“Hello?”
Sunset looked around into the darkness, nervously rubbing her arm. The floor right beneath her feet was glowing dimly, but there was no telling how far it stretched into the darkness.
“Is anypony here?”
“As Princess Celestia’s own pupil, we expect big, big things today!”
“Well, you’ll certainly see that.”
“W-what? Who are you?! Show yourself!” Sunset turned around herself and took a step back in surprise as a small will-o’-wisp floated towards her, tiny ponies standing in the fire. Another ‘wisp flared up to her left.
“Hmpf. I have better things to do than socialize.”
A small pony was walking through the flames, nose turned up at somepony outside the image. A teenage girl in a leather jacket appeared in another ‘wisp to her other side.
“When the crown and its power are mine, Twilight Sparkle will be sorry she ever set hoof into this world.”
“What exactly do you think you're going to do to stop me? I have magic, and you have nothing!”
Sunset turned around, watching fires flare up and fill with voices and images, slowly dancing around her just out of reach.
“Remember that talk about humility we had?”
“I remember how boring it was…”
“You know that I’m ready for this! That I could be great!”
“This is my coronation, not a hoedown.”
“Sorry it had to be this way... Princess.”
“Believe me… I’ve got everything I need to know about you.”
“I am your princess now, and you will be loyal… to me!”
“Stop it!”
Sunset glared at the pictures shining through the flames, her fists shaking with equal measures of rage and fear. “Stop it! I’m not like that anymore! I… I’m not…” She slumped down, dropping to her knees.
You've come such a long, long way
“The magic of friendship doesn't just exist in Equestria. It's everywhere.”
“But... But all I've ever done since being here is drive everyone apart. I don't know the first thing about friendship.”
Sunset looked up, watching the images around her change to show more familiar faces.
“I promised Twilight to try and help you. Even if she isn’t gonna be around for another thirty moons, I’m not going to go back on that.”
“If you honestly want to change… Just wouldn’t be right not to help you with that.”
“Are you kidding me?! In all the time you’ve been here I still haven’t seen your real laugh even once. We have so many parties to catch up on!”
“Uhm, I know you kind of tried to destroy the school, but… I think everyone deserves a little kindness if they ask for it.”
“Darling, you might have made some mistakes; but a second chance is the least I can give.”
It's time now for a new change to come
Sunset slowly stood up again, looking around in wonderment as the fire around her grew taller and more and more images faded into existence. She thought she could hear another distant voice singing in the background of it all; just the memory of an echo, but still familiar to her.
You've grown up and your new life has begun
“Ah said Ah don’t need any help. Ah can harvest these apples by myself just fine.”
“And I said we’re going to help you. And we’re not taking no for an answer, right girls?”
“This is ridiculous! Where did all that snow even come from?! We’re gonna be snowed in at Canterlot High for days!”
“Calm down, everyone! I know how we can get out of here. Let’s wrap up this winter… Equestrian style.”
“Girls, I just had the most amazing idea EVER!”
“Well, what are you waitin’ for, Rainbow? Spit it out.”
“We’re going to form a rock band!”
“…say whatnow?”
“That’s all? That’s the whole reason everyone’s trying to do each other’s job?”
“We, uhm, we didn’t really think it would end up this bad. But none of us want to give up either, you know, so…”
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy. I already got an idea how to fix this.”
For it's time for you to fulfill your destiny
Sunset watched the flames dance around her, speeding up and closing in on her like a blazing cyclone. She wasn’t afraid. There was nothing to be afraid of in this place.
She closed her eyes, spread her arms and waited for the fire.
~~~~~
Sunset Shimmer was staring into the darkness at the ceiling of her bedroom. It was barely 4 a.m. in the morning and she was wide awake… and worst of all, she was feeling inexplicably happy. Nopony and nohuman should feel this happy before noon. Even after the start of her new life, it took her great amounts of concentration and similar amounts of caffeine to spare herself hours of grumpiness and the subsequent Pinkie-induced headaches.
