Spirit Detective: Sunset Shimmerby Blue HorizonChaptersPrologue: SlackerPrologue: FloatySpirit Detective - TransportationSpirit Detective - Toddlers, Eggs, and a Dream of a Kiss.Prologue: SlackerPrologue: Slacker "Cut the shit, slacker!" Sunset ignored the raspy old hag. It had been two months since she had finally gotten an inkling of her magic back. Two months since her magical wellspring kick-started again. Two months since her death, her oh-so-stupid death. Sunset looked down at her leather jacket thrown into a corner of the small shack. A small shack isolated in the middle of a stupid forest in some mountain range of a pointless no-nothing island country halfway across the world. And she was here for what? To stop some eighty year-old grandma from teaching some human magical bullshit to some stupid demon? She should be at home, in her Canterlot, sitting on a nice ivory throne with her cutiemark embroidered into her velvet cushions and a crown that matched her fiery mane and the Princess of Love eating out of her hoof. But no, instead she had to do the right thing, save some stupid girl's life the moment she came back across the portal with her crown. At least she- The force hit her like a sock full of concrete blocks. Wood splintered into the musky air, shredding her already tattered purple tank-top and blue jeans. At least her stylized sun persevered. "I see I got your attention now, slacker." Sunset growled and pulled herself off the floor resting her hand on the cracked wall. Across the room, an aged woman wearing some fancy fighting clothes, clothes that little-miss Fashionista would probably know about, stood with her hands behind her back. "You are here to train," the raspy voice said, "not laze around like some jackass waiting for her mommy to pick her up from school. Now get your shit together, and get over here so we can begin!" "Whatever you say, you old bitch." Sunset took a step forward. Then another. Until she was looking down at the pinkish gray haired woman. Their eyes met, cyan to brown. "Oh? So the little girl thinks she has all the power in the world just because she can do a few neat little tricks?" The old woman raised her finger, drawing a light similar to Sunset's eyes along the tip. "Since you're so in love with this little beginner's technique, you're going to get intimate with it." Sunset watched as the wrinkled lips curled upwards into a condescending smile. Sunset inwardly cringed, a bead of sweat fell across her left cheek and onto the old floor. "The goal of this exercise is simple." The old lady pointed toward a large needle stuffed into a wooden base. "You're going to use your psuedo-magical-spirit energy, or whatever the hell you want to call it, and balance on top of that. And you won't stop until I say 'stop'. Do I make myself clear, slacker?" Sunset looked at the needle, then back at the old woman, gulped, and nodded. Yep, it was definitely hotter than before. This is going to be a long six months. Author's Note First published thingy in nearly SEVEN years... despite probably writing over 100k in the meantime. I don't really have much confidence with this... but everyone said to publish it, so here it is. One of the five main crossover ideas I've had lodged in my head for years, so I hope you enjoy. I finally have an idea on how I want to write the first chapter- and how to progress the story... maybe I'll actually persevere and build self-confidence! I'm an idea creator, not a writer... but who knows, maybe that'll change? Good or bad, leave comments bellow! Would love to hear and read your thoughts. Prologue: Floaty"Sweetie Belle!" Those two words hung in the air for Sunset, who groaned and clutched her head. Her eyes were sealed shut as an invisible force crushed down upon her from every direction while the sirens blaring in the background drowned out her drowns and whimpers. "Shut up," she whimpered. "Shut up." Her ears twitched and flopped at the various conversations and sparse screams and wails from behind her. The tears that rolled down the side of her cheeks evaporated when they fell onto the strands of her fiery mane. The sirens continued to grow louder as they sped all around her. "I said-" Sunset screamed. She screamed like her heart exploded within her chest. Blood rushed throughout her chest then throughout her body. At least, that was what she thought. Her wails slowly died down, along with the sirens and everything else. When she opened her eyes, she found herself enveloped in a bright red bubble looking down at the sky. A blink. Then another blink. An occasional tinted cloud drifted across the purplish sky. She clopped the side of her face and shook her head. "Wait..." She slowly brought her forelimb down in-front of her face. "My hooves!" She looked down along her chest, her furred chest, and ran her other fore-hoof up along her face until it met her horn. "Yes! I'm back, baby! Now they will-" Sunset blinked as she looked down at the sky again. "Where's the ground?!" Sunset rolled over. Dozens of teenagers where huddled together underneath Sunset with the occasional bright flashing from various phones. Several others stood around and happily conversed as they blocked a corner of the street from her sight. Sunset continued to look around and noticed Principal Celestia waving toward the police, or ambulance, with tears rolling down her cheeks. Splotches of red were splayed along a bus that had smashed into a traffic pole and there was a nearby stop sign bent awkwardly with a crimson puddle pooling on the ground. Flailing about, Sunset awkwardly swam to the group of people and touched her hooves on the ground. The crowd parted for two emergency respondents and the gurney that trailed behind them. A yellowish tinted girl lay face down in the middle of the street, her normally immaculate red and gold hair disheveled, and lay still in a pool of blood. The leather jacket she loved had been shredded across her back while her left arm was bent in a very wrong way. Stuck in her other hand was the element of magic, her fingers locked around the embedded swirling purple star. Sunset felt her aura clutch the crown then gave it a hearty tug. Come on you stupid shit. With each tug, the crown didn't budge. "Give me my destiny!" The crimson bubble burst and all the nearby sounds her flooded her ears. She could hear a distraught bus driver as he tried to explain to some cop that there was a bright flash of light then the girl was suddenly there. She could hear the sounds of dozens of camera shutters going off, a few happily chatting on their phones, while Principle Celestia yelled to get the students to head into the school. A few yards to the side was the school's famous, and infamous, fashionista consoling her wailing younger sister as Vice-Principle Luna tried to usher them away somewhere more private. Sunset stumbled backwards, falling onto her flank, slipping between a student’s legs. "But... I..." One of the respondents walked over to the body and shook his head. Unrolling a black tarp, he carefully covered her then lifted her onto the gurney. She watched as the crown seemingly dissolve while her body was carted away. "I can't be dead, I can't! What about my destiny! My ascension!" "Well, I'm afraid that you are going to have to wait a little while longer for whatever you think is coming your way." Sunset's ears swerved to the young woman's voice coming from somewhere behind and above. "I have to say that unexpected deaths like this are a rare, once in a century type deal, or so I'm told, but normally they aren't, uh, unicorns?" The ambulance carrying her body drove off into the street. "Uhm, hello?" A young woman with long blue hair stylized in a ponytail floated down ahead of her riding a broom. Purple eyes scrutinized Sunset's form before she pulled a book from underneath the white sash she had wrapped around her light pink outfit. "Let's see, unicorns, unicorns, unicorns," she mumbled while flipping through the book. "Nope, not a thing! Well, I guess there is a first time for everything, I suppose. I have to say, you look so adorable like this!" She slid the book back underneath her sash then reached out and petted Sunset's mane. "And super soft too, I wish my hair was this soft. So do you got a name, unicorn?" Sunset blinked. "I, but, who are you?" "Botan's the name. Guide to the River Styx is the