Aeon Legion: Starlight

by NightFlame389

Chapter IV: Saturn City

Graduation had come and gone.
For Sunset, it wasn’t a spectacle. It wasn’t special at all. When she applied to join CHS, she saw it as nothing more than a stepping stone to her true goal: alicornhood.
Many would assume she had forgotten about that goal, but that was not the case. She had merely put it on the back burner while she focused on friendship and saving the world from rogue magic. In fact, after her little humiliation at the Fall Formal (probably an understatement but whatever), she had almost completely given up on alicorn ascension and only started thinking about it as a possibility again after the Friendship Games.
But even then, it was just that: a possibility. It wasn’t something she was actively chasing.
Until the incident with the Aeon Legion, she had only ever given three after-CHS possibilities any real thought. The first was returning to Equestria and figuring out what to do next from there. This was the less legally risky option.
Another was attending a human university. Unfortunately, a college would look deeper into her past than Principal Celestia did and all the fake IDs and tax evasion, not to mention technical illegal immigration and probably identity theft as well, assuming they managed to track down her human counterpart, would all come crashing down on her.
The last one was creating an agency to keep track of magic leaking into the human world from the two known portals and track down and dispose of all artifacts and other magical things that Starswirl and Clover had banished over the years.
The last one wasn’t exactly mutually exclusive with the others. With enough help on the human side and support from the Equestrian government, she could easily set something up, even if her friends were too busy.
Speaking of the two portals, Princess Twilight had suggested that they donate a new statue to replace the one destroyed during the Friendship Games, not just for the sake of replacing the statue, but to seal the top of the portal as well, to make sure no magic would leak through the top.
Starlight had remained in the human world for the past week. Abhinav had popped back to say that the Legion didn’t have the capability to monitor Equestria so it was safer for her in the human world. Starlight had begged Abhinav to return to at least check on Trixie, but Abhinav refused to let her. It took Sunset reminding Starlight about the journal for her to back down.
A concussion was the worst of Trixie’s injuries and she would make a full recovery in a few days. The other injured ponies had recovered even faster as none of them had head injuries.
At the moment, most of her friends were gathered at a local diner for lunch. Her friends were talking about their futures.
A future she didn’t have.
Not without highly illegal activities, at least.
Which, to her dismay, she found herself actually considering.
Sunset was barely listening to their chatter. She had already heard everything before: Rarity’s apprenticeship to Prim Hemline, Trixie’s gigs, and Twilight’s seven fully paid scholarships to some of the best schools in the country.
“SunShim, you good over there?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Yeah, just thinking,” Sunset replied, giving her a little smile.
Rainbow Dash slid over to Sunset’s side. “When do you think Arad and Abhinav will be here to pick us up?”
“Speak of the devil and he shall arrive!” Arad announced as he popped up next to the table in a flash of blue light. He looked between the three squires. “Everything all packed up?”
“I forgot,” Starlight whispered to Sunset, leaning over as she did.
“Girls, you’re squishing me in here,” Sunset said, pushing Rainbow Dash and Starlight away. She then said to Starlight, “I’ll tell Twilight to bring your stuff to the portal.”
As she was pulling out the magically linked journal, Abhinav appeared as well, with less flair and presentation than Arad had.
“We have your home addresses so we will pick up your belongings,” he said, just as he vanished again. He soon reappeared with three bags and a potted plant.
“Come on, let’s go!” Arad said, pulling Sunset and Starlight out of the booth. Rainbow Dash had already super-speeded herself next to Arad.
“Bye, Sunny!” Pinkie cheerfully waved.
The group stepped outside. Arad held out his shieldwatch arm. Just above the shieldwatch, six small devices materialized. Arad took two and placed them in Rainbow’s ears. Sunset immediately understood what they were: translators. She took two more and placed them in her ears. Starlight did the same.
“Sonic ciphers will only translate spoken language,” Abhinav explained. “You’ll have to wait until you get your shieldwatches before you can read in every language.”
That didn’t matter to Sunset, as she was already fluent in several languages. Hell, she picked up Japanese just because Flash Sentry made her watch undubbed anime with him when they were dating. She once terrified Twilight with how quickly she managed to pick up a new language.
“Are we ready to move out?” Abhinav asked.
