Flower Wreath
Sunset sprinted down the path of ash. A field of red spider lilies lay to either side, stretching as far as she could see. The crunch of her boots thudding in the ash and char the only sound in this void- save for her ragged breathing.
When she could run no longer, she found herself in a clearing. A courtyard of sorts. Straight ahead was the Wondercolts statue she stared at every morning, and had placed her palm against every day until it finally had admitted her. She clenched her teeth as she doubled over to catch her breath in the oppressive stillness. Beyond the statue lay the equally familiar shape of Canterlot High, here a burned-out husk looming forebodingly in the middle distance. This was the statue of her long nightmares, towering over her and casting down a judgmental stare that pinned her dead where she stood.
And beyond these, there was nothing. No paths, not even an endless sea of white. Just empty space.
“This is it, Sunset Shimmer. There is nothing left for you.”
Sunset snapped to attention. The statue was moving, stepping down from its pedestal. She backed up half a step as the granite flaked away and revealed a coat of amethyst. Wings spread wide, and the familiar click-clack of hooves echoed as the apparition moved between her and the pedestal. In the fever-dream logic of this place, the Canterlot Wondercolt had transformed into her replacement. Princess Twilight Sparkle.
“Everything here is spun from my memories, my fears and wishful thinking. So let me guess, you're supposed to be my shoulder angel or spirit guide or whatever.”
She walked past her, laying a hand against the shimmering surface of the portal. Her reflection wasn't the red-haired girl she'd seen that morning, an alicorn triumphant, or even a unicorn at her prime. What stared back at her was the twisted, wretched thing she had become. She glanced and noticed the smaller mare approaching in the reflection. She, at least, was exactly as hatefully radiant as she was in life. Princess Twilight took a deep breath, her unblinking eyes centered on the chest of Sunset’s reflection.
“Your heart is the blackest I have seen. Your actions harmed many throughout your life, and your actions almost caused the end of two worlds, and you still think only of your own hurt?”
Sunset suddenly turned, looming over the pony with fists balled at her sides, nails cutting into her palms. Her lips peeled back from razored fangs as she practically snarled.
“You have no right to judge me. Try being replaced by the only mother you've known. Try growing up trapped in the body of a monkey and forgetting your real home. You don't know anything about me, Princess.”
The wretched thing before her canted its head, eyes wide and unblinking with the smallest smile on its face like someone who had just heard a mildly amusing joke. By degrees she began to notice differences between this pony and the one that had stolen her life. Princess Twilight didn't sparkle like this, nor did she have eyes like deep wells rimmed with lavender.
“I have seen your heart, Sunset Shimmer. I know you as well as you know yourself. I know you have built these defenses to protect yourself from harm. I know you wish to be happy and live in harmony.”
“You're not Twilight.”
The pony before her shook its head. “I am the avatar of the Tree of Harmony. I have watched you time and again reject Harmony and turn your back on friendship.”
The image in the mirror shifted. A forlorn pink alicorn cowering in fear, and then sobbing herself to sleep. Her fellow students at Celestia’s School, many of whom might have become her friend and cared for her if she’d ever seen past her own skill. The anger in Celestia’s voice at being disobeyed for the last time- and the raw anguished scream when the portal closed behind Sunset forever. Celestia staring at the mirror with haunted eyes. Celestia with their special book open on her desk, quill posed to form the words she wished she had the strength to write. Crystal Clear, his career in shambles and life destroyed. The tearful agony of Dew Drop as Sunset shouted in her face, that she never wanted to be her friend. A pang of guilt nearly worn smooth with repetition as she watched her hands close on Applejack’s throat and dark waters close over her.
Every mistake she’d ever made. Every hurt she’d caused, no matter how small, tore at her like razors caught in a whirlwind. A girl fading away into the background.
She sank to her knees and buried her face in her hands, shoulders shaking with powerful sobs. When she spoke, it was with a hollow, broken voice.
“Harmony isn’t in my nature. Everything good and pure I touch, I destroy. The Element didn’t change me… it just made the outside match the inside.”
She stiffened at soft hooves touching her sides, and downy feathers wreathing her shattered frame. She looked up, into the eyes of Harmony.
“Friendship is the right of all sapient beings, Sunset Shimmer.” Those amethyst eyes closed slowly. “Still, you must be punished. It is the law of Harmony. But perhaps a test, in place of the punishment. A penance. You shall live with it, until you truly accept friendship with no thought of self-gain. When you can learn to love others above yourself, you shall be set free.”
