Sunset Shimmer & The Temporal Rift

by Lunaria

Chapter 5 - Dangerous Sunshine

Chapter 5
Dangerous Sunshine

Her eyes fluttered open as the ringing in her ears wouldn't stop. Sunset let out a loud groan while the knocking on the door continued. As she struggled to get on her hooves she winced in pain; last nights sleeping arrangement had hardly been ideal. She'd been to plenty of slumber parties as a human, but most of the time she had more than just a few pillows between her and stone floor.

Making her way over to the door she let out a sigh, she'd have to catch up on sleep later.

"Morning Cloud Thorn," she offered to the maid as she opened the door, a yawn threatening to escape her lips.

The maid almost took a step back in shock, staring at Sunset with a surprised expression.

"What?" Her brain hadn't quite caught up yet, but surely offering a good morning wasn't all that weird, was it?

Having recovered, Cloud shook her head. "Nothing, Lady Shimmer."

Something she did however remember was what she'd picked up the previous day. "Right, well," idly she tried to recall where she had put it. "Going forwards you don't need to wake me up anymore."

She grabbed the alarm clock in her hold and floated it over to show Cloud. "I picked this up yesterday, which should save both of us the headache."

And maybe let her wake up at a more reasonable hour. The crack of dawn was *not* her time of the day.

"I see..." Cloud glanced at the clock. "I'll make a note of it then and not wake you up in the future."

Sunset nodded and turned her head, intent on putting the clock on her desk. It only made it halfway across the room before she lost the grip on it and it fell to the floor. Sunset's face slowly whitened as she turned her head to stare at what she'd seen out of the corner of her eye.

Above her bed was a floating ball of magic, same as the day before... except it was many times larger. What had just been a spec was now as large as an orange. The a voice next to her snapped her back to reality, she wasn't sure how long she'd been staring.

"Lady Shimmer, are you alright?"

---

"-We can't talk about any..." Cadance came to a halt at what she was saying as Sunset flashed into existence at the breakfast table.

Sunset could make out that Celestia was about to say something, but didn't give her the chance. Instead she turned to the closest maid and rambled out what she hoped was a coherent breakfast order.

It wasn't until the maid had already started to trot off towards the kitchen that she remembered the most important detail. "Oh and, deliver it to the Starswirl the Bearded wing!"

She was about to teleport off to said location when someone next to her cleared their throat loudly. Glancing to her right revealed a very miffed looking Princess Celestia, a sight in which Sunset could only laugh awkwardly at.

"Sunset, I thought I had told you quite many times to not just teleport everywhere, especially not to a social function."

"Sorry, I'm in somewhat of a hurry."

"Yes," Celestia sighed. "That much is clear for us all to see. Tell me, did you get any sleep last night Sunset?"

She took a step back. "Not as much as I would have hoped, admittedly." Although, the reasons as to why were probably very different than what Celestia had in mind. She half expected to get a long lecture on her behaviour but Celestia seemed to halt herself, only letting out another sigh.

"Well, off with you then, I doubt I could talk you out of whatever your current research project is. And frankly, I've got a lot of other things I need to take care of today with Cadance."

Sunset glanced over to Cadance who was giving her a weird look before turning back to Celestia and nodding.

"Right," she answered with a nod.

She lit up her horn and teleported all the way up to the archives.

---

None of the material she'd found so far had been helpful in the slightest. Sunset ran a hoof through her mane before grimacing, it wasn't the same without fingers. She glanced back towards the table where she'd stacked up books, breakfast dishes long since retrieved by the staff.

She knew time travel was a scientific dead-end. Starswirl had managed to produce a spell for it over a millennia ago, yet despite attempts to expand upon it, nothing had been found. She frowned and walked away from the shelf, those were the facts, and yet...

She knew them to be false.

The time twirler was an Equestrian made artifact as far as she knew. Which meant that someone had figured out something else in regards to time travel. Starlight Glimmer had also managed to expand upon Starswirls research. Sure, that unicorn was basically a genius in her own right, but she'd done in months what others had supposedly failed at doing over the course of their whole lives.

Which meant... information suppression. The humans were more known for it, but considering the dangers of messing with time then it wouldn't be out of the question for even Celestia to employ such shady tactics.

She trotted along the wall of the large circular room that made up the Starswirl The Bearded wing. It wasn't even noon, yet she felt ready to give up, at least on this avenue. Her eyes glanced towards the desk near the center of the room, where the rooms only other occupant was seated. Minuette had entered the room an hour or so after her, and had been content sitting there reading one of the room's many tomes.

It was not unusual for certain prestigious students of CSGU to get access to this archive, so it was hardly a surprise to see her there. Most of the well known material penned by the authors within had been republished in more modern books and were available elsewhere. That meant that most of the contents of the wing was miscellaneous research, a large portion of it being incomplete theories or ideas.

Her eyes trailed to the unicorns cutiemark, a hourglass. She frowned. It would be exceedingly unlikely that they were here researching the same subject matter that she was.

Especially given that it was a mostly banned topic. If ponies had researched time travel more extensively then it was either sealed in the archive she was forbidden from entering, or in a vault of which only Celestia knew the location of.

Her eyes faced forwards as she continued trotting. A hole through time would explain how she ended up where she was... at least partially. There were some holes in it, but a theory was starting to form in her head: After she'd gone to bed that night, way later than she should have, something had happened.

Maybe it was more runaway Equestrian magic, maybe it was someone with malice, she didn't know. But regardless, a hole of some sort had sucked her into the past. The location in her bedroom in the castle made sense: that's where she woke up. However... if she was just sent back to the past, then there was an obvious flaw, something that stood out like a sore thumb; where was her past self?

It'd been a few days, even if they had been on some sort of magic research binge they would have been seen by someone by now. That left two options, neither of which were compelling: Either she'd traded place with her past self... or she'd replaced her. She didn't like either scenario, and she couldn't really confirm what had happened.

She frowned. One thing that she did know was that her body was younger. She'd not been back in Equestria much in recent times, but there were a few obvious signs. Her mane was styled shorter than she'd like... of sorts. The mane to hair transference ratio wasn't exactly even when going through the portal. She'd needed to grow out her hair to match what length she liked for her mane.

This meant she had longer mane when visiting Equestria... something she realised she didn't mind all that much, she just didn't want it shorter. She stopped, blinking a few times.

She was getting sidetracked. With a sigh she continued her trot around the room.

The portal needed a resolution. It was clearly growing, and at an alarming rate. She only really had herself to depend on when it came to fixing it. Cadance, while possibly a compelling choice, knew next to nothing about magic. Celestia had the expertise, yet getting her old mentor involved would get unpleasant... fast.

The truth about her existence in the past was something she wasn't ready to share. She hadn't yet made up her mind what she was to do about the entire situation, but she obviously couldn't just leave a magical disaster growing in her room.

That left her with shockingly little help. She'd grown used to being able to depend on her friends when she couldn't solve something on her own...

Her eyes traveled to the room's other unicorn.

She barely knew the mare, and apparently her past self had been less than kind to her. That cutiemark however... It could be nothing, but if the mare was talented in the field then she'd be crazy to not ask for their help.

Of course, any sane pony's reaction to learning about what was in her room was to run to Celestia. Could she really ask-

Her thought was interrupted as Minuette shut her book and got up. She deposited it in its shelf before making her way towards the exit.

Sunset grit her teeth, she'd just have to take a gamble! She made her way to intercept the mare.

"Minuette, wait."

The unicorn stopped and turned her face to look at her. "Oh, did you grow tired of eyeing me up?"

Her thought ran to a halt. "What?"

Minuette rolled her eyes. "You were staring at my rear, quite intently even. You're not particularly subtle Sunset."

"Oh," of course, that made sense. Even humans did that sort of thing at times. She shook her head while getting her thoughts back on track. "No, it was your cutiemark more so."

"My... cutiemark?"

Sunset nodded. "Your special talent..." she licked her lips, this was it. She desperately needed help though. "Is it in temporal magic?"

---

"So, this is it?" Minuette gestured to the growing vortex in her room.

It had taken a bit convincing to get Minuette to help her, even more so to not tell Celestia about any of it.

She nodded. "Yeah."

Minuette walked around it as best as she could in the space that was available. "You are aware that messing temporal magic is quite a criminal offence, right?"

She sighed. "Like I said, I don't know what caused this."

"You know, I actually believe you, for what it's worth," her horn lighting up.

Sunset blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah, this is some seriously advanced stuff, I doubt anyone who just dabbled in the field could do it."

She let the magic drop from her horn and turned to face Sunset. "Well, what can you tell me about it?"

She ran through what she knew about it in her head. "Well, I first noticed it yesterday evening, at which point it was less than half of the size it is now. It's expanding rapidly... at least overnight. It does not look any larger than it did this morning."

Minuette nodded.

"I'm also assuming it was there before I could see it, just having been too small to detect."

"That's not an unreasonable assumption," Minuette interjected.

She put her hoof to her chin. "I'm not sure there's much I can actually tell you about it though. The scans I dared try didn't reveal anything that you don't already know from your own."

Minuette stared at her intently, it was a bit unnerving. It wasn't quite a glare, yet she couldn't help but feel that the unicorn was angry.

"Nothing else?"

Sunset frowned and shook her head.

A few seconds passed before Minuette's expression softened and she sighed, her head turning to look towards the rift.

"We call these anomalies. As I'm sure you're aware, you need a special license from the crown to research anything related to time travel or similar magic."

Sunset nodded, it was quite well known, at least among CSGU graduates. Time travel wasn't the only banned field, there were a few more. Most of them you could get a special license for when it came to research, though your material was heavily scrutinized and it might never see the light of day should it be completed.

"I'm one of the few ponies that is allowed to even look at this stuff," Minuette frowned.

"So you know how it works then?"

"No," she replied evenly.

Sunset reeled back. She'd hoped with an expert in the field by her side she could figure out what it was and how to deal with it.

"What about... closing it?"

"Closing... it?" Minuette turned to glance at her.

"Well, yes?"

Minuette hummed and turned back to face the anomaly. "Anomalies... I can't tell you too much, but they are more common than ponies think. As I'm sure you know, the magic surrounding this planet isn't static, it moves, twists, and changes."

She was quite familiar with the concept of wild, or primal magic, as it was often called. It was anything that formed naturally in the environment that was heavy on magic, or magical effects that remained as of yet unexplained by science.

Minuette turned and took a few steps towards Sunset's desk. "Anomalies happen from time to time," she snorted. "Places where time twists in unexplained ways. Most of the time it's nothing, other times," she threw her hoof towards the anomaly. "We get things like this."

"You seem to know quite a bit about them."

Minuette smirked. "Kind of have to," her expression quickly flattened. "Still, because of how they are formed, they are all different."

Sunset frowned, was that really it? Some freak accident in Equestria that just happened to suck her into the past? That didn't add up. If it had happened already, she'd seen it the first time around. She supposed it was a possibility that it had happened in the human world, and what she and Minuette was staring at was just the exit point.

