Sunset's human world origin

Stormy Flare & Shadow Walker’s house
Date: 1st day of the 3rd month of the 1118th year of the Equestrian era, time: 30th minute ASR

*Stormy Flare’s perspective*

Stormy flew down the stairs and into the kitchen to start making breakfast for her husband and herself. Even after all these years, she still couldn’t do stairs. As she was making breakfast, Stormy heard her husband coming down the stairs.

“Hey Stormy, what’s this?”

“What’s what?”

“There are these packages with strange symbols on them and a letter on the table.”

“That’s strange. We’ll look at them after breakfast.”

Breakfast didn’t take long, and they were soon investigating the strange packages. They appeared to be made of something like paper but stronger. They contemplated opening them up but decided not to. They then turned to the letter, hoping it contained answers. The letter said “From Sunset” on the front. The two quickly opened it, now hoping it had answers to where Sunset went.

Mom, Dad, I first want to say I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disappear like that. I don’t know how much Celestia has told you, but I want you to know that I’m safe. I was taken in by a family of humans, the dominant species here. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to visit you, but I came to Equestria on a mission. One of the humans that took me in has become very sick, and I only had a couple days to get what I came for before I would not be able to return. I do hope to come back one day, but that might not be for a long time.

Love, Sunset Shimmer

Please tell Spits I’m sorry for blowing up at her.

“Sunset” Stormy said.

“But is it really Sunset?”, Shadow asked. “I mean, it doesn’t even look like her horn writing.”

“I know, but it otherwise sounds like her.”

Shadow mulled over the situation before answering. “We need to tell the princess.”

Canterlot castle throne room
Date: same day, time: 3rd hour ASR

*Celestia’s perspective*

Even though Celestia had cancelled court for today, she still sat in her throne. After such a disturbing incident, Celestia’s ponies needed to see her as an unshaking pillar, a rock to grab hold of. It’s clear that Sunset had stolen something, but they were still searching for what. The reliquaries were not the most organized places in the castle. Maybe I should ask Twilight to organize them after all this is done. Celestia picked her head up from the mountains of unrelated documents to meet the eyes of the guard who just entered. Celestia put her papers aside as the guard came closer and took a bow.

“Your royal highness, I have an update regarding the guards injured during last night’s attack.”, Lieutenant Blade Strike spoke.

“You may rise.”, Celestia ordered, and the guard did so immediately. “What is their condition?”

“Major Sergeant Spearbiter died on scene, and Corporal Cobalt Helm and Private Thunder Chap are still in critical condition. Helm and Chap are likely to need-” She shuddered at what she was going to say next. “-organ transplants. Do we know what weapon the assailant used?”

“She called it a gun. She described it as an “ultra powerful crossbow”. You are dismissed.”

Lieutenant Strike bowed then hurried off. Celestia was about to go back to her paperwork until another guard came in.

“Your royal highness, Captain Spitfire of the Royal Air Guard Wonderbolts deviation, Major Shadow Walker of the Royal Air Guard intel deviation, and Staff Sergeant Stormy Flare, formerly of the Royal Air Guard 6th pegasi forward crossbow company, are here to see you. They say they have intel on a pony of interest.”, Sergeant Swords Dance said.

“Send them in.”

Sergeant Dance saluted then signaled for the other guards to send them in. Just from looking at them, anypony could see that both Sunset and Spitfire took after their mother, but there were several traits that Sunset obviously got from her father. Shadow had a purple, wavy mane with gold streaks through it, teal, slitted eyes, a light grey coat, bat wings, and the fangs all thestrals have.

“Princess Celestia, we have evidence that Sunset has returned and came to our house last night.” Shadow Walker pulled a letter out of his saddle bags and offered it to Celestia.

Celestia took the letter in her magic and brought it over to herself. “Sick?”, Celestia said after reading it over. “First Sergeant Swords Dance, have the guard focus their search to healing relics.”

“Yes, your highness.” Sergeant Dance saluted then quickly exited.

“There are also these.” Stormy Flare pulled out a package of some kind from her saddle bag.

