"So we'll be wrapping up the festival preparations tomorrow before the homecoming game," Sunset Shimmer said to the body of students gathered for the festival planning committee. She had a flowchart projected from the computer onto the whiteboard showing the roles everyone was taking for the final preparations. "Any questions?" she asked her audience. The rest of the room all shook their heads and Sunset adjourned the meeting and pulled her portable storage drive out of the computer at the front of the room. As she was packing her bag, she noticed she was still holding onto a library book she no longer needed.
Oh...right, I needed to return this, Sunset thought, remembering that she had meant to visit the library before lunch to take care of the book. She zipped up her bag and set out for the library. When she arrived, she walked up to the circulation desk.
"Hi, Ms. Cheerilee," Sunset greeted the librarian behind the desk. She unzipped her backpack and pulled out the book she had to return. "Checking this back in," she explained as she handed over the book.
"Why thank you, Sunset," Ms. Cheerilee replied. She took the book and began to process it in. "How's the festival planning going?" she asked.
"Oh, it's great. There's been a lot of volunteers!" Sunset said, enthusiastically. "We'll be ready for the festival to open tomorrow after tomorrow night's homecoming football game."
Ms. Cheerilee nodded. "Alright, looks like everything's all sewn up here. Thanks for returning the book!" Sunset waved back as she walked away from the circulation desk. As she walked towards the exit through the center of the library, she slowed down as she looked at the aisles of bookshelves that curved around the middle of the library. She sighed and began to reminisce about her past again.
In the dead of night, through the halls of the Great Canterlot Library, a squad of royal guards patrolled the halls, their magical horns illuminating the milky darkness. However, out of their line of sight, a nimble figure wearing a black cloak darted back and forth between the large pillars that lined the corridor. The shadowy pony took refuge behind a column and waited for a guard to pass by. As he did, the mysterious figure levitated a nearby pebble using her own magic and tossed it down an adjoining hallway, creating a sound.
"What was that?" the guard said. "Whoever's there, show yourself!" he said, looking in the direction of the noise, his horn's light focused on the darkness beyond. He walked down the hallway to get a closer look at the source of the strange noise. Taking advantage of the distraction, the stealthy pony darted past the hallway and rounded the bend before coming to a room that was sealed by a gate. She used her magic as the guards did to cast light on the plaque that was affixed next to the gate, which read "Spell Archive: In honor of Starswirl the Bearded." The pony took down her hood, revealing her bright orange hair. It was Sunset Shimmer.
"Perfect..." she said quietly. She focused her magic on the lock and it opened. "With such a primitive locking spell I don't see who they were trying to keep out," she said to herself, smugly. She gently opened the gate then relocked it behind herself as she entered the archive. She gazed around the room on first sight, looking at the numerous scrolls and spells.
Celestia doesn't want me in here because she thinks I'll outgrow her if I had access to this, Sunset thought. She picked a scroll at random and unfurled it, speed reading through the contents. I could learn this entire archive in a month, I bet, Sunset confidently read down the page. She quickly reshelved the scroll then unfurled another, continuing to read.
Night gave way to morning and Sunset was still in the Archive at dawn. Unfortunately, fatigue had gotten the better of her and she had fallen asleep in the midst of reading. Voices from the hallway startled her awake, one of whom was distinctly familiar to her.
"...Are you certain there was an intruder here?" Princess Celestia asked the guard detail as they walked down the halls of the library towards the Spell Archive.
"Yes, your highness," the guard replied. "I had heard an inexplicable noise last night while patrolling this floor. When I went to follow up on it, it led me to nothing. I believe somepony was trying to distract me."
Meanwhile, in the Spell Archive, Sunset was frantically reshelving the scrolls before Princess Celestia and the guards arrived. However she was too late, as the trio had entered the Archive before she could finish. She quickly ran behind one of the bookshelves and put her hood back on.
"Look, your highness," the other guard accompanying Celestia said upon entering. "There's a stack of scrolls on the floor, somepony was here!" He drew his party's attention to the pile of scrolls Sunset had failed to reshelve.
"Search the Archive," Celestia ordered. The two guards began to crisscross the aisles of shelves looking for the intruder. Sunset attempted to stay one step ahead as she moved between the shelves where the guards weren't looking. She frantically tried to devise a way to escape the Archive unseen when she saw a window leading to the outside of the library. She made a beeline for the open window but caught the eye of a guard as she darted out in the open.
"Halt, intruder!" he shouted, upon seeing Sunset, but she did not yield. Using magic, he latched onto Sunset's cloak and ripped it off just as she was leaping for the window. The force of the cloak being pulled from her stopped her momentum mid-jump, causing Sunset to crash to the floor before reaching the window. The other guard and Princess Celestia both ran over to the window and gasped when they saw who the intruder was.
