Chapters A very colourful group of seven girls was entering the mall. It’s a sight that might be common in Manhattan, but they weren’t even a bit common themselves. They had embraced the magic of friendship a long time ago and had found many different ways to channel it. But this is not the point. On this beautiful day, all they wanted was to be normal teens exploring the newest Mega-Mall.
After an hour of window shopping and a few book and cloth purchases made by certain bookworms and a fashionista, the group set down at a small café. The shop wasn’t extravagant and there weren’t many people there, so the group got their food and drinks within a few minutes.
Pinkie Pie was trying to swallow her extra-large piece of cake with vanilla ice cream whole, nearly suffocating in the process. Rainbow had to give her a little slam on the back to give her pink friend a chance to breathe again. Rarities face was filled equally with concern and disgust. “Darling how often do I have to tell you to behave yourself? One day you might not be as lucky, not watching your manners while eating.”
Sunset sipped at her coffee, stiffing her chuckles with the hot brew. The décor was looking quite good. The walls were brightly coloured and there were a few mirrors placed around each seating area to prevent looks from strangers. The kaleidoscope like stained-glass windows reminded Sunset of the royal palace she’d once lived in.
Most of the other guests had gone some time after the loudly laughing group had arrived, but one person hadn’t. It was a woman with red, curly hair, three different shades to be precise. Some of the hair had turned a light shade of greyish red. She had flawless, dark orange skin, but her face was the one of a person that had gone through too much in her years. The elder woman wouldn’t even seem suspicious, if it wasn’t for her not so subtle interest in Sunset Shimmer.
Sunset tried to ignore the stranger, but what could she do when someone was watching her every move? It was nothing but disturbing she thought. Such people crept her out, so she stared back. She knew it was considered rude, but the stranger was the one to begin this staring contest. She gave in after some time, so Sunset was finally able to spend the rest of the time sharing laughs with her friends.
The woman was long finished as the group of seven was about to leave. She stood up and walked in their direction. Sunset wasn’t having it. None of the others had noticed it yet but there are some things that need to be said from time to time. And stalkers, however friendly they might seem, need to know when to stop.
“Ahem… Excuse me miss. I wanted to ask why you’ve been watching us. It is rude to do so you know?” Sunset said a little louder than usual, setting an emphasis on her last sentence. She began to regret it only mere moments later. The woman in front of her had began to cry. Guilt arose in the girl but soon turned into confusion, as the stranger pulled her in a tight hug, sobbing on the leather jacket. “Su… Sunny is this really you?”
Sunset had needed a long time to adjust to being hugged by anyone. Being hugged by a stranger was a bit… not concerning but definitely unusual, but this embrace didn’t feel strange at all. It was one of the warmest things, the girl had ever felt. It was just like with Celestia, only warmer and even more motherly.
The former equine had never gotten to know her true parents. She had poofed herself to Canterlot in a very strong magical surge erecting from a temper. A pedestrian had found her crying on the sidewalk and had brought her to the nearest orphanage, explaining the situation at hand. No one was ever able to find her parents and after a long time of searches and questions, the ponies at the orphanage gave up the search. Sunset however did not. The search for her parents was, what made her so desperate to learn about magic, one day probably even giving her a chance of finding her family in the future. It was when she gave up that dream, that power became all she was seeking.
She didn’t even want to think about the consequences on her mental health is must have had for her counterpart. Maybe something alike had happened to said girl, only less magical.
Twilight and the others still stood in the café, looking puzzled at the strange scene playing in front of them. “Does anyone know who she is?” Fluttershy asked quietly. The group shrugged at the question. “They look like mother and daughter, but Sunset said, she didn’t know her family.” Twilight added to the conversation.
The yellow-red haired girl took a step back. Even if this was her mother , it still wasn’t her mother. No one with a heart would be able to keep a mother from her true child and Sunset did have a heart. “How about we meet here again tomorrow? I’ll have time to sort my thoughts and you can try to find a way of telling me what exactly happened. I’m not the sappy type, so I’d appreciate if we could forget about today and the awkward moments and start over tomorrow?”
The young girl gave a smile as genuine as possible, knowing she might never talk to this wonderful woman ever again, but happy to give her counterpart something back. Both women were now trying to hold back their tears and hugged a last time, the elder one in dearest expectations of the next day.
“So… Who was that?” Rainbow asked, pretending not to have eavesdropped. “I think she is the counterpart to my mother.” There was sorrow in her voice and her friends tried to comfort her to their best effort. “So what to it?” RD commented blunt as ever, “Why did you tell her you’d meet her here again?” She definitely had eavesdropped.
Sunset let out a sigh. “I’m not going tomorrow,” Her friends eyed her with confusion. “Sunflare Shine is.”
