In the Dusk

by Swift Swap

Sunset in the foggy night...

It was as quiet and peaceful evening of fog at Canterlot City.

Everything seemed faded and blurred, as if it was seen through a frosted glass, and a hushed and almost creepy silence reigned on the streets. It was almost as if that thick fog had absorbed all the colors and all the sounds of the city.

That evening, the world appeared grey.

And grey was also the mood of Sunset Shimmer, who, walking in that spectral atmosphere, hushed and faded , couldn't help herself but think.

She, since foalhood, had always had mixed feelings towards that phenomenon. It was so rare in Equestria, since, at least there, it occurred only when some clouds escaped from the control of the pegasi and plummeted to the ground. But, whenever that occurred, it always gave her a sense of isolation, exclusion, loneliness.

---

The loneliness that, when she was still a filly, she hated, because it reminded her that nobody wanted to play with her, the “little, haughty unicorn prodigy.” In fact, everyone envied her because, at that time, she was the beloved disciple of Princess Celestia, and so they mistook her shyness for arrogance.

And unfortunately, in the end, it happened. Under the protective wing of the Princess, envied and admired by everyone, she began to believe herself to be greater than anybody else. And suddenly, the loneliness that until the day before she hated, to her eyes became a benefit, since, staying away from the “weak and inept” unicorns foals of her age, she could develop all of her power and her ambition.

But, while these things were growing, the trust and the hopes of Princess Celestia towards her dropped drastically. Now she knew it was because, as she had now discovered, only by maturing and strengthening its ties with others, a pony could become wiser and stronger, and reach its full potential.

But at that time, she believed that the Princess had lost the interest to instruct and guide her, and wanted to leave her.

And so, in order to test the interest that Celestia had towards her, she asked the Princess to teach her some of the most powerful spells known by ponies. Spells kept in the most secret sections of the library of the castle, and to which anyone could have access only with the approval of the Princess.

But Celestia, not only because she knew that Sunset wouldn't be able to perform such magic, but also because she realized that her heart had been corrupted by arrogance and anger, refused to teach those spells to her personally, or to give her access to the books where those spells were stored.

Furious, Sunset shouted in her face that she didn't need her. She would find by herself the means to achieve her goals. And, once she had done this, she would be back, to take with force what she wanted, and much more.

That said, she went away. She left Canterlot, and for several weeks she wandered from town to town, looking for all the most gifted magicians, to steal their magical secrets and become more powerful.

But it was all useless. Despite all of her efforts, she couldn't even begin to approach the power of Princess, or at least the power of one of her older students.

As for Celestia, she never ceased to look for Sunset Shimmer. She mobilized almost the entire royal guard to find her, in the whole kingdom, and for weeks, on every street in every city there were dozens of posters with her portrait, and on which it was written to warn the royal guards in the case of her sighting.

And, in the end, she was caught, and brought back to Canterlot.

When she saw again the Princess for the first time, she couldn't hide her contempt. As she saw the whole thing, she had been chasing her, as if she was a thief. As she indeed was. Her former teacher had treated her like a common criminal, confirming everything that she had thought since the day of her escape: for Princess Celestia, she wasn't important anymore.

If only, at that time, she had listened to the loving words of her mentor, telling her how much she had missed her, that she was willing to forget her threatening words, and that she was ready to start over.

But it was too late. In Sunset Shimmer's heart there wasn't room for the love and the friendship that was being offered to her. Only anger and resentment.

And so, she refused the offer of the Princess, saying that, rather than return under her protection, she preferred to remain in prison for life.

Celestia, deeply saddened, declared that she never intended to imprison her, but only to find her and give her a second chance. However, since she had refused, she was now free to go.

And so, Sunset walked away...But not very far. In fact, that same night, she secretly sneaked into the castle. She was planning to steal the books she needed, learn the spells she wanted by herself and then, give a lesson to her former mentor.

