Sunset's alarm clock beeped loudly again and again, an incredibly annoying sound that never failed to wake her. She rolled over, one hand reaching down from her bed to press the snooze button. Her eyes opened.
Standing around her bed were six men wearing dark suits, looking very physically fit and alert. Two directly faced her, standing at attention. The other four kept steady lookouts in different directions.
"Who the buck are you people?" Sunset asked. "And what are you doing in my apartment?" She almost reached under her pillow for an Equestrian-style dagger, but she decided to try her wits instead of cold steel. Especially because if this was a fight, it was six against one.
A man whose hair was lightly frosted at the temples said, "Sunset Shimmer, I presume."
"I didn't ask who I was. I asked who YOU were."
The man said, "Let us show her all proper reverence. In order of rank, me first." He knelt, and let himself fall forward onto his hands. "We come bearing tragic news. In accordance with the official line of succession, you, Sunset Shimmer, are the newest princess of Equestria. With all the duties and privileges that accompany that role."
Sunset laughed. "I don't know who the buck you people really are, but I know I'm not a princess. Celestia was very clear about that. She said I wasn't ready. She said I wasn't anywhere NEAR ready."
The man's arms pushed off against the floor, and he rose easily back onto his feet. Singly and in pairs, Sunset's other unexpected visitors bowed on all fours as he had.
"What are you people doing in my home?" Sunset growled. "Did anyone INVITE you?"
The leader bowed again, from the waist this time. "Your highness, sometimes duty to Equestria must make uneasy compromise with ordinary courtesy. As the supreme princess of Equestria, you must be properly guarded at all times."
"Supreme? What, did Celestia abdicate?"
"Also, Equestria needs your help very urgently. You must come as soon as possible."
Sunset looked around the room, studying each man's face and body language.
Sunset had spent much of her life in Canterlot's Royal Palace, often with Princess Celestia herself. And more than anything else, this felt like going home. All the way down to the core of her bones, she felt it: these really were elite Palace Guards, protecting a princess of Equestria.
And that princess, somehow, was Sunset Shimmer.
Sunset said, "You people are serious."
The squad's leader nodded. "Please."
Sunset took a deep breath. "You!" She pointed at a random guard. "Go through my wardrobe, find my suitcase, and pack whatever clothes you think most needed." Sunset had no idea what would happen to most of her clothing if it was taken through the portal, but she thought this guardpony's guess might be at least as good as her own.
"You..." She pointed at another, "go down to the kitchen and pick out some breakfast, whatever we have time for me to eat on the way. And you--" She scowled at the squad's leader. "Sergeant?"
He nodded. "Sergeant Cloud Guard, at your service."
"Sergeant, YOU shall brief me as fully as you can."
He nodded. "You seem...to be adjusting. Much more easily than I expected."
Sunset snorted. "I was born to rule. It seems even Celestia finally recognized that. Too bad she didn't see the truth until too late. If I'd been by her side, perhaps I would have been able to save her from whatever...made the line of succession so suddenly relevant."
The sergeant shook his head. "Or perhaps the disaster would have taken you as well. It might be our realm's only recent good fortune, our saving grace, that you were nowhere near."
A man duck-walked out of Sunset's wardrobe face first, holding a suitcase in one hand. "Packed, your highness. More clothes will be available on the other side, made as or before you need them."
"Of course," Sunset said. She looked down from the little open-sided loft she used as her 'bedroom.' "You in the kitchen! One peanut butter sandwich should be plenty, unless the trip takes longer than a few hours." She turned away, ignoring him as he finished up.
"Will I need to...look presentable?" Sunset asked.
The sergeant smiled. "You look fine, your highness. I think ponies will be more reassured by knowing you hurried home to help them, even if your mane and tail might be a bit messy."
Sunset's eyes narrowed. "That bad, huh?" She grimaced. "Can we leave now?"
The sergeant nodded. "Princess orders an immediate departure," he barked out. All but one of the men still on her open loft ran downstairs. One opened the front door and held it open, while three others rushed through, one of them the sergeant.
Sunset trotted down to the main floor. As she went out the door, still in pyjamas, she smirked at the man holding it open. "You shouldn't have."
"It's protocol," he said straight-facedly.
Standing outside, the sergeant nodded. "It's true. I would think you'd already know all these things."
Sunset looked around at the new morning. "It's practically the bucking crack of dawn," she groused. "Couldn't you have saved your crisis for a decent hour?"
"That's exactly the problem," the sergeant replied. "We can't." Another man...a private, Sunset guessed...held open the back door of a large black automobile. Sunset slid inside, and the sergeant slid in next to her. He handed her an envelope.
Everyone got into the car, except for one outrider who used a motorbike. As the motorbike and car turned out into the street, Sunset noted the envelope's special royal seal, tore it open, and started to read.
My Dearest Sunset Shimmer,
I wrote this letter ahead of time, as one of my contingency plans.
