Author's Note
Inspired by a movie titled Stranger Than Fiction, I find that not many stories revolving around Anon-a-Miss had Sunset Shimmer online under a different persona writing online. I'd thought it would make for a nice little story that would deal with Sunset dealing with a new frontier: the creative story process!
At first, I wanted Sunset to have a creation of her own but then I decided it'd be more fun this way! So in this universe, Sunset is like the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist, except that her story is way different from Fullmetal Alchemist. Oh, and the characters of Fullmetal Alchemist keep their original art style while the MLP: Equestria Girls universe characters keep their artstyle. It creates dissonance but eh.
I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please review! And this time, I will answer any concerns and questions that you might have with this story. Discussions and theories are also welcome!
Fullmetal Alchemist © Hiromu Arakawa.
I'll Find My Own Way
Sunset Shimmer walked through the hallways, trying to ignore all the hateful stares that came her way. She could hear the ugly words and the passive-aggressive comments directed at her, prickling at her skin and poking away at her will. Gaining speed, she almost barreled her way to the front door and tripped on the stairs. As Sunset clutched the railing like a lifeline, she gazed at the statue's base sorrowfully. She regained her balance and walked towards the base, kneeling next to it. The portal wouldn't be open for another two weeks and even if she could, she highly doubted that she would want to return to Equestria after her fallout with Princess Celestia.
"I wish things didn't turn out this way," Sunset murmured. "I sometimes wonder what life at Canterlot High would be like if I never came here. Would things have turned out for the better?"
Swallowing a developing lump in her throat, she gave the portal a couple of wistful brushings before collecting herself and heading for her apartment. A few minutes later, Sunset's eyes caught a tiny coffee shop sandwiched comfortably between the local pizza parlor and an Indian restaurant. In the front of a shop was a small blackboard with a doodle of a bagel with angel wings flying above the sea along with a pun If gulls flying over the sea are called seagulls, then gulls that fly over a bay is called...? Sunset stifled a chuckle and entered the little shop, curiosity piqued.
The coffee shop bustled with activity, workers clad in apron chatting with the customers happily as the smell of coffee had now permeated the air. Most of these people were probably college-aged with a couple of office workers scattered about, chatting on their cell-phones. There was another larger blackboard hanging behind the workers, detailing various types of drinks and sandwiches along with the prices. As Sunset trudged her way through the line, she spotted a shelf consisting of notebooks. They were priced at three dollars and seventy-five cents, which seemed reasonable enough. She took one that had little cats decorated on the front. Sunset's eyes misted with tears as a fleeting memory of Fluttershy came to her mind immediately.
"It's not even two weeks and I already miss her."
Shaking her head, she took the notebook and then saw a shelf with cheaply-priced sketchbooks. Ten minutes later, Sunset was at a little oak table staring at her new purchases: the kitty notebook, a leather-bound sketchbook, hot chocolate that's topped with delicious whipped cream, and a Mediterranean sandwich complete with feta cheese and red peppers. Sunset, at that moment, had no idea why she even bought the notebook and sketchbook at all. She didn't think herself to be a girl of the arts; heck, she didn't even think herself to be the creative type at all!
Eating the Mediterranean sandwich now, she mused further on why she did what she did. Counselor Soft Wings told them about how writing or drawing in a journal had therapeutic value regarding stress release. They could also help with briefly deterring negative thoughts, she added. Drumming on the table with her fingers, Sunset's face soured at the recent events that brew over Canterlot High and, more specifically, the Rainbooms. She was honestly conflicted with this whole deal: one part of her felt that what she got was kind of deserved, considering that Princess Twilight left her off too easy after the Fall Formal. Maybe this was undue karma for her heinous deed at least.
But another part of her was thinking that being screamed at by her friends and then turning into a social pariah again just seemed a bit too much like overkill. Were those months of community service, tutoring, etc. all for naught? Was it all just a huge lie? She hissed as she accidentally bit her cheek hard while downing the sandwich's remains. Note to self: never, ever eat a sandwich while deep in thought. As she drank her hot chocolate, Sunset felt a burning anger towards her friends and the rest of Canterlot High at what they did to her. Who else was next on their chopping block, she wondered?
