Twilight Sparkle hosts a Convention for all the Unicorns in her life.
After the incidents with Both MoonDancer and Starlight Glimmer, Twilight decides to organize a three day retreat for her Canterlot friends and the unicorns she has helped redeem.
All things considered, Starlight should be imprisoned somewhere. She should be banished to the moon, in Tartarus, maybe, or locked away in some mirror. Starlight kept this in mind when Twilight told her to clean the castle. To reiterate, the entire castle. It really could be worse.
Starlight noticed that Twilight was unusually fastidious today. Usually, Twilight prioritized castle cleaning according to room use. The Council Room, for example, was cleaned about once a week while the Guest bedrooms were scheduled for about once a month. Some rooms, like the secret room that Twilight sauntered into for days at a time, were never truly cleaned. Reorganized, yes, but not given a thorough scrubbing down.
“Starlight!” Twilight called, “Are you almost done with the hallway, yet?
Starlight set down her broom, and turned to look at her approaching teacher/friend.
“I’m almost done,” Starlight, “If you don’t mind me asking, Twilight, why the sudden need to clean the castle?”
“I didn’t tell you?” Twilight said, tilting her head, “I’m inviting some friends over tomorrow!”
“Twilight, If it’s just the girls, I don’t think they’ll mind the dust,” Starlight snarked.
“It’s not just the girls,” Twilight replied as she charged her horn. “Let me show you something.”
Both Starlight and Twilight were engulfed in a magical aura, instantly teleporting them from one hallway to another. This one was lined with doors each marked with a different pony’s cutie mark.
“This,” Twilight announced, “Is the Unicorn Wing!”
The two started walking through the hallway, Starlight admiring the doors on their way through.
“I’ve learned something this past year, Starlight.” Twilight said, “I learned that I did have friends in Canterlot, before I was sent to Ponyville. It’s kind of embarrassing to admit this, being the Princess of Friendship and all, but I couldn’t remember their names, much less the fact that I had them.”
Starlight raised a hoof and opened her mouth only to put it back down. Friends though they might be, that didn’t change the fact that Princess Twilight Sparkle held Starlight Glimmer’s fate in her hoof. She may have been able to out-power Twilight, but Nightmare Moon was similarly able to out-power Celestia.
“So,” Twilight continued, “to keep contact with them, I’ve set up a fun three-day weekend for all of us to get together, catch up and study!”
“That is very much a ‘you’ Idea, Twilight,” Starlight chuckled.
“Maybe, but we were all students at the School for Gifted Unicorns,” Twilight said as Starlight gave a muted grunt, “so I’m sure an exchange of ideas between friends can be at least somewhat fun.”
Starlight walked through the hallway and stopped at two doors emblazoned with two cutie marks she didn’t recognize from Twilight’s Canterlot posse.
“Who are these two?” Starlight asked.
Twilight looked at the two doors, “Well the magic wand is for Trixie Lulamoon, she’s a bit of a blowhard but she’s a great illusionist!”
“How did you meet?”
Twilight coughed, “I, uh, upstaged her street show, and then beat her in a magic duel when she vowed revenge.”
“Do you make friends with everypony that causes trouble for you?” Starlight asked.
“Well either that or we turn them into stone, or banish them to Tartarus” Twilight said with a smile.
“Uhhh... “ Starlight vocalized, trying to process Twilight’s dissonant serenity, “What about the other one?”
“Sunset Shimmer?” Twilight asked and then went into quiet contemplation, “Starlight, I… Need to show you something else.”
Twilight teleported the two of them to another hallway this time, in front of a large double doorway.
“First of all, I want to apologize.” Twilight said as Starlight tilted her head, “I didn’t want to show this to you because I didn’t trust you with that information. That was unfair of me.”
This piqued Starlight’s curiosity. Twilight trusted her with a great many things, including some magic spells that seemed to fit more with world domination than anything. The “Want it, Need it” spell gave Starlight nightmares. This must have been something dire to keep her in the dark about it.
Twilight opened the doors, “ Starlight, this is the crystal mirror.”
Starlight stared into the room in awe. The room looked like a laboratory, with various bits of machinery scattered throughout. The centerpiece of it all was a large mirror resting on some steps. Surrounding the mirror was indescribable machinery. Tubes and wires were connected to the mirror in various places. To the left of the mirror was a stand that held a book with Celestia’s cutie mark.
“So on top of being a princess, you're a mad scientist,” Starlight drawled.
“This mirror was meant to be a window to other worlds, used by Starswirl The Bearded, of course.” Twilight sighed, “ Again, I’m sorry I kept this from you, but I didn’t want the mirror to be abused.”
Starlight stared at Twilight. “I don’t know what’s weirder: the fact that you kept this room from me, or the fact that you have two magical artifacts just lying around the castle.”
Twilight just smiled, all her worries were lifted by that statement, “This mirror leads to a world that is similar but completely different at the same time, Sunset Shimmer lives in that world now.”
“Why?” Starlight asked.
“Er… It’s a long story, but to put it simply, She had a falling-out with Celestia,” Twilight said.
“Friendship is weird,” Starlight stated.
“I can’t really argue with that,” Twilight said, “But it’s weird in the most wonderful of ways.”
Suddenly a large bang was heard from outside of the castle. Starlight jumped a little while Twilight just sighed and teleported both her and Starlight to the castle’s entrance, where a large wagon was waiting.
