The throbbing tension headaches brought on by complete magical exhaustion are unfortunately one of the quickest and most unpleasant ways unicorns learn their limits. Cold compresses may appear to help, but it mostly acts as a placebo, and the only remedy is to let the pulsating pains run their course as the horn's magical energies recharge.
Sunset would have gone outside and dunked her head in the river, were she able to currently stand up. She hadn't experienced complete magical exhaustion since her first semester at Celestia's school, and she had forgotten how absolutely unpleasant it was. The first and only time it happened, she spent the next three days in bed with cool damp cloths over her face. Disenchanting the museum wall had come close, but she had definitely pushed herself too far this time. So here she laid in the near-pitch black, bearing the pain as best she could, wondering how long it would be until the pain lessened enough for her to move and find something close to a remedy, it was clear that whatever noise her commotion down here made was not heard or noticed by the guards outside. The throbbing quickly robbed her of the ability to keep track of time, but if somepony had heard something, they would have checked it out by now.
The unicorn lightly wiggled her back right hoof, giving her mind something, anything else to focus on. At the very least it was pitch black and quiet in here, save for her own breathing and whimpering; magical exhaustion frequently brought on a crippling sensitivity to light and sound for the duration.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but she heard hoofsteps close by. Had the guards outside heard the commotion? She didn't summon the willpower to raise her head to look until she felt a hoof gently touch her side. Head still throbbing, she slowly opened her eyes, and they immediately widened when she looked up, and saw the visage of her long-gone teacher and mentor, Princess Celestia.
"Why so glum, my former student?"
Sunset closed her eyes again.
'I've finally done it. I've gone insane,' the unicorn thought to herself. The hoof on her side moved up to her head, and she felt a soft tingly sensation, and the throbbing in her head lessened, then faded completely over several moments. This grabbed her attention immediately. Still not willing to use her horn in such an exhausted state, she opened her eyes, rolled to her hooves, and eyed the towering white alicorn with caution. The aura coming off of her brightened the room just a bit.
"Alright, you're not really Celestia..." Sunset claimed, thinking back to some of her last correspondences with Twilight. She remembered something about a spirit underneath her castle and school. Sunny even told her she had encountered it in the caves underneath the remains of the school.
"The Tree of Harmony? What do you want?" Sunset asked.
"For you to not make a very grievous and tragic error," the spirit replied, motioning lightly to the books scattered all about the room.
Finally, the bit dropped for Sunset. It wasn't residual magic from the mirror; this spirit had been shielding them from her spells.
"These books are dangerous. A forest could have burned down, homes and businesses could have been lost, because these unicorns haven't had magic in generations, and they don't know what they're dealing with," Sunset protested.
"And destroying them will help them know?"
Sunset scoffed and began to pace back and forth in the middle of the room, knocking away the books in her path aside with her hooves, as the spirit merely watched silently.
"Destroying these tomes will not protect these unicorns forever, Sunset Shimmer. You must know that."
Sunset looked up at the spirit, looking into her mentor's pale magenta eyes.
"Keeping them around won't do them any good either."
"Tell me how you know that."
"Because an inexperienced unicorn got too curious and nearly burned a tree down, which could have very easily spread to the rest of the forest! To other homes!" Sunset shouted.
"And you stopped this fire?"
"N... No. Another unicorn did. With a weather spell, that gave her a splitting headache for days."
"It sounds like they need someone to guide them in their curiosities."
"There isn't anyone," Sunset replied.
"But there is," the spirit retorted, again raising a hoof, and pointed it directly at the unicorn, whose expression turned to disbelief, before her gaze lowered to the ground, looking at the spell tomes scattered about the room.
"What if you're wrong? What if these books are wrong? All this knowledge, all this magic... Everything that Princess Twilight accomplished, and Equestrian civilization still split apart!"
Sunset was surprised at her own words. Had that been her concern all along? Had her fear of history repeating itself been the driving force behind this escapade of hers? Sunny had said it herself; a great deal of the threats to Equestria revolved around artifacts and powerful spells. Generations upon generations of collected magical knowledge, and the unity that Twilight and her friends and proteges had championed... Had not been enough. The incredible magic that had helped change and transform her into a better person and pony had not been enough for Equestria.
That fact shook Sunset Shimmer to her absolute core.
