Chapter 5 - Pleasures Remain...So Does the Pain
For those who haven't yet read it, now's the time to read Music Box Blues, which is a canonical side-story to My Empire of Dirt that takes place at approximately the same time as this chapter.
Chapter 5 - Pleasures Remain...So Does the Pain
Dear Princess Celestia,
I’m afraid I must apologize right off the bat; I am not Sunset Shimmer. Whatever rules of the multiverse have conspired to make it so, Sunset finds herself in the care of a Celestia again. Princess Twilight Sparkle can probably explain better than I, but apparently, you and I share many things beyond a name, but to provide some evidence, if it can be called such, I offer the following: I gather from the previous entries in this journal that something happened to your sister Luna, and as of the final entry you left over three years ago by our calendar, you still hadn’t had her returned to you. While I don’t know the specifics, I know something of that pain and understand your unwillingness to speak of it to your student. I, too, lost my Luna for a while. Due to some problems when we were young where she perceived that our friends were abandoning her in favor of me during the period after our parents died in an accident, she was incarcerated for 1,000 days. While she has come to terms with what happened and uses medication to control the depression that led to the incident, I still feel that the ultimate responsibility for the incident is mine. If whatever occurred between you and Luna was at all similar to what happened with us, then I hope that you can use the relationship as a bit of hope that things will get better.
As for the reason I, and not Sunset, am writing to you...we have a bit of a problem. During the events of the Fall Formal (which I’m sure Princess Twilight briefed you on) some magic was used that at first seemed to simply instill a sense of humility in Sunset and strip her of some power, as well as undo a...would the word “transformation” be accurate? In the days following, though, the magic somehow crippled Sunset’s ability to communicate. She cannot talk except in her sleep, and what she does say when she’s sleeping indicates she’s having night-terrors. For whatever reason, save for when a certain trigger happens (which we’ve only managed to activate twice, so we’re not quite sure what the trigger even is), she is unable to write anything, even on the computer or cell phone. Any attempts to do so cause a seizure in Sunset. We’ve adapted a cell phone with software that’s normally used for low-functioning children with communication problems, but the responses are by nature limited, so while Sunset may have the knowledge of what’s happened to her, she’s unable to relay it in such a way as to help us make sense of what’s going on.
As a former caretaker of Sunset, you should also know that she tried to commit sui kill hers take her own life. She also has some severe injuries to her right arm that happened during a time of about 12 hours where we can’t account for Sunset’s activities or location and she’s unable to tell us what happened.
In short, Sunset is suffering from intense trauma, very likely has PTSD and situationally induced depression, and magically enforced communication impairment.
While I’m hesitant to involve anyone else in our problems, there are other things that are happening around Sunset and the use of magic at the Fall Formal you should know about.
I don’t know if Princess Twilight has explained this, but here ‘magic’ is considered to be either parlor tricks that are done by sleight-of-hand, or a fantasy or mythical force that exists only as a narrative trope in fiction. Consequently, we’ve been under growing pressure from the parents of our students and various government agencies to explain the events and provide reassurances, and the ‘convenient gas line explosion’ line is growing increasingly more challenging to keep going. The staff and student body of the school are helping as best they can, but ultimately we won’t be able to keep this going much longer, and I fear that in attempting to protect the students, some teachers may find themselves on the wrong side of law enforcement.
Additionally, the use of magic seems to be spreading in an uncontrolled way. One of our students, one of those befriended by Princess Twilight during her time here, accidentally used magic in such a way that it injured three other students to the point of needing emergency medical care. Please let Princess Twilight know, if you relay this to her, that Rainbow Dash is fine and the injured students are expected to recover fully.
We need help. Whether you can (please) reopen the portal so we can have an expert in magic take a look at her or even just advise on how to handle the situation, whatever you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Principal Celestia Faust
To: Sunday Sprinkles, Director, FBI
From: Red Tape, Legal Counsel, Canterlot City High School District
Subject: Unauthorized and unlawful activity of FBI agents on school district property
Director Sprinkles,
Please see the attached federal court order to halt all activities of your agents on the property of the Canterlot City High School District. The actions the agents who have already been banned from Canterlot High are now also under restraining order regarding all Canterlot City High School District personnel and students. Any violation of this order will be met with the fairly severe reprisals listed in the document for convenient reference.
