I - Already Gone
“Sunset, you have to tell me where you are,” Twilight said. In the back of her mind, a plan was already formulating, prioritizing tasks and accounting for possible hiccups. Luna had come to her home to arrange this meeting, so as soon as Twilight woke up, the portal would be just seconds away. There would be no time to inform Celestia of her absence, or ask the princess any questions. Right now, the only thing that mattered was finding Sunset and ensuring her safety.
Sunset seemed to look past Twilight as she spoke. “I-I... I’m in the hospital. I don’t know where it is, exactly. It’s the only one in the whole city, though.”
Excellent. “Okay,” Twilight said. “When we’re done talking, I’m going through the portal to find you.” She scoured her memory for layouts and directions of Sunset’s world. She remembered a few signs with arrows that read Canterlot Hospital near the heart of the city, though she wasn’t exactly sure where they were. No matter—she’d find the place in no time.
Sunset closed her eyes, the faintest of smiles on her face. At last, Twilight knew she was getting through to her. “Y-yeah. I’d like that,” Sunset said.
A flare of anxiousness gnawed at Twilight. Sunset seemed receptive now, but there were still so many unknowns. There was no way of knowing how damaged Sunset’s resolve was after the events she’d just explained. She may not be giving up anymore, but Twilight wanted to hear it. She needed to be sure.
“It’s going to be alright, Sunset,” Twilight said. "I need you to believe that. I need you to tell me you believe it, too.”
Sunset didn’t respond immediately. When she opened her eyes, they were glossed over and staring off, as if Twilight wasn’t even there. Her expression became confused as she finally spoke.
“What...?”
“Sunset? I need you to tell me you’re not giving up, alright?” Twilight said.
Again, Sunset said nothing. After another anxious pause, Twilight opened her mouth to speak again, only to stop abruptly as Sunset clamped her hands over her ears, grimacing.
“Nnnnnngh...” Sunset groaned. She turned around, the length of her white nightgown twisting with her. The gloss in her eyes vanished for the briefest of seconds, and in its place all Twilight saw was sheer terror.
“Sunset?” Twilight tried her best to speak slowly and clearly. “What are you feeling? You have to talk to me, what’s going on?”
All at once, things fell into chaos. Sunset tumbled over, clutching her chest as if she’d been struck. Her breathing sped up to the point of hyperventilation, and at the end of each ragged gasp, Twilight could hear a faint whimper of pain.
Twilight’s composure evaporated. She grabbed Sunset by the shoulders, panic seeping into her voice. “Sunset! Sunset, look at me! You have to hold on!”
Sunset’s only response was to shiver intensely, as if she were caught in a blizzard. Twilight’s mind raced to find a way to help, but all she managed to do was cry.
“No no no no... S-Sunset, please! Hold on!”
Then, Sunset stopped shaking. She went limp, and Twilight barely managed to catch her as she collapsed. Her blue eyes looked up, half-lidded and confused, but Twilight wasn’t sure if they saw anything at all.
“No!” Twilight cried out. Tears poured from her eyes, a few of them falling to stain Sunset’s white gown, which rose and fell more slowly with each pitiful breath.
“Sunset! Sunset!”
Sunset closed her eyes.
“Sunset...?”
Twilight's voice echoed infinitely across the dreamscape. There was no one else there to hear it.
Twilight wasn’t sure what she was looking for as she stepped out of the portal. In fact, her first observations made her wonder if there was anything to find at all.
The sky hung above her, painted with long bands of orange and gold. It had been early afternoon when Luna had arrived to see her, and by the time Twilight had made it through the portal, it was nearly nightfall. That wasn’t what bothered her, though.
Things seemed too... Okay. If this was truly a place that had driven Sunset Shimmer to take her own life, how could it now be so remarkably peaceful? Part of Twilight had expected to see some cataclysmic scar across the world, as if to mark the monumental loss that had just transpired. Instead, she saw the same trees, the same sky, the same ground, all unblemished, as if everything was as it should be.
She made her way away from the school, hoping against hope that she would find Sunset at the hospital, awake and happy to see her. As Twilight passed crosswalks and buildings, conversations between people echoed all around. She found herself turning away from anyone that looked at her. How many of them had been responsible for what happened? How many of them knew someone who was, or stood by and did nothing the whole time? How could they act so nonchalant, as if Sunset hadn’t died at all? They were horrible, all of them. They were horrible and they deserved exactly what...
Twilight scowled at herself. This wasn’t her. She knew most of these people probably had no idea who Sunset was. Besides, even if they did, Twilight wasn’t here for revenge. Was she? Truthfully, she didn't know why she was here at all. Maybe finding out was part of it.
