Equestria Boys

by SuperPinkBrony12

Through The Mirror

Celestia provided answers on the identity of the thief the very next morning. A long, drawn out sigh escaped her lips as she seemed to be struggling not to cry. Her tone of voice became sad and mournful. "Twilight, Shining, it's high time you knew the truth. You are not the first ponies I have taken under my wing in one way or another, though the two of you did what was impossible: You managed to get past the defenses I had set up and worked your way into my heart. You've become like family to me."

"You really mean that, Princess Celestia?" Twilight hopefully asked.

Celestia nodded, pausing and turning away to shed a tear before coming back after composing herself a bit. "Of course," She then cleared her throat to try and dispel the lingering sadness in her voice. "But when you've lived for as long as I have you unfortunately get used to seeing the ones you love fade away, either of old age or other means. I've seen many a promising ponies taken before their time, and those I can only assume are lost to the ages since I haven't seen or heard from them. Until recently, I had assumed it was the case with Sunset Shimmer. And it pained me that such might be the case."

"Why is that? Seems to me like she's just some two bit thief hoping to steal the crown for a get rich quick scheme," Shining snorted. "I'll bet my crown is worth a lot of money wherever it is she's taking it. And from the looks of this replica she left behind, she clearly wanted nopony to notice the theft until it was too late."

But the alicorn with a majestic coat of white shook her head. "No, Sunset's actions clearly have an ulterior motive beyond mere theft," And she confessed. "I taught her about the Elements of Harmony, because she was once my student. In fact, she was the last student I personally mentored one on one before Twilight came along. Because of how things ended with Sunset Shimmer, I feared I might never be able to truly mentor a pony ever again."

"Sister, is it possible you had intended for Sunset Shimmer to be the one to harness the Elements of Harmony and free me from my darker self?" Luna questioned.

Celestia nodded in confirmation. "I was growing desperate, Luna. Your return was drawing near and I hadn't found anypony with the kind of power and knowledge necessary to wield the elements. And I couldn't bring myself to fight you again, because without the elements the only way the battle could've ended was at the cost of a life: Either your life or mine."

The entire room fell into a gasp! They'd never imagined things had once been that dire, and all shuddered to imagine what such an outcome might have been like if it had come to pass.

Celestia continued. "My encounter with Sunset was initially a fluke. I stumbled across her hurt and alone one night. I assumed she had no family, though I later turned out to be mistaken. Her mom was Sunbeam, one of many in a long line of maids and butlers who worked at the castle," And she added with great hesitation. "Sunbeam was understandably reluctant to let her only child become my student, especially because her husband had abandoned her shortly after Sunset was born. She feared I was raising her daughter's hopes to unbelievable levels and going against everything she had been trying to teach Sunset. Perhaps if I had listened, things might not have ended the way they did."

"You couldn't have known at the time that Sunset wasn't the one. I'm sure it wasn't your fault she turned out bad," Twilight firmly insisted. "You've always been a great teacher to me, and look at how far your advice has gotten my brother."

But the sun princess again shook her head and hung it in shame. "No, it's entirely my fault. I not only taught her about the Elements of Harmony but also showed her the mirror. At the time I knew not of the magical properties it now possesses, all I knew was that it could show images to whoever I wanted." And in her mind she began to flash back to that fateful day when everything was to change between her and the promising young student she'd taken on.

---

Compared to how she would become afterward, Sunset Shimmer was considerably shyer and more withdrawn as she ushered along by Princess Celestia. "I don't get it, princess. Did I do something wrong? Are you going to tell my mom that I kind of underperformed on my last magic test?" The filly soon to become a mare asked.

Princess Celestia flashed a warm smile, something she had rarely done at this point (she'd been fearful to show too much emotion and get too connected to her student, and Sunbeam's disapproval of Sunset's studies had only further complicated matters). "No, Sunset. You haven't done anything wrong that I could punish you for," She was quick to point out. "You really shouldn't be keeping secrets from your mom. If not for her reluctance to question me, you wouldn't be allowed to study under me at all."

