“I hate you so... so much right now.”

“I said I was sorry!”

“Hate… you.”

“Oh, like I was supposed to know you were gonna turn into a pony!”

“All the hate in the world.”

Flurry huffed in annoyance and stamped her front hooves on the ground, but still looked entirely embarrassed at the situation. It’s not like Sunset could really blame her. After all, It’s not every day that you accidentally transform a client into another species.

Or maybe it was in Flurry’s case. Sunset had absolutely no idea.

“Okay, okay… just, try again. Remember, the gait goes like this: back left, front left, back right, front right. If it helps, try labeling those legs as one, two, three, four, then counting them off as you move.”

It was good advice, but Sunset couldn't help but grumble for the sake of grumbling as she counted off her steps, “one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.” She was frowning in concentration on the order of moving her legs.

“Good! You’re getting it!” Flurry cheered her on, trotting up beside Sunset with a little smile. She was taller than Sunset by a large margin, which only grated on her nerves. The entire thing reminded her of a parent teaching a child how to walk.

The irony was not lost on her, nor was is appreciated.

“Three, two, no, fuck!” she snarled, collapsing in a heap on the ground. She groaned and managed to pull herself up again, ruefully reflecting that at least she was learning something new. Even though walking on all fours was a skill she’d likely never use again if she could help it.

“Oof… well, don’t worry!” Flurry Heart knelt down beside her and lay a hoof on her shoulder. “Everypony has to learn sometime.”

“All. The. Hate.”

“Hate me all you like,” the goddess retorted, her tone suddenly waspish. “I’m just trying to help. Now, try it again. Follow alongside me.”

Taking a fortifying breath, Sunset did just that. Luckily for her, there wasn’t anyone around to see her fail at basic motor skills. Or the fact that she was naked and furry. After the initial shock wore off and Sunset accepted the fact that she somehow became a pony upon appearing in what Flurry declared was Equestria, and the fact that ponies generally wandered around with little to no clothes on — something she could understand, at least somewhat… after all, they were ponies — she had decided to take the circumstances at face value.

She was a pony for the time being. And naked. She might as well accept it.

But that didn’t mean she had to like it!

As it turned out, she had turned into what Flurry determined to be a unicorn. The horn — not quite as large as Flurry Heart’s, but that was obvious since Alicorn’s horns were among the longest… at least, according to her — on her head was a dead giveaway, as was the lack of wings which would have made her a pegasus. Damn, but having some wings would have been cool.

Learning to stand on steady hooves was the first step, as was getting used to her new stature. That done, learning to walk was the next order of business. After that... well, Sunset would cross that bridge when she came to it. Until then, she would grumble and snarl at Flurry with all the vitriol that a vampire had for garlic.

“Oh, come on,” Flurry sighed patiently, guiding the tip of her wing alongside one of Sunset’s back leg to keep pace. “It’s not that bad. You could have turned into something much worse than a unicorn.”

“Oh yeah, I’ll bet.” Sunset finally completed a circuit around the room and let out a breath. Okay — nailed step one. “Where are we anyway? Probably should have asked earlier.”

Stepping around to face Sunset, Flurry said, “We’re in Canterlot, the capital of Equestria.”

“Kinda figured that. I meant this room specifically.”

She gestured with her head to somewhere behind Sunset. “Take a look.”

Sunset did so. She turned around, yet again taking in the smallish, yet well-lit area that was around the same size as her living room. The walls were lined with shelves loaded with pristine books and trinkets in polished glass cases, and for a moment Sunset was ready to disregard it as some kind of library or trophy room, or even a well-kept storage area, but then she finally noticed what Flurry was really referring to.

And she wondered how the hell she hadn’t noticed it before now.

It was a large mirror, pretty basic in its design, and was twice as tall as Sunset. Any other time she would have dismissed it; after all, one mirror was just the same as any other. But when she looked closer and noticed the patterns of missing shards and cracks that webbed out from the center of it, she knew that this mirror was the cause of all Twilight’s problems.

“Is that…?” she breathed, just because she had to be sure.

“Yes. Starswirl’s Mirror.” Flurry stepped up beside Sunset. Silence filled the room as both occupants stared into the mirror, seeing only their splintered reflections staring back at them from a thousand different angles. “It’s pretty bad, isn’t it?” she murmured after a long stretch of silence.

“Yeah,” Sunset could only say, her throat suddenly dry. She had broken a mirror once or twice on accident before, and they were nowhere near as bad as this. “How… how long until it breaks completely?”

Flurry hesitated for a few seconds before whispering, “We estimate about fifty human years.” When Sunset sucked in a sharp breath, she quickly followed up with, “of course, that’s only if every single summoner requests a re-do. If nobody does, then the mirror will last a bit longer. Not by much, but…”

“What’ll happen to Twilight once the mirror breaks?” Sunset demanded, turning away from the mirror to face the alicorn.

