The flurry of dizzying colors released her with a flash and she stumbled forward, breathless, ending up against hard ground on both her cannons and – somehow – her stifles. A silent gasp and cool, wet air filled her lungs.
Breathe in, breathe out...
Well, if anything the alien atmosphere wouldn’t kill her outright, and what little pain she felt only came from her fall. Crossing had been a gamble, without being able to probe the other side of the mirror beforehoof, but a winning one so far! She was still alive and in one piece, after all.
That didn’t come with feeling comfortable, however. Cold darkness all around, Limbo's maddening rainbow still seared into her retinas, and rain pelting her back. Because of course it could never be easy. Really, it was like the icy water was slipping right under her coat, chilling her to the bone! At least it distracted her from how queasy she still felt from her brief trip through the place-between.
Now, in what kind of dreadful dimension had she stepped into..?
Blinking the afterimage away, Sunset Shimmer grew more used to the rainy gloom of her new world. Not quite as dramatic as some featureless void of torture and madness, her surroundings were revealing themselves to be almost disappointingly mundane. Concrete pavement, quite normal-looking grass. Lampposts and their artificial glow. Even the misty ghosts of trees and buildings in the distance, shrouded by rain and darkened by an early evening’s storm clouds.
What really caught her eye, though, was the tall iron gate a short way in front of her, glistening under the streetlights. The metalwork instantly reminded her of similar gates in the upper quarters of Canterlot, even down to the prominent horseshoe motifs. A far too familiar sight.
Had the mirror simply teleported her a couple streets away from the castle..? That’d have been just her luck! All these efforts just to further embarrass herself in front of these snotty buffoons!
But no, this couldn’t be! This hadn’t felt at all like any of the teleportation spells she was familiar with. And the smell of the air was distinctly different from Canterlot’s alpine breeze. The scant accounts of previous travelers mentioned both similarities and divergences between the worlds, maybe this was what they meant?
One way to be sure: her instruments should be able to pick up the slightest variations in the magicosphere’s makeup. Including the strange electromagnetic waves she had detected coming from the mirror since it came alive earlier that day. If her hypothesis was correct... Ah, there was her saddlebag, laying on the pavement just to her right!
She willed it closer... but nothing. She had to still be a bit disoriented. A little more focus, picturing the simple pattern of any unicorn’s most basic spell... yet her stubborn target still refused to levitate over to her.
She forced more energy into the spell. All it did was make her extremities tingle. The miserable saddlebag kept taunting her by staying resolutely still.
Total inertia from the rain-soaked fabric. Utter impotence from herself.
What the heck was happening!? Did Limbo rob her of her magic, was that the price to pay for her transgressions? Or was this forsaken world so broken that it wouldn’t allow her the use of all her hard-won abilities?
She had to get to these stupid instruments, now.
And so Sunset stretched her hoof to reach the saddlebag.
But no hoof would ever reach it.
Still, she could feel the raindrops impacting the skin. The slight muscle strain of a raised limb, her shifted balance. Even the lingering aches of her fall.
Evidently, the pale, hairless thing stretching out from her had to somehow be part of her.
But it was all revoltingly wrong! Shoulder dislocated to the side, elbow so far removed from her barrel as if defleshed, cannon truncated and squeezed flat like an orange’s peel! Hoof split right up to the fetlock into five bony strips, and not even symmetrically at that!
In the little section of her mind not recoiling in disgust, an old memory replayed itself. Of that trained monkey, that the Saddle-Arabian ambassador had made a show of. Of its creepy, spindly fingers.
Yes, fingers...
Finding a frame of reference was helping, a little. No hoof or frog; nail, fingertip. No pastern; finger. No fetlock; knuckle. No cannon... but hand.
A hand. Her hand.
The persistent malaise and the cold bite also made more sense now. At least the darn monkey wasn’t bald!
...
Alive? Oh yes, for sure. In one piece? Not so buckin’ much after all!
Just how bad was it? Same articulations, but not same mobility – flexing each individual finger separately would take some work. But that was far from a priority. She didn’t need fine motor control to have her hand reach for her head, for her horn.
