Mirror Mirror

by LittleFaerieFire

35. Penumbral Paradise

Penumbral Paradise

Sunset

“You aren’t going around burning random ponies are you?” Cadance quietly asked me, her tone holding an inquisitive edge as she muttered the question into my coat. I could hear the underlying taint of fear, not for herself but for the ponies that I had supposedly set my flames upon. It was a far cry from the gentle truce that we had fallen into as I could feel the daggers of crystal looming in her eyes once more. However this time they were not forming in preparation for a playful assault as they did earlier.

No, this time she was worried about her ponies. Worried about the ones that needed her might. They needed her existence for their protection. The ones that I threatened with my very being. The ones that I threatened were her herd. Those thoughts sought to sap my warmth, but another quickly silenced them with its uncontested might. I was still her mare friend.

She chose me.

“I don’t go around burning burning ponies. I think you know that.” It was even the truth, I couldn’t burn every pony that dared slight me. If I could there would be a drastic decrease in the nobility and that could never be allowed. “Why do you ask?” I questioned back in turn to my partner.

“I heard the panicked fleeing of three ponies and I could smell…” She trailed off but those words that she held no desire to speak were clear. She was a contradiction that I still couldn’t understand at times. She held enough strength and will to remake the world in her image but she still hesitated and couldn’t deal with the harsh realities that existed within even this world bathed in light.

That was why she had me by her side. I would delve ever further into the darkened depths I had called my domain, so that she may prosper in the light. It was only natural after all. She was perfect. While I was tainted. Ruined.

“Well, I did burn those three.” Wincing at the way Cadance stiffened and pulled herself away from me. “I had a very good reason to do so. They were planning to steal a treasure map.” My placating words were rushed out in a jumbled mess, but thankfully Cadance managed to piece together my meaning. However instead of once more encasing me within her grasp she remained a hoof-step away.

Her purple eyes were a flurry of motion as I could see those crystalline constructs that form within repeatedly shatter and reconstruct. I could only muffle a sigh at the sight as I felt a familiar hoof place itself upon my back. Seeking to guide me on the path that she foresaw for me. “They held another pony at knifepoint.” There now she can’t be annoyed that I dared touch a few ponies that were hers. At my words, the ever-shifting construction within her eyes stopped and the muddled mess of emotions calmed into one that I could identify. Gratitude.

“Then thank you Sunset.” Her words were nice but they held no comparison to the feeling of her feathers once more wrapping around me. “Sorry for assuming… well… you know.” I shrugged. It was a fair assumption. One that was far more correct than not. My track record even when I was trying to not burn a pony wasn’t great. “I am sure the pony you saved is rather grateful as well.”

Her words gave me a brief reprieve from her gentle warmth. She likely wouldn’t appreciate what I had done to the conductor… What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. Even if we were partners, allies, and even mare-friends. That didn’t mean we were forced to reveal each and every secret that we had accrued. I would simply ensure that she never found out about the alterations I had placed upon the pony. Even in my annoyance, I had ensured that he would keep his mental faculties. Limited as they were.

“I am sure that he wishes to forget the entire ordeal, just like every pony involved.” I couldn’t help but snicker out to the confusion of my partner who tilted her head in confusion. Her tri-colored mane freely flowing. A few stray strands of it tickled my muzzle. “But I got an enchanted knife out of the incident! I don’t even recognize the enchantment!” I couldn't help but exclaim as I pulled the knife out from where I had hidden it against my coat. After all, it wasn't every day I came across a piece of magic I didn’t immediately know.

I didn’t often use enchanted objects to fight, my magic and flames are better, but that wasn’t the case for all ponies. My partner for example even with my teachings and being a prodigy who was comparable to myself, was one that still struggled when it came to the brutality of combat. How it was her will that would wound another. For all of the dangers that she has survived, she has yet to be corrupted by the darkness that seeks to seep in.

However, if she was to move a blade to attack any fool that dared attempt to harm her before I could incinerate them for their folly. After all, they dared stand against an Alicorn Princess. One which… Where was I going with that thought? Oh yes, cognitive dissonance would allow her to survive in the heat of the moment, as it wouldn’t technically be her will that was snuffing the life of another. Another avenue for her to survive. To live. To exist for a moment longer. So that one day she could bridge that final divide that divides mortals and the ones who are divine.

