Chapter Text
She was not so much a regular visitor to the temple before she arrived, but she tried to keep as many of the traditions alive as possible and so she unwrapped the toy and placed it respectfully on a metal shelf. She’d not been able to get an actual icon, but she’d managed to find a reasonable toy likeness and then spent time looking for the right colour to paint the toy’s fake hair so it looked like the ones she had in her foalhood. Joining the toy was an empty plastic bottle with the lid on, a piece of fruit and a battery before she got on her hands and knees and then lowered her head.
“Faust, hear my prayer. As I join the three elements together, look upon my friends both here and back in Equestria. I beg you to look upon them with mercy and with love because they mean so much to me despite the wrongs I have done. With your guidance and mercy, I pledge my life to make up for the evils I have visited upon two worlds. This, Lady Faust, I plan to do until I stand before you on the day of judgement and go either to Elyssium or to the Other” she paused before looking directly at the toy. “I swear in your name and on the memory of the ancestors that I shall never again stray into the path of darkness and despair such as I did” and then rose up three times and clapped her hands together each time. After a moment of silence, she wrapped up the toy carefully along with the bottle and the battery which had stood in for magic and ate the piece of fruit. Sunset Shimmer was, as she knew painfully, the only one in this world that worshipped Faust and she done her best to keep up with her prayers as she lived in an abandoned old factory in the run down part of Canterlot. She’d found a place to live after running away from the place she’d been staying at when she found that the landlord wanted more then money on rent day. There was no way she could go anywhere else so, after a few days on the streets, she’d found an abandoned factory that still had the utilities connected and working. She’d managed to either buy or steal what she needed to survive and had got herself a reasonable place to live. She adjusted the portable heater slightly and turned on the battered tv that was left behind when the building was closed. It struggled to come to life before Sunset started to settle down to some old film as the kettle boiled on a camping stove to make some tea. As it bubbled away, she glanced over at her clothes and recoiled slightly - it was clearly time to do washing so she bundled what she could into two bags and put them aside for later. She’d do the bus ride into the city centre, go to the laundrette and finish any homework on her clunky old laptop that at least was reliable before printing it off at the local library and the returning to what was laughingly called her home. For some reason, none of the other girls she was friends with ever asked about where she lived though they knew she was from another world - they just assumed that some secret government organisation looked after her needs and all that sort of thing. None of them ever realised that she actually lived for the school meals that were provided for free and otherwise ate low quality food or stole from places that did not have cameras looking at the aisles. After an hour of watching the film, she felt tired so she turned everything off and the got into the broken bed that she’d found at a junkyard and managed to fix and tried sleep despite the pounding rain outside. That had been something which had frightened her - there was no weather team here or anywhere on the planet and the best the humans could do was to try and predict it.
#
“... and that will be the best” Professor Cord said. Nicknamed Discord because of his occasional habit of mismatching his clothes, the man handed out assignments for the weekend and allowed them to leave early because he’d got a call and needed leave right away. The class broke up and the group of friends piled into various cars and headed down to Sugarcube Corner and grabbed their normal spot to talk about their plans for the weekend.
“Well, I am simply looking forward to the trip to the beach” Rarity said. “I have a new swimsuit just arrived and I will look marvellous”
“Ya know, Rares...” Rainbow Dash snorted, “I think I understand why you have such a massive house - you own a copy of everything ever made”
“Not quite everything, darling” the other girl replied. “What time will you be arriving at the train station?” Rarity turned to look at Sunset.
“Oh... Well, I don’t think I can do it” Sunset hesitated.
“Why? Um, if thats not too much to ask” Fluttershy whispered.
“Well, I don’t... Um, I mean... Haven’t got a swimsuit”
“I can loan you one” Rarity glanced up and down at Sunset in a way that made her shudder slightly.
“Its not that” Sunset tried to come up with a fitting lie. “I can’t swim”
“You didn’t learn in your horse body?” asked Applejack.
“I did, but none of that applies here - I was given lessons in swimming but my body just doesn’t have the ability. If I wanted to go swimming in my natural form, I’d use magic”
“Heh - don’t sweat it” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “You can just like walk around a little at the edge or something”
“I guess”
“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, Sunset” Twilight said as she came back with Pinkie and a round of drinks for them all.
“Its not that - I just don’t like going near large bodies of water as I am now”
“That’s not unexpected - you have ingrained things from your time in Equestria” Twilight started to go into science mode until Pinkie rolled her eyes and shoved a slice of cake into her mouth - sideways.