Rainbow Dash gave an enthusiastic thumbs up, while Starlight was more apprehensive, but ultimately gave a confident nod. Sunset gave Abhinav a look that said, “What do you think?
Arad nodded in confirmation, then tapped his shieldwatch.
The world became covered by a grainy blue haze. The world became an azure shadow, almost ghostlike. Then the entire world vanished.
When Sunset looked up, she saw stars. More stars than she had ever seen in her entire lifetime, even if one counted the stars in Equestria and on Earth as separate stars.
Around her, glowing lines stretched out into eternity. Looking back, she saw a bright light, massive enough to make the sun appear like a night light. A large tendril flowed out from the light like a river. When the tendril met spheres of light, it branched out, sometimes into two, sometimes into three. This continued until the entire space was filled with branches and strands of light weaving together. She glanced at the branch they were standing on. She followed it to the beginning. It never connected to the main group, though it did connect to seven others. Sunset noted the one they were on was brighter than the others.
At the opposite end of the bright light was a great darkness. Just before each strand connected, they faded. At the end of many, there were great structures that would be impossible to construct in one lifetime.
Arad motioned for them to move. He pointed to a bright blue beacon in the distance.
They moved towards the bright light. As they passed, Sunset heard many voices emanating from the light. She recognized some of them as famous speeches from history by the greatest speakers of all time, Socrates, Jesus, Celestia, Lincoln, Churchill, Obama, and she swore she heard her own voice as well.
They soon arrived at a circular metal structure. Arad motioned for them to enter.
Around the outer wall of the structure stood twelve tall metal spires. A massive metal ring hovered above, slowly rotating. The entire structure was constructed out of some pearl-white metal. The design reminded Sunset of an ancient Pegasopolis arena.
Arad pointed at the beacon again. “We’re headed there. Just give me a few moments to set up the salient.”
A salient. That’s what the structure was called. If she remembered correctly, it was a type of arena that could change to become anything, but could also act as instantaneous transportation across time.
Arad tapped his shieldwatch holoface. A bright expanding dome of light formed at the center of the salient. Once it encompassed the entirety of the salient, they were suddenly in another location.
It was a small cylindrical room with white walls. The room was just large enough to comfortably fit the five of them.
A blue grid of light formed at the ceiling. Once it passed through them, an automated female voice said, “Biological hazards sweep clear.” Sunset looked around for speakers, but there were none in the room. None visible, at least.
Arad tapped his shieldwatch face again. Half of the wall faded to reveal a busy area filled with people from all across time. Even from outside the gates, Sunset could see a building that looked like it belonged in more Canterlot than in this city. While the rest of the city was pearly white with the occasional dash of color, that building was nothing but Canterlot White and Celestial Gold. At the top of the building was a dome topped by a sculpture of the sun.
The sky above was blue, with a presumably artificial sun giving light to the city. Gone were the stars of the Edge of Time.
Sunset noticed a map off to the side of the chamber they just exited. It was a map of the city, showing twelve sectors. The city itself was almost perfectly circular.
“Nervous?” Arad asked.
“Are you kidding? This place is awesome!” Rainbow Dash grabbed Sunset’s head and turned it towards the sky. “SunShim, look! A UFO!”
In the sky was a fairly large flying metal saucer-shaped object. Rainbow Dash’s grip was so strong Sunset barely managed to nod. “I see it, I see it.”
“That’s a timeship,” Arad explained. “And before you ask, yes, it is our timeships that have caused all those stories about alien spaceships. Especially the conspiracy theorists of Continuum Lambda.”
“Huh?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head slightly to the side. “I thought aliens were actually real for a seco–” She whipped her head towards the side and pointed towards a woman with vaguely avian features. “An actual alien!”
“That is a genetically modified chicken duck woman thing from the bushes of love– I mean, Continuum Xi,” Arad said.
“Are aliens real?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Abhinav replied.
“Why are there so many people?” Starlight asked.
“Every time traveler has to check in at the Saturn City Timeport when returning to their home time if they traveled more than fifty years. It’s mostly to check for cross-time diseases and illegal items.”
A wide shadow passed overhead. Sunset, Starlight, and Rainbow Dash looked up to see a long metal object that looked like it stretched on for miles. It connected to a massive mechanical pillar at the center of the city. In the middle of the pillar was a bright blue orb of glowing energy. The pillar also had two other metal objects connected to it near the orb of energy.
