Marceline's Sun

by Wanderer D

Chapter 02: Better Off Dead

Marceline's Sun
Chapter 02: Better Off Dead
By Wanderer D

Sunset, Marceline, Fluttershy and Celestia were sitting at a large round table under a heavy green canvas outside of the Forest Inn, provided to them by the Forest Wizard. The canvas was thick enough that it blocked the sun quite efficiently, but Marceline had insisted on still wearing a wide straw hat, her jacket, and sunglasses to further protect herself from the sun.

Having been invited to the concert, they had been offered a complementary breakfast, which the owners of the Inn had been gracious enough to extend to Celestia and Fluttershy as well.

Their unexpected guests sat quietly, watching as squirrels, birds, deer, racoons and fairies brought snacks and drinks for all of them.

Sunset fought to keep herself calm, despite wanting to be anywhere else.

Flashbacks to her exile had haunted her for decades, until she had finally forced herself to cope with both the guilt and pain. All she had been told by the Elements was that forgiveness would be essential, and then she was dumped in the middle of a destroyed city.

After two hundred years in this world, she had thought all the people she had known from Canterlot High were already dead and gone, and by five hundred years here, they were nothing more but a distant guilt that had taught her that there would always be consequences to how she treated others.

And now, suddenly, almost thousand years after getting dumped in this world like so much trash, here were two of her old acquaintances, proving if anything, that fate and destiny really had it for her.

She watched as their guest's eyes widened in fascination when Marceline picked up an apple and sucked the red out of it, leaving it perfectly white before putting it down again. Soon after, Fluttershy poked it cautiously with a finger, eyes wide with disbelief.

Sunset, for her part, was brooding. A thousand years. It was impossible for a normal human to live that long. More so if that human was already an adult in their thirties, then adding the centuries to follow on top. But not only was Principal Celestia looking just as Sunset remembered, but Fluttershy wasn't someone she'd want to see at all... either older or looking just like she did when she had wished Sunset gone.

"I don't want her around. I want to feel safe!"

When the rainbow of harmony had hit her, Sunset had not only heard, but felt the thoughts and emotions of Twilight's 'friends' as they used the power of the Elements of Harmony on her. Fluttershy's thoughts were still an echo in her memories of that rainbow storm of pain that had thrown Sunset across dimensions. Her thoughts and her feelings.

Sunset really didn't want to be there. Especially not with Fluttershy. But what could she do? When Celestia had woken up, she had latched onto her like a barnacle on the hull of a galleon, bawling her eyes out and occasionally babbling understandable words such as: 'sorry', 'failed', and 'happy' in between sobs of gibberish.

Marceline had immediately jumped in to dislodge her, trying both to be forceful enough and yet not break the fragile human. At that time Fluttershy, who—after screaming "vampire!" with an odd amount of hope mixed with dread, then "demon?!" then (with much more fear) "SUNSET SHIMMER!" had jumped behind the bed, repeating over and over: "PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" like a mantra before Sunset had been able to calm her down.

After some talking, the pair had been steady enough to be offered breakfast… which was why they were outside.

Sunset watched as Fluttershy giggled with delight when a pair of woodland creatures poured some tea for her. Sure, she had considered that time-dilation could potentially be an issue between her second world/universe and this one, but the thought had been discarded long ago, when it stopped being important.

Just how much time had passed back in Canterlot City? A day? A week? A year? More than that seemed out of the question, or Celestia would look much older, but other than looking exhausted, her former teacher looked pretty much as she had the day Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy and their friends had blasted Sunset into oblivion.

But all that was purely academic. The more pressing question was… "How did you get here?"

Celestia, who was in the middle of sipping her tea, looked up, blinking. She carefully placed the cup on its plate before clearing her throat. "Well, Sunset… I don't quite understand the process myself, it was mostly Wallflower Blush who figured it out."

"Wallflower Blush?" Sunset repeated. "She sounds kind of familiar."

"She's one of the students you—" Fluttershy stumbled with a slight tremble of fear. "She used…" she glanced at Celestia, who smiled encouragingly. She squirmed in place, darting her eyes from the school principal to the former school bully. "I-I need to go." She stood up suddenly, and quickly made her way into the Inn, leaving the three of them alone.

"What's her problem?" Marceline asked.

"There are many things that currently worry Fluttershy," Celestia replied carefully, as if considering each word before speaking. "But she has a history with Sunset Shimmer, and I believe that will cause trust to come slowly."

