First Hoof Account

by TCC56

37 - Betrayal

Sunset Shimmer
1 Celestial Road
Canterlot, Equestria

Moondancer
451 Hemming Way
Vanhoover, Equestria

13 April, 989

Dear Moondancer;

First of all, I'm glad you're excited about the move. Most students who attend Celestia's School leave their families behind during the year and only see them on breaks. It says something that your family is willing to upend their lives and move to Canterlot to be around you more. That's a lot for them to give up. I may not be close to my family, but I know you are to yours.

And if your sister has plans to start a coffee shop, even better. There's never enough places to go and there's too many teahouses in Canterlot already.

Now, I wanted to review the book I sent to you last time. You should be up to Chapter 2 by now, and that goes into the elementary spell matrix for

---

Sunset's quill fell to the page as her door slammed open and her magic shifted from 'write' to 'defensive shield'.

And dissipated immediately as she saw the slammed door was Cadance's fault.

...A very angry Cadance's fault.

"Caddy?" Fear crept into Sunset - she was wise enough to know that an angry alicorn was bad for anypony's health. (Even if that alicorn was a fluffy cotton candy-hearted one.)

The gentle verbal prod didn't get a response - Cadance was too busy raging and her only words were a bellow of frustration.

A unicorn would have lashed out with their magic but Cadance's instincts were still those of a pegasus. She reached out instead with the force of her wings: flapping them in violent, sweeping motions that sent gusts of air around the suite backed by enough force to crack the vanity mirror and tear a sconce off of the wall. One came close enough to Sunset to ruffle her mane - and that was the one that sapped Cadance's anger enough to find her voice.

The junior princess lunged to her marefriend's side. "Sunny! Oh, I'm sorry! Are you alright? I just-- I got-- Rrrrr!" Her teeth gnashed furiously, torn between concern and rage.

Sunset rolled her eyes, covering up that sliver of fear with sarcasm. "Use your words, Caddy. I don't speak Diamond Dog." Her magic stretched out, closing the door to ensure a bit of privacy.

Another wing-flap tossed several books off of Sunset's shelves and into a spine-bending pile. "I just-- I can't believe her! After everything!"

"Princess Celestia didn't agree with you, did she." It was a familiar refrain and one Sunset had somewhat expected. Cadance's plan had been pushing boundaries for Sunset after all.

"She didn't." Cadance's rage started to sap and - after one last angry flap that whipped the heavy blackout curtains apart and exposed the room to direct sunlight for the first time in months - slumped down on the bed. Sunset abandoned her writing to sit beside Cadance, giving her a side-hug. "When I was a filly, before all this happened? I never wanted anything more than a quiet life. Find a nice pony to settle down with, maybe work at the schoolhouse or something, I don't know. Then suddenly I have a horn and I'm swept away to a castle and told I'm a princess. My entire life and everything I wanted was just... gone." She leaned her head to the side, setting it on Sunset's shoulder. "You gave me some of that back but I was still stuck inside the boundaries Princess Celestia set for me. Instead of living the life I wanted to have, everything is lessons, lessons, lessons. I'm barely allowed out of the castle and I'm constantly being told how important I am while being given no control or anything to do. And when I finally ask for the chance to act and be myself, what does she say?"

The hushed words came unbidden to Sunset's lips. "You're not ready."

"You're not ready," repeated Cadance at the same time, her words with a frustrated sneer.

This was it. Sunset's heart raced as she realized this was the moment. Months of work had built up to this and her patience was being rewarded because this was it. Everything was perfectly aligned: Cadance and she were in love. They were together and would help one another without question. Cadance had reached the breaking point with Princess Celestia, just as Sunset had. Cadance understood now - she'd see what Sunset was trying to do. It was time.

Her perception narrowed to a point focused entirely on Cadance. Nothing else mattered.

And Cadance noticed it too. Her ears perked, sensing... something shift in the air that shunted her anger away for concern. "Sunny?"

"...We don't need her." The bridge was crossed. No going back now.

And still, Cadance didn't get it. "What?"

