Thursday, PM: Sitting in the Summer Sun
Thursday, PM: Sitting in the Summer Sun
Sunset knew she was going to have a difficult time trying to meet with Fluttershy. Given how much of a wallflower the human Fluttershy was, the unicorn could only imagine the degree of shyness that the pony version would be. And yet, that was the only constant Sunny could feel was assured with regards to what she knew of the chiffon-haired female as something she had experience dealing with.
Often, during those rough times shortly after her place as Canterlot High’s tyrant bitch had been torn down and all she’d had in terms of friends was the five students who had befriended Twilight, Sunset had wondered what her friends would be as ponies. For the most part, her only clues aside from their personalities had been their hybrid forms, and even then aside from the pony ears and the absurdly long instant ponytail hairstyles, the only non-human features any of them had gained were the wings on Rainbow and Fluttershy. Off of Sunset’s own guesses, she’d easily predicted the sub-species of Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow, but she was of the opinion that, somehow, there had been some mistake when it came to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, in that the latter had been given the former’s wings. It was a logical guess, since Pinkie was super hyperactive and managed to move at speeds beyond comprehension. On the other hand, Fluttershy was much more of a flower child in that she had a natural affinity for animals – often hiding three of four of her “friends” in her backpack during the days when she’d had no human friends (which had largely been Sunset’s fault) – and so seemed as if she’d been meant to be an earth pony and somebody had given her Pinkie’s wings instead.
It had sure been a surprise to see Fluttershy really was a pegasus, as her human counterpart’s hybrid form had suggested, thought Sunset, herself a hybrid of sorts now in both worlds. As a human, she still had equine blood, a pony’s hearing range, and her magic; here in Equestria she was stumbling over being more culturally attuned to that of humans than the social norms of her own race and species. On that note, what of the possibility that she wasn’t even the first? Sunset still lacked a definitive answer to whether or not Musica Allegra had traveled to the human world through unknown means, which in turn left her unsure that Tavi was entirely human herself. So many questions Sunset would have liked answered, but if only-
“STOP!” cried out a familiar voice, halting Sunset in her tracks...as did a butter-yellow hoof connected to a pegasus Sunset could have sworn wasn’t nearby a second ago.
“Huh? Fluttershy, where did you-?” started Sunset, but she glanced down and understood immediately. Right in front of the ponies was a mama duck and her ducklings. Sunset had to question why the little flock had to cross at that specific point at that specific moment, but she did so internally as to not offend Fluttershy.
“You really should be more careful, Sunset,” said Fluttershy after the ducks were safely on their way. “You never know what you’ll encounter if you’re not keeping your eyes on the road.”
“Uh, sure, thanks for the tip,” replied the unicorn, sheepishly grinning at having to accept advice on the obvious.
“You’re welcome. Now, I’m sure you’re going this way to see me?”
“Well, er, yes. How did you know?”
Fluttershy shrugged. “Generally, ponies don’t come out this way unless they’re coming to visit. My house is somewhat close to the Everfree, so unless you have business in the forest, I figured I’m the reason you’re here.”
“You live near the Everfree Forest?” skeptically asked Sunset. It made no sense - why would anybody even remotely like Fluttershy live near a forest full of dangerous creatures?
The pegasus seemed to read Sunset’s mind. “Most of the animals in the forest aren’t really aggressive towards ponies; they stay in the forest and ponies stay in town. Besides, a lot of the creatures in the forest are also my friends, so it’s beneficial for them to have me live nearby if they need my help.”
Sunset just nodded in faux understanding. “Uh-huh, sure. Anyway, the main reason I came out to see you is…well, just that. After spending some time with Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow, I figured I might as well spend time with you, if only because I’m friends with another version of you.” Sunset tactfully decided to leave out her ulterior motive for her visit. Fluttershy probably wouldn’t take being used to gather dirt on another pony very well.
“Oh, to be honest, I am sort of curious about the other Fluttershy that Twilight mentioned having met on the other side of that mirror. Of course, she only spent like, three days with her, maybe less, so I didn’t want to be too intrusive about the matter.” The pegasus seemed to shrink back, her bashfulness subtly influencing her to use the overhang from her bangs as a shield to hide behind.
