• Published 30th Mar 2018
  • 9,563 Views, 306 Comments

A Third Chance to Find a Family - kitkataddel



Sunset has made alot of mistakes in both universes, but what if this mistake finally forces her away from all that she cares for?

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17 - Return

"So, you excited Twilight?"

It was the first day back at school. Twilight had transferred to Canterlot High, and left Crystal Prep far behind in her memory. The day before had held an interesting conversation, and proven that not all school principals were as manipulative and Cinch was, and Twilight had concluded she would be quite happy at CHS. This conclusion was slightly confused, as Celestia had called them and asked them to come to school an hour later than usual. This meant that Sunset would have to show Twilight around the school during her chemistry lesson, which was good, but also meant that her first lesson would be drama, with Discord. Which could either be good, or very, very bad.

"No. Nervous would be more like it." Twilight replied.

"Eh, it'll be fine. As long as I don't walk in hugging you and singing songs about how close I am with you, you should be able to avoid being stoned to death by an angry mob." Sunset shrugged, not commiting to the action as much as she should've. "Seriously Twi, you'll be fine. I know for a fact Luna probably put us in classes together. She mentioned she was making changes to the classes to 'accomodate' us, which is basically the professional way of saying she's not putting us in with the bullies or any of the so called 'tough people'."

"I know, I know, it's just, I can't help but feel worried." Twilight idly fiddled with her hands.

"About what though?"

"That's the thing! I just don't know!"

"It's just something new Twilight. You shouldn't worry too much over all this. You'll get used to it soon enough." Sunset comforted her sister. "Besides, the only annoying thing that'll happen to you is people confusing you with Princess Twilight, or perhaps them avoiding you because you're not the princess. Oh Celestia, I just realized, I'm not looking forward to Flash Sentry meeting you." She didn't even want to imagine the awkwardness that would happen.

"Why?"

"Flash has a crush on the other Twilight, though I must be honest, that might be part of his mental... difficulties. Not my business to share, he'll tell you about it if he wants to." Sunset noted she was saying that a lot recently, maybe she was starting to learn more and more secrets.

"Okay, that seems..." Twilight tried to sound respectful, but was unable to find the right words, so she abandoned the sentence. "Why are you wearing the jacket again anyway?"

"I want to make a statement. Look at it: it contains my entire human life. The jacket itself was literally my first possession, the scratches are mostly from various fights, the tears in the back are from when I was a demon, the scorch marks from my defeat by a huge rainbow laser, the faded stains are from gaining my friends, and now my very own blood is on this jacket." She stroked the faux leather fondly, as if it was some long lost friend.

"But what about the bandages? I thought they could come off." Twilight pointed to white wraps covering her palms and forearms.

"I'm... still feeling a bit self conscious of my scars. It's not that they're there, more just how many there are. I can't die from cutting my palms and the back of my hands, except from blood loss, and I knew that at the time, so I was being really stupid, and that just lingers in the back of head." Sunset also had another reason - she found herself unable to get past the mental block that prevented her from writing. She could still write earth pony style, with her mouth, but it was far from convinient, not to mention weird.

"I suppose that makes sense, but you can't hide them forever."

"I have enough problems, I'm going to take them one at a time."

"GIRLS!" Velvet called from down stairs, "Time to go!"

"Coming!" They called back in unison, before exiting the room to go to school.


Sunset and Twilight climbed out of their mother's car, saying their goodbyes, and approached the front entrance of CHS. The car park was already filled with the teachers and students' vehicles, but it appeared to be deserted apart from one blue girl, absently fiddling with some non existant neck piece with a solemn expression on her face, which switched to a welcoming smile when she saw the two other girls approaching.

"Hey, Sunny!" She waved them over, "And you're Twilight! Nice to meet you! I'm Sonata, you might've heard how I might've mind controlled the entire school just a teensy little bit. Okay, a lot. But bygones be bygones, right?"

"Sonata, what are you doing out here?" Sunset asked, noticing the sad expression momentarily reappearing.

"I... I'm skipping music. It just makes me depressed. I want to sing, but I just can't any more. I don't care about losing my powers, it's just the fact that I can't sing any more. Simply put, I'm just... urrrrgh!" Sonata stoked the part of her neck where her red heart would've rested.

"Hmmm, you know, I might be able to help you with that." Sunset offered a small smile to the ex-siren. "But that's for later. We've got stuff to do in the mean time. Tell you what, if you prove you're genuinely trying to get a good education and a good life, and I'll see what I can do about it, I'll try my best."

