Sunday, AM: The Stories in Your Eyes
Rain.
That was the only way to describe Sunset’s surroundings. The rain was so dense that all around she could see nothing but a solid curtain of precipitation; it looked similar to a constant stream of gray barrelling down against the world, soaking all the life and color away. And yet, though the rain appeared to hit her, she felt neither wet nor cold. It was as if she wasn’t there at all, wherever “there” was to begin with.
With no other option, she walked forward, taking each step gingerly into the unknown. Gradually, she picked up her pace, and with it shapes began to materialize around her: big, blocky shapes that turned into the dark outlines of buildings. More specifically, the backs of buildings.
Hey, I think I know this place, realized Sunset. The architecture suggested that she was, for some reason, in a back alley of Canterlot, though why she’d be in one of them in the middle of a downpour was anypony’s guess. But a part of her subconscious nagged at her mind, this was a specific alleyway, she’d known this place once long ago. Why do I feel this way, though? This looks like the southern district of town, and I’ve never spent any time here. Unless….
All this time, Sunset had seen a light in the distance, which she’d followed; had she been on Earth long enough, she likely would have heard - and heeded - the warning to “not go into the light”. But in her subconscious mind, she was a pony, and to ponies that light meant magic and succor. And as she approached, the light turned out to be a lonely lamp, its bright aura unyielding in the hard rain as the only source of light in the area. But it was the building it was attached to that made Sunset wonder what was going on, as she read the sign out loud.
“Canterlot…Orphanage….” All stories had their beginning, and all ponies had some place they came from. For Sunset Shimmer, she only knew her story began on the very steps in front of her. She wondered if it was a night like this that she had been abandoned here, the urge to scoff at how cliché it all sounded quickly suppressed. But the sudden sound of rapid hoofsteps rattling against the wet cobblestones caught her attention just then, prompting her to hide behind a convenient crate opposite the orphanage.
Peeking over the crate, Sunset watched as a lone pony’s shape pulled away from the shadows, its features covered with a heavy cloak but still obviously a mare. Looking around to see if anypony was watching, the mare seemed placated enough to reach around and take off her pack. She did so very carefully, as Sunset soon realized that the pony’s pack was in fact a filly - one with a shock of red-and-yellow hair framing a maize-colored horn.
The mare whispered something to the foal, but it was too quiet for Sunset to hear. She got a glimpse of the mare’s face though, and its features held an incredible amount of love, rivaled only by the sadness in her eyes. Sunset felt a deep connection to the mare in the cloak, and her heart longed to go to her. To hold her and be with her.
Just then, a crack of thunder echoed around them, causing the infant to start crying. With one final kiss and hug, the mare tearfully placed the babe on the top step of the orphanage, still keeping her forelegs wrapped around the babe as if letting go was not an option. Then she quickly turned and looked right in Sunset’s direction, as if she knew she’d been watching.
Before Sunset had pulled back out of impulse, she’d gotten a full on view of the mare’s face. Though shrouded in the shadow of the hood, the mare was a unicorn of white coloration, her mane a shade of bright yellow with shocks of silver framing her horn. But it was the eyes that gave Sunset the biggest surprise: they were the exact same shade of cyan as Sunset’s. Given how rarely coloration and such was passed down from one generation to the next, eye color as unusual as Sunset’s (cyan was one of the most uncommon pony eye colors) could only have come from someone related.
Another loud crack of thunder broke the silence, with the baby crying even harder in return. Realizing she’d been staring at nothing, the mare shook her head before taking one last look at her child. She knocked on the door with a few forceful raps before she dashed off into the night, quickly melting into the shadows and the rain. The older Sunset, having just seen where her oldest memories began, still instinctively wanted to chase after her birth mother but was stopped when the door to the orphanage flew open, light pouring out onto the alley.
Dreamy Heart, as Sunset recalled the name of the orphanage’s kind caregiver, immediately saw the crying babe and took her into a warm hug, resting on her haunches.