“It’ll be better if we wait and speak to everypony else first,” Flurry said after a beat. She turned towards the only door in the room. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?” Sunset asked as she carefully fell into step behind Flurry Heart. “You said we’re in Canterlot… are we, uh, going to see Twilight?” She was suddenly and inexplicably nervous with the idea of seeing her friend. Would she be happy that Sunset came to her world to help her? Would she be angry?

Would she hate her?

“No. Twilight doesn’t know you’re here yet. We’re going to see Cadence.”

“Your mom?” Sunset blinked in confusion. “Why her? I mean, I could have just summoned her to my bathroom.”

Flurry lowered her head as they approached the door and covered the doorknob with her translucent, yellow magic. The door opened with a subtle creak and she stepped aside, motioning Sunset through the threshold. “She’s meeting us here, and then we’re going to see Celestia.”

That brought Sunset up short. She jammed on the breaks, nearly toppling over as she lost her step-count, and stammered, “C-Celestia?! We’re going to talk to Celestia?”

“Of course. Who did you think we were gonna talk to?” Flurry deftly swerved to avoid Sunset as she shut the door behind her.

“I don’t know!” Sunset snapped. “Somebody! Just not the fucking ruler of the whole goddamn country! I mean…”

She faltered, suddenly feeling eyes on her. She turned her head and saw a pair of ponies standing a few meters away from her. They were dressed in sets of ornate-looking armor and were standing in what Sunset guessed to be attention. At least she assumed so — their eyes were noticeably wary as they watched her.

“Um… sorry!” Sunset said, coughing into a hoof and waving at the ponies who were clearly a pair of guards. “Everything’s cool. Nothing to worry about. Go back to… doing whatever you were doing. Nothing to see here. We got this.”

When the guards continued to stare at her like she was deranged, Flurry sighed and stepped past her. “Just ignore them. This way.” With that, she trotted off, leaving Sunset to catch up, her face burning with embarrassment from her outburst as they passed the guards.

“I can’t do this,” she finally whispered when they were out of earshot of anyone else. As they rounded a corner a new pair of guards materialized outside another set of doors, and Sunset knew she wouldn’t be rid of eavesdroppers so easily. What, were they at every single doorway in this place? “Flurry, I can’t do this!”

“Do what?” she asked, peering back towards Sunset to show that she was paying attention as she led her down the hallway.

“I can’t just… turn up out of the blue and demand to see Celestia! She’s… I don’t know… your ruler! Isn’t there a waiting list, or something?!”

Even as she walked, Flurry turned her head to stare incredulously at her. “Are you being serious? Did you forget that I’m a princess, too? I can pretty much do whatever I want here, even in Canterlot. It’s practically my second home. Plus, with both mom and I with you, there’s no reason to worry.”

“But—” Sunset stammered, the nervous ball of anxiety working its way back into her gut now that the shock of being a pony was wearing off. “B-but I’m not ready! I’ve only just turned into a unicorn! Shouldn’t I… I don’t know… get cleaned up or something?”

That’s when Flurry stopped and turned to fully face Sunset. “Okay. First of all, anxiety doesn’t do you any favors. You’re with me. Relax. Second of all,” she cast an appraising glance over Sunset’s new body. “Not gonna lie; even as a pony, you’re legit good looking. I’m actually a little jealous of your legs; mine are too skinny around the gaskin. And your flanks…” she trailed off, blinking slowly as her eyes lingered on Sunset’s backside.

“Are you… stop checking me out!” she demanded, stomping a hoof against the stone floor in indignation.

“Hey. I’m five thousand years old,” Flurry replied with an easy shrug. “I don’t beat around the bush.” She paused, flashing a familiar-looking leer at Sunset. “Or do I…?”

“Ugh,” Sunset grunted, once again starting her step-count and pointedly ignoring the shameless goddess. She wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or not, but as she passed Flurry her tail flicked out and swatted the alicorn across the nose.

“Oooh, feisty.”

“Bite me.”

Chortling quietly, Flurry appeared by her side the next moment. “Hey, hey… I’m only trying to get you to relax. See? Are you feeling better?”

“No.” Damn it, she was.

“If you say so.”

Letting out a deep sigh, Sunset grumbled, “Okay… fine. Thanks. Just… what’s the plan?”

“We’re on our way to meet my mom, and then to see Celestia.” Flurry cantered ahead of Sunset, leading the way once again through the seemingly endless maze of corridors and guards. They all stood at spotless attention as they passed, but Sunset could still feel curious and wary eyes on her all the while. They were all clearly wondering what this random-ass unicorn was doing with their beloved princess.

Well... eat your heart out, boys.

“And that will do what, exactly?”

Flurry glanced at her as they rounded a corner. At the far end of the hallway, Sunset picked out a bright pink figure standing outside a doorway and — oh, yup, of course, a pair of guards. “You wanted to help Twilight,” the goddess said simply. “And getting Celestia on board is the best way to do it. Convince her, and maybe even Luna, and together, I think we can get Twilight to finally accept help.”

