Book of Beginnings
Year of Celestia 994, Midsummer, 14
My birthday is tomorrow, but I got a present in advance: a blank book. Mom calls it a ‘diary’, though. She says I’m supposed to write in it. It ‘gets my feelings out’, or something. It doesn’t matter. I know what it really is…another way to keep me busy while she and Dad are out working all the time. I don’t know why they always have to work… We have more than enough money. We’re one of the richest families in Canterlot, after all. They just have a bigger excuse not to talk to me anymore…
At least I have a bigger excuse to stay inside. I hate the neighbor kids. All they ever do is make fun of how quiet I am or when I’m too nervous or scared to kick a ball or join right into a game. They always pick me last for anything and then it’s only if they need another player, and even then they don’t want to because the other team makes fun of them because of me…
I try to tell Mom and Dad but they never listen…just tell me I need to try harder to ‘make friends’. How do you make friends? The neighbor kids make it look so easy, but if I try acting like them I just goof it up… I’d be happy if I could just stay inside all day. It’s not like I’m a good athlete or strong or anything… My family is rich but so are the neighbor kids’ families. I don’t have anything that stands out…
Year of Celestia 994, Midsummer, 18
I guess I was wrong. The one thing I hate more than having to play in the neighborhood is going to school. It’s even worse there. Now I’m not only not strong or athletic, I’m not smart either. And it sticks out for everyone to see. They make fun of me too when I’m too shy to answer a question, and the teacher gets mad when I answer quietly. The other kids always hit me with paper airplanes or spitballs, but the teacher never sees any of it…
Mom and Dad never notice a thing. And they always say the same thing: make some friends. Even when they see me crying in my room they just tell me to go out and make friends before they leave too…
Year of Celestia 994, Late Summer, 1
I wish I could crawl into a hole and stay there forever! The most horrible thing happened in class today! One of the fillies in my class put some hot sauce in my milk and I got the hiccups from it, and when I hiccupped once…my horn lit up and sent out a ball of fire that caught the board where my class put all of their drawings on fire! I burned them all up!
I thought getting my magic was supposed to make me feel good… Instead, whoever doesn’t hate me makes fun of me now, calling me ‘Dumb-set Shimmer’ or ‘Singe-set Shimmer’… The teacher made it worse by making me wear a cone over my horn that stops my magic… By the end of the day they were calling me ‘cone-head’ too! I hate school!
Year of Celestia 994, Late Summer, 25
I’m faking being sick today again too. I don’t want to go back to school ever again…or at least back to those other fillies. One of them had a birthday the other day and brought a chocolate cake to school. They served it to all their friends, then asked me if I wanted a piece. I said sure and they cut me the biggest slice and started bringing it over…then they tripped on purpose and dumped it on my mane! It took me hours to wash out when I got home, but I had to go the rest of the day like that! They kept laughing and laughing at me…and when I got upset they started saying I was going to burn down the school…
Mom and Dad want me to make friends with those fillies? Even if I knew how I’d never try! Who wants to be friends with them?
Year of Celestia 994, Early Fall, 18
I’m not going back to school and Mom and Dad can’t make me! And if they try I’ll just sneak away!
One of the fillies came up to me last week and said they were sorry about the cake incident. I didn’t believe them but they promised they were. The teacher had gotten mad at them and punished them by making them stay after class for a week, and so they said they wanted to make it up to me by inviting me over to their house to stay the night in a week. I didn’t really believe them…but Mom and Dad said I had to go to make some friends. So I finally said yes. I packed my favorite toys, my nightclothes, my sleeping bag, and then I went over after school at the end of the week. She had this great house over one of Canterlot’s lakes, right on the side of it. It looked really nice and I saw they swam in it, but it was too late in the year so I couldn’t bring my swimming suit.
I started walking up to the back of the house, meaning to knock to get in, when she and her friends came out from the bushes and knocked me into the lake! It was so cold…and I ruined my Sarsaparilla Susie! They said they were just playing and ran into me…but when I tried to get my things out of the water…someone hit me in the back of the mane with a wad of burnt-up paper. I left my sleeping bag behind and just ran home with what I had…
And can you believe it? Mom and Dad were mad at me! They told me to go back and get my things, and they wouldn’t even go with me!
If this is what I have to do to make friends, forget it! I’d rather be alone! I'll be happier without anypony!
But…if that’s true…how come the only time I cry is when I’m by myself?