game. Though some call me the Grim Reaper, others, of a more melodramatic sort, call me Death itself." She leaned in close to Sunset "I really hate those names, but it's not like I can tell everyone to quit using them... so it is what it is, and that's who I am." She leaned back and tilted her head slightly with a smile and held a hand out. "Nice to meet'cha!" Sunset's eye twitched. She felt a shiver run along her spine and through her horn. With a hoof, she pushed the hand away. "Look, lady, I just died and you say 'nice to meet'cha', and with a smile! I mean, just, what? That's not how this is supposed to work, that's not how any of this is supposed to work! I am Sunset Shimmer! The prodigy who hatched a phoenix as a filly, the student who amazed the Princess of the Sun to the point where she was taken in, and taught personally in the castle." She repeatedly stomped her hooves on the ground. "Where are my wings, where is my crown?!" "Hmm, Sunset Shimmer." Botan tapped her chin. "Where have I heard that name before?" Botan closed the book and reopened it, running her fingers through various pages. "Ah, here we go! Sunset Shimmer, 24-year old. Born in Canterlot, this area always uses weird names," she added with a whisper, "let's see, says you're crude and violent, impatient and reckless, with sticky fingers and an ego that is only matched by her brain. Fighting, extortion, thievery, gambling, alcoholic, and, wow! An arms dealer too! A real devil, ain'tcha? But..., it says you're living in Europe with your girlfriend, so what are you doing here?" "Lady, do I look like a 24-year-old arms dealer to you? I can't even buy alcohol here! Kinda obvious I'm not her, so can we just, I don't know, move on with whatever you're actually here for?" "Yep, definitely impatient!" She said with a laugh. Sunset stomped a forehoof and growled out. "Oh, aren'tcha just adorable? But, if I am to be completely honest with you, I haven't gotten a clue! That Sunset Shimmer isn't supposed to die for at least a few decades, so no place in heaven or hell has been set aside for her yet, and like you said, you're clearly not her either so... since we can't really do anything with you, you can either lull around as a ghost here for the next few decades until we have a place for you, or you can take a test to come back to life! Really, you've fallen through all the cracks, even down in the underworld! Especially the underworld... way too much paperwork if you ask me. Glad that's not my job!" "No... no buckin' place for me?!" For a brief moment, Sunset was glad she didn't have canines anymore, they'd be ground flat by now. She could feel steam coming from her ears and face. "You're telling me that my death from swapping places with that little brat wasn't even... on your schedule! That everything I just did was pointless! That you didn't even know who I am!" "Well," she rubbed the back of her head, "you're not one who takes bad news very well but... Sweetie Belle wasn't actually going to get run over. She was going to trip over the roll of silk she dropped and actually go completely under the bus. She'd have a few scrapes on her legs, arms and face, but that's about it. So, like you just said, your death was totally pointless! You do a nifty trick then woosh, bam, splat, you're dead. For all those brains, that was a pretty moronic move! "Now, before you get all in a tizzy, like I said before, I'm here to give you a test so you can come back to life! This totally isn't without precedent, like yourself, sometimes things just fall through the cracks. And while I am totally new to the idea, just like you are, an accident like this does occasionally happen. And can you blame us? There's seven billion people here, and that's just on this world, in this realm! Do you have any idea how much paperwork that is? Now, I know you won't rest in peace with your current state, even if there was a place for you. So you really have nothing to lose by taking it and it's not a bad deal anyway. You come back to life, maybe continue with your cool magic tricks, and give good ol' destiny a hard kick in its nethers. So, what do you say?" Sunset took a deep breath in, closed her eyes, and exhaled. She felt her heartbeat slowdown as she processed what the supposed grim reaper had said. A new chance at life? With whatever magic the element had given her? It was worth taking. Especially when she could show up that wannabe princess who stole her spot. Speaking of fake princesses, Sunset opened her eyes and scanned the crowd around them, turning left and right looking for an awkward standing or bumbling purple teenager, but she wasn't there. strange, I know she saw what happened. It didn't matter to her though, not anymore. She looked up at Botan and nodded. "I'll take your stupid test, just tell me what I need to do." "Excellent!" Botan clapped her hands. "I've always wondered what these tests were like. Though, I'm quite curious, why did you save the girl anyway. It's clear that you have no interest in her, or anyone here, not really. So why'd you do it Sunny?" "I..." Sunset hesitated. Why did she save the brat? She hated her sister for trying to run against her a year ago. She humiliated her, made an example of what it meant to go up against Sunset Shimmer. Everything was just a means to an end. So why? What was it that compelled her to swap spots and save Sweetie Belle? Sunset looked at the two who had collapsed near the portal. Sweetie's purple and pink hair flattened across her elder sister's tear stained chest, who stared blankly into the street while Luna stood behind her patting her back. "I don't really know." Sunset looked up at Botan. "And Sunny? Really? I'm not a filly anymore." "Filly? Oh I bet you were just a wonderful cute little filly. Now, I'll need you to get on, we have a brief flight we have to make before we can begin your test!" Author's Note Cue theme music! Smile Bomb Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this little blast from the past! If you have any comments, tips, suggestions, fixes, or just want to tell me I suck, feel free to leave them below! I'd love to read them all; the good, bad, and the ugly. I also want to thank everyone who helped finally convince me to hit the submit button. Enjoy. Spirit Detective - TransportationSunset stared downwards at her front hooves. It may have only been a few minutes since she last felt herself in her normal body, but when she crossed through the portal she hadn't taken the time to respect it. To remember it. She took a deep breath, if ghosts could even take deep breaths, and brought a hoof to her face. She felt across her muzzle and slowly encroached her horn. Now that she had time to process everything, she could actually feel her magic churning within her body, the theumatic pathway slowly pumping the magic to her horn. It was all so... nostalgic, circumstances notwithstanding, she found herself with a small smile when she looked up at Botan and asked, "So, where are we going?" "Well," Botan hesitated and floated down to Sunset, "normally I'd say we'd take off to meet Lord Enma, he's the king of Hell by the way, since he'd likely to explain the test but..." Sunset watched Botan nervously scratch the side of her head while she pulled out a similar looking book from the sash she wore. She shook her head. "I'll just keep the normal-ish procedure I think." A soft golden glow covered Botan's fingers momentarily then with a single snap, Sunset felt alive again. Sort of. Her pony ears flickered at the sound of the sirens from above her and she could hear the faintly rushed conversations of whomever was inside the ambulance next to her body. Yet, when she looked in one direction she could still notice Sweetie Belle wailing into her sister's arms while her two annoying friends hovered nearby. Sunset's breath hitched in her throat when she felt Botan's fingers brush aside Sunset's mane, "There, there," Botan said, "no need to fret, we can leave at any time and get you back to normal." Sunset opened her eyes and looked up at Botan with a faint smile across her muzzle. "I'm fine, I just..." Sunset trailed off and shook her head. "Can we go?" Botan nodded and helped Sunset clamber onto the broom. "Normally you'd just need to touch the handle to get there but," she trailed off momentarily, "well, you get it." The broom was uncomfortably shoved between