-R.T. Legal Counsel
Dear Principal Celestia,
I am sincerely grateful that you have reached out to me, and I have a team being put together to work on the problem of gaining access to your world again. While I normally wouldn’t interfere with the workings of my teacher Starswirl the Bearded so many years since his death, I believe the situation with Sunset Shimmer alone merits interfering with the normal flow of interdimensional magic, let alone the issues with magic use and the interference of your government.
I have suspended my usual court tomorrow morning so that we may converse more readily, and additionally, I’ll have Twilight Sparkle with me to aid in the communication challenges that may exist. (Would Twilight have encountered this “cell phone” that you wrote about to be able to explain it? I am most interested, as it may help some of my little ponies that are similarly born with communication difficulties.)
In the meantime, any further information on the symptoms of magical suppression you’re seeing in Sunset Shimmer would be appreciated. Any little thing you notice could be the clue that unlocks this mystery.
In regards to my sister, soon after that final entry I made to Sunset, Twilight and her friends assisted in freeing Luna from the clutches of the Nightmare. Luna has since embraced the Nightmare Night holiday and has become beloved of the children of the nation. It’s a great amusement and consternation that she has taken to “pranking” during the month leading up to Nightmare Night.
Would you be able to tell me more about the medication your Luna takes? There are times where I catch my Luna in a...melancholy mood. Though she does try to reassure me that she is fine, I remain concerned and watchful. If the medication is effective at treating depression, I might suggest it to my sister.
Yours Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
Dear Ms. Blaze, Ms. Dusk, and Ms. Dazzle (and their parents/guardians):
Canterlot High School is pleased that you are interested in applying to transfer to our school to continue your education. We regret to inform you that at this time we’re unable to accept your application to transfer. This is not due to any issue with your paperwork or credentials (which we would be more than happy to accept under normal circumstances) but due to events beyond our control. Please advise your parents/guardians that we will be reopening enrollments for transfers for the Spring semester and will be happy to provide testing for any of our core subjects to prove independent study progress and, upon request, will be providing references for Canterlot High School District approved tutors to keep you up to speed with the coursework your future classmates will be doing. Of course, we will understand if this delay will not suit your situation and would be happy to provide references and vouchers to other schools that are able to take new students at this time, such as our sister private school Crystal Preparatory Academy.
Please contact our office at any time during school hours to pursue any of these options, and thank you for giving us the opportunity to prepare you for your future successes.
Sincerely,
Vice-principal Luna
Dear Princess Celestia,
Thank you for replying, I hadn’t realized how much I’d been dreading facing the current crisis unassisted until your reply made me feel as though the world had been lifted from my shoulders!
To clarify my earlier statements about magic - We don’t have any, or at least we didn’t before the Fall Formal. While there may have been tiny pockets (it can clearly exist here, so I wouldn’t rule out the existence of small amounts, especially as the inspiration for some of our myths and legends), it’s always been considered a non-existent thing, so there’s been no serious study or enough of a framework for me to be able to identify anything specific to ‘suppression’ magic. I’m afraid you’ll have to give me a bit of an education on that.
As far as taking the time, while I do appreciate the gesture of canceling a court hearing, I’m afraid I’m still catching up on my own duties as principal. I had taken a week off work to address Sunset’s immediate needs, so I will be quite busy. I will do my best to reply as soon as possible whenever you message and will leave the journal with my secretary Raven in case something comes up that requires my immediate attention.
Of additional note, while Princess Twilight will undoubtedly have encountered numerous cell phones during her time here, it’s unlikely that she’ll have gotten more than a cursory understanding of how they work. I’ve had to make myself proficient in their use owing to the proliferation of their use amongst my students, I’m afraid I’d prefer to refer you to some reference texts once you have access to this side of the portal, presuming your efforts to reopen it bear fruit. The best “simple” explanation that I can offer is that a modern cell phone is a handheld computer that connects to the Internet using radios.