Sometimes, things just happen; she knew that. But it made more sense to her if there had been something that directly caused it. The human world, while proven to have magic, did not have the same magic rich atmosphere that Equuis had. The chances that this happened at all, even more so to her while she was unaware, were astronomically low.

She shook her head. "Well, regardless of the cause, we need to stop it before it gets worse," she reasoned.

Minuette grimaced while fishing up a thick notebook and pen from her bag. "Correct, the problem is information."

"Information?"

The blue mare nodded. "I know how to close, possibly seal, these sort of things," she put her pen to her lip. "Ponies with my type of talent are taught that first before anything else. In case we cause problems during a surge we need to know how to close them again."

Minuette sighed, her notebook open to a blank page. "The issue is that in order to do that, we first need to understand how it works."

---

Sunset paced back and forth. She and Minuette had been at it for a few hours, throwing theories and scanning spells on the anomaly. It wasn't as if they hadn't learned anything but seemingly not what they needed to in order to close it. Frankly, the way this stuff worked was well beyond her.

Sure, she was one of the strongest unicorns in Canterlot, which given that it was practically the unicorn capital of the country, said a lot. She was also quite skilled when it came to actually casting spells, or figuring out how to weave new ones. But a lot of her expertise was limited to the subjects she'd studied.

Teleportation? Child's play.

Drawing in magic from the sun? She knew a little, which said a lot given that only one other pony alive knew how to do that; at least as far as she was aware.

She also knew enough about magical wards to dismantle them with ease... or to just go around them entirely.

Granted, that last one was one she'd not learned for very good reasons... but still! She knew a lot of things most unicorns would struggle to learn over their entire lifetime. But, that didn't mean she knew everything, far from it in fact.

Minuette clearly had a much better idea for what was going on than she did. Still, it wasn't as if she was completely useless here, surely there had to be something that she'd overlooked. Her eyes traveled to the anomaly, still as big of an enigma as when she'd first seen it.

Her eyes went over to the unicorn squarely planted at her desk, she'd filled several pages of her book with notes and was currently in the process of looking them over. Beside her on the desk sat a stack of plates from their late lunch.

Minuette had mostly kept to herself and had been short with her at every opportunity. It wasn't shocking exactly, Sunset knew she hadn't been a good pony back in her younger years. It still stung a bit though, to see the result of her behaviour first hand. Especially so when she knew it wouldn't have even phased her back then.

She shook her head, she'd just have to go over what she knew again. Maybe she wouldn't be very much help, but she had to try. She'd done enough studying sessions with Twilight, the two of them didn't have the same expertise, but that didn't mean that one couldn't help each other out.

"Let's see..." she noted Minuette's ears twitch as she started. "This does not seem at all related to Starswirl's spell. That one anchors itself in the past first, as if it was cast at the travel point, rather than at the end point."

Minuette nodded. "If so we'd have a unicorn responsible."

"Right!" She continued pacing. "Even if someone were to modify it, you'd not ever get away from the fact that it sends the caster to the past, it's too fundamental to the spell."

Minuette snorted. "That spell, I know it quite well. Ponies call Starswirl a genius, but the way that spell is structured makes me question it. To bypass the limits the spell itself imposes you'd need a source of magic larger than hundreds of ponies combined."

"Right..." of course, that would be easy if you could tap into the tree of harmony itself, at least that's what Starlight had said she'd done.

With that out of the way her mind traveled to the other main time travel incident she was familiar with: The Time Twirler. She felt a shiver move throughout her body at the very thought of that incident.

Reliving a day over and over again was not fun; despite how appealing some of her friends insisted the subject was in novels and TV shows. She'd eventually gotten out of it, but she still had nightmares about waking up back there again.

...Funny how she'd gone back even further into the past this time. Sometimes she had to wonder if she wasn't a magnet for trouble. She glanced towards Minuette before shaking her head and getting back on track.

"It can't be the Time Twirler," for obvious reasons, given it was in the human world. "If so we'd not even be aware that anything was going on."

Minuette's head snapped to attention and she stared at her. "You know about the Time Twirler?!"

Sunset blinked, had she made a mistake? Well, yes, obviously; it's not like she'd ever read anything about the artifact... but Minuette didn't know that.

"Well, yeah," she put on a flat expression. "I did major in history as well as magic, you know? Of course I looked up historical artifacts, especially things Clover the Clever wrote about."

That wasn't too far of a stretch, though it had been Princess Twilight that had read up about the artifact on her behalf.

Minuette's inquisitive stare slowly morphed into a look of comprehension. "Right," she huffed. "I forgot you're the Princess's apprentice."

The blue mare glanced back at her notes. "Course you'd know about it," she mumbled under her breath.

"Right!" She'd saved that, if just barely. "But as far as I know, it wouldn't be the culprit either... which leaves me with very little else to go on."

Minuette sat there for a few moments before sighing and getting up. "I know what you're doing Sunset."

She opened her mouth to reply.

"But brainstorming isn't going to help us much," she said as she walked over slowly.

For a moment there she'd been worried they were going say something very different.

"Why not?"

"Well it's obvious, isn't it?" She walked past Sunset on the way towards the bed. "You know next to nothing about this, so I don't see how you could possibly-"

"Have you tried?" Sunset interrupted with quite a bit of force behind her words.

Minuette came to a halt. "Pardon?"

Sunset turned and stared Minuette in the eyes. "Have you actually tried it? Working with someone else rather than trying to do everything on your own?"

Minuette flinched before scowling at her. "I don't want to hear that from you of all ponies."

The thinly veiled insult rolled off her like it was nothing; she'd heard worse. "Then who do you want to hear it from Minuette? I'm not going to pretend I'm a beacon of friendship exactly," not yet anyway. "But at least I'm trying. The only reason Cadance isn't here right now is that her knowledge of magic barely surpasses a foal."

Minuette tsked. "And because she'd tell your mentor."

Sunset nodded and gave a light shrug. "Yeah, you're not wrong."

Minuette seemed at least a little bit shocked that she'd admit that so freely, something which made her smirk.

"I don't have a good track record, so Princess Celestia would absolutely get the wrong impression if she walked in on this. But you know? That didn't stop me from trying to reach out and get help," she lifted her hoof and pointed it squarely at Minuette. "After all, I asked you, despite knowing how much you seem to despise me."

For a moment she was worried Minuette was going to blow a casket, but eventually the unicorn closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.

"Fine," she said as she opened her eyes. "We'll do it your way Shimmer, but I doubt it'll help much."

Score! Sunset smiled. "So what do we know?"

Minuette floated over her notes before turning to the anomaly. "Let's see..." She flicked back a few pages. "The obvious first I suppose: it's a time anomaly. What those are can vary greatly. This one does not seem to be doing anything."

Sunset frowned. "It's not... doing anything?"

Minuette nodded. "Yeah, most anomalies do something. You know all those cheap trite novels about ponies reliving the same day over and over again?"

Sunset had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. "...I've got a passing familiarity with the concept."

"Yeah, well, they are patently absurd. But there is some truth to them."

"Seriously?"

"I wouldn't be bringing it up otherwise. No, see, the core part of the premise they get wrong is that ponies are not conscious of the effect happening. Not to mention, there is a lack of scale. Anomalies generally have a small area they affect, rather than just everything"

That raised the obvious question. "And this one's?"

"It's as big as you can see," Minuette shook her head. "But the point is: Anomalies do something, otherwise they'd not exist. Time looping in on itself is fairly common, but is generally harmless. An anomaly that causes time to move faster or slower is much more devastating, though is thankfully also quite rare."

Sunset nodded along. She wasn't really sure how accurate the things Minuette were saying were, but then, it wasn't exactly like she could double check the things in any book.

"So that leaves us with the few things we do know about this one: It has several properties which makes no sense compared to anything I've seen or read up on before. Its area seems to be growing yet the inside has no time related properties. Instead the space inside seem highly malleable, any object put inside gets destroyed."

Sunset shivered as she remember what happened when Minuette had tried dropping a pencil into the anomaly. She was very glad she'd decided to sleep on the floor instead of on her bed.

"My most prominent theory so far is that this is the end point, that the actual anomaly is somewhere else entirely. Yet I can't make heads or tails of my readings, the properties on how this thing folds is gibberish despite very obviously being temporal magic."

Silence fell as Minuette wrapped up the status of her analysis so far.

Sunset frowned and stared at the object of their investigation. Was that really all there was to it? She tapped her chin. Sure, it all added up with what she knew or had guessed, yet she felt like something was missing...

"Wait..." there was one thing Minuette couldn't possibly know in regards to the anomaly. "It has dimensional properties..." it dawned on her.

Minuette snorted. "Obviously," she rolled her eyes. "Time and space are one and the same, even if most ponies don't think about it that way."

"No, that's not..." she turned to Minuette. "Dimensions as in alternate realities." It needed to have those, otherwise she couldn't possibly have ended up here from another reality.

Minuette glanced at her with a frown. "That's absurd."

Nonetheless, the unicorn turned and ran another scanning spell on the anomaly. Dual tasking, Minuette flipped to a new page in her book and started taking notes. By the point she was done her eyes were wide.

"I need to confirm something," Minuette muttered, maybe more so to herself than to Sunset.

Sunset watched as the other unicorn rushed out of her suite, floating notebook in tow. She didn't even get an opportunity to ask her where she was going. With a frown she sighed, maybe Minuette had figured out something important? It wasn't as if she knew where she'd rushed off to, and frankly Sunset wasn't sure whether or not she should attempt to follow her.

Instead she slowly walked out of her room and closed the door, it wasn't like she'd get anything done without the expert. Glancing about she noticed the guard stationed in the hallway.

"Hey," she took a few steps towards them. "I'm running a magical experiment in my room, so if anyone comes around that isn't me or Minuette, tell them that they shouldn't enter."

The guard mare raised an eyebrow. "Yes my Lady."

Sunset tapped her chin. "And... well, if Princess Celestia or anyone else comes by and really wants to go in, at least warn them that it's dangerous."

Getting a nod in return, Sunset turned and walked away with a sigh, having been at it for so may hours she really needed a break anyway.

---

Sunset let out yet another sigh as she slowly walked the castle halls. She needed to get her mind off of the looming magical disaster in her room, she knew that.

...and yet, doing so was hard. She had no idea where Minuette ran off to, but presumably she had some ideas as to a solution. If not, then taking a break was hardly the worst of ideas. As her eyes traveled she noticed a familiar pegasus down the hall.

"Private Spark? What are you doing here?" She'd almost walked past him without noticing.

The guard saluted her before replying. "I'm posted here currently, ma'am."

Sunset rolled her eyes at the formality. "I can see that," she caught herself and sighed. "Sorry, I'm a bit tired."

"Well..." he looked unsure of himself. "It's not really my place to say, but you could try getting some rest?"

"You don't really need to be so uptight, honestly, I don't mind. You're right though, I could use something less stressful right now."

