Sunset’s vision faded in and out of focus once again. With every heartbeat, her brain jolted against her skull. Loud voices echoed through her mind, however they sounded distant in her brain’s scrambled state. Her eyelids felt like bricks laid upon her face, and she struggled to slit them open.
Various blurred colors where all she managed to distinguish. Her body felt heavy, as if a wet quilt rested atop her, constricting her like a snake. Her lungs grasped at any air it could find.
“What’s going on?” she thought.
The voices grew clearer and she could sense the panic that surrounded her. A single voice yelled now, finding its way to Sunset Shimmer’s ears.
“We have to hurry!” it said.
Sunset tried her voice, “Wh-what?’
“Sunset!” the voice replied.
She forced her eyes further open, pupils searching frantically around. The purple mass she made out to be Twilight stood over her.
“Twilight?” Sunset strained.
“Yes, Sunset, can you hear me?”
“Yeah, I can hear you,” she said.
“Oh thank goodness, are you okay?”
Sunset’s vision grew more defined, yet still remained blurry. The pounding in her brain began to recede, and the ringing in her ears had ceased. Her body tingled drowsily with life, only just enough to let her know it was still there.
She nodded slowly and attempted to lift herself off of the carpeted ground, only to experience another bout of dizziness and collapsing to the floor once more.
“Sunset!” Twilight shouted, “Don’t try to move.”
“Sunset,” another voice called out to her, “we are going to get you to Luna right away. Just hold on and be still for now.”
She tilted her head to find the voice’s source. Celestia’s concerned eyes met hers, and she received a look she hadn’t in years.
Sunset felt the tingle of magic cover her entirety.
“I am going to teleport all of us to Luna’s chambers,” Princess Celestia informed.
Brightness flashed in the unicorn’s vision, and a change in scenery was felt. Celestia gently laid her former prodigy on a set of midnight blue cushions.
“Sister,” her voice was strong with a hint of urgency, “Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle have arrived.”
“Hey, what about,” Spike hardly managed to get out before the princess of friendship shoved him. “Ow, what did I do?”
“Quiet, Spike!” she breathed at a harsh, low level.
Sunset would have chuckled at them if she had the energy to do so. Head still swimming with exhaustion, she turned to face Princess Celestia and her sister of which Sunset had never had the chance to meet.
The sisters conversed at a whisper. Sunset took in the sight of Princess Luna. Her dark blue coat was accompanied by her partially translucent sapphire blue mane that sparkled and waved in constant motion just as her sister’s did. While the two seemed as a pair, Sunset found it obvious that they were as different as, for lack of a better analogy, night and day. Standing side by side, Luna proved to be inches shorter than her older sister, something that, for some reason or another, interested the amber unicorn.
In her scattered brain, she imagined Princess Luna to be very similar to her former mentor, however it turned out to be quite the contrary. Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed the very princess she had been examining looking at her expectantly.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” Sunset asked sheepishly.
“I am Princess Luna. I’m afraid we have yet to meet one another,” her voice was regal, even more so than that of Princess Celestia’s.
Princess Luna approached Sunset, towering over her as she lay awkwardly on the cushioned ground. The unicorn shifted uncomfortably and responded.
“I’m Sunset Shimmer. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for agreeing to help me.”
The alicorn smiled warmly and said, “I will do my best to help you figure out what has been going on, and hopefully between all of us, “ she gestured to the others, “we can prevent any force that threatens our world, and the world on the other side of the mirror.”
“Sister,” Celestia interrupted, “it will likely be for the best if we start immediately.”
“Very well, Sunset Shimmer,” the princess’s eyes were somber, “I need you to sleep now. I will enter your dreams and help you recognize the invader.”
Sunset nodded in understanding. She took a final look at those around her before resting her head against the fluffy cushion. Within a few seconds of doing so, her blurred mind drifted into a peaceful rest. But peacefulness can only last so long.
. . .
Rarity twirled a plastic straw between her slim, carefully manicured fingers. The once firm whipped cream that floated atop her coffee was now melted and thoroughly mixed into the drink which now held a lukewarm temperature. The fashionista sighed dramatically and pushed the drink towards the center of the table. Gracefully and rehearsed she laid a hand palm facing up against her forehead and leaned back in her chair.
“I simply cannot indulge in such pleasures knowing that our friend could be in danger!” Rarity amplified.
Pinkie Pie with arms crossed blew a raspberry curl that laid on her forehead upward. Her beverage also laid untouched in front of her. In fact, the only one of the girls that had laid her lips upon her straw was Twilight Sparkle. She sat quietly, but, unlike Pinkie Pie, she sat in thought rather than stewing.
She had been running different options through her mind since they left Sunset’s apartment. She finally stated out loud what they all knew to be true.
“We can’t do a single thing,” she dared not take her eyes off of her drink.
Fluttershy opened her mouth as if to protest, but quickly shut it once again. Looking around at the others, she noticed their equally frustrated and intense expressions.
“What if we followed her, ya know, across the portal?” Apple Jack dared to suggest.
“That sounds dangerous,” Fluttershy spoke at almost a whisper.
“Fluttershy’s right,” Twilight agreed, “Sunset hasn’t shared much about Equestria, but from what I have heard it’s very different from this world. There’s magic and monsters. If we were to cross through that portal, who knows what kind of danger we could get ourselves into.”
