The sun beamed down on Ponyville for a brand new day to begin. One particular pony was starting her day like every other day.
That pony is Sunset Shimmer inside her home on her bed side getting ready for the day by performing simple breathing exercises.
“Breath in.” She said with her eyes closed taking a breath in and releasing it.
“Breath out, don’t let anything get to you.” She said.
She started to hear some king of noise coming from another part of her home. Her ears perked up, and breathed in and out again this time a bit shaky.
“Inner peace.” She said calmly not letting the noise get to her until the noise began to get even louder and it sounded like stuff was falling.
“Inner peace.” She said annoyingly as she was slowly losing her patience’s until a very loud bang interrupted her morning routine and she opened her eyes and snarled.
“OH THAT’S IT!” She yelled getting up from her bed side and running downstairs to find the source of the trouble which ended up as five fillies promptly known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders were buried in all of Sunset’s textbooks.
All her bookshelves were either empty or have books laying on them. One of the Crusaders poked their heads out had a big red bow in her mane.
“Ah think book organizers weren’t such a good idea.” Applebloom said.
An orange pegasi filly with a purple man and tailed then poked her head out and was rubbing it from having been hit.
“Yeah that’s got to be up there with animal care taking.” Scootaloo commented and soon three others poked their heads out. It was Rarity’s little sister Sweetie Belle, Cherliee’s adopted daughter Emerald Jewel, and Sunset’s baby sister Pendragon Quill.
Pen looked over at her sister and gave a sheepish smile “Uh…hey sis really sorry about the mess.” Pen says.
Sunset’s eye twitched as she turned around and took in deep breaths releasing them before turning around calming a smile plastered on her face as a fitting punishment came to mind.
“Oh don’t worry about it I’m just glad I’ll be having five assistants helping me in cleaning up the mess they’ve made.” Sunset said as the fillies all sigh knowing this might happen.
The six of them proceeded to clean up and place everything back where it was suppose to be. When all was said and done the young ones were a bit tired while Sunset looked fine.
“And that’s the last of them.” Sunset thought then she looked back to the younger ones as Scootaloo and Applebloom were in each other’s personal space glaring and arguing as the others remained on the sidelines.
“If it wasn’t for your idea we wouldn’t be stuck her doing house cleaning.” Scootaloo complained as she moved forward pushing Applebloom back a bit.
“Right and last time ah check you were the one who suggested this idea Scoots.” Applebloom countered moving forward herself pushing Scootaloo back as well.
“Was not!” Scoots countered.
“Was so!” AB retorted.
Sunset’s eye twitched in annoyance again as the fight went on, but she took in a deep breath releasing it before clearing her throat getting the arguing fillies attention.
“Um… girls do you think maybe you can have this argument somewhere else please.” Sunset asked trying not to sound annoyed.
“Alright see yah later, let’s go girls.” Applebloom remarked as each take in a breath and Sunset quickly put her hooves to her ears clamping them down as she knew what was coming next.
“CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS! GO!” The five all exclaimed at once and zoomed out of Sunset’s. Sunset uncovered her ears and her stomach grumbled.
“Might as well get something myself.” Sunset tells herself and walks out heading towards Sugarcube Corner for her morning snack.
The Enraged Sun
As Sunset came to her destination she stepped back a bit her jaw slacking as she saw the line leading out of Sugarcube Corner.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Sunset muttered thoroughly annoyed as she stepped into line.
The line moved slowly which was slowly starting to annoy Sunset who was pacing in place.
“It’s okay. It’s the morning rush. No big deal.” She thought calmly as things started to pick up a bit and after ten minutes she was finally inside and up to order as Pinkie Pie was waiting by the register.
“Oh hey Sunny, so what can I get yah today.” Pinkie cheered a smile plastered on her face as always.
“Just a low fat cupcake today Pinkie.” Sunset says faking a smile as best as she could as Pinkie zoomed off.
“I think I’m going to need.” She adds in her thoughts as Pinkie quickly came back and gave it to her. Sunset paid for the cupcake and headed off to a table to eat peacefully.
What she didn’t notice was a certain cyan pegasi zoom in, but she did notice something landing next to her and felt the rush of cold air and she jumped surprised.
“Hey Sunset how’s it hangin’?” Rainbow asked as Sunset turned to face the mare and glares.
“Rainbow Dash you almost made me jump out of me skin with that little stunt.” Sunset states a bit annoyed.
“And for your information I’m doing just fine thank you.” She added as she turned back to her cupcake.
“And I was about to…” Sunset started before noticing the lack of her cupcake and the sound of someone eating. She turned and Dash had the cupcake in her hooves and had taken a few bites out of it.
“Eat my breakfast.” She growls her glare intensifying as Dash looked at her then the cupcake she was eating before swallowing what she ate and let out a small laugh.
“I’m guess this was yours right?” Dash asked a bit nervous offering the rest of it back to Sunset.
“Gee I don’t know. I did buy it with my own bits.” Sunset thought sarcastically before waving a hoof at Dash.
“No Dash you can have it.” She says to her as calm as she could her glare lessening.
“Thanks.” Dash says as she throws the rest in the air and opens her mouth wide and she swallows it.
“I suppose there’s a particular reason you interrupted my breakfast to see me?” She asked still annoyed at her breakfast being taken.
Dash put a hoof to her chin thinking, and then recalled the reason that she came to see Sunset.
“Oh right, you see Lightning Dust and I were planning on a new trick and we kind of need your help with it.” Dash replied catching Sunset off guard.
“Why do you need my help? Why don’t you ask Trixie?” She replied.
“Love to, but Trixie will go all egghead and say that it isn’t safe.” Dash retorted
“Is this ‘new stunt’ as you called it safe?” Sunset asked.
“Oh don’t worry its safe…ish.” Dash replied rubbing her neck with a hoof as Sunset looked at her looking for sighs of this being a trick or a prank.
“Either Dash is crazy or she’s just pulling my tail.” She thought looking Dash over for a possible idea what the stunt was.
“But it is Rainbow Dash I’m talking about and not to mention Lightning Dust is also in on this so I’m sure everything should be fine.” She thought keeping her face neutral but knew that with both of them it would be safe, even if it was a prank or a trick of some kind since the amber maned pegasi was known to do rather harmless pranks. Even her most extreme ones Lightning was known to take safety precautions.
