• Published 25th Dec 2013
  • 13,165 Views, 415 Comments

How the Sunset Sparkles - Scipio Smith



Sunset Shimmer moves to Ponyville under the supervision of Twilight Sparkle, and begins to develop feelings for the new princess. Can love triumph over distrust, wrath, ambition and Sunset's past?

  • ...
40
 415
 13,165

I Could Be Your Marefriend

Chapter 14

I Could Be Your Marefriend

The sun was shining bright and it seemed brighter still for shining down upon a glad occasion: the last of Twilight’s suitors was leaving Ponyville.

Twilight stood upon the platform, all her friends surrounding her like bodyguards, watching the Fillydelphia train pull away from the platform, carrying away the very last of those who had so proudly come to woo. In pomp and ceremony they had arrived, but one by one they had slunk away in shame and shadow, defeated by their own fears or by the test of caskets Cadance had arranged.

And now they were all gone! Twilight breathed in the sweet smell of freedom once again and found it very heady indeed. She sighed in satisfaction.

“Thank goodness that’s over with,” she said. “There was a time I thought they’d never leave.”

“Well, good riddance I say,” Rarity declared. “They may have called themselves gentlecolts but it was clear to me that not one of them had an ounce of manners or decency in their entire bodies. Trust me, Twilight, you’re well rid of the whole pack of them.”

“You don’t need to tell me twice,” Twilight replied. She looked at Cadance. “And it’s all thanks to you, Cadance. I don’t know if I can ever thank you enough for helping me get through this.”

“You don’t need to thank me at all,” Cadance said. “What are sisters-in-law for? Besides, after you rescued me from the caverns under Canterlot and helped save my kingdom from Sombra, I think this is the very least I could do.”

“However you wanna put it you did a real good thing, Cadance,” Applejack said. “And we’re all mightily grateful to you. I don’t know what we would have done if one of those princess-rustlin’ yahoos had managed to take Twilight away.”

“I’m just glad we can put all of this behind us and get back to normal,” Fluttershy said.

“Until the next time one of you flips out about something stupid, Discord comes to visit, the Cutie Mark Crusaders nearly destroy the town or the next ancient enemy returns bent on taking over the world,” Spike reminded them. “I mean, what’s normal for us, really?”

“Yes, thank you, Spike,” Twilight replied a little tersely. “Now, Cadance-“

Pinkie Pie gasped. “Oh my gosh girls, do you know what this means? We need to have a Twilight Liberation party!”

“That sounds like an excellent idea, oh if only Sunset were here,” Rarity said, her tone carrying an undercurrent of teasing playfulness. “You could have another magnificent dance with her, Twilight.”

Twilight felt her face start burning up, and coughed loudly to cover her embarrassment. “So, Cadance, I suppose you’ll be going back to the Crystal Empire now.”

“Well, my work here is done,” Cadance said. Then she smiled. “But I’m sure Shining Armour can manage without me for a couple more days. A couple of peaceful days, hopefully.”

“That’s great!” Twilight yelled. “Come on, everypony. Pinkie, you can throw your party at my place.” She turned for home, the sound of her hoofsteps echoing on the wooden platform, but something abruptly made her stop. Some force, like an invisible red string tied around her neck, dragged her back towards the platform edge, looking out towards Canterlot.

“Twilight?” Rainbow asked. “What are you doing?”

Twilight frowned. “I don’t really know. I just…I feel like I have to stay here.” They all heard a trainwhistle blow as the stopping train from Canterlot to Baltimare began to puff into view. “I feel as though I have to wait for this train.”


Sunset struggled to control the pounding of her restless leg upon the carriage floor. Thump, thump, thump it went, matching the clattering of the train as it thundered down to Ponyville.

Sunset could control her leg – just about – but it was only one symptom of a nervousness that she could not suppress. Her stomach was frozen colder than the northern mountains, her forelegs trembled, her mouth was dry and her throat was sore.