She still had her mane, small mercy. But her horn, her pride and joy?
Not a trace.
A smooth, unadorned brow like any mundane pony. Her magic trapped inside, with no way to enact her will onto the world.
... Better be dead!
Sunset brought back the hand under her; it wasn’t as good as a hoof, but it would be enough to help her crawl back to the mirror and leave this horrible place!
There was no mirror behind her though. Only a massive, polished stone dais, topped by a statue of a rearing horse she didn’t recognize.
What!? Where was the portal!?
But then she remembered: the old texts had described how it wasn't always a mirror on this side. And sure enough, once she was close enough to reach out, her fingers brushed effortlessly through the marble, making it shimmer like water. She still had her way back!
Only a couple steps, and she’d be back to Equestria and, hopefully, to her own body...
Back to Canterlot.
Back to her.
...
But why rush it? The portal worked, after all. Her plans were still on track.
In fact wouldn’t it be a downright criminal waste to turn tail now? After all the trouble she had had to go through, the pain and sacrifices? Yes, it had all been worth it, because she had made it!
And of course she did! Was there really any doubt in the first place? She wasn't just anypony, she was—
Had been... the Princess's top student.
But no more thoughts about that mare, not when Sunset was the first unicorn in millennia to set hoof in another universe, with whole new opportunities to prove herself!
A monkey’s ungraceful flesh? She’d overcome this challenge as well! The inner workings of the mirror were obscure, and hard to figure out without unraveling the complex spells in the process, but one thing was certain: it didn’t deal in the random or whimsy. If it had deprived her of her horn, it had to be for a good reason. Maybe this way she could uncover the true mysteries of magic, unhindered by faulty teachings!
Yes, no doubt about it: this was still the path of her destiny.
It may not have been exactly how she was imagining it... But no matter the divergences between worlds, she had to focus on the constants! What did she know? Buildings and statues and iron gates, she was clearly in civilized company. Grass and trees, photosynthetic organisms, therefore this world probably had a sun. And if so, there was somepony, or somecreature as the case may be, who had to be its shepherd.
She only had to find this new universe's alicorn. Hopefully she’d prove more reasonable than the one from hers. Not that it'd be difficult...
Oh yes, she’d be able to make her see reason!
Sunset turned her back to the portal, hope briefly pushing the cold away; for her the only way was forward now.
From the proportions of her limbs and the tenderness of her shins’ skin, this body wasn’t made for crawling. She’d have to stand tall, like a minotaur. Practice proved a little less straightforward than theory implied, no thanks to the water dripping all over her shivering form, and to the wet, slippery concrete under the sole of her new feet... but through stumble and stagger and the occasional fall, she reached the gate, saddlebag slung over her shoulder.
It wasn’t locked, and pushing it open revealed the great building beyond. The looming shadow was strikingly familiar – if not for everything else, she could’ve easily mistaken it for the School for Gifted Unicorns. That was exactly the kind of constant she was looking for! Better yet, warm light shone in the foyer and a couple of the first floor windows.
As she got closer though, the similarities with the Princess's school grew less and less obvious. No true side towers; those silhouettes had been little more than simple turrets. Far more humble decor, more utilitarian than anything. A flight of much narrower steps, leading not to old wooden doors but glass and metal ones. Still, what similarities were left, however superficial, it... It had to mean something!
She held on to that thought even more tightly than she did to the handrail leading up the stairs. She was so close, never mind the cold gnawing at her bones or these weak, shaky legs!
But these last few steps were too much. The smooth concrete too traitorous. Her balance too precarious.
She hit her head against the glass, sprawling right at the threshold.
Cold, and wet, and tired... Took her a minute to remember why she couldn’t magic the door open.
It really... couldn’t ever... be easy..!
Maybe...
Maybe she could rest there, just for a little while..?
Only an instant, to... Yes, to gather her thoughts. What’d be the harm..?
