Equestria Girls: A New Beginning
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Be-
Sunset Shimmer’s hand slammed down on the offending alarm to silence the irritating beeping that shocked her awake. She then groaned as she pulled herself up into a sitting position on her bed. She blinked her bleary eyes to clear the remnants of sleep out of them and let out another groan as her awaking mind reminded her of what she would have to face again at school today. It had been about two weeks from the “Fall Formal Incident” as it had come to be called and each day she found it harder and harder to drag herself to the school she once ruled.
But she knew she had to or they would come looking for her.
With a heavy, defeated sigh she forced herself out of bed then stumbled her way out of her room and through the halls of her house. Well, not really “her” house, but it was where she had set up once she came to this world. As she made her way through the kitchen she spotted a folded up brown paper bag on the counter with a note tape on it. She tore the note off and stared at it blankly for a few seconds before her mind fully woke up to read it.
“Hey honey, working early and late again.
Packed your lunch. Have fun at school
Love,
-Mom”
She crumpled the note up and tossed it back on the counter in an almost automatic way. It was a ritual she was well familiar with by now. Her “mother” was a workaholic, single parent that she rarely ever saw. It was no wonder that her counterpart in this world ran away and it was so easy for her to take her place. She doubted the woman even noticed. Not that Sunset cared much anyway, it allowed her to work her schemes without much interference. So she rather enjoyed the solitude. Or at least she did, but now...
“No,” she muttered with a shake of her head. “Just...no...”
She then continued on her way to the bathroom where she went about her daily routine of cleaning and primping. As she brushed and teased her hair into it’s usual volumous waves and curves, she paused to look at herself in the mirror. The restless sleep she had been getting the last few days was really starting to get to her as she could see small lines forming under her eyes. She took out some concealer from the cabinet to try to cover them up, but the tiredness in her eyes would still be obvious. Not that anyone even looked her in the eyes anymore. Well, it’s not like they did before, but now there was something different about it that she found she wasn’t enjoying. That feeling of isolation and being powerless would creep back in every time someone looked away from her. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn’t in control of that fear that bothered her or maybe it was...
“Stop thinking so much and just go to school,” she ordered her reflection.
She then left the bathroom to finish getting ready and gather up her things before she face another “wonderful” day of school.
( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - )
Just as expected, the day passed in a blur of eye avoidance and hushed tones. Of course, she knew they were talking about her and occasionally she make out words like “freak” and “demon”. It wasn’t too long ago when she was the one saying harsh things to the students around her. She supposed it was a certain cosmic irony that she was now the one on the other end of it. Part of her wanted to lash out at them for daring to say such things about her, but another part of her knew she deserved all the scorn. It was a part of herself she had buried deep down a long time ago in her pursuit of power. The part that Elements of Harmony brought back when they stripped her of her demonic powers. The part of her that now realized just what exactly she had sacrificed for all those years.
It was also the part of her that caused her to eat her lunch alone on the football field bleachers. Or maybe that was to avoid being embarrassed that no one would want to sit with her. Even Snips and Snails stopped paying attention to her to go suck up to the blowhard Trixie. So if she had to eat alone she’d rather eat alone where noone could see her. Though there was one group that would take her in but she couldn’t handle them right now. Besides she knew the only reason they would even considering letting her eat with them was because they were told to. She wasn’t their friend, she was their obligation. A promise they made to someone, somepony, who just showed up out of the blue and undid everything she built up in only few days. Her hand cliched tightly around her sandwich as the anger built up, causing her squeeze it a bit.
“Twilight Sparkle,” she growled under her breath. “It’s all her fault! If she hadn’t shown up then I’d...” She sighed and relaxed her grip as she calmed down. “No. No it’s my fault. If I hadn’t thought up that stupid scheme to begin with then maybe I’d still be the queen of this school. And then! Then...”
She paused and her eyebrows quirked up questioningly as she tried to think of an ending for that sentence.
“Then what? What was I going to do here after everything was said and done?” she asked herself. “I was too concerned on being the queen of the school or returning triumphant to Equestria that I never really thought of what I’d do after all that. It just seemed so easy as the time. Get the crown, get an army of possessed teenagers, go back through the mirror and then rule Equestria.” She laughed a bit afterward. “Oh Celestia, that sounds incredibly stupid now that I say it out loud. It’s no wonder I was beaten.” Her grin faded when she let out a deflating sigh. “But what am I supposed to do now?”
“You could always try joining the Glee Club!” a cheerful voice offered helpfully.
“Gah!” Sunset shrieked in surprised horror and almost fell of the bleacher.
When she recovered she noticed that at some point Pinkie Pie had sat down next to her. As usual the hyperactive girl had an overly friendly smile on her face and was sitting just a bit too close for Sunset’s comfort.
“Pinkie!” she snapped, still a bit shocked. “How-when did you get here?!”
“Oh not long! Certainly not long enough to hear you talking to yourself about your failed plans to turn everyone into slaves and then take over the Equestria place and then finding yourself in an existential quandary about what to do with your life now!” Pinkie blurted out.
