//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Theft! // Story: The Other Journal // by Ganondorf8 //------------------------------// Day: Friday Time: 11:30pm Weather: Cold It finally happened, after having to wait many moons: the portal to Equestria had finally opened intentionally, rather than the accidental opening from before. During those moons of waiting, I strengthened my dominance over the students of CHS, yet it did come at a price, which probably wouldn't be too big of a concern. Flash Sentry, who had been dating me, decided to break our romance, stating he could no longer love someone who was more concerned with power instead of love. How dare he break up with me!? I hesitated to make him suffer because of how useful he had been, but now he had forced my hand, so he would suffer immensely when I chose to make my strike. I didn't need Flash anymore, as I'm on the verge of claiming what should have been mine all along. I know exactly where I'd be going once I come out the other side, and it would be easy to avoid the guards. Good thing I made that little pit stop before coming to the statue, as this 'crown' is about to get a new home. The Other Journal By Ganondorf8 November 20, 2015 Chapter 15: Theft! " Yes Twilight! My biggest mistake was stealing the crown from Princess Twilight and bringing it back here to this world." I said, my head still lowered down in shame as tremendous guilt wracked my entire being. There were times where I found it difficult to even breathe. " I... I was so desperate to have more than what I already had, I would resort to an act of thievery just to get my hands on her crown! I could have been content with having control of the school, even though I know now that was another mistake, but my heart was filled with greed, and nothing could deter me from getting what I wanted." " But stealing?" Twilight asked. " I had stolen things in the past during my time as Princess Celestia's student, yet those were minor things which she never scolded me over, because she assumed that I was going through a phase. But those were nothing compared to what I was about to do. As I mentioned before, my earliest lessons with Her Highness revolved around learning all about the Elements of Harmony, which served as the main source of defence for Equestria during times of crisis. One thing I discovered, which didn't make sense at the time, was that were one of the elements removed from Equestria--say, taken to another world--the ramifications could prove to be disastrous. To think that what I thought was a pointless subject would become a reality, especially when I committed such a treasonous act." I answered. " You make it sound like what you did would warrant a harsh penalty in response." Twilight said. " The Elements of Harmony are a national treasure, and stealing the one that gave power to the other five rendered them useless. Thus, Equestria would be without one of its main lines of defence. I knew that stealing one of the elements could condemn my world to being overrun by evil, but I didn't care, as the only thing that mattered to me was getting power at any cost, and using that power to become a princess who would rule Equestria." I said, tears once again trickling down my face, but I didn't need Twilight's help in wiping them away, as she had already given me a tissue earlier. Yet, I found it difficult to wipe away the tears with my trembling hands. I backed away from the journal, it having caused me to experience so much grief despite wanting to share what was written within it to someone. It dropped to the floor with a gentle thud. I raised my hands up to my face, making sure they were a slight distance away, and as I stared longingly at them, the trembling got even worse, and despite Twilight calling out to me, asking what was wrong, I knew exactly why I was acting like this. I had been dreading telling her this part of my troubled past. Everything that I had done since first becoming the personal student of Princess Celestia up to the point where I became a she-demon, one whose heart was filled with rage, immaturity, anger, delight over seeing people suffer, had been small pieces of a much larger enigma that was unleashed the instant I put on Princess Twilight's crown. My actions before that moment were malicious in nature, yet I never went so far as to enslave others to do my bidding, seek to conquer a world by using an army, and even attempt to commit murder. Wearing that crown brought out the absolute worst in me, it took everything about me, and increased the hatred ten fold. " Sunset? What's wrong?" Twilight asked. " I'm not going to lie to you." I answered, struggling to keep my shaking hands under control. " I've been afraid of telling you this part of my past, despite having hinted at it several times so far tonight, and my heart is telling me not to go through with it, because if you learn what I really did, you'd never forgive me, and our friendship would be irreparably shattered." " You said that you were overwhelmed by the magic the crown contained." Twilight said, her memory being rather accurate, as she repeated the same thing I said to her when she was a demon. I was impressed with how articulate she was with the delivery, but that was beside the point. " Tell me, what did you do that could possibly warrant me to not forgive you? After all, you and everyone else from both CHS and Crystal Prep witnessed what I did, and even now I still feel guilty over doing it because I had a weak will. If only I had stronger willpower, I wouldn't have succumbed to all that pressure when Principal Cinch and the Shadowbolts egged