Luckily the drive was not that long even in the worst of traffic. And after two AM it was dead or practically so. In less than five minutes, she was pulling into the driveway of her two-story home. She switched off the engine and paused for a moment, just listening to the way Sunset was catching her breath in her sleep. Celestia let her head fall forward against the steering wheel. Stupid… of course her breath is catching! She got out of the SUV and hesitated a moment. Sunset was light, yes, but she wasn’t exactly small enough for Celestia to carry single armed. Celestia bit into her lip, chewing. If Luna is playing one of her online matches I’ll never get her attention to open the door...Dammit.
Celestia peeked in the window to see Sunset still curled up exactly how she left her, then headed straight for the house, unlocking the door with her key. She opened the front door and looked around. She heard the vicious death of something. She sighed in relief. Luna was in the living room, playing single-player. “Luna!”
“One moment, Tia. I am about to send a missile right into this super mutant’s head!”
Celestia paused as she heard the explosion, followed by her sister’s giddy laughter. She shook her head as Luna came to the entryway to their home. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. She wore a pair of black boxer shorts and one of her many gaming shirts. This one appeared to feature a figure in a large metal armor, holding a large launcher of some type. A dog stood beside the man’s side, the words ‘Fall Out 4’ above the image.
“Tia! What on earth took you so long? I thought you were just going to track down Shimmer, give her a look over and maybe bring her home for the night. That was over two hours ag- is that blood?” Luna took her sister’s white hands. She stared at the blood covering her palms and the bit on her t-shirt.
“Yes, I haven't exactly had the time to get washed off… Oh Luna… it was so awful! She has been staying in the summer storage shed… “ Celestia shook her head. “I need to go get her out of the car. Will you keep the door open?”
“Yeah, of course…” Luna watched as Celestia headed back to her SUV, opened the back doors, and lifted a still figure from inside. Luna bit down on her lip hard to keep from making a noise. She would have known that hair anywhere. But instead of fighting away from Celestia, Sunset Shimmer simply lay still.
Celestia walked back, cradling the teenager “Alright, you did get the spare bedroom ready for her, didn’t you?”
“O-of course I did Tia, is she…”
Celestia shook her head. “Let me get her tucked in and then we’ll talk I promise.”
Luna simply moved back into the living room and sat back down on the large couch, staring at her paused game.
Celestia nudged open the door to their guest room and smiled. Luna really had made sure to get the room ready. Clean sheets and everything. Slowly, she went to lay Sunset onto the mattress, when Sunset’s eyes twitched and her hand grasped hold of Celestia’s shirt once again, a whimper escaping her lips.
Celestia frowned as she gently placed her hand upon Sunset’s. “Sunset, I’m here. You’re safe, I promise. You are safe.” She rubbed her thumb over Sunset’s own until the grip loosened. “That’s right it’s alright sweetheart… I’m just tucking you in… You need to sleep.” Celestia realized Sunset wasn’t exactly awake, but she kept murmuring gentle words as Sunset’s grip finally released. She pulled the blanket over Sunset’s body, ignoring her pants and boots she still had on.
Celestia ran her hand through Sunset’s hair one final time before she left the room. She kept the door wide open, planning to track down the baby monitor she had used in the past when helping her niece babysit. She sighed, walked into the kitchen, snagging a piece of pizza from the box and poured a glass of soda before taking a big bite. It was cold, but at this point she really didn’t care.
Luna looked up as Celestia leaned on the bar behind her, nursing a glass of cola and eating cold pizza ignoring the microwave behind her. “That bad?”
“Luna… I have never before been so furious at myself and at you!” Celestia frowned as she took another bite, glowering as Luna blinked in shock.
“Me? What did I do?”
“Luna… You had her working on cleaning up the rubble.” Celestia stated, putting down her half-eaten pizza, finding her appetite completely gone.
“Yes, and even though she did very little work I did not scold nor threaten her.” Luna frowned, considering how Sunset Shimmer had behaved once given the order to help clean up. “In fact she did very little of the clean up. Her mind seemed in another place.” Luna shook her head as Celestia sat next to her.
“That's because she was going into shock, Luna! She was already bleeding badly. You should see my jacket just from carrying her from the storage shed back to my office.” Celestia hugged herself and shook her head as Luna’s eyes narrowed.
“Bleeding? What on earth caused that much blood!?” Luna stared taking in the smears of blood all over her sister's arms and torso including what looked like a fingerprint on her cheek.
Celestia closed her eyes. “You remember that… thing she became?”
