• Published 23rd Nov 2020
  • 8,410 Views, 1,301 Comments

The Queen and her Court - Eternal Sunset



Anon-A-Miss has ruined Sunset's life, they have turned Sunset's friends and the students of CHS against her. But with some encouraging words from Twilight, Sunset is reminded of who she is and is ready to fight back.

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All Hail The Queen Part 1

Principal Celestia looked out to the gathered students, behind her are Sunset Shimmer and her sister.

“Hello, everyone. I do not doubt that all of you know why we are here so let’s get straight to the point. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo. Please come up on stage please.” the Principal instructed.

The three girls rose from their seats and walked towards the stage, they could feel the glares of the entire school on them. One student who sent in secrets extended his foot to trip them but he felt a firm grip on his thigh which caused him to pull back his leg.

“Don’t even think about it,” Gilda threatened. “Unless you want to make her majesty angry.”

The male student looked to the stage to see Sunset narrowing her eyes at him, she saw what he was about to do and would no doubt make him pay if Gilda hadn’t stopped him. The student sat up straight which Gilda nodded her approval.

The CMC was finally on stage and stood beside Principal Celestia as she continued to address the crowd.

“These three have something they would like to share with all of you,” Principal Celestia said as she handed the microphone over to the girls.

Applebloom took the microphone and faced the crowd, she could see the angry faces of the students and when she spotted her sister, she saw the look of disappointment on her face before turning away. Applebloom felt her heart breaking.

“Yah all probably already knew this but ah and mah friends are Anon-A-Miss,” Applebloom confessed. “Ah started the blog because mah sister was spending too much time with Sunset instead of her own family, so ah decided to break them up.”

“When Applebloom told me about her plan, I wanted to be a part of it to not only do the same but to get back at Sunset for what she did to my sister.” Sweetie Belle added.

“We were afraid that if our sisters spent more time with Sunset then they would stop hanging out with us,” Scootaloo explained.

“But we didn’t realize how popular Anon-A-Miss would become and then students started sending us secrets to post,” Applebloom said. “There are some secrets that we didn’t post because they went a little too far.”

“We’re so sorry,” the CMC apologized together.

The crowd remained silent as they continued to glare at the girls, some were upset that they posted their secrets while a select few were upset because these girls got them in trouble for the secrets they submitted.

Principal Celestia took the microphone from Applebloom.

“I’ve already handed out their punishments which will be supervised by Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset Shimmer walked forward to stand beside Principal Celestia.

“May I?” Sunset asked, gesturing to the microphone.

“Of course,” Principal Celestia handed the microphone to Sunset.

“Greetings my loyal subjects,” Sunset greeted the crowd. “These girls have caused quite the scandal but they realized their mistake and are ready to own up to it.” Sunset turned to the CMC. “Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo. The path to redemption is a long and hard road, but if you let me, I can help you.”

The girls are surprised at this.

“The choice is yours,” Sunset said as she waited for the girls’ answer.

The girls looked at each other, Sunset is offering a helping hand once again and they would be fools to refuse.

“Ah accept your help,” Applebloom answered with conviction.

“Me too,” Scootaloo nodded.

“Same here,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Glad to hear it,” Sunset said as she smiled, she snapped her finger which caused her cutie mark to appear on the right side of the girls’ shirts. “Then I hereby welcome you as the newest members to my court.”

“Thank you, your majesty.” Sweetie Belle thanked her queen as she curtsied.

“You won’t regret it!” Scootaloo promised as she bowed.

“We’ll make yah proud,” Applebloom said as she too bowed.

Sunset’s followers started clapping, signaling their acceptance of their Majesty’s newest subjects. The Rainbooms, specifically Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack looked on in surprise. There were no Ill thoughts about Sunset taking their sisters from them, but a sense of relief that Sunset has welcomed them with open arms.

XXX

The CMC are gathering their things from their locker before they report to detention, they can feel the glares from the students who passed by. Throughout the day the girls were met with glares, they were afraid that someone might try to hurt them but Sunset was there to remind those who wished to harm the girls that there will be grave consequences for their actions. Even when Sunset was not there, the fact that they carry her mark is enough to dissuade them. Not to mention that Sunset’s followers were always keeping a close watch on them.

“You girls ready?”

The CMC turned around to see a smiling Sunset.

“We’re ready,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Good,” Sunset simply said before she grabbed Applebloom by her waist and lifted the surprised girl onto her shoulders.

“S-Sunset! What are yah doing?!” Applebloom asked, shocked by Sunset’s action.

