//------------------------------// // Saturday, AM: The Pebbles You've Arranged // Story: Seven Days in Sunny June, Book II // by BlueBastard //------------------------------// Saturday, AM: These Pebbles You’ve Arranged When Sunset descended the library stairs that morning, she found Twilight waiting for her at the table with a plate of Spike’s homemade pancakes sitting in the center. Swallowing, Sunset pulled out a chair and sat down across from the princess before filling the plate in front of her. Every sound seemed deafening in the silence between them. Once she had a suitable amount of syrup on her pancakes, Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but Sunset wanted to say her piece first. “Listen, Twilight. I know I screwed up yesterday, and I want to make it right,” she said. “If you’ll permit me to leave Golden Oaks for a couple of hours, I’d like to set things right with Raspberry.” “Oh… okay. Good,” Twilight seemed unsure of what to say. Evidently, she’d been planning to convince Sunset to do just that. “That saves time on the whole speech I had prepared.” Much to Sunset’s amusement, Twilight tossed away what appeared to be a couple of cue cards. The rest of their breakfast passed in silence, with Sunset acutely aware of every sound. When they were both finished, Twilight wordlessly got up and moved to the front door. “You ready?” she asked, her tone indicating neither anger nor joy. “Yeah, let’s go,” answered Sunset, finding herself wanting a cup of coffee. But that would need to wait. As the pair of ponies silently made their way through a Ponyville going through its morning routine, Sunset could feel the cautious looks from every single pony who now knew what she’d done. It was not a good feeling, even though it was what Sunset had been expecting when  she had first arrived. It was not the first time she’d felt this way, either. Those few weeks at Canterlot High following her defeat had been no different. But at least in that scenario, she’d had the five girls who stood by her even though she felt she didn’t deserve their kindness. Those very girls were now waiting for her as ponies, watching her with guarded expressions. They stood along the path to her apparent destination: a rustic bread and breakfast with a hanging sign that helpfully identified it as the Traveler’s Retreat.. The glares from the five ponies bore into Sunset, as if they were executioners observing her walk to the gallows. No matter how much Sunset reminded herself that the five ponies she walked past were not her friends, all she could see were five human girls standing at the edge of a crater in Homecoming dresses. When Twilight and Sunset got to the front door, they found a very displeased looking elderly mare waiting. “So, are you Sunset Shimmer?” the mare asked, eying the unicorn carefully. “Um, yes?” replied Sunset. She immediately felt sharp pain on her face as she reeled from a vicious slap. “That’s for hurting my daughter!” “Mrs. Cashmere, I know you’re upset,” said Twilight, “but the idea about all this is to resolve the problem without violence.” “No, no, I deserved that,” countered Sunset. “Along with a swift kick in the rear, too.” “That can be arranged,” stated Cashmere with a slightly unsettling amount of enthusiasm. “Mom, not outside!” came a fourth voice from just beyond the door. “Guests won’t like it if you’re randomly beating up ponies in view of the street!” Soon enough, Raspberry Beryl appeared next to her mother figure in the doorway. “It also looks bad for me, since a princess of any sort shouldn’t need to rely on her elderly mother to handle a simple dispute.” “You do make a good point, dear,” Cashmere acquiesced reluctantly, though before she fully retreated the older mare whispered into Razz’s ear, “but kick her in the rear with your good leg, anyway, just for the principle of the matter.” “My left leg is fine, thank you!” loudly jested Razz in return, knowing Cashmere hadn’t meant the comment seriously - not much, anyway. She still shook her head all the same. “Parents…” she muttered, before turning her attention to the ponies at the door. “Well, Shimmer, shall we get this over with?” “On one condition: you got any coffee?” Sunset couldn’t understand why Twilight decided to react by rolling her eyes in disbelief. “What, and you’ve never made it through a day without a Starbucks venti double mocha?” Both dark mage unicorn and alicorn princess looked at Sunset with confusion.  “What’s that?” Twilight finally asked. It was all Sunset could do to prevent facehoofing.  “Note to self: must find a way to tease Twily about this later,” she intentionally muttered semi-audibly. “Alright, the cup is hot, mind you,” warned Razz, levitating two cups of coffee as she entered her bedroom. The bubbling mass of darkness coming from her horn still made Sunset nervous, and she shifted uncomfortably as she took the offered cup in her own magic. The other was set down next to Raspberry. “Thanks,” said Sunset, taking a sip. The hot, caffeiney goodness of a fresh brew was just what she’d needed. “Now that is a good cup of coffee!” All things considered, the talk was off to a well enough start. Sure, Raspberry’s pet phoenix had outright assaulted Sunset when she first entered, but a stern scolding from his master quickly cowed him. “It’s what keeps our guests coming back,” joked Raspberry, making an honest attempt at a light smile as she took a sip from her own cup. “That should tell you something right there: that ponies are willing to deal with the incarnation of Sombra himself just for some of Mom’s home-brewed coffee.” Sunset gave her a perplexed look. “Oh, so this is your home? I thought all princesses needed to live in a giant castle or something.” “Heck no; Twilight still lives in the public library. It’s not like some power above Celestia will come in and decide she needs to have a gaudy as hell replacement, and have Golden Oaks leveled into splinters to force such a thing, right?” Now, it was Sunset’s turn to feign a comfortable smile. “Well, at least Twilight’s current home suits her. She is a gigantic nerd after all!” The breath that came from Raspberry’s nose could have been a laugh. Sunset took a long sip of her coffee so she wouldn’t have to talk, but the action only delayed the inevitable. She knew she couldn’t procrastinate forever. Just smile and nod. “Look, Raspberry. I… owe you an apology. For attacking you yesterday, and for treating you like a criminal all week,” Sunset said. “It was wrong of me to assume the worst about you right off the bat. Since that’s pretty much what people do to me, I should have known better.” Raspberry sat there, staring at Sunset as she measured her words. Behind her, the green phoenix appeared to be doing the same. Or it was just glaring at her. “I appreciate your sincerity, Sunset. Apology accepted,” Raspberry glanced down at what Sunset realized was her injured leg. “While I don’t appreciate the way you nearly cost me my leg all over again, I don’t hold anything else you did against you. Let’s just say I’m used to being treated like a criminal. Also…” Raspberry glanced away. “I know all about what’s happening to your sister.” “Then you know why I’ve been so suspicious of you. Twily’s being attacked with dark magic, and when she told me about her attacker, she described you! Even you have to admit there’s something strange about that!” Raspberry leaned over the table and looked down into her cup. “I don’t know what else to tell you, Sunset. That kind of magic is beyond my ability. Even if it wasn’t, I would never use it to hurt anypony, let alone a complete stranger in another world!” Raspberry leaned back in her chair, her eyes on the ceiling as she thought. “Maybe if you told me a little more about your sister’s condition. Does she have any other symptoms?” “Aside from insomnia, no. The only other thing she’s done is try to…” Sunset’s eyes widened as she remembered another detail about Twily’s condition. One she’d forgotten about simply because it was too horrifying to remember. “I found her in the bathroom one night completely naked with the whole room covered in her blood. She was scratching… symbols into the walls.” “What kind of symbols?” Raspberry was leaning closer now. Sunset looked around. “Do you have a pen and paper I could use?” Sunset remembered the symbols themselves well. Twily’s Exorcist-esque scrawlings wasn’t the first time she’d seen them. Soon enough, Raspberry returned with a quill, an inkpot, and a notepad. Sunset hastily took the quill in her magic and dipped it in the ink. Wow, haven’t written with one of these in a while. She then proceeded to write out six symbols:  ס וֹ מ ב רַס . When she was finished, Raspberry turned the notepad around to study it. “Do you know what it means?” Sunset asked. “Not really…” Sunset sighed. There was no easy way to bring up what she was going to say next. “Raspberry… Celestia told me that its possible you could be doing this unintentionally.” Raspberry closed her eyes. “Look, the thing you need to understand about me is… I don’t always have full control over my powers. Sometimes, if I’m under a lot of stress, my magic kinda… takes control of me.” “Like it did when I hit your leg?” “Yes, and that’s exactly the thing: that was the first ‘incident’ I’ve had in…” Raspberry trailed off, and her eyes widened. “A few months…” “Which is exactly when Twily started having her nightmares,” Sunset said, leaning closer. “I think it’s time you told me exactly what happened in Lonesome Dove.” Raspberry worried at her lower lip before finally giving a relenting sigh. “I suppose you’re right. You’d better get comfortable though, because there’s a lot I’m going to need to explain for it to all make sense.” As Sunset shifted in her seat, she heard a sound like the faint crackle of a radio. Then she heard a very faint voice. “Look, I already said I checked the batteries…” “Wait, do you hear that?” Raspberry froze, and her ears stood at attention as she listened. “Why are we listening to Razz and Sunset again?” The tiny voice sounded vaguely familiar. It came from somewhere inside the room. All of a sudden, Sunset had a sneaking suspicion about what - or who - she was hearing. “You’re sure this thing works, Tiara?” asked Scootaloo. The five members of the CMC were