"Really?!" Sonata practically squealed with hope.

"Really. Now come on, we've got a chaos god to get taught by. Well, I have, I don't know about you." Sunset almost winced at the thought of Discord. She had no idea how he would act.

"Waitwaitwaitwait. Wait." The siren waved her hands about, "That Discord is the same one as the..."

"Well, his counterpart anyway. Though from the way he acts, I'm not so sure." Sunset shrugged, before starting to make her way to the entrance. "Though we really should get moving. It's almost time for drama, I'll show you around later, Twi. We have to be in drama class."

They made their way through the empty corridors, arriving to the drama room early, before any of the other classes had been let out. Almost instantly, a man poked his head out of the door. "Come on in girls. You're early, but that's no reason to wait out there."

Discord went back in, but left the door open, and the three girls cautiously entered, not entirely trusting the man quite yet. Sonata whispered to Sunset, "I remember talking to Discord during his reign, we got along well, but... he was more the 'me and only me' type. I get that he is different here, but in Equestria, we would rather ally ourselves with the ponies rather than Discord."

"Did you know he's been reformed since? He supposedly broke free, was imprisoned by the elements again, before being let free and made friends with the element of kindness. I honestly doubt he'll hold a grudge, or so I've heard. And if he does, I know Fluttershy would be mad."

"It's not like I can go back to Equestria anyway. Our hearts, while not vital to survival here, was actually an organ in our hippocampi forms. We'd die in an instant if we crossed over to Equestria." Sonata sighed sadly, once again touching her neck.

"I feel like I've said this advice so many times before, but take it one step at a time. At the moment, the current step is..." Sunset flailed an arm at human Discord, "that. Whatever it is."

"Hey, as you're here early, can you help me work out how to operate the curtain and lights? They've literally told me nothing about using the equipment. For good reason, I may have blown up Celestia's stove at one point, sooo..." Discord called the girls over.

"Twi, can you handle the lights? Should be full of technology to work out. Come on Sonata, lets see if we can move some curtains." They set to work, temporarily forgetting their troubles for the time being.

The two equestrians easily figured out the curtain, and had set about helping Twilight and Discord work out the lights when more students came, and some of Sunset's fears returned. Luckily, a quick survey of the new students relaxed her worries, proving to be the same group as the one Sunset had met at the coffee shop a few days earlier, excluding Dinky.

"Yay, we're all back together! Happy happenstance!" Discord jumped merrily, clapping his hands together in joy. "Right! Register time!" He practically leaped over to his laptop, giggling all the while. "Rainbow Dash." Silence. "Rainbow Dash? Off to a great start, absent..." Before he could continue, a blue haired boy poked his head in, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"Sorry I'm late, sir."

"Don't worry about it, I just started early. Nothing to worry about. Anyway, Ditzy Doo?"

"Here sir."

"Sonata Dusk?"

"Here!"

A series of whispers went around, leading Sunset to announce, "She's cool guys, don't worry. I'll explain later."

"Thank God I didn't have to clean up that mess..." Discord mumbled under his breath. "Sweetie Drops?"

"Present, but call me Bon Bon."

"Okie! Lyra Heartstrings?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Erm, Octavia Melody?"

"Present, sir."

"Vinyl Scratch?"

Two thumps on the ground, and a thumps up.

"Just so you know, Vinyl, I know sign language. Flash Sentry?"

"Yes, sir."

"Discord? What are you doing here?" A yellow skinned girl with pink hair entered the room, a rainbow haired girl in tow.

"Fluttershy? Didn't realise you were at CHS, let alone in my class! How wonderful! I haven't seen you since... well, then!" His face lit up in recognition, and smiled happily.

"'Then'?" Lyra asked.

"Me and Fluttershy go a while back. She helped me out while I was in a bit of an... oppressive mood, collectively known as 'then'." Discord made an exaggerated action with his hands, gesturing away from himself. "Let's stay on track. I assume you are Rainbow Dash? I'll let you both off for being late -"

"We're on time!"

"- but next time..." He jokingly tutted, before turning his attention back to the register. "Fluttershy, yes... Sunset Shimmer, yes... and Twilight Sparkle, yes! We're all here now, all eleven of us. Why this class is so small, I don't know, though judging by this email I just recieved from a Ms. Khonsu, I suspect it has something to do with your vice principal."

"Of course." Sunset mumbled, rolling her eyes at the same time.

