Once the others had left, if rather reluctantly on the part of the Bearers of Harmony, Celestia turned to observe the mare seated before her, watching the solar diarch with a wary frown, “Well now, Sunset, I’m sure you must have questions,” she said, turning a brilliant smile on the displaced human.
“Just one to start,” the razorfilly replied, her frown deepening into a suspicious scowl, “What are you up to that you don’t want Sparky and the others to know about?”
‘So angry and suspicious of others, just like my Sunset used to be, despite spending years with Twilight and her friends,’ Celestia mused, ‘What a grim world she has lived in to leave a pony so cynical.’ “I am not ‘up to’ anything,” she assured the unicorn in a slightly teasing tone, “I just thought it might be easier for you to discuss some things without an audience, is all. You know, any concerns for Customs and Immigration, getting you some mental therapy, employment training options, or perhaps debating the flirting potential with Big Macintosh and Shining Armor?” the alicorn gave a slightly disappointed sigh when her banter prompted nothing more than a raised eyebrow, “You really should try to lighten up, Sunset, you’re far too serious for such a young mare.”
“Pinkie may have said something similar a few times,” Sunset admitted with a small smile.
“Pinkie Pie can be a very wise, if odd, mare,” Celestia nodded, ‘Ah, she does have a sense of humor, good, that will make things easier on her.’
“So …,” the unicorn shifted nervously in her wheelchair, “Sparky and AJ told you about the whole flirting thing?”
“Oh, yes,” the solar diarch replied, “Cadance thought it was rather amusing, actually.”
“Yay, the embodiment of love thinks me flirting with her husband is ‘amusing’, I don’t know if I should be relieved or worried.”
“I doubt you have anything to be worried about,” Celestia laughed, “But you should probably stick to your promise and get Cadance’s, and Twilight’s, permission before flirting with Shining … just in case. Are you certain you have nothing else to ask?” she pressed, “Nothing at all?”
“Oh, I’m sure that I’ll think of all sorts of things I should have asked you later,” Sunset shrugged, “But I’ll have to settle for this, why haven’t you chucked my hoop back through that portal or stuck me in a lab so you can figure out the tech in my implants? Why are you so okay with me just … being here?”
“Throwing you back into the bleak world you came from would be poor thanks indeed for looking after Twilight and the others,” the alicorn observed, “Especially when it would leave you homeless and unemployed. As for your implants and prosthetics, while they would be of some interest to our own medical researchers, why detain you, and risk making you hostile and uncooperative, when we could just pay you to come by for periodic examinations and consultations?” Celestia walked over to put a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder, “If you have to start over, Sunset, why should it not be here with your friends by your side?” she gave the young mare a concerned look, “And there must be something you are qualified to do other than just being a … gillette, was it?”
The razorfilly gave a short bark of laughter, “Despite what the trideo and straights seem to think, there’s more to being a street op than just breaking legs and busting heads, or looking good in leathers,” Sunset smirked at the diarch, giving her mane a flip, before she turned serious again, “But what does it matter? Tactics, demolitions, guarding a client, infiltration, urban combat, I mean, what good is anything I’ve learned now that I’m in the land of ‘harmony’ where you beat nation-wide threats by shooting them with a friendship beam?”
“Do not be so quick to sell yourself short,” Celestia admonished the unicorn, “While your instincts may be more violent than what is appropriate for Equestria, your skills, however, are still valuable. Now, have you thought of any other questions? No? Then I will let you get back to your friends,” the wheelchair was enveloped in a golden aura as the alicorn wheeled Sunset back to the door, “Here we are,” she said as she returned the mare to the care of her friends, “I hope you all have a pleasant day, my little ponies, oh, and Sunset? Please think about what we discussed.”
“And hold it … hold it … and forty! Good job, Sunset.”
“Thanks, Fit,” the razorfilly replied as she mopped her muzzle with a towel, she knew she was in good shape, but somehow, she was worn out after every physical therapy session.
The pegasus passed her some water, “So, you’re checking out today, got anypony coming to pick you up?”
“Yeah, my friends are coming by to get me soon, just some paperwork and one last check-up and then I’m out of your mane.”