"Time moves inexorably onward, Sunset Shimmer, and civilizations and societies rise and fall as surely as the sun does. It is the nature of existence. If you let the fear of failure paralyze you, you will be doomed to remain stagnant and stationary. The fire that this unicorn caused due to lack of expertise, do you think that curiosity won't befall other unicorns weeks, months, or years from now? You are one of the very rare individuals that has experienced multiple dimensions, and multiple eras. You have the opportunity to help shape and guide willing minds in the ways of magic, and your extensive knowledge rivals that of Twilight and Starswirl. Do you really want to keep that locked away within yourself, and have it fade to history? Do you truly think the magic portal that thrust you forward this many generations did so for no reason at all? A new dawn is coming, after eons of separation and darkness, and you can be the sunrise for these unicorns, and guide them into a whole new world."
Sunset wasn't sure how long she stood there, staring down at the books with the spirit's words repeating in her head, but when she looked up again, the form of Princess Celestia had vanished. The throbbing headache was gone, but she didn't dare use her horn yet; better to let it recharge. She dug into her saddlebags, found her phone, saw that the battery was dead, and instead took out her lantern, finding that it fortunately had enough of a charge to last at least an hour. Without using her horn, she went around the entire room, carefully avoiding the broken mirror shards, and gathered up the books, stacking them in the center of the room. When they had all been gathered, she picked up the lantern, and headed up the stairs out into the main hall, and towards the front door. She turned the lantern off, gave the right large door a yank, and it opened with a creak, startling the guard who had been sitting on the stairs just outside.
"Yah!" Thunder gasped, leaping to his hooves and whipping around. His frightened expression softened when he realized who it was, and also as Zoom came up to his side.
"Miss Shimmer? How long have you been in there?" She asked.
"H-How do they do that? We've been sitting here for hours. I swear sometimes I think this posting is a prank," Thunder complained.
"Can we help you, Miss Shimmer? Is everything alright?" Zoom Zephyrwing asked, seeing how tired the unicorn looked, not to mention the fresh cut on her left cheek.
"If you can do me a very big favor, I need a one-pony cargo wagon."
Sunny Starscout sat at her dining table, nibbling at her leftover pizza that had gone cold a half hour ago. She hadn't had much of an appetite the past couple days, since Sunset vanished without a trace. Countless texts and calls to the unicorn's phone had gone unanswered.
There were most certainly other troves of knowledge out there, long forgotten, that she would hopefully discover. But right now, the earth mare's biggest fear is that Sunset would beat her to all of the ones she knew of. Every time she tried her best to consider the unicorn's point of view, she always circled back to her initial position; destroying knowledge and history as a precaution was wrong.
The soft sounds of the evening tides crashing against the coastal cliffs was interrupted by a knock on her front door. Looking up from her pizza, she got up from her chair, and went over to the door, pulling it open, and was very surprised to see Sunset standing there, with a wagon full of books behind her.
Tears filled the unicorn's eyes, and her lips trembled as her gaze met Sunny's, and she took one shaky breath.
"I'm sorry, Sunny. I'm so very sorry," Sunset greeted on her unsteady exhale.
Relief had washed over the earth pony when she saw the books in the wagon, as well as Sunset's look of grief on her face. She stepped out onto her doormat and pulled the unicorn into a reassuring hug as she quivered with emotions. She held her for a few moments, then pulled away, and gave her a soft smile.
"Come on in."
Good to know the spirit of Harmony is still around. Probably just recently had enough magic to work around again, but it is a start.
Aw...it's gonna be okay Sunset...it's gonna be okay...
Great job on this latest chapter. Definitely appreciated the chat the Tree of Harmony (using Celestia's form) had with Sunset concerning the mistake Sunset made which, thankfully, WASN'T compounded by actual destruction. Yeah, the Spirit had a great point about how educating the modern ponies on the spells and artifacts gradually and ethically was the correct course of action. Also enjoyed the scene with the guard bringing Sunset AND the books back and Sunny greeting Sunset.
REALLY liked the characterizations and future chapter set-up. Definitely looking forward to the final chapters of this very enjoyable story.
Oh wow that's pretty sad and sweet at the same time so Sunset was still unconscious after using amount of magic just to try to destroy the books and she's starting to regain Consciousness but she couldn't move her body but until there was somebody with her and somehow recover her injuries and it turns out it was Celestia which it's not it's the tree of Harmony spirits talking with sunset about her action and she even told her that even in this generation there are always will be people who needed help and sunset is a perfect one since she knows but she felt like she doesn't have the proper methods of teaching kind of like in the episode of tell your Tale when zipp try to teach some of the Pegasus to fly properly but anyway Sunset felt like they should not use these books but sometimes maybe some of these books can be helpful they just had to learn it that's all and use it well after that she went back to Maretime Bay speaking of which Sunny was really worried about Sunset after she disappeared what the books and thinking that she already destroyed them but when she heard the door she checked it out and it was sunset and not only that the books are there Sunset apologize for her action but Sunny already forgave her which that's pretty cool of her to do right now Sunset just needs somebody right now I wonder what they're going to talk about I guess we'll find out next time
good chapter
Curious how many others have caught this? This is one of those times harmony and its meddling has worked for the good
Nice, I like how there's....a hint of explanation to why Sunset was thrusted into the future. I still hope hope hope that maybe she can find a way to send Twilight and her human friends a note somehow.
