A Shimmering Ascension to Princess Hood
Sunset Shimmer walked into Canterlot High in search of the Sirens. There was a chance to that they may absolutely hate her because their evil plot to be adored by everyone and gain power was foiled by Sunset (with the help of her six friends) a couple months back. However, Sunset knew deep inside, they were just like her in a few ways; they really could be good if they tried, they would just need a little push.
She saw her good friend Rainbow Dash. "Hi, Rainbow Dash!" Sunset said with a wave.
"Hey Sunset Shimmer!" Rainbow Dash said. "How were things in Equestria?"
A look of concern crossed Sunset Shimmer's face.
"Not good. There's a new villain in Equestria and so now I've been put in charge of defeating this new villain," Sunset said.
"Anything I can do to help?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Just stay in this world and be ready to use the magic of friendship if they invade this world," Sunset answered.
"You can count on me!" Rainbow Dash saluted.
Sunset nodded in thanks, said a quick goodbye and then continued her search for the Sirens. She walked around the halls looking for traces of any of the Sirens. "Listen hear, you little punk!" Sunset heard a familiar rough voice say. She turned down the corridor to see Aria Blaze, who looked like she was about to bring a world of pain to another student.
Aria Blaze had grabbed the boy by the collar of his shirt and she held her fist up. "And just what do you think your doing?!" Sunset said, walking confidently onto the scene.
Aria Blaze whipped around at the sound of Sunset's voice. "Oh great. It's the friendship patrol. Are you here to arrest me?" Aria sneered. This encounter greatly reminded Sunset of the first time she was confronted by Twilight Sparkle, which just happened to take place in the very same hall in which Sunset was now confronting Aria Blaze.
Sunset ignored Aria's sneering remark. Sunset stepped in between the two students. "Now, could one of you please explain to me what caused this situation?" she asked. "Well it started out as a friendly conversation, but then I accidentally - without thinking - had brought up about her band's performance at Battle of the Bands, then she got upset," the boy explained. "Aria, is this true?" Sunset asked.
"Yeah," Aria said. "He should have known better, though!" she shot an accusing glance at the boy. Sunset gave Aria a warning look.
"Listen, Aria, I understand why you would get defensive over something like that. However, resorting to hurting someone over such a thing is not how you work it out," Sunset said, hoping that she could prevent Aria from hurting anyone. Apparently the word "harmless" will never describe any of the Sirens (or at least Aria Blaze).
Aria Blaze glanced around, trying to evade eye contact. "I guess your right," she finally huffed. She hated admitting that Sunset was right, but she didn't have much of a choice.
"Now, Aria, would you please apologize for your actions?" Sunset said.
Aria narrowed her eyes. "No," she said. She looked rather triumphant and sneering. Sunset sighed; Aria Blaze was one difficult girl, or Siren, more like.
"She's sorry," Sunset said in a weak attempt to end the situation. The other student nodded and walked off.
"Why do you have to ruin everything for me?!" Aria Blaze growled.
"I'm not trying to," Sunset said. "Aria, I don't think you understand. You don't need anything for people, or ponies, to like you; they'll like you for who you are, and if they don't, then they're not worth your time nor energy."
Aria sighed. "Well, maybe I don't need anything here, but back in Equestria-" she stopped, realizing she was about to confide in Sunset Shimmer.
"Go ahead, you can tell me. Back in Equestria what?" Sunset said. "Never mind. Maybe I'll tell you some other time," Aria said sincerely.
"You mean that?" Sunset said.
Aria nodded. "Mm-hm," she said. "Because I thought maybe we could be friends?" she looked at Sunset earnestly.
"Well of course we can be friends. I was hoping for this from the moment I met you," Sunset said.
"Really? I actually kinda saw that coming and kind of didn't all at the same time," Aria said.
"Really. I was actually just looking for you, to ask you if you'd accept my friendship and come back to Equestria with me," Sunset explained. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know where Adagio is, do you?" Aria began scowling at the mention of Adagio Dazzle's name.
"Ugh! Why would you want anything to do with that jerk?" Aria said, irritated.
"Oh, I didn't realize that you guys weren't friends anymore; I just-" Aria cut Sunset off mid-sentence.
"Lissen, not everyone is gonna change their ways just because really hope they will and wanna befriend them. Adagio will never change; she's already trying to find new ways to gain power and be adored by others. She's still the same cynical, manipulative, and despicable person she was when you met her," Aria said. "That's just the cold, harsh reality."
Sunset took a moment to reflect upon what Aria said.
"Well, I'm going to talk to her anyway," Sunset said.
Aria shrugged. "Well if you're gonna talk to her, I won't stop you. But I will come with you," she said.