#
Sunset fell onto her bed and felt safe enough to start to shake - she’d never swum back in Equestria and the thought of large bodies of water set off deep seated fear in her. Thankfully the others accepted it as something to do with her pony body and left it at that. Once she was calmed down enough, she made her prayers to Fraust and then picked up the journal to speak to her own Twilight back in Equestria who, she had recently learned, was about to take over as ruler of the land from Celestia and Luna
Hi, Twilight... You there?
Hi, Sunset - I’m busy at the moment but I can spare some time to talk - what's up?
I just thought that I’d check in with the ruler of Equestria
I am not that yet... I have a lot of work to do before I take the throne.
Hay, can’t help it if I want to tease you a little. I just wondered if you had been able to find my parents at all
Nothing yet - we’re running faster than you’d believe for the coronation and bringing me up to speed on everything
Oh
Don’t worry, though, Sunset - its at the top of my list of things to do after settling in. Um, you are still coming back to join us?
Of course I am - it’ll be nice to see Canterlot again without being chased by Guards!
How did your weekend with the girls go?
Oh, it was alright I suppose
Did something happen?
There was a slight disagreement about them trying to get me to go in the sea and swim a bit. I told them I couldn’t swim in this body because it doesn’t work in my mind to our true form and they accepted it. I can’t tell them my great fear because most people here either can do it easily or take lessons. This place’s Rainbow Dash tried to get me to swim a little, but then dunked me in the water and I felt as if I was going to die. Thank Celestia that I wasn’t that deep and this place’s Rarity helped me out and gave Dash such a slap and talking to
I don’t like the sound of that
She can be understanding one moment and then wanting people to move at her pace
Yep, sounds like our Rainbow alright. I know something else happened though
The girls were a little... A little racist towards me
They were? I thought better of them - what was it?
There is a saying in this world that goes ‘You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink’. And they kept saying I should ‘Pony Up’ and pay for stuff.
I am sorry that you had that happen to you, but there is nothing that I can do right now. When I have time soon, though, I will come over and have a word with them. I have to go for a meeting, but do you want to talk tomorrow at about the same time?
Love to
Alright... See you
Sunset smiled as she closed the book - the alicorn could be so blunt at times when she was rushing from one place to another or switching between tasks. Fixing herself something to eat, Sunset watched the sun go down and day turn into night - still mystified over how that happened without the Princesses and wondered if Twilight was fully capable of doing both by herself or if she’d come up with a timing spell. As she looked around the meagre food offering, she realised that she needed to try and get some more food from some low cost store but the opportunity to either steal it or try and do chores for money to pay for it was thin at the moment thanks to a series of pickpockets by a pair of French brothers that were awaiting trial. She put the thoughts behind her and wondered about her life if she had a real place to stay, a real family and real friends - Sunset knew that she had the others here, but they were not ponies and they could not understand the power she held by being a Unicorn. At least for the winter holidays she could return to Equestria and visit ponies she knew, Twilight soon to be an exception of course, but here she was isolated from discussing the most basic of things that defined her.
If Sunset Shimmer thought she had it bad at the moment, it was nothing compared to what she had in store the following day.
#
“Ouch!” Sunset recoiled from Rainbow Dash’s punch and rubbed her shoulder. “What the hay was that for?”
“I thought we had got you over your jealous stage - looks like you became a traitor and bully again after all” she tried to swing another punch which Sunset managed to dodge.
“I don’t know what you mean, Rainbow Dash” she growled.
“You bitch! You told everybody about me being gay just because we made a few jokes about you”
“I... I didn’t, Rainbow Dash. I don’t know what you mean” and Sunset was cut off by Rainbow Dash swinging a punch that connected with her nose and sent her crashing into her nose.
“You thought that you could try and use that Anon-A-Miss thing again and hurt us? Reveal our deepest secrets? Do you know that I’ve only come out to you and the other girls? How do you think it will be to see that I prefer girls to boys for my parents? We gave you a chance and you threw it back” Rainbow Dash kicked Sunset a few times in the ribs and then spat on her. “Stay away from me and the rest and I might not kill you on sight” and, with a final kick, the furious teen walked away. Sunset felt a rib break and tears began to fall from her eyes at both the hateful things that Rainbow dash had said and the pain from what she realised was broken ribs. Dragging herself up to a sitting position she wiped the spit from her face and then tried to feel how many of her ribs were actually broken and decided upon at least one if not two.
“What are you doing there?” asked a voice. Sunset wiped her eyes and looked up to see the grey skin of Derpy Hooves looking down at her with confusion in his mismatched eyes. “Is this some new fashion thing?” she added.
