• Published 25th Dec 2013
  • 13,224 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?

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Childish Things

Chapter 2

Childish Things

Sunset Shimmer walked home from the library, her head full of plans. Her new ambitions would take a lot of work, no doubt, but she was equal to the task.

I arrived at Canterlot High with nothing and for thirty moons I dominated that place. My wits and energy are sufficient to conquer any challenge.

She was so enthused and energised by her new goal, it was almost enough to make her forget that she was going home to an empty house and another lonely evening.

As she walked down the street, Sunset vaguely noticed Applejack putting up posters for an Taylor Swiftwing concert. She didn't pay it much mind, Sunset had never been a big fan of country music.

Sunset also passed the newspaper stand, and having nothing better to do she stopped and perused what they had. She bought a paper, and then saw that they had some comics on one of the lower shelves.

"Power Ponies? That takes me back, I used to love these," Sunset murmured, levitating one of the issues off the shelf ─ seconds before Pipsqueak could grab it ─ and opening it up.

"Fili-Second's name is Windy West now?" Sunset murmured, reading the character biographies on the first page. "What the hay happened to Mare-y Allen?"

"She died more than a year ago, miss," Pipsqueak said helpfully. "You sound like you've missed out on a lot."

"Yeah, it looks that way," Sunset growled, feeling rather miffed that her Fili-Second had been gotten rid of to make way for this interloper. An interloper who, a few cursory glances through the story revealed, was absolutely nothing like Fili-Second. The real Fili-Second wasn't zany or hyperactive, she was an inspiration to superheroes across Equestria. Why did they have to get rid of her like that?

A little put out that one of her childhood shibboleths had been so cavalierly cast aside in favour of a decided change for the worse, Sunset Shimmer kept reading. She scowled when she realised that Humdrum had been replaced as well and was now a goofy idiot instead of the quick thinking rock of the team that she remembered.

Are they dumbing down for fillies and colts or something? Don't they realise that children can handle mature, competent storytelling; that they want it? I bet there are fillies and colts who don't even realise Humdrum was ever anything but an idiot.

And then she read something that really made her blood boil.

"MASKED MATTERHORN WAS REALLY A CLONE OF THIS JOKER THE ENTIRE TIME? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"


Meanwhile, in the library, Twilight Sparkle looked up as an explosion of pure rage rattled the windows.

"Ah, it seems that she found out about the Clone Saga," she murmured, having had to endure Spike's reaction when that particular plot point first came to light already.

"Do you think we should do something?" Spike asked. "What if she hurts somepony?"

"Oh, I don't think she's gone bad again, she just sounds a little angry," Twilight said. "Remember how you reacted to One Mare Day?"

"Don't remind me," Spike said.


Sunset Shimmer's horn glowed with a blue aura as she incinerated the offending issue.

"THIS COMIC SUCKS," she spat. She took another issue off the rack and put it on the counter. "I'll take this one and pay for the one I just destroyed. Sorry about that. Got a little carried away."

She paid for the two issues and then stomped off home, deciding that once she got the internet up and running the first thing she'd do with it was start a blog where she could rant about how Marevel Comics were ruining her childhood to the whole country.

Hmm, this comic sucks...that might make quite a good catchphrase for reviews.

Sunset went home and made dinner for herself. She put half in the freezer, because she hadn't been taught to waste food, and there was too much for one pony to eat. After a week of doing that, however, the freezer was starting to fill up with leftovers.

I should probably start eating some of this, but it doesn't taste as nice as food made fresh. Probably because the melting ice gets in it.

As she ate her casserole, Sunset pondered where to start on her grand design. She supposed she'd have to start by building a computer. Then she could sell the idea for that and get other ponies making more while she invented things to do on the computer.

She started making sketches, and lists of what she thought she'd need, long into the night until she fell asleep on the floor.

[ hr ]

Sunset was woken by a knock on the door, a loud and insistent knocking. Bleary eyed, she could see the sun shining in through a crack in the curtains.

