//------------------------------// // Madness and Loyalty (Part Two) // Story: The Sun Never Sets // by Mr Fislewait //------------------------------// Hanging upside down suspended a short distance off of the ground in a net was not a situation that normally ended well for the pony in the net. That wasn't even accounting for the gammy leg I'd been having to walk around on for the past few weeks, if the net was to drop then I'd almost certainly end up injuring it in my fall undoing any of the healing that it had managed to go through. Thankfully while a net trap might snare a normal animal I was an experienced unicorn, with a flash of light I teleported out of the net and onto the ground, another few flashes let me blink across the city, the small teleports putting a reasonable distance between me and the trap without straining myself too hard. With the palace behind me I galloped into one of the abandoned homes and closed the door behind me, from there I crouched beneath the window and looked outside, hiding myself from anyone on the street with the curtains. Whoever else was in the city had been leaving traps and while they might not necessarily have been meant for me specifically I couldn't take that sort of chance. Even if the traps had only been placed to protect the locals from dangerous creatures it would probably be difficult for me to explain my presence to them, plus I hadn't exactly ruled out the likely reality that the trap had been placed for me specifically. In fairness you would fit the profile of dangerous creature don't you think? By the time you'd reached them you'd wracked up quite the body count don't you think? Sure you hadn't picked up quite so many...deformities by then but I imagine you were still pretty scary to look at. A twisted leg, chipped and cracked hooves, not to mention the wild look in your eyes. How were you feeling back then? Angry? Despondent? Or had you managed to pick up that mad little twitch in the eye but that point? It really doesn't do you any favors, Sunset. The twitch came later... I think. When this is all over maybe you could write me a timeline for when each of your defects began to manifest? You have so many that it would make for a truly fascinating study, I imagine I could write a book on it. I uhh... I waited in the house for about an hour just watching the street to see if anypony was looking for me but after the hour had passed with no signs of movement outside I dropped my guard and went exploring again. From then on though I was very careful in my movements, I took food for my meals sparingly and tried not to stay in one place for too long. When I moved through the streets I did so with small magical hops, moving straight from house to house so that anyone watching the streets wouldn't see me. Again, paranoia, Sunset. I know that Equestrian mental health care pales in comparison to what they had on the other side of the portal but even you must have heard of paranoia. Delusions of persecution? Check. Exaggerated self-importance and delusions of grandeur? Check. Unwarranted jealousy? Between me, Cadance and the Dazzlings I think we can say that one is a check. I wasn't jealous of the Dazzlings! Really? They had magic in a magically stagnant world, they were popular they were loved... They'd pretty much manipulated their way into a position of power and reverence. Sounds pretty much like everything you ever dreamed of to me, Sunset. ... Oh, please continue, it may not sound like it but I really am interested in hearing this. Please drone- I mean go on. I spent the rest of that day on edge, as with the night before I decided to hole myself up in one of the houses for the night, this time being sure to lock the door and set up some magical wards. The previous night a cockerel had managed to sneak up on me without warning, if there was something trying to trap me then I wasn't going to make its job easy. ----------------------------- My sleep that night was undisturbed... Recurring nightmares aside. ...by anything breaking my wards. Without an alarm clock I ended up waking up much later than the previous day and so it was nearly midday when I rose. I made myself a light meal from some of the dregs I had collected the previous day then got ready to set out for another day of exploration. When I stepped out of the door though I was greeted by a letter that had been carefully placed outside the door of my house. I grabbed the paper and retreated back inside, locking the door behind me and taking the letter over to the kitchen table. 