Chapter 54: A Clever Legacy
Human Sunset entered the portal and got sent into what looked like a spiraling wormhole, before being teleported to an old and dusty looking library. Although Princess Twilight was mostly focusing on her royal duties, she had already ordered several of her royal guards to carry a majority of the moving packages and items from the Castle of Friendship to Canterlot, and more specifically, the castle which once belonged to Princess Celestia and Luna. Twilight had already finished packing everything the day before her coronation, and let the royal guards do their job as she was celebrating with her friends and getting used to her new responsibilities. However, one thing she also specifically did herself was placing the Crystal Mirror in the Canterlot library's restricted section, as she wanted to ensure Pony Sunset's entrance back home would be in a safe place, and she also wanted to conduct some research on the mirror itself in her free time.
The Crystal Mirror along with the entire convoluted setup Twilight had used to keep the portal open indefinitely was all intact and placed neatly near the library's entrance, along with the old journal powering it up. As a result, when Human Sunset arrived, she fell onto the ground, but was rather confused at where she was now. Initially to her, it just looked like a creepy and old abandoned steeple with a library, similar to the building where those gang girls had taken her. She didn't even immediately notice she was now in a pony's body, as coming here to this supposed Equestria place entailed focusing on her main mission in learning what could've caused her seeming disappearance from her own world.
Human Sunset's first instinct upon remembering this was reaching into her pocket to find that scroll piece again, only to find she had no pockets. In fact, she wasn't even wearing any clothes now, and appeared to have an animal's body from her waist-down. This was incredibly confusing and off-putting, the mere thought of her now being an indecently exposed filthy animal. But as she looked back onto the same mirror her pony counterpart had stared at admirably years ago, she suddenly saw a reflection of herself as a... horse? A four-legged animal, she knew that with certainty, but had no idea what this strange cone protruding out of her head was. Then, it suddenly hit her.
"Wait a minute..." Human Sunset said to herself whilst staring at her reflection, before getting on all fours. "Have I suddenly become that same four-legged animal in that dark area before I got engulfed by that void? It seems like I've become a horse from the looks of it, but I certainly look pretty strange for a horse. For that matter, I can even talk while being a horse? I've never heard of any animals talking other than parakeets, but... that's besides the point. Where even am I, is this that Equestria place I read about in the diary? And for that matter, if I no longer have pockets, what happened to that-"
Human Sunset ruffled her hair to process everything, before noticing something falling out of her mane and onto the ground. Although she lost her clothes after transforming into a pony, the scroll piece was still intact and with her, but now it seemed awkward to pick it up, as she no longer had hands. She tried over and over to pick it up, but lacking fingers most certainly proved to be a challenge, not helped by the fact that being in this new place to her, raised far more questions than answers. Eventually, after being desperate enough to even get her mouth dirty, she instinctively just picked up the scroll piece with her teeth, unamused and also disgusted at putting something that's been on the floor in her mouth.
"This is going to get really awkward if I stick around here, I just need to learn what's been happening and why there's an imposter back in my world." Human Sunset said to herself in clenched teeth. "At least, I assume I'm now in a different world, since I don't remember seeing colorful talking horses where I come from."
As such, Human Sunset decided it was likely best to not stay here longer than she needed to, it was mostly a matter of learning where this fake Sunset had come from, and why specifically her existence created this detrimental effect to herself. The idea of magic being involved was still completely beyond Human Sunset's comprehension, to where she decided to simply roll with it, realizing that whatever was the case, she had to know, one way or another. Given how this place was a library with shelves of books all over, it at least gave her the idea to read up on anything to help her understand, even if there appeared to be thousands of old books to choose from. This might be her only opportunity to learn what had happened when that void had taken her, meaning that even if she was going to be here for a while, so be it.
Since Human Sunset still couldn't read what the scroll piece was saying, she released it from her mouth and placed it onto her hoof, which she was still getting used to having, at least for now. To save her the trouble of carrying it everywhere with her mouth, she tucked it into her mane, much like her pony counterpart did when she secretly took it from that history book back then. It was time to begin doing some heavy research, even if she had to do it one book at a time. Going off of what she already knew, she realized she had to at least look for any books revolving around the human world, a portal, and a void that trapped her. Unfortunately, much like Princess Celestia, who had already triple-checked and searched the absolute full extent of the library during her reign, Human Sunset wasn't having any luck finding a book that was remotely relevant to the topic she was hoping to learn about.
Most books only elaborated on ancient spells and legendary creatures which had already been labeled as extinct from Equestria, but this at least let Human Sunset know for certain that she was now indeed in that Equestria place she was looking for. Considering how it was definitely likely for that imposter Sunset to return, which would potentially put her through that void nightmare once more, Human Sunset was adamant on ensuring she could completely understand what had happened, and if there was any way to prevent the imposter from coming back. The desperate nature of her research created a lot of noise as she was vaguely skimming the books for answers, which in turn, caught the attention of somepony who was finishing up organizing the outside Canterlot library, and was ready to hit the hay.
Twilight Sparkle had finished rearranging the library in a way that would help her find whatever she needed comfortably, as it was time to close up and rest for the night, since it was nearly 3 AM. However, the distinct sound of books being thrown to the floor began to vaguely make itself apparent, even if the library's restricted section was a floor below where Twilight currently was. The princess followed the noise downstairs, realizing that someone had made their way into the one section of the library she still had yet to organize, which was also currently off-limits. Understanding the potential danger, Twilight quickly grabbed the secret books on the shelf that activated a hidden lever, opening up the entrance to the secret room. She also had her horn ready to blast magic, in case she had to fight this seeming intruder.
