Alternative Origins

by TalkingToMyself

Chapter 23

Author's Note:

Thanks go to JMP for input to this and the next chapter.

Sunset Shimmer was impressed. It wasn’t something that happened a lot, but this was one of the times when she could even admit it to herself.
She worked her way through the walls of spells somepony set up around the narrow passage, each of them woven into another and layered in such a way that made it hard even for her to understand fully.

Anypony who didn’t know what to look for would never even see the passageway, as the entrance was laced with some disturbingly realistic illusion spell, woven in with spells of unaware and ignore. Like that, even a pony who accidentally looked at the entrance would see nothing, look away quickly and not even wonder why. The only way to get past this was to know exactly what to look for.

Three steps into the passageway, another layer of spells was set up, distraction spells woven with a deep sense of urgency. The first ones made Sunset think of literally anything but going in further, while the other one made sure that those thoughts seemed very important, clearly more important than wandering around here. If a pony came past the entrance, at this point they’d most likely turn around and take care of whatever stirred them, forgetting why they had come here in the first place on the way out.

Sunset Shimmer wasn’t just anypony though. She was skilled, powerful and very aware. Her talent in magic and her analytical mind made it possible to diffuse the layer of spells, admittedly with some effort. Cadance who was walking next to her seemed to notice something, but she wasn’t able to understand what really happened. Still, just like Sunset, she was focused on finding Princess Celestia and that was what kept her going forward.

Sunset glanced back at Crystal Note who was following them closely, but with more strain. She kept her eyes glued on Sunset and walked right behind her, almost as if Sunset was breaking a physical path for her as much as a magical one. Sunset noticed that Crystal Note’s coat and mane had their usual colours, but there was not a single sparkle anywhere. While not scared, the crystal pony seemed utterly focused on the task ahead, which for her meant following Sunset Shimmer.

The passageway led them to a narrow staircase that spiralled down into the lower levels of the palace. They had to single-file and Sunset wondered for a moment how Princess Celestia could fit through here, as the ceiling was very low.
Sunset walked up front of course, with Crystal Note following close behind. Cadance came last in an unspoken agreement between her and Sunset. Crystal Note didn’t have a horn and couldn’t sense the magic, but she was affected by the spells nonetheless. So whenever she felt the urge to turn around and go back, Cadance had an encouraging smile for her that kept her going further.

The spells faded as they climbed downwards and Sunset Shimmer summoned a mage light for them. They hadn’t walked very long yet, only a few minutes, but it seemed longer to Sunset as it gave her time to think.
What made Princess Celestia so desperate that she would retreat to this place? Why is this hidden so much? What am I even going to say when I find her?

The stairs ended at a simple, wooden door. A spellchecker told Sunset that the room behind it was sealed with privacy spells, so nothing said inside would ever leak out. Evidentially, nothing they said out here would ever reach inside either.
“This is it.”
Sunset Shimmer turned around and looked at Cadance. They nodded, both determined to confront Princess Celestia and face the consequences. Their reasons might not be all the same, but their worry about the princess was. This had gone too far already.

“I’ll stay here.”
Sunset Shimmer tore her eyes from the door and towards Crystal Note. The crystal pony was cowering against the wall and Sunset even saw a trace of grey on her coat. It made Sunset double check the spells, but she couldn’t find any enchantment that would instil fear to her.

Cadance locked eyes with Crystal Note and touched her hoof
“Crystal Note, we’ve come this far together. We’ll go through it together as well.”
Sunset rolled her eyes, this was cheesy even for the Princess of Love, but Crystal Note shook her head anyways
“You don’t understand. I know, I am absolutely certain, I should not go in, not even with you.”
“But why?”
Even though Cadance had asked, Crystal Note turned to Sunset and looked at her with those gemstone crystal eyes
“It’s like Sir Kibitz said. I can be supportive and I can help, but there’s only so much I can do. I’m not like you. This is as far as I can go.”
Sunset blew out her breath in an angry snort
“I didn’t think you were a quitter, Crystal Note.”
“I am not, Sunset Shimmer. But I know where my place in all this is.”

Sunset and Crystal Note kept their eyes locked for a minute. Sunset thought back of a similar discussion they had before about Crystal Note’s ‘place’. Back then, Crystal Note had been scared of Sunset, even terrified. Right now, Sunset saw nothing of this. Crystal Note was afraid, but it was the general situation that kept her senses on edge, not Sunset or Sunset’s plans.
Crystal Note would support those plans even if she didn’t understand them. And Crystal Note would not run away. She would stay here and wait for Sunset, even if things went south. Sunset knew this was true, because Crystal Note looked at her the same way she had looked at Princess Celestia when she had become the princess’ personal student.

If Cadance noticed anything of their silent agreement, Sunset couldn’t tell. Crystal Note nodded and took a spot from where she could watch the door. Cadance stood next to Sunset who reached out for the doorknob with her magic.
Then they went inside.

