Sunset Shimmer has lived in the human world for over ten years now. Some of the best and worst days of her life have happened there. When she finds herself no longer having a place in the world she's grown accustomed to she travels back to her homeland of Equestria to figure out who she is and where she belongs. What she finds is a land and people irreversibly changed by time.
Twilight Sparkle now rules over this new Equestria. It is a time of peace and prosperity for the entire world, so why does the Princess seem so sad?
Figuring out her own problems, an entirely different home than the one she grew up in, and her increasingly complicated relationship with Princess Twilight could be the most difficult thing Sunset Shimmer has ever done.
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Story takes place post FIM and EG
A time difference, huh?
Just how long HAS it been in Equestria?
Is Twilight the only one left, now?
Well, color me interested.
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I'm guessing the time difference might be changed a bit in this story. It felt like the time difference in the EQG series was that time moved slower in the human world. So what could be 30 moons (2 1/2 years) in the human world would probably be not too long in Equestria. Unless I'm wrong.
Assuming I'm correct, it seems that's now been flipped. So it's likely that in the 10 years Sunset has lived on Earth, hundreds of years might've passed in Equestria. The way Twilight is talking, it seems that it's been a drastically long time - long enough that her friends have long since passed and Equestria has blossomed more than ever.
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Well, if the front picture is accurate in terms of body size then Twilight has aged quite a bit.
You've got my attention!
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Hopefully all these questions will be answered by the next two chapters, but I'll confess that the way time works between both sides of the mirror will likely be the biggest hurdle of this story simply because it's very inconsistent in Equestria Girls. Clearly nobody ever actually gave any thought to exactly how the mirror worked in the movies and shows, and the timeline can be kind of a mess in its own right.
The general consensus I've seen is that time is definitely weird on both sides of the mirror and that time passes faster in Equestria than in the human world based mostly off of how Twilight and her friends had time to beat Tirek, Starlight, Chrysalis, and the Storm King (with several characters and events commenting or hinting on the passage of entire years.) all before Sunset and the Humane 6 finish the last year of High School.
This is probably contradicted somewhere because as I've said, nobody really bothered to think about these things or lay down any actual rules for the Mirror, but that's always been the way that makes the most sense as far as I can tell.
good start I be follow and want more,
I have feeling it been some time and most if not all of twilight's friend are dead or very old,
Time almost certainly flows different on the different sides of the Portal.
Kind of like how, when Sunset went through the portal, she ended up being there for about three years, but on the Equestria side, when Sunset left, Twilight was a filly who hadn't gotten her cutie mark yet. So on Equestria, at least ten years passed (probably a bit more) compared to the three years that passed for Sunset.
This is good!
Meanwhile, in Sunset's mind while she sat on that bench:
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/594ac5a0-8ab8-49db-b520-d72a6cfff313/ddofhd5-332ecbc9-4a04-437f-ba1f-e1ebbce29088.png/v1/fill/w_1091,h_732,q_70,strp/honestly__title_character_limit_is_annoyingly_sma__by_gjkad_ddofhd5-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NzMzIiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvNTk0YWM1YTAtOGFiOC00OWRiLWI1MjAtZDcyYTZjZmZmMzEzXC9kZG9maGQ1LTMzMmVjYmM5LTRhMDQtNDM3Zi1iYTFmLWUxZWJiY2UyOTA4OC5wbmciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTA5MiJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.hWov6A3jg4ijDvLpyK33AkGdwChRBAIsmWfL5s6obQk
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Dude, I'm trying to tell a serious story here, and you just walk in here and be hilarious? lol
Great first chapter, consider me, interested. But I do have some questions, such as does this story include everything in Canon that has happened in equestria girls, such as; the meeting between sunset and celestia in forgotten friendship, or sunsets empathy power in legends of everfree. Just something to make sure, I'm not confused, some writers like to make their own story about when celestia and sunset reconcile. Can't wait for the next update.
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Happy to answer any questions I can right now.