It didn't make a lot of sense to the princess as to how someone knew about the restricted section, and why they were there this late. Since no one else seemingly knew of the secret area's existence other than herself, Celestia, Luna, and Sunset Shimmer, Twilight surmised it was most likely someone who had a personal vendetta toward Celestia, or attempting to steal ancient Equestrian knowledge for themselves. Rushing in to find the intruder as quickly as she could, she eventually saw a trail of books on the floor, leading to a pile in the corner. This certainly gave off the impression that the intruder was looking for something specific, furthering Twilight's concern to apprehend the culprit before it was too late. However, after searching another one of the rooms in this hidden library, the princess saw the pony who was responsible, and breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing it seemingly wasn't someone dangerous or vengeful.
"Ohhhhh, thank Celestia." Twilight wiped the sweat off of her face. "It's just you, Sunset. I really thought for a second there that someone dangerous was robbing the library's restricted section."
"Errr, yeah, that's right." Human Sunset said, awkwardly.
Out of the fear that whoever was behind her would most likely notice anything different about her, Human Sunset didn't turn around yet to reveal her face, as exemplified with the street gang from earlier, when one of them had claimed that the fake Sunset lacked eyeshadow, which she still had, based on the reflection she saw in the mirror. Human Sunset mostly tried to play things off, hoping that she wouldn't get captured or punished for trespassing. It seemed fine though, as whoever had found her seemed to already know and trust 'Sunset Shimmer'.
"Well, I guess it makes sense now why you're here." Twilight began surmising. "To my knowledge, you're the only pony other than myself who knows of this hidden library, after Princess Celestia showed us how to get in last time. I'm also sorry for forgetting to mention that I had moved the Crystal Mirror here, just to ensure you'll have a safe and easy way back into the Human World. But it looks like you found it on your own."
"Thanks, I guess." Human Sunset continued playing along. "You don't mind the mess I just made, do you?"
"Oh, not at all." Twilight reassured. "My hope was for you to get as comfortable as you'd like during your return to Equestria, and you've already mentioned to me that you'd be more interested in relearning magic, so it's okay. I've said that I'm willing to give you that freedom in choosing when to level up in your studies, and promised I wouldn't hold you back from trying to study new magic you didn't quite understand, so you're technically the only pony I've granted permission to be here, especially since you've been here before. Besides, I don't mind the mess, considering I still have yet to reorganize this place in my own free time. In some ways, you've probably just given me a head start."
"Alright, thanks for being so understanding." Human Sunset breathed a sigh of relief. "By the way, what should I do if I find something in say... one of those books that appears to be written in a language I can't read?"
"Oh?" Twilight said with curiosity. "Well for that, I guess you could use the archive's mechanical catalog on the right from the main room. Remember when Princess Celestia showed us, but it broke apart after not being used for presumably hundreds of years? I already fixed it myself in my free time, but that catalog does have a translator if you're having trouble reading something that's in a language you don't recognize. All you have to do is scan what you're trying to translate under the bottom left scanner, then pull the right lever, which will print out what it says in English. And as far as I'm aware, it shouldn't have issues with not recognizing any language, considering it's a catalog that was specifically designed to organize ancient Equestrian books for many centuries."
"Okay, I got it then." Human Sunset replied, relieved that there was an easy way to translate her scroll piece. "Thank you very much for your help."
"Anything for you, Sunset." Twilight smiled. "But if you don't mind me asking, why are you back here in Canterlot and doing research on magic this late at night? After our last meeting earlier, Starlight informed me that you were heading toward Silver Shoals to see Celestia, so I'm a little confused as to why you're not only still here in Canterlot, but in the restricted section at nearly 3 AM. And speaking of, was there a reason why you didn't let me know earlier that you wanted to come back here to do some late night studying?"
"Oh, I guess my plans just changed?" Human Sunset attempted to cover herself. "Plus, I didn't want to interrupt you or anything, considering how busy you might be."
"Oh, okay then." Twilight understood. "Thanks for being considerate of me, since... yeah, being the princess of Equestria now isn't the easiest job with how many responsibilities there are. But for the record, I'd still prefer that you check in with me from now on before coming here, just to ensure that I know for certain there's no intruders trying to steal books or artifacts from here. I was admittedly worried when I heard noises down here, and all."
"Alright, I will." Human Sunset replied. "Thanks for being an understanding person- err... pony?"
"Still trying to adapt back into Equestria after living with humans, I see?" Twilight giggled. "It's all good, I still remember that feeling myself, after all. Well anyways, I'll be heading back to the castle and calling it a night, but if you'd like to continue doing some late night studying, I'll let you do so. Though this means I'll have to lock up the library for the night, meaning you might need to sleep down here until I come back to reopen the library at 8 AM. I've set up a bed in the left room from the main foyer, so if you don't mind sleeping here for the night, I'll give you that option. Or of course, you could use the mirror to return back to the human world to sleep, whichever works better for you."
"Nice to know, but I guess I'll stay behind here in the library for the time being." Human Sunset agreed.