Definitely Fluttershy, thought Sunset with a smile. “Well, I’ve spent lots of time with the other version of you, so if you want I’ll try to answer your questions as best I can.”
“How wonderful!” exclaimed Fluttershy, her wings popping open in excitement. “I was just about to have tea when I saw you about to collide with the ducks, so we can chat over the fresh pot I just made.”
“That does sound wonderful.”
As it turned out, Fluttershy practically lived in a cottage that was designed more for her animal friends than herself. Perched on top of a small hill and only accessible directly by crossing a bridge set over a small pond, Fluttershy’s house seemed perfect for the chiffon-haired mare. Inside, it proved to be far more spacious than it looked from the outside, with a large main room and stairs leading up to a small second floor that couldn’t have contained more than her bedroom and an accompanying bathroom. The bottom floor, aside from the aforementioned receiving/living room, had an attached kitchenette that was well-furnished despite Sunset not being clear on just how Fluttershy made a living, and a guest room off to the side.
“Angel, I’m back!” called out Fluttershy.
“Oh, Angel’s here, too?” asked Sunset, curious as to what Fluttershy’s brother looked like.
“Yes, of course, he-“ began the pegasus, but was cut off by a loud squeaking noise. Sunset’s head snapped to the direction of the noise and saw a small bunny rabbit dressed like some hardcore action hero and some crudely assembled “weapons”.
It then occurred to Sunset that, just as how Spike didn’t translate over the dimensional rift as a pony, clearly Angel was also an exception. The Angel personas of both worlds obviously liked those violent action films (and certainly had Fluttershy counterparts who disapproved of such viewings), with this world’s Angel Bunny deciding to go all Rambo on her butt.
In response to the screaming vermin about to latch itself to her face, Sunset could only wonder: Why didn’t I go see Rarity instead?
For nine years, Raspberry’s self-esteem rarely was anything above the point of self-hatred. Not just because of her fearsome powers, but because she simply didn’t like being reminded of her relation to Sombra every single time she had to look at herself in the mirror.. Of course, after she found herself accepted by the most important ponies in the country as a friend, acceptance of her real self came shortly after. Now it didn’t pain her to look at her true appearance in the mirror, but she still felt more comfortable in her “normal” guise all the same.
With all of that in mind, Raspberry never expected to be put into a position where instead of her reflection giving her problems, it was the actual mirror itself that coldly reminded her she walked a different path than everypony else.
“Well, it’s…unique, I’ll give it that!” said Razz, voicing the only words she could find to actually describe the magical artifact she’d been brought out to see.
“And certainly Sombra’s, too,” added Celestia, with Twilight nodding in agreement. Obviously they’d been hoping for their local dark magic expert to have a more detailed first reaction to the mirror, given it allegedly was powerful enough to cross the boundaries of time and space.
The unicorn sighed. “I know that wasn’t what you wanted to hear, your highness-“
“Please, we’re all princesses here,” pointed out Twilight. “We don’t need to be so formal.”
“Oh, right. Anyway, ladies, I know that wasn’t what you wanted to hear me say, but while yes, I can certainly feel his presence in the magic imbued into this mirror, it’s not immediately clear just what he actually did to it or what this mirror even does.”
“Sunset Shimmer - who I’m sure you remember from the little ‘incident’ you had with her yesterday - claims this mirror is a portal between worlds.” For a moment, Raspberry wondered whether she did the right thing in telling Princess Celestia about the tense stand off between herself and Shimmer. She still wasn’t sure about the recently returned unicorn’s intentions, but she didn’t want to bring Celestia’s wrath down on her over something as trivial as that. That Celestia let the matter rest as she continued speaking indicated that she was of the same mind on that point. “This one in particular apparently shares the same destination as Platinum's Mirror, which until now was thought to be the only link between the worlds of ponies and humans.”
“Which is the place Sunset came from, right?” Raspberry asked. Of course, Celestia had already given her the basic rundown about her wayward pupil and why she was suddenly back. “So, does somepony want to clue me in on how all this relates to her stalking me?” Raspberry had noticed Sunset at it again today, moving with the crowds in Ponyville; her cold, calculating cyan eyes never leaving her.
