//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Past Is Today // Story: Sunset Reset // by LordBrony2040 //------------------------------// “Well, after a careful examination, I’d have to say she’s got a nasty bump on the noggin, and is suffering from a severe case of magical exhaustion,” the brown unicorn doctor with the short curly mane doctor as he carefully looked over the unconscious alicorn. As Sunset continued to lay in her bed, the stallion turned back to the much larger white pony standing over him. “Bed rest is all she needs, Princess.” Celestia nodded her thanks before dismissing the medical pony and ordering the guards outside Sunset's apartment to escort him out of the castle. With that taken care of, she trotted back in and turned her full attention to the sleeping pony in the bed. The doctor’s prognosis had mirrored Celestia’s own, despite the fact she had been much more through in her examination of her student. All either of them could find aside from the minor physical damage was that Sunset’s mana pathways had been overtaxed, and she’d be asleep for the better part of the next twenty-four hours. As the smaller alicorn fidgeted in her sleep, Celestia used her magic to readjust the sheets so they wouldn’t cause too much trouble with Sunset’s new wings. Then, the Princess sighed and sat down on the floor to think about the situation. Running mystical scans on the mirror had proved as fruitless as they had been when Starswirl first showed her the blasted thing. That mirror would be magically inert for the better part of a month. All it would be able to do until then is reflect a glimpse of a pony’s destiny with a little help from Celestia. But even when it was working as it was supposed to, it had certainly never been the cause of magical energy releases that turned ponies into alicorns! Celestia pushed the mystery of the mirror out of her head for the moment. Such a thing could be dealt with in due time. As long as she kept ponies away from it, there wouldn’t be a problem. What concerned her now was Sunset Shimmer. While not a bad pony, Celestia had to admit that her student had become overly prideful, aloof, and even a little mean in recent years. Her transformation into an alicorn promised to either increase those problems, or make them irreversible. Perhaps even both.  She had hoped that meeting Cadance after the pink alicorn’s ascension would have taught Sunset a little humility simply from the fact there was somepony else around with a higher magic potential than her. But...things hadn’t quite worked out the way Celestia had planned. In fact, it had only made Sunset's situation worse. Nowadays, the two avoided each other, if not outright pretended the other didn’t exist for most of the time. It was a solution Celestia was willing to accept for the moment, at least until she could correct Sunset’s ways. Once she had been set on the right track, the princess fully intended for her adopted niece and student to settle their differences. There was just so much the two of them could teach each other. But now that she had a pair of wings and an increased mana pool of her own…Celestia wasn’t quite sure what Sunset would do. While she certainly wasn’t dangerous to other ponies, her attitude was definitely going to suffer from the change in species. Not to mention her ethical studies, which Sunset barely heeded at all as of late, even when they came from Celestia herself. For a moment, Celestia wished things could be as they used to be between the two of them. She lost herself in the memories of the past, when Sunset hadn’t been quite such a headache. She remembered back when the little filly had been found wandering the halls of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. She hadn’t actually been an applicant at the time. Her parents had simply been applying for a job at the institution and lost track of the curious little filly. A little filly who had wandered into the entrance exam room as Celestia and the professors were preparing to leave, and completed an exercise that every other applicant had failed to achieve so quickly the adults in the room barely had time to notice her before it was done. While her parents hadn’t gained a place at Celestia’s school, the Princess was more than willing to let Sunset in as her personal student thanks to the display, which took the financial burden of enrollment off the two older ponies. Celestia remembered how frightened the little filly had been at first, alone in Canterlot without any relatives around to offer her emotional support. The Princess had spent the first week with her student, simply guiding Sunset around and showing her there was nothing to be afraid of while the little filly stuck to