Chapter 2: In Which a Talk Continues Significantly Longer Than Five Minutes
Raise, bite, lower, chew. Raise, bite, lower, chew. It was something mechanical, near-instinctual, but it had so many nuances for Twilight to observe. The way her hands wrapped themselves around the bagel; the way her forearm rotated around a single joint to raise it; and the way that her teeth cut, stabbed, and pulverized the delivered product all provided something for Twilight to latch onto. There were no unknown variable, no decisions to be made, and no major views to be shattered. It was observation in its purest form and for its own sake, and Twilight quietly relished it as she popped the last bite of bagel into her mouth.
Taking a sip of her coffee, Twilight began scanning the room for another distraction. To her left, Cadance was attacking a pile of scrambled eggs with a hungry look in her eyes. In fact, it reminded Twilight of when she'd helped feed the carnivores of Flutterhy's cottage. What would the animals do, Twilight wondered, if Fluttershy was--
Twilight cut that train of thought short, looking across the table towards Sunset. She was a mystery to Twilight, but a comparatively benign one, and thus a welcome distraction. How did a former student of Celestia's end up here? She briefly considered the idea that Sunset had been banished by Celestia, but remembered that Sunset hadn't brought up anything of the sort when attacking Twilight's mentor. Or was it former mentor, or even--
Twilight cut herself off again, knocking back her coffee and taking a large gulp, savoring the caffeine rolling down her throat. If time on this side of the mirror was the same as on the other, she figured, she had been awake for over 24 hours with only a brief period of forced-unconsciousness breaking it up. Normally this wouldn't have been much of a problem, as she was no stranger to all-night research binges. Yet, her mind had been on a roller coaster of a ride over the past few days. First it had been the letter. How could her BBBFF have waited until the very last minute to tell her about the wedding? Then it had been the imposter-Cadance, was one of her only fillyhood friendships just a lie? It couldn't have been, and she had been right, but the stress of everything had heaped up on her and she'd just ended up making a fool of herself pointing it out. She could have, should have taken a few minutes to compose herself and come up with a plan, but she'd instead charged ahead and accused not-Cadance without a single shred of evidence. If she'd just taken a few minutes to compose a rational argument, everypony would have believed her.
Now, though, she was banished an entire world away. The last she would possibly ever see of her friends and family in Equestria was their disappointed looks, and she deserved it. She had completely dropped the ball this time, and all of Equestria was surely paying for it now. And here she was, staring into a cup of cold coffee. A voice echoed in her head, accompanied by a disappointed set up magenta eyes. 'You have a lot to think about'
Suddenly, a pink arm wrapped around Twilight and pulled her down into Cadance's lap. As Cadance began to pet her head, Twilight realized that she was shaking. Taking a few deep breaths, Twilight cast her eyes up into Cadance's. No matter what had happened, no matter how much she'd screwed up, she was safe, Cadance was safe, and they would find some way to fix everything. She felt like her whole world was falling down around her, but hadn't she felt like that before? Hadn't she felt like she'd failed when she'd first found the Elements of Harmony? Hadn't she been utterly devastated when Discord had turned all of her friends into mockeries of themselves? Yet, she'd bounced back and succeeded in both cases. This time would be the same, it would just take a bit longer.
But what would happen in the meantime? This was the biggest unknown, something that scared Twilight to her core. Maybe Equestria would turn out alright, with Chrysalis discovered and defeated? Twilight didn't feel very optimistic, and her imagination provided a treasure trove of ways that things could go horribly wrong. What would the Changelings do? Imprison ponies? Mind control them? Kill them?
Before Twilight could fully restart her downward spiral, however, Cadance leaned down and whispered into her ear, "Don't worry right now, worrying won't help anypony. I'm just as concerned and scared as you are, but all worrying will will do is waste energy we should be using to get back home."
Twilight's mind returned to her thoughts from before, 'If I'd just calmed myself down...', she began doing the breathing exercises that Cadance had taught her as a filly, trying to clear her mind as she did so. She laid there, Cadance slowly running fingers through her hair, until she began to feel sleep overtaking her. Knowing that she would just have to sleep later, she slowly raised herself back into her seat and began to drink the remainder of her coffee. Looking across the table, she saw Sunset tapping away on her phone.
