Chapter 7: Secret Days
As expected, Surprise was overjoyed by Twilight’s decision to meet with Mr. Discord’s daughters. “I am so proud of you!” she exclaimed, bouncing with glee beside her creator as the headed home after Twilight’s last class of the day. “You’re going to love having a social life—I guarantee it.”
Twilight, however, was considerably less enthusiastic. “This was a mistake. I just know it. What on earth could they possibly have in common with me?”
It was a simple question, but unlike many simple questions, this one actually had an obvious answer. “They’re your age, and they must be pretty smart themselves, otherwise their father wouldn’t be considering enrolling them in college.”
“Just because they’re smart, that doesn’t mean I’ll get along with them.”
“But it doesn’t mean you won’t. It’s still worth a shot, right?”
“But what if I can’t convince them to attend? Or what if it turns out they aren’t qualified for college yet? Or... or what if they’d rather keep their current friends rather than dropping everything and jumping ahead?”
Surprise sighed. “Twilight, you’re just nervous, that’s all. It’s been a while since you tried to make some new friends your own age, after all. Besides, even if they aren’t interested in college, that doesn’t mean you can’t be friends with them.”
“But Sunset—”
“Sunset Shimmer can’t possibly know everything. Besides, there’s something off about her, and you know it.”
Twilight had a counter to that one ready, though: “There’s something off about Mr. Discord, too. It seems really coincidental that he’d have two kids smart enough for college at my age, especially since people like me are so uncommon in the first place. How do I know he’s not making it up?”
“You don't really think that anyone from Canterlot Tech’s administration would have let him anywhere near you if they doubted his story, do you?” Surprise replied. “You are a minor, after all. Plus, you can easily get around the possibility that he’s a loony creepazoid by making sure the meeting with his daughters is in a public place.”
“I suppose that makes sense....” Twilight reluctantly admitted.
“Of course it makes sense,” Surprise said. “It came from your brain, after all.”
“But that means it’s not exactly an unbiased source,” thought Twilight. “Surprise, I know you like being the voice that tells me what I need to hear, but in this case, I need to make sure you aren’t just telling me what I want to hear. Right now, I could really use the opinion of someone else. Someone like... Sunset Shimmer!”
Twilight’s expression brightened as the idea formed in her mind. Her next-door neighbor was the obvious choice to confide in. After all, she was the one who had pointed out the difficulty Twilight had relating to other teenagers on an intellectual level, so she must have had some insight into the matter in the first place. Twilight picked up her pace as she continued to march towards her house, hoping that Sunset Shimmer wouldn’t be too busy to talk to her.
As it happened, she ran into her about a block away from their homes, as Sunset Shimmer sent pair of freshmen girls scurrying off—no doubt something to do with the student council, because Twilight couldn’t think of any other reason why a senior would spend time with freshmen outside of class hours... though why Sunset would be conducting student council business this far away from the grounds of Canterlot High was completely beyond her. In any case, a shout and a wave was enough to get Sunset Shimmer’s attention, and it seemed that she had time to spare for a brief conversation. “Hey, Twilight. What’s up?”
As was usually the case when she talked with Sunset, Twilight felt momentarily starstruck by the older girl’s poise, not to mention her willingness to speak with Twilight as if the two were social equals, which was decidedly unusual if TV shows were anything to go by. Then again, even though Twilight was two years younger than Sunset, as a college sophomore she “outranked” the high school senior by two years as well, so perhaps it evened out in the end. In any case, there were more immediate matters to discuss as the pair strolled towards their homes. “Well, do you remember the conversation we had yesterday?”
“More or less. It was something about your social life, right?”
“Yeah... well, you know how you said that I shouldn’t bother with teenagers because I’d end up talking over their heads?”
Sunset chuckled. “I don’t exactly remember putting it that way, but that sounds like the gist of it.”
“Well, something happened while I was on campus today, and now it looks like there’s a chance that the problem will take care of itself.”
Sunset wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion. “What do you mean, Twilight?”
“This afternoon, I met up with a man who says his daughters might be interested in enrolling at Canterlot Tech... and they’re teenagers. Well, I suppose that about half of the students there are still technically teenagers, too, but they’re also legally adults... but you know what I mean.”
