Sunset
Alone. Of course I was alone.
When you spend your youth spreading discontent and dividing those around you; you think that you’re the one they admire, the one they want to be. Well, that’s not entirely true, hell what am I saying, it isn’t true at all.
I was the queen bee at Canterlot High, now look at me, I’m just the bitch everyone remembers who didn’t go anywhere in life. And you know what? They’re right. I mean, just look at how I’ve ended up, stuck in some dead end desk job with no friends to help me through the day and no reason to look forward to the weekend except the obvious days off the job. Was this really going to be the tone of my life? My prime was going to be spent staring at an endless wave of documents and papers and wondering how to talk to the person in the cubicle next to me?
There was a high-pitched squeaking noise that emitted from the intercom system, I clasped my hands over my ears and grimaced.
“Could all guests please report to the main hall for the opening presentation?”
I couldn’t help but smile, ear piercing aside, it was nice to hear the intercom’s noise again, it was nostalgic. That fact that it was backed up of course by the ever-present voice of Principal Celestia was a further boost to this.
“Some things never change.”
My words echoed out into the empty hall I was standing in, my words bouncing off the lockers and reaching no ears in particular. I squinted in the low light and wondered if I could remember where my own locker was. I’d spent so much time going back and forth to it for books and so on, its location was probably seared into my brain and stuck on with gaffer tape.
“There you are”
I touched the locker door gently, my fingertips brushing over it, as I looked the metal case up and down a curious thought crossed my mind. The owner of this current locker, was she (or he) a better person that I? I suddenly felt the urge to write down a note for the owner, telling them about my many, many mistakes; maybe I could make a good person from my words.
“About the most good I’ll ever do” I sighed and held my head in my hands, clenching my fingers and grinding my teeth. “Since when did I start with all this self pity bullshit?” I lowered my hands and stepped away from the locker, a now rare but still confidant smirk crossing my face. I cocked my hips to one side and laid my hands on them.
“Let’s go rock that hall Sunset, remind them all who I am.”
Grey
“I HOPE THE GREAT EGG STICKS ITSELF UP YOUR ASS AND EXPLODES!” I bellowed at the lock in front of me, throwing my arms in the air in frustration. I let out another grunt and kicked the chair in front of my with a leather shod paw. It clattered to the floor, the noise echoing across the room I was in. It probably wasn’t a good idea to be making so much noise but at this point between my loud cursing and those crates I accidentally knocked over, I’d say the guard was already more than alerted. At least they were stupid, trying to get through the front door was going to be a mission with the table I’d pushed in front of it; unless they had unicorns on the other side who could levitate it out the way.
If that was the case then I was all kinds of fucked.
“Which is why” I began, my voice rising as another tirade of curses built up in my mind, “I’d love for at least ONE door to not be locked.” Enough was enough, I reached a claw toward the belt that hung off my hip and pulled out the axe that hung off it. One heavy slash later and the lock was in three pieces.
“That’ll show you… Oh I’m talking to hunks of metal now, fucking perfect.”
“Get that rocket launcher lined up and blow the door open! Don’t let him get away” Came that voice of the very pissed off guard I’d recently stabbed in the leg. If only my aim was a little bit better I might have done some good. But hey, I’m not a fighter. I’m a runner.
And speaking of...
Sunset
Of course they remembered, of course they were going to ignore me, and the ones who did speak to me had such… trepidation in their eyes. I saw them all in there and when they saw me I saw the flickers of disliked and distrust in their eyes. Rightly earned I’m afraid. Oh why couldn’t they all just give me a second chance, why couldn’t they just see if I had changed.
But… have I changed? Have I really, truly changed?
The question was answered five minutes after it was asked, when I saw the newly wedded Flash Sentry. I didn’t see his wife, nor did I care, but there was something tugging in my heart that made me angry. Of course I hadn’t changed and right now, that was a good thing. Because I was going to remind him exactly why he didn’t deserve me in the first place.
“Oh Flaaaaaaash” I called out in a sing song voice, my words ringing across the packed hall loudly and with confidence. I smirked and began taking small, strong strides toward him, swaying my hips as I did. I wanted to prolong the moment, give them all a moment to drink in the sight of the fully grown and matured Sunset Shimmer.
My hand snaked up my side and reached my neck, fingers teasing around the skin as I reached for the back of my leather jacket and slowly pulled it down and away from me. Yes, I was going to do this right here and now, in front of everyone. Because that was who I was, that who who they all remembered me as and that was who life seemed determined for me to be. And if life didn’t want me to have friends then I was going to make sure that I wasn’t alone in this affliction.
My jacket fell away, landing on the floor in a heap. If this was who I was going to be then not only was I going to accept the role, but I was going to be good at it too.
“Did you miss me? It’s been days” I spoke softly and slowly, letting the weight of my words sink in for him and his partner. I hadn’t seen Flash in years, but that wasn’t what the cow next to him needed to know. All she needed to hear were my words.
“Who’s this, Flash?” She asked, her voice low and confused, my tone was unmistakable and the implications of my body language were clear.