“Okay.” Sunset nodded solemnly. “Okay. Sounds good.” No it didn’t, but it was the best plan they had.

Coming up to the double-doorway so tall she had to crane her neck up to see the top, Sunset and Flurry stopped in front of the pink pony and set of guards.

“Hi mom,” Flurry Heart said to the pink pony standing in front of the cavernous doorway.

Mom? Oh. Oh. So that was pony-Cadence.

As was with her human body, her pony form was pink. Standing just as tall as Flurry and decked out in what looked to be a golden tiara-slash-crown on her head, Princess Cadence resembled her human counterpart more than Sunset cared to admit; long, pink and purple and gold hair, large pink eyes and a petite face, and a lanky yet well-proportioned body pretty much summed up the entire package. Just like her daughter, it looked as though someone had taken their human bodies, and stuffed them into a pony mold. It was uncanny, and more than little unnerving.

“Hi Flurry Heart.” Cadence’s voice was warm, loving. She stepped forward and pressed her face against her daughter, an action that Flurry returned without complaint. It was clear she loved her daughter, and Sunset shifted on her hooves. It was the kind of relationship Sunset had always secretly hoped she and her own mother would have had, if only her father hadn’t skipped out on them in the early years, and forcing Sunset and her mom to forge a ‘friend-family’ relationship to keep things afloat.

Sunset turned her eyes away from the obvious display of affection to stare at the floor.

When mother and daughter finally parted, Sunset looked back up to see Cadence looking around. “I thought you were bringing…” She cleared her throat, eyeing the guards flanking her warily. “Our guest?”

“Yup! She’s right here.” And, without further ado, the Princess of Music waved a hoof in Sunset’s direction.

“Here? Surely you must be...” She looked at Sunset for a moment. She blinked once, twice, and then smiled softly. “Hello my little pony. Might I know your name?”

Her little pony? Oh, hell no.

“Cadence,” Sunset said flatly. “It’s me. Sunset.”

“Uwaaaa!” the pink pony squawked, her wings springing out to her sides in surprise. One of them smacked the guard flanking her, earning a pained yelp. “Oh! S-sorry!” she apologized, her cheeks darkening.

“No problem at all, Princess... happens all the time,” the guard relied, groaning slightly.

Meanwhile, Flurry Heart was cackling loudly, her front hooves stomping on the floor in delight. Even Sunset had to fight back the smirk at Cadence’s outburst. It was good to see the cool, collected Princess of Love blushing and staring at her in shock.

“S-S-Sunset?!” she cried, stepping forward to closely examine her. “You’re… a unicorn!”

“So I’ve noticed.” Sunset sighed and frowned when she wanted to cross her arms over her chest, only to find that she couldn’t. Instead she clopped her hooves on the floor in irritation. “Looks like someone made a mistake.”

“Someone made a…” Slowly, Cadence turned her gaze on Flurry Heart. “Flurry?” Her voice was sweet. Saccharine. “Care to explain to me why Sunset is a unicorn?”

Swallowing heavily, Flurry tried for a grin, but was only able to manage a pained grimace. “Now, now… I’m pretty sure I can fix her!”

In retrospect, Canterlot Castle was impressive. Sunset had never been in another castle before, but damned if she wasn’t enjoying the view of the tall corridors, exquisite-looking paintings, sculptures, and royal ambiance while Cadence was berating Flurry Heart for her negligence and complete disregard for Sunset’s safety.

After all, even if she couldn’t check with Twilight regarding inter-dimensional travel with a passenger (“You didn’t even have to tell Twilight it was Sunset you were bringing with you!”), she should have at least discussed the spell with Cadence!

“I mean, honestly!” Cadence snapped, her bright pink eyes ablaze with righteous fury. “You could have permanently hurt her, or worse; turned her into a griffon or something! Or a buffalo! Or something that couldn’t even talk! Then how would we have explained that to Twilight?! Ooh, you act like such a foal sometimes!”

Flurry Heart jammed the tip of her hoof into the stone floor, her ears drooped in an unmistakable imitation of a child being scolded by their parent.

Life was good.

“Are you okay?”

Cadence’s voice, paired with the hoof on her shoulder, snapped Sunset’s attention back to the task at hand. The pink alicorn was there, concern etched on her features as she stared down at Sunset.

“Huh? Oh… yeah,” she said, averting her eyes in embarrassment. “Yeah, I’m good. I mean, it was weird at first, but…” She shrugged, the action a little weird with her front hooves being flat on the ground. “I mean, once I get the walking down, I’m good. And the no clothes thing. After all, when in Rome...”

“If you’re sure…” Cadence’s expression was anything but reassured.

“Well, I can be turned back into a human, right?” Sunset asked, turning her attention back to Flurry. She arched an eyebrow in silent question.