Sunset frowned, a pang of guilt in her gut, followed by resentment. It was a thousand years ago! She barely remembered what she had done to Fluttershy, but—if her memory served her right—the girl had been so inconsequential and unobtrusive that she hadn't been the target of Sunset's focus... for the most part.

"Well, why don't you tell us, Celestia?" she asked instead.

"I'm afraid I don't know exactly myself, it seemed to involve a magical rock that came into Wallflower Blush's possession, and using it on the portal somehow. She didn't have much time to explain before we could all try to escape."

Sunset sighed, wondering if Fluttershy knew anything at all and what it would take to get her talking. That would not be a fun conversation, even if it needed to happen. So she shelved that for later. "Fine, but you said: 'escape', what happened?"

Celestia stared at her tea, seeming to gather her thoughts. "After you were gone, Twilight Sparkle and her dog left as well… She had some strong words for Rainbow Dash and company, and they were not kind. The whole school heard her, and… well, she essentially accused them of murdering you in front of everyone there."

"What?!" Marceline gasped. "They tried to murder you?!" She started floating off of her seat, no doubt intending to have some words with Fluttershy, but Sunset stopped her.

"It's fine. If they hadn't done that I wouldn't be here."

"Right." Celestia sighed. "Things changed a little bit as the dust settled the following days and it finally dawned on everyone that you were dead." She blinked, clearing her throat. "Or at least that's what we thought. In any case, the fact that you were simply not there anymore slowly sank in, and the vast majority of the school all agreed you didn't deserve to die."

"Thanks?" Sunset said, shifting in her seat. "I'm not sure how I should feel about them having to think about it to come to that conclusion."

"Luna and I… we weren't happy with how things turned out." Celestia licked her lips as if they had gone dry. "We failed you all. At some point, we failed to push that anger and ambition of yours into something positive. We failed the students because we focused on the wrong thing… and they suffered for our oversight so much so they wanted you… d-gone.

"We couldn't stop Twilight from just leaving after shouting at the girls, but I also didn't have the energy to talk to her after her words hit." Celestia sighed, drinking some tea to give herself a moment. "You were one of the most brilliant, brave, resourceful and strong students I've ever met. Every teacher respected you and looked forward to your future… and you were suddenly gone, because we all allowed what was happening under our noses to continue."

"It's not like I was some innocent child that didn't know what she was doing. Everything I did was calculated and deliberate," Sunset countered. "Well. Almost everything. I didn't plan on turning into a demon and actually attacking anyone with fireballs, but I guess we have to roll with the punches."

"Yes." Celestia looked at the trees and animals and strange creatures running around. She looked at Marceline and then to Sunset. "But it seems that in this world you haven't feel the need to do any of that."

"The elements cleansed me—"

"They showed you there was another way," Celestia interrupted firmly. "Twilight said she felt that there was good in you and that what you really needed was a clearer mind… a different perspective.

"According to her, if used correctly, the Elements force you to take a good look at yourself, and only if there is no wish to redeem yourself, to be better would different actions be taken, like exiling you to the moon, or turning you to stone." She fiddled with a cookie on the table with her finger. "But she also said that never had the Element Bearers wished someone… harmed like the others had."

"You mean dead," Sunset corrected.

"So…" Marceline spoke up before Celestia could tackle that comment. "What does that boil down to, lady? No offense, but you ramble a lot."

"I am still trying to figure out if I'm delusional, dead, or asleep. But I will try to summarize my thoughts, young lady." Celestia gave her a steady look and took a deep breath. "It just means… that to me and the other teachers, the meaning of Twilight's words was that we could have done better for someone we wanted to succeed in life. Beyond the grades. We should have acted when you started lashing out and bullied the first student." She locked eyes with Sunset. "And at that we failed and it cost everyone a lot more than anyone could have predicted."

"Well," Marceline said with a shrug, "it worked out in the end." She scooted over to Sunset and threw her arm over her shoulders, pulling her closer. "Those girls think they got their wish and I got my big sister!"

Sunset smiled and gave Marceline a return squeeze around the shoulders. "Yeah. It all worked out."

"I'm glad that you found your place here so quickly." Celestia's smile was bittersweet. "But doesn't it bother you that they just wanted you… dead?"

"It stopped bothering me a long time ago that they wanted me dead, Celestia. I never thought I'd see any of you again, and quite frankly without that lot and a way back to Equestria, I finally found peace with who I am."

