Pikatwig: Ah… Sunset Shimmer, one of my personal favorite characters…

KKD: And she sure has grown to be more likable over the short amount of time she's got. I mean, she practically is the main character of Rainbow Rocks at this point.

Pikatwig: And certain events in Rainbow Rocks just made me get… as NCS would put it… so happy!

KKD: You've been watching a lot of Runaway Guys again, haven't ya?

Pikatwig: Actually… it was just a random happiness reference. It would've been that or Pharrell William's Happy. Anyhow… this story's events is… sorta like Lion King One-in-a-half-quel.

KKD: I think the more accurate term would be interquel, but yea, sounds like Lion King 1½ to me. So basically, what you're saying is this is a sort of side story to what happened in a previous MLP story?

Pikatwig: No… it's what occurs after Twi's departure back for Equestria and the events of Rainbow Rocks. But the start of this chapter will actually be further in the past… yea, I'm retconning out the IDW Comics back-story for Sunset, even though the higher-ups say the IDW comics are canon with the TV show.

KKD: Okay, I guess…

Pikatwig: And this is also told from Sunset's perspective.

KKD: Well, that'll be nice. Anyway, do we have the disclaimers here?

Pikatwig: Hold on… *walks over to a soda can, which was resting on the disclaimers* Use a coaster people! Sheesh… *hands disclaimers to KKD*

KKD: The things people do with these things. *shakes the water off the disclaimers before slapping it onscreen*

DISCLAIMERS: Neither Pika nor KKD own MLP, their related characters, or any other franchises within. They belong to Hasbro, Lauren Faust, and their respective owners.

For as far back as I could remember… I had called her my mom. But… I knew she wasn't my mother. She may have cared for me and taught me what I knew, but I always knew there was something off.

Oh… where are my manners? My name's Sunset… Sunset Shimmer. And… welcome to my story, I guess. It's a bit of a tragic tale… but do you want to hear it still? ...Okay. Well… my parents thought I was useless, and wouldn't amount to anything. So they abandoned me in Canterlot one night, and I had been all alone… some ponies had seen me, but paid me no mind. But… there was one pony who did.

Her name was Princess Celestia, the ruler of the land of Equestria. It would've been an honor to most ponies to have been given such grace by the Princess herself. And… having only recently been born, I had no idea who she was.

She had taken me in… and raised me as her own, allowing me to go to her School for Gifted Unicorns, even if I had to pass an entrance exam, I aced it. Some ponies sorta knew why, because I spent time with our land's ruler.

But… I never knew why I was filled with potential… Princess Celestia told me that my Cutie Mark had represented great shimmering potential… or something like that.

I'll be honest with you… that conversation with her about my Cutie Mark… was honestly one of… at best seven… nine conversations I actually had with her. She had always been busy with royal duties and such, so she hardly found any time to tell me in full detail of what she meant by any of that.

She had always placed me under the watch of the Royal Canterlot Guards… but they honestly didn't care about me, thought it was just an annoying pest. I remember this one guard who had taped me to my bed and put a wad of tape in my muzzle to keep my quiet one time… one of the worst nights of my life.

Another time, a guard ditched me outside of Canterlot and on the mountainside, but… it was there I met somepony who… I guess… could be my first friend? I never knew for sure… well, I might was well tell you what happened.

I was about seven years old, roaming around Canterlot's mountainside, when I saw this poor hurt filly who… I think had a pink mane… all I could remember about her is that she was a pegasus and had a trio of butterflies for her Cutie Mark. She looked terrified of all that she saw, trying to hide from everything, even me.

"Hey… I'm not going to hurt you…" I remember telling her.

"...R-Really?" the young pegasus whimpered in response, as she tried to get up, she failed, showing her had an injured wing.

"I promise," I simply nodded before I used my magic to float over some leafs and some medical herbs I knew would help.

I never learned her name… somepony had come to get her after I had patched up her wing, and I headed home not long after that.

So… I was friendless, and had nopony to really care about me, pretty bad, huh? Well… it was. I was alone, despite being surrounded by other ponies, and I felt worthless despite what Celestia said to me.

