In an Equestria where criminals are given as slaves to the ones they wronged, Sunset Shimmer is given to Twilight.
Twilight never thought anything would come of her adventure in the magic mirror. She and her friends had saved Equestria again, period, end of discussion. It wasn't out of the ordinary, not for her.
Then, months later, a member of the Royal Guard arrives with Sunset Shimmer, broken, humbled, and ready to become Twilight's slave... forever.
Twilight's life suddenly becomes a myriad of new complications, not the least of which is explaining all this to her friends. Everypony has a different opinion, but one thing is clear: none of this will be resolved easily. And it may just tear the Elements apart before it's finished.
A gorgeous sunset in the west was just fading, though it still cast multicolored light over the small town. From the second-floor balcony of the library, Twilight Sparkle smiled appreciatively, and then dove right back into her book.
Several minutes later she became aware of wingbeats in the air overhead. They sounded firm but steady, instantly ruling out the possibility of Rainbow Dash dropping in for a visit.
Could be Fluttershy, Twilight thought, but her wingbeats are lighter… Finally Twilight looked up, having been frustrated by all her attempts to identify to flier ahead of time.
To her surprise, Twilight saw a muscular pegasus descending on her library. He had a light pumpkin-colored coat—or so Twilight thought—and a dark blue mane with a barely-visible lighter tone running through it. Most notably, he was wearing the armor that denoted him as a member of the Canterlot Royal Guard. He was guiding a pony-sized bubble of magical golden energy through the air just ahead of him.
Odd.
Then Twilight saw the somewhat-blurred image of the pony inside the bubble. She did a double take.
But—but that’s—
The pegasus guard was landing now. The bubble popped as it impacted the balcony, and the pony that had been inside stumbled out, blinking owlishly. Twilight immediately stood and stepped back warily, for the unicorn mare just in front of her was very, very familiar.
Sunset Shimmer.
Sure, it had been months since Twilight’s escapade through the mirror, more than enough time for her to reacquaint herself with her pony form. Sure, the last time she had seen Sunset Shimmer had been when they were both humans. But the sight of her old enemy still sent chills through Twilight’s body.
The pegasus stallion cleared his throat, and Twilight focused on him. Sunset Shimmer wasn’t a threat. Yet. For now Twilight could listen to what this gentlecolt had to say.
“Princess Twilight Sparkle,” the pegasus began. “You are by the order of Her Majesty Princess Celestia hereby gifted with the servitude of this, Sunset Shimmer.”
“But—but what does that mean?” Twilight stammered.
“For her crimes, against ponykind in general and against you in particular, Sunset Shimmer has served a term of six months in prison—”
Then it had only been six months since they’d captured her. It had been nearly a year since Twilight’s journey through the mirror. So Sunset’s capture was more recent than Twilight had at first thought.
“—and is now officially enslaved to you,” the pegasus finished. “The bond has already been magically enacted. Sunset Shimmer must obey any command you give her, or she will feel immense—” He stumbled slightly over the words. “Immense, incurable pain. The same will happen if she attempts to hurt anypony. Her magic is…” He paused, ever so slightly. “Taken care of.”
Twilight gasped. Sunset Shimmer’s horn had been broken—and not at the tip, either, but at the base. It could never be regrown. Sunset Shimmer had lost her capacity for magic forever.
“The bond is for life,” the pegasus said. He was speaking faster now, clearly eager to be done with this. “She is yours.”
He waited for a reply. When Twilight said nothing he turned, as if to fly away.
But at the last second, he stopped.
“I… I have no right to say this, but—I ask that you do not treat her too harshly.” The pegasus’s business-like expression and voice were gone. He was begging, pleading for Sunset Shimmer’s sake. “Please.”
Then he was gone. Twilight Sparkle watched him glide away into the sunset until she could no longer see him.
Then, she turned to look at Sunset Shimmer.
The broken horn was hardly the only different thing about her old enemy. Sunset Shimmer’s mane, one long and lusciously groomed, was ragged and tangled now. Her face was bruised, and several scars ran the length of her visible backbone. Twilight shivered. Six months in prison might not seem much, but the punishments meted out to criminals of Sunset’s degree were more than enough to fill that time.
