This story is a sequel to Paladin Shimmer goes on a bender
How many times did she think her life was over, that all was hopeless? How many times did Sunset Shimmer think that there was nothing left for her?
She held on, and kept holding on. And Every time she fell, she rose again.
But this time, it won't be enough.
This story is both Prequel, Midquel AND Sequel to two of my fics, both "Paladin Shimmer goes on a Bender" And "The Princess and The Peasant" There will be a lot of setup on the early chapters before I get to what the ultimate plan with this fic is: To rewrite Forgotten Friendship but on a fantasy setting of FIM, with the characters I've established on those two fics! (expecially the first)
For now, you can read it without reading those two-- But I'll leave a warning on the author notes when it would be ideal to read each fic, if you so desire. They're both bangers, heh.
Well, that picture is a bit disturbing with seeing Sunset imprisoned like that.
Did Wallflower somehow do that? Or it has something to do with the memory erasing rock?
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we're building to that... Sloooowly
Baby sunset makes me wanna squeel. Knowing where it leads to..... man.... 😭😭😭😭😭😭 your fics are amazing!! I can't wait for more
so happy and honored to be working with you on this!! even just as a proofreader, its an amazing experience and im glad you’ve written it <3333
sunset was such a kinnie she became adopted, kind of a sigma move tbh
Act 1 (part 1) done, and I LOVE how you already set up her first steps to fall to darkness:
1. Absolute obsession, and a Cutie mark to help seal the deal to boot
2. Leaving the Orphanage, removing her from her peers and guardians, which results in her completely resetting her social development
3. Celestia is wishy-washy on being a mother or a teacher, something that is important to be consistent with when raising a child
Gotta admit, even when everything is coming up Sunset, it's obvious her happiness won't last.
Go forth!, doomed child, and proceed to live a life in constant downs and ups!
I usually headcannon that she CAN act, but only as a princess of the sun, and a handful (hooful) of other roles as need be, but adapting to a new way of presenting herself is really hard for a pony who has lived mostly one way for a thousand years.
Dangit Celestia you had one job, but you failed, of all the things you taught Sunset, there was one thing you should have never let her know...
...That Chancellor Puddinghead tried to pass a law mandating that earth ponies drink carrot juice after every meal! How could you! It was just sitting there in the restricted section waiting for an easily impressionable pupil to know it!
Now she's filled up with nutrition and capable of slaying dragons!!!! DRAGONS!!!
All of this could have been avoided if you had just erased that horrendous fact from history!!!
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Glad you've been paying attention heheh. It is critical and paramount that the best and the worst of her were there since the beginning, and this will come up wonderfully later.
PEONY WARNED YOU, CELESTIA
Raven is based and always right.
Nothing more needs to be said.
I read the previous story a few weeks ago, though didn't comment. Safe to say, I was very happy to see that a sequel had been written, and very fast to boot.
As someone who loves his angst, I like Sunsets mental decline leading up to her transformation, as well as her losing her mind while locked away. She contrasts very nicely with Twilight, who has a softer approach- the scene of the mob boss being converted to friendship was especially entertaining.
Very curious to see where the story heads, given Wallflower is being backed by the shadow creatures, rather than acting alone.
"Dammit, rule number one about petty revenge: NEVER buy your apocalypse-strength fertilizer from Flim & Flam, they always oversell their product, It was only catastrophe-strength at best"
"Umm...are you Ok miss? you seem to be talking to yourself"
"Don't worry, sir, you can go back to guarding, you won't remember this"
"wha-?"
ZORP
"I swear Twilight, no matter what I try to teach them, It's like they randomly forget everything that happens the next day, at this rate they could be distracted by somepony leaving a cake at the door"
"It can't be that ba-"
"Did somepony mention cake!?"
-Le stampede of guards running off to find free baked goods
"Alright, maybe it could be that bad"
"Worse, I caught Celestia at the front leading the search"
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I did not plan for that particular plant monster to be related to Wallflower hfdvbf. Would have been some 4d chess if I did, but nah, she wouldn't be capable of smth of that magnitude.
But also yeah; if there's cake around Celestia is in the vanguard.
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Hmm... well if it wasn't her then that leaves...