me on." My hands continued to tremble, my mouth suddenly felt dry, as though I were chewing on sand paper, and it prevented me from saying anything. " Sunset!" Twilight then slapped me in the face just like she had done previously, yet this time I didn't have the same reaction as before. No, I just took the hit directly, without even feeling it. This lack of a response prompted Twilight to slap me a second time with no change, and when she slapped me for the third time, it was enough to snap me out of it. " Twilight..." I began, looking in her direction where she was experiencing the same hand tremoring as I was. " I'm going to tell you what I did when I put on that crown, but not yet. I need to tell you what happened which lead up to me being exposed for the person I truly was." My words were enough for Twilight to stop trembling, and I feared that she was crying because she slapped me in the face three times, yet when she lifted her head up, not a single tear could be seen, which made me suspect she held back for my sake. " I'm not going to lose my temper or anything should you decide to end our friendship once you learn what I did; I know you better than that. Rather, I'm going to let the pieces fall where they may, and try to salvage what I can. There's no point in holding this information back, so let me begin with what happened when I returned home for the second time." I said. Twilight nodded in approval without saying a word, and that made me feel uneasy; who knows what she would do once she learns that my actions were nothing short of monstrous? I had to wait many moons before the portal would open again, and when that time came, I knew that it had opened as intended, according to the book I read before leaving Equestria originally. During the interval between returning from Equestria after witnessing that sham of a coronation and going there again to enact my plan, my desire to acquire Princess Twilight's crown continued to burn inside of me, but having to wait made me lash out against my fellow students in a manner not previously seen. I became more aggressive, cruel, manipulative, feared, and even detested because I made everyone's lives a living nightmare, yet I didn't care as I wanted to vent out my frustration, and they were the perfect outlet for that. This change of attitude did come at a price, yet it wasn't as bad as it sounded. Flash Sentry had been dating me for almost two years, and during that time he gotten to see what kind of person I was, or rather what I allowed him to see; he didn't know that I had been manipulating friendships, destroying them in the process. As far as he was concerned, I was just being expressive by having a mean streak, yet he maintained the relationship, believing that he could one day make me change my ways. That's when things between us reached a boiling point. Roughly two weeks before the portal opened, Flash confronted me in the hallway and openly stated that he was breaking up with me. A part of me didn't really care, because he had served his purpose well by continuing to rise in popularity, and I took advantage by feeding off of his success and applying it to my own popularity. Another part, albeit as tiny as a speckle of dust, actually felt some kind of compassion towards him. Still, the fact that he was ending our relationship surprised me, and the reasoning behind it became quickly obvious when he said a few choice words. " You've become too hungry for power!" Flash Sentry said. " And what's wrong with wanting more power?" I asked. " I thought you could have changed, become someone better than the person you've become now, but I guess that I was wrong about you Sunset. I honestly thought that you would turn away from the path you've chosen, but you chose otherwise, which is why I have no other choice but to break off our relationship." Flash Sentry answered. " You can't break up with me just because I want power!" I shouted. " Sorry Sunset, but my mind has been made up. I still do care about you; I think you have the potential to become so much more. But you love power way more than actual love itself, and I just can't take that anymore. I'm sorry, but it's over between us. I just hope that we can remain friends despite this." Flash Sentry said. Those words of his felt like daggers; he had betrayed me, all because of my recent change in attitude after returning from Equestria. No doubt about it: Flash Sentry was going to pay dearly for this betrayal! By the night when the portal would open, remaining that way for the next three nights, I had been spending the last several nights sleeping in the shed of the school's gardener; he had conveniently gone on vacation, so I had no problems using his shed as a temporary residence. Before breaking up with me, I slept at Flash Sentry's home, because he had invited me to do so as his way of helping me out when he learned that I had no home of my own, and despite how apprehensive I was to the idea of residing in such a bland establishment he and his family inexplicably enjoyed, it gave me a roof over my head. As I approached the Wondercolt statue, the magic glossing from the one side was such a beautiful sight to behold, yet no one in this pathetic world was even aware that the portal even existed, a reminder that their intellects were inferior to that of ponies. While I could use some of those dark magic spells like before, I chose to refrain from doing so, as the Crystal Castle would no doubt be under heavy guard, what with four princesses located in the same general area. Just the thought of being in a place with four alicorns was enough to make me want to