her forehooves and hindlegs. "How long will it take to get to wherever we are going?" Sunset shifted about the broom. Botan smiled and Sunset felt her lean forward onto her back. "Hold on tightly," she said with a light chuckle. The broom dug into her stomach as the duo lifted higher into the clouds, Sunset briefly took a quick glance up and saw a swirling mass of bluish tinted clouds that looked like they were being swallowed by a black hole. In a flash of light, Sunset found herself flying through the monochromatic tunnel into the depths of hell. It looked creepy. Blacks and whites swirled around them while streaks of grey pierced through the spirals. Cold air, or whatever existed in the tunnel, chilled her skin and made her fur stand on end. It was different from the rainbow distortion between traveling to and from Equestria, but just as quick as they entered the tunnel, they left. Sunset blinked at the sight of blue clouds, then blinked again when she realized they were drifting across a purplish sky. All around her were large spires of rocky mountaintops that rose high into the sky, while a deep and seemingly endless crevice surrounded the mountains, with the exception of a very small and narrow pathway that was winding through the mountaintops as it led ahead. "Whoa..." her ears flattened across her head when Botan leaned off of her back. "Pretty impressive, don't ya think?" Sunset nodded. "Not many people, or ponies I guess, ever come here. It shouldn't take too long to get to the castle now, hope you don't mind flying." *** A towering fortress stood in front of them. It wasn't the similar in architecture, but Sunset couldn't help but be reminded of Canterlot castle, if instead of being built into Canterhorn, Celestia had decided to lop off the top of the montain and build on it's former peak. She shook her head, and frowned. "Now isn't the time to be homesick," she grumbled. Botan walked to the front entrance, which was essentially a large steel door that cut into the stone walls. Sunset watched Botan place her hand on the panel next to the door that briefly lit up. Moments later the steel door split open, like an archaic elevator, which gave way to a massive hallway with large red archways and seagreen tiles. Sunset watched dozens of towering beings of different shapes, sizes, and colors as they ran about the hallway with stacks of paper in their clawed hands. Sunset did her best to ignore the countless yelling and followed Botan as she led her through the area. The duo walked cut across through several hallways before reaching another silver door. "Now, I must warn you... things can get a little bit hectic?" Botan paused then shrugged before placing her hand onto the scanner. "Welp, here we go." Author's Note Why so short? I'll be posting a blog post in the coming minutes. I'm not happy right now, but I wanted to ghost drop something. Spirit Detective - Toddlers, Eggs, and a Dream of a Kiss.Sunset felt the curl of her muzzle as she frowned. It was a slow frown, one that matched the pace of her brain as she looked blankly ahead. When Botan had opened the final set of metal doors and led her to the fancy looking desk at the back of the room, Sunset had known she wouldn't have met this Lord Enma person. She expected maybe a prince, or princess, looking like what Flash or Rarity believed themselves to look like, or maybe a young-ish assistant who knew a thing or two about everything. The colorful ogres, at least that's what Botan called them, threw her off. They clearly weren't human, but neither was she. But standing before a toddler, a toddler, in some weird fake purple getup wearing a Jr. cap while sucking on a pacifier of all things simply broke her mind. So, she stared. Then the toddler snapped his fingers. "... hello, anybody in there?" Sunset blinked and gave a jerky nod. "Yes, uh, sorry, but yes." "Oh, wow, you're actually polite!" The toddler paused. "Well, more polite than expected... you can call me Koenma, and I'll be in charge of your test. If you can call it that." I looked away from the tod- Koenma and briefly glanced at Botan who was giving a small smile and nod. "Now, normally in an abnormal situation like this, we'd give you an egg to hatch that will hopefully guide your spirit back into your body before keeping it there." Koenma jumped back onto his desk and placed a small golden egg next to where he sat. "The problem with this, however, is that it could take over a century! Which, obviously does no one good. So, we're going to expedite this process, hopefully, which is where the 'test' part begins." Sunset looked up from the egg. "And when does it end?" Koenma smiled. "When it hatches and hopefully doesn't devour your body and soul, of course!" "Wai–" "Now, I know that probably sounds bad. Which it is! But like I said, we're gonna expedite this process and get you back into your body as soon as possible. The main issue is, you're unloved and have zero spiritual energy thus the egg can't even begin to grow, let alone hatch. Lucky for you, I already created a list of people who have at least some spiritual awareness that you know and could possibly help." Koenma paused and frowned. "Whether or not they do is... really up in the air." Koenma opened up a drawer, nabbed a folder, and tossed it at Botan who shrieked in surprise but managed to catch it. "In there is the list of people who may help, sorted from most likely to least. Since your body has been kept alive, you only have today and tonight to communicate with those who may help. And even then, you can only choose three, so choose wisely." Sunset looked at Botan then back at Koenma. Her ears wilted and she momentarily found herself grinding her teeth as Koenma's words sunk in. "Only three?" She snarled. Koenma nodded. Sunset took a deep breath and could feel the hot air leave her nostrils as she exhaled. She opened her mouth, then closed it, shook her head again then nodded. "Alright, fine. How would I convince them, let alone talk with them?" "Through their dreams, it'll be the easiest for you there. Canterlot has a lot of weird stuff going on all the time, but surprisingly not much of it involves the spirit or demon realms, so there aren't many spiritually aware people there, and those that are are fairly weak compared to those from other areas." Koenma shrugged. "Nevertheless, Botan will help with everything then once you're back in your body, she'll explain the next portion. Now bye-bye and good luck!" *** "You've gotta be bucking kidding me!" Sunset screeched. Botan nervously chuckled, and Sunset couldn't help but wonder if Botan could sweat in her ghostly body. "Well..." she trailed off looking at the floating papers circling the stomping unicorn. "No, this isn't a test, this is an execution! These are my top choices‽" Sunset's magic flared and thrashed the windows of the hospital room they hovered by, which to Botan's surprise, actually rattled them. "I need to convince my vice principle, the girl I saved, or the person who replaced–" Sunset paused and looked at the paper again then screamed. "Unresolved sexual tension, are you serious? That's my third best option!" Botan winced and looked back into Sunset's body's room. The lights had been turned off, and a cleaned human Sunset lay motionless tucked into her hospital bed. Botan motioned the unicorn closer to the bed and, more specifically, the golden glow that slowly grew off the body's feet. "This isn't gonna be easy, Sunset, but you need to take advantage of how they feel for you." Botan cringed at her word choice, but continued. "You only have tonight to convince them, and up until midnight tomorrow to awaken your body's spiritual awareness. Normally you'd have days then weeks but... you're not human, Sunset. And if you fail... truly, I am sorry." Sunset groaned and collapsed onto her haunches at the base of the bed. "No, its fine this has just been a... it has been a day." She studied the papers in silence until the sun finally fell. "I think I'll do Sweetie Belle first. If that's okay with you, Botan." *** Slipping into Sweetie Belle's dream had been surprisingly easy. The thirteen year old had collapsed onto the bed, tear stricken and disheveled, shortly after the duo floated into the Belle's home. Sunset hovered and watched as a similarly distraught Rarity whispered soothing words to her younger sister, as they