//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Wondercolts Forever // by Epsilon-Delta //------------------------------// Sunset ate nearly an entire pizza on the way to her house. Maybe it was because she was so hungry, but that had to be the best pizza she’d ever eaten! This place had plenty of good food, whatever it was. She was only vaguely aware of Rainbow Dash excitedly listing all the ‘awesome’ things there were to do in town as they walked. Dash never seemed to run out. That kid was always so enthusiastic about everything too, to the point it creeped Sunset out a little. But Sunset was just too distracted by the infinite number of questions floating around in her head to listen to her. What the heck was this place? Was it its own universe or just a pocket dimension inside another? Or something else? Were the adults robots? Were the teens brainwashed in some way? Where did all of the others come from? All from the same dimension or a bunch of different ones? Who was keeping them here? And why? How powerful were they? Her immediate thought was that an emotivore was behind this - like a siren but more powerful. Maybe they trapped you here in this world and brainwashed you to be super happy all the time so they could feed off of your... something? Teen energy? School Spirit? Happiness? It had to be something like that. What other option was there?! Admittedly, the possibility of this place being so strange was something that blindsided Sunset. Something else could blindside her too. “And the arcade is so amazing! It’s got eight floors!” Dash kept going, ever amazed by the town she lived in. “They got House of the Dead, House of the Dead 2, House of the Dead 3, House of the Dead 4 and uh, that dancing one Rarity likes. Plus a bunch of others.” Dash came from somewhere else, outside of all this, based on the conversation they’d had. Thinking about it, shouldn’t she remember things like parents dying and aging? Surely it had to be just this one dimension that was warped, it couldn’t be the norm. So that meant she forgot about where she came from? That her mind had been altered? “Oh! Have you joined any clubs yet?” Dash asked. “Huh?” Sunset looked up at Dash, snapped out of her train of thought. “Oh. No.” “Well how about joining the paranormal investigation club?” Dash asked. “It’s totally rad! We explore empty houses and the forest for ghosts! We’re meeting up tonight after sundown, actually.” “Are ghosts real?” Sunset asked. “If we knew that we wouldn’t need the paranormal investigation club, would we?” “Right. Maybe I’ll think about it later?” Dash put her hands behind her head, looking more solemn than before. “You seem really down,” Dash pointed out. “Like even for a transfer student. Is something bugging you?” “I was just thinking.” Dash continued to walk by her side, frowning. Sunset wasn’t sure how safe it was to ask millions of questions. Maybe she could test the water just a little. “I know you don’t like to remember… before,” Sunset chose her words carefully. “But you can remember it, right?” “Well, sure. Just like I can climb into the sewers and roll around in the filth but -“ Dash kept walking, silently frowning at Sunset with pity. Then she flipped back to a smile. “Okay! I think I know what this is about.” Dash ran ahead of Sunset a little, then turned back and pointed at her temple. “You’re still worried about getting the procedure, yeah? Cause you don’t have your memories clouded yet?” Procedure?! Were these people lobotomized?! “Yeah,” Sunset admitted easily enough. “That does bother me.” “Well you don’t gotta worry about that! It’s awesome! You’re way happier once all that baggage is gone,” said Dash, but she quickly changed course when she realized it wasn’t helping. “See like - you don’t lose all your memories forever or anything like that. I can still kind of remember before, it just takes more effort. You can’t accidentally remember your past cause you really gotta work to do it.” Dash pointed at a nearby alley cat the two of them passed. “Like... that cat! Say you got mauled by cats one time, yeah? Then every time you see a cat you got bad memories. But that’s until you get your memories clouded, then you can see a cat without being all traumatized. No more flashbacks. No more panic attacks. No more PTSD or stress! Doesn’t that sound great?” Really it was the way Dash was selling it that felt off to Sunset the most. That sales pitch took for granted Sunset being traumatized. Dash assumed Sunset had horrible PTSD. Was that the norm here? “In my opinion, you should get your memories clouded as soon as you can! Everything makes perfect sense afterward,” Dash explained. “It’s like jumping straight into the pool. I did it the first day I got here and have zero regrets. Though I get not everyone has as much guts