Suddenly, some heavy jazz music started to play. Starlight tried to look around for the source of the music while Twilight remained straight-faced. The Wagon then exploded open into a stage, smoke machines spraying everywhere to obscure it for a few tension building seconds. The smoke dissipated revealing the stage: The backdrop was a rustic city by the bay. The edges of the stage were decorated with golden masks and colorful feathers. Smoke erupted from the center of the stage, revealing The Great and Powerful Trixie.
“Watch and be amazed as you witness the mistress of illusions: The Great and Powerful TRRRRRIXIE!”
Starlight started to raise a hoof before Twilight lowered it for her. Trixie cleared her throat.
“Hello, Twilight Sparkle, or should I call you ‘Princess’?”
“Hi, Trixie,” Twilight greeted, “Trying for a Mare-di Gras thing now?”
“Trixie thought it was a good idea to revisit her roots”
“Wait, you’re from Neigh Orleans?”
“Nothing more shall be spoken of the subject! Rather, Trixie wishes to be introduced to her new fan.” Trixie indicated Starlight, who stood there with her mouth open, trying to process just what had happened.
“Oh, right,” Twilight said as she pointed to Starlight, “Trixie, meet my new student, Starlight Glimmer. Starlight, this is the Great and Powerful Trixie”
Starlight didn’t respond, her mind still was stalling. She wasn't even looking in Trixie’s direction anymore, her eyes were just transfixed on the stage.
“Well, It seems like Trixie has captivated another audience!”
“More like Starlight has never seen a pony enter like that,” Twilight snarked.
“Hm, Twilight Sparkle hasn’t tired of ruining other ponies fun,” Trixie said as she kicked the wagon, causing the Stage to fold in on itself, startling Starlight from her stupor.
“Only when Equestria is threatened,” Twilight said evenly.
Trixie grunted as she took her bag from the wagon and walked with Twilight and Starlight into the castle.
“So,” Trixie started, “Tell Trixie more about yourself.”
“Um… Well… “ Starlight stammered trying to summarize her story.
“There will be time for introductions when everypony’s here. It’ll rip the bandage off all at once” Twilight said.
“Hmph… Trixie guesses that’s fair enough, When is everypony coming, anyway?”
“Tomorrow,” Twilight said, “you’re the only one who came early.”
Trixie scoffed, “Early, late, It’s all the same to Trixie. Traveling by hoof doesn’t grant the luxury of keeping track of the passing days. Trixie does wonder how you sent her invitation.”
“It’s sort of complicated. I’ll tell you about it while I give you the tour of the castle,” Twilight started to explain, “Starlight, do you mind tidying up some more?”
“Not at all,” Starlight said, “I think some chores would help clear my head.”
Starlight picked a broom up and started sweeping. All things considered, she really deserved worse, but based on what she had learned today, so did a lot of ponies. Forgiveness wasn’t the word she would use to describe how Twilight treated her redemption. Trust seemed better, Twilight trusted ponies to not turn on her. Starlight still didn’t know that much about Trixie, but what she did know is that Trixie, like herself was Twilight’s friend, despite something that had happened in her past. Starlight couldn’t help but wonder if the rest of these guests would have similar stories.
Sunset Shimmer took inventory in her duffle bag: A cloak, A photo album, Some dresses Rarity made, and some schematics Twilight wanted to share with her royal counterpart. Sunset wasn't entirely sure what the portal would change. At the very least the cloak would reconfigure to a pony’s body. Rarity’s designs were more of an experiment to see how they would transform in the portal. Pictures were pretty universal.
Sunset stood up and slung the bag over her shoulder. She faced her friends that had all gathered around the Statue that housed the portal at Canterlot high school.
“All set?” Applejack asked.
Sunset nodded, “Yeah, as ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Well what’s Keepin ya then?”
“It’s gonna sound stupid,” Sunset started, “But I’m not entirely sure what’s going to happen.”
“What, you think Princess Twilight’s gonna call her knights and arrest you on the spot?” Rainbow Dash said.
“Well, no,” Sunset replied, “ But she could if she wanted to, I’m pretty sure stealing a princess’s crown is high treason.”
“I really don’t think I’m that kind of person…” the Twilight of the Human world piped up.
Sunset sighed.
Rarity stepped forward and put her hands on Sunset’s shoulders.
“Go on, and have fun, darling, I’m sure everything will turn out fine.”
“Besides,” Rainbow Dash added, “you seriously need more horse friends”
The group looked at the rainbow-haired girl in confusion. Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
“What?” Rainbow asked, “We’re awesome and all, but I feel weird every time an ‘everypony’ slips out.”
Sunset stared at her for a minute and then she sighed.
“Disregarding the reasoning, Rainbow’s right,” Sunset reasoned, “All right, I’ll see you guys on Monday.”
“Don’t forget to bring us a souvenir!” Pinkie chirped
Sunset looked back and nodded. She waved to her friends and entered the portal.
Twilight could trust Spike to look after Starlight and Trixie for a few minutes while she went to pick the rest of the girls up from the train station. At least she hoped so. Honestly there were problems to be had with so many powerful unicorns in the same space, but at least Trixie and Starlight were past their Megalomania phase.
Minuette and Lyra were in Ponyville already. So they agreed to meet Twilight at the train station. She had stepped up to the platform and started looking for her former classmates. She couldn’t find either of them. Twilight didn’t know whether this was regular for them or not. She whickered in frustration that she didn’t know her friends better.
“Princess Twilight Sparkle!”