Then it struck her. The city was a massive clock. The twelve sectors represented the twelve hours. The three metal objects were the hands of the clock.
The shortest hand was still several miles long. It barely moved. Another hand moved slowly around the city. The third was the fastest, projecting blue lines of energy as it traveled around the entire city in just sixty seconds.
“Come over here, I found a short line,” Arad said, motioning for them to follow.
He brought them to a building with several arched gates, each marked by a Romane numeral. They joined the line to the gate marked with “VII”.
The next person in line walked up to the gatekeeper and said, “I am merely here to access the Academy Archives.”
“That is strictly forbidden. You are not allowed to access information on your continuum’s future, even if that is not your intent. This was detailed in Section 16, Item 5, Subpoint X of the terms of service you agreed to when you registered your time machine.”
“I just want to know what was in the Library of Alexandria before it burned down,” the man explained. “Besides, who reads the terms of service?”
“If you have a time machine, you are allowed to go back in time and see for yourself, as long as you don’t interfere.” The gatekeeper then added under her breath, “It’s not even that impressive. Baghdad was more impressive”
“Fair enough,” the man said, turning around to leave.
The last person in front of them was a viking accompanied by an Aeon legionnaire with several streaks of silver hair. The legionnaire looked about the same age as Arad and Abhinav.
“Ah, Jaku, I see you found a squire,” the gatekeeper said, typing something into the holographic face of her computer.
“Oh, it’s Jaku,” Abhinav grumbled.
“Who?” Starlight asked.
“Just because he’s three times my age doesn’t mean he’s better than me.”
“He looks good for sixty,” Sunset commented.
“Sixty? He’s damn near six hundred!
Sunset counted the streaks in Jaku’s hair. There were six.
“It’s our turn now,” Arad said, turning around to address the group. “After we check in at the Timeport, we’ll get you fitted for shieldwatches, then you’re free to explore the city.”
Arad stepped up to the gate, pulling Sunset and Rainbow Dash with him. Starlight followed just behind them and Abhinav came at the end.
“Arad, Abhinav, it’s been a while,” the gatekeeper said with a little smile. She looked at the three girls and frowned. “Are these your squires? There’s three of them and only two of you.”
Arad placed his arm around Sunset’s shoulder. “This one has already been squired by someone else. We’re just bringing her to the city.”
“Ah, I see.” The gatekeeper typed something on her holographic computer. “Bags, please.” Sunset, Starlight, and Rainbow Dash all handed their bags to the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper froze them in mid-air with a single wave of her shieldwatch hand. “You may pick up your bags in a few hours at processing. Hands, please.”
Sunset held out her hand. The gatekeeper took one of her fingers and touched it to some device she pulled out of her belt. Starlight and Rainbow Dash did the same. 
The same voice from before said, “DNA cataloged. Welcome to Saturn City, Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, and Rainbow Dash.”
After checking in, they were fitted for shieldwatches and took a psychological exam, then they were let out into the city.
“Arad will pick up your things,” Abhinav said. “Stick close to each other so we can find you later.”
“I didn’t consent to being an errand boy,” Arad grumbled.
Rainbow Dash immediately ran for the recreational sector, but Arad pulled Sunset and Starlight back. “Just so you know, you two should probably keep the fact that you’re from Equestria secret. Most of them have only just found out Equestria exists, and further details are top secret.” That was fine with Sunset. She was still managing to keep several things secret from both Twilights that she’d rather no one knew.
Just then, Sunset noticed a few men wearing similar armor to Arad and Abhinav, but dark gray and with a crescent moon where Arad and Abhinav had an infinity symbol. She decided to ask who they were.
“Oh, those guys? Those are Time Knights in the service of Time King Endymion.”
“Any relation to Time Queen Ananke?” Sunset asked, before realizing that she probably shouldn’t know that. Oops.
“You know of Time Queen Ananke?”
She really shouldn’t have said that.
“Never mind,” she quickly said. She broke off from the two and followed after Rainbow Dash, dragging Starlight with her as she went.
“Huh, wonder what that was about,” Abhinav said as he watched the girls run off.

Sunset and Starlight followed Rainbow Dash’s path, but by then Rainbow Dash had already gone too fast for them to catch up. So then they wandered around that part of the city.