consider resorting to methods too horrifying even for me, but I had to remain focused on the prize. Before entering the portal, I made sure that I had the other crown in my possession, and when I took it out of the saddlebag I had around my neck, I just couldn't believe that this useless piece of junk looked identical to Princess Twilight's crown. I also thought it was a coincidence that this crown bore such a striking resemblance, that when Principal Celestia revealed it to us during an assembly three days ago as a means of promoting the upcoming Fall Formal, I knew that it would prove to be more useful than anyone would have suspected. One thing that I've learned in my time here is that these humans are really bad when it came to locking things away. Before I left school earlier, Principal Celestia had to tend to something important, and that allowed me to sneak into her office, carefully open up the cabinet where this crown was stored, and take it before softly closing the cabinet and making my escape, leaving no sign that someone had entered without her knowledge. " Another act of thievery?" Twilight asked. " My plan involved switching the crown that was to be awarded to the Princess of the Fall Formal with the crown Princess Twilight had and make an escape before anyone figured out the deception, but you could say I blundered at the last moment due to an unforeseen error on my part." I answered. " What kind of error?" Twilight asked. " The dragon kind." I answered. My answer left Twilight with a confused look on her face, and it quickly became apparent that she isn't aware that other creatures besides ponies exist in Equestria, so I explained to her about some of those creatures in basic terms so as to not confuse her even further. I told her about timberwolves, hydras, and even a rare creature called the Sturomak, yet she merely shrugged these off as being figments of my imagination, and who could blame her? She is someone who believes in logic, but upon mentioning dragons, she perked her ears up, which had me wondering why she did that. " Do you believe in dragons?" I asked. " Not really, as there is no scientific evidence to support that they even existed, but a small part of me is curious to be proven wrong." Twilight answered. For some reason, I felt like she wasn't being sincere with me, but I had to take her word for it. I explained that even though dragons exist in Equestria, they rarely interact with other species due to being deemed too dangerous because of their size, strength, ferocity, and temperment, yet there was one exception to the rule. That exception was Spike, Princess Twilight's faithful assistant, who was a baby dragon, but takes on the form of a dog when in this world. " So the other Spike is a baby dragon? Well, I can't really picture that image in my mind, or maybe I can picture it. Does this other Spike look identical to my Spike?" Twilight asked. " Right down to the last detail." I answered. " I guess I should have known that would be the answer, considering Princess Twilight is an alternate version of me, or maybe I'm an alternate version of her. Gah! This whole multiple dimensions can be so frustrating at times; none of it makes any sense!" Twilight said, throwing her arms up into the air in frustration. " It can be a daunting task, and while I'm not saying that I know any better, Princess Twilight went through the same experiences, and she definitely had some freak-out moments, according to what she said in one of her replies to one of the first Friendship Reports I sent her way. Of course, I can sympathize with both of you, as I had my own experiences that I've already told you about, but such thoughts would eventually leave my mind when I got used to living here." I said. " Anyway, what did the other Spike do?" Twilight asked, changing the subject. " Princess Twilight has often told me that her assistant means well whenever he sets his sights on something, but usually his ideas end up backfiring or snowballing out of control, causing panic, yet sometimes he makes a mistake without really meaning it. It was that last 'mistake' which sort of ruined my plans." I answered. " Sort of?" Twilight asked. " I would steal the crown as intended, but making a clean getaway didn't happen." I answered. " Fate had other plans." Twilight said. " You could say it like that, yes, and I was about to learn that trying to mess with fate could have some unintended consequences." I said. When I came out of the portal and returned to Equestria, I had to quickly get adjusted to being on four hooves again instead of two legs, and even then, I had to remind myself on how to use my magic, as it had been some time since I last got to use any. I suppose I could have done this during the day so as to have more light, as the interior of the Crystal Castle was pretty dark, especially at night, but what if I had come before Princess Twilight had arrived? I was only told that the four princesses were having some kind of summit, but not the exact time it was going to take place, so I could have made a complete fool of myself had I shown up sooner than expected. Luckily though, I came at the right time, as Princess Twilight had arrived several hours beforehand and was currently asleep, which would make this all the easier as confronting her head-on would be a fool's gambit, considering her magic was that of an alicorn, and all I had was the magic of a unicorn. Speaking of magic, I had to refrain from using it during this operation, aside from the extreme basics, as I didn't want the guards to know that I was here, and above all else, the other princesses would