Sunset's last days in Equestria. Celestia said she left, but the truth was she was banished. And the truth in this case is much stranger than fiction
This takes place 10-16 years before season 1.
Sunset Shimmer was Celestia's student before twilight. Celestia's official story is that Sunset wanted power and left to pursue it. But history is written by those who remain. And the truth of the matter had been lost, until recently. And it paints a very different picture. She didn't leave, she was banished!
Rated Teen because Implied adult problems. Feel free to comment below.
When I was banished, my world fell apart. I was 30 years old and honestly though that I had my life ahead of me. I was close to unlocking power, power that Celestia had wanted me to unlock. I just needed more time.
She tried to get me to invest in friends instead of my studies, but that seemed like a waste of time. Not just because I was awkward, but most of the people I grew up with had moved on. I did still take part in the musicals. When some pony would just burst out in to song, I was so excited. And then we'd all dance and sing. In another life, I could have been a back up dancer or a singer but I digress.
It started out so small, with those damn tickets. Celestia had wanted me to attend the Gala this Year cause I had never gone before. And I had just figured out how to draw magic straight from the elements... or at least one of them. I don't even remember what I wanted to do with it. So when Celestia showed up in my room and I was packing, that was the final straw. Celestia and I had a huge fight. And instead of just talking about things like we always had, I decided I was going, even if that had meant walking away from Celestia.
Well at first she was passive aggressive. She closed the door with her magic and wouldn't let me open it.
"Sunset. Please. Don't do this. It's just one night. And the elements will be there when your done. All I am asking for is one night. Can't you do that, for me?"
"I don't want to go to the Gala, there's nothing for me there! You realize if I go there will be people there looking to marry me right? I will not be a pawn to them! Look, some times I hate being your student. Look I know I am yelling" I shouted, "But I am not going to change my mind."
"But Sunset, its normal to find a guy and settle down. It's also normal to go out and make friends. Your missing out on what makes life fun, and interesting!" Celestia argued.
You know how you get close to somebody and you just seem to get under each others skin? That's exactly what was happening here. So I decided to throw out a few barbs myself, "The whole reason I am working on the elements is because of you and your sister! Had you been a better sister, we may not have even been having this conversation, would we?"
I wanted the argument to end there and I though this would have done it. But instead of resigning herself to my choice, my words sparked a very clear and hot fire in her eyes.
Her nostrils flared "And what would you know, about sisters or about relationships? You've never had one. Not one single friend this whole time except me. I have tried helping you out. I have invited you out to many different things, forced you to go to different functions. All for you to turn your nose up." She got very quiet. "Sunset, I don't what more I can do to help. I am trying my best."
All the help in the world Celestia, won't work if I don't want it. "Celestia there is nothing more you can do. Just leave me alone and let me do what I want. We've had this conversation before and it's never changed me so far."
"Sunset, I have been patient with you. I didn't get involved when you shunned ponies in school. I was patient when you pushed people away in college. When you told me you were studying the elements, I was over joyed! But you don't understand they won't work for you as you are now. You will need friends!"
" I don't need friends! I am one of the most talented unicorns there has been in 100 years. With your guidance, I have raised the sun! If I can handle that, I know do this. Why won't you believe in me? Haven't I surpassed every expectation you put on me? Let me go!" I bellowed.
At first she let go of the door, "Sunset" she started, with a strong determination, " If you come to this gala, you can keep your position here. I'll let you keep this room and access to the archives. If you walk out that door, you don't come back. You hear me?"
"Fine. If that's the way it has to be! Good bye, Princess Celestia, as the kids say, it's been a slice!" If I could take back that last sentence I totally would. It honestly sounded better in my head.
I took the bag I had packed, and left. Celestia just watched me, and as I left, said "The elements will never work for somebody with out friends, sunset".
"I'll prove that I can make them work!"
And I left, I passed the captain of the guard Vicious Ripost, responding to Celestia, who was in my room, oops sorry former room. I didn't hear what that were talking about, nor did I care. I left for the castle of the two sister's
The trip was boring. I took a train to a smaller town named ponyville. It seemed like a small town filled with hicks. It was late when I got off the train and was going towards the only hotel in town. Then I remembered, a former classmate of mine was here. Not from Celestia' school but before I got tangled up with that witch. And so I asked a raw random ponies, and found out where Cup au'spice lived.
Apparently she had found a stallion named Carrot Cake, and had married. They'd even made a business called Sugar Cube Corner together. She became Cup Cake. I just couldn't get over that.
So after about 20 minutes I found the place. It looked good from the outside, as I have always had a bit of a sweet tooth. I hesitated, knowing I should probably just go to the castle and get the element instead of asking to stay the night. But I was still tired from the fight earlier.