“Difficult to forget when your student turns into a demon, Celestia. Especially when it was less than five hours ago.” Luna frowned, then paused. “Did her becoming a demon hurt her that badly?”
“N-not exactly.” Celestia stated after a few moments to consider. “Becoming a demon hurt her tremendously, I think, but what caused her bleeding was being turned back into Sunset Shimmer. She had two large gashes where her wings had been and a small one where her tail was.”
Luna’s hand went to her mouth in shock as she trembled “An-and I had her cleaning up? My god… I… Tia I had no idea!”
Celestia wrapped her arms tightly around Luna’s trembling form “Shh, it’s alright Lu, it was difficult to see the blood with her jacket on. The only reason I saw how bad it was because Sunset had taken her jacket off.”
“I’ll apologize… I will Tia.”
“Alright, not right now though. She needs sleep. She’s had an awful long night.” Celestia stroked the top of Luna’s hair as she held her to her chest, feeling Luna’s nod.
“So you took her to the hospital?” Luna pulled back from Celestia, frowning. “How did you manage that? She has no records besides those we forged to allow her to attend CHS.”
“I know, and I knew I couldn’t take her to the hospital. So I called in a favor.” Celestia smiled a bit as Luna stared at her in shock.
“But, I thought… the news said!” Luna shook her head, then laughed. “He never could have been HYDRA though. So he is alright?”
“Quite fine it seems, answered the phone as director. He came with Jemma and she fixed Sunset up while he and I talked. Director Coulson had a paper trail created for Sunset. He also told me SHIELD was involved now.” Celestia shrugged as Luna rolled her eyes.
“Of course they are, well Coulson always had a soft spot for kids. I should know…” Luna smiled though her eyes seemed a bit glazed over. “Next time he comes to see her or you I’d like to say hi.”
“Of course Lu, he asked how you were doing.” Celestia smiled before hesitating “I need a favor.”
Luna lifted an eyebrow “Of course you do. This favor is going to involve me having to get dressed again, isn’t it?”
“Nothing horrible, Lu. Jeans will be fine. There is a lot of blood left in the storage shed, along with my office and the nurse’s office. I planned to go clean it up in the morning, but if Sunset woke up and I wasn’t here…” Celestia looked away. as
Luna chuckled, getting up.“Say no more, big sis. Super Luna to the rescue. I’ll grab Sunset’s things. While I’m there anything else you need?” Luna stretched her arms over her head before saving her game.
“My jacket and Sunset’s new records are in the clinic. I want to put them somewhere safe.” Celestia smiled standing up.
“Tia, I knew you loved that jacket but somewhere safe really?” Luna poked her tongue out as Celestia laughed.
“Dork..”
“Miss Priss.” Luna replied, giggling. She raced to her room. just out of Celestia’s reach, to slip on a pair of jeans.
Celestia glanced at the time and winced. Four AM? Ugh, I haven’t been up this late since… She let the thought fade out as she grabbed a towel from the hall closet and heard the front door open and close. Sunset should sleep for a little while longer at least, and I really could use a shower. She glanced towards where the guest room door was wide open and headed for the bathroom. She left the door open -just in case- and undressed before climbing in under the hot water allowing the water pressure to pound against her head and shoulders, her eyes closed.
Sunset’s eyes snapped open as she stared around, trembling. Where am I? I-I don’t know where this is… Immediately her mind went to having been captured and the nice bed she was in felt different. She couldn’t move! “Help me! Please help me! Let me go! Please I’m sorry!” Sunset squirmed against her restraints as she screamed at the top of her lungs, her eyes wild as she thrashed. Princess, please! Don’t leave me here! “Help me!”
“Sunset!”
Sunset looked up to see a familiar head of hair running into the room. A whimper escaped her lips. “H-help me… please I’m sorry…”
Celestia heard Sunset screaming. She jumped out of the shower. not even bothering with her towel. As she kneeled next to Sunset’s bed she was starting to regret that lapse as the water droplets evaporating off her bare skin caused her to shiver. Sunset first, getting warm later. Celestia took Sunset’s hand in her own as the girl trembled and whimpered.
“You are safe, Sunset. You’re in my house right now. In your new bed. I’m sorry I wasn’t here… It was just a nigh… just a bad dream.”
Sunset blinked a few times as her panic faded taking in the real picture. She was in a nice-sized, if barren room, the walls painted a off-white. She was covered with a warm, dark-blue comforter laying in a queen size bed. On her right side, holding her hand and murmuring to her, wasn’t Princess Celestia, but was instead her Principal. Her for some reason very naked principal. “Pr-principal Celestia?”