Author's Note
Well here it is. My first english fanfiction. I've got a lot in mind for this story but with highschool I wont be able to update it too often. You'll propably get a chapter every two weeks.
Chapter 02: Is that true?
The clock stroke twelve as Sunflare Shine lay awake in her bed. It was the feeling of anticipation that didn’t allow her to sleep. She didn’t know where this feeling came from but sometime in the afternoon it had begun and the past had thought her to go with her gut. If it told her something was going to happen she might as well listen closely.
‘toc toc’ Something knocked against her window. ‘toc’ It was and unsteady rhythm, what made it all the more annoying. She stood up, went to the window and opened it. The first thing that met her was a tiny stone, much alike the others thrown before, in the face.
What the hay, “What are you thinking? Why do you throw rocks at me? Didn’t you guys do enough damage to the house already?!” The person on the street was standing right beneath a lantern, meant to illuminate the street, but her face couldn’t be seen under the grey hoodie.
A mumbled, “Sorry,” came from her, followed by a, “but stand back.” Sunflare did, as she was told. Why wait for another rock to hit her, while she could go grab her phone and call the police, or her mother for that matter. A tennis ball came through the window, wrapped in something with handwriting on it.
She loosened the cord, attaching the ball to the letter and looked at the text. It had been hastily written, but strange as it was, she could read it either way. It looked very much like her own claw, combined with a bit of embellishments.
Dear Sunflare Shine,
You don’t know me and that is for the better, trust me with this, but there is something I have to tell you. Hate to break it to you, if you were unaware of it, but you were adopted. I met your mother and thought, you should get the chance to meet her. She’ll be waiting in the ‘Café Gelato’ in the new Mega-Mall in Manhattan. I hope it was a good idea to tell you this, but either way, good luck with your life.
She read and read it again until she thought to have sought everything in, processing what was standing on the bit of paper. Her eyes wandered back to the window, looking down at the street, the girl, as she had managed to make her form out, was gone.
She closed the window and lay back down on her bed, the letter still in her grasp. Some things began to make a bit more sense than before. Sunflare Shine had always thought her mother to be acting pretty strange, especially since she had gotten herself fired after an incident on a trip. The women had become very anxious to even just spend time with her daughter
They didn’t look alike at all, what didn’t have to say anything, but just made things more obvious. She also never spoke about her father, what was now easy to understand. She had often considered that she might be adopted but who could have known, it was actually true?
At least she was lucky enough to meet someone, who might be her mother and she wouldn’t even have to worry about the long journey of finding her parents, as it was often depicted in TV-Shows and movies. In addition, she now had plans for the next day.
She tugged herself under the covers, smiling to herself as she fell asleep.
Author's Note
I don't want to offend anyone with my writing, but I don't have experience with foster parents and have only priefly heard about this from an old friend who went through this.
There they sat. Mother and daughter in a tight embrace, sharing a happy (sappy) and joyful moment together. And here she sat, a sad smile on Sunsets face, looking at the get together from a shop on the other side of the mall. She had given up on her search for her parents not long before she became Celestias personal student and now she just sat around, wallowing in her loneliness. How pathetic, she would have thought not so long ago, but now she knew better than to envy herself.
At least now she had a lead, as to who her mother was, even if she could only tell by appearance. If only she had taken in more data, as perhaps a name. There used to be a book in Canterlot that held a name register for all the inhabitants of Equestria and as she knew Twilight, that girl would have at least one copy in one of the libraries at the castle.
If a name was all that was holding herself and her family apart then she knew what to do, even if she couldn’t approach her doppelgangers mother about it. Sunset left the shop with a self-satisfied smile, planning to get her hoody for another late-night visit.
Once again Sunset stood on the pavement in front of Sunflare Shine’s home, throwing stones at the girl’s window. To others it might even look like the beginning of a not-very-well-thought-of-romance novel, but it wasn’t. The window didn’t open. The front door did.
Only mere seconds later, the two girls stood there, hugging each other. “Thank you so much for setting things up with my mom. We spend the day together and I actually learned some things about my past that I otherwise never would have. Thank you so much, if there’s anything I can do for you just… say…it…” Sunset was flattered and shocked at the same time as Sunflare suddenly pulled back and tried to take a look at the stranger who’d made her feel so much better.
The hooded girl turned around and lowered her voice. “What’s your mother’s name?” She really tried to stay calm but at the same time she wanted to hit herself for falling back into her dumb, old habit of acting before thinking things through. Maybe if she had taken some more time to make an actual plan, she wouldn’t feel that cornered.