“Sure why not?” She replied which in return Dash gave her a beaming smile.
“Great meet us at the entrance of the Everfree in about thirty minutes and we can show you what I mean.” Dash said and speed out the door as Sunset looked to the cupcake crumbs on the table.
“And now I have to get breakfast again.” Sunset muttered as she got up and headed back over towards the register and Pinkie.
Sunset let out a groan as she saw that the line had become long yet again as she put a hoof to her face in annoyance.
“You have got to be kidding me!” She mutters under her breath as she went outside and to the end of the line.
Twenty-five mintues passed as she finally got her hooves on breakfast and was out the door with cupcake in hoof and headed for the Everfree Forest entrance.
“First the Crusaders made a mess of the books.” She thought taking a bite of her cupcake
“Then Rainbow Dash eats my breakfast by mistake.” She took another bite
“And now I had to wait another twenty-five minute just for another!” She screamed internally as she finished the cupcake.
“Oh what ever this new trick of theirs it had better be worth my time.” Sunset muttered as she reached the intended destination where Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust are supposed to be at. She saw the two mares in question and they had some kind of catapult with them and a platform looming over it.
Sunset looked at for a minute “And what is this thing for?” She finally asked.
“Glad you made it.” Dash says as Dust gave her a hug before backing off.
“You see with this we can be launched off, and get greater speed than we normally would from a regular take off.” Dust started.
“And how does this involve me?” Sunset asked as Dash rolls her eyes.
“We kind of need somepony on standby in case everything gets out of hoof.” Dash said simply.
“See those clouds over yonder.” Dust pointed to three grey clouds
“Once we hit those clouds they’ll send out lightning bolts, our goal is to try and connect each bolt to each cloud to form a triangle of lighting.” Dust stated as she pacing in place giddy for trying a new complex trick.
“Now I see what it is you need me.” Sunset said understanding why Dash didn’t go to Trixie. She would probably freak out and call out all that could possibly happen.
“You’ll start from up there and we’ll be down here.” Dash said getting into position with Dust
“Just make sure you hit that X on the end.” Dash pointed out.
Once Sunset was atop the platform she looked over making sure she was aligned with what she was suppose to hit.
“Here we go.” Sunset tells herself and jumped off landing straight on the X launching Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash into the air.
Like Dust said they head straight for those three clouds and when they hit one a lightning bolt burst out and hit the other cloud next to it and that cloud did the same thing as it connected to the other cloud once it was connect the triangle of lightning was formed then Dash and Dust decided to step it up and bringing two of the cloud together to cause a massive burst of electricity.
A shot of lightning came bursting down toward Sunset and struck her horn send electricity through her body but only enough to leave her with a frizzled mane, tail, and an extra crispy horn that was smoking from a combination of the stunt and quite possibly a bit of anger.
“Aw yeah hoofbump!” Dash cheered and hoofbumped Dust.
“That was great amazing! What do you thing Sunset!?” Dust cheered then they saw Sunset’s condition as they flew down to check on her.
They look at her and tried not to laugh at her and her frizzled mane.
“Gee… nice mane style…Sunset.” Dash said struggling not to laugh.
Sunset eye twitched again “I thought you said this was safe.” She asked.
“I said it was safeish.” Dash countered then let out a huge laugh along with Lightning.
“Can’t help it if it looks like you got hit by lightning.” Lightning laughed and fell to the ground along with Dash as they rolled laughing.
“Restrain yourself from ripping their wings off and using them for umbrellas.” She thought internally trying to not lose her temper.
“Thanks for the help Sunny, but you may want to go and get your mane fixed up.” Dust said then continued laughing again.
She took a deep breath in and released it calming herself completely.
“It’s no trouble I’ll just see if Rarity and Coco could help.” Sunset said leaving the two mares behind.
She began making her way to the boutique where she might get Rarity or Coco to help her. She made it there and entered the boutique as a small chime echoed throughout the room.
“Oh coming darling.” A voice was heard and the pony came out and lucky enough it was Rarity herself.
“Welcome to Carousal Boutique where everything is chic and… WAHHH!” Rarity exclaimed as the sight of Sunset frizzled mane came to into her view.
“WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR MANE?!” She exclaimed
“You can blame Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust for this one.” Sunset said plainly.
Sunset looked around and noticed that Coco wasn’t around at all which was rather surprising.
“Where’s Coco today?” She asked
“I gave her a day off; she’d been working rather hard for the last couple of days so I thought she’d deserve one.” Rarity answered.
“But first let’s get that mane of yours primed and proper.” Rarity added.
After getting her hair fixed up and back to normal she’d thought that would be it but Rarity got caught up and now she’d had Sunset in one of her dress.
The dress itself was a dark black with crimson red stripes going down it that it also covered the flank, but raised just enough so she doesn’t look fat. She was also wearing a charcoal grey saddle on her back that tied around her belly and to top it off she’d wore crimson slip on hoof shoes to make it look complete.
“Seriously! Now I have to deal with this now.” Sunset thought.
“Oh this looks awfully good on you dear, but maybe I could add something else.” Rarity added adding on a grey dress hat.
“Rarity.” Sunset says an eye twitching in annoyance.
“Or maybe a nice necklace would do better.” Rarity said as she added a silver necklace to Sunset as if she hadn’t heard her.
“Rarity.” Sunset repeats.
“Or maybe I could...” Rarity starts going for something else.
“RARITY!” Sunset shouted causing Rarity to stop in her tracks.
Sunset cleared her throat before speaking again “I really appreciate you helping me with my mane but I got to get back home and check on to see if I have any appointments today.” She said slipping out of the dress and placed it on the pony like mannequin.
“See you later Rarity!” Sunset said quickly as she rushed out slamming the door closed behind her. Sunset mumbled to herself as she made her way down the street back home.
“Rarity had better not have made me late for any appointments otherwise it’s going to be her horn.” She thought finally making it to her house and let out a sigh of relief as she entered and went to the kitchen and went to the wall calendar.
“Now let’s see here. Saturday, Saturday, ah here it is.” She said looking at the calendar and nothing seemed to be written for said day.
“Hmm well doesn’t appear to be anything on it.” Sunset said taking a relaxing breathe and smiled.
“Looks like I’m finally in for a quiet day.” Sunset said to herself as she sat in a nearby seat relaxing. It was then that a knock was head from the front door and she snorts getting up.