Twilight glanced at Celestia with uncertainty, but with a nod from the senior princess, Twilight turned that look over to Raspberry. “Celestia told you about her foster sister - my human counterpart - back in that world, right?” Raspberry nodded, no stranger to terrible nightmares herself. “Sunset seems convinced that you are the one causing her nightmares.”
Raspberry’s mouth dropped open as she stared at Twilight in disbelief. “What?! What possible basis would she have to deduce that?”
“Sunset gave me a very detailed description of her sister’s tormentor…” Twilight chewed her lip, “which also happened to be a perfect description of your, uh… other form.”
Raspberry promptly brought her rear end down, suddenly finding it very difficult to stand. She looked back and forth between the two other princesses, meeting their gazes with wide eyes. But Raspberry only saw the accusing stares of a crowd of ponies in a dreary town. “I… I wouldn’t… Twilight, you know I wouldn’t!”
A white hoof quickly found its place on her shoulder, and Raspberry realized she was shaking. “Relax, Raspberry,” said Celestia, “Twilight and I do not believe you are capable of doing such a thing intentionally.”
Ah. There’s the catch. Celestia’s last word echoed in Raspberry’s mind. Seeing the change in her face, Celestia continued. “It is as you once said: dark magic doesn’t play by the rules of normal magic.”
“It’s entirely possible that dark magic has different effects on the dimensional barriers than regular magic,” Twilight added. “The fact that Sombra was able to use dark magic to create his own mirror portal that operates on different rules than Princess Platinum’s is evidence to that.”
“Furthermore, your own dark magic powers are still not entirely under your control. Your recent trip to Lonesome Dove--”
“Has been discussed to death!” Raspberry exclaimed, staring at her hooves when she realized she was shouting. She felt a familiar wing draped across her back, and looked over appreciatively at Heliodor. “Even that was a pretty isolated incident. If dark magic has crossed the borders of time and space to attack a human - intentionally or not - it could threaten reality itself.”
“Which is why it is vital that we investigate this mirror. Thoroughly,” Celestia said, giving Raspberry a calm, grave look. “If we don’t get to the bottom of this, more than just one innocent life may beat risk. You’re the only one with the ability to uncover Sombra’s machinations.”
Gathering her strength, Raspberry stood and gave Celestia as confident a look as she could muster. “Y-you’re right,” she said, taking another glance at the accursed looking glass. “But first, let’s find a way to move it. If we’re going to be unlocking this thing’s secrets, I’d rather do so in a controlled environment.”
Sunset slowly started to wake up, not quite sure what was going on. The last thing she could remember was visiting Fluttershy. More specifically, her pet rabbit Angel deciding to latch itself to Sunset’s face like some sort of sci-fi alien facehugger and not letting go until Fluttershy had given what she later described as “The Stare” to the rodent. After that, having tea with the pegasus had been quite nice. They’d talked for a bit about Fluttershy’s human counterpart, during which the butter pegasus was saddened her human self’s relationship with her parents wasn’t as happy as her own. Everything that happened after that was fuzzy to Sunset. It was like she’d been hit from behind with a steel pip-
Oh, shit! internally shouted the unicorn, immediately scrambling to her hooves despite the pain.For whatever reason, somebody must have knocked her out when she’d gotten back into town. Evidenced by the change in surroundings, she had been taken and dumped in a bedroom. Admittedly, it was a well-kept bedroom and she hadn’t been tied down, restrained, or (much to her relief) stabbed, as had been the case last time she’d been hit with something from behind. But that didn’t change the fact she’d been effectively kidnapped. Is it because I’m from the human world? Or because somepony knows what I did all those years ago? Or is it even worse than that?!
Loud shouting could be heard from outside the door. Sunset couldn’t tell if she knew the voices – she probably didn’t, given the only ponies she’d talked to so far numbered a little more than ten in this town – but one of them was very clearly pissed off at the other one.
“YOU DID WHAT?!”
“I had to! Do you know what she could tell us? She could validate everything we know!”
“For the record I had absolutely nothing to do with her actions,” a third voice added itself to the others.