If you are reading this, I must not be in a position to write you anything more specific. I might be captured and imprisoned by enemies, or otherwise incapacitated, or perhaps even dead.
Damn, Sunset thought. Whoever wrote this, they've got Celestia's hornwriting style down COLD.
Sunset felt a cold lump in her chest. Captured? Incapacitated? Or even dead? But at least, surely, Celestia wasn't dead. That would be impossible, right?
I know in the past, I told you that you weren't ready to be a princess. At that time, in my best judgement, I was telling you the truth as I saw it.
But in our hearts, you and I both know that you are not entirely UNready to be a princess either. You are very brave and bold, when courage and boldness are what's needed (and even if sometimes also when they are NOT needed.) You're sometimes dishonest and a schemer, but on another hoof? Indirect scheming and...tact, shall we say...are sometimes very needful when ruling a nation.
Sometimes, you have been self-centered and thoughtless and callous, and even cruel. As for these flaws, I can only hope that you've already at least started to change.
I hadn't expected you to suddenly break free of me, and run away to seek your fortune in another world. But maybe an adventure, out on your own, is exactly what you've needed to help you grow up. I can only hope your new experiences have taught you the importance of kindness, and even how to make true friends.
Ha, Sunset thought. 'Friends.' Do Snips and Snails count? I'm not sure they really do. They're more like tools. And Flash...even Flash isn't a friend. He's more of...a minor recreation.
Loving You Always,
Celestia
Sunset's eyes teared up.
She said to herself, I thought I didn't need any friends. So I didn't bother to make any.
But I never realized before...I've always had one true friend, ever since I was a little foal. A friend who I always thought of as a teacher, or a meddlesome, overqualified daycare worker, or a bossy noble. Somepony who was and wasn't almost like a mother.
Sunset thought about how she'd been spending the two years since she'd fled Equestria. How she'd worked to become the Mean Girl In Chief of one measly alien high school. She'd succeeded...but if she compared her last two years of 'accomplishments' to the ambitions she'd once held? Or if she compared her petty little high school tyranny to what was now asked of her? Either way, she felt very, very small.
"I'm not worthy," Sunset said. And for once in her life, she meant it.
The sergeant put one hand on her shoulder. "We all feel that way, at one time or another." He smiled. "I felt that way on the day I was promoted, and on more than a few days afterwards. But if the Princess chose you...I know you're able to handle it."
If she chose me, Sunset thought, it was only because she didn't have anypony better. Sunset remembered somepony she hadn't given a passing thought to in weeks: Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.
Sunset half-whispered, "What about Cadance?"
"She's...alive," Sergeant Cloud Guard said. "But she's not the pony named in the contingency plan. If I had to guess why you were chosen, and not her? She doesn't have your magical strength."
"So?" Sunset asked.
Cloud Guard handed her a second envelope, which Sunset ripped open.
My Dearest Sunset,
With your exceptional understanding of magic, the rest of this letter gives instructions you will be able to work out and use in short order.
"Huh?" Sunset said.
The first spell is for alicorn ascension. The second spell is for raising and lowering the sun.
"What the everloving buck?" Sunset whispered.
She paged through the rest of the letter. As well as she could understand, it was, indeed, everything she needed to know to accomplish the first of those tasks.
But the second task? That, she wasn't sure of...but at least now she had some hints to work with.
"Why me?" Sunset asked aloud.
Sergeant Cloud Guard shrugged. "Because somepony needs to do it, and soon?"
Sunset grabbed the sergeant by both shoulders. "Tell me what happened while I was away! Tell me NOW!"
"There's no time," he said. The car slowed and stopped. A private hopped out, opening the door for Sunset.
"The portal is open," he said.
"Don't buck with me!" Sunset snarled. "The portal doesn't open until at least six moons from now."
The guard holding the door glanced at his sergeant, who nodded. The private ran over to the human-tall, cubical base holding up the Wondercolts statue, held one hand up to the surface, and stepped inside.
Sunset watched the surface ripple and resmooth itself behind him. "What the buck?" she remarked.
The sergeant gave her a tight-lipped smile. "Princess Celestia has long maintained covert teams and operations capabilities...extending somewhat beyond what you might have been aware of. Please come with us, Princess Sunset. Equestria needs you."
"So...at least for the moment, during your mysterious little crisis, you're willing to put ME on the throne? A 'spoiled little brat' like me? I won't pretend I never heard what ponies said about me behind my back, when I was living in Equestria. In the Royal Palace."
"You're already ON the throne, your highness. You need only accept it."
Still half dazed with wonder and shock, Sunset walked to the portal and stepped inside.
***
When she came out the mirror on the portal's other end, it took her a moment to remember how to walk on four legs again. But at least, she thought with some satisfaction, she wasn't vomiting like the guard who was making a mess in one of the room's corners.
"So," Sunset said. "It comes to this. One of the old furniture storerooms." She sneezed. "Doesn't anypony ever DUST this place...no, of course not." She turned, watching the rest of the squad come through the portal after her.
