Six Degrees of Princess Bacon
"Come on, Trixie," Starlight wheedled with a roll of her eyes. "Be nice."
Trixie sighed and looked up. "Sorry," she grumbled. "It's just...where'd Twilight dig up another alicorn?! I mean...just a few years ago there was one alicorn in all of Equestria. ONE!" Trixie threw her hooves up. "Then Luna came back, then Twilight, and then Flurry was born, and now this, and there's what..."
"Six including Sunset Shimmer," Maud said in a bored tone. "Also, you forgot about Princess Cadance being around before Princess Luna returned."
Trixie rolled her eyes. "Oh, like most ponies outside of Canterlot even knew she existed..."
"That's true," Starlight pointed out. "I mean, first I ever heard of her was the wedding announcement in the Canterlot Sun Times."
"The point is," Trixie said loudly, "where'd this NEW alicorn even COME FROM?!"
Sunset started to explain, paused, then looked at Starlight. Starlight smirked. "Okay, Trixie, you know that mirror up on the fourth floor? The one Twilight told us we're not supposed to go anywhere near without her permission?"
Trixie frowned. "The one with all that junk hooked up to it?"
"Right," Starlight said. "Thing is, that mirror's a portal to a parallel dimension. Kind of...kind of an alternate Equestria. There's, well...there's an alternate version of pretty much everypony here there, except they're not ponies. They're some other species that doesn't even exist here. Also, they have science and technology instead of magic."
Trixie contemplated this. "Huh. That's...weird." She tilted her head. "You sound as if you've been there," she added slowly.
"Well...yeah," Starlight admitted. "Twilight invited me and a couple other friends to that other world a while back."
"And...and you didn't invite me?" Trixie asked, her eyes shining with dramatic tears. "Or even tell me about it?"
"It was right after we first met!" Starlight retorted. "I didn't know you that well yet! Besides, I...at the time, I thought it was..." She shuffled her hooves sheepishly. "Maybe...kind of a...secret?"
"Oh," Trixie said. She pouted, but relented. She glanced at Sunset. "I'm guessing she's telling me this now because that's where you came from?"
"Yeah," Sunset said. "Well...yes and no. Actually, I was born here in Equestria. And, umm...the alicorn thing is kinda new." She glanced at one of her wings. "I mean, I'm a unicorn. Well, used to be a unicorn. Was born a unicorn."
"Uh-huh," Trixie said slowly. "So you just randomly sprouted wings the second you returned to Equestria?"
"Kinda, yeah," Sunset said. "I mean, I'd have to talk to Twilight to figure out how and why I'm an alicorn now, let alone what triggered this, but when I left Equestria, I was a unicorn." She shrugged.
"I see," Trixie said. "And you left Equestria...why?"
Sunset cringed. "I was...I was banished from Canterlot Castle," she said. "I used to be Princess Celestia's student. Before Twilight. Only I...kinda let my arrogance and my ambition get the better of me, ticked Celestia off, stole forbidden magic books I wasn't meant to read, got banished, beat up the castle guards, and escaped through the mirror into the human world. Where...where I've been living ever since." She paused. "Oh, and I might've sort of tried to steal Twilight's crown a few years ago to use her Element of Harmony to attempt a coup of Equestria, accidentally turned myself into a literal demon, got my butt handed to me by the human versions of Twilight's friends, and..." She took a deep breath. "Now they're my friends and I'm in a better place and I really, really hate the way I used to be." She scuffed a hoof across the floor. "So...yeah..."
"Basically, she's the same as you and me," Starlight said. "Except her problem was with Princess Celestia, not Princess Twilight. Twilight just...kinda got dragged into the middle of it, and reformed her and they're friends now."
Trixie blinked. "Oh," she said. "Wow. I miss so much of what goes on around here."
"I do too," Maud said. "But I hear all about it from Pinkie Pie." She looked at Sunset Shimmer. "What are the rocks like in your world?"
Sunset blinked. "Umm...they're...rocky?"
"Cool."