The arguing got louder and harder to make out, so Sunset dared put an ear to the door. She suddenly heard one of the angered party stomping towards the door, and Sunset moved out of the way just in time before it swung open forcefully. She couldn’t believe the pony who stood in the doorway.
“D-Deputy Sandalwood?!” gasped the stunned unicorn. There was no question about it, despite being a pony, the mare looked virtually identical to the cop from the Equestria County Sheriff’s Department that had visited her home shortly before the whole incident with “The Club”. Brown hair in the same general style and those distinctive violet eyes, tied together with a tan fur coat that looked almost like a human skin tone, she had to be Sandalwood’s pony counterpart.
“Uh…have we met?” asked Sandalwood.
“No. I mean, yes! Well, sort of. It’s complicated-“ sputtered Sunset, unable to form a cohesive sentence.
“Technically, she’s met the human version of you, Sandy,” drawled a familiar weary voice, drawing out her pronunciation of “human” to emphasize it. Sure enough, Octavia came into view. “She’s already done it with me, though to be fair the princess did try to cover for her.”
“Really?!” exclaimed Sandalwood, her wide grin punctuated with a strange noise Sunset could only describe as a *squee*. The moment was short lived, however, as the tan pony recollected herself. “I mean, that’s great and all, but the fact is Lyra still kidnapped somepony on a whim!”
Octavia nodded before turning to Sunset. “I do apologize about that, when I was talking to Lyra this morning I sort of let slip a few details from our previous…’conversation’ as it were, and so she figured out you’re from this ‘human’ world she and Sandalwood here are obsessed with.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sunset replied, only to get a particular glare from Octavia.
“I would appreciate it if you didn’t lie to me,” the earth pony stated simply. The cold tone in her voice reminded Sunset of the week she, Twily and Tavi had pretty much given each other the cold shoulder after the whole incident with The Club. It wasn’t anything she wanted to relive again.
“Planning to hit me from behind again?” asked Sunset in turn, more to anypony who was listening than specifically Octavia, though the earth pony was the one that reacted.
“I...hadn’t expected Lyra to go so far,” Octavia said sadly.
“I get the feeling things got off on the wrong foot,” Sandalwood interjected.
“Ya think?” Sunset snarled.
“Look, Lyra probably didn’t mean any harm,” the tan earth pony admitted, “but she also tends to not think things through when she’s excited. Like, she’ll…okay, have you met Pinkie Pie?”
“Uh…Yes?”
“Basically that happens.”
“Ah.”
Just then, Lyra herself stumbled into view, making it very crowded in front of the bedroom. Her horn was aglow with a yellow-gold aura, holding an ice pack to the side of her face. “Yeah, sorry about knocking you out with a two-by-four and, well, kidnapping you. Sandalwood just now reminded me why that’s not a good idea, if you’re wondering about the ice pack.”
Sunset just shook her head. “Look, what do you ponies even want from me? All I got is that you think I’ve got the answers to whatever it is you want to ask about humans and so you dragged me here, but is that all you want? To ask me some questions?”
Sandalwood blushed slightly, while Lyra’s head bobbed up and down to the point her head was just a motion blur. Octavia, in turn, facehoofed. “That’s their way of saying yes.”
Shimmer just sighed. “Fine, I think I can answer a few,” she started, before she remembered this was pony Octavia, who might possibly know things not in any of the documents Sunset had read on the history of one Musica Allegra. “But I get to ask some questions of my own, got that?” she insisted.
“Fair enough, I suppose,” answered Sandy.
“I fail to see how this is any better than where it was before,” commented Twilight.
While the three princesses had agreed the mirror needed to be moved, Twilight had not exactly been supportive of the idea of moving it to what amounted to a different part of the Everfree ruins. In this case, the mirror had been relocated to the only other location in the area of any recent importance: Raspberry’s old safe house.