both seemingly cried themselves to sleep. Botan instructed Sunset to place the tip of her horn to Sweetie's forehead, close her eyes, and 'slip in' as she said. After a few moments of feeling like something had been leaking from her forehead, she opened her eyes, and found herself standing in a sunny open field. Still as a unicorn. A groan escaped her muzzle as she wondered around the luscious silken grass billowing in a soft wind. She could here the faint laughter and squeals in the background. The three girls, the Crusaders as they liked to call themselves, were flinging colored snowballs at each other under both the sun and moon that managed to shine through musically shaped cotton candy clouds. "Dreams are weird," Sunset grumbled. She trotted towards the trio and called out to the girl she was here for. The moment the name left her lips, she found herself in a blank empty room with the confused girl. "Sweetie Belle," she repeated. The girl turned and immediately latched onto the shorter unicorn. "So adorable!" Sweetie gently scratched behind one of Sunset's ears with one hand while stroking her mane with the other. "Just two years, Sunset, just two years. Better than Luna at any rate," the unicorn grumbled to herself. "Listen, Sweetie Belle, we need to talk." The girl froze, scrunched her face, and stood up. And to Sunset's dismay, found the girl a foot taller than herself. "Sun... set?" Sweetie Belle tilted her head and slowly circled around the unicorn. "Huh, you even have you shirt tattoo on your legs." Sunset groaned, sat back onto her haunches, and motioned for the girl to do the same with a hoof. "Sweetie Belle, I–" the girl poked her muzzle and let out a soft giggle and Sunset could her the 'so cute' under her breath before she swatted the arm away. "Look," she snarled. "I don't have a lot of time, and believe me when I say this is gonna be equally as weird for you as it is awkward for me." Sweetie Belle tilted her head letting her lengthy curls fall over her face. Sunset sighed. "In the simplest of terms; this is a dream and I'm dead." She clicked her tongue and flared her nostrils. "I need your help to make that temporary." "I- what- dead?" Sunset watched the girl's emerald eyes widen, her smaller hands gently gripped the sides of her hair and let out a small screech as the memories of Sunset's bloodied human corpse flooded through her mind. Tears slowly fell and within moments she fell forward sobbing into her mane only taking the occasional breath to choke out an apology. Sunset remained frozen until she jerked a hoof up and awkwardly pat the girl's back. "I need you to stop and listen." Sunset winced at her flat tone before shrugging it, and the girl, off. "Yes, I died. Yes, it sucks -" she looked at the girls tear stained makeup and clicked her tongue "- but you're gonna fix it." Sweetie Belle snorted and wiped her eyes and nose across the sleeve of her sundress and nodded. "Even when dead, you're still a right bitch." Sunset glared, then shifted her muzzle into her trademark smirk. "And yet, I'm also the reason why you are still alive." Sweetie Belle let out a wail and tightly gripped her side to control her sniffles. "What... what do you need me to do?" Sunset cringed. "I need you to kiss my body, on the lips." The two sat in silence letting the sentence hang in the nonexistent air. "Sweet Celestia, that felt even worse saying it than being told it." Sweetie Belle couldn't stop the snort that escaped from her lips. "Scoots used to joke that your bitchiness came from unresolved sexual tension... which is why you always went after my sister so hard." Sweetie wiped her eyes again and smiled. "Never thought the baddest bitch in Canterlot would pine after me instead." "Sweetie Belle, first off, you're thirteen–" "Fourteen!" "– and secondly I'm not even human. I don't have any interest in anything but my goals, and everything else was just a means to an end. Now are you going to help me or not?" Sweetie Belle crossed her arms and tilted her head. "How do I even know this is real?" "When you wake up, visit the hospital. The lower half of my body should be glowing, and I'll need some human with spiritual awareness to kiss me on the lips by midnight tomorrow night." "This sounds like a cheesy romance movie that Rarity would love." Sweetie half grumbled and half laughed. She then scratched the side of her face and brushed her curls back behind her head. "Will you," she paused, "will you explain things when you wake up?" Sunset hesitated but nodded. "Alright, I'll kiss you on the lips. Like CPR, right? Can't be worse than that..." Sunset gave a small smile. "Thanks Sweetie Belle, I only really have three options for help and you were the least awkward and most likely choice to follow through." Sweetie raised an eyebrow. "Oh, who were the other two?" Sunset looked away and frowned. "Vice Principle Luna and you wouldn't know the other since you're a freshman." The human let out a bark of laughter and nodded. "Thanks for not, uh, asking a whole bunch of questions and freaking out too much. I guess I'll see you tomorrow." *** "Well, this isn't good." Botan whispered. "It's already past midnight and they're drinking coffee." The duo hovered above Luna who sat next to her older sister and niece while sipping their drinks and staring listlessly at Sunset's unconscious body. "How did we miss this, Tia." Luna took another gulp of her lukewarm coffee before glaring at the paperwork that had been thrown across the floor. "Forged documents, fake address, no guardian at all, just... how?" Principle Celestia sighed and looked away. "I always thought she was Sunset's younger sister who simply took her name. I didn't think that–" "That's the problem, you could never think with Sunset!" Cadance stood leaned against the bed. "When you took us in, you always ignored whatever the original Sunset did until the very end. And now, it seems like you were doing the same thing again! I just..." Cadance collapsed onto the bed. "I just can't believe you'd make the same mistake with her literal clone. Just how, auntie? At least Lulu has an excuse." The living trio fell into silence again. And Sunset couldn't help but watch as each of them shed silent tears. Eventually, Cadance stood again. "I'm going home, let me know if anything changes and I'll let you know if Shinny can find anything else out about her case." Neither Celestia or Luna spoke for the remainder of the night and quietly gathered there things before leaving to prep for the upcoming school day as the sun began to rise. "Well, that's really not good," Botan said. "I really hoped you convinced this Sweetie Belle last night." "Yeah, so do I." Author's Note Hey everyone, it has been a long ass time. I've mostly moved away from writing and reading fimfics (I've shockingly moved on to Hermione Granger [HP], Naruto, or Hero fics... or manly whatever I kind find that strikes my fancy off other sites). Anyway, I was reading a YuYu fic and then I remembered that this existed. While I procrastinate on my grad application, I figured why not try and push out another chapter. I wrote this off my phone and it isn't edited, and as it shows, my writing skills have atrophied... but, like I said, why not? And since Sunset will be back alive soon... maybe my interest in this fic will be jump started too. Since it has been so long though, I lost some of my personifications for various characters, so I hope that Sunset isn't too OOC. But remember, she may be a frigid and angry bitch, but she's also intelligent and partly in shock with a limited timeframe to be brought back to life. I'm not the biggest fan of this, so I may go back and edit it later... but I'm actually looking forward to having Sunset actually alive again to kickstart the actual plot. So, there may actually be a new chapter sometime this year! And if you expect Sweetie to take Keiko's role... well, In terms of reading, I've been reading hundreds and hundreds of fics off other sites this past year, (my current fave of mine is a Tanya [Youjo Senki] and Dresden Files crossover fic, along with a Sakura [Naruto] in Hero Academia) so if you're curious about what non-fimfic fics are worth reading. Let me know, and I could link some... or maybe I'll put it in a blog. Anyway, sorry that it has been so long, I hope you enjoyed this and can forgive me for the lower quality compared to the previous chapters... like I said, and like you've read, it has been a while.
