Autumn showers brings Sunflowers.

by Jlargent

Story.

Me: Hello everyone Jlargent here and this is my entry in Oroboro’s Sunset Shipping Contest. And I decided to go off the beaten path a bit by making the first ever Sunflower shipping story. Without any further delay, I do not own the characters in the story since they are the property of Hasbro, typical disclaimers apply.

Gloriosa Daisy’s POV.

Ugh, the one time my brother convinces me to take some time off it starts raining. I thought to myself as I was regretting not bringing an umbrella, Timber convinced me that I needed some time away from the camp to get my mind off of what happened earlier this month, I realize that my brother was trying to help me after I had acquired seven magically charged geodes. All that power and the desperation to save the camp twisted me into a monster.

Face it Glory, you seriously screwed up. You were lucky that no one was hurt or killed. My inner voice chided me, and it was right, if Sunset and her friends didn’t stop me I would’ve done worse than envelop the camp in unbreakable vines. I shudder at not only the cold air brought on by the rain but also at what else I could’ve done. My inner dialogue was broken by the sound of a taxi heading my way, I flag it down and step inside placing my suitcase next to me.

“Where to miss?” The driver asked me in a Manhattan accent.

I look over the brochure that Timber handed me earlier that week “Yes, can you take me to the address here?” I showed him the brochure.

The man shook his head “Sorry miss, but that place is under renovation at the moment. Something about a near riot that happened before the Battle of the Bands a few months ago. Anyway, the owners decided to have the whole place renovated so the inspectors would get off their backs about it.” He replied.

“Great, now where am I going to stay?” I said frustrated.

“How about I take you to a nearby cafe, so you can gather your thoughts?” The driver suggested.

“That sounds like a good of an idea as any.” I said.

“Good, since you’re my list pickup for my shift I’ll give you a discount.” He replied.

“Why would you do that?” I asked slightly shocked that he would do that.

“You’re from Camp Everfree right?” He asked me, I nodded at his question “I went there as a kid, it was a damn shame when I heard that bastard Filthy Rich tried to tear it down to make a resort spa. But I heard that you raised the money needed to save it, so this is my way of thanking your parents for what they did.” He replied.

I was touched at his answer “If my parents were alive they’d be thanking you for all that you’ve done.” I tell him.

He shook his head “It’s no problem miss. Anyway we’ll be at that cafe is a few blocks from here and the weather report said that we’re going to be getting more rain over the weekend.” He informs me, I internally groan at the news Great, now what am I going to do? Maybe I should ask around to see if there’s a motel vacancy. I thought to myself. A few minutes later we arrive at a coffee shop, normally I wouldn’t enter a place like this but as long as it’s dry I’ll take it. I pay the driver and also leave him with a nice tip and quickly step underneath the awning and entered the establishment, the sweet smell of coffee and pastries tickle my nose a bit as I make my way towards an empty booth.

“Gloriosa is that you?” A familiar voice asks me, I turn around and see that it was Sunset Shimmer, she was wearing a dark gray hoodie and holding a cup of coffee in her hands.

“Sunset, it’s been awhile.” I said motioning her to sit with me.

“So what brings you here to the big city? I thought Timber would jump at the chance to visit.” Sunset asks me.

“Timber convinced me that I needed some time away from the camp to get my mind off of...you know.” I answer her “So here I am, I was going to stay at a nearby hotel but it’s undergoing renovations.” I explained.

“So you don’t have a place to stay?” She asked me.

“No, I don’t.” I tell her.

“How about you crash at my place? I have more than enough room.” She tells me.

“I don’t want to inconvenience you Sunset.” I tell her.

“It’s no problem at all Gloriosa.” She replied before finishing her coffee “I actually live not that far from here, so we don’t have to worry about the rain too much.” She replied before heading to the cashier and paid for her drink, I saw her talking to the clerk and said clerk reaches down underneath the counter and pulls out a daisy-yellow umbrella. Sunset grabs the umbrella and thanks her before returning.She replied before heading to the cashier and paid for her drink, she handed me the umbrella much to my confusion “Sometimes the customers forget their umbrellas and don’t bother to retrieve them so it was okay for them to hand one to me.” She explained, I nodded in thanks and we leave the cafe, I open the umbrella and the two of us walk towards Sunset’s apartment, fortunately the rain was letting up a little allowing the sound to hit the pavement wasn’t overly loud unlike at the camp where the rain hits the leaves it sounds a bit soothing to me.