"Very well then." Twilight nodded her head in approval at Sunset's desire to learn, reminding her of herself. "Happy reading, but... try to at least get some sleep soon, if you'd like to see more of Equestria. And don't forget, we still have to resolve things with Rainbow Dash with the rest of the council in the afternoon, so try not to stay up too late, alright? Good night, Sunset."
"Good night... you?" Human Sunset said awkwardly, as Twilight trotted her way out of the restricted section, then exited the library, before using the key to lock the front doors.
"Hmm, is it just me, or was Sunset acting a little strange?" Twilight said to herself, as she was about to head back to her castle, before yawning. "Oh wait, that's probably it. She's most likely just tired, especially after everything she's been through during her return to Equestria. Not to mention, wanting to work extra hard in relearning magic, even if she's already earned her degree, I can respect that."
Twilight then headed all the way back to her new bedroom at the main castle, hitting the hay for the night, completely unaware that the pony she was just talking to was not the Sunset Shimmer that she knew. The princess didn't think much of it, considering it made sense why Sunset would be there. She's seen the restricted section before, it housed her way back into the Human World, and she had already mentioned wanting to learn new magic without any limitations this time around. As such, the only thing on Twilight's mind now, was how the meeting between Sunset and Rainbow Dash in front of the Council of Friendship would go the following afternoon, before falling asleep from another exhausting day.
Back in the restricted section, Human Sunset didn't have much of a care at now being locked in, since she could very easily head back through the mirror to return to her world. More importantly, she was now told how to translate the scroll piece, which might possibly give her the exact answers she had been seeking for a while. Since the many books she had already searched lacked any answers whatsoever, Human Sunset believed the scroll piece was her very last hope at getting what she wanted. Otherwise, she would most likely be here forever, only to find nothing, which ironically was exactly what had happened when Princess Celestia did the same.
Human Sunset went over to what looked like the old catalog that other pony mentioned. The device that originally fell apart as soon as Pony Sunset budged a lever, causing the scanners and parts to scatter and crumble to pieces. Luckily, since Twilight had already fixed it herself, there was no issue with using it now. Human Sunset took the scroll piece out of her mane, placed it under the bottom left scanner, then pulled a lever. To her surprise, this actually worked, even if what was written on the scroll seemed practically illegible. The catalog's side then printed out a small piece of paper, similar to a receipt printer at a store. Human Sunset grabbed the paper and read what was supposedly translated from the scroll.
"Go to the Founders of Equestria sanctuary near the library and find Clover the Clever's statue..." Human Sunset read the paper out loud. "Great, since that pony locked me in here, looks like I'm now stuck? Where am I supposed to find a sanctuary of all things?"
Human Sunset leaned against the wall, sighing in frustration, before her eyes widened at how she started leaning back even further. Looking behind her, she realized she had somehow found a hidden lever, one that seemed to completely blend in with the wall. As a result of the lever being activated, another secret door began to open from the floor, which appeared to lead into a hidden basement. Although she had just gone through a bad experience with a basement back in the human world, Human Sunset grabbed a nearby lantern and went down to investigate, as she was already locked in the library. Fortunately, this appeared to be the old sanctuary the scroll was referring to, as the stairs leading down appeared to bring her to a rather creepy but empty room, which had several ancient looking statues that hadn't been touched in quite some time.
Nopony else, even Princess Celestia herself, had known about this room's existence, as it was a secret shrine set up by Clover the Clever to honor himself, as well as the other Founders of Equestria. Given how the Canterlot library's restricted section was already obscure, this secret shrine was even less well known, as supposedly, only Clover himself knew of his dedication in honoring all their merits together, albeit secretly. Clover had chosen to hide the room here in a hidden underground tunnel he had dug, as a library had long been built on top of it, being the restricted section. Although the other founders would've merely seen this as Clover's tribute toward them all, Clover himself used this room for a very specific purpose, as Human Sunset would soon find out.
Human Sunset trotted all the way to the bottom of the stairs, getting an eerie and unsettling vibe that someone was somehow watching her, even if they were long deceased. Across from here were six uniquely designed statues that depicted each of the original Founders of Equestria, all displayed on short marble column pedestals. Seeing the statues supposedly staring right at her didn't help matters either, it was almost as if the old founders had just awoken, displeased at now seeing somepony trespassing within their shrine. Ignoring these feelings of slight fear, Human Sunset continued on to follow what the scroll had asked of her, which was to look for the statue of Clover the Clever.
Going from left to right, Human Sunset read the plaques on each statue in the following order. Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane, Private Pansy, Chancellor Puddinghead, Smart Cookie, and finally, Clover the Clever. Human Sunset initially just stared at the statue with an blank expression, unsure of what the scroll was trying to point her toward. After seeing that there was seemingly nothing that could provide closure for her unanswered questions, she began talking to Clover's statue, as if the statue was alive and sentient.
"All right, I followed your orders according to your scroll." Human Sunset began a conversation with the statue. "So a deal's a deal. Can you give me an answer for why there's another version of myself back in my native world, and why I got erased from existence?"
As expected, the statue simply continued to behave like any other statue, staring on in silence and lacking any sign of life. From this, Human Sunset put a hoof on her face in frustration, thinking that this entire trip really was nothing more than a wild goose chase, as she believed she had become insane enough to attempt communication with inanimate stone statues.