Prologue: SlackerPrologue: Slacker "Cut the shit, slacker!" Sunset ignored the raspy old hag. It had been two months since she had finally gotten an inkling of her magic back. Two months since her magical wellspring kick-started again. Two months since her death, her oh-so-stupid death. Sunset looked down at her leather jacket thrown into a corner of the small shack. A small shack isolated in the middle of a stupid forest in some mountain range of a pointless no-nothing island country halfway across the world. And she was here for what? To stop some eighty year-old grandma from teaching some human magical bullshit to some stupid demon? She should be at home, in her Canterlot, sitting on a nice ivory throne with her cutiemark embroidered into her velvet cushions and a crown that matched her fiery mane and the Princess of Love eating out of her hoof. But no, instead she had to do the right thing, save some stupid girl's life the moment she came back across the portal with her crown. At least she- The force hit her like a sock full of concrete blocks. Wood splintered into the musky air, shredding her already tattered purple tank-top and blue jeans. At least her stylized sun persevered. "I see I got your attention now, slacker." Sunset growled and pulled herself off the floor resting her hand on the cracked wall. Across the room, an aged woman wearing some fancy fighting clothes, clothes that little-miss Fashionista would probably know about, stood with her hands behind her back. "You are here to train," the raspy voice said, "not laze around like some jackass waiting for her mommy to pick her up from school. Now get your shit together, and get over here so we can begin!" "Whatever you say, you old bitch." Sunset took a step forward. Then another. Until she was looking down at the pinkish gray haired woman. Their eyes met, cyan to brown. "Oh? So the little girl thinks she has all the power in the world just because she can do a few neat little tricks?" The old woman raised her finger, drawing a light similar to Sunset's eyes along the tip. "Since you're so in love with this little beginner's technique, you're going to get intimate with it." Sunset watched as the wrinkled lips curled upwards into a condescending smile. Sunset inwardly cringed, a bead of sweat fell across her left cheek and onto the old floor. "The goal of this exercise is simple." The old lady pointed toward a large needle stuffed into a wooden base. "You're going to use your psuedo-magical-spirit energy, or whatever the hell you want to call it, and balance on top of that. And you won't stop until I say 'stop'. Do I make myself clear, slacker?" Sunset looked at the needle, then back at the old woman, gulped, and nodded. Yep, it was definitely hotter than before. This is going to be a long six months. Author's Note First published thingy in nearly SEVEN years... despite probably writing over 100k in the meantime. I don't really have much confidence with this... but everyone said to publish it, so here it is. One of the five main crossover ideas I've had lodged in my head for years, so I hope you enjoy. I finally have an idea on how I want to write the first chapter- and how to progress the story... maybe I'll actually persevere and build self-confidence! I'm an idea creator, not a writer... but who knows, maybe that'll change? Good or bad, leave comments bellow! Would love to hear and read your thoughts.
Prologue: Floaty"Sweetie Belle!" Those two words hung in the air for Sunset, who groaned and clutched her head. Her eyes were sealed shut as an invisible force crushed down upon her from every direction while the sirens blaring in the background drowned out her drowns and whimpers. "Shut up," she whimpered. "Shut up." Her ears twitched and flopped at the various conversations and sparse screams and wails from behind her. The tears that rolled down the side of her cheeks evaporated when they fell onto the strands of her fiery mane. The sirens continued to grow louder as they sped all around her. "I said-" Sunset screamed. She screamed like her heart exploded within her chest. Blood rushed throughout her chest then throughout her body. At least, that was what she thought. Her wails slowly died down, along with the sirens and everything else. When she opened her eyes, she found herself enveloped in a bright red bubble looking down at the sky. A blink. Then another blink. An occasional tinted cloud drifted across the purplish sky. She clopped the side of her face and shook her head. "Wait..." She slowly brought her forelimb down in-front of her face. "My hooves!" She looked down along her chest, her furred chest, and ran her other fore-hoof up along her face until it met her horn. "Yes! I'm back, baby! Now they will-" Sunset blinked as she looked down at the sky again. "Where's the ground?!" Sunset rolled over. Dozens of teenagers where huddled together underneath Sunset with the occasional bright flashing from various phones. Several others stood around and happily conversed as they blocked a corner of the street from her sight. Sunset continued to look around and noticed Principal Celestia waving toward the police, or ambulance, with tears rolling down her cheeks. Splotches of red were splayed along a bus that had smashed into a traffic pole and there was a nearby stop sign bent awkwardly with a crimson puddle pooling on the ground. Flailing about, Sunset awkwardly swam to the group of people and touched her hooves on the ground. The crowd parted for two emergency respondents and the gurney that trailed behind them. A yellowish tinted girl lay face down in the middle of the street, her normally immaculate red and gold hair disheveled, and lay still in a pool of blood. The leather jacket she loved had been shredded across her back while her left arm was bent in a very wrong way. Stuck in her other hand was the element of magic, her fingers locked around the embedded swirling purple star. Sunset felt her aura clutch the crown then gave it a hearty tug. Come on you stupid shit. With each tug, the crown didn't budge. "Give me my destiny!" The crimson bubble burst and all the nearby sounds her flooded her ears. She could hear a distraught bus driver as he tried to explain to some cop that there was a bright flash of light then the girl was suddenly there. She could hear the sounds of dozens of camera shutters going off, a few happily chatting on their phones, while Principle Celestia yelled to get the students to head into the school. A few yards to the side was the school's famous, and infamous, fashionista consoling her wailing younger sister as Vice-Principle Luna tried to usher them away somewhere more private. Sunset stumbled backwards, falling onto her flank, slipping between a student’s legs. "But... I..." One of the respondents walked over to the body and shook his head. Unrolling a black tarp, he carefully covered her then lifted her onto the gurney. She watched as the crown seemingly dissolve while her body was carted away. "I can't be dead, I can't! What about my destiny! My ascension!" "Well, I'm afraid that you are going to have to wait a little while longer for whatever you think is coming your way." Sunset's ears swerved to the young woman's voice coming from somewhere behind and above. "I have to say that unexpected deaths like this are a rare, once in a century type deal, or so I'm told, but normally they aren't, uh, unicorns?" The ambulance carrying her body drove off into the street. "Uhm, hello?" A young woman with long blue hair stylized in a ponytail floated down ahead of her riding a broom. Purple eyes scrutinized Sunset's form before she pulled a book from underneath the white sash she had wrapped around her light pink outfit. "Let's see, unicorns, unicorns, unicorns," she mumbled while flipping through the book. "Nope, not a thing! Well, I guess there is a first time for everything, I suppose. I have to say, you look so adorable like this!" She slid the book back underneath her sash then reached out and petted Sunset's mane. "And super soft too, I wish my hair was this soft. So do you got a name, unicorn?" Sunset blinked. "I, but, who are you?" "Botan's the name. Guide to the River Styx is the game. Though some call me the Grim Reaper, others, of a more melodramatic sort, call me Death