Equestrian Girl

by HorseStories

VIII:Schism

Sunset held the amulet up to eye level, keenly searching for any kind of identifying marks. She'd never seen anything like it before, but she was certain it wasn't an Equestrian artefact. Shim had wordlessly pressed it into her hand the second she'd walked through the front door, and she now stood across from her, waiting expectantly.

"I'm assuming this is what I think it is?"

"Maybe."

Sunset groaned in frustration, pulling the talisman over her head. She frowned, fiddling with the pendant as she did so. "Are you sure? This doesn't... feel right."

Shim said nothing, merely gestured at herself in frustration.

"All right, all right..." Sunset focused on Shim, willing the magic within her to come to the surface. To her delight, she felt the familiar rush of energy surging through her veins - though somehow, it felt different this time. Instead of the usual calmness she was used to experiencing, Sunset found herself filled with an indescribable sensation of anger, and it took every ounce of strength she had not to immediately turn on Shim and rip her to shreds. Instead, she closed her eyes and allowed the magic to see for her.

The aura surrounding Shim was unmistakeably a curse. It was amateurish, though not as much as she had been expecting. What was unusual was the way it behaved. It didn't try to hide itself, and not once did it resist her attempts to dismantle it. Even the most basic curses didn't advertise themselves like this.

It didn't last ten seconds against her. As Sunset prepared to rip the final strand of the curse from Shim, a sudden thought struck her.

Why am I doing this?

Despite the events of the past few days, she didn't entirely trust Shim - nor did she believe she was being as truthful as she claimed. Well, this seemed like the perfect time to take precautions. She could lace her doppelgänger with more monitoring charms and truth-telling hexes than a Tartaran war criminal, and Shim would be none the wiser.

A grim smile on her face, Sunset ripped the final strand of the curse from Shim and cast it aside, ears pricking up in pleasure at the sound of its scream as it vanished into the aether. A location tracking curse would be a good start. She slowly pieced an incantation together in her mind, before casting it on Shim.

Nothing.

She tried again. Still nothing.

Sunset tried another spell. Then another. Every single time, she found herself helpless. The amulet was clearly bursting at the seams with magical potential - it had let her remove the curse from Shim effortlessly! Gritting her teeth, Sunset fired off a volley of different spells - turning the lights off, lifting the couch in the air, setting the cupboard on fire. Every single one failed, the amulet steadfastly refusing to respond to her will.

Sunset slowly opened her eyes. The room was untouched, save for Shim, who was giving her an odd stare.

"Didn't it work?"

Sunset nodded. "It should have. Try it."

"Uh, I guess... Well, I got this amulet from Beatrix." Shim's eyes lit up. "Oh, thank God. I swear I was going to go crazy if I had to go another day without complaining about her. Listen, you're going to want to hear what I've got to say."

Sunset nodded, only half listening to what Shim was saying. Why didn't it work? "I'm all ears."

"Well... I don't really know where to begin." Shim scratched the back of her head. "Broad strokes, I guess. Beatrix is a wit- magician. Marius was her great-great-great-great-granddaddy or something. According to her, I was right about the whole Sombra-Marius connection."

Sunset silently processed this information. So, Sombra really had been a human all along. "And?"

"Well, she claims there's this kind of... I don't know, all-powerful being in your world. Called Discord. Sound familiar?"

Sunset nodded. Discord, the Lord of Chaos. He had played a relatively short, but destructive, role in Equestria's founding. "Sure. I remember studying for my midterms under his statue."

"Well, she claims he was the one who brought magic to this world in the first place. Discord made a deal with Marius. His family would be given magical abilities, and in return, Marius - or Sombra - would entertain him by bringing war and destruction to your world."

Sunset pinched the brow of her nose. Any other time, she would have been fascinated to learn more about Sombra's origins, but right now, her attention was still focused on her magic - or lack thereof. "Look, we might still have a problem."

Shim's expression dropped slightly. "As in?"

"I... don't think this artefact is... well, it's not what I was expecting. It's different, somehow. I really don't know how to explain it"

"Why don't you try something? Anything."

"I tried. Look, this person... Beatrix? Did she do anything special when she used her magic? Did she say anything, wear anything?"

It took a few seconds for Shim to answer. "Well, not really. She had one of those things. And her eyes went... strange."