The rest of the lesson passed with out any more personal drama, instead focusing on educational drama. Discord was kind enough to end the lesson ten minutes early, allowing Sunset to catch up with the group, confirming 'who's good and who's bad'. It hardly did anything to improve Sunset's mood, but made it easier to deal with her current situation, something that did relieve at least some of the pressure.

All of that, however, vanished the moment she got out of class and into break. In the presence of Twilight, everyone stopped themselves from any obvious physical actions, and even the name calling died down a fair bit, but the looks Sunset was getting was enough to make her shake. She fidgeted with her bandages, going so far to lightly stroke the blood stains, feeling the unusual texture on the faux leather.

Sonata, who was following Sunset, leaned in, whsipering, "Kinda amazed no one recognizes me."

"They're too busy hating me. If anything, it'll help them get used to you." Sunset shrugged, still nervously glancing around.

"Pssst! Sunset! Over here!" A young voice called Sunset over, seemingly from a rarely used fire exit.

Sunset turned to Sonata and Twilight, "Go find the rest of the girls or something. I'll deal with this." She walked over to the doorway, narrowly avoiding a paper plane on the way.

Once she was in the stairwell, Sunset found herself confronted by three young girls - the Canterlot Mystery Club, or the CMC for short. Scootaloo had a concerned and slightly hopeful look, while Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stared at the floor, finding it very interesting, purely out of guilt.

"Hello Scootaloo, I hope you're well." Her tone turned harsh in an instant, turning her gaze on the other girls. "You two, you'd better have a good explanation. I'll give you a chance to explain yourselves, but I'm already on an extremely short fuse. I don't even want to think about what will happen in the future."

"I told them about what happened. All of it." Scootaloo started, "They also didn't create that new account."

"We... never wanted it to go this far. We were almost drunk on the influence we had, and just kept on going. We had intended to delete the account by Christmas, but then..." Sweetie Belle trailed off, almost as if she was going to cry.

"Yeah, it all got outta hand. We knew yer weren't a demon or anythin' when ya'll came to speak to us, but jus' the shock of it..." Apple Bloom did the exact same thing as her friend.

Sighing, Sunset worked up a response. "Scootaloo, you quite literally saved my life, so I'm going to exclude you from this. Plus, as far as I can work out, you don't deserve this anyway. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, I'd be lying if I said I wanted to forgive you here and now. But I suppose I should give you a chance, like everyone else did for me. But I'm not willing to blast you with a huge laser and put you into a crater, so you're going to have to do a number of things for me." Her expression was cold, but unreadable. "One: do you have any idea who this 'Anon-a-mous' is?" Everyone shook their head. "Right. I believe you. Secondly, you're going to own up to what you did, and face any consequences you may be given."

"But, but, but they'll kill us!" Apple Bloom protested.

"Look, you have up until the easter break. If you don't do it by then, I'll report you myself, and I won't defend you at all. I've made sure I've kept it secret from everyone, but that won't happen if you can't take responsibility. I really shouldn't be give you this chance - I hypnotized a bunch of students, you made me try to commit suicide. That's the harsh reality of it, and yet, here I am, not trying to beat your faces in, or magicking you into nothing. Come talk to me, try to work something out, we'll see. But first, I'm going to try and sort out this mess out." Sunset furrowed her brow, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Aaaand now I've got to talk to Luna about this. And I don't have any clue who this account might be. Celestia, take me now!"

"Uhhh..."

"Sorry girls. Try and talk to me again in a few days, maybe next week, I really have been running low on patience." Sunset walked out back into the hallway, not letting the girls respond in any way. 'Okay, step one: find a quiet place; step two: scream. Simple.'


"Who d'you think was calling Sunset?" Rainbow Dash was sat at a table with Fluttershy, Derpy and Dinky, all of them attempting to block out the arguments happening around them. "I hear Gilda's gang, the griffons, are looking for her blood. Doubt she'll be dumb enough to fall for one of her traps."

"As if Sunset couldn't just melt them!" Derpy chuckled at what Dash had said, as if it was completely ridiculous.

"What?" Fluttershy put on a confused expression, not fully understanding what the other girl meant.

"Oh you don't know?!" Dinky spoke up, voice going even higher in disbelief. "She does this really cool thing where-"

Derpy slapped a grey hand over her sister's mouth, earning her a glare from the smaller girl. "Sunset will tell you soon enough. Long story short though: magic."