The Princess of Music seemed to get over her shame at being scolded like a child and nodded vigorously. “Of course! Reversing the spell will both send you back to Earth, and revert you to your human form. I’m positive.”

Both Sunset and Cadence stared at Flurry.

“I’m super positive!” she huffed, rolling her eyes. “Look, if it’ll make you feel any better, we’ll check with Twilight before we return you to your world.”

“Well, that will have to do,” Cadence said at length, and then straightened. “Are we ready, then?”

“Are we ready for what?” came a new voice from behind.

Whipping around, Sunset found herself nose-to-chest with a dark-furred pony whose dark blue — almost black — coat shone brightly in the low torchlight. Her mane waved and shimmered darkly around her head and neck, and was speckled with tiny pinpricks of light. Her simple metallic breastplate glinted black and white, the symbol of a moon embossed clearly on it. An alicorn princess like Cadence and Flurry Heart — her wings and horn a dead giveaway, if not her overall regal presence, she towered above Sunset, flicking her seafoam gaze around the assembled group of ponies. The guards, likely having so rarely to be in the presence of so many of their princesses at one time, stood ramrod straight, their eyes wide and alert for any signs of trouble.

“Uhhh... hi,” Sunset said warily, trying to resist the temptation to stubble backward.

“Greetings, my little pony!” the dark alicorn said cheerfully, her gaze lingering on Sunset before continuing around towards the other princesses. Just what the hell was up with this ‘my little pony’ bullshit? “And Cadence and Flurry Heart as well! What a surprise! Tell me, what are we going to do?” She edged forward, her smile widening in anticipation. “Something fun?”

“Good evening, Luna. We were going to speak with Princess Celestia,” Cadence said with a slight dip of her head. Flurry mirrored the action, and reflexively, Sunset did as well. Well, now she could finally place a face to the name.

“Ah. Well, you are more than welcome to join us for dinner,” Luna said agreeably. “I was going to raise the moon once we’ve finished.”

What?

“Raise the… moon? The fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Three sets of eyes swiveled to look at Sunset. Five, if you counted the guards. She shrunk back underneath so much scrutiny. Desperately, she trying playing it off.

“I mean… of course you’re going to raise the moon!” she laughed awkwardly. “That makes perfect sense! Totally! It’s completely normal for you to raise the sun and moon. Happens every day. I mean… um… well…” She trailed off, coughing and digging a hoof into the ground. “Nevermind. I’m dumb and you should ignore me.”

There was silence for a long moment until the dark alicorn tilted her head curiously and ‘hummed’ above Sunset.

“Okay…” she intoned. Then she turned to the other princesses. “Care to explain?”

It took a surprisingly short amount of time to fill Princess Luna in on who Sunset was and what she was doing here. When Flurry’s story finally petered out — and wow was it more than a little nuts when she thought about it — Luna lifted a hoof and tucked it underneath Sunset’s chin, tilting her face up to look down into her eyes.

“You are brave indeed, Sunset Shimmer, to come all the way here for Twilight Sparkle.”

Her words, and that someone was finally validating the fact that Sunset was risking a lot, if not everything, by coming here to help Twilight, sent a tremor running through her body. Her breath hitched, and she choked back a sob.

“I…” she tried to say, but ended up swallowing back a gasp and trying again. “I just w-want to h-help her.”

“I know.” Luna smiled softly down at her. “And I thank you for it. Twilight Sparkle is very dear to me. Dear to all of us. It pains me every day to see her slowly withering away because of the mirror, and us unable to do anything about it. Hopefully, with you, we can convince Twilight to accept help from her friends and family.”

Nodding, Sunset managed to keep her tears at bay. “Okay,” she sniffled anyway. “Okay. Great. So… are we gonna talk to Celestia?”

Flurry sidled up beside Sunset, thankfully ignoring the fact that she was still fighting back tears. Cadence mirrored her on the other side, and whispered into her ear, “Whenever you’re ready, Sunset.”

“Okay…” she said again, taking a deep breath and turning to face the double doorway. “It’s now or never. Let’s do this.”

And then, before she could even change her mind, the doors smoothly parted, allowing the assembled group passage into a spacious antechamber. The first thing that Sunset noticed was, surprisingly enough, the large crystalline chandelier tinkling above a modest dining table. That was not what she expected in the slightest.

What she did expect, but was still caught off-guard by, was the large alicorn sitting at the table, her pure white coat shining almost too-brightly in the light around the room. Her hair — mane, Sunset had to remind herself — shown almost like a rainbow in shades of pinks, blues and greens, and seemed to radiate with an ethereal light. It was almost an exact opposite of Luna; understandable, as they were the goddesses of the Sun and Moon respectively.

She’d expected surprise, confusion, or even consternation when the white alicorn looked up and saw Luna, Cadence and Flurry Heart joining her for dinner with a strange new unicorn. She’d expected to talk to Celestia as she did with Luna, or with Cadence or Flurry — or, God forbid, Twilight herself — and maybe gain her assistance with helping Twilight.