'We don't mean you any harm, Miss. We thought you might be an agent of Discord but with that seeming pretty unlikely now we'd like to meet you today, face to face. We'll be hanging around outside of the palace gates if you want to meet us, if you don't then we wont bother you no more, just finish whatever you're here to do then move on. We'll be keeping an eye on the palace all day so don't feel no rush to be there too soon, just turn up whenever you want to and we'll be mighty pleased to see a friendly face.' The note was short and to the point, written in scruffy but legible hoofwriting. Somepony had been stalking me during the night, probably the same one who had left the trap, and now they wanted to meet me in the flesh. While I was still a little paranoid... See? That wasn't so hard was it? Admitting you have a problem is the first step towards fixing it, Sunset. ...about being followed, the author seemed to be harmless enough. If they meant me any ill will they would probably have tried spiriting me away in the night, not left a polite note asking if I wanted to meet them. With few other options, trusting them seemed a decent enough way to get some answers about this new world and the author had already revealed one useful piece of information. The old chaos lord Discord was evidently free in this world and judging from the unusual state the Crystal Empire was in, it seemed unlikely that he had been reformed. ---------------------------------- When I walked up to the palace it seemed that the courtyard was just as empty as it had been the previous day. I cast my eyes about looking for any signs of the promised meeting but nopony seemed to be there. The muscles in my legs began tensing up and I felt a shiver run across the length of my back, while the note had seemed innocent enough the situation was beginning to feel like a trap. I paced back and forth in front of the stairs to the palace for a full minute before I heard them approaching. Slowly trotting towards me from one of the side streets I could make out the shapes of six other equines, all coming from the same direction. I was still tense but I appreciated their approach, they didn't appear to be trying to rush me or surround me, instead giving me plenty of room and opportunity to escape if need be. As they came into the light I could make them out more clearly, a pair of stallions and four mares. The stallions were a light amber unicorn and a pale blue pegasus. The mares were a blue unicorn and three earth ponies, one gray, one a very pale blue and the third... the third was Applejack. Sure I may have only met the pony version of her once and that was only briefly... She was chasing you for theft of an important magical artifact. 'Briefly' is putting things lightly don't you think? ...but it was unmistakably her. The apple cutie mark, the mane and coat color and the old stetson placed on her head. "Applejack!" I called out to her as the group approached. Unsurprisingly she seemed a little startled by my recognition of her, this Applejack had probably never met Sunset Shimmer. "Ummm, ah take it we've met before, Miss? Ahm mighty sorry but ah just plain don't remember ever meeting a unicorn like you before. Mind introducing yourself?" The entire group had exchanged curious looks of surprise and confusion between themselves, I had apparently not made a great first impression. They stopped together a safe distance away from me, whether it was for their own safety or to keep me at ease I wasn't sure. "Sunset Shimmer. We haven't actually met before but... well it's complicated. Short story is it's great to see you, you have no idea how nice it is to see a friendly face right now." Applejack smiled politely and was about to say something but the blue unicorn stopped her. "Nice to meet you, Sunset. I guess you know Applejack so let me introduce you to the rest of the crew, my name's Minuette and this is Joe, Soarin, Marble and Rara," each of the ponies gave some variation of 'hello' as they were introduced with the exception of Marble who gave a quiet 'mhmm' while trying to hide behind her mane. "Sorry if we scared you yesterday but we were a little scared ourselves when we saw some mysterious pony searching the palace, we sort of thought you might have been sent by Discord." "About that," I interjected. "I'm a little out of touch with current events right now. So mind filling me in on what's going on? Discord, the Crystal Empire... anything else crazy that might have gone down over the last couple of years." The group stood there staring in disbelief as though I'd just asked them who moves the sun across the sky. "Is she serious?" Joe asked Minuette. "Be polite, Joe," Rara said giving Joe a disapproving glare. "She's clearly been through a lot," I winced slightly at that remark. I may not have looked quite so bad as when you all found me but I was still a pretty sorry sight. My coat was a mess, my mane was ragged and unkempt and my ribs were starting show. "Well, ah don't know how you done gone missed it but Discord got sprung from his prison about a year ago and he's bin making all Equestria into his personal playground ever since," Applejack grumbled. "Crystal Empire sprung up