Get a grip on yourself. This isn’t the hardest thing you’ve done, it isn’t even close.

It would have been hilarious if it hadn’t been happening to Sunset herself: that she who had left her world behind and journeyed to another planet, who had stolen the Element of Magic from under the nose of its rightful bearer, who had raised rebellion against Celestia herself, should now tremble at the thought of asking another mare out.

But all those other acts had been born out of fear and cowardice, and being afraid, she had done them easily. None of them had presented her with any consequence – in fact she had fled Equestria precisely to avoid consequence, as she had then fled from Earth for the same reason – and so she had undertaken them with a light heart, sure in the knowledge that none of them need trouble her mind once she was done, none could possibly come back to haunt her.

The fact that she had been precisely wrong about that in at least one instance didn’t change the fact that it had been much easier to creep into Twilight’s room while she slept and steal her crown than it felt like it would be to walk up to her in broad daylight and stake a claim upon her heart. She had stolen the crown because she feared a rival, because the prospect of another pony equal or superior to her in magic so filled Sunset’s heart with dread that she would have done anything to protect herself. But what she meant to do now could not be done in fear, only with courage, and Sunset was not sure she had that quality in sufficient supply.

She took a deep breath.

Calm down, take it easy, there is nothing to get worked up ab- what if she says no?

The worry had kept Sunset up half of last night, tormented by visions of Twilight’s face twisting in disgust as she exclaimed her revulsion even at the idea of being with a pony like Sunset Shimmer.

If that happened, Sunset supposed the only thing to do would be to pack up and move someplace else. Celestia knew she wouldn’t be able to stay in Ponyville after a humiliation like that.

Celestia. At times, it felt as though the only reason Sunset had been able to get on this train was what Celestia had said when Sunset had told her what she meant to do.

”You’re going back to Ponyville now?”

“I am,” Sunset declared with more resolve in her tone than she really felt. “I understand my feelings now, Princess. I know what I have to do.”

Celestia smiled. “So, you’re going to tell Twilight how you feel? Then I wish you the very best of luck, Sunset. Not that I think you’ll need it.”

Sunset frowned. “You don’t?”

“Not really,” Celestia replied. “In fact, I expect you’ll be very happy together. I told Twilight I would not force a relationship on her against her will but, if I were so inclined, I would match her with somepony like you.”

“Now arriving in Ponyville!” the conductor called.

Sunset was the first pony out of her seat, reaching the carriage doors as the train pulled to a stop at the rustic little station. Breathing deeply, fighting a losing battle to stay calm, Sunset reached through the window, opened the door and stepped out onto the wooden platform.

“Right,” she muttered to herself. “Now to go find Twi-“

“Sunset?”

Sunset started in surprise. Twilight was right there, on the platform, eyes wide with amazement. Sunset felt a frisson of relief that she wouldn’t have to wander all over Ponyville looking for Twilight, fears growing with every step. That lasted until she noticed that every last one of Twilight’s friends were there, including Princess Cadance, and Sunset’s plans hadn’t really included having an audience.

Sunset smiled weakly. “Uh, hey Twilight. What are you doing here?”

“We were just seeing off the last of Twilight’s suitors,” Pinkie cried excitedly, bouncing up and down. “And because they’re all gone now we were just going to have a super party to celebrate Twilight being free again. Then Rarity said about how sad it was that you couldn’t join us and almost right after that, bam! Here you are! So do you want to come to Twilight’s party, do you? Do you?”

Sunset chuckled nervously. “Yeah…sure, Pinkie, thanks. But, uh, could I have a word with Twilight first?”

Twilight took a couple of steps forward. For a moment, Sunset was afraid that she was going to get reamed out for leaving the way she did. But Twilight just smiled warmly and asked, “Did you have a good trip?”

Sunset nodded eagerly. “Yeah, it was really great. I got to spend some time with family and I got a few things straight in my head. It was good for me.”

“I’m glad,” Twilight said.

There was silence between them for a moment.

