//------------------------------// // First Assignment // Story: The Other Sunset Shimmer // by Jerec the Ascendant //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer walked down the hallways, using her new map to make her way around the castle. As she explored she made notes, especially about the areas where guards stood, waiting to usher her away. She couldn't help but wonder why she wasn’t allowed in those areas. Did they hide Celestia’s deep, dark secrets? A military secret, kept hidden from the civilian populous? Or could it be just some diplomat, noble, or other VIP that wants some privacy? As much as she wanted to explore to find out, she knew it probably wouldn't look to good on her record. Thinking about the trouble curiosity got her in back at home, she resolved to try harder here. "But I want to know what's behind all those doors!" she groaned, striding past another guarded area. She shook her head, her mane falling over her eyes. "Sunset, best not to get yourself in trouble. We don’t want ponies thinking we’re just like the other Sunset." She groaned again, and continued on until finally making a stop at the library. When she walked through the door, a small gasp escaped her. The gasp bounced off hundreds of bookshelves, echoing toward the back of the library. At least, she assumed it was the back. The room she found herself in was so large, it seemed that it never ended. Lines of books stretched deeper and deeper into the castle interior. Though Sunset stood in awe of the vast collection before her, in the back of her mind she dreaded reading any of these books. What she liked to read about was fantasy and adventure, and though a book on the basics of magic sounds like it should fit that requirement well, she expected it to be long and boring, like the textbooks back at school. Sunset shook her head again, gaining ground in the expansive library. She stepped in and began her search. It wasn’t that learning bored her, she just preferred experiencing things firsthand, or firsthoof according to the twist of fate that landed her here. She had been the top student back at school, and wasn’t expecting much difficulty as Celestia’s student. But the idea of reading these dusty books simply took away the fun she would expect magic lessons to have. There were a lot of things she didn't know, she reasoned, that she could have learned from books. For instance, she could explain the basic science behind a car, and drive with the best of them, but she didn't know everything inside and out. She could play strategy games like chess and win, but explaining strategy was a different story. Sunset figured that if she hurried up and got the book and started reading, the faster she could get to the practicing bits. So she swallowed her dread and made her way to a pony sitting at a large desk. "Hello. Are you the librarian?" she asked the mare. She looked Sunset up and down, then nodded. "You must be the one Princess Celestia told me about, the hu-man mare that…” The librarian tilted her head, and Sunset realized that she was displaying her emotions too prominently. “Is something wrong?" "No, never mind, it's nothing.” She smiled, hoping the librarian would forget it. She couldn’t help feeling a sort of shame in her stomach, a feeling she was growing accustomed to as she found more and more ponies who knew about her origins. She thought she was supposed to be a secret. Why did everypony seem to know? “I'm just here to pick up a book the Princess assigned me." The older mare chuckled and Sunset’s brow furrowed. "Ah yes, the Basics of Magic. You're in luck. Twi-" the librarian cut herself off. "Let's just say that it gets checked out every other week. I have it right here for you." Who is this Twi-pony? Another apprentice? The shame grew warmer, into something new. Why is this pony a secret? How many things is Celestia not going to tell me? Sunset forced herself to calm down, taking the book and placing it next to her map in a saddlebag the Princess had given her. She thanked the librarian and decided to return to her room to read. Once safe and alone, she flipped through the book, eager to get through the reading part and onto the practice part. As she read, she found that each spell included a large paragraph describing its effects. She laughed at the spells that were named in a such a way that made this paragraph redundant: “The Light-Candles Spell”, “The Clean-Carpets Spell”, “The Shine-Hooves Spell”. The more she read these spells, though, the less funny they seemed. Magic was beginning to look mundane, and there was a large part of her that felt disappointed. How was it that her horn inspired fear in ponies when every spell she read was nothing more than a household chore? With a sigh she rolled over, levitating the book above her. From somewhere between its pages, a folded sheet of parchment dropped, landing on Sunset’s face. She cried out, swatting the paper away, and dropping the heavy book on herself in her loss of concentration. Holding her bruised face, she scowled as she looked for the culprit. As she unfolded it, she found that it was a note - an additional spell that somepony had written themselves. She read through its description, as its name did not directly imply its effect, and learned that it was a illusion spell, capable of showing an image of almost anything the user imagined. Sunset grinned as she imagined a few possibilities. "Well, I guess I'll be showing Celestia the real me sooner than I thought."