"We don't need Celestia." Sunset released the hug so she could turn to Cadance properly. "Don't you see? Wait, no, of course you see." She laughed just a bit too wildly. "But maybe you don't realize you see yet. Princess Celestia isn't helping us, she's holding us back! She's trying to keep us contained."

Cadance said "What?" but Sunset knew that was just hesitation. She knew the truth. Sunset was sure of it.

Still, Sunset elaborated to try and break through the many layers of denial. "Celestia doesn't want to teach us. She just wants us to be smaller versions of herself. She wants tools." Her grin grew more manic as she leapt off the bed and started to pace. "That's why we're never ready. That's why she keeps shutting us down every time we show the least bit of initiative or don't follow her orders. That nag wants us in her little perfect boxes to be pulled out when she needs us and to go back quietly once she's done."

Cadance flinched at the insult to her aunt.

Sunset didn't notice that in her excitement. She was being swept away in her own current, careening forward and out of her own control. "She didn't expect us to connect, though. Not like we have. Maybe she wanted us to counter-balance. Negate each other so we'd be more controllable. But that doesn't matter!" She laughed, just a bit too wild as everything she'd been holding back and not saying broke free. "Because we work together. We match."

Fear was building in Cadance's eyes - her gaze jumped around, searching for something to change the subject with. It was her turn to rise now, getting up and trying to approach the pacing Sunset. "I don't--"

But Sunset was having none of it. She would not be distracted or contained. "She probably thought this was going to be a lesson," she sneered. "Now we've got the chance to teach her one."

"Sunset, you're scaring me."

"She's the one that should be afraid!" Sunset whipped around, grinning maniacally as she glared out the open window and directly at the sun. "Because now we can do what she won't! You know the secret!"

Quailing, Cadance inched backwards. "What secret? I don't know any secrets."

"The secret of alicornhood!" Sunset's eyes narrowed to a squint as she kept glaring sunwards in defiance, refusing to blink. "You made yourself an alicorn, Celestia admitted that! And I saw the Mirror, so I know I'm destined to become one too!" Spinning away from the window, Sunset looked to Cadance with wide-blown pupils and a crazed enthusiasm. "So if you help me fulfill my destiny, we can get there together!"

Their usual positions were reversed now: the lanky Cadance was cowering with the raving Sunset towering over her. "I don't-- I don't understand. Get where together?"

"To our future!" Sunset grabbed Cadance by the shoulders, pulling her to her hooves. "Celestia won't have a choice then! She'll have to recognize us as equals. No more lessons, no more hiding things, no more pretending we're helpless children! We can be what we're meant to be - who we're meant to be!"

The raw force of Sunset's mania pushed Cadance out of her grip and further back - she bumped against the bookshelf, knocking a few more to the floor. "She's not-- I-- Sunset, please. I'm frustrated too but Auntie's trying to teach us because we have more to learn, not because... because of whatever you're talking about!" She tried to rally and push against the tide, but it wasn't happening. "And she's not going to change her mind just like that! Respect is from your actions, not if you have a horn or wings or whatever."

Despite the bright sun in the normally dark room, a shadow still clouded Sunset's face. "Then we'll have to make her respect us."

Cadance flinched. "Sunny, that's crazy. We can't--"

"We can." The younger mare's voice turned to a growl. "You know that the last time she fought another alicorn she nearly lost. Celestia won't stand a chance against both of us at once." Her dire tone suddenly turned giddy again. "And then we can take the throne ourselves! Think of it, Caddy! We can rule so much better than she has. We can share the power between us. A diarchy - just think of it! Like in her story! It could all be ours!"

With nowhere to retreat and no success fighting back, Cadance tried to deflect. "Sunny, we could never do something like that. You're just-- you're just frustrated, that's all. Maybe we could get something for lunch." Her own eyes locked onto a discarded plate on the desk. "Gastro's rose petal sandwiches with mustard! You love those, right? ...Please?"

But the temptation didn't change Sunset's course. She grabbed Cadance again in something halfway between a hug and a death grip, giddy almost beyond words and sense. "It's our destiny. All you have to do is make me a princess too, and then we can destroy Celestia."