itself." She leaned in close to Sunset "I really hate those names, but it's not like I can tell everyone to quit using them... so it is what it is, and that's who I am." She leaned back and tilted her head slightly with a smile and held a hand out. "Nice to meet'cha!" Sunset's eye twitched. She felt a shiver run along her spine and through her horn. With a hoof, she pushed the hand away. "Look, lady, I just died and you say 'nice to meet'cha', and with a smile! I mean, just, what? That's not how this is supposed to work, that's not how any of this is supposed to work! I am Sunset Shimmer! The prodigy who hatched a phoenix as a filly, the student who amazed the Princess of the Sun to the point where she was taken in, and taught personally in the castle." She repeatedly stomped her hooves on the ground. "Where are my wings, where is my crown?!" "Hmm, Sunset Shimmer." Botan tapped her chin. "Where have I heard that name before?" Botan closed the book and reopened it, running her fingers through various pages. "Ah, here we go! Sunset Shimmer, 24-year old. Born in Canterlot, this area always uses weird names," she added with a whisper, "let's see, says you're crude and violent, impatient and reckless, with sticky fingers and an ego that is only matched by her brain. Fighting, extortion, thievery, gambling, alcoholic, and, wow! An arms dealer too! A real devil, ain'tcha? But..., it says you're living in Europe with your girlfriend, so what are you doing here?" "Lady, do I look like a 24-year-old arms dealer to you? I can't even buy alcohol here! Kinda obvious I'm not her, so can we just, I don't know, move on with whatever you're actually here for?" "Yep, definitely impatient!" She said with a laugh. Sunset stomped a forehoof and growled out. "Oh, aren'tcha just adorable? But, if I am to be completely honest with you, I haven't gotten a clue! That Sunset Shimmer isn't supposed to die for at least a few decades, so no place in heaven or hell has been set aside for her yet, and like you said, you're clearly not her either so... since we can't really do anything with you, you can either lull around as a ghost here for the next few decades until we have a place for you, or you can take a test to come back to life! Really, you've fallen through all the cracks, even down in the underworld! Especially the underworld... way too much paperwork if you ask me. Glad that's not my job!" "No... no buckin' place for me?!" For a brief moment, Sunset was glad she didn't have canines anymore, they'd be ground flat by now. She could feel steam coming from her ears and face. "You're telling me that my death from swapping places with that little brat wasn't even... on your schedule! That everything I just did was pointless! That you didn't even know who I am!" "Well," she rubbed the back of her head, "you're not one who takes bad news very well but... Sweetie Belle wasn't actually going to get run over. She was going to trip over the roll of silk she dropped and actually go completely under the bus. She'd have a few scrapes on her legs, arms and face, but that's about it. So, like you just said, your death was totally pointless! You do a nifty trick then woosh, bam, splat, you're dead. For all those brains, that was a pretty moronic move! "Now, before you get all in a tizzy, like I said before, I'm here to give you a test so you can come back to life! This totally isn't without precedent, like yourself, sometimes things just fall through the cracks. And while I am totally new to the idea, just like you are, an accident like this does occasionally happen. And can you blame us? There's seven billion people here, and that's just on this world, in this realm! Do you have any idea how much paperwork that is? Now, I know you won't rest in peace with your current state, even if there was a place for you. So you really have nothing to lose by taking it and it's not a bad deal anyway. You come back to life, maybe continue with your cool magic tricks, and give good ol' destiny a hard kick in its nethers. So, what do you say?" Sunset took a deep breath in, closed her eyes, and exhaled. She felt her heartbeat slowdown as she processed what the supposed grim reaper had said. A new chance at life? With whatever magic the element had given her? It was worth taking. Especially when she could show up that wannabe princess who stole her spot. Speaking of fake princesses, Sunset opened her eyes and scanned the crowd around them, turning left and right looking for an awkward standing or bumbling purple teenager, but she wasn't there. strange, I know she saw what happened. It didn't matter to her though, not anymore. She looked up at Botan and nodded. "I'll take your stupid test, just tell me what I need to do." "Excellent!" Botan clapped her hands. "I've always wondered what these tests were like. Though, I'm quite curious, why did you save the girl anyway. It's clear that you have no interest in her, or anyone here, not really. So why'd you do it Sunny?" "I..." Sunset hesitated. Why did she save the brat? She hated her sister for trying to run against her a year ago. She humiliated her, made an example of what it meant to go up against Sunset Shimmer. Everything was just a means to an end. So why? What was it that compelled her to swap spots and save Sweetie Belle? Sunset looked at the two who had collapsed near the portal. Sweetie's purple and pink hair flattened across her elder sister's tear stained chest, who stared blankly into the street while Luna stood behind her patting her back. "I don't really know." Sunset looked up at Botan. "And Sunny? Really? I'm not a filly anymore." "Filly? Oh I bet you were just a wonderful cute little filly. Now, I'll need you to get on, we have a brief flight we have to make before we can begin your test!" Author's Note Cue theme music! Smile Bomb Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this little blast from the past! If you have any comments, tips, suggestions, fixes, or just want to tell me I suck, feel free to leave them below! I'd love to read them all; the good, bad, and the ugly. I also want to thank everyone who helped finally convince me to hit the submit button. Enjoy.
Spirit Detective - TransportationSunset stared downwards at her front hooves. It may have only been a few minutes since she last felt herself in her normal body, but when she crossed through the portal she hadn't taken the time to respect it. To remember it. She took a deep breath, if ghosts could even take deep breaths, and brought a hoof to her face. She felt across her muzzle and slowly encroached her horn. Now that she had time to process everything, she could actually feel her magic churning within her body, the theumatic pathway slowly pumping the magic to her horn. It was all so... nostalgic, circumstances notwithstanding, she found herself with a small smile when she looked up at Botan and asked, "So, where are we going?" "Well," Botan hesitated and floated down to Sunset, "normally I'd say we'd take off to meet Lord Enma, he's the king of Hell by the way, since he'd likely to explain the test but..." Sunset watched Botan nervously scratch the side of her head while she pulled out a similar looking book from the sash she wore. She shook her head. "I'll just keep the normal-ish procedure I think." A soft golden glow covered Botan's fingers momentarily then with a single snap, Sunset felt alive again. Sort of. Her pony ears flickered at the sound of the sirens from above her and she could hear the faintly rushed conversations of whomever was inside the ambulance next to her body. Yet, when she looked in one direction she could still notice Sweetie Belle wailing into her sister's arms while her two annoying friends hovered nearby. Sunset's breath hitched in her throat when she felt Botan's fingers brush aside Sunset's mane, "There, there," Botan said, "no need to fret, we can leave at any time and get you back to normal." Sunset opened her eyes and looked up at Botan with a faint smile across her muzzle. "I'm fine, I just..." Sunset trailed off and shook her head. "Can we go?" Botan nodded and helped Sunset clamber onto the broom. "Normally you'd just need to touch the handle to get there but," she trailed off momentarily, "well, you get it." The broom was uncomfortably shoved between her forehooves and hindlegs. "How long will it take to get to wherever we are going?" Sunset