When I was eight, I was told… er… rather, overheard, a guard saying that like some… other students from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, would be groomed to be an alicorn… well, after I had looked into books as to what an alicorn was… I was really giddy, because after seeing that pegasus, I knew I wanted to be able to fly.

Without wasting a moment, I ran to mom's room to ask her about when I would get my wings.

"Mom! Do you have a minute, I really wanna talk with you!" I told her, giddy as a schoolfilly.

"Hold on, Sunset. Just finishing this paper here," Celestia replied, finishing a paper she had to write, "There. Now, what's got you so excited?"

"I heard some guards say that I can get wings!" I told her excitedly, "So… is there like a set time for me to get them… or… what?"

"Oh. Um… I'm afraid it's… complex…"

"Oh, okay, I can wait," I told her, as I trotted off… but, somehow, deep down, I knew that I would never get those wings…

The years went by as I waited for the chance to get the wings. I was ten… or around ten… I can't remember, when I heard a conversation that had broken my heart.

"Princess Celestia, why in Equestria do you insist on keeping that annoying filly around?" the captain of the Guards… I don't remember the name, asked her.

"She's my daughter… and after what happened with my sister…"

"You mean you're still not over that?" another guard asked. I heard the guards and mom speak quietly about something, before the head guard told Celestia something… that almost always echos back in my mind, whenever I think of when I was little.

"You and the filly, must be separated! The filly will be sent to the Canterlot Orphanage so a proper family can be found for her," the guard told Celestia.

I couldn't hear what she said in response for a bit, but what I did hear made my heart sink into the bowels of my stomach.

"...I understand…"

I was just… I can't even describe how I felt at that moment. I remembered sobbing like a baby by that point, when Celestia and the guards walked out to see me.

"Ah… Ms. Shimmer, please… pack your things… you'll be going on a trip."

Once I heard that lie from the guard captain… all of that sadness… it turned into rage, and I blew my top. I tackled him to the ground… er… attempted to, anyway. He shrugged it off, but that didn't stop me from trying to run away.

"Sunset Shimmer, what are you doing?" Celestia asked me, trying to stay calm.

"You were going to send me away!" I told her, clearly upset, "You don't want me to be your little filly anymore! I thought you promised me, that no matter what, you would always be my mommy, and I would always be your little filly! Nopony else's, yours!"

I cried as I ran off to my room and locked the door tight. For the rest of the day, I did nothing but cry in my room the entire time. I knew it was a long shot to get my wish to fly granted, but now it seemed like an impossible dream. I wanted to run far away… but I knew that the Guards would be sent after me, and probably would end my life, because… well, none of them liked me.

I spent the next few days locked up in my room, no one even attempting to come in. I wanted desperately for mommy to come in and tell me it was all just a dream, and she would never let me go… but I knew that was just hopeful thinking.

I wondered why I hung onto hope, with all honesty. I wasn't going to fly… I wasn't going to be loved… I lost the one pony in the world who cared for me… I was all alone… and I didn't like it. I lashed out on the room, without breaking anything… did I mention that, I have some anger issues? Especially when I was a filly?

Well… yea. Celestia teleported into my room and had to knock me out to get me to stop. Not… my best moment, no.

"She's a little monster! Why in Equestria do you keep her around?" I heard the guard ask Celestia when I finally started to wake up.

"Because nopony else would care for her." Celestia informed, "Not even any of you, since you clearly don't respect her for the pony she is."

"Princess… she is a ticking time bomb! You had to knock her out to calm her down from her rampaging temper tantrum!"

"Because of you!"

I didn't hear the conversation after that… but it just made me realize something… the Guard Ponies only ever called me 'Time Bomb'. I didn't even know what that meant when I heard it, and then… I began to cry like a baby.

I heard somepony approach and say she was from the Canterlot Orphanage. I got scared at that, knowing this would be the last time I was here.

"Pack your things and meet me at the main exit," the pony told me.

...this was my only chance to run and hide somewhere nopony would find me. I did pack my things, as they asked, but instead of meeting them at the exit, I used my magic to jump out the window.

I just hid out in the mountainside… refusing to come down for almost all reasons, except for food. But… even so, I missed my mommy… and I knew one day, she would be coming to try and find me.