Celestia like an extra cutie mark. After that, she had finally managed to coax Sunset into her own palace apartment instead of the one Celestia used. The fact that it was only two doors down from her own probably helped the little filly accept it. The second memory that cropped up was a painful one. Not three weeks after Sunset had settled in Canterlot, there had been an incident involving her parents. A bugbear had attacked the village they had settled in upon finding work and caused a great deal of damage, not to mention casualties. Both of Sunset’s parents had been among the ponies lost that day. The Sun Princess shook off the memories of the memorial service and the mental image of the crying filly being held in Celestia’s forelegs that followed. She had promised the deceased ponies that she would always watch over their child and provide the best for her, no matter what may come. A promise that Celestia admitted to herself had kept Sunset in her tutelage despite the former unicorn’s turn for the worst and the thoughts that she might benefit from a different teacher. A cleansing sigh made its way from Celestia’s lips as she pulled herself away from her memories, and took a moment to nuzzle the sleeping filly. Sunset fidgeted in her sleep in response, and might have rolled around if not for the pair of extended wings on her back that forced the little alicorn to sleep on her side. “Sleep well, my little Sunset,” Celestia told her gently. “We’ll…figure things out when you come to.” With her goodbyes said, Celestia made her way out into the main room of Sunset’s apartment and then into the main hallway where her guards were waiting. She also found another pony that she hadn’t been expecting out on the other end of the hallway. “Cadance.” The young pink alicorn with her mane tied back in a ponytail looked up at Celestia upon hearing her name. Although she had gotten better at hiding her nervousness around the older pony, it was still evident to somepony of Celestia's experience. “I was going to your room for my lesson today, and the guards said you were taking care of Sunset,” she explained before pausing for a moment, unease giving way to caution. “Did something happen?” Celestia blinked and found herself foolishly looking for a clock before realizing none would be found in the hallway where she was standing. Was I really in there with Sunset for that long? the goddess thought before clearing her head and looking down again to address her adopted niece’s concerns. “There was an incident with Sunset a few hours ago. I’m sorry for letting the hours slip away, things were just so hectic since then that I didn’t have time to send a messenger saying I needed to cancel our meeting for today.” Disappointment and a bit of agitation appeared on the teenager’s face before she looked away and gave an annoyed sigh. “I understand Prin-Auntie.” The response made Celestia have to work from keeping her shoulders from drooping. She knew Cadance didn’t like the fact that the majority of the older alicorn’s time was spent teaching Sunset, but there really wasn’t much she could do about it. Cadance was already ascended, the lessons she needed to learn could be provided by any unicorn school teacher. When it came down to it, Sunset simply needed Celestia more than Cadance did, and that was that. Still, a complete lack of attention wasn’t fair to the pink princess. “Walk with me a moment, would you?” Celestia asked. At the very least, she could spare a few minutes to let Cadance air some of her aggravation. Plus, if Sunset wasn’t going to be conscious for a day, she could give Cadance back her lost teaching time with interest. Before leaving, she looked back at her escort. “Silver Wing, Shining Knight, I want the two of you to remain here in case Sunset recovers faster than expected.” It was a possibility considering her new species. But not likely. Still, it was best to plan for the unexpected, or if Sunset took a turn for the worst. “I’ll have the next shift relieve you in a couple of hours.” As Celestia trotted away, Cadance actually stood motionless at the door for a few seconds before she rushed to catch up. “Wait! What do you mean recovers?” she asked in a worried tone that reminded Celestia just why Cadance had been chosen to receive a horn and crown. Despite their troubles, the pink alicorn was still worked up at the thought of the other pony being injured. “Sunset’s hurt?” The larger alicorn hesitated with her answer, and looked back to her student’s door as she contemplated just what to tell Cadance. “Not…exactly.” Sunset Shimmer awoke to the unpleasant sensation of a pounding hammer in her skull. Although, the rest of her nerves weren't as mean. The rest of her body simply experienced