She looked him over while thinking. She wasn't all that familiar with the stallion, all things considered, but frankly any company was better than none. "Actually... if you got the time, you could keep me company?"

Spark smirked slightly. "You do know I'm on the clock, right?"

Sunset smiled. "And you know as well as I do that nothing happens around here. Come on."

Spark held up his hooves. "Well you've convinced me," he chuckled.

Sunset set off with her new companion in tow to the next room over. The great staircase that lead down from the second level to the main entrance of the castle was always a sight; at least for those who didn't live in the castle and had to walk up and down it several times a day.

"To be honest, I'm a bit surprised," Spark admitted. "When I started here a few months ago I heard all of these rumours about you," he glanced at her. "You're very different in-pony."

Sunset let out an awkward chuckle, likely those rumors were all correct; she'd hardly been a sweetheart all those years ago. She could distinctly remember sneering and belittling anyone that got in her way. With a small sigh Sunset sat down at the edge of the stairs, glancing towards the main entrance. At least she could do better now, right?

"It's pretty hard to believe that a nice and pretty mare like you could be as mean as they say," Spark continued.

Sunset snorted, if only he knew. "Nah, I can be quite mean when I want to. It's taken a lot to get my temper under control," even after she got some friends and learned a bit of humility she had a habit of blowing up on others or things when she got frustrated.

Spark sat down beside her, the conversation falling to a rest.

"You know, I was a bit surprised the other day," Spark eventually said. "That you knew about buckball I mean. The sport is so niche, I doubt it'll ever catch on in a big way, so having a noble know about it was quite a shock."

Sunset chuckled. "Well..." her mind traveled to that time around graduation where her friends had wanted to take a trip to Equestria. Rainbow Dash had all but insisted to go and see a buckball match after her counterpart suggested it was the hottest sport around.

She'd never even heard of it before then. It'd been quite a shock to learn that Fluttershy, the local one, was one of Ponyville's ace players. The even more wild part was that that was one of the least strange things that happened during the trip.

She shivered just thinking about it. "A friend insisted I watch a match, I don't really know much about it, to be honest. Also, I don't technically have a title Spark."

"Wait, you don't?" He sounded genuinely surprised.

Sunset nodded. "Being Celestia's personal student affords me some notability among the upper echelons of society, but otherwise there's nothing special about me."

"Huh."

"In fact, one could even make the argument that it's a detriment for me," her mind traveled back to all the various functions she'd been asked to be a part of. "A lot of nobles wants to get close to me in order to get an extra ear in with Celestia."

Spark hummed. "I suppose I can see how that would be bothersome..."

Sunset snorted. "You don't need to try to be polite Spark, I know it's an easy problem to have. Plenty of ponies would give up a lot of things to get my lot in life." At least the picture of her that they had, she had to imagine that many would be less interested if she told them the full tale of her life so far.

Spark let out an awkward chuckle. "I guess you continue to surprise me. I can't really think of any other mare that would speak so frank about these things."

Sunset smirked. "That's just how it goes. I try to not hurt people's feelings anymore, but you'll not find me staying quiet for my own sake. Besides," she wiggled her rear hooves. "I can't really see myself being stuffy and super uptight, no matter how fancy of an event I go to. 'I'd rather dazzle the dance floor'," she finished while mimicking Rarity's mannerism.

Spark flashed her a smile. "Then I think Princess Cadance is lucky to have a friend like you to stick up for her."

Sunset glanced his way. "Well it's not like she's got sole claim to my time, if you want to hang out sometime just let me know."

"Wait, really?" Spark expression morphed to one of confusion.

"Yeah, why not?" Sunset shrugged.

"I didn't think you'd consider somepony like me a friend, I'm just a private."

"I mean, if I didn't care for your company, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. You seemed nice enough, and from the look of things we both needed a diversion."

"Huh..."

Sunset's ears swiveled as she could make out hoofsteps coming up behind her in the distance.

"Private, why are you not at your post?" A voice called out as the steps came to a halt behind them.

Glancing up and behind her revealed Captain Stout Shield.

"Er..." Spark started as he struggled to get on his hooves, clearly caught out.

"That would be my fault, Captain," Sunset said as she herself got up. "I needed someone to stand in while I performed a spell," she flashed him a smile.

"And you needed to abscond with one of my ponies to do so?" His flat expression suggest that he didn't believe her in the slightest.

"Naturally," she added without letting her expression fall.

"Does this have anything to do with the experiment you're running in your quarters?"

Sunset blinked. "You've heard about that?" She was a bit surprised word had traveled that fast. "But no, it does not really have anything to do with that."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I'm running an experiment in conjunction with a student from CSGU; Minuette is her name."

Stout Shield stared at her for what felt like a full minute before snorting, turning his focus to Spark. "Private, return to your post as soon as Lady Shimmer relieves you."

"Yes Sir!" Spark Saluted. He remained at attention till well after the captain had left the hall.

"He's gone," Sunset smirked.

Spark let out a sigh and collapsed. "I can't believe he bought that:"

"Oh he didn't, not in the slightest. He probably heard us well before he approached us, it's not like we were trying to be sneaky."

Spark turned to her with wide eyes. "But then... why did he just let it go?"

Sunset chuckled. "Because calling my bluff would have cost too much. You can't really have a captain of the guard eavesdropping on someone of high standing, at least not unless they are under investigation."

Spark frowned. "I mean, sure, but he was probably just passing by and overheard us, right?"

She nodded. "Sure, but that does not really matter. In high society, image is everything. Not only that, I'm specifically here to study magic. So as long as what I do is to that end and does not cause too many disruptions then I'm likely off the hook."

Spark just stared at her for a few moments. "You really are something else, huh?" He shook his head before mumbling under his breath. "I guess some of those rumors have some substance after all..."

"That being said," Sunset glanced towards the hall they had come from. "I should probably get back to my experiment. Maybe Minuette is back."

Spark righted his helmet. "And I should probably get back to my post before I get myself in more trouble than I already am."

After saying their goodbyes Sunset headed back towards her room. When she got there and pushed the door open she could see that the room was already occupied. Standing near the center of the room with a smirk on her features was Minuette, horn glowing as ethereal threads circled the anomaly.

---

Sunset rubbed her horn as she made her way out towards the castle gardens. She could really use some fresh air. A grumble from her stomach reminded her that she *really* needed some food as well. Skipping dinner had seemed like a good idea at the time... less so now.

She could always have the staff prepare something later for her though... or if they were unwilling then she'd just cook something in the kitchen herself; it wasn't as if she didn't know how to. Years in the human world where she had to take care of herself meant that cooking was something she'd picked up rather quickly.

She grunted when another throb of pain went up her horn. She hadn't really cast any spell that advanced in years, so she supposed it was only natural. Her mind traveled back to when Minuette explained to her what she needed to do to help out with the second spell. She mostly acted as a big battery for Minuette to lean into in order to do the actual casting. It made sense, she was the one with a talent for it all; but that sure didn't make it any easier on her horn.

She'd seen a nice location out in the garden when she was last out here, a place that would be perfect to sit down and relax. As she approached her destination however, she noticed that she might be out of luck. A pony was already there and was setting the table of the small gazebo.

As Sunset approached their attention turned to her and they performed a small bow. "Lady Shimmer, you're earlier than expected."

Early? Was she supposed to be somewhere? Her mind traveled back to what the obligation could possibly be. It wasn't out of the question that she'd forgotten something, she'd spent all day worrying about the time fissure in her room to do much else.

"Er, I am?"

The mare nodded in reply... actually, come to think of it, didn't she know this pony? Sunset looked her over twice before it clicked.

"Cloud Thorn? What are you doing here?" She really must be totally out of it if she didn't even recognize the pony she'd talked to that very same morning.

"I'm setting up the evening tea for you and her highness, Princess Cadenza," the maid turned back to the table and continued setting it.

Right, that made some sense, Cadance's invite likely just hadn't reached her yet. Sunset walked closer and took one of the seats, a sigh escaping her mouth as she sat down. It was a few moments after sitting down-- as Sunset watched Cloud Thorn work --that she realised something; It was actually rather strange for them to be here.

"Wait... I thought you were assigned to take care of the area castle that I live in?"

Cloud came to a halt for just a brief moment before she continued her task. "I was assigned to take care of this duty."

Sunset frowned, she might be dead tired but she could spot the attempt at evading the question from a mile away. The question was, should she push? It's not like it was any of her business. Then again, the other option was to sit there in awkward silence till Cadance showed up. When she put it in that perspective her choice became easy.

"Come on Cloud, you and me both knows there's more to it than that."

Cloud halted and sighed. "Well, if you must know, every maid was scrambling for the opportunity to handle this."

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because," Cloud gestured with a hoof off in the distance, where Sunset spotted a pink blur flying. "Princess Cadenza doesn't have her own staff yet. Being hoofpicked by a Princess would be something of high esteem if it happened to you."

That... did sort of make sense. A lot of nobles found household staff to be positions for their lesser, but some ponies simply had the talent for that kind of thing and loved it.

"Okay," Sunset nodded. "I can see that I suppose," she was about to continue but Cloud held up her hoof.

"Of course, when they learned just who her highness was going to have tea with, interest crashed. I was assigned to do this because no one else would, and I'm still new," her piercing eyes were staring straight into Sunset's.

"Right," she glanced off to the side awkwardly. That was twice now in one day that Sunset had been reminded of just how bad her reputation was among those in the castle, three times if you counted those outside its walls.

But had that stopped her before?

No, even when she had all of Canterlot High against her and practically everyone despised her, she'd risen to the occasion and tried her best. It was unlikely that some magical crisis would show up where she could save the day, but that didn't mean she couldn't slowly work on improving things.

Sunset let out a deep sigh. "Look, I'm sorry if I've ever been rude to you in the past Cloud... and I'm actually thankful that you were honest with me just now."

Cloud's eyes moved up and met hers as she finished putting down the final utensil. The mare just stared at her, before eventually closing her eyes and sighing. "Apology accepted."

A small smile graced Sunsets lips.

"To be honest Lady Shimmer-"

"Just Sunset please."

Cloud frowned. "To be honest Sunset, you were never that bad to me. Sure, the most common expression on your face was a sneer, and you were quite a bit rude. But..."

Sunset could feel her mood dropping. The fact that such behaviour was described as "not that bad" begged the question of what it was being compared to.

Cloud's eyes turned to the sky as she leaned back. "I don't know the truth of them, but there are plenty of horror stories being told about you among the staff."

They looked over towards the set table and floated over the teapot from the pull cart she'd brought with her.

"The others seem to treat them as gospel at least."

Sunset sighed. "They are probably true, the stories I mean."

Cloud's eyes widened. "Surely not all of them?"

She frowned. "I don't know, it's not like I've heard them. But they likely are."

"But..." Cloud had raised one of their hooves and held it against their chest.

