• Published 30th Jul 2014
  • 5,570 Views, 318 Comments

Seven Days in Sunny June, Book II - BlueBastard



Sunset Shimmer's return to Equestria has her seeking to stop whatever it is causing her foster sister nightmares across the boundaries of two realities. But the challenges she faces will test her ability to handle the consequences of her past

  • ...
15
 318
 5,570

Tuesday, AM: Your Smile of Honey Gold

Tuesday, AM: Your Smile of Honey Gold

Groggily, Sunset regained consciousness as she felt the building pressure in her loins. It was strange that, for once, she was actually awake in any capacity at that early a time and not because of having to help Twily deal with the nightmares. This time, though, it seemed nature was calling for a porcelain cruise, so to comply with the call she reluctantly moved to stand up from the bed. She got as far as putting her feet on the ground before trying to stand up on her hind legs.

“WAAAAAH!” she gasped, her half-awake mind not comprehending how she was unable to balance on her legs. Somehow, her center of mass wasn’t right, allowing gravity to bring her crashing down and introduce her muzzle to the floor. “OW! That smarts…wait, what…what happened to my mouth?!”

Quickly bringing up her hooves to her face, Sunset was shocked to find she had a muzzle. And hooves. And that she was now a pony.

“Huh? What the hell happened?! Why am I…oh, right, I am a pony. Guess I’ve spent so long as a human…oh well.” But while Sunset tried to shake it off, the fact she was surprised to be back in her native form, in her native land gave her pause. Am I still a pony at heart?

She was able to get an answer a bit later when she, thankfully, remembered how to use a toilet built for a pony (which she didn’t want to have to relearn given her mare parts were now in a relatively awkward position compared to how she’d been doing her business over the past four years). The fact she didn’t need to pull up her panties – given that she wasn’t wearing any – also made her critically self-aware of who exactly was getting a nice view of her little red caboose.

But as she crawled back into bed, her hoof idly traced over the scar where Gilda had stabbed her, now hidden from sight under her furry coat - apparently the scars she’d gotten as a human had translated over when in her original form. If nothing else she thought, drifting back to sleep, this is proof that the human world and the pony world are connected somehow.

She didn’t get much sleep in the end, for it was right when Celestia started to raise the sun that Sunset bolted upright as if she was a clockwork toy. It felt so natural to her that it was almost as if she’d never left Equestria.

Goddamnit, to think I used to be such a morning person because my teacher controlled the freakin’ sun! bemoaned Sunset, knowing this time she didn’t have the luxury of going back to bed. She needed to find Raspberry Beryl and observe her, as even though Celestia certainly meant the best - and no way was Sunset not listening to her like last time. Sunset’s priority was protecting Twilight, and by extension, Twily.

Guess I’d better go wash up, the unicorn thought, getting on all four feet this time before heading to the bathroom.

Mercifully, cleaning up wasn’t any harder than it was as a human, just more time consuming since she was covered in fine, tiny hairs, and then her tail had enough long hairs on it to account for a second head. As a counterpoint, being able to freely use her telekinesis to get that soap all over her really simplified things as it couldn’t slip out of her magic grip. The same applied for toweling off, as after having to do with hands for years, with magic it felt like a spa attendant was doing it for her. Of course, she also felt the need to shake like a dog for some reason, which in the privacy of the bathroom she happily did, indulging herself in what seemed to be a guilty pleasure.

Good thing Spike isn’t around to barge into the bathroom and see me naked again, she thought. Being the size of a large dog compared to him would be bad enough, but to be acting like one...he’d never let me live it down!

Her moment of bliss was interrupted, however, upon the sound of a familiar pair of cries. After fruitlessly looking for something to throw on only to subsequently remember herself, Sunset emerged from the bathroom in search of the source of the cries. She soon found them in the form of two small foals crying their butts off in a crib.

“So…I’m guessing you two are Pound and Pumpkin Cake?” rhetorically asked Sunset, chancing an impish smile. Back at the Sugarcube Corner Café she worked at, the twins were maybe two or three years old, but still very much toddlers. It amazed her at how the baby ponies - no more than a year old themselves - looked so much like the ones who had, early in Sunset’s employment at the café, thrown up all over her. In fact, it didn’t surprise her in the least that neither child was the same kind of pony (earth) as their parents. Pound had always reminded her of a pegasus with how fast he could move if one just glanced away for a second. Pumpkin by the same line of thinking always managed to get ahold of things well beyond her arm’s length as if she had a unicorn’s power of telekinesis. Then as the foul smell assaulted her nostrils, the older unicorn got a rude reminder of the other power inherent with babies of all species.