I was 13 years old when I began to make my way back to the castle, I had heard rumors of another unicorn who had begun to study with Mom… what was her name again? Dawn… Nightfall… Twinkle… I couldn't remember, to be totally honest with ya. I just heard this unicorn grew very close to her. As I continued back to the castle… I paused and thought for a bit.

"She… she's replaced me… mom… how could you?" I whimpered, when suddenly, a guard spotted me. I began to run for it, trying to find somewhere to hide, I was able to get into the castle, but I didn't stop for anything.

I ran… and ran… and ran some more… when suddenly, I tripped on… something, and went tumbling forward. I couldn't use my magic to stop myself, and… I saw I was about to crash into a mirror.

"...mommy, help!" I screamed out, when instead of breaking the mirror… I went flying through it!

I couldn't remember what happened next, but when I woke up, all I knew was that my body felt… weird. I saw I… wasn't exactly in Equestria anymore.

I remember my last lesson with mom… she said something about some special mirrors acting as gates into other worlds… I guess I stumbled into one of them. I tried to go back in… and then I remember this portal opens once every 30 moons… which means… wherever I am… I'm stuck here for 2 ½ years. That was a long time for being alone. But then it hit me, this was a new world, no one knew of me, which could mean I could have a chance to start my life anew. But… the sadness of thinking mom had left me… was building up, and I was getting angry… I needed something to lash out on…

Boy… did I regret what I did over the next amount of time… trust me. Let's just say what I did after that… not something to be proud of. I bullied everyone I could... yea… I should've probably taken some help to get past these anger issues… it got really sour for me… y'see, the gateway back home, while it couldn't act as a portal… you could see what was going on on the other end. I saw this pony that mom had replaced me with… get everything that I wanted.

A title, friends, respect from mom… wings… pretty much everything. And needless to say, I got jealous. So jealous that when the portal opened back up, I stole the Element of Magic so I could get those wings.

But… I never remember what mom told me about the Elements. In a battle with the Spirit of Chaos, he ended up giving the Elements of Harmony negative energy… and when I put the Element of Magic on… I turned into a raging she-demon. I got really crazy after that. Yet, that pony I stole the Element of Magic from, Twilight I think her name was, came after me and managed to save me… I remember our conversation after that she had returned me to normal.

"...I-I'm sorry… I'm so sorry. I didn't know there was another way," I practically cried my heart out, my anger and jealousy warped me… into that raging she-demon… and the Element of Magic amplified it… I hadn't realized it, but to some degree… the guards were right to call me a time bomb, it was only a matter of time before I lost it, but then Twilight… didn't turn away.

"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 told me, and… I knew that I never wanted to be alone, as I tried to get up… but I couldn't move… I felt completely numb.

"But... But all I've ever done since being here is drive everyone apart. I don't know the first thing about friendship," I confessed, which was true… the horrible things I had done in this world only proved how selfish I was… I could hardly move… and most everyone had turned away from me, and turned to look at the five girls who had helped Twilight. But… she didn't turn away, she floated down, and helped me up.

"I bet they can teach you," Twilight told me, pointing to five girls she had befriended… five girls I had torn apart by giving them all false info.

Was… there really another chance for me… I had turned into a raging she-demon… could I even earn another chance? Honestly… for a while, I couldn't tell you. But… I can tell you more a little bit later.

Pikatwig: Yea… little bit more prolouge-y, this first chapter. Like the start of Lion King 1 ½.

KKD: Yea, pretty much. I can see why you compared it to that now.

Pikatwig: So… thoughts on chapter one of this story?

KKD: Pretty clever to me, personally. I never read the IDW comics, so this makes a lot of sense to me.

Pikatwig: And truth be told, when I first saw Equestria Girls, Sunset sort of struck me as a person who didn't know how to properly handle her emotions, and instead lashed out.

KKD: Yea. It would make a lot of sense.

Pikatwig: So… favorite part? Honestly… I kinda don't have one… this is good, but I kinda can't pinppoint a part I liked above all of the story.

KKD: Well… I… I can't say either. This is one of those times where a favorite completely escapes me.

Pikatwig: Just Live More.

KKD: Jaa ne