Too Easy
Sunset Shimmer stood in front of the closed doors to the throne room, ready to begin her plan. The voices of Celestia and her beloved Twilight Sparkle leaked out from the other side, no doubt from what was obviously another chat about Twilight's greatness. Sunset Shimmer could only laugh as she heard the muffled chatter, and she stood with an ever growing evil smile which was made even more apparent from the afternoon rays which struck her from the windows behind her. "This is gonna be too easy," she said to herself, cracking a chuckle. She took a deep breath and a moment later had transformed. No longer looking like the walking time bomb she did before, she now gave off the appearance of the nicest little filly you could ever meet, the last pony you'd except to push anypony.
She opened the door slowly and took a step into the throne room. Celestia and Twilight were facing one another in conversation but stopped from the sound of the doors opening. Sunset Shimmer looked upon her teacher and peer in silence with her new face. Her expression was now one of sadness and she faced down, keeping her eyes away from the two ponies in front of her. The silence lasted for a few seconds until she spoke, "Hi... Princess... Twilight... You guys busy?"
"I have time... What is needed?" Celestia said, lacking the usual gentle tone she kept for her student. Twilight looked away, uneasy.
"It's nothing like that," Sunset Shimmer paused ,"I'm actually here to say... that I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" Celestia said.
"Yeah..." Sunset's voice gave off a tone of genuine sadness. "About earlier... I shouldn't have gotten angry like that." Celestia's head shot back from surprise. "Look, I know I can be pretty mean sometimes, but I just feel icky about what happened. Twilight didn't do anything. I'm the one who overreacted. I guess I was just... you know... jealous." Sunset Shimmer picked her head up and found Twilight now facing her but still with an uneasy look. "It's my bad... I feel like a jerk for exploding on Twilight like that, especially since it's just her first day here." She stared her peer in the eye. "So... Twilight, wanna start over?"
Twilight smiled, looking almost excited, and turned to the Princess who smiled as well with a look of overwhelming pride. Celestia gave a nod to her new student and Twilight began walking to Sunset Shimmer, saying, "I can't really blame you. You've been Celestia's only student forever! I'd probably be mad too."
"So, we cool?" Sunset Shimmer stuck out her hoof.
Twilight paused, "Yeah," and pounded her hoof against her new friend's.
"Great... so, you wanna do something? You know, to get to know each other and stuff... I can show you around the palace?"
"I would... but I kinda already got a tour... and besides, I don't want to do all that walking again," Twilight said, laughing.
Sunset Shimmer grabbed Twilight, wrapping her hoof around the purple filly tightly. "Yeah, but you never got my tour! Come on, I'll show everything you need to know about this place, especially what they don't want you to know!"
Twilight looked back at the Princess, "Can I?"
"Of course," Celestia said, looking more proud than ever.
"Yeah!" Sunset Shimmer screamed. With Twilight still in her hooves, she ran towards the door, dragging her new friend along for the ride.
"Twilight," Celestia said.
The two fillies braked. "Yes, Princess?" Twilight said.
"Remember what we talked about earlier... Time is not a luxury we can waste right now."
"Don't worry-" Twilight never had a chance of finishing, as Sunset Shimmer began running again at twice their original speed.
"Come on already!"
The two ran out the door smiling in each other's hooves. As Sunset Shimmer gazed at her friend's joy, all she could feel was fire burn inside of herself. You idiot.
................................................................................
"My room.... really...that's where you want to go first?!"
Sunset Shimmer relaxed on her bed and watched as Twilight walked around every which way gazing at and touching everything that could be gazed at and touched. The bed, the walls, the fan, even the trash can. Twilight paused to focus on every one of them like the only place they could ever be found was in this room. Sunset Shimmer still had her nice pony face on, but found it more of a struggle to hold it as her new friend kept on inspecting every inch of her property. "What, you never seen a wall before?" she said.
Twilight laughed, "I like the pattern you have... the color too. I'm still thinking of how to decorate my room, so I'm looking for ideas." The walls had a fiery pattern with alternating reddish-orange and bright yellow flames.
Just pick something, shouldn't be that hard. "So, Twilight, tell me about yourself... You said you lived here in Canterlot before. What kind of house? Was it big?" Sunset Shimmer said.
Twilight turned to her, "No, it was pretty normal. What do you want to know?"
"I don't know.... usual stuff I guess. How's your family like?" Probably a bunch of tools like you.
"Great! I couldn't have asked for better parents... there's also my BBBFF Shining Armor."
