//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Adjustments // Story: The Other Journal // by Ganondorf8 //------------------------------// Day: Friday Weather: Night-time, slightly cold Time: 9:45pm After going through the mirror which was a portal to another world, I've found myself in a strange place, and worst of all, I don't have access to my magic! Not only that, but my muzzle has disappeared, and I'm finding it rather difficult to walk as though my entire body has changed. What does this mean? I'm not sure, but if I can find some kind of reflective surface, I should have an answer. In any case, the hatred I have towards Princess Celestia keeps me warm despite it being cold outside... how dare she deny me! I'll never forgive her for what she has done! If she won't make me an alicorn princess, then I'll just have to find another way to achieve my goal... The Other Journal By Ganondorf8 November 2, 2015 Chapter 6: Adjustments " I can't believe that your relationship with Princess Celestia was shattered because you were so demanding." Twilight said. " She was trying her best to make me turn back before it was too late, but my anger blinded me Twilight... it blinded me to the truth of what I was becoming. She had every right to remove me from her side as her personal student, as I was ambitious... wanting... hungry for power." I said, looking up at the ceiling again in order to reflect upon everything which had happened to me on that fateful night. " What do you suppose would have happened had you turned back?" Twilight asked. " If her words had pierced the veil of darkness that caked my heart in such twisted bile, I suppose we would have spent a couple of months trying to sort things out before I would have resumed my studies. Princess Celestia knew about my circumstances which relates back to my upbringing, and she did everything she could so that I would become the kind of unicorn who was both worthy, and had earned the right to become a princess." I answered, an image popping into my mind at that exact moment. What would my life be like had I chosen not to go down the path of malice? I would have overcome my own personal issues, discovered the magic of friendship, learned humility... and... I would be a princess as opposed to Twilight... as in, the other one... Princess Twilight. Her life would have become much different, and she may not have even been chosen to be Princess Celestia's pupil had I not abandoned my studies. In fact, I might have made her my pupil instead... a thought like that frightened me to the core. " What are you thinking about?" Twilight asked. " My life in Equestria would have been different had I stayed true to the intended path Princess Celestia had envisioned for me--" I answered, cutting myself off as another image popped into my mind... one which showed me my new friends in this world. Had I not come here after what happened, I wouldn't have the friends I do now, this world wouldn't have become infected with magic, and certain events wouldn't have happened. " Twilight... your life, the lives of our friends... they would be different had I not come through the portal originally." I said, shivering at the thought because my one key decision could have altered everything forever had I gone the other way. " When you think about it Sunset, your decision to leave Equestria started out as a big mistake which resulted in this world being introduced to magic, but over time you ended up changing for the better, and everyone who has entered into your life loves you for who you are." Twilight said, yet I raised my hand in front of her face before waving it back and forth as a sign that her words weren't exactly accurate. She responded by grabbing onto my arm with both of her hands, pulling it down because she desired to tell me something straight to my face. " You think my words aren't true? You know that everyone cares about you despite what happened to you back in Equestria!" " That was in Equestria yes, but what I did here after first arriving is a different matter." I said. " Right... you told me about some of the things you did, and I guess I blocked them from my mind in an attempt to make you feel better." Twilight said, blushing as she let go of my hands before slightly sliding backwards as though she didn't want to be anywhere near me, and I felt hurt by her action. " I take it that the reason magic was introduced into this world was because of you?" Twilight asked. " It didn't enter when I first came, but you are correct." I answered. Before I entered this world, I first had to deal with the issue that still persisted in Equestria, and I am not referring to Princess Celestia. The two members of the Canterlot Royal Guard who came with her had been ordered to take me out of the castle, yet they were merely Pegasi, and I was a powerful unicorn who could easily overpower them without even breaking a sweat, but even if I were to subdue them, it would have been a futile effort. They could have easily alerted more guards to try and subdue me... which would have done no good, yet Princess Celestia was still more powerful than I was, and having to face her right now was the last thing I wanted. There had to be a way out of this predicament, a place where I could go to forge my own path, and become the princess I was destined to be... and then it hit me like a lightning bolt. I did have a way out, and it had been staring in front of me this entire time, but first I needed to lighten my load so to speak. " If not for the fact that she still had some compassion towards you, you would have been thrown into the dungeon, or even worse, exiled from Equestria!" The first Pegasus Guard said. " ..." I said nothing while the guard had his little tirade, as I was merely biding my time until we reached the correct door. " While neither of us understand what happened to you in your past, Sunset Shimmer, it doesn't excuse you for breaking one of the most fundamental laws Equestria has with regards to dark magic! Like her highness said, you have been given permission to remain in Canterlot, but you are forbidden from setting hoof into this castle. I hope that you have another career option to fall back on, as your dreams are now dashed." The first Pegasus Guard said, his words biting me in my heart, ripping it apart like fabric being ripped off of cloth. " ..." " No need to overstep your boundaries." The Second Guard warned. " You're right! I allowed my own frustration over what Sunset Shimmer did get in the way of performing my duty! Once we have taken you outside of the castle, you are free to do whatever you want, and like Princess Celestia said, you will be welcomed back provided that you figure out what you need