Sunset Shimmer bolted upright from Celestia’s bed. Her breathing was quick and labored. Her heart felt like it was trying to make a desperate escape from her chest and to her horror, she did not remember what was so bad about her dream. No details remained of what she dreamt, only the lasting fear and oppressive feeling of hopelessness.
The modest nightgown that Celestia lent Sunset was soaked in a cold sweat, clearly the signs of a troubling night. She wondered if she should talk to Celestia about her nightmares. They weren’t really the main cause of her grief but maybe she might be able to help.
She wiped her hands over her face and was shamed to discover she had been crying. She had been doing that a lot lately, more so in the last few weeks than she had since leaving Equestria, and perhaps maybe a long time before that. She felt like an exposed nerve and being so sensitive to everything was beginning to drag on her sanity.
Sunset finally collected herself enough to look over at the clock. It helpfully informed her that it was 5:13am, really she should have expected as much since the sun had yet peeked over the horizon. Resigning herself to wakefulness Sunset Shimmer climbed out of bed. Glancing around the small room her eyes came to rest on her bags of clothing that were all but forgotten yesterday.
Sunset suddenly realized how lucky she was that some good soul had brought the bags to security rather than take them home themselves. Sunset Shimmer pained in realization that she would have just walked off with them. Putting the thoughts from her mind she gathered up the bags and place them on the messed up bed.
Taking the contents slowly from the first bag she found that all was accounted for, the two pairs of tight fit jeans and three shirts she had in that bag hadn’t shown so much as a sign of being disturbed. Sunset Shimmer then reached over for the second bag which she assumed would have her three skirts, the last few tops, and the orange zip up hoodie she bought.
Which is exactly what she found, but what she hadn’t expected was the small envelope resting on top. Quirking her eyebrow Sunset pulled the small letter out of from its covering.
To the owner of these bags,
Hello, sorry that I couldn’t return these directly to you! I couldn’t find you after those other people led you away. I can only assume you will try checking in with the security office before giving up on your bags, which if you are reading this then I can only assume you have. Oh, look at me ramble, sorry I’ll try to make this brief.
You looked very sad when I saw you sitting alone in the food court. Do you need some help? Or maybe just a friend? If it’s not too forward, I would like to say I would gladly be your friend. I am starting up school at Canterlot High tomarrow, if you go there maybe we can meet? You looked about the same age as me so it wouldn’t be too much of a leap of logic to see you again there.
Signed,
Twilight Sparkle
When Sunset read the name, she felt her blood run cold in her veins. Twilight Sparkle was going to start going to Canterlot High? It was going to be a disaster. Beyond the fallout of the dance, she was going to now have to face the girl who beat her daily! Wait… did she just misspell ‘tomorrow?’
Sunset Shimmer checked the letter again. To her amusement, Twilight had in fact misspelled tomorrow. This broke her of her train of thought completely and only now realized how silly it was. This was the human world Twilight Sparkle. Sunset had no reason to be terrified of this Twilight. Assured in the thought that meeting her wouldn’t be the end of the world Sunset still resolved to stay away from her.
If this Twilight was anything like the one from Equestria then she would have plenty of friends waiting for her. The whole school would be singing her phrases within the week and any awkwardness over the fall formal should be quickly explained to her by the Canterlot Five. There would be no reason for her to need to be involved.
Sunset read over Twilight’s awkward letter again and saw something she didn’t notice the first time. A postscript was written at the bottom.
“P.S. I got you something. I hope that isn’t too weird.”
Pulling the bag back over she looked over the contents more thoroughly than before. At the bottom lay a book, or more accurately a journal. It was bound in black leather and featured Sunset’s sun make on the front cover. Getting the marks on clothing was one thing but this was a higher quality than a simple matter of dyes. The mark was sewn into the cover made with sheets of colored velvet.
Tearing up a little Sunset traced her fingers over the mark. “Just great, now I am going to need to thank that dork.”
After completing her morning routine Sunset Shimmer walked out into the small living area of the apartment. She was drying her wet hair off with a towel and was fussing over the tangles in it. Celestia was awake and sitting on couch going over some important looking documents.
Sunset wore just a large shirt she had found in Celestia’s room. Proudly announcing some band on the front called ‘Princess’ something Sunset was surely going to question Celestia about. Today Sunset and Celestia were just going to hang around the house and not risk any more excitement. Celestia was almost equally casually dressed. In a large pair of purple sweat pants and a plain grey shirt.
“You know, you could have the bed if you wanted. I wouldn’t mind sleeping on the couch.” Sunset offered again.