Twilight turned around at the familiar shriek. Rarity stood there, her red cloak blowing in the wind.
“How dare you hold a unicorn get-together and not invite me!”
This was a lie. Twilight had invited her to the convention, but Rarity had begged off, citing other commitments . To be honest, she knew Rarity wouldn’t have liked it. The crew from Canterlot might not have looked it, but they were academics. Sunset had been Celestia’s personal student (and that door was always implied to be open by the princess herself). Starlight had to have learned magic theory to pull off things she had done, Trixie as well. Rarity wasn’t all that much of a book mare.
“I am tired of you looking down on me just because I didn’t have a proper Unicorn education!” Rarity accused, once again confusing the blazes out of Twilight.
Twilight sighed,“Rarity, I don’t know what’s going on here, but we both know that we don’t have time for this.”
“Ha, such cowardice is unbecoming of a princess,” Rarity scoffed as she charged her horn and aimed it at Twilight , “Light your horn, Princess, and see how generous I can be!”
Twilight heard the sound of suppressed laughter from behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and noticed a mint green unicorn and and a blue unicorn with their hooves covering their mouths.
Twilight sighed again, “Lyra and Minuette put you up to this, didn’t they?”
Laughter erupted beside her. The two unicorns were now on their backs rolling around in their mirth.
Rarity grunted, “Honestly, darling, the least you can do is join in the fun.”
“Yeah, Twilight, I thought it was all the rage for some unicorn to challenge you!” Lyra said, grinning upside-down from her place on her back.
“Umm, I’m pretty sure I outclass any unicorn in magic now,” Twilight said, indignantly flapping her wings.
“That’s not what Starlight Glimmer says, darling,” Rarity pointed out.
“Oooh, sounds scandalous,” Minuette said, sidling up to Twilight, “ I hope I get to hear that story!”
“Yeah, I bet you will,” Twilight said, glaring sidelong at Rarity. “When is the train coming?”
“The rest of the Canterlot Wrecking Crew should be here in a couple of minutes,” Lyra said, looking at the clock.
Twilight raised her eyebrow. “Wait. ‘Wrecking Crew’?”
“Yeah, for some reason Lyra thinks we’d level Canterlot if given the chance,” Minuette clarified.
“Why do you think I came to Ponyville in the first place? I was escaping those wild outings we were always having.” Lyra sighed and shrugged. “And then I met Pinkie Pie, so that was a short-lived hope.”
The Train arrived and Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts got off. Well, more like they jumped off the train to hug Twilight.
“She had some sort of delay,” Twinkleshine explained as she gave a book wrapped in ribbon to Twilight.“She wanted us to give you this as an apology.”
“She’ll be along later, “ Lemon Hearts said. “She said she wouldn’t miss this for the world!”
Twilight put the book away in her saddlebags. The conductor called for everypony to get on board.
“Well, I guess I should be off now,” Rarity said.
“Oh, so you didn’t just come here to challenge me,” Twilight muttered. “I thought you were up on all the latest trends.”.
“My, darling, a sense of humour is important for a pony of your stature. Please try to embrace the love in my actions. I was just on my way to my Canterlot boutique when Lyra and Minuette approached me to have a little fun with you,” Rarity explained as she boarded the train. “Speaking of which, I shall accept your surrender at the spa when I get back. Ta-ta, Darlings!”
Twilight stood there dumbfounded while all of her friends stood around her, giggling.
“I knew it, all the ponies in this town are crazy”
Sunset exited the mirror, stumbling a little over her own hooves. It was a bit weird to get used to being quadrupedal again, but it was just like riding a bike. Sunset was sure Twilight would have been there to greet her, but there was no sign of the princess anywhere.
Sunset left the mirror room and took the time to admire Twilight’s Castle, which looked suspiciously like Cadance’s crystal castle. Sunset took a deep breath and let it out. Now was not the time to get cold...hooves. That was going to get some taking used to.
Sunset came upon two double doors and still hadn’t seen hide nor mane of anypony yet. She opened the doors to a pink unicorn with a purple mane playing cards with a blue unicorn with a white… mane…
“Trixie!?”
While it stood to reason that there’d be an equine Trixie running around. Sunset never thought that she’d be part of Twilight’s equestria posse. Although that did explain Twilight’s strange resignation to what Trixie did during the battle of the bands.
“Ah, it looks like one of Twilight’s Canterlot entourage is here,” Trixie commented, looking back at Sunset, “and of course she’s a fan, as if there was any doubt.”
“Yep, definitely Trixie,” Sunset thought to herself.
“All right, girls, I couldn’t find the cider so I just brought you some Colt-a-Cola.” Spike called as he entered the room with a tray of drinks. “Twilight doesn’t want a group of powerful unicorns to get cidered up, imagine that,” he continued. “Oh hey Sunset, you’re here early.”
Starlight’s eyes widened as she looked up from her cards. “Sunset? Sunset Shimmer!?”
Sunset looked at Starlight. “Yeah that’s me, and you are?”
Spike looked nervous. “Hey, Sunset let me go get you a drink!”
“I’m Starlight Glimmer,” Starlight greeted as Spike ran out., “I’m sure Twilight has told you all about me.”
“Not really, just your obsession with equality and the whole time travel thing,” Sunset said, adding mentally, “And also the fact that you cut me off from communicating with Twilight”
Starlight grunted. “That’s fair enough, I suppose…”
“This is the first time Trixie has heard of time travel.” Trixie’s ears pricked up.
