Chapter 6
Housewarming
Sunset Shimmer pushed open the hospital doors and walked down the steps leading out of the building. Straightening her jacket on her shoulders, Sunset whistled tunelessly as she stepped off the stone and onto the grass.
It was good getting out of that place. Good to get the sterile smell out of her nostrils and replaced with fresh air, good to be eating decent food again instead of what they served up on the wards for dinner. Being in hospital, in Sunset's opinion, was like being in a prison where the jailer was your own body, and getting discharged was freedom.
She wouldn't be going back to the wastes again, that was for sure. Sunset wasn't one to tempt either fate or Diamond Dogs, and she certainly had no desire to require a rescue of her own. She tried to imagine what it would be like to have Twilight rescue her, and found it was excruciatingly embarrassing; although not without a frisson of excitement at the same time.
Sunset shook her head to clear her thoughts. It was never going to happen so why bother thinking about it? She needed to think of a new way to acquire raw materials if she wasn't going to harvest gems. She might, and the thought made her shudder a little, have to get a part time job to earn money. Sunset had managed to avoid work all through high school, mostly by the expedient of leeching off her boyfriend. But that wasn't really an option here, and she couldn't expect the princess to keep supporting her forever.
She wasn't a bad cook, if she said so herself, maybe the restaurant was hiring?
But the horrors of work were, for the moment, still safely in the future. Sunset found that she didn't want to think about that right now. And she didn't want to go home either. The skies were clear and the sun was warm, it wasn't a day for sitting in a dark house drawing schematics or making plans, it wasn't a day for trying to work while the sunlight through the window nearly blinded you. Sunset wanted to lie down under a tree and nap in the shade, never caring who saw her, or sit and read among the flowers while she ate strawberries and drank cider. She had three years of pony literature to catch up on, after all, maybe Twilight could recommend her the best stuff she’d missed.
This day was too nice to even think about working.
Sunset set off with a spring in her step, turning up her collar and humming a few bars of 'Maneater' to herself as she trotted down the lane.
She closed her eyes as she let her hooves carry her towards the library. "Hey, Twilight, are you in there? Or are you still in Canterlot?"
"Yes, I'm still in the palace right now."
Sunset rolled her eyes. "There's no call for sarcasm, I'm sure." She pushed open the door and stepped inside. "Hey, when did you get back?"
"This morning," Twilight replied, looking up from the book she was reading. "When did you get out of the hospital?"
"A few minutes ago," Sunset said. "Listen, um, I appreciate it, sort of, but you didn't need to lay it on so strong with Princess Celestia. What you told her and all. It was a bit embarrassing."
Twilight raised one eyebrow curiously. "You didn't like being praised?"
"I didn't like being in a situation I didn't understand," Sunset said.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Sunset said gruffly. "Just...thanks, but no thanks, okay?"
Twilight blinked. "Okay. So, is that what you came here to say?"
"No, no, that was just something I wanted to say while I was here," Sunset walked around the library table until she was standing behind Twilight, reading over her shoulder. "Celestia acted swiftly to deal with the chaos that followed Princess Luna's banishment... you're reading history? Come on, Twilight, you can't study on a day like this."
"Why not?"
"Because it's not natural," Sunset said exasperatedly. "If you have to read, then read outside in the sun, and don't read something so heavy either, unless you think it will help you take a nap later."
"Did you come here to drag me outside or something?"
"No, I came here to get a book, I haven't read anything written by a pony in years," Sunset said. "Something light, frothy, but good."
"I guess I am still the librarian around here," Twilight marked her page in the history book as she rose to her hooves. "What kind of genres do you like?"
"Wish fulfilment fluff," Sunset replied.
"Really?" Twilight sounded half-aghast. "With the red and black alicorns and the overpowered magic? That kind of wish-fulfilment."
"Yeah, what about it?" Sunset asked challengingly.
"Nothing," Twilight said primly. "I just thought you had better taste."
"Oh, well excuse me, Princess Twilight Smug, but those of us who didn't actually get to be alicorns like to be taken out of ourselves sometimes. Do you honestly mean to tell me that you never wished that you had ridiculous amounts of power compared to anypony else, and everypony who wasn't a hissingly evil villain would be kissing your hooves wherever you went?"
"No," Twilight answered with perfect sincerity.