Twilight hadn’t really known how Sunset was going to react to this, but she had not been expecting to see bemusement to flash across the older girl’s face. “What? But... but why would someone bother saying something like that to a stranger?”
Twilight shrugged. “The administration set up the meeting because this guy wanted to know what it was like being a college student at my age. He said he was concerned about his daughters’ social lives. I’m not sure if I was able to convince him that his concerns weren’t valid—I sort of forgot all that stuff you’ve mentioned about outclassing other teens—but I did at least point out that they wouldn’t be the only teens on campus if they attended Canterlot Tech.”
“They? As in, more than one?”
“Um, yes. Mr. Discord said they were twins.”
At this, Sunset Shimmer’s eyes bulged in what almost looked like an expression of panic which seemed completely alien from the cool demeanor Twilight normally associated with her. “Did he mention their names?” she asked forcefully.
“Uh, yeah, I think he did. Pinkie Pie and Penultra... no, wait, it was Penumbra. Why do you ask? Do you know them?”
“Well, as it turns out, I do,” Sunset said as her face returned to its usual aloof expression... though it was belied by the heavy breathing that was now flaring through her nostrils, as if she was desperately trying to maintain her composure. “They just moved here, and they’re currently attending Canterlot High. But, if their, uh, father is considering enrolling them in college...”
“Do you think it’s suspicious?” Twilight asked. “I mean, the timing seems almost too perfect: I’ve a little worried about my social life recently, but now it seems like a potential solution just drops into my lap. I mean, on an intellectual level, I know it’s almost certainly a coincidence, but it still feels a little weird.... Of course, I’ll probably have a better idea after I have a chance to meet up with them.”
“Oh... you’re going to spend time with those two?” Sunset Shimmer asked as she ran her fingers through her hair. It was the sort of gesture that Twilight would probably have ignored in other conversations, but something about Sunset’s behavior was making everything about her seem slightly... off. “Could you do me a favor and tell me how it goes? You know, because it would be nice to think that you’ve managed to resolve your social problem.”
“Uh, sure,” Twilight said as the two of them approached their homes and parted ways to head towards their respective front doors. “I’ll let you know.” But as she entered her home, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there had been something strange about that conversation. “Social problem?” Since when does Sunset phrase things that awkwardly?
———————
Sunset Shimmer slammed the front door behind her as she stomped through the empty house, trying to figure out how her carefully-laid plans had gone so awry. Although she had yet to find a smidgen of concrete evidence, she was now certain that Pinkie and Penumbra were really ponies just like her. The idea that mere coincidence could explain why the two newcomers who were frustrating her attempt to acquire the Element of Magic at the Fall Formal were also going to be getting in touch with the human version of the pony she’d taken it from was just too much to ask.
Of course, the fact that Sunset even needed to go through with this idiotic farce of a competition in the first place was fairly solid evidence that things weren’t going her way, but then, nothing had really gone the way she wanted it to since she’d first arrived in this world. Aside from the shock of turning into a completely different creature, her new form lacked anything comparable to her horn, which in turn meant that focusing her magic was incredibly difficult. Thus, when combined with the fact that magic just didn’t seem to work as well over here in the first place, Sunset Shimmer ended up draining her magic reserves to ridiculously low levels when casting even the most basic of spells.
And she had needed to cast a lot of them when she first arrived to cover up all of the gaffes and mistakes she’d made while trying to insert herself into human society. Really, the only break Sunset had caught was the fact that she’d done so much elective study in the field of neuromancy when she was still Celestia’s student. This was a field where even a small amount of magical power could be very effective, provided that you had the insight to wield it only when it was necessary—and considering how inefficient unicorn magic seemed to be here, Sunset Shimmer had needed all the insight she could muster, because she had needed to overcome some unbelievably imposing obstacles just to get where she was... such as ensuring that nobody ever asked her about her parents.
But Sunset’s challenges weren’t simply limited to keeping the inconveniently nosy at arm’s length—there had been far trickier tasks to deal with. Most notably, she’d put forth quite a bit of effort to ensure that her own human counterpart remained on the other side of the country, unknown to anyone from Canterlot High, because she simply couldn’t perform a mind control spell strong enough get everyone to ignore the fact that there was another girl with her name and face walking around... well, not yet, at least.