come bearing down on me were they to sense my more powerful magic. I may not be an alicorn, but I still took pride in being one of the strongest unicorns Equestria had ever known. Peeking out of the door, I looked into the throne room, seeing no guards on patrol, but I knew they were most likely on patrol in the hallways, which meant avoiding their gaze was imperative. I dashed across the throne room as I didn't really want to be in there that long, as seeing the throne would have compelled me to want to sit on it for posterity sake. Upon reaching the next door, I held my breath and froze like a statue as a guard walked by, his magic being used as a flashlight to allow him to see what was going on around him. " Security around here is going to be really tight, so I'll need to be extra cautious." I said to myself, knowing that there would be a lot of guards compared to whatever the norm was for the Crystal Castle. After all, they were protecting four princesses, so they needed as many able bodies as possible, which goes to show that the princesses either want to have many guards to give off a sense of superiority, or that they were afraid someone or somepony was going to attack them. After waiting a few minutes, the guard walked off down the hallway, and I breathed a sigh of relief before leaving the throne room. I quickly ducked into another room upon hearing a second guard come by, but he didn't notice me at all, though I did cut it a little too close. " I've got to remember the layout of this area of the castle so that I can find where that upstart is located." I said to myself, thinking hard on what I saw when I was last here, disguised as one of the Royal Guard. " If I'm correct about this, Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armour are sleeping in the master bedroom, since they are the co-rulers of this kingdom. Their bedroom is likely near the throne room. That leaves the remaining three princesses, who should be in the immediate area, so I may have to try my luck and see which room houses the one I'm looking for." I said to myself, leaving my current location before quietly sneaking around, making sure that none of the guards could spot me. So far, none of them were aware that I was even there, and that was good, as things would become difficult should they detect an intruder. Thankfully, my magic is more than enough to take them down without any problems. The princesses, on the other hoof, would be a concern. For me to check the rooms without making any noise, I had to peer through the keyhole slightly below each doorknob. It felt strange to do so, but then, I guess it had to do with precautions. My first attempts proved to be a waste of time, as all I could see in beyond the doors were either servants sleeping or empty rooms. Eventually, my frustration reached a boiling point, prompting me to pick a room at random to check out. I hoped that this would be the one I was looking for. Otherwise, I would snap, ruining my plans to steal the crown. Peering through the keyhole on this door, I could hear the sounds of occupants coming from the other side, but it was the shiny object resting on a bedside table which caught my attention, so I used my teeth to open up my saddlebag that held the crown I had stolen from Principal Celestia's office. I compared it to what I could see through the keyhole. " A perfect match, which means I've found the right room." I said to myself, relaxing a little. Now the true test would begin, as I needed to do this without waking her up. Opening the door by using my teeth after closing my saddlebag, I quietly walked into her room and immediately noticed that there was someone else sleeping in a small bed on the floor. " Is that... a dragon?" I asked myself. Upon a closer inspection, I saw that it was indeed a dragon. What was a dragon was doing here? After thinking it over for a few moments, I eventually decided that it wasn't all that important, so I proceeded towards the bedside table the crown I sought sat upon, and I laughed in my head over the fact that this Princess Twilight would just leave it out in the open without trying to hide it or anything. She really was clueless when it came to acting like a princess, but her stupidity was about to become my gain as I used my magic to levitate her crown. Yet my eagerness proved to be problematic, as I accidentally knocked the crown into a bedside lamp which fell over. Fortunately, I caught it with my magic before it smashed into the ground. " Ugh! That was so stupid of me! A broken lamp would've woken these two up in an instant, and I'd be completely trapped without a way to get myself out. I need to be more careful; this is just too delicate for me to screw up now!" I said to myself, cursing in my head over my near-blunder. Once I placed the lamp back in its position, I resumed using my magic to take the crown, and switched it with the other one I had stolen. I made sure to place the fake crown in the exact same spot on the table so as to not leave any traces that I was there, and for a brief moment, I stared at the real thing, which had the Element of Harmony embedded into it, my mind filled with glee over the kind of power I would receive upon wearing it. " I could put this on right now, and gain even more power than I've ever dreamed of. But that would be a foolish thing to do, considering where I am right now, so I'll wait for the right opportunity to come before doing anything of the sort." I said to myself, carefully placing the real crown into my saddlebag before turning around to prepare to make my departure. Everything was going perfectly, and nothing could