Starlight coughed. "So anyway, yeah, I spent a weekend at Sunset Shimmer's place in the other world. It's pretty interesting, though it was really weird running into hairless lemur versions of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash and all the others."
"Hairless lemur?" Trixie asked, her muzzle crinkling in confusion.
Starlight shrugged. "That's what they look like to me," she said. "Only...taller, and with manes like ours and...hmm." She looked up at the ceiling in thought. "And they wear lots of clothes and have...umm...stuff going on with their..." She coughed. "Teats and...and stuff."
Sunset cleared her throat. "Yyyyyeah...let's not confuse the issue with a really confusing attempt to describe human anatomy, okay?" She shook her head. "The point is, it's an alternate world that only has whatever magic crossed into it from Equestria, there's alternate universe counterparts of lots of ponies you'd see here, and technology is super advanced."
Trixie raised an eyebrow. "Ponies liiiiike...me?"
Sunset rolled her eyes. "Yeah, there's a Trixie there."
"I see," Trixie said. "Is she...grrrrrrrreat and powerful?"
"Eh...I know she does some illusions, but I've never actually seen her act," Sunset said. "I do know she's an okay singer and not a bad guitar player, but she's nowhere near as good as Rainbow Dash."
Trixie considered this. "Guitar player, huh?" Her brow furrowed. "Well, I suppose an alternate Trixie could conceivably have an alternate talent." She shrugged. "Eh. As long as she puts on a good show, I guess."
"Well, she made it into the semifinals of the CHS Battle of the Bands," Sunset said with a shrug.
"Say," Trixie said slowly, looking at Sunset curiously. "If you used to be totally evil, but Twilight reformed you and now you're an alicorn..." She looked at Starlight thoughtfully, a slow grin spreading across her face. "What do you think, huh? Princess Starlight and Princess Trixie?"
Starlight laughed. "I don't think so," she said. "Something tells me there's more to it than just turning over a new leaf. Besides, with my track record, I...don't think me having alicorn magic would be, y'know, a good idea. At all."
"Hmm. You have a point," Trixie said. "I mean, normally I get a kick out of hearing about all the chaos you cause with your horn, but that little stunt you pulled in Canterlot even scares me."
"What stunt?" Sunset asked.
Starlight paled. "Oh. Well. Umm." She coughed. "The Cutie Map summoned me to Canterlot to solve a friendship problem. It turned out the problem was with, well...the Royal Sisters."
"Celestia and Luna?" Sunset snorted. "Doesn't surprise me. Their human counterparts get a little snippy with each other from time to time."
"Yeah, well, they were both...feeling kinda neglected by each other," Starlight said. "And it was getting pretty...tense. So I confronted them about it, and they started arguing, and it got out of control and I..." She trailed off, fidgeting with her hooves.
Trixie snickered. "She swapped their Cutie Marks," she said.
Sunset's eyes bugged out. "YOU DID WHAT?!"
Starlight flinched. "I...I switched their Cutie Marks," she said.
Sunset's wings flared out. "You...assaulted...the DIARCHS OF EQUESTRIA?!"
"Not assaulted!" Starlight said heatedly. "I just...I just maybe kinda forced them to take each other's place for a day? Anyway, it worked out in the end. They both realized the other one had a tougher job than they thought, and they made up and everything's great again. No chance of another Nightmare Moon or Daybreaker happening."
"Daybreaker?"
"Apparently that's what Princess Celestia would call herself if she snapped and turned evil," Maud said dispassionately.
Sunset reared in alarm. "PRINCESS CELESTIA TURNED EVIL?!"
"Not really!" Starlight said frantically, waving her hooves. "It...it happened in a nightmare."
"Oh." Sunset calmed down. "Good. Still...just..." She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time with this. You forced Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to switch special talents so they'd stop fighting, and not only are you not in Tartarus for an assault on the Royal Sisters, your crazy plan actually worked?!"
"Well...yeah?" Starlight offered hesitantly.
Sunset flopped bonelessly to the floor. "Did this whole world go completely crazy after I left?" she moaned.
"Babu, gigi, gahuu," Flurry Heart said, gliding over to Sunset and rubbing her cheek with tiny hooves.