But when Celestia’s eyes — an ageless, pale pink — flickered from Luna to Cadence and her daughter, and finally settled on Sunset, she certainly didn’t expect for the Goddess of the Sun to double take, her mouth forming a little ‘o’ of shock, and slowly climb to her hooves.

“Sunset… Shimmer?” Her voice was soft, breathless, filled with disbelief.

Sunset stopped in mid step, never before having been caught so totally flat-footed by the simple sound of her name. Her breath seized in her chest as she watched Princess Celestia approach with slow, measured steps. The trio of princesses flanking her all stopped as well, their expressions ranging from surprise to curiosity.

“Is it… really you?”

“I…” Sunset murmured, unsure of what to say. She peered at Cadence, who seemed to shrug. Flurry’s eyes darted between Sunset and Celestia, her expression both wary and unsure. Luna’s was carefully guarded, her lips in a thin line across her face. She finally looked back to the approaching Goddess. “I guess? I mean, that’s my name. Do you... know me?”

Soon, far sooner than Sunset would have been comfortable with, Celestia was close enough to reach out and touch, her pink eyes staring down at her as though she was trying to see through her. Sunset shifted nervously on her hooves, trying but failing to keep eye contact with the immortal being in front of her.

After a long moment Celestia seemed to deflate; she exhaled softly and she broke off her stare with Sunset, her gaze dropping to the floor for a moment before lifting again, a gentle smile on her face. “My apologies,” she said softly. “I mistook you for another. You… said your name is Sunset Shimmer?”

“Y-yes.” Sunset cleared her throat to rid herself of the sudden croak that she barely counted as a reply. “Yes, I am. Are you…?”

In answer to her unspoken question, Celestia stepped back and nodded. “I am Princess Celestia.” She peered down at Sunset again, but this time her stare was much less invasive, almost... curious. “May I ask who you are? You are not one of my little ponies.”

Sunset blinked. “You can tell?” She chanced a glance back at the other princesses. They had all made the mistake of confusing Sunset for a real unicorn. Why hadn’t Celestia?

“I know each and every pony in Equestria; some more than others,” she said. “But you, Sunset… you I don’t know. Who are you?”

Stealing herself, Sunset stood as straight as she was able and said, “I’m Twilight’s friend... from Earth.”

“Ah,” Celestia simply said, a little smile flickering across her features. “I see. Well, that explains much.” She leaned forward to examine Sunset a little more, and then lifted her head to address the others in the room. “Why don’t we all have a seat? I think we’ve been long overdue for a discussion about our dear Twilight.”

The group silently fanned out and took seats at the table; Luna at Celestia’s side, and Flurry beside Sunset. Cadence took a spot between both groups, but not far enough away to discourage including her.

When the finally took their places at the table, Celestia was the first to break the silence.

“I imagine you have some questions.”

Sunset snorted inelegantly. “You could say that.” Only after the words left her lips did she slap a hoof over her mouth. “I… I’m sorry, I—”

“Please,” the white alicorn said with a shake of her head. “Don’t hold back. Treat me as though you would a friend. We’re all friends and family here, after all.” Her declaration was backed by a round of nods and encouraging smiles, and Sunset felt relief well up in her chest at the solidarity of it all. “Now. Please. Tell me what brings you here.”

“I want to try and free Twilight from the mirror,” Sunset said without preamble.

Celestia nodded. “I thought as much.” Her horn shimmered and a cake in the center of the table separated into pieces. Each piece floated gently to everyone’s plate. “I assume you know of her particular circumstance?” she asked once the cake was served.

“I know the gist. I know about The Catastrophe, and how Twilight and her friends tried to fix the mirror using the… uh, the Elements of Harmony. Though the book I read doesn’t really go into detail about how, or what happened after that. All I know that Twilight’s magic somehow got mixed in with the mirror, and now she’s trapped, being dragged through the mirror whenever someone calls her.”

Celestia nodded thoughtfully, nibbling on a small piece of cake as Sunset talked. She smiled at Cadence when the ‘book’ was mentioned, but didn’t comment. When Sunset finished, the white alicorn set her fork down. “You are well informed, Sunset. To some extent, you are correct. Though it is a bit more complicated than that.”

“What actually happened?” Sunset asked. She was tired of being led around by the nose, always having her question ignored or misdirected. It was time she finally got some answers.

Celestia was quiet for a long minute, staring down at her piece of cake. Sunset kept her eyes on her, her intent to have her questions answered obvious. Eventually, the sun goddess looked up.

“Truthfully, we do not know exactly what occurred to break the mirror. It simply… happened.”

“What?” Sunset’s eyes widened. “One of the worst disasters in your world’s history, and you’re telling me you still have no idea why it happened, even thousands of years later?”