Sighing, she swung her legs over the edge and sat up, stretching for a few seconds before looking around again. Miraculously, she was still awake and in a suspiciously good mood, which ruled out nightmares as the most likely reason for waking up at this time. They had gotten less over the last months, the last one having been over a week ago. She couldn’t quite remember anything of what she had dreamed this night, but it didn’t feel like any bad dreams, either.
A quick shower and a large bowl of cereal later, she was standing in front of the school, looking up at the building around which she had spent most of her human life. The sun still hadn’t risen yet and it would be another thirty minutes until even the early students would arrive, but she just hadn’t been able to stay at home any longer. Her whole body felt ready to burst with energy and she still hadn’t found any reasonable explanation for that or her continuing good mood.
The clock tower on top of the school caught her eye and she went forward again, disappearing into the school. She had some time to kill anyway, and watching the sunrise from the roof of the school sounded like a good way to pass it.
~~~~~
“…and soda and ice cream and candy and chips and flips and all other kinds of –ipses. Enough to keep us up all night if we want to, and of course we’ll want to because who would want to actually sleep at a sleepover party…”
Sunset chuckled at her friend’s enthusiasm, sitting between Rarity and Fluttershy in the school’s cafeteria as they all listened to Pinkie Pie’s plans for the evening. The girl had declared it ‘her turn’ to host a sleepover, even though she had hosted at least half of them in the past anyway. Still, getting between a party and Pinkie Pie was like getting between a cake and… well, Pinkie Pie.
“…got all kinds of western movies and cartoons and other movies with horses in them because this time nobody will get weirded out so it’s the perfect time to watch them.” Pinkie Pie paused and grinned at Sunset. “No offense, Sunny. You know we love you even if you are a little weird sometimes.”
“Oh, that’s right.” Rarity turned to Sunset with sparkling eyes. “Princess Twilight invited you to visit her palace today, didn’t she? Oh, I’m sure it is going to be just wonderful, finally returning home for a visit after all those years. And maybe you can bring some dresses along when you come back? Twilight said that there is another version of me and I would just love to see some of her designs.”
“Oh, totally!” Rainbow Dash leaned over the table from the other side, grinning widely. “I don’t want to miss seeing Rarity on all fours to try and put on a pony dress.”
Rarity huffed, crossing her arms. “Why, I’d never–“
“And don’t forget the real drama, when it turns out them ponies are a might smaller than us and Rarity starts crying about being overweight.” Applejack smirked and held up a hand, getting a high five from Rainbow.
Rarity gasped, holding a hand to her chest. “I am not a drama queen.” She paused, looking across her friends before sinking back with a pout. “Yes yes, I recognize the irony quite well, thank you.” She managed to hold the expression for a few seconds before the smile won and she joined her friends in the laughter.
Sunset watched them with a smile, then sighed and stood up. “Well, I hate to leave you but I still wanted to talk to Principal Celestia before I leave for Equestria. Just in case something comes up and I won’t be back before Monday. I don’t think I’ll see you all either before I leave, so have fun at your sleepover and urgh… yes Pinkie, I’ll miss you, too.” She carefully slipped out of the hug and retreated, waving over at the group one more time before she left the cafeteria.
Rarity watched the doors a little longer to make sure her friend had left, then turned back around and opened her purse. “Well, now that Sunset is gone for the time being… What do you think of my newest accessory?” She pulled out a large feather, colored in fluctuating hues of yellow, orange and red.
“Oh my… It looks beautiful, Rarity.” Fluttershy leaned in to get a better look, holding up a hand tentatively to touch it.
“Whoa. That looks awesome. Where’d you get something like that?” Rainbow leaned in as well, reaching for it until Rarity pulled it away from her.
“That’s just it.” Rarity held it up, watching the colors flow in the light. “I found it just outside the school this morning.”
Pinkie let out a long gasp. “You don’t think it’s…” She leaned in for a conspiring whisper that was barely quieter than her conversation voice. “…another Equestrian?!”
“Now wait just a minute, y’all.” Applejack held up a hoof, looking straight at Rarity. “If this got something to do with magic, why’d you wait until Sunset was out of the room? Ain’t this exactly the kind of thing she would know about?”
