May 26: The Mirror Conspiracy
As usual, the last week of school was filled with mostly goofing off and trying to keep the students under control while the promise of summer beckoned. Today was no different, being a school-wide field trip to the Equestria County Museum of Art & History. The reason for this was the full unveiling of the whole Baldassare di Cavalcanti exhibit, including the legendary and mysterious Mirror of Cavalcanti. For that reason alone, Sunset made sure she was going, though every instinct screamed at her to take the optional study day so she could sleep in the library.
As expected, most of the teens were interested in the Baldassare exhibition for no other reason than to make jokes about the historical old dude who thought he was an all-powerful wizard thanks to a unicorn he Tivo’d in a mirror. Waterfire encapsulated the whole thing perfectly when she commented, “Y’know, if I had a mirror like that, I think I’d have asked for something more practical, like being made Queen of Italy or something.” However fearsome his reputation had been during his lifetime, centuries later, he probably would have been less than enthused to know he was considered a historical joke, while his contemporaries John Dee and Giordano Bruno were thought of much higher than he…if he was even thought of at all.
Of more interest, however, was the painting that depicted Baldassare’s wife, Crisalide della Luca, looking at the black unicorn as though she’d planned a romp with it of an entirely different kind. Many of the students made classy and erudite remarks such as “we know where that horn’s going” as well as similarly bawdy jokes. One or two boys commented that if she was that interested in the unicorn, she would have run off with one of them first, because they were far more “packed” than any unicorn. A few of the girls made fun of the period clothing, figuring that even though that was contemporary fashion at the time, honestly, could she have tried to look a little better considering she was the wife of a supposedly all-powerful wizard?
Strangely enough, a few students were even interested in the exhibit for what it was. Trixie and Lyra continued their arguments on all things mystical and hermetical while Bon-Bon waited alongside the two with the patience of a saint. Derpy Hooves looked at the astrolabes Baldassare had commissioned and was interested in the computational aspects of them; her friend Carrot Top, however, looked bored as hell. Even Snips and Snails were taking a scholarly note of it all; Sunset had been surprised when Ms. Cheerilee had informed her that since she’d turned the corner on her attitude, she was having an effect on the two boys as well.
But none of that was important to Sunset at the moment. At the nonce, she was engrossed in the display of a computer screen showing high-resolution scans of Baldassare’s notes. As she tried to piece together what Trixie and Lyra had taught her about traditional Gematria and its Italian variant, she rifled through Google Translate on her phone, then filtered it through a Gematria app she’d downloaded. As expected, some of it made sense – one numerical value translated to “I am the eternal shadow” – while most of it didn’t – she had no idea what “the crystal heart sings proudly” meant, though it was likely random gibberish. Either way, she continued to take notes in the hope that some of it – any of it – would give her some clue how to proceed further in protecting Twilight.
“Curious?” Applejack’s voice rang behind her. As Sunset turned to face her friend, Applejack said in a soft tone, “Heard whut y’ did yest’rday. Ah have t’ say Ah’m impressed – an’ not jest ‘cause she’s yer sister. But…next time, jest be careful. Ah’d hate t’ see any o’ mah friends hurt.”
“I’m already hurting, AJ,” Sunset said in a small voice, “and it has yet to stop.” At the moment, she was feeling a sense of anxiety, as though she needed to run out of the room as fast as she could and never come back. She wasn’t sure what it portended, but whatever it meant, it was coming from the other side of the hall – where the mirror was.
“Sunny, Ah thought y’ understood y’ ain’t alone in this,” Applejack said, patting her friend on the shoulder. “We ain’t lettin’ ya go alone on this one.”
“Really?” Sunset retorted. “Because do you understand any of this? Because I am a unicorn, one of the best unicorn mages short of Princess Twilight, and I have no idea what any of this means! It’s all obscure references and ersatz comments from some weird guy who lived in the Florentine Republic and might have gotten ancient obscure wisdom from a unicorn who may or may not have gotten some nookie from the guy’s wife – the same wife the guy’s supposed to have killed!”
Applejack just looked at her friend, not knowing what to say. Finally, she voiced, “Doesn’t mean we aren’t here fer ya, Sunny.”
“I know,” Sunset said quietly, “and I love you all for that. But I’m already in over my head – you guys will drown in whatever’s going on.” An uneasy silence sat between the two girls before Sunset said, “Well, time for me to see what I came here for.”
“An’ that is?”
“The mirror. Something’s wrong about it.” And as the words left her mouth, she realized what the anxiety she was feeling was: it was her natural instincts as a pony, normally suppressed by her human body, telling her to run, that there was something powerful, evil, and dark in the room. She then looked in the direction where most of the people were: by the mirror. Even though it was safely behind bulletproof glass, she could see it even from where she was, across the room by the information terminals.
“I have to get closer,” Sunset insisted.
“No, y’ don’t,” Applejack countered as one of her eyebrows rose in reproach. “Ah know that voice, Sunny. Yer gonna do somethin’ stupid, aintcha?”
“AJ, you’re one of my best friends, so…what do you think?”
“Ah’ll go with ya. Someone has t’ keep ya out o’ trouble,” Applejack said with a grin.
Slowly making their way through the groups of museum visitors, the pair made their way to the riser overlooking the restricted area where the mirror sat behind bulletproof polycarbonate. And with just a few steps, Sunset Shimmer found herself facing the Mirror of Cavalcanti, the possible source of everything that was happening to her sister. At first glance, the whole display was nothing special: The mirror stood about six feet in height, and was for the most part a typical construct of its time, composed of wood, glass and silver. But it was the details that made it stand out from typical mirrors of its type: the wood was covered in gold leaf and various symbols, many of which Sunset did not recognize, were carved into its face. The gems carved into the shapes of the cutie marks – and they were cutie marks, she was sure of it – were much larger than expected; typically here on earth, the largest gems rivalled golf-balls in size on average. But the five present here…by the size of them, roughly the same diameter as softballs, they had to be from Equestria, where small gems tended to be the size of hooves.
