A Sparkling Sunset

by Ferhog


Some Help With The Library-Sunset Shimmer

"I think I found it!"

The book was wrapped in some sort of thick, wrinkly brown cover, with little decoration or text on it, and any that could be found had faded almost beyond visibility, which gave a hint at the centuries or even millennia that it had seen. All that Sunset could make of the front cover was an image that looked kind of like a mirror, and some letters in an old, classic looking font that spelled something like...

'A.LO...T.H.IN..RDE.E...N.L'

Whatever the title once spelled was beyond figuring out, but it was the words underneath the title that really got Sunsets attention. The words were also blurred, possibly worse than the title, but she recognized the name anyway. She had seen the spelling and the handwriting countless times, from the countless books she had read when she was still a student of Celestia.

'Starswirl the bearded.'

Sunset smiled at the name. Now it made a whole lot more sense why Twilight was looking so desperately for this book... Her train of thought was disrupted by the sound of clopping hooves, at a rate that sounded almost like a run.

Well, speak... or... think of Nightmare moon, and she shall appear.

Sunset turned her head down the left hall to see Twilight Sparkle bounding towards her, with a wide-eyed look on her face that was almost creepy, if Sunset hadn't seen that expression so many times already. Twilight skidded to a halt so that she didn't crash into the yellow mare, and in a glow of magenta light the book was out of Sunset's hooves and levitating in front of the princesses face, its pages turning fast, but delicately. Sunset couldn't help but think that was kinda rude, but Twilight tended to act a bit over the top when it came to books.

"Yes." whispered the lavender alicorn, a smile breaking across her face. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!"
She looked just about ready to start jumping up and down.

"Oh Sunset Shimmer do you know what this is?"

Even for Twilight, this book was causing a lot more excitement than Sunset had expected.
"Um...Its a book...by Starswirl the Bearded?"

Twilight stared at her with wide eyes and a huge smile.
"This isn't just any one of Starswirl's books, this is A look at the Inter-dimensional!And this isn't just any copy of his works, this is his ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS! AND THEIR STILL COMPLETELY INTACT!"

She had to admit, that did sound pretty exciting. The prospect of reading any original text by possibly the greatest unicorn wizard in equestrian history is something that could bring the inner filly out of any student of princess Celestia. Even former students.

"Princess Celestia sent this to Ponyville DAYS ago, and I would have gotten to reading it if some...idiot, hadn't put this in the wrong section! Basic magic?! Come on! This could be a major breakthrough in my studies. Even the toned down modern copies you can find in the Canterlot libraries almost feel like Starswirl's personal magical journal. Just think of all the magical secrets that could be LITERALLY hidden in these pages."

Twilight pulled Sunset in for a quick hug.

"Thank you so much for finding this. And with the information this is said to have on inter-dimensional travel, we could learn more about the mirror, and anything else Starswirl owned regarding this subject."

Sunset smiled. Twilight looked almost adorable when rambling on about books, magic and studies. Just the way she moves around as if hooked up on a gallon of coffee, and her eyes just darting from the subject matter to whoever she's talking to, while listing every fact about what she's talking about from how old it is, to its length in millimeters to how big the explosion would be if it was touched.

"So, now that this is out of the way, is there anything else you need my help with?" Sunset asked. It was getting pretty late, but she could help find a few more misplaced books or even assist Twilight in her research.

The princess of friendship responded with a small smile, less maniacal and a bit kinder than the ones she'd displayed moments earlier.
"Thanks, but I think we're done for the day. Come on, Fluttershy brought some sandwiches for us to eat."

The two mares started to walk down the rows of bookshelves, and even though Sunset had seen Twilight's library plenty of times before, she was still impressed by how pretty it was, along with its sheer range of books. The blue color of the walls and shelves went really well the crystal design of the place, which was beautiful enough by itself, and the light shining through the windows just made certain areas shine and glitter in a way that added a sense of wonder to the library. And the number and variety of books was much more impressive given the fact that the castle was relatively new. The combination of the tree of harmonies magical gift and the books that had been generously given to Twilight by princess Celestia and multiple book doners made the library one of the main reasons Sunset had been visiting the castle so much lately. It was just incredible.

And the throne room wasn't too bad either.

It had a design similar to that of the library, only it had a much more purple tint in its crystals, and green semicircular windows that created the same glittering effect the libraries windows made. The floor was a lot flatter and more like marble than crystal, compared to the rest of the castle, and was designed with purple spirals that rested against a violet backdrop. In the center of the rooms floor was the image of a white star inside a yellow circle, and surrounding this were six thrones, each of them embedded with the cutie marks of Twilight and her council. It looked like some kind of round table.

In fact the entire castle was beautiful, if the tree of harmony can be credited with one thing, it had excellent taste. Well, it could also be credited with keeping the Everfree forest at bay and the multiple times the elements of harmony saved all of Equestria from various evil threats (Sunset herself included), but those weren't quite as memorable as the castle's design.

Rarity and Fluttershy were already sitting in the middle of the circle, eating away at some lettuce, cheese and tomato sandwiches. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were busy pushing a large cart with a stack of crates (that were unlikely to not be containing things that Twilight intended on studying or using to study something else that needed studying(y'know, to study!)) through one of the large doors. And Rainbow Dash had somehow managed to get a cloud into the castle, on which she was currently reading a book, which, being Rainbow Dash, was probably an A.K Yearling novel.

"Oh Applejack! Pinkie!" Rarity shouted, trying to get the attention of the two earth ponies, who had been pushing the cart down one of the hallways.
"You've been unpacking crates for hours darlings! Come over here and have some of Fluttershy's delicious sandwiches!"

"Sorry sugar cube, we gotta get these here crates unpacked before goin' home!" Applejack yelled from the hallway. "Twilight will be needin' these for her research tonight, well join y'all later!"

