When the Sun Sets on Ceres

It is the way of the world to change. But in the nightclubs on Ceres, where drinks and music flow in equal measure, those changes seem like distant problems. Sunset Shimmer thinks she can escape on past by running to another future, but when someone she knew finds her at the Blue Nova, she'll have no choice but to face the changes that have been waiting for her.

An entry for Bicyclette's Science Fiction Contest

Chapters (1)

Comments ( 5 )

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Chavart

Chavart #1 · Dec 24th, 2021 · 2 · ·

It's a good story. Sci fi space exploration and colonization is always wonderful and the characters have been written well enough to fit into the setting. The concept of a world hopping Sunset or Twilight is interesting and might deserve more attention.

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #2 · Apr 24th, 2022 · 2 · ·

Either bitter or salty, some even claimed an occasional sweetness if you could believe them, but the appeal was in drinking a piece of time, flavours that had been locked away since the formation of the solar system.

gotta admit, that is a pretty cool idea for a drink!

Sunset folded her arms. “More like I thought you wouldn’t. You’re not my mom.”
“Right. Because she’s in the one world you won’t jump to.”

i liked this bit! fun way to do a bit of character background establishment

“Well, shit. Here I am with no gifts for Pinkie. Maybe a space rock? Nah, that’s more her sister’s ballpark.”

yay Maud

“No books? But that’s insane! Forget what I said, this place is the worst.”

hehe, love this

“Whatever,” Sunset blew her off. “This is exactly what I mean about getting my hopes up. I thought we could have a good time. But if you’re not serious about this, you can just leave, like you always do.”

oof! i can imagine this line having been said many times before in their relationship

And with its white luminance, Sunset watched a pulsing laser fry open a hole in Twilight’s environmental suit.

oof, that Sunset hotheadedness leading to bad decisions!

“Nine hour days. It’s already sunset. And I want a sunset selfie. Hah, a sunset selfie with Sunset on Ceres. Say that five times fast.”

hehe, Twilight is right, that is very fun!

And to Sunset’s surprise, she found herself smiling too. Of course she did. She was going home.

i saw what you were doing with this story! in the end, it's really a low-concept story about Sunset and her relationships with a high-concept plot device. there is a very interesting contrast here, with Sunset using transdimensional travel and sci-fi shenanigans to avoid having to deal with drifting apart from her high school friends. that might make it seem like an overreaction, or the story elements being out of scale with each other, but really that is just an extension of the canon's themes, where world-changing magical crises and abilities are used to tell stories about learning how to be better people and friends. that said high-concept background being mundane space colonization is a combination rarely seen, and special for that.

She looked in her palm, imagining the crystal. “With enough time, not even this is going to be special.”

and i just wanted to finally remark on how this is a great encapsulation of the story's theme. it's an understandable need, to see the relationships with the people we care about as something that will be singular and special forever. but needing to see things that way can lead us to valuing the idea of said relationship over the relationship itself, and subsequent bad paths and decisions, as demonstrated in the story. great stuff!

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