"I can't think this way," Sunset shook her head. "It isn't right."
Setting aside her hot chocolate, she took out a mechanical pencil from her backpack and opened the sketchbook. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, she began to draw a sketch. Although she took a couple of college art classes on a weekly basis as well as consistently getting good grades at the regular art classes in Canterlot High, she never drew for herself before at all. It felt like a nice change of pace, actually drawing for herself for a change. She could let her ideas flow without anyone's rules to stop her. It wasn't to say that the art classes were bad, per se, but it was nice to focus on a subject that she chose.
The time flowed with the strokes of the pencil, the rubbing of the eraser, and the removal of any stray markings. She drew and erased, not fully caring about time passing by. It wasn't until she was done with her work that Sunset realized that the shop was closing. Blushing in embarrassment, she gathered all her materials almost haphazardly and stumbled out of the door, hoping that none of the workers were glaring at her. When the cold air hit her face, she shivered before sitting down on a bench and organizing the backpack's contents. Her fingers brushed against the leather of the journal that connected Equestria to the human world, which reminded her of Twilight.
I don't think I can tell Twilight of what they've done, Sunset thought sadly. She's already dealing with tons of stress, being a princess and everything. Besides, does she actually believe me or would she believe the Rainbooms?
She looked towards the direction where the Sweet Shoppe lay; it was extremely tempting to just head in there and see the Rainbooms. But could she handle those cold stares, those accusations ready at their lips? She remembered the last time a decision like that was first priority on her mind and it was a decision that she regretted an hour later. Sunset decided to go home; it was too dark anyways to go to the Sweet Shoppe.
As she made her way home, she didn't even glance at the snowflakes beginning to fall on the ground.
Sunset was now seated at her bed with a smaller journal at her side and a laptop sitting on her lap. This journal opened to a page filled with bullet points and little doodles off in the margin. Turning on her laptop, she spent the short time waiting for the laptop to boot up by leafing through her journal and deciding what would be an excellent starting point. Certainly, her story needed a hook, something that would make them want to read her story. But what would that be?
"Hmm, it can't be a cliché opening," Sunset groused. "Nobody wants to see a cliché opening." In her defense, she was only but a filly when she decided to come up with something like this. Her fingers tapped impatiently on the keyboard as white as blinding as Celestia's coat blared into her eyes. She dimmed down the brightness of her laptop and yet no ideas flew in her head.
'Perhaps I need a little bit of a boost,' Sunset thought.
Retrieving her sketchbook from her backpack, she took a gander at what she drew. It was that of a boy grinning in triumph in front of a flowery hill. His eyes shone in innocent cheek while his clothes and braid flew gently with the breeze. What he wore would give Rarity a heart attack, Sunset mused, as he wore nothing but a black tank top, matching pants, and boots.
"Okay, Sunset," she hyped herself. "Let's do this."
It was exactly 8 in the morning when he woke up, the sun's rays shining softly on his face. Grimacing, he turned to his side, wanting to catch a few Z's before starting the day. Unfortunately, that didn't come to be as he could faintly hear the sound of the door opening and the sound of feet softly crossing the room. He could feel the gentle nudge of a hand on his head, to which he swatted at in annoyance. The owner of the hand only laughed gently before continuing his nudges. Finally, he got up and glanced at the intruder with annoyed eyes.
"Come on, Ed," the intruder said. "It's time to get up."
Ed merely grumbled before he merely got up from the warm confines of his bed. He yawned and headed for the window, looking out at the green pastures that lay before him. The hill basked under the sun's rays, with the grass having a glossy shine and feel. The sky was a beautiful light blue, with nary a cloud. Taking in the smell of wet dew and grass, Ed savored the moment before turning on his heel and heading straight for the door.
"Al," Ed grumbled. "I still feel like this is too early to get up."
"I know, I know," Al could only reply, patting his shoulder sympathetically. "But this job is the only way we can support our own selves without anybody else's help."