a dull ache. She groaned as she slowly opened her eyes, only to have them assaulted by a bright light coming through a horribly placed window that managed to bombard the discombobulated girl with an excess of light. Almost on reflex, Sunset closed her eyes and reached down to grab the covers in her hand and…blinked when she noticed something was wrong. My fingers, the girl thought to herself as she attempted to wiggle the missing digits. I can’t feel my fingers! The thought brutally annihilated the final remnants of sleep clinging to Sunset’s mind in a wave of sudden panic. She rolled on her back, after a great deal of effort to shove something out of the way, and brought up what she expected to be her hands. Only, she found a pair of hooves filling her vision instead of palms. Wait a second. Memories from the day before filled Sunset’s head as she recalled what had happened. The Friendship Games. Her friend’s uncaring attitudes about their own safety. Principal Bitch of CP coaxing the human Twilight to release all that stored magic, and then not giving a damn about nearly destroying the whole world shortly afterwards. Her anger at the whole situation, at her friends, at Twilight…and at herself for causing the whole mess by bringing the crown back with her in the first place. It all came flooding back to her, along with the girl's decision to simply take the magic with her as she left for Equestria. Then there was that strange magical energy signature, and...she woke up here. For a moment, Sunset found herself wondering if she was in Twilight’s castle. The design looked more reminiscent of Canterlot, rather than whatever crystal palace she had ended up at upon her first return to Equestria. Although, she supposed that a mare raised in Canterlot would want a home of the same style. Anything else would probably be alien and unwelcoming. Hell, the place even bore a similarity to the old apartment she had back at Canterlot Castle. Even the bookcases were in the same place, on the far end of the room so she could get just the tome she needed while staying in bed if she wanted to spend a lazy day reading. The oddity made Sunset wonder what would have happened if things had just been a little bit different upon her first return to Equestria. If she hadn’t let her anger and pride get the better after finding out about Princess Twilight. If she hadn’t taken the crown through the portal to break its connection to its rightful owner and just gone on about her life. Would Princess Celestia have taken her back? Sunset knew the possibility was non-existent now. She would be lucky not to get a real banishment handed down by Celestia rather than the one that had been placed upon her by simply staying at Canterlot High rather than returning home to face justice as she should have done. The thought of her old jail cell made the mare shift her thoughts to her friends. Were they angry with her? Upset? Disappointed? While Sunset had done what she did to protect them, could any of them really even understand that? Maybe I should have stayed, Sunset told herself. If she had been the one to contain all the magic, then there wouldn’t have been a problem. Except from maybe Rainbow, she tended to pony-up as much as possible. Which was one of Sunset’s primary reasons for leaving the human world. That girl was going to get herself in serious trouble with the way she constantly tried to show off her magic. Just thinking about it made the former-human’s anger start to build up and-THWAP! “Gaah!” Sunset let out a cry as she suddenly found herself catapulted forward through the air, over the end of her bed and onto the floor in front of it before she hit the ground with a loud THUMP that threatened to knock the wind out of her. What the fuck was that? The mare groaned from the impact, and thought she heard movement coming from the other side of the door to her left. After living in a world with soft-stepping monkeys, it seemed even hooves on a carpeted surface stood out to her ears. “Umm…hello? Is anybody…” Sunset cut herself off when she noticed something blurry on the edge of her vision after she turned her head towards the door. She looked back…and blinked at the large appendages. The large feathery appendages. The large feathery appendages that she noticed were apparently attached to her back. Disbelief filling her mind, Sunset attempted to manipulate some of her rarely-used back muscles in an attempt to move the wings. Wings that were apparently hers. Because as Sunset squirmed around on the floor, she not only managed to make one of the wings move, she actually felt it. Surprise replaced disbelief as her brain accepted the signals confirming movement of Sunset’s wings, and the unicorn that