Amongst the crowds in Canterlot International Airport’s Terminal Five, two sisters looked at each other. The younger one, looking almost like a walking zombie, was nearly dead inside, just one stroke away from being murdered by the thing that haunted her dreams. The older one had a fiercely protective look on her face, and even though it was the younger who would travel and leave the elder behind, the flame-haired girl would do anything to protect the happiness of her plum-haired sibling.
“Italy sounds great, and you’ll only be gone for a week,” Sunset said. “Besides, you could use the vacation.”
“Sunny, what if—” Twilight started, but was hushed by a gentle finger placed on her lips.
“I promise, you’ll be okay.” Sunset reached into her pocket, pulling out a small, Beanie Babies-esque plushie that looked vaguely like her unicorn form. “It’s dangerous to go alone – take this,” she said, giving Twilight the mini-Sunset.
Twilight started giggling, much to Sunset’s puzzlement. “I love it,” she said, “both the plushie and the joke. Where did you get this thing?”
“Bought it from a custom plushie maker on DeviantArt,” Sunset replied; in truth she had done just that, finding it freakishly odd that someone’s “Fantasy Style Unicorn” collection included a dead ringer for herself – she’d noticed a few other colors that wouldn’t have been out of place back in Equestria.
“I’m going to miss you,” Twilight said, embracing Sunset. “I…I don’t know if….”
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll only be gone for a week and things are going to be boring as hell at summer school. Ms. Luna says she’ll try not to kill me too much.”
“Besides, Twily,” Octavia said, finally interjecting herself into the conversation, “I’ll keep her out of trouble, I promise. You just relax and enjoy your vacation, okay?”
Standing a distance away, Night, Velvet, Shining, Cadance, Evening, and Ballad were all talking.
“You know, if it weren’t for your assurances that this is just a phase,” Evening said, “I might be worried. Twily does look a little rough.”
Velvet sighed; she’d been through this a dozen times with Sunset – though, admittedly, she was absolutely proud at how much Sunset had assumed the ‘protective older sister’ role – and she didn’t want to deal with it again while on the cusp of a vacation.
Cadance then spoke. “I guess you haven’t checked your email then: Sandy sent us a DEA report and I forwarded it on. Seems that one of the components in The Vibe contains an LSD precursor and apparently affects a small amount of the populace.”
Shining nodded. “One of the victims attending Sunnytown High apparently had a bad case as well, though fortunately that got sorted out.”
Night looked at his son. “Are you telling me your sister is basically having a delayed acid trip?”
Ballad put two and two together. “Wait – if that’s the case, then why didn’t it happen to Tavi?”
Shining attempted to explain. “Just like actual LSD itself, the percentage of people feeling extremely delayed effects is miniscule. I’m presuming Tavi metabolized it faster since she had a more adverse reaction when she first consumed it. But Twily just got over the chickenpox a couple of months ago, and that probably depressed her immune system to the point where the precursor was able to act – didn’t this all start right around the time she was sick?”
Velvet looked at Twilight, then at Sunset. “Is there anything else we should be aware of, Shiny?”
He shook his head. “Not really. Once it’s finally out of her system, it’s gone. Could be during the trip, could be after, could be years – just like some really delayed LSD flashbacks; there are cases of it happening. But I can say one thing for sure, Mom,” the young man said as he looked at the three teens standing just away from them, “Sunny will be there for Twily.”
“Speaking of which,” Night began, “did you…?”
“Don’t worry, Night, I didn’t forget,” Evening replied. “Though admittedly, you guys could probably do it easier. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure that it’s taken care of…well, at least started.”
“Thanks. I really appreciate that.”
“ATTENTION ALL PASSENGERS: DELTA AIRLINES 981 NONSTOP TO NEW YORK CITY, NOW BOARDING AT GATE 5D.”
“That’s our flight,” Twilight said softly, not wanting to go. She felt safe, protected around Sunset, as though her foster sister was the only thing keeping whatever was haunting the teen at bay.
