//------------------------------// // 4. It all Comes Flooding Back // Story: Sunset Nikos // by Diokno44 //------------------------------// For what felt like an eternity, the two held each other close, not wanting to let go, fearing the other would vanish into the aether as soon as they broke apart. Warm, salty tears flowed down their cheeks freely, as their foreheads touched, warmth radiating out from their bodies. Their eyes locked, frosty gray staring deeply into soft electric blue. Meanwhile, seven girls, and one dog, after school had let out, were searching for their bacon haired friend/doppelganger. Pinkie was the first to spot Sunset, as she rounded a corner. She let out a squeaky gasp, ¨Girls, look!¨ she whispered, pointing. The girls peeked their heads around the corner, seeing Sunset Shimmer tenderly embracing the lanky Valor Shield, none of them unaware of their true identities. "Oh my, it seems our dear Sunset's involved in a secret, sordid romance." Rarity said, smirking. "A hidden paramour she didn't want her closest friends or even her alternative reality double to know about." she swooned. "It's so romantic," she said, beginning to tip over. Thankfully for Rarity, and her outfit, Pinkie caught the royal purple haired fashionista before she hit the ground, propping her up against a nearby wall. "Thank you sweetie." she smiled warmly. "Um girls, shouldn't we ask Sunset before we assume? You know what happens when you assume." Fluttershy said, running a tender hand through her long hair. "I mean, maybe they're just old friends or something." the pink haired girl suggested, as she moved a stray strand out of her face. "Well, we could ask Sunset herself, yah know." Shimmer said, playfully rolling her eyes. Even though she had bonded well with the Rainbooms, they still drove her, and her double, off the walls sometimes. Like that one time, Pinkie had accidentally shown, via taking the wrong flash drive, Sunset's entire collection of Filly Fooler Monthly to the group. That had certainly been an interesting evening, and Shimmer certainly had plenty to tease her dear doppelganger about once they got back home, much to Sunset's chagrin. Sunset, meanwhile, broke apart from Valor. She could see hints of the Jaune Arc she had known in her previous life. His unkempt golden blonde hair, those warm, beautiful electric blue eyes, and that lanky body hiding an athletic musculature which she had so adored. "It's really good to see you again Jaune." she smiled, butterflies fluttering in her stomach, and a faint blush grow on her cheeks, as she felt his original name pass through her lips. "Same here Pyrrha." Valor responded, laying a gentle hand on her right shoulder. He cracked his neck, enjoying the feeling of his joints sliding back into place. Suddenly, an idea flashed into Sunset's head. "Hey Jaune, I just had an idea. You could fill in on what happened after I, which I still don't recall, ended up on Arcadia, and I can introduce you to my friends?" she suggested. Since she was going to, in essence, get back together with an old flame, then it would only be right to introduce Jaune, or Valor Shield as he was known in this dimension, to her friends, and lay out what she knew of her old life. Valor gave her a warm smile, "Oh, the rest of the Rainbooms?" he asked, running a calloused hand through his flaxen hair. "That sounds great." he smiled. As he was about to continue speaking, a car horn honked, and an ultramarine hybrid pulled up in front of the car, the driver honking once again. Valor smiled sheepishly, "That's my sister, well, one of them. Even when I'm not on Remnant, it seems like I'm doomed to have multiple sisters." he chuckled. "I'll see you tomorrow Pyrrha." he waved, and raced off, zipping into the hybrid. "Bye Jaune," Sunset said, waving as his car drove away. "This is turning out to be the best day ever!" she grinned, hands pressed against her chest, a slight bounce in her step. "Better text the girls we'll be having an extra to our table tomorrow," she said, whipping out her Grussian Blue phone, and quickly sending a group text to the girls. With that done, she fixed her jacket and started her way back to the parking lot On the way back to their home, Sunset and Shimmer made quiet small chat. Shimmer was careful to avoid the subject of Valor, not wanting her double to catch on that she and the other Rainbooms knew about him yet. Seeing a dark gray sedan in the driveway, both girls knew their mother, Amber Dawn, was back from work. Parking their bikes in the garage, and locking the garage door, the two girls made their way inside. They found Amber in the kitchen, sipping a cup of coffee, her dark blue blazer laid out on the back of the chair. Having had Shimmer in her late teens, she was a fair bit younger than the mother of a nineteen-year-old girl would be. She barely had a speck of gray in her fiery orange hair. "Hey girls." Amber smiled warmly, putting her coffee cup down. She worked as the afternoon anchor at the local 90210 News station. It was sometimes tedious, but it paid quite well. "How was school?" she asked, pushing a stray strand of hair out of her face. "Great." Both Sunset and Shimmer replied in perfect unison, causing a brief chuckle to come from the three