As the late summer afternoon drew to a close, the whitewashed walls of the city glowed softly in the light of the sinking sun. Canterlot lay peacefully in the comfortable warmth, a few early fireflies venturing out and distant crickets tuning up. It was an ordinary evening in the greatest city in Equestria, with nothing more foreboding on the horizon than the hint of rain to come.
Of course, a city of that size never truly sleeps, and so the marketplace was abuzz with activity even as the filly made her way homewards. Ponies crowded in on either side, happily chatting with each other, but she kept her head down and tried her best to dodge the hooves. It would be easier if she wasn’t weighted down with her immense saddlebags, but she just couldn’t pick one book out of so many choices.
Reading was one of the few things she really enjoyed. That, and magic; she practiced her tricks constantly when she was sure nopony else was around—if they saw her practicing, considering how she was doing, they might laugh at her even more. Not that she had ever seen anypony laugh at her, but they must be behind her back. She saw the way they looked at her, and how none of them would ever stay long when she tried to talk to them. There just didn’t seem to be a way for her to get their attention.
Absorbed in her fantasies, she had to stop short and backpedal just as a cart wheeled out of the nearest alley at what seemed like breakneck speed. Gasping, her hoof struck a loose cobblestone, and she found herself tumbling head over hooves until she struck something hard and let out an exasperated breath. The books she’d arranged so carefully in her bags spilled out across the ground.
“Hey, careful, there. Are you alright?” The voice startled her out of her irritation with the cart puller, and she glanced up in momentary confusion to see a friendly face, partially hidden by a shock of blue mane. She’d seen the unicorn colt before: Fastflash? Century? Something like that. Whatever it was, he wasn’t much older than her, and this kind of…introduction was enough to make her scramble to her hooves and stammer apologies.
He was bending down to pick up her books; she went to cut him off, her magic overriding his as she neatly and hastily arranged them back in the proper order. “No, no, really, it’s okay,” she insisted, hastily over any polite offers he might have been trying to make. She had to fight to keep her face from turning red, and with no more than a perfunctory nod, turned again and dashed off down the cleared road, leaving the clearly puzzled colt watching her retreating tail. That wasn’t all; she was certain he’d gotten a glimpse at her flank, which remained, to her humiliation, stubbornly blank.
It was a long time before she felt safe to stop again, on a balcony overlooking the vista around the city, with nopony around. Sighing, she buried her face in her hooves and shook her head. What is wrong with me?
It’s not like I’m not interesting enough, she reasoned, staring moodily out at the descending sliver of light on the horizon. It was just that whenever she tried to talk to somepony, she just couldn’t find the right words, the ones that would make them stay and talk to her. Especially colts. Not that she was sure she wanted to have a boyfriend, but if she did, well, everypony would stop laughing at her.
Sunset Shimmer was alone.
Her reverie was interrupted in just a few minutes. From somewhere very close by, a piercing shriek rose above the murmur of the crowd, and several excited shouts followed. Sunset perked up; this was something interesting, at least, to take her mind off her issues at hand. Several other ponies were already on their way to the scene, presumably for the same reason, and she galloped after them.
What she found when she forced her way through the small crowd of alarmed onlookers would have chilled the bones of most anypony: one of the bridges on the upper levels of Canterlot had collapsed, and now a very small filly, younger than Sunset, was clinging to one of the broken supports, sticking out into the open air at a dangerous angle. She was crying for help, and slipping farther every moment. A quick glance around showed that there were no pegasi present to help out, either. If they had to wait for them to show up, the filly would surely fall. There was only one choice.
“Hang on,” Sunset called, seizing the initiative, and brushing her bright mane out of her eyes she trotted past the distracted crowd. She didn’t know why she was doing this; it had simply come to her at the spur of the moment. She gingerly edged her way onto the remaining piece of the bridge, which sloped at a dangerous angle, so that she had to set her hind legs in a very particular place and hang on tight. Her books tumbled out of the bag, past the endangered filly and over the edge, but that didn’t matter right now. “I’ve got you,” Sunset assured the filly, her pink-and-blue hair just visible over the rim.
