'This is totally Twilight's fault.' "Shut up." 'She finally dragged me down with her with all her crazy.' "Quiet." 'If it weren't for her believing little breezie tales, I'd be back in the library learning something useful!' "Well if I think that, maybe I do need to get out and make friends!" 'The place is freaking officially named Ponyville.' To that, Sunset had no real answer for...herself. The name was so painful generic it almost sounds like a bad joke, or a generic place to set a children's story book, complete with a Once Upon a Time. Like any good stories started with those...
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Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria, there were two sisters who held sway over day and night. The younger sister, driven to jealousy by the lack of appreciation her nights received, turned to dark magics to sooth her pain and claim the respect she felt she deserved. Nopony would be able to ignore her anymore, for her night would last forever. The elder sister sought to turn her beloved sister back to the light, but failed. In grief, she did what she had to do. Using the Elements of Harmony she sealed Nightmare Moon, the monster her sister had become, into her own beloved moon in the night sky. And there she has stayed, for almost a thousand years...
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"Awww cheer up guys. Look at it this way, we get to enjoy the entire Summer Sun Celebration right where Celestia will be. I mean she only holds it in Canterlot once every, what, six years?" Spike noted, trying to cheer up his friends as they flew on in their royal sky carriage.
"That just means we could see Celestia raise the sun back home in Canterlot next year instead of wasting time here while Nightmare Moon prepares to destroy us all!" Twilight insisted, pacing around the cramped carriage in her anxiety as much as the presence of other passengers would allow. Actually, judging by how sore Sunset's hooves and Spikes feet were, pacing considerably more than their presence should allow.
Doing a little bit of mental math, Sunset realized that this meant five whole years had passed since that day. "It seems like it was so long ago at times. Other times it feels like I turned my life around just yesterday." 'That's because I'm crazy!' "....eh, I can live with that."
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Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria, there was a princess who held sway over night and day. She felt lonely, and went out into the land to find somepony to meet to liven up her day. She often traveled in disguise, finding joy in meeting new ponies who would never dare to speak to her if they knew she was a princess. However on this day she met a remarkable little filly named Sunset Shimmer who, like the princess, had a cutie mark of the sun itself. Sunset Shimmer was very skilled with magic, and had a large amount of magical power. So impressed was she by the display that the princess dropped her disguise, and offered the young filly to be her student. The young girl agreed and the two became teacher and student. However over time Sunset began to grow arrogant, boastful, and entitled. She felt that as a powerful Mage and student of the princess she deserved to be treated special just for being her. When study under the princess did not yield the power she wanted fast enough Sunset Shimmer turned to the darker arts. The princess, having learned from her failure with her sister, confronted her student before it was too late.
They talked for a great length of time and, in the end, Sunset Shimmer saw the error of her ways. Seeking forgiveness for her foolishness, she cast aside dark magic and swore to strive to always be a better pony. The princess forgave her readily, tears of joy in her eyes. And so the student came and watched her mentor raise the sun upon the longest day, and stood at her teacher's side. And there she has stayed for almost five years...
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"Calm down Twilight. Nothing's going to happen. Celestia said so herself didn't she? Unless you think she's wrong." Sunset noted with mock concern, like a parent trying to get a kid to see they were being silly.
Twilight stopped in her pacing to stare at Shimmer. "What no, of course not. The Princess can't be wrong! And don't use her name like that. Even if we are her students we need to show her proper respect!" she declared. She really and truly despised Sunset's bad habit of dropping Princess Celestia's title so casually and failing to show formal recognition, just because she was the senior student...
"Right, so, if Princess Clestia said nothing bad is going to happen, nothing bad is going to happen. So just calm down and do those breathing exercises. And who knows, maybe meeting some new ponies would do you some real good."
Twilight did as asked, breathing in and out in a slow rythem while using her forleg to measure time. Despite assurances to the contrary, she knew something bad was going to happen. Maybe if not from Nightmare Moon, then from herself...
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Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria, there was a princess who raised the sun. Once a year on the longest day of the year, she did it before all the public, and it was beautiful. Attending one such performance was a young filly named Twilight Sparkle. After seeing the princess raise the sun, Twilight fell in love with magic. Afterwards she went home and began to study. And study. And study. And study some more. Her parents were so impressed by how well she was doing they decided to send her to a special school. However the school would not let her in unless she passed a test and hatched a dragon egg. The little filly tried and tried, but no matter what Twilight did she couldn't hatch the egg. Suddenly there was a bright flash, and little Twilight's magic went surging out! She hatched the egg, but it also turned into a giant dragon! The school board was sent flying around the room, and Twilight's poor parents were turned into potted plants! But then the princess came and stopped Twilight's magic. She set the school board down, returned the parents to normal, and even shrank the dragon back down into a baby. Amazed at what the little filly, who had just earned her cute mark, could do Celestia invited her to become one of her personal students, for she really couldn't see how different it would be to have two exceptional students instead of one. Twilight and her parents agreed, and so Twilight met the princess's other student, Sunset Shimmer.
Twilight soon came to realize that the princess, Sunset, and herself were simply way more powerful than other unicorns; Sunset had even said so herself on a couple of occasions. Twilight realized that being so powerful, and able to lose control, she needed to be very careful and do things just right. Until she could, she would do her best to avoid normal ponies untill she was sure she wouldn't hurt them. And so she locked herself away from the world with her books. And there she has stayed for almost five years...
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Twilight was only starting to feel marginally calmer when Spike shouted "We're here!" Looking down, they had indeed arrived at Ponyville. Nothing looked too extraordinary so far to make its stand out from all the other little towns throughout the land. Thatched roof houses, a few shops, a farmers' market, a giant gingerbread house...okay maybe some things stood out.
After the carriage landed and the passengers got off, Spike riding atop Twilight as he often does, Twilight turned to their drivers with a smile. "Thanks for the ride guys!"
"Oh yes, thanking ponies, right. Thanks!" Sunset quickly added as Twilight once again led by example on how to be nice to other ponies. Giving an exaggerated wave and a large smile as the pegasi guards flew off with their carriage, she sighed an stopped once they had flown off. Why did it have to be so hard to be good? Taking another look around, Sunset levitated out her copy of the list of preparations to check. "Alright, we're here and we've got a job to do. Let's just get this over with."