Soon we arrived at Sunset Shimmer’s abode, it looked to be a small apartment building but not overly small. As we enter I place the umbrella in a nearby holder while Sunset was talking to an elderly man who probably owns the place.

“Hey Sunset, here’s your mail.” The elderly man handed her a small stack of letters.

“Let’s see, junk, junk, bill, oh!” She exclaimed looking at a magazine “The latest issue of Motorcycles and Me came in.” She said excitedly I was surprised that Sunset was interested in motorcycles. She looked at me and blushed slightly “Sorry, during the Friendship Games against Crystal Prep I actually rode a dirt-bike and I wanted my own motorcycle since then.” she explained. I nodded as Sunset explained to the landlord about my situation and he replied as long as I don’t cause any problems that I was free to stay with her for the weekend. When we enter the apartment I could see that it was slightly spartan in design but there was some things that made it more homely, a string of lights were wrapped around the upper part of the apartment where Sunset’s bed was, a terrarium which had a leopard gecko just sitting on a rock enjoying the heat from the overhead lamp.

“That’s Ray, I just got him a couple of weeks ago. Ray this is Gloriosa Daisy.” She introduced. Ray gave a nod and returned to sunning himself. After placing my suitcase near the couch Sunset offered to cook dinner, I blushed at the mention of food as my stomach growled it’s irritation, Sunset giggles and began preparing dinner, I headed to the TV and decided to look at her movie collection, the majority of the discs are fantasy, romantic comedies and sci-fi, I picked a random movie and place it in the player, after skipping the trailers I started the movie, it was about thirty minutes into the movie that Sunset announced that dinner was ready, the smell coming from the bowl was heavenly as Sunset dishes out the spaghetti and meatballs, there was also some Parmesan cheese which I added a generous amount to mine and the two of us headed to the couch to watch the movie and eat dinner since there wasn’t a real need to eat at the table, Sunset also grabbed a couple of glasses of iced soda and we at our meal in relative silence only speaking about certain points in the film. Soon the food and the movie were finished and I offered to wash the dishes while Sunset sets up the foldaway bed.

After washing the dishes I hopped into the shower and changed into a large shirt and shorts since it was still warm enough to wear them despite it being short. I climb into the bed and I was asleep before I even hit the pillow.

(Dream Sequence)

I see myself back at Camp Everfree on a cool summer’s day, the birds chirping, the wind gently blowing through the trees, it feels like home. Memories of playing in the forest with mom and dad, those clear summer nights where you can see every star in the sky, and fishing with my brother on the docks. I soak in the feelings.

”Aw, isn’t that PRECIOUS!” A twisted voice spoke breaking me from my thoughts as all of a sudden the forest itself changed into a warped twisted mockery. I turn to run away from the corruption but several vines shoot up from the ground and wrap themselves around me making sure that I could not escape.

”What’s the matter Gloriosa? I thought you would like what I had done to the camp. After all you wanted this.” A female voice spoke from seemingly all around me, I move my head wildly trying to find the source of the speaker. A massive flower erupted from the ground and opened to reveal a woman that was wearing a leaf-like dress with smaller red leaves adorning it, stockings that were a shade lighter with brown wraps all along her legs with daisies adorning the tops of the ankles, her arms had dark brown gloves that reached past her elbows with the red leaves at the top of the gloves, her headband was made of wood with random emeralds adorning it, on her face was a red mask accentuating the madness in her black eyes, with only two glimmering green pupils in them. And her hair is a deep turquoise with a lighter shade striped along it spreading out wildly, and on her neck was seven geode crystals that I had discovered.

This is without question my desperate need to save the camp: Gaia Everfree.

“Gaia Everfree? But I thought those girls got rid of you!” I screamed at her.

”Fool, I am a part of you. As long as you remember what you did, I will continue to exist.” Gaia spoke extending a vine and cutting it and holding it like a whip ”You were very bad girl Gloriosa, and bad girls like you get PUNISHED!”

(End Dream Sequence.)