Cadance flinched - and finally found some steel as they hit a line she couldn't cross. "I-- I can't do that, Sunset."

Dismissively, Sunset waved it off. High-stepping away from Cadance with a twirl, she looked at herself in the broken mirror of the vanity and saw wings again. "I don't mean we should kill her, that would be stupid. But if she's going to try and stop us, we'll have to get her out of our way. Tartarus, probably. At least for a few years. Then once she sees how well we rule, she'll have to admit we were right. And if not..." She shrugged. "It's what she deserves, after all."

"I can't make you an alicorn, Sunset." Cadance straightened up, even though she was still trembling.

Twisting away from the mirror, Sunset's face fell to confusion at the honesty in Cadance's voice. "Yes you can. You did it yourself - Celestia said so." A tiny sliver of doubt snuck into Sunset's confidence. "She admitted she didn't do it, so it had to have been you!"

Cadance shook her head, desperation to not be having this conversation running riot through her. "Sunset, I didn't do anything - I didn't even want this! It was harmony that changed me. You can't just make an alicorn, Sunset. That's a power beyond even Princess Celestia. It's magic itself that does it."

And it was the truth. Even if Cadance could do it, she truly and thoroughly believed she couldn't. The voice of love didn't lie about her lover's greatest desire.

Sunset's legs wobbled - one gave out and she dropped to a knee as her world reeled. Her giddy high collapsed. "...no." The energy was gone, leaving her voice hoarse and flat. "No." It was replaced by desperate fury. "You have to know!" Sunset rose again, eyes aflame and teeth clenched as her plans disintegrated. "You have to!"

"I don't," Cadance quietly restated.

In a rage, Sunset grabbed the already broken vanity in her magic and smashed it against the ground. "You know! You can! It's the only thing stopping us from ruling! From our victory! From what I deserve!"

The clatter and shatter of the vanity didn't make Cadance recoil this time. Fear was in her eyes, but she didn't back away again. "Sunset, I can't. And even if I could... I don't think I would. I'm not going to overthrow Princess Celestia - with you or with anypony else. You keep saying 'we', but I don't want any of that. I've never wanted that."

Sunset's heart shattered. "Cadance, I--"

"No."

She grit her teeth. "I won't let you stop me."

And for every bit Sunset was angry, Cadance looked sad. Even in her moment of betrayal, she seemed full of regret.

But not as much as she would be. Sunset lit her horn - it was time to make an escape. Do damage control, see if anything was salvageable. Maybe to run further if things started to go even worse. But she couldn't do that with Cadance right there. It hurt would be too frustrating to deal with.

The next three seconds took an achingly long time to pass.

Fear hit Cadance. Not of Sunset's anger - fear of far worse. Of losing that spark between them that had built over so long. Of losing her only taste of normalcy in her life. Of losing Love. Her own horn lit up, spinning a spell Cadance had never been taught but knew with her soul. Her Mark pulsed, leaping to life in a way that countered sensible magic: instinct instead of knowledge. Blue energy condensed into a pink heart broken down the middle. The two halves drew together as Cadance tried to heal the rift - to touch the love she knew was in Sunset's heart and mend things before it was too late.

Sunset knew what the spell was. She didn't need to see the visuals - Princess Celestia's star student could recognize the feel of the magic in an instant. She knew what it was and what it could do. And she was afraid. Her own casting changed, morphing from a teleport to escape into an offensive blast to save her own mind.

Teal magic tore across the room, sending papers fluttering in the wake.

Months of tutoring kicked in and Cadance ended her heart-mending spell by pure reaction to form a defensive shield.

She had no way of knowing Sunset had taught her how to form a shield wrong on purpose.

One with a weakness that Sunset knew.

The beam hit the shield, modulating at exactly 415.305 Hz - G sharp - and passed through as if Tritone's Projection had never been cast.

Cadance went down like a sack of flour, the stun spell setting every nerve in her body jangling at the same time to overload her with conflicting sensations. She didn't manage more than a surprised yelp and a thud as she hit the floor.