“You’re quite right.” Rarity sighed and nodded, holding up to her friend’s stare. “Which is exactly why I didn’t want to tell her today. If she found out about this now, she would either stay here to find out more or she would be worrying about it her whole vacation, and that just wouldn’t fair to her. I think we should be quite capable of dealing with anything that happens by ourselves, at least for a day or two.”
She held the feather against the light again, twirling it slowly between her fingers. “Besides, something this beautiful can’t be completely bad if you ask me.”
~~~~~
Sunset Shimmer stared at the base of the statue, a wide stone pedestal large enough for anyone to walk through. Not that it was a general requirement of stone, but for transdimensional portals it was a definite perk.
She nervously poked the stone with a finger to make sure the portal was still open, feeling a light pull and twisting sensation as it disappeared into the pedestal.
“Well Sunset, this is it…” She took a deep breath, swallowed and took a step forward into the vortex. “Time to go home.”
The twisting sensation of the portal was still not comfortable by any means, but after three previous travels Sunset was getting used to it. What she hadn’t gotten used to yet was landing on her face, something she was convinced the portal did on purpose. Shaking her head and rubbing a vaguely familiar nose with a vaguely familiar hoof, it took her a few seconds to get her bearings.
Six ponies and one baby dragon were standing before her, staring at her with expressions of stunned surprise. Sunset already knew Twilight and Spike, and it was surprisingly easy to line up the other five with her own five friends, what with the color schemes and the cutie marks everyone in the human world seemed to unconsciously wear in their outfits. That still didn’t explain the looks she was getting from them, though.
“Uhm… nice to meet you, everybody? I mean, everypony.” She shuffled back a little, growing only more nervous as they kept staring. “I, uhm… Do I have something on my face?”
“Twilight, darling…”
“Yes, Rarity?”
“You remember how you asked me to design a nice dress or two for your friend Sunset Shimmer, as a welcoming gift?”
“Yes, Rarity…”
“Well, I’m the first to admit that you were very thorough in your description, as is to be expected from somepony as analytical as you are. But I believe you may have missed to mention a tiny detail…”
“…”
“Twilight… Your unicorn friend has wings.”
“…yes, Rarity.”
...this is a fantastic start.
6322295
Thank you. Though I really wish I knew how to follow up on it.
6322324 Eh, give it time, it'll come to you. Though a logical thing would be to have Celestia and Sunset reunite and perhaps explain how she was able to ascend to alicorn status in the human world.
"Rarity, you know it doesn't matter. I've noticed that every dress you design for me and my friends has the seams and gussets so they can be altered for wings in just a few minutes."
"Well, a lady has to be prepared for such things."
6322373
That is a surprisingly reasonable attitude.
6322346
Duly noted. I was thinking about bringing Celestia into it, though I doubt she would know any more about it than Sunset does.
6322396 Probably, but given Sunset was apparently dreaming when everything went down, well...that raises possibilities...
6322428
Actually, that wasn't just a dream but her ending up in... I'm not sure the fandom ever gave it a proper name... the same place Twilight was sent to in Magical Mystery Cure. That's why you can 'hear' Celestia's Ballad in the background.
I like everything that's Sunset alicorn. What's there more to say? Oh yeah! UPDATE
6322527
*pouts and points at Author's Note*
Huh, nice.
So far as where it could go, there are quite a few possibilities, of course. Twilight and Sunset talking about her being an alicorn, obviously, but there's Celestia, too. What does Celestia think about Sunset being an alicorn, despite Celestia herself not making her one? Dose Sunset automatically get to be a princess, or would she be suspended on the grounds of her past?
Sunset and Luna talking about being the "bad princesses" has been on my "want to write or see" list for a while tbh.
Hop to it, River. I'm gonna need more of this right quick.
6322497 Oh...came across as a dream to me. Ah well, no big.
6322584
I actually have a nice answer to that question, I just wasn't able to come up with a good way to implement it in the story. I think your comment helped me getting some of the pieces together, though, so thank you for that.