-Pulls off the Venus flytrap head to reveal:
GLORIOSA DAISY!!!???
"And I would have gotten away with it... had I remembered that there was only two characters in all of FIM that are both antagonists and plant-themed."
Great story though I have one question. Wheres our boi spike?
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He will appear next chapter actually! But nooot like you'd expect. He is not Twi's assistant on this one!
THIS WAS SO COOL AND AWESOME
I LOVE EVERYTHING YOU WRITE, ESPECIALLY IF IT HAS CADENCE SOMEWHERE. I DON'T KNOW WHY I LIKE HER SO MUCH BUT I DO
1000/10
Oh yeah, I guess there were a small number of things in the comics that were good ideas which were buried under so much ech.
Typical Chrysalis.
And Wallflower's making a biiiig mistake. I'm very worried for volume 4.
Considering how Twilight reacted to the Pinkie sense, this is not an unreasonable assumption.
"Umm... Twilight?"
"WHAT!?"
"Well, it's been about fifteen seconds since you left that meeting with Neighsay... and we are going to need to redo the ceiling... you are literally an inferno"
-FWOOSH
"Oh! oh I'm so sorry, it's been a while since I've flared like that, that's so embarrassing...."
"It's cool Twi, I never liked the color of the room anyway... but... what do you mean flair?"
"You know, an anger flair, like a magic flair, but, when your angry?"
"Trust me, I know what being really angry looks like, I had a mirror in my room back when I was Celestia's pupil, And as insufferable as Neighsay is this isn't even close to how angry i could get, and I've NEVER had this happen"
"..."
"Who told you this was norm- errr, a typical occurrence?"
"Well my Grandma says that some of us sparkles tend to get a little heated, and that it was perfectly fine and something I shouldn't worry about"
"That you ignite like a Kirin when you insult their mother?"
"... Come to think of it, Grandma sparkle always did look a little scaley behind her mane... And she talked about how adventurous my great grandfather was with his love life..."
"You might want to check some of the more distant branches of your family tree"
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And let's face it, Sunset would be very into mad fiery twilight sparkle, heheh.
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"Sunset, I don't think this is healthy..."
"Which is why I'm trying to find a healthier way to bring this out, like venting frustrations before they bottle up"
"I get that, but we are trying to trigger an involuntary reaction from extreme emotion, besides, it's pretty hard for me to be that mad at anything really."
"Is that so? you think I can't get you to be angry at something?"
"Oh definitely not, when I'm around you I feel at ease pretty much all the-"
"Mare-y Potter and the cursed foal stage play"
"THAT PIECE OF LITTERARY TRASH HAS NO RIGHT TO BE CONSIDERED ANYTHING BUT FANFICTION, AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN PICK GOOD FANFICTION AT THAT!!!"
"Now that's hot"
Alright that one got a pretty audible laugh out of me, I'll admit.
Chrysalys being an absolute loser (in the affectionate sense), you love to see it; though it is a shame we didn't get to see Twilight train Sunset with light magic; though given the sheer size of each chapter I understand why that might've been cut in favour of more important things, still, Sunset fighting side by side with Celestia was a treat.
Ominous. I mean, at the end of the day I doubt Wallflower will end up much better off than Luna or Sunset did, but revenge is one hell of a thing, is it not? The shadows not giving her a full, physical leg in spite of being able to completly transform the other two (and giving Sunset an entire set of wings) is a cool detail. Makes her more dependant on them than the others were. Things are shaping up to be very interesting.
DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN, WALLY WITH A STEEL CHAIR-"Windows Notification sound plays"
Well THAT isn't a loaded declaration, lets hope for the sake of the shimmerverse we won't need to deal with two instances of that outcome.
Gotta love the other setups being put in place. Cerberus' affection for her, Pinkie keeping the picture, Rarity having her measurements, the newspaper in the old orphanage, heck she even knows about Cadence being pregnant, which she wouldn't have told her if Sunset was still evil.
The real question is: how much is Wallflower erasing? if it's up until demon day... well she isn't a demon so that will raise questions. if it's before she won't be a criminal but everyone will dislike her, and Celestia will wonder why she is still here while twilight is a pupil.