First off, this is meant to be a direct continuation of the stories told in canon and not an AU so all animated Gen 4 material is considered hard canon for this story. That means Sunset did give an apology to Celestia and she's got her Empathy powers throughout the story which will be referenced as we go. (Actually I believe I mentioned Sunset's Empathy Geode in this very chapter).
The only things that will be considered not canon in this story are select material from the comics if they contradict or don't support the story I want to tell. For instance, The Fall of Sunset Shimmer is going to be mostly canon, but small details that complicate the timeline like the ages of Moon Dancer and Twilight in that comic may be altered.
Hope that answers all your questions.
10036048
Sorry, sorry. Serious mode from now on. Life choices, politics... uhh.. taxes.
Now, in all genuine seriousness. Personally, I love the types of stories that continue the legacy of our beloved show even further, touch upon the issues or topics we've never got from the canon show, tread upon "what if's" and "what might have been's". Yours is nicely developing into one of those, and if it holds this level of quality through it's entirety or even improves, I'll gladly read it whole with a content smile on my face.
Good luck, though! Writing may be easy, but to be consistent about it... ahhh... completely different pill to swallow.
This sounds really good so far. I can't wait to read more. Twilight and Sunset forever.
Yep, you've got my interest, too. Tracking for now; if I like where it's going next chapter it'll probably move into my faves.
I wonder if anyone has thought of a way to try and measure the passage time between Earth and Equestria by using the journal. All Sunset would have to do is jot down a few intervals, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes and 10 minutes with Twilight putting down the equivalent passage of time and then working out a general timeline for how long Sunset has been gone for and much time has passed.
I bet the answer would surprise everyone.
Welcome to the fandom, and kudos on a wonderful first chapter!
Welcome to the herd! Brohoof my friend! /)
Anyways, this was actually an amazing first chapter. I'm used to any story that has an older version on the EG characters being totally weird and all the characters just so... Well... Out of character, for lack of a better way to explain it. But this. This felt like something that could actually happen. This was impressive. I hope to see more awesomeness soon!
place bet on how long it been,
i say it been 100 or so years
And here we go. Feels a little like the second (released) Narnia book, where they go back after a year, and it's been so long, and the country doesn't even exist any more. There's a lot of anticipation I'm feeling regarding how different Equestria is, can barely wait to see it.
None.
It would be nice if we actually got to see Sunset’s reaction to big Twilight, but unfortunately that may never happen. It least we get fics like these instead.
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Ah poo. Honestly surprised it's taken this long for someone to call me out for poor grammar. I've fixed that at least.
Now I'm gonna be honest with you guys for a bit here. This entire story may or may not be the result of the disappointing lack of big Twily and tiny pony Sunset content out there.
Yep. Shifting to Faves.
I'll be honest, I'm kind of waiting to hear more of what Sunset thinks about Celestia and Luna retiring (though she may have already done this in the journal speaking with Twi about it). I mean, not like they aren't still around— they're just in Silver Shoals as far as we know. Sunset could easily go visit.
Looks like Sunny's got some adjusting to do. Glad her friends were there to help her move forward.
Also, I assume that Ray passed on at this point, since leopard geckos only live about 6-10 years, and it's been established that this takes place 10 years after Sunset got him.
Interesting premise and promising first chapter, curious to see how this'll progress.
Time will actually be rather good for Sunset if there's a big dilatation. She'll be able to see her human friends way more frequently from her point of view. On the other hand she'll she quite faster for them in being a likely archmage doesn't lean itself to life expansion. We'll see the answer to that if the story goes on for that long in it's timeline.
I think that you did a pretty good job having all of the different characters. During all of the spots where you told us who was talking it sounded like how the characters would speak and during the parts where you didn't say who was talking I could tell who was talking, with one little nitpick.
Normally when it comes to dialog you need to create a separate paragraph to help show that a new person is talking (which there was never an instance where there were 2 different people talking in the same paragraph so good job on that front). Here however you have Rarity's dialog separated into 2 different paragraphs even though both of the lines were very short. While you clearly state that 'Rarity finished' to signify that it was her talking, readers will initially think that someone else is saying the 'And yet...' part. I'm not the best when it comes to writing so I may be wrong about this, and like I said this is only a nitpick.
