2 MONTHS LATER
It was not special. I was not eyecatching. It was FAR from perfect. But it was mine.
A quaint little apartment right around the bend from Sugarcube Corner was now mine. It had a plain, dark colored wooden door, with the apartment number, 013, plastered on it in gold plate. It wasn't too big, naturally, but it would certainly suffice for my current needs. That all really wasn't important, though, because I had earned this apartment, and after a while saving up for it, it was now finally in my hooves.
Finding the right job was difficult. As my cutie mark displayed, I was rather good at anything having to do with magic, so I decided to go with that field. As it turns out, there were not a lot of options for the field in question that didn't involve going through the educational system, and as a result, I became the youngest pony to ever teach a class at the University of Ponyville. Yes, I was Professor Sunset Shimmer, teaching Advanced Magic 1 and 2, and it was certainly interesting, as many of my students were only a little bit younger than I was. I didn't worry about that, because that wouldn't be a problem as I grew older, but that wasn't the important part. The important part was, having gotten a job, I had finally assimilated myself into Equestrian Society to the fullest extent, and nothing could have made me happier.
The Real-Estate agent who had only seconds ago sold me the apartment, a mare by the name of Rose, was seemingly lost in thought. I stared at her until she realized I was doing so, and she quickly turned to her side and began fumbling for something.
"Oh, I'm sorry Miss Shimmer, I was just thinking about the wind. It was supposed to be blowing hard, according to the weather schedule, but it's dead silent," she said. Finally, out came the item she had been looking for; a regular old pair of keys. She threw them in the air in my direction, and I caught them with my magic. Rose gave me a warm smile.
"Well congratulations, Miss Shimmer! If you have anymore questions about the property, don't be afraid to ask!" she said before waving and walking off. I turned back to face the door and, with a sigh, opened it and walked inside.
I had already seen the inside, of course, so I wasn't expecting it to be lavish; I also wasn't expecting eight different ponies to scream "SURPRISE!" at the top of their lungs when I entered. I leaped backwards in shock, which, of course, caused everypony to laugh; after realizing what had happened, I looked around the living room.
It was no longer completely barren; there were tables for food and drink, and even some party games set up. Twilight and the rest of the elements were there, along with Jennet and Starlight, all smiling at me and waiting for me to react. To add to the horrible cliché this already was, I began tearing up, and was only able to utter a word.
"Guys..." I began, giving a short chuckle. Among the group, it was Pinkie Pie who spoke up first.
"I give a party for every single newcomer to Ponyville; it's a little tradition of mine! This is your place, Sunset, and since you're moving in here, you're officially a brand new citizen of Ponyville! I was gonna have even more stuff because Starlight lives here now too for a DOUBLE party but Twilight went blabbing on about something called "Monetary Constraints" but all I gathered out of it was that we couldn't throw two parties and so there's only one party and HAPPY PONYVILLE SUNSET AND STARLIGHT!" said Pinkie, finishing off the rapid sentence with a large breath. Starlight, now becoming a household name due to her heroism in the Crystal Empire, gave a bit of blush, causing me to smile; as funny and snarky as she was, she always had that bashful side to her.
I don't particularly remember what happened during that party, because it was overshadowed by what happened on that day. What I do remember is that, at some point during the festivities, Spike the Dragon, who had been tasked with going to the market to pick up some more soda, violently ran into the room. He shouted Twilight's name louder than I'd ever heard anyone, this dimension or the human one, and ran up to her. The party completely stopped, naturally, and before Twilight could react, Spike had already been explaining what had happened.
"A bunch of Griffons flew over Ponyville and dropped these letters! Do you...do you think it's true?" he asked, an extremely worried tone to his voice. Twilight immediately grabbed the letter, and the words she read aloud are burned into my mind to this very day.
To the Citizens of Equestria,
The Griffon Kingdom will proceed with the Annexation of the Northern Territories of Equestria in one week's time. We fully expect all citizens and the Equestrian Government to cooperate with this request, as my armies are stationed outside of your cities and have been instructed to take them by force if necessary, and I assure you, they are absolutely more than capable of the job.
With Pleasure,
Sanguis Talon, First of His Name, Grand Excubitor of the Griffonian Empire, Excelsi Regis