//------------------------------// // A Warm Welcome // Story: Sunset Shimmer's Equestrian Vacation // by One True Thrond //------------------------------// “Hi, Rarity," Sunset Shimmer said. “Hello,” she replied. “Have we met?” Silence hung in the air for a moment, before Sunset realized she had no idea what to say to this pony, who she knew an alternate version of. “Er, not exactly,” Sunset eventually stammered out. In all her excitement about seeing Twilight and what she planned to do in Equestria, she hadn't considered the fact that Twilight’s friends here were the same as her own friends back home. “Rarity, do you remember what I told you about the human world that I went to a couple times?” Rarity raised an eyebrow, but then realization dawned on her. “Oh, is this…?” “Rarity, this is Sunset Shimmer. Sunset Shimmer, Rarity.” Rarity chuckled, then looked over to Sunset. “Hello, darling. I suppose you already know me. Or,” she continued, “perhaps you don’t. I presume that the Rarity you’re familiar with doesn’t quite have my, how should I say it, prestige. Oh, but I shouldn't boast so much. Here, have a seat.” She pulled out a chair from a nearby table and motioned for Sunset to sit down. Sunset obliged, feeling a little more comfortable. "I must say, Sunset, your hair is absolutely lovely. Such vibrant colours!" Sunset smiled, feeling suddenly comfortable as her friend's familiar quirks displayed on this new pony. Even across dimensions, some things never changed. "Twilight told me you might be interested in it." Smiling cockily, she flicked her hair lightly, and observed as Rarity beamed in adoration. She heard a little bit of a chuckle and noticed Twilight taking a seat, soon followed by Spike, who was gazing adoringly at Rarity. “Oh, did you, Twilight?” Rarity asked. Twilight nodded. “Well, you certainly weren’t wrong! Oh Sunset, you’ll have to let me style it some time.” I already have, Sunset thought, but of course that was a different Rarity. “Well, I’ll be here for a couple weeks. You just might get the chance before I leave.” Rarity grinned, clearly excited by the possibility. “Oh, that is just marvelous!” she said, pressing her hooves together. Suddenly, there was the sound of another pony rapidly entering the boutique. Pinkie Pie stood in the centre of the room, gasping for air. “New friend! Party! Sugarcube Corner!” she said, before zooming off. Sunset, Twilight, and Rarity stared at the space where their excited friend had just been, before laughing, knowing that it was just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. Spike, snapped out of his Rarity-gazing by Pinkie’s entrance, only just caught a glance of her before she sped off. “Huh,” Spike remarked. “So,” Rarity said, “I guess our resident party pony has caught wind of you, Sunset.” Twilight rubbed her chin. “Strange, you’d think she would have showed up earlier. Wouldn’t her Pinkie sense have clued her into your presence?” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Pinkie what?” Twilight and Rarity looked at each other for a moment, before returning their gazes to Sunset. “Nothing,” they said in unison. Sunset only grew more curious. The Pinkie in her world had never said anything about a “Pinkie Sense”. Was her friend’s pony equivalent somehow even more inexplicable? Apparently Sunset’s confusion showed on her face, because Rarity, clearly eager to change the topic, got up. “Well then, we’d best get to that party,” she said. “We wouldn’t want to be late.” The other three nodded, and the three ponies (and one dragon) got up. Not long after, they were back on the streets of Ponyville. This time, they wandered through the middle of town, where the activity of the market was dying down as the stalls ran low on inventory. Soon the evening shops would come out, as would the evening shoppers, who were never as populous as the afternoon shoppers but were still profitable. Sunset wasn’t really sure where Twilight and Rarity were leading her, but then again, she had never been to Ponyville before. In truth, back when she lived in Equestria, she rarely thought about the humble town at all, and when she did, it was usually condescendingly. It surprised her that a princess would pick a place like this to live, but then, it made perfect sense considering Twilight’s friends. If these ponies were any bit as great as Sunset’s friends in the human world, then she understood perfectly well why Twilight would stay here. The group approached a house with a roof that looked like it was made out of cookies and frosting. A smaller structure of a couple extra floors poked out of the roof, looking every bit like a giant cupcake. Of course this is where Pinkie lives, Sunset thought. Knowing her friend, it was a surprise that the house didn’t somehow look even more like an assortment of baked goods. “So, this is Sugarcube Corner?” she asked. “Yes, the best bakery in town and the home of Pinkie Pie and the Cakes,” Twilight replied. “The Cakes?” The Pinkie Pie that Sunset knew lived with her family. Who were these ‘Cakes’? Twilight stopped and turned around. “Pinkie Pie—that is, this world’s Pinkie Pie—has lived with the Cake family in Ponyville for the past several years, after moving off her parents’ rock farm.” Sunset had never considered that Pinkie’s family might be rock farmers, but that would explain her sister Maud’s fascination with pebbles. Joining them outside the gate was a group of a similar size, consisting of ponies with colours very familiar to Sunset. She had to remind herself that these weren’t her friends, at least not as she knew them. In truth, she had mixed feelings about being surrounded by ponies that had the same names and personalities as her friends back home, but who didn’t know her and didn’t have the same life experiences. “Hey!” “Howdy!” “Hi.” They were the same voices that Sunset had grown accustomed to greeting her at school and at get-togethers. But in truth, she didn’t know these ponies. They had just met. Twilight made to introduce Sunset. “Hi, girls! This is Sunset Shimmer. I’ve told you about her before. She’s come back to Equestria for a couple weeks to visit.” Applejack was the first to speak. “Oh yeah, she’s your friend from another world. How’s Ponyville treating you, Sunset?” Sunset’s concerns fell to the back of her mind as she heard the question in Applejack’s familiar voice. “It’s nice. There’s a friendly vibe here that Canterlot doesn’t have. At least, it didn’t back when I lived there.” “Trust me, Sunset, it’s still like that,” Rarity said. “I mean, I love Canterlot, but all the hustle and bustle makes you