“Don’t you like riding on Applejack’s shoulders?” Sunset questioned.

“Yeah, but…” Applebloom trailed off, her cheeks red in embarrassment as she noticed some students looking. “It’s embarrassing.”

“That’s exactly how your sister along with everyone else felt when you posted their secrets,” Sunset reminded her, once Applebloom was securely on her shoulders she held on to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo’s hands.

“Uh, what’re you doing?” Scootaloo questioned.

“Escorting you to detention,” Sunset answered with a smile.

“But why are you holding our hands?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“So wou two don’t get wost,” Sunset cooed.

“Oh, I get it,” Scootaloo said as she visibly deflated. “You’re treating us like kids.”

“Well you are kids and as the responsible grownup I have to take care of you three,” Sunset stated as she headed towards the detention room.

As they made their way towards their destination, students would openly stare at them which caused the CMC to feel embarrassed. The students were whispering to each other before giggling and some took out their phones to take pictures.

“Don’t worry, if they make a mean post I’ll make sure they take it down,” Sunset assured the young girls.

As they rounded a corner they encountered the Rainbooms.

“Sunset!” Applejack was caught off guard, but then she noticed her sister on her shoulders. “Um, why is mah sister on yer shoulders?”

“Because she is going to be my new heir,” Sunset grinned evilly. “I was so impressed with her work on Anon-A-Miss that I decided to take her under my wing along with her friends.”

“What?!” The CMC was shocked to hear this.

“Sunset, we’re not falling for that,” Rainbow said, grinning slightly.

“Just testing you,” Sunset grinned. “I’m taking them to detention as well as giving them a little taste of what they made everyone go through.”

Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash locked eyes with their sisters/sister figure.

“Be on yer best behavior,” Applejack instructed in a monotone voice.

“You as well, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity said in her usual mature manner.

Rainbow Dash didn’t say anything, she simply let out a sad sigh before walking next to Scootaloo and holding her free hand.

“Need a hand with the kids?” Rainbow Dash grinned. “At least in taking them to detention.”

“Why Dashie, I would be happy to have you along.” Subset’s grin matched Rainbow Dash which caused Scootaloo to pale as she realized what they were going to do. “See you, girls, later.”

Sunset and Rainbow Dash walked past the Rainbooms and they started singing a cutesy song about Scootaloo.

“What an adorable song,” Rarity said.

“I don’t think Scootaloo likes it very much,” Fluttershy noted as she heard Scootaloo yell out ‘Noooo!’.

“Ah reckon it’s Sunset’s way of punishing her fer what she did,” Applejack guessed.

“I wonder if we will face some kind of retribution?” Rarity wondered.

“It won't be underserved,” Applejack said sadly, as the girls made their way to their band room.

Sunset and Rainbow Dash are happily walking and singing a cutesie song about Scootaloo who’s dying of embarrassment, when they finally arrived, Rainbow Dash kneeled in front of Scootaloo.

“You be a good girl, okay?” Rainbow Dash said as she pinched Scootaloo’s cheeks.

Sunset ushered the girls inside and was about to go in herself when Rainbow Dash stopped her.

“Sunset do you-”

“Hold it right there, Rainbow Dash.” Sunset interrupted Rainbow. “Let’s save it for tomorrow shall we?”

“Right,” Rainbow Dash agreed, feeling a little disappointed as Sunset entered the detention room.

During detention, the CMC worked on their apology for Sunset as they were glared at by the other students. A loud crunching sound caught their attention as they turned to see Sunset doing her homework while crushing a rock in her hand into dust before crushing it again back into a rock. That display made them visibly gulp as they did their homework, the CMC saw Sunset look at them briefly before winking at them. The CMC smiled as they got back to writing their apology, feeling safe that Sunset was watching over them.

XXX

“Is my hair okay?” Rarity asked her friends as they were all getting ready to perform for a local charity that helps the less fortunate.

“Yer hair is fine, Rarity.” Applejack assured her.

“Alright girls, let's blow them away!” Rainbow Dash said, her spirits high.

“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie shared Rainbow’s enthusiasm, her hair regaining its full puffiness.

The Rainbooms went on stage and played their hearts out, the crowd loved their music and energy. All their worries seemed to be gone as they got lost in their music, it's as if the events of the last couple of days never happened. When they finished their song, they received thunderous applause.

“That certainly livened up everyone’s spirits!” the charity host said with a bright smile. “Let’s have another round of applause for the Rainbooms!”

The crowd was more than happy to comply as they cheered for the Rainbooms.