But that night, she found something else. Something that changed her life forever.

The Mirror Portal.

It was there, in the throne room, inside a secret compartment in the wall behind the throne. It was usually the throne itself that hid that compartment, but it seemed that whoever had opened the compartment that night, hadn't relocated the throne exactly where it was before, letting out a glimmer of light emitted by the mirror.

And so, when Sunset Shimmer passed in front of the throne room, heading for the library, she saw that light and, intrigued, she came up to it.

Of course, since she had never seen a portal before, she couldn't tell what it was at first sight. The only thing on which she had no doubt, was the fact that the object, whatever it was, was a very powerful magical energy source. And so, whatever it was, it had to be hers.

For this reason, without any hesitation, she went toward the mirror. And she was so absorbed by the vision of that wonderful light, that she didn't notice at all that one of the straps that held down her saddlebag had loosed, and was now lolling near her hoof.

The rest was immediate, and unavoidable. Maybe it was fate itself that wanted the strap loosed, and that, consequently, Sunset trampled on it a second later, stumbling, losing her balance and falling upon the portal, crossing it.

---

So it was that, the next morning, she woke up in that whole new universe, so bizarre, so strange. But not only the world around her was bizarre. b]She was also bizarre now.

Despite the fact that she had studied a multitude of magical and mystical creatures, none of them approached the strangeness of her brand new body.

First, at least judging by the creatures similar to her she saw around, she was now a bipedal being, able to manipulate objects using the forelimbs, and apparently devoid of any magical skill.

However, the weirdness didn't stop there. To begin with, there was no one, absolutely no one, among them, who was naked, and also many of them had absurd behaviors, such as talking to a small box that they held in their front paw.

It was all very strange, but the strangeness increased when, around the strange building in front of which she had awakened, she began to see some of those beings who had the same, identical voice, of some ponies she had known. Moreover, the color of their coats and manes were similar, and so was their behavior.

At that point, determined to find out what was going on and what had happened to her, she walked, not without difficulty, because of the new, forced upright position, toward that building where everyone was entering. And, after wandering for a while through the hallways, she saw her.

The same aurora coloured mane. The same gentle but authoritarian voice. There was no doubt: it was Princess Celestia.

Convinced that the absurd situation she was in was a bad joke inflicted upon her by her former mentor, Sunset Shimmer advanced, determined, toward her, and hit her with unexpected force, using her front ends in an instinctive motion of violence that the will wouldn't be able to express, in her new form.

At that point she banged Celestia against the wall, and asked her what she had done to her, and what and where the heck they were.

And Celestia, with extraordinary calm and composure, considering the extremely rude way in which Sunset had treated her, claimed that she didn't know her, but anyway, if she wanted to talk to her with so much urgency, it would be enough to call her, and not put her against a wall in such a brutal way. And also she stated that the title of “Princess” was definitely misplaced, and that, if she called her “Principal”, it would be fine.

Sunset, even more angry about the fact that she pretended to not recognize her, although her appearance was different, began to yell at her all the insults that passed through her head, letting her anger flow freely.

Goes without saying that she spent the rest of the morning in detention. Detention she spent thinking. How was Celestia able to cast a spell powerful enough to transform the whole reality that way? Sure, the Princess was powerful, but for what she knew, not even a whole alicorns army would be able to alter reality so radically. And also why, in addition to Celestia, had all the other ponies she had seen and knew already pretended to not recognize her?

While she was pondering about the Princess, she saw her coming in. The "princess" next to her. Then she stated that she had tried to find her name, in a strange thing that she called “National Student Loan Data System ”, and it seemed that she had the same name and was the perfect lookalike of another girl, who lived in another state tens of miles away from Canterlot City. She also said that she had tried to contact the parents of that girl, and they had reported that their daughter was at home that morning, because she had a high fever. And it also seemed that another one of hes namesake didn't exist across the nation. Indeed, it was as if she had popped up from another dimension.