Possibly it will be just after her declaration of being removed from being Celestia's student, but before she returns as a demon. Pretty much the prime time for everyone to THINK she broke into the castle to do something, but won't have the inconsistencies of her being not-a-demon.
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Lots of fun setups indeed =v= And I'm glad you picked up that Twilight's sickened ranting was a reference to the Shimmerverse heheh.
Sunset Shimmer was not railroaded. Atleast trains have the option to stop or change tracks once in a while. Sunset Shimmer was shot out of cannon blindfolded.
Havie just binged the two preceding stories. Some the better references are the mention of the guitar ro Celestia and the valkyrie.
Especially the Valkyrie is poignant, her calling the death 'lame', but the 'forgotten sun' starts of with her lamenting not being able to achieve exactly that, death while fighting for a foal. And it's also funny reading young Sunset indirectly berating older Sunset by stating that it's not fun to achieve something and not be around to enjoy it.
Reading this chapter has been great. Poor Sunset never stood a chance.
I love how all of your stories are just
"I'm happy and everything's fine"
Fade to black
Family guy death pose.
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Hehehe I'm glad you're seeing the thematic and direct references to my other work! I def put more than a few here and there. Glad you're enjoying this fic too, it's been a delight to write >:D
In another universe:
"I'm here Twilight! Am I too late!? What happened while I was talking to the shadows!?"
"Nothing much Sunset, but perhaps you should see the paper"
.
.
.
.
Corrupt Captain!!!
Captain Sunset Shimmer reportedly embezzling royal funds for personal use!
.
.
.
.
"And I'll do it as much as I like! Everypony thought I was turning over a new leaf, but I was actually turning a profit! mwahahahaaaa!"- A statement made by Captain Sunset Shimmer when interviewed by our resident reporter Anon-A-Miss" More on page 7
.
.
.
.
".. Twilight, please tell me that nopony in the royal family is stupid enough to think this is even remotely true"
"Oh, of course not, especially with Blueblood no longer being a part of it. Something so sudden and blatant after all your hard work would take a completely clueless or incredibly brash pony to even think that this "Anon-A-Miss" was saying anything of valu-"
KABOOM!!!
"Sunset you two-whooved jerk! How could you! after everything you said about me retiring from the rouge business!"
"You don't even pay taxes Rainbow"
"It's the principle of the thing! I am not-not paying the government just so you can take everypony's bits except for mine!"
"Ugh... look dash, what do you need to believe I didn't do it"
"hmm... well how much are you willing to cut me in on this operation? My silence has a price"
"What!? no! I'm not asking to bribe you Rainbow! I just want to know what evidence will convince you!"
"Ohhh... I see... well if you want me to make some 'evidence" I can come up with a convincing alibi for you. They are pretty handy for getting out of boring chores or tasks that involve egghead business"
"Oh for the love of my not-mom-slash-god! I-, You-, that-, AAAAUGH!!!!!"
-Le baconhorse stomping way from local stupidity
"Rainbow, she was trying to tell you she didn't do it"
"Oh, well why didn't she say so? I would have believed her. But if the paper had said it was an unknown pony with Sunset's coat and mane colors, THEN It would be impossible for me to believe she was innocent"
"wh-, why?"
"Well duh Twilight, for a pony so smart you miss the obvious, why would a pony be innocent if their mane and coat colors were found at the scene of the crime? even a kid could tell me that and I'd be convinced"
"But-, I-, You-, that-, AAAAUGH!!!!!"
-le Bookhorse stomping away from infallible Rainbow logic"
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It is pretty funny that I've seen lots of people go "The anon-a-miss incident is the worst thing that every happened to sunset!!" when forgotten friendship is a thing and infinitely more fucked and has magic in it lmao. Its still really good, but its hard to beat genuine memory erasure
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To be fair, most people have a reference for cyber-bullying in real life, and don't think about the side effects or refrigerator-horror potential of premeditated magically-induced amnesia.
I think people talk about Annon-A-Miss so much was because of how poorly the story was handled, requiring multiple passes of the "idiot ball" to work. But also is pretty much just a conga line of people kicking Sunset while she's at her lowest point in life, all because some little sisters got jealous. que the dead horse analogy. A lot of FIM fans like Sunset, or at least don't dislike her, and seeing someone get hurt for no reason tends to trigger a decent dose of empathy, even if they are fictional. And in the end there isn't proper apologies given for the gravity of her suffering, further souring the entire thing for the audience.
