• Published 20th Jun 2019
  • 2,735 Views, 66 Comments

A Tale of Two Suns, Book 2: Mysteries Across the Mirror - Lupin



Sunset Shimmer's life has taken a big turn since Sunny Skies came to stay. But things are hardly calm, as new mysteries and dangers are rising from both sides of the mirror.

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Prologue

Prologue

It was late afternoon in Ponyville as Starlight Glimmer walked into Twilight's private library. She had a letter to Sunburst that she needed to mail. They'd been corresponding ever since Starlight's trip to the Crystal Empire. It felt... good to talk to him again, to have him back in her life. It honestly surprised her how much she'd missed him, and that eagerness to reconnect had resulted in her bypassing the regular post in favor of dragon fire spells.

Twilight was, unsurprisingly to Starlight, or any other pony for that matter, surrounded by books. Spike sat off to the side, engrossed in his comics.

The alicorn looked up. "Oh, hello, Starlight. Did you need something?"

"I need Spike to mail this," she replied, floating her letter over to Spike.

Looking up from his comics, Spike let out a puff of green flame, and the letter vanished, transported off to its destination.

"Thanks, Spike," That done, Starlight looked back to her mentor, and noticed the crystal outlines on some of the books. "Are those from the Crystal Empire?"

Twilight nodded. "I got to borrow a few while we were there last time. You know, I'd only gotten a glance at the history and culture of the empire when I first saw it, but it's really fascinating. And their studies of gemology and mineralogy are really fascinating," she proclaimed, pointing at her current book, a study of gemstones.

"I'll take your word for it," said Starlight, not really all that interested in gemology herself.

Suddenly, there was a humming noise, and the journal sitting near the large full-length mirror began to glow and shake. "Excuse me," said Twilight, lowering her current book and bringing the journal over. Opening it up, she scanned the pages, and a soft smile spread over her face. "Oh, thank goodness."

"Something good happen?" asked Starlight.

"Hmm?" Twilight looked up from the journal. "Oh, yes. My friend Sunset Shimmer had some good news to share."

"You made a friend from a parallel universe?" She knew that book, whatever it was, was connected to the machinery that made the mirror portal work, though in truth, she was still trying to wrap her head around the existence of parallel universes.

"Yes and no," responded Twilight. "Sunset is originally from this side of the mirror. She was Princess Celestia's student before me. She," the alicorn hesitated, "she ended up running away there a long time ago. I don't know all the details myself, but not long after I became an alicorn, she tried to steal the Element of Magic."

Starlight's eyebrows shot up, and Twilight gave her a summary of the incident, and a basic explanation of how the mirror portal was meant to work, and how her machine worked, how it bypassed the limitations of Starswirl's design.

"So... let me see if I have this straight," said the unicorn after Twilight had finished speaking. "On the other side of the mirror is a world where these... hu... mans... who are more like monkeys, are the dominant species, there's no natural magic, and the portal is located in front of a high school where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are principals? And Sunset Shimmer is still living there along with duplicates of your friends?"

"Doppelgangers," said Spike, lazily turning a comic page. "Mine and Twilight's doppelgangers are there, too, but mine is a dog."

"Spike," said Twilight in pleasant surprise, "Where did you learn such an advanced word?"

The little dragon pointed to his comic.

"Is your doppelganger a principal, too?" asked Starlight.

"No, she's a student."

Starlight tilted her head. "Why is she younger than you?"

Twilight shrugged. "I have no idea. I've been wondering myself, but I haven't had the time to properly investigate the age discrepancy."

Starlight sat back on her haunches. To say that she was both extremely dumbfounded and impressed by Twilight's technical and magical achievement was an understatement. To say that she was fascinated and awed by the description, however brief, of an alien universe was also an understatement.

But more than that, she felt a sense of connection to this Sunset Shimmer. Like her, this was another magically gifted unicorn looking for redemption, and one who may have found it with a new group of friends.

Starlight pointed at the journal, now even more curious to know about this pony across the mirror. "So, what was the message about?"

"Well, Sunset's had some problems lately," explained Twilight. "Some time back, somepony, reported her to their equivalent of Foal Protective Services as a minor living alone. The agent that came to investigate was... unpleasant, or so I've been told. Very unpleasant. She insisted on sticking Sunset with a family that lived far outside of the city. The distance would have been bad enough, but Sunset also wasn't all that happy at the idea of living with them in general."

"Why not?" asked Starlight.

Twilight hesitated for a second, then flipped back a few pages in her journal, and pointed to an entry. Starlight read it over, a description of the intended foster sister, and grimaced. What an airhead. She wouldn't have wanted to live with them either. In fact, she'd probably have jumped off a cliff first.

"Of course," continued Twilight, taking the journal back. "I didn't know anything about it at the time. We were in Horseshoe Bay when this happened. But it was all very tense for a while."

"How'd she get out of it?"

"That's the surprising part," said Twilight. "Princess Celestia stepped in and pretended to be her mother."

Starlight's mouth fell open. "Really?" Then, the unicorn paused. "Wait... Princess Celestia hasn't gone anywhere lately. How did she...?"

"Some form of duplication spell," answered Twilight. "A rather fascinating one at that. It's on my list of new spells to try."

"Number ninety-seven," added Spike.

It was then that Twilight looked rather sheepish. "It also turns out that she was using the mirror portal while we were home. She was that light you thought you saw in here."

Starlight tilted her head, not believing what she'd just heard. "Why would she need to do that?"

"It's... rather personal, but it's been resolved." The alicorn flushed. "But I see your point about having a lock. Spike, could you put that on the list of things to add to tomorrow's list?"

"Already done," said the dragon. He rolled his eyes. "You should have done that after Starlight broke in."

Starlight suppressed an 'I told you so'. "So, what was in the latest message?"

Twilight smiled. "It seems Sunset had another run-in with Pearl and things actually turned out quite well. Better than expected. In fact, it looks like her problems may be over." Gingerly, Twilight floated the journal back to its resting place. "And not soon enough. I was stressed just reading about everything."

Considering how Twilight had panicked when she'd caught up on her missed messages, Starlight knew that was an understatement. Turning to look at the wall clock, Starlight jumped to her hooves. "Is that the time? I need to get going. Rarity wanted me to help her work on some gown she's designing, said I'm close to the right size. I need to meet her in five minutes."

Giving a quick goodbye to Twilight and Spike, Starlight headed out the doors of Friendship Castle toward Carousel Boutique. While she walked, her mind turned over the idea of the world beyond the mirror, and the unicorn so like herself that lived there. One day, perhaps, Starlight would get to meet her. What kind of conversations could they have, about their own lives, or about magic itself?

But for now, Starlight was simply happy to know that Sunset's troubles were over, and everything was back to being peaceful over there. And hopefully, things would stay peaceful over here, too.

Author's Note:

Those of your reading this from 08/01/19 and onwards are probably wondering why this is suddenly here, as it hadn't existed before today. Well, I got a comment recently that said this story really could have used a prologue, a little recap of the first book.

I thought it over, and realized I had an idea for one that would work just fine. Additionally, if a little prologue would further help to smooth things over between Book 1 and Book 2, well, I was all for it. I know things have been... rough, shall we say.

YES, I'm still working on chapter 3. I know many of you probably wish to strangle me with your bare hands over it, and I can't say I blame you. I'm not happy about it either. But I can promise you that it will indeed materialize.

ALSO: I posted something new on my blog here. It's a very important announcement for me as a creator on this site, so please read it.