The Sunset Festival

Stahlseele

Stahlseele #1 · May 20th, 2023 · 2 · ·

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"Who was that flame-maned pony?" Night Glider said, half-seriously.

i see what you did there . .

also:

And then realize too late that you're made a bad choice

lapse in attention while editing something i guess

Wild Stallion

Wild Stallion #2 · May 21st, 2023 · 3 · ·

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In the studious calm of the Canterlot High School library, a tall, slim girl with red-and-yellow hair, wearing a comfortably broken-in leather jacket, was seated at one of the rear tables.

But everyone called her Slim Shim.

Sunset rinsed off the mud from her coat and mane in the creek, then looked around for a towel. Then, smirking, she simply shook herself dry. There were advantages to being a pony in a world of magic, where water and dirt didn't stick unless you wanted them to.

Imagines Sunset Shimmer shaking herself like a dog and getting all fluffy.

"It's not the first time something like this has happened. And it won't be the last. Don't be too hard on yourselves. It's easy to get sucked in by the need for hope. And then realize too late that you've made a bad choice, that you were just following somepony else's agenda. But that's not on you, not at all. That's on her. What matters for you now is what you all do about it."

It's kind of important not to let yourself be controlled by deranged individuals though.

Like you can use a pyro spell, which is usually classified as Shadow magic, to light a campfire. Is that good or evil? Particularly if all you want to do is roast marshmallows?"

Tries to figure out how a spell which creates fire is related to Shadow.

"It is beyond you."

And yeah, she went about it totally the wrong way, but I look at all this and I'm thinking, she wasn't just some obnoxious, power-hungry villain. She had real skill, real talent.

You realize those aren't mutually exclusive right?

"We'll get there," Double Diamond said. "But we did think we should name the talent festival after you: The Sunset Festival. What do you think?"

Aww!

"Believe me," she replied. "When you mess up that bad, just being accepted again, it's... well, it's the only way you're really certain you're making up for it all."

It makes so much sense that Sunset gave Starlight back her village and never told her. Classic Sunset.

"Who was that flame-maned pony?" Night Glider said, half-seriously.

She's the lone Shimmer.

"Like a Princess..." Sugar Belle said quietly. "Like a real Princess... I mean, she acted just like one."

I smell a Sunset Alicorn story coming on.

Daemonabacus

Daemonabacus #3 · May 21st, 2023 · 2 · ·

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Beautiful story, this could have been canon; it's so well written, you intertwined the lore with this story so nicely.

Lets Do This

Lets Do This #4 · May 21st, 2023 · 1 · ·

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11589278
Thanks much! That was the goal here, so it's great to hear it works well for you.
Also, this is about as close as I get to writing a human-in-Equestria story -- except the "human" in this case was already a pony to begin with!

dvd1442

dvd1442 #5 · May 21st, 2023 · 6 · ·

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Great Story.
Can you make an epilogue chapter?
Something like “all the princesses show up in the town and slowly discover that sunset was there and realize how much she grew. I always loves stories with sunset proving herself as good leader and making up for past mistakes.

FanOfMostEverything

FanOfMostEverything #6 · May 21st, 2023 · 5 · ·

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There were advantages to being a pony in a world of magic, where water and dirt didn't stick unless you wanted them to.

That does explain Rarity’s disguise at the Sisterhooves Social.

"Look," Sunset replied, "I know I'm new in town, a total stranger. I mean, you don't know me from that... uh, that rock over there." She gestured randomly with a hoof. "So... that's gotta mean you can trust me completely, right?"

This wouldn’t work in most places, but the village was populated entirely by former victims of a megalomaniacal unicorn. Sunset had an unfair advantage.

Heh. Went and predicted the plot by accident. Wonderful to see Sunset’s unwitting progress on the path she thought she had abandoned. Thank you for a lovely read and a compelling answer to one of the…

Well, I can’t call it one of the more perplexing questions of that episode when “How did the changelings capture everypony?” is right there, but still, thank you for this.

TasermonsPartner

TasermonsPartner #7 · May 29th, 2023 · 1 · ·

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I wouldn't mind at all if you did a sequel set after Starlight came back, and after she had met Sunset, and they both ended up at the town together on the day of the festival. Add Trixie into the mix and you'd be set up for all kinds of shenanigans.

Plus, maybe they'd reveal the town's new name (or old one)...

hawthornbunny

hawthornbunny #8 · May 31st, 2023 · 2 · ·

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I've always been intrigued by the post-Starlight fate of Our Town - I feel like it would be really interesting to see how a village of broken people come together and start anew. It's great to see some of that here.

maxtes252

maxtes252 #9 · Jun 5th, 2023 · 2 · ·

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Now I want to see a direct sequel where Sunset shows up at Twilight's castle to go back to CHS and finds out that Twilight has taken on Starlight Glimmer as her student

redmar

redmar #10 · Jul 4th, 2023 · 1 · ·

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This is a nice story and Sunset will have a chance to meet Starlight as soon as she reaches Ponyville.

Sudrian Engineer

Sudrian Engineer #11 · Aug 23rd, 2023 · 1 · ·

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11589299

11589283
I agree with dvd1442. If youbare willing, I would LOVE a sequal or epilouge where Twi and Celesria find out Sunset was in the town.

Maybe when they are at the festival, as per the end of To Where and Back Again, they overhear a pony named Sunset being mentioned, and grow understandable curious?

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