It was precisely those words that hit her like a thunderbolt. Another dimension.

In that moment she remembered to have read by chance, during her studies, some notes about dimensional travels. There had been, in fact, a unicorn who claimed to have identified a particular frequency of the magic waves, able to connect time and space, and able to cross alternate realities.

And at that point, she remembered the night before, and that strange mirror. And she understood.

And so, before Celestia could stop her, Sunset ran out of the classroom, and after wandering for a while through the corridors of that building, she managed to get out of it.

And she saw it. Right behind the point where she had awakened, there was a huge statue depicting a horse, on a squared pedestal. And, on the side of the pedestal facing the building, there was a reflective surface. She came, and looked closely at that very lucid, almost mirror-like surface. She tried to touch it, but nothing happened. It wasn't like the night before, when she had managed to cross it. She couldn't feel the same disruptive energy coming from the portal.

But then, there on the ground, right at the foot of the pedestal, she saw a strange sort of bag with two straps, of the same kind of those she had seen used by those strange beings. However, on that one, there was drawn her Cutie mark.

Incredulous, she tried to open it. And inside, she found a single object: an ancient book, with her Cutie mark pictured on the cover.

The only thing that had been donated to her by the Princess, and that she had kept after she had abandoned Canterlot.

And, at that point, she understood. What was in front of her was really a portal to another dimension. But now, for some reason, it didn't work anymore, and she was stuck there, in that absurd universe and with no magic at all. And it was all Celestia's fault!

It wasn't she who made her cross the portal. It wasn't she who made her find it either, as she couldn't know that she would be back at night. But still, it was her fault. If she hadn't addressed her with those useless, pathetic and weak entreaties in an attempt to get her back under her protection, and instead gave her the power she wanted, none of that would have happened.

Desperate, in another burst of instinctive anger, she threw a punch at that shiny surface. And then another one. And another one. And she continued to pummel the pedestal until her new and fragile front appendages began to bleed.

Blinded by the pain and furious for her fragility and helplessness, she then shouted to the sky all of her fury. But in vain, of course. Because, as in Equestria, as in that reality, the sky was silent and indifferent to her despair.

It was then that she felt something on her shoulder. Something light and soft, but which also gave her a sense of firmness and safety.

Like when Princess Celestia rested her hoof on her shoulder, and said to her that she had done a good job. Like when things between them were still good.

Sunset turned, and for a moment, she thought to have seen her. The Celestia proud of her, willing to give her everything she wanted, always ready to tell her she was the best...

But then, in her vision, the muzzle shortened dramatically, her lips became more fleshy, her eyes narrowed and her brow smoothed.

And suddenly she found herself in front of her, the “other” Celestia, the Celestia who didn't know her...

Who didn't know her!

It was then, in that moment, that revenge took shape in her mind. Revenge against the one who hadn't done anything against her, but, at the same time, was the embodiment of her nemesis.

Surely she had some form of power, some force that made her superior to the others. And she would do everything, everything necessary to take it away from her. Any form of authority and respect that she had, she would take it away from her.

And, in the end, she would be the most powerful of the two. She would be the Princess.

So when the “other” Celestia asked if she was all right, Sunset, with a smile, than to her must have appeared friendly, but that in reality was the unforgiving grin of the one who plot the end of his opponent, said yes. Everything was about to be the way she liked.

---

It wasn't easy, and it took a lot of time and effort, but in the end, Sunset was able to fit in into that strange universe.

Somehow she managed to find a place to live, and with the complicity of a couple of scoundrels from the slums, she was able to obtain the documents of that world and a couple of false parents, that for a few dollars signed the documents and went to the meetings when necessary. All things that allowed her to sign up at the Canterlot High School.

Of course, she stole that money. For her stealing wasn't a novelty, although before she had stolen documents and magical treaties, and not cash. But still, stealing gave her that feeling of control and power that it had always given to her. However, to avoid arousing too much suspicion, she never subtracted more than the necessary.