“Great now what?” She asked herself as she went to the door.
When she opened it she was greeted with a certain purple dragon who was holding a comic in one claw.
“Um hey Spike what’s up?” She asked as
“Well Trixie would like to see you; she sent me here to get you.” Spike said not looking up from his comic.
“Um… why is that?” She asked a small bit nervous.
“Don’t ask me. Ask her when you get there.” Spike said taking a peek inside glancing from his comic to the inside of the home.
“Yikes Sunset. Looks like a wrecking crew came in here and didn’t clean up.” Spike said looking at the ‘organized chaos’ of the front room/classroom.
“It’s alright everything is just where it needs; it’s been a rather crazy week for me.” Sunset admitted and proceeds to follow Spike to Trixie’s.
Once they got to the library/home of Trixie she smelled something that was out of the ordinary.
“What is that smell?” She said covering up her muzzle. Spike pointed down to door that led to the basement.
“Trixie’s down there waiting for you.” Spike replies putting a clothes pen on his nose returning to reading his comic.
Sunset opened the door to the basement and went down with a hoof over her muzzle and saw Trixie surrounded by a bunch of potion bottles and such and a book in front of her.
Trixie looked up and saw Sunset enter the room a hoof covering her muzzle.
“Ah Sunset there you are I was wondering if you can help me with something.” Trixie asked as she pointed toward a small bowl of purple juice.
“I want you to pour some of these ingredients in that bowl while I mix them.” Trixie stated.
Sunset raised an eyebrow “Why didn’t you ask Spike for help or any of the other?” She asked Trixie.
“Well I gave Spike a day off today, Rainbow or Lightning Dust would probably throw all the ingredients in or make fun of my work, Cheerliee is busy with her child, and Coco as I heard also had a day off thanks to Rarity. So you were the only candidate left to ask.” Trixie stated.
“Yippee for me.” She cheered sarcastically resisting the urge to use a recently figured out fireball spell to burn the lab and the rest of the library.
“Oh c’mon this could be fun you know.” Trixie said enthusiastically.
Sunset sighed “Sorry Trix I just had things on my mind at the moment.” She said
“Like how to make an umbrella out of pegasi feathers.” She adds in her thought picturing a cyan and teal umbrella made out of two certain pegasi feathers.
“Well let’s get started. You place them in one at a time as I tell you to.” Trixie stated and began to stir it while looking into a book.
“First off that blue bottle.” Trixie pointed as Sunset grabbed it with her magic, popped the cork off and gently poured its contents into the bowl.
A few ingredients later the bowl was now a deep grey color and they were down to only two bottles.
“Okay Sunset just grab the green bottle and mix it’s contents in.” Trixie stated not having looked up from the book at all.
Sunset nods turning her head to the bottles and gulped. Both of the bottles were green, and shaped exactly the same.
“Celestia…we have a problem.” She thought turning back to Trixie.
“Um… which one again?” She asked
“I said the green one Sunset.” Trixie replies not looking up from the book still.
Sunset looked back at the bottles and instead of asking again she levitated the one on the right and poured what was in it into the bowl with hopes she was not going to regret what she was about to do.
The bowl began to turn multiple colors before it started to glow very bright. On the outside of the library there was a very bright glow for a few seconds and then a loud boom occurred that made the ground shake quite a bit.
Pinkie Pie felt the quake and somehow hid under a small pebble.
While on the inside of the library Trixie’s mane was all in disarray due to the slight boom as her mane was pointed straight back.
Trixie coughed a few times before speaking “Well that didn’t turn out to good.” She said as she looked around for Sunset.
“Sunset? Where’d you go?” She questioned
“Up here.” Sunset said with a groan her voice coming from above Trixie.
Trixie looked up and noticed that her friend got her horn stuck in the ceiling of the basement and was attempting to push herself out of the basement ceiling.
“A little help would be nice.” She groaned as Trixie proceeds to light up her horn and grasp Sunset’s tail and pulled her out of the ceiling freeing her horn.
Trixie set her down gently so she wouldn’t hurt herself or anything around her.
“You should have told me it was going to do that!” Sunset exclaimed her anger slowly rising again.
“But it wasn’t supposed to do that. Huh… I guess I’ll have to go over my calculations again.” Trixie stated going to a blackboard that was located in a corner as Sunset groans.
“I’m heading home Trixie just let me know if you need anything else.” She groaned getting Trixie’s attention.
“Hey Sunset, you seem rather irritable. Is everything okay?” Trixie asked turning to look at her.
“No everything’s not okay! First the Crusaders ruin my teaching material, then my breakfast gets taken by an annoying pegasi forcing me to get it again, then I proceed to get zapped by a bolt of lighting by said pegasi and her friend, I was then subjected to being forced into multiple dress, and I just got stuck in the ceiling of a basement! HOW DO YOU THING THINK I’M FEELING?!” Sunset's mind screamed in anger.
“Everything’s just fine.” She lied gritting her teeth and went upstairs passing Spike and slammed the library door closed with her magic on the way out.
When she was outside she went into a full sprint for the safety of her home, and once she got there she locked the door and went straight for her room and began doing her breathing exercises and afterwards plopped down on her bed exhausted.
She then heard the sound of somepony knocking and groaned. She went downstairs and opened the door to her sister who gave her a small pout.
“You locked me out…again.” She states simply as Sunset chuckled.
“Sorry about that Penny.” Sunset said as she rubs her sister’s head ruffling her mane.
“Is everything okay Sunset?” Pen asked concerned as she looked over her sister seeing the slightly charred horn, red slip on that looked like they were part of something, and her bits of her mane slightly sticking up.
“Yeah everything’s…fine.” She replies her eyes getting heavy as Pen started to pass by her.
“Okay…I’m going to be sleeping with the Crusaders at Rarity’s.” Pen informed cheerfully, but with a bit of worry.
“Okay…just be back…by morning.” She yawned and then went up to her room and soon fell asleep without another word and Pen packed her saddlebag and was off to join her Crusader friends.
Before she’d left she turned to the clock on the wall in the living room.
“5:30. I wonder what made her so tired?” The she looked at her sister’s desk and the paper work and files on all her clients for her magic tutoring and it was a complete mess, but she didn’t mess with it as it seemed to work for her.
She left the house and began her way toward the boutique when she bumped into Coco who was returning from a day of relaxation and pampering from the local spa.