as yours truly.” Sunset nodded but kept her mouth shut. She absolutely wanted to keep her memories, didn’t have anything nearly traumatic enough for her to consider anything like that. “But it doesn’t happen until I ask, right?” Sunset asked. “Well sure, but like I said it’s better to-“ Dash was interrupted by a honking noise and one of those ‘cars’ stopped nearby. Sunset saw a few of these contraptions around town already. They looked like miniature trains made to carry a small number of ponies around. Already she noted the value one might have in the future. They could move fast over flat terrain. Hypothetically, Sunset could fill one up with food, coal and water then just drive off into the desert clearing the two hundred miles in a day. Though she still didn’t know how far a car could go on a bag of coal yet. The window on the car rolled down and a new human with pink hair poked her head out of it. “You two want a ride?” She offered. This one looked just as enthusiastic as Rainbow Dash. “Where are you going?” “Right there.” Dash pointed to the very next house, Sunset’s. “Oh.” She frowned at the house, then smiled wide at them. “Well, I could still drive you up there!” “Pinkie Pie here just got a car.” Dash pointed her thumb at Pinkie. “She’s really eager to drive people places.” “It’s true!” Pinkie nodded. “I gotta drive everywhere!” “You know those things break down eventually, right?” Dash asked her. “You don’t wanna drive it too much or you’ll have to buy another.” “Pinkie Pie lives life to the extreme! Even if that extreme is just driving two feet. Hey, who’s your new friend?” “She’s a new transfer student! Sunset Shimmer!” “Omigosh!” Pinkie jumped out of her car and grabbed Sunset’s hands in her own. “Isn’t Canterlot High the greatest place ever?! I bet you’re so happy here! Just look at you! You’re so happy that you’re in a state of stunned confusion!” “Um.” “I have so much to show you! Omigosh! You gotta come over to my house for a sleepover tonight! Rainbow Dash! Did you invite her to the paranormal investigation club yet?” “I did. She’s kind of the nervous type,” said Dash. “Been avoiding classes and stuff so far. So maybe we should let her stay on her own tonight.” “What? But you can’t skip classes! We gotta feed Celestia, right?” Pinkie smiled happily. “Feed Celestia?!” Sunset blurted it out, then realized she should not have blurted it out. The other two turned to her with a blank look that made Sunset know she just stepped in it. Pinkie let go of Sunset’s hands. “Hey.” Dash folded her arms and glared at Sunset from one side. “I get you’re new so you don’t know how everything here works yet, but how the heck can you not know about that?” “Yeah.” Pinkie got closer, walking to Sunset’s other side so she was surrounded. “Are you really a transfer student? Or are you a filthy intruder?!” Pinkie jabbed an accusing finger at Sunset as she said that last word. Oh no! Sunset was totally an intruder! What did they do to intruders?! She had to never find out! “I’m not an intruder!” Sunset assured them. She needed to think of a cover fast! “Definitely a transfer student here! I just - we called it something different where I came from. We always said ‘making an offering’ to Celestia, see? I was just confused by the way you phrased it.” Sunset laughed. One thing she learned from Princess Celestia was how to fake a smile and fake a laugh. “Oh! Okay!” Pinkie instantly bought it and went back to her bubbly self. “What a silly misunderstanding! I was worried for a second! Now that I think about it, if you were an intruder, Celestia would just teleport behind you and blow your head up!” Sunset stood very still. Principal Celestia did immediately teleport behind her the second she got to this place! “I don’t think Celestia blows anyone’s head up,” said Dash. “Though that would be pretty cool to watch.” She wanted to know more about this but couldn’t dare ask anything that made her look suspicious. “What does she do to intruders then?” Sunset asked. “I mean, she has to deal with them somehow, right?” “Depends on how much potential they have,” Dash explained. “I think she throws the bigger losers out into the desert or onto an island where they can’t bother us.” “Yeah.” Pinkie put an arm around Dash and Sunset each. “And if they smell really bad they get thrown onto a desert island where they double can’t bother us!” Dash and Pinkie both started to laugh, Sunset joining in with her fake laughter as soon as she could. Did that mean Sunset had ‘potential’? But potential for what? To be part of a balanced breakfast?! It wasn’t a good idea to ask anything more about this subject, Sunset could tell. But at least she had a name now. Celestia was the one behind this because of course she bucking was. “There, see?” Dash broke out of Pinkie’s grasp