One of the gems, the ruby cutie mark, had been removed and was sitting on a burgundy pillar inside a glass case next to the mirror display. By them both, a sign read:
The central gem, known as Il Rubino delle Ombre (the Ruby of Shadows), fell out of its socket unexpectedly while at its normal display location in the Castello di Cavalcanti on November 10, 2012. Two of the other gems, the Emerald of Night (Lo Smeraldo della Note) and the Diamond of the Arts (Il Diamante delle Arti) are loose in their settings but have not fallen out. The remaining two gems, the Amethyst of the Sun (L’Ametista del Sole) and the Sapphire of the Moon (Lo Zaffiro della Luna) are still firmly attached.
Finally, Sunset looked at the mirror itself. But where people saw their reflection, she saw her reflection: the maize-hued unicorn that she used to be. She let out a slight gasp, completely shocked.
“You okay?” Applejack whispered.
“I see myself. As in kinda fuzzy?”
Applejack knew in a heartbeat what that meant. “Yer kiddin’.”
“No, I’m not – take my hand and I’ll cast a truesight charm on you.”
“No offense, or nothin’, sugarcube, but if’n Ah do that, people’re gonna think we’re like Lyra an’ Bon-Bon.”
“Good point,” Sunset answered. “Okay, then this: I’ll put my hand on the rail, then you ‘accidentally’ brush yours against mine and I can quick cast it then.” Without waiting for an answer, Sunset leaned forward on the rail, placing her hands down for support. Applejack leaned in a second later, “inadverntently” placing part of her hand on Sunset’s. Applejack then felt a tingle in her hand, and as she looked into the mirror, she saw herself standing next to an adorable little unicorn, leaning up just over the railing. A second later, the former farmgirl broke contact with a faux-embarrassed mutter of, “Whoops, sorry.” However, she continued to see herself and the unicorn Sunset in the mirror, the spell still holding.
“How long does this last?” she whispered.
“About an hour or so,” Sunset replied, “but you’ll only see my true form in reflections.” However, her voice quavered as her mind roiled with the realization that she now had proof: the mirror was a doorway to Equestria, just like the statue in front of the school. However, while that door remained closed for another two-and-a-half years, this one was wide open…and something from the other side was coming through to hurt Twilight.
Could this be the start of Celestia’s attack on me? Is she finally coming for my head? The thought gripped Sunset’s heart in panic in a way not even demonization had done. But…the princess would never attack an innocent just to get to me, would she? No, she’s not like that – she only hates me, and I don’t think she’d ever allow an innocent, even one tied to me, to get caught in the crossfire. Besides, Princess Twilight is her surrogate daughter, the pony I could never be – and she wouldn’t raise a hoof against Twilight’s counterpart.
No, she decided, that had to be it. Celestia might hate her with every fiber of her being…but she could never hate Twilight, even an alternate universe version of her. So it couldn’t be her, Sunset realized. But even that line of thought led to madness. What if something else is attacking her? There are plenty of other monsters in Equestria, if not on Equus, and any number of them would be willing to try something. Sunset remembered that long ago a monstrous centaur, whose name she could not recall, would have destroyed Celestia had it not been for the monster’s brother changing sides and joining Celestia’s army. Though the monster was likely sentenced to Tartarus, could he have escaped and discovered a path to Earth? But if so, why harm Tw—
Because she’s the alternate version of Celestia’s own daughter, Sunset realized, her blood running cold. It doesn’t matter that Twilight and Twily are different – it’s their similarities that such an enemy would throw in the Princess’ face. Plus, her mind added, it might not be that enemy. It could be another changeling army; after all, we don’t know much about them and even the similar myths on Earth are better documented than we had in Equestria. The Minotaur King might have his eye on conquest once more. Hell, I think I once read about an evil, dark alicorn that challenged Celestia for the supremacy of the skies – could that have been the “black unicorn” Baldassare meant?
Sunset lost her footing, collapsing at the realization. She wasn’t just a single unicorn like Star Swirl the Bearded, facing against the world’s evils and monstrosities; she was an incompletely-trained archmage candidate – and a fallen one at that – with nearly all of her power stripped away, facing a new doorway to the world she came from…a world she knew to have far worse evils than anything on Earth. A few weeks back, Rainbow, after having watched the new Godzilla movie, asked Sunset if there was anything in Equestria that could take on the giant lizard. Sunset answered honestly that an Ursa Major could…and would likely win. Lunch that afternoon had been subdued after that.
I have no power to save my sister, Sunset thought, her body going numb as she sat there on the floor, curling into herself. Something’s attacking her, and I’ll never know the reason why – just that if I can’t stop it somehow, she’s going to die! But I can’t…. No…I can’t let Twily die. I’d never forgive myself. I…she’s my sister. Foster, whatever – she’s my family, and I….
“Ms. Shimmer?” a gentle voice said, as she felt gentle hands pull her up. “Come with me, please.” She turned to look at Principal Celestia, looking at her with concerned eyes.
Sunset wasn’t sure how long she was in the so-called “easy room” at the museum. The room was set up for those who had vertigo or anything that would require a museum visitor to rest until recovered or paramedics arrived. Each of the four buildings that made up the ECMAH campus had one, and Sunset was in the main one, nestled within the building’s administrative spaces.
“Good, you’re up.” As Sunset sat up, she saw Celestia standing there, a bottle of water in her hand. “Drink this. It should make you feel better.” Sunset gratefully took it, and as she unscrewed the cap, she heard the principal say, “Applejack was kind enough to explain that you were feeling weak from lack of sleep as of late…but she couched it in a manner that makes me think something else is the matter.”
Sunset wordlessly nodded, but asked, “Where are my friends?”
“They’re waiting outside. The buses departed back to school an hour ago, but they refused to leave, so Luna and I offered to remain and watch over you six. I also contacted your parents; while Velvet’s in a meeting over in Chico, I managed to get a hold of Night’s office and he’s ending his class early so he can come get you.”
“Thanks. Can you call the gi—”
“SUNNY!” A high-speed magenta blur slammed into Sunset, knocking her off the bench. Sunset found herself looking up into the very worried eyes of Pinkie Pie. “Are you gonna be okay?” she asked.
“Well I was,” Sunset winced, “until you rocketed into me at about a hundred miles per hour, Pinks.”
“Oh, sorry. Oh! But at least you’re okay!” Pinkie said, then liberally applying a bear hug to Sunset.
“Not if you’re intent on putting me back in the hospital, Pinkie!” Sunset grunted.
“Sor~ry!”
“Okay, Pinks, that’s ‘nough,” Applejack replied, gently pulling the cheerleader off Sunset. “How y’ holdin’ up, sugarcube?” she asked.