As far as the medication goes, it’s marketed under the name Tantabus. I’d have to be able to spend some time doing research to find out the actual chemical properties of the active ingredients to tell you more, though. Maybe you have Tantabus on your side?
Sincerely,
Principal Celestia
Dear Princess Celestia,
Sorry! I’m still not used to addressing you by just your name and not your title, I’ll continue to work on it.
Anyway, thank you so much for the update and I will be heading to Canterlot just as soon as I wrap up the latest craziness that came out of, believe it or not, one of Spike’s comic books. I’m especially concerned about the friend that Principal Celestia mentioned that was using magic. Any idea on who it was, specifically? It might also help to know the exact circumstances of the use, since as you know, fledgling magic among foals always happens due to an emotional prompt of some sort. It might be an early indicator of further incidents at the high school if magic is growing in that universe.
Your faithful student friend,
Twilight Sparkle
Dear Principal Celestia,
I am heartened and relieved that even just my correspondence is helping in lightening your load. As you know from my final entries in the journal before your’s, I have had her constantly on my mind since she ran away exiled herself left.
As far as the issue of the Day Court, I certainly don’t mind canceling it, and even your occasional response will be plenty of excuse for me to take a day or two from seeing Equestria’s nobles trying to ply the throne for more of my little ponies’ tax money is a welcome relief, even if (like your duties as Principal) they cannot be delayed forever.
I’m noticing quite a few parallels in our worlds and quite a few ways in which they differ. We both have a Raven Inkwell that serves as a liaison and advisor, of sorts, that ensure our days run efficiently.
Speaking of which, perhaps we should use this as an ideal opportunity to allow my government to open relations with yours. My dear Twilight Sparkle informs me that it is only a matter of hours now until we are able to open the portal. She has volunteered to go through again to begin the process of opening up an embassy, which she advises should prove quite easy now that she has come up with a way to keep the portal open permanently. Apparently, there was a bit of an epiphany when she was visited by her Ponyville friends and Pinkie Pie gave her the ideas on how to make the portal open permanently. Once the Royal Society of Mages and the staff of the School for Gifted Unicorns finishes working with Twilight to make her design for modifying the mirror something more than (and I’m quoting Professor Bright Eyes on this), “an eye-melting horror of a prototype that, while functional, has so few safeguards that it is nearly a universe destroying bomb waiting to happen,” we’ll open up the portal outside of its pre-designed cycle for the first time since its creation.
I do hope to see Sunset with my own eyes again soon and look forward to meeting my counterpart, as well as that of my sister.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
Transcript, recorded for use by the Royal Archivist.
(Transcriber’s note: Original source is a “video recording,” much like one of the recent “talky” films that have become popular from the west coast film industry out of Applewood. The display that was used to show the video was given to the Canterlot Embassy required quite a bit of tutoring to learn to use, but this transcriptionist is now convinced that this kind of recording could revolutionize the gathering and dissemination of information. I am copying the Academy of Sciences on this so that they may encourage similar developments in Equestria)
Recording begins, visible are three entities known as ‘humans.’ These three appear to be younger adolescents of the species, especially compared to the taller and clearly more developed humans that can be seen later in the video. The transcriptionist notes that they all three appear to be female, also based on comparisons to examples later in the video.
Human adolescent with yellow coloration and red mane is identified in the video as Applebloom, human adolescent with pearl-white coloration and two-tone violet and pink mane is identified as Sweetie Belle, and human adolescent with orange coloration and purple mane is identified as Scootaloo.
(Transcriptionist’s note: Effort has been made to properly convey accented speech throughout transcript)
Applebloom: This is it, y’all, we’re gonna be the only people to get to record first contact with another species!
Sweetie Belle: Technically, it was our sisters that made first contact with Twilight, remember?
Scoootaloo: Girls, quiet! They’re doing something!