had just learned she had apparently been turned into an alicorn let out a shriek of surprise. “GAAAAAH!” A few decibels louder than when she had just landed on the floor. The door to her left slowly opened with a light creek, and Sunset looked over as a pink pony with a long horn on her head looked in. “Sunset? Are you alright? I heard screaming and…um…I wanted to see if you were okay.” The pink pony’s face stirred something in Sunset’s memory, of a young alicorn that had appeared in Canterlot one day that Celestia had called her niece. Of course, Sunset had found those claims to be false when she read a history book from the restricted section of the library detailing alicorn ascension. The little alicorn had neither been born Celestia’s niece, nor an alicorn. It had just been a lie that Celestia had concocted to hide the fact she could turn ponies into alicorns. But, she did recognize the pony, all the same. “Princess Cadance?” she asked in bewilderment. “What’re you doing here?” A confused look appeared on Cadance’s face as she slowly swung the door open all the way to reveal a potted plant with a card in it held close to her body with one of her wings. “I was…um…bringing you a get well present,” she said before gulping and looking over to the empty nightstand by the bed Sunset had been in a moment before her impromptu flight, and then to the other alicorn. “I-I’ll just leave it out in your sitting room.” “Um…thank you Princess,” Sunset said as confusion wracked her brain. What in the hell was Princess Cadance doing in…wherever the hell they were? And…why was she… “Uh, Princess Cadance? Is something wrong?” Sunset asked as she found her way to her feet, or hooves as the case was, once again. “You’re looking at me like I’m-oh, it’s the wings, isn’t it?” The question made Cadance blink, and then shake herself out of whatever stupor she was in. “No. It’s um…actually, it’s the fact you just called me princess for the fourth time since we met. Aun-er, Princess Celestia already told me about the wings you got after your…accident.” Sunset raised an eyebrow and tried to count the times she had addressed Cadance by her title just then, but threw that aside in favor of the more important topic. “My accident?” “With the mirror?” Cadance reminded her, although it sounded more like a hesitant question than a statement. All of a sudden, a spike of fear ran through Sunset’s mind. The questions that came with her wings like ’why?’ and ’what happens now?’ got pushed back in the que for more important things. “The Crystal Mirror? What do you mean accident? Did something happen to the mirror?” she asked before galloping up to Cadance with only a tiny stumble and looked down at the shorter alicorn to meet her face to face. “Princess, you gotta tell me! What happened?” The worst possible possibility appeared in her mind. “Did it...break?” A second later, Sunset realized the foolishness of her questions. She needed to stay in this world to keep her friends safe. But…having the option of returning when the portal opened naturally taken away had sent her into a small panic. The pink alicorn’s eyes widened, and she backed away from Sunset as she talked. “N-No. The mirror’s just fine. But, Celestia said that when she brought you to look at it, there was a strange surge of magic that blinded her, and when her eyes cleared, you were laying on the other side of the room and um...you had wings.” Sunset frowned at Cadance’s odd reply. Princess Celestia hadn’t shown her anything. She had come through the mirror, not looked at it. In fact, what Cadance was describing sounded like something that had happened years ago. Nearly a month before Celestia had expelled her and… A rather disturbing possibility ran through Sunset’s mind as she remember her encounter with the temporal energies on her way back to Equestria. “Cadance…do you remember the last time we talked?” “Um…” the other mare said before she went around Sunset to put the potted plant down next to the empty bed. “Maybe…two weeks ago? We saw each other in the hallway, and you gave me that look you get whenever you know I’m around. Although, I guess that doesn’t really count as talking.” As she walked around the room, Sunset took note of the other alicorn’s hesitant stride, the way she kept glancing back at Sunset, and a slight twitch in her wings. Although she hadn’t been a pony again for very long, the newfound alicorn could equate such things with the way humans moved, and like Sunset's wings, the mystery of why Cadance thinking she had only been gone for a few weeks was sidelined for something more important. “Cadance, am I making you nervous?” The question got a stumble from the pink princess. It was minor, but still noticeable before she