Late to bed and late to rise, it seems, Sunset thought, picking herself up off the floor. Bits of paper lay all around her like a nest, covered in scrawlings, scribblings, plans, designs, lists. She had even written a ten point plan for global fame at some point in the night's heady work, a list Sunset could not remember writing and became increasingly implausible as it descended from bullet point to bullet point.

"Use my vast wealth and resources to fight crime and become a great philanthropist," Sunset Shimmer murmured, reading item number eight off the list. "Yeah, that's likely. I shouldn't have bought that comic."

The knocking became even louder and twice as insistent upon answer.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming. Have a little patience, why don't you?" Sunset walked over to the door and opened it. Outside stood Twilight Sparkle, and behind her Spike teetered under the weight of a large chest.

"Good morning," Twilight said evenly. "You didn't show up at the library this morning. I was a little concerned."

"You mean you were concerned about me or that you were concerned about what I might be doing?" Sunset asked with a wry smile.

"Shall we say it was both?" Twilight replied, matching Sunset with a smile of her own, impenetrable and guarded.

Sunset let out a bark of laughter. "Sorry, Princess Twilight, I was up all night working and overslept afterward. Come inside, I'll go brush my teeth before you or Spike complain of the smell."

Sunset padded into the bathroom, leaving Twilight to close the door behind her. She didn't like brushing her teeth before breakfast ─ she was always left with a lot of sticky stuff lining the inside of her mouth and bugging her, and anything she drank afterwards would have a funny after taste ─ but she wasn't going to have Twilight Sparkle interview her with stale breath. She may have been a villain, but she wasn't a bum.

"What are you working on?" Twilight Sparkle asked from the dining room.

Sunset Shimmer spat into the sink. "I've found something to occupy myself. I'm going to bring Equestria into the information age."

"The what now?"

Sunset Shimmer came back into the dining room. "You know when we were in that other world, they were a lot more advanced than us in a lot ways. The horseless carriage that took you to the Fall Formal, that didn't produce steam or require rails to run on, we can't produce anything on that level yet."

"Well, actually, I did see something that moved without rails once," Twilight Sparkle said. "It doubled as a cider press."

A look of disbelief crossed Sunset's face. "Really? A cider press?"

"Yeah, it was a little weird," Twilight confirmed. "Though I admit it didn't look as nice as our limo, or Flash's car."

"Mmm," Sunset murmured. She quickly changed the subject, "Good thing I didn't decide to invent the automobile then. Anyway, the greatest achievement of the culture on the other side of the mirror is there development of computing. In every prosperous home there is now at least one computer or computing machine, each capable of storing more information than there is in your entire library. And they have this thing called the internet, which connects folks from all over the world to one another and lets them share anything they want. It's transformed their society, and I'm going to bring it here so it can transform our society as well." She finished with an excited, anticipatory grin upon her face, but became conscious of the fact that Princess Twilight was not sharing her enthusiasm. In fact she looked downright sceptical. Sunset's smile faded. "What?"

"I'm not sure I want to see Equestrian society transformed," Twilight murmured. "And that is leaving aside the fact that the things you're talking about creating are exactly the things that you used to make me look crazy in front of everyone, aren't they?"

"I didn't 'make you' look like anything," Sunset replied defensively.

"Everyone at school was laughing at me," Twilight shouted. "I looked like an idiot because of you and the video you made."

"Please remember, Princess Twilight, that not one second of that video was faked by me," Sunset Shimmer replied sharply. "Everything I showed you doing, you actually did. I just cut the footage together and put it on YouTube, but I wouldn't have had anything to work with if you hadn't provided the material."

"Like I provided the material of me destroying the gym?" Twilight asked.

Sunset Shimmer sighed. "That was completely different. And besides, you're missing the point that, as I tried to tell you yesterday, none of that was about you. It was about me and getting what I wanted."

"I'm waiting for you to convince me why I should allow this idea of yours," Twilight said. "All I can see is something which we don't need and will bring more harm and trouble than it’s worth. You might think it is one of the great achievements of that world, but I think it was one of the worst."

