The Prodigal Sun

(Please note I'm sorta using the IDW MLP Annual 2013 the first story with the same name.)

"It all started one day after she took a magic test we were talking as I took her to the mirror.

Sunset, sporting her usual getup but smaller as she was younger, she was walking alongside Princess Celestia who also was sporting her same clothes as before as they were talking with one another.

"Sunset Shimmer, I have heard that you're not getting along well with the other students. We've talked about the fact that personal relationships..." She went on to her as Sunset groaned as she was getting tired from hearing that.

"For the last time! I don't need anybody!" The most important thing in life is to be the best!" She said dismissing associating with anybody. As Celestia rolled her eyes as she then tried to get her on speed onto what was she going at.

"Well….we've talked about friendship, and it's importance, before. And we've discussed that you need to start opening yourself up to new friends. And remember that talk we had about humility?" She said emphasizing the words to her.

"I remember how boring it was." She said completely dismissing her last comment. Celestia tried to ignore her students last comment as she lead her to a dusty room filled with artifacts, one in particular was a large purple mirror, carved with several distinct patterns, it's surface gleaming brightly.

Sunset raised an eyebrow as she looked at the mirror as it looked gleaming at her.

"Now, Sunset please look into the mirror, and tell me what you see." She said smiling at her student though she was confused at this and looks at the mirror though in a rather less modest way than Celestia would have liked.

"A pretty girl that has nothing but power and potential." She said confidently as she sees the mirror, though Celestia sighed and then spoke up again though more seriously.

"Care to try that again without the talk about humility taken into account?" She said to her as she looked again, but then she sees her reflection again, but somehow, it didn't seem good enough anymore, as though the girl in the mirror was staring back at her was somehow lesser than what she should be.

"I-I see a girl who isn't powerful enough. Who could be great, powerful..." She said as she felt her negativity go to her as the reflection was getting darker and grim.

"...somebody who could rule Equestria." She said to herself as she was looking closely as the reflection was changing into something, she saw what looked like a crown upon her head, and when she peered in closer, she saw, to her amazement, what looked like bright massive wings, sprouting from her back as objects started to circle around the reflection.

Her eyes widened with disbelief over what she was seeing. Celestia then turned her away from the mirror.

"Maybe we had better move on, our lesson is over." She said worrying about her student as Sunset was stuck in her thoughts.

"Wait, what was that? I thought I saw..." She said as her mind was thinking of all the possibilities of what was that.

"Now for tomorrow, I want you to reflect on the discussion we've just had." She said to Sunset as she was thinking.

"But then after I shown her the mirror, she kept pestering me about the mirror every hour of everyday as she was very interested in the mirror so much.

"You know what's fascinating? Mirrors. About that one in the chambers inside the basement?" She said to her, but Celestia had enough with her pestering and then slammed her fist on the table they were in frustration.

"Sunset Shimmer! We've been over this!" She said with harshly. "We will get to the mirror, and many other lessons, in due time...when you're READY!" She said aggressively as she turned away from her, as she did Sunset wrapped her hand in a fist in frustration at how her teacher didn't feel like she was ready.

"I AM ready." She said quietly to herself as she too walked away from her and into her dorm.

The young girl grimaced at the prospect that now grew in her mind. None of the books on magic she'd seen so far had contained any reference to the mirror or it's powers. But there were other books here in the palace that she knew she hadn't read yet. But the problem was that those books were severely restricted. Only Celestia herself had the authority to read them, and even the room itself was off-limits to all of her students, Sunset included. However, the girl knew deep down that, if there was any hope of her learning the secrets of that mirror, it was amongst those forbidden books.

"It looked as if she was just so fixated on the mirror, so she decided to disobey me and go looking at the dark magic section of the library."

And so, in the middle of the night, when all other students would have been asleep, Sunset crept out from her room and made her way towards the restricted areas. There were, of course, guards patrolling the hallways. But Sunset had learned long ago how to get around them when she needed to, by way of her exceptional skill in teleportation. And soon enough, she found herself where she needed to be, standing in front of an old wooden door, upon which was a bronze plaque with a distinctive warning etched into it.

