Sunset awoke before the sun the next morning - she was far too anxious for the day ahead of her. She would finally be starting her schooling with the Princess, learning all sorts of magical spells. Getting out of bed, she decided to get ready.
She wandered through her suite, suddenly missing her old things. Her bass guitar, her leather jacket, cell phone, shoes, parents... everything. It had only been a week since her arrival here, and she still felt the pangs of homesickness. She never had even imagined that someone could steal her very life from her and force her to live a completely new one. So completely new it even came with a new body, one that belonged to something she would have considered a pet back home.
"What’s that old saying,” Sunset muttered to herself. “If you sneeze three times in a row it's because someone, somewhere, said they hate you. Well, other me. I hate you!" She knew no one could hear her, but she screamed those words out anyway. Her chest felt lighter; she watched the sun appear above the horizon. "I hope her sneezing woke her from a good dream." She grinned mischievously to herself, rubbing her forehooves together as she continued to wish ill upon her counterpart. Suddenly losing balance, though, she found herself flat on the ground with her muzzle in the carpet. "Curse this pony body..." she moaned into the floor.
Standing up again and looking around, she realized how empty her new home was. She thought about how nice it would be to redecorate her suite, and what a better use of time it would be than moping on the floor. This way she could be distracted from what she lost, and all the things she now had a hard time doing, like getting up off the floor. Her new body was still taking some getting used too, and what made it harder was that her forelimbs were apparently capable of a range of movement far beyond that of any normal pony.
"They really do resemble noodles,” she pondered aloud, looking at her hooves. “Are there even bones in them? Maybe I’ll learn in class."
Eventually time passed and there was a knock at her door. She opened it to find a pegasus in a maid outfit. The maid curtsied and handed her some folded parchment, then continued on with her duties.
"Must be the note," Sunset said as she unfolded it.
Good morning Sunset Shimmer, I hope you were able to sleep well. As for your first lesson, we will be having it in my throne room before I open it for the day court. A servant will be by to bring you breakfast. Be here by eight o'clock.
Included with the note was a map of the castle, and it wasn't too long before Sunset Shimmer found herself wandering the halls, her nose in the map, trying to find Celestia's throne room.
Every couple of steps, though, something would break her concentration, and soon she was compiling a list of everything she found to be a tad weird. For instance, the fact that all the guards she saw stood stiff as a board, moving only for the extremely occasional blink. Or that aside from them and the scattered maid or servant, the halls were devoid of life.
Finally she found the long hall that led to the throne room. Sets of stained glass windows adorned the walls here, and the morning sun was painting the room with its light. Sunset found herself staring into the windows - one specifically interested her. It seemed to depict Celestia with another, darker alicorn. "I'll just add that to the 'things I need to ask Celestia about later' list."
She continued down the hallway and found herself standing in front of the large set of double doors leading into the throne room. Two guards stood posted on either side of her. They seemed to stare right through her, and she felt her knees knocking. How am I supposed to do this? Do I open it? Will one of them? Should I just wait for Celestia to open it?
She turned to one of the guards and opened her mouth, but he spoke over her.
"You the new kid?”
She shrieked and jumped away from the deep, unexpected voice. “Y-yes, I suppose I am,” she replied, trying to gather as much composure as she could.
The guards cast their magic over the door handles and swung the doors open. "Go on in then,” the one said. “Best not to be late on your first day."
Do they know? Sunset worried. She supposed they could be on the list of ponies to inform. How long is that list?
"Thank you," she whimpered as she walked through the doorway. Stepping into the the throne room, she suddenly wondered what Celestia would be like as a teacher. Will she be strict? Playful? Obnoxious? Prankish? It probably won’t be any different from learning basic magic from her at the hospital, she reasoned.
"Good morning Sunset Shimmer,” the Princess greeted, from high up on her throne. “I’m glad to see you managed to find your way here."
She extended her wings and flew from the throne, landing gracefully in front of her new student. "Now, for your first week, I think we will stick to learning basic magic and getting you more accustomed to your new body." As she guided Sunset toward the middle of her throne room, Sunset noticed that Celestia seemed to have a little extra spring in her step.
"You seem pretty happy. Did you get good news?" Sunset asked.
"Oh no, it's just this situation. As sad as the predicament may be, it's also quite exciting for me to be teaching somepony who in truth isn't a pony at all!" Celestia said, hints of excitement behind each word. Yet, the Princess maintained her composure, and Sunset couldn't help but wish that she could hide her emotions as well as her.
"Now then, our first class will begin. First I want to experiment with your knowledge of the basics. I want to see your limits, how much you can lift with telekinesis, your precision with it, and so on," Celestia said as she started teleporting in a variety of different objects, from marked weights to a simple thread and a set of differently sized needles. "Now let's begin with finding your weight limit."
For the next hour or so Sunset was put to the test. She lifted weights as a strength test. She threaded needles to test her precision. She even made several different sandwiches at the same time to test her capacity for multitasking. She found out that, quite strangely enough, for a complete and utter stranger to the use of magic, she was a natural. At least with telekinesis. Sunset actually felt proud of herself; her abilities here were improving and she was actually considerably more potent at it than most natural born unicorns, which was shocking to her.