shifted about the broom. Botan smiled and Sunset felt her lean forward onto her back. "Hold on tightly," she said with a light chuckle. The broom dug into her stomach as the duo lifted higher into the clouds, Sunset briefly took a quick glance up and saw a swirling mass of bluish tinted clouds that looked like they were being swallowed by a black hole. In a flash of light, Sunset found herself flying through the monochromatic tunnel into the depths of hell. It looked creepy. Blacks and whites swirled around them while streaks of grey pierced through the spirals. Cold air, or whatever existed in the tunnel, chilled her skin and made her fur stand on end. It was different from the rainbow distortion between traveling to and from Equestria, but just as quick as they entered the tunnel, they left. Sunset blinked at the sight of blue clouds, then blinked again when she realized they were drifting across a purplish sky. All around her were large spires of rocky mountaintops that rose high into the sky, while a deep and seemingly endless crevice surrounded the mountains, with the exception of a very small and narrow pathway that was winding through the mountaintops as it led ahead. "Whoa..." her ears flattened across her head when Botan leaned off of her back. "Pretty impressive, don't ya think?" Sunset nodded. "Not many people, or ponies I guess, ever come here. It shouldn't take too long to get to the castle now, hope you don't mind flying." *** A towering fortress stood in front of them. It wasn't the similar in architecture, but Sunset couldn't help but be reminded of Canterlot castle, if instead of being built into Canterhorn, Celestia had decided to lop off the top of the montain and build on it's former peak. She shook her head, and frowned. "Now isn't the time to be homesick," she grumbled. Botan walked to the front entrance, which was essentially a large steel door that cut into the stone walls. Sunset watched Botan place her hand on the panel next to the door that briefly lit up. Moments later the steel door split open, like an archaic elevator, which gave way to a massive hallway with large red archways and seagreen tiles. Sunset watched dozens of towering beings of different shapes, sizes, and colors as they ran about the hallway with stacks of paper in their clawed hands. Sunset did her best to ignore the countless yelling and followed Botan as she led her through the area. The duo walked cut across through several hallways before reaching another silver door. "Now, I must warn you... things can get a little bit hectic?" Botan paused then shrugged before placing her hand onto the scanner. "Welp, here we go." Author's Note Why so short? I'll be posting a blog post in the coming minutes. I'm not happy right now, but I wanted to ghost drop something.
Spirit Detective - Toddlers, Eggs, and a Dream of a Kiss.Sunset felt the curl of her muzzle as she frowned. It was a slow frown, one that matched the pace of her brain as she looked blankly ahead. When Botan had opened the final set of metal doors and led her to the fancy looking desk at the back of the room, Sunset had known she wouldn't have met this Lord Enma person. She expected maybe a prince, or princess, looking like what Flash or Rarity believed themselves to look like, or maybe a young-ish assistant who knew a thing or two about everything. The colorful ogres, at least that's what Botan called them, threw her off. They clearly weren't human, but neither was she. But standing before a toddler, a toddler, in some weird fake purple getup wearing a Jr. cap while sucking on a pacifier of all things simply broke her mind. So, she stared. Then the toddler snapped his fingers. "... hello, anybody in there?" Sunset blinked and gave a jerky nod. "Yes, uh, sorry, but yes." "Oh, wow, you're actually polite!" The toddler paused. "Well, more polite than expected... you can call me Koenma, and I'll be in charge of your test. If you can call it that." I looked away from the tod- Koenma and briefly glanced at Botan who was giving a small smile and nod. "Now, normally in an abnormal situation like this, we'd give you an egg to hatch that will hopefully guide your spirit back into your body before keeping it there." Koenma jumped back onto his desk and placed a small golden egg next to where he sat. "The problem with this, however, is that it could take over a century! Which, obviously does no one good. So, we're going to expedite this process, hopefully, which is where the 'test' part begins." Sunset looked up from the egg. "And when does it end?" Koenma smiled. "When it hatches and hopefully doesn't devour your body and soul, of course!" "Wai–" "Now, I know that probably sounds bad. Which it is! But like I said, we're gonna expedite this process and get you back into your body as soon as possible. The main issue is, you're unloved and have zero spiritual energy thus the egg can't even begin to grow, let alone hatch. Lucky for you, I already created a list of people who have at least some spiritual awareness that you know and could possibly help." Koenma paused and frowned. "Whether or not they do is... really up in the air." Koenma opened up a drawer, nabbed a folder, and tossed it at Botan who shrieked in surprise but managed to catch it. "In there is the list of people who may help, sorted from most likely to least. Since your body has been kept alive, you only have today and tonight to communicate with those who may help. And even then, you can only choose three, so choose wisely." Sunset looked at Botan then back at Koenma. Her ears wilted and she momentarily found herself grinding her teeth as Koenma's words sunk in. "Only three?" She snarled. Koenma nodded. Sunset took a deep breath and could feel the hot air leave her nostrils as she exhaled. She opened her mouth, then closed it, shook her head again then nodded. "Alright, fine. How would I convince them, let alone talk with them?" "Through their dreams, it'll be the easiest for you there. Canterlot has a lot of weird stuff going on all the time, but surprisingly not much of it involves the spirit or demon realms, so there aren't many spiritually aware people there, and those that are are fairly weak compared to those from other areas." Koenma shrugged. "Nevertheless, Botan will help with everything then once you're back in your body, she'll explain the next portion. Now bye-bye and good luck!" *** "You've gotta be bucking kidding me!" Sunset screeched. Botan nervously chuckled, and Sunset couldn't help but wonder if Botan could sweat in her ghostly body. "Well..." she trailed off looking at the floating papers circling the stomping unicorn. "No, this isn't a test, this is an execution! These are my top choices‽" Sunset's magic flared and thrashed the windows of the hospital room they hovered by, which to Botan's surprise, actually rattled them. "I need to convince my vice principle, the girl I saved, or the person who replaced–" Sunset paused and looked at the paper again then screamed. "Unresolved sexual tension, are you serious? That's my third best option!" Botan winced and looked back into Sunset's body's room. The lights had been turned off, and a cleaned human Sunset lay motionless tucked into her hospital bed. Botan motioned the unicorn closer to the bed and, more specifically, the golden glow that slowly grew off the body's feet. "This isn't gonna be easy, Sunset, but you need to take advantage of how they feel for you." Botan cringed at her word choice, but continued. "You only have tonight to convince them, and up until midnight tomorrow to awaken your body's spiritual awareness. Normally you'd have days then weeks but... you're not human, Sunset. And if you fail... truly, I am sorry." Sunset groaned and collapsed onto her haunches at the base of the bed. "No, its fine this has just been a... it has been a day." She studied the papers in silence until the sun finally fell. "I think I'll do Sweetie Belle first. If that's okay with you, Botan." *** Slipping into Sweetie Belle's dream had been surprisingly easy. The thirteen year old had collapsed onto the bed, tear stricken and disheveled, shortly after the duo floated into the Belle's home. Sunset hovered and watched as a similarly distraught Rarity whispered soothing words to her younger sister, as they both seemingly cried themselves to sleep. Botan instructed Sunset to place the tip of her