I knocked on the door. And Carrot answered about 3 minutes later.
"Sorry we're closed, you'll have to come back to tomorrow." He said with an irritated voice.
"Is Cup there? We knew each other back in the day and I was just passing through town and wanted to say hi."
"One moment, I'll get her for you." He left me in the doorway.
Cupcake came to the door, and her eyes lit up with recognition. "Sunset, is that you? Come in, come in!"
She ushered me through the door. We sat down at a table in the shop and started chatting away. I was kind of half interested, but not really. She told me all about meeting her Carrot Cake and how the marriage was. It seemed really nice but I was really tired so I didn't pay attention. It seemed like she got the hint and instead asked me a few questions.
"What are you doing in Ponyville?" She asked
"Tomorrow I'll be going to the Everfree to do some magical research on the... ugh, plant life." "Well you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, Sunny" "I'm actually really tired, I got in to a fight today with somebody and can't seem to unwind..."
"Ok, we can give you the upstairs suite, the bed already made."
"Thanks, what do I owe you?"
"Not a thing, only if you get a chance could you tell me what really bothering you?"
"Sure, that sounds nice actually."
"Umm, Sunset I do have one other request, do you know of any..." she frowned, going quit.
" any what?"
"any fertility spells?" She blushed and looked a bit ashamed.
"No sorry, I don't." I honestly didn't know. And now I was totally interested.
"Well then never mind, it was a vain hope." She looked distraught.
"Are guys having problems having, you know, kids?"
"I'm sorry, it's late and I'd rather not talk about it right now. Carrot, should be finished making up the room. We will see you tomorrow." She got up rather quickly leaving me with my bag in the shop.
I found my way upstairs and after getting my bearings, found my bed. I was laying on my back, reviewing the day. I went through the fight I'd had with Celestia and the train ride. As well as Cup au'spice, sorry Cup Cake. That still made me grin. What a name to marry into for a baker.
Was Celestia right? Did I really need others? I could have just gone to the forsaken gala, and seen the Blueblood's newest member. Canna Blueblood, I hear she used to be a fisher pony before she married in to royalty. I think her name was Canna Worms. She would have probably been the easiest to get along with there.
Don't get me wrong, I did regret my actions. I should have gone. But I knew there was nothing for me there but heart break, boredom and the possibility of some stallion not getting the hint.
Why couldn't the princess just let this go?
I woke up the next morning not as rested as I hoped, and bought my self breakfast from the Cakes. This little store they had here was great! It was very busy, and the cupcakes were wonderful! And though she was now a Cake, you could still taste the spice in the baking. Carrot was a lucky stallion.
Though a series of well planned teleportations and protection spells, I made it to the castle.
When I got to the castle I just stared. I had never seen anything like this castle in all of equestria. Wars weren't uncommon, but most places that ponies settle, they stay. I don't know how those ponies in dodge junction do it but thy do, you know?
Something in the back of my mind pricked and I turned around from that awesome place. There was nothing but the bridge there, yet I could feel something. Something was watching me... and it wasn't an animal, I didn't feel the bloodlust, just the eyes...
There was nothing I could do, I couldn't even sense them, if there was a them. So I moved on.
Through many talks with Celestia I had made a rough mental map of the area, started heading in the direction of the elements monument. The castle had a creepy vibe to it, but I pressed on. It seemed like the castle had been hastily abandon, like something had come out and started wrecking the place. The broken pillars had large gouges in them like something had carved in to the pillar with lots of force. I didn't know what happened here, but I was going to ask Celestia about it later. And if that didn't work I'd see if the history books would. Celestia hadn't always been as forthcoming as I had liked.
She'd always had her little secrets, and while I would have cut her slack in the past, I was still fed up! What secrets did she have to hide? I put a hoof on my chest and breathed. With that bit of mania out of my system, I kept moving forward in to the main hall. Found the element statue!
I practically raced through the hall, and arrived at the foot of the statue. They were all just sitting right there. Save the sixth one... but I would get to that in a minute. Those stone orbs seemed solid, almost like they were keeping some sort of radiation out. I believe it was to hide the power of harmony, those stone cases probably kept the chaos in the forest from noticing this place. I would have to be carful extracting the elements or the chaos magic could activate.
So, instead of working right away, I started setting up camp. I am not normally used to roughing it, but as Celestia always told me growing up, "The best place to do research was in the field." And "it's best to research well rested." She really drives me crazy some times but I knew she cared.
As I laid out my sleeping bag and set up my food, hooked to one of the chandeliers, I started wondering, if things would ever get better between us.
A year ago I had been doing some research in the restricted wing of the castle library when I solved how I was going to be able to use the elements by myself. I was so proud that I ran to "Princess" (used my hoofs for the air quotes) Celestia. I was just like a little kid, proud to show she what I had done!
