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178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI37IXCkq6d
Sunset Shimmer hummed in contentment as she placed another book on the shelf of her small library. To her, the day was going perfectly well. She’d learned a difficult spell – and was rather proud of herself for the fact – and now she was one step closer to attaining her goal. All she had to do was wait for the almighty magical explosion she knew was coming, and then she would be on her way to the Crystal Empire.
A small smirk teased her mouth as she paused at the window of her tower. Located on the slopes of Mount Everhoof, it was the perfect location to keep an eye on things. Most ponies would have found it unhospitable, but Sunset Shimmer wasn’t most ponies. She had ambition, and she meant to get her hooves on that which had been denied her so long.
Her smirk turned sour. Now that gift was going to somepony else. And it didn’t take a genius to work out just who the lucky recipient was. Twilight Sparkle. Sunset spat on the floor in disgust. She’d seen the purple unicorn only once, and that was several years ago, back when Twilight had been a filly, shortly before her own falling out with Celestia. Sunset, then a teenager, had viewed the filly with disdain. She was Celestia’s prized pupil. She would one day be an alicorn princess. She had no time for fillies, especially annoying unicorn fillies, always under your hooves, asking a million questions. And Twilight Sparkle had been the worst offender of the bunch. Even as a filly she had an inquisitive mind, and in this case, she wanted to learn all there was to know about magic. Such was her enthusiasm that her parents had enrolled her in the School of Gifted Unicorns the day before. Sunset had snickered privately to herself. Only the best and brightest unicorn foals got to pass the extremely difficult test needed to actually be accepted into the school. Twilight hadn’t even received her cutie mark yet! There was no way she’d pass.
The next day, Sunset had gotten the fright of her life when the roof blew off the school, revealing the head and torso of an enormous green and purple dragon. Celestia had quickly defused the situation, and word had spread rapidly throughout Canterlot after that. But what had really ground Sunset’s gears was the fact that the Princess had publicly announced that she was hereby taking Twilight under her wing as her own personal protégé at the school.
Sunset still burned with rage at the memory of her bitter confrontation with Celestia that evening. That had been the night she’d learned just what the solar princess was planning for the newly cutie-marked unicorn.
Ascension.
“And what about me?” Sunset had cried, tears streaming down her face. “I thought I was your prized pupil? Why the buck are you taking her under your wing?”
And Celestia, pale but determined, had stood up, wings outspread, tears of her own soaking her white fur. “You’re too ambitious,” she had said, her voice cracking. “To be a princess, you need compassion, in order to be a guide and saviour to the ponies you will someday rule. You don’t care about other ponies; you care only about the power. And for that, I cannot allow you to ascend. I hereby banish you from Canterlot, and no longer consider you my student.”
Sunset had fled, unable to take the pain and humiliation any longer. To make matters worse, she’d later found out that Twilight, now a resident of the castle, had overheard every single word. The filly had been restless and unable to sleep, and had come to Celestia’s chambers for comfort. Consequently, she’d heard everything, and Sunset had been even more furious.
“I could’ve killed her that night,” the amber unicorn muttered to herself. “But that wouldn’t have changed anything.”
She turned back to the window, seething with rage. Then her rage melted away in puzzlement. Grabbing her telescope, she peered through the lens, looking south towards Ponyville. At that precise moment, the explosion she’d been expecting almost took the roof off the Golden Oaks Library. That then, was it. In a few moments, Twilight would re-emerge, a newly-minted alicorn princess. And after that would be the Princess Summit, and Sunset’s one chance to seize the Element of Magic. Then the world would be hers. Of course, there were a few snags in the way, but Sunset had plans already in place. By the time Princess Twilight came after her, there would be a nice, warm welcome for her.
“And she will regret usurping me!” Sunset vowed.
But as she watched, she saw nothing. No brilliant flash of light, no princess. Just the rest of Twilight’s pitiful bunch of friends, gathered outside the library, talking worriedly amongst themselves. Sunset’s lip curled in disgust. Who needed friends? Never mind that these five ridiculous ponies had single-hoofedly saved Equestria on more than one occasion. Friends were, in Sunset’s opinion, useless. All they did was drag you down and get in your way. Twilight had been sensible, right up until the moment Celestia had sent her to Ponyville for the Summer Sun Celebration. To be sure, they had defeated Nightmare Moon, but so far as Sunset was concerned, that was all the good those other five ponies had been good for. Twilight had been rather spoiled by friendship after that.
Still nothing.
Sunset found herself getting more agitated. What in the name of Equestria was going on? Ah, there she was. But something was missing. And as her friends gathered around her, Sunset’s magically-enhanced vision saw the missing element for herself.
Twilight had no wings.
“What the buck?” Sunset backed away from the telescope, shaking her head. She then peered through the lens again, just to make sure she hadn’t missed something. No, there it was. Twilight was still a unicorn. And from the look of it, she was highly pissed off.
Sunset set her telescope down again, now very, very puzzled. “That doesn’t make sense,” she muttered. “Celestia planned this from the moment she took Twilight under her wing. So why did Twilight come back the same?”
It was very troubling. Twilight had been, according to Celestia, princess material. She was caring, compassionate, and very humble. And deep down she was capable of loving her fellow pony very much. Her friendships with the other five Element bearers had shown that clearly. So why?
Had she fallen out with Celestia? Heaven knew the solar princess was the very worst sort when it came to planning and scheming. And she was terrible when it came to communication. Sunset herself had had many arguments with her former mentor during her own apprenticeship. And Twilight had a very analytical mind. She was not the sort of pony to take cryptic hints and clues very well. And Celestia being the mare she was … it didn’t take a genius-level unicorn to put two and two together.
Sunset immediately shelved her plan. Twilight would now not be going to the Princess Summit. And she certainly wouldn’t be taking the Element of Magic anywhere. But Sunset refused to let this setback bother her. She’d just make a new plan to deal with this twist of fate. Yet, even as her mind began to tick, sorting out the almighty consequences from tonight’s spectacular fallout, another, smaller part of her couldn’t help but wonder; was she so very different from Twilight? Both of them had had it up to the fetlock with Celestia’s scheming. And Sunset, though she still desired the mantle of princess, found herself considering the problem from Twilight’s angle, much though she still hated the other unicorn. But hating her didn’t stop these new and troubling thoughts from racing through Sunset’s mind.
It was going to be a very long night.
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