Reassurances aside, she could hardly see any way to improve the situation. There was no place nearby that should could safely drop to, only the pit yawning underneath her, and lifting living beings was a skill she hadn’t quite got the hang of yet. But she would think of something, those sharp blue eyes of hers scanning the ground underneath her, and she found something.
Grunting in exertion, her horn glowing a vibrant gold as she exerted all her strength of magic, Sunset looked down to the sobbing filly. “C…can you hear me?”
“Yes!” came the faint reply. “I’m gonna fall!”
“No, you are not. Now…can you do something?”
“What?”
“Let go.”
That drew a gasp from below, as if she’d gone completely insane. “Are you kidding me?”
“Look, we don’t have time. Just don’t look down and do it. You’ll be fine.”
There was a moment of silence, except for the younger filly’s sniffling. Then, her hooves disappeared from the ledge.
Uproar came from the crowd above, as they shouted angrily and strained to get a better view. There was nothing for another pregnant pause. Finally, with Sunset still straining her magic, something else rose above the line of sight: a wagon, full of hay, with one terrified earth pony filly lying flat on it. It neatly set itself down in the center of the platform just as the last ray of sunlight winked out. She had brought it up from the closest lower level of the city, several hundred feet away.
When Sunset pulled herself up awkwardly a moment later, wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of her hoof, she was greeted by an unfamiliar sound, and her eyes widened. They were…cheering. For her, of all ponies. They were hailing her as a heroine. Even the earth pony filly clapped her hooves and beamed at her, and Sunset Shimmer felt a grin spread across her face. Finally! Some recognition! She knew exactly what she had to do now: impress ponies. If she could wow them, and tell them what to do (in order to help them, of course!), she would be popular.
Before she could ponder this any further, somepony pointed at her, or at a spot just behind her. Confused, Sunset turned to look, and, in the pale light of a nearby lantern, spotted her brand new cutie mark. A sun, made of interlocking symbols of bright yellow and red, the colors of her mane, with an outer band of red and white. Obviously, it referred to her magic, and her boldness in using it! Thrilled at herself, she spun around in simple excited circles. “I did it! I did it! I did it!” she giggled, probably sounding like an idiot, but it was hardly important as congratulations continued to be showered on her.
As if the night couldn’t get any more surreally perfect, the crowd hurriedly parted in back, announcing the arrival of several more ponies she hadn’t noticed approaching. The Royal Guards, stern as ever, approached first, then bowed and stepped aside to make way for none other than Princess Celestia herself, wings spread and her mane shining in the moonlight. The princess smiled benevolently at the no-longer blank flank.
“Well. I was coming here to take care of this personally, but it seems the problem has been resolved. Sunset Shimmer, is it?”
“You know my name,” the pony in questions whispered reverentially, having dropped into a bow.
“Of course,” chuckled Princess Celestia, stepping closer and gesturing with one hoof to where the filly’s unscathed family was gratefully taking her home. “And I saw the whole thing. That was a very brave thing to do.” Sunset gave a small, grateful smile. “In fact, I think you demonstrate great magical potential. If you’d like, I can offer you a place at my School for Gifted Unicorns, as a personal pupil of mine. There, you can learn how to better focus and increase your talent, and someday, with enough practice, you might achieve even greater things.”
Sunset Shimmer had stopped listening at “personal pupil”. Her eyes lit up and she practically jumped at the princess in her excitement. “Are you kidding, Your Highness?! Of course I’d love to, I’d be more than honored, I’d—” She was falling over her words again, and her mane was all in disarray, but she didn’t care. Her parents would find out soon enough, too.
“Then I’d suggesting getting some sleep for now,” chuckled Princess Celestia, putting out a friendly wing and guiding her prospective protégé through the last remaining members of the crowd. “It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”
With visions of magic lessons and excitement dancing through her head, Sunset couldn’t help but fix on one thought: With the power and prestige of a princess behind her, she would never have to worry about not being popular, ever again.