“Oh sorry Ms. Pommel.” Pen said apologetically.
“It’s okay, are you going somewhere?” She asked seeing the saddle bags on the young filly.
“Rarity agreed for the Crusaders to have a sleepover at her place.” She replied energetically.
“Well that’s great, and how is your sister?” Coco asked.
Pen pondered that question a moment before answering “Well she looked rather worn out already and it’s not even six o’clock yet.” Pen answered
“Well she is quite the hard worker pony.” Coco stated.
“Well not to mention how much paper work she has.” Pen says quietly as Coco went to a window and looked inside.
Coco notice all the paper on Sunset’s desk just all piled up in two small stacks as well as others scattered across the desk as well as several files of clients old and new as well as requests.
“Well I know Rarity doesn’t keep her um…fabric and everything organized, but um…you should always try and keep papers organized.” Coco stated as she put a hoof to her chin as gears started to turn before something clicked and was soon smiling as widely as Pinkie Pie.
“Why don’t we clean up her place for her.” She blurted out. Pen’s eyes went wide not out of excitement but out of worry, concern, and a lot of fear.
“I don’t know she doesn’t like it when anypony touches her files.” Pen said extremely nervous about that particular idea.
“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”Coco said making her way toward Trixie’s.
“Now you better get over to the boutique or the crusaders will be wondering where you are.” Coco stated and off Pen went.
“This is going to end so badly.” Pen states with worry as she walked off.
Coco arrived at the library and was let in by Spike. After finding Trixie in the basement they began discussing about Sunset and what they should do. Coco then told about what all she saw from the window.
“Well she did look awfully stressed for some reason…so I think we can relinquish some of that stress from her.” Trixie concluded
“Thank you for bringing this up to me Coco.” Trixie added as they both walked up out of the basement.
“It’s not a problem Trixie.” Coco says as Trixie closes the basement lab up.
“Okay then tomorrow I’ll grab the girls and we can get started right away.” Trixie said then let out a large yawn.
“But we need to get some sleep first.” Trixie said drowsily.
“See you in the morning.” Trixie said and Coco left to go back to the boutique.
Morning came rather early for Sunset and well she was lucky today was a Sunday and she’d only have two clients today: Snips and Snails which she’d manage to get those two to get a hold on their magic, they’ve already mastered a small level of levitation and now they were going to work on the next part; illumination spells.
Her morning went as usual which was; get up, do her breathing exercises, and go to Sugarcube Corner for breakfast. After getting her breakfast she went to meet both her clients Snips and Snails who were waiting for her at the fountain in town square.
Snails was easy to identify he is a unicorn colt who had a brilliant amber coat like hers with a moderate turquoise mane and tail. He also had black eyes, but what also made him stick out was the pink frowning snail cutiemark he had along with a long skinny neck and three freckles on each cheek. He is also quite slim for his age.
The colt next to him is Snips who is also a unicorn. He had a grayish opal coat with a moderate orange mane, along with black eyes the same as Snails, and his cutiemark was a pair of scissors. He is smaller and a bit chubby too.
“Hey you two you ready to get started on something much more difficult.” Sunset said levitating each of them a cupcake which they took in there aura.
“We’re ready for anything! Right Snails.” Snips said with confidence.
“Right I’m ready.” Snails nodded.
“Okay you two let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, because an illumination spell is a tough spell even for those who aren’t specialized in magic. Plus you got to follow some steps in order to fully grasp illumination; First you need to clear your mind of everything that’s around you; concentrate your mana to your horn and push it outwards. If done right a small ball of light will appear on your horns tip.” Sunset explained.
They both nodded then they began to attempt the illumination spell. Snips and Snails were trying there hardest but without any success. After about five long failed attempts Snails horn started to form a small sphere at the end and it soon got larger and larger.
It soon got big enough that Sunset could fit inside it and she grew nervous.
“Snails that’s enough.” She said panicking but Snails ball of light ended up causing a minor explosion blowing Sunset backs a ways.
Snips and Snails saw where she landed and went over to help her up.
“Are you alright Miss Shimmer?” They asked in unison.
Sunset slowly got up and again her mane was a mess but not like last time, this time she could comb it herself but she was rather frustrated with him but she didn’t show.
“I’m alright. Just remember those steps and you should improve.” Sunset said.
She looked up at the sun saw that it was high in the sky indicating it was almost the noon hour.
“Wow time sure does fly when you’re a magic tutor, now stay out of trouble you two and keep practicing that spell.” Sunset smiled and headed as the two colts waved her good bye.
She went toward a restaurant and ordered a daffodil sandwich and a salad for a side dish. After finishing the last of her salad she paid the waiter plus tip and began her way back to her house. Then she’d looked up at the sun again and saw that there were some big clouds in the sky.
“Looks like RD, and Lightning have been slacking off a bit.” She said slightly concerned, but shrugged and was soon right in front of her home.
She went inside and almost instantly her she was wide eyed and muzzle was wide open. The entire place had been organized, cleaned, and even the floors looked spotless.
Sunset looked over to her desk and just like what she had seen soon far it to had been organized, and the filing cabinet next to it was open. A few files were laid out and her personal notes on each of her clients were in the trash bin next to the desk.
“What the…” She starts then heard the sound of ponies giggling and laughing.. She followed the sound upstairs and was soon right in front of the door to her room.
She opened the door and was greeted to Lightning Dust, Trixie, Coco, Cheerliee, and Rainbow Dash with rags in there hooves wiping down what they could get to.
“What in the name of Ponyville is going on here?!” She exclaimed getting everyponies attention as Dash flew over her.
“Hey Sunset; like what we’ve done to the place?” Dash asked as Sunset looked a bit around. Like the rest of the house everything was clean, organized, and spotless.
“Why are all of you in my house?” She said her anger slowly rising again.
“We’d thought we help clean up around your house a bit since it was sort of due for a ‘dusting’.” Dust said and began to laugh and roll on the ground.
“See what I did there?” She laughed as none of the others did reducing her laugh to a giggle then to silence.
“Eh…tough crowd.” Lightning said nervously.
“Joke aside, what gave you the incentive to come into MY house and clean.” She hissed eyes narrowed glaring at them all.
“Hey chill out; the reason why was so that we can relief you of some stress that you’ve been under.” Dash said defensively.