“Um—come on, then,” Twilight said. Sunset Shimmer followed her into the library without a word.
Twilight stood inside the balcony door for several minutes, trying to think on what to do. Too much had happened in the last ten minutes, and she was trying to process it all at once.
Not helping. She looked, briefly, back at Sunset Shimmer. Find a solution to the immediate problem.
The basement. The library’s ample basement should have a room she could use. Twilight hurried through her living quarters and down the stairs. Sunset followed her. The unicorn was eerily silent, too silent. Celestia wouldn’t have used a silencing spell on her—would she? Then again, it might not have been Celestia who had directly sent her.
Twilight opened the door to the basement with her telekinesis and led Sunset through the cluttered main area to an unused spare room.
“You—you can sleep here,” she said. “Um—I don’t have an extra bed, or anything, but I guess we can sort that out tomorrow.”
Sunset glided into the empty room. She was still graceful. There was that, at least, that hadn’t been lost during her time in prison.
“Thank you, Mistress.”
The words were murmured, so quietly, yet they shocked Twilight to the core. The lavender alicorn managed to stumble up the stairs to the ground floor, then to her room, but the words still rung in her head as she moved.
“Thank you, mistress.”
Only then did the pegasus’s message from the Princess truly sink fully into Twilight’s brain.
Sunset Shimmer is mine—my slave—forever. Now she understood the pegasus’s plea on his prisoner’s behalf, though why he would say something like that still eluded her.
I—I could kill her, and Princess Celestia would probably do nothing.
It was a sobering thought. It took up most of the rest of Twilight’s evening; for even though she tried to study, the pages of her books seemed to show her nothing but Sunset Shimmer’s face.
She had been scared before, of course. She had been scared when her parents died. She had been scared, very scared, in the short time before Celestia had found her, a homeless orphan wandering the streets. Sunset had been scared after the Princess rejected her and cast her out of the place that had been her home for years. The mirror, and the world on the other side of it, had soon followed, but that feeling of fear had always lingered, threatening to take control if Sunset didn’t master her setting and circumstances.
But now… now she had no control, no control whatsoever, and it terrified her.
Sunset shivered. She was curled up in the corner of Twilight Sparkle’s basement room. It wasn’t cold, but Sunset had no other way of releasing the tension cramping her limbs.
Memories of tormenting Twilight Sparkle were flitting through Sunset’s mind, haunting her. She had stolen from Twilight, humiliated her, and tried to kill her.
She has every reason to get back at me. Sunset shivered again. Twilight Sparkle had every reason to retaliate, and now, had every right to as well.
Sunset shivered yet again. The room wasn’t cold.
*
The second Twilight opened her eyes, the memory of Sunset Shimmer’s broken horn flashed through her brain.
Twilight sat up, groaning at the tiredness in her legs. Somehow, through the fog induced by only a few hours’ sleep, Twilight formed a thought.
To-do list. I need a to-do list.
Twilight rose from her bed and stumbled over to her desk. There she slumped into a chair and lifted a quill in her telekinesis. A rather sloppy list took shape in her scratchy, angular hoofwriting.
- Find girls
- Meet—Sugarcube Corner?
- Tell them—everything
Twilight looked around for Spike for a moment before remembering that he had left for Canterlot on business just a few days ago, and wouldn’t be back until the end of the week.
Oh, well. I can find them without him.
Twilight set the quill down on the desk, turned, and trotted down the stairs and out into Ponyville.
The sun was up high in the sky, and Twilight felt herself smiling. Somehow the light of the sun seemed to make her troubles smaller, if only for a while.
Twilight trotted down the street, greeting and waving to her neighbors. A few moments later she reached Sugarcube Corner; she pushed open the door and walked in without hesitation.
To her surprise, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and of course Pinkie Pie were already clustered around a table next to a large window.
“Oh, howdy, Twilight,” Applejack called, waving enthusiastically at her. “We were all jus’ havin’ a little get-together.”
“Weren’t you going to invite me?” Twilight could feel her wings drooping as she spoke.
“Of course!” Pinkie practically burst out of her seat. “Rainbow Dash was just going to go to your house to invite you, silly!”
“That’s why she isn’t here,” Rarity added. “She will be here soon, I expect.”