to do." The First Guard said. I already knew what I was going to do, and a small part of me wanted to make an example of this Pegasus who had the audacity to insult my greatness! I could have used one of those dark magic spells to turn both of these idiots into statues before using my hooves to shatter them to pieces, but I chose restraint when it came to the darkness, so instead I was going to knock them about as soon as we were in the right place... which was coming up within mere seconds. " ..." " Do you have anything to say?" The Second Guard asked. " ... I do..." I answered, catching the two guards by surprise. " And here I thought you decided to remain silent for the rest of your days or something, so go ahead and say whatever is on your mind, for it will be the last thing you get to say in the castle before you are to be ejected." The First Guard said. The moment we came up to the door which lead to the room that contained the mirror... the very one which caused the argument between myself and Princess Celestia to begin originally, an evil smile spread itself across my face, my eyes darting towards the door, my horn glowing with magical energy. " What are you doing!?!?" The First Guard asked. Before either guard could say another word, I used my magic to create a small concentrated area of blinding light which enabled me to get away from them, and open the door where the mirror stood there before me, the image which had been speaking to me in my dreams was forming in the reflection... I had to know what it meant, for it had been tormenting me for some time. " It's time for me to find my own path." I said to myself. " Stop!" The First Guard shouted. " What are you doing?" The Second Guard asked. " Hanging out with you two was fun for a while, but I'm afraid that the pleasure has finally worn out, and that means I no longer have any need for either of you to hang around me like you were my executioners or something." I answered, using my magic to throw one of the guards to the ground, his helmeted head smacking into the cold floor with a sickening THUD! effectively knocking him out. The other then tried to subdue me, but when my horn began to glow, he came to a stop, but not fast enough as I lifted him up without any effort, and slammed him into two steps which lead up to where the mirror was situated. I could have shattered the mirror upon coming out of the other side, but then that would have prevented me from returning to Equestria... I planned on returning one day, and when that happens... it will be with the power I need to rule over it. " Going through this portal shall open up new doors for me... and my destiny will come true." I said, galloping as fast as possible where I went into the mirror, the image whose honeyed words compelled me to act disappearing as I did, my life never being the same again. " You didn't need to be so cruel to them." Twilight said, her hands on her hips indicating that she didn't appreciate my actions. " I was different back then Twilight. I didn't care about anyone other than myself, so when I attacked those two members of the Royal Guard without hesitation, I relished in what I was doing to them because it allowed me to vent out some much needed frustration." I said, looking at one of my hands where it trembled slightly... a reminder that I can be mentally unstable in that I allow my feelings to get the better of me which can result in unfortunate circumstances... just like how I allowed them to lash out at Twilight who didn't deserve it as she didn't know any better. My mental state may have improved since the Fall Formal, yet there are times where I just go into a relapse, and all inhibitions just shut down allowing my raw emotions to take control of every facet of my body. If there was one person I hated more than anyone else, it would be myself because I should be able to control my own feelings, yet instead they cause pain whenever I lose it. " If I had truly been sadistic in nature, those two could have ended up even worse if you know what I mean." I continued, my eyes filling up with tears, but not a single drop shed from them as I was holding back this time. " It was a desire of sheer dominance which you loved, the desire of being able to do whatever you wanted without fear of backlash, the desire to finally cut loose without fear of holding back for any reason." Twilight said, prompting me to slowly nod my head in approval. " I speak from experience Sunset, as when I became that demonic monster, my deepest desires had become open to me, and I wanted to indulge myself in them because before that transformation, I never took them as being a concern. My inhibitions and morals shut down instantly when the magic corrupted every last fibre of my being, yet I didn't care because my desires were what I wanted." Twilight said. She really was just like me, except her desires came about at the last minute because of circumstance, and mine had been there for years stemming from a troubled childhood. " Anyway, you went through the mirror, and ended up in this world, but I'm curious as to what the transition was like." " Excuse me?" I asked, a look of surprise appearing on my face. " When you changed from a pony into a human, what was it like?" Twilight asked, again the look of surprise appeared on my face, yet it was even bigger because I was taken aback by such a question. " I'm only asking this from a scientific perspective as while I'm not denying magic and that it exists in this world, I believe that it was a logical reasoning which caused you to change forms." " Have you ever been exposed to psychedelic colours?" I asked. " More than a dozen times due to looking through microscopes." Twilight answered. " Well, picture going through a tunnel where nothing but psychedelic colours surround you, attempt to blind you with their intense radiance--" I said, stopping immediately as I knew Twilight wouldn't understand what I was talking about, so I began to shake my hands in an effort to explain things. My gestures looked similar to someone playing a game of charades, yet this was more of a visual explanation, my hands moving about in a frantic pace as I told Twilight what my experience was like, and despite how terrible I was using my hands, she completely understood which both satisfied, and disturbed me as even I didn't think I did a good job. " The transition lasts only a few seconds, yet you don't really feel anything change until it just does when a bright light flashes before you... a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak." " So, what was it like for you to leave as a pony, and come out as a human?" Twilight asked. " On a mental level, I wasn't thrilled about what happened, but