"...Sunset Shimmer?" Celestia said, bewildered that her own student had broken into the library. Sunset slowly stood back to her feet, her head held low. Celestia turned to her guards. "Leave us," Celestia ordered, dismissing the guards. "I will address things from here. Thank you for your assistance." The two guards nodded in compliance and exited the Spell Archive.
"Hmph..." Sunset grunted softly, struggling to make eye contact with her disappointed mentor.
A chirp from Sunset's back pocket shook her out of her memory. She reached back and read her phone. She typed up a quick reply and left the library.
"Heeeey, Twilight..." Jade Jewel said, coming up from behind Twilight Sparkle at her locker. Twilight turned to face her.
"Hello, Jade Jewel," she responded.
"Pearl wanted me to find you," Jade said. "She's in the library and wanted your help with something."
Twilight checked her phone. "I guess I have time," she said. The pair began to make their way through the hallway. As they walked, they approached an open door to a classroom. As they were passing by the door, Jade abruptly shoved Twilight inside.
"Wh-hey!" Twilight exclaimed, caught off-guard by Jade's push. Jade quickly closed the door behind her before she could leave. "What's going on?!" She pounded on the door, trying to get out.
"Sorry, Twilight," Jade said through the door. As she held the door shut, Pearlesecent came up from behind her.
"Does this feel right...?" Pearlescent asked. Jade frowned and shook her head but continued holding the door closed.
Twilight sighed when she realized she wasn't going to be able to convince Jade Jewel to open the door.
"Apologies for the rude accommodations," a voice from behind Twilight said. Twilight glanced over her shoulder. Standing there was a girl with glasses and a hooded sweatshirt worn over her head. Underneath her hood, Twilight could see the girl's dark hair peeking out.
"You...you're Amber Sunrise, right?" Twilight asked nervously, remembering Jade and Pearlescent had pointed her out a few days ago in the lunchroom. "What do you want with me?"
'Amber Sunrise' produced a folder. She opened it and flipped through the first few pages. "What I need...is for you to tell me who this is." She held up a photo of Sunset Shimmer.
"That...that's my friend, Sunset Shimmer," Twilight responded.
"Uh-huh..." 'Amber' continued. She pulled out another picture. "And this...?" The picture was of Sunset Shimmer's demon form.
Twilight shook her head. "I don't know."
"No, I suppose you don't," 'Amber' said, feigning a concession. "Apparently you weren't going to this school when this incident happened. But for someone who never knew what this was, you sure have a lot of data on it..." She pulled out several sheets of paper from her folder and showed them to Twilight.
"These are my notes!" Twilight said, taking the notes from 'Amber' and reading them over. "Why do you have these?!" Her voice conveyed moderate offense at the invasion of her privacy.
"This is research into a different world that is connected to ours, isn't it?" 'Amber' asked forcefully. Her aggressive demeanor caused Twilight to retreat. "According to your notes there's been several supernatural incidents at this school and you've been keeping tabs on all of them. However, I don't think you needed any notes...because you have first-hand experience, don't you?" She pulled a third picture out of her folder. It was of Twilight Sparkle as 'Midnight Sparkle', the dark entity that overwhelmed her when she tried to harness the magic of friendship.
Twilight covered her mouth in surprise, reminded of the terrible destruction that was caused by her reckless ambition. "How did you find out?" Twilight asked, withdrawn.
"I just pulled the thread," 'Amber' answered nonchalantly. "Your notes were quite informative in that regard. This power you and your friend are drawing on comes from their world, doesn't it? I want to know what is going on and how I can have it too."
"I...it..." Twilight faltered, flustered by 'Amber's' extensive research.
"But maybe this isn't making sense..." 'Amber' said coyly. "I think I owe you a little more explanation."
She set her folder down and removed her glasses. The girl took her hood down and slowly removed the black wig atop her head, revealing her natural orange and yellow hair beneath. As she removed the wig, Twilight's eyes widened in panic.
"Do you understand now?" she smirked, having exposed herself as Sunset Shimmer.
"No....nononono! It...it can't be!" Twilight exclaimed, clearly alarmed at this development. "You've been attending Canterlot High?!"
"So you do know!" Sunset zeroed in on the information she was trying to get out of Twilight. "You're aware of what her power is and what it does!" She circled Twilight in an attempt to intimidate her into talking. "The Sunset Shimmer you know isn't from this world, is she?! She brought this power with her when she came here! And now that it's here in the school, it must be something I can have as well! You just have to tell me how..."
Twilight bit her lip, scared and paralyzed into silence.