At then end of the hour, it was time for the court to be opened, and so Sunset was sent back to her suite with a list of different spell books to read for the next day. It seemed they would be moving on to other magic spells, still basic, but not just telekinesis anymore. She could hardly wait, though she still longed for her normal life back home, she was starting to enjoy herself a bit here.
Celestia watched Sunset leave the courtroom. She'd been going through quite the case of déja vu - she remembered when the first Sunset Shimmer had been going through these tests. She also saw, however, that just as they were the same physically, they were also the same emotionally and psychologically. Behind Sunset’s back, Celestia gritted her teeth. She hoped she'd be able to find out what went wrong the first time, so that she could prevent it from reoccurring.
Not showing THIS Sunset the mirror would be a good start.
Oh wait...
6505196 She never actually saw the mirror, just knows that she came out of a mirror and the portal opens up in two and a half years.
Another good start would be not telling her about the possibility of becoming an Alicorn princess and putting an emphasis on the magic of friendship, maybe send her with Twilight to Ponyville when the time comes.
6507457 Unfortunately for our poor Sunset Shimmer she cannot, as that would destroy the canon which I am attempting to keep to. Alicorn princess though, hmm.... Entering ponder mode...
Ok I get it however you can only keep to canon to a point especially with this premise so later on you are going to have to use quite a few broad strokes to keep things mostly canon and I do hope that Sunset and Twilight do meet and become friends (in Sunset's opinion at least for now), also Twilight never having been told of what will happen upon finishing her studies seems to be the only real difference in how Princess Celestia taught Sunset and Twilight until Sunset learned of the portal, also Celestia could but a bit more emphasis on the importance of humility and friendship this time around.
6507518 Ok I get it however you can only keep to canon to a point especially with this premise so later on you are going to have to use quite a few broad strokes to keep things mostly canon and I do hope that Sunset and Twilight do meet and become friends (in Sunset's opinion at least for now), also Twilight never having been told of what will happen upon finishing her studies seems to be the only real difference in how Princess Celestia taught Sunset and Twilight until Sunset learned of the portal, also Celestia could but a bit more emphasis on the importance of humility and friendship this time around.
6509722 Two and a half years is quite a long time to be, in this case quite literally, out of your own life. People who are stranded on desert islands, in deserts, etcetera take quite some time to even get used to normal life. Heck, same even goes for people in the military, people who go on religious missions. Say you lived in a Tibetan monastery for two and a half years, you'd probably come back not used to any of the technology around here, freaked out by anyone's behavior, and not used to societies standards. Now add to that someone, who has gone so far as to make themselves look just like you (In this case it is her, just from another dimension), and has changed the way everyone sees you, so now everyone hates your guts or fears you. Definitely makes it hard to go back.
6510170
They aren't really all that broad a stroke, I mean the show really hasn't shown much, if any, of Twilight's time in Celestia's tutelage let alone how many students Celestia has or has had and when, so I have some really broad areas to work with.
As for Twilight and Sunset becoming friends, maybe they do, maybe they don't, you'll have to wait till I get there.
Considering that we don't know how exactly Twilights study went in the show, we really don't know whether or not they actually received any of the same training, and considering that the first episode had Celestia telling Twilight to go make friends, also Twilight's reaction too it, tells me that may not have been Celestia's first time suggesting that. As I said though, we'll have to wait and see.
6510926 OK I'll wait although if Sunset and Twilight do become friends it would have to be strictly Sunset's opinion of the relationship considering Twilight's thoughts regarding friendship at this point in her life.
6507518 that could break the story for me. Having a Sunset around is already a major X factor. Why some canon events will happen no matter what things have to change with a Sunset there. Especially when EG1 is supposed to happen.
as I was looking on another page I saw this story on also read and as I saw it my sunset shimmer song came on in my earbuds so I took it as a sign to start reading this silly right :P
6532441 Well, first off I have her in Equestria to explain (Head canon of course) her absence in each of the movies. So she's not going to be an EoH, and I don't have it planned for her to meet Twilight or see the mirror until after the events of the movie. There, I've given a little preview, it will happen, but for now I will focus on her tutelage under Celestia (also head canon).
6541491 come man she HAS to be there for EG1
6542848 If by that you mean get home, then sorry to disappoint but that breaks the canon. If you mean just become involved in some way then maybe...
6543880 dude you are already breaking canon by having the other Sunset in Equestria.
I just can't see her giving up. Like the Twilight's they are similar and different. They are driven. perhaps for different reasons but still driven.
6543928 Technically, yes I'm breaking canon, however, they've never explained what happened to the human Sunset Shimmer if anything, so this is my attempt. As I've said before, I'm attempting to stick as close to the canon as possible.
6543945 then I'm out. Good luck with your story but the main interest is now lost.
So is this story on ice? ended? Or what you call it here... Just wondering if there is going to be an update in the near futhure or if it's kind of canceled...
6684955 Sorry, I've been working. I haven't had much time, but I do plan to keep going.
So her lessons finally begin! Quick, enter training montage song!
6510895 Hard but not impossible