on a curious one, it was something new." I answered. When I came out of the portal from this side, which I literally walked out from the base of the Wondercolt Statue, I immediately had trouble standing on my hooves, and when my body crumpled to the ground upon losing my balance, I looked at my hooves... only to discover that they had been replaced with something else... something strange, foreign, alien to me. Whatever these things were which replaced my hooves, they had five long things attached to them which acted independently on their own until I was able to reign them in under my control. I know what these different body parts are called now, but at the time they were new to me... foreign to me... I had no idea what they were. That's when I noticed something else, or rather, not sensing something else... my magic! I could no longer use my magic which scared me to the bone as though a small part of me didn't make it through the mirror... like it had died along the way. " What's happened to me? Where am I? Why has my magic left me?" I asked myself before looking around at my new surroundings in order to get a sense of where I was, and right away I knew that this wasn't Equestria as the buildings looked... well, they looked normal. There was one building in front of me which looked to be some kind of grand castle, yet it was small in stature, and lacked any kind of sense, design-wise. Other, smaller buildings were located nearby on the other side of a street, yet I had no idea what was situated in the middle of said street, yet it gave off a slight stench which made me wonder just what it was. The moon was shining above me, yet I couldn't see the image of Nightmare Moon reflecting on its surface, a reminder of what Princess Celestia once did 1,000 years ago-- " Princess Celestia... she removed me from her side because she feared my potential... I could be a princess right now, but she denied me the right because my ambition and hunger for power got in the way... she will rue the day she cast me aside!" I said to myself, the hatred towards her even stronger than ever, and serving as a fuel to keep me going as though I were an engine that ran on negativity. I then tried moving forward on whatever constituted as my hooves, yet I stopped just a few inches after starting as a searing pain was coming my back hooves. " What in the world are these!?!?" I shouted, noticing that my back hooves were gone, and had been replaced with long things which could bend halfway down, each one wearing boots which I didn't have before. That's when I attempted to use what my front hooves had become, and to my shock they were able to grab onto some kind of cloth which was now on my body. " A mirror... I need to find a mirror right now!" Since walking on all fours causes the middle part of the long things to turn red which meant bruising, I had to walk on what I suppose were the tips of my hooves, or whatever these things were, so began a struggle where I tried standing up, only to fall flat on my face! Undeterred, I tried again where I managed to stand up, yet I immediately began swaying about before falling down again, causing me to slam my front things into the ground in sheer frustration! " Why am I like this!?!?" I shouted to no one in particular, my frustration having reached a critical point, so I slowly got back up where I took a single step forward, and almost fell again, but I managed to keep my balance where I proceeded to taking a few more steps. " This is so strange, and yet at the same time there is this sense of allure about being here." I said to myself. I had noticed the entrance to this supposed castle had glass which would suit my needs to understanding just what I had become, and upon reaching the glass, my entire body fell forward due to not being used to climbing steps on two hooves as opposed to four, and when I regained my composure, I looked at the reflection which was now staring back at me. " What in the world am I?" I asked myself. This was the one question which flashed through my mind, but then an answer quickly came in the form of the second image which I saw in the mirror, the one Princess Celestia didn't want me to see... she knew all along what that form was, yet didn't want me to know because she feared that I would want to rule over this world given that my desire to rule Equestria had now been dashed. I also understood why I couldn't use my magic, as I no longer had a horn, as evidence by touching the top of my forehead, and not feeling a horn in response to that. The clothes that were now on my body didn't make me think of them as being all that important, yet I would quickly learn to adapt to them as well as my new surroundings. " Well, well, well, this is an interesting development... I was destined to come here according to the mirror, and the image of me being a princess can still happen... even if I'm not in Equestria right now. It shouldn't be too difficult to reign everyone in this world under my rule, but first I will need to get adjusted to this new body! I don't think I can do much of anything until I'm fully adjusted, but the question is... are there others who look the same way I do? If so, perhaps learning from them will enable me to understand more about this body... it will be a painful experience given how such creatures are inferior to me, but I've no choice." I said to myself. There was one other problem which involved finding a place to stay, for I had no intention of spending outside in the cold especially looking the way I do, so I began to search for adequate lodging where I could rest for the night, and plan out my next moves in the start of what would be my ascension to princesshood! It didn't take long for me to find a place which could house me for the night, so I slowly walked towards it, the goal of adjusting to this new world being my first priority, and once I've done that, I can begin asserting myself into their society... and eventually taking it for my very own. " Want to know the strangest thing?" I asked. " What's that?" Twilight asked. " When Princess Twilight came into this world for the first time, she had the same problem when it came to walking on two legs." I answered, laughing hard until a tear trickled down my face where I wiped it away, and the sadness returned because I knew there was even more for me to tell this Twilight, so much more. " Despite my frustration over being denied by Princess Celestia, I was still able to process a coherent thought in addition to an instinct." I said. " Your instinct was to get out of the cold, and inside somewhere warm." Twilight said. " I would quickly find such an idea place, but let's just say that it wasn't my first choice." I said.