Sunset was equally reluctant to let her go. Finally, she embraced Twilight, telling her, “You’ll go, have fun, and forget to bring me back something. You’ll be fine, I promise.”
Octavia embraced Twilight as well. “You’d better bring us back something, Twily, or I’ll make you walk back to Florence to do so!”
Twilight laughed. “Yeah, right.”
The drive back to Canterlot was as quiet as a tomb. Sunset sat there, uneasily, not knowing what to say.
“You really are worried about her, aren’t you?” Octavia said, her voice sounding a little guilty. “I’m an idiot, I swear. If I’d just listened to you, I’d….”
“It’s okay,” Sunset said, giving Octavia a wan smile in reply.
“No, it’s not okay! She and I have been together through everything, and for her to just think I abandoned her….” The guilt was ripping through Octavia now that she’d heard about everything that had happened to her best friend and cousin’s near-suicide two weeks before. “We’ve always been as thick as thieves before, and for the past couple of months, I’ve pretty much just abandoned her!”
“Tavi!” Sunset’s voice was sharp. “Be there for her when she gets back. It’s too late to do anything now, but it’s not too late once she gets back. Trust me, do you remember what I told you when we first met? That a friend of mine once told me that friendship is magic? Being there for her will be the strongest help you can give her.”
From the driver’s seat, Evening said, “Yup, listen to Sunny, Tavi. She knows what she’s talking about.”
“But I should have been there for her!”
“Don’t worry – in a couple of days this will all be over,” Sunset said in a tone that brooked no argument. Octavia looked at her with surprise; even Ballad, peeking over from the passenger seat, wondered what the older teen was talking about.
“How can you be so sure?” Octavia asked.
“Because this has to end one way or another,” Sunset said in a firm voice, “and I’m going to do my damnedest to make sure it does.”
The following morning, June 1st, Sunset left her “aunt and uncle’s” place early in the morning. She had a breakfast date, she replied, and though Octavia teased her a bit about that, she was honestly glad that Sunset was able to bounce back from yesterday. The older teen had very much taken to her foster family and last night looked absolutely forlorn from being away from them, even though in truth she’d already done so just mere weeks before. However, if Octavia had actually known who Sunset’s “breakfast date” was with, it might have given her pause. Frankly, Sunset knew, her companion was seriously risking both her career and even her freedom doing just what she was doing right now.
Thankfully, no one ever seems to eat at El Torito for Sunday brunch, Sunset thought, which is a shame, because it’s not bad. Lifting a bit of huevos con chorizo to her mouth via fork, she heard what her tablemate had to say.
“So there’s nothing that Tia or I can say to persuade you otherwise?” Luna spoke, looking at the young girl before her. She’d disguised herself well, wearing a smoky purple wig that she said came from her “Nightmare Moon” days; she’d kept it for nothing more than nostalgia purposes. Combined with the sunglasses, the sundress and the subdued look, she kinda sorta resembled that British actress from the 50s, Blue-Eyed Beauty. Sunset idly wondered if Luna had a counterpart back in Equestria, and if so, what she did for a living. Probably a schoolteacher as well, Sunset reasoned. After all, she’d never heard of a “Princess Luna” back in her day, even amongst the minor princes and princesses of the ancien regime.
“No, Ms. Luna,” Sunset replied honestly. “I am the person I am today partly because of my friends, but more so because a family took me in, not knowing who or what I really am, and not caring about any of that – only caring that I needed someone. They gave me that someone, and now, her life is in danger in a way that only I can save her from.”
“And now you’re throwing yourself to the wolves to save her,” Luna said, somewhat impressed. When she’d encountered Sunset Shimmer nearly five years ago, the young girl had been just enrolled in Central Junior High on the other side of the combined campus, and CJH’s principal, Cherry Jubilee, had warned Luna that the girl was a handful. Having seen her on school grounds a couple of times afterwards, by the time she advanced to Canterlot High, Luna knew that the young girl would be a problem child the likes of which she hadn’t seen before in her educational career.