"Dark magic. No entry."

Sunset hesitated as she approached the door her hands tremble as she begun to think to herself. She knew that even the most novice of magic users would recognize the dangers of dark magic. Much of her early childhood had been spent being taught the cautionary tales of men and women who had resorted to such spells, and those stories never ended well. The prospect of somehow ending up like that did not endear itself to her, and she wondered for a moment if it was really worth it. Was curiosity over some mirror really worth risking everything over such dark and undesirable powers?

But as she dwelt on that, new thoughts began to go into her mind. The thought of Celestia and how she thought Sunset wasn't ready. Did the princess think her incapable? Inadequate perhaps? Was there some power she'd need in order to be ready for the secrets that mirror held? And what if these forbidden books held the key to that power? She knew the risks, and she knew that she would be in big trouble if Celestia knew she was here, but her curiosity would not let her be. Taking a deep breath, Sunset opened the old door, and entered the room within.

It was an old room, one that clearly had not been used by more than a few ponies over the course of it's existence. As Sunset entered, her eyes immediately caught sight of an woman, sleeping soundly at a nearby desk. This was, no doubt the curator of this wing of the library. Sunset ignored her though, instead focusing on the reason she was here. She knew her only chance of finding out about that mirror, and what her vision meant, was among these books.

"Not ready? I'll show her not ready." She then walked through the library. "You'd think this place would be better guarded." She thought as she walked into the dark magic section of the library.

She soon got to work, finding a collection of nearby books on a table and glancing over them. She knew she had time, and so got to work in reading the nearby books. However, it was clear to her that these were not what she was looking for.

"Nothing on the mirror yet. But a few of these spells will come in handy." She said as she takes up a book and starts reading it.

Sunset could not tear herself away from these new spells she was reading about for the first time. This was magic she'd never even heard of, and her mouth practically salivated at the prospect of being one of the only girl in the world to know of such spells. The mirror was foremost in her mind, but her thirst for knowledge, something she'd had ever since she first started learning, often led her to more and more spell-books in her search. But as she read over book after book, she failed to notice the sleeping curator now stirring from her slumber. It didn't take long for the elderly woman to notice that there was a student in this forbidden place and, while Sunset was busying herself with her studies, darted out of the room immediately.

As she poured over more books, she came across a particular passage of her current spell-book caught her eye. There was a page towards the back of it that bore a very remarkable image. An image that made Sunset's eyes widen with shock. It was a girl, with wings sprouting from her back. It immediately cast her mind back to her vision from the mirror, seeing herself bearing wings. Realising that there must be a connection, she studied the text beneath the image. Her jaw practically dropped when she'd finished reading.

In all of her years of studying magic, not once had she ever even considered the possibility that she could become more than just a powerful magic user. According to this book, exceptional people could rise above what they were born to be, and ascend to become like Celestia herself. To become an alicorn. Sunset's mind was awash with possibilities once she realised this. "WAIT was it possible for myself to become an alicorn? To become as great as Celestia?" She thought as the questions started to pour right into her. Was it, perhaps, a vision of the future that the mirror had shown her, that she will indeed become one?"

Her expression then became somewhat sour as another thought began. Celestia had acted that she knew more about that mirror than she was letting on. Did she know this? Did Celestia know that this kind of ascension was possible? If she didn't, then why would she be so adamant about keeping Sunset from it? The young girl then felt almost betrayed. The princess had always known how important it was to Sunset that she become greater than she was. Why didn't she ever tell her about this?

Before she could dwell on this further, her mind snapped back to attention as she caught sight of another book, this one covered with a distinct cover bearing the words "Canterlot Castle" upon it. She smiled as she rushed over to it. Picking it up and opening its pages, she soon realised that it was a complete history of not only the castle, but of all the magical artifacts that had been brought here over the years. Her smile widened as she now realised that she'd found what she came for.

"Here we go!" She opened it, frantically looking through it's pages for that which she'd come here for. And soon enough, she found it. An image of the magic mirror she'd become so obsessed over. Smiling, she began reading the text below, speaking aloud as she read.