Sunset Shimmer wasn't quite sure she could completely trust Aria Blaze, but the girl truly did seem to want to be her friend. The two girls walked off in search of Adagio. Befriending Aria Blaze was a lot easier than I thought. I wonder if Adagio might be even easier, Sunset thought. "Any clue where Adagio might be?" Sunset asked.
"Heck if I know; she doesn't want anything to do with me or Sonata. She acts as if it's mine and Sonata's fault that the Dazzlings lost in Battle of The Bands," Aria explained.
"Wow, that's pretty mean. And she calls herself your friend?" Sunset said. "She's never actually called us her friends before, but we are friends," Aria said. "Yet she'll call you 'idiots'," Sunset said.
"Yeah, some friend she is," Aria said. "Anyways. Moving on." "So you're from Equestria?" she continued. "Were you banished too? Or did you come here out of your own free will?"
"I came here out of my own free will," Sunset said.
Aria Blaze looked at Sunset Shimmer, shocked. "Why would you want to come to this awful place?" she said.
"I was just really curious about the mirror that led to this world, and, this is something I've never told anyone or anypony, but I kind of disobeyed Celestia and continually ignored her teachings, which led to her distrusting me and so I ran away to this world," Sunset said. Before she knew it, she had told Aria her whole life story, but that was a good thing because Aria realized just how much she had in common with Sunset Shimmer.
"Sounds like you and I have a lot in common. That's really good because now I know that if I tell you something about my past, you're not gonna judge me based upon that or think of me any differently," Aria said.
"I would never judge you. However, the only person I might judge, or at least not let my guard down around, would be Adagio," Sunset said.
"That's a safe idea," Aria said.
"Hey, by the way, I want to warn you of something," Aria said.
"What is it?" Sunset asked.
"You don't have the whole story about the Dazzlings. Our pendants may have been destroyed, but I'm not so sure this means Adagio or any of us are powerless. I don't know what we may be capable of, but..." Aria decided it was best to stop there, so she wouldn't ruin her only hope of going back to Equestria, or cause Sunset Shimmer to worry. However, she was slightly afraid of what Adagio could still be capable of.
A Shimmering Ascension to Princess Hood
Sunset Shimmer stepped out of a magic mirror which leads to another world; the mirror is kept in the Crystal Empire for safe keeping. The Unicorn mare was not expecting to be greeted by a worried Princess Luna. "Sunset Shimmer, do not ask any questions. Just come with me at once," Luna said.
Sunset Shimmer did as told and followed Luna into the throne room in the crystal palace. Cadence and Twilight were there as well. But where is Celestia? Sunset wondered.
"I am most certain you are wondering where Celestia is," Luna said.
Twilight and Cadence exchanged concerned glances. "What's wrong?" Sunset asked.
"Are you familiar with the name Nightmare Moon by any chance?" Luna asked. She didn't want Sunset Shimmer to be uninformed.
Sunset nodded. "I'd read about her once," she said. Sunset Shimmer had recently taken up an interest in reading about Equestria's many myths, predictions, and prophecies; after how the Dazzlings had turned out to be the Sirens, Sunset did not want to be clueless about any possible threat.
"Great. That simplifies things," Luna said.
"Let's get back to the point though," Sunset said. "Nightmare Moon has returned?"
"Yes and no," Twilight said.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Sunset exclaimed in confusion.
"You see, there is a new Nightmare Moon except her name is Solar Flare and she wants to bring about blistering heat and an eternal daytime to the world," Luna explained.
"I know you were the pony who became Nightmare Moon, so are you saying Celestia became Solar Flare?" Sunset asked.
"Unfortunately, yes." Luna bowed her head in sadness. "I imprisoned her in the moon."
"Then aren't we safe for a while?" Sunset asked.
Luna shook her head.
"Unfortunately, since I did not use the Elements of Harmony to banish her she will only be imprisoned for a short amount of time," she said.
"What that amount of time is, I do not know." "Oh. But why can't Twilight just use the magic of friendship?" Sunset asked.
"This is something we wanted you to handle. We thought we should let you handle this because Twilight told us about your latest accomplishment: you helped defend the other world from the Sirens, and so we thought you should take this on," Luna explained.
"But there's still so much I have to learn about friendship! I have plenty of friends at Canterlot High in addition to this world's Trixie and Lightning Dust, but I don't have six friends who'd represent six Elements!" Sunset said.
"Is there anyone in the other world who could help you?" Luna said.
"I've got an idea! It might be a stretch, but if it means saving Equestria - I'll take a risk!" Sunset Shimmer said.
"So I take it you're going back to the other world?" Luna asked.
"Yes, but it'll be a quick trip assuming all goes well," Sunset said.
Twilight turned to ask Sunset Shimmer about what she meant by "if all goes well" but she had already gone through the mirror.