Starlight groaned. “Okay so, maybe trying to break Twilight apart from her friends was a bad idea.”
“Yeah it is, eventually they rise up against you and shoot you with a rainbow, I’ve been there,” Sunset said.
“They never shot me with a rainbow,” Starlight responded. “In fact I was close to trapping us both in the past.”
“She gave you a friendship speech then?” Trixie said.
“...Yeah…”
“Twilight Sparkle seems to have that effect on ponies, although she tricked Trixie into taking off the Alicorn Amulet.”
Starlight balked. “The Alicorn Amulet?”
“Exactly as it says, gives one the limitless magic of an alicorn. At the cost of one’s sanity.”
So it went, the three former villains went back and forth sharing stories and bonding over their mutual respect of Twilight Sparkle. It was now that Twilight Sparkle Unicorn convention truly began.
“Here it is girls!” Twilight announced, “Welcome to my castle!”
The other unicorns looked up in awe. Even though they had all seen the castle before on their various trips to Ponyville, it was a dazzling sight to behold up close. The Sun was hitting the castle in just the right way where it seemed to shine all seven colors of the rainbow. Minuette took this moment to take her camera out of her saddlebags and take a few photos. She continued to take photos as they entered the castle.
“Wow, Twilight, I didn’t think your castle would be this big!” Lemon Hearts said, looking around the hall Twilight was leading them down.
“And she got it just a year after getting her wings, Can you believe that?” Lyra gushed.
“It’s actually too big for my liking,” Twilight said, looking ahead wistfully, “I liked the coziness of my library.”
Twilight led the group to her council room. She opened the door to see three other unicorns playing cards somewhat tensely on the crystal table. Starlight threw a chip in and then the three stared each other for one second, and then on a silent command revealed their cards.
“Hah, full house, Trixie wins!” The blue unicorn cheered and she scooped her winnings up.
Starlight glared at her and stated simply, “You cheated…”
“Cheating is beneath The Great and Powerful Trixie!”
“Yeah, right! You’re a stage magician! You probably used some fancy sleight of hoof to stack the deck in your favor!”
“That’s a good theory, Starlight,” Sunset said, “Except I shuffled the deck and If Trixie did indeed cheat, she would have probably gotten a royal flush.”
Starlight switched her glare over to Sunset. She held it for a second before grunting and turning her back on the table.
“You know, I was worried you three wouldn’t get along.” Twilight said as she sauntered in.
The three unicorns turned to Twilight. Sunset trotted over to Twilight and hugged her, “Hey Twilight.”
“Hey, Sunset, You’re looking good,” Twilight said playfully. Admittedly it was weird to see Sunset in pony form, but it was a good look on her.
Sunset looked herself over, “Yeah, I should’ve expected not to have wings, but after what happened with the other Twilight…”
Twilight shrugged, “One step at a time, I guess. Anyway, Introductions are in order!”
Twilight twirled and went to sit at her place at the table, and called for every pony to state their name and a little something about themselves. Twinkleshine went first, revealing that she was a teacher at the School for Gifted Unicorns. Lemon Hearts was a caterer, and could make an entire five-course buffet in under five minutes.Lyra was a musician, also helping her best friend with her candy shop. Minuette was a researcher, studying StarSwirl’s time travel spell, which became interesting once it was Starlight’s turn to introduce herself.
“Um… Hello… I’m Starlight Glimmer and… I’ve done some things I’m not proud of. Including going back in time and trying to stop Twilight from meeting her friends…”
“So it was you causing all those distortions!” Minuette growled, “I don’t know whether to hug or to kick you!”
“Please don’t fight in the Friendship Castle” Twilight droned
Minuette pointed her hoof at Starlight, “We will trade notes later.”
Starlight raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly. All of Twilight’s friends seemed to have had too much coffee.
Sunset stood up and cleared her throat, “My name is Sunset Shimmer, I was the former personal student of Princess Celestia, and the current student of Princess Twilight Sparkle”
“Wait…” Twinkleshine started. “I’ve heard of you!”
Sunset’s eyes brightened. “Really?”
“Yeah, There are stories about how Sunset Shimmer was banished to the badlands by Princess Celestia herself!” Twinkleshine explained.
“Oh yeah! The Dragon Slayer who roams the badlands helping anypony who has money!” Lemon Hearts put in.
Sunset’s eye twitched, “How did that even start?”
Twinkleshine shrugged, “It’s just one of many legends at the School for Gifted Unicorns”
Sunset looked to Twilight, “Did you know about any of this?”
Twilight shrugged, “I wasn’t really that social.”
“It’s just legends,” Lyra said, “How about you explain what really happened.”
Sunset looked to Twilight pleadingly, Twilight returned the look and nodded. Allowing Sunset to tell the truth.
She took a deep breath, “It’s true that I had falling out with Celestia, but I didn’t get banished. I ran away to another dimension, where I enrolled in high school. I was sort of a queen bee there…”
“Huh, that’s kind of lame,” Lyra said
“If everypony is finished, The Great and Powerful Trixie would like to Introduce herself. Though, she supposes she already did.”
“ Question!” Lemon Hearts called out while waving her hoof wildly, “Why are you referring to yourself in third pony?”
“It is a habit that Trix-” Trixie coughed to correct herself, “-I have.”
“So ya got all your marbles?” Lyra asked, her face resting on her hoof, “You’re not going to try to take over the town again?”