“Don’t worry, I got this!” hollered Pinkie, racing into the room and sending Sunset into a wild spinning motion like a merry-go-round. When she recovered, she noted Pinkie expertly tending to the foals by changing their diapers and disposing of the soiled ones with what looked like a well-practiced swing. “There, nice and clean again!” The twins gurgled happily as a result of Pinkie’s TLC.

“Those two seem really comfortable around you, Pinkie,” Sunset observed, though she knew the human Pinkie doted on her cousins as well.

“Yeah, I’m really grateful for that,” said Pinkie, letting out a sigh while putting the twins back in their protective bed. “You wouldn’t believe how troublesome these two were to me when I tried babysitting them for the first time, by the time I got them settled down to sleep that night the entire lower floor looked like my party cannon had misfired into the pantry!”

Sunset gave a wide smile. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, so I’m just going to assume your metaphor describes the state of the house as one you didn’t want your aunt and uncle coming home to!”

Pinkie blinked. “My aunt and uncle?”

“Yeah, aren’t Mr. and Mrs. Cake your relatives?”

Pinkie blinked again, before she suddenly let out a chuckle. “Oh, I understand now! Mr. and Mrs. Cake aren’t my relatives; if anything I’m a closer relative of the Apple Family, though I wouldn’t mind having the Cakes as full relatives, as they’re like a whole second family to me.”

“Uh huh, sure, a second family,” nervously acknowledged Sunset.

Pinkie’s claim to have two families triggered a pang of emotions that Sunset didn’t dare show to the energetic ball of pink fluff. Jealousy, regret, anger, feelings that the unicorn had become all too familiar with over the last few years. While she was willing to say progress towards squashing those feelings had improved when she moved into that house in San Palomino, there would always be something preventing Sunset from feeling like she truly belonged.

“Hey, are you alright, Sunset?” piped up the party pony, concern on her face. “You look troubled about something.”

“Wha? Oh, no, it’s nothing, really!”

Pinkie didn’t really buy the wide smile Shimmer was now giving her, but both ponies became aware of the loud crash from the kitchen below.

“What was that?” asked Sunset.

“I dunno,” shrugged Pinkie, “but we better go check it out!”

Raspberry Beryl was hoping to enjoy a nice quiet morning from her position behind the Inn’s front desk. Most guests who stayed at the Traveler’s Retreat arrived to make their reservations in the afternoon, and Raspberry often spent her mornings sipping quietly on a cup of tea while she listened to the swinging pendulum of the lobby’s grandfather clock. Her quiet morning wasn’t meant to last, as a dark yellow earth pony with a cutie mark depicting a floor lamp crossed against a screwdriver approached her desk. Light Fixture, the Retreat’s resident repair pony, had made it his mission of late to make all of his problems Raspberry’s as well.

“I swear there’s something wrong with that thing!” exclaimed the repair pony. “I know it was working just fine when I fixed it last week!”

“Yes, Mr. Fixture. You made me watch you fix it last time, and-“ Raspberry inhaled deeply to try and calm herself. It was hard having to deal with the Traveler’s Retreat maintenance staff given their predisposition to how she had come to be employed. Though she was also certain they held her (mostly ceremonial) title against her for whatever reason. But when it came to the notoriously unreliable toilet in Room 27, Light Fixture became an order of magnitude more difficult to work with.

“Wait a sec, wasn’t Room 27 the one you always stayed in, before you got in good with the bosses and moved into their guest room?” asked Fixture, narrowing his eyes in her direction as he so often did. “As I’m pretty sure that damn dumping tank only went on the fritz after you left.”

“I don’t believe I pay you to insult co-workers, Mr. Fixture,” suddenly came the voice of an older mare, “or was I mistaken in that regard?”