“Oh, okay.” Twilight sat down with her friends. “That’s good. There’s… something I need to tell you all.”
Rainbow Dash arrived within minutes, complaining good-naturedly about having missed Twilight. After the first few minutes of camaraderie and general friendship, Twilight took a deep breath, and her friends instinctively quieted.
“Girls, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Twilight launched into her story. She started with a short recap of her time as a human—but Rainbow Dash cut her off, loudly reminding her that she’d told them all of that before. So Twilight skipped ahead to the evening before, when a Royal Guard had landed on her balcony and changed everything.
As she finished her story, there was silence at the table. Applejack was staring at the table, deep in thought; Fluttershy looked positively petrified; Rarity was frowning, and Pinkie was for once quiet and still.
Rainbow Dash was, as usual, the first to break to silence.
“You mean that—that unicorn, Sunset Shimmer, she’s at your house? Alone?”
“She’s not going to hurt anything, Rainbow,” Twilight answered. “The guard said there was a charm on her, keeping her from hurting anypony or disobeying me.”
“Yeah, but—” Applejack poked Rainbow hard in the side, and the pegasus fell silent, though she still glowered at the table.
Applejack gave Twilight a smile that would have been reassuring if it didn’t seem so stiff. “Rainbow might be wrong, sugar cube, but you still probably want t’ get on home.” Her smile grew a bit more genuine, a tad less concerned. “Don’ worry—we’ll be along soon.”
“And we will most certainly help you sort all this out,” Rarity added.
“Thanks, girls,” Twilight said. “I knew I could count on you.”
She stood up, said her goodbyes to her friends, and trotted out. The sunlight, through still warm, now gave no comfort. Twilight sighed loudly as she trotted up to the library.
I never asked for any of this.
*
Sunset Shimmer tensed as hoofsteps sounded against the wooden floor overhead.
Someone’s here.
She moved to stand and found that her legs had gone to sleep—and were probably cramped, too. Sunset shivered, determinedly wiggling her hooves. Wake up—wake up! She would need to stand up when Twilight Sparkle came in. Only pain would follow if she could not.
The hoofsteps sounded against the basement stairs, then against the floor just outside. Then the door creaked open.
Sunset immediately stood, gritting her teeth against the agonizing tingling in all four legs.
You’ll get more pain that that if you don’t greet her properly!
Sunset bowed her head, stared at the floor. She could just see Twilight Sparkle’s hooves from here—but hooves gave no indication of a pony’s mood. If Twilight Sparkle was feeling amicable, she might get off easily. If not—Sunset shuddered to think what might happen.
“Um, hi…”
The open-ended—and oddly casual—greeting surprised Sunset. Maybe Twilight Sparkle wasn’t as ready for this as she had thought.
“I was thinki—” Twilight Sparkle was cut off by a loud rumble for her own stomach. Sunset winced, thinking of her own hunger.
Stay quiet. Stay quiet and she won’t hurt you—
“Oh,” Twilight said, stretching the word out so that it was more a moan. “Can you cook?”
Sunset bit her lip. She couldn’t, not really. But her time—her training, in Celestia’s accursed prisons, had taught her that saying “no” to her mistress was a grave mistake indeed.
So that was Twilight Sparkle’s game. Put her new slave between a rock and a hard place, and watch as she suffered no matter what she did or said.
Sunset Shimmer grit her teeth.
“I… can cook if you wish it, Mistress.”
There were some things she could cook, after all. A few things, at least. It was better than saying “no”.
“Okay, good. Come on—I’ve got all sorts of stuff in the kitchen.”
Sunset followed her mistress wordlessly, mentally plotting out foods she might be able to cook.
As it turned out, the planning was all be useless, as Twilight Sparkle had nothing but various canned vegetables, and a few breads.
I can’t cook these.
Sunset grit her teeth and closed her eyes for a moment.
A knock at the door heralded the arrival of Twilight’s friends.
The alicorn looked up from her book and called, “Come in!” The door swung open and Twilight’s five friends hurried in.
“Where is she?” Rainbow Dash growled. Twilight narrowed her eyes.
“In the kitchen. Doing what I asked her to do. She’s not a threat, Rainbow!”