Whereas Forgotten friendship uses more subtlety, possibly too much. it has Sunset realize something is going on, return to Equestria before she is overwhelmed with the school hating her, and plays up other side affects with comedy, like when she needs to keep turning down lunch money donations.
On top of that while Wallflower does make everyone forget Sunset's reformation, she doesn't stir the pot beyond that until the plan fails and she gets desperate, She may be incredibly petty like the CMC was and used magic to mindfudge people, but she also had some level of restraint that prevented her from being perceived by the audience as someone going full moustache-twirl, and made Sunset's willingness to forgive in order to end the cycle of spite believable.
But seriously though, memory-sapping with pinpoint accuracy, complete with building-wide range (bare minimum, may be wider) and no charging requirements or known "stored memory" limits? Wallflower has one of the most potentially devastating artifacts in the series, below maybe Grogar's bell. Simply due to the fact that if you are careful, nobody will EVER know you are a threat.
Imagine this in the hands of a corrupt politician, a serial killer, or even a toxic ex (I'm still entertaining my "50 first dates but it's a tonally appropriate horror story" with Wally and Sunny, if I ever write anything, that one is on my bucket list unless I can convince someone to pick it up.)
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And yet, the memory stone is in the hands of a gardener, heh. Peak. And yeah the anon-a-miss thing is the CMCs darkest hour, what the fuck.
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True, EQGS universe really lucked out on that one, rather it be in Wallflower's hands than anyone else's
Well, there was also that time Sweetie bell nearly ruined Rarity's reputation and career, and Luna needed to step in...
Or that time they sabotaged the float Babs Seed was in (though the Babster did steal it from them) in a way that could seriously hurt her or worse.
Oh wait! what about when they made a love poison that would have permanently altered the minds of Big Mac and Cheerlie?, Effectively erasing who they were and turning them into love-stricken vegetables? that one's a classic!
Yeah, honestly The Pony CMC cause more harm than their human counterparts on accident at a weekly basis.
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Yeah they did literally poison big mac and cherilee, and on an early season too. Incredible
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It's like I always say, Ponyville must have some seriously cheap housing, since by living there you agree to put up with the Everfree, the enemies of the Mane six (and also the Mane six themselves, Rainbow once destroyed the weather factory for the sake of her turtle), and anything those three
demonsfillies decide to do while exploring future career opportunities.12007500
it must indeed be incredibly easy to sleep near a deadly magical mystery forest that only one zebra lives on tbh. Zecora is a chad for surviving it, and the amount of disasters happening on Ponyville might have driven the prices even lower, lmao.
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On a similar note, I wonder if ponies would consider Sunset a chad for putting up with the human world. Just imagine her comparisons:
"So there I was, no magic, no knowledge of how to control my body, in a world ripe with pollution, indifference, and bigotry"
-The mane six at the campfire all get tense
"But the worst part of all... Social norms forced me to wear clothing in public at all times"
GASP!!!!
"Go easy on them Sunset, I was there too, and you don't need to tell them about all the scary stuff, that world also has wonderful inventions and innovations"
"All right fine... that world does have pretty cool stuff, like metal chariots that move on their own called cars, flying ones called airplanes, heck even the internet, a easy-access highway of info so useful it will probably replace libraries for good"
"AHHHHHH!!!!! Stop stop! I don't wanna hear anymore!"
"Twilight... you used the internet when you were there"
"I'm an accomplice to bibliocide! I'm a monster!!!"
Should've listened to Luna, she's always right.
But is willingly being around Trixie something a smart person would do?... kidding, I love Trixie, definitely in the "top 3 formerly evil unicorns reedemed by Twilight".
The Umbrum seem... strangely invested in getting Sunset back specifically. Surely it would be easier to simply eliminate her as a threat, especially if she has the potential to be an alicorn. Are they looking to replace Sombra- whatever role he may have had?
Well, one way or another, shit has certainly hit the fan.
Personally, I didn't mind the long chapters, but shorter ones are just as good, less intimidating perhaps. The real challenge will be coming up with titles for each chapter.