"What was the point in coming here, I'm just wasting my time now, aren't I!?" Human Sunset said to herself, before directing her rage back at Clover's statue. "I haven't found one thing in that library that tells me why I'm going through everything I have for the past few years, and you can't even give me a simple answer despite having the audacity to call yourself clever!? ANSWER ME!!!!!!"
Human Sunset grabbed the statue with her hooves out of frustration and began shaking it, almost as if she was a police officer interrogating a suspect. However, she suddenly lost control and accidentally let the statue fall off the pedestal, shattering to pieces as it collided with the floor. Shortly following this, eerie noises began to fill the room, which could not be explained, considering she was by herself. This initially had Human Sunset worry if she had suddenly brought a curse upon herself, so she instinctively closed her eyes and curled up into a ball on the floor, hoping that she wasn't about to face the wrath of a phantom for knocking over and breaking that statue.
However, after a few moments, the strange noises had suddenly stopped, as Human Sunset picked herself back up to see what she had done to that statue. Upon further investigation, she found two objects hidden within the statue's remains. One was a journal that belonged to Clover the Clever, documenting his entire journey and experiences with old Equestrian artifacts ever since he and the other founders had first established Equestria. The other was a book that was personally written by Clover, titled, 'Don't EVER go through the Crystal Mirror' on the front. The unusual thing was, there appeared to be a small note attached to the book with 'DON'T PUBLISH!!!' written on it, implying that this book was never released to the public. Regardless, Human Sunset felt that she at least finally found what she was looking for, as she picked up the journal and began reading, looking specifically for any entries making mentions of either the human world or the crystal mirror. Just like with the other Sunset's diary, she began slowly skimming the journal, until a few entries had caught her eye, urging her to begin reading them thoroughly.
Equestria's Founding, Day 39
It has nearly been 40 days since the other founders and I have established Equestria, but I fear as though the blizzard around here caused by the windigos has been getting worse every day. As a result, we've started accumulating resources and magical artifacts that could potentially help all three pony kinds deal with the cold, but one particular artifact we've obtained has been puzzling me for a while. It appears to be some kind of mirror once owned by a wealthy individual, but this one is different. Whenever I get close enough to it, my reflection begins to shift and distort to become... some creature beyond my comprehension. Once the windigos have been dealt with, I plan on returning back to this mirror to conduct further research, as even my mentor, Starswirl, doesn't understand what this mirror's purpose is either.
Human Sunset continued reading on, specifically looking for any more entries that touched upon the mirror, now that she knew the mirror, portal, and human world were all connected.
Equestria's Founding, Day 78
It was brought to my attention that after I discovered these new magical artifacts I had uncovered several days ago, their abilities would be far too dangerous and powerful to be left unchecked. One example of these is what I'm to name, the 'Time Twirler', capable of altering reality by rewinding time itself. I decided that for the sake of Equestria, this should be hidden in a place where nopony would ever find it, regardless of how good their intentions may be. Whilst contemplating where I should hide this, I was pacing around the castle and accidentally tripped on the carpet, sending myself onto the mirror. While I was initially worried about breaking the mirror or hitting my head, I was rather shocked when it had instead acted as a portal, sending me into what looked like another world. Magic might exist in Equestria and all, but this other world was on another level of astonishment. The creatures here look really weird and walk upright, including me, after I went in and saw a reflection of myself in a puddle. Regardless, this gave me the idea to bury the Time Twirler in this world, as it would be extremely unlikely for anypony in Equestria to find it here, let alone discover the existence of a completely new world. After discovering this incredible breakthrough for the first time, it makes me curious on how life would be if I lived in this world myself, but I simply could not yet. Equestria needs me, to continue ensuring safety and uniting the three pony kinds.
Although Clover was right about no one from Equestria discovering those artifacts ever again, he had never considered the possibility of human beings native to that world uncovering them, or being able to utilize their magic. Regardless, this entry gave some insight as to how an Equestrian being, much like Clover himself, considered the possibility of actually staying in the human world, which is touched upon in the very next entry as well.
Equestria's Founding, Day 79
I was curious at exploring the world through the mirror once more, only to find that the mirror was nothing more than a solid object now. I have no idea what happened to that portal, but is it entirely possible that I'm only able to enter and come back through it once? Whatever the case may be, I haven't shared of this other world's existence to anypony else yet, including Starswirl. The magic behind this world's existence is still incredibly complex to understand, meaning that I would need to discover things on my own, especially regarding my concerns on certain artifacts being too dangerous for Equestria, including this mirror itself. Whenever this mirror's portal opens once more, I can continue furthering my research.
Clover had just discovered the problem with the portal randomly closing, and waited until the exact correct day to continue studying the mirror.
Equestria's Founding, Day 108
It has been precisely 30 days, or more specifically, moons, since the portal on the mirror was last active. Although I'm supposedly able to go in and out of the portal whenever I want, I fear that the portal might randomly close again, thus leaving me trapped in the other world. As such, I will only check with my hooves to see whether or not the portal is open these next few days, determining whether or not there is a set time limit. On another note, I had also met someone in the other realm who looked and sounded just like me. We mostly considered it to be a coincidence, and got along well, as he appeared to be a kind fellow. He mentioned needing to borrow something to write on for a project, and I agreed to lend him this old journal for a while. All I can say with certainty by this point, I've never met someone else in my life who has so much in common with myself. According to him, the beings in the world are called 'humans', thus, I started nicknaming the other world, the 'Human World'.
