//------------------------------// // In Her Wake [Drama? Equestria Girls] // Story: Half-Hour Horses // by HoofAndQuill //------------------------------// (Alternate Prompt: After the end.) (After the end of Equestria Girls.) Vice Principal Luna walked away, and Sunset Shimmer looked down to the floor and picked up a stone, setting it aside into the cart for Snips and Snails to haul away later. She looked up to where Princess Twilight Sparkle was standing with her friends. They spoke for a few moments, and then Twilight Sparkle went through the portal. A beat passed, and all the magical additions to her friends disappeared. Pinkie Pie ran forward and slammed into the statue. Sunset Shimmer didn't bother to suppress a smile at the image. She picked up another rock, and set it in the bin. It was over. She had spent nearly three years here, now. From the beginning of her freshman year until the fall of her senior, she had spent her time researching, planning, scheming. She had returned to Equestria in secret, learning of what had happened and then planning for the theft of Twilight's crown. She had stolen it, held it, and for a brief few minutes, known true power here in this magicless hell of a world, and now it was all over. She picked up another brick, setting it into the bin. But, that was when she felt it. It felt wrong. Subtly off, in some indescribable way. Her forehead almost itched, the hairs on her arms stood on end, and her fingertips tingled. But it was gone as soon as it started. She glanced over toward Snips and Snails, but they were still dutifully cleaning up the rubble from the school entrance. Sunset Shimmer looked skeptically at the still smoldering pit where she had been defeated. A moment passed, and a little movement caught her eye. She turned to look, and saw Twilight's five new friends walking toward her. They looked cautious, uncertain. They might have even been a little scared. This time, Sunset Shimmer fought the urge to smile. She adopted the appropriate look of contrite shame from her defeat, and greeted them all humbly, as she supposed she was expected to. -- The dance was over, the police were gone, all the students had dispersed, and the school was empty. Save for one girl. Sunset Shimmer stood at the ruined entrance of Canterlot High School. She looked up into the night sky. It was a clear, beautiful, starry evening. At three in the morning, give or take, the Canterlot of this world was nearly completely silent. No one would expect her to be here. She ran her fingertips along the shoddy masonry she'd been required to do as punishment. It was terrible work, of course. She had no knowledge of construction, and they'd just have to tear it down before proper repairs started. But apparently it was Principal Celestia's intent to simply humiliate and punish Sunset by making her do pointless work. Not that the Principal had directly said so, but it could only be assumed. Sunset Shimmer walked slowly along the wall, keeping her eyes and ears open, for what it was worth. Here. Right here was where her attack had landed. She lingered a moment, but there was nothing there. The rainbow had passed through here to dispel her control on the other students... but there was nothing here either. She paced carefully along the ruin, but it wasn't there. Sunset Shimmer grit her teeth in frustration, but then turned and walked toward the crater. It was marked off with police tape, for the safety of the students, but she simply knelt to go under it. There... there it was. Her skin prickled just slightly. Sunset Shimmer crawled down the side of the crater, ignoring the mud and dirt getting on her clothing. Each step made her more sure of it. By the time she stood at the bottom of the crater, she felt a twinge in her forehead that she hadn't felt properly in what seemed like forever. But now that she had confirmed it, it occurred to her that she wasn't equipped to use it. She had no horn. She could feel it, the wisps of magic left behind after Twilight's little tantrum, but without a horn, she couldn't focus it. She furrowed her brows, and tried to use the same techniques she would have in Equestria. Glowing strands of power flashed through her vision, but all it resulted in was a growing pain just behind her eyes. Sunset Shimmer slammed her fist into the ground angrily. It was there! It was just there, just under the surface, and she couldn't use it! Her hand glowed as she removed it from the ground. Sunset stared down at her fingers, and flexed them outward, then back in. She tried again, with the Equestrian techniques, but modifying them a little. Her fingers shone along the sides, and then a familiar blue-green aura arced from finger to finger, before coruscating over her hand in bright flames. She opened her other hand, and smiled as the power spread to it as well. Magic. Sunset Shimmer's smile turned to a malicious grin. The blue magical aura on her hands sparked, and long, twisting strands of remnant power shone in the air. She pulled the power into herself, drawing from the well until the air ran dry and the colors of the area seemed muted. The she drank in more. The Sunset Shimmer who had first crawled into that pit was not the same one that levitated herself up from it. She had suffered a defeat, yes, but in her defeat she had been granted all the power she would ever need. Who could stand against her, when no other person in this world had what she had? Sunset Shimmer raised her arms, and felt the power flow through her. It was three AM, the sun was down, and the stars shone brightly. This was the perfect time to test herself. She looked to the east. She held her hands out in front of her, and then slowly raised them, straining against the unfamiliar focusing method. A faint shimmering light appeared on the horizon. Sunset Shimmer smiled, and refocused herself. At her will, the sun rose on her new empire.