Sunset cleared her throat. “So, congratulations I guess. All the suitors are gone.”

“Cadance deserves congratulations more than me,” Twilight replied. “It was her plan.”

“Oh, right. Thanks, Cadance,” Sunset said. “I’m not sorry they’re gone.”

“I’m sure you’re not,” Cadance said slyly.

Silence descended once again. Sunset became increasingly aware of everypony staring at her. More than staring, actually; they were all actually leaning inwards, mouths open, waiting.

They know! They know what I want to say and they’re not giving me any peace because they want to hear me say it!

Sunset felt as if her tongue had locked up. There were words, jumbled masses of words swirling around her head, but she couldn’t get any of them out of her mouth. She was just standing there in front of Twilight like an idiot, as though Twilight’s friends were cockatrices and their combined gaze had turned Sunset into stone.

Cadance must have realised her plight, for she half turned away and said, “Girls, why don’t we give Sunset a moment with Twilight? I’m sure that-“

“TwilightIloveyouwillyougooutwithme!” Sunset gasped in mortification as everypony on the entire platform started staring at her. Like a river when the dam breaks, words hadn’t so much come out as they had erupted, with the result that an angry dragon would have been more comprehensible.

As her friends held their breath, Twilight blinked. “Come again?”

Sunset closed her eyes, took a deep breath and steeled herself to get this done. “Twilight…I think; no I don’t think, I know. Twilight Sparkle, I love you. I love how smart you are, I love how pretty you are, I love how kind you are. I love the way your face lights up when you smile, I love the way your eyes sparkle when you’ve had an idea. I love you from the tip of your horn to the bottom of your hooves. And I know that if you give me a chance, if you let me show you what I am, what I have to offer, then I think that maybe you could love me too. So, what do you say? Do I get a chance to make you happy?”

For a moment, Twilight said nothing. Sunset waited, fear consuming her, already inwardly shying away from the rebuke she was sure was coming.

And then Twilight’s foreleg was around Sunset’s neck, her face pressed against Sunset’s cheek, soft and warm.

“Thank you,” Twilight whispered. “I’d love to, really I would, more than anything. But I’m afraid that there is something that you’ll have to do first.” She looked sheepish. “I’m afraid I might have been a little too clever for my own good.”

“Do something?” Sunset frowned, but then her frown transitioned into a smirk. “What, do I have to go on a quest and bring back the tail feather of a phoenix before I can have a shot?”

“It’s not quite that bad,” Twilight replied, a touch of prickly defensiveness entering her voice. “Not quite. Come with me, I’ll explain on the way.”

Twilight led the way back to the library, Sunset following and everypony else trailing behind them. As they went, Twilight explained exactly how she had gotten rid of the suitors. Sunset would have been impressed by the ingenuity if she hadn’t been next up into the firing line herself.

“So what you’re saying is that one of these boxes is the right one, and I have to guess or that’s it?” Sunset summed up once they all stood in the library, three caskets laid out before her on columns of magical ice, enchanted so as to never melt until the spell itself was ended. It was certainly a complex piece of magic, encompassing no fewer than five separate spells all interlocking together and interacting in perfect harmony, but it also seemed fiendishly difficult as a challenge.

“It isn’t as bad as that,” Cadance said. “Each casket contains a clue to help your decision.”

“Did anypony guess right?” Sunset asked.

“No,” Cadance admitted.

“Then the clues can’t help very much,” Sunset said. “I’m sorry, Cadance. I know you meant well, and it certainly worked but…couldn’t you have come up with something that could be passed on skill and not just blind luck?” Sunset had never been that lucky. Certainly not in her opponents. She was unlucky in war, was she fated to be just as unlucky in love?

Look on the bright side: if you hadn’t lost those battles you wouldn’t be here now, so maybe you’re luckier than you think in the long term.

“Okay,” Sunset declared. “If I have to do this let’s do this.”