At first when I explained what I had done, she looked over joyed. But as I kept talking, I could see her face change. I didn't even notice until I got to the end of the explanation.
"No, sunset, that won't do what you think it will. Sunset, messing with your own biology is never the answer."
"But it will work! I know it will! There are tests that prove it!"
"Sunset, this will permanently change you. You have no idea what it could do to you. I do, my sister tried this very same thing. It...didn't work not the way she though it would."
"I have to try though, maybe through testing, we can get it work properly!"
"No sunset, you have to stop. You have to stop all of this at once. The elements need others to work. They're not meant to work alone."
"Princess Celestia please. I've been working on this for 10 years. I don't want to just abandon this. Just let me try once, that's all I ask"
She sighed "Fine, one test. But that's it." And we both walked out of the throne room. Later that night a fire burst out in my study, and everything was gone. All my research notes. All my possessions too. Celestia denied everything, but after investigating, I found that her pet Phoenix, just happened to loose that night. And while I hadn't detected Celestia' magic in my room, there was Phoenix ash. That's when she became just Celestia.
I broke from my revere when I finished the camp along with a set of runes around the camp to hide my presence from any animals. It was getting late and all the travel in the forest had tired me out. That's what rapid fire teleports and shield spells do to you. Had I taken my time I may have had to camp in the forest, and I wasn't about to do that. Who knows what I would have run in to?
I am glad I stopped at the sugar cube corner, cause Cup can still bake like no ponies business. Who knows, had I remembered her before getting to ponyville, she could have been a baker for the princess. It would have been nice to have one friend. But was being by myself that bad?
I really did wonder if I had missed the point of what Celestia had be trying tell me, and the loneliness wasn't helping.
It was then that I began to hum and imagine somebody hugging. Until recently it was always Celestia I imagined. At first, I wasn't going to imagine her, but since I didn't have anybody else who I was close too, I resigned myself to imagine her before all this she destroyed my notes.
I woke up early, fired up and ready to go. Grabbing breakfast, I trotted up to the statue. There was were 5 elements in the whole around the pillar. I took a pen and drew the statue and sat thinking about where Celestia had hidden the last element. I started trying to detect any magic in the in the area. And stopped immediately cause ow. The amount of harmony magic in the castle blanketed everything in blinding light from straight in front of me and below. Contrasting that was the chaos in the forest, and looking at that much moving colour made be both queasy and creeped out. The bad thing about Chaos magic is that it seems to stare back at you like it's alive. So that didn't help. I explored the area, and went over every inch of the statue for a secret inscription or a hint to where it was.
It was 3 in the afternoon, I had been just looking at the elements of harmony reference book, and closed it and sighed. No luck, and while I knew this castle had its secrets, the book made it clear the element was in this very room.
I stared at the book contemptuously, when I noticed the sigil on the front of the book. Something seemed wired, like I was missing a connection. So I grabbed the paper to draw the Sigil, grabbing by accident the page on which I had already sketched statue. That was it! The statue and the pillar were the same even the angles at which the statue and sigil had the elements. The only difference was the last element in the center of the sigil, but there was nothing in the middle of the statue. Then it clicked! I used the spark spell found in the elements of harmony and hit the statue's base. And up from the center flowing out of the podium was the element.
I was excited, held the orb up and cheered. The cheers echo'ed off the walls, driving home just how alone I was. I now how all 6 elements! And the 6th, one was the one Celestia was training me for. I could feel it even though it was in the stone. Even though I had never seen it before I knew this was my destiny!
Unfortunately, it was getting late in the afternoon. And honestly I needed to be in top form to try out the spell I had made specifically for this. So I turned in for the night, recorded my victory in my journal. I ate the last of the baked goods. And it occurred to me that I could go and get some more now that I had the element. I didn't need to be here any more.
But even though my loneliness pushed me to find somebody I knew I couldn't go back. If I went back, Celestia may take the element away from me and hide it in a place I couldn't reach. I had to stay. I tried sleeping.
I woke up to alarm bells ringing. Something tried to get in to the circle. And it wasn't just an animal. This thing had pushed, and broke to though the barrier. When I woke up I saw something, but I didn't know what it was. It was gray. That's about all I had seen. The dawn was just breaking. And I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep any more so I prepped for the day. The return trip wouldn't take too long, I knew where I was going this time.
So after breakfast and breaking camp, I held up the element, and extracted it from the stone. It was purple. I don't know why that strike me as funny but I almost expected it to be red or yellow.
I started my spell. The notes may have been burned but I crafted this spell over 2 of the ten years I researched the element. I remembered every part. And it was going smoothly too.I opened myself to the element, ready to reform myself as needed so I could contain the element.