She had never stopped fighting and struggling ‘til then, didn’t she deserve some—
The door opened from the inside.
Sunset looked up at the creature, so tall and haloed by light.
Warmth enveloped her, and though the long coat wasn’t quite as soft as an alicorn’s feathers, she still huddled in the familiar embrace. Mane like sunlight, and that voice...
Yes, she was sure – it was her!
She had made it!
September 30th, 1976
Dubuque, Iowa
—
Maggie Williams rose as the older policeman entered the lobby. Bags under his eyes and trying to suppress a yawn, it seemed his night hadn’t been any more restful than hers.
“Shouldn’t you be at school, Miss Williams..?”
“Not this morning, detective. I was just down the street, and I—”
“Ah yes, I remember now. Something at the center with the old-timers, right?”
“Precisely, creative writing at ten. I arrived early, so...”
“So you paid us a visit, of course.” He absently scratched at his mustache. “Didn’t know it took two hours to set up whatever you need for ‘creative writing’, but then, you’re the teacher.”
She knew it was obvious. No reason to keep beating around the bush: “How is she?”
The man heaved a sigh, gesturing for his office. “I’m having some coffee. You?”
“Please.”
It wasn’t tea, but it wouldn’t hurt. And so Maggie found herself back on that creaky chair, cradling a hot mug, waiting for the detective to close the door and sit behind his cluttered desk.
“So Miss Williams,” he began after a good long sip, “about your little protege...”
“I wouldn’t call her my ‘protégée’ sir, like I told you I—”
“Yes, never saw her before, that’s what you said last night. But still, for a girl that dropped right out the blue, she seems to have quite the fixation on you.”
She couldn’t deny. The poor girl had clung to her like chick to hen from the moment she pulled her from the rain. Handing her over to the policemen and doctors had been... tense, for all involved. Maggie herself could hardly claim indifference by then. “How is she?”
“Still asking for you, last I’ve heard. Haven’t been able to get much more out of her, to be frank.”
That’s what she had been afraid of. “May I help in any way?”
“You’ve already did plenty. Don’t worry, she’s being taken care of.”
She merely acted like any good Christian should. And yet... “What will happen to her now? Did you find anything?”
“Well,” he started, worrying at his mug, “you and your family have always been upstanding members of this community, and it’s clear you only wish the best for the girl... So, can I trust that this'll all stay between us?”
She always had qualms, taking advantage of a reputation and influence she knew weren’t truly deserved. She also had to know. “Absolutely.”
The one heartfelt word seemed enough of a promise for the detective, who leaned forward over his desk: “So, for now we’re still keeping her in custody at Mercy, and... Oh no don’t worry, she’s not charged with anything, that’s just procedure. Though we did have to restrain her, make sure she wouldn’t run away again. For her own good, you understand?”
Maggie didn’t, no – it wasn’t what she had had in mind when she let the officers take her to the hospital. Still she nodded for him to continue.
“She’ll stay at the shelter in Ames, will drive her there myself as soon as the doc is done with her. In the meantime we get the court office and Human Services involved, that’s still procedure, and they’ll contact her parents or guardians. We’ll get her back home in no time.”
Now that she knew the girl herself didn’t have in mind, at all. “Maybe she had good reasons to leave..?”, she ventured.
That made him raise a thick, graying eyebrow. “Really now? You know something we don’t?”
“No sir, I already shared everything with you last night.”, she was quick to say, trying to placate the detective with the small lie. “I was just... wondering.”
And wondering she had. All night, in fact. The girl may’ve been framing her ordeal as some allegorical fantasy, the details of which Maggie had kept to herself, it still suggested a pretty unsavory story. A story in which a tyrannical mother figure was the obvious antagonist...
“Well from what little you got out of her, she’s clearly a runaway.”, the man said. “The doc didn’t see anything unusual, beyond the bruises and giant tattoos, and she looked well fed. Hasn’t reported abuse, either. Hopefully we’ll get some real answers soon... Anyhow, that’s the gist of it.”, he concluded, laying back into his seat with an attempt at a reassuring smile. “Everything’s being taken care of, you can rest easy Miss Williams.”