Wings flared, and the small pony took flight, her soft expression hardening. This was the visage that had cursed Sombra, had banished Nightmare Moon, had encased Discord in unbreakable stone. “You must speak the truth. You will be at the mercy of others, and aid any who ask. You will feel every ounce of hurt you cause cut you deep.”
Her forelegs folded across her barrel as she seemed to fill the empty sky, looming over Sunset even as she rose to her feet. The sky closed over with boiling clouds, and a wind sprang up to spin flurries of ash around her boots. Sunset’s voice boomed into the silence of the echoing dark.
“And what if I refuse?”
“Withered flowers must be cut, Sunset Shimmer, lest the rot take the branch. If you refuse, or if you fall to taint a second time, you will die. If you accept, the darkness will be burned from your heart and you will have a new chance at life.”
“This is my oath, my geas, my doom upon you, Sunset Shimmer. For the sake of those who would be your friends, for the sake of Harmony, for the sake of yourself, you must see the light of friendship.”
Sunset closed her eyes. She planted her feet and held her arms out, like someone before a firing squad accepting their fate. The wind picked up, tousling her hair and snapping her jacket, scouring the ash away like a blizzard in reverse to reveal smooth flagstone beneath her soles.
Harmony instantly beamed, resting hooves on Sunset’s shoulders, which seemed broader than she'd remembered. A chain of brilliant gold light formed around her neck, and a small black stone settled against her collarbone. “This is your heart, Sunset Shimmer. Guard it well, and see that the last spark of goodness within it does not burn out.
“The Equestrian magic has wracked your body, torn and forever changed you. I could not repair the damage. I am sorry. I'm sure you'll heal quickly.”
“What the hell is that supposed t-” Sunset found herself overbalancing on the heels of her boots. Harmony had given her an almighty shove. She felt the impact against the mirror, heard the tension-wire plink of cracking ice.
And then Sunset fell through the ice, into the freezing dark.
Princess Twilight Sparkle threw her arms up and cringed, attempting to shield herself from the pillar of sunfire that descended upon her and her new friends. She shrieked in terror, expecting to feel the bite of magic. A millisecond of excruciating agony and then nothingness, her short life cut shorter.
The expected never came to pass. Gradually she stood, and watched as a soap-bubble of energy wreathed them, devouring Sunset’s final attack. Her boots scuffed across the flagstones of the courtyard as the beam snuffed out. She pointed to the sky, eyes narrowed defiantly.
The Sunset-Demon stared down at her incredulously. A wind stirred, leaves cycloning around Twilight's legs as she took a deep breath.
“The magic contained in my Element was able to unite with those that helped create it!”
“Honesty! Kindness! Laughter! Generosity! Loyalty!”
She did not speak English. She spat the words as an incantation in the sing-song tongue of Ponish. The wind rose to a gale, lines of etheric power lancing from the portal behind her and spearing the human girls she called friends.
As she Named each, they rose and were transformed as the magic seeped into them. Twilight felt their magic link with their Equestrian counterparts, all of them together with herself. Eleven hearts beat as one, to one purpose: casting down the darkness.
She too rose, wings flaring from her shoulders as she took the hands of the nearest.
“Together with the crown, they create a power beyond anything you could imagine, but it is a power you don't have the ability to control! The crown may be upon your head, Sunset Shimmer, but you cannot wield it, because you do not possess the most powerful magic of all!”
She squeezed the hands of Rarity and Applejack in her own, closing her eyes as the space between them gathered light and glowed brightly, shifting to the glittering raw power of Harmony.
A world away, five ponies nervously waiting near the portal jerked to alertness. All of them had caught the scent of lavender shampoo, of worn paper and ink. They felt the familiar stirring of Harmony in their hearts.
The magic stretched out. Cadance twitched as if slapped, at the scent of a singular rose that still held pride of place in her bedroom. The Princess Mask cracked and Celestia’s breath caught at the sensation of a filly she had once wished to call Daughter beneath her wing.
The note of magic humming in the air took on a new note. A silent entreaty. The Crystal Heart spun in its mounting. The Elements reached across time and space for every pony that had, could, or would bear them.
Twilight's hand slowly lowered, until her finger pointed directly at Sunset Shimmer’s blackened heart. An answering beam to the earlier blast speared her through, driving her to the ground. Under the sheer weight of the magic, she was forced to her knees.