Sunset skulked into her kitchen to fix herself some dinner. She was so sick of living in this empty house; indeed, upon figuring out how to reopen the portal, she had initially wanted to return to her homeland as soon as she’d rebuilt enough magic reserves to cast the spell, but she had thought better of it. As much she hated spending half of the day in solitude, merely returning to Equestria wasn’t an option—in fact, it had never been an option in the first place.
She was not about to go back and grovel at Celestia’s hooves and beg for mercy, because as far as she was concerned, she’d done nothing wrong in the first place. To Sunset’s mind, there had a been a very real possibility that the Elements wouldn’t be found in time to vanquish Nightmare Moon, and so it behooved her to ensure that she had more arrows in her metaphorical quiver, and even more importantly, that she knew how to use those arrows effectively. Knowledge had to be acquired, which meant that experiments needed to be made, even if the subjects were unaware that they were participating. What did it matter if a few ponies got hurt? The fate of Equestria was at stake!
But no, Celestia didn’t see it that way. She couldn’t see the difference between taking perfectly reasonable risks and “going mad with power.” Sunset could never allow herself to submit to somepony so obviously naive; no, her ultimate return to Equestria would have to be from a position of strength. But, to do that, she’d need to be able to wield her magic effectively over here so she could consolidate her power, which, in turn, meant that she’d had to get something that could be used to effectively channel her magic. But because the humans didn’t use magic in the first place, there wasn’t anything over here for Sunset to find. Thus, in order to effect her triumphant return to Equestria, she would need to do so secretly, in order to recover the one thing that was certain to enhance her magical abilities: the Element of Magic itself.
She had been ready to do so the previous year, even going so far as to prepare everything she needed to fake an illness severe enough to require a lengthy hospital stay to explain her absence while she scoured Equestria for the Element, only to discover on her first reconnoiter that the Element had been found only a month or so earlier and was now under lock and key in the Royal Treasury. That, in turn was what had set off the massive scheme to get Canterlot High to finance the creation of a duplicate... and then Sunset had managed to bungle the actual switch.
Sunset grumbled under her breath as she flopped onto the living room couch, turned on the television, and bit into her microwaved veggie burger. The show was some inane cartoon for children that was little more than a thinly veiled commercial for a toy line, but she was too distracted by her thoughts to notice. “Why in Tartarus didn’t she come here?” she asked out loud.
“She,” in this case, was Twilight Sparkle—the pony one, not the human. All of Sunset’s backup plans had presumed that if she had been discovered while absconding with the Element of Magic, its current bearer would be the pony who would follow her to retrieve it; and she had managed to learn that that pony was the upstart filly that Celestia had been raving about in the months before her ultimate fallout with Sunset. At the time, it had seemed that Providence had been smiling on her, since the human version lived next door, and she’d invested quite a bit of time on their acquaintance, under the assumption that this Twilight could tarnish the pony as an untrustworthy fraud if she’d followed Sunset to the human world.
But instead, she was now dealing with two completely unknown quantities—possibly three if this “Discord” wasn’t some sort of mindless golem who’d been sent along to assist Pinkie and Penumbra. Neither of those names had come up during the admittedly brief sojourns back to Equestria; she now began to suspect that she should have made the effort to learn who the other Element-Bearers were... but the idea that either of those two had any direct connection with the Elements of Harmony was ludicrous. Surely, Celestia would have sent all six on a mission of this importance, if she was to send any at all.
At least part of their plan was obvious: Pinkie was attempting to win the Element of Magic in the Fall Formal—another way that the original plan had derailed, since she had intended to put the damned thing on as soon as she’d arrived here, but Rarity of all people had found it and immediately brought it to Luna, doubtless with the intention of painting Sunset as irresponsible. Still, as an outsider, Pinkie had a tough slog ahead of her if she wanted to build up her popularity enough to compete in a week. That said, Sunset intended to take every advantage she could, because these two sisters were still wild cards.
It didn’t help that neither Pinkie nor Penumbra seemed to have any human counterparts... or if they did, they lived in a completely different part of the country. But that seemed unlikely; she’d been able to learn about her own human counterpart after an hour of internet searches, but these two newcomers seemed to be completely lacking in digital footprints. Even worse, her lackeys hadn’t been able to catch them making any of the mistakes she made when she first arrived here, so she had no material with which to make them laughingstocks of the school. To further complicate things, according to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, Penumbra had managed to recruit that stuck-up bitch Rarity to their cause, and they were starting to draw other allies too.
