Correspondance
Sunset should've felt happy that Alex left, supposedly to never bother her again, however unlikely that was. She should've been glad to be relieved of his presence, finally able to have a heart-to-heart with Principal Celestia about the stuff that's been bothering her.
And therein lies the problem.
Sunset had dealt with many struggles in her life even before she started thinking with portals, you don't get out of an orphanage straight into Celestia's school for Gifted Unicorns and not have your wits about you. But what she'd dealt with after her departure had truly shown her what she was made of.
Crawling out of poverty was hard one time, but doing so in an alien world, with practically no knowledge about it? That was on another level.
Eventually, she'd grown influential enough to have any student in CHS move whichever way she wanted with a twitch of her fingers, grown powerful enough there were no obstacles left in her way.
Except one.
She was the one single she couldn't tackle, one rock she couldn't move, no matter how she tried. A sword of Damocles, hanging over her head every waking moment of her life.
Celestia
Whether Princess or Principal, her mood soured each time she heard the name, her blood boiling as years of perceived injustices and unfounded denials flooded into the forefront of her mind.
That was part of the reason Sunset kept a low profile in the school, doing her best not to draw suspicion from the mirror copy of her ex-mentor.
It was why she was all but mortified when the Principal's voice spoke, the intonation painfully familiar.
"Sunset" the girl froze in her place, thankful she had her back turned to the Principal. "Is that true?"
"Huh?" Sunset spoke, still facing the office's window. "I doubt it, Alex doesn't look like the type that keeps promises." She watched the autumn leaves fall, acutely aware that playing dumb wouldn't work.
Not with her.
"You and I both know that's not what I meant." Sunset chewed on the insides of her cheek, the metallic taste failing to distract her through the hole she felt being burned through her at the moment.
"What you said about the portal, about magical creatures exiled here, is that true?"
Celestia's tone felt familiar, painfully so to the very last inflection. It was a tone she'd heard many a time before frem her ex-mentor, like a mother trying to make a child confess, despite already knowing what they've done. She wanted to lie, she really really did.
No, no it wasn't. I lied to that idiot so that he'd go away and stop ruining everything.
But she didn't.
"It's true." Sunset replied with a shaky breath, still refusing to see Celestia's face. She held her breath, waiting for a reply that took entirely too long to come.
"For how long have you known about this?"
For how long have you been keeping it secret?
"Since I came through the portal." She answered truthfully, her ears burning from the act.
"Why didn't you-"
"Tell you?" Sunset turned sharply to face the Principal, suppressing a flinch as she met Celestia's concerned expression. Sunset scowled as she noticed signs of pity in that look. "As if you would've believed me then." She scoffed, looking away from the woman's judgemental expression. "You know what kind of rumors were popular that year."
"Why not tell me after the Fall Formal?" Celestia's voice was soft, but carried an all too familiar undertone of disappointment. "Can you imagine how many lives you're putting at risk? What if something dangerous comes from the other side, or some long-exiled prisoner wants to return?"
"Oh, so it's my fault now?!" Sunset's voice raised on its own, the girl crossing hands over her chest. "News flash: I wasn't the one who opened the damned portal, it's been in use for generations."
"That's not what I meant." Celestia said sternly, continuing before Sunset could retort. "What I meant, is that you're the only person this side of the portal who knows what it was used for. Why not warn us? Warn me?"
"Why? So you'd worry yourself to death?" Sunset scoffed, not paying attention to Celestia's hurt expression. "What could you have done, realistically, to stop whatever crawls out of the portal from making mincemeat out of everyone in this school?" She chuckled nervously, rubbing her forehead. "Save your nerve cells, they don't regenerate."
She shut her eyes, soldiering past the Principal, pointedly ignoring the disappointed look on her face, one that looked a little too familiar.
I've got enough of that on my way out.
The door slammed shut behind her, the glass rattling as she stormed away.
Sunset didn't flinch when small pieces of plaster crumbled from the worn down ceiling upon her entrance, dropping her bag haphazardly to the floor. She stomped past her worn-down sofa, past the rickety table and chair held up by good will and probably magic, stopping in a seemingly unassuming spot in the middle of her very, very humble abode.
Sunset prodded a floorboard with her foot, dropping into a crouch once she heard it creak in response. Hooking her nail between the floorboards and pulling it gently, Sunset worked her finger under it, pulling it off completely. In the empty place beneath the boards, laying on the cold cement floor was a plain shoebox.
With trembling hands, Sunset pushed the lid open, nausea hitting her the instant she saw the red and yellow sun emblazoned on a brown leather of a journal. The book shook in her hands, a pair of eyes attempting to burn a hole through it.
