The Sun Never Sets

by Mr Fislewait

Stealing Harmony (Part One)

"Okay, Sunset, Princess Celestia will be visiting later today, she has some things to discuss with you; Dr Horse wants you coming in for a check up every other day to check on the progress of the foal and Pinkie Pie wants you to stop cancelling on her baby showers. Careful on that last one or you'll probably be receiving a surprise baby shower when you least expect it," there were a few other items on Twilight's checklist as well but she didn't see any reason to bother her with them.

"Thanks again for all this," Sunset sighed from her bed. "I still don't get why Horse seems to want me to be stuck in bed all day. I'm perfectly fine, I should be watching the library, not lazing about!" Sunset's complaints about being bed ridden hadn't let up over the past week but other than helping her track her appointments there was little Twilight could do to help the unicorn. Twilight wasn't going to say it to her face but she actually agreed with how Horse was handling the matter, even confined to her wheelchair Sunset had been falling asleep from exhaustion with distressing frequency, hopefully today she'd be able to stay awake long enough to speak to Celestia.

"So any idea what the Princess wants to speak to me about? I've barely seen her since I got back," as Sunset fidgeted uncomfortably in her bed Twilight pondered how much she should tell her. It was almost certainly the case that Celestia would want to talk to her about the idea of Sunset becoming a Princess herself, Twilight herself had received enough subtle (and not so subtle) questions probing her about the matter over the course of the year to know that it was still her hope to see Sunset crowned.

"I have a pretty good idea, but I think it would be best if you spoke to her about it when she got here."

"Fair enough," Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, the question successfully deflected for the time being. "Now then, Twi, I have a few hours to kill till she gets here, want to here how I got all of these?" Sunset gestured to the burns coating her body, while Sunset could cover the worst of them with clothes it seemed unlikely they would ever properly heal. Even the burns had been better received by Sunset than the news about her eye, she had refused to speak to anypony for days after Horse had informed her that the damage was irreversible.

"Assuming you visited the same number of alternate Equestrias as I did this must be the last one right?"

"Yep, this was the last stop on the tour. Excluding home of course..."

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Falling out of the portal and landing face first in the dirt was not a great start to the week, but it was preferable to winding up in another frozen over Crystal Empire in the state I was in. Helping move the sun had taken its toll on me and I could barely move my body. I just about had enough energy to look around before I ended up drifting back off into sleep. The world was warm and dry, dust blowing across a parched Equestria. The sun hung low in the sky casting a grim half light across a cracked and broken world. The only real indication that the portal had dropped me in the north was the fact that I could just about make out the ruins of the palace, collapsed nearby. Of the rest of the Crystal Empire there was no sign.

I'd had a few brushes with death over my journeys but as I lay in the dust I had never been so certain that I was going to die, worst of all it wasn't going to be a quick death at the hooves of some strange enemy, this was going to be a slow death to exposure and starvation, a death that had already begun with my poor treatment over the past week. Too tired to move and too resigned to my fate to care I just lay in the dust flickering in and out of consciousness.

I have vague memories of seeing a figure approaching me, a white pony slowly coming towards me from the distant ruins of the palace. Then there was a feeling of being dragged and hauled across the dirt. I know now that it wasn't in my imagination but at the time it seemed like I'd fallen into some strange delusion.

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I only really came to my senses after I was forcibly fed dirty half filtered water, the much needed drink being poured down my unwilling throat by another unicorn, my mouth held open by their magic. It tasted foul and I practically choked upon it as it went down, but the drink was exactly what I needed to be returned to reality. I wasn't imagining things, somepony had found me and pulled me to some small semblance of safety. Cracking my eyes open I looked around, my vision hazy from a small build up of mucus about my eyes. I had been moved to the ruins of the palace from the looks of things and judging by the stinging sensation across the length of my body I had probably been dragged the whole distance. A short distance from where I sat was a makeshift campsite built around a crudely built well, surrounded by small buckets of dirty water. I scanned my surroundings looking for my savior and when I saw them my heart leaped. A unicorn with a white coat and a dirty blue mane was standing with their back turned to me, trying to make something vaguely edible out of moldy vegetables and dried out oats.

