It was supposed to be her destiny.
The mirror said so! It showed her as much! Her, with wings and a crown. A ruler. A queen. With Celestia nowhere to be found, so clearly, she had surpassed her mentor! It was a vision! It was destiny! It was her heartās desire!
But Celestia... as always, the princess went out of her way to stifle her! Too worried about her potential ascension. Too busy fretting over perfect little Cadenza who had already āearnedā her horn. Too busy trying to distract her, Sunset Shimmer, with such distractions like friendship!
Sheād confronted the princess over it earlier. Itā¦ hadnāt gone well.
Princess Celestiaā¦ had tossed her aside. So easily. So callously. Dismissed her! HER! A lifetime of servitude, of being her perfect student, and it all amounted to nothing! But what else had Sunset expectedā¦ she had known deep down that Celestia hadnāt really cared. That Sunset was only worth her time and tutelage so long as she was useful.
And now that Sunset wished to surpass her former mentorā¦ she was no longer useful. No longer obedient. Not like Cadenza was. And soā¦ sheād been tossed asideā¦
Fine. FINE! THIS WAS NOTHING NEW! SHE WAS USED TO IT!
Sunset Shimmer was a strong pony. The strongest, most magically talented unicorn in generations! She could handle thisā¦ she wouldnāt crack- she wouldnāt breakā¦ she would rise above! Like the sun did every day!
And she knew exactly how she was going to do it.
If Starswirlās mirror had gotten her into this messā¦ then it would get her out of itā¦
Her bags were packed. The guards were ready to take her away from the palace without a single bit to her name. The fools. She had been running laps around the palace guard since she had been a filly. A quick dash, a minor illusion spell, and a short teleportation array laterā¦ and there she was.
Staring at herself once more in the mirror.
And there before her still stood the image that haunted her.
That imperious expression. The larger than life crown. The wings that rivalled Celestiaās own. Yes! This was her destiny! This is what was promised to her!
So without any thought to her own safety and well being, Sunset Shimmer charged through the glass. It was nebulous, fluid, as she knew it would be. Her calculations were all correct. The faded tomes had been right!
Starswirlās Mirror wasnāt just a way to view the futureā¦ it was a portal!
To where, Sunset did not know. That didnāt matter. Anywhere was better than here, in the palace, under Celestiaās thumb. Let her land in Griffonia for all she cared! No matter what, she would seize her destiny with her bare hooves if need be!
It was what Princess Celestia had promised herā¦ the liarā¦
Sunset Shimmer awoke with a start.
The portal. That had beenā¦ unlike anything she had ever experienced. It had feltā¦ it had felt like being turned inside out, like being stretched to infinityā¦
A shiver went up Sunsetās spine as she recalled the sensation. Ugh, she never wanted to go through that again. Clearly, she had blacked out during the process. Inconvenientā¦ She had thought that she was made of sterner stuff, but the mirror was made from ancient, eldritch magicā¦
Her first order of business was making sure that she still had her supplies on herā¦ Which was when she noticed the first differences.
Whereā¦ where were her hooves?
Every time she moved her arm, all that responded were these weirdā¦ dragon-esque appendages. Claws? Did she have claws now? Whatā¦ what the buck did the portal do to her?
In a panic, Sunset attempted to get to her hooves and immediately feel flat on her face. Wait- Where was her muzzle? Where were her rear hooves?!
Sunset reared aroundā¦ and peered into the mirror.
For it could be nothing else but THE mirror. Just perhaps the other end of it. Embedded into the base of a statue. Strange, but not as strange as her reflection. Whatā¦ what was she?
There was nothing about her appearance that Sunset recognized, save for a few aesthetic similarities. Her mane remained, if not in a slightly different style and length, as did her tail. The aqua eyes that peered into the reflective glass were the same, but everything elseā¦
Whatā¦ what was she? Some kind ofā¦ overgrown monkey? And her hornā¦ Sunsetās hoov- claws reached up to grasp what should be at the top of her forehead but had vanished. HER HORN WAS GONE!
āBuck, buck, buck, buckā¦ā Sunset muttered in a panic. That the mirror had been kind enough to replace her fur with clothes didnāt even register in her mind. All that mattered was her lack of a horn. Her lack ofā¦
She couldā¦ she could still feel it. Her magic. Deep down. Further away. Butā¦ still there. Still accessibleā¦ maybe. Maybeā¦
It was something that would have to wait, Sunset realized, as she glanced around her surroundings. Wherever this wasā¦ it had long since abandoned. The mirror was polished to perfection, with nary a scratch on it, but Sunset chalked that up to its arcane status. Because everything surrounding it, including the statue itself wasā¦ ruined. Cracked and overrun with vegetation.
This was the sort of place that had once been inhabited by ponies(?) but had long since been abandoned. No one had been here forā¦ decades, perhaps? Hard to say.
It was hard to dwell on such things though, because out of the corner of her eye, Sunset spotted them.
The eyes. The glowing, malicious red eyes.
And the growls that came with them.
Sheā¦ she didnāt think that she was in Equestria anymore.
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