The bickering Inn employees both turned their gazes to the source of the voice, and saw the familiar stern-faced earth pony mare descending the lobby stairs towards them. The elderly pony had a pale tan coat and possessed a cutie mark depicting a green sweater. Her blue mane was going gray with age and was done up in a bun.

“Uh, n-no, Mrs. Cashmere,” answered the stallion, his tone changing immediately. “But it’s just that-“

The co-owner of the Retreat fixed the unruly repair pony with a glare over the top of her glasses. “For your information, Razz was staying in Room 20, not 27. Additionally, if you believe the toilet in that room is no longer serviceable, then you need to tell either me or Ascot about it and we’ll see to getting it replaced. If however, it can be fixed, then I suggest you do your job and stop wasting Raspberry’s time.”

“Of course, m’am. I’ll get right on that.” Fixture immediately departed to go investigate the broken toilet, much to the relief of Raspberry.

“I don’t get it, why does he have such a problem with me?” idly asked the unicorn, before groaning at the knowing look cast upon her by Cashmere. “Seriously, do they still believe I think I’m better than them because of my title? A ceremonial title, no less?”

“Well, dear, you are a princess, of sorts, and while we all know you mean the best, some ponies sadly need a little more time to adjust. It’s probably still intimidating to them that somepony with your reputation is so closely connected to their paymasters. After all, you’re quite unique in many ways.”

“Honestly? I’m not so sure.”

Cashmere’s brow furrowed. “Razz, dear, don’t go into one of those depressive funks again. The last time you wallowed in self-pity about your sense of self, you-“

“This isn’t about that!” interrupted the unicorn abruptly. “Seriously, what happened in my hometown last month was completely unintentional and nothing bad turned out in the long term. It’s behind me.”

Cashmere’s expression softened, and the old mare gently rubbed her surrogate daughter’s shoulder. “Well then, what’s the matter this time?”

“I know it’s gonna sound weird, but…yesterday, after I had lunch with Twilight, there was this pony who came in who looked similar to me.”

Cashmere blinked in surprise. “Like a mirror image?”

“Sorta, yeah. Only her colors were more or less the opposite of mine, and her cutie mark was some kind of two-colored sun. Same mane style, though, and she was a unicorn who the Princess seemed to know from a while back. She said, um….” Razz concentrated, trying to remember how Twilight had introduced the other mare. “She said that other pony - Sunshimmer or something - had been her predecessor as Celestia’s personal student.”

Predecessor?”

“Yeah, I was surprised, too. Evidently Sun-something had gone away for a few years, and didn’t know about King Sombra or the Crystal Empire.”

Cashmere’s brow furrowed again, but there was something different in her look this time. It went beyond the simple maternal concern she’d held before. “Razz…” the older mare began, “was that other pony’s name ‘Sunset Shimmer’?”

“Yes, that’s it! How did you know?”

“Oh, dear…”

Evidently, there was something about this Shimmer mare that Raspberry was missing. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Sunset Shimmer was Princess Celestia’s former pupil, but from what I hear, she fell out of the Princess’s good graces a while ago. There’s a lot of rumors going around about what exactly happened between them, but the most popular theory is that she tried to overthrow Princess Celestia and was banished from Equestria.”

“Twilight mentioned Sunset going somewhere far, far away… but how long ago was that?”

“I’d say anywhere between four to five years ago, shortly before Twilight Sparkle became prominent in that position. For Sunset to be in Equestria again and be on good terms with her successor…it doesn’t add up,” Cashmere frowned. “If Sunset is really back… it’s likely she’s up to her old tricks. She may even be trying to, uh...remove Twilight.”

Raspberry frowned. “I think it would be best to keep an eye on this Shimmer character. Twilight’s practically family, and I’m not going to let some wannabe princess hurt her!”

“Don’t do anything rash, hon,” warned Cashmere with a kiss on her foster daughter’s cheek. “No doubt she’ll learn about your particular talents, and if what else I heard about Sunset is true, she isn’t one for letting rivals as powerful as she is prove to be her betters.”

“I’m not going to do anything like that, Mom,” replied Raspberry, reaching back to tap her leg brace, “not when I’m among friends.”

“Mr. Cake!” exclaimed Pinkie, seeing the mountain of kitchenware that had been the source of the commotion and now entombed her employer-slash-landlord. She raced from the foot of the stairs to dig him out just as Sunset too descended to the ground floor.