At the time, Clover was not aware of how this other being that reminded him of himself might've been far more than simply a coincidence. The research had been slowly coming together, but the clever founder kept remembering one particular issue, which was preventing him from staying behind as much as he wanted to. For the next cycle of the time limit, Clover's old journal remained behind in the human world, while he temporarily used a substitute journal to log his daily experiences. He had also used his magic to copy and archive every older entry to ensure he wouldn't by some chance lose them for good. But by giving that human being the journal for a while, another extraordinary discovery was about to be uncovered.
Equestria's Founding, Day 148
If my research so far is anything to go by, the mirror's portal would supposedly be open for only 3 days, but then close for another 30 whenever the time limit has been reached. For the time being, the portal appears to follow this pattern consistently, meaning that the cycle would continue on for another 33 days, then rinse and repeat. As such, I could not afford to be trapped in the other world for nearly a month, given the circumstances and responsibilities I have here as one of Equestria's main founders. However, I seem to have discovered a way of exploiting the portal's time limit rule, thanks to the journal I lent to that mysterious human being I got along with last time. I had gone back to retrieve it, but something about it looked... different. I have no idea if the journal had suddenly absorbed the other world's magic, though I've somehow gotten the theory that it might be the key to let me go back whenever I want. The reason being, as soon as I took the journal back, and placed it by the mirror whilst in my world, the portal's time limit appeared to break its pattern, thus allowing me to go back on the 7th day, in which it would normally be locked up.
Much like Princess Celestia's old journal, Clover's other journal had a similar effect, since his companion in the other realm wrote notes on an object that already had magical writings on it from Equestria, which also reappeared in Clover's substitute journal, thus connecting the two worlds. Luckily for Clover, the human who wrote back didn't end up damaging the journal, thus allowing him to go back to retrieve it completely intact. Since the old journal now ran on the portal's magic by connecting both worlds, it suddenly started acting like a battery source when placed by the mirror, creating a large glow, and practically keeping the entrance ajar without any concern of it locking for good. From Clover's experience, keeping the journal away from the mirror seemed to turn it back to normal, thus making the time limit return at different intervals. Knowing this, it appeared to later on come in handy when battling a slippery being in Equestria who wielded another magical artifact.
Equestria's Founding, Day 182
After using my clever skills in outwitting an evil sorceress who was playing dirty by using the memory stone, I was able to take it from her and render her nearly powerless. Unlike other Equestrian artifacts, I decided to keep this one around, mostly to erase anypony's memory if they were to discover the truth behind this mirror. Bearing in mind that the research is something I would prefer to do on my own, without anypony else drawing their curiosity and doing something that could be disastrous. I might be risking my own safety by doing research in secret, but I decided that for the time being, it may not be as safe to let others in on this, if somepony were to enter and not understand any potential dangers in the human world. As for the sorceress, I had mostly received the word that she had been imprisoned in an ancient coffin here in Equestria, but some excavators had managed to discover and open it, thus releasing her from her eternal tomb. After defeating this sorceress, I used my magic to trap her back into her old coffin, and decided that just like with certain other artifacts, she would need to be hidden in a place where nopony would accidentally reawaken her. Entering the Human World with the coffin, I went far into a deep wooded area, discovered an abandoned old mine, and hid the coffin there to ensure her eternal slumber. In the meantime, I held onto the Memory Stone, just until my research on the mirror and other world itself were complete.
As explained, Clover took the old coffin holding the evil sorceress, and planted it in an area where she would most likely be trapped until the end of time. After this particular log, one rather creepy and unusual aspect regarding how the journal was organized, was that there appeared to be nearly no future entries that continued off of Clover furthering his research, as he had claimed to do so in that last log. To make matters even stranger, Human Sunset eventually turned to a segment where it felt as if a crucial segment of Clover's experience was purposefully gone and hidden away, once he started doing research again. For starters, she noticed that entries 276 through 278 had been ripped straight out of the journal, as well as entries 284 through 286. Following this, entry 287 made Human Sunset nearly faint from the sudden shift in tone, affirming that something did in fact go extremely wrong in the worst possible way for Clover, that he had to hide what had happened during those particular day intervals. Human Sunset read the log, as her eyes widened in shock.
Equestria's Founding, Day 287
IF ANYPONY FROM EQUESTRIA IS READING THIS NOW, HEED MY ADVICE VERY CLEARLY. DON'T EVER GO TO THE HUMAN WORLD UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. I DON'T KNOW WHAT COULD'VE CAUSED WHAT HAD HAPPENED YESTERDAY, BUT I AM NOW PSYCHOLOGICALLY SCARRED FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. JUST KNOW WITH CERTAINTY THAT IF YOU ARE AN EQUESTRIAN BEING, YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE SEVERE CONSEQUENCES BY ENTERING THE HUMAN WORLD AND CAUSING WHAT I PERCEIVE TO BE A DIRECT EFFECT OF UPSETTING THE BALANCE BETWEEN THE TWO WORLDS. IT HAPPENED ONCE WHEN I STAYED IN THE HUMAN WORLD MYSELF FOR 72 HOURS STRAIGHT, AND THINGS MAY HAVE RETURNED BACK TO NORMAL FOR A WHILE. BUT THE SECOND TIME I WENT IN AND HAD THE EFFECT OCCUR ONCE MORE, JUST KNOW THAT I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO FORGIVE MYSELF. I WILL SAVE YOU THE INCREDIBLY PETRIFYING TRUTH BY RIPPING OUT MY JOURNAL'S EXPERIENCE THAT DAY, AND REWRITING EVERYTHING TO SIMPLY LET YOU KNOW THAT IF YOU EVER HAVE THOUGHTS ON ENTERING THE HUMAN WORLD, JUST DON'T. STAY FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR FAAAAAAAAAAAR AWAY FROM IT, PLEASE!!!!!! ONCE YOU SEE WHAT TRULY HAPPENS IF YOU LET THE INBALANCE EFFECT TAKE PLACE BY STAYING IN THE HUMAN WORLD FOR 72 HOURS TWICE, YOU WILL NOT, I REPEAT, NOT SLEEP FOR A VERY LONG TIME.