Celestia took it in her magic and cast several detection spells on it. The spells came up negative for poisons and explosives, aside from a lot of salt. The package looked exactly like the discarded wrapping found in Sunset’s old room. Celestia then cast a text translation spell. It was a far from perfect spell, but it would work here. “Meals ready to eat”, Celestia read. She then cast a food identification spell. It came up with several dried vegetables. “This is food.”, Celestia announced.

“Now that sounds like Sunset.”, Spitfire said.

“Princess Celestia, do you know what’s going on with Sunset?”, Stormy Flare asked.

“Stormy, you can do what you need to do to be comfortable.”, Celestia said. Stormy nodded then sat down. “To be honest with you, I do not know. Last night, Sunset broke into the reliquary, and we suspect Sunset stole a relic to heal this “humans” she mentioned in her letter.”

“Wow, she must really love these humans to do all this for them.”, Spitfire said.

“Spitfire”, Stormy and Shadow chided.

“What? It’s true.”

Celestia levitated the letter and package back to Shadow and Stormy. “From what I have seen, that appears to be the case. Thank you for this information. You are dismissed.”

The three of them saluted then exited. Once they were gone, Celestia got up from her throne and walked over to and through a door behind it, reliquary room #1. Inside were mainly multiple sets of Celestia’s regalia, including the crown Sunset shot. The projectile was even still logged in it. This place served as a sort of museum to Celestia’s life as a ruler. There was an actual museum dedicated to that, but that only held copies of most things. These were the originals. Celestia’s and Luna’s first set of regalia, crafted by their own father, sat on elaborate pedestals at the back of the room as its centerpiece. To the left of that was the mirror portal. For whatever reason, the mirror’s creator gave it a secondary ability to show ponies their destinies. As Celestia had already realized her destiny, she only saw herself in the reflection. “What are you planning, Sunset Shimmer?”

Emi’s room
Date: Mar 3rd, time: 11:00 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

“Ya ready ta be ridded of your cancer?”, Sunset asked Emi.

“Beyond ready, let’s do this.”

“Okay then, hold out your hands.”

Sunset placed the relic in Emi’s hands and began the incantation. It didn’t translate well to English, but it was basically asking for the recipient to be healed.

“This is getting really hot. Is it supposed ta do that?”, Emi asked about halfway through the incantation.

“What? No” Sunset felt the relic, and it was indeed really hot. Sunset pucked the relic up with her good arm but had to toss it up and down because of the heat. Brigid noticed what was happening and grabbed a pillow case from Emi’s closet and scooped the relic out of the air with it. “Emi, that was really, really hot. Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”

“The boiling frog effect”, Emi simply said.

“I don’t think that’s an actual effect, but I get what you’re saying.”

“Emi, y’re burned!”, Brigid cried out.

“Whoops”, Emi said.

“Grandpa’s coming!”, Jiraiya called from his room.

Sunset could only look on in shock. This was supposed to help Emi, but it ended up harming her. What kind of a sister am I if I can only hurt her?

“Sunset?” Sunset looked up to see Brigid trying to comfort her while avoiding her burns and Jiraiya treating Emi. “Ah remembe’ ya sayin’ some‘hin’ ‘bout some books ya want ta show us at breakfast. Do ya wanna show us now?”

“Sure” That brightened Sunset mood a bit. Sunset had been wanting to share Equestria’s history with Brigid for years. She reached over to her bag and pulled out the “Complete History of Equestria” book. The book had grown to a more human appropriate size while crossing the portal which made things easier. The letters were already kinda small and being forced to read something the size of a kid's diary would not have helped. Brigid positioned herself so she could see the pages, and Sunset began reading.

“Long before even the time of the three tribes, the land that would become Equestria was populated by collections of small farming communities and roaming herds. That all changed when Grogar, father of monsters, declared himself emperor and used the power stored in his bell to conquer the land. Most ponies banded together and formed the three tribes, but some moved north to escape. Time and time again, ponies tried to mount a resistance, but time and time again, Grogar would crush it with the monsters he created. It was not until Gusty the Great forged an alliance between the unicorns and the pegasi was Gusty able to steal Groga’s bell and seal it away. Without his bell, Grogar was able to be defeated, but his monsters still roam Equestria to this day.”