Sunlight diffused through the stained glass windows of the throne room, coloring the pristine marble floor in an array of rainbow hues. A comfortable silence reigned over the throne room, periodically broken by careful sips, followed by the sounds of cake-decimating self-indulgence. The room was empty of guard and staff, and would remain so for at least the following hour, a generous estimation, considering Celestia's penchant for chocolate.
Three cautious knocks disturbed the carefully constructed peace of the moment, prompting a silent sigh out of the Tetrarch. All good things come to an end, she concluded, setting her cutlery aside with a golden glow, wiping her muzzle free of the confection, her face drawing into a mask of neutral pleasantness.
"You may enter."
She spoke with practiced calm, a single guard entering the throne room, a twinge of nervousness visible under the guard's ever-present stoicism. The Princess' stomach churned with unease as the guard saluted, moving silently towards the golden throne. The royal guard was well trained, their discipline unrivaled by any special force before them, but it wasn't often Celestia's seen one act with such curtness.
The mare stopped just shy of the throne, reaching into her saddlebags to pull out a brown faux-leather journal, a golden sun emblazoned on its front. Celestia's heart did a heartbeat as the mare offered the journal on an outstretched hoof, standing still as seconds passed, the Princess giving the book a thousand yard stare. It shook with a certain rhythm, a subtle glow emanating with each vibration.
A bead of sweat rolled down the guard's forehead, the mare clearing her throat to grab the alicorn's attention. "The guards heard some commotion in your quarters, Your Highness. They thought it to be an intruder of some sort, but when they tried to apprehend the culprit, the guards found this thing." The mare's tail wagged nervously as Celestia remained motionless, transfixed by the strange journal. "The royal archmage checked it for any hexes or spells, but came up empty." She cleared her throat, failing to grasp her ruler's attention once again. "He sent me to deliver it to you, Princess. Said you'd know what to do with it."
Celestia let out a ragged sigh, one of the few precious moments she allowed to appear vulnerable in front of her little ponies, levitating the book with her magic.
"Express my gratitude to Night Light, Mighty Shield." She said calmly, the guard saluting her swiftly before vacating the premises. Celestia gripped the cover with a golden aura, her heartbeat quickening for the first time in a long, long while.
"Again? We have to re-shelve the whole library again?" Spike pouted, walking down the stairs of Golden Oak library, his short legs turning each step into a small jump. "We did that last weekend, remember?"
"It never hurts to be thorough, Spike." Twilight said with a roll of her eyes, levitating the small drake to sit on her back, much to the latter's chargin. "Besides, I'm expecting a sizable book donation later today, so its best we start early." A dreamy look overtook the mare's face as she spoke, paying no mind to the less-than content Spike on her back. "Just imagine, Spike, books from all over Equestria, gathered here, in Ponyville!" Her eyes full of excitement, she failed to notice her number one assistant's face scrunch up suddenly, a news-bearing rumbling reverberating through his stomach.
Twilight yelped as green flames licked her mane, miraculously only singing stray ends as a letter formed from black ash, caught by a purple aura moments before it hit the floor. Turning her head Twilight shot her little brother a concerned glance, met by an affirming nod and a coughing fit.
The parchment alone betrayed the letter's royal nature, the cream-colored surface was tied close with a red band, a crimson sun pressed into wax sealing it shut. Releasing the letter free of its bindings, Twilight had a fraction of a second to react to a flash of blinding light that enveloped her, the feeling of being pulled coupled with nausea and a sudden shift in environment subtly hinting at a teleportation charm being placed on the letter.
Twilight preferred casting the spell herself, thank you very much.
Keeping her head as still as possible in an effort to avoid disorientating herself further, Twilight slowly opened her eyes, coming face to face with one and only, mirror-dimension doppelgangers notwithstanding, Princess Celestia.
Twilight was about to greet her ex-mentor, stopping when her eyes focused on Celestia, a feeling of wrongness overtaking her desire to speak. The Tetrarchs usual reserved pleasantness was gone from her features, replaced by a steely forwardness, her magenta eyes piercing Twilight, pinning her in place.
"Please excuse the transposition charm, dear Twilight, but the matter at hoof required immediate attention." Having said that, Celestia turned ro Spike, giving him a motherly smile. "Forgive me Spike, this charm is known for causing dizziness, even more so than usual teleportation." Spike gave a cautious nod, shaking his head only to regret it moments later, his face turning a shade of green. "Oh dear, let's get you to a doctor."