As expected, this particular entry sent many chills down Human Sunset's spine, letting her know that whatever had happened, it may have had something to do with what she herself experienced when being brought before a dark area and getting both sucked up and trapped in a mysterious void that left her in a coma for years. But the main rise in concern was of course, Clover claiming that something far more worse would occur if the other Sunset were to return, putting her through it all over again. For the time being, Human Sunset felt thankful that she didn't immediately know what would happen if the other Sunset came back and stayed for more than 72 hours once again, even if she was a little disappointed she couldn't immediately satisfy her curiosity. All she knew for absolute certain was, whatever would happen, it gave her even more of a reason to ensure the fake Sunset could never return to her world again under any circumstances.
In some ways, her curiosity itself appeared to grow adamant on knowing the truth, since it appeared that this Clover being seemingly knew exactly what he was talking about. With what Clover had already written down regarding everything he knew about the mirror, it at least now gave Human Sunset the proper insight on how the mirror worked, and where this fake Sunset must've come from. Even after how traumatizing the last entry appeared to be, Human Sunset pushed on to check further logs that could give her answers, since there were other things she still wanted to understand for herself before going back to her world. But the next entry that had this didn't show up until nearly 100 entries later down the line.
Equestria's Founding, Day 384
It's been over a whole year since Equestria was founded, but I've heard back from the other founders that they might not be able to keep up with all the responsibilities they were expected to take care of. This was why we all unanimously agreed to instill the rule of a princess, as Equestria had recently started expanding into many numerous branches and systems. As such, my master, Starswirl, had used his magic to artificially create a combination of all three pony kinds, as we had deemed them as creatures known as 'alicorns'. My master had done this on two ponies now helping rule Equestria alongside us founders, Princess Celestia and Luna, respectively. The princesses may have been doing an excellent job at settling disputes and even raising the sun and moon, but I fear as though their curiosity of magic might lead them to one day try learning about this mirror. As stated before, I had ripped out my previous entries documenting my experience, as I believed nopony should ever have to know, let alone go through what I did when I made my way into the human world. Thankfully, I still have the memory stone with me, in case I find myself in a predicament where one of the princesses catches me in the act and tries to learn about the mirror for themselves.
Whatever had shocked Clover immensely by entering the human world and causing the inbalance effect, it was clear that it was psychologically traumatic, if he went out of his way to ensure nopony else would ever know about it. Human Sunset believed that what she went through when this supposed inbalance effect took place at least gave her half of the answer, but it was the fact that Clover claimed that going through it twice would end up entailing something far more worse. Since Clover was even going as far as hiding this from the trusted princesses of Equestria, it would inevitably come to a head once the princesses did get involved after discovering something that had slipped Clover's mind.
Equestria's Founding, Day 396
I was continuing doing research on magic with Starswirl in my own time, when Princess Celestia announced that she wanted to see me for a more personal matter, by myself. As such, I briefly stopped my research with my master to go see the princess at Canterlot's castle, and during this meeting...
The rest of the log was incredibly long as far as details describing what had happened that day, but Human Sunset continued reading, visually imagining a flashback in her own head to see the events for herself. Princess Celestia was awaiting Clover the Clever in a private meeting room at the castle, pacing back and forth whilst holding a blue book. Clover had just entered the room, but his eyes immediately widened when seeing what the princess was carrying.
"Ah, Clover." Princess Celestia addressed the clever founder. "How nice of you to join me, since I have some important questions for you. Ever since I started learning far more complex magic, I was looking around the castle for new scrolls and books to help me grow in my skills, and that's when I remembered finding this book I saw you had written, which was for some reason tossed in a trash can."
"Princess, how could you!?" Clover snapped. "You should know better than to snoop around my belongings!"
"I'm sorry?" Celestia said, somewhat confused. "I was taking out the trash after having supper with you and the other founders of Equestria last night. While doing so, I noticed what looked like a perfectly good book that was somehow thrown away as well, and I had noticed it was written by you."
Clover had not mentioned this anywhere in his journal yet, but when he was conducting research on the mirror and human world in his own time, he was also secretly writing a book that documented everything he knew about the human world, in good details. Unlike his previous journal entries, this book had practically everything, from what he did during the days he made his way in, to even describing all the effects and explanations Clover had deduced from his many days of research. This even included the eventual inbalance effect that took place, which was so horrid, that it psychologically traumatized him for life. After this, was when he decided to rip out the pages from his journal that described his exact experience, alongside changing his mind in publishing the book. Believing that for everypony's sake, that the book should never be read, Clover had secretly thrown it away, not considering the possibility of anypony uncovering it for themselves, which was incredibly foolish.