“Sunset Shimmer, did you mug the thieves?” My partner made a vain attempt to muffle the laughter that leaked out aside her words. All I could do was smile as I nodded in turn. This was the final straw as my partner all but fell atop of me, laughing as were she but a common loon. She was not common at all. Taking care to ensure that she didn’t prick herself on the enchanted knife, I covered it with a few shields before I joined in the jubilation. Warm.

An Alicorn Princess and a Unicorn laughing together. There were no exchanged threats, no attempts at matricide. No, there was only the warmth of joy shared between us. I would have done anything for this moment to continue. Sacrificed countless souls. Burned worlds. However, I could do little more than embrace such an event that I had so rarely experienced since my mutual disillusionment with Princess Celestia.

I hadn’t been only replaced once.

The thought was a vicious thing that I couldn’t burn before it escaped from where I had chained it. Escaping from its imprisonment in the darkest recesses of my mind, it brought with it the conclusion of the joy that I felt. I couldn’t help the rage that flooded me.

Like mother, like daughter! Why couldn’t I be allowed to enjoy myself? Why can’t I take a moment and forget? I didn’t ask for any of this! All I ever wanted was my mother’s love!

I would-. Breathe. Sucking in the air that was swiftly heating, saturated with my magic to prepare for a conflagration to be summoned forth from my hate. Breathe. I couldn’t change the past. I could only change the future. Breathe.

The shared warmth was lost. Forcefully ripping myself from the pit of my mind I returned to reality where the laughter had been extinguished. Replaced by a stilled but somehow comforting silence, as my partner was still draped over me. I could feel every breath that she took. I could feel the way that her heartbeat echoed through her flowing life force. Her weight that slightly pressed down upon me gave me something real. Something to cling to.

“Thank you,” I muttered into her wing as I buried my muzzle in her feathers. While the temperature of the royal car hadn’t drastically been altered, it was rather noticeable that it was far warmer than it had been a few moments ago. My partner allowed me a few more moments to allow the molten rage to cease its near-endless flow throughout my body. Before finally she pulled her cloudlike wings aside and I could see the question on her face.

The naked concern is evident in her twin pools of crystals. The slight tilt of her lips. The way that she kept a connection between the two of us. Perhaps I should have been angered at the pity that was evidently displayed but in truth, I couldn’t bring myself to reignite the fleeting hate. Not after I had extinguished it myself. There was no need to further worry her. Pulling a smile to my face she hesitated for a single moment longer before a soft smile joined mine.

“Should we go explore the train or should I allow you to test out your new knife?” It was impressive my partner could alternate from a peerless paragon of innocence to one almost as devious as I. I would have joined in with the banter, or was it only considered flirting at this point? That aside I couldn’t stand the final portion of her question. I still held some scraps of my pride.

“Allow me?” I leered at her, pushing my head through her feathers so that my horn was hovering right before hers. “Since when do I need your permission to do anything?” I couldn’t help but question reality at my partner’s words. I had only needed one pony's permission and now I needed no ponies. I was Sunset-.

A warmth one that irrevocably shattered my quickly darkening thoughts, both brought me out into reality once more and deposited me into the void in a single action. Did she… Did she just nuzzle me? Even though I was a being of flames, that fact did not prevent my blood from heating. This time not from my will or magic, but by the actions of another pony. The only saving grace about this entire situation was that Cadance’s face appeared to be equally as flushed from the action that she had just performed as mine.

I attempted to open my mouth to do something, in truth I was unsure that I could do little more than incoherently babble at the events that had occurred. Once more however it was proven that no matter my magical might, an Alicorn could easily beat me if she put her mind to it. Cadance took advantage of my confusion and once more claimed my mouth as her own.

If I was a grander pony I would have contested the assault. Were I an Alicorn of equal standing I would have not only defied her but usurped her attack. If I was truly a demon I would have caught her tongue within my teeth and feasted upon more than her offered lips.