Spike's eyes grew wide as Celestia's horn sparkled with a golden aura, but contrary to the drake's fears he remained in place, a white-coated stallion clad in medical attire appearing next to him in a flash of golden light.
"Dr. Fracture, would you please see to it that young Spike gets some medical attention? I'm afraid he's a little dizzy from a teleportation charm." Celestia addressed the doctor, who gave her a curt nod after steadying himself for a moment, waiting for the world to cease spinning.
She spoke once more after the throne room doors closed shut, Turning to Twilight with an outwardly concerned expression that made the younger alicorn feel uneasy.
"When you came back through the mirror, what state did you leave Sunset in?" Celestia spoke evenly, and despite her voice sounding far from accusatory, Twilight's ears were pinned to her head.
"She was still recovering from the Fall Formal." Twilight put a hoof to her chin, trying to recollect the details. "She was purified by the elements, and was pretty weak as a result. I met with CHS's Principal, expressed my concerns about the public finding out what happened, and came through the portal."
"You used the Elements on Sunset?" Celestia questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"She was warped by Equestrian magic! She mind controlled the entire school, what was I supposed to do!" Twilight said defensively, before sighing. "Princess Luna was purified by the Elements, and she's fine! So why shouldn't Sunset be?"
"Yet you haven't told me earlier." Celestia said reproachfully, her brows furrowed as Twilight remained silent. "Nightmare Moon wasn't born out of the power of the Elements, but out of the loneliness and pain that I caused." She stated, Twilight biting her tongue to refrain from interrupting her ex-mentor. "When you and the other Bearers freed Luna, it was her own magic influenced by a thousand years of bitterness and self-loathing that was flushed out of her, not one of the Elements." She paused, letting the gears turn in Twilight's head.
"You're saying it was Sunset who warped the Element's power, not the other way around?" Twilight watched Celestia's gaze soften a little, although her expression remained unchanged.
"Depends on the extent of her transformation." Celestia offered, prompting Twilight to furrow her brows in recollection.
"Sunset had fiery red skin, leathery wings, like those of a thestral, and a crooked horn resembling that of a changeling queen." She felt a jolt of satisfaction when the sun princess nodded,followed by shame as Celestia's expression molded into one of concern.
"If what you're saying is true, she must have ascended into alicornhood, or at least attempted to." She went silent for a moment, thinking over what her prized pupil had said. "I would say she influenced the Element as much as it did her."
"Is this a problem?" Twilight intoned, her spirits falling as she noticed her mentor's expression turned thoughtful. "The Elements fixed whatever was wrong with her, right?" The moment those words left her mouth, Twilight wished she could take them back. Disappointment mixed with anger flashed on Celestia's face, the brief expression burned into Twilight's mind for ages to come, despite soon changing into one of eerie calm.
"There is nothing wrong with Sunset." Celestia spoke evenly, tranquil fury behind each word. "She made mistakes, she stumbled, but so did everypony at least once in their lives." Her expression turned somber as she spoke. "The difference was that she had nopony to help her realize that." The words hit Twilight like a freight train, but before she could say something, Celestia continued.
"Here, take this." A brown journal floated in front of Twilight, held aloft by a golden aura. "Read it as soon as possible, and return it to me." The book was lowered onto Twilight's back with a soft thud.
Celestia's expression softened as she sighed, her voice going quieter. "It is not often that I ask favors, Twilight, yet here we are. I ask of you one thing: can you help me figure out a way to cross the portal earlier than the moon cycle intended?" Confusion that was bubbling in Twilight's mind must've been written plain on her face, as Celestia continued.
"You'll see my reasoning once you read the journal, but please, go no further than the last written page." Twilight nodded, no less puzzled. "You do not have to give me an answer straight away, but I will be thankful to hear from you in the morning." She leaned, encompassing the younger alicorn in a wing-hug. "A guard will escort you to your room." She nuzzled her prized pupil. "Be well, Twilight."
The royal size bed creaked as Twilight landed on its velvet sheet with a sigh, the journal suspended inches above her face. She squeezed her eyes shut, mulling over everything that happened. What happened to Sunset to warrant such a swift and decisive reaction out of Celestia? Last time Twilight checked, the girl was fine, wasn't she? Twilight bit her lip. Truth be told, she was in such a hurry to return home, Sunset's condition completely slipped her mind.
Twilight opened her eyes, focusing on the book floating above. What will she find on the inside?
No time like the present to find out.
Princess Celestia.
It's been a while since we've talked, hasn't it? Not without reason, of course, we both said things that we still regret. Things that I still regret. Things that, I sincerely hope, you no longer regret.