“The magic, of friendship!”
The beam snapped out, widened. A thread of rainbow coruscated around the fringe.
The demon shrieked in anguish, fury, terror. Twilight was strong, sure of her power, in her prime. At this moment where time stood still, she was right where she belonged.
The mindless fury of the demon echoed in her ears. The part of her that felt, that thrummed with the magic of Harmony, expertly channeled and directed, heard Sunset Shimmer screaming in terror and agony.
Something snapped, and the world went white.
In that breathless second, the world shuddered.
For one second, they knew Sunset Shimmer.
The world knew her. Biggest Meanie. A bully. A monster.
They felt the pain of being Sunset Shimmer. The pain that drove her.
In that space where individuality melted, they felt it. Hatred and anger boiled away to pity. They listened to the words drifting across the boundaries between them.
Please. Bring my glimmering sunshine home.
They understood, in a place beyond understanding. The power was unleashed, wrapping around the True Name that burned in Sunset’s breast.
And the
world
Turned.
Sunset awoke to pain. Every inch of her skin was raw, and her clothes stuck to her lacerated skin where the wings and tail had struck out. Frantically, she pushed with her toes and felt for the edge of the crater she found herself laying in.
Sorrow and agony wracked her. She heard the crunch of shoes on stone pulverized to gravel, and her eyes focused on the form over her.
Princess Twilight Sparkle, resplendent in a shimmering gown. Her angelic face and small, sad smile framed by wings, her hand outstretched.
Her voice started stern, but gradually softened.
“You will never rule in Equestria. Any power you may have had in this world is gone. Tonight, you've shown everyone who you really are. You've shown them what is in your heart.”
Sunset pressed her hands to her face, slumping over and burrowing into her shredded jacket. Tears flowed at the sting of remorse, over the pain her body felt. She reached deep within herself, finding the words to express her grief. So like the ones she'd spoken time after time to Celestia.
“I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't know there was another way.”
The last came out as a dull murmur; the final words of the condemned before a firing squad, the war criminal intoning ‘I merely followed orders’. She'd known there was another way. She had just been too blind and stupid to see it, to grasp it. It had never felt like her way, hers to hold.
Sunset flinched as slender fingers wrapped around her own. She looked up, into an expression devoid of accusation.
“The magic of friendship doesn't just exist in Equestria. It's everywhere. You can seek it out, or you can forever be alone. The choice is yours.”
She closed her eyes. Accusation would have been expected. She could handle anger. She was over her emotional limit and only wanted to go home. She felt deep inside herself, for the warm glow that had sparked deep within her withered heart.
“But... But all I've ever done since being here is drive everyone apart. I don't know the first thing about friendship.”
Twilight leaned back and helped her haul herself over the lip of the crater, onto her feet. She distantly noticed that where she once stood eye-level with the Princess, she was now somewhere above her. Her jacket showed her forearms, her shirt exposed her stomach, her skirt exposed more thigh than she normally would have. Her clothing felt uncomfortably tight, even though it had fit earlier that day.
The Princess waved a hand towards the group of girls clustered together near them. The ones she'd hurt the most. She made eye contact for just a moment with Applejack, and saw the reaching out she'd seen so many times. She just had to grasp it this time.
“I bet they can teach you.”
A hush had fallen over the crowd milling in the blown-open front entrance of the school. Soft clicking heels approached, the pair glancing into the warm smile of Principal Celestia. The common thread between them, a mentor who strode the line between friend and mother.
Twilight knelt, and Celestia settled the Element of Magic upon her brow.
“I believe this belongs to you. A true princess in any world leads not by forcing others to bow before her, but by inspiring others to stand with her. We have all seen that you are capable of just that. I hope you see it too, Princess Twilight.”
Sunset folded her arms and stared at the pointed toes of her boots. Every word felt like a dagger straight into her heart, a nine-tail lash across her soul. She took a deep breath and forced herself not to burst into tears again.
Twilight Sparkle floated in cyberspace. Fingers raced across her keyboard as she lay flat on her bed, eyes flicking across data projected across her ceiling. Around her, instruments hummed and chattered. If asked (as every evening her brother did as she mounted the stairs) she would have said she was involved in “Research”.
A distracted hand rose and flicked off to one side, changing the track pumping through headphones clamped over her ears. Something was happening out in the matrix, and the flow demanded something higher paced, with more crunch to it than the soporific liquid dub she'd been listening to.