“There, there….” comforted the mare, ignoring the pouring rain that soaked both her and the baby. Looking at the foal in her arms, the new mare said, “Oh, but you’re like a bright spot of light on this dreary evening - almost like a shimmering sunset, you know that? But I wonder who left you here?” She looked up and down the alley, to see if whoever had abandoned the child was around. But as Dreamy Heart had told Sunset years later, she never knew how Sunset had ended up on those steps.
Sunset could only watch, her emotions in chaos as Dreamy Heart took the now sleeping filly into the building, closing the door behind her. Within a matter of minutes, the earliest defining moment of Sunset’s life had occurred, but to a pony who now came across the scene, it was no different than what Sunset had found beforehand.
“Luna….” started Sunset, having figured out this was all a dream. “Why…why are you showing me this?”
“Do not be alarmed, young one,” said a pleasant voice that wasn’t Luna. “While I can reach the dreamscapes, I am not my daughter.”
Sunset was overcome by such sudden shock, she didn’t notice the surroundings fading into nothing, leaving only an endless, empty expanse in their wake. After all, nothing else mattered when Queen Faust now stood before her. The exact nanosecond Sunset recovered from her shock, she threw her face into the ground, bowing before the great alicorn harder than she’d ever bowed before. If prostrating before Celestia, begging for forgiveness, was almost like pushing herself through the marble of the throne room, Sunset was willing to push herself to the center of the planet if need be this time around.
“No need to hurt yourself, Sunset!” laughed the great matron seeing the unicorn’s utter panic. “Please, rise, there’s no need for such formality.”
Sunset blushed profusely as she got back upright. “So, um, I have to ask, why are you here?” asked Sunset, worried that any word she said would offend Faust and cause Sunset all kinds of problems that made Twily’s nightmares look tame in comparison. “I’m certainly nopony special, just another unicorn.”
“You don’t believe that, do you?” chastised Faust, though her voice tinged with nothing less than amusement. “My daughter, Celestia, saw something in you long ago. While the role you were meant to play eventually went to Twilight Sparkle, that does not mean your story and your importance to Equestria has ended.”
“I…I don’t understand…” Sunset said with a tilt of her head.
The cream-white alicorn briefly glanced off to the side, and when Sunset followed her gaze, she caught a fleeting glimpse of the alleyway she’d just stood in. “Tell me, why didn’t you pursue the mare you just saw? There was nothing stopping you from doing so.”
Sunset Shimmer couldn’t deny there was a part of her that longed to have all of the answers. It was in her nature. It was what led to all of her mistakes. “Because whoever she was, she’s nothing more than a piece of my past. And I’ve decided I’m not going to let it control me.”
Faust smiled. “Oh? And why is that?”
Sunset’s answer came quicker than even she expected. “Because I have my own family now. The woman who made me a part of that family is my mother, not the mare who birthed me.”
“Then, would you say you are more human than pony now?”
Sunset opened her mouth, but no answer came easily. “I don’t know…” she muttered. “Twily’s family has fully accepted me as one of their own, and I couldn’t be more thankful. But… I’ll never truly be one of them. No more than I truly fit in here, my own homeland!” Sunset’s ears drooped, and her whole posture sank as her she looked down. “Earth… Equestria… I don’t belong in either one.”
“You were never one to think of the glass as half-empty, Sunset.” At Faust’s words, Sunset looked up again at her infinitely wise and compassionate face. “Try thinking about it another way.”
Her brow creased, Sunset thought carefully about Faust’s words. Why can’t these immortal alicorns ever just give straight answers? Try thinking about it another way…. But there was only one other way to interpret her current crisis.
“Are you saying I belong in both worlds?”
Faust gave another warm smile. “Your greatest accomplishments tie both of these worlds together. You couldn’t have done all of the good you did in the human world without pony magic, and it is what you learned as a human that allowed you to show your true colors here in Equestria. And then there’s Sombra’s mirror to consider.”
Faust moved closer to Sunset and leaned down to her. “There are still more mysteries linking the worlds of ponies and humans together, and only a child of both worlds can unlock them. You are still destined for great things, Sunset Shimmer.”
