"And the greatest spell you'll know...
...is how the Magic of Friendship grows!"
"And the greatest spell you'll know...
...is how the Magic of Friendship grows!"
"And the greatest spell you'll know...
...is how the Magic of Friendship grows!"
The stupid, low density, camrip quality rendition of the song sung by her friends in Equestria at the end of "Era 2" played on loop over Sunset Shimmer's cheap-ass alarm clock, signaling the start of her pathetic day. She heard the song at least four hundred times a week - it was practically the national anthem at this point. She yawned and stretched her arms, looking around the pure white futuristic room, as if expecting something to have actually changed. Disappointed in this impossible notion not being a reality, she clapped her hands.
Immediately, her magic room activated. The wall to her immediate left slid open, to reveal her view from her penthouse apartment in the middle of the busting city of New Equestria. Flying cars with magical glows soared past her window.
"Good morning, Sunset Shimmer!" called out a voice indistinguishable from that of Twilight Sparkle. The tone at which her name was spoken sounded like some cheap AI software that was just learning voice recognition. The actual level of magical technology was far above this kind of tomfoolery, but Sunset knew that Duke Twilight set her up in this stupid room for "irony". The alarm ABSOLUTELY had to do with that, too. Ever since Twilight married Timber and became the ruler of the country, she had been treating her like some kind of weird playmate, "trolling" her, as she liked to call it, in various aspects of her otherwise mundane life. It was like something had changed in Twilight's mind, and Sunset was now just a lowly sidenote in her otherwise busy life. Sure, Twilight set her up in the most luxurious, automated apartment complex in the country, at the heart of the city, and tried to keep her entertained with the "trolling", but she never had any time to actually hang out with the one she used to call a friend.
Sunset continued to move slowly towards her shower. It wasn't like she had anything to do today. She never had anything to do any of the days. Twilight made sure of that. She had even extracted her magic power of being able to sense the inner feelings of those around her out, and given it to....Wallflower Blush? Okay? Duke Twilight claimed it was so that Sunset would never have to deal with the thought of having to help someone every again. Thanks Twilight, she thought. Wouldn't want my life to be too interesting, now would we.
As she turned to face her bathroom mirror, she was greeted with what would, normally, be a frightening sight - a head full of bed hair! Her brilliant red and yellow hair stretched in all crazy directions, giving new meaning to the phrase, "bad hair day". Except she knew it wasn't real. Sure enough, after just a few moments, a tiny image of a cartoon Twilight danced in the corner of her mirror as what sounded like some sort of carnival music played in the same horrible quality as her alarm clock.
"Gotcha!" came Twilight's voice again. "It looks like I got you this time, Sunset Shimmer!"
"You didn't", replied Sunset blankly.
"I'm sorry," cooed the Twilight voice innocently. "I do not understand the following phrase:"
"You didn't", the voice clip Sunset just spoke, played over the intercom, but with audio compression that would have been considered low quality fourty years ago. In fact, the speech was so barely audible and muffled that Sunset only recognized it as her own due to the unrecognizable monotone.
"Please try again!" finished the voice. Sunset knew it was complete baloney, that it understood perfectly what she said, and that it was playing up some more stupid AI irony. She played along though, because she knew that the sooner this stupid thing got bored, the sooner she could leave.
"You. Did. Not. Surprise. Me." she stated clearly, stepping into the shower and closing the door. At least this part was safe from the cameras, though knowing Twilight, she probably put one in the drain pipe or something.
"I understand completely!" bellowed the Ai. "Setting water temperature to: negative seven!
After Sunset finished screaming while trying to open up a shower door that was mysteriously stuck for about five minutes, she was ready to start her day. Out of Twilight's Funhouse she walked, into the hallway of fresh pine smells and other tells of a futuristic society that never fell. As she exited the elevator, passed through the lobby, and exited to the bustling street, she reflected on the city of New Equestria.
New Equestria was the capital city of Thanvion, which was the name given to the human equivalent to Equestria after the two worlds economy became linked. Sunset thought back to simpler times, when only her and a handful of others would traverse the worlds...but as time went on, more and more became curious, and eventually, Equestria opened itself up to tourism - Thanvion was not far behind, as, just as expected, ponies wished to know what life was like without hooves. The main portal was moved from Canterlot High to a more secure location, with a vetting process and other amenities. Duke Twilight made sure to include a little statue of Sunset there, for some reason, but "little" in this case means something so small it can only be seen with a microscope. Literally. Part of the entrance process to Thanvion includes staring through a microscope at a tiny statue of Sunset in a goofy pose, hanging out with some goddamn dust mites.
