Chapter 1: What could have been?
Yearbook Editing Room
With the day finally coming to a close Sunset Shimmer saved what files she had been working on and shut down the computer that occupied the room. Afterwards she'd would gather her things and then notice a very happy looking Wallflower Blush preparing to leave. It said a lot about their relationship and Wallflower's decreasing shyness that Sunset actually noticed her and she was of course happy about that.
"See you later Sunset; enjoy your weekend" Wallflower said as she began to leave the room, a group of friends waiting for her outside the door.
"Later Flower; have fun tending to the new parts of the garden with your new friends." Sunset said with a friendly smile as she bid Wallflower Blush farewell. She was happy to have made bygones with the meek and shy girl and even happier she managed to get her some friends of her own who shared in her love of gardening.
Just another good deed to make up for years of bad ones; while she never really hurt Wallflower directly in the past? The fact that the girl retaliated against her simply because she was once so horrible and thought incapable of change spoke volumes for just how bad Sunset used to be. Sunset knew that Wallflower wasn't an isolated case and would likely not be the last of those issues she had to deal with but she was prepared all the same.
As per her namesake Wallflower blushed and nodded as she opened the door to leave the room. "I will! Bye Sunset Shimmer!" Wallflower said finally leaving the room and closing the door behind her.
With a calm and content sigh Sunset kept a smile as she looked at the time was now 5 pm. "Guess I should get going now too then"
The day was wrapping up and everyone was beginning to make their way home for the day now that all the clubs were finished. Sunset had work after school today but luckily had the weekend off and had planned to spend some quality time with her best friends at a sleepover planned for Saturday. They hadn't had a genuine sleepover in some time and they felt it was about time for one and it was really a tradition among the seven girls having really gained its stride back after Sunset Shimmer came along.
Before the pony turned human girl came along; Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy & Rarity all used to be best friends since middle school. In Rainbow and Fluttershy's case they had known one another since Kindergarten and then had meet Applejack in Middle School, then having met Pinkie and Rarity as high school freshmen at the Freshman fair at Canterlot High.
They had all clicked and gotten along so well and were quoted as being the definition of what best friendship looked like by many of the teachers who would see them interact. Things were great for the group of girls until of course Sunset Shimmer arrived and using her cruel cunning and abuse of each of their friendly natures? That caused the downfall of the greatest friendship to ever grace the halls of Canterlot High and in those days all Sunset Shimmer could do after tearing them apart was sit back,watch and laugh in amusement of the chaos and pain she had wrought.
It was in this very editing room where she had concocted most of her dastardly schemes during school hours when she wasn't at home. It was here where she edited pictures of Rarity and her dresses in order to discredit her around school, slut shame her and just plain hurt her out of spite. She had done so many horrible things to each of the girls she now called her best friends and had always asked herself after she had redeemed herself and even moments after getting rainbow blasted in the face: Why? Why did she do it all? What lead her down this path and why did she have to do things the way she did? Why did no one tell her or show her there was another way? She had asked these types of questions so many times and had gotten many different answers both from herself and from others.
'I was alone and miserable. I wanted everyone else to feel like I felt because I didn't want to feel it alone. Foolishness Sunset. Foolishness.'
In her past Sunset was empty and so without knowing how to fill her heart with love and friendship thinking it beneath her and worthless since she was so confident in her own ability; she filled her heart with malice and greed. She became spiteful, petty, cruel, dishonest, vulgar and cold hearted which ultimately led to Celestia letting her go. She remembered that in that moment she felt such seething hate for Celestia she had almost considered going full blown Nightmare Moon but even she knew back then that wouldn't be smart.
Then because she knew she couldn't retaliate against Celestia herself without massive consequences? She ran away to this world and decided to do anything and everything in her power to spite Celestia here since she couldn't very well stand up to what was basically God in their world. Compared to Celestia she was nothing more than a petulant child that she could punish at any given time. And some small part of her still wanted that punishment but she knew she'd never get it. Celestia was too kind for that.
