Dust
Act 1: Dust
In a dead world, in an abandoned castle, a broken mirror sparked to life.
A high-pitched whirring filled the air. Lightning crackled across the mirror’s shattered surface, and the reflections in those shards of glass that remained seemed to bend inwards. With a bright flash, a connection was made. The surface of the mirror became a hole, and through that hole stepped a figure.
It was a young woman, the figure, though you’d be hard-pressed to tell behind the layers of plastic fabric that enclosed their body; a cobbled-together hazmat suit, of sorts. A metal box sat on her back, spider-like with its many leg-antennae and blinking-light eyes. A cable trailed from the back of the box, running down to the floor and back through the portal the figure had come from.
The figure looked around, peering through the clear plastic that covered her face. The room was dark, the only light two weak and frail beams that streamed through windows high above. Dust hung in the air. She stepped down from the pedestal the mirror sat upon, her boots leaving tracks on the floor, crunching on pieces of broken glass.
“…Hello?” The figure said, voice muffled by the suit, a little timidly.
She swallowed.
“Hello? Can anyone hear me?” A bit louder this time. The air seemed to swallow her voice.
“Is anyone there?”
She paused for a moment.
Nothing.
She took another look around. She was in a library, or what remained of one. Books had been pulled off the shelves and discarded in piles on the ground.
She took a few steps, the cable dragging along in the dust behind her like a tail. There was a balcony, to her right. She headed towards it.
The first thing she saw was the sky. It was a deep grey that spanned as far as she could see. What little light penetrated the clouds of dust that filled the sky was tinged.
She approached the railing, grasped it with both hands and, gritting her teeth, forced herself to look down at the town in the shadow of the castle.
She could only see the very tops of the buildings, and only as shadows; the dust was too thick in the air to discern much else. Still, a shudder ran down the figure’s spine.
Everything was still. Nothing moved. No birds. Only the wind had survived, and even that was only barely alive. The only sounds she could hear was the sound of her own breathing, and her own quickening heartbeat. Everything else was just… silent. Impossibly so.
And not a single pony in sight.
The figure’s gloved hands clenched around the railing.
“Welcome home, Sunset,” the figure said to herself.
“Welcome home.”
The world ended on the last day before summer vacation.
Sunset didn’t hate math. She did hate math class. Her teacher wasn’t a very forgiving one, and her lecture style was…
...well, Sunset was propping up her head with her hand, and if she hadn’t been, she might have faceplanted into the desk.
A faint buzzing caught her attention. At first, she thought it might have been a fly, but no; it was coming in regular intervals, and the noise itself seemed to be coming from her backpack.
Sunset’s eyebrows raised. Glancing up to make sure the teacher wasn’t looking, she reached down and undid the zipper. The buzzing got louder, so she quickly slipped her hand inside and grabbed the journal, the one she and Princess Twilight shared. Touching it was enough to get it to stop vibrating, but the fact that it was doing so in the first place meant that a message had arrived.
Glancing up again (the teacher was facing the blackboard), she cracked open the book, turned to the most recent page.
And on that page, someone had written a single sentence. Ten words long. Just ten words, but they sent a chill down Sunset’s spine.
The message read as follows:
Sunset, get to the portal as fast as you can.
Sunset blinked. Had she read that right? She read it again. Yes, she had. Her stomach dropped.
Her chair screeched as she shot to her feet, journal still in hand.
The teacher spun around. “Miss Shimmer!”
“Sorry!” she said, as she dashed for the door. “It’s an emergency!
She ran, through the hallway, down two flights of stairs. Class was in session; there was no one around to witness her flight.
Sunset burst through the front door to the school. There was a crowd in the courtyard ahead of her, gathered around the statue. She estimated it had to be at least two hundred people.
“What the—”
Sunset ran forward.
“Hey,” she shouted. “What’s going on?”
No one answered her.
As she grew closer, she had a better look at some of the people in the crowd. They looked… lost. Confused. Many of them were sitting on the ground, not standing. Like they didn’t know how to.
Sunset reached the edge of the mob, pushed her way into it. She recognized some of the faces she passed; there was Octavia, and beside her was Vinyl. Mrs Cheerilee was sitting to her left, surrounded by children. And there was Lyra—
Wait, Lyra was in her Calculus class, wasn’t she? How had she gotten there before her?
“Excuse me,” Sunset said, brushing the thought aside. That wasn’t what was important right now. “Coming through!”
Soon enough, the crowd spit her back out in front of the statue. Just in time to see…
With a flash of light, someone emerged from the portal.
And then, right after them, came another.
And another, and another.
Sunset just stared, unable to comprehend for the moment what she was seeing.
Until, that is, one of the newly arrived tripped over themselves and fell to the ground. Sunset, snapped out of her daze, ran forward to help… but two other people got to her quicker. They pulled them to their feet, brought them away from the portal, just as another group came through.
