Thirty moons before Sunset Shimmer returned to Equestria to steal the Element of Magic, she fled into a strange world.
Lost and disoriented, yet still burning with ambition, she runs into someone who is eerily familiar - and yet so very different from the saccharine pink alicorn whose wings she so deeply resents.
Taken under the wing of a disguised Chrysalis, Sunset starts to learn the ways of this world - and how to control it. A bond blossoms between them, an unexpectedly compelling anchor to this alien world.
And when it all falls apart - she crafts a plan.
An entry for The Red Parade's 2023 May Pairings Contest hosted by the Original Pairings group.
Chapters (9)
The idea of using The Fey for Chrysalis was a fitting take, though I think that'd make it an AU even with the way the fic ends with canon events. The premise was interesting, but the execution felt weirdly distant. Like I was watching the events play out through a cardboard tube and not feeling with the characters. Perhaps it was on purpose since some of the things I've read involving fey read like fever dreams.
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I definitely chose not to take a lot of opportunities to pull in closer/make it more grounded, and leaned into the dream/myth/storyteller side of voice. I think I had a few issues with inability to decide between past and present tense as a result, and ... that's hard to fix because I feel like it was dipping in and out of being present and future Sunset's imperfect narrative memory, and the tenses actually do belong where they do. But it might also contribute.
Thinking about it, trying to write a stronger version might keep the general sense but aim for a more vivid variety of fever dream.
We don't have much canon on Equestria Girl's Queen Chrysalis ... except, arguably depending on canonicity of merchandise and games, that she has wings, which is a rather unusual trait for a human outside of magic exposure. Changelings do have fey roots as a term in the first place. And while it has some weirder implications, slipping into the gaps and recontextualizing actual canon is pretty important to the story as told here; I hesitate to toss an AU label on as a result, since the world has not changed except by its lens.
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Oh, well glad your decisions had the intended effect. Definitely had the disconnected haze from it. And I get that feeling with the AU Tag. Sometimes, I'm not sure when to or not to use it. EqG did get weird with magic during the camping one, so I guess it checks out. Thanks for the fic and good luck in the contest. We'll have to see if anyone drops a real banger on May 31st 11:59.99 that completely blows us out of the water.