A Past Returned

by TacoTues4Eva

Monday Dec 26 a

Cornelia was actually feeling a little giddy as both Susan and Sunset supported her with her plans. It was the first time family actually supported her like this, despite the two not truly her family, or at least not yet. Elizabeth had threatened to disown her the last time she brought up wanting to change her style as the woman more or less pushed her ideas of how she should look onto Cornelia. Harold was too much of a coward to stand up to his wife to support Cornelia, usually only stepping up to protect her when it looked like things were getting out of hand. While she did appreciate that and loved her dad, even if he truly wasn’t her father by blood, a part of her hated him for letting Elizabeth run wild through their home. And Lillian, the girl did love Cornelia, but there was nothing she could have really done for Cornelia other than what she did, being there for her when needed. True the sisters bickered at times, a lot more than they should have, but they did love each other.

Now she was armed with several gift cards and an allowance Susan had given her combined with the Christmas money she had. It was more than enough to do what she planned, and she was eager to get started. Finding the salon in the mall, she was able to actually get right in thanks to a couple of cancellations. So it was a short time later that she stepped out with some of her hair missing and kept it long, but not insanely so like her mother had pushed her to keep it as. She loved her long hair, but when it was as long as it was before it was a pain to take care of. She now sported pink streaked into the bottom half of her hair leaving it look a lot like one of her favorite comic book characters.

As she browsed through one of the clothing stores nearby she was lucky to find some of what she was looking for pretty quickly. She bought a few pairs of black shorts, black sports bras, a couple zip up hoodies that were pink, and black boots that came just under her knees. She paid for her items and headed to the most likely place to have the last item on her list, the store that had all of that pop and fantasy stuff. She was lucky to find what she was looking for right as she entered the store. And they even had several of them in her size so she grabbed one to get a better look at it, the midriff bearing a white top with pink hems and a large pink spider across the chest. After she took her purchases to the restroom and changed, she headed back out wondering if she should take up the drums. Of course she was also nervous others would make fun of her for dressing as Gwen Stacey, but she didn’t really care at the moment. She was finally free to do what she wanted and she intended to enjoy it.

“Cornelia?” A voice gasped, surprising the girl. Turning to find the voice, Cornelia came face to face with Irma. “Wow girl, looking good!”

“You think? It isn’t too much?” Cornelia asked, all of a sudden feeling a little self conscious.

“I think you look great! Are you here alone?” Irma asked.

“Yeah, Mo-Ms. Vandom had some things she had to take care of and Sunset said she needed a little time to think.” Cornelia sighed. “She loaned me one of her cars since her other was dropped off this morning after it got fixed.”

“Want me to help carry this out? Maybe we can hang out if you want? Hay Lin should be coming soon.” Irma asked.

“That would be great, thank you.” Cornelia said, giving her friend a bright smile.

---

Sunset was still trying to figure out how she should feel about the news that her old life’s father was wanting to meet her and maybe get to know each other. It worried her a little as he knew about magic and she was worried he may have had an ulterior motive in wanting to meet. What if he wanted to blackmail her into using her magic for something nefarious? She would never give into that, and if he threatened her family she would make sure he never got another chance again. She would never kill him of course, but she couldn’t say the same for the things in the Everfree.

“I’m glad I found you, Sunset!” Susan called from across the street, the woman waving as she ran over to join the teen.

“What’s wrong, mom?” Sunset asked, seeing that Susan seemed to be worked up about something. “Did you get everything done?”

“Yep, all’s done. Though I do have a surprise for you!” Susan beamed, taking Sunset’s hand and pulling her along.

“You don’t have to rush so fast, mom!” Sunset giggled, hurrying to keep pace before noticing the bracelet she had on this morning was missing. “What happened to your bracelet?”

“Huh? My bracelet?” Susan asked, a little confused. “Oh! My arm was getting sore so I had to take it off for a little bit.”

“I’m sorry, maybe it was the gems touching your skin.” Sunset sighed, never thinking about that. Twilight and Martin made sure they were smooth and barely moved past the metal so it shouldn’t have bothered her, but some people are just more prone to minor irritants than others. While it felt like nothing was off with the bracelet when she tried it on, her mother may have felt differently.

“Probably, anyways we are almost there!” Susan said, sounding a little more enthusiastic than usual. Sunset followed her into the area near the mall with all of the construction where there were two men with pale, maybe blonde hair waiting there at the center. It was hard to tell the actual color as it seemed to be shifting with the angle of the sun.