“Is it so unbelievable?” Celestia asked. “Surely you have similar occurrences on your world; entire towns, cities, and civilizations up and vanishing without a trace, unexplained disturbances that have not been… what’s the expression — debunked? — and things your scientists or theologists haven’t been able to predict or properly explain. Taking that into account, surely such a world with something like magic as its unifying force having an unexplained disaster or two isn’t so far-fetched.”

When Sunset opened her mouth to retort, Celesia cut her off. “Please, let me finish,” she said softly. “We have our speculations, of course, and theories. Luna has ideas, as does Twilight, Cadence, and Flurry Heart. I have mine. But what we all can agree upon was that some sort of magic caused an imbalance in the gateway between worlds, creating a schism — a rupture — which brought about the initial disaster.”

“What could have done that?”

“We do not know,” Luna answered for Celestia. “It could have been anything. Twilight Sparkle is the most knowledgeable source on the mirror’s magics, and the only thing she could extrapolate is that it was a source of magic from your world.”

A source of magic from Sunset’s world? That didn’t make any sense. Her world didn’t have any magic. At least, nothing commonly known. It only existed in stories and fairy tales in her world. Hell, a couple months ago, she would have gone as far as saying magic isn't real. Of course, that was before finding out the truth.

That magic was real.

So, taking that into account, a source of magic from her world didn’t seem all that outlandish anymore...

“That being said,” Celestia picked up again once Luna fell silent. “What we do know was the aftereffects. I’ll spare you the details of the disaster itself; it will do nopony any favors to hear more about it.” She paused momentarily, considering her words. “But eventually, we asked Twilight and her friends to help us. They were to use the Elements of Harmony to fix the mirror and end The Catastrophe.”

“That’s what I don’t get,” Sunset interrupted. “What are the Elements of Harmony?”

“The Elements of Harmony are magical artifacts that represent the aspects of harmony.” Cadence’s voice was soft, reflective. “They are the most powerful magics known to our kind. No pony knows how they came to be, but they were found in the Tree of Harmony by Luna and Celestia long ago, which they used to defeat Discord, the God of Chaos.”

“Okay... “ Sunset nodded slowly. “And they were supposed to be used to fix the mirror how?”

“When the elements are wielded by somepony who’s trait corresponds with the element and used in conjunction with each other, their powerful magics can restore harmony to chaos, bring balance to imbalance, and even life to death.” Celestia’s gaze rested unblinkingly on Sunset. “They are a last resort to restore and enforce the delicate balance of peace and order to the world. Maybe even many worlds.”

“And I’m guessing that didn’t work?”

“It depends on who you ask,” Flurry Heart chimed in sadly. “In essence, we succeeded; the Catastrophe was averted and hundreds of thousands of lives were saved. But… Twilight’s friends all died in the process. Somehow the magic causing the mirror to break overpowered the Elements of Harmony, and that was it. Only Twilight was left.” She snorted loudly. “And, as if it couldn’t get any worse, Twilight became a goddess for her troubles.”

“Yeah,” Sunset murmured thoughtfully, “How’d that happened, anyway? I tried asking her, but Twilight always kinda changes the subject. How did she become a goddess?”

“Oh, she wouldn’t tell you,” Cadence said softly, “But becoming a goddess is hardly a positive experience. In fact, from my perspective, I’d say that it was probably the worst thing that ever happened.”

“How so? Can I please get a straight answer?”

Celestia cleared her throat quietly, turning attention back to her. “Sunset, do you know about a pony’s cutie mark?”

Caught off guard buy the non-sequitur, Sunset blinked. “Uh… a little? Cadence told me they were, um, that they symbolized your talent? What you were good at. Right?”

“Somewhat. A cutie mark is obtained when ponies discover a unique characteristic which sets them apart from others, what makes you you. It often symbolizes who you are. Most of the time, it does represent a special talent, or skill; many ponies often fashioned their livelihoods around their cutie marks. Do you see?”

Turning slightly, the princess displayed the symbol of a brilliant, golden sun for Sunset to examine.

“Your talent is the sun?”

Celestia giggled quietly. “An oversimplification; but in essence, you are correct. I am the Princess and Goddess of the Sun. I rise and lower the sun, while in turn my sister rises and lowers the moon.”

“Huh.” Okay, Sunset could buy that. After all, magical ponies moving the sun and moon around the world wasn’t crazier than everything else she’d seen so far. Curious, she craned her head around to see her own flank — but it was bare save for yellowish fur. Well. Okay. Turning back, she asked, “And what’s that have to do with becoming a goddess?”

Turning around to fully face Sunset, Celestia’s smile lessened considerably. “Because, in many ways, becoming immortal is the opposite of getting a cutie mark. Whereas getting a cutie mark is the reward of finding out what makes you unique... to become immortal, you must lose what you love most.”

Sunset felt her blood freeze in her body. “...What?”