However, I was none of those things.

I was all of those things.

I was a Unicorn being given Love freely by one that I cared for.

One that cared for me in exchange.

I could do little more than lose myself even further into the existence of the one that was my partner. That was the Princess of Love. The one that was an Alicorn but still cherished me. I could do nothing less. For a pony as perfect as her to look past the horrors that I had so dutifully performed…

Being bound by her wasn’t such a frightening thing.

Something shattered, a scream whispered out from a blackened void of endless despair. A chord of cyan danced throughout reality invisible to my eyes, but I could faintly sense it with my magic. Something that should never have existed. A blight upon existence itself.

Just as I was.

Eventually, I could no longer sustain myself against my partner's ministrations, as unlike her I was not a single step from claiming true immortality. No, as a mere mortal, I still needed to breathe. Even as I strained the remaining breaths that had been stored within my flames, she realized that I was unable to keep up with her and temporarily released me from her hold. The smile that was stretched upon her lips was something that I could barely comprehend much less describe. All I knew was that it sent an all-encompassing shiver coursing through my body.

“Your argument is rather persuasive but I believe that we should revisit it at a later date.” I forced my words to come out in a steady gait as I gorged myself on the air. My heart could easily have been mistaken for a growing explosion. My mind and blood sang in delight.

Cadance just allowed her smile to become far more gentle, and the light of the car grew with her splendorous beacon of loving light. Her mane flickering from a tricolored flood of light that held what I swore were artistic renderings of hearts, to her normal tricolored mane that existed upon the physical plane.

Even now a hoof-step below Celestia, she outshone her. How bright would she be when she fully ascended? How warm would she be when she finally crossed the divide? How grand would her Love become?

“Fair enough Sunset.” My partner beamed out. “Shall we go find Gentle Breeze and Rebound?“ Even at the mention of both of the Watching Eyes, the warmth that had flooded me didn’t dissipate. She was asking me. She was giving me a say. She wasn’t expecting me to obey her every whim no matter what it cost. No matter what I burned away.

“If it’s all the same with you I would rather put off dealing with the two of them.” See Celestia I could be mature. I was putting off my problems for future Sunset to deal with. I didn’t always have to move forward. I could take a moment’s pause. “How about we have an impromptu lesson? After all, we do have an unidentified, likely cursed knife before us.” My words were punctuated by the knife that I had kept far from the two of us during our time when we had done our best to become one… mostly. I could only burn the embarrassment that flooded me and disintegrate the thoughts of further actions.

Choking slightly, I pulled the knife before us where it remained stagnant in the air. The magic that had been woven into the metal was unknown to my discerning gaze. But in comparison to the pony that was still woven around me, I was blind. My partner held a connection to Equus, no existence itself that I could only one day strive to hold myself.

“Sunset…” Her whisper of my name sent me into throes of panic but her next words doused such vapid fears that had impossibly once more ignited. “You know what, sure. It sounds fun.” Her words weren’t bringing me much confidence that she wished to begin the lesson. Usually, even if she complained she held an unmatched determination to comprehend any problem that I set before her.

Now, however, it was different in a way that I didn’t understand. Something had changed. Something had been altered. Something had-! No! Not again! Never again!

Biting down the mess that flooded in my veins and burning it away with a liberal application of boiling hatred. Ensuring that I had corrected the newest fault within myself I smiled. Failure. It was nothing but a pale shadow of the smile that my partner had given me, but it was mine.

“Show me what you can do,” I whispered my challenge as the knife fell. A surge of magic that dwarfed my own rushed forth and caught the blade before it could make it to the floor of the car. It was enclosed within the pale cyan glow of her magic, preventing it from continuing to follow the designs of gravity. She stood against the world's laws and won.

It was on such a minuscule scale, yes, but I knew that she would stand before even grander laws and shatter them. She maneuvered the knife slowly and carefully every so often, taking care for it to not slip from her grasp. Sending a few of the spells that I had taught her towards it. Attempting to identify its purpose. What incantations and rituals had been performed upon the blade?