Celestia sighed in relief “Yes, it’s me Sunset.” She groaned a touch as she remembered she was in a very compromising position right now. If Sunset was still who she had been I’d be out of a job and probably in jail! “You were screaming and… I guess I didn’t think. I was in the shower.”
“N-no I understand… I.. thank you.” Sunset’s voice was quiet as she closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of Celestia’s thumb rubbing over her own.
“Would you mind if I left just long enough to get dressed or grab a towel?” Celestia asked after a moment, not surprised to see Sunset consider before nodding. Celestia got up and quickly pulled on the pair of boxers Luna had been wearing along with a t shirt she grabbed.
Sunset clutched her hands to her chest, trembling and wondering what was taking Celestia so long. She shook her head Relax, Shimmer. It hasn’t even been a minute… has it? Had Celestia decided to just go to bed… or to leave m-
“I’m back, Sunset. I just grabbed some of Luna’s things-her room is closer.”
Sunset opened her eyes to see Celestia smiling gently, wearing a one-up t-shirt. Her hair fell over one eye. “W-whats going on?”
“Do you remember what happened, Sunset?” Celestia asked, sitting on the side of the bed. She took Sunset’s hand again as Sunset frowned, thinking.
“I… was going to smash the portal but… that would have stranded me here to… and I was ready to just let Twilight go when… they had to talk about how wonderful Twilight Sparkle was and… I took her crown…” Sunset trailed off. “I remember pain…”
Celestia bit her lip. She knew how common amnesia was in cases like this. “You turned into something, Sunset… Something full of evil and hate. Twilight Sparkle and the others purged you of it… I think?”
Sunset squeezed her eyes tight, remembering waking up in the crater and the massive amount of pain. “....I… yes. What happens to me now?” Her voice trembled as she was unable to even fake being brave. What did the elements do to me.. I...I don’t feel like “me” anymore.
“For now I want you to try and go back to sleep. You’ve had such a long night Sunset. Don’t worry, I’ll be right here. When you wake up we’ll have a nice breakfast and figure out our plans for Saturday. Alright?” Celestia smiled gently as Sunset’s hand continued to clutch her own.
“I… yes that sounds nice I’m still so…” Sunset trailed off as her fatigue caught up with her and she fell back to sleep.
Celestia sat next to her, holding her hand until she heard the door open and close, along with Luna’s soft cursing as her sister laid down on the couch exhausted. After a few more minutes Celestia moved to the chair in the corner of the room and allowed her eyes to slide shut, sleep finally claiming her.
Hope she gets better soon
The Elements were in "Instant Therapy" mode. They purged the negative emotions out of Sunset! So yeah, you don't feel like yourself. Makes sense to me.
Now let's see what happens next!
Congratulations on the chapter and for the story in general! I like a lot, in fact, it is immediately among the favorites. I look forward to seeing what will happen in the future, especially when Sunset will meet with the main 5.
P.s: Among the tags I read, Romance, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle (EqG) so can I hope for a SciSet?
8287022
Right on target ^^
8287116
Cool. As I said that was my only quibble with the story. I'm caught up and tracking this now. Looking forward to your updates.
8287119
Glad you are enjoying it so far!
Wet and naked Celestia hovering over her when she woke up, and all it cost was having her wings and tail purged from her body while leaving bloody gashes in their absence. Totally worth it, Sunny!Looking forward to more!
Yeah, not gonna fault Celestia for rushing to check on her.
Luna playing Fallout 4? I'll bet she's prolly at the point of the game where super mutants can be encountered. I know in Fallout 3, they can be first encountered in the Germantown Police Station or GNR Studios.
8287547
Yeah shes playing 4.
8287556 I wish I have Fallout 4. That 20 buck copy of Fallout 4 I found in Best Buy the other day? That's too good to be true...
another great chapter i loved it and poor sunset
you better update soon or else
... so they seem to be in a marvel version of the EQG universe. interesting.
Poor sunset, love this story can't wait for the next chapter
8287594
I just got it on a Steam sale for fifteen bucks the other day.
Don't be hard on Luna, Celestia. Good chapter, here.
It is hard for a person to notice when someone else is in potentially lethal pain when said pain is not entirely visible, or when the person in danger is not aware of it or has not been medically checked, so Celestia and Luna should not really blame themselves for not seeing the reality of Sunset's condition at first. Yet there is the thought, the guilt, of could have happened to her had Celestia not followed her to the storage shed earlier that evening plaguing them.