"The crystal mirror...every thirty moons a portal will open to..."

Her eyes widened as she read the next passage.

"...to another world?!"

Another world? Sunset's mind began racing with all sorts of ideas as she had her hands were tightly on the book. Though they were stopped as soon as a voice was heard from behind her.

(Music-Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep -Tears Of The Light)

"That's not really for you to know now, is it?"

The voice had been cold and harsh, but instantly recognizable to Sunset. It was what she had feared most when she decided to come here, but she knew she had to face it. Slowly, she began to turn around, and soon looked upon the angry and disappointed face of Princess Celestia. Sunset's mentor was flanked by two armored guards. She had never known Celestia to bring soldiers with her, at least not to speak to Sunset. Their presence here made it clear why the princess was here. She wanted Sunset to leave this place, and was willing to use force to do so.

Sunset was worried about this whole situation. She never wanted Celestia to be upset with her, or angry. She just wanted to know about her vision, and about the mirror. As far as Sunset was concerned, there was nothing wrong with that, so it made no sense to her why Celestia would constantly be trying to keep her from answering the questions she wanted answered. But then, as she considered that, a new possibility came into her mind. Sunset's goal in life had always been to become greater, and Celestia knew that if knowing more about that mirror could help her to become great, maybe that was what Celestia feared.

Sunset's mind plunged deeper into this new sense of betrayal and anger. As these thoughts grew and festered in her mind, Sunset's expression became one of anger as she looked upon her teacher. Celestia frowned at her expression as Sunset stepped forward.

"How DARE you keep this kind of magic from me! You know that I am ready for this, that I can be great!" She shouted her tone an accusing one.

Celestia was saddened by her student's words, though she would not allow such feelings to be shown in her face. She had taught so much to this young girl, had such high hopes for her, but it was all too clear now that Sunset was lacking any of the qualities that Celestia would have wanted her to have. She had pushed away everybody. She had disobeyed her. She had even consorted with forbidden magic. And all because of her desire to become more than she was, more than any other person here. Celestia had once taken such pride in the skill and talent of this girl she'd claimed as her student. But now, there was only shame.

"I too believed that you could be great. I once thought I could see compassion and sincerity in you. But I was wrong. It was nothing more than blind ambition. You are being selfish, Sunset. You need to step back and reflect..."

But Celestia was not given the chance to finish giving her advice, because, without warning, Sunset had picked up a nearby book and thrown it in anger at her teacher. Celestia's guards were, as always, ready to defend their sovereign, but their efforts were, this time anyway, unwarranted as Celestia had created a magical barrier between her and Sunset the instant Sunset had thrown the book, causing it to bounce off and fall back to the floor. Celestia looked on in anger as her student stepped forward once more, her expression a mixture of both her anger from before, but also of devastation.

"I'M selfish?! That book right there says that I could become as powerful as an alicorn princess! I could rule here! It's selfish of YOU to keep me from my rightful place!"
But there was another part of her mind that kept telling her to go on, to keep pushing forward even though she knew that it was wrong to do so. The vision the mirror had given her was clear. It was her destiny to become an alicorn, and a princess. And she knew she had the power to achieve it. As far as she was concerned, Celestia was just trying to keep her from this great achievement.

"I deserve to stand beside you and be your equal, if not you're better. Make me a princess." She said to her teacher as she wanted what was said on the book.

Whatever warmth and understanding there might have been in Celestia towards Sunset was almost completely gone now as she said those words to her, she knew now that all Sunset cared for was herself, as she was sure to tell her in her response.

"No. Being a princess must be earned. I have been trying to teach you everything you need to know. But you've turned from it and every time you say you "deserved" to get something without the effort just proves to me that you are not ready." Celestia said sternly as she could to Sunset.

Celestia looked upon her student, who stood there, seething with anger in her eyes.

"It was then I realized now became all too clear that, despite my best efforts, Sunset had no interest or desire in accepting the lessons of friendship, kindness or compassion. Her ambition had blinded her, convinced her that I was her enemy, and that was an ambition that I couldn't undo in her."