Sunset Shimmer looked at Twilight like she had just spewed out some random gibberish, "BBBFF?"
"Yeah!" Twilight jumped up in excitement, "It means Big Brother Best Friend Forever. My brother and I are really close." She continued blabbering on about all the things she and her BBBFF did together, but everything said went in one of Sunset Shimmer's ears and out the other. Sunset's hoof tightened into a fist with her eyes focused on her bestie's face, but she fought back the urge and reinforced her friendly smile, lest her new mask be seen through.
"Anyway... what got you into heavy duty magic?" she said.
"I guess I've always been into magic... What really got me into it though was the last Summer Sun Celebration. Just seeing Princess Celestia raise the sun in front of everypony... I knew that I had to be like her one day," Twilight said. "How about you?"
"I'll tell you some other time... I got my reasons," Sunset Shimmer said. Her tone was feisty, like she had been offended.
"Okay..." Twilight turned back to the contents in the room and restarted her exploration. She gazed at the mass of crumbled papers next to the trash can and then walked to the collection of pictures Sunset Shimmer had of her and Celestia on the walls and dressing table. The map of Equestria on the ceiling was next to hold Twilight's attention and did so for many seconds, aferwhich she said, "Why do you keep the map up there?"
"I like having Equestria be the first thing I see everyday," Sunset Shimmer said.
"Why?"
"Cuz I'm going to be princess one day, obviously!"
"You are Princess Celestia's main student... but still, being her student doesn't mean you're automatically going to be a princess too. How can you be so sure?" Twilight said.
"Isn't it obvious?! The only reason the Princess is even training us is so we can replace her... She's going to stop being princess one day, you know."
"I don't think I'd accept the position even if I got it," Twilight said, looking worried, "Being princess looks like so much work... If I had to do everything Princess Celestia does, I'd probably go crazy from the stress!"
"Yeah... except you'd still be the princess of an entire kingdom! Think about it... the entire kingdom is yours... everypony bows down to you whenever they see you... you own this whole palace... and that's just the basics! How dumb can you be not to want that!"
"Well, I don't know about being dumb, but I don't want it," Twilight said, "I just want to learn everything I can and do something good with it... Becoming princess would be great, but it's not a goal."
Sunset Shimmer laughed. Typical goodie-two shoes. You're saying that now but just wait... power is everything! Anypony who tells you otherwise is either stupid or jealous of those who have it. Remember that... though I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, considering what you did to get here."
"I don't even count that to be honest," Twilight frowned, "I only did all that because of some mysterious rainbow explosion. Without that, I'm nothing compared to a pony like you."
Sunset Shimmer paused to take in the moment, afterwhich she forced up the most heartwarming smile she could muster and stood up to caress her friend, "Yeah, you might've only did it because of some rainbow, but that still means you got all that power inside of you. No joke, and remember, I'm the last pony who'd say something like this... when you get it out one day," If you even make it that long, "You're gonna be a lot stronger than me... probably even the Princess. So stop moping around."
"Okay, now I know you're just saying that," Twilight said, blushing.
"I'm being serious... what, I can't compliment you... I'm not that selfish you know." The two fillies shared a laugh.
Twilight smiled as the laughter died. It wasn't a regular smile of pure joy, but one that had a hint of sadness mixed into it. She faced down and paused, then saying, "You know, when I met you, I was scared we wouldn't get along... I never really had that many friends back home... My brother was really the only pony I ever considered my friend. I was scared that it would all be the same here... but I'm glad it's not... thanks."
Sunset Shimmer blushed and wrapped her hoof around Twilight, "Oh shut up with the sappy stuff... same here though. Now come on, let's explore this place for real!"
The two fillies bursted out of the room and charged onto the maze of hallways and corridors before them. They ran side by side and went through hall after hall. "Now those ponies are the foodservers," Sunset Shimmer said as her and Twilight ran past one, "Like the name says, they'll serve you whatever you want whenever you want. The most hilarious thing to do to them is asking for a food that doesn't exist in the middle of the night. You don't know what you're missing until you've done it."
The two sped past a maid hard at work cleaning a spill of some unknown liquid. "Pro tip, maids gotta pick up after you no matter what!" Sunset Shimmer said, "So try to get creative, alright?"
Twilight laughed as she looked at the spill, "Ew... what do you thin that is?"
"Trust me, you'd don't want to know half of the stuff that exists in the place... Moving on!"
The fillies ran towards and into the kitchen where the head chef and an army of cooks were busy preparing plate after plate of food meant for a royal palace. "Pro tip number two," Sunset Shimmer said, "The chef will put stuff in your food if you complain about it, but he's on probation... One more strike and he's out! Just letting you know if you two don't get along."