Sunset stared at her for a moment. "Yeah, that makes sense. Probably why you got the wings and I didn't. Anyway, do you think there's a book here that I'd like or not?"
"I suppose there probably is something suitably trashy around here someplace," Twilight murmured.
"Oh, don't talk about me like that. Just because I like something a little lowbrow some times doesn't mean I can't appreciate literature as well as you can," Sunset protested. "I suppose you mainly read textbooks?"
"Not at all. I have every Daring Do book delivered on release date," Twilight declared. "I just prefer stories that can combine adventure and excitement with nuanced characterisation and developed worldbuilding."
"World building?" Sunset grinned. "You're such a nerd."
"Says the mare who reads novels about black and red alicorns and who got mad because her comic books changed while she was away," Twilight pointed out archly.
Sunset blinked. "Touché, Princess."
Twilight chuckled as she began to climb the steps onto the second floor of the library. "So you want something as awful as your preference, or do you want something that's actually halfway decent?"
Sunset rolled her eyes. "Okay, what would you recommend?"
Twilight's horn glowed lavender as the aura of her magic surrounded it. A book flew off a nearby shelf towards her, before Twilight lowered it onto the table in front of Sunset Shimmer.
Sunset looked down at it. The book was called A Nightingale Sang, and it had a picture of the titular bird on the front cover. Sunset gripped the tome with her own magic and flipped it over to read the blurb on the back.
"It's my second favourite novel," Twilight said, trotting back down the stairs. "It's incredibly well written. Since I've moved to Ponyville I've really appreciated what a brilliant depiction of small town life it is. I re-read it every year, or try to."
"How often do you read your actual favourite?" Sunset asked.
"I don't have it any more," Twilight said, sounding a little unhappy about it.
Sunset looked up. "Why not? What's the book?"
"The Silk and Cotton Bunny," Twilight said. "I read it when I was a filly. I cried my eyes out. Have you read it?"
Sunset shook her head. "I've never even heard of it. What's it about?"
"It's about a stuffed rabbit who becomes real through the love of her owner," Twilight explained. "When I was little, I thought that if I loved Smartypants enough she'd become a real donkey just like the bunny did. But now, when I think back on it, I sometimes think that I'm more like the bunny myself: living in Ponyville I've become real through the love of my friends."
"Real? What were you before, a ghost?"
"I wasn't living, not really," Twilight said, taking the last few stairs to rejoin Sunset on the ground floor. "I only existed, I didn't live. I was like you."
"Gee, thanks."
"I just meant..." Twilight looked as though she was pondering how to say it. "Do you think anyone on the other side of the mirror misses you?"
Sunset harrumphed a little to cover up the fact that the obvious answer was no. She cleared her throat loudly. Then she looked away. Finally she conceded, "Probably not, no."
"Then you weren't living there," Twilight said. "And you weren't real."
"Dismissed by the word of a fillies' book, awesome," Sunset growled. "If I read this, is it gonna tell me that I suck as well?"
"Not unless you're the arrogant matriarch of a farming family," Twilight said.
"Good," Sunset said. She started for the door, then paused as she saw Twilight getting ready to continue reading her history. "Oh, come on! You aren't really going to sit in here on a day like this?"
"I thought I might, yes."
"Look, read history if you want, but at least read in the sun. Come on!"
Sunset practically dragged Twilight out of the library and into the shade of an apple tree upon a hill overlooking Ponyville. There were no apples growing, but the tree was blossoming, providing a pink an white canopy between the two ponies and the sunlight as Sunset sat down with her back against the tree trunk. The light dappled upon their coats as Twilight curled up on the grass with her book in front of her. Every so often the tree would weep, sending a blossom petal floating down to land upon Sunset Shimmer with a tickling sensation.
Sunset opened her book to the first page, but didn't start reading it. Instead she leaned back, a slight frown upon her face.
"It isn't really fair, when you think about it," Sunset said. "You got to live and be real in two universes, and apparently, I haven't lived in even one. Some ponies get all the luck. Snips and Snails..."
"Hmm?" Twilight murmured, looking up from her book.
"I bet Snips and Snails miss me a little bit," Sunset averred confidently. "They may not admit it, but they do. I'd bet anything."
"Really?" Twilight asked. "Even after you turned them into demons?"
Sunset shifted a little, the bark of the tree scraping against her back. "I may have screwed up a little bit at the end, but there were more good times than bad."