“Calm down,” Applejack said. “Both of you.” She paused to give both Twilight and Rainbow Dash a stern glare. Then she said, “What can we help ya with, Twi?”
“I’ve been researching the subject of—” Twilight faltered. “Well, that. I’ve found some things, but it’s not really helpful and—”
She was interrupted by soft hoofbeats as Sunset Shimmer walked into the room, head down.
*
Sunset was careful not to look up, not to the give these ponies any reason to hurt her.
Keep your head down. Stay silent. If they don’t notice you, they won’t see a reason to attack.
She stopped, a respectful distance from Twilight Sparkle.
“I’ve finished, Mistress.”
Hoofbeats, there, a bit to her right. Sunset gave the slightest glance upward and saw Rainbow Dash, staring at her with narrow eyes.
Hm. Rainbowed hair does seem to look better on a pony.
Almost before she had finished the non-sequitur thought, a starburst of pain exploded in her jaw. Sunset reeled back, the entire left side of her face throbbing mercilessly. When her vision cleared she saw Rainbow Dash staring at her, hoof still extended from having struck at her.
The sky-blue pegasus started forward. Desperate, Sunset fell her to knees, staring at the floor. Her breath came rapidly.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please don’t hit me again— Sunset had promised herself that she would never beg anything of these ponies—but by Celestia’s sun that punch had hurt.
“What was that?” Rainbow Dash leaned down, putting her face close to Sunset’s. Her voice was low, threatening—everything Sunset feared. “Couldn’t hear you, slave.”
“I’m sorry,” Sunset said, louder.
“For what?” Rainbow Dash buffeted her, hard, with her hoof. “Say it!”
I don’t know I don’t know I swear I don’t even know what I did—
“Rainbow Dash! Stop this!”
Sunset looked up, too surprised to suppress the movement. The farm girl—Applejack—was standing in front of Rainbow Dash, just far enough to the side to avoid touching Sunset Shimmer. The earth pony was glaring, hard, at the pegasus.
“No!” The pegasus tried to shove past, but was rebuffed. “She deserves it! Let me through!”
“No.” Twilight Sparkle stepped in, and Sunset quickly looked back at the ground. “No, Rainbow,” the alicorn continued. “Get away from her.”
Yet more surprise coursed through Sunset’s veins.
“Are you serious, Twi?” Rainbow Dash demanded.
“You and I can discuss this,” Twilight Sparkle said—no, growled. She was angry. Very angry. “Upstairs. The rest of you—”
“Funny thing, darling,” Rarity said. Sunset easily recognized her nervous tone—indeed, she knew it all too well. “Funny thing, I just remembered—I need to be somewhere. Now, as a matter of fact.”
“Me too.” That was Pinkie Pie, no doubt.
“Oh, um, yeah, and me.” That was the shy one—what was her name? Sunset never could remember.
“Oh. Okay.”
Sunset waited as the three filed out. Applejack had gone quiet, so there was no telling where she was.
Then Twilight Sparkle turned toward Sunset.
“You—”
Sunset flinched.
Surprisingly, Twilight’s tone lowered, just a bit. “You can go back to the basement.”
Sunset nodded and hurried away. Truth be told, she couldn’t wait to escape to safety, and she couldn’t wait to tend her aching jaw.
*
Twilight slammed her bedroom door shut and then whirled to face Rainbow Dash.
“What the hay were you thinking down there?!”
“What was I thinking?” Rainbow Dash appeared just as angry as Twilight herself felt. “What were you thinking? Why did you defend her?”
“Because she couldn’t defend herself! She was defenseless, and you just attacked her—”
“Because she deserved it!”
The words came out almost as a scream. The noise, if nothing else, was enough to startle Twilight into silence. Rainbow took her opportunity.
“Did the students at that school you told us about have any defense when she brainwashed them, huh? Did you have any when she tried to kill you?” Rainbow Dash was breathing hard, hovering up near the ceiling. “This is your chance to get back at her, Twilight! That’s what you’re supposed to be doing and you’re not doing it!”
“So you want me to attack her like you did?”
Twilight was beyond red-hot anger now. She had settled into something colder—something like ice.
“Get out, Rainbow. Get out of here and don’t come back until you can act halfway decent to a defenseless pony!”