“No don’t!” I shouted waking up from the nightmare, I was breathing hard and I was sweating It’s that nightmare again. Ever since the incident I have been having nightmares about Gaia punishing me, at first they were just threats but they escalated to where Gaia would use various plants to harm me. I slowly get out of the bed and make my way to the bathroom trying to not make too much noise, I turn the bathroom faucet on and splash my face with cold water to clear my head. I look at myself in the mirror and see that I had some bags underneath my eyes, no chance of me going back to sleep anytime tonight.

“Are you okay Gloriosa?” A familiar voice startles me.

“AH! Oh Sunset please don’t scare me like that.” I said to her.

“Sorry, I was worried. You started to toss and turn and I heard you scream before you woke up.” She replied concerned.

“It’s nothing, just some bad dreams.” I reassure her.

“Yeah right.” Sunset deadpans I wince at the fact that she knew and I tried to brush it off, she heads to the kitchen and prepares a pot of coffee “How do you want your coffee?” she asks me.

“Two spoonfuls of sugar.” I replied. Soon the coffee pot was filled with the black liquid and Sunset handed me a full mug.

“You’re having nightmares about being Gaia Everfree?” She asked me bluntly, I nodded at the question not really seeing the point in lying to her since she could easily use her powers to get the answers out of me regardless. Sunset sighs before looking out the window, it was still raining but it was relatively light “Almost a year ago I went through something similar myself.” she said much to my surprise, she stirred her coffee cup before continuing “You see I wasn’t born around here, I’m not even from this side of reality, I came from a parallel world where the inhabitants are equine in nature. Simply put: Ponies.” She said.

“Ponies?” I questioned.

“In Equestria ponies are divided into one of three types, Pegasus ponies can fly and manipulate the weather allowing scheduled rainfalls in certain cities or towns, Earth ponies can utilize the earth for a variety of tasks like farming, gardening or blacksmithing, and finally Unicorns which is what I am back in Equestria, they allow for manipulation of the magic that is in the air or our own internal stores of magic to perform spells like levitation or teleportation.” She explained before taking a sip and continuing with her explanation “There is one more but they are exceedingly rare, and they are Alicorns which is the combined strengths of all three types put together adding their own personal magic, my former teacher Princess Celestia has the power to literally move the sun and moon and had done so for well over a millennia until her younger sister Luna returned from exile. The ruler of the Crystal Empire which is in the far north was once ruled by a unicorn dictator until he was ousted by Candace who embodies love and has the ability to reconcile lovers or help others find their true love. And finally, the most recent Alicorn is Twilight Sparkle who is talented in all aspects of magical theory and practice and who’s talent is literally magic itself.” She continued.

“If that’s true then why are you here if you were a student of a powerful monarch?” I asked her.

“...Because I was a selfish, arrogant bitch.” She replied, I flinched from the answer, Sunset continued ignoring my reaction “When I was living in the castle I received personal teachings in magic and magical theory, and the more I learned about magic the more arrogant I became, I easily aced tests the other teachers threw at me, and was at the top scoring student in the entire school. But all that came at a price, I firmly believed that I didn’t need friends or anyone in my life, I was successful but always alone. One day Princess Celestia showed me an enchanted mirror and I saw myself like her an Alicorn and I began researching into the properties of the mirror, when Celestia asked me to stop I declared myself that I deserved to be her equal and demanded that she’d make me into an Alicorn like her. That was the final straw for her, she sent the guards to take me to my quarters where Celestia would decide the outcome of my education under her, as the guards escorted me to my room we passed by the room where the mirror was, seeing my only chance I quickly subdued the guards and jumped through the mirror and it changed me into what you see before you.”

“What happened next?” I could not help but wonder how a young woman who became power hungry realized her mistakes.

“Well the portal to Equestria only opens every thirty moons meaning roughly every two and a half years and remains open for three days until it closes until another thirty moons passes, so during that time I had to learn how to use my hands get acquainted with my new biology and establish an identity in this town. In the span of six months I had managed to pass myself off as a regular teen and enrolled myself in Canterlot High so I could remain close to the portal. And every time the portal opened I snuck back into Equestria to gather information on what had happened during the thirty moons and to acquire resources there that earth did not have.” she paused the story for a moment to stand up and walk towards the entertainment center to grab a wooden box which she places on the table and opens it to reveal several gemstones that looked perfectly cut and flawless, I looked up at Sunset Shimmer in shock that she had gotten these “Gems in Equestria are actually commonplace, and it wasn’t that hard to get since the caverns underneath Canterlot are easily accessible. I only used a third of the gems I have here to set myself up.” Sunset placed the box back on the shelf and resumed her story.