But in the past year, to realize that this “girl” was in truth an alien – a unicorn, a creature out of mythology, no less – and never really had anyone in her life who loved her, was startling enough. But then she’d been taken in Luna and Tia’s childhood friend, and Luna had watched as the alien from another world became so human that she was now willing to risk her life for someone who wasn’t even related to her by blood.
And yet Luna still had to inquire, “And you’re absolutely sure that you’re not risking everything just for the sake of something overblown? Sunset, did it ever occur to you that this could be a very elaborate trap set for you?”
“You’re not going to make me change my mind. Because what if Twily’s just the first? How do I know this isn’t just the start of something? No offense, Ms. Luna, but you have no idea of the kind of things I’ll be facing.”
“You’re right, I don’t – but from everything you’ve told the others and what little you told both me and Tia, this other princess, Princess Twilight’s mentor, will kill you on sight if you so much as attempt to return. If that’s the case, you’re walking into a death sentence, and….” Luna sighed. “Please understand. I’m not just speaking as a teacher here, Sunset. I’m speaking as your foster mother’s best friend: you’ll break her heart if anything happens to you. And what will happen in the end is that Vel will lose not one, but both her daughters. Can you accept that?”
“No. No I can’t. But neither can I live with watching Twily be torn apart while I have a chance to save her,” Sunset answered. “Besides, I remain hopeful. Maybe Twilight’s created some in-roads for me. Maybe I have an opportunity to convince the Princess just to leave me in exile. And before you ask, no, I don’t believe that.”
“So it’s Bambi going up before Godzilla,” Luna estimated.
“Maybe,” Sunset said, before taking a drink of her horchata. “But I saw that old cartoon. And you know what the problem was? Bambi didn’t have something to fight for. I do.”
Luna was quiet for a few minutes, realizing that Sunset’s choice was already made. She was already taking a huge risk: she was the summer school principal and Sunset was one of her students, both in the summer semester and regularly. And yet? For the Sunset Shimmer that had existed a year ago? It wouldn’t have been the bother. But for this one, who was kind and gentle, loving and friendly – the very antithesis of what she’d been before – Luna would sign her job away in a heartbeat. The Sunset Shimmer of the past had been a loner, and Luna wouldn’t have cared for that girl…but this Sunset Shimmer was Velvet’s daughter, and for her, Luna would move the moon if she could.
“Okay. Celestia’s at the museum. Fortunately, with Armonia being the director, they know us well – to the point that they’ve left us alone there quite a few times; hardly the smartest thing to do, but they trust her and they trust us. The only issue will be the security systems, which per state law cannot be turned off an—”
Sunset grinned. “Don’t worry, I called in a favor.”
The things I do for my friends, Rarity thought, gingerly lifting up a box of CD-ROMs, setting it somewhere in the sea of technological bric-a-brac. Finally assured that she’d cleared up at least a small spot on the couch in the room, she took a chance and sat down. She then looked at the girl in the gray tank top, backwards Canterlot Colts baseball cap and designer eyeglasses. “And you’re absolutely sure that you’re not going to get caught?”
Pinkie, who was with her, happily munched on a banana nut muffin that she’d brought along. Its siblings had been given to the owner of this bedroom about five minutes prior, and Pinkie grinned looking at the techno-insanity of the whole place. “Trust me, Rarity! She isn’t going to get caught.”
“Everyone gets caught dear,” Rarity said reproachfully. “It’s just a matter of time when.”
“How about somewhere between ‘fuck no’ and ‘never’?” the girl in the tank top said. She fixed Rarity with a look behind eyeglasses, then removed them. As she removed her spectacles, her warm citrine eyes revealed a slight case of strabismus, enough of one to go away while wearing the corrective lenses, but bad enough to return back to their original position otherwise. Looking right at Rarity with those eyes, she said, “Lemme guess: because everyone knows about my bad eyes, I look like some sort of mouth-drooling retard, right? Can barely take care of myself? My best chance at survival is if someone can get a guy to play hide the sausage with me while putting a paper bag over my head?”