“Y’know, that’s exactly the kind of thinking that got me in trouble years ago,” Sunset said with a dry smile.
Faust stood back, raised to her full height again. “True, but things are different now, aren’t they?” The image of the great alicorn started to rapidly fade away, shrinking as she grew ever more distant. “I have faith that when your destiny calls, you’ll know what to do…”
Just like that, the empty expanse around Sunset Shimmer dissipated, and she opened her eyes to look at the ceiling of her guest bedroom.
Was that really Faust talking to me? wondered Sunset, amazed that if it had truly been the celestial matriarch, Faust hadn’t blasted her into oblivion for all the times she’d said she would be greater than her. Sunset got up and washed up for the final time in Sugarcube Corner. Today was, after all, her final day in Equestria. Tonight she would return to the human world - her home.
However, she figured Equestria wasn’t quite done with her yet when she came downstairs.
“Oh, Miss Shimmer!”
At the sound of the voice, Sunset looked over at the entrance to the kitchen, and saw a blue middle-aged mare step out with a tray of freshly steaming pastries.
“Mrs. Cake!” Sunset exclaimed, surprised to see the previously sick confectioner up and about. “Feeling better?”
“Much, thank you,” Mrs. Cake answered as she set the tray down on the counter and started putting the assorted pastries in the display case. “Were you heading out?”
”Not yet. Do you need my help with something?”
“No, but Derpy said she’s got a letter for you, under strict orders to make sure she gives it to you directly.”
Derpy? wondered Sunset, delivering a letter to me? The Derpy she knew back in the human world was insanely smart; a regular computer whiz who others often drew comparisons to “Gates” or “Jobs”. Sunset had no idea who those humans were, outside of them being important when it came to computers. “If you don’t mind me asking,” inquired Sunset, “do you know why Derpy was sent to deliver it and not like, the local mail service worker?”
Mrs. Cake blinked in confusion. “Derpy is the one in charge of Ponyville’s mail.”
Now Sunset was the confused pony. “She’s the mail carrier?”
“Well, yes. To be more precise, she’s actually the entire postal system for Ponyville.”
Before anything more could be said, a blonde pegasus with gray fur and unmistakably out of alignment pupils came up to Sunset and Mrs. Cake, putting a plate with crumbs down on the counter. “Just as good as ever, Mrs. Cake!” complimented Derpy with a smile, “No better way to start the day than with a Sugarcube Corner muffin!” She then turned to Sunset, producing a small letter from her saddlebags. “I was told to give this to you directly!” the pegasus chirped.
“Um, thanks?” replied Sunset, taken aback by how overwhelmingly cheerful Derpy was being. The human Derpy tended to be both snarky and cocky, most likely as a side effect for being teased about her eye condition. Sunset wondered if the human she knew was more like the pegasus in private.
“You’re quite welcome!” After saying goodbye, Derpy merrily hummed a tune as she left to do her daily letter delivery.
“Here, why don’t I make you something special for breakfast?” asked Mrs. Cake, “ I’m sure my husband and Pinkie have been showing their appreciation for your help with covering for me, so I feel obliged to do the same.”
“Yeah, sure, that would be great!” said Sunset, figuring one more cup of coffee before going back home wouldn’t be too bad.
“…Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”
The laughter of the two alicorns echoed through the cavernous halls of Canterlot Castle. Beside them, a blue-maned white unicorn stallion gave a good-natured role of his eyes.
“Y’know, I used to think that was so annoying,” said Shining to his aunt-in-law. “Then again, I also didn’t think I had a chance of asking Cady out, either.”
“Maybe it’s just some kind of curse you have,” replied Celestia, “where all the girls in your life eventually turn into alicorns?”
Shining chuckled. “Do you have any idea how my mom would react to gaining wings? At her age?”
“She’d probably master flying within a week and then keep giving me tips on it,” snarked Twilight.