horn to Sweetie's forehead, close her eyes, and 'slip in' as she said. After a few moments of feeling like something had been leaking from her forehead, she opened her eyes, and found herself standing in a sunny open field. Still as a unicorn. A groan escaped her muzzle as she wondered around the luscious silken grass billowing in a soft wind. She could here the faint laughter and squeals in the background. The three girls, the Crusaders as they liked to call themselves, were flinging colored snowballs at each other under both the sun and moon that managed to shine through musically shaped cotton candy clouds. "Dreams are weird," Sunset grumbled. She trotted towards the trio and called out to the girl she was here for. The moment the name left her lips, she found herself in a blank empty room with the confused girl. "Sweetie Belle," she repeated. The girl turned and immediately latched onto the shorter unicorn. "So adorable!" Sweetie gently scratched behind one of Sunset's ears with one hand while stroking her mane with the other. "Just two years, Sunset, just two years. Better than Luna at any rate," the unicorn grumbled to herself. "Listen, Sweetie Belle, we need to talk." The girl froze, scrunched her face, and stood up. And to Sunset's dismay, found the girl a foot taller than herself. "Sun... set?" Sweetie Belle tilted her head and slowly circled around the unicorn. "Huh, you even have you shirt tattoo on your legs." Sunset groaned, sat back onto her haunches, and motioned for the girl to do the same with a hoof. "Sweetie Belle, I–" the girl poked her muzzle and let out a soft giggle and Sunset could her the 'so cute' under her breath before she swatted the arm away. "Look," she snarled. "I don't have a lot of time, and believe me when I say this is gonna be equally as weird for you as it is awkward for me." Sweetie Belle tilted her head letting her lengthy curls fall over her face. Sunset sighed. "In the simplest of terms; this is a dream and I'm dead." She clicked her tongue and flared her nostrils. "I need your help to make that temporary." "I- what- dead?" Sunset watched the girl's emerald eyes widen, her smaller hands gently gripped the sides of her hair and let out a small screech as the memories of Sunset's bloodied human corpse flooded through her mind. Tears slowly fell and within moments she fell forward sobbing into her mane only taking the occasional breath to choke out an apology. Sunset remained frozen until she jerked a hoof up and awkwardly pat the girl's back. "I need you to stop and listen." Sunset winced at her flat tone before shrugging it, and the girl, off. "Yes, I died. Yes, it sucks -" she looked at the girls tear stained makeup and clicked her tongue "- but you're gonna fix it." Sweetie Belle snorted and wiped her eyes and nose across the sleeve of her sundress and nodded. "Even when dead, you're still a right bitch." Sunset glared, then shifted her muzzle into her trademark smirk. "And yet, I'm also the reason why you are still alive." Sweetie Belle let out a wail and tightly gripped her side to control her sniffles. "What... what do you need me to do?" Sunset cringed. "I need you to kiss my body, on the lips." The two sat in silence letting the sentence hang in the nonexistent air. "Sweet Celestia, that felt even worse saying it than being told it." Sweetie Belle couldn't stop the snort that escaped from her lips. "Scoots used to joke that your bitchiness came from unresolved sexual tension... which is why you always went after my sister so hard." Sweetie wiped her eyes again and smiled. "Never thought the baddest bitch in Canterlot would pine after me instead." "Sweetie Belle, first off, you're thirteen–" "Fourteen!" "– and secondly I'm not even human. I don't have any interest in anything but my goals, and everything else was just a means to an end. Now are you going to help me or not?" Sweetie Belle crossed her arms and tilted her head. "How do I even know this is real?" "When you wake up, visit the hospital. The lower half of my body should be glowing, and I'll need some human with spiritual awareness to kiss me on the lips by midnight tomorrow night." "This sounds like a cheesy romance movie that Rarity would love." Sweetie half grumbled and half laughed. She then scratched the side of her face and brushed her curls back behind her head. "Will you," she paused, "will you explain things when you wake up?" Sunset hesitated but nodded. "Alright, I'll kiss you on the lips. Like CPR, right? Can't be worse than that..." Sunset gave a small smile. "Thanks Sweetie Belle, I only really have three options for help and you were the least awkward and most likely choice to follow through." Sweetie raised an eyebrow. "Oh, who were the other two?" Sunset looked away and frowned. "Vice Principle Luna and you wouldn't know the other since you're a freshman." The human let out a bark of laughter and nodded. "Thanks for not, uh, asking a whole bunch of questions and freaking out too much. I guess I'll see you tomorrow." *** "Well, this isn't good." Botan whispered. "It's already past midnight and they're drinking coffee." The duo hovered above Luna who sat next to her older sister and niece while sipping their drinks and staring listlessly at Sunset's unconscious body. "How did we miss this, Tia." Luna took another gulp of her lukewarm coffee before glaring at the paperwork that had been thrown across the floor. "Forged documents, fake address, no guardian at all, just... how?" Principle Celestia sighed and looked away. "I always thought she was Sunset's younger sister who simply took her name. I didn't think that–" "That's the problem, you could never think with Sunset!" Cadance stood leaned against the bed. "When you took us in, you always ignored whatever the original Sunset did until the very end. And now, it seems like you were doing the same thing again! I just..." Cadance collapsed onto the bed. "I just can't believe you'd make the same mistake with her literal clone. Just how, auntie? At least Lulu has an excuse." The living trio fell into silence again. And Sunset couldn't help but watch as each of them shed silent tears. Eventually, Cadance stood again. "I'm going home, let me know if anything changes and I'll let you know if Shinny can find anything else out about her case." Neither Celestia or Luna spoke for the remainder of the night and quietly gathered there things before leaving to prep for the upcoming school day as the sun began to rise. "Well, that's really not good," Botan said. "I really hoped you convinced this Sweetie Belle last night." "Yeah, so do I." Author's Note Hey everyone, it has been a long ass time. I've mostly moved away from writing and reading fimfics (I've shockingly moved on to Hermione Granger [HP], Naruto, or Hero fics... or manly whatever I kind find that strikes my fancy off other sites). Anyway, I was reading a YuYu fic and then I remembered that this existed. While I procrastinate on my grad application, I figured why not try and push out another chapter. I wrote this off my phone and it isn't edited, and as it shows, my writing skills have atrophied... but, like I said, why not? And since Sunset will be back alive soon... maybe my interest in this fic will be jump started too. Since it has been so long though, I lost some of my personifications for various characters, so I hope that Sunset isn't too OOC. But remember, she may be a frigid and angry bitch, but she's also intelligent and partly in shock with a limited timeframe to be brought back to life. I'm not the biggest fan of this, so I may go back and edit it later... but I'm actually looking forward to having Sunset actually alive again to kickstart the actual plot. So, there may actually be a new chapter sometime this year! And if you expect Sweetie to take Keiko's role... well, In terms of reading, I've been reading hundreds and hundreds of fics off other sites this past year, (my current fave of mine is a Tanya [Youjo Senki] and Dresden Files crossover fic, along with a Sakura [Naruto] in Hero Academia) so if you're curious about what non-fimfic fics are worth reading. Let me know, and I could link some... or maybe I'll put it in a blog. Anyway, sorry that it has been so long, I hope you enjoyed this and can forgive me for the lower quality compared to the previous chapters... like I said, and like you've read, it has been a while.