“Lyra!” Twilight admonished, “Trixie is trying her best to become a better pony, like Sunset and Starlight. We will not hold what they did against them.”
“Wait…” Lemon Hearts piped up innocently, “ What exactly did Sunset Shimmer do?”
“We will not hold what they did against them,” Twilight repeated, the authority in her voice made clear. Sunset shrunk back; Twilight reminded her too much of Celestia at that moment.
“So… Is that everypony?” Twinkleshine asked.
“Everypony except Moondancer,” Twilight said. She looked to Twinkleshine, “Where is she, anyway?”
Twinkleshine shrugged, “She was super vague.”
“She might have left a note in that book she gave you,” Lemon hearts said helpfully.
Twilight grabbed the book out of her bag and examined it. Nothing was on the cover of the book, but there was a marked page. Twilight raised her eyebrow and opened the book.
“Hi, Twilight!” Moondancer’s voice rang from the book.
Twilight squeaked as she dropped the book. The little Moondancer illustration smiled smugly.
“Not so fun on the other side, huh, Twilight?” The book glowed and a mass of magic jumped from the book to a space beside Trixie and materialized to a near duplicate of Twilight aside from her color and the glasses and the black sweater.
“Hey, Moonie, you’re looking good!” Lyra said, “You finally got a new pair of glasses!”
Moondancer blushed, she had made some minor changes to her appearance for the convention. Along with the new pair of glasses,she had also gotten rid of her hair tie so her mane looked more like Twilight’s.
Moondancer stood straight up, “My name is Moondancer, and I’m a researcher in all matters of magic. Recently, I have mastered Haycarte’s Technique in magical mass conversion,” She adjusted her glasses as she looked to Twilight, “Impressed~?”
An awkward silence fell over the group for a minute. Moondancer looked around and saw Sunset and gasped.
“Sweet Celestia, You’re Sunset Shimmer aren't you?” Moondancer asked in awe, sidling up to Sunset.
“Um… yeah, that’s me…” Sunset replied
“Can I just say, your paper on Trans-Dimensional gateway theory was Amazing!”
Twilight looked to Sunset with an eyebrow raised. Sunset rubbed the back of her neck while blushing.
“Well…. Thank you for that, I was sort of obsessed with Dimensional gateways,”Sunset said while chuckling, “But further research has made that report out-dated, and more experimentation is needed to update it.”
Twilight coughed into her hoof, “Well, now that everypony’s here and has met each other. It’s time to show you girls your dorms”
“Ooh,” Minuette cheered, “How fancy! Dorms and everything!”
“Well this castle was made for the princess of friendship” Twilight said.
Twilight chuckled as she led all the Unicorns to their rooms. She called a light’s out once the unicorns got settled in. The next day was going to be a long one, and Twilight, being who she is, had planned every minute.
The rooster crowed in welcoming Celestia’s sun. That was one thing about ponyville, an alarm clock came built into the town, and the distance made it so much less intrusive than a regular alarm clock.
Twinkleshine new she was romanticizing the smaller town of Ponyville, although one had to wonder how small the town would stay with a princess residing in there. These were thoughts for another time. Now was the time to get up and get ready for the rest of the day. She got up and went through the ritual of making her bed before exiting her room. Looking through the ‘unicorn hall’ as Twilight called it, she saw that Lemon Hearts had already left for breakfast as evidenced by the door bearing Lemon’s cutie mark was ajar with not a soul in sight. A ‘thump’ behind signified that she wasn’t alone, however. Twinkleshine looked back to see Sunset Shimmer tiredly picking herself up from the floor.
“Are you okay, Miss Shimmer?” Twinkleshine asked while helping the fellow unicorn out.
“I’m fine, just getting used to walking again, and please, call me Sunset.”
Twinkleshine was about the question the fact that Sunset had to get used to walking when Lyra burst out of her room.
“Good morning Twinkles, Sunny,” she yawned, “How’d you guys sleep?”
“Good morning, Lyra,” Twinkleshine greeted while Sunset waved her hoof.
“You guys ready for some breakfast?”
“I just hope Twilight remembers how I like my coffee,” Sunset said.
“How do you like it?” Lyra asked.
“Imagine, Donut Joe’s strongest blend, and multiply that by ten,” Sunset said.
The three walked to the kitchen, holding similar conversations about nothing. Twinkleshine was pleasantly surprised with Sunset Shimmer. Of course one should never believe everything they hear, especially about another pony, but the legends of the Devil of the School for gifted unicorns reaches far and wide. The Sunset in those stories fancied herself a Princess, or at least Celestia’s surrogate daughter. Everypony at the school were practically celebrating the rumors of her banishment. Yet, here she was, talking to her like any civil pony would. Sunset was grumpy, but that was more from lack of caffeine.
Sunset kept stumbling over her hooves, almost like a newborn foal learning how to walk. Twinkleshine raised her eyebrow at Sunsets antics.
“Are you sure you’re alright, Sunset?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve just spent so much time on two legs, it feels weird to walk on four.”
“Walking on two legs? Didn’t you try to do that, Lyra?”
Lyra grunted, “That was a phase, Twinkles.”
Sunset chuckled, “Yeah, I know it’s kind of weird to explain, but the world on the other side of the mirror is so different and yet, everything is kind of the same. There’s a Celestia, a Twilight, a Trixie…”
“What about me?” Lyra cocked her head in curiosity.
“I think you’re in my 3rd period class, actually.”
“You think?” Lyra asked.