Soundwaves slammed her eardrums, and she closed her eyes for just a moment, before opening them again. Bugs she'd scattered like a handful of wheat seeds were chirruping to their mistress. She smiled and reached to scratch the ears of the pomeranian nestled against her hip.
“This is huge, Spike.”
A name pinged. She could have pulled up the dossier in her hard disk whose contents encompassed gigabytes, but she could quote it from memory. The name of the girl who had changed her life forever.
Twilight Sparkle could prize apart the universe and label its guts for easy explanation to others. The one thing she could not explain was Sunset Shimmer.
Once upon a time, she had a friend with that name. One day, everyone forgot she existed, and all trace of her disappeared. Then a routine trawl through databanks had churned out the name of a girl she'd admitted to herself had never been a real person.
One window was splashing data across her retinas. She made a flicking gesture to expand it. An IRC chatroom she'd joined after a long period of solitary research. The Crank Squad, a group devoted to the investigation and explanation of conspiracy theories.
[7:30]Moon_Dances: Got a hit on your girl.
[7:31]Moon_Dances: “gas leak explosion”, apparently peeled the front off the CHS building.
[7:31]Moon_Dances: Here's the thing. It's a total news blackout. Some lady in a nice suit gave a few hints and that's it.
[7:31]Moon_Dances: The only other thing. The only person taken to the hospital was this really tall girl, red hair.
Well now. This was interesting.
[7:32]Star_Struck: Eu4ia, you go to CHS right? Do you know anything about it?
[7:33]Eu4ia: Sry. Cn’t talk rn, I'm among Muggles.
[7:34]Star_Struck: Tell me everything when you can.
[7:34]Eu4ia: oki doki loki!
Author's Note
Updated, cleaned up, re-released.
Freaking Out
It ended up close to midnight that Sunset awoke, suddenly sitting up. Her body screamed at her for the motion, and she instinctively felt for her bedside table. She couldn't remember anything past falling over at the school.
She rubbed her eyes and glanced around, taking in the antiseptic smell and general clutter of a hospital room. Cursing under her breath she felt for the stone that Harmony had laid around her neck, before using fingertips to explore her skin. It seemed softer than she remembered, and she winced as she found bandages wrapped around swaths of her body that were tender to the touch.
She tugged at the hospital johnny barely covering her frame with mild distaste. Her boots were on the floor next to her bed, and what remained of her jacket hung up nearby.
“Alright Sunset. Get your stuff, get out of here, get home. Figure out what the hell happened, put your life back together.”
Someone was slumped over in the visitor’s chair pulled close to the bed, and they stirred at her voice and motions. Sunset gawked before crossing her arms over her stomach and hunching her shoulders slightly as she stared into the slowly opening eyes of her biggest victim and easiest target.
Fluttershy reached a slender hand up and brushed her hair away from her face. It really was a shame that Sunset was pure evil, if she cared about other people in the slightest… She thought about the vision she had seen on the ash path, of a yellow hand in her own and a soft kiss shared. She looked away from the shy girl and frowned deeply.
“I thought you were never going to wake up. I was so worried.”
Sunset cringed a little bit, reaching to fold fingers around the gemstone against her collarbone. Grief wracked her as the anguish she’d caused burned in her heart.
“What happened? Everything hurts. Why am I in the hospital? I can’t… really afford a hospital visit.”
Fluttershy’s eyes fell to her lap, and she reached to nervously stroke her forelock. “I’m sorry. Princess Twilight explained it but she used a lot of words I wasn’t familiar with and I’m pretty sure she was talking a different language for most of it. When you transformed, it tore your body apart and burned you pretty badly. She said that whatever we did hurt you a lot. She called it a “scathing”.”
Sunset frowned as memory began to return. A sensation of being trapped in her own head and screaming in agony, begging for anyone to help her. She folded her arms around herself a little more tightly, pursing her lips at the angry red lines burned into her copper skin.
Fluttershy looked like she was gathering courage to speak again, when the door snapped open and the lights flicked on. A tall, unnaturally slender woman clicked her way in on towering heels, flanked by a man with the same dusky gray-black skin as her and a ridiculous haircut, both of them in sharp-pressed black suits that practically screamed ‘Fed’. The woman smirked slightly and removed mirrored sunglasses to reveal a pair of brightly green-blue eyes.