“Don’t you dare Susan!” A red haired man screamed angrily coming from the opposite way just as Susan pushed Sunset towards the two men, hands on her shoulders a little too tight.

“Remember our deal?” Susan asked with a smirk, Sunset not liking the look of it as she looked back over her shoulder at the woman.

“Of course. Cedric, if you would.” One of the two men said, the other smirking. As soon as Tony was between them, the man called Cedric drove his hand through Tony’s chest making blood splatter across Sunset’s face causing the girl to freeze in horror.

“You might want to say goodbye to your father honey, then again you will be joining him soon.” Susan snarled, clutching Sunset’s shoulders tighter.

“Get away from her!” A bald man snarled, stepping out of a portal before waving his hand and knocking the two men and Susan away from Tony and Sunset.

“Tony?” Sunset sobbed, falling to her knees and crawling over to the red haired man.

“I’m so sorry.” The man said sadly, holding his hands in the air and creating a purple barrier that was mostly see through. Cedric had changed into a large green naga with yellow stripes and a red natural face mask. He was slamming his fist into the barrier over and over again, making the barrier waver. The bolts of energy from the other man added to the effect as they struck the dome faster and faster.

“What’s going on?” Sunset asked in disbelief.

“I’m sorry, my child, I arrived too late.” The bald man sighed. “Forgive me, I am the Oracle of Kandrakar, its elected leader. I learned of a plot by that woman to trade you to Prince Phobos and Cedric so they could get the Heart of Kandrakar in exchange for killing that man and a place at his side when they recapture Meridian.”

“My mom would never do that!” Sunset seethed, “They must be controlling her mind. They did it before.”

“I’m sorry, child, but I’m not so sure. I don’t feel any enchantments placed on Ms. Vandom. Where are the other guardians? I’m not strong enough to keep them at bay much longer. If we are to save Mr. Vandom there, we need to finish this quickly!” The Oracle grunted as he struggled to keep the barrier going.

“They aren’t here, I can handle them though!” Sunset snarled as she stood up.

“While I admire your bravery child, this is a match up you can’t hope to win on your own. Phobos has the ability to absorb any magic thrown at him and redirect it back at you.” The Oracle groaned, “There might be one chance though, if you could overload Phobos to the point of overpowering his ability, we might have a chance.”

“So I just need to change and keep zapping him?” Sunset asked, pulling the Heart out ready to transform.

“It wouldn’t be enough power, you would have to go full elemental to have full access to your true power.” The Oracle grunted as he nearly fell to a knee from the last combined strike of the two as Susan was screaming obscenities at Sunset, calling her barnyard trash.

“How do I do that?” Sunset asked after a few moments. She couldn’t help worrying about Susan and Tony as the man lay dying and the woman she had come to love as a mother was trying her best to tear her down. She had to believe that it was mind control, but she didn’t sense any spells like that on her. Sunset could sense some kind of magic around her, but the barrier seemed to be making it hard to trace just what it was.

“While I don’t condone this, desperate times call for desperate measures. Go into your first guardian form as your second form blocks this power. Then use all of your emotions including your dark ones, your fears and hate, your anger at any betrayals you feel. Your rage at what is going on around you and focus on it. Concentrate on pushing it into your magic and push your magic past your limits. Let yourself feel the pure energy of quintessence in you and become one with it.” The Oracle hurriedly explained.

Sunset didn’t want to admit it, but she was scared. She was scared that she was going to lose the father she just met. She was scared that maybe the last week had all been a lie, though she truly didn’t want to believe that. She was scared of admitting that she just may be in over her head as she felt her magic just barely and had a strong feeling that those two men out there had somehow come up with a way to block her magic. Or maybe it was Phobos himself if he could really absorb magic which would possibly be affecting her already.

“Don’t Sunset! Just…run…please!” Tony gasped out.

Shutting her eyes, a few tears dripped out as she shakily held out the Heart and sobbed out, “Guardians unite!” Soon after the change, Sunset flew towards the two men and threw the largest lightning bolt she could at the two. The man held up his hand and absorbed the attack while chuckling. Sunset didn’t even have a chance to respond when a large tail curtsey of Cedric slammed into her sending her flying several feet and crashing into the ground hard.