Without a word Rainbow Dash whirled around and slammed through the nearest window at full speed, shattering it instantly.
A fresh breeze blew across Twilight’s face, and she felt herself coming out of the intense anger she had felt.
What… what did I just say?
Twilight went to the broken window and looked out. Rainbow Dash was already out of sight. A quick look downstairs revealed that none of her friends, not even Applejack, had stayed to watch the confrontation.
How long is it going to take for this to tear us all apart?
*
Sunset Shimmer huddled in a corner of her room, nursing the bruise that was already darkening the side of her face.
Why did she defend me?
The question lingered in her mind, repeating itself over and over. Sunset could see the motivation behind Rainbow Dash’s attack—Sunset might not have harmed her, personally, but surely the pegasus knew of all the things she had done.
But Applejack’s reaction, and Twilight’s, made no sense whatsoever. They should have encouraged the attack, maybe even joined in, not stopped it.
They’re going to punish me later. It was the only answer Sunset could think of. Twilight wanted to be the one to strike—wanted to be the only one to beat her slave—and that was why she had stopped her friend.
It will hurt more later. Sunset cringed in anticipation of future pain, knowing at the same time that there was nothing, nothing she could do to stop it.
Celestia should have killed me. It would have been better than this.
Steady hoofbeats against a wooden floor awakened Sunset Shimmer from a shallow, restless sleep.
Sunset blinked several times, then forced herself to her hooves. She bowed her head, keeping her face toward the ground. That would hide the sleepiness in her eyes, and the exhausted drooping of her eyelids. Hopefully.
The door opened, and Twilight Sparkle came in, carrying a clipboard and a quill pen in her magenta-tinged telekinesis. Sunset felt herself stiffening.
What is she going to do—experiment on me?
That was a form of torture Sunset hadn’t even considered.
“Good morning,” Twilight said amicably. “Or evening, I guess. How do you feel?”
“Fine, M—”
Sunset was cut off by the rumbling of her stomach. The very loud, very noticeable rumbling of her stomach.
Oh. No.
Twilight Sparkle paused. Sunset bit her lip, mentally counting by squares in a desperate attempt to suppress her fear.
“Are you hungry?” Twilight Sparkle sounded truly baffled. Sunset had to bite back a sarcastic reply.
No, really. “Yes… Mistress.”
Sunset closed her eyes.
“Do you want some food?”
Sunset opened her eyes again.
“Yes… if that’s alright with you. Mistress.”
“Good grief.” Sunset could practically hear Twilight Sparkle rolling her eyes. “You’re worse than Fluttershy. C’mon, there’s food upstairs.”
*
Twilight stood in the doorway of her kitchen, silently watching Sunset Shimmer eat. The sight of it was starting to bother her, but Twilight was hesitant to move. She knew that if she did take so much as a step, Sunset would hear it and be on guard again.
But—sweet Celestia. How long has it been since she last ate?
Twilight shifted on her hooves, and the floorboards underneath her creaked. Sunset immediately looked up, curling herself halfway into a defensive position. Twilight swallowed, hard.
Well, she’s seen me. I guess I can go in now.
Haltingly, Twilight stepped into the kitchen and made her way to a chair that sat opposite Sunset Shimmer at the table. Sunset was staring at the table now, still stiffly maintaining a wary position. The bruise Rainbow Dash had given her was dark purple now. It stood out against her golden coat.
“I’m sorry,” Twilight blurted.
Sunset Shimmer looked up, surprise playing warily across her face. Then she looked hurriedly down at the table.
“About what Rainbow did,” Twilight continued. “She was just—angry, and—it isn’t going to happen again.”
Sunset was completely still now, barely even blinking. She had stopped eating. At first Twilight thought that the unicorn was still processing what had been said; then she realized that it was something else.
“Do you want to—talk? Or ask—something?”
Celestia, this is awkward.
Slowly Sunset Shimmer raised her head, though she did not meet Twilight’s eyes.
“Does—” She paused, flinching slightly. Twilight didn’t dare move. After a moment of quiet, Sunset went on. “Does that mean you—won’t—hurt me?”
The last two words were something like a squeak—pitiful, but also almost endearing. But that impression was lost in the swirl of emotion Twilight felt at her once-enemy’s words.
