For the fortieth time that day, Sunset Shimmer wished she could cast magic again. Several years ago, almost a lifetime ago, Sunset stood proudly as Celestia’s apprentice. She had access to libraries of spells, the authority to learn whatever she desired, and the right to use those spells. She knew all the Techniques: Create, Control, Perceive, Transform, and Destroy. She knew all the forms: Matter, Energy, Body, Image, and Mind. And for the last thirteen years, they all meant nothing.
Living in the Human World, a strange mirror of the pony world she knew so well, had challenges her younger self had not been prepared for. Most she learned from, and it did talk her out of the revenge-fueled mania she had from back in the day. However, lacking all magic still irked her in her day-to-day life.
Yes, she had hands, which certainly helped with most things, but their range was severely limited. What’s worse, unlike telekinesis, which she could use right now, they couldn’t work around solid objects.
“Come on,” she whispered, tapping at the glass. “Come on…”
The bag of chips teetered on the edge, caught between the wire cage, the glass, and the long drop to freedom.
Sunset only had a ten-minute break, it was already six pm, and this would be the closest thing she’d have for dinner until nine. “Come on, fall,” she muttered, willing the bag to fall. “I already paid for you. I just need you to fall.”
The bag of chips refused.
Sunset placed both hands on either edge of the breakroom vending machine and tried to shake it, but the stubborn bag refused.
She threw her shoulder into the mechanical captor of her well-earned snack, and it thundered as it rocked on its stubby, hidden legs.
The bag did not move.
“Come on!” She growled, body checking the machine once more.
Thump-thump, the machine bellowed, threatening to tumble over and crush her if she tried any harder.
She let the machine settle and glared at the bag one more time before she backed up to try again before—
“Sunset!”
The red-and-yellowed-haired woman nearly leaped out of her skin as the voice of her current employer roared behind her. “Uh, Mr. Shine! What do you need?”
Shoe Shine, the owner of Spitshine Shoes, glared down at her. “I need you to stop making so much noise that the customers can hear you on the floor.”
She winced. “Yes, sir. Sorry, the machine just…it still has my chips.”
Mr. Shine sighed before putting in another fifty cents and pressed the buttons for a selection.
The machine whirred to life, releasing a candy bar above the bag, knocking it free. Mr. Shine removed the candy bar from the tower of snacks and circuitry before passing Sunset her chips. “Talk to us next time, please.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied.
He nodded. “Eat up, finish your break, and start cleaning the floor. I want to be out by 8:30 tonight.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sunset sighed and sat on the metal folding chair before opening the bag. As she sat, she couldn’t help but hear a tiny voice in her head comment about how the young woman might lose this job next if she wasn’t careful.
“I didn’t lose the last job,” she reassured herself. “I quit because I didn’t feel like staying in a bank. I’m not made to be a clerk.”
No, the little voice agreed, sarcasm dripping from each word. Instead, you didn’t want to stick with food service, either. Or Working in a bookstore, a hobby shop, or a game store. You’re just shopping around.
Sunset didn’t bother answering that accusation. She just needed to find the right fit for herself, that was all. Yes, it meant she was currently stuck with two part-time jobs to make rent, but at least Mr. Shine was one of her better bosses—fights over vending machines notwithstanding. Sunset just needed time to find the right job for her. Sure, it’d take a little time, but then she’d take the human world by storm.
Sunset ate her chips and quickly found herself at the end of the bag and hoped it would be enough until she could grab some dinner on the way back home. She set the bag aside before grabbing a water bottle. She sipped quietly, taking time to breathe and relax before throwing herself back onto the frontlines of the sales floor.
She came to the end of her water bottle faster than she liked, which meant her break would not last much longer.
She sighed. “Come on, Sunset. Tonight’s not even that bad. You just need to close. That’s all.”
The young woman checked the time on her phone.
Already up.
Maybe it was some leftover temporal synchronization from the last time she went through the portal to Equestria, but time never seemed to flow the way it should.
Or that could be brain chemistry taking advantage of a quiet moment.
Sunset threw away the bag and bottle, then returned to work.
---♦---
They did not leave at 8:30. A customer knocked over a display of their new high-end sneakers with only two minutes until the doors closed. The whole thing needed to be re-stacked, which took almost all her time while everyone else ensured the returns were properly sprayed down to “disinfect” them and then do everything she usually had to take care of.
Still, the important thing was that she was done. At the end of the day, all she could do was head to her poor, beat-up car, climb in, and head to a burger place to the nearest drive-through.
“Number 1, medium, with lemonade, please,” she recited into the speaker.