I love this story. Seeing sunset struggle is always great. She's my favorite kicked puppy.
It’s a forgotten friendship rewrite so it’ll get better for Sunset eventually right…right? (Absolutely adore everything you’ve done with Paladin shimmer in the P&P universe, hope she has a happy ending in the end because Celestia knows girl deserves it at this point.)
Clever move from Wallflower, she probably used her tendency to be forgotten (or the stone itself) to sneak in and take out every record she could find and frame Sunset for their destruction. What I like most is that now it becomes a mystery for the other characters to find out why Sunset is free on top of how she knows everypony's names.
I wonder how far the effect reaches in this narrative, between the changelings and Cadance and Shining who would be significant loose ends. Though this could lead to more drama where Sunset tries to reach them before they are compromised only for Wallflower to sap their memories right in front of her or something and then claim Sunset is attacking her.
Great stuff!
I will say, as much as I do prefer the black armor visually the white armor does have great symbolism, I don't know the exact intention with the white armor besides like, she's having a good time now (now being about 30 seconds) and is pure and free of the shadows and stuff but the other way I choose to look at it is how open she is, white armor shows every blood splatter more clearly, it highlights every little dent and scratch and broken piece and makes it so everypony else can see her damage and help her, it's a more honest armor.
Ok more awake comment time, so I am really excited to see how this plays out in terms of her fixing it, it's clear they think she escaped her imprisonment in the temple, so this is after her demon form and they think she just, un-demoned herself and came back for revenge. You've done great foreshadowing with Twilight's spell to call Sunset, Pinkie still having a photo of Sunset, oh and Trixie and Starlight have the photos of their uh..."physical activity" with Sunset, Sunset also knows plenty of stuff she shouldn't, etc. imo it's likely Pinkie, Trixie, and maybe Starlight will trust her because they didn't know her before and have a reason to trust her, and from there they will work towards explaining everything and reversing it like the original forgotten friendship...however, the one thing that gets me is the story thumbnail, obv Wallflower and Sunset will have a direct confrontation and it seems Sunset will be imprisoned, we know she can break through magic horn restraints, so potentially that's when the calling spell will come into play? I absolutely love how you made the memory stone weaker, even with the umbrum's help the captain's quarters had to be manually burned to destroy evidence, showing that physical evidence has to be manually destroyed really just gives us so many cool things to think about in terms of evidence for everypony else to figure out what happened. (Also I should say this now because I didn't before but the scene where Sunset initiates a duel to protect Twilight in Act II, is that a reference to "Why Should I Dance?" I adore that story and ik you've read it cause you commented on it)
i hope sunset being taught how to fight won't cause any fallout between her and Celestia
Fallout Equestria
💥
Going to keep a mental note of every major act against the crown Wallflower commits before the spell is finally lifted. Perhaps not in "legaleeze" though (what do I look like, a villain crime analysis youtube channel?) Currently she has:
-Sided with the umbrum
-Trespassed into restricted castle areas
-Burnt property of the equestrian military to destroy evidence of her crime
-Committed mass acts of mental manipulation
-Done ALL of this with intent of defamation of Sunset, again to aid the umbrum
-and worst of all...
...She abandoned her POST as the royal gardener!
How DARE she leave without a proper two-week's notice! utterly deplorable I tell you.
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Oh yeah! I might have been inspired by that story, yeah! I don't even remember at this point tbh. The dueling theme was smth I had established way earlier on as something Sunset can do to legally let her anger out much like Luna once did, but for Twilight, its about genuinely protecting honor, heheh.
And yes, I'm glad everyone is catching on to just how many little breadcrumbs I've left behind. My writing style involves setting up so many things, that you can only speculate which will be more important than others, and which will be barely mention, and which will be CRITICAL.
I also appreciate that of everyone speculating, no one can guess what the hell is gonna happen lmao. Well, you can see the cover rn and know things are finally leading up to it. Next chapter will be bigger than these two! Woo!
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U-um. Your honor, she uh. She's a silly girl
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Silly indeed, Maybe when Sunset finds out this was the mare she ripped the leg off of, she might be willing to lessen the charges on account of her doing "a little bit of trolling" but in the end it will probably be up to the honorable judge Sunbutt.
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the last chapter is just wallflower calling saul lol.