She thought that—about me? She thought I would hurt her?
It had been there in the back of her mind, of course—especially after the reading she had done and her fight with Rainbow Dash. But not once had Twilight even considered taking advantage of Sunset Shimmer’s submissiveness—and frankly, even the thought of it disgusted her.
“Of course not,” she answered. “Of course not. I would never hurt you.”
Sunset Shimmer relaxed—just barely, but she relaxed—and then after a moment went back to eating. Again Twilight saw the dark bruise on her face.
Silently, Twilight stood up and went to get an ice packet for the bruise.
*
Not going to hurt me?
It was almost unthinkable, in Sunset Shimmer’s mind. No, it was unthinkable—that Twilight Sparkle should take such a chance for revenge as this and throw it away.
She’s toying with me. She’s trying to lower my guard, so that it hurts all the more when she does strike.
And yet… there was a part of Sunset’s mind that wanted, so very badly, to believe she was safe.
You aren’t safe. You never will be safe. Celestia wouldn’t allow it.
Sunset had to suppress a snort of mirthless laughter. That thought was certainly true.
Twilight Sparkle walked back into the room, and Sunset started. She had been so focused on the food, she hadn’t even realized that the alicorn was gone.
Twilight sat down again and then pushed something across the table toward Sunset, who eyed it suspiciously. Then she realized that it was a packet of ice wrapped in cloth, and she picked it up gratefully.
She tried to bring the ice up to her bruise, but fumbled and dropped it midway. A soft growl of frustration escaped before she could stop it.
Sunset instantly stopped and tensed up.
There was no answering gesture from Twilight Sparkle.
Sunset relaxed again. She’s playing nice. Again she picked up the ice pack, this time being more careful to balance it on her hoof. Sunset was far too used to having fingers—an unavailable benefit, now that she was back in Equestria—and the breaking of her horn had permanently stolen the assistance of telekinesis from her as well.
Damn you, Celestia.
Carefully, Sunset pressed the ice to her face, wincing as she did so. It hurt, but the ice was at the same time soothing.
“Thank you,” she murmured. Twilight Sparkle gave a small, new-imperceptible smile.
“You’re very welcome.”
The alicorn stood. “I—er—have a few errands that need to be run in town,” she said. “Could you—?”
“Of course,” Sunset said, standing as she did so. “I can—”
Twilight shook her head.
“Not right now,” she said. “Later—tomorrow, maybe?”
Sunset just nodded, and then sat back down. Twilight Sparkle watched her for a moment, and then left the room, leaving her slave unattended.
Why is she being so nice? Why is she being so trusting?
As it turned out, running errands in Ponyville for Twilight Sparkle wasn’t nearly as excruciating an activity as Sunset Shimmer might have expected.
For the first few days of it Sunset ducked down back alleys and conducted her business as secretively as she could, trying to avoid contact with other ponies. But when she was discovered by the townsponies, none of them—barring the Elements of Harmony—seemed to know who she was, and most were willing to attribute her broken horn to a very unfortunate accident in the past.
Sunset wasn’t about to correct them.
So it was fairly easy, shopping at the market and delivering messages to some of Twilight’s more distant town acquaintances. It was a chance to get away from the constant fear and wariness Sunset felt in the library. Out here, in the town, there was at least some level of reassurance that no one was about to attack her. Sunset appreciated that.
At the end of the week Twilight called Sunset up to the library’s main floor and met with her in the kitchen.
“So I was thinking,” Twilight said, when Sunset stood before her. “You’ve—you’ve been really helpful this week, and, well—um—here.”
Stated with your usual eloquence, Mistress.
Something clinked against the table. Sunset looked up and saw a few coins—three bits, if she remembered the Equestrian currency system currently—sitting there in an innocent pile on the table.
Sunset looked to Twilight Sparkle, partly out of confusion and partly out of wariness.
“For me?”
“Yes,” Twilight said, nodding. “I know it isn’t that much, but—”
“No, it’s—it’s fine,” Sunset said hurriedly. It’s much more than I ever expected to get.
The two of them stood there in awkward silence for a moment before Twilight Sparkle bundled Sunset out of the library, saying something about a “day off” and “needing to study”. Before she knew what was happening, Sunset was standing outside the library, with three bits in her saddlebag and no definitive purpose.