But then something cold spread though my spine. The spell that I used changed me all right, it remapped the insides of my mind as the element gave its magic. I screamed, and then forgot how to hear the scream. I noticed a shaft of light glowing from out side. And after a few agonizing minutes of my brain and body changing, I was passed out.
I woke up in a yellow telekinetic field. I could see magic now. Celestia had this worried look on her face. And beside her was Vicious Ripost, in a grey cloak. Nothing felt right, and Celestia seemed smaller. It was about this time that my ears started working again.
"Celestia", I boomed out in a voice I didn't recognize. "It worked!"
The last thing I remember before going unconscious, was Celestia looking down at me, saying "You foolish women," I don't know why that's always stuck with me. I can still remember it to this day with utter clarity.
When I woke up again, I felt more like my self. I had a massive headache, and some times when I blinked the room got brighter. But I nolonger felt like a gummy pony doll.
Celestia was sitting beside me staring at a mirror. Ripost was in front of her talking in hushed tones so as not to awaken me I believe. Then my memories came back to me and I got to my feet. I then promptly fell over as the room started to spin. I inched my self away from Celestia as I remembered she may not be happy with me.
"Where do you think your going?" Celestia said. I turned around and saw that stare. She was not happy. I sheepishly said "Back to ponyville?"
"Sunset, you can't go." That about as far as she got before I interrupted her.
"I'll go where want!" I said in a angry voice almost yelling. Where was all this anger coming from?
"You misunderstand," Ripost said "Its not that she's telling you you can't go, Sunset Shimmer, your being detained."
"What so I am under arrest? You couldn't stop me if you tried!"
"Sunset, why couldn't you just listen." Celestia said quietly. She looked shell shocked. I'd never seen her like this before. This cause me to stop fighting if at least for the moment.
"Celestia, I had to try, this had been my life's work. Was I just supposed to turn my back on all that?"
"Yes, Sunset, I would have looked after you. All you had to do was listen." Her voice picked up volume. "Do you even know why I wanted you to research the elements? Why I helped you out? Nightmare Moon is my sister!"
"I know that, you told me when I first started."
"What you didn't know is that she tried the same thing you tried now, and just like back then, you broke the same way that she did. It's been almost 1000 years and I still don't know how to reverse this, apart from the elements! She was an alicorn and she turned in to the Nightmare. She was practically shouting now "And that's what your going to become too if I can't stop this!"
My brain taking all of this in, started to connect the dots in lightning speeds. That's why she kept trying to get me to stop and get some friends... or wait, maybe she was hopping for me to find the other bearers?
"Why, why did you always push me to make friends?" I shouted at celestia, feeling my headache double. "sorry" I whispered.
"The only way to fix the nightmare would be with the elements combined. I wanted you to find the other bearers so you could save my sister."
The light shifted to permanently brighter. "So what happens now? You going to banish me too?"
She looked at me, sadness filling her eyes, "No there's nothing I can do until the elements find bearers. I have a plan, I can't stop you from becoming a nightmare, but if I separate you from magic, you may be able to live a normal life apart from the effect the nightmare has on your head."
I could feel my self growing little by little. "But where in Equiss doesn't have magic?"
Celestia pointed to the mirror and said "It's a one way trip, I can't let you back until the elements of harmony can be used properly. I have arranged for mister Somber to take care of you."
"I can't stay?" I said quietly realizing what was going on. "I'll stay in the dungeon if it means I can stay."
"I don't know if we could hold you. Not only that, do you want to harm those you know? I know you may not be friends with many but Its not fair to you or them to let you hurt them. I won't have you follow the same path as my sister and kill somebody she truly cared for."
Fighting my desire to fight that was welling up inside my head. I managed to speak. "I'm sorry, I failed you and hurt you so much."
Celestia started crying, and came over to hug me. Celestia was saying something, but for some reason I couldn't hear it. We hugged but in the middle of the hug I could feel my control slipping. I broke the hug and ran through the mirror.
I regret it all but what happened next was my penitence.
I made it though the portal, but my mind was too far gone at that point, I was nightmare (or I guess night woman) incarnate. And mister somber was good even though I wasn't...
Because of magic I used to absorb the element, it made me unstable. My memory was suppressed and my body reverted. I walked though the portal as a 30 ish year old woman, and ended up as a child. I don't remember how long it was before twilight came in to this world, but it wasn't until twilight hit me with the elements that my memories started to return. That's why when I transformed, it's a bit different, there were still elements of the night mare inside. And when I was hit the nightmare part of me was harmonized instead of corrected. It wasn't until the everfree incident that I go all of my memories back. And now sometimes, I feel weird cause I am like a 30 year old relying on and relating to teenagers... but what can I say, I'm hot at 46.