"I've not been a good person Cloud," now it was Sunset's turn to not meet the eyes of the one she was talking to. "I'm trying to do better now, but that does not magically take away what I did in the past."

'But my past is not today', her mantra, echoed out in her mind. After a second she snorted, realizing the irony of it all. Her past was literally the present.

Silence fell over the two as Cloud finished her work and took up position at the side of the table.

"So, Cloud Thorn, huh?" If she wanted to start mending bridges, then getting to know them was a good start.

Cloud just looked at her expectantly.

"I know it's somewhat crass to do so, but if I'd heard your name in passing I would have assumed you to be a pegasus."

The other mare looked slightly conflicted before replying. "Well, you're not too off the mark. My parents are both pegasi, they were kind of expecting their foal to be one too."

"So they had the name ready in advance?"

Cloud shook her head. "No, not quite," she tapped her horn. "They named me after this, in part."

When the dots connected for Sunset she couldn't help letting out a snicker. "Seriously?"

Cloud smiled lightly and nodded.

"And here I thought Rainbow was the person with the most egregious name."

"Rainbow?"

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Her mane is rainbow coloured."

Cloud snorted. "Sometimes I wonder what some ponies think when they name their foals."

"I know, right? If it's not based on how a pony looks, chances are it's instead some weird prophetic thing where it perfectly matches up with their special talent."

"...You know, I've never really thought about that before."

Sunset nodded. "Yeah, most ponies don't, but it's everywhere. Take Celestia, her talent? Moving a celestial body," she pointed towards the sun for effect.

Cloud's eyes dilated, clearly in thought. "...It's everywhere."

Sunset snickered. "Speaking of which, I assume your talent is why you decided to become a maid?"

They blinked a few times. "Oh, my job?" Their expression slowly morphed back into a frown. "Not really, I was actually trying to join the guard."

Sunset blinked. "Then how did you end up here?"

Cloud glanced away and sighed. "Well, it's a long story..."

Sunset looked over to the side, she could make up the pink dot in the sky flying about and seemingly not coming any closer. "We've got time."

Cloud let out a huff and sat down. "Well, I signed up for the guard in the last recruitment round and made it in."

Sunset nodded.

"Then it turns out, they had over drafted," their tone was quickly morphing into a frustrated one. "So they needed to layoff some of the latest recruits to make up for it."

Sunset winced, she could see where this was going.

"I was hardly the top of my class, so I was told to pack up my stuff and go."

"I'm sorry."

Cloud looked up at her in surprise. "It's... fine. Well, no, not really, but I can hardly blame that on you." Sunset nodded.

"Anyway, long story short, they took pity on me since I'm not doing too well. So they decided to offer me this job instead. I didn't exactly have anything else lined up so I decided to go for it," she sighed. "Then two weeks of training later and I'm assigned to you after the previous mare quit."

Sunset flinched, knowing that she probably had something to do with that.

"Been here since," Cloud finished.

"I take it you're looking for a different job instead then?"

Cloud frowned. "I'm not sure..."

Sunset blinked a few times. "You're not?"

"Well, it's like..." she frowned lightly. "I'd love to join the guard, but that seems out. But to be frank, this job is kind of cozy."

"Really, I'd have thought working as a maid would be super busy," Sunset frowned. Most of the castle staff seemed to be perpetually busy running around. Granted, she'd never really payed all that much attention to how it all worked.

Cloud nodded. "A lot of them are, but... well, I'm assigned to be your personal maid. But since you'd rather me not clean your room, and generally stay out of your way... that means that most of my days I don't really have much to do."

"Huh."

"I've been catching up on some book series my mother always recommended."

"I mean, I guess you need to do something."

Sunset wasn't sure she'd have done the same. A job with a lot of down time? Maybe some would be into that, but she herself would probably go stir crazy. Come to think of it though, it's not like she needed a maid here to serve herself and Cadance. And she highly doubted Cadance wanted someone to serve her, at least based on her interactions with the alicorn so far.

"Speaking of..." she was about to tell Cloud that she was dismissed, when an idea sparked at the back of her mind.

"Yes?"

She stared straight at Cloud. "You wanted to be in the guard, right?" It was a silly idea, but the more her mind went over it the better it seemed.

Cloud nodded.

"And they decided they didn't want you because you were, what, not performing good enough?"

"Yes," Cloud spoke through gritted teeth. "You don't need to remind me."

"Then," Sunset went on. "It's simple. We just need to make you a more attractive candidate," a smirk slowly growing on her face.

Cloud Thorn didn't seem very impressed with her idea, still, after a few moments she replied.

"What did you have in mind?"

"It's simple. I'm currently tutoring Cadance on magic once a week," her smirk morphed into a frown. "While I respect the amount of work she puts into it, the truth of the matter is that she's highly inexperienced."

"That's not too strange though, right? I heard that she was a pegasus before Princess Celestia turned her into an alicorn."

Sunset nodded. "You're correct. I hardly blame her for where she is in her studies. But a lot of what she needs to do is just practicing the basics with her horn." Her mind traveled back to some of her own experiences. "It'd be as if someone applied a completely new limb to your body; a lot of it is just getting used to how it works and building up muscle memory."

Learning to use hands and walk on only one set of legs had not been fun.

Cloud frowned. "While I'm following what you're saying, what does this have to do with me?"

Sunset smiled and pointed her hoof at her. "It's simple! I'll teach you at the same time. Cadance hardly takes up a lot of my focus, even if she'd have priority. I could totally teach you some advanced spells that'd be out of the leagues of practically any recruit!"

"That's..."

"It'd give you the edge that you might need in order to make the cut."

Cloud's eyes lowered towards the paved floor. "Sticking me in the same room to learn at the same time as a Princess? Absurd..."

Sunset rolled her eyes, ponies put the princesses on the largest of pedestals. "Well, think about it, alright? It's no trouble on my side, and Cadance is generally really chill. Honestly, if anything I think she'd enjoy the extra company."

"I'm not sure if my boss would think it's okay either."

"If anyone gives you trouble over it, just say that I ordered you to be there. Wouldn't be much they could do about it then, right?" She winked.

She could see the conflict in Cloud Thorn's expression, so rather than let her voice her concerns Sunset pushed. "Just think about it, is all I ask."

After a few moments Cloud let out a deep sight. "Alright..."

---

In waiting for company, she'd poured herself a cup of tea; something which she was now cradling. The taste was somewhat nostalgic to her. Rarely since she moved to the mirror world had she sat down with a cup of tea.

While taking another sip she noticed her companion for the evening slowly make their way down the garden path. Sunset had to suppress a chuckle as the pink mare looked her way and even made eye contact... only for them to face forwards and keep going.

Clearly whatever Celestia was having her do had been draining. Still, there was something comedic about watching the alicorn, not even four steps later, realize their mistake and hurry over with burning cheeks.

"I was starting to wonder if I should have given you a call," she couldn't help herself from smiling as she spoke.

"Sunset," Cadance started before chuckling, the embarrassment clear on her face. "I hope you haven't waited for long...?"

She had, of course, but that was less because of Cadance and more her own fault. "Nah," she leaned back in her seat. "I just got here myself."

Cadance let out a sigh as she took a seat. "Sorry for being a bit late, I needed to clear my head," she gestured absentmindedly to the sky with one of her hooves.

Sunset just nodded and started serving Cadance their own cup. "It's fine, really." If anything, getting a while to gather herself after her own long day helped.

Cadance glanced about before tilting her head. "Strange, I figured we'd be surrounded by servants for this."

With a chuckle she started explaining why. "No I dismissed her after she brought the tea, I figured between the two of us there must be at least one grown mare somewhere that can work a kettle."

Cadance froze for a moment before slowly opening her mouth. "I'm sure we can manage."

Welp, not every joke could be a banger, she supposed. Lifting her own cup again and taking another sip she realised something quite profound: She actually kinda hated this tea. The nostalgic first moments was great, but that was just because of all the memories she had off it.

The actual taste? Not at all great.

"You know, I used to be so enamoured by this stuff..." Mostly because Celestia really liked it, come to think of it. "I think I was just fooling myself," she shook her head. "This tea just isn't on my flavour palette."

"Do you want us to order something else from the kitchen?" Cadance asked, before stuffing an entire cookie into her mouth.

"No, not really," she shook her head. "I'm not a child, I can manage."

Cadance hummed as they lifted a few more cookies in their magical grip, only to move them onto her own plate. Either the alicorn had gotten more training in, or she was subconsciously fueling a sweet tooth. Was that an alicorn thing? Celestia was also quite big on the sweets.

"How did your research project go anyway?"

The question surprised her slightly, how quickly had word traveled? Wait, no that's right, she had mentioned something at the breakfast table.

"Well," she started, not entirely sure how much she wanted to divulge. "I think it's resolved."

Cadance frowned. "So you found what you were looking for...?"

"Something like that. Truth be told," she reached over and picked up a cookie herself. "I had to ask the help of an expert in the field, the entire thing was way out of my league."

Cadance just started at her, eyes blinking.

She huffed and rolled her eyes. "I might be good Cadance, but I'm not great at everything that has to do with magic."

"Oh," Cadance's cheeks flushed.

What kind of impression had she given the poor dear? Probably something really stuck up, come to think of it.

"Anyway, how was your day?" She asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"Oh, you have no idea," Cadance let out before launching into a long rant about what she'd been forced to sit through.

---

Sitting at her desk, Sunset let out a loud sigh. "One problem down," her eyes traced the drawers of her desk. "An even bigger one to go," she said while pulling out her notes.

Figuring out what to do had been at the back of her mind since she ended up in the past. She'd just been thrown from one fire into the next, never really having time to put any real thought towards a plan. Yet this was not something she could delay; she'd need to make a choice, the sooner the better.

Her window for crossing over to the other world was approaching, if she wanted to take that route then she needed to prepare for it. As her eyes scanned what she'd written on the parchment she shivered. Stick around and potentially be the one responsible for the end of Equestria, or run away again? Not particularly good choices.

She frowned and raised her quill. There had to be a better option, she just had to consider all the choices that were available to her. To start with, what were the obvious things that she could do, even if doing so might not be ideal?

She could tell someone about her predicament, naturally. She'd barely given it a thought before, but working with Minuette had reminded her: working with friends made everything easier. The question would then be: who to tell about it all? It'd have to be someone who would both believe her, but also someone who she could trust with sensitive information.

She could only think of two ponies who matched that description; both of which were alicorns.

Cadance would provide great moral support, and she could possibly have some ideas that Sunset herself hadn't even thought of. The problem, however, was that Cadance was not the deceptive type, not in the slightest. Knowing the truth about the future would be a huge burden for her, and she'd likely start to second guess her every action.

Celestia, on the other hand, was the opposite problem entirely. She had no doubt in her mind that Celestia would believe her; should she present a strong enough argument for her case. But there were reasons why she'd not been honest with her former mentor already. She'd never really been able to shake her perception of the alicorn as cold and indifferent.