Sunset tried the door. It was locked.
Sunset blew a loud sigh and looked down the dirt road to Ponyville’s center square.
A day off… that doesn’t sound so bad. Then again, Twilight Sparkle might punish her for it later. But the door is locked… Short of breaking and entering, Sunset didn’t see any way to get back into the library.
So she turned and trotted down the road to Ponyville.
Three bits didn’t go too far in Ponyville, but it was enough to buy a cupcake and a glass of milk from Sugarcube Corner. When it had been paid for Sunset took her snack outside, sat on a bench, and watched the other ponies going about their business.
In a way, she envied them.
A shadow fell over her, and Sunset looked up, her body instinctively tensing into a defensive position. A tall, muscular griffon was standing there in front of her, watching her with narrowed, hostile eyes.
Then the griffon sat down on the bench next to her and began watching the townsponies, just as Sunset had been doing a moment ago.
Sunset had to resist the urge to scoot to the other side of the bench.
“Be kinda nice not to have any problems, huh?” the griffon said. She pointed a talon at a tiny filly bouncing happily alongside her older sister.
“Yes, it—would,” Sunset answered, caught off guard. The griffon had voiced the very thought she herself had been thinking.
“So what’d you do?” the griffon asked. At Sunset’s questioning look the griffon flapped her wings lightly. “You know, to be enslaved.”
Sunset immediately stiffened, then felt herself wilting into a submissive position.
“No! Don’t do that.” The griffon tipped Sunset’s chin up with one talon. “I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise. I just wanted to know.”
Sunset paused, taking a moment to analyze what the griffon had said. Then she thought about the question, and laughed bitterly.
“What did I do?” Again she laughed, mirthlessly. “Well. I tried to take over Equestria. I stole the Element of Magic. I tried to kill Celestia’s precious pet student.”
The griffon whistled. “So, you’re in for a while, then.”
“Try for life.”
The griffon flared her wings. “I got lucky. I was only in for three months.”
Sunset looked up at the griffon curiously. “What’d you do?”
The griffon shrugged. “It’s a long story.”
“I don’t have anything else to do.”
The griffon sighed deeply, relaxing against the bench. “Alright, fine. Once upon a time there was a jerk, named me. And I had a friend, who was a lot less of a jerk and had some other friends besides me. And I’ll admit, I was kinda jealous. Then she dumped me, because I was a jerk to her other friends, and I got really jealous. So I, being the nuthead that I was back then, tried to steal something from her.”
“What was it?”
“I dunno. Something valuable, I don’t really remember. But I got caught, and my friend pressed charges. I ended up with three months of slavery.”
“What was that like?”
The griffon grimaced. “It was painful, I can tell ya that. My ‘friend’ doesn’t do forgive-and-forget.”
Sunset thought of Rainbow Dash. “I know the type.”
“Yeah.”
They sat for a while, watching the marketplace bustle. After a while the griffon spoke up again.
“So you got it for life, huh?”
“I did.”
“To who? Twilight Sparkle?”
Sunset started. “How did you know?”
“You mentioned trying to kill Celestia’s student. Everypony knows that’s Twilight.” The griffon paused. “You probably got it easy, y’know.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Twilight—she’s a softie. ‘Forgive and forget’, and all that. If she doesn’t hurt ya when she’s mad she won’t do it when she’s not.”
Sunset shook her head.
“You don’t know all the things I did to her.”
“True.” The griffon shrugged. “I’m just telling you what I’ve seen.”
They were quiet for another several minutes. Finally the griffon stood up and asked, “So what’s your name?”
Twilight Sparkle blinked, and realized for the umpteenth time that she was staring out the window. Again. She shook her head and looked back at the piece of paper in front of her.
A myriad of crumpled-up balls of paper occupied the floor space behind her. After a moment, Twilight crumpled up the paper on her desk and started writing on a fresh piece.
Dear Princess Celestia, she wrote. It has come to my attention that…
Twilight shook her head and balled up that piece of paper as well, throwing it over her shoulder before she readied a new one.
Why is this so hard? I’ve never had this much trouble writing to the Princess. Never!
Twilight bit her lip.