Eventually, Sunset looked up and realized that Twilight was no longer having a freak-out. Sunset's face softened a bit, "I know it must be hard not knowing what's going on in Equestria, but the best thing that we can do is work together to get back. I can tell that you're running on fumes, so I'll take you to my hideout and you can sleep there while I gather up some supplies. Okay?"
Twilight nodded and, after draining the last of her coffee, followed Cadance out of their booth chair. After they stepped out, Sunset turned to face Cadance and Twilight and pulled out her phone, "I need to take a picture of you two so that I can get you two proper documentation."
Twilight assented, but then a thought hit her. "Wait, so how are you going to use photos to get us documentation anyways? What exactly do you mean by documentation?"
Sunset tensed up slightly and spoke in a hushed voice, "Well, if you want to go to school or get a job in this world, you need government documents proving that you're you. I know somebody who can make fake documents. They're not perfect, and if anybody got suspicious they wouldn't hold up, but they were good enough to get me into Canterlot High."
At this, Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Alright, but... Where's the camera?"
Sunset put a hand to her face, "It's part of the phone. Now smile and say 'Cheese'".
Twilight and Cadance, still ragged from the physical and emotional trials they'd been through in the past few days, did their best to smile at what they could only hope was the camera bit of the phone. Eventually, Sunset nodded her head, "That'll do. Don't worry about not looking good, I can get the photos cleaned up nicely for what I need them for."
As they began to walk, Sunset began expanding on her plan, "So, I'll run to a few stores and drop the pictures off while you two sleep. I'll probably be back around lunchtime, and whenever you two wake up we can start making a game plan. Is there anything you two need other than food and water?"
Twilight considered for a moment as they started down the street, "Well... I wouldn't mind having one of those 'phones', it would definitely make research here much easier..."
Sunset cringed, "Well, phones are pretty expensive... I have enough money saved up that I could buy one for you and Cadance, but then I wouldn't have money for much else. Then again, I think you two will actually need phones if you're going to fit in around here, I don't know anybody who doesn't actually have one... We'll discuss this more when we make our plans, alright?"
Twilight didn't follow up, and they began to walk in silence. Eventually, Twilight noticed that the area they were in now seemed to be completely abandoned. Most of the buildings were a dull grey, with windows either smashed or boarded up. Sunset seemed confident in where she was going, though, so she kept silent.
After about five minutes of walking, Sunset suddenly stopped and, after looking around, ushered the group into an alleyway. She then led them about halfway through, to a tall pile of cardboard boxes. Again looking around, she carefully pushed the pile to the side, revealing a rusting metal door. Reaching into her jean pockets, she produced a key that went into the door's lock, which Twilight noted looked significantly newer and less rusted than the door it was a part of.
Opening the door with a creak, Sunset then ushered the other two inside. After stepping in, Twilight took a moment to observe the interior. It was dark, but Twilight could make out most of the room just fine. It was probably about five by five meters at most. In the way of furniture, all it had was a small table, a chair, a bed, and a small cupboard. The table seemed to have a few candles along with a pile of school supplies. Otherwise, the room seemed to be completely bare.
Sunset lit a few of the candles and, noticing the looks that Twilight and Cadance were giving to the room, rubbed the back of her head and blushed slightly, "I know it's not much, but it's what we've got. I found this place a few weeks after I got here and it's served me well. Nowadays I usually just sleep at the school, but it'll probably be crawling with cops for the next few days so we'll have to use here. There's some waters and snacks in the cupboard if you get hungry or thirsty. I'll be back in about... four or five hours. Lock the door behind you and don't try to leave, I'll pile the door up with cardboard boxes again so that you'll be nice and safe. Baseball bat is under the bed if that all fails."