"Well even so, that was not a book I intended for anypony to actually read!" Clover protested. "Please, don't tell me that you actually read it!"
"I've actually read the whole book after opening it this morning, and..." Celestia began to hear her own voice break. "What happened at the end was both astonishing and psychologically breaking. I mostly wanted to call you here to discuss what we could do about this mirror, to ensure that nopony else would ever have to go through what you did when you entered it yourself."
"All right, I can tell you where the mirror is, but I'm sorry to hear you had to find out what happened for yourself the hard way." Clover said.
"Indeed, I'll have no idea whether or not I'll be able to sleep at night once my sister raises the moon." Celestia replied. "But regardless, sounds good. I'll make a quick note of what happened, so that I don't forget, and put this book in a place where nopony will ever find it."
Although initially happy that the princess seemed to understand what he himself had believed after experiencing what he did, Clover then realized something else. After his scarring experience, he just wasn't himself anymore. He was no longer as clever and witting like before, and seemingly had difficulties fulfilling his responsibilities as one of Equestria's main founders. His traumatic experience had left him thinking of his actions every single day, distracting him constantly, to where Clover believed that if the princess herself had read such an experience, the same could happen to her. Clover also knew that he was growing old and would eventually perish one day, and just wouldn't allow a princess to continue ruling with this kind of negative psychological effect. He would not want to leave a legacy like this, being known as 'Clover the Emotionally Damaging'. As such, noticing that the princess was using a quill and scroll to write down what had happened, he was not proud of having to use the last resort, but believed that since the princess had read everything, he had no other choice.
"I'm so sorry, Princess..." Clover began, before taking the memory stone out of his saddlebag and using it on the princess. "But nopony else should ever have to live out the rest of their lives, knowing what truly happens beyond the mirror."
Princess Celestia's mind was eventually completely wiped clean of everything she read about this morning and collapsed to the floor, as Clover took the opportunity to take the book back from the princess. He also decided that he had to take care of the mirror himself, as he believed it was the only way to ensure nopony else ever learns of its true power again. Clover used his magic to erase the contents of the book, leaving all the pages practically blank. Human Sunset briefly paused to see the blue book's contents, and expected, there was nothing inside, before continuing to read on. As for the mirror itself, Clover acted fast when going around the castle, before eventually taking the mirror from his study, and placing it within a dressing room. Believing that the mirror would at least blend in with an environment where nopony would ever suspect of it being a magical artifact, Clover had hoped this would all work out, as there was no way he could hide the mirror itself in the human world.
Unfortunately, the clever founder had let yet another crucial detail slip his mind. What Princess Celestia had already written on a scroll already gave her a partial idea on the matter, and Clover had neglected to take it away as well. As Celestia got up, with her mind completely wiped of the book's contents, she stumbled around the room in confusion, trying to remember why she was there. Then she took a quick look at the scroll, and read it aloud.
"Don't ever let anypony go through the Crystal Mirror under ANY circumstances." Celestia began reading. "Doing so will unfortunately result in upsetting the balance between the two worlds, and it involves..."
That was all that was already written on the scroll before her memory got erased with the memory stone. Despite this, the princess continued to process what this could mean.
"Wait a minute, this is my own hoofwriting!" Celestia said to herself. "There's absolutely no way I would be writing this down if it wasn't important, but unfortunately, I can't remember at all what I was writing. All I know for absolute certain is, if I ever find a crystal mirror that somepony could supposedly go through, I'll do everything I can as a princess to ensure everypony stays far away from it. How did I even know about this, I must've gotten this knowledge from a book somewhere, so I'll keep in mind that I might need to find it again someday."
The entry then ended with Clover explaining that he finally went back into the human world one last time, just to hide the memory stone, as he felt guilty for needing to use it on who he believed was already a trusted ruler. As for returning to the human world briefly, the damage had already been done when he had upset the balance twice, so he quickly buried it within the center of a rock formation, before leaving the world itself behind once and for all, not knowing that the stone would one day be uncovered by the human Wallflower Blush. After this final return, Clover had also removed the old journal that was powering up the mirror, bringing it back to its state of needing to wait 30 moons to reopen. Afterwards, he had grabbed the ripped pages of his journal from his study, before going on to do something that would close this chapter of his life for good. Since he had already ripped the pages out of the journal beforehand, he couldn't erase everything with his magic, much like with the book, making it so he had no other choice but to hide the pages too. As for Clover's final deed afterward, Human Sunset kept skimming through before she finally found it.
Equestria's Founding, Day 442
I had not mentioned this yet, but up until now, I was secretly digging a tunnel under Canterlot's library. It's here where I built a hidden shrine to honor myself, as well as the other founders of Equestria for our hard work over time. I had initially sculpted these stone statues in my own time, but eventually changed my mind about the shrine idea, when realizing that it could serve another purpose. For reference, it's been so long since I've messed around with the human world, but I realized that nopony would ever find this old journal or book describing my traumatic experiences ever again if they were hidden down here. I will not say where I decided to hide them, but I made sure to include a reference in case I ever forgot, within the history book that was titled 'Canterlot Castle, A History, Vol. II'. There was a brief summary describing the mirror in the book, since it was added by me, to imply it was more of a mere legend than anything else. I used a translator to write on a small scroll piece to help point me toward the book and journal if I ever needed it, and since it's in an ancient Equestrian language, I'm sure nopony would ever make any sense of it. They wouldn't even be able to know of the shrine's existence without the journal, which will be hidden here until the end of time, especially thanks to the fact I've hidden a lever to activate the entrance in a very obscure spot. This will also be my last journal entry before I go into retirement. It's been a wild experience being a founder and discovering the human world, but it's time for me to simply live out the rest of my days, knowing Equestria will be run by a confident and not emotionally broken princess.