“Oh, come on, it’s perfect!” replied Razz, with Heliodor chirping agreement from his place on the old birdstand. “I still come out here occasionally to make some crystals if Rarity or anypony else wants fake precious stones, so I still maintain all the defensive measures, and it’s a closed structure so nopony can get in even if they knew what’s in here now. “
“Or if they’re too tall, of course,” added Celestia with a laugh from outside. At one time Raspberry had claimed the one still-standing cottage in the ruins as her own. It had been just the right size for her gem forgery operations and out of the way of civilization that nopony would really notice the signs of life in the otherwise dead ex-capital. However, structurally the cottage was the exact same as it had been a thousand years ago, and back then it wasn’t normal for royalty, much less the alicorns, to visit the lower class residences. Thus, Celestia was in fact too large to even fit through the door, as the top of the doorframe only came up to her withers. Razz herself only cleared the ceiling by about a foot, which was still more than Twilight, her slightly larger frame and horn making it so she had to turn her head at an awkward angle to get through the doorways.
“Or that too,” snickered Raspberry. “But seriously, I’ll need to get this thing into working order if we’re to learn anything from it.”
“Wait, how do you know it’s broken?” asked Twilight. “Some time ago you didn’t even believe it was a portal!”
“I can gauge its magic,” Razz tapped her horn as if to remind Twilight. “Same way you knew something was wrong with me way back when our horns accidently touched.”
“Oh, yeah, when I was more interested in examining how Heliodor could perch on your horn!” Twilight laughed. Heliodor rolled his eyes at the chuckling mares, reminded of one of the few times he didn’t like being the center of attention. Ignoring the bird, Twilight continued. “Anyway, how do you plan on fixing it?”
“Well, it’s not really broken; after all, it was able to get Sunset through to Equestria and presumably it will allow her back through, but that’s really all it can do. Sombra hasn’t touched this mirror for well over a thousand years, and while I can’t say for certain, a possible second dark force may have exerted itself on this thing.”
“Maybe it was Nightmare Moon’s magic?” suggested Celestia. “If Sombra had left the mirror when he went to take over the Crystal Empire, it would have been sitting in the castle when my sister and I had our little ‘fight’.”
Raspberry nodded. “That would do it. In fact, I think Sombra knew about it, too.”
A solitary eyebrow made its way into Celestia’s ethereal mane as she strained to get a better look into the abode. “Sombra knew about the coming of Nightmare Moon?”
“Yeah. Don’t ask me how, but Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon are clearly depicted on here as separate entities.” Using her hoof, Razz directed Twilight towards the two blue alicorns carved into the mirror.
“They’re both here,” Twilight called out to Celestia. “Along with you, as we all guessed, and Queen Faust.”
“My guess is that these are what keeps the mirror stable,” theorized Razz. “I can sense dark magic having been stored in them, like some sort of balancing act, but after a thousand years plus of neglect, abuse, and interference from other powers, it’s pretty much drained.”
“But…would it be a good idea to try and salvage it?”
“I’ll see what I can do. Based on what else I can see about this mirror’s enchantments, only a pony of dark magic skill on par with Sombra’s can actually control it. Luckily for everypony, the only living being who fits that description is yours truly.”
“I think we need another pony’s help as well,” said Celestia. “After all, Sunset Shimmer knew enough of this mirror from the human world that she was able to come through it, but she is no dark magic prodigy. Given she is also trying to understand what’s going on between realities, her knowledge on the subject should be of great assistance.”
“Great idea!” exclaimed Twilight. “She can get her answers at the same time we do, it’d be perfect!”
“What do you mean you don’t know what happened?!” shouted Sunset.
The maize unicorn sat on a relatively comfy green armchair in Lyra and Sandalwood’s living room, facing Octavia and the aforementioned ponies on a similarly colored couch. The room was moderately decorated with a fine wooden coffee table in the middle complete with a bouquet of roses as a centerpiece. A small fireplace was across from the couches, and behind them a similarly tasteful wooden bookshelf was against the wall. Though, Sunset wasn’t sure why all of the books were in a large pile on the floor instead of on the bookshelf where they belonged.
“Nopony knows what happened!” retorted Octavia. “Seriously, you’re asking about Musica Allegra, one of the biggest enigmas in Equestriani history.”
“Uh, didn’t she write the national anthem of Equestria?” pointed out Lyra, who wasn’t sitting on the couch like a normal pony, but instead slouched in a way humans with bad posture might sit.
“Well, yes, she is the one who wrote In Regnum Aeternum Solis, and a bunch of other famous works, but nopony knows what became of her.”