I'm sensing Sunset's about to become the principal of a new magic school.
Well, it would probably be a good idea to stick the level four and five books somewhere access to them can be controlled for at least the time being. The old Restricted Section would be a good spot until somewhere new can be built closer to Bridlewood. The others can probably be republished or even digitized. Honestly the level four and five books could probably stand to be copied onto new volumes too, if only due to their age. They’re probably quite fragile by now.
This was perfect chapter and the artwork at the end is wonderful for whoever made it. Will she become an Alicorn she always wanted to be? Also, the Spirit is right Sunset you can lead the unicorns ways beyond Twilight, Star, and Starlight ever could have.
While I enjoyed this chapter, I was a little disappointed by Sunset bringing the books back. They would have been better left where they were, where access to them could be more carefully controlled.
In a nutshell "Those who forget the past are doomed to repete it's mistakes" Sunset. The Tree was right, destroying knowledge of the spells won't stop their rediscovery, better they be learned of in safe conditions that rediscovered with tragic fall out.
Sigh, and now comes the "all is forgiven" BS. Why do people have an aversion to ponies having to face consequences for acts of stupid?
Sunset has, in the space of 48 hours, committed grand theft, attempted destruction of both private and public property, and criminal trespass with intent to commit unlawful acts. And that doesn't even begin to cover any remaining laws about abusing magic etc.
Oh and let's not forget that she outright lied to Izzy and abused her trust. And all because SHE decided that Sunset Shimmmer alone knew what was best for literally every member of ponykind.
Personally I hope Hitch opts to throw her plot in a cell until both criminal and civil suits get worked out. Sure it will piss Sunny off, but sometimes that is what it takes to get someone to confront their idiocy.
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If you are this offended at the way I've written these events out, you may want to stop reading here. Just a fair warning.
Ho-how is this possible!?!?!
Yep, knew it.
The spirit does have a point with that one.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm siding with the spirit on this one.
I think I might know where that cut came from.
Poor Sunset.
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So everything I know about this story is whatever I can piece together from the comments of the last few chapters (especially Yoshifan30, who writes a summary of every single chapter of everything). And from what I can tell, she told a few lies and stole a few books in a well-intentioned but misguided attempt to protect the ponies of New Equestria from themselves. And then brought them back with an apology. You do realize she's a Friendship is Magic/Equestria Girls ex-villain, right? Half the villains in this universe have been forgiven for far worse. She has been forgiven for far worse.
This is who Celestia is supposed to be: Optimus Prime.
Not a fan of the fact that it took a deus es machina for Sunset to realize a pretty simple truth...
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A disillusioned decepticon? How that is relevant to her character?
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To quote phasma from Changing Expectations. "You pony are like walking soap operas". Drama always follows the cartoon ponys. They are just so easy for random drama
Having Sunshine talk to Sunset even if it was the tree was a nice touch.
And I still feel like this chapters image should have been a reality.
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Maybe some people don't want to be hold grudges too long or else it will consume them too much I seen that happen and it's not pretty I don't know what your deal but you didn't have to be this ruthless about it
for Sunset to really help the new pony's and teach them right she is going to need a set of wings or she is going to run out of time.
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Yeah, I didn't think of that myself, to be honest. Still, to be fair, Izzy COULD have mentioned him "off-screen" as it were. There were certainly enough "few hour time skips" in this story to visualize some of the others sharing information during one of those brief periods.
Sunset was right to do what she tried to do there's a reason you don't give nukes to the Nazis.
Edit: this is a reference to another tale I know of that deals with advanced tech/magic getting into the hands of people unprepared for it. justice league the animated series, The World War II episode where they go back in time to stop future tech being used to win the war for the Nazis and the Axis powers.
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While Harmony is as close to a God as possible in this world since it has a personality it is literally not a deus ex machina since it is not a machine but a living being (I know I'm being pedantic but I don't like it when that term is misused you can thank th3birdman for that)
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I mean there are certain times when a simple "I'm sorry" isn't going to fix things. And I love pony but agree that at times forgiveness meant wiping the metaphorical slate clean of all ills and wrong doings.
That said, I am definitely enjoying this story and hopefully Sunny and Co. can help Sunset realize that she doesn't have to tackle this alone, and they will be there to help her.
Time for a new school of special unicorns is coming!