---

The room was spacey and empty. None of the usual glamour and grandeur had found its way down here. The walls were blank, no rugs of the stone floor and only the most basic of furniture. It just felt wrong to see Princess Celestia in a sparse room like this, down below the castle with no windows for her precious sunlight.

As the door bolted open, Celestia didn’t even notice it. She just kept staring at the wall with her back towards Cadance and Sunset as they walked in.

“Auntie? Are you okay?”
At the sound of Cadance’ familiar voice, she turned around and looked at them. At first, it seemed like she was looking straight through them, but then her eyes focused. Only to open wide in disbelief
“Sunset Shimmer? Cadance? What… you shouldn’t be here!”

Sunset snorted angry and slammed the door shut behind them
“No, Princess. You shouldn’t be here. What are you doing down here? Why did you tell everypony that you’d be in Cloudsdale?”
Princess Celestia faced Sunset’s glare but didn’t answer, not even when Cadance joined in with a far softer voice
“We were worried about you, Auntie. So we went looking for you. Please, Auntie Celestia, isn’t there any way we can help you?”

Princess Celestia looked at them, at Cadance first, then at Sunset and then back at Cadance
“How long have you been working together?”
Sunset and Cadance shared a sideway glance, but both kept their focus on Celestia as Sunset answered for them
“Pretty much since Cadance returned from her trip. We both noticed you behaving differently, Princess.”
Cadance confirmed with a nod and took a step towards the elder alicorn, with a troubled smile
“We’ve tried to help you since that day, but you seemed so worried, we didn’t dare to approach you. But now you left us no other choice.”

Celestia listened silently, and when Cadance finished her lips pulled up into a small, tired smile
“I was wondering where your sudden interest in the Crystal Empire came from, Cadance. I thought Crystal Note might have given you some ideas, but when you asked about the mirror, I knew Sunset was involved in one way or another.” She turned her head to look directly at Sunset “Isn’t that right, my talented student.”

Sunset felt her cheeks blush a little, but she held Celestia’s gaze
“You dodged all my questions and then you outright avoided me. I did what I felt I had to do.”
Celestia sighed, that same tired sigh Sunset Shimmer was so sick of hearing from her mentor
“Sunset, I’ve told you so many times, you’re not ready yet. In time, everything will be clear but for now, you need to be patient.”
Sunset closed her eyes. She was so sick of this. So sick of just getting pushed aside without any reason or explanation besides ‘you’re not ready yet’. She had swallowed this so many times, but now that Princess Celestia was obviously worried and downright suffering, she could not take it any longer.

She opened her eyes again and glared at Celestia, with all determination she had burning in her eyes
“No. I won’t wait any more. This is important and I need to know it. You can’t keep it away from me any longer. I can help. I can become stronger, much stronger, and powerful, if you stop hindering me.”
Celestia flared her wings and stood tall before her student, anger in her eyes
“Sunset Shimmer, I am still your teacher and therefore, I decide which lesson to teach and when to teach it. And right now, I say that you are not ready to advance your lessons.”

Sunset gritted her teeth
“And why? Because you are scared? Because I’m learning faster than you had expected? Because I figured out secrets nopony learned of before? Is that it? I might be able to pierce your armour of secrecy and half-truths, so you try to stop me?”
“Sunset Shimmer, you don’t talk to me like this! You will respect my decisions and…”
“NO!”
With a stomp of her hooves, Sunset interrupted the princess
“Something is wrong and even if you don’t want to admit it, it’s plain to see for anypony who cares to look. Even Kibitz and Crystal Note noticed it by now. Whatever reasons you might have, they are wrong, Princess!”

Celestia backed away a step, but not out of fear as Sunset could only see disappointment in her teacher’s expression
“I believed that you trusted me more than that, Sunset Shimmer. Have I ever taught you wrong in all our years together?”
Sunset shook her head
“Princess, I’ve never had a reason to doubt you before, but I have good reasons now. Let’s ignore the fact that you start to teach me something new, but whenever I get to something important, you change your lesson plan and dump something else on me,” Sunset said with a sneering voice, before she pointed at Cadance next to her, “But what reasons could you have to not tell your own niece about her destiny? Why didn’t you tell her about the Crystal Empire and her cutie mark? Why didn’t you help her figure out her alicorn senses? Why didn’t you tell her that your sister is Nightmare Moon?”

Cadance gasped next to her and stared at Princess Celestia with wide-open eyes. Celestia meanwhile deflated with each of Sunset’s word, until Nightmare Moon was mentioned. At that point, Celestia lost whatever control she had left and yelled at the top her voice
“MY SISTER IS NOT NIGHTMARE MOON!”
Sunset Shimmer and Cadance both backed away, especially since Princess Celestia’s horn flared up brightly along with her voice.