View shifts to reveal the three are hiding in a bush of some variety, a pair of hands on either side pulling the foliage to the side to allow for a view of a statue surrounded by more humans. While there is a large number of uniforms of some form of guard capacity (represented by two types; one set of uniform is blue with some form of padded armor covering the torso with clear signs of sheathed weapons of some variety, the other a suit-like uniform worn by soldiers, recognizable as being stationed in a similar array as the blue-uniformed guards), those of note are a very tall example of humanity, apparently female, with a mane extremely similar to Princess Celestia. This individual would later be identified as Principal Celestia. Also with her is a human female that is identified similarly as Vice-principal Luna. Standing with them is a small group of six human females conversing quietly enough the video recording device was unable to capture the sound of their conversation.
Scootaloo: [leans into the visual frame of the recording device] D’ya think the portal will open like on that show Heaven’s Door? You know… [Scootaloo makes a horizontal motion that resembles a splash with her arms and the claws that humans have instead of hooves] …’kawoosh’?
Applebloom: We’ll we aint gonna know if’n ya don’t get outa the frame, Scoots!
Scootaloo: Right, sorry!
View resolves back into focus on the statue. A book vibrates and begins glowing in Principal Celestia’s hands.
Principal Celestia: [lifts the book and reads] They’re about to activate the portal.
The assembled beings move away from the statue. The video capture device is not able to record magic auras so none appear on the screen, though the light does seem to reflect more brightly from the base of the statue. A dog comes through, leading another human. The dog and human are the forms the portal granted to the dragon Spike and Princess Twilight Sparkle respectively. A babble of conversation starts up as five of the six younger humans rush over to the princess and engage in a round of hugging and greeting. The yellow human with a pink mane, later identified as Fluttershy, and the white human with purple mane, later identified as Rarity, pay some extra attention to Spike. They are joined swiftly by a squad of Equestrian Guardsponies, recognizable by their armor which has adapted to their new forms like their bodies have been adapted. The lieutenant of the squad can be seen moving to meet with the human guards and is quickly directed to the apparent leader of the guards. The group hushes as another figure steps through, this one physically a mirror image of Principal Celestia, but wearing different clothing entirely. The princess’ usual regalia is still on her body, but adapted by the portal to this human form, and she is now wearing a dress. At her appearance, the guards from both sides seem to come to even greater attention.
The sixth younger human abruptly moves to hide behind Principal Celstia, though it’s obvious that Princess Celestia has seen this younger human. The young woman has orange skin and red and yellow hair, later identified as Sunset Shimmer. The two Celestia’s approach each other, Sunset clutching at Principal Celestia’s coat as they move.
Sweetiebelle: [quietly] This is it, when the authorities on two worlds meet for the first time. If Princess Celestia is anything like Principal Celestia, this will be a fairly reserved meeting, most likely with some sort of speech intended to be heard by the people around them about two worlds uniting in harmony…
Scootaloo: ...and sunshine and skittles and bla-bla-bla! Do you think they have blasters hidden somewhere like Twilight had at the Fall Formal?
Sweetiebelle: Scootaloo, shush! They’re exchanging some words, or at least the Principal is speaking. The Princess seems to be focussing on Sunset, who has yet to step out from behind the principal. Principal Celestia is reaching out to shake hands with the Princess. Princess Celestia is looking at the outstretched hand, she appears to be looking back and forth between Sunset and the principal. The princess is moving and OH MY GOSH!!!
The view shakes considerably, suddenly what appears to be Scootaloo’s hand reaches out and grabs the frame, then the picture is once again focused on the statue.
Scootaloo: AND THE PRINCESS OPENS ‘NEGOTIATIONS’ WITH A HAYMAKER TO THE FACE! What will the principal do? Any student who’s gotten into a fight in the halls of Canterlot High will know that Celestia is not to be taken lightly, AND SHE COMES RIGHT BACK OFF THE MAT WITH AN UPPERCUT! The princess is staggered, but clearly she’s made of some pretty stern stuff, as she turns around and uses a modified reverse kick! Probably comes from that equine anatomy that she usually has.
Applebloom: That’s gotta hurt, Scoots!
Scootaloo: Indeed it must, ‘cause Principal Celestia is staggered. She’s handing off the book she was carrying to Sunset and charging right back into the fight!