“No, quite the contrary, Derpy. I know you better than that,” Rarity replied. “Given that you’re still one of the smartest girls I know.”
“One of the?”
“Well, no offense, but although she really doesn’t apply herself, Sunset Shimmer is brilliant; and her sister, Twilight Sparkle, is an absolute genius.”
Derpy grinned. “Eh, don’t worry, I’m not offended, and we’ve known each other since kindergarten. But most people just see my eyes and take me for some kind of short-bus basket case at worst or Asperger’s special at best. They never bother to figure out why I’m taking AP Physics, or Computer Programming or anything like that. I mean, hell, I’m ‘only’ sixteen and I’ve already got my own software company just waiting when someone in Silicon Valley decides they want to pay me a few cool million for it.”
“You’re joking.”
In response, Derpy turned and tapped a few things into the browser bar. A page from the Equestria Daily came online and Derpy gestured towards the screen with her head. “Kid down south in Orange County just sold his app to Google for $200 million – oh, and did I mention he’s younger than me?”
“Sounds like I’m studying for the wrong profession,” Rarity said, half-jokingly.
“Naah, don’t worry about it. Ya gotta have a love for this sorta thing. I built the W4LL3Y3Z app because I wanted to and I could, not because I expect to be rich off it – though that would be a nice side-effect; someone’s gotta pay for my sister’s college fund, and Dad really doesn’t make enough to cover his dreams of Dinky going Ivy League.”
“I see. So then you’ll do it?”
“Hah, do it? Already did.” Derpy leaned back, and tapped the ENTER key on her keyboard. “ECMAH’s security systems will have a unique and special snowflake crash by six this evening. They won’t be able to bring it back up, and they won’t be able to find me – because I’m behind seven proxies!” She winked and, making a gun-sign with her fingers, blew on the ‘muzzle’ as if dissipating smoke.
“So how much do we owe you for this—”
“Don’t bother – you couldn’t afford it,” Derpy said in a serious tone. “Taking down a security system? Violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and who knows how many state and local statutes, so it could cost me a lot if I get caught, not that I’m going to. And I don’t play that Anonymous-Lulzsec crap, so I don’t care about that.”
Pinkie then looked at Derpy and asked, “Derpy, I know you’re the forgiving sort, but why did you agree to this?”
Derpy looked at Pinkie and then said, “Three reasons. One: you forgave her, and while you’re a little naïve sometimes – no offense – if you’ve really been her friend all this time, then she’s probably really turned the corner. Second, after all the abuse I put up with her since seventh grade, she came up to me back in mid-December and brought me these.” She removed the glasses, handing them to Rarity.
“Prada?” Rarity asked as she took and inspected the glasses. “Wait – I was there when she ordered these from the optometrist! They were expensive as hell and, well, at first I thought she’d ordered them for her foster mother, or for me, since I wear contacts.”
“Nope. They were meant to be a replacement for the glasses she broke back in junior high. She knew that glasses really improve my eyesight, but I couldn’t get any really good ones, since my parents aren’t the richest folks in town – that’s why I wore those glasses with tape around the bridge for the rest of the year, looking even more dorktacular than I normally do. But she brought them to me and said she knew they would never be enough of an apology, but she wanted to make one all the same.”
“That sounds like Sunset,” Rarity replied as she handed Derpy back her glasses. “But what’s the third reason?”
“That would be me,” a girl at the door said. She had flaming red hair and brilliant green eyes, topped by a tanktop that rivalled Fluttershy’s in chest tightness and nearly wasp-waisted jeans. Rarity recognized her instantly as Derpy’s best friend Golden Harvest, though everyone in town tended to call her “Carrot Top”, seeing as how her hair was roughly the same color as that of the namesake comedian.
“How so?”