As soon as she saw the fear in their eyes, Celestia forced herself into a deep, slow breath. She folded her wings back to her sides and spoke with a far softer voice, but both Sunset and Cadance could hear the trembling behind it
“Whatever demon Nightmare Moon is, she is not my sister. The sister I knew and loved would never attack me and she would never let innocent ponies suffer from eternal night.”
She looked at her niece and sighed deeply
“I would have told you eventually, Cadance. I didn’t intend to keep secrets from you. Sunset Shimmer figured it all out during her studies, but you are still so new to magic and being a princess, I didn’t want to overwhelm you. That’s why I kept it a secret for now.”

Cadance stared at her, eyes still wide and bleary, but not from fear. Sunset watched and realized that she had seen an echo of this before, when Cadance had been able to tell how Celestia felt worried. A spark of recognition flickered through Cadance’ eyes and her voice was a barely a whisper
“You’re feeling guilty.”
Sunset’s head snapped back towards the Princess, but Celestia flinched back and turned away from her niece as Cadance continued
“Something happened to your sister and you feel guilty about it. You’re worried it might happen again and that’s why you’re withdrawing yourself. You fear you can’t stop it if it happens again.”
Cadance blinked and looked around the bland, nearly empty room
“That’s why you came here, isn’t it? This was her refuge. You came here to be closer to your sister.”

Sunset’s eyes opened wide as she grasped the implications behind Cadance’ discovery. The spells that had been set up to hide this room were some of the most complex, powerful and downright genial spell she had ever seen. If Princess Luna had set them up, she had to be a master of illusion magic and mind magic, even more than Princess Celestia even.
Mind magic. Sunset gasped and suddenly understood.
“That’s why you’re afraid of mind magic, isn’t it? Because your sister was better in it than you. Because she could understand it when you couldn’t. And I’ve been able to see through all of it, so that means I’m as good as her, maybe even better.”

Princess Celestia looked between the two young ponies in front of her, struggling for words, but unable to find words to say it seemed.
Cadance took a step towards her
“Auntie, I know you’re scared, but you don’t have to go through this alone. We can help.”
Sunset nodded and words tumbled out of her mouth almost faster than she could think
“If you teach us everything, we can stop her. If you show me how to become an alicorn, I would be as strong as you, maybe even stronger. I can fight Nightmare Moon and defeat her and prove that I’m ready to…”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!”
Princess Celestia yelled again, with anger and fear fighting for control behind her eyes
“You don’t know everything. You couldn’t know. Both of you are not ready. You will not pursue this any further. You will not fight Nightmare Moon because you wouldn’t stand a chance.”
This was when Sunset Shimmer reached her boiling point as well and screamed back
“Not if you keep holding me back! Why won’t you let me do this? Why teach me all you did if you won’t let me put it to use? Why did you let me learn all about magic and now refuse this last step to me? You know I deserve it!”

“Sunset Shimmer, I’ve just had enough of this. You are not ready, and the way you behave, I doubt you will ever be. Until you’re ready to accept this, all of your studies will be cancelled. Now leave this place at once and go to your room. I am very disappointed in you, my student.”
Sunset gritted her teeth and snarled in seething anger. She hated when Princess Celestia treated her like a child. How could Celestia expect her to trust her when this happened all the time?
She turned to Cadance who just stared at them, as clueless as she was pink. It had been a mistake to rely on her help, Sunset realized this now. Talking to Celestia was pointless as well. The princess would never think she was ready. If she ever wanted anything to change, Sunset had to do so by herself, for herself, and without anypony else to get in her way.

She turned around and smashed the door open with a blast of fire magic, breaking all the wards in the process. She stepped through the smoke and found Crystal Note, staring at her with deep concern and worry, even more when she noticed that Sunset was burning up in anger
“Come on, let’s go. We are leaving.”
Sunset barked out a command to Crystal Note and stomped her way up the stairs. She did not notice that Crystal Note took a moment to look past the broken door. The crystal pony looked at Cadance first who was still too confused to react, then at Princess Celestia. Her eyes hardened when she took in Celestia’s aggressive posture and angry face. Another glare hit the princess, cold anger instead of burning rage this time, but just as intense. Without a word and even a slither of hesitation, Crystal Note ran after Sunset Shimmer and away from the alicorns who stayed behind.

Comments

[JMP]

Did...anything actually change from the first time I read this? Your explanation for Celestia did make sense, but I was hoping you'd add in that Cadance scene you were mulling over. I could be wrong, since it's been about a month, but this seems largely the same as I remember.

[TalkingToMyself]

9642687
No, I've decided that Cadance and Celestia will talk in the next intermission chapter, which will be some time after Sunset and Crystal Note passed through the mirror. I'm still working on it.

[red-sun]

9642744
Will the two passed through the mirror? spoiler
an advice
try not to give that kind of information

[TalkingToMyself]

10095265
Oops, sorry
I'll try to be more careful in the future!

But it happens in the next chapter anyways, so...