“I just tripped and fell” Sunset said. “Smacked against the lockers and then bruised a rib”
“I know when people get hit, Sunset, and whatever happened took place under the watch of the hall cameras” Derpy pointed to the CCTV that was aimed at the hallway where Sunset and the vast majority of the pupils had their lockers.
“I can’t say what happened, Derps - if I did then people would talk about me” Sunset felt a hand pat her on the shoulder. For some reason, this was Depry’s default method of comforting somebody feeling down which Flash Sentry could attest to many times.
“People already talk about you” Derpy shrugged. “Look, I might have cross eyes and be a little slow, but I’m not stupid and I still think that you should report what happened and then Vice Principal Luna can deal with it” and Sunset felt a shudder pass through her before realising it was the human Luna and not her pony version Derpy was talking about.
“Alright” Sunset allowed herself to be helped up and could feel bones grating inside her chest as she stood. “Maybe we can go to the Nurse?” and Derpy nodded.
“I’ll come with you” she said with a warm smile.
“Don’t you have lessons?” Sunset grimaced.
“I should be in PE right now, but I can’t... You know...” she gestured vaguely to her middle and Sunset understood instantly.
“Oh” was the simple reply. As they walked down the corridors to where the Nurse was, Derpy’s phone started buzzing with hundreds of messages from some app she had on her phone. “Don’t you need to see them?”
“I’ll look at them later” Derpy was concentrating on getting Sunset the right help.
#
While Sunset was being treated by the Nurse and questioned by Vice Principal Luna, more and more messages and posts started appearing by Anon-A-Miss revealing deep secrets of various pupils at Canterlot High such as Rarity going nude when sleeping, Pinkie Pie being an orphan and adopted off the streets, Lyra taffy pulling Bon-Bon twice a week amongst the rest. Not everybody believed it, but enough of them did to make plans of getting their own back as some fairly private pictures were revealed to the public and this made them mad. When Rainbow Dash returned from her week long suspension for bullying and fighting, the attacks on Sunset increased more and more with her getting bruises where they can not be easily seen, her things damaged or destroyed and the pony turned girl was only grateful that she’d started leaving her phone and most valuable items at her little squat. After a month of being attacked and not having any proof to say who it was, Sunset was at her lowest as the pain she was in most days had meant she had no food to eat at all and she’d stopped going to school to avoid everything. She’d seen that the Anon-A-Miss account was still posting private things about the school and her only hope was that people would realise that as she’d not been there, then it could not be her.
“Why are they so mean? I’ve changed so much and then this happens” she whispered to herself. “I can’t take this anymore. I don’t want to but the portal is there and I can’t get to it without being seen” she turned her head to where her small bundle was. Why had Faust not come and saved her? Could she not see what was happening and send something to end her suffering through action and deeds? Had she wasted her life in worshipping something that never existed? A clap of thunder from the storm that pelted the building shook her from that thought. “Sorry... Sorry...” she whispered. Drawing in a deep breath, she took all of the tablets in one go and downed the bottle of cheep vodka she'd stolen from a nearby shop. Setting all down and waiting, the journal suddenly started to vibrate and it automatically opened to show Twilight was sending a message.
Are you there, Sunset?
I’m here, but I won’t be for much longer
Oh - were you going to sleep?
No - I took an overdose of sleeping tablets and washed it down with alcohol to make sure
You... YOU ARE TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF?
Its my only way out of this, Twilight! I can’t take the suffering and the abuse that even the human Celestia and Luna are letting happen. Just know I am sorry and tell the Princess that as well and that I’ll see them again one day
Sunset was sure that Twilight would have said something else but there was no reply.
“I disgusted even the Princess” Sunset threw the book away as hard as she could which fell to the floor with a heavy thud. It was getting harder for her to keep her eyes open and she wondered if Faust would allow her to go to Elysium or to the Other for the suicide - all she knew was that she would find out soon enough. She rolled onto her back, crossed her arms on her chest and allowed the end to come.
#
Twilight stepped out of the statue and hurried over to a corner of the school building that had a removable brick that contained the phone used by her to contact people in this world. The soon to be ruler had been shown long ago how to use it, so it was easy to dial the first number.
“Hello, Princess” came Pinkie Pie’s voice. It was full of joy that made Twilight even more angry - a fact she hoped was in her tone.
“I’m at the statue and I need picking up right now and taken to Sunset Shimmer’s house”
“Oh” Pinkie Pie said flatly. “I don’t want to know anything about her”
“I know everything thats happened, Pinkamena Diane Pie” Twilight growled. “Right now she’s attempting suicide”
“And goodbye to her” and Twilight unleashed a torrent of curses in her native language that would have made the entire Wonderbolt team blush. Hanging up, she selected the next one down and called.
