The Final Sunset

by TheLionNerd

Of Rarity and Shyness

The walk to the town hall was uninteresting at best, Sunset paying little attention to the citizens or buildings, only focusing on going to the hall and ensuring that the decorations are put in order. Despite this momentous occasion, the homes of the townsfolk were surprisingly empty on the decor. The sheer sight of this made the egocentric unicorn snicker.

‘’At least they feel the same way I do about today. Mare in the Moon is supposed to be coming back, but I’m having my time wasted checking the decorations.’’ She rolled her eyes at this. ‘’Speaking of which, I’m guessing that’s the next thing on the checklist?’’

‘’Yup! Next is-’’ Spike looked at the list, but then stopped in his tracks when they got into the center location of Ponyville. ‘’Decorations…’’

‘’I’ve seen better even if it does little somewhat neat.’’

‘’Beautiful…’’

‘’I wouldn’t really call it-’’

‘’Not the decor!’’ He interrupted, pointing to a white mare levitating strings and ribbons around her while saying ‘no’ frustratingly. ‘’Her!’’

Following the gesture of the baby dragon, Sunset looked in confusion as she saw the mare, trotting towards her with Spike spinning his tail like a propeller. ‘’Good afternoon. I am Sunset Shimmer and I.’’

‘’Just a moment, please! I’m ‘in the zone’, as it were. Oh yes!’’ She said in a voice that made Spike’s heart soar. ‘’Sparkle always does the trick, does it not? Why, Rarity you are a talent.’’

‘’Now, um, how can I help yo-’’ Rarity’, as her name was, looked over to Sunset and quickly screamed in horror, leading to Sunset looking behind her in a feeling of danger. However, her head was grabbed and face directed at Rarity. ‘’Whatever happened to your coiffure?!’’

‘’My ‘coiffure’ was ruined by a pegasus clumsily crashing into me.’’ Sunset huffed while pushing her away.

‘’Well, that just won’t do!’’ Going around Sunset, she pushed her towards the back. ‘’Come along, we have a mane to fix!’’

‘’Wait, what? No, I can fix it on my own!’’ She tried to stop herself, but it was no use. Rarity just pushed her. ‘’NO!’’

---

And so they went, Rarity trying various outfits and mane styles on Sunset as the latter grew more and more annoyed. From green and yellow to poofy and shiny, the fashionista did everything she could to ‘fix’ her.

‘’Okay, okay.’’ Using her magic, Sunset got the dress off. ‘’I get it, you love fashion and you have the decorating under control, now can you please just back off?’’

‘’Well, you don’t have to be so rude about it.’’ Rarity turned around and started pushing different materials inside of the drawers. ‘’Now, where are you from, my dear?’’

‘’None of your business.’’ She tried saying, but was stopped from Spike getting in front of her.

‘’We’re from Canterlot!’’

‘’CANTERLOT?!’’ Rarity squealed as she bolted over with glistening eyes and a happy smile. ‘’Oh, I am so envious!’’

‘’Seriously, Spike?’’ Sunset snarled at Spike slightly, who chuckled nervously.

‘’The glamour, the sophistication! I have always dreamed of living there! ‘’ Rarity clapped her hooves together and patted the head of her unicorn guest. ‘’I can’t wait to hear all about it! We’re going to be the best of friends, you and I..’’

‘’Friends? I don’t do friends.’’ Celestia’s pupil spat as Rarity galloped away, doing so after looking at something on her. ‘’Wait, what are you-’’

‘’Emeralds?!’’ Rarity shouted in panic. ‘’What was I thinking? Let me get you some rubies!’’

‘’Yeah, no.’’ Sunset lifted a sighing Spike onto her back and left the building before anything else could happen.

---

‘’Wasn’t she wonderful?’’

‘’Focus, Spike.’’ Sunset snapped. ‘’What’s next on the list for this? And hopefully, it’s the last.’’

Clearing his throat, Spike read up. ‘’Oh, uh, music! That’s the last one!’’

‘’Finally!’’