miss the simplicity here after a while.” Suddenly, Pinkie poked her head out of the door. “What’s taking you guys so long?” Twilight chuckled. “Sorry, Pinkie. I was just introducing Sunset Shimmer here.” Twilight indicated Sunset by placing a hoof on her back. Sunset blushed slightly, hoping nobody noticed. Twilight continued. “She’s come to Equestria on vacation. Though, I figure this is her party, so I guess you already know that.” Pinkie grinned. “Well, my Pinkie Sense told me there was a new pony in town. It was kinda delayed for some reason. Probably because of multiversal residue. So I followed it to the castle and there I saw Twilight leaving with Sunset Shimmer. I would have brought out the welcome wagon, but I was already late, so I went straight to the party. Then I invited all of you, because Twilight said that Sunset Shimmer knows different versions of you guys from the other world.” "Good call, Pinkie. I was hoping to introduce Sunset Shimmer anyway, so this makes it much easier." "Exactly!" Sunset was aware of Pinkie's propensity for throwing parties for new students, but as far as she knew, the Pinkie she was familiar with didn't randomly throw them for guests. Or mysteriously know when someone entered the school, for that matter. This Pinkie beckoned them to come in, and the six ponies crowded outside were pleased to comply. While approaching the door, Sunset Shimmer made to ask Twilight a question. However, Twilight was apparently a step ahead of her, and cut her off before she could begin. "Don't ask." Sunset raised an eyebrow. "I've tried to understand it. It didn't work." Sunset stared for a second longer before returning her gaze to the path ahead of her. She entered the building, and followed Pinkie and the others to a room past the desk. Streamers and balloons were neatly organized around the room, and an aging but carefully maintained banner hung in the middle of the room with the words "Welcome!" written on it in big, goofy letters. More obvious was the fact that there was already a large crowd of ponies cluttered in this space. Sunset hadn’t expected that everyone would be invited. She again looked back to Twilight, hoping for an explanation. “Oh, yeah, Pinkie’s welcome parties tend to be pretty big,” Twilight said. Pinkie materialized in front of them, though Sunset couldn’t say where from. One moment she wasn’t there, and the next, she was. “Yeah! When there’s a potential new friend in town, I want them to meet all my friends! And I also want to throw them the biggest party! I didn’t have enough time to invite everyone, but I still threw the biggest party I could for you!” For you. Sunset couldn’t help but smile a little at that. It had been several months since she’d been reformed, and after saving the world on multiple occasions, she was starting to get past that nagging fear that she didn’t deserve the nice things people had started doing for her. Still, she supposed that she still wasn’t used to the feeling of people appreciating her, and having this complete stranger throw her a big party just because she’s new felt… nice. Really nice. “Well, uh, thank you, Pinkie.” she said embarrassedly, still caught off-guard by the sheer number of ponies here. Surely it was at least a quarter of the town. How did they all fit in this place? Sunset’s thoughts were soon interrupted by the sound of a record scratch. At the end of the room, a DJ was set up, with Pinkie standing beside her. The room went silent. Pinkie grabbed a microphone. “Alright, everypony!” she said. “We’re here to welcome a new friend: Sunset Shimmer!” She pointed at Sunset. “She’s here from a parallel universe. Isn’t that cool?” Sunset stood awkwardly as a circle formed around her and the entire crowd looked at her. She wasn’t sure if Pinkie had noticed, but the party pony immediately started talking again, taking the attention off Sunset. “No more wasting time. Let’s get this party started!” The DJ pressed a switch on her turntable, and soon upbeat pop music was blasting loudly out of the speakers. The bass was particularly loud, which Sunset needed a bit to adjust to, but the other partiers wasted no time getting into the groove. Her apprehension faded. Not immediately, but far more quickly than she had thought. The ponies were curious about her, but she soon discovered that she didn’t mind that so much. These were ponies that were unfamiliar with her reputation, either as a villain bent on world conquest or as a habitual world saver. To them, she was just a new arrival with a unique backstory, and Sunset found that she was pleased to enlighten them - leaving out certain details, of course, at least at first. As the sun began to fall and the sky turned orange, she began letting more and more slip, and was pleased to discover that she wasn’t judged for it. “Have you ever been to Equestria before?” was a common question. Early in the night, she would answer “yes,” vaguely mention some sort of trouble driving her to the other world, and attempt to change the question. However, somewhere around midway through the party, she was feeling a little more courageous when yet another pony wondered this. “Actually, yeah, I grew up here,” she said. This wasn’t too much trouble, but then she continued. “Not here, per se. I grew up in Canterlot.” Again, nothing revealing. She wondered if she should again dodge around the question, but for some reason she felt like being open this time. “I was actually a student of Princess Celestia for a while. Then I made some mistakes. I studied some things I shouldn’t have, and did some things I regret. I left after that.” The other pony nodded in understanding. She had previously raised an eyebrow when Sunset claimed to be a former student of Celestia, but her expression softened into one of sympathy when she saw Sunset’s expression quickly turn to one of regret. “What’s important is that you’ve learned from those mistakes,” she said. “If Princess Twilight trusts you, then Princess Celestia must be willing to forgive you.” Sunset Shimmer wondered about that, but didn’t wonder for long before the conversation shifted to her friends, who she was happy to talk about. Later, not long before the party ended, she was sitting at the window, looking out at her namesake. She had always loved how it looked. At this point, the sky was bathed completely in orange. It was the darker orange that immediately preceded nightfall, at once holding the last bit of warmth from the day and heralding the cool of the night. Looking at this radiant display, one thought crossed her mind. Perhaps she had needed this trip after all.