//------------------------------// // Chapter LV: Sunset // Story: Astral Aegis // by Silvak //------------------------------// "Twilight! You better come down here fast!" I yelled after I bucked the castle doors open, only to see that the Elements have just barely arrived before me. "What in tarnation are you doin', Aether‽" Applejack demanded. "Isn't it obvious? I'm blowing my top off!" I yelled, forcing her to back up due to the sheer volume of my voice. "I knew that bucking mirror was going to be a problem one day, but does Twilight listen? Nooo! She thinks it’s better to keep it open and have Sunset there to hang with their 'other world' friends. Nevermind the fact that it's introducing magic to a world that doesn't naturally have it, it's alright if it's for the sake of friendship. I swear to Luna, I'm going to beat Twili—" "That's enough Aether," Pinkie calmly said as she stuffed a hoof into my mouth. That actually caused me to blink, since it was a reversal of our normal roles in this kind of situation. This even caused Rainbow to snicker, while I gave her a deadpanned look in response. "I know you're angry over the weird thing in the sky, but I'm sure Twilight has a super-duperific reason." "Indeed darling, Twilight isn't one to simply not let things like that happen without good reason," Rarity added in as I pulled Pinkie's hoof out of my mouth. "Except last time I checked, Twilight couldn't get to the other world because the mirror stopped working," I replied, though none of the Elements looked surprised by that.  "Twilight already told you all, didn't she?" I deadpanned. "She did, and I think she doesn't mean for any problems to happen," Fluttershy meekly answered. Facehoofing, I responded, "It doesn't matter, what matters is that I told her that keeping the mirror around and messing with it will only cause problems. Right now, I have to make sure that the mirror isn't going to do something crazy, while sending a letter to Discord so he can check if Equus' dimensional barrier is still intact. I would rather not have us be a sitting duck if that tear in the sky caused serious damage or even it’s destruction." Dragging my hoof down my face, I continued, "Look, can someone get Twilight and bring her to my office? I'm going to send a message to Discord now. Odds are by the time she arrives, I'll have an answer that will either cool my temper somewhat, or give me a valid reason to beat the living daylights out of her," before heading off to my office. Sometimes, I wonder if this 'destiny' thing is looking out for Twilight's welfare. After sending a letter to Discord, I learned we were lucky enough to have our barriers miraculously unharmed. While it was a relief to learn that we won't have a horrible end, yet, I hoped that Twilight didn't take it as a sign that the pursuit of friendship wouldn't cause problems for Equestria. Though, I could argue that Celestia's own 'friendship' with some pony from another world had endangered Equus in the first place. Regardless, Twilight learned that, whatever problem that caused the dimensional tears, it was solved by 'friendship' again. Sometimes this world makes me want to gag. Moving on, rather than telling me the source of the tears herself, she insisted going to this other world in order to bring back Sunset so she can give me a first-hoof account. I didn't put up a fuss this time, confusing Twilight as a result. However, I was planning on trying to convince her and Sunset of the foolishness of interfering in another world. Hence, I was sitting in my office as Twilight open the door. "Aether, I would li—" Twilight started to say till I slammed a hoof down on my desk. "This isn't some kind of personal meeting for the sake of friendship, Twilight. This is a purely business one, focused on the matter of Equus' safety from dimensional threats. So just bring her in already," I snapped, causing one of Twilight's eyes to twitch. "...Fine, Aether, meet Sunset Shimmer," she replied as the door opened further to reveal an amber coated unicorn mare with a crimson mane streaked with bright yellow stripes. The mare walked into the room with a forced smile on her face, but when she open to speak, I raised a hoof to stop her. "Ms. Shimmer, as I told Twilight, this is just a meeting about the safety of Equus. However, I will inform you that while you will be explaining the situation that caused this matter, I would like you to take into consideration of the possibility of staying in Equestria for the safety of both worlds," I announced, causing Sunset to stare at me in shock before she collected herself to finally reply. "Stay In Equestria‽ Do you honestly think I will abandon my friends? From what Twilight told me, everything turned out fine!" Sunset replied, causing me to sigh as I rubbed a hoof against my forehead. "Yes, fine this time. But do you really expect that both worlds will turn out fine every time a magical issue occurs? It hasn't even been a year since Twilight came into the picture and yet there had been three magical occurrences in this other world. Since that world completely lack magic of its own, that means any magical issues stem entirely from contact with our world. Hence, instead of placing your friends in danger, maybe leaving would help to serve to protect them? Have you considered that possibility?" I countered, causing Sunset to just stare at me with narrowed eyes. "Yes, I have considered that possibility, but it’s too late for that now. My friends possess magic, meaning that even if I leave, there still would be magic affecting that world. Not only that, but not having someone that understands the nature of magic around means there is a greater possibility of things going wrong and far worse," Sunset