Sunset Heritage

by luckyboys121

Truths Long Forgotten

Sunset tried to eat her bagel as she raggedly breathed and watched as shaky images tried to overtake her vision. The only thing keeping her grounded in reality was Fluttershy rubbing her back and leaning on her shoulder, but at times she felt like that was barely working. It certainly didn't help that as she took the last bite she once again was greeted to her glowing blue and red hand.

The others simply sat in silence as they ate their food and drank their coffee. No one knew what to say, what could they say after all. Sunset was about to be reunited with a mentor she hadn't seen in years, to potentially find out information she had spent her life both longing for and dreading hearing. Perhaps it was the uncomfortable nature of the situation or perhaps a pony princess knew how to hail a cab, but before they knew it they all heard a knock at the door. Sunset lurched as she got up and made her way towards the door, as she tried to think, "OK girl keep it together... deep down you wanted this, and more importantly you need it. Though... maybe you shouldn't get your hopes too high, for all you know Celestia isn't even here yet and you're gonna open the door and see a neighbor or something."

That theory was quickly smashed away as she saw the woman in the regal dress standing before her

The royal gown and bearing made it all the clearer that this was indeed her Celestia and not the principal, even if the messenger bag slung on her back somewhat betrayed the look. As did a look of sorrow and concern as she raised her hand in front of her mouth in shock as she got a good look at Sunset saying, "Oh my... your hoof."

Sunset did her best to keep calm as she moved it in front of her face and lightly chuckled as she said, "Actually it's called a hand and... yeah this is new." She raised her hand and absent mindedly twirled her pointer finger, this turned out to be a mistake though since as her finger moved a blue ring of light trailed behind it, and once it was a complete circle the blue on her hand moved into it leaving her hand now completely red as a blue ball of flame rested in her palm. Sunset only grew even more nervous at this as she said, "And this is even newer." As the others hopped up in concern and Celestia backed away, Sunset did her best to think quickly and calmly... and in doing so she threw the ball of fire out the now clear front door as it struck a garbage can lighting several papers in it. Sunset quickly pulled the princess into the apartment and shut the door before anyone could say anything, as she did this though she noticed the blue return to her hand as she quickly put it behind her back.

Celestia continued to look at Sunset as she said, "Oh Sunset..." she briefly glanced at her face as she said, "And the white in your hair?"

Sunset nodded as she said, "That's part of this too... whatever this is."

Celestia nodded as she said, "I wish I had all the answers you seek, but sadly I only have something that will lead to more questions...." Celestia then glanced around as she noticed the others in the room as she said, "Hello it's nice to meet all of you, and not to sound rude but this might be a conversation me and Sunset should have alone."

Applejack nodded as she said, "Well you heard her yall," as she made her way to the door with the others following behind her. "We'll go look at the shops across the street, most of them should be open by now... just come get us when you're ready."

As Sunset watched them start to exit she grabbed at the nearest one of them, not even realizing who it was until she caught sight of the yellow arm now gripped in her glowing hand. She briefly feared that she could accidentally hurt Fluttershy with it, but she watched at the hand quickly stopped glowing and reverted to normal. She briefly made a mental note of that before she looked up at Fluttershy's light blue eyes as she blushed slightly and said, "Can you please stay... I need someone to keep me grounded."

Fluttershy blushed in turn before she nodded and turned to the others who quickly nodded back before leaving the three alone. "Grounded?" asked Celestia as her concern grew.

Sunset sighed as she and Fluttershy went over to the couch, now holding hands, as Sunset said, "Yeah... I probably should have told you this a long time ago, but I kind of get these weird hallucinations when my heart rate gets too fast."

"Oh my..." said Celestia before she suddenly lowered her head in shame and sat down across from Sunset as she said, "It sounds like I wasn't the only one keeping things hidden."

Instantly Sunset became frazzled at this as she said, "What do you mean... do you... do you know something about this?" She soon felt Fluttershy begin to stroke her back again as her breathing began to settle, and she was infinetly glad she asked her specifically to stay.

Celestia looked down as she said, "No but if I had told you what I'm about to tell you now perhaps this wouldn't be happening... or at the very least it wouldn't be such a shock." Celestia sat for a moment deep in thought as she said, "I suppose I should start with what really happened the night I took you in."

"MY LADY!"

Celestia awoke with a start as one of her royal guards cried out to her. Quickly she got to her hooves as she looked at him saying, "Stout Shield, what's wrong?"

The white stallion took off his helmet as he bowed to her saying, "It's the mirror in the Starswirl the Bearded section of the library it...."