At this, Cadance only became more concerned, but Sunset slipped out the door before she could ask any questions. Groaning, Cadance locked the door and grabbed two waters from the cupboard while Twilight inspected the bed. It was a hard spring mattress, with a few odd lumps where the springs had become bent or unwound. It was covered up with what seemed to be a clean sheet, though, and that was enough.
As Cadance sat down next to her and passed her a water, Twilight silently decided that, tired as she was, she wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully without at least some answers. She turned towards Cadance with pleading eyes, "Listen, I know we're both tired right now, but... I don't think I'll be able to sleep unless I get some answers. Can we just talk for five minutes?"
Cadance sagged a little, but gave Twilight a tired smile nonetheless, "I shouldn't have expected any different, Little Miss 'One-More-Chapter'. Alright, what's on your mind?"
Twilight took a deep breathe, "Well, there's a lot of things on my mind right now, but I want to hear more about what you and Sunset talked about earlier. Were those things she said true? Was Celestia just... using her? And what about you? Did Celestia really ignore you like that?"
Cadance thought for a few seconds, "Well... I can't be sure about everything that Sunset said, but I definitely wouldn't take it as the full truth. Sunset's a very determined, clever individual, but she can also be very arrogant and hotheaded. If she wants something, she'll do everything in her power to get it and will spite anyone who gets in her way. She was also, I think, a very lonely little filly. Before she was made Celestia's student she'd been living at the Canterlot orphanage. She had a few friends there, and would make a few friends at the School for Gifted Unicorns too, but I don't think she ever had a close friend."
"As for Celestia", Cadance continued, "she may be a great and benevolent ruler, but I think the same thing that makes her a great ruler, her centuries of experience, also makes her a horrible pony. Er, well... more like, horrible at being a pony. She's lived for thousands of years at this point, and has seen everypony around her grow old and die. I think, at some point, she became detached from the lives of mortals. She wants to see us all happy, but she can't connect on a personal level. She got a bit better when Luna came back, and even invited me to 'family bonding time' once or twice, but I don't think she's gotten past seeing everypony else as her subjects."
Cadance paused to take a sip of water, "So, Sunset Shimmer was ambitious, but also desperately in need of the kind of companionship only close friends or family can provide. When she was moved to the castle by Celestia, it was the closest thing to adoption that Sunset ever got. Here was this warm, motherly mentor figure taking her into her own home, and Sunset latched onto that. She was going to be Celestia's daughter, no matter what it took. But, again, Celestia just couldn't connect with her subjects. A few months after I ascended, Sunset outright asked Celestia if she would adopt her, but Celestia refused to give a straight answer. A week later, Celestia started sending Sunset on 'assignments' to learn about all the staff that worked at the castle. It was probably Celestia's attempt to get Sunset to find somepony else to latch onto, but all it did was make Sunset more determined."
"Sunset--", Cadance stretched her arms out as she yawned, "Aah... So, Sunset was smart. She knew that Celestia wouldn't adopt somepony that she just viewed as a subject. She also knew that I'd been adopted as her niece after ascending, so she put two and two and decided that if she ascended like I had, Celestia would finally adopt her. Since Celestia was pretty much the only pony who knew how ascension worked, that meant that Sunset began pushing her subtly and not-so-subtly to spill the secret. This went back and forth for years, and I think in her growing feeling that Celestia was holding her back, Sunset lost sight of her original goal-- becoming Celestia's daughter."
"Eventually, everything came to a head. Celestia had found a new protege to teach-- that means you-- and, being Celestia, began splitting her time evenly between her two students without addressing Sunset's increasing resentment. Sunset felt like she was being replaced and decided that if Celestia was going to force her out anyways, she might as well go out with a bang. She snuck into Celestia's private library to find information on alicorn ascensions. I don't really know if she found anything, though, because she was caught in the act and was apparently told that she'd be banished from castle property-- though Celestia claims she'd never have gone through with such a thing. Anyways, faced with the possibility of banishment, Sunset decided to flee instead. Nopony had any idea where she ran away to, but I guess she must have known about the mirror portal somehow..."