What was its purpose? Was it to create a wound that couldn’t be healed? Was it to blind any that it pierced? Or maybe it would sentence the one that it had entered to a fate of endless torture and suffering as it replaced their blood with poison?

That actually was an interesting thought. I could do the same with my flames, charbroiling a pony from the inside out but could I replace their liquid lifeforce with something far less immediately deadly? No, most ponies couldn’t survive having their blood being replaced with most things much less the flames I had packed into their veins. Something to test later… preferably without Cadance realizing what I was doing. I should have never let the three would-be thieves escape, they would have served as suitable test subjects.

I shook my head lightly as I focused my gaze upon Equus, spying that my partner had divested herself from me and was standing a few hoof steps away from the enchanted knife. Which was no longer supported by her magic no, instead it was suspended in a cocoon of crystals that were spinning in the air. She truly held a knack for crystallokinesis that far surpassed my understanding within the field. Perhaps it had something to do with the Crystal Empire? It did reside within her dreams.

It was where also a veritable domain of books and scrolls resided. Which held knowledge that was not found within Princess Celestia’s restricted section. No for those magics that she no doubt thought far too dangerous, damaging, anything that she wished for her ponies to never see. She would simply incinerate them. Reducing the manuscripts into another pile of ash that degraded with the ever-constant marching of time.

She had offered to bring me within her dreaming domicile. Share with me the forbidden fruits that I had been unable to partake of. That offer alone was worth its weight in blood and gold, what she has since done since making it was worth far more than any paltry magic. Unless within that grand Castle of hers, was a way for me to ascend. The entirety of the Crystal Empire paled in value when compared to my partner herself.

“First guess, it has something to do with shadows. I can see portions of the spellwork that has been inscribed upon it that have to do with dimming light.” Cadance pauses as she turns back to me, her eyes still focused into a narrowed glare at the dagger. “I want to say that it can harm a pony's shadow and in turn harm the pony, but something is saying that's wrong.” Pushing aside her mane as she continued her hypothesis, “In truth, the entire knife feels wrong, but beyond that, I can’t say anymore. So what’s my grade?” Her final words were accompanied by the batting of her eyes and an amused smile.

“Grade?” At her inquisitive nod, I rolled my eyes. “Give me a moment to check your work and assign you a proper grade,” I swear some ponies, Alicorn Princesses or not, could be rather strange at times. Looking past my partner who seemed rather amused by my reaction, or rather lack of one, to the knife that was still contained within the crystals.

A single thought turned the crystals into little more than a molten slag that further combusted into an inferno that contained the knife. Transforming them into a molten chandelier that still screamed with heat. That's how you show off Cadance. Turning my attention back to the task at hoof, I began to go through a series of spells. Ranging from the ones that I knew wouldn’t give me any usable information about the knife and its enchantments.

It was apparently far older than both Cadance and I. No, it was in comparable age to Celestia herself. Where did they get this knife? Who did they take it from? Did they steal it from Celesia herself? I would have to hunt those three down and rip the answers from their screaming corpses.

I was willing to let them go earlier, yes as they had done nothing truly untowards. This, however, daring to steal from Celestia, was far more than I would ever permit. She was the Princess that allowed Equestria, no Equus to function. These three would never understand the magnitude of such a task. However, I would certainly attempt to teach them. Ensuring before their mortal coil had been cut that they understood the weight of their transgressions and what their worth was in comparison to a pony that was perfect.

Turning my attention back to the weapon that they had brandished against one of her precious ponies. One of the ones that she cared for. One of the ones that she loved. One of the ones that she protected. One of the ones that she gave her warmth.

I was tempted by the blood that boiled through my veins to reduce the knife and its enchantments to nothing more than a molten slag before feeding it to those who would dare stand against the Princess of the Sun. Dare contest Celestia herself. I reigned in my endless fount of hatred that burned at the indignity that she had suffered, she may not have even known that another had stolen from her. Another had taken advantage of the vaunted light that she gave off to illuminate the world. Other than I, that was.