"You used them shamelessly," Twilight pointed out.
"Everypony is using somepony," Sunset said. "You could say the same about the store-owner using his clerk, the mayor using her assistant, even Princess Celestia using you. The fact is, I gave those two a place to belong, I made them cool by association with me and I took care of them. I always look after what's mine. Whatever's happened to them now, I bet they aren't doing half so well without me." She spoke it as a proud boast, but when she stopped to consider it for a moment the less it seemed cause for pride and more for shame.
They had trusted her. They had put their faith in Sunset Shimmer and followed her every command. They hadn't always been competent about it, but they'd always tried their best to do what she asked of them. And she had repaid them first by twisting their bodies into demonic forms, then by abandoning them to save herself. What was happening to them now? Had they been arrested? Had they been expelled? Or were they just the same dim-witted outcasts they'd been when she recruited them to her side. Did people stare at them and wonder what they were, and she wasn't around any more to speak up for them?
"Wow, I really treated them like dirt, didn't I?" Sunset murmured. "I almost hope that they don't miss me. Hey, Twilight Sparkle, do you think that they're all right?"
"Who?"
"Snips and Snails! The two from the other side of the mirror."
"Yes, I think so," Twilight replied confidently, nodding her head. "My friends on the other side won't hold a grudge. They'll stick up for them."
Sunset made a noncommital sound with the back of her throat. She was of the opinion that Twilight's friends on the other side of the mirror where just another clique like all the other high school cliques, and the fact that they weren't united by a common interest but by something deeper just made them a little more resilient than the cheerleaders or the musicians. They might close ranks to protect one another, but she didn't for a moment believe that they would stick their collective necks out for the likes of Snips or Snails. They hadn't even stuck up for one another against her, for all their talk about being BFFs.
But there was nothing she could do about it now. The portal was closed, and would remain so for the next three years. Even if she did go back after that time, they would be college freshmen by then and would have no need of her help or hindrance. Sunset supposed she would have to trust in a mixture of their survival skills and the kindness of Twilight's human friends.
Who knew, perhaps they would turn into essentially nice but dim kids, like their pony counterparts?
Sunset got up, walked a few steps away from the tree, then lay down on her back staring up at the clear skies above. "It's kinda weird if you think about it, isn't it? Us all having clones in another world."
"Not exactly clones," Twilight replied.
"Copies, or doppelgangers, you know what I mean," Sunset said dismissively. "It makes you think, doesn't it? What does it mean that they're all so like us."
"It means the universe has a limited imagination when it comes to characters," Twilight muttered, nearly beneath her breath.
Sunset laughed. "But, aren't you a little bit curious about how they all ended up so like us? Don't you wonder what the other you is like? I mean, it's a pretty good argument against nurture, isn't it?"
"Not necessarily," Twilight said. "After all, the parallels aren't exact. Snips and Snails are a lot less mean on this side of the mirror. That speaks to the effect of environment."
"That's a small change compared to all the stuff that's the same," Sunset pointed out. "I mean, to have nurture produce two Rarity's who are fashion crazy, two Rainbow Dash's who are athletic and two Pinkie Pie's who are just plain nuts, those are some big coincidences."
"So you think, what, that you can be born a fashionista?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"I'm not saying it makes much sense, but that's what the evidence suggests," Sunset sighed, putting her forehooves behind her head. "Makes you wonder if we just can't help how we're made. Makes you wonder if I ever had a chance."
"Makes you wonder if you can excuse all your mistakes by blaming them on how you were born, you mean," Twilight said archly.
"That too." Sunset smirked. "Do you ever wonder what she's like, the other you? Do you ever wonder if she'll meet up with your other friends?"
Twilight looked up. "I sort of hope not, actually. If there is another Twilight Sparkle out there, I want her to have her own life, not be standing in my shadow trying to fill my seat with my friends. What about you? Do you think there's another Sunset Shimmer out there somewhere?"
"I don't see why there wouldn't be, there's more than one of everything else," Sunset said softly. "I hope she's not like me."
Twilight looked puzzled. "Not like you?"
"I don't think you need me to recite my flaws, do you?" Sunset asked. "I hope she hasn't got all of them. It's a lot to hope for, but I hope whoever she is the other Sunset is better than me, and does better. President Sunset Shimmer, has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"
"Only if she really is better than you."
"Hey!"
