Sunset Shimmer is visited by a pony from her past.
Sunset Shimmer is visited by someone from her past, and after an unfortunate experience, Sunset Shimmer returns to Equestria to try to make amends with her.
Takes place sometime between The Ending of the End - Part 2 and The Last Problem.
Twilight Sparkle was busy packing up and getting ready to head to Canterlot to rule Equestria, knocking is heard at her door and she opens it, she sees a mare in front of her, she was a unicorn, she had a light blue coat just a little lighter than Trixie's, her mane and tail were long and wavy, they were a slightly dark yellow color, she had bangs across her forehead as well, her eyes were a strong purple color, and her cutie mark could not be seen because she was wearing a blue long-sleeve lace dress with flower patterns on it and a white long-sleeve dress under it, the dress was closed in front of her hind legs, and she was wearing black high heel shoes on all four of her hoofs,
"Hi, sorry to bother, but do you have a mirror that can go to another world?" the unicorn asked, she had a soft voice,
"Yes, why?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"Oh, sorry for dropping by like this all of a sudden, I'm an old acquaintance of Sunset Shimmer." the unicorn replied,
"Really? That's amazing, I'll write to her to let you know you're coming." Twilight Sparkle said,
"No, that won't be necessary, I wish to see her in person." the unicorn replied,
"Oh, alright, this way then." Twilight Sparkle said, and she leads her to the mirror,
"Sunset is on the other side, you'll be at a school when you enter, Sunset goes to that school." Twilight Sparkle said,
"Alright, thank you." the unicorn replied, and she goes through the mirror.
The unicorn arrives on the other side of the mirror and looks at herself, she was still wearing the same outfit as before,
"What the?" the unicorn asked as she looks at her hands, she sees herself wearing black high heel shoes on her feet, she walks forward while wobbling a little,
"Oh, bipedal, just like a dragon." the unicorn said, and she walks around while wobbling a bit. The unicorn walks around and sees no one around, so she enters the school, she sees the classrooms were empty, the bell rings and everybody comes out, she walks around slowly and sees the closest human to her, it was Sandalwood, she walks to him,
"Um, excuse me." the unicorn said, and Sandalwood looks at her,
"Do you know where Sunset Shimmer is at?" the unicorn asked,
"Sure, let's look for her." Sandalwood replied, and they walk around the school, they eventually go outside,
"That's her right there." Sandalwood said as he points at her, they see her walking home,
"Thank you." the unicorn said, and she follows her while Sandalwood goes back to the school, she follows Sunset Shimmer and goes to her home, she hides and waits until it was dark.
Night time comes and the unicorn enters Sunset Shimmer's home since the door was unlocked because her friends just left, she hears the toilet flush and sees Sunset Shimmer in her pajamas. Sunset Shimmer looks and exclaims with surprise when she sees the girl,
"Um, can I help you?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"It's been a long time." the unicorn said,
"Wait, what?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Don't you remember me, Sunset Shimmer?" the unicorn asked,
"Um, no, I can't say that I do." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"My name's Arcana, does that ring any bells?" the unicorn asked,
"Arcana... Arcana... No, it doesn't." Sunset Shimmer replied, Arcana scoffs,
"Hold still for a minute." Sunset Shimmer said, and she touches Arcana's right shoulder and sees her memories.
Sunset Shimmer sees the inside of Canterlot Castle, she sees a lot of unicorns there, along with herself, they all see Princess Celestia,
"I am grateful you all came, but before I can choose my pupil, I need to see what you all can do." Princess Celestia said, and the unicorns cheer. The vision changes and the unicorns all meet one another and Sunset Shimmer introduces herself,
"Sunset Shimmer, which you all probably know by now." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Um, who?" Arcana asked while eating grapes,
"Sunset Shimmer, best magic user in Equestria?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No, never heard of you." Arcana said,
"Well, you all might as well give up now, because I know you all are going to lose to me." Sunset Shimmer said, Arcana just sits and listens to the others. The vision changes and everypony did magic competitions, everypony did something different, Sunset Shimmer fuses a tiger and lion together to create a liger while Arcana makes fire, water, rocks, and wind float around herself, everypony looks at Arcana with surprise, her magic aura was four different colors, they were red, blue, yellow, and green, Arcana wins the contest while Sunset Shimmer gets second place, she growls at the fact that she lost. The vision changes and Sunset Shimmer and Arcana were the only two left before Princess Celestia chooses her pupil, the two had to do a project to impress her, Arcana was working late at night and working with unstable chemicals, Sunset Shimmer looks and sees Arcana was creating some kind of chemical, Sunset Shimmer smirks while she uses her telekinesis to add a chemical to the bubbling chemical, it reacts violently and an explosion happens in Arcana's room and she screams. Sunset Shimmer's vision changes and she sees Arcana being taken to the hospital the next morning, Princess Celestia was standing to her right,
"I know what you did last night, Sunset Shimmer, you're disqualified." Princess Celestia said,
"What?! Arcana wins?!" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No, I'm going to look into your backgrounds and decide which one of you two will be my pupil when she recovers." Princess Celestia said, and Sunset Shimmer glares as she looks on. Sunset Shimmer's vision changes and she was standing to Princess Celestia's left,
"I have decided, Sunset Shimmer will be my pupil." Princess Celestia said,
"What... but, Princess Celestia..." Arcana said,
"I'm sorry, Arcana, but you're just not what I'm looking for, head on home now." Princess Celestia replied, and Arcana walks home with her head down while Sunset Shimmer smirks at her.
Sunset Shimmer's visions end and she lets go of Arcana,
"Wow, I can't believe it's been that long, how you've been, Arcana?" Sunset Shimmer asked, Arcana grabs her neck with her right hand and chokes her,
"Waited a long time for this." Arcana said, and she throws Sunset Shimmer back, she screams and lands on the table and it breaks. Sunset Shimmer tries to get up but Arcana picks her up and begins punching her in the face, she does a hard punch with her right hand that sends Sunset Shimmer back onto the floor, she exclaims when she falls,
"Look, I'm sorry you didn't become Princess Celestia's pupil." Sunset Shimmer said,
"That's not it." Arcana replied, Sunset Shimmer's attention is caught,
"You caused a lot of pain to me when you played that prank on me and sent me to the hospital, now, feel the exact same pain I felt." Arcana said, and she grabs Sunset Shimmer's hair and begins bashing her face on the floor, she stops after a minute and Sunset Shimmer pants while in pain. Arcana goes up the stairs and takes one of the guitars off of the wall, she goes back down and begins hitting Sunset Shimmer on the back of her head with the guitar, she exclaims when she gets hit, Arcana turns her around and hits her across her face with it so hard, the guitar snaps in half, Arcana looks at it and then throws it at Sunset Shimmer and hits her in the face with it. Arcana picks up Sunset Shimmer and throws her head into the TV, breaking it, Sunset Shimmer groans and falls to the floor, Arcana begins to grab and twist Sunset Shimmer's fingers, she screams from the pain, she twists all eight of her fingers and breaks some of them, Arcana turns her around again and begins punching her in the face again, she stops after a minute and turns her around again, she stands up and walks, she picks up the amplifier behind Sunset Shimmer's sitting chair, she goes to her and drops the amplifier on Sunset Shimmer's head, she screams in pain. Arcana throws the amplifier off of her and picks her up again, she carries Sunset Shimmer to the area under her bed and throws her head into the microwave, breaking the glass, she pulls her out and throws her, Sunset Shimmer screams, she lands on the wooden floor and it breaks where she lands. Sunset Shimmer cries and crawls away while Arcana walks to her,
"Please, I've reformed, I've changed my ways." Sunset Shimmer said tearfully while looking over her own left shoulder,
"That doesn't mean you're forgiven." Arcana replied in a cold tone, and she proceeds to punch Sunset Shimmer with her left fist, Sunset Shimmer screams and her vision goes black when she gets hit.
Sunset Shimmer groans and opens her eyes,
"Sunset? Sunset." Sunset Shimmer hears Fluttershy say, her voice sounded far away, she looks and sees Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack looking at her with worried faces, she also sees herself in a bed with bandages on her abdomen and arms, she sees the mirror behind her friends and sees a bandage was wrapped around her head,
"Where am I?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"You're in the hospital." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"Oh, right, I got a visitor last night." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Last night? You've been unconscious for a week." Rainbow Dash replied,
"A week? Has it really been that long?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Yeah, and we put all of your schoolwork in your home." Pinkie Pie replied,
"What happened in there?" Applejack asked,
"I... had a visitor." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"A visitor?" Rarity asked,
"Yeah, a unicorn from my world, it was someone I've actually forgotten about." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Wait, it's someone you know?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"Yeah, her name was Arcana, before I became Princess Celestia's student, I had to compete with the others for the title, Arcana was my biggest rival, I pulled a prank on her that hurt her and sent her to the hospital, she was bitter about it all this time, and came to my home and gave me a beating, she wanted me to feel the same pain she felt from that mean prank I pulled on her." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Why didn't you tell her you changed your ways?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"I did, she said that doesn't mean I'm forgiven." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"So, what are ya gonna do?" Applejack asked,
"After I recover, I'm going to Equestria and try to make amends with her." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Aren't you going to tell Princess Twilight?" Rarity asked,
"No, I have to do this alone, Princess Twilight doesn't know Arcana." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Well, hope the best for ya, Sunset." Applejack said,
"Thanks." Sunset Shimmer replied, and her friends leave, Sunset Shimmer lays in bed for two more days and was able to leave.
Sunset Shimmer walks home in her hospital garb and enters her house, she sees it was still trashed from when Arcana beat her, Sunset Shimmer changes her outfit and wears her usual outfit,
"Huh. I'm surprised she didn't trash my house." Sunset Shimmer said, and she looks around and mourns her destroyed guitar, destroyed TV, and destroyed microwave, her amplifier was undamaged, she goes to her school and goes to the statue and enters her home world. Twilight Sparkle walks around and Sunset Shimmer comes through the mirror,
"Twilight!" Sunset Shimmer said happily, the two hug one another,
"Did things go well with that unicorn from last week?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"She didn't tell you?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No, she just thanked me after coming back and left." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"Oh, I see, well, I have to see Princess Celestia, it's a bit of a personal reason." Sunset Shimmer said, and she leaves.
Sunset Shimmer goes to Canterlot on her own and enters the castle, she sees the ponies were preparing for Twilight Sparkle to be the new ruler of Equestria, she enters the throne room and sees Princess Celestia there,
"Sunset, this is a pleasant surprise, are you here to see Twilight's coronation?" Princess Celestia asked,
"Actually, no, I'm here for a personal reason, Arcana visited me last week." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Arcana paid you a visit last week? I remember before I chose you as my student, you and her had the biggest rivalry out of all of the unicorns, have you two caught up?" Princess Celestia asked,
"No, she's still mad at me for who I was back then." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"How mad was she?" Princess Celestia asked,
"Very mad, she gave me a beating that sent me to the hospital." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"*gasp* A beating?" Princess Celestia asked,
"Yeah, she said just because I've changed my ways doesn't mean I'm forgiven." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"I see, I think I know why you're here, you want to know where she's at so you can make amends with her, correct?" Princess Celestia asked,
"Yes." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Alright, Arcana lives in a village called Dreaming Paradise, it is an isolated village in the forest north of here, that village has a caste system of its own, each pony is divided by type, so there are three different classes. Arcana and the other unicorns are the magic users of the village, their caste title is Magicians, the earth ponies are militaristic and trained in combat, their caste is called Soldiers, and Pegasi are trained in stealth and concealing weapons, their caste is called Assassins, even though they are divided, each title is equal to one another, there is no superior or inferior caste rank." Princess Celestia said,
"Are they mean to visitors?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No, and me several others have been there before, they are very welcoming and friendly people." Princess Celestia replied, Sunset Shimmer smiles,
"Also, be careful, that village also has three amulets, the Amulet of Magic, the Amulet of Combat, and the Amulet of Stealth, the Amulet of Magic increases one's magic and allows them to use spells that shouldn't be possible to cast, the Amulet of Combat turns your body into stone and increases one's physical strength and endurance, and the Amulet of Stealth allows you to become one with the shadows, they can disappear into them, and create doppelgangers of themselves, the amulets are given to whoever gets the highest scores on their tests, Arcana is current wearer of the Amulet of Magic, her two childhood friends have the other two amulets." Princess Celestia said,
"Oh, so I'll be dealing with three of them." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Not exactly, they mostly act alone, anyway, I'll let you go to Dreaming Paradise now, be careful in the forest around the village, and if you do get to the village, Arcana should be easy to find, she runs a winery there as her job, her wine is famous throughout all of Equestria, it's simply called Arcana's Winery." Princess Celestia replied,
"*chuckle* I should've guessed, Arcana ate nothing but grapes when we were here." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Yes, that's true, she did, I wished she would eat something else every now and then, you should go now, it's probably still open and can you tell her I said hi?" Princess Celestia asked,
"Sure." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Alright, good luck, Sunset." Princess Celestia said, and Sunset Shimmer leaves.