“I’ve been better, considering I just found another open door to Equestria!” Sunset explained.
“What?” the whole room asked in unison.
Sunset then explained everything that she’d discovered in the past couple of months. For Celestia and Luna, they were both shocked that Sunset had been dealing with everything the whole time – and both promised to speak to Velvet and Night about it. As for the others, they were of mixed emotions; they were already worried about Sunset running herself to the point of exhaustion, but glad that she was willing to do so for someone she cared about.
“Ya know,” Rainbow chimed in, “Since Twily’s dealing with all this crap and you’re burning yourself out from something that supposedly comes from your home planet, maybe we can send word to Princess Twilight for help?” As Sunset glared at her, Rainbow shrugged and said, “Hey, Sunny, you and Twily are my friends and I don’t like seeing my friends get thrashed by some puto I can’t deal with. So since I can’t, all I can do is suggest someone who can.”
“I also think it would be worth the effort,” Rarity advised, “to get word to Princess Twilight. I, for one, would be glad to see her again, and I daresay she has a vested interest in keeping this doorway closed so it will not be abused.”
“I agree that we should ask Princess Twilight to step in,” Fluttershy added, in unison with Rarity and Rainbow. One by one, the others in the room also decided the same thing.
All that is…except for Sunset.
“I want to destroy that thing,” Sunset said. “It’s the only option I can think of.”
“Sunset, as proud as I am of you thinking about it, I cannot condone this,” Celestia stated, giving the former pony a stern glance. “You do realize that you are talking about a priceless foreign antique, right?”
“No, I’m talking about a gateway from my homeworld that is killing my sister – you know, the daughter of your best friend?” Sunset retorted. “If I just sit here and do nothing…Twily will die, whether by her own hand or from something using the gateway. And I won’t let that happen!” The tears from earlier came back with a vengeance, and a single rivulet cascaded down Sunset’s cheek. “I’ve used every spell at my disposal to stop it, and I can’t!” She looked at them all. “Twily just tried killing herself last week! She did it in order to escape whatever she was running from. It was a miracle that I was able to save her – and it came close for both of us. The next time…I might not be there! The next time might be too late!”
The room fell silent, save for Sunset’s sobbing. After a few more minutes, she recomposed herself and said, “I have to stop that mirror, one way or another. This isn’t about my past or whether I made up for it – it’s about saving Twily. And I’m willing to pay whatever price it takes to save her.”
“Does that include killing everyone on this world?” Luna asked. Sunset suddenly looked as though she’d been slapped. Now assured that she had the teen’s attention, the vice principal continued. “It wasn’t that long ago that when people first considered splitting the atom, they were afraid that the explosion would set off a chain reaction that would melt the world. And these were the finest minds that humanity had at the time. Now, you may be very skilled at what you do on your world, Sunset; I don’t have that proof, and we largely have only your word to go by. But even still, can you confirm that simply breaking the mirror will cause no harm to anyone on this world – the world you yourself have chosen as your home? You may save Twilight from what’s disturbing her, but you may doom us all in the process.”
“My sister’s right, Sunset – if what you’re saying is true, that mirror was made centuries ago, by another one of your kind. Unless you know exactly what to do to shield the damage, you might end up making things worse,” Celestia added. “Granted, I know nothing about magic, but I suspect it follows the general same rules as anything else in life – that there are many different ways of accomplishing the same result.”
“Plus, Sunny,” Rainbow piped up, “you have told us that you’re not as strong as you used to be because your magic is weaker here.” For that, she got a glare from Sunset, but the athlete stood her ground. “Look, I know you love your sister and your family, and I respect that – you know you’re one of my best friends and you know that I’m happy for you. But I love my family as well and as much as I hate to say it, I have to think of them as well.”
“But I know it’ll work!” Sunset insisted.
“No you don’t,” Pinkie replied. “Do you remember when you were going to smash the school statue with a sledgehammer? Twilight told us that though she’d forgotten at the time, ultimately you wouldn’t have succeeded; the magical shield was too strong. And what if it’s the same in this case? What if you have to use more magic than you have in order to break it? You could hurt yourself – and then there would be nobody to help Twily.”
“I know a lot of magical theory has changed since the last time I was home on a regular basis,” Sunset said, grasping at straws, “and I know a lot of that had to do with Twilight’s work. Besides, the mirror’s ancient – the magic has to have worn off.”
“An’ yet y’ could feel it ‘cross a packed room,” Applejack added. “Not tryin’ t’ shootcha down er anythin’, Sunny, but mah very uneducated guess is that if’n th’ mirror could do that, then there’s no real chance it’s weak sauce, either.”
“But I have to put a stop to it somehow!”
“Then you’ll come up with a way,” Celestia said, encouragingly. “Despite all the…trouble…you’ve been over the years, I have never been able to deny that you’re a very inventive girl with a lot of potential, Sunset. And in the past year, you’ve gone a long way towards proving that. I don’t doubt that you’ll find a way to solve this. Sunset Shimmer…I believe in you.”
For the first time in what felt like forever, Sunset heard those words from an individual of authority named Celestia. And while she knew the one who she’d once known wanted to kill her, this one at least wanted her to succeed. And succeed, one way or another, she would.
The drive back home was subdued. Celestia and Luna explained to Night that Sunset had passed out from exhaustion and that she needed some rest. While that much was true, both women knew that the whole explanation was not going to be forthcoming, and both of them hated to lie to the man who was essentially now Sunset’s father, and a dear friend before that. They had also had a more personal talk with Night about everything that was going on in their household, and while Night had convinced her that they were doing everything they could to help Twilight through her difficult time, Celestia assured Sunset they would continue to monitor the situation. While there was nothing much they could do about it from her point of view, as Velvet’s friend and Sunset’s educator, she was determined to do whatever she could.
As Sunset got out of the car, Night said tiredly, “Well, since your mother is on the way back home, I told her to stop at Golden Scimitar’s to pick up kabob for all of us, if that’s okay with you.”
“That’s great, thanks,” she said, noticing that he’d called his wife her mother, a sign of how much she now belonged with them. Moreover, she didn’t bother to correct him, not wanting to. Technically none of it was true – but technicalities, Sunset had long since learned, were just speedbumps in the overall reality of life.