“Princess Twilight” Rarity greeted.
“Rarity, I know everything thats happened and I am in no mood to argue. I am at the statue and I need picking up and taken to Sunset’s place - she’s in danger”
“I am not sure that I want to help that... That... That trollop”
“I don’t care. Meet me in five minutes and be alone”
“Fine” Rarity sounded as if this was something she’d rather not do. “Though I don’t know where she lives”
“Just get here”
“And if I don’t? Fuel costs so much these days”
“Listen to me very carefully, Rarity...” Twilight dropped her voice to a few degrees above absolute zero. “I don't have what you Humans pass off as money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long academic career. Skills that would make me a nightmare for someone like you. Now, you will be here in less than five minutes. But if you don't, then I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you”
“Yes, Princess” Rarity managed to get out. She was not used to being spoken to like that, but the girl had no doubt that the Twilight from Equestria could and would be able to do what she said. Twilight hung the phone up, threw it back in the bag and then replaced it in the secret spot for future use. Before the five minutes was up, a large white car turned up with Rarity at the wheel and Twilight took a moment to calm herself before getting in.
“Drive”
“Which way?”
“I believe forwards is traditional” Twilight replied without even deigning to look at Rarity. “I’ll tell you which way to go later”
#
“Do you know what happened to Rarity? She seemed to race out of here and barrelled out of the car park” Rainbow Dash frowned.
“She left her phone here” Pinkie reached over and grabbed it from where the others had been eating Pizza and she quickly scrolled through to the last received call. “Huh, its Twilight”
“What's me?” asked the girl.
“Not you - the other Twilight”
“Oh”
“She came through and asked me to help her find Sunset, the big meanie bully meanie pants meanie”
“Why?” asked Applejack.
“Don’t know and don’t care” Pinkie Pie snorted as she started on another slice for herself.
“Maybe that Twilight has come to punish Sunset in a horse way” Applejack mused as she looked at their own Twilight.
“Its such a shame that we couldn’t help Sunset Shimmer, but um... Maybe she is just meant to be evil” Fluttershy whispered.
“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash said and then felt her phone ping a couple of times. She flipped it open and discovered a message from Rarity saying she’d picked up the Equestrian Twilight and was driving her to find Sunset because their magic book swapping had said Sunset was about to leave them.
“And good riddance, no good she-demon” Pinkie Pie spat.
“I just can’t believe that Sunset betrayed us all like that” Twilight sighed. “All the data suggested she was being nice”
“See... Thats why I don’t trust this fancy book learning” Rainbow Dash laughed, “You egg heads get it all wrong” she added before noticing another message had popped up in the text message app. “Or maybe we were...” her happiness melted away as Fluttershy leaned over to read the message before gasping and trying to become very small in a small space of time.
“Whats happened?” asked Twilight.
“Rarity said that horse Twilight made her drive to some old part of the city to an abandoned building. Turns out Sunset was homeless and living there without us knowing” Rainbow Dash felt like the lowest scum in the world at that very moment and the others talked about how they had been hurt by Sunset's actions and if there was anything they could have done to help her.
“And what's that got to do with us? She is nothing but a big old frownie meanie pants” Pinkie Pie was suddenly spun around and found Rainbow Dash holding the phone with a message from Rarity.
“It has everything to do with us” she snarled, “Because Sunset Shimmer just attempted suicide”
#
Twilight had to use magic in a body not designed for it in order to purge Sunset of the harmful pills she had taken which had then left her feeling weak and Rarity helped her into a chair that she’d found from somewhere.
“I didn’t know...” she muttered “I couldn’t...”
“I know” Twilight said, “And your reaction is the only thing stopping me from tearing you limb from Celestia damned monkey limb. I know at least one unicorn that would love to cut you all open and see what makes you tick, but maybe mercy is needed right now”
“What could we do? We all thought it was Sunset” Rarity protested.
“I trusted you, Rarity Belle, and you and the others dishonoured that trust. Over the last few weeks, she’s told me bits and pieces - including racist abuse”
“What racist abuse?”
“Does ‘Lead a horse to water’ ring any bells?” Twilight was full of fire and anger. Rarity, for her part, went even paler than her normally plaster white skin as she realised everything all at once - how could they have been so insensitive to Sunset?
“I’m sorry... I’m so, so sorry” she whispered. “Should we take her to a hospital?” and Twilight shook her head. “Oh my”
“No, she is not dead - but not from a lack of trying on your part. Your Applejack has a bigger car, doesn’t she?”
“They have a truck if that is what you mean”
“Can it take Sunset laying down as she is?”