'She was...is...like a mother to me...and I treated her like dirt'
However when she arrived in the human world and she had discovered Celestia's position and realizing that there was no dirt she could dig up on the human version of her teacher without getting found out? She decided to best next way to spite her and take power the way she wanted? Was to hurt and spite her students! She knew Celestia better than most and just as it was in Equestria? Celestia had a certain love for each and every single one of her students and so Sunset figured that the suffering of the students would in turn make Celestia suffer.
'If I? Her former 'star pupil' couldn't be happy? No one could be happy. Where did I go wrong?'
While the principal would never particularly show it to others? It did in fact effect her and Sunset was so good at covering her tracks and had everyone under her thumb in such a way that Celestia and Luna could do nothing to stop her from oppressing their students with an iron fist and that sent Sunset Shimmer on a deluded power trip. And she would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy every minute of it while it was happening. It was like a drug.
'All that power had me so high in the clouds. And then none of it mattered when I got sent crashing into a crater'
She felt invincible; she felt that if she could conquer this High School and make Celestia and Luna of this world subject to her will that doing it in Equestria would be simple however she lacked the power to do so and that's when she remembered the existence of the Elements of Harmony. The ultimate symbol of power and respect in Equestria. The one thing more powerful than Celestia!
'Little did I know? That power wasn't meant for a child with delusions of grandeur'
And so she returned to Equestria and stole the element of magic and well...the rest after that is history. Twilight dismantled Sunset's entire 'kingdom' in a matter of days, humiliated Sunset by rainbow blasting her into a crater crying and then? She extended her hand in friendship. To this day sometimes it still puzzled her why or even how Twilight could bring herself to do such a thing without a moments hesitation.
'She gave me a second chance I didn't deserve. She could have and should have arrested me and brought me in for treason against Equestria...but instead she let me stay here and make friends. Truly worthy of your title aren't you Twi?'
Sunset had nearly killed her and threatened to go to their home world and attempt to take everything else from her simply because she was jealous and lonely. She was willing to take two worlds to war simply because Celestia wouldn't put wings and a crown on her and yet instead of taking her home to face punishment for her crimes? The Princess of Friendship lived up to her title and extended her hand in friendship to give Sunset a chance to change.
'And I will never go back to being the monster I used to be. I still wish I could just go back and start over and never turn out how I did'
The road to change and redemption was a rough one for Sunset the entire way through. In the beginning she didn't know if she was even capable of changing who she was and at the time? She Rainbow and Applejack had a lot of heated tension going on considering that when she was still evil Sunset had mocked and humiliated them both in some pretty bad ways. And even though she knew the other girls wanted to help her she knew it was hard for them considering all the horrible things she put them through just because she was jealous of their friendship.
'All the things I did to them and for what? Cause I was jealous and spiteful?'
For Rainbow Dash she had spread rumors about her being gay even despite the athletes insistence that she wasn't however thanks to the magic of hacking that Sunset had learned after bullying Microchips she was able to hack Rainbow's cellphone which Rainbow had cloud files on and much to her sadistic glee back then? A treasure trove of lesbian hentai. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what Sunset did next. She created a troll account which later came back to bite her in the ass called Anon-A-Miss and she circulated the pictures around to everyone in school and this got Rainbow viciously mocked for a good long time.
'I nearly ruined Rainbow Dash in name and spirit. She's so strong for not breaking'
Then with Applejack? Considering that she was such a 'high and mighty' bitch back then; she looked down on country folk and often times went out of her way to be incredibly racist towards Applejack and her sister often calling them insulting slurs like hayseed or bumpkin. She even went as far to suggest they were inbreeds and that Applebloom a bastard child that her parents died just to avoid having to raise. Sunset's cruelty knew no bounds and because she was so intelligent and had so much dirt on the Apple siblings? She knew she could talk all the trash she wanted and have her hands remain clean.