Twilight processed what she'd been told while Cadance stared distantly ahead. She had never really though of Celestia as being so distant, but she couldn't find anything in her memories to contradict what Cadance was telling her. Celestia had been a good teacher, and she clearly loved all of her little ponies, but Twilight couldn't think of a single pony that was actually close to her personally other than Luna. Twilight shivered, was there some truth in Sunset's claim that she had just been a tool? Was she herself just a tool too, one that could accomplish the ultimate task of bringing Celestia the only one she truly loved? One that could be pointed at world-ending threats? If she was just a tool... How much of her life had been orchestrated to sharpen her for use? Could she even really be mad about being used to save the world?
Twilight could feel a growing sense of unease in the pit of her stomach and decided to stave off such thoughts until she'd at least had a full night of sleep. Grasping for some way to distract herself, she finally settled on another question to ask Cadance. "But... What were you doing in all this? You seem to know a lot about what happened."
Cadance let out a sigh, "I was mostly just an observer. I tried to help things where I could, but I didn't fully understand what was going on at the time and couldn't get either of them to budge. When I had moved into the castle, I had been assigned to be Sunset's roommate-- probably another attempt by Celestia to give Sunset a close companion-- but Sunset mostly just saw me as a competitor for Celestia's affection. I would sometimes try to talk to her, and even asked her to tutor me in magic once, but she'd always either ignore or insult me. I never really took it to heart, but eventually I stopped trying. I also tried to connect with Celestia as a niece and steer her in the right direction, but she just ended up doing the same thing to me that she'd done to Sunset: she started sending me out to connect with other ponies instead. In my case, though, it actually worked. I ended up meeting an absolute hunk of a guard cadet who treated me like a real pony. Eventually I visited his house and met his adorable little sister and his lovely parents, and from then on it was like I had a second family with me in Canterlot..."
Cadance let out another heavy sigh and leaned her head onto Twilight's shoulder, "I miss them so much, but I can't break down and cry. Princesses don't do that, especially not when Equestria is in danger..."
Twilight wrapped her arms around Cadance and pulled her into a tight hug, "Princesses may not cry, but my Big Sister Best Friend Forever can, and I'll always be here for her if she needs to. We need to be strong, but I think you know as well as I do that locking our emotions away will only hurt us more. Let it all out, then let's try to get some sleep."
Cadance laid her head on Twilight's shoulder and quietly wept while Twilight ran her fingers through Cadance's hair. After a few minutes, Cadance pulled back from the hug and gave Twilight a slight smile, "When did you become an expert on emotions, LSBFF?"
Twilight smiled back before yawning, "I've learned from the best. Let's get to bed, I think I've had enough heavy thoughts today to last an entire lifetime..."
They both lay down to sleep and, after a few minutes of adjusting in order to find a somewhat comfortable spot, they both drifted to sleep, Twilight's arm loosely draped over Cadance's shoulder.
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8713910
I think leaving the Equestria side a mystery is a good idea, though I have to disagree with you on the criticism for this story, as I think it’s wonderful, and underappreciated.
I think it's a good story. Please, keep it going.
Huh. Most fics put Sunset as having gone through the mirror portal before Twilight was Celestia's student. This one has her going through after. interesting.
I totally agree with your depiction of Celestia here. One upcoming bit in my own Sunset story is that Sunset was especially angry about Celestia's "go make some friends" line because of how hypocritical it seemed to her.
I'll probably forget about the hair dye thing in a week or two, but maybe have blue for Twilight and red for Cadence.
IF Twi and Cady weren't sisters before the Wedding incident, then they're sisters now.
Moree please
if they manage to save Equestria. I think Celestia needs to step down for her poor handling on everything. and forced into therapy. THis is one of the worse versions of Celestia I have seen.
Hm, interesting. I don't really have much to say on Twilight specifically at this point, but your Cadence continues to get better and better which is perfectly fine by me. Your interpretation of Celestia (as interpreted by Cadence, that piece of context is important) is also interesting and plausible, and while it is certainly very different from my read on the Celestia/Twilight relationship as basically mother/daughter, I can definitely see where you are getting it from and it works great to set this story up so I'm fully behind you on that unlike some of the others here.