“I was one of the girls that got it the worst from that Club,” she said sadly. “Because I tend to dress in a certain way and I tend to be flirty with guys, some idiots made connections, and….” The look in her eyes was lost.
Rarity understood that look. “What did they do, dear? I…was nearly one of their victims as well.”
Derpy looked at Carrot Top and asked, “Can you get us something to drink?” When the redhead departed, Derpy looked at the other girls and said, “She was hospitalized for a month from a fractured pelvis. I’m sure you know what that means, right?” From the looks of horror on both Rarity and Pinkie’s faces, it was very clear what that meant. Seeing that, Derpy continued. “Carrot and I…she’s my best friend. I love her like a sister and I would do anything for her. Anything. But I couldn’t save her from what she went through thanks to that asshole boyfriend of hers.”
“Derpy, I—”
“No. Peppercorn…I thought he was a genuinely awesome guy, because he seemed to treat Carrot like his queen. But he turned her into….” Derpy turned away and for a second, Rarity thought she saw a tear slide down the girl’s cheek. But Derpy wiped it away and turned back to them, a stoic look on her face. “Whatever Sunset did to me – or anyone else in the past – I don’t care about. And do you know why? Because she took them down. I know, nobody’s willing to admit that for real. But Noteworthy has confessed, as have a few other people in the know. The cops didn’t do anything about it, the teachers didn’t either. It was all Sunset Shimmer. She got revenge for Carrot. And even if nobody else knows or appreciates it…I do.
“So do you want to know why I just hacked the museum’s security systems? Because whatever reason it is – and frankly, I don’t give a damn what it is, so long as it’s not illegal – Sunset Shimmer needs me to. And that’s all I’m going to say on that.”
Stepping out of the subway station, Sunset stood in front of the entrance to the Equestria County Museum of Art & History complex. As she walked through the fancy wrought-iron gates of the main entrance, she moved towards the marble steps rising to the Doric-columned entrance to the original ECMAH building, the classically-designed structure holding all the antiquities and fine works of art. From where she stood she could see the three other buildings, like compass points, all surrounding the central rose garden building during the 80s. To the south was the warehouse-like building that held the modern art and the museum’s restaurant and gift shop. On the far side of the garden, at its eastern end was the glassy, U-shaped building that was the Canterlot branch of the state’s Science Museum, complete with its centerpiece display of the space shuttle Stargazer. Finally, at the northern end of the park was the multi-building Exposition Center, where concerts, trade shows and conventions were held; it shared a large parking lot with the Equestria County Coliseum – “the Palace”, as the local sports fans called it – where Canterlot State’s football team usually got their ass handed to them in Division I NCAA.
She slowly turned around to see the skyline of the city, its concrete, glass and metal spires reaching towards the sky. She looked at everything, because this was her home – this Canterlot, this everyday, average city of roughly 468,000 people nestled in the shadow of Mount Shasta – this was where she belonged.
But now she was about to leave it, perhaps forever. It was very possible that this would be the last time she ever set her eyes on what she now considered her true home; if so, she wanted her last memories of it to be the peace and joy she never felt when she first arrived on this strange, magically-deficient world she’d come to love.
“Hey, Sunny, you okay?” Octavia asked. When Sunset arrived home and mentioned that she was heading to the Summer Teen Super Session at the museum, Octavia, who hadn’t seen the newest exhibits – including the Cavalcanti displays – insisted on going as well. While Sunset wanted to think of a dozen reasons why she shouldn’t come, the truth was that Octavia was her cousin – in heart, if not legally – and the last member of her family she might ever see. That alone was reason enough to let her come, though the flame-haired girl would have to make sure she somehow ditched her cousin at some point. During the subway ride to the museum, Sunset sent a text message to her friends in the hope that they could find a way to distract Octavia.
“Oh, girls, there you are! What a relief!” Both turned their heads to find Rarity, standing by the van her employers usually used for work, a look of reprieve on her face. “At last, someone I can actually count on!”
“Oh, heya, Rarity,” Octavia called out as both approached. “You here for this as well?”