Eventually, Sunset found herself watching a group of people play some sort of game.
Soon enough, Rainbow Dash and another girl entered the area. Sunset waved Rainbow over.
“Making friends already?” Sunset teased.
“I hate her guts,” Rainbow Dash quickly replied.
“Then why are you hanging out with her?”
“Because you and Starlight ran off without me, Arad and Abhinav haven’t come to give us our stuff yet, and she’s the only person I’m even remotely familiar with.”
“From my perspective, you ran off without us, and we never caught up.”
Rainbow Dash didn’t have anything to counter that.
Sunset pointed at the game field. “They’re clearing out. You wanna play?”
Rainbow Dash grinned. “Do you know me?”

Another victory for Sunset Shimmer.
“Jeez, you’re always so competitive,” Rainbow Dash complained.
“Look who’s talking,” Sunset replied.
“I’m gonna pretend like I understood what was happening so I don’t feel left out,” Starlight said from off to the side.
“Wow, you’re really bad at this,” the other girl said to Rainbow Dash as she came up to them.
“Cheeto, why don’t you go suck a–”
“Language!” someone shouted from several feet away, interrupting Rainbow Dash’s presumably vulgar sentence.
There were three girls and two guys. None had any silver hair.
“My dearest Vince, there was no need to get involved in the quarrels of two strangers who are not known to us,” said the prettiest of the three girls, presumably his girlfriend.
“Eh, I just felt like it,” Vince replied.
The group of five walked over to their group of four.
“Greetings, I am Delphia,” said the pretty one. “This is my companion, Terra,” she said while gesturing to the brown-haired girl in the middle. “This one is my partner, Vince. And those two over there would be Terra’s companions, Hikari and Roland.”
“Hey, beautiful,” Roland said to both Sunset and Starlight in a mildly flirtatious tone. Sunset elected to ignore him. Starlight, on the other hand, decided that moment would be the perfect time to blush.
“Okay, well, I’m Sunset Shimmer, and these are Starlight Glimmer, Rainbow Dash, and Cheeto.”
“It is nice to meet you, Sunset Shimmer,” Delphia said. “Will you be attending Aevum Academy?”
“Yes,” Sunset replied.
“Applications begin in two weeks.”
“Applications? I thought all you needed was a squireship.”
“Squireships are only a prerequisite,” Terra said. “It’s like a letter of recommendation. You have to convince the instructors to let you in if you really want in.”
So something like the CSGU entrance exam. Eh, nothing new.
“Have you already done the training there?” Sunset asked.
“Yeah,” Terra replied.
“So have I,” Roland added, completely unprompted. Sunset looked at Delphia, Vince, and Hikari.
“Oh, we haven’t done that,” Vince said.
“And by we, Vince means the two of us, not Hikari,” Delphia added.
Hikari, for the most part, remained completely silent and just glared at Terra.
If Terra, Hikari, and Roland had all gone through the training, then maybe she could learn something to make it as easy as possible for her so she could focus on what she really wanted.
“What can you tell me about the system of training they use?”
“It’s classified,” Terra replied.
“Tell me something that isn’t classified,” Sunset reiterated.
Terra pondered the thought for a moment, then said, “Most legionnaires take squires just for the benefits. The vast majority of those don’t even train their squires themselves. That’s why these days cohorts end up competing for new legionnaires at the post-graduation party instead of legionnaires joining the cohort of whoever squired them.”
“I guess I shouldn’t expect Praetor Corona to teach me anything then,” Sunset noted. Especially since Arad said she had disappeared a while ago.
“Praetor Corona...” Roland thought for a moment. “Hm. Never heard of them.”
“Neither have I,” Delphia added.
“Since we’re all talking anyway, do you know where we can get something to eat?” Starlight suddenly said. “Our lunch was interrupted and I’m starving.”

Apparently, Saturnians didn’t do restaurants. They just found a nice place to sit and summoned food from across time using their shieldwatches. And littering wasn’t an issue either, since any trash on the ground was Restored away by the giant clock mechanism in the middle of the city.
“Want a beer with that?” Vince offered, holding out a bottle for Rainbow Dash.
“No thanks, I’m not twenty-one yet,” Rainbow Dash said, pushing Vince’s hand away.
“Dhimmi, you can just restore the alcohol out of your system,” Vince said, trying to give Rainbow Dash the bottle.