"Oh come on," Sunset Shimmer said, shaking her head. "How can you possibly justify a statement like that?"

"People don't talk to one another in that world," Twilight said. "You would never have been able to divide my friends in that world if they had actually spoken to one another, face to face. But they let technology, the technology you want to bring here, divide them. And you used those barriers for your own advantage."

Sunset Shimmer scoffed, "Is that what you think? Do you think this is an absurdly complex scheme to take over Equestria by getting everypony so addicted to free wi-fi that they won't notice? That's not why I'm doing this!"

"Then why are you doing this?" Twilight challenged. "Sheer altruism?"

"Because if I do this then I'll be famous, guaranteed!" Sunset yelled. "My name will resound through history, more than the name of anypony else except Celestia. I'll be the mother of a revolution in the affairs of Equestria."

"I believe that," Twilight murmured. "That is what concerns me. Is this really all about fame to you?"

"I need to do something extraordinary, I won't sink into mediocrity," Sunset Shimmer replied.

Twilight shook her head sadly. "Even now, you don't get it, do you?"

Sunset snorted. "Get what?"

"Just because you aren't 'extraordinary' doesn't make you mediocre, or worthless. Is that what you think about everypony here? About Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity? What's so wrong with being ordinary?"

Sunset smirked. "Princess, I have never, in my entire life, wished to be ordinary."

Twilight Sparkle shook her head once more, and Sunset Shimmer honestly found her conceit rather grating. It wasn't as if she was particularly ordinary herself, and to have her lecture Sunset Shimmer like she was ever so humble was a little hard to swallow.

"You know you can only go ahead with this if I allow it," Twilight said.

"But why wouldn't you?" Sunset asked. "Listen, as an example: the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Suppose they could reach out to blank flanks all over Equestria, find other ponies just like them. Their movement could span hundreds, thousands of fillies. They'd know that they weren't alone. What would the taunts of the local bully matter when they had an army of friends online."

"Online friends can never be a substitute for the real thing," Twilight Sparkle said. "You can't know anypony's heart if you've never met them. I agree that it might be a convenient way to meet others, but a friendship that stays online is worse than no friendship at all because it stops you from going out and developing real relationships."

"They are real," Sunset countered. "The emotions that can be inspired by friendship over a computer are just as valid and true as the feelings that Spike feels towards you."

"That might be so, or it might be a pretence by some wicked pony looking to take advantage of desperate ponies seeking solace," Twilight argued. "It's impossible to tell. Not to mention that on my brief visit to the other world this internet seemed capable of bringing out the very worst in the behaviour of those who lived there."

"That won't happen here," Sunset said.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because we're better than they are," Sunset insisted.

Twilight regarded her coolly. "Are we really?"

Sunset scowled. "You're looking at the greatest social leap in the history of pony kind and you're going to turn your back on it because you're scared."

"I'm looking out for Equestria and for everypony's best interest, that's my job as a princess," Twilight snapped.

"I see, so that's how it is now?" Sunset said, a fake smile tugging at the edges of her mouth. "Mother knows best, I see."

"I didn't mean it like that," Twilight said sharply. "You can build your computer. The information storage abilities might be beneficial. But I'm withholding judgement on everything else. You don't do anything without my permission, and if I tell you to kill it, you kill it."

Sunset's mouth tightened, but she knew that this was not a negotiation. "Okay."

Twilight nodded. "Good, I'm glad we understand each other. I didn't just come over for our daily meeting." She stepped aside, allowing Sunset to get a better view of the chest Spike had dumped on the floor. "Princess Celestia sent this: it's a box of your things that you left in Canterlot. The Princess thought you might like them back."

Sunset's eyebrows rose. She hadn't expected Princess Celestia to be so considerate. She walked over to the chest, running one hoof over the red exterior. The box had been stamped with her cutie mark, the setting sun looking slightly worn and faded now after thirty moons. In fact the whole box looked a little worn and shabby, but inviting in that special way that only slightly worn and shabby looking things can be, like an old familiar chair or a collection of oft-read books.