The growing alliance between Thanvion and Equestria grew only stronger when the two were forced to unite to stop an ancient evil, Grogar, who threatened to destroy them both. It was a pretty old story by now, but Sunset remembered it as the last time she ever traveled to Equestria - to help defeat Grogar.
Sunset crossed over a bridge, towards a lake - her favorite spot to relax. Images of Duke Twilight and her "Dude", Timber, shined high in the sky, projected on every surface, grinning and waving. Timber always had a curious expression in these live feeds. Sunset chuckled to herself as she thought of her favorite way to describe it to others - "it looks like the kind of face you make when you sign up for a petsitting job because you love pets, but when you get there, you realize that there are no pets, and it was a babysitting job all along."
The day was honestly perfect. The weather was great, and all around, everything seemed to be going just swell. Sunset arrived at her favorite lake, approached her favorite bench, and took her favorite seat.
She sat there in silence, enjoying the breeze, and the distant sounds of the city. She thought about her life, her adventures...her time at Canterlot High, her time with the ones she used to call her "friends". She remembered when life was fun, and when it seemed like they would always be fighting the next evil girl to get her hands on Equestrian Magic. She lost herself in these memories, thinking back even to the final battle against Grogar, and how great it was to have a purpose.
She was so lost, that Twilight's voice almost didn't take her out of the moment.
"Sunset?" the too-familiar voice called.
Sunset didn't process it at first. She was so used to having this voice hammered in her ear every day as a joke that hearing it for real seemed downright alien. Thankfully, the voice called out again.
"S...Sunset? Do you...remember me?"
Confused at that last part, Sunset slowly turned around. Standing before her was a grown woman, who looked exactly like Duke Twilight, but...different. Simpler hair, simpler clothes....Sunset recognized her almost immediately as Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. In an almost overjoyed state, Sunset leaped from the bench and embraced Twilight.
"Of...of course I remember you, silly! It's been years!"
"Yeah...I'm sorry about that. As the current ruler of Equestria, 'free time' isn't exactly in my strongest suit anymore..."
"It's okay. I'm just...so glad to see you."
"Why's that? Don't you still see me around...if you know what I mean?"
"Too much. The Duke of Thanvion, as she calls herself, has gone out of her way to make SURE that she remains a part of my life...despite having nothing to do with it."
Sunset sighed, and sat back down at the bench, slightly defeated. "I guess things are fine with you and your friends, right?"
Twilight, with a resigned look, took her seat next to Sunset, ignoring the latter question and addressing the former.
"What exactly do you mean? What has this Twilight done?"
As if on cue, a voice boomed through the heavens.
"GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE! IT IS I, YOUR GRACIOUS RULER, DUKE TWILIGHT SPARKLE OF THANVION! In today's forecast, we've got...SUN! ALL SUN! I made sure to get rid of ALL THE RAINCLOUDS! Because as you know, today is a VERY SPECIAL DAY....THAT'S RIGHT! IT'S JUNIPER MONTAGE'S BIRTHDAY!"
On one of the idiotic sky projections, a shaky camera began to focus on an unsuspecting woman - unrecognizable to Sunset, but it was probably Juniper Montage. Duke Twilight came into frame, giggling, before creeping over to Juniper and screaming, "SURPRISE!!!", as about fifteen trumpet players surrounded the poor woman, and hundreds of screaming fans made themselves known.
Twilight stared at the image in the sky with a completely blank expression. "I think I get it now," she stated.
Sunset looked back over the ocean. "You know, Twilight, a part of me wishes I didn't stay here."
"Why did you?" asked Twilight, tilting her head.
"Because I thought that it was part of my journey to stay here, in the life I built for myself. I thought that was important. I thought it meant something. But honestly, ever since Grogar...I've been wanting to see what it's like again. It's just never felt like the right time."
Twilight took a deep breath. "Well, now might be the right time."
Sunset turned to her, her hands gripping the bench a bit more. "Why's that?"
"Luna can't watch over dreams anymore," said Twilight, matter-of-factly. "We need somepony who can."
Sunset stared at Twilight, weighing her options.