"It what?!" asked Celestia as she thought, "It shouldn't be doing anything, it's only been five moons since it last opened."

Stout Shield simply looked at her as said, "It would be better if you saw it yourself."

In the many years Celestia had been alive she had seen many things, but this was not one of them as she was led into a library that despite its late hour was being lit as if it was day as light constantly flashed from the mirror. She gestured for Stout Shield to stay back as she approached the mirror getting a look at it as she saw that rather then the smooth surface it normally had it flickered as countless images played out before her. She looked at the brief images of unknown creatures and scenarios as she thought, "It... it's flipping between worlds. But that's impossible, Starswirl took most of the secrets on how to operate this mirror with him when he dissapeared including how to change its destination. No one in Equestria knows how to do it... unless." She then braced her hooves as she charged her horn thinking, "Unless the one changing it isn't in Equestria but is trying to come here!" Before Celestia could elaborate on this further the mirror seemed to suddenly change to a large yellow eye with a slit black pupil before the world became bathed in white. Celestia shut her eyes at the sudden sensation as she mentally prepared herself for the probable combat she was about to face. As the light seemed to fade Celestia opened her eyes, ready to confront this invader to her land, only to gasp as she instantly let her combat spell fade away and began approaching what she saw.

"MY LADY BE CAREFUL!" cried out Stout Shield as he tried to rush to her aid.

Celestia simply shushed him as she quietly said, "You'll wake her," as she reached down with her hoof and picked up what came from the mirror.

As Stout Shield approached he finally got a good glimpse at what it was and was stunned. Resting in Celestia's hoof was what appeared to be a sleeping orange foal with a red and yellow mane, wrapped up in a red cloth.

Celestia moved the filly closer as she slightly lifted the cloth noticing several items wrapped up in it with her. She glanced at them briefly before levitating a piece of paper from it in front of her face. She carefully read over the words on it and as the filly began to stir and open her eyes Celestia smiled down at her as she said, "Hello little one, you must be Sunset Shimmer."

The room was filled with a deafening silence. Sunset simply sat their as she began thinking, "All this time... I couldn't have found my parents in Equestria, because they weren't in Equestria." As her brain lurched struggling to make sense of this realization she turned towards Celestia and found herself filled with anger as she said, "Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

Celestia looked away in shame as she said, "I worried that if I did you might cut yourself off from a world you no longer felt was yours."

"WELL THAT'S BECAUSE IT WASN'T!" said Sunset as she suddenly stood up in rage. As she did so her right hand began to glow again, but she didn't seem to notice or care as she said, "The whole time I lived with you, you knew I wasn't really like you and yet you didn't even tell me! You didn't even make an effort to treat me different from your other students, let alone like a child you where looking after!" As the anger began to turn from one topic to another Sunset suddenly found her hand being gripped by Fluttershy and as she looked down at the concerned girl she sighed and did her best to calm down as her hand turned back to normal and she sat back down.

Fluttershy looked at Celestia as she said, "While I'm sure you had your reasons, this is part of Sunset's life and something you should have told her about."

Celestia sighed as she said, "Indeed, especially when she became so curious about the mirror," she then looked at Sunset as she said, "Perhaps on some level you remembered it... maybe that's what these hallucinations are, dormant memories."

Sunset avoided eye contact as while she wanted to calm down for Flutterhsy's sake, she still was feeling resentment towards Celestia, both at this new revelation and her old wounds at separating from the princess opening back up. Celestia let out a slight tear as she said, "I deserve that... and far worse. Sunset I know I made a lot of mistakes in your upbringing... shielding you from truths I thought you couldn't handle as if I was your mother and yet acting entirely professional with you in person... you needed things that I had no idea on how to provide."

"Maybe you could have asked," mumbled Sunset as she looked towards her, any fear she had from the royal now melted away as the last few pieces clicked into place. She thought, "So that's why she never fully treated me like her own, she didn't adopt me because she wanted too... she just felt she needed too!"

Celestia looked down as she said, "Indeed... if I had the humility to admit I didn't know what I was doing we could have avoided so much..."

Sunset slightly perked up at that, as she suddenly felt a tear streak down her own face as her previous thoughts totally dissipated and she came to a new realization thinking, "When I left it hurt her just as much as it did me." She didn't much have time to dwell on that as Celestia then pulled the bag off her back and opened it as she said, "I was never the parental figure you needed... but perhaps I can help you find your real ones."

"What do you mean?" asked Sunset as she watched Celestia pull out a red folded up cloth.

Celestia unfolded it revealing that it was a hooded cloak as she moved it towards Sunset and said, "This is what you where wrapped up in when I found you."