Silence fell in the room as she digested Celestia’s words. They must lose what they love most? What did that mean?

Cadence was the next to speak, and she did so softly that Sunset would have missed her words if she wasn’t standing right next to her. “I loved Shining Armor with all my heart,” she murmured. “He was my reason for living, and until I met him, I didn’t understand why my cutie mark was the way it was. Or why love was what made me unique. But it was because I was destined to love him with all my heart, until the end of our days. When he was taken from me, I understood what true loss and heartbreak was, and in doing so I became a goddess. I still miss him, each and every day.” The sad smile she showed Sunset made her lean over and press her side against the Princess of Love, just to show some sign of empathy to her. Her smile turned grateful, and she looked over to Flurry. “But it was Flurry Heart, Twilight, and everypony else who brought me back. I loved them as well, and as such they became my reason for living. They have been ever since.”

“Shit.” It was the only thing Sunset could say. “That… that’s…”

“So you see, becoming a goddess isn’t the greatest gift in the world.” Luna’s declaration was so matter of fact, Sunset could only snort.

“No shit,” she agreed. She shifted her attention to Flurry Heart, who was smiling at her mother. “I’m sorry if I…”

“Don’t worry,” Flurry shook her head. “You’re a good person, I know you don’t mean anything by it.” Her thoughts must have been showing on Sunset’s face, because after a moment Flurry’s smile turned wry. “You wanna know how I became a goddess, don’t you?”

“No!” Sunset stammered. “I-I mean… well, I’m curious, yeah, but…”

“It’s cool,” she said with a shake of her head. “It wasn’t my dad dying, if that’s what you’re worried about. I mean, it still hurt, but…” she shrugged, shifting slightly to show Sunset her cutie mark. It was a simple series of straight, horizontal lines. It took her a few seconds to count them out -- there were five in total.

“Are those…?”

“It’s a staff,” Flurry explained. “The fundamental latticework of musical notation. Anything and everything can be built upon this; any kind of song, tune or jingle. Hence, I became the Princess of Music.”

“And how did you become a goddess?”

Flurry rolled her eyes dramatically. She was about to answer when Cadence cut in with, “She lost her hearing,” she explained. “Flurry Heart is totally, and completely, deaf. She can’t hear a thing.”

“Basically,” Flurry said.

“What?” Sunset balked. “Bullcrap. She can hear me right now.”

“I actually can’t.”

“Then how do you know what I’m saying?”

The grin Flurry fixed her with was both mysterious and amused. “Magic.”

“Oh, you’re funny,” Sunset said flatly.

Flurry laughed brightly. “No, really! I can’t hear anything, but I’ve had lots of time to practice other ways of picking up sound. I read lips, I use magic to sense sound vibrations in the air… the list goes on and on. At this point I don’t even remember what my own voice — or anypony else’s — sounds like, but it doesn’t matter. What does matter is at the time, I lost something so important to me, something so integral to who I was, that I felt like I lost who I was. It was then that I became immortal.”

“The universe is not without a sense of irony, it seems,” Luna said sardonically from beside Celestia.

“What do you mean?” Sunset asked.

“I mean that what point would there be for immortality without a price? We ponies gain a sense of who we are and our purpose when we get our cutie marks, but the moment we lose the thing that makes life worth living for? That’s when we live forever. Hence, the irony.”

“Yeah, or you could just say that the universe can choke on a bag of dicks,” Flurry retorted.

“Yes. A bag of dicks, indeed.” Luna nodded sagely. “A very large bag of dicks.”

“The universe’s sense of irony aside,” Celestia said with a surreptitious roll of her eyes. “The point is that Twilight Sparkle became a goddess when her friends, whom she had loved and cherished as extensions of herself, all perished in that one instant, leaving her alone to live with her failure.”

“But she didn’t fail!” Sunset argued. “Her friends dying was an accident!”

“Twilight sees it as her own failure, and that has shaped her into who she is now. For all of her Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, and Magic… she feels that she deserves anything that happens to her once the mirror shatters. No one has been able to convince her otherwise. At least… until now.”

The implication was not lost on Sunset. So, this meeting was to get all of them to rally together and convince Twilight to finally understand that the loss of her friends were not her fault, and accept help from her family to free her from the mirror.

“So, this is an intervention?” she asked dryly.

“Basically,” Flurry Heart said. “Anyway, It wouldn’t be the first time.” She leaned closer to Sunset and stage-whispered, “Last time we did an intervention for Twilight, she wouldn’t take off the hat for years. Have you seen that thing? It totally clashes with her color.”

Sunset snorted. The idea of Twilight never taking off her hat — probably that old Stetson she got from her friend -- was equal parts sad and hilarious.

“Yes… well, the hat was unfortunate — all things considered — but Flurry Heart is more or less correct.” Celestia straightened slightly. “Sunset Shimmer, do you have any questions before we bring in Twilight to speak with us?”