“New time travelers and their fear of consequences,” Vince said, shaking his head.
What was with Saturnians and their complete disregard for consequences? Consequences were a good thing. If she had never faced consequences for her actions, the entire world would have probably been destroyed.
“I’ll take it,” Starlight suddenly said, snatching the bottle out of Vince’s hand and downing it in one gulp.
“Our relationship has ended,” Delphia announced, completely unprompted.
“I see,” Vince said, standing up to leave. He didn’t seem all that sad or disappointed, even pumping his fist as he left.
After he left, Terra said, “Two days, six hours, fifteen minutes, and thirty-eight seconds.”
“Is that a record?” Roland asked, leaning over to look at Terra’s shieldwatch holoface.
“Not yet,” Terra replied, pushing him away.
“Why, exactly, did you just break up with him?” Sunset asked Delphia.
“I did not like the way he spoke,” Delphia replied. “It was like a soft foam on fire.”
“Did you really time how long her relationship lasted?” Starlight asked.
“Yes,” Terra replied, holding up her shieldwatch arm. The holoface did, in fact, say 2:06:15:38.63.
“He lasted longer than the last one,” Roland noted.
“Really?” Sunset said. “How did that one go?”
“His eyes were the wrong shade,” Terra explained. “It lasted fourteen hours, twelve minutes, and sixteen seconds.”
“We challenge each of her boyfriends to last more than four days,” Roland added. “Terra once said someone lasted an entire week, but I don’t believe her.”
“You weren’t there,” Terra snapped back.
“And you weren’t there when I fought the Fatimids in Anatolia.”
“That’s a lie. You were never a crusader.”
“Wow, you’re good.”
After a few silent moments, Terra turned to Sunset and asked, “Do you have a place to stay?”
“Holy crap, I didn’t think about that,” Rainbow Dash said, setting down her sandwich.
“I have an idea,” Sunset replied, looking over at the golden sun she had noticed earlier.
“Really?” Rainbow asked. “Where?”
Sunset pointed at the sun.
“That’s Elysium, the home of the richest of the rich,” said Delphia. “You can’t get a home there unless someone who already lives there lets you in. The homes there are like palaces. You can have as many friends there as you wish. I would like to live there someday.”
“I have a feeling I’ll be let in,” Sunset said.
“What, are you friends with Endymion or something?” Roland asked, poking Sunset in the shoulder.
“Something like that,” Sunset replied, grabbing Roland’s fingers and dipping them in his (still very hot) soup.
As Roland Restored himself to ease the pain, Delphia continued, “The one with the sun on top belonged to a Legendary Blade. She hasn’t been seen in a long time.”
“So how long have you all known each other?” Terra asked, changing the subject.
“I’ve never met this girl before in my entire life,” Rainbow Dash replied, scooching away from Cheeto.
“We met earlier today,” Cheeto said. “She’s an idiot.”
“That was uncalled for,” Rainbow said.
“I’ve known Rainbow Dash for four years, Starlight Glimmer for one, and like Cheeto said, we’ve only known each other for today,” Sunset answered. “How long have you known your friends?”
Roland let out a fake gasp. “Friends? Are we really friends if you just owe me a favor?”
“Mark my words, Roland, I will save your life two more times and you will owe me again,” Terra replied.
“Terra only met me when she arrived at the City Beyond Time,” Delphia explained. “I believe she met the other two during the training.”
“Oh? En garde, fair lady,” Roland said, jumping up and drawing his sword.
“Are you really about to fight in the middle of the streets?” Hikari said.
“Sit down,” Terra commanded.
“Oh well,” Roland said, sitting down.
Speaking of swords, only Roland had one. Presumably, Terra and Hikari had left theirs wherever they were staying.
“Of your friends, are you the leader? Delphia asked.
Sunset thought about it for a moment. Since the Friendship Games, the girls had been turning to her to lead them, and she had been subconsciously stepping up to leadership roles for a while. “I guess,” she replied.
“I see. You are like a star. Brilliant, but distant. But you have many planets orbiting you, so you are not lonely.”
Was that really true? After the Fall Formal showdown, she had always tried to lower herself to the same level as everyone else. But after the Friendship Games, everyone had unanimously declared her the MVP and started treating her like a princess. She hadn’t noticed at the time because she always had her friends with her. But then, that was the point Delphia was making, wasn’t it?