gathered in their treehouse headquarters, though unlike most Saturday mornings they weren’t searching for their cutie marks. Instead, they had a different interest they were trying to explore. “Look, I already said I checked the batteries, and that this thing is fresh off of Dad’s store shelves. And he makes sure all his stuff works. He takes his ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’ promise literally. ” “So… why are we listening to Razz and Sunset again?” Silver Spoon asked. “We’re not going to learn anything about Razz we don’t already know.” “Because it’s Sunset Shimmer who we’re really interested in!” exclaimed Apple Bloom. “She’s the one from another world! Ain’t ya curious about what she’s been livin’ like over there?” “I…guess?” “Shhh!” hushed Diamond. “I…I think I’m getting something!” She fiddled with the dial until a slight bit of static could be heard. “Ugh, these things are hard to tune!” That was when Apple Bloom noticed the one detail they’d all overlooked. “Uh, Tiara? That’s the volume knob.” “Yeah, so?” “As in the transmittin’ volume knob. We’re not gettin’ anythin’ because that’s not what we’re doin’. The receiver is the thing you put outside Raspberry’s window, it’s playin’ everythin’ we’re sayin’! We’re the ones transmittin’!” We’re the ones transmittin’! suddenly came the radio-quality mirror of Apple Bloom’s voice. As the five crusaders all turned to the window, Heliodor swooped in, placed the receiver in his talons easily on the table, gave a mischievous wink, and was gone. “Well, at least we know it works, right?” Sunset sat in perfect silence as Raspberry recounted the trials of her life. The more Sunset learned about her reflection, the more guilt she felt over her actions and thoughts of the past week. Raspberry told her about her troubled life growing up in the small, backwater town called Lonesome Dove. She spoke of how the entire town loathed and feared her because of her dark magic. She told Sunset about how her father viciously abused her, emotionally and physically. Raspberry had talked about how nearly a decade ago, she’d lost control of her dark powers and killed the brute in self-defense, forcing herself to flee the only home she ever knew. All the while, Sunset slumped lower and lower in her seat. All this time I’ve been telling everypony I had changed, but I’m exactly the same as before. I just have different reasons for abusing people now. It was then that her gaze fell on the brace on Raspberry’s hind leg; the one she’d deliberately struck during their battle. Sunset wasn’t able to keep herself from wincing as she sucked in air through her teeth. The action wasn’t lost on Raspberry. “Oh, don’t worry. This actually happened relatively recently. It’s not my father’s work,” she explained, lightly patting her brace. Sunset let out a breath and straightened up in her chair, relieved not to have reopened any old wounds - literally or figuratively. “Look, I’m sorry all of that happened to you, but I don’t see what this has to do with Twily’s nightmares.” “Because just a couple of months ago, Twilight and I went back,” Raspberry said, taking a calming breath. “She thought it would be good for me to get some closure, and it turns out she was right. Though, not in a way either of us expected.” When Sunset gave her an inquisitive head tilt, Raspberry just sighed. “Look, even I don’t fully understand everything that happened over those couple of days. All you need to know is, things got… weird. Let’s just say I had some very literal past demons I had to deal with. Unfortunately, well… you already know how well I handle stress.” Sunset nodded. “So, am I to assume you went all ‘feral darkness monster’ then?” “That’s one way of putting it, but yeah. It was pretty much up to Princess Twilight to keep me from destroying the whole town. Unfortunately, the ‘feral darkness monster’ interpreted her actions as threatening, and responded accordingly. I ended up using a dark spell designed to attack her mind…” “Wait, wait, slow down, Speed Racer!” Sunset exclaimed, waving a hoof around. “Why do you know what’s basically a mind rape spell? I thought you said you didn’t know how to do that?” “I said I don’t know how to use nightmare magic. However, I’d recently been called to the Crystal Empire to help deal with some of the effects of Sombra’s dark magic. You see, the Mad King liked to torture his subjects with nightmarish visions designed to break their minds and bend them to his will. It was how he was able to wipe most of their memories when the Empire returned not long ago. “Anyway, there were still lingering effects of Sombra’s spell on the mind’s of the crystal ponies, and I was called in to help fix it. Fight fire with fire, you know? Let’s just say I learned way more about mind magic than I ever wanted to in coming up with a counterspell.” “Right, so when you went crazy in Lonesome Dove, you recalled what you’d learned about Sombra’s mind magic and used it on Twilight,” Sunset said, thinking she knew where this was going. “Yes. Twilight managed to reflect it and it simply disappeared. We didn’t think anything of it at the time; I’d designed