After finishing up this read, Human Sunset at least now understood why she found everything that she did, and why it was all down here. Although this was claimed to be the very last journal entry Clover had ever written, there was still one final brief entry written on the final page, before the journal was out of pages. She quickly read it, in case it had any more crucial information.
To ensure nopony ever finds out about the journal and book, I've placed a final form of security to keep any intruders out. Let's just say, it's a special kind of bug that will react adversely to the presence of pony fur, which will only reawaken with a source of light.
Despite this claim, Human Sunset looked around the empty room, seeing absolutely nothing like what was described. The only thing at the bottom of the room besides herself were just the statues of the founders, and what looked like a small crack in the wall. Not really noticing that crack before, Human Sunset slowly approached it, just to see what it was. As she got closer to it, there appeared to be a living thing inside, which just slipped right through the crack. To Human Sunset, it looked nothing more than an ordinary red beetle with a horn, which slowly started hissing at her.
"THIS is that final form of security?" Human Sunset rolled her eyes. "Well, that Clover person already said he isn't as clever as he thinks he is anymore. Whatever, this will be easy."
Human Sunset stomped on the beetle with her hoof, killing it without a sweat. As she walked away, however, she heard noises behind her, before swiftly turning around. Although the dead beetle was still there, it appeared to now attract a whole swarm of them. Hundreds of red, vicious-looking beetles begun emerging from the crevice, now growing in size and strength, as well as becoming enraged after seeing one of their own being threatened. Seeing how the blue book she was holding was practically useless, Human Sunset merely threw the book at the beetles in the hopes of just scaring them off, only to see the book now bouncing off of their heads, as her own eyes widened in horror. The beetles now appeared to be invincible, and a few even started demonstrating that they could breathe fire too.
Human Sunset simply ran for her safety, climbing the stairs with Clover's old journal in her hoof, as the red beetles did the same. When she reached the top, she went back over to desperately find the lever that opened the entrance and activated it, closing the trapdoor below. Human Sunset initially breathed a sigh of relief, before noticing that the ground was shaking, and the door itself was beginning to move up and down. The beetles were inevitably going to break through it soon, which convinced Human Sunset to make a run for the mirror, as it was her only chance of escaping them, due to the library itself now being locked up.
Human Sunset found her way back to the Crystal Mirror, and this time, noticed an old journal nearby powering it up, making it so the portal would be open indefinitely, much like Clover did with his journal. As Human Sunset was desperate to ensure the other Sunset and those red beetles wouldn't follow her back, she blindly grabbed the journal, then jumped right into the mirror, hoping she could be out of harm's way for now. Thankfully, since the mirror was currently in a state where it would already be open, regardless of there being a journal to power it up, Human Sunset was able to escape back into her world, now with both Princess Celestia's and Clover's old journals.
As the trapdoor finally opened, the red beetles by this point, had already gotten a clear image of Sunset's face to swear vengeance against her for trespassing and killing one of their own. They began searching the library and were willing to go as far as searching all over Equestria just to do this. However, after a while of searching all over the restricted section, these beetles couldn't find a trace or hint of Human Sunset anywhere, making them surmise that she might've escaped outside. They were not smart enough to deduce that she had gone through the mirror, making it so their next goal would be to find their way out of the building, since it had been literal centuries they had been stuck in a dormant tomb.
Every last red beetle made their way out of the wall, and eventually out of a small air duct which led outside the library itself. The very last beetles from the shrine suddenly dropped something on the way out. They were carrying Clover's missing journal pages, still unread by anypony else to this day, which fell by the blue book Human Sunset had thrown earlier. The last beetles finally exited the trapdoor itself, which was still ajar, leaving the shrine completely open for anypony who might come back to the restricted section...
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This is going to get ugly.
Uh oh. This doesn't look good
Oh, dear. Pony Sunset’s in for a big bug problem when she gets back to Canterlot.
Good thinking Princess.
It isn't the Sunset you know, it's the human Sunset!
Looks like not everything in the library was search afterall!
Across from her*
Uh oh!
https://m.I hope no one finds that coffin.
This sure does explain everything now as to what happened to human Sunset, but now the question remains, what will she do if both herself and her counterpart did return to earth or simply she's in Equestria for that same period of time!
They unfortunately did found out, which leads us to now.
Oh shit!
Well, that's just great.
I got a bad feeling about the choice she made.
Well, we're sure in for something in the next chapter!
Uh oh...
Human Sunset's messing things up for pony Sunset, what with making Pinkie cry, making Twilight think she was in Canterlot at the time, and now the vengeful bug problem...
Which... might be fair play considering pony Sunset stole Human Sunset's face, look and identify and made her lose part of her life.
Uh oh…..this ain’t gonna be good….