That wouldn’t be possible – she knew too much, and too little. The girl might be confused, she still had been very purposeful in what she had said and what she had kept to herself... including her real name. “Are you sure they will find her parents? Have you identified her?”
The smile disappeared behind the rim of his mug. “Still in progress.”, answered the detective after slurping down what remained of his coffee. “Made a few calls. FBI has the info, if she’s from out of state. We may have the Herald publish something, just in case.”
“And... if you can't find her parents?”
He shrugged. “Not really our ball to play, like I just said we done pretty much everything we could on our side. Court and Human Services will keep looking into it. And if for some reason they can’t get their hands on them, the girl will stay in shelter, or go to foster care, something like that.”
But Maggie was all too aware of the issues with this outcome. Even if she did suspect her to be younger, the girl had been firm that she was seventeen. It’s what she would’ve told the doctors and the police. With the time it could take for the courts to do their work... she may very well just age out of the system. Discharged without having received the help she sorely needed.
Unacceptable.
“Sir, wouldn’t it be possible if—”
“Please Miss Williams,” he cut her off, irritation building, “just let it go already. You’ve done your citizen’s duty, and we’re all very grateful. But she’s not one of your students. And there’s people whose job it is to take care of things now. So please don’t try to get involved. This whole affair already has everyone on edge, especially after that rotten year. And I for one don’t want to give even more heart issues to Chief O’Brien. Do we agree or not?”
She clutched the lukewarm mug on her lap. It was foolish, she knew. She had done her duty.
But duty wasn’t enough.
God had put this poor soul on her path for a reason. She was obviously confused, and needed kindness and support more than anything else. Something she certainly wouldn’t find if they sent her back to wherever she came from, and probably not in some shelter either. Especially if the girl would take the first opportunity to leave, as she suspected.
The girl would vanish, she just knew it. She had seen it.
She wouldn’t let it happen another time.
Sunset nearly stumbled on the last step out of the bus. Miss Williams caught her before she could embarrass herself in front of the driver.
What was it with this world and their obsession for stupidly steep stairs anyway? A blatant public safety issue, that’s what it was!
But no matter. Her squeaky, constrictive shoes now firmly on the ground, Sunset shook off the helpful hand, straightened herself, and strode towards the school.
She had an unobstructed view of the statue, and the portal moored in its dais. The place hadn’t changed much in a week, beside the rain – not that she expected it to. If her jailers didn’t believe her in the first place, they had no reason to investigate what was a mundane art piece, to their naive eyes.
Well their loss! They could stay rotting in their sordid, magicless universe until the end of time, for all she cared. She herself had no intention to stick around.
She advanced on the dais, arm outstretched, ready to brave Limbo one last time...
... But she was met only by cold, unyielding stone.
It took Sunset an inequine amount of effort to not bash her spindly little hands against the hard surface.
What in the blazes had happened!? The portal had to work in both directions! What would be the point otherwise? Feeling the marble surface, she remembered well how differently it had reacted to that exact same stimulus, the night of her arrival. Conditional then? Cyclical, maybe. Lots of old unicorn spells like that.
But if it was a cycle... Was it on the scale of days? Months?
Years..?
For all she knew it only worked during rainy evenings every three centuries and a half.
For all she knew, she’d be stuck there for the rest of her miserable life.
What kind of two-bit magicians would forget to mention something so essential!? These treatises on portals were half warnings and half more warnings! All to discourage feeble-minded ponies from daring to research them, of course, but somehow they wouldn’t also include the very real dangers a worthy unicorn could face!? No wonder portals became a lost art in the first place, if those ancient idiots had withheld the most important details!
That had to be it, they just wanted to carry their secrets to the grave! No other explanation made sense. The idea that in her rush she could’ve overlooked such a crucial aspect was frankly too ridiculous to entertain.
But she wouldn’t admit defeat just yet! No, there had to be a solution, a trick, anything to—
“Sunny? Are you all right?”