“Why?” asked Sunset. She didn’t know what to feel; frustration seemed to be what she leaned towards the most but at the same time she was baffled. The one pony counterpart that would have answered the questions she had about Octavia’s heritage…and she evidently mysteriously vanished a thousand years ago.
“There’s a lot of bad shit that went down a thousand years ago, which given you claim to be Equestriani in origin you should know about,” said Sandalwood, “but I’m presuming that between the whole deal with the Crystal Empire and then the Lunar Rebellion and Civil War, this Musica just got lost in all the chaos.”
“Hey!” snapped Octavia, “You two have given me enough trouble today because of your interests in cryptozoology--”
“What’s that?” Sandalwood asked.
“It’s the study of things that supposedly don’t exist,” Octavia snapped. “For example, Lyra’s concept of common sense. And since you two have been blathering on about your human nonsense, at least let me have a few seconds to talk about music history with somepony who actually wants to know!” She then cleared her throat before reciting from memory. “Musica Allegra was a unicorn born during the earliest years of the newly-founded Dominion of Equestria, a member of one of the prominent unicorn noble houses whose talents revolved around music. Musica in particular made a name for herself by writing such pieces as In Regnum Aeternum Solis and the Banquet of Clouds, the former of course being named the national anthem by the newly-crowned Princess Celestia at the time. However, fate seemed to go against her when she ended up being caught in the Crystal Empire years later when it was seized by King Sombra, and while she is one of the few ponies known to have managed to escape before it was cursed to vanish for a thousand years, the experience was said to have traumatized her and shortly after the rise of Nightmare Moon, she simply vanished into the pages of history.”
“And nobo-sorry, nopony noticed that the most important musician in all of Equestria just simply stopped being relevant?” Sunset had to insist on making sure that Musica Allegra, both a possible household name in her day and part of an important noble bloodline, just up and dropped off the face of the earth.
“Well, all that’s known is that she was a much different mare after she’d somehow managed to escape the fate of the Crystal Empire. Some accounts even stated that after her return from the Crystal Empire, she couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as musical instruments or even music itself,” Octavia snorted, as though the idea was completely ridiculous. “In any case, given the horrors as retold by some of the crystal ponies, can you really blame her for wanting to just be nopony special when she was thrown from one terrifying war to another in the span of two or so months?”
“Replace ‘war’ with ‘situation’ and I can say I’ve been in a similar predicament,” snarked Sandalwood, to which Sunset had to wonder if it had anything to do with what she’d heard from other ponies…and if Raspberry had a hoof in that as well.
“Well, okay, point is we answered that question!” Lyra impatiently interrupted. “Anyway, our turn for asking!”
“Alright, what is it you want to know now?” countered Sunset with a sigh. “What does the spleen do? How the education system works?” All the questions so far had been about how hands worked, so it hadn’t been too bad.
“What do humans look like?” the celeste-hued mare asked.
Sunset blinked, trying to comprehend what she was asked. “Come again?”
“Simple, what do humans look like?”
“Yeah, sure, um…” Sunset rocked from side to side in her armchair. How much could she reveal? Certainly, given how the existence of humanity wasn’t common knowledge, Celestia wanted to keep it under wraps. But Lyra and Sandalwood had already proven they knew a lot about humans from their own limited resources. In fact, based on the sizable collection of documents, books and other research materials, they were a long way towards figuring out the truth long ago, even if she’d not arrived back in Equestria herself.
Furthermore, they had at least answered the question of Musica Allegra’s existence somewhat, so even though they’d kidnapped her, it was just Lyra being paranoid, and Sandy’s mean right hook had delivered enough comeuppance for that. Plus, even though Octavia wasn’t interested, the presence of the earth pony gave Sunset unintended guilt trips over how she’d last left her cousin, even though it had been a necessary action.
Glancing up, Sunset guessed there was enough space between the floor and ceiling for her to try and make an illusory image of her human form. “Okay, stand back….”
“Don’t need to tell me twice, given the last time I failed to heed that kind of advice,” said Sandalwood, incidentally copying local wise elder figure Zecora’s rhyming speech pattern.