corrected herself and looked over to Sunset. “Nervous? Why would I be nervous? Eh-hehehe.” Sunset’s eyes widened as her bully senses, honed after two years of getting the human students that surrounded her for two years to do whatever she wanted, confirmed Cadance’s unease with the fake laugh and uneasy smile she gave. The light amber alicorn’s head drooped when she came to a realization. Cadance was nervous about being around her. Now that she thought about it, Sunset really couldn’t ever remember treating Cadance with the respect she deserved. Another pony had simply shown up in Princess Celestia’s life, and Sunset had done everything she could to show the friendly young mare just who was top dog around Canterlot. While there had been a whole five seconds when Sunset was nervous about the presence of another alicorn, that had faded after she saw Cadance’s rather pathetic attempt at magic during their first meeting over dinner. Sunset had demanded why a pony with a horn was using her hooves to eat. Then she went a bit further with the insult by lifting everything she could in the room and spinning several pounds of tables, chairs, silverware, plates, food, and maybe even the waiter around the room a few times just to prove her superiority after Cadance explained she wasn't good at levitation, or any magic really. The whole thing had ended before Celestia had shown up, delayed by some meeting or other event like raising the moon like she always was, but the intimidation had worked. And if not, Sunset had taken many other opportunities to show off in the most terrifying way possible to the alicorn what a real horn could do. Cadance wasn’t just nervous, she was terrified of the other pony. The realization made Sunset gulp. “Because up until now, the only thing I’ve done is bully you,” she said sadly before lowering her head. “And the monster that’s done everything she can to make you afraid just got a magical upgrade. I think that’s a pretty good reason for you to feel afraid.” The pink princess stared at Sunset for a few seconds, shock evident on her face. “Well…I wouldn’t really call you a monster,” Cadance’s voice cut in before Sunset’s guilt could run wild. “I mean, you never actually did anything to me. Just…um, kind of…showed me you could.” She looked back to the other alicorn that was giving her a little smile. “H-How about a brat then?” Sunset suggested. Cadance blinked at the question, and actually giggled a little bit. “Okay…I can see that,” she said before a frown appeared on her face. “Sunset…what happened to you?” Sunset looked back to the wings on her back. “Not those,” the other alicorn said, making Sunset look back at her. “Okay well, yeah, I kind of want to know about the wings too, but first…you’ve never acted like this to me before. I almost hate to ask but…are you feeling okay?” The question made Sunset wince. She acted civil, and her very first target as a bully asked the mare if something was wrong with her. As if Sunset being nice to another pony was something so abnormal there must be something going on with her. It made Sunset realize just how pathetic she had been even before her departure from Equestria. It also made her wonder just what the hell she was supposed to say. Cadance’s words had helped give formation to a theory, but she didn’t want to say anything until she was absolutely sure about what was going on. For that, she needed to look around first. If not…well…Cadance was already looking at her like she was partially insane, there was no need to confirm her craziness to the princess. So, she needed a lie. A good lie. A lie that was good enough to be accepted, but vague enough so that no one could poke any holes in the details. Ugh…why couldn’t I have just appeared after Celestia expelled me? Then it would have been easy to just say what happened on the other side of that mirror and…wait…the mirror! Sunset looked Cadance in the eyes. “Let’s just say that when I looked at myself in that mirror Celestia showed me…I didn’t really like what I saw,” she said. The next words came much easier from her mouth, even though they weighed her heart down. “I was mean…selfish…and even cruel. And I…I don’t want to be like that anymore!” By the end of her unintentional put down, Sunset held her eyes closed fiercely to keep the tears of shame and anger from coming out. So the first kind of warning she had to Cadance’s movements were a few light taps on the floor from the princess’s hooves, followed by the sensation of a wing touching her neck. Sunset looked up, and saw the other pony smiling down at her as she tried to sink even deeper into the floor. “I think you’re being a little too hard on yourself, but if it makes you feel any better, then I forgive