“Ungh…knew I should have used the stepladder…” moaned the pastry chef, little Pound Cakes fluttering in circles around his head.

“Of course, silly!” mock-chided Pinkie, “In fact, why isn’t Mrs. Cake around? I know she would have insisted on you using it.”

“Unfortunately, she’s coming down with a bad case of the pony pox,” explained Carrot, finally free of the avalanche of aluminum. “She’s in no shape to bake today, then what with you having your own schedule to keep to as you aren’t working today, I figured I’d try to just get the morning goods baked by myself.”

Pinkie gasped, “But Mr. Cake, there’s no way you can bake that many things in time! Heck, even if I pitch in, the morning rush is going to be so soon we may not meet the quota!”

Sunset, watching from outside the kitchen proper, knew all too well what the morning rush at Sugarcube Corner Cafe would be like. Given that was just in the human world, she could only imagine how bad it got here in Equestria since all the customers ate like, well, horses. While far from being any good at baking masterpiece after masterpiece of pastry goodness, she knew enough of the basics that she could be a help. At the same time, helping out at Sugarcube Corner would cut into the time she had to investigate Raspberry Beryl. Twily’s clock is ticking, Sunset...

Sunset was just about to bid the two confectioners goodbye, but then she found her thoughts returning to Princess Celestia. To how quick she was in accusing Sunset of treachery. Before she even knew what she was doing, Sunset spoke up.

“I’ll help, too!”

That caught Pinkie and Mr. Cake by surprise. “No offense, Sunset,” said Pinkie, “but you’ve never worked in a-“

“I am a mare of many talents,” replied Sunset, striding into the kitchen. “Just tell me what you need me to do and I’ll do it.”

Mr. Cake was still unsure, but looking at the clock he needed all the help he was going to get at this point. “Alright, thanks. Here’s what you can do to help out…”

The next few hours proved to be some of the most frantic in Sunset’s life. With Mrs. Cake down for the count, and Pinkie only able to sporadically help when not needing to look after the twins, Sunset ended up being the only pony constantly in the kitchen, with Mr. Cake manning the cash register when Pinkie couldn’t and when he himself wasn’t needed in the kitchen. It was hot, it was sweaty, but by and large Sunset’s skills in both natural magic talent and minor baking thanks to working at Sugarcube Corner Café managed to be enough to keep a plentiful amount of stock that satisfied the morning crowds.

It also was good for Sunset, as she was still rather too self-aware about being a nudist again, so being able to hide in the kitchens worked out well for her. As such, it allowed her to focus more on keeping the confectionary prep line running smoothly. Gradually, noon rolled around and business slowed down to the point where the morning rush was effectively over.

“Phew!” sighed a relieved Mr. Cake. “Thanks a ton, Miss Sunset, no way Pinkie and I could have done that without your help!”

“Yeah!” furiously nodded Pinkie. “You’re really good at baking!”

“Gee, uh, thanks, guys,” said a bashful Shimmer. Had she been the same mare from years before, she would have been quite boastful about how her magic allowed her to do such a menial job better than everyone else, but now she was just happy to be of service. Especially since she’d chosen to be a good Samaritan as opposed to spending the morning tracking down Raspberry Beryl.

“But what are we gonna do for the rest of the day?” asked Pinkie. “Mrs. Cake is still very ill!”

Mr. Cake sighed. “I’ll have to send for the doctor, my sugarplum seems to have caught a particularly bad case of the pony pox and as you both know, the worse a case of that is, the more specific it is to that pony.”

“R-really, now?” stammered Sunset, now worried that she might end up catching pony pox again. She’d had a bout of it well before she was enraptured with her egotism, but while she couldn’t remember much of the event, she did remember it being a very, very unpleasant experience. Furthermore, a much worse possibility was that she might end up being a carrier and, upon returning to the human world, cause a pandemic that would kill countless humans.

Pinkie was oblivious to Sunset’s sudden paleness. “Yeah, I had it on the rock farm as a minor case when the vaccine proved to be a bit too powerful, not fun at all. Though thankfully that means I can’t catch it again or spread it around! You’ve had your shots, or had the pox before, right Sunny?”