responded, causing my own eyes to narrow back at her, while Twilight just nervously looked back and forth at the two of us. "Just how much do you know about me?" I simply asked, causing Sunset to blink in surprise. "Everything that I needed to know, why do you ask?" Sunset replied. "Well, I do have to admit that I glossed over the details of the first two magical incidents, due to the fact that just talking about them irritates me greatly. I also have a feeling that Twilight is not informing me about some matter of great importance, judging that she wanted you to explain the whole situation to me. So please, tell me everything, I want to hear every single detail of this dimensional affair," I demanded as I placed my hooves together, causing Twilight to gulp for some reason. "I can't believe no one told me about this‽" I hollered at the top of my lungs as I flipped my desk for the fifth time. It only took three minutes before I learned that this world is a parallel world to Equus, to the point that the Elements, with the exception of Twilight, had counterparts there. At that point I just sat quietly there, my face not showing a single emotion as I listened to Sunset's story. Things got real 'interesting' when I learned that Twilight's counterpart finally came into the picture, and that she was the source of the dimensional tears. Both ponies were starting to trade looks of confusion and concern due to the uncharacteristic response I was giving them. However, when Sunset finally ended her story at Twilight arriving to pick her up, only for both Twilights to encounter her, before the real one brought her to this world. At that point I decided to vent out my feelings on the matter: by trashing my office. "Aether, calm down!" Twilight pleaded behind her shield, the debris of Starlight's school desk beside it as I threw another chair across the room. "Calm down‽ Why would I bucking calm down when you and everyone else was hiding this load of horseapples from me‽ This is the second most asinine thing I heard since coming to this world!" I raved, pounding a hoof against my fallen desk. "Second?" Sunset asked from within the safety of Twilight's shield. "I mean, come on, is there some kind of ulterior plot going on that Celestia is hatching or is everyone on this world that dense and naive? Not only that, but you have to actually meet your counterpart, Twilight? What next, Sunset will meet her own, touch each other by accident, resulting in the end of that world‽" "Can that actually happen? It sounds highly unrealistic," Twilight commented. "How am I supposed to know? No one knows what happens to worlds that mess with alternate dimensions beyond the fact that they dropped off the grid completely!" I yelled while bucking my desk even further. "Now everyone shut it for five minutes!" After five minutes of venting my rage, I finally calmed down enough to have Twilight drop her shield and start repairing all the damages I caused to my office. Sitting behind my desk, my mane somewhat disheveled, I waved a hoof as I asked, "So tell me Sunset, is there any chance of us just draining all the magic in that world so that no more problems can show up?" Sitting across from me again, Sunset simply shook her head as she answered, "No, the nature of magic like this isn't something we can just suck up with a vacuum. I'm afraid that magic is now a part of this other world." Sighing, I hit my desk with my face as I replied, "Dear sweet Luna, that means I have no justification for denying you your return, as long as magic can go out of control without anyone to keep an eye on it." Lifting my head, I eyed the two as I added, "However, the moment Equestria has a working dimensional rift portal that is safe and stable, I'm going to have one somehow connected to this world so we can get rid of this mirror and all the headaches that come with it. At least that way we can remove one possible threat to both world's dimensional barriers. Just one thing though, Sunset." At first, Sunset was pleased that I was actually coming around to her position, but she frowned at my last words when she asked, "What is it?" "I want you to keep any magic that occurs to your world to a minimum, or even prevent it from happening. I don't care what these counterparts think about that, we have to keep both worlds safe—and undetected—until Equus is truly ready for first contact. If they put up any protest to the idea, just ask them if they want to be enslaved, eaten by giant alien insects, or worse," I answered, causing two the look at me with skeptical looks before Twilight spoke up. "Aether, you kept talking about giant insects either chasing you, or being aliens that want to hurt or eat you. Are you being serious about that, or are you making some of that stuff up?" I glowered at Twilight for a while before replying, "No, I am not making it up. And before anyone ask, yes, there are insectoid aliens that are capable of interdimensional travel possessing a hostile disposition. One prime example that comes to mind is the Nzugin race, a bunch of cold-hearted creatures that would probably view us as a delicacy." Upon hearing that, Sunset greened slightly, to which I addressed by adding, "Yes, I know it's disgusting to bring that up, since so many people already complained about it to me. But just take it as how dark interdimensional society can be, if we end up meeting the wrong species. Now, since you're so inclined to returning to that other world, get your plot moving and go through that mirror now. I would like to have those counterparts supervised before some new magical threat crops up. It would be nice if I could live to see my thirtieth birthday instead of seeing Equus being destroyed by recklessness."