Applebloom: Ah hear that they’re all ponies or horses on th’other side of the portal, Scootaloo. Ya think that’ll tip things in Cel...er, Principal Celestia’s favor?
Scootaloo: [pulling the recording device back so she can be seen while keeping the fighting between Princess Celestia and her counterpart in the frame] Well Applebloom, it really does depend on how a bunch of ponies could become the apex of their food chain. Humans are apex perceive predators.
Sweetiebelle: [from out of the frame] That’s ‘pursuit predators.’
Scootaloo: Yeah, that. We’re also highly adaptable, which means that we can use forms like that absolutely gorgeous Drive the Tiger Away form Principal Celestia is demonstrating to keep Princess Celestia from landing some pretty nasty looking punches.
Sweetiebelle: Uh, girls...
Applebloom: [Leans into the frame to take the opposite position to Scootaloo while keeping the statue visible] While those punches look downright strange on a human, I’cn easily see how they would be rather nasty pummeling moves coming offa horse. In fact, the speed is makin’ it a challenge fer the principal to keep up...but then it looks like being unfamiliar with bein’ in a human body is makin’ the princess unsure o’ herself. She’s fallin’ back on her heels an’ it looks like we’re finally seeing some people tryin’ to break up the fight.
Sweetiebelle: Girls...
Scootaloo: Oh, that’s a shame, but even so the two Celestia’s are trying to keep going. It looks like Rainbow, Rarity and Fluttershy are pulling away Principal Celestia while Princess Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie are-WHOAH! I have never seen Applejack get thrown like that, normally it’s Applejack doing the throwing!
Sweetiebell: I think we need to go...
Applebloom: But look at that Scoots, she’s right back up! That’s mah sister fer ya, stubborn as a mule and strong as an ox, and it looks like the Principal’s bin corralled, it’s just the Princess...and now that Applejack’s got’er in a rasslin’ lock, it’s over folks!
Scootaloo: That was some really impressive brawling from the Equestrian princess, given she’s only had that body for a few minutes…
Sweetiebell: GIRLS!
The frame blurs and three human guards in suits and two Equestrian guards are seen hurrying toward the recording device. The image blurs and Sweetiebelle’s concerned face is seen in the display.
Sweetiebelle: Gotta save gotta save gotta-
A hand covers the visible frame and the recording ends.
THERE’S TWO OF THEM!?
Dear Princess Celestia,
I must apologize, our dear Raven seems to have suffered a bit of a mental break when it was revealed that she may one day face not one, but two Pinkie Pies. As she is the one that, by necessity, is often responsible for cleaning up after Miss Pie’s well-meant disasters that she calls parties, the idea that two such individuals should exist, even separated by a whole universe, was perhaps a bit much for her to handle. Celestia is still doing her best to calm Raven down. Poor thing won’t stop muttering about ‘pink eldritch horrors from another world.’
That said, please don’t let your Pinkie Pie on this side of the portal.
Ever.
Sincerely,
Vice-principal Luna
SoccerKicksUrA$$: OMG, CAN YOU B-LEEV IT!?
ApplesRLife: Dash, Capslock is not cruise control for cool! And neither is misspelling everything!
FashionistaDiva: Ordinarily, darling, I’d completely agree with you on this. However, while I would never stoop to soiling my text messaging with such crass errors of written language...WE’RE AMBASSADORS TO ANOTHER WORLD! APPOINTED TO A PRINCESS! ALL THE YES!
PinkPartyPlanner: I no rite?! Party at my place! (Maud said ma and pa said it was okay as long as Limestone got enough sleep for her finals)
BunnyMom: This is Twilight Sparkle, using the sex to speech software on Fluttershy’s phone while I learn how to use it.
FashionistaDiva: Oh, good heavens!
BunnyMom: No, that’s not right, phone correct ‘sex’ to ‘test’.
SoccerKicksUrA$$: 😆😆😆😆😆😆😆
BunnyMom: No, phone, you’re doing it wrong. Fluttershy, why are you turning so red? How do I get your phone to correct my letter?
BunnyMom: What do you mean it’s sending this out whenever I finish a sentence?