“oh” I began… and then the world stopped. The cogs ticking in my head as I took stock of the girl before me and the objects around her. This was a simple event and it wouldn’t be tough to pull off but I wanted the full on soap opera performance from this. There was a glass of water within her arms reach, perfect. But I didn’t want to be the target so I stepped toward the right, putting flash between the two of us ever so slightly, she’d have no choice but to go for him instead. The crowd around me was thin and I’d need to disappear quickly if she got violent, I was in no mood for a physical confrontation… They weren’t exactly my forte. So I raised my voice, drawing in the crowd with my sultry tone and the possibility of scandal.
“Flash and I are great friends! We hang out all the time don’t we Flash?”
There was a murmuring about the crowd, perfect. Someone who knew Sunset Shimmer still put up with her, still ASSOCIATED with her? This was a curiosity and it drew the crowd in, just perfect. I could see the door, all it would take were a few more words of discontent and I’d have her blowing up in front of everyone.
“You never talk about her” came the slow, edgy response from the woman, who was eyeing my suspiciously and looking at Flash with eyes that were ready to receive terrible news.
“What do you mean you never talk about me Flashy!” I gasped, mock horror in my tone. “Just last week we were… we…. “ Suddenly I faltered. Dammit I was so close to this, I could finish and leave them miserable. They would be just like me after that. The perfect payback and yet…. Wasn’t that how I’d gotten here in the first place?
I didn’t have to do this really, I didn’t have to be this person if I didn’t want to…. But, maybe I did want to! I told myself aggressively, stomping a mental foot.
“I’m surprised Flash never talks about me” I forged on, squashing the insecurity that had been building up in me suddenly. No one stops Sunset Shimmer. “We’re just SO close.”
The final touch, would be a literal touch. Right now, there would still be a pip in her mind, the light in her tunnel that would suggest that I was an old girlfriend he stayed in touch with but was too nervous to say anything about. Nothing truly suspicious going on there. But if I was to… trace my index finger along his arm, I could end it all for them. That pip in her mind would be crushed. I raises my hand slowly, the distance between us closing. But I could feel the faltering in my head once again, why was I doing this? Was I honestly THIS petty that I had to destroy everything around me?
My hand paused. The thoughts darted across my mind like lightning as I considered every possibility.
My finger touched his arm.
Fuck being a good person. We’ve already got enough heroes.
Grey
I could feel the weight of the bag around my back as I sprinted down the hallway. Whatever my employer wanted from that backpack better have been worth all this effort, and at the very least, the pay had better be better than this nonsense.
Wush, CRACK.
The air around me split as a hail of bullets ripped through the space around me, smashing into the walls and embedding inside their hard surfaces.
“About time you lot caught up!” I yelled back in their direction, putting on perhaps too much bravado in my tone as I picked up the pace. If they had more than three brain cells between the lot of them, I was certain that they realized I was being TOO cocky about this. It was just a show.
As per usual, I’d blown my cover, plan A was in the toilet and plan B was in the stall next to it.
“Why do I never have a blasted plan C?” I cursed and rounded a corner, nearly skidding as I did. I felt my balance shift and I reached out my arm again, my claws gripping tightly into the wall, the steel tips on my talons digging in and helping me spin around the corner and down the next hallway. No momentum lost and I looked damn awesome whilst I did it. Not bad for a flightless bird if I do say so myself.
And speaking of flying, there was my exit.
The balcony, overlooking the whole city, five stories up and no real way down, of course I was going to jump.
But just as I reached the ledge I stopped myself, the view was just staggering.
“This, this is the real reason I do this.”
The city was a massive circle, a large wall made from solid crystal stretching around in an endless loop. Below me, the city itself was divided into three rings, the largest ring, the outer ring where I was. Beyond that a second, smaller ring, and in the center, a tower, a tower that stretched higher than any building in the city. Oh what I would do to climb that.
My sight seeing was halted by another sight, my eyes widened in an instant and my beak fell open as I stared out into what had just been an incredibly dark night. A bright blue beam of light shot up into the sky; up and up it went, pulsing with otherworldly energy. Tendrils of orange and red magic spun around the beam as it continued on its path into the sky, seeming like it would go on forever.
Of course it didn’t.
The beam struck the often invisible dome of magical energy that enveloped the city, and suddenly the dome pulsed brightly with the same brilliant hues that made up this strange anomaly. The buildings within the city were also lit up in the lgiht’s reflection. Every corner and inch of what had once been the Crystal Empire was suddenly revealed as if it was the day. The crystal buildings acted like reflectors, shinning the light in every possible direction.
I felt the urge to shielf my own eyes, the light was growing more intense and it was beginning to hurt too much, the globes in my head were watering but I kept on looking. There had not been a single day in the Crystal Empire for as long as I had lived. And now, staring out into the city was a whole different experience. It looked so beautiful, inspiring in fact. And then it was that I saw what is arguably the most important sight of my entire life.
Sunset
“Who is she? DON’T YOU LIE TO ME FLASH SENTRY!”