"Strange how?"

"Like, her whole eye was glowing green, with smoke coming from the corners. It creeped me out."

Though she should have expected it, Sunset couldn't help an exasperated sigh escaping from her lips. Of course, Sombra's descendants would have used the same magic he did. Once again, she was back to step one.

This was not good news. Sunset might be a master of Equestrian magic, but she knew next to nothing of the magic Sombra used. Celestia had steadfastly refused to give Sunset even an introduction to dark magic, no matter how much she plead. The amulet was presumably enchanted using dark magic, which would explain why it had interacted so well with Beatrix's curse - but it couldn't understand a single one of her own spells. This wouldn't do.

"It's not going to work."

"Huh?" Shim gave her an odd look. "What do you mean?"

"This... thing. It uses a different type of magic than I'm used to. I can't use it to cast spells."

"You sure? You got rid of that curse, didn't you?"

"That was different." Sunset snapped, her bitterness at having seized defeat from the jaws of victory surfacing. "I don't know how this thing works. I..." She sighed. "I need an Equestrian artefact. But I can't imagine I'll be getting my hands on one of those anytime soon."

"So... what?" Shim sounded strained. "Are you telling me I befriended that... that... witch for nothing?!"

Sunset couldn't help but laugh at that. "You're a real people person, aren't you?"

"Laugh it up. I was waiting till after you got your magic back to tell you the bad news."

"Bad news. Great." Sunset tore the amulet off her neck and tossed it over her shoulder, before collapsing into the couch. "Lay it on me."

"She..." Shim sighed. "She knows about the portal."

Sunset merely let out a long, protracted groan in response. "How?"

"I... I sort of... told her."

Sunset shot up in her seat. "You what?!?"

"I didn't want to!" Shim's hands shot into the air in protest. "Look, you weren't there, all right? She probably knew I was lying from day one, and she's fucking scary when she needs to be."

"And you just gave her this information? Without thinking how it might affect me?"

"What, should I have waited for her to start pulling my fingernails out?" Shim shot right back. "We don't have time to argue about this. She knows the portal exists, she knows where it is, she knows people have come through before and will do in the future. As far as I can see, the only thing she doesn't know about it you. She's going to try and shut the portal sometime. What are y- what are we going to do?"

To Shim's frustration, Sunset merely shrugged apathetically. "Nothing." Shim opened her mouth to protest, but Sunset silenced her with a wave of her hand. "That portal's constructed from Equestrian magic. She can fiddle around with it as much as she likes, it won't matter. She couldn't close it if she wanted to. And she doesn't sound like the kind of person who'd go to the guards - I mean, the police."

Of course, that also meant Sunset couldn't open the portal with the amulet, even if she was able to learn it's magic. Privately, Sunset wondered if Discord had deliberately constructed the portal from Equestrian magic to prevent Sombra's descendants from altering the portal, while still ensuring it would survive beyond him. If the situation wasn't so dire, she could have almost appreciated the simple elegance of it all.

Her last hope had just been dashed against the rocks. She would be stuck here for another thirty moons, barring a miracle. The very thought of it caused the strength to drain from every limb in her strange, alien body. Emotion crashed over her in waves, but she felt no tears. She'd already cried for Equestria - now she could only wait for it.

"I'm just..."

Closing her eyes, she succumbed to her exhaustion and drifted into unconsciousness.

---

From across the room, Shim watched the catatonic teenager with a sense of unease. Sunset had always been so filled with vigour and passion that it genuinely disturbed Shim to see her so apathetic and dejected.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was reminded of her thesis - the one that had started all of this. Sunset hadn't been nearly as much help as Shim had hoped she would be. But, of course, she had something better now.

It might be too late for Sunset, but it wasn't too late for her. Sitting down at her desk, Shim opened her laptop and booted up her word processor. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard for the briefest of moments, before she began to type.

Interdimensional matter displacement through undiscovered natural phenomena.

---

Sunset's eyes flickered open. The sun was already high in the sky, its light streaming through the windows and illuminating the thick haze of dust floating around the apartment. Apparently it moved on its own in this world. How strange.

Shim was asleep, splayed over an open laptop, clearly having collapsed in the middle of an all nighter. Her eyes were surrounded by thick dark circles, and a half-finished cup of coffee teetered precariously on the side of her desk. Sunset rose to her feet and strode across the room, steadying the drink before it could fall onto the floor. She briefly considered waking Shim up, but immediately decided against it. She definitely needed a rest.