And now? Well, seeing it first hand again she knew that her fears were justified. Princess Twilight had always described Celestia as loving and caring, and that was always something that had struck her as weird.

Then again... the few times Sunset had been back in Equestria and seen the alicorn again, they had been... different. She was a lot more jovial... a lot more happy. She seemed a lot closer to how her mirror image in the human world acted. Something must have happened to her in the years since her own departure, something that changed her, that was the only thing that made sense.

Sunset shook her head, she was getting sidetracked. Celestia likely would tip the odds in Equestria's favour. Her mentor had always been good at working with the 'big picture', so to speak. But things would be irrevocably different, assuming they weren't already.

Princess Twilight was also her friend, and she didn't want to put herself between their future, destiny, and friends. With a sigh she leaned her head against the desk, idly writing down the option of telling Celestia among the other choices.

Even if the alicorn did believe her tale, she'd still be locked into her choice. It would not an understatement to say that the entire nation's future rested upon her shoulders, and whatever choice she'd end up doing.

Frankly it made her deeply uncomfortable.

She'd always been a bit jealous of Princess Twilight for having had such a large impact on the world around her; she practically brought about a golden age of unity both in Equestria but also with the neighbouring nations. But now when it was up to her to make sure things turned out alright? That she could radically change the path of history with just a few choice words here and there?

It wasn't a good feeling.

And sure, everypony technically got to make those choices every day, living their lives. But no one had a guide for the future that they could lean on, or subvert, as desired.

With a shake of her head she put her focus back towards her notes. Regardless of what path she'd end up choosing, one thing was clear: She'd need to start figuring out a way to get away from Celestia. As long as she herself was still here then Celestia was unlikely to take on another student; and that, was something Sunset just couldn't allow.

---

As expected, her target was in the library

"Sunset, do you have a moment?" Celestia said as she approached.

Sunset blinked a few time as she raised her eyes from her book casting a glance over her shoulders. The unicorn was seated somewhat far into the library at one of the reading tables... a table which had no less than six books on it all in a semi-circle around the mare.

Really, when she hadn't found Sunset in her room then this was the safest bet among places where she could be.

"Sure," Sunset replied while placing a bookmark in the volume she was working through.

Celestia flashed a smile for her student before coming to a halt next to her.

"I got a missive today that asked for confirmation on a certain purchase of titanium, given that it was in your name it got me curious. I recall you saying it was for a necklace, but I've never taken you to be one for fashion."

Sunset nodded. "Yeah, I just want something durable that I can use to hold my future pendant."

"Something you'll be enchanting then?" Celestia asked while glancing over to the reading material on the subject that her student was making her way through. Sunset had never been shy from taking a deep dive into a given topic... assuming it was one she personally took interest in.

"Yeah. I think I've got enough of the basic theory down now to just take a stab at experimenting a bit and making something simple." Turning back to face the table again Sunset grabbed all but one book in her hold. With a flick she sent each of the volumes back to their respective shelf.

It was always a sight to see a highly skilled unicorn do so casually what had taken herself several decades to get down. Unicorns on Sunset's level didn't come often; even less so were ones that wanted to apply themselves. If only she could make Sunset move away from being so self centered and power hungry... Then maybe, just maybe, she could be the one.

"So what's your magnum opus going to be then?" She asks with a smile.

Sunset snorted before giving her their full attention. "I wouldn't say it's going to be all that big," her face taking on a thoughtful expression. "I'm trying to replicate the effect of a spell I've observed in the past. I'm not entirely sure if I can pull it off, but if I do manage I'll show you the final result," she finished while closing and fetching the final book in order to bring with her.

Sunset was ever the perfectionist, wasn't she? Often it was that she'd get frustrated if her result didn't match up with the high expectations she placed upon herself. Taking the side of the unicorn Celestia slowed her pace to match Sunset as she made her way out of the library.

"Still, I can't imagine you came all this way to ask about a missive you were already expecting, so what's up?"

Cocking her head towards her student she asked: "'What's up?'"

Sunset's face quickly growing flustered only made her more confused as to the meaning of the phrase.

"It's, ah, um," Sunset turned to face forwards. "It's modern slang for asking either what someone else wants or what they are up to. It's also quite casual, sorry."

Celestia chuckled lightly. "Ah, I see. Still. I'd think with how often we were in each other's company a little bit of levity would be warranted, wouldn't you?"

The fact that Sunset stared at her as if she'd grown a second head suggested not.

Choosing to continue in the hopes that she'd break her student's stupor. "And you're right, I was starting to get a bit worried, which is why I wanted to check in on you. You haven't been to breakfast for the last few days now. You're not sitting up all night studying again, are you?"

That seemed to have done the trick as Sunset snapped to attention again. "No, quite the opposite, really. I've been catching up on missed sleep. That being said, I'm not really a morning pony, so I might just settle in for this as the new normal."

Celestia almost stumbled in her step. Sunset, not a morning pony? Since when? As far back as she could remember the unicorn had raised with the sun, often even attempting to greet her well before breakfast.

"You're not?" She asked before schooling her thoughts.

Sunset shook her head lightly. "Nah. Whenever I need to get up early I usually just end up super grumpy," she chuckles. "Beside, you already know my tendencies of being up all night deep diving into projects," Sunset finished while flashing her smile.

Celestia could only nod. "I... suppose." She couldn't really refute that Sunset did indeed have tendencies to stay up late. But still, she had always got up early. So if she wasn't an morning pony, why would would she get up at dawn?

"You highness!"

The call from down the hallway snapped her out of her thoughts. "Yes?" She greeted to the quickly approaching aid.

Coming to a halt a pony length or two in front of where she and Sunset had stopped, they relayed their message. "Miss Inkwell requests your presence; We just received a missive from one of our embassies."

A light sigh escaped her lips, something which caused Sunset to chuckle. "Inform her I'll be there in a few moments."

With a curt nod the aid turned around and rushed off the way they came.

"'No rest for the wicked', huh?" The mirth in Sunset's voice was clear.

"It seems not," she agreed.

She supposed that if there was any pony that would dig up that old phrase it would be a history graduate. Luna had never really appreciated the depiction that she'd spread nightmares to evil doers, though she never disputed it either. Of course the more 'modern' meaning was quite a bit different, was it not?

Regardless, it was apt. She wasn't exactly looking forwards to the nightmare that was foreign politics. At least you'd eventually wake up from a nightmare, politics, it seemed, was eternal.

Shaking her head she turned to Sunset. "I must be off, it seems. I had hoped to spend the afternoon catching up with you, but it seems duty calls."

Sunset nodded and flashed her a smile. "Is alright, I've got some more reading to do anyway."

With a brief nod she took off down the hall at her quicker, more natural, gait. She'd only barely rounded the corner before her ears swiveled, having caught the sound of Sunset's voice. In a bid of curiosity she stopped briefly.

"Cloud? I didn't expect to see you around here."

"I was on my way back to the changing room, Lady Shimmer."

The second voice wasn't familiar to Celestia, though it was clearly a mare.

A sigh was barely heard. "I thought I told you that just Sunset is fine?"

"It feels too informal though."

"Yeah but I'm not exactly all that big on formality," Sunset chuckled.

"Anyway," Sunset continued. "Did you put any more thought towards my offer?"

Offer? What was her student up to this time? Rare were the times when she interacted with another pony if it wasn't for her own gains. She needed to come up with some way to impart selflessness onto her pupil, less she go down the same route many others had veered off to.

"I... I'll give it a try. But I've got my doubts, and I certainly don't want to get in the way."

"I told you, you won't, in fact she'll be happy for some more company. If nothing else you can both shit talk me when you don't think I'll hear."

The mirth in Sunsets voice at least made it clear to Celestia that she wasn't serious. With a shake of her head she continued down the hall; Whatever mysterious deal Sunset had sealed she was sure she'd be made aware of it eventually. Should she need to scold her student then she'd not hesitate.

---

"Okay, so, Cadance, what are the generally accepted basic principles that measure the abilities of a unicorn?" Sunset smiled as she strode up to the window and turned to face the seated alicorn.

"Umm..."

The confusion on Cadance's face was all but obvious to Sunset. She frowned, hadn't Celestia covered the basics? Then again...

"Princess Celestia did go over this with you, right?"

Cadance nodded. "Well, yes, but we mostly just used books... ones you didn't think were very good."

Sunset planted her rump on the floor to better match their height. "I guess I should have figured. You don't have a unicorn's background so it might not have come up."

Sunset nodded to herself. "But that's fine, I can just go over it quickly."

Cadance smiled, though Sunset could tell it was a bit forced; were ponies always this easy to read? Humans often had way better control of their expressions; it wasn't something she'd put much thought towards before, but the ears did a lot.

"Okay, so the simplest way to think about it, but possibly not the most accurate, is that one's capacity to use magic as a unicorn is limited by three factors," she levitated up the small chalkboard she'd managed to dig out of storage.

"They are: Draw rate, Capacity, and Ability," she wrote all three words on the board and circled them.

"Let's start with Ability, that's the easiest one to go over. You should know by now that spells usually have a distinct form," she waited for Cadance to nod before she continued. "Ability simply refers to a unicorn's ability to keep these forms in their mind when casting. This is why sometimes you hear people refer to a specific spell as a spell form."

Sunset smiled as Cadance seemed to be taking some notes. Glancing over to the other side of the room her eyes met Cloud Thorn's, who seemed to be giving her a weird look. She'd have to ask them about it later, but honestly? All of this would be way below her level so it was hardly shocking if it was boring.

Once she was sure she had Cadance's attention again she continued. "Capacity is simply how much magic your body can store at a given time. The specifics of how this works are quite complicated, but sufficient to say this is something that you can improve; you just need to frequently use your horn."

Sunset tapped a hoof to her mouth. "...It's worth noting that most unicorns have a certain level they peak at, this can be lower or higher than the average."

"So... You're one of the ones with a high capacity?" Cadance asked.

"...Probably," truth be told she didn't remember her last evaluation. She knew she was above average, but her main advantage had always been her ambition, something that drove her to learn complex spells. She shook her head, she was getting side tracked.

"Anyway, the final aspect is draw rate, which is simply how quickly or how efficiently a unicorn absorbs latent magic in the atmosphere. You could think of it as a battery and how long it would take to recharge from zero," she smiled.

Cadance glanced to Cloud before turning back to Sunset, a frown on her face. "What's a battery?"

Sunset froze, did Equestria not have batteries? She was so used to being surrounded by human technology, where practically everything ran on electricity.

A cough from the other side of the room drew her and Cadance's attention. "Your highness, batteries are considered a part of the electricity rollout. They are basically a reservoir for electricity."

"Oh!" Cadance blushed.

"Er, right," Sunset turned back to her primary student. "I guess a better metaphor would be how long it would take for rain water to fill up a glass. Even if two glasses hold the same volume, one with a wider rim would fill up faster."

"That does make sense..."