“It was Coco who saw all that paperwork you had on your desk and gave the idea to Trixie and so here we are.” Cheerliee stated.
“But those were all my clients that I’ve had on record! And the mail requests I get are super important!” She adds as a boiling pot of water from the neighbor’s house could be heard.
“Dear you don’t have to be so rude to us.” Cheerliee said.
Something in Sunset’s mind clicked and it wasn’t a good thing either. Her breathing became fast trying to calm herself but failing badly.
“Okay Sunset just stay calm and you’ll be fine they didn’t mean to come in your house and go through all of your…OH BUCK IT ALL!” She shouted internally.
“Rude… Rude… RUDE!” She yelled her voice increasing in volume and intensity.
“RUDE IS INTERRUPTING A PONY MID SENTENCE; RUDE IS SPITTING ON SOMEPONIES HOOF; RUDE IS ALSO INVADING SOMEPONIES HOME AND GOING THROUGH THERE STUFF WITHOUT THERE CONSENT!” She shouted so loud that many ponies outside of Sunset’s home could hear her screaming.
Meanwhile inside the rest were surprised by Sunset suddenly going into a fit of yelling rage.
“Hey don’t need to bite our heads off.” Rainbow Dash said glaring and hooves crossed.
“OH LOOK WHO HAS TO STICK HER NOISE INTO EVERYTHING! IT’S RAINBOW ‘DANGER’ DASH. A PONY WHO CAN’T EVEN GET A PERFORMANCE’S RIGHT TO SAVE HER OUR FLANK!” She shouted straight at Dash
“Okay that’s a bit disturbing.” Dash said to herself.
“Now that’s enough Sunset.” Trixie stated stepping in between them to try and calm the situation.
“OH LOOK EVERYPONY TRIXIE LULAMOON; A PONY WHO CAN’T DO ANYTHING WITHOUT ASKING FOR HELP!” Sunset shouted again making Trixie back away from her almost stunned at what her friend was doing and saying.
“Sunset maybe you should calm down and talk about this.” Cheerliee said trying to calm the raging Sunset.
“OH LIKE WHAT YOU DID WHEN YOU RACED AGAINST RAINBOW DASH!” Shouting straight toward Cheerliee which she didn’t respond after what Sunset said.
“Hey you better dust off that attitude of yours Sunset.” Dust warned trying to joke to calm the situation down.
“AGAIN WITH THE JOKES! YOUR JOKES AREN’T FUNNY, YOU’RE NOT FUNNY AND YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’LL NEVER BE FUNNY IF YOU KEEP MAKING LAME AND STUPID JOKES LIKE THAT!” She shouted which made every other pony gasp at what she just said.
Tears began to form in Dust's eyes as a tear streaked down her cheek and without hesitation she flew out the window crying her eyes out.
Coco perked up “That was rather um… mean and you should apologize to her…” Coco says in a bit of a whisper and half scared.
Then Sunset shifted her attention to Coco with a snarl “WHATS THAT I CAN’T HEAR YOU! IF YOU ACTUALLY STOP BEING AFRAID AND PONY UP AND TALK NORMAL INSTEAD IN A WHISPER WE CAN HEAR YOU BETTER!” She shouted causing Coco to tremble and fall to the ground cradling herself.
“I WANT ALL OF YOU OUT OF MY HOUSE NOW!” Sunset ordered and everypony filed out of her, Cheerliee carrying Coco on her back and Dash flew out the window to go looking for her crying friend.
Trixie walked out with a disappointed look on her face.
“Well I hope you’re happy Sunset Shimmer.” Trixie stated looking back at her friend.
“Just go.” She growled forcing Trixie out and slamming the door behind her.
All was now quite and Sunset anger finally subsiding and all that seemed like she’d wanted to do was go to bed right then and there.
The next morning came as Celestia’s sun pierced Sunset’s eyes and it was a Monday and from the looks of it Pendragon already headed off for school. She headed downstairs to her now clean office. She looked at it for a minute and then her stomach grumbles.
“I’ll have to look for my files later.” She grunted and went to the kitchen to cook herself something for breakfast.
After finishing some eggs over easy she decided to see what Ponyville had in store for her today… and it wasn’t a pretty sight. As she began walking through town some of the ponies were staring at her rather weirdly or nervously fidgeting with their hoofs while staring at her.
She looked back and forth at the towns’ ponies as she herself started to get a tad bit nervous.
“Why are they all staring at me for?” Sunset thought and this was now starting to creep her out a bit. She quickly ducked inside the nearest building next to her and that was Carousel Boutique of all places.
The small chime of the boutique sounded and she was instantly met by Rarity who seemed to be busy up front placing dresses on mannequins.
Hearing somepony walk in she turned around “Welcome to Carousel…” Rarity stopped mid sentence to notice that it was Sunset.
“Oh it’s you dear.” She said in a lower degrading tone that caught Sunset by surprise.
“What are you doing here?” She asked.
“Just to get away from all the staring some of the townsfolk are giving me; wonder why?” She asked herself.
“Oh maybe perhaps that you were shouting so loud that all of Ponyville heard you darling, made a pegasi fly off crying their eyes out, and practically scared a certain ponies assistant half to Tartarus and back.” Rarity firmly stated.
“Me shouting, but I don’t remember doing any shouting last, last thing I recall was returning home and my desk and everything else…was…clean.” Sunset stuttered as the events of last night return to her as she remembered shouting at her friends like there was no tomorrow and made Lightning Dust fly off in tears and scared Coco.
“Oh ponyfeathers.” Sunset said.
Sunset frowned “D-did Coco t-tell you what happen?” Sunset stuttered only to get a nod from Rarity.
“She’d told me everything, after calming her down first. The poor mare was trembling in fear when Cheerliee brought her back to the boutique.” Rarity said.
Sunset gulped “Is there any way I could talk to her.” She said only to receive a hard glare from Rarity that was enough to make her take a few steps back.
“I don’t think that’s a wise idea Sunset, she’d already been through enough.” She sternly retorted. Rarity pointed at the door signaling Sunset to leave.
Sunset got out of the boutique and now was thinking to herself.
“I can’t believe it…So much for those calming exercises.” She thought to herself as she looked down.
“What do I do now? Maybe…I should check on everypony else.” Sunset spoke to herself.