It took a little time to learn to walk and run properly on two legs. More difficult was learning to use those front appendages that those beings called "hands" correctly. But still, when she got used to them, she came to think that they were a thousand times more versatile and useful than the hooves.

But the thing that took longer to make, and that eventually made her feel powerful and realized, was to create that aura of strength and omnipotence that surrounded her in that school. And to be able to create it, since gaining power for her, in that foreign reality, was almost impossible, she did the exact opposite: make others weaker.

Already when she lived there in Equestria, she enjoyed spreading rumors sometimes, for the sake of creating a bit of a stir among her naive peers, or create scandals, and then retire to watch how her foolish victims destroyed their relationship little by little, convinced that the other had offended or betrayed them. In that world, she discovered that not only could what was a simple sadist pastime become a true weapon, but that there it was even easier to do it.

Steal one of those strange, small contraptions full of buttons that they called “phone”, write with it a letter to a friend of the unaware owner, saying horrible things, put the phone back at its place, wait a few minutes and it was done: a friendship had just ended.

With the passage of time, the amount of tricks that she learned in order to discredit other people or to destroy friendships, made Sunset Shimmer the “true” owner of that school.

It was her, who was feared and respected.

It was her, who made all others tremble and fall silent when she passed.

It was her, who could ruin the life of anyone within a day.

It was her, not Celestia.

But, for some strange reason, Celestia was the only one to not know anything of her misdeeds. Maybe because everyone else was too scared to go to the Principal and tell her all the facts.

But in the end, it wasn't so important for Sunset that she was aware of her actions.

After all, now the only thing left of her “kingdom”, was the chair in her office, on which she sat every morning.

The rest, belonged to her.

However, she knew that she was still very far from fulfilling her revenge. Especially because it was directed against the wrong person, the Celestia of that world, who didn't have even a grain of the strength and importance of “her's” Celestia. Equestria's Celestia.

Although by now she hadn't seen Equestria for years, she wanted desperately to go back, an finally get her revenge.

---

And finally, that fateful evening came.

She didn't even know why she had decided to stick around the school until evening. Perhaps it was destiny to decide, as it had decided to make her go through the mirror the first time.

And in fact, if she hadn't been near that school, an that statue, she would never have seen the shiny side of the pedestal suddenly light up of a blinding light, that a moment later disappeared.

Incredulous, she ran toward the pedestal, and immediately tried to touch it.

And her amazement grew when, without encountering any resistance, her hand crossed the surface of the normally tough stand.

There wasn't any doubt. The portal had opened up again.

Sixty moons, almost five years had passed since she crossed that portal the first time. And now, she was finally about to come back.

Without losing time, she stepped into the iridescent surface, and finally, she was back in Equestria.

Getting accustomed again to the quadruped position wasn't extremely complicated, and her magical abilities responded promptly to her will, as if they were happy to have met her again.

However, she didn't recognize the place where the mirror was now. It was a shining and sparkling palace made entirely of crystals.

And, apparently, it was populated by ponies made of crystals!

For a moment, she thought she had ended up in another, different world, but then, looking out a window, in the midst of all those strange houses made of crystals, she also saw some normal ponies.

So, as soon as she was out of the palace, she began to explore that strange place, and it didn't take long for her to discover that the crystal place where she was now was not anything else than the Crystal Empire, the legendary kingdom disappeared for centuries from the face of Equestria.

But her relief for having understood where she was, soon was supplanted by pure rage when she heard other astonishing rumors.

Princess Celestia was about to come to the Crystal Empire for a royal summit. But she wouldn't come alone! With her would come also the long forgotten Princess of the Night, Princess Luna, returned from exile for a little less than a year, and the brand new Princess of Equestria, the one who once was the favorite pupil of Celestia and had recently recovered and now dominated the once lost Elements of Harmony: Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Sunset nearly exploded in anger at that news. A new Princess? Who once was Celestia's pupil?