But none of this was particularly confusing; indeed, it was probably similar to what she would have tried upon realizing that using magic to simply steal the tiara wasn’t practical in this universe. What had completely blindsided Sunset was this apparent attempt to ingratiate themselves with the human Twilight Sparkle. That girl didn’t even go to Canterlot High, so why on earth were they wasting time attempting to get in touch with her?
Sunset snapped off the television as she finished her burger. She was overlooking something; she felt almost certain of it. She needed more information, and she could only get that information from her adversaries. The time had come, she decided, to take more drastic actions.
———————
Getting access to smartphones had proven to be much simpler than either Pinkie or Penumbra had anticipated, mostly because they had underestimated just how quickly Discord was becoming a full-fledged technology geek. Within an hour or two, he’d acquired a pair of moderately-priced phones which were at least “not uncool,” even if they weren’t exactly the “cutting-art, state-of-the-edge” models that inspired oohs and ahs from the locals. He’d had to hold back on the hardware because he’d decided that the pre-paid data plans that the phones were attached to were a much better use of their funds. Thus, once their homework was finished, Pinkie and Penumbra had spent most of the evening figuring out how to get their little plastic rectangles to do what they wanted.
For the most part, it was fairly self-explanatory—at least, the parts that they might actually need were simple: long-distance communication, and a camera to record any visual evidence they might need for later (and, Pinkie soon realized, any audio evidence, since the camera could capture that when it was recording movies). Plus, depending on the strength of the phone’s signal, they could access the internet to get answers to otherwise awkward questions, which would certainly make it easier to blend in. For example, when Pinkie tried to find out if the internet knew why the lumps on female chests were so big, she found an answer very quickly.
Beyond that, though, there seemed to be little on the smartphones to hold Penumbra’s interest. There were a few music programs to choose from (though Discord insisted on calling them “apps”), but it seemed that most human music wasn’t all that different from various kinds of pony music, though there were considerably fewer party metal bands (much to Pinkie’s disappointment). Pinkie, however, soon found herself playing all sorts of games, many of which seemed to involve repeatedly tapping rectangles to avoid having to pay real-world money for in-game money to buy things that didn’t actually exist, which probably would have been considerably more ludicrous if Pinkie hadn’t spent the first few years of her life not actually existing.
In any case, the goals for today had been quite straightforward: acquiring the contact information of all their friends so they could coordinate a meetup to discuss Pinkie Pie’s election strategy. For Pinkie, this had been a relatively simple matter, as she had classes with Rainbow Dash and Applejack, and Fluttershy firmly established herself as her go-to “lunch friend.” Really, the closest thing to an actual problem that Pinkie had encountered was when Applejack had asked who else would be helping out. She’d needed to do quite a bit of hemming and hawing to avoid saying Rainbow Dash’s name, as her plan to deal with the fact that two of her friends hated each other’s guts was still rather hazy.
Penumbra, by contrast, only needed to get Rarity’s contact information. However, they didn’t have art class that day, so her options were limited to trying to meet up in the hallways. This didn’t end up happening until after the classes were over, and Rarity was on her way to a meeting with the rest of the Fall Formal’s decorating committee. Still, despite the fact that Rarity was a little rushed for time, she did have a few hours on the rapidly approaching weekend that she could clear out for a meetup.
It didn’t take Pinkie very long to inform the others, as her smartphone was quite good at fulfilling its original purpose. For a meeting place, Pinkie selected the park where she’d entered this world. She was still somewhat worried about how to deal with Rainbow Dash and Applejack, though. They were not going to be happy about the prospect of working together again, and since both had been quite clear about their mutual dislike to Pinkie Pie, she couldn’t simply feign ignorance.
Penumbra, however, wasn’t nearly as worried. It seemed fairly obvious to her that the frostiness between Rainbow Dash and Applejack was likely due to a simple mixture of stubbornness and miscommunication, which, though daunting, was not an insurmountable obstacle. Though it probably wasn’t going to be pleasant, corralling the two into a position where both had to admit to their own selfishness seemed quite feasible, particularly since Pinkie was quite certain that both of them enjoyed being her friend.