“I think I’m going to go lie down for a bit,” she told him. Not because she was lying – she genuinely still felt a little punchy from the afternoon’s events – but because she needed to get back to her studies of the situation, though now she realized that her initial approach of shielding Twilight from the damage wasn’t going to work. Instead, her focus now lay in trying to destroy that thing, both before it destroyed Twilight and before it caused any further damage.
“Sunny?” She paused, looking back at Night. He looked at her with a forlorn look on his face. “I know this doesn’t seem normal or right, but…all families go through rough patches. My parents were heavily set against my brother going into the military. Vel’s parents weren’t happy about her turning down Princeton just to attend Canterlot State because Tia decided to come here. My parents wanted me to be a medical doctor instead of a scientific one. Even when Shining was your age, he and Twily used to bicker, not much differently than you two and Spike now. It’s just the way things are.”
Sunset stood there, not knowing what to say. What could she say? She never knew her birth parents, and while she was at the Canterlot Orphanage for the first five years of her life, she had never recalled it being a hardscrabble life there, as the caretakers worked on all hooves to make sure the children were happy. And then her successive years as Celestia’s student, everything had been perfect, though in the end she had no one to blame for having no friends or fellow students to work with. Even Twilight, who had begun her tutelage under Celestia when Sunset was sixteen, could have served as a surrogate little sister to Sunset.
But now a very different Twilight was serving that need – and that Twilight was in danger, and there was no way to get a hold of the one that defeated her. Her only hope was severing the connection between Equus and Earth, for once and for all. It would leave her permanently stranded on Earth, but it was an option she was willing to live with.
After all, I have nothing back there.
Sunset stood on a burnt, blackened cliff, overlooking a blasted plain that was half-glass. The area around her had looked as though it had been the result of a thermonuclear explosion – while she’d never seen anything like that in real life, over the past few months she’d watched enough movies that displayed the ravaging effects of humanity’s most powerful weapon. It both shocked and horrified her that her adopted species could come up with something that rivaled the worst of black magic in destructiveness, but war was never something that made sense anyway.
The sky looked unnatural as well: mammatus clouds of burnt umber, with searing stitches of green lightning racing across their lengths. The whole vista, when taken together, looked more like something out of a heavy metal music video than anything else. She halfway expected Evil Centaurs Inc. to start performing “I Ate It All” with Tirek’s growling, bassy voice belting out the lyrics while slamming down on his throbbing, thundering guitar.
“It’s sad, isn’t it?” a voice said. Sunset turned to see Twilight Sparkle – the alicorn – standing next to her in her full regalia. Curiously, though, she wasn’t wearing the tiara that held the Element of Magic, but instead a crown of a different kind, a spiky lattice that contrasted with Celestia’s rounder, softer crown. The flame-haired girl figured that made sense; after what Sunset had once done, it would make sense to keep the Element of Magic under safer wraps; and besides, the spikier crown much more befitted Twilight’s status as Equestria’s warrior princess.
“What’s sad, Twilight?” Sunset asked. Hearing the alicorn’s voice…it was hard to separate her from Twily. Normally, she could, but for this one moment in time, somehow, it seemed impossible.
And maybe I shouldn’t, she reasoned. They exist to fill the same niche. But they are different people, she then realized a second later. Being princess of the United States wasn’t exactly going to be Twily’s destiny. President, someday? Maybe, who knew? But Sunset’s foster sister wasn’t set on a course for alicornhood anytime soon.
“What you did, Sunset,” Twilight responded, lifting a hoof, then sweeping it through the air. “While I was only here a short time, I remember it being beautiful in its own way,” she said mournfully.
“What are you talking about, Sparkle?” Sunset asked, as she turned to face Twilight. But as she moved her foot, it clanged against something metal. Sunset looked down, and her heart suddenly stopped. The metal was twisted and blackened, but the field-green paint of the background was still somewhat present, as was the white reflective tape that read
C a n t e r l o t
CITY LIMIT
POP 468,200 ELEV 495
What? But…! Sunset looked at the sign, then to the cliffside she was on and then the valley below. But it wasn’t a cliff and a valley – she stood on the lip of a massive blast crater, with the blackened rocks in the center now revealed as the last remnants of the tallest building of what had once been America’s thirty-seventh largest city.
“How?” she asked, not comprehending.
“You destroyed the mirror,” Twilight Sparkle said. “You tried to save the sister you loved so much, and yet in doing so…you doomed two worlds.”
“Two worlds?”
The alicorn nodded. “Didn’t you ever wonder what the mirror was connected to? Not all portals are the same way, you know.” Twilight fixed her eyes on the horizon and said, “I once found a portal that was connected to a bottomless pit on the other side. Only flying creatures could make the four-mile journey upwards to escape it. But in the case of the mirror? You thought it was connected to the Black Unicorn, didn’t you? It wasn’t.”
“What w—”
“Steeplechase Mountain.” When Twilight uttered the words, Sunset’s eyes opened wide in horror. Steeplechase Mountain was the largest mountain on Equus, far larger than Earth’s largest mountain – Everest, K2 or Mauna Kea, depending on who you asked – and if anything, was closer in size to Olympus Mons, on Earth’s neighboring world of Mars. But Steeplechase was a dormant volca….
NO!
Twilight nodded as she saw realization bodyslam itself onto Sunset’s features. “The mirror awoke Steeplechase, made it erupt in the worst way. Equestria, Minos, so many nations – all gone now. I survived by escaping through Platinum’s mirror, but now I’m trapped here on Earth – forever. All my friends, all my family…Celestia – gone. And without her or me…Equus’ sun will spin out of control, and everything on the planet will die.
“And as for here…Earth escaped the backlash, but not by much. You’re standing at the southernmost part of the crater, which stretches as far west as Horseshoe Bay, north to just past Brambleton, over the Oregon state line, and all the way east just short of Ponyville. The authorities estimate that about two million people, all in all, died.”
“Died?”
“Died…because you wanted to save your sister. And that’s two million humans, by the way,” Twilight spoke, an anger climbing into her voice. “Meanwhile, back on Equus – the world you came from – the two billion inhabitants are dead or will be soon.” Sunset looked as Twilight looked at her, anger in her equine eyes. “You killed millions! Who gave you the right? You killed both of your kinds – pony and human – just to save one life! One single life! You committed genocide. Was it worth it?”