Sunset smiled. She'd worked with Twilight, the human, for quite a while, and it had honestly been a joy to teach and share magic with someone else. Cadance wasn't stupid, she just never had a need to learn these things before. It was hard to not feel slightly giddy about the prospect of teaching her.

"How..." Cadance traced a circle in the air with her hoof. "Do you determine these things about a pony?"

"Well, usually you take an endurance test, and a set of professionals will track you. There's staff at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns that do it."

Cadance nodded.

"Though... since you're an alicorn I'd assume your draw rate and capacity far outpaces most unicorns. And even if you might not match my levels today, you'll likely far exceed them in a few years."

Cadance reeled back, eyes wide.

Sunset chuckled. "You shouldn't be so surprised, as an alicorn you have the magical potential of three ponies in one. The principles I listed were mostly invented to measure unicorns, but pegasi and earth ponies are also magical creatures that take in latent magic; they just use it differently."

Sunset put down the chalkboard... which she now realised she hadn't actually written anything else on.

"That's a bit hard to take in, honestly," Cadance spoke with trepidation.

Sunset shot her an look. "Really?"

Cadance nodded. "Well, I mean I obviously knew Celestia is the most powerful pony out there, but I always just kind of assumed you'd be stronger than me..."

As Cadance trailed off, Sunset could practically fill in what was left unsaid on her own. She tried to not let it get to her, she wasn't her old self anymore.

"It is true that I'm one of the most prominent unicorns of this generation, Cadance, I won't deny that. But it's straight up biology that a unicorn could never match the innate magic of an alicorn..."

She trailed off as she briefly remembered her correspondences with Princess Twilight, and what had been said about her own student.

She coughed. "There is potential for a unicorn to match an alicorn I suppose, but that would require someone on the level of Starswirl. A unicorn like that would be a one in a million."

"I kind of always thought you were something like that," Cadance said.

Sunset couldn't help herself from cringing. "I know I've spoke up my own skills in the past Cadance, and don't get me wrong, I am very far ahead of my peers. But I'm no Starswirl, not even close. A very big part of my success is just how much I study."

"Really?" The surprise was clear in the alicorn's voice.

"Yeah, I mean, even in CSGU most ponies just pick one field that they really like; usually the one that best matches their special talent. Unless you like magic in general and want to study it broadly, there is little reason to go out of your comfort zone very often."

Cadance let out a huh as she pondered the new insight.

Sunset glanced over at her other student that she still hadn't got to yet. Thankfully Cloud Thorn did not seem completely bored out of her mind yet, though her flat expression wasn't promising.

"Anyway, let's get on with today's actual lesson! Do you have the lesson plan Celestia made you?"

Cadance just stared at her. "Um... There uh, isn't one?"

'That's right,' Sunset thought back to a few days ago. For some reason Celestia had never bothered to draft up a lesson plan for Cadance's magic studies. Or well, she most likely had, it just wasn't something that had been shared.

"Well, okay, I'll just go over what I think is a good continuation of your studies today, and then I'll draft a proper lesson plan for next time."

It was a bit embarrassing for her. She'd spent quite some time thinking over what would be good spells to teach Cloud in order to help her make the cut for the guard, that she hadn't even bothered to think about what Cadance might need.

At least she had come prepared. She fished out a quill, ink, and parchment from her saddlebag. On the surface she drew out the abstract shape of a spell that Cadance probably could handle. When she was finished she floated it over to her primary student.

"I think this should be around your level Cadance. You've seen and learned to read spell form abstracts before, right?"

If Celestia really had been having the poor mare have her head stuffed in books then she should be more than familiar. And indeed, Cadance nodded that she understood.

"This is a more advanced version of a light spell. Normally a unicorn lighting up their horn with magic causes it to glow. So a regular light spell is one of the first things many ponies learn. This one is more complicated, because it lets you move the light buildup away from your horn and float it elsewhere. Not only do you need to focus on a more complicated spell form, you also need to focus on where you want the glow to be."

Sunset lit up her horn and a teal glowing orb ignited before floating away from her horn. She slowly moved it around the room to display how it worked.

"Of course, once you get the hang of it..." She added more floating lights around the room at a rapid pace. It wasn't long before there were at least thirty of them floating everywhere. Cadance just glanced awkwardly between her assignment and Sunset.

With an awkward chuckle she released the spell, got up and walked over to Cadance. "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it. If you've got any questions, and I do mean any questions, just let me know and I'll help."

Cadance nodded. "I'm not sure I can do this but..." her hesitation slowly morphed into a smile. "But I'll try, that's the important part, right?"

"Right!"

After watching for a few moments to make sure Cadance properly got started she turned and walked over to Cloud Thorn.

"Alright, so, let's get started with the future Captain of the Guard!" She flashed her a smirk. Cloud Thorn just frowned lightly.

She knew the mare wasn't sold on this idea, she'd even expected her not to be, that's why she'd planned out how to convince her in advance. If she'd been rejected before when it came to the guard, then that meant her magical capabilities were average, or lower. They wanted anyone above the curve when it came to unicorns, if possible. With the really promising ponies getting thrown into officer training.

"What's your current level when it comes to spells?" The question was a formality to Sunset, she had a pretty good idea.

"I had general studies up to level three in my schooling. I didn't really take any specialized classes," Cloud replied. Her speaking was almost machine like, as if she'd recited this piece of information before.

"Right, so, we'll start with shield spells then," Sunset continued without hesitation. She fired up her horn and a teal bubble surrounded her. "The bubble shaped shield is the most common, it's often the one most unicorns do subconsciously if they feel threatened. It protects you from all angles," she had to hold back a chuckle. "And the ball like shape is pretty good about deflecting force."

"Of course," she powered down the spell and instead put up a square shaped shield in front of her. "If you get attacked from only one direction, then a shield facing the threat directly is better since it conserves magic."

She waved the square around a bit for effected before powering down the spell. Cloud hardly looked excited, but the key part here was not only teaching her better spells, but also how to better think around how to use magic in a fight. Sunset would be lying if she said she had any clue as to what the recruiters looked for. But, she was fairly certain that any pony that was just thinking about threat assessment at all would garner interest.

Few ponies took fighting as an art, even fewer put any thoughts towards war. Equestria had been at peace for centuries, something which shaped the ponies living in the now. The EUP hardly saw much action, mostly working to keep away dangerous monsters and critters from towns and cities. Still, the ponies at the top, Celestia included, had to be prepared in case someone did have the bright idea to try and invade.

A new recruit thinking more critically about things? That'd likely be seen as officer material. At least that's something she'd be on the lookout for when scouting ponies.

"Why don't you put up a shield and I'll try to break through it to get to you?" She flashed Cloud Thorn a smile.

"...Alright."

With a flash a dark orange bubble shield surrounded the unicorn. Sunset approached it and lightly tapped her hoof against it before nodding to herself. It was clearly solid and quite a decent shield overall.

"Now, bubble shields you'd think would protect you against most things," she said while walking around the shielded mare in a circle, inspecting the spell as she went. "But there are some critical weaknesses to it."

Sunset walked back over so she was in front of Cloud, before getting another pony's length between the two. She lit up her horn and flung a regular bolt towards the shield. What wasn't defused by the shield was harmlessly deflected onto the ceiling.

To Cloud's credit, she didn't even flinch.

"A regular head on approach would require a lot of force to breach it. But..."

Cloud's eyes widened as Sunset conjured up some thirty bolts and sent them all flying at her shield at different angles. As they all collided with the shield it faltered while at the same time sending a jolt down Cloud's horn.

"Hitting one with many things at the same time and they're trivial to overwhelm."

Cloud grunted. "That hurt," she said while reaching up to rub her horn.

"Sorry," Sunset flashed her a smile. "The feedback of a spell being disrupted is never pleasant."

Cloud gave her a curt nod. "It's not the first time, though I can't say I've had it happen very often."

"Few do, anyway, put up the shield again, would you?"

With a sigh Cloud fired up her horn again.

"Now, some of the other major weaknesses of a basic bubble shield are simply a lack of scope."

With a flick of her horn she picked up Cloud Thorn in her levitation field and lifted her a couple of centimeters off the ground, something which made the mare exclaim in surprise.

"A bubble shield will protect you from things approaching. But a smart opponent could simply, if applicable, initiate their spell within your shield. Likewise, a skilled unicorn could teleport through your shield."

"That's, disconcerting," Cloud says after being sat down.

Sunset nods. "Yeah, early fighting between unicorns quickly revealed these flaws. Another major weakness of a basic bubble shield is that it does not extend through things unless you make it. So your previous bubble technically had a hole at the bottom in order to account for the floor."

Cloud's eyes dilated.

"This means that someone who wishes you harm could just attack from below. Similar things would happen if you're right up against a wall."

"I'd never thought of that..."

"Me neither," Cadance chimed in.

"It usually doesn't come up, but if you work in the guard or," she turned and flashed Cadance a grin, "you're a Princess, then knowing these things are important."

Turning back to face Cloud Thorn a grin spread across her face. "Now let's go through a few shield variants that don't have these issues."

---

Sunset trotted down the stairs, the stone under her hooves aged and cracked; the walls weren't in much better shape either. Celestia had asked Sunset to join her down in one of the older portions of the castle, one that existed before the modern rebuild some five hundred years ago.

The old castle had been less flashy, serving function over form. After the Everfree Forest consumed Celestia's previous castle, time had been of the essence to relocate Equestria's capital. Those days had been ones of strife and hardship, Celestia being mentally disposed after having banished her sister probably didn't help, Sunset reasoned.

She wasn't quite sure why her mentor had asked her to come all the way down here though. Celestia had all but insisted it was important, but she had also been very clear that this wasn't a magic lesson. But it certainly couldn't be a political one, the nobles were several floors up, completely ignorant as to these halls even existing. Besides, as far as Sunset recalled, Celestia had given up trying to teach her politics years before her departure. That might have had something to do with Sunset taking to nobles like water to oil, one of the few times where she didn't regret her past behaviour all that much.

Sunset reached the bottom of the staircase and continued onwards down the hallway, the teal light of her horn being the only thing lighting the way. Once upon a time there would have been torches flickering here, but few if any even knew about the existence of things below the new foundation; and even fewer ventured down to these levels.

It didn't take her long to reach her destination, any notion of being lost left her mind as she could see bright yellow light reflecting off a nearby wall. Rounding the corner, the hall Sunset found herself in was quite large, spread throughout the space were stands and tables. Many covered with old relics or trinkets, but just as many left empty of anything but cobwebs.

Sunset stepped up next to her teacher at the far end of the room, Celestia's gaze being locked to a mural of stone, hoisted up by wooden supports and protected within a case of glass. Sunset waited there in silence, she knew her teacher well enough. Maybe some of that came from getting to know her alternate reality counterpart, but she had spent not only years with the Princess, but maybe just as many without, something that lead her to reflect upon who she was.