In the wake of that was silence - dread, complete silence broken only by Sunset's labored panting.

Looking down at her lover's unconscious body, Sunset spared only a moment to process her emotions. Then her walls came back up, harder and thicker than they had been before. She had a job to do and there was no time left to do it.

Turning on her frog, Sunset stomped out of her wrecked rooms. "The Restricted Section. Books can't betray me." She had a few hours at best (minutes at worst) before Cadance woke up and Celestia learned everything. She had to act immediately. "I won't let them deny me my destiny."

She didn't look back when she left.

Author's Note:

DID YOU KNOW?:
In the original first draft, this was the final scene! That's right, I was going to end the story here, because "Everybody knows what happens after this." That was a terrible idea! I'm glad I didn't do that.

Comments

[Hakuno]

11927838

Oh, I have very bad news for you.

GOD DAMNIT! I knew it was going to happen but not so... AAAAAAHHHHHH MY HEART!!!!

[Hakuno]

In the original first draft, this was the final scene!

I actually think this would've been an incredible way to end. So powerful, so many emotions. Still, the moment Sunset opened her big mouth I felt my heart cracking, and cracking, until finally the setup with the shield paid off, and it shattered. You, sir, are an awesome writer.

Poor Moondancer will never hear from Sunset again.

[Rambling Writer]

Sunset attacks her marefriend in a heated moment... and her first response isn't, "Oh no, I just attacked Cadance!" or "Is she okay?", but the idea that she was betrayed. Because she made an assumption that didn't turn out to be true, one that Cadance couldn't do anything about.

She doesn't have issues. She has an entire magazine store.

[opal563]

I knew what was coming but still. It was really sad

[EileenSaysHi]

And there it is.

[Ghost Mike]

I can see why this would have been the fic's end when it was conceived as being, you know, not novel-length. Or, at least, not going over 100K. At the scope the story now has, you're right that it would have been far too abrupt to end here.

As many chapters as it's easy to say "it's all been building up to this", it really has been building to this. It could have played out as a pile of clichés, but you did a good job modulating the specifics of Cadance's response to freshen it up, mostly by the nature of her character against Sunset's regression to he old ways here being different than the usual shouting match of both players. I think the emotional turmoil inside Sunset's mind when Cadance said she didn't know could have been plussed for emotional impact far more, but it's perfectly possible that will be so in a scene in the next few chapters, right before she leaves.

And as Rambling noted, Sunset's first thought after she paralyses Cadance not being concern, but about herself, and to solve the issue, says all we need to know about her character, in this fic and at this moment.

[Zaveryn]

uh oh!

[Blood Rarity]

[Thranx]

Saw the title and I was like "Welp, here we go." Damn, I didn't expect Sunset to be that unhinged after Cadance can't make her an alicorn. Totally caught me off guard. It's like her craziness finally let loose after trying to mask it for so long. Only a friendship beam to the face would snap her out of that.

[TCC56]

11938221

until finally the setup with the shield paid off,

I'll eventually do a bit of revealing around that part in the story post-mortem, but I'm so happy that part hit. The build for it was probably one of the more elaborate parts of the story outline, believe it or not.

Poor Moondancer will never hear from Sunset again.

The story isn't quite done with Moony just yet.

11938230

and her first response isn't, "Oh no, I just attacked Cadance!" or "Is she okay?", but the idea that she was betrayed.

It does indeed. It's been easy to forget in this story that Sunset is still a villain.

11938254

I think the emotional turmoil inside Sunset's mind when Cadance said she didn't know could have been plussed for emotional impact far more,

Some of the drafts of this chapter did. Instead I opted for the current - I wanted to make the transition from "This is it, my moment of victory!" to "Everything is dust..." as fast as I reasonably could. It's a breaking point - a sudden snap rather than a slower spiraling out of control. If Sunset had time to think, she wouldn't have done this. She's a good planner but terrible at thinking on her feet, particularly when her emotions get in the way. (Which is always.)