Celestia gave a quick good-natured huff. “Heh, I’ll be fine with the couch for a while longer. You have been sleeping on far worse and that is why you should take the bed.” Celestia then quickly scooted over to make room for Sunset. “Come over here and I’ll brush your hair out.”
Sunset Shimmer gave her an uncomfortable look, but sat down next to her regardless. “You don’t have to, you know. I am perfectly capable on my own.”
Celestia picked a brush up from the table. It sat there usually for her. With her hair so long it needed nearly constant attention. Sunset sat with her back to Celestia. Celestia got to work brushing out the wild mess that was Sunset’s hair.
Sunset sat in a comfortable silence for a bit, letting the brush glide through her hair. Sunset decided it was a good idea to start some sort of conversation. “I know who found my bags yesterday and brought them to security. You would never be able to guess who it was though.”
Celestia hm’ed and then replied. “Well, Derpy has never been one to hold a grudge and has a good moral compass. I bet it was her.”
Sunset snickered a bit. “Nope, but that was a good guess.” Sunset paused dramatically, even if the effect was ruined by her hair getting caught in the brush cause of a knot. “Ngh, it was Twilight Sparkle.”
The brush stopped for a second. “I thought she went back home.” Celestia said cautiously.
“Oh Princess Twilight Sparkle for sure did.” Sunset said smirking at no one since her back was facing Celestia. “This, is just regular human Twilight Sparkle. She is also supposed to be transferring to CHS.”
Celestia resumed brushing. “So, that is what Luna meant by we were getting a surprising new student tomorrow. What do you mean by human?”
“The princess really didn’t tell you anything did she?” Sunset turned a little to look at Celestia’s face behind her. Seeing just curiosity and confusion painted on Celestia’s features, she turned back around and continued. “I come from a world of magical talking ponies.”
“Ah.” Celestia said dumbly. “I guess I wasn’t hearing things when you said pony the other day.”
“Yep, I am a living magical unicorn turned human through magic.” Sunset let that sink in a little bit.
“So, that stuff was the real deal then wasn’t it? That was actually magic.” Celestia was trying her hardest not to just brush this off as crazy. Since her worldview was being reworked, she put most of her concentration of Sunset’s hair, which was now well detangled.
Sunset turned around and took the brush from Celestia’s hand. “Celestia, I know this is hard to take in so why don’t I just make it easy on you and give you the cliff notes version of it all.”
Celestia just nodded. Sunset Shimmer stood up and walked over to the small desk Celestia had in the corner. Taking a pencil and a sheet of paper, she came back and sat next to Celestia laying the paper on the coffee table.
“I come from the magical land of Equestria. Its inhabitants are ponies.” Sunset Shimmer drew a small stick pony. “There are three major tribes of ponies; Earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi.” Sunset drew two more stick ponies, one with a triangle horn and one with stick wings.
“Earth Pony magic makes them excellent at adapting to their special talents. Earth Ponies are typically the ones who can find the most creative solutions to a problem.” Sunset Shimmer drew a little corn on the stick earth pony and then a field of stick corn next to him. “They created the best techniques for agriculture and are also most of the mechanical engineers of our world.”
“Unicorns are born with the ability to use active magic. Their magic is usually limited to being relevant to their special talent.” Sunset Shimmer drew a dumbbell on the stick unicorn and then an anvil with a wavy line around it. “Almost all unicorns can levitate objects, but spells can typically accomplish anything. Unicorns with talents in magic are normally where most of the arcane research of the world comes from.”
“Pegasi are born with wings and can stand on clouds as if they were solid. Their magic makes them more nimble and skilled at finer manipulations.” Sunset drew what she hoped look like a chisel on the stick pegasus and then drew a statue stick pony half sticking out of a fluffy stick cloud. “They are mostly responsible for Equestria’s weather as they can stand on and manipulate the clouds. Also flying helps reach them of course.”
“Not to make generalizations of course, after all there are ponies of all three tribes in all professional fields. There aren’t really any jobs that cannot be done by any of the tribes. It might seem odd, but there are earth ponies working in weather, pegasi in magical research, and unicorns working fields of crops. There is little to no stigma between tribes.” Sunset Shimmer left out the few exceptions. She wanted a simple explanation, and for most of Equestria this was all true. Canterlot’s unicorn noble class and the pegasi home land of Cloudsdale would just overload her.
“Are you with me so far?” Sunset looked at Celestia, who was the very picture of confusion. Celestia against evidence otherwise nodded her head.
“I thought Twilight had wings though, how was she able to cast spells?” Celestia asked clearly trying to wrap her head around the idea of magic being real.