6322620
*points at Author's Note*
If you want more, you'll have to NaG me some more.
6322644 No probelmo ;) Can't wait for more, then!
I think many of us Sunset fans have thoughts about this, especially when we see her with the Flaming Wings of Justice, I have yet to see some one write it down.
Oh yeah there is potential here... And personal headcanon talking here, with as much potential as in her blood.
Wow, this is really awesome so far! Please continue!
Wait that was one of sunset's feathers wasn't it? huh interesting. apron reading the comment section lets see, having Celestia and Sunset reunite is a good idea (I really need to get that comic one of these days) let see um, Ya I don't think the fandom gave that place a name ether though I think it has one, if not I suppose "memory lane" is as good as any. hmm I guess have her reflect on her life perhaps.
6323652
Thank you, I'll keep that in mind.
6323018
Someone knows where this is going. Whether you know it or not.
6323206
6322807
Thank you. I hope to see it continue as well.
6324220
*raises an eyebrow* I do? Ok well then better keep an eye on this.
s6.postimg.org/dd47s96ap/Pirate_Approved.jpg
...Welp time to add a new story to my watch list, good start can't wait to see what happens next.
6322396
Since show canon is vague on this, it would be an excellent opportunity to present your own head canon on how alicorn ascension works.
Perhaps it involves the pony coming to a certain level of knowledge and understanding of a concept. This could be an aspect of nature (the sun, the moon, other elemental forces) or an emotion (love, friendship, hope, etc.).
Maybe Sunset ascended in the human world because it doesn't it doesn't require her to be in pony form or be able to use magic; only that she reach the level of enlightenment required. Perhaps something happened the day before she had the 'dream' that leads to her realization/epiphany. The ascension itself didn't have the same light show that Twilight's did because the EOH weren't directly involved in this one.
Just my 2 cents on this (and a bit of my own head canon)
I want to see an interaction between Celestia and sunset where Celestias.kind of like "I told you so", but at the same time Sunset's uneasy being her political equal.
Also, a bit of Luna and sunset hanging out, because sunset left before Luna's return and they don't know much about each other aside from what Sunset can notice from vice principal Luna.
6325994
Me neither.
6326847
6328368
Noted and taken into consideration.
Wait...what?! WHAT?! You better explain how that works!
6328894
Well, as a hint, you should take a closer look at the small text in the first scene.
6328922 I got that but...I don't know, there is still plenty of explaining you need to do!
6328981
ponyslitterbox.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/magic.jpg?w=640&h=480
(If I can come up with an even better explanation than that, I'll put it in one of the next chapters. )
6329010 Okay...sorry about that.
6329013
It's a valid question. And I really do hope that I can come up with an explanation before it's too late.
What I can promise, however, is this: Once I've written the prequel, you'll know about as much about how Sunset's ascension worked as you do about how Twilight's worked.
6329033 Okay.
I'm not going to suggest anything and let inspiration hit you for the way how to finish this. I can be patient and wait for it, because i like this so far
Okay, I'll be honest and say that, at first, I was disgusted. Alicornification is becoming far too common in fan fiction. But then I started thinking about what qualifies one for such a thing. One requirement we know of is the creation of "new magic". Now, if we can take the My Past is not Today thing as canon, then Sunset had actually done this. She seemingly created a new branch of magic, what I am hesitantly dubbing Phoenix Magic, through her regret and determination to change.
Another thing is the ending of Rainbow Rocks. Sunset ended up adding to the Elements of Harmony, proof being the seventh color stripe that formed as they emitted the wave into the clouds. This could mean any number of things. Sunset is the unknown bearer of a seventh element. Sunset has a natural affinity for Harmony Magic, allowing her to add to the overall effect without destabilizing the entire magical structure. Or even the fact that she was likely meant for the Element of Magic before her corruption. All of these share one thing in common however. Sunset, who was disconnected from Pony Equestria for years, and her magic as a side effect, channeled Pony Equestrian magic, new Pony Equestrian magic, while still in Human Equestria.
