Sunset Shimmer's first thought walking down the dark streets was the bitter cold, which was exasperated with the puffs of white vapor from her breath and the stinging feeling on her thighs and face. She then thought of her home in Equestria which she left only a few hours ago, as well as the warm coat of fur that used to be warmly wrapped around her body.
That was replaced with hairless skin, but she counted her blessings since she was not bald, or else she would pitifully march right back to Celestia and ask for forgiveness.
Celestia….
She began to think of the princess and the fight that caused her to come back to the portal. Sunset had been playing with the portal for days, observing the world and what it had to offer. After all, she’d rather go in and investigate than waste time researching through dusty old books. The fight started over her findings and the fact she did it without Celestia's permission. That fight opened the pandora’s box of Sunset’s frustration with her mentor and, in the heat of her anger, she disappeared into the portal. But she didn’t without telling her mentor why she was going to stay in the new word she discovered: "So I won't be held back by you anymore."
"It was pretty petty to get mad like that," Sunset sulked, her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket and her head down as she walked down the street. By the time she had walked some ways away from the portal, she stopped. "Wait, what am I doing? I should head back!" she said out loud before she turned around and began to walk back. When she did, she noticed an odd looking car behind her. She had seen them before in her observations of the new world. They were the guards of the world, calling themselves the "pole-ice". They seemed to have a knack of catching people breaking small rules and writing 'tickets' to them. She learned well enough to stay out of their way, but this night her luck must of run out.
Their lights whirled up on her when she did turn around, the flashing of the yellow headlights and the blue and red lights on top of the car blinding her. She raised a hand to shield her eyes and had enough sight to see two figures get out of the car.
"Put your hands down, woman!" The young officer barked. Sunset did as he commanded, her hands falling to her sides.
"What are you doing around here?" He questioned with a hostile tone.
Sunset was unsure of what to say, so she just tried to be honest. "I am just taking a walk," she answered.
"In this part of town at this time of the night?" The officer’s partner asked, also suspicious of the young woman in front of them.
"Yes."
The two officers looked at each other with a raised eyebrow and then looked at Sunset.
"Where do you live?" one of them asked.
"Well, I'm not technically from around here," Sunset answered. Both policemen sighed and looked to each other, then looked to Sunset.
"Do you have a place to sleep tonight."
"Yes?" Sunset said with an unsure tone.
Both men nodded and walked up to her. "We will need you to come with us then."
Sunset was unsure of what to do at that point. She knew that those two were supposed to protect the community, and that they were generally the good guys. But, something seemed… Off about the two men. They didn't seem to be interested in helping her but saw her as an annoyance. In her mind, however, she had the idea of going with them, at least, they can take her to the school building and more importantly: the statue that was the gateway to her home, and her comfortable bed.
"Sure, lead the way," Sunset said with a smile.
The first thing that Sunset noticed about the seats was how cold, and hard, the seats were; they were like plastic. On top of being cold, they were uncomfortable, but at least the car was warmer than the harsh cold outside. Sunset looked at the town fleeting past her, the many dark streets with unlit stores and homes, the only light coming from the car she was in and the occasional street light. The officers were silent as they drove through the city streets.
Sunset began to wonder if accepting the ride was a bad idea, especially when she read a large sign on the side of the road
"Thank you for visiting—Hey! We are leaving town!" Sunset pointed out.
The officers ignored her, not even bothering to look at each other.
"Hey! Can you guys just drop me by the statue near the school?" She asked immediately after.
"No," one of them answered.
"Please?" She asked in concern.
"As I took it, you had no residence," the driver grumbled.
"Well not here, but-"
"Exactly. if you're not from around here and have no residence, we can choose where you can be dropped off. We are not some damned taxi or Uber," he barked. "I'm getting tired of you homeless fucks thinking you can waste our time!"
Sunset was taken aback. She was not even close to being considered homeless. Maybe they needed to realize it was a giant misunderstanding?
"Look, I'm not homeless. The statue is actually a portal to another word where I live. I'm actually a unicorn from that place! I need to go home!" Sunset confessed, hoping that somewhere, somehow that the police would believe her.
They shook their heads. "Looks like we got another nutter here."
Sunset sighed and looked outside to the dead, unforgiving night. The town gave way to the forest, with her view interrupted by power lines running amuck.
They pulled over alongside the only way in and out of town, the highway. To the police's presence, it was empty. They stepped out and opened the door for their passenger. Sunset did not struggle when the officer reached in and dragged her out of the car, hoping that a last chance to change their minds would help.
"Please! Mister! Let me -"
She was interrupted with a painful blow to the abdomen from the officer's baton. She was doubled over in pain on the ground in front of them. She gasped for air, the tears welling in her eyes from the shock of the hit. The men began to laugh as they pelted her with more painful blows from their batons and their feet.
"Stop!" She sobbed, covering her head with her arms to protect herself. The beating continued until Sunset was motionless. Each hit was like a drain of her energy. By the time they were satisfied she had no strength to do anything more than cry, her back to the sky that was crisscrossed with power lines overhead.
"Looks like you couldn't unicorn yourself out of that one, you fucking freak!" One officer said as he lifted her upper body so that she was sitting on the cold gravel. He stripped Sunset of her tattered leather jacket as his partner took her boots and socks.
"I imagine that a unicorn like yourself won't need this stuff," one of the officers smirked as he threw her jacket and boots into the back of the squad car. They closed the passenger door, got inside, and drove off back to where they came from in the safety of their vehicle.