'I was everything Applejack hated back then. A cheat, a fake, a racist bitch and worst of all? A liar'
For Pinkie Pie? She had subjected people around school to a myriad of cruel pranks and managed to pin them all on Pinkie Pie turning many of the schools students against her and then? As an 'act of payback' she pranked Pinkie and had her humiliation plastered all over social media which got Pinkie Pie laughed at for a good while which sent the normally cheery girl into a state of depression the likes of which Sunset had hoped never to see again. She hoped and prayed she would never seen Pinkie's hair straight, her frowning and her going by only her full name Pinkiemina.
'I still have nightmares about that from time to time. Pinkie without her smile is like a world without joy'
When it came to Rarity? She figured she'd had to work extra hard to bring down a girl so high on the social ladder however luckily for her back then? There were already a group of mean spirited bitches with a low opinion of Rarity out of jealousy or envy and so it wasn't hard for Sunset to manipulate them in order to discredit Rarity's fashion reputation as well as massively slut shame her with edited pictures of her so she couldn't win the spring fling.
'Rarity had to live through Hell because of me and yet even still gave me a chance to repent.'
Then of course last but not least was Fluttershy who back then? Was nothing more than Sunset Shimmer's chew toy. Her plaything to torture and abuse whenever and however she liked. She always made sure her abuse was never physical and if it was? She never for example slapped or punched Fluttershy; only tripping her in the halls, stuffing her in lockers, pushing her out of her way hard enough to send her to the floor and things of that nature. Though since Fluttershy was so meek and gentle Sunset's words were often enough to send the poor girl into tears and much to her displeasure thinking back on it? She enjoyed it more than she would liked to admit.
'I was a living nightmare for those girls and yet they still forgave me and wanted to show me a better way...y'know AFTER Rainbow AJ and I all fought, Pinkie Pie nearly bear hugged me to death, Rarity slapped me so hard it hurts sometimes when I eat and had to endure Fluttershy's stare for an entire ten minutes....Totally worth it though.'
Sunset smiled to herself thinking about all the good times they'd had since then. After they'd gotten all their issues out in the open and Sunset directly apologized to each of the girls and they all in turn swore to help her be a better person as long as she resolved to show she wanted to change? That they would always stand by her and help her and so they did and things were great even though she had to struggle to truly redeem herself but over the course of a year and a few months? She had gone from the biggest bully the school had ever had? To being apart of the best group of friends the school had ever seen.
'If I am thankful to my old self for anything? It's that her foolishness lead me to the best version of myself and I am okay with that.'
As she packed her things and left the room she locked it up and smiled as she turned to go and meet her friends still deep in thought. It was a habit of hers to get lost in her own head while she was just idle walking around with time to herself; it allowed her time to reflect and think about things to come or that had passed.
'Still; I wonder what it all would have been like if I wasn't such a bratty little snot. What would life had been like if I started off right and kept going the right way? What if I never lost my way?' Sunset thought and the more this thought lingered on her mind the more she began to wonder what it would have been like if she truly tried to make friends and stick to it in her childhood. Suddenly a familiar voice broke her from her thoughts.
"Oh Sunset there you are! I was just looking for you!" Twilight Sparkle said running up to her friend, still dressed in her lab attire with her mechanic goggles atop her head and her hair frazzled even though in a bun.
"Oh hey Sci-Twi! How did robotics club go?" Sunset asked with a smile. She hadn't joined up with the robotics club today because she was busy helping Wallflower in the editing room but she knew Sci-Twi would still have fun regardless and judging by the smile on the geeky girls face? She was right.
"Oh it was fine thanks; Micro-Chips showed me a new and more efficient way to code my robots to give them response time faster than 3 nano-seconds!" Sci-Twi explained with a goofy geeky grin on her face.
Sunset smiled and rolled her eyes. "You are such a nerd but I love that about you. Anyway I guess you just finished with the club?"