you,” Cadance said before her expression became a little dour. “And let’s be honest, me just showing up out of the blue to take away Celestia’s attention from you…it must have been pretty hard. I knew you felt threatened, and lashed out at me for it. But instead of getting control of my fear and reaching out to you, I…backed off.” With Cadance putting herself down, Sunset fiercely shook her head as she stood back up. “No, that’s not it. You can’t…you didn’t do anything wrong.” “Yeah,” the pink pony princess agreed softly. “But it doesn’t mean I did anything right either. Celestia told me over and over again how she wanted me to help you, and I just…ran away.” The comment made Sunset gesture to the plant Cadance had brought with her. “What’s that then?” Cadance looked over to the greenery and let out a little chuckle. “Oh…well…after I heard you were hurt. Princess Celestia told me that maybe this was my chance to close the gap between us with a present,” she said before looking back to Sunset with a smile. “Then you go and show me up again with all this apologizing.” Seeing that the mare was joking, Sunset put on a smirk and tried to stand up a little taller. “Well, I have it on good authority that I am pretty awesome. Plus you know, alicorn. Gotta be all friendshippy now.” The comment made Cadance stare wide-eyed at Sunset, and then a small snicker escaped from her nose that was followed quickly by full-on laughter. “Friendshippy?” she said before giggling again. Taken by the moment, Sunset joined her. However, it only was a moment. A few seconds later, Cadance got herself under control, and demanded Sunset’s attention again. “Seriously though, what’s up with the wings?” Every little bit of laughter quickly abandoned Sunset as she looked back to Cadance. “I um…” she said before looking back at the extended appendages. Didn’t those things ever retract? “I have no idea.” Which was a complete and total lie. The truth was…Sunset did have idea, although a vague one. When she had stepped back through the portal, she had been holding magic from a group of humans holding magic that consisted of at least one of every single tribe in Equestria, plus her own unicorn magic. So when her body was once again transformed back into a pony, it reflected the magic she now held. Or maybe the magic she had been holding needed the body of an alicorn to contain it properly. So when she stepped back through the portal, that was what she was. Either way, the wings on her back were proof that there had been a serious change. And Sunset really didn’t want to talk any more on the subject, so she looked around the room to see if there was another topic that could be brought up. Cadance wouldn’t be interested in the magical tomes laying in her old bookshelves, if this really was the past and not something else that is, she hadn't actually read any of the titles yet. Then her eyes fell on the plant, and the envelope and she looked back to Cadance with a smile. “So, what does the card say?” The other mare’s expression turned a little embarrassed. “Just, you know, the usual. I wrote about how much Celestia talks about you and that we probably got off on the wrong hoof, then said how sorry I was to hear that you were hurt, and how if you wanted to, we could try and start over.” The irony of Cadance’s statement nearly floored the other pony. “Uh…okay,” she said in an empty tone. Although the recovery was quick. She stepped forward, and held out a hoof. “Hi there. I’m Sunset Shimmer. I’m into magic and some other stuff. I should warn you though, ponies say I have a bit of a temper, and let it get away from me sometimes.” Cadance giggled, and took the other mare’s leg by the fetlock. “Hello Sunset. My name is Mi Amore Cadenza, but my friends call me Cadance,” she said with a smile. “I like romance novels and pony watching. And although I’ve got a horn, I’m not very good with magic.” “You want me to help you with that?” Sunset asked almost automatically. Then, she quickly added a smirk as they separated their forelegs. “I’m pretty good with that magic stuff, you know.” The offer made the smile on Cadance’s face turn much warmer. “That sounds nice. When would be a good time to-” Sunset didn’t let her finish. “How about now?” Cadance blinked, her smile gone in an instant. “Now?” “Well, do you have anything better to do?” she asked a little harsher than she meant to. Sunset made a mental note to work on that. “Sorry.” The apology got a shake of her head from Cadance. “It’s okay. And you’re right, I really don’t have anything planned that could stack up against getting a personal magic lesson from the Sunset Shimmer.” This time it was Sunset’s turn to roll her eyes. “Okay, okay. I’ve got a bit of an ego too,” she