Sunset did her best to school her expression into something that wouldn’t immediately convince her benefactor to send her right back to the cops. Good thing she had her ‘sad angry teenager’ impression down pat: “Sorry Miss Williams, I... I thought I’d lost something around here, but no luck.”
The tall woman gave her a wary look. “Oh, well... Hopefully someone found it, we’ll have to ask around. Follow me, please.”
“Yes, Miss Williams.” Sunset picked up the bag she had dropped in her shock, and did as she was told.
Still so unnerving how all these humans spoke near-perfect Equestrian... Practical, though. Maybe like the portal translated her form, it also made her able to understand and be understood? It was at least more likely than the idea that, somehow, the two species’ languages had converged so seamlessly as to be indistinguishable, a universe apart.
They had looked at her weirdly when she tried some Eponese, however. And crossing the metal gate, she still had difficulties deciphering the plaque next to it; the name of the school, no doubt. If some magical translation was involved, it certainly wasn’t perfect then.
At least she was heading to the ideal place to familiarize herself with the local script. She sure had time on her new hands to do so now. Lots of time, if she were unlucky enough.
Because she was trapped. Exiled.
And it was all her fault! This was exactly what the Princess’s lack of trust had led to, pushing her own student into more and more reckless attempts to prove her worth! She would have never needed to go to such extremes if only, if only that stubborn alicorn had just listened for once, instead of always commanding, and reprimanding, and...
And she really needed to get a grip already. Shaking with impotent rage in the middle of the courtyard would do her no good. She had to bide her time for now, and that meant following after Miss Williams.
She was Sunset Shimmer after all, horn or not – and she would find a way. Eventually.
Right then, the way passed through this human school.
How she first mistook the blocky building for the SGU, she couldn’t imagine. Granted, it had been nighttime, she had been roughed up by Limbo... The reddish brown stone with white accents wasn't quite as close to the purple and cream of the original, in the light of day. The equine reliefs and other ornaments didn't depict famous unicorns of times past, but deformed horses, like the statue in front of the gate. Horseshoes everywhere, instead of magical symbols like stars and swirls, or even horn motifs. Alright, maybe there were still some parallels in the shape of some of these ornaments, though they were a lot less expansive there. Humans and their lack of good taste... No doubt about it, this was a far less prestigious institution, a mere school for magicless foals. And not even foals at that...
Miss Williams held the glass door open for her. Now that she wasn’t shivering to death, Sunset had the chance to notice that the interior of the foyer did offer some more parallels, in the color and disposition of its decorations. She hadn’t been to that many schools in her life, maybe this wasn’t anything special? Then again, she doubted most schools in this universe or the other also had teachers with such an uncanny likeness to Princess Cel—
“Could you wait for me here?”, asked her benefactor, pointing at a bench. “It’ll only be a minute.”
“Of course.” Even then, Miss Williams waited for Sunset to take a seat before entering the nearby office – the principal’s, she’d told her.
Was she afraid she’d try to get away? As if the young unicorn had anywhere left to go... No, staying by Miss Williams’ side was still her best bet, she just had more... clearheaded, pragmatic reasons now.
She laid back against the wall, letting out a long, frustrated sigh, and waited.
No students yet to fill the halls, too early in the day. Only some faculty members, who were casting strange looks Sunset’s way. She’d think they saw her as the pony she really was, but no, by now she knew they couldn’t see past her current form. To them, she was just another human. Probably wondering what she was doing here.
Couldn’t blame them; she’d asked herself the very same question often enough these days.
Her eyes drifted to the large glass case on the other side of the hall. It held a variety of pictures and trophies, including some kind of tiara, but it’s her own reflection that claimed her attention.
A human, just like they all saw. Her mane was dull, the coppery brown a far cry from her fiery locks. Her coat-less skin a muted tan, darker than Miss Williams's. The only traces of her true self were her eyes, and the cutie marks hidden under her pants, now almost garish in how their vivid colors clashed with the rest.
If only she’d jumped back through that darn portal before the cops could arrive...