“What kinds of monsters?”, Emi asked.

“Well, let’s see. There are timber wolves, which are monstrous wolves made out of wood; bugbears; chimeras; manticores; hydras; cockatrices, which can turn ya ta stone with their stare; cragadile, which is a stone crocodile; and many others, and these are all naturally hostile to ponies.”

“Wow, with creatures like those, is Equestria even safe?”, Jiraiya asked.

“Yes it is; thank you very much. Without Grogar, these creatures no longer go out of their way to hunt ponies, and if they ever do come close to ponies, that’s what the EUP is for. And for your information, we live a thirty minute walk away from moose territory.”

“Fair”

“Now, back to the history of Equestria, time for the three tribes area. After Grogar’s defeat, the three tribes stayed to themselves for thousands of years, but that changed after a cataclysmic event of unknown origin caused the orbits of the sun and moon to be disrupted. The unicorn tribe was able to move the sun and moon to simulate their original orbit but at a great price. The amount of power it required to move the sun and moon left the unicorns too drained to farm. The king of the unicorns decided to demand food from the other tribes. If the other tribes did not comply, the king would order his unicorns to direct the sun away from the others’ farm lands. The earth ponies compiled, but the pegasi were already facing food shortages. However, the pegasi had learned that they can control the weather. So, the pegasi commander made a deal with the earth ponies and unicorns. If the earth ponies gave them food and the unicorns stopped demanding food from them, the pegasi would provide their weather controlling abilities to them. They all agreed, and the three tribes formed an uneasy partnership.”

“What da hell could’ve caused da sun n’ da moon ta stop movin’?”, Brigid asked, astonished.

“We have no idea, and the only creatures that were there and are still alive aren’t exactly the cooperative sort. Now, on to the pre-Equestrian era. The three tribes' partnership was strenuous from the start, but only got worse over time. As time went on, the three tribes began to argue more and more. One day, a snow storm the pegasi could not control came in. This only worsened their relationships as the unicorns and earth ponies blamed the pegasi for the storm, saying they caused the storm with their weather magic. The pegasi blamed the unicorns, saying that they were framing the pegasi so they could justify a war. The earth ponies did not aid in soothing the conflict, and the storm only got worse. The leaders all separately decided that their peoples needed to find new land. All three leaders and their subordinates went off in search of new lands for their people, but they all ended up finding the same land. The three leaders began to feud again, which brought the storm to the new land. The six of them took shelter inside of a cave, but they did not stop arguing, and the storm only grew worse. The leaders ended up completely frozen over, leaving their three subordinates huddling together in the center of the cave. Seeing as that moment was likely to be their last, the subordinates began talking to each other. As they talked, they grew to understand each other and became friends. As the ice began to incase them, their friendship sparked a new kind of magic that created a great fire in the shape of a heart and drove away the storm. It was then they learned that the storm was created by creatures that fed off of the arguing known as the wendigos. Following the example of their subordinates, the leaders decided to come together and share the new land. That day, Equestria was born.”

“Wait, aren’t wendigos those cannibal creatures Minerva warns us about?”, Emi asked.

“On Earth, yes, but these are Equoesian wendigos, and only traits they share are the name and their association with winter. Equoesian wendigos are winter spirits that feed off of hatred and disharmony. Oh, and trust me, that’s not the only instance of two completely different creatures from the two worlds sharing the same name.”

“Well, that’s not going to make things confusing.”

“Yeah, I know. Now then, as the tribes’ relationship improved, the fire of friendship grew stronger and drove the wendigos away further. In this time, pony society prospered and advanced faster than it ever had before, but all was not well. Starswirl the bearded-” Sunset was interrupted by Emi.

“Wait! Isn’t Starswirl the famous astronomer who's often mistakenly called the father of modern astronomy?”

“This is his pony counterpart, and he is the father of modern magic.”, Sunset clarified.

“Wait, pony counterpart?”, Jiraiya asked.