I wouldn’t perform such an act. The blade was promised to another. One far more deserving of it than these thieves that dared touch upon something they should have never touched. The Princess of Love, I had initially planned for her to wield the blade yes, but now she would work to hold it until Celestia could reclaim it. After all, it wasn’t as if she would dare tarnish another of the Alicorn of the Sun’s vaunted relics…

A familiar charm spins into existence, the incantation having been performed before I had even realized that I had silently intoned it. The chill the spell brought provided me with a clarity that I had been missing… Apologies were upon my lips the moment I realized what I had once more nearly done. I didn’t dare lock eyes with Cadance. Not willing to risk the sight of her purple eyes filled with something that I couldn’t comprehend, or worse understand.

Pushing through the faint frost that sullied my coat I returned to my inspection of the knife. I had already failed, I wouldn’t again. She gave me another chance. I couldn’t allow it to spoil. Pulling at the fragments of magic that I had already found, following them deeper into the spiraling spellwork that was not only imbued upon the knife but was the knife itself. It was a spell given physical form.

It was a masterpiece that outclassed my own works. I could create artifacts, yes, but this knife was no artifact. No, it was something far more than that. I could only begin to hypothesize about how it worked. But that was something for a later time. Closing my eyes I turned towards my partner once more. Disdain.

“Full marks.” I breathed out, not at all having tensed myself for the admonishment that I knew was waiting for me. That I shouldn’t have used the spell. That I shouldn’t have fallen into the throes of my anger. I should have turned to her to help me. “It can harm any creature’s shadow, and transfer the damage that the shadow took to the pony themselves.” Technically it was anything that was alive and could cast a shadow, but that was something I knew the pony in front of me didn’t care for the specifics. Breathe. I continued after a moment's pause, “What you sensed that was wrong, and what likely tripped you up was that it isn't a knife at all but a spell that has been given physical form.”

Cracking open my eyes, I could see my partner with a small smile on her lips. A familiar sight of pride flashed within her eyes as the crystals that danced within formed stars. It was enough to chase away the cold that had clung to me. Freeing the knife from the cage of liquid flames, I held it aloft before Cadance. “It’s yours. I can’t teach you how to wield it without your magic but I am sure one of the Watchers can instruct you in that regard.”

Judging from the confusion that flashed through the eyes of the pony before me… I had no idea. Other than the implicit offer that I could show her how to use the weapon with her magic my words were rather straight forwards. I was unsure where this confusion of hers was coming from even as I replayed my words again in my mind. “Cadance?” I questioned. My partner’s eyes once more snapped back into focus as they found my own.

“Isn’t it your knife? Through a right of conquest or something?” That makes sense she was a good pony, she would want to ensure that I wasn’t forcing myself to give it to her out of some misguided obligation. It wasn’t misguided after all it was simply that she would get the most use out of it.

“Technically I am nearly certain that the knife is the stolen property of Princess Celestia but since she isn’t here it belongs to you.” I wouldn’t think of what would happen if she was here. If she demanded the knife back after I had already given it to Cadance. The thoughts were burned the moment that they formed. I was smart enough to realize that there was no positive outcome in that situation and judging by my partner’s wincing she realized that no doubt as well.

Forcing a small smile to form on my face I continued. “I would like to study it further at a later date but between the two of us, it would be better served protecting you.” It would be the blade that severed a ponies throat, not Cadance. That single degree of separation could allow her to live. To prevent a chance of her death was enough for me to throw myself at Discord without my magic, giving up an enchanted knife was nothing in comparison.

It took my partner a few more moments of silent contemplation for her to finally nod. Her magic intermingled with mine around the knife. An endless sea of cyan subsumed my paltry red, yet I could only smile at the act. How far she had come in the short time. Was this why ponies taught others? To see them grow? To see them mature as they honed their skills and in turn, were honed themselves? Seeing them strive to do ever more and become far mightier than their teacher?

Was this what Celestia felt when she was teaching me?

The question went unanswered as it flooded my mind, demanding my attention. Rage began to ignite, flames sprung forth from my blood, and my soul lit with infernal flames once more. Yet even with all of this peerless rage and hate that flooded through me, I was still smiling.