“Where are you headed to?”
“Some place called Ponyville,” Sunset shrugged.
“Ponyville, huh? I’ve heard of it, little town on the edge of the Everfree, they grow some good apples and carrots. The new Princess lives there, so it’ll probably start expanding soon, if they can get around the whole ‘random monster attack’ thing,” the stallion observed, “Now, you’re all set, but if you start having any relapses, I want you to check in with the local hospital, understand?”
“Hey, girls!” Sunset waved at the approaching ponies, “How’s it going, Princess?”
“Are you ever going to stop teasing me about that?” grumbled Twilight as she and her friends gathered around the razorfilly.
“Let me think about it … nope!” Sunset smirked at the alicorn, “I had fragging royalty bunking in my doss for three years, and you didn’t think to tell me?”
Rarity gave a long-suffering sigh, “Would it have really made any difference, darling?”
“Not in the least,” declared the orange unicorn impudently, “But watching Sparky squirm is to fun to pass up,” Applejack reached out a hoof and cuffed her upside the head, “Okay, I deserved that, so, what’s the plan?”
“We were thinking of grabbing a light lunch, before catching the train back to Ponyville,” Rarity explained, “And then, once you’re settled in at the Palace, Pinkie has her ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party planned.”
“I wanted it to be a surprise party,” the pink earth pony pouted, “But Applejack reminded me about how you don’t always take surprises well, Sunny.”
“I appreciate your restraint, Pinkie,” Sunset assured her, “So, what fine, upscale Canterlot establishment are we off to, then?”
“Actually,” Fluttershy replied in her quite voice, “We were thinking of going to Donut Joe’s, if that’s okay with you.”
“Donuts, huh?” the unicorn rubbed her chin, “Sounds good to me.”
“Uuurrp,” Sunset burped, drawing giggles from Pinkie, Rainbow and Applejack and an exasperated sniff from Rarity, “Those were some good donuts. So, this is Ponyville?” she added, “It looks … nice.”
“Oh, I admit it looks a bit rustic,” the fashionista observed, “But that’s part of its charm. Ponyville is home to many wonderful ponies and is an excellent place for you to start again.”
“Speaking of home,” Twilight broke in, raising a hoof to point at the Castle of Friendship, “Here we are.”
“It’s very … purple … and crystaly … and kinda spiky,” the razorfilly cocked her head, “How many folks are living there, anyway?”
“Well, there’s me, and Spike, and Owlowiscious, and … you now.”
Sunset gawked at her friend, “Wait, you’re telling me that there’s only three people living in that thing? That place is huge!”
“I know,” the alicorn blushed in embarrassment, “But Spike, Owlowiscious and I look after each other, so I don’t have any staff, and I don’t have any guards, and nearly everypony in Ponyville has their own houses already… I know it’s a lot of empty space, but I’ve moved the new Ponyville library into the Castle!” she added enthusiastically.
“We crammed the seven of us into a three-room doss, and here everyone has their own house?!”
“Equestria does have its problems,” Fluttershy quickly assured Sunset, “It’s not all rainbows and bunnies.”
Rarity nodded, “We still have crime and corruption, it’s just not as pronounced as it was back in Seattle.”
“Ponies, and the different races, don’t always get along as well as they could.”
“An’ then there’s tha random monster attacks from tha Everfree.”
“Ancient evils from a thousand years ago (or more) returning to try to conquer everypony.”
“Snooty, uptight, self-centered nobles.”
“Semi-omnipotent beings of pure chaos who make it rain chocolate milk, and then forget the whipped cream!”
The orange unicorn blinked at her friends, before bursting into a chuckle, “Thanks, girls, I feel much better now,” she reached over and nudged Twilight in the shoulder, “Come on, Sparky, let’s see this castle of yours.”
Applejack glanced at her friends as they started after the two mares, “Ya know, Ah reckon she’s plumb serious.”