“Twilight Sparkle is a princess. Well I guess that doesn’t really explain anything…” Sunset paused to gather her thoughts to make this next explanation as easy as possible. “Princesses are Alicorns.” Sunset drew another stick pony and then added wings and a horn to it. “They exhibit the traits of all three races, earth magic, active magic, and sky magic.”
“I think that there are only four right now Twilight, Cadance, Luna, and… Celestia.” Sunset stopped to let Celestia catch up again. She knew that Celestia witnessed real magic, but like all the other witnesses, the knowledge of what it was just sort of passed through them. It challenged how they thought the world worked so it was quickly forgotten or they made up explanations for themselves for what happened. The only real consequence was that now everyone in school hated her.
“Okay, well that was… informative. Can we talk about something else for a bit? I would like to know more about you personally. I know you told me a bit, but I am curious about the rest.” Celestia was clearly struggling.
Sunset sighed, “I mean whats there really to tell? I was a little orphan filly who didn’t fit in.”
Celestia frowned at her, but offered no reply.
“Fine, well I guess I could explain how I met Celestia…She was visiting the Orphanage. It was something she regularly did, but I made it a point to be out of the way when she came around. Well I suppose that only served to make me interesting to her, because one day out of the blue…”
“What Are you reading little one?”
Not recognizing the voice Sunset Shimmer immediately barked back with a scathing. “I’m three years old, do not patronize me.” She looked up from her book and nearly swallowed her own tongue.
“Oh, three years old and already you have such a good vocabulary. Wish I could say I knew what it was like, but it was so long ago that I am not sure I remember it right anymore.” Celestia was beaming at Sunset Shimmer with a bright smile.
“P-princess! I’m sorry I didn’t mean…” Celestia put a hoof at the end of Sunset’s snout softly.
“Didn’t mean what? That you did not appreciate being talked down to? Do not worry, I will not do it again. It is clear that you are very mature for your age.”
“She kept bothering me each time she came by the orphanage, but she never talked down to me again. She didn’t agree to adopt me until after I beat her at chess though. Apparently being nearly ageless doesn’t come with tactical skill, but then I think she let me win.” Sunset finished her little story taking a big breath.
“Alright that is quite enough about me and Equestria. I’d say it’s your turn now. So, are you some immortal human masquerading as a principal?” Sunset interjected before Celestia could as another question.
Celestia chuckled. “Hardly. No, I am just a perfectly ordinary human. I make a meager living as a overwhelmed principal of the world’s strangest high school. If it weren’t for Luna… Well…” Celestia sighed.
“So, you said the other day that Luna turned evil in Equestria? “ Sunset nodded to confirm Celestia’s question. “Well, I guess then there are a few more parallels to our world then. I wouldn’t say she turned evil so much, but she became passionate enough where I had to force her to take an extended leave of absence…”
Luna stormed down the hall. “Celestia! What is the meaning of this?” Luna was holding up a slip that without even reading it Celestia knew what it said.
“Luna, I think it would be good for you to take some time to yourself. Your recent… decisions… in how the school should be ran are getting… extreme.” Celestia chose her words carefully as if toeing landmines.
“Attendance is at the highest it’s been for years! The students are prospering because of my reforms.” Luna retorted adopting a smug stance.
“They are scared of stepping out of line. At the first infraction of the rules you send them to your opportunity class rooms. Isolating them and taking away all their freedoms during breaks. On top of that you’ve added a whole two hours onto the school day. The students are now getting out at five in the evening and are now too tired to participate in extracurricular activities.” Celestia took a deep breath. “Luna this has to stop. That is why I had the board make you take this break. They wanted to fire you Luna, I got them to just remove you from the principal position.”
“This is just a power grab isn’t it! I cannot do anything about this enforced absence, but when I return I will make you regret this, sister.” Luna angrily stomped away from Celestia.
“Well, that was definitely more mundane than what happened to Nightmare Moon.” Sunset Shimmer said as her only reaction to the tale. “I take it she came back with a new prospective?”
“Actually no, she was still angry and passionate. However, she is professional enough not to do anything drastic. Although, she has since simmered down quite a bit since then.” Celestia relaxed into the chair. Today had been enlightening to say the least. “Oh, I do have another question Sunset, What happened between you and the princess?” Avoiding using her name cause it was awkward calling someone else Celestia.
Sunset went rigid and her eyes became very guarded. Shrinking away she almost calmly replied. “I… am not comfortable talking about that. Can’t we just do something else? I am tired of talking for now…”
Celestia knew better than to push the issue so after a moment of thought. “I don’t have a TV or any games around, but I have a deck of cards.”
Sunset proceeded to get her butt handed to her by Celestia for the rest of the day. It was a great bonding experience but Celestia felt that they still would have to talk more later.