This train of thought naturally led Penumbra to begin considering how she could effectively present the obvious parallels between this state of affairs and the one that existed between Pinkie Pie and Discord, because she was fairly certain that Pinkie would do her best to avoid applying any lessons learned to her own situation. It was probably due to this distraction that Penumbra was completely taken by surprise when someone grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into an empty classroom.
Seconds later, Penumbra was staring into the glowering scowl of Sunset Shimmer. “Well, this is a pleasant surprise,” Penumbra said in what she hoped was a condescending tone of voice. “I would have expected you to waylay my sister if you were going to have another go at intimidation. Or did she just manage to shake you off while exiting the school.”
“Can it,” Sunset said tersely. “You can’t fool me with this innocent routine. I know what you really are.”
Penumbra raised one of her eyebrows as she briefly glanced around the room. She didn’t see any witnesses, but that didn’t mean that Sunset didn’t have some sort of recording device present to gather evidence. “I’m not quite sure how you expect me to react to that,” she said calmly as she put her hands in her pocket. Her smartphone was there, but she didn’t know how she could start her own recording of this conversation without Sunset Shimmer noticing.
“You aren’t human,” Sunset hissed.
Penumbra blinked in surprise as she withdrew her hands from her pocket. There was absolutely no way that Sunset would have made such a claim if there was any chance that someone might hear about it later, which meant that she almost certainly wasn’t being recorded—or at least, that recording wouldn’t be played for any of the locals. Penumbra felt quite a bit of relief upon this realization; this conversation would no doubt be much easier if she didn’t need to worry about third parties. “And your point is...?”
“My point? My point is that you’ve lost the element of surprise.”
Penumbra waved her hand dismissively. “Yes, of course we have. You used to be Celestia’s star pupil, after all; we figured you’d put the pieces together as soon as you found out we were attending school here. However, this does raise a rather pertinent question: Why, exactly, would you go to the effort of telling us this?”
As Penumbra half-expected, Sunset ignored the question, mostly because she was too busy getting infuriated. “Listen, you. I don’t know what sort of clever scheme Celestia’s trying to pull by sending some nobodies to do Twilight’s job for her, but I know it has something to do with the human Twilight, and if you think—”
Penumbra cut into Sunset’s rant before she could finish: “Sweet Celestia, have we really rattled you that badly?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Do you seriously not know who we are? And more importantly, did you actually intend to tell me that?”
Sunset opened her mouth, as if preparing a response, but no sound came out. It seemed that it was only just now dawning on her that her attempt at intimidation had horribly backfired.
Penumbra, for her part, was grinning from ear to ear, and, as was usually the case, her smile looked more sinister and demented than joyful. She immediately decided that now was the time for some mind games; the opportunity was simply too good to pass up. “Well, my dear Sunset, you’ve caught me in a generous mood, and I don’t see why you should walk away from this conversation empty-handed.”
Sunset was obviously skeptical. “You’re going to tell me who you are?”
“Oh, not all of us,” Penumbra said. “If you couldn’t be bothered to learn about Pinkie Pie before, you clearly deserve to learn about her the hard way. But as for me...”
“Yes?”
Penumbra chuckled. “It’s kind of... ironic, really. You spent all that time training to fight Nightmare Moon. All that hard work and research to combat the gravest threat Equestria had ever seen. Celestia even said that the two of you fell out because you went too far in your efforts. And all of it went to waste when you ran away.”
“That isn’t irony.”
“No, it isn’t,” Penumbra agreed as she stepped close enough to Sunset to invade her personal space. “What is ironic,” she said in a low tone of voice, barely above a whisper, “is that when you became the threat, Celestia sent The Nightmare.”
Sunset backed away from her adversary, nearly tripping over a desk as she tried to maintain eye contact. “You’re bluffing,” she said firmly, though a slight crack in her voice undermined any confidence she may have tried to project.
Penumbra didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she flashed a half-crazed smile for a split-second before rearing back her head and letting loose a barrage of The Nightmare’s soul-crushing cackle.
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I don't know about anyone else, but I'm fully expecting this in the next chapter:
38.media.tumblr.com/ab3168abb79419fa3fc628ca05d27ae7/tumblr_n0awwchQw91trniudo1_500.gif
Hot damn Penumbra. Get 'em girl, get 'em!