Did Delphia actually know about her life, or was that just a lucky guess?
...why did Delphia even ask that question?

Arad had returned their bags sometime during their little lunch break. Sunset had asked him about the House of the Sun, and he pointed at the golden sun in Elysium, just as she expected. After asking him to send their bags there, Sunset had left for the Shopping District.
Which was just a teensy bit disappointing, since everything was free.
So then she and Rainbow Dash figured out how to call someone’s phone on a shieldwatch, while Starlight and Cheeto just sat there.
“They didn’t bring your clothes?” Rarity said over the video call.
“There’s a shopping district,” Sunset explained. “I picked out a couple of new outfits there. But even then most people tend to just wear the same thing.”
“They keep wearing it over and over and have to wash it over and over, or they have multiple copies of the same thing?”
“Neither. They just Restore themselves when their clothes get dirty.”
“How awfully convenient.” Rarity then changed the subject slightly. “How expensive were the clothes?”
“Get this, everything is free.”
“How would they maintain the economy if everything is free?” Twilight asked, sliding into view.
“This place is a literal utopia and the thing you’re worried about is the economy?”
Twilight shrugged. “I’m just saying, it’s unsustainable in the long term.”
“They duplicate things and there’s no law against shoplifting,” Sunset explained. “Hell, there aren’t any shopkeepers either. They just dump a pile of things there and let any passersby take them.”
Rainbow Dash lifted a plushie of her pony self up to the holoface. “Look what I found!”
“That… certainly is something,” Rarity commented.
“It is!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, barely registering what Rarity said. “It’s awesome! I love it!”
“Aww, it’s adorable,” Fluttershy said, squeezing between Twilight and Rarity.
“How’s Pinkie doing?” Sunset asked.
“She’s trying to figure out your mailing address so she can send you fresh-baked goods,” Twilight replied, shaking her head.
The conversation shifted gears as Sunset introduced the girls to Cheeto. Cheeto said something along the lines of “you’re a bunch of losers”, which Sunset took as a cue to sit her back down.
Fluttershy held Ray up to the camera to say hi. He seemed a little confused by the concept of screens, but happy to see her nonetheless.
After a bit of catching up, Rarity promised to tell Applejack and Pinkie Pie about some of the things they had done in Saturn City, then they hung up. Sunset sat next to Cheeto.
“Do you have family or anyone you want to call?”
Cheeto stayed silent for a moment, as if she was remembering a time that was gone.
“No,” she replied. Her voice was just a little shaky. Not enough to where the average person would notice, but Sunset knew.
Sunset moved closer to Cheeto.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Cheeto replied again, more confident this time. “No.”
Sunset elected to sit there with her.
Maybe there was a reason she had been following them around. If she had no family, no friends to call, of course she would be following the only familiar people she knew around the city.
It was a feeling Sunset knew all too well.
When she was a filly, the only pony she ever spent time around was Princess Celestia. She didn’t know any of the castle staff, the guards, or the guests. She didn’t know any of the nobles. Hay, she didn’t even know any of the students at CSGU. The only one whose name she learned through conversation was Potion Nova, that unicorn mare who was really good at brewing potions and the second best student in their year. Everyone else thought she was above them, unreachable and perfect, so none of them ever reached out.
She wound up throwing herself into her studies, even graduating two-and-a-half years early and entering independent study.
For a while, that was who she was. Smart, powerful, independent, beautiful, and lonely. Only one pony was willing to spend time with her, to truly know her.
Was it any wonder that she had wanted to become just like Princess Celestia, through any means necessary?

“Are you sure we’re allowed in here?” Starlight asked.
“Relax,” Sunset replied. “If we’re not allowed here, then why did Princess Celestia tell me to come here?”
The four of them (Cheeto was still following them at a semi-suspicious distance) were standing in front of a long pathway leading to a white and gold mansion with a giant golden sun sculpture on top. The sun hung low in the sky.
What Sunset had quickly learned about Elysium was that visitors were allowed in the sector as long as they stayed on the normal road and didn’t trespass into someone else’s private property. Architecture buffs enjoyed viewing some of the most beautiful architecture in the city, and that was pretty much the only way they were allowed to see the architecture of Elysium.