Year of Celestia 994, Midfall, 10
I’m really nervous right now. It looks like my teacher finally managed to get a letter to Mom and Dad about how all the kids in school have been treating me and how I don’t seem to ‘fit in’… I thought they’d expel me for sure, and I wouldn’t care. I’d rather never go back if I could…
But it turns out my teacher’s been seeing my magic and instead told Mom and Dad to try to enroll me in a different school: Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. It makes me more nervous than ever that I’m not only going to be at another school, but this one run by Princess Celestia herself! I can’t even get in unless I pass a special test tomorrow…and it’s always different for each unicorn!
I want to get in, though… Anything beats going back to normal school…
Year of Celestia 994, Midfall, 11
I can’t believe it! I haven’t been this happy in weeks!
Ok, starting at the top… I showed up for the exam at the School, and I had no idea what was going to happen. As it turned out, they gave me a bar made of a metal called “lead”. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with it…but as soon as they gave it to me they started to time me and take notes, so I quickly tried to do something… I pointed my horn at it and concentrated, trying to think of the first thing that came to mind. I focused as hard as I could and thought of all the spells I had heard of and saw in the beginner’s books, and finally my horn lit up and zapped it… When I opened my eyes, I had made a bar of gold!
The examiners were all shocked! They said that they expected me to turn the lead into iron or aluminum at the most. No one had ever turned it into gold before! That’s something only alicorns can do! I was so excited! They told me to wait outside while they considered my placement, so Mom, Dad, and I went and got something to eat and then came back.
A couple hours later, do you know who walked in? Princess Celestia! I couldn’t speak! She said she was going to make me her personal student! I can’t believe it! This is the greatest day of my life! Finally, I’ll have something better than all of those students who made fun of me!
I’ll show them!
Year of Celestia 994, Early Winter, 5
Only two months into school, and this is terrific! Things just keep getting better and better! Everyone in the School loves it when you’re great at magic, and I am great! Now that Princess Celestia is teaching me personally, I’m learning spells and magic faster than ever! I never had any idea what I was capable of! How much was available to me! Mom and Dad always told me that magic was something that each unicorn could only really specialize in one category with…whatever their special talent was…but she’s saying I’m great at everything! I’m already better than the first year students and I’m up to the second!
All my life I wanted to be great at something, and now I am! This is fantastic! I love it here! I love magic! At this rate I’ll be the greatest unicorn in Equestria in no time!
Year of Celestia 995, Early Spring, 17
I got my Cutie Mark today! It was right after I mastered the Teleportation spell! They say most unicorns who do it the first time get dizzy or sick, and usually end up crashing into things or stuck in walls, but not me! I did it no problem and did it two more times before I even got tired! But what else do you expect from Princess Celestia’s greatest student, hoof-picked by her? Anyway, it was a setting sun! A ‘shimmering’ sun!
I’m the talk of the school now! Even the advanced students are talking about me! It feels great! I spent years being made fun of and teased by my old classmates, but here I’m practically the best in school! It feels wonderful! Princess Celestia said how proud she was of me, too! I love this!
Year of Celestia 995, Late Summer, 29
Heh…don’t tell anyone about this, diary, but I was a bit ‘naughty’ today. You see, we got the day off at the School for a holiday since the Princess was at a Royal Summit, but my old school was still in session. So…I decided to pay it a bit of a ‘visit’…
Oh, I made sure to stay hidden of course. Not a problem thanks to my ‘Shimmer’ spell. Oh…that’s my word for a teleportation spell. I think ‘shimmer’ goes better with my name. Anytime anyone came close I just teleported into a tree or behind a bush. Easy-peasy for Princess Celestia’s star pupil. I just waited until that one student who gave me the ‘chocolate cake’ treatment came by. Well, a little levitation spell and her milk gave her own mane a good soaking. Then I waited for that other filly who pushed me into the lake. Well, heh, she sure went running for a lake when I gave her a hot foot! That’s for calling me ‘Singe-set Shimmer’ all those months!
I saw the other unicorns practicing their own spells at that school, and I can’t believe it! I mastered all of that ‘baby magic’ in the first week at the School! I really am the best spellcaster!
Year of Celestia 995, Late Fall, 16
End of my first full year, so I qualified for the year's best student. And guess who won? Yours truly, of course. As if there was any doubt. Yup, just another broken record for the greatest spellcaster in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. I’m whipping all of the advanced students now. You should see the looks on their faces when I ace exams that they crammed for! Pft, I don’t even need to study more than a single night!
Better yet, turns out my special talent is ‘Magic’ itself! You know what that means? I can do any spell, not just ones that are special to my talent! I can even copy any spell a unicorn can do! I can usually do it better! And my magic is still improving! And soon, I’ll do any spell better than any unicorn!
