Author's Notes:

Yo!

It's been three days since the last update. Sorry, people! I was having a hard time with writer's block on my other story. Looks like I'll have to put that one on Hiatus until my mind has got back to normal.

Let me know when you guys want another music video chappy! I wouldn't mind giving you one.
P.S. Today, I took my Physical Science and Algebra 1 test. I'm in the 8th but you know, they're AP classes for me. Hopefully, I'll get a good grade! Yeah! 14 in a class full of 15 year old peeps!

"Stay away from the portal," Celestia had said months before.

Almost half a year passed since Sunset's exile. Twilight was forbidden to go near the portal for fear she may get hurt.

"It's for your own safety," the princess had told her.

"But she has no magic! She's forever human!" Twilight argued.

"No, Twilight. Understand that she may have no magic and is human now, but she can still obtain power. Similar to how your human Main 5 friends can activate the Elements of Harmony, despite not being the original ponies who the elements belong to, she can take energy in the same way. Your human friends rely on the friendship of your pony friends to be strong so the elements work. Sunset Shimmer can find a way to absorb your power just by being re-friended. So no, you cannot go over there," Celestia countered.

Twilight thought back to Sunset's desperate-ness to be spared the fate Celestia stowed upon her. The life she saw flash before her was not at all an easy life to live. Full of despair, greed, and emptiness; Sunset's life was utterly terrible. With all that happened, Twilight began to question Celestia's actions.

The ruler of Equestria knew of her past. That is one of the reasons she took Sunset Shimmer under her wing and guided her toward becoming a princess. Celestia had adopted her out of pity. As the years went on, Sunset's magical abilities, her mind, and pride grew. She was able to be the best despite the loss of her parents.

Twilight didn't know this but after doing a bit of snooping, she found out that Sunset Shimmer had been taken in by Celestia at age five and had been studying under as a student only a year before her. Why hadn't she known about her?

To think that this mare had been studying with Celestia around the same time as her, but never had met. It only made things suspicious. Was Sunset Shimmer already corrupted then? How could ,in Twilight's whole 12 years as Celestia's student, she not know of this girl who studied those same years until Twilight's 9th year?

It seemed to her that they were in parallel worlds; they were in the same place, in the same time, but neither crossed paths.

Twilight began to secretly look through files on Sunset Shimmer behind Celestia's back. There were quite a few things she learned. The very first thing was that Sunset Shimmer was older than her by one year. The mare escaped into the other world at age 15 and stayed there for two years. She currently was 17 now.

Sunset Shimmer had a special ability in reading other's emotions. She did well in psychology and scored high in games like memory and card games. She was able to guess a player's hand, good or bad, and what cards you had all by facial features and gestures. She could accurately tell the exact hand and cards 93% of the time.

Twilight was amazed and read more.

During Sunset's second year as a student, there was an accident involving chemicals. The pony had unintentionally created an invisible gas that spanned from Canterlot to Ponyville and Cloudsdale that when inhaled, increased pony magic, wing speed, and physical strength depending on your pony race. Twilight read the date it was said to have happened.

February 21

The princess reeled back in alarm. That was the day that Rainbow Dash performed the first ever Sonic Rainboom that caused her and her friends to get their cutie marks. She realized that their cutie marks were owed to them by Sunset Shimmer rather than the daredevil. The gas increased Rainbow Dash's wing speed and caused the sonic rainboom to happen, which made Fluttershy fall and find her animals. The rainboom caused by the extreme speed then helped Pinkie Pie to be inspired and Applejack to find her way home. The gas also increased Twilight and Rarity's magic which made Twilight's power go off the chain and actually get her accepted by Celestia as a student, and Rarity to find those gems.

"That's so cool..." Twilight whispered. She was completely surprised by how great this pony really was.

One thing that stuck out was that Sunset Shimmer wasn't born with the yellow streaks in her hair. It was something she noticed in the odd videos months before when Sunset was exiled. But some of the scenes zipped by so fast she didn't give it much thought.

The yellow streaks she got from walking through poison joke. As a prank, the flowers made her blindingly bright yellow like the sun. I was a joke upon her name. Twilight tried to imagine Sunset Shimmer as yellow as the very object Celestia raised each morning.

It was like she should've been named Sunrise Shine rather than Sunset Shimmer the file said.

At the time poison joke had never been discovered until then. Sunset Shimmer searched for a cure and found that bathing in an herbal bath was the best way. But by the time she found the cure the yellow pigment stayed in her hair like a permanent dye. This inspired Sunset to study herbology and she wrote a book on the strange plants of the Everfree as a result.

Wait.

Wrote a book?

As far as she knew, every book Twilight read under herbology, there was no Sunset Shimmer that had written them. Looking further she read a particular sentence that caught her eye.

Under the alias Sunrise Shine she wrote Supernaturals.

Immediately, Twilight searched for the book. Looking at the green cover she sure enough confirmed it. It was in fact written by a Sunrise Shine. So the mare wrote a book under her given nickname she acquired during her research.

With all this new knowledge she had gathered about Sunset Shimmer, Twilight actually felt in debt to her and admired her work. Though she may have not met her those years before, she realized that the mare had an impact on her regardless.

And that made Twilight smile.

This girl she thought was a cruel villain was actually a prodigy in disguise. In a way, she felt closer to her. But at the same time, she felt very suspicious of princess Celestia. How could she hide such a wonderful pony from her? How DID she even do it??

She had to see this girl. She needed to make sure the princess' choice was right. Part of her was scared what she'd see when she passed through the mirror. The evil glare she saw months before plagued her dreams.

But secretly, a small part of her wanted to see the great pony she read about under the cold façade.