Sunset was crying as she staggered up, the cold stinging her newly exposed skin harder than any of the blows the officers gave her. She began to slowly walk down the pitch black road toward the city, each step cutting the bottom of her feet due to the sharp rocks and glass shards from broken bottles and scattered debris. Her legs and arms were covered with scrapes, cuts, and bruises. Her shirt and skirt were tattered, with the feeling of the cold seeping into once-warm areas because of the loss of her jacket and boots.
The thoughts of “Why would they do that to me?” were cast aside for a bigger issue: survival. Her shivering stopped, and she began to stumble down the frozen road with the limping slowing her down. She began to feel drowsy and was fighting the temptation to fall asleep. She slowed to a zombie-like shuffle and fell on her knees, which were already bleeding from being scraped.
"Princess Celestia! I'm sorry! I miss you! I want to go home!" Sunset sobbed as she collapsed on the cold asphalt. In front of her was a pair of headlights approaching on the other side of the road where she laid. It stopped in front of her, and its two passengers ran out to meet her. As Sunset closed her eyes for the last time, she saw the face of those who stopped: an old man and a young girl.
***
It was an average morning for the employees of the town's hospital, with the exception of the doctor on duty walking down the hallway with a suited man. They were deep in conversation as they walked past the many nurses and patients that filled the hallways that day.
"I'm afraid this will be a hard case for Internal Affairs to investigate, doctor. Whoever did this to her were wearing gloves, so no fingerprints on the jacket or boots that were found in the police dumpster. They even deleted the security camera footage to the entire police station." The suited man said.
"Well, I hope you do. For her sake," the doctor commented.
"What do you mean?" The Internal Affairs official asked.
The doctor and the suited man stopped in front of a normal looking patient room. When they entered they saw the victim. She was asleep, her clothes on the table next to her, and she was covered with a patient gown and a few blankets. Her cuts and bruises were covered with gauze pads and bandages. She was fast asleep.
"Beaten and left on the side of the road where she suffered from hypothermia. If those people who found her came a few minutes later, you would be having this conversation with a mortician." The doctor remarked.
"She is just a kid," the detective said, his face turning red. "They did this to a fucking kid."
The “kid” woke up a few seconds later. She gave them a wide-eyed look and began to yell and thrash around, screaming at them to not hurt her. Within seconds a few nurses ran inside to contain the young girl, holding her down as they hollered for “Celestia” to come inside. The detective turned to see a tall, beautiful woman storm in. Her hair was of many colors adorned over silky, smooth white skin. She ran up to the bedside and forced Sunset to look at her with her hands.
"Sunset, it's me! Calm down!" she said in her most angelic voice. The girl stopped fighting, transfixed to her.
"I'm sorry, Princess. I just want to go home." She sobbed. The nurses used the time to give the Sunset another sedative, and she fell limp once again.
"Well, this has been an interesting morning," Celestia sighed as she joined the doctor and the detective. "When she came to a few hours ago, she was mumbling my name and calling me a 'princess'. I've been here all morning to calm her down."
"Right. Anxiety and panic attacks every time she sees another person, be it man or woman. Only one she is willing to talk to or even listen to is Celestia here, principal of Canterlot High." The doctor explained.
"So do we keep her here? We checked out the claims that she came through a 'portal' through the statue of the school. If there was one it's closed." The detective asked
"Well, there was weird lights for the past few days around it… I just made things worse, didn't I?" Celestia asked.
"Point is, we need to deal with her." The doctor said.
Both men turned to Celestia. When she realized why, she gave a quick sigh. "Well, I can't leave her here, and I do have an extra room with my sister at our house…Okay, when can she be released?"
"A few days, for observation."
They were a rough few days for all involved. Sunset got worse before she got better, having to be tied to her bed with a human muzzle fastened onto her. Her fear for people continued on, only stopping when she was asleep, either naturally or through sedatives. On the third day, she was released by order of a local judge to the care of Principal Celestia.
"Sunset?" She asked Sunset, who was just waking up in the mid-morning hour.
"Yes, Celestia?"
"So we checked and there seems to be no portal to your home," Celestia announced.
Sunset felt the words like a dagger. She began to cry, saying she wanted to go home between wails.
"Well, Sunset Shimmer, I actually am the principal of the school. What if you stay with me until this portal of yours opens again? When it does you can go back immediately." Celestia assured her.
Sunset was unsure at that point. The person staring back at her wasn't the same princess, but she looked similar. The last time she accepted help from someone from that world she ended up in that hospital bed. It made her scared of humans. But, Sunset knew she either had to stay with Celestia or with unknown humans in that building. In the end, she had to take it.
Wrapped in a blanket and a hand over her shoulder, Sunset Shimmer was released to Celestia to take home and to care for until she was ready for a foster family. The walk through the hospital was not an easy one, with doctors and nurses trying to clear a path for the two to keep the people inside as far away as her as possible. There would be a time where she would regain herself and able to be around people, but that would take time. That would take love.
"It's okay, Sunset. I'm here next to you.” Celestia whispered as Sunset held on to her waist a bit tighter. Celestia even smelled like the Princess back home, which put Sunset more at ease. Sunset was hit with the cold air but at the same time the warm, loving rays of the sun. When she realized that Celestia was taking her to a car, she stopped, resisting Celestia.
"What's the matter, Sunset?" she asked,
"They took me in those things... Took me to the forest of power lines…"
Celestia realized what she said, and smiled.
"Well, then I guess we need to walk home, then." Celestia said, smiling down at Sunset.
Author's Note
Story based on the song in the story, song based on this.
I have a discord group for fans of my work, pre-readers, proofreaders, and editors. If you want to join this group pm me, click here!