“Well of course, Octavia dear. But unfortunately, I could use some assistance, if you wouldn’t mind. You see, the boutique I work at is supplying the sundries – tablecloths, napkins, that sort of thing – for this whole event and while I’d asked Pinkie to assist me since she wanted to come as well, unfortunately she disappeared ten minutes ago – something about needing to use the facilities – and my employer will simply harangue me to no end if I don’t get the linens up there in time.” A wry smile then came onto Rarity’s face as she added, “Then you can help me take it out on Pinkie afterwards, seeing as I’ll wager that her attention was dragged away by something ‘shiny’, as though she were a magpie.”
“Sure, we’d love to help,” Octavia replied.
“Absolutely,” Sunset replied, before a voice called to her from the top of the steps, by the museum’s entrance.
“Sunny! Get your ass in here!” Rainbow shouted from the top of the stairs. “Ms. Luna’s looking for you and if you don’t get in here, she says she’s going to make sure you don’t get class credit for this!”
“Wait, this is counting as class credit?” Sunset shouted back. Sunset hadn’t expected this little stunt on her friends’ behalf, but she knew that they were certainly creative enough; in hindsight she should have realized they had a knack for troublemaking no different than she did back then, save for where they focused said mischief.
“Hey, I’m not going to risk my grades if your happy ass ain’t getting up here!” Rainbow shouted back.
Sunset looked at Octavia and Rarity.
“Go – I can handle this,” Octavia told her. “As soon as we’re done we’ll join up with the rest of you guys, since I’m guessing the others are here.” Sunset’s response to that was a shrug, before she turned and sprinted up the stairs, hoping to look like her academic career counted on it.
As she reached the top of the steps, she asked Rainbow, “She didn’t really, did she?”
“Of course not,” Rainbow said with a grin, “but it got you up here without Tavi staring down your back, right? C’mon – Principal Celestia’s cordoning off the Exhibition Hall so they can bring in the tables while everyone else is taking a tour of the other buildings. Ms. Luna, Pinkie, Flutters and AJ are already in the Hall, waiting for the rest of us.”
“What about Rarity?”
“She’ll be there, don’t worry – we got my sister’s girl scout troop to help with organizing the tours, and we gave them some extra money to make sure that they keep Tavi busy. I have no idea what they’re going to do, but I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be illegal or anything, though your cousin might hate us for a little while.”
“They’re not going to hurt her, are they?” Sunset remembered when Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo asked for her help the week after her return from Los Angeles – because they needed a “mentor” who they weren’t related to – to supervise a girl scout badge project, which was community service via a car wash they’d set up. By the end of that day, Sunset had repeatedly apologized to several people whose cars had somehow inexplicably been turned into a glaringly bright color of lime-green because the three young teens had thought to get the science badge as well by coming up with their own mixture of “detergent”. At least the strange coating washed off, though only through the use of an actual car wash, the costs of which ended up being double what they’d made in the car wash stunt to begin with.
“It’s the girls – what do you think?” A quiet glare from Sunset caused Rainbow to say a second later, “Don’t worry, we have 911 on speed dial.”
A few minutes later, they were all in the Exhibition Hall, which was closed to the general public for the event. As promised, the room was being set up for the teen banquet afterwards, and most of the floor displays had been carefully moved out of the way, so the tables would be brought in twenty minutes from now. As Sunset and Rainbow entered via a backstage doorway, the flame-haired girl had noticed that the security camera by the door, normally swiveling to get a wide view of the room, was down and dead. Guess Derpy really did come through for me, she thought with a smile.