Sunset ran up to them.
“Rarity! Fluttershy!” Sunset said. “What’s happening?”
The girls turned, looked at her. They seemed to be confused, but then recognition bloomed behind Rarity’s eyes.
“Are you… Sunset Shimmer?” she asked.
Sunset gave her an odd look. “Um… yes? We’ve known each other for—
It dawned on her.
“You’re the Equestrian Rarity,” Sunset said. The other girl nodded.
Sunset turned. “And you’re the Equestrian Fluttershy.”
The other girl nodded, weakly.
“Then—” Sunset’s eyes widened “—then all of these people are… ponies?”
“Yes.”
“Okay,” Sunset said. The world seemed to be tilting on its axis. “Okay, what’s going on? Why are all of you here?”
“We’re evacuating,” Fluttershy said.
“Evacuating? Why?”
Fluttershy and Rarity looked at one another.
“We’re… not quite sure,” Rarity said. “Twilight wasn’t very specific. She just told us we needed to get everyone in Ponyville through the mirror portal as fast as we could.”
“Is she here?” Sunset asked, as yet more people came from the statue and joined the crowd.
“No, she’s still on the other side,” Rarity said. “She wanted to make sure everyone got through safely.”
The wheels in Sunset’s mind spun, but got no traction. Why would Twilight evacuate Ponyville? What emergency would be so great—
“Alright!” came a loud shout from the portal. That’s everybody!”
It was Rainbow Dash, followed closely by Applejack and Pinkie Pie, and then a third girl, who Sunset didn’t recognize. The girl stumbled on her first steps. Sunset ran over and caught her before she fell, then offered a hand for support, which the girl took.
“Are you Sunset Shimmer?” the girl asked.
Sunset nodded. “That’s me.”
“Starlight,” the girl said. “Starlight Glimmer. Twilight told me to find you.” She looked around in a daze. “Where are we?” She looked down at her own hands. What are we?”
“Later,” Sunset said. “Where’s Twilight? Your Twilight?”
Starlight blinked, then seemed to refocus.
“She was behind us,” she said, looking over at the statue. “She said there was something she needed to—”
A sound, like a million pieces of glass shattering all at once, split the air, and all was rendered silent for a moment.
Sunset’s head snapped towards the statue, along with three-hundred and thirty-nine ex-ponies and everyone watching from the school’s windows and anyone else who was in earshot.
A great crack had split the surface, running from the top of the pedestal and snaking down to the bottom, spiderweb cracks splintering off in a myriad of directions.
“What…”
Sunset put her hand on the pedestal’s surface. It was rough. Stone. Just stone.
The portal to Equestria had been closed.
And Twilight was still on the other side.
“—set, can you hear me?”
Sunset put a gloved hand up to her ear, in which sat a small earpiece that connected to the device on her back by a thin wire.
“Loud and clear, Twilight.” Actually, the sound quality wasn’t very good, but it got the job done.
Twilight let out a sigh. “Thank goodness. Sorry for not checking in sooner, we had a small technical issue on our end.”
“Anything major?” Sunset asked.
“No, just some crossed wires,” came Twilight’s reply. “How are things over there?”
“N-not, uh…” she glanced back over the balcony. “It’s not looking good.”
“Oh.”
They were silent, for a few moments. Then a third voice chimed in.
“Guys, we’ve only got enough energy left in the Can Opener for another five minutes.”
“Thanks for the heads up, Starlight,” said Sunset. “I don’t think there’s much for me to do right now. I’ll head back.”
“Roger. We’ll be waiting.”
“Keep the tent warm for me.”
“Keep the tent warm for me.”
“Will do,” Twilight Sparkle replied, through the microphone she’d… borrowed, from the main office of the school. Principal Celestia had said the school would help in any way it could. And it wasn’t like anyone was using it over the summer, anyway.
The part about keeping the tent warm had been a cruel joke. It was sweltering in their little impromptu laboratory, partially because it was summer, and partially because of the computers and other electronics that sat on the ground around the statue’s pedestal. Sweat dotted Twilight’s forehead.
Two weeks had passed since the incident, and in those two weeks, Twilight had been rather busy. Most of it had been spent working on the Can Opener.
The Can Opener was their nickname for the set of electrodes clamped to the surface of the shattered statue’s base, and the banks of computers and capacitors that kept it running. And what it did was simple: it cut open a wormhole between their world and Equestria, restoring some of the functionality of the broken portal.
Starlight had been the one to compare it to a can opener. The name had stuck, much to Twilight’s chagrin. It was possibly the most advanced piece of technology Twilight had ever put together. Part of that was the nature of the device; fusing science and magic was not an easy task, although she supposed she was the only human qualified to do so. That was something to be proud of, she supposed.
Twilight leaned back in her chair.
“Starlight,” she said. “How are things looking over there?”
