. She then caught a glimpse of what looked like a school of some kind, and remembered it as the School For Gifted Unicorns, the same institution she had attended when discovering her magic skills at a young age. It was unfortunate that being a human for so long had really put Sunset out of practice with her natural magical abilities, as exemplified when she couldn't even do a basic teleportation spell back in Manehattan. She figured it still wasn't a big deal, as she could simply have an extended stay in Equestria to relearn the skills she had forgotten. As Sunset began picking up the pace again, she then passed by several houses she recognized. They were part of a small neighborhood, and one of the houses was where she used to live after moving out of her dad's house in Ponyville. Sunset also had a vivid, sudden memory, that the house was also given to her by Celestia, for her most prized students, while her other unicorn classmates had to rent out the spaces themselves like college students.

It was at this point that Sunset, similar to what she told Lemon Zest back on the boat, realized how much somepony she used to resent, truly sacrificed for her. Princess Celestia saw the potential in Sunset when she was only a filly, and practically raised her like a daughter. She paid for her food, education, and home here in Canterlot, taught her all kinds of new magical skills, and even gave her the mother she seemingly never had. At least, Sunset was still under the impression of this idea, given how she had no memory at all of an actual mother in her life, but remembered having a father. Back when she used to be Celestia's pupil, Sunset reflected on the times where her classmates complained to Celestia about not being nice to them, which in all fairness, was definitely a valid criticism. She used to be incredibly anti-social, acted rude toward anypony who just wanted to hang out with her, and above all, boasted on and on about her magical talent, and how Celestia only chose her as a pupil. Sunset felt that because of these aspects in her behavior back then, she admittedly used to have a bigger ego than even Rainbow Dash.

Going back to her previous thought on all the sacrifices from Princess Celestia Sunset had never really noticed, she felt extra sorry for her. When putting herself in Celestia's place, Sunset couldn't imagine putting so much energy, patience, love, and money toward a student she almost considered a daughter, only for her to one day betray her trust and abandon everything due to selfish ambitions. Though at the same time, this did raise a question Sunset never really considered until just now. Why did Princess Celestia always try to keep Sunset from going through the mirror ever since she realized there was more to it beyond just being an ordinary mirror? Was Celestia aware of something more deep that even Sunset herself was unaware of when she entered this other world? 

This didn't seem likely, as Sunset already knew that knowledge regarding this mirror and generally, the human world itself, were incredibly limited, since nopony else besides herself, Princess Twilight, and Starlight Glimmer had really gotten the full experience. Both of the aforementioned ponies were known to be skilled magic wielders, but neither of them really understood being a human as much as Sunset. If anything, Sunset figured that she herself was likely the only true expert on this mirror and alternate world, to where if Princess Twilight knew nothing about the mirror even after becoming a princess, then it wouldn't be likely that Celestia knew anything specific either. With this in mind, Sunset simply chalked up her past experience as Celestia only feeling disgusted at her for attempting to jump ahead in her studies, and especially for demanding to be made a princess.

With that, Sunset didn't really think too deeply about why Celestia was being so insistent on keeping her away from the mirror. Sure, there was initially the issue of not being able to go back until at least 30 moons had passed after the portal closed off, but Princess Twilight used one of Celestia's old journals that was connected to Sunset's to keep the portal open indefinitely, so there were obviously ways around it. Sunset was mostly just happy at the fact that she made amends with Celestia, and was able to finally get some closure over it, after living in guilt for many years.

Sunset took all of this in internally as she walked through the city that was once her home after leaving Ponyville, before focusing back on the main reason she's even here at the moment, to make it to Princess Twilight's coronation. Sunset trotted past one of the shops, and got a quick glimpse at one of the clocks hanging in front of the entrance. It was already 7:17 PM, meaning she was already a good 17 minutes late to the whole event. By now, Sunset had already accepted being a little late, but she would certainly feel awful if she ended up missing everything. Becoming the princess of all of Equestria and getting a new crown were both big celebratory moments for Twilight that Sunset simply couldn't miss. 

As Sunset finally made her way past Canterlot's city, she had slowly begun to approach the main square of Canterlot that houses cultural events, and more specifically, where the coronation was being held. Even from this distance, Sunset saw many pegasai and other creatures flying around and gathering together for the event. She was on the right track and was glad she was able to figure out where everything was in Canterlot, despite being gone for so long. Sunset trotted forward, thinking there wouldn't be any issues, as Twilight mentioned earlier today, that she already made sure to notify all the guards about who Sunset was, and to welcome her in to the festival whenever she showed up.

Unfortunately, due to being preoccupied with her friends about moving away to Canterlot, along with focusing entirely on preparation, Twilight had forgotten to inform one of the guards about Sunset showing up. And out of all odds, he was the one guard watching the main entrance to the castle in front of the main square, keeping out any intruders or unwelcome guests. Earlier while the guests were showing up, Princess Cadance was here, and she welcomed all sorts of ponies and creatures whom she knew were friendly and supporting of Princess Twilight. But now that most of the guests were inside, the stallion guard was then sent to watch the main entrance for any suspicious activity.

Sunset walked over to the castle's entrance and saw the stallion. She immediately recognized him as the security guard she had ran into multiple times during the Postcrush Festival's time loop incident. For the most part, Sunset didn't have any ill will toward him, since she knew he was just serving his duty to keep out troublemakers, even if he did in some instances, kick out both her and Pinkie, despite Pinkie being the main cause of trouble over some churros. With those memories behind her, Sunset figured he would let her in, no questions asked, based on what Twilight wrote to her in the journal earlier. But as she was about to walk in, thinking nothing of it, the security guard stopped her.