stop me from making a clean getaway... until I made a tactical blunder. The dragon, who had been sleeping in the smaller bed, turned in his sleep at that precise moment, and my rear right hoof accidentally tripped on it, causing me to fall to the ground with a loud thud, which woke both him and Princess Twilight up, much to my annoyance. " Ugh." I said softly. " Oooh! Huh?" Princess Twilight said groggily. She then turned around, noticing me, and my heart quickly sank when she noticed her crown was sticking out of my saddlebag. She gasped. " My crown! She stole my crown!" Before she could do anything, I quickly made a run for it in the hopes of getting back to the portal and going through it before I could get caught. As I bolted out of her room and ran down the hallway, I could hear her yelling the same thing she already said, prompting her friends to wake up in the confusion. They began to chase me. I cursed that dragon under my breath for fouling up my plans; this wasn't supposed to happen. But then I heard sounds of hooves galloping right behind me. The upstart had already caught up and used her magic to teleport right in front of me, so I used a little magic of my own, teleporting a short distance behind her. I did lose my cloak in the process, but that wasn't an issue, really, as none of them knew who I was, anyway. Because I couldn't resist, I turned to face Princess Twilight with a smug look on my face before continuing to make my way towards the portal, but it seems my taunting only drove her desire to catch me even further, and at one point she tried using her teeth to bite at my tail, which was nothing short of insulting. A real princess would never resort to such a low-life act like that, which meant my suspicions of her were correct. I couldn't stop to think about that, though, as I had to keep going. Unfortunately, it had been a long time since I had to run as a pony, and my pursuer, along with her friends, were faster than I was, so when I reached the throne room, I felt exhausted, but I had to keep going, even if it meant killing myself in the process. Princess Twilight would eventually tackle me to the ground upon entering the room I had been running towards, and the crown slipped out of my saddlebag, bouncing around a few times like it were a pinball. " Of all the rotten luck." I said to myself, but before I could retrieve it, it ended up flying into the portal, which was what I had intended, though the plan involved me actually having it in my possession rather it going through to the other world without me. All of us were in shock over what had happened, including me, as I honestly didn't expect the crown to bounce off of the walls like it did. This wasn't a major setback, though, as I could easily pick it up when I returned to CHS; it should have landed somewhere close to the Wondercolt statue. " What did you do?" Princess Twilight asked, having turned to face me. " Something that should have been done a long time ago." I answered, an evil look appearing on my face. " I don't understand! Why have you done this?" Princess Twilight asked. " Sorry it had to be this way, princess, but you becoming an alicorn was yet another one of her biggest mistakes." I answered, using my magic to teleport from underneath her, reappearing in front of the mirror. " A pony like you should never have become a princess! You're nothing special!" With that, I waved farewell in the manner that a pony would do and went through the portal, leaving Princess Twilight and her friends confused over what had happened. Despite the drawback of being discovered much sooner than expected, thanks to the bumbling of that dragon, and losing the crown in the process, I knew that things were going to turn out just fine. " So your plan didn't go exactly as you thought?" Twilight asked. " I had no idea that Princess Twilight had a dragon in her room. Had I taken that into account, I probably would've gotten away with it. Then again, if Spike hadn't tripped me up in the first place, all of the events that followed would never have happened, and our current meeting right now wouldn't even exist." I answered. " That's what you meant when you said that messing with fate would have unintended consequences, and it sounds like fate was acting against you, because your actions were discovered too quickly, and Princess Twilight would follow after you in an attempt to get her crown back. Fascinating, yet at the same time it was all an unfortunate coincidence resulting from a sleeping dragon wanting to turn over in his sleep." Twilight said. When she said it like that, it did make sense that everything that followed from that point on were actions which were never intended, but happened because of coincidence. " So, did you end up retrieving the crown upon your return?" " Fortunately for me, the crown was picked up by someone else." I answered. " Who? Also, why were you fortunate?" Twilight asked. " When I look back on it now, even though this all happened last year, I'm glad the crown was picked up by someone else because it meant not being in my hands. Would you seriously feel safe knowing the crown would be in the hands of someone as volatile as I was? Back then, when I discovered the crown had been picked up and taken to Principal Celestia's office, I was beyond furious, as my carefully-laid-out plan had been thwarted by someone who was curious as to how a sparkling object suddenly appeared on the front lawn, yet this mishap would be merely the beginning of the end of my reign." I answered. " You didn't tell me who found the crown." Twilight said. " Oh. That was Fluttershy." I answered.