“Oh, come now, Twily,” said Cadence, “it took me years to learn how to fly, and you’re much more adept at it than I am.”
“You were also born with wings. I had them magically sprout from my back.”
“Touché.”
Just then the great hall’s doors opened as Princess Luna hurriedly made her way to the others. “Many apologies; Discord turned the staircases into those moving atrocities again.”
“It’s alright, Lunar. But we have a more important matter to discuss right now.” Celestia led her fellow royals to the meeting table specifically set up for their use. “Cadence, Shining, I trust the letter I sent you detailed the situation enough that you understand the basics?”
“Well, I’m not sure how to feel about there being another mirror that connects to this ‘human’ world,” admitted Shining. “Especially if it’s really Sombra’s hoofwork.”
“That’s not a major problem,” said Twilight. “The bigger issue is that the mirror itself has been left open for over a thousand years. That’s a lot of time to have a portal between worlds unaccounted for.”
“There’s also the issue of the one who discovered the mirror in the first place,” Celestia said. “My old protégée, Sunset Shimmer.”
“Wait, isn’t she the one who stole Twily’s crown?” asked Cadence, her eyes narrowing. “I take it you didn’t incinerate that no-good mare on sight, Auntie?”
Celestia gave a patient sigh. “No I didn’t, Cadance.”
“Then let me handle that,” the Princess of the Crystal Empire insisted, standing from her seat at the table as if she meant to track Sunset down that instant. “She should count herself lucky she didn’t face me - and I’ll be more than happy to rectify that.”
“Cady,” groaned Twilight, “I appreciate the sentiment, but you’re not my babysitter anymore. Besides, she’s not back to cause more trouble.”
“Then why did she come back, through Sombra’s mirror portal of all things?”
The youngest alicorn sighed. “Remember Razz’s little ‘incident’ back in Lonesome Dove?” Cadance, unable to come up with something that expressed her concerns about that, merely nodded. Twilight proceeded to give Cadance a brief summary of the events of the past week, and their relation to the Lonesome Dove incident. After the other princesses’ insistence that Sunset was on good terms with Equestria now, the alicorn of love reluctantly conceded.
“Okay, if Shimmer’s really a friend now, what ‘issue’ is there surrounding her?” Cadance asked, sitting back down.
“Yesterday proved to be very… illuminating. Without getting into details, all of us who know Sunset were treated to a replay of events from her human life,” Celestia explained before leaning forward and speaking in a quieter tone. “But what’s concerning me is that later that night, Raspberry Beryl told me there was still more Sunset wasn’t sharing. My gut tells me Sunset knows something more about Sombra’s mirror.”
“Your gut has served you well in the past, sister,” Luna said, leaning forward with a grin. “Except when it comes to cake!”
Celestia deemed to simply ignore the comment and press on, resulting in a pouty night princess. “However, now that Sunset’s loyalty to us has been reaffirmed, I feel comfortable moving forward with my new plan for her, which we discussed previously.” Celestia turned to look at Twilight. “Has your research into Star Swirl’s spellbook revealed anything more about Platinum’s mirror?”
“Actually, yes,” answered Twilight, summoning the book in question with her magic and flipping through its pages at a rate that made the other princesses’ heads spin. “There are detailed ways to establish a line of communication with Sunset between worlds if need be, as well as a way to undo the time-restriction on Platinum’s mirror itself.”
“Wait,” interrupted Luna, “we could have just removed the time lock on it?”
Twilight shrugged. “It’s a lengthy spell, and certainly would take weeks to fully apply, as the purpose of the time lock is to prevent abusing the mirror’s powers.”
“Yeah, that worked out so well,” sarcastically commented Cady.
Twilight rolled her eyes but continued anyway. "The point is, if Sunset needs to reach us or even return to Equestria, the terminus for the Platinum mirror is easier to access and more stable than Sombra’s mirror.”
“That’s all well and dandy,” said Shining, “but if we’ve already got everything worked out, why did we all need to be here?”