Sunset only snorted. "Who cares what my mom thinks? She's just a lowly toilet scrubber who keeps trying to bring me down. It's not my fault I'm so talented, I should be allowed to use that talent as I see fit. I've seen how everypony looks at me, they're jealous. Can you blame them though? If I weren't your personal student I'd probably be jealous of me too."

Celestia was a bit concerned about this unusually defiant tone of voice from Sunset. She'd known the unicorn for several years now and had mostly known her as a pony who rarely spoke up for fear of consequence. Just getting her to come out of her shell had been a very real challenge. To say nothing of how the relationship between mother and daughter was continuously strained.

But the sun princess decided to brush off those worries. She hoped that what she was about to do would make things clearer and set her student on the right path. "Sunset, what I'm about to show you is something top secret. Not even my guards truly know of its existence aside from a select few," She explained with a wink. "Remember what I told you about my old mentor, Starswirl the Bearded?"

"That old wizard? Wasn't he the one who invented an experimental time travel spell?" Sunset Shimmer asked.

"Among other accomplishments." Celestia answered. "One of them was an attempt to discover new worlds. He didn't quite have a chance to finish his experiment before he disappeared," She then gestured to a gleaming mirror that came up to about her length. "This mirror is as far as he got. Unfortunately, he left behind no notes as to how to continue what he'd been researching. But I've come to discover that this mirror houses another kind of magic, one that even Starswirl never knew about. This mirror has the ability to project a pony's path, showing visions of a future that may come to pass."

The young unicorn's eyes lit up as she examined the large mirror. "Wow! Sounds amazing!" And without hesitation she inquired of her mentor. "Do you think it could show me my future? Maybe if it's really good I could show my mom, and that would finally get her to stop repeatedly saying I need to lower my expectations."

Celestia only replied by shaking her head and instructing. "I want you to look deep into the mirror, Sunset. Tell me what it is that you see."

Sunset obeyed, and before her eyes she saw herself standing tall and proud! Not as a unicorn but as an alicorn princess, one that was worshipped and adored much the same way as Princess Celestia was herself. "I see a powerful princess! A pony on a pedestal that can't be toppled!"

At that, Princess Celestia frowned and stepped in front of the mirror. "That's not what I see, Sunset Shimmer. To be a princess is not to have power, and neither is having power exclusively a thing for alicorns."

"But if the mirror says..." Sunset began.

Celestia cut her student off. "-I told you that it's visions of a future that may come to pass. It shows how great you could be if only you would open yourself up to others. Until you come to understand the magic of friendship, you can never truly become what you are meant to be."

Sunset Shimmer growled and glared at her mentor. "Why do I need to learn about friendship? You think I haven't tried to make friends already? I have plenty of friends in class."'

"I'm talking real friends, Sunset Shimmer. Friends who like you for who you are, not for the benefits that come from knowing you." Celestia sternly declared as she ushered her student away.

---

From that day onward the bond between teacher and student was strained as Sunset underwent a transformation, but not the kind Celestia wanted. Sunset Shimmer began to focus more and more on her latent magical power, repeatedly winning the praise and admiration of everypony she showed off to. But she never truly cared or bothered to befriend others on a personal level. "I have more important things to do than waste my time trying to make friends." She would often say to herself.

Princess Celestia watched this unfold with great concern, but against her better judgement declined to act. "If I try to intervene, Sunset will come to resent me and think I'm holding her back in the same vein as her mother," She thought to herself time and time again. "I need to find a way to nudge her onto the right path, but get her to make that decision on her own."

But Celestia's best efforts always seemed to come up short. Things only grew worse once Sunbeam got sick and died. Sunset Shimmer didn't blame her mentor for the death (it was of natural causes after all), but it seemed like she began to view the pony who had once taken her under her wing not unlike the pony who had constantly been ignoring and downplaying her achievements.