‘Pinkie can sure throw a shindig,’ Sunset mused as she took a quick look around the Castle’s hall, currently filled with happy ponies, many of which she still hadn’t met, ‘I think at least half the town is here,’ taking a sip from her cup, she tossed an appreciative glance at the muscular red earth-pony stallion with the blonde mane who was currently chatting with a much smaller brown stallion wearing a long scarf, when a familiar voice brought the razorfilly whipping around to stare into a pair of misaligned golden eyes, eyes she hadn’t seen in a very long time, “Ditzy?”
“Hello!” chirped the bubbly grey pegasus, “Did we meet already?”
“W-what? No … I … I need to go,” the unicorn turned and dashed off, leaving the confused mare behind.
“Get ahold of yourself, Shimmer,” the displaced human berated herself as she huddled in the room Twilight had given her, “She’s not Ditzy, not some ghost come back to punish you, she’s just Dee’s trans-dimensional pony counterpart, that’s all, now suck it up and get back out there!” Sunset stood up and faced the door, only to sink back down onto her bed a moment later, “… I can’t go back out there,” she moaned.
“Sunset?” Twilight’s voice came through the door, “Is everything all right?” the alicorn slipped inside before the razorfilly could answer, “Pinkie said you ran from the party like you’d seen a ghost right after talking with Ditzy.”
“A ghost?!” Sunset’s eye began twitching, “Oh no, nothing so normal as a ghost, no I run right into the fragging doppelganger of my first friend who I betrayed and left to die! Oh, and joy, she lives in this town, so I’ll be seeing her all the fragging time!”
“Sunset, you need to calm down.”
“Don’t you tell me to ‘calm down’, Sparky! I hate it when people tell me to ‘calm down’!”
Twilight reached out and grabbed her hooves, “Sunset, Calm. Better?”
“Yes.”
“Good,” the alicorn sat next to her friend, “So, why don’t you tell me about Ditzy?”
“Jeez, Sparky,” Sunset gave a sour chuckle, “Go straight for the jugular, why don’t you?”
“Putting it off will only make things worse,” Twilight observed, “Besides, do you want to spend the rest of your life hiding from Ditzy, and leaving the poor mare always wondering what she did wrong?”
“Fine, fine,” the unicorn scowled at the princess, “You were paying attention when Razor got you in to see that straightener, weren’t you?”
“Well, it was rather fascinating … and you’re trying to distract me, talk to me, Sunset.”
“Damn it,” the razorfilly grumbled, “I almost had you. Fine,” she got more comfortable on the bed, and started her tale, “You and the other girls probably already figured out I was born in the Zero-Zone, but it wasn’t Zone City or Bartertown, where folks have rebuilt something like civilization and were just trying to get by. No, I grew up out in the Wastes, where the crazies and the loners scratch out a living, and the corps can do “product testing” and the occasional bit of open fighting. I can’t remember who looked after me at first, but once I was, I don’t know, I guess it was five? I was running with Ditzy, just the two of us.”
“What was she like?”
“Sweet-tempered, cheerful, clumsy as hell, Dee was a few years older, so she tried to look out for me; taught me a little of how to read, traded off with me during the night so the devil rats wouldn’t get us while we slept, occasionally tried to give me her share of whatever food we’d scrounged, that sort of thing,” Sunset smiled at the memories, “Dee was a real softy, you know? She could endure damn near anything and was brave to a fault, but she didn’t have a speck of killer instinct in her. I mean, she felt bad about the birds and rats we killed for food.”
“‘Killer instinct’?” Twilight stared at her, “You were foals, Sunset!”
“We were trying to survive, Sparky! Almost a million people were sealed off in the Zone and left to rot, and we were living in the worst part of it, a place where being a ‘little kid’ just meant you were smaller, slower and weaker, and that made you a better target,” the unicorn sighed, “I’m not saying it was a good way to grow up, it wasn’t, but Dee and I managed, yeah, we had problems and close-calls and the damn Rafterkids were after us, but we managed.”
“Rafterkids?”
“A gang, probably the biggest in the Wastes, mostly kids and teens, but there might have been two or three adults calling the shots, they lived in the tops of the ruined high-rises. Creepy fraggers, lots of spider imagery, very cultish mentality, and then there was the cannibalism.”