Sunset stood there, looking at the Element of Magic, now the former ruler of a soon-to-be-dead world she couldn’t return to. Sunset couldn’t find the words to say – “sorry” wasn’t simply going to be enough – it would never be enough.
“I never wanted this!” she finally said, pointing at the destruction. “I wanted to save Twily! Wouldn’t you have wanted to save your family if you were in my shoes?”
“But you couldn’t even pull that off,” Twilight said, pointing to a grave on a solitary hill. Withered, weakened grass, the only thing growing in this blighted land, surrounded a weathered and worn gravestone. A gravestone that read
Here Lies
TWILIGHT SPARKLE
Beloved Daughter, Sister and Friend
“You couldn’t even save her!” Twilight screamed. “The person you loved most and you killed her – because you know nothing about complex magic!”
Sunset dropped to her knees beside Twily’s grave. Her hands shook. “I…I can’t have done this! I was trying to save her!”
“YOU CAN’T SAVE ANYTHING IF ALL YOU DO IS DESTROY!” Twilight roared at her.
Sunset sat up, gasping for air. It was just a dream, she told herself. Just a dream. But even then, she knew she’d gone full circle: when she first arrived, she’d been the one to have nightmares on a regular basis. And now it was Twily doing so, and finally Sunset herself once again. None of this made sense anymore.
“Are you okay?” Sunset suddenly felt Twilight’s arms around her, holding her close.
“No, just a nightmare.”
A soft giggle. “That’s my job,” Twilight replied. “Besides, aren’t you supposed to be the strong one?”
“The strong one?” Sunset asked. But I’m not. I can’t do anything to help you, Sunset thought ruefully. If I could, I would protect you from all this. “I’m not strong,” she finally voiced.
“Yes, you are,” Twilight responded. When Sunset looked at her with surprise, Twilight just seemed to look out the window at the fading moonlight as she said, “Whenever I need you, you’re always there.” She then turned to Sunset and said, “The one who’s not strong is me. I’m always leaning on you or Tavi for support. If anything, Fluttershy’s got a stronger spine than I do.”
“But Twi—”
Twilight put a gentle finger on Sunset’s lips, a tender touch that could easily be misunderstood if anyone else was present. “You think you’re lucky because you have us. It’s wrong. I’m the lucky one…because I have you. I would have died that day – I still want to, sort of. But you won’t let me. You protect me – even when I don’t deserve it.”
“You deserve it, sis,” Sunset replied, her heart welling. “You deserve to be happy.”
“As long as we’re together, Sunny,” Twilight said, “I’ll always be happy.”
“As long as we’re together, I’ll always be happy” rang in Sunset’s ears as the two sisters embraced. As they both lay down once again to try to get some sleep once more, Sunset lay in bed, eyes open.
I finally have something in my life that’s worthwhile, Sunset said, looking at the still form next to her. I finally have a life worth living. And I can’t lose it – no matter what. If I can’t destroy the mirror safely, then….
She gulped. Only one choice – the unthinkable – remained.
School’s out now, Sunset rued to herself. The school year’s over, Pinkie’s planning the party of the year tomorrow…and I’m here at the museum. Staring at my bane, and my sister’s potential killer. Indeed, the museum was fairly empty, leaving Sunset virtually alone in the Cavalcanti exhibition, with the girl staring into the mirror and the unicorn she used to be looking right back at her.
She looked away from the mirror, towards her hand as she flexed it. One single outburst of energy. It would drain me, since the moon is just coming off its new phase, but it would be enough to destroy the mirror. She sighed. But if I did….
A phrase suddenly came to mind and before Sunset realized it, she’d voiced it; it was from a documentary they’d watched in History class a few days ago: “‘We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”’”
There was an unexpected clapping sound behind her as a woman said in a sultry, accented voice, “I’m quite impressed: I would have expected that from Velvet’s other daughter.” Sunset turned around to see a woman standing there. She was clearly in middle age, but no less the more beautiful for it: she looked like a slightly-aged version of Cadance, but with Celestia’s hairstyle and a nebulous, flowing, sparkling look to her hair not unlike Luna.
“Do I know you?”
“No, but I am aware of who you are; my daughter talks about you often.” As Sunset hadn’t offered any divulgence of her identity, the woman grinned slightly and said, “I know you know who I am, you just can’t believe it, can you?” She chuckled, gracefully covering her laughter behind a hand. “Yes, I’m quite aware that I look younger than I am; Cadenza gets her beauty from my side of the family instead of my husband’s – though I must admit he’s quite easy on the eyes.” She stepped forward, offering a hand. “Well, let’s dispense with the informalities. My name is Armonia, and you are the older, adopted daughter of my sisters’ best friend, Twilight Velvet – Sunset Shimmer, am I right?”
“Well, more like fostered, not actually adopted,” Sunset admitted, shaking her hand. “But they apparently love me enough to think that way.”
“They do, I can assure you; else I wouldn’t know about you. I am not as close to Velvet as my sisters are, but Tia and Lulu have talked about you throughout the years – and I’m glad to hear that you’ve turned yourself around, young miss. Very much so, considering that you’re here in the museum when your fellow teenagers are far more interested in running out there amongst the streets and late spring entertainments that a post-school-year timeframe has to offer.”
Okay, I can see why Principal Celestia said she and Ms. Luna are nothing like their sister. She wasn’t kidding. For that matter, she isn’t much like Faust, either – I wonder why I thought she would be, Sunset considered. “Well, I like the museum.”
“But you don’t like this exhibition,” Armonia replied. “No, no need to deny it, I can see that in your eyes. You work at a museum long enough, you get to have a feel for people and how they think. And I see something in you that this exhibit brings a primal feeling out. I can’t say I blame you; I don’t care for this place, either.”
That wasn’t something that Sunset had expected to hear. “Why not?”
“Well, when it comes to traveling exhibitions, museums are just like any other business, in a sense: We have a finite amount of money with which we must use to catch the public’s attention. And while many of us would like to call in the classics – there’s a touring La Balançoire exhibit currently in Cloudsdale that we could have had – sometimes we must use what’s at our disposal. In the case, the board of directors overrode my suggestion on the La Balançoire and decided on this…mockery.”
“Mockery?”