during the middle of his reign of chaos and he decided to give it a makeover." "Right... that makes sense I guess," I rubbed the back of my head thinking things over, the story AJ had just given me pretty much explained everything I had encountered so far. If Discord was free then all the strange things I had run into would probably be considered pretty tame by the standards of what this world had to offer. "So mind if I ask what you're doing here? I mean the whole city seemed pretty deserted when I got here." "Yeah, place is a ghost town. The crystal ponies left last week to try finding the Crystal Heart after Discord stole it, there's still bits and pieces left around but the whole city may as well be dead." The pegasus, Soarin, spoke with a slightly husky voice and constantly cast nervous glances towards Minuette whenever he spoke as though he was expecting her to interrupt. "We came here looking for something important but then you sort of showed up outta nowhere and some of us might of thought you were Discord in disguise." Minuette audibly sighed and slammed a hoof into her face, I was only barely able to suppress my laughter at the absurdity of it all. "Okay, I'm going to take a bit of a shot in the dark here. Minuette here is the personal protege of Princess Celestia and the six of you are on a quest to find the Elements of Harmony, defeat Discord and restore peace to Equestria," by the time I'd finished all six of the other ponies were standing with their mouths hanging open in disbelief. "You, friends with somepony called Pinkie Pie, sugarcube? Cause I 'aint never seen nopony but her pull off something that scary accurate before except her," Applejack chuckled. "I have never met some pony called Pinkie before, Applejack, but I know exactly who you are talking about. Like I said, it's complicated." "I don't suppose you've seen the elements anywhere have you?" Marble mumbled from behind a wall of hair, she was barely audible from where I was standing. "Afraid not, did you check the castle of the sisters in the Everfree?" As one the group nodded their heads before Minuette let out a long sigh of despair. "Well, Sunset, you seem to know all about us, maybe you'd like to share something about yourself so that we're on a little more even ground?" she asked. While the rest of the group seemed relatively at ease about me Minuette spoke warily. While she didn't sound suspicious of me there was clearly something about me that had her on edge. "I'm a traveler looking to find her way home. I don't mean anypony any harm and I won't be sticking around these parts too long but while I'm here I'm happy to help you guys search for the elements. I've heard a few stories about them and might be able to lend a helping hoof. All I'd be looking for in return would be to share some friendly company until I move on from here." "Yeah I think we can agree to that," Minuette nodded. "The Empire's a pretty big place and an extra set of hooves would be appreciated. Hey guys, why don't you go get a space ready for Sunset back at our little campsite, the two of us are just going to have a little chat in private." A mix of confusion and worry seemed to pass over the other five ponies but they acquiesced to her request and trotted off back down the street they'd come from. When they had left Minuette placed one leg across the back of my withers and gave me an ice cold glare. "Something the matter?" I asked politely, while preparing to teleport and escape her if need be. I'd been on both sides of the 'private conversation' before and was worried about how this one was going to play out. "I know who you are, Sunset. You may not remember me but I sure remember you. You were a spoiled little brat who thought that she was Celestia's gift to all ponykind. Now you seem a lot less awful than you were back then but I'm not taking any chances. You step out of line around my friends and we'll put it to the test which of us is the better magician, the drop out or the loyal student. I'll humor you for now but the minute we leave the Crystal Empire we part ways, I don't want somepony with a history like yours messing this up for us. Do we have an understanding?" her icy glare had not abated, if anything it had just got colder as she spoke. I hate to say it but I really didn't remember ever having met her before but I could tell she was being honest with me, the Sunset she described was a pretty perfect description of how I'd been as Celestia's student. "Yeah, I think we have an understanding. I was planning to move off at the end of the week anyway," I kept my voice level and devoid of emotion, not wanting to give any ground to her but at the same time not wishing to rise to her bait and prove that I was the malicious little pony she remembered me as. "We'll be gone before then anyway. Now come on, the others will be expecting us back at the camp."