So, Sunset, are you starting to realize just how much trouble you're actually in?
And Penny hasn't even mentioned Discord, yet..,
reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/slow_clap_citizen_kane.gif
That is almost literally what I thought Penumbra should tell Sunset just a few paragraphs before. I am most pleased.
and thus...Pinkie learns that the internet is for porn.
One question: How does Sunset not know the name Discord? Wasn't there, like an entire window in the palace dedicated to Celestia and Luna icing his sorry a
s 1000 years ago?
Other than that, nice chapter, if a little too much exposition for my taste, and not enough action. Seriously, most of it was just Sunset and Penny thinking, and there was only, like, 20 lines of dialogue in this whole thing. That said, I have been waiting for Sunset's "Oh Crap" moment when she realizes she's fighting the Nightmare. And the laughter just seals the deal. It's a good thing Discord didn't have it as easy getting her to laugh in the last story as Sunset did just now.
6574398 - I have a detailed answer which I'm keeping in reserve in case it ever becomes relevant to the plot, but for now, her reasoning can be summed up as "it can't possibly be that Discord."
Another excellent chapter. Well done.
Hell Sunset will freak when she finds out that Mr. Discord is actually Discord.
It's probably as well Pinkie is Pinkie, as I suspect poor Twilight would have been rather more... traumatised? if she'd discovered the Internet...!
6574317
Honestly, after Sunset said Penumbra wasn't human, I was half-expecting something along the lines of "I'm not even real in the classical sense!"
6574413 6574398
Well, if I remember correctly, not even Twilight Sparkle, number one student of about everything, knew about Discord before he was set free. It may be easy to forget, but if we stick to show canon, a lot of what the main cast know, like the Elements of Harmony or Discord, are, to the large majority of Equestria, rather obscure.
By the by, the windows depicting Discord were mostly inside Canterlot Tower (where the Elements were kept), which I doubt is visited often, even by Celestia's star student. And even then, how many century-old stained glass windows can you connect to a name and story of something you might actually meet someday?
Point is, it is possible Sunset knows of him (especially if she was digging through Celestia's past) but even if she does, it is unlikely she's going to immediately connect "Mr. DIscord" to an aeon-old chaos demon that was permanently imprisoned more than a millennium ago.
At least, that is my assessment of the matter.
And with this chapter, you have more than earned that thumbs up.
Sunset has no idea what kind of sheer power is being placed against her.
If Discord is just that good at techno geek, what if he finds the obscure and rejected Kaluza Klien functions from the 1920s that link light and gravity using 5 dimentions. Then finds out, that just like Pinkie and Suprise are imaginary freinds, Magic is the acceptance of the extra physics. all thats needed is beleif, eventually, and certain technology in the meantime?
Then again, it would mean he could take it back to Equestria and have Magic from energy. and vice versa.
Which would be the Elements?
Wonder which song and dance routine Pinkie is going to have for the cafeteria?
6574413
6574721
Okay, seems legit...
Penumbra enjoyed that, yes she did.
Interesting fleshing out of Sunset's motives.
Pinkie, did you completely skip over the eighties?
6575361 - You're thinking of glam metal. Party metal is heavy metal that is specifically focused on the act of partying, like Andrew WK, or Party Cannon. (At least, I've been told that Party Cannon sings songs about partying. I can't quite make out the lyrics myself.)
6574413
Well, now that she's been told who Penumbra is, it being that Discord is much more plausible. The fun part is going to be who Sunset thinks Pinkie is, given the kind of crew Pinkie's running with.
Best part of this fic I don't even need to read the rest of it 9 hooves out of 4 you win my internets
I'll read the rest of it anyway though because it's gud
6575712
mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw761_internetlolinternet.gif
Well, I just learned that "party metal" is in actual genre of music. Also, poor Sunset. Poor girl just can't adapt well to sudden shifts in the plan. Rather like her mentor in that respect.
Most entertaining chapter. Discord's continuing geekery is especially fun. Definitely looking forward to Twilight meeting the best friends she's never had.
I'm torn between applauding Penny for that awesome line and wondering whether it was all that wise. It could make Sunset desperate, which is probably a bad idea considering the situation.
I've been
_____________________
6577101
Definitely going to be applauding her. Sunset was planning drastic actions anyways, but no. She needs points for using irony properly. So many writers have their characters say that word (when it isn't ironic). Still, that line was so BAMF.