She trotted onward toward the park to try and think of what to do about her problem. When she got to the park she noticed a gray cloud that seemed to be raining in one spot while everything else around it was clear and dry, but what else caught her attention was a bright two toned gold tail hanging from the cloud and she could hear slight sniffles from the owner of that tail. She noticed right away who it was.
“Lightning Dust are you up there?” She called out making the pony in question look behind her. Her cheeks were all puffy from rubbing them, and her gamboge eyes were all bloodshot from her crying.
She sniffed a bit more before she replied “What do you want Sunset Shimmer?” She asked her voice hoarse from crying and was lacking its usual playful edge.
“Well I was wondering…if you were…” She began carefully as an idea struck her.
“Up for doing some pranks together!” Sunset cheered and smiled right at her, only to get a detested look from Lightning Dust.
“Some pranks huh?”Dust began. Sunset nodded rapidly trying to get her friend to cheer up only to receive a cloud full of rain dumped right on her getting her all soaking wet.
“Ha Ha Ha!” Dust said sarcastically and flew off.
“Well…so much for that.” Sunset thought watching Dust fly off.
Sunset teleported herself home and proceeds to go to the bathroom to dry off.
“She didn’t have to dump the whole raincloud on top of me for Celestia’s sake!” She starts grabbing a brush with her magic along with a mane dryer.
“I could’ve gotten a cold or pneumonia or something.” Sunset groan and dried the rest of her mane and tail and after styling it back to her usual she set the objects back down in their proper places.
After being completely dry now she noticed that the time was half past two meaning school was about to let out for the day.
“Whoa that definitely took some time. I need to get going.” Sunset said as she left quickly in order to get to the school house.
She arrived at the school house before everypony was let out. The bell rang and all the fillies and colts rushed out, and Pen went straight to her sister.
“Um…hey Pen could you wait here for me? I’ve got to talk to Cheerliee for a moment inside.” Sunset said and her sister obeyed and waited as Emerald went to see Pen.
“Something up?” Emerald asked curious as she watched Sunset go inside.
“Sis went to talk with your mom a minute I’d don’t know why though.” Pen questioned.
“You don’t think they found out about…” Emerald starts as Pen closed her mouth.
“We promised not to talk about that incident.” Pen says to which Emerald nods.
Sunset found the classroom where the teacher and Cheerliee were at but only Cheerliee was in the room at the moment.
“Um… Hey there Cheers.” Sunset said getting Cheerliee’s attention.
Cheerliee looked at her “What is it now Sunset can’t you see I’m rather busy at the moment.” She said packing her stuff to leave.
“Look what I said yesterday…” She started but was cut off
“Don’t say another word; really I’m not in the mood to talk to you right now.” Cheerliee stated
“I just want to go home and have a quiet day.” She adds putting emphasis on quiet and left quickly passing Sunset.
Cheerliee picked up Emerald put her on her back and trotted off rather quickly.
Sunset sighed as she went back to Pen who was still waiting and was surprised by Cheerliee’s sudden action.
“Is there something wrong sis?” Pen asked worried as her sister came out looking dejected.
“Pen could you please go back to the house?” Sunset starts looking only at the ground.
“If you have any homework finish it; then you can go and play with the crusaders if you want. I…need some time alone.” Sunset sigh but Pen was surprised about what her sister just said.
Pen reluctantly listened and trotted back home as Sunset went another direction more precise to Golden Oaks Library.
She approached the library and knocked a few times. The door opened and it was Spike who stood there; he looked up and saw Sunset was there staring back.
“Um hey Spike is Trixie in?” She asked nervously as Spike looked at her with only a mild glare.
“I don’t know. You planning on yelling at her again?” Spike asks hardening his glare.
She flinched at his statement “Sh-She told you that.” Sunset stuttered.
“She’s still a little miffed at you since not only you yelled at Trixie but also the others.” Spike said
“And I think she wants to be left alone today.” Spike said closing the door on her muzzle.
She rubbed her muzzle to soften the pain that ran through it.
“I’ll just come back tomorrow then.” She said as she left the library’s premise her mood saddened even more.
Sunset was now beginning her walk back home when she noticed Rainbow Dash doing more of her tricks in the air.
She stopped and watched as she was doing a few loop de loops and some back flips and went straight into a drill roll that went through a cloud.
Rainbow paused and saw Sunset staring at her and then she glared down at her then she flew right down and stopped right in front of her.
“What are you up too Sunset? Watching me until I fail or something?” Dash said with a hint of frustration in her voice.
“Wait what no I wouldn’t…” She began but Dash cut her off.
“Do you know how long it takes me to come with some of these moves? Hours Sunset and you saying that to me wasn’t cool and not only that Lightning practically cried all night because of you. So if you ever ask for anything…don’t.” Dash stated as she took off into the air; probably doing more tricks before she hits the hay.
Sunset just stared at her take off and then trotted back toward home her head low to the ground a few tears going down her cheeks. As she continued to walk a butter yellow pegasi and a white bunny saw Sunset. The pegasi trotted quickly to catch up to Sunset.
“Sunset um…you okay?” Fluttershy asked surprising Sunset.
“Whoa!” She jumped also scaring Fluttershy.
“Whoa Fluttershy, don’t do that.” Sunset pleads a hoof on her chest.
“Oh um sorry, but I couldn’t help but noticed that you weren’t looking to good.” Fluttershy whispered.
“Sorry I’m just been on…edge.” Sunset replied with a frown.
“Oh okay…I just wanted to check up on you.” Fluttershy whispered and trotted off.
“Wait!” Sunset called making Fluttershy stop.
“Yes.” Fluttershy says turning back to the mare.
“Um…question for you Shy; if you messed up real bad what would you do to fix it?” Sunset questioned.
Fluttershy pondered the question and tried to think of the reason for it, but couldn’t come up with any kind of answer.
“I…better get home.” Sunset said walking home leaving Fluttershy to ponder Sunset's mood.
Once she’d got home she made herself a small salad and went through her files to get all her clients’ files back on her desk…well the ones she’d remembered. Going through the files took three hours to finish gathering them all up. She looked at the clock and decided it was time to go to bed.
She slipped in bed and laid her head on the pillow “I hope I can figure this out.” She muttered and she went to sleep.
During the middle of the night Sunset began tossing a turning in bed dreaming… but not a good dream.
“No… please… I didn’t.” Sunset muttered under her breath.