admitted in a snarky tone. “Now go into the main room. I’ll join you in a minute.” Cadance’s eyes narrowed, and she gave Sunset look that just screamed to the other pony that Cadance suspected her of something. “What’re you going to be doing?” In response, Sunset frowned. “Cadance, I just woke up. I’ve got to pee.” The reply had the desired effect, and Cadance quickly made herself scarce. Not lying to the pink alicorn for once, Sunset quickly made her way to a door on the other side of the room, and then looked around for the bathroom a little bit longer when she realized the door she had opened was in fact to her old closet. She realized would need to watch things like that in the future if she wanted to have any hopes of not spilling the beans about the portal before the time was right. A walk around the castle grounds would probably do her memory good. Although, after finishing up in the bathroom, finding it weird to need to go as a pony again, Sunset found herself wondering if she should tell anyone about what had happened to her while she ran water over her hooves. And then there was the question of, what had happened to the her past self? Had that Sunset been sucked into the portal when the Sunset that was washing her hooves came out? Had she been replaced by the Sunset that was staring her back in the mirror somehow to avoid some sort of weird temporal paradox? What did her being back here now mean for Canterlot High? While she knew the school would be better of if it had never known Sunset Shimmer, there was still the question of the Dazzlings. Would they need to be stopped again? On the other hand, no Equestrian magic meant their power was sorely limited. So, could she just ignore them? And then there was Celestia… Sunset shut off the water and looked back at her reflection. Celestia wouldn’t just shrug off a non-explanation like Cadance did. She wasn’t that stupid. She would demand an answer for the wings, not to mention Sunset’s change in demeanor. And Twilight…where did she fit in? If the purple mare had become an alicorn in the time that Sunset had been gone, then she must have met Celestia very shortly after Sunset ran away. She had to have been elevated from within the princess’s personal school just days after Sunset’s departure. That was the only way Sunset could explain not seeing a mare just a year younger than herself gaining such recognition. If Sunset stayed Celestia’s student, did that mean Twilight would never get her chance to become a princess? The thought of taking something like that from the pony who deserved it so much more than her made Sunset’s blood run cold. It wasn’t fair that Twilight would lose her rightful crown just because that stupid mirror had dumped her out at the wrong time! The alicorn looked back to her wings and frowned. From the looks of things, her spontaneous alicornhood was starting to become very costly. At least to the more important ponies than her later on down the road. “Okay Sunset, calm down,” she told her reflection before she took a deep breath. “You’ve got time…you can think of a way to fix this.” Even if she had no idea how. “You’ve just got to…” What? Turn back into a bitch and make sure Celestia kicks me out? I don’t think I could pull that off if I tried. Tell Celestia the truth? Sunset asked herself before images of a prison sentence and wing amputations assaulted her imagination until she squelched that idea with all her mental prowess. Yeah, screw that. With no answer immediately forthcoming, Sunset let out a sigh. What she needed was more information. Maybe there was a spell or something she could use to leap forward a couple years to make sure Twilight made it through everything alright. “Sunset? Are you okay in there?” Cadance called out, ending the shimmer-corn’s planning session. The question had Sunset step away from the mirror and put all her hooves on the ground. “Okay, table that shit for right now I’ve got a friend to help. Friendship problem first, timeline destroying disaster…later,” she told herself before raising her voice to address Cadance. “Yeah yeah…keep your panties on!” After a brief silence, Sunset heard Cadance yell out again. “What are panties?” Halfway to the door in her bedroom, Sunset paused to reach up and smack herself in the face. “OW!” the alicorn shouted as she rubbed her nose. The impact did a lot more damage than she had been expecting. “Right…hooves. Harder than palms. Gotta remember that.” As Sunset rubbed her muzzle, the door opened again, and Cadance stuck her head in. “Are you okay? I thought I heard you cry out again.” Sunset waved the younger alicorn off even with her throbbing nose muzzle. “I’m fine. Now come on, let me show you how to use that horn of yours.”