No, Celestia would speak when she was ready, when she had figured out the best way to impart what she wanted. When she could get ponies to do exactly what she wanted with but a word; that's when she spoke. Sunset wasn't happy thinking about her teacher in such light, but the truth of it was that you don't rule a nation without knowing how to get people to do what you want.

"Sunset, I know this might seem a bit non-traditional, but I think this is important," Celestia opened with.

Sunset could only shake her head while smiling. "I wouldn't worry about it princess, I figured we'd not trek this far down and getting our hooves covered in cobwebs if it wasn't important."

Celestia returned her smile before continuing. "I'm... proud of you lately, some days it felt like all we did was fight. I'm glad you and Cadance finally made peace with one another."

Sunset had to prevent her body from taking an involuntary step back, it had been a long time since Celestia uttered such words aimed at her, even more so with how sincere they sounded.

Celestia's gaze returned to the mural in front of them. "It's why I think this is important. Tell me, Sunset, what do you see when you study this mural? There is no right or wrong answer, of course."

Sunset had learned long ago that there was always a 'wrong' answer, even if there were multiple right ones, being a human had taught her that much. Still, Celestia was probably right in this instance.

The mural in front of Sunset was old, that much was clear. She considered briefly studying it in great detail first, and then giving her evaluation. But given everything else, it was more likely that Celestia wanted her raw, unabated, perspective.

Her eyes frowned a bit as she took it in. "Well, it's old, I can say that much. I'll admit that I'm not extremely well versed in art history, despite how much history I studied," Sunset gesture in the air with her hoof. "But the style look very similar to early earth pony pieces from around the time of Equestria's founding."

Celestia nodded. "You have no need to be ill with confidence, your rough dating is quite accurate," Celestia, putting on the smile that Sunset associated with her very rare mischievous moods, continued. "But I was more curious about your opinion on the subject matter depicted."

"Right," Sunset continued. "The center depicts a white alicorn, their yellow mane and tail looking more like flickering flames than hair. From the body it looks like a mare, her eyes are closed and her mouth shapes into... I believe a smile. Behind her is the sun at the edge of the horizon, so it depicts either dawn or dusk. On the outskirt surrounding her stands many ponies, mostly earth ponies, but a few pegasi and unicorns. They are not drawn in much detail, though one unicorn seem to be wearing some blue horn accessory?"

The silence returned upon Sunset finishing her description. The two just stood there next to each other, the teal and yellow lights from their horns merging into one. If Sunset was her younger self, she would have probably been impatient at this juncture, finding Celestia's drawn out lesson a chore. And she was under no illusion, this was a lesson of some form.

"...and, what do you think it means?" Celestia finally asked, breaking the silence.

Sunset frowned. "I'm not sure, to be honest. It depicts you, that much is obvious. As for in what light... It's hard to place," Sunset eventually finished, unable to grasp at better words.

She had not found the mural remarkable upon stepping into the room and her eyes first rested upon it. But clearly there was something more to it, otherwise Celestia would not have brought them here.

"What I see," Celestia started slowly. "Is a future that terrifies me."

Sunset had to turn at that, facing her teacher with one eye half closed. "What do you mean?"

It took more waiting before Celestia once again spoke. "This mural was gifted to me and Equestria by the Crystal Empire, you're familiar with them, correct?"

Sunset nodded. "It was a kingdom in the far north that disappeared almost a millennium ago, I read a fair bit about it in my ancient history studies."

'And I have once stepped foot in that place after it's eventual return' Sunset continued in the confines of her mind.

"I don't know how they came upon it, nor how they discerned its title. But the scholars of the Crystal Empire were quite confident that this piece was called 'She Who Brings the Dawn'," Celestia said.

"That sounds a bit like a pony I know," Sunset said, the mirth clear in her tone.

Celestia smiled. "You're quite right in that aspect," she shook her head before continuing. "Equestrian scholars later came to the conclusion that what is depicted here is a prophecy."

"A prophecy?"

"Yes... and that's what has me so worried. My mane does not flicker like flames Sunset, nor is it a bright yellow. Once upon a time though, and bear with me here, I viewed this mural in a different light."

"Oh?"

Celestia gave a short nod. "I... became obsessed with it. It depicted an alicorn, someone like me and..." Celestia trailed off, a frown on her face.

"And Luna?" Sunset supplied helpfully.

She realised her mistake a moment too late, as her teacher now stared at her in shock. Celestia had never spoken to her about her sister, nor were there many in Equestria who even knew she once had one. But those who did referred to her by her fallen name, Nightmare Moon, not her original one.

Sunset was not very familiar with the alicorn embodying night, having only meet her once or twice. Fortunately though, Sunset was very familiar with her human counter part. She had also observed a fair bit of the sister's dynamic between the two humans, and it was clear they loved each other dearly, even if they were at each others throats when they thought no one could see.

"No need to act so surprised Princess, I do take my history studies quite seriously," Sunset tried to supply to cover her folly.

"I... I supposed you do. I did not expect to hear someone speak my sister's name so freely."

"Well it's about time someone does, is it not? It's a better memory to keep alive than whatever it is we do at nightmare night," Sunset followed up, her nerves spiking as she spoke.

She could see the pain traced upon the features of her mentor, the two of them falling back into silence. Eventually both of their gazes shifted back towards the mural, the reason for their gathering.

Celestia let out a polite cough. "Yes, it depicts an alicorn. Someone alike to me and my sister, yet on the same time so different. In my younger days, I thought that it might depict my mother. I went on a fruitless search trying to learn more of this fabled alicorn, hoping that I could, if not find them, then learn more of them. The only family I have ever known is that of my sister."

The notion of where Celestia and Luna had come from was not a thought that had crossed Sunset mind before. If she had known that her mentor struggled with questions as to her origin, she would have taken the time to research the family tree of the principal. Humans kept very detailed birth and death records, often with pictures; it would have been trivial to just look up the information online.

"Did you find her?"

A shake of her mentor's head was her answer. "No, I did not. Eventually my sister confronted me in my frenzy of finding this fabled alicorn. She spoke that we had duties to our ponies and that those had to come first. I asked if she did not care for finding what could be our mother. Do you know what her answer was?"

Sunset shook her head.

"She said 'You're more of a mother to me than a mare that wasn't there. For me you're worth more than some mare depicted in stone. If that stone depicts a mother of mine, then that stone depicts you, sister.' I was dumbfounded by her words at the time," Celestia raised her hoof and rested it on the glass casing. "But she was in many ways right. I was the older of us, and long ago, when we were but fillies, I took care of her. We always only had each other for support, the one cliff in the turmoil of life."

Sunset took a moment before responding. "At least you don't have to be alone anymore though, right?"

Celestia looked down upon the unicorn in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Sunset scoffed and let out a sigh. "You have Cadance now, right?" Putting on a smile as she finished.

Celestia just blinked at her, before turning her gaze back forwards again. "I suppose you're right, I do have... family again. Though I don't think she sees me that way."

"Maybe not today Princess, but one day, right?"

Celestia just nodded. The silence once again descending. Sunset struggled to not let out a deep sigh. Sometimes her mentor was more awkward than Rainbow Dash in a dress store. It was never quite clear if she was waiting for someone else to speak up, or if she was simply gathering her thoughts.

One could easily make the mistake of thinking that Celestia had her head stuck up in the clouds, some of the less smart nobles certainly did so, but that wasn't really accurate. To direct a conversation meant to be in full control of it, and sometimes that meant not speaking at all.

Right here and now though? Sunset was almost certain that Celestia was instead struggling with figuring out how to act, she had been there herself once. As far as Sunset was aware, Celestia had never had a child, yet now she had decided to adopt the young alicorn into her already broken family. Sunset could think of many reasons as to why she would have chosen to do so: It signified a more united Equestria, she could teach the younger alicorn and groom her into a competent leader.

Yet, for all of that she could picture in her mind, Sunset highly doubted that Celestia had adopted Cadance due to a desire for family. It's not as if the older alicorn didn't like the younger, that much was true, but family, at least the chosen family, was closer than any friend. For all of Celestia's preaching about the virtue of friendship, it clearly was something the older mare herself struggled with.

Eventually Sunset spoke up, voicing something that had bothered her. "So, you said it scared you now, how come?"

Celestia glanced towards her and frowned."That's correct, it's the reason why I had us come here today." Sunset was a bit surprised that her mentor would admit something like that so freely. Most of the time she was quite tight lipped about the reasons behind her lessons.

"After..." Celestia gulped. "Luna fell to darkness... this mural is something I came to see in a different light. Alicorns are ponies, just like any other, sometimes we forget that. We carry the magic and abilities of all three tribes, and while we can train to be proficient in all of them; that does not make us exceptional. Where an Alicorn rivals no other is in our special talent, taking on a much more primal and powerful force."

Celestia turned to study Sunset's face before continuing. "In the matter of the heart, we are as weak and susceptible as anypony else. But should we stray down a dark path, the consequences are magnitudes worse than if any other pony did so. That possibility exists within me as well."

Celestia gestured towards the mural with her hoof. "That, is what I believe this mural indicates; what should happen should I ever fall to such dark temptations. It's a prophecy I can never allow to come true, no matter what," the expression on her face hardening.

Sunset could feel a stiffness across her body, she had tensed up without even noticing. She was more than familiar with what happens when too much magical power gathered in one location, only for it to be turned into a corrupting evil; she had embraced it once, and again seen it happen to others.

Sunset nodded. "That future is indeed something we can not allow to happen, no matter what."

If Celestia was surprised by her conviction, she did not show it. "I know you covet becoming an alicorn, and I'd imagine that's why you had such trouble getting along with Cadance. It's why I figured this would be something important to see, because the danger of falling to darkness is a burden someone like me always has to carry."

Sunset let out a hoarse laugh while shaking her head. "The fact that you think I desire something like that shows just how little you know me, Celestia."

Celestia frowned. "You don't?"

Sunset let the question hang in the air before shaking her head. It was true that once upon a time she might have desired that. Her eyes tracing over Celestia's form as she thought back to what felt like a lifetime ago. It had never really been about being an alicorn, or becoming immortal. It had been about power, to have enough power to sit by Celestia's side as her equal.

She had been so naive back then. What made Celestia exceptional, and why ponies followed her had never been about how powerful she was. In a weird twist of irony, perhaps she had not been so different from the nobles she despised.

Celestia licked her lips. "Perhaps I should have shown you this first, maybe instead of..." She shook her head. "We'd have saved ourselves these last few weeks of grief if we had just spoken like this."

Sunset let out a laugh at that; it would have been an awful idea. Her old self would never have ceded. Not to mention that Celestia herself was not much better when it came intimacy. Yet even now, Sunset dared not be fully honest with her old mentor. Too much of the future was at stake, and Celestia was potentially the worst pony to clue in considering how large her ability to alter things were.

Sunset grinned. "Perhaps one day, when we can be honest with one another, we could plot a future together."

Sunset turned and set off at a slow pace towards the exit. "But it's clear to me that we are both currently incapable of that."