“Wha? Oh, yes! Years ago, don’t really remember it myself but yep, good to know I can’t spread it around to infect millions of other innocents!”

“…Okay!” said Mr. Cake, slightly wary of Sunset’s suspiciously specific wording. “Of course, since the Missus. is down for the count, while she’s recuperating I’ll need to look after the twins, so Sugarcube Corner will have to be closed for the rest of the day.

Sunset nodded, though inside she was smiling wide. Maybe I’ll still have time to follow that Beryl character around after all….

As she briskly walked through downtown Ponyville, Sunset decided she needed to find Twilight. Her priority was to get more information about Raspberry Beryl, and the freshly crowned princess seemed familiar with her. Even if Twilight’s trust in Sunset’s mysterious doppelganger was misplaced, what she knew could prove to be revealing. Talking with Twilight would also keep Sunset’s mind off of her exposed posterior.

“Hi, Twilight!” she called out, picking up the pace to meet up with the Princess who had been peacefully reading a book while sitting on a bench in the park.

“Oh, hey there, Sunset,” greeted the alicorn. “How are you today?”

“More than a little self conscious, actually,” admitted the unicorn. “After wearing clothes over in the human world, the fact ponies don’t and our, er, ‘mare parts’ are sort of exposed for the world to see is somewhat off-putting for me.”

“Oh, don’t worry, our you-know-what's are hidden much more than you seem to remember. After all, considering how often ponies end up staring at each other’s plots, all you see is-“ A maize hoof promptly found its place in front of Twilight’s muzzle.

“Sparkle, I will strangle you if you finish that sentence and all the consequences be damned!” snorted Sunset. “Right now I am desperately trying to resist yanking that towel from that pony over there to cover myself.”

“Uh, noted. Sorry,” Twilight half-apologized, chuckling as she did. “Moving on from that topic, though, I am curious to know more about the human world.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? You were there.”

“For only three days, silly!” Twilight magically placed a bookmark in her novel, before closing it and teleporting it away. The two mares then began a leisurely walk back in the direction of Golden Oaks. “Since I was so busy trying to figure out how to beat you at becoming Homecoming Queen, I couldn’t take the chance to study other aspects of human culture. For example: what is the importance of somepony becoming the Homecoming Queen, anyway?”

“Really? You actually want to know that?” Twilight nodded, prompting Sunset to sigh heavily before laughing softly. Just because she was here to gather information on Raspberry Beryl didn’t mean Sunset couldn’t indulge Twilight for a little while. Besides, considering the warlock was apparently in good with the princess, it might serve to butter Twilight up a bit before cutting to the chase. “Popularity contest, that’s all there is to it.”

Twilight was taken aback. “You…you mean that the Homecoming Queen doesn’t actually have any duties of office like a true member of a royal court?”

“Believe me, I was the three-time running elected person - admittedly more by ruling with fear than actually being popular - so I’m pretty safe in saying getting named Homecoming Queen is nothing more than bragging rights. If anything, for straight power I should’ve went for the student council, but then I would’ve been overseen by a teacher, so I settled for being the power behind the throne, so to speak, and Homecoming Queen was a good way to do that.”

“And a magic crown, don’t you remember?” laughed Twilight, Sunset finding enough humor to laugh alongside.

“Hey, that reminds me,” remembered Sunny, “what ever happened with the actual Homecoming queen tiara I tried swapping out for the Element of Magic?”

“Oh, that thing? I actually have it back at Golden Oaks. Even though it is cheap plastic, I kept it around as a reminder of the experience I had as a human. If Princess-sorry, Principal Celestia wants it back, then I’ll give it back gladly, but personally I would like to keep it. Believe it or not, after what happened with the real Element of Magic, having a spare lookalike actually saved me a lot of work!”

“Really? What happened with the-“ asked Sunset, before being interrupted by having bumped into another pony.

“Oh, dear, I’m sorry!” apologized the other pony with a voice that sounded vaguely familiar. “I really should have been watching where I was going!”

“Ah, don’t worry about it…” said Sunset, turning to see who she’d collided with…and turning almost pure white in shock as she immediately knew who the pony was without having ever met her.

Well, not the pony. But in the human world, Sunset thought of Octavia Melody as like a sister.