Sunset made sure the other three ponies were a safe distance away from her, before she closed her eyes and concentrated on generating a magical image of her human form. Only she felt something was off as to where her magic was going. She didn’t dare cancel the spell, one of the first things she learned about magic was that canceling a spell would end poorly if you couldn’t properly redirect the magic, which you could only do if you knew where the magic was going in the first place.
Except she realized her front legs were no longer holding her up, yet her face wasn’t smashing to the ground. And then the spell felt…finished. Opening her eyes, she noticed the three ponies cowering below her. Looking down at her feet, Sunset realized she had somehow turned herself into her human form. It wasn’t a perfect transformation – her skin tone was the same maize hue as her natural fur coat – but mercifully she was still fully clothed, with pants (and undergarments), shirt, and her inherited bomber jacket.
The spell lasted only for a moment, though, as just as she had turned human again, she radiated a bright glow and had been returned to pony form.
“Wh-what?” gasped Lyra, both excited out of her mind and stunned at what Sunset had just done.
“I…I honestly don’t know!” blurted Sunset. Shapeshifting had not been her gameplan, and it freaked her out that she had turned human and back so easily. “Look, er, it probably would be for the best if nobody here ever says a word about this, got it?”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” said Sandalwood. Sunset could only wonder just how much the mare got around with her kinds of experiences.
“Well, moving on, then, is there anything you wanted to know?” Sunset said, as she turned to the aromatherapist.
“Well, this might seem silly, but...would you say that you’re happy with your life as a human?”
Sunset was at a loss for an answer. At first she was going to answer in the affirmative, after all the entire reason she was here in the first place was to stop Twily’s nightmares from driving her to suicide. But the more Sunset thought about it, the more she could think of ways she wasn’t happy compared to her former life as a pony. Before her escape through the mirror, she’d never had to live a life constructed of lies that even those closest to her could never know. She’d never had to hide who she really was or her powers. A small voice in the back of her head never made itself known every day, reminding her that no matter how hard she tried, she was always going to be an outcast. That those she held dear would break off all connections with her when they eventually learned the truth that she was a midget horse living under the stolen identity of another girl. She always countered in this mental battle by pointing out her five closest friends already knew that stuff and they didn’t really care, but the same could not be said for the family she had longed for ever since she understood what being an orphan meant.
Sandalwood misinterpreted Sunset’s hesitation as merely trying to come up with a simple answer. “It’s just something I’m curious about, just in case somepony else ends up living as a human and would need to know how easy it would be to adapt to such a life.”
“Yeah, I get what you mean,” replied Sunset, “but really I’m not quite sure how to respond given my experience.”
“Well, I think it would also be for the best if we all went our separate ways and went to bed,” suggested Octavia, still shaken by Sunset’s earlier transformation.
Wordlessly, the other ponies agreed and Sunset was on her merry way back to the spare bed at Sugarcube Corner. But sleep didn’t come easy, partly because it had still been relatively early, but also because Sunset had spent much of her time curled up into a ball, having a major identity crisis on her hands…hooves…whatever.
Human or pony…which do I identify more with? fretted her thoughts. She had everything she ever wanted back in the human world. A home. Friends. Family. But she couldn’t just cut ties with her pony side, her true state as a unicorn still very much defined her no matter which form she was in. But how much of me is still a unicorn anymore? Sleep eventually came to her uneasily.
“Celestia, a word?”
Celestia groggily woke up, blinking her eyes under her sleeping mask before just pushing it up to her forehead. “And you couldn’t just talk to me in my dreams…why, Lu-lu?”
“Because this is a very serious matter, Celly,” replied the night matriarch. “It concerns your former pupil, Sunset Shimmer.”
Celestia’s brow furrowed, and her half-asleep gaze took on more concerned features. “What about her?”
Luna shuffled her front hooves. “It’s…her dreams. As part of my duties, you know it’s my job to make sure ponies sleep with a clear consciousness, which Sunset currently doesn’t have.”
“And your point being?”
“How do I say this…um, to put it bluntly, her dreams are hard for me to read.”
Celestia sat up at that remark. “Come again?”
The younger princess sighed. “It’s like she’s partly dreaming like a pony, but partly…not. I can’t really say I’ve ever encountered anything like this before.”