it to only target her, after all,” Raspberry rubbed her chin. “But now, it seems entirely possible that the spell managed to cross dimensions. If it couldn’t get Twilight, it would go for the next best thing.” Sunset’s ears perked up and a hopeful smile appeared on her face. “But if you came up with a counterspell to cure the crystal ponies, you can use the same spell to cure Twily!” “That’s the idea,” Raspberry said, Sunset grin spreading to her own face. “It would just be a simple matter of firing the counterspell through one of the mirrors.” Leaning back in her chair, Sunset took what felt like the easiest breath she’d had in days. A part of her didn’t quite believe it could be that simple, but deep down, she knew this was it. It was finally over! All of her worrying - all of the crippling terror that she would lose Twily forever - finally began to wash out of her, replaced by the hope that maybe… just maybe… everything was going to be okay. “Razz…? Thank you for being so understanding,” Sunset said. “You have no idea how much Twily and the others mean to me.” “She’s your family. Of course she does.” “Yeah, but she’s also much more than that,” Sunset said, glancing out the window on the bright, sunny day outside. “You see, when Princess Twilight finally defeated me at the Fall Formal, she could have easily just turned her back on me. Hell, it would’ve been in her right to do so. But instead, she gave me another chance at friendship. And then when Twily came along, she gave me another chance at family.” Sunset gave a single laugh. “It’s funny, I owe everything I have to the Twilights of both worlds. To the very person I hated the most. Makes you think, huh?” “Believe it or not, I know exactly what you mean,” Raspberry said with a sympathetic smile. “After I first killed my father and ran away from Lonesome Dove, I was consumed by guilt and despair - which would quite literally come back to haunt me later. It felt like the whole world was against me, and in truth, it was. At least, before I met him.” Raspberry jerked her head towards the side of the room, and Sunset turned to look at a crystalline bird stand with the great green avian perched atop it. Heliodor had his beak tucked into his wing, and Sunset could see his chest rising and falling as he snoozed. “Heelee was the first real friend I ever had,” Raspberry continued. “No, he’s more than that. He’s family, but what’s more, he gave my life meaning. Just like Twily gave to yours.” Sunset nodded, and then something occurred to her. “Was that why you stopped?” It took Raspberry a few seconds to grasp what Sunset meant, but then it clicked and her brow rose. “You mean stopped myself from impaling you through the heart yesterday? Yeah, when you said your sister’s name, somehow I knew that… you were just like me.” Sunset smiled. “I guess we really are reflections of each other after all.” The pair simply sat in companionable silence afterwards. Their coffee had long since gone cold, but neither of them cared. The feeling of absolution they each felt was better than any caffeine. “On the note of reflections…” Raspberry eventually said, getting up and moving to her desk to gather some papers. “I was wondering if you could help me with Sombra’s mirror. It’ll need to be up to code, so to speak, if we’re going to send that counterspell through, and I could use your insight.” It was the best idea Sunset had heard all week. This was such a bad idea! Thought Sunset as she swallowed with an audible gulp, trying to make herself as small as possible. The afternoon had started out well enough. After a quick lunch with Raspberry and Twilight, Sunset had accompanied the pair of princesses to Raspberry’s hideout in the Everfree ruins where she’d been keeping Sombra’s mirror. It was then that they went about repairing the myriad of spells and enchantments held within the looking glass. Sunset’s knowledge of the mirror’s appearance on the other side turned out to be instrumental in their work. The first sign that something was amiss was when a dome of pure darkness enveloped the mirror, and expanded like a black hole to envelope the three ponies along with the rest of the structure. Despite the fact that they were now alone with the mirror inside a dark void, Raspberry had assured Sunset that what happened was perfectly normal, and that they were in no danger. She went on to explain that she had just completed repairs on one of the mirror’s secondary functions, which then reacted to Sunset’s presence. She was, after all, the last pony to use the mirror to travel between worlds. It was some time after that when the validity of Raspberry’s claim of safety was proven. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash all entered the void as easily as stepping through a door. Twilight explained their presence by saying they needed to see what was about to be shown. And then Sunset saw Raspberry’s notes. More specifically, she saw a sketch depicting a familiar scene of an older human teenager comforting a younger one. “What the fuck is this?!” Sunset yelled at Raspberry. “Where the fuck did you see this?” “Sunset, if you calm down I can explain…” Raspberry started. “Have you been reading my mind, warlock?” “It’s a function of Sombra’s mirror,” Twilight explained, effectively cutting the tension. “One we just now fully repaired.” Raspberry went on to explain what function Twilight was talking about, and the more Sunset understood, the more unbridled terror welled up within her. “I’m sorry, I should have been more clear about what exactly we were doing here,” Raspberry said apologetically. “As far as I know, the mirror should still be capable of sending you home, but… she wanted me to repair this particular function.” “What do you mean? Who?” That was when the great white alicorn entered the void, her ethereal mane almost lighting the nothingness around her. Celestia strode toward the ponies gathered around the mirror silently, her face an unreadable mask. It all made sense to Sunset now. Why they repaired this particular function of the mirror. Why Sunset had really been brought here. It was around the time Celestia’s gaze found her that Sunset gulped and shrunk to the ground. “Sunset…” At the sound of her mentor softly calling her name, Sunset opened her eyes and looked up. Celestia was still looking down at her, but there was something in her expression that hadn’t been there before. Sunset had noticed it when they dined together at the start of the week, and it was a testament to her long relationship with the divine princess that she noticed it at all, but Celestia’s face took on a more comforting appearance. All of a sudden, Sunset wasn’t so afraid. Carefully, she stood to her full height, and looked over at Raspberry. “Sunset, we don’t have to do this if you really don’t want to,” Raspberry said. “No, it’s okay,” Sunset replied. It was probably for the best. “Show them.” With a nod, Raspberry lit up her horn, tendrils emerging that made a beeline for the five engraved ponies on the mirror. The five points on the mirror’s frame soon began to glow as if a light was turned on behind them. It was a sickly glow at first, but the intensity quickly grew brighter until suddenly the mirror itself stopped being a reflective surface as light radiated from it. Then, with a loud *POOMPF* as if the noise was a cloud being burst by a pegasus kicking it, an orb of light shot out of the mirror and smashed itself against the black atmosphere. More orbs soon followed until eventually, all the black around the ponies was replaced with bright images. There were creatures moving in a world that looked very different from Equestria. But those creatures - and that world - were all too familiar to Sunset Shimmer. “Wh-what in tarnation?” exclaimed Applejack. Whatever Applejack was going to say next was lost in the collective gasp as the mirror itself began to project an image. This one commanded the attention of the group as it was a very different image than the ones playing all around their heads. A dark night, pitched in what appeared to be a frigid blizzard, with a statue of some kind of equine - but not a pony - in the forefront. Behind it was a building of some sort. Snow was piling up but there appeared to be the remains of a shoveled path from the entrance. Suddenly, the snow on one side of the statue melted, neatly revealing a polished marble surface so shiny it was like a mirror. Then through that surface tumbled a figure that sort of resembled a hairless monkey, only the tuft of hair on its head was like a beacon in the snow with its red and yellow stripes. “Sunset, is...is that you?” asked Rarity, her attention moving from the figure on the mirror to the pony now standing next to Celestia. She got a small nod of acknowledgement, as if she was scared of what was coming next. Indeed, the mirror suddenly flashed, showing a much different scene. The Sunset in the mirror, now wearing clothes and inside what looked like a school, was just one of many similar creatures of both sexes, their bodies various shades of brown with the only color variation in their hair and eyes. Only the Sunset in the mirror appeared to be picking on (to everypony’s shock) another creature that looked a lot like Fluttershy. The mirror then flashed through several sequences, where it was a similar scene only the individual being picked on was different. Applejack. Rarity. Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie. But the mirror didn’t stop, as it kept iterating past the familiar faces and a very vivid picture of what Sunset had been up to in the human world was painted. The rest of Twilight’s friends all looked at Sunset in disbelief, finally starting to understand what it was they were seeing. “Sunset, are these… your memories?” Rarity asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “From the human world, yeah…” Sunset replied as all of her sins were laid bare. Her heart racing, and her body shaking, Sunset looked up and studied the face of her old mentor. Celestia studied every image that appeared with careful scrutiny. When she first returned to Equestria, Sunset had promised to submit herself to Celestia’s judgement once Twily was saved. With the deed done, it was clear that the princess now held Sunset Shimmer to her vow.