Sunset Shimmer heads outside and heads north, and enters the forest, she sees a wooden sign that points to where Dreaming Paradise is at, she begins to head there but stops when she hears magic being cast,
"Huh?" Sunset Shimmer asked while she looks to her left, she sees red, blue, yellow, and green auras, she trots there and sees Arcana sitting on a tree branch, practicing her magic and reading a book at the same time,
"Arcana." Sunset Shimmer said, Arcana puts the rocks down and closes the book with her magic, she turns around and sees Sunset Shimmer,
"You already recovered. Princess Celestia sent you?" Arcana asked,
"Um, yes and no, I kind of came here on my own accord." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"What do you want?" Arcana asked,
"I want to make amends with you, I want your forgiveness." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"My forgiveness? Why do you want that?" Arcana asked,
"Because I had to make amends in the world I'm staying in, you showed me that I have to make amends with the people in this world as well." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"The people in that world forgave you?" Arcana asked,
"Yeah, it wasn't easy, though, but I had friends to support me." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Who? People who didn't know what you did?" Arcana asked,
"No, the ones who I directly bullied and destroyed their friendship, they were the first ones to forgive me." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"I see, so that world has that problem, too." Arcana said,
"What problem?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"You all are too forgiving, there are some things that cannot be forgiven." Arcana replied,
"Arcana, please, give me a chance, I want to show you I have changed." Sunset Shimmer said, Arcana glares and fires a beam from her horn, Sunset Shimmer jumps back and the beam hits the ground and changes to a pillar of fire, it goes down after a few seconds,
"Like I'll ever make amends with you." Arcana said, Sunset Shimmer looks and sees something on her neck, it was an amulet, it was a silver amulet with a dark blue sapphire on it with a silver chain, Arcana was wearing it like a necklace,
"Wait, that amulet." Sunset Shimmer said,
"It's the Amulet of Magic, one of the three treasures of my home, it was given to me since I am currently the village's most powerful magic user." Arcana said,
"Wait, you wore it when you and I were rivals, you just hid it, you did cheat!" Sunset Shimmer said,
"No, I didn't, did you see the amulet when you looked into my memories?" Arcana asked, Sunset Shimmer becomes speechless for a second,
"No... I didn't." Sunset Shimmer said,
"See, there you go, I didn't bring it to Canterlot, that would've cheating if I did use it." Arcana said,
"Then why is your magic aura four different colors?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Because I control the four elements of nature, there are more elements than the Elements of Harmony, Sunset Shimmer." Arcana replied,
"Oh. Well, I'm not going anywhere." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Fine." Arcana said, and she jumps down from the tree branch,
Arcana casts telekinesis and throws things at Sunset Shimmer, she puts them down with her telekinesis and Arcana makes vines grow out of the ground and they wrap around Sunset Shimmer's horn, she exclaims and tries to break free, Arcana casts a spell and sets Sunset Shimmer on fire, she screams and rolls around, she fires a beam at Arcana and she teleports, Arcana appears behind Sunset Shimmer and uses her magic to create rocks around Sunset Shimmer to trap her, Sunset Shimmer teleports out and reappears, she fires a beam at Arcana and hits her, she grunts loudly and slides back. Arcana focuses and shoots a red, blue, yellow, and green beam out, Sunset Shimmer shoots a beam out of her horn and they enter a deadlock, but Arcana easily overpowers her when Sunset Shimmer sees Arcana's magic beam was four times bigger than her own, she gets hit and Sunset Shimmer screams, the red parts of the beam burn her, the blue parts fill her body with water, the yellow part has rocks hit her, and the green part has gusts of wind cut her, the beams disappear after a few seconds and Sunset Shimmer grunts while she falls,
"*pant* *pant* That amulet sure is strong." Sunset Shimmer said,
"I haven't used it, yet." Arcana said,
"What?!" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"That's right, this is my natural magic." Arcana replied, and she casts a spell that makes four rocks appear around her and catch on fire, Sunset Shimmer sees they were meteors, they fly to her and Sunset Shimmer exclaims while she gets on her stomach to dodge the four meteors, they hit trees and set them on fire. Sunset Shimmer gets up and sees Arcana casting another spell, she makes tornadoes appear in the forest and she casts another spell to add fire into the tornadoes. The tornadoes move around the forest and Sunset Shimmer teleports around to dodge them, she sweats from the heat and with fear while she watches her surroundings, the tornadoes disappear and Sunset Shimmer sees black spots everywhere, she teleports to Arcana and fires a beam at her, she grunts loudly and slides back again, Sunset Shimmer fires another beam and Arcana grunts loudly again and falls onto the ground and pants,
"Wow, for a powerful magic user, your physical abilities don't seem very good." Sunset Shimmer said, Arcana glares at her and she casts a spell, she heals herself and stands up, she runs to Sunset Shimmer and tackles her down, she tries to strangle Sunset Shimmer but it did nothing,
"Hmm, it seems that strength from that world was only natural for that species, I lost it when I came back here." Arcana said,
"You never were an athlete, Arcana." Sunset Shimmer said, she looks at her with surprise and Sunset Shimmer punches her with her front right hoof, Arcana grunts loudly and pants while Sunset Shimmer stands up. Arcana pants heavily and stands up slowly,
"I didn't want to do this, but I have to use my amulet against you." Arcana said,
"Like what kind of spells does it grant you?" Sunset Shimmer asked, Arcana casts a spell and the sapphire on her amulet glows dark blue, Arcana grows Pegasus wings,
"What the?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"This is only one of the spells." Arcana said, and she flies to Sunset Shimmer. Sunset Shimmer fires a beam at Arcana and she flies around to dodge it, she tackles Sunset Shimmer down and she sees she now had the strength of an average earth pony, Sunset Shimmer shoots her away and Arcana stands up, she casts another spell and the amulet glows, she divides and Sunset Shimmer sees three Arcanas, a unicorn, a Pegasus, and an earth pony. Unicorn Arcana fires a beam at Sunset Shimmer while Pegasus Arcana flies to her and earth pony Arcana runs to her, Sunset Shimmer casts telekinesis on herself to dodge the beam, she is grabbed from behind by Pegasus Arcana and tries to restrain her,
"You're actually pretty weak." Sunset Shimmer said, and wobbles around and breaks free easily, earth pony Arcana jumps and knocks her down, she was on the ground again and earth pony Arcana begins to punch her with her front hoofs,
"That barely stings." Sunset Shimmer said, she shoots her with a beam from her horn, earth pony Arcana grunts loudly. Arcana casts a spell and her Pegasus and earth pony selves disappear, she casts another spell and the amulet glows, she changes to a dragon,
"What the?!" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"The amulet also allows me to use changeling magic." Arcana said, and she breathes fire out, Sunset Shimmer ducks and shoots another beam at Arcana and hits her in her abdomen, she grunts and changes back to a unicorn, she casts another spell while her amulet glows and Sunset Shimmer becomes an elder. Sunset Shimmer tries to move but was at a snail's pace,
"Arcana!" Sunset Shimmer said with a raspy voice, Arcana shoots a beam to knock down Sunset Shimmer while restraining her laughter, she falls over and she shoots a beam at Arcana's amulet, she exclaims when it gets hit and it undoes the spell and Sunset Shimmer was back to her normal age. Arcana gets ready to cast another a spell and Sunset Shimmer gets ready to shoot her down, but a yellow beam lands between the two and catches them off guard,
"Enough! Sunset Shimmer, Arcana, stop fighting." Princess Celestia said, the two look and see her walking to them,
"Arcana, I know you're still mad at Sunset, but she has changed and is no longer the pony she once was." Princess Celestia said,
"Why should I forgive her for what she did?" Arcana asked,
"Arcana, Sunset has truly changed, I want you to give her a chance so she can show you how far she has come." Princess Celestia replied,
"Why?" Arcana asked,
"I want you and Sunset to be able to make amends, too, I want you to be able to forgive her." Princess Celestia replied,
"And let her get away with her actions scot-free? Not a chance." Arcana said,
"What are you saying, Arcana?" Princess Celestia asked,
"You ponies are too forgiving, they're our enemies, they shouldn't be forgiven." Arcana replied,
"Do you have another suggestion?" Princess Celestia asked,
"Kill them on sight." Arcana replied,
"No, we are not allowing the death sentence in Equestria." Princess Celestia said,
"Then have them imprisoned and tortured." Arcana replied,
"No, I believe their ostracizing from society is punishment enough." Princess Celestia said,
"As mental punishment, they need physical punishment, too." Arcana replied,
"Well, if that's what you wish for, then you can have Sunset make amends by having her do manual labor." Princess Celestia said,
"You mean to be my slave, right?" Arcana asked,
"No, just have Sunset Shimmer do some physical work, and let her work and devotion show you how much she has changed, I think you will be impressed." Princess Celestia replied,
"Please, Arcana? I'm begging you, I want to make amends." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Hmm, well... I can always use an extra hoof picking grapes, alright, this afternoon, you're my slave." Arcana replied,
"Servant, Arcana, you still need to feed Sunset Shimmer for the work she does, and she has to go back to her world eventually." Princess Celestia said,
"Very well, hold on, I'll go open up my shop, wait here." Arcana said,
"Thank you, Arcana, I think you may be able to forgive Sunset." Princess Celestia said,
"Wait, before you go, and while you're here, why did you choose Sunset Shimmer over me as your student?" Arcana asked,
"I was hoping I could teach Sunset about friendship, since she didn't know what it was, but you did." Princess Celestia replied,
"And you failed." Arcana said,
"I need no reminder, Arcana, I'll be going now, I wish you two good luck." Princess Celestia said, and she flies away,
"Wait here, I'll come get you when I open shop." Arcana said, and she walks away.
Sunset Shimmer walks around the forest while bored and waits for Arcana to return, she walks around and she gets tackled down from behind, Sunset Shimmer grunts and falls over, she looks over her left shoulder and sees a pony covered from head to hoof in a dull gray suit of armor, the pony had a sword sheathed on its left side and a kite shield on its back. Sunset Shimmer stands up and the pony in the suit of armor begins to punch her, the pony moves slowly and Sunset Shimmer dodges the punches easily, she turns around and bucks the pony, she hits the metal and it does nothing, the pony turns around and bucks her, Sunset Shimmer screams and falls and slides across the ground,
"That hurt." Sunset Shimmer said weakly, she groans while she hears the suit of armor walking towards her, Sunset Shimmer looks over her own left shoulder and shoots a zap from her horn, she hits the helmet and the pony grunts, she realizes it was a female, Sunset Shimmer uses telekinesis and tries to take the pony's helmet off, she gets it off and sees the mare, she had a bright red coat, a long straight orange mane, and pink eyes, she had two scars on her left eye, she walks slowly while Sunset Shimmer's body takes time to recover,
"Come on, body." Sunset Shimmer said with strain in her voice, she sees the pony in the suit of armor walking towards her slowly, she shoots beams at her, but the pony in the suit of armor did not flinch at getting shot. Sunset Shimmer recovers and looks, she sees an amulet around the pony's neck, it looked just like Arcana's amulet and was also silver, but it had a red ruby instead of a sapphire. Sunset Shimmer looks on while speechless and she hears running behind herself, a garotte gets wrapped around Sunset Shimmer's neck, she screams while struggling to break free, she uses telekinesis to throw whoever was behind her over herself, the person stands up and turns around, Sunset Shimmer sees it was a female Pegasus, she had a bright green coat, a long straight light sky blue mane and tail, and yellow eyes, she was wearing a black leather tricorne with one corner facing forward and the other two corners to the sides and behind the Pegasus' head, she was also wearing a black leather waist-length coat with three gold buttons and gold trimmings around the button holes, the coat was open, the Pegasus was also wearing a black vest with three black buttons to keep it closed, a white cravat that was tied to have three layers, a light brown leather belt with a gold buckle, white pants, and light brown mid-calf length leather boots on her hind legs. The Pegasus reaches into her coat and takes daggers out, she tries to stab and slash Sunset Shimmer with them, she moves back and fires a beam at her, she grunts and falls over, she gets back up quickly and flies to her, she tries to slash Sunset Shimmer with her daggers, Sunset Shimmer just holds her back with her telekinesis, she looks and sees her amulet, it was also silver, but it had a dark green jade. The pony in the suit of armor runs very slowly and tries to ram Sunset Shimmer, but she casts telekinesis and struggles to hold up the pony in the suit of armor, the Pegasus flies to behind her and wraps her arms around Sunset Shimmer's neck, she grunts and throws the Pegasus off with her telekinesis. Sunset Shimmer watches and sees the two were about to attack her again, they go towards her again while Sunset Shimmer gets defensive,
"Paladin, Robin, stand down." Arcana said, the two turn around and see her walking to them,
"She attacked you earlier, we're just dealing with her for you." the mare in the suit of armor said,
"It's alright, I can deal with her on my own." Arcana replied,
"Oh, come on, Arcana, you know what we said when we were kids, all for one and one for all." the Pegasus said,
"It's fine, Robin, I can handle her." Arcana replied, Sunset Shimmer deduces that the pony in the suit of armor was Paladin,
"Who is this anyway?" Paladin asked,
"I'm Sunset Shimmer, I was Arcana's biggest rival when she and I were trying to become Princess Celestia's student." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Wait, you're Sunset Shimmer? We've heard about you, you sent our friend to the hospital." Robin said,
"Yeah, sorry about that, I'm here to make amends on that." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"You think we'd just apologize for that?" Paladin asked,
"That's why I came here to see Arcana, I'm here to do what she says and prove to her that I have changed." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Well, my shop's open, let's go." Arcana said, and the four head to Dreaming Paradise.
Sunset Shimmer walks behind the three mares and looks at them, she sees that Arcana was taller than Robin but shorter than Paladin, and Paladin walks with her helmet in her front right hoof,
"What are you going to have her do, Arcana?" Robin asked,
"Simple things, you know, things like pick the grapes for my drinks and maybe clean my home a little, I might have her serve me food for tea time as well." Arcana replied,
"I'll do anything you say." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Anything? Well, if you say so, let's keep going, Dreaming Paradise isn't too far from here." Arcana replied, and the four keep walking,
"Say, Arcana, why didn't you go back to Princess Celestia after I left?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"I was going to, but she already decided to take Twilight Sparkle in as her student." Arcana replied,
"Oh. Are you the leader of the three, Arcana?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No, all three of us act together, but if I had to say there is a leader between us, it'd be Paladin." Arcana replied,
"Why her for?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Because I'm the oldest between us three." Paladin replied,
"And you're the youngest, Arcana?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No, I'm the middle pony, Robin's the youngest." Arcana replied,
"We're still mostly the same age, Paladin's older than me by three years, and Arcana's older than me by one year." Robin said,
"Oh, it's not that big of an age gap." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Exactly." Robin said,
"Well, come on, our village is right there." Arcana said, and they arrive at Dreaming Paradise.