Sunset chuckled. "Hey," she said, nuzzling Flurry. "Thanks. I needed that."
"Gaghoo."
"But anyway, yeah, Twilight's...still a little peeved at me for how that went down," Starlight said sheepishly.
A bright magenta flash lit up the library. "Starlight! I'm back!"
Everypony looked to where Princess Twilight Sparkle had just appeared, saddlebags slung over her back. She levitated them off and set them by the door, which opened to admit Spike. "How was everything with Flurry while I was gone?" Twilight asked.
"Fine, just fine!" Starlight said. "She...got plenty of exercise? Also, we have a guest."
"Oh?" Twilight asked.
Sunset sat up. "Hey Twilight," she said, smiling.
"Sunset Shimmer!" Twilight exclaimed with a happy gasp. "It's so good to see you! It's been so long!" Twilight moved to hug Sunset. Sunset returned the hug. "I had no idea you were coming!"
"I wanted it to be a surprise," Sunset said. She chuckled. "Ended up being a surprise for me when I got an alicorn baby right in my face." She tousled Flurry's mane, eliciting a giggle from the foal.
Twilight giggled. "Yeah, she does that," she said. "So how long are you here for?"
"Three days, if that's cool."
"Of course it's cool!" Twilight said. "We don't get to see each other nearly often enough! We have so much catching up to do! So much has happened here, and I can't wait to hear what you and my CHS friends have been up to, and wait a second why do you have wings? You didn't have wings the last time I saw you!"
"Yyyyeah about that," Sunset said as Twilight drew back, her jaw hanging open and her eyes wide. "It's...I was actually hoping you'd help me figure that one out, because I have no idea why I'm suddenly an alicorn."
"I bu—hizzawha...haaaaaaaa..." Twilight fainted dead away.
Spike snorted. "Seriously? This is worth fainting over?" He looked up at Sunset. "Congrats. I'll let Pinkie Pie know to throw you an alicorn party."
"Uhh...thanks, Spike," Sunset said. "How are you so calm about this?"
Spike shrugged. "You're basically a snarkier, less neurotic Twilight," he said. "The alicorn thing doesn't surprise me at all." He waddled over to the door. "Guess I'll go make snacks for everypony."
Twilight woke up, took a look at Sunset, let out a long whining-groaning-sighing sound, and fainted again.
Maud glanced at her. "They should really call you the Princess of Drama," she said.
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I can buy it.
It's like an alicorn bargain sale.
They rock. But gems are less common.
Agreed.
Yes.
Spike's the freaking best.
Not sure what part got the most laughs, but my sides hurt now and my cat is staring at me like I'm insane. Good Work.
Welp, this just moved from Tracked to Faves. Honestly, the continuity error didn't bug me all that much (not because I didn't remember, because I totally did, I just... screw it, yeah, I forgot), but you already fixed it, so whatevs.
I'm waiting to see if we get a Celestia-Sunset confrontation. If we do, probably not until after Sunset meets the rest of the Mane Six—and probably Shining and Cadance, I'm guessing—but I can wait.
I don't really have anything of substance to say, so I'll just say that Sunset and Flurry Heart's interactions make me smile.
8240768
Manic Myth's Amazing Alicorn Emporium of Total Bargain Madness?
8240807
I was aiming for a DBZ reference, but sure, that works.
LOL Well done with the dialogue
LOL Well done with the dialogue
8240812
DBZA is overquoted. We more Brave Little Toaster references.
Which I just realized abbreviates to "BLT," so it's double appropriate here!
8240827
No, no, no DBZA, regular DBZ, TFS hasn't gotten to the Buu Saga yet.
8240829
... oh yeah! Vegeta in the gravity room with Trunks!
...
Nope! Still going with BLT.
The hell? Where are people getting the idea that Sunset should be an alicorn?
8240845
Her Daydream Shimmer form at the end of Friendship Games.
Sounds like Sunset could use a newspaper right about now...
Spike hitting the nail out of the park like normal. Or...something like that at least.