“Absolutely, that’ll be 6.44 at the next window,” the male voice said.
“Thank you,” she said, mostly on autopilot.
She pulled up and held out cash for her dinner, but as she did, her mind wandered back to her thoughts from the day. If she wanted to be technical, which she usually did, she still had some access to magic.
Her little crystal had some “Equestrian” magic, a strange subset of Mind magic she hadn’t seen before. In fact, the crystal may not have been Equestrian magic at all but perhaps came from somewhere else entirely.
She took her change and pulled to the next window.
Maybe the portal changed how magic worked? It already messed with time, body composition, and shape while keeping brains seemingly untouched. As this was an entirely alternate universe, it was theoretically possible that the rules of magic could change. Yes, everything else about the portal could be possible with enough magical power and knowledge, but that didn’t mean the portal was changing those things because of magic. It could simply be ensuring that anything that enters plays by the new world’s rules.
The cashier handed Sunset her bag of food. “Thank you!” she said.
“Have a good evening!”
Sunset drove off, heading to the rundown area of downtown, where her home awaited her.
Sure, it still wasn’t the friendliest place in the world, but considering she couldn’t even get a bank account without proving she was born, all that mattered was that the landlord accepted cash and asked no questions.
Pulling her rough-looking hatchback next to the apartment’s sidewalk, Sunset sighed and began climbing the stairs to her apartment. The light flickered in the stairwell, and the other bulb blew out months ago, but no one bothered the landlord about it.
After all, he didn’t ask questions, so they didn’t ask questions of him.
Up the single flight of stairs, she went to her little sanctuary and breathed in the smell of home.
Tinged only slightly with mildew.
Sunset turned on her computer and pulled her sandwich from the bag, which was only slightly cold now. Taking a satisfying bite, she watched as her screens came awake. A moment later, Chaos, the message board she used to keep up with the girls, opened.
No one was online.
Her smile dropped, and she leaned back into her chair again.
She wasn’t shocked. It was midterms, and with the rest of her friends in various colleges around the country, they were probably spending the time studying.
Except for maybe one.
She sent a message directed specifically at Rainbow Dash, and like clockwork, she came online a few seconds later.
“Sunny! What’s up?” came Rainbow’s text reply.
“Hey, Rainbow. I just got off work. Just wondering what all of you guys are up to.”
“Not much,” Rainbow replied without punctuation, “just the usual. I have a match I gotta prep for and a test I need to pass if I’m going to keep my sports scholarship, but that’s not for another week.”
“Shouldn’t you be studying for that?”
“Not yet.”
Sunset frowned but didn’t push the matter any further.
“Anyway,” Rainbow continued. “Where are you working this week?”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “I do not change jobs that much.”
“Sounds like stalling to me,” she responded, using a winking emoji.
“I’m still at Spitshine, thank you.”
“Right. I’m sure. Look, you’ve been offered a job at the bank. It makes the money you need, and you might be able to…well, saying it now just makes it sound more illegal.”
“I’m not going to work with Flash.”
“Didn’t you guys make up?”
“No. We’re just pretending we didn’t date, which is not far from the truth, but it’s still weird.”
“Well, why is it weird if you didn’t date?”
“Because we did, and when we were dating, I was explicitly using him for popularity. It was not great, Rainbow. We tried to move past it, but it is weird, okay.”
“Alright, alright. So the bank’s out. What else have you got.”
“I don’t know,” Sunset typed before popping a fry in her mouth. “I’m trying Spitshine, and I hope it works out.”
“I hope it does for you too.”
Sunset began typing a new response, preparing to start a new sentence before Rainbow sent another message. “I actually gotta go. I do have practice tomorrow morning. Have a good night, Sunset.”
She sighed and backspaced over her entire message before starting again. “Alright, have a goodnight, Rainbow.”
Rainbow sent a wave, and she disappeared from the app, leaving Sunset alone in her apartment.
She finished her sandwich before she turned to face her car seat-turned-couch and the game console sitting next to it that she hadn’t had a chance to pull up in months.
“Might as well,” she muttered.
---♦---
Night Silk, Master Thief and Royal Spymaster for High Princess Twilight Sparkle, Keeper of the Skies, The Archmage Ruler, Protector of the Tribes, Lady of Friendship, etcetera, etcetera, glared at the dossier in front of him.
What he saw wasn’t encouraging.
According to his report for the Princess, there was a powerful artifact—an Intellect Crystal—found in the northern mountains of the Crystal Empire. He hadn’t thought much of it, but when Twilight heard, she nearly jumped off her throne in shock. She ordered it to be secured immediately and brought to her castle to be thrown into a vault immediately.