I figured Princess Celestia would be happy about this…but lately she hasn’t been smiling at me as much as she used to. Instead she tells me to pay more attention to extracurricular activities and talk to more ponies… I don’t have time for that! I’m going to be the best spellcaster in Equestria!
Year of Celestia 995, Midwinter, 21
Not much to say today other than I’m still the best and brightest at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. There’s this purple-maned kid they say is doing really well too, but please. I was chosen by Princess Celestia herself.
You know though…it’s kind of weird. I’m sitting at home, done with all my studies, practicing some advanced magic for fun…and I feel odd. Kind of like how I felt back when I was still being bullied… Not like I’m being pushed around... No way…no one can push me around anymore, as much magic as I know. Just…I don’t know…
I guess the best way to describe it is…lonely.
You know, Princess Celestia keeps telling me to ‘ease up’ on studies a bit and do more things with the other students… Every once in a while…I think it might be nice…
But then I just look back to my old journal entries. Nice…yeah. Getting chocolate cake crushed into my mane is ‘nice’. Getting knocked into that freezing pond is ‘nice’. Getting called ‘Dumb-set Shimmer’ is ‘nice’.
Friendship is the most overrated thing in the world. Princess Celestia just doesn’t know it because everyone likes her. Well of course they like her. She brings the sun and the moon! Everyone likes the sun and the moon! They like Princess Celestia for her power, not because she’s a ‘good friend’…
That’s the only real thing that matters.
Year of Celestia 996, Midspring, 8
Ugh, where does the school staff find these ponies?
Seriously, are these the best of the best unicorns in Equestria? They’re pathetic! You should have seen this kid in glasses trying to make a feather levitate! A feather! News flash! Levitation spells work on anything regardless of size! It’s all in your head! He tried and tried for over an hour and didn’t even make it shift! Finally, I stepped in and in a second I had it writing my name in cursive in the air. I told him: “That’s how you do a levitation spell. Don’t you even study? Or do you need thicker glasses?”
The teacher gave me a look at that, but sheesh… I’m an advanced student and I need to be in the same class as these babies? Why aren’t they back at my old school if they’re so bad at magic?
Year of Celestia 997, Late Spring, 20
Summer break. Thank goodness. I just started realizing how sad the student body is…
Like today I walked up to all of these unicorns practicing freezing charms to turn one of the lakes into ice thick enough to stand on. They saw me walk by and asked if I could show them how to do it really well. Heh…I plunged them all into a 20 below zero winter and dropped a foot of snow on them. I told them: “That’s how you do a freezing charm. I think what you were doing was something you use to blow out candles.”
Some annoying filly came up to me afterward, asking why I was always ‘rubbing my talents in everypony else’s face’. The nerve of that magicless mare… I saw how she performed on her last exam. So I told her straight, “Maybe if you all had a smidgeon of ‘talent’ between the lot of you, you’d all have something to show off for a change, let alone rub in somepony else’s face. Oh, that’s right. You don’t.” And then she looked as if I had just stomped on her hoof for all that. What a lightweight…
I got some summer reading in Advanced Magic tomorrow, but it’s all stuff I’ve done before. I’ll ask Princess Celestia if she can give me some heavy material. I think I’m more than ready for it.
Year of Celestia 997, Late Spring, 21
Ugh! I never thought I’d say this, but Princess Celestia makes me furious!
I walked into her office yesterday morning and I barely began to ask for the books when she gave me this ‘look’ that made me freeze in my tracks. Then she told me I had to go and apologize to that mare I spoke to yesterday! Apologize? Apologize for what?! For her being a talentless unicorn who should spend her time washing windows? I wanted to say that…but the Princess gave me that look and so I muttered that I would. I went and did it as quickly as possible then came back and asked for the books.
Can you believe what she gave me? A book on humility! What? Is this some kind of joke? Is she trying to get me to be that same pushover pony I was before I became her student? Is this the sort of thing her star pupil needs to waste time on?
Year of Celestia 997, Early Fall, 3
I don’t believe this… Celestia actually expected me to read that stupid book over the summer, and she actually tested me on it! I didn’t pass for the first time ever, so she has me doing after-school cleanup for a month! A month! It’s no problem for a unicorn like me, but…ugh…it burns me up. And when I asked her if she had any more advanced spells for me, all she said is: “I’ll teach you when you’re ready.” She also said I had to read the book in that month.
I was so upset… I went to blow off some steam. So I headed back to my old grade school. I didn’t hide this time. I let them see me face-to-face, especially when I told them all that I was now Princess Celestia’s star pupil and the best magic caster in the School…probably in Canterlot now. After that…heh…well, I just let them all know who their ‘betters’ really were. Not much more than that.