“Heh, Sorry, I’m not that familiar with most of my classmates yet,” Sunset explained while rubbing the back of her head with her hoof, “It’s been a process, but, you know, every day in every way and all that.”
The conversation was interrupted when Lemon Hearts hopped toward the the group.
“Guys, Guys, I just saw something amazing!” Lemon squealed.
Twinkleshine smiled. If one were to meet Lemon Hearts they wouldn't think her a graduate from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Her cheery and somewhat ditzy personality was a stark contrast to the image of what one would think a Unicorn Scholar would present themselves as. What most ponies didn’t see was a great talent in multi tasking and automation magic. She worked as the royal caterer to all of the castle’s events and functions , she was even capable of turning over a feast in under 30 minutes per course.
“What is it, Lemon?” Lyra asked.
“Twilight is having a unicorn make us breakfast and it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!” Lemon Hearts said.
Lyra chuckled, “Really?”
“Come on! Let me show you!” Lemon Hearts cheered.
Lemon Hearts led the group to the kitchen. Both Lyra and Sunset’s jaw dropped at what they saw: an orange earth mare going from station to station cooking breakfast. The kicker was that she had a sugar cone strapped to her forehead like a party hat.
“Isn’t she amazing?” Lemon Hearts gushed, “She’s not using any magic or anything!”
“Lemon, sweetie,” Twinkleshine started maternally, “That’s an earth pony with an ice cream cone on her head.”
“Applejack, What are you doing?” Sunset deadpanned.
Applejack turned away from the cinnamon apple pancakes she was cooking, noticing the group of ponies.
“Well, howdy gals! Twilight invited me over to cook breakfast for ya’ll!” Applejack explained while flipping the pancakes.
“I meant what’s with the cone?” Sunset said.
“What? Ya mean my horn?” Applejack replied, clearly having too much fun with this, “Why, I’m a unicorn, same as you sugarcube!”
Sunset sighed, it was way too early for this. At least she had a story for back home.
Twilight entered the kitchen holding a tray of Coffee mugs with her magic.
“Good morning, girls,” She greeted, while handing out the coffee, “I trust you slept well. Here’s something to start the day, There’s milk in the fridge, and, sugar… in the...pantry.”
Twilight trailed off as she beheld the spectacle of Applejack the Sugarcorn.
“Applejack, What are you doing?” Twilight said in almost the exact same tone as Sunset when she asked that question.
“I’m cookin breakfast for all your study buddies like ya asked me to!” Applejack answered.
Twilight struggled to find words until she finally floated a cup of coffee to herself and took a swig of it.
She sighed, “Come on girls, let me show you to the dining room. We shouldn’t distract AJ from her work.”
The unicorns walked into the dining hall. As each pony parked themselves at the table Sunset opened her mouth only to get interrupted by Twilight.
“No, I don’t know what’s going on with Applejack either,” She said, taking another swig of coffee.
“That seems so unlike her,through. She always seems so straight-laced. ” Sunset finally said.
“She has her wacky moments, you’ll see.” Twilight said.
The rest of the guests trickled into the room. Moondancer parked herself neatly next to Twilight. Twilight passed everypony their coffee. Conversations about nothing started among the ponies. Mostly just good mornings and the like. Starlight yawned, clearly more sleepy than the other unicorns. She was jolted awake by AppleJack busting through the door with a tray of pancakes. With the tasty hot cakes in front of them, Twilight called for attention.
“Alright everypony, We’re going have several panels throughout the weekend and talk about various subjects that we want to talk about. There’s a Classroom in the east hall that we’ll use as a panel room. So let’s have some fun, Shall we?” Everypony nodded and started to chow down on their pancakes.
Panel 1: The World beyond The Crystal Mirror (Classified)
The Castle of Friendship was a complete mystery to every pony, but most ponies assumed that it wouldn’t have a classroom. These ponies did not know Princess Twilight Sparkle very well. The Classroom itself was pretty simple: Crystal desks rose out of the floor just high enough for a pony to write on from a sitting position. The presenting area had a whiteboard that was bordered by crystals.
The Unicorns filed in and sat in front of their desks. The desks magically adjusted themselves to the preference of each pony, surprising everypony. Lemon hearts squeaked and backed away. Moondancer was mesmerized and quickly tried to see how that worked. Applejack jumped a little but tried to play it off as nothing special, she was a unicorn after all, she was used to fancy magics.
“Applejack, don’t you need to go back to Sweet Apple Acres?” Twilight asked, holding a folder filled with various notes for the upcoming lecture.
“Don’ worry ‘bout it, Big Macintosh has it covered” Applejack replied cheerily.
“Uh,huh…” Twilight droned, “And you’re not going to explain, are you?”
“Explain what?”
Twilight just sighed and went to the front of the classroom. She set the folder down and looked up to find Sunset Shimmer at the doorway rubbing her foreleg nervously. Twilight walked over to her to see what was going on, although she knew what the problem probably was.
“What’s going on, Sunset?” Twilight asked, not so much concerned, but more disappointed. Sunset still had her issues, true, the path of friendship was fraught with peril, but these tiny relapses of guilt she experienced with the redeemed only served to remind Twilight of just how long the road to true redemption actually was. Poor Sunset would probably never truly find closure until she finally got the courage to face Celestia again.
“I’m not sure I’m up to this, Twilight.” Sunset cried, “The human world is both the greatest thing ever and the most dangerous place imaginable!”