Sunset Shimmer looks at Dreaming Paradise and sees it was unique, the village was divided into three places, the left side of Dreaming Paradise had blue towers and unicorns in groups and casting magic together, the unicorns control fire, water, earth, and wind, the unicorns also meditated to make their magic stronger, the center area had red fortresses and earth ponies wearing suits of armor and marching, there were also earth ponies dueling with swords and jousting, some groups also practiced hoof-to-hoof combat, and some groups meditated in order to stay calm and not panic during battle, and the right area had green huts and the Pegasi were being trained in how to sneak around and conceal weapons in their outfits, they were also being taught how to hide their things in the ground and how to bypass securities. Sunset Shimmer looks around and actually liked Dreaming Paradise,
"Wow, it's like something out of a book." Sunset Shimmer said,
"You never were much of a reader, though." Arcana replied,
"Yeah, I learn better through experience than reading." Sunset Shimmer said,
"You're just like me, then." Paladin said,
"Well, judging by their outfits, I assume you're an earth pony." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Can't you tell by looking at me?" Paladin asked,
"Actually, most suits of armor like yours tend to hide the wings." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Oh, I see, that's not the case here, if I was a Pegasus, there would be holes on the sides of my armor to expose my wings, same if I was a unicorn, there would be a hole in my helmet to expose my horn." Paladin said,
"Ah, makes sense." Sunset Shimmer said, and she continues to watch the ponies, she sees the female Pegasi hiding small knives between their hind legs',
"Oh, that looks painful." Sunset Shimmer said,
"It is, we are taught to hide weapons in our lady parts as a last resort." Robin replied,
"Say, Robin, do you..." Sunset Shimmer said,
"No, I don't, I find it to be very uncomfortable." Robin said,
"Oh, well, I'm ready to work, where's the winery?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"This way." Arcana replied, and Sunset Shimmer follows her.
Sunset Shimmer goes to the left side of Dreaming Paradise and the unicorns look at her and Arcana,
"Um, hi, just a pony atoning for her past actions." Sunset Shimmer said while sweating,
"This way, Sunset Shimmer." Arcana said, and she walks with her, Sunset Shimmer walks around and sees the unicorns casting spells she has never seen before, she sees several ponies casting fire, water, earth, and air spells together, their magic auras were two, three, or four different colors, she also sees the meditating unicorns,
"What's with the meditation?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"A clear mind and a calm state allows you to control your magic better, while your emotions do affect how powerful your magic is, out of control emotions tend to cause massive destruction when one is casting magic, meditation is to allow us to stay calm." Arcana replied,
"Oh, now that you mention it, I think Princess Twilight once wrote to me about Starlight Glimmer channeling her emotions into her magic." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Yes, the meditation is supposed to teach us how to control it, basically, channel your emotions into the spell, but have control over it, since acting on impulse can make a spell very destructive." Arcana replied,
"Maybe I should try meditation, I still have a bit of bad temper." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Well, control it when you start working, the last thing I need is you losing your patience and begin messing up my grape field." Arcana replied, and they walk together and Sunset Shimmer sees the unicorns casting magic to change objects into other objects, casting wings onto themselves, freezing ponies in place, and creating shields around themselves,
"Say, Arcana, are you a teacher?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Sometimes." Arcana replied,
"How much farther till we get to the winery?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Just up ahead." Arcana replied, and Sunset Shimmer sees it, it was a wooden building shaped like a rectangle, she sees the name Arcana's Winery at the top of the building,
"You really did name it after yourself." Sunset Shimmer said,
"That's because I'm the one who opened it and I run the entire business on my own, a common mistake people make is they think I named it after myself because I'm an egotistical person, come on, Sunset Shimmer, let's get you to start working." Arcana replied, and the two enter.
Sunset Shimmer enters Arcana's Winery and sees barrels of wine everywhere,
"Wow, you seem busy, Arcana." Sunset Shimmer said,
"I am, come on now, let's get you started, I got a lot of grapes to pick outside today." Arcana replied, and she gives Sunset Shimmer an empty plastic bottle,
"Um?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"That's your pee bottle." Arcana replied,
"Seriously, Arcana? Why can't I use the bathroom like a regular pony?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Because relieving yourself with that is faster, anyway, here." Arcana replied, and she gives Sunset Shimmer a white bucket,
"That's your fecal bucket." Arcana said,
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Sunset Shimmer asked, and Arcana gives her a roll of toilet paper,
"Well, go on and pick some grapes, they're through that door behind you." Arcana said, and Sunset Shimmer heads outside.
Sunset Shimmer goes outside and sees purple grapes everywhere, Sunset Shimmer trots and begins picking the ripe ones by hoof,
"You don't need to pick them by hoof, you can use your magic." Arcana said,
"I want to do it this way, it'll make me feel happier about myself." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Okay, but don't push yourself, I'll come out to pick my own grapes after I finish my studies." Arcana said, and she heads back in. Sunset Shimmer picks the biggest and ripest grapes in the grape field and put them in a silver metal bucket that Arcana had at the door, Sunset Shimmer carries her bottle, two buckets, and toilet paper with her telekinesis while she picks the grapes with her hoofs, she fills up one bucket with grapes and goes back into the winery and sees Arcana practicing a spell,
"The bucket's full, Arcana." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Oh, just lay it here beside me and get another bucket." Arcana replied, and Sunset Shimmer does. Sunset Shimmer picks more grapes and uses the bathroom in her bottle and white bucket, she continues picking grapes and fills up another silver bucket, she gets a third silver bucket and picks more grapes until it was afternoon, Arcana comes outside,
"Sunset Shimmer, take a break, I have another task for you." Arcana said,
"What is it?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"It's almost tea time, and I would like for you to serve the food to me." Arcana said,
"Doesn't sound too hard." Sunset Shimmer said,
"It's not, come on, follow me." Arcana said, and the two leave.
Sunset Shimmer goes to the back of Dreaming Paradise and sees everypony sitting at tables and conversing, Sunset Shimmer carries grapes with her to the table Arcana was at, she was sitting to the left, Paladin was in the center, and Robin sat to the right,
"Thank you, Sunset Shimmer." Arcana said, and she stands by. Sunset Shimmer looks and sees Arcana eating nothing but grapes, Paladin was eating only watermelons, and Robin eats only pineapples, the three also drink juice that was the flavor of the fruits they were eating,
"Still only eating grapes, I see, Arcana." Sunset Shimmer said,
"You got a problem with it?" Arcana asked,
"It's just I thought you'd be eating more than just grapes after so many years." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"No, I've always liked grapes ever since I was a kid, it's always been my favorite." Arcana said,
"Haven't you ever tried something else?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No, why?" Arcana asked,
"Eating too many of one thing is bad for your health." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"I've had no health problems so far." Arcana said,
"What about you two?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Mm-mm." Paladin said while shaking her head,
"Nope." Robin said, and Sunset Shimmer stands by and gives Arcana more grapes when she was done with her servings,
"Did you bring any food on your own?" Paladin asked,
"No, I didn't." Sunset Shimmer replied, and the three continue to eat fruits and drink fruit juice,
"What do you two do for a living?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"I'm a hired bodyguard for the people outside Dreaming Paradise, me and the other earth ponies also serve as a PMC for when the royal guards aren't available." Paladin replied,
"I'm an appraiser, you bring any ancient artifacts to me and I'll examine it and tell you if it's real or not." Robin said,
"Wow, you three sound busy." Sunset Shimmer said, Paladin, Arcana, and Robin nod while smiling and they finish their meals,
"Here, you can have the leftovers." Arcana said, and the three leave,
"Oh, thanks." Sunset Shimmer said, and she eats the grapes, watermelons, and pineapples, they were all sweet, she drinks the grape juice, watermelon juice, and pineapple juice as well, they were all sweet and delicious,
"Sunset Shimmer, if you're done, I need you here." Arcana said from afar, and Sunset Shimmer runs to her.
Sunset Shimmer stands in front of Dreaming Paradise and sees the ponies getting ready for what appeared to be a march,
"What's going on?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Afternoon training, we all gather together and train together after tea." Arcana replied, she looks and sees three stallions that catch her attention, they were a unicorn, a Pegasus, and an earth pony, the unicorn had a dark blue coat, a long white mane and tail, a long full beard, and purple eyes, he was wearing a blue wizard's hat, a long blue robe, brown knee-length gloves on his front legs, black mid-calf length boots on his hind hoofs, and a blue cape, the Pegasus had a dark green coat, white shoulder-length mane and a short tail, and yellow eyes, he was wearing a black long-sleeve shirt, black pants, black knee-length gloves on his front legs, black knee-length boots on his hind legs, and a green cape, and the earth pony had a dark red coat, short white mane and tail, and orange eyes, he was wearing a dull gray and battered suit of armor that covered his entire body except his head, his helmet was behind him, he had a sword sheathed on his left side, a shield on his back, and was wearing a red cape,
"Who are those three?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"They are the village elders, they rule the entire village, the unicorn is Archmage Astral Plane, the Pegasus is Master Nocturne, and the earth pony is Commander Lionheart." Arcana replied,
"They just become the elders by being the oldest?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"There's more to it than just age, they three have to lead an example for us, these three are looked up to more than most elders because all three once wore the amulets, the main reason they became the elders is because of their previous experiences from when they were younger." Arcana replied,
"Oh, I get it, they became the elders because of their wisdom." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Yup." Arcana replied, Sunset Shimmer smiles,
"Alright, everypony, afternoon training, fillies and colts, you all will go first, you will be put into groups of three, show us your growth." Commander Lionheart said, and the colts and fillies were put into groups of three consisting of a unicorn, a Pegasus, and an earth pony,
"What's the point of this?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"To teach teamwork, and that every part of a team is vital." Arcana replied,
"Alright, for you first timers, you all have three in your group, a Magician, a Soldier, and an Assassin, you all are to work together, you all know your strengths and weaknesses, your goal is to take out all three members of the rival group." Master Nocturne said,
"For those of you that fail, you will receive extra training to improve yourselves, let us begin." Archmage Astral Plane said, and they do. Sunset Shimmer watches and sees groups of three together, there were two groups, she watches and sees the earth ponies fight one another directly, the Pegasi using concealed weapons to fight another, and the unicorns in magic duels,
"Typical newcomer behavior." Arcana said,
"Huh?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"The goal is not to beat your own kind, it is to switch around and exploit your opponent's weaknesses to win." Arcana said, and Sunset Shimmer watches and see the six foals in deadlocks,
"That looks kind of fun." Sunset Shimmer said,
"It can be." Arcana replied, Sunset Shimmer watches and sees the older foals overpower the younger ones after a while,
"Next group." Archmage Astral Plane said, and the next older foals go up next,
"How does this work?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"We are chosen by age, youngest goes first, and go up the age group as training goes on." Arcana replied,
"You're already the strongest magic user in the village, right?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Yeah, why?" Arcana asked,
"Isn't your training complete?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No, of course not, we train for life." Arcana replied,
"Oh." Sunset Shimmer said,
"That's one thing I don't like about places outside of Dreaming Paradise, you all don't bother training after you're done to reach new heights, I wish Princess Celestia would've allowed that and meditation." Arcana said,
"Well, not everyone wants to train for life." Sunset Shimmer said,
"True." Arcana replied, and they watch the trainings go on, Sunset Shimmer watches with a smile on her face while the ponies of Dreaming Paradise remain stoic,
"Wow, this is amazing." Sunset Shimmer said, the others stop and look at her,
"Who is this?" Archmage Astral Plane asked,
"I'm Sunset Shimmer, I'm here to make amends with Arcana." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Where is she from, Arcana?" Archmage Astral Plane asked,
"She was my biggest rival when I tried to become Princess Celestia's student." Arcana replied, the ponies murmur,
"Hold on, everypony, stop training, let's have her and Arcana face off against one another." Archmage Astral Plane said,
"Let's go, Sunset Shimmer." Arcana said, and the two walk forward.
Sunset Shimmer and Arcana stand distant from one another and the two were ready while the ponies of Dreaming Paradise watch, Sunset Shimmer casts a spell to shoot fire out of her horn, Arcana casts a spell to make a shield of ice appear in front of her, she teleports and appears above it, she casts a spell to make boulders grow around Sunset Shimmer to entrap her, Sunset Shimmer teleports and shoots a beam at Arcana, she hits her, but Arcana was unfazed, she sees Arcana cast another spell and gusts of wind appear, Sunset Shimmer grunts as she tries to stand on her hoofs, Arcana casts another spell and small pieces of rocks appear in the wind, they cut Sunset Shimmer and she yelps from the pain, she teleports and appears behind Arcana, she shoots a beam at her, but a red, blue, yellow, and green shield appears behind her and the beam gets deflected,
"What the?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"You've never seen a full shield before?" Arcana asked,
"What? No." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Shame, it'd be helpful if you outsiders learned it." Arcana said, and she disappears. Sunset Shimmer looks around and Arcana appears behind Sunset Shimmer, she turns around and sees Arcana cast a spell that makes crystals float around herself, Sunset Shimmer watches and Arcana shoots the crystals to her, Sunset Shimmer jumps to dodge them but Arcana casts a spell and freezes Sunset Shimmer, she falls and Arcana sends the rest of her crystals to her, Sunset Shimmer gets hit and falls. The sun melts the ice and Sunset Shimmer growls,
"Why so mad, Sunset Shimmer?" Arcana asked,
"I don't like to lose." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"You always were a sore loser." Arcana said, Sunset Shimmer growls and fires a big beam of fire out of her horn, she stops and sees water on the ground, she looks and sees melted ice in front of Arcana, and she was unharmed. Sunset Shimmer growls and fires a beam at Arcana, a blue force field appears and deflects Sunset Shimmer's beam back to her, she exclaims in pain and falls over,
"Is this really the best Arcana's rival can do?" a female unicorn asked, the others murmur. Sunset Shimmer gets back up while angry and remembers her previous fight,
"Wait, that's it." Sunset Shimmer said, and she runs. Sunset Shimmer runs to Arcana and she fires a beam at her, Sunset Shimmer casts a spell to disappear, she reappears to Arcana's right and kicks her in her right jaw with her hind left hoof, Arcana grunts loudly and falls over and slides on the ground, she gets back up and coughs a little,
"You never were good at anything physical, Arcana." Archmage Astral Plane said while looking down with his eyes closed, Arcana struggles to stand up and grunts, she tries shooting beams at Sunset Shimmer, she runs around and dodges them while she runs to Arcana, she punches her in her right jaw with her front left hoof, Arcana grunts loudly and falls over again, the ponies of Dreaming Paradise gasp. Arcana coughs and pants from the hit, she gets back up but struggles, she could not stand up straight, Sunset Shimmer turns around and bucks her and hits her in her chest, Arcana screams and falls over. Arcana groans loudly while she was on the ground, she could not move,
"So that's why she was Arcana's rival, while Arcana has the better magic, this pony is more athletic." Commander Lionheart said,
"Permission to engage." Paladin said,
"No, I don't think Arcana's done yet." Master Nocturne replied, they look and see Arcana struggling to move,
"Yeah, she's still standing, barely, though." Robin said, Sunset Shimmer sees Arcana cast a spell, her wounds heal and she gets back up,
"Oh, right, healing spell." Sunset Shimmer said, Arcana casts a spell and changes herself to a mosquito. Arcana flies to Sunset Shimmer and begins biting, Sunset Shimmer exclaims when she feels the bite appear on her, she casts telekinesis and gets Arcana off of herself, Arcana changes back and casts telekinesis on Sunset Shimmer, she begins to pull Sunset Shimmer's legs and she exclaims with pain and drops Arcana. Arcana casts a spell and her amulet glows, her body changes to a plant and she fuses with the ground, vines begin to grow out and tangle around Sunset Shimmer, she grunts as she tries to break free, Arcana makes a vine wrap around Sunset Shimmer's horn, she shoots fire out of her horn and burns the vines, she also shoots fire at Arcana, her amulet glows and Arcana changes back and casts a water spell on herself to douse the flames. Arcana casts a spell and her amulet glows again, the ground erupts and lava comes out, Sunset Shimmer exclaims while she casts telekinesis on herself to make herself fly, Arcana casts another spell and makes the lava erupts from the ground like a volcano, Sunset Shimmer flies and teleports around while Arcana continues to cast the spell, Sunset Shimmer goes to her right blind spot and shoots a beam at her, but it gets deflected and shot back at her, Sunset Shimmer gets hit by her own beam and yelps while she falls. Sunset Shimmer teleports and appears behind Arcana and bucks her, she exclaims and falls over while the lava stops erupting. Arcana casts a healing spell on herself while struggling and gets up,
"Ready to give up?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No." Arcana replied while she got up, she turns around and sees Arcana casting another spell, there was a purple haze around her horn, and her eyes glow green with purple mist coming out of them, Sunset Shimmer realizes Arcana was casting dark magic and gets defensive. Black crystals come out of the ground and Sunset Shimmer walks back, Arcana's amulet glows and her body becomes made out of the dark crystal, she then shoots the crystals out of her horn. Sunset Shimmer ducks and was careful not to have the crystals hit her horn, Sunset Shimmer teleports around while sweating with fear at the thought of having dark crystals in her horn, she teleports to behind Arcana and bucks her, she grunts and falls and changes back while the dark crystals disappear. Arcana pants while on the ground and Sunset Shimmer looks at her,
"That's enough, I can see why she was your biggest rival, Arcana." Archmage Astral Plane said, Arcana sighs and casts a healing spell on herself, she walks back while Sunset Shimmer looks around with a smile,
"Who wants to go up against me next?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"You go back, too, we have to see the growth of the others." Master Nocturne replied, and Sunset Shimmer walks back to the other unicorns.