She briefly tried to read the mess of equations of diagrams Shim had typed up, but quickly gave up. Whatever it was, it almost certainly wasn't important.

Sunset straightened up and stretched her arms. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she vaguely remembered she was supposed to be attending school. After the events of last night, it hardly seemed to matter any more. Maybe she should just go back to bed.

But she knew she couldn't do that. She had a reputation to build. And, once again, she didn't want to let Celestia down. She must be getting soft. If she left now, she probably wouldn't be too late to catch the end of first period. Sunset spent a few minutes changing, then slipped out the front door, closing it quietly behind her so as not to disturb Shim. Her eyes narrowed as her vision slowly adjusted from the gloom of the empty apartment to the bright sunlight. At least it wasn't raining this time. In fact, the sun was shining, and the sound of birdsong was somehow a comforting reminder of home. If she hadn't spent the whole time checking over her shoulder for flashing lights, she could almost have enjoyed the peace the walk to school brought.

A few heads turned when she slipped into her classroom, but Sunset was fairly sure she had got away with it. Besides, she barely needed to pay attention to keep up with Cheerilee's classes. Cheerilee grumbled slightly at her late arrival, but didn't try to lecture her.

Sunset idled for the rest of class, half-heartedly taking notes and answering questions, more out of boredom than any real need to learn. Her mind wandered, and she inevitably found herself returning to the events of last night.

Could she really do this for another thirty moons? Though she had strived to maintain composure in unfamiliar circumstances - just as Celestia had taught her - the increasing hopelessness of the situation was starting to grip her. Without her magic, she was practically defenceless. If she wanted to get ahead - no, if she even wanted to survive - she would need to learn more about human social networking, and fast. Befriending Rainbow and Flash had been smart moves, but it wasn't enough.

And when the portal opened - what then? She'd be arrested the second she walked through. Celestia would probably have a team of Royal Guards waiting for her on the other side. Even if, by some impossibility, she escaped their grasp, she'd have to spend the rest of her life as a fugitive. Unacceptable.

Idly, she began to write down her choices on the paper in front of her. Somehow, after the past few days of uncertainty, it was comforting to see such clear lines drawn between her present and future.

One: Don't go home.

Of course, she knew that wasn't really an option. She was a foal of Equestria, and missed her homeland dearly. Still, it was technically an option. If she wanted, she could disappear forever in this world and never be found. All of Celestia's soldiers couldn't find her in a thousand years.

Two: Go home, face the music.

Maybe Celestia would be merciful. But Sunset doubted it. In fact, she had probably already moved on to one of her other prodigies. If she was lucky, Sunset might one day be allowed to teach a magic kindergarten class. And someone like her was destined for so much better.

Three: Go home and take over.

Seven billion. The number had bounced around in her head from the day she had first read it. Seven billion humans versus... If she was recalling the most recent census data correctly, five million ponies - most of whom had no desire to die for their country against impossible odds.

If she could slip back into Equestria and return with an artefact undetected, the human race would bend to her will. With no real magic of their own, how could they resist? Equestria would prove no match for her legion of human slaves. Celestia had her flaws, but Sunset didn't think she'd demand her subjects die for her just to prove a point.

And she didn't have long. The fate of Equestria itself was in her hands. Shim knew. Beatrix knew. Presumably, others knew. Equestria was open and undefended, and it was only a matter of time before humans decided to invade.

Celestia was weak. She didn't have the guts to do what was necessary - and so it fell to Sunset to save her country. And when she had done that, she would be crowned the new Princess of Equestria, just as the mirror had promised. And she would destroy anything - and anyone - that stood in her way.

---

Shim took another sip of her coffee, staring bleary-eyed at the mess she had written over the course of her most recent all-nighter. Though in serious need of a clean-up, the foundation of it was solid. Of course, she still had to find out how magic actually... well, worked. Bizarre radio signals weren't much to go on.

She hadn't called Beatrix yet. In part, it was because she didn't want to risk alerting her to the fact that the curse had been broken. Although she doubted Beatrix would be able to tell from a phone call, she wasn't taking any chances until she'd asked Sunset.