The sound of singing made them look at a yellow pegasus pony with a pink mane. This pegasus in particular seemed more peaceful than the one encountered earlier as she spoke quietly to a choir of birds.

‘’Oh my. Um, stop please, everyone, umm.’’ The pegasus looked at a blue bird. ‘’Excuse me sir?’’

As Sunset and Spike looked at each other, they began to approach the quiet pegasus.

‘’I mean no offense, but your rhythm is just a teeny-tiny bit off.’’ She flew away from the birds silently before extending a hoof. ‘’Now, follow me, please. A-one, a-two, a-one two three-’’

‘’HEY!’’ Sunset shouted, scaring the birds off as the pegasus yelped and looked at her, ears drooping slightly. ‘’Are you the one for the music?’’

No response.

‘’Hello? Can you hear me?’’ The unicorn asked again, her tone lowering slightly, but a minor change. However, this also failed to get a response out of the pegasus. ‘’Okay, that didn’t work. I’m Sunset Shimmer and I am here to observe the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration.’’

The very words she spoke resurfaced the anger she had, but she’d rather not show it here. If she wants to get answers out of this pegasus, it would be best not to overly shout or vent in front of her, especially when she’s supposed to be getting a job done.

‘’I’m...Fluttershy…’’ The pegasus finally said quietly, so quietly Sunset couldn’t understand her.

‘’...I’m sorry?’’

‘’Um...my name is Fluttershy.’’ She said again, even more quietly. This baffled Sunset as it seemed she was getting more quiet with each response she gave the mare.

‘’One more time, please..’’

The next response came out as more of squeaks if anything, causing Sunset to groan in annoyance and trot over to Spike. ‘’Spike, the music is settled, let’s go.’’

With a shrug, he started following, only for the pegasus to spot him and gasp.

‘’A baby dragon!’’ She shouted in amazement before bolting over to the two, knocking Sunset over and sending her flying into a bush. ‘’Oh, I’ve never seen a baby dragon before. He’s so cute!’’

‘’Uh….’’ Spike stepped back a bit., looking at a dazed Sunset, the orange unicorn groaning.

‘’Oh my, did I scare you?’’ Her smile quickly gave way to a look of guilty. ‘’I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean-’’

‘’Okay, time to go!’’ The baby dragon was wrapped in blue magic and put on Sunset’s back again. ‘’Spike, say goodbye, we’re heading to the library and now!’’

‘’But Sunset-’’

‘’No buts!’’ A snap from the unicorn, who started heading off.

‘’Okay...I’m Spike.’’ Spike sighed and shrugged at the pegasus.

‘’Hi Spike. I’m Fluttershy.’’ Fluttershy cooed. ‘’Wow, a talking dragon! And what do dragons talk about?’’

‘’Well, uh, what do you want to know?’’

‘’Absolutely everything.’’ This response made Sunset speed up.

‘’No, not dealing with that.’’ She galloped away, wanting to get as far from Fluttershy as she could.

---

Getting inside, Sunset bucked the door in Fluttershy’s face, causing her to yelp and fall down as Sunset breathed in satisfaction. ‘’Peace and quiet.’’

‘’That wasn’t really needed.’’ Spike hopped off as they looked around.

‘’Nightmare Moon is returning and we have to prepare for her return, now where’s that light switch?’’ However, Sunset’s question was answered, the room full of everypony from the town. ‘’Huh?!’’

With all the ponies shouting ‘SURPRISE’, Sunset’s ears flattened.

‘’Oh no…’’

Comments

[Nitro Indigo]

This and the previous chapter could easily be combined into one.

the egocentric unicorn

I don't like Lavender Unicorn Syndrome in general, but this is a bad case of telling instead of showing. You SAY Sunset is egotistical, but she reacts to everything in the same way as Twilight.

Other points:

• In alternate Mane 6 stories, Spike is always the same as in canon. (Except the Lunaverse, where he doesn't exist from what I know.) You could make this stand out by changing Spike's personality to suit his upbringing.
• Have you ever heard of the headcanon that Sunset is Sunburst's sister? Maybe you could include that here, and have him be jealous of her. If it doesn't fit your plans, that's fine.