You wouldn't believe how many times I had to re-write this.
Ever since I stormed off through the mirror, indignant and furious at your rejection, I swore to do right by me, to prove you that you were mistaken, that I knew what was best for Equestria. I blackmailed, lied, and threatened my way to the top of the food chain, and just when I thought I had it all figured out, when everything I ever wanted was within my grasp, you sent her.
That goodie four-shoes, the little miss perfect that solved all your problems, according to the Element, anyhow. Were you proud of her success, or afraid when you noticed the similarities? Did you send her to that middle-of-bumfuck nowhere town in hopes she genuinely makes some friends, or out of fear of another student going rogue? It doesn't matter in the end, of course. Your gander has paid off, and now you have everything you ever wanted. Luna is back, free of whatever influence that failed her, that old draconequus is apparently 'good' now, and your precious little student is finally going to become a ruler.
A truly happy ending, one that has no place for me.
Was something wrong with me? Something so utterly, fundamentally broken that you thought wasn't possible to fix? Something not worth fixing? You could've sent me to one of those hick towns, Maker knows equestria has no shortage of them, to force me to make friends. You could've sat down and explained what the mirror was used for, instead of having the same bullshit 'You'll learn it when you're ready' non-answers.
But you didn't.
Was it because her foalsitter was your niece? That annoyingly sweet pink alicorn who couldn't keep her eyes off of her brother? Was she so much better than me that you thought her to be a better replacement? Or did you see somepony with enough potential to rule Equestria, somepony young and impressionable enough to mold, something that was obviously not working on me anymore.
This was my thought process for the longest time, but ever since the Fall Formal, something changed. I don't know whether to attribute the change to the Elements' magic, or a reality-check, but I suppose it matters little in the end. Everywhere I went, I did what I thought was right: accumulate power, destroy the opposition, achieve my goals, and yet my plans failed both times. My first instinct, I must admit, was to recourse to blaming you. You and your thrice-damned student that ruined everything I've built, everything I strived for. That was the case up until a single thought changed everything.
If everypony else is always to blame, then maybe the problem is with me.
I was too bold, too confident to last. Divide and conquer works up until you stumble inseparable, and in the end, I was outnumbered. Each one of the girls was formidable on her own, but together? They all but mopped the floor with me, something I tried to prevent by driving them apart.
It wasn't the lingering pain in my shoulder blades that broke the floodgates, neither was the familiar shame of defeat. No, what caused me to cry my eyes out in front of the entire student body of CHS was a simple action of one kind girl, too kind for her own good, in my opinion.
What Twilight did, was baffling to me then, and it's baffling to me now. Why give me another chance? Why even bother with me, when she was going back to Equestria in a few hours anyway? Only now do I realize that the person towering above me as I kneeled in the crater, was me.
A better me, one that learned to trust others, learned humility and found something in her life that I was missing. One that, in the end, exceeded mr in every possible way. I don't regret taking her hand at that moment, how could I? It was either this, or...what, exactly? Go back to pretending nothing ever happened? Ignore the possibility of leading a better life that was staring me in the face, just so I could prove a point to a pony that has gone far past caring about me? Knowing that I even existed?
The girls are kind to me, far kinder than I deserve, to be honest. The students aren't nearly as vengeful as I expected, trust me, a cold shoulder and an occasional dirty look is far from the worst people are capable of. Things were actually starting to look up, and I was beginning to think I had a chance at a happy ending.
A fat chance, as it turned out.
I won't bore you with the details, Maker knows this letter is long enough already, but someone high up found out about my standoff with the Elements. One thing led to another and now people can't leave the town, and all communication with the outside world is cut off. The Internet's down (ask Twilight), phone lines are dead, and I doubt there's any point in trying to mail a letter.
All in all, we're fucked.
One of them visited again today, spoke with the Principal, asked me a couple of questions, and said they were worried something dangerous would come from the portal. Or, more worryingly, that something dangerous has already passed through, some millenia ago, and somehow survived all this time. You took it out of the history books, but I'm positive this mirror was a jail for high-risk magic users.
Right, about that.
This world isn't completely devoid of magic, as it turned out. I noticed the ambient magic field way back when I first crossed the mirror, but without a conduit to push it through, it felt like trying to withdraw bits from your bank account but forgetting your password.
I haven't felt it once since the fall formal. I chalk it up to seal team six using up the field around here, mainly because I'm not too fond of other explanations.
This is it then, Princess. Canterlot is being taken hostage, who knows how many more Equestrians are roaming this side of the portal, and soon enough there'll be people trying to get through the mirror. And as a person who's lived here for some time, I'll tell you that it's very, very bad news.
