Chapter 5: Little Bumps in the Path
"Thank you so much for the lessons," Sunny Rays was saying as she and Sunset Shimmer walked up to their bedrooms. "Maybe now I won't get that look from ponies when I sing."
"Well I'm glad I could help, but you shouldn't let what other ponies say get to you. As long as you enjoy singing, then that's all that matters."
"Yeah I guess you're right."
They soon reached Sunny Ray's cute little bedroom. In spite of being young, she kept her little bedroom all neat and tidy, which Sunset thought was better than her apartment, which has a couple of desks covered in books and papers, and half the time she doesn't clean her dishes, pots and pans, so the kitchen counter can often be seen dirty. Which reminded her that she needed to clean up when she goes home.
Sunny Rays was too tired to do anything else, so she climbed into her little bed and rested her head on her pillow. Sunset pulled up a blanket, and gently kissed her on the forehead.
"Good night Sunny Rays, I'll see you in the morning."
She turned to leave the room, but that's when she heard Sunny Rays sleeply say; "I love you Big Sister."
This caused her to stop in her tracks and look back at her little sister. She was falling asleep, but she had definetly said those five words. It made her tear up, but her smile grew. "I love you too Sunny Rays." Slowly, she walked out of the bedroom and gently closed the door. She had only gotten to know her baby sister for a full day, yet she treated Sunset like she had been part of her life forever. If there was any bit of nervousness about returning to Equestria, it pretty much went out the window when she heard her baby sister say those five words.
She walked back to her bedroom, pulled out the journal and wrote down the day's events, minus her sister's kind words, she still wanted to keep this as a surprise. Though it wouldn't surprise her if Pinkie Pie somehow knew, considering her 'pinkie sense'.
"Well that's another day done, let's hope tomorrow will bring more good results." And with that thought on her mind, she closed her eyes and went to sleep.
In her sleep, she dreamt that she had travelled through time and saw her younger self walking up to the tree Honey Tree was sitting under. Right away, Sunset knew what was going to happen.
"No! Don't do it!" she cried. She tried to run to stop her younger self, but couldn't move as her hooves got stuck in the mud.
In the distance, she could see Silver Swirls, Music Note and Octivia Melody walking up to the tree. Sunset was confused to see them, because they weren't there before when she knocked the bee hive out of the tree. She tried again and again to move, but nothing worked as her younger self got closer and closer to the tree.
"Come on, let go of me!" she cried.
Suddenly, the world around her went dark and she found herself being surronded by all the ponies she had ever known. She wanted to speak, but no words came out of her mouth. The only sounds she could hear were coming from her hooves. She looked down and found herself in chains.
"Sunset Shimmer, for your crimes aganist Equestria, you will be charged and sentenced to a hundred years in the cells."
Sunset tried to defend herself, but still no words came out of her mouth.
"You shouldn't have returned, now you'll never escape," said another voice. It sounded like her father, but she couldn't see him, "and now Sunny Rays will never experience the horrors that you brought to Canterlot. May your actions haunt you forever, you monster."
There then came a chrous of 'boos' from all the ponies around her. Sunset tried shouting again and again, but no sound came out of her mouth. The boos got louder and louder, then they turned into sinister laughter. Susnet screamed, but still no sound came out. She then felt herself being dragged away to the cells below Canterlot Castle. Princess Celestia stood close by.
"I should never have asked you to be my student. Good bye Sunset Shimmer."
Sunset screamed again, but still nothing came out.
"Sunset! Sunset!" cried a young voice.
After a few moments or so, Sunset awoke screaming and panting. She found herself back in her old bedroom. Luna's moonlight shone brightly into the room and shone down on young Sunny Rays.
"Are you alright Big Sister? I could hear you screaming."
Sunset was still stunned by what she had seen in her dream, but soon snapped back to her senses, "sorry Sunny Rays, I was just having a bit of a nightmare. I'm okay though, you don't need to worry."
But Sunny Rays was worried for her big sister. Then she made a suggestion, "why don't I stay in here with you? I often sleep with Mommy and Daddy whenever I have bad dreams."
"Uh well, only if you really want to, you can sleep in my room tonight."
Sunny Rays smiled, jumped onto the bed and layed down right next to Sunset. She yawned, closed her eyes and went to sleep. Right away, Sunset began to feel alot better.
"Thanks little sister," she whispered and she was soon out like a light.
What the two sisters didn't know was that Sunrise had been standing outside the room. She was smiling just seeing them. No words needed to be said on how proud she was of both her daughters. She sighed happily and went back to her bedroom.
When morning came, the two sisters helped their mother make breakfast and clean up afterwords. Then once Twilight and Spike arrived, they set off once more into the town of Canterlot. Sunset's first stop that day was Silver Swirl's strawberry shop. Her mother had asked if she and Sunny could get some strawberry jam and strawberry cupcakes, so they agreed to go there first and see if Sunset could talk with Silver Swirls again.
As any pony would expect, Silver Swirls was not pleased to see Sunset, but she put on a kind face because she had costumers.
"Mommy asked us to get some things," said Sunny Rays and told Silver of what they needed.
The pony with the light purple and pink mane nodded and went to get what Sunrise had asked for.
"Silver, I know I said this already, but I really am sorry for the way I treated you back when we were younger. I only wanted power and nothing else, but now I see that's wrong. Friendship and redemption is what I'm looking for."
"Well you'll get neither from me Sunset Shimmer," Silver Swirls said angerily. "You ruined a very nice Strawberry cake I made for one of our teachers years ago, and you laughed about it. Not to mention you made fun of me when I messed up on certain things, and yet you expect me to forgive you and forget what happened?"