But more than that, she was afraid Beatrix wouldn't take too kindly to her attempts to publish a thesis about magic, even if it was of a different kind. Even without their gift, a wealthy and powerful family like that could probably arrange suitable circumstances for her to 'disappear' under. She needed to find some way to reassure Beatrix that the discovery of the portal wouldn't affect her family.

Shim picked up her phone, staring at her reflection in the black glass as she continued to turn her options over in her head. The wrong move could ruin everything she'd worked towards these past few months.

Slowly, Shim punched Beatrix's phone number into her cell and pressed dial. The phone only had time to ring once before the line was connected.

"Shim?"

Shim paused for a second before responding. "Hey. I was just... uh, you know, calling to check you were still down to check that... that thing we talked about."

For ten agonizing, unbearable seconds, Beatrix didn't say anything. Shim was moments away from smashing her phone in half and heading for the nearest airport when Beatrix finally spoke up.

"Sorry. God, thank you for calling, gave me an excuse to get away from my mother for a minute. Still there?"

Shim gripped her phone tighter in her hand, feeling herself break out into a cold sweat. "Yes - yes! Still here!"

"Good." Beatrix sounded bored, but not suspicious. "Of course. It was my idea, remember? But I wanted a little more time to study what I know about portals. Well, actually, a lot more time. And then there's the little matter of me getting married in a few months."

"Oh, right." Shim cringed at the awkwardness of the line. She was mercifully able to catch herself from congratulating Beatrix.

"Yeah. So... give me some time. A few months, at least. I know that sounds like a long time, but I'm not just going to charge headfirst into this without preparing properly. Are you still messing around with your meters?"

"I... I guess? I left one of them there, just to keep track. Should I get rid of it?"

Beatrix paused. "No. Keep it there. Let me know if you get any unusual readings. And, obviously, don't tell anyone else about this. I mean, not like you could." Shim could hear the muffled sound of voices in the background. "Shit. I have to go. My mother wants me to try on about fifteen thousand more wedding tiaras." Beatrix didn't even try to hide the contempt in her voice.

"Right. Sorry to hear that."

"I'm over it. I guess I should apologize for the way I was acting yesterday. I shouldn't have taken it out on you or Sunburst. It's not your fault. And he's right, we'll both be free from our families when we're hitched. Hey, do you want to come?"

"Er..." Shim faltered. "Do you mean... to the wedding?"

"Why not? After all, it's meant to be my big day. I'm sure my mother won't object to me inviting a few additional guests. The service will blow, but the afterparty should be fucking nuts. No kids or old crones to push us around and a blank cheque. If you've ever wanted to see bourgeois degeneracy on full display, it's probably your best chance."

Shim wasn't sure she liked the sound of that, but a wedding invitation wasn't really something you could just turn down. "I mean, sure. Thanks. I appreciate it."

"Oh, God, have some self-worth. Honestly, you've made the past few days bearable. I might have drowned Sunburst in the swimming pool yesterday if I hadn't had you to distract me. I'd love to have you there." More mumbling in the background, angrier and louder. "Look, I really have to go. I'll call you sometime soon."

With a soft click, she was gone. Shim felt like laughing. A wedding invite was just about the last thing she'd expected from that phone call. At least she knew Beatrix still trusted her. For now.

Still, it wasn't all good news. Her research into the portal had been set back by months. Until then, she'd have to rely on her own research.

Of course, she could ask Sunset. But she'd never help her expose the secrets of a portal to Equestria. In fact, for now it was probably better she didn't mention anything about her research to her. Shim wasn't going to risk becoming the most celebrated physicist of the last century - no, the last millennium - for anything.

She would need to keep a close eye on Sunset. If she became a problem...

Well, Beatrix would definitely be interested to hear about her. Grateful, even.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Oof. Wrong color of mana. I've been there. Always frustrating.

Whatever it was, it almost certainly wasn't important.

Oh, Sunset.

Definitely one of the better justifications for the teenage army I've seen. Nice work there.

And yeah, these two are definitely the same person. This isn't a friendship, it's an alliance of convenience. The question is which one will consider the other inconvenient first... though I think we know the answer there. After all, Sunset's referenced plenty of familiar moments, but we don't see hide or hair of Shim by the time Twilight comes to this world. Still, we'll see what happens.