I’m still chuckling over one of their pathetic counter-hexes that tried to stop me…
Year of Celestia 997, Late Winter, 9
BOR-ING.
That’s all these new lessons that Celestia is giving me are. All crud I can do in my sleep. All spells I long since mastered. I told her I’m ready for new magic. I’m tired of being shoved in the same classes as these near-Earth-Pony dolts who might as well use their horns to scrape paint off of sheds for all the good they do them. I’m her star pupil. I want to learn real magic. I’m talking Starswirl the Bearded. I’m talking Moondancer the Graceful. Heck, I’m even talking King Sombre. I know she knows those 'dark' spells. And it would be great to learn some dark magic for a change. Beats this namby-pamby stuff like growing mustaches and summoning pies…
But no…all Celestia seems to do nowadays in our personal lessons is give me the ‘look’ followed by one of her ever-duller-and-repetitive lectures. Today it was because I saw some first year students getting all excited because they mastered a spell to remove mud puddles. All I did was give them a little ‘test’ and shoved one into them. And when she got all muddy, I simply told her she hadn’t mastered it yet, and if she couldn’t even handle something so simple maybe she ought to go home now or take up farming. Of course, Celestia talked my ears off about that again. Give me a break. I mastered that spell in a month. I just rolled my eyes and said she should find more students like me and less like that purple-maned kid I always see coming out of her office...ones who have more ambition and aren’t content just to do 'kiddie charms'.
Well, that was a huge mistake because she gave me more stupid ‘humility’ assignments and said I had to learn something about friendship that week and report back to her. Whatever. I’ve got more important things to do. After all, if she’s not going to teach me anything about real magic, I’ll just have to study on my own time…
Year of Celestia 998, Early Spring, 23
Celestia finally showed me something good today.
Now I wonder what else she’s been keeping from me…
She said since she was getting tired of me asking for more advanced magic, she decided to at least give me a “glimpse” of the things she wished to teach me. She led me into a room that only she could open. It must have been an alicorn level spell. I can’t do that…not yet at least…but I’ll have to make sure to practice.
Anyway, she showed me everything inside, but the best thing of all was this one thing she called the ‘Crystal Mirror’. I thought it was just a regular mirror at first glance, but I could sense there was something good in it…something great in it. Power even bigger than me…maybe even bigger than Celestia. I looked at it, wanting to know what it held…
And when I looked…I swear I saw the most amazing thing. Me…an alicorn! Not just any alicorn…one bearing Celestia’s own crown! I saw nothing else but that, but…but I know what it meant! I know what it represented! I’m not just Celestia’s star pupil… I have the power to be her successor! Her superior! To rule all of Equestria!
I wanted to see more, but Celestia led me away. She saw me looking in that mirror…and she had a strange look on her face… I asked her about it, but she only said the same thing she always says…I’ll learn more about it when I’m ready. I was nearly infuriated. I almost shouted: “When will I be ready?” She simply answered once I’ve learned more humility.
Oh, forget ‘humility’ along with ‘friendship’! Who needs those worthless things? All of those weak little magic users in her school are as humble as bugs and they’re pathetic! I have drive! Ambition! And I don’t have any whining little friends needing my help all the time dragging me down! I’m better than all of them! Better than any unicorn in Canterlot! I’ll be better than any unicorn in Equestria in no time! Why not show me how to be what I was meant to be? An alicorn!
P.S.
Actually, now that I think on it, I thought…for just a moment…I saw something else in that mirror… I can’t really remember what, but…I could have swore I caught a glimpse of some horrible, fiery demon…
Scary as it was...it almost looked familiar.
Year of Celestia 998, Midsummer, 12
To think…I actually used to admire Celestia… What a laugh.
That mirror has a secret. I was tired of waiting for Celestia to show me. All she ever gives me is more stupid assignments on friendship and humility. I was fine with bluffing my way through them at first…now I’m getting annoyed with them. I don’t want to waste any more time with that. I want power. That’s all that matters. Power to keep yourself safe from everyone. Power to control and guide Equestria the way you see fit. Who cares about friends when dark powers can destroy you and them in one fell swoop? Who cares about humility when it does nothing but make you hide your power for no reason?
So I’ve started to break into some of the advanced sections in the library. Turns out that I’m good enough to replicate low-level alicorn magic now…enough to break some of the weaker locks. I’m still working on the stronger ones, but for now I can read some of the special books she kept from me. I have to be careful, though. She’ll be furious if she finds out…and that stupid purple-maned twit is in the library at all hours. Study all you want, you miserable little bookworm. Like it will do you any good... Just stay out of my way.