Sunset looked utterly confused for a second before her eyes narrowed in annoyance.
“Perfect,” she grumbled as she packed what was left of her lunch in the bag and got up to leave.
Before she could take another step, however, she saw the other four girls walking towards her.
“Oh, even better,” she muttered under her breath.
“There you were!” Rainbow Dash called out, pointing an accusing finger towards the red and blonde haired girl as they walked up to her. “What are you doing out here, Sunset?”
“Eating my lunch,” Sunset replied matter-of-factly as she held up her lunch bag as proof. “Is that a crime?”
“I dunno, it depends on what’s in the bag!” the blue girl shot back, placing her hands on her hips and glaring suspiciously at the bag.
“Now come on Rainbow, there’s no reason to be mean,” Fluttershy chided her then walked up a few of the steps to be closer to Sunset. “We just wanted to know why you weren’t at lunch with us.”
“Why do you think?!” the orange girl snapped, tossing her hands up in exasperation. “Because I’m tired of all of you pretending to be my friend! We were never friends! You just want me around because Twilight told you to keep an eye on me! That’s all this is! At least she’s honest about it!” she exclaimed, pointing to Rainbow Dash.
“Hey now!” Applejack spoke up, getting in Sunset’s face. “Just because we were told to watch you doesn’t mean we aren’t actually tryin’ to be your friends!”
“But WHY?!” she screamed again, throwing her lunch bag down in confused frustration. “Why do you want to be friends with me?! After everything I did to all of you why would you even want me around?! Why don’t you hate me?! Why don’t you despise me?!”
She breathed heavily after finishing her small rant, her eyes wide and glinting with a slight crazed look that cause the other girls to step back. After a few tense seconds of silence where noone was sure what was going to happen next, Fluttershy surprised them all by speaking up.
“Well...it’s because of all those things that we can’t hate you,” she explained.
“Huh?” Sunset balked, raising an eyebrow in thorough confusion.
“She means you taught use that holding a grudge ain’t the best thing in the world to do,” Applejack clarified.
“That’s right,” Rarity added as she stepped next to Applejack. “Aside from giving you ugly stress wrinkles under your eyes and causing premature greying, it could also cost you the most important people in your life.”
Sunset’s expression started to relax as she mulled over what she had just been told. Though her eyebrow did quirk just a little when she glanced down and noticed the two’s hands were interlocked where they hung by their sides. She thought about making a remark about it but let it slide. Which she then realized was the first time she had ever done anything like that. Maybe that was a start but she still wasn’t sure what to do next.
“But...I don’t know how to be a friend,” she confessed, holding her left arm nervously. “I’ve never wanted a friend before.”
“Then you’re in luck!” Pinkie chimed in as she wrapped an arm around Sunset and drew her into a sideways hug. “We’re all the friends you could ever want!”
“I...uh...” she replied, still a bit unsure.
“Now come on Pinkie, don’t overwhelm her,” Applejack requested as she gently pulled Sunset from the hyper girl’s grip.
“Aaaawww...,” Pinkie whined disappointedly.
“Besides she’s not are friend just yet,” Rainbow pointed out.
“Well, what am I supposed to do?” Sunset asked, genuinely curious.
“You could start by telling us something about yourself,” Fluttershy suggested.
“You know, other than the parts we already know, like you being a raging-”
“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity snapped, cutting her off.
The rainbow haired girl just huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.
“She’s not wrong,” Sunset remarked to the unspoken word. “But what else am I supposed to tell you?”
“How about we start off where you’re actually from?” Applejack suggested. “What’s this Equestria land like? We never did get to ask Twilight much about it.”
“Oh yes! What is an actual magical kingdom like? Is it as glamorous as it sounds? What are the fashions like?” Rarity asked, then quirked an eyebrow. “Are their fashions? You know, with everyone being a pony and all?”
“Do all the animals talk or is it just the dogs?” Fluttershy asked.
“Actually, Spike said he was really a dragon, remember?” Rainbow corrected.
“Oh. Right. Well what are dragons like?” she asked again, then coward a bit. “Are they as scary as they sound?”
“Oh! What are their parties like?!” Pinkie pressed, jumping up and down excitedly.
“How about their sports? Or adventures! There’s gotta be cool adventures there, right? I mean being a magical kingdom and all,” Rainbow asked spoke up, getting into the act as well.
Sunset looked between the five of them, not knowing where to even begin. This was all very strange to her as she usually pushed away anyone who was really interested in actually talking to her. Or wanting to know her. Or just be around in anyway other than someone she could boss around. When she was younger, the idea of having friends just seemed ridiculous to her, but now she was beginning to realize she might actually like the idea. There was just something so...welcoming about it.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she prepared herself to open up.
“Okay,” she started as she opened her eyes to look at them all again. “Let me start by telling you about my mentor, Princess Celestia...”
The End.