Princess Celestia rested her hooves on the railing of her high balcony, and watched as shadows from the setting sun rushed to overtake Canterlot. She didn't move as hoofsteps approached from behind and a pony cleared their throat.
“Princess,” said the low, rumbling voice of her advisor, Kibitz. “You should get some rest. We’ll need to be up early for the Summer Sun Celebration.”
“Of course,” Celestia said, though she didn't turn. “Tell me, Kibitz, do you remember Sunset Shimmer?”
Kibitz harrumphed. “I do indeed.”
“I know that she was… troubled. I’ve never met a pony so voracious for knowledge and power. But I hoped that Harmony itself could sate her, if she came to know it better… and that she, in turn, might help me wake it from its slumber.”
“Slumber, Princess?”
Celestia sighed. “The time grows short. Regret does little good. And yet, the day ahead is one I hoped I wouldn’t have to face alone.”
“But Princess, you won't be! You and I will be together, celebrating, along with all of Ponyville.”
Celestia watched as the sun fell below the horizon. The stars nearest the mare-marked moon shone brightly.
“No,” she said. “I want you to remain in Canterlot. I have instructions that you must deliver to my nephew if the sun is late in rising. But if it should come to that… have the mirror smashed. Immediately.”
Well, so much for that possibility... assuming the mirror can be smashed so simply.
... Hm, this is interesting. I'm not sure what this has to do with the story, since Equestria Girls has absolutely nothing to do with The Cutie Re-Mark, but I'm intrigued.
Oh wait, I get it. This is the alternate timeline at a point before Nightmare Moon takes over, and we're establishing that Sunset Shimmer still happened the same way in this timeline. I'll bet the mirror wasn't destroyed, which has some foreboding implications for the Equestria Girls universe.
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Right you are! Though be warned, this is meant more to emphasize how alone Celestia would be without someone like Sunset or Twilight by her side, and to show how Celestia would at least think about protecting Sunset and the human world if she thought all hope was lost.
At a minimum, it's rich with things that will matter eventually.
I ended up carving To Serve In Hell into four "Books" (think "acts" or "parts"), and each begins with a small flashback snippet like this one. All of them are relevant, though not always in the same ways.
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At risk of spoiling the air of mystery, I meant this part to be 100% straight: the portal between worlds has been cut off. However, Sunset may yet get a story in this universe; she's certainly still out there, and I know what the title of her story would be. But for now I need to get this story done!
Certainly an excellent idea with execution on the first chapter that makes me hunger for more. I came into this forgetting that Starlight stopped the Rainboom from happening, so while I was reading this, I was thinking: Where the hell is Twilight in all this? Then I read the comments and remembered that without the Rainboom, Twilight failed the test. This then begs the question of what happens to Spike?
A world where Nightmare Moon rules? This shall be interesting 🙂
Ooooooh Celestia shattering thr mirror to keep Sunset safe? Expecting her defeat? Aaaah