“Of course, what else would it be? I know you’re aware that my family is from the same town that this idiot was from; there’s even a possibility he may even be a distant ancestor. But if so, he was a stain on his lineage, a man who believed that he could take short-cuts towards achieving his goals, regardless of whether or not anyone close to him suffered the consequences.” Armonia moved right next to Sunset, looking at the mirror. “Did you know that most historians believe that he murdered his young wife, either because of an affair she was having or because she could not bear an heir. However, one variation of the legend says that he gave her to the Black Unicorn as a gift in trade for more power, and that Baldassare watched as his wife and the Black Unicorn…consummated…before leaving through the mirror.”
“W-who would do anything like that?” Sunset wasn’t sure of what to be more disgusted by, the inter-species relationship (which was definitely impossible, insofar as human morals currently stood), Baldassare agreeing to the wife swap, or that he watched.
“Read up on the Ballet of Chestnuts sometime, young lady,” Armonia suggested. “Nobility of the time thought they could get away with anything – and given how the law was structured back then, they very well could. “In any case, it was also rumored that the Black Unicorn gave Baldassare ‘one of the earth’ – whatever that means – to take as a bride. What we do know, is that Baldassare’s second wife, Bruyère, despite her name was not of French birth; and that her birth name might have been Suolo di Cavillino. That last is important, as my family has Di Cavillino ancestry.”
“I see,” Sunset lied, focused more on the hated object before her.
“In any case, if all of it is a sham, then he was a charlatan and a fraud, possibly a murderer and an utter fiend. If any of it is true – which is impossible – then he was much worse than we could have ever imagined…and that thing,” she said, pointing to the mirror, “is a dangerous abomination that should not exist on this world.” Sunset was about to say reply, but Armonia sighed and then added, “Of course, none of it is true – the very existence of unicorns is preposterous, is it not?”
“I’m not sure I can answer that,” Sunset replied with a soft, nervous smile. “I could give an answer…but I’d be lying either way.”
Armonia chuckled, a grin breaking onto her face. “Small wonder mi amore thinks so highly of you. But, regardless of our little out of the way conversation, how much have you learned?”
“Learned?”
“Learning is a lifelong process, young lady. Just because you’re done with your school year – or even finish your scholarly pursuits within the next decade, doesn’t mean the learning has stopped. It only ends when you are dead.”
“Well, I’ve learned that this thing,” she said, referring to the mirror, “is something that I intensely dislike and that it bothers me.”
“And anything else?”
“That you’re corrupting my students again, aren’t you?” Celestia’s voice sounded as she approached the pair.
Armonia smiled. “Of course, cara bella – she’s your pupil and Velvet’s daughter, is she not?” she said with a saucy wink.
Celestia facepalmed. “And to think that I’m here to go over any last detail before your trip to Italy tomorrow,” she groaned.
“Of course. Well, I still have a museum to run,” Armonia said, “so I’ll leave you two here to sort out the detritus. See you later.” With that, the older woman sauntered down the steps, walking through the nearly-empty hall, leaving educator and pupil alone on the overhang.
“I know why you’re here,” Celestia told Sunset flatly, “and I cannot let you do it. It’s too dangerous. I don’t know the first thing about magic, and yet I have a feeling that you’re messing with things that you shouldn’t be trifling in, Ms. Shimmer. I know you want to sa—”
“Don’t,” Sunset said in a firm tone. “Just…don’t. Nothing you do or say is going to change my mind.” She turned away from Celestia and leaned on the railing sadly. “And I have to do this.”
“I will not let you destroy the mirror, Sunset. There are too many unknown variables, the least of which being that it’s a priceless antique.”
“Fine,” Sunset said, staring at her principal right in the eyes. “Because I came to a decision that…you’re right, I can’t destroy the mirror. Not in time to save Twily.”
“That’s a relief,” Celestia started. “Because for a moment, I thought you were going to do something ill-advi—”
“I’m going back to Equestria to fight whatever it is that’s hurting Twily. I’m going back through the mirror.”
“ARE YOU FUCKING OUT OF YOUR GODDAMN MIND?” Rainbow railed at her friend. “What the fuck kind of crack are you on?” The rainbow-haired athlete got right in her friend’s face. “You are not going anywhere, and that’s final,” Rainbow seethed. The look in her burgundy-colored eyes could have been easily confused for rage, to someone who didn’t know her. But Sunset knew better: it wasn’t fury that was held fast in the eyes of Rainbow Dash, but worry.
She looked at them all, the majority of them having just stepped through the door at the empty school. The moment Sunset informed Celestia of her decision, the older woman did something completely unexpected: almost exploded with anger and worry, then ordered Sunset into her car, where the pair then drove in tense silence back to Canterlot High, where Sunset was parked – “for her safety” – in the faculty conference room while Celestia immediately called Luna, and then each of the girls. Thirty minutes later, the arrivals came…and they were not happy.
“I have to go back. It’s the only way to save Twily,” Sunset insisted as she spoke to them all. She could see the confusion in the eyes of the adults, and the worry and anger in those of her friends. “I’m out of ideas, and it’s the last thing I can think of.” She looked at her dearest friends, almost like sisters themselves, and just as dear to her as her family. Part of who she’d become now was due to them, and for that, she owed her friends a debt she could never repay.
“Sunny,” Applejack said, her voice genuinely quavering, “Ah don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Sunny, d-d-don’t g-go.” While Rainbow was agitated and Applejack concerned, Fluttershy was downright horrified. “Please!”
“It’s not permanent, girls,” Sunset said with a confidence she didn’t really feel. “This is my home now. I may have been born a unicorn, but now…well, I like who I am now, and I wouldn’t give that up for the world.”
Pinkie, however, reacted with her usual aplomb: “But she’ll kill you! You said so!”
“She’ll what?” both Celestia and Luna gasped.
Before Sunset could lie, Rarity interjected. “Sunset isn’t quite who she says she is. Her parental figure, as it was, is Princess Twilight’s mentor – Sunset was actually Princess Twilight’s predecessor. And said parental figure’s also the queen of the realm, if I understood the earlier explanation correctly.”
Luna looked at Sunset with disbelief. “You’re a princess?”
Sunset sighed, then glared at Rarity, who returned the reaction. Breaking off the look, she said, “No, I’m not a princess. I was just raised by one, the Grand Princess Regnant of the Dominion of Equestria. And if you must know, I’m a baroness. Or, well, I was going to be, but that’s all in the past now.”
“I sense there’s a story,” Luna replied.