I smiled at them and after clearing my throat called out. "Hey, it's you. You came back for me. How did you find me?" It came out as a barely audible whisper on the wind but the other unicorn had heard me. They turned around and glared at me from where they stood, my heart breaking a little and my face dropping into a despairing frown. The unicorn was a mare with strange red eyes. "Sorry, I- I thought you were somepony else."

The other unicorn sighed and picked up a spear in her magic, I hadn't noticed the weapon in my initial scan of the room, it was a makeshift thing made up of a jagged lump of crystal tied haphazardly to a length of pole. She cautiously approached and prodded me a few times with her weapon. I made no effort to protect myself, I didn't have the energy for it. Thankfully her attacks were merely probing strikes not intended to draw blood or cause serious injury. When she seemed content that I wasn't any threat to her the unicorn discarded her weapon and levitated a large chunk of black chalkboard over to where she was standing. Carefully manipulating a lump of white stone she began writing on the board, shoving it into my face when she was done.

"Are you Sunset Shimmer?" the board read.

"Yes," I croaked through my still dry lips "How did you know that? Were you expecting me here?" It was a strange development, with the exception of Minuette and Discord nopony had ever recognized me before in the strange Equestrias I had visited

"Do you know who I am?" the board had been wiped clean to make room for the new message.

"No... I thought you were a stallion that I used to know. Sorry, I don't think we've ever met before," it was a half truth I had a feeling I knew the mare's name but that was based on the assumption that she was the Equestrian version of someone I knew at CHS.

"Vinyl Scratch," she manipulated the chalkboard with a practiced ease. "You seriously don't remember me?"

"No," I shook my head. "You're mute right?" she nodded. "Between that and your eyes I think I'd remember you."

"Are you human?" That one rattled me, how was I even supposed to answer that?

"No. I'm a pony, but I've been to the human world before," a thought suddenly crossed my mind and I pointed at my new companion, "are you human?"

"No. You suffering from amnesia?"

"No." It was like the singly most paranoid game of twenty questions I had ever played. The mare clearly knew something about me but was skirting the topic cautiously. "I'm not from around here though, I've been away for a very long time and I only just got back-"

"You from an alternate reality then?"

"How did you...." I fell into a coughing fit before I could finish the sentence. Vinyl sighed and patted me on the back with her hoof to help me through it.

"If there's one alternate reality out there, makes sense there might be a couple more." She wiped down the board then instantly began on a new message. "Sorry about the rough treatment. Me and another version of you had some history. Needed to check if it was her or not."

"Another me?" my mind froze at the possibility. If there was another me in this world I might be able to have her help me get back to my own reality. If anypony would believe my story about humans, alternate worlds and time travel then it would be Sunset Shimmer. "Any idea where I could find her? I might need her help."

"She can't help you. She's dead." No emotion spread across the mare's face, no sadness, no regret. The other Sunset was apparently dead and she couldn't seem to care less.

"D-d-d-dead?" I stammered a little over the word finding it a little hard to take in. "Are you sure? How did it happen?"

"She took a long walk off of the edge of the Canterhorn" once more she wrote it all down with a matter of fact expression on her face. Apparently this Sunset was not well loved by Vinyl.

"Suicide?" she nodded to confirm. "Why?"

"Realized she'd royally bucked up. Didn't want to live with the results anymore. Handed me her fancy tiara, gave me a quick hug all nice and polite then just hopped off of the edge of the mountain. Didn't even tell me what she was going to do."

"What... what had she done?" I asked, fear and trepidation worming their way into my mind. In all of the worlds I had visited most ponies hadn't even heard of Sunset Shimmer. Here though, the first pony I had met had not only met Sunset, but had been present for her death.

"You really aren't from around here are you? Have a better look around, Sunset." Vinyl pointed up to the ruined walls of the palace that surrounded us. At first glance the only difference had been their ruined state, it was only with Vinyl pointing directly at them that I noticed the other major difference. Adorning the walls, faded with age and coated in dust, were great red and yellow banners bearing the symbol of the sun. Not Celestia's sun though. No, these banners bore the unmistakable image of my own cutie mark.

Comments

[Lightning_Striker]

And this chapter confirms the father as Shiny, evr so subtly.