Sunset Shimmer walks back to where she originally stood and watches the other unicorns, Pegasi, and earth ponies train,
"Some, you win, some, you lose." Arcana replied, and they continue watching, the older ponies did not attack the pony who was the same type as them, they switched around, they all fight one another and the fights between the adults last much longer than the ones between the younger ponies, they finish after some time while Sunset Shimmer watches with surprise at the fact that nopony was mad over losing, and those that won did not celebrate,
"That is all, we'll continue training tomorrow, you all may pursue your hobbies now." Commander Lionheart said, and everypony heads home,
"Come on, Sunset Shimmer, I have a chore for you to do." Arcana said, and the two head back to the winery.
Sunset Shimmer enters the winery and Arcana comes back with a wooden bucket and casts a spell to put water in it, she takes her four shoes off and sets them aside, she takes her lace dress off first and then her white dress,
"I need you to wash these two, and be careful with my lace dress, its easy to damage." Arcana said, Sunset Shimmer looks and sees Arcana's cutie mark, it was a black pentagram with a black tome in the center of it,
"How did you get your cutie mark, Arcana?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"I just performed a powerful spell, and it came, I was only four when that happened." Arcana replied,
"Wow, me too, I always had a natural talent in fire magic." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Good to know, well, go on and wash my dresses." Arcana replied, and Sunset Shimmer does. Sunset Shimmer washes Arcana's lace dress first and looks at the flower patterns, she chuckles and keeps washing, she looks and sees Arcana taking some kind of medication, she takes her medication and begins reading a book while eating grapes. Sunset Shimmer finishes washing the lace dress and begins washing the white dress, she stops when she hears music,
"Huh?" Sunset Shimmer asked while she listens to the song, she heads outside for a moment,
"What is that noise?" Sunset Shimmer asked, and she looks to where the earth ponies were at while Arcana steps outside, they all look and see the earth ponies marching while some of them were playing instruments, Sunset Shimmer listens to the music and tries very hard to resist dancing to it,
"*chuckle* I have a hard time resisting the urge to dance to that tune, too." Arcana said, and she goes back in while Sunset Shimmer stays outside and listens to the song more,
"Sunset Shimmer." Arcana said, Sunset Shimmer jumps while startled and goes back into the winery. Sunset Shimmer washes Arcana's white dress and sees Arcana was still reading a book and eating grapes, she hears the marching music outside and barely resists the urge to dance, she also could not help but imagine Pinkie Pie playing the music, she finishes washing Arcana's dresses,
"Done." Sunset Shimmer said, and Arcana trots to her, she examines her dresses,
"Not a single stain, good job." Arcana said, and she puts her two dresses and shoes back on,
"Anything else for me to do?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No, go ahead and call it a day. Do you have to go back to that other world tomorrow?" Arcana asked,
"No, today's Friday, so I have no school for two days." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Okay, I'll have more tasks for you tomorrow, you can stay here for the night." Arcana said,
"You don't live here?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No, I live in a tower, make sure you close up the shop." Arcana replied,
"Okay." Sunset Shimmer said,
"I'll be back, I'll get you a blanket and a pillow." Arcana said,
"Alright, thanks." Sunset Shimmer said, and Arcana walks out. Sunset Shimmer looks at the barrels and bottles full of Arcana's wine, she sees the price tag and sees one bottle costed a hundred bits, she then looks at a book that Arcana kept on her counter, she looks and sees it was a spellbook. Sunset Shimmer reads the book and sees Arcana was reading how to cast physical enhancing spells, she sees spells on how to enhance one's own physical strength, speed, stamina, and endurance, she also sees mind control and emotion control spells. The door opens and Sunset Shimmer sees Arcana come in with a blue sleeping bag and a white pillow,
"Taken an interest in studying?" Arcana asked,
"No, I was just curious." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Oh, well, sorry to say this, but I need to take it home and study." Arcana said, and she uses telekinesis to take the spellbook and gives Sunset Shimmer the sleeping bag and pillow,
"Here you go." Arcana said,
"Thanks." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"I'll be heading home now, make sure you close up the shop." Arcana said, and she heads home, Sunset Shimmer closes the shop and goes to sleep.
Sunset Shimmer sleeps but wakes up in the middle of the night to what sounded like opera singing, she also hears an organ playing, she goes outside and sees a lit fire at where the Pegasi were, she looks and sees Robin singing, Sunset Shimmer listens to the song she was singing. Sunset Shimmer listens and could not help but wonder what song she was singing, the Pegasi clap at her singing and they all go back into their huts. Sunset Shimmer goes back into the winery and decides to look around to see if there was anything to do, she listens and hears Robin singing the same song outside,
"Why is she singing this late at night?" Sunset Shimmer grumbled, and she looks around the winery and finds nothing, Arcana appears in the winery, she was still wearing her usual outfit,
"What are you doing?" Arcana asked,
"Your friend woke me up." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Sorry, Robin's just singing a lullaby to make the foals sleep." Arcana said,
"A lullaby?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Yeah, some foals have trouble sleeping." Arcana replied,
"Now that I think about it, you were always up late at night." Sunset Shimmer said,
"That's because I can't sleep." Arcana replied,
"Was that what that medication earlier was?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Yeah, they're sleeping pills, I have insomnia." Arcana replied,
"Oh, I thought you were asleep." Sunset Shimmer said,
"No, I'm awake, it takes a while for the sleeping pills to work." Arcana replied,
"Oh." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Well, sorry Robin woke you, try to sleep again if you can." Arcana said, and she teleports out, Sunset Shimmer tries to sleep but could not, so she lays down and closes her eyes.
Morning comes and Sunset Shimmer wakes up, she looks and sees Arcana was already awake and present,
"Good morning." Arcana said,
"When did you get here?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"About an hour ago." Arcana replied, Sunset Shimmer looks at the clock on the wall and sees it was 6:00 AM, Sunset Shimmer has trouble getting up,
"Sorry, but I'm not a morning person." Sunset Shimmer said,
"At least you can get some sleep, even with my sleeping pills, I only slept two hours last night." Arcana replied,
"Oh, well, what do you need me to do?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"I need you to go out and pick more grapes, I'll be picking with you today." Arcana replied,
"Alright, give me a minute to wake up first." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Alright, I'll get you breakfast." Arcana said, and she gives Sunset Shimmer grapes and grape juice, the two have breakfast and head outside.
Sunset Shimmer and Arcana head outside and see everypony was awake and having breakfast, she sees Paladin eating watermelons and drinking watermelon juice, and Robin eating pineapples and drinking pineapple juice,
"Do you ever open shop, Arcana?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Sundays." Arcana replied,
"Oh." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Well, let's get picking." Arcana said, and the two start. Sunset Shimmer picks grapes by hoof while Arcana looks around and picks multiple grapes at once with her magic, she sees Arcana filling almost three to five buckets at once, Sunset Shimmer gets back to picking grapes and fills her first bucket, she gets a second bucket and continues to pick by hoof, Arcana picks grapes quickly while Sunset Shimmer takes her time, she picks the grapes and watches Arcana do everything with magic,
"Say, Arcana, I was wondering, is Archmage Astral Plane your father?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Oh no, my parents died a long time ago." Arcana replied,
"What happened?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Old age." Arcana replied,
"Oh." Sunset Shimmer said,
"How about you? What about your parents?" Arcana asked,
"I don't know my parents." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Wait, you don't?" Arcana asked,
"No, I was an orphan who lived on the streets before I went to Canterlot." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Do you have any siblings?" Arcana asked,
"No." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"I'm an only child, too." Arcana said,
"Well, I did get a boyfriend in that world, his name is Flash Sentry, we broke up, though." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Wow, I'm surprised someone actually fell in love with you." Arcana replied,
"I only dated him to become more popular." Sunset Shimmer said with her head down, Arcana notices regret in her tone, trumpets are heard afterwards,
"I have to go do my morning training now, I'll leave the grape picking to you." Arcana said,
"Alright, see ya." Sunset Shimmer said, and Arcana trots away.
Sunset Shimmer continues picking grapes and sees Arcana did not leave much left to be picked, she picks them and finishes, she sighs in relief at being done,
"This task is getting boring." Sunset Shimmer said, and she heads into the winery and goes through the front door, she arrives outside and sees the unicorns training, she sees Arcana doing double duty, she was a student training to make her own magic stronger, and acting as a teacher to the younger ponies,
"Wow, I sure am glad I don't have to do that." Sunset Shimmer said, and she looks around and sees Paladin and Robin were doing double duty as well. Sunset Shimmer watches them and Arcana eventually notices her and trots to her,
"Did you finish picking the grapes?" Arcana asked,
"Yes." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Just wait a bit, I'll be with you shortly." Arcana said, and she goes back to the unicorns and continues training and teaching the foals at the same time. Sunset Shimmer decides to look around and sees the earth ponies lifting weights, doing cardio exercises, and running uphill while carrying heavy rocks and wearing suits of armor, and the Pegasi hiding weapons in their outfits, target practice with bows and guns, and fighting with knives and daggers, she watches and sees the Pegasi hiding weapons in their jackets and coats. Sunset Shimmer watches and looks at the unicorns, she sees the older unicorns teach the younger ones, she also sees several young foals get mad or nearly cry at failing some of the training, they were sent away to meditate and have better control of their emotions,
"Okay, that's enough, go have brunch everypony." Archmage Astral Plane said, and they all finish,
"Follow me." Arcana said, and they go into the winery.
Arcana leads Sunset Shimmer to behind her counter and opens a cellar, the two go down and Sunset Shimmer sees a crushing machine,
"Put the grapes in the machine and it'll crush it." Arcana said,
"Are you making red wine or white wine?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Both." Arcana replied,
"Which one are you making today?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Again, both, whichever one you want to do first is your choice." Arcana replied,
"Well, in that case, I'll do white wine first, since I have to remove the seeds." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Go on and put the grapes in the crusher then." Arcana replied,
"No, I want to crush them by hoof." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Alright, clean your hoofs then, I'll get a tank." Arcana replied, and Sunset Shimmer sees a white towel nearby and cleans her hoofs with it while Arcana gets a steel tank,
"Alright, here goes." Arcana said, and she puts grapes in the tank after using her magic to remove the skin,
"It's ready." Arcana said, and Sunset Shimmer starts working. Sunset Shimmer stomps on the grapes while grape juice is made,
"Not all of that juice is going to become wine, some of them are going into a bottle after you finish." Arcana said,
"What? How come?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"I sell grape juice, too." Arcana replied,
"Oh, alright then." Sunset Shimmer said, and she continues crushing the grapes with her hoofs while Arcana puts some of them in the crusher, she looks and sees Sunset Shimmer stomping quickly with a big smile on her face,
"This is fun." Sunset Shimmer said, Arcana chuckles while she crushes the grapes with the machine. Sunset Shimmer continues crushing the grapes until they were all crushed,
"I'm done." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Hold on." Arcana replied, and she gets more grapes while Sunset Shimmer steps out of the tank, Arcana uses her magic to remove the skin from the grapes and Sunset Shimmer gets back to crushing,
"Do you ever leave Dreaming Paradise, Arcana?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Sometimes." Arcana replied,
"For what?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Selling my wine, getting ingredients for alchemy and potions, that kind of stuff." Arcana replied,
"Do you offer private magic lessons?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No." Arcana replied,
"Princess Celestia did for me." Sunset Shimmer said,
"What was she like?" Arcana asked,
"Strict, bad tempered, Princess Celestia had no patience or sense of humor when I was her student." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Does she now?" Arcana asked,
"Yeah, she actually mellowed out a bit when I met her again, we're on good terms now." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"You on good terms with Princess Celestia? That sounds hard to believe." Arcana said,
"Arcana, I told you, I'm not the pony I used to be." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"I don't believe that, people don't change." Arcana said,
"This is why I'm working for you, it's to prove to you that I have changed and wish for your forgiveness." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"My dad actually had a saying on forgiveness." Arcana said,
"What would that be?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Nothing gets forgiven." Arcana replied,
"What about those people we have forgiven and offered friendship?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Haven't you ever wondered that they only accepted it out of fear of being punished?" Arcana asked,
"That's crossed my mind a few times." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"My dad said the reason why people forgive is because it's an easy way to say they don't care anymore, they may forgive you on the surface, but deep down inside, they're still mad and resentful." Arcana said,
"Are you still mad at me?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Yes." Arcana replied,
"Did you forgive Paladin and Robin when they did something that made you mad?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"They never made me mad." Arcana replied,
"Never?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Nope." Arcana replied,
"Huh." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Well, go on and rest, it's time for brunch." Arcana said, and they rest and the two eat grapes and drink grape juice, they went back to working after twenty minutes, Sunset Shimmer and Arcana crush the grapes and Sunset Shimmer begins taking the seeds and stems out, Arcana puts yeast in the juices,
"Okay, we're done for today, we all play and have fun before lunchtime, so you can take a break now." Arcana said, and she leaves the winery and Sunset Shimmer follows her.