and pointed to Sunset with a wink. “You’re starting to loosen up already! Come on! Let’s check out your house!” Dash led the way to Sunset Shimmer’s house, a fairly large looking one from the outside. “Welcome home, Sunset!” Two more creepy adults greeted her right away. These weren’t Sunset’s parents, not human versions of them anyway. She was a little relieved by that. Having creepy versions of her dead parents around would be even more awkward. Not to mention it would mean this version of Celestia could see her memories. Sunset looked around. At least the house was nice. Plenty of room, even more than she’d had back in Canterlot. “Hey! You got Sunset’s allowance, right?” Dash asked them. “Of course!” Sunset’s ‘mom’ said. She handed Sunset some paper money, but Sunset had no frame of reference to know if this was a lot. “Oh! Thank you?” Sunset looked up at them, only to get overly big smiles in return. “Seem like pretty normal parents to me.” Dash nodded, watching them go off to clean the house. “Yeah! Nothing at all.” Sunset slowly nodded with her fake smile. “Thanks for walking me back. I do feel a lot better now, you were a huge help! But I just want to relax for a bit.” “Any time!” Dash pointed at her as she and Pinkie walked back out the door. “Oh! And if you change your mind the club meets at seven!” They closed the door and left. Sunset’s parents seemed largely disinterested in her, just sat on the couch. “I’m going to my room,” said Sunset. “Just stand in the corner and don’t talk to me.” “Sure thing, dear!” Her father said. They really did go off to the corner. So your ‘parents’ were basically just robots who looked after your house… Technically useful. Though it was also possible Celestia could see what they saw. Sunset couldn’t rule anything out. She needed to be paranoid for now. After some searching, Sunset found the bedroom. Unlike the rest of the house, this room was sparsely decorated. The bed was up on a little alcove with stairs leading up to it, a ceiling to floor window right across. She looked in the closet to find plenty of clothes there. Whoever put these here must have assumed Sunset liked the 'punk' aesthetic. Everything in there was black, leather or flame themed. To be fair she did like the jacket she was wearing. “Okay, Sunset,” Sunset said to herself, pacing back and forth in her room. “Next time you want to run away from home you go across the ocean to zebra lands, not another dimension!” She didn’t even know other dimensions could be this creepy! Why did nopony tell her something like this was possible? Was Princess Celestia legally required to lie and misinform her about every possible thing? Okay! There was no way to change the past! She just had to go over the facts she knew and figure out what to do next. Principal Celestia, whether it was from ignorance or because Sunset had some sort of ‘potential’, seemed like she was just sitting back and watching for now. The other students all thought she was one of them. She didn’t have to do anything crazy right now. There were three options in her mind right now. Escape through the portal, escape through the desert, and confront Celestia. Which of those was the best idea she couldn’t say. The desert and Celestia had too many unknowns for her to even start planning for yet. Principal Celestia could be a completely invincible god that would instantly kill her, or she could be a total pushover. The other side of the desert could have a barrier leading to the outside world or it could have, as she was told, ‘nothing’. The portal meant biding for three years. But would staying here that long begin to warp her mind? Celestia could be feeding off of her right now, slowly making her more like the other students. Then there was the magic problem. Sunset could feel so much magic in this place but couldn’t wield it at all without her horn. How did humans use magic? It’d also mean going back to Equestria empty-handed. Sunset bit her thumb. No. That idea disgusted her too much. She’d rather be stuck in this eternal high school thing than have to go back there and be humiliated! There just wasn’t enough information to know which was the best idea yet. For now, she should just lay low and gather more information as passively as possible. There was technically a school she could go to learn potentially useful things… and everyone there seemed okay with her attending classes. Actually, they seemed a little too eager for her to attend. But it was the least suspicious way for her to gather information for now. “Dinner’s ready, honey!” Sunset’s ‘mom’ poked her head into Sunset’s bedroom. Sunset needed to lock the door next time. “Oh! Thanks… mom.” Sunset tried to smile back. Sunset got up, still hungry. She could already smell the food from here. At least the food here was good.