“You’re overreacting.” Twilight sighed.
“You’ve been there! You know how amazing Cell phones and motorcycles are! You’ve binged on netflix with Pinkie! If I tell them about this world, there will be a small equestrian invasion! Literally!”
Sunset locked eyes with the princess, who remained unimpressed. Sunset sighed.
“It’s also about their safety! You’ve seen what’s out there and you know the sirens aren’t the only ones that were dumped there!”
Twilight scooped her friend up in her wing, the same way Celestia would take her in her wing when she got super stressed. Being Twilight ‘ Let’s build an exact replica of Ponville’ Sparkle, it happened a lot. Sunset took a deep breath and let it out.
“Thanks, Twilight,” Sunset said, “I was just nervous.”
Twilight re-entered the classroom and took a seat in the back, next to Applejack. The rest of the ponies were talking amongst themselves. The talking ceased as the hear the door open and Sunset Shimmer sauntered in, with an air of confidence that commanded attention. Twilight forgot that this side of Sunset even existed. She usually saw a compassionate Sunset Shimmer, sometimes an insecure Sunset Shimmer. What she saw standing in front of the crystal whiteboard the rarest was the Sunset Shimmer who stole her crown, the Sunset Shimmer that help her summon a spectral Alicorn of Rock to vanquish The Dazzlings. This was a Sunset Shimmer who was in control.
“Alright,” Sunset began, “Last night I told you all that I ran away to another world. To elaborate, I had escaped through the Crystal Mirror after a …”
Sunset coughed into her hoof nervously before rubbing the back of her neck, “ … Disagreement with the princess.”
“What, Did she ground you for two weeks?” Lyra snarked.
Sunset glared at Lyra, and returned to her lecture.
“Beyond the Mirror is a world that is completely different from Equestria, but in some ways, the same.”
Sunset set a picture of her and her friends on the Whiteboard. It sprang to life as magic energy wiped it self upon it, become an enlarged version of the picture placed upon it. The other unicorns gasped in surprise.
“I gotta ask Twi, What’s with the glasses?” AppleJack asked
Twilight chuckled mirthlessly and then coughed in her hoof, giving AJ enough proof that there was something Twilight was hiding. Of course, she had no room to talk, she had an ice cream cone on her head and was claiming to be a unicorn.
“As you can see,” Sunset continued, “ The inhabitants of this world are very similar to the inhabitants of this one right down to the names. But due to the nature of this world there are many differences…”
Sunset launched into her explanation of the technological advances made for a world without magic. Some were analogous: enchanted books/paper being like instant messaging and E-mail, for example. She had a harder time explaining things like the Internet, which she explained as if Twilight Sparkle went Nightmare and tried to beam her library into everypony. All of the Unicorns giggled, even Moondancer. While Twilight silently fumed in the back.
“Of course, there lies some dangers in this world, especially now that magic has been introduced.” Sunset said as she put some of the other Twilight’s blueprints on the whiteboard.
“Unfortunately the mixture of magic and technology has had some adverse effects. a reckless mixture of the two can lead to monstrous results. This design once cause gaping holes to open between Dimensions.”
“Trixie remembers seeing those, they were all over the newspapers the next morning.” Trixie put in.
“Those reports were going in at the time as the temporal distortions !” Minuette noted.
Sunset hummed in mild surprise and then continued, “These dangers are compounded by other dangerous individuals. StarSwirl discovered the mirror and it’s properties and has used it at least once to banish some dangerous creatures from Equestria.”
Of course, She chose to omit the fact that said creatures banished happened to still be hanging around her school, generally being a nuisance.
“So, you said Cutie marks don’t exist in this world,” Starlight began, “How does anypony know what they do?”
“Hm, I from what I’ve seen it’s a sort of instinct, sometimes, they just know,and sometimes they don’t.”
Starlight was left to think about that. While Lemon Hearts was waving her hoof in the air. Sunset acknowledged her.
“So,” Lemon Hearts started in the most serious voice she could muster, “Is there any chance that we might get to tour around this other world?”
“Unfortunately, it’s too dangerous to let others travel between worlds, the inhabitants are still ignorant to the extra magic being introduced, and most will gawk at a bunch of doppelgangers touring the city.”
“Aw” Lemon Hearts intoned, but she nodded in understanding.
Sunset’s lecture ended and all the unicorns (and AppleJack) exited. There was about 30 minutes before Twilight scheduled the next lecture. The Ponies used this time to get to know each other and generally unwind in the castle.
Starlight had a lot on her mind. Sunset’s lecture and other things about this whole weekend felt, ‘off’ to her. There was a small feeling a guilt that nibbled away at her mind. It wasn’t anything new, but that little itch was getting more irritated as time went on. She needed to talk about it and she knew two unicorns that would understand.
“Hey, girls” Sunset called into the library where the unicorns were taking their break.
“What’s up, Sunset?” Lyra asked.
Sunset floated a polaroid camera beside her, “Would you girls mind if we took a group shot? I promised the girls back home some picture of Equestria.”
The unicorns agreed enthusiastically and gathered around Sunset as she floated the camera out to the group snapped the picture. Sunset grabbed the picture and thanked the girls and headed out to the Mirror room.
Sunset set the Mirror up and put the picture in an envelope and sent it through.
“Sunset?” Starlight’s voice called from the door.
“Oh, What’s up Starlight?” Sunset asked.
“Ah, well I was thinking after your presentation…” Starlight started, pawing at the ground nervously.