"Halt!" Max Steele said to Sunset, before putting his hoof out to block her entry. "What is your name and order of business?"

Sunset, somewhat surprised at this, instinctively came out with the appropriate response. "Sunset Shimmer, sir. I'm here to attend Princess Twilight's coronation. She's a good friend of mine."

"Uh huh." Max said with sarcasm and doubt. "Everypony claims they're good friends with Twilight Sparkle these days. Always far from the truth. Now, the coronation's already begun. Unless you have an invitation to this event, I'm afraid it's my job to keep you out."

"...Invitation?" Sunset said with confusion. "Twilight never gave me any physical invitation, but she let me know personally to come. Surely she's mentioned my name to you?"

"Sunset Shimmer..." Max muttered to himself. "Nope, can't say that rings a bell. So I'm afraid I'll have to go with the idea you're just some crazy fan who imagines Princess Twilight is your best friend or something. Begone!"

Sunset became frustrated. She had come all this way from her home, preparing, packing, and sacrificing the opportunity to spend time with her human friends before graduation. Now this one stallion keeping her away from the entire coronation was going to ruin everything? No, this couldn't be, Sunset instead decided she had to think of a way around him. She figured teleportation around the castle wall wasn't an option, due to her being out of practice, and not wanting to risk being even more late than she already was. She thought back to the human version of this guard back at the festival. How did she get past him in order to scope out the Dazzlings' van for any hints of them being the ones behind the time loop? She then remembered it was because she gave him a cute kitten, based on a previous conversation with him and Pinkie. However, with no kitten in sight, and no knowledge of where to find any kittens here in Canterlot, this didn't really help Sunset out, until she thought of an excuse for being late.

"Well, sir? What if I told you I was late to this coronation because I was helping an injured kitten on my way here? " Sunset inquired, being somewhat truthful, as she did help the human Fluttershy out with a kitten's sprained leg at the animal shelter earlier that week.

"Pfft. You think I'm moved by your story because of some random kitten?" Max scoffed. "Now get out of here! And for the record, I prefer puppies to kittens."

Sunset had another moment of frustration from this, forgetting that the pony counterparts of humans she knew back in the other world could be completely different as far as interests and personality, much like Gloriosa and Lemon Zest. Regardless, this security guard was not going to let her in through the castle, so Sunset had to at least see if she could find another means of getting to the coronation, preferably without alerting this stallion. Unfortunately, if memory served Sunset correctly, this path through the castle was the only way to the main square, as any other part of Canterlot would be blocked off by walls. As Sunset trotted away from the castle's main entrance, she looked back and heard a familiar voice, even if it was from a fair distance away.

"And so without further ado, I give you the new ruler of Equestria, Princess Twilight Sparkle!" Celestia announced, before a whole crowd of ponies gasped.

Sunset knew that if she wasn't able to have an upfront seat at the coronation, she could at the very least get part of the experience from a distance. She noticed one of the nearby buildings had a staircase that could let her up to the roof for a better view. As Sunset quickly ran up the roof, she was able to see a little past the castle's wall, and around where the coronation was. More specifically, the balcony where Princess Twilight, Celestia, and Luna were standing before Twilight was about to get her official crown from the two sisters. From this, Sunset was at least thankful she barely caught the main highlight of the whole event, she just wished Twilight was able to see her in the crowd, where presumably everyone else already was.

However, Sunset's happiness for Twilight was short-lived, as she noticed something seemingly disastrous was about to happen. Some pegasai flew around the building, followed by a barrage of fireworks, before one of the pegasai accidentally bumped into the pair of birds who were carrying Twilight's new crown, making them lose the grip of it. Twilight attempted to catch the crown as it fell off the balcony, before accidentally slipping off herself.

"TWILIGHT!!!" Sunset screamed, before quickly running down the stairs and back over to the entrance of the castle. She was unaware that Twilight was actually okay, and that she managed to break her fall thanks to her wings. But from Sunset's perspective, she thought Twilight might've seriously injured herself from such a fall, so she instinctively tried to get to the coronation, regardless of the security guard still being in her way.



"Sir, you have to let me in! I just saw that Princess Twilight fell off the balcony after getting her crown! Please!" Sunset begged.

"Do I look like a child to you? Does it look like it's bedtime to you, ma'am?" Max asked Sunset rhetorically. "No? Then why are you telling me stories? No means no, now I won't tell you again, leave."

Sunset had enough at this point. She finally let her anger get the better of her, and began to change her voice to a more unfriendly tone.

"Alright, then. You've given me no other choice. I've tried playing nice, no more." Sunset finished, as she started up the magic in her horn and pointed it at the door. Even if she was out of practice using her horn, she always knew how to do a basic blast of magic that could be used as a projectile.

"Hey, what are you doing-!?" Max shrieked, before doing a dodge roll by instinct to avoid getting hit by Sunset's magic.

Sunset specifically waited until the stallion was out of her way before firing her magic at the locked door, blasting it open. After all, she didn't want to hurt the guard, and although she might've just played rough, in her own words, she's no monster. Sunset quickly trotted into the castle, before the security guard got up off the ground and took notice of this.

"Hey! Get back here!" Max yelled as he began to chase after Sunset.