"Thanks..." Twilight said, sounding unsure.
The two ran to the royal guard's training center, a set of halls set aside just for them and filled with rooms such as an indoor track, a weight room and a room filled with nothing but guards yelling at each other. Twilight nearly stopped while watching the intensity at which Equestria's finest trained.
"Wow... I wouldn't want to mess with those ponies," she said.
"Oh please... I know foals who can beat them up," Sunset Shimmer smiled mischievously, "Hey, you want to go someplace really intense?"
Twilight followed her friend as she led her into the far end of the palace, beyond the point the voices of anypony could be heard. They went into a tower that looked like any other and down it's circular staircase. The trip down took a few minutes. Twilight gasped once at the bottom from the sight in front of her. A prison complex lay in front of them that went so far that it disappeared into the pitch black shadows that had to be at least hundreds of yards away. The walls were all a blackish rock and dozens of cells were cut into it with the insides as dark as the rock around them.
"Welcome to the dungeons!" Sunset Shimmer said, looking a little too happy, "What, you thought this place didn't have any?"
"Uh... huh..." Twilight was frozen stiff.
"It's been a while since anypony has been sent here... or really been down here at all. But still, it's good to have places like this... just in case." Sunset Shimmer imagined her bff in a far off cell inside the shadows, wasting away. Better get used to this place... buddy. "Come on, let's explore some more."
The two fillies continued their journey through the royal palace for another hour. By the end of it, all their stamina had been sucked out of them and they were left on the floor of a hallway sucking in as much air as they could. They faced each other while on their backs and shared a laugh. "A-Any place... else you want to show me?" Twilight said.
"Maybe..." Sunset Shimmer took ten quick gulps on air in succession, "Let's just stay here for now though."
As they enjoyed the cold marble floor, the sound of quick hoofsteps approached them. A second later a royal guard stood over Twilight with a worried look. "Twilight Sparkle," he said, "The Princess requests your presence at once! She says it's urgent!"
"Aww... can you please tell her to wait a little while," Twilight said, "I haven't had this much fun in a long time!"
"No can do..." the guard said, shaking his head, "It's about... the visit."
Twilight jumped up, "Understood! Sorry for keeping her waiting!"
"Woah... woah... hold on there," Sunset Shimmer picked herself up, "What visit?"
"A griffin ambassador is coming tomorrow night with his family," Twilight said. The royal guard began to look more worried with every word she spoke until he sweated like he too had just run for an hour. He then walked away slapping his forehead. Twilight continued, "I don't know what they're going to talk about but Princess Celestia kept on saying that it was super important! I didn't even know she could get as nervous as she did."
"And how don't I know about this?! I'm always with the Princess during stuff like this," Sunset Shimmer glared. Guess I really am being replaced.
"You didn't know?" Twilight said, "I thought Princess Celestia had already told you a while ago? You sure she didn't tell you about it?"
No, Twilight, cuz I'm frggin deaf... And that was when a brilliant idea hatched in Sunset Shimmer's mind. Her glare vanished and she shot towards Twilight and held her looking more panicky than anything else, like a businesspony late for a meeting. "You're obviously going, right?"
"Well... yeah... the Princess has been preparing me for it ever since I first came here. It's weird, we've talked more about that than my studies," Twilight said.
"Good..." Sunset Shimmer sighed, "Cuz you know... the Princess needs at least one of us during these things." She laughed.
"You don't want to go? We can talk to the Princess right now and-"
"Nah... I'm fine... Don't worry about me. I'd rather train anyway."
"You sure?" Twilight said, sounding saddened, "I thought it would be more fun if we did it together."
Sunset Shimmer began walking backwards, "Like I said... it's cool," and then ran away from the scene full gallop. "See ya!" Hope you're ready for tomorrow...
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Hmm... An interesting chapter.
But this is great! Love to see more of it! Keep it up!
Poor Twilight. With "friends" like this, no wonder she'll have to be kicked by Tia to find normal friends (well, if this applies to this AU)
I like the current pacing, but please don't turn the story into cliffhanger-fest like The One Pony You Never Prank.
4655829
Awww but I like cliffhangers
I can't promise no cliffhangers but I'll try to not to go overboard with them.
No chapter is too long.
4657018
Says you! Personally I find reading 2000+ word chapters annoying
4657528
Ah.
4657528
You always can publish two chapters at once
Nice story, I only ask that you don't let it die