In her dream… more like a nightmare to her she was surrounded in a dark concealed area by all her friends and angry glares from them.
“Please let me make it up to you.” Sunset said desperately
“FORGET IT SUNSET, YOU DON’T JUST SHOUT INSULTS TO YOUR FRIENDS LIKE WHAT YOU DID!” Shouted Rainbow Dash.
“HOPE YOU ENJOY BEING ALONE WITHOUT ANY FRIENDS TO HELP YOU!” Trixie shouted
“I THINK ANYPONY WILL EVER TALK TO YOU AGAIN!” Cheerliee shouted.
“NOW THAT IS SOMETHING I WOULD LIKE TO SEE!” Lightning Dust shouted. Coco didn’t say anything but glared at her that alone made Sunset flinch back.
“HAHA!” they laughed as darkness began to creep in from all directions.
Sunset lay down and placed her hoofs over her head and cry’s closing her eyes wanting it all to be over. The darkness crept forward toward her and the laughter continued. It kept coming and when it was about three feet away from her the darkness lunged toward her in the form of a shadowy claw.
It was a few feet in front of her before something blocked it from approaching further. Sunset opened her eyes her hoofs still on her head and still on the ground noticed what was blocking the darkness from getting to her… a barrier.
Before she could think of anything a loud voice that sounded between a foal and mare spoke out.
“BEGONE FOUL NIGHTMARES!” The voice boomed and when it echoed it sends a shockwave throughout the area and the nightmares that were haunting Sunset vanished.
The barrier protecting Sunset dissipated like a candle in the wind. She looked around to find the source of the voice but nothing was around only a moon in the sky. She looked toward the moon and what surprised her was that something rippled out of the moon.
It was a pony but not any pony an alicorn mare. The mare’s mane is a moderate sapphire blue with a grayish persian blue that seemed to flow. Her coat is a dark blue that went with her mane, her eyes are a moderate cyan, she also had a light sapphire blue eyeshadow, and moderate blue violet eyebrows to match, and her cutiemark is that of a white crescent moon with a black sky scene with it.
She seemed to float down in front of Sunset with a stern look on her face but nothing that would seem like she was angry or something. Sunset took time to process who this pony was until something in her mind click.
“P-P-Princess L-Luna.” She stuttered before giving her a slight bow.
“There is no need to bow to us.” Luna proclaimed as Sunset raised her head to look at her.
“My apologies my name is…” Sunset starts.
“Sunset Shimmer, the Element of Honesty if thou is not mistaken.” Luna finished.
“How did you know who I was?” Sunset asked.
“My sister has told us many things about the new bearers of the elements including you Sunset Shimmer.” Luna answered.
“What a minute where am I? I could swear I was home just a second ago…” Sunset says looking around.
“Thou can answer that with one phrase. You Sunset Shimmer are in a dream.” She stated in a calm tone.
“I am...um okay that’s a start but why are you in my dream?” Sunset asked a bit hesitant.
“Simple it is thy job was to find any nightmares in a ponies dream and dispel them where ever it may be.” Luna answered.
Sunset gave a relieving sigh “Well that’s good to hear.” Sunset added.
“But thy has noticed something about this particular dream. Has thou have…oh what’s the phrase ponies say now today…‘blown a fuse’ as of late?” Luna asked putting a hoof to her chin.
Sunset jerked back at her question “No no, now why in Equestria would I blow a fuse; I am always calm.” Sunset said trying not to sound panicky.
“Sunset Shimmer the element of honesty was one of my favored elements before thy imprisonment; so thy can tell when you’re lying to us.” Luna stated slyly.
Sunset sighed in defeat knowing that she should have known better than to lie to a former bearer of her element.
“Okay…I might have gone off on my friends about organizing all my stuff without my consent.” Sunset stated as Luna signals her to continue on.
“And I might have deeply hurt some of their feelings especially Coco, and Lightning Dust.” She finished hanging her head low.
Luna used her hoof and lifted the ponies head to meet her cyan eyes that was filled with concern for Sunset.
“Has thou told them why?” Luna questioned evenly.
“No because they are still miffed at me for going off on them.” Sunset replies as Luna raises an eyebrow at the term.
“What thou mean by the term ‘miffed’?” She asked
“It just another way of saying mad, or angry stuff like that.” Sunset quickly added.
“Hm…thy shall remember that term.” Luna muttered to herself.
“Um…Princess Luna.” Sunset spoke.
“Yes Sunset Shimmer?” Luna asked.
“What should I do about this? This is the first real time I’ve ever truly gotten mad at somepony.” Sunset asked.
Luna looked at the distraught pony before coming up with an answer “We believe only thee can solve this problem. I advice thee to handle it quickly because the more you wait the greater it will become and the more distant your friends will be.” Luna stated as hovered off the ground and flew straight toward the moon and she disappeared into it without another word.
Sunset woke up from her dream and saw the sun was just starting to rise as she looked at her clock which showed it was almost 4 in the morning.
“I have to make this right somehow I’ve just got to.” She thought and went back to sleep and had rather normal dreams.
Just as quickly as the night went the day came just as quick and Celestia’s sun was already in the sky. The sun awoke Sunset and she quickly took notice of the time on the wall the read nine-forty and she bolted straight out of bed and went downstairs to get ready not even fixing herself any breakfast.
“If what Luna says is true then I’d better tell them right now.” Sunset thought as she ran across Ponyville to find her friends and maybe make up for what had happened.
“The boutique is the closest place.” She thought as she came into view of it. She slowed down to a trot and walked in the bell ringing as she entered.
Sunset spotted Rarity who had her back turned to her, but there was no sign of Coco anywhere.
“Uh…good morning Rarity.” Sunset spoke getting Rarity’s attention. Rarity turned her head to face her; the fabric still encased in her magic
“Oh good morning Sunset.” Rarity huffed as Sunset cringed at her tone.
“Is Coco in today?” Sunset asked glancing about to see if the younger mare was hiding about.
“Yes, and I don’t think she wants to talk to you at the moment.” Rarity huffed.
Sunset sighed “Well could you give her a message for me; tell her to come to Sunset’s house after she’s done with her work… please.” Sunset added looking at Rarity with sadden look.
“I’ll be sure Coco gets the message.” Rarity answered and with that Sunset left the boutique, but not knowing that Coco peeked her head out to see Sunset leave.