“Ah, Sunset Shimmer, you’re finally awake. I’m Agent Lovelace, and this is my associate Umbra. We’ve got about as many questions for you as I’m sure you have for us.”
Fluttershy moved to leave the room, but Lovelace held up a hand and gestured for her to remain where she was.
Sunset let out a deep sigh and stared at her lap under the thin hospital blankets, settling her features into an impassive scowl. The woman clicked closer and spoke again.
“But that’ll have to wait as I’m sure you’re anxious to get out of here. We’re handling the paperwork and then we’ll run you two girls home.”
Once the excitement had died down a bit, an entirely new form of excitement formed in the shape of lights and sirens. Twilight supposed a place like this had to have some form of authority analogue to the Royal Guard she was used to and squared her shoulders.
A black car rolled up without any nameplates, that seemed a lot more square and much larger than the other ones Twilight had seen in her short time here. Two persons stepped out. The male pulled a blocky thing from inside his suit and began pacing out a perimeter, and the female started towards the site of the battle.
Principal Celestia moved to intercept her but she beelined towards Twilight. Shrugging off the other woman by shoving something in her face and smoothly dropping something that sounded like “DHS, Division Six.”
Twilight swallowed as she approached, the taller woman looming over her. The woman before her bore a striking resemblance to Chrysalis, once Twilight thought about it. She pulled to a stop and leaned her weight on one of her high heels, clapping hands together and peering over Twilight.
“Right. You must be “Twilight Sparkle”. I'm Agent Lovelace, pleased to meet you. Imagine, a government employee like me meeting a real Princess.”
Twilight reached and grasped the slender proffered hand, shaking it decisively. “What was that you said to Celestia that made her turn whiter than usual?”
Lovelace slid a companionable arm over Twilight's shoulders, leading her off to one side and away from the little clot of people. “DHS stands for ‘Department of Homeland Security’. From what I remember of the brief on your world the closest equivalent to you would be the Equestrian Security Council that was formed after the attack in Canterlot.”
Twilight blinked slowly, so nonplussed she was practically minused. She started to speak, but Lovelace glanced at her watch and up at the moon meaningfully and cut her off.
“Kinda on a time limit, don't really have time to explain everything. The people I represent mirror your S.M.I.L.E., we're pretty much the only reason that Earth isn't a smoking hellhole what with all the junk you guys keep tossing over to our side.”
Twilight glanced at Sunset, whose unconscious form was being loaded onto a bigger, boxier vehicle than she'd seen yet before speeding off. Her mind flicked through the proposed discussions at the Summit, about securing Equestria against Changelings and other threats. She thought of Tartarus, where the worst and most unreasonable threats were contained.
“What will happen to her?”
Lovelace spread her hands. “Listen. Icarus has been around for a little over a thousand years. We mess around with a lot of Equestrian magical artifacts in doing our job, but we know better than to touch that.” She indicated the tiara resting atop Twilight's head. “If Harmony says everything is cool, then she's golden. We exist mostly to observe and to slap down anything that means to break the masquerade.”
Twilight thought for a moment, closing her eyes. “When the Elements triggered, I felt the darkness bleed out of her, or be burned away. I don't know what punishment was decided for her, but I know that she's no longer a threat. She said she wants to change, and I trust her at her word.”
Lovelace nodded and slapped hands against her thighs as she rose in one fluid motion. “Whelp, that's it then. You girls put up a hell of a beacon tonight and made a lot of work for us, but our involvement with Sunset Shimmer is likely over after tonight.”
Twilight rose as well, and they returned to the statue. She knelt and let Spike hop up into her arms, distractedly stroking his ears as she glanced up at the blown-out foyer of the school.
“I know, I know. You want to go in there and go back to the dance. But you're currently in possession of seriously dangerous magic, and I'm sure you have people waiting for you.”
Twilight felt her cheeks heat a little bit as she thought of a pink pony. She'd pretend to not be nervous in the slightest, would be raising the spirits of the other waiters, but inside she'd be frantic.
“Yeah. I'd better get home.”
Lovelace nodded and pushed her towards the other girls. Blocky vehicles with letters on their sides were pulling in, and people were getting out.
Like raptors, the vision of cameramen was based on movement. As the stunningly attractive Fed clicked into their fields of view all eyes turned to her. She reached up to her throat and caressed her ladybug tiepin.
“If you'll all look right here for just one moment.”