Twilight put one hoof to her mouth as she giggled. "Honestly, I know you've got problems, better than anypony. But, the other you could do a lot worse than be like you."
Sunset rolled over onto her side, blades of grass sticking to her back and in her mane. "You mean that?"
"I do," Twilight said simply.
A slight smile spread across Sunset's face. "Hey, you know what?"
"What?"
"I've been calling you Twilight this whole time and you haven't said anything about it."
Twilight considered it. "I guess, that's because you've earned it."
Sunset's smile broadened. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Pinkie Pie with a sound of streamers and party-blowers.
"What'cha doing?"
Sunset yelled in surprise as she scrambled away. "Will you stop doing that?"
Pinkie Pie laughed. "What are you doing sitting around out here silly. You're supposed to be back home where everypony's waiting to throw you a party!"
Sunset looked at Twilight, who seemed just as surprised as Sunset felt. "Why is everypony throwing me a party?"
"It's a housewarming party, duh!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"But I've lived here a few weeks now."
"But we weren't your friends back then because we only knew you were the meanie pants who stole Twilight's crown but now we know you're the good guy who rescued Twilight so I forced everypony to...I mean everypony decided that we should throw you a housewarming party because a house that hasn't been housewarmed is just freezing cold, brrrr!"
Sunset mentally ran back through that sentence, inserting commas where appropriate. "Um, that's nice, Pinkie Pie, but I don't really want-"
"Great!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Now come on, there's no time to lose."
Sunset yelped in surprised as Pinkie grabbed Sunset's tail in her mouth and began to drag her off towards her home, while Sunset scrabbled furiously against the ground with her hooves.
"Get off! Pinkie Pie, get off me! Twilight, help!"
"Oh, so it's different when somepony is dragging you someplace, huh?" Twilight said, the expression on her face saying that she was rather enjoying the sight of Sunset's discomfiture.
Pinkie dragged Sunset all the way home, hauling her inside and onto a welcome mat that Sunset was sure hadn't been there before.
Thankfully, everypony turned out to not be the whole of Ponyville, as Sunset had feared, but just Twilight's other friends, lined up under a banner proclaiming 'Happy Housewarming!'. Sunset's table had been colonised by party food, bowls of ice cream and fruit punch and a cake covered in golden marzipan. Some houseplants had been set up discreetly in the corners, adding a bit of colour to the rather beige room.
"I take it she didn't especially want a party," Rarity murmured as Pinkie Pie let go of Sunset to leave her in a heap on her own floor.
"Called it," Rainbow Dash said.
Sunset picked herself up onto her hooves. "You called right." She paused for a moment, then added, "But I do quite like the look of that cake."
Everypony laughed, and began to eat while Pinkie Pie put some music on.
"Did you guys get me these plants?" Sunset asked.
Twilight nodded. "I thought your house looked a bit empty."
"And that's not all," Rainbow Dash added, darting into Sunset's bedroom before reappearing, pushing an arcade game out into the living room in front of her.
Sunset's eyes went wide. "You got me one? You actually got it for me like I asked?"
Twilight just smiled.
Sunset approached the game. It was in impeccable condition, the wooden casing undamaged, the glass clean, the plastic buttons showing little sign of wear and tear. It looked, in fact, like it had been restored extensively. Sunset's eyes were drawn to the label at the top of the game.
"I can't take this apart," Sunset said. "This is Fighting is Magic, they only made fifty of these before the developers got sued out of business! How did you get this?"
"Princess Luna gave us one out of her collection," Twilight answered. "Apparently she has three."
"You cannot honestly expect to gut something so rare for it's insides," Sunset said.
Twilight looked at her for a moment. "Actually, no, we don't. This one is to play. There's an old Pac-Mare game in the bedroom for you to rip apart to see how it works."
"Thank goodness for that, for a moment I was worried there," Sunset said.
Rainbow Dash flipped the game on. "So, Sunset, you want to play?"
Sunset raised one eyebrow. "You think you can beat me?"
"You think you can beat me?"
"Oh, challenge accepted," Sunset purred in anticipation as she and Rainbow Dash took their places. Rainbow Dash selected the pegasus character Eagle, while Sunset chose the buffalo M. Bison. In no time they were both furiously mashing the buttons while everypony else cheered them.
All told it was, if Sunset had to be honest, the best night she had had since returning to Equestria.