Blushing Sci-Twi smiled and nodded pushing up her glasses as they'd fallen askew for a moment. "Uh-huh; just finished cleaning up the lab and was about to go change and go meet with the girls for milkshakes! They told me to come and find you and so here I am"
Smiling Sunset nodded understanding "Awesome; I was in the editing room finishing up some new photos for the year book with Wallflower."
"I am so glad you two are getting along; its such a shame she had harbored so many spiteful feelings towards you even though you never did anything to her." Sci-Twi sighed and shook her head.
"Yeah I know but its all behind us now and she's doing great now so I call it a win; though it has had me thinking a bit" Sunset stated as she began to walk along with Twilight.
"Oh? How so?" Twilight asked.
Sunset started to walk along with Twilight. "Well as you know I'm not from this world; I was born a unicorn in Equestria and that's where most of my life started and where a lot of my issues originated from and I know I can't change the past but I've just been thinking what things would've been like had I not been such a brat when I was a kid and more so as a teenager." Sunset said still walking along a somber expression on her face.
"Oh; I see." Sci-Twi nodded in understand as she walked with her friend and pondered her dilemma. "Have you tried talking to the princess about it? I mean you did say you reconciled with your old mentor so I imagine going back home to maybe get some closure beyond what you've gotten may help. Though its like you said; can't change the past." Sci-Twi said with a small huff as she walked along with Sunset.
"But I can totally understand what you mean though; often times when I look at all the good and fun times I've had with you and the girls I can't help but think what things might have been like had I grew up differently; had I not been so sheltered and more outgoing perhaps I might have met the other girls sooner and by extension? You." Sci-Twi stated with a small blush on her cheeks.
Sunset began thinking about what Twilight was saying and she was right. She did in fact make up with Celestia and she even had taken a couple trips back and forth to visit Princess Celestia and even met a couple pony's she once knew back in Equestria and managed to make amends for how she used to treat them before her departure. However even with all that Sunset still felt like she wanted a sort of do-over, a chance to possibly see if she could relive those childhood days and even some of her teenage years with a different outlook on life and then that's when she remembered something.
"You know something Twi I think I might have an idea for how we can both get what we want. It'll probably have to wait until tomorrow depending on how busy Princess Twilight and Starlight Glimmer are." Sunset said still fully thinking through what she was about to attempt.
"Oh? Well now color me intrigued. What is it that it would require the Princess of friendship AND her student?" Sci-Twi said truly interested in what Sunset had in mind.
"Ever since my trips to Equestria have become more frequent I got another update to my magical journal so now I can write to whoever I want to in Equestria if they have a copy of this book and Starlight and I have been talking a lot and sharing stories. One such story she shared was about how she was spending time with her childhood friend Sunburst" Sunset stated as the two came to the locker rooms where Twilight would get changed into her normal attire to go and get milkshakes with their friends.
"Oh yes I remember you telling me something about that; he was the reason she basically turned evil right? I mean not to say he directly did anything but his moving away hurt her in a way that put her against friendships and those magical tattoos we get-" Sci-Twi began to explain but then Sunset cut in.
"Cutie marks Twi; they're called cutie marks. Anyway yeah; so they were spending the day together and she was showing him around town but as it happened? She found he was spending more time with her other friends like Maud, Trixie and even Princess Twilight having more in common with them than her." Sunset explained and remembered the story as Starlight told it too her; she couldn't but feel sad for her friend that she had to go through such a thing. To drift apart from a friend must've been hard.
"Oh my" Twilight said sounding sad at hearing that. "I know how that can feel; not that long ago when I was just becoming friends with you girls I ran into an old friend from my elementary school days named Moon Dancer. She was so excited to see me and I was excited to see her but I realized she was different from last I saw her and she was friends with the Crystal prep girls" Twilight said as she switched out her clothes, changing out of her lab coat and stained shirt as well as her skirt.