BunnyMom: Well, yes, I can understand that you don’t normally use this method of sexting, but it just seems so convenience!
ApplesRLife: Oh, dear, this is gonna get bad. Fluttershy, just do the texting for Twilight for a bit, please!
PinkPartyPlanner: No, no! I wanna see where this goes.
BunnyMom: Phone, you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? I swear it’s like when Spike started his teenage years all over again!
BunnyMom: Yes, Fluttershy, the same Spike that’s a dog while he’s on this side of the portal.
FashionistaDiva: Twilight, please, just give Fluttershy her phone back. I promise we’ll help you with texting later, just, for the love of all that is good and fashionable, please stop!
Dear Majesties Principal Celestia and Vice-principal Luna,
We are very grateful for the regular updates, and as the portal comes online for long enough for us to be able to properly visit, we desire to know and understand the condition of Sunset Shimmer better. Please ensure that she is given full and proper medical treatment and diagnosis as best as your world can provide in these circumstances. We do understand your resources may be very limited due to the lack of magical diagnostic techniques, but we do request that a society as primitive as yours not be allowed to use any invasive means for discovery. Trepanning, as advanced as a magicless society may have taken the practice to treat those maladies that a more refined culture might~-
Dear Principal Celestia,
This is Raven Inkwell. I do apologize, but Celestia’s nephew Prince Blueblood (please don’t ask the relation, it is too long and complex and goes back to the Discordian Era where records are...fragmented at best) took it upon himself to follow-up on a conversation between Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Twilight Sparkle. They were concerned with the health of the former ward of Celestia, and Blueblood is...infamous for his ham-handedly idiotic attempts at what he calls “diplomacy.” Please disregard anything he says.
That said, the Princesses are rather keen to get any medical information you could provide. With the understanding that actual information exchange won’t be able to be done in earnest until the portal is considered to be fully functional and declared “safe” by the Royal Society of Mages, whatever details you can give would be welcome.
Sincerely,
Raven Inkwell, Seneschal
Of note is the scars on the back of the patient. Not appearing to match the other injuries the patient suffered, they are simultaneously clearly new scars as the tissue around them does not have the characteristic puckering and stretch marks associated with scars of this size of the apparent age they would be if the scar tissue itself were an indication of how far the patient has healed. The scars themselves could easily be mistaken for being years old, if not over a decade. For those without readers that can render the attached photographs, the physical description does not match that of any sort of traditional “lashing” that one would associate with abuse victims with scars on their back, nor does this appear accidental.
The scars themselves appear to be something like a half-moon, but with a widening to include a ‘bulb’ near the top and the bottom ‘tail’ of the moon bending back to point toward the tailbone. ‘A comma with the tail twisted the wrong way,’ would be another apt description. A third scar is easy to miss if one is not looking for it, a nearly perfect oval with a slight point in the upper edge of the top, positioned nearly perfectly over the patient’s tailbone.
The limited questioning that could be done with the patient indicates that the patient had no knowledge of the presence of the scars, and the limited records retrieved upon court order from the patient’s school indicate that even as recently as an accident during P.E. where the student was involved in an accident on the soccer field, the scars were not present. This once again is evidence of an anomaly, as the scars themselves appear to be quite old.
While the reader may question my repeated reiteration of the age of the scars, short of taking tissue samples, I’m quite sure that the healing was artificially accelerated.
Addendum: After conferring with the newly discovered colleagues on the other side of the portal that has appeared on the subject’s school campus, a new branch of health science and medicine that hasn’t been seen on this world before does have a history of being able to accelerate the healing of large-scale traumatic wounds that result from incidents that are described in the documentation as “thaumic biological transference and transformation events.” Updated and corrected records since the actual incidents that happened at the school during one of their social events were declassified certainly bear all the hallmarks and fingerprints of the textbook “thaumic biological transformation event” the literature describes, and the recently verified video evidence that had previously been rejected as faked or special effects confirm the patient catastrophically grew trans-species mutations (bat-like wings and a tail) and just as catastrophically lost them just minutes later. This doctor is now satisfied that the scar tissue is a result of that incident.
