Rising Sun

by unleashedtwilight

Goodbye Until Next Time

“I… I don’t understand…” Pinkie Pie stammered as tears dripped down her face. “You’re just leaving us?”

Sunset Shimmer huffed heavily and hugged Pinkie Pie close to her chest. “I know it’s tough you guys. But I have to go back… Equestria is where I belong. I made up for all the bad things I did in this world…” Sunset looked back at the portal behind her. “Now its time I made things right in my own home.”

All the girls looked at Sunset with either upset, or somewhat mad looks. “You will come and visit us, won’t you darling…?” Rarity asked stepping forward. “After all we’ve made so much progress in our friendship… We would surely miss you.”

“Of course.” Sunset answered nodding. “I’ll always visit you guys whenever I get the chance.”

“We really will miss you Sunset Shimmer…” Fluttershy finally said as tears dripped down her face as well.

“Don’t be a stranger, ya hear?” Applejack said hugging Sunset. “And come back as soon as ya can…”

Rainbow Dash just looked away with her arms crossed; an annoyed look plastered onto her face. “Ugh… dang it!” Rainbow exclaimed. “All of you being all sappy is making me do the same thing…” She said finally turning back to Sunset Shimmer. “I’m gonna miss you too Sunset…” With that the six human girls got together for one final group hug. After about a minute or two, they finally all let go, watching as Sunset Shimmer walked toward the portal to Equestria.

Sunset turned back to her friends again and smiled. “Just like Twilight said: This isn’t goodbye. It’s just goodbye until next time.” she said getting a few smiles from her friends. She huffed and turned her attention back to the portal. “Well… Here I go.” she closed her eyes tightly and walked inside the portal headed to Equestria.

Of course she could feel all the changes in her body again as soon as she walked through it. Her feet and hands both turned into hooves.Her face changing into more of a pony again with her muzzle along with her horn on the top of her head. And of course, her tail and cutie mark appearing on her flank. To her it felt like the process went by slowly. But in reality, it was quick as she soon found herself thrown out of the portal on the other side. In Equestria. Although the room she was in looked different this time around. The mirror wasn’t in the same location as it was before, which was the Crystal Empire. Sunset groaned and got up on her hooves, at the same time getting used to them again from how long its been. “I wonder where everypony is…”

“Let’s go through this one more time…”

“Ugh…” Rainbow facehoofed in annoyance. “We’ve been over it like a million times Twilight!” Sunset heard that name and quickly looked around to see where the source of the voice was coming from. “We found all six keys, defeated Tirek, and got this sweet castle! End of story!” Sunset slowly cracked the door open to get a look at who was talking. She did so as to keep herself hidden from them.

“But why?” Twilight asked thinking about the situation.

“I don’t know sugarcube.” Applejack answered walking toward her chair with her cutie mark on the top. As she did though, without noticing, the cutie mark on both the chair started to flash. “Maybe it’s just your new house and there ain't nothin’ more to it than that.”

“I must say, speaking strictly on her status, there really doesn’t need to be more to it. It’s all simply divine!” Rarity cooed sitting on her chair, getting the same effect as Applejack.

“I agree with Twilight.” Fluttershy smiled sitting down as well. “And Rarity, and Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie… oh, and probably Spike.” She said looking at the still sleeping baby dragon.

“As princess, I’ve been chosen to spread the magic of friendship across Equestria.” Twilight said pacing around the floor before going to sit in her chair as well. “So why would the Tree of Harmony want us to sit in a castle in Ponyville? It doesn’t make any sense!” she said sitting down. But as she did, the chairs all started to flash, and the ground started to shake around them. Eventually, the center of them formed into a table with a map of Equestria on it. This really surprised Sunset. Although at the same time, she wasn’t even sure Twilight was aware of it.

After that, Spike finally woke up and saw the table as if it wasn’t that much of a surprise. “Is that new?” He asked. “I like it.” Spike got up and walked on the map itself looking around on it. “This is incredible! It’s got all of Equestria!”

“Hi mom and dad!” Pinkie exclaimed looking at her old rock farm on the map before Spike stomped on that part cause Pinkie to cry.

Eventually all of them looked back to see that their cutie marks were flashing. Sunset Shimmer took this as a chance to try and sneak past them while they were focused on the map. She let her horn glow bright and teleported herself in the other room across from the one the six ponies were in. “Hey, did you girls hear something?” Rainbow asked looking around.

“It sounded like a spell…” Twilight said.

Sunset went wide eyed and quickly ran down the hallway and out the giant door that was the entrance to Twilight’s castle. “Huh? what…?” Sunset said looking around in a panic. “This doesn’t look like Canterlot at all…” She started running toward the town where all the other ponies and residents were located. Eventually she found a sign of where she was… “Ponyville…? I don’t think I’ve ever come here before.” she looked around to see if she was getting looks from anypony. Thankfully for her, they didn't seem to pay her any mind. They either smiled or waved at her as she walked by.

Back inside the castle…

“Oh my gosh!!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed out of the most random time possible.

“What? What is it??” Twilight asked. “Is something wrong!?”

“No silly!” Pinkie answered. “I said ‘oh my gosh!’ because there’s a new pony here in Ponyville!”

The other girls just looked at each other in confusion. “How do you know that?” Twilight asked.