“What I don’t get is why Sunset has to do this?” Rainbow asked from where she hovered near the ceiling. “You just admitted you like Sunset, so why put her through this test that was designed to be failed?”

“If Twilight breaks the rules that she herself laid down for anypony, all the previous outcomes could be called into question,” Cadance replied. “The suitors would all be back and this would all have been pointless. Twilight has to be seen to be scrupulously fair in observing the rules or else it will come out. That’s one of the downsides to being a princess.”

“But what if she fails?” Rarity cried. “It’s just too awful to contemplate!”

“If it is meant to be,” Sunset said quietly. “Then a host of griffons cannot stand between us, let alone these three caskets.”

“Sunset?” Twilight murmured.

“I will do it,” Sunset said firmly. “Or I won’t, in which case it never would have worked out anyway. Where do I sign my name?”

Spike brought the contract, and Sunset added her name at the bottom. The letters flashed red, and Sunset felt a chill run down her spine as the spell took effect, binding her to the terms of the agreement she had just signed.

“And now you have to choose,” Cadance said quietly.

Sunset nodded. She felt the eyes of all of Twilight’s friends upon her, and she contemplated asking them all to leave. She wasn’t sure that she would be any less nervous doing this in private, however, and so Sunset said nothing at all as she stalked over to where the caskets stood.

For a few moments, Sunset avoided the issue by studying the pillars of ice on which the caskets sat. There was a kind of cold beauty to their frozen latticework, to the spiky thorns that protruded out from the rising columns.

It was an attractiveness that was not so easily found in the three squat boxes sitting atop them. Or perhaps Sunset simply disliked them because they had the power to decide her fate so conclusively.

She stared at them for a moment: ugly lead, gleaming gold, shining silver. Sunset frowned. “How do I know if I’ve won?”

“There’s a picture of me in the correct casket,” Twilight said.

“And in the wrong ones?”

“Hopefully you won’t need to find out,” Twilight whispered. “Good luck.”

Sunset looked back at her and tried to smile encouragingly. “So long as you’re pulling for me, that’s all I need to know.”

She turned back to the caskets, licking her lips as she examined each one in turn. The three boxes, as Cadance had promised, each had a riddle written on the top to help, or hinder, the choosing. The silver casket sat in the centre, gleaming effulgent, and so it was to silver that Sunset went first.

Who chooses me shall get no more or less than they deserve. That is…ominous.

Sunset thought back to what Luna had told her, about false modesty being as dangerous as overweening pride. And now I must judge my own worth perfectly, valuing myself neither too high nor too low, with all my future happiness at stake. It is a pity you could not have come to advise me sooner, Princess Luna.

Sunset stole a glance at Twilight, who was watching with an expression of studied neutrality that was matched by that of Cadance. Of course, they were the only two who knew which box was the correct choice. The others, who had no more clue than Sunset did, looked as though they would soon burst from anticipation.

But Sunset’s gaze kept flickering back to Twilight.

Do I deserve her? If I answer too proudly I will fail. If I answer too modestly then I will fail. Yet the same fate awaits me if I answer too proudly. Do I deserve her, as fair as she is, as wise, as full of virtues? Am I worthy to touch her, to have her, to hold her? Have I, even in my half-forgotten youth or childhood, done anything so good that it would be rewarded with so beautiful a paragon as she?

Sunset grinned. No. I do not deserve her. Just as I did not deserve to be Celestia’s apprentice, just as I did not deserve to be the queen of Canterlot High, just as I did not deserve to rule all of Equestria. Since when have I ever suffered my ambitions to be constrained by such low ceilings as what I deserved?

I will not have what I deserve. I will get what I want, and what Twilight wants as well.

Next Sunset turned her attention to the casket made of gold, and its inscription: Who chooses me shall get what many folk desire.