Her horn glowing, Sunset opened the chest to see what Celestia had sent her.

The very first thing, lying on top of the pile, carefully placed so that it was not squashed, was a stuffed bunny rabbit in a blue jersey and red bow tie. Black eyes gazed up at her, a welcoming smile upon the rabbit's face.

Sunset chuckled as she lifted it up. "Wow. Nice to see a familiar face in Equestria at last."

"Old keepsake?" Twilight asked.

"Very old," Sunset said with a smile. "I was born on Hearth's Warming Eve, this was the present I got from the hospital. I call him Bab."

"Bab?"

"I know it isn't very imaginative, but give me a break, I was really young," Sunset replied. She levitated the stuffed toy over to her face, and felt the softness of it against her cheek. He hadn't lost his cuddliness since she'd been gone.

"You're going to keep him then?" Twilight asked her.

"Yeah, of course I'm going to keep him," Sunset said, propping Bab up on the chair while she looked through the rest of the box. "Why?"

"No reason," Twilight said. Softly, she continued, "I'm going to have get Smartypants back from Big Macintosh one of these days."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Twilight said immediately.

Sunset paid it no mind, being too pre-occupied by going through the other stuff in her box. There was the clay dragon she'd made for art class, which would provide the windowsill with some much needed decoration, and a bunch of old photographs from her childhood. Some of them were nice to look at, the picture of her taken after she was born made a slow, sad smile spread across her face, but the picture of her and Princess Celestia at the Summer Sun Celebration just made her feel cold in the pit of her stomach at the memory of all she'd lost.

"Hey, Twilight Sparkle," Sunset Shimmer's voice was a little hoarse when it came. "Do you think it's our choices or our destiny that make us who we are? I mean, looking at this photo of me and the princess, do you think that there's any way I could have become you if I'd stayed on the straight and narrow. Or was I always fated to become me?"

"I don't know," Twilight confessed. "I mean, I believe that we all have a destiny, but I also believe in the power to change and reform yourself. But I thought you liked who you were?"

"I do," Sunset said defensively. "But I also wouldn't mind having some of the things you have, as you well know. You know what, forget I asked." She put the photographs to one side, not knowing whether she wanted to have them framed, put them on the wall, or put them away and not look at them again.

But the next items in the box made her grin as she took them out.

"Either of you two like Marevel comics?" she asked.

"Yeah," Spike said.

"Look at this," Sunset presented a slightly dog-eared comic proudly. "Power Ponies Number One. Before this, each of them just starred in their own solo book."

"Really?" Spike said.

"Yep, they were well-written in those days," Sunset said. "There were no clones, no replacements and Humdrum was the smartest and most competent member of the team."

Spike was practically salivating now. "Can I borrow it?"

Sunset laughed. "Maybe if you're a little nicer to me from now on, Spike."

"Aww, come on, I didn't think you were that evil."

Sunset laughed some more as she dug through the rest of the trunk. Old curios and ornaments, a few books and, at the very bottom of the chest, a handsome leather box which was, like the crate, stamped with Sunset Shimmer's cutie mark.

"Really?" Sunset murmured. "She's giving this back to me? After everything I did?"

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

Sunset levitated the leather box out of the chest, opening it up to reveal a chess board and a set of intricately carved chess pieces made of ebony and ivory.

"Princess Celestia gave me this for my last birthday before I...left," Sunset explained. "I was absolutely brilliant at chess, best game ever. I could have beaten anyone in the high school chess club if it wouldn't have ruined my reputation." She held up a couple of the pieces with her magic and examined them. The knights looked like Commander Hurricane, the wizards like Clover the Clever and the princesses like Princess Platinum. They were so detailed you could practically see the pupils of their eyes.

"Princess Celestia gave that to you, as a birthday present," Twilight murmured.

"Yeah," Sunset confirmed. "Why, didn't she get you any birthday presents?" Sunset smiled slyly.