“Well….” Uncharacteristically, Celestia appeared to become extremely nervous. “She…doesn’t know about what will be asked of her.”
“Um, that’s not exactly an answer to my question.”
Luna, however, sighed as she recognized what was going on. “Celly…you don’t want to ask her, do you?”
Celestia shook her head. “No. Despite all she had done in the past, Sunset doesn’t owe me anything,” Celestia’s eyes focused on the table, and the others saw something in her they had never seen before: shame. “The truth is, the betrayal that divided us… it goes both ways.”
“Celestia… what do you mean?” Twilight asked, leaning closer to her mentor.
“There’s a reason her magic is so much weaker in the human world. A reason she never regained her full power when she returned to Equestria.”
Twilight gasped and her eyes grew wide with understanding. “You didn’t…”
Celestia looked up from the table, her eyes betraying uncharacteristic vulnerability. “If I would really ask this of Sunset Shimmer, I’ll need to set things right. I’ll need to give back what I stole from her….”
When Sunset arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, she didn’t quite know what to expect. The letter had informed her to be at the farm as soon as possible, but didn’t go into detail. It wasn’t signed either, though strangely enough the writing looked vaguely similar to Applejack’s. The human one, anyway.
Do signatures correspond, too? wondered the unicorn, passing through the arch marking the entrance to the farm. She was relieved to see that, unlike last time, there were not five fillies trying to make some crazy, fantastical multi-armed apple picking machine that ultimately was nothing but a neutered IED.
“Howdy there, Sunset!” came the voice of Applejack. Sunset looked in the direction of the voice and found the blonde farm pony trotting up to meet her.
“Hey, Applejack,” greeted the unicorn, “were you the one who sent that letter?”
“Eeyup. Ah know ya gotta go back home at some point today, but Ah’m also sure you’re wonderin’ about somethin’ else everypony’s probably been rather mum about.”
Sunset nodded. “Is that why you sent the note?”
Applejack gestured with her head towards what looked like a rose garden in the distance. “It’ll be a long explanation, but as far as Ah’m concerned, you deserve to know the whole story.”
As Sunset followed Applejack, she had to wonder what a rose garden was doing on an apple orchard farm. One look from Applejack confirmed the farm pony knew what she was thinking
“Not many ponies know that apples are in fact in the same family o’ plants as roses,” she said. “For as long as the Apple Family has been around, it’s been tradition to use roses to decorate the family graveyard.”
The word froze the unicorn in her tracks. “The…family graveyard? You mean, whatever is going on….”
Applejack looked back for a brief moment with a melancholy look, catching Sunset off guard. “Yeah, don’ know if anypony told you, but mah parents didn’t exactly have the same stroke of luck as their human versions.” She then turned and kept going, leaving Sunset with no choice but to follow.
A few minutes of silence later, the two ponies arrived at the most sacred portion of the farm. It was a breathtaking sight for Sunset, as the fenced in plot of land was filled with roses far richer in color than any she had seen on human Earth. Within the roses were several tombstones, though two of them stood slightly higher than the others and were made of what looked like marble. Upon them were inscribed a few words, but they sent a chill through Sunset’s veins.
APPLESEED
Loving Father
CORNFLOWER
Loving Mother
“I…I….” Sunset tried to speak, but the words just wouldn’t come out.
“Yeah, Ah know what you’re gonna ask. Well, let me ask you a question, Sunset. Do the humans have myths about certain members of their own species who have the ability, or really more like the curse, of turnin’ into wolves?”
“You mean like, werewolves?” It was a nonsensical answer, Sunset knew. Twily had gone into brainiac mode months back during Halloween and happened to mention the word “werewolf” was in fact from an Old English origin, with the prefix “were-“ specifically referring to a human man. The idea that ponies used the same term, where humans didn’t exist, was virtually impos-
“Oh, they call ‘em werewolves, too?” Applejack gave her a look indicating she knew something Sunset did not. “Ah hope they don’t actually exist in the human world, because here in Equestria, lycanthropy ain’t nothin’ but trouble!”