Sunset Shimmer heads outside and sees everypony in Dreaming Paradise hanging out and playing with one another, Arcana meets up with Paladin and Robin,
"How's that rival of yours holding up?" Paladin asked,
"Not too bad, she hasn't caused any trouble so far." Arcana replied,
"I told you, I've changed." Sunset Shimmer said, the three face her,
"Yeah, right. People don't change." Paladin said,
"What makes you say that?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"All of us still behave the same way we behaved when we were kids." Robin replied,
"Some people do change." Sunset Shimmer said,
"They just get wiser and more tolerable as time goes on, but their core personalities remain." Paladin replied,
"You said it yourself, Sunset Shimmer, you're still short tempered and you still hate losing, just like when you and I were rivals." Arcana said, Sunset Shimmer becomes speechless,
"So, how's your magic training, Arcana?" Robin asked,
"I'm still trying to learn spells to enhance my physical capabilities." Arcana replied,
"Why don't you exercise then?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"I'm usually busy studying magic or running the winery, I don't have the time." Arcana replied,
"You do now." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Well... I guess so." Arcana replied,
"Great, let's try running first." Sunset Shimmer said, and the four stand together,
"On my mark, get set, go." Sunset Shimmer said, and the four run together. Sunset Shimmer runs and sees Robin was to her left, she sees Arcana behind her, and Paladin even farther back, Sunset Shimmer runs while Robin laughs and manages to keep up with her, she hears panting behind herself after about twenty seconds and looks back and sees Arcana panting and she falls over, and Paladin passes her. Sunset Shimmer keeps running with Robin keeping up with her, she soon starts to pant and stops while looking down, Paladin passes her and runs after Sunset Shimmer, she looks back and sees Paladin had a smile on her face, she makes it to the end and Paladin catches up to her,
"*chuckle* Impressive." Paladin said,
"Thanks." Sunset Shimmer replied, she looks and sees Arcana and Robin were still catching their breaths,
"Are they alright?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Yeah, give them time, unicorns and Pegasi don't really train in endurance and stamina in our village." Paladin replied, Robin catches her breath and walks while Arcana still pants, she stops panting and struggles to stand up, Sunset Shimmer trots to her. Sunset Shimmer helps Arcana stand up,
"Thanks." Arcana said,
"Wow, you're actually worse than I thought." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"I've always been the most out of shape of me and my two friends, I'm also the slowest runner." Arana said,
"You were faster than Paladin." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"That's because Paladin's wearing a suit of armor." Arcana said,
"Well, you're wearing a tight dress, and you have heels on, maybe you and your two friends should take your outfits off and I'll see how fast you three really are." Sunset Shimmer replied, and Arcana takes her outfit off, so did Paladin and Robin. The four line up together again and Sunset Shimmer sees Paladin's cutie mark was a double-edged broadsword and a kite shield, and Robin's cutie mark was a dagger and a light blue jewel, and she wore a white long-sleeve collared shirt under her vest,
"Go!" Sunset Shimmer said, and the four run. Sunset Shimmer runs and sees Robin was the same speed, she looks back and sees Paladin catching up to her, and Arcana was in the back and running slowly, she pants and falls over again after fifteen seconds, Sunset Shimmer keeps running and Robin gets tired and stops running after about a minute, Paladin keeps running and was catching up to Sunset Shimmer, she makes it to the end and Paladin came to the finish line five seconds later,
"Okay, let's try something else." Sunset Shimmer said, and she waits for Arcana and Robin to catch their breaths. Sunset Shimmer has Paladin, Arcana, and Robin try to do push-ups, Sunset Shimmer and Robin do them at regular speed, Paladin goes faster than them, and Arcana was very slow, she grunts as she tries to go down on her first one, she manages to go down after much grunting and sweating, she tries to go back up but falls, she pants while the other three keep going, Robin falls after doing fifteen push ups, Sunset Shimmer falls after doing twenty five push ups, Paladin chuckles while she keeps going. Sunset Shimmer has the three do sit-ups with her, Sunset Shimmer and Paladin do them easily while Arcana and Robin have trouble, Arcana does ten sit-ups and falls over exhausted, Robin keeps going and falls over after doing thirty sit-ups,
"Oh, my stomach." Robin said as she covers her own abdomen with her front hoofs, Sunset Shimmer falls after doing thirty five sit-ups, Paladin stops after doing fifty sit-ups,
"What's next?" Paladin asked with a smile on her face,
"Weight lifting." Sunset Shimmer replied while catching her breath, Paladin meditates to pass the time while she waits for the other three to catch their breaths. Sunset Shimmer borrows barbells from the earth ponies and puts it on her and the other three's backs with telekinesis,
"How much weight do you all want on your barbells?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Twenty." Robin said,
"Fifty." Paladin said,
"No weights." Arcana said,
"Wait, what?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"The barbells weigh fifty pounds on their own." Paladin replied,
"Oh, that is a little heavy, I'll put ten pounds on mine then." Sunset Shimmer said, and she puts weights on their barbells with her telekinesis,
"Alright, lift." Sunset Shimmer said, and she and the other three grunt while they try to stand up with the barbells on their backs, Arcana stops while standing halfway up and falls down, she pants while the other three continue, they stand up and go back down, the three try to do a second rep but Robin falls and she pants, Sunset Shimmer falls after doing three reps, and Paladin takes the weights and barbell off after doing five reps,
"We have time for one more." Arcana said,
"Alright, let's try something simple then." Sunset Shimmer replied, and the four leave. Sunset Shimmer goes to the earth pony area and borrows a wagon,
"Let's try pulling a small wagon, basic stuff." Sunset Shimmer said,
"I can't pull this." Arcana replied,
"What? You're kidding." Sunset Shimmer said, Arcana puts the harness on and tries to walk, she grunts and could not pull the wagon, she pants,
"What? You're joking, you can't pull a small, empty wagon?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No." Arcana replied,
"Then how do you carry your things?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Telekinesis." Arcana replied,
"Truth be told, it does have some advantages." Paladin said,
"Like what?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Well, first of all, you don't have to worry about things getting stuck on rocks or wheels breaking off." Robin replied,
"That is true." Sunset Shimmer said, and Arcana takes the wagon off,
"What about you two?" Sunset Shimmer asked, Robin pulls the wagon with no problem, so did Paladin,
"Well, lunchtime, time to go back." Robin said, and they all put their outfits back on and head home.
Sunset Shimmer goes to Arcana's home and sees it was a tower, Arcana lets her in and Sunset Shimmer looks around,
"Wow, you're quite a bookworm." Sunset Shimmer said,
"It's a requirement, ponies start training at the age of four." Arcana replied, and the two sit together and have grapes for lunch,
"So, what have you been up to ever since you left Canterlot?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Not much, I've been going in and out of Dreaming Paradise, I mainly travel from place to place to sell my grape juice and wine." Arcana replied,
"You sound like you've been fine." Sunset Shimmer said,
"I have, what have you been doing?" Arcana asked,
"Busy, Equestrian magic has leaked into my world, and it's my fault it came into the world." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"What have you been doing in that world?" Arcana asked,
"Fighting Equestrian magic, the first one was because of me, I took Princess Twilight's crown, put it on, and became a raging she-demon." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Why did you become a demon?" Arcana asked,
"Because the crown was powered by friendship, which I didn't know the first thing about." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"What happened after that?" Arcana asked,
"Princess Twilight and her friends transformed and shot me and changed me back, I was left in a crying mess, I cannot describe how humiliated I felt, but Princess Twilight offered to be my friend, and so did her five friends." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"*sigh* As usual, you ponies are too forgiving of one another." Arcana said,
"Actually, those five in that world are human versions of Twilight's friends in this world." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, are you saying that there are that world's versions of us in that world you're staying in?" Arcana asked,
"Yeah, I haven't met my other self yet, though." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Did those world's creatures forgive you immediately as well?" Arcana asked,
"No, not at all, I had to work for it, that is when Equestrian magic started to leak into that world, it caused three sirens to come after to the school, they enchanted us with their singing and formed a band called the Dazzlings." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"When did they forgive you?" Arcana asked,
"When I sang with Princess Twilight and that world's version of her friends and destroyed their amulets that give them their singing voices." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"What was the next Equestrian magic incident?" Arcana asked,
"When that world's Twilight discovered it and went to investigate, her device began absorbing the magic while I was trying to figure out what happened, I snapped at her for being careless and made her cry, she eventually released the magic when she was pressured and she changed to a demon, I had to fight her when she tried to destroy this world and that one." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Princess Twilight didn't help you?" Arcana asked,
"No, she said she was stuck in a time travel loop." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Ah, so she was busy dealing with Starlight Glimmer at that time, if I was the one who caught Starlight Glimmer, I would've killed her after she undoes everything." Arcana said,
"You wouldn't forgive her?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No, she started acting like that because her best friend got his cutie mark, ponies thought he was gifted, and he got taken away, that's a stupid reason for her to behave like that if you ask me." Arcana replied,
"Okay, um... after that, I went on a field trip with my school to a place called Camp Everfree, my friends and I began to develop powers there, I developed the ability to see one's memories through physical contact, we eventually discovered a cave filled with these geodes empowered with Equestrian magic, I learned that the camp's owner, Gloriosa Daisy, has been using those geodes to cause disasters to happen, she added more geodes to herself and transformed, me and the others had to encourage that world's Twilight to embrace her magic, and she took Gloriosa's necklace apart, we then got our own geodes and fixed the camp, it got saved and we had a ball after that." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Wow, I always liked ballrooms, waltz dancing is one of my favorite activities." Arcana said,
"Shortly after that, me, my friends, and students from that world's Twilight's old school made a music video together, we also went to go see a Daring Do movie get made from behind the scenes, we caught a thief there who was stealing the props because she wanted the role as Daring Do, she got a job through her uncle, and she eventually found an Equestrian magic enchanted mirror and transformed, Starlight Glimmer came to that world with me at that time, me and the others got trapped in the mirror, and Starlight Glimmer saved us, we became her friend shortly afterwards." Sunset Shimmer said,
"You befriended her? Does that world have any law enforcement?" Arcana asked,
"Yes." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"You should've contacted them and had her arrested." Arcana said,
"We would have to explain what happened, none of them know about magic of any kind." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"I see, I can see how that can cause problems, you shouldn't have befriended her, you should've took her back to her uncle so he could punish her." Arcana said,
"I think he did." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Oh, well, how's she been?" Arcana asked,
"I haven't heard from her." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"I see, what happened afterwards?" Arcana asked,
"After that, I was making a yearbook, and this girl named Wallflower Blush erased my friend's memories to make them think I was the bully I used to be, I had to go back here and reunited with Princess Celestia, she said she actually missed me and was glad to have me back, I learned she used a device called a Memory Stone, she erased my memories with it, but my frineds and I managed to get our memories back and destroyed the Memory Stone, I befriended her and another old enemy of mine in the end." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Did you find out why she erased your friends' memories?" Arcana asked,
"She was jealous of how many friends I had and her always being forgotten." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Sounds like a certain somepony." Arcana said,
"I don't get jealous anymore, Arcana." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"What was the next Equestrian magic incident?" Arcana asked,
"That world's Rarity eventually got a summer job as a fashion designer at an amusement park called Equestria Land, me and that world's Twilight played a ring toss game and always lost, but anyway, her boss there, Vignette Valencia, had Equestrian magic affect her phone, which allowed her to make things disappear and was able to create holograms of how she wanted things to be, everyone including myself except Applejack got transported, we were in a white room, I almost lost my temper completely, but we made it out, stopped the concert Vignette was doing, and we learned that she never had any real friends, so Rarity befriended her and we did our show." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Acted that way because she had no friends? What a flimsy excuse." Arcana said,
"What would you have done?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Give her the beating of her life." Arcana replied,
"She was a celebrity, Arcana, you would cause a lot of problems if you did that." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Oh, well, in that case, I'd expose her first, then give her the beating." Arcana replied, Sunset Shimer looks at her with discomfort,
"What's next?" Arcana asked,
"My friends and I were on a cruise ship, and a storm happened, me and two of my friends went through a portal in a quicksand and came to Ponyville, we learned from Princess Twilight that it was magic from the Storm King, it destroyed the ship, but we managed to escape by using the portal and went through the mirror in Princess Twilight's castle to go back to the school." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"I remember the Storm King, he shattered into pieces after being turned into stone, it's good he died." Arcana said, Sunset Shimmer becomes more uncomfortable,
"What's next?" Arcana asked,
"This is the last one, I was going to go see a band called Postcrush with that world's Pinkie Pie, their names were Kiwi Lollipop and Supernova Zap, because of Pinkie Pie, I couldn't see the concert, but when I was on a hill, more Equestrian magic appeared, and the same day kept repeating over and over, I wrote a message to Princess Twilight and she said it's a device called a Time Twirler that allows one to make the day repeat, I did see Postcrush but got stuck in the same day, I originally thought it was Dazzlings since they were there too, but it wasn't, eventually, I discovered it was Kiwi Lollipop who was using it, Pinkie Pie and I got ahold of the Time Twirler and destroyed it, and Pinkie and I got to perform onstage with them." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"How long were you stuck in that time loop?" Arcana asked,
"I forgot, it was either three weeks or a year." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Did you find out why they kept resetting?" Arcana asked,
"They wanted the concert to go perfect and kept messing up." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Again, what a flimsy excuse, even if you do mess up, the show has to go on, those two are lucky they didn't do any serious damage." Arcana said,
"What would you do to them?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Let them go, what they did wasn't too serious." Arcana replied,
"Oh, well, everything's been normal so far." Sunset Shimmer said,
"I see, well, let's finish lunch, it's almost time to get back to work." Arcana said, and they finish lunch and head outside.