“Thanks for the snack, guardian.” Phobos laughed as he sent a bolt of energy at Sunset making her scream in pain as it struck her.

“You have to focus on your feelings and accept the change!” The Oracle called out as Sunset climbed to her feet.

“Why?” Sunset sobbed out, “Why does everyone betray ME?!”

Wind started churning around Sunset wildly as her body started to flicker, changing from a pink energy form in the shape of a human and back. With one final sob energy exploded outward and Sunset was left standing there at nine feet tall as a feminine shaped being of energy.

“You did it, guardian.” The Oracle said in a sad voice, looking around at the devastation around him. “You did it.”

Sunset didn’t say anything or move as she just floated there, no other people were left standing there other than the Oracle and herself. Waving a hand, a portal appeared and he motioned for the large woman to go through, which she did. Moments later the man followed through and the portal closed as Nerissa and the rest of her group appeared there.

“We’re too late!” Yan Lin sobbed out as she dropped to her knees.

“Not yet we aren’t, right Rissy?” Cassidy asked, kneeling down to hug the sobbing woman.

“Right you are Cassidy. We have a few preparations to make, then we can go get our little firecracker back.” Nerissa said.

Author's Note:

I wanted to thank Sunny Scriber for once again doing such a great job proof reading because no matter how much I try to find all the mistakes I still manage to miss a bunch of them. I also want to thank him for all the advice on improving my writing and scenes in the story to make it better as well as writing the descriptions for the girls new transformation. I also want to thank HarmonicPriest for all the help and story ideas he has given as well as the awesome omakes that can be found in the comment sections of Tuesday Dec 20 d, Wednesday Dec 21 d, Thursday Dec 22 b, Friday Dec 23 c, and the Saturday Dec 24 j as they are awesome! Thank you both very much!

I also wanted to thank HarmonicPriest for the suggestions on materials to use in making Susan's bracelet from the metals to the gems and the newest addition of alternate covers.

Comments

[Theresa]

Could the oracle be the one who betrayed Luna? Because I have trouble believing that sunset new mom would betray her.

[TacoTues4Eva]

11514448
From Saturday Dec 24 f:
Four people knelt in front of a fifth in a dark cave not far from Heatherfield, their identities concealed by the darkness and shadows. The one being bowed to glared at the four, wringing his hands in nervousness. “We don’t have much time left so we must make our move within the next few days. You all know what to do.”

“Yes, master!” The four voices echoed through the cave. From the sound of their voices, one was a woman and the three remaining figures were men.

It's a possibility, and as for Susan...don't worry.

[HarmonicPriest]

*Blinks rapidly* Wait, that was opening of his plan? Use some shapeshifted actors and/or original Phobos and Cedric that died doing this small reenactment to provoke Elemental Embodiment? With someone whose elemental affinity is split between the Sun (He doesn't know about that) and Quintessence (which is basically raw energy) and who holds a physical representation of Heart of Kandrakar?
... ... ... ...
HAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! WHAT A STUPID FOOL!

Don't get me wrong pawns did their job flawlessly, not giving Sunset chance for calm analysis and causing fear and desperation compounded with psychological torture, Oracle (HA I KNEW IT!) was the only bad actor here (Seriously if his acting was more fake it would be considered crystalized plastic) but the rest picked up the slack for that. No, what I have a problem with is how stupid this idea is since it has no chance to work long-term even if Nerissa would sit that one out. What many forget elementals are not just creatures that are made from their element, they ARE the element and take on personality traits connected with such element, together with properties and hatred for all things that are not of the same element. The situation is that much worse for Baldy fool and all that will be in the way since transformation was triggered by negative emotions which will synergize with the sun part of Sunny powerset making her even stronger, and she will keep getting stronger over time, and the entire set is completed by one of the most basic laws of physics:

"Energy can't be created or destroyed, only converted from one form of energy to the other."

So in conclusion:

1. In this State Sunset is for all intents and purposes a True Immortal (Unless Baldy knows the aforementioned law of science and has a method to exploit its weakness to changing forms)

2. Sun part of her kinda bypasses the "No creation" part of the Law of Conservation energy since she can mimic the sun's process to create more power by eating matter from her surroundings (Matter is considered a solid form of energy, where even smallest molecule can unleash massive amounts of energy. Fact exploited in the Eragon book series for a truly devastating suicide technique that mimics nuclear detonation with spellcaster-accumulated energy and body matter as fuel.)