I stalked into the crowd, smiling wickedly as I did. Flash had taken a glass of water to the face and it had been practically delicious to watch. And now he was getting a furious verbal chewing out from his “beloved” as I stalked through the crowd, my leather jacket once again donned. This night couldn’t have begun on a more perfect note.
Perfect?
No, this wasn’t perfect… It was abhorrent.
I turned back to face Flash, sitting alone at a table now, the woman storming away from him furiously. His face was dripping with water but even from this distance I could tell that some of the wetness from his face came from his tears.
As usual, old Sunset Shimmer has won. Oh how I hate her.
Come to me
I froze, suddenly very numb to the party and to the world around me. THAT was not my inner conscience speaking to me. That was something unfamiliar, something in my mind. It had been years since I had experienced it but I knew damn well what it was.
“Magic”
Grey
Whoever had built this city had clearly been thinking of how the light would affect the appearance. They must have looked at the way the sun hit the buildings and realized they could do something great with this.
And oh boy did they.
There was thousands of beams of light that were currently shinning across the city as the dome absorbed the seemingly never ending pillar of magic that pumped from the ground upward. And among these beams, about a hundred were directed in a circle, toward one singular location.
The tower.
And the tower did the only thing it could do, it reflected back. The hundred beams of light that struck it were instantly duplicated in what must have been hundreds of thousands of beams. That sailed through the skies and past the city itself, illuminating the world outside the city. And it was grey, thick storm clouds stretched out as far as the eye could see and the silhouettes of destroyed pony cities could even be made out in the distance. No wonder they called this place the last city, they were right.
But the joys of the light, like everything else, had to end. The beam stopped emitting from its source and the energy feeding into the dome crackled, buzzed and faded into the nothingness. The bright beams that had lit up the city suddenly vanished and shadows once more engulfed the Crystal Empire in blackness, the only real proof of life down on the ground being the light bulbs and torches that flickered in the dark. I’d lived with this view all my life, and I’d risked my life again and again and again to see it, to breath in the greatest view I had ever seen. But now? Now that I knew what this city looked like during the day? This view had been hollowed; this view had been shamed. And I knew one thing for certain.
I was going to make it happen again.
Of course the best way to do that would be by going to the source. Not that it would be hard, that was an unsubtle beam of light if ever I had seen one… and oddly enough I’ve seen plenty. All I had to do was get there.
“We’ve got you now!”
By the egg these guards were so slow I actually had had time to admire the view whilst they were chasing me.
I scoffed at the thought and hopped up onto the balcony railing, saluting the guards as they ran toward me. I reached to my backpack and pulled out a large metal hook and connected it to a metal sheath around my wrist. If this did not work… well it was going to hurt like hell.
“I feel like I should say something to mock you” I smirked, the guards halting, looking at me with more curiosity than anything else. I was trapped, a wingless Griffon on the edge of a balcony with a hook in my claw. What was I possibly going to do.
“This will be the day” I began, “that you will always remember as they day you almost caught Grey WHOOOOOOOOPS!”
My last name is not “WHOOOOOOOPS” in case you were wondering. No, that would be the sound of me slipping and falling to my death.
Sunset
Come to me
The voice grew stronger as I walked down the hallways of CHS, my eyes fixed straight ahead in a fierce determination. I hadn’t felt Equestrian magic in years, but I knew damn well where this was coming from. And if it was calling me, then there was a reason.
The last time I had felt Equestrian magic I was fleeing through the portal to escape the Solar Guard on my tail. I suppose that’s what I get for stealing from Princess Celestia, but unfortunately if they’re trying to get hold of me… then something must have gone truly wrong.
Sunset, please return.
Of course I knew the voice that was speaking, it was feminine, soft and it carried a wave of unmatched kindness.
“Celestia?” I asked, cautiously. Why would she only contact me now after all this time? I doubt it was to ask me back into her service, Celestia was forgiving but after my abrupt termination of studies I don’t think she’d be too eager to invite me back into Equestria so eagerly.
And so I pushed open the doors to CHS and walked toward the statue outside, with the mirror set at the bottom. It even glowed with a faint magical energy, a green aura that pulsed calmly.
Sunset…
Odd, this time the voice was softer, it seemed tired, as if the Celestia sending this message had gone months, maybe years since the last time she had tried to send the message, as if she had given up hope that there would be an answer.
I know you’re angry, but I implore…. I BEG you, come back home. We need you.
I stopped in my tracks. Since when did Princess Celestia BEG for anything? My hand hovered hesitantly over the portal, much like it had done with the locker earlier. This was the door to a world I had once belonged to, and I had screwed it up, throwing away the chance I had been given. Would I ruin it like I had done here?
Reunions… they were never as fun as you expected.
I… I forgive you. And I am sorry that I could not do more to help you.
This time Celestia’s voice was slow, barely audible. Her words were rasping, as if she had just spent hours screaming or working a complex spell… or both. Whatever was happening to Celestia, it was important.
Something twanged in my heart, I could feel the wrestling match between Sunset Shimmer and her conscience once more, but unlike in the hall… conscience won.
I stepped through the portal.
I went home.