“All green,” the other girl said. “That’s good, right?”
“That’s perfect.”
Starlight Glimmer. The ex-pony student of her counterpart in Equestria. She’d proved to be a great asset in their work, particularly where magic factored into the equation. And she seemed nice enough.
Now, Twilight had her manning the data collection terminal. A thick cable ran down from the back of the machine, into a larger spool, the other end running across the ground and through the crackling portal the Can Opener had forced back to life. On the other end, Twilight knew, was Sunset’s Black Box… and, hopefully, Sunset herself.
The Black Box was her own invention. A myriad of sensory equipment had been packed into a wearable ‘backpack’, which transmitted data directly to their computers via the cable that connected the two. Of course, none of those sensors would function going through the portal on their own; the intense electromagnetic radiation given off by the Can Opener would fry any of them in seconds. That was what the box was for: EM shielding.
It was also the reason for the cable. Radio waves couldn’t make it through their little wormhole, either.
“Alright,” came Sunset’s voice, crackling over the speakers. “I’m back at the portal.”
“You’re green for re-entry,” Twilight said. “Be careful stepping through; you may experience some slight disorientation as you cross over the barrier.”
“Roger. See you on the other side.”
She turned her chair towards the wormhole’s shimmering surface and waited, holding her breath without really meaning to.
A few seconds passed, and then a hand pushed its way through the surface, followed by an arm, then a shoulder, and then a torso as Sunset staggered back into their universe.
The girl stumbled forwards as her back foot left the statue. Twilight rose quickly and caught her shoulder before she fell.
“Careful,” she said. “Here, let me get this off of you…”
After making sure Sunset was fine standing on her own, Twilight moved around and began undoing the straps that held the black box to her back. Sunset didn’t say anything, just limply moved her arms as directed. Once the equipment had been removed, she stumbled forwards, falling into a metal folding chair that Starlight had pulled over.
“You weren’t kidding,” she said.
“Sorry.”
Starlight brought over a bottle of water. Sunset twisted the cap off with a shaking hand and drank, three large gulps.
“Haa,” she sighed. “Thanks.”
“So,” Starlight asked. “What did you see?”
Sunset filled them in on her little jaunt to Equestria.
“It was so quiet,” Sunset said. “Like… I didn’t even know it could get that quiet. I thought something was wrong with my hearing, at first.”
She paused. Starlight took the moment to ask a question.
“Did you see any sign of Twilight?”
Sunset shook her head. “No. Nothing. Just a lot of dust.”
They were all silent for a time.
Sunset smiled, though not fully. “But we made it. We actually made it to Equestria.”
That livened the mood a little. Twilight smiled, and Starlight gave a weak one of her own. This wasn’t their first successful test, but it was the first time anyone had actually crossed over the threshold themselves.
Sunset stood up; her balance seemed to have returned. “Let me get changed, then we need to go tell the others. They’ll want to know.”
“I’ll come with you,” Starlight said.
“Sure. You coming, Twilight?”
“I-I’ll stay behind, Twilight said. “The, uh, the data needs to be sorted, and—”
“Sure,” Sunset said. “Do you want my help? I can come back after we’ve talked to the Ponyvillians.”
“Oh, no, I’ll be fine,” Twilight said, hurriedly. “You get some rest.”
“Will do.”
After stripping off the protective layers of her suit and grabbing her phone off the desk where she’d left it, Sunset left the tent, followed closely behind by Starlight Glimmer. The interior grew bright for a moment while the flap was open, and then dimmed as they left, leaving Twilight alone.
Twilight let out a long breath and turned back to her workstation. Numbers scrolled across the screen and populated themselves into the appropriate spreadsheets. She had a long night of number crunching ahead of her.
Her kind of evening.
Normally, the school would have been empty this time of year.
Normally.
Right now, it was serving as a home for the displaced residents of Ponyville. And the majority of them were crammed into the gymnasium, and it was to the gym Starlight Glimmer, trailing behind Sunset by a few feet, was headed.
There were plenty of people out in the halls, little cliques hanging around the lockers and in the classrooms and such. To someone unaware of the situation, it might have looked like an ordinary day of high school. Some of them waved to Starlight as they passed. She tried her best to look reassuring as she waved back, but inside, her chest was tight, and her mouth was dry.
She’d known they probably wouldn’t find Twilight. After all, Sunset wasn’t the first thing to go through the portal. But part of her had hoped that this time, it would be different.
Part of her always did.
Eventually, they reached the open doors that led to the gymnasium. Well, it didn’t look much like a gymnasium at the moment; more like a refugee camp. Sleeping bags and blankets covered the floor like some kind of bizarre patchwork quilt. Many of them had been donated by the students of Canterlot High. Thank Celestia for the generosity of high schoolers.