Looking down at her untouched slice of cake, Sunset chewed her lip. So now she knew the entirety of Twilight’s situation -- or, at least, as much as was relevant to helping her. She knew she couldn't actually help with freeing Twilight from the mirror, as that was more something the other princesses could do, but she could act as both moral support and another person who cared about her.

Because she did care about her, didn’t she?

Maybe not as much as everybody was assuming she did… but she did care about Twilight. Or, maybe she did care about her as much as everyone thought? She wasn’t sure. What she did know, though, was that Twilight needed help, and she was going to give it, even it it killed her.

“No…” she finally said. “No, I’m good.” When both Cadence and Flurry nodded beside her, she declared, with more energy. “I’m good to go. Twilight needs our help, and damn it she’s gonna get it!”

“Here, here!” Flurry cheered.

“Well said!” Cadence added, to which both Luna and Celestia nodded in agreement.

“Very well,” Celestia said. She turned to Flurry. “Flurry Heart, would you please go to Ponyville and summon Twilight Sparkle?”

“Okie Dokie, Granny Tia!”

And with that, she stepped away from the table and sent a wink towards Sunset. Then, with a crack and a bright yellow flash, she disappeared.

“Whoa,” Sunset breathed. “Wicked sick.”

“Indeed…” Luna said slowly. Her fork hovered in the air, occasionally taking pokes at her food. “So, tell me, Granny Tia,” she said, her smile widening. “How are you today?”

“Luna,” Celestia said warningly.

“Oh, my apologies,” the darker alicorn continued, nibbling at her slice of cake. “I was simply asking how the day was. Should I not have asked, Granny Tia?”

“Luna…”

“Cadence, do you know what is wrong with Granny Tia? She seems… I don’t know… amiss. Maybe it’s her age catching up with her? Is your age catching up with you, Granny Tia?”

Celestia let out a quiet little groan as Cadence joined Luna in her laughter. Sunset figured teasing the goddess about her age was a common occurrence, but thought it better than to join in with them. After all, even if Celestia told her to treat her like family, even she wouldn’t tease her mother about her age. Down that path lay death and destruction.

And significantly less free food.

“Okay,” she whispered to herself, taking steady breaths to calm her nerves. “Don’t worry, you got this. This is all for helping Twilight. For Twilight.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Cadence told her in a murmur, leaning in close. “I mean, you got all of us behind you. Honestly, I don’t know how Twili can possibly resist all the love in this room.”

For some reason, the goddess’ words only made Sunset blush. “H-hey, I’m just running by the seat of my pants here. I actually don’t have any idea what I’m doing.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia joined in. “You’ve done more than anypony really expected. I mean, I certainly didn’t expect to have a human come here in hopes of helping Twilight. None of us did.” She grew quiet, peering across the table at Sunset for a long moment. “Especially not someone like you.”

Sunset blinked, something in Celesia’s words flagging something in her mind. “Wait… what do you mean, someone like me?”

Celestia opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by twin pops of magic and displaced air. Sunset jumped, whirling around to see Flurry Heart accompanied by another alicorn.

A very familiar looking alicorn.

Even knowing ahead of time who she was supposed to be, Sunset was still struck speechless by the sight. Long legs supported a lithe body covered in purple fur, standing twice as tall as Sunset and carrying herself with a subtle grace that she knew she would never, ever match even if she practiced walking on all fours all her life. Her long, flowing hair cascaded from her head and neck in shades of purples, pinks and dark blues, flecked with motes of light that winked and sparkled as she walked, and was matched with a long tail that swept along behind her, skimming along — but never quite touching — the floor with every step. Her wings were folded at her sides, at rest, and her horn was easily as long as Celestia or Luna’s.

She turned her head to regard the occupants of the room, her violet eyes skimming from face to face, taking them all in with a warm smile; a smile for her family.

Twilight’s smile faltered only slightly when she noticed Sunset.

“Hi everypony,” she said, and Sunset had to fight back the gasp when she heard Twilight’s voice — the voice of her best friend — coming out of this regal, elegant creature. “What’s going on? Flurry only said that you had something to talk to me about.” She stepped up to the table and fixed Sunset with a curious glance. “Who’s this?”

“Take a closer look, Twilight, and see,” Celestia said, her tone both patient and indulgent.

Warily, Twilight turned to look Sunset, and peered carefully down at her. She stared for a long time, her eyes searching. Sunset returned her gaze as best she could, willing herself not to look away or shrink down. This was Twilight, her best friend, not some monster or malevolent being that would hurt her. This was Twilight.

There was silence for a long time while Twilight looked at Sunset, but when she finally found what she was looking for, something in Sunset’s eyes that told Twilight who and what she really was, there was no outburst like Cadence had had. There was no melodramatic exclamation or a sudden burst of tears.

There was just a sudden and sharp intake of breath, and the quiet whisper --

“Sunset…?”