Following the street signs, Twilight made her way deeper into the city. A map at a bus stop had given her a pretty good idea of where she was headed, but rather than wait for a vehicle full of people to assist her, she made her way on foot. She couldn’t be around them. Not right now.
By the time she reached her destination, the sun was long gone. A dim, hazy blue stretched over the night sky, with only a few stars peeking through the shade. As Twilight approached the hospital’s main entrance, she paused.
She hadn’t planned this far ahead. She hadn’t wanted to. What exactly was she going to see when she went inside? Playing things by ear had never been Twilight’s way of handling difficult situations, but this was something else entirely. She had never lost anyone before, and the circumstances only made the maelstrom of conflicting emotions all the more tumultuous. To meticulously plan out the coming events would have required her to dwell extensively on the reality. Even thinking about doing so was too much.
Was she crying? When did she start crying?
Screw it, she thought. She made her way through the automatic doors and walked to the front desk.
“Where is Sunset Shimmer?” Twilight spoke so quietly that she could barely hear herself, as if it had been her first time using her voice in a thousand years.
The woman behind the counter looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. “Say again?”
“Sunset Shimmer,” Twilight said, this time a little too loud. A few heads turned, but no one said anything.
The woman looked at the computer in front of her. Twilight frowned, recognizing the machine as one of the things responsible for tearing Sunset’s life apart. She contemplated saying something right then and there, but the woman behind the counter spoke up.
“Oh, hon...” Her voice was soft and sorrowful. “Your friend, she—”
“I know,” Twilight said. “I know. Where is she?”
“I’ll have someone take you,” the woman said. Twilight didn’t bother with a thank you.
The staff member that lead Twilight into the hospital made no effort to converse, which Twilight appreciated. As they made their way through long hallways and several double doors, she felt as though her mind was slowing down.
What was she even doing here? She was still crying. She’d only cry more. If any of the other girls were here, she’d probably scream, too. Should she take Sunset back to Equestria? No, she had never wanted to go back. It wouldn’t be right to take her in defiance of that. It didn’t matter anyway. For the first time in her life, she realized, Twilight didn’t want to plan ahead.
“In here,” the staff member said. “It’s just down the hall.”
Twilight looked up, having been lost in thought. The sign by the door read Intensive Care Unit.
“If it’s any consolation, she was surrounded by friends when she, uhm...” The staff member stopped mid-sentence. She gave Twilight a brief hug. “I’m sorry you didn’t get to say goodbye.”
Twilight said nothing as they walked inside.
“We haven’t moved her to the mortuary,” the staff member said. “She had no next of kin, so far as we could tell. These past couple of hours we’ve just been—”
“Me,” Twilight said. She was surprised by her own voice, and even more surprised as she kept talking. “She was my sister. By adoption. Our mother isn’t here, so it’s just me.”
“O-oh,” the staff member said. “If that’s the case, you’ll have to answer a few questions about...” She trailed off. “There’ll be time for that later,” she said.
The two of them approached a door that looked like any of the others that lined the hall. Twilight looked around, and saw the nurses’ station behind her. There were two women, and both of them appeared absolutely heartbroken. One was sitting in a chair with her head in her hands while the other looked at Twilight.
“It n-never gets any easier,” the nurse in the chair whimpered. Her colleague put an arm around her, gesturing for her to look up. When she did, she locked eyes with Twilight.
“Oh!” The nurse popped up. “Oh, sweetie, I didn’t—” She cut herself off as she stood up. “That is, I didn’t know Sunset had anyone else coming.” When the nurse saw the staff member with Twilight, her expression fell even deeper into sorrow.
“I’ll take her from here,” she said. Twilight watched as the nurse started to come to her, and saw the tag on her scrubs read Angie Redheart.
“I’d like to be alone with her,” Twilight said, her voice cracking. “My name’s Twilight. Sunset is my sister, and I want to be alone with her.” She could feel the pressure of anguish building up inside her, and while these women surely meant well, Twilight did not want to be around anyone but Sunset right now.
“In that case, well...” Redheart moved to the door. “I’m going to have to clear the room first.”
Twilight’s heart skipped a beat at that. The others were here. They’d see her. They’d want to talk to her. After what they did.
Redheart gave Twilight a brief embrace before opening the door. “Give me a moment, hon,” she said.
Twilight turned away in an instant. As if on instinct, she stepped behind the staff member that had led her here, using the woman as a shield. Trying to measure her breathing, Twilight closed her eyes and bit her tongue as voices started to come from the door.