Twilight shielded her eyes as a bright green flash lit up the courtyard, and Lovelace began to speak. She glanced at her new friends, and then back at where the medics were snapping shut the doors of the ambulance-car. “You'll look out for her, won't you?”
Rarity beatboxed briefly and flicked her hands like she was having a seizure. “Of course we will.” Her eyes narrowed and her voice took on a deadly seriousness. “Although I do expect some sort of apology for last spring's debacle.”
Twilight chuckled briefly and glanced around at the party-goers split between watching and heading back inside. “I have a feeling she'll be handing out a lot of apologies.”
Spike patted her cheek from his position curled in her arms. “We better get going.”
Twilight cleared her throat and peered back up at her new friends. “I know we've only been friends for a short time, but I'm gonna miss all of you so much.” Her shoulders drooped in a sigh, as she turned and started walking towards the statue hiding the portal.
Spike nudged under her chin to lift it, reminding her to walk with pride. “That crown really does suit you, Princess Twilight.”
A small smile crossed Twilight's face, and she squeezed him gratefully. “You know what, Spike? I am starting to feel a little more comfortable wearing it.”
“And the wings?”
She let out a sharp, musical giggle. “I've been walking on two legs and picking things up with these!” She freed a hand to wiggle her fingers demonstratively. “Wings? I'm thrilled that's all I'll be dealing with back in Equestria!”
Applejack steeled herself and walked purposefully after Twilight, reaching to catch her elbow. Her mind spun, clicking briefly on every time her hand had stretched in friendship only to be slapped away. Her thoughts were of a frozen pond, and the killing dark beneath the ice.
Twilight stopped and turned. It took a few tries for Applejack's words to come out, but when they did they were rocksteady.
“D'ya really think she wants ta change this time? Ah've known Sunset an Ah've seen these crocodile tears before.”
Twilight chewed her lip, resting a palm on Applejack's broad shoulder. She leaned in and brushed her cheek against the farmgirl's neck, pulling back with a small sigh.
“I do. In the moment, you saw Sunset's true heart the same as I did-- so I think you know too. Sunset isn't a monster, Applejack. She's a scared and lonely teenager.”
She patted Applejack’s shoulder. “I know you'll do the right thing.”
With that, she let herself fall into the shocking cold of the portal.
On the other side, her friends immediately mobbed close to her. Nuzzling, touching, helping her up. She caught Pinkie's eye for a second, and shared a small smile with the party pony.
“Twilight!” “Ah, you're back!” “You've got your crown!” “I knew you could do it!” “Oh, we were so worried.”
Everyone broke off as Twilight stared into the face of her mentor. The Princess Mask was shattered completely, and Celestia's voice shook with uncharacteristic emotion. Choked with tears, she managed to get a sentence out.
“Sunset Shimmer, is she alright?”
Twilight felt like crying, herself. She turned to look back at the mirror, which had gone perfectly still.
“She’ll come home someday. Until then I think she just needs some space. I think… I hope that she’ll end up being just fine.”
Later, once the commotion had died down Twilight was finally allowed to go to bed. She lay there, breath steaming in the slightly chilly air of the bedroom as she listened to Spike snore.
Her ears twitched and she sat up, staring at the door. She immediately relaxed and turned over, shuffling to make room as a pudgy-framed pony slid under the covers and hooked forelegs around her barrel.
She immediately twisted, Pinkie stroking her mane and cooing quietly as tears stained her pink fluff.
The spooky Feds were as good as their word. Sunset reached for the door, eager to stretch her newly taller frame after the silent car ride. When she stood up, she felt her back pop. She turned to thank them and was met with a glare from Umbra.
His hand came up, two fingers pointing at his own eyes before flicking forward to point at her chest.
“Right. Message received.”
She fumbled in her pocket and was rewarded with the jingle of keys. Her housekey had luckily not been destroyed with the heat that had fucked up her jacket. She took a step to enter and cursed as her forehead hit the doorframe.
Rubbing her face, she sighed as she kicked off her boots and entered her little home. She had to hunch her shoulders slightly to avoid scraping the top of her head off the ceiling.
She left a trail of discarded clothing and bloody bandages on the way to the bathroom. She left the door wide open behind her; she'd torn down her life around herself and didn't care if a thief made off with her things in the middle of the night.
She stopped in the bathroom, staring at the towel covering the mirror hung on the wall. She balled her hands into fists, fingernails cutting into her palms.