8714784
What criticism of this story? That comment was pure praise for this and pointing out how much better than canon it is shaping up to be. While it's obviously too early to say anything for sure at this point, if things continue as they are I'll be adding this story to my list of recommendations on my profile page which isn't something I do often.
8718524
Rereads comment
...fuck.
8718844
No problem, I figured that was the case.
8718981
Yeah, now I feel like an idiot. Slaps forehead
8719008
谷歌翻译不是男子汉的办法！如果你想懂我的玩笑，你得修四年的中文课！大傻瓜！你的绿帽子在哪儿？-- Mao Zedong
... Okay I actually did write this stuff with Google Translate in mind. I actually had to spend a few minutes writing alternate sentences because whatever I would type would give weird results in the translator.
8719254
It took me a few minutes to figure out what “高规则” was supposed to be... well played. 对基督教青年会，我只知道你可以跟所有的哥们聊天儿。
Well, I really hate to do this, especially so early in the story, but there won't be an update for at least another 2 weeks. I've been feeling under the weather mentally, and have had a huge pile of schoolwork heaped onto me, so I've not had the time or motivation to get this week's chapter where I'd like it to be. If you want to hear more, please read my blog post here. I'm deeply sorry that it had to be this way, but life just doesn't want me writing horsewords right now.
"Death is a preferable alternative to communism."
love the story though
8753501
What? I can't hear you over the sound of China standing up to the bourgeois-imperialists.
(Disclaimer: I am not an actual supporter of Mao or communism in general.)
8754769
'Merica!
lol I figured with this bit of satire "producing fanfiction with Chinese Characteristics" clever profile too.
I really look forward to the rest of the story!
This is one of those stories that has the potential to be epic! And you have so many ways to play this... hope you feel better and get enough time to keep on writing, though RL does always come first!
This is the best explanation, and the best explained explanation of what happened and more importantly why it happened, between Celestia and Sunset that I've ever seen.
The 'kind but distant' Celestia is entirely consistent with canon. And her fumble hoofed attempts to fix things without opening herself up to actual loss is once again consistent with her personality. While I can admire her for the skill with which she manages the routine of ruling Equestria, I think that we can all agree that Celestia is to crisis management what King Herod was to childcare. And that seems to go for her personal problems too.
Nice story so far, good work.
Very nice. I’m curious to see what Sunset expects to manifest in terms of returning to Equestria. Either she is hoping a fresh set of eyes will help, or she was perfectly content to wait despite there existing other possibilities.
I like how when fanfics manage to make Sunset compelling, they practically have to invent half of her character, including a proper backstory, richer personality, and explanations of how she got by in the human world, and yet people still claim that she's a deep and well-written character in canon alone.
8812185
Honestly one of my favorite things about the fandom is how far we collectively take characters that are, in all honesty, about as fleshed out as we can probably expect from a show from "Buy Our Toys" Hasbro. Random character with an animation error in the background of a party scene? Make her into a compelling character with thousands of stories. Random comic that doesn't make a whole lot of sense? Turn it into a cottage industry of fixfics. I haven't watched the show since Season 2, and yet Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, and Maud are some of my very favorite characters. I don't know these characters through canon, I know them through fanon, and the general trend in how the fans portray them is what makes me like them.
...Nope. Without you, Cadence and a not-mind-controlled Shining, there's likely going to be a freaking WAR.
Starlight Glimmer 'won' in the end, it seems.
"Oh, hi there, Dean Cadence! How's it going? ...Wait, why are you going to Canterlot High, with our resident genius in tow?"
--Later--
"Hello again, Dean Cadence; did you finish your duties at Canterlot High?" "Wait, what? I never went there!"
...Good luck with that, ponies - the two newcomers are too well-known around these parts for that to ever work.
8812471
why they changed their names and are supposed to change their hair.
Yes, Twilight, you are a tool and are being sharpened ever more. You and Sunset were meant to just get Luna out of the Moon and save the world a couple times.
9363786
in chapter 1... or series 2? ...forgot now.
sunset said they would buy hair dye later.