women in the room. "Well, we'll let you rest mom." Shimmer smiled, as the two girls hugged the thirty-nine-year-old woman, and then made their upstairs to their shared bedroom. After a few hours worth of playing multiplayer matches of Super Smash Sisters 4 on their Neightendo 3DS, both girls decided to turn in for the night. Quickly brushing their teeth, and changing into their sleep clothes, which for now consisted of a loose T-shirt, and a pair of shorts, Sunset and Shimmer bid each other goodnight, before snuggling up under their covers, and falling swiftly asleep. The next morning, Sunset sat next to Valor at their usual table. Shimmer had to run a quick errand at the local Wall-to-Wall Mart but had said she would get the girls as soon as she was done. Sunset took a deep breath, as she rapped her fingers against the wooden surface of the table. Upon feeling pressure on her left hand, she looked down and found Valor's right hand grasping her's comfortingly. "Thanks, Jaune." she smiled, "I'm just, well, nervous is all. I mean, I'm gonna be dumping all this info on my friends, and well, I don't know how they'll take it." Valor gave her a deep smile, and a small peck on the forehead. "Hey, they're your friends. If they're anything like Nora, Dust knows Pinkie is, and Ren, and all our other friends, they'll cope." he grinned goofily. He put his left hand on the table, accidently sticking it into his soda. Sunset snickered, "You're right Jaune." she said. "Hey, what eve-" she was interrupted by the bell attached to the front door rung, and the Rainbooms, both Twilights, Shimmer, and both Spikes entered the cafe and bakery. "Heya girls." she waved them over, smiling warmly. "Hey, Sunset." The nine girls and two sentient dogs said in unison as they all took their seats at the table. All twenty-two pairs of eyes turned and focused on the blonde newcomer to their get together. All were asking the silent question of "Who's this?" Sunset took a sip of her cream soda and gave a small smile to the group. "Girls, I have to tell you something. I...I'm not who you think I am?" a soft gasp echoed throughout the group. "You know those dreams I've been having, it turns out they weren't dreams after all, but memories," she said, sighing. "As it turns out, my real name is, or was, Pyrrha Nikos. Valor here," she lightly squeezed his hand, "was a friend of mine, Jaune Arc. We both came from another I guess dimension, on a planet known as Remnant." Sunset took another gulp of her cream soda. "So wait Sunset, if that's true, how'd you end up in Equestria?" Princess Twilight asked, fascinated and concerned for her friend and kind-of-sort-of student. "I don't know yet," Sunset said, rubbing her temples. "I can remember brief flashes. My parents, my little sister, Beacon," at the confused looks of some of her friends, she clarified. "Beacon was a training school. On Remnant, vicious creatures of darkness known as Grimm terrorize and prey the innocent. So, Huntsmen and Huntresses are trained to fight them. It's kind of like normal high school. So far, I can only remember brief flashes, longer memories in my dreams sometimes." Rainbow Dash and Shimmer got contemplative looks on their faces. "Wow Sunset, that takes some serious balls. I mean, the occasional baddie from Equestria we face are tough, but considering you guys had to train to fight these things, dang." Rainbow grinned, "Yeah, and each Huntsman and Huntress possesses an Aura, a physical manifestation of one's soul-" Sunset said before Pinkie interrupted her. "Like a Stand?" The overexcited and often lewd pink haired girl asked, grinned, her eyes sparkling. Sunset smirked a bit, "Kind of, except it acts....kind of like a personal force-field. It can be drained and takes awhile to charge. Not everyone has an aura, it has to be unlocked by another. When that happens, a bond forms between the two auras, and the unlocker puts a small part of their soul into the person with whom they've unlocked the aura of." she explained. "Alongside this, many who have their auras unlocked has what is known as a Semblance. It's basically a special power they have. Mine is polarity." "So you can control poles?" Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie asked. Both Twilights and Shimmer were about to correct the trio, when Sunset spoke up. "Well, possibly, but not, in essence, I'm basically Magneighto." Sunset smiled, as she reached out a hand. Her spoon spun a bit in the air, and then settled back down into her bowl of cake batter ice cream. "Next is-agghh." she groaned, clutching her chest. The last thing she felt before her vision faded was Valor reaching out. She was back at Beacon. She saw her, Cinder Fall, seductive and powerful, smirking at her, hovering. She felt an arrow pierce her heel, then another pierce her heart. "I-I died." she muttered, lips parched, and tears streaming down her face. "What?!" Her friends, save Valor, asked, a somber looking replacing the jubilant look that had been there prior. "I died, that's how I ended up here. My soul must have, reincarnated or something, into my pony body." Sunset said, sweat dripping down her face. Valor held her close, a warm arm wrapped around her waist. "Thanks Jaune." "I know how you feel Pyrrha. I died too."