"Of course she did," Twilight replied loudly. "My last birthday before I left for Ponyville, she gave me my telescope."

"Oh, okay." Sunset nodded her head, still smiling. "Was it a good telescope?"

"An excellent one," Twilight said primly.

"Ooooh, excellent, okay then." Sunset and Twilight stared at one another for a moment, each looking equally proud. Then Sunset started to giggle like a filly.

"What's so funny?" Twilight demanded.

"The two of us, comparing the length of our horns like this," Sunset said. "Arguing over which of us Princess Celestia liked better."

Twilight chuckled. "I guess it is pretty silly."

"Especially since there's no real contest, is there?" Sunset asked.

"Well, um," Twilight murmured.

"Don't be ashamed of it, for sunlight's sake," Sunset said. "You won, I lost, there's an end to it. And I'm sure it is a very good telescope."

"Yes it is," Twilight said emphatically. "Though that is a nice looking chess set."

"Thanks," Sunset said. "Do you play?"

"Of course."

"Well, sit down then." Sunset set the board upon the floor and began to set up the pieces. "You can be white. That seems appropriate doesn't it?"

Twilight sighed at that, but sat down on the other side of the board. Her horn glowed as she started with the king pawn. Sunset moved the princess' knight pawn, and then Twilight moved her princess out.

"Starting with the princess," Sunset murmured. "Interesting."

"If the princess isn't willing to lead, why should anypony follow her?" asked Princess Twilight Sparkle.

"Yes, I should have guessed you'd think like that," Sunset said, as she and Twilight both made their moves. "After all, that was how you did it the last time we played."

"We've never played this game before."

"Oh, but we have," Sunset said. "On the other side of the mirror, surely you haven't forgotten."

Twilight frowned. "We weren't playing a game then."

"Of course we were," Sunset replied, beaming. "We were playing a much grander game. True, the game board was a bit irregularly sized, and we used real people instead of pieces, but other than that..."

"You used people like playing pieces, I didn't," Twilight said firmly.

"Really?" Sunset raised one eyebrow inquisitively. "You don't mean to tell me that you cared about the doubles of your Ponyville friends on the other side of the mirror as much as you cared about the real thing."

"Yes, I did."

"Oh, please, nopony is that nice," Sunset snapped. "Neither of us cared about that other world, we just used it and the people in it to further our goals in Equestria."

"That isn't true!"

"Of course it is! What was it you told them: if you'll follow me, we'll put our differences aside? Oh, you led them all right. You led them right up until you didn't need them any more and then you came straight back to your real friends."

"What was I supposed to do?" Twilight demanded.

"Oh, I'm not judging you, Princess, far from it, I agree with everything you did. I would just like you to be honest and admit that we are not so different, I think it would help our relationship move forward," Sunset Shimmer answered calmly, a hint of smugness entering her voice. "We both used the inhabitants of that world like pawns, the only difference is that I used lies, blackmail and manipulation while you used inspirational songs and montages. But white or black a pawn is still a pawn."

"You're wrong," Twilight shouted, slamming her princess down into the board. "And that's checkmate."

Sunset looked down, and blinked. While she had been intent on flustering Twilight, she had indeed allowed her king to get boxed in without an escape route. What was more, apart from the princess the other pieces Twilight had used to entrap her were all pawns.

Sunset looked up. "Well done."

Twilight didn't reply, simply getting up and turning to leave without a word. Spike scurried after her, and Twilight used her magic to slam the door on her way out.

Sunset looked back down at the board. Her own side, the black, had lost all but one of its pawns by the end of the game, she had spent them frivolously in order to lure Twilight's more important pieces into traps. But, while Twilight had lost most of her knights, rooks and wizards, her pawn contingent was absolutely intact. And she had used them to win the gain while Sunset disdained them.

"You always did make better of use of pawns than I did," Sunset muttered to herself.

Author's Note:

I'm sure you can all spot the pony-puns littered throughout this chapter.