Sunflare was taken aback by this strange question, and even though she said, she would do anything, this seemed like something the person who introduced the two to each other would know, wouldn’t they? “Didn’t you already know it as you told me where to find her? I thought you knew the two of us and somehow figured things out.”
Sunset was getting cold, and still having quite the way to go to get home, she was growing more and more impatient by the minute. “Please stop asking me questions. I just want to know our mother’s name and get a good nights-sleep.” She sighed heavily, rethinking her words. She wasn’t the only one to see her mishap.
The native girl didn’t know much about her family, except for the fun to talk about nutcases and her sibling brother. She didn’t have a sister. She didn’t even have cousins for that matter. “Who the hay are you ?”
The former unicorn knew, she had given away one too many inconsistencies and that the only way to shut her up and not to get her to talk to anyone about it, was to give the girl something, no one would believe. As she embraced this thought, there was no holding back.
As Sunset turned around and removed the grey hoodie from her radiant, curly hair with one hand, she had to use the other one to keep her counterpart from screaming. “Before you do anything you might regret, just listen. My name is Sunset Shimmer. We aren’t related and if I tried to explain why we look so much alike, you wouldn’t believe it anyway. Just tell me your mother’s name and I can finally go and look for my own and will never have to bug you again.”
A simple nod was all the girl could manage, but it was enough of a signal for Sunset to let go of her mouth. She was trembling, still in shock of seeing someone else with the exact same face, but she couldn’t deny, that she did owe her something. “Stellar Flare” it was not much more than a whisper, but it was all that was needed to get Sunset to break into a run. She had all the information she needed and wouldn’t stick around to get caught up in anything else.
Sunflare went back inside and snuck up to her room. She could be happy that her mother hadn’t woken up, or she might have freaked out as well about this `Sunset Shimmer´… Sunset Shimmer. This name did ring a bell, but she couldn’t quite grasp it.
Then it clicked all back in place. Her mother had once talked about a few girls, that were responsible for her, losing her job and prestige. Sunset had been one of them. What else was up with this girl?
Author's Note
What a bummer it was to see, that I lost the last third of the chapter and had to rewrite it after not looking at it for two months. I still think, that it could be quite enjoyable and I actually already have the next four chapters written on paper. Prepare for a ride
Chapter 04: Can you open up the gate?
Sunset was sitting in front of CHS. It would be a normal sight, to see a student on a school day, but on a Saturday it would look weird to anyone, but the fiery-haired girl didn’t care. She was too invested in writing into her magical book to communicate with a certain princess.
Dear Twilight,
I know we haven’t talked in a while, but I was hoping you could open the portal for the weekend. I wanted to go looking for my mother, Stellar Flare. It would just take a minute of looking into the Equestrian name register. Please respond as soon as possible,
Your friend Sunset Shimmer.
For Sunset’s luck, Twilight was inside the library, immediately being able to respond.
Dear Sunset,
It is really great hearing from you and it is even better, that you want to see your family again, but why just now? I’ll of course open it up for you, though I thought you had made amends with everyone in Canterlot on your holiday visit.
I was never able to. I just found out about her name yesterday from my counterpart
Why didn’t you know it bef, scratch that. I forgot for a moment you were adopted… Anyhow, might it be that you have a brother, cause if that’s the case, he’s currently sitting in the table room with Starlight.
Sunset was baffled. She had a brother (?)! and he was friends with Twilight… what were the odds, but who’d look a gift horse in the mouth?
I don’t know if I have a brother but I might have. I think it would be best to have someone around my age, that could help me introduce myself to my family. Could you please just open the portal? It is early in the morning and I’m sitting on bare stone over here d:
Only a few minutes later, the portal opened and she fell right through the once hard marble. A swirl of endless colours overcame her, before she was spat out, a pony, on the other side of the portal.
She was a bit dazed from being send into a big pile of pillows, but at least it wasn’t a hurtful pile of books or the bare christal wall. Standing on four hooves was as natural for her as walking bipedal and thus she had no problem standing up to envelope Twilight into a big hug.
“I’m sorry,” Twilight said, looking at the library doors, “I actually have a friendship summit to attend with the leaders of all creatures attending my new school and had just enough time to pile those up. I hope the landing didn’t hurt too much.” The orange unicorn just nudged her friend’s flank empathetically, saying “I understand, princess duties and stuff. Don’t worry Twi, I know my way around.” After she had said it, Twilight disappeared into thin air in a manner, that Sunset couldn’t tell if she had teleported or made a pinkie-exit.
Either way, the ember unicorn was making her way to the table room, not knowing that she had left a very confused girl on the other side of the mirror.
Author's Note
This should be the shortest chapter of this story, so you'll see more in the future. See ya'll in two weeks