A nicely, well-worked into the story, moral human dilemma.
You're making me break my regular rule about not reading crossovers. It's great so far Foals Errand, it feels like it's going to go interesting places!
Great story so far. Kinda glad I waited till there a few more chapter. Had read chapter one without 2 or 3 I would probably have been going out of my mind the way that first one ended
Really looking forward to updates.
A bit of criticism. The whole part where you spent an entire paragraph describing Luna's shirt right after having her kill a super mutant with what i assume was a missile or mini nuke was entirely superfluous and a bit insulting. It was the literary equivalent to running up to somebody and saying "Hey, i play this game and really like this game, look at how cool i am for liking this game and referencing it."
I'll admit that not everybody would have known what game it was just based off of Luna's remark after killing the mutant, but when you mentioned the armored guy with the dog, everybody that knew FO4 was a thing instantly knew what the shirt was about. We didn't need the "with the words Fall Out 4" written on it". It's like you were describing one of the shirts that you personally owned just to let us know you owned it.
Otherwise, story ain't too bad so far.
8294461
I, for one, didn't know what it was from the description. Not everyone plays, or even follows video games.
The Elements smashed a would be murderer into the pavement after you stole and misused one of them... and you're lucky that's all they did. A cop would've just shot you, probably fatally (well, unless demon you was bulletproof, entirely possible). With all this 'poor Sunset' going on let's not forget how lucky she just got.
I find myself backing off of the excessive victim-hood we're getting here surrounding Sunset. Even granting that she wasn't in control while in demon form (and I agree with that) she was still a bully for years after leaving Equestria, only to return and steal an extremely important artifact so she could use it for conquest. For that matter, so what if she wasn't in control as a demon? A drunk driver who runs over and kills someone almost certainly didn't intend to, but they are still charged with a serious crime and rightfully so. She was a monster, not a victim. She's lucky to be alive, lucky she did no permanent harm, and equally lucky to not be imprisoned for what is a rather large list of criminal charges across two different worlds.
Can she atone? Certainly, and I want to see it. But a big part of that will be owning what she did and growing from it to be a better person. This heavy vibe of 'abuse victim' is a bit unearned. She made choices and she's responsible for those choices. You don't get to commit grand theft while defying an entire country and then hide behind the 'but I'm a minor with a troubled past!' nonsense. And frankly, I think all those kids who were nearly killed by the damage to their school and, oh right, mind controlled by a demon, qualify as victims more than she does. Should Celestia and Luna be doing exactly what they're doing? Yes, I agree with their actions, including Fallout 4, though not so much the naked thing (yeah, that was... hmm, little cringey even if I get why it happened). But Luna has nothing to feel bad about for punishing Sunset earlier. She didn't know about the injury, and for what Sunset did, cleaning up the mess plus a week's detention is a laughably light punishment.
All that said... this has been a really interesting start; I love the crossover element and the world-building at play surrounding it. Just what did happen to Luna way back when... can't wait to find out. While I may not be comfortable with the coddling, it does speak of strong bonds forming between these characters moving forward and I'm excited to see where that goes. Have another upvote and I'm looking forward to what's next (granting that I'm not quite caught up yet, but will be before the night is over).
8318272
There are specifically multiple degrees of murder specifically for Intent and level of success. So the law would care if she was in control or even knew the crown would make her lose control. When you drink you know it impairs your ability to drive. Which is why it makes you so responsible for anything that happens under the influence even though you're not in full control, because you were in full control when you started drinking and you let yourself get past the point where you stop being in control.
Assuming she didn't know the crown would make her lose control and didn't intend murder. Worst she would get is unintentional reckless endangerment for the attempted murder. She'd get in more trouble for the bullying, blackmail, and Harassment. At least on the human side... If you could convince the authorities that magic is real... And convince them that a Jane Doe with no legal papers or impossible twin of someone who couldn't possibly have been there wasn't some sign of an even worse crime against Sunset herself like trafficking or something.
8669274
You'd be surprised how many people swear that it doesn't, for them. They're clearly special. She certainly believed she was. Still does, I think.
Which you, as her defense lawyer, would assume and act on accordingly. Any halfway decent prosecutor would effortlessly establish motive, and perhaps even try calling Twilight to testify that Sunset claimed to know exactly what the crown would do (that would be risky, but might be worth having the jury hear it). Because Sunset did do exactly that, and it was just like drunks THINK they know what they're getting into... but you're right about whether or not it could be proven in court.