The moment she entered the hall, however, she was virtually bowled over by the power radiating from the mirror, a magic the strength of which she hadn’t felt since the day she left Equestria. Do humans block magic that much? she wondered. It was possible, given that the first time she saw the mirror, the room was crowded; but then again, when she was here the last time it was almost entirely deserted, so that couldn’t be the answer. Could it be that humans were always meant to have no magic? I’m having a hard enough time as is with just what little I have now; I don’t think I could live a life entirely magic-free. Just as quickly as the thought came to her, she put it away. Humans couldn’t have become what they were without magic – it was just a magic of an entirely different sort. Funny that in coming to a world that seemed so magically dead that she would finally learn about the most powerful magic forces that existed: friendship and love. But even still, the line of thought brought new questions: If I return from Equestria, will I be forever stuck with a lower level of magic for the rest of my life? Perpetual “magical kindergarten”, as the old jokes went?
“When”, Shimmer, Sunset reminded herself. “When”, not “if” – you’ll be back once you solve this problem. Don’t give up hope. Closing her eyes for a brief second, she reminded herself that if she gave up now, Twilight would be as good as dead – and Sunset wasn’t going to let her sister down.
As she crossed the length of the room, she could feel each fall of her human foot. I may have been born a unicorn, she mused as she walked towards the mirror and seeing Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy trying to budge the glass screen out of the way, but I also feel human. I guess, in the end, as much as I feel I belong here, I have to wonder…do I?
“Sunset.” She heard a voice and turned around to see Principal Celestia standing there, next to Ms. Luna. For a rare change, both looked sorrowful – and it was a mild surprise when she realized she was the source of it, but not for the same reasons as in the past. “I’m…I’m not saying this as a principal or any kind of authority figure, but as your mother’s best friend: don’t do this. If anything of what you’re saying is even remotely true, you’re walking into nothing less than a death trap.”
Luna’s voice actually cracked as she spoke. “You’ll break Vel’s heart if you don’t come back.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to come back,” Sunset said, sounding a bit cockier than she felt as she ascended the dais to the mirror. Walking over to the glass case, she said to her friends, “Here, let me.” Her hands glowed, and with an ease she hadn’t felt in a long time, she effortlessly moved the polycarbonate screen via telekinesis.
“Whut th’….” Applejack said, completely shocked at what her friend just did.
“The mirror’s radiating full magic from Equestria. Between that and the current lunar phase, I’m almost back at my old magical strength, though I am a little out of practice,” she said, as the screen wobbled slightly when she set it down.
At last, she stood between her friends and the mirror. She could hear Rarity running, making sure that she made it in time. Gasping for breath, the violet-tressed girl said to the others, “We’d better do this soon: I overheard a member of the museum staff say they’ll be bringing in the tables in twenty minutes.”
“Then we’d better get this over with,” Sunset said, casting another spell. At once, the glass of the mirror began to swirl and ripple, before turning into a renaissance version of Stargate SG-1.
“Don’t go,” Rarity said, embracing her friend. She didn’t have long before the other girls did as well, Sunset finding herself in a huge group hug. The first time she’d done so with her friends, she found it stupid and embarrassing. Now, she’d have given anything to tell her past self just to shut up and enjoy it.
“I have to. My sister’s life’s on the line, and…well, eventually I knew this was going to come,” she said, her voice quavering. She forced the tears away – she would not cry in front of her friends. That vow only lasted as long as it took for her to notice that they were doing so, unabashedly, and even Celestia and Luna’s eyes were moist.
“You’d better come back,” Rainbow sobbed, comically crying and trying not to sound like she was crying at the same time.
“What, to where I belong? Of course I’m coming back,” Sunset said, the tears streaming from her eyes. Looking at Celestia and Luna, she said in a soft voice, “The last thing I need is to be marked absent from school – my parents would ground me for eternity.”
“Well,” Fluttershy said, finally letting go as the others did, “you’d better go soon. We’re going to have to push this thing back into place.”
“Besides, Ah dunno if that thing’s safe to’ keep like that much longer,” Applejack added, pointing at the undulating surface of the mirror.
“Yeah,” Sunset said, looking at her friends. She owed them more than she could ever say, and it was for their sakes that she had started on the journey from fallen alicorn wannabe to normal member of human society. “I’ll be back. I don’t know when, and I hope it won’t be long…but I’ll be back, one way or another. You can count on it.”