The princess hoofed her in the shoulder, “Now I know you’re just making things up to freak me out!”
“Believe me, Sparky, I wish I was. There were always nasty rumors about the Rafterkids for as far back as I can recall, but one night me and Dee were up in one of the tumbledown skyscrapers and we noticed firelight in a nearby high-rise. Ditzy had found an old pair of optical binoculars that still mostly worked, so we decided to see who our neighbors were. It was a pack of Rafters, and what they had on the spit …,” Sunset shivered at the memory, “At least we found out the truth about how they planned to ‘guarantee you’ll never go hungry’ before we let them pressure us into joining.”
“You almost joined those ponies?!”
“They had a good line, until we found out the truth, offering us a ‘family’ and a ‘place to belong’, and the whole ‘never go hungry’ thing. When they first approached us, I bought into it completely, it was Ditzy who was suspicious of them and wanted time to think it over, thank God.”
“But the Rafters, they didn’t take our refusal well, or maybe they realized that we’d stumbled across what they were really up to, I don’t know, but the Rafters started hunting Dee and I, so we had to run and hide from them, as well as all of the other crazies in the Wastes. That was what finally got Ditzy killed ….”
“Sunset?” Twilight gently prodded her friend after the silence had stretched out for several minutes, “What happened to Ditzy, Sunset?”
“When I was twelve, a pack of Rafterkids was hounding us ... too many of them to fight, all we could do was run … I got ahead of Ditzy as we went through an old ruin, and then I heard her cry … her leg had gone through the rotten floor, I could see it was broken even from where I was, and the Rafters were almost on her … I knew what they’d do to Dee if they caught her … but I turned and ran … I left her to the Rafters ….”
“Oh, Sunset,” the alicorn wrapped her forelegs and wings around the razorfilly, who merely stiffened at her touch, “You said that you were outnumbered, what good would it have done if you had stayed?”
“I could have gone back for Dee! I could have fought! I could have died with Ditzy instead of sacrificing her to save my own miserable life!”
“No!” the angry exclamation brought the two mares around to stare at the door, where five ponies stood in a mixture of shock at Sunset’s story and embarrassment at being caught listening in, while an irate Ditzy Doo strode into the room, “She wouldn’t have wanted you to just throw your life away!”
“I left her behind!” the orange unicorn protested, bolting up from Twilight’s embrace to glare at the pegasus, her empty, mechanical eyes staring into Ditzy's misaligned golden ones, “I owed Dee my fragging life, and damn near the last thing she ever saw was me betraying her!”
“So she would rather that you sacrificed yourself for nothing?” the grey pegasus demanded, leaning forward until she was nose-to-nose with Sunset and stomping her hoof. The two mares glared at each other for a moment, until Ditzy finally took a deep, calming breath, “Look, Pinkie explained that I’m a ‘cross-dimensional duplicate’ of the pony you knew, and I know we don’t have the history that you and your Dee had, but I don’t think any version of me would want you doing this to yourself,” she sighed, “You clearly have lingering issues about what happened with Dee, but I’m not her, so there’s only so much I can do to help,” she held out a hoof, “Can we try and start fresh? Hi, I’m Ditzy Doo, I love muffins and my daughter, Dinky, and I work for the post office, who are you?” When Sunset simply stared at her, the pegasus gave her a hopeful smile, “Please?”
The orange unicorn blinked, and then slowly reached out and shook the offered hoof, “I’m Sunset Shimmer, I’m from another world, currently unemployed, and I have issues.”
“That’s okay,” giggled the mailmare, “Lots of ponies in Ponyville have a few issues, but they’re still good ponies. Maybe you’d like to come back to the party with us, Sunset?”
“Yeah, sure,” the razorfilly started for the door alongside the others, only to stop and frown, “Wait, why the hell aren’t I still freaking out over this?”
“Welcome to Equestria, Sunset,” Rarity smiled, “Where the ‘magic of friendship’ is more than just a trite phrase and ponies trying to help each other can literally work wonders.”
“We’re still going to get you an appointment with a therapist, though,” added Twilight.
“I think I’m good with that.”