//------------------------------// // The Past Of Her Today // Story: Through Ashes and Fire // by River Road //------------------------------// “Hello?” Sunset looked around into the darkness, nervously rubbing her arm. The floor right beneath her feet was glowing dimly, but there was no telling how far it stretched into the darkness. “Is anypony here?” “As Princess Celestia’s own pupil, we expect big, big things today!” “Well, you’ll certainly see that.” “W-what? Who are you?! Show yourself!” Sunset turned around herself and took a step back in surprise as a small will-o’-wisp floated towards her, tiny ponies standing in the fire. Another ‘wisp flared up to her left. “Hmpf. I have better things to do than socialize.” A small pony was walking through the flames, nose turned up at somepony outside the image. A teenage girl in a leather jacket appeared in another ‘wisp to her other side. “When the crown and its power are mine, Twilight Sparkle will be sorry she ever set hoof into this world.” “What exactly do you think you're going to do to stop me? I have magic, and you have nothing!” Sunset turned around, watching fires flare up and fill with voices and images, slowly dancing around her just out of reach. “Remember that talk about humility we had?” “I remember how boring it was…” “You know that I’m ready for this! That I could be great!” “This is my coronation, not a hoedown.” “Sorry it had to be this way... Princess.” “Believe me… I’ve got everything I need to know about you.” “I am your princess now, and you will be loyal… to me!” “Stop it!” Sunset glared at the pictures shining through the flames, her fists shaking with equal measures of rage and fear. “Stop it! I’m not like that anymore! I… I’m not…” She slumped down, dropping to her knees. You've come such a long, long way “The magic of friendship doesn't just exist in Equestria. It's everywhere.” “But... But all I've ever done since being here is drive everyone apart. I don't know the first thing about friendship.” Sunset looked up, watching the images around her change to show more familiar faces. “I promised Twilight to try and help you. Even if she isn’t gonna be around for another thirty moons, I’m not going to go back on that.” “If you honestly want to change… Just wouldn’t be right not to help you with that.” “Are you kidding me?! In all the time you’ve been here I still haven’t seen your real laugh even once. We have so many parties to catch up on!” “Uhm, I know you kind of tried to destroy the school, but… I think everyone deserves a little kindness if they ask for it.” “Darling, you might have made some mistakes; but a second chance is the least I can give.” It's time now for a new change to come Sunset slowly stood up again, looking around in wonderment as the fire around her grew taller and more and more images faded into existence. She thought she could hear another distant voice singing in the background of it all; just the memory of an echo, but still familiar to her. You've grown up and your new life has begun “Ah said Ah don’t need any help. Ah can harvest these apples by myself just fine.” “And I said we’re going to help you. And we’re not taking no for an answer, right girls?” “This is ridiculous! Where did all that snow even come from?! We’re gonna be snowed in at Canterlot High for days!” “Calm down, everyone! I know how we can get out of here. Let’s wrap up this winter… Equestrian style.” “Girls, I just had the most amazing idea EVER!” “Well, what are you waitin’ for, Rainbow? Spit it out.” “We’re going to form a rock band!” “…say whatnow?” “That’s all? That’s the whole reason everyone’s trying to do each other’s job?” “We, uhm, we didn’t really think it would end up this bad. But none of us want to give up either, you know, so…” “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. I already got an idea how to fix this.” For it's time for you to fulfill your destiny Sunset watched the flames dance around her, speeding up and closing in on her like a blazing cyclone. She wasn’t afraid. There was nothing to be afraid of in this place. She closed her eyes, spread her arms and waited for the fire. ~~~~~ Sunset Shimmer was staring into the darkness at the ceiling of her bedroom. It was barely 4 a.m. in the morning and she was wide awake… and worst of all, she was feeling inexplicably happy. Nopony and nohuman should feel this happy before noon. Even after the start of her new life, it took her great amounts of concentration and similar amounts of caffeine to spare herself hours of grumpiness and the subsequent Pinkie-induced headaches. Sighing, she swung her legs over the edge and sat up, stretching for a few seconds before looking around again. Miraculously, she was still awake and in a suspiciously good mood, which ruled out nightmares as the most likely reason for waking up at this time. They had gotten less over the last months, the last one having been over a week ago. She couldn’t quite remember anything of what she had dreamed this night, but it didn’t feel like any bad dreams, either. A quick shower and a large bowl of cereal later, she was standing in front of the school, looking up at the building around which she had spent most of her human life. The sun still hadn’t risen yet and it would be another thirty minutes until even the early students would arrive, but she just hadn’t been able to stay at home any longer. Her whole body felt ready to burst with energy and she still hadn’t found any reasonable explanation for that or her continuing good mood. The clock tower on top of the school caught her eye and she went forward again, disappearing into the school. She had some time to kill anyway, and watching the sunrise from the roof of the school sounded like a good way to pass it. ~~~~~ “…and soda and ice cream and candy and chips and flips and all other kinds of –ipses. Enough to keep us up all night if we want to, and of course we’ll want to because who would want to