Sunset Shimmer gets a broom and begins sweeping the dirt around Arcana's home, she sweeps while Arcana floats in the air and meditates, Sunset Shimmer looks and sees rocks, water, fire, and a tornado spinning around her,
"Whoa." Sunset Shimmer said, and she sees lava, ice, and thunderclouds form around her. Sunset Shimmer gets back to sweeping the dirt from around Arcana's home and begins humming a tune while she sweeps, she finishes and puts the broom down,
"Go ahead and rest, Sunset Shimmer, it's almost tea time, so I'll need you serving my meals again." Arcana said,
"Wait? You can see and hear me while you meditate?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Yes, but I cannot be too distracted, or the magic around me will no longer be under my control." Arcana replied,
"Wow, I've never thought about doing meditation, too boring for me." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Well, maybe you should give it a try to calm your nerves, it's time for tea, Sunset Shimmer, come with me, same spot as yesterday." Arcana replied, and they go.
Tea time starts and Arcana sits with Paladin and Robin, Arcana eats grapes, Paladin eats watermelons, and Robin eats pineapples, Sunset Shimmer serves Arcana her grapes,
"How does it feel, Sunset Shimmer?" Arcana asked,
"What?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"You always considered everypony beneath you, but now, you're the one who's beneath us, how does it feel?" Arcana asked,
"It's actually not that bad." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Maybe you've been too easy on her, Arcana." Paladin said,
"No, I think I've been hard enough, trying to make her as miserable as possible will only make things worse." Arcana replied,
"Say, Sunset, why don't we spar during today's afternoon training?" Robin asked,
"Fight me?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Truth be told, I've been longing to challenge you to a duel as well." Paladin said,
"How come?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Just want to test you." Paladin replied, Robin nods,
"Well, I guess I can, I do have some training in martial arts and fencing." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Great, I'll go first." Robin said, and the three finish their meals and drinks and let Sunset Shimmer have the leftovers, all of the ponies gather together.
Everypony gathers together and afternoon training was about to begin,
"Hold on, excuse me, everypony." Robin said, they look at her,
"Paladin and I would like to challenge Arcana's rival to one-on-one duels." Robin said, the others nod and Sunset Shimmer walks forward. Sunset Shimmer watches Robin carefully and she takes daggers out of her coat, she flies forward and tries to slash Sunset Shimmer with her daggers, Sunset Shimmer shoots a beam from her horn and Robin is pushed back a bit, she flies forward and tries to cut Sunset Shimmer with her daggers, Robin flies to Sunset Shimmer's right blind spot,
"Huh? What the?" Sunset Shimmer asked, and Robin cuts Sunset Shimmer's side with the dagger in her front right hoof, she exclaims and faces her, she sees Robin flying around, she tries to shoot beams at her but Robin flies around and dodges them with ease, Sunset Shimmer growls and tries again, she sees Robin fly to her left and Sunset Shimmer casts a teleporting spell, Robin looks around and Sunset Shimmer appears behind her and bucks her, she exclaims and falls onto the ground. Robin jumps up and does spins her hind legs around to try to kick whoever was close to her, she does a back flip and was on her feet again, she jumps and tries to stab her daggers into Sunset Shimmer, she jumps back and shoots beams at her daggers and knocks them out of her front hoofs, she casts telekinesis to break them apart. Robin reaches into her coat and takes two small crossbows out, she fires one and Sunset Shimmer jumps over the bolt, Robin fires the second one and Sunset Shimmer gets on her abdomen to dodge it, she shoots a beam at Robin and hits her tricorne and it flies off of her head,
"My hat!" Robin said, and it lands behind her. Robin throws her crossbows at Sunset Shimmer and she rolls to dodge them, Robin reaches into her boots and takes knives out, she tries to stab Sunset Shimmer with them while flying really closely to her, Sunset Shimmer turns her body left and right to dodge the stabs, Sunset Shimmer punches Robin in her face with her front left hoof and Robin exclaims while she slides back a bit, she goes back to Sunset Shimmer and goes to her right blind spot to try to cut her, Sunset Shimmer side steps on impulse to her left to dodge her, she looks to her right and fires a beam from her horn, Robin grunts and is shot back while she drops the knives. Robin stands up and flies to get her knives, but Sunset Shimmer throws them behind herself with her telekinesis, Robin reaches into her coat again and takes out two double-bladed knives, she flies to Sunset Shimmer and tries to slash her, Sunset Shimmer jumps back and Robin lets go of her weapons, the double-bladed knives float around in the air and almost cut her,
"What the?" Sunset Shimmer asked, she looks and sees Robin's double-bladed knives were connected to very thin wires wrapped around Robin's front hoofs. Robin swings her front hoofs around and the wires swing around, Sunset Shimmer exclaims and yelps while she dodges the double-bladed knives, she casts telekinesis and sees the wires were very strong and could not be broken. Robin spits at Sunset Shimmer and she screams while moves to her left to dodge it, she gets distracted and stops casting telekinesis, Robin flies to her and swings her front hoofs around in an attempt to get the double-bladed knives cut Sunset Shimmer, she ducks and grabs the wires, they slide on her front hoofs and cut her, she screams and steps back, she looks at the cuts and looks on with utter disbelief that the wires were razor-sharp, Robin snickers and swings her front hoofs again, Sunset Shimmer growls and casts telekinesis to pull the wires off of Robin's front hoofs, it cuts her and she screams. Robin runs to her hat and puts it back on, she reaches for her belt buckle with her front left hoof and it detaches, much to Sunset Shimmer's surprise, she looks and sees a knife blade on the back of the belt buckle. Robin flies to her and tries to slash her a few times, Sunset Shimmer shoots the belt buckle out of her hoof, Robin takes her belt off but her pants stay on, Sunset Shimmer looks and sees the belt was also a whip, Robin swings it around and Sunset Shimmer just pulls it away with her telekinesis,
"Anything else?" Sunset Shimmer asked, Robin looks at her boots for a second,
"I'll stop here." Robin said, and Sunset Shimmer gives her things back, Robin puts her belt and its buckle back on and walks back while putting her weapons back in her clothes, Sunset Shimmer watches her but could not shake off the feeling that she called it quits so she does not reveal what her other weapons are.
Paladin walks forward and gets ready to face Sunset Shimmer, she unsheathes her sword and holds it in her front right hoof, she puts the shield on her front left leg and was ready. Sunset Shimmer steps back a little while Paladin walks towards her, Sunset Shimmer sees she was very slow and relaxes, she shoots a zap from her horn and Paladin blocks it with her shield and deflects it back, Sunset Shimmer ducks and dodges the blast, Paladin runs to her and tries to stab her with her sword, Sunset Shimmer teleports back while scared and shoots a zap at Paladin, she holds her shield up again and blocks it, the zap gets deflected and Sunset Shimmer jumps back. Sunset Shimmer teleports to behind her and shoots Paladin in her back, she grunts a little and turns around, Sunset Shimmer sees Paladin's regular armor did not deflect magic,
"You scared?" Paladin asked through her helmet,
"What? No." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Then come up and fight me directly like a brave pony." Paladin said, Sunset Shimmer sweats but decides to obey. Sunset Shimmer runs to her and Paladin tries to slash her with her sword, Sunset Shimmer jumps and kicks Paladin's helmet with her hind hoofs, Sunset Shimmer sees Paladin was unfazed, Paladin hits her with her shield and sends Sunset Shimmer flying away, she screams and hits the ground and sends debris flying up. Sunset Shimmer groans and grunts while she was on the ground in pain, Paladin walks to her and Sunset Shimmer groans in pain, she sees Paladin coming and Sunset Shimmer looks at her and fires another zap from her horn, which Paladin blocks with her shield and it gets deflected back and hits Sunset Shimmer, she yelps and is shot back. Sunset Shimmer pants and stands up after a few seconds,
"Impressive, most unicorns are too hurt to recover after a blow from me." Paladin said, Sunset Shimmer looks at her and huffs while getting into a fighting stance,
"You still wish to face me even though you're outclassed? Very well, I'm glad to see an outsider has that trait." Paladin said, and she runs to Sunset Shimmer. Paladin does a diagonal slash with her sword and Sunset Shimmer runs under it, she shoots a zap at Paladin's chest, she lets out a quiet grunt and slides back a little bit, Sunset Shimmer shoots another zap and Paladin grunts from it, Sunset Shimmer shoots another zap and Paladin jumps to dodge it, she lands and debris flies up, she turns to her left and hits Sunset Shimmer with her tail, Sunset Shimmer screams as she is hit into the air and falls onto the ground. Sunset Shimmer feels pain on the left side of her face and she pants, she gets up and sees Paladin running to her again, Sunset Shimmer shoots a zap from her horn and Paladin jumps over it, she sees Paladin coming to her and she teleports away, she teleports to behind her and tries to buck her in her hind legs, she looks back when she sees Paladin was unharmed, she chuckles and then bucks Sunset Shimmer, she screams as she gets hit and flies through the air, she lands on the ground and debris flies up. Sunset Shimmer pants heavily and was paralyzed from the pain,
"It hurts, so strong." Sunset Shimmer said, Paladin runs to her and she tries to stand up but could not,
"Come on, body, not now." Sunset Shimmer said, Paladin stops running,
"That's enough." Paladin said,
"What?! But we barely did anything." Sunset Shimmer said,
"You can't stand, it is dishonorable to strike a downed opponent." Paladin replied, Sunset Shimmer lets out an angry grunt while Arcana carries her away with her telekinesis and heals her, afternoon training goes on while Sunset Shimmer sulks.
Sunset Shimmer goes back to Arcana's home and sulks while Arcana prepares her dinner,
"Still hate losing more than I thought." Arcana said,
"It doesn't matter what the competition is, I just want to win." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"What's more important to you, Sunset Shimmer, winning, or having fun?" Arcana asked,
"Having fun, I want to win, but the win's not worth it if I don't have friends to celebrate it with." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"I remember when you were younger, you tried to win by cheating." Arcana said,
"Um... I don't do that anymore." Sunset Shimmer replied while smiling embarrassingly and blushing,
"You only cheated sometimes, you didn't cheat if you knew you were going to win." Arcana said,
"Yeah, I stopped cheating altogether." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"So, what are you doing for a living now?" Arcana asked,
"I work at a sushi restaurant, it's serving fish, rice, and vegetables as food, I'm also in a band, I'm the rhythm guitarist." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"You serving food? How did somepony like you get a job that involves customer service?" Arcana asked,
"I managed to control my temper when I work there." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"I should've guessed, I still thought you would've been one of those people who talk others out of doing something." Arcana said,
"It seemed boring at the time, I... enjoyed it more when I talked people down." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Did anyone talk you down?" Arcana asked,
"Yeah, the Dazzlings, it didn't bring me down, though." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"I see, well, I'm going to have dinner now." Arcana said,
"I'll pass." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"How come?" Arcana asked,
"I'm getting kind of tired of having grapes." Sunset Shimmer replied, and Arcana enters her home, Sunset Shimmer looks through a window and sees Arcana eating grapes and drinking wine, she walks around and sees other unicorns,
"Excuse me." Sunset Shimmer said as she trots to them,
"Do you have anything I can eat besides grapes?" Sunset Shimmer asked, two unicorns chuckle,
"Yeah, that's Arcana for you, always eating grapes, here, we have some leftover apples." a male unicorn said, and he gives them to her with telekinesis,
"Thank you." Sunset Shimmer said, and she walks back and eats the two red apples,
"Hmm, this is actually very sweet." Sunset Shimmer said with her mouth full, and she eats them quickly. The door opens and Arcana comes out,
"I have nothing else to do for you today, so go on and rest if you want to, I'll be in my room studying if you need me." Arcana said,
"Okay." Sunset Shimmer replied, and Arcana closes the door. Sunset Shimmer walks around and sees nothing of interest, she sees the unicorns in their towers and pursuing their hobbies, she sighs and walks around since the streets were empty, she goes back to the tower after wandering around for about forty minutes, she sees Arcana having dessert, which was more grapes, and she was drinking grape juice, she took her sleeping medicine afterwards, Sunset Shimmer goes back to the winery and sleeps there for the night.
Morning comes and Sunset Shimmer wakes up when she feels somepony shaking her,
"Hey, it's time to work." Arcana said, Sunset Shimmer wakes up and has trouble getting up,
"I open shop today, I'll need you to pick any grapes if they're ripe." Arcana said,
"No training today?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"We take breaks on Sundays." Arcana replied,
"Oh, this is the last day I can work, I have to go back to school tomorrow." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Alright, we'll finish early today then." Arcana replied, and Sunset Shimmer heads outside.
Sunset Shimmer picks any grapes that were ripe while Arcana runs the shop and ponies buy wine and grape juice from her,
"It's always nice to come here, darling, your wine never ceases to disappoint." a familiar female voice said,
"Thank you, I have a temporary assistant right now, but she finishes working today, but other than that, I run the entire winery alone." Arcana replied,
"My, it must be a lot of work, I will be looking forward to your nice bottle of wine I take from here." the familiar voice said,
"Alright, take care." Arcana replied, and Sunset Shimmer runs into the winery and sees a pony with a white coat and a purple mane and tail leaving,
"Wait, was that Rarity?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Uh-huh, she's a regular at my winery." Arcana replied,
"Wow, I never knew." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Due to her bringing my wine to Ponyville, I have developed a small rivalry with the Apple family cider." Arcana replied,
"Wow." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Well, go on and work." Arcana replied, and she goes back outside. Sunset Shimmer picks whatever ripe grapes there were and put them in her silver bucket, she finishes quickly today and goes back into the winery,
"That's all of the ripe grapes." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Alright, go ahead and start crushing them." Arcana replied, and Sunset Shimmer goes into the cellar, she crushes the grapes until Arcana opens the cellar door,
"Brunch time." Arcana said,
"I'll pass." Sunset Shimmer replied, and Arcana closes the door and Sunset Shimmer continues crushing the grapes. Sunset Shimmer finishes crushing the grapes and goes back up, she sees Arcana was eating grapes,
"Still brunch time?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No, lunch." Arcana replied,
"Oh." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Go ahead and pack up, since you have school tomorrow, you finish early, and Ponyville is kind of far from here, even by train." Arcana said,
"Where are the train tracks for Dreaming Paradise?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"There aren't any, the closest train station to here is in Canterlot." Arcana replied,
"Oh, that is kind of far." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Yeah, plus if you teleport there now, the train won't be there, so maybe you should wait a bit." Arcana replied,
"You know what, I'll just teleport to Canterlot and wait there." Sunset Shimmer said, and she heads outside.