"Maybe," she said meekily.
"Yeah right, like that's going to happen. I'll talk to any member of your family, except you."
Sunset sighed unhappily, but then remembered something, "when we were younger, didn't you say that holding grudges is like holding onto a rotten strawberry? You can hold onto it, but it soon gets worse and you feel awful because you hold onto it."
"I was younger then, and that wasn't very wise at all."
"I thought it was wise," said Sunny Rays.
"Well thanks Sunny, but it's a silly saying I came up with, and your sister once said it was the most pathetic thing she had ever heard."
Sunset groaned, but tried to remain focused on the task at hoof, "I did say that yes, but like Sunny Rays, I believe it's wise, and it's one of the many sayings I live by these days."
Twilight whispered down to Spike, "we got to remember that one in case any pony holds a grudge aganist another pony."
"I've already written it down," Spike whispered. And to prove it, he showed it to the Princess of Friendship.
Silver Swirls just shook her head. There then came a knock from the back door, "must be my next shipment of Strawberries, I'll be right back." She said and went to the back of the shop.
"Just keep going Sunset, I'm sure you'll get threw," said Twilight. "It took a while for me to get threw with Moondancer, yet we're good friends now. So don't give up."
"Thanks Twilight, but I wasn't even thinking of giving up."
Silver Swirls soon returned with a big bag. She placed it under a counter and walked back up to the front.
"You don't have to forgive me right away Silver, but I do hope you will accept my apology for what I've done."
Silver didn't say a word. She looked back to the bag, then back to Sunset, "well maybe I could give you another chance if you're really serious," she said. "You did bring up my old saying, so maybe you did change."
Sunset smiled when she heard this, at last she was getting threw. Twilight and Spike exchanged glances at each other, it seemed a little too quick.
"Tell you what, how about I treat you and our friends out to dinner tonight, it'll be my treat."
"And I'll come too!" cried Sunny Rays.
"Well..." Silver Swirls paused to think about it. "I guess that'll be okay. I don't know about the others, but I'll be there. Just name the place."
Having been away for a long time, Sunset wasn't even sure where to go. Twilight made the suggestion of a fancy resturant, and Silver Swirls agreed.
"Great, well I guess we'll see you there tonight, and I promise I'll be there. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She said while moving her legs in tune to the Pinkie Pie Promise.
Silver Swirls was confused, but said nothing. She gave the group what Sunrise needed, then waved as they set off.
"I hope I can make it threw this evening," muttered Silver Swirls to herself before going back to work.
Elsewhere in the town of Canterlot, Pen Pal the reporter was looking up info on Sunset Shimmer. He had already determined that she was a student at Celestia's school for gifted unicorns, and now he was trying to find out what happened to her and where she has been over the last few years. The research on finding out where she went didn't go so well, since nopony knew where she went. What happened to her at the school though was easy to find out.
One of the royal guards had to make a report of what happened. Pen Pal soon discovered that one night, Sunset had gone into a private library without premission, said several things to Princess Celestia and after disobeying orders, she was expelled. But before she could be taken away by the guards, she was able to get away from them and disappeared into a different part of the castle.
"Sounds like her alright, she never changes," he thought to himself, "but where the heck did she go? Was it a secret passage way out of the castle? I must find out. She has to pay for what she has done."
He wrote down as much as he could on the info of Sunset Shimmer, then headed off. He wanted to interview the guards.
Sunset's hopes of inviting her old friends to dinner were turning out quite well. They were reluctant at first to join her at the dinner, but after a while, they all agreed to at least give Sunset another chance.
"Don't you find it odd though?" Spike asked. "They disappear for a moment, then when they come back, they agree to talk."
"Yes I have noticed that too," Twilight whispered, "but maybe it's a good thing, cause if they take the time to listen, they'll get to know the new Sunset Shimmer that we've come to know."
"Yeah I guess so, but something still smells fishy, and I'm not talking about the fish stall."
Before returning home though, the group stopped at Canterlot Boutique, Rarity's shop. Rarity herself was not in today, but the business was open and all the ponies were being looked after by Sassy Saddles.
"Good afternoon and welcome to Rarity's Canterlot Boutique, how may I help you today?"
"We would like some fancy dresses," answered Sunny Rays. "We're to meet up with some of my sister's old friends tonight, and we're going to a good resturant."
"How fastenating. Well we have plenty of outfits for you to try out, all made by our fashion designer; Rarity."
Sassy showed them many different outfits. It took no time for Twilight and Sunny Rays to find something. Spike would get a suit somewhere else, but Sunset wasn't quite sure what to pick.
"They are all fancy I will admit, I just can't decide," she said out loud.
"What about that one?" suggested Sunny Rays and pointed to another dress.
Just looking at it, Sunset thought for a moment that Rarity had made that especially for her. It looked similar to the outfit she wore during the fundraiser Canterlot High had for the new team uniforms. She picked it up with her magic and went to the change room to try it on. When she came out, she looked beyond fantastic, she looked smashing.
"An excellent choice," said Sassy, "it suits you quite well."
"I have to agree," nodded Twilight.
Sunset smiled, "very well then, I'll get this dress."
With the dresses bought, Sunset, her sister and her friends headed off to get a suit for Spike. Already all the pieces were coming together and Sunset felt happier than ever.
Unknown to the group though, a lone figure was watching, hiding his face in a trench coat. He shook his head, "you'll never get what you're looking for. The scars you left are too deep," and he disappeared into the shadows.