“It’s always this feeling I get when somepony new comes! Please Twilight, before we leave, I have to meet this new pony! Please please please please please please PLEASE!!!” Pinkie begged going on her knees.

Twilight rolled her eyes but smiled. “Sure Pinkie, go ahead. We’ve got plenty of time anyways, right girls?”

“Of course!” Fluttershy answered with a smile. “Besides, we wouldn’t want to keep you away from making a new friend.”

“If this pony is a pegasus, let me know.” Rainbow pointed. “I want to know if i’ll be getting anymore competition.” she said flexing her wings.

“Competition in what exactly?” Applejack asked with a mused look.

“Being the fastest and most awesome pony in Ponyville of course!” Rainbow answered proudly.

Applejack just facehoofed at the answer. “Why did I even ask…?”

“Alright! I’ll be back before you know it!” Pinkie exclaimed quickly zooming out the room.

Back with Sunset Shimmer…

“Hmm… Sugarcube Corner… Kind of reminds me of the place I go to in Canterlot high.” Sunset said examining the building. Curiosity got the best of her as she walked inside looking around to see other ponies enjoying sweets. “Yup… exactly like it.” Sunset smiled seeing Mrs. Cake at the counter.

“Well hello there!” Mrs. Cake said looking at Sunset Shimmer. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around town before.”

“Yes well, I’m fairly new here. I just moved here from… Canterlot.” She said feeling a bit nervous. Technically, that wasn’t a lie. She just didn’t want to let her know what she actually meant.

“Oh, Canterlot! What a lovely place! You know, Princess Twilight moved here from Canterlot as well.”

“Did she? I… didn’t know that.” Sunset chuckled a bit nervously.

“Well, it’s always nice to meet new ponies. I’m Mrs. Cake.”

“I’m Sunset Shimmer.” She smiled back at her.

“Sunset Shimmer!?!?” a familiar voice from behind exclaimed. Sunset quickly turned her head back to see a certain pink pony with a look of complete shock.

“P-Pinkie Pie!” Sunset stammered. “Look, please wait!” But before she could get a word out, Pinkie just let out a high pitched scream… and the next second later, feeling a warm embrace from the pink equine. “H-huh…?”

“Oh my gosh, it’s really you! Twilight told all of us what you did to help with the sirens!”

“What… she did?” Sunset asked looking surprised herself.

“Uh-huh! She said that you really changed for the better and she’s so happy that she has you as a friend!”

Sweet Celestia… She’s EXACTLY like the Pinkie Pie in Canterlot High… Sunset thought to herself. “Well, what are you doing here right now?”

“I live here silly!” Pinkie beamed. “But I’m actually here trying to find a new pony to Ponyville…” She said looking around… then quickly paused and turned her head back to Sunset. “Oh. My. GOSH!! You’re the new pony!!” She quickly took Sunset’s hoof. “Come on! I have to give you a quick tour!”

“What! what are you--!” Without another word Pinkie, along with Sunset Shimmer (who was mostly dragged), zoomed around the town, meeting every pony that she knows.

Thus beginning Sunset Shimmer’s new journey on resolving her past in Equestria...

Comments

[RainbowCoolDash Pariah]

Poor Sunset Shimmer

[Seether00]

Summon the Pinkie...

Oh. Never mind then.

[Sunset_Shimmer83]

oh pinkie pie, you're so random lol

[silverthorn]

Interesting.

[brandonvortex]

oh yes she involved during episode five ^^

[Sun Dial]

Interesting idea, and I loved your rainbow Dash, both tough and soft. Other then that, there's not much go look at in this chapter.

[Aurora Dimmet]

Nice premise, some capitalization errors. Feels a tad rushed, hard to say where. My eyes wanted to kind of skim the first part until she finally said goodbye and went into the portal, then it wanted to skim until she dipped out of the castle. If I had to force myself to read it, it probably could have been a bit more attention grabbing somehow, I can't really put my finger on it.

Overall, doing good! Looking forward to the next chapter. Tracking this.

[dragonjek]

I don't think the timing works that well--Sunset going with them on their map-quest-thing doesn't really have anything to do with making up with Princess Celestia, her family (if there is any), or whomever else she might have wronged. There's not much confronting of her past going on with that.

You might want to describe just why Sunset is trying to sneak around the Mane 6. She knows Twilight won't arrest her and that the others are analogues to the people she already knows; avoiding them and running away from the castle is entirely unnecessary.

I'd like to see Sunset's response to Equalityville, considering she's taken history courses and can probably go on a spiel about Soviet era Russia.

[howard035]

This chapter made me realize something: I thought Rainbow Rocks was supposed to be set between seasons 4 and 5, but a lot of people are saying the season 5 opener is set like within a day after the end of season 4. What are other people's thoughts?

Also, I like Sunset being confused about Ponyville here, it makes a lot of sense. I hope she passed on the journal to one of her human friends so they can still chat.

[SirScribe]

I can imagine Pinkie moving so fast on the tour that she's running on her hind legs and still holding onto Sunset while she's bouncing up and down on the ground

[Kenshinryuu]

Poor Sunset.... the Pinkie Pie Tour waits for nopony! I can't wait to see her reaction to all the ponies she's meeting for the first time but knows as humans.

[OmniFox]

You got Pinkie!!!