Ed couldn't argue with that. It'd been at least 12 years since their father died in the war and exactly 2 years since the death of their mother from tuberculosis. Since then, they'd been making money reporting on the various scientists, soldiers, and doctors that either served or were currently serving. It was a tedious and long job where the only upside was the payment. But probably the worst thing about that job was meeting that guy face-to-face.
"Damn Colonel Bastard..." Ed muttered.
"Ed, mind your language," Al chastised before grinning. "Anyway, if you don't want to incur his wrath, I suggest you head to Central before 11."
Ed could only give him a tired grin before heading for the bathroom. As he showered, he began to mentally take a note of the day's tasks at hand. After going to Central for the daily reports, he would also have to do some formal paperwork. The paperwork itself would take between 2 to 4 hours, a feat that he was dreading along with meeting the Colonel. After that, he would go to Winry's for dinner. After that, he and Al would trudge on home where they would go to bed. It would be a cycle that he would have to repeat until they were financially stable. While he wasn't happy with the circumstances, he'd decided to toughen up and deal with it.
Exiting the shower, he headed downstairs hoping for a little sparring match with Al. Just as he was heading for the door, a nudge to his calf made him look down in gentle exasperation. Den wagged her tail, looking at Ed as if she was expecting a treat. But Ed cared for her enough to know the subtle differences between a treat and him to eat something for energy. A huff only confirmed it, and Ed gave her a nice pet on the head before heading to the fruit bowl and grabbing an apple.
Sunset yelped as the large leather journal on the desk jarred her out of her writing trance. Puckering her lips in annoyance at being interrupted, she nevertheless got up and opened the journal to see Twilight's replies. Her grimace deepened just a little as she saw the reason of why the Princess couldn't meet her as soon as she wanted: time travel with an insane and deranged cult leader who saw cutie marks as the plague of Equestria. Honestly, she felt more bad for Twilight than herself at the moment. It sure didn't seem easy and yet, Twilight was patient as ever. Not only that, but she was apologizing for it!
"Oh, Twilight...," Sunset whispered.
Sitting at the desk, she wrote a journal entry stating that she was handling the Anon-a-Miss situation just fine on her own, that there was nothing to worry about, and that Twilight could take her time whenever she wanted to. Of course, two out of the three things were lies, but Twilight didn't need to know about it for now. As soon as she was done, Sunset closed it with a sigh. Twilight was going to get mad at her for not telling her the whole truth, but it was better than getting the girls in trouble. As heartbroken as she was, she wasn't going to strain someone else's relationship just because of her feelings getting hurt.
"Just pull through...," Sunset mumbled. "Just pull through."
She pulled the laptop close to her and began scanning the opening paragraphs of her novel. She admitted that it was little more than exposition and hoped to fix that in post. However, the readers needed this little glimpse into the mundane and dry aspects of their lives before hitting them with the exciting parts. She yawned before looking at the clock. Yep, it was 11 p.m. exactly. Rubbing her eyes, she saved the rough draft of her work before turning off her laptop and putting it away for safety's sake. After she got in bed and drifted off to sleep, a thin wisp of magic emitted from the journal and flew into the laptop.
Heading outside, Ed breathed in the country air stretching out before him. It would be a while until he could breathe in the fresh air that Resembool generously offered him. The hard beats of a hammer meeting nail alerted him to Al repairing the table that always needed fixing somehow. Chuckling, Ed patted Den once more, to which she responded by thumping her tail in happiness against his calf. He waited for Al to finish with his work before calling out to him on whether he wanted a quick spar before he went for Central.
"Oh, brother," Al groaned, his smile contradicting his tone. "Well, alright. But we have to make it quick, alright?"