“Twilight...?”
“What? She’s here?”
“Is she okay?”
“Girls,” Redheart said, “Twilight has asked to be alone with Sunset for a while. Is that alright with all of you?”
Four voices agreed, one by one.
“Rainbow Dash? Sweetie?” Redheart spoke softly. When there was no response, she continued. “I know this is hard. Why don’t you all come with me to the break room? I can make you some tea, if you’d like.”
Finally, Twilight heard another voice. It was raspy and breathless, and sounded like it was going to break apart any second.
“I’m not leaving her,” she heard Rainbow Dash say.
Something sparked in Twilight’s heart.
“You already did,” Twilight said. Her voice was hard and cold, and just loud enough so that the girls in the room would hear her.
Silence loomed for several seconds, then Twilight heard the sounds of chairs moving and people walking. There were no voices that followed her own, though.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see Redheart with tears in her eyes. The nurse pulled her into another hug, and Twilight could feel the woman sobbing. She was still for a moment, then she wrapped her arms around Redheart and held her. She felt a bit of wetness on her shoulder as Redheart’s tears kept coming, until finally the nurse pulled away.
“Take as long as you need, Twilight,” Redheart said. “I’ll be just down the hall if you need anything.” With that, she turned and left to follow the other girls. Twilight watched the nurse disappear around the corner. She turned to the doorway, which was still slightly ajar.
Twilight pushed the door open and walked inside.
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Dang, you already punched us in the gut last night; we don't get a break, do we? :P
And Sunset's death hurts even more from a perspective that has to deal with the aftermath. I appreciate the little cracks in Twilight's veneer, her thoughts sliding into vindictiveness or the little dig at Rainbow Dash; they show how Not Normal her thought process is right now.
I wasn't expecting more after such finality, especially because I wasn't sure where it could go from there. I'm looking forward to following along with Twilight to find out.
You accidentally a quotation mark.
You accidentally "my"
Ouch.
Ouuuuuch.
Ouch.
I'm expecting a fistfight between Twilight and RD soon.
Sunset
Oh Twilight..."HUGS"
This hatred, this palatable, crunchy soft taste of pure unadulturated wrath, it is delicious.
That was fast.
Ow.
Shaping up to be every bit as excellent as Last Light. I'll be keeping an eye on this, and'll be keen to see where it goes.
As I said in the last story, her confrontation with "mom" is going to be the worst one.
Celestia is going to take this hard, even more so if Twi doesn't bring Sunset home.
Their fight over that, only for Twi to nail her with just how... Terrified... Sunset, seemingly, was of Celestia, to even try to come home while her life was ending again, just might brake her.
The girls... Well Twi already got her dig on Dash there, but good. She isn't stable, so it's a good thing she doesn't have her magic right now, or there would be bodies.
Oof! Harsh.
...Also:
Oh wow.
I knew this would be incredible from how good the last story was, but this is well beyond what I was hoping for.
The way you wrote Twi, the uncertainty, the sheer emotion in that one line of hers...
This is going to be a truly amazing read!
Loved this first chapter, very well written, and the pacing is top notch.
goddamn
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Always up to bet with violence my friend. You good sir are very ... different than I would think, but I’m not one to judge so keep on being you.
sunset is one of my top 5 fav characters, i'm very sad to read that she died at the end of your last story, i can only imagine how hard the human 5 and princess Twilight are taking this turn of events, i can only imagine how hard Celestia will take this tho, likely worse than anypony/one. the human world should count themselves lucky Celestia wouldn't have the power of an alicorn in their world
Wait a minute, this story has the suicide/selfharm tag so does that mean that twilight or anyone else will do that or that is just for sunset
You know what this calls for? Necromancy.
*Twilight gets looks from the girl.* "I am a magical pony princess. Of coarse I know Necromancy. I turned a rotting egg into a living dragon. Plus, she is still fresh. So she won't have any rot."
im actually curious how will celestia react to this. both of them
and how will everyone else react?
.....I did say the rest just might be left to imagination, but when I saw this, everything in my mind started screaming "EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
" That beginning from Twi's pov and learning what she said....and Sunset's death from her perspective...it was much more terrifying and heartbreaking....it was all a solid punch in the gut. God. This is wonderfully gut-wrenching.
Ooh. Huff. Brutal doesn't cover it.
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I think that just the fact that this story revolves around Sunset's suicide is enough.
Unless the girls are driven to self-harm by guilt, which I don't really see happening.
(Winces) By the Hells,, Twi. I mean, you're not wrong at all, but damn that was viscious.