“I want to thank our event organizer for not only booking this amazing band of talented young ladies but also making this event possible,” the host gestures to someone off stage. “Please give a round of applause to Sunset Shimmer!”

The crowd cheers as Sunset walks on stage, the Rainbooms are shocked to not only see Sunset here but to find out that she was the one who got them this gig.

“Thank you, everyone, it’s been a great privilege to organize this event for such a great cause.” Sunset started to say. “Let us be grateful for what we have and cherish those we hold dear, but we must never forget those who are not as fortunate as us and do our best to help them.”

The crowd applauded Sunset’s moving words as she and the host moved off stage.

“That was some very impactful words,” the charity host was impressed.

“Thanks, it’s what my mother always told me around the holidays,” Sunset said, she had always heard her mother say this when addressing her ponies in Canterlot during Hearths Warming.

“Your mother sounds very wise, she must be very proud of you.” the charity host said.

Sunset merely smiled before she and the host parted ways, she saw the Rainbooms and walked over to them.

“Good job girls, everyone loved your performance.” Sunset thanked her former friends.

“Sunset, since when were you the organizer for this event?” Rarity asked.

“Back when you girls thought I was Anon-A-Miss and I was messing with you,” Sunset answered, giving the girls a wink.

“How long were yah planning to keep this up fer?” Applejack asked curiously.

“Until you either wised up or your sisters confessed,” Sunset answered.

The Rainbooms didn’t say anything, only looking away in shame.

“I’ll see you girls tomorrow,” Sunset bid her former friends goodbye as she walked away.

“Just goes to show that we don’t know anything about Sunset,” Applejack sadly pointed out.

“More like we never bothered to,” Rainbow Dash adds.

The Rainbooms pack up their instruments and head home to prepare for the sleepover.

XXX

“Ah’m home!” Applejack called out as she entered her home.

“Welcome back, Applejack.” Granny Smith greeted her granddaughter.

“Hey there, Granny.” Applejack greeted her grandmother. “Where’s Applebloom?”

“She’s in her room doing her homework,” Granny Smith answered as she turned around. “Her girlfriend is with her, ah figured with the real culprit behind Anon-A-Miss confessing, she was proven innocent of any wrongdoing and ah apologize fer mah mistake.”

Applejack felt guilty for accusing Diamond Tiara of being in league with Sunset. That’s twice she had been wrong about two former bullies.

“Ah’d better go and apologize,” Applejack said as she went up the stairs and towards Applebloom’s room. “Applebloom, can ah come in?” Applejack asked as she knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Applebloom answered.

Applejack opened the door to see Diamond Tiara and Applebloom sitting in the bed with their textbooks, she noticed Diamond Tiara looked a little nervous.

“Granny Smith said it was okay for Diamond to be here!” Applebloom quickly said as she noticed her sister’s gaze on her girlfriend, she placed an assuring hand on top of Diamond Tiara’s.

“Ah know, listen, Diamond Tiara, ah’m sorry fer accusing yah of something yah never did.” Applejack remorsefully apologized. “Ah let mah frustration with Sunset get the better of me and lashed out.”

“It’s alright, Applejack.” Diamond Tiara assured her. “I understand what it’s like to let your anger get the better of you, so apology accepted.”

“Thanks, sugarcube.” Applejack thanked Diamond Tiara, seeing that she indeed has changed. Just like Sunset. “Maybe it was us that didn’t change,” Applejack whispered.

“What was that, Applejack?” Applebloom asked, not hearing what her sister said.

“It’s nothin’,” Applejack said. “Ah’ll be over at Fluttershy’s for a sleepover, make sure Applebloom does her homework, sugarcube.” Applejack winked at Diamond Tiara.

“Leave it to me!” Diamond Tiara said enthusiastically.

Applejack left the room and went to her room to get ready for the sleepover, her mind started to go over what she had realized about her being the one who didn’t change.

“That’s one more thing the girls and ah have to reflect on.”

XXX

Rarity arrived home and went straight to her room to prepare for the sleepover, as she put away her keytar, she noticed something buried under a pile of fabric. She removed the fabric and was deeply saddened at what she found, it was Sunset’s present that had its bow removed, the wrapping ripped, the box caved in and tossed aside. Rarity picked up the discarded gift, trailing a finger along the ruffed up box.

“Is Sunset as easily discarded?” Rarity questioned.

A knock on her door broke her out of her thoughts as she quickly turned around to see Sweetie Belle.

“Mom says if you want dinner?” Sweetie Belle asked nervously.