She knew what she now had to do, though it brought her no joy to do so. Sighing, she locked her eyes upon Sunset and spoke.

"Sunset Shimmer. I am removing you from the position of my pupil. If we cannot get past this, then your studies end here. You are welcome to stay in Canterlot, but you are no longer welcome in the castle."

Sunset stood there, her mouth gaping open, shocked over what she had just heard. No longer Celestia's student? Being the student of Equestria's princess had been her most proud accomplishment, and it had brought her much joy. To have it taken away from her like this was devastating to her. And that voice in her mind from before, that part that kept telling her this was all wrong, spoke loud and clear that this was all Sunset's fault. She should have left well alone. She should have listened to Celestia. But she didn't. She'd let her ambitions get the better of her, and now it had cost her everything.

Realising this, in this one moment, she wanted nothing more than to fall to her knees and weep. But then that other voice spoke up. The one that told her she was in the right and that Celestia was just holding her back. Her feelings of shame and self-blame began to fade, replaced by her great anger and jealousy of Celestia. She narrowed her eyes and looked up at her former mentor, whose cold stare was still locked on her.

"We'll never get past this because you aren't seeing how great I deserve to be!" She said as she tried to go up to her and say it to her face though the guards were stopping her from going forward. "Is that really all you have to say to me?" She said as her hands were curled in anger as her jealousy has taken hold of her mind.

Celestia, taking in her former student's harsh words, merely narrowed her eyes at her before she turned around as she spoke her answer.

"No. The guards will escort you out." She said hiding her regret.

Sunset's anger was intense by this point. It would have been so easy for her to use her impressive magical power to blast both of the approaching stallions. But with Celestia here, she knew that would be a terrible mistake, and she'd already made too many of those today. Instead, she simply gave her teacher a look of utter disgust before turning away from her. The two guards stood on either side of her and began walking alongside her, escorting her out of the room as Celestia had commanded.

But as Celestia turned around and kept her eyes on Sunset, seeing her walk away, she heard her former student speak her final words to her.

"This is the biggest mistake you'll make in your entire life." She said as the words had been bitter and venomous, and had stung Celestia deep.

The princess' attention was then drawn to a tapestry hanging on a nearby wall. Upon it was a beautiful image of two humans, one white and the other blue. Beside them were the symbols of the sun and the moon. As she gazed upon it. Sunset's remark of her having made a great mistake kept swimming around in her thoughts.

"One of many." She said quietly as a tear falls from her face as she walked off to another direction with the thoughts in her head.

Celestia, then had her head down and sheds a tear as she told her story to her student and friends, Twilight was distraught from this revelation as well as Sonic, the girls and Tails all looked down as they heard her somber tale.

"Ah Jeez I...never thought about that." Sonic said as he places his hand behind his head.

"So, you never saw her again?" Twilight asked as Celestia nodded.

"Yes, she left the castle and I never saw her again." She said still having her face down and looking away. Rainbow Dash then frowned as she closed her eyes.

"Well good riddance to her, she sounded like a jerk anyways." She said as Applejack hits her shoulder in anger of her outburst.

"Ow, what was that for?" She said as she rubbed her shoulder.

"Don't say that right in front of the princess!" She scolds her.

"Yeah, Dashie that wasn't very nice to say!" Pinkie said as she puts the bag of empty popcorn into the trash.

"No, no, it's alright, everyone I'm alright." Celestia said as she didn't want to cause anything between them.

"I can't believe it though, Sunset was your student before me?" She asked as Celestia as she nodded. But then she goes into a thought process while Sonic and Tails were also thinking as well.

"Wait, so now that we got that out of the way, now we know that she's after the chaos emeralds." Sonic said as the others were confused at what he said.

(Music - Mario & Luigi - Paper Jam - Thinking)

"Chaos….Emeralds, what are those?" Applejack asked as well as everyone else.

"Well, to put it shortly, they're seven magical gemstones that have unlimited power." As soon as he said those words, the girls gasped as soon as they heard this.

"Really? Unlimited power!" Pinkie said surprised.

"Wait, if they have that much power, and what Sunset is trying to do.…" Rainbow Dash said as she and the others thought about it as they all came to the same conclusion.