It's good to finally see things from Sunset's perspective. This is a little off topic, but I had two thoughts reading this chapter:
1. If Sunset hadn't been in a different dimension at the time Inscape would have been a whole lot darker. Sunset wouldn't have tried taking over with powerpoint, and preemtive targeted neuromancy is probably a good way to disable the Elements of Harmony (basically exactly what Discord did in canon).
2. So Sunset is both: A) Trying to keep a low profile in her deserted house on a normal street next to respectable families like the Sparkles and B) Trying to use as little magic as possible? Hehe, that means she has to do all her own yard work, anything else would look super-suspicious. For some reason I love imagining Sunset having to mow her lawn and clean her gutters so Night Light or Velvet Sparkle doesn't report her to the Home Owners Association.
Y'know, in the face of what would have been a planetary extinction event under Nightmare Moon, I can see why Sunset thought to resort to extremes.
... Of course, it seems she got the date wrong. Not sure how good her mind control and absolute power plan would work when she's two years late.
Hm, if the search sites Pinkie is using are anything like mine, she'll be running for the nearest oncologist shortly after finding her answer.
6578410
Been too long since I'd read Inscape. Thanks for the reminder!
Found another typo in addition to 6577547
Missing this one-letter word.
Hahahaha, oh, that ending.
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Poor, poor Sunset Shimmer. Our villain of the story is hopelessly outmatched.
Or, more like a cornered animal.
That could go south very quickly, if Sunset thinks she's up against a monster, with her back to the wall, she might do something drastic.
Less like "sabotage the votes to win the prom" and more like "kill it before it kills me".
But still, can't fault Penumbra here at all. That moment was priceless.
I read so many other sunny stories where she's the char I'm rooting for, that I forget not to think of her that way when I go back to reading this one. ^^;
I do so love seeing Penny laugh.
6574413
You're right, it can't possibly be that Discord. Why, the air hasn't even turned plaid yet!!
6579487 So far that is precisely the problem with this story. What is the point of any of this if Sunset is just going to be established as outclassed from the beginning? The story cant remain interesting if the antagonist is worthless. The only hope I can really have at this point is that for the first time ever the author let's their OC get taken down a notch. Maybe confronting Sunset with the idea that Penumbra is the creature she has trained all this time to destroy will backfire.
All I know is something needs to happen to make Sunset more of a credible threat and Penumbra needs to not have everything under control at some point for their to be any tension.
In the interest of not being to harsh to this story I would like to say that the final scene was pretty darn good and I also liked seeing things from Sunset's perspective. It's good to have her get fleshed out instead of being "power hungry".
6580010 - To address your question, I'd say that Sunset is currently reaping the fruit of her inaccurate assumptions. She had originally planned on facing Princess Twilight, so she initially thought that Pinkie et. al. would not pose much of a challenge (remember, she has no idea how powerful Pinkie is). Something needed to happen so she would take them seriously as a threat (because if she didn't take them seriously, she would be completely blindsided by her ultimate defeat, which I don't find very interesting).
If you'll forgive my use of an overused metaphor, Penny won the opening skirmish. Most of the battle is yet to come.
Penumbra may have given up a crucial piece of information, but the way she did it was pretty damn amazing. This chapter did well in demonstrating that while Sunset Shimmer is intelligent and cunning, she doesn't have any idea about what she's up against.
6580575 I'm glad to hear it, and thank you for taking the time to respond to my concerns
6574413 And it was pretty good reasoning until she found out about Penny.
Penumbra is AWESOME!!!
A surplus of Party Metal in Equestria, you say? So, when is the portal opening next?
The end made me smile so much. Sunset must be wondering WTSF right now.
6714108
http://www.last.fm/tag/party+metal
There's some for you ^_^.
That is probably one of the most delicious reveals I have ever had the utmost pleasure of reading!
Great job and keep up the great work!
Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahah
NMM: lol
Penny is best reformed villain.
I hate straight about-faces, and you really handled all the reformations really well. You kept the characters' villainous tendencies and turned them into character traits that are endearing or awesome depending on the context.
9497744
I know right!? It's my most favorite part about the series, and why I'm sad he just vanished into thin air.
God, I love this series.