She went to Golden Oaks next where she relayed toe same message to Spike who agreed to tell Trixie. She left her head hung low in defeat while up on the balcony Trixie saw this and grew a bit concerned.
Sunset was now walking about Ponyville looking up at the sky trying to find one of her two pegasi friends. She soon spotted a Rainbow Dash who was cloud busting and mumbling.
“Hey Rainbow!” She called and that immediately got her attention as she flew down hovering in front of Sunset.
“Yeah, now what do you want?” Dash said crossing her hooves. Sunset let out a sigh to relax herself before speaking.
“I-I know you told me not to ask you any, but this is important. Could you and Lightning maybe…meet me over at my home later?” Sunset asked looking away.
“I know that is a lot coming from me, but could you please do this one thing for me Dash?” She adds.
Dash puts a hoof to her chin and hums in thought and sighs.
“Fine, but this better not be a trick or anything.” Dash stated.
“No tricks, promise.” Sunset said as she left the pegasi alone to herself while on a nearby cloud Lightning Dust heard the whole thing.
Sunset had to wait before she could talk to Cheerliee since she a teacher’s assistant so she’d waited outside the school house until it was time for class to end.
As the final bell rang the fillies and colts flooded the sidewalk as they came bursting out the doors. She caught a glimpse of her sister along with the rest of the CMC. She had to talk to Cheerliee personally like she did with Dash.
She went toward the same classroom and soon spotted Cheerliee packing some paper that needed grading. Then Cheerliee spotted Sunset coming inside.
“Afternoon Sunset; shouldn’t you have clients to tutor or something productive.” Cheerliee huffed as Sunset held back a retort remembering why she had come there.
“My clients can wait for me, but right now I want to talk to you for a moment.” Sunset began hesitant.
“I was just wondering if…after you’re done with grading paper and all that you could come by place cause I want to talk to you and the girls about something.” Sunset finished
“If it’s not an inconvenience to you or Emerald.” She quickly added.
Cheerliee looked at the clock then at her saddle bag full of student’s paper then to Sunset giving her a glare.
“I’ll be there in two hours, but if this ends up being a waste of time.” Cheerliee began.
“Don’t worry it won’t be.” Sunset added and slowly left the schoolhouse.
Sunset went back to her place and began pacing around the room.
“Okay Sunset your friends are going to be here in a couple hours and you having to give them an explanation for your outburst and you’re going to tell them straight out now more hiding or anything.” Sunset told herself
“But what if they don’t believe me?” Sunset asked herself.
“No you’ve got to do this even if you insides feel like they’ve been beaten by a two ton anvil.” She said giving herself some encouragement.
“Luna said I have to fix this problem and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” She thought sitting herself down on the furniture and waited for her friends to arrive.
It was a quarter after eight until her friends came and piled in waiting Sunset to give an explanation.
“I’m glad you all could make it.” Sunset tried to smile but failed as five stern looks were staring right at her.
“Okay let’s have it Sunset.” Trixie started off.
“We want to know why you went off on us.” Rainbow said next.
“And hurt both Coco and Lightning’s feelings in the process?” Cheerliee finished while Dust and Coco nodded at Cheerliee’s statement.
“Okay…well do you all remember when I lost it and shouted at Pen because of the medallion?” She asked and they all nodded to that. Sunset took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.
“Ever since…no even before then I’ve been taking anger management classes.” She finally said.
Almost all of them were surprised by this except Rainbow Dash and Coco who just looked confused.
“Anger what now?” Dash asked confused as she looked to the others for an explanation
“Management. Anger Management is for ponies that are extremely temperamental or anger prone.” Trixie stated to Dash who still looked confused as Coco nods understanding.
“It’s basically to help them to control their anger in a way of saying whether it be breathing exercises or talking about it.” Trixie finished.
“But Sunset whenever you were away with a client you always leave a sign on your door.” Cheerliee added as Sunset glanced over nervously.
“I lied, that seemed like only way I could go to my anger management courses in Canterlot without you all becoming suspicious.” Sunset admitted.
“You lied, why?” Coco asked.
“Because I didn’t want you girls to worry about me, and that I’m anger prone as Trixie put it.” Sunset hung her head low.
“Plus with work I’m in stress and anger aren’t a very good mix so that’s why I went off on you girls, I didn’t mean to it’s just that I couldn’t control my own temper and I just had to let it out.” Sunset continues.
“And I’m very sorry for things I’ve said to all of you especially to Coco and Lightning Dust.” Sunset said looking at the girls.
“Can you girls ever forgive me for this?” She begged.
The girls looked to one another “…Forgiveness and trust is hard to earn Sunset, but you’ve taken a huge step to start to earn it back. It might take a while, but I think we all are thankful for you coming clean about it.” Trixie says earning a small smile from Sunset.
“But we still don’t like being lied to even if it is a friend.” Rainbow said next sternly.
“I know, and I also know it will be a while before you can fully trust me again.” Sunset says as Coco and Dust give her a hug.
Trixie looked over to the paper and quill that Sunset had out on her table and levitated it over to the mare who got out of the embrace of her friends.
“I think this is the perfect opportunity for another letter.” Trixie said as each nod in agreement including Sunset herself.
Sunset took the paper and quill from Trixie’s magic and began writing.
“Dear Princess Celestia: Letting your emotion getting the better of you can have some deep consequences in future to come whether it be a simple argument to hurting your friends feeling in the worst way possible, I’ve learned it the hard way. What I’m trying to say that it’s not right to keep your emotions bottled up for so long that it all comes out in one big burst. If you have a problem or feeling stressed talk to a friend and they’ll help you through it no matter what. Sincerely your loyal subject; Sunset Shimmer. P.S. Be sure to thank Princess Luna for her help as well I’m sure she’d appreciate it.” Sunset finished.
Trixie took the letter back to the library and the girls filed out having a smile on their faces and Sunset could sleep peacefully knowing she’d finally got what was bothering off her chest.
Meanwhile in Canterlot Princess Celestia just got the letter that Spike sent her and began to read. After reading it, she’d got up and looked out her window and look toward the tower where her sister Princess Luna was raising the moon.
“I’m proud of you dear sister for helping as you have. Now if only I could ask for your forgiveness of what I’ve done.” Celestia thought she watched her sister raise the moon for the night to begin.