“Tell mother that I won’t be needing dinner, I’ll be staying at Fluttershy’s for a sleepover.” Rarity answered as she walked over to her closet, she placed the box aside as she looked for the clothes she would need for the sleepover.

Sweetie Belle noticed the ruined gift and realized that it was the gift Rarity was going to give Sunset, she felt shame and guilt for her hand in probably ruining the gift.

“Rarity, I’m-”

“Now is not the time,” Rarity cut off Sweetie Belle, not even looking at her little sister.

“But…” Sweetie Belle trailed off, tears welling up in her eyes.

Rarity sighed as she turned around to face her sister.

“We’ll talk about this later, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity told her. “I’ve got a more pressing matter to attend to and the deadline is tomorrow.”

“W-what is it?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“My friendship with Sunset,” Rarity answered sadly as she went back to rummaging through her closet.

Sweetie Belle gave her sister one last sad look before she left, she wondered if Rarity’s friendship with Sunset can be saved.

XXX

Rainbow Dash quickly put the stuff she would need for Fluttershy’s sleepover in her backpack and was about to head out of her room when she noticed the picture of her and Scootaloo on her nightstand, as well as the picture of her and her friends. But one member has been cut out. Rainbow Dash sighed with regret, after they cut Sunset out of their lives, she got rid of anything that had to do with her former friend. Knowing that Sunset was innocent the whole time made her room feel incomplete now, she took out Sunset’s journal from her backpack and held it in her hands. For a brief moment her room felt complete, Rainbow Dash put the journal away and hurried to Fluttershy’s house.

XXX

Fluttershy heard a knock on her door and hurried to open it.

“Hey there, Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash greeted her long time friend.

“Hi, Rainbow.” Fluttershy greeted back. “Please come in.”

“Thanks,” Rainbow Dash thanked Fluttershy as she entered her house, she looked around the house nervously.

“Don’t worry, Zephyr Breeze won’t be bothering us,” Fluttershy assured Rainbow Dash. “I’ve told him that we are having a very serious discussion and understood.”

“Really?” Rainbow Dash was surprised to hear this. “Usually he doesn’t give in this easily.”

“That just means he understands how serious this is for us,” Fluttershy said, her tone serious. “A friendship is on the line.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash solemnly agreed, she followed Fluttershy up to her room where the rest of their friends were waiting.

“Hi, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie greeted her friend as she went to hug her.

“Hey, Pinkie.” Rainbow greeted back as she returned the hug.

“We’re all here now, shall we get started?” Rarity asked as she sat on Fluttershy’s bed, already wearing her nightgown.

“How do we even start this?” Rainbow Dash asked as she sat on the floor, taking out Sunset’s journal and placing it on her lap.

“By sharing our feelings on Sunset,” Fluttershy spoke. “The good and the bad.”

“I’ll start first,” Rarity volunteered. “After what Sunset did to me at the Spring Fling, I despised her. I vowed to get my revenge on her no matter how long it took, even after we promised Twilight to look after her, I reveled in her defeat and the position of power I had over her.”

Rarity started trembling, her anger rising before she took a deep breath to calm herself.

“Naturally I and Sunset grew close as a result of us spending so much time together,” a small smile appeared on Rarity’s lips. “Sunset is a fantastic artist, she would become very shy when I compliment her drawings. She had this amazing grace about her when she modeled for me, like a royal. This makes sense with her being an actual princess, it was after the battle of the bands that our friendship took off. Sunset was more confident, she was like her old self but without the evil. She helped me with my fashion designs as we bounced ideas off each other, she is also a great listener and gives great advice. There’s also this air of mystery about her being a woman from another world, it sounds romantic.”

“My hatred for Sunset started to disappear, I was very happy for her when it appeared that she earned the forgiveness of the other students. Even before the battle of the bands, I admired her determination to make up for her mistakes and never giving up when the odds were against her. Before I even realized it, Sunset had become someone I cared about. Someone who I was proud to call family.” Rarity’s smile dropped. “Or so I thought.”

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Pinkie Pie offering her an assuring smile, Rarity placed her hand on top of her in appreciation.

“Anon-A-Miss opened up an old wound that I thought healed, and just like that Sunset was no longer family and easily thrown away like outdated fashion.”

Rarity wiped her eyes with a napkin, she looked like she was done.

“Guess ah’ll go next,” Applejack volunteered. “Ah didn’t hate Sunset, ah just found her frustrating and a little too big fer her britches. So ah put her to work on the farm, yah can tell a lot about a person by their work ethic and Sunset is a hard worker. She never complained about the work being too hard or if there was too much, she just did as she was told. Though she did complain about working so early.”