Sunset’s brow furrowed. What many folk desire? Is that Twilight? They have certainly come from all over Equestria to win her. And, after all, I desire her. Am I the only one? I can’t be. No, I’m not, this test is proof of that. If no one desired Twilight then there would be no need for me to stand here, parsing riddles. Those who desired her came to claim her, and throughout Equestria there are doubtless many who would not turn their noses up at…

A crown. None of them would refuse a crown, that is what they desire. Of course. Twilight and I talked about this, together, when Cadance arrived and earlier than that. How none of these suitors who beat a path to Twilight’s door cared about Twilight, but saw only a glittering crown and a royal style. Any other unicorn that sprouted wings they’d marry just the same.

Many folk desire power, wealth, royalty; very few of them desire Twilight for herself. I hope that I can prove to her that I am one of them.

Which left only one casket, which Sunset approached with trepidation weighing down her hooves. Is this it? So simple? What if I’ve been wrong about the other two?

Sunset read the inscription on the third, final and least enticing looking casket. Who chooses me must give or hazard all they have.

Sunset took a step backwards. Hazard all I have? And what is that? What is mine to put at risk? A sack of clothes, given to me by Rarity. A house, given to me by Celestia. And Twilight’s affections, given of her own free will. A meagre stack of belongings, yet I will lose them all if I make the wrong choice. If I choose wrong then I must leave Ponyville, and more importantly I must leave Twilight. The thing that matters most to me is already on the line, yet I am supposed to be frightened of putting what I have at risk?

I hazarded everything the moment I opened my mouth and confessed how I felt to Twilight. I risked all I had the moment I signed my name. If I pass this test, then every day we spend together I will be putting myself at risk by baring myself to somepony else in a way I never have before in all my life. And I will do so gladly, with a light heart, because I have faith that it will be worth it to share my life with Twilight Sparkle.

These words may frighten spoiled princess and wealthy stallions, but I am Sunset Shimmer. And I dare ruin, as I always have.

Sunset placed a firm hoof upon the lead casket. “I make my choice.”

The casket hissed. Green light and grey-white smoke seeped out of the cracks in the lid of the casket as it popped open – Sunset retreated back a step – and out floated, with a soothing celestial fanfare, a miniature portrait of Twilight Sparkle.

“All that glitters is not gold,” Cadance murmured.

Sunset’s eyes widened. She felt her heartbeat racing as she looked from the real Twilight to the picture and then back again. “I, I won?”

"Yes." Twilight smiled - a smile which lit up her whole face, her voice cracking as tears began to well up in her eyes. "Yes, you did."

And then they were embracing, their hooves around each other, turning around one another in the centre of the room.

"I love you," Sunset whispered.

"I hoped you might," Twilight replied.

They broke from their embrace, Sunset suddenly feeling drained and uncertain. After the tension of her test, the relief of winning seemed to have robbed her of all energy.

Or perhaps it was just that she had no real idea where to go from here.

"So, um, what now?" she asked.

Twilight shrugged. "Go on a date, I suppose."

Sunset nodded. "Yeah, of course. So... am I taking you out or are you taking me out?"

Twilight's brow furrowed. "Can't we just go out, or at the very least take each other out?"

Sunset made a noise with the back of her throat. "I feel as though one of us ought to be the...the...the active one, for want of a better word. And it should be me."

"Why?"

"Because you're a princess, and so I should have to come to you. I will plan us a date and you just turn up for it. No, don't turn up for it, I'll come get you. You wait here and...wait here. I'll be back tonight to take you someplace awesome." Sunset grinned. "This will be the best date ever, I promise." She turned to go, but before she had gone another couple of steps she looked back at Twilight. "Don't move."

Her heart felt light as she practically skipped out the door, a stupid grin plastered to her face. She had won, she was going out with Twilight.

Now she just had to think of a really great date.

Author's Note:

Originally, Sunset was going to fail the challenge of the caskets by choosing gold, separating her from Twilight for the last quarter of the story. But that whole plot thread involved too many out of character shenanigans (after all Sunset's developments, how could she not make the daring choice?) and, to be honest, retreading of my previous work to be any good. So you all get your fuzzy feelings early. I hope you like them.