Anyway, I’m learning about all sorts of things now. Enchanted books that pull you into them...literally… Forbidden spells like ‘Inspiration Manifestation’… Chaotic magic the likes of which Discord used… Some of the dark spells Nightmare Moon wielded…an alicorn who was greater than Celestia, I might add… And about these things called the Elements of Harmony…items with magical power greater than any alicorn… Well, only five elements might be known, but I already know what the sixth has to be: Magic. There’s no greater power than it. If only I had that element… I’m sure I’m its rightful bearer, after all.
Nothing about that mirror, though. But I’ll keep working on breaking those locks…and I will find it…
Year of Celestia 999, Late Spring, 30
I hate Celestia! She lied to me!
It all happened this afternoon… I got caught using a tickle-torture curse on my class all at once, seeing if any of them could counter it. They couldn’t, of course. Know-nothing idiots… The teacher tried to intervene, but I decided to try my hand against him for a change and I gave him a slick-shoes charm. Ha! Some teacher! He couldn’t even keep his footing for a moment!
Well, guess who showed up… Celestia broke in and was more furious than normal. Sighing, I went off to her office expecting another lecture. Well, this time she gave me a month’s suspension. I scoffed at that. “A month away from these fillies will do me good! I’m tired of having to be in the same class with them! In fact, I’m tired of having to share Canterlot with them!” I told her. “You’ve been holding me back for months! I want to know the real magic, and I want to know it now!”
She actually shouted back at me at that…gave me all this rubbish about how ‘with power comes responsibility’ and how ‘I’ve seen how you abuse what spells you already know’ and ‘if you can’t learn respect for other ponies you don’t deserve to wield greater power’. Made me want to puke. I walked out before she was done. After all, if she wanted to stop me, maybe she should have used a spell? Assuming she even could manage one that could stop me… However, that gave me an idea. Why not test a spell against Celestia? See how good I’ve really gotten? So, after stewing a bit, I decided to go back and try a little one without her knowing it was me…
Then I overheard her through the crack in the door. She was talking to a bunch of the other teachers, and I couldn’t believe what she said. Something about ‘two of them born under similar circumstances…only the destiny of one of them perhaps…I know now it was never meant to be her…’.
It sounds like there was supposed to be two fillies destined for greatness in Equestria…me…and that pathetic purple-maned bookworm. And believe it or not…after all my power…all my skill…she thought SHE was the one! And she was getting ready to do something about me! Me! The greatest unicorn in the history of Equestria!
Well, you’re too late, Celestia. That mirror you tried to keep me from…I know what it is now. I finally got a hint when I cracked one of your higher locks yesterday. It’s a gateway to another world. A world where I’ll find the power I want to become what I was always meant to be!
I’ll finish my research tonight and steal whatever book I need to finish up if I don’t. Then I’ll head into that other world that holds the key to my becoming an alicorn and princess of Equestria. You can suspend me all you want after that. You won’t be able to stop me anymore.
Nothing will.
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This followed Midwinter of the same year. So this should be 996, yeah?
*sixth
This was pretty great. I really liked how Sunset developed from frightened, bullied child to angry, vengeful teen. It flowed together in quite the natural progression. Looking forward to the rest!
Honestly, I'm surprised that Celestia did not even consider trying to talk to Sunset's parents or the teacher from her old school about how she was mistreated during fillyhood. Then she would have figured out why Sunset never wanted to make friends. Then again, that's Celestia for you, always putting Equestria first so much that she becomes too blind to see what's going on with those close to her, and she never even realizes that until it is FAR TOO LATE.
I'm just getting into your fanfiction and I'm not enjoying it a whole lot. This is probably just me, but I hate when Sunset Shimmer is characterized as Twilight in pre-apprentice hood. I feel like Celestia merely worsened what Sunset Shimmer was. For example, she inflated Sunset's confidence. I want a Sunset Shimmer that's more her... This is all just an interpretation of mine, but I think Sunset Shimmer is ultimately deeper if she was still distinguish-ably not like Twilight in pre-aprentice hood.
As a note, the first three seasons and the start of the fourth season all take place over the course of a single year.
Quite an interesting seting, not to mention that you did a great work in explaining why sunset shimmer is the way she is beeing so dismisive of friendship. Way to go with celestia, with her track récord of her sister becoming jealous and bitter in part for her neglect and her former student turned into a power hungry maniac you really have to wonder how twilight managed to survive her with just a minor case of OCD and paranoia out of it :/