8240846
some people think her phoenix like form at the end of "My Past is Not Today"
No, that's Rarity's title.
8240938
8240846
8240933
Well, that's just silly. We've seen repeatedly that Equestrian magic does not translate over the dimensional barrier. What happens in Equestria stays in Equestria, and vice versa.
8240995
I agree. Just said as much in the comments to the first chapter. No logical reason to expect Sunset to be an alicorn in canon, and people who dislike Mirror Magic over that are really silly.
Really looking forward to how this is justified in this story, if at all. Far as I'm concerned, while Sunset's as good a person as Twilight, she hasn't achieved even remotely enough to become an alicorn. Twilight's circumstance was pretty specific, including discovering a new form of magic (as I undersood it, pretty much learning how to make "friendship magic" happen or something). An alicorn form isn't gonna be given to everyone who has a good personality and has done some magic in the past. And her transformation in Friendship Games means precisely nothing, I mean, even Sunset Satan had wings. They just come with harnessing a bunch of different people's magic in the human world, it seems.
8241020
Except that's not the reason at all. Watch the end of Friendship Games again. Midnight Sparkle had drained the magic out of the Rainbooms. Facing her down, Sunset rekindled their magic with the power of friendship, then absorbed all of it into herself to become Midnight Sparkle's supercharged equal. In that moment, she understood true friendship and harmony equally as well as Princess Twilight.
That's how and why she earned her ascension. Not because "beat a couple major baddies", but because understood friendship and harmony on the same level as Twilight.
(As an aside, Sci-Twi having wings in Everfree was a STUPID mistake.)
8240938
damn, beat me to it.
Hear, hear. While it is kind of fast, we've seen Sunset mature into a much better person. Part of why Rainbow Rocks is popular is because Sunset has grown into such a great character, and without Twilight's neurotic tendencies even. While its not quite the same as Twilight's ascension, she did basically charge herself up with friendship power and turned into kind of a goddess compared to the demonic Midnight Sparkle (or her own earlier demon form). That seems to symbolize that she does understand friendship.
And yeah, still annoyed Sci-Twi apparently automatically gets wings because she's Twilight and the franchise must revolve around Twilight apparently.
Another fun chapter, Twilight is such a lightweight when it comes to surprises. Spike takes everything much more in stride, like setting up Sunset's ascension party. Wonder if she'll get a coronation or if Celestia will do a recap song for her.
8241048
You can't ascend if you're not in a universe where ascension happens. She's got magic human powers, not magic pony powers.
8241111
Says who? You? You don't make those rules.
The entire show is full of timey wimey shenanigans.
8241140
Says the show, and they do make those rules. It's been very consistent. Being an alicorn didn't do jack for Twilight when she crossed over (having the Element did), so why should Sunset's upgrades carry over in the other direction?
Passing the bar in Tacoma doesn't mean you can practice law in Quebec.
From what I understand, there's an episode shortly after Twilight becomes an alicorn, that she remarks that everything from S1E1 until then took one year. So, it is possible for only an entire year to happen between events that must follow each other. After all, the CMC certainly aren't looking more like adults. Right?
I can actually believe Spike not being surprised at all by Sunset being an alicorn. He's been raised by Twilight and Celestia so he's used to this stuff by now.
8241169
Your reasoning is faulty and lacks creativity and imagination. What happened to Sunset Shimmer at the end of Friendship Games is INHERENTLY, RIDICULOUSLY similar to what happened to Twilight in Magical Mystery Cure. I stand by my assertion that when she became Daydream Shimmer in the human world, her pony form also became an alicorn.
If you don't agree with that, don't agree with that, but don't claim the show says something it does not, in fact, say.
8241184
No, no, and NO. Nothing of that sort is EVER SAID. Not by Celestia, not by Twilight Sparkle, not by any character in the show. EVER. You are regurgitating some GARBAGE you've read on fansites that MISINTERPRETED dialogue from "Princess Twilight Sparkle Part 1" while completely, blithely ignoring data present in the show AND ignoring the fact that the writers, frankly, don't even know how much time has passed because they keep screwing things up with crap like Granny Smith's "100 moons since the last reunion".