Even though Sunset had only been there once, she could tell this mansion was based on the Castle of the Two Sisters, but built out of the same marble and gold as Canterlot Castle. However, unlike Canterlot Castle, there was a fair amount of silver and shades of midnight blue.
“If it wasn’t blatantly obvious who built this thing already,” Sunset muttered under her breath.
The path up to the mansion went through a garden that reminded Sunset of paintings of the castle gardens from centuries past. While she and Starlight took in the sight, Rainbow Dash thundered ahead without regard for any of the plants (Cheeto remained at a semi-suspicious distance).
Upon reaching the door, Sunset turned back to Cheeto and said, “Are you coming with us?”
“I have a different place,” Cheeto replied, shrugging. She took off like a bullet and disappeared elsewhere.
Rainbow Dash stared slack-jawed at the sheer speed of Cheeto. “How– how did she– what?”
“What, are you jealous that someone is faster than you?” Starlight teased.
“That’s not– no! Regular humans aren’t supposed to go that fast!”
“...they’re not?”
Sunset sighed. “Starlight, you have a lot to learn.”
“I swear, because Pony Pinkie Pie can run as fast as–”
“That’s because she’s Pinkie Pie,” Sunset replied.
“Wait what?” Rainbow Dash said at the exact same time. “Oh. That makes sense. Besides, Cheeto isn’t faster than me. Just surprised me, that’s all.”
“Suuure,” Starlight said in a teasing tone.
Sunset held her hand in front of the door, which vanished at her touch.
“Wouldn’t that be a security risk?” Starlight wondered.
“If you really think about it, not really,” Sunset replied. “No one’s breaking in to steal anything because you can summon any item from across time with a shieldwatch, and no one’s breaking in to hurt you because there’s no point.”
“Plus I’m pretty sure those tough guys that we snuck by on our way here are there for a reason,” Rainbow Dash added.
Starlight gasped. “Hold on, are we the security risk?”
“Welcome, Sunset Shimmer,” said a female voice from inside the house, dispelling any fears of trespassing.
“Guess not,” Sunset said as she stepped inside.
“Wonder why that took so long,” Rainbow Dash said as she followed Sunset inside.
After all three of them were inside, the door reappeared.
“How does that work?” Starlight wondered, inspecting the door.
“You don’t have to worry about it,” the voice said again.
Sunset, Starlight, and Rainbow turned to see a fair-skinned woman standing in a doorway.
“Principal Celestia? What are you doing here?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Not quite,” the woman replied. “The name Celestia gave me was ‘Galaxia’, though I took her form as I assumed you would be more familiar with it.
“I am an artificial intelligence based on the Minerva system in Saturn City, assigned to the House of the Sun, the home of Princess Celestia here in Saturn City. The House of the Sun was commissioned by Celestia in 2 BCE, six months after her first visit to Saturn City. It was completed three years later, though she rarely visited. The last time she visited was four months after I was installed.
“While she has not visited Saturn City in a long time, she does keep an archive of all of her students who could potentially arrive in Saturn City, as well as a list of hobbies, interests, and other things that may help me in making this as enjoyable as possible for you.
“Please follow me. I will show you to your rooms. Your belongings are already there”
The three of them followed Galaxia down the hall to a set of five doors marked with cutie marks. There was her own yin yang sun, Rainbow Dash’s cloud and lightning bolt, Starlight’s star and glimmer, a burst of fireworks, and a cat’s paw.
“How did you know we were coming?” Starlight asked, looking between the door and Galaxia.
“I was foretold of your arrival long before you arrived,” Galaxia simply explained.
“That doesn’t explain how you knew Rainbow Dash and I would be here.”
“As I said, I was foretold of your arrival,” Galaxia replied, brushing Starlight’s question aside.
The doors vanished.
“I feel like this is a privacy concern,” Starlight noted. She stuck her head into her room and her face immediately turned red. “I am so past that phase,” she said to no one in particular.
“Your rooms have been personalized through Celestia’s knowledge of you, as well as speaking to those who knew you best.”
Rainbow Dash tried to look into Starlight's room but Starlight blocked her. “Wow, you must have been a rebellious teenager,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Please don’t look into that,” Starlight replied, standing in her doorway. “In fact, please don’t ever come into my room, ever.”
“You know we’re not staying here permanently, right?”