Then one night, it all came to a head and Sunset's tenure as Princess Celestia's student would come to an end.

It unfolded deep within the walls of the Canterlot library. Sunset Shimmer had found an entire section under "Forbidden Spells and Magic", including a book that contained details about the mirror. It even seemed like there was a way to utilize it for its original intended purpose. Something that even Princess Celestia couldn't (or wouldn't) do.

However, it was at that very moment that a rather unhappy Princess Celestia found her student. She unceremoniously lit up her horn, using her magic to yank the book right out of Sunset's hooves. "Sunset Shimmer!" She scolded with narrowed eyes. "I don't believe it! You've deliberately gone behind my back to acquire illegal knowledge!"

Years of frustration boiled over into an outburst of rage as Sunset Shimmer shouted back! "You've been lying to me! You've been holding me back! You, the pony I thought I could trust! The pony I thought was more of a mother to me than my actual mother! Now I see you were just two sides of the same coin!"

Celestia felt hurt by such an allegation, though tried her best not to show it outright. "That's quite enough, Sunset Shimmer! I have done nothing of the sort that you accuse me of! My only regret is that I showed you the image in that mirror when clearly you were not ready for it. I had hoped it would inspire you to have greater confidence in yourself, to realize that you could do great things."

"How would you know?! You never truly believed in me! You already had a destiny picked out for me! You never even asked me if it was one I wanted!" Sunset roared! "I know the truth about you and Luna, how you neglected and ignored her, driving her to the dark side. You intended to use me to undo your mistakes!"

"I had hoped you would be the one to help me reunite with my sister, it was never my intention to make you think you had no choice," Celestia pleaded. "Maybe I have failed you in the same way I failed Luna, but unlike Luna I won't abandon you."

Sunset Shimmer just snapped back. "You're a fool! That's no longer your decision to make!"

Princess Celestia sighed in reluctance. "Then you leave me no choice. Now that you know what you know, I can't allow you to continue to study under me. You're free to pursue your own destiny somewhere else," And gesturing a hoof she instructed to two accompanying royal guards. "Take Sunset to her royal suite so she can pack her things. She is my student no longer."

It would only be when the sun princess returned to the castle, ready to call it a night, that she would learn about what had happened. How Sunset was able to overpower the guards escorting her, and slipped away and through the mirror before anypony could stop her.

The mirror itself sat idle for years and years, even after Princess Luna had returned. Eventually, Princess Celestia gave up hope of ever seeing her former student again and had the mirror moved to the Crystal Empire.

---

"So now you know the truth," Princess Celestia finished her story in the present. "I'm sorry you all had to be dragged into this."

But Shining Armor firmly insisted. "You made mistakes, Princess Celestia. But it was Sunset Shimmer who chose to ignore your guidance and seek out knowledge she knew to be forbidden."

The sun princess somberly sighed and put a hoof to her forehead. "I would like to believe that. Believe me, I would. But part of me will always wonder what might have been had I not kept myself sealed off from her, had I made more of an effort to get her to know that I cared for her on a personal level and not just as a student. I'd always hoped we would meet again someday, but not under these circumstances. It seems that time has done nothing to lessen her attitude, if anything it has only hardened it and made it worse."

"Well there's no point in worrying about the past. Right now, we gotta figure out how we're gonna get back Shining's crown from... wherever it is that Sunset took it." Soarin pointed out.

"It won't be easy, I'm afraid," Princess Luna spoke up. "From what little my sister and I know about the mirror, we know that it leads to an unknown world. It is a two way portal, but it does not stay open for very long. One hundred lunar cycles from new moon to full moon and back must pass. And even then it is only open for a maximum of three days and nights before it is sealed off for the rest of the cycle."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Fancy Pants suggested. "Shining Armor can't possibly do this all alone. The six of us have faced down many threats before and been on so many adventures already. This shouldn't be any different."

Shining Armor protested. "No, there's no point in all of us going. We don't know what lies beyond the mirror, let alone if Sunset is expecting us to pursue her. It's probably a trap."