“Yes, there is.” Sunset’s tone indicated that she wasn’t in the mood for a retelling.
In response, Celestia crossed her arms. “We have time.”
Twenty minutes and yet another brief retelling of her life, Sunset finished up with, “and that’s the whole thing. Now you know who I really am. Well, was – as far as I’m concerned, Sunset Shimmer the unicorn no longer exists. I’m just me, with a family, friends, and a very reluctant need to go back to face my past.”
“I’ll be honest, Sunset,” Celestia spoke. “I’m of two minds about this. Velvet is my best friend, and you are her daughter – in heart, if not legally. To see you risk your life against this ‘Princess’ who threatens you is something I don’t really care for.”
“Are you sure that Princess Twilight will not help you?” Luna asked.
“Twilight won’t go against her mentor,” Sunset said firmly, noting that for the first time, Celestia had called her by her first name; while the principal typically did that with most of her students, she never did with her “problem children” and to hear the change, it was the final indicator that Celestia now truly saw her as a troublemaking alien student a distant second, and as Twilight Velvet’s daughter first. “She might try to help change her mind, but in the end, she won’t stand against the Princess,” Sunset explained.
“Then we’ll go with you!” Pinkie declared, and as one, her other friends nodded in agreement. Even Fluttershy, who would be the last to agree to anything risky, stood with them.
“You can’t,” she told her friends. “You have families that rely on you all in some way or other. And I might not make it back, which would break my family’s heart. Fluttershy, who would watch Angel if you vanished? Pinkie, your aunt and uncle need you to help with the twins! Rainbow, Scootaloo looks up to her big sister – I couldn’t take that away from her. Applejack and Rarity, your families need you, too!”
“And Twily and Tavi both look up to you,” Rarity countered. “You can’t abandon them, Sunny!”
“No, but I don’t want to attend Twilight’s funeral by the end of the month, because if we’ve reached that point, who knows what the fuck is going to happen! Do any of you understand? I am a wanted fugitive by the Crown of Equestria, and I am only safe while I remain here on Earth! But to me, my family – my sister! – is more important than my own life!” Sunset slammed a fist against the particle board of the conference table, and while it didn’t break, she left a decent indentation. “I’d risk my life for any of you! But I can’t bear to live with survivor’s guilt. I’ve put up with too much already. I can’t afford to lose anything I love anymore.”
“There has to be some—”
“No! There’s not!” Sunset screamed. “There’s…not,” she added, modulating her volume. “Either I do this, or my sister dies. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I feel as though my life is no longer mine, and I’m just being dragged along on a predestined course without thinking it all through. I just know that I’m out of options….and Twily’s out of time…and I’m tired of justifying things or making excuses.” She flopped back in her chair.
“Either you help me or I’ll break in,” she swore. “And I will take on any- and everyone in my way that will prevent me from saving my sister. They gave me a life…and I’ll give mine to save Twily’s. And that’s all I’m going to say from this point.”
“If that’s your final decision—” Luna asked
“It isn’t. But it’s the only one left,” Sunset interjected.
“Then let us think about this,” Celestia said, feeling the tension in the air. “While I have no experience in any of this – who actually would? – I don’t like the idea of sending you to what might be a one-way ticket to death.” With that, she walked towards the door, opening it. “Step out for a second, would you, Ms. Shimmer?”
Sunset wasn’t sure how long she was out there. But it was Rarity who came out to get her. “Principal Celestia says she’ll come up with some way of getting us private access to the museum. It might be during the upcoming Summer Teen Super Session, though.”
“The what?”
“You know, for a person who’s spent a lot of time at the museum as of late, I’m surprised you missed that. It’s the annual teen party the museum throws in order to help get people our age more comfortable with museums and culture.”
“Oh. Well,” Sunset said, blushing, “I, uh, didn’t exactly care much about that in the past.”
“I quite understand. In any case—” Rarity began.
“What Rares is tryin’ t’ say, is that we don’t want you to go, Sunny; yer our friend.” The girls now stood there as well, and behind them, just departing the conference room, was Celestia and Luna. “Are ya sure this is th’ only way?”
“If there was a way to signal Princess Twilight for help, I would,” Sunset said, “but I can’t. My only option to save Twily is go back – and do or die trying.”
“Well, don’t you dare get yourself killed, Sunny,” Rainbow threatened, “or I swear I’m going to kick your ass from here to Ensenada!”
“Yes, because threats are soooo going to be constructive to someone reluctantly returning to the land of her birth while under a death sentence, Rainbow,” Rarity drolled, rolling her eyes.
“Sunny, dear, you’re awfully quiet this morning.” It was the following day, Saturday, May 31. At the end of the day, Sunset would be seeing her family off at CJV, then head to Octavia’s for the week. She still had yet to pack for that trip, ostensibly because she couldn’t figure out what to take, but she knew where she’d be going, the bag would be cumbersome, mostly because she could never fit into the clothing while in her other form.
“Other” form, she mused grimly. There was a time when it was my only form, or when I referred to it as my real form. Is this who I am now? Am I more human than unicorn? Even though I’m about to return to Equestria, I’m planning to come back. Does that mean I’ve turned my back on who I was? Was what I said yesterday – that the Sunset Shimmer I was, the one I’m about to become again – true?
“Ow!” She rubbed the sharp sting on her shoulder, noticing Spike’s look at her. “You know, squirt,” she said angrily, “if you weren’t going on vacation, I’d force-feed you that spoon right now.”
“Well, it’s your fault you were spacing out!” her foster brother said. “Mom’s been trying to get your attention for the past few seconds.”
Sunset blinked, then looked at Velvet. “Sorry – deep thoughts for a shallow mind,” she said with genuine embarrassment.
“Saudade,” Twilight suddenly said before anyone else could comment.
“What does—” Spike began.
“It means that she misses us,” Velvet said, sadly. “We’re not even gone yet, and you miss us.” Velvet looked at her foster daughter, a loving smile on her face. “Which is natural, I guess: when you’re apart from the people you love, you start to miss them even when they haven’t quite departed, because you’re not eager to see them vanish.”
“Am I that transparent?” Sunset replied, astonished. A year ago, she prided herself on being cryptic. Even Flash, arguably the person she was closest to at the time and often only separated from her by the occasional thin layer of latex, knew almost nothing about her other than the lies she wove. But in just over seven months, her world had changed so radically, she wouldn’t have believed it if it wasn’t for the fact that she lived it. But she couldn’t deny now that the day that she lost everything…she gained everything.