“Right, you weren’t there. You see, for some reason, people who exist on either side of the portal have a counterpart in the other world. Some examples are Donut Joe from my favorite donut shop and Celestia and Luna from the high school.”

“Oh, that’s weird.”

“I know. Now, back to the story. Starswirl the bearded and his band of unicorn mages were tasked with the raising and lowering of the sun and moon every day and night, but as you can imagine, this was very draining. During one of these times, Starswirl and his unicorns failed to lower the moon. The ponies in attendance began to worry that they would never see the sun again. That’s when two unicorn sisters came onto the stage and moved the sun and moon on their own. The crowd cheered for the sisters. Their love and adoration flowed into the sisters, carrying some of their magic with it. Their magic and love fused into the sisters’ bodies, creating the first alicorns. The leaders of the tribes decided to relinquish their power to the two sisters to unify the tribes under a single power. That began the reign of the two sisters.”

“So, Equestria was ruled by two queens, n’ Celestia is one of deir descendants. Who’s its current ruler?”, Brigid asked.

It was then Sunset realized that she forgot to explain the differences in Earth and Equestrian royalty. “Um, no, Celestia is one of the sisters from this story. She’s immortal, as far as we can tell. The reason she’s not called queen is because she never produced an heir. You only become king or queen once you are the active ruler and produce an heir, but you still have as much power as a king or queen.”

“How long ago did dis happen?”

“One thousand one hundred eighteen years ago.”

“Damn, she’s an oldy.”

“So, what happened to her sister? Last night, you mentioned Celestia made you her student so you could save her sister.”, Emi asked.

“I did, and I’ll get to that. Now, you remember what I said about some ponies traveling north to escape Grogar? Well, one of those groups was a herd of earth ponies. These earth ponies evolved to meet the harsh and cold conditions of the everstorm, a snow storm that has been raging past the northern mountains since before recorded history, unrelated to the wendigos. These earth ponies developed shoveled hooves in order to dig through the snow to find food and developed extra hardy bodies and auras. Their auras became so robust that they became able to be crystallized. These ponies became known as crystal ponies. They founded their own queendom called the Crystal Empire. These ponies lived in peace until a unicorn stallion wielding dark magic named Sombra enslaved them all. Word of this got to the princesses, and they traveled to the Crystal Empire to save it. On their way there, they came across one of the other groups of ponies that traveled north. These were a group of pegasi that inhabited the mountains themselves, living in series of tunnels to protect themselves from the storm. This group interbred with the original creators of the tunnels, the noctrilly. This created a new species of ponies called the thestrals, that’s what Dad turned into. These ponies were nocturnal and worshiped the moon, and once they learned that Luna, the younger sister, raised and lowered the moon, they declared her to be their goddess. The sisters told the thestrals of their mission, and the thestrals sent their best warriors to go with them. The thestrals helped the sisters fly through the storm, shortening their journey from months to days. The sisters and the thestrals defeated King Sombra but did not save the empire. Sombra cursed the empire, causing it to disappear into the darkness. Unable to do anything more for the empire the sisters returned to Equestria, and the thestral warriors came with them, forming the now defunct lunar guard.”

“It must have taken a lot of power to cure an entire empire.”, Jiraiya said.

“Actually, it was only an empire in name. It was actually smaller than Canterlot.”

“Are ya a thestral?”, Brigid asked.

“I’m part thestral. My grandfather was a thestral, and since they got their magic from a non-pony race, I was able to inherit his thestral magic.”

“Ahh”

“Now, a year after the defeat of Sombra, an entity known as Discord began terror-is-ing- Mom are you okay?”

The color drained from Brigid’s face when Sunset said Discord’s name. “Dis Discord fella, he wouldn’t happen ta have da head of a horse, a deer’s antler, a goat’s horn, different-sized pupils, a snake’s tongue, a goat’s beard, a lion’s paw, a hawk’s talon, a bat’s wing, a blue feathered wing, a serpent’s body, a lizard’s leg, a goat’s leg, n’ a dragon’s tale, would he?”

Sunset’s jaw dropped when Brigid said that. “That’s a near perfect description of him. How did you know?”