“After a few years went by I heard that one of the most powerful magical relics was active again, The Element of Magic. Before Princess Luna returned both her and Princess Celestia used a set of powerful magical gems called the Elements of Harmony and with them they defeated a god of chaos and brought peace to Equestria, when I heard that I devised a plan to steal the Element and use it for my own ends. The timing was perfect and the steal was flawless, what I hadn’t counted on was tripping over a young dragon. Princess Twilight chased me down and she followed me into this world. When I had stolen the crown back from Princess Twilight I placed it on my head and it changed me, corrupted me in a spiritual sense, my body warped and it changed me into a literal demon. And I was blasted out of that state by the combined powers of not only the Element of Magic but also the other Elements that represented Princess Twilight’s friends in this world.” She finished “Afterwards I went through the same thing you did but I was so full of self loathing I had actually thought about ending it.” She shuddered at the memory. “ I had those nightmares as well and all I can tell you is that you’re not alone, you have friends and your goofball of a brother.” She finished.

“So what was you plan? You mentioned that you had one involving the Element of Magic.” I asked her.

“My original plan was to use the magic from the Element to mind control the entire student body and teachers and use them to invade Equestria.” she replied “Which in hindsight is a really dumb plan. I mean they’ve had no military training and I had hoped that they would overwhelm the Crystal Empire.” she finished.

I blinked “Seriously? A teenage zombie army?” I asked her incredulously.

“I was up late watching a zombie film and the idea of controlling a zombie army stuck.” Sunset defended herself, I could not help myself but I started laughing with Sunset following suit.

“At least you didn’t have a plan that involves a Sharknado.” I giggled.

“Sweet Celestia don’t get me started on those movies.They are a travesty in the otherwise good movie department. ” Sunset laughed, soon the laughter died down and with it the rain.

“Don’t tell Timber that. Hey Sunset, thanks.” I tell her.

“No problem Gloriosa.” Sunset said.

“Hey Sunset?” I ask her.

“What is it?” She asks me.

“There’s something else that I wanted to tell you.” I tell her trying to hide the nervousness in my voice.

“You can tell me anything Gloriosa.” Sunset reassures me.

“Well...” I take a deep breath before replying “I’ve had a crush on you for awhile now.” I tell her.

Sunset looked shocked at the idea that I had romantic feelings towards her, Sunset shook her head before speaking “Are you certain Gloriosa?” she asked me.

“Please call me Glory, my friends called me that when I was younger since Gloriosa was too hard to pronounce. And to answer your question yes I do have feelings towards you.” I said.

“I-I don’t know what to say Glory. I’ve never really thought about romance, I’ve only had one boyfriend since I was here but I was using him for the popularity back in by bitch days.” Sunset replies.

“I think I have an idea if my feelings towards you are genuine or not.” I tell her.

“What would that be?” She asks.

“This.” Before Sunset could react I place my lips over hers, her eyes widened before closing them, my own reaction was that it felt right like this is what was needed in my otherwise peaceful life at camp. After what felt like an hour I pull away and the look on Sunset’s face is that she wished that the kiss would go on forever.

“So? What did you think?” I asked her.

“I think I’m willing to consider a relationship towards you, come on you can sleep with me during your stay.” Sunset said.

“Why Sunset, I didn’t think you would act this quickly.” I joked making Sunset blush deeply.

“You know what I mean.” Sunset grumbled slightly.

“Let me grab Owlowiscious.” I tell her.

“Who?” She asks.

“My stuffed owl.” I replied grabbing said plush animal.

“Ah.” She said. I quickly climb into the bed and turn to face her, for a moment our eyes stared at one another, getting lost in the depths until Sunset leans forward and kisses me on the lips.

“Goodnight Glory.” Sunset whispered.

“Goodnight Sunset.” I whispered closing my eyes and letting the sound of the rain lull me to sleep.

The End.