Nonetheless, I wasn't speaking as a lawyer originally; I was speaking as someone who watched her decide to try and kill someone (among other things). She did it slowly enough to brag about doing it before firing. I don't need a trial to establish what she did; I directly witnessed it from a completely neutral position. I suppose, since we seem to be trying to bail out her morality on technicalities, I should've said 'killer' rather than 'murderer'. With that in mind, I'm sure there's a killer somewhere swearing 'I didn't think that acid trip would make me kill someone'. But they've still killed at that point and regardless of what the law decides... well, if I were that tripper, I know what I'd feel like. When you make a mistake like that... well I don't know you, maybe you could get through it and not feel responsible. I couldn't; I would feel at fault. If she genuinely doesn't... I don't find her to have enough agency to be a worthwhile protagonist for me. Comfort fics are fine, but where's the comfort for the people she spent years bullying and blackmailing? Where for those she mind controlled to use as her personal army? No, she needs to be better than just weepy or I've no time for her.
Either way, as you point out, there's more than enough to point to her as someone deserving of punishment with at best a side of empathy... not excessive sympathy. I want to see her redeem herself, not bawl and have everyone feel sorry for her.
Bizarre, I got two responses to 6 month old comments on this story today. I'm guessing it updated, hehe Edit: hmm, no it didn't, so that's just odd. Fair enough then. That's good to know since apparently I marked it read later rather than 'tracking' ... I'm at least two chapters behind now.
8318272
Zombie attack!
I almost entirely agree with your points. The exception is Luna. She was in the position of being authority figure and caretaker, and she spent however long supervising Sunset doing light labor without realizing she had severe injuries to her back. She shrugged off Sunset's abnormal behavior as being "lost in thought" without investigating the physical health of someone who had just been turned into a demon and back and fought a battle. That's beyond irresponsible for a vice principal of a school full of children—I would imagine it is part of her responsibilities to be on the lookout for students who are not well. Luna has no reason to feel bad about punishing Sunset, no, but she has every reason to be ashamed of failing to detect the injuries of a person under her care during the course of that punishment.
8707592
Gah! Zombies! *fetches chainsaw* ...Oh, wait I get it. That's okay then. Hmm... a quote from one of my favorite non-pony shows of all time, Boston Legal:
To summarize that wall of text: we expect too much of our teachers while abusing them in terms of respect and recompense. Now, bear in mind my mother's a teacher and I'm a former private tutor (mostly SAT prep... if you ever want to teach something boring but practical...), sooo obvious bias is obvious. I want to give Luna the benefit of the doubt. Now, in her position, would I feel bad about missing a student's injury? Certainly, who wouldn't? But under those circumstances, after a traumatic crisis like that... I can see missing details. I'm not saying you're wrong though: fair or not she didn't fulfill her responsibility there as well as she might have. I don't envy her being in that situation one bit.
8707850
Small world—my mother is also a teacher! Well, retired. I don't see the quote as being more than tangentially relevant, but your reminder that Luna herself had also been through a traumatic event along with everyone else at the school did modify my opinion somewhat. Nevertheless, she still judged herself fit to oversee students and then overlooked the fact that one of them was literally bleeding to death.
8709120
Fair... I see the quote as similar to this situation in that we pile too many expectations on our educators, often unfairly.
Hmm... yes... and perhaps she should have known better than to be fully in her right mind to do so. We often misjudge our own capabilities, especially when coming down from such heightened circumstances. Eh, in any case we're starting to go in circles here, and while not in a bad way (our opinions on the matter aren't far apart at all); I'm going to leave off with this before the author yells at us for spamming her comments section. To be clear, my respect to your opinion on this one, and for that matter the others I've spoken with here as well, should they read this. Heh, the ones who just downvote are worthless, story or comment, but some folks are definitely worth talking through this stuff with. All the best to ya!
Considering this is a Marvel crossover that kind of leaves a bad taste in the mouth
This is the second fic I've read that has Vice-Principal Luna a gamer, and I already love the idea. Especially considering the fact that Princess Luna took to the Nightmare Night games quickly. Wish we can see more of either Luna enjoying games of one kind or another-
Oh man now I just thought of Princess Luna being introduced to Ogres & Oubliettes! Someone seriously needs to write that fanfic (I can't because I don't know Dungeons & Dragons well enough to do an acceptable job).
Well I suppose that's one way to put a super mutant down though I would think a either a .50 rifle round to the head or if you prefer to get up close and personal with one of those big green idiots a .44 revolver would do the trick. More specifically; Kelog's revolver