“It's just a stupid mirror, Sunset.”
She jerked away the towel and clamped her eyes tightly shut. She opened them slowly, to be confronted only by her reflection. She smiled softly to herself- her waking nightmares were gone and she'd never felt so clear-headed.
She stared into the mirror, reveling in the ability to take in her own face. Her jawline was a little stronger than she remembered, and her cheekbones a little more pronounced. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying and where the magic had burned her. She rested a fingertip on the perfect cupid's bow of her lips.
“How long have I been this hot?”
Her hands slid along her burnished-gold skin, quietly examining her own frame. She'd always been slightly heavier built, but now her recent period of undernourishment was apparent. She counted ribs with a small frown.
She twisted, stretching to peer over her shoulder and hissing at the sight of her back and the painful tugging there. Twin lines of sutures ran down either side of her spine where the wings had torn their way free. A burn lay at the small of her back where the tail of flames had erupted.
She sighed and stepped out of the bathroom, forgetting her increased height long enough to slam her forehead off the doorframe hard enough to knock herself on her ass. She screamed in agony as wounds and sore muscles protested their impact on the floor.
She laid there for a while and slowly pulled herself up. She padded to her living room and absently slid her door closed out of sheer habit. She continued into her bedroom and picked through her clothes. Nothing stretched enough to fit her new height and expanded curves. She crammed herself into a pair of sweatpants and a stupid Wondercolt sweater anyway.
Back up, through the living room again. Into the kitchen. Underneath lettuce that had seen a few better days was her prize, a bottle of red wine.
Forgoing a mug, she carried it in two fingers by the neck to the living room. She settled down on her couch and stared at the hems of the sweatpants baring her calves. Her chin rose as she took a deep swallow of wine, eyes settling on her battered guitar and cheap amp.
She smiled at the memory of Flash's arms around her waist, showing her where to put her fingers and how to strum the instrument. A sudden fancy took her, the echoes of a song she imagined she'd heard in The Moment.
She grabbed her guitar by the neck and parked her ass atop her amp. She clicked it on and strummed. Nothing special, no real song, just random notes.
She took a slug of wine and got serious, coaxing out a steady rhythm on the guitar. As she built the melody, her voice lifted in a mournful croon.
“I couldn't see what was right there in front of me…”
She closed her eyes and leaned into the guitar, thinking of Applejack smiling behind a hand held in friendship. Of all the missed chances she'd spurned.
“Turned my back, got my mind off track…”
Her voice shook. Twelve year old Sunset coldly told Applejack she'd meant to kill her. Just earlier this year, telling Flash she’d never cared about him even with his delicacy towards her differences.
“You saw a world that was something new entirely…”
Twilight, learning her way around this world. Making friends quickly, undoing her best laid plans.
“Helped me to see all the possibilities.”
Slamming her back to Earth with the power of the omnimorphic spell. Burning her hatred away. The Ash Path, and the better roads she'd seen branching off it. Her eyes snapped open and she came in hard and heavy on the chorus at a sudden realization.
“Like a star in the daylight, or like a diamond at night. Your light was hidden from my sight.”
The sister she could have had. The friends she could have made. The bright sparks extinguished in her wake.
“A friend for life; that's what you are to me. When I put my hand out, and I thought I would fall… You knew what I needed and you came around to fix it all.”
Celestia, wishing she'd make friends. Rose. Violet. Everyone who had looked out for or after her. Twilight, offering a hand to help her up with no judgment.
Sunset sat in perfect silence with the notes of her song fading. Her head lowered, and hands pressed against her face as her shoulders jerked with deep, wracking sobs.
She twitched, and her shoulders jerked at a soft gasp. She blinked slowly as she felt yellow hands gently grasp her own, and looked up into the angelic face of Fluttershy. Her brow furrowed a little bit and she frowned.
“What are you doing here? Did the Feds not take you home?”
The shy girl glanced downward. “I’m… No, they did. I came back because I felt you shouldn’t be alone tonight. A-And… My dad would be really mad if I went home. I wasn’t supposed to go out tonight but I got kinda swept up in all the excitement.”
Sunset sighed slightly and slowly rose to move to the couch. She tilted her chin up and swallowed a deep pull of wine, her brow furrowing slightly as she watched Fluttershy practically cringe at the sight. She let out a deep sigh as she stared at her toes. “Alright. You can sleep in my bed tonight. And… please don’t tell anyone where I live.”