Applejack chuckled, remembering how much Sunset hated to be up at dawn.

“Some of us weren’t raised in a barn,” Rainbow Dash joked as she recalled the times they would help Applejack on the farm so early in the morning.

“Anyway, ah got Sunset to open up a bit and she told me that she’s no stranger to hard work. Especially when she came to our world,” Applejack’s smile faltered a bit. “She had no one to depend on and had to struggle to make a comfortable living, she was completely alone. After the Battle of The Bands, Sunset opened up and was more talkative when she helped out on the farm. Yah know somethin’, ah assumed that being from the same magical world, Sunset would struggle with physical stuff like Twilight. Turns out I was wrong, too bad it wouldn’t be the first time.”

Applejack glanced at the journal in Rainbow Dash’s lap, Sunset wrote about how grateful she was to her about the sleepovers.

“Sunset is pretty strong, almost as strong as me. But when Sunset was helpin’ us at the farm our tractor flipped over so we went to go get the right tools to flip it over. When we came back, to our surprise the tractor was already flipped over with Sunset standing next to it.” Applejack explained.

“So Sunset flipped over your tractor?” Rainbow Dash questioned. “It makes sense since we’ve seen how strong she is first hand.”

“Yeah but ah had no idea at the time,” Applejack said. “We asked Sunset and she jokingly said she flipped it over, we all had a good laugh and that was that. But ah couldn’t help but wonder what Sunset did to our tractor.” Applejack chuckled as she shook her head. “Thinking back on it now, Sunset is very humble. Never once took credit fer something she did and always downplayin’ her part in group achievements, she put the needs of the group before herself. Ah did notice how Sunset would look at me and my family with a look of jealousy like she badly wanted what we had.”

“When the Holidays came around and Sunset explained how she always spent it alone, ah wasn’t going to let a friend of mine be alone this time of year. Ah thought of Sunset as family,” tears welled up in Applejack’s eyes. “But if that were true, why did ah throw her way so easily?”

The girls huddled around Applejack and hugged her tightly as she cried.

“Even as she begged us! In tears! ah still didn’t listen!” Applejack sobbed, clinging to her friends for support. The support that she denied Sunset.

“It wasn’t just you that turned your back on her, remember?” Rainbow Dash reminded her rival/friend. “Don’t put all the blame on yourself.”

The girls held Applejack until she was feeling a little better.

“My turn now,” Rainbow Dash spoke up after making sure Applejack would be alright. “To be honest, I couldn’t wait to teach Sunset about friendship! I was pissed at her for making me appear to be disloyal and breaking us up, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to take Sunset under my wing and show the whole school what a great mentor I am!”

“Of course,” Applejack rolled her eyes playfully, Rainbow always loves to play the hero and show off.

“I showed Sunset what friends are supposed to do by showing her what a great friend I am to everyone,” Rainbow Dash bragged.”I got her to volunteer as the goalie for the soccer team and boy was she as bad as Twilight, it didn’t help that she was as timid as Fluttershy too!”

Rainbow Dash chuckled as she looked at the journal.

“But as Rarity said, there’s this mystery about Sunset that made me rethink everything I assumed about her.” Rainbow Dash said. “The next time she completely blocked all the balls, she told me she analyzed everyone's movements or something and figured out the direction the ball would go. I then decided to test that and went up against Sunset, naturally, she couldn’t keep up with me. But the more we practiced, the better Sunset got and soon she was decent competition for me. Things just got better after the battle of the bands, we started hanging out more, she would help me with my homework in a way that I can understand.”

Tears welled up in Rainbow Dash’s eyes as she continued recalling.

“One time I accidentally broke one of the school’s windows and Sunset took the blame for me,” Rainbow Dash’s hands started trembling. “I had a really important game that day that we would’ve probably lost if I had detention, Sunset knew this...and that’s why she took the blame. I tried to tell Principal Celestia the truth but Sunset didn’t let me.”

Rainbow Dash brought up the journal until it touched her forehead, tears running down her cheeks.

“Sunset had my back...that should’ve made it very clear that she would never betray me! But no, I called her a traitor and severed our friendship!”

Now it was Rainbow Dash’s turn to be comforted by her friends, the girls held their distraught friend close, comforting her in her time of need.

Author's Note:

The girls are finally having an honest discussion about Sunset, but is it already too late? I hope you enjoy the chapter and I look forward to your comments.