Dearest friend Twilight,
I have indeed been able to read the reports delivered by the scientist and scribes of the court. And while I do find the notion of our dear Tia engaged in a round of hoofticuffs with her own counterpart tremendously funny, I do understand you do not share the sisterly bond with her and so may not enjoy the idea on the same level I do.
Never-the-less, I do share your concern. As soon as I had partaken of the reports and had the chance ere both my sister and I were together, I asked her of the incident. As I rather expected, Celestia was unwilling to fully explain her actions. She did let slip that she felt that she had rather been cheated by her own doppelganger of the opportunity to gain a relationship anew with the errant Sunset Shimmer, t’which did plant the germ of an idea that would only fully bear fruit many hours later whilst I was patrolling the dream realm during my regular duties.
There was a philosopher back in my day before my banishment, his name escapes both me and the hasty inquiries of the librarians of Royal Archives, but he provided the following quote which I wouldn’t fully understand the import of until my own fall from grace and subsequent redemption, “True Tartarus is meeting the pony you could have been.” ‘pon seeing my dear sister, apparently unmarred by the centuries and still just as powerful as ever...neigh, e’en more, as it took all the collected power I had gathered to merely seal her in the sun using mine own magic as the key...to see what I might have been had I not fallen from mine own path.
T’was most bitter pain, indeed! One thousand years wielded with grace and confidence in ways that I knew would take me e’en another thousand to begin to master! The ache in my heart still burns, knowing that there, but for mine own foolishness, go I. E’en today, the pain is strong and I needs must constantly be on guard that my habits toward self-isolation and solitude do not allow me to be alone with my thoughts, lest they spiral down dark paths and I become confronted once again with the darkness that spawned the Nightmare.
I know not what Tia saw in her doppelganger that caused her to lash out thusly, but if the burn and ache that she felt were but the merest candle to my own (and I have no doubt that, seeing whatever she saw wearing her own face, e’en one altered by the portal, t’would be a thousand-fold stronger) and she had not expected it, I am not one whit surprised she responded as she did.
I know this is poor solace, and I do apologize. As ones who love my sister, thee and thine and me and mine can merely be there for my sister.
Sincerely and with love,
Princess Luna
XoXo_AppleBloom_oXoX: Tell me you got it!
RainbowDashIsMySempai: Yeah, Sweetie Belle! That was some of the most epic improv I’ve ever done!
Sweetie_Bell: Well, those guards from Equestria may know a lot about magic, but they know nothing about cloud saves.
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Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh deer CMC what are you doing?!
.....I hear a WORLD COMING TO A HALT when the Ponies call them!!!!!
Of course the C-"MCs" would cause an inter-dimensional incident/
Nothing like a nice bit of fisticuffs to clear the air. And, oddly, it'll probably do a lot to dispel apprehension. Humans are quite familiar with punching things in the face.
Is it just me, or does BB seem actually concerned about Sunset, in his own twisted way? I hope so; I always love seeing a more sympathetic Blue Blood.
Side tangent.
I had an idea for a fic once where, before her banishment, Sunset and BB were an item and both friends with a younger Cadence and Shining. The group had a plan to manipulate Canterlot politics by playing both sides. In public the couples would appear to be adversarial to reenforce the idea that they were political enemies. If one couple’s reasonable proposals were challenged the other couple could “help” fight a against it with real bad arguments, thus strengthening its chance at success. This would naturally lead to one couple overall appearing as the “bad guys” to the public; this would have been Sunset and BB, thus explaining why they became what they did. Isolation and forcing one’s self into a role can do that to a person.
The reason I never ended writing it was because the idea didn’t really lead anywhere. It’s a neat concept that could be thrown into or adapted for another story, but I don’t see much for it in and of itself
Heh, love the Star Gate reference.
So, the Princess saw how Sunset was acting around the Principal and had a "you stole my daughter, you b
h" moment?
Probably not the best thing for Sunset to see, might help in the long run, provided both Celestias can talk about it.
Well... quite a lot of events in this chapter I wasn't expecting!
*cackles* Oh this will be fun to see where this is going.