Sunset Shimmer gets ready to leave and Arcana was with her, she gives Sunset Shimmer a lot of bits,
"Here, for the work you did." Arcana said, Sunset Shimmer takes it while smiling and holds her front right hoof out,
"What?" Arcana asked,
"Well, do you forgive me?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No." Arcana replied,
"WHAT?!" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"I almost died when you sent me to the hospital, that is not something I can let go of so easily." Arcana replied,
"Wait, you're saying that I did all of that work for nothing?!" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No, I wouldn't say it was for nothing, I am still giving you money for the work you did." Arcana replied,
"I don't want your money, I want your forgiveness, that's why I started working for you!" Sunset Shimmer said,
"Well, if that's the case, then yes, you kind of did waste your time." Arcana replied, Sunset Shimmer's face turns red with rage,
"Fine, in that case, I don't forgive you for beating me up and sending me to the hospital." Sunset Shimmer said,
"You brought that onto yourself, if you didn't send me to the hospital while in a fit of jealous rage, I wouldn't have done that." Arcana replied,
"Why did you do it?!" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Karma and punishment, when I heard Princess Celestia has accepted you back, I thought you were let off the hook and went unpunished, and if you didn't come here to try to win me over, I would've called it even and left you alone." Arcana replied,
"Why did you wait for so many years for?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Because Equestria was constantly attacked by other threats, and you were one of them when you took Princess Twilight's crown." Arcana replied,
"Well, Twilight was the one who offered me friendship." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Because that's her character, and she hasn't known you as long as I have, so she didn't see just how cruel you really are." Arcana replied, Sunset Shimmer becomes speechless,
"Arcana, please, I wish for your forgiveness, I've been through this before, and I had nightmares of what I did back then before I was accepted." Sunset Shimmer said,
"That's your problem, my forgiveness will not undo your nightmares, you have to come to terms with that, yourself." Arcana replied,
"But it'll soothe my mind." Sunset Shimmer said,
"The answer remains no, now take your money and go." Arcana replied,
"But I did all of your work by hoof!" Sunset Shimmer said,
"And I told you at the beginning, you didn't have to do that, you could've used your magic." Arcana replied,
"Did the conversations we have mean anything to you?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"I'll admit, I did enjoy conversing with you, but that still doesn't change the fact that you're a cruel pony who is arrogant and jealous of those better than you, and you would do anything to protect this thing you call pride that exists nowhere but inside of your own head." Arcana replied, Sunset Shimmer fumes with rage,
"Get mad all you want, it won't change the truth." Arcana said,
"Why can't you see that I have changed?!" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Because you didn't, you just got better at hiding your true self." Arcana replied,
"What do I have to do to win your friendship?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Simple, just don't be my enemy to begin with." Arcana replied, Sunset Shimmer's face turns more red,
"You're going to go after my friends next, aren't you?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No, I will not." Arcana replied,
"I doubt it, you're jealous that Twilight became the princess, and you want the crown for yourself." Sunset Shimmer said,
"I have no quarrel with Princess Twilight." Arcana replied,
"What?" Sunset Shimmer asked while calming down,
"I'll admit, not becoming Princess Celestia's pupil was disheartening, but I was hoping to learn more magic, not become a princess." Arcana replied, Sunset Shimmer becomes speechless again,
"You tried to become a princess and failed, now go, live out your life, Sunset Shimmer, and maybe you'll be miserable again when the others see your change of heart is a fake, and you wish to go back to being cruel and stomping over others when you have the chance." Arcana said, Sunset Shimmer gets angry and shoots a beam at her on impulse, she grunts and falls over, she gets up and Paladin and Robin run to her,
"That's how you want it? Very well." Arcana said, and the three get ready to attack her.
Sunset Shimmer sees Paladin, Arcana, and Robin coming to her, Paladin unsheathes her sword and shield, Robin takes two daggers out of her coat, and Arcana was ready to cast a spell. Sunset Shimmer tries to run but Robin throws a thin wire with her right wing and it wraps around Sunset Shimmer's hind legs, she pulls Sunset Shimmer back and she sees Robin was holding a dagger out and ready to stab her, she flings the dagger out of Robin's hoof with her telekinesis, Arcana casts a spell and makes jagged rocks appear on the ground. Sunset Shimmer gets dragged across the ground by Robin and she screams as the rocks cut her, Paladin goes near her and jumps onto her back, Sunset Shimmer screams in pain from the heavy suit of armor on her back,
"Shame, I was hoping to have another friendly match with you." Paladin said, Sunset Shimmer groans in pain while Paladin stands on top of her, Sunset Shimmer thinks for a minute and sees the forest in front of her, she teleports to the closest tree branch and goes into the forest around Dreaming Paradise, the three go after her.
Sunset Shimmer jumps down and runs around the forest in hopes of losing the three, a red, blue, yellow, and green aura appears around her and all of the trees in the forest, they all go up into the air, she looks back and sees Arcana casting telekinesis, Robin flies to her while Arcana puts the trees down but holds up Sunset Shimmer. Sunset Shimmer sees Robin flying to her and sees the double-bladed knives on her front hoofs, she flies to Sunset Shimmer and throws the two double-bladed knives forward, she uses telekinesis on them and the wires connected to them and Robin's front hoofs to hold them in place, Robin chuckles and she flies while shifting her body and kicks Sunet Shimmer with her hind hoofs, she exclaims when Robin hits her, she flies to her again and kicks her with her hind hoofs again, she was about to do it again, but Sunset Shimmer teleports. Sunset Shimmer appears and Robin flies to her, Sunset Shimmer teleports around and looks for an exit, she sees Robin take the two crossbows out of her coat again and fires the bolts at Sunset Shimmer, she teleports to dodge them, Robin swings her front hoofs out and a weapon comes out of her coat's sleeves,
"Wait, what are those?" Sunset Shimmer asked, Robin aims the one in her front right hoof and fires, Sunset Shimmer screams while she gets on the ground, she realizes that they were guns, she looks more carefully and sees they were derringers, she aims the one in her front left hoof and fires it, Sunset Shimmer teleports to dodge the bullet. Sunset Shimmer reappears and sees Robin put them back in her coat and takes more derringers out of her boots, she fires one and Sunset Shimmer ducks, Robin fires the other one and Sunset Shimmer catches the bullet with her telekinesis. Robin puts the derringers back in her boots and her amulet glows dark green, she becomes black like a shadow and jumps into the shadow of the tree behind her, Sunset Shimmer shoots the shadow but Robin was not there,
"What the?" Sunset Shimmer asked, knives and daggers get thrown out of the shadow to Sunset Shimmer's right and she screams while she jumps back, she sees Robin come out of the shadow partially and aims another gun, Sunset Shimmer looks and sees it was a revolver, she fires it and Sunset Shimmer teleports away, she casts telekinesis to pull Robin out of the shadow, but she jumps out and doppelgangers of herself begin to appear around Sunset Shimmer, the Robin doppelgangers fly forward and try to stab Sunset Shimmer with their daggers, she teleports away and reappears behind the real Robin, the Robins go into the shadows and thin wires are thrown from all directions to ensnare Sunset Shimmer, they begin to get pulled and Sunset Shimmer screams as they pull her limbs out and her neck backwards, she teleports out of it. Sunset Shimmer teleports onto a tree branch and pants, the tree goes up and she sees Arcana casting telekinesis, Sunset Shimmer teleports to her and kicks her in her abdomen with her front left leg, Arcana grunts and falls over while holding onto her abdomen, Paladin then goes to Sunset Shimmer's left blind spot and punches her in her jaw with her front left hoof, Sunset Shimmer screams as she flies through the air. Sunset Shimmer lands on the ground and pants, she sees wires get wrapped around her front legs and gets pulled forward while she exclaims, she sees the wires coming out of a tree's shadow, she gets pulled forward and the wires begin to go up, she sees she was about to go headfirst into a tree, she teleports away and the wires fall. Sunset Shimmer hears running and sees Paladin coming, she casts telekinesis and makes Paladin's helmet come off, she tries to do the same to the rest of her armor but Paladin jumps and tries to land on her, Sunset Shimmer jumps back and Paladin lands, Sunset Shimmer jumps and kicks Paladin in her jaw with her hind left leg, Sunset Shimmer looks at her with shock when she sees Paladin was unfazed,
"Wow, you're actually pretty strong for a unicorn." Paladin said, Sunset Shimmer casts telekinesis to pick up Paladin, she grunts and sweats since her armor was heavy, Paladin's amulet glows red and her body turns into gray stone, she becomes too heavy for Sunset Shimmer to hold up and drops her and Paladin lands on Sunset Shimmer's back, she screams when she falls onto the ground. Sunset Shimmer screams and teleports away, she appears far away from Paladin and shoots beams at her head, they do nothing,
"What the?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"The Amulet of Combat grants magic defense as well." Paladin said, Sunset Shimmer runs to her and jumps and kicks her in her jaw with her hind right hoof, but Sunset Shimmer hurts herself and screams as she falls, Paladin knees her with her front right knee and hits Sunset Shimmer in her chest, she screams loudly and flies into the air, she hits the trees behind herself and breaks them, she eventaully goes down and hits the ground and debris flies up. Sunset Shimmer groans in pain while covering her own chest,
"So strong." Sunset Shimmer said weakly, she pants and telekinesis is cast on her and she gets pulled, she sees Arcana in the form of a blob made out of storm clouds and full of electricity, Sunset Shimmer tries to cast a spell but was too hurt at the moment, she goes into the storm clouds and gets electrocuted, she exclaims with pain before the wind in Arcana's form shoots her out. Sunset Shimmer grunts and hits the ground,
"That wasn't too bad." Sunset Shimmer said, she is picked up by Paladin afterwards,
"Maybe this one will." Paladin said, and she throws her, Sunset Shimmer screams and she sees Robin up ahead, she turns around and gets on her back and holds her hind legs up, she clicks her heels together and knife blades come out of the front of the toe caps of her boots, Sunset Shimmer looks on with shock at seeing that Robin had spring loaded knives in her boots. Sunset Shimmer casts telekinesis on herself so she does not get stabbed, Robin flies up and begins kicking her hind hoofs around, doppelgangers of herself come out of the shadows and jump onto Sunset Shimmer, they force her onto the ground and Robin takes a kunai out of the right sleeve of her coat and she stabs Sunset Shimmer on her left shoulder, she exclaims and gets up, Sunset Shimmer stops in place and screams,
"What is this?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"The poison's already working." Robin said,
"P... Poison?" Sunset Shimmer asked, and she falls onto the ground,
"Don't worry, I used one to make you sick, it won't kill you." Robin said, and Sunset Shimmer falls onto the ground. Paladin, Arcana, and Robin gather together and look at Sunset Shimmer, Paladin stands in the center with Arcana to her right and Robin to her left, the three change back to their normal forms and look at Sunset Shimmer, who was unresponsive. The three mares watch and Sunset Shimmer quickly looks to her right and shoots a big blast out of her horn when the three put their guards down, they grunt loudly and were shot back and fall, the three were on the ground and groan in pain, Sunset Shimmer sighs and begins to walk away, but she stops a few seconds later when she hears movement behind herself, she turns around in shock and sees Paladin was already up and limping to her, Robin was crawling to her, and Arcana was still on the ground and groaning in pain. Sunset Shimmer tries to run but falls and coughs,
"The poison." Sunset Shimmer said, and she falls onto the ground and coughs, Paladin walks to her and Robin stands up and limps,
"Should I let her die?" Robin asked,
"No, let's have her cured and sent out, Princess Celestia will be furious if she hears that we killed her." Paladin replied,
"Alright, I'll get the cure, afternoon training might be postponed today." Robin said,
"That's fine." Paladin replied,
"Also, Paladin, Robin, you two can stand down, I'll deal with her alone from here." Arcana said weakly,
"You sure?" Robin asked,
"Yes, thank you both for your helps, though." Arcana replied,
"Alright, let's go see the doctors." Paladin said, and she carries Sunset Shimmer back to Dreaming Paradise while Robin picks up Arcana and flies back.
Sunset Shimmer groans and wakes up, she sees she was in a green hut,
"You finally woke up." a familiar voice said, Sunset Shimmer sees Master Nocturne,
"Head on home, it's dark." Master Nocturne said, and Sunset Shimmer goes outside. Sunset Shimmer sees it was night time and Arcana was outside,
"Wait, Arcana." Sunset Shimmer said while she runs to her, Arcana looks at her,
"I'm sorry I shot you with my horn, I got mad and lost control of myself." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Apologizing will not undo what you did." Arcana replied,
"Yes, I know, but I wanted to apologize since I regret doing that." Sunset Shimmer said,
"You shouldn't have done it in the first place." Arcana replied,
"I'm sorry, Arcana, it really was a heat of the moment action, I truly did not mean to lose my temper, can you let it go?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"No." Arcana replied,
"What? Why not?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Even if you regret it or acted on impulse, it won't change the fact that you attacked me." Arcana replied,
"Please, Arcana, it'll put me at ease if you let it go." Sunset Shimmer said, Arcana glares and shoots her with her horn, Sunset Shimmer exclaims and is shot back to the front of Dreaming Paradise, Arcana teleports to her,
"You want me to let go? Fine, I'll let go of the anger I've contained for many years when you sent me to the hospital." Arcana replied, and Sunset Shimmer gets defensive.