Dear Princess Celestia…
Twilight sighed deeply. This isn’t helping. None of this is… I need a break.
The alicorn stood up and made her way toward the kitchen, noting in the back of her mind the mess she had made. I’ll pick that up. Later. Twilight knew that if she didn’t, Sunset Shimmer would.
When Twilight wandered out of the kitchen a few minutes later, she realized that that thought had come too late. There was Sunset Shimmer, scrabbling around on the ground as she tried to pick up the papers without using telekinesis. For a moment Twilight pitied her. Then Twilight felt bad, because she knew Sunset didn’t want her pity.
“I can do that.” Twilight’s horn lit up, and the papers levitated off of the floor and into the wastebasket underneath the desk.
Sunset Shimmer stood up.
“I… I had it sorted.”
“…Right.”
“I did!”
Sunset Shimmer seemed almost startled by her own sharp, sudden words, but she didn’t flinch back.
Wait. What?
Twilight looked at Sunset again and realized how closely she had been monitoring the unicorn’s body language lately. It was getting easy—disconcertingly easy—to tell whether Sunset Shimmer was being defiant or submissive. Twilight could look at her slave and just see if Sunset was afraid or not.
And Twilight found that fact almost unfathomably disturbing.
“Do you—do you need something?”
Twilight blinked, snapping back into the present moment. “Uh… no. No, I don’t.”
Sunset nodded, and then turned toward the basement staircase.
“Don’t go,” Twilight said. When Sunset looked at her with a confused expression she tried to elaborate. “You really don’t need to stay down there—I mean, if you want to that’s fine, but it’s—I mean, if you think—” Twilight shook her head, as if that would clear her muddled thoughts away and give birth to some coherent idea.
And then, as if by Celestia’s magic, an idea struck.
“Do you like to read?”
Sunset Shimmer arched her neck. It was a scornful gesture, Twilight thought, although it was just barely there.
“Of course,” Sunset said. “I—” She paused, as if remembering herself, before going on in a more cautious tone. “When I was at the Academy, with Celestia—I studied history. And magic—but I liked history.” She approached one of the bookshelves cautiously, as if it might bite her if she got too familiar with it. “Do you—” She stopped herself.
“What?”
“Do you have anything by Star Swirl the Bearded?”
Twilight felt herself deflating, if only a little. “No. Most of his manuscripts have to stay at the library in Canterlot. But I do have a study—” Twilight broke off and scanned the bookshelves, hoping to find the book she was looking for. After a moment she simply removed an entire block of books and began to sort through them with her magic. “It’s a research analysis done by the Manehatten Society for Study Devoted to Magic Theory. It starts with the texts written by Star Swirl during the Pre-Classical Era and works from there to show how magic theory has evolved since.”
Sunset Shimmer was nodding now, her eyes alight with excitement.
“I read part of that while I was studying under Celestia, I think, but I never finished it. I—” She stopped again and ducked her head. “I mean, could I—could I borrow it?”
“Of course.” Twilight lifted the heavy tome from her pile of books and handed it over to Sunset Shimmer, who took it somewhat clumsily in her mouth.
Twilight began re-shelving the books she had pulled down. As she did she thought about the magnificent library Canterlot boasted. She thought of her old study tower, and she thought of Princess Celestia.
I haven’t seen her since we were in the Crystal Empire—before all of this.
And then, as if a bolt of lightning had struck, Twilight saw what she needed to do to clear her head and work through her problems.
“Sunset, do you think you could watch the library for—oh, I don’t know—a day?”
Sunset started, and then, when given the chance to consider, nodded.
“Yes, I think so.”
“Oh, good.” Twilight hurried over to her desk and scribbled out a quick checklist, studiously entitled What to Bring on a Trip to Canterlot (to See the Princess). “Let’s see,” she muttered. “Books, dragonfire candles, paper, quills—maybe some clothes.”
“Uh—”
Twilight looked up again. “What?”
Sunset blinked at her. “Can—do you still need me, or…”
“Oh, you can go back to the basement.” Twilight looked down at the paper, then up again. “Um. If you want to.”
Sunset just nodded and then turned toward the stairway. Twilight went back to her blossoming checklist, a new feeling of delicious delight taking its place in her mind.