But more importantly, at no point was any such thing as it being one year mentioned in that epsode. The CLOSEST THING TO THAT, and the thing people KEEP. MISINTERPRETING. AS. HARD. EVIDENCE. Is Celestia saying:
That's IT. That's the ENTIRE, SUM TOTAL, and ONLY "evidence" One Year Theorists have. And it wouldn't hold water if you froze it solid.
This was hilarious! I love it!
...oh, and I'm of the opinion that understanding friendship was just part of the equation. If Sunset's gonna become an alicorn, then she's gonna need to be present for Twilight (or Celestia or Luna or whomever) to perform the completed version of Star Swirl's final spell.
Below this post: Massive comment drama.
Proceed with extreme caution.
Did no one see the leaked Mirror Magic episode? Really we have people on a pony internet site and no one saw Mirror Magic??
Um spoiler alert for anyone who didn't see it:
Sunset Shimmer is still a unicorn when returning to Equestria. Mirror Magic is a Sunset Shimmer/Starlight Glimmer episode. Please keep with the story as it looks fun--AU tag might be approriate though
8241271
Author stated in Author's Note on first chapter that he saw it and doesn't care.
8241271
That's nice, nobody cares, drive through!
8241309
Actually, I said I know she isn't an alicorn in Mirror Magic. I have not actually seen it yet. I'm patiently waiting to watch it legally. I just did a quick scan of Derpibooru for screencaps to see if they went with Shimmercorn or not.
8241549
Ah, my mistake, sorry.
8241553
It's cool, I did kinda give the impression I'd watched it early. ^^
8241496
No, there aren't. I haven't seen them yet either.
8241184
8241169
I haven't been the nicest I could have been in these conversations, and for that I apologize. Please see this blog post.
There are others this is directed at, but I'm too tired and too busy to go through and tag every single person I've yelled at today. X_X
Damn right Spike, damn right.
8241702
I kinda ship it.
8241309
Was more interested actually in the heated debate among readers about Sunset's actual show status which felt like a moot point. Of course most things with the EG universe make little sense and I am still convinced that it is basically just one big magical simulation in a pocket reality rather than an actual true other universe with all the non Equestians just getting by the mirror to keep the Equestrians occupied.
8241280
I thought it was rather obvious that the humans just drew on their pony counterparts' magic. I mean, why would they randomly get pony ears, and the pegasi' counterparts would get wings? Naturally, since SciTwi's counterpart has wings, SciTwi gets them too when drawing from pony magic.
Nobody farms them, they don't grow unless you count conglomeration, mineralization, or crystallization, and while for a short time there were some people that had pet rocks, it was all make-believe silliness because our rocks just sit there mindlessly obeying gravity...
Nah, that title reserved for Rarity.
8241230
I totally get why you're upset. Everyone has those moments where they've had a bunch of crap building up and somebody or something just hits that last nerve. Even if it wasn't directed at me, I appreciate that you apologized for that. That said:
That's actually not the case. People have presented a fair bit more evidence than that in basically every discussion I've ever had on the subject. Granted, most of the evidence isn't nearly solid enough to treat it as if it's confirmed, but there is more than that quote. Even that quote isn't so much about the statement itself as it is about how strange it seems that Twilight - who has been directly involved in setting up/participating in all of the SSCs we've seen since the series started - would have not only missed a couple of them, but has apparently gone for several years (and a couple of these celebrations) since Nightmare Moon's reappearance without the subject of why Celestia didn't used to look forward to the SSC coming up.
As for some of the other things...well, for example, one thing people have noted is that up until around season six they were pretty consistent in terms of the holiday lineup. That is to say, both the holidays that are obvious stand-ins for real world holidays (such Hearth's Warming) and the ones that don't have any specific real world counterparts (such as the Sisterhooves Social) all occur only two times from S1 to S4/5, and in all cases they happen in the same order (I only note this because having them take place in conflicting order would suggest more time has passed). Not hard evidence, certainly, but one of those odd little things that just seems strange for a series that you would kind of expect to see more holiday episodes from over the course of several years of airing.