“Could he have possibly gone through da portal like ya did?”

“He’s so powerful that he could’ve created his own. Did he?”

“Every culture on da planet mentions a creature jus’ like dat spreadin’ chaos and destruction whereve’ it went. Sightings of dat creature only stopped around a thousand yea’s ago.”

“That’s also when he was imprisoned for his crimes. This requires more research.”

“Research later; story now!”, Emi demanded.

“Okay, okay, a year after the defeat of Sombra, an entity known as Discord began terrorising Equestria, turning it into a realm of chaos. The princesses, solar guard, and lunar guard attempted to battle him, but were soundly defeated. The princess had heard about a great source of power not far from their castle. Although, the princesses had never revealed its location. This great source of power were the elements of harmony. These are the physical manifestation of our people’s values of kindness, generosity, loyalty, honesty, and laughter. There is a sixth element, but what it was has been long forgotten. The sisters used the elements to defeat Discord and imprison him in stone. Peace was once again returned to Equestria, and Discord has remained in stone ever since.”

“Could Discord being imprisoned be the cause of the die out?”, Emi asked.

“What do ya mean?”, Brigid asked.

“Well, Discord was imprisoned around the same time as the die out started, and you said that he has been coming to Earth for thousands of years. What if his presence was what gave us magic?”

“That’s not a bad theory, but we have no way of testing that. There’s just no way to know.”, Sunset answered. “Now, there’s a pretty sizable difference between the official version and what actually happened for this next part. If what actually happened became public knowledge, there might be a war between the thestrals and Equestria, which would be devastating for both sides. So, I’m going to tell you what actually happened and then tell you what was changed for the official version.”

“You say that as if we’re going to go to Equestria some day.”, Jiraiya said.

“Well I mean, I hope that, some day, we can freely travel between Equestria and Earth. I don’t like the idea of having to choose between my two families.”

“N’ hopefully, you won’t, n’ Ah’ll do every‘hin’ in me powe’ ta make sure ya don’t.”

“Thank you, Mom. Now, everything seemed peaceful for many months, but there was a darkness growing inside Luna’s heart. The ponies would frolic and play in her sister’s sun but sleep through her beautiful night. Her anger and feeling of neglect swelled until it became physical. From her darkness was born Nightmare Moon.”

“As in the Nightmare Night mascot?”, Emi asked.

“Yes, as in the Nightmare Night mascot. Now then, Nightmare Moon threatened to plunge Equestria into eternal night. Princess Celestia was forced to use the elements of harmony to banish Nightmare Moon to the moon for a thousand years, until Nightmare Moon’s hold over Luna could be weakened enough to free her. However, using the elements against another wielder severed the sisters’ connection to the elements. That means Celestia must find new wielders of the elements, and Nightmare Moon is set to return in a little over a year.”

“You were being trained to wield ancient magical items that can turn people to stone or banish them to celestial bodies and become the queen of an entire country. That is so cool!”, Emi exclaimed.

“Hehe, that’s the summarized version but yeah. Now, the official version is that an outside entity, called the Nightmare, infected Princess Luna and the sisters never lost their connection to the elements. The rest of the story is the same, and that’s all the events that shaped Equestria into what it is today.”

“Sounds like things have been pretty peaceful for the last nine hundred ninety-nine years.”, Jiraiya commented.

“I wouldn’t say “peaceful”. We needed to go to war during that time.”

“Ya mentioned some‘hin’ ‘bout a paramilitary force called da Equestria First Legion. Ah’d be interested in learnin’ more ‘bout dat.”, Brigid said.

“Could ya go do that in Sunset’s room? I want ta get some of my own work done.”, Emi said.

“No prob, and Mom, I’d like ta get some lunch first.”, Sunset answered. Everyone got up from their places on the floor, and Sunset, Brigid, and Jiraiya exited while Emi went to her desk. Jiraiya went back to his room while Sunset and Brigid walked to the kitchen. “Mom, is it normal for humans to eat as much food as I do? I’ve noticed that I’m eating a lot more food as of late.”

“Do ponies have a teenage stage a’ life?”