Sunset wiped a tear from her eye. “I…I….” She couldn’t say it. Why the hell couldn’t she say it? She might not ever see Twilight again. She might not ever see her family again. In a day from now, she was crossing the dimensional veil, headed back to Equestria, and the first thing she might see was the enraged eyes of Princess Celestia a nanosecond before the Alicorn of All incinerated Sunset for her countless sins. And yet she couldn’t voice the words she wanted to say most right now.
I’ll miss you all. I love you all.
“It’s okay,” Twilight said, rising from her chair to embrace Sunset; though Twilight looked like she was barely awake and probably the last person who needed to get up from her chair, she did so, just because she knew someone she loved need a hug. “We know, sis. We know.”
Neither Sunset nor Twilight knew how long they were there in that motion, just holding each other, until Spike said, “Hey, I’m going to eat your sausages if you don’t stop getting all Care Bear on me!”
“Spike!” both girls said, more amused than irritated.
As their three children started to bicker at the breakfast table, Velvet looked at Night and said, “Did you?”
“I’ll let Evening explain,” was Night’s answer.
The phrase Sunset spoke was originally delivered by Dr. Robert Oppenheimer after the first atomic bomb was tested. You may have heard it recently on the Godzilla trailer.
Stats
Page generated in 0.02 seconds
Total duration
894 users online
363,400 hits today, 2,724,632 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
4704110
That should be fairly clear: she's cat- and micronapping. With Twily doing all sorts of crazy stuff at odd hours and with Sunset's magic waxing and waning due to the lunar cycle, our favorite baconheaded mage can't constantly put Twily in a magical coma. So she's doing the only thing left that she can: stay awake with a vigil and sleeping when she can.
Very emotional chapter, keep it up!
If this is the penultimate chapter, and many issues are solved in the Ultimate chapter, then there better be goods sequal hooks in the epilogue.
For some reason, I keep thinking Armonia is the EQG Chrysallis counterpart/ analogue.
Funny you mention Saudade.
And Shinzakura, if you've heard this song, I would be utterly shocked.
4705929
Actually, believe it or not, I may (note caveat there) have heard it. It sounds very much like a bunch of songs that a friend of mine was playing at AUSA a few years back when we were discussing PLID and similar bands. He was supposed to get me a copy of that mixtape, but we got so busy that it slipped both our minds, so I cannot confirm if that was it.
Because Sombra got his ass blown up!
4706974 EXACTLY what I thought.
The only question is what the other two gems are for (not the moon and sun ones, those're obvious).
4704992 You are aware that this is the first story in a trilogy, correct?
More relevantly, I'm betting she meets Raspberry as one of the first ponies in Ponyquestria.
4712265
One of them is actually for DJ, over in AAG, and symbolizes her cutie mark when she gains it upon her own ascension into an alicorn.
4712511 *has absolutely no clue about AAG*
4713271 Granted, I don't know how straight or curvy highways near the Rockies, but I don't think Sunset was keeping them on the road. Not that I could see.
4715167
299's a bit west of the Rockies--you access it from 101 just north of Arcata (10 miles north of Eureka, which was where Cadence and Shining were supposed to be that night) and it runs to Redding. So from the California coast to the head of the Central Valley. I'm actually heading down that way in about 5 and a half hours--'tis about 70 miles from here to Arcata, and Oregon's just 19 miles north. All in all, I'm more than familiar with 299 (very very twisty, very very high, little teeny guard rails)--which is why my husband drives it
And I may have been being a bit facetious last night...
4713271
I'm familiar with 299, but I thought making outright Initial D jokes might have gone over everyone's head.
Okay, I'm sure the Black Unicorn was Sombra. I'm wondering if the bride he purchased in exchange for giving a human power returned with him to the Crystal Empire and ruled as his Dark Queen before the Princesses disembodied him?
As for the apocalyptic vision, I'm more sure than ever that Sunset is still linked to the Element of Magic and that it was talking to her using the avatar of its Bearer.
4712511
Faust's and Celestia's are outright stated, the Ruby is most like Sombra's, that leaves the Moon Gem, and the Night Gem. Luna and Nightmare Moon, anyone?
...also, dear Faust, what did you do to your avatar! It looks like someone skinned a meat android/Bioroid/Something that should either be covered it blood or motor oil in that shot!
My only complaint about this chapter:
An Ursa Major is nothing compared to Godzilla power-wise or size-wise. Ursa Majors are roughly 120 feet tall as adults at best. The 2014 Godzilla is, himself, almost four hundred feet and vastly more powerful simply based on mass. About the only Kaiju that the Ursa Major could potentially win against are Zilla, simply because it had no real powers that it could defend itself with (although the cartoon version of its sole surviving offspring, which the Japanese apparently like enough to call Godzilla Jr., does, and is seemingly larger than his father at nearly 300 feet and has the atomic energy breath of his Japanese counterpart), and King Kong, who is only about ten feet shy of the full height of a baby Ursa, which seem to be about forty-sixty feet, so he's either ten feet taller or ten feet shorter. I'm not sure which way, admittedly.
As for the classic versions of Godzilla— Showa through Millennium eras— they each top out at or above the three hundred foot mark and have enough power just in their radioactive fire bursts to rip through an Ursa Major. Add in the powers such as the Nuclear Pulse, and whatever the hell Godzilla did in G2K to Orga, combined with the upgraded powers the Heisei era used after absorbing Fire Rodan and that Final Wars Godzilla managed to use after absorbing power from Ozaki, not to mention some of the crazy stuff the Showa era Godzilla did....yeah. I'm sorry, but Ursas ain't got shit on Godzilla. Any Godzilla.
5324459 This.
5324459
Not really they are Astral Star Beasts, what they lacking in size comes from their origins, even Celestia and Luna Demi-Gods who can draw on the power of the Sun and Moon would struggle against them.
Of Course it is a constellation given form
You know, when I first read this scene, I thought nothing of it. It was Pinkie just being Pinkie. I do this all the time with the girls.
However, now that I know Pinkie had this crush on Sunset from chapter 1 it makes sense and a lot of stuff is adding up. Good job of making the reveal make sense and to give it a lot of foreshadowing.
I have a reference
it's from Psychonauts 1