[TheLionNerd]

10197963

Once Nightmare Moon pops up, that's where I'll really kick it off.

In regards to Spike, more of his personality will be shown in the next chapters, though it's not as simple as one made think regarding it.

I didn't really mind the headcanon of Sunset being Sunburst's sister, but I'd prefer to not use it in this AU.

[Dorath]

10197963 Actually, this Sunset was much more caustic and unfriendly than Twilight, who at least stayed for Brunch and had much more patience with both Rarity and Fluttershy.

Makes me wonder how the bonds between and Sunset & the Ponyville ponies will develop when the start is so much rockier.

[Comickook]

10199777

Yeah. I could see those points quite clearly. Indeed, Sunset IS far more of a jerk than Twilight was at first. Makes me think that Celestia was the one who did most of Spike's upbringing in this universe and assigned him to at least make SOME effort in keeping Sunset grounded (which, to be fair, he IS; he just hasn't had much luck in that department).

And, yeah, I could pretty much see Applejack rather bluntly telling Sunset "Look, we get that you don't like us and we're still on the fence about YOU. However, stopping Nightmare Moon is more important than personal feelings. And, YOU might think you're powerful enough to take Nightmare Moon on your own, but considering she probably defeated and captured CELESTIA HERSELF, I rather doubt that you are. Nobody would be. Therefore, I would say that your odds of success are a lot better with six-on-one than one-on-one." (translated from her accent, of course)

[Knight of the Raven]

Once Nightmare Moon pops up, that's where I'll really kick it off.

Sunset's actually going to side with Nightmare Moon, isn't she? That's what I'd expect her to do, given what little we know of her old character.

At the very least, I do expect her to throw up her hooves and yell "thank you!" when Nightmare Moon reveals that she got rid of Celestia.

But events could play out several other ways. Characters could play out several other ways. Those that interest me here are Sunset and Nightmare Moon; along with Spike, against all odds.

I've looked at several alternate continuities over the years. Something I've never seen to change was that Spike was never an element bearer, even as the background pony and original character turnover went wild.

Even though, supposedly, there's a seventh element floating about: empathy, embodied by the canon Sunset. There may be room for him after all. Or perhaps there are still only six elements and it's Sunset who's left out. I'd laugh for a long time if that happened, I'll admit.

For her part, I've always seen Nightmare Moon written to be more ruthless and dangerous. I'm curious if this one will put the emphasis on the other end of her fallen hero status.

But these are only musings. I'm not telling you what to do, I'm just along for the ride. It's refreshing to just lay out my thoughts and not focus on the technicalities of writing for once, to be honest. Although I agree with Nitro Indigo about rampant noun groups, but at the same time, I'll take that a thousand times and more over paragraphs running on for several lines. And delightfully, that doesn't happen here.

You write for fun, and that was a very important thing to remind me of. There are things to improve, of course—correcting the said tags, for example—but for once I'll just sit back and enjoy the show. Unless you want me to include that criticism.

Finally, it was just great to see Sunset nope out of dealing with the 'Mane 5' once she was done with them; or once she was done with them in some cases. Sometimes you need to learn to say no.

[Comickook]

10202217

Even Spike got to be an Element Bearer in a couple of universes, actually. Tangerine Blast's "Age Swap" universe (which had young adult versions of Spike, the main Cutie Mark Crusaders and Pound and Pumpkin as the Elements of Harmony) and Bed Head's "Flipverse", (which had a unicorn version of Spike and a dragon version of Twilight). Regrettably, there haven't been any new stories for either of those series in years.

Still, it might make for a good switch around of expectations if Spike, NOT Sunset, turned out to be the Bearer of the Element of Magic and Sunset ACTUALLY turned out to be the Bearer of the Element of EMPATHY (Empathy being a BONUS Element [meaning it's not NEEDED for the other Elements to work, but its addition DOES make the Elements more powerful]). Kudos for thinking of that. :-D