Sunset thought about that for a moment before answering. “Not really. We reach adulthood when we’re fifteen, but we can do most things an adult can, minus drink alcohol and join the military, as soon as we get our cutie marks, which is typically around eight.”

“Cutie marks?”

“Ya know the symbols most people wear somewhere on their clothes or bodies?”, Sunset said while pointing to one of Brigid’s tattoos.

“Yeah”

“Well, for ponies, those magically appear on our flanks once we realize our special talent. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but that’s the simple version.”

“Okay, well, back to y’r original question. Y’re a teenager. An increase in appetite is normal. Jus’ listen ta y’r body n’ eat healthy foods n’ y’ll be all right.”

“Humans are weird.”, Sunset said while shaking her head.

Stormy Flare & Shadow Walker’s house
Date: same day, time: 6th hour ASR

*Spitfire’s perspective*

“Not bad, a little dry but not bad.”, Spitfire said. The packages of food Sunset left were weird, but very filling. Spitfire thought that they would actually make good military rations if they could figure out how to make them. It was just like Sunset to leave her leftover food for their parents. Even after Dad was able to return to normal duties, Sunset was obsessed with making sure they were never at risk of starving again. Spitfire never faulted her for this, but some of what Sunset did to complete this objective was less than legal. During the worst of the times, Sunset would steal food to give to their parents. I guess that part of her will never leave. They were never happy about that but were in no place to refuse the food. After Sunset was accepted as Celestia’s personal student, she would send bushels of food back to their parents, with the blessing of Celestia.

“Are we going to talk about Sunset?”, Dad asked.

“What is there to talk about? Sunset is gone again, and there’s nothing we can do to get her back.”, Mom retorted.

“I know what you’re thinking, and it won’t work. The three of us can’t scour all of Equestria, looking for Sunset, and judging from her letter, she’s not even within Equestria. I’ve never even heard of these “humans” before. If we were to mount a large-scale search operation, we would need to bring in some help.”, Spitfire noted.

“No, this is a family matter. We don’t need help.”, Dad retorted.

“Hg, Shadow, you are as stubborn as a mule. Tartarus, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that you were part donkey.”, Mom spat.

“Well, at least I’m trying to do something. You two have seemed to have given up.”

Spitfire and Mom began vehemently arguing that they did not give up, but since they were arguing over each other, nopony could understand what they were saying.

“Celestia knows more about what’s going on than she’s telling us! If she wasn’ the princess, we’d be interrogating her for answers right now!”, Dad proclaimed.

“How can you say that?! We fought for her! We put our lives on the line for her!”, Spitfire said, outraged.

“Exactly! And now look at us! I can barely walk! I can’t climb stairs! And we’re living in one of the worst parts of the city while the nobles, who have done nothing but be born into the right family, are sitting pretty in their mansions with servants to tend to their every need! They have never once been afraid that they won’t be able to feed their children!”

“Celestia has already done so much for everypony! You should show her more respect!”, Spitfire chastised.

“She hasn’t done enough! I’m starting to think Sunset was right. The nobles do need to have their power stripped.”, Dad stated.

“You can’t be serious. That would send Equestria into chaos and disrupt vital organizations.”, Spitfire retorted.

“Not Equestria, just Canterlot. The rest of Equestria is self-sufficient enough to survive a few months without those organizations.”, Dad stated.

“Farming towns, yes, but every other type of town would not have enough food to survive that.”

“You're not an economist, or whoever is incharge of that stuff. You can’t say for sure that your version would happen.”

“Neither could you!”

“We’ve gotten off topic.”, Mom said. “I’m sorry honey, but we can’t just go looking for Sunset, and we’re not going to get any more information from the princess. We just have to wait and see what happens next.”

Dad sat back in his seat and crossed his forelegs over each other. “I don’t like not knowing things.”

Mom got up from her seat, walked over to Dad, and hugged him. “I miss Sunset too.”

Spitfire remained in her seat and mulled over the situation in her head. She wouldn’t be able to get a report of the event, but the royal guard is so badly trained that they might gossip about it. I might just go on an intel mission of my own.