How could she have been so foalish..? To believe that somehow, this humble school teacher would be the mover of the heavens, the sun resplendent, the Princess’s incarnation in this world! Like the school itself, the resemblance had to be purely superficial, a matter of random chance! A slight similitude of voice, a familiar gaze, the tall bearing... Maybe it was just her own mind trying to find patterns where there were none. Trying to find something, anything that’d mean she wasn’t just the butt of some cosmic joke!
Margaret Williams wasn’t what she had hoped she’d be... But she was still kind. Far more so than the Princess in fact. If she hadn’t petitioned the court for guardianship so ardently, Sunset’s situation would’ve still been far from being resolved. Or so the other residents of the youth shelter had suggested.
Not the ally she was looking for when she came to this world, but an ally nonetheless, yes. And one that she had to take full advantage of!
And wasn’t it what Sunset had always done, making the best of her situation? Things could never be easy for her, but she always managed to come out on top! This wouldn’t be any different, she...
She...
Who was she trying to convince, exactly..? She wasn’t sure of anything anymore.
Would the Princess come to her rescue? Even after everything she did?
Did she even notice she was gone..?
Her diversion had been minutely planned after all, the false evidence planted in all the right places. So as long as Cadenza would keep her mouth shut...
She did have a way to ask for help, though.
The fabric bag clutched in her hands held her only possessions. Well, the ones the cops hadn’t confiscated; she sure wouldn’t see the color of her bits again. But they must’ve found the communication book harmless enough, unable to read the ‘gibberish’ written on its pages. And they probably thought her aetherometer was some kind of toy, another proof of these people’s magical illiteracy if she ever needed one... Though from what she had learned of their recent history, it was probably for the best.
So she could... simply write something in the book. If the Princess hadn’t disposed of her own copy yet, she...
Wait, would it even work with the portal closed? The enchantment was only rated for pan-Equestrian communications! Should she try writing right now, as a test? What could she even say that wouldn’t just have the Princess slam the book shut? Or sermon her on her foolishness? Oh, but there could be a way to test it out without risking anything, and she just had the ideal instrument for that!
Sunset pulled the aetherometer out. The needle of the telluric flow compass was behaving erratically, confirming the readings she had made from the other side of the portal weren’t a fluke. Then this world’s magicosphere, rather than absent altogether, really was this chaotic, without any of the major aetheric currents she had learned to recognize. How could complex, intelligent life even evolve under these conditions..?
Question for another time. Right then, all she needed to do was fiddle with the antenna, increase sensitivity, and...
Yes, there! A weak but stable reading through the noise – by pointing the antenna just right, in the direction of the statue outside. Perfect match for the Celestial Arm of the Canterhorn-Monoceros Double-Swirl!
So the portal was still open, and leaking a sliver of true magic into this world. The gap may simply be too narrow for establishing a proper bridge between mirror and statue, one strong and stable enough for matter to travel through. She’d been right, it had to be cyclical then! Now that she thought about it that was even perfectly logical: accumulating enough magic on this side of the portal had to require time, to either capture enough residual magic coming through the gap, or accumulate enough from the chaotic flows of the human world.
This was excellent news! A spell that was still active, even at such low-energy levels, was unlikely to rely on a cycle of more than a few weeks or months. After all, it had to balance the amount of leaking magic while dormant. Starswirl the Bearded’s spells were far too elegant to allow for anything else. And though she couldn’t find notes on the subject from his own horn, all her research pointed to the legendary sorcerer as the progenitor of the portal arts.
Only a short while to wait, and she’d be able to detect the portal fully reopening with the aetherometer.
Only a short while, and she’d be back home, back to her true self! Then she’d have the means to come up with another plan.
The office door opened, making her jump. “Sunny, could you come in please?”
Sunset just had to bide her time. Play along for now, and then leave it all behind. Nothing would keep her away from her destiny longer than absolutely necessary!
She stashed the aetherometer back in her bag and rose from the bench. “Yes Miss Williams.”
The door closed behind her.