Celestia followed her, agreeing to her unstated notion that the lesson was over. "You've changed, Sunset."

This caused her to stop. "We all change princess, to not change, to not improve upon oneself, is to wallow in decay. If we all try to improve, then futures such as the one depicted there will never come to pass; we won't let it."

Celestia nodded, having stopped at her side. "A fine mindset. I know not what has sparked this change in you Sunset, but for what it's worth, I think it's a positive one," a smile resting on her face.

One question remained in Sunset's mind though. "What made everyone so certain that the mural depicted a prophecy anyway?"

"That one is simple, my student: Because when we dated it, we realised that it predates both mine and my sister's birth."

Author's Note:

Whew, it's finally done. This project has been in the works since the last one came out, basically. Not only is it the chunkiest chapter so far, but it also had some large issues to it that I wasn't sure how to solve.

In the original planning this chapter had fewer scenes, but I realised after having written them that the flow was awful. Therefore I wrote a few extra scenes to make it all flow better. Likewise, a lot of scenes that I thought would be short and quick ended up being waaaaay longer.

If you're curious, the scene with Spark Shott was not planned at all. The poor stallion has really turned into an ascended extra. After introducing them in an earlier chapter I had planned on including them at a few points later in the story when convenient (and I needed a low ranking guard), but, well, here we are I guess.

For those that have been following this story since the start, and payed close attention, you might have realised that I retconned Cloud Thorn's appearance. I originally wrote her as a white coated pony with blue mane. The problem is, this idea kinda left my head not long after writing that chapter. Since then I've pictured her more in the updated colour scheme (Dark brown coat, and gray mane, with orange eyes).

It's a minor detail so don't feel bad going back and retconning it. But I figured I'd make a note of it so no one is confused about the change.

As for the future? Well, hopefully the next chapter won't be as far out. My full time job keeps me more busy than I were when I first started writing this fic, but I don't intend to kick the bucket on it any time soon. But also don't expect any future chapters to be as long as this one.

Oh and, me and my helpful pre-reader probably missed some typos and grammar issues, as is usual.

Comments

[Biglulu]

Aw hell yeah, I was wondering if this was going to update again. I love this story.

[Bread-Kun]

M O A R

[wildredlifer]

Celestia could only nod. "I... suppose." She couldn't really refute that Sunset did indeed have tendencies to stay up late. But still, she had always got up early. So if she wasn't an morning pony, why would would she get up at dawn?

Yeah, why would a young orphan filly want to get up a dawn to spend time with the closest thing to a mother that she has repeatedly?

[Mike45]

This is my one of favrerite stroyies

[Rune Knight Genryu]

Beam a year my doode. Good to see you back.

[Wanderer D]

I've been looking forward to this new chapter for some time now, and now that it is here, it leaves me with more questions, anticipation, theories and hope. The wait was long, but worth every minute.

[Blood Rarity]

[Golden Sax]

The beginning of this chapter is almost identical to the previous one. If this is intentional, I'm scared.

[Ariel Schnee]

Why does chapter four, and chapter five, have the same title?

[Stahlseele]

oh an update O.o

[Omegaweapon1000]

11889008
Just noticed that, and I must admit that I am a slight bit puzzled about it as well.

[uis]

This fanfic pleases Shimmy.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is Shimmy's mural from past. As in she traveled to the past.

[Killer20]

New chapter Nice!

[mortsllaf]

I would say there are 3 main contenders for the prophecy, Sunset, Twilight, Celestia.

Sunset is an obvious choice, the time travel and similar appearances are an obvious match as well. Combining this with the story’s focus on her and she is the clear option.

Twilight’s is far simpler in that she has had that description before (pre-Alicorn though.) She too has been exposed to time travel before. This could be linked to the ambiguous state of Twilight in this timeline.

Celestia is the option presented in the story and thus a likely red herring. Even so it would still work.

Besides these, the alicorn could be a new character we simply have not been introduced to yet.

[Wysteria]

This was a great chapter!

[TheCommunistDog]

Cool

[NightFlame389]

Now we see the previous chapter's timeframe from a different perspective

I wonder if Sunset has ever heard about Daybreaker... she is friends with Starlight so it's not out of the realm of possibility

Anyway, this remains one of my favorite ongoing Sunset Shimmer fics, and considering both of the others are in the Also Liked section (First Hoof Account and Magic Mirror On The Wall, Who Is The Mightiest Of Them All?) it seems as if my fellow readers have similar tastes

[FireAlphaWolf]

Woop woop

[Twilight_Shimmer]

Dude this update was amaaing! I also loved how you have Sunset and Minuette working together and look forward to seeing pair work together more. As to Cloud? I could see her becoming Cadance's main guard at the request of the aformentioned princess, after all they did take magic classes togehter and Cadance as a result would already know what Cloud could do. As to the amonaly? I cannot help wonder if they and the stone are connected someway, or if one opened in the past and deposited it? Though I suppoose that is a question to be answered in the future eh?

[Frazikar]

Hmmmm, temporal anomaly in Sunset's castle room ... could be the original coming back, maybe?

Or maybe a follow-up from the human world ... [worst case, some 'tween world critter following behind ... ]

[Notrab M]

It LIIIIIIIIIIVES! And thanks so much for that!

[Hannah Nelson]

Nice chapter!

[xbox432]

11888910
Orphan? Well, maybe by technicality. Sunset mentions her parents in "Happy Holidays", but seems to dislike them. And this is AFTER her reform. So they were probably pretty horrible in some way. Then again, OP may not be counting that and this Sunset is indeed an orphan. Either way, yeah, Celestia IS basically the one who raised her. Just like with Luna...

[TartarusFire]

I wonder if Sunset is the only one who can see the ball growing. The Cadence chapter before had Cloud Thorn see the magic ball look the same size, but Sunset saw it grow by a lot this time. Perhaps it is an anomaly where only she can see it grow but it always looks the same size to any other observers.

This was amazing, I don't know what's happening but I want to!

The spooky mural was super cool, I got goosebumps after the ending

[MrZoat]

It's not dead? Yay!

[Lunaria]

11889295
I've not actually read many of the comics (only one or two), so at best I'm unfamiliar with them, at worst they are a black void for me.

Sometimes I do incorporate ideas I like from the comics into my writing, other times I go out of my way to ignore it. What little I've seen of the comics it tend to be equal parts brilliant and head stuck in the mud. The comic mentioned here is the one that is more infamously known as the Anon-a-miss story, and I've been lead to believe it's less than stellar.

None-the-less, unless otherwise stated or brought up, assume the comics aren't canon to this tale. And if anything comes up that did originate from the comics first then I've probably taken my own spin on the idea.

[KittyrinnAiko]

Sunset nodded. "Your special talent..." she licked her lips, this was it. She desperately needed help though. "Is it in temporal magic?"

Sunset: I need to show you something in my room.

Minuette: You don't say.

[KittyrinnAiko]

"I was hardly the top of my class, so I was told to pack up my stuff and go."

That's an interesting way to say she was a washout.

[Those Kids In The Corner]

For a moment she was worried Minuette was going to blow a casket, but eventually the unicorn closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.

"Blow a gasket" is the usual phrase, though I am unsure if this was adapted because gaskets are typically associated with cars. They were used in steam engines though, so I would figure Equestrian trains would have them in some fashion.

[Screw]

Oh man! I'll miss your longer chapters, this one has been such a treat! Except, you know, the gap in between.

I still love this story, regardless! As for side characters, well, I don't really remember much other than Sunset having a maid. But getting them involved is going to solidify them pretty... solidly.

I am now partially invested what the maid-guard will get out of this. Also, if you take out the shipping context, I am curious what you're going to do with Private and Sunset.

And... oof.

You've written so well that I think I can easily see Celestia as a cold and manipulative ruler before Sunset leaving got her to change. To a caring and manipulative ruler instead.

Hell, you've quite made me replace my belief of Celestia's benevolence as a recent-ish event rather than from the founding of Equestria.

Great work, Wordsmith!

Good luck with work and life too

[xbox432]

11889516
Hah! Yeah, I hadn't realized that before. But considering Minuette's prior comment about Sunset looking at her flank? That could indeed have been a funny thought.

11889540
Nah, from what she's saying she actually passed all her exams, only just barely. But because of a fuckup with the paperwork, too many guards were hired. So she was let go to make their numbers accurate. This happens all the time IRL. From this exact scenario, to the opposite. With the military in question NOT ALLOWING people to leave as per their contract due to a fuck up in recruiting, and the military needing to preserve numbers rather than trim them.

[PaintedPony]

I was elated to see this chapter appear in my feed! I had to go back and reread all of it to get caught up. It was as enjoyable the second time around as the first. This chapter was long and I loved it.

[Alkohole]

meme-arsenal.com/memes/6fa3db3d27bd6646e470f540df3e0bb1.jpg
i.ibb.co/zQvrt6q/2024-04-27-22-28-39.png
It's time for a re-read!

[Una]

Sunset may be just a little more important in Celestia's history then she thinks. I believe in this time-line Sunset is the chosen one to become a Alcorn. Or maybe
something outlandish like a time traveling mother.

[KittyrinnAiko]

Sunset froze, did Equestria not have batteries? She was so used to being surrounded by human technology, where practically everything ran on electricity.

Equestria should have crystals in which manna can be stored. A batter for magic.

[KittyrinnAiko]

11889483
Yes, the comic is pretty infamous. They set out to do a lesson about the dangers of cyber-bullying and had the Rainbooms behave out of character and dump Sunset the first chance they got.

As for the comics and canon, the comics aren't even contestant with the comics.

[ObsPerson]

If Sunset is the Alicorn depicted in the prophecy, would it be past Sunset or future Sunset that will ascend? Because if it's past Sunset, given how much of a bitch she is, it's not gonna end well.

[swyrl]

Man sunset is really in a tight spot here. And who knows what the future looks like from the other end?

[The Weaver]

Really, when she hadn't found Sunset in her room then this was the safest bet among places where she could be.

I presume you noticed the glowing "orb of doom" above the bed? Or did you just ask the guard now guarding the door from anyone but four unique ponies... nothing suspicious about that either... no siree!

[Secundum]

11889571
Yeah, you can easily see how Sunset running away made Celestia revaluate herself.

[Fancy Fox]

Lot of info in this one, lot to ruminate on.
Great chapter though! Love to see a new chapter of this story even if the update took a while!

[Danger Noodle]

11889614
I too had to reread the story.

[Dorath]

I'm glad Sunset has realized the issues she faces. Not just keeping the anomaly from causing any harm, but also that she has to go through the mirror and be a massive witch in Canterlot High if she wants to keep the history she knows on track.

Overall, I'd say that would be a pretty crappy existence

[AngelaCA]

Ahhhh it finally update and it was worth the wait woooo🎉🥰 Thank you I hope this would continue till this ends😍

[uis]

11889834
Do they have in show?

11889948
Or Daybreaker. Or Rapidash Sparkle.