That said, I can kind of agree with what Sunset said in the last story. I can see where the Rainbooms were coming from, but I also understood why Sunset was upset about the whole situation. Thing is, I'm waiting for the aftermath to hit. Because with Sunset dead by suicide?
Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Scootaloo? Yeah, you all are now guilty of murder. She may have taken the metaphorical knife to her self, but you three gave her that knife.
I also think Twilight should bring Sunset back to equestria to be laid to rest. It's her true home afterall
Turbo oof
The original story was phenomenally written and tugged at my heartstrings in all the right ways, and this sequel is shaping up to be just as high quality. Major kudos to you, mate. I eagerly await the next chapter.
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Your idea of "great" is... strange.
Altough, I kinda agree.
I just wish I had even fake friends like Rainbow and rest. But, well, being all alone makes few things easier.
While it... saddens me, I really belive it should happen cannonicaly, in show.
Rainbooms accepted mission from Twilight - help Sunset. Not only they failed, they kinda helped in her suicide. A role of CMC is another matter, that probably won't end well for a at least few people (CMC themselves mostly, I belive in PL they would end up in reformatory at least).
Twilight anger is justified, but only partially imo: when she wasn't getting any contact for a few weeks from Sunny, she herself should reach out. Right now she leaved emotionally devastated Sunset in hands of beings being alternate version of her friends, not her friends. I'm sure right now she feels awful about that, now that she knows that.
I just hope for Twilight to being able to recollect body and get it back to Equestria, to kinda shove it in the face of Celestia and say "look what have you done!", then bury her.
All of that just shows how much humans don't forgive.
Sunset was trying. All it take was some photos posted anonymoulsy, and her "friends" (more like guardians, to be honest), left her. Not only that: they were activly bullying her.
But, as Sunset sad herself: she had it coming. She was a monster. She became one, because she had no friends after immigrating to human world, who she could trust to tell about her previous life, even without telling about her being pony...
Can't wait for more chapters.
Did someone order aloe vera for a major burn?
Meh 6/10.
I just really like this paragraph because of how it actually reflects Twilight’s feelings. Although Twilight’s world seems to have taken a huge crack that is possibly unfixable, the entirety of the world stays the same. Only those close to Sunset would know a brief version of this, as said only Twilight seemed to really care.
oh hell no Dashie you don't get to play the sympathy card on this one
Glad Twi isn’t going to murder them inside the hospital. Unless you count wordplay, no survivors with that.
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physically: she's better than that
verbally: I mean she's a bookworm of course she'd be eager to show off her vocabulary
Ironic that Twilight arrives in the humenz world and it's the sunset.
Nice, cold one-liner to Rainbow Dash.
Does Redheart recognize Princess Twilight? Makes me wonder.
After reading chapter 1 I'm left with this niggling feeling that this is a continuation of a different story.
Is it?
I feel bad for Twilight. Really... REALLY bad. Not because she lost a friend, maybe even a sister, but the fact that she didn't see the body die... she saw Sunset's SOUL die. Might jsut be my memories of the Deathbed Scans messing up telepaths in Babylon 5. But, to actually be present as the light of the soul flickers out and have to watch it enter the void... *Shudders* I doubt I'd wish that on my worst enemy.
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Tis a sequel to Last Light
This is a painful thing about losing someone before their time. To the rest of the world, nothing has changed. It's earth-shattering; the world becomes a darker and less colorful place and while you may want to scream your anguish out to the world--of what once was but now isn't--in the end everyone else is still going about their lives unaware and unchanged. You've made a grim but excellent portrayal of loss here
The cold rage. The biting condemnation. The loss for words. aaaaaah it burns but I love it so much.
This is all too realistic. Did you by chance work for Don Bluth?
Well, Sunset is already clinically dead in the first chapter. All of you can scream at each other at her funeral.
OH SHIT. ALL HELL IS GONNA BREAK LOOSE.
I really like this line. It's tragic that Twilight will now have that association with technology going forward. :(
Damn. Can't say I blame her for saying this. Grief comes with a lot of emotions, many of them unpredictable. Twilight's hot off the heels of learning literally everything at once right before Sunset passes away. Talk about being in the eye of the storm that is grief. :/
What an intense first chapter. Great job of weaving Twilight's various reactions, including the ones she herself questions, through the narrative as well as the dialogue. Pacing is brisk in a good way, almost like a whirlwind. All wheat, no chaff.
I'm wondering if this story is going to follow the various stages of grief, or something along those lines. The quote in the description is a harsh statement, but an important one.