Sunset looked around awkwardly, waiting for Starlight to make her point.
Starlight sighed and just stated, “You’ve done things you regret, Right?”
Sunset was taken aback, both by the question and the incredibly blunt way of asking it.
“Um… Yes…” Sunset answered carefully, “Yes I have…”
“How do you deal with it?” Starlight asked, getting a bit more into Sunset’s face.
“Um… what?”
Starlight sighed, as she went over to the mirror.
“Everypony sort of has an Idea of what I did, but nopony knows the exact details. Despite that, everypony is still nice to me.”
Sunset snorted, “Lucky you, I had to save the School before anypony stopped hating me.”
“It feels… I don’t know… Undeserved?” Starlight said.
Sunset went over to sit next to Starlight.
“Yeah, I can see that, I sort of felt the same way with the girls back home,” Sunset explained, “I never really understood how they could’ve been so accommodating given all I did to them, but I guess that’s Friendship for you.”
“Did you… Have nightmares?” Starlight asked, staring at the floor.
“Ah… I see,” Sunset said, “Yeah, that parts rough, especially at the start. They start as memories, everything plays out exactly as it happened, and then you wake up angry at the world and especially the five girls acting as your lock and key.”
Starlight hummed, still staring at the floor.
“And then, you get to know them,” Sunset continued, looking at the mirror as if it was replaying everything she was saying, “and The dreams change. This time, you win and that’s the part the scares you.”
“I dream of wandering the remains of Equestria,” Starlight said finally, “There’s nothing but desert and sand. Then, I see him and he’s saying something….I can’t hear him but… His shocked expression makes it clear he’s asking, ‘Why?’”
“Who’s ‘He’?” Sunset asked.
Starlight hesitated a little bit. Her history was sort of embarrassing to talk about normally, adding where it all began was just a cherry on top of the humiliation sundae.
“His name is Sunburst… he was the first friend I ever had,” Starlight explained.
“Sunburst…I know the name.” Sunset said in thought.
Starlight sighed,”He went to Celestia’s School after earning his cutie mark. I never saw him again, and the rest is history. Did you know him?”
Sunset shrugged,“Like I said, The name’s familiar, but I don’t remember anything else. I was so full of myself that I didn’t bother with the little people”
“I guess that first stage was happening when I was stalking Twilight.” Starlight said, looking back at the mirror, “Of course I didn’t have anypony to reign me in…”
“It’s a journey, for sure, but I couldn’t think of better hooves you could be in” Sunset assured.
A Cough came from the room’s entrance. The unicorns looked back to see Trixie standing at the entrance.
“Ah, forgive Trixie, Moondancer was about to start her panel.”
“No need to concern yourself, Starlight Glimmer, Trixie has had to deal with bouts of megalomania as well.”
Trixie went to sit next to the trio, “Trixie is an odd case, since the Amulet was rotting away at her sanity, but she does realize what she became.”
“So, where does that Leave us?” Starlight asked.
“We just, follow our own path,” Sunset said, “Twilight planned this weekend for us to make some friends, so let’s take her up on that offer!”
The other two unicorns nodded, and stood up to make their way to the Panel. Before, they could get anywhere, the mirror rippled as a yellow streak flew out of it and tackled Sunset.
“F-Fluttershy!?” Sunset yelled.
Indeed, the (now) yellow pegasus was there, latched on to Sunset and rubbing her head against Sunset’s chest.
“What are you doing here?” Sunset asked.
“Your fur is so soft…” Fluttershy replied, still lost in her own little world.
Trixie hummed in wonder, “Trixie didn’t know the Shy one was this… Shameless.”
Fluttershy’s eyes popped open and she turned to Trixie.
“Oh my Gosh!” Fluttershy gasped, “Trixie, You’re a pony too?”
“Wh-What?” Trixie said, “Trixie has always been--”
Trixie didn’t have the chance to finish her sentence as Fluttershy tackled Trixie and showered her in cuddles.
“What!? Unhoof Trixie!”
Fluttershy hummed contently while still cuddling Trixie. Sunset sighed and rolled her eyes. She walked up the Fluttershy and touched her shoulder.
“Flutters,” Sunset said softly, “It’s time for you to go home.”
Fluttershy whined defiantly and hugged Trixie tighter, much to the show mare’s annoyance.
“I know you want to cuddle all of us, but it’s dangerous for you to stay here.”
Fluttershy let Trixie go and turned to face Sunset, her sad, pony eyes were glistening in the crystal. Sunset was somewhat taken aback, apparently she had been in the human world so much that cute ponies were starting to affect her.
“Hey, Don’t look so sad,” Sunset said, “I promise I’ll take more pictures.”
Fluttershy continued to Stare sadly at Sunset.
“And I’ll get you a plushie.” Sunset sighed.
Fluttershy squeaked happily and hugged Sunset. She then trotted back into the mirror.
“ Sorry about that, Girls, she get’s… um… Excited with cute things.” Sunset said.
“Did she even realize she was a pony?” Starlight asked.
“Doubt it, her whole mind sort of gets clouded by cute, She’ll realize it later through.”
“Trixie has been violated,” Trixie muttered.
“Oh it wasn’t that bad.” Sunset said.
Trixie blushed as she turned her head away from the group,“The Great and Powerful Trixie is NOT used to such shows of affection.”
The others laughed at the whole situation.
“Come on,” Sunset called , “ Let’s not keep Moondancer waiting.”