What was it that my partner had said so long ago? ‘That I could do with less hatred and more love in my heart?’ It was something that I didn’t understand back then. Something that I couldn’t comprehend. It was something that I think I was starting to understand now. In the few weeks that I had done more than hate her, that had changed.

If this was what being bound was-, the inferno that was inside me surged almost as if it knew my thoughts, it didn’t seem nearly as bad as I had initially thought. The conflagration swelled forth, attempting to bleed through my flesh and enter into reality. I didn’t allow it to do as it pleased. I was Sunset Shimmer and these flames were bound to my will alone. The flames were bound within my blood, I could have used the charm once more but… Instead, I allowed the heat to waft off in a gentle display of control.

All this went undetected by Cadance as she was puppeting the knife wildly about as it danced upon a strand of her magic. It took a few moments for her to realize that I was simply watching her play with a weapon of war with a smile written on my face.

“I would have to ask as a Princess who has yet to be even crowned, that the next gift you give me isn’t stolen property.” She laughed as the dancing blade that was under her control came to a stop beside her.

“So confident that I am going to give you another gift, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?” I laughed as the blade lunged forwards toward me, not even bothering to pretend to flinch as it stopped nearly two whole hoof steps away from me. She was adorable, did she think that even with that knife she could harm me? She pouted as the knife was slowly pulled back to her side. I would need to make her a sheathe so she didn’t accidentally hurt herself.

“Of course I am.” Her smile gained familiar near feral properties. I could feel the anticipation begin to pool in my soul. “After all you like me, p-a-r-t-n-e-r.” I shivered as she slowly intoned that final word. The beautiful moment however was shattered by her next words that thundered out with the might of an Alicorn. “And stop calling me by my full name! Your future Princess demands of you!” She haughtily ordered. Acting as if she was but one of the countless nobles that put any worth into that pointless system of theirs.

My grin grew larger. Laughter fell from my lips as Cadance swiftly joined in. We laughed at each other, at the situation, at ourselves. We shared this amusement that was evenly spread between the two of us. The Alicorn and the Unicorn once more laughed together.

“I make no promises about the stolen property, but I will attempt to steal only from ponies that deserve it.” I then pretended I wasn’t going to continue with the topic of her name until Cadance looked as if she was about to charge me. “Fine… I will no longer call you Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Mi Amore Cadenza.” I softly whispered expecting a faint rage to fill my partner. After all, she didn’t want any pony calling her by her full name.

However, she stopped dead in her tracks, her face flushed not with rage, but with… was that embarrassment in her eyes? Why? Her eyes flashed with constructed crystalline hearts, as her mane became translucent. My heart resounded throughout my body, beating at such a breakneck pace that she no doubt could clearly hear it through my flesh. One moment she was before me, the next she had once more intertwined herself around me. Entrapping me within her larger form.

“Sunset Shimmer.” She breathed out into my ear, her words filled with an inflection of emotion that I couldn’t immediately place. Confusion. However, once I did I knew with certainty that I was no longer amber but even more red than my disguise. Desire. The full body flush that I was experiencing did little to stop my partner who had become this predator that had entrapped me with its existence itself. If anything she brought herself further into my physical existence.

Love.

Author's Note:

This chapter is both a step back from the darkness from the last two chapters and a step forward into something more. Something that was once beyond what should have been possible for the pony named Sunset Shimmer. A change that was only possible thanks to Cadance and her actions.

Moving on from the grand and into the grittier, Love in its various forms is something that is integral to this tale of mine. Not that it should come as a surprise with the main cast of characters.

The love of a daughter who seeks her mother's approval.

The endless love of one to protect all of those that she views as hers.

The caring mother who silently watches over her daughter and subjects.

Then there are more disturbed versions of Love that have already been touched upon. Those that even when seen are purposefully ignored by all those who have glimpsed them. Holding no less value than the vaunted loves freely shared, locked away within the hearts of those that hold them.

Another trapping of love is romantic inclinations that occur. Especially between two that have entrusted their lives to one another often blossoms far too soon... To bear fruit or whither away is yet to be decided.

-LittleFaerieFire

Comments

[Blood Rarity]