actually sleep at a sleepover party…” Sunset chuckled at her friend’s enthusiasm, sitting between Rarity and Fluttershy in the school’s cafeteria as they all listened to Pinkie Pie’s plans for the evening. The girl had declared it ‘her turn’ to host a sleepover, even though she had hosted at least half of them in the past anyway. Still, getting between a party and Pinkie Pie was like getting between a cake and… well, Pinkie Pie. “…got all kinds of western movies and cartoons and other movies with horses in them because this time nobody will get weirded out so it’s the perfect time to watch them.” Pinkie Pie paused and grinned at Sunset. “No offense, Sunny. You know we love you even if you are a little weird sometimes.” “Oh, that’s right.” Rarity turned to Sunset with sparkling eyes. “Princess Twilight invited you to visit her palace today, didn’t she? Oh, I’m sure it is going to be just wonderful, finally returning home for a visit after all those years. And maybe you can bring some dresses along when you come back? Twilight said that there is another version of me and I would just love to see some of her designs.” “Oh, totally!” Rainbow Dash leaned over the table from the other side, grinning widely. “I don’t want to miss seeing Rarity on all fours to try and put on a pony dress.” Rarity huffed, crossing her arms. “Why, I’d never–“ “And don’t forget the real drama, when it turns out them ponies are a might smaller than us and Rarity starts crying about being overweight.” Applejack smirked and held up a hand, getting a high five from Rainbow. Rarity gasped, holding a hand to her chest. “I am not a drama queen.” She paused, looking across her friends before sinking back with a pout. “Yes yes, I recognize the irony quite well, thank you.” She managed to hold the expression for a few seconds before the smile won and she joined her friends in the laughter. Sunset watched them with a smile, then sighed and stood up. “Well, I hate to leave you but I still wanted to talk to Principal Celestia before I leave for Equestria. Just in case something comes up and I won’t be back before Monday. I don’t think I’ll see you all either before I leave, so have fun at your sleepover and urgh… yes Pinkie, I’ll miss you, too.” She carefully slipped out of the hug and retreated, waving over at the group one more time before she left the cafeteria. Rarity watched the doors a little longer to make sure her friend had left, then turned back around and opened her purse. “Well, now that Sunset is gone for the time being… What do you think of my newest accessory?” She pulled out a large feather, colored in fluctuating hues of yellow, orange and red. “Oh my… It looks beautiful, Rarity.” Fluttershy leaned in to get a better look, holding up a hand tentatively to touch it. “Whoa. That looks awesome. Where’d you get something like that?” Rainbow leaned in as well, reaching for it until Rarity pulled it away from her. “That’s just it.” Rarity held it up, watching the colors flow in the light. “I found it just outside the school this morning.” Pinkie let out a long gasp. “You don’t think it’s…” She leaned in for a conspiring whisper that was barely quieter than her conversation voice. “…another Equestrian?!” “Now wait just a minute, y’all.” Applejack held up a hoof, looking straight at Rarity. “If this got something to do with magic, why’d you wait until Sunset was out of the room? Ain’t this exactly the kind of thing she would know about?” “You’re quite right.” Rarity sighed and nodded, holding up to her friend’s stare. “Which is exactly why I didn’t want to tell her today. If she found out about this now, she would either stay here to find out more or she would be worrying about it her whole vacation, and that just wouldn’t fair to her. I think we should be quite capable of dealing with anything that happens by ourselves, at least for a day or two.” She held the feather against the light again, twirling it slowly between her fingers. “Besides, something this beautiful can’t be completely bad if you ask me.” ~~~~~ Sunset Shimmer stared at the base of the statue, a wide stone pedestal large enough for anyone to walk through. Not that it was a general requirement of stone, but for transdimensional portals it was a definite perk. She nervously poked the stone with a finger to make sure the portal was still open, feeling a light pull and twisting sensation as it disappeared into the pedestal. “Well Sunset, this is it…” She took a deep breath, swallowed and took a step forward into the vortex. “Time to go home.” The twisting sensation of the portal was still not comfortable by any means, but after three previous travels Sunset was getting used to it. What she hadn’t gotten used to yet was landing on her face, something she was convinced the portal did on purpose. Shaking her head and rubbing a vaguely familiar nose with a vaguely familiar hoof, it took her a few seconds to get her bearings. Six ponies and one baby dragon were standing before her, staring at her with expressions of stunned surprise. Sunset already knew Twilight and Spike, and it was surprisingly easy to line up the other five with her own five friends, what with the color schemes and the cutie marks everyone in the human world seemed to unconsciously wear in their outfits. That still didn’t explain the looks she was getting from them, though. “Uhm… nice to meet you, everybody? I mean, everypony.” She shuffled back a little, growing only more nervous as they kept staring. “I, uhm… Do I have something on my face?” “Twilight, darling…” “Yes, Rarity?” “You remember how you asked me to design a nice dress or two for your friend Sunset Shimmer, as a welcoming gift?” “Yes, Rarity…” “Well, I’m the first to admit that you were very thorough in your description, as is to be expected from somepony as analytical as you are. But I believe you may have missed to mention a tiny detail…” “…” “Twilight… Your unicorn friend has wings.” “…yes, Rarity.”