"Oooooh no." They all thought the same thing.

"If she gets those emeralds, we don't know what she might do with that power!" Twilight said as she realized what happens. Princess Celestia had her eyes widened as to what she heard, she imagined if Sunset could get that kind of power, and with her being smart as Twilight, it would end badly for their world and this one.

"So Tails, do you still have that radar with you?" Sonic asked to Tails as he nodded and dug into his pocket and got out a rectangular device. "Yep, I do, we can get them before she gets to them, hopefully." He said as the girls come up to him as they look at the screen. It showed a map of the area they were as there was a shape of a gem on there, not far from them.

"Well, I guess you'll be staying here for a little while longer girls, but you can go back to the Equestria." Twilight said to them. Though Applejack patted her on the back as she was surprised from the pat.

"Nah, that's alright sugar." Said Applejack. Twilight was surprised as Pinkie went near them.

"Yeah, we're alright with staying here!" Pinkie also interjected.

"Yeah, like we can pass up on another adventure like this!" Dash said excitingly.

:Hmmm, this would actually be a nice place to vacation for a while, what with these designs of clothing I might like it here." Rarity said to Twilight. "I-I'll stay here if that's ok with everyone, and I'd really would like to see the animals here." Fluttershy said.

Twilight was happy that he friends were actually wanting to stay, though, she then to ask Celestia something . "But what about you Princess?" She asked her. "I'll stay here and keep an eye on the mirror, besides." She then looked away. "I…..don't think I want to confront Sunset yet." She said to herself, Sonic then places a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it's alright, Princess, you'll do it when ya ready." He said to her, she then smiled and nodded.

"Alright girls let's go find those emeralds!" He yelled.

"Can we do it tomorrow?" Pinkie said as Sonic fell down. "It's almost night time, and we need to save our energy for tomorrow?" She said as she and the others nodded.

"Sigh, alright, we'll go tomorrow, besides I wanted to go back to my home anyway." Sonic said as he was streching, though Twilight's eyes bulged out from that realization.

"Wait, you have an actual house?" She asked as he nodded she then grabbed him.

"THEN WHY DID YOU TAKE ME THERE AND LIVE IN 'YOUR' HOUSE!" She yelled at him, he then puts his arms to her. "Hey, I was injured, and I...kinda forgot." He said sheepishly as the others were confused/chuckled Spike walked up and laughed a little from his mistake.

"Dude, how do you forget you have a house?" He said as he chuckled. "Well I sorta have a one track mind for the most part hehehe." He said as then shrugs off his shoulders, he then gets up and walks to the door. "So do any of you want to come to my house? (Aside from Twilight?)" He said to all of Twilight's friends.

"OH ME, I WANNA GO!" Pinkie jumped up as she heads to Sonic's direction and gives him a bear hug. Sonic looked surprised from her hug. "Ok, Pinkie I think he gets it." Twilight said as she removed Pinkie with her magic as she had a grim look on her face while she tried to hide it as best she could Rainbow was quick to see it as she wondered about it.

"Well, if Pinkies going I guess I'll go too." Rainbow Dash said as she goes to Pinkie. Spike as well came near Twilight.

"Well, I coming too, I want to be with you for a while." He said holding her hand as she smiled and then pats his head.

"Okay then anybody else?" Sonic asked as there was a silence heard throughout the room. "Ok, that settles it come on you girls and dragon kid!" He said to them.

"Hey, I have a name you know!" Spike yelled as he jumped up in anger from Sonic, "Sorry, Spike, anyways let's go, it's gonna get dark outside." He said as he opened the front door.

"After you." He said as Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Spike went out the door as he did also as they go into the night as Sonic ran and Twilight carried Spike and Dash carried Pinkie.

Alright that was a LONG backstory! Though I hope it was enough for Sunset Shimmer.

I might not be able to get another chapter since I need write them, and I'm in collage now so it's gonna be hard to balance them.

I'll figure it out later, anyways thank you guys for reading, please leave a comment and tell me what you liked, or hit me on PM if you want to ask me something personal.

See ya guys later!