She vaguely remembered that name, “Twilight Sparkle”, as the name of a young and not particularly talented (at least from her point of view) unicorn filly who had started attending Canterlot's School for Gifted Unicorns not long after herself. For what Sunset remembered, she was only a small, annoying model schoolfilly, always with her muzzle stuck in a book, and never willing to demonstrate her magical power.

And Celestia had revealed to that egghead, instead of her, the deepest secrets of the magic? And even made her an alicorn Princess? She just couldn't accept this fact that, in her eyes, was a tremendous injustice!

It was then that she decided her next step. She would use the source itself of the power of Celestia's new favorite, this “Twilight Sparkle”, to definitively increase her own power.

She would prove that she was the one worthy of the honor that had been denied to her. And at that point, her revenge would finally be accomplished, and all that had always belonged to the Princess would be hers.

---

Now, looking back, she didn't know whether to be disappointed or not that her plan had gone awry.

It had been months already since the thirst for revenge and power inside her had died.

She still remembered the first period after she had been defeated, and humiliated by the one who she believed an inept, and that instead, from a desperate and hopeless situation, had managed to pull off that power. The power that she had always considered useless and superfluous: The Magic of Friendship.

The first words she had said, immediately after she had been defeated, were true. She didn't know that there was another way. She didn't know that forge bonds with others was the first step to grow, improve, and mature. In her old view of things, only the weak ones were tied to each other, in order to survive. The strong ones, instead, were better on their own, because the weak ones would only slow them down.

But, remaining together, the weak ones learned from each other, and made each other's strength grow. And so, they became strong too.

This was the message Celestia wanted to convey to her. The power would be useless for her, if her heart was hard and cold.

And she, after her defeat, did everything possible to try to soften and warm her heart.

First of all, she changed district. She managed to find a small studio apartment near the school, at a reasonable price, so to get away from the bad influences and be able to spend more time with the school teens. And this time, to pay the rent, she didn't even remotely think to steal. Fortunately she was able to find a night job, which allowed her to pay by herself the rent and other expenses.

Moreover, with her enormous relief, Principal Celestia decided to turn a blind eye on the whole issue of the false parents, and still allow her to attend the school. Sunset, meanwhile, tried to do everything possible to demonstrate to her schoolmates that she was willing to change.

She did very often the chores in the cafeteria, or in the library, or by cleaning the corridors, further sacrificing her limited free time, already reduced by the study and the work. And with the now very little free time she had left, she tried to help out any of her peers who needed it.

Unfortunately, it was all useless. Although she put heart and soul into her struggle for redemption, no one could see her efforts. Now, every time she passed, everyone began to whisper behind her and throwing dirty looks at her.

And she couldn't blame them. After all, even she couldn't forgive herself. For years she had spread discord and terror in those corridors, and now she knew she couldn't expect a complete forgiveness. She just hoped, however, that they were still willing to give her a chance....

Fortunately, things had slightly improved since the Battle of the Bands. Now everyone looked at her with different eyes, and addressed her directly much more often than before. But, if that progress had been possible, she knew it wasn't only thanks to her efforts, but especially thanks to those five girls that, from the beginning, had decided to forget the past, or at least pretend to forget it, and start over with her, giving her what in her life she never had: friends.

---

It was then that, while she was still lost in her thought and was tenderly thinking about them, she realized that she had arrived at her destination: a small but elegant villa with white walls, with a small garden, situated between two houses a little more rustic, like a diamond shining while it was still embedded in the stone.

With a smile, Sunset walked through the garden, decorated with some beautiful flowering plants very well cared for, but unfortunately faded in that thick fog. Faded a bit like her mood, after all the bad thoughts she had just had. But fortunately, she knew that, on the other side of that door, there was one of the few girls who, at that moment, could pull her up.

And so, without hesitation, she drew out her best smile and knocked at the door.