Sunset tentatively stood up and grabbed the cloak, quickly examining it before putting it on. The soft fabric felt understandably familiar and comforting as she briefly nuzzled her cheek on the side of the hood before siting back down as she looked over the cape saying, "This fits me perfectly... like this," as she suddenly had a look of shock as she realized what that meant.

Celestia nodded as she said, "While you may not have come from this world originally, it seems that the form you had in your home world was very similar to this one."

Sunset though on that for a while before saying, "That does explain a little... I remember feeling comfortable almost immediately when I got here, as if my body wasn't even different."

Celestia nodded as she said, "There's more," before reaching into the bag as she pulled out a chain necklace that had a large red gem stone fitted into a odd silver facet. The facet looked somewhat warped as if the one the forging it allowed it to cool in the basic jagged shape the metal fell in rather then molding it into something uniform. Sunset took the necklace as she put it on looking at the resplendent red stone, she turned it over it over in her hand gazing it the back and noticed it was oddly smooth compared to the rest of it, as if it had some kind of engraving that had been sanded off.

Sunset was snapped out of those thought as Celestia spoke up saying, "I had the top gemologist analyze it in hopes of finding out something, anything about it... but it's unlike anything they had ever seen before or since."

Sunset chuckled as she said, "I guess it would be a long shot that Rarity would be able to tell me about it."

Celestia slightly smirked as she said, "It's good to hear your mood has improved." That smirk somewhat faded as she said, "This next item however... I'm not sure if jokes can be made about it." Celestia reached out into the bag and pulled out something that caused the more sensitive Fluttershy to flinch. Resting in Celestia's palm was what appeared to be an ornate black pistol. She quickly flipped it around handle first as Sunset gripped it and began examining it. Sunset was by no means a gunsmith but she could still notice a few oddities about this one. Firstly it's stylized curved handle was totally solid with no way to insert or remove a clip, secondly it's solid black finish appeared to be impossibly shiny and smooth only interrupted by the last oddity, that being the word Jade carved into the side of it in cursive.

"As you can see there is no obvious way to load it, and while for safeties sake I don't recommend pulling the trigger now, in all my attempts it fired nothing.... I'd venture to say it was simply some sort of sculpture or perhaps even a toy, but this would suggest otherwise," said Celestia as she reached into her bag and pulled out the last and likely most important thing.

Sunset sat the pistol on her table as she reached forward to grab the clearly old piece of paper. She hesitantly brought it to her face and began reading, "We're sorry we can't be their for you in person, but we can be with you in spirit. With this cloak you have the protection of your mother, with this necklace you have the treasure of your father, and finally with Jade you have the power of both of us, we love you Sunset Shimmer and we hope that wherever you are you're happy." Sunset found her eyes watering at that as she soon found herself being hugged to Fluttershy's chest as the tears began to flow freely. Sunset thought, "I... I now know my parents loved me and abandoned me because they had to and not because they wanted to... this should make me happy, so why does it just make this feel so much harder?" She tried to think on this further but couldn't as the tears began to increase. She only briefly noticed the warmth on her back as Celestia had joined in to try and comfort her. The three simply sat as Sunset let out a sadness she didn't even know she had.

Author's Note:

And thus Sunset has learned a little about where she has come from. What will this lead too? Find out that and more next chapter, this time next

Artwork by LimeDazzle depicting the Kotokuya Celestia figure check them out on DevianArt

Thanks for reading, hope you liked it, any constructive criticism is welcome, have a great day

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Why isn't there a Sunset Shimmer (Demon) tag?

[luckyboys121]

10695304
Because I didn't know that was a tag. So thank for telling me, and I just added it

[Leo Luce]

Is Bill somehow a part of all this?

[Cobalt Hope]

10695349
I would give that a non zero possibility.

[GRYFFINDOR123456]

I’m adopted as well, so I know how it feels to get news about your real parents and you want to cry

[Cheer]

So. How did Celestia know about guns?

[Hobbestc]

10717516
Equestria has cannons, so I'm pretty sure it has guns. Plus Celestia is thousands of years old. Who knows where she's gone.

[Herald of Opera]

I probably should have realized that the only way anyone else would ever wield Ebony was by prying it out of Dante's cold, dead ready to wake up in the next part of the cutscene hand, but I didn't. Chalk it up to having never actually played Devil May Cry.

[redandready45]

This was handled well...

BTW, that is an excellent picture of Princess Celestia as a human.

Considering she has alicorn powers, she would definitely look very different from the Principal.

[Pr1deM0rn1ngstar]

Suddenly getting a really odd feeling of what would happen if Luz met sunset shimmer