Why am I writing this? Closure, probably, possibly vindication. Or maybe I'm just trying to vent, all the while burning a few of the bridges I have left.
Don't bother coming here.
Destroy the mirror, for your own good.
For the good of Equestria.
Your Faithful Failure,
Sunset Shimmer.
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Destroying the mirror aint a good idea if its a non null linked Alcubierre wormhole. If it takes so much energy to open once every 30 moons, and it did so to the closest matching reality when it was formed, then it couldve been draining energies all the time its existed while the realities have continued to seperate. Triggering it now, not even worse case, would be like converting one human body mass to energy. Equivalent to the Full Power Tsar Bomb? The actual energy release, youd hope the magical vectorisation didnt lead to an autocatalysing vaccuum collapse that could propagate back up the temporal vector of the link as well. And then all sorts of nasty things could start happening.
Aftre all, this is at least one set of realities that has 628 and Pinkie.
I kind of forgot that we're having a Sunset here who is dealing with guilt of what she did… and the book thing of course.
Hm. Reality Anchors?
But interesting detail. Not Equestrian magic… unless Sunset felt corrupted magic around her. Let's see what it will be.
Gotta agree if destorying the portal was a viable option Celestia would have smashed it decades ago. A portal connecting two worlds for thousands of years? When the statue was destoryed magic began leeking from it, indicating the mirror and statue are just filters, doors at the ends of a passage way, I expect destoying either means the portal becomes permanently open on that side. Not to mention the second natural portal the girls discovered connected directly to the Everfree, which hasn't cause disaster only because the earth side is on a isolated island.
As far as I know however only the Sirens and the Memory stone got sent though the portal, everything else was wild magic latching onto objects turnign them into emotional resonators (magic artifacts triggered by strong feelings)
Celestia is too soft, she will try to get her ex-student back, but the foundation will not be happy about that, she needs to pay for sending those dangerous entities through the portal.
Happy for a new chapter
11417163
The Foundation can't judge the Equestrian since they sometimes does that too, the chief example is Site-13 that was not destroyed but trow in another universe and as far the Overseer Council is concern the case is closed. Alex is possible too low in the hierarchy to find out about this cases.
Sunset at best possible would be classified as a PoI than a SCP, since the only thing anomalous about her is that she come from another dimension and pose no threat to anyone, possible being a younger doppelganger of Human!Sunset, if she still is alive.
It's not too big of a deal if the Foundation is the one in control of the portal. Their entire deal is to CONTAIN paranormal things, not kill or destroy. They will send people through, for fact finding and understanding, but they wont (and also importantly can't) try to take over anything. At least not if they stick to proper procedures. They don't care to do that, that's not their job. It wouldn't be the first time they've contained an entire town.
Now, if ANY other prominent group that deals with (read: buys and sells) skips catches wind of a portal leading to a magical world full of creatures and magical items, THAT can be an issue. Heck, any of the groups knowing could spell disaster honestly.
Love the story!
11417087
Don't sweat it, you're not the only one who did.
11417224
A new front company: The Kingdom of Equestria
Running a country is a hard job, that's for sure, especially one of pastel horse. Is it really worth making sure the portal won't spew out a dragon or something, if alien beuracracy is the means to do it?
But hey, maybe they'll talk it out with horse God, and it'll be fine.
Maybe
I can definently see some bleeding heart humanitarians freaking out when they find out an entire city full of ayys was closed off. Buncha freakish snake lovers, the lot of them.
You can't imagine how much your words mean to me, glad I could be entertaining!
11417389
I'm pretty sure they did once.
I'm forgetting which SCP but there was one where they meddled in some kingdom's affairs.
11417163
I'd argue that Site 13 was a special case. What were they supposed to do? Go on a wild goose chase to find it again? Plus the descision to catapult it into another universe was made by ground troops, not O5 command IIRC.
11417391
Guess the Foundation has some experience! Let's see if it ends up being useful.
Love this story :)
The plot thickens.
11417391
scp 1322 glory hole
11417472
IIRC The Foundation didn't meddle in 1322's affairs, they just vaxxed them to death.
11417403
I found the article, not how I remember, but they did make a deal with the folks over there. Link.
Well they also did have experience puppeteering the US government by replacing George Bush.
11417419
And I love you, random reader!
love it
Ooh!
How does the ambient magic field relate to Humes and reality and stuff??
11471582
ISounds like, magic is dHume/dV. I.e. a differential between reality potentials in two points of space.