Now we factor in the fact that, with her change and desire to learn about the Magic of Friendship, Sunset is on a parallel path to Twilight, it only makes sense that she would also attain Alicorn status through her apparent connection to Pony Equestrian magic. It just wouldn't show until she actually returned to Pony Equestria.
So yeah, long comment short, I think you're on to something here. I hope you continue it.
My idea is that she doesnt have allicorn magic some kind of phoenix magic but its your story good luck
With it
O~kay...
I´ll just go and sit down and... let this sink in. For a while.
6330066
Thank you for the comment.
The good news is, I got the second chapter just about planned out. The bad news is, I'm going to be away for a few days so it probably won't be finished before Sunday at earliest.
6330384
Thank you for the comment. It helped me a lot in ironing out some details for the rest of the story.
6332337
Until the next movie comes out, this is both canon and not canon. Huh? Huh? Get it?
Ummm
6329033
Why stop there? If you're feeling ambitious, you could work out a theory that works for all 3 ascensions (sunset, twilight and cadance).
6335207
I'm plenty ambitious, in that I want to write out the stories in my head. Getting side-tracked by things I've planned out is bad enough, I can't afford to get side-tracked by the few things I have no headcanon for, too.
Besides, we don't want this story to turn into a scientific report, do we? Because that might happen if Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle start talking about advanced magic theory.
6335312
Best to stick to what you have planned then The 'alicorn ascension theory' thing might actually be better as the focus of a different story depending on where you plan on taking this one. I do think they'll at least try to figure out why Sunset ascended though.
Have someone pass out. It at least gives enough time for some form of further setup imo
6346086
Heh...
Ehehehe...
Ahaaah-hahahahahah!
I have to tell you that I already got the outline for the next chapter together, and that I find your comment quite amusing for reasons that I won't spoil yet.
Sunset's face after hearing that:
fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/150/8/f/wut__by_djpavlusha-d678s0o.jpg
After looking behind herself:
nataliaantonova.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/wut.gif
Well if you take the song sunset sang " my past is not today " sounds to me like she has finally forgiven herself for her past actions. Coupled with the idea that she is the hidden element of redemption might have lead her to transforming into an alicorn. Also in one of the mlp comics sunset sees herself as an alicorn in the portal mirror. What if sunset was born as an alicorn and celestia used her own alicorn powers to keep or disguise that part of sunset from the world and herself. Kinda how like professor X kept jean gray from becoming the phoenix in x-men
6360518
Heh. You're half right.
6360628
Interesting ideas. "Element of Redemption" isn't quite what I'm going with, but an interesting concept.
I think that picture in the mirror might've been more of a reference to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Either way, I doubt that Celestia would've disguised Sunset being an alicorn... for several reasons, the most logical of which would be that she didn't do anything like that with Princess Cadence (who I heard was ascended shortly after her birth according to the official books)
6360807
While Cadence ascended at a younger age than Twilight did, she did not ascend shortly after birth. The relevant book here would be Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell.
As for the mirror, I'm thinking its more that it showed Sunset a possible future/what she could potentially be rather then showing her true nature.
Ps Personally, if I were to assign her to an element, I would have made Sunset the Element of Hope. I think it fits with her character development
Well, this is an interesting start. She's got wings... and probably has no idea how to use them. :p
Also, what's up with that feather? Was that Sunset's? Did Philomena cross over when no one was looking?
The use of the lyrics of Celestia's Ballad was a nice touch here! I suspect that the next chapter will contain much in the way of surprises and disbelief.
"Well done Sunset Shimmer! I knew that you could do it!"
6377737
It's a reference to the Rainbow Rocks epilogue short 'My Past is Not Today'. At the climax, Sunset's magic makes her transform into a phoenix-like winged girl. Fluttershy might have found one of the feathers from Sunset's anthro-alicorn form.
How would Sunset not have known? If I were asked to design a scenario, it would be that, at that moment, Sunset was in such an ecstasy of Harmony magic that she wasn't fully aware of what was happening to her, let alone what was real and what was just a magical vision.
Didn't you mean hand ?
It's a good first chapter. Now I'm going to read the second.