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I'll probably save most of that commentary for when we get to see the royal sisters again. They'll certainly still be here and I'm particularly looking forward to writing those scenes.
Even after all these years, Sunset and Celestia's full relationship is still such unexplored territory. Sunset may have apologized, but I like to think there's still plenty of things left unsaid...for now.
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You're probably right. Sometimes I like to let lines stand on their own to place emphasis on them, so I may have gotten carried away.
I'm glad the rest flowed naturally though.
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Yes, sadly poor Ray has passed on by now. He had a good run though I assure you.
I TOTALLY didn't forget about him.😁
Sweet Twilight Sparkle i'm loving this story so far
I am curious to know if Sci Twi and Human Sunset are still in contact with each other and if they're friends... Or something more...
Dash totally lost her chance to call theirs "super nerd Pricess Twilight
Well, Twiggles' biggles it seems. When the romance does start though I bet there'll be a lot of jetpacking involved
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I bet that's only a hint towards Sunset having unrealized feelings towards Twilight (either, more likely pony). Hell, I bet SciTwi's going to begin dating bacon human before Bacon Horse shags her princess counterpart.
This has been a lot of fun to read, looking forward to more.
not that long..... but still long time
Small note-it looks like "barley" is being used in place of "barely" (also in the previous chapter I think)
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Long enough for, considering human lifespans, everyone she knew that's not immortal to have passed away, and not long ago while at that. Twilight must still be mourning her friends in some ways, for example.
Ah, I'm enjoying this! Sunset, the mare out of time, makes such a wonderful foil for Twilight, the eternal princess.
Not as long as I'd been thinking might have passed, but definitely long enough to notice. Lets you still have characters around if you want, while still allowing for a lot of changes to have to deal with. I like the thought of it being due to the portal machine, readily believable, at least to me.
Hey at least Twilight still has Spike since Dragons live for a very long time.
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Ah, so it is. Thank you for catching my bad habits.
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I spent a while considering exactly how long I should end up making it in the end, but I went with this time gap mostly because it's still a lifetime for most people, and I didn't want to stretch the mirror disconnect beyond belief.
Having Sunset land 1000 years in the future could have made for an interesting setup all it's own, but I found it a bit unreasonable that Twilight would never at least slip up and mention it after all that time, and there's really nothing in canon to suggest a skip that big could happen. Plus the added layer of drama was a bit too much to resist. 80 years is a long time for someone, but not so long that you'd be desensitized to it.
i'm curious to see if anypony else is still alive, earthponies live quite along time don't they
I have a feeling Sunny's in for quite a few shocks once she gets the tour, and learns just how much the passage of time has changed her homeland.
So, are most of the Bearers dead or just really old? Granny Smith lived a couple hundred years so I figure at least earth ponies have long lives. AJ might be living the Granny Smith lifestyle.
I like how this is going. The time difference is very legitimate to me, and the hoof-made portal as the reasoning for it was a good way to do it.
I do want to point out that you misspelled 'minutes' as 'minuets' a few times. 'Minuet' is also a word, so a spellcheck wouldn't have caught it.
Well, from what I gathered Earth Ponies can get quite old (Granny Smith as a founder of Ponyville). So I guess Pinkie Pie and Applejack could be alive, stll. Though the pillars are surely all dead by now, well, if you even mention them in this fic.
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Okay, all these words with similar spellings or different meanings despite having the exact same spelling are going to be the death of me. Thanks you for the help, and thank you for your nice comments. They help me know if I'm going in the right direction.
Huzzah, a mystery to solve right off the bat. Also, things aren't looking very good on the rest of the cast front. It would have been quite the amusing juxtaposition if Spike had entered the dining room with Sunset riding on his back.
Wonder if sunset is on her way to alicorn hood
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For the sake of Twilights sanity, I hope so.
Eighty years shouldnt be long enough for everyone else to be dead. But it might have taken out a few of them. Hopefully it comes up at some point so we can get more clarification on it.