This statement seemed to have disappointed Rarity a bit, who then turned her head towards Rainbow Dash.

"I don't suppose you would like a sandwich Rainbow Dash?" asked Rarity.

Rainbow didn't even bother to look back at the white unicorn. She just waved her hoof and responded by saying, "Yeah...maybe I'll have some after I finish Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny."

"Haven't you already read that book about forty times? That's twice as much as all the times you've read the other Darin Do books."

"Yeah well, this one is just that awesome."

"Or because its the one with YOU in it."

"Maybe."

Fluttershy giggled at the banter, and turned to face Twilight and Sunset.

"I don't suppose you girls are feeling hungry?" she asked in her usual quiet, yet positive voice.

"Sure, we'd love some sandwiches." replied Twilight, while levitating a pair of sandwiches out of the basket. She brought one of them over to herself, and dropped the other one in front of Sunset, who caught it using her own telekinesis.

The sandwich floated over to her mouth, and she bit into the bread, feeling the tomatoes squirt juice down her throat, and the lettuce and cheese crunching and splitting between her teeth. She even detected some mayonnaise in the combination. Over all, it created a taste that filled Sunsets mouth with its goodness, and consumed her with a comfortable feeling that only homemade food can give you.
"This is really good, Fluttershy." She said through the muffling contents in her mouth. "I didn't even think they had mayonnaise in Equestria."

The Pegasus smiled at her. "Thank you." She exclaimed in a voice that was almost a whisper. "I made it myself. Angel does likes mayonnaise in his sandwiches, though his usually have carrots rather than cheese."

Sunset responded by gasping loudly "A bunny that enjoys carrots, WHAT FOUL MANNER OF BLACK MAGIC IS THIS!"

Small fits of laughter were brought out of each of the four mares. Since leaving Equestria over thirty moons ago, she'd never had an enjoyable social gathering with her fellow ponies. It felt good to be talking to Equestrians after all these years.

"So, Rarity," Sunset said. "What have you been doing today?"

"Oh, me and Fluttershy have spent the past few days adding more appealing features to the castles furniture. Quilts, cushions, curtains, things like that. I personally made all of it myself. Being the castle of a princess of Equestria, this place is bound to get guests, and we must make sure that they enjoy the highest quality furniture they can get. But enough about my work, what have you and Twilight been doing in the library?"

"Sunset Shimmer's been helping me organize the place, she's been really helpful" Twilight turned to Sunset with an affectionate smile. "The libraries in a serious mess, and I'm glad to have a fellow gifted unicorn help me organize it to its full potential. A few minutes ago, we found the ORIGINAL version of Starswirl the Bearded's A look at the inter-dimensional, in the basic magic section of the library! Who in their right mind would put a book of that importance in there?!"

Fluttershy looked at Twilight with a helpful look on her face.
"Maybe if you personally oversaw the organization of the library, rather than just sending other people to do it, it wouldn't be in such a mess."

"I know. Its just, with the Alicornhood, the title, the castle, I'm finding a lot more of my time taken up by royal duties now than ever before. I mean, they've settled down and now I have much more time to organize the library, but I don't think I could ever do a job like this without help. I'm just glad I have friends like Sunset to help me with this kind of stuff"

The yellow unicorn nodded in thanks, as she chowed down her last sandwich. She looked over to one of the windows, and even though the glass was tinted green, she could definitely see a change in color, signifying late afternoon.

"I'd better get going." Sunset declared. "Its getting pretty late."

"Here, let me see you off." replied Twilight.

The unicorn and the Alicorn stood up and started walking back to the library, while Fluttershy and Rarity said their goodbyes. When they reached the library they found the mirror standing where it always did, and the activation device set around it, with its two pairs of pylons, pistons, wires and all sorts of technological junk cobbled together so that they could open a portal that would normally only open for half a week every thirty moons.

Twilight picked the book up.
"So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

Sunset put on a rather sad face.
"Sorry, I don't think I'll be able to visit during weekdays, y'know with school and all."

"Okay." said Twilight, sharing in her slight sadness.

Surrounded by the magenta glow, the book was lifted and placed on the small pedestal, and instantly started to glow pink. Two streams of pink energy emitted from the book, and attached themselves to the two pylons, which sent the energy glowing down the wires. The wires sent the energy through multiple mechanisms such as pistons, rollers and couplings. Finally, the energy streams reached the two smaller pylons, where they were released, and fused together to form a purple wormhole, which joined with the mirror. The pink energy rushed through the mirror in an unstable state, before a blinding white flash of light occurred. When the light passed, the mirror glowed in stable pink energy, ready for transportation.

"Well, I guess I'd better get going." Sunset exclaimed.

"See you in five days?"

"You can count on it."

"I already am."
And before Sunset could turn around, Twilight lurched forward, locking her in a tight embrace. The yellow mare took this as a surprise. She'd been hugged by Twilight before, but never with this much affection. Not that she didn't like it. On the contrary, she liked it a lot. Its was warm, soft, and passionate. All she could feel was the violet Alicorn with her hooves around her neck.

When they finally parted, Twilight stared at her, smiling.
"Bye."

Sunset smiled back, and proceeded to walk over to the mirror. She placed her hoof into the pink glow, and that hoof pulled her whole body into the light. She felt a sensation as if her body dissapated into pure energy, and her head went dizzy.

When her mind came back to her, she found herself standing in the grounds of Canterlot high, the sun setting behind it. She could feel the changes in her body, the hooves now toes and fingers , her muzzle now a mouth and a nose, her ears shrunk into a smaller, rounder shape, and her tail and horn gone completely.

Her body and soul was very much at Canterlot high, but her thoughts were still in Equestria, particularly with a lavender Alicorn princess.