It was mid-morning in Ponyville. A female unicorn galloped out of the train that had just arrived at the station. A pair of saddlebags rested on her back. A katana was stowed in its black lacquered, wooden sheath, attached to a harness on her right shoulder. She stopped in front of the fountain, looking around before she approached the closest pony.

"Hello there. I'm sorry to bother you, but can you tell me where Princess Twilight Sparkle lives?"

The light pink earth pony stopped abruptly when she saw the unicorn close in.

"Are you all right?"

The earth pony's azure eyes widened. She leapt with a gasp, then galloped away without answering.

The cyan eyes of the unicorn remained fixed on the mare, who disappeared at the street corner, an eyebrow raised. Fortunately for her, the next pony had no problem showing her the way. She retraced her steps when she arrived at the library, as the one she was looking for was just leaving. "Greetings, Princess Twilight. Would you have the time for an audience?"

Twilight watched the unicorn calling out to her, feeling suspicious but trying not to show it, dark circles under her purple eyes. Then, she put up a polite smile and brightened her face before she spoke. "Hello. I would be very happy to have this conversation with you, but at the moment, I have to go to Canterlot Castle. Princess Luna is waiting for me for an interview of the utmost importance. On my return, it'd be my pleasure to speak with you. Goodbye." With those words, she flew towards the capital.

The mare was not going to stop there. Unhooking her harness, she opened the door of the library, threw her saddlebags in a corner, then started to run after her. With the help of a spell, she created a sphere of flame that surrounded her. With one leap, she came out of it adorned with a pair of flaming wings. Soon, she was flapping in the same direction as Twilight. "Could you grant me an audience on the way to Canterlot?" she asked once at her height.

At first surprised to see a variant of a spell she hadn't used for years, then intrigued, Twilight couldn't help but answer with a question. "Who are you?" Most pressing of all, she couldn't tell how old the unicorn was. Her yellow and red mane was pulled into a long ponytail that started at the base of her head and worked its way down between her shoulder blades, which made her look much more mature.

"Who I am is irrelevant. If I have come back to Equestria, it is to understand what has become of Princess Celestia. What does it mean when the Equestria Daily says she's disappeared?"

Twilight was annoyed at how this conversation had begun. "As you just said, she's missing. This is what Princess Luna announced to Equestria. I don't see what else I can add."

The unicorn frowned. She opened her mouth to breathe in, but when she realised what she was about to say, she changed her mind. The upset expression on her face remained as she tried another approach. "Four months since her disappearance. I've had time to come all the way back here from Japony. And you have nothing more than this to say on the subject? Are there any developments in the case? A lead, perhaps?"

Twilight was embarrassed. It had been a long time since she had to deal with somepony who wasn't satisfied with the official version announced by Princess Luna. Journalists had tried to find out more, but she had always been able to have them leave it at that.. Something told her that this mare was not really going to settle for that. "I'm working every day to find her. What do you think?"

The unicorn took offence, her flaming wings suddenly beating a quicker tempo to overtake Twilight. Soon, she was right in front of her, her wings still flapping intensely. She then crossed her forelegs, her accusing gaze locked upon her interlocutor. "I think four months without any information is suspicious. I think that if the former student of Princess Celestia—and current Princess of Friendship—claims that she hasn't achieved anything after four months, there is cause for concern. I think you're lying by omission, Princess."

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Twilight remained silent in the face of this. Soon, she looked away, uncomfortable, baffled, and using her mane to hide her face. She did not have the strength to respond to this. "No comment."

The inquisitive unicorn suddenly realised what she had just done. She lowered her head in turn, ashamed. Her forelegs fell down to her sides as she took her place next to Twilight. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't talk to a princess like that. It's just that Princess Celestia can't disappear like that for so long. It's as if the sun itself has stopped being raised forever. I don't understand, and it makes me anxious."

"It's all right," Twilight replied. "To tell the truth, I've been going through this regularly for the past few weeks," she admitted, sighing.

The mare with the golden coat bit her lip. Seeing the Princess's spirits so low, she had to find a new subject to talk about, and there it stood before her eyes. She smiled and resumed in a lighter tone, "Tell me princess, it's been over fifteen years since I set hoof in Canterlot—do you know if Donut Joe's store is still open?"

Twilight finally freed herself from the haze that filled her head with gloomy thoughts at that harmless question. "Yeah, I still go there sometimes." Her mind wandered for a moment. "Fifteen years, you say? I was still a filly back then."

The unicorn kept smiling, remembering those days as she continued. "Let me guess, the kind of filly with a foal-sitter that took you to the park to play ball."

Twilight's face lit up, caught between surprise and nostalgia, as she recalled those days with Cadance, then her foalsitter, now current Princess of Love and head of the Crystal Kingdom. "How did you know?"

"All of Canterlot's foals have a foalsitter! See, the park is a great place to play ball and learn telekinesis without breaking anything in the house," the mare said with a forced smile that was meant to be mischievous. She could never admit that she had already seen her fifteen years ago in the company of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, playing in the capital's park. This distant memory was from another life.

Twilight chuckled. "You got me. On another note, I assume you went to the School for Gifted Unicorns too, am I right?"

The stranger was silent for a while, her mind returning to thoughts of the school in her final days. It was not pleasant in the least. "Indeed," she finally replied.

Twilight continued on her way. "What course did you take that got living in Japony?"

Memories came flooding back. Words, deeds, and all the consequences that flowed from them. She was looking for a way out of this conversation. Then, she found it. She suddenly looked at Twilight, a fake smile still on her lips, her horn lit up with a clear blue aura. "We're almost to Canterlot. I bet I can teleport over the station faster than you can."

The princess was a bit taken aback. She had never had the opportunity to face a unicorn that seemed more powerful than average until now, so she jumped at the chance with a big smile. "Successive teleportation race? I'm in," she said, concentrating magic in the horn.

Together, they counted backwards from three. Immediately after, the teleportations followed one another at an insane speed, Canterlot getting closer and closer with each teleportation. In the blink of an eye, the two competitors arrived in a tie at the station. They smiled at each other, satisfied with the result of their improvised race.

Without warning, the stranger broke the magic that allowed her to fly, the wings of fire extinguishing. The mare began to free fall.

Twilight plunged after her to come to her rescue. But when she saw the expression on her face, she stopped.

The unicorn’s face was serene, as if everything was under control, and her intuition proved accurate. The unicorn slowed her fall with the help of telekinesis, her hooves gently settling on the marble of the train station platform.

"That was dangerous," Twilight commented.

"A calculated danger. It's good to know your limits. Especially to push past them," said the unicorn.

"What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know. Probably some sightseeing until I have to get back to Ponyville to retrieve my saddlebags from the library."

"We could go back together after my audience at the castle. What do you say?"

"Let's meet here at fourteen o’clock then. I doubt I'll be around much longer than that."

"All right, then. By the way, I still don't know your name."

The unicorn stopped. Her cutie mark, a sun whose thick and uneven flames were yellow on one side, red on the other, bobbed as her emotions came to a halt. "Oh, you're right." She curtsied, horn to the ground. "My name is Sunset Shimmer."