...Most likely it's your name, Celestia; you wouldn't know it, but..."Celestia" is quite an important name for Sunset.
That was some nice off the cuff commentary by the girls. Seeing Sunset look to the Principal for "protection" from the Princess had to have burned. Maybe Luna should have come through first, to be honest, as she had less personal investment, though I can see Princess Celestia not being willing to entertain such an idea.
The CMC are in too deep...
Also, I just found this story and I am eagerly awaiting the next update.
That was a marvel of epistolary storytelling. Which Celestia would have won if they'd kept going?
Glad to see a new chapter after months of waiting. Hope the next chapter won't be another long wait
I fell asleep halfway through because it was six in the morning but I have now finished the chapter and I must say really really enjoyed it Celestia and Celestia getting into a fistfight is hilarious and more please and thank you
The change in tone in this chapter from the previous ones gave me whiplash. I finished reading more confused than when I started and still don’t know for sure if the stuff that happened was supposed to be taken literally or made up by the characters. Honestly had to stop and check to see if I accidentally clicked on another story. Thanks for some good moments in the previous chapters, but crackfics are not my cup of tea.
I've read this twice and I'm still honestly confused as to what happened.
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The cliffs-note version, Princess Celestia responded, which lead to twilight (and a bunch of unicorns) to modify the portal so it opens outside of it's usual schedule, all the while, Principal Celestia was keeping them up to speed.
When the portal was ready, both sides decided to make this official by letting the human government in on it. They needed Equestria in order to understand the new magic that was developing in the human world.
When everything was setup, Princess Celestia (and guards) came through with Twilight, met Principal Celestia, who explained everything that happened with Sunset including the events of Music Box Blues (I'm guessing). This lead to Princess Celestia to lash out in a fit of Jealousy at the relationship between the Principal and Sunset.
And it devolved into an epic cat-fight that the CMC caught on tape.
Hope that helps, buddy.
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Me too. The story was shifting angles and points of view alot.
After reading it a couple of times i am sure it will click in
Yeah... I think you ruined a great story idea. I'm guessing after so long you had no idea what to write. You had lost connection to this story. I think it would have been better to leave it where it was rather than crackfic it like this. I'll miss what it was. Thanks for the great first parts.
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Neither of you have ever read any of my other works, have you? If you want to experience true whiplash, go read Double Trixie Trouble. That one I intentionally whip the story ALL over the timeline, including over a 400-year gap.
If you want, "I have no idea where I'm going with this," I also wrote two entries in the DSP-verse. I didn't plan on writing either of them and from the start, I had no idea what I was doing with them, even as I was writing them I was surprising myself with where the story went.
FYI, if there's any part of this story that is slowing me down significantly (sans any outside interference), it's that I started out with too much planned, which included things that wouldn't work for the story long-term. The one major surprise was Music Box Blues, which took a good chunk of the plot points for Celestia out of the latter half of My Empire of Dirt and put them in Celestia's stand-alone story. Having to re-jigger things that didn't work and keep the remaining structure of the story in place takes time and creative thought.
- MLP: FiM
- Comedy
Principal Celestia and Princess Twilight aren't stupid, they know the human government is going to be interested in the portal, so the Princess sends an envoy to be her voice to the human world...so why'd she pick Trixie?!- Equestria Girls
- Comedy
Principal Celestia must deal with the aftermath of the aftermath of the aftermath of the events that brought Sunset Shimmer to CHS in the first place- MLP: FiM
- Equestria Girls
- Comedy
- Slice of Life
...they first make arousedLooking forward to reading the next chapter.
Wait a sec. Princess Celestia hit the Principal?
Usually it's the other way around.
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If you can hold out until the end of the fic, I'll explain the extremeness of the reaction. You'll get it, don't worry.
I want this fight from the celestias perspectives with their thoughts and stuff. I want it so bad
She had like, over 2 decades to raise sunset right including when she could've reached out with the journal
Bruh, what the hell.
The whiplash I got from the toneshifts and the constantly changing perspective made this chapter extremely confusing and devoid of any impact. I hope the explanations and such are good.
No Sirens?
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Hold tight to the epilogue.