"Oh." Marceline and Sunset exchanged glances, but kept quiet as Celestia cringed, then gathered herself and continued, not lifting her eyes from her cup. "A-Anyway, after Twilight left, we tried to get things back to… as normal as we could make it. We held a funeral for you, and with the portal closed… we thought that, however tragic, it would be the last time we'd have to deal with magic."

Sunset leaned forward. "Did someone else come through the portal?"

"No. They… were already in our world. They said they were Sirens."

"Huh, like the ones in the junkyard?" Marceline asked.

"Probably not," Sunset grimaced. "They might be from my world."

Celestia glanced up from her tea to Sunset. "We were having a competition, and they started singing… they brainwashed the students into becoming violent, then into worshiping them." She held her cup in her hands, staring at it as if the sunlight reflecting on the tea was playing what transpired.

"Luna and I fell for it too, but Fluttershy and the other girls were not as affected and managed to separate us from the sirens long enough for Wallflower to remove the siren's influence from me with her stone, she opened the portal but… it seems that only Fluttershy and I made it." She looked down. "And now we're here."

Sunset and Marceline looked at each other and shrugged.

"Well, that's too bad," Marceline said, "but at least you made it out, right? It might take some time to get used to Ooo, but I'm sure you two'll manage."

Celestia looked up, frowning. "What?"

"The forest here is pretty friendly," Sunset elaborated, "just make sure you don't piss off the Forest Wizard and you'll be okay. But he's a nice guy, so he'll probably help get you started."

"You're not going to help us?" Celestia asked.

"No?" Sunset shrugged. "I've made a life here and I don't see the point of going back to a place where I'm not wanted. Besides, Fluttershy always had a way with animals, right? I think a couple of deer I saw earlier are single."

Celestia gave her an incredulous look. "You can't be serious, don't you—"

"I left Equestria because I felt it was the only way to get what I wanted… and I didn't get it." Sunset interrupted. "I lived in Canterlot City and thought only of what I didn't get in my previous home, and only made others miserable to the point that Fluttershy and most likely the rest of the school thought they would be better off if I died."

"They're teenagers, Sunset," Celestia insisted. "They react strongly to—"

"Celestia." Sunset reached over, holding her former principal's hands in her own. "I know you feel bad about what happened, but I wasn't without fault. I've had plenty of time to realize that… I even went to hell for a while and had to face what I did. Just look at what happened earlier. Fluttershy was surprised when she saw Marceline, and she was surprised when she saw me… but when she realized the demon was me, that's when she freaked out!"

Sunset stood up, not meeting her former teacher's eyes and sighed. "When I came here and met Marcie… I found what I wanted. I'm not throwing that away for ponies that didn't appreciate me and made me feel inadequate, or people that I bullied until they ended up hating me.

"Going back—even if I knew how—would only cause us all pain. If not much time passed in Canterlot City, then they really don't need their bully back and I've had plenty of time to get over things. I'm not reopening the wound more than you already have. Come on, Marcie, we're leaving."

"Uh, if you're sure?" Marceline floated up from her seat, giving Celestia a concerned look before following her sister out of the inn.

End Chapter

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

Once the phrase "one thousand years" comes up, this will make a lot more sense to poor Celestia.

I gotta say, it's refreshing to see a plot where the wronged MC doesn't immediately flip around and help out out of the goodness of their heart. This right here is some very nice character development/definition.

[Thunrain]

It will be interesting to see Celestia and Fluttershy trying to adapt to Ooo, I hope that the other maine 6 will appear in the story

[The Voice in the Water]

Funny that Celly and Flutters thought Sunset would just drop everything to come help them.

[yonalkaru]

awesome chapter dude and wow, once celestia finds out sunset has been here for over 1 thousand years i wonder what her reaction will be?

[FanOfMostEverything]

Hmm. This does raise some interesting questions. Where are the others? When are they? What side effects might come from using the Memory Stone to override the portal? Will Sunset ever try to go back and deal with the sirens? Is it even possible?

Fascinating stuff. Looking forward to further developments.

[ChaosDX1]

Sunset turns them down and with some damn good reasons too! Love it!

Of course I am very familiar with the "refusing the call to action" trope so this plot thread probably won't be ending here.

[Pinklestia]

Can't say I blame Sunset, for her it has been a long time. Also with how much the Humane 5 hate her, any friendship magic to defeat the Sirens just wouldn't work. Also there is the risk of Sunset getting mind controlled; that would just make things worse as the Sirens would get a pet demon as bodyguard.