[Fox Boss]

I wonder how she'll react to EG Candence?

[RTStephens]

It makes me wonder if this scene plays back and forth in Sunset's mind throughout her stay in the human world. Even with the funky time dilation of the mirror, we know Sunset stays there for a few years before returning for Twilight's crown. This turning point must have stayed with her to keep her going with her plans to overthrow Celestia.

It also makes me wonder if she had managed to succeed, how she would have dealt with Cadance (MARRIED!) once again.

Welp, time to see how this wraps up.

[Gavier]

This would've been an amazing way to end it and I would've hated you for it

[nuew]

Well fuck. Celestia dammit Sunset.

[cryptix]

holy shit. ahhhhhhhhhhh MAN. went into this thinking "oh fun unique ship idea" and came out of it feeling like i just got hit by a truck. woof. i don't normally read stories involving sunset since i'm really not much of an eqg fan but this is a real symbol of why she's a character i love to read about when i find something i actually want to read with her in it. she is so utterly infuriating but her understanding of the world is also so fundamentally saddening in a way that makes it hard to really hate her (at least to me) and i felt my heart ache a little bit every time she would backslide. and the fucking contrast between cadance immediately checking on sunset after she lets her anger out at the beginning of the chapter (without even injuring sunset) and sunset barely sparing a second for cadance at the end....JEEZ.

also sundance is a really lovely ship name

[FlutteringLillies]

We all knew it was coming but it still hurts so goddamn much. I will say I think I expected, not more spiraling from Sunset, but more spiraling from Cadance. I mean it's not her perspective so we obviously don't get every internal thought she's having but. I honestly thought that when this moment came, and especially with how it played out, she would have been a bit more sympathetic at first. Sunset going totally manic like that would be scary of course but I can see a version where Cadance was like 'I get that you're upset and you probably have a right to be, but this is taking things wayyyyy too far.' There's a part of me that thinks that maybe I'm leaning too far into Sunset's unreliable narration but

"You gave me some of that back but I was still stuck inside the boundaries Princess Celestia set for me. Instead of living the life I wanted to have, everything is lessons, lessons, lessons. I'm barely allowed out of the castle and I'm constantly being told how important I am while being given no control or anything to do. And when I finally ask for the chance to act and be myself, what does she say?"

This whole bit of dialogue really makes me think Cadance would get it to some extent. I think the level of control Celestia imposes on both of them might make her... empathize and pause. I think the end result would still be the same, but Cadance hesitating more here just. Makes sense to me. Well. Until Sunset says that line about teaching Celestia a lesson. That feels like the first step too far. And it just gets worse from there.

I also am Incredibly Curious if you ever wrote a draft of this chapter where that love spell went off. Because, That sounds like a fic all on it's own. (The shame and relief from Cadance! The eventual resentment from Sunset! There's something seriously diabolical there I swear)

[TCC56]

11939878

I also am Incredibly Curious if you ever wrote a draft of this chapter where that love spell went off. Because, That sounds like a fic all on it's own.

It would be! But no, I did not. The quick spell exchange there was actually one of the earliest parts of the story that was written and was the central tent pole - more or less the whole plot has been building up to and fleshing out the story around that specific exchange.

[rottenwithsciset]

Everything was perfectly aligned: Cadance and she were in love. They were together and would help one another without question. Cadance had reached the breaking point with Princess Celestia, just as Sunset had. Cadance understood now - she'd see what Sunset was trying to do. It was time.

shes gonna lose it... i can sense it

In a rage, Sunset grabbed the already broken vanity in her magic and smashed it against the ground. "You know! You can! It's the only thing stopping us from ruling! From our victory! From what I deserve !"

yep.....

Looking down at her lover's unconscious body, Sunset spared only a moment to process her emotions. Then her walls came back up, harder and thicker than they had been before. She had a job to do and there was no time left to do it.

no... NOOOOOOOO

[Raziel80]

Ooooooh can’t wait for the next part

[Revel Montaro]

Welllllll... shit. She broke. And gravity pulls all things down.