The gloomy presence around the girls’ table could be felt throughout the entire café. It hung over them like a flashing ‘keep out’ sign. All of the other customers avoided traveling near their table like the plague.
Eventually, Rainbow Dash spoke up, “Well I’ve made up my mind.”
The cyan girl took a swig of her warm drink and stretched back in her chair. Her face displayed a determined look.
“As have I,” Rarity added matter-of-factly.
Twilight adjusted her glasses on the brim of her nose and prepared to question the girls.
“And?” she asked hesitantly.
Rainbow waited a moment to respond. She adjusted herself in the seat, facing the girl head on before saying, “She would do it for us.”
“Just what I was thinking,” the fashionista agreed.
With that, the group came to a consensus.
“She never told us not to follow her,” Pinkie Pie gained back some of her charisma.
Fluttershy smiled warmly, “I’m sure it’s nothing we can’t handle.”
“So it’s decided then, huh?” Apple Jack guessed.
“It seems so. The question is when we should leave,” Twilight Sparkle stated.
“Tonight,” Rainbow said hurriedly, “Let’s all meet in our normal spot outside the school at ten.”
Twilight’s eyebrows raised, “Is everyone alright with that?”
Tentatively, the girls nodded.
. . .
The Princess of Friendship paced nervously through a Canterlot Castle hallway. If continued for much longer, her hooves very well may have etched away a trail into the floor. The lavender alicorn mumbled sentences to herself, completely ignoring the presence of her assistant, Spike, and Princess of Equestria, Celestia.
The two witnessed her incoherent fidgeting from across the hallway. They had managed to get her out of Princess Luna’s bedchambers, but still had yet to fully calm her down.
“Twilight,” Celestia quickly thought of a way to ease the fellow princess’s mind, “how about we have breakfast together, like we did when you were my pupil?”
Twilight Sparkle stopped in her tracks. The worries that occupied her brain subsided as a genuine smile spread across her face.
“That sounds,” her lavender cheeks warmed, “like a great idea.”
“I’m with Twilight,” Spike spoke up, “my stomach has been growling since we left Ponyville!”
The princesses shared at laugh over the young dragon’s proclamation. The trio journeyed to the princesses’ personal dining room. The elegant room brought back many memories for the three.
During Twilight’s time as Princess Celestia’s student, she spent many mornings in this room eating meals with her mentor. The two would have intimate conversations about an array of topics. Often times, these conversations would start from young Twilight’s many questions, most of which Celestia had an answer for.
One of Twilight Sparkle’s fondest memories from her time as the Princess’s personal student occurred in this room.
“Princess Celestia,” she decided to question the alicorn about the event, “do you remember some of the questions that I asked you in this room many years ago?”
“I would like to think I remember most of them, but there were so very many,” the Princess teased.
Twilight chuckled, “There was one question in particular that I was wondering if you can recall.”
“Which one is that?” Celestia questioned as she sat down at the small table.
“I once asked why your mane looked like it did,” Twilight spoke through a cheek-splitting grin.
Celestia adopted her own smile and replied, “Ah, yes. I remember that one very well. Most of the time your inquiries were easy to answer, but that one in particular required some imagination.”
“What did she say back? I want to know too!” Spike demanded.
“I told Twilight that whenever somepony eats too much dessert that their hair would look like mine, and that if she ate too much dessert her mane would look like mine does as well,” the Princess of Equestria winked at Twilight, “Days after I told her that, Twilight complained of a stomach ache. She had been sneaking extra dessert to her room after dinner. I should have known that my most prized pupil would take my answers too seriously.”
Twilight blushed and giggled from the opposite side of the table, “When I finally confessed how I had gotten the stomach ache, Princess Celestia couldn’t respond she was laughing so hard.”
Spike chortled from his seat as the servers entered the room. He licked his lips as a smorgasbord of breakfast foods were placed before him. Without waiting for permission, the dragon dug into the meal, receiving a glare from Twilight and a smile from Princess Celestia.
Between mouthfuls, Spike asked, “So, Princess Celestia, what do you think of Sunset?”
“Spike!” Twilight scolded.
“It’s perfectly fine Twilight. He has a right to be curious,” Celestia wiped her mouth elegantly with a cloth napkin surrounded in her magical grasp, “Sunset Shimmer was once my pupil just as you were. I should be as open to discussion about her as I am about you.”
She turned to face Spike before answering, “She has grown to be quite the young mare. I can tell that the Sunset that entered this castle today is much different than the one that broke into this castle some time ago. From what you two have told me about her, she has changed for the better.”
Spike responded only with a nod as he gulped down yet another mouthful.
“She was nervous,” Twilight said as she carefully cut a pancake into bite-size pieces by use of magic, “about seeing you. She was worried that you weren’t ready to forgive her yet. Of course, I told her that there was no way the Princess Celestia I know would turn her back on somepony.”
The light gray Alicorn nodded and continued to eat her breakfast in silence. Though anypony who had not spent much time with the princess would not notice it, Twilight saw the subtle pain in Celestia’s eyes. She could tell that the co-ruler of Equestria still cared deeply about her once-pupil, Sunset Shimmer, and that her leaving still caused her great sorrow.
Suddenly, the breakfast that the princess of friendship chewed felt difficult to swallow. The worries that had taken a backseat to spending quality time with her former mentor, began to resurface. All that the lavender alicorn could manage was to push the contents of her plate around in circles and fret over her friend that lay asleep somewhere else in the castle.