Ultimately, though, I think a lot of it comes down to the infamous "First winter" comment that Rainbow makes in Tanks for the Memories. Most of the evidence for the theory up to that point just consisted of minor things that provided some basis for the idea, but never really came close to anything solid. The kind of thing that might make for a fun situation in a fic or something interesting to talk about on forums, but nothing really significant because none of it ever actually directly implied any specific amount of time had passed. Then we got this facepalm-inducing moment.
She met Tank in season two, yet somehow season five is when they're going to share their first actual winter together. It's hard to really make the argument that Rainbow has just been too busy to spend her winters with Tank, because she's completely and utterly baffled by the idea of Tank having to hibernate. Meaning that if there have been multiple winters (or heck, even a single winter) between that episode and when she met him, she somehow managed to go for months without realizing that Tank was constantly sleeping despite the episode making it clear that she noticed his odd behavior before winter had even come and was freaking out about something being wrong with him.
I'm not saying it does take place over the course of a single year, of course. It's an interesting theory, but I think the actual case is that - as you mentioned - the writers just have no damned idea what the timeline is supposed to be, and we get a lot of baffling claims in the show itself as a result. However, there is more to the theory than that single out-of-context quote, even if most of it is just minor, incidental things like their strange holiday episode choices. Saying that the only evidence anyone has for the One Year Theory is that single statement from Celestia is akin to saying that the only evidence anyone has (Though it's "had" now, I guess) for the Shimmercorn Theory is that she sprouted wings during the My Past is Not Today music video.
8241696
I've never been able to understand that line of reasoning in comments/reviews for fanfiction. I don't think anyone on this site is trying to just make a novelization of the series with nothing added, removed, or otherwise altered. If people wanted that then they could just go look up the transcripts. A major aspect of fanfiction, and one of the things that draws a lot of fans to it, is that it allows us to explore new and interesting ideas that aren't in the show itself. That includes ideas that branch away from canon. It's like going to a fic where Zack survived to take part in the events of Final Fantasy VII or Sasuke didn't become a villain in Naruto and then complaining about how that's not the way it was in canon. I mean...that's kind of the point.
8241755
Speaking of Sunburst, what do you think of the theory that's he's actually one of Chrysalis' changeling spy under deep cover and that we've yet to see the real Sunburst cause the switch ended up happening at some point before Sunburst arrived at the Crystal Empire? Seeing how we didn't pick up fully on the Cadence trick before the big reveal during the wedding, it seems plausible that if the queen can fool everyone with bad acting, that a drone or soldier could do the same for any random pony that could be important later.
8241907
...I've never heard that theory before and that theory is REALLY dumb. o.o;;
8241926
It was posted in a few forums here before it became a video. Changeling Ren is the one who came up with it from what he observed from Sunburst as a foal, his first appearance as an adult and everything up to the season 6 finale involving the changelings. Some of the evidence seems sound and plausible as another plan of Chrysalis. Maybe even the answer to how she captured everypony in the Crystal Empire without anyone alerting what was happening except Thorax and Sunburst.
8241892 Quite right, still, it happens a lot. I once got a comment on a story of mine that I wrote back in 2011-2012 when some dude was trying to correct me because something that happened in season 5.
8242012
I used to write (mediocre) fanfiction myself for some other fandoms, and I ran into that kind of thing sometimes as well. I think my favorite was when I decided to create a given name for a canon character (we'd only been given a single name, and we weren't even sure if it was his given name or surname), only for a Japanese-only databook to come out around the same time that ended up giving his actual name. Naturally, one or two users thought the most logical choice was to correct me about how his real name was totally something different, because apparently when I started writing the story I was both psychic and fluent in Japanese.
Though admittedly, I can at least get it when someone is correcting you on a relatively recent development. If your story comes out at the same time they might just think that you hadn't seen it yet, and may genuinely just be trying to give you advice or help you with something they think you might have missed. Especially if it's something minor like a name being revealed. I really can't get where someone is coming from if they correct an author on a story they wrote years before the information was even revealed.