The sergeant asked, "The letters...did you understand everything?"
"Yes," Sunset agreed, hoping she was telling the truth, and really did understand all the magical instructions well enough. "Is the Palace still the same as it was a few years ago? The same floor plan? Are there any new hazards to avoid?"
"Much the same, your highness."
Sunset said, "Step back. No, if I want to be sure, I need more headroom. Enough headroom for a small thunderstorm, to be safe. Let's go to the East Courtyard."
"Yes, your highness." Sunset trotted out of the room and through the halls, as the squad around her kept pace.
***
Sunset looked up at the starry sky. "Shouldn't the sun be up by...oh, how stupid of me."
She reread the first few pages of the letter, charged up her horn with magic, and directed the thaums into a complicated pattern of flow.
A moment later, she was gone.
***
"Hello?" Sunset said. Unlike the dark night of a moment ago, a deep blue-tinged dawnlight or twilight now surrounded her, with small, blurry lights floating all around. "If this is one of your pranks, Celestia...you know, there are EASIER ways to invite me to a surprise party."
Nocreature answered her. She was alone in a measurelessly broad space. But on the not-ground at her hooves, there lay a note.
If you are here, you probably need to perform the spells of sun raising and sun lowering. Here are a few more clues and tips for the parts you might be missing.
"Oh, thank the Great Bucker," Sunset breathed. "These are just what I needed, I think."
Now that you're an alicorn, you can return here anytime you need to, by repeating the same spell that brought you here the first time. Once you've memorized the following magical information, you should return to the Material Plane. Your friends are probably wondering what happened to you, and they might be worried.
Here are the thaumic details...
Sunset reread the note, using her old cramming skills from back when she was a unicorn magic student in Equestria. Once she was sure, Sunset grabbed onto a tiny bit of magic, and twisted it just so.
***
A pillar of light appeared in the courtyard, stretching upward towards the stars. Two guardsponies kept watch on it, while the others looked away. A moment later, Sunset appeared with outstretched wings, floating down towards the ground.
Sunset remembered all that she had read, and let her horn glow brightly. A moment later, the dawn's light spread above the walls at the courtyard's eastern side.
The sky turned pale blue as the sun rose.
"There," Sunset said, collapsing onto her belly. "I've...raised your sun for you. You'd better all be grateful." She panted, trying to catch her breath. It had been years since she'd last cast a spell, and she'd just performed a very difficult pair of them.
"We are," the nearest guard said. "Believe us, we are."
Sunset rolled over, onto her side. Her flank moved with the slow, regular breathing of a sleeping pony. Two brave maids dared to enter the courtyard, carrying blankets.
***
Sunset woke to the scent of freshly grilled haybacon.
"We asked around," a maid said. "Some ponies did remember what foods you used to like for breakfast, when you were here...before."
Sunset asked herself, What would Celestia have done? Sunset smiled. "Thank you."
"Oh, you're so welcome! Your highness!" The maid bowed low for a moment.
Sunset shook off her blankets, and floated a piece of haybacon to her mouth. "This is delicious. I'd forgotten how good it tasted." Sunset tried several different dishes, washing them down with orange juice and coffee.
Standing up, Sunset looked around at the squad of guards who still stood watch surrounding her. "First things first. Now how do we get Celestia back?"
"What?" a guard said, looking vaguely ill.
"The letter I was given said she might have been captured and held prisoner. So tell me, who might have her? What are their known weaknesses? Do they have demands?" Sunset exposed her teeth fiercely. "Can we CRUSH them, and make them SO VERY SORRY?"
Sergeant Cloud Guard shook his head. "I never had a good chance to give you the second part of your briefing."
Sunset nodded. "So start giving."
The sergeant waved towards one of the buildings that enclosed the courtyard. While his squad shooed the maids out of the space, three other ponies joined Cloud and Sunset. Two were guardponies, and the third was Raven Quill, who Sunset recognized as one of Celestia's main 'right hoof ponies.'
Raven said, "Our eyewitness accounts begin in Ponyville."
"Ponyville?" Sunset said. "Sounds...KIND of familiar? Oh! That's the one-horse town that sends the Palace our Zap Apple jam every year."
Raven took a deep breath. "Please try to keep up, your highness. You can interrupt when you have something to say that might be important."
Sunset sighed. "I think YOU could audition for the role of Celestia's stand-in. Bossy, and good at putting a pony in wherever you think is her place."
Raven bowed deeply. "Please forgive me, your majesty. It's been a very stressful and tiring day for all of us. I hear you did what had to be done, when other ponies thought it impossible for anycreature to accomplish it, and on very short notice, too. But we are here to help you. We simply want you to be as informed as possible, as befits a royal sovereign."
Sunset rolled her eyes. "Sorry, sorry. Please fill me in."
Raven bowed, more hastily this time.
"As I said, our eyewitness accounts begin in Ponyville."