He obeyed. After stealing some documents from the Princess’s bedside table when she didn’t lock it. Again.
He sent a few of his new Inquisitor agents—high-ranking guards with additional training to help them sneak into high-profile areas—up north, but none have reported back.
After getting a little suspicious, Night went to the Ladies Celestia and Luna’s mansion to try and pry additional information out of them, and they told him that while the Crystal was dangerous, it shouldn’t keep ponies from returning on their own.
And then Celestia made her recommendation.
“If sending your Inquisitors isn’t working,” she said, hiding her new coltfriend behind her, “maybe you need to send somepony with a different skill set. I know a mare that worked extensively with Mind magic all the time, and she would be incredibly useful to you.”
And that led him to this table, with this folder.
Sunset Shimmer, apprentice of Celestia.
Terrorist, thief, and runaway criminal.
Night reminded himself to send a security advisor to Princess Cadence when he could. When he was in Celestia’s employ, having a pony appear in the middle of her castle to steal an Element of Harmony was a worst-case scenario. Now that he was Spymaster, he had to ensure it didn’t happen to their allies again.
More importantly, this wasn’t the best sign that she should be trusted. Yes, Celestia vouched for the mare, but Night hadn’t seen more red flags in a profile since his own. This Sunset had actively tried to take over the country and threatened Princess Twilight’s life and then some.
But Celestia was vouching for him.
The door to his office opened, and he glanced back to see Twilight enter the room. “How are you doing?” she asked.
“Well, Celestia’s suggested a mare that might be able to do what we need, but I’m not sure she’s trustworthy.”
“Let me see?” she asked, sliding beside him. She pressed her neck up against him and glanced down at the folder. “Wait, Sunset? Sunset Shimmer?”
“The mare that threatened your life and stole the Element of Harmony? Yes,” Night Muttered. “I’m not sure why Celestia would—”
“Why didn’t I think of that?”
Night paused before looking at the Princess. “Pardon?”
“Oh, Sunset’s great! She’s got the perfect skill set to work with an Intellect Crystal. She should still have the enchanted journal I gave her. I can get her here in a day.”
Night blinked. “Did I miss something? The folder said she’s a terrorist.”
“She was. For a bit. But ‘terrorist’ is maybe a little strong of a word.”
Night blinked.
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you all about it later. The point is, Sunset’s perfect for the job. I’ll call her for a morning meeting, and we can brief her on the situation.”
Night sighed before setting down the folder. “So, you’re friends with the mare that stole your Element of Harmony? How fast did this happen?”
“Well, about three days or so,” she said.
Night sighed.
“She did get blasted by the Elements if it helps,” she said, giving him a smile.
“Having a magical beam hit the moral reset button does help, I guess.”
Twilight used her wing to pull him toward the door. “Come on, let’s go get dinner. I’ll contact Sunset in the morning.”
Night nodded and set the folder on his desk before leaving his office behind. “So, is it just the two of us again?” Night asked.
“Spike and Raven are planning a dedication to a new orphanage,” Twilight said. “No doubt somepony in the audience will ask about the Inquisitor Program, so they’re trying to prepare a few flashcards with the best response and then a decent deflection.”
“And you’re not doing that yourself?”
“As Princess, I have to delegate. It’s a lesson I have to keep re-learning.”
The smile on her face said something very different.
“Princess, you really shouldn’t give me so much attention. As Spymaster, I’m supposed to be in the shadows and ignored. Especially since the Inquisitor program is as young as it is, we don’t want the press making this a bigger deal than it already is with rumors about favoritism going around.”
Twilight frowned. “It’s dinner, Night. What’s the matter with that?”
“Nothing, Princess. The problem is more that it’s dinner with just me.”
“And?” she said, starting to look upset.
He inwardly grimaced. “We just… don’t need that kind of rumor at the moment,” he said. “We can try later.”
Twilight frowned. “Fine,” she muttered.
Night gave her a gentle smile, hoping that would buy him some time.
“Time for what?” a part of him wondered.
He wasn’t an idiot. He knew she was trying to get him along, to take him on makeshift dates and start a real relationship, and he wanted that too. He flirted with that idea when he and Twilight were stealing from thieves, but something...happened.
He wasn’t sure what or why, but something happened. It wasn’t okay anymore, for reasons he wasn’t sure about. Something changed as he stepped from the darkness into the light, and a part of him hated it.
“Well, as soon as you call her, we can brief her on the situation.”
Twilight nodded, but Night still felt he hadn’t improved his situation.
But it was what he had.