There hadn’t been enough for all three-hundred and thirty-nine of the pony-siders, as the people on this side of the portal had started calling them, but it was enough to share. Little groups dotted around the gym, talking or playing cards or otherwise idly passing the time. Many of them looked up at Sunset and Starlight’s entrance.
One of the people who looked up was Vice Principal Luna, sitting in a folding chair by the entrance of the gym. She was playing chaperone today; she and some of the teachers had volunteered to do so in shifts.
“Ah, Sunset, you’ve returned,” she said, as they approached. “With good news, I hope?”
Sunset nodded. “Very good news.”
Starlight nodded as well, but she couldn’t shake how strange it was to talk to someone who so resembled a princess from her homeland.
Luna nodded back with a smile. “Go on, then.”
Sunset took a few steps into the gym.
“Hey, everypony!” she shouted. Everyone in attendance looked up. A murmur spread across the crowd.
“We made it to Equestria today!”
Well, there was no settling them down after that. Questions flew, too numerous to discern. Starlight raised her hands.
“Alright, everypony,” she said. “Settle down. You can ask questions, but one at a time, please.”
“Does this mean we can go home?” someone shouted out, almost as soon as she’d stopped talking.
“Not yet,” Starlight said. “We want to make sure everything is safe before we start sending anyone back. Please be patient, everypony.”
“For how long?”
“Give us a week or two.”
“What about Ponyville?" someone else asked. "Is it still there?”
“We haven’t gotten to Ponyville yet. Today’s trip was just a quick experiment to make sure the portal worked properly,” Starlight explained.
“What about Twilight?” Someone asked—Starlight recognized its owner as Rainbow Dash. A lump formed in her throat.
“We didn’t see any sign of her,” Sunset said, taking over the conversation. “But again, today was just an experiment. We didn’t go very far.”
That brought the mood down a bit. “B-but we’re sure she’s fine,” Starlight hastily added. “She may just not have been in the castle.”
“Yeah!” Someone—Pinkie—said. “It’ll take a lot more than that to keep our Twilight down!”
There was a murmured agreement throughout the crowd.
Yeah, Starlight thought. The lump in her throat eased, a little.
A lot more.
Sunset slid her key into the lock of her apartment’s door. It was night, now. The bolt slid back with a mechanical thud.
She entered, making sure to close and lock the door again behind her before dragging herself up the steps to her loft. She let her bag drop to the ground beside her bed as she climbed onto it, letting her head settle on her pillow.
She could hear the sounds of the city around her; the low thrum of other people in the apartments around her walking and talking; the sounds of the cars in the street outside; the quiet murmur of music coming from somewhere in the building, something fast and pop-y.
But if she listened close, she could still hear the silence of a dead world choked with dust.
She brought her hands up to her face and rubbed her eyes. She reached over the side of the bed to her bag, and from it she withdrew a pen and an old, ornate journal, a red and yellow sun emblazoned on its front. She sat up, crossed her legs, opened the journal to a blank page, and began to write.
Dear Princess Twilight,
I made it to Equestria today. The Can Opener worked perfectly. This world’s Twilight wasn’t able to get the magic that changed us back into ponies working, so I was still human, but I made it. I guess I finally came to visit, just like you always wanted.
Your subjects are still doing fine, by the sounds of it. We’re giving them as much as we can, and we hope to be able to start sending them back to you soon. Anything might be better than being packed into the school all day.
Starlight and our Twilight are getting along well. I wish you could have spent more time getting to know our Twilight. I think you two would have gotten along well (and I’m not just saying that because you’re the same person). I think you’d be proud of your student, too.
We all miss you, Twilight. I hope you reply soon.
Your friend,
Sunset Shimmer.
She waited a minute, just staring at the page, willing something to happen. When nothing did, she snapped it shut and laid it on her bedside table before flopping back down onto the bed.
Letting out a sigh, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone and a pair of earbuds. It was going to be a long night.
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I almost said that this was Starlight's fault, and Season 5's finale ended very differently. Even if Friendship Games stayed the same.
Glad to be wrong it looks like. Not sure if that's good or not though.
Alot of theories about what happened... will there be a sequel?
This is a very interesting start, looking forward to where it goes.
Nice. I've been wanting to write an equestrian refugee story for a while (but set a couple hundred years later). Looking forward to seeing where you take this.
Oh this is good. I like this, the story drew me in instantly, I can't wait to see what hapoens next!
Gripping start. Intrested at where will this lead.
Amazing start definently looking forward to more!!!!
Soooo the mirror is so broken Sunest came through as a “Hoo-man”?
IE: they had to force their way in by reopening the Portal. Obviously with some of the elements like the transformation not operational, buuuuuuut you have to work with what you have.
Where is Spike?
Equestria citizians???
TWILIGHT!!!!!
Mysterious and interesting start! I guess it's set very early in the EqG series, somewhere after the Friendship Games? Definitely caught my attention