3. There is no question if, only when Sunset pulls herself back to coherence (With previous magical education under Celestia this time will only shorten), and I am reasonably sure that in this state Sunny can go toe to toe with almost entire greek pantheon and Norse pantheon at once and win in a devastating manner (For that to happen there would be need to remove from equation Sun and Underworld gods. Sun gods because they could cut off the Sun part making Sunset power finite, and Underworld gods because their power is infinite thanks to tapping into the generation of dead that they hold under their guardianship. Lightning gods don't matter since quintessence is not fully lightning but energy making it fall just outside Zeus and Thor's domain, and Magic gods since this form is not using magic that could be restricted via the Magic domain so Loki and Hecate also are banned from instant win button. Respective Sisters of Fate don't count as part of their pantheons and I assume their lack of participation). But before her going back there is big chance she will go berserk ... like 97% sure thanks to Sun part of the equation.

So this idiot just created an opponent that for all intents and purposes has infinite power(Or at least potential too high to bother quantifying), has in past used Magic of Friendship (Which is close to the power of love in effect if different in nature), and in the process violated more than one position on Evil Overlord List.

http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html

I mean there is a position about not consuming energy fields bigger than a head, so why he thought it was a good idea to basically make a heroic teen into an energy field bigger than a head?
This will blow up so hard into his face that even Eye of Terror will look like a wet and fizzled firecracker in comparison.

Shame on you Sunset, always expect body snatchers and shapeshifters but I guess she had a right to one free catch of the idiot ball day after Christmas, shame it was an important ball.

Cornelia with a pink streak in her hair, niiiiice. Tapping into the Canterlot family legacy I see. Special kinship in color she feels?

Seriously C.H.Y.N.K, it's not like you need to be somewhere else, you could leave at least one as a babysitter or something since Shagon is sorta no longer on duty.

[Shrouded Lunes]

, the store that had all of that pop and fantasy stuff.

Let me guess, Hot Topic?

[TacoTues4Eva]

11514492
Eyup, guess it wasn't that good of an idea from good ol Charlie Brown. Oh well, not tonight's part but tomorrow's and the next nights he will learn he may have messed up this time a little more than he can handle. Can't really say I feel sorry for him, he deserves what is coming his way.

Eyup, old cueball was behind it all and he expected Sunset to just be a docile, obedient slave pretty much in this form. He should have realized it wouldn't work long term as you said, but I still need to decide his final punishment which I think I have one decent enough...I hope. It largely came as an idea bout what you said about the infinite tsukiyomi so thank you for that!

Maybe the Oracle would have had a chance if he had a baby he could sacrifice to make a jinchiriki...nah, he would have just messed that up too.

1) Eyup, and very powerful.

2) Hmmm, that's true...sadly I don't think I actually used this fact in their confrontation though kind of wishing I did now. I've never read the books, but I think I seen a movie a long time ago. Are the books any good?

3) Eyup, she pretty much can and is extremely overpowered for this one confrontation. Afterwards she will lose a lot of her power though she won't be weak. She just won't have a lot of the backing she had for it as she will have fulfilled their task. I guess those gods could negate her powers, but they can never take her cuteness as best pony/human! Mwahahaha! (There are several best ponies and humans. ) There is a very good chance of something berserky happening.

Eyup, but I really hope I did a decent job at the encounter as I was reminded as I wrote it that I suck as scenes with too many people and fights. Sometimes I think I should stick with slice of life, but I have so many ideas for this universe that they won't let me go.

Thanks for the link.

Eyup, and he is going to regret it for some time to come.

I'm sure she will take that as a lesson hard learned and will start making sure from now on. Hopefully she won't catch anymore of those for awhile.

I' glad you like her change, I was worried some people might not like it. Kinda, but at the same time she was doing it to look a little bit like her favorite comic character.

They really should have, but Nerissa thought they would have had more time. The Oracle panicked a little because the Heart of Earth was revealed and had pretty much full control of her power and after piggybacking on Taranee's link, he was able to see that she was in a lot of pain but with all those supporting her was lessening it so he felt it needed done now or wait for the next generation of guardians and with Nerissa gaining her friends allegiance willingly he felt his days were numbered unless he actually managed to pull his plan off.

[TacoTues4Eva]

11514551
I think so, I can't remember the name but I know the last time I was in a mall I went into a store with a lot of fantasy and pop culture stuff.