Evening in Ponyville.
A gorgeous sunset in the west was just fading, though it still cast multicolored light over the small town. From the second-floor
balcony of the library, Twilight Sparkle smiled appreciatively, and then dove right back into her book.
Several minutes later she became aware of wingbeats in the air overhead. They sounded firm but steady, instantly ruling out the possibility of Rainbow Dash dropping in for a visit.
Could be Fluttershy, Twilight thought, but her wingbeats are lighter… Finally Twilight looked up, having been frustrated by all her attempts to identify to flier ahead of time.
To her surprise, Twilight saw a muscular pegasus descending on her library. He had a light pumpkin-colored coat—or so Twilight thought—and a dark blue mane with a barely-visible lighter tone running through it. Most notably, he was wearing the armor that denoted him as a member of the Canterlot Royal Guard. He was guiding a pony-sized bubble of magical golden energy through the air just ahead of him.
Odd.
Then Twilight saw the somewhat-blurred image of the pony inside the bubble. She did a double take.
But—but that’s—
The pegasus guard was landing now. The bubble popped as it impacted the balcony, and the pony that had been inside stumbled out, blinking owlishly. Twilight immediately stood and stepped back warily, for the unicorn mare just in front of her was very, very familiar.
Sunset Shimmer.
Sure, it had been months since Twilight’s escapade through the mirror, more than enough time for her to reacquaint herself with her pony form. Sure, the last time she had seen Sunset Shimmer had been when they were both humans. But the sight of her old enemy still sent chills through Twilight’s body.
The pegasus stallion cleared his throat, and Twilight focused on him. Sunset Shimmer wasn’t a threat. Yet. For now Twilight could listen to what this gentlecolt had to say.
“Princess Twilight Sparkle,” the pegasus began. “You are by the order of Her Majesty Princess Celestia hereby gifted with the servitude of this, Sunset Shimmer.”
“But—but what does that mean?” Twilight stammered.
“For her crimes, against ponykind in general and against you in particular, Sunset Shimmer has served a term of six months in prison—”
Then it had only been six months since they’d captured her. It had been nearly a year since Twilight’s journey through the mirror. So Sunset’s capture was more recent than Twilight had at first thought.
“—and is now officially enslaved to you,” the pegasus finished. “The bond has already been magically enacted. Sunset Shimmer must obey any command you give her, or she will feel immense—” He stumbled slightly over the words. “Immense, incurable pain. The same will happen if she attempts to hurt anypony. Her magic is…” He paused, ever so slightly. “Taken care of.”
Twilight gasped. Sunset Shimmer’s horn had been broken—and not at the tip, either, but at the base. It could never be regrown. Sunset Shimmer had lost her capacity for magic forever.
“The bond is for life,” the pegasus said. He was speaking faster now, clearly eager to be done with this. “She is yours.”
He waited for a reply. When Twilight said nothing he turned, as if to fly away.
But at the last second, he stopped.
“I… I have no right to say this, but—I ask that you do not treat her too harshly.” The pegasus’s business-like expression and voice were gone. He was begging, pleading for Sunset Shimmer’s sake. “Please.”
Then he was gone. Twilight Sparkle watched him glide away into the sunset until she could no longer see him.
Then, she turned to look at Sunset Shimmer.
The broken horn was hardly the only different thing about her old enemy. Sunset Shimmer’s mane, one long and lusciously groomed, was ragged and tangled now. Her face was bruised, and several scars ran the length of her visible backbone. Twilight shivered. Six months in prison might not seem much, but the punishments meted out to criminals of Sunset’s degree were more than enough to fill that time.
“Um—come on, then,” Twilight said. Sunset Shimmer followed her into the library without a word.
Twilight stood inside the balcony door for several minutes, trying to think on what to do. Too much had happened in the last ten minutes, and she was trying to process it all at once.
Not helping. She looked, briefly, back at Sunset Shimmer. Find a solution to the immediate problem.
The basement. The library’s ample basement should have a room she could use. Twilight hurried through her living quarters and down the stairs. Sunset followed her. The unicorn was eerily silent, too silent. Celestia wouldn’t have used a silencing spell on her—would she? Then again, it might not have been Celestia who had directly sent her.
Twilight opened the door to the basement with her telekinesis and led Sunset through the cluttered main area to an unused spare room.
“You—you can sleep here,” she said. “Um—I don’t have an extra bed, or anything, but I guess we can sort that out tomorrow.”
Sunset glided into the empty room. She was still graceful. There was that, at least, that hadn’t been lost during her time in prison.
“Thank you, Mistress.”
The words were murmured, so quietly, yet they shocked Twilight to the core. The lavender alicorn managed to stumble up the stairs to the ground floor, then to her room, but the words still rung in her head as she moved.
“Thank you, mistress.”
Only then did the pegasus’s message from the Princess truly sink fully into Twilight’s brain.
Sunset Shimmer is mine—my slave—forever. Now she understood the pegasus’s plea on his prisoner’s behalf, though why he would say something like that still eluded her.
I—I could kill her, and Princess Celestia would probably do nothing.
It was a sobering thought. It took up most of the rest of Twilight’s evening; for even though she tried to study, the pages of her books seemed to show her nothing but Sunset Shimmer’s face.
“Thank you, Mistress.”
She’s… mine.