“I... I suppose so. I guess it has to be big for moving farm equipment”
“I don’t care...” Twilight spat out. “Tell her to bring it here - I am taking Sunset home with me”
“Are you allowed to do that?” Rarity blinked. “Do you have to ask permission first?”
“I AM PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE OF EQUESTRIA - WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO QUESTION ME, HUMAN?” Twilight’s eyes glowed white with the rage she felt. Rarity felt herself lose control over her bladder from the terrifying sight and the voice that promised an unknown level of retribution - Twilight looked away in disgust and snapped a tiny bit of magic to clean her up. From what little Sunset had said to Rarity and the others of the so called Main 7, she was thought of as a sort of royalty and if the magic ponies from the other side of the portal could all do magic like Twilight seemed to be able to do despite being in a human body then an entire planet could crossover and wipe them all out for just one per... One pony. It was also quite possible that Twilight had enough power herself to wipe out the whole of Canterlot in the blink of an eye.
“Will you kill me now or can I say goodbye to Sweetie Belle first?” she asked quietly.
“Oh, I have a far worse punishment fitting for you all later” Twilight smirked. “But now you know the truth, I expect you to turn her in to what authorities you have”
“You won’t hurt her? I know she’s done terrible things, but she is still my little sister”
“Unlike you, Rarity, I do not harm the young” she got up after resting enough and walked back over to where Sunset was weakly moving and groaning. “Call your Applejack... Call her now”
#
It was dark and a slight rain was falling by the time the other girls had arrived in the truck and then driven Sunset and the Equestrian Twilight to the statue where she had been carried and placed gently on the ground amongst a few boxes of items that was all Sunset Shimmer’s belongings in this world.
“When the evil that was inside her was defeated, I charged you to look after Sunset Shimmer and to guide her in finding acceptance and how to form friendships. I even gave you the ability to summon geodes to use what little magic is in this world to do good. But now...? Now I take it all back”. She stepped forward and pulled the geodes off from their necks one by one in a sharp yank that made them all wince.
“You can’t do this!” the human Twilight protested loudly. Rarity watched them argue for several seconds and was fully ready to see the human Twilight be torn apart because, from just a few moments, she understood and feared what true power was. “There are rules!” and the others looked at her in a mixture of shock and surprise.
“Yes” agreed her counterpart, “There are rules and you broke them - how dare you. HOW DARE YOU?” Twilight’s eyes glowed white in anger for a moment before she calmed down. She summoned deep inside herself and allowed the full power of an alicorn to come through to the front. Her hair started to have little balls of flames on the ends, a sudden wind picked up and howled around them, she rose from the grass and hovered over the huddling girls. "You're unworthy of having the power of honesty," Twilight said, ripping the magic out of Applejack. "Loyalty," she said, ripping the magic out of Rainbow Dash. "Laughter," she said, ripping the magic out of Pinkie. "Kindness," she said, ripping the magic out of Fluttershy. Once done, she returned to the ground and used a burst of magic to send everything but herself and the ill Sunset through the portal. "You are unworthy to have Equestrian magic, you're unworthy of title and you're not worthy to have friendship” Sunset rose silently from the ground on her stretcher and floated through the portal.
“Why did Rarity keep her magic?” panted Rainbow Dash.
“Because she apologised. Your devices record audio, correct?”
“Yeah... And video”
“Video?”
“Um, filmed images with sound”
“Then I hope you are recording this” said Twlight. “From this day on, no human from this world shall ever be allowed to journey through to Equestrian lands on pain of death. Should they find another portal, they will be executed and their bodies returned. When I pass through and return to my homeland, I will do the magic needed to cut you off from us and you can live your pitiful lives with no chance of rescue”
“Why? Why are you doing this?” asked Fluttershy quietly, moving slightly to put Applejack between her and the Princess.
“Why?” mocked Twilight. “Because you broke a promise. You broke a sacred vow between my world and yours and I declare you all Oath Breakers to magic itself. Just be glad that you did this to Sunset Shimmer and not somebody like me. If you had, they would never find the bodies...” and Twilight walked to the portal at the base of the statue, passed through and was gone.
“Now, see here” Applejack stroke forward intending to pass through and give Twilight a piece of her mind but she bounced off the base which started to crack and then broke into shards of stone with dust swirling around. When it cleared, there was a simple piece of paper with one sentence written on it. Applejack picked it up, read it and then gave it to Rainbow Dash.
“What does it say?” asked Rarity.
“It says ‘That was a warning... The next time there isn’t one’. I think” Rainbow Dash realised the full weight of what had happened, “I think that we fucked up big style”