Celestia gave a small smile. “Because you’ve never encountered a pony who has gone through as much change as Sunset Shimmer. Right now she is on the verge of what I feel will be one of her most daunting challenges yet, one even Twilight hasn’t faced. She must challenge her own perceptions of herself.”
“Do you think she can manage?”
Celestia simply leaned back in her bed and reapplied her sleeping mask. “For good or for ill, I always have faith in my students.”
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Poor Sunset, she got Angeled! So, we learn more, and yet MORE questions are raised for every one answered. This just isn't Sunset's day, getting kidnapped like that. How'd she make herself human like that?
Kinda weird how Razz looks just like.....*audible click* oh my god.........Razz is the human world's Sunset Shimmer.
Human or Pony? My suspicion is that the answer is 'both' and 'neither'. Sunset is going to have to learn to walk the balance between her ancestral heritage and the world in which she has lived many years of her adult life.
5016454
Except... in ROTF, Razz' origins and ties to House Sombra are explained. Besides, if she was the human Sunset Shimmer, wouldn't she understand Sunset a lot better?
5016675
Did you read Rise of the Furball? Raspberry is a critical character in that story and there are disclaimers that strongly recommend reading that story first before 7DSJ Book 2 both on this story page and for Book 1.
I dunno how Angel in the EQGverse is a boy, but Angel in canon is a rabbit. It would be justified if Human! Angel watched lots of 80s movies, 'specially Escape From New York, Rambo and other stuff.
5016675
I'm with you on this.
Raspberry also had that effect on me in the second Werewolf story.
I was reading an interesting story about Applebloom, then WHAM... an OC that jarringly switched back and forth from oh-woe-is-me-my-life-sucks emoness to I'm-suddenly-a-missing-princess annoyance. Add to the fact that she touches on nearly every bad OC aspect (likely done on purpose though if I read the AN's correctly) and she's not the highlight of my reading experience.
Don't get me wrong, I liked the story over all. I just don't like Raspberry all to much. And honestly, I think that BB could have handled her better, and made her less over the top, but what can a reader do?
And maybe not..
I really like this story. All else gets put to the side when this gets updated, so I can catch up. However, at the risk of sounding (more?) rude... I like Shinzakura's writing style better. This author's style is much more abrasive than Shinzakura's, and that's seen quite glaringly in the handling of the characters. In Shinzakura's works, the characters can be rude, abrasive, or even kinda mean sometimes, but it always seems that (for the most part) the characters are being that way because of the circumstances that they're in. In BB's work, on the other hand, the circumstances seem to be made in order to provide a reason for the characters to have sandpaper personalities.
I'm not saying that either is 'right' or 'wrong', but I do know which one I prefer.
Still, Raspberry does rub me the wrong way. Hopefully she'll mellow out some eventually.
--Spade
5016454 Kid, I believe you are shooting up the wrong tree. The human world Sunset is probably pushing up diasies somewhere. Forgotten and unimportant.
5018976
Same way how in 7DSJ the Spike in the human world is human himself instead of either a dragon or a dog.
The Sunset Shimmer in this story just does not read like the one in book 1 any.
They seem like completely different characters now.
They just don't seem like the same.
5031823 I Get your feelings. But I understand why. The major theme of the first Story was Sunset finding herself. Questioning who she is, and understanding herself.
Whereas this story she understands who she is. But is more questioning what she is. Pony human, or somewhere in between.
5036354
A sexy centaur?
Oh dear Faust, I've figured it out! Pony!Octavia is descended from Human!Musica, while Human!Octavia is descended from Pony!Musica, and somehow it is all Sombra's fault! ...and on that note (Da-bum bum CHING!), was a name given for the poor lasses used in Sombra's "Wife Swap"?
WAIT! Where has the human Raspberry Beryl been in all of this? Maybe the human Razz is behind the nightmares!
5050596
Would that make Sunset...
(Wait for it...)
... the centaur of attention?
9040542
You get no votes for that comment because I can't both upvote it and downvote it simultaneously.
Crouching bunny hidden Fluttershy.
Agent violent bunny my goodness how dose that girl deal with him. Seriously and my smother called me a problem child I never went ape on house guests going full Rambo turning them to spam-o like him I mean goodness what a kick.