“I know that, but it looks exactly like the room I grew up in, therefore it’s my room.”
Sunset decided to look into her own room and immediately regretted it.
Yep. Rebellious teenager phase.
Too much expensive stuff, so much that Princess Celestia was likely the only pony capable of affording all of it. And with a Post-Time “Economy”, it was effectively all worthless.
Sunset turned back around to find Starlight and Rainbow already gone.
Sunset felt a hand on her shoulder. “Sunset Shimmer,” Galaxia said from behind her, “I would like to speak with you tomorrow.”
Sunset nodded and returned to her room.

She would have to figure out how to update her room with her shieldwatch later. For now, she had a letter to write.
She climbed into the bed and leaned back on the golden sun-shaped headboard.
The bed was just as she remembered it. The Somnambulan cotton sheets, the golden bedframe which likely wasn’t any ordinary form of gold, the poster of the Masked Matter-Horn directly opposite to the bed, everything.
Her bags were just to the side of the bed, so it was easy enough for her to reach down and pull out her journal. Summoning a pen with her shieldwatch, she turned to a blank page and wrote, “Dear Princess Twilight…”

The list of temporal criminals in Equestria was even smaller than Orion remembered.
Strategos Orion, Commanding Officer of the Second Cohort, Third Member of the Legendary Blades, and Second-In-Command of the entire Aeon Legion, was encrypting the most dangerous information about Equestria behind Strategos or higher clearance.
Orion, along with Lycus and Prometheus, had long ago crafted a tale about how those continua had fallen under the purview of another post-time organization, one that had bested even the Legion. The fact that the Legion hadn’t lost so much as a single battle since their founding (Tyche and Reva nonwithstanding) gave all the reason for why Saturnians weren’t allowed in those continua.
Head Councilor Vharos, while not privy to the existence of sapient magical talking equines, was allowed to know some of the more sensitive facts about Equestria, so he would be briefed on the situation so he could inform the other post-time nations.
In effect, this made himself and Consul Prometheus the only two people with access to Equestria, not counting the visits Arad and Abhinav made.
“Attention, Strategos Orion,” came Minerva’s voice from his shieldwatch. “You have a call from Legionnaire Annasamudram.”
“Put him through,” Orion said, pulling up the data on the most dangerous temporal criminal from Equestria.
“Strategos, you left a message saying that we need to talk?”
“Yes, Abhinav. Remember when I told you that despite the severe restrictions on time travel past two weeks in Equestria, there are still quite a few temporal criminals?”
“Yes, what about it?”
“Abhinav, your squire, Starlight Glimmer, is the single most dangerous temporal criminal in the history of Equestria, and the only one to have committed a level seven offense.”
There was a brief moment of (presumably stunned) silence from Abhinav.
“Strategos, no one short of the Forgotten Guns have ever committed level seven offenses.”
Orion sighed. “This is precisely why I needed to talk to you. While Starlight Glimmer seems to have turned herself around, if she steps out of line, I will have no choice but to punish you alongside her.”
Abhinav paused in contemplation, then said, “I understand, Strategos.”
“I will have to cut your paid leave short, as well as strip some of your other squireship benefits.”
“What did she do, exactly?” Abhinav asked.
Orion scrolled down through Starlight Glimmer’s temporal file. “Fourteen counts of unregistered time travel, one count of attempted cross-time assassination, seven counts of altering a nexus event, and one count of violating Prometheus’s Second Law of Time Travel, which I don’t understand how she pulled off.”
“... I see.”
“Well then, Abhinav, don’t let me take away your last ten hours of paid leave.”
Abhinav closed the call.
Normally, he would have Abhinav severely punished and Starlight Glimmer thrown in Tartarus, but the revelation that the other girl, Sunset Shimmer, had been squired by Corona reminded him that Corona always believed in second chances. If the citizens of Equestria had given Starlight Glimmer a second chance, then he would too.
Besides, she could provide useful insight into the minds of the most dangerous temporal criminals.
Yes, he could use Abhinav’s mistake to his advantage.
Orion returned to reading through the files until something caught his eye.
Someone had accessed data about Equestria without proper authorization.
“So that’s how you knew about Miss Glimmer,” Orion whispered. “No matter, I know exactly how to track your location from your little incursion into the database. There isn’t a single singularity AI more powerful than Minerva.”