Arcana casts a spell and fire, water, rocks, and gusts of wind appear around her, she shoots a giant beam of magic at Sunset Shimmer and she teleports to behind Arcana, she quickly casts another spell and makes her beam home on Sunset Shimmer, she teleports around to dodge the homing beam while Arcana's elemental shield protected her if it hit her, Sunset Shimmer shoots a beam at the homing beam but it destroys her beam, she teleports around and shoots fire out of her horn at Arcana, the water around her douses it, Sunset Shimmer growls and shoots out an even bigger fire while angry, Arcana lets out a small grunt and catches on fire while her beam stops homing and hits a tree. Arcana heals herself and casts a spell that makes chains appear to restrain Sunset Shimmer, she shoots a beam at Arcana and a shield appears and deflects it, Arcana's amulet glows and Sunset Shimmer's eyes turn purple, Arcana's eyes turn purple afterwards but soon disappear,
"What the? I already know all of these spells." Arcana said, Sunset Shimmer sees the spell allows her to read the minds of other unicorns and replicate their spells. Sunset Shimmer teleports out of the magic chains and appears to Arcana's right, she bucks her and Arcana grunts loudly as she flies across the air and falls, she stands up and casts a healing spell on herself. Arcana's amulet glows while she casts another spell, her eyes glow green with purple mist coming out of them and a purple haze on her horn, Sunset Shimmer realizes she was casting dark magic. Sunset Shimmer grunts while an invisible force attacks her, she looks around and tries to see what was attacking her, she grunts again when she gets hit, she looks around and sees her own shadow punch her in her face with her front right hoof, Sunset Shimmer grunts while her shadow seprates itself from her and runs after her. Sunset Shimmer stands up and sees her own shadow running to her, she gets ready to shoot a zap at it, but she is hit from behind and exclaims as she falls, she looks back and sees Arcana's shadow with an aura around its horn, she looks and sees her own shadow coming to her, Sunset Shimmer shoots her with a zap and she flies away, but Sunset Shimmer grunts and is shot back as well and feels pain in the same area she hit her own shadow, Arcana's shadow gets ready to cast a spell but Sunset Shimmer teleports and appears behind her and bucks her, the shadow flies forward while Sunset Shimmer hears Arcana grunt loudly, she looks and sees her and runs to her. Sunset Shimmer runs to Arcana fires a beam at her while she was getting up, she exclaims as she is shot away, the two shadows return to them afterwards. Arcana stands up while casting a healing spell on herself, her amulet glows again and Arcana grows wings, she flies around while shooting zaps at Sunset Shimmer, some of the ones that hit the ground turn into pillars of fire,
"I wonder." Sunset Shimmer said, and she shoots a beam at the amulet, the amulet glows and an explosion happens, Arcana exclaims and flies back, she grunts and falls, Sunset Shimmer sees she was a regular unicorn again,
"That's it, hitting the amulet will undo the spell." Sunset Shimmer said, Arcana glares at her and casts another spell, her amulet glows while her eyes turn green with purple mist coming out of them and a purple haze on her horn. The ground erupts and two skeleton ponies come out,
"What the?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Clearly, you've never seen necromancy." Arcana said, and the two skeleton ponies run to attack her. Sunset Shimmer shoots a beam at one and it gets destroyed in one hit, Sunset Shimmer shoots another beam and destroys the other one, Arcana casts another spell while her amulet glows and Sunset Shimmer gets frozen. Sunset Shimmer remains frozen in ice while Arcana proceeds to use her telekinesis to take her out of the village, but the ice begins to melt,
"Hmm?" Arcana asked, the ice explodes while Sunset Shimmer lets out a grunt, Arcana looks and sees fire around Sunset Shimmer, she teleports and Sunset Shimmer appears to Arcana's right, she punches her with her front right hoof, Arcana grunts loudly and slides across the ground when she falls. Arcana stands up and casts another spell while her amulet glows, she becomes light blue and transparent, Sunset Shimmer shoots a beam at her, but it goes through her,
"Huh?!" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Can't hurt a ghost now, can you?" Arcana asked, and she disappears. Sunset Shimmer looks around while sweating and Arcana appears far away and shoots a zap at her, Sunset Shimmer screams since Arcana's zap burned her, filled her body with water, had rocks pelt her, and gusts of wind cut her all at once, Arcana disappears and reappears again and fires another zap at Sunset Shimmer, she grunts when she gets hit, Arcana disappears and another zap hits Sunset Shimmer from behind, she grunts and falls. Sunset Shimmer lets out an angry grunt while she stands up, Arcana appears in front of her and casts a spell that makes a bright white light appear, Sunset Shimmer screams and covers her eyes,
"My eyes!" Sunset Shimmer said, she hears Arcana casting another spell and listens to figure out where she was at, she fires a beam at where she hears Arcana's magic aura but hears her disappear, she growls under her breath and tries to listen, she hears Arcana appear behind her and Sunset Shimmer quickly fires several beams while quickly turning around, none of them hit Arcana. Sunset Shimmer's vision comes back and she looks around, she sees Arcana appear and was about to cast another spell, Sunset Shimmer fires a beam and hits her amulet, an explosion happens and it knocks Arcana back and she was no longer a ghost, the two pant while Arcana stands up.
Princess Celestia was getting ready for bed and her cutie mark starts to glow,
"Oh, what is this, a friendship problem for me?" Princess Celestia asked, and she flies to Ponyville. Princess Celestia goes to Ponyville and sees the ponies were actually still awake, she goes to the Castle of Friendship and enters the throne room and sees Twilight Sparkle there,
"I'm here, Twilight, where does the map need me?" Princess Celestia asked,
"I don't know, I don't recognize this place." Twilight Sparkle replied, Princess Celestia looks and sees she was called to Dreaming Paradise, she realizes what she was called for,
"Oh, that's Dreaming Paradise, it's an isolated village north of Canterlot." Princess Celestia said,
"What's it like?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"Unique, each pony lives separately, I'll go now, Twilight, I wish to get this done as soon as possible." Princess Celestia replied,
"Okay, good luck, Princess Celestia." Twilight Sparkle said, and she flies to Dreaming Paradise.
Sunset Shimmer watches Arcana carefully and her amulet glows again, she disappears and four doppelgangers of her disappear, one was made of red, orange, and yellow fire, one was made of blue water, one was made of yellow rocks, and one was made of green wind. The four Arcanas begin to shapeshift and Sunset Shimmer shoots fire at Water Arcana and she disappears, Earth Arcana grows her front legs longer and tries to smash Sunset Shimmer with her front hoofs, Sunset Shimmer jumps back while Earth Arcana leaves a crater in the ground, Wind Arcana disappears with the air and strong gusts of wind appear, Sunset Shimmer screams a little as the gusts of wind push her back and cut her at the same time, Earth Arcana sends rocks out of her body and they fly forward from the wind, Fire Arcana disappears into the air and fire blows through the wind. Sunset Shimmer teleports to behind them and tries shooting them with a zap, the three turn around and Earth Arcana changes to sand, she shoots sand at Sunset Shimmer out of her mouth and Sunset Shimmer jumps back, she wonders about something and teleports to Wind Arcana, she holds her front hoofs out and sends two gusts of wind out, Sunset Shimmer disappears and she hits Fire Arcana and Earth Arcana, Fire Arcana's flames spread while Earth Arcana disappears,
"Hmm." Sunset Shimmer said as she tries to find a way to destroy the other two Arcanas. Fire Arcana and Wind Arcana fuse their powers together and tornadoes of fire appear, she tries taking a chunk of the ground out with her telekinesis and puts it on Wind Arcana and she disappears, Sunset Shimmer smiles and uses telekinesis to get water from the forest and throws it at Fire Arcana and she disappears. Arcana appears and Sunset Shimmer shoots a beam from her horn while angry, Arcana shoots a beam from her horn and the two enter a deadlock, the other ponies exclaim and gasp at seeing Sunset Shimmer being able to match Arcana in a beam match. Sunset Shimmer screams with rage while Arcana remains calm and the two continue the deadlock, Sunset Shimmer continues to scream with rage and her beam gets a little bigger, but does not overpower Arcana. The two continue the deadlock until a yellow aura appears around the two and a spell was cast to cancel out their beams,
"Sunset Shimmer! Arcana! That's enough!" Princess Celestia said sternly while raising her voice, everypony looks and sees her fly down, she had a sharp glare on her face,
"Why are you two fighting again?" Princess Celestia asked,
"I did my work for Arcana and finished, but she still refuses to forgive me!" Sunset Shimmer replied,
"She's still the same pony, she hasn't changed, she just got better at hiding her true self." Arcana replied,
"No, Arcana, she did not, Sunset really did change her ways." Princess Celestia said,
"Yeah, I mean, Princess Celestia forgave me." Sunset Shimmer said,
"On the surface, but deep down, she's probably still resentful and hateful of you." Arcana replied,
"No, I am not, I love Sunset the way she is, and the fact that she has regretted what she did and learned the errors of her ways, that is why I forgave her." Princess Celestia said,
"Even then, you let her go unpunished for the things she did." Arcana replied,
"I think her having to atone and make everybody stop hating her at her school was punishment enough." Princess Celestia said,
"Well, it's not punishment to me, she should have been jailed or killed." Arcana replied,
"Now, Arcana, that's going too far." Princess Celestia said,
"Too far? I think the death penalty should've been given to Queen Chrysalis and Starlight Glimmer." Arcana replied,
"Why?" Princess Celestia asked,
"Because the two have nearly destroyed Equestria, you should've killed Cozy Glow as well." Arcana replied,
"Arcana!" Princess Celestia said with shock and her wings open,
"It doesn't matter if she's a child, she nearly destroyed Equetria and was happy about it, you should've killed her, not imprison her." Arcana replied,
"No! I will not give the death penalty to a child!" Princess Celestia said sternly,
"Even though it would've made us safer in the long run?" Arcana asked,
"That is still too harsh." Princess Celestia replied,
"Forgiving as always, there are times when Equestria would've been safer if you imprisoned or killed the threats instead of forgiving and befriending them." Arcana said,
"That brings up more problems on its own, Arcana, if I imprisoned or killed Queen Chrysalis, then we would've been at war with the changelings who would want to free or avenge their leader." Princess Celestia replied,
"You should've killed her after Throax replaced her as the ruler." Arcana said,
"No, Arcana, there were still some changelings who liked Chrysalis' way, they would've came after us in the name of revenge, that is why we forgive and offer friendship, revenge is an ugly cycle." Princess Celestia replied,
"And let them go unpunished?" Arcana asked,
"Social isolation and rejection is their punishment." Princess Celestia replied,
"I went through that, too, and I didn't like one minute of it." Sunset Shimmer said,
"I still can't bring myself to forgive you for nearly killing me." Arcana replied,
"Then you'll just have to forget about it and move on with your life." Princess Celestia said,
"I can't forget about something like that, either." Arcana replied,
"Why not?" Princess Celestia asked,
"She got jealous and nearly killed me, I can't forget nor forgive that, my father had a saying on stuff like that, too." Arcana replied,
"That is not true, Arcana, well, the not forgetting part is true, but the nothing being forgiven part isn't, I forgave Sunset when she came back to me." Princess Celestia said,
"My father also said forgiving is an easy way to say you don't care anymore." Arcana said,
"That's not true, either, I still care about the things Sunset did before she reformed, and I'm still mad about it sometimes, but I put it behind me and accepted Sunset for who she is now, and we are on good terms now." Princess Celestia replied, Arcana becomes a little speechless,
"I need you to forgive her as well, Arcana, not only because friendship strengthens our country's defenses, but also so your friends and Sunset's friends don't end up getting into fights, which will cause their friends to get involved and fight you guys out of anger, and then more of your friends, and I don't want that to happen, so can you please forgive Sunset?" Princess Celestia asked, Arcana thinks for a minute while the others watch, Arcana holds her front left hoof out and Sunset Shimmer grabs it with her front left hoof and they shake hoofs while Princess Celestia smiles, her cutie mark glows and sees she has solved her friendship problem,
"It's dark, you all should head home." Princess Celestia said, and they do while Princess Celestia flies to Canterlot.
The next day comes and Sunset Shimmer was at Canterlot High and having lunch with her friends, she talks about her experiences,
"After Arcana forgave me, I headed home, and I used the money she gave me to pay and replace the things she destroyed in my home." Sunset Shimmer said,
"So, she forgave you?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"Yeah, it wasn't easy, though." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Still, I kind of wish to meet her." Twilight Sparkle said,
"Yeah, me too, her magic spells sound really cool." Rainbow Dash said,
"I'm not sure about that, Arcana is kind of busy." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Did that world's Twilight ever meet her?" Fluttershy asked,
"Only that one time to use the mirror to come to this world, Twilight doesn't know anything about her connection to Princess Celestia." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Wait, one question, how did she find out bout the mirror?" Applejack asked,
"Now that you mention it, I don't know, maybe Robin found it for her, since she can disappear into the shadows and appear in any other shadow." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Her concealed weapons sound fun, I should try concealing candy and party items in my clothes." Pinkie Pie said,
"Yes, still, I don't like the idea of hiding weapons in one's clothes." Rarity replied,
"Did you see any pets in Dreaming Paradise, Sunset?" Fluttershy asked,
"Sorry, but no." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Can you try to get one of her bottles of wine, it will go very well for photo shoots." Rarity said,
"I can try." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Thank you, darling, I'll be looking forward to it." Rarity said,
"I'll have to go back to Equestria next weekend." Sunset Shimmer said,
"What?" her friends asked,
"I've made amends and was forgiven by you guys, but Arcana showed me that I have to make amends with the ponies in Equestria for who I used to be, I'll have to see those other unicorns I competed with to be Princess Celestia's student, and apologize and make amends with them as well." Sunset Shimmer replied, her six friends look at with surprise,
"Okay, good luck, Sunset." Twilight Sparkle said, the other five wish her good luck and finish lunch.
The weekend comes and Sunset Shimmer goes back to Equestria, she heads to Canterlot and sees Twilight Sparkle sitting on a throne,
"Excuse me, Twilight." Sunset Shimmer said, she looks at her and smiles,
"Where can I find Princess Celestia?" Sunset Shimmer asked, and Twilight Sparkle shows her. Princess Celestia was relaxing and she sees Sunset Shimmer coming,
"Hello, Sunset, how can I help you?" Princess Celestia asked,
"Do you remember those other unicorns I competed with to be your student?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Of course, I have records on all of them." Princess Celestia replied,
"Great, I want to make amends with them as well for being mean to them when I was younger." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Oh, that is wonderful, Sunset, here are their addresses." Princess Celestia replied, and she makes papers with their info on them appear with her magic. Sunset Shimmer looks at them and smiles, she leaves and goes to see the next pony she has to make amends with.