“And if you don’t?” That last came from Celestia, who looked as though she would jump at any moment to pull Sunset away from the mirror; Luna held the same gaze in her eyes. It was in that moment that she knew how lucky her foster mother was to have friends like that, friends like the ones she had – family in all but blood.
Sunset gave them all a beatific smile. “Then tell them everything. Everything. And then…” Sunset paused, in order to finally say the words she never could. “Tell them I love them, more than I could ever say.”
And with that, Sunset Shimmer jumped through the mirror, returning to Equestria.
High above in the late afternoon sky, there was a double crack of thunderous sound as two blasts of prismatic color suddenly filled the air.
“Double Rainboom!” a chirpy voice cried. “OhmiCelestia! So intense!”
“Pinkie, dear, it isn’t anything you haven’t seen before—”
A pink earth pony began hopping around like a live wire on cocaine, a green baby alligator holding onto her magenta mane like a living hairclip. “Ooooooooh…ohmiCelestia ohmiCelestia! Wooooooah! Double Rainboom all the way! Wow!”
Rarity looked at Applejack for help, but the farmmare just shrugged it off. “It’s Pinkie,” she replied. “It’ll wear off in a few.” At her side, Winona barked in agreement.
“Well,” a soft-spoken voice said, “all my animal friends agree: this is the perfect place to hold this year’s Summer Sun Celebration.” There was a sudden raspberry sound, and Fluttershy turned to her left, looking at a particularly impertinent bunny. “Angel, be nice.”
“Well, as soon as our two royals arrive, we’ll inform them,” Rarity answered. “It will be nice to have finally chosen a suitable spot, if only so we can attend to the other tasks Luna has assigned us regarding the Celebration’s planning. I, for one, need to liaise with Tents & Dishtowels to make sure they’ll have all the pavilion tents we’ll need ready.” She heard a hiss behind her, then rolled her eyes. “Yes, Opal, dear, we can go to the pet spa so Tender Paws can give you a makeover.”
A slight distance away, two ponies casually walked down the path towards the Whitetail Woods, miles away from Ponyville. The first, a raspberry-colored unicorn, walked unsteadily, thanks to a limp mostly taken care of by the brace she wore. The other, a lavender alicorn, fanned her wings out occasionally, as if exercising them.
“Thanks for waiting up for me, Razz,” Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, told Raspberry Beryl, Princess in Pretense of the Crystal Empire, as the two friends walked towards where the rest of their group met. “Still haven’t gotten used to flying long distances, so the trip from Canterlot took far longer than I’d have preferred.”
“Oh, it’s not like I had much of a choice; Heelee wanted to play a prank on me by hiding my brace,” Raspberry replied, half-scowling at the young emerald-and-gold phoenix curiously perched on her horn. As if to continue his prank, he took to the air, rocketing off towards where the others were. A second later, he was joined by Twilight’s pet owl, Owlysious, as they headed off towards the pet playdate.
“Well, since the girls wanted to make the search for this year’s spot for the Summer Sun Celebration and our pet playdate one and the same, you can’t blame him for being too rambunctious.”
“That’s certainly true,” Raspberry agreed. “He’s been spending a lot of time indoors ever since we permanently moved into the Inn, an—” Raspberry paused, frozen as if something suddenly struck her. She then turned to look at Ponyville, distant on the horizon, and the black line just behind it – the Everfree Forest.
“Is something wrong?”
“I…for a moment, I thought I felt the use of black magic,” Raspberry replied.
“Are you sure?” Twilight asked, suddenly concerned. Raspberry was the most knowledgeable about the dark arts, though she personally did not walk the Left Hoof Path. If something was threatening Equestria once more….
Meanwhile, Raspberry blinked. “Odd….” she murmured, then turned to Twilight. “Maybe I’m just imagining it. After all, there’s nothing nearby that could be problematic.”
“Are you sure?”
Raspberry smiled. “Positive. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?”
TO BE CONTINUED…