They stood across from each other a few ways apart, Den being the referee in the loosest sense of the term. They smiled a little at each other before getting into their stances. Al first started by throwing a punch to which Ed easily dodged. Ed then followed with a kick aiming for Al's side which Al blocked. Al followed up with another punch to the face, which was a close call. Ed could feel the rush of wind on his face and it took him almost two milliseconds to recover from that wind rush. His face etched in a sneaky grin as he decided to sweep Al. Unfortunately, Al caught his leg in mid swing and threw him for an extremely dizzying loop. Ed could feel his head swimming with that force, but it would usually subside in a minute. But as he stood up, the dizziness persisted to the point where he couldn't stand. He kneeled down to the ground and then...
Sunset nearly fell on her face by that jolt. She scowled as she saw a couple of teens snickering in her direction, but decided to ignore it. There was no way that she was going to involve herself in a fight, even in the midst of Anon-a-Miss. She began to continue her walk, but a crowd was forming around her now. Sunset's eyes narrowed as she broke into a run, crowd of angry students following her. She swore she could've broken a record as she made a mad dash into the school. Ignoring a cry of her name by one of the school faculty, Sunset ducked into the dark recesses of the library and caught her breath. It was a gamble, but she hoped that it paid off.
Retrieving her laptop from her bag, she decided to spend the remaining time before the start of first period writing. As she continued, a heavy feeling began to settle in her chest. She should've been used to it by now, she should've! But it was just so hard sometimes. The reminder of everyone hating her once more without Twilight's support was a reality that could be just too much to bear.
'Stop that, Sunset,' Sunset chided to herself. 'Being sad won't help matters at all. Focus on what you're doing.'
So, she continued, typing away at her novel. She just typed up the sparring scene when an ominous shadow fell in her line of sight. She looked up and paled at the sight of Cheerilee scowling down on her, books in hand. Neither of them said one single word before Cheerilee yanked the laptop out of Sunset's hands and checked what was on her screen. Sunset waited in agonizing patience before the student librarian chucked the laptop back into her hands and briskly walked away. Sunset could only sink to the ground in resignation. Even when they didn't say anything, it still hurt. A couple of minutes passed in suffocating silence before Sunset sniffled and continued to work with dulled eyes.
'None of them want to believe me,' Sunset thought in agony. 'They all want to see me suffer all because Twilight let me off easy that night. It's just not fair! Why won't anyone believe me?!'
"Why won't anyone believe me?" Sunset asked herself in a choked whisper. "I just want someone to believe me. Someone to hear me."
As she said those words, a stray tear escaped and fell onto the keyboard. It disappeared onto the shiny metal immediately so that she was none the wiser. She quickly wiped away the tears in her eyes and continued to type away, unaware of the tear that escaped into the keyboard and in her novel.
"I just want someone to hear me."
Ed's eyes immediately flew open with those words. Al was kneeling close to him, worry evident in his eyes while Den licked his cheek. The nausea all but faded and he slowly sat up with Al's help, much to his chagrin. Ed could only smile ruefully in hopes that Al wouldn't baby him too much because of this. His brow furrowed in thought as he tried to recall the words in his head that echoed about. It sounded desperate. Or maybe that was due to his nausea.
"Well, I can't say that's happened before." Ed muttered.
"Are you okay?" Al asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm-..."
"Hmm, maybe I should cut this part out? Does it sound too dry?"
Ed froze once more. There was that voice again. It sounded like a girl not much older than they were, with a pleasant tone now that all desperation seemingly evaporated in the span of two seconds. Or maybe it was longer? He didn't know. All he knew was an unsettling feeling in his chest as he scanned the horizon for anyone that sounded like the voice he heard. Al frowned quizzically as he watched his brother look around for something...or someone.
"Ed..."
"Did you...hear something, Al?"
"Hear something?"
"Yeah, like a voice. Did you hear it?"
"No, why?"
"...No reason."
Ed may have attribute it to nausea brought on by the spar, maybe it was the onset of fever. It could explain the voice in his mind. But somehow, he felt that those weren't good explanations for it. And the unsettling feeling in his chest still lingered as he made his way into the house to prepare for Central.
"Well, well, well, it seemed that her tears still had some magical essence to them. Well, hopefully she publishes her novel soon! I look forward to seeing the reactions, hoo hoo!" A familiarly eerie voice echoed through the void.