"How did that turn out?" Sunset asked curiously as she had never experienced something like that before exactly though she could probably imagine it. She would certainly feel left out or a bit salty if all of her friends began hanging out with friends who weren't her that they got along with much better than her and she was simply being honest with herself.
"It started out alright but then I quickly began to realize that the sheltered quirky and nerdy girl I knew when I was little had changed. Sure we still both have a passionate love for science but she's changed well...a lot of the same ways I changed when I met all of you girls really." Twilight admitted as she continued to change her clothes.
"She seemed so happy with them, she laughed at more of their jokes than at mine, she seemed to have a lot more in common with them than me now like how she really likes horror movies now because she watches them a lot with Indigo Zap, she's gotten more into music like techno and dubstep when I've always known her to be more reserved, her choice in clothing is um..." She blushed and tried to be delicate and not be offensive. "More outgoing than usual. Those kinds of things"
"So you feel like your newer friends took away part of your old friend then?" Sunset asked as Twilight finished changing.
Twilight would nod as she secured her sneakers and tied her hair back up into it's ponytail. "Yeah. I felt like she changed so much and I wanted to recapture the memories we had when we were little kids and so I spent a week setting up my room exactly how it used to look when we were 6 and tried to do some whacky fun experiments like we used to do when we were little but Moon Dancer got really upset and said she wanted to have fun back like when we were little but not the exact same fun as when we were little" Twilight sighed a bit but giggled it away.
"I realize now that she just meant that people grow and change. She still really loves science and we chat often and try and do experiments together when we can but I also make time to hang out with her at the mall or go to the museum and do things she likes to do also."
Sunset smiled as she lead Twilight out of the locker room and back out into the hallway so they could head out of the school and towards sugarcube corner.
"That's good that you two are still so close. I didn't really have any friends like that to speak of to be honest. I mostly stuck to Celestia when I was little and most other pony's didn't like me too much. Not that I didn't give them a reason. I was pretty cold and distant back then and like a lot snarkier." Sunset snickered a bit
Twilight adjusted her glasses and narrowed her eyes. "Snarkier than you are now? I don't believe it!"
Sunset giggled in earnest as she and Twilight exited the front of the school looking towards the statue that held the portal to Equestria. "It's true! I was like at least 5 times more snarky and smart ass than I am today! It just goes to show how much I have changed!"
Twilight smiled happily and skipped down the stairs with Sunset behind her. "Well I am sure happy I met you after your turn around. Especially during the friendship games." Twilight blushed as they walked past the portal.
Sunset blushed in return and rubbed the back of her head smiling sheepishly "Ah it was nothing. All in a days work for this little pony"
Twilight giggled and rolled her eyes. "Still getting used to the fact you are an equine in disguise."
Sunset smirked a playful smirk and said. "Hey least this means you are the ONLY scientific mind in this world that knows of the existence of multiple dimensions and the existence of not just alien life but MAGICAL alien life"
Twilight smiled as she and Sunset walked down the sidewalk as the sun was beginning to set. "Careful what you say or the CIA may abduct you and throw you in area 51"
Sunset laughed and said. "Well with the raid that's about to happen? I should be fine! EVERYONE will show up to save me and don't even tell me I'm wrong!"
Twilight would have retorted but she as a scientist could not deny facts. It was true. Human's across the planet would rush to save Sunset's life from area 51. "Touche Sunset."
Sunset chuckled and nudged Twilight in the ribs playfully. "But I know for a fact my best friends, lead by your crazy sci-fi and anime loving ass will be the first to save me and raid all the goods."
Both Twilight and Sunset would share a hearty and friendly laugh as they walked together to meet all their friends for a couple milkshakes and some quality time. Though still as she went about the thoughts rushed back to her about her past and how she would apply all she learned about friendship to that if she had just once solid chance to do it all over and with aid from two friends from another world? She just might get that chance.