"Besides," Twilight added. "Without the Element of Magic, the other Elements of Harmony won't be of any use. Even assuming you could find my brother's crown, it's sure to be heavily guarded or even booby trapped."

"And there's no telling what kind of allies Sunset's made for herself in that other world," Shining pointed out. "The best option is for me to go alone. I'll find a way to sneak in to wherever my crown's being held captive, retrieve it and then get out before I can be captured. Then if there's time, we can retrieve the Elements of Harmony and apprehend Sunset Shimmer for her crimes."

Princess Celestia even chimed in. "That's not to mention the possibility of an attack while Shining is away. Without the elements we would not have them to fall back on should something unexpectedly powerful slip through our defenses. Shining Armor must embark on this journey, alone."

---

The prince made his way to the very room where the night before he had lost his crown to Sunset Shimmer. "You may have gotten the best of me once, Sunset Shimmer. But you won't be lucky a second time!" He thought to himself. "Whatever your evil plan is, I'll stop it! You'll regret coming back and thinking you could steal my crown and get away with it!"

"Best of luck, Shining Armor," Princess Celestia called as she watched him approach the mirror with great caution. "You'll soon know more about the world beyond the mirror than any of us. And hopefully, Sunset won't give you too much trouble."

"Thank you, Princess Celestia. I won't let you down, that's a promise!" Shining gave a firm salute to his mentor, and then he hesitantly stuck a hoof out towards the mirror. Much to his surprise, the young alicorn found that the mirror's surface was no longer solid. It felt fluid, surrounded by bright and glowing lights. Steadying himself he continued to trot forward, soon plunging his whole body into the mirror in a bright shimmer of white light!

Spike wasn't sure what came over him, but he suddenly began to feel very worried for Shining Armor. As he saw the pony who was very much like an uncle to him disappear into the mirror, the little dragon broke free of Twilight's grasp and ran towards the mirror himself!

"Spike, what are you doing?! Come back!" Twilight shouted at the top of her lungs! But before she had a chance to light up her horn and grab him with her magic, he was gone! Everypony in the room could only watch in horror as the last thing they saw was Spike disappearing into the mirror right after Shining Armor!

"What's that little guy thinking?! He's gonna get himself killed!" Soarin protested once the bright light had faded. "And for the record, I still don't like the idea of sending our friend in all by himself. If anything happens to him in that other world he's gonna be all alone."

Twilight quickly theorized. "That must be why Spike ran after him. He must want to help Shining the only way he knows how," And she let out an unhappy sigh. "I just hope he and Shining find each other, for both their sakes. I don't know what I'll do if they don't come back."

Princess Cadence, meanwhile, could only say. "Well, it's out of our hooves now. We'll just have to stay vigilant in case they or Sunset Shimmer come back, or something else happens." And with that an uncomfortable silence fell over the room.

Author's Note:

Sunbeam is a headcanon borrowed from Latecomer in case any of you are wondering.

I wanted to expand upon Sunset Shimmer's backstory since even the IDW comic that gives it admittedly doesn't give much. And I wanted to try and incorporate some ideas from the fan animation "The Fall of Sunset Shimmer".

I also wanted to give a better justification for why Shining goes alone on this mission, as well as just how long the mirror actually stays open and how much time must pass before it can open again (because "moons" is a poor measurement of time that we never got any indication of what unit of measurement it was).

Comments

[Melody Song]

This is an amazing first two chapters, and I can't wait to see more to come.

[Comickook]

Wonderful work on this chapter. Again, the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are pretty well done. Yeah, great job on the added backstory of Celestia's time with Sunset as well as the better detail of the time frame concerning the mirror AND reasoning for Shining to want to go alone, but if I remember some of your Stallion Six chapters, it was implied that, while Shining might be the main character, Twilight still played a significant role (though it's possible that could be just my memory playing tricks on me).

Anyway, very certainly looking forward to more of this.