"Rrrright." Rainbow Dash shook her head, already slightly sick of magic. "I wonder if this new account is run by the same people?" She feigned ignorance, knowing who was behind the first account.

"They aren't." Sunset took a seat next to her. "Just had a talk with them. Worked out a deal. They have no idea who's behind 'Anon-a-mous'. Which I maintain as being the most ridiculous name ever."

The bell rang before she could get another word in, signaling that it was time to go the class. Standing up, they all departed their different ways, Sunset and Rainbow Dash moving together to their english class. The teacher, Mrs Harshwhinny, brought the class in the moment they got there, sparing Sunset from any torment. A quick survey of the class lessened some of Sunset's worries - Lyra and Bon Bon were still in the class, but so was Trixie. Everyone else was the typical Canterlot High student, shooting glares at Sunset the moment they saw her. Sunset took a seat at the very back corner of the class, so she could at least see any on coming projectiles. Rainbow Dash sat to her left, and Bon Bon and Lyra were in front of her. Looking for Twilight, who was also meant to be in the same class, Sunset found she was absent, presumably called somewhere else for whatever reason, shrugging off the issue.

The lesson started, being fairly mediocre throughout, students afraid to misbehave in this particular teacher's classroom. So far, no one was required to write anything, a relief for Sunset. Halfway through the english lesson, however, someone threw something through the air. Sunset only noticed it when it exploded in a great puff of smoke, and a dramatic and triumphant 'HAH!' was called from across the room, while Sunset's desk and Sunset disappeared in the smog.

"TRIXIE! Outside!" Harshwhinny shouted from somewhere at the front of the room. The smoke started to clear, and Sunset found everyone was staring at her.

Confused, she asked, "What?" before Harshwhinny came over, whispering in her ear.

"Your left arm is on fire."

Looking, Sunset saw that the bandages on her left arm were indeed flicking out licks of orange. "Oh, Tartaraus." She cursed, before Rainbow Dash, ever the quick thinker, sprayed the flames with a fire extinguisher. Once the fire was out, Sunset noticed her bandages were slipping, revealing her scars, and she cursed again.

Unraveling the loosened bandages, Sunset started to reapply them, hoping no one would notice the many red marks littering her hands and forearms. The scars were still there, but they had healed up as much as they could, meaning Sunset could still wear the now charred bandages without risk of infection. She didn't even wince when she wrapped a still glowing part of the fabric around her palm, before Dash sprayed that as well.

That reminded Sunset of how everyone was indeed staring at her scars, even Mrs Harshwhinny. She didn't even have time to shink away from all the shocked stares before the PA system was turned on.

"C-can Sunset Sh-Shimmer please come to the Principal's office?"

"Saved once again." Sunset mumbled under her breath, but frowned at the announcement. The thing that worried her was how Celestia stuttered. Celestia didn't stutter when announcing anything, whether she was a pony or human. The only time Sunset had ever heard Celestia stutter was in disbelief, and even that was quite rare. She picked up her stuff and started to make her way to the place she had been summoned to, ignoring Trixie look of anger and disbelief, probably because Sunset acted like she hadn't felt a thing, which was true.

She approached the door which led to Principal Celestia's office, nervously opening it, finding the pale woman looking worriedly at a photograph.

"Principal?"

"Sunset. You should take a look at this." She passed the photograph over. Sunset looked for less than a second before her emotions ran high. "They say they'll be in the hall when lunch starts. Go look now."

Sunset stormed out of the room, breathing heavily out of anger. The photograph floated to the ground. Celestia looked at it, resting on the floor. She picked it up, looking at the picture of Twilight Sparkle, being held by Gilda's cronies. "What has happened to this school?" She asked to no one in particular, before sighing solemnly.

Author's Note:

I should've titled this 'Apologies', because this is where they allllllllll start. And I mean, they're all going to happen in this chapter or the next two ones. Unless I change my mind. In which case it won't.
Also note: AB and SB didn't say 'sorry' once, the pricks. Completely unintentional, but I'm going to leave it like that.

Don't know if anyone will understand why, but I'm starting to think of Discord like Cesar Romero's Joker from the 60's Batman TV show. Used to watch reruns of that show all the time, ended up buying to movie and boxset. Happy times...

And I'm sorry guy in the comments who's impatient and I'm too lazy to find your name, the rest of the Mane 5 or 6 or 7 or whatever are going to be in the next chapter. Seriously though, I can promise you that Sunset going to be talking to them next time.
And it's going to be... interesting...